settee

Unclear, possibly from settle (“seat, long bench”) + -ee (diminutive suffix).

suf

The lounge was furnished in old English oak and big Knole settees. There were rugs from Tabriz and Kerman on the highly polished floor. […] A table lamp was fashioned from a silver Egyptian hookah.

1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 18, in The Subtle Minotaur:

“You might have to calm this down, my darling. I'm not sure this settee can take it.” “This settee has taken centuries of our love.”

2022 July 12, Stefani Robinson & Paul Simms, “Reunited” (9:01 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 4, episode 1:

(UK, Texas) A long seat with a back, made to accommodate several persons at once; a sofa.


crisp

From Middle English crisp (“curly”), from Old English crisp (“curly”), from Latin crispus (“curly”). Doublet of crape and crepe.

"Go and get some crisps and pop," he said.

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 33:

Turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet

2014, “Every Other Freckle”, in This Is All Yours, performed by alt-J:

As I sit in front of the TV angrily eating crisps, it comes to me. I will challenge her to a race.

2016, Steve Coogan, Neil Gibbons & Rob Gibbons, Alan Partridge: Nomad, page 44:

(UK, Ireland) A very thin slice of potato that has been deep fried, typically packaged and sold as a snack.

"When she’s not writing, Katie spends her time with her husband and two kids, and their dogs: Wotsit, the King Charles spaniel, and Skips, the three-legged rescue dog. (And yes, they are both named after crisps!)

2018, Katie Ginger, The Little Theatre on the Seafront, HQ:

(UK, Ireland, by extension, colloquial) A crunchy, savoury snack food made from potato starch, cornmeal or other starchy cereal grain, packaged and eaten similarly to the above.

kale crisps

(UK, Ireland, food) Anything baked or fried in thin slices and eaten as a snack.


hedge

From Middle English hegge, from Old English heċġ, from Proto-West Germanic *haggju, from Proto-Germanic *hagjō, from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰyóm (“enclosure”). Cognate with Dutch heg, German Hecke. Doublet of hey (a choreographic figure) and quay. More at haw.

doublet

look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards

(UK, West Country, chiefly Devon and Cornwall) A mound of earth, stone- or turf-faced, often topped with bushes, used as a fence between any two portions of land.

valli

mound of earth, used as a fence between any two portions of land

Attalus[…]made him so dead-drunke that insensibly and without feeling he might prostitute his beauty as the body of a common hedge-harlot, to Mulettiers, Groomes and many of the abject servants of his house.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 2, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

He then traced them from place to place, till at last he found two of them drinking together, with a third person, at a hedge-tavern near Aldersgate.

This particular wheelwright is only a hedge carpenter, without even a shop of his own,[…].

1899, Henry Rider Haggard, A Farmer's Year: Being His Commonplace Book for 1898, page 222:

(UK, Ireland, noun adjunct) Used attributively, with figurative indication of a person's upbringing, or professional activities, taking place by the side of the road; third-rate.


ree

en-verb

ree (third-person singular simple present rees, present participle reeing, simple past and past participle reed)

rees (present singular third-person)
reeing (participle present)
reed (participle past)
reed (past)

After it is well rubbed and winnowed, you must then Ree it over in a fine Sieve , and if any of the Malt be uncleansed , then rub it again into the Sieve , 'till it be pure , and the rubbings will ariſe on the Top of the Sieve

1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:

(obsolete, UK, dialect) To riddle; to sift; to separate or throw off.


serviette

From Middle English serviotis pl, from Middle French serviette.

1887, “A Member of the Aristocracy”, Manners and Rules of Good Society; Or Solecisms to Be Avoided, 1999 facsimile edition, Angus&Robertson, page 116,
She should unfold her serviette and place it on her lap. It is immaterial whether she places the bread on the right or left-hand side of the cover when taking it from the serviette.
A gentleman should do the same with his serviette and bread, placing the one across his knees, and the other at his right or left hand.

1914, Arnold Bennett, The Price of Love, 2005, Echo Library, page 40,
And then, when the meal finally did begin Mrs. Maldon′s serviette and silver serviette-ring had vanished.

Nature of goods.—Toilet paper, paper handkerchiefs, paper towels, paper serviettes and paper covers for lavatory seats, none being medicated.

1955 October 25, The Official Gazette of the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, page 1145:

• To provide the guest with a means of wiping his/her hands and mouth, and
• To make the restaurant look attractive.

2004, Tracey Dalton, The Food and Beverage Handbook, Orchard Publishing, South Africa, page 36, There is a wide variety of serviette folds, but serviettes themselves have two basic functions

2006, K.E. Silva, A Simple Distance, Akashic Books, US, page 90,
I told them to put the paper serviettes out on the table, and look, they′ve put out the cloth napkins! Here, take these back to the kitchen and bring me the stack of paper serviettes.

Avoid the temptation to lick your fingers – a finger bowl filled with warm water is usually placed on the table to wash your fingers at the end of the meal and serviettes should be on hand to dry them.

2007, Sarina Singh, South India, Lonely Planet, page 83:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A table napkin, now especially a paper one.


slapper

From slap + -er. For senses 2 and 3, the OED tentatively quotes the Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang: "This working class term from East London and Essex is probably a corruption of shlepper or schlepper, a word of Yiddish origin, one of whose meanings is a slovenly or immoral woman."

A fella looking dapper / And he's sittin' with a slapper / Then I see it's a pimp / And his crack whore

2006, Lily Allen, Iyiola Babalola, Darren Lewis, Tommy McCook (lyrics and music), “LDN”, in Alright, Still, performed by Lily Allen:

You've got a photo of the dead grandad, no pic of the blonde slapper?

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 167:

(countable, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) A prostitute.

(countable, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) A woman of loose morals.


skimp

en-adj

skimp (comparative more skimp, superlative most skimp)

more skimp (comparative)
most skimp (superlative)

(dated, UK, dialect or US, colloquial) Scanty.


scowl

(UK, dialect, obsolete) Old workings of iron ore.


skive

en-verb

skive (third-person singular simple present skives, present participle skiving, simple past and past participle skived)

skives (present singular third-person)
skiving (participle present)
skived (participle past)
skived (past)

Probably from French esquiver (“slink away”), from Middle French esquiver (“to escape”), from Spanish esquivar (“to avoid, reject, elude”), from esquivo (“contemptuous, loathsome”), itself from Old French eschiver, of East Germanic origin, from Gothic *𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌿𐌷𐍃 (*skiuhs, “afraid, barefaced”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“afraid, frightened”). Cognate with English shy, eschew.

der

Truancies, rather bewilderingly, have risen among children on the programme; the government hopes this is because children skive more as they get older.

2006, The Economist, Young offenders: Arrested development:

Work experience as an arsey teenager is pretty straightforward: disappear into the storeroom, smoke a few cigarettes, text your mates and watch the minute hand tick slowly by. If there's nowhere suitable to hide, all you need is a vacant computer and you can chat to your skiving associate in the building next door.

2007 April 30, Jon Bentham, “How to...... do work experience”, in The Guardian:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) To avoid one's lessons or work (chiefly at school or university); shirk.


skive

Mr Smith's history classes are a total skive.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Something very easy, where one can slack off without penalty.

I got the bus to school, and the driver gave me the eye, thinking I was on the skive, and I started to explain that there was something up with my head, but then I couldn't be bothered.

2007, Anthony McGowan, Henry Tumour, →ISBN, page 8:

Another school skive! I only realised this when my dentist's receptionist told me to expect a fair wait till I could be seen.

2011, Catherine Forde, Sugarcoated, →ISBN:

But at least they preserved the idea that books were important and that reading and writing were more than just a skive for people too weedy to hack at one another with swords.

2011, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen, Terry Pratchett, The Science Of Discworld II: The Globe, →ISBN, page 202:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) An act of avoiding lessons or work.


superstructure

en-noun

superstructure (countable and uncountable, plural superstructures)

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

(British, railroad) The sleepers and fastenings, in distinction from the roadbed.


peck

Gemmen, have you ordered the peck and booze for the evening?


tasty

en-adj

tasty (comparative tastier, superlative tastiest)

tastier (comparative)
tastiest (superlative)

From taste + -y.
The Philippine sense is due to a genericized trademark from Taystee Bread Company, a defunct American company.

(UK, informal) Skillful; highly competent.

I watched it all unfold live on Sky News. Ed Miliband was there, but so were the usual bunch of troublemakers and I, for one, was expecting it to kick off.¶ Sure enough, it all got a bit tasty in the afternoon at about the time I should have been polishing off my tinned tuna. Only there was no one about to dish out my grub.¶ They were all glued to the telly watching a gang of blokes wearing balaclavas smash the windows of a Porsche showroom in Park Lane.

2011, James Robinson, The Larry Diaries: Downing Street - The First 100 Days, →ISBN:

No, I wouldn't take a bullet for him, or any of them,I wasn't paid enough to go that far, but I would break up a scrap if it all got a bit tasty and, yeah, it was a great at the bar that night getting the drinks in.

2012, Craig Summers, Bodyguard: My Life on the Front Line, →ISBN:

These empires of rusting metal have long been portrayed in film, fiction and TV as a haunt of the wide boy, the tasty geezer, and many other variants of ne'er-do-well

2014 September 5, “Honest scrappers”, in BBC News:


scoff

en-verb

scoff (third-person singular simple present scoffs, present participle scoffing, simple past and past participle scoffed)

scoffs (present singular third-person)
scoffing (participle present)
scoffed (participle past)
scoffed (past)

A variant, attested since the mid 19th century, of scaff, of uncertain origin. Compare scarf (“eat quickly”).

The numbers thin out the further we get from London, so I don't feel guilty when I remove my mask momentarily to scoff some of the snacks I'd bought at Marylebone.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:

(British, Newfoundland, slang) To eat food quickly.


referee

/ˌɹɛf.əˈɹiː/

From Middle English [Term?], from past participle of Old French referer (“to relate, to refer”), from Latin referre (“to carry back, to report, to notify”); as if refer + -ee, that is, the person to whom something is referred for consideration.

der

Your application, along with letters from three referees, should be received by January 31.

(UK) A person who writes a letter of reference or provides a reference by phone call for someone. US English: reference.


shack

en-noun

shack (countable and uncountable, plural shacks)

Obsolete variant of shake. Compare Scots shag (“refuse of barley or oats”).

Some peple hev a fakilty two get along into the world, whilst others air poor shacks & good for nothing.

All the poor old shacks about the town found a friend in Deacon Marble.

