scoat

en-verb

scoat (third-person singular simple present scoats, present participle scoating, simple past and past participle scoated)

scoats (present singular third-person)
scoating (participle present)
scoated (participle past)
scoated (past)

From Old French ascouter, from ascot (“a branch”),

(archaic, UK, dialect) To prop; to scotch.


wainage

en-noun

wainage (countable and uncountable, plural wainages)

From wain + -age. Compare Old French waaignage.

Bracton says in one place that the villein has an action against his lord if the lord should take away the villein's wainage, i.e. plough and plough-team.

1900, William James Ashley, Surveys, Historic and Economic, page 46:

(UK, law, obsolete) Gainage; the team and implements necessary for the cultivation of land.


frouzy

en-adj

frouzy (comparative more frouzy, superlative most frouzy)

more frouzy (comparative)
most frouzy (superlative)

Compare froust (“a musty smell”), frouse (“to rumple”), frouze (“to curl”), frounce, frowy.

(British) froward, peevish, offensive to the eye or nose


caddow

From Old English cadāwe, probably from ċēo, ċeahhe (“chough”) + *dāwe (“jackdaw”). Compare Scottish Gaelic cadhag, cathag. Compare chough, daw.


donnism

(UK, university slang, dated) self-importance; loftiness of carriage


sycock

(UK, dialect, rare, obsolete) The mistle thrush.


poley

If it had been any other beast which knocked me down but that poley heifer, I should have been hurt.

1859, Henry Kingsley, The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn:

(UK, dialect, archaic) Without horns; polled.


pinpatch

(UK, archaic) A mollusk, the periwinkle.


exigenter

There are also four Exigenters, whose Office is to make all Exigents and Proclamations in all Actions where Process of Outlawry doth lye.

1672, Edward Chamberlayne, Angliae Notitia:

(UK, law, obsolete) An officer in the Court of King's Bench and Common Pleas whose duty it was to make out exigents.


stroam

en-verb

stroam (third-person singular simple present stroams, present participle stroaming, simple past and past participle stroamed)

stroams (present singular third-person)
stroaming (participle present)
stroamed (participle past)
stroamed (past)

British dialect strome (“to walk with long strides”).

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To wander about idly and vacantly.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To take long strides in walking.


glint in the milkman's eye

en-noun

glint in the milkman's eye (plural glints in the milkman's eye)

Created by analogy with similar expressions such "a glint in your father's eye", but implying the child was conceived adulterously; milkmen, visiting housewives while their husbands would have been at work, are often associated with adultery.

It’s no wonder then that, musically, from Summer Camp to Best Coast, we’ve stepped into a sepia time machine recently, transported back to a golden age where romance abounded and Justin Bieber was a mere glint in the milkman’s eye.

2010, Lisa Wright, “Album review: Twin Shadow - Forget (4AD)”, in NME:

"And which Pitt would this be? Pitt the Toddler? Pitt the Embryo? Pitt the Glint in the Milkman's Eye?"

1987, “Dish and Dishonesty”, in Blackadder the Third:

(UK, humorous) Someone or something that has not been born or conceived yet.


green ban

From green (“environmentally friendly”) + ban. First attested in Australia in 1973.

Though the overall, long-term effects of green bans are far from clear, they have caused a dramatic eruption of environmental concern into Australian thinking.

1973, Conservation Foundation, Conservation Foundation Letter, page 8:

1978 June, Harvey Wasserman, Unionizing Ecotopia, Mother Jones, page 32,
A unique and important coalition between environmentalists and labor unions has come about in Australia, in a movement known as “the Green Bans.” […] Essentially the Green Ban is a labor veto of socially and ecologically unsound plans. […] After careful consideration and a public meeting, the union posted a Green Ban, refusing to build on Kelly′s Bush.

In consequence they imposed green bans, a move which effectively prevented the execution of policy and forced a stay on proceedings.

1963, Richard Lucy, The Pieces of Politics, page 112:

One of the most interesting strategic alliances around environmental politics in the city was the Green Ban Movement that was active in Sydney from the early to mid 1970s.

1999, Steve Pile, Gerry Mooney, Chris Brook, Unruly Cities?: Order/Disorder, page 202:

(Australia, UK) A ban instigated by a trade union on construction or demolition work on a site deemed to be of cultural, historical or environmental significance.


caravanner

(UK) A person who holidays in a caravan (mobile home).


countor

(obsolete, UK, law) An advocate or professional pleader; one who counted for his client, that is, orally pleaded his cause


needways

en-adv

needways (comparative more needways, superlative most needways)

more needways (comparative)
most needways (superlative)

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) By or because of necessity; needwise.


sprod

Compare Goidelic and Irish bradan (“a salmon”).

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A salmon in its second year.


thirdings

(UK, law, obsolete) One third of the corn or grain growing on the ground at the tenant's death, paid to the lord as a heriot.


crowstone

en-noun

crowstone (countable and uncountable, plural crowstones)

Yoredale Sandstones […] Large quarries in the "crowstone," as the rock is locally calld, may also be seen in Ratcliffe Wood. […] along Hollin Lane, where the crowstone is again largely quarried.

(UK, dialect) Ganister, a kind of sandstone.


imparsonee

From Old French empersone. See in- and parson.

(UK, law, religion) Presented, instituted, and inducted into a rectory, and in full possession.


imparsonee

(UK, law, religion) A clergyman so inducted.


Chelsea pensioner

Chelsea pensioner (plural Chelsea pensioners)

(UK) Any of the retired British army officers now resident in Royal Hospital Chelsea, noted for their ceremonial scarlet coats and tricorne hats.


touze

en-verb

touze (third-person singular simple present touzes, present participle touzing, simple past and past participle touzed)

touzes (present singular third-person)
touzing (participle present)
touzed (participle past)
touzed (past)

As a bear, whom angry curs have touz'd.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 33:

Oh the moſt inhumane, barbarous Hackney-Coach! I'm jolted to a Jelly—Am I not horribly touz'd?

1693, [William] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Peter Buck, […], →OCLC, Act IV, page 34:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) Alternative form of touse


throw-off

We had not covered much more than three miles since the throw-off; but horses and hounds already exhibited a most interesting and picturesque tail.

1870 July, Wat Bradwood, “Our Drag”, in The Sporting magazine, volume 69, page 122:

The sixty horsemen spread away for the start, the two pretty Amazons set their lips, a mob of peasants in blue blouses form a noisy fringing to the phaetons and barouches which have come to see the throw-off, and conspicuous amidst all this we have M. Pistache's roan, which, unable to stand the music of the horns, first jumps, then pivots on its hind legs, then springs off like a shot, well-nigh wrenching M. Pistache's arms out of their sockets.

The 'throw-off' was at one o'clock, and the gallop lasted more than two hours and a half, so that the fox had a very long run.

On one occasion the meet was at Boughton House, the seat of the Duke of Buccleuch, when, just before the throw-off, the keeper requested Mr. Smith to come with him to see a curious matter.

2017, Thomas Smith, Sporting Incidents in the Life of Another Tom Smith:

He would be available as a chaperon for the feminine division, as he did not intend to do more than canter a mile or two after the throw-off.

2020, Rolf Boldrewood, Babes in the Bush:


arrentation

Compare French arrenter (“to give or take as rent”). See arendator.

cog

(law, UK, obsolete) A letting or renting, especially a licence to enclose land in a forest with a low hedge and ditch, under a yearly rent.


intercommon

en-verb

intercommon (third-person singular simple present intercommons, present participle intercommoning, simple past and past participle intercommoned)

intercommons (present singular third-person)
intercommoning (participle present)
intercommoned (participle past)
intercommoned (past)

From Old French entrecommuner. See inter- and common.

(obsolete, UK, law) To graze cattle promiscuously in the commons of each other, as the inhabitants of adjoining townships, manors, etc.


tillow

From Middle English *tilwe, *telwe, *telghe, from Old English telga, telge (“twig, branch, shoot”). More at tiller.


tillow

tillow (third-person singular simple present tillows, present participle tillowing, simple past and past participle tillowed)

tillows (present singular third-person)
tillowing (participle present)
tillowed (participle past)
tillowed (past)

From Middle English *tilwen, *telwien, *telȝen, from Old English telgian (“to put forth branches”), from Proto-West Germanic *telgōn, *tilgijan (“to branch, sprout, produce”).

inh

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To spread; branch out; send forth shoots.


stitch-up

The police planted the gun in my car. It was a stitch-up.

(British, slang) An act designed to maliciously or dishonestly incriminate someone.

Falle

an act designed to maliciously or dishonestly incriminate someone

Wilson's election as leader was a stitch-up by the committee.

Lynch added: "Our findings from our FOI requests on ticket office closures shows the whole process to be a stitch-up between the train operators, under the auspices of the Rail Delivery Group[,] and ministers.

2023 October 18, Mel Holley, “Network News: Harper attacks Labour over strikes... but unions hit back”, in RAIL, number 994, page 18:

(British, slang) Something arranged deceitfully and in secret.

interne Vereinbarung

something arranged deceitfully and in secret


tetterwort

Chelidonium majus
Chelidonium majus#Translingual

(UK) A plant used as a remedy for tetter, Chelidonium majus


undermeal

From Middle English undermele, undermel (“the early part of the afternoon, midday, noon; an afternoon meal or nap”), from Old English undernmǣl (“morning, morning time; morning meal”), equivalent to undern + meal. Compare the word for midday and the word undern.

By the time—he hath din'd at a taverne, and slept his undermeals at a bawdy-house, his purse is [empty].

(obsolete) Synonym of undern: originally terce and the morning, later (UK, dialectal, obsolete) noon and the early afternoon.


graith

en-verb

graith (third-person singular simple present graiths, present participle graithing, simple past and past participle graithed)

graiths (present singular third-person)
graithing (participle present)
graithed (participle past)
graithed (past)

From Middle English graithen, greithen, graiden, grathen, from Old Norse greiða (“to make ready, prepare, arrange, disentangle”), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną (“to prepare, put in order”). Cognate with Old English ġerǣdan (“to arrange, dispose, order, provide for, harness”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (garaidjan, “to enjoin”).

cog

At fairs he play'd before the spearmen, All gaily graithed in their gear-men.

1748, “The Life and Death of the Piper of Kilbarchan; or, the epitaph of Habbie Simson”, in Poems in the Scottish Dialect by several celebrated Poets, page 9:

Where didst thou steal that goodly coat of green, That thou art graithed in?

1820, Wallace; a historical tragedy, in five acts:

Many a winsome dwarf was seen, graithed in rich attire;

1903, “The Dwarf King's Court”, in The Masterpieces and the History of Literature:

(obsolete outside dialects, chiefly UK) To dress (someone or oneself) or be dressed.


fakeaway

Forget fine dining: even fairly foul dining courtesy of the humble takeaway will seem extravagant. Hence the arrival of the fakeaway.

