POSSLQ

c. 1981, Charles Osgood
You live with me, and I with you / And you will be my POSSLQ / I’ll be your friend and so much more / That’s what a POSSLQ is for.

(US Census) Abbreviation of person of the opposite sex sharing living quarters.


mortar

en-noun

mortar (countable and uncountable, plural mortars)

→ Indonesian: mortar

From Middle English morter, from Old French mortier, from Latin mortārium. Doublet of mortarium.

The holy hearth! If any earthly and material thing, or rather a divine idea embodied in brick and mortar, might be supposed to possess the permanence of moral truth, it was this.

1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Fire Worship”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:

(uncountable) A mixture of lime or cement, sand and water used for bonding building blocks.

раство́р

строительный, цементный

(countable) A hollow vessel used to pound, crush, rub, grind or mix ingredients with a pestle.

(countable, military, historical) A short, heavy, large-bore cannon designed for indirect fire at very steep trajectories.

(countable, military) A relatively lightweight, often portable indirect fire weapon which transmits recoil to a base plate and is designed to lob explosive shells at very steep trajectories.

هَاوُن

lightweight indirect fire weapon which transmits recoil to a base plate


bunk

Sense of sleeping berth possibly from Scottish English bunker (“seat, bench”), origin is uncertain but possibly Scandinavian.
Compare Old Swedish bunke (“boards used to protect the cargo of a ship”).
See also boarding, flooring and compare bunch.


bunk

en-verb

bunk (third-person singular simple present bunks, present participle bunking, simple past and past participle bunked)

bunks (present singular third-person)
bunking (participle present)
bunked (participle past)
bunked (past)

19th century, of uncertain origin; perhaps from previous "to occupy a bunk" meaning, with connotations of a hurried departure, as if on a ship.

The naughty boys decided to bunk school and visit the comic shop.

(British, India) To fail to attend school or work without permission; to play truant (usually as in 'to bunk off').

бягам от училище

to fail to attend school without permission

"They're moving off," he said. "[…] [T]he funny little man with the beard like a goat is going a different way from everyone else — the gardeners will have to head him off. I don't see Mademoiselle, though. The rest of you had better bunk. […]"

1907, Edith Nesbit, The Enchanted Castle:


abstract

→ Norwegian Bokmål: abstrakt

From Middle English abstract, borrowed from Latin abstractus, perfect passive participle of abstrahō (“draw away”), formed from abs- (“away”) + trahō (“to pull, draw”). The verbal sense is first attested in 1542.

xifra

something that concentrates in itself the qualities of something else

(real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.

abridgment

statement summarizing the important points of a text


bench

→ Hindi: बेंच (beñc)

→ Japanese: ベンチ (benchi)

→ Korean: 벤치 (benchi)

→ Swahili: benchi

→ Urdu: بِنْچ (binc)

From Middle English bench, benk, bynk, from Old English benċ (“bench”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bench”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-.
Cognate with Scots benk, bink (“bench”), West Frisian bank (“bench”), Dutch bank (“bench”), German Bank (“bench”), Danish bænk (“bench”), Swedish bänk (“bench”), Icelandic bekkur (“bench”). Doublet of banc, banco, and bank.

эскәмйә

sports: where players sit when not playing

2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii
I had no bench or power rack, so by necessity every exercise I did started with the weights on the floor.

A horizontal padded surface, usually adjustable in height and inclination and often with attached weight rack, used for proper posture during exercise.

بِنْش

weightlifting: horizontal padded surface with a weight rack


throne

From Middle English trone, from Old French trone, from Latin thronus, from Ancient Greek θρόνος (thrónos, “chair, throne”). Superseded earlier seld (“seat, throne”).

der

He approached the throne reverently.

9 After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could nūber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, & tongues, stood before the throne, & before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palmes in their hands:
10 And cryed with a loude voice, saying, Saluation to our God, which sitteth vpon the Throne, and vnto the Lambe.
11 And all the Angels stood round about the Throne, and about the Elders, and the foure beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glorie, and wisedome, and thankesgiuing, and honour, & power, and might be vnto our God for euer & euer, Amen.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 7:9–12:

An impressive seat used by a monarch, often on a raised dais in a throne room and reserved for formal occasions.

Pope Joan, who once occupied the throne of the Vatican, was reputed to be the blackest sorcerer of them all.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 105:

The seat of a bishop in the cathedral-church of his diocese; also, the seat of a pope.

(music) A kind of stool used by drummers.


throne

en-verb

throne (third-person singular simple present thrones, present participle throning, simple past and past participle throned)

thrones (present singular third-person)
throning (participle present)
throned (participle past)
throned (past)

(intransitive, archaic) To be in, or sit upon, a throne; to be placed as if upon a throne.


deuce

From Middle English dewes (“two”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French deus, from Latin duo. The word was used by Ford to describe a model of car they made in 1932 due to it being a two-seater.

(Canada, US, slang) A piece of excrement; number two.

The number two.
A piece of excrement; number two.

Bisexual male, 28, doing a deuce in a segregated housing unit due to positive HIV test result, seeks correspondence from both genders.

1988 December 25, Eric Peterson, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 24, page 14:

(Canada, slang) A two-year prison sentence.

The number two.
A two-year prison sentence.


deuce

Compare Late Latin dusius (“phantom, specter”); Scottish Gaelic taibhs, taibhse (“apparition, ghost”); or from Old French deus (“God”), from Latin deus (compare deity).

Alternative form: Deuce

Love is a bodily infirmity […] which breaks out the deuce knows how or why

1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, Catherine:

To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him.

1843, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol:

"Why, Job, you old son of a gun, where the deuce have we got to now - eh?"

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

Still bemused by the inexplicable apparition of Podson on that spot, Bradly growled, "How the dooce did you get here?"

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 65:

(epithet) The Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger.


king

Tok Pisin: king

desc

⇒ American Sign Language: K@Shoulder K@Abdomen

→ Burmese: ကင် (kang)

→ Isubu: kinge

→ Japanese: キング (kingu)

→ Korean: 킹 (king)

→ Maori: kingi

→ Marshallese: kiin̄

→ Thai: คิง (king)

From Middle English king, kyng, from Old English cyng, cyning (“king”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuning, from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz, *kunungaz (“king”), equivalent to kin + -ing. Doublet of cyning and knez. Cognate with Scots keeng (“king”), North Frisian köning (“king”), West Frisian kening (“king”), Dutch koning (“king”), Low German Koning, Köning (“king”), German König (“king”), Danish konge (“king”), Norwegian konge, Swedish konung, kung (“king”), Icelandic konungur, kóngur (“king”), Polish ksiądz (“priest”), Russian князь (knjazʹ, “prince”), Old Church Slavonic кънѧѕь (kŭnędzĭ), Romanian chinez, Finnish kuningas (“king”), Estonian kuningas, Ingrian kunigas, Karelian kuninkas, Livvi kuńingas, Ludian kuńingas, Veps kuningaz, Võro kuning and Votic kunikaz. Eclipsed non-native Middle English roy (“king”) (Early Modern English roy), borrowed from Old French roi, rei, rai (“king”).
The verb is inherited from Middle English kyngen, *kingen (“To perform the duties of a king”), itself from the noun king, kyng.

Audio — the king

акрал

a male of a royal family who is the supreme ruler of his nation

in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

Try asking for a king-size bed next time because kings are usually firmer.

2002, Scott W. Donkin, Gerard Meyer, Peak Performance: Body and Mind, page 119:


king

en-verb

king (third-person singular simple present kings, present participle kinging, simple past and past participle kinged)

kings (present singular third-person)
kinging (participle present)
kinged (participle past)
kinged (past)

Audio — the king

The seating arrangement of the temple was the Almanach de Gotha of Congregation Emanu-el. Old Ben Reitman, patriarch among the Jewish settlers of Winnebago, who had come over an immigrant youth, and who now owned hundreds of rich farm acres, besides houses, mills and banks, kinged it from the front seat of the center section.

1917, Edna Ferber, Fanny Herself, page 32:

To assume or pretend preeminence (over); to lord it over.

If the machine does this, it will lose only one point, and as it is not looking far enough ahead, it cannot see that it has not prevented its opponent from kinging but only postponed the evil day.

1957, Bertram Vivian Bowden, editor, Faster Than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines, page 302:

I was about to make a move that would corner a piece that she was trying to get kinged, but I slid my checker back[…].

1986, Rick DeMarinis, The Burning Women of Far Cry, page 100:

To promote a piece of draughts/checkers that has traversed the board to the opposite side, that piece subsequently being permitted to move backwards as well as forwards.


laundry

en-noun

laundry (countable and uncountable, plural laundries)

dialectal, obsolete, distinct from the cot–caught merger

From Middle English lavendrie, from Old French lavanderie, from Latin lavandaria. See launder.

In our family of five, we have to do the laundry every other day.


bathroom

en-verb

bathroom (third-person singular simple present bathrooms, present participle bathrooming, simple past and past participle bathroomed)

bathrooms (present singular third-person)
bathrooming (participle present)
bathroomed (participle past)
bathroomed (past)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁-
Proto-Germanic *baþą
Proto-West Germanic *baþ
Old English bæþ
Middle English bath
English bath
Proto-West Germanic *rūm
Old English rūm
Middle English roum
English room
English bathroom
From bath + room. Compare Dutch badkamer (“bathroom”), German Badezimmer (“bathroom”), Swedish badrum (“bathroom”), Faroese baðrúm (“bathroom”).

etymon

(medicine, transitive) To assist a patient with using the toilet and general personal hygiene.


queen

Tok Pisin: kwin

desc

⇒ American Sign Language: G@Shoulder-PalmDown G@Abdomen-PalmDown

→ Burmese: ကွင်း (kwang:)

→ German: Queen

→ Japanese: クイーン (kuīn), クィーン (kwīn)

→ Korean: 퀸 (kwin)

→ Marshallese: kwiin

→ Sikaiana: kuini

→ Spanish: cuina

→ Thai: ควีน (kwiin)

From Middle English quene, queen, cwen, from Old English cwēn (“queen”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni, from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷénh₂s (“woman”).
Cognate with Scots queen, wheen (“queen”), Old Saxon quān ("wife"; > Middle Low German quene (“elderly woman”)), Dutch kween (“woman past child-bearing age”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Norwegian kvinne (“woman”), Danish kvinde (“woman”), Icelandic kvon (“wife”), Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”), Norwegian dialectal kvån (“wife”). Related to and possibly merged with and/or absorbed some senses of English quean, from Middle English quene, from Old English cwene (“woman; female serf, quean”), see quean. Generally eclipsed non-native Middle English regina (“queen”), borrowed from Latin rēgīna (“queen”) (see Modern English regina). Doublet of quean and gyne.

gloss

"wife"; > Middle Low German <i class="Latn mention" lang="gml">quene</i> (“elderly woman”)

cog

[…] and yet I will not ſay but amongſt duſt there is Pearle found, and in hard rockes Dyamonds of great value, and ſo amongſt many women there are ſome good, as that gracious and glorious Queene of all woman kinde the Virgin Mary the mother of al bliſſe, what wun her honour, but an humble minde and her paines and loue vnto our Sauiour Chriſt.