1868, Henry Ward Beecher, Norwood, or Village Life in New England:

(UK, US, dialect, obsolete) A shiftless fellow; a low, itinerant beggar; a vagabond; a tramp.


shack

en-verb

shack (third-person singular simple present shacks, present participle shacking, simple past and past participle shacked)

shacks (present singular third-person)
shacking (participle present)
shacked (participle past)
shacked (past)

(UK, dialect) To wander as a vagabond or tramp.


overreach

overreach (third-person singular simple present overreaches, present participle overreaching, simple past and past participle overreached or (obsolete) overraught)

overreaches (present singular third-person)
overreaching (participle present)
overreached (participle past)
overreached (past)
overraught (obsolete participle past)
overraught (obsolete past)

/ˌəʊvəˈɹiːt͡ʃ/

/ˌoʊvə(ɹ)ˈɹit͡ʃ/

The verb is from Middle English overrechen (“to rise above; to extend beyond or over; to encroach; to catch, overtake; to reach; to obtain wrongfully (?); to take up (a book) to revise it”) [and other forms], equivalent to over- + reach; the noun is derived from the verb or from the phrase to reach over.

nb...

overreche, overreiche, (Northern England) overreke

أَنَافَ

to reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree

[A]n equitable mortgage, by deposit of deeds to a person, bona fide, and without notice, will give him a preferable equity; and will overreach the vendor's equitable lien on the estate for any part of the purchase-money.

1813, Edward Burtenshaw Sugden, “Of the Vendor’s Lien on the Estate Sold for the Purchase-money, if Not Paid”, in A Practical Treatise of the Law of Vendors & Purchasers of Estates, 4th edition, London: Printed for J[oseph] Butterworth, […], →OCLC, page 452:

Wood therefore cannot, in equity, be permitted to proceed in his ejectment suit, to recover possession of the land under the title he has acquired from the state, by the attorney general's sale, and which at law overreaches the complainant's title.

1834 October 21, Reuben H[yde] Walworth, Chancellor, New York Court of Chancery, “Kellogg vs. Wood”, in Alonzo C[hristopher] Paige, editor, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Chancery of the State of New-York, volume IV, New York, N.Y.: Published by Gould, Banks & Co. […]; Albany, N.Y.: W[illia]m & A. Gould & Co. […], →OCLC, page 616:

[page 215] City of London B[uilding] S[ociety] v. Flegg decided that the occupiers are not protected since a sale by two trustees overreaches. [...] [page 216] The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the occupation of the Fleggs but, after universal academic execration, that decision was unanimously reversed by the [House of] Lords. Their occupation rights had indeed been overreached. [...] Two trustees effected what appeared to the lenders to be a proper mortgage, so that the rights of the beneficiaries were swept off the title and transferred to the mortgage money. The Fleggs could not enforce their rights against the lenders.

2003, Peter Sparkes, “Trusts of Land”, in A New Land Law, 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, →ISBN, pages 215 and 216:

(transitive, intransitive) To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.

(transitive, property law) To defeat or override a person's interest in property; (British, specifically) of a holder of the legal title of real property: by mortgaging or selling the legal title to a third party, to cause another person's equitable right in the property to be dissolved and to be replaced by an equitable right in the money received from the third party.


unsound

en-adj

unsound (comparative more unsound or unsounder, superlative most unsound or unsoundest)

more unsound (comparative)
unsounder (comparative)
most unsound (superlative)
unsoundest (superlative)

You would not like Nietzsche, sir. He is fundamentally unsound.

(UK, especially of people) Not good, unreliable.


revise

en-verb

revise (third-person singular simple present revises, present participle revising, simple past and past participle revised)

revises (present singular third-person)
revising (participle present)
revised (participle past)
revised (past)

Borrowed from Middle French réviser, from Latin revīsō, from re- + vīsō (“examine”), frequentative of videō (“see”).

I've only just begun to revise for my exams.

In revising your notes, you can also reorganize them so that they are more legible, better arranged, and in a more useful condition for subsequent reviews.

1957, Clifford Thomas Morgan, James Deese, How to Study, McGraw-Hill, page 16:

4 Is it necessary to revise vocabulary (= study it again for a second or third time)?
5 Is it better to revise vocabulary occasionally for long periods of time, or is it better to revise regularly for short periods of time?

2003, Stuart Redman, English Vocabulary in Use: Pre-Intermediate & Intermediate, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, page 5:

2008, Tom Burns, Sandra Sinfield, Chapter 19: How to build your memory and revise effectively, Essential Study Skills: The Complete Guide to Success at University, SAGE Publications, UK, page 273.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) To look over again (something previously written or learned), especially in preparation for an examination.


stag

en-noun

stag (countable and uncountable, plural stags)

From Middle English stagge, steg, from Old English stagga, stacga (“a stag”) and Old Norse steggi, steggr (“a male animal”), both from Proto-Germanic *staggijô, *staggijaz (“male, male deer, porcupine”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *stegʰ-, *stengʰ- (“to sting; rod, blade; sharp, stiff”). Cognate with Icelandic steggi, steggur (“tomcat, male fox”). Related to staggard, staggon.

Between shifts on stag or manning the radio, we grabbed a few hours sleep.

2000, Richard Tomlinson, The big breach: from top secret to maximum security, page 31:

Three days were spent on standby or patrols and a fourth day on guard, with at least eight hours on stag.

2012, Max Benitz, Six Months Without Sundays: The Scots Guards in Afghanistan:

(uncountable, UK, military, slang) Guard duty.


stag

en-verb

stag (third-person singular simple present stags, present participle stagging, simple past and past participle stagged)

stags (present singular third-person)
stagging (participle present)
stagged (participle past)
stagged (past)

(intransitive, British) To act as a "stag", an irregular dealer in stocks.


snout

From Middle English snowte, snoute, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German snute (alternatively spelled snuut, snuyt), from Proto-West Germanic *snūt, from Proto-Germanic *snūtaz.
Compare Saterland Frisian Snuute, Dutch snuit or snoet (“snout; cute face”), German Schnauze, Schnute. Doublet of snoot.

морон

anterior prolongation of head of weevil and other insects

(Bob, p. 55:) Charlie was the most vicious screw on the block ... He caught me with the two ounces of snout right in my hand, caught me by the hair, and swung me round in the exercise yard ...
(Spider, p. 175:) She brings me snout and sweets, and sometimes a cake from Mum.

LIZ. I only got one left. / FRED (calls). Get us some snout. / MIKE. Five or ten?

Also he was "doing his nut" for some "snout." I said I would provide cigarettes.

2000, Joe Randolph Ackerley, P N Furbank, We Think the World of You:

Raymond rolled a neat cigarette. "What about some snout, then?" "No, thanks." He laughed. Smoke drifted from his open mouth.

2004, Allan Sillitoe, New and Collected Stories:


shroud

shroud (third-person singular simple present shrouds, present participle shrouding, simple past and past participle shrouded)

shrouds (present singular third-person)
shrouding (participle present)
shrouded (participle past)
shrouded (past)

(transitive, UK, dialect) To lop the branches from (a tree).


squirt

en-noun

squirt (countable and uncountable, plural squirts)

From Middle English squirten, squyrten, of uncertain origin; probably onomatopoeic. Akin to swirl. Compare Low German swirtjen (“to squirt”) and Swedish water onomatopoeias skvala, skvalp, skvimpa, and skvätta; Icelandic skvetta; and Norwegian skvette.

Hey squirt! Where you been?

1986, Alethea Helbig, Agnes Perkins, Cutlass Island, entry in Dictionary of American Children′s Fiction, 1960-1984: Recent Books of Recognized Merit, page 137,
Hurd returns with Mal, Mr. Eph, and Gumbo, the “town squirt” of twelve, and the boys′ activities come out.

2010, Karen Witemeyer, A Tailor-Made Bride, Bethany House Publishers, US, page 66,
How the child managed to converse and fold at the same time was a marvel, yet the shirt lay in a tidy rectangle by the time she came up for air.
“Thanks, squirt.” He winked at her and she giggled.

(UK, Ireland, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, slang) A small child.


tally

(US)

From Middle English talie, from Anglo-Norman tallie and Old French taille (“notch in a piece of wood signifying a debt”), from Medieval Latin tallia, from Latin talea (“a cutting, rod, stick”). Doublet of taille and talea.

der

Then turnips isn't such good sale yet, but they may be soon, for winter's best for them. […] I buy turnips by the 'tally.' A tally's five dozen bunches.

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

A bunch of Turnips, 12 and upwards. A bunch of Leeks, 6 and upwards. Bunches of Greens and of herbs vary much, according to kind, size, and season. Roll of Celery = 6, 8, to 12 heads. A tally = five dozen.

1890, Gardeners' Chronicle, volume 7, page 15:

(UK, obsolete) Five dozen bunches of turnips.


sunflower

From sun + flower. Compare English sunbloom.

(UK, rail transport) An Automatic Warning System (AWS) indicator in the driver's cab that is displayed after a driver has acknowledged an audible warning, which consists of a yellow circle enclosing a white circle, with black spokes overlaid.


stagger

Tallinn no longer takes pride in the title of 'favourite destination of British staggers'.

2013, Phil Hubbard, Cities and Sexualities, page 144:


treacle

en-noun

treacle (countable and uncountable, plural treacles)

From Middle English triacle, partly from Old French triacle, and partly from Old English tiriaca, both from Late Latin *triaca, *tiriaca, late form of theriaca, ultimately from Ancient Greek θηριακή (thēriakḗ, “antidote”), feminine form of θηριακός (thēriakós, “concerning venomous beasts”), from θήρ (thḗr, “beast”). Doublet of theriacle, equivalent to theriac + -le.

der

Didn’t you see how the cub was ashamed of the thick bread-and-butter? I dare say they’re going to have treacle if they are good.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 26, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A syrupy byproduct of sugar refining; molasses or golden syrup.


peak

→ Russian: пик (pik) (in час пик (čas pik))

From earlier peake, peek, peke, from Middle English pek (in place names), itself an alteration of pike, pyke, pyk (“a sharp point, pike”), from Old English pīc, piic (“a pike, needle, pin, peak, pinnacle”), from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz (“peak”). Cognate with Dutch piek (“pike, point, summit, peak”), Danish pik (“pike, peak”), Swedish pik (“pike, lance, point, peak”), Norwegian pik (“peak, summit”). More at pike.

cog

(clothing, UK) visor (horizontal part of a cap sticking out in front and shading the wearer's eyes)


slice

From Middle English sclise, sklise, from Old French esclice, esclis (“a piece split off”), deverbal of esclicer, esclicier (“to splinter, split up”), from Frankish *slitjan (“to split up”), from Proto-Germanic *slitjaną, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to split, tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyd- (“to rend, injure, crumble”). Akin to Old High German sliz, gisliz (“a tear, rip”), Old High German slīzan (“to tear”), Old English slītan (“to split up”), modern French éclisse. More at slite, slit.

der

I bought a ham and cheese slice at the service station.

(British) A snack consisting of pastry with savoury filling.

(Australia, New Zealand, UK) Any of a class of heavy cakes or desserts made in a tray and cut out into squarish slices.


yummy mummy

I'm not a yummy mummy. No matter what you actually look like after you've had a baby, you just will feel frumpy.

2004, Kate Taylor, A Woman's Guide to Sex:

It was a guessing game about which car was going to leave next, who was going to come home next and would Yummy Mummy be wearing the tight tights again.

