ever

From Middle English ever, from Old English ǣfre, originally a phrase whose first element undoubtedly consists of Old English ā (“ever, always”) + in (“in”) + an element possibly from feorh (“life, existence”) (dative fēore). Compare Old English ā tō fēore (“ever in life”), Old English feorhlīf (“life”).

"Ever place you look there's houses and more houses."

1989, Connie Jordan Green, The War at Home, page 16:

Queen Anne's lace ever place you look.

A sign at the entrance to the road going up Snake Hollow reads, “Snake Hollow is a wonderful place to be, Ever place you look there is a beautiful green tree. Snake Hollow makes you feel alive and free.” Lets keep it that way, for you and me.

2011, Michael Blair, Nub and Bow in History, page 27:

(dialectal and informal) Shortening of every


plenty

From Middle English plentie, plentee, plente, from Anglo-Norman plenté, from Old French plenté, from Latin plenitatem, accusative of plenitas (“fullness”), from plenus (“complete, full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”), from which English full also comes, via Proto-Germanic. Related to the Latin derivatives complete, deplete, replete.

There'll be plenty time later for that

Get a manicure. Plenty men do it.


little

head

little (comparative less, superlative least)

From Middle English litel, from Old English lyttel, lȳtel, from Proto-West Germanic *lūtil, from Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz (“tending to stoop, crouched, little”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to bend, bent, small”), equivalent to lout + -le. Cognate with Dutch luttel, regional German lütt and lützel, Saterland Frisian litje, West Frisian lyts, Low German lütt, lüttje. Related also to Old English lūtan (“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps to Old English lytiġ (“deceitful”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍄𐍃 (liuts, “deceitful”), 𐌻𐌿𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lutjan, “to deceive”); compare also Icelandic lítill (“little”), Faroese lítil, Swedish liten, Danish liden, lille, Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (leitils), which appear to have a different root vowel. More at lout.

der

There is (very) little water left.

We had very little to do.

Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an “explosion.”

2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:

Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).


much

head

much (comparative more, superlative most)

From Middle English muche (“much, great”), apocopated variant of muchel (“much, great”), from Old English myċel, miċel (“big, much”), from Proto-West Germanic *mikil, from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂- (“big, stour, great”). See also mickle, muckle.
cognates
Cognate with Scots mickle, mukill, mekil, mikil (“big, large, great, much”), Middle Dutch mēkel (“great, many, much”), Middle High German michel ("great, many, much"; > German michel (“great, big, large”)), Norwegian Bokmål mye (“much”), Norwegian Nynorsk mykje (“much”), Swedish mycket (“much”), Danish meget (“much”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils, “great, many”), Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “large, great”), Modern Greek μεγάλος (megálos, “large, great”).
Note that English much is not related to Spanish mucho, and their resemblance in both form and meaning is purely coincidental, as mucho derives from Latin multus and is not related to the Germanic forms. Instead, related to Spanish maño.

gloss

"great, many, much"; > German <i class="Latn mention" lang="de">michel</i> (“great, big, large”)

cog

Hurry! We don't have much time!

They set about the task with much enthusiasm.

As it was, he did nothing with much zeal, but sport; and his time was otherwise trifled away, without benefit from books or anything else.

1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:

Unless matters take a nastier turn, neither side has much incentive to compromise.

2011 February 24, “Wisconsin and wider”, in The Economist:

Add this much water and no more.

Take as much time as you like.

(in combinations such as 'as much', 'this much') Used to indicate, demonstrate or compare the quantity of something.

ye shall not nede to seke hym soo ferre sayd the Kynge / for as I here saye sir Launcelot will abyde me and yow in the Ioyous gard / and moche peple draweth vnto hym as I here saye

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book XX (in Middle English):

When Jesus was come downe from the mountayne, moch people folowed him.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew:

There wasn't much people about that day.

1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:

(now archaic or nonstandard) A great number of; many (people).

They got so much things to say right now, they got so much things to say.

1977, Bob Marley (lyrics and music), “So Much Things to Say”:

(now Caribbean, African-American, UK regional) many ( + plural countable noun).


each

From Middle English eche, from Old English ǣlċ, contraction of ǣġhwelċ, from Proto-West Germanic *aiwgahwalīk (“each, every”). Compare Scots ilk, elk (“each, every”), Saterland Frisian älk (“each”), West Frisian elk, elts (“each”), Dutch elk (“each”), Low German elk, ellik (“each”), German Low German elk, elke (“each, every”), German jeglicher (“any”).

inh

Make sure you wash each bowl well.

The sun comes up each morning and sets each night.

Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.

2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:

All; every; qualifying a singular noun, indicating all examples of the thing so named seen as individual or separate items (compare every).


either

From Middle English either, from Old English ǣġhwæþer, from *aiwon + *gahwaþera. Akin to Old Saxon eogihwethar, iahwethar (Low German jeed); Old Dutch *iogewether, *iowether, *iother (Dutch ieder); Old High German eogihwedar, iegihweder, ieweder (German jeder).

You can have it in either colour.

There is a locomotive at either end of the train, one pulling and the other pushing.

His flowing hair
 In curls on either cheek played.

1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

Her hands, long and beautiful, lay on either side of her face.

1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 31:

I hope you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it, that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed on me to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels, with directions to hire some young gentleman of either university to put them in order, and correct the style, as my cousin Dampier did, by my advice, in his book called “A Voyage round the world.”

Jonathan Swift (1726) Gulliver's Travels, 1st edition

They entreat, they pray, they beg, they supplicate (will either of these do, Miss Clary?) that you will make no scruple to go to your uncle Antony's […].

1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:


scant

Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.

der

After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John.

(as pronoun) The failure of this project has scant to do with me.

The summer I answered my first personals, I was a 19-year-old dyke living alone in a three-room bachelorette pad, scant blocks from Main Street, Waltham, Massachusetts.

1979 April 7, Pat M. Kuras, “Advertising for Love”, in Gay Community News, page 11:

[Minnesota Senator Steve] Daines isn’t the only example of right-wing politicians who wish to wield anti-Semitism as a convenient cudgel against their political enemies, with scant if any evidence. But Montana’s vanishingly small Jewish population makes it particularly clear that this strategy has little to do with flesh-and-blood Jews at all.

2019 July 17, Talia Lavin, “When Non-Jews Wield Anti-Semitism as Political Shield”, in GQ:


how much

How much (cheese) is left in the fridge?

How much of a problem will that cause the government?

(interrogative) What amount or quantity (of something stated or implied).

How much do you want for it?

How much is it?

(specifically, when referring to the cost of an item) What amount of money.


yo

Yo sandwich has only bacon in it. Want some ketchup on that?

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of your.


those

From Middle English thos (“those”), alteration of tho pl (“the; those”), equivalent to tho (“the; those”) + -s (plural ending), partly by analogy with thes (“these”), whose final -s is original and not a plural ending. More at tho.

Those bolts go with these parts.

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1:

When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.

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

From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts.

2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:


beaucoup

Borrowed from French beaucoup. Popularized by American GIs during the Vietnam War.

You know that cost beaucoup bucks!

“I bet the skipper’s been drinkin^([sic]) beaucoup highballs an^([sic]) thinks Brooklyn’s Hoboken.”

1925, John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, 3rd section, page 282:

Donlon says, "Well, we're rich and we got beaucoup beer and beaucoup chow. Now all we need is the Bob Hope show."

1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 93:

Then he'd have to be relieved of command. Which you could do, Doctor, but it's beaucoup trouble if you're wrong.

1987 November 2, Michael Halperin, w:Dorothy Catherine Fontana, “Lonely Among Us”, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 1, episode 7, spoken by Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), production code 108:

(US, especially Louisiana, informal) Much, many, a lot of.


these

From Middle English þes, from Old English þas, from Proto-West Germanic *þes-, a form of Proto-Germanic *sa (“that”), from Proto-Indo-European *só. Compare with German diese.

He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

Seinfeld, The Alternate Side
These pretzels are making me thirsty.

ces

followed by adverb "ci" or "cial" or "vola" after noun


such

From Middle English such, swuch, swich, swilch, swulch, from Old English swelċ, from Proto-West Germanic *swalīk, from Proto-Germanic *swalīkaz (“so formed, so like”), equivalent to so + like. Cognate with Scots swilk, sic, sik (“such”), Saterland Frisian suk (“such”), West Frisian suk, sok (“such”), Dutch zulk (“such”), Low German sölk, sulk, sülk, suk (“such”), German solch (“such”), Danish slig (“like that, such”), Swedish slik (“such”), Icelandic slíkur (“such”). More at so, like.

inh

I’ve never seen such clouds in the sky before.  Such is life

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

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

She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.

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

An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.

2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

(demonstrative) Like this, that, these, those; used to make a comparison with something implied by context.

مِثْل

the above address or at such other address as may be provided

(particularly used in formal documents) Any.

The party was such a bore. "Bottomless" is such a lie.

