furniture

en-noun

furniture (usually uncountable, plural furnitures)

From Middle French fourniture (“a supply, or the act of furnishing”), from fournir (“to furnish”).

uder

The woman does not even have one stick of furniture moved in yet.

How much furniture did they leave behind?

A chair is furniture. Sofas are also furniture.

They bought a couple of pieces of furniture.

Your furniture is beautiful.

Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local color) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust […]

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 377, column 2:

She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.

1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:

The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century,[…].

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

(now usually uncountable) Large movable item(s), usually in a room, which enhance(s) the room's characteristics, functionally or decoratively.


dryer

From Middle English driere, dreyere (“one who dries”), equivalent to dry + -er (agent noun suffix).

A household appliance that removes the water from clothing by accelerating evaporation, usually through heat and a tumbling motion.

Assist students to design and construct models of hot-air balloons ranging from those using shopping bags and hair dryers, to those using tissue paper and metho burners, depending on the resources available.

1996, Curriculum Corporation (Australia), From Igloos to Yurts: Years 4-7, page 23:

At that time, father, brother and I worked as night watchmen at the grain dryer. It was a large and complicated structure built out in the steppe. It consisted of a wooden tower with swinging shelves attached to the inside walls,[…]

2004 December 17, Evgenii D. Moniushko, From Leningrad to Hungary: Notes of a Red Army Soldier, 1941-1946, Routledge, →ISBN, page 51:

Any other device or facility, household or industrial, designed to remove water or humidity.

A catalyst used to promote the drying of paints and varnishes by oxidative crosslinking.


cupboard

→ Chichewa: m'kabati

→ Farefare: kobɔɔtɩ

→ Gulf Arabic: كبت (kabat)

→ Luhya: likapati

→ Maori: kāpata

→ Swahili: kabati

→ Zulu: ekhabetheni

Inherited from Middle English cuppeborde, cupbord. Equivalent to cup + board. Phonetic variants show that the /p/ in the original forms had assimilated to the present-day /b/ by the 16th century; the etymological spelling has, however, dominated from the 18th century.

Istana Satu
Kuala Terengganu
Terengganu
cupboard

Put the cups back into the cupboard.

Cupborde to putte meate in – dressover s, m.

1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] , London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 211; reprinted as L'éclaircissement de la langue française par Jean Palsgrave […] , Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1852:

Old Mother Hubbard / Went to the cupboard, / To give the poor dog a bone; / When she came there, / The cupboard was bare, / And so the poor dog had none.

1814 May 1, “Minimus” [pseudonym], “Fine Arts”, in The Satirist, or Monthly Meteor, volume XIV, number 18 (New Series), London: Printed for Samuel Tipper by T. Gillet, →OCLC, page 417:

A cupboard with shelves for music-books.

1874, J[ohn] T[homas] Micklethwaite, Modern Parish Churches: Their Plan, Design, and Furniture, London: Henry S. King & Co. 65 Cornhill and 12 Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 161:

As he had figured it out so far, the cupboard, or the key, or both together, brought plastic things to life, or if they were already alive, turned them into plastic. There were a lot of questions to be answered, though. Did it only work with plastic? Would, say, wooden or metal figures also come to life if shut up in the cupboard?

1980, Lynne Reid Banks, “Thirty Scalps”, in The Indian in the Cupboard, London: J. M. Dent, →ISBN:

Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.

1997, J[oanne] K[athleen] Rowling, “The Vanishing Glass”, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

A cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture with shelves intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food; similar cabinets or closets used for storing other items.

бюфе́т

a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food


wardrobe

From Middle English warderobe, from Old Northern French warderoube, wardereube, northern variants of Old French garderobe, from garder (“to keep safe”) + robe. Subsequently influenced by various senses of garderobe as they developed in French. Doublet of garderobe.

A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.

1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

A movable cupboard or cabinet designed for storing clothes, particularly as a large piece of bedroom furniture.


bookcase

A piece of furniture for the storage and display of books.


chest of drawers

en-noun

chest of drawers (plural chests of drawers)

A piece of furniture which has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers stacked one above the other, used mainly for the storage of clean clothes.

шкаф

с выдвижны́ми я́щиками


fridge

→ Antillean Creole: fridj

→ Bengali: ফ্রিজ (phrij)

→ Hindi: फ़्रिज (frij), फ्रिज (phrij)

→ Malayalam: ഫ്രിഡ്ജ് (phriḍjŭ)

→ Maltese: friġġ

→ Scottish Gaelic: frids

→ Swahili: friji

Alexandra DeWitt
Chicago Review Press
Frigidaire
Kyle Rayner
Women in Refrigerators

The noun is a clipping of refrigerator, perhaps influenced by the Frigidaire brand of refrigerators, or frigerator (“(dated) refrigerator”). The spelling is likely influenced by analogy with bridge, ridge, etc. The verb is derived from the noun.
The fandom slang verb sense alludes to the phrase "women in refrigerators" coined by the American comic book writer Gail Simone. Simone was referencing a plot point in Green Lantern (volume 3, issue 54, 1994), in which the Green Lantern's girlfriend is murdered by a villain, and her body placed in a refrigerator for him to find.

coinage

Sweet broccolini with tofu, sesame, and cilantro […] First, marinate the tofu. In a bowl, whisk the soy sauce, chile sauce, and sesame oil together. Cut the tofu into strips about ⅜ inch / 1 cm thick, mix gently (so it doesn't break) with the marinade, and leave in the fridge for half an hour.

2008, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, “Vegetables, Legumes, and Grains”, in Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, New York, N.Y.: Ten Speed Press, published 2013, →ISBN:


squab

en-noun

squab (countable and uncountable, plural squabs)

Unknown. Possibly descended from Swedish dialect skvabb (“fatty, flabby”). First attested in the 17th century.

a. 1744, Alexander Pope (imitating Earl of Dorset), Artemisia, 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, page 86,
On her large ſquab you find her ſpread, / Like a fat corpſe upon a bed, / That lies and ſtinks in ſtate.

[H]erds of shabby vampires, Jew and Christian, over-run the house, [...] punching the squabs of chairs and sofas with their dirty fists, touzling the feather-beds, opening and shutting all the drawers, balancing the silver spoons and forks, looking into the very threads of the drapery and linen, and disparaging everything.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Retribution”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 591:

(countable) A thick cushion, especially a flat one covering the seat of a chair or sofa.


sauna

Borrowed from Finnish sauna. Doublet of stack.

McPhail ran Maitland's brothels—knocking-shops in Maryhill, Riddrie, Dennistoun, and the more upscale saunas in the West End and city centre.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 250:

In some countries, a business with bath-like facilities that is actually a brothel or a place for (non-commercial) sexual encounters; a bathhouse or massage parlour.


refrigerator

→ Cebuano: ripridyiritor

desc

→ Kashubian: refredrzerejta (United States)

റഫ്രിജറേറ്റർ

→ Malayalam: റഫ്രിജറേറ്റർ (ṟaphrijaṟēṟṟaṟ)

/ɹɪˈfɹɪd͡ʒəˌɹeɪtə/

/ɹɪˈfɹɪd͡ʒəˌɹeɪtɚ/

/ɹəˈfɹɪd͡ʒəˌɹeɪtɚ/

From Medieval Latin refrīgerātor (“cooler”).

Meronym: condenser

Coordinate term: freezer

A similar device used to keep non-food items cold, such as blood, photographic film, drugs, or pharmaceuticals like insulin.


litter

en-noun

litter (countable and uncountable, plural litters)

From Middle English litere, lytere, &c., from Anglo-Norman litere, litiere, &c., from Old French litiere (“bedding; bed of loose straw; litter”), from Late Latin lectuāria (“bedding; blankets”), from Latin lectus (“bed; couch”) + -āria (“forming related nouns”), from Proto-Italic *lektos (“[thing] lain upon”), from *leɣō (“to lie down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. Cognate with French lit and litière.

der

Reading and Leeds Festivals
Saint George Hare
litter
litter (disambiguation)

枯枝落叶层

layer of dead leaves and other organic matter

andor

litter used for Portuguese Catholic processions

takhtrawan

enclosed Middle Eastern & Indian animal-borne litters or open Persian & Indian human-borne mobile thrones

chowpaul

open Indian litter with arched support pole

nalki

princely Indian litter borne by many men; a groom's litter

mikoshi

ceremonial Japanese litter for Shinto idols

He ordeyned lyttyers for the wounded knyghtes.

c. 1480, Thomas Malory, chapter XIX, in Morte d'Arthur:

(countable) A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.

(medicine, countable) Synonym of stretcher, such a vehicle used for transporting the sick and injured, inclusive of designs carried in the hand.

When they went out, they sat in litters, which were curtained.

1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 219:

"The Chengtu revolutionaries were fantastically colourful in the Szechwanese manner—they costumed themselves as heroes of the stage and their energies were chiefly occupied in tying ropes across the main streets so that when Imperial officials rode by in their litters they would have to get down and crawl under, losing face.

1942 March, “Notes and News: Monument to a Stillborn Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 88:

(countable, broadly) The general category of all such similar vehicles, inclusive of sedan chairs, hammock litters, and the like.

مِحَفَّة

platform designed to carry a person or a load — see also sedan chair, palanquin

Silkworms... must be well cleansed from the litter.

1835, Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures, page 232:

The heir of an estate... troubled himself little about decorating his abode, and, if he attempted decoration, seldom produced anything but deformity. The litter of a farmyard gathered under the windows of his bedchamber, and the cabbages and gooseberry bushes grew close to his hall door.

1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England..., volume I, page 320:

(uncountable) Animal bedding together with its dung.


litter

en-verb

litter (third-person singular simple present litters, present participle littering, simple past and past participle littered)

litters (present singular third-person)
littering (participle present)
littered (participle past)
littered (past)

We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.

1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

The son that she did litter here, / A freckled whelp hagborn.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

(transitive) To give birth to, in the manner of animals.

The inn where he and his horse litter'd.

