List of British words not widely used in the United States
Encyclopedia
This is a list of British words
not widely used in the United States
. In Canada
and Australia
, some of the British terms listed are used, although another usage is often preferred.
accountancy
: calculating and tracking financial matters (US: accounting).
Action Man
: A toy similar to G.I. Joe
.
adder
: viper, a species of venomous snake
advert : advertisement (US and UK also: ad, commercial (on TV)).
agony aunt : the author of an agony column – a magazine or newspaper column advising on readers' personal problems. The image presented was originally that of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt". Better known to most Americans as a "Dear Abby
" column or advice column
. Similarly, agony uncle.
amongst : Generally still in wide usage in England
, with the alternative among also used. Amongst is considered archaic in US usage.
answerphone : (originally from trademark Ansafone) automated telephone answering device (US and UK also: answering machine).
anti-clockwise : direction opposite to clockwise (US: counterclockwise).
approved school : (old-fashioned) school for juvenile delinquents; reform school. Such institutions have not been referred to officially as "approved schools" since 1969. Juvenile delinquents, depending on their age and level of malfeasance, may now be sent to Secure Training Centres (for ages 15 to 18) or YOIs (Young Offender Institutions – a prison for offenders aged between 18 and 21). (US: juvenile detention center, JDC, juvenile hall, (slang) juvie.)
argy-bargy : (informal) a disagreement ranging from a verbal dispute to pushing-and-shoving or outright fighting.
arse : buttocks
(US equivalent: ass), backside or anus
, depending on context; to be arsed: to be bothered to do something, most commonly as a negative or conditional (e.g. I can't be arsed, if/when I can be arsed). Sometimes used in the US but only as a noun, but usually the euphemism
ass is used in its place.
[to fall] arse over tit : (vulgar, alternatively arse over tip) [to fall] head over heels. (US: ass over tea kettle).
artic (lorry) : abbreviation of 'articulated lorry' (US: semi, semi-trailer truck
, tractor-trailer).
aubergine: (French
) a solanaceous plant bearing a fruit of the same name, commonly used as a vegetable
in cooking (US: eggplant). Also a dark purple colour
resembling the colour of the fruit.
Auntie – sometimes 'Auntie Beeb' (see below) : (affectionate slang) the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). Thought to have been coined by English BBC radio DJ and comedian Kenny Everett. Further popularised by English comedian Ben Elton
's BBC show, The Man from Auntie.
autocue
: a prompting system for television announcers (genericised trademark, after a leading manufacturer) (US: teleprompter
).
balls-up : (vulgar) error, mistake, SNAFU
. See also cock-up. (U.S.A.: screw up, mess up).
banger : (1) a sausage (from the tendency of sausages to burst during frying); (2) a type of small firework; (3) an old car (allusion to their tendency to back-fire
), thus the term 'banger racing' = stock car racing. (US: jalopy
).
banknote (or note): paper money issued by the central bank (US: "bill")
bap: (Northern English expression for) soft bread roll or a sandwich made from it; in plural, breasts (vulgar slang), i.e. "Ain't she got a lovely pair of baps".
barmaid *, barman : a woman or man who serves drinks in a bar. Barman and the originally American bartender
appeared within a year of each other (1837 and 1836); barmaid is almost two centuries older (circa 1658).
barney : a small quarrel or fight. From Cockney rhyming slang, trouble, "Barney Rubble" (see for the American animation character of the same name
)
barrister
* : the only type of lawyer qualified to argue a case in both higher and lower law courts; contrasts with solicitor. Occasionally used in the US, but not to define any particular type of lawyer.
basket : euphemistic alteration of bastard in its sense a term of abuse for a man or boy, and, with weakened force, as the equivalent of ‘fellow’, ‘chap’; also trivially for ‘thing’, esp. something bad or annoying. As used by Noel Coward.
bedsit (or bedsitter) : one-room flat that serves as a living room, kitchen and bedroom and with shared bathroom facilities (US: see SRO
; compare studio apartment
(in British English a studio apartment - sometimes 'studio flat' - would have a self-contained bathroom)' efficiency)
Beeb, the Beeb : (affectionate slang) the BBC
(British Broadcasting Corporation). See also 'Auntie' (above). Thought to have been coined by English BBC radio DJ and comedian Kenny Everett
. The British band Queen
released an album called At the Beeb in the UK and it had to be called "At the BBC" for US release.
Belisha beacon
: orange ball containing a flashing light mounted on a post at each end of a zebra crossing
(qv); named after the UK Minister of Transport who introduced them in 1934.
bell-end : the glans penis
, (slang, vulgar) a male oriented insult.
berk
: a mildly derogatory term for a silly person. The word is an abbreviation of either 'Berkshire
Hunt' or 'Berkeley Hunt
' (it is uncertain which is the original phrase), rhyming slang for cunt
. (Note that 'berk' rhymes with 'work', whereas the first syllable of both 'Berkshire' and 'Berkeley' is pronounced 'bark', in a manner rather similar to the pronunciation of 'derby' as 'darby'. Note also that it is considerably less obscene and insulting than its basis, cunt)
bespoke
: custom-made to a buyer's specification (US:custom-made)
biccy, bikkie : a biscuit (US: "cookie")
bint : a condescending and sometimes derogatory term for a woman (from the Arabic for 'daughter'). Usage varies with a range of harshness from 'bitch', referring to a disagreeable and domineering woman, to only a slightly derogatory term for a young woman.
biro : (in English ˈbaɪroʊ) a ballpoint pen
. Named after its Hungarian inventor László Bíró
and the eponymous company which first marketed them.
black pudding : (US: blood sausage)
blag : (slang) to obtain or achieve by deception and/or ill preparation, to bluff, to scrounge, to rob, to wing it. A scam, tall story or deception.
bleeder : derogatory term used in place of bloke ("what's that stupid bleeder done now?"); use has declined in recent years.
blimey : (informal) an exclamation of surprise. (Originally gor blimey, a euphemism for God blind me, but has generally lost this connotation.)
bloke : (informal) man, fellow. e.g. Terry is a top bloke. Also common in Australia. (US guy).
blues and twos : (slang) emergency vehicle with lights and sirens (emergency services in the UK generally use blue flashing lights and formerly used a two-tone siren) (US: lights and sirens or code)
boardies : long shorts used for surfing or beachwear (US and UK also: board shorts or swimming trunks)
bobby : police officer, named after Sir Robert Peel
, the instigator of the world's first organised police force.
Bob's your uncle
: "there you go", "it's that simple". Sometimes "Robert's your father's brother" (as used in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
) (Some areas of US have the phrase Bob's your uncle; Fanny's your aunt)
bobbins : something of low quality or (more commonly) someone who lacks ability at something, (e.g. "Our new striker is bobbins") From bobbins of cotton=rotten.
bodge : a cheap or poor (repair) job, can range from inelegant but effective to outright failure. 'You properly bodged that up didn't yer.' (you really made a mess of that didn't you) (US: botch or cob, shortened form of cobble) See Bodger.
boffin
: scientist or engineer, sometimes abbreviated to boff
bog roll: (roll of) toilet ("bog") paper (slang). Occasionally 'shit roll' or 'shit rag' (vulgar). 'Giant bog-roll': kitchen towel.
bog-standard: completely ordinary, run-of-the-mill, unadulterated, unmodified. (US vanilla).
boiled sweet: type of confection (US: hard candy)
bollocks
: (vulgar; originally ballocks, colloquially also spelled as bollox) testicles; verbal rubbish (as in "you're talking bollocks") (US: bullshit
). The somewhat similar bollix is found in American English, but without the anatomical connotations or vulgar sense meaning 'mess up'. The twin pulley blocks at the top of a ship's mast are also known as bollocks, and in the 18th century priests' sermon
s were colloquially referred to as bollocks; it was by claiming this last usage that the Sex Pistols
prevented their album Never Mind the Bollocks from being banned under British obscenity laws. Related phrases include bollocksed, which means either tired ("I'm bollocksed!") or broken beyond repair; bollocks up, meaning to mess up ("He really bollocksed that up"); and [a] bollocking, meaning a stern telling off. Compare dog's bollocks, below
bone-idle * : lazy
bonnet: the panel which covers a vehicle's engine and various other parts (US: hood)
brass monkeys
: cold – from "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". According to a popular folk etymology, this phrase derives from cannonballs stowed on a brass triangle named after a "powder monkey" (a boy who runs gunpowder to the ship's guns) spilling owing to the frame's contraction in cold weather. (This is however incorrect for several physical and linguistic reasons.) The phrase is a 20th century variant of earlier expressions referring to other body parts, especially the nose and tail, indicating that the brass monkey took the form of a real monkey.
brekkie : (slang) synonym of breakfast
breve : (musical) a note of two bars' length (or a count of 8) in 4/4 time
bristols : (vulgar, rhyming slang) breasts; from football team Bristol City
= titty
brolly : (informal) umbrella
brown bread : (rhyming slang) dead; "You're brown bread, mate!"
browned off : Fed up, annoyed or out of patience.
bubble and squeak
: dish of cooked cabbage fried with cooked potatoes and other vegetables. Often made from the remains of the Sunday roast trimmings. (Irish: colcannon
)
bugger : (vulgar) an interjection
of alarm or frustration, e.g. 'Oh bugger, I've just missed the last bus home'. Also refers to a contemptible, asinine, silly, or bothersome person * ('That little bugger is always late.') In the UK. its meaning is linked to buggery
, sodomy, rather than to bug, to annoy. Common in the US, where it is not generally considered vulgar.
buggered : (vulgar, literally a synonym for 'sodomised') worn out; broken; thwarted, undermined, in a predicament, e.g. 'If we miss the last bus home, we're buggered' (US: screwed). Also used to indicated lack of motivation as in "I can't be buggered". Uncommon in the US.
bugger all : little or nothing at all; "I asked for a pay rise and they gave me bugger all"; "I know bugger all about plants"; damn all. US: zip, jack or (offensive) jack shit. Usage is rare in the US.
building society : an institution, owned by its depositors rather than shareholders, that provides mortgage loans and other financial services (US equivalent: savings and loan association
)
bum bag : a bag worn on a strap around the waist (US: fanny [DM] pack)
bumble : to wander aimlessly or stroll/walk without urgency to a destination; usually synonymous with bungle when used in the US.
bumf, bumph : useless paperwork or documentation (from "bum fodder", toilet paper
)
bunce : a windfall; profit
bureau de change : an office where money can be exchanged (US: currency exchange)
burgle *: (originally colloquial, back-formation from burglar) to commit burglary
(in the US, burglarize is overwhelmingly preferred, although burgle is occasionally found).
butty : a sandwich (esp. 'chip butty
' or 'bacon butty').
cack-handed : (informal) clumsy * ; left-handed. Derived from cack, meaning "fæces (feces)", with reference to the tradition that only the left hand should be used for cleaning the 'unclean' part of the human body (i.e. below the waist).
cafetière : device for making coffee (US: French press
)
caff : abbreviation for a café
; now used mainly for the old-fashioned establishment ("there's a proper caff up that side road") to distinguish from chain cafés.
cagoule
: type of lightweight hooded waterproof clothing (US: windbreaker)
call minder : (rare) telephone message recorder (US and UK also: answering machine; voicemail machine)
candidature : synonymous with candidacy
candy floss : spun sugar confection (US: cotton candy
)
caravan : travel trailer (US: RV)
caravan park : area where caravans are parked (US: Trailer park
for near-permanently-installed mobile homes, RV park or campground for areas intended for short term recreational vehicle parking. Trailer parks are typically low-income permanent residencies; RV parks/campgrounds are a holiday (vacation) destination.)
car boot : storage area of car (US: trunk). Can also mean car boot sale
.
car hire : car rental
car park : area where cars are parked (US usually parking lot
if outdoor, parking garage if indoor).
carriageway
: the part of a road that carries the traffic; see also dual carriageway (US and UK also: lane)
carrier rocket : (rare) a rocket used to place a satellite in orbit (US and UK usually: launch vehicle
).
cash machine, cashpoint : automated teller machine
. ("Cashpoint", strictly speaking, refers only to the ATMs of Lloyds TSB
, although the term has become generic.)
cats eye
: reflector used to mark lane divisions and edges of roads, also written cat's-eye, genericised from the trademark Catseye (US: raised pavement marker
; Botts' dots
are similar)
central heating boiler : (US: furnace
)
central reservation : physical barrier (usually made from armco) dividing oncoming carriageways (only on dual-carriageways or motorways) (US: median strip)
chancer : (slang) an opportunist
char, cha: (informal) tea
. From the Chinese.
char : (informal) see charwoman
charlady : see charwoman
Chartered Accountant : one authorised to certify financial statements; the equivalent of an American CPA (Certified Public Accountant)
char-wallah: a usually South Asian servant whose role is to provide freshly brewed tea on demand. From Hindi chai, tea, and -wallah, -man.
charwoman : (dated) a woman employed as a cleaner, especially as an office cleaner Tea lady
or canteen staff.
chav
: (slang, often derogatory) typically a nouveau riche or working class
person of most of the time lowish intelligence who wears designer label (e.g. Burberry) copies, fake gold bling
, and is a trouble-maker. "Chav" is used nationally, though "charv" or "charva" was originally used in the northeast of England, deriving from the Roma (people) word charva, meaning disreputable youth. The closest US equivalents to the chav stereotype are arguably wigger
s, although the cultural differences are existent. To a lesser extent "Chotch" (reference sitcom character Charles "Chachi" Arcola), "chinstrap", or simply "douchebag".
cheeky * : impertinent; noun form, cheek, impertinence; a child answering back to an adult might be told "don't give me any of your cheek" (also there is the expression "cheeky monkey!" in reaction to a cheeky remark).
cheerio! : (informal, friendly) exclamation of farewell (similar to 'seeya!' and 'ta-ra!'). No connection to the breakfast cereal
Cheerios
.
chimney pot : smoke-stack atop a house. But refers to the cylindrical topmost part. The part below is the chimney or chimney stack.
chinagraph pencil : pencil designed to write on china, glass etc. (US: grease pencil, china marker)
chinky : a Chinese takeaway (commonly used in the north of England). "Im going to the chinky, do you want owt?" Considered offensive by some.
chip shop : (informal) fish-and-chip
shop (Scot, Ire: chipper), also chippy (see also List of words having different meanings in British and American English)
chinwag : (slang) chat
choong : (slang) attractive person - usually referring to a female. Used mostly in a urban youth/chav
setting.
chucked (out): thrown out; expelled (US: kicked out)
chuffed : (informal, becoming somewhat archaic, originally Liverpudlian
) proud, satisfied, pleased. Sometimes intensified as well chuffed; cf. made up
chunter : (sometimes chunner) to mutter, to grumble, to talk continuously; "What's he chuntering on about?"
chutney or chutney ferret : (slang) homosexual person; "Our new P.E. Teacher is a right chutney ferret". Referencing the urban legend about ferrets trained by homosexuals to lick chutney off their anuses.
clanger : (informal) a big mistake, blunder, bad joke or faux pas ('to drop a clanger') (US: lay an egg)
clapped out : (informal) worn out (said of an object)
cleg : horse fly
clingfilm : thin plastic film for wrapping food (US: plastic wrap
, Saran wrap)
clock-watching * (plural clock-watchings) : continually looking at the time to see how much longer one has to work or study.
cob : a bread roll of any kind, especially in the West Midlands and East Midlands
cobblers : shoemakers * ; (slang) a weaker version of bollocks, meaning 'nonsense' (often "a load of old cobblers"), from rhyming slang 'cobbler's awls' = balls
cock-up, cockup * : (mildly vulgar) error, mistake
codswallop *, codd's wallop : (becoming old-fashioned) similar to bollocks but less rude, "You're talking codswallop". After Hiram Codd, the inventor of the Codd bottle, which was commonly used in the late 19th Century for fizzy drinks (Codd's wallop). (US: You're talking trash)
compère : (French
) master of ceremonies, MC
compulsory purchase : the power of the governmental authority to take private property for public use (similar to US: eminent domain
)
conservatoire : music school
(US usually conservatory)
cool box : box for keeping food and liquids cool (US and UK also: cooler)
coolybox : air conditioning unit
cop off with : (slang) to successfully engage the company of a potential sexual partner, to "pull"; to copulate (have sexual intercourse) with.
coriander * : when referring to the leaves, often called "cilantro" in the US
Cor Blimey : see Gor Blimey
coster, costermonger : a seller of fruit and veg
cotton bud : wad of cotton wool fixed to a small stick, used for cleaning (US: cotton swab, Q-Tip)
cotton wool : Spun cotton, used for cleaning wounds or make-up (US: Absorbent cotton, cotton ball)
council house/flat , also council housing or estate : public housing. (US: projects)
counterfoil *: stub of a cheque, ticket etc. (US: stub)
courgette : (French
) the plant Cucurbita pepo (US: zucchini
, from the Italian).
cowl * : a wind deflector
fitted to a chimney top.
crikey : exclamation of surprise (once a euphemism for Christ's keys or perhaps Christ Kill Me. Popularized in the US by late Australian herpetologist Steve Irwin
)
crisps : very thinly sliced fried potatoes, often flavoured, eaten cold as a snack (US: potato chips)
crotchet : a musical note with a duration of one count in a time signature of 4/4 (common time) (US: quarter note; see Note value
)
cuddly toy : soft toy (sometimes used in the US; also stuffed animal, plush toy)
cuppa : [cup of] tea
(never coffee or other beverage)
current account : personal bank account used for everyday transactions (US: checking account)
dekko : (informal) a look, reconnoître "I'll take a dekko at it later." – British
military
slang derived from the Hindustani
dhek/dekho meaning "to see". Also less commonly decco, deccie,deek, deeks.
dene : wooded valley or seaside dune (mainly S W England)
dibs : Cash.
dibble (or The Dibble): Police. From 'Officer Dibble' in the early-1960s Hanna-Barbera animated television programme Top Cat
. Most commonly used in Manchester.
div, divvy : (slang) a fool or idiot; adjective form, divvy, foolish or idiotic. Also abbreviation of diviner, a person with the ability to sniff out antiques at a distance (made popular by Jonathan Gash
's character Lovejoy)
doddle : something accomplished easily - "It's a doddle", meaning "it's easy".
dodgems * : fun-fair or fairground bumper cars
dodgy * : unsound, unstable, and unreliable (US: sketchy). 'That bloke over there looks a bit dodgy'
dogsbody : someone who carries out menial tasks on another's behalf; a drudge (US: grunt)
the dog's bollocks : (vulgar) something excellent or top quality, the "bee's knees" (the business), the "cat's whiskers". Nowadays is becoming "mutt's nuts" or just "that's the dogs that is" or sometimes even just "the bollocks." (US: the shit). In polite company this phrase may be toned down to "The mutt's nuts", or the phrase "The bee's knees" (the business) may be used as a polite substitute. The etymology of this expression is said by some to derive from printer
s' slang for the punctuation
symbol ':-' when printing involved the use of carved metal blocks to form typesetting
.
dole * : (informal) welfare, specifically unemployment benefit
. Sometimes used in the US, esp. older generation
dosh : (slang) money (US: dough) "how much dosh you got on ya?"
doss : (from docile) to be lazy, "I've been dossing all day", also can mean to truant, "dossing off" (similar to bunking off). Additionally it can informally take the form of a noun (i.e. "that lesson was a doss", meaning that lesson was easy, or good (primarily central Scotland). Also "dosser", a lazy person, or a tramp (US bum); "to doss down", to find a place to sleep, to sleep on some substitute for a bed such as a sofa, the floor, or a park bench; "doss-house", temporary accommodation for tramps or homeless people, cheap dilapidated rented accommodation with low standards of cleanliness (US: flophouse)
double first : an undergraduate degree
where the candidate has gained First-Class Honours in two separate subjects, or alternatively in the same subject in subsequent examinations (see British undergraduate degree classification
)
double parked * : (slang) having two drinks in your hand (or on the table) at once (US: double fisting). Could also mean, or even originate, from the term 'double park'; which involves parking a vehicle to the side of another parked vehicle, or being parked on double yellow lines/being parked illegally.
