g/f

• gf

(SMS) girlfriend


gadabout

• social butterfly
• social
• butterfly
• gadfly
• gad

[GAD-uh-bowt] ("ow" as in "cow")
A person who flits about in social activity; someone who roams about in search of amusement or social activity.
Examples:
1) In his unorthodox and callow way, he frequently upset and annoyed his countrymen, but they continued to vote for him, perhaps taking a vicarious pleasure in being led by such a world-famous gadabout. ("Milestones of 2000," Times (London), December 29, 2000)
2) She hugged him fiercely. "Oh, I love you, Jake Grafton, you worthless gadabout fly-boy, you fool that sails away and leaves me." (Jack Anderson, "Control")
3) Teddy was a bon vivant and gadabout. (Nadine Brozan, "Born in a Trunk: The Story of the Hornes," New York Times, June 20, 1986)
4) Mr. Hart-Davis, as befits a professional literary man, is something of a gadabout. (Daphne Merkin, "From Two Most English Men," New York Times, June 23, 1985)
5) Emily had been a gadabout in college, so none of her friends were surprised that she ended up as a Hollywood gossip columnist.
Etymology, synonyms, related words:
"Gadabout" is formed from the verb "gad" ("to rove or go about without purpose or restlessly", from Middle English "gadden" - "to hurry") + "about".
If you had to pick the insect most closely related to a "gadabout," you might wryly guess the "social butterfly." But there's another bug that's commonly heard buzzing around discussions of "gadabout" - the gadfly. "Gadfly" is a term used for any of a number of winged pests (such as horseflies) that bite or annoy livestock. Since gadflies are known for their nasty bite, it's not surprising that they are named after a sharp chisel or pointed bar used by miners to loosen rock and ore called a "gad." But, although a gadabout's gossip can bite, "gadfly" doesn't have any clear etymological relation to "gadabout".


gadget grandparents

• gadget grandparent
• gadget
• grandparents
• gadget grannies
• gadget granny
• gadget grandpas
• gadget grandpa
• grannies
• granny
• grandpas
• grandpa

Older consumers becoming technology savvy; "new" grandparents that prefer traveling and relaxation with the help of different technical gimmicks to babysitting.
Example:
"Gadget grandparents" turn on to the latest technology.



gadzookery

• gadzooks
• gadzook
• tushery

[gad-ZOO-kuh-ree]
(British) the use of archaisms (as in a historical novel)
Example:
"Get rid of the gadzookery," Bruce's editor cautioned. "Mirabella can perfectly well say 'please' instead of 'prithee.'"
Etymology:
"Gadzooks . . . you astonish me!" cries Mr. Lenville in Charles Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby". We won't accuse Dickens of "gadzookery" ("the bane of historical fiction," as historical novelist John Vernon called it in "Newsday" magazine), because we assume people actually said "gadzooks" back in the 1830s. That mild oath is an old-fashioned euphemism, so it is thought, for "God's hooks" (a reference, supposedly, to the nails of the Crucifixion). But it's a fine line today's historical novelist must toe, avoiding expressions like "zounds" and "pshaw" and "tush" ("tushery" is a synonym of the newer "gadzookery", which first cropped up in the 1950s), as well as "gadzooks", while at the same time rejecting modern expressions such as "okay" and "nice".


gadzooks

• gadzook
• gadzookery
• God's hooks
• God's hook
• gad
• Gadsbobs
• Gadsbob
• Gadsnigs
• Gadsnig
• Gadsbudlikins
• Gadsbudlikin
• Gadsokers
• Gadsoker
• Gadsprecious
• Gadswookers
• Gadswooker

An exclamation of surprise or annoyance.
History, examples:
HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has been widely reported recently as uttering this imprecation upon seeing a new portrait of himself by Stuart Pearson Wright in which he is bare-chested, with a bug on his shoulder and a plant growing out of his finger. "Gadzooks!", he commented. "As long as I don't have to have it on my wall." How very eighteenth-century of HRH to choose this word to express his feelings, since nobody but he these days utters this word other than as a conscious attempt at humorous archaism or as a cheap way to invoke a period. This latter trick is so derided that historical novelists who introduce words like "prithee", "zounds", "gramercy" and "gadzooks" into their dialogue are sometimes accused by British literary critics of indulging in "gadzookery". Not only modern authors, since by 1869, when R. D. Blackmore wrote "Lorna Doone", set in the previous century, the word was already out of fashion: "'Gadzooks, Master Pooke,' said I, having learned fine words at Tiverton; 'do you suppose that I know not then the way to carry firearms?" Tobias Smollett published "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle" in 1751, when the word was at the height of its popularity: "'What!' cried the painter, in despair, 'become a singer? Gadzooks! and the devil and all that! I'll rather be still where I am, and let myself be devoured by vermin.'" "Gadzooks" is usually said to be an alteration of "God's hooks", that is, the nails by which Christ was fastened to the cross. It's one of a set of late seventeenth and early eighteenth century euphemistic oaths that used "gad" as a thinly disguised version of "God", often attached to a second element of uncertain parentage. Other examples are "Gadsbobs", "Gadsnigs", "Gadsbudlikins", "Gadsokers", "Gadsprecious", and "Gadswookers".


gainsay
[gayn-SAY; GAYN-say] 1. To deny or dispute; to declare false or invalid. 2. To oppose; to contradict.
Examples:
1) In our present, imperfectly postmodern world, where most information still takes the potentially embarrassing form of printed matter lurking in archives, liars still must position themselves so that the historical record may not easily gainsay them. (Thomas M. Disch, "The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of")
2) But, owing to government's cynical policy of inaction, suppression and hoping the problem would go away, there was nothing to gainsay it either. (Mary Riddell, "I don't mind about midsummer madness, but I'd rather not have it in my fridge or purring on the sofa", New Statesman, July 26, 1996)
Etymology:
"Gainsay" comes from Middle English "geinseien", from "gein-" ("against"), from Old English "gegn-, gean-" + "sayen" ("to say"), from Old English "secgan".


galligaskins

• gallygaskins
• gallygaskin
• Galligaskin

1. loose wide breeches or hose, esp. as worn by men in the 17th century
2. leather leggings, as worn in the 19th century
3. loose trousers
Example:
Galligaskins - Clothing Alaskans love to live in Etymology:
This was a fashion of the 16th and 17th centuries, one that eventually disappeared, as did the active use of the word, which survives in historical contexts or as a humorous word for nether garments. It's an odd-looking word, well fitted to the epithet weird. It came about through another of those cloth-eared Englishmen's attempts at getting their minds around a foreign term. They knew it was French in immediate origin, "gargesque", and they knew the garments were often worn by sailors, so they assumed that the first part was "galley", either from the oared ship, or from the cooking area on board ship. Similar items were known at about the same time as "gally-slops" or "gally-breeches", so that would easily account for the conversion of the first element of the French word into something more English-sounding. (The first of these was often abbreviated to "slops", a similar item; the material for them was kept on board ship in the "slop-chest", though sailors' working garments, at least of a later period, were loose trousers rather than breeches.) In his famous dictionary of 1828 Noah Webster said that the word was derived from "Gallic Gascons", the inhabitants of Gascony. But the French word was taken from the Italian "grechesca", something Greek, because the fashion for loose breeches was originally from that country. Around the years 1580-1620 similar garments were called "Venetians", because a comparable fashion had been imported from Venice. "Galligaskins" made a relatively late appearance in "Sir Nigel", an historical novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1906: "It was a wretched, rutted mule-track running through thick forests with occasional clearings in which lay the small Kentish villages, where rude shock-headed peasants with smocks and galligaskins stared with bold, greedy eyes at the travellers." This is probably a different sense of the word, since the English Dialect Dictionary says that it was used in Kent and other counties for work leggings, which it described as "rough leather overalls, worn by thatchers, hedgers, and labourers. They are usually home-made from dried raw skin, and are fastened to the front only of the leg and thigh."


galumph
[guh-LUHM(P)F]
To move in a clumsy manner or with a heavy tread.
Example:
1) Julia was just then galumphing down the stairs with her overstuffed suitcase. (Jonathan Lethem, "Motherless Brooklyn")
2) Then he climbed up the little iron ladder that led to the wharf's cap, placed me once more upon his shoulders and galumphed off again. (Alistair MacLeod, "Island: The Complete Stories")
3) Lizards patrol the . .. landscape, and giant tortoises galumph on the beaches. (Peter M. Nichols, "Gal?pagos," New York Times, March 30, 2001)
Etymology:
Bump, thump, thud. There's no doubt about it, when someone or something galumphs onto the scene, ears take notice. "Galumph" first lumbered onto the English scene in 1872 when Lewis Carroll used the word to describe the actions of the vanquisher of the Jabberwocky in "Through the Looking Glass": "He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back". Etymologists suspect Carroll created "galumph" by altering the word "gallop," perhaps throwing in a pinch of "triumphant" for good measure (in its earliest uses, "galumph" did convey a sense of exultant bounding). Other 19th-century writers must have liked the sound of "galumph", because they began plying it in their own prose and it has been clumping around our language ever since.

gambit

• gambett

[GAM-bit]
1. A chess opening in which a player risks one or more pawns or a minor piece to gain an advantage in position.
2. A remark intended to start a conversation or make a telling point.
3. A topic.
4. A calculated move; a stratagem
Example:
Amy wasn't very impressed with Ryan's opening gambit: spilling his drink to get her attention.
History:
In 1656, a chess handbook was published that was said to have almost a hundred illustrated "gambetts." That early spelling of "gambit" is close to the Italian word, "gambetto," from which it is derived. "Gambetto" was used for an act of tripping - especially one that gave an advantage, as in wrestling. The original chess gambit is an opening in which a bishop's pawn is sacrificed to gain some advantage, but the name is now applied to many other chess openings. After being pinned down to chess for about two centuries, "gambit" finally broke free of the hold and showed itself to be a legitimate contender in the English language by weighing in with other meanings.


gambol

• gambolde
• gambalde

1. To dance and skip about in play; to frolic.
Examples:
1) I've been told dolphins like to gambol in the waves in these waters, and that sighting them brings good luck. (Barbara Kingsolver, "Where the Map Stopped", New York Times, May 17, 1992)
2) The bad news is that while most of us gambol in the sun, there will be much wringing of hands in environment-hugging circles about global warming and climate change. (Derek Brown, "Heatwaves", The Guardian, June 16, 2000)
2. A skipping or leaping about in frolic.
Example:
Then they joined hands (it was the stranger who began it by catching Martha and Matilda) and danced... until they were breathless, every one of them, save little Sammy, who was not asked to join the gambol, but sat still in his chair, and seemed to expect no invitation. (Norman Duncan, "Santa Claus At Lonely Cove", The Atlantic, December 1903)
Etymology:
"Gambol", earlier "gambolde" or "gambalde", comes from Medieval French "gambade" ("a leaping or skipping"), from Late Latin "gamba" ("hock (of a horse), leg"), from Greek "kampe" ("a joint or bend").


gamine

• gamin

[gam-EEN; GAM-een]
1. A girl who wanders about the streets; an urchin.
2. A playfully mischievous girl or young woman.
Examples:
1) And the whole world is whacked out with fear of nuclear doom, except for Claire, a French gamine who is "living her own nightmare" and waking up in lots of strange places. (Joe Brown, "Washington Post", January 17, 1992)
2) ... the delectable young gamine employed as a waitress in a Montmartre cafe. (Peter Bradshaw, "Jolie good show," The Guardian, October 5, 2001)
Etymology, a related word:
"Gamine" comes from the French.
A boy who wanders about the street is a gamin (pronounced [GAM-in]).


gamut
[GAM-ut]
1. The whole series of recognized musical notes.
2. An entire range or series.
Example:
Jenny's musical tastes run the gamut from Bach to Janis Joplin to Usher.
Etymology:
To get the lowdown on "gamut," we have to dive to the bottom of a musical scale developed by 11th-century musician and monk Guido of Arezzo. Guido called the first line of his bass staff "gamma" and the first note in his scale "ut," which meant that "gamma ut" was the term for a note written on the first staff line. In time, "gamma ut" underwent a shortening to "gamut" but climbed the scale of meaning. It expanded to cover all the notes of Guido's scale, then all the notes in the range of an instrument, and, eventually, an entire range of any sort.


gangsta
Member of a street gang; clothing or attitudes associated with urban street gangs in the United States.
Example: Tony likes to dress like a gansta, but we all know that he's actually from the suburbs.
Etymology: From 'gangster', meaning a tough guy who belongs to a criminal gang or group.

garbology

• garbologist
• dumpster diving
• dumpster
• diving
• dumpster diver
• diver
• trolleyology

The study of a person or group of people by examining what they throw away.
Examples:
1) In Garbology, everyday pieces of trash suddenly become valuable and interesting artefacts from which many inferences about their source can be drawn. ("Ampersand", vol. two, issue two, Florida Gulf Coast University, Spring semester 1999) 2) Garbologists estimate that it will take a paper bag forty to fifty years to decompose. (APLD (California Chapter) Newsletter, July 2006) History, related words: These are extremes, of course, but the majority of us dispose of a wide range of food items and domestic products every day, which, when accumulated, might reveal something about our habits. Analysis of this idiosyncratic combination of refuse has now become known as garbology - basically, the study of someone's trash. Garbology involves the careful observation and study of the waste products produced by a population in order to learn about that population's activities, mainly in areas such as waste disposal and food consumption. Garbage anthropologists, known as garbologists, can use rubbish to draw comparisons between what is known as real behaviour (what people actually do) and ideal behaviour (what people say they do or what they'd like to think they do). The analysis of food consumption and domestic habits is not the only application of garbology. It has also been used as a form of IT-related espionage, a means of acquiring the personal details of computer users without their knowledge or consent. For instance, forgetful people will often write passwords down on bits of paper, which may end up in office rubbish bins. As well as sorting and analysing physical bits of paper, this form of garbology sometimes includes analysis of files found in a computer's 'recycle bin'. Even if passwords and other security information can't be found here, it is often possible to collect information which forms a profile of a computer user, enabling an attacker to guess passwords or security details based on the names of pets, family members etc., or whatever seems important to a user. The word "garbology" is a blend of the noun "garbage" (originating from a 15th century Anglo-Norman French word denoting 'the entrails or 'waste' parts of an animal'), and the suffix "-ology", used to describe a subject of study or a branch of knowledge. First use of the term dates back to the 1970s, and is mainly attributed to William Rathje, an archaeologist and former professor at the University of Arizona. Rathje directed the Garbage Project, a long-term study dedicated to field research in trash dumps, and he co-authored "Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage" (<http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid1369.htm>). An American English term used in related contexts is "dumpster diving", the practice of rummaging through commercial or residential rubbish containers in order to find useful items that have been discarded. Practitioners are called "dumpster divers". For an anthropological analysis of food and domestic products before they hit the rubbish bin, compare trolleyology, which explores how the contents of a person's shopping trolley reveal something about their behaviour or personality.

