physiotherapist

From physio- + therapist or physiotherapy + -ist.

(British) A therapist who treats physical injury or dysfunction, usually with exercise.


toss off

en-verb

toss off (third-person singular simple present tosses off, present participle tossing off, simple past and past participle tossed off)

tosses off (present singular third-person)
tossing off (participle present)
tossed off (participle past)
tossed off (past)

(British, vulgar, slang, transitive, intransitive) To masturbate.


curriculum vitae

en-noun

curriculum vitae (plural curricula vitae or (hypercorrect) curricula vitarum)

curricula vitae (plural)
curricula vitarum (hypercorrect plural)

From Latin curriculum (“course”) + vītae, genitive of vīta (“life”).

curriculum vitae

written account of one's education, accomplishments, etc.

མི་ཚེའི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་མདོར་སྡུས (mi tshe'i lo rgyus mdor sdus, literally “abridged history of a human life”)

(British) A written account of one's life comprising one's education, accomplishments, work experience, publications, etc.; especially, one used to apply for a job.


cubicle

From Late Middle English cubicle, from Latin cubiculum (“bedroom”). Doublet of cubiculum.

With more urinals than cubicles, men - unlike women - rarely queue, a Royal Society for Public Health report says.

2019 May 23, “Two female loos for every male one, experts recommend”, in BBC News, retrieved 2019-08-14:

The toilets will have weight-sensitive floors to make sure only one person is using each cubicle at a time.

2019 August 16, “Anti-sex toilets will soak users with water jets and sound alarm”, in Planet Rock, retrieved 2019-08-17:

(UK, Australia) A small enclosure in a public toilet for individual use.

kabina

a small enclosure in a public toilet for individual use


spunk

spunk (usually uncountable, plural spunks)

→ Irish: sponc

1530, blend of spark + funk (obsolete, “spark”). Also, merging with spunck, 1582, ultimately from Middle Irish sponc, from Latin spongia (“sponge”).
Funk (“spark, touchwood”) is from Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funca (“spark”), from Proto-West Germanic *funkō, from Proto-Germanic *funkô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng- (“to shine”), and is akin to Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”), German Funke (“spark”).

der

We are welcomed by 20 year old spunks, as we make a last valiant attempt with our bodies - gasp, gasp - and try to get back in shape.

2005, Sue Austin, Women′s Aggressive Fantasies: A Post-Jungian Exploration of Self-Hatred, Love and Agency, UK: Routledge, page 166:

(countable, UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) An attractive person (normally male).

Curse the blasted, jelly-boned swines[...] the sniveling, dribbling, dithering palsied pulse-less lot that make up England today. They've got white of egg in their veins, and their spunk is that watery it's a marvel they can breed.

1912, D.H. Lawrence, letter to Edward Garnett, 3 July 1912:

Between spunk-stained sheet and odorous whim / Camera eye-flick-shudder within

1980, “In the Flat Field”, in In the Flat Field, performed by Bauhaus:

It was runny stuff and, as she felt Brain loosen his hold on the drawstrings, Cackle's spunk dripped onto the shelf of her chin.

2007, Debra Hyde, “Kidnapped”, in Violet Blue, editor, Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women, ReadHowYouWant, published 2010, page 188:

(uncountable, chiefly UK, vulgar, slang) Semen.


sledge

Dialectal Dutch sleedse, from Middle Dutch sleedse, from the root of sled.

Aged wore out Coal-Horses, which after some time Wrought you will have, may serve turn for Sledge-Horses.

1708, F. C. [possibly F. Conyers], Compleat Collier: Or, The Whole Art of Sinking, Getting, and Working, Coal-mines about Sunderland and New-Castle:

Ty'd upon the Sledge, a Papist and a Protestant in front, being two very disparate and antipathetick Companions, was a very ridiculous Science of Cruelty, even worst than Death it self (says he).

1716, Myles Davies, Athenae Britannicae: Or, A Critical History of the Oxford and Cambridge Writers And Writings...Part I [the full title stretches for 70 words] reporting a passage in "Nicholas Sanders's Seditious Pamphlet" De Schismate Anglicano, &c (1585)

There are also Winter Paralympic Games with Alpine and Nordic events, as well as sledge hockey - a form of ice hockey using a seated sledge.

2006, Richard Higgins, Peter Brukner, Bryan English, editors, Essential Sports Medicine:

For anyone who can recall their schooldays, when you used to get snow every winter, flying down hills on a polythene bag the thickness of an atom, and a lovely old sledge your Grandpa made for you (the only Christmas it DIDN'T snow),...

2006, Pete Draper, Deconstructing the Elements With 3ds Max: Create Natural Fire, Earth, Air and Water Without Plug-Ins:


apophthegm

First attested 1553, from Ancient Greek ἀπόφθεγμα (apóphthegma), from ἀποφθέγγομαι (apophthéngomai, “I plainly speak my mind”), from ἀπό (apó, “from”) + φθέγγομαι (phthéngomai, “I speak loudly”).


ya

From Middle English ya, from Old English ġēa, iā (“yea, yes”). More at yea.

'Ya, wilt thou!' said Wallace, 'then tak thee that, […]'

Ya, auld man, ye ken fine ye wad like me.

Ya, bur 'ee did, […]

(UK dialectal, West Country, Northern England, Scotland) yea; yes


certificate

→ Punjabi: ਸਰਟੀਫਿਕੇਟ (sarṭīphikeṭ)

→ Welsh: stifficet

General Certificate of Secondary Education

The film is certificate 15.

(British, Ireland) A motion picture age rating.


bumptious

en-adj

bumptious (comparative more bumptious, superlative most bumptious)

more bumptious (comparative)
most bumptious (superlative)

Probably from bump, on the pattern of words like fractious or presumptious.

1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet. A Detective Story, 3rd edition, London, New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co., […], published 1892, →OCLC:

From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

She could stand it no longer. It was full of prying old women, she said, who stared in one's face, and of bumptious young men who trod on one's toes.

1928, Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:

No doubt of it, Edmund was at grips with that bumptious little hairy dog. They were going it at the very top note of sadistic fury, screaming and snip-snapping in such a lightning mixture of black and white murder that the eye could not follow it.

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 140:

(UK) Obtrusively pushy; self-assertive to a pretentious extreme.


backslang

en-noun

backslang (countable and uncountable, plural backslangs)

(linguistics) A form of slang composed of words whose spelling or sound is reversed.


witness box

The same dingy court room, […]; the royal arms above it [the bench] and the little witness box to one side, where so many honest poor people are bullied

1910, Henry Lawson, The Rising of the Court:

There's no lie Jenny Prask wouldn't tell to force Joan into the witness box.

1920, A. E. W. Mason, “chapter XXXI”, in The Summons:

(chiefly British) A witness stand in a courtroom.

證人席 /证人席

place where a witness gives evidence in a courtroom


wobbly

(colloquial, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A wobbler; a fit of rage; a tantrum.


winkle-picker

[The girl] informed me that […] I had no right to wander at will upon the winkle-beds! Her brother, said she, was the watcher over this particular part of the Whitstable fishing-ground, beyond which he was the champion winkle-picker of the neighbourhood!

1908, W. Percival Westell, chapter 6, in The Story of the Sea and the Seashore, London: Robert Culley, page 199:

The most inveterate beachcomber and by far the speediest winkle picker in the village was ‘Euan, the son of Euan, the son of Euan’, the Gaelic pronunciation of whose name approximated to a long drawn-out yawn.

1961, Lillian Beckwith, “Beachcombing”, in The Sea for Breakfast, London: Arrow Books, published 1968, page 75:

the first piece of writing he had ever done [was] a starkly rhymed description of his boyhood as a winkle-picker on the Welsh coast

1967, Richard Condon, chapter 1, in The Ecstasy Business, New York: Dial, page 7:

Annie-John, the winkle picker, in men’s boots and a man’s overcoat went by with an empty bucket.

2011, Dermot Healy, chapter 46, in Long Time, No See,, London: Faber and Faber, page 424:

(UK, Ireland) A person who harvests periwinkles (a kind of sea snail) to be eaten.


public house

Those of us who care for the nation's defence have been astonished to hear that confidential documents have been left in a public house.

1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1:

(UK, formal) A pub; a British bar or tavern, often selling food and sometimes lodging; an inn.


yobbo

Yeah, but you heard what Blake said. We wouldn't stand a chance against Pike's mob. They're a right bunch of yobbos.

1966 September 24, Brian Hayles, “The Smugglers, episode 3” (14:11 from the start), in Doctor Who, season 4, episode 3, spoken by Ben Jackson (Michael Craze), via BBC:

He stared at them with eyes dull with fatigue, and let out a long sigh. “Trouble, trouble” he replied wearily. “Skinheads and yobboes fighting the coloureds".

1986, Emily Roberts, A Shiver of Fear, page 5:

We're not catering to the yobbos. We'd rather have a smaller crowd of nice people that are really into the game than a whole mass of uncouth people

1992, Brian Pronger, The Arena of Masculinity: Sports, Homosexuality, and the Meaning of Sex, page 191:

A wanker fights inequality / And for people’s rights / A wanker fights class prejudice / A yobbo just fights

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, slang) A yob.


chemist

First attested 1562, borrowed from French chimiste, from Medieval Latin chimista, from earlier alchimista (literally “alchemist”), from Arabic الْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from article al- + Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeía, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χυμός (khumós, “juice”), from χέω (khéō, “I pour”). As a synonym for pharmacy, a metonymous use of the proprietor to stand for their shop.

der

الْكِيمِيَاء

Arabic الْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ)

(chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana) Synonym of pharmacist.

(chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) Synonym of pharmacy, especially as a standalone shop or general store.


scram

en-verb

scram (third-person singular simple present scrams, present participle scramming, simple past and past participle scrammed)

scrams (present singular third-person)
scramming (participle present)
scrammed (participle past)
scrammed (past)

Probably either:
* a clipping of scramble by apocope; or
* from dialectal German schramm, the imperative singular form of schrammen (“to scratch, scrape”), from Late Middle High German schramm, schramme (“a graze, scratch”); further etymology unknown.

What are you kids doing on my lawn? Scram!

Maybe when he found that Chet's jalopy was gone, he felt he'd better scram, and forgot the coat and hat.

1927, Franklin W. Dixon [pseudonym; Leslie McFarlane], “Rival Detectives”, in The Tower Treasure (The Hardy Boys; 1), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published 1987 (2006 printing), →ISBN:

The boy who was playing glowered at the intruder and growled. "Well, scram Kibitzer; scram."