(intransitive) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.


drinking straw

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

A long tube (usually made out of plastic or paper) through which a beverage is drunk via suction.

strooitjie

a long plastic or paper tube through which a drink is drunk


deed

From Middle English dede, from Old English dēd, dǣd (“deed, act”), from Proto-West Germanic *dādi, from Proto-Germanic *dēdiz (“deed”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tis (“deed, action”). Analyzable through Proto-Germanic as do + -th. Doublet of thesis.
The real estate sense derives from the fact that property deeds are traditionally used to demonstrate proof of ownership of a legal title in common law jurisdictions, such as England & Wales and most of the United States.
Cognates:
Cognate with West Frisian died, Dutch daad (“deed, act”), German Low German Daad, German Tat (“deed, action”), Swedish, Norwegian and Danish dåd (“act, action”). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek θέσις (thésis, “setting, arrangement”).

cog

I inherited the deed to the house.

(law) A legal instrument that is executed under seal or before a witness; sometimes required for certain legal activities, such as the transfer of certain kinds of property.

(by extension, real estate) The legal title to real estate; ownership.


deed

en-verb

deed (third-person singular simple present deeds, present participle deeding, simple past and past participle deeded)

deeds (present singular third-person)
deeding (participle present)
deeded (participle past)
deeded (past)

He deeded over the mineral rights to some fellas from Denver.

(real estate, informal) To transfer real property by deed.


kettle

→ Brunei Malay: kitil

→ Persian: کتری (ketri)

→ Bengali: কেটলি (keṭli)

→ Hindi: केतली (ketlī)

→ Gujarati: કીટલી (kīṭlī)

→ Irish: citeal

→ Maltese: kitla

→ Zulu: igedlela

From Middle English ketel, also chetel, from Old English ċietel (“kettle, cauldron”) and in Middle English possibly influenced by Old Norse ketill and both from Proto-Germanic *katilaz (“kettle, bucket, vessel”), of uncertain origin and formation. Usually regarded as a borrowing of Late Latin catīllus (“small bowl”), diminutive of Latin catinus (“deep bowl, vessel for cooking up or serving food”), however, the word may be Germanic confused with the Latin: compare Old English cete (“cooking pot”), Old High German chezzi (“a kettle, dish, bowl”), Icelandic kati, ketla (“a small boat”). Cognate with West Frisian tsjettel (“kettle”), Dutch ketel (“kettle”), German Kessel (“kettle”), Swedish kittel (“cauldron”), Swedish kittel (“kettle”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (katils, “kettle”), Finnish kattila, Polish kocioł (“cauldron”), Czech kotel (“boiler”), Russian котёл (kotjól, “boiler, cauldron”).

cog

To cook pasta, you first need to put the kettle on.

There's a hot kettle of soup on the stove.

(cooking) A vessel for boiling a liquid or cooking food, usually metal and equipped with a lid.


straw

en-noun

straw (countable and uncountable, plural straws)

→ Japanese: ストロー

From Middle English straw, from Old English strēaw, from Proto-West Germanic *strau, from Proto-Germanic *strawą (“that which is strewn, straw”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread around, strew”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sträi (“straw”), West Frisian strie (“straw”), Dutch stro (“straw”), German Low German Stroh (“straw”), German Stroh (“straw”), Norwegian and Swedish strå (“straw”), Icelandic strá (“straw”), Walloon strin, Albanian shtrohë (“kennel”).

der

The Bromfield Street offices were housed in a dilapidated but heavily-insured building, owned by a straw for a wealthy downtown real estate developer, surrounded by expensive new commercial developments, and in a city renowned for arson-for-profit.

1984 August 4, Larry Goldsmith, “Cops Charged With Setting GCN Fire”, in Gay Community News, page 1:


futon

Borrowed from Japanese 布団 (futon), in turn from Middle Chinese 蒲團 (MC bu dwan, “meditation cushion”) (compare Mandarin 蒲团 (pútuán)), from 蒲 (buo, “bulrush, cattail”) + 團 (duɑn, “sphere, round object”) from the way the original cushion was round and made from woven bulrushes.

The Japanese bed is the floor, with a wooden box under the neck for a pillow and a futon for a covering. To the foreigner the Japanese landlord allows five or six futons, or cotton-wadded comforters, and they make a tolerable mattress, although not springy, and rather apt to be damp and musty.

1891, Eliza Scidmore, Jinrikisha Days in Japan, page 145:

The futon are easily aired, and may be carried about readily when moving.

1904, Clarence Ludlow Brownell, The Heart of Japan: Glimpses of Life and Nature Far from the Travellers’ Track in the Land of the Rising Sun, London: Methuen & Co., […], page 54:

Normally one or two futon are laid on tatami, several inches of straw matting recessed into the floor, providing a firm but extremely comfortable night’s rest.

Some futon (cotton-filled comforters and mattresses) were piled in one corner and few clothing belonging to father hung on some nails on the wall.

2015, Heidi Kim, editor, Taken from the Paradise Isle: The Hoshida Family Story, University Press of Colorado, →ISBN:

A thin mattress of tufted cotton or similar material, placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame as a bed.

فُوتُون

thin mattress placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame

A round cushion used for Zen meditation, traditionally made of woven bulrush leaves.

I was 18 years old, sleeping on a futon, cooking on a George Foreman grill and showering at a friend's house every few days.

2011 November 18, Ryan Allis, “From Dumpster Diving to Running a $50 Million Company”, in Time:

A specific kind of sofa-bed, with a fixed cushion that forms a mattress when folded down and a sofa when folded up.


disk

→ Japanese: ディスク (disuku)

→ Korean: 디스크 (diseukeu)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: disk

→ Thai: ดิสก์ (dìt)

→ Turkish: disk

→ Welsh: disg

From Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “a circular plate suited for hurling”), from δικέω (dikéō, “to hurl, to launch”). Doublet of dais, desk, disc, discus, dish, and diskos.

doublet

(computer hardware) Ellipsis of hard disk.


canopy

→ French: canopée (calque)

→ Spanish: canopy

From Middle English canapy, canepie, canapee, canape, canope, from Old French conopé, Medieval Latin canapeum, canopeum, from Latin cōnōpēum (“mosquito net, canopy”), from Ancient Greek κωνωπεῖον (kōnōpeîon, “mosquito net”), from Ancient Greek κώνωψ (kṓnōps, “mosquito”), of uncertain origin. More at Ancient Greek κώνωψ (kṓnōps). Doublet of canapé and conopeum.

der

golden canopies and beds of state

1847, John Dryden, The Works of John Dryden in Verse and Prose, volume 1, Harper, The Beginning of the Second Book of Lucretius:

Platforms would be widened and covered by canopies with heated waiting areas for passengers.

2019 October, “Consultation on University Station designs”, in Modern Railways, page 17:

A high cover providing shelter, such as a cloth supported above an object, particularly over a bed.


lodge

→ Dutch: lodge

From Middle English logge, from Old French loge (“arbour, covered walk-way”), from Frankish *laubijā (“shelter; arbour”), from Proto-West Germanic *laub (“leaf; folliage”) (whence English leaf).
See also (compare cognate Medieval Latin lobia, laubia; also Old High German louba (“porch, gallery”) (German Laube (“bower, arbor”)), Old High German loub (“leaf, foliage”), Old English lēaf (“leaf, foliage”). Doublet of loggia and lobby.

cog

The tribe consists of about two hundred lodges, that is, of about a thousand individuals.

An indigenous American home, such as tipi or wigwam. By extension, the people who live in one such home; a household.

(historical) A family of Native Americans, or the persons who usually occupy an Indian lodge; as a unit of enumeration, reckoned from four to six persons.


lowboy

Possibly from low + French bois (“wood”).

Coordinate term: tallboy

Puffing rhythmically, Jones set one of his beautiful dragon-entwined flambeaux on the low-boy with the gleaming drinks […].

1969, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 38, in Ada, or, Ardor: A Family Chronicle, Harmondsworth, London: Penguin Books, published 1970, →ISBN, part 1, page 195:


dais

From Middle English deis, from Anglo-Norman deis, from Old French deis, dois (modern French dais), from Latin discum, accusative singular of discus (“discus, disc, quoit; dish”) (Late Latin discum (“table”)), from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “discus, disc; tray”), from δικεῖν (dikeîn, “to cast, to throw; to strike”). Cognate with Italian desco, Occitan des. Doublet of desk, disc, discus, dish, disk, and diskos.

doublet

Many of the figures, clad in mail from head to foot, were ranged above the dais; and she could almost fancy a skeleton form beneath, or that wild and fearful eyes glared through the apertures of the closed visors.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 139:

At last we came to the head of the cave, where there was a rock daïs almost exactly similar to the one on which we had been so furiously attacked, a fact that proved to me that these daïs must have been used as altars, probably for the celebration of religious ceremonies, and more especially of rites connected with the interment of the dead. On either side of this daïs were passages leading, Billali informed me, to other caves full of dead bodies.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

Babbitt's party politely edged through them and into the whitewashed room, at the front of which was a dais with a red-plush throne and a pine altar painted watery blue, as used nightly by the Grand Masters and Supreme Potentates of innumerable lodges.

1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 14, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 177:

A dais wife is a woman who sits at a round table with the wives of other men who are seated on the dais. Her husband sits on the dais, raised above the other people in the room, including his wife.

1974 June 10, Julie Baumgold, “The Golden Dais Days of Mary Beame”, in New York, volume 7, number 23, New York, N.Y.: NYM Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33:

The daises of the Northwest Colonnade and the South Temple of the Warriors, the Mercado benches, and the benches of the Southeast Patio of the Iglesia are other instances where large groups of individuals in processions are shown.

1999, Hanns J. Prem, editor, Hidden among the Hills: Maya Archaeology of the Northwest Yucatan Peninsula (Acta Mesoamericana; 7), 2nd edition, Markt Schwaben, Bavaria, Germany: Verlag Anton Saurwein, →ISBN, page 206, column 1:

“We gathered all the people that love you into this one room. And then when we saw all the empty chairs, we decided to drag some randos in off the street to fill them!” [drum plays rim shot] [laughter] “So many illustrious guests here on the dais tonight. And also Colin Robinson.” [rim shot] [laughter] “He got me, I got got.”