gardening leave

• gardening
• leave

(used euphemistically) departing employee's paid leave: obligatory leave with full pay given to employees between notification of termination of employment and the actual termination date; an employee's suspension from work on full pay for some reason.
Example:
My old firm required you to work until the last minute of the last day, so "gardening leave" and having to go in now and again is a bonus, believe me.


gargantuan

• gigantic
• colossal

[gar-GAN-shuh-wun]
Tremendous in size, volume, or degree.
Synonyms: gigantic, colossal
Example:
The town's wealthiest family lived in a gargantuan mansion at the top of the hill, complete with twelve bedrooms, two swimming pools and a tennis court.
Etymology:
"Gargantua" is the name of a giant king in Francois Rabelais's 16th-century satiric novel "Gargantua". All of the details of Gargantua's life befit a giant. He rides a colossal mare whose tail switches so violently that it fells the entire forest of Orleans. He has an enormous appetite - in one memorable incident, he inadvertently swallows five pilgrims while eating a salad. The scale of everything connected with Gargantua gave rise to the adjective "gargantuan," which since Shakespeare's time has been used of anything of tremendous size or volume.


garrulous

• talkative
• loquacious
• chatty

[GAIR-uh-lus; GAIR-yuh-]
1. Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things.
2. Wordy.
Synonyms: talkative, loquacious, chatty
Examples:
1) Without saying a single word she managed to radiate disapproval ... the air seemed to grow heavy with it and the most garrulous talker would wilt and fall silent. (Mark Amory, "Lord Berners: The Last Eccentric")
2) He was as garrulous as a magpie. (Ferdinand Mount, "Jem (and Sam)")
3) The garrulous ancient was for once holding his tongue. (William Black, "Madcap Violet")
4) Crammed with gossip, anecdotes, and confessions..., his garrulous, untidy narratives read like a good novel. (James Atlas, "A Modern Whitman," The Atlantic, December 1984)
5) He took a great liking to this Rev. Mr. Peters, and talked with him a great deal: told him yarns, gave him toothsome scraps of personal history, and wove a glittering streak of profanity through his garrulous fabric that was refreshing to a spirit weary of the dull neutralities of undecorated speech. (Mark Twain, "Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion II," The Atlantic, November 1877)
Etymology:
"Garrulous" is from Latin "garrulus", from "garrire" ("to chatter, to babble").

gastronome
[GAS-truh-nohm]
A connoisseur of good food and drink.
Examples:
1) If "poultry is for the cook what canvas is for a painter," to quote the 19th-century French gastronome Brillat-Savarin, why paint the same painting over and over again? (John Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger, "From Poussin to Capon, a Chicken in Every Size," New York Times, September 22, 1999)
2) Even though Paris was then considered the culinary capital of Europe, the food at the Cercle was so highly revered that many well-known gastronomes regularly made the trip to Lyon to eat there. (Daniel Rogov, "Three culinary tales for Hanukka," Jerusalem Post, December 6, 1996)
3) I am no gastronome at the best; moreover, I have, over the years, eaten in so many unpropitious circumstances and from so many truly awful kitchens that I have come to consider myself almost as much a connoisseur of bad food as other men are of good. (James Cameron, "Albania: The Last Marxist Paradise," The Atlantic, June 1963)
Etymology:
"Gastronome" is ultimately derived from Greek "gaster" ("stomach") + "nomos" ("rule, law").


gauche

• adroit
• dexterous
• ambidextrous

Lacking social polish; tactless; awkward; clumsy.
Examples:
1. He was largely exempted from the formal socializing he said he found so hard to manage, flustered and gauche in polite company as he had always been. (John Sturrock, "Well on the Way to Paranoia", New York Times, July 28, 1991)
2. He was by nature intellectual, shy, even gauche and he always believed he lacked the common touch. ("Editor whose legacy was diversity", Irish Times, October 9, 1999)
3. The audience's performance was altogether more gauche, with scores of people in the stalls constantly turning round to gawp at Mick Jagger seated ten rows back. (Noreen Taylor, "How was it for him?", Times (London), August 3, 2000)
Etymology:
"Gauche" is from the French for left, awkward. The left side of anything is often considered to be unlucky or bad, and our language reflects this. A "left-handed compliment", one that is insincere, backhanded, or dubious, is not one you are happy to receive; a "left-handed oath" is one not intended to be binding. "Sinister", Latin for left, suggests or threatens evil. Gauche is tactless, awkward and clumsy, but "droit", the French word for right, gives us "adroit" ("skillful"), and "dexter", the Latin for right, gives us "dexterous" (also meaning skillful). If you are ambidextrous, able to use both hands with equal facility, then, etymologically speaking, you have right hands on both sides ("ambi-" = "on both sides"). "Left" itself comes from Old English "lyft", "left" ("weak, useless"), since it names the hand which in most people is weaker.


gaucherie

• blunder
• faux pas
• faux
• pas
• gaffe

[goh-shuh-REE]
1. A socially awkward or tactless act.
2. Lack of tact; boorishness; awkwardness.
Synonyms: blunder, faux pas, gaffe.
Examples:
1) If you find yourself sitting next to an obviously prosperous guest at a dinner party and your host introduces him (it will be a him) as a "successful barrister", you will be guilty of a gaucherie of the crassest kind if you exclaim: "How fascinating! If I promise not to call you Rumpole, will you tell me about your goriest murder trials?" (Nick Cohen, "Don't leave justice to the judges," New Statesman, December 13, 1999)
2) Here we see the insecure, unattractive woman who at long last has found someone even more insecure and unattractive than herself, calling attention to her companion's gaucherie in order to feel, for once in her life, like the belle of the ball. (Florence King, "Out and About," National Review, November 9, 1998)
Etymology:
"Gaucherie" comes from the French, from "gauche" ("lefthanded; awkward"), from Old French, from "gauchir" ("to turn aside, to swerve, to walk clumsily").


gauntlet

• throw down the gauntlet
• throw down
• throw
• pick up the gauntlet
• pick up
• pick

[GAWNT-lut]
1. A glove worn with medieval armor to protect the hand.
2. Any of various protective gloves used especially in industry.
3. An open challenge (as to combat) - used in phrases like "throw down the gauntlet".
Example:
Herb threw down the gauntlet, asking his guests, "Which one of you wants to get beaten in a game of chess?"
4. A dress glove extending above the wrist.
Etymology, history, related expressions:
"Gauntlet" comes from Middle French "gantelet," the diminutive of "gant," meaning "glove." (The "gauntlet" that means "severe trial," "ordeal," or "double file of armed men" is a different word that originates from Old Swedish "gata," meaning "road," and "lop," meaning "course.") "To throw down the gauntlet" means "to issue an open challenge." "To pick up the gauntlet" means "to accept an open challenge." These figurative phrases come from the conventions of medieval combat. The gauntlet was the glove of a suit of armor. To challenge someone to combat, a knight would throw his glove at another knight's feet. The second knight would take it up if he intended to accept the challenge, in which case a jousting match might ensue.


gazebo
[g'zi:b@U]
A small building, usually in a garden, with a good view.
Example:
Corsham Court (5 miles) has some fine Georgian state rooms, and grounds with a 15th-century gazebo. (Stone, Mike and Russell, Roger. "Warm welcomes in Britain". Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles Publishers plc, 1990)
History:
This word is surrounded by more mystery than an earnest etymologist would like. It appears in 1752 without any warning or antecedent in part four of a book by William and John Halfpenny with the title "New Designs for Chinese Temples", an influential work that was aimed at the then new English fashion for the oriental in design and architecture. Little is known about William Halfpenny, who described himself as an architect and carpenter, not even if this was his real name (another architectural writer of the period, Batty Langley, said he was actually called Michael Hoare), nor whether his collaborator John Halfpenny was his son, as some have assumed, or even existed. The word "gazebo" is equally mysterious. A lot of people have assumed that - like the temples described in the book - it must be of oriental origin. If it is, nobody has found its source. Failing that, etymologists have made an educated guess that he named the structure tongue-in-cheek, taking the ending "-ebo" from the Latin future tense and adding it to "gaze", so making a hybrid word that might mean "I will look". If true, the model was probably "videbo", "I shall see", or perhaps "lavabo", literally "I will wash", taken from the Latin mass of the Roman Catholic Church to refer to the towel or basin used in the ritual washing of the celebrant's hands. Early gazebos were often a tower or lantern on the roof of a house, a projecting balcony, or a structure attached to the top of a wall. Only much later was the word applied to a summerhouse, usually one with open sides. To be strict about it, only those edifices with a good view may be given that name; all others are mere shelters.


gazette
1. (British) A newspaper; a printed sheet published periodically; esp., the official journal published by the British government, and containing legal and state notices. 2. (British) To publish in an official government journal; to announce officially, as an appointment, or a case of bankruptcy.
Examples:
1) In 1964, the annual Labour Gazette stopped printing annual retirement figures.
2) I say, we could have a newspaper, a sort of Gazette!
Etymology:
"Newspaper," 1605; originally, a newssheet containing an abstract of current events, from Fr. "gazette", from the Italian phrase "gazeta de la novita", from It. "gazzetta", Venetian dial. "gazeta" = "newspaper," originally the name of a small copper coin, lit. "little magpie," from "gazza"; applied to the monthly newspaper published in Venice by the government mid-1500s, either from its price (it was sold for one gazeta) or its association with the bird (typical of false chatter), or both. First used in Eng. 1665 for the paper issued at Oxford, whither the court had fled from the plague. Gazetteer "geographical dictionary" is from Laurence Eachard's 1693 geographical handbook for journalists, "The Gazetteer's, or Newsman's, Interpreter," second edition simply titled "The Gazetteer."


gd&h
(SMS) grinning, ducking and hiding


gee
1. charm or attractiveness in trying to talk to a female.
Example:
Your gee ain't strong enough to get a date.
2. a mild oath, euphemism for "Jesus!";
3. a girlfriend;
4. to have sexual intercourse

geisha

• geishas
• geisha girl
• prostitute
• courtesan

Pl. - geisha, geishas
A Japanese woman trained and paid to host and entertain men with conversation and singing and dancing; a member of a professional class of women in Japan whose traditional occupation is to entertain men, in modern times, particularly at businessmen's parties in restaurants or teahouses.
Example:
She is the perceptive observer - be it of the radiation victims in Nagasaki or the aged geisha dancing exquisitely well for her venerable patron.
Etymology, history:
1887, "Japanese girl whose profession is to sing and dance to entertain men"; hence, loosely, "prostitute," from Japanese, lit. "person accomplished in the social arts," "art person," from "gei" ("art, performance") + "sha" ("society"). Cf. Athenian "auletrides" - "flute-girls," female musicians who entertained guests at a symposium with music at the start of the party and sex at the end of it.
A geisha must be adept at singing, dancing, and playing traditional musical instruments (e.g., the samisen) in addition to being skilled at making conversation. The geisha system is thought to have emerged in the 17th century to provide a class of well-trained entertainers set apart from courtesans and prostitutes: though geisha sometimes had sexual relationships with their clients, they were supposed to entertain primarily through their accomplishments. The numbers of geisha have declined from some 80,000 in the 1920s to a few thousand at present, almost all in the Tokyo and Kyoto areas, where they are patronized by only the wealthiest businessmen and most influential politicians. Ordinary businessmen seek out bar hostesses, who, though not trained in traditional singing or dance, like geisha excel at supportive conversation.
Synonyms: geisha girl; prostitute, courtesan.

gelid
[JEL-id]
Extremely cold; icy.
Examples:
1) The weather is gelid on a recent Thursday night - so uninviting that it's hard to imagine anyone venturing out. (Letta Tayler, "The Accent's on Brooklyn," Newsday, April 6, 2000)
2) Last January a major crisis arose when the Argentine naval supply ship Bahia Paraiso foundered near an island off the Antarctic Peninsula, creating a diesel-oil spill that inflicted untold damage on the ecosystems clinging to the edges of the icy continent or swimming in its gelid seas. (Christopher Redman Paris, "Could anything be more terrible than this silent, windswept immensity?" Time, October 23, 1989)
Etymology:
"Gelid" comes from Latin "gelidus", from "gelu" - "frost, cold."


gender bender

• gender bending
• gender
• bender
• bending
• cross-dresser
• transvestite
• trannie
• crossdresser
• altering device
• altering
• cross
• dresser
• tranny

1. a person who dresses and behaves like a member of the opposite sex.
Synonym: cross-dresser.
2. a person who believes their gender differs from their sex; a transgendered person.
Synonyms:
transvestite; (vulg.) trannie.
Example:
"He puts on his dress And he heads to the party The lipstick is moist And he's ready to get rowdy He's a gender bender"
("Gender Bender/The Land of My Dreams" by Seth Leeper)
3. Something, such as a theatrical performance or a book, whose portrayal of gender roles is nontraditional or androgynous.
4. (computing) a device that converts a male plug or connector to female, or vice versa.
Synonym: altering device


gender studies

• gender study
• gender
• studies
• study

Theoretical work in the social sciences or humanities that focuses on issues of sex and gender in language and society, and often addresses related issues including racial and ethnic oppression, postcolonial societies, and globalization. Work in gender studies is often associated with work in feminist theory, queer studies, and other theoretical aspects of cultural studies.
Example:
While work in gender studies is principally found in humanities departments and publications (in areas such as English literature and other literary studies), it is also found in social-scientific areas such as anthropology, and psychology.


generica
Features of the American landscape (such as strip malls, pre-fab housing, and streets named "Main") that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and subdivisions; Generic America.
Example:
Along with the supe and the poet, the progressive alty paper argues chain stores give neighborhoods a 'homogenous look many call 'Generica', generic America.' (Bob Armstrong, "Howling against the siren-song of gentrification," The San Francisco Examiner)




geniculate
1. bent abruptly at an angle, like the knee when bent
Examples:
a geniculate stem; a geniculate ganglion; a geniculate twin crystal.
2. to form joints or knots on.
Etymology:
Lat. "geniculatus", Fr. "geniculum" (little knee, knot or joint), dim. of "genu knee".