1935, Harry Carr, “So This is Los Angeles”, in Los Angeles, City of Dreams, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton-Century Company, →OCLC, page 241:

"Come on!" barked Harry. "Scram!"

1935 February 23, J. Lane Linklater, “The Signal: A Short Short Story”, in Fulton Oursler, editor, Liberty, volume 12, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Liberty Publishing, →OCLC, page 35, column 2:

Jus' go on like we was gonna buck barley the rest of our lives, then all of a sudden some day we'll go get our pay an' scram outta here.

1937, John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 1994, →ISBN:

"You scram out of here!" she admonished me fiercely. "Get out, or I'll scream so loud I'll wake the whole house up! You—you Peeping Tom!"

1943, Hans Natonek, “The Affair of the Semi-private Bathroom”, in Barthold Fles, transl., edited by Sugden Tilley, In Search of Myself, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, part 2 (The Year before the Decision), page 89:

One day he packs in here with a new convertible, tells me he's moving out and scrams. Never give me a dime.

1950, Mickey Spillane, My Gun is Quick, New York, N.Y.: Signet, New American Library, published 2014, →ISBN:

George was going to Haiti and he knew Lee would feel that the one man who took an interest in him was scramming out the door.

1988, Don DeLillo, Libra, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 2006, →ISBN:

[T]wo vampires had picked up the guy who needed a new face, and they scrammed.

2005 July, MaryJanice Davidson, chapter 28, in Undead and Unappreciated (Berkley Sensation), mass-market edition, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, published December 2005, →ISBN, page 225:

(intransitive, originally US, often imperative) To leave in a hurry; to go away.


scram

The verb is a variant of dialectal English scramb (“to pull or rake together with the hands; to gather a handful of something from the ground; to scratch with the claws or nails; to pull down violently; to tear off; to maul about; a handful of something from the ground”), possibly related to Dutch schrammen (“to graze, scratch”) and German schrammen (“to scratch, scrape”); see etymology 1.
The noun is derived from the verb.

Just west of this pit is another one, which has been nearly worked out; but three men are scramming about five tons per day in it.

1880, “Marquette Iron District”, in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Mineral Statistics of the State of Michigan, for 1879, Lansing, Mich.: W. S. George & Co., […], →OCLC, page 167:

Recently, Capt. Oliver, [...] set a couple of experienced miners to work scramming in this underground pit, when it was soon discovered that what the former mining captain had conceived to be a regular foot-wall, was, in fact, a thin shale of rock, which hid from view what now appears to be a very large body of clean blue ore.

1882, A. P. Swineford, “The Cyclops Mine”, in Annual Review of the Iron Mining and Other Industries of the Upper Peninsula for the Year Ending Dec. 31, 1881, [Marquette, Mich.]: Mining Journal, →OCLC, page 141:

(transitive, US, mining, archaic) To mine for ore on a small scale, especially from mines previously been worked on where most of the ore is believed to have been removed.


scram

[page 64] Many of these old openings still afford places where ore is mined. A man can start in almost anywhere and fine ore. There is a great deal of this "scramming" done at the Jackson. Quite a proportion of the annual product comes in this way. Not unfrequently one of these "scrams" leads to the finding of a large deposit of ore. [...] [page 67] South from the east part of the Incline pit they have a scram of good ore which furnished a small product.

1887, Cha[rle]s D. Lawton, “The Jackson Iron Co.”; “The Cleveland Mining Co.”, in Mines and Mineral Statistics, Lansing, Mich.: Thorp & Godfrey, […], →OCLC, pages 64 and 67:

There are numbered workings running to about 20, representing small pits and scrams, sometimes worked by contract by "scrammers."

1891, N[ewton] H[orace] Winchell, H[orace] V[aughn] Winchell, “The Chandler Mine”, in The Iron Ores of Minnesota, […] (Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota Bulletin; no. 6), Minneapolis, Minn.: Harrison & Smith, […], →OCLC, part II (Methods of Exploration and Mining, and Descriptions of the Various Mines), page 196:

(US, mining, archaic) A mine previously worked on where most of the ore is believed to have been removed, but which is still being mined on a small scale.


pink pound

(UK) The business generated by providing goods and services to the homosexual community.


sesh

Empty lager bottles […] signified that Hans and Fritz also knew the joys of a desert sesh.

1944, George Netherwood, Desert Squadron, Cairo: R. Schindler, page 119:

Impulse buys one Saturday afternoon, after a lunchtime sesh in the Ox[…]

1999, Ian Rankin, Black and Blue, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 39:

(UK, Ireland, informal) A period of sustained social drinking or recreational drug taking.


word of honour

British standard spelling of word of honor.


anorak

→ Greek: άνορακ (ánorak)

* Borrowed from Greenlandic annoraaq.
* (person with obsessive interest): Originally referring to train spotters (because they would wear anoraks while looking out for trains).

He has described himself as the uber-geek, an anorak's anorak, a standard bearer for fellow Star Trekkies everywhere, and his air of bland, amiable bafflement has served him remarkably well in a string of TV and film roles.

2007 February 15, Maev Kennedy, “I used to say he was England's answer to John Cusack. Now I think he's England's answer to Jack Lemmon”, in The Guardian:

(UK, slang) A person with an unusual or obsessive interest in a niche subject, especially trains.


dependant

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

UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of dependent.


punt

punt (third-person singular simple present punts, present participle punting, simple past and past participle punted)

punts (present singular third-person)
punting (participle present)
punted (participle past)
punted (past)

Borrowed from French pointe or Spanish punto (“point”). Doublet of point.

She heard […] of his punting at gaming tables.

1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC:

Whether you want to gamble on a horse race, bet on which player will score first in a game of football, have a punt on a particular tennis player winning a grand slam event, you are buying a chance, a chance which is measured in terms of probability, ‘the odds’.

2004, John Buglear, “Is it worth the risk? – introducing probability”, in Quantitative methods for business: the A-Z of QM, →ISBN, page 339:

Eriksson's men still worth a punt

2006 June 23, Dan Roebuck, “Eriksson's men still worth a punt”, in The Guardian:

Australians have a reputation for being keen to bet on two flies climbing up a wall and today young ones often take a casual classroom punt

2009 November 3, Sarah Collerton, “Cup punt not child's play”, in ABC News:

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK) To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally


rustication

en-noun

rustication (countable and uncountable, plural rustications)

(UK, military) The process of posting a person or relocating a unit from London (or a command HQ) to elsewhere in the country.


rattle

en-verb

rattle (third-person singular simple present rattles, present participle rattling, simple past and past participle rattled)

rattles (present singular third-person)
rattling (participle present)
rattled (participle past)
rattled (past)

From Middle English ratelen, of uncertain origin; perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch ratelen or of native origin related to Old English hratele, hrætele (“a plant known for its rustling or rattling sound”), ultimately imitative. The noun (c. 1500) is from the verb.

unc

uncertain

(UK, slang) To experience withdrawal from drugs.


compost

en-noun

compost (countable and uncountable, plural composts)

From Middle English compost, from Old Northern French compost (“mixture of leaves, manure, etc., for fertilizing land" also "condiment”), from Latin compositus (“composed”), from componere. Doublet of compote, which was taken from modern French, and composite.

der

Once the seed tray is filled with compost, insert the seeds spaced 3 cm apart from one another.

[T]he term 'compost' is commonly used to mean the material used to fill pots, seed trays and containers.

Royal Horticultural Society, Organic matter: what is it?, retrieved 2021-03-29:

(UK) A medium in which one can cultivate plants.


wick

From earlier Middle English wik, wich (“village, hamlet, town”); from Old English wīc (“dwelling place, abode”); Germanic borrowing from Latin vīcus (“village, estate”) (see vicinity).
It came to mean “dairy farm” around the 13th or 14th century; for instance, Gatwick (“Goat-farm”). Cognates include Old High German wîch, wih (“village”), German Weichbild (“municipal area”), Dutch wijk (“quarter, district”), Old Frisian wik, Old Saxon wic (“village”), as well as Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”), whence English eco-. Doublet of vicus and -wich.

inh

(British, dialect, chiefly East Anglia and Essex) A farm, especially a dairy farm.


wick

en-adj

wick (comparative wicker or more wick, superlative wickest or most wick)

wicker (comparative)
more wick (comparative)
wickest (superlative)
most wick (superlative)

Inherited from Northern Middle English whyk (southern quyk), from Old English cwic (“alive”); similar to an archaic meaning of quick (“endowed with life; having a high degree of vigor, energy, or activity”), and quicken (“come to life”), to which it is related.

doublet

as wick as an eel

T' wickest young chap at ivver Ah seen.

He's a strange wick bairn alus runnin' aboot.

I'll skin ye wick! (skin you alive)

I thowt they was dead last back end but they're wick enif noo.

"Are you afraid of going across the churchyard in the dark?" "Lor' bless yer noä miss! It isn't dead uns I'm scar'd on, it's wick uns."

I'll swop wi' him my poor deead^([sic]) horse for his wick,[…]

1860, “The Yorkshire Horsedealer”, in Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England:

(British, dialect, derogatory, chiefly Yorkshire) Alive; lively; full of life; active; bustling; nimble; quick.

(British, dialect, derogatory, chiefly Yorkshire, of inanimate objects) resistant to being put to use, stiff, stubborn (as for example a rope or a screw).


wick

(British, obsolete, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Liveliness; life.

Fed close? Why, it's eaten into t' hard wick. (spoken of a pasture which has been fed very close)

(British, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) The growing part of a plant nearest to the roots.

(British, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire, horticulture) (Usually plural) The parts of weed roots that remain viable in the ground after inadequate digging prior to cultivation.

(British, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) A maggot.


workhouse

Among other public buildings in a certain town which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, it boasts of one which is common to most towns, great or small, to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born, […] the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.

