english
See also: English
English
Alternative forms
Etymology 1
Uncertain. It is speculated to relate either to people from England introducing the technique for billiards or bowling in the United States, or perhaps from a particular person with the surname English.[1]
Pronunciation
Noun
english (uncountable)
- (uncountable, Canada, US) Spinning or rotary motion given to a ball around the vertical axis, as in pool, billiards or bowling; spin, sidespin.
- You can't hit it directly, but maybe if you give it some english.
- 2005, S. Moran, Bronx Boy: Book One of The Zombie Island Trilogy, page 179:
- There was a magical way of putting English on the dice to result in a six.
- (by extension, figurative) An unusual or unexpected interpretation of a text or idea, a spin, a nuance.
- 1988, Andre Romelle Young (lyrics and music), “Express Yourself”, in Straight Outta Compton[1], performed by Dr. Dre, Ruthless Records:
- Some drop science, while I'm dropping english.
- 1993, Thomas Cripps, Making Movies Black[2], page 94:
- Preston Sturgis in his Sullivan’s Travels (1942) put some english on the idea in a bit about a filthy, defeated, white chaingang that is invited to a rural black church for an evening of old movies.
Synonyms
Translations
spinning or rotary motion around the vertical axis
See also
Etymology 2
Verb
english (third-person singular simple present englishes, present participle englishing, simple past and past participle englished)
- (transitive; archaic or rare) Alternative form of English.
- 1930, Kemp Malone, “The Terminology of Anglistics.”, in The English Journal, volume 19, number 8, →JSTOR, page 645:
- Eduard Sievers and his followers have, in recent years, raised the study of speech rhythm to the rank of a special science, which they call Schallanalyse, a name best englished as rhythmics.
References
- ^ “english” under “English”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2008.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪŋɡlɪʃ
- Rhymes:English/ɪŋɡlɪʃ/2 syllables
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- Canadian English
- American English
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with rare senses