cstr/en-wiktionary-extracted-all huggingface dataset:
haywire
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/
Forms: form: haywires
Etymology: From hay + wire.
The original meaning of 'likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart', as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., "he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire."
Senses: examples: text: MOWERS AND HAY RAKES, HAY PRESSES, HAY TIES AND HAY WIRE.
ref: 1886 May 6, W. A. Huffman Implement Company, “Superior Lawn Mowers!”, in Fort Worth Daily Gazette, page 7:
glosses: Wire used to bind bales of hay.
Synonyms: baler twine
Related terms: spit and baling wire
haywire
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/
Forms: form: more haywire
form: most haywire
Etymology: From hay + wire.
The original meaning of 'likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart', as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., "he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire."
Senses: glosses: Roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit (from the use of haywire for temporary repairs).
examples: text: It was working fine until it went haywire and wouldn't stop printing blank sheets.
text: Those kids go haywire when they don't get what they want.
text: The engineer who makes of his calling a burden, who sees nothing but the wrong, or imposition as he may term it, who fancies perhaps that the whole world has conspired against him, who commences to damn things as soon as he appears upon the scene of his labors, and continues to damn everything, including his train crew, the engine, the officers, and almost everything, animate and inanimate, while making the round trip, is working out his own destiny, and it is but charitable to say of such a man that he is not well, his digestion has gone " hay wire " as it were.
ref: 1905 May 24, J. W. Reading, “Engine Failures”, in Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Monthly Journal, volume XXXIX, number 5, page 423:
text: "I got phone orders at Tuolumne Meadows to pack up and come over Sunrise Trail. Started at sunrise. Everything haywire, including cranky pack horse which kept getting off trail. Phoned in at Vernal Falls station. Ordered to hurry down, help catch two auto thieves which broke jail just after breakfast. Assigned to guard Coulterville Road.
ref: 1928, Horace Marden Albright, Frank J. Taylor, chapter 1, in "Oh, Ranger!": A Book about the National Parks, page 1:
text: Temperatures soared—the seas warmed by as much as eighteen degrees—and the chemistry of the oceans went haywire, as if in an out-of-control aquarium.
ref: 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 103:
glosses: Behaviorally erratic or uncontrollable, especially of a machine or mechanical process.
Derived terms: go haywire
haywireness
haywire
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/
Forms: form: haywires
form: haywiring
form: haywired
form: haywired
Etymology: From hay + wire.
The original meaning of 'likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart', as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., "he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire."
Senses: glosses: To attach or fix with haywire.
Related terms: word: come unglued
word: tearing up Jack
word: lose one's cool
english: emotionally
translation: emotionally
word: blow up
english: emotionally
translation: emotionally
word: go bonkers
talk a blue streak
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: talks a blue streak
form: talking a blue streak
form: talked a blue streak
form: talked a blue streak
Senses: examples: text: She's normally a quiet person, but she will talk a blue streak about fashion, if you let her.
text: talking a blue streak two miles to her house
ref: 1895, Susan Hale, Letters, published 1919, page 289:
text: Some days, I'd sit with Jason reading the Times in the living room and I'd talk a blue streak, presenting him with all my theories about, say, the deterioration of the American family in the late twentieth century and how it all relates to the decline of an agrarian society.
ref: 1994, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America, Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN, pages 4–5:
text: Don't know. Even if I wanted to know, couldn't get a word in with Lashawn long enough to ask. Woman talks a blue streak.
ref: 2005, Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain, spoken by Randall Malone (David Harbour):
glosses: To talk for a long duration of time, at a rapid pace without giving others a chance to speak, or to the point of tedium.
Related terms: blue streak
talk nineteen to the dozen
menstruate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɛnstɹʊeɪt/
ipa: /ˌmɛnstɹuˈeɪt/
ipa: /ˈmɛnstɹəˌweɪt/
ipa: /ˌmɛnˈstɹeɪt/
rhymes: -eɪt
Forms: form: menstruates
form: menstruating
form: menstruated
form: menstruated
form: menstrate
Etymology: From menstruum + -ate (verb-forming suffix); sense 2 (“to undergo menstruation”) is possibly a back-formation from menstruation.
Senses: glosses: To stain with or as if with menses.
examples: text: A woman may have every quality or attribute of marriageableness who menstruates irregularly, or rarely, or even who has never menstruated at all.
ref: 1884, The Medical Age, volume 2, page 358:
text: Among the ancient Iranians, the puerpera, like the menstruating woman, was regarded as "unclean".
ref: 1885, Hermann Heinrich Ploss, Max Bartels, Paul Bartels, translated by Eric John Dingwall, Woman: an historical, gynæcological and anthropological compendium, page 150:
text: Fortunately, there’s early signs of a “wokelash” from institutions that won’t cower to this nonsense. When staff at publisher Hachette threatened to down tools because they regarded JK Rowling as a toxic transphobe for a tweet mocking “people” who menstruate instead of “women”, management pushed back saying they couldn’t refuse to work on a book because they disagree with the author’s views.
ref: 2021 November 20, Angela Mollard, “Gen Z cancelling musical Grease is disappointing”, in The Daily Telegraph, Surrey Hills, N.S.W:
synonyms: be on one's period
be on the rag
glosses: To undergo menstruation, to have a period.