1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter I, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

"I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." / "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve.[…]"

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

(British, historical) An institution for homeless poor people funded by the local parish, where the able-bodied were required to work.


workhouse

en-verb

workhouse (third-person singular simple present workhouses, present participle workhousing, simple past and past participle workhoused)

workhouses (present singular third-person)
workhousing (participle present)
workhoused (participle past)
workhoused (past)

(British, transitive, historical) To place (a person) in the workhouse (institution for the poor).


twitter

en-noun

twitter (countable and uncountable, plural twitters)

From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).

inh

(countable, informal or British, regional) Chiefly in the form in a twitter: a state of excitement or nervousness; a twit.


wrangler

During all this excursion, she condescended to say civil things to him: she quoted Italian and French poetry to the poor bewildered lad, and persisted that he was a fine scholar, and was perfectly sure he would gain a gold medal, and be a Senior Wrangler.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XXXIV, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

(UK, education, Cambridge University) A student who has completed the third year of the mathematical tripos with first-class honours.


winceyette

en-noun

winceyette (countable and uncountable, plural winceyettes)

(British) A soft cotton flannelette material with a raised brushed surface (a nap), on both sides.


lek

en-verb

lek (third-person singular simple present leks, present participle lekking, simple past and past participle lekked)

leks (present singular third-person)
lekking (participle present)
lekked (participle past)
lekked (past)

From Germanic roots meaning "play". In the biology sense, it comes specifically from Swedish lek (“child's play”), by means of Swedish leka (“to play”). The verb is first attested in English in 1871 and the noun at least as early as 1867.

T’lads is lekkin i t’park.

(UK, dialect, Yorkshire, colloquial) To play.


doggy

en-noun

doggy (countable and uncountable, plural doggies)

The Torpedo Officer and I were on the lower bridge and we each had a doggy, a young midshipman […]

2008, Iain Ballantyne, HMS Rodney: The Famous Ships of the Royal Navy Series:

(countable, military, UK, informal) A junior temporarily assigned to do minor duties for a senior; a gofer.


trounce

en-verb

trounce (third-person singular simple present trounces, present participle trouncing, simple past and past participle trounced)

trounces (present singular third-person)
trouncing (participle present)
trounced (participle past)
trounced (past)

The origin of the verb is unknown; it is perhaps related to Old French troncer, troncher, troncir, tronchir (“to cut; to cut a piece from; to retrench”), from Old French tronce, tronche (“stump; piece of wood”). However, the English and Old French words differ in meaning.
The noun is derived from the verb.

Slept hard till 8 o'clock, then waked by Mr. Clerke's being come to consult me about Field's business, which we did by calling him up to my bedside, and he says we shall trounce him.

1663 March 6 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 24th, 1662–1663”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume III, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 52:

Whereupon Mr. Weaver did threaten them, and (to uſe his own Expreſſion) would cauſe them to be trounced, taking down their Names. And the Grand Jury broke up without acting.

1702 March 3, “The Prosecution and Tryal of Col. Nicholas Bayard, in the Province of New-York, for High Treason, Anno 170¹⁄₂”, in [Thomas Salmon], editor, A Compleat Collection of State-Tryals, and Proceedings upon Impeachment for High Treason, and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours; […] In Four Volumes, volume IV, London: Printed for Timothy Goodwin, […]; John Walthoe […]; Benj[amin] Tooke […]; John Darby […]; Jacob Tonson […]; and John Walthoe Jun. […], published 1719, →OCLC, page 556, column 1:

And I have yet to graſp you left a Claw, / I'll trounce you, Sir, I'll hamper you with Law; / Witneſs I have of all that has been Spoken, / I'll bring an Action, for your Contract broken; / For Damages ſuſtain'd, I'll make you rue, / In Doctor's-Commons play the Devil too.

1737, [Robert] Drury, The Rival Milliners: Or, The Humours of Covent Garden. […], London: Printed for G. Spavan, […], →OCLC, act II, scene xii, page 41:

[A]s an ensign, stationed at Minorca, he [Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine] was enthusiastic in his sympathy for General [John] Mostyn, when that Governor was trounced in an action for false imprisonment and other illegal treatment brought against him in the Common Pleas by Fabrigas.

1867, John Cordy Jeaffreson, “‘The Devil’s Own’”, in A Book about Lawyers. … In Two Volumes, 2nd revised edition, volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 84:

(transitive, British, regional) To punish by bringing a lawsuit against; to sue.

aanklagen

to punish by bringing a lawsuit against — see also sue


decorator

/ˈdɛkəˌɹeɪtə(ɹ)/

/ˈdɛkəˌɹeɪtɚ/

(British) Painter and wallpaperer of buildings.


vegetable marrow

en-noun

vegetable marrow (plural vegetable marrows)


flip

Impossible. He's dining out and coming on here after. He can't be reached. / Oh, flip!

1967, Peter Shaffer, Black comedy, including White lies: two plays:

"Oh flip, don't come near this place," she said. It was dangerous. The Catholics had banners up on the Garvaghy Road saying, 'No Protestants here'.

2000, Susan McKay, Northern Protestants:

(UK, euphemistic, colloquial) Used to express annoyance, especially when the speaker has made an error.


flip

en-adj

flip (comparative flipper, superlative flippest)

flipper (comparative)
flippest (superlative)

I hate to be flip, but perhaps we could steal a Christmas tree.

(UK, informal) Having the quality of playfulness, or lacking seriousness of purpose.


wend

From Middle English wenden, from Old English wendan (“to turn, change, translate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandijan, from Proto-Germanic *wandijaną (“to turn”), causative of *windaną (“to wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid”).
Cognate with Dutch wenden (“to turn”), German wenden (“to turn, reverse”), Danish vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Bokmål vende (“to turn”), Norwegian Nynorsk venda (“to turn”), Swedish vända (“to turn, turn over, veer, direct”), Icelandic venda (“to wend, turn, change”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wandjan, “to cause to turn”). Related to wind (Etymology 2).

cog

(obsolete, UK, law) A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit


gruel

en-noun

gruel (countable and uncountable, plural gruels)

From Middle English gruel, gruwel, greuel, growel (“meal or flour made from beans, lentils, etc.”), from Old French gruel (“coarse meal; > French gruau”), from Medieval Latin grutellum, diminutive of Medieval Latin grutum (“flour; meal”), from a Germanic source, likely Old English grūt (“meal; grout”) or perhaps Frankish *grūt; both from Proto-Germanic *grūtiz (“ground material; grit”). Compare Dutch gruit, Middle Low German grūt, Middle High German grūz, German Grütze (“grout”). Related also to English groats, grit.

der

coarse meal; > French <i class="Latn mention" lang="fr">gruau</i>


gruel

en-verb

gruel (third-person singular simple present gruels, present participle gruelling or grueling, simple past and past participle gruelled or grueled)

gruels (present singular third-person)
gruelling (participle present)
grueling (participle present)
gruelled (participle past)
gruelled (past)
grueled (participle past)
grueled (past)


dodge

en-adj

dodge (comparative more dodge, superlative most dodge)

more dodge (comparative)
most dodge (superlative)

Likely from dialectal dodge, dod, dodd (“to jog, trudge along, totter", also "to jerk, jig”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from unrecorded Middle English *dodden, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dud- (“to move”), related to Old English dydrian, dyderian (“to delude, deceive”), Middle English dideren (“to tremble, quake, shiver”), English dodder, Norwegian dudra (“to tremble”).


north-west

en-noun

north-west (usually uncountable, plural north-wests)

(chiefly UK) Alternative form of northwest


north-west

en-adj

north-west (not generally comparable, comparative more north-west, superlative most north-west)

more north-west (comparative)
most north-west (superlative)


widdle

en-noun

widdle (countable and uncountable, plural widdles)

(childish, chiefly UK) An act of urination.


widdle

en-verb

widdle (third-person singular simple present widdles, present participle widdling, simple past and past participle widdled)

widdles (present singular third-person)
widdling (participle present)
widdled (participle past)
widdled (past)


verger

-ɜː(ɹ)dʒə(ɹ)

"We have often seen each other," said Little Dorrit, recognising the sexton, or the beadle, or the verger, or whatever he was, "when I have been at church here."

1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Litle Dorrit’s Party”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, book the first (Poverty), page 128:

As soon as we were all in the night the verger rolled shut the doors and blotted out the chandeliers.

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

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Christianity) A lay person who takes care of the interior of a church and acts as an attendant during services, where he or she carries the verge (or virge). In the United States, the office is generally combined with that of sexton.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Christianity) An usher; also, in major ecclesiastical landmarks, a tour guide.

When she came to her place she opened the book, and perused it, and saw the pictures, but frowned and blushed; and then shut it, (of which several took notice,) and calling the verger, bade him bring her the old book, wherein she was formerly wont to read.

1725, John Strype, Annals of the Reformation and Establishment of Religion, and Other Various Occurrences in the Church of England, during Queen Elizabeth’s Happy Reign, Oxford: Clarendon, published 1824, Vol. I, Part I, Chapter 23, p. 408:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) An attendant upon a dignitary, such as a bishop or dean, a justice, etc.


shire

→ Icelandic: skíri

The noun is derived from Middle English schire (“region, shire, county”) [and other forms], from Old English sċīr (“administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *skīru (“district; status of an official, office”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Latin cūra (“care, concern; administration, charge, management; command, office”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (“to heed; to see”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

chyer, schere, schire, schyr, schyre, scīr, sheere, sher, shir, shyr, shyre, sir, ssire

inh

Yorkshire is the largest shire in England.

I thanke his grace he hath appointed him, / Chiefe colonell of all thoſe companies / Muſtred in London, and the ſhires about, / To ſerue his highneſſe in thoſe warres of France: […]

1599 (first performance; published 1600), Thomas Dekker, “The Shomakers Holiday. Or The Gentle Craft. […]”, in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker […], volume I, London: John Pearson […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 10:

But thus I do conjecture it to be, That at the firſt Unitining^([sic – meaning Uniting?]) of the Heptarchy of the Saxons, and the Shiring out of the Kingdom, it vvas divided into Shires, and the Shires again into Hundreds, as it fell out, in ſome more, in ſome leſs: VVhich Shires (as I have ſaid) the King gave to ſuch as he pleaſed, and to their Heirs, to hold of him by an Earls Fee.

a. 1604 (date written), Sampson Erdeswicke, edited by Simon Degge, A Survey of Staffordshire. […], London: […] E[dmund] Curll, […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 211:

In August, 1642, the sword was at length drawn; and soon, in almost every shire of the kingdom, two hostile factions appeared in arms against each other.

1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 113:

Mrs. Heywood tells me that there are many Catholics among the lower classes in Lancashire and Cheshire,—probably the descendants of retainers of the old Catholic nobility and gentry, who are more numerous in these shires than in other parts of England.

1854 November 14 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from the English Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1870, →OCLC, page 139:

As through the wild green hills of Wyre / The train ran, changing sky and shire, / […] / My hand lay empty on my knee. / Aching on my knee it lay: / That morning half a shire away / So many an honest fellow's fist / Had wellnigh wrung it from the wrist.

