Polari Glossary
| For a list of words relating to Polari, see the Polari language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| ajax | nearby (from adjacent?) |
| alamo | hot for you/him |
| aunt nell | listen, hear |
| aunt nells | ears |
| aunt nelly fakes | earrings |
| aunt nell danglers | earrings |
| barney | a fight |
| basket | the bulge of male genitals through clothes |
| batts | shoes |
| bibi | bisexual |
| bitch | effeminate or passive gay man |
| bijou | small/little (means "jewel" in French) |
| blag | pick up |
| blue | code word for "homosexual" |
| bod | body |
| bona | good |
| bona nochy | goodnight (from Italian - buona notte) |
| bonaroo | wonderful, excellent |
| bungery | pub, this comes from the English word for the closure on a barrel. |
| butch | masculine; masculine lesbian |
| buvare | a drink (from Italian - bere or old-fashioned Italian - bevere or Lingua Franca bevire) |
| cackle | talk/gossip |
| camp | effeminate (possibly from Italian campare "exaggerate, make stand out") |
| capello/capella | hat (from Italian - cappello) |
| carsey | toilet, also spelt khazi |
| carts/cartso | penis (from Italian - cazzo) |
| cats | trousers |
| charper | to search (from Italian - chiappare - to catch) |
| charpering omi | policeman |
| charver | to shag/a shag (sexual intercourse) (from Italian - chiavare) |
| chicken | young man |
| clobber | clothes |
| cod | naff, vile |
| cottage | a public lavatory used for sexual encounters |
| cottaging | seeking or obtaining sexual encounters in public lavatories |
| cove | friend |
| crimper | hairdresser |
| dally | sweet, kind. Possibly an alternate pronunciation of dolly. |
| dilly boy | a male prostitute |
| dinari | money (Latin denarii was the 'd' of the pre decimal penny) |
| dish | buttocks |
| dolly | pretty, nice, pleasant |
| dona | woman (perhaps from Italian donna or Lingua Franca dona) |
| dorcas | term of endearment, 'one who cares'. The Dorcas Society was a ladies' church association of the nineteenth century, which made clothes for the poor. |
| drag | clothes, esp. women's clothes (prob from Romani — indraka — skirt; also possibly from German - tragen - v. to wear (clothes)) |
| doss | bed |
| ecaf | face (backslang) |
| eek | face (abbreviation of ecaf) |
| ends | hair |
| esong | nose (backslang) |
| fantabulosa | fabulous/wonderful |
| feele/freely/filly | child/young (from the Italian figlio, for son) |
| fruit | queen |
| funt | pound |
| gelt | money (Yiddish) |
| handbag | money |
| hoofer | dancer |
| HP (homy polone) | effeminate gay man |
| jarry | food, also mangarie (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria) |
| jubes | breasts |
| kaffies | trousers |
| khazi | toilet, also spelt carsey |
| lacoddy | body |
| lallies (lylies) | legs |
| lallie tappers | feet |
| latty/lattie | room, house or flat |
| lills | hands |
| lilly | police (Lilly Law) |
| lyles | legs (prob. from "Lisle stockings") |
| lucoddy | body |
| luppers | fingers (Yiddish — lapa — paw) |
| mangarie | food, also jarry (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria) |
| martinis | hands |
| measures | money |
| meese | plain, ugly (from Yiddish "meeiskeit, in turn from Hebrew מָאוּס repulsive, loathsome, despicable, abominable) |
| meshigener | nutty, crazy, mental (from Yiddish, in turn from Hebrew מְשֻׁגָּע crazy) |
| metzas | money (Italian -mezzi "means, wherewithal") |
| mince | walk (affectedly) |
| naff | awful, dull, hetero |
| nanti | not, no, none (Italian — niente) |
| national handbag | dole, welfare, government financial assistance |
| ogle | look, admire |
| ogles | eyes |
| oglefakes | glasses |
| omi | man (from Romance) |
| omi-palone | effeminate man, or homosexual |
| onk | nose (cf "conk") |
| orbs | eyes |
| palare pipe | telephone ("talk pipe") |
| palliass | back |
| park, parker | give |
| plate | feet; to fellate |
| palone | woman (Italian paglione - "straw mattress", ) |
| palone-omi | lesbian |
| pots | teeth |
| remould | sex change |
| riah/riha | hair (backslang) |
| riah zhoosher | hairdresser |
| rough trade | a working class or blue collar sex partner or potential sex partner; a tough, thuggish or potentially violent sex partner |
| scarper | to run off (from Italian scappare, to escape or run away or from rhyming slang Scapa Flow, to go) |
| schlumph | drink |
| scotch | leg (scotch egg=leg) |
| screech | mouth, speak |
| sharpy | policeman (from — charpering omi) |
| sharpy polone | policewoman |
| shush | steal (from client) |
| shush bag | hold-all |
| shyker/shyckle | wig (mutation of the Yiddish sheitel) |
| slap | makeup |
| so | homosexual (e.g. "Is he 'so'?") |
| stimps | legs |
| stimpcovers | stockings, hosiery |
| strides | trousers |
| strillers | piano |
| switch | wig |
| thews | thighs |
| tober | road (a Shelta word, Irish bóthar) |
| todd (Sloanne) | alone |
| tootsie trade | sex between two passive homosexuals (as in: 'I don't do tootsie trade') |
| trade | sex, sex-partner, potential sex-partner |
| troll | to walk about (esp. looking for trade) |
| vada/varder | to see (from Italian — dialect vardare = guardare - look at)
vardered — vardering |
| vera (lynn) | gin |
| vogue | cigarette (from Lingua Franca — fogus - "fire, smoke") |
| vogueress | female smoker |
| willets | breasts |
| yews | (from French "yeux") eyes |
| zhoosh | style hair, tart up, mince (Romani - "zhouzho" - clean, neat) zhoosh our riah — style our hair |
| zhooshy | showy |
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