2005, Chris Cooper, Behind the Private Eye - The private Investigator's Secrets - Surveillance tales and techniques:

Formes is the freshest of the major maternity chains, but the staid selection is more French-mumsy than yummy-mummy.

2005: Fairchild and Gallagher, Where to wear London 2006

(chiefly UK, Australia, slang) A mother who is sexually attractive.


sty

From Middle English stien, stiȝen, stighen, from Old English stīgan (“to go; ascend, mount”), from Proto-West Germanic *stīgan, from Proto-Germanic *stīganą, from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ-.
Cognate with Dutch stijgen, German steigen, Danish stige, Norwegian Bokmål stige, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish stiga, Old Norse stíga.


oyster

From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which is from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea, from Ancient Greek ὄστρεον (óstreon). Doublet of ostro (“a purple dye”).

als

mollusk — see also clam, mollusc, mussel


shady

en-adj

shady (comparative shadier, superlative shadiest)

shadier (comparative)
shadiest (superlative)

From shade + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian skaadich, skaddich (“shady”), German schattig (“shady”).

They were being proper shady to him. Even if you don't like someone, locking them out, stealing their clothes and ganging up on them to take the piss is just childish.

2006 May 24, Saucy Jack, “BB7: Did Shabazz just deserve that?”, in uk.media.tv.misc (Usenet):

I didn't even ask her to be in the 'Increase the Peace' campaign, which was well shady, 'cos if anyone knows anything about rudes and violence and getting dragged into stuff it's Uma.

2007, Grace Dent, Diary of a Chav 2: Slinging the Bling:

"Don't be shady," she said, "You know I always pay up."

2007, Chastity Danielle Infinity, Jamo Lorswal, A Rose So That It May Rain, page 155:


wrack

en-verb

wrack (third-person singular simple present wracks, present participle wracking, simple past and past participle wracked)

wracks (present singular third-person)
wracking (participle present)
wracked (participle past)
wracked (past)

From Middle English wrake, wrache, wreche, from a merger of Old English wracu, wræc (“misery, suffering”) and Old English wrǣċ (“vengeance, revenge”). See also wrake.

(UK dialectal, transitive) To execute vengeance on; avenge.

(UK dialectal, transitive) To worry; tease; torment.


uncanny

en-adj

uncanny (comparative uncannier, superlative uncanniest)

uncannier (comparative)
uncanniest (superlative)

From un- + canny; thus “beyond one's ken,” or outside one's familiar knowledge or perceptions. Compare Middle English unkanne (“unknown”). In the noun sense a translation of Sigmund Freud's usage of German unheimlich (Das Unheimliche, 1919).


fain

fain (comparative more fain, superlative most fain)

more fain (comparative)
most fain (superlative)

From Middle English fain (“enjoyable, pleasing; fond of; glad, pleased; good, suitable; happy, joyful”), from Old English fægen (“happy, joyful, fain”), from Proto-West Germanic *fagan (“glad”), from Proto-Germanic *faganaz (“glad”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“joyful; pretty”).
cognates
* Old Norse fagna (“to rejoice”), feginn (“glad, joyful”)
* Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌲𐌹𐌽𐍉𐌽 (faginōn, “to rejoice”)
* Old High German fehan, gifehan (“to rejoice”)
* Old Saxon fagan, fagin

inh

[T]hey vvere faine to patche uppe the Matter vvith a little piece of Paper clappid over the foreſaid VVordes, […]

1559, John Strype, quoting John Feckenham, “[An Appendix; being a Repository of Faithful Extracts out of Various Records and Registers, […].] Numb[er] IX. The Oration of the Reverend Father in God Mr. Dr. Fecknam, Abbott of Westminster, in the Parliament House, 1559, against the Bill for the Liturgy.”, in Annals of the Reformation and Establishment of Religion, and Other Various Occurrences in the Church of England; […], volume I, London: […] John Wyat, […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 26:

By this heaunly ground I tread on, I muſt be faine to pavvne both my plate, & the tapeſtry of my dining chambers.

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature C3, recto:

[T]he Learned Caſtalio [i.e., Sebastian Castellio] vvas fain to make Trenchers at Baſle to keep himſelf from ſtarving, vvhen his [Michel de Montaigne's] Father vvould have given any Money for ſuch a Tutor for his Son, and Caſtalio have vvillingly embraced ſuch an Imployment upon very reaſonable Terms, but this vvas for vvant of Intelligence.

1693, [John Locke], “§89”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 105:

Having pledged herself to remain with her aunt to the end, Christbel was fain to make the best of her life at Mount Royal, and in order to do this she must needs keep on good terms with her cousin.

1882, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “‘That Lip and Voice are Mute for Ever’”, in Mount Royal […], volume II, London: John and Robert Maxwell […], →OCLC, page 115:

(chiefly UK, dialectal, or poetic) Often followed by of: glad, well-pleased.

Glad, contented, or satisfied to do something in the absence of a better alternative.

доволен

glad, contented, or satisfied to do something in the absence of a better alternative

Penker in his ſermõ [sermon] ſo loſt his voice that he was faine to leaue of [off] & come downe in the middes.

c. 1513 (date written), Thomas More, “The History of King Richard the Thirde (Vnfinished) […]”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 58, column 1:

[I]n this condition, he [Jesus] is fain to bear his burdenſom Croſs tovvards the place of his Execution, John 19. 17. till he vvas able to carry it no longer, but even fainted under it; […]

1676, [Matthew Hale], “Of the Knowledge of Christ Crucified”, in Contemplations Moral and Divine. […], London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbury […], and John Leigh […], →OCLC, page 207:

Many Plants are mention'd in Scripture vvhich are not diſtinctly knovvn in our Countries, or under ſuch Names in the Original, as they are fain to be rendred by analogy, or by the name of Vegetables of good affinity unto them, and ſo maintain the textual ſenſe, though in ſome variation from identity.

c. 1683 (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “Tract I. Observations upon Several Plants Mention’d in Scripture.”, in [Thomas Tenison], editor, Certain Miscellany Tracts, London: […] Charles Mearn, […], published 1683, →OCLC, page 7:

And the uſe of Fire-Guns in that taking of Conſtantinople is notorious, as you may ſee in Laonicus Chalcocondylas De Rebus Turcicis, one of the Byzantine Hiſtorians, lib. 7. vvho there makes mention of a Cannon of of ſo vaſt a bigneſs, that it vvas fain to be dravvn by ſeventy yoke of Oxen and tvvo thouſand Men.

1685, Henry More, “Three Objections from a Considerate Hand. […]”, in Paralipomena Prophetica Containing Several Supplements and Defences of Dr Henry More His Expositions of the Prophet Daniel and the Apocalypse, […], London: […] Walter Kettilby […], →OCLC, page 315:

VVhat is the truſt or ſtrength of fooliſh man? / They that of late vvere daring vvith their ſcoffes, / Are glad and faine by flight to ſaue themſelues.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 108, column 1:

The cantie, auld folks, crackin crouſe, / The young ones ranting thro' the houſe— / My heart has been ſae fain to ſee them, / That I for joy hae barkit vvi' them.

1786, Robert Burns, “The Twa Dogs, a Tale”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 10:

[F]ine words to make foolish maidens fain. But do not excuse it; it is your country-fashion, and we know how to treat it as such.

1829 May 2, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Co., […]; London: Simpkin and Marshall, […], →OCLC, page 113:

Then mean I, that I should be wonderous fain / That shamefully they one and all were slain, / Whoever against Love mean aught amiss.

1837, William Wordsworth, “[Memorials of a Tour in Italy.] The Cuckoo and the Nightingale. (From Chaucer.)”, in Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years; […] (The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth; VII), London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, stanza XXVI, page 155:

[M]y master is quite fain of his company.

1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “A Refractory Pupil”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 195:

O love, of my death my life is fain, / (The willows wave on the water-way,) / Your cheek and mine are cold in the rain, / But warm they'll be when we meet again. / (With a wind blown night and day.)

1871–1873 (date written), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “A Death-parting”, in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis and White, […], published 1881, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 287, lines 11–15:

And fain and full was my heart, and I took him to my breast, / And I cherished him soft and warm, for I deemed I had gotten the best.

1877, William Morris, “Of the Dream of Gudrun the Daughter of Giuki”, in The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, book III (Brynhild), page 176:

O lamentable brother! if those pity thee, / Am I not fain of all thy lone eyes promise me; / Half a fool's kingdom, far from men who sow and reap, / All their days vanity?

1892 August, Ernest Dowson, “To One in Bedlam”, in W[illiam] H[enry] Wilkins, Hubert Crackanthorpe, editors, The Albemarle: A Monthly Review, volume II, number 2, London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., →OCLC, stanza 3, page 67, lines 9–10:

Man and Birds are fayne of climbing high.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 125, column 2:

(UK, dialectal) Chiefly followed by to, or (obsolete) for or of: eager or willing, or inclined.


snag

en-verb

snag (third-person singular simple present snags, present participle snagging, simple past and past participle snagged)

snags (present singular third-person)
snagging (participle present)
snagged (participle past)
snagged (past)

From earlier snag (“stump or branch of a tree”), from Middle English *snagge, *snage, from Old Norse snagi (“clothes peg”) (compare Old Norse snag-hyrndr (“snag-horned, having jagged corners”)), perhaps ultimately from a derivative of Proto-Germanic *snakk-, *snēgg, variations of *snakaną (“to crawl, creep, wind about”).
Compare Norwegian snag, snage (“protrusion; projecting point”), Icelandic snagi (“peg”). Also see Dutch snoek (“pike”).

cog

When felled and snagged, one end of the tree is placed upon a small sledge, and dragged out of the bush by oxen

1846, Sir Richard Levinge, “Echoes from the Backwoods”, in The New Monthly, volume 76:

(UK, dialect) To cut the snags or branches from, as the stem of a tree; to hew roughly.


snag

The Australian National Dictionary Centre suggests that snag as slang for "sausage" most likely derives from the earlier British slang for "light meal", although it makes no comment on how it came to be specifically applied to sausages.Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms The word's use in football slang originates as a shortening of "sausage roll", rhyming slang for "goal", to sausage, and hence, by synonymy, snag.


Brum

(British, informal) A nickname for the English city of Birmingham.


boots

[…] he sent on the 22d. Vice-Admiral Rook into it, with several Men of War and Fire-Ships, besides the Boots of the Fleet, to endeavour to destroy them: […]

1705, The Life of William III, Late King of England, and Prince of Orange, page 334:

The captain of Hotspur was Lieutenant T. Herrick, the youngest commanding officer in all the destroyers, and says Hotspur was the “boots” of the fleet! Being the junior ship, she was given jobs no-one wanted.

2005, Frank Wade, A Midshipman's War, page 115:

(UK, naval, slang) The ship in a fleet having the most junior captain.


result

Recorded since 1432 as Middle English resulten, from Medieval Latin resultare, in Classical Latin "to spring forward, rebound", the frequentative of the past participle of resilio (“to rebound”), from re- (“back”) + salio (“to jump, leap”).