draper : a dealer in drapery (i.e. clothing, textiles, etc.) (US: dry goods [DM])
draughts
: the board game (US: checkers)
drawing pin * : pin with a large, flat head, used for fixing notices to noticeboards etc. (US: thumbtack)
dress circle : the seats in the first balcony of a theatre (US: balcony or loge although dress circle is used in a few very large opera houses that have many levels of balconies)
drink-driving
: operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol (US: drunk driving; DUI [Driving Under the Influence]; DWI [Driving While Intoxicated]; OWI [Operating While Intoxicated])
driving licence : document authorising the holder to drive a vehicle (US: driver's license, driver license)
dual carriageway
: road, usually a major one, with each direction of travel separated from the opposing one by a traffic-free, and usually slightly raised, central reservation. Each direction of travel (carriageway) can comprise one or more 'lane'. (US: divided highway)
dustbin : (sometimes used in the US) receptacle for rubbish, very often shortened to simply 'bin'. (US: trash can; wastebasket)
dustbin man or dustman: rubbish collector (US: garbage man; trash man; sanitation engineer)
: an adhesive bandage placed on a minor cut or scrape (UK also: sticking/sticky plaster [DM]; US: Band-Aid
)
electric fire : domestic electric heater (US: space heater)
engaged tone: tone indicating a telephone line in use, (US: busy signal)
estate agent * : a person who sells property for others (US: realtor, real estate agent)
estate car : a station wagon
ex-directory : (of a telephone number) unlisted; also informally of a person "he's ex-directory", meaning his telephone number is unlisted
extension lead : Extension cable typically refers to mains power but may refer to other cables like telephones, (US and UK also: extension cord)
fag end : cigarette butt
fairing : a gift, particularly one given or bought at a fair (obsolete); type of cookie (biscuit) made in Cornwall
fairy cake : a small sponge cake (US and UK also: cupcake
)
fairy lights : Christmas lights
feck
: (vulgar) mild expletive employed as an attenuated alternative to fuck
(including fecker, fecking, etc.) (originally Hiberno English and popularized by the television series Father Ted
).
fiddly : requiring dexterity to operate ("the buttons on the tiny mobile phone were too fiddly")
fish fingers : (US: fish sticks)
fiver : five pound note (bill)
fizzy drink * : carbonated soft drink
(US: soda, pop, coke depending on the region)
flyover
: a road crossing over another road (US: an overpass)
footie : (slang) football (US: soccer)
foot path : pavement on the side of a road, most commonly shortened to just the word 'path'. (US: side walk)
fortnight
*: a period of 14 days (and nights) or two weeks
fourpenn'orth : (old-fashioned) four pence worth (fourpenn'orth is literally "four pennies' worth") (and similarly for other numbers)
freephone : a telephone number where the caller is not charged for the call (US: toll-free number)
French letter : (slang) condom
fringe : bangs, as in describing collective strands of hair covering part or all of the forehead
funfair
: a travelling fair with amusements, stalls, rides etc. (US: carnival or traveling carnival)
full stop : (US: period)
: (slang) house, home. Also any other place: cheap music hall, theatre, pub, club, shop, hangout
gaffer
* : (informal) old man; (informal) boss; football manager (US: soccer coach); Also in US: (professional) chief electrician on a theatrical or film set.
gaffer tape
* : strong, woven, cloth adhesive tape, originally sourced from the gaffer
on a film set. (US: gaffers tape, gaff tape)
gangway * : a path between the rows of seats in a theatre or elsewhere (US aisle; gangway is a naval command to make a path for an officer)
gaol : A prison, mostly historical (US: jail)
gearbox : system of gear
s in a vehicle or other machinery (US transmission)
gear-lever / gearstick : handle for changing gear
s in a vehicle or other machinery (US gearshift)
gen : (informal) information, info (short for "intelligence") (US: intel)
get off with * : to engage in passionate kissing and fondling - does not usually imply sexual intercourse. (US: make out with, technically, engage in heavy petting)
git * : (mildly derogatory) scumbag, idiot, annoying person (originally meaning illegitimate; from archaic form "get", bastard, which is still used to mean "git" in Northern dialects)
gob : 1. (n.) mouth, e.g. "Shut yer gob"
gob-shite : (vulgar)(insult) slang term for a person who is being mouthy about something or someone
gobsmacked : (slang) utterly astonished, open-mouthed
go pear-shaped : see pear-shaped
googled : confused (from a cricketing term for a type of delivery bowled, the googly; predates Google
)
goolies : (slang), (British) The testicles or Bollocks, from Robert Baden-Powell
's Scout song and from goli Hindi for ball. (US: genitalia)
"He was getting on my nerves so I decided to kick him in the goolies. That shut him up."
gor blimey : exclamation of surprise, also cor blimey (originally from "God blind me")
gormless * (mainly N England): lacking in intelligence; with a vacant expression
go-slow : a protest in which workers deliberately work slowly (US: slowdown or work to rule)
grated cheese * : cheese that has been shredded with a 'cheese grater' hand-held kitchen appliance which often has three or four different blade types/widths. (In the US, "grated" cheese tends to be finer than shredded cheese. One would grate a hard cheese such as Parmesan more than a soft cheese such as cheddar or mozzarella.)
grotty : disgusting, dirty, poor quality (originally from grotesque, though now rarely used with quite that meaning). In a scene from the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night
, George Harrison has to explain the meaning and origin of the word; the impression is given that it was then considered modern slang, known only to trendy youngsters (this is no longer the case).
green fingers : talent for growing plants (US: green thumb)
greengrocer
* : a retail trader in fruit and vegetables
greengrocery : a greengrocer's profession, premises or produce (US: Produce or Farmer's Market)
gump : an idiot
gumption * : will or intent. "You don't have the gumption to jump off the cliff." (US: guts, balls
[vulgar slang])
gutties : running shoes, tennis shoes, maybe from "gutta percha" old source of natural rubber
guv'nor/guv: (slang) From governor, used to describe a person in a managerial position i.e. " sorry mate, can't come to the pub, my guv'nors got me working late tonight"
and US: "Half past").
hand brake
* : Parking brake operated by a hand control, usually a lever (US: Emergency brake. In the US, the traditional "hand brake" is more often to be found on a bicycle or motorcycle as opposed to a car as in the UK.); handbrake turn, a stunt where the handbrake is used to lock the rear wheels and the resulting oversteer enables the car to be turned rapidly in a small space (US related: J-turn
, bootleg turn
, U-turn.)
ha'penny : half a penny; a coin of this denomination belonging to the predecimal coinage which is no longer in circulation. There was also a half penny in the decimal coinage introduced in 1971 which was 1/200 of a pound. Ha'pennies stopped being legal tender in 1985 and were removed from circulation.
ha'porth : halfpennyworth.
hash sign : the symbol "#" (US: number sign
, pound sign [DM])
headmaster, headmistress, headteacher *: the person in charge of an educational institution (US: principal [DM]; headmaster and the like are usually used for private schools)
Heath Robinson : (of a machine or contraption) absurdly complex (see Rube Goldberg machine
).
high street : primary business and shopping street (US: main street
)
higgledy-piggledy * : in disarray
hire purchase: a credit system by which debts for purchased articles are paid in installments (US: installment plan or layaway if the item is kept at the store until the final payment is made)
hoarding : a panel used to display outdoor advertisements, such as on the sides of buildings, or alongside highways (US billboard)
hob : the hot surface on a stove (US: burner)
hold-all : a bag (US: duffel bag)
holidaymaker : person on holiday [DM] (US: vacationer)
hols : (informal) short for holidays [DM]
home and away : fixtures played at alternating venues (US: home and home). Also 'first and second leg' (US series).
hoover : vacuum [cleaner], to vacuum (archaic in the US) (genericised trademark, from The Hoover Company
, the first main manufacturer of vacuum cleaners)
hot up : to become more exciting or intimate (US: heating up). Also a word in Rhyming slang which refers to theft, usually of the opportunist type (i.e. shoplifting
)
hundreds-and-thousands: coloured sugar sprinkles used for dessert decoration (US: sprinkles,non-pareils, jimmies)
),
icing sugar : (US: powdered sugar)
industrial action
: (see article; US: job action)
inverted commas : quotation mark
s (see also American and British English differences – Punctuation)
invigilator : person who monitors an examination (US: proctor [DM])
ironmongery : ironware, hardware; hardware store
jam sandwich : (slang) police car. So called as, in the past, most UK police vehicles were white with a horizontal yellow-edged red fluorescent stripe along the entire length of their sides, giving a certain resemblance to a white bread sandwich with a coloured jam (jelly) filling. The majority of marked vehicle operated by the Metropolitan Police Service
retain this livery, albeit the cars are now (mostly) sliver. Some older vehicles are still in white, while the Diplomatic Protection Group
(DPG) use red vehicles. (US: black-and-white. In many cities of the US, police cars are painted black at the hood and trunk and white on the doors and roof.)
jammy (git) : (slang) lucky (person)
jemmy : To break into a lock, from the tool
that is used in such an occasion as burglary (US: jimmy)
jerry : (slang) pejorative term for a German or Germans, (US: Kraut
)
Jiggery-Pokery : Expertly tinker with something in a way that a non-expert or casual observer is unlikely to comprehend.
jimmy : (Rhyming slang) urinate, as in jimmy riddle - piddle
jitty : An alley way connecting two streets.
jobsworth
: (slang) Originally a minor clerical/government worker who refuses to be flexible in the application of rules to help clients or customers (as in "it will cost me more than my job's worth to bend the rules"). Also used more broadly to apply to anyone who uses their job description in a deliberately obstructive way.
johnny : (slang) a condom (US: rubber, Jimmy-hat)
John Thomas : (slang) To engage in sexual intercourse. Better known as slang for penis or "dick" (US: cock, dick, or johnson) From the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover
Joey : Term of abuse used of someone perceived to be foolish, stupid, incompetent, clumsy, uncoordinated, ridiculous, idiotic. Originated with the appearances of cerebral palsy
sufferer Joey Deacon
on children's TV programme Blue Peter
; still a popular insult among adults who saw the programmes as children.
jumble sale
: (see article; US: rummage sale)
jumper : a pullover * , sweater
jump leads : booster cables used to jump-start a car (US: jumper cables)
's Army) (related US: Keystone Kops
, Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
)
kappa-slappa : (derogatory slang) promiscuous lower-class female, similar to "kev" or "chav
" (from Kappa
, a clothing brand supposedly worn by such women, and slapper, a slovenly, sluttish woman)
kecks : (informal, also spelt keks) trousers or underpants
keep fit costume : exercise, dance or training suit
kerfuffle * : a disorderly outburst, disturbance or tumult, from Scottish origin
kev : (slang) Derivative of "Kevin", has become equivalent to "chav" - typically a working class person that wears designer labels, fake gold, has to always be "in", is most likely a troublemaker and most likely smokes. Its use to describe the majority troublesome teenage subculture predates the use of "chav"; the British comedian Harry Enfield
based one of his characters on this use.
khazi : (slang) lavatory (numerous alternative spellings are seen, such as karzy, karsey, carzey etc.)
kip : (slang) sleep. (US and UK: nap)
kitchen roll : paper towels
knackered : (slang) exhausted, originally 'sexually exhausted', perhaps derived from knacker's yard
knacker's yard : premises where superannuated livestock are sent for rendering, etc. (glue factory). Sometimes refers to the same for vehicles, a scrapyard (US: junkyard)
knickers : girls' and women's underpants (US: panties)
launderette : self-service laundry (US: laundromat )
lav : also, lavy (informal, increasingly uncommon) lavatory, toilet (in the US, airplane restrooms are typically called lavatories)
learnt : past tense of "learn" (US: learned)
legacy accounts : funds left in a budget (US: funds remaining)
lessons : classes (class used more common in US English)
let-out : (n.) a means of evading or avoiding something
letter box
: 1. a slot in a wall or door through which incoming post
[DM] is delivered (US: mail slot, mailbox)
lift : elevator
lock-in * : illegal gathering in a pub at night to drink after the pub is supposed to have stopped serving alcohol, where the landlord "locks in" his guests to avoid being caught by police. Unless the landlord charges for the drinks at the time, the people in the pub are considered his personal guests; if money is exchanged beforehand or afterwards then it is considered a gift from the guest to the landlord for the hospitality. Since the introduction of the smoking ban in England and Wales in 2006, a "lock in" can now mean a landlord locking the pub doors and allowing smoking inside the premises. (US: may refer to a large and highly chaperoned "sleep over" at a church, school, etc.)
lodger * : tenant renting a room rather than an entire property; typically lives with the renter and his/her family
lollipop man / woman / lady : a school crossing guard who uses a circular stop sign
lolly * : 1. lollipop /ice lolly (US: popsicle); (q.v.)
loo : toilet
(usually the room, not just the plumbing device) (US: bathroom, restroom)
loopty-swoops : basketball
lorry : a large goods-carrying motor vehicle (US and UK also: truck
)
loudhailer : megaphone
(US: bullhorn)
lower ground : the lower of two floors at ground level (for example, if a building is built on a slope). See "ground floor". Also used as a euphemism for "basement" when trying to sell a flat [DM].
lurgi : (hard 'G') 1. An imaginary illness allegedly passed on by touch—used as an excuse to avoid someone. (c.f. US: cooties
) From a legendary sketch on the Goon Show. 2. (slang) A fictitious, yet highly infectious disease; often used in the phrase "the dreaded lurgy", sometimes as a reference to flu-like symptoms
mains power, the mains : 230-250V (Typically denoted on domestic electricals as the rounded 240V standard) AC electrical current, provided by the electricity grid to homes and businesses; also attrib. ("mains cable") (US: 120 volts AC, variously called: line power, grid power, AC power, household electricity, etc.)
manky : (slang) feeling ill, rough, out of sorts; filthy, dirty, rotten. (poss. from French "manqué" - missed, wasted or faulty)
mardy : (derogatory, mainly Northern and Central England) describes someone who is in a bad mood, or more generally a crybaby or whiner or "grumpy, difficult, unpredictable". Used, for example, by children in the rhyme "Mardy, mardy mustard...", and in the title of the Arctic Monkeys
song "Mardy Bum". The verb to throw a mardy means to display an outburst of anger.
maths : mathematics (US: math)
MD (managing director) : equivalent of US CEO (Chief Executive Officer
), also used in the UK
Mexican wave : simply called The Wave in the US
mentioned in despatches : identified for valour or gallantry in action (US: decorated)
milliard : one thousand million, or 1,000,000,000 (US: billion or 1,000,000,000) Often 'billion' is used instead, similar to the US. However a British (or 'true') billion is a million million (i.e. the next order of magnitude)
mince * : 1. ground meat, especially beef (US: ground beef
, hamburger meat, mince typically describes a chopping style)
mincer : (slang) homosexual. "you just have to look at him to know he's a right mincer".
minge : (vulgar) (rhymes with singe) female genitals or pubic hair
minger : (originally Scottish slang, rhymes with singer) someone who is unattractive
minging : (originally Scottish slang, rhymes with singing) dirty, rotting, smelly, unattractive etc. "The girl I pulled last night was minging". His friend replies, "yeah I know mate, I saw you leave with her, she was a right minger".
minim : a musical note with the duration of two counts in a time signature of 4/4 (US: half note; see Note value
)
mither, also moider, moither : trans. To bother, pester, worry, irritate; intr. To ramble, be delirious; to ‘go on’; to complain, make a fuss, whine. Alternative version in Chambers: to confuse; to work hard; to wander in thought; See also mither, moider and moither at Wiktionary
moggie, moggy : (informal) non-pedigree cat; alley cat; any cat regardless of pedigree; Morris Minor
car; Morgan
car
mong : (slang) disgusting, dirty, foul, idiotic person, possible derivation from mongoloid, now obsolete term for someone with Down's syndrome
monged (out) : (slang) being incapable of constructive activity due to drug use, alcohol consumption or extreme tiredness
MOT, MOT test : mandatory annual safety and roadworthiness test for motor vehicles over 3 years old (from "Ministry of Transport", now renamed "Department for Transport
")
motor house : A residential garage
in the first decades of the Twentieth Century.
motorway : A controlled-access highway
, the largest class of road on the British road network, designed for fast, high volume traffic, usually with three or more lanes in each direction. In reference to a specific motorway may be abbreviated to M, as in M25 or M1. (US: equivalent to freeway)
mouthing off : shouting, ranting or swearing a lot about something or someone. e.g.: "that guy was just mouthing off about something" (US [DM]: backtalk; often shortened to mouth ["I don't need your mouth".])
move house, move flat, etc. : to move out of one's house
or other residence into a new residence (US: move, move out)
munted : (slang) heavily intoxicated with drink or drugs. Generally used in a positive context. "I tell you what mate, I was proper munted last night, it was awesome."
munter : an ugly woman (rarely, man); similar to minger
mush : casual term for friend, mate, pal. As in "'Ere mush, what's going on?"
naff off : (dated slang) shove it, get lost, go away – a much less offensive alternative to "fuck off" (originally obscure Polari
slang, made popular by prison sitcom Porridge and famously used by Princess Anne
)
nark * : 1. (v.) (informal) irritate; also narked, the adjective.
nappy : absorbent garment for babies (US: diaper
)
nesh
: an English dialect adjective (central and north England), gently derogative of a person, sensitive to the cold, delicate (typical usage, of someone who wears a coat on a mildly cold day: "He's nesh", meaning "He's a bit soft").
newsagent : strictly a shop owner or shop that sells newspaper
s, usu. refers to a small shop, e.g. corner shop, convenience store
, newsstand, or similar (US: newsdealer)
newsreader : someone who reads the news on TV or radio. See news presenter
for a description of the different roles of a newscaster, a British newsreader and an American news anchor.
nick : 1. (v.) to steal
nicked : arrested (as in "you're nicked") - related to "the nick" (a prison or police station - Australian origin "I'm taking you down the nick")
nicker : (colloquial) 1 pound, maintains singular form when used in a plural context ("it cost me 2 nicker"), rarely used in the singular
niff : an unpleasant smell
Nissen hut : hemicylindrical building of corrugated metal. Named for the designer. (US: Quonset hut, named for the place of US manufacture)
nob : see knob
nobble : (v.) to sabotage, attempt to hinder in some way. E.g. "Danny nobbled my chances at the pub quiz by getting Gary to defect to his team."
nonce
: 1. (slang) paedophile
, pimp, child molester, idiot
nosh : 1. food, meal; also "nosh up", a big satisfying meal ("I could do with a good nosh up") Cf US usage, where nosh means "snack" or "to eat" as in the original Yiddish (i.e., "He's noshing on the shrimp cocktail.")
nosy (or nosey) parker : a busybody (similar to US: butt-in, buttinski, nosy)
nous : Good sense; shrewdness: "Hillela had the nous to take up with the General when he was on the up-and-up again" (Nadine Gordimer). Rhymes with "mouse".
nowt : nothing; not anything. "I've got nowt to do later." Northern English. (see also 'owt' - anything; as in the phrase "you can't get owt for nowt" or "you can't get anything for nothing")
number plate : vehicle registration plate
(sometimes used in the US; also license plate or license tag)
numpty : (possibly originally Scottish, now widespread) a stupid person
nutter: (informal) a crazy or insane person, often violent; also used as a more light-hearted term of reproach ("Oi nutter!") (occasionally used in the US) (US and UK also: nut, nutcase)
nutty gum : peanut butter
off-licence / offie: shop licensed to sell alcoholic beverage
s for consumption off the premises (US equivalent: liquor store). Known in some parts of N England as "selling-out shop".
off-the-peg : of clothes etc., ready-made rather than made to order (US: off-the-rack)
offal
* : the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal.
oi : coarse exclamation to gain attention, roughly equivalent to "hey" ("Oi, you!" = "Hey you!")
the Old Bill : (slang) The police
old iron : a junky or dated vehicle (US: (old) jalopy)
one-off * : something that happens only once; limited to one occasion (as an adjective, a shared synonym is one-shot; as a noun, it has no exact US equivalent, perhaps "one shot deal")
on the piss : (vulgar) drinking heavily; going out for the purpose of drinking heavily; at a slight angle, said of an object that should be vertical
Oriental * : used to describe the origin of a person from East Asia (China, Japan etc.) (US:Asian - N.B. In BrE, Asian is generally reserved for people from around the Indian sub-continent: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc.)
orientate * : less common alternative to orient, deprecated by some as an unnecessary back-formation
from orientation
Other Ranks : members of the military who are not commissioned officers.
overdraft : money used on a bank account making a debit balance
overleaf * : on the other side of the page
owt : anything. Northern English. "Why aren't you saying owt?" See also 'nowt' - as in the phrase "can't get owt for nowt" meaning "can't get anything for nothing."
oy: See "oi".
: a holiday whose transport, accommodation, itinerary etc. is organised by a travel company (US and UK less frequently: package tour). Cf holiday [DM]
Paki : a Pakistani person; often loosely applied to anyone from South Asia
, or of perceived South Asian origin
. Now considered racist.
