This page gathers the 5,895 dictionary entries of which at least one sense is labelled “UK” by Wiktionary. The definition shown is that sense; each word leads to its full entry. Page 45 of 59: from “scrub up” to “shaler”.
- scrub up verb To become clean, handsome, smart in appearance, e.g. for a special occasion, especially when it is out of character to be seen as such.
- scrubber noun A prostitute or a slovenly woman.
- scruffle noun A scuffle; a physical fight or struggle.
- scrumpy noun A rough cider, normally more alcoholic than usual, and typically produced through natural fermentation.
- scrunty adj Poor; bare; barren.
- scrutinise verb To examine something with great care.
- scuffer noun A London policeman (of the Victorian era).
- scufter noun A policeman.
- sculd verb To accuse (someone) of wrongdoing, especially under the procedure known as sculding.
- sculsh noun rubbish; trash
- scummer noun Alternative form of Scummer (“A supporter of Southampton F.C.”)
- scupper verb To thwart or destroy, especially something belonging or pertaining to another.
- scur verb To move hastily; to scour.
- scutch verb To beat or whip; to drub.
- sea dragon noun An ichthyosaur (dinosaur-age delphine marine reptile)
- sea drake noun The pewit gull, or sea cormorant (Corvus marinus)
- sea grape noun Any plant in the genus Ephedra, especially those native to Europe and neighboring parts of Africa and Asia.
- sea pike noun The garfish or needlefish, Belone belone.
- sea rover noun A herring.
- sea swallow noun The common tern (Sterna hirundo).
- seagull verb To run in the back line rather than concentrate on primary positional duties in open play.
- seagulling noun The practice, in Rugby Union, of forwards running in the back line rather than concentrating on their primary positional duties in open…
- seam noun Grease; tallow; lard.
- seaman noun A person of the lowest rank in the Navy, below able seaman.
- searcher noun An officer in London appointed to examine the bodies of the dead, and report the cause of death.
- seaside noun The area by and around the sea; including the beach, promenade or cliffs.
- seasoner noun A conker that has been stored for a whole year and allowed to harden.
- seat only noun A package holiday rate without confirmed accommodation reservations, or using a dummy reservation, enabling the tour operator to sell…
- seatworm noun Strongyloides stercoralis
- seave noun A rush (the plant).
- second verb To transfer temporarily to alternative employment.
- second class noun A class of postage with delivery times slower than first class.
- second-gear valuation noun The assignment of a property to a tax band by an estate agent who evaluates the property while driving past it.
- second-rate adj Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having 80–98 guns across three gun decks, a complement of 700–750, and weighing…
- secondary modern noun In the UK, from 1944 to the 1970s, a secondary school for children who had failed the eleven plus examination.
- secondary modern school noun a type of school, for pupils who had failed the 11-plus examination, that concentrated on practical and vocational rather than academic…
- secondary school noun A state school attended between the ages of 11 and 16 or 18 between primary school and university.
- secondary technical school noun A kind of secondary school in England and Wales in the mid-20th century under the tripartite system, teaching mechanical, scientific and…
- section verb To commit (a person) to a hospital for mental health treatment as an involuntary patient. So called after various sections of legal acts…
- sectioning noun An instance of a person being sectioned.
- securonomics noun A modern form of supply-side economics inspired by US president Joe Biden's economic policy, particularly his Inflation Reduction Act, and…
- see off verb To defeat; to get rid of.
- seedcorn noun Financial assets set aside for the generation of future profits.
- seel noun Good fortune; happiness; bliss.
- seg noun A man; fellow.
- seize verb To submit for consideration to a deliberative body.
- sele noun The right time or occasion for something, an opportune moment, season
- selectorate noun The members of a political party with voting rights.
- self-certification noun The act of an employee certifying their absence from work due to sickness, and the eligibility for statutory sick pay.
- self-raising flour noun A type of flour that contains an agent, such as baking powder, which makes baked goods expand and rise when cooked.
- sell down verb To become less by being sold.
- sell up verb To sell all (of the assets of a company or person), in order to reduce its debts or gain liquid money.
- sellotape noun Adhesive tape.
- selly adj Rare; wonderful; admirable
- semesterisation noun The division of the academic year into (typically two) semesters with exams after each, as opposed to (typically three) terms with exams…
- semi noun A semi-detached house.
- send noun A callout or diss usually aimed at a specific person, often in the form of a diss track.
- send down verb To suspend or expel (an undergraduate) from university.
- send for verb To call out or diss, often in the form of a diss track; to roast.
- septendecillion num 10⁵⁴.
- septic noun An American, a Yank.
- sere adj Individual, separate, set apart.
- sergeant noun A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.
- sergeant major noun An appointment (not a rank) in the British Army and Royal Marines, denoting the most senior non-commissioned officer in a battalion…
- serial noun A unit of police officers equipped with shields to tackle a riot.
- series noun Synonym of season (“one of the groups of episodes that together make up a whole series”).
- serjeant-at-arms noun An officer who attends upon the Lord Chancellor with the mace, and who executes various writs of process in the course of a Chancery suit.
- servery noun A place where food is served, either the surface itself or the room; a food counter or canteen or cafeteria service area.
- service lift noun a lift designed to carry heavy goods in a place of business
- service station noun a service area
- services noun A service station.
- serviette noun A table napkin, now especially a paper one.
- sesh noun A period of sustained social drinking or recreational drug taking.
- set verb To divide a class group in a subject according to ability
- set about verb To attack (someone); to set upon.
- set down verb To place, especially on the ground or a surface; to cease carrying; to deposit; to allow passengers to alight.
- set out verb To position, to put in a position
- set out one's stall verb To make publicly clear one's position with reference to a particular idea or philosophy, or what one can do.
- set square noun A flat triangular piece of plastic or other material, having corners of precise angles, used in technical drawing
- settee noun A long seat with a back, made to accommodate several persons at once; a sofa.
- setter verb To cut the dewlap (of a cow or ox), and insert a seton, so as to cause an issue.
- settle verb To silence, especially by force.
- settler noun The person in a betting shop who calculates the winnings.
- sextillion num A trillion billion: 1 followed by 21 zeros, 10²¹.
- sha noun Initialism of strategic health authority.
- shab noun Scabies.
- shabby adj Of weather: wet and dreary.
- shack verb To wander as a vagabond or tramp.
- shackle noun A person who is idle or lazy; an idler.
- shackly adj Shaky, rickety, ramshackle.
- shadbird noun The American snipe; Wilson's snipe (Gallinago delicata).
- shadow noun A trainee, assigned to work with an experienced officer.
- shadow factory noun An aircraft factory in the World War II era, partly staffed by people from the motor industry, that was kept hidden from enemy aircraft.
- shady adj Mean, cruel.
- shag noun Bacon or fat, especially if with some remaining hair or bristles.
- shagging noun An act (or acts) of sexual intercourse.
- shake noun The redshank, so called from the nodding of its head while on the ground.
- shakehole noun A steep-sided, often conical, depression caused by slumping of ground into a cavity beneath. Shakeholes may or may not contain a cave…
- shako noun A bearskin or busby.
- shaler noun A girl or young woman.