2009 January 5, Jasper Gerard, “Eating out in 2009: the highs and the lows”, in The Telegraph:

(UK, Australia, informal) A homemade meal intended to replicate takeaway food ordered from a restaurant.


crevis

From Middle English crevis, from Old French crevice (“crayfish”).

By the gods, I know not how best to devise My name or my property well to disguise. A merchant, a may-pole, a man or a mackerel, A crab or a crevis, a crane or a cokerel?

1575, R.B., Appius and Virginia, page 11:

The fifth pair had each a fair large tray, strewed with fresh grass; and in them conger, burt, mullet, fresh herrings, oysters, salmon, crevis, and such like, from Neptunas, God of the sea.

1903, Sidney Lanier, Shakspere and His Forerunners, page 88:

In the household of Joan Holand, crayfish or lobsters (crevis) appeared on 26 and 27 February 1378 and on 1 and 2 October in the same year; at Hunstanton one crevis was served on Good Friday 1349; none appeared at Frampton.

1995, Christopher Woolgar, “Diet and Consumption in Gentry and Noble Households title=Rulers and Ruled in Late Medieval England”, in G. L. Harriss, Rowena E. Archer, Simon Walker, editor, (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 28:


impetration

en-noun

impetration (countable and uncountable, plural impetrations)

/ɪmpɪˈtɹeɪʃən/

From Latin impetrātiō: compare French impétration.

(obsolete, UK, law) The obtaining of benefice from Rome by solicitation, which benefice belonged to the disposal of the king or other lay patron of the realm.


whitester

(UK, archaic) A bleacher or whitener of linen


clothes line

(UK, New Zealand) Alternative spelling of clothesline


spadebone

a spadebone of mutton


frank-marriage

frank-marriage (countable and uncountable, plural frank-marriages)

an estate given with her in frank marriage by her ancestor

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

(obsolete, UK, law) A form of conditional marriage-gift of land under English law, often from father to daughter.


rhine

the Black Ditch and the Langmoor Rhine

1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

(UK, dialect) A watercourse; a ditch for water.


shadbird

From shad + bird, since it appears at the same time as the shad (a fish).

Gallinago delicata
Gallinago delicata#Translingual

(dated, UK, dialect) The American snipe; Wilson's snipe (Gallinago delicata).

Gallinago gallinago
Gallinago gallinago#Translingual

(dated, UK, dialect) The common snipe or European sandpiper (Gallinago gallinago).


hewhole

(UK, dialect) The European green woodpecker.


dozzled

en-adj

dozzled (comparative more dozzled, superlative most dozzled)

more dozzled (comparative)
most dozzled (superlative)

In such a perplexity every man asks his fellow, What's best to be done? and being dozzled with fear, thinks every man wiser than himself.

1693, John Hacket, Scrinia reserata: a Memorial offered to the great Deservings of John Williams, D.D:

The other stood cold as a pyramid, Lacked Beauty, lacked noble blend Of elbow and joist, Was dozzled, was too pipingly voiced To be perfect friend

1911, Frederick Fanning Ayer, “Twins”, in Bell and Wing, page 345:

He longed to see the familiar face of the Mahamatya Shaktar but his peetha (seat) was occupied by Rakshas, who, like his king Nanda, looked dozzled and careless.


cheslip

Unknown, perhaps alteration of an earlier term influenced by cheeselip.

Mouffet states that “the Asiatic Greeks called them χγαμος from their likenesse^([sic]) to a bean (Galen), for it looks like it when the Cheslip rolls itself up into a round body.”

1860, Ernest Adams, “On the names of the wood-louse”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, page 15:

In former times it was known as “Lugdor” and “Socchetre ;” and in common with the hoglouse it is familiar to rustics as “Churchlouse,” “Carpenter,” “Chinch,” or “Cheslip.”

1899, W.T. Fernie, Animal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure, “Woodlouse”, page 524:

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


stulm

… they have to advance the lower stulm on each side of the tunnel … the advancement of the stulm, … it must be finished, including the graveling.

1881, United States Bureau of Foreign Commerce, Commercial Relations of the United States: Reports from the Consuls of the United States on the Commerce, Manufactures, Etc., of Their Consular Districts, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 494:

… an upper chamber, a stulm, a lower chamber in open communication with the lower end of the head shaft, and arranged at substantially the level of the stulm, and a downwardly extending sill divinding the lower end of the shaft from the stulm so that the lower chamber is at normal pressure and the shaft is at negative pressure.

1932, Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, Volume 414, Digitized edition, U.S. Government Patent Office, published 2008, page 709:

(UK, dialect) A shaft, conduit, adit, or gallery to drain a mine.


glarney

As the word implies the glarneys were glass marbles, but no ball out of an old mineral-water bottle was ever dignified by receiving the name, though such balls were not despised possessions, and had the rank of twoers.

1953, Julian Franklyn, The Cockney: a survey of London life and language:

(UK, dated) A kind of patterned glass marble in children's games.


borough English

the great variety of customs affecting many of these tenements so held in ancient burgage, the principal and most remarkable of which is that called Borough English

(law, UK, obsolete) Patrilineal ultimogeniture; inheritance by the youngest surviving male child.


dogdraw

Dogge draw is, where any man hath stricken or wounded a wild beast‥and is found with a Hound or other Dogge drawing after him, to recouer the same.

1598, John Manwood, Treatise of the Forest Laws:

(UK, obsolete) The pursuit of deer with a dog.


crumpy

crumpy (comparative more crumpy, superlative most crumpy)

more crumpy (comparative)
most crumpy (superlative)

I had hardly swallowed my broiled chicken , and three fourths of a sweet fresh trout that was set before me ; and was just nibbling at a bit of crumpy oaten cake to give a goût to my cheese and my dram of brandy

1833, Andrew Picken, “The Priors of Lawford”, in Traditionary Stories of Old Families:


hoister

In order better to appreciate the use of argot among thieves, a visit to a few public bars of the third-class public houses of Kennington or in the immediate vicinity of the Elephant and Castle would prove of great value, as hoisters, whizzers, tea-leaves, con-heads, broadsmen and brass nobs […]

1931, The Police Journal, volume 4, page 504:

Like their friends the "draggers," the "hoisters" or shoplifters are having a thin time these days, […]

1945, Jack Henry, What Price Crime?, page 92:


butter pie

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

(UK) A traditional savoury pie consisting mainly of onions and potatoes.


no fear

The opposing senses of the interjection derive from the phrase functioning as an ellipsis of both have no fear ("be assured") and there is no fear of that happening ("it's impossible").

M. R. James (1904) Ghost Stories of an Antiquary: “"Why, did you show him up some rot?"
"No fear," he said.”

Dorothy L. Sayers (1947) Creed or Chaos: “Q: Will thou be baptized in this faith?
A: No fear!”

Toad: You should take up swimming!
Rabbit: No fear, toad!

1992, The Animals of Farthing Wood, episode 2:

You're afraid I would handle it? No fear.

(British, dated) Synonym of no way: absolutely not.


devil screecher

en-noun

devil screecher (plural devil screechers)

My informant seemed to look upon the swift as an uncanny bird, and called it by a name I had never heard before, devil-screecher.

1883, Edgar MacCulloch, “Notes, Queries, Notices and News”, in The Folk-Lore Journal, volume 1, number 12, page 394:


blacktail

Certain fish with black tails:
(UK) Salmo trutta

Certain fish with black tails:
Salmo trutta


cherry knocking

knock down ginger
knock down ginger#English

(UK, dialect) Synonym of knock down ginger (“prank of knocking on a front door and running away”)


Zil lane

ZiL (Zavod imeni Likhachova; Russian: Завод имени Лихачёва), Russian vehicle manufacturer which also produced armoured cars for most Soviet leaders. There were special lanes for these officials in the former Soviet Union.

2011, Harry Mount, “The Olympic Zil Lanes are disgusting - we must all ignore them”, in The Telegraph:

2012 February 15, London Evening Standard, Boris must ensure Zil lanes are not abused, says Assembly:

(UK, derogatory) Any of the road lanes in London, England, dedicated for vehicles transporting VIPs during the 2012 London Olympics.


moothill

The life, the sovereignty of the settlement resided solely in the body of the freeman whose holdings lay round the moothill or the sacred tree where the community met from time to time to deal out its own justice or make its own laws.

1874, John Richard Green, A Short History of the English People:

(UK, law, historical) A hill or elevated place where a meeting or council took place in Saxon England.


panshon

Tom struck at tratten wit beesom, an't heead floid intoo a panshon ful a watter, an nok't soide haht

1839, Abel Bywater, The Sheffield Dialect:

(UK, dialect) An earthen vessel, wider at the top than at the bottom, used for holding milk etc.


stable-stand

I'll keep my stable-stand where I lodge my wife, I'll go in couples with her.

The four indications of offence against Vert and Venison, in like manner arrange themselves in rhyme - Dog draw, stable stand, Backberinde, and bloody hand;-and this formed the precept of the Forester, and instructed him to seize the trespasser who was taken with the mayneer whilst roaming in the green-wood shade.

1818 December, “The Gothic Laws of Spain”, in Edinburgh Review, volume 31, number 61, page 96:

Ah, honest Will Rufus! You were the king for my money – ill betide the fool who shot thee; —you had a halter for every rogue; there was STABLESTAND, when the knave was found in the forest with his bow bent; DOGDRAW, when he was drawing with a hound after the hurt deer; BACKBEAR, when he had killed, and was carrying off, his venison; and BLOODYHAND, when he was seen coursing with blood upon his hands.

1834, George Soane, The Frolics of Puck - Volume 3, page 87:

The Law further provides that the Forester may take a man if he be found either at “Dog-draw," "Stable-stand," "Back-bear,” or “Bloody-hand."

1868, Thomas Newbigging, History of the Forest of Rossendale, page 63:

although it is usually known in common parlance as hunting, is not properly such, but comes under one of three heads, — "stalking," which is here generally termed still-hunting, where the animal is followed by his sign, left on the soil, or on the trees and coppice which he may have frayed, by the aid of the eye and experience in woodcraft and the habits of the quarry alone, without the assistance of hounds— "stable-stand," where the sportsman, taking his station at the intersection of deer-paths, at a haunted salt-lick, or at a well-ascertained watering place, awaits the voluntary advent of the animal, when he shall be impelled to move by the solicitation of his own instincts—or, lastly, "dog-draw," where, posting himself, as before, in such place as he judges likely to be passed by the fugitive, the shooter expects its coming when driven by slow hounds, who have drawn for it, and aroused it from its lair, under the guidance of his servants or companions.

1868, Frank Forester, The Complete Manual for Young Sportsmen, page 37:

These dogs were used to hunt up the game also when the deer was to be shot with the bow. The sportsmen would be standing at their trysts or stable-stand in some alley or glade of the wood, and the hounds be put into the covert or park "to tease them forth."

2013, Edward of Norwich, William A. Baillie-Grohman, F. N. Baillie-Grohman, The Master of Game, page 261:

(UK, law, obsolete) The position of a person found standing in the forest with a crossbow or longbow bent, ready to shoot at a deer, or close by a tree with greyhounds in a leash ready to slip; one of the four presumptions that a person intended to steal the king's deer.


gorebill

From Middle English gore, gare (“spear”) + bill. More at gar.