They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.[…].

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

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

Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.

1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

(degree) Used as an intensifier roughly equivalent to very much (of), quite or rather.

Such hypocrisy!

Such bouncy children you have.

Why, I was absolutely spellbound. She sings with such passion!

(exclamative) Used with gradable noun phrases to form exclamations.

In rushed one and tells him such a knight / Is new arrived.

1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:

To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, James 4:13:

(obsolete) A certain; representing the object as already particularized in terms which are not mentioned.


's

Contractions of various words ending in s.

Duncan’s in ’s grave


ma

(dialectal, informal) Alternative spelling of my


hir

Getting down to cases now, a child's learning, L, in the sixth grade will be a function of a number, say k, of variables X1 X2, X3, ... Xk representing hir (hir is an abbreviation for his or her and is pronounced here) previous education, motivation, rapport with teachers, peers' atitudes toward education, teachers' ability, and so on.

1971 March 1, Alexander M. Mood, “Partitioning Variance in Multiple Regression Analyses as a Tool For Developing Learning Models”, in American Educational Research Journal, volume 8, number 2, American Educational Research Association, →DOI, page 192:

But once the disorientation had passed, hir forced hirself back to full consciousness--and worked quickly to establish hir position, and Ruskin's.

1988, Jeffrey Carver, From a Changeling Star, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 232:

It is here that Scratch has found hirself, bored out of hir mind but unable to sleep.

1996 June, Caitlin Sullivan with Bornstein, Kate, Nearly Roadkill: an Infobahn erotic adventure, New York: Serpent's Tail, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC PS3569.U3449 N43 1996, page 13:

The player playing hir character in a MUD (usually) tries to portray a credible, convincing person within the theme of that world, using the tools that MUD provides, hir imagination, and hir social and communicative skills.

2002, Frank Schaap, The Words That Took Us There: Ethnography in a Virtual Reality, Amsterdam: Aksant Academic Publishers, →ISBN, →OL, page 32:

"It's a scientific matter," Ludo announces, explaining hir very out transgender behavior (an ongoing source of embarrassment to hir would-be upwardly mobile parents) as the result of hir other X chromosome's having accidentally fallen into the trash on its way down from heaven.

2011 March 29, Jody Norton, “Transchildren and the Discipline of Children's Literature”, in Kenneth B. Kidd, Michelle Ann Abate, editors, Over the Rainbow: Queer Children's and Young Adult Literature, University of Michigan, →ISBN, LCC PS374.H63 O84 2011, page 305:

Sie may feel that hir actual identity of hir gender is supposed to be both/neither male or female, outside of gender, third gender, beyond gender, absence of gender, mixing gender, changing gender, or all genders.

2011 May 19, Ken Wickham, The Other Genders: Androgyne, Genderqueer, Non-Binary Gender Variant, CreateSpace, →ISBN, page 7:

A lifelong political activist, Leslie Feinberg (who used the pronoun hir) devoted most of hir writing to exploring the complexities of gender.

2023 June 22, Kurt Soller, Liz Brown, Rose Courteau, Kate Guadagnino, Sara Holdren, “The 25 Most Influential Works of Postwar Queer Literature”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(nonstandard) Belonging to hir, their (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular possessive adjective, coordinate with his and her.


ur

(Internet slang, text messaging, colloquial) Abbreviation of your.


sufficient

From Old French sufisanz, soficient, from Latin sufficiēns, present participle of sufficiō.

We have sufficient supplies to last the winter.

There is not sufficient access to the Internet in many small rural villages.

We don't need any more; we already have sufficient.

Sufficient of us are against this idea that we should stop now.

(as pronoun) A quantity (of something) that is as large as is needed.


youse

Have youse gentlemen finished talking?


couple

From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula.

A couple fewer people show up every week.

I'll be there in a couple minutes.

Q. (Mr. Feldman, atty) You say you lived upstairs? A. (Emma Moore) I lived upstairs. Q. Until when? A. About couple months we lived upstairs. Q. Up until couple months ago? A. No, couple months after we moved in there because the down stairs was not finished.

1922, “Lewis J. Bennett et al vs. Sebastien L. Petrino”, in State of New York Supreme Court Appellate Division - Fourth Department:

Couple boys from way downcountry come for a summer in the woods. Isaac Cole talked to em.

2007, Jeffrey Lent, Lost Nation, page 182:

[At a pizza parlor] "Couple slices would be great. […]

2011, Elizabeth Eulberg, Prom and Prejudice:

(colloquial, US, Canada) Two or a few, a small number of.


yer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


quite a few

I've watched quite a few basketball games in my time.

Well, they say money doesn't grow on trees, but what about iron helmets? I appear to have quite a few of those.

2022 May 20, ISP, quoting iSorrowproductions, What Happens When You Randomise EVERYTHING In Minecraft:

An indefinite and somewhat large number; more than a few; a fair number of.


mai

(anime, manga, fandom slang, Internet slang) Alternative form of my (used in the expressions mai waifu and mai husbando)


y'all's

Here are y’all’s tickets for the show tonight.

“I ought to kick y’all’s asses,” he said. “Walking out on me the way you done, that’s no way to treat a friend.”

2004, David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Little, Brown,, →ISBN, page 80:

(Southern US) Possessive of y’all (standing in for your).


various

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

Borrowed from Middle French varieux, from Latin varius (“manifold, diverse, various, parti-colored, variegated, also changing, changeable, fickle, etc.”). By surface analysis, vary + -ous.

der

Various books have been taken.

There are various ways to fix the problem.

You have broken various of the rules.

More than one (of an indeterminate set of things).


neither

Alteration (after either) of nauther, from Middle English nawther, noþer, naðer (whence also Modern nor), from Old English nāwþer, contraction of nāhwæþer, corresponding to no + whether. Compare Latin neuter (“neither”). By surface analysis, not + either.

common sense is neither common nor sensical

neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring

neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring

Neither definition seems correct.

She was neither learned nor intelligent, but she contrived to dress both herself and her daughter out of a meagre jointure, supplying with her clever fingers what her purse could not buy;[…].

1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

Not one of two; not either; not one of the other.

Neither you nor I likes it.

لَا X وَلَا

not either (used with nor): neither X nor Y


numerous

From Middle English numerous from Latin numerōsus (“numerous, abundant; harmonious”), from numerus (“number”). Doublet of numerose. Analyzeable as numero- + -ous.

There are numerous definitions of the word 'man'.

There are numerous reasons to refrain.

Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.

2012 March-April, Colin Allen, “Do I See What You See?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, United States: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-04-26, page 168:


multiple

From French multiple, itself from Late Latin multiplus.

My Swiss Army knife has multiple blades.

Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.[…]A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.

2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:


insufficient

From Middle French insufficient, from Latin insufficiens. See also in- + sufficient.

Insufficient time is available to reflect on the problem.

Insufficient of the building remains to determine its age.

(as pronoun) A quantity (of something) that is less than is needed.


whichever

From Middle English qwichever, whiche ever, whiche evere, which ever, which evere; equivalent to which + ever.

Good heavens! Whichever button did you press to make that happen?!

(interrogative) Which ever; emphatic form of 'which'.

It won't work, whichever buttons you press.

Whichever book you borrow, be sure to return it to the library on time.

Regardless of the ... that; no matter which.

Choose whichever card you like.

Borrow whichever books interest you.

I'll buy whichever shirt is cheapest.

I'll buy the red shirt or the blue shirt, whichever one is cheaper.

If the work is of joint authorship, the copyright expires 50 years after the death of the author who first dies, or upon the death of the author who dies last, whichever period is longer.


umpteen

From ump (“colloquial name for the dash "—" in Morse code”) + -teen.

suffix

She's taking umpteen friends with her to the party.

Does it continue to make sense to have umpteen definitions of the practice of law, umpteen UPL prohibitions, umpteen UPL investigation and prosecution procedures, and umpteen UPL sanctions? The current crazy quilt of regulation in this area makes it difficult for anyone to know (including lawyers) what is and is not permitted in a particular jurisdiction.

2001, American Bar Association, Symposium Issue of The Professional Lawyer:

He tries, "The few, the proud, the umpteen," and Shane says, "Umpteen? Pray tell me, good sir, who is this umpteen of which you speak?" and Joseph says, "Umpteen Dumpteen sat on a wall," and they both break up laughing.
 "It's like a bunch, isn't it? 'Umpteen'?" This from Sean Lanham, whose small round skull has inspired Coach Dale to name him Peahead.

2014, Kevin Brockmeier, A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip: A Memoir of Seventh Grade:

(informal, often slightly derogatory) Relatively large but unspecified in number.


hella

Related to "a hell of a". Originally Northern California slang. Compare helluv, helluva.

There are hella people here.

Now, let’s talk bidness.
I got nothing for you.
Wrong. You got hella cash.

