Cumulative Glossary

A collection of abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions that have been featured in the Today's Glossary section of the National Post Cryptic Crossword Forum and the Ottawa Citizen Cryptic Crossword Forum from January 2, 2011 to February 27, 2011.

A - [The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition] abbreviation American

AA - abbreviation [3^rd entry] (in the UK and South Africa) Automobile Association [a counterpart to the CAA (in Canada) or AAA (in the U.S.)]

AB² - abbreviation [1^st entry] able seaman, noun a rank of sailor in the Royal Navy above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman

a/c - abbreviation bookkeeping, etc 1 account. 2 account current.

advert¹ - noun British informal an advertisement

Ag¹ - symbol the chemical element silver.

aggro - noun British informal

• aggressive, violent behaviour
• problems and difficulties

alcopop - noun British informal a ready-mixed drink that resembles a soft drink but contains alcohol

Aldeburgh - a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England, located on the River Alde. The internationally renowned Aldeburgh Festival of arts, which takes place at nearby Snape Maltings, was created in 1948 by the resident and acclaimed composer Benjamin Britten.

annexe - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun Chiefly British variant of annex

apartment - noun

• British a flat, typically one that is well appointed or used for holidays: self-catering holiday apartments
• North American any flat: the family lived in a rented apartment

aphrodisia - noun sexual desire especially when violent.

(Nancy Witcher) Astor, Viscountess Astor (1879 – 1964) - the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the British House of Commons.

(A. J.) Ayer (Sir Alfred Jules Ayer) (1910 – 1989) - British philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books Language, Truth, and Logic (1936) and The Problem of Knowledge (1956).

B - symbol physics bel.

B¹ or b - noun 1 the second letter of the English alphabet. 2 (usually B) the second highest grade or quality, or a mark indicating this. 3 (B) music a the seventh note on the scale of C major; b the musical key which has this note as its base.

B² - abbreviation 1 Bachelor. 2 music bass. 3 IVR Belgium. 4 on pencils: black.

B³ - symbol 1 chess bishop. 2 chemistry boron.

b. - abbreviation 1 born. 2 cricket bowled.

(Francis) Bacon (1909 – 1992) -  a figurative painter (born in Ireland to English parents) known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery

bang to rights (or North American dead to rights) - informal (of a criminal) with positive proof of guilt: we've got you bang to rights handling stolen property.

Basildon - is a town located in the Basildon District of the county of Essex, England

Bath - a spa town in SW England; population 81,600 (est. 2009). The town was founded by the Romans, who called it Aquae Sulis, and was a fashionable spa in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

bath chair - noun dated a kind of wheelchair for invalids, typically with a hood; Origin (early 19th century): named after the city of  Bath, which attracted many invalids because of the supposed curative powers of its hot springs

beer cellar - noun

1. an underground room for storing beer
2. a basement bar where beer is served

bidet - noun a low oval basin used for washing one's genital and anal area

birdie - noun 2 Golf a score of one stroke under par at a hole

Blackpool Tower - a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire in England which was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It rises to 158m (518 ft 9 inches) and opened to the public in 1894.

Blighty - noun British an informal term for Britain or England, used by soldiers of the First and Second World Wars

bloomer² - noun British informal, dated a serious or stupid mistake.

blow¹ - verb 6 (past participle blowed) [with object] British informal damn: [as imperative]: ‘Well, blow me’, he said, ‘I never knew that.’; [with clause]: I'm blowed if I want to see him again.

bob³ - noun British informal a shilling

• used with reference to a moderately large but unspecified amount of money: those vases are worth a few bob

Bottom (or, more fully, Nick Bottom) - character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream who provides comic relief throughout the play, and is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of an ass by the elusive Puck within the play.

bowdlerise - (alternative spelling of bowdlerize) remove material that is considered improper or offensive from (a text or account), especially with the result that the text becomes weaker or less effective

bowl² - noun 2 [1^st entry] Cricket (of a bowler) propel (the ball) with a straight arm towards the batsman, typically in such a way that the ball bounces once: Lillee bowled another bouncer; Sobers bowled to Willis

brae - noun Scottish a steep bank or hillside

Brahms and Liszt - adjective British informal drunk [origin: (1930s) rhyming slang for ‘pissed’]

brainbox - noun British informal a very clever person.

brass - noun 4 British informal money: they wanted to spend their newly acquired brass

(Eleanor) Bron - English stage, film and television actress and author.

brougham - noun [1^st entry] historical a horse-drawn carriage with a roof, four wheels, and an open driver's seat in front

bureau de change - noun an establishment at which customers can exchange foreign money

Bury - a town in Greater Manchester, England and home of the Bury Football Club (known as "The Shakers").

bye¹ - noun 2 Cricket a run scored from a ball that passes the batsman without being hit (recorded as an extra, not credited to the individual batsman)

c - abbreviation Cricket (on scorecards) caught by: ME Waugh c Lara b Walsh 19

C² - symbol [2^nd entry] the chemical element carbon

C (1) - noun 8. drugs (slang)Same as cocaine

Cal. - abbreviation California

(River) Cam - a tributary of the River Great Ouse in the east of England

cascara sagrada - [Collins English Dictionary] noun the dried bark of the cascara buckthorn, used as a stimulant and laxative Often shortened to cascara.

cave² - exclamation British school slang, dated look out! [Origin: Latin, imperative of cavere 'beware']

(Edith) Cavell (1865–1915) - English nurse; full name Edith Louisa Cavell. During the First World War she helped Allied soldiers to escape from occupied Belgium. She was subsequently executed by the Germans and became a heroine of the Allied cause. Mount Edith Cavell, a mountain located in Canada's Jasper National Park, was named in her honour in 1916.

CD² - abbreviation corps diplomatique (diplomatic corps) [French]

CE - abbreviation [1^st entry] Church of England

CH - abbreviation  [1^st entry] (in the UK) Companion of Honour.

char³ - (also cha or chai) noun British informal tea.

Chard - town and civil parish in the Somerset county of England

Che (Ernesto "Che" Guevara) (1928 – 1967) - commonly known as El Che or simply Che, an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist who was a major figure of the Cuban Revolution

chemist - noun 1 [1^st entry] British a shop where medicinal drugs are dispensed and sold, and in which toiletries and other medical goods can be purchased.

chinless wonder - noun British informal an ineffectual upper-class man

Christabel - a lengthy poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in two parts - the first written in 1797, and the second in 1800.

Cilla - English female given name, originally the diminutive form of Priscilla and less frequently Drusilla. It first appeared in the 20th Century.

(The) City or City of London (not to be confused with London) - a small area within Greater London, United Kingdom which is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial.

