• PED
n. a professional runner, walker …1863 sl.
• PEDAL-PUSHERS
n. three-quarter length, i.e. calf-length, pants suitable for female sportswear …c1962 teen sl.
• PEDDLE ONE’S HIPS
vb. to be a prostitute …c1920 sl.
• PEDDLE ONE’S PAPERS
vb. to leave …1965 Amer. dial.
• PEDDLER
n. a local or slow freight train …1926 Amer. railroading usage
• PEDDLERS
n. light clogs …L19 Liverpool street arabs’ sl.
• PEDDLER’S FRENCH
n. underworld slang …1530
• PEDDLE-SNATCH
n. 1. a prostitute, either male or female …M20 US sl.
n. 2. a catamite …M20 US sl.
• PEDDLE YOUR DUCKS SOMEWHERE ELSE!
int. mind your own business …1965 Amer. dial.
• PEDDLE YOUR OWN FISH!
int. mind your own business …1932 Amer. dial.
• PEDDLE YOUR OWN WAGON!
int. mind your own business …1966 Amer. dial.
• PEDERAST
n. a sodomite …1730
• PEDERASTY
n. unnatural connection with a boy; sodomy …1613
• PEDESTALS
n. the feet …E18 sl.
• PEDESTRIAL
adj. 1. pertaining to the foot; going on foot, walking …1611 obs.
adj. 2. of archery: performed with the bow drawn against the foot …1792 obs.
• PEDESTRIAN DIGITS
n. the legs …c1890 schoolboys’ sl.
• PEDIGREE
n. 1. a criminal record …1911 sl.
n. 2. biography …Bk1913-17 Amer. dial.
• PEDIGREED BULL
n. nonsense …Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• PEDIGREE-MAN
n. a recidivist (a criminal who reoffends, esp. repeatedly) …1923 cant
• PEDIONOMITE
n. one who lives on a plain; a dweller in a plain …1876 rare
• PEDISSEQUOUS
adj. following, attendant upon something …1657 obs.
• PEDLAR’S FRENCH
n. underworld slang …1530
• PEDLAR’S HORSE
n. a walking-stick …c1780 colloq.
• PEDLAR’S NEWS
n. stale news …19C colloq.
• PEDLAR’S PACK
n. dismissal …L20 rhyming slang on ‘sack’
• PEDLAR’S PAD
n. a walking-stick …c1780 colloq.
• PEDLAR’S PONY
n. a walking-stick …c1780 colloq.
• PEDLERS
n. light clogs …L19 Liverpool street arabs’ sl.
• PEDOBAPTISM
n. infant baptism …1640
• PEDOCRACY
n. government by children …1647
• PEE
n. 1. urination …19C sl., orig. mostly nursery
n. 2. money … Bk1903 sl.
n. 3. urine …1961 sl.
vb. to make water; to urinate …1788 colloq., esp. nursery
• PEE ANT
n. a small ant …1954 Amer. dial.
• PEE-DAB
n. a small, usually cheap, playing marble …1957 Amer. dial.
• PEE-DAD
n. a small, usually cheap, playing marble …1965 Amer. dial.
• PEEDEE FROG
n. a tree frog …1968 Amer. dial.
• PEE-DOODLE
vb. to briefly lose control of one’s bladder, as by nerves, a sneeze, laughing, etc. …2000 Amer. dial.
• THE PEEDOODLES
n. the jitters, nervousness …1995 Amer. dial.
• PEE-DOOKIE
n. a small, usually cheap, playing marble …1965 Amer. dial.
• PEE-EYE
n. a prostitute’s bully; a pander; a procurer …c1920 UK sl.
• PEE-GEE
n. a small, usually cheap, playing marble …1965 Amer. dial.
• PEE-HEE
vb. to ingratiate oneself with one’s superiors …1939 sl.
• PEE-JIB
n. a small, usually cheap, playing marble …1965 Amer. dial.
• PEE-JINK
n. a small, usually cheap, playing marble …1965 Amer. dial.
• PEE-JINKER
n. a small, usually cheap, playing marble …1958 Amer. dial.
• THE PEEK
n. the observation cell …M20 prisons’ sl.
• PEEK-A-BOO
n. 1. a girl’s blouse with perforations …c1880 sl.
n. 2. any garment made from Swiss cotton …c1950 Aust. sl.
• PEEKO
n. a glance; a quick look-about …c1910 sl.
• PEEKY
adj. sickly, unwell, in poor health …1877 Amer. dial.
• PEEL
n. a policeman …c1920 Aust. sl.
vb. 1. to undress; often followed by ‘off’ …1785 sl., orig. boxing sl.
vb. 2. to hurry; to run at full speed …1819 Eng. dial.
vb. 3. to strike, to beat, to spank, to slap …1935 Amer. dial.
vb. 4. to throw a rock, ball, or other object …1997 Amer. dial.
