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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Generic Boston term for soda/pop, mostly used by older generations now. Where the Midwest says 'pop' and the South says 'coke', mid-century Boston said 'tonic' — for any carbonated soft drink, not just the quinine kind.

London slang for one hundred — a hundred pounds, or a hundred miles per hour.

Jewellery — usually the kind being lifted, fenced, or worn flashier than it should be. Tomfoolery rhymes with jewellery, and in proper Cockney shorthand it's just 'tom'. A bloke 'covered in tom' is dripping in chains and sovereign rings, not messing about.

When a surfer is held underwater and the buoyant board bobs upright on the surface like a tombstone, marking the rider fighting up the leash.

The New Zealand and Australian name for tomato ketchup.

Used adjectivally for warm, rustic, red-and-green Italian-summer styling.

A violent snow crash in which the rider tumbles head-over-heels down the slope, cartwheeling like a thrown tomahawk. It is one of the more dramatic ways to go down.

A British Army private soldier — especially in the Parachute Regiment and infantry, where 'the Toms' means the lads, the rank and file. Counterpart to 'Rupert' for officers. Used inside the regiment with pride: the Toms are the ones who actually do the fighting.

As a verb, to tolchock is to hit, strike, or knock. Source word: Russian 'tolchok' (толчок), literally a 'push', 'shove', or 'jolt'.

One who takes tokes of cannabis; a smoker.

A blend of 'token' and 'economics' covering a project's token supply, emission schedule, allocation, utility and incentive structure — key to assessing its long-term value.

To inhale a puff of cannabis smoke; also a noun for a single hit.

A chart pattern that circles the drain — a slow, steady decline that looks like water swirling down a toilet.

togs, togs, undies

A jokey Kiwi catchphrase, from a famous ice-cream ad, marking the point where beachwear (togs) stops being swimwear and becomes just underwear the further you walk from the beach.

In parts of the South Island, a holiday house is a 'crib' rather than a 'bach'; the two terms mark a north/south divide.

A swimming costume; the usual word in Queensland and parts of NSW.

Cockney rhyming slang meaning alone; universally clipped to 'on your tod'.

Cockney rhyming slang for 'own' or 'alone', shortened to 'tod'.

Alone, on one's own. The everyday clip of 'Tod Sloan'.

'Tactical Operations Center' — the command post from which a unit plans, coordinates, and controls its current operations, often abbreviated in speech to 'the TOC' (pronounced 'tock').

An air trick where the front of the bike is pointed straight down, the rider leans back, and one hand grabs the nose of the seat. The stretched-out shape resembles riding a toboggan.

The decorative full-page splash that begins a manga chapter, often a striking standalone piece of art.

Very small; minute. Also spelled 'totie'.

Slang for the defibrillator, from the jolt of electricity it delivers.