| abloom |
in a blooming state |
| Agapemone |
a religious community of men and women whose 'spiritual marriages' were in some cases not strictly spiritual |
| a priori |
the term applied to reasoning from pre-existing knowledge, or even cherished prejudices |
| bachelor's wife |
an ideal woman with none of the shortcomings of married men's wives |
| back-seat driver |
someone free of responsibility but full of advice |
| bafflegab |
the professional logorrhoea of many politicians, officials and salespeople, characterized by prolix abstract circumlocution and/or a profusion of abstruse technical terminology, used as a means of persuasion, pacification or obfuscation |
| behind someone's back |
without someone knowing (when they might feel entitled to know) |
| boy band |
a pop group, targeting mainly the teenage market, composed of young males chosen because they look good and can dance and sometimes even sing |
| brains trust |
a number of reputedly well-informed persons chosen to answer questions of general interest in public and without preparation |
| buckwheat |
a plant (Polygonum or Fagopyrum), its seed used esp in Europe for feeding horses, cattle and poultry, in America for making into cakes for the breakfast table, etc |
| bunkum |
bombastic speechmaking intended for newspapers rather than to persuade the audience |
| channel-surf |
to switch rapidly between different television channels in a forlorn attempt to find anything of interest |
| combover |
a vain attempt to make the most of one's dwindling resources of hair. |
| comb out |
to search thoroughly for and remove (eg lice, men for military service) |
| cottabus |
in ancient Greece, an amusement among young men, involving throwing wine into a vessel, success at which supposedly indicated fortune in love |
| devil-dodger |
someone who attends churches of various kinds, to be on the safe side |
| double-locked |
locked by two turns of the key, as in some locks and many novels |
| éclair |
a cake long in shape but short in duration |
| emerods |
haemorrhoids; representations of them in gold, used as charms |
| fan dance |
a solo dance in the nude (or nearly so) in which the performer attempts concealment (or nearly so) by tantalizing manipulation of a fan or fans or a bunch of ostrich, etc feathers |
| fish |
to catch or try to catch or obtain fish, or anything that may be likened to a fish (such as seals, sponges, coral, compliments, information or husbands) |
| flag-day |
a day on which collectors solicit contributions to a charity in exchange for small flags as badges to secure immunity for the rest of the day |
| grammaticaster |
a piddling grammarian |
| he-man |
a man of exaggerated or extreme virility, or what some women consider to be virility |
| Japanese cedar |
a very tall Japanese conifer (Cryptomeria japonica) often dwarfed by Japanese gardeners |
| jaywalker |
a careless pedestrian whom motorists are expected to avoid running down |
| knick-knack |
a small, trifling, ornamental or would-be ornamental article |
| lady-killer |
a man who is, or fancies himself, irresistible to women |
| lead out |
to conduct to execution or a dance |
| lint |
small pieces of thread, fluff, etc that cling to clothes and furniture and accumulate in the filters of washing machines and driers and in navels. |
| live |
a fishmonger's word for very fresh |
| macrology |
much talk with little to say |
| mallemaroking |
carousing of seamen in icebound ships |
| massage someone's ego |
to flatter someone, rub someone up the right way |
| middle-aged |
between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner |
| misrepresent |
to be an unrepresentative representative of |
| mullet |
a hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round. |
| nerd |
a clumsy, foolish, socially inept, feeble, unathletic, irritating or unprepossessing person, although often (eg in computers) knowledgeable |
| nineteen to the dozen |
(of speaking, done) in great quantity, not necessarily with equal quality |
| not to mention |
to say nothing of, a parenthetical rhetorical pretence of refraining from saying all one might say (and is about to say) |
| odour of sanctity |
a fragrance after death alleged to be evidence of saintship; facetiously applied to the living who have denied themselves the sensual indulgence of washing |
| old girl |
an amicably disrespectful mode of address or reference to a female of any age or species |
| overbridge |
a bridge providing a superior crossing. |
| panatagamy |
a word that ought to mean universal bachelorhood, applied with unconscious irony to the universal marriage of the Perfectionists, in which every man in the community is the husband of every woman |
| perpetrate |
to commit or execute (esp an offence, a poem, or a pun) |
| petting-party |
a gathering for the purpose of amorous caressing as an organized sport |
| Pict |
(in Scottish folklore) one of a dwarfish race of underground dwellers, to whom (with the Romans, the Druids and Cromwell) ancient monuments are generally attributed |
| pigeon's milk |
an imaginary liquid for which children are sent, eg on 1 April |
| pink |
a person who is something of a socialist but hardly a red |
| pock-pudding |
a Scottish contemptuous name for a mere Englishman |
| prig down |
to seek to beat down (a price or the seller) |
| restoration |
renovations and reconstruction (sometimes little differing from destruction) of a building, painting, etc |
| road hog |
a swinishly selfish or boorishly reckless motorist or other user of the road |
| rock-salmon |
dogfish or wolf-fish when being sold as food fish |
| run high |
(of rivers or feelings) to be close to overflowing. |
| Runyonesque |
in the style of the American writer A Damon Runyon (1884-1946), portrayer of gangsters in their milder moments |
| Ruritania |
a fictitious land of historical romance (in SE Europe) created by Anthony Hope |
| Santa Claus |
an improbable source of improbable benefits |
| sea-serpent |
an enormous marine animal of serpent-like form frequently seen and described by credulous sailors, imaginative landsmen and common liars |
| smoking concert |
a concert at which smoking (euphemistically) is allowed |
| spatangoid |
a heart urchin, a member of the Spatangoidea, an order of more or less heart-shaped sea urchins with eccentric anus |
| squillion |
an indefinite but definitely large number. |
| Sunday saint |
someone whose religion or morality is confined to Sundays |
| table-turning |
movements of tables (or other objects) attributed by spiritualists to the agency of spirits, and by the sceptical to collective involuntary muscular action |
| taghairm |
(in the Scottish Highlands) divination; esp inspiration sought by lying in a bullock's hide behind a waterfall |
| throw the handkerchief |
to summon to pursuit, call upon to take one's turn - as in children's games and royal harems |
| tityre-tu |
a member of a 17c fraternity of aristocratic hooligans |
| tracksuit |
a loose warm suit intended to be worn by athletes when warming up or training, but sometimes worn by others in an error of judgement. |
| tweenager |
a child who, although not yet a teenager, has already developed an interest in pop music, fashion and exasperating his or her parents. |
| under the table |
not above board, illicit |
| waist-line |
a line thought of as marking the waist, but not fixed by anatomy in women's fashions |
| xylophagan |
one of the Xylophaga, a genus of boring bivalves |
| yahoo |
(cricket slang) an exuberant attempt to hit the ball hard, often with disappointing results. |
| yoof |
(esp of magazines, TV or radio programmes, etc) relating to, specifically aimed at, pandering to, or dealing with topics (thought to be) of interest to modern youth |