The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though remains a notable part of Central London. It is often referred to as the City (often written on maps as "City") or the Square Mile, as it is just over one square mile in area. These terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's financial services industry, which has historically been based here.

cock-a-hoop - adjective extremely and obviously pleased, especially about an achievement

Origin: (mid 17th century) from the phrase set cock a hoop, of unknown origin, apparently denoting the action of turning on the tap and allowing liquor to flow (prior to a drinking session)

collect² - [Collins English Dictionary] noun Christianity a short Church prayer generally preceding the lesson or epistle in Communion and other services

comma - 3 (also comma butterfly) a widespread butterfly that has orange and brown wings with ragged edges, and a white comma-shaped mark on the underside of the hindwing (Polygonia c - album, subfamily Nymphalinae, family Nymphalidae)

con⁴ - archaic study attentively or learn by heart (a piece of writing): the girls conned their pages with a great show of industry

Co-op - informal name for The Co-operative Food, a brand devised for the supermarket and convenience store business of the UK's consumers' co-operative movement

[it's] a fair cop - phrase British informal an admission that the speaker has been caught doing wrong and deserves punishment.

cor - exclamation British informal expressing surprise, excitement, admiration, or alarm: Cor! That‘s a beautiful black eye you’ve got!

cordovan - noun a kind of soft leather made originally from goatskin and now from horse hide

Cornwall - a county occupying the extreme south-western peninsula of England; county town, Truro

count² - noun [from a British perspective] a foreign nobleman whose rank corresponds to that of an earl

crease - noun 2 Cricket

• any of a number of lines marked on the pitch at specified places.  See popping crease, bowling crease, return crease
• (the crease) the position of a batsman during their innings: England were 15 for 3 overnight, with Stewart and Russell at the crease

Cresta Run - a hazardously winding, steeply banked channel of ice built each year at the Cresta Valley, St Moritz, Switzerland, as a tobogganing [actually skeleton] course, on which competitors race on light toboggans [British parlance for sleds] in a characteristic head-first position. Such a run was first built in 1884.

CU (Cu) - Symbol the chemical element copper

(Diocese of) Chester - a Church of England diocese in the Province of York based in Chester, covering the county of Cheshire in its pre-1974 boundaries.

consulting room - noun U.K. doctor's room, the room in which a doctor sees patients, mainly in a hospital.

cor - exclamation British informal expressing surprise, excitement, admiration, or alarm: Cor! That‘s a beautiful black eye you’ve got!

d (3) - abbreviation 2. calendar date

d - abbreviation [1^st entry] (in genealogies) daughter

d - abbreviation 3 dead.

d. - abbreviation 5. measurements degree.

d - abbreviation British penny or pence (of pre-decimal currency): £20 10s 6d [from Latin denarius 'penny']

D² - abbreviation [7^th entry] Germany (international vehicle registration) [from German Deutschland].

D (3) - abbreviation 8. Director

D or d - U.K. money pence [Latin denarii]

daemon¹ - noun

• (in ancient Greek belief) a divinity or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans
• an inner or attendant spirit or inspiring force
• archaic spelling of demon

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 – 1882) - English poet, illustrator, painter and translator

DD - abbreviation Doctor of Divinity.

Deadwood - a city in South Dakota, United States

dean - noun 2

• the head of a university faculty or department or of a medical school.
  
• (in a college or university, especially Oxford or Cambridge) a senior member of a college, with disciplinary and advisory functions.
  

(River) Dee - a 70-mile (110 km) long river in the United Kingdom that travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between the two countries (also any of several other rivers by that name in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia)

deer fence - noun a very high fence that deer should not be able to jump over.

Devon¹ - (also Devonshire) a county of SW England; county town, Exeter

DI - abbreviation [2^nd entry] (in the UK) Detective Inspector

Within the British police, inspector is the second supervisory rank. It is senior to that of sergeant, but junior to that of chief inspector. Plain-clothes detective inspectors are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix 'detective' identifying them as having been trained in criminal investigation and being part of or attached to their force's Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

diabolo - a juggling prop consisting of a spool which is whirled and tossed on a string tied to two sticks held one in each hand

ding-dong - noun informal 1 [in singular] British a fierce argument or fight: they had a bit of a ding-dong.

Diss - a town  in Norfolk, England close to the border with the neighbouring East Anglian county of Suffolk. [At best, the wording here fails to convey the fact that Norfolk is part of East Anglia and, at worst, might lead one to conclude that it isn't.]

don¹ - noun 1 British a university teacher, especially a senior member of a college at Oxford or Cambridge

dowager - noun

• a widow with a title or property derived from her late husband
  
  • [as modifier]: the dowager duchess
  • [postpositive]: the queen dowager
• informal a dignified elderly woman

(County) Down  - one of six counties that form Northern Ireland (named after its county town, Downpatrick)

draught - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun, verb & adjective Chiefly British Variant of draft.

draught - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 9. (also called draughtsman) any one of the 12 flat thick discs used by each player in the game of draughts; US and Canadian equivalent checker

dress sense - noun a good instinct for selecting garments which suit the wearer

[Judging by the specific dictionaries in which entries are found for this expression, it would appear that the term might be chiefly British. In North America, I think one would be more apt to hear something like 'a sense of style'.]

duck⁵ - noun Cricket a batsman's score of nought: he was out for a duck

DUP - (Ulster) Democratic Unionist Party, an extreme Loyalist political party in Northern Ireland, co-founded by Ian Paisley in 1972

E² - abbreviation 1 Earl. 2 earth. 3 East. 4 Ecstasy. 5 physics electromotive force. 6 (also e) electronic • E-mail. 7 physics (also E) energy. 8 English. 9 IVR: España (Spanish), Spain. 10 European. Also in compounds • E-number. 11 math exa-.

E² - abbreviation [1^st entry] East or Eastern: 139 ° E

E² - abbreviation [2^nd entry] informal the drug Ecstasy or a tablet of Ecstasy.

EC - abbreviation East Central (London postal district)

EC (Eastern Central) postcode area (also known as the London EC postcode area) - a group of postcode districts in central London, England which includes almost all of the City of London and parts of several other London Boroughs.

eagle - noun 2 Golf a score of two strokes under par at a hole

East Anglia - a region of eastern England consisting of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and parts of Essex and Cambridgeshire

(Mr. Midshipman) Easy - 1836 novel by Frederick Marryat, a retired Captain in the 19th century Royal Navy. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Marryat himself served with distinction.

e.g. - abbreviation for example (from Latin exempli gratia 'for the sake of example').

el - article Spanish the

El Niño - an opera-oratorio by the American composer John Adams

eleven - cardinal number [6^th entry] a sports team of eleven players: at cricket I played in the first eleven

(Diocese of) Ely - a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely.

(Tracey) Emin - an English artist and part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs (Young British Artists).