1620, Thomas Tell-Troth [pseudonym of Joseph Swetnam], The Araignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women: Or the Vanitie of Them, Choose You Whether, London, published 1807, retrieved 2022-01-14:

A woman whose pre-eminence, power, or forcefulness is comparable to that of a queen.

(Christianity) The Virgin Mary (especially in formulations such as Queen of Heaven, Queen of Glory).

Ad Hoc Softwares has bright hand-blocked floral cotton bed linens from India, including flat full/queen sheets, were $85, now $51; standard pillowcases, were $18 each, now $10.80 […]

1994 March 21, Leonore Fleischer, “Sales & Bargains”, in New York, volume 27, number 12, →ISSN, page 73:

(attributive, originally Canada, US) Pertaining to a queen-size bed or queen-size bedding.


square

→ Welsh: sgwâr

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra.
Displaced fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

2006, Macquarie Bank (Australia), press release Macquarie releases Real Estate Market Outlook 2006 - "The World Squared", 21 June 2006 http://www.macquarie.com.au/au/about_macquarie/media_centre/20060621.htm
Just as the basic unit of real estate measurement across the world is the square

2007, Your Estate advertisement for Grindelwald Tasmania http://www.yourestate.com.au/property_12753.php
The house is very large and open and boasts 39 squares of living space plus over 13 squares of decking area on 3 sides and 17 squares of garage and workshop downstairs.

(real estate) A unit of measurement of area, equal to a 10 foot by 10 foot square, i.e. 100 square feet or roughly 9.3 square metres. Used in real estate for the size of a house or its rooms, though progressively being replaced by square metres in metric countries such as Australia.


palace

Palatine Hill
Palatine#Derivative_terms
Pales
palace

From Middle English paleys, from Old French palais, which comes from Latin palātium, from Palātium, in reference to the Palatine (Palatine Hill), one of the seven hills of Rome, where the aristocracy of the Roman Republic—and later, Roman emperors—built large, splendid residences. The name is ultimately either from Etruscan, the same source as Pales (“Pales, the Italic goddess of shepherds, flocks and livestock”), or Latin palus (“stake; enclosure”). Doublet of palazzo and Pfalz.

Official residence of a head of state or other dignitary, especially in a monarchical or imperial governmental system.


chair

→ Assamese: চেয়াৰ (sear)

desc

→ Bengali: চেয়ার (ceẏar), চ্যায়ার (cêẏar), চ্যার (cêr) — obsolete

→ Odia: ଚେଆର୍ (ceār), ଚିୟାର୍ (ciyār), ଚିଆର (ciāra)

→ Sylheti: ꠌꠤꠀꠞ (siar)

Tok Pisin: sea, sia

→ Tongan: sea

From Middle English chayer, chaire, chaiere, chaere, chayre, chayere, from Old French chaiere, chaere, from Latin cathedra (“seat”), from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”). Displaced native stool and settle, which now have more specialised senses. Doublet of cathedra and chaise.

All I need to weather a snowstorm is hot coffee, a warm fire, a good book and a comfortable chair.

There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had 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 XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

An item of furniture used to sit on or in, comprising a seat, legs or wheels, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person.

The court will show no mercy; if he gets convicted, it's the chair for him.

"It was me. And I'm glad, damned glad, I didn't croak him. With this slick guy after me, it would be me for the chair."

1920 June 20, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 216, column 2:

'All for a pig of a man who should have gone to the chair.'

1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 251:

Believe it or not, it only looked like I was trying to send you to the chair.

1949, Isobel Lennart, Holiday Affair, spoken by Carl Davis (Wendell Corey):

"Scoleri Brothers!" "Friends of yours?" "I tried them for murder! Gave them the chair!"

1989 June 16, Ivan Reitman, director, Ghostbusters II:

(informal, with the) Ellipsis of electric chair (“device used for performing execution”).


unit

Formerly unite, a later form of unity; see unity.

The new apartment complex will have 50 units.

(US, Australia, New Zealand) a measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household; an apartment where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings or a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway.


bed

→ Chichewa: bedi

→ Chuukese: pet

→ Esperanto: bedo

→ Japanese: ベッド (beddo)

African-American Vernacular, some speakers

From Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”).
cognates
Cognate with North Frisian baad, beed, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Low German Bedd, Dutch bed, German Bett, Swedish bädd, Icelandic beður, all meaning “bed”.
further possible etymology and cognates
The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning. If it is, the term is also cognate with Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros, “pit”), Latin fossa (“ditch”), Latvian bedre (“hole”), Welsh bedd (“grave”), Breton bez (“grave”); and probably also Russian бодать (bodatʹ, “to butt, gore”).

bed

flat surface or layer on which something else is to be placed

When camping, he usually makes a bed for the night from hay and a blanket.

A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.

A prepared spot in which to spend the night.

Go to bed!

I had breakfast in bed this morning.

(usually after a preposition) One's place of sleep or rest.

He's been afraid of bed since he saw the scary film.

(uncountable, usually after a preposition) Sleep; rest; getting to sleep.

I read until bed.

(uncountable, usually after a preposition) The time for going to sleep or resting in bed; bedtime.

I am quite sure that too much bed, if not too much sleep, is prejudicial, though a certain amount is absolutely necessary.

1903, Thomas Stretch Dowse, Lectures on Massage and Electricity in the Treatment of Disease, page 276:

Some prisoners, indeed, are always up before the bell rings — such was my practice — they prefer to grope about in the dark to tossing about in the utter weariness of too much bed.

1907, Jabez Spencer Balfour, My Prison Life, page 181:

This condition is one of the dangers of “too much bed”. The nurse should inspect the legs of each patient daily

1972, James Verney Cable, Principles of Medicine: An Integrated Textbook for Nurses:

George, the eldest son of his second bed.

1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

Too much bed, not enough rest.

(figurative, uncountable) Sexual activity.

2 beds, 1 bath

My cat often sleeps on my bed.

I keep a glass of water next to my bed when I sleep.

At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them[…].

1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202:


dish

en-noun

dish (countable and uncountable, plural dishes)

Tok Pisin: dis

From Middle English dissh, disch, from Old English disċ (“plate; bowl; dish”), from Proto-West Germanic *disk (“table; dish”), from Latin discus. Doublet of dais, desk, disc, discus, disk, and diskos.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots disch (“dish; plate”), Dutch dis (“table”), German Low German Disk, Disch (“table”), German Tisch (“table”), Danish disk (“dish; counter”), Swedish disk (“dish; counter”), Icelandic diskur (“dish; plate”), Finnish tiski (“desk, counter; dish”).

doublet

It's your turn to wash the dishes.

en:in the plural, dirty dishes needing cleaning

(in the plural) Tableware (including cutlery, etc, as well as crockery) that is to be or is being washed after being used to prepare, serve and eat a meal.

the dish of a wheel

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

(dated) The state of being concave, like a dish, or the degree of such concavity.

He said, "I don't like your chances at the dish [home plate] tonight."

2008, Paul Byrd, Free Byrd: The Power of a Liberated Life, page 4:

At the plate, Graham pounded the dish three times, just like Bubbles did whenever he was up, […]

2009, Loren Long, Phil Bildner, Magic in the Outfield, page 40:

Also, if you end up getting to the baseball, your pitcher needs to be covering home plate, which pitchers occasionally forget to do. However, if the ball stays near the dish and you have a pitcher on the mound who isn't a space-case, you've got a good shot to get the runner out.

2014, Conor Kelley, The Catcher's Handbook, page 87:


secretary

→ Punjabi: ਸਕੱਤਰ (sakattar)

From Medieval Latin secrētārius (“one entrusted with secrets”), from Latin secrētus (“private, secret”), past participle of secernere (“to separate, set apart”), from se- (“apart”) + cernere (“to separate”).

(US) A type of desk, secretary desk; a secretaire.


curtain

Inherited from Middle English curtine, from Old French cortine, from Late Latin cōrtīna (“curtain”), a calque from Ancient Greek.

Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.

1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:

It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day.

1944 November and December, “"Duplex Roomette" Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 324:

A piece of cloth covering a window, bed, etc. to offer privacy and keep out light.

He took so long to shave his head that we arrived 45 minutes after curtain and were denied late entry.

(theater, by extension) The beginning of a show; the moment the curtain rises.

Captain Rense, beleagring the Citie of Errona for us, […] caused a forcible mine to be wrought under a great curtine of the walles […].

(fortifications) The flat area of wall which connects two bastions or towers; the main area of a fortified wall.

tiāroa

In a fortification the main area of a fortified wall.

Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

(obsolete, derogatory) A flag; an ensign.

The uninterrupted stream of fluid that falls onto a moving substrate in the process of curtain coating.


curtain

en-verb

curtain (third-person singular simple present curtains, present participle curtaining, simple past and past participle curtained)

curtains (present singular third-person)
curtaining (participle present)
curtained (participle past)
curtained (past)

And, after conflict such as was supposed / The wandering prince and Dido once enjoy'd, / When with a happy storm they were surprised / And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave, / We may, each wreathed in the other's arms, / Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber;

1593, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, act II, scene 2:

But poetry in a more restricted sense expresses those arrangements of language, and especially metrical language, which are created by that imperial faculty; whose throne is curtained within the invisible nature of man.

1840, Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of Poetry:

He saw a rock that pierced the shifting waters / As they stilled, now curtained by the riding / Of the waves, and leaped to safety on it.

1958, Ovid [Horace Gregory], The Metamorphoses, New York: Viking, Book IV, Perseus, page 115:

But bleakness still curtained the gray horizon.

2003 [2001], A. B. Yehoshua [Hillel Halkin], The Liberated Bride, Harcourt, Part 2, Chapter 17, page 115:

(transitive, figuratively) To hide, cover or separate as if by a curtain.


spread

spread (third-person singular simple present spreads, present participle spreading, simple past and past participle spread)

spreads (present singular third-person)
spreading (participle present)
spread (participle past)
spread (past)

From Middle English spreden, from Old English sprǣdan (“to spread, expand”), from Proto-Germanic *spraidijaną (“to spread”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to strew, sow, sprinkle”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian spreede (“to spread”), West Frisian spriede (“to spread”), North Frisian spriedjen (“to spread”), Dutch spreiden (“to spread”), Low German spreden (“to spread”), German spreiten (“to spread, spread out”), Norwegian spre, spreie (“to spread, disseminate”), Swedish sprida (“to spread”), Latin spernō, spargō, Ancient Greek σπείρω (speírō), Persian سپردن (sepordan, “to deposit”), English spurn.

cog

He spread his newspaper on the table.