genteel
1. a) having an aristocratic quality or flavor; stylish; b) elegant or graceful in manner, appearance, or shape
Example:
Eleanor is a very genteel lady, always meticulously groomed, faultlessly polite, and thoroughly elegant in her manner.
2. maintaining the appearance of superior social status
Etymology:
In Roman times, the Latin noun "gens" was used to refer to a clan, a group of related people. Its plural "gentes" was used to designate all the people of the world, particularly non- Romans. An adjective form, "gentilis", applied to both senses. Over time, the adjective was borrowed and passed through several languages. It came into Old French as "gentil", a word that then meant "high-born" (in modern French it means "nice"); that term was carried over into Anglo-French, where English speakers found and borrowed it in the 16th century. Nowadays it is used to describe people or things that are of high social status or that simply give the appearance of being so.


genuflect

• reflect
• deflect
• geniculate

1. To bend the knee or touch one knee to the ground, as in worship.
2. To be servilely respectful or obedient.
Synonym: to grovel.
Examples:
1) After graduation I talked my way into a job at Ionic Development Corporation, a legendary place in Cambridge on the Charles River, a huge brick building with a lobby the size of a cathedral; every time I walked in, I felt as if I should genuflect. (Daniel Lyons, "Dog Days")
2) People worship capital, adore its aura, genuflect before Porsches and Tokyo land values. (Haruki Murakami, "Dance Dance Dance", translated by Alfred Birnbaum)
3) Chen said recently he was proud to be a Chinese, a signal to Beijing that he is willing to be conciliatory. The communists, however, apparently want him to genuflect more unambiguously. (Sin-Ming Shaw, "Give This Guy a Break!", Time Asia, October 30, 2000)
4) As part of the ceremony, the ambassador genuflected before the queen so that she could bestow knighthood upon him.
Etymology, related words:
"Genuflect" is derived from the Late Latin "genuflectere," formed from the noun "genu" ("knee") and the verb "flectere" ("to bend"). "Flectere" appears in a number of more common verbs, such as "reflect" ("to bend or throw back," as light) and "deflect" ("to turn aside"). By comparison "genu" sees little use in English, but it did give us "geniculate", a word often used in scientific contexts to mean "bent abruptly at an angle like a bent knee." Despite the resemblance, words such as "genius" and "genuine" are not related to "genuflect"; instead, they are of a family that includes the Latin verb "gignere," meaning "to beget."


geolocation

• geolocate
• geotargetting
• geo-targetting
• geolocated

(Noun) Geolocation - The technological process of determining the real geographical location of an Internet user.
Related word: geotargetting; also: geo-targetting
(Verb) Geolocate - To determine the real geographical location of an Internet user by means of some technological facilities.
Examples:
1) Prominent among those tools is geolocation, the web geography technology that determines the true geographic location of the online customer at the moment he clicks into the website - the country, state or even city. (BankersOnline.com <http://www.bankersonline.com/ security/safebanking.html>, 25th April 2005) 2) According to documents lodged with US Patent and Trademarks Office over the last week, the NSA [National Security Agency] is looking to patent what it calls a "method for geolocating logical network addresses", and names the Internet as one of many possible applications. (Computerworld Australia <http://www.computerworld.com.au/ index.php/id;1837942684;fp;16;fpid;0>, 28th September 2005)
3) Geo-targeting should determine what country the website is from by using the top domain level (.ca, .com, .uk), and match it up with the searcher's IP location, of the searcher is using msn.ca, msn.co.uk, etc.
4) MSN use Geotargetting to feed relevant 'local' results.
History, related forms:
There was a time, not long ago, when as we sat at the computer surfing the Internet, we felt anonymous in the virtual world, no one knowing who we were or where in the world we happened to be. However in 2006, Big Brother could indeed be watching you - or at least know where you are - due to the advent of geolocation. Geolocation is a technology in increasingly widespread use which makes it possible to determine the exact location, in the real world, of visitors to particular websites. It usually works by identifying locations based on a computer's IP address (Internet Protocol address), a unique number (similar to a telephone number) used as an identifier when the machine is linked to the Internet. "GeoPinpoint" <http://www.dmtispatial.com/geopinpoint_suite.htm>" is one example of commercially available geolocation software which translates IP addresses into real geographical locations. Among the range of useful applications of geolocation software is the prevention of online fraud. Until now, anonymity has been one of the main strategies adopted by online criminals to avoid detection. Banks or other targeted institutions have not usually known where in the world the fraudulent user is sitting as they access accounts, submit credit applications, etc, but now they have a means of finding out. Geolocation also has an important application in e-commerce. Businesses who know the location of online customers can tailor products and advertising information to suit the preferences of particular regions, varying such things as language, currency, product range or marketing strategy according to the location of consumers. This concept is now often referred to as geotargeting, based on the established business principle of targeted marketing. Geolocation is not confined to the Internet. Some mobile phone service providers have used the technique to determine the location of a mobile phone on their network and provide services appropriate to the geographical location of the user. The term "geolocation" is a blend of the words "geographical" and "location". The concept evolved about five years ago but has steadily gained ground against the growing significance of online commerce. The verb form "geolocate" is also sometimes used, often in the passive or as a participle adjective as in "geolocated web pages". Geolocation can be controversial, some regarding it as an invasion of privacy which forces users to disclose their location when they may have good reasons not to. Internet users wanting to avoid geolocation can purchase software to counteract it, available at websites such as "anonymizer.com" <http://www.anonymizer.com/>.

georgic
[JOR-jik]
Of or relating to agriculture.
Example:
Lanford Wilson has created yet another remarkable play... a fascinating tale of a georgic Midwestern community and the secrets lurking beneath the surface of its bucolic hum. ("Adweek", March 25, 2004)
History, related words, more meanings:
The adjective "georgic," which dates from the first half of the 18th century, derives by way of Latin "georgicus" and Greek "georgikos" from the Greek noun "georgos," meaning "farmer." That noun, in turn, was formed by a combination of the prefix "geo-" (meaning "earth") and "ergon" ("work"), the latter of which gave us words such as "allergy" and "ergonomics." The noun sense of "georgic," which dates from the early 16th century, refers to a poem that deals with the practical aspects of agriculture and rural affairs. The standard for such poems, Virgil's "Georgics", is responsible for its name. The poem, written between 37 and 30 B.C., called for a restoration of agricultural life in Italy after its farms fell into neglect during civil war.


germane

• appropriate
• fitting
• relevant
• germinate

[juhr-MAYN; jer-MAYN]
Being at once relevant and appropriate.
Synonyms: appropriate; fitting; relevant
Examples:
1) The issue is not germane to the present discussion. (Richard Wollheim, "On the Emotions")
2) As long as the argument remains germane, he listens attentively, putting on and removing heavy tortoise-shell glasses and leaning across the bench. (Philip Hamburger, "Matters of State")
3) [I]n times of catastrophe we allow public officials to declare "states of emergency" that replace some normal rules... with a more germane set. (Seth Shulman, "Owning the Future: In Africa, Patents Kill," Technology Review, April 2001)
4) I have many secrets, most of which are not at all germane to the topic . . . and would probably be completely inappropriate to tell. (David Gewirtz, "I Have a Secret," PalmPower Magazine, August 2000)
Etymology, more examples:
"Germane" comes from Middle English "germain", literally, "having the same parents", ultimately deriving from Latin "germanus", from "germen" - "a bud, a shoot, a sprout", which is also at the root of the English verb "germinate," meaning "to sprout" or "begin to develop."
"Wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the Lion." So wrote Shakespeare in "Timon of Athens" (circa 1607), using an old (and now obsolete) sense of "germane" meaning "closely akin." An early sense of "germane" referred specifically to children of the same parents, who were perhaps seen as being like buds on a single tree.


gesundheit

• God bless you
• God bless
• God
• bless

[guh-ZOONT-hyte]
Interjection; used to wish good health especially to one who has just sneezed.
Example:
"Gesundheit!" said the man on the bicycle as he passed a lady on the sidewalk who had sneezed.
History, synonyms, difference:
When English speakers hear "achoo," they usually respond with either "gesundheit" or "God bless you." "Gesundheit" was borrowed from German, where it literally means "health"; it was formed by a combination of "gesund" ("healthy") and "-heit" ("-hood"). Wishing a person good health when they sneezed was believed to forestall the illness that a sneeze often portends. "God bless you" had a similar purpose, albeit with more divine weight to the well-wishing. It was once believed the soul could exit the body during a sneeze, causing ill health, so folks said "God bless you" to ward off this danger. "Gesundheit," at one time, also served as a toast when drinking (much like its English counterpart, "to your health"), but this usage is now mostly obsolete.


get
(n):
1. offspring; progeny.
Example:
No doubt, all gets of that stallion are champions.
2. Bastard; twat.
Often applied to children and accompanied by a swipe to the back of the head.
Example:
What are you doing, you cheeky little get!
3. jet, the mineral; 4. fashion; manner; custom; 5. artifice; contrivance

get a foot in the door

• get a toe in the door
• get one's foot in the door
• get one's toe in the door
• foot in the door
• get
• foot
• door
• take the first step
• make an initial step
• take
• first step
• make
• initial step
• first
• initial
• toe

(Slang) To get a first opportunity; to get a start toward success, an opening; to try and get involved in something desirable.
Synonyms: take the first step; make an initial step; get a toe in the door.
Examples:
1) Working as an intern is one way to get your foot in the door of a big corporation. 2) It isn't always easy to get your foot in the door - a lot of obstacles are lying in your path.
Etymology:
To get a foot (or at least a toe) in the door helps to prevent a person from shutting a door in their face; by means of it, they (and not only they) try and sometimes get involved in something desirable.

get a handle on

• get a handle on smth.
• get a handle
• handle

To understand, find out about; to investigate and learn about something when very little is known before hand; to find a way to understand or deal with something; to start to overcome a difficult problem or situation.
Examples: 1) We will respond when we get a handle on that.
2) We have to get a handle on the parking problem - get the facts.
3) Rachel had a lot of trouble with geometry, but I think she's getting a handle on it.
Etymology:
This bit of American slang became popular in the mid-1900s. Did you ever try to lift up a heavy, bulky object that had no handles? How do you get a secure grip on it? The answer is to attach a handle to it. Today this expression refers to any difficulty you need to deal with or get control of. When you finally "get a handle on it", you start to solve the problem.


get a kick out of smth.

• get a kick out of
• get a kick out
• kick
• get
• kick out of smth.
• kick out of
• kick out
• get a bang of smth.
• get a bang of
• get a bang
• bang
• get a charge out of smth.
• get a charge out of
• get a charge out
• get a charge
• charge
• charge out of smth.
• charge out of
• charge out
• bang of smth.
• bang of

To find something amusing; to enjoy doing something; to get a thrill out of something.
Example:
My grandmother really gets a kick out of playing these video games with me.
Etymology, synonyms:
A famous songwriter, Cole Porter, made this 20th century American saying popular in his 1934 song "I Get a Kick Out of You." The title means "I really enjoy being with you." In this expression "kick" has to do with a thrill, not striking something with your foot. There are two variations on this idiom: "get a bang of something" and "get a charge out of something". All three words - kick, bang, charge - suggest something that will really shake you up.

get a taste of one's own medicine

• get a taste of your own medicine
• get
• taste
• own
• medicine

People use this expression to mean that someone who has been bothering or mistreating others gets treated in the same way.
Example:
"So, did Tom play any tricks on you guys at school today, Rosa?" asked her sister.
"Nope," replied Rosa. "And I don't think he will for a while. He finally got a taste of his own medicine. During the school assembly, we presented him with a medal for playing mean tricks. And he was really embarrassed."

get away with murder

• get away with
• murder
• get away
• get
• away

To do something very bad, wrong, or illegal without being caught or punished.
Examples:
1) The child was able to get away with murder while the substitute teacher was at the school.
2) It's a darling cocker spaniel, but they let it get away with murder.
History:
This American expression from the late 20th century is really an exaggeration. It can refer to any offense, major or minor, that you're not punished for, such as chewing gum in class, cheating on a test, or stealing. But, figuratively speaking, if you can get away without being punished for murder, you can probably get away with less serious crimes.


get down to brass tacks

• get down to
• brass tacks
• get down
• brass
• tack
• tacks

To get straight to the basic facts of the matter; begin the most important work or business; to get started with the essentials.
Example:
Let's get down to brass tacks and begin talking about the new contract.
Etymology:
Although this idiom has been widely used since the early 1900s, word experts are not sure what "brass tacks" stand for. The phrase might refer to copper bolts on a boat that have been scrubbed clean, or to brass-topped tacks used in the upholstery trade. If you get down to business by discussing the most basic, essential, and practical realities, then you're "getting down to brass tacks."


get hitched

• tie the knot
• get
• hitched
• hitch
• tie
• knot

To get married.
Examples:
1) We got hitched out in Vegas. 2) You're thinking about getting hitched already? But you only met him last week!
Etymology: To 'hitch' something means to tie it to something else, or to connect things in some way.
Synonym: tie the knot


get hot under the collar

• hot under the collar
• get hot
• hot
• collar

To become upset; becoming angry, hot and bothered.
Example:
It's only a joke. Don't get hot under the collar.


get in on the ground floor

• get in on
• ground floor
• get in
• ground
• floor
• get on
• get

To be there at the start, be one of the first; to be part of some big or important project or business at its start.
Examples:
1) If I get in on the ground floor at MING'S, I'll advance quickly.
2) Miss Cohen got in on the ground floor with a new women's clothing company.
Etymology:
This saying probably originated in the financial world of the late 1800s. It's an advantage to get in at the beginning of an enterprise. As the company succeeds and prospers, so will you. After all, you were there at the start and helped it grow. The ground floor is where you enter a big building. After that, there's no place to go but up.

get into the swing of things

• get into
• swing of things
• get
• swing
• things
• thing
• in full swing
• full swing

To become accustomed to routine activities.
Example:
Anna didn't join in many activities at first, but now she's gotten into the swing of things.
Etymology:
In the 1500s the phrase, "in full swing", meant to be very active in something. "Swing" could have come from the motion of a children's swing or a clock pendulum. In the 1800s a new expression developed that was based on the old one: "get into the swing of things." That meant getting involved with whatever was going on, especially socially.

get off the hook

• get off the hook
• get off
• hook
• get

To free yourself or someone from a distasteful obligation; to get out of trouble; to evade a punishment.
Example:
I don't want to baby-sit tonight, so I hope my sister will get me off the hook.
Etymology:
This expression comes from fishing. If a fish is caught on a hook, it desperately wants to be off the hook. In the same way, if people are in trouble, have unwanted obligations, or are about to be punished, they want to "get off the hook" by ridding themselves of all these burdens.

get one's back up

• get
• back up
• get up
• back

To show anger or annoyance.
Etymology: The allusion is to a cat, which sets its back up when attacked by a dog or other animal.

get one's feet wet

• get your feet wet
• get feet wet
• get wet
• take the plunge
• get
• feet
• wet
• foot
• take
• plunge