1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XXXVII”, in A Shropshire Lad, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, The Bodley Head, published 1906, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 53:

The early history of the shire is hard to trace. Already in the ninth century it seems to have been the core administrative division within Wessex. Originally each shire was overseen by an ealdorman, who was charged with raising levies and perhaps also overseeing the local court (though the evidence is scant on the latter point). At the heart of the shire lay the local assembly (the ‘shire court’), at which such business was conducted.

2016, Levi Roach, “Birth and Childhood: The Court of King Edgar, c. 966×9–75”, in Æthelred the Unready, New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 26:

(chiefly historical) An administrative area or district between about the 5th to the 11th century, subdivided into hundreds or wapentakes and jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff; also, a present-day area corresponding to such a historical district; a county; especially (England), a county having a name ending in -shire.

гра́фство

administrative area or district subdivided into hundreds or wapentakes and jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff; present-day area corresponding to such a historical district; administrative area or district in other countries — see also county

You, my love, are a little paragon—positively a little jewel—You have more brains than half the shire— […]

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Arcadian Simplicity”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 94:

(by extension) The people living in a shire (sense 1.1) considered collectively.

kreivikunta

people living in a shire considered collectively

When are you coming back to the shire?

(by extension, informal) The general area in which a person comes from or lives.


nutcase

From nut + case. Compare headcase, mental case etc.

(UK, Ireland, often humorous) An eccentric or odd person.


bleeding

You are a bleeding liar. Truth is of no interest to you at all.

1999, Paul Milne, “Why Kari Kauffman Is A Bald Faced Liar” in comp.software.year-2000

"You are a bleeding idiot sometimes, but I love you and", Harry hands him the first gift Severus ever gave him and says, "One hundred and sixteen."

2004, DrusillaDax, “Battlefields”, in Sensus Fanfiction Archive, retrieved 2014-10-08:

(UK, slang, intensifier) extreme, outright; bloody, blasted.


bleeding

His car's motor is bleeding smoking down the motorway.

It turns out he was too bleeding cheap to ever drain the oil.

It does highlight some of the difficulties, but does not dare state the bleeding obvious, which is that neither are likely to play a major part in delivering a decarbonised agenda on the railways – […].

2021 April 7, Christian Wolmar, “Electrification is a given... but comfort matters as well”, in RAIL, number 928, page 47:

(British, slang) used as an intensifier: Extremely.


thorough

From Middle English thoruȝ, þoruȝ, from Old English þuruh, a byform of Old English þurh, whence comes English through. The adjective derives from the preposition and adverb. The word developed a syllabic form in cases where the word was fully stressed: when it was used as an adverb, adjective, or noun, and less commonly when used as a preposition.

The Ignorance and Idleness of the Plowman, who either goes so shallow, or plows his Thoroughs so wide, or misses Part of the Ground.

1733, William Ellis, Chiltern And Vale Farming Explained:

(UK, dialect) A furrow between two ridges, to drain off the surface water.


zero-rated

(chiefly British) Subject to no value-added tax when sold (but in which the supplier can still recover VAT attributable to it).


package holiday

en-noun

package holiday (plural package holidays)

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A holiday that consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator.


tug

(UK, slang) A foundationer or colleger at Eton.


hulk

en-verb

hulk (third-person singular simple present hulks, present participle hulking, simple past and past participle hulked)

hulks (present singular third-person)
hulking (participle present)
hulked (participle past)
hulked (past)

A variant of holk (“to dig out, hollow out, make hollow; to dig up, excavate; to dig into, investigate”), from Middle English holken (“to dig out, hollow out; to dig up, excavate”) (compare holk (“a hollow; body cavity”)), perhaps from Middle Low German hȫlken (“to hollow out, gouge”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”, adjective); further etymology uncertain, perhaps either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”), or *ḱewh₁- (“to swell; to be strong”). Compare also Old English āhlocian (“to dig out”).

der

And with this ſwaſhing blow, do you ſwear Prince; / I could hulk your Grace, and hang you up croſs-legg'd, / Like a Hare at a Poulters, and do this with this wiper.

c. 1608–1610, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Philaster: Or, Love Lies a Bleeding”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 37, column 2:

(transitive, obsolete except British, dialectal) To remove the entrails of; to disembowel.


north-east

en-noun

north-east (usually uncountable, plural north-easts)

(chiefly UK) Alternative form of northeast


north-east

en-adj

north-east (not generally comparable, comparative more north-east, superlative most north-east)

more north-east (comparative)
most north-east (superlative)

Coal is found in several places along the Hun-chiang on the north-east of Tʻung-hua.

1913, Kinosuke Inouye, “The Coal Resources of Manchuria”, in The Coal Resources of the World, volume 1, Morang & Co. Limited, →OCLC, page 256:

Gervasius and Borodijin rode on to reconnoitre. As my caravan entered the strip of pasture fringing the shore I saw my people in conversation with Sarts by a yurt at the north-east corner of the lake. They soon returned with the information that the whole neighbourhood, which included Kala Otlak and Bulag Bashi, was known as Dakherukta. There was no tura, but two or three miles off to the west there lived a wealthy Sart who was at the moment away from home attending a wedding at some friends of his. The festivities were taking place on the farther side of the northern mountains.

1939, Wilhelm Filchner, “Issik Pakhta—The Sarts—Good-bye to Borodijin”, in E. O. Lorimer, transl., A Scientist in Tartary: from the Hoang-ho to the Indus, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC, pages 211–212:

The French Concession lay between the walled Chinese city and Yang-ching-pang Creek, later filled in and called Edward VII Avenue. The British Settlement stretched from Yang-ching-pang to Soochow Creek while the American settlement consisted of a piece of land fronting the river to the north-east of Soochow Creek.

1990, Harriet Sergeant, “A Simple Equation – The Rise of a Great City”, in Shanghai: Collision Point of Cultures, 1918-1939, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 18:


electoral register

en-noun

electoral register (plural electoral registers)

(British) A list of all those people who are registered to vote in a particular locality


jobsworth

/ˈd͡ʒɒbzwɜːθ/

/ˈd͡ʒɑbzˌwɝθ/

A compound of job + -s- + worth, derived from the phrase “It’s more than me job’s worth” or “... my job’s worth” as used in denial of a request by a functionary, chiefly popularized by Jeremy Taylor's 1973 song “Jobsworth” and the 1973–1994 BBC television series That’s Life! which focused on consumer affairs and gave a “Jobsworth of the Week” award to “a startling tale of going by the book”.

For many people, however, the stress of not having the correct ticket for a train or bus journey can lead to a particularly uncomfortable feeling … fear that they might encounter a jobsworth. […] Someone who has been caught out by a jobsworth, will probably accuse them of being an embittered, mean-spirited inadequate who are using their status to give themselves faux importance, justifying their actions by their twin mantras of "Rules is rules" and, inevitably, "It's more than my job's worth."

2000 January 10, “Your job’s worth more than you are”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2020-02-15:

Everyone knows a jobsworth. They are in our offices: the keeper of the stationery cupboard and the grumpy security guard. They add crucial extra minutes to the daily commute: the traffic warden who stands waiting for the time to tick over, the bus driver who drives past as you sprint for the bus stop.

2007 July 16, Matt Keating, “Hug a jobsworth and spread a little happiness”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2014-10-05:

But as within the rest of the civil service, competent, bright and ambitious staff who work long hours and often juggle multiple roles co-exist with the old-school jobsworths who punch-out the instant their daily seven hours 12 minutes are up.

2014 April 16, “anonymous civil servant”, “The old-school jobsworths in the civil service are still not pulling their weight”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-10-21:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, informal) A minor official or worker who refuses to be flexible in the application of rules to help a client or customer.


somewhat

Two of the coaches are still on the site of the line; one, a first class observation coach carrying the S.R. number 6991, is at Snapper Halt, where it still stands, in fair condition but somewhat weatherbeaten […]

1942 September and October, “Notes and News: Lynton & Barnstaple Stock”, in Railway Magazine, page 309:


antisocial behaviour order

antisocial behaviour order (plural antisocial behaviour orders)

(British, law) A civil order made against a person, as a result of persistent antisocial behaviour.


chavette

So, whenever a big game is being shown on telly the streets and shopping centres will become chav-free zones. (You might spot a few straggling chavettes around who haven't quite realized that the way to attract a chav bloke is to feign an interest in the beautiful game.)

2004, Mia Wallace, Clint Spanner, Chav!: A User's Guide to Britain's New Ruling Class:

(British, derogatory, slang) A female chav.


balaclava

Balaklava
Battle of Balaclava
Crimean War

From the city of Balaklava in Crimea, from Ottoman Turkish بالقلاوه (modern Turkish balıklava), alteration of بالقلاغه (balıklaga, “fishing ground”). During the Crimean War the British troops suffered from cold due to improper clothing. When the news spread in the home front after the Battle of Balaclava in 1854, the people began knitting warm clothing for the soldiers, including woollen caps to be worn under the helmet, which were named balaclavas by the troops.

George Ronald Waite, 33, known as Balaclava Bill because of the dark blue woollen hood he wore while robbing seven banks of $46,200 over the past two years, was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in Kingston Penitentiary.

1969 January 10, “Robbed seven banks, Balaclava Bill given 15-year term in jail”, in Globe and Mail, Toronto, page 1:

(chiefly UK, Canada) A ski mask with holes for the eyes and, sometimes, the nose and mouth, which may be rolled up and worn like a toque or pulled over the face for greater protection.


gamp

After Mrs Sarah Gamp, a character who carried a large umbrella in Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit.

It was the last day of the match, and owing to rain it was really unfit to play, but the promoters insisted upon our doing so, to satisfy the spectators, who stood round the ground with their umbrellas up. […] One gentleman sat with his gamp up on some rails near the railway.

1900, A. W. Pullin, Talks with old English cricketers, page 169:

And it was early morning, and the world was moist, when the crystal-gazer's husband, a freak in knickerbockers with an open coppish and a sabbath gamp, came over the stones outside his house to meet the holy travellers.

a. 1954 (date written), Dylan Thomas, “The Holy Six”, in Adventures in the Skin Trade (A New Directions Paperbook; no. 183), New York, N.Y.: New Directions Publishing Corporation, published 1969, →ISBN, page 129:

In his hand he waved – an appropriate symbol of disapprobation – his London gamp meticulously rolled.

1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1111:


get in

- You gained full marks in the exam.
- Get in!

