Slang

Slang

Culture specific, informal words and terms that are not considered standard in a language.

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Slang

black maria

Language; Slang

A prison van or police car or van. The nickname originated in the USA in the mid-19th century (Maria is probably an arbitrary borrowing of a female name as a familiarising device).

(British) A traffic patrol officer. An item of police slang recorded by the Evening Standard magazine in February 1993. The black refers to the uniform and the rat to other officers’ and motorists’ ...

black stump

Language; Slang

(Australian) A very remote region. The mythical starting point for ‘the back of beyond’. See also Woop-woop.

bladdered

Language; Slang

(British) Drunk. An increasingly common term among middle-aged speakers as well as students, etc., since the early 1990s. It was used in the TV soap opera Brook- side. ‘“What I like to do on a ...

blag

Language; Slang

Also used as verb. (British) 1. (To carry out) a robbery. This is the sense of the term familiar to most people since its use in TV shows of the 1970s giving a realistic perspective on ...

blast

Language; Slang

1a. A party or celebration 1b. Any enjoyable or exhilarating experi- ence 2. An inhalation of cannabis or another euphoric drug 3. British a gun. A term used by young street-gang members ...

blat

Language; Slang

(Australian) A short trip on a bicycle. The word, which was featured in the long-running soap opera Neighbors in 1996, has been adopted by British schoolchildren.