2023 August 24, Sarah Naftalis & Lauren Wells, “The Roast” (4:15 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 8, spoken by Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak):

A raised platform in a room for a high table, a seat of honour, a throne, or other dignified occupancy, such as ancestral statues; a similar platform supporting a lectern, pulpit, etc., which may be used to speak from.


sifter

Near-synonym: sieve

A tool for sifting, especially one for powdered cooking ingredients.

He was employed as a sifter.

Any lamellirostral bird, as a duck or goose, so called because it sifts or strains its food from the water and mud by means of the lamellae of the beak.


shower

en-verb

shower (third-person singular simple present showers, present participle showering, simple past and past participle showered)

showers (present singular third-person)
showering (participle present)
showered (participle past)
showered (past)

From Middle English shour, from Old English sċūr, from Proto-West Germanic *skūru, from Proto-Germanic *skūrō, probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱēwer- (“north; north wind; cold wind; rain shower”). Cognate with Dutch schoer, German Schauer, Old Norse skúr, Norwegian skur, Swedish skur.


zester

A kitchen implement used to remove the zest of citrus fruit.


situs

Borrowed from Latin situs (“position, site”). Doublet of site and sitio.

(real estate) The portion of an address comprising street number and street name, such as "3912 Park Drive".


wisp

en-noun

wisp (countable and uncountable, plural wisps)

From Middle English wispe, wyspe, wips, wipse, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *wisp, *wips. Cognate with West Frisian wisp, Dutch wisp (“bundle of hay or straw”), Norwegian bokmål/Swedish/Bornholm Danish visp (“handful or bundle of grass, hay, etc.”). Akin also to Middle Dutch/Middle Low German wispel (“measure of grain”).


compensation

en-noun

compensation (countable and uncountable, plural compensations)

From Middle English compensacioun, from Old French compensacion, from Latin compensātiōnem, accusative singular of compensātiō.

(real estate) An equivalent stipulated for in contracts for the sale of real estate, in which it is customary to provide that errors in description, etc., shall not avoid, but shall be the subject of compensation.


dolly

Welsh: doli

From doll + -y, from the given name Dorothy, originally applied either to a woman or female pet or to a children's toy, and expanded to refer to various types of contrivances or devices. The Online Etymology Dictionary, while considering the reason for applying it to such devices unobvious, compares how the names jack, jenny and jimmy are also applied to devices.

rattaat

term not specific to bridge construction

LAUNDRY.
1 Dolly tub and pegs
2 Mangle
3 Washing machine

1840, R. White (Auctioneer), Sale at Woodhouse Place, near Mansfield. Catalogue of the valuable and useful household furniture [etc.], Third Day's Sale. Wednesday, November 4th, 1840:

In its most common form, the dolly was a four- or five-legged stool attached to an upright handle about three feet long with a crossbar handle at the top.

1986, Patricia Malcolmson, English Laundresses: A Social History, 1850-1930, page 30:

A disc with downward legs and a vertical handle, used for agitating laundry.


dolly

en-verb

dolly (third-person singular simple present dollies, present participle dollying, simple past and past participle dollied)

dollies (present singular third-person)
dollying (participle present)
dollied (participle past)
dollied (past)

(transitive) To wash (laundry) in a tub using the stirring device called a dolly.


dolly

en-adj

dolly (comparative more dolly, superlative most dolly)

more dolly (comparative)
most dolly (superlative)

Disputed. Most scholars derive the term from doll + -y, as Etymology 1, above. Linguist Ian Hancock, however, suggests derivation from Italian dolce (“sweet”).

Divine. Sitting, sipping a tiny drinkette, vadaïng the great butch omis and dolly little palones trolling by, or disporting yourself on the sable plage getting your lallies all bronzed - your riah getting bleached by the soleil.

1967, Kenneth Horne, Bona Bijou Tourettes (Round the Horne), season 3, episode 12:

She minces past the brandy latch / to vada dolly dish for trade, silly / with oomph and taste to park.

2015 October 12, Adam Lowe, “Poem of the week: Vada That”, in The Guardian:


cottage

→ French: cottage

Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman cotage and Medieval Latin cotagium, from Old Northern French cot, cote (“hut, cottage”) + -age (“surrounding property”), from Proto-Germanic *kutan, *kuta- (“shed”), probably of non-Indo-European origin, possibly borrowed from Uralic; compare Finnish kota (“hut, house”) and Hungarian ház (“house”), both from Proto-Finno-Ugric/Proto-Uralic *kota. However, also compare Dutch and English hut.
Old Northern French cote is probably from Old Norse kot (“hut”), cognate of Old English cot of same Proto-Germanic origin.
Slang sense “public toilet” from 19th century, due to resemblance.

Most cottages in the area were larger and more elaborate than my home.

Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”

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

A seasonal home of any size or stature, a recreational home or a home in a remote location.

(Polari) A meeting place for homosexual men.


bail

From Middle English beyle, from Old English bīeġels, from bīeġan + -els.

(furniture) Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail.


settee

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

suf

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

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

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

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

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


housewife

en-noun

housewife (plural housewives or housewifes)

From Middle English houswyf, housewif, huswijf, equivalent to house + wife; a doublet of hussy, which it was long-distinguished with and displaced due to gradual negative connotation (see Online Etymology Dictionary entry). Cognate with German Hausweib.

Coordinate term: househusband

2000, Uli Kusch, "Mr. Torture", Helloween, The Dark Ride
Mr Torture sells pain / To the housewives in Spain / He knows just what they crave / Mr Torture

(plural "housewives") A woman whose main employment is homemaking, maintaining the upkeep of her home and tending to household affairs; often, such a woman whose sole [unpaid] employment is homemaking.


underlet

en-verb

underlet (third-person singular simple present underlets, present participle underletting, simple past and past participle underlet)

underlets (present singular third-person)
underletting (participle present)
underlet (participle past)
underlet (past)

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


laundromat

/ˈlɔːndɹəʊˌmæt/

en:George Edward Pendray
en:laundromat (disambiguation)

Blend of laundry + automatic. From Laundromat, (former) trademark (1940s) of Westinghouse Electric Corporation for its washing machines, coined by Westinghouse publicist George Edward Pendray.

(US, Canada, Australia) A self-service laundry facility with (traditionally) coin-operated (which now may use other per-load payment methods) washing machines, dryers, and sometimes ironing or pressing machines, open to the public for washing clothing and household cloth items.


shack

Unknown. Some authorities derive this word from Mexican Spanish jacal, from Nahuatl xacalli (“adobe hut”).
Alternatively, the word may instead come from ramshackle/ramshackly (e.g., old ramshackly house) or perhaps it may be a back-formation from shackly.

The men resided in a huge bunk house, which consisted of one room only, with a shack outside where the cooking was done. In the large room were a dozen bunks ; half of them in a very dishevelled state, […]

1913, Robert Barr, chapter 6, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:


shack

en-noun

shack (countable and uncountable, plural shacks)

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

(obsolete) Nuts which have fallen to the ground.

(fishing) Bait that can be picked up at sea.


shack

en-adj

shack (comparative more shack, superlative most shack)

more shack (comparative)
most shack (superlative)

From shagged or shagged out, originally British colloquialisms.

I suppose they could not really blame us for feeling so shack after doing PT, drill and other boring lessons in the morning.

1994, C. S. Chong, NS: An Air-Level Story, →ISBN, page 33:

(Singapore, slang) Exhausted, worn out, extremely tired.


launderette

Genericized trademark of Launderette; originally a proprietary name (1940s) of Bendix corporation, from launder + -ette.

A place that has facilities for washing and drying clothes that the public may pay to use.

llavandería

place with facilities for washing that public may use

The distinction is by no means watertight as any 'money launderette' may become a money launderer – and hence be guilty of a money laundering offence – the moment it knowingly engages in a money laundering operation.

2000, Guy Stessens, Money Laundering: A New International Law Enforcement Model, page 133:

From drug money to terrorist finance: the launderette's many different washing cycles

2009, Christine Jojarth, Crime, War, and Global Trafficking, page 140:

This is a stage at which the proceeds of illegal activity are introduced into the financial system and therefore it is the most vulnerable stage in the launderette. Perhaps this is why anti-money laundering measures are concerned about “Know Your Customer Principle.

2015, Ibrahim Abdul Abubakar, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing, page 63:


mansion

→ Japanese: マンション (manshon)

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

der

In my Father's house are many mansions [translating μοναὶ (monaì)]: if it were not so, I would have told you.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John XIV:2:

These poets near our princes sleep, / And in one grave their mansion keep.

1667, John Denham, On Mr Abraham Cowley, his Death, and Burial amongst the Ancient Poets:

The many mansions in one east London house of God.

2003, The Economist, (subtitle), 18 Dec 2003

(chiefly in the plural) An individual habitation or apartment within a large house or group of buildings. (Now chiefly in allusion to John 14:2.)


continental quilt

en-noun

continental quilt (plural continental quilts)

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


splade

A spork that is sharp along one edge or both edges, enabling it to be used as a knife, a fork and a spoon.


paddle

paddle (countable and uncountable, plural paddles)

→ Danish: paddel, padle

Partly from the verb paddle ("to splash, dabble"; see below) and partly from Middle English padell (“small spade”).
Middle English padell is from Medieval Latin padela, itself of uncertain origin: perhaps an alteration of Middle English *spaddle (see also spaddle), a diminutive of spade; or from Latin patella (“pan, plate”), the diminutive of patina, or a merger of the two. Compare Ancient Greek πηδάλιον (pēdálion, “rudder, steering oar”), derived from πηδός (pēdós, “the blade of an oar; an oar”).

cog

(video games, dated) A game controller with a round wheel used to control player movement along one axis of the video screen.


paddle

en-verb

paddle (third-person singular simple present paddles, present participle paddling, simple past and past participle paddled)

paddles (present singular third-person)
paddling (participle present)
paddled (participle past)
paddled (past)


spork

Blend of spoon + fork; originally a trademark.

