Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The buttocks or hind part of an animal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The buttocks, or hind part of an animal; the posteriors; the fundament; the bottom.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand The buttocks.
  • noun chiefly UK (not used in US, Canada) A stupid, mean or despicable person.
  • verb slang, intransitive To be silly, act stupid or mess around.
  • verb slang To make, to bother. (If one cannot be arsed to do something, one does not have the will to make the effort to do it.)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun vulgar slang for anus
  • noun the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz. Cognate with Dutch aars and German Arsch. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *órsos (“backside, buttocks”) (according to Julius Pokorny and Carl Darling Buck).

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Examples

  • If your arse is as wide as mine, then there's no excuse.

    A billion. Seriously. A BILLION. p_n_elrod 2009

  • What chaps my arse is the notion put forth by Rob that the unwashed masses who DON'T own top-dollar weaponry are obviously cretins who wouldn't know a Purdey shotgun from a hoe handle and somehow are less able to appreciate the game they seek.

    Investing in Rifles 2008

  • If you have a muslim name, and are not a terrorist, I apologize to you in advance but your arse is on the line also when you are on a plane.

    Obama criticized for terror response 2009

  • We were visiting there a couple of years ago and I was having a chat with one of the "old-timers" who (talking about something that Danny Williams did) said, "Well - the arse is out of 'er now".

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

  • You violate those procedures (however pointless and ridiculous they may be) your arse is on the line if anything happens.

    Sonnex and Farmer – only a matter of time. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

  • His arse is the smoothest I have ever seen on a grown man – human or not.

    Interview With My MC – Bellamy « The Graveyard 2010

  • After he performed his statistical magic, the rallying cry of "the arse is out of her" was sounded far and wide.

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

  • The next time you see someone saying that the "arse is out of 'er" you may want to wait for a week or two then check back and see how the arse is doing.

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

  • Some of the more orthodox Sodomites hold that to cover up the cock and arse is unholy, that the wearing of leather chaps that expose the crotch area is a divine decree of Pan Himself.

    Archive 2010-03-01 Hal Duncan 2010

  • A couple of times a year something happens that causes them to shout "Well - the arse is out of her now, me b'y."

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

Comments

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  • - Agonising Christ, wouldn't it give you a heartburn on your arse?

    Joyce, Ulysses, 7

    January 2, 2007

  • Heels over Head, topsy turvey, preposterously, without Order. Nathan Bailey, Universal Etymological Dictionary, 1736.

    March 4, 2008

  • Song quotation on dire.

    April 27, 2009

  • Means "violin bow" in Turkish.

    July 13, 2009

  • Did you read the comment below, frogapplause?

    November 20, 2009

  • Do you mean as a possible shoecabbage, Pro?

    November 21, 2009

  • And, Classically, ars means "art" in Latin. In Slovenia, Radio Slovenia 3, which features mainly classical music and high-culture programming, is called, Radio Ars, which used to crack me up (no pun intended). And their is an upscale chain of shoe stores in Ljubljana, which is also called ARS. Shoecabbages, indeed.

    November 21, 2009

  • Citation on ogle.

    March 25, 2022