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- The British English Slang: D to J
- The British English Slang: K to P
- The British English Slang: Q to Z
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A
Absobloodylootely: Yes!
Ace: Awesome.
Aggro: Short for aggravation; trouble.
All mouth and (no) trousers: All talk and no action; a braggart; sexual bravado. (The inclusion or otherwise of “no” in the expression is disputed.)
All piss and wind: Only talk and no action. Originally the19th century phrase was, “all wind and piss”.
All to cock (or all a-cock): Unsatisfactory; mixed up.
Argy-bargy: An argument; confrontation.
Arse: The buttocks; someone who acts in a manner which is incompetent or otherwise disapproved of.
Arse about face: Doing something back to front.
Arse around: Mess around; or waste time.
Arse bandit: A derogatory term homosexual.
Arse over elbow: Head over heels.
Arse over tit: Head over heels; to fall over or take a tumble; embarrassing fall; to topple over. (Another version of arse over elbow, but a bit more graphic!)
Arsehole: The anus (a general derogatory term).
B
Baccy: tobacco, the sort you use to roll your own.
Ball bag: Scrotum.
Balls up: A bungled or messed up situation. (WWI Service slang)
Bang: Having sex.
Bang to rights: Caught in the act.
Bang up: To lock up in prison (prison slang); to inject an illegal drug.
Barmy: Crazy; nsane; a derogatory remark.
Barney: A noisy quarrel or fight
Bee’s Knees: Awesome.
Bellend: The end part of a penis.
Belt up: Shut up.
Bender: A derogatory term for a homosexual; a pub crawl; a heavy drinking session.
Bent: A dishonest or corrupt person; homosexual (mildly derogatory).
Bent as a nine bob note: Extremely dishonest or corrupt. A shilling (bob) note never existed and would therefore have to be counterfeit.
Berk: An idiot; stupid person.
Bespoke: Custom Made.
Best of British: Good luck, short for “best of British luck”.
Biggie: Term a child might use for his poo; an erection.
Bird: Girl; woman; jail time.
Birmingham screwdriver: A hammer.
Bizzie: Policeman (Scouse / Liverpool English).
Bladdered: Drunk.
Blag: A robbery (noun); to rob (verb).
Blague: Talking nonsense.
Blah (or blah blah): Worthless, boring or silly talk.
Blighty (or Old Blighty): Britain; home. Used especially by British troops serving abroad or expatriates.A relic of British India, probably from the Hindi billayati, meaning a foreign land.
Blimey!: An exclamation of shock or surprise similar to “My Goodness!” A corruption of the oath “God Blind Me”.
Blinding: Awesome.
Blinkered: Narrow minded; narrow sighted
Bloke: Any man or sometimes a man in authority such as the boss.
Bloody: Damn. One of the most useful swear words in English!
Blooming, blummin’ (archaic): An alternative or euphemism for the word “bloody”. Used as an intensifier e.g. “blooming marvellous”.
Blow me: It is not a request for services to be performed, but an exclamation of surprise. Short for “Blow me down”. It is something like I am so surprised you could knock me over just by blowing. Similar to “Knock me down with a feather”.
Blow off: Fart.
Blue: Policeman; a Tory.
Bo-Peep: Sleep.
Bob’s your uncle: That’s it! This is a well used phrase is added to the end of sentences like “… and that’s it!”
Bobby: Policeman.
Bod: A male person. Short for body.
Bodge (also botch): To make a mess of or to fix poorly.
Bog: Toilet.
Bog off: Go away (originally RAF slang).
Bog Roll: Toilet paper.
Bogtrotter: A derogatory term for an Irishman particularly an Irish peasant.
Bollocking: A severe telling off.
Bollocks: Balls; vulgar term used for testicles; talking rubbish; total shit; useless; nonsense; having poor quality.
Bomb: Expensive; going really well; really fast; to travel at high speed.
Bonce: Head, crown of the head. Also a large playing marble.
Bonk: To have sex
Booze: An alcoholic drink (noun); to drink alcohol (verb), particularly to excess.
Boozer: Someone who consumes alcohol to excess; a pub or bar.
Boracic: without money.skint.
Bottle: Have no fear; Courage after twenty pints of lager; money collected by buskers or street vendors; to attack someone with a broken bottle.
Bounce: To con someone into believing or doing something; to forcibly eject someone; swagger; impudence or cockiness.
Bouncer: A person employed to eject drunks and troublemakers.
Brass: Money; Cheek, nerve; a prostitute.
Brassed off: Fed up; pissed.
Brill: Brilliant; cool.
Bristols: The female breasts.
Bristol bits: Tits.
Bristol City: Titty..
Broke: Without money. Also ‘stoney broke’, or just ‘stoney’.
Brown bread: Dead.
Brown-tongue: Sycophant; toady or a person who attempts to curry favour with another.
Budge up: Move and make some space.
Buff: Bare skin Example: naked as in ‘in the buff’); having a lean, muscular physique (usually referring to a young man).
Bugger: As a term of abuse for someone or something contemptible, difficult or unpleasant; as an endearment, as in ‘you silly bugger’; as an exclamation of dissatisfaction, annoyance or surprise – Jerk, Fuck, Shit; to mean tired or worn out as in ‘I’m absolutely buggered; to mean frustrate, complicate or ruin completely, as in ‘You’ve buggered that up’.
Bugger about (or bugger around): To fool around or waste time; to create difficulties or complications.
Bugger all: Nothing.
Bugger off!: Go away!; Leave me alone!
Bum: Buttocks, anus or both; a tramp; scrounge.
Bumf: Derogatory reference to official memos or paperwork; toilet roll. Shortened from bum fodder.
Bumsucker: A toady, creep or someone acting in an obsequious manner.
Bung: Throw; bribe.
Bunk: To leave inappropriately as in to ‘bunk off’ school or work; to run away in suspicious circumstances as in to ‘do a bunk’.
C
Cabbage: A stupid person or someone with no mental abilities; cloth trimmed from a customer’s material by a tailor; pilfer or steal.
Carzey: A privy; toilet.
Chap: Male; friend.
Charver or charva: Sexual intercourse; a loose woman; someone with whom it is easy to have sexual intercourse; an easy lay; to mess up, spoil or ruin.
Chat Up: Flirt; try and pick someone.
Chav, chavi or chavvy: Child (from the Romany, chavi. Still used in rural areas).
Chav: white trash; a person who is, or pretends to be of a low social standing and who dresses in a certain style, typically badly or in sports clothing. Often used as a form of derogation.
Cheesed off: Fed up; disgusted; angry.
Chin Wag: Chat.
Chip shop: A carpentry.
Chippy: A carpenter.
Chuff: The buttocks; anus.
Chuffed: Pleased; proud.
Cobblers: talk rubbish; a load of bollocks.
Cock: Penis; nonsense; a friend or fellow.
Cockup or cock-up: Screw up; blunder; mess up; botch..
Codswallop: Talking baloney; nonsense.
Collywobbles: An upset stomach; acute feeling of nervousness.
Conk: The head or the nose; to strike the head or nose.
Cop: A policeman (short for copper).
Cor: An expression of surprise similar to “My Goodness!”
Cor blimey: An exclamation of surprise. It is a corruption of the oath “God Blind Me”.
Corker: An outstanding someone or something.
Cottage: A public lavatory.
Cottaging: Homosexual activity in a public lavatory.
Cracker: Someone or something of notable ability or quality.
Cracking: Stunning; the best.
Crackers: Insane.
Cram: Study hard.
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- The British English Slang: D to J
- The British English Slang: K to P
- The British English Slang: Q to Z
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