An eating utensil shaped like a spoon, the bowl of which is divided into tines like those of a fork, and so has the function of both implements; some sporks have a serrated edge so they can also function as a knife.


desk

→ Irish: deasc

→ Welsh: desg

From Middle English deske, desque, from Medieval Latin desca, modified from Old Italian desco, from Latin discus. Doublet of dais, disc, discus, dish, disk, and diskos. See also German Tisch, "table".

doublet

A reading table or lectern to support the book from which the liturgical service is read, differing from the pulpit from which the sermon is preached; also (especially in the United States), a pulpit. Hence, used symbolically for the clerical profession.


vacuum cleaner

desc

वैक्युम क्लीनर

→ Hindi: वैक्युम क्लीनर (vaikyum klīnar)

→ Irish: folúsghlantóir (calque)

ویکیوم کلینر

→ Urdu: ویکیوم کلینر (vaikyūm kilīnar)

A domestic or industrial mobile machine for cleaning floors and similar surfaces that draws dust and other particles into a container (a cyclonic type bin, or a filter bag) by the suction created by an electric motor driving a fan.


hovel

From Middle English hovel, hovil, hovylle, diminutive of *hove, *hof (“structure, building, house”), from Old English hof (“an enclosure, court, dwelling, house”), from Proto-Germanic *hufą (“hill, farm”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (“arch, bend, buckle”), equivalent to howf + -el. Compare Middle High German hobel (“cover, lid, covered wagon”). Cognate with Dutch hof (“garden, court”), German Hof (“yard, garden, court, palace”), Icelandic hof (“temple, hall”). Related to hove and hover.

cog

'Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by that kiss I give to thee dominion over sea and earth, over the peasant in his hovel, over the monarch in his palace halls, and cities crowned with towers, and those who breathe therein.'

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.

1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:

I have to say it again, my Dearest Friend. What a wonderful Comedown for the Godhead! What a wonderful Comeuppance for Humankind! That’s because You, Lord God, Creator, Bellows Maker of All That Breathes, deigned to come to my hovel of a soul; once there, to fatten up the leanness of my soul with the plumpitude of Your Sacrament; that’s to say, with the plenitude of Your Divinity and Humanity.

2000, Thomas à Kempis, “[The Sacrament of the Altar: How to Prepare for It & What It Tastes Like] Frequency”, in William Griffin, transl., The Imitation of Christ: How Jesus Wants Us to Live […] A Contemporary Version, HarperSanFrancisco, →ISBN, page 238:

(derogatory) A poor cottage; a small, mean house; a hut.


flatmate

huisgenoot

a person with whom one shares a rental property

Yet when both Regine and her flatmate are at home they tend to spend their time in their rooms, although Regine (and probably the flatmate too) tends to spend more time in the communal areas of the flat when the other is not at home.

2002, Elaine Lally, At Home with Computers, page 149:

“So, it would probably [be] best if we could find another flatmate and go for a flat of five, and if old Chip does pull out, at least we can then drop down to a flat of four. What do you reckon?”

2007, C. N. Barton, The Cambridge Diaries: A Tale of Friendship, Love and Economics, page 121:

Kamal moved Fathi′s things into his own room, and the two became flatmates.
The apartment in which Kamal lived was spacious, with several large rooms and various flatmates.

2011, Ghada Osman, A Journey in Islamic Thought: The Life of Fathi Osman, page 63:

It had been weeks since all the flatmates had sat down together for a meal. Communication was breaking down. Written notes had begun to appear all over the house; please don′t touch this food, I bought it especially for Hermione[…].

1993, Beryl Fletcher, The Iron Mouth, page 190:

One night, one of the flatmates (the one who owned the house) was ranting and raving all night about her girlfriend.

2003, Jen Birch, Congratulations! It′s Asperger Syndrome, page 51:

The position may have been different when your client was living in the house with the flatmates.

2007, CCH New Zealand, Top 100 Questions and Answers on Taxing Land Transactions, page 97:

(UK, Ireland, New Zealand) A person with whom one shares any rental dwelling, not necessarily a flat.


roommate

→ Japanese: ルームメイト (rūmumeito)

→ Japanese: ルームメート (rūmumēto)

→ Korean: 룸메이트 (rummeiteu)

I live with Marsha. We’re roommates.
Audio (US): (file)

2016, “Learning English (public domain)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 2017-09-18

(US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Canada) A person sharing the same home albeit not the same room (but generally not a family member or spouse).


pension

From French pension, from Old French pencion, as etymology 1 above. Doublet of pensione.

A pension had somewhat less to offer than a hotel; it was always smaller, and never elegant; it sometimes offered breakfast, and sometimes not

1978, John Irving, The World According to Garp:

A boarding house or small hotel, especially in continental Europe, which typically offers lodging and certain meals and services.


clothesline

Coordinate term: clotheshorse

Hang this towel out on the clothesline for me.

A rope or cord tied up outdoors to hang clothes on so they can dry.

A structure with multiple cords for the same purpose, such as a Hills hoist.

(Canada, US, informal) The act of knocking a person over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.


clothesline

en-verb

clothesline (third-person singular simple present clotheslines, present participle clotheslining, simple past and past participle clotheslined)

clotheslines (present singular third-person)
clotheslining (participle present)
clotheslined (participle past)
clotheslined (past)

The referee called a personal foul, when he clotheslined the running back.

One beast jams out its arm, as if to clothesline me, jagged claws poised to take my head off at the neck. I let my feet fall from under me, throwing my legs forward, praying for some momentum, ducking and sliding, a mad limbo to freedom.

2014, Jonathan Wood, No Hero, Titan Books, →ISBN:

"I turned around and the next thing I was taken out by this big guy. I'm not sure if he punched me or clothes-lined me," he said.

2014 February 21, “Ear-bite actor Clive Mantle was like 'big monster', court told”, in BBC News:

(Canada, US, informal, transitive) To knock (a person) over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.


besom

From Middle English besme, beseme, from Old English besma, besema (“besom, broom, rod”), from Proto-West Germanic *besmō (“broom”).

"The march of an army through a conquered country supposing it to be a highly civilized one, is a besom of destruction, whose havoc, moral and material, it would take at least a century to recover."

1851, “A Few Words about War and the Peace Congress.”, in Littell’s Living Age, volume 28, page 364:


wheelchair

→ Persian: ویلچر (vilčer)

"And there are aspirations that we must rightly meet - people travelling in a wheelchair should be able to get on and off the train."

2021 January 13, Paul Clifton, “Island Line bids farewell to 1930s "icon of transport"...”, in Rail, page 9:

A chair mounted on large wheels for the transportation or use of a sick or disabled person.


shelter

From Middle English sheltron, sheldtrume (“roof or wall formed by locked shields”), from Old English sċildtruma, sċyldtruma (“a phalanx, company (of troops), a tortoise, a covering, shed, shelter”, literally “shield-troop”), from sċyld, sċield (“shield”) + truma (“a troop of soldiers”). Cognate with Scots schilthrum, schiltrum. More at shield, and Old English trymman (“to strengthen”), from trum (“strong, firm”) at trim.

An institution that provides temporary housing for homeless people, battered women, etc.


dormitory

From Middle English dormitory, dormytory, dormytorye, borrowed from Latin dormītōrium (“a sleeping-room”), from dormiō (“to sleep”). Doublet of dorter.

She will be much more likely to meet his wishes after a residence at the castle, than an imprisonment on short commons in her dormitory in Welbeck Street; for in one case she only learnt how much she could endure, in the other she will find how much she can enjoy.

1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 150–151:

A room containing a number of beds (and often some other furniture and/or utilities) for sleeping, often applied to student and backpacker accommodation of this kind.

dorm

room for sleeping, or a building with such rooms

A building or part of a building which houses students, soldiers, monks etc. who sleep there and use communal further facilities.


homeless shelter

en-noun

homeless shelter (plural homeless shelters)

A building set up to provide for the needs of homeless people; often including shelter, food, sanitation and other forms of support.

asunnottomien asuntola

building to provide shelter for homeless — see also night shelter

A sanctuary for the temporary housing of domesticated animals without a home.


front foot

Land is frequently sold by the front foot or by the square foot of land area.

2002, Ralph Tamper, Mastering Real Estate Mathematics, page 109:

Figures represent value of corners, for lot of average width and depth, in dollars per front foot.

2021, Richard M. Hurd, Principles of City Land Values:

(real estate) The width, in feet, of the front of a property.


flipper

From flip + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Flappert (“flipper, wing”).

cog

Remember the mornings when you help me fix eggs and pancakes for breakfast. You always had to use the “flipper” to turn the pancakes and eggs.

2009, Amy J. Yowell, The Silent Cry, page 161:


whisk

From Middle English whisk, borrowed from Old Norse visk, from Proto-Germanic *wiskaz, *wiskō (“bundle of hay, wisp”), from Proto-Indo-European *weys-.
Cognates
Danish visk, Dutch wis, German Wisch, Latin virga (“rod, switch”), viscus (“entrails”), Lithuanian vizgéti (“to tremble”), Czech věchet (“wisp of straw”), Sanskrit वेष्क (veṣka, “noose”).
Compare also Old English wiscian (“to plait”), granwisc (“awn”).
The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound; compare the same development in whip and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh.

He used a whisk to whip up a light and airy souffle.

A kitchen utensil, now usually made from stiff wire loops fixed to a handle (and formerly of twigs), used for whipping (or a mechanical device with the same function).


gunyah

Borrowed from Dharug gunya (“shelter”), first recorded 1803.

The following day we reached the main creek ; and knowing where there was a fine water-hole and native gunyahs, we went there, intending to save what was left of our flour and dried meat, for the purpose of making another attempt to reach Mount Hopeless.