Paki shop : a newsagents run by a person of Pakistani or other South Asian origin. No longer considered an acceptable term.
panda car : (informal) police car. Small police car used for transport, as opposed to a patrol or area car (analogous to US: black-and-white) Derives from a period in the 1970s when UK police cars resembled those of their US counterparts, only with blue replacing black.
paper round : (the job of making) a regular series of newspaper
deliveries (US: paper route)
paracetamol
: a common and widely available drug for the treatment of headaches, fever and other minor aches and pains (US: acetaminophen, Tylenol)
parkie : (informal) park-keeper
parky : (informal) cold, usually used in reference to the weather
pasty, Cornish pasty : hard pastry case filled with meat and vegetables served as a main course, particularly in Cornwall and in the north of England
pear-shaped : usually in the phrase "to go pear-shaped", meaning to go drastically or dramatically wrong (possibly from the idea of a ball deflating). cf tits-up
pelican crossing : pedestrian crossing
with traffic lights operated by pedestrians (formed by analogy with "panda crossing" etc. Could also be from Pedestrian Light-Controlled;)
people mover or people carrier : a minivan
or other passenger van
pernickety : fastidious, precise or over-precise (US: persnickety)
petrol : refined mixture of hydrocarbons, used esp. to fuel motor vehicles (short for petroleum spirit, or from French essence de pétrole) (US: gasoline
, gas). Also variously known as motor spirit (old-fashioned), motor gasoline, mogas, aviation gasoline and avgas (the last two being a slightly heavier type designed for light aircraft)
petrol-head, petrolhead : someone with a strong interest in cars (especially high performance cars) and motor racing (US: gearhead or motorhead).
phone box : payphone, public phone (US: phone booth)
pikey
: a pejorative slang term, used originally to refer to Irish Traveller
s. Now refers to anyone whose lifestyle is characterised by itinerancy, theft, illicit land occupancy with destruction of amenities, and disregard for authority, without reference to ethnic or national origin.
pillar box
: box in the street for receiving outgoing mail
, in Britain traditionally in the form of a free-standing red pillar; also called postbox or, less commonly, letter box
(US: mailbox)
pillar-box red : the traditional bright red colour of a British pillar box
(US: fire engine red or candy apple red)
pillock : (slang, very mildly derogatory) foolish person, used esp. in northern England but also common elsewhere. Derived from the Northern English term pillicock, a dialect term for penis, although the connection is rarely made in general use.
pinch * : to steal.
pisshead : (vulgar) someone who regularly gets heavily drunk (cf. BrE meaning of pissed).
pissing it down [with rain] : (slang, mildly vulgar) raining very hard (sometimes "pissing down" is used in the US, as in "It's pissing down out there.") Also "pissing it down the drain" or "pissing it away" * meaning to waste something.
plait * : braid, as in hair
plaster : Band-Aid
pleb : (derogatory) person of lower class *, from plebs; similar to townie. Also commonly used to mean idiot.
pleck : also: guitar-pleck; plectrum (US: guitar pick)
plimsoll
: a type of shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole, formerly the typical gym shoe used in schools (US: sneaker or Tennis shoe)
plod : policeman - from PC Plod in Enid Blyton
's Noddy books.
plonk
: a disparaging term for cheap wine, especially cheap red wine, is now widely known in the UK and also to a lesser extent in the USA. Derives from French vin blanc and came into English use on the western front in World War I
.
plonker : (very mildly derogatory) fool
*. Used esp. in the south-east of England, although not unknown elsewhere. Derived from a slang term for penis, and sometimes used in this fashion, e.g. "Are you pulling my plonker?" (to express disbelief) (US var: "Are you yanking my chain?")
ponce : (n.) (slang) someone with overly affected airs and graces; an effeminate posturing man; a pimp. Originates from Maltese slang. (related US: poncey)
ponce about/around : (v.) (slang) to act like a fop, to wander about aimlessly without achieving anything
ponce off : (v.) (slang) to mooch, to hit up, to leave in a pompous manner
pong: (n.) (slang) a strong unpleasant smell; (v.) to give off a strong unpleasant smell; (adj.) pongy
poof, poofter : (derogatory) a male homosexual (US equivalent: fag, faggot)
pouffe, poof, poove : A small drum-shaped soft furnishing used as a foot rest (related US: hassock, Ottoman
)
porky(ies) : slang for a lie or lying, from rhyming slang "pork pies" = "lies"
postage and packing, P&P : charge for said services (US: shipping and handling, S&H; the word postage is, however, used in both dialects)
postal order
: a money order designed to be sent through the post, issued by the UK Post Office
(US: money order, or postal money order if the context is ambiguous)
postbox, post box : box in the street for receiving outgoing mail (US: mailbox; drop box); see also letter box
, pillar box
postcode
: alphanumeric code used to identify an address, part of a UK-wide scheme. (US equivalent: ZIP Code
)
poste restante
: service whereby mail is retained at a post office for collection by the recipient (from French) (US: general delivery)
postie : (informal) postman
poxy : (slang) something that is unsatisfactory or in generally bad condition.
pram, perambulator : wheeled conveyance for babies (US: baby-carriage) Similarly, a "pram-face" sometimes refers to a very young or young-looking mum (US: "baby-face" meaning a young-looking person in general, not necessarily a mother.)
prat * : (slang) an incompetent or ineffectual person, a fool, an idiot
press-up : a conditioning exercise in which one lies prone and then pushes oneself up by the arms (outside Britain: push-up)
pritt-stick: glue stick
, from the trademark of a common brand.
proper * : Real or very much something. "He's a proper hero" (US: "He's a real hero")
provisional licence, provisional driving licence : a licence for a learner driver, who has not yet passed a driving test (US: learner's permit)
pub : short for public house
(US: bar
)
pud : (informal) short for "pudding
", which may mean dessert or occasionally a savoury item such as Yorkshire pudding
or black pudding
; a fool (informal term usually used good-naturedly between family members). pulling his pud, means male masturbation
.
pukka : (informal) legitimate, the real thing, of good quality (usually Southeastern England term, recently more widely popularised by Jamie Oliver
, but dating back to the 19th century). From Hindi.
punch-up : a fistfight
punkah-wallah : a usually South Asian servant whose role is to operate a manual fan. From Urdu pankhaa, fan, and -wallah, -man
punnet : small basket for fruit, usually strawberries
pushbike : (informal) bicycle (pre-dates modern safety bicycle q.v. velocipede
)
pushchair : forward-facing baby carriage (US: stroller)
: quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation. A semi-public (supposedly non-governmental) advisory or administrative body funded by the taxpayer, often having most of its members appointed by the government, and carrying out government policy.
quaver : a musical note with the duration of one half-count in a time signature of 4/4 (US: eighth note). Also compound nouns semiquaver (US: sixteenth note), demisemiquaver (US: thirty-second note), hemidemisemiquaver (US: sixty-fourth note); see note value
).
quid : (informal) the pound sterling
monetary unit; remains quid in plural form ("Can I borrow ten quid?") (similar to US buck, meaning dollar)
quids in : (informal) a financially positive end to a transaction or venture "After all that, we'll be quids in!" (US: money ahead)
quieten : used in the phrase "quieten down" (US: quiet down)
quiff
: forelock
(initially Hiberno-English
); a hairstyle (from the 1950s onward).
quim : (vulgar slang) female genitalia, the vagina
franchise)
ranker : an enlisted soldier or airman or (more rarely) a commissioned officer who has been promoted from enlisted status ("the ranks")
rashers *: cuts of bacon
rat-arsed : (slang) extremely drunk
recce : (informal) reconnoître, reconnaissance (US: recon)
recorded delivery : certified mail
Register Office, Registry Office : official office where birth
s, marriage
s and death
s are recorded; usu. refers to local Register Office (in each town or locality). General Register Office
is the relevant government department. In England and Wales until 2001, almost all civil (non-church) marriages took place in the local Register Office; different laws apply in Scotland and N. Ireland. "Register Office" is the correct legal term, but "registry office" is in common informal use.
road-works : upgrade or repairs of roads (US: construction; roadwork [singular])
rock : hard candy in cylindrical form often sold at holiday locations and made so that the location's name appears on the end even when broken. (US: no exact equivalent, but similar to a candy cane)
rodgering : (vulgar) to engage in a sexual act, or suggest it. e.g.: "I'd give her a good rodgering!"
ropey : (informal) chancy; of poor quality; uncertain (see dodgy). Can also mean unwell when used in the form to feel ropey
row * : a fight or argument (rhymes with cow)
reverse charge call : a telephone call for which the recipient pays (US and UK also: collect call); also v. to reverse [the] charge[s] *, to make such a call (dated in US, used in the 1934 American film It Happened One Night
– US usually: to call collect)
rota : a roll call or roster of names, or round or rotation of duties
(the) rozzers : 1.(rare slang) Police ("Quick, the rozzers! Scarper!") – possibly from Robert Peel
, who also gave his name to two other slang terms for the police: peelers (archaic) and bobbies (becoming old-fashioned).
rubber : a pencil eraser (US: eraser. The word eraser is additionally used in the US to refer to a blackboard eraser. "Rubber" in the US is a slang term for a condom
.)
rubbish : worthless, unwanted material that is rejected or thrown out; debris; litter (US: trash, garbage)
rucksack *: a backpack.
rug muncher : a lesbian. also carpet muncher.
rumpy pumpy : (informal) Sexual intercourse
, used slightly jokingly.
Saloon: a four door car (US: sedan)
salad-dodger : (informal) an overweight person
sarky : (informal) sarcastic (abbrev.) "why are you being so sarky?" (US: snarky)
sarnie, sarny, sannie : (informal) sandwich (abbrev.)
sat nav : GPS
scouser : a person from Liverpool
scrubber : a lower class, (usually young) woman of low morals
scrumpy : cloudy cider
, often high in alcoholic content
scrumping : action of stealing apples from an orchard; also v. to scrump
self-raising flour : self-rising flour
secateurs : gardening tool for pruning plants (US:garden shears, pruners or clippers)
secondment : (/sɪˈkɒndmənt/) the assignment of a person from his or her regular organisation to temporary assignment elsewhere. From v. second (/sɪˈkɒnd/)
Sellotape : from Cellophane, transparent adhesive tape (genericised trademark) (US: Scotch tape)
semibreve : a musical note with the duration of four counts in a time signature of 4/4 (US: whole note; see Note value
)
send to Coventry
: ostracize, shun (US: send to Siberia, vote off the island)
serviette : (from French) table napkin [DM]. Regarded as a non-U word, but widely used by non-U people.
shafted : broken beyond repair - can also be used to describe extreme exhaustion
shandy
: a drink consisting of lager or beer mixed with a soft drink, originally ginger beer but now more usually lemonade, in near equal parts.
shanks's pony : on foot, walking – as in "The car's broken down, so it's shanks's pony I'm afraid". An ancient reference to the King of England Edward I, known as 'Longshanks', the idea being that riding on a pony his legs were so long he was still effectively walking.
shite : (vulgar) variant of shit, often seen as more jocular
shonky : (slang) an adjective describing low priced goods for sale that are cheap because they are low quality or roughly used.(similar to dime-store/dollar-store/thrift-shop goods in USA)
shop : in the sense of "retail outlet
" (US: store)
sick * : (vulgar) means great or wicked often known as a 'chavs' common word.
sixes and sevens : crazy, muddled (usually in the phrase "at sixes and sevens"). From the London
Livery Company
order of precedence, in which position 6 is claimed by both the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors
and the Worshipful Company of Skinners
.
skew-whiff / skew-whift : skewed, uneven, not straight
skint : (informal) out of money (US: broke)
skip
: industrial rubbish bin (US: dumpster)
skive [off] : (informal) to sneak off, avoid work; to play truant (US: play hookey)
slag * : similar to 'slut', a woman of loose morals and low standards; sometimes implying the woman is of an undesirable age or has become aged by her lifestyle. Occasionally used to refer to a male, though does not then have sexual connotations.
slag off * : to badmouth; speak badly of someone, usually behind their back
slaphead : (informal) bald man
slapper : (vulgar) similar to slut but milder. Implies drunken, flirtatious behaviour as opposed to frequent sexual conquests
sleeping partner : a partner in business, often an investor, who is not visibly involved in running the enterprise (US: silent partner)
sleeping policeman : mound built into a road to slow down vehicles (UK also: hump [DM]; US & UK also: speed bump)
slippy : (slang) smooth, wet, with no friction or traction to grip something (US: slippery)
slowcoach : (slang) a slow person (US: slowpoke)
slummy : (slang) loose change
smalls : underclothing, underwear, particularly underpants
smart dress: formal attire
smeghead : (slang) idiot; a general term of abuse (for discussion of origin, see smeg (vulgarism)). Popularised by its use in a 1980s BBC
sitcom, Red Dwarf
.
snog : (slang) a 'French kiss' or to kiss with tongues (US [DM]: deep kiss, not necessarily with tongues)
soap dodger : one who is thought to lack personal hygiene
sod off : (vulgar, moderately offensive) go away; get lost
spacker, spacky, spazmo : (vulgar, offensive to many) idiot, general term of abuse: from "Spastic", referring in England almost exclusively (when not used as an insult) to a person suffering from cerebral palsy. (variant forms spaz/spastic, are used in American English) See also Joey.
Spanish archer: The elbow ("El Bow",) almost always used in the context of "to give someone the elbow;" to fire, spurn or discard an unwanted person, often a spacker.
spanner : (US: wrench)
spannered : (slang) under the influence of illicit drugs. MDMA (ecstasy) In particular.
spawny : lucky
spiffing : (informal) very good (old-fashioned, or consciously used as old-fashioned, associated stereotypically with upper-class people) (US: spiffy)
spiv
: an unemployed person who lives by their wits; someone who shirks work or responsibility; a slacker, a dealer in black market goods (during World War II
). The term wide boy is also often used in the same sense
spliff * : (slang) a hand-rolled cigarette containing a mixture of marijuana and tobacco
, also 'a joint.' (Also used in US, j or blunt more widely used)
spod : An early 1980s derogatory expression for someone who performed well at school, did their homework and wore the correct uniform. Somewhat equivalent to US: 'geek'. This has, since the late 1980s, changed to mean someone who spends too much time in internet chat rooms and discussion forums. Also verb: to spod.
spot on * : exactly (US: right on)
spotted dick
: an English steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants) commonly served with custard.
squaddie : (informal) a non-commissioned soldier (US: grunt)
squidgy : (informal) soft and soggy (US: squishy)
squiffy : (informal) intoxicated (popularly but probably erroneously said to be from British Prime Minister (Herbert)Asquith, a noted imbiber). The word can also be synonymous with skew-whiff.
squintie, squint : crooked; cf on the skunt
squiz : (rare) look, most often used in the form to have a squiz at...
sticky-backed plastic : large sheet of thin, soft, coloured plastic that is sticky on one side; see Blue Peter
(US similar: contact paper)
stockist : a seller (as a retailer) that stocks merchandise of a particular type, usually a specified brand or model
stone the crows : exclamation of surprise (US holy cow)
straight away : immediately (sometimes used in the US; also right away)
stroke : to move your hand slowly and gently over something e.g. stroke a dog. (US: pet)
strop : (informal) bad mood or temper
stroppy, to have a strop on : (informal) recalcitrant, in a bad mood or temper
subway : An underground walkway normally under a road. Not to be confused with the US for an underground railway.
suck it and see : to undertake a course of action without knowing its full consequences (US: take your chances)
suss [out] * : (informal) to figure out (from suspicion)
suspender belt: a ladies' undergarment to hold up stockings (US: garter belt)
swot : 1. v. to study for an exam (US cram)
sweets : the same term for candy in US
sweet FA : (slang) nothing (from "Sweet Fanny Adams
", alternative: "Sweet Fuck All"), "I know sweet FA about cars!" (US: jack shit)
swimming costume: swimsuit or bathing suit; also cozzy for short.
Taff, Taffy : standard nickname for a Welshman
takeaway : food outlet where you can order food to go (or be delivered) (not usually applied to fast food chains). Usage: "we had a takeaway for dinner", "we went to the local takeaway". [DM]; (US: takeout)
take the piss (vulgar) * / take the mickey: (slang) to make fun of somebody; to act in a non-serious manner about something important (also: take the pee). Can also mean to transgress beyond what are perceived as acceptable bounds, or to treat with perceived contempt - "the increases in car tax are taking the piss", "the new boss is really taking the piss with this mandatory car-sharing scheme".
takings * : receipts of money
tannoy
: loudspeaker
(a proprietary brand name
), PA system
tapping up : in professional team sport, attempting to persuade a player contracted to one team to transfer to another team without the knowledge or permission of the player's current team (US: "tampering")
ta-ra! : (informal, friendly) exclamation of farewell (similar to 'seeya!' and 'cheerio!' (above)). Originally from Merseyside
(see Scouser, above) but now common throughout the UK.
tea towel : a cloth which is used to dry dishes, cutlery, etc., after they have been washed. (US: dish towel)
telerecording : a recording of a live television
broadcast made directly from a cathode ray tube
onto motion picture film. The equivalent US term is kinescope
.
telly : (informal) television
tenfoot : A service road or alley
behind or between houses, historical 10 feet wide.
tenner : ten pound note
Territorial: a member of the Territorial Army (US: Army Reserve)
tetchy: irascible
thickie - person of low intelligence.
[throw one's] toys out of the pram : In response to someone being angry/irate ("Stop throwing your toys out the pram".)
throw a wobbly : (informal) to lose one's temper, throw a tantrum
thruppennies : (rhyming slang) breasts/tits (from thrupenny bits, obsolete British coin)
Tiger nuts: (vulgar slang) small remnants of toilet paper that cling to body hair after bowel movement clean-up (originates from small chocolate covered caramel candy of the same name). (Commonly "tigers") (compare to US dingleberries).
tinned : canned as in "tinned soup" or "a tin of tuna"
tip : a dump or to throw something away
Tipp-Ex : white tape or liquid used to make corrections of ink on paper (US: Wite-Out
)
titchy : very small; tiny (from tich or titch a small person, from Little Tich
, the stage name of Harry Relph (1867–1928), English actor noted for his small stature)
titfer : (rhyming slang) hat (from tit-for-tat)
[go] tits up : (mildly vulgar) to suddenly go wrong (literally, to fall over. US: go belly up). cf pear-shaped (appears in the US mainly as military jargon, sometimes sanitized to "tango uniform")
toad-in-the-hole : batter-baked sausages, sausages baked in Yorkshire Pudding
toff : (slang) member of the upper classes
toffee apple : a sugar-glazed apple on a stick eaten esp. on Guy Fawkes Night
and Hallowe'en (US: caramel apple or candy apple)
toffee-nosed : anti-social in a pretentious way, stuck up
tonk : (informal) to hit hard, sometimes used in cricket to describe a substantial boundary shot: "he tonked it for six". In Southern England can also mean muscular. (US: ripped or buff).
tonker : penis.
tosser * : (slang) Largely equivalent to "wanker" but less offensive; has the same literal meaning, i.e. one who masturbates ("tosses off"). (US: jerk).
tosspot : (colloquial, archaic) a drunkard; also used in the sense of "tosser".
totty : (informal, offensive to some) sexually alluring woman or women (more recently, also applied to males). Originally a term for a prostitute in the late 19th century.
trainers: training shoes, athletic shoes. (US: sneakers).
treacle
* : slang, jovial greeting/term of endearment from male to female i.e. "alright treacle" from SE England, esp. Essex. (US derog. [DM]: gooey, sickeningly sweet, overly sentimental, maudlin -- "I hated that movie! I've never seen such treacle in my life!")
tuppence : two pence, also infantile euphemism for vagina
. cf twopenn'orth
tuppenny-ha'penny : cheap, substandard
turf accountant : bookmaker for horse races (US: bookie)
turn-indicator : direction-indicator light on a vehicle (US: turn signal)
turning : as in a 'lefthand turning' (US: lefthand turn). "drive past the post-office and you'll see a small turning to the right, which leads directly to our farm"
turn-ups: an arrangement at the bottom of trouser-legs whereby a deep hem is made, and the material is doubled-back to provide a trough around the external portion of the bottom of the leg. (US: cuffs)
twee * : excessively cute, quaint, or 'precious'
twocked : when something is stolen or taken without owners consent (T.W.O.C)
twonk * : idiot. Probably a portmanteau construction of twat
and plonker. Used by Timothy Spall
in an episode of Red Dwarf
.
twopenn'orth, tuppenn'orth, tup'en'oth : one's opinion (tuppenn'orth is literally "two pennies worth" or "two pence worth", depending on usage); (US equivalent: two cents' worth, two cents). cf tuppence
up himself : (informal) someone who is stand-offish, stuck-up, snobby. "He's a bit up himself." Euphemistic variation of up his own arse. (US: snotty)
up sticks : (US: pull up stakes)
(virger, in some churches) : someone who carries the verge or other emblem of authority before a scholastic, legal, or religious dignitary in a procession; someone who takes care of the interior of a church and acts as an attendant during ceremonies.