(transitive) To stretch out, open out (a material etc.) so that it more fully covers a given area of space.


cushion

en-noun

cushion (countable and uncountable, plural cushions)

→ Cantonese: 咕𠱸 (ku1 seon2), 箍臣

→ Irish: cúisín

→ Japanese: クッション (kusshon)

→ Korean: 쿠션 (kusyeon)

→ Maori: kuihana

From Middle English quysshyn, from later Old French coissin (modern coussin), from Vulgar Latin *coxīnus (“seat pad”), derived from Latin coxa (“hip, thigh”) (with the suffix possibly after Latin pulvīnus (“pillow”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *koḱs- (“joint, limb”).

der

A soft mass of material stuffed into a cloth bag, used for comfort or support.

Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.

Interest coverage is important because it is an indicator of how much cushion a company has in making its interest payments.

2007, Belverd Needles, Marian Powers, Financial Accounting: Media Enhanced, page 826:

If one of the banks has a significant enough cushion of capital and a strong enough balance sheet, then it would not experience a bank run, and the domino effect in panel A would not have occurred.

2013, Stijn Claessens, Kirsten Forbes, International Financial Contagion, page 85:

(figuratively) a sufficient quantity of an intangible object (like points or minutes) to allow for some of those points, for example, to be lost without hurting one's chances for successfully completing an objective.

(finance, countable, uncountable) Money kept in reserve.


throw

From Middle English, from Old English þrāh, þrāg (“space of time, period, while”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þragjan, “to run”).

Downe himselfe he layd
 Vpon the grassie ground, to sleepe a throw;
 The cold earth was his couch, the hard steele his pillow.

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


drawer

From draw (“to move by pulling”) + -er; compare French tiroir. Attested from the 16th century.

/ˈdɹɔː.ə(ɹ)/

/ˈdɹɔːɹə(ɹ)/

graphical user interface
graphical user interface

(graphical user interface) A side panel containing supplementary content.


blanket

From Middle English blanket, blonket, blaunket, from Old Northern French blanket, blancet (“white horse", also "white woollen cloth or flannel; a type of jacket”, literally “that which is white”) (whence Modern French blanchet), diminutive of blanc (“white”), of Germanic origin (compare Old English blanca (“white horse”); see more at blank). Furthermore, likely a calque of Old English hwītel (“cloak, mantle”), from Old English hwīt (“white”) + -el (diminutive suffix). Compare also Old Norse hvítill (“a white bed-cover, sheet”).
Compare also blunket, plunket. Displaced native Middle English whytel, from Old English hwītel (whence Modern English whittle (“blanket, cloak, shawl”)).

m+

Another observer offered a less blanket criticism.

1994, Deborah Dash Moore, To the Golden Cities:

Some others appear to be adopting a more blanket approach

2009, Gayle Letherby, Kate Williams, Philip Birch, Sex as Crime, page 57:

Disenchanted with socialism, they unleashed free enterprise (or tried to) and backed it up with a more-or-less blanket endorsement of the old ways.

2010, Jay Cassell, The Best Hunting Stories Ever Told, page 428:

By contrast, any emotional or motivational explanation of autism would seem to predict too blanket a degree of social disinterest.

2013, Eric Schopler, Gary B. Mesibov, Learning and Cognition in Autism, page 187:

The second reason offered for blanket nonprosecutions for crimes committed at the megabanks involves the possibility that such prosecutions could harm the economy.

2017, Mary Kreiner Ramirez, Steven A. Ramirez, The Case for the Corporate Death Penalty, page 207:

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday wrote to his counterparts in Delhi, Haryana, Odisha and Rajasthan urging them to reconsider the blanket ban on sale of firecrackers in their respective States.

2021 October 15, “Stalin writes to four States CMs against blanket ban on firecrackers”, in The Hindu:

General; covering or encompassing everything.


castle

→ Tongan: kāsolo

From Middle English castle, castel, from late Old English castel, castell (“a town, village, castle”), borrowed from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”), diminutive of Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”). Doublet of cashel, castell, castellum, and château.
Parallel borrowings (from Late Latin or Old French) are Scots castel, castell (“castle”), West Frisian kastiel (“castle”), Dutch kasteel (“castle”), German Kastell (“castle”), Danish kastel (“citadel”), Swedish kastell (“citadel”), Icelandic kastali (“castle”), Welsh castell.
The Middle English word was reinforced by Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French castel, itself from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”) (compare modern French château from Old French chastel). If Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”) is from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“hut, shed”), Latin casa (“cottage, hut”) is related. Possibly related also to Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌸𐌾𐍉 (hēþjō, “chamber”), Old English heaþor (“restraint, confinement, enclosure, prison”). See also casino, cassock.

cog

A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or mansion with some of the architectural features of medieval castles.

The castle was perhaps a figurative name for a close headpiece deduced from its enclosing and defending the head, as a castle did the whole body; or a corruption from the Old French word casquetel, a small or light helmet.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 12:

(dated) Any strong, imposing, and stately palace or mansion.


flat

en-adj

flat (comparative flatter, superlative flattest)

flatter (comparative)
flattest (superlative)

bumpy

antonym(s) of “having no variations in altitude”

→ Portuguese: flat

From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr (compare Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रथस् (prathas, “extension”). Doublet of plat and pleyt.
The noun is from Middle English flat (“level piece of ground, flat edge of a weapon”), from the adjective.
The algebraic sense was coined by Serre in a 1956 paper, originally as French plat.

inh

The author added a chapter to flesh out the book's flatter characters.

(figurative) Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring.

(authorship, figuratively, especially of a character) Lacking in depth, substance, or believability; underdeveloped; one-dimensional.

(homological algebra, of a module) Such that the tensor product preserves exact sequences. See Flat module on Wikipedia.Wikipedia.


flat

(geometry) A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.

This same publisher notes pricing is a crucial factor in the mass market field of $1, $1.95 and $2.95 "flats."

1970, The Publishers Weekly, volume 197, page 85:

(publishing) A flat, glossy children's book with few pages.

"When sampling the aperture of a telescope, using auto-collimating flats (ACFs) is more economical"

2013 April 1, Spechler et al., “Advanced Dispersed Fringe Sensing Algorithm for Coarse Phasing Segmented Mirror Telescopes”, in NASA Tech Briefs, retrieved 2021-12-27:


plate

→ Maori: pereti

→ Hindi: प्लेट (pleṭ)

From Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato.

der

There was a close play at the plate.


washer

From Middle English wasshere, wassher, equivalent to wash + -er. Cognate with Dutch wasser, German Wäscher.

A £1.2 million carriage washer has opened at Norwich Crown Point, enabling Greater Anglia to clean its 58 Stadler trains. It is one of two new washers (the other is for '720s' at Southend), […]

2021 January 13, “GA opens new carriage washers”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 15:

Something that washes; especially an appliance such as a washing machine or dishwasher.

A person who washes (especially clothes) for a living; a washerman or washerwoman.


washer

Unclear. First recorded in the 14th century.

A flat annulus, placed beneath a nut or at some joint, to distribute pressure, alleviate friction, provide directionally differentiated friction (e.g. making the nut turn counter-clockwise only with difficulty), or prevent leakage.

blotter

flat annulus to distribute pressure or to alleviate friction


mop

en-noun

mop (countable and uncountable, plural mops)

→ Canadian French: moppe

→ German: Mopp

→ Spanish: mopa

From Middle English mappe (also as mappel), perhaps borrowed from Walloon mappe (“napkin”), from Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”). Believed to be from a Semitic source, variously claimed as Phoenician or Punic (the latter by Quintilian). Compare Modern Hebrew מַפָּה (mapá, “a map; a cloth”) (shortened from מַנְפָּה (manpah, “fluttering banner, streaming cloth”)). Doublet of map, nape, and nappe.

Mop Fairs: Today's annual events are the modern version of the old hiring fairs, where people attended seeking employment or to change it. They are named after the practice of hopefully skilled employees carrying tassels, known as mops, in their buttonholes indicating their occupation. Those who had no trade carried a mop head. At the end of the following week, they could change employers or employees, at what was called the Runaway Mop.

2022, Graham Sutherland, Secret Warwick:

(British, obsolete) A tassel worn in a buttonhole to indicate ones occupation in such a fair.


mop

en-verb

mop (third-person singular simple present mops, present participle mopping, simple past and past participle mopped)

mops (present singular third-person)
mopping (participle present)
mopped (participle past)
mopped (past)

to mop (or scrub) a floor

to mop one's face with a handkerchief

(transitive) To rub, scrub, clean or wipe with a mop, or as if with a mop.

бърша с моп

to rub, scrub, clean or wipe with a mop, or as if with a mop


knife

Sranan Tongo: nefi

→ Japanese: ナイフ

→ Korean: 나이프 (naipeu)

→ Portuguese: naifa

→ Samoan: naifi

From Middle English knyf, knif, from late Old English cnīf, from Old Norse knífr, from Proto-Germanic *knībaz, from *knīpaną (“to pinch”), Proto-Indo-European *gneybʰ- (compare Lithuanian gnýbti, žnýbti (“to pinch”), gnaibis (“pinching”)). Displaced native Middle English sax (“knife”) from Old English seax; and Middle English coutel, qwetyll (“knife”) from Old French coutel.
The verb knife is attested since the mid 1800s; the variant knive is attested since 1733.

you could cut the atmosphere with a knife

Jeff was bent low over the backboard, working with the knife, a steady sawing motion, his shirt soaked through with sweat.

A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.

Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.

lem

any blade-like part designed for cutting


house

en-noun

house (countable and uncountable, plural houses or (dialectal) housen or (chiefly humorous) hice)

houses (plural)
housen (dialectal plural)
hice (humorous plural)

Chinese Pidgin English: houso

Nigerian Pidgin: haus

Tok Pisin: haus

Sranan Tongo: oso
→ Dutch: osso

→ Cantonese: house (hau¹ si²)

→ Japanese: ハウス (hausu)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH-der.?
Proto-Germanic *hūsą
Proto-West Germanic *hūs
Old English hūs
Middle English hous
English house
From Middle English hous, hus, from Old English hūs (“dwelling, shelter, house”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūs, from Proto-Germanic *hūsą (compare Scots hoose, West Frisian hûs, Dutch huis, German Haus, German Low German Huus, Danish hus, Faroese hús, Icelandic hús, Norwegian Bokmål hus, Norwegian Nynorsk hus and Swedish hus), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kews-, from *(s)kewH- (“to cover, hide”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English meson, measoun (“house”), borrowed from Old French maison (“house”). More at hose.
The uncommon plural form housen is from Middle English husen, housen. (The Old English nominative plural was simply hūs.)

huis

debating chamber for government politicians

a house divided against itself cannot stand

it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

it takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home

it takes a lot of living to make a house a home

the call is coming from inside the house

use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

Those homeowners who bought too much house, or borrowed against inflated values are now going to be liable for their own poor decisions.

