New Slang at alphaDictionary
New Words Added to the Dictionary
The Latest Words • June 19, 2015
AlphaDictionary is constantly adding to its Historical Dictionary of American Slang. We now have over 3000 carefully selected, carefully researched words from English slang going back to 16th century England, slang brought to the America by our ancestors. Our Historical Dictionary of American Slang will tell you the meaning of a slang word, its grammatical category, give an example and the approximate decade in which it was introduced. You can search for a word, a meaning (look at all the ways we have said "leave" over the centuries), or a decade. Just type in the decade you are interested in (e.g. 1950) and the dictionary will tell you all the slang terms introduced during the 50s! Great for authors writing period pieces. You can also test your slang to see which decade it places you in with our Slinging Slang quiz.
Word | POS | Definition | Example | Year |
battle-ax | n | (Offensive) Mean old woman. | That old battle-ax will never be cool! | 1890 |
la-di-dah | adj, int | Pretentious, snobbish. | Susan Liddy-Gates is a la-di-dah high society lawyer. | 1880 |
la-di-da | adj, int | Pretentious, snobbish. | Vernon is engaged to some la-di-da upscale trophy girl. | 1880 |
lickspittle | n | A sycophant, toady. | Mugsy is a lickspittle who will do anything the boss asks him. | 1820 |
lily-livered | adj | Cowardly. | That lily-livered scoundrel never served a day in the army. | 1850 |
harpy | n | (Offensive) A nasty, ill-tempered woman. | My mother-in-law is a harpy who is always complaining about everything. | 1580 |
slattern | n | (Offensive) Woman of loose morals, a slut. | The street was strewn with slatterns plying their trade. | 1630 |
strumpet | n | (Offensive) Woman of loose morals. | Lucy Lastik is a strumpet who will go out with any man. | 1320 |
tart | n | Woman of loose morals. | Maude Lynn Dresser came to the party in clothes that made her look like a right tart. | 1860 |
madcap | adj | Crazy. | We went out an had a madcap evening at the ballet. | 1590 |
mealy-mouthed | adj | Hypocritical, cowardly. | I don't believe a word that mealy-mouthed devil says. | 1570 |
milksop | n | A spineless person. | That milksop will do anything his wife tells him to do. | 1390 |
mollycoddle | v | To coddle, spoil. | He's the boss's son, so you'd better mollycoddle him. | 1860 |
mooch | v | To freeload, sponge, cadge. | He's like a puppy: feed him once and he'll return to mooch off you all the time. | 1850 |
moocher | n | A freeloader, sponger, cadger. | Lester is a moocher who mooches meals off his sister. | 1850 |
bacon | n | Money. | Heddy Wein brings home the bacon in her family. | 1650 |
bean | n | The head. | The picher threw a bean ball and knocked the batter out. | 1900 |
bean | n | The least amount. | He doesn't know beans about cars. | 1830 |
beans | n | Crap, nonsense. | That's just a lot of beans! | 1840 |
bean | n | Coin, a bit of money. | Could you pick up the check; I don't have a bean on me. | 1810 |