verruca : a wart which occurs on one's foot. (US: plantar wart)
(vegetable) marrow : a gourd-like fruit (treated as a vegetable) (US: squash
[DM])
vertically opposite angles : (US: vertical angles)
: wives and girlfriends, common in headlines referring to the spouse of a footballer.
wage packet : weekly employee payment (usually in cash) (US: paycheck)
wally : (informal) buffoon, fool; milder form of idiot.
wanker * : (offensive) literally, a masturbator; used as a general insult or term of abuse
WC : toilet (short for Water Closet). (US: bathroom [DM], US old-fashioned washroom). See also loo
.
washing up: dish washing, "the dishes": "it's your turn to do the washing up"; hence washing up liquid: dish washing detergent (US: dish soap, dishwashing liquid)
wazzock : an idiot. popularised by the 1981 song "Capstick Comes Home" by Tony Capstick
well: Extremely, very. "He's well rich" (US: "He's very rich")
Wellington boot
s, wellies : waterproof rubber boots, named after the Duke of Wellington
. (more common in the US now)
welly : (informal) effort (e.g.: "Give it some welly" to mean "put a bit of effort into an attempt to do something"; US: elbow grease); also the singular of "wellies", for Wellington boot
s
welly : (slang) condom; stems from "Wellington boots" which are also known as "rubbers"
What ho! : (interj.) Hello! (warmly)
whilst *: while (US and UK); 'whilst' is in common use in Yorkshire (UK) where 'while' is used colloquially to mean 'until'; (archaic in US)
whinge : (informal) complain, whine, especially repeated complaining about minor things (e.g. "Stop whingeing" meaning "stop complaining"); a different word from whine, originated in Scottish and Northern English in the 12th century. Hence whinger (derogatory), someone who complains a lot. As in "My wife Kerry is always whingeing about the state we leave the house in".
white coffee : coffee with milk or cream.
white pudding
: oat and fat sausage often eaten at breakfast
, common in Ireland
and Scotland
witter : (informal) to continue to talk trivially about a subject long after the audience's interest has gone. "He wittered on."
wibble : (informal) to talk at length aimlessly; but also an exclamation of astonishment.
wide boy : see spiv, above
willawonks : (slang) groceries
windscreen : (US: windshield)
wing mirrors : the external mirrors on a vehicle – though no longer normally attached to the 'wings' (US: fenders) but to the doors (US: sideview mirrors, side mirrors)
winkle : (slang) another childish term for a penis (US: winkie)
wobbler, wobbly (to have or to throw): (informal) tantrum
wog : (offensive, term of abuse) member of an ethnic minority. The word can refer to a wide variety of non-Europeans, including Arabs, sub-Saharans (and those of sub-Saharan descent), Iranians, and Turks.
with an inverted-Y-shaped frontal flap; originally a trademark (US: jockey shorts/briefs; US slang: tighty whities)
yob, yobbo : lout, young troublemaker (origin: boy spelt backwards)
yomp : to move on foot across rough terrain carrying heavy amounts of equipment and supplies without mechanised support (Royal Marines slang popularised by the Falklands war, army equivalent is to tab). Also used informally for any walk across rough ground.
yonks : a long time, ages. "I've not seen her for yonks."
ed : last letter of the alphabet, pronounced "zee" in United States
zebra crossing
: (US: crosswalk)
Zimmer frame : walker
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
not widely used in the United States
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
. In Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, some of the British terms listed are used, although another usage is often preferred.
- Words with specific British English meanings that have different meanings in American and/or additional meanings common to both languages (e.g. pants, cot) are to be found at List of words having different meanings in American and British English. When such words are herein used or referenced, they are marked with the flag [DM] (different meaning).
- AsteriskAsteriskAn asterisk is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often pronounce it as star...
s (*) denote words and meanings having appreciable (that is, not occasional) currency in American, but nonetheless notable for their relatively greater frequency in British speech and writing.
- British English spelling is consistently used throughout the article, except when explicitly referencing American terms.
A
abseil : to descend on a rope (US: rappel). From German abseilen.accountancy
Accountancy
Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the form of financial statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management; the art lies in...
: calculating and tracking financial matters (US: accounting).
- In the UK accounting is explaining your self or actions ("to give an accounting" or "accountability" in the U.S.A.), accountancy is the professional qualification.
Action Man
Action Man
Action Man is an action figure boys' toy launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "moveable fighting man": G.I...
: A toy similar to G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
.
adder
Vipera berus
Vipera berus, the common European adder or common European viper, is a venomous viper species that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of Western Europe and all the way to Far East Asia. Known by a host of common names including Common adder and Common viper, adders have been...
: viper, a species of venomous snake
advert : advertisement (US and UK also: ad, commercial (on TV)).
agony aunt : the author of an agony column – a magazine or newspaper column advising on readers' personal problems. The image presented was originally that of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt". Better known to most Americans as a "Dear Abby
Dear Abby
Dear Abby is the name of the advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name Abigail Van Buren and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name....
" column or advice column
Advice column
An advice column is a column in a magazine or newspaper written by an advice columnist . The image presented was originally of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt"...
. Similarly, agony uncle.
amongst : Generally still in wide usage in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with the alternative among also used. Amongst is considered archaic in US usage.
answerphone : (originally from trademark Ansafone) automated telephone answering device (US and UK also: answering machine).
anti-clockwise : direction opposite to clockwise (US: counterclockwise).
approved school : (old-fashioned) school for juvenile delinquents; reform school. Such institutions have not been referred to officially as "approved schools" since 1969. Juvenile delinquents, depending on their age and level of malfeasance, may now be sent to Secure Training Centres (for ages 15 to 18) or YOIs (Young Offender Institutions – a prison for offenders aged between 18 and 21). (US: juvenile detention center, JDC, juvenile hall, (slang) juvie.)
argy-bargy : (informal) a disagreement ranging from a verbal dispute to pushing-and-shoving or outright fighting.
arse : buttocks
Buttocks
The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...
(US equivalent: ass), backside or anus
Anus
The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
, depending on context; to be arsed: to be bothered to do something, most commonly as a negative or conditional (e.g. I can't be arsed, if/when I can be arsed). Sometimes used in the US but only as a noun, but usually the euphemism
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
ass is used in its place.
[to fall] arse over tit : (vulgar, alternatively arse over tip) [to fall] head over heels. (US: ass over tea kettle).
artic (lorry) : abbreviation of 'articulated lorry' (US: semi, semi-trailer truck
Semi-trailer truck
A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or articulated truck or articulated lorry, is an articulated vehicle consisting of a towing engine , and a semi-trailer A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) articulated truck...
, tractor-trailer).
aubergine: (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) a solanaceous plant bearing a fruit of the same name, commonly used as a vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
in cooking (US: eggplant). Also a dark purple colour
Eggplant (color)
Eggplant is a dark purple or brownish-purple color that resembles the color of the outer skin of European eggplants. Another name for the color eggplant is aubergine ....
resembling the colour of the fruit.
Auntie – sometimes 'Auntie Beeb' (see below) : (affectionate slang) the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). Thought to have been coined by English BBC radio DJ and comedian Kenny Everett. Further popularised by English comedian Ben Elton
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles "Ben" Elton is an English comedian, author, playwright and director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV....
's BBC show, The Man from Auntie.
autocue
Autocue
Autocue is a UK based manufacturer of teleprompter systems, owned by QTV. The company was founded in 1955 and licensed its first teleprompter, based on a patent by Jess Oppenheimer, in 1962...
: a prompting system for television announcers (genericised trademark, after a leading manufacturer) (US: teleprompter
Teleprompter
An autocue is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to the practice of using cue cards...
).
B
baby minder : (babysitter) a person who looks after babies (usually in the person's own home) while the baby's parents are working.balls-up : (vulgar) error, mistake, SNAFU
SNAFU
SNAFU is an acronym that stands for situation normal: all fucked up. It is sometimes bowdlerized to all fouled up or similar. In simple terms, it means that the normal situation is in a bad state, as it always is, therefore nothing unexpected. It is usually used in jest, or as a sign of frustration...
. See also cock-up. (U.S.A.: screw up, mess up).
banger : (1) a sausage (from the tendency of sausages to burst during frying); (2) a type of small firework; (3) an old car (allusion to their tendency to back-fire
Back-fire
A Back-fire or backfire is an explosion produced by a running internal combustion engine that occurs in the air intake or exhaust system rather than inside the combustion chamber. The same term is used when unburned fuel or hydrocarbons are ignited somewhere in the exhaust system. A visible flame...
), thus the term 'banger racing' = stock car racing. (US: jalopy
Jalopy
A jalopy is a decrepit car, often old and in a barely functional state. A jalopy is not a well kept antique car, but a car which is mostly rundown or beaten up. As a slang term in American English, "Jalopy" was noted in 1924 but is now slightly passé...
).
banknote (or note): paper money issued by the central bank (US: "bill")
bap: (Northern English expression for) soft bread roll or a sandwich made from it; in plural, breasts (vulgar slang), i.e. "Ain't she got a lovely pair of baps".
barmaid *, barman : a woman or man who serves drinks in a bar. Barman and the originally American bartender
Bartender
A bartender is a person who serves beverages behind a counter in a bar, pub, tavern, or similar establishment. A bartender, in short, "tends the bar". The term barkeeper may carry a connotation of being the bar's owner...
appeared within a year of each other (1837 and 1836); barmaid is almost two centuries older (circa 1658).
barney : a small quarrel or fight. From Cockney rhyming slang, trouble, "Barney Rubble" (see for the American animation character of the same name
Barney Rubble
Bernard "Barney" Rubble is the deuteragonist of the television animated series The Flintstones. He is the diminutive blonde-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble...
)
barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
* : the only type of lawyer qualified to argue a case in both higher and lower law courts; contrasts with solicitor. Occasionally used in the US, but not to define any particular type of lawyer.
basket : euphemistic alteration of bastard in its sense a term of abuse for a man or boy, and, with weakened force, as the equivalent of ‘fellow’, ‘chap’; also trivially for ‘thing’, esp. something bad or annoying. As used by Noel Coward.
bedsit (or bedsitter) : one-room flat that serves as a living room, kitchen and bedroom and with shared bathroom facilities (US: see SRO
Single Room Occupancy
A single room occupancy is a multiple-tenant building that houses one or two people in individual rooms , or to the single room dwelling itself...
; compare studio apartment
Studio apartment
A studio apartment, also known as a studio flat , efficiency apartment or bachelor/bachelorette style apartment, is a small apartment which combines living room, bedroom, and kitchen or kitchenette into a single room...
(in British English a studio apartment - sometimes 'studio flat' - would have a self-contained bathroom)' efficiency)
Beeb, the Beeb : (affectionate slang) the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
(British Broadcasting Corporation). See also 'Auntie' (above). Thought to have been coined by English BBC radio DJ and comedian Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...
. The British band Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
released an album called At the Beeb in the UK and it had to be called "At the BBC" for US release.
Belisha beacon
Belisha beacon
A Belisha beacon is an amber-coloured globe lamp atop a tall black and white pole, marking pedestrian crossings of roads in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in other countries historically influenced by Britain...
: orange ball containing a flashing light mounted on a post at each end of a zebra crossing
Zebra crossing
A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. Its distinguishing feature is alternating dark and light stripes on the road surface, from which it derives its name. A zebra crossing typically gives extra rights of way to pedestrians.The use of zebra...
(qv); named after the UK Minister of Transport who introduced them in 1934.
bell-end : the glans penis
Glans penis
The glans penis is the sensitive bulbous structure at the distal end of the penis. The glans penis is anatomically homologous to the clitoral glans of the female...
, (slang, vulgar) a male oriented insult.
berk
Berk
Berk may refer to:As a surname:*Dick Berk , American musician*İlhan Berk , Turkish poet*John van den Berk , Dutch motorcyclist*Sammy Berk , American vaudeville entertainer...
: a mildly derogatory term for a silly person. The word is an abbreviation of either 'Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
Hunt' or 'Berkeley Hunt
Berkeley Hunt
The Berkeley Hunt is a fox hunt in the west of England. Its country lies in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, between Gloucester and Bristol.-History:...
' (it is uncertain which is the original phrase), rhyming slang for cunt
Cunt
Cunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane...
. (Note that 'berk' rhymes with 'work', whereas the first syllable of both 'Berkshire' and 'Berkeley' is pronounced 'bark', in a manner rather similar to the pronunciation of 'derby' as 'darby'. Note also that it is considerably less obscene and insulting than its basis, cunt)
bespoke
Bespoke
Bespoke is a term employed in a variety of applications to mean an item custom-made to the buyer's specification...
: custom-made to a buyer's specification (US:custom-made)
biccy, bikkie : a biscuit (US: "cookie")
bint : a condescending and sometimes derogatory term for a woman (from the Arabic for 'daughter'). Usage varies with a range of harshness from 'bitch', referring to a disagreeable and domineering woman, to only a slightly derogatory term for a young woman.
biro : (in English ˈbaɪroʊ) a ballpoint pen
Ballpoint pen
A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...
. Named after its Hungarian inventor László Bíró
László Bíró
László József Bíró was the inventor of the modern ballpoint pen.Bíró was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1899. He presented the first production of the ball pen at the Budapest International Fair in 1931...
and the eponymous company which first marketed them.
black pudding : (US: blood sausage)
blag : (slang) to obtain or achieve by deception and/or ill preparation, to bluff, to scrounge, to rob, to wing it. A scam, tall story or deception.
bleeder : derogatory term used in place of bloke ("what's that stupid bleeder done now?"); use has declined in recent years.
blimey : (informal) an exclamation of surprise. (Originally gor blimey, a euphemism for God blind me, but has generally lost this connotation.)
bloke : (informal) man, fellow. e.g. Terry is a top bloke. Also common in Australia. (US guy).
blues and twos : (slang) emergency vehicle with lights and sirens (emergency services in the UK generally use blue flashing lights and formerly used a two-tone siren) (US: lights and sirens or code)
boardies : long shorts used for surfing or beachwear (US and UK also: board shorts or swimming trunks)
bobby : police officer, named after Sir Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
, the instigator of the world's first organised police force.
Bob's your uncle
Bob's your uncle
Bob's your uncle is an expression commonly used mainly in Britain and Commonwealth nations. Typically, someone says it to conclude a set of simple instructions to mean, "And there you have it", or "You're all set". For example, "To make a ham sandwich, just put a piece of ham between two slices of...
: "there you go", "it's that simple". Sometimes "Robert's your father's brother" (as used in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a 1998 British crime film directed and written by Guy Ritchie. The story is a heist film involving a self-confident young card sharp who loses £500,000 to a powerful crime lord in a rigged game of three card brag...
) (Some areas of US have the phrase Bob's your uncle; Fanny's your aunt)
bobbins : something of low quality or (more commonly) someone who lacks ability at something, (e.g. "Our new striker is bobbins") From bobbins of cotton=rotten.
bodge : a cheap or poor (repair) job, can range from inelegant but effective to outright failure. 'You properly bodged that up didn't yer.' (you really made a mess of that didn't you) (US: botch or cob, shortened form of cobble) See Bodger.
boffin
Boffin
In the slang of the United Kingdom, boffins are scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people engaged in technical or scientific research.-Origin:...
: scientist or engineer, sometimes abbreviated to boff
bog roll: (roll of) toilet ("bog") paper (slang). Occasionally 'shit roll' or 'shit rag' (vulgar). 'Giant bog-roll': kitchen towel.
bog-standard: completely ordinary, run-of-the-mill, unadulterated, unmodified. (US vanilla).
boiled sweet: type of confection (US: hard candy)
bollocks
Bollocks
"Bollocks" is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning "testicles". The word is often used figuratively in British English and Hiberno-English, as a noun to mean "nonsense", an expletive following a minor accident or misfortune, or an adjective to mean "poor quality" or "useless"...
: (vulgar; originally ballocks, colloquially also spelled as bollox) testicles; verbal rubbish (as in "you're talking bollocks") (US: bullshit
Bullshit
Bullshit is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism B.S. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive, although bullshit is commonly used in British English...
). The somewhat similar bollix is found in American English, but without the anatomical connotations or vulgar sense meaning 'mess up'. The twin pulley blocks at the top of a ship's mast are also known as bollocks, and in the 18th century priests' sermon
Sermon
A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
s were colloquially referred to as bollocks; it was by claiming this last usage that the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
prevented their album Never Mind the Bollocks from being banned under British obscenity laws. Related phrases include bollocksed, which means either tired ("I'm bollocksed!") or broken beyond repair; bollocks up, meaning to mess up ("He really bollocksed that up"); and [a] bollocking, meaning a stern telling off. Compare dog's bollocks, below
bone-idle * : lazy
bonnet: the panel which covers a vehicle's engine and various other parts (US: hood)
brass monkeys
Brass monkey (colloquial expression)
The phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is a colloquial expression used by some English speakers. The reference to the testes of the brass monkey appears to be a 20th century variant on the expression, prefigured by a range of references to other body parts, especially the...
: cold – from "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". According to a popular folk etymology, this phrase derives from cannonballs stowed on a brass triangle named after a "powder monkey" (a boy who runs gunpowder to the ship's guns) spilling owing to the frame's contraction in cold weather. (This is however incorrect for several physical and linguistic reasons.) The phrase is a 20th century variant of earlier expressions referring to other body parts, especially the nose and tail, indicating that the brass monkey took the form of a real monkey.
brekkie : (slang) synonym of breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...
breve : (musical) a note of two bars' length (or a count of 8) in 4/4 time
bristols : (vulgar, rhyming slang) breasts; from football team Bristol City
Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the City...
= titty
brolly : (informal) umbrella
brown bread : (rhyming slang) dead; "You're brown bread, mate!"
browned off : Fed up, annoyed or out of patience.
bubble and squeak
Bubble and squeak
Bubble and squeak is a traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables from a roast dinner. The main ingredients are potato and cabbage, but carrots, peas, brussels sprouts, and other vegetables can be added...
: dish of cooked cabbage fried with cooked potatoes and other vegetables. Often made from the remains of the Sunday roast trimmings. (Irish: colcannon
Colcannon
Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish mainly consisting of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage. It is also the name of a song about the dish.-Dish:...
)
bugger : (vulgar) an interjection
Interjection
In grammar, an interjection or exclamation is a word used to express an emotion or sentiment on the part of the speaker . Filled pauses such as uh, er, um are also considered interjections...
of alarm or frustration, e.g. 'Oh bugger, I've just missed the last bus home'. Also refers to a contemptible, asinine, silly, or bothersome person * ('That little bugger is always late.') In the UK. its meaning is linked to buggery
Buggery
The British English term buggery is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, and is often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. It may be, also, a specific common law offence, encompassing both sodomy and bestiality.-In law:...
, sodomy, rather than to bug, to annoy. Common in the US, where it is not generally considered vulgar.
buggered : (vulgar, literally a synonym for 'sodomised') worn out; broken; thwarted, undermined, in a predicament, e.g. 'If we miss the last bus home, we're buggered' (US: screwed). Also used to indicated lack of motivation as in "I can't be buggered". Uncommon in the US.
bugger all : little or nothing at all; "I asked for a pay rise and they gave me bugger all"; "I know bugger all about plants"; damn all. US: zip, jack or (offensive) jack shit. Usage is rare in the US.
building society : an institution, owned by its depositors rather than shareholders, that provides mortgage loans and other financial services (US equivalent: savings and loan association
Savings and loan association
A savings and loan association , also known as a thrift, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans...
)
bum bag : a bag worn on a strap around the waist (US: fanny [DM] pack)
bumble : to wander aimlessly or stroll/walk without urgency to a destination; usually synonymous with bungle when used in the US.
bumf, bumph : useless paperwork or documentation (from "bum fodder", toilet paper
Toilet paper
Toilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...
)
bunce : a windfall; profit
bureau de change : an office where money can be exchanged (US: currency exchange)
burgle *: (originally colloquial, back-formation from burglar) to commit burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
(in the US, burglarize is overwhelmingly preferred, although burgle is occasionally found).
butty : a sandwich (esp. 'chip butty
Chip butty
A chip sandwich, chip barm, chip roll, chip butty, chip muffin, piece-n-chips or hot chip sandwich is a sandwich made with bread or bread roll and hot chips , often with some sort of sauce such as tomato sauce or brown sauce...
' or 'bacon butty').