Tyburn ticket

Tyburn was formerly a place of execution in England.

(UK, law, obsolete) A certificate given to one who prosecutes a felon to conviction, exempting them from certain parish and ward offices.


bordland

bordar (or perhaps bord (“a board”)) + land.

(UK, law, obsolete) The land held by a bordar.

(UK, law, obsolete) The land which a lord kept for the maintenance of his board, or table.


hurden

hurden (countable and uncountable, plural hurdens)

(UK, dialect) A coarse kind of linen made from hurds.


siddow

en-adj

siddow (comparative more siddow, superlative most siddow)

more siddow (comparative)
most siddow (superlative)


fouthy

fouthy (comparative fouthier or more fouthy, superlative fouthiest or most fouthy)

fouthier (comparative)
more fouthy (comparative)
fouthiest (superlative)
most fouthy (superlative)

From fouth (“abundance, fullness, plenty”) + -y.

suffix

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Ample; plentiful; free in giving; generous; hospitable.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Having the appearance of fulness; full-looking.


ganil

Here [in Pure limes] may be included stalactites , marble , limestone , chalk , zufa , ganil

1799, John Coakley Lettsom, The Naturalist's and Traveller's Companion:

(UK, dialect) A kind of brittle limestone.


cuinage

(obsolete, UK) The stamping of pigs of tin, by the proper officer, with the arms of the duchy of Cornwall.


thave

(UK, dialect) Alternative form of theave


ligeance

From Middle English legiaunce, from Old French ligeance, legeance, ligance; equivalent to liege + -ance; compare allegiance.


trucky

en-adj

trucky (comparative truckier or more trucky, superlative truckiest or most trucky)

truckier (comparative)
more trucky (comparative)
truckiest (superlative)
most trucky (superlative)

(chiefly UK dialectal, Northern England) Cheating, cheaty.


battel

From Middle English batel, batayle from Old French bataille, from Late Latin battālia, variant of battuālia (“military exercises”), from Latin battuō (“to strike, hit, beat, fight”), from a Gaulish root, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to stab, dig”). Doublet of battalia and battle.

der

trial by battel; wager of battel


battel

en-noun

battel (countable and uncountable, plural battels)

(UK, Oxford University, chiefly in the plural) Fees charged by a college for accommodation and living expenses.

(UK, Oxford University, chiefly in the plural, obsolete) Provisions ordered from the kitchen and buttery.

(UK, Eton College, obsolete) A small allowance of food collegers receive from their dames (matrons) in addition to their college allowance


parmo

From parmesan + -o, from the original name of the dish, escalope parmesan.

But I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and felt sure that a parmo's bark (smell and appearance) could not possibly be as bad as its bite (taste).

2012, Tim Moore, You Are Awful (But I Like You): Travels Around Unloved Britain:

(UK, chiefly Teesside) A north-eastern English dish of deep-fried breaded chicken topped with béchamel sauce and cheese, sometimes served like a pizza with additional toppings.


Easterling

Possibly modeled on Dutch oosterling. Compare sterling.

And that most greeued [grieved] them, the Easterlings being at libertie, brought to the realme such wares as they were woont, so serued their customers throughout the realme.

1587, Raphael Holinshed, “Henrie the Seuenth”, in Holinshed's Chronicles of England in Six Volumes. Vol. III. England, London: J. Johnson, page 508:


slike

en-verb

slike (third-person singular simple present slikes, present participle sliking, simple past and past participle sliked)

slikes (present singular third-person)
sliking (participle present)
sliked (participle past)
sliked (past)

From Middle English *slīken, from Old English slīcan (“to strike”), from Proto-West Germanic *slīkan, from Proto-Germanic *slīkaną (“to hew, hammer, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyg-, *sleyǵ- (“to beat”). Cognate with Old Frisian slēc (“a shock, blow”), Middle Low German slîken (“to beat”), Old English sliċċ, sliċ (“beater, hammer, mallet”), Latin ligō, ligōnis (“hoe, mattock”).

inh

(transitive, UK dialectal) To rend asunder; cleave.


builder's tea

en-noun

builder's tea (usually uncountable, plural builder's teas)

From builder + -'s + tea, from its supposedly being the preferred type of tea of British builders and construction workers.

It has got the lot, this, underneath its hinged awning: eggs any way, sausage, old-fashioned burgers and builders' tea.

2001 March 30, Stephen Moss, “Meals on wheels”, in The Guardian:

I ate a kebab in a Cypriot cafe with the freezing rain spatting in the doorway and I was poured a soup-like cup of builder's tea.

2005, Barbara Bailey, An eccentric marriage: Living with Jim, →ISBN, page 185:

The meal should be taken with milky "builder's tea" steeped strong in the mug.

2008, William Morrow, Beef: The untold story of how milk, meat and muscle shaped the world, →ISBN, page 177:

Armed with a cup of Alison's strong, thick, builder's tea, Mrs Jamal started falteringly into the story she had told countless times to sceptical police officers and lawyers.

2010, M. R. Hall, The Disappeared, →ISBN:

(UK) Black tea, brewed strong and served in a large mug with milk and sugar.


spoffish

en-adj

spoffish (comparative more spoffish, superlative most spoffish)

more spoffish (comparative)
most spoffish (superlative)

Probably from British English dialect spoffle (“to be spoffish”).

, Horatio Sparkins
Mr. Malderton, […] a little spoffish man, with green spectacles, entered the room.

(UK, colloquial, dated) earnest and active in matters of no importance; bustling


swanmark

None may have a Swanmark, unless it be by Grant of the King

(UK) A mark of ownership cut on the bill of a swan.


third penny

(UK, law, obsolete) A third part of the profits of fines and penalties imposed at the country court, which was among the perquisites enjoyed by the earl.


tineman

Probably akin to tine (“to shut or enclose”).

(obsolete, UK, law) An officer of the forest who had the care of vert and venison by night.


creeple

There is one creeping beast, or long creeple (as the name is in Devonshire), that hath a rattle at his tail that doth discover his age.

1632, Thomas Morton, New English Canaan:

(obsolete, UK, dialect) A creeping creature; a reptile.


poor knights of Windsor

en-noun

poor knights of Windsor pl (plural only)


scurrit

Sternula albifrons
Sternula albifrons#Translingual

(UK, dialect) The lesser tern (Sternula albifrons).


white-pot

Old Violet was a worthy colored woman who kept a goody shop, where school children could buy journey or johnny cake, white pot, or poor man's custard, and candy

1905, Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, Newport: Our Social Capital:

(UK, Devon, dialect) A kind of food made of milk or cream, eggs, sugar, bread, etc., baked in a pot.


reasty

en-adj

reasty (comparative more reasty, superlative most reasty)

more reasty (comparative)
most reasty (superlative)

Much bacon is reasty

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

So I could pluck a crow with Poet Martial for calling it puire halec, the scauld rotten herring; be he meant that of the fat, reasty Scottish herrings, which will endure no salt, and in one month (bestow what cost on them you will) wax rammish if they be kept.

1599, Thomas Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe:

Moist and muggy weather will turn it reasty sooner than anything.

1908, Thomas B. Finney, Handy Guide: For the Use of Pork Butchers, Butchers, Bacon Curers, Sausage and Brawn Manufacturers, Provision Merchants, Etc.:

The on'y flesh meaat we 'ad fur the six on us i' the wik wer' 2 lbs. of what we termed Rang-tank baacon— a reasty article it wer' too — but to me then, even the salt and the reasty crust on it were delicious.

1914, Henry Boddington, “William Dover: A Buckinghamshire Worthy”, in The Manchester Quarterly, volume 33, page 6:

(UK, dialect) Rusty and rancid; applied to salt meat.

His nose led him to the top of the basement stairs and there almost dissuaded him. Jessica might have been tanning, the atmosphere was so remarkable. He went quietly down into the reasty dark.

1983, Margery Allingham, More Work For the Undertaker, page 67:

Now, I picture the Romanesque beauty of Vinohrady, the reasty—yes, reasty—squalor of Žižkov, with its endless graffiti and bohemian charm, and Jiřího z Poděbrad, with its sea of pink and yellow and blue apartment blocks of various mild hues: a storybook fantasy, an architect's dream.

2018, Ronan J O'Shea, Bad Bread, Good Blues:

That said, Sackville-West's 'mild' epic is more capacious than Lembke's line, since it can accommodate an elaboarate poem such as 'Nocturne' with which she closes 'Spring', a poem which celebrates the nightingale's song and the music of the spheres, alongside her efforts 'to document the age-old Kentish skills and processes and the Kentish landscape', such as castrating the male lambs ('He shall turn little rams to little tegs') and carting manure ('the dung-cart with its reasty load').

2019, Nicholas Freer, Bobby Xinyue, Reflections and New Perspectives on Virgil's Georgics:

There's a chap who used to come here used to work at our place we used to call him reasty Roy.

2021, Sebastian Groes, R. M. Francis, Smell, Memory, and Literature in the Black Country, page 93:

(by extension, UK, dialect) Rank and smelly.

The horse turned reasty and would not start for some time.

You'l lie downe shortly. Get you in, and worke! What, are you growne so reasty you want heates?

1906, Francis Beaumont, The Maids Tragedie:

"Methingks you Clithereare's nun hath a reasty look , forsooth!" "Reasty?", retorted that housewife, " Callest thou me a whipper-ginnie, thou hufty-tufty cumtwang?"

1978, Logophile - Volume 2, Issue 6, page 10:


turnwrest

(UK, historical, agriculture) A cumbersome kind of plough formerly used in England, especially in Kent.


brickish

brickish (comparative more brickish, superlative most brickish)

more brickish (comparative)
most brickish (superlative)

"It's awfully brickish of you, Worcester," said Acton, as Grim was heard trotting up the corridor "to stand down."

(slang, UK, dated) Like a brick, a helpful or reliable person.


doddart

en-noun

doddart (countable and uncountable, plural doddarts)

(UK, dialect, uncountable) A game much like hockey, played in an open field.

(UK, dialect) The bent stick used in playing this game.


clotbur

a weed with large leaves and burs somewhat like those of the burdock or clotbur

1879, Richard Chandler Alexander Prior, On the popular names of British plants:


weakiness

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Moisture.


worldy

(UK, slang) Alternative form of worldie (“anything particularly excellent of its kind”)


weaky

en-adj

weaky (comparative weakier, superlative weakiest)

weakier (comparative)
weakiest (superlative)

From English dialectal *weak (“moist, moisture”) + -y. *Weak derives from Middle English *weke, *wak, *wok, from Old Norse vǫkr (“moist, damp, wet”) and Old Norse vǫkvi, vǫkva (“moisture, juice”), from Proto-Germanic *wakwaz (“moist”) and *wakwô, *wakwijô (“moisture, wetness, open water, icehole”), from Proto-Indo-European *wegʷ- (“wet”). Cognate with Scots wak, wakke, waik (“moist, damp, wet", also "moisture, wetness”), Middle Dutch wac (“flexible, liquid, moist, soft”), Modern Dutch wak (“ice-hole, blowhole”), Middle Low German wake (“hole in the ice, open water in the ice”), Swedish vak (“hole in the ice”), Icelandic vökur (“moist”), Icelandic vökvi, vökva (“fluid”), Latin ūmeō (“be wet, moist, damp”, verb). Compare also voky, woky.

cog

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Moist; damp; clammy.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Juicy; mellow.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Watery.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Pliant; soft.