2007 November 6, “When Will the Slump End?”, in Newsweek:

(uncountable) Size and quality of residential accommodations; housing.


sofa

→ Assamese: চোফা (süpha)

→ Burmese: ဆိုဖာ (hcuihpa)

→ Cantonese: 梳化 (so¹ faa³⁻²)

→ Hindi: सोफ़ा (sofā)

→ Japanese: ソファ (sofa)

→ Kashubian: zofa

→ Korean: 소파 (sopa) (Canada)

→ Norman: sofa

→ Penang Hokkien: sofa

→ Swahili: sofa

→ Thai: โซฟา (soo-faa)

→ Urdu: صوفہ (sofā)

→ Welsh: soffa

→ Wu: 沙發／沙发 (¹so-faq)

→ Mandarin: 沙發／沙发 (shāfā)

desc

→ Lü: ᦌᦱᧈᦝᦱᧉ (saa¹faa²)

→ Lü: ᦌᦱᧈᦝᦱᧉ (saa¹faa²)

→ Mongolian: шафа (šafa), ᠱᠠᠹᠠ (šafa)

→ Uyghur: سافا (safa)

→ Wutunhua: shafa

→ Zhuang: sahfaz

Borrowed from French sofa, ultimately from Arabic صُفَّة (ṣuffa, “a long seat made of stone or brick, covered with rich carpets and cushions and used for sitting”). Cognate with Aramaic צפא/Classical Syriac ܨܦܬܐ (ṣipā’, ṣeppəṯā, “mat, matting”). The word may have entered European languages via Muslim Iberia or through Turkish.

cog

ṣipā’, ṣeppəṯā

His eyes trailed over her feline pose on the sofa, finding her limbs adorable while he tried exasperatedly to extract the truth of licentious revelations from them.

1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 228:

(furniture) An upholstered seat with a raised back and one or two raised ends, long enough to comfortably accommodate two or more people.


laundering

en-noun

laundering (countable and uncountable, plural launderings)

The act, or occupation, of one who launders; washing and ironing.


laundress

I tell thee ſhameleſſe girle,
Thou ſhalt be Landreſſe to my waiting maide:

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:


garden

Sranan Tongo: dyari

→ Nafaanra: yaadi

From Middle English gardyn, garden, from Anglo-Norman gardin, from Frankish *gardin-, oblique stem of *gardō (“enclosure, yard”), from Proto-Germanic *gardô (“enclosure, garden, house”), whence also inherited English yard. (compare Old French jart alongside jardin, Medieval Latin gardīnus). Doublet of jardin. Displaced Old English wyrttūn.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian gard, Low German Goorn, Dutch gaard, gaarde, German Garten, Icelandic garður, French jardin, Spanish jardín, Italian giardino, Sicilian jardinu.

tuin

piece of land outside with flowers and plants

gumno

area behind a barn for fruits and vegetables

a garden party

a garden path

a garden spade

The garden parties of pre-1914 were something to be remembered. Everyone was dressed up to the nines, high-heeled shoes, muslin frocks with blue sashes, large leghorn hats with drooping roses. There were lovely ices […] with every kind of cream cake, of sandwich, of éclair, and peaches, muscat grapes, and nectarines.

1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 5, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

An outdoor area containing one or more types of plants, usually plants grown for food or ornamental purposes.

(attributive) Taking place in, or used in, such a garden.

(cartomancy) The twentieth Lenormand card.

Behind the tangled garden of microphones that had sprouted on the lectern, Goldwater spoke softly and casually about his family.

1965, Charles McDowell, Campaign Fever: The National Folk Festival, from New Hampshire to November, 1964, Morrow, page 11:

Blow on my garden [speaking of her genitalia], so the spices of it may flow out. Let my Beloved come into His garden [her pubic area] and eat His pleasant fruits.

1995, Lee Tyler, Biblical Sexual Morality and What About Pornography? viewed at etext.org on 9 May 2006

N.B. From a commentary on Song of Solomon 4:16, which was written in Hebrew c. 950 BC; book footnotes are shown here within brackets. Many scholars disagree with this Biblical interpretation, which is included as evidence of the word's usage in 1995 rather than the intended meaning of Biblical Hebrew גַּן (gan) in 950 BC.

c. 2004, Hair Care Down There, Inc, The History of Hair Removal viewed at haircaredownthere.com on 9 May 2006 -
Primping and pruning the secret garden might seem like a totally 21st century concept, but the fact is women have gotten into below-the-belt grooming since before the Bronze Age.

(slang) Pubic hair or the genitalia it masks.


garden

en-verb

garden (third-person singular simple present gardens, present participle gardening, simple past and past participle gardened)

gardens (present singular third-person)
gardening (participle present)
gardened (participle past)
gardened (past)

I love to garden—this year I'm going to plant some daffodils.

(intransitive, chiefly Canada, US) To grow plants in a garden; to create or maintain a garden.

bahçe işi ile/işiyle meşgul olmak/uğraşmak

(intransitive, cricket) Of a batsman, to inspect and tap the pitch lightly with the bat so as to smooth out small rough patches and irregularities.


spider

en-noun

spider (countable and uncountable, plural spiders)

[ˈspʌɪ̯ɾə(ɹ)]

From Middle English spiþre, spydyr, spider, spiþer, from Old English spīþra (“spider”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinþrijō, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”). Mostly displaced attercop (“spider, unpleasant person”), now a dialectal term.

Cut slices and lay them in cold water in the spider; boil them up two or three minutes, then pour off the water and set the spider again on the coals and brown the slices on each side.

1846, Mary Hooker Cornelius, The Young Housekeeper's Friend, page 146, recipe 28 “To fry salt pork”

In spider pan or deep skillet set over hot coals, quickly fry a few at a time in deep lard until brown.

2005, Marty Davidson, Grandma Grace's Southern Favorites, recipe for “strawberry coconuts”, Rutledge Hill Press, page 193

2008, Corona Club (San Francisco, California), Corona Club Cook Book, page 202,
Melt ½ the dry sugar in the spider, stirring with knife until all is melted.

(cooking, US, UK, chiefly historical and now dialectal) A cast-iron frying pan with three legs, once common in open-hearth cookery.

If you are deep-frying your falafel, use a spider or basket to place them gently into the hot oil, which should be preheated to a temperature of 175°C (330°F).

1996, City and Guilds of London Institute, Food preparation and cooking. Cookery units. Student guide., Stanley Thornes, unit 2ND5, element 2, page 157

Consider investing in a frying basket or a spider for small amounts of fish. A spider looks like a metal web and has a long handle and can lower and raise fish from the hot oil.

2008, Anna Kasabian, David Kasabian, The Wild Fish Cookbook, Creative Publishing International, →ISBN, page 84:

(cooking) Implement for moving food in and out of hot oil for deep frying, with a circular metal mesh attached to a long handle; a spider skimmer


bath

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁-
Proto-Germanic *baþą
Proto-West Germanic *baþ
Old English bæþ
Middle English bath
English bath
From Middle English bath, baþ, from Old English bæþ (“bath”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþ, from Proto-Germanic *baþą (“bath”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Corresponding inherited verbs are beath and bathe.

etymon

barf (non-rhotic, trap–bath split, th-fronting)

The master bath has two sinks.

(real estate, informal) Clipping of bathroom.


bath

en-verb

bath (third-person singular simple present baths, present participle bathing, simple past and past participle bathed)

baths (present singular third-person)
bathing (participle present)
bathed (participle past)
bathed (past)

“Oh, dear no, not me; I never bath, ’tis the cat has been bathing, in a warm sea bath; I’ll tell you how I manage: I bought a large pickle-jar, and so I have it filled every morning with hot sea water, proportionate to the thermometerical heat my finger can bear, and that I stile Tink-a-tink’s bath; in which I immerge him all but his head, for a quarter of an hour; and he looks so pretty, and receives so much benefit, you would be surprised.”

1815, anonymous author, The Observant Pedestrian Mounted, volume 3:

A man's home may be handy to the mine, in which case he would not need to lose the bath, but if he lived any distance away he would bath at the mine.

1912, James Ward, quotee, “Report on the Royal Commission on Mines”, in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, Wellington, page 141:

In a flight of fancy, Millot even wanted to create public bath houses alongside the Seine, so young children could bath in the river’s healthful waters.

2007, “Doctors, Regeneration, and the Revolutionary Crucible, 1789-1804”, in Sean M. Quinlan, The Great Nation in Decline (The History of Medicine in Context), Aldershot: Ashgate, →ISBN, page 140:

Parents would bath after all the children had gone to bed or older children sent into the front room.

2017 February 9, “Very Early Spring”, in Jean A. Stockdale, My Spring: Royal Times and Ordinary Lives, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN, page 17:

(intransitive, informal, Commonwealth) To bathe (oneself); to have a bath.


wok

The 'wok' is an efficient, all-purpose metal cooking vessel used by every housewife in China. It has two handles and is shaped like a shallow cone.

1977, Marguerite Fawdry, Chinese Childhood, →ISBN, page 86:

(cooking) A large, round-bottomed cooking pan used in East Asian cooking.


launderer

/ˈlɔːndəɹə(ɹ)/

[...] the Westminster City Council has arranged with a large firm of launderers to wash blankets, sheets, pillow cases, and counterpanes, at low standard prices, and to return them the same day.

1941 September, Charles E. Lee, “Sheltering in London Tube Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 389:

One who engages in the business of laundering.

blanquejador

one who engages in the business of laundering


googolplex

Columbia University
Edward Kasner
Mathematics and the Imagination

From googol + -plex, coined by American mathematician Milton Sirotta in 1920 who was then the young nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner. First published and defined in the book Mathematics and the Imagination (1940).

coin

To a mathematician, a googolplex is the figure 1 followed by a googol of zeroes (a googol being the figure 1 followed by a mere 100 zeroes). To a real-estate man, it's one infinitesimal parcel of a plot of land.

