• ass(US)

FromMiddle Englishars,ers, fromOld Englishærs,ears, fromProto-West Germanic*ars, fromProto-Germanic*arsaz (compareDutchaars andGermanArsch), fromProto-Indo-European*h₁órsos(“backside, buttocks”).

• (Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key):/ɑːs/
• (General Australian,New Zealand)IPA^(key):/ɐːs/
• (Ireland,Scotland)IPA^(key):/aɹs/,/äːɹs/
• (US,Canada)IPA^(key):/ɑɹs/
• Rhymes:-ɑː(ɹ)s

• Audio(UK):

  (file)

• Audio(Canada):

  (file)

• Audio(General Australian):

  (file)

arse (pluralarses)

1. (Commonwealth, nowvulgar) Thebuttocks or more specifically, theanus.

   Synonyms:seeThesaurus: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 thearse with someone else's and lacerated by a prosthetic weed trimmer.

   • 2017,Neil Gaiman,Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page131:

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

   • 2020 September 9, Jason Chamberlain, “The growing likelihood of a 'different type of railway'”, inRail, page45:

     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 rightarse 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 onlyarse the government has been able to kick is its own.

2. (chieflyUK,Ireland,Commonwealth,derogatory,slang) Astupid,pompous,arrogant,mean ordespicable person.
   • 2007, Martin Harrison,The Judgement of Paris,page282:

     “You're anarse,” Ellen said. ¶ “Please? You must like something about me …?” ¶ “I do. You're anarse. I just told you that. I feel comfy with you, because you're such anarse.”

   • 2007, L. A. Wilson,The Silurian: Book One: The Fox and the Bear,page103:

     He looked at me, was just about to call me anarse, 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, youarse,” he said and tried again.

   • 2011, Joe Abercrombie,The Heroes,unnumbered page:

     Felnigg. What a suppuratingarse. Look at him.Arse.

3. (vulgar,slang,uncountable)Used insimiles to express somethingbad orunpleasant.
4. (vulgar,slang,metonymic,countable) Aperson; theself; (reflexively)oneself or one'sperson, chiefly theirbody;(by extension) one's personal safety, or figuratively one's job, prospects, etc.

• The formarse (as opposed toass) and its derivatives are usually used by speakers and writers in preference toass in Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth countries, though only regionally in Canada (in theAtlantic provinces). Historicallyarse was also used inNew England but the form has now been superseded byass throughout the US and in the rest of Canada.

• For quotations using this term, seeCitations:arse.

• Sranan Tongo:lasi

arse (third-person singular simple presentarses,present participlearsing,simple past and past participlearsed)

1. (Commonwealth,slang,intransitive) To besilly, actstupid or mess around.

   Stoparsing around!

   • 1985, Sam McAughtry,McAughtry's War,page10:

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

   • 2005,Keri Hulme,The Bone People,page291:

     Pi, upset, roars, "Quitarsing around there and get cracking," and a dozen heads turn their way.

   • 2011, Jaine Fenn,Bringer of Light,unnumbered page:

     He was half-expecting a call from the lingua, telling him to stoparsing around, but his com stayed silent, so it looked like a certain amount ofarsing around was allowed.

• arse about(verb)
• arse around(verb)
• arse up
• half-arsed(adjective)
• candy-arsed(adjective)
• can't be arsed

arse

1. (Commonwealth)An expression of frustration.

   Synonym:bum(euphemistic)

• Sare,EARs,eras,AREs,Sera,Ersa,ERAs,reas,Sear,sera,sear,ears,RASE,SERA,rase,Ares,ares,sare

• IPA^(key):/ˈar.se/
• Rhymes:-arse
• Hyphenation:àr‧se

arse f pl

1. feminineplural ofarso

arse f pl

1. feminineplural ofarso

arse

1. third-personsingular past historic ofardere

• Ares,rase,resa,sera

• (Classical Latin)IPA^(key):/ˈar.se/,[ˈärs̠ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical)IPA^(key):/ˈar.se/,[ˈärse]

arse

1. vocativemasculinesingular ofarsus

Univerbation ofairi(“for the sake of it; therefore”) +‎se(“this”)

• IPA^(key):/ˈar͈ʲsʲe/

arse

1. therefore, for this/thatreason

   Synonym:airi

   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published inThesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb.12^a22

     Ní nád ṁbedarse di chorp, act atá de.

     Not that it might not be therefore of (the) body, but (rather) it is of it

• ársis

arse f (pluralarses)

1. (poetry,music)arsis(the stronger part of a measure or foot)

• IPA^(key):[ˈarse]

arse

1. inflection ofars:
   1. genitive/dativefemininesingular
   2. nominative/accusative/genitive/dativefeminine/neuterplural

arse

1. third-personsingular simpleperfectindicative ofarde