(UK, slang) An exclamation of joy at one's success.


eff and blind

en-verb

eff and blind (third-person singular simple present effs and blinds, present participle effing and blinding, simple past and past participle effed and blinded)

effs and blinds (present singular third-person)
effing and blinding (participle present)
effed and blinded (participle past)
effed and blinded (past)

From eff and blimey (for "God blind me").

I can't stand the way he's always effing and blinding.

(British, slang) To swear; to use swear words.


doddle

Uncertain. Possibly from dialectal English doddle (“to toddle; sway; nod drowsily”).

Centurion: Have you ever seen anyone crucified? / Matthias: Crucifixion's a doddle.

Retailing in Europe's biggest economy, with 82m mostly well-off people, may sound a doddle. It is not.

2002 September 14, “KarstadtQuelle: Below par”, in The Economist:

He was a QC from Edinburgh, wearing the black jacket and pinstripe trousers of his trade, as if straight from court, and probably persuaded to come in the belief that if you could interest the Budhill and Springboig party in the repressive Gaullist policies in Algeria then becoming Solicitor-General was a dawdle.

2009, Archie Macpherson, “Thumping the Tub”, in A Game of Two Halves: The Autobiography, Edinburgh: Black & White Publishing, →ISBN, page 63:

(UK, Ireland, informal) A job, task, or other activity that is easy to complete or simple.


bedding

en-noun

bedding (countable and uncountable, plural beddings)

From Middle English bedding, beddyng, from Old English bedding (“bedding”), equivalent to bed + -ing.

(British) The textiles associated with the bed, as well as the mattress, bedframe, or bed base (such as box spring).


as well

―Would you though? ―I would as well.

―She looks so much like her mum, don't you think? ―Oh my god, she does as well!

―Good morning Mr Brown! ―Good morning! I see you've got little Molly [pet dog] out for a stroll as well!

(UK, colloquial) An intensifier. Actually; really.


prefect

From Middle English prefect and prefecte, from Old French prefect (Mod. French préfet), from Latin praefectus (“one placed in charge, overseer, director, prefect”), from praeficere (“to place in charge”).

prefekt

the head of a prefecture, whether a Japanese prefecture, French department, or Balkan county

(British) A school pupil in a position of power over other pupils.

風紀 /风纪

a school pupil in a position of power over other pupils


trot

en-verb

trot (third-person singular simple present trots, present participle trotting, simple past and past participle trotted)

trots (present singular third-person)
trotting (participle present)
trotted (participle past)
trotted (past)

From Middle English trotten, from Old French trotter, troter (“to go, trot”), from Medieval Latin *trottō, *trotō (“to go”), from Frankish *trottōn (“to go, run”), from Proto-Germanic *trudōną, *trudaną, *tradjaną (“to go, step, tread”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- (“to run, escape”). Cognate with Old High German trottōn (“to run”), Modern German trotten (“to trot, plod”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (trudan, “to tread”), Old Norse troða (“to walk, tread”), Old English tredan (“to step, tread”). Doublet of tread.

der

A particular friend of mine complained that I had "trotted" him at a sale, but he did not see what was happening on the part of the other bidder.

1927, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, The Parliamentary Debates (Official Report), page 2221:

(UK, slang, archaic, transitive) To bid against (a person) at an auction, so as to raise the price of the goods.


pill

en-verb

pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)

pills (present singular third-person)
pilling (participle present)
pilled (participle past)
pilled (past)

* From Middle English pille (also pillem), a borrowing from Middle Low German pille or Middle Dutch pille (whence Dutch pil), probably from Latin pila, pilula.
* (persuade or convince): Generalized from red pill.

“I pilled him because he is a liar,” said Thackeray. “He calls himself 'ill' when he isn't.”

1907, Arthur Griffiths, Clubs and Clubmen, page 260:

(transitive, UK, slang, dated) To blackball (a potential club member).


pill

From Middle English *pill, *pyll, from Old English pyll (“a pool, pill”), from Proto-Germanic *pullijaz (“small pool, ditch, creek”), diminutive of Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool, stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *bl̥nos (“bog, marsh”). Cognate with Old English pull (“pool, creek”), Scots poll (“slow moving stream, creek, inlet”), Icelandic pollur (“pond, pool, puddle”). More at pool.

cog

(now UK regional) An inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay.


juniper

en-noun

juniper (countable and uncountable, plural junipers)

[ˈd͡ʒunɪ̈pɚ]

From Late Middle English junyper, juniperus, from Latin iūniperus (“juniper-tree”).

[…] I said you didn't like them ere strong liquors, but if he warn't particular, I was sure you would pledge him in a glass of juniper, for I had always made you, since we had been man and vife^([sic]), take a drop afore you went to market, to keep cold out.

1834, Young Hearts: A Novel by a Recluse. With a Preface by Miss Jane Porter, page 106:


trunks

(UK) Men’s or boys’ boxer shorts or boxer briefs.


ware

From Middle English wor (in sewor) from Old English wār (“seaweed”), ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *wīraz; compare wire. Cognate with Scots wair (“seaweed”), Dutch wier (“seaweed”), Middle Dutch wier (“seaweed”).

On many of the farms in East Lothian, from 100 to 120 Imperial acres are annually manured with sea-ware; and when I mention that 30 double-cart loads are spread on 1 acre, you may conceive the labour incurred in carting from 3000 to 3600 loads during a short season; for it is only in winter that the ware is cast ashore by storms,[…]

1844, Henry Stephens, The book of the farm, page 1238:

The said farm, having been possessed […] in the deed of 12th July 1794, with the privilege of taking ware from the sea-shore for the use of the farm, and having been let by them to a tenant in 1804, with "liberty of the droven sea-ware, along with the other tenants of the Elie barony, for manuring the farm," […]

1861 April 25, “William Baird, Appellant, v. William Ranken Fortune, Respondent”, in The Scottish Jurist: Being Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and in the House of Lords on Appeal from Scotland, page 437:

Each ware-strand, or beach where drift-weed comes to land, is set apart for a certain number of tenants on the estate to which it belongs, and each 'brook of ware' as it comes ashore is divided among these tenants, usually in proportion to their rents.

1896, Charles James Longman, Longman's Magazine, page 34:

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Seaweed; drift seaweed; seawrack.


visitor

Partly from Middle English visiter, visitere, equivalent to visit + -er; and partly from Middle English visitour, from Anglo-Norman visitour, from Old French visetëor. By surface analysis, visit + -or.

(British) A head or overseer of an institution such as a college (in which case, equivalent to the university's chancellor) or cathedral or hospital, who resolves disputes, gives ceremonial speeches, etc.


football player

football player (plural football players)

association football
association football

(soccer, UK) One who plays association football, aka soccer.


guillotine

Borrowed from French guillotine, named after the French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), who proposed its use for capital punishment.

named-after

/ˌɡɪləˈtiːn/

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

The right hon. Gentleman is making a great stooshie about time in relation to this Bill, but was it not the case that, when the SNP [Scottish National Party] Scottish Government introduced their continuity Bill in the Scottish Parliament, they operated a ruthless guillotine to prevent proper scrutiny of it? That is the case; they ran a guillotine on that Bill, and there was a very limited amount of time allowed for debate and scrutiny, yet he complains about that happening here.

2019 October 22, Stephen Kerr, Member of Parliament for Stirling, “Second Reading of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons)^(https://web.archive.org/web/20191024000813/https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-10-22/debates/277C5A20-456D-469B-A415-D04AFFD83248/EuropeanUnion(WithdrawalAgreement)Bill), volume 666, archived from the original on 2019-10-24, column 860:

(British) A parliamentary procedure for fixing the dates when various stages of discussion of a bill must end, to ensure that the enactment of the bill proceeds expeditiously.


guillotine

en-verb

guillotine (third-person singular simple present guillotines, present participle guillotining, simple past and past participle guillotined)

guillotines (present singular third-person)
guillotining (participle present)
guillotined (participle past)
guillotined (past)

Borrowed from French guillotiner (“to execute with a guillotine, to guillotine”), from guillotine (see etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).

bor

/ˌɡɪləˈtiːn/

(British) To end discussion (about a parliamentary bill or part of one) by invoking a guillotine procedure.


smirt

en-verb

smirt (third-person singular simple present smirts, present participle smirting, simple past and past participle smirted)

smirts (present singular third-person)
smirting (participle present)
smirted (participle past)
smirted (past)

Blend of smoke + flirt. Apparently coined in Ireland following the ban on smoking in pubs.

Smirting - a cross between smoking and flirting - is already a huge hit in Dublin where the ban has been in place for two years

2006 March 25, “BURNING PASSION IN CIGGIE SHELTERS”, in The Scottish Daily Record:

I have dated three guys that I smirted with, and one of them is now my current boyfriend.

2007 July 2, Clover Stroud, “Smoke signals: new dating paths?”, in Daily Mail:

Smirting is believed to have started in Temple Bar, Dublin, in 2004

2008 July 1, “Unintended consequences of the smoking ban”, in BBC NEWS:

As a result, despite the ban, the smoking rate in Ireland has been stuck at around 28% and the expected decline in cigarette consumption never materialized. A new social practice quickly emerged called “smirting”, where young Dubliners smoke and flirt with members of the opposite sex

2012, GN Connolly, “How Society Treats Smoking”, in Israel Journal of Health Policy Research:

(intransitive, UK, Ireland) To chat up or flirt with (someone) while smoking outside a pub.


provision

en-noun

provision (countable and uncountable, plural provisions)

/pɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/

From Middle English provisioun, from Old French provisïon, from Latin prōvīsiō (“preparation, foresight”), from prōvidēre (“provide”).

der

a papal provision

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

(British, historical) A nomination by the pope to a benefice before it became vacant, depriving the patron of his right of presentation.


punnet

Uncertain. First appears in the 1820s. Perhaps a diminutive of pun, a dialect variant of pound, the weight + -et. The suggestion that it is an eponym of Reginald Crundall Punnett (1875–1967), geneticist and grower of strawberries, is not chronologically possible. The suggestion it was an ancestor of his lacks evidence.

Thus, according to the same Year-Book, a sea-kale punnet measures 8 in. in diameter at the top and 7½ in. at the bottom, being 2 in. deep, while a radish punnet is 8 in. in diameter and 1 in. deep, if to hold six “hands,” or 9 in. by 1 in. for twelve “hands.” A mushroom punnet is 7 in. by 1 in., while a salading punnet is 5 in. by 2 in.