Derived terms: femstruate
menstruater
nonmenstruating
unmenstruating
Related terms: menstrual
menstruation
menstruator
menstruous
menstruate
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɛnstɹʊeɪt/
ipa: /ˌmɛnstɹuˈeɪt/
ipa: /ˈmɛnstɹəˌweɪt/
ipa: /ˌmɛnˈstɹeɪt/
rhymes: -eɪt
Etymology: From menstruum + -ate (adjective-forming usffix).
Senses: glosses: Menstrual.
put the kibosh on
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: puts the kibosh on
form: putting the kibosh on
form: put the kibosh on
form: put the kibosh on
Etymology: See kibosh.
Senses: examples: text: Someone really needs to go put the kibosh on that noisy party.
text: ("Hoo-roa," ejaculates a pot-boy in a parenthesis, "put the kye-bosh on her, Mary.")
ref: 1837, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. The Second Series, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, chapter SEVEN DIALS, page 149:
text: For Belgium put the kibosh on the Kaiser; / Europe took the stick and made him sore; / On his throne it hurts to sit, / And when John Bull starts to hit, / He will never sit upon it any more.
ref: 1914, Mark Sheridan, “Belgium Put the Kibosh on the Kaiser”:
text: I'm not sure how it became a trope to call second albums "sophomore." But if Olivia Rodrigo's debut, Sour, hadn't become one of the biggest releases of 2021, winning her a Grammy for best new artist and putting the kibosh on her post–high school plans, the 20-year-old might be a literal sophomore now.
ref: 2023 September 8, Carl Wilson, “The Olivia Rodrigo–Taylor Swift "Beef" Is Really About Something Deeper”, in Slate, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2023:
glosses: To halt, stop, or squelch.
deadhead
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdɛdhɛd/
rhymes: -ɛdhɛd
Forms: form: deadheads
form: deadheading
form: deadheaded
form: deadheaded
Etymology: From dead + head. Some senses are derived from theater jargon (originally spelled dead head) for audience members admitted without paying, which probably arose in analogy to dead weight or deadwood in reference to their lack of contribution to revenue or in reference to their unenthusiastic (dead) response to performances. Perhaps even from Latin caput mortuum, alchemy term for distillation residue. As Paul Quinion writes: Similarly, the term was applied to a dull or lazy person, one who contributes nothing to an enterprise, only in the early years of the twentieth century, well after the theatrical and transport senses had become well established.
Senses: examples: text: […] the "puffing" system in criticism, whereby newspaper people were deadheaded in exchange for complimentary notices.
ref: 1960, Dissertation Abstracts, volume 20, page 2811:
glosses: To admit to a performance without charge.
glosses: To travel as a deadhead, or non-paying passenger.
examples: text: Kit had fallen into conversation with a footplate man who was deadheading back out to Samarkand, where he lived with his wife and children.
ref: 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 845:
glosses: To drive an empty vehicle.
examples: text: Washington suggested that she get some old friend of the family to come with her, and said the Senator would “deadhead” him home again as soon as he had grown tired, of the sights of the capital.
ref: 1873, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age, Part 4.:
text: He said that if the operator had taken $800 and sent the message at the regular rate, which was twenty-five cents, it would have been all right, as the Jew would be punished for trying to bribe a military operator; but when the operator took the $800 and then sent the message deadhead, he couldn't stand it, and he would never relent.
ref: 1910, Frank Lewis Dyer, Thomas Commerford Martin, Edison, His Life and Inventions:
text: 1934, Lester Dent (as Kenneth Robeson), Brand Of The Werewolf, A Doc Savage Adventure
“I'll deadhead the message for you, Mr. Savage. It won't cost a thing.”
glosses: To send (a person or message) for free.
examples: text: If you deadhead your roses regularly, they will bloom all season.
topics: agriculture
business
horticulture
lifestyle
glosses: (transitive) To remove spent or dead blossoms from a plant.
everybody and his cousin
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: examples: text: Everybody and his cousin will be in line for opening night with free popcorn!
glosses: Synonym of everybody and his brother.
synonyms: word: everybody and his brother
talk turkey
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: talks turkey
form: talking turkey
form: talked turkey
form: talked turkey
Senses: examples: text: An Erie car loaded with live turkeys . . . was delivered to the New-York and New-England Railroad yesterday. . . . This first cargo is symbolical of the fact that they will be able hereafter to "talk turkey" to all competitors for New-England business.
ref: 1881 December 13, “The Erie to ‘Talk Turkey’”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 Oct 2008, page 8:
text: I'm here to talk turkey. What's your price?
ref: 1918, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 19, in The Valley of the Giants:
text: This will mean talking turkey about the timing of steps for each side to take, and verification measures.
ref: 2005 July 13, “Opinion: Korean advance”, in International Herald Tribune, retrieved 21 Oct 2008:
glosses: To talk or negotiate plainly, frankly, or seriously.
Synonyms: get to the point
wash out
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: washes out
form: washing out
form: washed out
form: washed out
Etymology: From wash + out.
