Horlicks
A hot bedtime drink made with malted milkA hot bedtime drink made with malted milk.
» To err is human, but to make a complete horlicks of something requires a computer.
Irren ist menschlich, aber um wirklich etwas in den Sand zu setzen, dazu bedarf es schon eines Computers. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
sundown · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(UK, countable, uncountable)A hot bedtime drink made with malted milk.
(UK, countable, euphemistic, slang, uncountable)Bollocks, a mess or balls-up.
(UK, countable, euphemistic, slang, uncountable)Bollocks, nonsense, false statements.
Examples
1 sentencesTo err is human, but to make a complete horlicks of something requires a computer.
deIrren ist menschlich, aber um wirklich etwas in den Sand zu setzen, dazu bedarf es schon eines Computers. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Origin
The name of the drink, first sold as "Horlick's Infant and Invalids Food", is derived fromThe name of the drink, first sold as "Horlick's Infant and Invalids Food", is derived from the surname of its developers, James (1844–1921) and William Horlick (1846–1936); equivalent to Horlick + -'s (possessive marker). The term later became a euphemism for bollocks (“mess; to make a mess of”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: HorlicksSynonyms
112 synonymsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.