1962, Newsweek: The International Newsmagazine, volume 60, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 54:

Competition among bidders eventually resulted in the discovery of the "Googolplex," a quantity supposedly as near to nothing as possible—one over one with countless zeros [as the size of the portion of land the bidder would accept as security for a tax lien]. This, however, was not the limit of minuteness. The "Googolplex of a Googolplex," or "Gee Gee" for short, became the common bid in the sale of City of Miami tax certificates. There has apparently been no authoritative determination of the effect of an outstanding Miami tax certificate […]

1976, Ralph E. Boyer, Florida Real Estate Transactions, New York, N.Y.: Matthew Bender & Co., →OCLC, pages 930–931:

(US, real estate, nonstandard, rare) An infinitesimally small portion of land, defined for legal purposes.


fork

Sranan Tongo: forku

→ Dutch: fork

→ Japanese: フォーク (fōku)

→ Kannada: ಫೋರ್ಕ್ (phōrk)

→ Korean: 포크 (pokeu)

→ Maori: paoka

→ Tamil: போர்க் (pōrk)

→ Telugu: ఫోర్క్ (phōrk)

From Middle English forke (“digging fork”), from Old English force, forca (“forked instrument used to torture”), from Proto-West Germanic *furkō (“fork”), from Latin furca (“pitchfork, forked stake; gallows, beam, stake, support post, yoke”), of uncertain origin. The Middle English word was later reinforced by Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French forque (= Old French forche whence French fourche), also from the Latin. Cognate also with North Frisian forck (“fork”), Dutch vork (“fork”), Danish fork (“fork”), German Forke (“pitchfork”). Displaced native gafol, ġeafel, ġeafle (“fork”), from Old English.
In its primary sense of “fork”, Latin furca appears to be derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerk(ʷ)-, *ǵʰerg(ʷ)- (“fork”), although the development of the -c- is difficult to explain. In other senses this derivation is unlikely. For these, perhaps it is connected to Proto-Germanic *furkaz, *firkalaz (“stake, stick, pole, post”), from Proto-Indo-European *perg- (“pole, post”). If so, this would relate the word to Old English forclas pl (“bolt”), Old Saxon ferkal (“lock, bolt, bar”), Old Norse forkr (“pole, staff, stick”), Norwegian fork (“stick, bat”), Swedish fork (“pole”).

tienhaara

figurative: point in time of making a decision

afsplitsing

computer science: splitting of a process

odnož

computer science: copying and separately developing a project

bifurcació

computer science: a separately developed project based upon a copy of an existing project

a three-prong spear somewhat resembling a pitchfork

(figuratively, decision-making) A point in time where one has to make a decision between two life paths.

(metonymically) Either of the (figurative) paths thus taken.


pot

From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott (“pot”) and Old French pot (“pot”) (probably from Frankish *pott); both Old English and Frankish from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot”), from Proto-Indo-European *budnós (“a type of vessel”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pot (“pot”), Dutch pot (“pot”), German Low German Pott (“pot”), German Pott (“pot”), Swedish potta (“chamber pot”), Icelandic pottur (“tub, pot”), Old Armenian պոյտն (poytn, “pot, earthen pot”). Also, Old Norse pottr (“pot, tub, basin”).
The sense of ruin or deterioration was originally a general allusion to "being chopped up and tossed in a (normally fiery) pot, like a piece of meat" (i.e. to get wasted or done with (by someone)). The 'clean' slang term which was used in reference to toilet rooms and lavatories apparently derives from English chamberpots, although now usually encountered as potty in the context of children's toilet training.

pussitus

cue sports: act of causing a ball to fall into a pocket

not have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of

A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food.


pot

en-verb

pot (third-person singular simple present pots, present participle potting, simple past and past participle potted)

pots (present singular third-person)
potting (participle present)
potted (participle past)
potted (past)

Ideally the best Ideally the best way of tackling the problem of toilet training, is to 'pot' your child at set intervals when he is at home, even though he may no longer be a baby, thus establishing a regular routine instead of one at odd intervals.

1975, Nancie R. Finnie, Handling the Young Cerebral Palsied Child, →ISBN, page 75:

If you leave out this “catching" stage altogether and start proper toilet training at, say, eighteen months you will only have to pot your baby about 2000 times for the same effect.

1978, Penelope Leach, Your Baby & Child from Birth to Age Five, →ISBN, page 225:

Do not make the mistake of potting your baby as early as possible, but wait until she gives the signal that she is aware that puddles are somehow to do with her.

2004, Joan Gomez, Coping with Incontinence, →ISBN, page 33:

Of course, if at any stage your child takes a violent dislike to the pot, then I would put it away for a few weeks and then try again, but if the pot is very comfortable, your attitude is calm and you don't over-pot your child (put him on the pot too often or talk about the pot too much), this shouldn't happen.

2012, Nanny Smith, Nina Grunfeld, Nanny Knows Best: Successful Potty Training, →ISBN:

(transitive, British) To seat a person, usually a young child, on a potty or toilet, typically during toilet teaching.


heater

→ Japanese: ヒーター (hītā)

Emmy went on a heater in Las Vegas and came back six thousand dollars richer.

(gambling, slang) An extended winning streak.

(horse racing) A dead heat; a race in which two or more competitors reach the finish line simultaneously.


shelf

→ Czech: šelf

→ Irish: seilf

→ Serbo-Croatian: šȅlf, ше̏лф

→ Welsh: silff

From Middle English schelfe, probably from Old English sċylfe, sċilfe (“shelf, ledge, deck of a ship”), from Proto-West Germanic *skilfijā, from Proto-Germanic *skelfō (“shelf, ledge, cliff”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut”), distantly related to sculpt, carve and shell. Cognate with Dutch schelf (“hay loft, haystack”), German Low German Schelf (“haystack”), Old Norse skjalf (“bench”).

der

We keep the old newspapers on the bottom shelf of the cupboard, and our photos on the top shelf.

Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.

2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, retrieved 2012-10-31:

A flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to display, store, or support objects.


grater

I'm making coleslaw; do you know where the grater is?

As she ran on her numerous errands Jessamy found that if she did not stop to think, she knew all kinds of odd little things that the other Jessamy must have learned, such as where the nutmeg grater lived, and which was the potato peeling knife.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 115:

a tool with which one grates, especially foods such as cheese, to facilitate getting small particles or shreds off a solid lump


rosarium

From Latin rosārium. Doublet of rosary and Rosario.


couch

→ German: Couch

→ Serbo-Croatian: кауч／kauč

From Middle English couche, cowche, from Old French couche, from the verb (see below). Doublet of cwtch.

At a casting workshop, an actor was performing a blank scene […] and he had not bothered to make any choices about why he was on stage, what his motivation was, what he was playing. He had decided who he was and where he was (on a couch with his girlfriend) but had not decided what he wanted. So the performance was flat and lifeless.

2009, Nancy Bishop, Secrets from the Casting Couch: On Camera Strategies for Actors from a Casting Director, London: Methuen Drama, A & C Black, →ISBN:

[…] I want to try to describe my efforts to take psychoanalysis as a method off the couch and into the work of creating and using a political conference table.

2010, Alessandra Lemma, Matthew Patrick, “Off the Couch and Round the Conference Table”, in Alessandra Lemma, Matthew Patrick, editors, Off the Couch: Contemporary Psychoanalytic Applications, London: Routledge, →ISBN:

It's not a particularly unique living room. It has a window that faces the street, two broken-in beige couches, a few end tables, a television (not the latest model), and a dark blue throw rug in the center of it all. Alice sat down on one end of one couch, and I sat down on the other end.

2014, Jennifer Mathieu, The Truth About Alice: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Roaring Brook Press, →ISBN:

(Canada, US, Australia, Ireland) An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa.

bank

furniture for seating of more than one person


cot

Borrowed from Hindi खाट (khāṭ), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀔𑀝𑁆𑀝𑀸 (khaṭṭā), from Sanskrit खट्वा (khaṭvā, “bedstead”).

(Canada, US, Philippines) A simple bed, especially one for portable or temporary purposes.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A bed for infants or small children, with high, often slatted, often moveable sides.

(nautical, historical) A wooden bed frame, slung by its corners from a beam, in which officers slept before the introduction of bunks.


cot

From Middle English cot, cote, from Old English cot and cote (“cot, cottage”), from Proto-Germanic *kutą, *kutǭ (compare Old Norse kot, Middle High German kūz (“execution pit”)), from Scythian (compare Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬙𐬀 (kata, “chamber”)). Cognate to Dutch kot (“student room; small homestead”). Doublet of cote; more distantly related to cottage.

cog

the sheltered cot, the cultivated farm

1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC:

One evening […] we were on a sudden, greatly astonished, by hearing a violent knocking on the outward Door of our rustic Cot.

1790, Jane Austen, “Love and Freindship”, in Juvenilia:

1898, Ethna Carbery, "Roddy McCorley" (poem).
Oh, see the fleet-foot hosts of men who speed with faces wan / From farmstead and from thresher's cot along the banks of Ban

A pen, coop, or similar shelter for small domestic animals, such as sheep or pigeons.

sormustin

finger cover to prevent static discharge


cot

You know, that being an old bachelor, and somewhat of an epicure, he is at home, what the vulgar call a cot; and has laid down his spontoon for the tasting spoon, converted his sword into a carving knife, and his sash into a jelly bag.

1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 347:

(obsolete) A man who does household work normally associated with women.


bureau

Unadapted borrowing from French bureau, earlier "coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize", from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel, taken from Old French.

cog

Ashley Johnson is an energy, trade and economics expert at the National Bureau of Asian Research, based in the United States.

2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns:

An administrative unit of government; office.

There was an eerie silence in the dorm [... in] the factory. [...] The lamp glowed in his bureau, warm and reassuring and, through the window, I could see his papers strewn across the desk. [...] I called his name again. A movement from his bureau. [...] I banged on his door until it opened a crack[. ...] He pushed me out onto the staircase. "Get out," he screamed. The door to his bureau slammed in my face.

2015, Victoria Delderfield, Secret Mother:

Both my ability to comprehend what is being said [in French] and my ability to fake comprehension have improved expeditiously. Monsieur holds the door open for me as we step inside his bureau. No one looks up as we enter. He offers me a seat, and when I fail to take it he returns to my side of the desk [...].

2010, Ellie Nielsen, Buying a Piece of Paris: A Memoir, page 17:

Nick opened the bureau door and told Joan he was going to find Susan. He walked to the cafeteria, but it was empty. He went back to the bureau, and asked Joan to check the restrooms.

2015, Dan Riker, The Blue Girl Murders, page 287:

An office (room where clerical or professional duties are performed).

(chiefly British) A desk, usually with a cover and compartments that are located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath, and often used for storing papers.


rose garden

(literally) A garden devoted primarily to roses.


semi

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

The prefix semi- (from Latin) used as a noun.