Senses: examples: text: We must wash out the bins; they are full of maggots.
text: This engine, and the branch engine, were washed out regularly after six days' work by the pumpman (but not on a Monday) the spare engine being used to cover their normal duties on such occasions.
ref: 1952 February, J Pelham Maitland, “Locomotive Working on Sussex Branches Fifty Years Ago”, in Railway Magazine, page 83:
glosses: To wash the inside of something.
examples: He washed out the stain.
glosses: To remove something by washing.
examples: That stain washed out easily.
glosses: To be removed by washing.
examples: text: The sandcastle was washed out by the tide.
text: The railway, which is single track throughout, skirts the left bank of the estuary of the River Colne, and was washed out over a length of about three miles.
ref: 1953 December, “Brightlingsea trains to be Restored”, in Railway Magazine, page 793:
text: Storm Jorge on February 29-March 1 washed out lines at Dutton Viaduct, Mountain Ash and around Aberdare.
ref: 2020 August 26, “Network News: Shapps orders rapid review of flash flood resilience from NR”, in RAIL, page 9:
glosses: To wear away by the flow of water; to erode.
examples: The continuous rain washed out the cricket match.
synonyms: rain off
glosses: To cancel due to bad weather.
examples: The rider washed out around that last turn and hit a tree.
glosses: To lose traction while going around a turn, especially in cycling, motorsports and skiing/snowboarding.
glosses: To fail utterly at something one has attempted.
Derived terms: washout
wash-out
cold turkey
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Etymology: Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia.
Senses: glosses: Sudden and complete withdrawal from a dependent substance, especially a drug.
glosses: The physiological effects of such a withdrawal.
topics: government
military
politics
war
synonyms: cold meat
easy target
easy pickings
glosses: Something exposed as a target due to surmountable defense.
cold turkey
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Etymology: Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia.
Senses: examples: text: It is difficult, but possible to quit smoking cold turkey.
text: I knew that, if I had daily access to video games, I would spend literally every day playing them, forever. So I cut myself off, more or less cold turkey, and as a result I was more or less happy and productive.
ref: 2012 April 4, Sam Anderson, “Just One More Game ...”, in The New York Times Magazine:
text: Joan Baez:: ‘I talk to trees to get answers. They give it to you cold turkey’.
ref: 2023 October 5, Rich Pelley, “Joan Baez: ‘I talk to trees to get answers. They give it to you cold turkey’”, in The Guardian, UK:
glosses: Not gradually; all at once. Refers especially to quitting a habit by force of will rather than by a gradual reduction.
cold turkey
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: cold turkeys
form: cold turkeying
form: cold turkeyed
form: cold turkeyed
Etymology: Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia.
Senses: glosses: To undergo sudden and complete withdrawal from a dependent substance, especially a drug.
washroom
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɒʃrʊm/
ipa: /ˈwɒʃruːm/
Forms: form: washrooms
Etymology: From wash + room in reference to its sinks, but generally used euphemistically outside of Canada and the United States.
Senses: examples: text: Bright, modern offices, washrooms and messrooms are located in the centre block.
ref: 1960 December, “New G.E. Line diesel loco maintenance depot at Stratford”, in Trains Illustrated, page 767:
glosses: A room intended to wash the face and hands.
glosses: A room with a toilet, particularly a public toilet.
Synonyms: sense: room with a sink
word: lavatory
sense: room with a toilet
word: bathroom
Hypernyms: room
Derived terms: go to the washroom
use the washroom
washstand
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: washstands
Etymology: From wash + stand.
Senses: examples: text: The less quality the more saleable they were. An abhorrent-looking stained oak wash-stand with a marble top and inset tiles, or a sideboard with bevelled mirrors in the back, or an enamelled wardrobe with stamped wood panels were much preferred to comparatively innocuous examples of the same articles in plain wood.
ref: 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 70:
topics: furniture
lifestyle
synonyms: commode
glosses: A table containing a basin and a pitcher of water for washing.
examples: text: Washstand in an Electric Garage. […] In a few garages arrangements are made for washing cars in any position on the storage floor, so that it is not necessary to move them on to and off the washrack.
ref: 1916, Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade Magazine:
glosses: In a stable or garage, a place in the floor prepared so that carriages or automobiles may be washed there and the water run off.
Synonyms: washhand-stand
Coordinate terms: sense: table
word: dry sink
Related terms: english: sometimes coinstantial
translation: sometimes coinstantial
word: nightstand
wastage
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈweɪstɪdʒ/
Forms: form: wastages
Etymology: From waste + -age.
Senses: examples: text: The average wastage is 1.5% in the grocery department.
text: wastage from fruits and vegetables is estimated at 4.58%–15.88%
ref: 2022, Sunita Varjani, Ashok Pandey, Mohammad Taherzadeh, Biomass, Biofuels, Biochemicals: Circular Bioeconomy:
text: Likewise, the menopause market is obsessed with muscle wastage, and the possibility that if women don't eat enough protein after the age of 40 their minds will go doolally and their bones will turn to dust.
ref: 2025 August 23, Jo Ellison, “The incredible bulk”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 19:
glosses: The amount or proportion of something that is wasted or lost by deterioration or other natural process.
glosses: The periodical turnover of personnel in an organisation by death, retirement or resignation, as perceived by those aspiring to promotion or appointment in the organisation.
glosses: Anything lost by wear or waste.
glosses: Goods that are damaged, out of date, reduced, or generally unsaleable, which are destined to be thrown away and which are written off as a loss.
topics: hobbies
hunting
lifestyle
glosses: The act of abandoning animal carcasses or parts, usually illegal.