2016, Life Is Strange, spoken by Chloe Price (Ashly Burch), Square Enix, via Dontnod Entertainment:

(“We practiced it hella times, but it’s new, and I can’t really get it on top of the music yet,” she explained.)

2023 August 20, Kelefa Sanneh, quoting Fatimah Nyeema Warner, “Noname’s Ambivalent, Triumphant Comeback”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN:

(slang, chiefly Northern California) Intensifier, signifies an abundance of a thing; much or many.


fuck all

If you can't do this then there's fuck all hope for you.

There was fuck all else he could have done.

There are fuck all decent pubs around here.

(Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, vulgar) Nothing at all or very little.


doze

Donald Duck: I'll give you $20 for those old license plates on your fence posts!
Other man: Hah? No chance! I bought dis house 'cause it has dis address! It's me lucky number! […] It was me prison number at Leavenworst and de winning number in de weekly parole lottery! I wudn't never sell doze plates!


nm

A: hey – B: hey, 'sup? – A: nm u?

(Internet slang, text messaging) Initialism of not much, nothing much.


mickle

From Middle English mickle, michel, mikel, mochel, muchel, mukel (“much; many; large, tall; great”), from Old English miċel, myċel (“big, large; great; much”), from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, large; many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”). The word is cognate with Faroese mikil (“large, great, much”), Icelandic mikill (“large in quantity or number; much; great”), Middle High German michel (“large, much”). Doublet of much and muckle.
For the adverb and noun forms, compare Middle English muchel (“extensively, greatly, much”, adverb) and Middle English muchel (“large amount”, noun).
The noun sense “a small amount” was due to the proverb many a little makes a mickle being incorrectly rendered as many a mickle makes a muckle, leading to mickle being thought to mean “a small quantity” and muckle to mean “a large quantity”, even though muckle is a variant of mickle and both mean “a large quantity”.

cog

There was mickle melody at that Childës [Jesus Christ's] birth, / All that were in heaven's bliss, they made mickle mirth.

15th century, “O Jesu Parvule”, in Edith Rickert, compiler, Ancient English Christmas Carols: MCCCC to MDCC (The New Medieval Library), London: Chatto & Windus; New York, N.Y.: Duffield & Co., published 1910, →OCLC, part I (Carols of the Nativity), page 67:

Full many wounds in his corrupted fleſh / He did engraue, and muchell blood did ſpend, / Yet might not doe him die, but aie more freſh / And fierce he ſtill appeard, the more he did them threſh.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 32, page 503:

Hees forc't to trot with fardle at his backe, / From houſe to houſe, demaunding if they lacke / A poore yong man that's willing to take paine, / And mickle labour, though for little gaine.

1597–1598, T[homas] M[iddleton], “Satyre 2. Prodigall Zodon.”, in Micro-cynicon: Sixe Snarling Satyres. […], imprinted at London: By Thomas Creede, for Thomas Bushell, […], published 1599, →OCLC; republished as [Edward Vernon Utterson], editor, Micro-cynicon: Sixe Snarling Satyres, [Ryde, Isle of Wight?]: Reprinted at the Beldornie Press, by G. E. Palmer, for Edwd. V. Utterson, 1842, →OCLC:

Becauſe they did not faithfully believe, and hope that he / Could alwaies help and ſuccor them in their neceſſitie. / Wherefore he did command the clouds, forthwith they brake in ſunder, / And rain'd down Manna for them to eat, a food of mickle wonder.

1675, Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins [et al.], “The Whole Book of Psalms: Collected into English Meeter”, in The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments: […], Oxford: At the Theater, →OCLC, Psalm lxxviij:22–24:

(archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, especially Northumbria) Much; a great quantity or amount of.

[H]e that tellt me saw wi' his ain ee'n, an' heard wi' his ain ears, the mickle part o' what I'm gaun to say—an' what he didna see or hear hissell, he learned frae those wha'd kent a' frae the beginnin'

1861, “Puir Grizel: A Tale o’ Scotland”, in Mrs. S. C. Hall [i.e., Anna Maria Hall], editor, The St. James’s Magazine, volume I, London: Published for the proprietor by W. Kent and Co., Paternoster Row; New York, N.Y.: Willmer and Rogers, →OCLC, page 74:

(archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northumbria) Most; the majority of.


yr

Got yr card. Problem is: don't have yr address! Wd love to see you. Write w/number! xo Jeremy.

1985 December 7, “Albert in NYC (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 21, page 13:

On her street he reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and typed: On yr St. U free? The answer came back: Door open.

2012, Zadie Smith, NW, London: Penguin Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 136:


whatsoever

/ˌwɒtsəʊˈɛvə(ɹ)/

From Middle English whatsoever. By surface analysis, what + so + ever.

The building may be used for whatsoever purpose the tenant desires.

[…]In whatſoever ſhape he lurk,[…]

1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, line 587:


ain

Bobby Shaftoe's bright and fair,
Combing down his yellow hair,
He's my ain for evermair,
Bonny Bobby Shaftoe.

1998, Jonathan Langley, Collins Bedtime Treasury of Nursery Rhymes and Tales, Bobby Shaftoe, page 86:


boku

Alternative spelling of beaucoup (many many many)


a little

Coordinate term: (countable counterpart) a few

A little water has spilled.

All we need is a little time and money to carry this idea to fruition.

"Would you like some water?" "Just a little, please."

A small amount of (an uncountable thing).


countless

There are countless stars in the sky.

He endured countless insults hurled at him before people finally respected him for his courage and his great ability as a baseball player.

2020, Pat Mann, 100 Life-Challenging Devotionals:

(of a count noun) A huge and uncountable number of; too many to count; innumerable.


too much

You ate too much cake at the party, and that's why you feel sick.

There's far too much attention being paid to it.

Patient: ...too much is bad for you.
Doctor: Well of course too much is bad for you, that's what "too much" means, you blithering twat. If you had too much water, it would be bad for you, wouldn't it? "Too much" precisely means that quantity which is excessive, that's what it means. Could you ever say "too much water is good for you"? I mean if it's too much it's too much. Too much of anything is too much. Obviously. Jesus.

1989 January 27, Stephen Fry et al., “Doctor Tobacco”, in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, season 1, episode 3:

More (of something) than is desirable or required.

They call it a beach, but there isn't too much sand there.

(in negative constructions) Much; even a moderate amount.


everwhat

From ever + what. Formed similarly to the older words each, every and German irgendwas.

Everwhat Gawd does is fair even ef 'taint fair.

1906, May Beal, chapter 6, in The Rebel at Large:

From that fungus and everwhat else is in there.

2009, Cheryl Mullenax, Vile Things: Extreme Deviations of Horror (Fiction), Comet Press, →ISBN, page 16:

"You can ride everwhat three wheeler you want. Besides, it's goin' to be what it's goin' be."


hecka

A euphemism for hella, using heck, a euphemism for hell. Slang meaning “very” or “a lot of”

There are hecka bugs on the floor.


each and every

Do not leave without checking each and every door to make sure it is locked.

Each and every one of the employees attended, and everyone had a good time.

Each without exception; used for emphasis.


such-and-such

I am troubled by the rush of young researchers attempting to prove that females are not inferior to males in such-and-such an ability or such-and-such a trait, especially when it is by no means clear what difference it makes.


sike

She macks sike warke.

(Can we date this quote?), (Please provide the book title or journal name):


dese

Representing a colloquial pronunciation of these.


eir

Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing "th" from their.

Eir sentences would sound smoother since ey wouldn’t clutter them with the old sexist pronouns. And if ey should trip up in the new usage, ey would only have emself to blame.

1975 August 23, Judie Black, “Ey has a word for it”, in Chicago Tribune, section 1, page 12:

A person whose habit is to stand and walk splay-footed may *think* eir feet are straight ahead, when they are actually pointed only slightly less out.

1996 December 22, Shirley Worth, “New To Yoga”, in alt.yoga (Usenet), message-ID <32BDCA0C.6C8@worth.org>:

If a mobile user is far from eir home area, ey will pay a long-distance fee for carriage of the call *from* eir home area, just as a caller would pay long-distance on a call *to* that area.

1997 November 25, Scott Robert Dawson, “Who Pays for Cellular Calls”, in alt.cellular (Usenet), message-ID <347acf56.333719@news.interlog.com>:

The adult worries much less; is cautious, sensible and knows how to protect emself and eir system from attack and error.

2004 March 31, Sue Thomas, Hello World : travels in virtuality, Raw Nerve Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 78:

And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowing eir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgender em.

2011 March 15, RJ Edwards, “#89: New Friend”, in Riot Nrrd, retrieved 2012-10-06:

“You idiot girl! Are you childsick?” She grabbed Asu’s wrist; Asu made no effort to twist away. “Sand and soil, tell me you’re not pregnant. Is it that—what’s eir name? Aeran? Have you lain with em? Tell me!”
[…]
Empre waded out to help them cross the last stretch. More people, a few hundred, perhaps, had gathered along the shore. One of them came running at Melu with a cry—she threw up her arms in defense. But it was Aeran, only Aeran. E seized Asu and clasped her close, eir eyes closed tightly as e sobbed eir relief.