1861, Robert O'Hara Burke, William John Wills, The Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition: An Account of the Crossing the Continent of Australia from Coopers Creek to Carpentaria, page 4:

Still standing as he was, some seconds later he chuckled again to see her pass like a flash from the jungle to the gunyah. But in spite of chuckling he was afraid to advance; indeed he even avoided staring at the gunyah; and though the desire to play the faun to this nymph was in his heart, thought of flight was uppermost in his mind.

1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, unnumbered page:

We lived in humpies, or gunyahs, that the men built from tree branches, bark and leaves. Gum resin held them together. We would sleep inside the gunyahs, us children arguing for the warm place closest to Mama, a place usually kept for the youngest children.

1994, Rita Huggins, Jackie Huggins, Auntie Rita, page 8:

(Australia) A traditional Aboriginal dwelling made of bark and sticks.


sink

a bathroom sink sink (canonical)
sinks (plural)

From Middle English synken, from Old English sincan, from Proto-West Germanic *sinkwan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to fall, sink”).
Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English senċan (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijaną.

der

transportation network
transportation network

(graph theory) A destination vertex in a transportation network.


condominium

en-noun

condominium (plural condominiums or condominia)

condominiums (plural)
condominia (plural)

condominium
condominium (international law)

gemeenschappelijk bestuurd gebied of eigendom

համատիրության մեջ ընդգրկված շենք

building in which each unit is owned by an individual, but the grounds is owned jointly

building waarbij iedere flat individuele eigendom is maar de gronden gemeenschappelijk

(US, Canada, Philippines) A building or complex of buildings that provides multiple residential units each of which is owned separately but whose grounds, structure, etc. (if any) are owned jointly.

(US, Canada, Philippines) The system of ownership by which such condominiums operate.

համատիրություն

the system of ownership by which such condominiums operate

(US, Canada, Philippines) An individual unit (such as an apartment) in such a complex.


wringer

From Middle English wringere, equivalent to wring + -er.

A device for drying laundry consisting of two rollers between which the wet laundry is squeezed (or wrung); a mangle.


ulu

en-adj

ulu (comparative more ulu, superlative most ulu)

more ulu (comparative)
most ulu (superlative)

Sembawang Park is considered to be one of the country's most ulu spots because of its comparative isolation, and it was almost empty.

2007, Neil Humphreys, Complete Notes from Singapore: The Omnibus Edition, page 157:

Just pretend you're walking in a more ulu part of Botanic Gardens.

2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene xii, page 51:

(colloquial, Singapore) Remote; deserted


covers

It's time to get under the covers!

The bedclothes; collectively, the sheets, blankets, etc.


sarcophagus

en-noun

sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses or (rare) sarcophagusses)

sarcophagi (plural)
sarcophaguses (plural)
sarcophagusses (plural rare)

/sɑːˈkɒfəɡəs/

/sɑɹˈkɑfəɡəs/

/sɑːˈkɒfəɡaɪ/

/sɑɹˈkɑfəɡaɪ/

Assos
Chernobyl New Safe Confinement
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
Egyptian Museum
Frankfurt Main Cemetery
Franz Adickes

The noun is borrowed from Latin sarcophagus (“grave; sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”), from Ancient Greek σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος (sarkophágos, “sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”) (so named from λῐ́θος σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος (líthos sarkophágos, literally “flesh-eating stone”) a type of limestone found at Assos in Troas (now Behramkale, Turkey) thought to consume the flesh of corpses, and thus used to make coffins), from σαρκός (sarkós) (the genitive form of σάρξ (sárx, “flesh; body”), from Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- (“to carve; to cut off, trim”)) + -φάγος (-phágos, suffix meaning ‘eater (of); eating’) (from ἔφαγον (éphagon, “to devour, eat”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- (“to allot, distribute; to divide”)).
The plural form sarcophagi is borrowed from Latin sarcophagī.
The verb is derived from the noun.

ref

From the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt.

nb...

Containing Numerous Designs for Dwellings, from the Cottage to the Villa, Including Farm Houses, Farmeries, and Other Agricultural Buildings; Several Designs for Country Inns, Public Houses, and Parochial Schools; with the Requisite Fittings-up, Fixtures, and Furniture; and Appropriate Offices, Gardens, and Garden Scenery; Each Design Accompanied by Analytical and Critical Remarks, Illustrative of the Principles of Architectural Science and Taste of which It is Composed. 􂀿...􂁀 Illustrated by More than Two Thousand Engravings; the Designs by Upwards of Fifty Different Architects, Surveyors, Builders, Upholsterers, Cabinet-makers, Landscape-gardeners, and Others, of whom a List is Given. A New Edition, with Numerous Corrections, and with Many of the Plates Re-engraved.

at the Architectural Library, High Holborn.

ref

From J[ohn] C[laudius] Loudon (1839) “Of the Furniture of Villas”, in An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture; […], new edition, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, and sold by John Weale, […], →OCLC, book III (Designs for Villas, with Various Degrees of Accommodation, and in Different Styles of Architecture), figure 1873, page 1045.

der

Near unto Aſſos, a citie in Troas, there is found in the quarries a certaine ſtone called Sarcophagus, vvhich runneth in a direct veine, and is apt to be cloven and ſo cut out of the rocke by flakes: The reaſon of the name is this, becauſe that vvithin the ſpace of fortie daies it is knovvne for certain to conſume the bodies of the dead vvhich are beſtovved therein, skin, fleſh, and bone, all ſave the teeth.

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXVI.] Of Certaine Stones which will Quickly Consume the Bodies that be Laid therein. Of Others Againe that Preserve Them a Long Time. Of the Stone Called Assius, and the Medicinable Properties thereof.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 587:

His Entrails are like the Sarcophagus, that devours dead Bodies in a ſmall Space, […]

a. 1681 (date written), Samuel Butler, “A Glutton”, in R[obert] Thyer, editor, The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose of Mr. Samuel Butler, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1759, →OCLC, page 461:

(obsolete except Ancient Greece, historical) A kind of limestone used by the Ancient Greeks for coffins, so called because it was thought to consume the flesh of corpses.


pillow

en-noun

pillow (countable and uncountable, plural pillows)

→ Maori: pera

From Middle English pilwe, from Old English pylwe, pylu, pyle (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *pulwī (“pillow”), from Latin pulvīnus (“cushion”), derived from pulvis (“dust, powder”) + -īnus (“-ine”), for the filler of a pillow. Doublet of pulvinus.

suf

The appearance of the entire tomb is as if the warrior had seen the vision of Christ in his dying moments, and had fallen back peacefully upon his pillow, with his eyes still turned to it, and his hands clasped in prayer.

1853, John Ruskin, “Roman Renaissance”, in The Stones of Venice, volume III (The Fall), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § LVII, page 74:

A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.

ахчы

Any similar head support used for sleep, such as a neck pillow or a hard porcelain pillow.

(engineering) A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.

(nautical) A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.


householder

From Middle English housholdere, equivalent to household + -er. The Buddhist sense is a semantic loan from Pali gahapati (literally “house-master”).

semantic loan

towns in which almost every householder was an English Protestant

1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 12, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:


housing

en-noun

housing (countable and uncountable, plural housings)

From Middle English housynge, housinge, from housen (“to house, shelter; receive into one's house”), equivalent to house + -ing. Cognate with Scots housing (“housing”); compare Dutch huizing, behuizing (“housing”), Low German husing, hüsing (“housing”), German Behausung (“housing”).

She lives in low-income housing.


tableware

tableware (countable and uncountable, plural tablewares)

The cutlery, crockery and glassware used in setting a table for a meal.


bagwash

(historical) A type of laundry in which the washing was returned to the customer in a bag, undried and unpressed.


crockery

crockery (usually uncountable, plural crockeries)

From crocker (“(obsolete) potter”) + -ery (suffix with the sense ‘a class, group, or collection of’ forming nouns). Crocker is derived from crock (“earthenware or stoneware jar or storage container”) + -er (suffix attached to nouns indicating persons whose occupations are indicated by the nouns); crock is from Middle English crok, crokke (“earthenware jar, pot, or other container; cauldron; belly, stomach”) [and other forms], from Old English crocc, crocca (“crock, pot, vessel”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *krukkō, *krukkô (“vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *growg- (“vessel”).

suffix

Dishes, plates, and similar tableware collectively, usually made of some ceramic material, used for serving food on and eating from.

breekware

dishes, plates, and other tableware, usually made of some ceramic material used for serving food on and eating it from


household

From Middle English houshold, equivalent to house + hold. Cognate with Scots houshald, housald, housell, howsell (“household”), Dutch huishouden (“household”) (earlier huishoud), German Low German Huushollen (“household”) (Middle Low German hūsholt), German Haushalt (“household”), Swedish hushåll (“household, family”), Norwegian husholdning (“household”).

cog

Legal or culturally determined unit of people living together.


vanity

en-noun

vanity (countable and uncountable, plural vanities)

From va(i)n + -ity, from Middle English vanite, from Old French vanité, from Latin vānitas, from vānus, whence English vain. Doublet of vanitas.

A washbasin installed into a permanently fixed storage unit, used as an item of bathroom furniture.


spatula

spatula (plural spatulas or spatulae or spatulæ)

spatulas (plural)
spatulae (plural)
spatulæ (plural)

/ˈspæt͡ʃʊlə/

/ˈspæt͡ʃələ/

Borrowed from Latin spatula (“a flat piece”), the diminutive form of spatha (“broad or flat tool”), from Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē, “a broad wood or metal blade”). Doublet of spauld; compare spatha and spathe.

der

(cooking) A kitchen utensil consisting of a flat surface attached to a long handle, used for turning, lifting, or stirring food.


dressing table

A low table or chest of drawers with a mirror at which one sits while dressing, applying makeup or similar tasks.

مِزْيَنَة

low table equipped with mirror for dressing and makeup


cabinet

From cabin + -et, influenced by French cabinet.
In sense of “a government group”, compare salon, also named for a room used to gather.

‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

The upright assembly that houses a coin-operated arcade game, a cab.