'Yes! Result! Game on!' He leans forward to a mike fixed over the desk and presses one of the […]

1997, Jane Owen, Camden girls, page 117:

'Yes! Result, Nick!' He heard a distant cheer. 'Right, well I'll give you a ring on Saturday, make the arrangements.

2002, Lissa Evans, Spencer's List, →ISBN, page 28:

I was lucky enough to win by a knock-out in the second round - My opponent was Tpr McAdoo - HQ squadron won by nine fights to three (21pts to 15pts) - YES! RESULT.

2006, Trooper 7H, Hong Kong Revisited, →ISBN, page 34:

(picking a lock) I wonder what I did...
(the lock opens) Hey hey, result!

2010 April 10, Amy Pond, in The Beast Below (series 5, episode 2), written by Steven Moffat

(UK) An exclamation of joy following a favorable outcome.


slam

en-noun

slam (countable and uncountable, plural slams)

From Middle English *slammen (not recorded), apparently from a Scandinavian source ultimately from Old Norse slæma, slœma (“to slam, swing a weapon, strike an object out of reach”), related to Old Norse slamra, slambra (“to slam”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål slamre (“to slam”), Swedish slamra (“to pound, beat, make a clatter, rattle”), Norwegian Nynorsk slamra (“to sway, dangle”).

cog

(uncountable, UK, dialect) The yellow iron silicate produced in alum works as a waste product.


bruv

PIE word
 *bʰréh₂tēr
Clipping of bruvver.

The lads in the Nags 'Ead were just talking about your bit of managerial bovver and I said to Rodney, 'Bruv, this could be my big chance.'

(UK, Canada, chiefly Cockney, MLE, MTE, Australia, slang) Brother, mate, friend.


boozer

From booze + -er (agent noun suffix) or (pub) + -er (relational noun suffix).

Zoe’s dad went to the same boozer every day, a flat-roofed pub on the edge of the estate, with the cross of St George hanging above the door and a ferocious-looking Rottweiler tied up outside.

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

During the week, the players were just as likely to be spotted out together in a local pub such as the Four in Hand. It was even known for them to frequent the Marksman off Carters Green, one of the town’s roughest boozers.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A public house, pub.

(UK, military, obsolete) A World War II fighter radar detector, fitted to British bombers.


shriek

From obsolete shrick (1567), shreke, variants of earlier screak, skricke (before 1500), from Middle English scrycke, from a North Germanic/Scandinavian language (compare Swedish skrika, Danish skrige, Icelandic skríkja), from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną, *skrik- (compare English screech). More at screech.


pubby

en-adj

pubby (comparative pubbier, superlative pubbiest)

pubbier (comparative)
pubbiest (superlative)

(British, colloquial, of a person) Who enjoys frequenting public houses.


wheeze

wheeze The sound of a man's wheeze (canonical)
wheezes (plural)

From Middle English whesen, perhaps from Old Norse hvæsa (“to hiss”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to pant”).

Didn’t catch me napping that wheeze.

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

The main point of fuel duty, though, is as a fiscal wheeze: it made up 5% of the tax take in 2010.

2011 November 19, “Road rage; High petrol prices hurt, but will not throttle the economy”, in The Economist:

The Constitution cult in the US—deliberately stoked in the early twentieth century in a part as a bulwark against socialism—is a nastily brilliant wheeze by capitalism's apologists.

2022, China Miéville, chapter 4, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:

(British, Ireland, informal) An ulterior scheme or plan.


stack

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

From Middle English stack, stacke, stakke, stak, from Old Norse stakkr (“a barn; haystack; heap; pile”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz (“a barn; rick; haystack”).
The data structure sense is a calque of Dutch stapel, introduced by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Cognate with Icelandic stakkur (“stack”), Swedish stack (“stack”), Danish stak (“stack”), Norwegian stakk (“stack”). Related to stake and sauna.

der

There was againſt euery Pillar, a Stacke of Billets, aboue a Mans Height;

1631, Francis [Bacon], “III. Century. [Experiments in Consort Touching the Reflexion, of Sounds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 249, page 67:

(UK) A pile of poles or wood, indefinite in quantity.


stray

From Middle English stray, strey, from Anglo-Norman estray, stray, Old French estrai, from the verb (see below).

waifs and strays

(British, law, archaic) An article of movable property, of which the owner is not known (see waif).


shabby

en-adj

shabby (comparative shabbier, superlative shabbiest)

shabbier (comparative)
shabbiest (superlative)

The adjective is derived from shab (“(obsolete except UK, dialectal) scaly skin disease; skin disease of sheep; crust forming over wound, scab”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).
The verb is derived from the adjective.
cognates
* Dutch schabbig (“poor, needy, shabby”)
* Middle High German schebic (modern German schäbig (“shabby”))
* Middle Low German schabbich (“miserable”) (modern Low German schabbig, schäbbig)
* Scots shabby (“in poor health, ill”)
* Swedish sjabbig (“shabby, mangy, scruffy”), skabbig (“scabby”)

hääppöinen

poor in quality; showing little effort or talent

(often in the negative) Poor in quality; also, showing little effort or talent.

(UK, dialectal or informal) Of weather: wet and dreary.

(UK, dialectal, veterinary medicine) Chiefly of sheep: affected by shab or scab (“a skin disease”); scabby.


commute

en-verb

commute (third-person singular simple present commutes, present participle commuting, simple past and past participle commuted)

commutes (present singular third-person)
commuting (participle present)
commuted (participle past)
commuted (past)

From commutation ticket, a pass on a railroad, streetcar line, etc. that permitted multiple rides over a period of time, eg, a month, for a single, commuted payment.

通勤

to regularly travel to and from work, school etc.

I commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan by bicycle.

My convention diary is unusually disjointed, since I was mingily commuting from Berkshire rather than pay £65 per night for a single room.

2005, David Langford, The Sex Column and Other Misprints, page 66:

MRS. PATERSON, a runner and semilapsed vegetarian — she eats meat once a week to fend off anemia — spends weekdays in Manhattan with her son and commutes to Albany most weekends; she and her husband rented out their house in Guilderland, an Albany suburb, and have moved into the Executive Mansion, where she is continuing Ms. Wall Spitzer’s “greening” initiative.

2008 June 6, Robin Finn, “No Bed of Roses for a Sudden First Lady”, in The New York Times:

(intransitive, US, UK, Canada) To regularly travel from one's home to one's workplace or school, or vice versa.


phoney

en-adj

phoney (comparative phonier, superlative phoniest)

phonier (comparative)
phoniest (superlative)

(chiefly British) Alternative form of phony


ugsome

ugsome (comparative more ugsome, superlative most ugsome)

more ugsome (comparative)
most ugsome (superlative)

From Middle English ugsom, equivalent to ug + -some.

This is hell, this is the image of death, this is hell, ſuch an euil fauored face, ſuch an ugſom countenance, ſuche an horrible viſage our ſauiour Chriſt ſaw of death and hell in the gardein.

1553, Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[Certayn Other Sermons Preached … in Lincolneshyre …] Edward VI 7”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC, folio 81, recto:

Still, it's a cosy country, / unracked by riots or strikes / and backward at drug-taking: / I've heard of a dozen lands / where life sounds far more ugsome, / fitter goals for your disgust.

1972, W. H. Auden, Epistle to a Godson: and Other Poems, page 28:

We have italicised the more ugsome parts of the S.S.C. paper so that those of our readers who are too busy mountaineering to read the whole thing may grasp the fundamental psychopathology of the unattractive predators that have battened onto us.

1975, Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal, volume 30, numbers 163-166, page 397:

(chiefly UK dialectal, Scotland, Northern England) Ugly; horrible; disgusting; offensive, loathsome, repellent.


shout

From Middle English shouten. Further origin uncertain. Possibly related to Middle English shooten (“to shoot (out)”) or from or akin to Old Norse skúta (“to chide, scold”), Old Norse skúti, skúta (“a taunt”). See also the second, rare sense of the verb scout (“to reject with contempt”).

cog

“I′ll get my wine though,” taking out her wallet.
“No. This is my shout,” holding up his hand as though to ward her money off.

1984, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, page 290:

Cut to the pub on a lads night out,
Man at the bar cos it was his shout

2008, George Papaellinas, The Trip: An Odyssey, re.press, Australia, page 6,
It was always my shout down the pub with Theo.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A round of drinks in a pub; the turn to pay the shot or scot; an act of paying for a round of drinks.

Yet another ambulance on a shout enters Parliament Square.

2017, Dave Boulter, London's Emergency Service Vehicles:

(UK, Australia, slang) A call-out for an emergency services team.


shout

From Middle English shout(e), perhaps from Middle Low German schûte (“boat or light ship”). Doublet of schuit, see there for more.

der

Although the density of the flour in particular would be less than that of the wheat, an equivalent 200 quarters of wheat per shout would not seem out of the question here. Again using Table 4, this suggests quite large boats carrying nearly 35 tons. If the 'Blackfriars 3' shout did indeed carry only 7.5 tons, then the shouts coming from Henley in 1345 were considerably bigger vessels, […]

2007 October 25, John Blair, Waterways and Canal-Building in Medieval England, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 124:

(UK, dialect) A flat-bottomed boat, a barge (for carrying cargo, etc), now especially a light boat used in duck-shooting.


cuppa

Contraction of cup of (with “tea” or sometimes “coffee” implied). See also a (“of”), pinta (“pint of milk”).

I’ve just put the kettle on – fancy a cuppa?

[…] we covered the hundred yards to the lawn where the tea table awaited us. […] Only Bobbie was present when we arrived at the trough. Wilbert and Phyllis were presumably still in the leafy glade, and Mrs Cream, Bobbie said, worked in her room every afternoon on her new spine-freezer and seldom knocked off for a cuppa.

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter III:

1992, Machine Knitting Monthly, Maidenhead: Machine Knitting Monthly Ltd.,
Back home safely, I made a cuppa and sat for a good hour revelling in my favourite magazine.

‘Here,’ said Clancy as he sat up and dangled his legs over the edge of the bed, ‘You sit down and take it easy. I′ll boil the billy for a cuppa’.

2007, Kevin Hallewell, Woop Woop, page 35:

2017 Mrs. S. "Guillotines Decide" Orphan Black
Get Kira up. I'll pour you a cuppa.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A cup of tea (or sometimes any hot drink).

Similes were not my cuppa, anyway. My classmates tended to overload their writing with them (all-time record: six in one paragraph) and they stuck out like violins in a rock tune.

