micronise

en-verb

micronise (third-person singular simple present micronises, present participle micronising, simple past and past participle micronised)

micronises (present singular third-person)
micronising (participle present)
micronised (participle past)
micronised (past)

(British) To reduce in size, often to micrometre scale.


micronisation

(British) The process by which a material is reduced in size, often to micrometre proportions.


tug of love

(UK, informal) A dispute concerning which of two separated parents should have custody of one or more children.


hum and haw

hum and haw (third-person singular simple present hums and haws, present participle humming and hawing, simple past and past participle hummed and hawed)

hums and haws (present singular third-person)
humming and hawing (participle present)
hummed and hawed (participle past)
hummed and hawed (past)

We hummed and hawed before finally deciding to buy this house.

(British, idiomatic) To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision.


canoodle

Origin unknown; compare Swedish knulla (“to fuck”), Norwegian Bokmål knulle (“to fuck”), German knuddeln (“to cuddle”). The German word comes from Knoten (“knot”), so it may be that "close contact" is the root concept. Folk etymology cites the use of two-person canoes as an activity to escape the presence of a chaperon by couples during Victorian and Edwardian times, and the activities such privacy allowed. Supposedly, a "canoe" and "paddle" were used to sail away from the chaperone.

unk

unknown


call box

(UK, Ireland) Synonym of telephone box (enclosure)


deselect

en-verb

deselect (third-person singular simple present deselects, present participle deselecting, simple past and past participle deselected)

deselects (present singular third-person)
deselecting (participle present)
deselected (participle past)
deselected (past)

One recently deselected Sinn Féin assembly member, Davy Hyland in Newry and Armagh, has already quit the party in protest.

(transitive, British, politics) To reject (an incumbent) as a party's candidate for a forthcoming election.


argy-bargy

en-noun

argy-bargy (countable and uncountable, plural argy-bargies)

/ˈɑɹdʒiˌbɑɹdʒi/

/ˈɑɹɡiˌbɑɹɡi/

/ˈɑːdʒiˌbɑːdʒi/

From Scots, variant of argle-bargle, documented since 1822, presumably due to replacement of + -le (“frequentative”) with + -y (“diminutive”), documented since 1857, but without effect on the meaning.

There was a wee bit of an argy-bargy over the dodgy matter.

At least if you adopt a zero tolerance approach, when you next see a banner advertising “CD’s, DVD’s, Video’s, and Book’s”, you won’t just stay indoors getting depressed about it. Instead you will engage in some direct-action argy-bargy!

2003 November 6, Lynne Truss, “Introduction – The Seventh Sense”, in Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, London: Profile Books Ltd, →ISBN, page 29:

(chiefly UK) A noisy disagreement, often with some fighting


argy-bargy

en-verb

argy-bargy (third-person singular simple present argy-bargies, present participle argy-bargying, simple past and past participle argy-bargied)

argy-bargies (present singular third-person)
argy-bargying (participle present)
argy-bargied (participle past)
argy-bargied (past)

/ˈɑɹdʒiˌbɑɹdʒi/

/ˈɑɹɡiˌbɑɹɡi/

/ˈɑːdʒiˌbɑːdʒi/

Ten minutes at the least did she stand at the door argy-bargying with that man.

1897, J. M. Barrie, chapter 6, in Margaret Ogilvy:


junior school

A school providing primary education to children.

(UK) A school providing education to children in Key Stage 2, i.e. for four academic years from September after a child's 7th birthday.


bedsit

(British, Ireland) A form of rented accommodation consisting of a single room for use as both sitting room and bedroom; there may also be a small kitchen area and washing and toilet facilities, but these amenities are more commonly outside the room and shared by several tenants.


neck oil

Neck oil lubricates the throat.

The neck oil was to flow profusely in Newquay that night.

(British, slang) Beer or other alcoholic drink.


bad egg

An allusion to an egg that has gone bad or turned rotten.

"Dat's right!" piped up the newsboy who had brought the policeman. "I see him do de trick jest a minit ago!"
"This is a plot against me!" fumed the swindler.
"Dat feller is a bad egg!" went on the newsboy. "His name is Bill Butts. He's a slick one, he is. Hits de country jays strong, he does!"

I've been a fairly bad egg, Byrne, for a great many years; but, by George! I'm not entirely rotten yet.

1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter X, in The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:

My son had a drug problem and hired a bad egg as a chief accountant […]

"And the fifth immortal we know tried to kill you." "He is a bad''' egg. We stick to good eggs."

2017 May 26, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Friday, May 26, 2017:

(British, US, idiomatic) Someone whose behaviour is reprehensible or irresponsible; a rogue.


gear lever

(especially UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) The lever used to change gears in a motor vehicle.


phagocytise

phagocytise (third-person singular simple present phagocytises, present participle phagocytising, simple past and past participle phagocytised)

phagocytises (present singular third-person)
phagocytising (participle present)
phagocytised (participle past)
phagocytised (past)

(immunology, cytology, British) To ingest (something) by phagocytosis.


stuffed up

en-adj

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

more stuffed up (comparative)
most stuffed up (superlative)

(British) In a terrible state; messed up.


singlet

Winston wrenched his body out of bed — naked, for a member of the Outer Party received only 3,000 clothing coupons annually, and a suit of pyjamas was 600 — and seized a dingy singlet and a pair of shorts that were lying across a chair.

1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, page 28:

2000, Nicole Matthews, Kitsch on the Fringe: Suburbia in Recent Australian Comedy Film, Roger Webster, Expanding Suburbia: Reviewing Suburban Narratives, page 176,
The semiotics of the singlet - immediately identifiable in Australia, especially in its usual shade of blue, with male manual labourers¹⁶ - underlines the contrast between the effete fakery of ballroom costumes and real masculinity to be found underneath or in the world of folk dancing.

However, even in the latter he wears a blue singlet to help remind the audience of his working-class roots.

2006, Albert Moran, Errol Vieth, Film in Australia: An Introduction, page 85:

2009, Deborah Penrith, Live & Work in: Australia, Crimson Publishing, UK, page 192,
Women wear dresses, cropped trousers and vests with lightweight linen jackets and you will find men in anything from a business suit to a pair of stubbies (very short shorts) and a singlet top (white vest) or knee-length cargo trousers.

A single piece of clothing, particularly:

(UK, Australia, Ireland, Nigeria, New Zealand, Singapore) A sleeveless buttonless shirt with a low-cut neck.


stepper

On the treadmill we were shut up in little boxes, almost pitch dark, and the handrail to catch hold of when treading the mill was so high […] I refused point blank, one morning, to go on the stepper on plea of illness, […]

1883, George Atkins Brine, The King of the Beggars, page 164:

(UK, obsolete, slang, historical) A prison treadmill.


fœtal

(UK, hypercorrect) Nonstandard spelling of fetal.


flat-rate

a flat-rate contribution


rag-and-bone man

en-noun

rag-and-bone man (plural rag-and-bone men)

Horses and carts are never seen now and the rag and bone man is no more. In the fifties there were still those who made a living from old clothes, especially those made from natural fibres and suitable for felting.

2009 November 24, David Fowler, NATIONAL SERVICE, ELVIS and ME!, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 98:

(UK, Ireland) A man who deals in scrap metal and recycled junk (originally including rags and bones, in earlier centuries).


go off the boil

en-verb

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

goes off the boil (present singular third-person)
going off the boil (participle present)
went off the boil (past)
gone off the boil (participle past)

All puddings must be boiled in plenty of water, turned frequently, kept closely covered, and never allowed to go off the boil.

1891, Nelson A. Dunning, editor, The Farmers' Alliance History and Agricultural Digest:

That is the reason for the coin. You will be able to hear it dancing about, and it will tell you if the water goes off the boil or is getting dangerously low.

1972, Diana Kennedy, Craig Claibourne, The Cuisines of Mexico:

(UK, Australia) To cease to boil when heat is no longer applied.

As one of the rearguard put it, "We laid up until the Hun had gone off the boil a bit and slipped out the following night."

But John, not surprisingly, has gone off the boil, and feels nothing for Annette so strongly as an intense weariness and desire to be rid of her.

1987, Rosalind Miles, The Female Form: Women Writers and the Conquest of the Novel:

Wednesday to Shadow, "I don't sleep. It's overrated. A bad habit I do my best to avoid - in company, wherever possible, and the young lady may go off the boil if I don't get back to her."

By then we'd gone off the boil sexually and he was even less keen than I was about 'marriedness', so it was more like friends deciding to share a flat than the setting-up of a ménage.

2009, Diana Athill, Somewhere Towards the End: A Memoir:

(idiomatic, UK, Australia) To lose interest; to pall.

(idiomatic, UK, Australia) To become of diminished intensity or urgency.

(idiomatic, UK, Australia) To become less successful.


flat rate

Customers are expected to pay a flat rate of £15 monthly.

(UK) a rate (typically of money) that does not vary over time


stick one's oar in

stick one's oar in (third-person singular simple present sticks one's oar in, present participle sticking one's oar in, simple past and past participle stuck one's oar in)

sticks one's oar in (present singular third-person)
sticking one's oar in (participle present)
stuck one's oar in (participle past)
stuck one's oar in (past)

I don't want her coming and sticking her oar in – she doesn't know anything about our financials.

August 2005 , Daily Mail
He feels he must be [there] today. Not to stick his oar in, you understand, but to offer moral support.

stick one's nose into
stick one's nose into

(idiomatic, UK) To meddle; to stick one's nose into (something)


knock-on effect

en-noun

knock-on effect (plural knock-on effects)

If a coach arrives late, it has a knock-on effect on the entire coach station.

There are various knock-on effects [to the international boycott of the Palestinian government]. PA [Palestinian Authority] services, particularly health and education, have deteriorated sharply because of supply shortages and strikes by workers. Much of the time hospitals have been seeing only emergency cases.

2007, March 24th, The Economist magazine, page 51

The Crossrail trains were delivered on time, but there was a long software integration period. That had a knock-on effect on the other orders.

2020 September 9, Paul Clifton, “SWR unveils £1bn 'Arterios' for the "heart of our network"”, in Rail, page 26:

(British) A secondary, often unintended effect; a repercussion, chain reaction.


saddleback

great black-backed gull
great black-backed gull


buttload

From butt + load. Butt in this context may be possibly one or both of:
* butt (“large wooden cask”) (Etymology 3)
* butt (“two-wheeled cart”) (Etymology 5)
Alternatively, the term may either be a corruption of English boatload or have been influenced by that term (except for the specific, West Country dialect sense).

assload and cartload ()

amount carried by a donkey or any large, unspecified amount; amount carried by a cart or any large, unspecified amount

pipe

of wine or beer, is 126 gallons or one butt

BUTT LOAD: about six seams.