Derived terms: natural wastage
wasted
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wāstʹĭd
ipa: /ˈweɪstɪd/
rhymes: -eɪstɪd
homophone: waisted
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of waste
commis
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɒmi/
ipa: /ˈkɒmɪs/
ipa: /kəˈmi/
homophone: commie
ipa: /kəˈmi/
Forms: form: commis
Etymology: From French commis.
Senses: coordinate_terms: sous-chef
subchef
underchef
subcook
undercook#Noun
chef de partie
station chef
line cook
glosses: An assistant to a chef.
glosses: A deputy or clerk of a foreign official.
voyageurs
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of voyageur
aube
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɔːb/
rhymes: -ɔːb
Forms: form: aubes
Senses: examples: text: For washing eleven aubes and as many head-clothes
ref: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The History of the University of Cambridge, since the Conquest, [London]: [[…] Iohn Williams […]], →OCLC:
glosses: Obsolete form of alb.
room for a pony
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Etymology: From the British television comedy series, Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995), wherein social climber Hyacinth Bucket constantly and variously describes her sister Violet, who married well, as “the one with the […] and room for a pony”.
Senses: examples: text: Eventually he fell in love, and by age twenty was living in a gay couple, complete with house, garden, swimming pool, and room for a pony.
ref: 1996, Gary W. Dowsett, Practicing Desire: Homosexual Sex in the Era of AIDS, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 264:
text: “ […] In the back yard, we have a screened terrace, a swimming pool, a swing set and room for a pony.” His grin was boyish as she, too, smiled at the oblique reference to the popular British comedy ‘Keeping up Appearances’.
ref: 2002, E. T. Rishe, Timeless Acres, iUniverse, 978-0-595-25068-4, page 47
text: One craves the excitement of being right downtown, while the other wants an up-county farmette with a swimming pool and room for a pony.
ref: 2006, Patricia Kennedy, The Irreverent Guide to Real Estate: Buying, Selling and Making Money, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 5:
glosses: minimum trappings of the minor landed gentry
rat runner
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: rat runners
Senses: glosses: A motorist who drives through residential streets to avoid traffic congestion on the main roads.
Related terms: rat running
rat run
manhattan
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: manhattans
Senses: glosses: Alternative spelling of Manhattan (“cocktail”).
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: a bar chart representing the number of runs scored in each over (supposed to resemble a skyline of skyscrapers).
Derived terms: Vanhattan
agar
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈeɪ.ɡə/
ipa: /ˈeɪ.ɡɑː/
ipa: /ˈɑˌɡɑɹ/
ipa: /ˈæ.ɡɚ/
ipa: /ˈeɪˌɡɑɹ/
rhymes: (UK) -eɪɡə
rhymes: (US) -æɡɚ
Forms: form: agars
Etymology: From Malay agar or agar-agar, both meaning jelly.
Senses: glosses: A gelatinous material obtained from red algae, especially Gracilaria species, used as a bacterial culture medium, in electrophoresis and as a food additive.
examples: text: An hour before, he had been in lab, removing from the incubator his boxes of agar plates.
ref: 2020, Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Daunt Books Originals, page 8:
glosses: A culture medium based on this material.
Synonyms: agal-agal
agar-agar
E406 when used as a food additive
Derived terms: agarase
agarized
agarofuran
agarolytic
agaropectin
agarophyte
agarose
MacConkey agar
oligoagar
phytoagar
Sabouraud's agar
trypticase soy agar
violet red bile agar
agar
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈeɪ.ɡə/
ipa: /ˈeɪ.ɡɑː/
ipa: /ˈɑˌɡɑɹ/
ipa: /ˈæ.ɡɚ/
ipa: /ˈeɪˌɡɑɹ/
rhymes: (UK) -eɪɡə
rhymes: (US) -æɡɚ
Forms: form: agars
form: aggur
Etymology: Probably from Hindi अगर (agar), from Sanskrit अगरु (agaru)
Senses: glosses: agarwood
Related terms: agaric
Agarum
waste away
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: wastes away
form: wasting away
form: wasted away
form: wasted away
Senses: examples: text: She watched him waste away from lack of food or exercise.
text: The perennial Arctic ice cap—the sea ice that persists through winter and summer—is wasting away. Over the past half century it has shrunk by more than a million square miles
ref: 2020 April, Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophehttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/04/why-we-wont-avoid-a-climate-catastrophe-feature/”, in National Geographic:
coordinate_terms: pine away
glosses: To lose energy or become weak and feeble.
wasteful
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈweɪstfəl/
rhymes: -eɪstfəl
Forms: form: more wasteful
form: most wasteful
Etymology: From Middle English wastful; equivalent to waste + -ful.