Towie

(UK, slang) The Only Way Is Essex, a television reality show based in Essex, England.


wacken

en-adj

wacken (comparative more wacken, superlative most wacken)

more wacken (comparative)
most wacken (superlative)

From Middle English waken, from Old English wacen, ġewacen, from Proto-Germanic *wakanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *wakaną (“to wake, be awake, arise”), equivalent to wake + -en (past participle ending).


railway vehicle

en-noun

railway vehicle (plural railway vehicles)


more power to your elbow

/mɔː ˈpaʊə tʊ jə ˈɛlbəʊ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-more power to your elbow.wav

/mɔɹ ˈpaʊɚ tʊ jɚ ˈɛlboʊ/

Possibly an elaboration of more power to you, with the speaker expressing the wish that the person addressed will have more strength to achieve their goal.

Naturally the forms of traction occupy Mr. [Geoffrey] Freeman Allen much of his time and he sits on no fence here; he is an "electrifier", with good reasons advanced—more power to his elbow.

1959 May, G. F. Fiennes (reviewer), “New Reading on Railways: British Railways Today and Tomorrow. By G. Freeman Allen. Ian Allan. 25s.”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 271:

(British) Used to express admiration of a person coupled with wishes for their continued success in an endeavour of their own choosing: all the best; good luck.


light railway

Under a Light Railway Order of 1904, the line was extended to Appledore, and opened thence on May 1, 1908, bringing the route length up to a fraction over 7 miles. The whole system was worked under this Order as a light railway, but this caused some friction with the local authorities when, under the authority of the Board of Trade, the gates were removed at five level crossings in May, 1905.

1939 June, “Pertinent Paragraphs: The Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 459:

Although the line is officially a light railway, it is of standard gauge, and the traffic, particularly during and since the war years, is anything but light.

1948 September and October, G. E. C. Webb, “By Light Railway to Fawley”, in Railway Magazine, page 307:

(rail transport, UK) A railway built at a lower cost, with a lighter track and to a lower standard than a main-line railway.


railway carriage

railway carriage (plural railway carriages)

(UK, rail transport) A railroad car (for passengers)


insense

en-verb

insense (third-person singular simple present insenses, present participle insensing, simple past and past participle insensed)

insenses (present singular third-person)
insensing (participle present)
insensed (participle past)
insensed (past)

From Old French ensenser (“to enlighten, to bring to sense”), from en- + sens (“sense”).

uder

eagle eyes upon the insensed yet fearful monarch

(UK, dialect) To make to understand; to instruct.


fausen

The wave-sprung entrails, about which fausens and other fish
Did shoal,

[1611?], Homer, “Book XXI”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:


shug

en-verb

shug (third-person singular simple present shugs, present participle shugging, simple past and past participle shugged)

shugs (present singular third-person)
shugging (participle present)
shugged (participle past)
shugged (past)

From Middle English shuggen, shoggen, schoggen (“to shake, shake off, mix by shaking, tremble, shake loose from one's clothing”), probably a variant of Middle English schokken (“to move rapidly, shake, push”), from Middle Low German schocken (“to shake, tremble”). See schokken.

der

the Comtesse Leinsengen again shugged her shoulders , drew her shawl around her , and was preparing to depart

1830, Lady Charlotte Campbell Bury, The Exclusives:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To writhe the body so as to produce friction against one's clothes, as do those who have the itch.

There I'll shug in and get a noble countenance.

1621, John Ford, Thomas Dekker, William Rowley, The Witch of Edmonton:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To crawl; to sneak.


ill-favouredness

Those of Mexico […] so love to have great dugs, that they strive to have their children sucke over their shoulders. So would we set forth ilfavordnesse [translating laideur].

(UK, now rare) The quality of being ill-favoured; ugliness.


sharpling

From sharp + -ling. Compare German Schärfling (“stickleback”).


esplees

From Latin expletia, Old French espleit. Compare exploit.

in a writ of Eſchete, in a writ of right ſur diſclaimer, and ſuch like, which are founded vpon the ſeigniory, and not vpon any ſeiſin of the land it ſelfe, no eſplees ſhall be alledged

1627, Henry Finch, Lavv: Or, A Discovrse Thereof, in Foure Bookes:

(law, UK, obsolete) The full profits or products yielded by land, such as hay, pasturage, grain, rents, services, and the like.


tibrie

(UK, dialect, dated) A fish, the pollock.


dolly knot

(UK) a hitch knot used to tension ropes, often for the purpose of securing loads for transport.


shaffle

en-verb

shaffle (third-person singular simple present shaffles, present participle shaffling, simple past and past participle shaffled)

shaffles (present singular third-person)
shaffling (participle present)
shaffled (participle past)
shaffled (past)

(obsolete, UK, dialect) To hobble or limp; to shuffle.


coloriser

(rare, UK) Non-Oxford British English spelling of colorizer


bewist

From Middle English biwist, biwest, from Old English bīwist (“sustenance, food, provision, necessities”), equivalent to be- + wist (“being”), or by- + wist (“being”). More at be-, was.

inh

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) Food; provision; victual; a living.

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) State or condition of life.

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) Abiding; dwelling; sojourn; living.

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) Dwelling-place; abode; habitation.


cheeser

From Middle English cheser; equivalent to cheese + -er. The smile is said to resemble the uniform white coloration of cheese, or possibly related to the phrase say cheese.

It had been the same in another bedroom, too high for pleasure in those days, with its ornate grate and bedside table of shining walnut, on which the loot of his boyhood days looked guiltily out-of-place—lead soldiers, squashed toffees, lengths of string, cheesers, marbles, odd catapult parts, one cowboy “sixgun".

1967, Geoffrey Atheling Wagner, The Sands of Valor, page 78:

There were sniggers from the Plummergen spectators as they saw that the conker dangling from the string in his hand was a cheeser, one of the awkward, wedge-shaped nuts produced when two or more horse chestnuts developed inside the same prickly husk.

1994, Hamilton Crane, Miss Seeton Undercover, page 214:

We would all collect the largest and hardest cheesers we could find.

2010, John Sidney Rickerby, The Other Belfast: An Irish Youth, page 95:

(UK, dialect) A conker, especially one with a flat side.


green-ink letter

en-noun

green-ink letter (plural green-ink letters)

/ˌɡɹiːn.ɪŋk ˈlɛtə/

/ˌɡɹin.ɪŋk ˈlɛtɚ/

(chiefly British) A letter written to a newspaper editor, politician, etc., expressing eccentric views; such a letter is often stereotyped as being handwritten in green ink, characterized by the frequent use of capital letters and underlining, and lengthy.


bewill

en-verb

bewill (third-person singular simple present bewills, present participle bewilling, simple past and past participle bewilled)

bewills (present singular third-person)
bewilling (participle present)
bewilled (participle past)
bewilled (past)

From be- + will (“wandering, stray, lost in error”). Cognate with Scots bewild (“to bewill”).

prefix

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To cause to go astray.


dahn

At the end o' the six paces yer cuts yer 'and away an' brings it smartly dahn ter yer side an' looks to yer front.

He's got a kind of a way with him an' he sits dahn with the like of huz, and he talks to us as if we was men in place o' bein' cattle, which is the way with most on 'em.

1904, David Christie Murray, VC -- A Chronicle of Castle Barfield and of the Crimea:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling


dahn

“So, wot, people'd pay to throw you dahn the stairs? Dunno abaht that. People in these parts is used to throwing one another dahn stairs for free.

2007, Howard Whitehouse, Bill Slavin, The Faceless Fiend: The Faceless Fiend: Being the Tale of a Criminal Mastermind, His Masked Minions and a Princess with a Butter Knife, Involving Explosives and a Certain Amount of Pushing and Shoving, Book 2:

He's cool. Does triathlons dahn de Sahn.

2013 September 5, James Burton, The Bermuda Sun, archived from the original on 2022-12-12:

(UK, Bermuda) Pronunciation spelling of down.


piewipe

(UK, archaic, dialect, East Anglia, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire) A bird, the lapwing or peewit.


green-ink brigade

/ˌɡɹiːn.ɪŋk bɹɪˈɡeɪd/

/ˌɡɹin.ɪŋk bɹɪˈɡeɪd/

Origin unknown. Since formal letters are usually written in black or blue ink, perhaps there is a suggestion that only eccentric people use green ink.

For the moment, electoral reform is dead. This is comforting on balance, for the subject, along with fluoridation and a few others, is one which experienced journalists tend to avoid. It tends to bring out the green ink brigade. No electoral reform: no lengthy letters to the Editor from Miss Enid Lakeman. Good. We can all breathe again.

1980 January 13, Alan Watkins, “Gerrymandering for the aid of the party”, in Donald Trelford, editor, The Observer, number 9829, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9, column 3:

There is something perversely satisfying about the fact that, […] our elected legislature was taken over lock, stock and barrel by the green ink brigade. I should explain at once that the expression is the more-or-less-affectionate description given by journalists and politicians to the people who write them eccentric letters, often in block capitals and frequently underlined in multicoloured inks. For some reason I have never heard satisfactorily explained, the most obsessive of these correspondents seem to prefer green.

1985 March 8, Ian Aitken, “Tories who are fluoriding high before the fall”, in Peter Preston, editor, The Guardian, number 58719, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10, column 1:

Even before I began I had numerous warnings from colleagues to “beware of the green-ink brigade”, conjuring the spectre of obsessive correspondents who would write at great length and persistently, typically covering their copious sheets in longhand scrawled in green ink. I have seen one or two – and I mean just one or two – that more or less fit the description, Guardian readers all.

1998 November 7, Ian Mayes, “The Readers’ Editor on … his first year in the job: First aid for the injured”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian (Saturday Review), number 47,326, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, column 5; republished in Victor Keegan, editor, The Guardian Year ’99, London: Fourth Estate, 1999, →ISBN, page 152:

In some broadcasting circles it has become fashionable to be cynical about the listener/viewer. It is tempting to go along with that, especially if you have been on the receiving end of those extraordinary letters from ‘the green ink brigade’, criticizing your programmes and often you personally.

2004, Jenni Mills, “Who are You Talking To?”, in The Broadcast Voice, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Focal Press, →ISBN, page 38:

At least the poor bastard who receives the letter will be able to bin it after reading the first couple of lines instead of having to sit through it to the bitter end like me. […] The green-ink brigade, they were known as there. Because invariably those with enough time on their hands to write and complain about stupid things did so in green ink.