2001, Gabrielle Bauer, Waltzing the Tango: Confessions of an Out-of-step Boomer, page 210:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Whatever interests or suits one; one's cup of tea.


amnesia

en-noun

amnesia (countable and uncountable, plural amnesias or amnesiæ)

From modified Latin amnesia, from Ancient Greek ἀμνησία (amnēsía, “forgetfulness”), a noun derivation from μιμνήσκω (mimnḗskō, “to remind, to remember”) prefixed with the alpha privative.

der

She's lighting up some sensis, he's lighting up amnesias / I'm 'bout to get it started, I'm 'bout to get amnesia'd

2015, Jme (lyrics and music), “Man Don’t Care” (track 13), in Integrity>, performed by Jme:

Green’s Dictionary of Slang
w:Green's Dictionary of Slang

(UK, slang) A potent sativa-dominant strain of marijuana.


rag

en-verb

rag (third-person singular simple present rags, present participle ragging, simple past and past participle ragged)

rags (present singular third-person)
ragging (participle present)
ragged (participle past)
ragged (past)

Uncertain. Ideas about the scolding and tormenting senses being related to on the rag are only speculative.

(British slang) To drive a car or another vehicle in a hard, fast or unsympathetic manner.


rag

(UK, Ireland) A society run by university students for the purpose of charitable fundraising.


ringer

Unknown. Probably so named after the custom of ringing a bell to denote the winner of a contest or competition.


ringer

Some senses may derive from ring the changes (“run through variations; enliven; pass counterfeit money; trick a shopkeeper into giving too much change”).

I had heard early on in my career about 'ringers': cars that were stolen and cloned, but it was 1993 before I was to experience this first-hand.

2020, Tom Hartley, Tom Hartley: The Dealmaker:

(UK, slang) A fraudulently cloned (or cut-and-shut) motor vehicle.


ringer

A group of naval one- and two-ringers were chatting by the office door with a few ratings, complete with kit-bags and oilskins.

The senior officer of the escort was an RN two and a half ringer who had a reputation of being one of the best.

(UK, military, informal, in combination) An officer having the specified number of rings (denoting rank) on the uniform sleeve.


ladder

From Middle English ladder, laddre, from Old English hlǣder, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaidriju, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrijō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlóydʰrom, from *ḱley- (“to lean”).
Compare Scots ledder, North Frisian ladder, Saterland Frisian Laadere, West Frisian ljedder, Dutch ladder, leer, German Leiter); also Old Irish clithar (“hedge”), Umbrian 𐌊𐌋𐌄𐌈𐌓𐌀𐌌 (kleθram, “stretcher”)). See lean, which is related to lid.

Proposed Standard of Needlework to be required from Pupil-teachers at the Yearly Visits of Her Majesty's Inspectors. […] Darning Stockings.—To show a hole darned, and a thin place "run" (or strengthened), and a ladder properly taken up in a coarse worsted stocking.

1875, Report of the Committee of Council on Education (England and Wales); with Appendix. 1874–75. Report, and Parts I. to IV. of Appendix. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. (Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors, and Others: Twenty-seven Volumes; XXIV), volume X (Education), London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, →OCLC, page 54:

You've got a huge ladder in your stockings. I've got a spare pair in my bag, come to the Ladies and you can change.

2008, Åsa Larsson, translated by Marlaine Delargy, The Black Path, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Dell, →ISBN:

(chiefly British) A length of unravelled fabric in a knitted garment, especially in nylon stockings; a run.


ladder

ladder (third-person singular simple present ladders, present participle laddering, simple past and past participle laddered)

ladders (present singular third-person)
laddering (participle present)
laddered (participle past)
laddered (past)

For eighteen minutes Revenge pounded the dockyard area at an average range of 15,700 yards, spreading for line and laddering for range to a prearranged plan to cover the whole target area.

2007, Peter Smith, Naval Warfare in the English Channel: 1939-1945, page 134:

Laddering made it possible to get a few hits on a fast-moving, often manoeuvring, target.

2014, Norman Friedman, Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns & Gunnery:

(UK, naval slang) To close in on a target with successive salvos, increasing or decreasing the shot range as necessary.

offences to be taken into consideration
offence to be taken into consideration

(UK, law enforcement, of a police officer) To corruptly coerce a convicted offender to admit to offences to be taken into consideration which they do not actually believe they committed, as a way to artificially increase the rate of solved crimes.


tanner

George II of Great Britain
John Sigismund Tanner
Royal Mint

Named after John Sigismund Tanner (1705–1775), who designed a sixpence for the Royal Mint during the reign of King George II.

[A]s you are so flash of your money, though you say you are poor, you may give me a tanner to buy a little baccy with; […]

1851, George Borrow, chapter III, in Lavengro; the Scholar—the Gypsy—the Priest. […], volume II, London: John Murray […], →OCLC, page 32:

They'd say hello, maybe slip you a tanner.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 469:

(British, colloquial) A former British coin worth six old pence.


Kop

From Spion Kop, from Afrikaans kop (“hill”).

(British) A terrace at a football ground, originally for standing spectators, though all-seater stadia have been mandatory for larger UK clubs since 1994.


slag

en-noun

slag (countable and uncountable, plural slags)

Borrowed from Middle Low German slagge, slaggen (“slag, dross”), from Old Saxon *slaggo, from Proto-West Germanic *slaggō, from Proto-Germanic *slaggô, from Proto-Germanic *slagōną (“to strike”) + *-gô (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle Low German slāgen (“to strike”), since originally the splinters struck off from the metal by hammering, from *slagōn, from Proto-West Germanic *slagōn. Compare also Old Saxon slegi, from Proto-West Germanic *slagi.
See also Dutch slak, German Schlacke, Swedish slagg; also compare English slay.

1984, Tristan Jones, Heart of Oak, 1997, paperback edition, page 260,
We never talked about that, of course; we talked about how we could find a woman in the Dilly, and if the Yanks had taken them all, how we could always resort to the peroxided older slags who hung out around the side doors to Waterloo station and did knee tremblers for the Yanks.

Which grotesque auld hing-oot will the shrivelled post-menopausal slag want tae shaft? Stay tuned.

1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 252:

2002, Josephine Cox, The Woman Who Left, 2012, ebook, unnumbered page,
‘Slag! Wait till I tell Jacob what we′ve been doing – and I will, you mark my words! He′ll want nowt to do with you then, will he, eh? He′ll see you for what you really are. A cheap and nasty little bitch!’

‘[…]He was a lovely man but, when I told him I wanted to continue swinging, he freaked out and called me a slag.’

2008, Ashley Lister, Swingers - Female Confidential, page 31:

‘[…]To the lady that came in to my coffee shop today and ripped on me and my fellow employees for being too slow: eat shit, you miserable slag!’

Soph, yeah, you can't murk me / You're a slag, riddled with STDs

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

(UK, Ireland, Australia, slang, derogatory) A prostitute or promiscuous woman; a slut.

(UK, Ireland, derogatory, dated) A coward.

The writers took it for granted that England, with its working class composed of slags, purple-nosed losers, and animals fed on pinball, pornography and junk-food, was disintegrating into terminal class-struggle.

1990, Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia, London, Boston: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 207:

1996, Sarah Kane, Phaedra′s Love, Scene 8, 2001, Sarah Kane: Complete Plays, page 100,
Kill him. Kill the royal slag.

2012, Danny Dyer, tweet, quoted by Alexis Petridis, "Danny Dyer: why them 9/11 slags are freaking his nut", The Guardian
Can't believe it's been nearly 11 years since them slags smashed into the twin towers

(UK, Ireland, chiefly Cockney, derogatory) A contemptible person, a scumbag.


slag

en-verb

slag (third-person singular simple present slags, present participle slagging, simple past and past participle slagged)

slags (present singular third-person)
slagging (participle present)
slagged (participle past)
slagged (past)

If you slag off the other person, then—to the extent that your child identifies with that person as their parent—you are slagging off a part of them.

2010, Courtenay Young, Help Yourself Towards Mental Health, page 344:

Rather than wait for her to start slagging my mother, I would disappear for a couple of days and inevitably, because I was getting no love at home, I began to stray once again.

2011, John Davies, Slings and Arrows, page 109:

(transitive, UK, slang) To talk badly about; to malign or denigrate (someone).

mustamaalata

to talk badly about someone; to denigrate someone


plash

From Middle English plasch, plasche, from Old English plæsċ (“pool, puddle”), from Proto-West Germanic *plask, probably ultimately imitative.
Cognate with Dutch plas (“pool, watering hole”). Related also to West Frisian plaskje (“to splash, splatter”), Dutch plassen (“to splash, splatter”), German platschen (“to splash”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

cog

Out of the wound the red bloud flowed fresh, / That vnderneath his feet soone made a purple plesh.

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

Hereof Aesop framed the Fable of the two Frogs that consulted together in time of drowth (when many plashes that they had repayred to were dry) what was to be done.

1597, Francis Bacon, Of the Coulers of Good and Evill, section 4:

Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage, / Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank / Soil to a plash? [...]

1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XXII:

These shallow plashes.

a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). The Consideration of our Latter End”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:

(UK, dialectal) A small pool of standing water; a puddle.


towel

en-verb

towel (third-person singular simple present towels, present participle toweling or towelling, simple past and past participle toweled or towelled)

towels (present singular third-person)
toweling (participle present)
towelling (participle present)
toweled (participle past)
toweled (past)
towelled (participle past)
towelled (past)

From Middle English towayle, towel, towail, towaille, from Old French toaille (“towel”) (modern French touaille), Medieval Latin toallia, from Frankish *þwahilu (“cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *þwahaną (“to wash”). Cognate with Old High German dwahila (“towel”) (modern dialectal German Zwehle), Dutch dwaal (“towel”), dweil (“mop”), Low German Dweel (“towel”), Old English þwǣle (“band; ribbon; fillet”), Old English þwēan (“to wash”).

cog

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

(UK, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To beat with a stick, or "oaken towel".


kerfuffle

en-verb

kerfuffle (third-person singular simple present kerfuffles, present participle kerfuffling, simple past and past participle kerfuffled)

kerfuffles (present singular third-person)
kerfuffling (participle present)
kerfuffled (participle past)
kerfuffled (past)

Probably from Scots curfuffle, equivalent to ker- + fuffle, or related to Irish cíor thuathail (“confusion, bewilderment”). Similar to modern Welsh cythrwfl (“uproar, trouble, agitation”)

cog

(chiefly Ireland, UK, Commonwealth, informal) To make a disorderly outburst or commotion.


offside

→ Czech: ofsajd

→ Macedonian: офсајд (ofsajd)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ȍfsājd, о̏фса̄јд

My offside wing mirror got snapped off.

They put a stock of candle-ends into the lantern, hung the latter to the off-side of the load, and directed the horse onward, walking at his shoulder at first during the uphill parts of the way, in order not to overload an animal of so little vigour.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 50:

(British, Australia) The side of a road vehicle furthest from the kerb: the right side if one drives on the left of the road.

(British) The side of a canal opposite the towpath.


gumption

en-noun

gumption (usually uncountable, plural gumptions)

Borrowed from Scots gumption (“common sense, shrewdness; drive, initiative”); further etymology unknown, possibly connected with Middle English gome (“attention, heed”), from Old Norse gaumr (“attention, heed”), from Proto-Germanic *gaumō. English cognates include gaum (“to comprehend, understand”) and goam (“to recognize, see”).

bor+

Gumption, or rum gumption, docility, comprehenſion, capacity.