1796, William Marshall, “Provincialisms of West Devonshire”, in The Rural Economy of the West of England, volume 1, page 324:

The farmers near the fishing towns in the same district [Cornwall] likewise buy the refuse of bruised and small pilchards, which are rejected as unfit for curing or the market, and are called caff, four cart-loads of twelve bushels each being considered as the quantity proper for an acre. […] The butt-load formerly cost about 9s. or 10s. but they now fetch 15s. or 20s. the load.

1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia, volume 31, Salting:

The different kinds of manure usually employed in this neighbourhood are sea-weed, sand, stable-dung, ashes, and fish-dung. The quantities vary so much according to the condition of the land and other circumstances that it is impossible to state with any degree of accuracy what quantity is applied to the acre. In one of the conditions of leases previously quoted, it is stipulated that 10 butt-loads of good town or fish dung, and 10 butt-loads of sea-sand (to be mixed with the necessary quantity of earth) shall be carried for every acre broken up for tillage.

1839 July 14, Richard Edmonds, “A Statistical Account of the Parish of Madron, containing the Borough of Penzance, in Cornwall”, in Quarterly Journal of the Statistical Society of London, volume 2, page 211:

(obsolete, UK, West Country) A regional English measure of capacity of a heavy cart (a butt), containing 6 seams, or 48 bushels, equivalent to 384 gallons.

We spent all day Sunday and picked up a buttload of pecans.

(dated, British, Southern US, New England) A large amount carried in a butt.


AMF

(UK, railways) Abbreviation of Ammanford.


blither

en-verb

blither (third-person singular simple present blithers, present participle blithering, simple past and past participle blithered)

blithers (present singular third-person)
blithering (participle present)
blithered (participle past)
blithered (past)

The verb is a variant of blether (Northern England, Scotland), blather (“to say (something foolish or nonsensical); to say (something) in a foolish or overly verbose way; to babble (something); to talk rapidly without making much sense; to cry loudly, blubber”), from Middle English bloderen, blotheren (“to babble; to cry loudly, blubber”), from Old Norse blaðra (“to talk foolishly or inarticulately”), from blaðr (“nonsense”); further etymology uncertain.
The noun is a variant of blether, blather (“foolish or nonsensical talk”), either from blether, blather (verb), or from Old Norse blaðr (“nonsense”): see above.

der

Personality is what I am aiming at, not mere manners. That is not strong enough for a man who "blithers" as you do.

1898 October 1, “Olla Podrida”, in The London Figaro, number 2226, […] Odhams [for] George Slater, →OCLC, page 6, column 2:

If he was to blither, it was only fair that she should bleat back.

1903, Jerome K[lapka] Jerome, chapter I, in Tea-table Talk, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, page 20:

He called you man, but he blithered a lot, you would hardly heed at all what he said— […]

1933 July, Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Stratus”, in Cloud Howe, London: Jarrolds Publishers […], →OCLC, page 164:

I mean, how does one blither? How can one stop blithering? How do I know when I am blithering? Or is blithering perhaps a useful core activity these days?

1989, Miles Kington, “Meaningless Phrases”, in Welcome to Kington: The Selected Columns of Miles Kington, London: Canelo Digital Publishing, published 2016, →ISBN:

Andrews was blithering now. It was sad, really, to watch a skilled professional sink so quickly into the quagmire.

2002 September, Julie Garwood, chapter 5, in Killjoy, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 78:

You've reduced me down to the dregs / You won't seduce me, though I stand here and beg / I'm blithering, you're dithering, I'm your slithering fool.

2009, Arthur Phillips, chapter 13, in The Song is You […], New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 85:

Mary the maid blithered away, worrying about the state of the coppers in the kitchen, who would collect the hens' eggs […]

2020, Richard Holledge, “Betrayal”, in Voices of the Mayflower: The Saints, Strangers and Sly Knaves who Changed the World, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN, page 61:

(intransitive, informal or UK, dialectal) To talk foolishly; to blather.


blither

en-noun

blither (countable and uncountable, plural blithers)

He also knows if the work of the lyric poet be simply "stringin' blithers together, for fools to sing," that a very large percentage of the literary work of the world has been done in vain and this can by no means be admitted.

1883, D[avid] R[ussell] McAnally, “Our English Songs”, in The Philosophy of English Poetry, Columbia, Mo.: Missouri University, →OCLC, page 131:

To speak about the product of his labour being 'unearned' is equivalent to bathing in a sea of blither. There is no such thing as unearned increment in the product of labour at the point where meat, or wheat, or butter leaves the hands of the producer, for its exchange value represents his wages.

1915 July 6, William Ferguson Massey, “Regulation of Trade and Commerce Amendment Bill [Third Reading]”, in New Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. First Session, Nineteenth Parliament. […] (House of Representatives), volume 172, Wellington: John Mackay, government printer, →OCLC, page 173, column 1:

I'll get up and do a blither into the videotape. And then I'll play it back and look at it. Is that the best I can do? Am I communicating with my body, verbally, intellectually?

1989, Richard “Racehorse” Haynes, “How to Try a Jury Case: A Lawyer’s View”, in John G[eorge] Koeltl, editor, The Litigation Manual: A Primer for Trial Lawyers, 2nd edition, Chicago, Ill.: [ABA Publishing for the] Section of Litigation, American Bar Association, →ISBN, epilogue, page 1209:

Your news, or lack of, is the subject at hand. I'm sure you know, Mr. Acton, that I didn't expect a screed. I can't abide pages of blither.

2022, Frances Liardet, Think of Me, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 190:

(informal or UK, dialectal, uncountable) Foolish or nonsensical talk; blather; (countable) an instance of this.


floppydock

Digitalis purpurea
Digitalis purpurea#Translingual

(UK, Devon) The foxglove Digitalis purpurea.


valley boy

(UK, Wales) A young man from the South Wales Valleys.


mullock

mullock (usually uncountable, plural mullocks)

For when they saw awr Mary, / They made a mullock on it, / For they thowt 'at all them flaars / Had been put on Mary's bonnet.

1911, John Hartley, Yorkshire Lyrics: Poems written in the dialect as spoken in the west riding of Yorkshire, page 242:

This attitude she never varied; but the face that was ordinarily so expressionless worked at times with strange emotions as she unfolded her story, and once or twice her voice needed clearing.
"I made a mullock of it, you see," she explained.

1924, Willie Riley, The Garden of Delight, page 122:

(UK, Yorkshire, dialect) A mess; the result of a blunder.


shield beetle

(British) Any of several shield-shaped leaf beetles that typically inhabit a specific species of tree; especially members of the genus Cassida.


thiosulphuric

(inorganic chemistry, chiefly British) Alternative spelling of thiosulfuric


thiosulphuric acid

thiosulfuric acid
thiosulfuric acid#English

(inorganic chemistry, chiefly British) Alternative spelling of thiosulfuric acid


BOAC

British Overseas Airways Corporation
w:British Overseas Airways Corporation

(UK, historical) Initialism of British Overseas Airways Corporation.


massage parlour

massage parlour (plural massage parlours)

(British) Alternative spelling of massage parlor


whizz

whizz (countable and uncountable, plural whizzes)


whizz

en-verb

whizz (third-person singular simple present whizzes, present participle whizzing, simple past and past participle whizzed)

whizzes (present singular third-person)
whizzing (participle present)
whizzed (participle past)
whizzed (past)


pluralize

pluralize (third-person singular simple present pluralizes, present participle pluralizing, simple past and past participle pluralized)

pluralizes (present singular third-person)
pluralizing (participle present)
pluralized (participle past)
pluralized (past)

(intransitive, UK) To hold more than one ecclesiastical benefice at the same time.


BEA

British European Airways
w:British European Airways

(UK, historical) Initialism of British European Airways.


spectre

To this extenuated spectre, perhaps, a crumb is not thrown once a year, but when ahungered and athirst to famine—when all humanity has forgotten the dying tenant of a decaying house—Divine Mercy remembers the mourner […]

1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC:


run in

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

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

I have to drive slowly for the first 1,000 miles to run the engine in.

It was run in by Ranochan of Polmadie on the forenoon slow to Carlisle and the afternoon slow back to the North.

1959 February, A. G. Dunbar, “The "Dunalastair I" 4-4-0s of the Caledonian”, in Trains Illustrated, page 87:

(transitive, British) To use new machinery at less than full speed, preventing damage.


true blue

From true (adjective) + blue (“steadfastly faithful or loyal”, adjective). The symbolism of the colour blue as representing constancy, faithfulness, loyalty, and truth may derive from the constant colour of the sky, or the tendency of certain blue dyes to resist fading, especially those made in Coventry.
Adjective senses 1.1.2 (“of or pertaining to the Tory, and now the Conservative, political party”) and 1.1.3 (“of or pertaining to the Scottish Presbyterian or Whig political party in the 17th century”) probably both allude to sense 1 (“steadfastly faithful or loyal”). Sense 1.1.2 may also allude to sense 1.1.3 which is older, and sense 1.1.3 may partly allude to the blue colour of the flag of Scotland.

истински

representing the true essence of something — see also authentic, genuine

[…] Mr. Wenham himself was a staunch old True Blue Tory, and his father a small coal-merchant in the north of England […]

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In which a Charade is Acted which May or May Not Puzzle the Reader”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 455:

Not that he is a violent Whig, or perhaps that he is a Whig at all. But he jeers and sneers at the old county doings; […] All this is deeply regretted, for, in the old days, there was no portion of the county more decidedly true blue than that Framley district; […]

1860 January – 1861 April, Anthony Trollope, “The Framley Set, and the Chaldicotes Set”, in Framley Parsonage. […] (Collection of British Authors; 551), copyright edition, volume I, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published April 1861, →OCLC, pages 17–18:

Steadfastly faithful or loyal; unwavering in loyalty; staunch, true.

(UK) Of or pertaining to the (historical) Tory, and now the Conservative, political party; hence, steadfastly conservative.


fruit machine

From fruit + machine.
* (slot machine): From originating with machines with fruit pictures
* (criminology): From being a machine used to identify fruits (“homosexuals”)
* (food): From being a machine containing fruits

(British, gambling) A slot machine, especially one having spinning wheels marked with pictures of fruit.


tizzy

Unknown. American, 1935. Possibly related to tizzy (“sixpence coin”, slang), from tester (“sixpence coin”, slang). Compare also dizzy.

Down with the stumpy; a tizzy for a pot of half-and-half.

