German

Noun

Ass n ‎(genitive Asses, plural Asse)

1. ace (a playing card)
2. a person who is extremely good at (at least) one discipline

   Fliegerass

   flying ace

3. (tennis) ace

Declension

Derived terms

• Fliegerass

Luxembourgish

Noun

Ass m ‎(plural Assen)

1. ace, master

English

Noun

ass ‎(plural asses)

Somali wild ass

1. Any of several species of horse-like animals, especially Equus asinus africanus, often domesticated and used a beast of burden.
2. (slang) A stupid person.

   Damn! That new kid left the cap off of the syrup bottle again! What an ass.

Synonyms

• (beast of burden): donkey
• (stupid person): fool, idiot

Hyponyms

• (beast of burden): donkey, onager, wild ass

Derived terms

See also

• Appendix:Animals
• Appendix:English collective nouns

Translations

Etymology 2

Used chiefly in North America. 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 loss of -r- before s increasingly common in all words since the 18th century in both England and its colonies. In the USA, "dropping Rs" (non-rhotic pronunciation) was common in prestige speech until the 1860s, when the American Civil War shifted the country's centers of wealth and political power to areas with fewer cultural connections to the British elite. (See also these similar cases, some of which retained both spellings with different meanings: cuss from curse, gash from garsh, bass from barse, bust from burst, passel from parcel.) From Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Old High German ars (German Arsch), Old Norse ars, Old Frisian ers), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érsos (compare Ancient Greek ὄρρος ‎(órrhos)).

Noun

ass ‎(countable and uncountable, plural asses)

1. (vulgar, slang) Buttocks.
2. (vulgar, slang, uncountable) Sex.

   I’m going to go down to the bar and try to get me some ass.

3. (vulgar, slang) Anus.
   • 1959, William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, page 68

     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.

4. (slang) Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant.

   I feel like ass today. (I am feeling very bad today.)

   This room smells like ass. (This room smells very bad.)

   What a bunch of ass. (What a bunch of lies/nonsense/disappointment.)

5. (slang) Used after an adjective to indicate extremes or excessiveness.

   That was one big-ass fish!

   That's an expensive-ass car!

6. (slang) One's self or person, chiefly their body.

   Get your lazy ass out of bed!

Usage notes

• When used with a possessive, it adds a tone of anger or disapproval to the whole sentence: "he has trouble getting his ass up in the morning" is much stronger and more negative than "he has trouble getting up in the morning". Such usage is also considered by many to be rude, vulgar and offensive, especially when it refers to the person addressed.

Synonyms

• (buttocks): See Wikisaurus:buttocks
• (vulgar slang:sex): poontang, poon, punani, pussy, tail, tang

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• SAS, SSA

German

Verb

ass

1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein standard spelling of aß.

Latvian

Vagona ass

Ass

Etymology 1

From Proto-Baltic *as-i-s, from Proto-Indo-European *aḱs-, from *aǵ-es-, from *aǵ- ‎(“to move something (with extended arms); armpit”). Originally an i/n-stem, it became an i-stem in Baltic. Cognates include Lithuanian ašis, Old Prussian assis, Russian ось ‎(osʹ), Belarusian вось ‎(vosʹ), Ukrainian вісь ‎(visʹ), Bulgarian ос ‎(os), Czech os, Polish oś, Old High German ahsa, German Achse, Sanskrit अक्षः ‎(ákṣaḥ, “axle”), Ancient Greek ἅξων ‎(háxōn) (Greek άξονας), Latin axis.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [as]

Noun

ass f (6th declension)

1. axle (pin or spindle around which something, e.g. a wheel, rotates)

   ratu ass‎ ― axletree

   vagona ass‎ ― wagon axle

   motocikla pakaļējā riteņa ass‎ ― motorcycle rear wheel axle

2. (mathematics) axis (a line with certain important properties)

   simetrijas, rotācijas ass‎ ― axis of symmetry, of rotation

   zemes griešanās ass‎ ― the Earth's rotation axis

   koordinātu asis‎ ― coordinate axes

   abscisu, ordinātu ass‎ ― x-, y-axis

Declension

Etymology 2

From the same source as ass ‎(“axle”), originally a unit of measurement corresponding to the length of a person's outstretched arms (compare Russian са́жень ‎(sáženʹ, “old unit of measurement; length of outstretched arms”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [as]

Noun

ass f (6th declension)

1. old unit of length in the Russian system, equivalent to approximately 2.13 meters

   jūras ass‎ ― fathom (unit of length in the English system, approximately 1.83 meters)

