english
See also: English
English
Alternative forms
- English
Etymology
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
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪŋɡlɪʃ
- Homophone: English
Noun
english (uncountable)
- Spinning or rotary motion given to a ball around the vertical axis, as in billiards or bowling.
- 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, Ruthless Records, performed by Dr. Dre:
- Some drop science, while I'm dropping english.
- 1993, Thomas Cripps, Making Movies Black, 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
- (spinning motion): side, spin, sidespin
Translations
spinning or rotary motion around the vertical axis
|
See also
- body English
References
- “English”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2008.
Anagrams
- Hingles, shingle