1881, T. Lewis O. Davies, Thomas Lewis Owen Davies, A Supplementary English Glossary, page 630:

Tadpole holds out, but between threats and cajoleries at length sells half for one shilling and sixpence — about a fifth of its fair market value; however, he is glad to realize anything, and, as he wisely remarks, "Wanderer mayn't win, and the tizzy is safe anyhow."

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

(UK, slang, archaic) A sixpence; a tester.


primary school

en-noun

primary school (countable and uncountable, plural primary schools)

The child's mother was tearful as he boarded the bus for his first day of primary school.

My primary school is a good place to study.

(British, Australia, sometimes Philippines, education) A formal, obligatory kind of school that typically begins with nursery school or first grade and ends at fifth or sixth grade.


slot machine

As an illustration of a general technique for calculating odds, suppose you are playing a 25-cent slot machine.

2005, Benjamin Crowell, The Modern Revolution in Physics:

Any machine operated by placing a coin or token into a slot, especially

(chiefly US, UK) A machine so operated to play games of chance for money, especially those with a lever and three or more rollers used to achieve combinations.


HNC

(British, education) Initialism of Higher National Certificate.


HND

HND (countable and uncountable, plural HNDs)

(British, countable) Initialism of Higher National Diploma.


assume the position

en-verb

assume the position (third-person singular simple present assumes the position, present participle assuming the position, simple past and past participle assumed the position)

assumes the position (present singular third-person)
assuming the position (participle present)
assumed the position (participle past)
assumed the position (past)

(idiomatic, UK, punishment) Often used as an order to bend over, for example, to receive the traditional corporal punishment in a case of misbehaviour.


elementary school

en-noun

elementary school (countable and uncountable, plural elementary schools)

On one offshore island Wuciou (also Wuqiu), the song of the only elementary school had these lyrics:
We are the little friends of the frontier, good students of Wuciou elementary school. We are not afraid of stormy winds and frightening waves; bravely and [with] perseverance, we advance forward. Our school is erected on the lonely island of the ocean. We will study hard, and are not afraid of gongfei on the opposite shore.

2015, Language, Politics and Identity in Taiwan: Naming China, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 32:

(Canada, US, historically UK) A school for children, typically older than toddlers and younger than adolescents. In the U.S., elementary schools cover grades 1 through 5, and the ages of the children are usually 6-11 years. At a minimum, elementary schools will teach basic reading, writing, arithmetic, and history.


legger

(British, obsolete) A man employed by the owners of a canal to push boats through narrow canal tunnels. The legger would lie on his back on a piece of wood on the boat with his feet reaching to the tunnel wall, and walk it along. This could be done by the boat's crew, but the canals employed men specifically for the task because they could do it faster and prevent a tunnel becoming a bottleneck for traffic.


fainaigue

en-verb

fainaigue (third-person singular simple present fainaigues, present participle fainaiguing, simple past and past participle fainaigued)

fainaigues (present singular third-person)
fainaiguing (participle present)
fainaigued (participle past)
fainaigued (past)

Uncertain; perhaps:
* related to Old French fornoiier, fornier (“to deny”), from for- (prefix expressing error, exclusion, or inadequacy) + noiier, nier (“to deny”) (compare Late Latin forīsnegāre (“to renege, repudiate”), where the Frankish for- is rendered into Latin as forīs), from Latin negāre (“to deny; to refuse, say no; to reject, turn down (something)”), from nē (“no; not”) + aiō (“to affirm, say ‘yes’”)) (for the word ending, compare reneague (“to refuse to follow suit in a card game, renege; to deny, refuse; act of refusing to follow suit in a card game”) (Britain, dialectal)); or
* from feign (“to pretend”) + ague (“intermittent fever; (obsolete) acute fever”), or French aigüe (“(medicine) acute”) (as in maladie aiguë (“acute illness”)), literally “to act sick”.

der

[Edmund] Richardson's contract lapsed in 1871, but five years later the almost incredible Jones Hamilton, who played with plantations, race tracks, railroads, and steamboats as a reckless boy plays with marbles, fainaigued a similar agreement.

1958, [Jay] Saunders Redding, “Mississippi Delta”, in Lewis Gannett, editor, The Lonesome Road: The Story of the Negro’s Part in America (Mainstream of America Series), Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, page 111:

The Swabian abbots were in this way fainaigued into choosing [Adam] Adami, but this arrangement still left him without the so-called Virilstimme or final vote.

1969 September, Fintan M. Phayer, “Adam Adami and the Peace of Westphalia”, in Timothy Fry, editor, The American Benedictine Review, volume XX, number 3, Atchison, Kan.: The American Benedictine Academy, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 329:

After much waving of arms I discover that—although meals of a sort are furnished—you are expected to provide your own dishes, if, indeed, you anticipate this refinement in eating. I finally fainaigue a tin plate out of the mess department, for which I am required to give two lire.

1991, Harry Partch, “Bitter Music”, in Thomas McGeary, editor, Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos (Music in American Life), 1st paperback edition, Urbana, Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, published 2000, →ISBN, part 1 (Two Journals), page 28:

To achieve or obtain (something) by complicated or deceitful methods; to finagle, to wangle.

He agreed with the boy for a month at £4 a-year, and he went away and feneaged that boy, and never took him nor paid him.

1880, M[argaret] A[nn] Courtney, “Feneaged”, in M. A. Courtney, Thomas Q[uiller] Couch, Glossary of Words in Use in Cornwall, London: […] [F]or the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC, page 21, column 1:

[H]e was doing a stitch of time in Ohio for embezzlement and for fainaiguing a good-hearted Jack under the alias Joseph […]

2010 June 3, Neil Baker, “Jest because You’re You”, in G Day: Please God, Get Me Off the Hook, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 142:

(transitive)
To cheat or deceive (someone).

(intransitive)
To evade work or shirk responsibility.

(intransitive)
To fail to keep a promise; to renege.

When Mr. Simpson had spoken of the "Jack of Oaks" (meaning the Knave of Clubs), or had said "fainaiguing" (where others said "revoking"), we had pretended not to notice it, until at length we actually did not.

[1888, Q. [pseudonym; Arthur Quiller-Couch], “Of Deterioration; and a Wheelbarrow that Contained Unexpected Things”, in The Astonishing History of Troy Town, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 147:

(card games) To renege (“break one's commitment to follow suit when capable”).


county family

Walford's County Families (title)

1880, Edward Walford, Walford's County Families, Chatto & Windus

(British, Ireland) In Britain and Ireland, a family of the landed gentry.


railway station

en-noun

railway station (plural railway stations)

I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

In conclusion, I would remark that the great railway stations of London deserve to be visited every whit as much as St. Paul's Cathedral, the Abbey, or the Tower, and they are as worthy a memento of this century as those buildings are of the days that are gone.

1944 July and August, “London Railway Stations in 1893”, in Railway Magazine, page 201, taken from The English Illustrated Magazine of June 1893:

We may be pardoned our nostalgia, those of us who can remember the old days, the days before the grouping and before standardisation, when we see, as today we see so often, the derelict and abandoned buildings of what were once railway stations, for the life which they used to enjoy we lived with them. There they stand, today, as the dusk deepens about them, lampless, cold and deserted.

1953 April, Henry Maxwell, “Abandoned Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 270:

Committed infrastructure improvements and delivery of Heathrow's rail vision has the potential to increase the number of railway stations directly connected to the airport by a multiple of six, to 36 [not including London Underground stations], while the number of stations accessible by a single interchange could increase from 125 today to 697 by 2040.

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

(British) A place where trains stop for passengers to embark and disembark.


Dunkirk spirit

The phrase came into use following the evacuation of allied troops across the English Channel by flotillas of pleasure boats, working barges and other civilian craft at the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940.

(UK, idiomatic) The spirit of the British public pulling together to overcome times of adversity.


fagging

fagging (countable and uncountable, plural faggings)

We are happy we never had anything to do with faggings and floggings. We can well remember the terrific impression they made on our mind, as our friends were afflicted by them.

1841, The English Journal, volume 1, page 222:

The public schoolboy is taught to bear whippings and faggings without murmuring.

1922, Alexander McConnell, William Revell Moody, Arthur Percy Fitt, Record of Christian Work, volume 41, page 343:

(UK, historical, education) The system in boarding schools whereby younger students acted as servants for older students.


kirkbuzzer

(UK, archaic) A robber who preys on churches.


Bob's your uncle

Unknown. Several unsupported theories exist about its origin. A common explanation, involving Arthur Balfour gaining a promotion through the supposed intercession of his uncle, Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, is doubted because the expression did not appear in print until 1924.

Insert the plug, press the switch, and Bob's your uncle.

You want to go to the stadium? Go straight on until you reach the park, take the first left and Bob's your uncle!

And you're not going to give me that stuff about just shoving over the lever and bob's your uncle. You forget the times the fellow gets caught and has to be kicked off the edge of the trap hole.

1954, Brendan Behan, The Quare Fellow, act 3; republished in Cóilín Owens, Joan Newlon Radner, editors, Irish Drama, 1900–1980, 1990, page 591:

Click the Import Contacts button and—Bob's your uncle (that's "Tada!" for my readers)—you should see a confirmation that all went according to plan, and your contacts have been imported into your Gmail address book.

2007, Preston Gralla, Big Book of Windows Hacks, O'Reilly Media, page 314:

Simply type in a description of your item and Bob's your uncle: someone, somewhere in the eBay virtual universe will be selling something similar.

2008, Julian Knight, Wills, Probate, & Inheritance Tax For Dummies, UK, unnumbered page:

All you need to do is learn to make these little loops and Bob's your uncle, you're a real live knitter.

2011, Lauren O'Farrel, Stitch London: 20 Kooky Ways to Knit the City and More, page 112:

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, idiomatic) No problem, the solution is simple, there you have it, it's that easy, you have what you want, all will be well: indicates a desirable conclusion has been reached with ease.

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

[и] де́ло в шля́пе ([i] délo v šljápe, literally “[and] the business is in the hat”)


banyan day

According to the OED, the term is borrowed from the Banyans in the East Indies, a caste that ate nothing that had life.

This was a favourable circumstance in one respect to myself and the ship's company, for as Tuesday is a sumptuous day in point of allowance in the navy, beef and pudding being the prescribed fare for dinner, we by this accident feasted two days together; whereas had it occurred on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, two successive banyan (or starvation) days would have been our dismal portion.

1819, James Hardy Vaux, Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, Chapter XVIII, p. 204-205:

(dated, UK, nautical, idiomatic) In British naval tradition, a day of the week when galley kitchens served no meat on board ship.