Senses: examples: text: As a narrative, competition of the type seen between the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) and the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) was seen as wasteful, with duplicate routes reflecting an unnecessary use of resources.
ref: 2023 March 8, 'Industry Insider', “The Beeching legacy”, in RAIL, number 978, page 68:
synonyms: word: prodigal
word: profligate
word: extravagant
word: improvident
word: imprudent
word: lavish
word: prodigal
word: profligate
word: reckless
word: spendthrift
word: squandering
word: uneconomical
word: unthrifty
word: wasteful
antonyms: unwasteful
glosses: Inclined to waste or squander money or resources.
examples: text: Shortly vnto the vvaſtefull vvoods ſhe came, / VVhereas ſhe found the Goddeſſe vvith her crevv, […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 17, page 482:
synonyms: word: deserted
word: peopleless
word: beingless
word: desert
word: deserted
word: desolate
word: disinhabited
word: inhabitantless
word: inhabited
word: lifeless
word: peopleless
word: solitary
word: tenantless
word: unhabited
word: uninhabited
word: unoccupied
word: unpeopled
word: unpopulated
word: untenanted
word: vacant
word: wasteful
glosses: Uninhabited, desolate.
Derived terms: wastefully
wastefulness
wastefulness
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: wastefulnesses
Etymology: From Middle English wastfulnes; equivalent to wasteful + -ness.
Senses: examples: text: Arsenal paid the price for that wastefulness when Chelsea took the lead after 14 minutes. Mata was afforded to much space by Santos and when the ponderous Per Mertesacker missed his cross Lampard timed his arrival perfectly to head past Wojciech Szczesny.
ref: 2011 October 29, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 3 - 5 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: imprudent or excessive expenditure or the waste of resources
wastepaper
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈweɪstˌpeɪpɚ/
Forms: form: wastepapers
Etymology: From waste + paper.
Senses: glosses: Unwanted paper that has been discarded.
Derived terms: wastepaper basket
wastepaper bin
Related terms: litter
wastepaper basket
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: wastepaper baskets
Senses: glosses: A small open container for discarded paper etc; a wastebasket.
Synonyms: word: wagger-pagger-bagger
word: wastebasket
word: wastebin
word: wastepaper bin
waste pipe
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: waste pipes
Senses: hypernyms: DWV
glosses: A pipe that carries off liquid waste; a drain or drainpipe.
Related terms: exhaust pipe
waste products
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of waste product
watcher
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɒt͡ʃ.ə/
rhymes: -ɒt͡ʃə(ɹ)
ipa: /ˈwɑ.t͡ʃɚ/
rhymes: -ɑt͡ʃə(ɹ)
ipa: /ˈwɔt͡ʃ.ə/
Forms: form: watchers
Etymology: From Middle English wacchere, wachere, wacher, equivalent to watch + -er.
Senses: glosses: Someone who watches or observes.
Someone who observes something closely for professional reasons, such as an analyst or pundit.
raw_tags: as the final element in compounds
topics: government
politics
glosses: Someone who watches or observes.
A political representative aligned with a candidate sent to observe elections to report on irregularities. A scrutineer.
glosses: Someone who keeps vigil.
glosses: A guard.
examples: text: the Book of Watchers
topics: Christianity
glosses: A kind of angel appointed to watch over the human realm, in particular one of those who became fallen angels and begot the Nephilim.
Derived terms: binge-watcher
bird watcher
chef watcher
China watcher
clock-watcher
clock watcher
firewatcher
hate-watcher
horse-watcher
shark watcher
starwatcher
weight-watcher
whale watcher
watchful
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɒt͡ʃ.fəl/
ipa: /ˈwɔt͡ʃ.fəl/
Forms: form: more watchful
form: most watchful
Etymology: From Middle English waccheful, equivalent to watch + -ful. Compare West Frisian waaks (“watchful”), Dutch waaks, waakzaam (“watchful”), German wachsam (“watchful”), Swedish vaksam (“watchful”).
Senses: examples: text: The teacher kept a watchful eye on her pupils during the school trip.
text: But there was so much at stake that I had to take some risk—though even when I was far away there has never been a day when the Shire has not been guarded by watchful eyes.
ref: 1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “The Shadow of the Past”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published September 1973, →ISBN, page 93:
synonyms: jealous
glosses: Fully observant, vigilant, or aware.
Derived terms: ever-watchful
watchful waiting
watchfully
watchfulness
watchfulness
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: watchfulnesses
Etymology: From watchful + -ness.
Senses: examples: text: Continuous watchfulness is maintained around the clock.
text: The first thing to be undertaken in this weighty work, is a watchfulness over the failings and an inlargement of the dominion, of the Senses.
ref: 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, Preface:
text: 1784, Samuel Johnson, letter addressed to Mr. Langton dated 25 August, 1784, cited in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, 1791, Volume 2, p. 545,
Nights of watchfulness produce torpid days […]
text: Every dark form in the dimness had its ominous quality, its peculiar suggestion of alert watchfulness.
ref: 1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 9”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility, New York, N.Y.: Stone & Kimball, 1896, →OCLC, page 82:
text: The steady rhythm of the engines, the fact that he had been sleeping badly, the boredom of a flight that he had done so many times before and did not want to do again, the long humiliation and unhappiness that was always in the background of his mind, all fought against his watchfulness.
ref: 1944, Neville Shute, chapter 4, in Pastoral, London: Heinemann:
glosses: The state or quality of being watchful; alertness, vigilance or wakefulness.