Highlights of her work include Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, a tent appliquéd with names, exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and My Bed (shown at right), an installation at the Tate Gallery consisting of her own unmade dirty bed with used condoms and blood-stained underwear.

en croute - adjective & adverb in a pastry crust: [as postpositive adjective] salmon en croute

EP - abbreviation [3^rd entry] extended-play (of a record or CD): an EP of remixes

ER - abbreviation Queen Elizabeth. [from Latin Elizabetha Regina]

EST - abbreviation estate [the entry here, the 11^th of 51, is actually estates]

estate - noun 1 [1^st subentry] British an area of land and modern buildings developed for residential, industrial, or commercial purposes

Eton College - a boys‘ public school in southern England, on the River Thames opposite Windsor, founded in 1440 by Henry VI to prepare scholars for King’s College, Cambridge. [Note: a 'public' school in Britain would be regarded as a 'private' school in North America.]

public school - noun

• 1 (in the UK) a private fee-paying secondary school, especially one for boarders.
  
• 2 (chiefly in North America) a school supported by public funds.
  

ex-service - adjective British denoting or relating to former members of the armed forces: ex-service personnel

extra - noun [4^th entry] Cricket a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited to the batting side rather than to a batsman. [With a wide being but one example of an extra.]

F² - abbreviation [5^th entry] female

FA - abbreviation (in the UK) Football Association, a governing body of football [i.e., Association football or soccer] in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man

fete - noun

• British a public function, typically held outdoors and organized to raise funds for a charity, including entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments: a church fete
• chiefly North American a celebration or festival

Financial Times (FT) - a British international business newspaper [conspicuously published on pink newsprint]
 
FL - abbreviation 1 US state Florida. Also written Fla.

flannel - [Oxford Dictionaries Online] noun

• 2 British a small piece of towelling used for washing oneself.
• 3 British informal bland fluent talk indulged in to avoid addressing a difficult subject or situation directly: a simple admittance of ignorance was much to be preferred to any amount of flannel

flannel - [Search Chambers] noun 2 (also face flannel) Brit except Scotland a small square of towelling for washing with. Compare face cloth. 3 colloq flattery or meaningless talk intended to hide one's ignorance or true intentions

flannel - [Collins English Dictionary] noun

• 4. Brit a small piece of cloth used to wash the face and hands; face cloth; US and Canadian equivalent washcloth [the term face cloth is also common in Canada - and is certainly the term that I would be most likely to use]
• 5. Brit informal indirect or evasive talk; deceiving flattery

flog - verb 2 British informal sell or offer for sale: he made a fortune flogging beads to hippies

While I don't believe that the use of the term flog in this sense is unheard of in Canada, it is more apt to be used in the sense of "to sell an idea" or "to publicize aggressively" (e.g., an author making the rounds of the talk shows to flog a book).

foetal - [American Heritage Dictionary] adjective Chiefly British variant of fetal.

form - noun 6 chiefly British a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number: the fifth form.

form - noun British informal a criminal record: they both had form

Fort William - the largest town [and second largest community] in the highlands of Scotland only being exceeded in size by the City of Inverness.

fosse - noun Archaeology a long, narrow trench or excavation, especially in a fortification

fringe - 2 [1^st entry] chiefly British the front part of someone's hair, cut so as to hang over the forehead

front - noun 4 boldness and confidence of manner: he's got a bit of talent and a lot of front

G (3) - abbreviation 3. education good (used as a grade)

G² - abbreviation North American informal grand (a thousand dollars)

Galatea - Greek Mythology 2 the name given to the statue fashioned by Pygmalion and brought to life.

Pygmalion¹ - Greek Mythology a king of Cyprus who fashioned an ivory statue of a beautiful woman and loved it so deeply that in answer to his prayer Aphrodite gave it life. The woman (at some point named Galatea) bore him a daughter, Paphos.

GI¹ - noun a private soldier in the US army.

(William Ewart) Gladstone - (1809–98), British Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1868–74,1880-5,1886, and 1892-4. At first a Conservative minister, he later joined the Liberal Party, becoming its leader in 1867. His ministries saw the introduction of elementary education, the passing of the Irish Land Acts and the third Reform Act, and his campaign in favour of Home Rule for Ireland.

ghost train - noun British a miniature train at a funfair designed to scare its passengers with eerie sights and sounds

go² - noun a Japanese board game of territorial possession and capture

grass - verb 2 British informal inform the police of someone's criminal activities or plans: [no object]: someone had grassed on the thieves; [with object]: she threatened to grass me up

grass - noun 4 British informal a police informer

h¹ - abbreviation 1 harbour. 2 hecto-. 3 height. 4 high. 5 hour. 6 hundred. 7 husband.

H² - abbreviation 4 hospital

hack¹ - [Collins English Dictionary] verb 3. (in sport, esp rugby) to foul (an opposing player) by kicking or striking his shins

hack¹ - [Oxford Dictionaries Online] verb 1 kick wildly or roughly: he had to race from his line to hack the ball into the stand

hack (someone) off - phrasal verb [British] informal annoy or infuriate someone: it really hacks me off when they whine about what a poor job we're doing

• hacked off - adjective U.K. informal irritated: annoyed or dissatisfied

Harold Godwinson (or Harold II) (c. 1022 – 1066) - the last Anglo-Saxon King of England who reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Norman invaders led by William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England.

Hastings - a coastal town in south-east England, in East Sussex. The Battle of Hastings, which took place on 14 October 1066, was the decisive victory in the Norman Conquest of England, in which the Norman army of Duke William II of Normandy defeated the English army of King Harold II.

henry - (abbreviation: H) noun Physics the SI unit of inductance, equal to an electromotive force of one volt in a closed circuit with a uniform rate of change of current of one ampere per second

Herm - the smallest of the Channel Islands that is open to the public and is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey

Hertfordshire - a county in the East region of England. It is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London (to the south).

ho. - abbreviation house

high street - noun British the main street of a town, especially as the traditional site for most shops, banks, and other businesses: the approaching festive season boosted the high street

William Hogarth (1697 – 1764) - English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art.

Home Counties - the English counties surrounding London, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire.

hooter - noun

• 1 chiefly British a siren or steam whistle, especially one used as a signal for work to begin or finish
• the horn of a motor vehicle
• 2 informal a person's nose
• 3 (hooters) North American vulgar slang a woman's breasts

hunter - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 5 a watch with a hinged metal lid or case (hunting case) to protect the crystal Also called hunting watch. See also half-hunter.

I¹ (also i) - noun 2 the Roman numeral for one

I³ - symbol [1^st entry] electric current: V = I/ R

I³ (I.)- abbreviation [1^st entry] Island(s) or Isle(s) (chiefly on maps)

I³ (I.) - abbreviation [2^nd entry] Italy (international vehicle registration)

ice - noun 2 chiefly British an ice cream, ice lolly (also iced lolly, noun British a piece of flavoured ice or ice cream on a stick), or portion of water ice (noun a dessert consisting of frozen fruit juice or flavoured water and sugar)

il - Italian the

inamorato - noun a person's male lover

(Jean Auguste Dominique) Ingres (1780 – 1867) - French Neoclassical painter

innings - noun (singular and plural) 1 Cricket each of two or four divisions of a game during which one side has a turn at batting: the highlight of the Surrey innings. [Note: unlike the term inning used in North American baseball, the cricket term innings is invariant in the singular and plural; thus, one innings, two innings, etc.] 

inst. - abbreviation dated (in business letters) instant, adjective 3 of the current month: we are pleased to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 14 inst

international - noun 1 British

• a game or contest between teams representing different countries in a sport.
  
