Slang Dictionary — Modern Slang, Decoded

Dirty or filthy, whether literally or figuratively (as in nasty behaviour). Also used in dancehall as a stylized term.

A large, heavy cast-iron cooking pot; famous from Musical Youth's 'Pass the Dutchie'.

Dutch Gold lager — the cheapest yellow can in the off-licence and a fixture of every Irish house party, field session and last-bus-home. To get Dutchies in is to commit to the night being messy.

A sale mechanism where an NFT's price begins high and decreases at intervals until it's bought or hits a floor, used to price-discover mints and reduce gas wars.

A blunt made using a Dutch Master (or 'Dutchie') cigarillo wrap.

Used generally for any gaggle of youngsters underfoot.

A child. Used affectionately for your own or generally for the local horde tearing round the estate.

A medevac by helicopter, especially of battlefield casualties.

A disappointing surface where only a thin dusting of fresh snow lies over a hard, frozen base, so it looks soft but rides hard. Riders bemoan a dust-on-crust day.

Dota's Dust of Appearance. Use it and any invisible enemy nearby gets revealed and slowed, so they can't just vanish and walk away from your gank. The cheap counter to invis heroes when you've no sentry handy.

To run, flee, leg it. Used when you need to make a quick exit — usually because something's gone wrong. The roadman equivalent of 'leg it' or 'bounce'.

A softened stand-in for "damn," as in "durn fool."

Said of a woman who is attractive, confident, and impressive — 'she's all that'. 'Duro' works for a man who's the best.

A ghost, spirit or the returning soul of a dead person; a major figure in Jamaican folklore. Bob Marley's 'Duppy Conqueror' references it.

A clearly-not-the-original product that mimics a pricey item closely enough to scratch the same itch. Lululemon leggings for £15 at Aldi, a Sol de Janeiro mist from The Ordinary, a Dyson hairdryer from Shark. TikTok built an entire genre around hunting them.

A knock, bump or blow; as a verb, to bump against.

Money. Also 'dunsa'. One of many Patois words for cash.

In coded patter, 'dunop' let a trader signal a big-money customer or deal to a partner without the punter realising the stakes.

Aussie tradie slang for a plumber. Sits alongside chippy (carpenter), sparky (electrician) and brickie (bricklayer) in the standard tradesman lineup. Almost always jokey — plumbers wear it as a badge, not a slur.

A toilet, traditionally an outdoor privy or outhouse.

Boston's pet name for Dunkin' Donuts (now just Dunkin'). Functions as both the drink and the place. You don't 'grab a coffee' in Boston — you run to Dunks. There's one on every corner and the locals treat it less like fast food and more like a public utility.

Publicly mocking a stupid or wrong tweet by quote-tweeting it with a one-liner that gets all the engagement. The original poster becomes the prop; you become the timeline's main character for ten minutes.

A dungeon monitor (DM) is the designated safety watcher at a BDSM event. While on duty their authority is effectively absolute: they patrol the space, make sure everything stays consensual and safe, and step in if something breaches house rules or looks non-consensual. Good DMs are experienced players with safety and first-aid training, and they typically don't play themselves while monitoring — the point is to stay an objective set of eyes. At private parties the host often takes the role; clubs assign trained volunteers or staff.

In kink, a dungeon is a space — a room, a venue, sometimes a whole basement build — outfitted with BDSM equipment: St. Andrew's crosses, suspension points, spanking benches, cages, the works. It's where play happens. Can be a commercial club, a section of a play party venue, or someone's lovingly kitted-out home setup. The medieval name is half-ironic, half-accurate: it's a purpose-built space for play, not a torture pit.