Related terms: watchful
watchmaker
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɔtʃˌmeɪkə/
Forms: form: watchmakers
Etymology: From watch + maker. Compare clockmaker.
Senses: examples: text: The watchmakers of Switzerland were pioneers of screw machine technology.
hypernyms: horologist
horologer
coordinate_terms: clockmaker
clocksmith
glosses: A craftsperson or company who makes and/or maintains watchs.
examples: text: Near-synonym: clockmaker
text: We have the great watchmaker to thank for these glorious sunrises and sunsets.
topics: human-sciences
lifestyle
philosophy
religion
sciences
glosses: God in His role as the creator according to the watchmaker analogy.
Related terms: watchmaking
watchman
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɒtʃmən/
Forms: form: watchmen
Etymology: From Middle English waccheman, equivalent to watch + -man.
Senses: examples: text: The visits of the watchman to that (then) obscure and ill-inhabited neighborhood were more regulated by his indolence than his duty; and Clarence knew that it would be in vain to listen for his cry or tarry for his assistance.
ref: 1829, Edward Bulwer Lytton, chapter XVIII, in The Disowned:
text: Well, it so happened that Stine and the cook were sitting in their room one evening, mending and darning their things; it was near bedtime, for the watchman had already sung out "Ten o'clock," but somehow the darning and the sewing went on very slowly indeed[.]
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 8:
text: Watchmen are stationed continuously at each end of the bridge, and the main spans are patrolled twice during the night.
ref: 1950 March, H. A. Vallance, “On Foot Across the Forth Bridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 149:
text: In 1972, a night watchman patrolling a hotel-office complex noticed that the basement garage door had been taped open and, attributing this to the carelessness of a maintenance worker earlier that day, peeled the tape off.
ref: 2004 September 5, Laura Miller, “Imagine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2021:
synonyms: watcher
glosses: One set to watch; a person who keeps guard, especially one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night.
Derived terms: night watchman
watchmanly
watchman's clock
watchman's detector
watchmanship
watchman's rattle
Related terms: watchdog
watchout
watch out
watchwoman
security guard
watch over
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: watches over
form: watching over
form: watched over
form: watched over
Senses: examples: text: She stayed up all night to watch over the sick infant.
text: I like to think / (it has to be!) / of a cybernetic ecology / where we are free of our labors / and joined back to nature, / returned to our mammal / brothers and sisters, / and all watched over / by machines of loving grace.
ref: 1967, Richard Brautigan, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace:
glosses: To guard and protect.
Related terms: vigil
watchstrap
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: watchstraps
Etymology: From watch + strap.
Senses: related: word: watch strap
glosses: Synonym of watchband.
synonyms: word: watchband
watchword
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɒt͡ʃwɜː(ɹ)d/
Forms: form: watchwords
Etymology: From Middle English wacche word, wacchworde, morphologically as watch (“guard, sentinel, sentry”) + word.
Senses: examples: text: "How this perpetual gaiety," exclaimed Louis, "jars upon the ear! Good Heaven! is farewell to be said so gladly? I sometimes start when I think upon the hollowness of all that surrounds me. I often wish my eye had the power of searching the inmost depths of the bosoms whose watchword is my name."
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 321:
text: For-ward! be our watchword, Steps and voices joined; / Seek the things before us, Not a look behind.
ref: 1871, “Forward! Be Our Watchword”, Henry Alford (lyrics), Henry Thomas Smart (music):
text: Atrocities of the most vicious kind were justified by the watchwords: "This is war!" "Might is Right." "Necessity knows no law."
ref: 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:
text: We can repay the debt which we owe to our God, to our dead, and to our children only by work — by ceaseless devotion to the responsibilities which lie ahead of us. If I could give you a single watchword for the coming months, that word is: work, work, and more work.
ref: 1945 May, Harry S. Truman, Announcement of Germany's Surrender:
text: It's a peel out the watchword / Just peel out the watchword
ref: 1994, Tori Amos, “Cornflake Girl”, in Under the Pink:
text: The Esk Valley route to Whitby was a classic example: a basic four trains a day service has persisted for decades, with economy the watchword.
ref: 2019 October, James Abbott, “Esk Valley revival”, in Modern Railways, page 76:
synonyms: catchword
byword
maxim
mantra
motto
glosses: A word used as a motto, as expressive of a principle, belief, or rule of action; a rallying cry.
examples: text: a Watchword sufficient for him that is wiſe
ref: 1625, George Sandys, Sacrae heptades:
topics: government
military
politics
war
synonyms: passphrase
password
underword
qualifier: security
glosses: A prearranged reply to the challenge of a sentry or a guard; a password or signal by which friends can be known from enemies.