2008, Elliott Placks, quoted in Helen Isbister, Morris Bryant, Property, Career FAQs, Australia, page 40,
I′m selling two side-by-side semis that are currently under construction, a waterfront apartment and a house in Rose Bay.

The smaller semis of the 1920s and 1930s were closely related to the three bedroom pre-1919 narrow fronted terraces, at least to the larger pre-1919 terraces.

2008, Barry Goodchild, Homes, Cities and Neighbourhoods: Planning and the Residential Landscapes of Modern Britain, page 52:

The roads were lined with cramped little semis and 1960s bungalows: Britain's cheapest houses, in their flimsy, pebble-dashed glory.

2012, Tim Moore, You Are Awful (But I Like You): Travels Around Unloved Britain, Vintage, →ISBN, page 150:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, informal) A semi-detached house.

I was hungry an' freezin' an' done caught a chill / When the lights of a big semi topped the hill

1967, Tommy Faile (lyrics and music), “Phantom 309”, performed by Red Sovine:

All night we couldn′t hear each other speak because of the sound of semis changing gear to get over the hill.

2011, Eamonn Duff, Schapelle Corby: The Untold Story Behind Her Ill-Fated Drug Run, Australia: Allen & Unwin, unnumbered page:

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) A semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer; an eighteen-wheeler; an artic.


trailer

→ Armenian: թրեյլեր (tʻreyler)

→ Estonian: treiler

→ Finnish: traileri

→ Galician: tráiler

→ Greek: τρέιλερ (tréiler)

→ Japanese: トレーラー (torērā)

→ Portuguese: trailer

→ Romanian: treiler

→ Russian: тре́йлер (tréjler)

→ Spanish: tráiler

→ Swahili: trela

From trail + -er. The film sense derives from the fact that previews were formerly shown after the main feature, rather than before as is usual today.

תווית סוף

in computing: value used to signal the end of a list of data

We drove our trailer to Yellowstone Park.

(US) A furnished vehicle towed behind another, and used as a dwelling when stationary; a caravan; a camper.

The young couple′s first home was in a trailer.

(US) A prefabricated home that could be towed to a new destination but is typically permanently left in an area designated for such homes.

фургон

prefabricated home that could be towed but typically is not

The trailer for that movie makes it seem like it would be fun.

(chiefly US, media) A preview of a film, video game or TV show.

A short blank segment of film at the end of a reel, for convenient insertion of the film in a projector.

The linked list terminates with a trailer record.

(computing) The final record of a list of data items, often identified by a key field with an otherwise invalid value that sorts last alphabetically (e.g., “ZZZZZ”) or numerically (“99999”); especially common in the context of punched cards, where the final card is called a trailer card.


sheet

From Middle English schete; partly from Old English sċīete (“a sheet, a piece of linen cloth”); partly from Old English sċēata (“a corner, angle; the lower corner of a sail, sheet”); and Old English sċēat (“a corner, angle”); all from Proto-Germanic *skautijǭ, *skautaz (“corner, wedge, lap”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to throw, shoot, pursue, rush”).
Cognate with North Frisian skut (“the fold of a garment, lap, coattail”), West Frisian skoat (“sheet; sail; lap”), Dutch schoot (“the fold of a garment, lap, sheet”), German Low German Schote (“a line from the foot of a sail”), German Schoß (“the fold of a garment, lap”), Swedish sköt (“sheet”), Icelandic skaut (“the corner of a cloth, a line from the foot of a sail, the skirt or sleeve of a garment, a hood”).

cog

(geology) An extensive bed of an eruptive rock intruded between, or overlying, other strata.

пласт

geology: extensive bed of an eruptive rock intruded between, or overlying, other strata


development

en-noun

development (countable and uncountable, plural developments)

From French développement, from Old French desvelopemens (“unrolling”). By surface analysis, develop + -ment. First attested in 1756.

(real estate, countable) A project consisting of one or more commercial or residential buildings.

(real estate, uncountable) The building of such a project.


stove

→ Japanese: ストーブ (sutōbu)

From Middle Dutch stove and/or Middle Low German stove (compare Dutch stoof, German Low German Stuve, Stuuv), both from Proto-West Germanic *stubu, *stubō, from Proto-Germanic *stubō (“room, living room, heated room”), further origin uncertain. Cognate with Old English stofa (“bathroom, bathhouse”), stufbæþ (“hot-air bath”), Old High German stuba (whence German Stube), Old Norse stofa (whence Icelandic stofa (“living room”), Norwegian stove, Danish and Norwegian stue and Swedish stuga). The Germanic words are very old, and are the source of the Slavic and Romance terms. It is often speculated that the Germanic terms were borrowed from Vulgar Latin *extūfa, *extūfāre (“to heat with steam”), from Latin ex- + *tūfus (“hot vapor”), from Ancient Greek τῦφος (tûphos, “fever”).
Doublet of stufa.

cog

1815 Robertson Buchanan, Appendix to A Treatise on the Economy of Fuel, and Management of Heat, Especially as it Relates to Heating and Drying by Means of Steam. p. 309.
[I]n the countries of modern Europe, the use of stoves prevail throughout the north; while in France and Great Britain, open fires are used. In the warm countries of Italy and Spain, there are very few chimneys, and the only method usually practised of tempering the cold... is to burn charcoal in portable brasiers.

We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.

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

A heater, a closed apparatus to burn fuel for the warming of a room.


cricket

From Middle English creket, crykett, crykette, from Old French criket (with diminutive -et) from criquer (“to make a cracking sound; creak”), from Middle Dutch kricken (“to creak; crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną, related to Middle English creken, criken (“to creak”), all ultimately of imitative origin.
Compare Dutch kriek (“cricket”), Middle Dutch krikel, criekel, crekel (“cricket”) (with diminituve -el), Middle Low German krikel, krekel (“cricket”), German Kreckel (“cricket”). More at creak.

onomatopoeic

imitative

(aviation, slang) An aural warning sound consisting of a continuously-repeating chime, designed to be difficult for pilots to ignore.


cricket

→ Afrikaans: krieket

→ Albanian: kriket

→ Arabic: الكريكت (al krīkit)

→ Assamese: ক্ৰিকেট (kriket)

→ Burmese: ကရစ်ကက် (ka.rackak)

→ Catalan: criquet

→ Czech: kriket

→ Danish: kricket, cricket

→ Dutch: cricket

→ French: cricket

→ Galician: crícket

→ German: Cricket

→ Greek: κρίκετ (kríket)

desc

→ Hebrew: קְרִיקֶט

→ Hebrew: קְרִיקֶט

→ Hindi: क्रिकेट (krikeṭ)

→ Hungarian: krikett

→ Icelandic: krikket

→ Irish: cruicéad

→ Italian: cricket

→ Japanese: クリケット (kuriketto)

→ Korean: 크리켓 (keuriket)

→ Malay: kriket

→ Pashto: کرکټ (krikiṭ)

→ Persian: کریکت (krekit)

→ Polish: krykiet

→ Portuguese: críquete

→ Russian: кри́кет (kríket) (see there for further descendants)

→ Scottish Gaelic: criogaid

→ Serbo-Croatian: krìket, крѝкет

→ Spanish: críquet, cricket

→ Swahili: kriketi

→ Swedish: cricket

→ Thai: คริกเก็ต (krík-gèt)

→ Urdu: کرکٹ (krikiṭ)

→ Welsh: criced

Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met de krik ketsen (“to chase a ball with a curved stick”).

der

A variant of the game of darts. See Cricket (darts).


cricket

The etymology is unknown. A few similar words exist in Germanic languages, such as Norwegian krakk (“stool”).

Heawe’er I pood o Cricket, on keaw’rt meh deawn ith Nook, o side oth' Hob

1746, Tim Bobbin, A View of the Lancashire Dialect; by Way of Dialogue, Manchester: Josehp Harrop, pages 31 in the 6th edition 1757, 13–14 in the 1797 edition:


sham

en-noun

sham (countable and uncountable, plural shams)


table

→ Assamese: টেবুল (tebul)

→ Bengali: টেবিল (ṭebil)

→ Gujarati: ટેબલ (ṭebal)

→ Japanese: テーブル (tēburu)

→ Korean: 테이블 (teibeul)

→ Maori: tēpu

→ Nepali: टेबुल (ṭebul)

→ Odia: ଟେବଲ୍ (ṭebal)

→ Sylheti: ꠐꠦꠛꠥꠟ (ṭebul)

→ Telugu: టేబులు (ṭēbulu)

From Middle English table, tabel, tabil, tabul, from Old English tabele, tabul, tablu, tabule, tabula (“board”); also as tæfl, tæfel, an early Germanic borrowing of Latin tabula (“tablet, board, plank, chart”). The sense of “piece of furniture” is from Old French table, of same Latin origin; Old English used bēod or bord instead for this meaning: see board. Doublet of tabula and tavla.

der

Set that dish on the table over there, please.

He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it.

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

A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away,[…].

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

Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.

An item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground, usually on one or more legs.

The board or table-like furniture on which a game is played, such as snooker, billiards, or draughts.

A flat tray which can be used as a table.

The baron kept a fine table and often held large banquets.

(backgammon) One half of a backgammon board, which is divided into the inner and outer table.

A wide, flat obstacle for a horse to jump over.


rent

en-noun

rent (countable and uncountable, plural rents)

From Middle English rent, rente, from Old French rente, from Early Medieval Latin rendita, from Late Latin rendere, from Latin reddere.

(video games) An amount of virtual currency paid by a player to preserve their character, inventory, etc. between gameplay sessions in a multi-user dungeon.


antimacassar

She was particularly fond of animals, and, besides her canary, whose cage hung on a nail in the massive wall of the keep by day, to the great annoyance of prisoners who relished an after-dinner nap, and was shrouded in an antimacassar on the parlour table at night, she kept several piebald mice and a restless revolving squirrel.

1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:

[…] how could anyone on a three-legged stool under the high top of the sofa sleep? Especially if the fringe of an antimacassar lolled over the top and tickled your neck?

1942, Emily Carr, “Mrs. Crane”, in The Book of Small:

The upholstery is of Irish tweed, with antimacassars in Irish linen, and the rugs are hand-woven in Celtic design.

1951 May, “Notes and News: New Coaches for C.I.E.”, in Railway Magazine, page 348:

A cover for the back or arms of a chair or sofa, originally to prevent them from being soiled by macassar oil.


mattress

From Middle English materas, from Old French, from Arabic مَطْرَح (maṭraḥ, “place where something is thrown”), from طَرَحَ (ṭaraḥa, “to throw”). Compare divan, from Persian via Turkish (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans).

der

Spun glass mattresses are used for lagging the boiler, which has three Ross pop safety valves on the front ring.