2023, Aimee Ogden, “A Half-Remembered World”, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, vol. 145, no. 1-2, whole no. 768 (July/August 2023), pages 146-202

(rare, nonstandard) Belonging to em, gender-neutral third-person singular possessive adjective, equivalent to the singular their and coordinate with his and her.


wor

Likely ultimately a borrowing into Northumbrian Old English from Old Norse várr (“our”) (from the same Proto-Germanic root *unseraz that produced Standard English our). Compare Scots wir.

If ye gannin oot the neet ye betta tell wor Jimmy.


whate'er

"[…] because I think ye will be rushing off to the nearest bed with whate'er woman is ogling ye at that moment."

2009, Hannah Howell, Highland Champion, →ISBN, page 254:

(poetic, uncommon) Contraction of whatever.


sech

(Southern US) Pronunciation spelling of such.


ev'ry

Every used to be a trisyllabic word, and it was therefore at times necessary to replace the second e with an apostrophe to pronounce the word as two syllables for poetic reasons.

America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw; Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

1895, Katharine Lee Bates, "America the Beautiful", first published as "Pikes Peak", The Congregationalis, July 4th, 1895)

There’s a boy snail for ev’ry girl snail, There’s a boy quail for ev’ry girl quail/ There’s a boy mouse for ev’ry girl mouse, There’s a boy grouse for ev’ry girl grouse

1943, Cole Porter, “There Must Be Someone for Me”, in The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter, published 1992, page 345:

Ev’ry night when ev’rybody has fun, here am I sitting all on my own.

1963, John Lennon, "It Won't Be Long", in Alan Aldridge, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (1991) p. 185


nobody's

Possessive case of nobody. (This entry is a translation hub.)

ոչ մեկի

belonging to nobody (possessive form of nobody)


overmuch

From Middle English overmuche, overmuchel, from Old English ofermiċel, ofermyċel (“overmuch, excessive”), equivalent to over- + much. Compare overmany and overmore. Doublet of overmickle. Cognate with Scots over-mekill (“overmuch, excessive”), Old Norse ofrmikill (“overmuch, excessive”), Icelandic ofmikill (“overmuch, excessive”).

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

So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

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

If we met with accidents, such as losing canoes and men in the rapids, or losing men in encounters with Indians, or if we encountered overmuch fever and dysentery, the loads would lighten themselves.

1914, Theodore Roosevelt, chapter VII, in Through the Brazilian Wilderness, London: John Murray, page 232:

He had much prudence, much conscientiousness, and there were occasions when these virtues were the cause of overmuch disquietude in him.

1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter I.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:

This seemed to me a more important priority in 1959 than overmuch argument about nuclear philosophical heresies of one kind or another.

1990, General Sir William Jackson, Britain's defence dilemma: An inside view (rethinking British defence policy in the post-imperial era), page 78:

(chiefly British) Very much; too much; overly much.


no

From Middle English no, noo, na, a reduced form of none, noon, nan (“none, not any”) used before consonants (compare a to an), from Old English nān (“none, not any”), from Proto-West Germanic *nain, from Proto-Germanic *nainaz (“not any”, literally “not one”), equivalent to ne (“not”) + a.
Cognate with Scots nae (“no, not any, none”), Old Frisian nān, nēn ("no, not any, none"), Saterland Frisian naan, neen (“no, not any, none”), North Frisian nian (“no, not any, none”), Old Dutch nēn ("no, not any, none"; > Dutch neen (“no”)), Old Norse neinn (“no, not any, none”). Compare also Old Saxon nigēn ("not any"; > Low German nen), Old Dutch nehēn (Middle Dutch negheen/negeen, Dutch geen), West Frisian gjin, Old High German nihein (> German kein). More at no, one.

gloss

"no, not any, none"; > Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="nl">neen</i> (“no”)

"not any"; > Low German <i class="Latn mention" lang="nds">nen</i>

тыйыла

both take -w infinitive, are placed at end of sentence

𫧃用得

bē-ēng-tit / bōe-ēng-tit / bōe-ēng-leh / bǒe-ēng-lit / bǒe-ēng-tit / bē-iōng-li / bǒe-ěng-tit / bē-ēng-chit / bōe-ēng-chit / bē-ēng-lit / bōe-ēng-lit / bē-ēng-eh / bōe-ēng-eh

ei

generally; followed by saa/voi and an infinitive

לא (lo) (followed by verb with prefix ל)

tilos

followed by the definite article a/az and a verbal noun, or following an infinitive

divieto di

followed by an infinitive or the corresponding noun

No honking from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. — Claxonarea este interzisă între orele 22 şi 6.

yasaktır

preceded by an infinitive or verbal noun

no one

There is no water left.

No hot dogs were sold yesterday.

No geese were at the lake.

No two people are the same.

There was no score at the end of the first period. (The score was 0-0.)

semmi

with uncountable nouns and a negated verb

нет (net) (with the noun in the genitive case)

ninguno

used after or instead of a masculine noun

We'll be finished in no time at all.

Fifty pounds for this is no money, really.

No smoking

There's no stopping her once she gets going.

Not any possibility or allowance of (doing something).

My mother's no fool.

Working nine to five every day is no life.

No geese have blue beaks.

Not (a); not properly, not really; not fully.


a few

She loves to sing karaoke, but there are a few songs that she refuses to cover.

After a dismal few months my life at long last changed for the better.

"I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal.[…]"

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

A small number of (a set of countable items); more than one but not very many; especially, more than two but not very many (explained in usage note at several).


a whole nother

/ə ˈhəʊl ˌnʌðə/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-a whole nother.wav

/ə ˈhoʊl ˌnʌðəɹ/

From a + whole + nother (“different, other”). Whole has been inserted by tmesis, while nother is a variant of other, rebracketed from an other. Compare also dialectal tother from Middle English þe toþer (“the other”).

"Will the fog be gone by to-morrow morning?" said Patty, disconsolately. "I don't know what we shall do if we have to be a whole 'nother day in the house and in the dark."

1887 October 29, [Mary Louisa] Molesworth, “The Mysterious Guide: A Story of a London Fog”, in [Charles Peters], editor, The Girl’s Own Paper, volume IX, number 409, London: “The Leisure Hour” Office, →OCLC, page 67, column 3:

It's a whole nother bunch of folks over beyond the trees 'cross the tracks.

1992, Thulani Davis, chapter 6, in 1959 […], New York, N.Y.: Grove Weidenfeld, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 282:

They say she look like she have a turtle shell on her back and the healing woman healed that. But that's a whole nother story.

1998, Gayl Jones, chapter 1, in The Healing, Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, →ISBN, page 18:

The problem is when you physically try to impede my progress—then it moves up to a whole 'nother level that you probably can't handle me on. If it's just words, mean little things, I'm not [Joseph] Stalin, say what you want. Get in my way, it's a whole 'nother thing.

2004, Michael W. Dean, quoting Henry Rollins, “Interviews”, in $30 Music School, Boston, Mass.: Muska & Lipman, Course Technology, →ISBN, page 457:

The breeze taps my face with a robe-corner. A lazy blueness, from a whole nother age, is spread all above me.

2004, Margo Lanagan, “Rite of Spring”, in Black Juice, London: Gollancz, published 2007, →ISBN, page 195:

Executing it all well, with the feel, look and operation of a real luxury car, is a whole nother ball of wax.

2009 October 1, Don Chaikin, “Long-Term Test Cars: Azera, Sedon M35, Highlander Hybrid, Liberty Sport CRD, Cobalt SS”, in Jim Meigs, editor, Popular Mechanics, New York, N.Y.: The Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-10-01:

(US, informal) An intensified form of another: an entirely different; a whole other.


whatth

(rare, nonstandard) Which ordinal number.


many a

There is many a true word spoken in jest.

Many a flower is born to blush unseen.

Know then that God, to the end He be not thought, / A powerless judge, here plagueth many a fault, / And many a fault leaves here unpunished, / That men may also His last judgment dread.

1608–1641, Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, edited by Theron Wilber Haight, The Divine Weeks of Josuah Sylvester, Waukesha, Wis., USA: H. M. Youmans, published 1908, page 150:

If the 250,000 miners, which threaten to stop work, go out on strike there is likely to be many an idle mill beside the water courses and many a factory with silent spindles.

1908 April 11, “The Coal-Miners and the Wage-Scale”, in The Literary Digest, volume 36, number 15, page 507:

So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,[…]a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

Many a crime has being committed in its name: there are some being committed now.

1914, David Lloyd George, The Great War, Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, Limited, page 3:

Danny Boyle's T2 Trainspotting is everything I could reasonably have hoped for—scary, funny, desperately sad, with many a bold visual flourish.