C
cack : (slang) faeces (feces); nonsense or rubbish: "what a load of cack" could equally be used to describe someone talking nonsense or as a criticism of something of poor quality. Also spelt "kak" as used in South Africa. Derived from an ancient Indo-European word, kakkos, cognate with German word Kacke, Welsh word "cach" and the Irish Gaelic word "cac" which means 'shit'.cack-handed : (informal) clumsy * ; left-handed. Derived from cack, meaning "fæces (feces)", with reference to the tradition that only the left hand should be used for cleaning the 'unclean' part of the human body (i.e. below the waist).
cafetière : device for making coffee (US: French press
French press
A French press, also known as a press pot, coffee press, coffee plunger, cafetiere or сafetière à piston, is a simple coffee brewing device that was first patented by Italian designer Attilio Calimani in 1929....
)
caff : abbreviation for a café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
; now used mainly for the old-fashioned establishment ("there's a proper caff up that side road") to distinguish from chain cafés.
cagoule
Cagoule (raincoat)
A cagoule, cagoul, kagoule or kagool is the British English term for a lightweight , weatherproof raincoat or anorak with a hood, which often comes in knee-length....
: type of lightweight hooded waterproof clothing (US: windbreaker)
call minder : (rare) telephone message recorder (US and UK also: answering machine; voicemail machine)
candidature : synonymous with candidacy
candy floss : spun sugar confection (US: cotton candy
Cotton candy
Cotton candy , candy floss or candyfloss or candy buttox , or fairy floss is a form of spun sugar. Since cotton candy is mostly air, a small initial quantity of sugar generates a tremendously greater final volume, causing servings to be physically large and voluminous...
)
caravan : travel trailer (US: RV)
caravan park : area where caravans are parked (US: Trailer park
Trailer park
A trailer park is a semi-permanent or permanent area for mobile homes or travel trailers. The main reasons for living in such trailer parks are the often lower cost compared to other housing, and the ability to move to a new area more quickly and easily, for example when changing jobs to another...
for near-permanently-installed mobile homes, RV park or campground for areas intended for short term recreational vehicle parking. Trailer parks are typically low-income permanent residencies; RV parks/campgrounds are a holiday (vacation) destination.)
car boot : storage area of car (US: trunk). Can also mean car boot sale
Car boot sale
Car boot/trunk sales or boot/trunk fairs are a mainly British form of market in which private individuals come together to sell household and garden goods.The term refers to the selling of items from a car's boot or trunk...
.
car hire : car rental
car park : area where cars are parked (US usually parking lot
Parking lot
A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
if outdoor, parking garage if indoor).
carriageway
Carriageway
A carriageway consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally...
: the part of a road that carries the traffic; see also dual carriageway (US and UK also: lane)
carrier rocket : (rare) a rocket used to place a satellite in orbit (US and UK usually: launch vehicle
Launch vehicle
In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad and other infrastructure....
).
cash machine, cashpoint : automated teller machine
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
. ("Cashpoint", strictly speaking, refers only to the ATMs of Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in Birmingham, England in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810...
, although the term has become generic.)
cats eye
Cat's eye (road)
The cat's eye is a retroreflective safety device used in road marking and was the first of a range of raised pavement markers. It originated in the UK in 1933 and is today used all over the world....
: reflector used to mark lane divisions and edges of roads, also written cat's-eye, genericised from the trademark Catseye (US: raised pavement marker
Raised pavement marker
A raised pavement marker is a safety device used on roads. These devices are usually made with plastic, ceramic, or occasionally metal, and come in a variety of shapes and colors. Many varieties include a lens or sheeting that enhance their visibility by reflecting automotive headlights...
; Botts' dots
Botts' dots
Botts' dots are round nonreflective raised pavement markers. In many U.S. states and in several other countries, Botts' dots are used to mark lanes on highways and arterial roads. They provide tactile feedback to drivers when they move across designated travel lanes, and are analogous to rumble...
are similar)
central heating boiler : (US: furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
)
central reservation : physical barrier (usually made from armco) dividing oncoming carriageways (only on dual-carriageways or motorways) (US: median strip)
chancer : (slang) an opportunist
char, cha: (informal) tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
. From the Chinese.
char : (informal) see charwoman
charlady : see charwoman
Chartered Accountant : one authorised to certify financial statements; the equivalent of an American CPA (Certified Public Accountant)
char-wallah: a usually South Asian servant whose role is to provide freshly brewed tea on demand. From Hindi chai, tea, and -wallah, -man.
charwoman : (dated) a woman employed as a cleaner, especially as an office cleaner Tea lady
Tea lady
A tea lady is a woman in an office or working environment, whose sole job is to provide beverages and light snacks during the allocated tea break. Tea ladies are a mainly British custom. They entered the mainstream in the UK during the second world war, when tea ladies were used in an experiment...
or canteen staff.
chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
: (slang, often derogatory) typically a nouveau riche or working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
person of most of the time lowish intelligence who wears designer label (e.g. Burberry) copies, fake gold bling
Bling-bling
Bling is a slang term popularized in hip hop culture, referring to flashy, ostentatious or elaborate jewelry and ornamented accessories that are carried, worn or installed, such as cell phones or tooth caps....
, and is a trouble-maker. "Chav" is used nationally, though "charv" or "charva" was originally used in the northeast of England, deriving from the Roma (people) word charva, meaning disreputable youth. The closest US equivalents to the chav stereotype are arguably wigger
Wigger
Wigger is a pejorative slang term for a white person who emulates mannerisms, language, and fashions associated with African-American culture, particularly hip hop in the United States or the Grime/Garage scene in Britain. The term is a portmanteau of either wannabe or white and nigger...
s, although the cultural differences are existent. To a lesser extent "Chotch" (reference sitcom character Charles "Chachi" Arcola), "chinstrap", or simply "douchebag".
cheeky * : impertinent; noun form, cheek, impertinence; a child answering back to an adult might be told "don't give me any of your cheek" (also there is the expression "cheeky monkey!" in reaction to a cheeky remark).
cheerio! : (informal, friendly) exclamation of farewell (similar to 'seeya!' and 'ta-ra!'). No connection to the breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal
A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
Cheerios
Cheerios
Cheerios is a brand of breakfast cereal by General Mills introduced on May 1, 1941 as the first oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal. Originally named CheeriOats, the name was changed to Cheerios in 1945 because of a trade name dispute with Quaker Oats. The name fit the "O" shape of the cereal pieces...
.
chimney pot : smoke-stack atop a house. But refers to the cylindrical topmost part. The part below is the chimney or chimney stack.
chinagraph pencil : pencil designed to write on china, glass etc. (US: grease pencil, china marker)
chinky : a Chinese takeaway (commonly used in the north of England). "Im going to the chinky, do you want owt?" Considered offensive by some.
chip shop : (informal) fish-and-chip
Fish and chips
Fish and chips is a popular take-away food in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada...
shop (Scot, Ire: chipper), also chippy (see also List of words having different meanings in British and American English)
chinwag : (slang) chat
choong : (slang) attractive person - usually referring to a female. Used mostly in a urban youth/chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
setting.
chucked (out): thrown out; expelled (US: kicked out)
chuffed : (informal, becoming somewhat archaic, originally Liverpudlian
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
) proud, satisfied, pleased. Sometimes intensified as well chuffed; cf. made up
chunter : (sometimes chunner) to mutter, to grumble, to talk continuously; "What's he chuntering on about?"
chutney or chutney ferret : (slang) homosexual person; "Our new P.E. Teacher is a right chutney ferret". Referencing the urban legend about ferrets trained by homosexuals to lick chutney off their anuses.
clanger : (informal) a big mistake, blunder, bad joke or faux pas ('to drop a clanger') (US: lay an egg)
clapped out : (informal) worn out (said of an object)
cleg : horse fly
clingfilm : thin plastic film for wrapping food (US: plastic wrap
Plastic wrap
Plastic wrap, cling film , cling wrap or food wrap, is a thin plastic film typically used for sealing food items in containers to keep them fresh over a longer period of time...
, Saran wrap)
clock-watching * (plural clock-watchings) : continually looking at the time to see how much longer one has to work or study.
cob : a bread roll of any kind, especially in the West Midlands and East Midlands
cobblers : shoemakers * ; (slang) a weaker version of bollocks, meaning 'nonsense' (often "a load of old cobblers"), from rhyming slang 'cobbler's awls' = balls
cock-up, cockup * : (mildly vulgar) error, mistake
codswallop *, codd's wallop : (becoming old-fashioned) similar to bollocks but less rude, "You're talking codswallop". After Hiram Codd, the inventor of the Codd bottle, which was commonly used in the late 19th Century for fizzy drinks (Codd's wallop). (US: You're talking trash)
compère : (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) master of ceremonies, MC
compulsory purchase : the power of the governmental authority to take private property for public use (similar to US: eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
)
conservatoire : music school
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
(US usually conservatory)
cool box : box for keeping food and liquids cool (US and UK also: cooler)
coolybox : air conditioning unit
cop off with : (slang) to successfully engage the company of a potential sexual partner, to "pull"; to copulate (have sexual intercourse) with.
coriander * : when referring to the leaves, often called "cilantro" in the US
Cor Blimey : see Gor Blimey
coster, costermonger : a seller of fruit and veg
cotton bud : wad of cotton wool fixed to a small stick, used for cleaning (US: cotton swab, Q-Tip)
cotton wool : Spun cotton, used for cleaning wounds or make-up (US: Absorbent cotton, cotton ball)
council house/flat , also council housing or estate : public housing. (US: projects)
counterfoil *: stub of a cheque, ticket etc. (US: stub)
courgette : (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) the plant Cucurbita pepo (US: zucchini
Zucchini
The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
, from the Italian).
cowl * : a wind deflector
Cowl (chimney)
A cowl is a usually hood-shaped covering used to increase the draft of a chimney and prevent backflow. The cowl, usually made of galvanized iron, is fitted to the chimney pot to prevent wind blowing the smoke back down into the room beneath...
fitted to a chimney top.
crikey : exclamation of surprise (once a euphemism for Christ's keys or perhaps Christ Kill Me. Popularized in the US by late Australian herpetologist Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin
Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin , nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted...
)
crisps : very thinly sliced fried potatoes, often flavoured, eaten cold as a snack (US: potato chips)
crotchet : a musical note with a duration of one count in a time signature of 4/4 (common time) (US: quarter note; see Note value
Note value
In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....
)
cuddly toy : soft toy (sometimes used in the US; also stuffed animal, plush toy)
cuppa : [cup of] tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
(never coffee or other beverage)
current account : personal bank account used for everyday transactions (US: checking account)
D
daft * : odd, mad, eccentric, daffy, crazy – often with the implication of it being amusingly so. "Don't be daft" and "don't be silly" are approximately synonymous.dekko : (informal) a look, reconnoître "I'll take a dekko at it later." – British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
slang derived from the Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
dhek/dekho meaning "to see". Also less commonly decco, deccie,deek, deeks.
dene : wooded valley or seaside dune (mainly S W England)
dibs : Cash.
dibble (or The Dibble): Police. From 'Officer Dibble' in the early-1960s Hanna-Barbera animated television programme Top Cat
Top Cat
Top Cat is a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series which ran from September 27, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.-History:...
. Most commonly used in Manchester.
div, divvy : (slang) a fool or idiot; adjective form, divvy, foolish or idiotic. Also abbreviation of diviner, a person with the ability to sniff out antiques at a distance (made popular by Jonathan Gash
John Grant (Lovejoy)
John Grant is an English crime writer, who writes under the pen name Jonathan Gash. He is the author of the Lovejoy series of novels. He wrote the novel The Incomer under the pen name Graham Gaunt....
's character Lovejoy)
doddle : something accomplished easily - "It's a doddle", meaning "it's easy".
dodgems * : fun-fair or fairground bumper cars
dodgy * : unsound, unstable, and unreliable (US: sketchy). 'That bloke over there looks a bit dodgy'
dogsbody : someone who carries out menial tasks on another's behalf; a drudge (US: grunt)
the dog's bollocks : (vulgar) something excellent or top quality, the "bee's knees" (the business), the "cat's whiskers". Nowadays is becoming "mutt's nuts" or just "that's the dogs that is" or sometimes even just "the bollocks." (US: the shit). In polite company this phrase may be toned down to "The mutt's nuts", or the phrase "The bee's knees" (the business) may be used as a polite substitute. The etymology of this expression is said by some to derive from printer
Printer (publisher)
In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. With the invention of the moveable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, printing—and printers—proliferated throughout Europe.Today, printers are found...
s' slang for the punctuation
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
symbol ':-' when printing involved the use of carved metal blocks to form typesetting
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
.
dole * : (informal) welfare, specifically unemployment benefit
Unemployment benefit
Unemployment benefits are payments made by the state or other authorized bodies to unemployed people. Benefits may be based on a compulsory para-governmental insurance system...
. Sometimes used in the US, esp. older generation
dosh : (slang) money (US: dough) "how much dosh you got on ya?"
doss : (from docile) to be lazy, "I've been dossing all day", also can mean to truant, "dossing off" (similar to bunking off). Additionally it can informally take the form of a noun (i.e. "that lesson was a doss", meaning that lesson was easy, or good (primarily central Scotland). Also "dosser", a lazy person, or a tramp (US bum); "to doss down", to find a place to sleep, to sleep on some substitute for a bed such as a sofa, the floor, or a park bench; "doss-house", temporary accommodation for tramps or homeless people, cheap dilapidated rented accommodation with low standards of cleanliness (US: flophouse)
double first : an undergraduate degree
Undergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a university...
where the candidate has gained First-Class Honours in two separate subjects, or alternatively in the same subject in subsequent examinations (see British undergraduate degree classification
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
)
double parked * : (slang) having two drinks in your hand (or on the table) at once (US: double fisting). Could also mean, or even originate, from the term 'double park'; which involves parking a vehicle to the side of another parked vehicle, or being parked on double yellow lines/being parked illegally.
draper : a dealer in drapery (i.e. clothing, textiles, etc.) (US: dry goods [DM])
draughts
Draughts
Draughts is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque...
: the board game (US: checkers)
drawing pin * : pin with a large, flat head, used for fixing notices to noticeboards etc. (US: thumbtack)
dress circle : the seats in the first balcony of a theatre (US: balcony or loge although dress circle is used in a few very large opera houses that have many levels of balconies)
drink-driving
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
: operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol (US: drunk driving; DUI [Driving Under the Influence]; DWI [Driving While Intoxicated]; OWI [Operating While Intoxicated])
driving licence : document authorising the holder to drive a vehicle (US: driver's license, driver license)
dual carriageway
Dual carriageway
A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...
: road, usually a major one, with each direction of travel separated from the opposing one by a traffic-free, and usually slightly raised, central reservation. Each direction of travel (carriageway) can comprise one or more 'lane'. (US: divided highway)
dustbin : (sometimes used in the US) receptacle for rubbish, very often shortened to simply 'bin'. (US: trash can; wastebasket)
dustbin man or dustman: rubbish collector (US: garbage man; trash man; sanitation engineer)
E
ElastoplastElastoplast
Elastoplast is a trademark name of a brand of adhesive bandages and medical dressings made by Beiersdorf. Beiersdorf bought UK and Commonwealth rights from the parent company, Smith & Nephew in 1992 for £46.5 million. It has become a genericized trademark for "sticking plaster" in some...
: an adhesive bandage placed on a minor cut or scrape (UK also: sticking/sticky plaster [DM]; US: Band-Aid
Band-Aid
Band-Aid is a brand name for Johnson & Johnson's line of adhesive bandages and related products. It has also become a genericized trademark for any adhesive bandage in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India and the United States....
)
electric fire : domestic electric heater (US: space heater)
engaged tone: tone indicating a telephone line in use, (US: busy signal)
estate agent * : a person who sells property for others (US: realtor, real estate agent)
estate car : a station wagon
Station wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...
ex-directory : (of a telephone number) unlisted; also informally of a person "he's ex-directory", meaning his telephone number is unlisted
extension lead : Extension cable typically refers to mains power but may refer to other cables like telephones, (US and UK also: extension cord)
F
faff : to dither, futz, diddle, “I spent the day faffing about in my room”. Also related noun ("That's too much faff"). Mainly found in the North of England, but also popular in South Wales.fag end : cigarette butt
fairing : a gift, particularly one given or bought at a fair (obsolete); type of cookie (biscuit) made in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
fairy cake : a small sponge cake (US and UK also: cupcake
Cupcake
A cupcake is a small cake designed to serve one person, frequently baked in a small, thin paper or aluminum cup...
)
fairy lights : Christmas lights
feck
Feck
Feck has several vernacular meanings and variations in Hiberno-English, Scots and Middle English.-Modern Irish English:*Verb meaning 'to steal'...
: (vulgar) mild expletive employed as an attenuated alternative to fuck
Fuck
"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
(including fecker, fecking, etc.) (originally Hiberno English and popularized by the television series Father Ted
Father Ted
Father Ted is a comedy series set in Ireland that was produced by Hat Trick Productions for British broadcaster Channel 4. Written jointly by Irish writers Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan and starring a predominantly Irish cast, it originally aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May...
).
fiddly : requiring dexterity to operate ("the buttons on the tiny mobile phone were too fiddly")
fish fingers : (US: fish sticks)
fiver : five pound note (bill)
fizzy drink * : carbonated soft drink
Soft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
(US: soda, pop, coke depending on the region)
flyover
Flyover
Flyover may refer to:*Overpass, a high-level overpass that crosses over a highway interchange or intersection*Flypast or flyby, a celebratory display or ceremonial flight, a ceremonial or honorific flight of one or more aircraft...
: a road crossing over another road (US: an overpass)
footie : (slang) football (US: soccer)
foot path : pavement on the side of a road, most commonly shortened to just the word 'path'. (US: side walk)
fortnight
Fortnight
The fortnight is a unit of time equal to fourteen days, or two weeks. The word derives from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....
*: a period of 14 days (and nights) or two weeks
fourpenn'orth : (old-fashioned) four pence worth (fourpenn'orth is literally "four pennies' worth") (and similarly for other numbers)
freephone : a telephone number where the caller is not charged for the call (US: toll-free number)
French letter : (slang) condom
fringe : bangs, as in describing collective strands of hair covering part or all of the forehead
funfair
Funfair
A funfair or simply "fair" is a small to medium sized travelling show primarily composed of stalls and other amusements. Larger fairs such as the permanent fairs of cities and seaside resorts might be called a fairground, although technically this should refer to the land where a fair is...
: a travelling fair with amusements, stalls, rides etc. (US: carnival or traveling carnival)
full stop : (US: period)
G
gaffPenny gaff
A penny gaff was a popular entertainment for the lower classes in 19th century England. It consisted of short, theatrical entertainments which could be staged wherever space permitted, such as the back room of a public house or small hall. Unsophisticated, the props and scenery rarely consisted of...
: (slang) house, home. Also any other place: cheap music hall, theatre, pub, club, shop, hangout
gaffer
Gaffer
- People :* Gaffer , a British colloquial term for "boss" or "old man" a man who has gone beyond the age of adolescent.* Gaffer , the head of the electrical department* Gaffer , a person who blows glass...
* : (informal) old man; (informal) boss; football manager (US: soccer coach); Also in US: (professional) chief electrician on a theatrical or film set.
gaffer tape
Gaffer tape
Gaffer tape, gaffer's tape, gaff tape or gaffa tape is a strong, tough, cotton cloth pressure sensitive tape with strong adhesive properties. It is used in theater, film and television productions as well as during live performances and any other kind of stage work...
* : strong, woven, cloth adhesive tape, originally sourced from the gaffer
Gaffer (filmmaking)
A gaffer in the motion picture industry and on a television crew is an electrician that can be head of the electrical department, responsible for the execution of the lighting plan for a production. Gaffer, outside of the motion picture industry, is a traditional British English word for an older...
on a film set. (US: gaffers tape, gaff tape)
gangway * : a path between the rows of seats in a theatre or elsewhere (US aisle; gangway is a naval command to make a path for an officer)
gaol : A prison, mostly historical (US: jail)
gearbox : system of gear
Gear
A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....
s in a vehicle or other machinery (US transmission)
- In UK transmission typically refers to drive shafts.
gear-lever / gearstick : handle for changing gear
Gear
A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....
s in a vehicle or other machinery (US gearshift)
gen : (informal) information, info (short for "intelligence") (US: intel)
get off with * : to engage in passionate kissing and fondling - does not usually imply sexual intercourse. (US: make out with, technically, engage in heavy petting)
git * : (mildly derogatory) scumbag, idiot, annoying person (originally meaning illegitimate; from archaic form "get", bastard, which is still used to mean "git" in Northern dialects)
gob : 1. (n.) mouth, e.g. "Shut yer gob"
- 2. (v.) spit phlegmPhlegmPhlegm is a liquid secreted by the mucous membranes of mammalians. Its definition is limited to the mucus produced by the respiratory system, excluding that from the nasal passages, and particularly that which is expelled by coughing . Phlegm is in essence a water-based gel consisting of...