The executive branch of Kentucky state government is structured on a program cabinet system consisting of 14 program cabinets, each headed by a secretary, who is appointed by the Governor. The program cabinets listed below and the agencies within each cabinet are designated in the statutes.

2003, A Handbook for Gubernatorial Transition in Kentucky, Legislative Research Commission, page 49:

(politics, often capitalized) In parliamentary and some other systems of government, the group of ministers responsible for creating government policy and for overseeing the departments comprising the executive branch.

(Kentucky) A cabinet-level agency in the executive branch; that is, an agency headed by a member of the governor's cabinet.

cabinet agency

One of Rhode Island's most famous beverages is the Awful Awful, an enormous 32-ounce, rich, creamy milk shake sold at the Newport Creamery stores, a soda fountain and casual restaurant chain. This ultra-thick cabinet is "awful big and awful good," thus the name.

2012, Linda Beaulieu, Providence & Rhode Island Cookbook: Big Recipes from the Smallest State, page 268:

Hearken a while from thy green cabinet, / The rural song of careful Colinet.

1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “December. Ægloga Duodecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:

(obsolete) A hut; a cottage; a small house.


cooker

→ Welsh: cwcer

From cook + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (patient suffix) (apple; one who is cooked).

For the British market, apples are classed as early, mid-season, or late, and subdivided into eaters or cookers.

2004, Laura Mason, Food Culture in Great Britain, page 94:


hooch

Borrowed from Japanese 家(うち) (uchi, “house”).

Burn the hooches.

2022 December 6, Avatar: The Way of Water, spoken by Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang):

(Vietnam War-era military slang) A thatched hut, CHU, or any simple dwelling.


armchair

/ˈɑː(ɹ)mtʃɛə(ɹ)/

Meronym: arm

There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker arm-chairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had also emerged some Indian clubs,[…]; and all these articles[…]made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 184:

[…] when he suddenly saw Piglet sitting in his best arm-chair, he could only stand there rubbing his head and wondering whose house he was in.

1928, A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner:

A chair with supports for the arms or elbows.

leunstoel

a chair with supports for the arms or elbows


armchair

/ˈɑː(ɹ)mtʃɛə(ɹ)/

armchair travels

These days I'm an armchair detective.

Armchair tourists who are used to travelling the globe with Google Earth can now use the same technology to crawl all over the masterpieces in one of the world's most famous galleries: the Prado.

2009 January 13, Giles Tremlett, “Google Earth brings masterpieces from Prado museum direct to armchair art lovers”, in The Guardian:

My point here is not that these new armchair soldiers are to be criticized for failing in their moral responsibilities. My point is rather that while drones are to be applauded for keeping these soldiers out of harm’s way physically, we would do well to remember that they do not keep them out of harm’s way morally or psychologically.

2013 March 17, John Kaag, “Drones, Ethics and the Armchair Soldier”, in New York Times Opinionator:

E-petitions have turned us all into armchair activists, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

2015 April 11, Bridget Christie, “We’re a nation of armchair activists – what’s wrong with that?”, in The Guardian:

Armchair Investigators at Front of British Inquiry Into Spy Poisoning [title]

2018 October 9, Michael Schwirtz, Ellen Barry, “Armchair Investigators at Front of British Inquiry Into Spy Poisoning”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(figuratively) Remote from actual involvement, including a person retired from previously active involvement.

He's just an armchair lawyer who thinks he knows a lot about the law because he reads a legal blog.

After the game, the armchair quarterbacks talked about what they would have done differently to win.

If and when Ms. Cheney decides to marry, it will be interesting to see who offers best wishes, who offers armchair psychoanalysis, and who minds his own business.

2005 April 17, Patrick D. Healy, “Gay Republicans Soldier On, One Skirmish at a Time”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Judith Collins, who is New Zealand's first female defence minister, said she was appalled to see a "deeply concerning misogynistic narrative" online from "armchair admirals, people who will never have to make decisions which mean life or death for their subordinates".

2024 November 10, “New Zealand defence minister says a navy ship didn't sink because its captain was a woman”, in Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

(figuratively, derogatory) Unqualified or uninformed but yet giving advice, especially on technical issues, such as law, architecture, medicine, military theory, or sports; relating to such advice.


armchair

en-verb

armchair (third-person singular simple present armchairs, present participle armchairing, simple past and past participle armchaired)

armchairs (present singular third-person)
armchairing (participle present)
armchaired (participle past)
armchaired (past)

/ˈɑː(ɹ)mtʃɛə(ɹ)/

Research for program's subject matter is like mining gold. The more raw material we have, the more likely we are going to find gold nuggets. But this step is often overlooked and a program is "armchaired" from the office of the vice-president or vice-president of sales.

1966, Sales Management - Volume 97, Issues 8-14, page 31:

The very serious question is then raised as to whether reasonable and logical distractors can be "armchaired" or whether the practice of administering a question in open-end format to obtain logical distractors is a better procedure.

1970, Carmen J. Finley, Frances S. Berdie, The national assessment approach to exercise development, page 84:

We think it makes sense to generate interventions empirically by finding out how couples deal with conflict, rather than by armchairing interventions.

1976, John Mordechai Gottman, A couple's guide to communication, page xxv:

MBTI has four different variables, each of which has two possible values. This could be interpreted as an implicit claim that there are four dimensions to personality, and only two types of personality within each dimension. And Myers and Briggs had no basis on which to make such a claim and just sort of armchaired it. Interpreted that way, the theory is pseudoscientific and dumb.

2014 May 27, Scott Alexander, “On Types Of Typology”, in Slate Star Codex:

To create based on theory or general knowledge rather than data.

In past years, we administered this questionnaire and gave the results to the president who sat at a conference table with top management and armchaired some answers.

1968, Daniel C. Pfannstiel, Barbara H. Matthews, Cooperative extension organization and administration:

Briefly it may be stated: Operations come first; concepts follow; theory aims at developing concepts, from operations, plus a nomological network for those concepts, which explains the structure of the data obtained through those operations. And this does not exclude the theorist from doing some 'armchairing' in thinking about logically consistent models, their empirical pentialities, their assumptions and their implications; he may, and usually will, venture some possible empirical interpretations of a model, but in doing so he will carefully avoid any substantive (nonformal) pre-operational definition of a concept or construct.

1976, Dato N De Gruijter, Leo J. Th. van der Kamp, Advances in Psychological and Educational Measurement, page 113:

Even before the Glasses had arrived in New Guinea, two American anthropologists at Tulane University, Ann and J. L. Fischer, had armchaired a connection between kuru and cannibalism by working their way through the findings of a team of anthropologists who had studied the Fore in the early 1950s, Ronald and Catherine Berndt, as well as the many papers on kuru that Gajdusek, Zigas and various Australian investigators had published.

To theorize based on analysis of data that was gathered previously; to reflect.


MLS

en-noun

MLS (countable and uncountable, plural MLSs)

multiple listing service
w:multiple listing service

(US, real estate) Initialism of multiple listing service.


GFE

GFE (countable and uncountable, plural GFEs)

(Google): Introduced by sex columnist Dan Savage.

As usual, that broker's GFE was off by more than 30% from the final cost.

(real estate) Initialism of good-faith estimate.


divan

Borrowed from French, from Ottoman Turkish دیوان (divan), from Iranian Persian دیوان (divân), from Classical Persian دیوان (dēwān), from Middle Persian d(p)ywʾn' (dēwān, “archive, collected writings”), from Sumerian 𒁾 (dub). Compare mattress, from Arabic (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans). Doublet of dewan, douane, and diwaniya.

der

Eurydice pointed to the cupboard, and sat down on the low divan with folded hands, and looked at the floor.

1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 20, in Friday's Business:

A couch or sofa-like piece of furniture made of a mattress lying against the wall and on either the floor or an elevated structure.


bread knife

A knife, with a serrated edge, designed to cut bread; sometimes slots into a breadboard.


hassock

From Old English hassoc, of uncertain origin.

At the next service he found a flower on his hassock and a highly suggestive Catholic bookmarker tucked into his hymn-book.

1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 357:

A cushion used primarily in churches for kneeling on while praying.


ottoman

en-noun

ottoman (countable and uncountable, plural ottomans)

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

From Ottoman in the early 19th century; so named because reclining on a couch was associated with Middle Eastern customs.

In the middle of the room there is a big ottoman; and this, with the carpet, the Morris wall-papers, and the Morris chintz window curtains and brocade covers of the ottoman and its cushions, supply all the ornament, and are much too handsome to be hidden by odds and ends of useless things.

1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act III, page 144:

(furniture) An upholstered sofa, without arms or a back, sometimes with a compartment for storing linen etc.

This ottoman is set on casters, and is a great convenience for holding articles, while serving also as a seat.

1869, Catherine E. Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The American Woman’s Home:

(furniture) A low stool or thick cushion used to rest the feet or as a seat.


footstool

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

In Christianity, the world is called the footstool of Christ; in this Sumerian vision, the awakened body would be called the bed of the Queen of Heaven.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 183:

A low stool for supporting the feet while seated.


turner

From Middle English turner, torner, tornere, turnere, turnare, equivalent to turn + -er. Also from Middle English turnour, tornour, tournour, turnoure, from Old French tornour, tourneour, tourneur, tornëor (“one who fashions something by turning”).

A kitchen utensil used for turning food.


swab

Mid 17th century (in the sense 'mop for cleaning the decks'): back-formation from Middle English swabber (“sailor detailed to swab decks”), from Middle Dutch zwabber, from a Germanic base meaning 'splash' or 'sway', also found as nautical German Schwabber and Volga German Schwabber ("scrubber, mop, swab")

der

(medicine) A small piece of soft, absorbent material, such as gauze, used to clean wounds, apply medicine, or take samples of body fluids. Often attached to a stick or wire to aid access.