2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review—choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in The Guardian:

Being one of a large number, each one of many; belonging to an aggregate or category, considered singly as one of a kind.

mnohý

being one of a large number, each one of many; belonging to an aggregate or category, considered singly as one of a kind

many an

used before a word starting with a vowel sound

there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle

there's many a slip between the cup and the lip

there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip


alls

'cause alls it really does is make our love grow stronger


mah

Adventurer: 'AFTER YEARS OF ADVENTURING... I HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED AT THE STREETPASS ARENA. ONCE I REST MAH HOOFS, I'M GOING TO RECORD MY SECRET BATTLE TECHNIQUE.'

2014 June 26, Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope, Nintendo 3DS, level/area: Streetpass Arena:

(African-American Vernacular, Southern US) Pronunciation spelling of my.


I's

This is my husband and I's favorite place to sit.


any and all

Used in legal documents for emphasis and exactness. For further etymology, see any and all.

1847 December 22, Abraham Lincoln, "Spot Resolutions" on Mexican War (resolutions offered in the United States House of Representatives), reproduced in 1907, Marion Mills Miller (editor), Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 3,
Resolved, By the House of Representatives, that the President of the United States be respectfully requested to inform this House—
[…] Whether that settlement is or is not isolated from any and all other settlements by the Gulf and the Rio Grande on the south and west, and by wide uninhabited regions on the north and east.

I, Howard P. Lovecraft of the city of Providence in the State of Rhode Island, being of sound mind and memory, make, execute and declare this instrument as my last will, hereby revoking any and all former wills by me at any time heretofore made.

1912 August 12, H. P. Lovecraft, Last Will and Testament of H.P. Lovecraft:

2009 February 24, Ron Paul, bill # H.R.1146, American Sovereignty Restoration Act,
As of the date of the enactment of this Act, the United States will end any and all participation in any and all conventions and/or agreements with the United Nations and any organ, specialized agency, commission, or other formally affiliated body of the United Nations. Any remaining functions of such conventions and/or agreements shall not be carried out.


whosever

Whosever sunglasses these are, they will have to pick them up tomorrow.

"And she is not wholesome, whosever word it was. She was there, hanging about him when he was so bad, before the worst came."

1866, Mark Twain, The Galaxy, W.C and F.P. Church, page 584:

(possessive) Of whomever; belonging or related to whichever person or persons; whoever's.


hys

Petti’s effort was motivated by hys desire to change a practice that hy recognized as discriminatory, and thus clearly contrary to CC’s values.

2014, Han Sayles, “Beyond Inclusivity: An investigation of CC’s new trans-inclusive healthcare”, in Cipher Magazine (Colorado College), archived from the original on 2020-11-18, page 8:

(LGBTQ, nonstandard) Gender-variant or gender-neutral spelling of his.


anoda

(Jamaica) Pronunciation spelling of another.


manie

I was glad than, and do reioice yet to remember, that my chance was so happie, to be there that day, in the companie of so manie wise & good men togither, as hardly than could haue beene piked out againe, out of all England beside.

1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, A Preface to the Reader:


a whole 'nother

"Will the fog be gone by to-morrow morning?" said Patty, disconsolately. "I don't know what we shall do if we have to be a whole 'nother day in the house and in the dark."

The problem is when you physically try to impede my progress—then it moves up to a whole 'nother level that you probably can't handle me on. If it's just words, mean little things, I'm not [Joseph] Stalin, say what you want. Get in my way, it's a whole 'nother thing.


sorra

'Sorra a friend I have - sorra a friend, Masther Richard; and I did not spake to the priest this year or more, and I darn't go near him,' said the poor Palmerstown lass that was once so merry.

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

Sorra a bite she ates but she drinks the mixture with it.

1879, Chambers's Journal, volume 56, number 2, page 589:

(Scotland, Ireland, dialect) nary (a); no; not one


enuff

How much is enuff rope?

2007, Glenda Crosling, Glenda Marian Crosling, Elizabeth Thomas, Margaret Heagney, “Case 2”, in Improving Student Retention in Higher Education (Education), Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 38:

The double spelling of enough/enuff signals the poem's double talking, …

2009, Samaro Kamboureli, Scandalous Bodies: Diasporic Literature in English Canada, Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, →ISBN, page 157:

… Those were easy enuff to fix.

2015, LT Wolf, The World King (fiction), →ISBN:

(informal) Simplified variant of enough.


any old

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see any, old.

You don't need special tools for this; any old hard surface will do.

This wasn't just any old fan, but the president of his local fan club.

I don't do the things that you do
I don't go the places that you go
I don't say the bad things that you say
But I love you any way, Dara
I love you any ole way, Dara
I love you any way, Dara

1966, Otis Redding (with Steve Cropper), The Soul Album, "Any Ole Way" lyrics

(idiomatic, informal) Any, absolutely any, any typical, a run-of-the-mill.


one and the same

It's almost as if there's one electron in two places at one and the same time.

(idiomatic) The selfsame person or thing. Used to emphasize the identity or equivalence of two things.


thatt

In the begynnynge was that worde / ãd that worde was with god : and god was thatt worde.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John j:[1], folio cxix, recto:


whosesoever

If Beals obtained merely the possession, by fraud practiced upon the plaintiff, with fraudulent intent to deprive it thereof, and to appropriate the machine to his own use, and, immediately upon getting possession of it, did in fact fraudulently appropriate it to his own use, these acts constituted a larceny of the machine, and plaintiff could retake it, in whosesoëver possession it might be.

1880, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin, with Tables of the Cases and Principal Matters, volume XLIX, Chicago: Callaghan & Company, pages 317–318:


thir

Howbeit the Caledonians with great preparation, and by rumor, as of things unknown much greater, taking Armes, and of thir own accord begining Warr by the aſſault of ſundry Caſtles, ſent back ſome of thir fear to the Romans themſelves: and there were of the Commanders, who cloaking thir fear under ſhew of ſage advice, counſel’d the General to retreat back on this ſide Bodotria.

1670, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 72:


several

From Anglo-Norman several, from Medieval Latin sēparālis, from Latin sēpar (“separate”). By surface analysis, sever + -al.

Coordinate term: a handful of

Several cars were in the parking lot.

They had many journals. I subscribed to several.

Several of the members were absent.

The favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Perſons of the firſt diſtinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ſeveral new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and diſtinguiſh it from others ; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.

1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., preface

Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

Several people were killed and around 150 injured after a high-speed train hit a car on a level crossing and derailed tonight.

The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

Consisting of a number more than one (especially, more than two) but not very many.

بَعْض

consisting of a number more than two, but not very many


whichsoever

/ˌwɪtʃsəʊˈɛvə/

/ˌwɪt͡ʃsoʊˈɛvɚ/

/ˌʍɪt͡ʃsoʊˈɛvɚ/

From Middle English which-so-ever. By surface analysis, which + so + ever.


they's

(African-American Vernacular) Synonym of their


hes

That's hes house over there.

(nonstandard, uncommon) Alternative form of his when pronounced as he's; belonging to him.


enow

From Middle English ynowe, strong plural and weak form of ynogh (“enough”); see enough for more.

How irksome, how wearying, to be doomed always to the society of those who are like people speaking different languages! It resembles travelling through the East, with a few phrases of lingua franca—just enough for the ordinary purposes of life—enow of words to communicate a want, but not to communicate a thought!

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 83–84:


xyr

Telepathy would require that you share the other person's knowledge of xyr own mind, which in turn requires recognizing that xe is actually aware of what xe's thinking, which is incompatible with psychiatry.

1993 September 14, Jim Sinclair, “Re: Jim and Steve's snoring discussion”, in bit.listserv.autism (Usenet), message-ID <AUTISM%93091417074261@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>:

Now full ownership in the modern sense... implies four rights of the owner: 1. The right to decide what xe does with xyr property; 2. the right to decide what others do with xyr property; […]

1999 April 28, Dagmar Alpen, “Re: Think of a small tribe of people...”, in talk.politics.libertarian (Usenet), message-ID <7g74qb$8sq$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de>:

There's no central authority, and each server administrator owns xyr own server sets xyr own policy. Each server administrator sets xyr own policy for honouring cancel messages, too.

2010 November 5, Kevin G. Rhoads, “Re: Spam in the group.”, in openwatcom.users.fortran (Usenet), message-ID <4CD469A3.3985E10C@alum.mit.edu>:

This is xyr book.

(nonstandard, possessive) Belonging to xe, their (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular possessive adjective, coordinate with his and her.

As far as I'm concerned the constitution should be re-written so that anyone capable of being elected is ushered into a hidden room upon inauguration, where a secret panel of the Illuminati (preferably one chaired by me) beat xyr to death with blunt instruments and replace xyr by a Stepford Politician.