1. (Slang) To have a first experience in something; to begin to do something for the first time.
2. To dare to make a move, dare to do something; to go for the whole experience; to do something decisive (often used when you get married).
3. Try to do it, attempt it, try your hand at.
Examples:
1) Grace had never been in a play, but she took a small part just to get her feet wet.
2) To become a lawyer, learn the theory; then get your feet wet.
3) He finally decided to take the plunge and will get married next year.
Synonym: take the plunge
Etymology:
This expression has been used for centuries, as far back as the 1500s. Imagine a swimmer who is afraid of diving into the water. He tiptoes in slowly, just getting his feet wet so he can get used to the water. Then he can plunge in when he's ready. In the same way, we "get our feet wet" when we venture into new territory by having our first experience with something. On the other hand, some swimmers jump off the bank into cold water to get the whole shock over with at one time, instead of slowly entering the water and prolonging the torture, i.e. they take the plunge.


get one's goat

• get your goat
• get
• goat

To annoy (very badly), irritate, bug smb; to make a person angry.
Examples:
1) Don't let Jason get your goat. He teases everybody.
2) It really got my uncle's goat when he cooked for three hours and no one ate the meal.
Etymology:
This American expression dates from about 1900. It was a common practice to put a goat in the stall of a nervous racehorse to be its friend and keep it calm. If people wanted the horse to lose a race, they would sneak the goat out of the stall to upset the horse. There are several expressions that also mean to disturb or annoy someone.


get out of my face

• get out of my face!
• get out of
• face
• get out
• get

Go away!, be gone!, get out of here!, get out of my sight; stop standing in front of me in a provocative manner, close to my face, arguing with me, or disapproving of my actions.
Examples:
1) I am sick of you I didn't ask for your advice. Get out of my face!
2) You'd better get out of my face right now or you'll be sorry!
Etymology:
This recent, vivid African-American expression means exactly what it says. Stop facing me in a way that causes trouble between us. Get away! Leave me alone! It is usually said in anger and with the understanding that if the other person doesn't stop talking and move away fast, he or she will suffer consequences.


get right on it

• get right on
• get right
• get
• right on it
• right on
• right

To begin work on that immediately.
Examples:
1) Bob: Please do this report immediately.
Fred: I'll get right on it.
2) Jane: Please call Tom and ask him to rethink this proposal.
John: I'll get right on it.

get smth. off one's chest

• get smth. off your chest
• get smth. off
• chest
• get off
• get
• off your chest
• off one's chest

To make known something that is bothersome, angering, or irritating, but kept secret for a time.
Example:
Something is bothering me, and I want to get it off my chest. Please don't smoke here.
Etymology:
Your heart is in your chest, and the heart "feels" emotions such as love and fear. So if some worry, criticism, or secret has been troubling you and you finally tell someone, you're getting it "off your chest" (out of your heart) at last.

get the Monday-morning blues

• get
• Monday-morning blues
• Monday-morning
• blues
• Monday blues
• morning blues
• blue
• Monday blue
• morning blue

feel down because it's Monday morning
Example:
Do you suffer from 'Monday morning blues'?
History:
Most people don't like Monday mornings, and feel a bit tired (after the weekend), and a bit depressed that a new working week has only just started and the next weekend is still far away; they "feel blue" about it.

get the lead out of one's feet

• get the lead out of your feet
• get smth. out of
• get out of
• get smth. out
• get out
• get
• lead
• feet
• get the lead out of your pants
• get the lead out of one's pants
• pants

To get busy; to move or work more quickly.
Example:
C'mon, you guys. Get moving. Get the lead out of your feet.
Etymology:
This expression, which was used a lot in the American armed forces during the Second World War, suggested that if you were moving sluggishly or working slowly, it was as if you had lead, a heavy metal, in your feet. If you got it out, you could speed up your actions.
Synonym: get the lead out of your pants; get the lead out of one's pants.

get the nod

• get
• nod

To be chosen; to receive support or approval.
Examples:
1) There were dozens of applicants for the job, but Hempstead got the nod. 2) No one is sure when the troops will get the nod to begin the invasion.
Etymology:
'Nod' refers to a movement of the head, a slight bowing which indicates approval or choice.


get to the bottom of

• get to the bottom of smth.
• get to
• get to the bottom
• get
• bottom

To get to the real issue; to figure something out, unravel the mystery; to get the facts, to find out the real cause of something; to uncover the hidden reason for something.
Examples:
1) Did you get to the bottom of the problem? What is the cause?
2) The principal vowed to get to the bottom of the graffiti on the walls.
Etymology:
Writers were using this expression in the late 1500s. The bottom is usually the base or root. If you search and investigate enough, you'll get to the bottom of something. Then you'll know how it got started.

get under one's skin

• get under your skin
• get under
• skin
• get
• under one's skin
• under your skin

(Slang) To irritate someone; to bother or upset someone.
Synonym: get
Etymology:
If something irritating like a bug gets under your skin, it can cause a bad rash and itching. In the same way, if a person does something that irritates or upsets you, he's "getting under your skin." The famous American songwriter Cole Porter put a different twist on this expression when he wrote "I've Got Under My Skin" in 1936. He changed the expression to suggest romantic addiction instead of annoying irritation.



get up on the wrong side of the bed

• get up
• wrong side of the bed
• get
• wrong side
• bed
• wrong
• side

To be in a bad mood; to be grumpy or unpleasant for no apparent reason. The phrase refers to someone being in a bad mood from the moment they wake up.
Examples:
1) Oh boy, was my mom a grouch this morning. I think she got up on the wrong side of the bed.
2) Stephan, you sure are irritable today - did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? 3) I feel awful. I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. On second thought, maybe it was all that champagne I drank last night!


get-up-and-go

• get up
• go
• get
• energy
• push

Enterprising or ambitious drive; energy and motivation; pep; enthusiasm; ambition; vitality, vigor.
Examples:
1) I feel so lazy. I have no get-up-and-go.
2) Since Grandmother joined that health club, she's had a lot more
get-up-and-go.
3) Europeans often laugh at american get-up-and-go.
Synonyms: energy, push
Etymology, more examples:
This early 20th-century American expression means just what it says: get up and go rather than sit still and do nothing. It probably started as a verb phrase ("I wish she would get up and go") and eventually turned into a noun ("She needs more get-up-and-go").


gewgaw
[G(Y)OO-gaw]
A showy trifle; a trinket; a bauble.
Examples:
1) Bidders paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthless gewgaws - fake pearls, ashtrays, golf clubs - merely, one supposes, because they were touched by the hand of this celebrity of celebrities. (Lawrence M. Friedman, "The Horizontal Society")
2) At least, you're tempted until you discover that the price of this gewgaw is $175. (Walter Shapiro, "Earn exciting prizes from the Republicans!", USA Today, March 27, 2002)
3) Walk into almost any department store, and there it is -- along with mounds of other gimmicky gadgets and garish gewgaws that (no offense, Vanna) the world can live without. (James A. Russell, "What the World Needs Now... Is Not Another Gimmicky Gadget or Worthless Doohickey," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 9, 1995)
Etymology:
The origin of gewgaw is uncertain. C.1225, possibly a reduplication connected with O.Fr. "gogue" ("joke, game"), or "jou-jou" ("toy"), baby-talk word, from "jouer" ("to play"), from L. "jocare".


gift of gab

• gift
• gab

Skill in talking; ability to make interesting talk that makes people believe you.
Examples:
1) Uncle Frank really had the gift of gab.
2) Many men get elected because of their gift of gab.
3) Mr. Taylor's gift of gab helped him get a good job.
Etymology:
As early as the late 1600s and early 1700s, British writers and speakers were using this phrase. There are a few theories about its origin. Middle Dutch was a language used from the middle of the 12th century through the 15th, and the word for foolish chatter was "gabbelen." In the Gaelic language (spoken by some people in Scotland and Ireland) the word for mouth is "gob", and over the years it may have changed to "gab", the English word that today means to talk a lot about small matters. So today somehow,
between "gabbelen" and "gob", we get the "gift of gab".

gild the lily

• paint the lily
• gild
• lily
• paint

1. To needlessly adorn something that is already very beautiful; to decorate a beautiful object, to improve a work of art.
2. To make unnecessary additions to what is already complete; to spoil something that is already beautiful by adding something extra or not needed. Examples:
1) Decorating that Scotch pine would be gilding the lily.
2) She really doesn't need all that makeup. That's like gilding the lily.
Etymology:
William Shakespeare used a similar expression in his play "King John": "to gild refined gold, to paint the lily:is wasteful and ridiculous excess". Over the years the saying got shortened to just "gild the lily". "Gild" means to cover with a thin layer of gold. Why did Shakespeare use "lily"? Because it is already a beautiful flower, and covering it with gold to make it more beautiful would be unnecessary.
Synonym: paint the lily



gimcrack
[JIM-krak]
1. A showy but useless or worthless object; a gewgaw.
2. Tastelessly showy; cheap; gaudy.
Examples:
1) Yet the set is more than a collection of pretty gimcracks. (Frank Rich, "Hot Seat")
2) In those cities most self-conscious about their claim to be part of English history, like Oxford or Bath, the shops where you could have bought a dozen nails, home-made cakes or had a suit run up, have shut down and been replaced with places selling teddy bears, T-shirts and gimcrack souvenirs. (Jeremy Paxman, "The English: A Portrait of a People")
3) And as for coincidences in books - there's something cheap and sentimental about the device; it can't help always seeming aesthetically gimcrack. (Peter Brooks, "Obsessed with the Hermit of Croisset," New York Times, March 10, 1985)
Etymology:
The origin of "gimcrack" is uncertain. It is perhaps an alteration of Middle English "gibecrake" ("a slight or flimsy ornament").


gingerly

• ginger

[JIN-jer-lee]
1. (Adjective) Very cautious or careful.
2. (Adverb) Cautiously; timidly; fastidiously; daintily.
Examples:
1) What is't that you took up so gingerly?
2) Simon held the soda bottle at arm's length after its shaky ride home on his bicycle and gave the cap a gingerly twist.
Etymology:
Etymologists take a gingerly approach to assigning any particular origins to this word. "Gingerly" is thought to come from a Latin root meaning "well-born". It has nothing to do with the other sort of root, the tropical spice called ginger (whose name comes, much distorted, from a Dravidian language of the Indian subcontinent). The Latin word was "genitus", which is closely connected to other words associated with birth and reproduction, such as "genital", "congenital" and "progenitor". Strictly, "genitus" meant merely "born" or "begotten" (it's the past participle of the verb "gignere" - "to beget") but seems to have implied a person who was born into a noble or wealthy family. After about 1000 years or so, this turns into the Old French "gensor", meaning "delicate" or "dainty" (from "gent", noble) and 500 years later still is first recorded in English in much its modern form. In its early days in English it was associated specifically with dancing or walking. If you did these things gingerly you took small elegant steps. In 1583 a writer referred to such dancers "tripping like goats, that an egg would not break under their feet". As you might gather from this, the word was then rather negative in tone, suggesting a mincing or effeminate way of moving. Not till the 17th century did it change to apply to movements that were cautious in order to avoid being noisy or causing injury, and to a wary manner in handling or presenting ideas. It express the idea of requiring cautious movement on a morning after the night before.
Not too surprisingly, given its "-ly" ending, "gingerly" is also quite often correctly used as an adverb.


give me five

• give smb. five
• give five
• give
• five
• Give me some skin
• Give smb. some skin
• Give some skin
• skin

To slap a person's hand as a hearty greeting or a sign of solid agreement.
Example:
My little cousin always yells, "Give me five!"
Synonym: Give me some skin.
Etymology:
"Five" in this 20th-century African-American expression refers to fingers on your hand. Giving someone your five fingers (and your palm, too) is a common gesture when meeting. This way of saying hello, showing harmony, or celebrating victory comes from
a style of communication used in West Africa.

give one's ear to

• give ear to
• give one's ear
• give smb. one's ear
• lend ear to
• give an ear
• give an ear to
• lend one's ear
• lend smb. one's ear
• lend one's ear to
• lend an ear
• lend an ear to
• give
• lend
• ear

pay close attention; listen attentively
Examples:
1) Dionysius . . . would give no ear to his suit. (Bacon) 2) Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. (Shak)


give one's eye-teeth for

• give one's eye-teeth for smth.
• give one's eye-teeth
• give one's eyeteeth for
• give one's eyeteeth for smth.
• give one's eyeteeth
• give
• eye-teeth
• give for
• eyeteeth
• give one's eyes
• give one's eyes for
• give one's eyes for smth.
• give one's eye
• give one's eye for
• give one's eye for smth.
• eye
• eyes
• give one's right arm
• give one's right arm for
• give one's right arm for smth.
• right arm
• right
• arm

To go to any lengths to obtain something greatly desired.
Examples:
1) She'd give her eyeteeth for a mink coat.
2) He'd give his right arm for a new car.
Synonym:
To give one's right arm (for smth.)
Etymology:
These hyperbolic expressions both allude to something precious, the eyeteeth (or canines) being useful for both biting and chewing and the right arm a virtual necessity for the 90 percent of the population who are right-handed. Both date from the first half of the 1900s, when the first replaced give one's eyes, from the mid-1800s.


give smb. a hand

• lend smb. a hand
• lend a hand
• give a hand
• give
• hand
• lend

1. To help smb.; to assist; to aid; to support
Example: And now, we see our heroes! Let's give them a hand!
2. to help smb. physically to carry, lift, move smth. etc.
Examples:
You gonna change the tyre. I can give you a hand if you like.
Let me give you a hand with this stuff.
Synonym: lend smb. a hand

give smb. gyp

• give gyp
• gyp

1. To hurt.
Example:
I turned my ankle in the game and it's still giving me gyp. ("London Evening Standard", August 2003)
2. To trash , punish.
Etymology:
The sense of pain seems to be connected with a Northern English dialect word, variously spelled "gip" or "jip", that only ever appeared in the form "to give somebody or something jip". It could mean to give a person or an object a sound thrashing (one example is of a man giving a carpet a beating), or generally to treat roughly or to cause pain. We're not certain where it comes from, but the English Dialect Dictionary gives one sense of the word as "to arouse to greater exertions by means of some sudden, unexpected action". That fits with the suggestion in the Oxford English Dictionary that it's a contracted form of "gee-up", a conventionalised version of the cry one utters to get a horse to move. Presumably the pain sense evolved through the excessive use of that unexpected action in persuading a person or animal to do one's bidding.

give smb. the shirt off your back

• give the shirt off your back
• give the shirt off your back to smb.
• give smb. the shirt off one's back
• give the shirt off one's back
• give the shirt off one's back to smb.
• give off
• back
• shirt
• give smb.
• give to
• give

