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Zhoosh
Definitions
- 1 stylish, hot, cool South-Africa, slang
"For quotations using this term, see Citations:zhoosh."
- 1 Style, glamor (especially in regard to clothing). slang, uncountable, usually
"Thank you for your happiness and your eternal Bona-ness and zhoosh."
- 2 The action of mixing ingredients using an electric food mixer; a pulse of mixing. informal
"Give the eggs and milk a quick zhoosh in the blender."
- 1 To tweak, finesse or improve (something); to make more appealing or exciting. Usually with up. Australia, UK, slang, transitive
"Mostly the words are dusted off and brought out when we wish to zhoosh up the conversation, to announce a particular delight in our queenly style."
- 2 To blend ingredients together using an electric food mixer. informal, transitive
"Throw it all in a blender and zhoosh it until it's creamy smooth."
Etymology
UK 1960s. Unclear origin; one explanation is that it was borrowed from Angloromani yuser (“clean”, verb) and yusher (“clear”, verb), from Angloromani yus-, yuz-, yuzh- (“clean”) and yush- (“clear”), from Romani žuž-, už- (“clean”, adjective) (also compare Hindi उज्ज्वल (ujjval, “bright”)), but this has been seen as problematic. Another theory is that the term is instead an "expressive formation" similar to whoosh and swish. The South African sense reportedly comes from a regional pronunciation of "Jewish", alluding to the high reputation of Jewish tailors at the time, but this has also been considered unlikely. All senses originated around the same time, with the first attributed use of the noun in 1968 and the verb in 1970.
UK 1960s. Unclear origin; one explanation is that it was borrowed from Angloromani yuser (“clean”, verb) and yusher (“clear”, verb), from Angloromani yus-, yuz-, yuzh- (“clean”) and yush- (“clear”), from Romani žuž-, už- (“clean”, adjective) (also compare Hindi उज्ज्वल (ujjval, “bright”)), but this has been seen as problematic. Another theory is that the term is instead an "expressive formation" similar to whoosh and swish. The South African sense reportedly comes from a regional pronunciation of "Jewish", alluding to the high reputation of Jewish tailors at the time, but this has also been considered unlikely. All senses originated around the same time, with the first attributed use of the noun in 1968 and the verb in 1970.
UK 1960s. Unclear origin; one explanation is that it was borrowed from Angloromani yuser (“clean”, verb) and yusher (“clear”, verb), from Angloromani yus-, yuz-, yuzh- (“clean”) and yush- (“clear”), from Romani žuž-, už- (“clean”, adjective) (also compare Hindi उज्ज्वल (ujjval, “bright”)), but this has been seen as problematic. Another theory is that the term is instead an "expressive formation" similar to whoosh and swish. The South African sense reportedly comes from a regional pronunciation of "Jewish", alluding to the high reputation of Jewish tailors at the time, but this has also been considered unlikely. All senses originated around the same time, with the first attributed use of the noun in 1968 and the verb in 1970.
Onomatopoeic, from the sound of a blender.
Onomatopoeic, from the sound of a blender.
See also for "zhoosh"
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Unscramble this word: zhoosh