1996 September 12, Thomas Russo, “Re: Intelligent Women are an endangered Species”, in soc.singles (Usenet), message-ID <RUSSO.96Sep12163146@slug.swcp.com>:

Give it to xyr (after preposition)

I wrote xyr an e-mail (indirect object)

I haven't met xyr (direct object)

(nonstandard, personal, chiefly Internet) The form of xe used after a preposition or as the object of a verb; that woman, that ship, etc; similar usage to him/her.


anny

However seeks dhe anallogy (or natural rule) ov anny tung, must dherfore find it at home; nor wil dhe seeker seek in vain.

1813, Gregor Von Feinaigle, chapter 5, in The New Art of Memory, 2nd edition, page 121:

Ye can't get out o' this for anny less.

1870, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Goldsmith's Friend Abroad Again:

I wuz buckin’ i’ the brewus an’ I should n’t a knaowed ye wuz thur, anny moer’n th’ little gurl…

1897, Hamilton Kingsford, Vigornian Monologues: A Series of Papers in Illustration of the Dialect of Worcestershire, page 18:

I kin lick anny man in the gang."

1916, Peggy Edmund, Harold W. Williams, compilers, Toaster's Handbook:

[…] And Missis Moriarty looked at him, and she didn't say anny more, But she wrapped her head in her ould black shawl, and she quietly wint away.

1916, Robert W. Service, Rhymes of a Red Cross Man:


muh

Evidently popularized circa early 2010s by memes on 4chan, but usage online is first attested in c. 2003. Rumored ultimately to be a mocking influence of stereotypical AAVE phonology.

muh free software

muh constitution

muh freedom

(Internet slang, often derogatory) Pronunciation spelling of my.


more and more

There are more and more people who keep pets these days.

It's unarguable that ticket offices are less relevant than they once were. More and more passengers buy tickets online.

2023 January 11, Philip Haigh, “Comment: The worst chaos for 40 years”, in RAIL, number 974, page 4:

Increasingly more; a growing number of; a growing quantity of.


yure

I've heard of yure old lot.

1891, Kate Sanborn, Adopting An Abandoned Farm:

But as soone as you can come to yure loving own girl--ROBINA."

1919, Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews, Joy in the Morning:


all y'all

From all + y'all (itself from you + all).

Have all y'all ladies finished eating?


suche

Now if ye felt your belly in ſuche caſe, that ye muſt be fayne al daye to tende it with warme clothes, oꝛ els ye were not able to abide the payne, would ye recken your belly ſicke oꝛ whole? I wene ye would recken your belly not in good quart.

c. 1522 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatyce (Vnfynyshed) vppon These Wordes of Holye Scrypture, Memorare Nouissima, & Ineternum non Peccabis, Remember the Last Thynges, and Thou shalt Neuer Synne. […]”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, book I, page 80, column 1:


eny

FREE--and that the schulehouses war a d--d sight thicker than the bugs in Miles Privett's beds! and thet's saying a heap, for ef eny on you kin sleep in his house, excep' he takes to the soft side of the floor, I'm d--d.

1862, Various, Continental Monthly, Vol. II. July, 1862. No. 1.:

Ther stranger pays fur eny bow they make, for any smile they give.

Why, he kin sing eny song and do ent cut-up antik eny of 'em kin.

1912, Al. G. Field, Watch Yourself Go By:

"Does de white folks in youah neighborhood keep eny chickens, Br'er Rastus?"


many an

Form of many a used before a vowel sound.


severall

I beleeve also, that he proves the fortunate man, whose manner of proceeding meets with the quality of the time; and so likewise he unfortunate from whose course of proceeding the times differ: for we see that men, in the things that induce them to the end, (which every one propounds to himselfe, as glory and riches) proceed therein diversly; some with respects, others more bold, and rashly; one with violence, and th'other with cunning; the one with patience, th'other with its contrary; and every one of severall wayes may attaine thereto; we see also two very respective and wary men, the one come to his purpose, and th'other not; and in like maner two equally prosper, taking divers course; the one being wary the other head-strong; which proceeds from nothing else, but from the quality of the times, which agree, or not, with their proceedings.

1560, Peter Whitehorne, Machiavelli, Volume I:

Take to every quart of honey a gallon of fair spring water, boil it well with nutmeg and ginger bruised a little, in the boiling scum it well, and being boil'd set it a cooling in severall vessels that it may stand thin, then the next day put it in the vessel, and let it stand a week or two, then draw it in bottles.

Now whether it had beane better for Captaine Smith, to haue concluded with any of those severall proiects, to haue abandoned the Countrey, with some ten or twelue of them, who were called the better sort, and haue left Master Hunt our Preacher, Master Anthony Gosnoll, a most honest, worthy, and industrious Gentleman, Master Thomas Wotton and some 27 others of his Countrymen to the fury of the Salvages, famine, and all manner of mischiefes, and inconveniences, (for they were but fortie in all to keepe possession of this large Country;) or starue himselfe with them for company, for want of lodging: or but adventuring abroad to make them provision, or by his opposition to preserve the action, and saue all their liues; I leaue to the censure of all honest men to consider.

1733, Various, Great Epochs in American History, Vol. II:


fewscore

Cathedral close, lawn green as a race-horse run,
Along the foot of the buttresses,
A fewscore unregulated graves.

1967, Denis Devlin, Brian Coffey, The Heavenly Foreigner, page 19:

(rare) A few score: on the order of a small multiple of twenty.


sitch

They stops you on the sly in the streets, and tells you to call at their house at sitch a hour of the day, and when you goes there they smuggles you quietly into some room by yourselves, and then sets to work Jewing away as hard as they can, prizing up their own things, and downcrying yourn.

1864, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor:


not a little

Not a little ink has been spilled on this issue.


less and less

Over the years, there has been less and less oil available.


co's

Whether or not an individual changes co’s location on the sexual landscape, the sexual landscape itself might change, [...]

1996, Brett Beemyn, Mickey Elianon, Queer studies: a lesbian, gay, bisexual, & transgender anthology, page 70:

A youngster of my own introduction had been rejected by an object of preadolescent craving and had killed coself by leaping at the ceiling of co’s quarters.

2004 April 1, Pieira dos Lobos, “Fern's Story two”, in alt.magick.serious (Usenet):

(nonstandard) Belonging to co. Gender-neutral possessive adjective, grammatically equivalent to the gendered his and her and the singular their.


ary

A modification of e'er a, for ever a. Compare nary.


thilk

From Middle English thilke, equivalent to a blend of the + ilk.

I loue thilke laſſe, (alas why do I loue:) / And am forlorne, (alas why am I lorne:) / Shee deignes not my good will, but doth reproue, / And of my rurall muſick holdeth ſcorne.

1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Ianuarie. Aegloga Prima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC, folio 2, recto:

(now archaic, regional) That same; this; that.


your guys's

tlb

(chiefly Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, chiefly proscribed)


whath

Macleane explains himself very well when he says that “Whath part?” would express quota pars, if we could coin an interrogative adjective after the analogy of the seventh part, eighth, etc.

1884, Eldredge & Brother, Selections from the Satires of Juvenal: To which is Added the Fifth Satire of Persius, page 144:


yonders

I see a horse on yonders plain Whose body's been but lately slain.

1940, The University of Missouri Studies - Volume 15, Issue 1, page 120:

Had me a cat, the cat pleased me, I fed my cat in yonders tree, cat went fiddle-i-fee.

1954, Ralph Steele Boggs, El folklore en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, page 91:

As I went over yonders hill As ever rose free merly and time And there I met a young lady whose name was Elian Who used to be the true lover of mine.

1975, New York Folklore - Volumes 1-4, page 185:


xir

in the recent past, there was an impeachment trial of a judge where every juror was told to secretly choose xir own standard.

1999 January 3, Matthew Daly, soc.singles.moderated (Usenet):

This causes Cici to hide parts of xir identity to protect from these stereotypes.

2019 October 30, Debbie Luxon, “Myth-busting asexuality: Being asexual in Cambridgeshire”, in Cambridgeshire Live:

The soft blue sky had the feel of a good omen. In Xir old age, the god moved slower every year; lingering in the shallows long after the last fish had been swallowed up by nets. Sometimes Xe stood still for days, in sight of the shore, as if Xe had not quite decided whether to beach Xemself for good. Let Xem only survive long enough to spawn a new god! Else Xir helpless people would be godless ans stranded in the haunted dryland where the dead cities slept. Where less kindly deities roamed.

2023, Aimee Ogden, “A Half-Remembered World”, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, vol. 145, no. 1-2, whole no. 768 (July/August 2023), pages 146-202


zir

Blend of z (“gender-neutral (as in ze)”) + i (“him/his”) + r (“her”).

blend

gender-neutral (as in <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">ze</i>)

… just when it seemed like zie was beginning to get a handle on zir teapot and form normal relationships – although one could hardly call zir twice-weekly sexual encounters with the March Hare ‘normal’ …

2002, Lynsey Calderwood, Cracked: Recovering After Traumatic Brain Injury, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 155:

(rare, nonstandard) Belonging to zir, gender-neutral third-person singular possessive adjective, equivalent to singular their and coordinate with his and her.


muchee

"Make muchee noisee," he said, indicating the fleeing musicians with his thumb.