(US: hock a loogie)
gob-shite : (vulgar)(insult) slang term for a person who is being mouthy about something or someone
gobsmacked : (slang) utterly astonished, open-mouthed
go pear-shaped : see pear-shaped
googled : confused (from a cricketing term for a type of delivery bowled, the googly; predates Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
)
goolies : (slang), (British) The testicles or Bollocks, from Robert Baden-Powell
Ging Gang Goolie
Ging Gang Goolie or Ging Gang Gooli is a gibberish scouting song, written by Robert Baden-Powell during the 1st World Scout Jamboree. It is popular among the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.-Origin:...
's Scout song and from goli Hindi for ball. (US: genitalia)
"He was getting on my nerves so I decided to kick him in the goolies. That shut him up."
gor blimey : exclamation of surprise, also cor blimey (originally from "God blind me")
gormless * (mainly N England): lacking in intelligence; with a vacant expression
go-slow : a protest in which workers deliberately work slowly (US: slowdown or work to rule)
grated cheese * : cheese that has been shredded with a 'cheese grater' hand-held kitchen appliance which often has three or four different blade types/widths. (In the US, "grated" cheese tends to be finer than shredded cheese. One would grate a hard cheese such as Parmesan more than a soft cheese such as cheddar or mozzarella.)
grotty : disgusting, dirty, poor quality (originally from grotesque, though now rarely used with quite that meaning). In a scene from the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
, George Harrison has to explain the meaning and origin of the word; the impression is given that it was then considered modern slang, known only to trendy youngsters (this is no longer the case).
green fingers : talent for growing plants (US: green thumb)
greengrocer
Greengrocer
A greengrocer or fruiterer is a retail trader in fruit and vegetables; that is, in green groceries. Greengrocer is primarily a British and Australian term, and greengrocers' shops were once common in suburbs, towns and villages...
* : a retail trader in fruit and vegetables
greengrocery : a greengrocer's profession, premises or produce (US: Produce or Farmer's Market)
gump : an idiot
gumption * : will or intent. "You don't have the gumption to jump off the cliff." (US: guts, balls
Courage
Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation...
[vulgar slang])
gutties : running shoes, tennis shoes, maybe from "gutta percha" old source of natural rubber
guv'nor/guv: (slang) From governor, used to describe a person in a managerial position i.e. " sorry mate, can't come to the pub, my guv'nors got me working late tonight"
H
half- : [as in 'half-eight'] meaning thirty minutes past the hour (Standard EnglishStandard English
Standard English refers to whatever form of the English language is accepted as a national norm in an Anglophone country...
and US: "Half past").
hand brake
Hand brake
In cars, the hand brake is a latching brake usually used to keep the car stationary, and in manual transmission vehicles, as an aid to starting the vehicle from stopped when going up an incline - with one foot on the clutch , the other on the accelerator In cars, the hand brake (emergency brake,...
* : Parking brake operated by a hand control, usually a lever (US: Emergency brake. In the US, the traditional "hand brake" is more often to be found on a bicycle or motorcycle as opposed to a car as in the UK.); handbrake turn, a stunt where the handbrake is used to lock the rear wheels and the resulting oversteer enables the car to be turned rapidly in a small space (US related: J-turn
J-turn
A J-turn is a driving maneuver used to reverse a backwards-traveling vehicle so as to continue driving in the same direction, but with the vehicle pointed forward. The J-turn is also called "moonshiner's turn", based on the evasive driving tactics used by bootleggers. A J-turn differs from a...
, bootleg turn
Bootleg turn
A bootleg turn is a radical driving maneuver intended to reverse the direction of travel of a forward-moving automobile by 180 degrees in a minimum amount of time while staying within the width of a two-lane road...
, U-turn.)
ha'penny : half a penny; a coin of this denomination belonging to the predecimal coinage which is no longer in circulation. There was also a half penny in the decimal coinage introduced in 1971 which was 1/200 of a pound. Ha'pennies stopped being legal tender in 1985 and were removed from circulation.
ha'porth : halfpennyworth.
hash sign : the symbol "#" (US: number sign
Number sign
Number sign is a name for the symbol #, which is used for a variety of purposes including, in some countries, the designation of a number...
, pound sign [DM])
headmaster, headmistress, headteacher *: the person in charge of an educational institution (US: principal [DM]; headmaster and the like are usually used for private schools)
Heath Robinson : (of a machine or contraption) absurdly complex (see Rube Goldberg machine
Rube Goldberg machine
A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction...
).
high street : primary business and shopping street (US: main street
Main Street
Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world...
)
higgledy-piggledy * : in disarray
hire purchase: a credit system by which debts for purchased articles are paid in installments (US: installment plan or layaway if the item is kept at the store until the final payment is made)
hoarding : a panel used to display outdoor advertisements, such as on the sides of buildings, or alongside highways (US billboard)
hob : the hot surface on a stove (US: burner)
hold-all : a bag (US: duffel bag)
holidaymaker : person on holiday [DM] (US: vacationer)
hols : (informal) short for holidays [DM]
home and away : fixtures played at alternating venues (US: home and home). Also 'first and second leg' (US series).
hoover : vacuum [cleaner], to vacuum (archaic in the US) (genericised trademark, from The Hoover Company
The Hoover Company
The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name...
, the first main manufacturer of vacuum cleaners)
hot up : to become more exciting or intimate (US: heating up). Also a word in Rhyming slang which refers to theft, usually of the opportunist type (i.e. shoplifting
Shoplifting
Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....
)
hundreds-and-thousands: coloured sugar sprinkles used for dessert decoration (US: sprinkles,non-pareils, jimmies)
I
ice lolly : frozen fruit juice on a stick; ice pop (US: PopsiclePopsicle
Popsicle is the most popular brand of ice pop in the United States and Canada. The first ice pop was created by accident in 1905 when 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a cup of soda on his porch in cold weather overnight. The next morning he went to go get the soda and it was frozen, so he put two...
),
icing sugar : (US: powdered sugar)
industrial action
Industrial action
Industrial action or job action refers collectively to any measure taken by trade unions or other organised labour meant to reduce productivity in a workplace. Quite often it is used and interpreted as a euphemism for strike, but the scope is much wider...
: (see article; US: job action)
inverted commas : quotation mark
Quotation mark
Quotation marks or inverted commas are punctuation marks at the beginning and end of a quotation, direct speech, literal title or name. Quotation marks can also be used to indicate a different meaning of a word or phrase than the one typically associated with it and are often used to express irony...
s (see also American and British English differences – Punctuation)
invigilator : person who monitors an examination (US: proctor [DM])
ironmongery : ironware, hardware; hardware store
J
jacket potato : baked potatojam sandwich : (slang) police car. So called as, in the past, most UK police vehicles were white with a horizontal yellow-edged red fluorescent stripe along the entire length of their sides, giving a certain resemblance to a white bread sandwich with a coloured jam (jelly) filling. The majority of marked vehicle operated by the Metropolitan Police Service
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
retain this livery, albeit the cars are now (mostly) sliver. Some older vehicles are still in white, while the Diplomatic Protection Group
Diplomatic Protection Group
The Diplomatic Protection Group is a Specialist Operations branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The unit's main purpose is to provide specialist protection for diplomatic residencies in London, such as embassies, high commissions and consular sections...
(DPG) use red vehicles. (US: black-and-white. In many cities of the US, police cars are painted black at the hood and trunk and white on the doors and roof.)
jammy (git) : (slang) lucky (person)
jemmy : To break into a lock, from the tool
Crowbar (tool)
A crowbar, a wrecking bar, pry bar, or prybar, or sometimes a prise bar or prisebar, and more informally a jimmy, jimmy bar, jemmy or gooseneck is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on one or both ends for removing nails...
that is used in such an occasion as burglary (US: jimmy)
jerry : (slang) pejorative term for a German or Germans, (US: Kraut
Kraut
Kraut is a German word recorded in English from 1918 onwards as a derogatory term for a German, particularly a German soldier during World War I and World War II. Its earlier meaning in English was as a synonym for sauerkraut, a traditional German and central European food.- Etymological...
)
Jiggery-Pokery : Expertly tinker with something in a way that a non-expert or casual observer is unlikely to comprehend.
jimmy : (Rhyming slang) urinate, as in jimmy riddle - piddle
jitty : An alley way connecting two streets.
jobsworth
Jobsworth
A jobsworth is a person who uses their job description in a deliberately uncooperative way, or who seemingly delights in acting in an obstructive or unhelpful manner....
: (slang) Originally a minor clerical/government worker who refuses to be flexible in the application of rules to help clients or customers (as in "it will cost me more than my job's worth to bend the rules"). Also used more broadly to apply to anyone who uses their job description in a deliberately obstructive way.
johnny : (slang) a condom (US: rubber, Jimmy-hat)
John Thomas : (slang) To engage in sexual intercourse. Better known as slang for penis or "dick" (US: cock, dick, or johnson) From the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Lady Chatterley's Lover is a novel by D. H. Lawrence, first published in 1928. The first edition was printed privately in Florence, Italy with assistance from Pino Orioli; it could not be published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960...
Joey : Term of abuse used of someone perceived to be foolish, stupid, incompetent, clumsy, uncoordinated, ridiculous, idiotic. Originated with the appearances of cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
sufferer Joey Deacon
Joey Deacon
Joseph John "Joey" Deacon was a British author and television personality.-Biography:Joseph "Joey" Deacon was born with severe cerebral palsy, a neurological condition which left him with a muscular "spastic pattern", particularly arms and legs, resulting in a tendency of muscular tonus in the...
on children's TV programme Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
; still a popular insult among adults who saw the programmes as children.
jumble sale
Jumble sale
A jumble sale or rummage sale is an event at which second hand goods are sold, usually by an institution such as a local Scout group or church, as a fundraising or charitable effort...
: (see article; US: rummage sale)
jumper : a pullover * , sweater
jump leads : booster cables used to jump-start a car (US: jumper cables)
K
Karno's Army: a chaotic, ineffective team (usually: Fred KarnoFred Karno
Frederick John Westcott , best known by his stage name Fred Karno, was a theatre impresario of the British music hall. Karno is credited with inventing the custard-pie-in-the-face gag. Among the young comedians who worked for him were Charlie Chaplin and Arthur Jefferson, who later adopted the...
's Army) (related US: Keystone Kops
Keystone Kops
The Keystone Kops were incompetent fictional policemen, featured in silent film comedies in the early 20th century. The movies were produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. The idea came from Hank Mann who also played police chief Tehiezel in the first film...
, Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight is a 1969 novel written by Jimmy Breslin and a film of the same name based on the book and released in 1971 starring Robert De Niro. The novel is a roman à clef of the life of Joey Gallo whose fictional counterpart, Kid Sally Palumbo, is played by Jerry Orbach...
)
kappa-slappa : (derogatory slang) promiscuous lower-class female, similar to "kev" or "chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
" (from Kappa
Kappa (company)
Kappa is an Italian company specialized at the manufacture of sporting clothes and accessories, that started as a sock and underwear manufacturer in 1916 in Turin.-Logo:...
, a clothing brand supposedly worn by such women, and slapper, a slovenly, sluttish woman)
kecks : (informal, also spelt keks) trousers or underpants
keep fit costume : exercise, dance or training suit
kerfuffle * : a disorderly outburst, disturbance or tumult, from Scottish origin
kev : (slang) Derivative of "Kevin", has become equivalent to "chav" - typically a working class person that wears designer labels, fake gold, has to always be "in", is most likely a troublemaker and most likely smokes. Its use to describe the majority troublesome teenage subculture predates the use of "chav"; the British comedian Harry Enfield
Harry Enfield
Henry Richard "Harry" Enfield is a BAFTA-winning English comedian, actor, writer and director.-Early life:...
based one of his characters on this use.
khazi : (slang) lavatory (numerous alternative spellings are seen, such as karzy, karsey, carzey etc.)
kip : (slang) sleep. (US and UK: nap)
kitchen roll : paper towels
knackered : (slang) exhausted, originally 'sexually exhausted', perhaps derived from knacker's yard
knacker's yard : premises where superannuated livestock are sent for rendering, etc. (glue factory). Sometimes refers to the same for vehicles, a scrapyard (US: junkyard)
knickers : girls' and women's underpants (US: panties)
- hence, "Don't get your knickers in a twist" (US: don't get your panties in a wad ,keep calm, hold your horses, chill out)
L
ladybird : red and black flying insect (US: ladybug)launderette : self-service laundry (US: laundromat )
lav : also, lavy (informal, increasingly uncommon) lavatory, toilet (in the US, airplane restrooms are typically called lavatories)
learnt : past tense of "learn" (US: learned)
legacy accounts : funds left in a budget (US: funds remaining)
lessons : classes (class used more common in US English)
let-out : (n.) a means of evading or avoiding something
letter box
Letter box
A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot, or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business...
: 1. a slot in a wall or door through which incoming post
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
[DM] is delivered (US: mail slot, mailbox)
- 2. (less common) a box in the street for receiving outgoing letters and other mail (more usually called a postbox or pillar boxPillar boxA pillar box is a free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and in most former nations of the British Empire, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories, such as the Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Gibraltar...
) (US: mailbox) - See also LetterboxLetterboxLetterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
(US & UK): a film display format taking its name from the shape of a letter-box slot
lift : elevator
lock-in * : illegal gathering in a pub at night to drink after the pub is supposed to have stopped serving alcohol, where the landlord "locks in" his guests to avoid being caught by police. Unless the landlord charges for the drinks at the time, the people in the pub are considered his personal guests; if money is exchanged beforehand or afterwards then it is considered a gift from the guest to the landlord for the hospitality. Since the introduction of the smoking ban in England and Wales in 2006, a "lock in" can now mean a landlord locking the pub doors and allowing smoking inside the premises. (US: may refer to a large and highly chaperoned "sleep over" at a church, school, etc.)
lodger * : tenant renting a room rather than an entire property; typically lives with the renter and his/her family
lollipop man / woman / lady : a school crossing guard who uses a circular stop sign
Stop sign
A Stop sign is a traffic sign to notify drivers that they must stop before proceeding.-Specifications:The Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals proposed standard stop sign diameters of 0.6, 0.9 or 1.2 metres. UK and New Zealand stop signs are 750, 900 or 1200 mm, according to sign...
lolly * : 1. lollipop /ice lolly (US: popsicle); (q.v.)
- 2. (slang) money
loo : toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
(usually the room, not just the plumbing device) (US: bathroom, restroom)
loopty-swoops : basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
lorry : a large goods-carrying motor vehicle (US and UK also: truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
)
loudhailer : megaphone
Megaphone
A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...
(US: bullhorn)
lower ground : the lower of two floors at ground level (for example, if a building is built on a slope). See "ground floor". Also used as a euphemism for "basement" when trying to sell a flat [DM].
lurgi : (hard 'G') 1. An imaginary illness allegedly passed on by touch—used as an excuse to avoid someone. (c.f. US: cooties
Cooties
Cooties is in American childlore, a kind of STD usually found on the male penis infectious disease found only in boys. The term may have originated with references to lice, fleas, and other parasites. A child is said to "catch" cooties through any form of bodily contact, proximity, or touching of...
) From a legendary sketch on the Goon Show. 2. (slang) A fictitious, yet highly infectious disease; often used in the phrase "the dreaded lurgy", sometimes as a reference to flu-like symptoms
M
main * : pipe that carries gas or water. "The water main has burst!"mains power, the mains : 230-250V (Typically denoted on domestic electricals as the rounded 240V standard) AC electrical current, provided by the electricity grid to homes and businesses; also attrib. ("mains cable") (US: 120 volts AC, variously called: line power, grid power, AC power, household electricity, etc.)
manky : (slang) feeling ill, rough, out of sorts; filthy, dirty, rotten. (poss. from French "manqué" - missed, wasted or faulty)
mardy : (derogatory, mainly Northern and Central England) describes someone who is in a bad mood, or more generally a crybaby or whiner or "grumpy, difficult, unpredictable". Used, for example, by children in the rhyme "Mardy, mardy mustard...", and in the title of the Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner , Jamie Cook , Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders...
song "Mardy Bum". The verb to throw a mardy means to display an outburst of anger.
maths : mathematics (US: math)
MD (managing director) : equivalent of US CEO (Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
), also used in the UK
Mexican wave : simply called The Wave in the US
mentioned in despatches : identified for valour or gallantry in action (US: decorated)
milliard : one thousand million, or 1,000,000,000 (US: billion or 1,000,000,000) Often 'billion' is used instead, similar to the US. However a British (or 'true') billion is a million million (i.e. the next order of magnitude)
mince * : 1. ground meat, especially beef (US: ground beef
Ground beef
Beef mince, ground beef, hamburger meat , hamburg or minced meat is a minced meat food, made of beef finely chopped by a mincer. It is used in many recipes including hamburgers and cottage pie...
, hamburger meat, mince typically describes a chopping style)
- 2. Walk daintily or effeminately.
- 3. Mince your words -- to obfuscate or conceal when talking or writing * (US: "He/She doesn't mince words.")
mincer : (slang) homosexual. "you just have to look at him to know he's a right mincer".
minge : (vulgar) (rhymes with singe) female genitals or pubic hair
minger : (originally Scottish slang, rhymes with singer) someone who is unattractive
minging : (originally Scottish slang, rhymes with singing) dirty, rotting, smelly, unattractive etc. "The girl I pulled last night was minging". His friend replies, "yeah I know mate, I saw you leave with her, she was a right minger".
minim : a musical note with the duration of two counts in a time signature of 4/4 (US: half note; see Note value
Note value
In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....
)
mither, also moider, moither : trans. To bother, pester, worry, irritate; intr. To ramble, be delirious; to ‘go on’; to complain, make a fuss, whine. Alternative version in Chambers: to confuse; to work hard; to wander in thought; See also mither, moider and moither at Wiktionary
Wiktionary
Wiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in 158 languages...
moggie, moggy : (informal) non-pedigree cat; alley cat; any cat regardless of pedigree; Morris Minor
Morris Minor
The Morris Minor was a British economy car that debuted at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.3 million were manufactured between 1948 and 1971...
car; Morgan
Morgan Motor Company
The Morgan Motor Company is a British motor car manufacturer. The company was founded in 1910 by Harry Frederick Stanley Morgan, generally known as "HFS" and was run by him until he died, aged 77, in 1959. Peter Morgan, son of H.F.S., ran the company until a few years before his death in 2003...
car
mong : (slang) disgusting, dirty, foul, idiotic person, possible derivation from mongoloid, now obsolete term for someone with Down's syndrome
monged (out) : (slang) being incapable of constructive activity due to drug use, alcohol consumption or extreme tiredness
MOT, MOT test : mandatory annual safety and roadworthiness test for motor vehicles over 3 years old (from "Ministry of Transport", now renamed "Department for Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
")
motor house : A residential garage
Garage (house)
A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
in the first decades of the Twentieth Century.
motorway : A controlled-access highway
Controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a highway designed exclusively for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated...
, the largest class of road on the British road network, designed for fast, high volume traffic, usually with three or more lanes in each direction. In reference to a specific motorway may be abbreviated to M, as in M25 or M1. (US: equivalent to freeway)
mouthing off : shouting, ranting or swearing a lot about something or someone. e.g.: "that guy was just mouthing off about something" (US [DM]: backtalk; often shortened to mouth ["I don't need your mouth".])
move house, move flat, etc. : to move out of one's house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
or other residence into a new residence (US: move, move out)
munted : (slang) heavily intoxicated with drink or drugs. Generally used in a positive context. "I tell you what mate, I was proper munted last night, it was awesome."
munter : an ugly woman (rarely, man); similar to minger
mush : casual term for friend, mate, pal. As in "'Ere mush, what's going on?"
N
naff :(slang) lame, tacky, cheap, low quality (origin uncertain – numerous suggestions include backslang for fan, an old term for a vagina), also gay slang for a straight man (said to mean "Not Available For Fucking")naff off : (dated slang) shove it, get lost, go away – a much less offensive alternative to "fuck off" (originally obscure Polari
Polari
Polari is a form of cant slang used in Britain by actors, circus and fairground showmen, criminals, prostitutes, and by the gay subculture. It was popularised in the 1960s by camp characters Julian and Sandy in the popular BBC radio show Round the Horne...
slang, made popular by prison sitcom Porridge and famously used by Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
)
nark * : 1. (v.) (informal) irritate; also narked, the adjective.