2. old unit of volume for measuring wood, equivalent to approximately 2-4 cubic meters

   divas asis malkas‎ ― two axes (=4-8m³) of wood

Declension

Etymology 3

From earlier *asus, from Proto-Baltic *ašus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- ‎(“sharp, pointed, edgy”). With an extra suffix *-ro, the same stem also yielded Proto-Balto-Slavic *aśras ‎(“sharp”), whence Latvian dialectal asrs, as well as the Lithuanian cognate aštrùs, dialectal ašrùs. From this stem, there are also Latvian reflexes with ak rather than as (e.g., akmens ‎(“stone”), akots ‎(“awn”)), possibly a result of Proto-Indo-European dialectal variation. In Latvian, former u-stem adjectives like *asus were assimilated into other classes; *asus gave rise to both an o-stem and a yo-stem variant which later on became independent words, ass and ašs, with different semantic nuances (compare also, e.g., plats and plašs, or dobs and dobjš). Other cognates include Old Church Slavonic остръ ‎(ostrŭ), Russian о́стрый ‎(óstryj), Belarusian во́стры ‎(vóstry), Ukrainian о́стрий ‎(óstryj), го́стрий ‎(hóstryj), Bulgarian о́стър ‎(óstǎr), Czech ostrý, Polish ostry, Proto-Germanic *agjō (Old High German ecka, egga ‎(“corner, edge, point, peak, blade”), German Ecke, Sanskrit अश्रिः ‎(áśriḥ, “corner, edge, blade”), Ancient Greek ἀκή ‎(akḗ, “point, tip”), ἄκρος ‎(ákros, “sharp, pointed”), Latin ācer ‎(“sharp”), aciēs ‎(“sharpness, blade”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [as]

Adjective

ass (def. asais, comp. asāks, sup. visasākais; adv. asi)

1. sharp (such that it (blade, tool) can easily cut or pierce)

   ass nazis, zāģis, cirvis‎ ― sharp knife, saw, ax

   ass īlens, ilknis‎ ― sharp awl, fang

   asa adata‎ ― sharp needle

   asi ragi, ilkņi‎ ― sharp horns, fangs

2. pointed (having a narrow tip)

   asas kalnu galotnes‎ ― sharp mountain tops

   ass zīmulis‎ ― sharp pencil

3. angular, not rounded (of body parts; also of writing, drawing)

   asi elkoņi‎ ― sharp elbows

   asi vaigu kauli‎ ― sharp cheekbones

   asas burtu formas rokrakstā‎ ― sharp letter forms in handwriting

4. (of plants) sharp (having little thorns or thorn-like growths, or having a sharp edge, capable of stinging)

   ass dadzis, paeglis, grīslis‎ ― sharp thistle, juniper, sedge

   asa zāle, nātre‎ ― sharp leaf, nettle

5. (of fabric, skin, etc.) coarse, rough

   asa sejas āda‎ ― coarse, rough facial skin

   ass linu dvielis‎ ― towel (made) of coarse linen

6. sharp, pungent, hot (which irritates the senses, creating a strong feeling or reaction)

   asa mērce‎ ― spicy, hot (lit. sharp) sauce

   asa dūmu smaka‎ ― pungent smell of smoke

   ass ož pēc hlora‎ ― sharp smell of chlorine

   ass vējš‎ ― sharp wind

   asas sāpes‎ ― sharp pain

   ass klepus‎ ― sharp (painful) cough

7. harsh (voice, sound); sharp, biting, unsparing, fierce

   asā balss‎ ― harsh voice

   runāt asā tonī‎ ― to speak in a harsh tone (of voice)

   ass sarkasms‎ ― sharp, biting sarcasm

   ass pārmetumi‎ ― sharp, harsh criticism

   asa ķilda‎ ― fierce quarrel

   asa mēle‎ ― sharp tongue (= caustic, sarcastic)

8. sharp, well-defined, clearly marked

   asas kontūras‎ ― sharp contour, profile

   asi sejas vaibsti‎ ― sharp facial features

   zīmēt asām līnijām‎ ― to draw with sharp, well-defined lines

9. (about problems, questions) clear, acute, of immediate importance

   asa problēma‎ ― a clear, acute problem

10. sharp (very well developed, very accurate)

    asa redze‎ ― sharp vision

    ass prāts‎ ― sharp mind

    asa uztvere‎ ― sharp perception, acumen

Declension

Synonyms

• (of "sharp"): skaudrs
• (of "coarse", "harsh"): raupjš, rupjš, negluds, skarbs

Antonyms

• (of "sharp"): truls, neass
• (of "coarse", "harsh"): gluds, maigs, mīksts

Derived terms

• asums

References

1. 1 2 3 Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “ass”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, ISBN 9984-700-12-7.

Luxembourgish

Verb

ass

1. is (third-person singular present of sinn)

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish ass, masculine and neuter singular form of a ‎(“out of, from”), from Proto-Celtic, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs ‎(“from”). Compare Irish as.

Adverb

ass

1. out

Preposition

ass

1. out of

Inflection

Derived terms

• ass y çheer
• ass y hene

Pronoun

ass

1. 1st person plural of ec

   out of him/it

Derived terms

• assyn (emphatic)

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• as
• es

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /as/

Pronoun

ass

1. third-person singular masculine of a

Swedish

Noun

ass n

1. (music) A-flat
2. an insured letter; Abbreviation of assurerat. (brev)

Declension

See also

• rek