• PEELED
adj. naked; undressed; nude …1820 colloq.
• PEELED EGG
n. 1. a rich inheritance …1721 Sc.
n. 2. a windfall …1864 Sc.
• PEEL EGGS
vb. to stand on ceremony; to behave in a formal way …c1860 sl.
• PEEL EGGS WITH ANYONE
vb. not to stand on ceremony …1871 Eng. dial.
• PEELER
n. 1. a policeman; applied orig. to a member of the Irish constabulary …1817 Brit. sl.
n. 2. something remarkable of its kind; a hard-working, energetic person …1823 Amer. dial.
n. 3. one ready to strip for a fight …1852 boxing sl.
n. 4. a ranch hand or cowboy; one who tames wild horses; a bronco-buster …1894 Amer. dial.
n. 5. a rebuke …1899 Amer. dial.
n. 6. a black eye …1969 Amer. dial.
• PEELING
n. 1. the shell or hull of a nut; the pod of a legume …1966 Amer. dial.
n. 2. a scolding …1968 Amer. dial.
• THE PEELING OF AN ONION
n. anything very light and easily blown away …1815 Sc.
• PEEL IT
vb. to go or leave rapidly; to depart hurriedly; to run fast …1858 Amer. dial.
• PEELO
n. a pilot …c1940 Royal Air Force sl.
• PEEL-OFF
n. illicit removal of part of a common booty …20C police & criminal sl.
(verbs usually as ‘peel off’)
vb. 1. to take one’s clothes off, to undress …1785 sl.
vb. 2. to give money …c1925 sl.
• PEEL ONE’S BEST END
vb. to effect sexual intromission …19C sl.
• PEEL OUT
vb. to scold, to chide …1968 Amer. dial.
• PEENICKER PAWNEE
n. drinking water …M19 sl.
• PEE ONESELF LAUGHING
vb. to laugh very heartily and/or long …c1910 sl.
• PEEP
int. used as a call to chickens or turkeys …1956 Amer. dial.
n. 1. a very small or young chicken or turkey …1916 Amer. dial.
n. 2. a tree frog …1939 Amer. dial.
n. 3. a word …c1945 sl.
n. 4. a young girl or woman; not necessarily uncomplimentary …1968 Amer. dial.
vb. 1. to sleep …L17 rhyming sl.
vb. 2. to betray an associate to the police or other authority; to inform on; to incriminate …1911 sl.
• PEEPAW
n. a grandfather; rarely, a father or stepfather …1965 Amer. dial.
• PEE-PEE
int. used as a call to chickens or turkeys …1899 Amer. dial.
n. a very small or young chicken or turkey …1890 Amer. dial.
• PEEPER
n. 1. a looking-glass …c1670 sl.
n. 2. an eye …c1690 sl.
n. 3. a spy-glass …L18 cant
n. 4. a policeman (almost always plural) …L19 cant
n. 5. a tree frog …1842 Amer. dial.
n. 6. a black eye …1967 Amer. dial.
• PEEPERS
n. spectacles …19C sl.
• PEEPERS IN MOURNING
n. black eyes …19C sl.
• PEEP-EYE
n. the game of peekaboo …1887 Amer. dial.
vb. to play peekaboo …1986 Amer. dial.
• PEEP FREAK
n . a voyeur …c1970 sl., orig. US
• PEEPIE
int. used as a call to chickens or turkeys …1967 Amer. dial.
n. a young girl or woman; not necessarily uncomplimentary …1968 Amer. dial.
• PEEPING
adj. drowsy, sleepy …M17 sl.
• PEEPING TOM
n. 1. an inquisitive person …1785 colloq.
n. 2. a pilot that is expert at flying in bad weather and at dodging from cloud to cloud…1939 Royal Air Force sl.
• PEEP OF DAY
n. dawn, sunrise …1967 Amer. dial.
• PEE-POMP
n. a seesaw …1949 Amer. dial.
• PEEP-PEEP!
int. used as a call to chickens or turkeys …1967 Amer. dial.
• PEEPY
adj. sleepy, drowsy…1847 colloq.
adj. 2. given to peeping …1898 colloq.
n. a very small or young chicken or turkey …1908 Amer. dial.
• PEERIE
adj. sly …17C sl.
• PEERIES
n. feet …20C sl.
• PEERIE-WEERIE-WINKIE
adj. excessively small …B1900 Sc.
• PEERY
adj. 1. shy, timid, suspicious …c1670 sl.
adj. 2. sly …L17 sl.
adj. 3. inquisitive …c1810 sl.
• PEETEET
n. a tree frog …1968 Amer. dial.