• a player who has taken part in an international game or contest.
  

IOW - abbreviation 1 Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England, a county since 1974; population 131,700 (est. 2009); administrative centre, Newport. It lies at the entrance to Southampton Water and is separated from the mainland by the Solent and Spithead.

Innisfree - a small island in Lough Gill, Ireland, featured in the poem Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats

Inter Milan (in full, Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly known as Internazionale or Inter, and - outside Italy - as Inter Milan) - a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Inter are the champions of Italy, their win in 2009–10 being a fifth successive title, equalling the all-time record. Inter are also the reigning European and World champions.

IQ - abbreviation intelligence quotient

IRA - abbreviation Irish Republican Army, the military arm of Sinn Fein, aiming for union between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

it¹ - pronoun 8 (usually ‘it’) informal sexual intercourse or sex appeal

it² - noun British informal, dated Italian vermouth: he poured a gin and it

ja - German yes

jack¹ - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 2. a sailor

jade² - noun archaic

• 1 a bad-tempered or disreputable woman.

• 2 an old or worn-out horse.
  

journo - noun [seemingly British] colloquial, originally Australian a journalist

JP - abbreviation (in the UK) Justice of the Peace

The office of Justice of the Peace also exists in many jurisdictions around the world, including Canada and parts of the United States.

Kent - a county in southeast England, widely known as "The Garden of England" because of its abundance of orchards and hop gardens.

kip³ - informal British

• noun 1 a sleep or nap: I might have a little kip; he was trying to get some kip
• verb sleep: he can kip on her sofa

kirk - noun Scottish & Northern English 1 a church

Kirkwall - the largest town and capital of Orkney, off the coast of northern mainland Scotland

(fly a) kite - phrase informal [possibly chiefly British] try something out to test public opinion.  Not to be confused with go fly a kite, [in imperative] North American informal go away.

L¹ or l - noun 1 the twelfth letter of the English alphabet. 2 a the shape of an L • arranged the sofas in an L; b a building that has had an extension added perpendicular to the original so that the whole thing then forms the shape of an L. 3 the speech sound represented by this letter.

L² - abbreviation 1 lake. 2 learner driver. 3 Liberal. 4 licentiate. 5 lira or lire.

L³ - symbol the Roman numeral for 50.

l - abbreviation 1 left. 2 length. 3 line. 4 lira or lire. 5 litre.


l. (lowercase L) - archaic pound(s)

L² - abbreviation [4^th entry] large (as a clothes size).

L² - abbreviation [5^th entry] British (on a motor vehicle) learner driver.

l (lower case L) - abbreviation [1^st entry] (giving position or direction) left: l to r: Gordon, Anthony, and Mark

L or l - U.K. money pounds [Latin librae]

laager - noun 1 South African historical an encampment formed by a circle of wagons

Lacerta - Astronomy a small and inconspicuous northern constellation (the Lizard), on the edge of the Milky Way between Cygnus and Andromeda

lady's finger - [Oxford Dictionaries Online] noun British 1 another term for kidney vetch, a yellow-or orange-flowered grassland plant of the pea family. Native to Europe and the Mediterranean, it is sometimes grown as a fodder crop (Anthyllis vulneraria, family Leguminosae)

lady's finger - [Search Chambers] noun 1 okra 2 the popular name for the wild flower, kidney vetch

lathi - noun (in South Asia) a long, heavy iron-bound bamboo stick used as a weapon, especially by police.

Leeds - an industrial city in West Yorkshire, northern England; population 441,100 (est. 2009). It developed as a wool town in the Middle Ages, becoming a centre of the clothing trade in the Industrial Revolution.

leg - noun 5 (also leg side, on or on side) Cricket the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The opposite of off.

Leicester² - noun 1 (also Red Leicester) a kind of mild, firm orange cheese originally made in Leicestershire

lightning strike - noun British a strike by workers after little or no warning, especially without official union backing.

lo - exclamation archaic used to draw attention to an interesting or amazing event: and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them

local - noun British informal a pub convenient to a person's home: a pint in the local

(John) Locke (1632 – 1704) - English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and widely known as the Father of Liberalism

(Thomas) Long (1621–1707) - English clergyman and writer on Church politics

lords and ladies - noun The European wake-robin (Arum maculatum) - those with purplish spadix the lords, and those with pale spadix the ladies. Range: Lords and ladies is very common across most of the British Isles, being absent only from North Scotland. It also occurs frequently in Europe.

Description: Wild arum or lords and ladies (just one of this abundant plant’s local names), has a striking appearance when in flower. From amongst the shiny-green, black-speckled, arrow-shaped leaves, arises a tall slender cowl. This opens on one side to reveal a slender purple spike. This ‘spadix’ is the true flower of the wild arum, and it gave rise to another of the plant’s local names ‘cuckoo pint’. This derives from the time of the flower’s appearance – usually with the first cuckoos – whilst ‘pint’ (once pronounced to rhyme with ‘mint’) is an Old English slang for ‘pintle’, meaning penis.

Lorelei - a rock on the bank of the Rhine, held by legend to be the home of a siren whose song lures boatmen to destruction

• the siren said to live on the Lorelei rock

loth - adjective alternative spelling of loath

Lt - abbreviation [1^st entry] Lieutenant

M¹ or m - noun 1 the thirteenth letter of the English alphabet. 2 something shaped like the letter M. See also em.

M² - abbreviation 1 IVR Malta. 2 mark or marks, the German currency unit. See also DM. 3 Master. 4 as a clothes size, etc: medium. 5 mega-. 6 million. 7 Monday (also Mon.). 8 econ money supply (used in the UK to designate its seven categories: M0, M1, M2, M3, M3c, M4 and M5; M0 being the most liquid or readily-available category). 9 Monsieur. 10 British Motorway, followed by a number, as in M1. See also M-way.

M³ - symbol as a Roman numeral: 1000.


m or m. - abbreviation 1 male. 2 married. 3 masculine. 4 metre or metres. 5 mile or miles. 6 million or millions. 7 minute or minutes. 8 month.