To be extremely generous.
Example:
Mr. Perez would give you the shirt off of his back if you needed it.
Etymology:
First used in the 1770s, this idiom is almost self-explanatory. If you saw a needy person in the street who was cold because he had no shirt, and you actually took your own shirt off and gave it to him, it would be an act of great kindness. Today, if you perform any act of self-sacrifice, we say it's like "giving the shirt off your back to someone."

give the devil his due

• give devil his due
• give
• devil
• due

This proverb means that even if you don't like someone, you can still give that person
credit for his or her good points.
Example:
Everyone agrees that the new math teacher assigns a lot of homework. But you have to give the devil his due - all of us have learned a lot of math!

give up the ghost

• give up
• ghost
• give

1. To die.
Synonyms:
kick the bucket, cash in one's chips, buy the farm, conk, drop dead, pop off, choke, croak, snuff it
2. To stop running.
3. To stop hoping after a long time.
Examples:
1) On the way to the theater, Ernesto's old car just gave up the ghost.
2) When will she give up the ghost? Her son has been gone for years.
3) The old man finally kicked the bucket. Etymology:
This saying started in the Bible (Job 14:10). "Ghost" in this idiom doesn't mean a dead person. It means the soul, which is thought to leave the body when a person dies. So if somebody "give up the ghost", he or she stops living; if something "gives up the ghost," it stops working.


glabrous
[GLAY-bruhs]
Smooth; having a surface without hairs, projections, or any unevenness.
Examples:
1) How much more powerful then will be the effect - next week? next month? soon enough - when Gore, resplendent, clean-shaven, glabrous in his glory, returns from the dead! Radiant! Reborn! (Lance Morrow, "Al Gore, and Other Famous Bearded Men", Time, August 16, 2001)
2) We offered to the rebarbative Senator Patrick Leahy's demands on us amused resistance and the promise to buy the glabrous old boy a proper hairpiece. (R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., "Jumpin' Jim Jehoshaphat!", The American Spectator, July 1, 2001)
3) The nectarine is a glabrous variety of peach, and not, as is often thought, a hybrid of peach and plum.
Etymology, more examples:
"Glabrous" is from Latin "glaber" - "smooth, bald".
"Before them an old man / wearing a fringe of long white hair, bareheaded, / his glabrous skull reflecting the sun's / light...." No question about it - the bald crown of an old man's head (as described here in William Carlos Williams's poem "Sunday in the Park") is "a surface without hairs." William's use isn't typical, though. More often "glabrous" appears in scientific contexts, such as the following description of wheat: "The white glumes are glabrous, with narrow accuminate beaks." And although Latin "glaber," our word's source, can mean simply "bald," when "glabrous" refers to skin with no hair in scientific English, it usually means skin that never had hair (such as our palms).


glitch
1. a usually minor malfunction, defect, fault, flaw, or imperfection
2. a minor problem that causes a temporary setback
3. a false or spurious electronic signal
Example:
A glitch in the program yielded some very odd results.
History:
There's a glitch in the etymology of "glitch" - the origins of the word are not known for sure, though it may derive from the Yiddish "glitsh," meaning "slippery place." The first documented use of "glitch" in print in English is found in astronaut John Glenn's 1962 book "Into Orbit". In it he wrote, "Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical circuit which takes place when the circuit suddenly has a new load put on it." The word "glitch" began as a technical term, and then quickly acquired a more general sense of "minor malfunction." Later, it came to be used technically once again to describe the misbehavior of computer programs.


gloaming

• gloam

[GLOH-ming]
Twilight, dusk.
Example:
1) In the gloaming we could just barely make out the outlines of my father and brother returning home from their evening walk.
2) The children squealed and waved and smiled, their teeth flashing white in the gloaming. (Evan Thomas, "Robert Kennedy: His Life")
3) It was the gloaming, when a man cannot make out if the nebulous figure he glimpses in the shadows is angel or demon, when the face of evening is stained by red clouds and wounded by lights. (Homero Aridjis, "1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile", translated by Betty Ferber)
4) Arrived at the village station on a wintry evening, when the gloaming is punctuated by the cheery household lamps, shining here and there like golden stars, through the leafless trees. (Margaret Sangster)
History, related words:
The word was used in the Scots dialects of English back in the Middle Ages, but its roots trace to the Old English word for twilight, "glom," which is related to "glowan," an Old English verb meaning "to glow" (perhaps in reference to the soft glow of the sky at twilight). In the early 1820s, the Scots English verb "gloam" ("to become twilight") became the source of a noun "gloam," meaning "twilight," but this word no longer sees the light of day.


global dimming

• global
• dimming

Over the past fifty years the average amount of sunlight reaching the ground (the name for which is "insolation") has gone down by about 3% a decade. It doesn't mean the sun is sending out less radiation, but that less of it is reaching the Earth's surface because of pollution in the atmosphere. This effect seems to have been named "global dimming" in an article in "Agricultural and Forest Meteorology" in 2001. There's really no conflict with observed global warming. The sun's heat is still being absorbed, but at a higher level in the atmosphere, probably on particles of soot and the like.


glogg
[GLUG]
A hot spiced wine and liquor punch served in Scandinavian countries as a Christmas drink.
Example:
[The] Gallery will host a Christmas Cheer Weekend.... Johnson's latest barn print will be available, framed or unframed, as well as Swedish cookies and glogg. (Dubuque, "Telegraph Herald", December 9, 2004)
History:
"Glogg" is a holiday favorite in many Scandinavian cultures, where it is commonly served on St. Lucia's Day (December 13) and all around Christmas time. Not surprisingly, the word "glogg" itself is of Scandinavian origin; it comes from Swedish and derives from the verb "glodga," meaning "to burn" or "to mull." But although "glogg" may look like it should rhyme with that other notable holiday beverage - "eggnog" - the two aren't quite a perfect match. The "o" in "glogg" is pronounced like either the "u" in "nut," the "oo" in "foot," or the more foreign-sounding "oe" in "boeuf," the French word for "beef." "Nog," on the other hand, is generally pronounced with the "o" as in "mop" - and thus it rhymes with "grog".


glower
[GLOW-er] ("OW" as in "cow")
To look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger.
Example:
Mariah crossed her arms and glowered at Jeff, making it perfectly clear that she'd had enough of his teasing.
History:
In Scotland, "glower" (or "glowren," to use the older Scottish form of the word) has been used since the late Middle Ages. Originally, the word meant simply "to look intently" or "to stare in amazement," but by the late 1700s, glowering stares were being associated with anger instead of astonishment. Beyond that, however, the history of the word is murky. The most we can say is that "glower" is a distant relative of Middle Low German "gluren," which means "to be overcast," and of Middle Dutch "gloeren," meaning "to leer."


glutinous

• sticky

[GLOOT-nuhs]
Of the nature of glue; resembling glue.
Synonym: sticky
Examples:
1) "What do you mean?" I said, my mouth glutinous with melted marshmallow and caramel. (T. Coraghessan Boyle, "T. C. Boyle Stories")
2) At this point Leonardo wakes, decides the sensation is extraordinary but not death, and gazing up through the glutinous film of boiled carrot drippings, says: No, Salai will be riding a horse. (R. M. Berry, "Leonardo's Horse")
3) Besides, the sensation of glutinous raw egg-yolk sliding down my throat like a plump mollusc would not necessarily be helpful in my current state. (Victoria Moore, "Dog daze - young alcoholics' way of life," New Statesman, January 1, 1999)
Etymology:
"Glutinous" derives from Latin "glutinosus", from "gluten, glutin-" ("glue").


go Dutch

• go
• Dutch

Two or more people each pay for themselves.
Example: We always go Dutch when we go on a date.

go against the grain

• go against
• against the grain
• grain
• go
• against
• rub you the wrong way
• rub smb. the wrong way
• rub smth. the wrong way
• rub the wrong way
• rub
• wrong way
• wrong
• way

To oppose a person's wishes or feelings; to cause anger; to oppose the natural way, to do it the hard way.
Examples:
1) Moe has always been perverse - always going against the grain.
2) It really goes against the grain when Nikolai says that a woman wouldn't make a good class president.
Etymology, synonym:
The grain of a piece of wood is the direction of growth of the tree from which the wood came. If you were to saw that wood "against the grain" (across, rather than in the direction of, the wood fibers), it would be hard work. In the same way, anything that someone does or says that goes against the grain would definitely annoy or trouble you. To use another popular expression (a synonym), it would "rub you the wrong way".


go along for the ride

• go along for
• ride
• go along
• go
• along

To watch but not take part in an activity; to keep someone company.
Example:
Harriet swore that she didn't trash any lawns. She just went along for the ride.
Etymology:
This idiom was born in the late 1890s, at the beginning of the automobile age. Originally, it meant exactly what it said. If you had nothing better to do, you might go along with people for a ride in their car. The driver was doing something (driving the car) for a purpose (to get somewhere). You weren't doing anything, just sitting there in the car,
looking out the window. Today we say that you're "going along for the ride" if you're joining an activity just to have something to do or just to be with other people.

go ballistic

• go
• ballistic
• go ape
• ape
• freak out
• freak
• go bananas
• bananas
• banana

To get very angry; to become enraged.
Example:
Don't tell Tom that you scratched his car - he'll go ballistic!
Etymology: 'Ballistics' is the science of missiles and bullets, so if you 'go ballistic' you become like a bullet - powerful and deadly. Synonyms: go ape, freak out

go bananas

• go
• banana
• bananas
• freak out
• freak
• go ape
• ape
• go ballistic
• ballistic

To be or go crazy; to lose one's mind; to get excited.
Example:
Come quick! Your brother has gone bananas.
Etymology:
This saying comes from 20th century America. Bananas are the food most associated with monkeys. When people think of monkeys ("monke business", "more fun than a barrelful of monkeys," etc.) they think of silly, uncontrolled behavior. If a person is in a weird mood because he or she feels frustrated or bored with a situation, he or she might "go bananas" and start acting like a monkey.
Synonyms: freak out, go ape, go ballistic

go broke

• go
• broke
• break

To run out of money; to go out of business.
Examples:
1) If we don't get some new customers soon, we'll go broke. 2) I went broke after losing my job.
Etymology: A bank holds money, and if it 'breaks' it no long works properly -- the money is no longer stored or protected. When you 'go broke', you arrive at the state of having nothing in your bank.

go figure

• Go figure!
• go
• figure

1. Here is the answer; you find the answer.
2. So, the answer is no.
Example:
He said he quit smoking, then he asks for a cigarette. Go figure.


go fly a kite

• go
• fly a kite
• fly
• kite
• Go fry an egg
• fry an egg
• fry
• egg
• Go jump in the lake
• jump in the lake
• jump
• lake
• Go climb a tree
• climb a tree
• climb
• tree

An expression used as an agressive dismissal; stop being a bother or disturbance: go away; leave; stop bothering me.
Example:
When he asked for her help, she told him to go fly a kite.
Etymology, synonyms:
Imagine you're trying to do homework, and someone is really annoying you. There are a lot of expressions that you could shout at him that are similar to "Go fly a kite!": "Go jump in the lake!" "Go climb a tree!" "Go fry an egg!" You're telling the kid that he is a pest, and you're commanding him to go away and do something else. Flying a kite is an activity that should keep him busy so that you can get your work done.


go for broke

• go for
• go
• broke

To risk everything on one big effort; to try as hard as possible.
Examples:
1) After going for broke at the meeting last night we finally reached an agreement.
2) Instead of applying to several colleges, he went for broke and applied only to his first choice.
Etymology:
Since the 17th century "broke" has meant "without money". Two hundred years later, this idiom was created at the gambling tables. When a gambler "went for broke," he risked all his money at once in a wager. If he won, he was rich. If he lost, he was broke. Today, people "going for broke" try as hard as possible to achieve a single goal.

go for the brass ring

• the brass ring
• Grabbing the brass ring
• Grab the brass ring
• going for the brass ring
• reaching for the brass ring
• reach for the brass ring
• reach for
• reach
• grab
• go for
• brass ring
• go
• brass
• ring

try to obtain a rich opportunity or a prize
Example:
If you're like the millions of women who are on the go - grabbing for the brass ring, focusing on the family or trying to shatter that glass ceiling - it's past time for you to take a step back and concentrate on finding the real you. ("Ebony", 1 April 2004)
History:
We are in the fairground, specifically on a carousel or merry-go-round. At one time, the riders on the outside row of horses were often given a little challenge. Once the ride started moving, a metal arm was swung out - on some rides this held a single brass ring, which riders could try to grab as they passed. Anyone who managed to retrieve it could redeem it for a free ride. Another system had a dispenser of rings, most of which were steel and had no value, but one per ride was the brass one that won the prize. "Brass ring" came to have the figurative sense of a prize, in particular one that was hard to gain. "Grabbing the brass ring", "going for the brass ring" or "reaching for the brass ring" were all used to refer to the opportunity to compete for a grand prize. Quite when it started to be used in this way isn't clear. One of the earliest example, that already an elliptical one that shows the writer expected everybody to know what was meant, appeared in the "Daily Northwestern of Oshkosh", Wisconsin, on 3 August 1931: "The current anonymous volume 'The Merry-Go-Round' ... pokes fun - not nice gentle fun - at our supposed mad round of reaching-for-the-brass-ring-existence". But references to a literal brass ring go back into the 1890s, as in this from the "Brooklyn Daily Eagle" of 24 September 1899 about the famous Coney Island amusement park: "This big place has been the rendezvous for thousands of children who have spent their nickels and have enjoyed a ride on the ponies, besides trying their best to capture the brass ring, which the boy drops in the big iron arm that is swung out at the side of the merry-go-round." Several fairground history sites online suggest that the game fell out of favour in this more careful and litigious age because of the number of young people who hurt themselves reaching for the rings.




go off one's head

• go off
• head
• go

To lose one's mind; to go crazy

go off one's legs

• go off
• legs
• go
• leg

(South Yorkshire dialect) An expression for somebody not feeling well.

go off the deep end

• lose one's mind
• go off
• deep end
• go
• deep
• end
• lose
• mind

1. To be extremely angry.
Example:
When the bank told me that they lost my paycheck, I went off the deep end.
2. To go too far with something; to do something crazy.
Example:
My mom has always collected dolls, but I'm afraid she's gone off the deep end - she buys 10 dolls a day on eBay!
Etymology:
The deep water, which is at the 'deep end' of a pool, is dangerous. You can get lost in the deep end. This phrase refers to that danger, but in an emotional rather than physical sense. Synonym: lose one's mind

go over like a lead balloon

• go over
• like a lead balloon
• go
• like
• lead balloon
• lead
• balloon

To fail miserably; to fail to generate a positive response.
Examples:
1) The sales manager's latest proposal went over like a lead balloon at the meeting.
2) I asked to go to Antarctica for vacation, but my idea went over like a lead balloon.
Etymology:
This is a fairly recent expression. The writer who first used it imagined what would happen if you tried to float a balloon filled with lead. It would never get off the ground. In the same way, any project or attempt that fails miserably is like a lead balloon that doesn't go over a blade of grass, let alone a treetop. This expression is often applied to a joke that gets no laughs.