[1785, [Francis Grose], “Gumption, or rum gumption”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, London: […] S[amuel] Hooper, […], →OCLC:

When I see a man who has a good business, sufficient to support his family respectably, neglecting his affairs, and running into debt, in order to obtain a political office, I fancy that, whatever may be his talents, he is not burdened with gumption. […] When I see a man attending diligently to his own concerns, sending his children to school, paying his debts, and keeping clear of law suits, quarrels, and politics, I set him down as a man possessing a reasonable share of gumption.

1834 March 5, “Gumption”, in Thomas G[reen] Fessenden, editor, The New England Farmer, and Horticultural Journal; […], volume III (New Series; volume XII overall), number 34, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] C. Barrett, […], →OCLC, page 272, columns 1–2:

As a balance to genius, which is ideally creative, gumption is required to control, to direct. […] Gumption is the power to realize the poetical worth of common sense. Without that power no man was ever truly great.

1855 December, William T[urner] Coggeshall, “Genius and Gumption”, in D[avis] W[asgatt] Clark, editor, The Ladies’ Repository: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted to Literature and Religion, volume XV, Cincinnati, Oh.: L. Swormstedt and A. Poe; […], →OCLC, page 734:

Whatever the job turned out to be, if it went against her gumptions, she would make sure Gregory would have hell on his hands and make him eager to release her from the deal.

2013 April 29, C. A. McJack, “The Higher Path”, in The Unraveling (Fate’s Twisted Circle; 1), [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 313:

(UK, Ireland) Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness.


pukka

en-adj

pukka (comparative more pukka, superlative most pukka)

more pukka (comparative)
most pukka (superlative)

From Hindi पक्का (pakkā, “certain, sure”), Punjabi ਪੱਕਾ (pakkā, “mature, ripe; cooked; strong, substantial; genuine, sound, true, valid”) and Urdu پکا (pakkā, “mature, ripe; cooked; strong, substantial; genuine, sound, true, valid”), from Sanskrit पक्व (pakva, “baked, cooked, roasted”), from पचति (pacati, “to bake, cook, roast”).

der

(British, slang) Excellent, fantastic, great.


mansion

→ Japanese: マンション (manshon)

From Middle English mansioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman mansion, mansiun, from Latin mānsiō (“dwelling, stopping-place”), from the past participle stem of manēre (“stay”).


butty

Clipping of buttered sandwich or bun + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian Buutje (“buttered bread (sandwich)”).

cog

Let's have a bacon butty!

(UK, chiefly Northern England, New Zealand, Ireland) A sandwich, usually with a hot savoury filling in a barmcake. The most common are chips, bacon, sausage and egg.


butty

(colloquial, UK, now chiefly Wales and West Country) A friend.

Ah didn't play butty, ah promise yer. Yo all on yer mek the poor lad yer butty.

(archaic, UK dialect, among boys) A drudge; a cat's paw; someone who does the hard work; someone who is being taken advantage of by someone else.


butty

en-verb

butty (third-person singular simple present butties, present participle buttying, simple past and past participle buttied)

butties (present singular third-person)
buttying (participle present)
buttied (participle past)
buttied (past)

I butty with Jackson.

(archaic, UK dialect) To work together; to keep company with.


scout

From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultō (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun.

der

(UK, cricket) A fielder in a game for practice.

(historical, UK, up until 1920s) A fighter aircraft.


tent

en-verb

tent (third-person singular simple present tents, present participle tenting, simple past and past participle tented)

tents (present singular third-person)
tenting (participle present)
tented (participle past)
tented (past)

From Middle English tent (“attention”), aphetic variation of attent (“attention”), from Old French atente (“attention, intention”), from Latin attenta, feminine of attentus, past participle of attendere (“to attend”). Compare tend, from an aphetic variation of attend

der

14th century, anonymous, The Romance of Syr Tryamoure
He let hur have wemen at wylle,
To tent hur, and that was skylle,
And brought hur to bede

(archaic, UK, Scotland, dialect) To attend to; to heed

(archaic, UK, Scotland, dialect) to guard; to hinder.


tent

Lo ! lo ! my frend , take tent to this womman

a. 1451, John Lydgate, The Prohemy of a Marriage betwixt and Olde Man and a Yonge Wife, and the Counsail &c.:

(archaic, UK, Scotland, dialect) Attention; regard, care.


squire

From Middle English esquire, from Old French escuier, from Latin scūtārius (“shield-bearer”), from scūtum (“shield”).

Sorry squire, I've had a look 'round the back of the shop, and uh, we're right out of parrots.

1969, Dead Parrot sketch, Monty Python's Flying Circus:

(UK, colloquial) Term of address to a male equal.


seagull

From sea + gull. The second element is from a Brythonic language. Compare Welsh gwylan, Breton gouelan.

(UK, slang) A fan or member of Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club.


seagull

en-verb

seagull (third-person singular simple present seagulls, present participle seagulling, simple past and past participle seagulled)

seagulls (present singular third-person)
seagulling (participle present)
seagulled (participle past)
seagulled (past)

[…] and when you need cover for the fullback because of the bombs raining down, when the walking maul requires every forward to quit seagulling and actually do some hard graft, then the rest of the game opens up.

2002 September 24, Greig Blanchett, “Re: The Immorality of the Drop Goal”, in rec.sport.rugby.union (Usenet):

On hand was seagulling number eight Dave Hodges to cross for the all-important try.

2002 December 13, “Sharks beached at Stradey”, in BBC Sport:

That occurred in the 12th minute when flanker George Smith, seagulling out wide, enjoyed the rewards of a two-man overlap to score.

2003 November 2, Greg Growden, “Australia survives scare”, in The Age:

France was full of running and continued to spread the ball wide or kick in behind the defence, where towering right-winger Aurelien Rougerie and the seagulling French back row had a height advantage contesting the high ball.

2003 November 10, Mark Fuller, “Impeccable France outclasses Ireland”, in The Age:

Samo seagulled for Australia's final try two minutes from time.

2011 September 24, Darren Walton, “Injuries sour Wallabies 67-5 win over USA”, in MSN NZ:

(British, Australia, New Zealand, rugby slang, of a forward) To run in the back line rather than concentrate on primary positional duties in open play.


waif

The noun is derived from Late Middle English weif (“ownerless property subject to seizure and forfeiture; the right of such seizure and forfeiture; revenues obtained from such seizure and forfeiture”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman waif, weif [and other forms] (compare Anglo-Latin waivum [and other forms], Medieval Latin waivium), possibly from Old French waif, a variant of gaif, gayf (“property that is lost and unclaimed; of property: lost and unclaimed”) (Norman) [and other forms], probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse veif (“flag; waving thing”), from Proto-Germanic *waif-, from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to oscillate, swing”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

waif, waife, wafe, wayf, wayffe, (Early Middle English) waiph, waive

der

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

waifs and strays

(British, law, archaic) An article of movable property which has been found, and of which the owner is not known, such as goods washed up on a beach or thrown away by an absconding thief; such items belong to the Crown, which may grant the right of ownership to them to a lord of a manor.

سَائِبَة

article of movable property found of which the owner is not known


aeon

From Latin aeon, from Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “age, era”).

When Earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted and dried,/ When the oldest colors have faded, and the youngest critic has died,/ We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it -- lie down for an aeon or two,/Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew.

1892, Rudyard Kipling, When Earth's Last Picture is Painted (L’Envoi to 'The Seven Seas'):

(Australia, New Zealand, British) Alternative spelling of eon


continental quilt

en-noun

continental quilt (plural continental quilts)

(UK) A duvet used in combination with other blankets.


bully beef

From a corruption of French bouilli (“boiled”) + beef.


shy

en-adj

shy (comparative shier or shyer or more shy, superlative shiest or shyest or most shy)

shier (comparative)
shyer (comparative)
more shy (comparative)
shiest (superlative)
shyest (superlative)
most shy (superlative)

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).
Etymology tree
Middle English shy
English shy

etymon

Pollsters need to remember the shy Tory factor.

(UK, politics, of a voter) Less likely to reveal who they will vote for than average, chiefly in the context of the collective effect this has on polling accuracy.


hoodie

→ German: Hoodie

From hood + -ie (diminutive suffix). In sense “person wearing a hoodie”, influenced by sense -ie (“person associated with suffixed noun, often derogatory”); compare townie.

David Cameron will completely re-engineer the Conservatives' image on crime this week with a remarkable speech calling for more understanding of 'hoodies' and criticising what he calls short-term solutions to curb youth crime such as anti-social behaviour orders and curfews.

2006 July 9, Gaby Hinsliff, “Cameron softens crime image in 'hug a hoodie' call”, in The Guardian:

En route, we dropped by the home of Lips — one of the very few gang members who still lived with his mother — to pick up some clothes for Tuggy. There, we discussed which pair of trainers to bring him — no small decision, as the soul of the hoodie resides in his trainers.

2012 June 26, Harriet Sergeant, “The only place my hoodie friend felt at home? Prison”, in Mail Online:

(British, slang, often derogatory) A young person wearing such a sweatshirt, usually a male, stereotypically associated with antisocial behaviour.


tosser

From toss + -er. In the British slang senses, toss refers specifically to the masturbate meaning.

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang, derogatory, vulgar) A person who masturbates.

That bloke who ripped me off was a right tosser.

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, derogatory, offensive, slang) An objectionable person, often somewhat obnoxious in demeanour.


licensee

(law) A person to whom a license is granted.

(UK) A publican (because a license is needed to run a pub).


DMV

(UK) Initialism of deserted medieval village.


fresher

From a clipping of freshman + -er (Oxford -er).

(British) A first-year student at a university.


Holy Land

Before returning to Dickens's accounts of these places, it is interesting to read what Charles Booth had to say of Shelton Street as he saw it in 1889, at a time when wholesale demolitions carried out for the construction of New Oxford Street in 1847 and Shaftesbury Avenue in 1885 had cut a swathe through “the Holy Land”.

2016, Valeria Tinkler-Villani, editor, Babylon or New Jerusalem?: Perceptions of the City in Literature, page 101:

(UK, slang, obsolete) The Seven Dials area of London, England.


gorblimey

Representing a Cockney pronunciation of God blind me!; traditionally, people would curse using contractions rather than breaking the third commandment (Do not use the Lord's name in vain oaths). Compare strewth, zounds, sblood.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Expressing surprise, anger, etc.


butcher's

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-butcher's.wav

From butcher + -’s, presumably abbreviation of butcher’s shop or similar; compare greengrocer’s etc.

Gorblimey, would you ’ave a butcher’s at the bristols on this bird in the currant bun!
Astonishing, look at this woman's breasts printed in The Sun!

(UK, Australia, rhyming slang) A look (short form of butcher's hook)


bunny

From Middle English bony, boni (“swelling, tumor”), from Old French bugne, buigne (“swelling, lump”), from Old Frankish *bungjo (“swelling, bump”), from Proto-Germanic *bungô, *bunkô (“lump, clump, heap, crowd”). More at bunion, bunch.