M¹ - noun 2  the Roman numeral for 1,000

M² - [1^st entry] abbreviation Cricket (on scorecards) maiden, noun 2 (also maiden over) an over in which no runs are scored

M1 - a major north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds

Mab - [Collins English Dictionary] noun (in English and Irish folklore) a fairy queen said to create and control men's dreams

(Isle of) Man - an island in the Irish Sea which is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system; population 82,000 (est. 2009); capital, Douglas. The island was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes.

manor - noun 2 [1^st entry] British informal the district covered by a police station

Margate - a seaside town in East Kent, England

master¹ - noun 2 a man in charge of an organization or group, in particular: [1^st entry] British a male schoolteacher: the games master
 
matt (also matte or US mat) - adjective (of a surface or colour) dull and flat ; without a shine: prints are available on matt or glossy paper; a matt black

MB - abbreviation Bachelor of Medicine [from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus], the professional degree held by medical practitioners in Britain [equivalent to a North American MD (Medical Doctor, from Latin Medicinae Doctor]

metal - noun 2 (also road metal) broken stone for use in road-making

mignonette - noun a herbaceous plant with spikes of small fragrant greenish flowers; Genus Reseda, family Resedaceae: several species, in particular the North African R. odorata, which is cultivated as an ornamental and for its essential oil, and the European wild mignonette (R. lutea)

Mini - a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000 and produced by BMW from 2001 onwards.

mo - noun [in singular] informal, chiefly British a short period of time: hang on a mo!

Maureen "Little Mo" Connelly (1934 – 1969) - American tennis player who was the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tournaments during the same calendar year

Kate Moss - English model, notorious for her high-profile relationships and party lifestyle.

motor - noun 2 British informal a car

motorway - noun British a dual-carriageway road designed for fast traffic, with relatively few places for joining or leaving

MP - noun a Member of Parliament: more than 80 MPs have signed the Commons motion

MP - abbreviation [2^nd and 3^rd entries] military police, military policeman

muffin - noun

1. a small domed spongy cake made with eggs and baking powder: blueberry muffins
2. (North American English muffin) a flat circular spongy bread roll made from yeast dough and eaten split , toasted, and buttered

music hall - noun [1^st entry] [clearly British]

• a form of variety entertainment popular in Britain from circa 1850, consisting of singing, dancing, comedy, acrobatics, and novelty acts. Its popularity declined after the First World War with the rise of the cinema.
  
• a theatre where music-hall entertainment took place.
  

N¹ or n - noun 1 the fourteenth letter of the English alphabet. 2 the nasal consonant sound represented by this letter. See also en.

N² - abbreviation 1 National. 2 Nationalist. 3 New. 4 physics newton. 5 chemistry nitrogen. 6 North. 7 Northern. 8 IVR Norway.

N³ - symbol chess knight.

n¹ - noun 1 math an indefinite number. 2 colloquial a large number. adjective of an indefinite or large number.

n² - abbreviation 1 nano-. 2 neuter. 3 neutron. 4 new. 5 grammar nominative. 6 noon. 7 note. 8 grammar noun.

'n' - abbreviation colloquial, in compounds and • chicken 'n' chips.

n or n. - [The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition] abbreviation name

N - abbreviation (chiefly in place names) New: N Zealand

ness - noun [usually in place names] a headland or promontory: Orford Ness

NI - abbreviation [2^nd entry] Northern Ireland, a province of the United Kingdom occupying the NE part of Ireland; population 1,775,000 (est. 2008); capital, Belfast.

nick - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun 2. Chiefly British Slang A prison or police station

nit¹ - noun informal 2 British a foolish person: you stupid nit!

nitride - noun Chemistry a binary compound of nitrogen with a more electropositive element

nob¹ - noun British informal a person of wealth or high social position.

nous - noun 1 British informal common sense; practical intelligence: if he had any nous at all, he'd sell the film rights

O³ - abbreviation 4 Old.

oast - (or oast house) a farm building for drying hops

OB - abbreviation 1 old boy, noun

1. British a former male student of a school or college
• a former male member of a sports team or company
2. informal an elderly man
• chiefly British an affectionate form of address to a boy or man

OBE - abbreviation Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Order of the British Empire - (in the UK) an order of knighthood instituted in 1917 and divided into five classes, each with military and civilian divisions . The classes are: Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight or Dame Commander (KBE/ DBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE). The two highest classes entail the awarding of a knighthood.

OD² - noun an overdose of a narcotic drug.

Offa's Dyke - a massive linear earthwork, roughly following some of the current border between England and Wales, which, in the 8th century, formed some kind of delineation between the Anglian kingdom of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys.

on - (also on side) noun Cricket the leg side (or, simply, leg), noun 5 the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The opposite of off.

on side - (also on) noun Cricket the leg side (also leg)

leg - (also leg side, on or on side) noun 5 the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch ) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The opposite of off.

optic - noun 3 British trademark a device fastened to the neck of an inverted bottle for measuring out spirits

or² - noun gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture.

OR - abbreviation [3^rd entry] Military, British other ranks (as opposed to commissioned officers).

OT - abbreviation [2^nd entry] occupational therapy.

(River) Ouse - any of several rivers in the United Kingdom. According to Big Dave, the 'best-known' of them is the one in Yokshire:

• the River Ouse, a river in North Yorkshire, England
• the River Great Ouse, a river in the east of England that, at 143 miles (230 km) long, is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom
• the River Little Ouse, a river in the east of England, and a tributary of the River Great Ouse which, for much of its length, defines the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk
• the River Ouse, a river in the counties of West and East Sussex in England

p - abbreviation [4^th entry] Music piano (softly [or quietly]).

p³ - [American Heritage Dictionary] abbreviation 1. piano² adverb & adjective Music in a soft or quiet tone (used chiefly as a direction).

P² - abbreviation (on road signs and street plans) parking

P(2) - abbreviation 8. physics pressure

pacy - (also pacey) [likely British] adjective moving or progressing quickly: a pacy thriller.

paddy² - noun [in singular] British informal a fit of temper: John drove off in a paddy

(Thomas) Paine (c. 1737 – 1809) - author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination."

para¹ - noun informal 1 a paratrooper

patch - noun 3 [2^nd entry] British informal an area for which someone is responsible or in which they operate: we didn't want any secret organizations on our patch

penalty spot - noun Soccer the point within the penalty area from which penalty kicks are taken.

Penelope - in Homer's Odyssey, the faithful wife of Odysseus, who keeps her suitors at bay in his long absence and is eventually reunited with him

Peter Grimes - an opera by English Composer Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh.