2011, Linda Green, chapter 20, in And Then It Happened, London: Headline Review, Headline Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 225:

Devo-sceptics outside the Assembly were furious when we changed the working title of the executive branch to Welsh Assembly Government. They thought we were assuming airs and graces. The letters poured in from the green ink brigade to the local evening newspapers – they had never accepted the referendum result anyway.

2017, Rhodri Morgan, “Earning Respect: 2000–2003”, in Rhodri: A Political Life in Wales and Westminster, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, →ISBN, page 197:

Once my 'outrageous' private life was made public the green-ink brigade took it upon themselves to write to me with rather impressively detailed ways in which they were going to kill me and my family.

2019, Sandi Toksvig, “Peckham Road/Southampton Way”, in Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus, London: Virago Press, →ISBN:

(chiefly British) Collectively, those people who write letters to newspaper editors, politicians, etc., expressing eccentric views; the letters are often stereotyped as being lengthy, handwritten in green ink, and characterized by the frequent use of capital letters and underlining.


weet-weet

So called from its piping cry when disturbed.

(UK, dialect) The common European sandpiper.


baldrib

Leg, bladebone, baldrib, griskin, chine, or chop
Profess myself a genuine Philopig

1828, Robert Southey, Epistle to Allan Cunningham:

(UK, dated) A piece of pork cut lower down than the sparerib, and destitute of fat.


patterer

(UK, slang, obsolete) One who patters, or talks glibly.

The running patterer cares less than other street-sellers for bad weather, for if he "work" on a wet and gloomy evening, and if the work be "a cock," which is a fictitious statement or even a pretended fictitious statement, there is the less chance of any one detecting the ruse.

1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor:


caird

(UK, dialect) A travelling tinker; a tramp, or sturdy beggar.


hareld

Clangula hyemalis
Clangula hyemalis#Translingual

(UK, archaic) A long-tailed duck, of species Clangula hyemalis.


lance-jack

They made him a lance-jack; but it was only because they wanted somebody tall at the end of the front rank to fix bayonets by.

1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 44:

(UK, military slang) A lance-corporal or lance-bombadier.


gainand

en-adj

gainand (comparative more gainand, superlative most gainand)

more gainand (comparative)
most gainand (superlative)

From Middle English gainand, present participle of Middle English gainen (“to gain, benefit”), equivalent to gain + -and.

der

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) Appropriate; becoming; fit; suitable; convenient.


withtake

en-verb

withtake (third-person singular simple present withtakes, present participle withtaking, simple past withtook, past participle withtaken)

withtakes (present singular third-person)
withtaking (participle present)
withtook (past)
withtaken (participle past)

From Middle English withtaken; equivalent to with- + take.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To withhold; retain.


swebby

en-adj

swebby (comparative swebbier or more swebby, superlative swebbiest or most swebby)

swebbier (comparative)
more swebby (comparative)
swebbiest (superlative)
most swebby (superlative)


sweb

en-verb

sweb (third-person singular simple present swebs, present participle swebbing, simple past and past participle swebbed)

swebs (present singular third-person)
swebbing (participle present)
swebbed (participle past)
swebbed (past)

From Middle English swebben (“to sleep, swoon”), from Old English swebban (“to put to sleep, lull, kill”), from
From Proto-West Germanic *swabbjan, from Proto-Germanic *swabjaną, *swēbijaną (“to lull, put to sleep”), from Proto-Indo-European *swep-, *sup- (“to sleep”). Cognate with Icelandic svefja (“to put to sleep, lull, soothe”), Latin sōpiō (“put to sleep, lull”, verb). Related to sweven.

cog

Hoo swebbed, all droked in sweat, frae the heat o' the desert sun.
She fainted, all drenched in sweat, from the heat of the desert sun.

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England) To swoon; faint.


sweb

(UK dialectal, Northern England) A swoon.


sweight

From Middle English sweyght, derivative of Middle English sweiȝen (“to sway”), equivalent to sway + -th.

main sweight

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A portion or amount; the greatest amount or the greater part of anything; a multitude; a great number or quantity.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) The force of a moving object or body in motion; violence.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A rush; an impetus; a burden, weight, or force.


broggle

en-verb

broggle (third-person singular simple present broggles, present participle broggling, simple past and past participle broggled)

broggles (present singular third-person)
broggling (participle present)
broggled (participle past)
broggled (past)

A derivative of dialectal English brog (“sniggle, fish with a brog”), equivalent to brog + -le. Compare brog (noun).

And as this way of fishing is called Sniggling, so it is called Broggling for Eels

(UK, dialect) To sniggle, or fish with a brog.


expeditate

expeditate (third-person singular simple present expeditates, present participle expeditating, simple past and past participle expeditated)

expeditates (present singular third-person)
expeditating (participle present)
expeditated (participle past)
expeditated (past)

From Latin expeditatus, past participle of expeditare (“to expeditate”), from ex (“out”) + ped- (“foot”).

They expeditated the dogs, to stop them chasing deer.

(UK, obsolete, transitive, law, forest law) To deprive of the claws or the balls of the forefeet.


hidness

From Middle English hidnes, hudnesse, from Old English ġehȳdnes (“comfort, security”), equivalent to hide + -ness.

inh

(UK dialectal Scotland) Secrecy; hiddenness.


lurt

Of North Germanic origin, related to Danish lort (“excrement”) and Norwegian lort (“filth, dirt, excrement”).

cog

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A lump of dirt or excrement; a turd.


hiddle

en-verb

hiddle (third-person singular simple present hiddles, present participle hiddling, simple past and past participle hiddled)

hiddles (present singular third-person)
hiddling (participle present)
hiddled (participle past)
hiddled (past)

From Middle English hidel, hydel, an alteration, due to final s mistaken for the plural ending, of Middle English hidils, hudels (“hiding-place, concealment”), from Old English hȳdels (“a place of concealment, hiding-place, cavern, cave”), equivalent to hide + -le. For loss of final s compare burial, riddle. More at hide, huddle.

inh

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To hide; conceal.

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To nestle closely; take shelter.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To shelter (in one's arms).


sangar

From Pashto سنګر (sangar) or from Persian سنگر (sangar).

At the summits of these the enemy sharpshooters waited for them in sangars, or rock-built entrenchments, each of which had to be taken before the advance could safely continue.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 422:

A sangar is a breastwork in the form of stonewalls built without bounding material. If stones are unavailable at or near the picket site sandbags are brought in to build the sangar.

2002, Stephen Hughes, The Iraqi Threat and Saddam Hussein′s Weapons of Mass Destruction, page 140:

As the sun finally set, the rebels rushed the sangars, but were cut to pieces by the deadly accurate SAS fire.

2003, Mike Ryan, Secret Operations of the SAS, page 81:

The game′s up, thought Piet as the Burghers returned fire and moved forward to attack the sangar.

(military, UK) A stone breastwork; a fortified niche or look-out post.


fulham

So called because loaded dice were supposed to have been chiefly made at Fulham, originally in Middlesex, England.

“Cards may be more agreeable,” said Captain Colepepper; “and, for knowing your company, here is honest old Pillory will tell you Jack Colepepper plays as truly on the square as e’er a man that trowled a die–Men talk of high and low dice, Fulhams and bristles, topping, knapping, slurring, stabbing, and a hundred ways of rooking besides; but broil me like a rasher of bacon, if I could ever learn the trick on ‘em!”

1822, Sir Walter Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel:

(archaic, UK, slang) Alternative form of fullam (“loaded die”)

As one cut out to pass your tricks on, / With fulhams of poetic fiction

c. 1660–1680, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part II, canto 1:

(archaic, UK, colloquial, by extension) Alternative form of fullam (“sham”)


Eastie

(UK, informal, television) EastEnders, a long-running British soap opera set in the East End of London.


scrouge

en-verb

scrouge (third-person singular simple present scrouges, present participle scrouging, simple past and past participle scrouged)

scrouges (present singular third-person)
scrouging (participle present)
scrouged (participle past)
scrouged (past)

Well, pretty soon the whole town was there, squirming and scrouging and pushing and shoving to get at the window and have a look[…]

1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

I look for veiled eyes or bodies scrouged into a seat in an alien world.

1983, Judson R. Landis, Sociology: concepts and characteristics:

We stayed up till eleven, sitting on the stairs, on the floor, and scrouged into the day room, surrounded by stacks of GI clothes.

2001, Aileen Kilgore Henderson, Stateside Soldier: Life in the Women's Army Corps, 1944-1945, page 12:

(UK, dialect and US, colloquial, transitive) To crowd; to squeeze.


shurely shome mishtake

Pronunciation spelling of surely some mistake. Originally coined by Private Eye in imitation of the slurred speech of a drunken editor, or of the lisping Daily Telegraph editor Bill Deedes.

pronunciation spelling of

[They] were overwhelmed by the buffet, consisting of a "huge bowel [shurely shome mishtake?] of great pink shrimps balanced on their heads, guarded by a three foot ice swan"

1990, Congress for Cultural Freedom, Encounter, volume 74, page 40:

The letter in AI 2.10.97 re the Philips Pavilion makes me wonder again why that 'experience' (copyright PM Millennium Inc) was so easily hated - and panned again by your reviewer. Why, only a few weeks ago your 'Mayo' called it 'Corbusier's Swiss Pavilion'. Shurely shome mishtake?

1997, John McKean, “Hard to see what's in front of your eyes”, in The Architect's Journal, volume 206, page 27:

Surely this was worthy of comment, if not a headline: "UK drink-driving limit allows binge drinking - shurely shome mishtake?"

2004, Paul Blezard, “Binge and Drive”, in New Scientist, number 2464:

The Star also reports: "A public farewell is being planned next week in Brisbane's football stadium to accommodate all his millions of fans." The Wrap is not sure how big the stadium is, but thinks this might be a case of shurely shome mishtake?

2006 September 13, Mark Oliver, “The Wrap - No Love Lost”, in The Guardian:

(UK, informal) Highlights a mistake, actual or perceived, which the writer feels is ironic or humorous.


roody

en-adj

roody (comparative more roody, superlative most roody)

more roody (comparative)
most roody (superlative)


grundel

From Middle English grundel, grundyl, perhaps from Old English gryndle (“herring”). Compare also Middle Dutch grondele, grondel, Middle Low German grundele, grundel (“groundling”). See groundling.

(UK, dialect, archaic) A kind of fish, the groundling.


tath

en-noun

tath (countable and uncountable, plural taths)

From Middle English tath, from Old Norse tað (“manure”), from Proto-Germanic *tadą (“manure”), from Proto-Indo-European *dāy- (“to divide, split, part, section”). Cognate with Icelandic tað (“manure, dung”), dialectal Swedish tad (“manure, dung”).

der

after the sheep have trod out a great quantity of stones, in feeding off turnips, to have them raked up clean, which I have known some farmers do, nor can the rake be used without taking some of the tathe, or dung, with them .

