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US English words
American English: words and meanings used in the United States that sound unusual elsewhere. 1,978 words and meanings, most familiar first.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| me pronoun | Myself; as a reflexive indirect object of a verb; the ethical dative. |
| can verb | To fire or dismiss an employee. |
| with adverb | Along, together with others, in a group, etc. |
| right adverb | Very, extremely, quite. |
| up adverb | Without additional ice. |
| one noun | A one-dollar bill. |
| over adverb | Again; another time; once more; over again. |
| two noun | A two-dollar bill. |
| wait verb | To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment. |
| call noun | A reference to, or statement of, an object, course, distance, or other matter of description in a survey or grant requiring or calling for a corresponding object, etc., on the land. |
| talk noun | A customary conversation in which the parent(s) of a black child explain the racism and violence they may face, especially when interacting with police, and strategies to manage it. |
| feel verb | To understand. |
| girl noun | Cocaine, especially in powder form. |
| house noun | A small stand of trees in a swamp. |
| bad adjective | Overly promiscuous, licentious. |
| car noun | The aggregate of desirable characteristics of a car. |
| dead verb | To kill. |
| mom noun | Mother. |
| boy noun | Heroin. |
| real adverb | Really, very. |
| already adverb | An intensifier used to emphasize impatience or express exasperation. |
| shit noun | (the shit) The best of its kind. |
| while noun | An uncertain long period of time |
| gone adjective | Weak; faint; feeling a sense of goneness. |
| case noun | A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces. |
| soon adjective | Early |
| sit verb | To babysit. |
| part noun | A room in a public building, especially a courtroom. |
| minute noun | A while or a long unspecified period of time |
| hit verb | To have sex with. |
| check noun | A mark (especially a checkmark: ✓) used as an indicator. |
| story noun | A soap opera. |
| rest verb | To complete one's active advocacy in a trial or other proceeding, and thus to wait for the outcome (however, one is still generally available to answer questions, etc.) |
| side noun | A dish that accompanies the main course; a side dish. |
| behind preposition | Following, subsequent to; as a result or consequence of. |
| shot noun | A punch or other physical blow. |
| couple adjective | Two or (a) small number of. |
| hot adjective | Electrically charged. |
| black adjective | Belonging to or descended from any of various sub-Saharan African ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin. |
| boss adjective | Of excellent quality, first-rate. |
| white noun | Cocaine |
| john noun | A device or place to urinate and defecate: now usually a toilet or lavatory, but also (dated) a chamber pot or outhouse. |
| red noun | Chili con carne (usually in the phrase "bowl of red"). |
| ten noun | A perfect specimen, (particularly) a physically attractive person. |
| pull verb | To pull out from a yard or station; to leave. |
| fall noun | Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed. |
| straight adjective | Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party. |
| road noun | A railway or (UK, railroads) a single railway track. |
| piece noun | A gun. |
| wonder noun | A kind of donut; a cruller. |
| dude verb | Usually followed by up: to dress up, to wear smart or special clothes. |
| strong adjective | Impressive, good. |
| chief noun | An informal term of address for a Native American or First Nations man. |
| court noun | A street with no outlet, a cul-de-sac. |
| bag noun | A fellow gay man. |
| station noun | A gas station, service station. |
| rock noun | A crystallized lump of crack cocaine. |
| handle noun | A half-gallon (1.75-liter) bottle of alcohol. |
| situation noun | An individual movie theater. |
| bill noun | A piece of paper money; a banknote. |
| letter noun | A size of paper, 8½ in × 11 in (215.9 mm × 279.4 mm, US paper sizes rounded to the nearest 5 mm). |
| single noun | A bill valued at $1. |
| short noun | An automobile; especially in crack shorts, to break into automobiles. |
| ground noun | An electrical conductor connected to the earth, or a large conductor whose electrical potential is taken as zero (such as a steel chassis). |
| lunch noun | Any small meal, especially one eaten at a social gathering. |
| bar noun | The bar exam, the legal licensing exam. |
| tom noun | A lesbian. |
| stick noun | A timber board, especially a two by four (inches). |
| fix verb | To surgically render an animal, especially a pet, infertile. |
| park noun | A wide, flat-bottomed valley in a mountainous region. |
| blow noun | Cocaine. |
| mess noun | The milk given by a cow at one milking. |
| cell noun | A cellular phone. |
| card verb | To check IDs, especially against a minimum age requirement. |
| broken adjective | Not having gone in the way intended; saddening. |
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| private adjective | Not shared with another patient. |
| wall noun | A doctor who tries to admit as few patients as possible. |
| lieutenant noun | In the US Army, Air Force and Marines, holding the rank above Second Lieutenant and below Captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "Lieutenant" or as the complete forms of the ranks. |
| green noun | Money. |