1904, Arthur George Liddon Rogers, The Business Side of Agriculture, 2010, Forgotten Books, page 85

Another type of splint basket, called a punnet, was used in the strawberry trade of New York City between 1815 and 1850.[…]Punnets and pottles found little favor except in the vicinity of Boston and New York and were soon discarded for more convenient and less expensive packages.

1917, Stevenson Whitcomb Fletcher, The Strawberry in North America: History, Origin, Botany, and Breeding, pages 77–78:

Most of the fruit for market is picked and sold in punnets, but for jam making buckets are used, similar to the raspberry bucket.

1933, South Australian Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Journal of Agriculture, South Australia, Volume 36, page 1292

Early this season, Ross Lill got together with a plastics firm to produce a flat tray to replace the commonly used punnet.

1982, New Zealand Department of Agriculture, New Zealand journal of agriculture, page 13

However we recommend, particularly in cooler climates, sowing tomato seeds into a seed tray or punnet and allowing the seedlings to grow before they are transplanted into the garden.

2005, Don Burke, The Complete Burke's Backyard: The Ultimate Book of Fact Sheets, page 408:

‘But rather than spend £5 on a small punnet of exotic berries, a family would be better off buying regular and larger quantities of fresh fruit and vegetables from their local market.[…]’

2007 May 13, Amelia Hill, “Forget superfoods, you can′t beat an apple a day”, in The Guardian:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A small basket or receptacle for collecting and selling fruit, particularly strawberries.


Jaffa cake

(chiefly British) A small, biscuit-like cake with a base of firm sponge, a layer of orange jelly, and a chocolate covering.


razz

en-verb

razz (third-person singular simple present razzes, present participle razzing, simple past and past participle razzed)

razzes (present singular third-person)
razzing (participle present)
razzed (participle past)
razzed (past)

Consider, for example, the word razz, used by younger speakers with the meaning 'riding around with friends in a car (or a snowmobile), with no particular goal'. This meaning is not generally familiar to older residents of the province, and is largely unknown in North America. A very similar meaning does, however, occur in Britain and Australia, as in the following British online posting: 81. We find about an exciting new craze that is seeing kids clad in leather from Leamington razzing around on motorbikes. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/features/motor/mini-moto-crazy.shtml).

2010, Sandra Clarke, Newfoundland and Labrador English, page 151:

(informal, Newfoundland, Labrador, British, Australia) To drive a vehicle around aimlessly.


swingometer

/swɪŋˈɒmɪtə/

/swɪŋˈɑmɪtɚ/

(British) A graphic device used to illustrate swing in an election.


fœtus

en-noun

fœtus (plural fœtuses or fœtus or (hypercorrect) fœti)

fœtuses (plural)
fœtus (plural)
fœti (hypercorrect plural)

The progress of the fœtus appears to be much quicker in the early than latter months: but the proportional increase is attended with difficulty in the calculation; for this, among other reasons, that we have not an opportunity of knowing the magnitude or weight of the same fœtus in different months.

1784, Charles Elliot, A system of anatomy: from Monro, Winslow, Innes, and the latest authers:

The umbilical vein arises from the collected branches of the placenta, and enters the fœtus at the navel, it runs inclosed within a thick sheath, which afterwards forms the lower part of the suspensory ligament, to the horizontal fissure, where it gives off some branches on either side of the substance of the liver;

1800, Richard Powell, Observations on the bile and its diseases,and on the oeconomy of the liver:

Where the death of the fœtus has been induced with criminal intent, it may be due to puctured woulds of the fontanelles, orbits, heart, or spinal marrow; dislocation of the neck; separation of the head from the body; ffracture of the bones of the head and face; strangulation; suffocation; drowning in the closet pan or privy, or from being thrown into water.

1949, William George Aitchison Robertson, Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, →ISBN, page 54:

(UK, rare) Alternative spelling of foetus.


jock

Unknown. Suggested to be a hypocoristic for John (compare Jack).

(British, Ireland, slang, derogatory) A Scotsman.


WPC

woman police constable
woman police constable#English

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


denizen

From Middle English denisein, from Old French denzein, from deinz (“within”) + -ein, from Late Latin dē intus (“from within”), whence French dans.

1548, Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke, London, The xiiii yere,
Then by commaundement wer all Fre[n]chemen and Scottes imprisoned and the goodes seazed, and all suche as were denizens were commaunded to shewe their letters patentes […]

A denizen is a kind of middle state, between an alien and a natural-born subject, and partakes of both.

1765, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book 1, Chapter X, p. 374

1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, p. xlv,
All free persons were authorized and permitted to transport themselves, their families, and goods […] to Jamaica, from any part of the British dominions; and their children born in Jamaica were declared free denizens of England, entitled to the same privileges as free born subjects of England.

Though born in Iceland, he became a denizen of Britain after leaving Oxford.

(British, historical) A person with rights between those of naturalized citizen and resident alien (roughly permanent resident), obtained through letters patent.

натурализиран чужденец

(UK) a citizen naturalized through letters patent


denizen

en-verb

denizen (third-person singular simple present denizens, present participle denizening, simple past and past participle denizened)

denizens (present singular third-person)
denizening (participle present)
denizened (participle past)
denizened (past)

He was denizened to Ireland after fleeing his home country.

[The Horse-Chessnut] was first brought from Constantinople to Vienna, thence into Italy, and so France; but to Ʋs from the Levant more immediately, and flourishes so well, and grows so goodly a Tree in compe[te]nt time, that by this alone, we might have ample encouragement to Denizen other strangers amongst us.

1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “. Chapter CHAPTER 7, “OF THE CHESNUT,”.”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 42:

And, soon as Denizen’d, they domineer.

1693, John Dryden (translator), The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis, London: Jacob Tonson, The Third Satyr, p. 38, Poor Refugies at first, they purchase here

(transitive, British, historical) To grant rights of citizenship to; to naturalize.


cluck

cluck (third-person singular simple present clucks, present participle clucking, simple past and past participle clucked)

clucks (present singular third-person)
clucking (participle present)
clucked (participle past)
clucked (past)

From Middle English clokken, clocken, from Old English cloccian (“to cluck, make a noise”), from Proto-West Germanic *klukkwōn, from Proto-Germanic *klukkwōną (“to make a sound, cluck”), of imitative origin.
Cognate with Scots clok, clock (“to cluck”), Dutch klokken (“to cluck”), Low German klucken (“to cluck”), German glucken (“to cluck”), Danish klukke (“to cluck”), Swedish klucka (“to cluck”), Icelandic klökkva (“to sob, whine, cluck”).

cog

(British, drug slang) To suffer withdrawal from heroin.


wigging

en-noun

wigging (countable and uncountable, plural wiggings)

His Colonel talked to him severely when the cold weather ended. That made him more wretched than ever; and it was only an ordinary ‘Colonel's wigging’!

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Thrown Away”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2005, page 18:

(countable, British, Ireland, colloquial, dated) A telling-off or reprimand.


prang

prang (countable and uncountable, plural prangs)

Originally World War II Royal Air Force slang; probably imitative.

onomatopoeic

imitative

The typical prang cost a few hundred dollars in panelbeating charges.

1984, Ian Manning, Beyond walking distance: The Gains from Speed in Australian Urban Travel, page 105:

If people drove like that in Australia there would be constant prangs.

1999, Lydia Laube, Bound for Vietnam, page 209:

The drive host, Mark Day, recalls the sinking feeling as he covered an accident on the Tullamarine expressway and wondered what commuters in Sydney would think about hearing all the details of the prang.

2009, Bridget Griffen-Foley, Changing Stations: The Story of Australian Commercial Radio, page 90:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) An accident involving a motor vehicle, typically minor and without casualties.


prang

en-verb

prang (third-person singular simple present prangs, present participle pranging, simple past and past participle pranged)

prangs (present singular third-person)
pranging (participle present)
pranged (participle past)
pranged (past)

onomatopoeic

imitative

“Didn′t bump nobody,” I sneer.
“That′s because you were careful,” says the wife. “Your forecast doesn′t say you will prang. It merely says ‘exercise care today,’ which you did.”

(intransitive, chiefly Australia and New Zealand, UK, informal) To crash; to have an accident while controlling a vehicle.

Soon after rescuing some silly children from the local caves, the alien prangs his vessel and dies.

2004, John Pym, editor, Time Out Film Guide, page 70:

On Friday, I picked up our camper van, upgraded to a four sleeper so Elysee and I could each find a neutral corner, which I managed to “prang,” navigating the parking lot, within one hour of signing away my house as security.

2005, Thomas Marshall, Our Summer in Australia And New Zealand, page 93:

(transitive, chiefly Australia and New Zealand, UK, informal) To damage (the vehicle one is driving) in an accident; to have a minor collision with (another motor vehicle).


jumper

→ Bengali: জাম্পার (jampar)

→ Dutch: jumper

→ Estonian: džemper

→ Finnish: jumpperi

→ Georgian: ჯემპრი (ǯemṗri)

→ German: Jumper

→ Hungarian: dzsömper

→ Japanese: ジャンパー (janpā)

→ Macedonian: џемпер (džemper)

→ Maltese: ġamper

→ Portuguese: jumper

desctree

→ Russian: джемпер (džemper)
→ Kazakh: жемпір (jempır)
→ Kyrgyz: жемпир (jempir)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: џемпер

Latin script: džemper

→ Spanish: chompa, chomba

→ Welsh: siwmper

From the term jump (“short coat”) + -er, originally in sailors' jargon, ultimately of uncertain origin. Jump is possibly from Scottish English jupe (“man's loose jacket or tunic”), from Middle English juype, gype, joupe, from Old French jupe, juppe, from Arabic جُبَّة (jubba); see also jibba. Cognate with Middle Low German jōpe, gōpe (“waistcoat, jacket”), German Joppe (“jacket”). Alternatively, perhaps derived from jump.

The hideous holiday jumper became a big trend in the 1980s, influenced as we were by the TV-am gang, Gordon the Gopher and memories of Andy Williams singing to girls as they walked by on his Christmas specials. (Can't blame 'em, given he was wearing one of his knitted monstrosities.)

2012 December 16, Robert Epstein, “Bring Modern: Christmas jumpers”, in The Independent:

(chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand) A woollen sweater or pullover.


graduand

/ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuːˌænd/

Attested since 1882. From Medieval Latin graduandus, gerundive of graduō (“to graduate”).

2005, Mike Amos, Proud Return of the Pigeon Boy, Northern Echo (Darlington, UK); Jul 14, 2005.
In order to add jollity to the proceedings, said the dean, each graduand would find beneath his seat a little tub of bubbles, complete with mortar board cap.

(British, Canada) A student who has completed the requirements for, but has not yet been awarded, a particular degree.


See the Wikipedia article ISO 216, the international standard on paper sizes.

(UK, rail transport) A3 class, a class of steam locomotive used on the London and North Eastern Railway.


blimming

I don't want to buy any blimming brushes, so kindly go away!

(UK, slang) Blooming (as an intensifier).


lad culture

This is frequently traced back to the birth of lad culture in the mid-90s, which itself tends now to be characterised as a reaction against “feminism gone too far”.

2023 September 18, Zoe Williams, “The nasty noughties: Russell Brand and the era of sadistic tabloid misogyny”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK) A subculture which arose in the United Kingdom in the 1990s, centered around traditional working-class male attitudes and interests, often in rejection of the perceived strictures of feminism or the concept of the New Man.


DCL

en-noun

DCL (countable and uncountable, plural DCLs)

Doctor of Civil Law
w:Doctor of Civil Law

(British, education) Initialism of Doctor of Civil Law.


parliamentary

The train was moving less fast through the summer night. The swift express had changed into something almost a parliamentary, had stopped three times since Norwich, and now, at long last, was approaching Banton.

1931, Francis Beeding, “1/1”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:

(British, historical, railways) Of a class of train which, by an act of parliament, ran both ways along a line, at least once each day, at the rate of one penny per mile.


doctor's orders

A laxative pill, "number 9", once issued in the British army


sizeable

en-adj

sizeable (comparative more sizeable, superlative most sizeable)

more sizeable (comparative)
most sizeable (superlative)

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

City look stronger, fitter and more motivated than last season and even at this early stage the gap feels like a sizeable advantage.

2015 August 16, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian:

(British, alternative in Canada) Alternative spelling of sizable


Saga lout

A parody of lager lout. Saga is a company that specialises in holidays for older people.

(slang, British) An older unruly tourist on holiday in the Mediterranean area.


lager lout

(British) A person (especially a young male) who behaves in a violent manner when drunk.

jeune voyou

person who behaves in a violent manner when drunk


fire brigade

/ˈfaɪə(ɹ)bɹɪˌɡeɪd/

see also fire service

(firefighting, UK, Ireland) An organization, often part of a local government, whose purpose is preventing and putting out fires.

skuadër zjarrfikëse

organization for preventing and putting out fires

foyerwer

borrowed from German, Malmedy region, old


Country Code

(British) a set of rules and regulations aimed at tourists visiting the countryside


borstal

Inherited from Middle English *borstile, *borghstile, from Old English beorh (“a hill”) + stigel (“a stile”).
The institutions are named after Borstal Prison in Borstal, Rochester, Kent, England.

(UK) A way up a hill in the South Downs.

You have juvenile courts. Do you have borstal institutions for juveniles?

2004, August 3, Speaker of the Kenyan National Assembly, Kenya National Assembly Official Record, Hansard, page 3126

Seven years ago, I was sent to borstal. Slithering around in the societal sludge, I was forced to admit I'd made a huge mistake – committing robbery.

2011 November 7, Paris Lees, “My Transsexual Summer: a new view of gender”, in The Guardian:

(British, Ireland) Any institution which provides education to young offenders.


identikit

Blend of identification + kit, originally a trademark.

A picture of a person, reconstructed from strips showing facial features selected to match witnesses' descriptions; used by the police to build a likeness of a person sought for a crime.


identikit

These identikit destinations have been developed through the activities of multinational tourism organizations.

2006, J. Christopher Holloway, Neil Taylor, The business of tourism, page 211:

These identikit productions do not require specific performers to bring a new interpretation but require the repetition of the successful event for the paying audience.

2010, Christine White, Directors and Designers, page 172:

She guesses it is only a few years old; one of seven identikit mock-Tudor mansions built on a recent cul-de-sac development just outside Chichester.

2012, Hannah Richell, The Secrets of the Tides, →ISBN, page 363:

Bellingham is the identikit modern midfield player and the manner in which he combined with Foden for England's second goal, completed by a rousing finish from Kane, was a glimpse into a golden future.

2022 December 4, Phil McNulty, “England 3-0 Senegal”, in BBC Sport:

(informal, chiefly derogatory) Indistinguishable from each other; mass-produced or mass marketed.


bathing costume

en-noun

bathing costume (plural bathing costumes)

(chiefly British, dated) The clothes that one wears when bathing in the sea or a swimming pool, especially the one-piece garment worn by women and girls.


swimming costume

swimming costume (plural swimming costumes)

(UK, Ireland) the garments that one wears when bathing in the sea or a swimming pool, especially the one-piece garment worn by women and girls.


benjamin

something which is not long enough to constitute a benjamin, and too long for a dress coat or spencer

1826, The Atheneum, volume 18, page 236:

How the young man from Cambridge sulkily put his five great-coats in front; but was reconciled when little Miss Sharp was made to quit the carriage, and mount up beside him—when he covered her up in one of his Benjamins, and became perfectly good-humoured—

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

(UK, slang, dated) A kind of upper coat for men.


grike

He climbed over the sedge and eely oarweeds and sat on a stool of rock, resting his ashplant in a grike.

The Crag is a sort of crag-shaped feature of limestone, rich in minerals and seamed with crevasses or ‘grikes’ as they call them hereabouts.

1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin, published 2001, page 157:

(chiefly British) A deep cleft formed in limestone surfaces due to water erosion; providing a unique habitat for plants.


fitting

fitting (countable and uncountable, plural fittings)

the fittings of a church or study

(chiefly British, often plural) A removable item in a house or other building, which can be taken with one when one moves out, such as a moveable piece of furniture, a carpet, picture, etc.; US furnishing; compare fixture.


shelve

en-verb

shelve (third-person singular simple present shelves, present participle shelving, simple past and past participle shelved)

shelves (present singular third-person)
shelving (participle present)
shelved (participle past)
shelved (past)
shelve (infinitive)

From Late Middle English shelven (“to separate (someone or something) from another thing, keep away”); further etymology uncertain, possibly:
* from shelf, shelfe (“shelf; cabinet, cupboard; grassy bank”) (though this is doubted by the Oxford English Dictionary); or
* related to West Frisian skelf (“not level or straight, oblique”).

cog

(transitive, British, dialectal) To tilt or tip (a cart) to discharge its contents.


picky

en-adj

picky (comparative pickier, superlative pickiest)

pickier (comparative)
pickiest (superlative)

picky bits

picky tea

[…] a picky meal of bean-sprouts and humous […]

1988, Jan Webster, One Little Room, page 240:

(UK, colloquial, not comparable) Of food or a meal: consisting of various small items from which the diner can pick and choose.


all-nighter

From all-night + -er = all- + night + -er.

(UK, crime, slang) A session with a prostitute covering the entire night.

(UK, crime, slang) A client of a prostitute who has paid for the entire night.


redundancy

en-noun

redundancy (countable and uncountable, plural redundancies)

non-redundancy

antonym(s) of “state of being redundant”

employment

antonym(s) of “state of being unemployed”

hiring

antonym(s) of “instance or act of dismissal”

1981, New Zealand House of Representatives. Parliamentary Debates, Volume 442, page 4212,
Has he received any representation from Air New Zealand management about redundancy proposals for Air New Zealand staff; and, if so, do these proposals include redundancy agreements?

1983, UK House of Commons, Papers by Command, Volume 40, page lvi,
The potential savings did not take into account once-and-for-all staff redundancy costs of £16.5 million and unspecified costs involved in increasing stock levels […] .

In Estonia, in addition, the ethnical aspects of staff redundancy programmes have to be taken into account.

2003, K. Brendow, Restructuring Estonia′s Oil Shale Industry: What Lessons from the Restructuring the Coal Industries in Central and Eastern Europe?: Oil Shale, page 307:

As well as fighting against pay freezes (the RMT is about to ballot members of TransPennine Express), the union is seeking agreements with Network Rail and train operators that there will be no compulsory redundancies (it already has this agreement with ScotRail). [...] Whether redundancies come and whether they result in industrial action remains to be seen, but it's clear that the RMT is not prepared to show any flexibility towards rail companies.

2020 December 2, Philip Haigh, “A winter of discontent caused by threat of union action”, in Rail, page 63:

(chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand) The state of being unemployed because one's job is no longer necessary; the dismissal of such an employee; a layoff.


marginal

en-adj

marginal (not generally comparable, comparative more marginal, superlative most marginal)

more marginal (comparative)
most marginal (superlative)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis, equivalent to margin + -al.

լուսանցքային

of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge

vaa’ankieli-

where the winning margin was a small proportion of the total number of votes

In Bristol West, Labour had a majority of only 1,000, so the seat is considered highly marginal this time around.

In ‘battleground’ seats with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrat vote shares increased most in the most marginal seats.

2002, Andrew Geddes, Jonathan Tonge, Labour′s Second Landslide: The British General Election 2001, page 79:

In Outer London, Harrow East is now a more marginal Labour hold than Harrow West.

2007, Robert Waller, Byron Criddle, The Almanac of British Politics, page 58:

The pendulum lists the seats from least marginal to most marginal for the government on one side, and least marginal to most marginal for the opposition on the other side.

2010, Nick Economou, Zareh Ghazarian, Australian Politics For Dummies, unnumbered page:

He justified his comment by noting that the Labour Party had quickly committed to delivering a high-speed Leeds-Manchester line, and argued that pressure would grow on the Government because there were several marginal parliamentary seats around Leeds and Bradford.

2021 December 1, “Network News: Integrated Rail Plan: Osborne predicts HS2 eastern leg will return”, in RAIL, number 945, page 8:

(comparable) Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.

(politics, chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, of a constituency) Subject to a change in sitting member with only a small change in voting behaviour, this usually being inferred from the small winning margin of the previous election.


cock-up

The first word of every section or chapter is generally put in small capitals, after a small neat cock-up letter.

1824, John Johnson, Typographia, volume 2, page 33:

(obsolete, UK, Ireland, printers' slang) A superior letter. A lower-case letter placed above the baseline and made smaller than ordinary script; traditionally used in abbreviations.


get on

en-verb

get on (third-person singular simple present gets on, present participle getting on, simple past got on, past participle (UK) got on or (US) gotten on)

gets on (present singular third-person)
getting on (participle present)
got on (past)
got on (UK participle past)
gotten on (US participle past)

“I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. […]”

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

John doesn't get on with Jack. They're always arguing.

I wish you and I could learn to get on.

