Slick is an adjective that means ‘smooth and glossy,’ and also ‘smooth in manners or speech’; this last sense often has a negative connotation, as it implies that the person…
A fiddle is a violin. As a verb, to fiddle means not only ‘to play the violin,’ but also ‘to make fussy movements with your hands.’ Figuratively, to fiddle means ‘to manipulate something in order to adjust it.’ Colloquially, and often followed by the preposition around, to fiddle means ‘to waste time’…
Duff is a colloquial and slang term with many different and unrelated meanings. As a noun, duff is a slang term for ‘the buttocks.’ It is also a stiff flour mixture boiled or steamed in a cloth and flavoured with currants and spices (this meaning came about as a variant of the word “dough”). In US, Scottish, and Irish English, duff is also a term used in ecology…
To bow is ‘to bend the knee or incline the head’ to show respect. It also means ‘to bend downwards’ and, figuratively it means to give in to something. The related noun bow describes the movement made to show respect. However, bow, with the second pronunciation above, has another noun meaning, ‘a flexible strip of wood bent by a string and used for shooting arrows,’…