(UK dialectal) A swelling from a blow; a bump.


bunny

From Middle English bune (“hollow stalk or stem, drinking straw”), from Old English bune (“cup, beaker, drinking vessel; reed, cane”), of unknown origin. Related to English bun, boon (“the stalk of flax or hemp less the fibre”), Scots bune, boon, been, see bun, boon. Compare also bunweed.

inh

(UK dialectal) A culvert or short covered drain connecting two ditches.

Friar's Cliff and Highcliffe have always been what the second name suggests: cliffs too high to scale easily and with no convenient bunnies, chines or combes.

1983, Geoffrey Morley, Smuggling in Hampshire and Dorset, 1700-1850, page 72:

(UK dialectal) A chine or gully formed by water running over the edge of a cliff; a wooded glen or small ravine opening through the cliff line to the sea.

(UK dialectal) Any small drain or culvert.

(UK dialectal) A brick arch or wooden bridge, covered with earth across a drawn or carriage in a water-meadow, just wide enough to allow a hay-wagon to pass over.


wallow

en-verb

wallow (third-person singular simple present wallows, present participle wallowing, simple past and past participle wallowed)

wallows (present singular third-person)
wallowing (participle present)
wallowed (participle past)
wallowed (past)

From Middle English walwen, from Old English wealwian (“to fade, wither”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of Old English fealwian (“to grow pale, turn yellow, ripen, wither”). Alternatively, perhaps related to Middle English welken (“to fade, droop, wither”), modern English welk.

cog

(UK, dialectal, of plants) To fade, fade away, wither, droop; fail to flourish.


pec

(UK, slang, obsolete, Eton College) Money.


not on your nelly

From nelly, Nelly Duff, rhyming slang for puff (of breath = life).

(idiomatic, chiefly UK) not on your life, an emphatic form of no.


barmy

en-adj

barmy (comparative barmier, superlative barmiest)

barmier (comparative)
barmiest (superlative)

Probably an alteration of balmy (“foolish; slightly crazy or mad, eccentric”), influenced by barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) (see etymology 1).

[T]he exercise yard of the "barmy fellows," as he called the madmen, (meaning, I suppose, that their brains were in an unnatural state of working,) was but a stone's throw from himself and his rational companions, […]

1872, Mrs. Edward Millet [i.e., Janet Millett], chapter XIV, in An Australian Parsonage; or, The Settler and the Savage in Western Australia, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 330:

"Bli'me if I know wot yer all talkin' abaht. You're all barmy on the crumpet," said Liza indignantly, and, turning her back on them, made for home.

1897, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 9, in Liza of Lambeth, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published [1921], →OCLC, page 142:

I thanked John [Bishop], said the "oracle award" sounds like a made-up prize you'd give a fat kid on sports day – I should know, I used to get them – then that it's barmy that Hugo Boss can trade under the same name they flogged uniforms to the Nazis under and the ludicrous necessity for an event such as this one to banish such a lurid piece of information from our collective consciousness.

2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards: ‘It’s amazing how absurd it seems’”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-07:

He opted for a quieter bar to “watch it and enjoy the atmosphere” and engage in “sensible drinking, not going barmy”.

2024 July 14, Rachel Hall, quoting Robert Shaw, “‘I’ve never seen owt like it’: England fans in Benidorm in high spirits before Euro final”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Crazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd, strange.


gyratory

(UK) A large traffic roundabout with non-standard lane markings or priorities, or with buildings on the central island.


winker

From wink (“blinking of only one eye”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

silmäniskijä

[H]e has shell'd out the lour for the occasion, and is travelling down to keep a wakeful winker on his retailers, and to take care that however they may chuse to lush away the profit, they shall at least take care of the principal. [Footnote ǁ: “Wakeful winker—A sharp eye.”]

p. 1821, “an amateur” [pseudonym], chapter XXVII, in Real Life in London; or, The Rambles and Adventures of Bob Tallyho, Esq. and His Cousin, the Hon. Tom Dashall, through the Metropolis; […], volume I, London: T. Johnson & Co., →OCLC, page 608:

With keener stare / The man's eyes scanned him, with the flare / Of yellow light full on his face, / As though his memory sought to trace / Something familiar in the lean / Clearcut young features and the clean / Blue winkers: then his own hard eyes / Twinkled, […]

1947, Wilfrid [Wilson] Gibson, “Section II”, in Coldknuckles, London: Frederick Muller […], →OCLC; republished as Coldknuckles (Faded Page; ebook #20141058), Canada: Distributed Proofreaders Canada, 13 October 2014, part I:

A thing which is used to wink with, or which winks.

We're like father and Aunt Nina, hanging on the wall in the library. Mother's got big black eyes, with winkers a rod long, and her hair shines like my velvet coat, and comes most to her feet.

1864, Mary J[ane] Holmes, “Six Years Later”, in Darkness and Daylight. […], New York, N.Y.: Carleton, […], →OCLC, page 368:

I had fallen down on my knees, with my back to the wind, and already the snow had drifted around me. I also found my eye-lashes frozen together, and I lost several winkers in getting rid of those solidified tears.

1915, Arthur Stringer, “Monday the Eleventh”, in The Prairie Wife […], Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 179:

His eyebrows are gone and his winkers, and he’s as red as a gobbler’s neck.

1931, B. M. Bower [pseudonym; Bertha Muzzy Sinclair], “The Native Son”, in Dark Horse: A Story of the Flying U, New York, N.Y.: Triangle Books, published January 1943, →OCLC, page 217:

(British, US, dialectal or slang) An eyelash.


burger

Clipping of hamburger, rebracketing it as ham + burger. From around 1939. The "American" sense is likely a back-formation from Burgerland.

/ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)/

(Australia, Fiji, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, UK) Any sandwich that uses two bread rolls or buns (in North America it only refers to a sandwich with two buns or bread rolls and a meat patty).


GC

(UK) Initialism of George Cross: a medal presented to civilians and military personnel of the United Kingdom for actions which are not in the face of the enemy.


old lady

Old Lady of Threadneedle Street
Old Lady of Threadneedle Street

(informal, UK) The Bank of England, sometimes referred to as the “Old Lady of Threadneedle Street” or simply “The Old Lady”.


tut

Compare Swedish tut (“a point, pipe, tube”), Danish tut (“a cornet”).


slap

en-adj

slap (comparative more slap, superlative most slap)

more slap (comparative)
most slap (superlative)

From Middle English slappen, of uncertain origin, possibly imitative. Compare Low German Slappe (“slap”), whence also German Schlappe (“defeat”). Compare also Italian sleppa (“slap”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

These cookies are slap.

(slang, UK) Very good, excellent, amazing.


trend

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


tart

From sweetheart or jam tart (“attractive woman”) by shortening.

We know the majority of the places that these tarts will hang out at.

1950, Roy E. Blick (police inspector), testimony before the United States Congress:

(British, slang, derogatory, by extension) Any woman with loose sexual morals.


spare

en-adj

spare (comparative sparer, superlative sparest)

sparer (comparative)
sparest (superlative)

→ Welsh: sbâr

From Middle English spare, spar, from Old English spær (“sparing, scant”), from Proto-Germanic *sparaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sph₁rós, from the root *speh₁-.
Compare Dutch spaar(zaam), German spar(sam) and spär(lich), Swedish spar(sam), Icelandic sparr (“sparing”); also Latin (pro)sperus (“lucky”), Old Church Slavonic споръ (sporŭ, “plentiful”), Albanian shperr (“earn money”), Persian سپار (sepâr, “entrust; deposit”), Ancient Greek σπαρνός (sparnós, “rare”), Sanskrit स्फिर (sphirá, “thick”).

cog

When he found out that someone had broken the window, he went spare.

The poor girl is going spare, stuck in the house all day with the kids like that.

“That'll drive him spare.”

My grandfather (unaware that he was using antique terms) would often say ruefully that I would drive him spare. The idea was that my behaviour would so dement him as to drive him berserk.

(UK, informal) Very angry; frustrated or distraught.


ironmonger

/ˈaɪə(ɹ)nˌmʌŋɡə(ɹ)/

From Middle English iremonger; equivalent to iron + monger.

(chiefly British, Ireland) A retailer in iron goods and hardware.


In a letter to the author he says that when he went to King's Cross in 1936 the A4s were, and had been for some time, at a low ebb in performance.

1990, H.C.B. Rogers, Express Steam Locomotive Development in Great Britain and France, Crecy Publishing, →ISBN, page 89:

(UK, rail transport) A4 class, a class of steam locomotive used on the London and North Eastern Railway.


chav

Origin uncertain; probably of Angloromani origin. Compare Romani chavi (“male child”) or ćhavo, shavo (“female child”), chal (“boy”), chavvy (“mate, friend”), compare Swedish tjej; possibly cognate with Portuguese chavalo, Spanish chaval, German Chabo, Russian чувак (čuvak), Hungarian csávó. See also charva.
A derivation from "council-housed and violent" is widely regarded as a backronym and folk etymology.

Lyrical staff / Never could they ever take me for a chav / Scholar in the English, scholar in the Math / Dizzee ain't no riff raff

a. 2009, Dizzee Rascal (lyrics and music), “Creeper (Freestyle)”:

His book concerns ‘chavs’, a supposed underclass of ill-educated, fast-breeding, violent and amoral poor people currently plaguing Britain.

2011 June 18, “Giving the poor a good kicking”, in The Economist:

(UK, MLE, Ireland, derogatory, offensive) A working-class youth, especially one associated with aggression, poor education, and a perceived "common" taste in clothing and lifestyle.

MK (em¹ kei¹)

relating to a youth from a working class background, aggressive with poor education


nesh

en-adj

nesh (comparative nesher, superlative neshest)

nesher (comparative)
neshest (superlative)

From Middle English nesh, nesch, nesche, from Old English hnesċe, hnysċe, næsċe (“soft, tender, mild; weak, delicate; slack, negligent; effeminate, wanton”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwī, from Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“soft, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *knēs-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”).
Cognate with Scots nesch, nesh (“soft, tender, yielding easily to pressure, sensitive”), Dutch nesch, nes (“wet, moist”), Gothic 𐌷𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌵𐌿𐍃 (hnasqus, “soft, tender, delicate”). Compare also nask, nasky, nasty.

cog

haue ye no merueylle sayd the good man therof / for hit semeth wel god loueth yow / for men maye vnderstande a stone is hard of kynde /[…]/ for thou wylt not leue thy synne for no goodnes that god hath sente the / therfor thou arte more than ony stone / and neuer woldest thow be maade neysshe nor by water nor by fyre

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XX, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:

(now UK dialectal) Soft; tender; sensitive; yielding.

And if he keeps the daughter so long at boarding-school, he'll make her as nesh as her mother was.