1804, Arthur Young, The Farmer's Calendar:

(UK, dialectal, agriculture, historical or archaic, Scotland) The dung of livestock left on a field to serve as manure or fertiliser.

(UK, dialectal, agriculture, histortical or archaic, Scotland) A piece of ground dunged by livestock.

(UK, dialectal, agriculture, historical or archaic, Scotland) Strong grass growing around the dung of kine.


tath

en-verb

tath (third-person singular simple present taths, present participle tathing, simple past and past participle tathed)

taths (present singular third-person)
tathing (participle present)
tathed (participle past)
tathed (past)

From Middle English tathen, from Old Norse teðja (“to manure”), from Proto-Germanic *tadjaną (“to strew, scatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *dāy- (“to divide, split, part, section”). Cognate with Icelandic teðja (“to dung, manure”), Norwegian tedja (“to dung”), German zetten (“to let fall in small pieces, let crumble”).

cog

I would have no more ploughed than has been tathed the preceding year

(UK, dialectal, agriculture, historical or archaic, Scotland) To manure (land) by pasturing cattle on it, or causing them to lie upon it.


Ugandan discussions

Now that Andy has dispensed with her services, Grovel can reveal that the former soft-porn star was enjoying Ugandan discussions in St Moritz last Christmas with Lome Thyssen, 20-year-old son of the multi-millionaire steel tycoon Baron Heini Thyssen.

1983, Private Eye, numbers 550-575, page 215:

A letter came back on Department of Education notepaper. "Very sorry I can't do lunch. I am usually engaged in Ugandan discussions at lunchtime. I will be happy to see you in the evening."

2009, Ion Trewin, Alan Clark: The Biography, →ISBN:

Boys make gay jokes about most other boys, without any implication that any genuine Ugandan discussions take place.

2010, Tom Bennett, The Behaviour Guru: Behaviour Management Solutions for Teachers, →ISBN, page 164:

(UK, euphemistic, humorous) Sexual intercourse.


discuss Uganda

en-verb

discuss Uganda (third-person singular simple present discusses Uganda, present participle discussing Uganda, simple past and past participle discussed Uganda)

discusses Uganda (present singular third-person)
discussing Uganda (participle present)
discussed Uganda (participle past)
discussed Uganda (past)

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

Coined by Private Eye in reference to an alleged tryst between journalist Mary Kenny and a politician, after which Kenny claimed she was merely "upstairs discussing Uganda".

IMHO she just devalues the rest of us who want to be judged by what we do and what we are, not how we look and who we discuss Uganda with.

1995 April 27, Helen Gerald, “Re: Liz Hurley”, in rec.arts.tv.uk (Usenet), message-ID <1bd766f1e95e31fd>:

If both [doors] are closed (leaving a small gap between them, that is) it means the occupant is away, studying hard and not wishing to be disturbed, discussing Uganda with a member of the opposite sex (or even, fwankly Wupert, the same one), or enduring a hangover from hell [...]

2007, Benedict Le Vay, Eccentric Cambridge, →ISBN, page 257:

The antipasto often features fettunta—thin slices of Tuscan bread toasted and salted (the bread itself is unsalted) and perhaps rubbed with garlic (you may prefer to rub it on for yourself, or not if you're due to discuss Uganda or have an interview with Silvio Berlusconi)

2009, Nicholas Belfrage, The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy, →ISBN, page 312:

(UK, informal, euphemistic) To have sex.


passman

As one reads history—not in the expurgated editions written for schoolboys and passmen, but in the original authorities of each time—one is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted; […]

1891 March 15, Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man under Socialism”, in Oscar Wilde, William Morris, W[illiam] C[harles] Owen, The Soul of Man under Socialism, The Socialist Ideal—Art and The Coming Solidarity (The Humboldt Library of Science; no. 147), New York, N.Y.: The Humboldt Publishing Company, 28 Lafayette Place, →OCLC, pages 14–15:

(British, archaic) One who passes a university degree, but without honours.


tubfish

(UK, dialect) The sapphirine gurnard (Chelidonichthys lucerna).


snattock

you shall find many crucibles, (which we confide were snattocks of that very Crosse)

1654, Edmund Gayton, Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixote:

(UK, dialect) A chip; a slice or fragment.


swartback

Larus marinus
Larus marinus#Translingual

(UK, dialect) The black-backed gull (Larus marinus), or swarbie.


frank-fee

if the lord confirm to the tenant , to hold freely , by the services before due , this makes the land frank-fee

1834, John Scriven, A Treatise on Copyholds:

(UK, law) A species of tenure in fee simple, being the opposite of ancient demesne, or copyhold.


spigurnel

From Saxon spicurran, to shut up or enclose.

On the 4th of October, being Sunday, the Bishop of Ely, chancellor, producing the new seal, declares the king's pleasure, that it should be from thenceforth used; the Monday after the old seal is broke, præcipiente rege and the pieces delivered to the Spigurnel.

1904, John Greene Henderson, Chancery Practice, page 103:

Several Spigurnels of the thirteenth century are, moreover, described indifferently as Serjeants of the King's Chapel and Serjeants of his Chancery

1926, Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, Historical Notes on the Use of the Great Seal of England:

However there is one item of expenditure which may have a direct link to the chancery; the purchase of wax. In 1224-5, for example, we find the bishop's bailiffs at Southwark buying ten pounds of wax 'for the spigurnel by the bishop's order'.

1980, David Michael Smith, Nicholas Vincent, B. R. Kemp, English Episcopal Acta: Winchester, 1205-1238, page xlvii:

Henry IV provided royal confirmations to several minor Chancery officials , including the spigurnel of Chancery, along with letters patent confirming the office of “chaufeire” within Chancery.

1999, Medieval Prosopography - Volume 20, page 203:

(UK, law, obsolete) The sealer of writs in chancery.


exotic cheroot

But some busybody got a whiff of an exotic cheroot and the place was closed down.

No sweet scent of the exotic cheroot taints the air, there are scarcely even any smokers, and no one seems to be employing the men's room either to take on fuel or to make a brisk exchange of spermatozoa.

1994, Christopher Hitchens, “Warhol in One Dimension”, in For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports, →ISBN, page 283:

'This friend of yours must have been smoking exotic cheroots while writing to you,' reads the note and I laugh out loud, especially as the letter comes from Chuck Pfeifer.

1994, Taki, Nothing to Declare, →ISBN, page 188:

(UK, euphemistic) Cannabis, a joint of cannabis.


upgang

From Middle English upgang, from Old English upgang (“ascent”), equivalent to up- + gang. Cognate with Dutch opgang (“ascent”), German Aufgang (“rising, ascent”), Swedish uppgång (“a rise, a way up”), Icelandic uppgang (“expansion”).

(UK dialectal) The act of ascending a slope; ascent.

(UK dialectal) A sudden rising of wind and sea; a storm.


sparhawk

(UK, dialect) Alternative form of sparrow hawk


knottle

From Middle English knottil, cnottel (“little knot”), diminutive of knotte, cnotte (“knot”), equivalent to knot + -le. Cognate with Middle Dutch knuttel, Middle Low German knutel, Middle High German Knüttel (“little stick”). Compare also Old English cnyttels (“string, fiber, sinew”).


deech

en-noun

deech (usually uncountable, plural deeches)

From Middle English dechen, from Old English dēċan (“to smear, plaster, daub”), from Proto-West Germanic *dōkijan (“to apply with a rag or cloth, smear”), from *dōk (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz (“rag”); see duck (“canvas, cloth”). Cognate with Dutch doeken, German tuchen.

inh

(UK dialectal, Northern England) Dirt (or grime) ingrained on the hands, or in cracks, crevices, etc.


at daggers drawn

/æt ˌdæɡəz ˈdɹɔːn/

/æt ˌdæɡəɹz ˈdɹɔn/

Probably a reference to people preparing to fight by drawing their daggers from their sheaths. Compare French à couteaux tirés (literally “at daggers drawn”).

cog

And upon this point, vvere they at Daggers Dravvn vvith the Emperour.

1667, Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, “The Seventh Vision of Hell Reform’d”, in R[oger] L[’Estrange], transl., The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman […], →OCLC, page 263:

The new duke of Orléans, son of the Regent, was a callow and shallow youth and worse still—for the house of Condé, collateral with the Bourbons, was perennially at daggers drawn with the rival Orléans dynasty—had just married and already made his wife pregnant.

2002, Colin Jones, “Negotiating Stormy Weather: The Regency and the Advent of Fleury (1715–26)”, in The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 80:

But [David] Cameron nevertheless feels confident, because he is pretty sure that he has got Labour where he wants it, still off the centre ground on economic credibility and increasingly at daggers drawn with the Liberal Democrats, not least over the pivotal electoral event of this parliament, the AV referendum.

2011 April 28, Martin Kettle, “Vote yes to AV if you want to see Tories feel the fear again”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-08:

(idiomatic, chiefly British) In a state of open hostility.

to daggers' drawing

at or to the point of fighting, quarrelling, or open hostility


flaysome

en-adj

flaysome (comparative more flaysome, superlative most flaysome)

more flaysome (comparative)
most flaysome (superlative)

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Terrifying; frightful.


dretch

en-verb

dretch (third-person singular simple present dretches, present participle dretching, simple past and past participle dretched)

dretches (present singular third-person)
dretching (participle present)
dretched (participle past)
dretched (past)

From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English *dreċċan (“to draw out, delay, linger”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreǵ- (“to pull, drag, scratch”). Cognate with Scots dratch, dretch (“to dawdle”), Dutch trekken (“to draw, pull, tear, pluck, trek”), German trecken (“to draw, trek”), Danish trække (“to draw, pull”), Norwegian dråk (“stripe”), Swedish dialectal drakig (“striped, streaked”), Icelandic rák (“streak”).

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To move slowly and heavily; dawdle; loiter.


dretch

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A person slow in the execution of a job; a dawdler.


hoveller

How it was that the fishermen, and hovellers, and smugglers got an inkling of what we were about, I don't know.

1839, George Payne Rainsford James, Charles Tyrrell: Or, The Bitter Blood:

(UK, dialect) One who assists in saving life and property from a wreck; a coast boatman.


tiger mum

"I was never a tiger mum!" Eu says with a laugh. "My kids started boarding school at nine, so they learnt to be independent from young. […]

2012 April 8, Chin Mui Yoon, “From homemaker to head honcho”, in The Star, Malaysia:


unkard

en-adj

unkard (comparative more unkard, superlative most unkard)

more unkard (comparative)
most unkard (superlative)

(UK, dialect, obsolete) Alternative form of unked


belam

en-verb

belam (third-person singular simple present belams, present participle belamming, simple past and past participle belammed)

belams (present singular third-person)
belamming (participle present)
belammed (participle past)
belammed (past)

he unjoynted the spondyles or knuckles of the neck , disfigured their chaps , gashed their faces , made their cheeks hang flapping on their chin , and so swinged and belammed them , that they fell down before him

1653, François Rabelais, “Pantagruel King of the Dipsodes”, in W. Heath Robinson, transl., The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, page 83:

(UK, dialect, dated, transitive) To beat or bang.


banting

Miss Clark, alarmed at her increasing stoutness, was doing a course of what is popularly known as banting.