(UK, nautical, idiomatic) A picnic or cookout for the ship's crew.


stoppages

The cashier finished counting off the money; the boy dragged the whole down the counter to Mr. Winterbottom, to whom the stoppages for rent and tools must be paid.

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


bagsie

I bagsie the front seat in the car!

Bagsie being policeman!

(UK, Ireland, informal, childish) To declare or stake one's claim on an object or concept.


PC Plod

From the policeman in Enid Blyton's Noddy books.

(British, informal, derogatory) A policeman (implying that he is dull and slow).


crystallisation

crystallisation (countable and uncountable, plural crystallisations)

(British) Alternative spelling of crystallization


sea grape

sea grape (countable and uncountable, plural sea grapes)

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

(UK, Ireland) Any plant in the genus Ephedra, especially those native to Europe and neighboring parts of Africa and Asia.


railway line

(chiefly UK) A railway track; a pair of rails on which a railway train runs.

(chiefly UK) A group of railway tracks running parallel, allowing one track to be used for each direction (a double-track railway line), or allowing segregation of fast trains from stopping trains (a four-track railway line).

jernbanelinje

stretch of track(s) connecting two points and associated infrastructure — see also railway

(chiefly UK) An organization that runs a railroad.


berk

Cockney rhyming slang, an ellipsis and clipping of Berkeley Hunt, a prominent hunt at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, to mean cunt.

His chat-up techniques have to be read to be imagined—they make the crudest of Loaded-style berks seem classy—and he earns far, far too much money.

2003 July 12, Nicholas Lezard, “Ad execs quoting Gramsci? Only in France”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

I don't know why they couldn't just keep it as it was! How hard is it to remember 911?
You mean 999...
I mean 999!
That's the American one!
Yeah!
You berk.

2006 February 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 1, episode 2:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, derogatory, vulgar) a fool, a prat, a twit, etc.


bounder

From bound + -er. In the case of 2. below from the Hindi word "bandar" meaning a monkey, via Anglo-Indian.

(UK, obsolete, colloquial) A four-wheeled type of dogcart or cabriolet


clever dick

(informal, chiefly British) A person who annoyingly tries too hard to impress with their cleverness.

wijsneus

someone who considers they know everything and tries to impress with this


Jack Tar

What you read here are their stories—stories of whole-souled youths, with the sparkle of life in their eyes, with the love of adventure in their hearts. Jack Tar is an American clear through to his backbone!

1918, Elaine Sterne, Over the Seas for Uncle Sam:

(British, idiomatic) Alternative spelling of jacktar


pocket money

(UK) A small sum of money given to a child, by a parent or guardian; an allowance


noddle

But being restored to the open aire, the cafe with him was little altred; for no roofe had he to hide his noddle in, or whither he might go to set up his rest, but in the streets under a bulk he should have been constrainted to have kenneld […]

1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], →OCLC, page 111:

(UK, informal) The head; the part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth and main sense organs.

No doubt (said the Barber) but I wonder not so much at the Knights madnesse, as the Squires simplicity, that beleeves so in the Islands, and I think all the Art in the world will not drive that out of his noddle.

1612–1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], translated by Thomas Shelton, The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC, page 123:

Novv vvhat can have got into that precious noddle of thine, my dear brother Toby? cried my father, mentally.

1762, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XXXVII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume V, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], →OCLC, page 128:

(UK, informal) The head as the seat of mental capacity or intellect.


nosh

nosh (countable and uncountable, plural noshes)

From Yiddish נאַשן (nashn), from Middle High German naschen (“nibble”) (which is also the parent of German naschen), from Old High German naskōn (“to nibble; parasite”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwōn (“to weaken; make soft; tenderise”). Doublet of nesh.


SMIDSY

Acronym for "Sorry mate, I didn't see you."

“SMIDSY?” Rich chuckled, “Yeah, car pulled out into me, then literally as the guy got out and looked at me lying on the road he said,'Sorry mate, I didn't see you,' S-M-I-D-S-Y.”

2017, CJ Moseley, The Wrath of Atlantis: With Strange Aeons:

(UK, Australia) Sorry mate, I didn′t see you.


Prod

Clipping of Protestant, as pronounced in an accent with flapping.

"I don't want my daughter marrying a dirty Prod," he said.

'Could be a lot of things,' McCormack said. 'Still, it narrows things down. Probably a Prod […]'.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 47:

It was sound advice for anyone visiting Northern Ireland in 1999 and remains so today: do not refer to Protestants as “Prods”, or to Catholics as “Fenians” or “Taigs”, and whatever you do don’t refer to your visit as “being out here”.

[2023 August 23, Rory Carroll, “Files reveal terms ministers were warned not to use in Northern Ireland”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(Ireland, UK, slang, sometimes derogatory) A Protestant, (as termed by Roman Catholics), that is in the context of their religious beliefs, or those who have been born in the Protestant tradition, or sometimes those implied to be Protestant by their political ideology of Irish unionism or Ulster loyalism.


scattered shower

en-noun

scattered shower (plural scattered showers)

(chiefly British) Any of a series of showers of rain, whose number, location and timing are impossible to predict


wintry shower

(chiefly British) A shower of snow, sleet or freezing rain


working week

He was my North, my South, my East and West, / My working week and my Sunday rest

(British) The days of the week that are usually worked on, i.e. Monday to Friday.


tired and emotional

en-adj

tired and emotional (comparative more tired and emotional, superlative most tired and emotional)

more tired and emotional (comparative)
most tired and emotional (superlative)

First used by the British satirical magazine Private Eye in 1967, in a spoof diplomatic memo to describe the state of cabinet minister George Brown. It is now used as a stock phrase and euphemism to avoid litigation for libel, and the phrase has spread well beyond the magazine.

In 2008, after what you imagine was a tired and emotional dinner, the novelist Michel Houellebecq and the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy determined to start writing to each other about the things that kept them awake at nights.

2011 December 8, Tim Adams, “Public Enemies by Michel Houellebecq and Bernard-Henri Lévy – review”, in The Guardian:

There's nothing like a singalong with tired and emotional Lib Dems [headline]

2017 September 22, John Crace, “There's nothing like a singalong with tired and emotional Lib Dems”, in The Guardian:

(British, humorous, idiomatic, euphemistic) Drunk.


POETS day

Probably 20th century British; derived from the acronym Piss Off (or Push Off) Early, Tomorrow's Saturday or perhaps earlier Piss Off (or Push Off) Early, Today's Saturday.

He was about to walk out the door when Malika came in with the weighty, leatherbound Consejo book that recorded the Board minutes. Alex′s heart sank. Malika looked surprised.
‘Malika, it′s POETS day. Time to go home.’
‘POETS day?’
‘Yes. Piss Off Early, Tomorrow′s Saturday.’

2002, M. J. Lynley, Malika, Mithrandir Books, UK, page 177

‘It′s poets′ day,’ said one of the crew. ‘Poets′ day?’ said Tony incredulously. ‘In Leeds?!?’ ‘Yes, POETS — Piss Off Early Tomorrow′s Saturday.’

2003, Richard Eyre, National Service: Diary of a Decade at the National Theatre, page 14:

‘Check your computer in about an hour′s time. But be warned – POETS day, meaning the CID cupboard might be a bit on the Mother Hubbard side.’
‘Appreciate anything you can get for us, Stan. Happy trails.’ Rebus clicked the phone shut. ‘POETS day,’ he reminded Siobhan.
‘Piss Off Early, Tomorrow′s Saturday,’ she recited.

2006, Ian Rankin, The Naming of the Dead, published 2008, unnumbered page:

(humorous, UK, Australia, New Zealand) Friday, the last day of the working week.


muttonhead

(British, slang) A stupid or foolish person.


totalisator

For example, I may in some places effect marriage by cohabiting, or I may bet with a totalisator machine by putting a coin in the slot.

1955, J.L. Austin, How To Do Things With Words:

At the racing club's expense, many alterations had been made, including converting the totalisator building into a 40-bed ward.

2018, Anna Rogers, With Them Through Hell, →ISBN, page 16:

(UK) the computerised system which runs parimutuel betting, calculating payoff odds, displaying them, and producing tickets based on incoming bets.


whelk stall

The Group Executive Committee couldn't run a whelk stall!

(British, colloquial, slang) A small enterprise which is very simple to run.

couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery


wooden-top

The expression may be a reference to the wooden construction of a bobby's custodian helmet.

Immediately a big wooden-top came in. He was young and blond.

1988, Derek Raymond, The Devil's Home on Leave, Ballantine Books, page 151:

It is Detective Chief Superintendent Cohn Harpur, one of the bosses, but just a wooden-top like all the rest.

1991, Bill James, The Lolita Man, W. W. Norton & Company, page 41:

(British, informal, idiomatic) A uniformed police officer.


year dot

That hat dates from the year dot.

Disk interfaces have been around since the year dot, as people soon realised that the microdrive was unreliable, unstable and generally rubbish for the storage of anything, useless except as a rather small beermat.

1989 June, Phil South, “Rage Hard”, in Your Sinclair magazine, archived from the original on 2012-03-10:

(idiomatic, British, Ireland) A very long time ago, from the beginning or as far back as one can remember.


corn-factor

For years and years it had gone off in splendid style, as long as anyone could remember : even since Kate and Julia, after the death of their brother Pat, had left the house in Stoney Batter and taken Mary Jane, their own niece, to live with them in the dark, gaunt house on Usher's Island, the upper part of which they had rented from Mr Fulham, the corn-factor on the ground floor.

1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC:

"My name is Henchard; ha'n't you replied to an advertisement for a corn-factor's manager that I put into the paper - ha'n't you come here to see me about it?"

1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter 7, in The Mayor of Casterbridge:


London weighting

en-noun

London weighting (countable and uncountable, plural London weightings)

(British) An allowance paid to staff of a national organization working in London to help offset the additional expense of living in the capital.


divvie

From dividend with the diminutive suffix -ie.


divvie

Originating from prison slang in the UK. A job often given to the lowest inmates was to put cardboard dividers into boxes. Someone given this job was a 'divider' or a 'div'. Now used as an insult to those who display stupidity.

(British, slang, derogatory) A stupid person; someone of low intelligence.


Triplex

(British) a safety glass for car windows, consisting of three layers (glass and mica).


fly biscuit

1912?, Katherine Mansfield, The Woman at the Store
At noon we had lunched off fly biscuits and apricots by the side of a swampy creek.

(British) garibaldi biscuit; currants squashed between two thin, rectangular biscuits.


off one's dot

1912, Katherine Mansfield, The Woman at the Store, from "Selected Short Stories"
"Gone a bit off 'er dot", he whispered […]

(idiomatic, British, colloquial, humorous) Mad; insane.


lumme

From Lor' lumme, a corruption of Lord love me. Compare gimme.

