Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

(Amelia) #1
Wilson is lousy with money. Tiffany is
lousy with jewels and furs, but she’s got bad
teeth.

love bombsn. affirmations of affection. 
These two were dropping love bombs on
each other, even though they hate each
other’s guts. What a phony bunch of
kooks. They were throwing love bombs all
over the place!


(love) handlesn. rolls of fat around the
waist that can be held on to during love-
making. Ted worked out daily, trying to
get rid of his love handles. Not only did
he grow a belly, but he’s got handles on his
handles.


love-in 1. n. an event during the 1960s
where one or more couples made love in
a public place. My uncle was at one of
those love-ins, and he said if anything
was going on, it was going on under blan-
kets. I think the only people who went
to love-ins were reporters. 2. n. an event
in the 1960s where everyone became eu-
phoric—with the help of marijuana—
about love and respect for their fellow hu-
mans. The meeting was no love-in, but
we got along. Everyone at the annual
company love-in was throwing love bombs
around at each other.


Love it!Go to (I) love it!


Love you!exclam. You are great! (Almost
meaningless patter.) See ya around,
Martin. Let’s do lunch! Love ya! Bye-bye.
Nice talking to you, babe. Love you!


low blown. an unfair blow. (See also hit
(someone) below the belt.) No fair!
That was a low blow. Coming in like
that unannounced was a pretty low blow.


lowbrow[“lobraU] 1. n. a nonintellectual
person; an anti-intellectual person. 
Some lowbrow came in and made a stink
about not being able to find any Gene
Autry records. Not that Gene Autry is
lowbrow. The guy who came in was. 2.
mod. nonintellectual; anti-intellectual. 
I like my lowbrow music and my lowbrow
friends! What’s lowbrow about soft rock?


lowdown 1. mod. rotten; bad. What a
dirty, lowdown thing to do. You are a
lowdown rat! 2. n. the facts on something;


the scuttlebutt about something. 
What’s the lowdown on that funny statue
in the park? Give me the lowdown on
the project we just started.
low fiven. the slapping of hands at waist
level as a greeting. (Compare this with
high five.) They turned to each other,
throwing a quick low five as they passed.
The two eight-year-olds tried to give
each other a low five, but they both hurt
their hands.
low-keymod. not obvious. Let’s try to
keep this low-key so as not to upset the
family. It was a very low-key meeting,
but we got a lot done.
low-life 1. n. a low person; a repellent per-
son. This low-life smells like bacon. 
Hey, low-life, keep out of my way. 2. mod.
mean; belligerent. Don’t be so low-life,
man! We don’t need any low-life char-
acters around here.
low rent 1. n. a low person; someone with-
out grace or spirit. (Also a rude term of
address.) Look, low rent, where is what
you owe me? This low rent here thinks
he can push Sam around, huh? 2. mod.
cheap; unfashionable. This place is
strictly low rent. Why don’t you go live
with some of your low rent friends?
low-res and lo-res[“lo”rEz] mod. poor;
unpleasant. (From low resolution in a
computer terminal. Compare this with
high-res.) I feel sort of low-res today. 
The party is lo-res. Let’s cruise.
LSDn. lysergic acid diethylamide, a hallu-
cinogenic drug. (Initialism. Drugs. A
mainstay of the 1960s and 1970s drug
culture.)  Is there much LSD still
around? LSD isn’t the problem it used
to be, but it’s far from gone.
LTin. living together. (Initialism and eu-
phemism.) Guess who’re LT? They
have been LT for some time.
luben. butter. Pass the lube, will ya, huh?
We’re outa lube.
lubricatedmod. alcohol intoxicated. 
They are sufficiently lubricated for the
night. He’s not fit to talk to until he’s lu-
bricated a bit.

lubricated
Free download pdf