1932, Agatha Christie, The Thirteen Problems:

(British, informal, archaic) A diet aimed at losing weight, mostly accomplished by avoiding carbohydrates and sweet foods.


written statement of employment

en-noun

written statement of employment (plural written statements of employment)

written statements of employment (plural)

(law, UK) A legally binding document that puts the main terms of employment, such as pay, working hours, holidays, applicable collective agreement, sick leave and pension in writing, and which an employer is required to give to an employee.


shovelard

From Middle English schovelerd, schulerde, schevelard, from schovel (“shovel”), perhaps influenced by malard (“mallard”), on model of Middle Dutch lepelaar (“spoonbill”), with Middle English -ard replacing -aar, but not completely certain.

(UK, dialect) A kind of dabbling duck; the shoveler.


discommon

en-verb

discommon (third-person singular simple present discommons, present participle discommoning, simple past and past participle discommoned)

discommons (present singular third-person)
discommoning (participle present)
discommoned (participle past)
discommoned (past)

From Middle English discomyned, discomynned, dyscomynyd (participle); equivalent to dis- + common.

But what punishment is laid vpon Recusants, by the rare clemencie of her Maiestie, any way comparable to those that Christian Emperours haue made against Recusants, or such as refused to communicate with the Church of Christ? They were discommoned from buying and selling, from bequeathing their goods or lands to others, or receiuing anie Legacies from others, yea they might not inioy their fathers inheritaunce, &c. What like thing is done to English Recusants? or rather what not vnlike? they buy, they sell, they bequeath their goods at their pleasure, they receiue legacies, and inioy inheritances.

1600, Francis Hastings, An apologie or defence of the watch-word, page 161:

Let us not leave our fellowship, and estrange our selves from Gods people[…]To be discommoned a Town, or for a Citizen to be banished a city, is a great evill: But to be an exile from Gods city, and discommoned [i.e. excommunicated] from the communion of Saints, this is lamentable indeed.

1647, Paul Bayne, An Entire Commentary upon the Whole Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, page 277:

And as a confirmation of the obligation of residence, which we have before insisted upon, it appears, the person, in strict conformity with the common law, was "discommoned," or disfranchised, because he had not inhabited within the city for the space of one year.

1835, Henry Alworth Merewether, The History of the Boroughs and Municipal Corporations of the United Kingdom, volume 2, page 1252:

(historical, UK) To deprive of the privilege of citizenship of a town or city.

[…] persons violating the above statute are liable to a fine for the first offence, and to be discommoned for the second.

1851, Oxford University Statutes: The University statutes, from 1767 to 1850:

It could 'discommon' any citizen (most of whom, the Laudian statutes grumbled, 'catch at every occasion of impugning the University privileges') or privileged person should they 'oppose the University privileges'; for a privileged person this meant a suspension of privileges and for a citizen an embargo on dealing with any member of the University.

2013, Ian Gadd, Ian Anders Gadd, Simon Eliot, History of Oxford University Press, page 559:

(transitive, UK, Oxford and Cambridge universities, historical) To deprive of the right to deal with undergraduates.


swipper

en-adj

swipper (comparative more swipper, superlative most swipper)

more swipper (comparative)
most swipper (superlative)

From Middle English swiper (“agile, nimble”), from Old English swipor, ġeswipor (“astute, cunning, shifty”), from Proto-West Germanic *swipr, from Proto-Germanic *swipraz (“quick, clever”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyb- (“to bend, turn, swing, sway, swerve, wander”), equivalent to swipe + -er. See swoop.

der

(obsolete, UK, dialect, slang) nimble; quick


flone

From Middle English flon, flone, flan, from Old English flān (“barb, arrow, javelin, dart”), from Proto-Germanic *flainaz (“fork-point, prong, hook, spear-tip”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)plei- (“to divide, split, splice”). Cognate with Icelandic fleinn (“thorn, arrow, dart, pike, fluke”).


forloppin

From for- + loppin, past participle of loup (“to run, leap”).

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Being a runaway, vagabond, or renegade.


CLU

Coordinate term: MLU

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


clerk-ale

That ALE is festival, appears from its sense in composition; as, amongst others, in the words Lecet-ale, Lamb-ale, Whitson-ale, Clerk-ale, and Church-ale

1774-1781, Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry:

(UK, obsolete) A feast for the benefit of the parish clerk.


REME

w:Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

(UK) Initialism of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.


coal-meter

(obsolete, UK) A licensed or official coal measurer in London.


omnishambles

From omni- + shambles. Introduced by the television show The Thick of It in 2009.

Between the car accident, the food poisoning and the lost keys, the holiday was an omnishambles.

Rail unions also rounded on ministers to intervene in the energy "omnishambles", with ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan calling on the Government to "do the right thing for people, the right thing for business, and the right thing for our rail network. Because it is also the right thing for our planet."

2021 October 20, Paul Stephens, “Network News: Electricity prices force Freightliner to revert to diesel”, in RAIL, number 942, page 7:

(UK, informal, chiefly politics) A situation that is bad or mismanaged in every way.


slackcom

"Slackcom," confesses Cheryl Taylor, commissioner for entertainment at Channel 4, "is a term we started bandying around because of the nature of a lot of the sitcoms we started receiving; proposals revolving around twenty- or thirtysomething non-professionals."

1999 September 6, Janine Gibson, “Spaced out”, in The Guardian:

(UK) A sitcom which revolves around a slacker or slackers.


kaylied

en-adj

kaylied (comparative more kaylied, superlative most kaylied)

more kaylied (comparative)
most kaylied (superlative)

Uncertain; possibly from kali (“type of candy”); see sherbet (sense 4).

He got completely kaylied last night.

So come and wave your 'ons from side to side and we'll drink loads of beer till we're more kaylied.

2020, “Black Country Mon”performed by Johnny Cole:


subsizar

Bid my subsiser carry my hackney to the buttery, and give him his bever; it is a civil and sober beast, and will drink moderately.

1625, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Elder Brother. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

(UK, Cambridge University, historical) An under-sizar; a student of lower rank than a sizar.


Crown prosecutor

en-noun

Crown prosecutor (plural Crown prosecutors)

(British, Canada, Australia) The state prosecutor; the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual in a criminal trial.


scratchback

(UK, dated) A toy which imitates the sound of tearing cloth, used by drawing it across the back of unsuspecting persons.


scove

(UK, dialect, Cornwall, mining) Rich, pure tin ore.


unked

en-adj

unked (comparative more unked, superlative most unked)

more unked (comparative)
most unked (superlative)

From Middle English unked, past participle of unkythen, equivalent to un- + ked (an old past participle form of kithe).

af

an old past participle form of <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">kithe</i>

On Tuesday afternoon Molly returned home, to the home which was already strange, and what Warwickshire people would call 'unked,' to her. New paint, new paper, new colours; grim servants dressed in their best, and objecting to every change

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

Forsooth he misdoubted him that the bow was somewhat unked, and that the lad had had some new dealings with the Dwarf-kin or other strange wights.

1898, William Morris, The Sundering Flood, p. 41:

And there the little stalk of each, which might have been a pear, God willing, had a ring around its base, and sought a chance to drop and die. The others which had not opened comb, but only prepared to do it, were a little better off, but still very brown and unked, and shrivelling in doubt of health, and neither peart nor lusty.

1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Lorna Doone, Chapter 17:

March 21, 1790, William Cowper, letter to Mrs. Throckmorton
Weston is sadly unked without you.


kitchen roll

en-noun

kitchen roll (countable and uncountable, plural kitchen rolls)

Nigella suggests draining the grated carrot in kitchen roll before using it, to absorb the excess liquid – but in a more conventional recipe, this doesn't seem necessary.

2012 March 15, Felicity Cloake, The Guardian:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) (a roll of) thick absorbent paper used especially in kitchens for wiping up spills etc.


tummal

Sich powerful tummals of beastes was there, / One cud gist e'ne scrouge room for to stond in the fere.

1846, Jan Treenoodle, Specimens of Cornish provincial dialect, page 27:

"It's pure gowld," said Betty, " and wuth tummals of money."

1863, John Tillotson, The boy's yearly book, page 73:

[…] it's a good thing for she to get a husbind that can give her a goulden coach to ride in, if she's got a mind to it. But there, her pretty face is wuth a tummal of money[…]

1878, Frances Eliza Millett Notley, Love's crosses:

(UK, Cornwall, dialect, obsolete) A great quantity or heap.


farlie

From Middle English farli, ferly, ferlich, feorlich (“a wonderful thing, a marvel, a wonder”), from Middle English farli, ferly, verlich, ferlik, ferlic, feorlic (“terrible, marvellous, wonderful”), from Old English fǣrlīċ (“sudden, unexpected, quick, horrible”), equivalent to fear + -ly. Cognate with Scots ferlie (“farlie”), Old Norse ferlíki, ferlíkan (“a monster, abnormality, monstrosity”), Old Norse ferligr (“monstrous”).

der

(Whilst thus himselfe to please, the mightie Mountaine tells
Such farlies of his Cluyd, and of his wondrous Wells)

1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 10 p. 161:

(obsolete, UK, dialect) An unusual or unexpected thing; a wonder.


polewig

(UK, dialect, obsolete) sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus).


pickmire

From pick + mire, so called from its picking its food from the mire.

(UK, dialect, dated) The peewit, or black-headed gull.


Q-car

(UK, slang) A high-performance car with an unassuming exterior.


prisage

en-noun

prisage (countable and uncountable, plural prisages)

/ˈpɹaɪzɪd͡ʒ/

From Old French prisage (“a praising, valuing, taxing”) (compare Latin prisagium (“prisage”)) or from French prise (“a taking, capture, prize”). See prize.

der

There is also another very ancient hereditary duty belonging to the crown, called the prisage, or butlerage of wines

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

(law, UK, obsolete) A right belonging to the crown of England, of taking two tuns of wine from every ship importing twenty tuns or more: one before and one behind the mast.


court-leet

en-noun

court-leet (plural court-leets or courts-leet)

court-leets (plural)
courts-leet (plural)

This oath must be taken by all persons in any office, trust, or employment; and may be tendered by two justices of the peace to any person, whom they shall suspect of disaffection. And the oath of allegiance may be tendered to all persons above the age of twelve years, whether natives, denizens, or aliens, either in the court-leet of the manor, or in the sheriff's tourn, which is the court-leet of the county.