(Peter) Pears (Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE)  (1910 – 1986) - English tenor and the life partner of the composer Benjamin Britten

pi² - adjective British informal short for pious.

pie³ - noun & verb Printing a variant spelling of pi², noun an amount of type that has been jumbled or thrown together at random; verb (transitive) to jumble or mix up (type); verb (intransitive) to become jumbled

pikelet - noun a thin kind of crumpet

pish - exclamation dated used to express annoyance, impatience, or disgust

poco - adjective Italian little

pompon - alternative spelling of pom-pom

porter¹ - noun 2 dark brown bitter beer brewed from malt partly charred or browned by drying at a high temperature [originally made as a drink for porters]

post² - noun 1 chiefly British the official service or system that delivers letters and parcels: winners will be notified by post; the tickets are in the post

• letters and parcels delivered: she was opening her post
  
• [in singular] a single collection or delivery of mail: entries must be received no later than first post on 14 June
  

post² - verb 1 chiefly British send (a letter or parcel) via the postal system: I've just been to post a letter; post off your order form today

In Canada, one would not expect to see post used as a noun in this sense. However, it would not be all that unusual to see it used as a verb.

postal vote - noun British a vote sent in by post rather than cast in person

pot¹ - noun 3 [almost certainly British] informal a prize in a sporting contest, especially a silver cup

At the Free Dictionary Online, this meaning appears in Collins English Dictionary, but not in the American Heritage Dictionary. Furthermore, it appears in the U.K. version of Encarta, but not in the U.S. version.

pound¹ - noun 2 (also pound sterling) (plural pounds sterling) the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence

Potteries (Staffordshire Potteries) - generic term for the industrial area encompassing the six towns (Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton) that now make up Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire, England.

The Staffordshire Potteries became a centre of ceramic production in the 17th century due to the local availability of clay, salt, lead and coal. Hundreds of companies produced decorative or industrial ceramic items.

Prado - the Spanish national art gallery in Madrid, established in 1818

prep¹ - noun informal British (in an independent school) schoolwork that is set to be done outside normal school hours [Note: an independent school is one that has traditionally been known in Britain as a public school, but would be called a private school in North America]

pressie - noun British informal a present

private means - plural noun British income from investments, property, or inheritance, as opposed to earned income or state benefit

private practice - noun  [2^nd entry] British medical practice that is not part of the National Health Service

propelling pencil - noun British a pencil with a plastic or metal case and a thin replaceable lead that may be extended as the point is worn away by twisting the outer casing [in North America, known as a mechanical pencil].

"Publish and be damned" - retort of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, to courtesan Harriette Wilson (his former mistress) when informed of her plans to write her memoirs.

Harriette Wilson (1786 - 1845) was a celebrated British Regency courtesan, whose clients included the Prince of Wales, the Lord Chancellor and four future Prime Ministers. Among her other lovers with whom she had a business arrangement was Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who commented "publish, and be damned" when informed of her plans to write her memoirs. Her decision to publish was partly based on the broken promises of her lovers to provide her with an income in her older age. The memoirs are still in print. [If you work the streets of Hintonburg, you are called a prostitute (or worse); if you ply your trade in the bedrooms of the British nobility you are referred to as a courtesan].

r - abbreviation [2^nd entry] (giving position or direction) right: l to r: Evan, Nic, and David

R² - abbreviation [13th entry] Cricket [not to mention baseball] (on scorecards) run(s)

R² - abbreviation 7 rupee

RA - abbreviation [3^rd entry] (in the UK) Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy

Royal Academy of the Arts (also Royal Academy) - an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose was to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. Sir Joshua Reynolds was its first president and he instituted a highly influential series of annual lectures.

RA - abbreviation [5^th entry] (in the UK) Royal Artillery

rabbit - noun 2 British informal a conversation: we had quite a heated rabbit about it [from rabbit and pork, rhyming slang for ‘talk’]

Yes, as pronounced by a Brit, pork really does rhyme with talk - you can listen for yourself at TheFreeDictionary.com (pork, talk).

rabbit - British informal

• noun 2 a conversation: we had quite a heated rabbit about it
• verb 2 talk at length, especially about trivial matters:stop rabbiting on, will you, and go to bed!

The expression derives from rabbit and pork, rhyming slang for ‘talk’. Yes, apparently the Brits (or some of them, at least) do pronounce 'talk' to rhyme with 'pork'. You can judge for yourself from the pronunciation examples to be found here: pork, talk.

RAC - abbreviation (in the UK) Royal Automobile Club, a private "gentlemen's club" whose main clubhouse is located on Pall Mall in London. Like most other "gentlemen's clubs" in London today, the Royal Automobile Club now has women as well as men as members.

RAC plc - a breakdown company in the United Kingdom supplying products and services for motorists. Its predecessor organization was originally established by the Royal Automobile Club, who sold it to Lex Service plc in 1999. In 2005 RAC plc was bought by Aviva.

rag² - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 1. British a boisterous practical joke, esp one on a fellow student

raga - noun

• (in Indian classical music) each of the six basic musical modes which express different moods in certain characteristic progressions, with more emphasis placed on some notes than others
• a piece using a particular raga

ramp - noun 4 British informal a swindle, especially one involving a fraudulent increase of the price of a share; verb 4 [with object] British drive up the price of (a company's shares) in order to gain a financial advantage [late 20th century: of unknown origin; a 19th-century slang use of the term was ‘rob, swindle’]

rate - verb 2 [4^th entry] [probably British] informal have a high opinion of: Mike certainly rated her, goodness knows why

rating² - noun dated an angry reprimand

Rd - abbreviation Road (used in street names)

re¹ - preposition

• in the matter of (used typically as the first word in the heading of an official document or to introduce a reference in a formal letter): re: invoice 87
• about; concerning: I saw the deputy head re the incident

RE - abbreviation religious education (as a school subject)

RE - abbreviation (in the UK) Royal Engineers, the field engineering and construction corps of the British army

read - verb 5 chiefly British study (an academic subject) at a university: I'm reading English at Cambridge; [no object] he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics.

Reader - noun 4 British a university lecturer of the highest grade below professor

real ale - noun British cask-conditioned beer that is served traditionally, without additional gas pressure.

Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1973 for a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".

(The) Red Flag - a protest song associated with left-wing politics, in particular with socialism. It is the semi-official anthem of the British Labour Party, sung at the end of conference, as well as the official anthem of the Irish Labour Party (Ireland) and sung at the close of national conference.

A rather more unlikely possibility (though one that actually better matches the wordplay, as it has no "the" in the title) would be Red Flag - the second single released from the Canadian rock group Billy Talent's second album, Billy Talent II - which reached Number 49 on the UK Singles Chart in 2006.

redcap - noun 1 British informal a member of the military police 2 North American a railway porter

refresher - noun 2 Law, British an extra fee payable to counsel in a prolonged case

REME - abbreviation (in the British army) Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

rep³ - (also repp) a fabric with a ribbed surface, used in curtains and upholstery.

repro - colloquial noun short form of reproduction

Reynard - noun literary a name for a fox

ring binder - noun British a loose-leaf binder with ring-shaped clasps that can be opened to pass through holes in the paper.

RN - abbreviation (in the UK) Royal Navy

roc - noun a gigantic mythological bird described in the Arabian Nights.

roe¹ - noun

• (also hard roe) the mass of eggs contained in the ovaries of a female fish or shellfish, especially when ripe and used as food; the full ovaries themselves
• (soft roe) the ripe testes of a male fish, especially when used as food

Roedean School - an independent girls' school in Roedean village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex in the United Kingdom.

