"D" Slang

dear john

General

A letter sent to a serviceman ending a romantic relationship while he is away on duty, typically opening with the cold formality 'Dear John.'

death cookies

General

Small, hard chunks of ice or frozen snow strewn across a run that catch edges and rattle the rider. They make for jarring, unpredictable riding.

death cross

Internet

A death cross is a chart pattern in which a shorter-term moving average (often the 50-day) crosses below a longer-term one (often the 200-day), read as a bearish signal of lower prices. It is the inverse of a golden cross.

death drop

General

The name the wider world, mostly via RuPaul's Drag Race, gave to the vogue dip: a sudden, dramatic backward fall to the floor landing on your back with a leg up. It looks like you've been shot. Drag queens and the public love the name; ballroom practitioners consider it a misnomer that erased the original term 'dip.' Knowing which word to use signals which side of the velvet rope you learned it on.

death warp

Gaming

Killing yourself deliberately because the respawn point is closer to where you need to be than walking there would be. Death becomes a fast-travel button.

death week

Street

The week around August 16th — the day Elvis died in 1977 — when Graceland and the rest of Memphis flood with impersonators, fan-club pilgrims and tour buses. Officially Graceland calls it 'Elvis Week,' but locals have called it Death Week for decades.

deathball

Gaming

A strat, not just a fight. Stack five heroes with heavy AoE and lockdown, group early, and steamroll lane to lane — kill, take tower, repeat — before the enemy can scale. End fast or lose late.

deathbomb

Gaming

Slamming the bomb button in the few frames after taking a hit, before the death registers, so you survive instead of losing the life. All about reaction timing.

debt

Street

Money, tobacco or drugs owed to another prisoner; unpaid debts frequently lead to violence.

debut

Internet

In K-pop, the official first release and stage performance of an idol or group. It's treated like a coronation — debut showcase, debut MV, debut stage on a music show, debut anniversary celebrated forever after. Pre-debut content (trainee clips, survival show footage) becomes instantly more valuable the second a debut drops.

decade

General

An air trick where the rider swings their whole body a full 360 degrees around the bike while keeping hold of the bars, then lands back on the pedals. It is a classic old-school freestyle move.

decarb

Street

Short for decarboxylate; to heat raw cannabis to convert THCA into psychoactive THC, essential for edibles.

deck

General

The floor or surface aboard ship, extended ashore to mean the ground or floor. As a verb, to punch or knock someone down with one blow.

deck ape

General

An undesignated seaman assigned to the deck force — the unglamorous division that chips paint, hauls mooring lines, runs replenishments, and does whatever physical labor needs doing topside. Often a kid fresh out of boot who hasn't been to a school yet. Half insult, half badge of honor; deck apes wear it themselves.

deed

General

Dead; also used figuratively ('me phone's deed').

deek

General

To look at something, have a peek. Used as a verb ('deek at that') or a noun ('giz a deek'). Quick, casual — same energy as 'butchers' down south.

deep

General

Serious, heavy, grim — said about a situation that's hit harder than expected. The MLE equivalent of 'that's rough' but with more weight behind it.

deep dive

General

An in-depth analysis or close look at a subject, as opposed to a surface-level overview.

deep in the weeds

General

Deeply immersed in the minutiae of a task, often at the expense of the big picture.

deep like

Internet

An accidental or bold like on a photo far back in someone's feed, exposing that you've been scrolling deep into their history. Often mortifying if unintended.

deep stealth

General

Stealth turned all the way up. Where ordinary stealth might mean colleagues and acquaintances don't know but your spouse and closest friends do, deep stealth means the history is hidden from everyone, sometimes even intimate partners. Total privacy, no exceptions. A heavy thing to carry, and a deeply personal choice.

deep three

General

A three-point attempt launched from well behind the three-point line, further than a standard three.

deep-liking

Internet

Deep-liking is engaging with a person's much older social media content, which gives away how deeply you've been browsing their profile.

deer camp

General

A cabin, shack, trailer, or stretch of family land up north that hunters retreat to every November for Michigan's firearm deer season (opens Nov 15). More than a building — it's a ritual. Beers, cards, woodstove, blaze orange, and getting up at 4am to sit in a blind. Often passed down through generations.

def

Music

Excellent, cool, or the very best, used as strong approval.

default

Gaming

No set strat? You run a default. The team fans out across the map, takes early space, and gathers info on where the CTs are stacked. Once you know where they're weak, you converge and hit. It's the patient, read-the-map opening.

defaults

Internet

The handful of huge, lowest-common-denominator subreddits that used to be auto-loaded into every new user's feed. Synonymous with mainstream, normie Reddit — the front-page stuff regulars grew tired of and accused of dragging the site's quality down.

defer

General

When the team winning the coin toss chooses to delay its option to the start of the second half, usually to receive the ball then.

deffo

General

Yes, absolutely, for sure. A clipped, chummy way of saying 'definitely' — softer and more casual than the full word. Heard all over the UK now but lives loudest in Scouse and wider Northern English speech.

defi

Internet

Short for 'decentralised finance', an ecosystem of lending, trading, and yield services built on blockchains without traditional intermediaries like banks or brokers.

definition

General

The clarity of muscular detail and separation that shows when fat over the muscle is low; also called muscularity.

degen

Internet

Short for 'degenerate gambler', a trader who takes wild, high-risk bets on volatile tokens. Once an insult, now a self-applied flex in DeFi and memecoin circles.

degenerate

Internet

A self-deprecating badge members wear proudly, framing themselves as reckless gamblers who treat the market like a casino. Often shortened to 'degen.'

deguabinao

General

Feeling drained, weak, or exhausted — no energy left. From the soft, floppy 'guabina' fish.

deh

General

A copula/locative meaning 'to be' or 'to be there'; 'mi deh yah' = I'm here; 'dem deh' = they are there.

deh pon

General

To be engaged in or focused on something ('mi deh pon it' = I'm on it/doing it).

deh yah

General

Literally 'here', often used to answer how you are — meaning 'I'm here, getting by'. Also 'deh'ya'.

dei

Street

A short word of approval for something or someone that looks good or is up to standard.

del

General

A Welsh word used to address someone fondly, especially in North Wales, roughly equal to 'love' or 'pet'.

delete your account

Internet

An imperative reply meaning 'that tweet was so embarrassing your only option is to quit Twitter entirely.' Short, brutal, no follow-up needed. The nuclear option of dunks.

deli style

Street

A dispensary style where flower is displayed in jars and weighed out fresh per order, rather than pre-packaged.

delira

General

Delighted — but spelled how a Dub actually says it. Almost always rolls out as 'delira and excira' (delighted and excited). Cheery, a bit camp, very Dublin.

delist

Internet

To remove an NFT from sale on a marketplace, or (for tokens) to remove one from an exchange; holders often delist when they decide to keep an asset.

deliverable

General

Any tangible output—document, feature, report—that a project is expected to produce.

deload

General

A scheduled period of reduced training volume or intensity to allow the body to recover and rebound.

delph

General

The dishes. Your mugs, plates, bowls, side plates — collectively, the delph. Doesn't have to be posh; the chipped Tayto mug counts.

delta

General

The gap or change between two figures or states.

delts

General

Slang for the deltoids, the shoulder muscles with front, side and rear heads.