go over with a fine-tooth comb

• go over smth. with a fine-tooth comb
• go over smth.
• fine-tooth comb
• go over
• fine-tooth
• comb
• go
• leave no stone unturned
• leave
• no stone unturned
• stone
• unturned
• unturn

To search with great care or attention.
Example:
She went over the lawn with a fine-tooth comb, but she couldn't find her contact lens.
Etymology:
A fine-tooth comb has teeth spaced very closely together. It is often used to help find and comb lice, which are very tiny, out or people's hair. Figuratively speaking, if you search an area with a fine-tooth comb, you're examining and inspecting it with great care so you won't miss a thing, no matter how small.
Synonym: leave no stone unturned

go to pot

• gone to pot
• go to the dogs
• go to wrack and ruin
• wrack and ruin
• wrack
• ruin
• dog
• dogs
• gone to
• go to
• gone
• go
• pot

(Slang) To become worse or ruined, deteriorate, run down; to be in poor condition, neglected.
Examples:
1) If you don't tend a garden regularly, weeds grow and the garden goes to pot.
2) The farmyard had gone to pot. There was junk everywhere.
3) His business went to pot when economy soured.
Synonyms: go to the dogs; go to wrack and ruin
Etymology:
This idiom from the 1500s originally referred to old or weak animals that couldn't breed, lay eggs, give milk, or pull wagons. They were more useful on the dinner plate than in the barnyard, so they slaughtered and cooked in a pot. Now we describe anyone or anything as having "gone to pot" if the person or thing has worn out, is in bad shape, or can't do its job properly.


go to the dogs

• go to
• dogs
• go
• dog
• go to pot
• go to wrack and ruin
• pot
• wrack and ruin
• wrack
• ruin

To get worse, deteriorate, decrease in quality, become ruined; to decline (in looks or health).
Examples:
1) He used to be a handsome movie star, but now he's gone to the dogs.
2) His business went to pot when economy soured" Synonyms: go to pot, go to wrack and ruin
Etymology:
As far back as the 1500s, food that was not thought suitable for human consumption was thrown to the dogs. The expression caught on and expanded to include any person or thing that came to a bad end, was ruined, or looked terrible.

go to wrack and ruin

• go to wrack and ruin
• go to pot
• go to the dogs
• go to
• wrack and ruin
• go
• wrack and ruin
• wrack
• ruin

To fall apart and be ruined; to become useless.
Examples:
1) The barn went to wrack and ruin after the farmer moved.
2) The car will soon go to wrack and ruin standing out in all kinds of weather.
Synonyms: go to pot, go to the dogs


go with the flow

• go
• flow

to take things as they come
Example:
There's no need to worry. Everything will be OK if you just go with the flow.


going gooding

• goin' a-gooding
• a-Thomasing
• a-corning
• going a-Thomasing
• going
• gooding
• a-gooding
• Thomasing
• corning

Soliciting alms.
Example:
"St. Thomas's day was marked by the custom, called at Beechcroft 'gooding.' Each mother of a family came to all the principal houses in the parish to receive sixpence, towards providing a Christmas dinner, and it was Lily's business to dispense this dole at the New Court." (Charlotte M. Yonge, "Scenes and Characters", 1847.)
Etymology:
On the morning of the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, 21 December, it was once the custom in parts of England for women to go from house to house for ask for money to cheer their Christmas. This was called "going gooding" or "goin' a-gooding", because it was the custom for grateful recipients to wish all that is good to their benefactors for the festive season. As a result the day was in some places called "Gooding Day".
Synonyms:
going a-Thomasing, going a-corning.
This last phrase came from another tradition of the day, that the women would carry two-handled vessels called "gossiping pots" or "pads" in which to get donations of wheat (which is what "corn" often means in England, it being the usual term for the principal cereal crop of the area). From this they would make furmenty or frumenty (a drink of hulled wheat boiled in milk and seasoned with cinnamon and sugar; its name comes from "frumentum", the Latin for corn). In 1854 Anne Elizabeth Baker remarked in her Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases that "My good old grandfather always, on this day, gave a bowl of wheat to any of the poor in the village who chose to come for it." She said sadly that the custom was "going fast into disuetude".

goldbrick
[GOLD-brik]
1. A worthless brick that appears to be of gold; something that appears to be valuable but is actually worthless.
2. A person who shirks assigned work.
Example:
While the goldbricks in the office were goofing off, Leslie was rushing to finish the project on time.
History:
"The gold brick swindle is an old one but it crops up constantly," states an 1881 "National Police Gazette" article referring to the con artist's practice of passing off bricks made of base metal as gold. By the time World War I was under way, the word "goldbrick" was associated with another sort of trickery. The sense of the word meaning "shirker" originated in the slang of the United States Army, where it referred to a soldier who feigned illness or injury in order to get out of work or service. That sense has since expanded in usage to refer to any person who avoids or tries to get out of his or her assignment.


golf
1. Type of ball game in which clubs are used to hit a small ball into a series of holes; a game played on a large open course with 9 or 18 holes; the object is use as few strokes as possible in playing all the holes; he who drives the ball into each of a series of small holes in the ground and brings it into the last hole with the fewest strokes is the winner.
2. Play golf.
Example:
The last mystery of all, he learned to golf.
Etymology:
1457, Scot. "gouf", usually taken as an alteration of Dutch "kolf" - "club", from M.Du. "colf, colve" - "stick, club, bat," from P.Gmc. *kulth- (cf. O.N. "kolfr" - "clapper of a bell," Ger. "Kolben" - "mace, club"). The game is from 14c., the word is first mentioned (along with "fut-bol") in a 1457 Scot. statute on forbidden games. On the other hand, there is a version that the origin of the word "golf" is an acronym for "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden". Though widely circulated, this absurd story is redolent of heavy Victorian or Edwardian humour and was probably never intended to be taken seriously except by the gullible.




goober

• groundnut
• earthnut
• pinder

[GOO-ber (the "OO" may be pronounced either as in "food" or as in "good")]
peanut
Example:
Gerald has been trying to cut down on salty snacks this year, but he still can't help stealing a few goobers from the candy dish.
History, synonyms:
The word "goober" is a regional term, used mainly in the southern and east-central part of the United States. But the plant didn't originate in the U.S.; it's actually native to South America. It was taken from there to Africa, where the local people gave new names to the high-protein legumes. Peanuts traveled back to North America with slave traders, and there English speakers adopted a term from the Bantu languages of central and southern Africa to form "goober." But "goober" isn't the only name for "peanut" that has stuck with us. That snack staple is also known as the "groundnut," "earthnut," and, more rarely, the "pinder," another term that originated in the Bantu languages.


good fences make good neighbors

• good fences make good neighbours
• good
• fences
• fence
• make
• neighbors
• neighbor
• neighbours
• neighbour

This saying suggests that by clearly marking the boundaries between yourself and other
people, you can stay on better terms with them. It comes from a poem by Robert Frost.
Example:
"Marcus borrows so many books from me that I can't find my own books when I need them,"
moaned Phillip.
"You know," said his father, "good fences make good neighbors. Why don't you tell Marcus
he can only borrow one book at a time? Then you'll know what he has, and you won't feel so angry with him."

goody two-shoes

• goody-two-shoes
• goodie two-shoes
• goody-goody
• goodie-goodie
• goody
• goodie
• two-shoes
• two
• shoes
• shoe

Also: goody-two-shoes
Someone who is so good and so obedient that it is annoying; a person who thinks he or she is perfect and tries to be; affectedly self-righteous person.
Synonym: goody-goody
Examples:
1) Anne is such a goody two-shoes - she told our teacher that we forgot to hand in our homework!
2) Tamika is such a goody-two-shoes that everyone hates her.
Etymology:
In the middle 1700s there was a nursery tale called "The History of Little Good Two-Shoes". In it, a little girl who owned only one shoe was given another one. She went all over, showing off her pair of shoes, saying "Two shoes." Today, a person who thinks he or she is perfect is sarcastically described as a "goody-two-shoes," after the title character of that book.

gorgonize

• stupefy
• petrify

[GOR-guh-nyze]
To have a paralyzing or mesmerizing effect on.
Synonyms: stupefy, petrify
Example:
The bus driver could gorgonize any unruly child with a single glance.
Etymology:
The Gorgons (from the Greek adjective "gorgos," meaning "terrifying") were three winged female monsters in Greek mythology who had snakes for hair and the ability to turn anyone who looked at them into stone. The most notorious of the three, and their chief, was Medusa; when she was slain by the hero Perseus, her severed head retained the power of turning anyone who looked on it to stone. In modern parlance, to gorgonize someone is to make him or her feel (metaphorically) petrified, usually through an intimidating glance or gaze.


gourmand

• gourmet
• glutton

[goor-MAHND; GOOR-mahnd; GOOR-mund]
1. One who eats to excess.
2. A lover of good food.
Examples:
1) A gourmand who zealously avoids all exercise as "seriously damaging to one's health," he had caviar for breakfast and was now having oysters for lunch, whetted with wine, as he fueled himself for a [1]postprandial reading at the Montauk Club in Brooklyn. ("The Man Who Put Horace Rumpole on the Case," [2]New York Times, April 12, 1995)
2) Her husband was stigmatised as a 'gourmand' who excessively enjoyed 'the pleasures of the table'. (Andrew Motion, "Keats")
3) Fifine was a frank gourmand; anybody could win her heart through her palate. (Charlotte Bronte, "Villette")
4) Jos, that fat gourmand, drank up the whole contents of the bowl. (William Thackeray, "Vanity Fair")
Etymology, related words:
"Gourmand" is from French "gourmand" ("greedy").
A gourmet is one who has discriminating taste in food and wine. A gourmand is one who enjoys food of fine quality, and also one who enjoys food in great quantities. Glutton signifies one who simply eats to excess, without reference to the quality of the fare consumed.


governator

• gropenator
• gropenführer

the new governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Synonyms:
gropenator, gropenfuhrer
Etymology:
Refers to Schwarzenegger's part in the "Terminator" films, his origins, and the allegations of sexual harassment made against him. (Arnold Schwarzenegger is a bodybuilder and a movie star. His birthplace is Thal, Austria. He is best known as the star of the "Terminator" movies and the governor of California.)




grafedia
Hyperlinked text written by hand onto physical surfaces in public places and linked to online text, images, video, or sound files.
Example: Graffiti, though illegal and considered a nuisance by cities, nonetheless remains a feature of urban life ... Grafedia - hyperlinked text on real surfaces - follows the same urban grass-roots traditions, though it may yet be co-opted by commercial interests as an advertising vehicle. (Christian Science Monitor, 7th July 2005) History: Grafedia is the brainchild of John Geraci, a graduate in Interactive Telecommunications at New York University. The grafedia server first went online in December 2004, and subsequent interest has far exceeded expectations, with more than 2000 images uploaded in the first six months. The term "grafedia" is formed from a blend of the words "graffiti"and "multimedia", taking the first and last four letters in the two words. "Graffiti", meaning 'words or pictures drawn in public places', originates from late 19th century Italian word "graffio", meaning 'a scratch'. "Graffiti" is in fact the Italian plural form of "graffito", though this singular form has largely fallen into disuse. "Graffiti" is used as a mass noun in English, taking a singular verb, and "grafedia" follows this grammatical model.
Imagine if the Internet were all around you, extending beyond computers and wireless connections and expanding down city streets onto lampposts and the sides of buildings? This is the vision behind the new interactive concept of grafedia <http://www.grafedia.com>. Similar to graffiti, grafedia consists of pieces of text which are chalked or spray-painted in public places. Unlike graffiti however, grafedia can be 'clicked on', using a mobile phone or other wireless device rather than a computer mouse. Grafedia usually consists of blue, underlined writing. Those wanting to interact send a text or e-mail to an electronic address which consists of the word they see written plus the extension @grafedia.net. They can then retrieve the rich media content, text, image or sound files, linked to that word. Grafedia is an interesting concept not least because its promoters see it as a way to unite the Internet with the 'real' world, encouraging the idea that the boundaries of the web are in fact arbitrary, with any physical surface potentially becoming a web page. Grafedia can pop up wherever people feel like putting it, from walls, letters and postcards, through to bottles, beer mats and even tattoos! Though grafedia has massive potential as a promotional or advertising tool, its creators like to view it as a new take on the idea of 'a message in a bottle', an act of anonymous, artistic sharing of information.


grandee

• grandeur
• grandiose
• aggrandize

[gran-DEE]
1. A man of elevated rank or station.
2. In Spain or Portugal, a nobleman of the first rank.
Examples:
1) When he returned home from the fund-raiser, Stephen couldn't help bragging a little about all the political grandees he'd met.
2) Jack Byron still harbored delusions of being a local grandee, attempting to influence district politics; as the final humiliation, in the parliamentary election of 1786 his vote was disallowed. (Benita Eisler, "Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame Like")
3) Bellow, he is at once a snob and a democrat, a voracious brain and a churning gut, a seminar-room grandee and a barroom brawler. (A. O. Scott, "Trans-Atlantic Flights," New York Times, January 31, 1999)
4) Seduced by his need to live like a grandee, Coppola can't afford not to work within the system. (Joseph McBride, "Offers He Should've Refused," New York Times, December 12, 1999)
History, related words:
"Grandee" comes from Spanish "grande", from Latin "grandis" ("great, large, hence "important, grand"). Related words include "grandeur" ("the state or quality of being grand"); "grandiose" ("characterized by affectation of grandeur"); "aggrandize" ("to make great or greater"); and, of course, grand.
In Medieval Spain and Portugal the "grandes" ("great ones") were at the pinnacle of the ranks of nobles, rich and powerful. A grandee (as it came to be spelled in English) could wear a hat in the presence of the king and queen - the height of privilege - and he alone could address a letter directly to royalty. (Even Christopher Columbus had to direct his reports of the New World to an important noble at court, who read them to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.) Today, although the term is still applied to grandees of the blue-blooded sort, they are few and far between, and the title can be used for anyone of importance and influence anywhere (such as the "pin-striped grandees of London's financial district").