In a spasm of uncontrollable excitement James sucked his teeth. "Lumme, it wouldn't 'alf go on the movies, would it?" he remarked. "Better than them Red Indians and things."

1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 2, in Bulldog Drummond:


unadopted road

(UK) A private road, where the local borough council is not responsible for the road's maintenance.


hire purchase

hire purchase (countable and uncountable, plural hire purchases)

Maggie Thatcher, you can't match her, she's the darling of us all. She's the curse of the Irish nation, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. She's destroyed me hire purchase and she's put me on the dole. If I could only get my hands on her, I'd kick her up the hole!

1983, “The Thatcher Song”performed by Seán Brady:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A method of purchasing an item, where the buyer hires it and takes possession of it and pays regular installments. Ownership is only transferred on payment of the final amount. Abbreviated as HP.


tranquiliser

(British, uncommon) Alternative spelling of tranquilizer


town crier

(British, historical) A person who is employed by a town council to make public announcements in the streets


'arf

A representation of the pronunciation of half by a speaker whose dialect is non-rhotic and also lacks the voiceless glottal fricative or transition ([h]).

'Arf the night through he's at that game, the silly old juggins.

1894, Arthur Conan Doyle, Round the Red Lamp:

Hasn't ye 'eard that devil's spawn of a capting an' is mates knockin' the bloomin' lights outen 'arf the crew?

1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes:

(British, representing nonstandard or dialect pronunciation, especially Cockney) Half.


not half

"So you fancy that girl then?" "Not half!"

"You bet she wouldn't like fer me to be killed—not 'arf!..."

1902, The Windsor Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women, Vol. XVI June to November 1902:

(British, slang) Greatly; to a considerable extent.


potman

(British) A man employed in a public house to collect empty pots or glasses; a waiter in a similar establishment.


chipped potato

chipped potato (plural chipped potatoes)


potboy

(“Hoo-roa,” ejaculates a pot-boy in a parenthesis, “put the kye-bosh on her, Mary.”)

1837, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. The Second Series, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, chapter SEVEN DIALS, page 149:

(British) A boy or man employed in a public house to collect empty pots or glasses.


pot man

(British) Alternative spelling of potman


property ladder

property ladder (plural property ladders)

to get on the property ladder

The slave, who is at the bottom of the human property ladder, had a hut and slave quarters, a little clothing, food, and perhaps some health care […]

1989, Kenneth E. Boulding, Three Faces of Power:

The higher house price volatility in the United Kingdom makes it optimal for those young households who expect to move up the property ladder to hold housing equity.

2004, David A. Wise, Perspectives on the Economics of Aging:

While some of these moves will be prompted by, for instance, releasing equity to help children get on the property ladder, David Fell, Hamptons' senior analyst, says many will probably be downsizing to reduce mortgage payments to a more manageable level.

2023 November 25, Alexandra Goss, “Downsizers' dilemma”, in FT Weekend, House & Home, page 1:

(British) The hierarchy of owned housing.


pfaff

en-verb

pfaff (third-person singular simple present pfaffs, present participle pfaffing, simple past and past participle pfaffed)

pfaffs (present singular third-person)
pfaffing (participle present)
pfaffed (participle past)
pfaffed (past)

No, on a foreign journey, the real damage is done pfaffing about in airport lounges, counting down the torture to departure, sitting on the runway, enduring protracted periods of sub-pedestrian taxiing [...].

2001, John McCabe, Snakeskin, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 61:

By my own admission I pfaffed around a bit here but I'm going to claim that I was merely enjoying the moment!

2004, Chris Ward, The controversial Sämisch King's Indian, page 81:

Mr Hicks wrote on his website: "At dusk the rudder cable broke
At dusk the rudder cable broke. "Six hours pfaffing about in the dark and heaving sea saw a fairly unsatisfactory makeshift steering system into place"

2005 September 25, “Atlantic slow row coming to end”, in BBC News:

Chetan Mahajan is a writing coach, blogger and author. To convey coolness he calls himself the Chief Pfaffing Officer of the Himalayan Writing Retreat, which he co-founded.

2020 May 18, Chetan Mahajan, “The other pandemic: Title inflation”, in Livemint:

(British, slang) Alternative spelling of faff


potato chip

(UK, Ireland) One of a batch of pieces of potato cut into elongated cubes and fried; a chip or chipped potato, usually larger than American french fries.

ᏄᎾ ᏗᏍᏔᎦᏔᏅ

a piece of potato similar to a french fry, a British potato chip


summer time

When the clocks are put forward at the introduction of summer time, the long-distance night trains automatically become one hour late, and continue to run late for the remainder of their journeys. […] Similarly, when the clocks are put back in the autumn, the night trains become one hour early.

1951 June, “The Why and the Wherefore: Railways and Summer Time”, in Railway Magazine, page 429:

daylight saving time
daylight saving time


potato crisp

(chiefly British) A thin slice of potato that has been fried, typically packaged and sold as a snack.


pootle

Apparently an alteration of poodle, from German Low German Pudel, from the onomatopoeic term pudeln (“to splash about”) by its merging with tootle. Alternatively, a blending of doodle (to draw aimlessly) with potter (to move aimlessly)—as reported by 1970s English visitors to Australia.

go for a pootle


pootle

pootle (third-person singular simple present pootles, present participle pootling, simple past and past participle pootled)

pootles (present singular third-person)
pootling (participle present)
pootled (participle past)
pootled (past)

Prince William, in a surprise break from the schedule, borrowed his father's 41-year-old open-topped Aston Martin to pootle down the Mall to Clarence House with his new bride.

2011 April 30, Stephen Bates, “Prince William takes new wife for a spin in father's Aston Martin”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(British) To wander or ramble in a leisurely, indirect, or aimless manner, such as by walking or driving.


gurn

Early 20th century: dialect variant of grin.

(British) A distorted facial expression; grimace.


gurn

gurn (third-person singular simple present gurns, present participle gurning, simple past and past participle gurned)

gurns (present singular third-person)
gurning (participle present)
gurned (participle past)
gurned (past)

(British) To make a grotesque or funny face; to grimace.


swagman

From swag (“items stolen by a thief; unlawfully obtained goods; (Australia, New Zealand) bundle of personal items carried by a tramp, traveller, etc.”) + man.

compound

The practice of selling by commission, the same as I have shown to prevail among the costers, exists among the miscellaneous dealers of whom I am treating, who are known among street-folk as "swag-barrowmen," or, in the popular ellipsis, "penny swags;" the word "swag" meaning, as I before showed, a collection—a lot. The "swag-men" are often confounded with the "lot-sellers"; [...]

1861, Henry Mayhew, “Of the Street-sellers of Manufactured Articles”, in London Labour and the London Poor; a Cyclopædia of the Condition and Earnings of Those that Will Work, Those that Cannot Work, and Those that Will Not Work. […], volume I, London: Griffin, Bohn, and Company, […], →OCLC, page 447, column 2:

(British, archaic) A person who sells or trades in trinkets or items of low value.


pikelet

Derived from Welsh bara pyglyd (“pitchy [i.e. dark or sticky] bread”), later shortened simply to pyglyd. The early 17th century lexicographer, Randle Cotgrave, spoke of "our Welsh barrapycleds". The word spread to the West Midlands of England, where it was anglicised to picklets and then to pikelets.

der

(UK, dialect, Black Country, Birmingham, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire) Any crumpet, regardless of thickness

Black Country; Birmingham; Black Country; Birmingham


place of decimals

en-noun

place of decimals (plural places of decimals)

It will always be better to calculate one place of decimals more than are required by the question.

1841, Charles Hutton, Thomas Stephens Davies, A Course of Mathematics in Two Volumes, Composed for the Use of the Royal Military Academy, page 56:

Find the positive root of the equation eˣ – 3x = 0, correct to 3 places of decimals.

1980, Michael H. Stone, The Borderline Syndromes: Constitution, Personality, and Adaptation, page 101:

In consequence of the need of Tables of Jₙ (x) with fairly large values of n and x for Astronomical purposes, Hansen constructed a Table of J₀ (x) and Jᵢ (x) to six places of decimals with a range from x = 0 to x = 10.0 with interval 0.1.

1995, G. N. Watson, A Treatise on the Theory of Bessel Functions, page 655:

To round a decimal correct to one place of decimals (1 d.p.) you look at the second place of decimals.

2001, Keith Pledger, Edexcel GCSE Mathematics, page 103:

Use Newton Raphson method to find the values of (i) VT2 and (ii) —, correct to four places of decimals.

2005, Veerarajan & Ramachandran, Numerical Methods: With Programs In C, pages 3–54:

In the application of Simpson's rule, when the number of places of decimals to which the answer is required, is not mentioned, it is usual to calculate the answer correct to three places of decimals.

2006, Bansi Lal, Topics in Integral Calculus, page 272:

(arithmetic, dated, chiefly UK, usually in the plural) A decimal place.


smallclothes

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

One hand slid up her thigh and underneath her smallclothes.

2000, George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords: A Song of Fire and Ice, →ISBN, page 701:

Are red socks a secret handshake, a mark of Etonhood, of an allegiance to the place both claimed and disclaimed? And having seen one pair I'm noticing them all over the place, a conspiracy of smallclothes.

2007 April 10, Tobias Hill, “School Stories”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 2014-05-17:

(British, archaic) Underwear and other small items of clothing.


sitting room

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

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

(British) A living-room; a room in a house where people pass the time in leisure.


coffee morning

→ Irish: maidin chaife (calque)

→ Welsh: bore coffi (calque)

(British) A social gathering where people talk over coffee and cakes, usually to raise money for a charity.

maidin chaife

a social gathering where people talk over coffee and cakes


rugger bugger

(UK, South Africa, Australia, derogatory) Someone who is fanatical about sports, especially rugby union, and who can be loud and unpleasant to other people.


Irish pennant

(British, nautical) A loose or untidy end of a line or other part of the rigging of a sailing ship

(US, British) A loose thread of a naval or military uniform; also the loose end of any knot not tied properly


make do and mend

en-verb

make do and mend (third-person singular simple present makes do and mends, present participle making do and mending, simple past and past participle made do and mended)

makes do and mends (present singular third-person)
making do and mending (participle present)
made do and mended (participle past)
made do and mended (past)

From the title of a booklet issued by the UK Ministry of Information.

The 'make do and mend' campaign was the Board of Trade's central propaganda effort directed at housewives. It gave advice on preservation, renovation, and repair of clothing and other household goods.

