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arse. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
arse, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
arse in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
arse you have here. The definition of the word
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English
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)
- (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.
- (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.
- (vulgar, slang, uncountable) Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant.
- (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
Descendants
Translations
Verb
arse (third-person singular simple present arses, present participle arsing, simple past and past participle arsed)
- (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 […] .
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
- (Commonwealth) An expression of frustration.
- Synonym: bum (euphemistic)
Anagrams
- Sare, EARs, eras, AREs, Sera, Ersa, ERAs, reas, Sear, sera, sear, ears, RASE, SERA, rase, Ares, ares, sare
Italian
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Adjective
arse f pl
- feminine plural of arso
Participle
arse f pl
- feminine plural of arso
Etymology 2
Verb
arse
- third-person singular past historic of ardere
Anagrams
Latin
Pronunciation
Participle
arse
- vocative masculine singular of arsus
Old Irish
Etymology
Univerbation of airi (“for the sake of it; therefore”) + se (“this”)
Pronunciation
Adverb
arse
- 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
Noun
arse f (plural arses)
- (poetry, music) arsis (the stronger part of a measure or foot)
Romanian
Pronunciation
Adjective
arse
- inflection of ars:
- genitive/dative feminine singular
- nominative/accusative/genitive/dative feminine/neuter plural
Verb
arse
- third-person singular simple perfect indicative of arde