- 2. (n.) (slang) police informer (US: narc, derived from narcotics agent, but often used in a general sense)
nappy : absorbent garment for babies (US: diaper
Diaper
A nappy or a diaper is a kind of pant that allows one to defecate or urinate on oneself discreetly. When diapers become soiled, they require changing; this process is often performed by a second person such as a parent or caregiver...
)
nesh
Nesh
Nesh is an English dialect adjective meaning unusually susceptible to cold weather and there is no synonym for this use. Usage has been recorded in Cheshire, Staffordshire, the East Midlands, Lancashire, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire....
: an English dialect adjective (central and north England), gently derogative of a person, sensitive to the cold, delicate (typical usage, of someone who wears a coat on a mildly cold day: "He's nesh", meaning "He's a bit soft").
newsagent : strictly a shop owner or shop that sells newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s, usu. refers to a small shop, e.g. corner shop, convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
, newsstand, or similar (US: newsdealer)
newsreader : someone who reads the news on TV or radio. See news presenter
News presenter
A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
for a description of the different roles of a newscaster, a British newsreader and an American news anchor.
nick : 1. (v.) to steal
- 2. (n.) a police station
nicked : arrested (as in "you're nicked") - related to "the nick" (a prison or police station - Australian origin "I'm taking you down the nick")
nicker : (colloquial) 1 pound, maintains singular form when used in a plural context ("it cost me 2 nicker"), rarely used in the singular
niff : an unpleasant smell
Nissen hut : hemicylindrical building of corrugated metal. Named for the designer. (US: Quonset hut, named for the place of US manufacture)
nob : see knob
nobble : (v.) to sabotage, attempt to hinder in some way. E.g. "Danny nobbled my chances at the pub quiz by getting Gary to defect to his team."
nonce
Nonce (slang)
In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term nonce is a slang word used to refer to a sex offender and/or child sexual abuser...
: 1. (slang) paedophile
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
, pimp, child molester, idiot
- 2. the present time or occasion – now usually encountered only in the compound nonce wordNonce wordA nonce word is a word used only "for the nonce"—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. Quark, for example, was formerly a nonce word in English, appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. Murray Gell-Mann then adopted it to name a new class of subatomic particle...
, only used in literary circles, meaning an ad hoc word coinage, and the somewhat old-fashioned phrase for the nonce, meaning "for now". See also the Wiktionary definition.
nosh : 1. food, meal; also "nosh up", a big satisfying meal ("I could do with a good nosh up") Cf US usage, where nosh means "snack" or "to eat" as in the original Yiddish (i.e., "He's noshing on the shrimp cocktail.")
- 2. (slang) oral sexOral sexOral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
nosy (or nosey) parker : a busybody (similar to US: butt-in, buttinski, nosy)
nous : Good sense; shrewdness: "Hillela had the nous to take up with the General when he was on the up-and-up again" (Nadine Gordimer). Rhymes with "mouse".
nowt : nothing; not anything. "I've got nowt to do later." Northern English. (see also 'owt' - anything; as in the phrase "you can't get owt for nowt" or "you can't get anything for nothing")
number plate : vehicle registration plate
Vehicle registration plate
A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
(sometimes used in the US; also license plate or license tag)
numpty : (possibly originally Scottish, now widespread) a stupid person
nutter: (informal) a crazy or insane person, often violent; also used as a more light-hearted term of reproach ("Oi nutter!") (occasionally used in the US) (US and UK also: nut, nutcase)
nutty gum : peanut butter
O
OAP : Old Age Pensioner (qv) (US: Senior Citizen)off-licence / offie: shop licensed to sell alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
s for consumption off the premises (US equivalent: liquor store). Known in some parts of N England as "selling-out shop".
off-the-peg : of clothes etc., ready-made rather than made to order (US: off-the-rack)
offal
Offal
Offal , also called, especially in the United States, variety meats or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs other than...
* : the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal.
oi : coarse exclamation to gain attention, roughly equivalent to "hey" ("Oi, you!" = "Hey you!")
the Old Bill : (slang) The police
old iron : a junky or dated vehicle (US: (old) jalopy)
one-off * : something that happens only once; limited to one occasion (as an adjective, a shared synonym is one-shot; as a noun, it has no exact US equivalent, perhaps "one shot deal")
on the piss : (vulgar) drinking heavily; going out for the purpose of drinking heavily; at a slight angle, said of an object that should be vertical
Oriental * : used to describe the origin of a person from East Asia (China, Japan etc.) (US:Asian - N.B. In BrE, Asian is generally reserved for people from around the Indian sub-continent: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc.)
orientate * : less common alternative to orient, deprecated by some as an unnecessary back-formation
Back-formation
In etymology, back-formation is the process of creating a new lexeme, usually by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation, a term coined by James Murray in 1889...
from orientation
Other Ranks : members of the military who are not commissioned officers.
overdraft : money used on a bank account making a debit balance
overleaf * : on the other side of the page
owt : anything. Northern English. "Why aren't you saying owt?" See also 'nowt' - as in the phrase "can't get owt for nowt" meaning "can't get anything for nothing."
oy: See "oi".
P
package holidayPackage holiday
A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via charter airline to a foreign country...
: a holiday whose transport, accommodation, itinerary etc. is organised by a travel company (US and UK less frequently: package tour). Cf holiday [DM]
Paki : a Pakistani person; often loosely applied to anyone from South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, or of perceived South Asian origin
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
. Now considered racist.
Paki shop : a newsagents run by a person of Pakistani or other South Asian origin. No longer considered an acceptable term.
panda car : (informal) police car. Small police car used for transport, as opposed to a patrol or area car (analogous to US: black-and-white) Derives from a period in the 1970s when UK police cars resembled those of their US counterparts, only with blue replacing black.
paper round : (the job of making) a regular series of newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
deliveries (US: paper route)
paracetamol
Paracetamol
Paracetamol INN , or acetaminophen USAN , is a widely used over-the-counter analgesic and antipyretic . It is commonly used for the relief of headaches and other minor aches and pains and is a major ingredient in numerous cold and flu remedies...
: a common and widely available drug for the treatment of headaches, fever and other minor aches and pains (US: acetaminophen, Tylenol)
parkie : (informal) park-keeper
parky : (informal) cold, usually used in reference to the weather
pasty, Cornish pasty : hard pastry case filled with meat and vegetables served as a main course, particularly in Cornwall and in the north of England
pear-shaped : usually in the phrase "to go pear-shaped", meaning to go drastically or dramatically wrong (possibly from the idea of a ball deflating). cf tits-up
pelican crossing : pedestrian crossing
Pedestrian crossing
A pedestrian crossing or crosswalk is a designated point on a road at which some means are employed to assist pedestrians wishing to cross. They are designed to keep pedestrians together where they can be seen by motorists, and where they can cross most safely across the flow of vehicular traffic...
with traffic lights operated by pedestrians (formed by analogy with "panda crossing" etc. Could also be from Pedestrian Light-Controlled;)
people mover or people carrier : a minivan
Minivan
Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....
or other passenger van
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
pernickety : fastidious, precise or over-precise (US: persnickety)
petrol : refined mixture of hydrocarbons, used esp. to fuel motor vehicles (short for petroleum spirit, or from French essence de pétrole) (US: gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
, gas). Also variously known as motor spirit (old-fashioned), motor gasoline, mogas, aviation gasoline and avgas (the last two being a slightly heavier type designed for light aircraft)
petrol-head, petrolhead : someone with a strong interest in cars (especially high performance cars) and motor racing (US: gearhead or motorhead).
phone box : payphone, public phone (US: phone booth)
pikey
Pikey
Pikey is a pejorative slang term used mainly in the United Kingdom to refer to Irish Travellers, gypsies or people of low social class. Pikey is also sometimes called a piker in the United States, but a piker in Australia and New Zealand means someone who refuses to do something within a...
: a pejorative slang term, used originally to refer to Irish Traveller
Irish Traveller
Irish Travellers are a traditionally nomadic people of ethnic Irish origin, who maintain a separate language and set of traditions. They live predominantly in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.-Etymology:...
s. Now refers to anyone whose lifestyle is characterised by itinerancy, theft, illicit land occupancy with destruction of amenities, and disregard for authority, without reference to ethnic or national origin.
pillar box
Pillar box
A pillar box is a free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and in most former nations of the British Empire, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories, such as the Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Gibraltar...
: box in the street for receiving outgoing mail
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
, in Britain traditionally in the form of a free-standing red pillar; also called postbox or, less commonly, letter box
Letter box
A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot, or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business...
(US: mailbox)
- See also Pillar box (film)Pillar box (film)The pillarbox effect occurs in widescreen video displays when black bars are placed on the sides of the image. It becomes necessary when film or video that was not originally designed for widescreen is shown on a widescreen display, or a narrower widescreen image is displayed within a wider...
: an aspect ratio named for a supposed resemblance to the dimensions of the slot found on a pillar box.
pillar-box red : the traditional bright red colour of a British pillar box
Pillar box
A pillar box is a free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and in most former nations of the British Empire, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories, such as the Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Gibraltar...
(US: fire engine red or candy apple red)
pillock : (slang, very mildly derogatory) foolish person, used esp. in northern England but also common elsewhere. Derived from the Northern English term pillicock, a dialect term for penis, although the connection is rarely made in general use.
pinch * : to steal.
pisshead : (vulgar) someone who regularly gets heavily drunk (cf. BrE meaning of pissed).
pissing it down [with rain] : (slang, mildly vulgar) raining very hard (sometimes "pissing down" is used in the US, as in "It's pissing down out there.") Also "pissing it down the drain" or "pissing it away" * meaning to waste something.
plait * : braid, as in hair
plaster : Band-Aid
Band-Aid
Band-Aid is a brand name for Johnson & Johnson's line of adhesive bandages and related products. It has also become a genericized trademark for any adhesive bandage in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India and the United States....
pleb : (derogatory) person of lower class *, from plebs; similar to townie. Also commonly used to mean idiot.
pleck : also: guitar-pleck; plectrum (US: guitar pick)
plimsoll
Plimsoll shoe
A plimsoll shoe, plimsoll, or plimsole is a British English word for a type of athletic shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole, developed as beachwear in the 1830s by the Liverpool Rubber Company. The shoe was originally, and often still is in parts of the United Kingdom, called a 'sand shoe' and...
: a type of shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole, formerly the typical gym shoe used in schools (US: sneaker or Tennis shoe)
plod : policeman - from PC Plod in Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...
's Noddy books.
plonk
Plonk (wine)
Plonk is an unspecific and derogatory term in British and Australian English for wine that is notably inexpensive or judged to be of poor quality. It is believed to come from Australian slang, in reference to blanc , before it became naturalised in Britain...
: a disparaging term for cheap wine, especially cheap red wine, is now widely known in the UK and also to a lesser extent in the USA. Derives from French vin blanc and came into English use on the western front in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
plonker : (very mildly derogatory) fool
Foolishness
Foolishness is the lack of wisdom. In this sense it differs from stupidity, which is the lack of intelligence. An act of foolishness is sometimes referred to as a folly....
*. Used esp. in the south-east of England, although not unknown elsewhere. Derived from a slang term for penis, and sometimes used in this fashion, e.g. "Are you pulling my plonker?" (to express disbelief) (US var: "Are you yanking my chain?")
ponce : (n.) (slang) someone with overly affected airs and graces; an effeminate posturing man; a pimp. Originates from Maltese slang. (related US: poncey)
- (v.) (slang) to act like a pimp; to cadge, to borrow with little or no intention of returning, often openly so ("Can I ponce a ciggie off you, mate?")
ponce about/around : (v.) (slang) to act like a fop, to wander about aimlessly without achieving anything
ponce off : (v.) (slang) to mooch, to hit up, to leave in a pompous manner
pong: (n.) (slang) a strong unpleasant smell; (v.) to give off a strong unpleasant smell; (adj.) pongy
poof, poofter : (derogatory) a male homosexual (US equivalent: fag, faggot)
pouffe, poof, poove : A small drum-shaped soft furnishing used as a foot rest (related US: hassock, Ottoman
Ottoman (furniture)
An ottoman is a piece of furniture consisting of a padded, upholstered seat or bench having neither back nor arms, often used as a stool or footstool, or in some cases as an improvised coffee table. Ottomans are often sold as coordinating furniture with armchairs or gliders.An ottoman can also be...
)
porky(ies) : slang for a lie or lying, from rhyming slang "pork pies" = "lies"
postage and packing, P&P : charge for said services (US: shipping and handling, S&H; the word postage is, however, used in both dialects)
postal order
Postal Order
In the United Kingdom , a Postal Order is used for sending money through the mail. In the United States, this is known as a Postal money order...
: a money order designed to be sent through the post, issued by the UK Post Office
Post Office Ltd.
Post Office Ltd is a retail post office company in the United Kingdom that provides a wide range of products including postage stamps and banking to the public through its nationwide network of post office branches.-Structure:Post Office Ltd...
(US: money order, or postal money order if the context is ambiguous)
postbox, post box : box in the street for receiving outgoing mail (US: mailbox; drop box); see also letter box
Letter box
A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot, or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business...
, pillar box
Pillar box
A pillar box is a free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and in most former nations of the British Empire, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories, such as the Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Gibraltar...
postcode
UK postcodes
The postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were introduced by the Royal Mail over a 15-year period from 11th October 1959 to 1974...
: alphanumeric code used to identify an address, part of a UK-wide scheme. (US equivalent: ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
)
poste restante
Poste restante
Poste restante or general delivery is a service where the post office holds mail until the recipient calls for it...
: service whereby mail is retained at a post office for collection by the recipient (from French) (US: general delivery)
postie : (informal) postman
Mail carrier
A mail carrier, mailman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman , postman/postwoman , letter carrier or postie is an employee of the post office or postal service, who delivers mail and parcel post to residences and businesses...
poxy : (slang) something that is unsatisfactory or in generally bad condition.
pram, perambulator : wheeled conveyance for babies (US: baby-carriage) Similarly, a "pram-face" sometimes refers to a very young or young-looking mum (US: "baby-face" meaning a young-looking person in general, not necessarily a mother.)
prat * : (slang) an incompetent or ineffectual person, a fool, an idiot
press-up : a conditioning exercise in which one lies prone and then pushes oneself up by the arms (outside Britain: push-up)
pritt-stick: glue stick
Glue stick
Glue sticks are solid adhesives in twist or push-up tubes. The user can apply glue by holding the open tube, thus keeping their fingers clean...
, from the trademark of a common brand.
proper * : Real or very much something. "He's a proper hero" (US: "He's a real hero")
provisional licence, provisional driving licence : a licence for a learner driver, who has not yet passed a driving test (US: learner's permit)
pub : short for public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
(US: bar
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
)
pud : (informal) short for "pudding
Pudding
Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish.In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding.In the United Kingdom and...
", which may mean dessert or occasionally a savoury item such as Yorkshire pudding
Yorkshire pudding
Yorkshire Pudding is a dish that originated in Yorkshire, England. It is made from batter and usually served with roast meat and gravy.-History:...
or black pudding
Blood sausage
Black pudding, blood pudding or blood sausage is a type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. The dish exists in various cultures from Asia to Europe...
; a fool (informal term usually used good-naturedly between family members). pulling his pud, means male masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
.
pukka : (informal) legitimate, the real thing, of good quality (usually Southeastern England term, recently more widely popularised by Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver
James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
, but dating back to the 19th century). From Hindi.
punch-up : a fistfight
punkah-wallah : a usually South Asian servant whose role is to operate a manual fan. From Urdu pankhaa, fan, and -wallah, -man
punnet : small basket for fruit, usually strawberries
pushbike : (informal) bicycle (pre-dates modern safety bicycle q.v. velocipede
Velocipede
Velocipede is an umbrella term for any human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle....
)
pushchair : forward-facing baby carriage (US: stroller)
Q
quangoQuango
Quango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...
: quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation. A semi-public (supposedly non-governmental) advisory or administrative body funded by the taxpayer, often having most of its members appointed by the government, and carrying out government policy.
quaver : a musical note with the duration of one half-count in a time signature of 4/4 (US: eighth note). Also compound nouns semiquaver (US: sixteenth note), demisemiquaver (US: thirty-second note), hemidemisemiquaver (US: sixty-fourth note); see note value
Note value
In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....
).
quid : (informal) the pound sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
monetary unit; remains quid in plural form ("Can I borrow ten quid?") (similar to US buck, meaning dollar)
quids in : (informal) a financially positive end to a transaction or venture "After all that, we'll be quids in!" (US: money ahead)
quieten : used in the phrase "quieten down" (US: quiet down)
quiff
Quiff
The quiff is a hairstyle that combines the 1950s pompadour hairstyle, the 50s flattop, and sometimes a mohawk. The etymology of the word is uncertain but may derive from the French word "coiffe" which can mean either a hairstyle or, going further back, the mail knights wore over their heads and...
: forelock
Forelock
The forelock or foretop is a part of a horse's mane, that grows from the animal's poll and falls between the ears and onto the forehead...
(initially Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English is the dialect of English written and spoken in Ireland .English was first brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion of the late 12th century. Initially it was mainly spoken in an area known as the Pale around Dublin, with Irish spoken throughout the rest of the country...
); a hairstyle (from the 1950s onward).
quim : (vulgar slang) female genitalia, the vagina
R
randy : (informal) having sexual desire, lustful, horny (now more common in the US because of the Austin PowersAustin Powers (film series)
The Austin Powers series is a series of action-comedy films written by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema...
franchise)
ranker : an enlisted soldier or airman or (more rarely) a commissioned officer who has been promoted from enlisted status ("the ranks")
rashers *: cuts of bacon
rat-arsed : (slang) extremely drunk
recce : (informal) reconnoître, reconnaissance (US: recon)
recorded delivery : certified mail
Register Office, Registry Office : official office where birth
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world...
s, marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
s and death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
s are recorded; usu. refers to local Register Office (in each town or locality). General Register Office
General Register Office (disambiguation)
General Register Office is the name often given to the government office responsible for recording births, marriages and deaths in various countries in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere...
is the relevant government department. In England and Wales until 2001, almost all civil (non-church) marriages took place in the local Register Office; different laws apply in Scotland and N. Ireland. "Register Office" is the correct legal term, but "registry office" is in common informal use.
road-works : upgrade or repairs of roads (US: construction; roadwork [singular])
rock : hard candy in cylindrical form often sold at holiday locations and made so that the location's name appears on the end even when broken. (US: no exact equivalent, but similar to a candy cane)
rodgering : (vulgar) to engage in a sexual act, or suggest it. e.g.: "I'd give her a good rodgering!"
ropey : (informal) chancy; of poor quality; uncertain (see dodgy). Can also mean unwell when used in the form to feel ropey
row * : a fight or argument (rhymes with cow)
reverse charge call : a telephone call for which the recipient pays (US and UK also: collect call); also v. to reverse [the] charge[s] *, to make such a call (dated in US, used in the 1934 American film It Happened One Night
It Happened One Night
It Happened One Night is a 1934 American romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra, in which a pampered socialite tries to get out from under her father's thumb, and falls in love with a roguish reporter . The plot was based on the story Night Bus by Samuel...
– US usually: to call collect)
rota : a roll call or roster of names, or round or rotation of duties
(the) rozzers : 1.(rare slang) Police ("Quick, the rozzers! Scarper!") – possibly from Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
, who also gave his name to two other slang terms for the police: peelers (archaic) and bobbies (becoming old-fashioned).
- 2. (slang) male genitalia. the flasher waved his rozzers at me
rubber : a pencil eraser (US: eraser. The word eraser is additionally used in the US to refer to a blackboard eraser. "Rubber" in the US is a slang term for a condom
Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
.)
rubbish : worthless, unwanted material that is rejected or thrown out; debris; litter (US: trash, garbage)
rucksack *: a backpack.
rug muncher : a lesbian. also carpet muncher.
rumpy pumpy : (informal) Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, used slightly jokingly.
S
sack: to be released from work (US: fire)Saloon: a four door car (US: sedan)
salad-dodger : (informal) an overweight person
sarky : (informal) sarcastic (abbrev.) "why are you being so sarky?" (US: snarky)
sarnie, sarny, sannie : (informal) sandwich (abbrev.)
sat nav : GPS
scouser : a person from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
scrubber : a lower class, (usually young) woman of low morals
scrumpy : cloudy cider
Cider
Cider or cyder is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from 2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and America, cider may be termed "apple wine"...
