Po-faced

//ˈpəʊ.feɪst// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Wearing a particularly stern and disapproving expression; humourless; priggish. British

    "Nae hassle man . . . I'll git oaf the skag, and Saughton's barry fir hash. It'll be a piece ay pish likesay . . . he sais, as he's escorted away by a po–faced labdick."

  2. 2
    Poker-faced. British
Adjective
  1. 1
    humorless and disapproving wordnet

Example

More examples

"Nae hassle man . . . I'll git oaf the skag, and Saughton's barry fir hash. It'll be a piece ay pish likesay . . . he sais, as he's escorted away by a po–faced labdick."

Etymology

Uncertain, probably from po, abbreviated slang based on French pot de chambre (“chamber pot”), after the distasteful expression anyone would adopt upon being presented with a full one. Perhaps similarly from pooh; perhaps influenced by poker-faced. Also possibly “poor-faced”.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.