grandiloquent

• grandiloquence

Lofty in style; pompous; bombastic.
Examples:
1) He became more than usually grandiloquent as if to make up for the years of silence with words of gold. (Peter Ackroyd, "Supreme man of letters", Times (London), November 22, 2000)
2) The more grandiloquent and picturesque the language the greater the distance at which he keeps you. (Richard Eder, "Irish Memories, Irish Poetry", New York Times, September 19, 1976)
3) A voracious reader with a passion for history and great men, he was a droll raconteur with a grandiloquent style. (Richard Siklos, "Shades of Black")
Etymology:
"Grandiloquent" comes from Latin "grandiloquus", from "grandis" ("grand") + "loqui" ("to speak"). The noun form is grandiloquence.


granny leave

• granny
• leave

The plan that allows carers to opt for working fewer hours so that they can look after aged relatives.
Example:
The Minister moots 'granny leave' plan.
History:
The plan was put forward by Patricia Hewitt, the British Government's Trade and Industry Secretary.


grasp at straws

• grasp at
• straws
• grasp
• straw
• clutch at straws
• clutch at
• clutch

To try something with little hope of succeeding; to depend on something useless in a time of trouble; to make a hopeless effort to save oneself.
Examples:
1) He is grasping at straws. He will never find enough money to pay next month`s rent.
2) I guessed at half the answers on the biology test. I was just grasping at straws.
Synonym: clutch at straws
Etymology:
Ancient people made up this expression. They thought of a drowning person. He clutched frantically at reeds (hollow, strawlike grass) that grew on the banks of the river in a desperate, futile attempt to save himself. By the 1600s "clutching (or grasping) at straws" had become a popular proverb to express the idea of depending on something useless to help when there is trouble or danger.


grass roots

• grass root
• grass
• root
• roots

1. Rural area of a country.
2. (A nickname for) average citizens, regular people (as opposed to elite or powerful ones).
3. Sources, origins (of an idea, plan or political movement); the essential foundation.
Examples:
1) This project needs some grass roots involvement if it is to succeed.
2) The problem was attacked at the grass roots.
3) From the Roosevelt standpoint, especially, it was a campaign from the 'grass roots up'. The voter was the thing. ("McClure's Magazine", July 1912)
Etymology, more examples:
The initial sightings of the phrase all refer to the unsuccessful 1912 presidential campaign by former president Teddy Roosevelt against Woodrow Wilson: "The Roosevelt Sentiment, as cropping out at Coalgate, was but the forerunner, as it was plain to him, he said, that the grass roots were for the ex-president." ("Evening News of Ada", Oklahoma, 26 January, 2005). It looks as though it was coined by Roosevelt or somebody on his campaign team. In its literal meaning the expression had by then been around for two centuries at least. It had also begun to appear at the start of the 20th c. in a related sense of the source or origin of something or of its fundamentals. Rudyard Kipling is the first writer recorded as using it, in his novel "Kim" of 1901: "Not till I came to Shamlegh could I meditate upon the Course of Things, or trace the running grass-roots of Evil." It's interesting that the US political examples in the papers of the time were paralleled by others referring to gold mining. A proverbial saying to describe an especially rich strike had it that the site was "gold from the grass roots down". As well as examples in newspapers, it turns up also in Jack London's book "Burning Daylight" of 1910: "She's a-coming, fellows, gold from the grass roots down, a hundred dollars to the pan, and a stampede in from the Outside fifty thousand strong". It's impossible to say to what extent this influenced the creation of the political sense. Some writers of the period talked about the need to go "down to the grass roots" to gain support for policies, which suggests that the "fundamentals" sense might also have been in the minds of its coiners.



grasstops

• grasstop
• grass-tops
• grass-top
• grass
• tops
• top
• grassroots
• grassroot
• grass-roots
• grass-root

1. The leadership in a community or organization. Also: grass-tops.
2. Grasstop, grass-top - adjective.
Examples:
1) Depending on the circumstances, the roundtable is looking to help its favored candidates in as many as two dozen districts through issue ads and "grasstops" efforts that involve reaching out to political, business, and civic leaders in the community. (Peter H. Stone, "Business Readies Its Battle Plans", The National Journal, February 7, 2004)
2) The companies specialize in a cutting-edge form of influence peddling called "grass tops," which attempts to get prominent local citizens and organizations to lobby on behalf of interest groups. Unlike conventional lobbying, the technique does not require the firms' principals to meet with or even talk to lawmakers. The advocacy is indirect. (Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, "Lobbyists Try to Parlay a Presidential Campaign", The Washington Post, April 12, 2004)
3) A better way to influence legislation is what we call the "grassTOPS" approach--mobilizing influential leaders in each community who can reach lawmakers at the federal, state and local levels, with facts tailored to their district's interests. (Edward M. Gabriel, "The changing face of public affairs in Washington", Public Relations Quarterly, December 22, 1992)
History:
This term is a play on "grassroots", the ordinary people of a community or organization. Since at least 1912 the word "grassroots" has been used mostly in a political context, where it refers to the rank-and-file of the electorate, a political party, or some other political organization. If the grassroots form the base of the political pyramid, the "grasstops" form the apex, the small group that consists of the elite and powerful members of the body politic.


gratuitous
[gruh-TOO-uh-tuss]
1. Done or provided without recompense; free.
2. Not called for by the circumstances; unwarranted.
Example:
The critics decried the gratuitous violence of the new film, declaring that the movie would have been better with more plot and less savagery.
Etymology, related words:
Like "gratitude," "grace," and "congratulate," "gratuitous" is a descendant of the Latin word "gratus," which means "pleasing" or "grateful." When "gratuitous" was first used in the middle of the 17th century, it meant "free" or "given without return benefit or compensation." The extended meaning "done without good reason" or "unwarranted" came about just a few decades later, perhaps from the belief held by some people that one should not give something without getting something in return. Today, that extended meaning is the more common sense, often used in such phrases as "a gratuitous insult," or to describe elements of a story that are not relevant to the plot.


gravid
Being with child; heavy with young or eggs; pregnant.
Examples:
1) For the moment the Cap'n Toby lies at rest outside the harbor, and the twelve-inch mackerels that Brian and I are cutting up for lobster bait are ripe, their bellies gravid with either blood-red roe or milt the color of sailors' bones. (Richard Adams Carey, "Against the Tide")
2) In North America, in contrast, the British conquered an empire; New France disappeared from history. But - Anderson's profound theme - Britain's triumph was gravid with defeat. (Jack Beatty, "Defeat in Victory", The Atlantic, December 2000)
3) She is a bored society matron who seduces him before a carload gravid with already weary, now grossed-out morning commuters. (Rita Kempley, review of "The Adjuster (MGM/UA Studios movie)", Washington Post, June 29, 1992)
Etymology:
"Gravid" derives from Latin "gravidus", from "gravis" ("heavy").


gravitas
[GRAV-uh-tahs]
High seriousness (as in a person's bearing or in the treatment of a subject).
Examples:
1) At first sight the tall, stooped figure with the hawk-like features and bloodless cheeks, the look of extreme gravitas, seems forbidding and austere, the abbot of an ascetic order, scion of an imperial family who has foresworn the world. (John Lehmann, "T.S. Eliot Talks About Himself and the Drive to Create," New York Times, November 9, 1953)
2) And we want to tell our readers about sharp, clever books, utterly lacking in gravitas, that we know will delight them on the beach or the bus. (Benjamin Schwarz, "(Some of) the best books of 2001," The Atlantic, December 2001) Etymology:
"Gravitas" is from the Latin "gravitas" ("heaviness, seriousness"), from "gravis" ("heavy, serious").


gravy train

• gravy
• train
• gravid rain
• gravid
• rain
• ride on the gravy boat
• ride on
• gravy boat
• ride
• boat

A job or work that pays more than it is worth; income obtained with a minimum of effort; a form of transport by which a person can make a lot of money for no more effort than riding on it.
Examples:
1) For many years his job was a real gravy train but now the company has become very strict and will not pay overtime.
2) Long- running attempts to clean up the European parliament's notorious 'gravy train' image were scuppered yesterday when EU governments blocked a new pay and perks package for MEPs. ("Guardian", January 2004)
3) The kid was already asleep when he went to baby-sit. What a gravy train.
Etymology, synonyms, more examples:
The phrase was heaven-sent as an expression to be borrowed when writing in recent years about the excessive pay and bonuses of those fat cats who run the British railways. And it comes from across the big pond. Perhaps that's why some British writers have expressed confusion, muddle, and doubt about its origins. Might, one pondered, have "gravy train" have been a mishearing for "gravid rain"? "Since", he wrote, "gravid means laden with eggs, a gravid rain would seem to imply a fall of eggs (possibly laid by golden geese?) from the sky." But mind that another form of the phrase is known, "to ride on the gravy boat"; you might think it started life as a joke on the name of the container for gravy placed on the table during meals, so called because it is often roughly boat shaped. Yet, alas for a promising theory, "gravy boat" in this sense isn't recorded until the 1940s and is clearly a joke on the older "gravy train". American etymologists have puzzled over it as much as anyone: Charles Earle Funk thought it might have arisen in "railroad lingo, in which a gravy run or a gravy train meant an easy run with good pay for the train crew." Unfortunately, there's no evidence to support it - none of the known appearances of "gravy train" refers to a literal train. The experts do generally agree that the phrase has its source in the slang use of "gravy" for something easy or cushy, simple to do, or an unexpected benefit, especially for easy money often gotten by illegal means. "Gravy" is recorded in the major references books as appearing slightly earlier than "gravy train" (1914). For example, look at this advice to potential advertisers appeared in "The Daily Independent" of Monessen, Pennsylvania, in October 1906: "If you buy right and then tell an exacting public in a clear, concise way, just as you would over your counter, you are then getting in line for good gravy." There is some slight evidence that "gravy" goes back rather further than that. If it is the source of "gravy train", it would have to, because one can find the latter in the "Courier of Connellsville" (also in Pennsylvania) in November 1895: "Johnston claims that Reuben Nelson and another tall negro were in New Haven the night of the escape and that they broke into the lockup. Johnson further states that the next day Kelson laughingly told him that the New Haven lockup was 'a gravy train.'" But why and how do trains come into the picture? Maybe, people who worked on railroad trains made up the phrase "gravy train" referring to a good-paying job that was easy.

green roof

• green rooftop
• living roof
• eco-roof
• rooftop
• green
• roof
• living
• eco
• tecticolous

A roof that is covered with plants, particularly one in which special membranes and other layers serve to protect the rooftop and hold the plants and soil in place.
Also: green rooftop.
Examples:
1) Green roofs serve three major benefits to the city, said David Reynolds, first deputy commissioner for Chicago's Department of Environment. They help manage storm water by soaking up rain that would otherwise go into the sewer system. They absorb carbon from the air, and they reduce the urban heat island effect. (Pamela Dittmer McKuen, "Installing green roofs can benefit the environment - and budgets", Chicago Tribune, May 21, 2004)
2) Green-roof technology refers to a complex system of root-repellant and waterproof membranes, lightweight growing media, drainage layers and plants which rest directly on the rooftops. It does not include potted plants. The benefits include savings on energy for heating and cooling, decreased roof maintenance, sound insulation and aesthetic appeal. These benefits are greatest in the summer and most cost-effective in buildings with high air-conditioning costs. Although considered a new concept in Canada, green roofs have been used extensively in Europe for more than a decade. More than 10 percent of flat roofs in Germany contain green-roof infrastructure. ("Green Roofs Qualify for Government of Canada Energy Efficiency Funding", Canada Newswire, May 12, 2004)
Explanation:
The roof is a wild garden of grasses and herbs planted on a suitable surface, usually on an urban house. It traps rainfall and releases it slowly, so it helps to prevent the flooding that can happen after a storm in a built-up area. It also acts as extra insulation for the building. But its main virtue is that it's a haven for wildlife, especially beetles and spiders. In turn these provide food for birds - the black redstart has been encouraged to nest in one part of London as a result of green-roof construction. A recent survey for English Nature found over a hundred species of bugs, some of them rare, in a mixture not found in nature. This has led to the creation of "tecticolous" as a term to describe this characteristic group (from Latin "tectum", a roof).
Synonyms:
"living roof" (1993); "eco-roof" (1993).


green thumb

• green
• thumb
• green fingers
• green finger
• finger
• fingers

An ability to grow plants successfully; skill in making plants grow; having a special talent for making flowers and green plants grow well.
Synonym: green fingers
Example:
My uncle has a green thumb. You should see his roses.
Etymology:
If you rubbed green plant leaves or parts between your fingers, you'd probably get chlorophyll, the green pigment of plants, on them. If a person loves gardening and has great ability to make plants grow, it's easy to see why people would say that he or she has a "green thumb."



green with envy

• be green with envy
• green
• envy

Eextremely jealous; wishing to have someone else's property.
Examples:
1) How I wish I owned your Acura. I'm green with envy.
2) When Sun Lee sees my new roller blades, he'll be green with envy.
Synonyms: envious, covetous, desirous, dissatisfied, resentful
Etymology:
Colors often take on descriptive meanings. Red sometimes means angry. Blue describes sad and lonely feelings. And since about 1600, thanks to William Shakespeare, green has been associated with jealousy and desire. He referred to jealousy as "the green sickness" in his play "Antony and Cleopatra."



greenshifters

• greenshifter
• greenshifting
• green-shifter

Also: green-shifter
A middle-aged, financially secure couple who leave the cities to live in the countryside because of its supposed better quality of life. Consequently, the trend is called "greenshifting".
Examples:
1) Urban appeal on wane as "greenshifters" and "downshifters" increase.
2) One in ten people in cities count themselves are potential "greenshifters" with above average incomes and are typically aged 40+.
3) The greenshifters have reached the stage in life where they no longer want the stress of city living.
4) The couple's home sold for just over £500,000 and, like many greenshifters leaving the South-east, they thought it would buy them a palace elsewhere.




grief tourist

• grief bandwagon
• grief
• tourist
• dark tourism
• dark
• tourism
• dark tourist
• grief tourism
• grief-lite
• recreational grief
• mourning sickness
• mourning
• sickness
• recreational
• lite
• bandwagon