тампон

a small piece of soft, absorbent material

A piece of material used for cleaning or sampling other items like musical instruments or guns.


wooden spoon

(US, university slang, dated) The lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially popular in his class, without reference to scholarship. Formerly, it was a custom for classmates to present to this person a wooden spoon with formal ceremonies.


salt shaker

A small container designed to hold salt and facilitate sprinkling it on food for seasoning purposes.


sweeper

From Middle English swepere, swepare, equivalent to sweep + -er. Cognate with Middle Low German swēpære, swēper (“broom for sweeping up debris”).

(regional, including Cebu) A group of students tasked at cleaning the homeroom after class dismissal.


orphanage

en-noun

orphanage (countable and uncountable, plural orphanages)

/ˈɔː(ɹ)fənɪd͡ʒ/

Attested since the 1570s; orphan + -age.

A residential institution for the care and protection of orphans.

jetimore

a residential institution for the care and protection of orphans

(obsolete) Orphanhood; the state of being an orphan.


washing machine

washing machine (plural washing machines)

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

A machine, usually automatic, that washes clothes, etc.


washstand

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

(furniture) A table containing a basin and a pitcher of water for washing.


highchair

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

An elevated chair, often including a built-in tray, used for feeding babies and toddlers.


bolster

From Middle English bolster, bolstre, from Old English bolster (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *bolstr, from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz (“pillow, cushion”). Cognate with Scots bowster (“bolster”), West Frisian bulster (“mattress”), Dutch bolster (“husk, shell”), German Polster (“bolster, pillow, pad”), Swedish bolster (“soft mattress, bolster”), Icelandic bólstur (“pillow”).

cog

And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster, / This way the coverlet, another way the sheets.

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

["]Don't you know how [Joseph Mallord William] Turner spoils his pictures by introducing a man like a bolster in the foreground? Well, in actual life every landscape is spoilt by men of worse shapes still." / "You sound like a bolster with the stuffing out." They laughed.

1907 April, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter VII, in The Longest Journey, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I (Cambridge), page 88:

A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.


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.


sponge bath

A type of bathing, usually conducted in hospitals, which involves washing someone with a sponge. Usually the person being washed is bed-ridden.


boatswain's chair

en-noun

boatswain's chair (plural boatswain's chairs)

(nautical) A short board or other seating, secured in a bridle of ropes, used to hoist a man aloft or over the ship’s side for painting and similar work.

puosuntuoli

rope and board for painting side of ship


fee simple

Sir, for a Cardceue he will ſell the fee-ſimple of his ſaluation, the inheritance of it, and cut th’ intaile from all remainders, and a perpetuall ſucceſsion for it perpetually.

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 248, column 2:

It had never occurred to me that a parson has no fee-simple in the house and glebe he occupies.

1787, William Cowper, letter, 19 October

(law) The private ownership of property (real estate) in which the owner has the right to control, use, and transfer the property at will.

永久產權

The rights and privileges of private ownership of property particularly real estate

fee simple subject to condition subsequent

fee simple subject to executory interest

fee simple subject to executory limitation


whirlpool

From earlier whirlpoole, whirlpole, apparently from Middle English *whirlpole, potentially coalescing Old English hwierfel (“whirlpool”) and Old English hwierfepōl (“whirlpool”). Equivalent to whirl + pool. Cognate with Scots quhirlepole, whirle-pule (“whirlpool”). Compare also English whirlpit.
Eclipsed non-native Middle English gurges (“whirlpool”), borrowed from Latin gurges (“whirlpool”).

The meatloaf has been cooking in the oven for the last hour and should be ready just about the time George climbs out of the whirlpool.

1995, Orange Coast Magazine, volume 21, number 6, page 56:


leasehold

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

term of years absolute
term of years absolute

(property law) Of an estate in land, held for a term of years absolute by a lessee or tenant.


freehold

freehold (countable and uncountable, plural freeholds)

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

(property law) Real property held by a tenure of this type.


dwelling

From Middle English dwellynge, dwellyng (“delay, continuance, abode”). More at dwell.

The old house served as a dwelling for Albert.

For Philip's dwelling fronted on the street, / The latest house to landward; but behind, / With one small gate that open'd on the waste, / Flourish'd a little garden square and wall'd; [...]

1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Enoch Arden”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 40:

He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.

1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword: The Turk Street Mile”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 9:

A house or place in which a person lives; a habitation, a home.


trivet

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English trevet, from Old English trefet, borrowed from Latin tripēs, tripedis (“tripod”).

They collected wood and built back the fire and they fetched rocks to make a trivet and there they set the bucket to boil.

A stand with three short legs, especially for cooking over a fire.


cauldron

From Middle English caudroun, borrowed from Old Northern French caudron, ultimately from Late Latin caldāria (“cooking-pot”), from Latin caldus (“hot”). Spelling later Latinized by having an l inserted. See chowder, caldera.
The military sense is a semantic loan from German Kessel; compare English kettling.

Double, double, toile and trouble; / Fire burne, and Cauldron bubble.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2:

[…] I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses … […]

1997, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Raincoast Books, →ISBN, page 102:

Large cauldrons are a little tricky to locate, but are well worth the search if you have a place to safely store and use one.

2004, Carl Neal, The Magick Toolbox: The Ultimate Compendium for Choosing and Using Ritual Implements and Magickal Tools, Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC, →ISBN:

A large bowl-shaped pot used for boiling over an open flame.


stool

stool (countable and uncountable, plural stools)

From Middle English stool, stole, stol, from Old English stōl (“chair, seat, throne”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōl, from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz (“chair”) (compare West Frisian stoel, Dutch stoel, German Stuhl, Swedish/Norwegian/Danish stol, Finnish tuoli, Estonian tool), from Proto-Indo-European *stoh₂los (compare Lithuanian stálas, Russian стол (stol, “table”), Russian стул (stul, “chair”), Serbo-Croatian stol (“table”), Slovene stol (“chair”), Albanian kështallë (“crutch”), Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “block of stone used as a prop or buttress to a wall”)), from *steh₂- (“to stand”). More at stand.
The medical use derives from sense 2 (seat used for defecation).

cog

A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.

(now chiefly dialectal, Scotland, literally and figuratively) A throne.


bedclothes

From Middle English bedclothys, plural of Middle English bedcloth, bedclothe, bedde clothe (“bed-cloth, bedding”), from Old English bedclāþ, beddclāþ (“coverlet, blanket, bedding, bedclothes”), equivalent to bed + clothes.

She pulled the bedclothes over her neck to stay warm.

When she was little and I went to see her in bed, I often thought she wasn't there. She lay so neatly and so straight, without a ruckle and with her head just under the top of the bedclothes.

2013, Candida Lycett Green, Over The Hills And Far Away, →ISBN:

Sheets, blankets, quilts or other coverings used on a bed.


bedding

en-noun

bedding (countable and uncountable, plural beddings)

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

Hire of bedding, and food in the restaurant cars is cheap, and passengers are officially encouraged not to tip company's servants—but they do.

1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:

The textiles associated with a bed, e.g., sheets, pillowcases, bedspreads, blankets, etc.

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

(geology) A structure occurring in granite and similar massive rocks that allows them to split in well-defined planes horizontally or parallel to the land surface.

cisealú

geology: structure occurring in massive rocks that allows them to split in parallel horizontal planes

(horticulture) The temporary planting of fast-growing plants into flower beds to create colourful, temporary, seasonal displays, during spring, summer or winter.


residential

en-adj

residential (comparative more residential, superlative most residential)

more residential (comparative)
most residential (superlative)

/ˌrɛzɪˈdɛnʃəl/

There is a residential requirement for obtaining a marriage license here.


Dutch wife

Compound of Dutch (“inferior substitute”) + wife.

In East Asia and Southeast Asia, a wicker or bamboo tube the size of a person for use in the bed. In the summer heat, the open bamboo structure is cooler than fabric pillows or sheets. The Dutch wife is embraced by the user, exposing the maximum amount of the body to cooling breezes.


soupspoon

A spoon for eating soup, typically smaller than a tablespoon and larger than a dessert spoon, characterised by having a round bowl rather than the usual oval bowl of other types of spoon.


doghouse

"But, honey, whar yo' ole man gwine ter sleep?" "Dey's straw in de barn, en pine shatters in de doghouse!" she shouted, slamming the window.

1902, Thomas Dixon, The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden--1865-1900, page 61:

Any small house or structure or enclosure used to house a dog.

This berth of mine was commonly called a doghouse (a box about six feet long, four high, and two broad,) containing a mattress fitted about 18 inches from the deck.

1840, James Holman, Travels in Madeira, Sierra Leone, Teneriffe, St. Jago, Cape Coast, Fernando ..., page 411:

p. 1927, United States Code Annotated
[…] so as to render railroad liable for death of brakeman falling from tender, notwithstanding construction of doghouse on top of tender for brakeman's use.

The yacht is well equipped and has accommodations for six people. A teak doghouse over the forward part of the cockpit affords […]

A rotary rig could have drilled that much in a day. Oscar had been here a month. He kept a careful log on the doghouse wall […]

2005, Alan Cockrell, Drilling Ahead: The Quest for Oil in the Deep South, 1945-2005, page 276:

A structure of small size, similar to a doghouse, but offering useful shelter for a human.

A traffic signal with five sections: two on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top.

He didn't even know where he was taking her. He had assumed she would suggest a place she wanted to eat, the movie she wanted to see. Now he suspected she was waiting for him to make the decision. Unfortunately, he hardly knew the area. He didn't want to risk taking her to the local doghouse.

2011, Christopher Pike, Until the End: The Party; The Dance; The Graduation, page 161:

(informal) Any shabby or disreputable establishment.


earthhouse

A dwelling that has been built to blend in with the surrounding landscape, being mostly underground with a grassy contoured roof; it may also be completely underground, or have a topping of intensive growth.


tuffet

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

From Old French touffel, diminutive of touffe (“tuft”).

(furniture) A large cushion which may have an internal frame, used as a low seat or stool.


Palace of Westminster

An extensive building on the north bank of the River Thames in London, housing the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Paleis van Westminster

building in London housing the House of Commons and House of Lords


footrest

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


deck chair

A folding chair in which a wooden frame supports a length of canvas; traditionally used on the beach or onboard a liner.