water closet
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: water closets
form: water-closet
form: watercloset
Senses: synonyms: word: bathroom
word: latrine
word: necessarium
word: toilet
word: toilet room
word: urinal
word: water closet
word: WC
word: cloaca
word: closet
word: jacques
word: kocay
word: siege
word: cludgie
word: neddy
word: netty
word: shield
word: six
word: facilities
word: ladies and gentlemen
word: lavatory
word: lavabo
word: necessary
word: necessary room
word: office
word: office of ease
word: place
word: potty
word: privy
word: small room
word: smallest room
word: throne room
word: cottage
word: geography
word: House of Lords
word: khazi
word: usual offices
word: restroom
word: teahouse
word: tearoom
word: washroom
raw_tags: used in Canada
word: closet of decency
word: closet of ease
word: house of office
word: necessary place
word: purging place
word: vault
word: withdraught
word: wardrobe
word: shitter
word: urination station
word: bog
word: carsey
word: crapper
word: karzy
word: lats
word: lav
word: lavvy
word: loo
word: thunderbox
raw_tags: in Australia
word: can
word: john
word: johnny
word: bogger
word: brasco
word: dike
raw_tags: in New Zealand
word: dunny
raw_tags: in New Zealand
word: jacks
word: jakes
glosses: A room containing a flush toilet.
synonyms: word: big white telephone
word: bog
word: can
word: commode
word: crapper
word: crapper trapper
word: donniker
word: dunny
word: head
word: highway to hell
word: jacks
word: jakes
word: john
word: khazi
word: latrine
word: lav
word: pisser
word: pooper
word: porcelain god
word: porcelain goddess
word: pot
word: potty
word: privy
word: Quincy
word: shitcan
word: shitpot
word: shitter
word: stool
word: throne
word: toilet
word: toot
coordinate_terms: earth closet
glosses: A flush toilet itself.
glosses: Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see water, closet.
Derived terms: sense: as a lavatory
word: closet
word: WC
watercolour
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/
Forms: form: watercolours
form: watercolor
Etymology: From water + colour.
Senses: examples: text: Jim's aunt uses only watercolours to paint her pictures.
coordinate_terms: oil paint
glosses: A water-soluble pigment or paint.
examples: text: Jim's aunt paints beautiful watercolours.
synonyms: aquarelle
glosses: A painting made by using such pigment.
examples: text: I'm not a big fan of watercolour; I much prefer oil painting.
glosses: This kind of painting as a genre.
Derived terms: watercolourist
Related terms: aquatone
watercolour
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/
Forms: form: watercolor
Etymology: From water + colour.
Senses: glosses: Pertaining to the methods or products of watercolor.
watercolour
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/
Forms: form: watercolours
form: watercolouring
form: watercoloured
form: watercoloured
form: watercolor
Etymology: From water + colour.
Senses: glosses: To paint using watercolour
watercress
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɔːtəkɹɛs/
ipa: /ˈwɔtəɹkɹɛs/
Forms: form: watercresses
form: water-cress
form: water cress
Etymology: From Middle English water cresse, water-kresse, watercrasse, water cars, equivalent to water + cress. Cognate with West Frisian waterkers (“watercress”), Dutch waterkers (“watercress”), Swedish vattenkrasse (“watercress”).
Senses: examples: text: A spring wells up in the centre of the village, and watercress beds lie beside the stream running alongside the main street.
ref: 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 178:
glosses: A perennial European herb, Nasturtium officinale, that grows in freshwater streams; used in salads and as a garnish.
glosses: A similar plant, Nasturtium microphyllum.
Derived terms: fool's watercress
watercressed
watercressing
watercressy
gemütlich
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡəˈmytlɪç/
note: anglicized
ipa: /ɡəˈmutlɪk/
enpr: gəmütʹlĭᴋʜ
ipa: /ɡəˈmyːtlɪç/
Forms: form: more gemütlich
form: gemütlicher
form: most gemütlich
form: gemütlichest
form: gemuetlich
form: gemutlich
Etymology: Borrowed from German gemütlich, from Middle High German gemüetlich, from gemüet (“mind, mentality”) + -lich (“-ly”), equivalent to Gemüt (“mind, soul”) + -lich (“-ly”). More at mood, -ly.
Senses: examples: text: Judy told me of its charms because its gemütlich, nineteenth-century naïveté appealed strongly to her; either she was innocent in her tastes or else sophisticated in seeing in this humble little work delights and possibilities the other girls missed.
ref: 1972, Robertson Davies, The Manticore:
text: For several years, the center of her world has been the gemütlich studio of her Eastern European piano teacher, Mr. Bilderbach, and his wife, Anna.
ref: 2001 November 25, Hilton Als, “Unhappy Endings”, in The New Yorker:
text: Underneath all the gemütlich verbs lurks a suggestion that some readers may find chilling: a vision of the “common good” so obvious to Deneen that it’s not up for debate or discussion.
ref: 2023 June 7, Jennifer Szalai, “When ‘Regime Change’ Means Returning America to an Idealized Past”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: Comfortable, cosy, pleasant.
examples: text: The censors cut one in which Judd Hirsch, who plays Mr. Goldblum's gemutlich, Yiddish-spouting father,
ref: 1997 January 26, Judith Miller, “FILM: Making Money Abroad, And Also a Few Enemies”, in New York Times, New York:
glosses: Friendly, genial, cheerful, easy-going.
