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(n.) mechanical crossover on a railway, (US: switch), hence the term "points failure" is a very common cause of delays on railways, such as the London Underground. polling day (n.) synonym of election day ponce (n.) (slang) someone with overly affected airs and graces; an effeminate posturing man; a pimp. Originates from Maltese slang.
When the prefix "re-" is added to a monosyllabic word, the word gains currency both as a noun and as a verb. Most of the pairs listed below are closely related: for example, "absent" as a noun meaning "missing", and as a verb meaning "to make oneself missing".
This is a list of British English words that have different American English spellings, for example, colour (British English) and color (American English). Word pairs are listed with the British English version first, in italics, followed by the American English version: spelt, spelled; Derived words often, but not always, follow their root.
Word British English meanings Meanings common to British and American English American English meanings yankee, yank (sometimes disparaging, esp. when shortened to yank) someone from the U.S. (n.)1. A patriot from the American Revolution; 2. a New Englander; in the South, someone from the Northern US (often disparaging). A Minnesotan would not ...
(n. or usu. adj.) (part of) a town where commuters live, usually dormitory town (US: bedroom or bedroom community) (n.) large sleeping-room with many beds,*typically in a boarding school ("a sleeping dormitory"; usu. abbreviated to dorm) building with many small private rooms, as for housing the students of a college (UK: hall(s) of residence ...
First reference gives the word as the local pronunciation of go out; the second as "A water-pipe under the ground. A sewer. A flood-gate, through which the marsh-water runs from the reens into the sea." Reen is a Somerset word, not used in the Fens. Gout appears to be cognate with the French égout, "sewer". Though the modern mind associates ...
List of American words not widely used in the United Kingdom; List of British words not widely used in the United States; List of South African English regionalisms; List of words having different meanings in American and British English: A–L; List of words having different meanings in American and British English: M–Z
Many other words have -er in British English. These include Germanic words, such as anger, mother, timber and water, and such Romance-derived words as danger, quarter and river. The ending -cre, as in acre, [26] lucre, massacre, and mediocre, is used in both British and American English to show that the c is pronounced /k/ rather than /s/.