Murphy bed

We lived in just one room with a Murphy bed and a kitchen that looked out on the alley.

2021, Rickie Lee Jones, Last Chance Texaco, Grove Press, published 2022, page 104:

(Canada, US) A light type of bed designed to be folded up or swung into a wall or closet for storage when not in use.


trundle bed

A low bed, designed to be rolled/stored away, usually on casters, under a higher bed, e.g. for temporary use by guests.


skillet

→ Missouri French: esquilette

From Old French escuëlette, diminutive of escuëlle (“a porringer”), (French écuelle), from Vulgar Latin scutella, diminutive of scutra, scuta (“tray, dish”). Compare scuttle (“basket”).

Heat some oil in a cast-iron skillet and add the onions.

Inside this paper plane
Note my words are Navy sealed
So here and I quote
Taboo and I are in the same boat
What's said from Pennywise
I guess we all float
Sky is the limit, I could die in a minute
Got my mind in a skillet
Suicide not a mission
See the vibe very timid
I'm timid and very sad
Translated my thoughts and feelings
I pivot into the pad

2018, “Black Balloons”, performed by Denzel Curry:

A pan for frying, generally large and heavy.

This is an easy skillet with potatoes and bacon.

Can you make up a quick skillet hash?

(sometimes attributive) A dish or meal cooked in such a pan.


skillet

en-verb

skillet (third-person singular simple present skillets, present participle skilleting, simple past and past participle skilleted)

skillets (present singular third-person)
skilleting (participle present)
skilleted (participle past)
skilleted (past)

Now that the season has arrived in many parts of the country for the nimrods to load their trusty Thirty-Thirties and go forth in quest of the elusive deer, it seems an appropriate time to say a word about the skilleting of venison — which can be a pretty tough and dry proposition if not properly handled.

1960, The Cattleman, volume 47, page 46:

That said, Danton in manhood is probed and skilleted, admired and reviled in a multitude of memoirs written by contemporaries who love him, loathe him or simply stand and watch as the Danton tempest roars past.

2010, David Lawday, The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life:


steam bath

The act of bathing by exposure to steam.


Turkish bath

An Islamic steam bath followed by a massage and, if running water is available, a dip in cool water.


frying pan

→ Macanese: falânpám

From Middle English fryyng panne; equivalent to frying + pan.

And if thy oblation be a meate offering baken in the frying pan,it ſhalbe made of fine flowꝛe with oyle.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 2:7:

(cooking) A long-handled, shallow pan used for frying food.


sleeping bag

desc

স্লিপিং ব্যাগ

→ Bengali: স্লিপিং ব্যাগ (slipiṅ bêg)

स्लीपिंग बैग

→ Hindi: स्लीपिंग बैग (slīpiṅg baig)

→ Japanese: スリーピングバッグ (surīpingubaggu)

→ Korean: 슬리핑 백 (seulliping baek)

→ Urdu: سلیپنگ بیگ (slīpiṅg baig)

Coordinate term: bivouac sack

All students attending the multi-day field trip should bring a sleeping bag suitable for camping in a tent.

A padded or insulated bag large enough to surround the whole body and which keeps the user warm while sleeping, used as a substitute for bedclothes.


beanbag

A piece of soft furniture consisting of a leather or vinyl covering stuffed with dry beans or other similar pellets.


sideboard

(furniture) A piece of dining room furniture having drawers and shelves for linen and tableware; originally for serving food.


dust bunny

WASHINGTON: The common American household Dust Bunny has been designated as an endangered species, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USF&WS) announced last week. "The widespread use of household cleaning products and devices has drastically reduced the habitat of the Dust Bunny," said Noah Present, Acting Director of the Endangered Species Program. "American homes are cleaned too frequently, and much better than in the past." / "We are not to blame for the improper use of our products," responded a spokesman for the Household Products Association. "Correctly used, many of the Dust Bunnies should survive."

2008, Hugh A. Holub, “Dust Bunnies Designated Endangered Species: 25% of Homes Declared Critical Habitat”, in Deer Seen as Terrorist Threat and Other Stories, [Raleigh, N.C.]: Lulu, →ISBN, page 83:

About 3.6 billion years ago, the sun and its planets coalesced from a cloud of stellar debris, probably helped along by the push from the explosion of a nearby supernova. The particles of cosmic dust began sticking together by static electricity, the same force that forms dust bunnies under your bed. Eventually, the particles got big enough for gravity to start pulling more pieces together.

2016 August 28, Dale Gnidovec, “Geology: Chemically unique meteorite found in quarry might be ‘extinct’”, in The Columbus Dispatch, archived from the original on 2016-08-29:

Sure, some dogs may get super-itchy and lose extra fur, while others may seem to groom themselves incessantly, leaving your floors strewn with serious dust bunnies. In the absence of these and the above-mentioned problems, your Lab mix is just being a dog that conforms perfectly to her breed type. In other words, this breed sheds – a lot!

2016 August 30, Patty Khuly, “Dog shedding too much? Try these easy fixes”, in Miami Herald, archived from the original on 2016-08-31:

Phobos just can't catch a break. Not only is Mars' lumpy, crusted-over dust bunny of a moon destined to be ripped to pieces in 10 million years, it seems the poor thing can't stop punching itself.

2016 August 31, Maddie Stone, “We finally know what caused those mysterious craters on Phobos”, in Gizmodo Australia, archived from the original on 2016-08-31:

(US, informal) A small clump of dust, fluff, hair, particles of skin, etc., that tends to accumulate indoors in areas not regularly dusted, such as under heavy furniture.


runcible spoon

1871, coined by Edward Lear with no definition, but was applied to the following by 1926.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

1871, Edward Lear, “Owl & Pussy-Cat”, in Nonsense Songs::

But the Baudelaires accepted their bowls of ceviche, as well as the strange utensils Friday handed them, which were made of wood and looked like a combination of a fork and a spoon.
"They're runcible spoons," Friday explained. "We don't have forks or knives in the colony, as they can be used as weapons."

2006, Lemony Snicket, chapter 4, in The End, page 87:

A fork-like spoon that has a cutting edge.


maisonette

Borrowed from French maisonnette. Doublet of mansionette.


marmite

en-noun

marmite (countable and uncountable, plural marmites)

1824 Thomas Gill. The Technical Repository p. 180: XXXV: On the French Marmite, or Pot-au-Feu: and on preparing Bouillon with it
My little boy having been ill of a fever for forty days, I have learned from his attendant how to make the celebrated soup (bouillon) of Paris: and finding it to be superior to any that I ever before tasted, I take the liberty to send you the directions necessary to enable any one to prepare this cheap and desirable food.
Earthen-pots with covers, made to hold from one to seven pounds of meat, are found in every family. The marmite bought for me was for one-and-a-half pound only: this quantity of lean meat (bœufmaigre), was always part of the leg or shoulder: it was put into the marmite, which was then filled up with cold water, about five pints, and placed on the hearth, close to the wood-fire; and when it began to simmer or boil gently, it threw up a scum, which was carefully taken off from time to time with a spoon, for the space of threequarters of an hour, which perfectly cleansed the meat and water from every impurity.

(countable) A rounded cooking pot of various designs, commonly pot-bellied, with or without tripod, handles, lid etc; originally earthenware but currently more commonly of cast iron or other metals.


bower

From Middle English bour, from Old English būr, from Proto-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būrą (“room, abode”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Búur (“storage room, utility room; cage”), German Bauer (“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (“cage”) (Danish bur, Norwegian Bokmål bur, Swedish bur).

cog

While friends arrived in circles gay,
To visit Damon's bower

1748, William Shenstone, to William Lyttleton Esq.:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–5:

(literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat.


tête-à-tête

Borrowed from French tête-à-tête (“head-to-head”).

(furniture) A bench or sofa that allows two people to talk face-to-face, especially one that is S-shaped.


dinette

We purchased a new dinette yesterday.

The dinette set in the corner was from the ’30s, chipped and discolored.

2021, Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle, Fleet, page 10:

Furniture for an indoor informal dining space, usually consisting of chairs and a small table.


quilt

From Middle English quilte, quylte, from Anglo-Norman quilte and Old French coilte, cuilte (compare French couette), from Latin culcita. Doublet of quoit.

My grandmother is going to sew a quilt.

A bed covering consisting of two layers of fabric stitched together, with insulation between, often having a decorative design.


Shaker

From shake + -er, from the movements of the members in dancing, which forms a part of their worship.

Pertaining to a distinctive style of furniture developed by the Shakers, characterised by functionality and minimalist designs.


HVAC

en-noun

HVAC (usually uncountable, plural HVACs)

/ˈeɪt͡ʃˌvæk/

w:heating, ventilation, and air conditioning

Initialism of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

暖通空調

fűtés, szellőzés/szellőztetés és légkondicionálás/klíma


mop head

The end of a mop, to which the thrums or rags are fastened.


residency

residency (countable and uncountable, plural residencies)

The home or residence of a person, especially in the colonies.

bosæde

(US, healthcare) The position or term of a medical resident.

The trance DJ was keen to secure a residency in Ibiza.

After a successful Thursday-night residency at the Marquee Club—where the Yardbirds, the Animals, and the Rolling Stones first earned their reputations—England's CBS label signed the group to a recording contract.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 254:

The position of a musical artist who commonly performs at a particular venue.


china

china (countable and uncountable, plural chinas)

From clippings of attributive use of China, q.v., the country in East Asia. In reference to porcelain and porcelain objects, via clipping of chinaware and via this sense of Persian چین (čini) in Persia and India, which influenced the pronunciation (see below). In reference to medicine, via clipping of China root. In reference to flowers, via clipping of China rose. In reference to tea, via clipping of China tea. In Cockney slang, a clipping of china plate as a rhyme of mate (“friend”). In reference to drum cymbals, a clipping of China cymbal and as a genericization of a kind of Zildjian-brand cymbal.

China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:

(uncountable) Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.