1947, Garrett Putnam Serviss, Edison's Conquest of Mars:

My think 'm dlinkee too muchee, too muchee vahine, maybe play cart, losee too muchee flanc.

1921, Frederick O'Brien, Mystic Isles of the South Seas.:

After the usual greetings Dam Li remarked:-- "Hon'lable officer lookee too muchee sad."

1919, Various, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, Jan. 15, 1919:

I understood him to say that it would require "too muchee words" to render in our prosaic tongue the amount of poetic imagery concentrated in the expressions "Chih-Yuen," or "Kwang-Kai."

1898, James Allan, Under the Dragon Flag:

"Pleece he nevir too muchee quick," returned the man, coolly.


many another

(poetic) many other, most other (followed by singular noun)


almost all

Alternative form: a.a.

(mathematics) All, except for a negligible set, i.e. finite, countable or of measure zero.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see almost, all.


any ole

I don't do the things that you do
I don't go the places that you go
I don't say the bad things that you say
But I love you any way, Dara
I love you any ole way, Dara
I love you any way, Dara

1966, Otis Redding (with Steve Cropper), The Soul Album, "Any Ole Way" lyrics


some old

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see some, old.

Don't worry, I'll find some old way to do it.

But I don't want you to promise anything – you're a decent old sort, and you'd be sure to make it up to me some old way or other.

I ain't got but one old rusty dime. / …
Oh, I'll have a new dollar some old day,
And I'll throw this old rusty dime away.

1930s, "Chilly Winds" (U.S. folk song), collected in John A. Lomax et al., Our Singing Country (1941), p. 294

I've been workin' out in the rain
Tied to the dirty old ball and chain
Oh dear mother I'll come home some old day

1936 (recorded 1957), Foggy Mountain Boys (Flatt and Scruggs, as "Certain and Stacey"), on Foggy Mountain Jamboree, "Some Old Day" lyrics

So why don't someone here just spike his drink
Why don't you do him in some old way
Supposed to be a funeral

1970, Gram Parsons in The Flying Burrito Brothers, "$1000 Wedding" lyrics

[The con man] will get good folks
 Because they will just try to help folks in some ole way!

2011, Wilbur Thornton, Intoxicating Winds, page 519:

(US, idiomatic, informal) Some, some unspecified or yet-undetermined one (especially for emphasis).


this, that, or the other

this, that, and the other
this, that, and the other#English

Alternative form of this, that, and the other


this, that, and the other

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-this, that, and the other.wav

These returns exhibit a curious annual uniformity in results; the sort of uniformity which you find in the annual output of suicides in the world's capitals, and the proportions of deaths by this, that, and the other disease.

1897, Mark Twain, chapter 57, in Following the Equator […] , New York: American Publishing Company:

She meant to use the cumbrous machine to pick out this, that, and the other interesting person from the muddle of the world.

1919, Virginia Woolf, chapter 6, in Night and Day:

Looking at his paintings, we sense the intense performance of making them, not as an Expressionistic process, but as a notational, seismographic record of the dodging feints his mind made in this, that and the other direction.

2005 March 11, Roberta Smith, “Jean-Michel Basquiat: Collisions on Canvas That Still Make Noise”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-04-23:

Particular items belonging to a large, diverse set, but items of the general kind of item indicated.


anotha'

(slang, African-American Vernacular) Pronunciation spelling of another.


that there

Five persons went to the house after the milkman was gone, and that there Arab party was safe inside, […]


this here

Well, the receipt should have reached this here party on the Thursday morning, as it were, — I posted it on the Wednesday night […]

I’ve just run down from Ulster County to look at the town, bein’ that the hayin’s over with. Gosh! but it’s a whopper. I thought Poughkeepsie was some punkins; but this here town is five times as big.

1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Poet and the Peasant”, in Strictly Business:


some kind of

a mediocre; a bare minimum; (denoting that something only barely fits a certain category, or is very mediocre in it)

I'm not going to pry into your life, but I wish you'd tell me how you got to the South Carolina Lowcountry. That trip must be some kind of story.

1998, Anne Rivers Siddons, Low Country, New York: Harper Collins:

Lindsey glanced at Tom, who smiled, apparently in no hurry to talk about that training op. Red Cell. That was going to be some kind of fun.

2005, Suzanne Brockmann, Patrick G. Lawlor (Patrick Girard), Melanie Ewbank, Into the storm, 1st edition, Grand Haven, MI: Brilliance Audio:

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see some, kind, of.


too many

Audio

I think you served me a couple too many shrimp on my plate.

Nowadays most children get far too many toys.


better part of

It will take the better part of a century to develop this technology.

Alma, we quickly learn, is a hard-nosed pragmatist, even something of an academic crank, and she has no expectation of actually developing any real relationship with this handsome computer staying in her apartment for the better part of a month.

2021 September 16, A. A. Dowd, “Dan Stevens as a dashing robot lover? That computes”, in AV Club:


e'ry

We gon' get e'ry one of 'em.

And we 'bout it e'ry day, e'ry day like we sitting on a bench.

(colloquial) Alternative spelling of every


Thy

Honorific alternative letter-case form of thy, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.


ebery

And ebery time a lazy nigger stops to take a nap, / De grass keeps on a-growin' for to smudder up his crap.

Pronunciation spelling of every, representing a caricature of Black English.


yo'

(African-American Vernacular) Alternative spelling of yo (non-rhotic with dough-door merger pronunciation of your)


whatevuh

(nonstandard) Alternative spelling of whatever


one or two

I have one or two things that I need to do.


hundredsome

Approximately one hundred; a hundred odd.


thousandsome

(rare) Approximately one thousand; a thousand odd.


best part of

The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.

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


bookoo

From French beaucoup, respelled approximately phonetically.


a good many

The government has enacted a good many reforms.


a good few

The government has enacted a good few important reforms.


muchell

Full many wounds in his corrupted fleſh / He did engraue, and muchell blood did ſpend, / Yet might not doe him die, but aie more freſh / And fierce he ſtill appeard, the more he did them threſh.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 32, page 503:

(archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, especially Northumbria) Alternative form of mickle.


yizzer

Come in for yizzer tea.

(Ireland, especially Dublin) Your (plural).


yousser

(Ireland, especially Dublin) Alternative form of yizzer


thet

Would ye believe thet?

1882, James Jackson, Tom Terror, the Outlaw:

(nonstandard) Pronunciation spelling of that, representing dialectal English.


infinitely many

(mathematics) Having a quantity or cardinality that is infinite or unbounded.


couple three

So he brought in a full quart of whiskey, poured part of it out, left a couple, three inches left in the bottle.

1976, Mendocino County Remembered: An Oral History, Mendocino County Historical Society:

I figure we might make it to the bed--if you're set on being traditional--in a couple, three hours.

One day not met, yet, nor even on that street alone has been sighted, then a couple three days later after the fullness of fades, they go.

Then why don't you let me take the paper over for a couple-three days and ask Avis to finish the job?

General Chalmers is camped a couple-three miles in back of us.

Cops picked her up at the Greyhound station a couple-three winters ago, shivering, hungry, dirty as a gutter rat.

(colloquial, US) Two or three or a similarly small number of.


various and sundry

many and various
many and various#English

(chiefly US) Synonym of many and various


boocoo

"Eat too much, Baby Commie, too much. Get boocoo fat." "You fat, Gl all fat, me get fat, too." "But Baby Commie very pretty, uh, you know, boocoo dep, before fat." "Dep no good live. Eat, fat, boocoo okay live."

1973, Wayne Karlin, Basil T. Paquet, Larry Rottmann, Free fire zone: short stories by Vietnam veterans:

I saw the same detective at Santa Monica and Franklin several times. He was always chatting with a neighbor lady. She wore a dark green dress one day and showed boocoo back. The zipper was stuck above her bra strap.

2010, James Ellroy, The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women, Vintage, →ISBN, page 15:

"There's a boocoo bunch of destruction comin' our way," one of the calmer analysts muttered to himself.

2012, Bruce Biller, The God-Man: Seed of Satan, WestBow Press, →ISBN, page 113:


youah

But you keep youah house here, youah Newport villa, youah château at Cannes. Whereas, if you broke the will and secured youah dower, youah income would not permit such extravagances.

1918, George Bronson-Howard, Birds of Prey: Being Pages from the Book of Broadway, page 84:

"Put away youah money! Eve'ything is free heah."

"Mahry Lou, Ah'm not foolin' wid yo'. — Youah cuhrtain dah at mah windah, youah baid spread hyah on ma bed, youah sham hyah on ma pillah, youah rug hyah on ma floo', youah good rockin' chahr obah dah ...

1991, Angelina Weld Grimké, Selected Works of Angelina Weld Grimké, Oxford University Press on Demand, →ISBN, page 344:

I will keep youah camp. I will clean the animals of the hunt. I will make the hides soft. I will bring the wood and keep the fahr. One day—I bring you a son—and you will happy.” Starr put his arms down around her shoulders.

