Dictionary

arsey en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈɑː(ɹ)si/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English arse Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English arsey From arse + -y.

Meanings

1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang) Unpleasant, especially in a sarcastic, grumpy or haughty manner.
   • First few months in, I was arsey as hell. Thought they were a right bunch of wankers. 2000, Peter Billingham, Sensing the City Through Television: Urban Identities in Fictional Drama, page 50:
   • Work experience as an arsey teenager is pretty straightforward: disappear into the storeroom, smoke a few cigarettes, text your mates and watch the minute hand tick slowly by. If there's nowhere suitable to hide, all you need is a vacant computer and you can chat to your skiving associate in the building next door. 2007 April 30, Jon Bentham, “How to...... do work experience”, in The Guardian:
   • Maybe Hanna Frost, for all of her arsey mannerisms, really did know what she was doing. 2011, Lotte Daley, Faking It, Penguin, →ISBN:
   • "Oh, we had that singer in the other day and they were really arsey with us, and we only kept them waiting half an hour' - and I go, 'Hang on a minute, that's a long time and they've probably been doing lots of work that day and I think that it's actually justified for them to get annoyed.'" 2002 October 28, Simon Hattenstone, quoting Sophie Ellis-Bextor, “Sophie's world”, in The Guardian:
2. (Australia, New-Zealand, slang) Lucky.

Forms

Deriveds

arsey-versy