1941 April, “British Locomotive Developments”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 173:

The boiler and firebox are lagged with a lightweight Fibreglass mattress.

1951 March, “British Railways Standard "Britannia" Class 4-6-2 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 185:

A form of lagging, in particular for boilers.


apartment

→ Japanese: アパートメント (apātomento), アパート (apāto)

→ Hokkien: a-phá-tò

→ Korean: 아파트 (apateu)

desc

→ Thai: อพาร์ทเมนท์ (à-páat-mén)

→ Thai: อพาร์ทเมนท์ (à-páat-mén)

From French appartement, from Italian appartamento, from Spanish apartamiento (“separation, seclusion”). See apart.

APT

The US Postal Service prefers this variant

apartment dwellers

I am Jonathan. I am in apartment B4. — I am in apartment C2.
Audio (US): (file)

2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

(chiefly Canada, US, Australia, Philippines) A complete domicile occupying only part of a building, especially one for rent; a flat.

雅柏文

ngaa⁵ paak³ man⁴, aa⁶ paat¹ man⁴, aa⁶ paat¹ man⁴⁻²

condominium

domicile occupying part of a building; compare with


microwave oven

Meronym: carousel

We got to install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliveries. We got to move these refrigerators, we got to move these color TVs.

1985, Dire Straits (lyrics and music), “Money for Nothing”, in Brothers in Arms:

An oven that uses microwave energy to heat food or other items placed within it.

微波炉

mainland China: wēibōlú; Taiwan: wéibōlú

微波烤箱

mainland China: wēibō kǎoxiāng; Taiwan: wéibō kǎoxiāng


chopstick

Apparently a compound of chop + stick, but the sense of the first element is not clear. The eating utensil sense (attested since 1637) is presumably a transfer of sense from the earlier fishing tackle sense (attested from 1615), based on physical resemblance.
The common derivation from Chinese Pidgin English chop(-chop) (“quick”), a supposed calque from Chinese 筷子 (kuàizi, “chopstick”), derived from 快 (kuài, “quick”), is chronologically impossible as Chinese Pidgin English did not come into existence until the 18th century.

Then broughtt they us some henne cutt in small peeces and Fresh porcke Don in like Manner, giving us Choppsticks to eatt our Meat, butt wee knew not how to use them, soe imployed our Fingers. [...] Having before mentioned Chopstickes, I will Describe a ordinary Fellow, as boatmen, etts., how hee eateth / his meat, which is commonly on the ground or Decke. Hee taketh the stickes (which are aboutt a foote longe) beetweene his Fingers and with them hee taketh uppe his Meat, beeing first cut smalle, as saltporcke, Fish, etts., with which they relish their Rice (it beeing their common Foode). I say first taking upp a bitt of the Meatte, hee presently applies to his Mouth a smalle procelane with sodden Rice. Hee thrusts, Crammes and stuffes it full of the said Rice with the Chopsticks in exceedingly hasty Manner untill it will hold No more.

1637, Peter Mundy, Diary; in Richard Carnac Temple, editor, The English Factory in Japan, 1613-1623: Volume I, Cambridge: The Hakluyt Society, 1919, page 194:

All the Tonquineses keep many of these Sticks in their Houses, as well for their own use, as to entertain Strangers at meals: they are as ordinarily placed at the Table here, as Knives, Forks, and Spoons are in England: and a man that cannot dextrously handle these instruments, makes but an odd figure at their Tables. The richer sort of people, especially the Mandarins, have them tipt with Silver. In China also these things are constantly used: they are called by the English Seamen Chopsticks.

1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, London: James Knapton, page 85:

These Sticks are called by the Chinese Quay-tse, and by some of our Voyagers Chopsticks, which they manage so dexterously that they can take up a grain of rice with them.

1761, Hau Kiou Choaan, or, The Pleasing History, London: R. and J. Dodson, page 192:

When not used, the chopsticks must be laid on the table, side by side, exactly pointing away from the individual[.]

1850, Walter Henry Medhurst, A Glance at the Interior of China, Obtained During a journey through the Silk and Green Tea Districts, London: John Snow, page 11:

It took three months’ massage twice a day for ten minutes to bring the muscles to a good condition, and the boy left the hospital able to lift weights as well as to use his chop-sticks.

1906 January, R. T. Booth, “Medical and Surgical Notes”, in China Medical Missionary Journal, volume XX, number 1, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 75:

The main feature was large plates of meat cut up in small pieces, well-cooked and very nice, so I waded into it with chop-sticks, and had quite a good meal.

1920 January 11, The Sun, Sydney, page 5, column 4:

The guests, including Australians, ate with chopsticks and drank beer, spirits or Chinese tea from rice bowls.

1950 February 18, The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, NSW, page 1, column 3:

(usually in the plural) An East Asian eating utensil usually used as a pair and held in one hand to grip pieces of food or occasionally to mix liquids or scoop up small pieces of food. The utensil is a stick, usually made of wood and measuring approximately 23cm (10 inches) in length.


microwave

Holonym: radio band

Microwaves do not follow the curvature of the earth, but travel in a straight line. They must therefore have unobstructed "line of sight" and the dish aerials have to be sited on towers or high buildings, on high ground, or a combination of all three.

1964 August, “The NER's microwave radio-telephone begins work”, in Modern Railways, page 129:

electromagnetic wave
electromagnetic wave

An electromagnetic wave with wavelength between that of infrared light and radio waves.


oven

From Middle English oven, from Old English ofn, from Proto-West Germanic *ofn, from Proto-Germanic *uhnaz, *uhwnaz (compare Dutch oven, Low German Aven, West Frisian ûne, German Ofen, Danish ovn, Norwegian Bokmål ovn, Norwegian Nynorsk omn, Swedish ugn, Icelandic ofn, Finnish uuni, Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌽𐍃 (auhns), probably from a Proto-Indo-European *aukʷ- (“cooking pot”), *Hukʷ-, *ukʷnos (compare Sanskrit उखा (ukhā), Albanian anë, Latin aulla, olla, Ancient Greek ἰπνός (ipnós)).
The modern pronunciation shows an occasional sound change in which o is changed to u (compare with the phonetic development of Coventry and shovel).

inh

Baby I'm hot just like an oven / I need some lovin'

1982, “Sexual Healing”, in Midnight Love, performed by Marvin Gaye:


bier

From Middle English beer, beere, bere, from Old English bēr, (West Saxon) bǣr (“stretcher, bier”), from Proto-West Germanic *bāru, from Proto-Germanic *bērō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Beere (“stretcher, bier”), Dutch baar (“bier”), German Bahre (“bier, stretcher”). More at bear.

cog

On April 5, 1925, Chiang Kai-shek returned from the First Eastern Expedition to the Whampoa Military Academy to officiate at a funeral service for Sun Yat-sen, who had died in Peking on March 12. Huang Chi-lu, then a young professor of political science at the University of Kwangtung and destined to become director of the Kuomintang Archives some forty years later, has informed us of the display of strong emotion evidenced by Chiang on this occasion: "The service was officiated by Mr. Chiang and Liao Chung-k'ai and was attended by over four thousand officers, cadets, and soldiers. As the funeral ceremonies began, Mr. Chiang, unable to control himself, wept bitterly and audibly, causing all in the assembly to shed tears."¹ Three years later, at the conclusion of the Northern Expedition, a similarly melodramatic scene unfolded before the eyes of the public as Chiang visited Sun's bier in the suburbs of Peking.

1971, Pichon Pei Yung Loh, The early Chiang Kai-shek: A STUDY OF HIS PERSONALITY AND POLITICS, 1887-1924, Columbia University Press, page 1:

A platform or stand where a body or coffin is placed.


toaster

→ French: toasteur

→ German: Toaster

→ Hebrew: טוסטר

ja-r

トースター (tōsutā)

→ Japanese: トースター (tōsutā)

→ Korean: 토스터 (toseuteo)

→ Polish: toster

→ Russian: то́стер (tóstɛr)

From toast + -er (agent noun suffix) or -er (patient suffix).

An electrical device for toasting bread, English muffins, crumpets, etc.

(music, informal, derogatory) An electronic organ, especially a crude one that uses analog technology.

The Freedom Toaster was developed with backing from Mark Shuttleworth as a vending-machine-style dispenser of free digital products, including Ubuntu Linux.

2008, Michael Jang, Ubuntu Certified Professional Study Guide, McGraw Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 9:

(computing slang, uncommon) A self-contained software package distributable over the Internet or by burning onto CDs.


silverware

en-noun

silverware (countable and uncountable, plural silverwares)

(US, Atlantic Canada) Knives, forks and spoons.


tablespoon

Their eggs were deposited on a few bits of straw, and great caution was necessary in attempting to procure them, as the slightest touch crumbled their frail tenement into dust. By means of a tablespoon, I was enabled to procure many of them.

1840, John James Audubon, The Birds of America, volume 1, page 178:

(Canada, US) A large spoon, used for eating food from a bowl.

(Australia, New Zealand, Northern UK) A spoon too large for eating, usually used for cooking or serving.

1995 May 22, Salad Recipes, New York, page 51,
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a nonstick skillet until hot and quickly saute the goat-cheese buttons on both sides until brown.

In Australia, 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml, and there are 4 teaspoons in the Australian tablespoon.

2003, Better Homes and Gardens, Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes, page 416:

2006, Tempted: 150 Very Wicked Desserts, Murdoch Books, UK, copyright page,
If you are using a 15 ml (3 teaspoon) tablespoon, for most recipes the difference will not be noticeable.

2012, James Armstrong, Kellee Hollyman, General, Organic, and Biochemistry: An Applied Approach, Cengage Learning, US, page 27,
The problem gives us a number of tablespoons of cooking oil and asks us to convert this amount into milliliters. We are also told that one tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons, but this is a relationship between two units, not an actual measurement.

(cooking) A unit of volume, the value of which varies regionally; in the US: three teaspoons or one half fluid ounce or roughly 15 ml; in Britain and Canada: exactly 15 ml; in Russia 18 ml; in Australia: four teaspoons or 20 ml.


cutlery

cutlery (countable and uncountable, plural cutleries)

From Middle English cotellerie, cutleri (“the cutler’s art or craft”), from Old French coutelerie (modern French coutellerie).

a cutlery set

This cutlery comes from Normandy, France.