Related terms: Gemütlichkeit
water flea
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: water fleas
Senses: glosses: Any of various aquatic crustacea of the order Diplostraca, characterised by their jumping or jerky mode of swimming.
waterfront
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: waterfronts
Etymology: From water + front.
Senses: examples: text: With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where, at the end of the dock on which they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks.
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead.
ref: 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:
text: As I waited to meet with Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky, on the 25th floor of an office building in downtown Seattle, I stared out at the city’s waterfront and thought: God fucking damn it.
ref: 2025 May 19, Kate Knibbs, “Bluesky Is Plotting a Total Takeover of the Social Internet”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 19 May 2025:
glosses: The land alongside a body of water.
glosses: The dockland district of a town.
Derived terms: cover the waterfront
topple
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɑpl̩/
ipa: /ˈtɒpl̩/
rhymes: -ɒpəl
Forms: form: topples
form: toppling
form: toppled
form: toppled
Etymology: From top + -le (frequentative verb suffix).
Senses: examples: text: The massed crowds toppled the statue of the former dictator.
glosses: To push or throw over.
glosses: To overturn.
examples: text: to topple one's rival
text: Barla Von: Most people think I deal in finances, but my real currency is knowledge. I trade information and it has made me very wealthy.
Barla Von: But the Shadow Broker is the true master. Every day, he buys and sells secrets that could topple governments, always giving them to the highest bidder.
ref: 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:
text: He now confronts the daunting endeavor of toppling a former president whose belligerence and loyal base of support have discouraged most leading Republicans — including, up to now, Mr. DeSantis — from making frontal attacks against him.
ref: 2023 May 24, Nicholas Nehamas, “Ron DeSantis Joins 2024 Race, Hoping to Topple Trump”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: To overthrow something.
examples: text: The pile of pennies began to topple.
text: […] yonder cloud
That rises upward always higher,
⁠And onward drags a labouring breast,
⁠And topples round the dreary west,
A looming bastion fringed with fire.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 24:
glosses: To totter and fall, or to lean as if about to do so.
Derived terms: topple over
topple
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɑpl̩/
ipa: /ˈtɒpl̩/
rhymes: -ɒpəl
Forms: form: topples
Etymology: From top + -le (frequentative verb suffix).
Senses: glosses: A fall (an instance of falling over).
glosses: A cascade of dominoes falling, such that each fall causes the next domino to topple.
overturn
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈtɜː(ɹ)n/
ipa: /ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌtɜː(ɹ)n/
Forms: form: overturns
form: overturning
form: overturned
form: overturned
Etymology: From Middle English overturnen, equivalent to over- + turn. Compare also Middle English overterven (“to overturn”), see terve.
Senses: examples: text: About three or four minutes later still an express freight on the up main line ran into the wreckage at about 35 m.p.h. Its engine also overturned and 15 more wagons were added to the mounting pile of wreckage.
ref: 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232:
text: We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned.
ref: 2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 33:
glosses: To turn over, capsize or upset.
glosses: To overthrow or destroy.
examples: text: In a report for the Sun on Sunday, Barak claimed that Andrew is consulting lawyers about overturning that settlement.
ref: 2023 January 22, Matthew Weaver, “Ghislaine Maxwell calls Prince Andrew photo with Virginia Giuffre ‘a fake’”, in The Guardian:
text: Harvey was rightfully convicted. It’s unfortunate that the court has overturned his conviction. As a survivor, I am beyond disappointed.
ref: 2024 April 27, Maya Yang, quoting Rosanna Arquette, “Disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein hospitalized”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
topics: law
glosses: To reverse (a decision); to overrule or rescind.
examples: text: Villa spent most of the second period probing from wide areas and had a succession of corners but despite their profligacy they will be glad to overturn the 6-0 hammering they suffered at St James' Park in August following former boss Martin O'Neill's departure
ref: 2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport:
text: There were so many heroes for Leicester on an evening when they played with tremendous courage and belief to overturn the 2-1 deficit from the first leg, yet it was hard to look beyond Kasper Schmeichel for the game’s outstanding performer.
ref: 2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian:
glosses: To diminish the significance of a previous defeat by winning; to make a comeback from.
glosses: To undergo a limnic eruption, where dissolved gas suddenly erupts from the depths.
raw_tags: of a body of water
Derived terms: overturnable
overturner
overturn
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈtɜː(ɹ)n/
ipa: /ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌtɜː(ɹ)n/
Forms: form: overturns
Etymology: From Middle English overturnen, equivalent to over- + turn. Compare also Middle English overterven (“to overturn”), see terve.
Senses: glosses: A turning over or upside-down; inversion.
glosses: The overturning or overthrow of some institution or state of affairs; ruin.
one up
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: one ups
form: one upping
form: one upped
form: one upped
form: one-up
Senses: examples: text: Every year the neighbors try to one-up each other with their holiday lights.
glosses: To outdo, to perform something slightly better than a competitor's prior effort.
Derived terms: one-upper