Word
oliver
Phoneticsoliv·er
/ˈɑɫəvɝ/
Definitions
01a person's name
n. a common first name for a man or a boy.
n. a male given name of Germanic origin, widely used in English-speaking countries.
“Oliver is starting his first day of school tomorrow morning.”
“The name Oliver saw a significant resurgence in popularity across the United Kingdom and Australia during the early twenty-first century.”
02drunk
adj. a slang word for being very drunk.
adj. intoxicated by alcohol. Derived from Cockney rhyming slang 'Oliver Twist', rhyming with 'pissed'.
“He had too many beers at the pub and ended up completely oliver.”
“After four rounds of heavy drinks at the wedding reception, several of the guests were looking decidedly oliver.”
British English · Slang · Informal
Usage
Usually follows the verb 'to be'.
Teaching tip
This is very specific Cockney rhyming slang; most English speakers outside of London will not understand it unless they are familiar with the dialect.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“A new era at the Banqueting House dawned: that of the Lord Protector himself, Oliver Cromwell.” Etymology
From Middle English Oliver, from Old French Olivier, by folk etymology derived from the Latin name Olīvārius, but probably representing an Old High German form of Old Norse Óleifr (“ancestral + relic”) (modern Danish Olaf and Swedish Olof), or Proto-Germanic ala- (“all”) + wēraz (“true”) (modern Swedish allvar). Name of a paladin of Charlemagne in medieval French romance.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Idioms
a Roland for an Oliver — Equal measure; measure for measure; adequate response.