Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 161 results in 161 entries
1. A, n. View full entry OE
...The letter, and the sound it represents....
2. ace, n.1 and adj. (and int.) View full entry ?a1300
...A single point in a game, and related uses....
3. active, adj. and n. View full entry 1340
...Of a way or style of life: characterized by outward action rather than inward contemplation or speculation; practical. Esp. in active life, and chiefly in religious contexts. Opposed to ...
4. adam's fig, n. View full entry c1602
...The fruit of any of several plants of the genus Musa; a banana or plantain. Also (in full Adam's fig tree) the plant itself. Now hist....
5. after-, prefix View full entry eOE
...Combinations in which after- is adjectival or adverbial, and indicates that the second element refers to something that comes behind or afterwards, or an action that is performed later....
6. agterryer, n. View full entry 1824
...A mounted groom or other attendant; a military servant or batman, responsible esp. for the supervision of supplies and horses; = after-riderafter-3. Now hist....
7. amapakati, n. View full entry 1833
...With sing. and pl. concord. In traditional Nguni societies: the council or inner circle of advisers of a chief or other eminent person; the members of this council,...
8. Americani, n. View full entry 1881
...A kind of (inferior, typically unbleached) cotton cloth, originally as exported by American traders to East Africa. Cf. Merikani, American cloth(b)American3a....
9. bastard, n. and adj. View full entry 1297
...One begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate or natural child....
10. bioscope, n. View full entry 1812
...A circular scale for representing a person's life, having seventy divisions corresponding to seventy years (ten of which represent one of the seven supposed stages of human life), with a pointer for...
11. black, adj. and n. View full entry eOE
...Designating the darkest colour possible, that of soot, coal, the sky on a moonless night in open country, and a small hole in a hollow object; of or having this colour; (also)...
12. black jack, n.2 View full entry c1540
...A large, tar-coated leather jug for beer. Cf. black bowlblack5a. Now hist....
13. black spot, n. View full entry 1832
...A place or area of anxiety or danger; spec. (in later use) a section of a road noted for accidents; (also) an area where crime is prevalent. See also ...
14. black-tail, n. View full entry 1601
...Any of various fishes with black tails....
15. Boer, n. View full entry 1834
...A Dutch-speaking colonist in South Africa, esp. one engaged in agriculture or cattle-farming (now hist.); an Afrikaner....
16. burgher, n. View full entry ?1555
...An inhabitant of a burgh, borough, or corporate town; a citizen. Chiefly used of continental towns, but also of English boroughs, in a sense less technical than burgess. Now somewhat...
17. cancer, n. and adj. View full entry c1392
...In form Cancer....
18. colour bar | color bar, n. View full entry 1869
...A system within a society, organization, etc., which denies black and other non-white people access to the same rights, opportunities, and facilities as white people....
19. coloured | colored, adj. and n. View full entry a1325
...Having a colour or colours; that is or has been coloured. Also as the second element in compounds....
20. commando, n. View full entry 1791
...S. Afr....