• PEETY
adj. cheerful …18C cant
• PEEVE
n. 1. peevishness …c1930 colloq.
n. 2. drink; alcoholic liquor …20C market-traders’ sl.
vb. to disgruntle; to annoy; to infuriate; to complain, to sulk, to pout …1908 colloq., orig. US
• PEEVED
adj. annoyed, upset; cross …1908 colloq.
• PEEVER
n. a public house …20 market-traders’ sl.
• PEE-WEE
n. 1. either sexual organ …19C nursery sl.
n. 2. a small, usually cheap, marble …1848 Amer. dial.
n. 3. urination …1907 sl., chiefly a children’s word or euphemism
n. 4. a young wild turkey chick, still following the hen …1936 Amer. dial.
vb. 1. to make water …19C nursery sl.
vb. 2. to eat without appetite, to trifle with one’s food …1923 Sc.
• PEE-WEEZY
n. a little dried-up or shrivelled person …1952 Amer. dial.
• PEE-WILLY
n. an effeminate male …c1925 Can. sl.
• PEEZALTREE
adj. inferior; uncultured; unsatisfactory …1953 Amer. dial.
• PEG
n. 1. a tooth (used esp. by or for children) …1598 sl.
n. 2. a blow, esp. a straight or a thrusting one …18C sl. & Eng. dial.
n. 3. a wooden leg …1833 colloq.
n. 4. a shilling …1839 sl., orig. Sc.
n. 5. a drink, esp. of brandy and soda water …1860 Anglo-Indian
n. 6. a cricket stump …1891 colloq.
n. 7. a railway semaphore signal …1911 sl.
n. 8. a playing marble …1950 Amer. dial.
vb. 1. to throw something; to make a throw at …1889 Amer. dial.
vb. 2. to crochet …1898 Amer. dial.
vb. 3. to possess carnally …Bk1903 sl.
• PEG AWAY
vb. to persevere …1818 sl.
• PEGGED OUT
adj. 1. exhausted, tired, worn out …1868 Amer. dial.
adj. 2. dead …Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• PEGGY
n. 1. 1902 naval sl. – a sailor assigned to menial tasks; a mess-steward
n. 2. 1967 Amer. dial. – a chamber-pot
• PEG-HOUSE
n. 1. 1922 sl. – a pub
n. 2. 1931 US sl. – a brothel; also, a meeting-place for male homosexuals
• PEGIL
n. 1808 Sc. – the menial or rough work to be done about a house; the dirty household jobs
vb. 1880 Sc. – to do the dirty work of a household
• PEGO
n. 1680 sl. – the penis
• PEG OUT
vb. 1855 sl. – to die; to get ill; to fail completely
• PEG-PUFF
n. 1824 Sc. – a young woman with the manners of an old one
• PEGS
n. 1833 jocular usage – the legs
• PEISANT
adj. 1. c1450 obs. – forcible, as a blow given with a heavy body
adj. 2. c1470 obs. – that weighs or presses heavily upon one; oppressive, toilsome
adj. 3. 1520 obs. – having great weight; heavy, ponderous
• PEJORATE
vb. 1653 – to make or grow worse; to deteriorate; to worsen
• PELADO
adj. 1848 Amer. dial. – low-class
n. 1848 Amer. dial., usually derogatory – a low-class Mexican
• PELAGIOUS
adj. 1661 obs. – pertaining to the open or high sea, as distinguished from the shallow water near the coast
• PELICAN STATE
n. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – Louisiana
• PELL
n. M18 – a friend; an accomplice
• PELLICULATION
n. B1900 – a deceiving with fair words; deception
• PELL-MELL FOR A CAT-RACE
adj. Bk1913-17 Amer. dial. – very fast
• PELL-MELL FOR KITT’RY
adj. Bk1913-17 Amer. dial. – very fast
• PELLY MELLY
adv. c1450 obs. rare – in a confused way or manner; in disorder and hurry; indiscriminately
• PELMATOGRAM
n. 1890 rare – an impression of the sole of the foot; a footprint
• PELSNICKLE
n. 1967 Amer. dial. – St. Nicholas, Santa Claus or St. Nicholas’ servant whose duty it was to punish naughty children or reward good ones
• PELT
n. 1. Bk1905 Amer. dial. – a blow
n. 2. Bk1942 Amer. turf sl. – a racehorse
• PELTER
n. 1856 Amer. dial. – a poor or worn-out horse
• PELTSNICKEL
n. 1890 Amer. dial. – St. Nicholas, Santa Claus or St. Nicholas’ servant whose duty it was to punish naughty children or reward good ones
• PELZNICKEL
n. 1968 Amer. dial. – St. Nicholas, Santa Claus or St. Nicholas’ servant whose duty it was to punish naughty children or reward good ones
Back to INDEX P
Back to DICTIONARY
Updated: February 26, 2023
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