, often high in alcoholic content
scrumping : action of stealing apples from an orchard; also v. to scrump
self-raising flour : self-rising flour
secateurs : gardening tool for pruning plants (US:garden shears, pruners or clippers)
secondment : (/sɪˈkɒndmənt/) the assignment of a person from his or her regular organisation to temporary assignment elsewhere. From v. second (/sɪˈkɒnd/)
Sellotape : from Cellophane, transparent adhesive tape (genericised trademark) (US: Scotch tape)
semibreve : a musical note with the duration of four counts in a time signature of 4/4 (US: whole note; see Note value
Note value
In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....
)
send to Coventry
Send to Coventry
To send someone to Coventry is a British idiom meaning to ostracise someone, usually by not talking to them. To be sent to Coventry is to be regarded as absent. It is often used by children to bully others, and can be used to punish people who, for example, refuse to join a strike...
: ostracize, shun (US: send to Siberia, vote off the island)
serviette : (from French) table napkin [DM]. Regarded as a non-U word, but widely used by non-U people.
shafted : broken beyond repair - can also be used to describe extreme exhaustion
shandy
Shandy
Shandy, or shandygaff, is normally a beer mixed with citrus-flavored soda, carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, or cider. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste, normally half-and-half. There are also non-alcoholic shandy mixes known as “rock shandies”...
: a drink consisting of lager or beer mixed with a soft drink, originally ginger beer but now more usually lemonade, in near equal parts.
shanks's pony : on foot, walking – as in "The car's broken down, so it's shanks's pony I'm afraid". An ancient reference to the King of England Edward I, known as 'Longshanks', the idea being that riding on a pony his legs were so long he was still effectively walking.
shite : (vulgar) variant of shit, often seen as more jocular
shonky : (slang) an adjective describing low priced goods for sale that are cheap because they are low quality or roughly used.(similar to dime-store/dollar-store/thrift-shop goods in USA)
shop : in the sense of "retail outlet
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
" (US: store)
sick * : (vulgar) means great or wicked often known as a 'chavs' common word.
sixes and sevens : crazy, muddled (usually in the phrase "at sixes and sevens"). From the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Livery Company
Livery Company
The Livery Companies are 108 trade associations in the City of London, almost all of which are known as the "Worshipful Company of" the relevant trade, craft or profession. The medieval Companies originally developed as guilds and were responsible for the regulation of their trades, controlling,...
order of precedence, in which position 6 is claimed by both the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors
Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors
The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 108 Livery Companies of the City of London.The Company, originally known as the Guild and Fraternity of St...
and the Worshipful Company of Skinners
Worshipful Company of Skinners
The Worshipful Company of Skinners is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It was originally an association of those engaged in the trade of skins and furs...
.
skew-whiff / skew-whift : skewed, uneven, not straight
skint : (informal) out of money (US: broke)
skip
Skip (container)
A rubbish skip is usually called merely a skip or waste bin. A skip is a large open-topped container designed for loading onto a special type of lorry. Differing from dumpster, instead of being emptied into a waste vehicle onsite, a skip is replaced by an empty skip and then tipped at a landfill...
: industrial rubbish bin (US: dumpster)
skive [off] : (informal) to sneak off, avoid work; to play truant (US: play hookey)
slag * : similar to 'slut', a woman of loose morals and low standards; sometimes implying the woman is of an undesirable age or has become aged by her lifestyle. Occasionally used to refer to a male, though does not then have sexual connotations.
slag off * : to badmouth; speak badly of someone, usually behind their back
slaphead : (informal) bald man
slapper : (vulgar) similar to slut but milder. Implies drunken, flirtatious behaviour as opposed to frequent sexual conquests
sleeping partner : a partner in business, often an investor, who is not visibly involved in running the enterprise (US: silent partner)
sleeping policeman : mound built into a road to slow down vehicles (UK also: hump [DM]; US & UK also: speed bump)
slippy : (slang) smooth, wet, with no friction or traction to grip something (US: slippery)
slowcoach : (slang) a slow person (US: slowpoke)
slummy : (slang) loose change
smalls : underclothing, underwear, particularly underpants
smart dress: formal attire
smeghead : (slang) idiot; a general term of abuse (for discussion of origin, see smeg (vulgarism)). Popularised by its use in a 1980s BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom, Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
.
snog : (slang) a 'French kiss' or to kiss with tongues (US [DM]: deep kiss, not necessarily with tongues)
soap dodger : one who is thought to lack personal hygiene
sod off : (vulgar, moderately offensive) go away; get lost
spacker, spacky, spazmo : (vulgar, offensive to many) idiot, general term of abuse: from "Spastic", referring in England almost exclusively (when not used as an insult) to a person suffering from cerebral palsy. (variant forms spaz/spastic, are used in American English) See also Joey.
Spanish archer: The elbow ("El Bow",) almost always used in the context of "to give someone the elbow;" to fire, spurn or discard an unwanted person, often a spacker.
spanner : (US: wrench)
- (slang) an idiot, a contemptible person (US: a less pejorative synonym for tool.) An object that, while useful, is not known for its intellect. "He's as stupid as a bag of spanners." (US var.: "He's dumber than a bag of hammers".)
spannered : (slang) under the influence of illicit drugs. MDMA (ecstasy) In particular.
spawny : lucky
spiffing : (informal) very good (old-fashioned, or consciously used as old-fashioned, associated stereotypically with upper-class people) (US: spiffy)
spiv
Spiv
In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...
: an unemployed person who lives by their wits; someone who shirks work or responsibility; a slacker, a dealer in black market goods (during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
). The term wide boy is also often used in the same sense
spliff * : (slang) a hand-rolled cigarette containing a mixture of marijuana and tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
, also 'a joint.' (Also used in US, j or blunt more widely used)
spod : An early 1980s derogatory expression for someone who performed well at school, did their homework and wore the correct uniform. Somewhat equivalent to US: 'geek'. This has, since the late 1980s, changed to mean someone who spends too much time in internet chat rooms and discussion forums. Also verb: to spod.
spot on * : exactly (US: right on)
spotted dick
Spotted dick
Spotted dick is a British steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit commonly served with custard. Spotted refers to the dried fruit and dick may be a contraction or corruption of the word pudding or possibly a corruption of the word dough or dog, as "spotted dog" is another name for the same...
: an English steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants) commonly served with custard.
squaddie : (informal) a non-commissioned soldier (US: grunt)
squidgy : (informal) soft and soggy (US: squishy)
squiffy : (informal) intoxicated (popularly but probably erroneously said to be from British Prime Minister (Herbert)Asquith, a noted imbiber). The word can also be synonymous with skew-whiff.
squintie, squint : crooked; cf on the skunt
squiz : (rare) look, most often used in the form to have a squiz at...
sticky-backed plastic : large sheet of thin, soft, coloured plastic that is sticky on one side; see Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
(US similar: contact paper)
stockist : a seller (as a retailer) that stocks merchandise of a particular type, usually a specified brand or model
stone the crows : exclamation of surprise (US holy cow)
straight away : immediately (sometimes used in the US; also right away)
stroke : to move your hand slowly and gently over something e.g. stroke a dog. (US: pet)
strop : (informal) bad mood or temper
stroppy, to have a strop on : (informal) recalcitrant, in a bad mood or temper
subway : An underground walkway normally under a road. Not to be confused with the US for an underground railway.
suck it and see : to undertake a course of action without knowing its full consequences (US: take your chances)
suss [out] * : (informal) to figure out (from suspicion)
suspender belt: a ladies' undergarment to hold up stockings (US: garter belt)
swot : 1. v. to study for an exam (US cram)
- 2. n. (derogatory) aloof and unpopular schoolchild or student who studies to excess
sweets : the same term for candy in US
sweet FA : (slang) nothing (from "Sweet Fanny Adams
Fanny Adams
Fanny Adams was a young English girl murdered by solicitor's clerk Frederick Baker in Alton, Hampshire. The expression "sweet Fanny Adams" refers to her and has come, through British naval slang, to mean "nothing at all".-Murder:On 24 August 1867 at about 1.30 pm, Fanny's mother, Harriet Adams,...
", alternative: "Sweet Fuck All"), "I know sweet FA about cars!" (US: jack shit)
swimming costume: swimsuit or bathing suit; also cozzy for short.
T
ta : (informal) thank you; TA also standing for "thanks awfully"Taff, Taffy : standard nickname for a Welshman
takeaway : food outlet where you can order food to go (or be delivered) (not usually applied to fast food chains). Usage: "we had a takeaway for dinner", "we went to the local takeaway". [DM]; (US: takeout)
take the piss (vulgar) * / take the mickey: (slang) to make fun of somebody; to act in a non-serious manner about something important (also: take the pee). Can also mean to transgress beyond what are perceived as acceptable bounds, or to treat with perceived contempt - "the increases in car tax are taking the piss", "the new boss is really taking the piss with this mandatory car-sharing scheme".
takings * : receipts of money
tannoy
Tannoy
Tannoy Ltd is a Scottish-based manufacturer of loudspeakers and public-address systems. The company was founded in London, England as Tulsemere Manufacturing Company in 1926, but has been based in Coatbridge, Scotland, since the 1970s...
: loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
(a proprietary brand name
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
), PA system
tapping up : in professional team sport, attempting to persuade a player contracted to one team to transfer to another team without the knowledge or permission of the player's current team (US: "tampering")
ta-ra! : (informal, friendly) exclamation of farewell (similar to 'seeya!' and 'cheerio!' (above)). Originally from Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
(see Scouser, above) but now common throughout the UK.
tea towel : a cloth which is used to dry dishes, cutlery, etc., after they have been washed. (US: dish towel)
telerecording : a recording of a live television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
broadcast made directly from a cathode ray tube
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
onto motion picture film. The equivalent US term is kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
.
telly : (informal) television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
tenfoot : A service road or alley
Alley
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane found in urban areas, often for pedestrians only, which usually runs between or behind buildings. In older cities and towns in Europe, alleys are often what is left of a medieval street network, or a right of way or ancient footpath in an urban setting...
behind or between houses, historical 10 feet wide.
tenner : ten pound note
Territorial: a member of the Territorial Army (US: Army Reserve)
tetchy: irascible
thickie - person of low intelligence.
[throw one's] toys out of the pram : In response to someone being angry/irate ("Stop throwing your toys out the pram".)
throw a wobbly : (informal) to lose one's temper, throw a tantrum
thruppennies : (rhyming slang) breasts/tits (from thrupenny bits, obsolete British coin)
Tiger nuts: (vulgar slang) small remnants of toilet paper that cling to body hair after bowel movement clean-up (originates from small chocolate covered caramel candy of the same name). (Commonly "tigers") (compare to US dingleberries).
tinned : canned as in "tinned soup" or "a tin of tuna"
tip : a dump or to throw something away
Tipp-Ex : white tape or liquid used to make corrections of ink on paper (US: Wite-Out
Wite-Out
Wite-Out is a trademark for a line of correction fluid, originally created for use with photocopies, and manufactured by the BIC Corporation.-History:...
)
titchy : very small; tiny (from tich or titch a small person, from Little Tich
Little Tich
Harry Relph, , known on the stage as "Little Tich", was an English music hall comedian. He was noted for the characters of The Spanish Señora, The Gendarme and The Tax Collector, but his most popular routine was his Big Boot dance, which involved a pair of 28-inch boots, commonly called "slapshoes"...
, the stage name of Harry Relph (1867–1928), English actor noted for his small stature)
titfer : (rhyming slang) hat (from tit-for-tat)
[go] tits up : (mildly vulgar) to suddenly go wrong (literally, to fall over. US: go belly up). cf pear-shaped (appears in the US mainly as military jargon, sometimes sanitized to "tango uniform")
toad-in-the-hole : batter-baked sausages, sausages baked in Yorkshire Pudding
Yorkshire pudding
Yorkshire Pudding is a dish that originated in Yorkshire, England. It is made from batter and usually served with roast meat and gravy.-History:...
toff : (slang) member of the upper classes
toffee apple : a sugar-glazed apple on a stick eaten esp. on Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in England. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding...
and Hallowe'en (US: caramel apple or candy apple)
toffee-nosed : anti-social in a pretentious way, stuck up
tonk : (informal) to hit hard, sometimes used in cricket to describe a substantial boundary shot: "he tonked it for six". In Southern England can also mean muscular. (US: ripped or buff).
tonker : penis.
tosser * : (slang) Largely equivalent to "wanker" but less offensive; has the same literal meaning, i.e. one who masturbates ("tosses off"). (US: jerk).
tosspot : (colloquial, archaic) a drunkard; also used in the sense of "tosser".
totty : (informal, offensive to some) sexually alluring woman or women (more recently, also applied to males). Originally a term for a prostitute in the late 19th century.
trainers: training shoes, athletic shoes. (US: sneakers).
treacle
Treacle
Treacle is any syrup made during the refining of sugar and is defined as "uncrystallized syrup produced in refining sugar". Treacle is used chiefly in cooking as a form of sweetener or condiment....
* : slang, jovial greeting/term of endearment from male to female i.e. "alright treacle" from SE England, esp. Essex. (US derog. [DM]: gooey, sickeningly sweet, overly sentimental, maudlin -- "I hated that movie! I've never seen such treacle in my life!")
tuppence : two pence, also infantile euphemism for vagina
Vagina
The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
. cf twopenn'orth
tuppenny-ha'penny : cheap, substandard
turf accountant : bookmaker for horse races (US: bookie)
turn-indicator : direction-indicator light on a vehicle (US: turn signal)
turning : as in a 'lefthand turning' (US: lefthand turn). "drive past the post-office and you'll see a small turning to the right, which leads directly to our farm"
turn-ups: an arrangement at the bottom of trouser-legs whereby a deep hem is made, and the material is doubled-back to provide a trough around the external portion of the bottom of the leg. (US: cuffs)
twee * : excessively cute, quaint, or 'precious'
twocked : when something is stolen or taken without owners consent (T.W.O.C)
twonk * : idiot. Probably a portmanteau construction of twat
Twat
The word twat has various functions. It is a vulgar synonym for the human vulva, but is more widely used as a derogatory epithet, especially in British English...
and plonker. Used by Timothy Spall
Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
in an episode of Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
.
twopenn'orth, tuppenn'orth, tup'en'oth : one's opinion (tuppenn'orth is literally "two pennies worth" or "two pence worth", depending on usage); (US equivalent: two cents' worth, two cents). cf tuppence
U
uni : short for university, used much like US collegeup himself : (informal) someone who is stand-offish, stuck-up, snobby. "He's a bit up himself." Euphemistic variation of up his own arse. (US: snotty)
up sticks : (US: pull up stakes)
V
vergerVerger
A verger is a person, usually a layman, who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in Anglican churches.-History:...
(virger, in some churches) : someone who carries the verge or other emblem of authority before a scholastic, legal, or religious dignitary in a procession; someone who takes care of the interior of a church and acts as an attendant during ceremonies.
verruca : a wart which occurs on one's foot. (US: plantar wart)
(vegetable) marrow : a gourd-like fruit (treated as a vegetable) (US: squash
Squash (fruit)
Squashes generally refer to four species of the genus Cucurbita, also called marrows depending on variety or the nationality of the speaker...
[DM])
vertically opposite angles : (US: vertical angles)
W
WAGWAGs
WAGs is an acronym, used particularly by the British tabloid press, to describe the wives and girlfriends of high-profile footballers, originally the England national football team. The term came into common use during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although it had been used occasionally before that...
: wives and girlfriends, common in headlines referring to the spouse of a footballer.
wage packet : weekly employee payment (usually in cash) (US: paycheck)
wally : (informal) buffoon, fool; milder form of idiot.
wanker * : (offensive) literally, a masturbator; used as a general insult or term of abuse
WC : toilet (short for Water Closet). (US: bathroom [DM], US old-fashioned washroom). See also loo
Loo
- Painting :* Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo , French painter of allegorical scenes and portraits* Charles-André van Loo , French subject painter* Jean-Baptiste van Loo , French subject and portrait painter...
.
washing up: dish washing, "the dishes": "it's your turn to do the washing up"; hence washing up liquid: dish washing detergent (US: dish soap, dishwashing liquid)
wazzock : an idiot. popularised by the 1981 song "Capstick Comes Home" by Tony Capstick
Tony Capstick
Joseph Anthony 'Tony' Capstick was an English comedian, actor, musician and broadcaster.-Life and career:...
well: Extremely, very. "He's well rich" (US: "He's very rich")
Wellington boot
Wellington boot
The Wellington boot, also known as rubber-boots, wellies, wellingtons, topboots, billy-boots, gumboots, gummies, barnboots, wellieboots, muckboots, sheepboots, shitkickers, or rainboots are a type of boot based upon leather Hessian boots...
s, wellies : waterproof rubber boots, named after the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
. (more common in the US now)
welly : (informal) effort (e.g.: "Give it some welly" to mean "put a bit of effort into an attempt to do something"; US: elbow grease); also the singular of "wellies", for Wellington boot
Wellington boot
The Wellington boot, also known as rubber-boots, wellies, wellingtons, topboots, billy-boots, gumboots, gummies, barnboots, wellieboots, muckboots, sheepboots, shitkickers, or rainboots are a type of boot based upon leather Hessian boots...
s
welly : (slang) condom; stems from "Wellington boots" which are also known as "rubbers"
What ho! : (interj.) Hello! (warmly)
whilst *: while (US and UK); 'whilst' is in common use in Yorkshire (UK) where 'while' is used colloquially to mean 'until'; (archaic in US)
whinge : (informal) complain, whine, especially repeated complaining about minor things (e.g. "Stop whingeing" meaning "stop complaining"); a different word from whine, originated in Scottish and Northern English in the 12th century. Hence whinger (derogatory), someone who complains a lot. As in "My wife Kerry is always whingeing about the state we leave the house in".
white coffee : coffee with milk or cream.
white pudding
White pudding
White pudding or oatmeal pudding is a meat dish popular in Scotland, Ireland, Northumberland, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. White pudding is very similar to black pudding, but does not include blood. Consequently, it consists of pork meat and fat, suet, bread, and oatmeal formed into the shape of...
: oat and fat sausage often eaten at breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...
, common in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
witter : (informal) to continue to talk trivially about a subject long after the audience's interest has gone. "He wittered on."
wibble : (informal) to talk at length aimlessly; but also an exclamation of astonishment.
wide boy : see spiv, above
willawonks : (slang) groceries
windscreen : (US: windshield)
wing mirrors : the external mirrors on a vehicle – though no longer normally attached to the 'wings' (US: fenders) but to the doors (US: sideview mirrors, side mirrors)
winkle : (slang) another childish term for a penis (US: winkie)
wobbler, wobbly (to have or to throw): (informal) tantrum
wog : (offensive, term of abuse) member of an ethnic minority. The word can refer to a wide variety of non-Europeans, including Arabs, sub-Saharans (and those of sub-Saharan descent), Iranians, and Turks.
Y
Y-fronts: men's briefsBriefs
Briefs are a type of short, tight underwear and swimwear, as opposed to styles where the material extends down the legs.In the case of men's underwear, briefs, unlike boxer shorts, hold the wearer's genitals in a relatively fixed position, which make briefs a popular underwear choice for men who...
with an inverted-Y-shaped frontal flap; originally a trademark (US: jockey shorts/briefs; US slang: tighty whities)
yob, yobbo : lout, young troublemaker (origin: boy spelt backwards)
yomp : to move on foot across rough terrain carrying heavy amounts of equipment and supplies without mechanised support (Royal Marines slang popularised by the Falklands war, army equivalent is to tab). Also used informally for any walk across rough ground.
yonks : a long time, ages. "I've not seen her for yonks."
Z
zZ
Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal...
ed : last letter of the alphabet, pronounced "zee" in United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
zebra crossing
Zebra crossing
A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. Its distinguishing feature is alternating dark and light stripes on the road surface, from which it derives its name. A zebra crossing typically gives extra rights of way to pedestrians.The use of zebra...
: (US: crosswalk)
Zimmer frame : walker
Walker (tool)
A walker or walking frame is a tool for disabled or elderly people who need additional support to maintain balance or stability while walking...
See also
- List of words having different meanings in British and American English: A–L
- List of words having different meanings in British and American English: M–Z
External links
- BBC.co.uk, A large project being undertaken by the BBC to document and chart the different word-usage and accents in the British Isles.
- Effingpot.com An American's guide to speaking British, written by a Brit living in Texas.
- Translating American to British A guide to British slang.
- American-British/British-American Dictionaries An American to British dictionary and a British to American Dictionary.
- The Septic's Companion: A British Slang Dictionary An online dictionary of British slang, viewable alphabetically or by category.