American > British Glossary | O

Smoothing and improving transatlantic communication

Index of Americanisms

Intro | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N

O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Briticisms

American term or expression	British equivalent, or explanation
oatmeal	porridge
ocean, the	sea, the
ocean liner	liner, passenger liner
odometer	mileometer, milometer
off-ramp (to exit highway or freeway)	slip road
off-the-rack (ready-to-wear items in clothes store)	off-the-peg
off the wall [colloq.]	unconventional
oftentimes	often
on-ramp (to access a highway or freeway)	slip road
on sale	for sale at reduced price
on the fritz (of a machine or device)	on the blink, not working properly, about to conk out
on the weekend, on New Year's, on Christmas, etc.	at the weekend, at New Year, at Christmas, etc.
on vacation	on holiday
one-family house	detached house
one-way ticket	single, single ticket
open-pit mining, open-cut mining	opencast mining
operating room (in hospital)	operating theatre
optometrist	optician
orchestra seats (in theater)	stalls
orient [v.]	orientate [v.]
out of whack [colloq.]	not looking right or working as it should
out the (door, window, etc.) [colloq.]	out of the
out to lunch [colloq.] (crazy)	off one's rocker, crackers [both colloq.]
outbox	out tray
outhouse	outdoor lavatory, carsy [slang]
outlet (electrical)	wall socket, mains socket, plug socket, plug [colloq.], power point
oven mitt	oven glove
overalls (jeans or tough denim pants with cloth covering chest and straps over shoulders)	dungarees
overhead [U] or [C]	overheads
overpass (bridge carrying one road over another)	flyover