beezer

English

Pronunciation

  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːzə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

Unknown, perhaps from Spanish cabeza (“head”), though the meaning “head” appears to somewhat postdate “nose” in English.[1] First attested in 1908, originally apparently as American boxing slang. Various sources have suggested a borrowing, perhaps by American sailors or marines, from Mandarin 鼻子 (“nose”).[2][3] While the Mandarin may have reinforced an existing term,[4] an ultimate derivation from Mandarin is improbable given the context and time frame of early use.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “So tell us what the context that makes it improbable is.”)

Noun

beezer (plural beezers) (originally US, slang, dated)

  1. Nose.
    • 1913, “Kid Ivanhoe”, in Adventure, volume 7, page 131:
      “In der beezer, Casey, slam him in der beezer!” ¶ At the ropes Casey fought back, but was obliged to clinch.
    • 1919, Charles Emmett Van Loan, Taking the Count: Prize Ring Stories, page 183:
      “Now, don’t be turnin’ up that busted beezer of yours so proud an’ haughty. […]”
    • 1937, Damon Runyon, A Piece of Pie:
      I am paying no attention to them, because they are drinking local ale, and talking loud, and long ago I learn that when a Boston character is engaged in aleing himself up, it is a good idea to let him alone, because the best you can get out of him is maybe a boff on the beezer.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing:
      She had an ink spot on her nose, the result of working on her novel of suspense. It is virtually impossible to write a novel of suspense without getting a certain amount of ink on the beezer. Ask Agatha Christie or anyone.
  2. Head.
    • 1921 July 24, Eleanor Pray, “[Letter home]”, in Birgitta Ingemanson, editor, Letters from Vladivostok, 1894–1930, published 2013, page 98:
      We were beating up into the wind, when Captain Pray decided to tack, and her concise order to me was “Duck your beezer!” and while I was wondering which part of the boat a beezer was, the boom just missed the top of my head and she remarked, “I told you to duck.”
    • 1928, Robert Joyce Tasker, Grimhaven, page 110:
      “ […] If the hogs ate your beezer with all the phony ideas you’ve got in it, they’d croak!”
    • 1936, Adolf Lorenz, My Life and Work: The Search for a Missing Glove, page 4:
      “If you’re mad, go to Lindewiese— / Then be glad, put an old hat on your beezer!”
    • [1937, “Slang: American Slang”, in The Encyclopædia Britannica, 14th edition, volume 20, page 768:
      Beezer, head]

References

  1. ^ Ayto, John (1998) “beezer”, in Oxford Dictionary of Slang, →ISBN, pages 1, 3
  2. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008) “beezer”, in The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th edition, →ISBN, page 73
  3. ^ Anderson, Luther (September 1933) “Words With a Wanderlust”, in Education, volume 54, page 39
  4. ^ Compare for example Bollich, James (1993) Bataan Death March: A Soldier’s Story, →ISBN, page 132

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Scots beezer, beeser, of unknown origin.[1] First attested in the 1910s. The adjective is from the noun.[2]

Noun

beezer (plural beezers)

  1. (UK, slang) A smart person, a bloke.

Adjective

beezer (comparative more beezer, superlative most beezer)

  1. (UK, slang) Excellent, super.
    We had a beezer time at the party.

References

  1. ^ “beezer”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
  2. ^ “beezer, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

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