2000 Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska - Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls, and Consumption, 1939-1955

(British) To follow a philosophy, during World War II, of repairing clothes etc that would normally be discarded due to shortages and rationing.

(British, idiomatic) Generally, to repair and reuse.

(British, idiomatic) To make the best of a situation.


palatalised

en-adj

palatalised (comparative more palatalised, superlative most palatalised)

more palatalised (comparative)
most palatalised (superlative)

(phonetics, phonology, chiefly British) Having undergone palatalisation.


sideburn

(UK, smoking) The unwanted rapid burning down one side of a cigarette that has been ineptly rolled.


annunciator

(UK, railways) A buzzer in a signal box that sounds when a train activates a treadle positioned on the track, and thus provides a warning or announcement of a nearby train.


red top

The titles of these newspapers are traditionally presented on a red banner at the top of the front page.

Just as broadsheets only exceptionally outsell any of the tabloids, so middle-market tabloids—the Mail and Express—only rarely outsell the red tops (although the upmarket Sunday Times outsells the mid-market Express on Sunday and The Mail on Sunday outsells The People).

1997 August 13, Brian Macarthur, “Diana: mover and shaker”, in The Times:

Tabloids have their own language. Maybe it's because the pages are smaller than the broadsheet papers, or perhaps it's because they have to make room to fit all those pictures of Jordan in her knickers in each day, but tabloidese is a language and a skill peculiar to the red tops.

2010, Sharon Marshall, Tabloid Girl, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, journalism) A tabloid newspaper, particularly one of those considered to have lower journalistic standards than the broadsheets.


ATA

Automotive Technician Accreditation
w:Automotive Technician Accreditation

(UK) Initialism of Automotive Technician Accreditation.


socking

At the time of this photo, Royal Marine Gunner Bryan Gasson is pretty much dead center in this photo, and yes, that means HE IS LITERALLY INSIDE THAT SOCKING GREAT FIREBALL as the magazines detonate.

2021 March 14, Drachinifel, 1:05:17 from the start, in The Drydock - Episode 137, archived from the original on 2022-11-08:


opticians

He spent a long and interested morning at the experimental farm at Rothamsted, and in the afternoon he went to the opticians to get a new pair of spectacles and attended to other small businesses.

1924, H. G. Wells, The Story of a Great Schoolmaster:


stilling

Compare Low German Stelling, German stellen (“to set, to place”).


Midlands

McCarthy will point to their bad luck but the statistics now show that Wolves have lost four league matches and have claimed one point from a possible 15 - so it may prove to be another difficult season for the Midlands side.

2011 October 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport:

(British) A loosely-defined culturally distinct area of England, corresponding to the central horizontal band of England, now administratively realized as regions of East and West Midlands.


new money

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

(British) The decimal monetary system used in the United Kingdom since 1971.


fuckknuckle

The "knife" you are longing for is your own Crow. You post with sincereity, desperation, and you post like a fuckknuckle. (I know.)

1997 July 1, Peter “E. Varden” Shore, “Re: Replacements”, in alt.bitterness (Usenet):

1998 July 31, Thomas K. Javoroski, “Re: To all fans of Gygax...”, rec.games.frp.advocacy, rec.games.frp.dnd, and rec.games.frp.misc, Usenet
He's trying to entertain, not teach, you insufferable fuckknuckle!

So tell me, oh ignorant, unemployable fuckknuckle how many men and boys have to give sworn testimony before you believe that Wacko is a child molesting criminal?

2005 April 5, John Lucas, “question for the Jackson fans”, in alt.music.michael-jackson (Usenet):

(slang, vulgar, humorous, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) Alternative form of fuck-knuckle


fuck knuckle

You fuck knuckles showed that you couldn't play fair, and because you couldn't play fair, now you've got to play by Beaudreau's Rules.

1998 September 2, Randy Beaudreau, “This board is Beaudreau's House now”, in alt.tv.comedy-central (Usenet):

2004 December 3, William J. Wolfe, “Re: PETA Campaign Pitches Fish As Smart”, aus.politics, alt.politics.british, alt.politics.communism, alt.politics.democrats, and alt.politics.economics, Usenet
That's right, fuck knuckle, you can't prove that fish feel pain, neither can anybody else.

2006 May 25, Colin Kynoch, “aus.sport.aussie-rules”, Re: Bumblers Fined for cheating and runner booted for 2 weeks, Usenet
And can you point to any Essendon supporter who has defended Dimma?
Didn't think so you deluded fuck knuckle.

He still wondered who the fuck knuckle was who made them do that and who purchased the stupid fucking things.

2006 June 30, Kerry Plowright, Vostock Station - Point of Impact, Trafford Publishing:

(vulgar, slang, humorous, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) Alternative form of fuck-knuckle


fuck-knuckle

That little fuck-knuckle is into me for eighteen dimes, plus interest

1986 June 12, Richard Martins, The Cinch, Random House Publishing Group, page 95:

Typical septic. Can't understand why the rest of the world thinks he's a fuck-knuckle.

1998 April 21, Justin Downey, “Re: rachel is awful cute!”, alt.nuke.the.USA, aus.flame.usa, and alt.flame

“Cool your jets, fuck-knuckle. I've been getting an anus beating all day and I'm preparing for a federal raping tomorrow because of you two freaks...”

2002 January, Michael Cordoni, Peaches & Snitches: A Novel, Writers Club Press, page 136:

‘Right fuck-knuckle, get into those dixies over there,’ ordered the crazy-eyed shit posing as a cook, but more closely resembling a human hog.

2002 April, Terry O’Farrell, Behind Enemy Lines: An Australian SAS soldier in Vietnam (Allen & Unwin Proprietary), page 12

(slang, vulgar, humorous, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A term of abuse.


bleeder

His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish, / Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish.

‘Well, what did the old bleeder say?’ said Opus Fluke.

1950, Mervyn Peake, chapter 36, in Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, derogatory) A troublesome fellow or thing; a blighter.


conservancy

en-noun

conservancy (countable and uncountable, plural conservancies)

From conservant + -cy or conserve + -ancy.

(British) A commission that deals with fishery and navigation.


coulter

Inherited from Middle English culter, from Old English culter, from Latin culter (“a knife”). For the phonetic development, see poultry.

I lately left a furrow, one or twayne, / Unplough'd, the which my coulter hath not cleft […].

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

What is it but a servitude like that impos'd by the Philistims, not to be allow'd the sharpning of our own axes and coulters, but we must repair from all quarters to twenty licencing forges.

With colters bright the rushy sward bisect, / And in new veins the gushing rills direct […].

1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 150:

(British) A knife or cutter attached to the beam of a plough to cut the sward, in front of the share and mouldboard.

(British) The part of a seed drill that makes the furrow for the seed.


oast house

Sail-like, the oast-house towers of Horsmonden seem almost to plough the rich soil of their Kentish hopfield like graceful yachts on a gently rolling sea. And sail-like, their wind vanes turn the angled cowls with the breeze to create a vacuum inside that draws up hot air to dry the hops on their slatted floor below. This is the Garden of England, and the village is surrounded by orchards and pastures, as well as hopfields - […].

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 227, photo caption:

(British) A building containing oasts, used in conjunction with hop harvesting.


oast

From Middle English ost, from Old English āst (“a kiln”), from Proto-Germanic *aistaz (“kiln”), from *aisǭ (“fire”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn; fire”). Cognate with Dutch eest (“kiln”), Middle Low German eiste (“kiln”), Latin aedes (“house; hearth”), Old English ād (“fire; funeral pyre”).

inh

(British) A kiln for drying tobacco, malt and especially hops.

eest

a kiln for drying tobacco, malt and especially hops


hop garden

On leaving Wye, we find the country changing character; the Downs come closer to the line, and grazing gives way to orchards and hop-gardens, with pleasant farm buildings, including oasthouses, another characteristic Kentish sight.

1952 July, A. W. V. Mace, “The Ashford, Canterbury, and Ramsgate Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 436:

The line is now well into the Wealden hills. Running along the Teise valley, the slopes of which are covered in hop gardens, it falls at gradients of 1 in 106 and 213 to Goudhurst, 6⅜ miles out, [...].

1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 172:

(agriculture, British) A field, fields or farm where hops are grown.


Lord Mayor

en-noun

Lord Mayor (plural Lord Mayors or Lords Mayor)

Lord Mayors (plural)
Lords Mayor (plural)

(UK, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries) The holder of a ceremonial post on a local council (distinct from the council leader who may be addressed as mayor).


skeleton in the cupboard

skeleton in the cupboard (plural skeletons in the cupboard)


hardtop

(British) The removable rigid roof of a convertible or sports car.


drophead coupé

(British) a four-seated sports car with two doors, a folding roof and a sloping rear; a soft top.


fixed head coupé

fixed head coupé (plural fixed head coupés)

(British) A four-seated car or coupé with the appearance of a sports car, with a sloping rear and hardtop.


seel

From Middle English sele, sel, from Old English sǣl (“time, occasion, a fit time, season, opportunity, the definite time at which an event should take place, time as in bad or good times, circumstances, condition, position, happiness, joy, good fortune, good time, prosperity”), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“luck, joy”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Icelandic sæla (“bliss”), Dutch zalig (“blissful, blessed”). More at silly.

inh

(UK, dialectal) Good fortune; happiness; bliss.

the seel of the day

(UK, dialectal) Opportunity; time; season.


yeo

From Middle English ea, eo, from Old English ēa (“running water, water, stream, river”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahu, from Proto-Germanic *ahwō (“waters, river”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂ (“water, flowing water”). Doublet of aqua. Compare ea, Eau, eau.

