Wiktionary

arse

See also: ARSE, Árse, and arşe

English

 
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Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-West Germanic *ars, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Dutch aars and German Arsch), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érsos (“backside, buttocks”) (according to Julius Pokorny and Carl Darling Buck).

Pronunciation

Noun

arse (plural arses)

  1. (Commonwealth, now vulgar) The buttocks or more specifically, the anus.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:buttocks, Thesaurus:anus
    • 2011 March 12, James Smart, The Guardian:
      As the novel progresses, he is shot in the hand with his own gun, shot in the arse with someone else's and lacerated by a prosthetic weed trimmer.
    • 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 131:
      No one, then or now, wanted to drink the mead that came out of Odin's arse.
    • 2020 September 9, Jason Chamberlain, “The growing likelihood of a 'different type of railway'”, in Rail, page 45:
      Or to put it in the more colourful language of our Prime Minister: "The secret to improving rail transport, in my view, is you need to find the right arse to kick." Unfortunately, since the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in 2005, the DfT has ostensibly been in direct control of railway policy setting, and this has meant that the only arse the government has been able to kick is its own.
  2. (chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, slang) A stupid, pompous, arrogant, mean or despicable person.
    • 2007, Martin Harrison, The Judgement of Paris, page 282:
      “You're an arse,” Ellen said. ¶ “Please? You must like something about me …?” ¶ “I do. You're an arse. I just told you that. I feel comfy with you, because you're such an arse.”
    • 2007, L. A. Wilson, The Silurian: Book One: The Fox and the Bear, page 103:
      He looked at me, was just about to call me an arse, when I told him, “You throw it too hard. Try and think of the javelin hitting the _target before you throw it. Let it all go through your mind first, see it, feel it, then throw it.” ¶ “Good advice, you arse,” he said and tried again.
    • 2011, Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes, unnumbered page:
      Felnigg. What a suppurating arse. Look at him. Arse.
  3. (vulgar, slang, uncountable) Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant.
  4. (vulgar, slang, metonymically, countable) A person; the self; (reflexively) oneself or one's person, chiefly their body; (by extension) one's personal safety, or figuratively one's job, prospects, etc.

Usage notes

  • The form arse (as opposed to ass) and its derivatives are usually used by speakers and writers in preference to ass in Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth countries, though only regionally in Canada (in the Atlantic provinces). Historically arse was also used in New England but the form has now been superseded by ass throughout the US and in the rest of Canada.

Quotations

Derived terms

Terms derived from arse (noun)

Descendants

  • Sranan Tongo: lasi

Translations

Verb

arse (third-person singular simple present arses, present participle arsing, simple past and past participle arsed)

  1. (Commonwealth, slang, intransitive) To be silly, act stupid or mess around.
    Stop arsing around!
    • 1985, Sam McAughtry, McAughtry's War, page 10:
      He was university material, just arsing about as a rigger, arsing about, killing time with bohunks like me […] .
    • 2005, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, page 291:
      Pi, upset, roars, "Quit arsing around there and get cracking," and a dozen heads turn their way.
    • 2011, Jaine Fenn, Bringer of Light, unnumbered page:
      He was half-expecting a call from the lingua, telling him to stop arsing around, but his com stayed silent, so it looked like a certain amount of arsing around was allowed.

Derived terms

Interjection

arse

  1. (Commonwealth) An expression of frustration.
    Synonym: bum (euphemistic)

Anagrams

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈar.se/
  • Rhymes: -arse
  • Hyphenation: àr‧se

Etymology 1

Adjective

arse f pl

  1. feminine plural of arso

Participle

arse f pl

  1. feminine plural of arso

Etymology 2

Verb

arse

  1. third-person singular past historic of ardere

Anagrams

Latin

Pronunciation

Participle

arse

  1. vocative masculine singular of arsus

Old Irish

Etymology

Univerbation of airi (“for the sake of it; therefore”) +‎ se (“this”)

Pronunciation

Adverb

arse

  1. therefore, for this/that reason
    Synonym: airi
    • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 12a22
      Ní nád ṁbed arse di chorp, act atá de.
      Not that it might not be therefore of (the) body, but (rather) it is of it

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Noun

arse f (plural arses)

  1. (poetry, music) arsis (the stronger part of a measure or foot)

Romanian

Pronunciation

Adjective

arse

  1. inflection of ars:
    1. genitive/dative feminine singular
    2. nominative/accusative/genitive/dative feminine/neuter plural

Verb

arse

  1. third-person singular simple perfect indicative of arde
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