2009, Phillip Obenchain, Refrain of the Night Wind, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 363:

2016, Mary A. Livermore, The Story of My Life: Sunshine and Shadows of Seventy Years, BIG BYTE BOOKS
Debbie jess yit, Ike Martin, quit youah stealin', an' of you doan, de ole Dragon '11 cotch you in de woods some dark night! Ben Solger, stop youah lyin'!”

(African-American Vernacular) Pronunciation spelling of your.


more than one cares to mention

It became the toughest of watches – the kind that England’s supporters have endured more times than they care to mention over the years.

2020 September 5, David Hytner, “Raheem Sterling keeps his cool to see off Iceland amid blaze of late drama”, in The Guardian:

too much or too many; an excessive amount of


any and every

Any without exception; used for emphasis.


whoever's

Given the observance of the provisions of clause 2 of this article, the organization and its property, wherever and at whoever's disposal it is, shall enjoy immunity from any form of legal interference.

1994, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, FBIS Report: Central Eurasia - Issues 107-111, The Service, page 35:

Messrs Denton and Denton will sell it to whoever's need is greatest, whoever's purse is deepest, whoever will most recklessly mortgage his future, whoever is of its desirers the most pound-puissant.

1999, Vikram Seth, An Equal Music, Penguin Books India, →ISBN, page 339:

And unless they do this, they have granted for themselves and their heirs and executors and for all others holding their lands and tenements in future, to whoever's hand they might come, that the barons of the Exchequer are to cause the aforesaid sacks of wool or the price of the same to be levied from their goods, lands, tenements and chattels.

2006, Paul Dryburgh, Advance Contracts for the Sale of Wool C. 1200 - C. 1327, List and Index Society, →ISBN, page 45:


wch

There is also at my ffarme a long paper booke bound in parchment , such a one as my Inventory booke in my closet at Boston wᶜʰ I mentioned before, wᶜʰ booke I comonly keepe in that roome at my ffarme wᶜʰ I keepe locked up for my owne use, in wᶜʰ is the pticulʳˢ of the charges & profitts that I make of my ffarme ev’y yeare with an accoᵗᵗ of the Corne & Apples & Butter & Cheese that is made & where they are with some debts therein due to me & some other accoᵗᵗˢ to be Kept & pused

1653, “Will of Robert Keayne, 1653”, in A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Containing Miscellaneous Paperrs, Boston, Mass.: Rockwell and Churchill, published 1886, page 41:

As to your letter, for wᶜʰ I thanke you, I willingly acknowledge yᵉ Trinity in Unity, and Xᵗ to be not meer man but true God, in yᵉ Scripture sense, therefore I am a Christian.[…]For yᵉ present I must denie yᵗ major, viz. He that denieth yᵗ in Xᵗ wᶜʰ is most essential in him, denieth Xᵗ, for admit your minor was true, yet Jesus was called Xᵗ, in respect of his unction[…]Maldonati in Evang. thinkes yᵗ yᵉ disciples did not know yᵉ eternal generation, till after yᵉ resurrection, and yet they knew yᵗ Jesus was yᵉ Xᵗ, yᵉ Sonne of yᵉ living God, wᶜʰ seem to be used as words of the same importance, Matth. xvi. 16, John vi. 69, and Mark and Luke say only—Thou art yᵉ Xᵗ, and for this confession were declared blessed.

c. 1680, [Gilbert Clerke], To Baxter, on the Right of Antitrinitarians to be esteemed Christians; republished as “Original Letters from the Baxter Manuscripts in Dr. Williams’s Library”, in The Monthly Repository of Theology and General Literature, volume XIX, number CCXXIV, Hackney: […] George Smallfield; […] Sherwood, Jones, and Co., […], 1824 August, page 452:

[…]& Xt taught himself that it was expedient he went, as outwardly, that he might send them that wᶜʰ would be better for them & wᵗ was that, but his own appearance in Spirit.

1692 November 29, W[illia]m Penn, [To Robert Turner], page 356; republished as “Fruits of Solitude, 1692–1694”, in Marianne S. Wokeck, Joy Wiltenburg, Alison Duncan Hirsch, Craig W. Horle, Richard S[lator] Dunn, and Mary Maples Dunn, editors, The Papers of William Penn, volume three, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986, →ISBN:


noman's

(obsolete) Not belonging to or created by mankind.


him's

You ain’t Em’s bitch, you just regular him’s bitch

2020, Eminem (lyrics and music), “Guns Blazing”, in Music to Be Murdered By:


youse's

"Went away quick, now, or I'll come out dere an' bite off wan o' youse's fins."

1901, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, a Popular Journal of General Literature, page 34:

"Mr. Valentine wants that youse keep that as his gift, and would very much like the pleasure of youse's company—no strings."

2004, Stephen J. Cannell, Hollywood Tough, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 152:

(US) Possessive of youse (standing in for your).


whatlike

There was nothing but eggs, butter, and cheese in the house, and the lady demurred: whatlike fare was that to set before a prince?

1895, George Eyre-Todd, Scotland Picturesque and Traditional, page 270:


every single

"[...] you must take turns in writing to me, children!"
"Every single day, mother!"
"Every single thing that happens."

1911, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Mother Carey's Chickens:

“Sorry, love, they all look the same to me,” said Dad, desperately trying to spot one with a particularly pink nose. “Armitage? ARMITAGE!” called Zoe. All the rats eeked. Every single one of them wanted to escape.
“We’ll just have to set them all free,” said Zoe.

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

Sybil had picked armfuls of lilies and daisies and roses from the garden and every single gladiolus, gathering them in the earliest morning when they were fresh and packing them carefully into an applebox on the carrier of her bike.

2017, Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 104:

Every, without any exceptions. (used for emphasis)


a fair few

An indefinite and somewhat large number; more than a few; a fair number of.


thylke

By Woden, God of Saxons, / From whence comes Wensday, that is Wodensday, / Truth is a thing that ever I will keep / Unto thylke day in which I creep into / My sepulchre--

1819, Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon:


whoseso

Women and land are hand-maidens of the sword, whoseso sword conquereth them, to him do they belong. In whoseso house the sword is pulled from the fist of the wielder, there is there no virile power, no moustache nor beard.

1893, Malika Mohammada Jāyasī, Sir George Abraham Grierson, A Specimen of the Padumawati with an Analysis of the Entire Poem, page 202:


shis

(rare, neologism, gender-neutral) Belonging to them; their.


woat

Eye dialect spelling of what. Alternative form of wot, wut


just enough

From just (“merely”) + enough (“sufficient”).

(set phrase) The minimum amount necessary for something.


eithers

Nor Court nor Citie had ſhe ſeene, yeat eithers prayſe ſhe had: / So much more vvorth by hovve much leſſe ſhe vvas vn-nicely clad.

1602, William Warner, “The Seventh Booke. Chapter XXXVI.”, in Albions England. A Continued Historie of the Same Kingdome, from the Originals of the First Inhabitants thereof: […], 5th edition, London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant for George Potter, […], →OCLC, page 173:

[T]he friends that in one Couch did ſleep, / Each others blade in eithers breſt do ſteep: / And all the Camp with head-les dead is ſowen, / Cut-off by Cozen-ſwords, kill'd by their owne.

1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His Second VVeeke, […]. Abraham. […].] The Captaines. The IIII. Part of the III. Day of the II. Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 499:

That eithers friends, adherents, and ſequels, ſhould be comprehended in the truce, and that the truce ſhould extend it ſelfe to the titlers in Britaine and their ſides; and that the Cardinals ſhould doe their beſt to obtaine abſolution from the ſentence of Interdict executed vpon the Countrey of Flaunders.

1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 72, page 575, column 1:

Ganges (that great, rich and deified river which ſay the Bannyans iſſues out of a rock at Siba formed like a Cowes head) a whiles forbad them, reſtranyning eithers fury, ſave what volleyed from the roring guns to eithers prejudice.

1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book I, page 91:

[A]middle of meeting waters of river Yssia and Essia river on this one of eithers lone navigable lake piously Kevin, […]

1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC, part IV, page 605:


quite some

"Yes, a number of days ago. We had quite some important business to transact. He said he would come back the next day and sign some papers, and fix up some other matters. But he didn't come."

1913, Arthur M. Winfield, “Chapter 15”, in The Rover Boys in New York:

It's been quite some time since we've just sat down together for a quiet meal. Nobody's going to interrupt us, so we can talk during supper.”

“That's quite some talent you've got,” Bert Richards said. “I'd like to hear you play something from an older classical composer.[…]”

2011, Gwynne Forster, Breaking the Ties That Bind:


thuck

(obsolete) Alternative form of thilk (“that same”)


sev'ral

(archaic or poetic) Contraction of several.


not one

Not one student had done the homework!

And guess how many students had done the homework? Not one!