(intransitive, chiefly UK, often with 'with') To have a good relationship; to get along.

I can't get on with prunes. They give me indigestion.

(intransitive, chiefly UK, with 'with') To cope or deal (with).


manor

From Middle English maner, manour; from Old French manoir, from Latin manēre. Doublet of maenor.

'I'm a fatalist,' said Mr James Anderton, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester. [...] James Anderton in his suite of offices on the eleventh floor of the modern glass-and-concrete police building, looking out over his domain, his patch, his manor.

1983, John Mortimer, In character, Allen Lane, page 77:

Dixon, who was finally promoted to sergeant in 1964, policed his 'Dock Green' manor until May 1976 and 'Evening, all' had become a national catchphrase.

2006, Eugene McLaughlin, The New Policing, page 23:

On his release from prison in Holland, Warren returned to his Merseyside 'manor' to resume his role as' King of Coke'.

2013, Nigel Blundell, The World's Most Evil Gangs, John Blake Publishing, →ISBN:

(UK, slang) Any home area or territory in which authority is exercised, often in a police or criminal context.


arse over tit

I missed the step and went arse over tit.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, idiomatic, vulgar) Tumbling; falling; upside-down, unstable or unbalanced.


all the way to Egery and back

(British, idiomatic) The long way; a roundabout route; a long distance to travel.


cock up

cock up (third-person singular simple present cocks up, present participle cocking up, simple past and past participle cocked up)

cocks up (present singular third-person)
cocking up (participle present)
cocked up (participle past)
cocked up (past)

The first citation in the Oxford English Dictionary is from a 1948 Dictionary of Forces’ Slang. The OED suggests that it derives ultimately from the noun cock, but gives no further detail. The nature of the earliest citation suggests that this expression entered the wider language from military slang, making etymologies from typesetting or archery (see below) seem unlikely.
The term is sometimes attributed to the days of manual typesetting, when a letter that had become wedged slightly higher than the other letters on the line was said to be “cocked up”.
Another claim relates to medieval archery. One of the three feathers on an arrow is a cock’s feather. If the arrow was incorrectly placed on the bow for drawing and release, the arrow would go off course because of the cock’s feather being up and therefore the arrow positioned wrongly on the bow. This was then known as a “cock up”.

It was cocking her up with gimcrack notions about ladies till she'd be ashamed to look at her own hands after she had done a day's work with them.

1876 May – 1877 July, Anthony Trollope, “‘Wonderful Bird!’”, in The American Senator […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1877, →OCLC, page 282:

I'd take the stick to his back and beat him while I could stand over him—as I done many a time before. The mother, you know, she cocks him up with this and that …

1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “Ivy Day in the Committee Room”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 146:

(transitive, intransitive, chiefly UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang, mildly vulgar) To ruin (something) unintentionally; to fuck up, mess up, or screw up.


lah-di-dah

en-adj

lah-di-dah (comparative more lah-di-dah, superlative most lah-di-dah)

more lah-di-dah (comparative)
most lah-di-dah (superlative)

/ˌlɑːdiːˈdɑː/

c. 1880s, with a comeback in the 1980s due to its use in Annie Hall (1977) by Woody Allen, although in a different context, spoken by the actress Diane Keaton.

(British, derogatory) Of or from the upper class of society.

She was all la-di-da, with her nose in the air, and we were all struggling not to laugh because that would be gauche.

(British, derogatory) Affecting upper-class or superior airs.


garage

en-noun

garage (countable and uncountable, plural garages)

→ Assamese: গেৰেজ (gerez)

→ Bengali: গ্যারেজ (gêrej)

→ Hindi: गेराज (gerāj)

→ Irish: garáiste

→ Japanese: ガレージ, グラージ

→ Malay: garaj

→ Scottish Gaelic: garaids

→ Sinhalese: ගරාජ් (garāj)

→ Urdu: گیراج (gerāj)

/ˈɡæ.ɹɑː(d)ʒ/

Borrowed from French garage (“keeping under cover, protection, shelter”), derivative of French garer (“to keep under cover, dock, shunt, guard, keep”), from Middle French garer, garrer, guerrer; partly from Old French garir, warir (from Old Frankish *warjan); and partly from Old French varer (“to fight, defend oneself, protect”), from Old Norse varask (“to defend oneself”), reflexive of vara (“to ware, watch out, defend”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“to defend, ward off”), *warōną (“to watch, protect”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”).

der

(British, music) A type of electronic dance music related to house music, with warped and time-stretched sounds; UK garage.


flog a dead horse

en-verb

flog a dead horse (third-person singular simple present flogs a dead horse, present participle flogging a dead horse, simple past and past participle flogged a dead horse)

flogs a dead horse (present singular third-person)
flogging a dead horse (participle present)
flogged a dead horse (participle past)
flogged a dead horse (past)

(British, idiomatic) To attempt to get more out of something that cannot give more; to attempt to arouse fresh interest in something that is either hopeless or already settled.

surnud hobust peksta

to attempt to get more out of something that cannot give more

آب در هاون کوبیدن (âb dar hâvan kubidan, literally “to grind water in a mortar”)

решето́м во́ду носи́ть (rešetóm vódu nosítʹ, literally “carry water in a sieve”)

напрасно стараться (naprasno staratʹsja, literally “try hard in vain”)


at sixes and sevens

Unknown, though it may have originated from the game of hazard and the Old French cinc (“five”) and sis (“six”), the riskiest numbers to shoot for, which were misheard and folk-etymologized into English as "six" and "seven".

Yet if his majesty our sovereign lord
Should of his own accord
Friendly himself invite,
And say "I'll be your guest to-morrow night."
How should we stir ourselves, call and command
All hands to work! Let no man idle stand. …
For 'tis a duteous thing
To show all honour to an earthly king,
And after all our travail and our cost,
So he be pleas'd, to think no labour lost.
But at the coming of the King of Heaven
All's set at six and seven:
We wallow in our sin,
Christ cannot find a chamber in the inn.
We entertain him always like a stranger,
And as at first still lodge him in the manger.

17th century, Thomas Ford, "Yet if His Majesty Our Sovereign Lord" (Christ Church MS. 736–8), first published by A. H. Bullen, Lyrics from the Song Books of the Elizabethan Age (1888)

Oh, what a racket! And everything on deck apparently at sixes and sevens. Mail-bags and passengers mixed up in every direction.

1912, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 23, in Poison Island:

A few days after the battle started, we abandoned Pa-chung County. The enemy troops were elated and boasted of their victory. In fact, the loss of Pa-chung County was a great setback for us. The local people, seeing our departure, could not help wavering. Even those engaged in the work of the Soviet government were not altogether clear about the strategy of our army. They were at sixes and sevens, and some went to such lengths as to make preparations for the eventuality that the Red Army might back out of northern Szechwan.

1972, Chang Kuo-tʻao, The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party 1928-1938, volume II, University Press of Kansas, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 342:

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) In a state of confusion.


sunshine

en-noun

sunshine (usually uncountable, plural sunshines)

In the Coverdale Bible in 1535, in Genesis and Exodus about 1250 as Middle English sunnesine; synchronically sun + shine. Compare isolated Old English sunsċīn (“mirror”).

Alright sunshine, safe to cross now.

(UK, Ireland) Friendly form of address often reserved for juniors.

OK, sunshine, listen up and listen good. There's five vandalised telephone boxes out there and I know you're responsible.

(UK, Ireland) Ironic form of address used to an inferior or troublemaker.


rainbow coalition

rainbow coalition (plural rainbow coalitions)

Named after the colours associated with various parties: red for Labour, blue for the Conservatives, etc.

(British, Ireland, politics) A government consisting of a coalition of three or more parties, particularly parties with divergent ideologies.


suburb

From Old French suburbe, subburbe, from Latin suburbium (from sub- + urbs (“city”)). Displaced native Old English underburg (literally “sub-” or “under-city”).

ncog

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK) Any subdivision of a conurbation, not necessarily on the periphery.

حَيّ

Australian, British English, Irish English, New Zealand English: any subdivision of a conurbation


social anthropology

cultural anthropology
cultural anthropology


yours sincerely

(idiomatic, chiefly British) A polite, formulaic phrase used at the end of a letter, especially when the sender knows the recipient's name.


fuck off

en-verb

fuck off (third-person singular simple present fucks off, present participle fucking off, simple past and past participle fucked off)

fucks off (present singular third-person)
fucking off (participle present)
fucked off (participle past)
fucked off (past)

It really fucks me off when you do that.

(transitive, idiomatic, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth)

srát

to annoy, irritate — see also annoy, irritate

I'm bored. Shall we just fuck this off and go home?

[…] we force ourselves to have jobs and maintain apartments and push ourselves into positions of high adulthood, when really we could all just fuck it off and live in a camper van and play beach volleyball all day, but we don't, because we're pussies.

2016 August 11, Joel Golby, “A Definitive Ranking of Every Olympic Sport and Whether It Is Cool or Not”, in Vice:


fearfully

en-adv

fearfully (comparative more fearfully, superlative most fearfully)

more fearfully (comparative)
most fearfully (superlative)

He's a fearfully good striker.

Remember, when a horse is on its side the kicking-strap is useless, and the breechen nearly so, to prevent the swing of its hind legs; your aim is to get it away from the steps or wheel-plate of the trap, which, in its struggles, may cut its legs fearfully.

1 November 1884, John Kemp, Saddlers, Harness Makers, and Carriage Builders' Gazette, volume XIV, London, pages 155–6:


yours faithfully

(UK) A polite, formulaic end to a letter, used especially when the sender does not know the recipient's name, for example in a business letter.

l’assurance de ma considération distinguée


all fur coat and no knickers

en-adj

all fur coat and no knickers (not comparable)

A nurse spoke for a number of her colleagues when she said that she felt that these developments were a waste of time and 'all fur coat and no knickers' (personal interview, 1994).

1999, David Brock, Michael J. Powell, Christopher Robin Hinings, Restructuring the professional organization: Accounting, Health Care and Law:

From this viewpoint some forms of Post-Modernism mean new façades for old concepts, dressing the skyscraper, or the vast supermarket in the garb of the tart - 'all fur coat and no knickers'.

2003, Cliff Moughtin, Urban Design: Street and Square:

"What about the wife?"
"Bridget. She was all fur coat and no knickers. A real social climber."
"But you liked her?"
"Yes."

(UK, idiomatic, derogatory) Having a superficially positive appearance that is belied by the reality, e.g., superficially elegant and beautiful but actually common.