1771, William, Sir Blackstone, “Of the People, Whether Aliens, Denizens, or Natives”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, volume 1, page 368:

(UK, law, historical) A court of record held once a year, in a particular hundred, lordship, or manor, before the steward of the leet.


hognut

(UK) A tuberous plant of family Apiaceae (Conopodium majus).


manswear

en-verb

manswear (third-person singular simple present manswears, present participle manswearing, simple past manswore, past participle mansworn)

manswears (present singular third-person)
manswearing (participle present)
manswore (past)
mansworn (participle past)

From Middle English mansweren, from Old English mānswerian (“to forswear, perjure oneself”), from mān (“bad, criminal, false”) + swerian (“to swear”).

inh

I require of thee, as a man of thy word, on pain of being held faithless, man-sworn, and nidering [footnote: Infamous], to forgive and to receive to thy paternal affection the good knight, Wilfrid of Ivanhoe.

1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 302:

There are doomed to wade the weltering streams / Men that are mansworn, and they that murderers are.

1916, The Prose Edda (translation), page 82

(transitive, chiefly British, dialectal) To swear falsely; perjure oneself.


slocking stone

(UK, dialect, Cornwall, mining) A rich piece of ore displayed in order to tempt people to embark in a mining enterprise.


thible

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A stick for stirring food.


job centre

She put it all down last time she was at the job centre and they stopped her benefits for the hundredth time because of an error in the system that will take twelve weeks for them to reassess.

2021, Jenni Fagan, Luckenbooth, William Heinemann, page 260:

British standard spelling of job center.


plough stop

en-verb

plough stop (third-person singular simple present plough stops, present participle plough stopping, simple past and past participle plough stopped)

plough stops (present singular third-person)
plough stopping (participle present)
plough stopped (participle past)
plough stopped (past)


scranny

en-adj

scranny (comparative scrannier, superlative scranniest)

scrannier (comparative)
scranniest (superlative)

Rat.
I’ll slily seize and
Let blood from her weasand,—
Creeping through crevice, and chink, and cranny,
With my snaky tail, and my sides so scranny.

1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

Observe in the whole lot, from the magnificent lord of the herd down to the scranniest runt, the superlative of self-reliance, the air of puffy arrogance and solid disregard of public or private opinion such as few of us attain.

1901, New England Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly - Volume 24, page 177:

“Well, in the first place," I explained the little lady, "they've got three of the scranniest kids, and the mother herself don't look very strong."

Among the affairs of men their voices, single or united, amounted to no more than a scranny interruption easily put aside;

2001, Margaret Mead, Geoffrey Gorer, John Rickman, Russian Culture, →ISBN, page 38:

'Look at him, said Ada, pursing her lips. 'Is he fighting material? If Hitler's crack Panzer divisions see a scranny feller like him coming towards them, will they panic?"

2007, David Nobbs, The Complete Pratt, →ISBN, page 31:


croodle

en-verb

croodle (third-person singular simple present croodles, present participle croodling, simple past and past participle croodled)

croodles (present singular third-person)
croodling (participle present)
croodled (participle past)
croodled (past)

Far ben thy dark green plantin's shade
The cushat croodles am'rously

a. 1810, Robert Tannahill, The Wood O' Craigie Lea:

Oh! that I had wings-not as a dove , to fly home to its nest and croodle there

1858 January, Charles Kingsley, “My Winter-Garden”, in Frasers Magazine:

Mrs. Dootson bridged the other half, and, croodling down to Meg's height, she somewhat forced the friendship

1898, William Edwards Tirebuck, Meg of the Scarlet Fool:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To cower or cuddle together, as from fear or cold; to lie close and snug together, as pigs in straw.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To fawn or coax.


swaip

swaip (third-person singular simple present swaips, present participle swaiping, simple past and past participle swaiped)

swaips (present singular third-person)
swaiping (participle present)
swaiped (participle past)
swaiped (past)

From Middle English swaipen (“to strike, scourge”), from Old Norse sveipa (“to sweep, stroke”) and/or Old English swāpan (“to sweep”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *swaipaną (“to sweep, swing, hurl, fling”). Doublet of swoop.

inh

Och, for his swaiping! That was a lucky job for him, —the ill-favored, foul-mouthed blackguard, heretic and villain thief!

1842, Anthony Ganilh, Ambrosio de Letinez, page 143:

But Ayas swaiped aside among the crowd, Aflush with hate and burning discontent: And many murmured at him: for, said they, “Hamil at least doth surely mean us well!“

1883, Welbore St. Clair Baddeley, Bedoueen Legends: And Other Poems, page 40:

It is in good manners to swaip / But only when just celebrating / Without malice and arrogance / To show accomplishment once

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To walk proudly; to sweep along.


brew up

en-verb

brew up (third-person singular simple present brews up, present participle brewing up, simple past and past participle brewed up)

brews up (present singular third-person)
brewing up (participle present)
brewed up (participle past)
brewed up (past)

(British) Make a fire in order to make tea.


withsaw

From Middle English withsawe, withsahe, withsau, from Old English *wiþsagu (“renunciation, contradiction”); equivalent to with- + saw (“saying”).


forjudge

en-verb

forjudge (third-person singular simple present forjudges, present participle forjudging, simple past and past participle forjudged)

forjudges (present singular third-person)
forjudging (participle present)
forjudged (participle past)
forjudged (past)

From Middle English forjugen; in sense 1, from Old French fourjugier (“to judge illegally, dispossess”); in sense 2, from Middle English for- + jugen (“to judge”), equivalent to for- + judge. Compare fordeem.

der

(transitive, dialectal in British) To condemn judicially (to a penalty).


Black English

Multicultural London English
Multicultural London English#English

Any of several varieties of English spoken by or associated with Black people, especially people of African origin or in Africa.

(UK) Synonym of Multicultural London English (“MLE”)


admass

From ad + mass, coined by British novelist J. B. Priestley.

(dated, British) That part of society that is influenced by mass media advertising.


long drop

Coordinate term: short drop

(UK, historical) A technique for execution by hanging, according to which the individual's height and weight were used to determine how much slack would be provided in the rope, to ensure breaking of the neck without decapitation.


raggie

He is concerned for his pal, his raggie, […]

1918, Edward Noble, The Naval Side, page 54:

Able-seaman Jenvey, his "raggie" Lofty Smith and Venus the honey-bear were ensconced in their usual billet under the fo'c'sle awning of His Majesty's cruiser Empire enjoying the peace of a make-and-mend afternoon.

1943, Gilbert Hackforth-Jones, Torpedo!: Stories of the Royal Navy, page 100:

(UK, naval slang, dated) A close friend; chum.


YEP

Yorkshire Evening Post
w:Yorkshire Evening Post

(UK) Initialism of Yorkshire Evening Post.


knock into a cocked hat

en-verb

knock into a cocked hat (third-person singular simple present knocks into a cocked hat, present participle knocking into a cocked hat, simple past and past participle knocked into a cocked hat)

knocks into a cocked hat (present singular third-person)
knocking into a cocked hat (participle present)
knocked into a cocked hat (participle past)
knocked into a cocked hat (past)

A cocked hat is one with the brim turned up to form two or three points (a bicorn or tricorn). The verb may refer:
* to someone or something being knocked or hit out of shape like such a hat, or a person having a cocked hat forced on to their head; or
* to a person knocking down all but three pins in a game of ninepins, or to the similar game called “cocked hat” in which only three pins are set up in a triangle, although these may simply be allusions to the shape of a tricorn. It has been pointed out that evidence linking these games to the verb is lacking.

All the original ideas we had were knocked into a cocked hat by the latest survey.

"That's a fact," said the Kentuckian, "and knocks all his fine arguments into a cocked hat. Jist a minute ago I tho't slavery wall all right, and now I see it's all wrong, and has no kinder sort o' foundation.["]

1853, Vidi [pseudonym], chapter XII, in Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-agent, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., →OCLC, page 146:

"The fact is," said Jim Keene, the great New York rival to Jay Gould, "that no matter how clever and thorough a man's system of stock operating may be, there is always occurring some little unforeseen and apparently insignificant circumstance that is forever knocking the best laid-out plans into a cocked hat."

1884 October 25, “Never Write on Your Cuffs”, in Tid-bits: From All Sources […], volume I, number 10, New York, N.Y.: John W. Lovell Company, →OCLC, page 146, column 2:

A frigate of the modern type would knock a fort armed with obsolete guns into a cocked hat.

1888 January 26, “Lord Brassey on imperial defence”, in The Pall Mall Gazette: An Evening Newspaper and Review, volume XLVII, number 7133, London: […] Richard Lambert, […], →OCLC, page 9, column 1:

And you guess the end of the world will probably look like that, […] with all things at last in equilibrium, the winds quiet, the sea frozen, the sky composed, and the earth in glacial quietude. Or so you fancy. Then along comes a walloping blizzard and knocks such night dreaming into a cocked hat.

1935, Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr., “The Lunatic Fringe”, in Discovery: The Story of the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition, paperback edition, Lanham, Md., London: Rowman & Littlefield, published 2015, →ISBN, page 195:

In its early forms it [English] was a highly inflected tongue – indeed, it was more inflected than modern German, and almost as much so as Russian. […] The impact of the [Norman] Conquest knocked this elaborate grammatical structure into a cocked hat.

1936 April, H[enry] L[ouis] Mencken, “The Future of the Language”, in The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, 4th edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 607:

Unlike the supporters of metric adoption, the opponents did not have to wage a campaign to accomplish their goal. All they had to do was knock into a cocked hat the claims advanced by the "reformers."

1971 August, Charles F. Treat, “The Great Metric Crusade (1914–1933)”, in A History of the Metric System Controversy in the United States: U.S. Metric Study Interim Report […] (National Bureau of Standards Special Publication; 345-10), Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, United States Department of Commerce, →OCLC, page 195:

I thought I knew what to do about it, and had figured to sit down with Giselle after the conference to get her on board. But that idea had been knocked into a cocked hat along with the conference.

2011, Larry Karp, chapter 1, in A Perilous Conception, Scottsdale, Ariz.: Poisoned Pen Press, →ISBN, page 4:

If every particle has a corresponding anti-particle, as the Standard Model asserts, the question arises, Where has all the antimatter gone? Saying that's just the way it happens to be, doesn't satisfy many scientists. And it knocks into a cocked hat the whole Standard Model, which to this point, he [Martin Beech] assures us, has been "highly successful in describing the observed particle zoo."

2012, W. Brewster Willcox, “A Two-horse Horserace”, in The Power of Paradox, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, part II (The Search for the Higgs and Why It Matters), pages 27–28:

(transitive, chiefly British, colloquial, figuratively) To completely demolish, nullify, overthrow, or otherwise defeat (a person; an argument, idea, or proposition; or a thing).

gettare alle ortiche

to completely demolish, nullify, overthrow, or otherwise defeat


scath

en-noun

scath (countable and uncountable, plural scaths)

Wherein Rome hath done you any scath,
 Let him make treble satisfaction.

c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Great mercy, sure, for to enlarge a thrall, / Whose freedome shall thee turne to greatest scath.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18:

Scath and loss / That man can ne'er repair.

c. 1847, Lydia H. Sigourney, Advertisement of a Lost Day:

He buried in his heart all sense of scath.

1827, Mary Howitt, The Desolation of Eyam:

(UK dialectal, archaic) Alternative form of scathe (“harm; damage”)