1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, “Chapter 4”, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

No, tha'd drop down stiff, as dead as a door-knob, wi' thy nesh sides.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 8, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

(now UK dialectal) Delicate; weak; poor-spirited; susceptible to cold weather, harsh conditions etc.

fredolic

delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold

(now UK dialectal) Soft; friable; crumbly.


snap

en-noun

snap (countable and uncountable, plural snaps)

From Dutch snappen (“to bite; seize”) or Low German snappen (“to bite; seize”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snappōn, from Proto-Germanic *snappōną (“to snap; snatch; chatter”), intensive form of *snapāną (”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse snapa (“to get; scrounge”)), from Proto-Indo-European *snop-; compare Lithuanian snãpas (“beak, bill”). (One alternative hypothesis links the Germanic words to *snu-, an expressive root deriving words meaning “nose”, “snout”, “sniff” etc., but this is phonetically unsound.) In any case influenced by onomatopoeia; note expressions such as snip-snap, containing the formally unrelated snip.
Cognate with West Frisian snappe (“to get; catch; snap”), German schnappen (“to grab”), Swedish snappa (“to snatch”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

gloss

”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse <i class="Latn mention" lang="non">snapa</i> (“to get; scrounge”)

sound-symbolic

expressive

onom

onomatopoeia

cog

When I went to put my coat on at snap time, what should go runnin' up my arm but a mouse.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Chapter 4”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

(UK, regional) A small meal, a snack; lunch.


snap

sound-symbolic

expressive

onom

onomatopoeia

Snap! We've both got pink buckets and spades.

(British, Australia, by extension) "I've got one the same!", "Me too!"

(British, by extension) Used to express agreement.

—Wasn't that John? —Wasn't that John? —Snap!

(British, Australia, New Zealand) Used after something is said by two people at exactly the same time.


pug

Origin unknown, possibly related to West Flemish pugge (“(adjective) small; (noun) short person; pet name derived from the first name Pugge”); though it is uncertain whether sense 1 (“senses relating to someone or something small”) and sense 2 (“senses relating to people”) are derived from the same source.
Sense 1.8 (“small demon”) was probably influenced by, though not a variant of, puck.

pentu

It is to be observed in this experiment, […] that the loss of weight by feeding (tegs or pugs) on turnips, is remarkable: […]

1808, Thomas Batchelor, “Live Stock”, in General View of the Agriculture of the County of Bedford. […], London: […] [B. MᶜMillan] for Richard Phillips, […], →OCLC, section 2 (Sheep), page 541:

Senses relating to someone or something small.

(UK, regional, archaic) Also used as a proper name: any of various animals, such as a ferret, hare, squirrel, or young salmon.

(specifically) Synonym of teg (“a sheep (originally a ewe) in its second year, or from the time it is weaned until it is first shorn”)

teg

[…] I heard her call him dear pug, and found him to be her favourite monkey.

1712 October 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “THURSDAY, October 2, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 499; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 454:

Its proper Povver to hurt, each Creature feels, / Bulls aim their Horns, and Aſſes lift their Heels, / 'Tis a Bear's Talent not to kick, but hug, / And no Man vvonders he's not ſtung by Pug: […]

1733, Alexander Pope, The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace, […], London [actually Edinburgh]: […] L[awton] G[illiver] and sold by A. Dodd […], E[lizabeth] Nutt […], →OCLC, page 13:

Take avvay the pug, ſaid I, to the attendants—Take it avvay vvhile any of it is left—They reſcued the ſtill ſmiling babe, and run avvay vvith it.

1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLIII. Lady G. to Lady Grandison.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], 2nd edition, volume VI, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 211:

Or, is the Monkey sick, he takes his bed; / Old Slop is sent for, to prescribe for Pug.— […]

1812, Peter Pindar [pseudonym; John Wolcot], “Tristia; or, The Sorrows of Peter: […]. Elegy.”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] J[ohn] Walker, G. Wilkie and J. Robinson, G. Robinson, […]; and G. Goulding and Co. […], →OCLC, page 297:

(specifically, obsolete) An ape, a monkey; also (by extension) a human child.

[T]here is a dead silence, till pug is well out of cover, and the whole pack well in: then cheer the hounds with tally ho! till your lungs crack. Away he goes in gallant style, and the whole field is hard up, till pug takes a stiff country: […]

1812, [Maria] Edgeworth, “The Absentee. Chapter VIII.”, in Tales of Fashionable Life (2nd series), volume VI, London: […] [Heney] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 93–94:

That spell was broken by the sight of poor wearied pug, his once gracefully-floating brush all draggled and drooping, as he toiled up the sheep-paths toward the open down above.

1848, [Charles Kingsley], “The Philosophy of Fox-hunting”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 16:

Dear, delicate Madam, I am your little Paraquit, your Sparrovv, your Shock, your Pugg, your Squirrel.

1685 July (first performance), N[ahum] Tate, Cuckolds-Haven: Or, An Alderman No Conjurer. A Farce. […], London: […] J. H. and are to be sold by Edward Poole, […], published 1685, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 5:

Squirrels / Are not uncommon in the plantings on the broad edges, where they may be seen feeding on the deal-apples, as the Broadsmen call the fir-cones; nuts and acorns too they are fond of. […] Stoats sometimes chase them, but "pug" generally manages to escape, an[d] he can get to a tree first—he is a much more daring jumper.

1895, P[eter] H[enry] Emerson, “Shrew Mouse, or Rana, and Squirrels”, in Birds, Beasts and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland, London: David Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 363:

(UK, regional, rare) A person or thing that is squat (“broad and short”).

Procedure would vary a little from household to household. Thus, the roast might be ceremonially borne out ahead of the departing ‘Pugs,’ or it might be left behind so that the lower servants could have second helpings.

1962, E[rnest] S[ackville] Turner, “The Female Branch”, in What the Butler Saw: Two Hundred and Fifty Years of the Servant Problem, London: Michael Joseph, →OCLC, page 119:

(UK, historical) Chiefly used by servants: A senior or upper servant in a household.


yer

Most likely from the intrusive R, between "yeah" (/jəː/) and a non-high vowel (/ə/, /ɪə/, /ɑː/, /ɔː/). For example, "Yeah-r-I know" (/jəɹ ʌɪ nəʊ/)

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(UK, slang) Pronunciation spelling of yeah, yes.


yer

"Thet one in the Formosa Channel was tremenjus. The velocity of the wind tetched a ’undred and forty mile,—so it was computed at Taipei,— arfter which it blew the wind gedge away. Yer need a string to yer ’at in a breeze like thet!"

1916 April 13, Oswald Kendall, “The Romance of the Martin Connor”, in The Youth's Companion, volume 90, number 15, page 198, column 2:

'Still, yer got nice looks,' said Ella.

(UK, slang, uncommon) Pronunciation spelling of you. (plural or singular)


yer

Yer a lotta nosey parkers.

1991, Kathleen Dayus, Where There's Life, London: Virago Press Ltd:

‘Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,’ said Hagrid. ‘Harry – yer a wizard.’

1997 June 26, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], chapter IV, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter; 1), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(UK, slang) Pronunciation spelling of you're, you are.


yer

'Make yer way down to the station,' he said.

1991, Thomas Hayden, The Killing Frost, London: Random Century Group:

‘Las’ time I saw you, you was only a baby,’ said the giant. ‘Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh’ve got yer mum’s eyes.’

Old Lady: 'HOLLER AT THAT FELLER IN THE CHEST DOWNSTAIRS. IF Y'NEED CARDS, HE'S YER MAIN MAN, HEH HEH!'

2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Nintendo 3DS, level/area: House of Joustus:

(UK, Southern US, dialectal) Pronunciation spelling of your.


nang

en-adj

nang (comparative more nang, superlative most nang)

more nang (comparative)
most nang (superlative)

Multicultural London English, from Jamaican English, from Jamaican Creole nyanga, potentially from West African languages, such as Mende nyanga (“ostentation; showing off”) or Hausa yanga (“boastfulness”).

der

That was well nang!

The wings were seriously a peng ting. The chips were nang. Burger was sick – the assembly was on point. The fillet was a serious ting – the thickness was there. Bossman did well.

2016 December 9, Adam Boult, quoting Elijah Quashie, “These brilliant videos about London's takeaway chicken shops are a YouTube hit”, in The Daily Telegraph:

(UK, slang, chiefly MLE) excellent; awesome; masterful; deeply satisfying.


mid-autumn

en-noun

mid-autumn (countable and uncountable, plural mid-autumns)


mid-autumn

(British) Happening in the middle of autumn.


rogering

When I get you home I'm going to give you a good rogering.

(UK, Ireland, vulgar, slang) An act of sexual intercourse, especially one that is rough.


message

Tok Pisin: mesej

desc

→ Gulf Arabic: مسج (məsij, “short electronic message”)

→ German: Message

→ Japanese: メッセージ (messēji)

→ Korean: 메시지 (mesiji)

→ Malay: mesej

→ Russian: ме́сседж (mɛ́ssɛdž)

From Middle English message, from Old French message, from Early Medieval Latin missāticum, derived from Latin mittere (“send”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to exchange”). Displaced native Old English ærende which is survived in English errand.

der

I had been on a message for my father, and was walking home along the road, when I saw a tall, fine lassie coming over the bogland on the right hand side of the road.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 27:

(UK, Ireland, chiefly in the plural) An errand.


todger

A variant of tadger, perhaps related to dialectal todge (“anything of a thick consistency”), todgey (“short and fat”).

2005, Alexis James, Into the Woods: Erotic Fairytales and Other Stories, Lulu, US, page 150,
A virgin you are and a virgin you will remain until your 18th birthday, whereupon you shall crave your first cock, taste your first todger, knuzzle your first knob and this shall be your undoing.

2008, Ashley Hames, Sin Cities: Adventures of a Sex Reporter, Tonto Books, UK, page 66,
I′ve even been in bed with a girl who, on clapping her eyes on my todger, looked up at me. ‘Your willy′s not very big is it?’ she said.

2011, Calvin Wade, Forever Is Over, AuthorHouse, UK, page 8,
As stated previously, boys think with their todgers and I had become a decent looking young girl, so I naturally understood my vagina had magnetic charms to a penis.

I showed him my todger, softened by Elizabeth Arden.

2023, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Spare, Penguin Random House, →ISBN:

(UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, colloquial) A penis.


shell

From Middle English schelle, from Old English sċiell, from Proto-West Germanic *skallju, from Proto-Germanic *skaljō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cleave”).
Compare West Frisian skyl (“peel, rind”), Dutch schil (“peel, skin, rink”), Low German Schell (“shell, scale”), Irish scelec (“pebble”), Latin silex (“pebble, flint”), siliqua (“pod”), Old Church Slavonic сколика (skolika, “shell”). More at shale.
Doublet of sheal.
* (computing): From being viewed as an outer layer of interface between the user and the operating-system internals.

cog

Can I have a quick word in your shell?

Chinese (Mandarin) is taught at Westminster from the Lower Shell as an optional subject.

2013, “Chinese (Mandarin)”, in Westminster School, retrieved 2023-12-04:

(British, education) One or more school grades within secondary education, at certain public schools.