peter
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpiːtə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpitɚ/, /ˈpiɾɚ/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -iːtə(ɹ)
- Homophone: pita (non-rhotic accents), Peter
- Hyphenation: pe‧ter
Etymology 1
US, 1902, presumably from shared initial pe-.[1] Compare the use of other men’s names as a slang term for the penis, e.g., dick, willy, John Thomas, etc.
Noun
peter (plural peters)
- (slang) The penis.
- 1997: Shelby Scates, Warren G. Magnuson and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century America
- You smile, act polite, shake their hands, then cut off their peters and put them in your pocket.” “Yes, Mr. President,” answered O'Brien.
- 1998: Michael Robert Gorman, The Empress Is a Man: Stories from the Life of Jose Sarria
- ... and you were there, and they acted like you weren't even born yet?' "I'd say, 'Yes, their memories are as long as their peters.'"
- 2002: Celia H Miles, Mattie's Girl: An Appalachian Childhood
- “It's to put on their peters when they don't want to make babies,” she said.
- 1997: Shelby Scates, Warren G. Magnuson and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century America
Translations
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Noun
peter (plural peters)
- (UK, slang) A safe.
- Synonym: pete
- 1963, Kenneth Ullyett, Crime out of Hand (page 109)
- It used to be simple to 'crack a peter'. Safe-breaking (blowing or cracking a 'peter') in the past three or four years shows that the expert cracksman knows his job.
Derived terms
- peterman
Etymology 3
1812, US miners’ slang, Unknown.[1] Various speculative etymologies have been suggested.[2][3][4][5] One suggestion is that it comes from peter being an abbreviation of saltpeter, the key ingredient in gunpowder – when a mine was exhausted, it was “petered”. Other derivations are from St. Peter (from sense of “rock”), or French péter (“to fart”).
Verb
peter (third-person singular simple present peters, present participle petering, simple past and past participle petered)
- (most often used in the phrase peter out) To dwindle; to trail off; to diminish to nothing.
- 2014 August 23, Neil Hegarty, “Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin by Karl Whitney, review: 'a necessary corrective' [print version: Re-Joycing in Dublin, p. R25]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):
- Whitney is absorbed especially by Dublin's unglamorous interstitial zones: the new housing estates and labyrinths of roads, watercourses and railways where the city peters into its commuter belt.
- 2021, Helen Fisher, Faye, Faraway (page 241)
- My words petered away.
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Usage notes
Originally used independently, but today most often in the derived phrase peter out.
Etymology 4
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Verb
peter (third-person singular simple present peters, present participle petering, simple past and past participle petered)
- (card games, intransitive) Synonym of blue peter
Noun
peter (plural peters)
- (UK, prison slang) A prison cell.
- 1955, Rupert Croft-Cooke, The Verdict of You All (page 82)
- […] the ceremony of 'slopping out', breakfast, across to the main library from nine till half-past eleven, back to my peter for the mid-day meal and two hours' break, then the library again till five o'clock when tea was brought round and the cell door locked for the night.
- 1955, Rupert Croft-Cooke, The Verdict of You All (page 82)
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “peter”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- Gary Martin (1997–), “Peter out”, in The Phrase Finder, retrieved 26 February 2017.
- “ami: origin of “peter out””, in (please provide the title of the work), accessed 18 January 2010, archived from the original on 2010-06-06
- Take Our Word For It #117
- A Hog On Ice & Other Curious Expressions, Charles Funk, 1948.
Anagrams
- Peret, Petre, Prete, peert, petre, repet.
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch peter, from petrijn, from Latin patrīnus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpeː.tər/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: pe‧ter
- Rhymes: -eːtər
Noun
peter m (plural peters, feminine meter)
- A godfather.
- Synonym: peetoom
Descendants
- Negerhollands: pepee