| professor noun | A teacher or faculty member at a college or university regardless of formal rank. |
| singing noun | A gathering for the purpose of singing shape note songs. |
| truck noun | A heavier motor vehicle designed to carry goods or to pull a semi-trailer designed to carry goods. |
| bear noun | A state policeman (short for Smokey Bear). |
| bus verb | To clear meal remains from. |
| jump noun | Short for jump-start. |
| final noun | A final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class. |
| crap adjective | Of poor quality. |
| spot noun | A bill of five-dollar or ten-dollar denomination in dollars. |
| hero noun | A large sandwich made from meats and cheeses; a hero sandwich. |
| destroy verb | To sing a song extremely poorly. |
| bunch noun | A considerable amount. |
| chicken noun | A kilogram of cocaine. |
| jimmy noun | Chocolate sprinkles used as a topping for ice cream, cookies, or cupcakes. |
| ways noun | A distance. |
| gas verb | To give a vehicle more fuel in order to accelerate it. |
| leg noun | An army soldier assigned to a paratrooper unit who has not yet been qualified as a paratrooper. |
| roll verb | To behave in a certain way; to adopt a general disposition toward a situation. |
| pop noun | A small, immature peanut, boiled as a snack. |
| bomb noun | A car in poor condition. |
| mommy noun | Mother. |
| dogs noun | Feet, from rhyming slang dog's meat. |
| bird noun | A kilogram of cocaine. |
| awful adverb | Very, extremely. |
| local noun | An item of news relating to the place where the newspaper is published. |
| sweetheart noun | A female member of a college or university fraternity. |
| dick noun | Absolutely nothing. |
| folks noun | People in general; everybody or anybody. |
| fellow noun | A physician undergoing a fellowship (supervised subspecialty medical training) after having completed a residency (specialty training program). |
| cup noun | A US unit of liquid measure equal to 8 fluid ounces (1⁄16 of a US gallon; 236.5882365 mL) or 240 mL. |
| jake noun | A juvenile male turkey. |
| super noun | Short for superintendent, especially, a building's resident manager (sometimes clarified as “building super”). |
| natural noun | A hairstyle for people with Afro-textured hair in which the hair is not straightened or otherwise treated. |
| crew noun | The sport of competitive rowing. |
| challenge noun | An act of seeking to have a certain person be declared not legally qualified to vote, made when the person offers their ballot. |
| pack verb | To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (on the backs of men or animals). |
| project noun | An urban low-income housing building. |
| suicide noun | A beverage combining all available flavors at a soda fountain. |
| credit noun | A person's credit rating or creditworthiness, as represented by their history of borrowing and repayment (or non payment). |
| condition verb | To put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college. |
| sheriff noun | A government official, usually responsible for law enforcement in their county and for administration of the county jail, sometimes an officer of the court, usually elected. |
| brown adjective | Latino |
| comfortable noun | A stuffed or quilted coverlet for a bed; a comforter. |
| dry noun | A prohibitionist (of alcoholic beverages). |
| stolen noun | Something which has been stolen. |
| cream noun | The liquid separated from milk, possibly with certain other milk products added, and with at least eighteen percent of it milkfat. |
| total verb | To demolish; to wreck completely. (from total loss) |
| tie noun | A horizontal wooden or concrete structural member that supports and ties together rails. |
| property noun | A script, book, screenplay, or the like that is on the market or has been bought for commercial production as a stage play, movie, or the like. |
| gang noun | A chain gang. |
| lines noun | The reins with which a horse is guided by its driver. |
| unit noun | Any piece of equipment, such as an appliance, power tool, stereo system, computer, tractor, or machinery. |
| pig noun | The general-purpose M60 machine gun, considered to be heavy and bulky. |
| finger noun | A policeman or prison guard. |
| flat noun | A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar. |
| style verb | To act in a way which seeks to show that one possesses style. |
| shake noun | An adulterant added to cocaine powder. |
| loose adjective | Having oversteer. |
| sugar noun | Heroin. |
| wet noun | One who supports the consumption of alcohol and thus opposes Prohibition. |
| returned adjective | Back home having been discharged from military service. |
| football noun | American football: a game played on a field of 100 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide in which two teams of 11 players attempt to get an ovoid ball to the end of each other's territory. |
| page noun | A boy or girl employed to wait upon the members of a legislative body. |
| hill noun | A heap of earth surrounding a plant. |
| bread noun | Money. |
| legal adjective | (of paper or document layouts) Measuring 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm) (also legal-size). |
| ill noun | PCP, phencyclidine. |
| secretary noun | A type of desk, secretary desk; a secretaire. |
| foreign adjective | From a different one of the states of the United States, as of a state of residence or incorporation. |
| century noun | A banknote in the denomination of one hundred dollars. |
| plant noun | A young oyster suitable for transplanting. |
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources