English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Slang Dictionary — Modern Slang, Decoded

What does that word actually mean? Our slang dictionary explains modern slang clearly — Gen Z, internet, British and street slang — with real definitions, examples and where each term came from.

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Gen Z Slangrizz, delulu, slay Internet Slangbrainrot, based, mid British Slangpeng, bare, peak AAVEbussin, finna, cap

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'Food' is drugs — usually whatever the line is pushing that week. The logic is simple: it's what puts dinner on the table. To 'serve food' is to sell, to 'whip food' is to cook crack.

Extremely foolish, silly, or easily fooled; the doubling intensifies the meaning.

A large green candlestick produced when a wave of buyers piles in out of fear of missing the move.

The anxiety that drives people to buy an asset as it rallies, afraid of missing further gains. A powerful and often costly emotional trading trigger.

The standard indwelling bladder catheter — flexible tube with an inflatable balloon at the tip to hold it in place. Universal hospital shorthand: nurses, surgeons and ER staff all just say 'Foley' instead of the full mouthful. Named after Frederic Foley, the American urologist who designed it in the 1930s.

An order that demands immediate, complete execution. If the full size can't trade in one shot the moment it hits the book, the whole thing dies. AON's impatient cousin — AON will sit and wait, FOK won't.

Figuratively, to palm or slip something in or out by trickery; the root of the later 'foist upon'.

The guest-facing half of the operation: servers, runners, bussers, hosts, sommeliers, bartenders, managers on the floor. Tipped, on stage, and judged on charm as much as competence.

Your tight circle — homies, gang, the people riding with you. 'Folks' is Chicago shorthand tied to Folk Nation affiliations, and 'nem' just means 'and them'. Together it covers the squad you'd take a charge for.

Everyone shoots the same target at once. Doesn't matter if you spread your aim across three enemies and tickle them all. Pick one, melt it, move to the next. Five guns on one body wins the trade.

Coordinating everyone to attack the same enemy at once, usually the carry or a key target, so it dies before it can do anything. Spreading damage loses fights; focus wins them.

A soldier who stays inside the wire of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) and does not go outside on missions, implying they have not seen real combat.

'Forward Operating Base' — a secured forward military position used to support tactical operations, typically with defenses, logistics, and command facilities.

Means 'for sure' or 'absolutely,' rendered in the playful -izzle slang.

flying the coop

Driving straight past an open weigh station instead of pulling in like you're supposed to. Big fines if you get caught, and DOT will often radio ahead to a chase car. Sometimes done when you're overweight, out of hours, or just running hot.

What New Orleans kids call a carousel. The name belongs first to the 1906 wooden carousel in City Park's Carousel Gardens — one of only a hundred-odd antique wooden carousels left in the country — but locals use it for any merry-go-round.

fly off the handle

To erupt in anger without warning, like an axe head flying loose.

A fashionable, attractive, and self-assured woman, especially one tied to hip-hop style.

A sneaky, between-meals cup of tea — usually with a biscuit, scone, or cake. The 'fly' bit isn't about flies; it's the older Scots sense of 'sly' or 'on the quiet'. A wee guilty pleasure brew.

A 'fly cop' (or 'elbow') is a plainclothes police detective, 'fly' meaning sharp or cunning.

To throw down a dunk cleanly and forcefully.

A state of excess circulating fluid, common in heart or renal failure, causing oedema and breathlessness. Everyday clinical shorthand for hypervolaemia.

Sneaky hospital euphemism for severely obese — soft enough to slip into earshot or notes without flagging anything, mean enough to count as derogatory slang in the ethics literature. Sits in the same family as 'Milwaukee goiter' and gets the same critique: it shapes how staff treat the patient before they've said a word.

White bread, peanut butter on one slice, Marshmallow Fluff on the other, smash together. A New England school-lunch staple, invented essentially the moment Fluff existed (Lynn, MA, early 1900s). The name was coined in a 1960 ad campaign and Massachusetts made it the state sandwich in 2024.