A person who travels to the scene of a recent tragedy to mourn the victim or victims.
Examples:
1) The commentator, Francis Wheen, has labelled the frenzied pilgrims that trekked to Soham the "grief tourists". Grieving over two girls they didn't know and a tragedy they couldn't possibly understand. Trampling on a tiny village's space and memories, full of Tennyson's idle tears, to gratify some need in themselves. (Gwen Halley, "Grief tourists lap up other people's pain", The Sunday Independent (Ireland), March 14, 2004)
2) He courted the attention of the Press, proffered unsolicited information, sought to listen in on police conversations and behaved with the same bottomless vacuity as the busloads of gawpers who descended upon Soham last year, the so-called 'grief tourists', whose attitude transforms murder into a shameful entertainment. (Brian Masters, "A study in evil", Daily Mail (London, England), December 20, 2003)
3) Of course what happened to those two children was horrific beyond belief. But we are kidding ourselves if we think that what we feel is anything at all compared with what the families of Jessica and Holly are going through. The senseless slaughter of these two children was a very private tragedy. The rest of us can sympathise, it would be strange if we did not, but we should go a little easy on the public weeping and wailing. It is good that we have become more demonstrative of our emotions over the past 10 years. But let's not become a nation of grief tourists. (Tony Parsons, "Comment on footballers observing minute's silence", The Mirror, August 26, 2002)
Synonyms, history:
Traveling to the scene of a tragedy is also called "dark tourism" (1997) and the people who do it are said to be jumping on the "grief bandwagon" (1998). They're indulging in "grief-lite" (1997), "recreational grief" (1998), or "mourning sickness" (1998). All of these terms were coined in the months after Princess Diana's death in August, 1997, and they provide lexical evidence of a cynical backlash against the massive outpouring of grief that followed her death.


grift

• grifter
• be on the grift
• on the grift

[GRIFT]
To obtain (money) illicitly (as in a confidence game).
Example:
One Caribbean-based gambling Web site grifted $10,000 in a phony deposit scam." (Robert J. Hawkins, "The San Diego Union Tribune", February 1998)
History, related words and expressions, more examples:
"Grift" was born in the argot of the underworld, a realm in which a "grifter" might be a pickpocket, a crooked gambler, or a confidence man - any criminal who relied on skill and wits rather than physical violence - and to be "on the grift" was to make a living by stings and clever thefts. "Grift" may have evolved from "graft," a slightly older word meaning "to acquire dishonestly," but its exact origins are uncertain. We do know that the verb "grift" first finagled its way into print in 1915 in George Bronson-Howard's "God's Man": "Grifting ain't what it used to be. Fourteenth Street's got protection down to a system - a regular underworld tariff on larceny."


grimalkin

• graymalkin

[grih-MAWL-kin]
a domestic cat; (especially) an old female cat
Example:
The family grimalkin, dreaming, perhaps, of mousing days long past, twitched her tail as she dozed contentedly on the windowsill.
Etymology:
In the opening scene of "Macbeth", one of the three witches planning to meet with Macbeth suddenly announces, "I come, Graymalkin". The witch is responding to the summons of her familiar, or guardian spirit, which is embodied in the form of a cat. Shakespeare's "graymalkin" literally means "gray cat". The "gray" is of course the color; the "malkin" was a nickname for Matilda or Maud that came to be used in dialect as a general name for a cat (and sometimes a hare), and for an untidy woman as well. By the 1630s, "graymalkin" had been altered to the modern spelling "grimalkin".


grime
1. Foul matter; dirt, rubbed in; sullying blackness, deeply ingrained; the state of being covered with unclean things.
Example:
Remove any dust and grime so that your plants benefit from all the available light. ("Gardeners' World". - London: Redwood Publishing Company, 1991) Synonyms:
dirt, filth, soil, stain, grease, grunge
2. To sully or soil deeply; to dirt; make soiled, filthy, or dirty.
Example:
Don't grime your clothes when you play outside! Synonyms:
dirty, soil, begrime, colly, bemire
3. A black British dance genre which is emerging from the London club scene and raves via pirate radio and bootleg vinyl discs. Its better-known performers include the Nasty Crew, Dizzee Rascal and Shystie.
Examples:
1) Also called sublow or 8-bar, grime mashes dancehall, rap, and jungle into a menacing mix of stuttering drums, woofer-blowing bass, PlayStation blips, and MCs spitting stories of life in London's rougher hoods. ("Entertainment Weekly", US)
2) Combining the ear-crashing instrumentation of garage with the crime-riddled rhymes of rap, the sound creeping cautiously from the bowels of the underground is refreshingly and uniquely British. (The "Guardian", July 2004)
3) Following the achievements of artists as diverse as Dizzee Rascal and Ms Dynamite, the 21- year-old Shystie (aka Chanelle Scott) is the first star of grime, the new underground dance genre descended from UK garage, to sign directly to a major label; she is also the first female British MC to have success. (The "Independent", 2 July 2004)
4) Dizzee Rascal's Mercury Music Prize-winning breakthrough last year has led record companies to check out a scene labelled "grime" - a tougher, dirtier strand of garage that rejects the pseudo-American, designer-label stance of Craig David. (The "Evening Standard", 25 June 2004)
Etymology:
1590, probably alteration of M.E. "grim" ("dirt, filth"), from M.L.G. "greme" - "dirt" (cf. Flem. "grijm", M.Du. "grime"). The verb was earliest (as M.E. "grymen", c.1470), but was replaced early 16c. by "begrime".


grin like a Cheshire cat

• grinning like a Cheshire cat
• grinning
• like
• Cheshire cat
• grin
• Cheshire
• cat

Displaying a silly grin.
Etymology: From the Lewis Carroll novel (written in 1865), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

grit one's teeth

• grit your teeth
• bite the bullet
• face the music
• grit teeth
• grit
• tooth
• teeth
• bite
• bullet
• face
• music

1. To press one's upper and lower teeth tightly together, usually because someone is angry about something.
2. To carry on even if the situation is very difficult; not to show one's feelings; to put up with a difficulty; to bear pain courageously.
Examples:
1) Gritting my teeth, I did my best to stifle one or two remarks...
2) 'It is clear that my client has been less than frank with me,' said his lawyer, through gritted teeth.
3) There is going to be hardship, but we have to grit our teeth and get on with it.
4) I have to remove this splinter from your finger, so just grit your teeth.
Etymology:
In 18th-century America this expression was becoming popular. The ancient Greeks had used a similar expression that translated as "set your teeth." One of the definitions of the verb "grit" is to clamp your teeth together tightly. When people are faced with a tough or painful job that demands a lot of physical or emotional strength, they may grit their teeth in determination.
Synonyms: bite the bullet; face the music.

gritty
[GRIT-ee]
1. containing or resembling grit
2. courageously persistent
Synonym: plucky
3. having strong qualities of tough uncompromising realism
Example:
Dan is writing a gritty novel about the perils of missionary work.
History:
"Gritty" comes from "grit" ("small hard granules"), which in turn derives (via Middle English) from the Old English word for "sand" or "gravel". "Grit" has been around since before the 12th century, but the first appearance of "gritty" in print in English was near the end of the 16th century, when it was used in the sense of "resembling or containing small hard granules". "Grit" entered American slang in the early 19th century with the meaning "courage or persistence," and, within about 20 years, "gritty" followed suit with a corresponding "plucky" sense. By the 19th century's end, "gritty" was also being used to describe a literary style that was rough and coarse.


grub
1. Food, with the implication that the food is basic and simple.
Example: The grub they serve in the cafeteria is pretty good!
Etymology: 'Grub' is simple, 'earthy' food, like carrots and potatoes. Synonyms: eats, chow
2. To borrow or find.
Example: I grubbed a cigarette from the girl at the bar.
Etymology:
The Indo-European root of 'grub' means 'to dig'. When you look for something (like a cigarette) you 'dig around' for it, scratching through the dirt and debris to find the thing you need. Synonym: bum

grubstake

• grub
• stake,

[GRUB-stayk]
To provide with material assistance (as a loan) for launching an enterprise or for a person in difficult circumstances.
Example:
Hoping to turn the situation around in California, the state now grubstakes entrepreneurs to try their hand at salvaging urban woods. (John Balzar, "Los Angeles Times", March 8, 2004)
History, related words, more functions:
"Grubstake" is a linguistic nugget that was dug up during the famous California Gold Rush, which began in 1848. Sometime between the first stampede and the early 1860s, when the gold-seekers headed off to Montana, prospectors combined "grub" ("food") and "stake," meaning "an interest or share in an undertaking." At first "grubstake" was a noun, referring to any kind of loan or provisions that could be finagled to make an undertaking possible (with the agreement that the "grubstaker" would get a cut of any profits). By 1879, "grubstake" was also showing up as a verb meaning "to give someone a grubstake," and, since at least 1937, it has been applied to other situations in which a generous benefactor comes through with the funds.


gruntle

• disgruntle

[GRUN-tul]
To put in a good humor.
Example:
He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled. (P.G. Wodehouse, "The Code of the Woosters")
Etymology, relative words, antonym:
1682, from "dis-" ("entirely, very") + obs. "gruntle" ("to grumble"), frequentative of "grunt" (q.v.).
"Gruntle" is the result of a mistaken assumption about the verb "disgruntle," which means "to make ill-humored or discontented." The prefix "dis-" often means "to do the opposite of," so people naturally assumed that in order to have a "disgruntle" there must be a "gruntle" with exactly the opposite meaning. But actually, "dis-" doesn't always work that way - in some rare cases it functions instead as an intensifier. "Gruntle" began to mean "to make happy" only in the 1920s, when it was assumed to be the antonym of "disgruntle." By contrast, "disgruntle" has been around since 1682, and the original grumbling "gruntle" dates back to 1589.


gruntsand

• grunt-sand
• grunt
• sand

(army slang) US Army personnel

guerrilla gig

• guerrilla
• gig
• guerrilla gardening
• gardening
• guerrilla architecture
• architecture
• guerrilla marketing
• marketing

A gig in which pop musicians (most often punk rockers) descend on a public place to give an impromptu performance.
Examples:
1) The strength of this movement is in its community," said Imran Ahmed of New Musical Express. "Gigs can be organized in a matter of hours. The venue, time and any fee will be communicated via message board, text or blog; the community then congregates at a place beforehand and then all head down to the guerrilla gig together." ("Wired News", 4 Aug. 2004)
2) If you believe all you read, the streets of London are currently paved with amps and speakers awaiting the latest guerrilla gig by some band of charity-store- clothed individuals who always claim to have just played with The Libertines/Babyshambles (delete as appropriate) and are going to shake up rock just like the Sex Pistols did with punk. ("Independent", 11 Sep. 2004)
Explanation, history, related expressions:
Pop musicians tell their fans about their descending by text messages and other electronic media. The phenomenon hit the news when a group called "The Others" staged a 30-minute gig in a London Underground train and then in the lobby of pop-music station BBC Radio 1. The technique is clearly borrowed from the flash mobs of 2003 (see); the name reflects a variety of other anti-authoritarian techniques, of which the best known are "guerrilla gardening" (cultivating public ground in an urban location where one isn't authorised, as a political statement), "guerrilla architecture" (in which designs are created to challenge conventional ideas about the form and function of buildings), and "guerrilla marketing" (gaining public notice through unconventional methods). Guerrilla gigs certainly fit this last model, since one aim is to get publicity for indie bands that aren't signed to a record company.


guidance counselor

• guidance counsellor
• students' advisor
• guidance
• counselor
• counsellor
• students advisor
• students
• advisor
• student

This is a position at school. A guidance counselor advises school students: in a high school, this person gives students personal, academic, and career counseling.
Synonym: students' advisor
Example:
At Nemo College we understand that as a guidance counselor you want to help your students make informed decisions in their college searches.


gum camphor

• gum
• camphor
• Laurel Camphor
• Laurel

Camphor.
Synonym: Laurel Camphor
Example:
The gum camphor is a stimulant to the sensory organism, especially to the mucus coats of all the nasal and eye and ear and throat cavities.


gum resin

• gum
• resin
• mastic

A product consisting essentially of a mixture of gum and resin usually obtained by making an incision in a plant and allowing the juice which exudes to solidify; the dry exudate from a number of plants, consisting of a mixture of a gum and a resin, the former soluble in water but not alcohol, the latter soluble in alcohol but not water.
Synonym: mastic
Example:
The precise identity of the gum resin used in the compounding of the incense is not known but is likely from Pistacia lentiscus known as mastic and readily available in many large Arab markets.


gum up the works

• gum up
• works
• gum
• work

To cause a machine or a system to break down; make something go wrong or throw it into confusion.
Example:
I had set the VCR when my little cousin shot his water pistol at it and gummed up the works.
Etymology:
This expression was first used in the 1800s, when a lot of new machines were being invented. Most machinery had to be oiled well to work properly. Sometimes the oil got so thick and gummy that, instead of helping the machine run smoothly, it actually interfered with - or even stopped - the working of the machine. Today, anyone or anything that "gums up the works" ruins someone's plans or spoils any kind of undertaking.

gummy
1. Consisting of gum; viscous; adhesive; producing or containing gum; covered with gum or a substance resembling gum.
2. (rude, slang) the act of receiving a blowjob from a toothless woman or man.
Example: That old bitch next door just offered him a gummy!


gumshoe

• gum-shoe

A detective or private investigator.
Examples:
1) Captain Harris assigned two gumshoes to the case. 2) Gumshoes come in all kinds, ranging from the experienced sleuth to the novice bungler.
Etymology:
Refers to the rubber sole on the shoes of many police officers. The phrase is frequently heard in the movies, especially in older film noir detective films from the 1940s.


gyp
1. To cheat, swindle, trick, defraud; to deprive of by deceit.
Examples:
1) He swindled me out of my inheritance.
2) She defrauded the customers who trusted her.
3) The cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change. Synonyms: victimize, swindle, rook, goldbrick, nobble, diddle, bunco, defraud, scam, mulct, con
2. Cheating, trickery, fraud.
3. A a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property. Synonyms: bunco, bunco game, bunko, bunko game, con, confidence trick, confidence game, con game, hustle, sting, flimflam
4. (Cambridge, England) A college servant.
Example:
We placed bets on three horses, then decided to allow the gyp or college servant who placed the bets for us to make his own choice for the same amount as each of our three bets. ("Unfinished: George Appleton remembers and reflects". - Appleton, George. UK: Collins, 1990)
Etymology:
1889, Amer.Eng., probably short for Gypsy.

gyppy tummy

• gippy tummy
• gyppy
• gippy
• tummy

Also: gippy tummy
(Colloq.) A severe stomach upset with diarrhoea, especially as suffered by visitors to hot countries.
Example:
'Gyppy tummy' infections really are the curse of many foreign holidays!
Etymology:
20th c.; from gippy, earlier form of "gyppo", the same origin as "gypsy" - a mangled form of "Egyptian".
"Gyppy tummy" is noted by Eric Partridge as World War Two services slang for the ailment suffered by British forces in the North African desert campaign, and it was a phrase that was common in Britain after the War. It seems certain that "gyppy" was influenced in its creation by the pain sense of "gyp", but also built on "gyppy" or "gippy", a slang term for an Egyptian that can be traced back to Lord Kitchener's army in Egypt in the 1880s and 1890s.