[Note: An independent school is what has traditionally been known as a public school in Britain, and would be called a private school in North America.]

Romeo - noun 3 communications in the NATO alphabet: the word used to denote the letter 'R'

Romeo - noun 2 a code word representing the letter R, used in radio communication

rosella - noun an Australian parakeet with vivid green, red, yellow, or blue plumage. Genus Platycercus, family Psittacidae: several species

rouble - (also chiefly North American ruble) noun the basic monetary unit of Russia and some other former republics of the USSR, equal to 100 kopeks

RR - abbreviation Right Reverend, adjective a title given to a bishop, especially in the Anglican Church

rubber - noun

• 2 British a piece of rubber used for erasing pencil or ink marks: a pencil with a rubber at the end [in North America, known as an eraser]
• 3 (rubbers) North American rubber boots; galoshes
• 4 North American informal a condom

rubicon - noun a point of no return: on the way to political union we are now crossing the Rubicon

The Rubicon is a stream in NE Italy which marked the ancient boundary between Italy and Cisalpine Gaul. Julius Caesar led his army across it into Italy in 49 bc , breaking the law forbidding a general to lead an army out of his province, and so committing himself to war against the Senate and Pompey. The ensuing civil war resulted in victory for Caesar after three years.

rum² - adjective British informal, dated odd; peculiar: it's a rum business, certainly

s - abbreviation [1^st entry] second(s)


s - abbreviation [3^rd entry] shilling(s)

S or s - U.K. money shillings [Latin solidi]

s - abbreviation [6^th entry] (in genealogies) son(s)

S² - abbreviation [3^rd entry] small (as a clothes size)


S² - abbreviation 1 Sabbath. 2 Saint. 3 schilling (Austrian currency). 4 Siemens. 5 Society. 6 South. 7 IVR Sweden.


SA - abbreviation [2^nd entry] informal, dated sex appeal.

Sandwich - a historic town and civil parish on the River Stour in the Non-metropolitan district of Dover, within the ceremonial county of Kent, south-east England

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, PC, FRS (1718 – 1792) - British statesman who held various military and political offices, including Postmaster General, First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for the Northern Department, but is perhaps best known for the claim that he invented the modern concept of the sandwich.

satnav - noun navigation dependent on information received from satellites (more commonly known in North America as GPS)

SE - abbreviation south-east or south-eastern

semi - noun informal 1 British a semi-detached house: a three-bedroomed semi

sequential art - an art form using a train of images deployed in sequence

service tree - noun a Eurasian tree of the rose family, closely related to the rowan.

• Genus Sorbus, family Rosaceae: the southern European true service tree (S. domestica), with compound leaves and green-brown fruits that are edible when overripe, and the wild service tree (S. torminalis), with lobed leaves and brown berries

Settle - a small market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England

shambolic - adjective informal, chiefly British chaotic, disorganized, or mismanaged: the department's shambolic accounting.

shedload - noun British informal a large amount or number [Origin: (1990s) from  shed  + load; perhaps euphemistic after shitload]
sheila - noun Australian /NZ informal a girl or woman

side - noun 5 [2^nd entry] British a sports team

side - noun 7 British informal a television channel considered as one of two or more that are available: what's on the other side?

Sierra - noun 2 communications in the NATO alphabet: the word used to denote the letter 'S'

(Long John) Silver - a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

sitter - noun 3 British informal (in sport) an easy catch or shot

slate - verb 2 British informal criticize severely: his work was slated by the critics

sneak - noun informal 1 [1^st entry] British (especially in children‘s use) someone who informs an adult or person in authority of a companion’s misdeeds; a telltale [Note: North American tattletale]
sniffy - adjective informal scornful; contemptuous: some people are sniffy about tea bags

soft soap - noun 2 informal persuasive flattery

South East - in popular British parlance, a vaguely defined region consisting of London and surrounding areas, located in the south-eastern portion of England.

Officially, South East England is one of the nine regions of England, designated in 1994. It comprises counties situated to the south and west of London, but does not include London. As Wikipedia observes, "Before the creation of the current region, the idea that London was not in the south-east of England would have seemed ridiculous."

South West England - one of the nine official Regions of England, comprising  Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

spot cash - noun colloquial money that is paid there and then

SP (sp.) - abbreviation 2 special

spiv - noun British informal a man, typically a flashy dresser, who makes a living by disreputable dealings

snout - noun 3 British informal a police informer

squash¹ - noun 2 British a concentrated liquid made from fruit juice and sugar, which is diluted to make a drink: orange squash

st - abbreviation [1^st entry] stone (in weight), noun 4 (plural same) British a unit of weight equal to 14 lb (6.35 kg): I weighed 10 stone

St - abbreviation [1^st entry] Saint: St George

St - abbreviation [2^nd entry] (usually St.) Street: 10 Downing St

staggers - plural noun [usually treated as singular] [1^st entry] any of several parasitic or acute deficiency diseases of farm animals characterized by staggering or loss of balance.

starter - 3 chiefly British the first course of a meal. [In Canada, one may find this term used in some restaurants].

stitch-up - noun British informal an act of placing someone in a position in which they will be wrongly blamed for something, or of manipulating a situation to one's advantage

stone - noun 4 (plural same) British a unit of weight equal to 14 lb (6.35 kg): I weighed 10 stone

stop - noun 1 British dated a punctuation mark, especially a full stop

full stop - noun British a punctuation mark (. ) used at the end of a sentence or an abbreviation

stoppages - 3 British deductions from one's wages by an employer for the payment of tax, National Insurance, and other costs: £6.40 an hour before stoppages

storksbill - noun a European plant related to the cranesbill, with small pink flowers and fruits that have long twisted beaks. Genus Erodium, family Geraniaceae.

striker - noun 2 [2^nd entry] (chiefly in soccer) a forward or attacker.

strop² - noun [usually in singular] British informal a bad mood; a temper: Nathalie gets in a strop and makes to leave

sundowner - noun 1 British informal an alcoholic drink taken at sunset

sup¹ - noun

• a sip of liquid: he took another sup of wine
• Northern English & Irish alcoholic drink

super - noun informal 1 a superintendent.

superintendent - noun

• a person who manages or superintends an organization or activity.
  
• (in the UK) a police officer ranking above chief inspector.
  
• (in the US) a high-ranking official, especially the chief of a police department.
  
• North American the caretaker of a building.
  

suspender - noun

• 1 (usually suspenders) British an elastic strap attached to a belt or garter, fastened to the top of a stocking to hold it up
• 2 (suspenders) North American a pair of braces for holding up trousers

Sussex - a former county of southern England [south of London, bordering the English Channel]. It was divided in 1974 into the counties of East Sussex and West Sussex.

v or v. - abbreviation 1 velocity. 2 verb. 3 versus. 4 very. 5 vide (Latin), see, refer to. 6 volume.

t (2) - symbol 1. physics time

TA - abbreviation (in the UK) Territorial Army, a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

TA - abbreviation Territorial Army noun in the UK: a fully trained volunteer force intended to provide back-up to the regular army in cases of emergency.