(Southwest England) Alternative form of ea


outgo

en-verb

outgo (third-person singular simple present outgoes, present participle outgoing, simple past outwent, past participle outgone)

outgoes (present singular third-person)
outgoing (participle present)
outwent (past)
outgone (participle past)
outgo (infinitive)

PIE word
 *úd
The verb is derived from Middle English outgon (“to go out, depart, leave; to come out, emerge; to escape; to protrude; of a sword: to be drawn; to emanate from (a place); to accompany”), from Old English ūtgān (“to go out”), Proto-West Germanic *ūtgān (“to go out”), equivalent to out- + go.
Compare Middle English outwenden (“to go out, depart, leave; to escape; to be emitted, fly out from; of a weapon: to be drawn”), which, like modern outgo, had the past tense and past participle form outwent.
The noun is derived from modern English out- (prefix meaning ‘away from; toward the outside of’) + go. Sense 1 (“cost, expenditure, or outlay”) was probably modelled on income.
cognates
* Scots outgae
* West Frisian útgean
* Dutch uitgaan
* German Low German utgahn
* German ausgehen
* Swedish utgå

prefix

I ſawe a ſhole of ſhepheardes outgoe, / With ſinging, and ſhouting, and iolly chere: […]

1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Maye. Ægloga Quinta.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 16, verso:

And in the middle sea they chanced to meet; / Up goes the trump; with shots and shouts they greet, / And hasten them to set on with the sun; / With grisly sound outgoeth the great gun, […]

1845, James Russell Lowell, “First Conversation. Chaucer.”, in Conversations on Some of the Old Poets, Cambridge, Mass.: John Owen, →OCLC, page 99:

There is a God, the One only Creator, / The All-Animator; / From Him the light of life ever outgoeth,— / Life's river floweth: […]

1890, John Bragg, “Life”, in Sonnets and Short Poems (Second Series), Leeds, Yorkshire: […] Alfred W. Inman, →OCLC, page 13:

(archaic except poetic and British, regional) To go out, to set forth, to set out.


gillie

From Scottish Gaelic gille (“helper”), from Middle Irish gilla (“youth, young man; boy, male child; messenger, page, servant”), possibly borrowed from Old Norse gildr (“brawny, stout; of full worth”). Compare Irish giolla (“boy”).

der

Every deerstalker will bear witness to the eagerness of Highlanders in pursuit of their old favourite game, the dun deer; the mountaineer shews what he is when his eye kindles and his nostril dilates at the sight of a noble stag; when the gillie forgets his master in his keenness, and the southern lags behind; when it is "bellows to mend" and London dinners are remembered with regret.

1860, “Introduction. The Fairy-egg, and What Came Out of It.”, in J[ohn] F[rancis] Campbell, editor, Popular Tales of the West Highlands: Orally Collected wih a Translation, volume I, Edinburgh: Edmondston and Douglas, →OCLC, page lxxxviii:

When dinner should be over, supper was to follow with scarcely any interval to speak of; and to partake of this other guests should be bidden—Svengali and Gecko, and perhaps one or two more. No ladies! For, as the unsusceptible Laird expressed it, in the language of a gillie he had once met at a servants' dance in a Highland country house, "Them wimmen spiles the ball!"

1894 March, George du Maurier, “Trilby”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume LXXXVIII, number DXXVI, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, 325 to 337 Pearl Street, Franklin Square, →OCLC, part third, page 584, column 2:

[T]hough the fish run small, as indeed they all do in these small rivers, the strength of the water and the broken ground along the banks must make playing them an exciting business. Over twenty have been killed by one rod in a single day, and I should say that in most seasons some lucky man gets a bag of ten. But of course this sort of thing has to be paid for. Ten shillings a day is the charge for the river, and in addition to that there is your gillie.

1899, Stephen [Lucius] Gwynn, “Fishing and Golf in Donegal”, in Highways and Byways in Donegal and Antrim, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, pages 299–300:

Courage and coolness are great qualities in a gillie, and you do not really know your man till you have been with him in a storm. […] Most gillies have cool heads and hearts of oak. They must have these qualities; to be cool and courageous is part of their job.

1994, Jeremy Paxman, Fish, Fishing and the Meaning of Life, London: Michael Joseph, →ISBN:

[H]e said, "I hae the day off tomorrow. I'll take ye out on the Anstey if ye want." This met with Patricia's ideas of what was right or fitting. Fishing on a Scottish river with a policeman as ghillie was socially acceptable to her mind.

1998, M. C. Beaton [pseudonym; Marion Chesney], chapter 1, in Death of a Scriptwriter (A Hamish Macbeth Mystery), New York, N.Y.: Mysterious Press, →ISBN:

Before we knew it, we were on a Fokker, twin engine, jet aircraft out of Copenhagen bound for Stavenger, Bergen and Trondheim, Norway, where we rested up for two days before boarding a four passenger float plane in the tiny Village of Hell. The Land Rover manned by our gilly (guide) waited where the A-Elv River joined the sea at the head of the fjord.

2010, John W. Stevens, “Atlantic Salmon from Hell and Back”, in Memorable Fish and Fishermen, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:

(British, Ireland, Scotland) A fishing and hunting guide; a man or boy who attends to a person who is fishing or hunting, especially in Scotland.


tickler

(UK, dated) A prong used by coopers to extract bungs from casks.


Britney

Rhyming slang for beers, from Britney Spears.

I'm like, 'Oops, sorry,' and then I nod at the door of the jacks and go, 'Beer in, beer out!'
Like I said, I've been fairly hounding the Britneys tonight.

2013, Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, Downturn Abbey:

(UK, slang, chiefly in the plural) A beer.


ever-present

(British, sports) An athlete who is present in every contest.


bovine viral diarrhoea

bovine viral diarrhea
bovine viral diarrhea#English

(chiefly British) Alternative spelling of bovine viral diarrhea


swattle

en-verb

swattle (third-person singular simple present swattles, present participle swattling, simple past and past participle swattled)

swattles (present singular third-person)
swattling (participle present)
swattled (participle past)
swattled (past)

(British, Northern dialect) To splutter; to guzzle.


forestage

(UK, law, historical) A duty or tribute payable to the king's foresters.

(UK, law, historical) A service paid by foresters to the king.


tooler

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

Pickpockets took to housebreaking and housebreakers joined gangs of street thieves; cracksmen's mistresses were often toolers and shoplifters.

1970, Kellow Chesney, The Anti-society: An Account of the Victorian Underworld, page 168:

A tooler was the most elite of the pickpockets, a planner and plotter, a boy with brains, daring and courage. At any one time Ikey hoped for four toolers in the making and two fully blown and working at the top of their trade.

2010, Bryce Courtenay, The Potato Factory, volume 1, page 103:


screech owl

From the fact that these species are owls which emit screeching calls.

(UK) A common barn owl, of species Tyto alba, found almost worldwide.


annexure

en-noun

annexure (countable and uncountable, plural annexures)

Avulsio is the increase in extent of land bounded by water, through the annexure of land disannexed elsewhere by violent natural causes.

1986, D. L. Carey Miller, The acquisition and protection of ownership, page 17:

Plundering, raiding and annexure of other weaker nations have become survival normality and we seem to accept these as part of life.

2009, Maduka E. Agbodike, Colonial Conspiracies in Africa, →ISBN, page 254:

I doubt if there'll be much opposition to my annexure of the throne!

2015, Derek Trevor Rowswell, The History of Gragorgix, →ISBN:

C. Rajagopan's The Greater Bombay: A Study in Suburban Ecology (Bombay: Popular Book depot, 1962) is one study, especially interesting as it was undertaken in the immediate aftermath of the annexure of Salsette to Bombay and thus offers a contemporary perspective.

2015, Dr Nicolas Kenny, Dr Rebecca Madgin, Cities Beyond Borders, →ISBN, page 134:

...other hand buildings without foundations,sheds, windmills, railway lines, and all fixtures or annexures to buildings, are movable unless their owner intended that they should be permanently annexed.

1961, George Wille, Principles of South African Law:

While determining the quantum of such return on the investments, the cost incurred for the building, as it is, with all the existing annexures intended for the better enjoyment of the premises themselves, shall have to be taken into account.

1980, The Bombay Law Reporter: Reports - Volume 82, page 184:

This implication is supported by other provisions of the Mortgage Law, such as the provision that makes the mortgage effective against all annexures to the mortgaged property (such as buildings, plants, services, constructions, and modifications), expressly including those coming into being subsequent to the mortgage deed, unless the mortgagor or and the mortgagee otherwise agree.

2011, Kabir Hassan, Michael Mahlknecht, Islamic Capital Markets: Products and Strategies, →ISBN:

The Saudi Arabian law regarding annexures is that a charge is effective against all annexures to the charged property (for example, buildings, plants, services, constructions and modifications), expressly including those that come into being subsequent to the rahn deed, unless the chargor and chargee otherwise agree.

2015, Frederique Dahan, Research Handbook on Secured Financing in Commercial Transactions, →ISBN:

This aspect of the publication appears in one of the annexures at the end of the lectures.

1989, Nagendra Singh, The Role and Record of the International Court of Justice, page xiv:

In addition a comprehensive set of annexures had to be submitted with each application that included the following […]

2001, Case Studies on the Allocation of Transferable Quota Rights in Fisheries, number 411, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations:

The reports of the seminars and their recommendations are included in the annexures of the book. The population data and other relevant information are also given in the annexures.

2006, Braja Bihārī Kumāra, Illegal Migration from Bangladesh, page xvii:

An affidavit may refer to and identify documents and other things which are part of the evidence-in-chief of a witness. These are referred to variously as annexures or exhibits. A neutral term used here for annexures and exhibits is 'attachment'.

2013, John Levingston, The Law of Affidavits, page 99:

(especially India and UK law, otherwise dated) An appendix or attachment to a document.


stumer

(British) Something worthless or counterfeit.

[…] the agony of having put his little all on a stumer that hadn't finished in the first six.

1923, P. G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:

(UK, slang) A racehorse that is sure to lose.


Seller's Pack

Home Information Pack
Home Information Pack


Home Information Pack

Home Information Pack (plural Home Information Packs)

(British) A collection of documents relating to a property, which, under the law of England and Wales between June 2007 and 2010, had to be provided when the property was offered for sale. Abbreviation: HIP


HIP

Home Information Pack
Home Information Pack#English

(British) Acronym of Home Information Pack.


bluer

From blue + -er (“Oxford -er”). Used at Harrow School in London, United Kingdom.

Bluer buttons illustrate the principle of 'keeping under'. The Knoll rule book states: 'It is a one year priv. [privilege] to have the bottom button on one's bluer undone [and] a three summer priv. to have all the buttons of one's bluer undone.'

1981, James Anthony Mangan, Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public School, Psychology Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 170:

He was alone in his room, in his bluer and his tie, seated on a chair, leaning over his bed like a desk—his preferred way to study—holding the stapled pages of the script, muttering the words.

2011, Justin Evans, “Voraciously”, in The White Devil:

(UK, school slang) A blue blazer, part of the school uniform at Harrow School.


cuckooing

cuckooing (countable and uncountable, plural cuckooings)

(UK) A form of crime in which the home of a vulnerable person is taken over by a criminal gang and used by them as a base for their activities.


nose to tail

(British, of traffic) Arranged in close formation, one behind the other.


nose to tail

(British, of traffic) Moving slowly in this manner.


sea fret

An extraordinary combination of mist and sea fret made the rails of the Scarborough-Whitby line so greasy on January 19 that the service came virtually to a standstill; [...]

