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ASS

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ass¹

  • /æs/
  • /ɑːs/ Australia, UK

Sounds like arse (non-rhotic, trap–bath split) · Rhymes with -ɑːs, -æs

Where it comes from

From Middle English asse, from Old English assa, back-formed from assen (“she-ass”), from Celtic (compare Old Irish asan, Old Cornish asen), from Latin asinus. Displaced Old English esol, from Proto-West Germanic *asil, also a loanword from the same Latin word. Sense “stupid person” from the animal's reputation for stubbornness, going back to antiquity (compare Latin asinus (“slow-witted person”)).

noun asses

  1. Any of several species of horse-like animals, especially Equus asinus, the domesticated of which are used as beasts of burden. And Iesse tooke an asse laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by Dauid his sonne vnto Saul.
  2. often, vulgar A stupid or inconsiderate person. Near-synonyms: fool, idiot, jerk, asswipe; see also Thesaurus:jerk
  3. obsolete, slang A compositor. Sometimes by way of joke, and sometimes by way of irritation, compositors are called Asses by the pressmen.

ass²

  • /æs/
  • /ɑːs/ Australia, UK

Sounds like arse (non-rhotic, trap–bath split) · Rhymes with -ɑːs, -æs

Where it comes from

Variant of arse; used chiefly in North America. Ultimately from Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-West Germanic *ars, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Old High German ars (German Arsch), Old Norse ars, Old Frisian ers), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁órsos (compare Ancient Greek ὄρρος (órrhos)).

Etymological notes

Contrary to the widespread belief of this being a euphemism, it arose as a pronunciation spelling (of the older form arse still used in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) that shows the assimilation of /ɹ/ before coronal consonants (especially /s/), a phenomenon that has been present in nonstandard speech from the Middle English period onwards; this is distinct from the later phenomenon of non-rhoticity as /ɹ/ was lost before it could modify the preceding vowel. Other instances of this phenomenon (some of which retained both spellings with different meanings) include cuss from curse, gash from garsh, bass (“fish”) from barse, bust from burst, passel from parcel; see :Category:English terms with assimilation of historic /ɹ/ for a more extensive list.

noun asses · @$$

  1. US, countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar The buttocks.
  2. US, countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar The anus. Train compartment: two sick young junkies on their way to Lexington tear their pants down in convulsions of lust. One of them soaps his cock and works it up the other's ass with a corkscrew motion.
  3. US, slang, uncountable, vulgar Sex; a person to have sex with; with vulgar emphasis on their corporeality (their body) over their personhood. I'm going to go down to the bar and try to get me some ass.
  4. US, slang, uncountable, vulgar Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant. I feel like ass today.
  5. US, countable, slang, vulgar A person; the self; (reflexively) oneself or one's person, chiefly their body. Get your lazy ass out of bed!
  6. US, broadly, countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar One's personal safety, or figuratively one's job, prospects, etc. Mess up one more time and it's your ass on the line.

adjective

  1. Canada, US, not comparable, slang, vulgar Of low quality; bad. On a recent episode of "The Justin Dunning Podcast," Starkel shared his thoughts on Martell, a former Ohio State quarterback, saying "he's ass my dude" in reference to Starkel.

particle

  1. US, slang, vulgar Synonym of -ass (used to intensify an adjective). That was one big ass fish!

ASS³

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of argininosuccinate synthase.argininosuccinate synthase
  2. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of antisynthetase syndrome.antisynthetase syndrome

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