(River) Taff - a large river in Wales, arising as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Taf Fechan (Little Taff) and the Taf Fawr (Big Taff) — before joining to form the Taff north of Merthyr Tydfil

takeaway - noun

• 1 British a restaurant or shop selling cooked food to be eaten elsewhere: 
  
  • a fast-food takeaway 
  • [as modifier]: a takeaway pizza
• a meal or dish bought from a shop or restaurant to be eaten elsewhere

tally-ho - exclamation [fox hunting] a huntsman's cry to the hounds on sighting a fox

taster - noun 2 British a small quantity or brief experience of something, intended as a sample: the song is a taster for the band's new LP

Tate Gallery - a national museum of art at Millbank, London [England], founded in 1897 by the sugar manufacturer Sir Henry Tate (1819–99) to house his collection of modern British paintings, as a nucleus for a permanent national collection of modern art. It was renamed Tate Britain in 2000, when the new Tate Modern gallery opened.

tar² - noun informal, dated a sailor.

Templar - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 2. (Law) (sometimes not capital) British a lawyer, especially a barrister, who lives or has chambers in the Inner or Middle Temple in London
Tempranillo - noun

• a variety of wine grape grown in Spain, used to make Rioja wine
• a red wine made from the Tempranillo grape

terminus - noun 1 chiefly British the end of a railway or other transport route, or a station at such a point ; a terminal

• an oil or gas terminal

Terylene - noun British trademark an artificial textile fibre made from a polyester, used to make light, crease-resistant clothing, bed linen, and sails. Origin: (1940s) formed by inversion of (polyeth)ylene ter(ephthalate).

Test¹ - noun 2 short for Test match, an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries: the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies

tester² - noun a canopy over a four-poster bed

tester³ - [Collins English Dictionary] noun another name for teston², an English silver coin of the 16th century, originally worth one shilling, bearing the head of Henry VIII

tick¹ - noun 2 [2^nd entry] British informal a moment: I shan't be a tick; I'll be with you in a tick

time - noun 2 [15^th entry] British the moment at which the opening hours of a pub end: the landlord called time

tin - noun 1 [3^rd entry] British informal, dated money.

Tippex (also Tipp-Ex) - noun British trademark a type of correction fluid

tip² - noun 1 British a place where rubbish is left [Note: In Canada, rubbish would more likely be called garbage and a tip would definitely be a dump. However, the dump might charge a tipping fee to deposit garbage there.]

titch - noun British informal a small person

Tommy - noun (plural Tommies) informal 1 a British private soldier [pet form of the given name Thomas; from a use of the name Thomas Atkins in specimens of completed official forms in the British army during the 19th century]

ton² - noun fashionable style or distinction: riches and fame were no guarantee of a ticket — one had to have ton; Origin: French, from Latin tonus (see tone)

ton² - 3. donner le ton: French phrase meaning "to set the tone" or "to set the fashion"

traveller - noun (usually Traveller) British a Gypsy or other nomadic person

trifle - verb (derivative noun trifler) 2 archaic talk or act frivolously: we will not trifle — life is too short; (trifle something away) waste something, especially time, frivolously.

tronc - noun Possibly British (in a hotel or restaurant) a common fund into which tips and service charges are paid for distribution to the staff.

tum - noun, Brit colloq the stomach

turnpike - [Collins English Dictionary] noun

1. Historical (between the mid-16th and late 19th centuries)
• a.  gates or some other barrier set across a road to prevent passage until a toll had been paid.
• b.  a road on which a turnpike was operated.
2. an obsolete word for turnstile [1].
3. US a motorway for use of which a toll is charged.

Tyneside - an industrial conurbation on the banks of the River Tyne, in NE England, stretching from Newcastle upon Tyne to the coast

tyre - noun automotive U.K. spelling of  tire³

U² - abbreviation [2^nd entry] British universal (denoting films classified as suitable without restriction)

U³ = abbreviation 1 unionist

U³ - adjective British informal (of language or social behaviour) characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes: U manners. [consequently superior]

U (5) - abbreviation 2. Education university.

ulster- noun a man's long, loose overcoat of rough cloth, typically with a belt at the back; Origin: (late 19th century) from  Ulster, where it was originally sold

umbles - (also numbles) noun archaic the entrails of an animal, especially a deer, as used for food.

up - adverb 4 [2^nd entry] British at or to a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge: they were up at Cambridge about the same time

(River) Ure - a river in North Yorkshire, England, approximately 119km long from its source to the point where it changes name to the River Ouse

v - abbreviation [4th entry] versus

variety - noun 1 [4^th entry] [seemingly British] a form of television or theatre entertainment consisting of a series of different types of act, such as singing, dancing, and comedy: [as modifier] a variety show.


W¹ or w - noun the twenty-third letter of the English alphabet.

W² - symbol, Chemistry the element called tungsten or wolfram.

W³ - abbreviation 1 watt. 2 Welsh. 3 West. 4 Western. 5 winter. 6 women. 7 said of clothing size: women's. 8 won, the Korean currency unit. 9 physics work.


w - abbreviation 1 week. 2 weight. 3 cricket wicket. 4 wide. 5 width. 6 wife. 7 with.

wake¹ - noun [Collins English Dictionary]

• 3. the patronal or dedication festival of English parish churches
• 5. (usually plural) an annual holiday in any of various towns in northern England, when the local factory or factories close, usually for a week or two weeks

Warwickshire - a county in the West Midlands region of England. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are Warks or Warwicks. [Apparently, a less commonly used abbreviation is War.]

Westminster - an inner London borough which contains the Houses of Parliament and many government offices; full name City of Westminster

whip - verb 4 British informal steal (something): the escaper had whipped his overcoat

WI - abbreviation [3^rd entry] British [but hardly entirely British] Women's Institute, an organization of women, especially in rural areas, who meet regularly and participate in crafts, cultural activities, and social work. Now worldwide, it was first set up in Ontario, Canada, in 1897, and in Britain in 1915.

wide - noun (also wide ball) Cricket a ball that is judged to be too wide of the stumps for the batsman to play, for which an extra [for definition, see below] is awarded to the batting side.

Zaragoza - Spanish name for Saragossa, a city in northern Spain, capital of Aragon, situated on the River Ebro; population 666,129 (2008).

Zaragoza suffered two famous sieges during the Peninsular War against Napoleonic army: a first from June to August 1808; and a second from December 1808 to February 1809 (see Agustina de Aragón, Siege of Saragossa (1809)), surrendering only after some 50,000 defenders had died.