1959 April, “Motive Power Miscellany: North Eastern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 224:

A sea-fret had blurred the far dunes and clouds of wood-smoke were piling up from the horizon, and as we watched, two thick, butter-coloured pillars of sunlight stepped slowly over the far, unmoving waves; sometimes even Dame Nature overdoes her effects.

When, finally, he left the pub, he discovered that a sea fret had blown in across the island, and the sand dunes were half hidden in drifting veils of vapour.

2007, Pat Barker, Border Crossing: A Novel:

There is a thing called sea fret and it's when the mist comes off the sea; it's the water that comes off the sea. And we used to have a lot of that.

2016, Would I Lie to You?, season 10, episode 5, Lee Mack (actor):

(British) A fog that comes from the sea.


British Summer Time

daylight-saving time
daylight-saving time

(British) A form of daylight-saving time, one hour ahead of UTC, used in the United Kingdom. Abbreviation: BST


shagging

shagging (usually uncountable, plural shaggings)

Well, you'll do what you want,
but I'll tell you this:
one of the best shaggings I ever had
was with an overweight housepainter
who bought me a beer and a hamburger and,
the next week, painted my kitchen for free.

2007, Martina Reisz Newberry, Hunger (page 28): Insomnia (poem)

(UK, vulgar, slang) An act (or acts) of sexual intercourse.


shagging

I'm sick of this shagging job.

(UK, vulgar, slang) Used to express dislike of or annoyance towards the thing mentioned.


blinder

He played a blinder this afternoon on the cricket ground.

And we asked the blue winger, who in our game / had played what they call a blinder, to help out

1992, Glyn Maxwell, “Out of the Rain”, in Boys at Twilight: Poems 1990 to 1995, New York: Houghton Mifflin, published 2000, page 91:

(British, slang) An exceptional performance.


England and Wales

(UK, law) The jurisdiction covering England and Wales, two constituent countries of the United Kingdom, which share a single legal system and are treated as a single country for various purposes.


washing-up liquid

washing-up liquid (countable and uncountable, plural washing-up liquids)

Coordinate term: dish detergent

I have to use a special washing-up liquid, because I have sensitive skin.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A form of liquid soap used to wash dishes by hand.


lun

He had no alternative to the slim chance of safety offered by the ‘lun’ of Cat Harbour, Northern Island.

1958, Michael Harrington, Sea Stories from Newfoundland:

(Newfoundland, UK regional) Alternative form of lown


fair play

[S]he consolidated her position by purchasing the kennels, doing them up regardless of expense and buying two new horses, and, fair play to her, fair play, as they say in Wales, ...

1964, Charles Norman De Courcy-Parry, Here lies my story, page 248:

"Fair play to Jean, he has made it work for him."

1990 July 1, Joe Saward, quoting Martin Donnelly, “Interview: Martin Donnelly”, in The Business of Motorsport Newsletter, archived from the original on 2017-10-16:

The Gaelic Athletic Association, fair play to them, want absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with that thingumajig football tournament in America.

1994 June 21, Liam Hayes, “GAA's holding its own now, but could lose in the end”, in Irish Voice, archived from the original on 2016-04-21:

I wasn't expecting much of Ms Dynamite at the start of the night, but fair play to her, she's got a great voice on her.

2002 October 30, "Acquiesce", “Re: noel and chris at fair play gig”, in alt.music.oasis (Usenet):

Liam Watson: "Fair play to Southport, they were the best team on paper because they got the most points. We just want to prove we are as good as them".

2010 May 7, “Clayton sure buoyant Reds are up to the task of seeing off Fleetwood”, in Derby Evening Telegraph:

(colloquial, UK, Ireland) used to acknowledge or congratulate for something.


motorhead

(UK, slang) A heavy user of amphetamines.


work experience

(UK) A short unpaid period of time at a workplace, to gain experience of a working environment.

實習 /实习

short unpaid period of time at a workplace — see also internship


gingernut

(UK) A hard biscuit, flavoured with powdered ginger, often dunked in tea.

(UK, slang) A redhead; a ginger-haired person.


get the wind up

en-verb

get the wind up (third-person singular simple present gets the wind up, present participle getting the wind up, simple past and past participle got the wind up)

gets the wind up (present singular third-person)
getting the wind up (participle present)
got the wind up (participle past)
got the wind up (past)

(idiomatic, British) To become frightened or disturbed.


lounge suit

A little bald-headed man with huge horn-rimmed spectacles, and a very handsome and athletic youth in a blue lounge-suit completed the group.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:


bloody-minded

en-adj

bloody-minded (comparative more bloody-minded, superlative most bloody-minded)

more bloody-minded (comparative)
most bloody-minded (superlative)

She felt like learning a few things more, and she felt just bloody-minded enough to go for it. "Are you seeing anyone?"

2023 September 24, HarryBlank, “Working Wonders”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-05-25:

(chiefly UK, informal) Obstinate; stubborn.


tetchy

tetchy (comparative tetchier, superlative tetchiest)

tetchier (comparative)
tetchiest (superlative)

Uncertain, first attested as teachie in the 1597 first quarto versions of Romeo and Juliet and Richard III. Perhaps coined by Shakespeare. Also variously derived from English tetch (“tantrum, fit of anger”); from Scots tache (“blotch, fault”); from Middle English tatch (“blemish”) &c. under influence from touchy, in turn derived from Old French tache, from proposed Vulgar Latin *tacca, from Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌽𐍃 (taikns, “sign”), from proposed Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ-.

Nurce: ...But as I said, when it did tast the wormwood on the nipple of my dug, & felt it bitter, pretty foole to see it teachie and fall out with Dugge...

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

King. And came I not at last to comfort you?
Du. No by the holie roode thou knowst it well,
Thou camst on earth to make the earth my hell,
A greuous burthen was thy berth to me,
Techie and waiward was thy infancie,
Thy schoele-daies frightful, desperate, wild, and furious.

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

Nurse: […]But as I said, when it did taste the worme-wood on the nipple of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretie foole, to see it teachie and fall out with the Dugge...

Our hart is so narrowly limited that (by euery little distaste) we are strangely altered, and being in this teasty tetchy way, presently we let flye foorth much vnseemelines.

1605, “Chapter 6”, in Anthony Munday, transl., The Dumbe Diuine Speaker, London: William Leake, translation of original by Giacomo Affinati d’Acuto Romano, page 58:

I warrant, sir, he is, as you say, a very precise acrimonious person—A tetchy repugnant kind of old gentleman.

1792, Thomas Holcroft, edited by J. Bragg, The Road to Ruin, Dublin, act 5, page 65:

They’re good boys, as I said afore; but they’re quick and tetchy—George, being the youngest, nat’rally is the tetchiest.

1887, Bret Harte, A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready and Devil’s Ford, Devil’s Ford, page 238:

[…] the commonplace Communist simply loses his temper if you venture to doubt whether everything is being done in precisely the best and most intelligent way under the new régime. He is like a tetchy housewife who wants you to recognise that everything is in perfect order in the middle of an eviction.

1920, H. G. Wells, “Chapter 6”, in Russia in the Shadows:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Synonym of touchy: easily annoyed or irritated, peevish, testy, irascible; also (figurative) extremely sensitive, difficult to manage, use, or work.


twibill

From Middle English twibill, from Old English twibill, from twi- (“double”) + bill (“edge, blade”), see also billhook.

(dialectal, British) A mattock with one blade like an axe and the other like an adze.


headship

en-noun

headship (countable and uncountable, plural headships)

(British) The position of a headmaster or headmistress.


freesheet

A helpful assistant suggested a local newspaper for English-speaking residents, but after a taxi ride to La Napoule I found only the back-street office of a free-sheet listing properties for sale, swimming-pool constructors and dealers in used Mercedes.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 108:


holidayer

The Tippers were not natural holidayers.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Someone who is taking a holiday (recreational trip away from home).


holidaymaker

The beaches were crowded with holidaymakers.

The Northern coastal districts of Kent, from Whitstable to Ramsgate, are one of the distressed areas of England. Their main industry – in fact almost the only one – is the summer holidaymakers, both day-trippers and fortnightly boarders. In these changing times, the habits of holidaymakers are altering also.

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

"With the number of holidaymakers back on the rise, upgrading critical infrastructure like Gatwick Airport station is key to improving the passenger experience," said Rail Minister Wendy Morton.

2022 February 23, “Network News: New escalators at Gatwick Airport”, in RAIL, number 951, page 15:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) someone who is on holiday


holiday-maker

A Saturday extra loaded with holiday-makers returning to the Midlands leaves Llandudno Junction on June 11, 1960, behind Stanier 2-6-0 No. 42976.

1961 April, “Focus on Llandudno Junction”, in Trains Illustrated, page 243, photo caption:


winkle out

en-verb

winkle out (third-person singular simple present winkles out, present participle winkling out, simple past and past participle winkled out)

winkles out (present singular third-person)
winkling out (participle present)
winkled out (participle past)
winkled out (past)

From winkle (“to extract”), from periwinkle (“a mollusk”).

Tom managed to winkle the truth out of John eventually.

He watched her blink rapidly and choose a difference sort of release: “I mean, since you’re so good at winkling people out!”

(transitive, British) To acquire with difficulty, as by thorough scrutiny.


unproved

en-adj

unproved (comparative more unproved, superlative most unproved)

more unproved (comparative)
most unproved (superlative)


self-raising flour

en-noun

self-raising flour (usually uncountable, plural self-raising flours)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, cooking) A type of flour that contains an agent, such as baking powder, which makes baked goods expand and rise when cooked. Equivalent to American English "self-rising flour".

自發粉 /自发粉

a type of flour that contains an agent, such as baking powder, which makes baked goods expand and rise when cooked

önkelesztő / önmagától megkelő liszt (sütőporos)


bootie

[…] and buried where he fell, was disinterred by a 'Bootie' who wanted to photograph him for his album.

(UK, military, slang, obsolete) A soldier.


built-up

en-adj

built-up (comparative more built-up, superlative most built-up)

more built-up (comparative)
most built-up (superlative)

(British) (of an area of land) Having street lights and therefore subject to a 30 mph speed limit.


dumb insolence

(British, military) The offence of refusing to answer the questions of an officer.


skirting board

But these little tunnels, emerging into the open at Finchley Road (reached in 1879) were the start of something big. By the early twentieth century it would be possible to think of them as two mouseholes in the skirting board of a wall separating two great ballrooms.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 51:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, carpentry, interior decoration) A panel, normally made of wood, between the floor and the interior wall of a structure, or placed in a position that is subject to repeated knocks.


in service

(chiefly British) Employed as a domestic servant.