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arse

noun

  1. buttocks
  2. stupid, unpleasant or foolish person
L1191907 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ɑːs/ / /ɐːs/ / /aɹs/

intj

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 *h₁órsos (“backside, buttocks”).

  1. An expression of frustration.

    (euphemistic)

noun

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 *h₁órsos (“backside, buttocks”).

  1. A person's buttocks; the bottom, the backside. Also: the anus; the rectum.

    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.

    No one, then or now, wanted to drink the mead that came out of Odin's arse.

  2. A stupid, pompous, arrogant, mean or despicable person.

    “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.”

    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.

  3. Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant.
  4. 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.

verb

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 *h₁órsos (“backside, buttocks”).

  1. To be silly, act stupid or mess around.

    Stop arsing around!

    He was university material, just arsing about as a rigger, arsing about, killing time with bohunks like me[…].