A collective ensemble of eating and serving utensils such as knives, forks and spoons.

spoons; spoons and chopsticks; spoons and forks; knives and forks

muỗng đũa, muỗng nĩa, dao nĩa, thìa muỗng


olla

Borrowed from Spanish olla, from Latin olla, aulla; akin to Sanskrit उखा (ukhā, “pot”), and probably also Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌽𐍃 (auhns, “oven”).


teaspoon

A unit of measure, equivalent to one-third of a tablespoon or roughly five milliliters.


ladle

From Middle English ladel, from Old English hlædel, derived from Proto-Germanic *hlaþaną (“to load”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- (“to put, lay out”), same source as Lithuanian kloti (“to spread”), equivalent to lade + -le (“agent suffix”).

inh

When the materials of glass have been kept long in fusion, the mixture casts up the superfluous salt, which the workmen afterwards take off with ladles.

1680, Robert Boyle, Experiments and Notes about the Producibleness of Chemical Principles:

A deep-bowled spoonlike utensil with a long, usually curved, handle.

luhare

deep-bowled spoon with a long, usually curved, handle

(metallurgy) A container used in a foundry to transport and pour out molten metal.

пота

The float of a mill wheel; a ladle board.

An instrument for drawing the charge of a cannon.

A ring, with a handle or handles fitted to it, for carrying shot.


bogey

en-verb

bogey (third-person singular simple present bogeys, present participle bogeying, simple past and past participle bogeyed)

bogeys (present singular third-person)
bogeying (participle present)
bogeyed (participle past)
bogeyed (past)

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


bogey

My mother would use leaves from trees to make soap for washing our bodies with, and unfortunately for us kids there was no excuse not to take a bogey.

1994, Rita Huggins & Jackie Huggins, Auntie Rita, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 151


closet

→ Czech: klozet

→ Polish: klozet

→ Spanish: clóset

→ Welsh: closet

From Middle English closet, from Old French closet, from clos (“private space”) + -et (diminutive suffix), from Latin clausum. Equivalent to close + -et, but generally applied in French solely to small open-air enclosures.

cupboard

storage area set into a wall, used for storing food or dishware

cupboard

piece of furniture, used for storing food or dishware

[A]broad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets […]

1594–1597, Richard Hooker, chapter 24, in J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

(now rare) Any private or inner room, (particularly):

(figuratively, archaic) A place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing.

(now chiefly Scotland, Ireland) Any small room or side room.

(US, Philippines) One intended for storing clothes or bedclothes.

wardrobe

piece of furniture, used for storing clothes


duplex

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
Borrowed from Latin duplex (“double, two-fold”), from duo (“two”) + plico (“fold together”); compare the roots of διπλόος (diplóos, “double”); compare also πλέκω (plékō, “twist, braid”). By surface analysis, duo- + -plex.

The house had been renovated into a duplex and he’d put in a phone line.

2020, Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji, Faber & Faber Ltd, page 53:

(US, Canada, Australia) A house made up of two dwelling units.

In contrast, the folds in the overlying lithotectonic unit 4 are larger and are cut by a series of faults in a duplex.

1993, David J. Lidke, Jack Burton Epstein, Chester A. Wallace, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, page 16:

It has been noted, using a combination of surface geologic and seismic reflection data, that a duplex, although formed in response to movement of a thrust sheet, frequently arches the thrust sheet as the duplex is built by duplication of rocks beneath it […]

1995, Robert D. Hatcher, Structural Geology: Principles, Concepts, and Problems, page 211:

(geology) A system of multiple thrust faults bounded above and below by a roof thrust and floor thrust.


duplex

en-verb

duplex (third-person singular simple present duplexes, present participle duplexing, simple past and past participle duplexed)

duplexes (present singular third-person)
duplexing (participle present)
duplexed (participle past)
duplexed (past)


cooking utensil

en-noun

cooking utensil (plural cooking utensils)

Any utensil used for preparing, handling, or serving food.


spoon

From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English spōn (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-West Germanic *spānu, from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peh₂- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”).
Cognate with Scots spun, spon (“spoon, shingle”), West Frisian spoen, Dutch spaan (“chip, flinders”), German Span (“chip, flake, shaving”), Swedish spån (“chip, flake”), Faroese spónur (“wood chip; spoon”), Ancient Greek σφήν (sphḗn, “wedge”)(though the connection to the Greek is likely impossible by modern reconstructions of PIE). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cuculer, coclear (“spoon”), from Old English cuculer, cuceler, cucler, borrowed from Latin cochlear (“spoon”).
The "metaphoric unit of personal energy" sense was coined by writer and disability advocate Christine Miserandino in 2003 (see spoon theory).

coinage

he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon

An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.


broomstick

(military slang) A controlstick of an airplane.


bathe

From Middle English bathen, from Old English baþian (“to bathe, wash”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþōn, from Proto-Germanic *baþōną (“to bathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian boadje (“to bathe”), Dutch baden (“to bathe”), German Low German baden (“to bathe”), German baden (“to bathe”), Danish bade (“to bathe”), Swedish bada (“to bathe”), Icelandic baða (“to bathe”). More at bath. Compare also bask.

I'm going to have a midnight bathe tonight.

I do not feel disposed to ask any questions, but devote myself entirely to the Governoress, who takes me over to the bathing-house in her boat. I have had my bathe, and am strolling along the sands, waiting for the Countess.

1885, Mrs. Forrester, “Retribution”, in Although He Was a Lord and Other Tales (Collection of British Authors, Tauchnitz Edition; volume 2327), Leipzig: [Christian] Bernhard Tauchnitz, page 140:

(British, colloquial) The act of swimming or bathing, especially in the sea, a lake, or a river; a swimming bath.


broom

en-noun

broom (countable and uncountable, plural brooms)

→ Chinook Jargon: bloom

Inherited from Middle English brom, from Old English brōm (“brushwood”), from Proto-West Germanic *brām (“bramble”) (compare Saterland Frisian Brom, West Frisian brem, Dutch braam, German Low German Braam), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem-, from *bʰer- ‘edge’. Related to brim, brink.
(shotgun): So called because it is (like the cleaning utensil) long and held similarly to a besom and “cleans” what is in front.

(countable) A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping.

пэнэ пхъэнкӏыпхъ

pɛnɛ pχɛnkʼəpχ

(countable, curling) An implement with which players sweep the ice to make a stone travel further and curl less; a sweeper.

So keep talking all that fly shit, and I’ma grab the tool
And the lead will get stuck in your head like a catchy tune
Soon as I look down on a target, bitch, your ass is doomed
Trust exercise with Ahdi, arms out to catch a boom
You see this sweeper I got, it ain’t your average broom
This ring will wet this bitch like a happy groom

2015 September 26, Ms. Hustle (lyricist), Ms. Hustle vs. O’fficial (Summer Madness; 5), Ultimate Rap League, from 48:07–48:28:

I just got the drop, there is an opp
OFB step with the broom

2017 July 17, OFB (RV, Kash, Lowkey, Headie One, Bradz & Tuggzy) (lyrics and music), “Loyal”, 2:45–2:47:

He got forced to hold that broom, that dickhead reminds me of Cinderella

2019 September 11, Yanko (lyrics and music), “Next Up”, in #ACGK, 1:59:

Pull up to the 🎵 get whacked with the broom
TT liz on my line, so you know it got moved
Distribute, click, click, shoot
That's another face on frontline news

2020 July 2, “Stop Check”, LR of TPL (lyrics):

Back that strap then blaze, fry man
Tell bro “make sure you twos that yute”
Rise that stick when the street needs cleaning
The pigs know this ain't no average broom

2020 July 3, “Lightwork Freestyle”, Y.CB of 7th (lyrics):

If F’s in the room
step with the broom
finna here a boom with a boom!

2020 October 23, “Talk Bout Hollows”, DBF MD (lyrics), 0:30–0:33:


folium

folium (countable and uncountable, plural foliums or folia)

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

From Latin folium (“leaf”). Doublet of foil and folio, distantly also with phyllo and phyllon.

There may nevertheless be a separate certificate and folium for any derived estate deed.

1872, Registration of Title (Australian Colonies), page 6464:

When this occurs, the existing declaration of title or conveyance is cancelled, the existing folium of the record closed, a fresh declaration of title issued to the new proprietor, and a new folium opened in the record book, upon which are carried forward the memorials of all lesser estates, interests, and charges affecting the land, and continuing current at the time of recording the change of ownership of the freehold.

1872, Edward Jenkins, Discussions on Colonial Questions, page 59:

The duplicate certificates are bound into a register and each forms a distinct folium of the register of one or more pages, for recording all dealings affecting the land, whether fee simple, lesser estate, mortgage, charge or interest, whether subsisting at the time the certificate is issued or subsequently created.

1899, Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Session of the Texas Bar Association, page 24:

Where land is the subject of frequent dealings, a stage is reached at which the folium of the land-register becomes incapable of holding futher endorsements.

1961, John Baalman, The Singapore Torrens Systems, page 65:

A document that acts as the legal record of a transaction.

(especially real estate) A certificate of title.


orangery

/ˈɒrɪndʒərɪ/

From French orangerie; equivalent to orange + -ery.

A greenhouse in which orange trees are grown.


doona

Originally a product name, derived from Danish dyne /dyːnə/. Trademark owned by the Tontine Group.

He had put the doona on sideways. My feet were sticking out.

1983, Helen Garner, Yellow Notebook: Diaries Volume I, Text Publishing, published 2022, page 66:

Lena pulled the doona over her head.

Doonas can be made of goose feathers, wool or synthetics. Wash them twice a year or even more if you sweat a lot. You can tell it′s time for a wash when the fibres are packed down and lumpy, or the doona smells.

2011, Shannon Lush, Jennifer Fleming, Spotless: Room-by-Room Solutions to Domestic Disasters, unnumbered page:

(Australia) A padded blanket used as a cover in bed; a duvet.


staircase

en-verb

staircase (third-person singular simple present staircases, present participle staircasing, simple past and past participle staircased)

staircases (present singular third-person)
staircasing (participle present)
staircased (participle past)
staircased (past)

It is a good idea to make plans for staircasing when you first buy your shared ownership home.

2018, Dave Cowan, Helen Carr, Alison Wallace, Ownership, Narrative, Things, Springer, →ISBN, page 139:

(real estate) To increase one's share in a co-ownership.


duvet

From French duvet, from Middle French duvet, from Old French duvet (“down, the feathers of young birds”), alteration of dumet, dumect, which in turn derives from dum, dun (“down, feathers”), from Old Norse dúnn (“down, down feather”), from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz (“down”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, fume, raise dust”).
Cognate with Icelandic dúnn (“down”), Danish dun (“down”), German Daune (“down”), Dutch dons (“down”). More at down.

der

(British, New Zealand, Canada) A quilt or usually flat cloth bag with a filling (traditionally down) and usually an additional washable cover, used instead of blankets; often called a comforter or quilt, especially in US English.


greenhouse

From green + house ("house for growing greens"), in reference to the produce grown within.

(climatology) A hot state in global climate.