--- description: The latest additions were announced on Thursday title: 'Bestie' Finally Makes It Into the Oxford English Dictionary image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4341ee0b02ef2987/69868554cd804d6d75cc9b71/best-friends.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Oxford English Dictionary Adds ‘Bestie,’ ‘Crap Shoot,’ ‘Bathroom Break’ by [Katy Steinmetz](/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 13, 2014 7:07 PM CUT  Digital Vision / Getty Images by [Katy Steinmetz](/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 13, 2014 7:07 PM CUT Four times a year, the Oxford English Dictionary lets down its drawbridge and invites a select few new words into the kingdom. On Thursday, roughly 900 new terms made their first appearance in the reference. That might sound like a lot, but one has to keep in mind that the dictionary covers _everything_, not just words average people use in daily conversation. Among the new entries, for example, are drool-inducing adjectives like _ethnopharmacologic_ and now-extinct creatures like the _scimitar-horned oryx_. (We’ll pour one out for you, Ory.) But there are also plenty of terms we know and love, that, for good or ill, reflect who English-speakers are and how we treat each other. The transitive verb, **_to toilet-paper_** **,** for example—meaning “to cover (a building, trees, etc.) with toilet paper, typically as a prank”—is now in the official record. As is the noun **_honey trap_**, a stratagem by which an attractive woman entices a weak and foolish man into revealing information. Anyone who peruses the [full list of the most recent additions](http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/march-2014-update/new-words-list-march-2014/ "undefined") will notice chunks of related words. There are, for example, nearly 30 words that contain _honey_. That’s because the editors of the OED are primarily [updating the dictionary](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/04/23/an-exit-interview-with-the-man-who-transformed-the-oxford-english-dictionary/ "undefined") by reviewing important clusters of words—rather than plodding through from _A_ to _Z_—because, they reason, those are the words that people are most likely to look up. It’s worth noting that it’s much harder for a word to make the cut here than for one of the Oxford Dictionaries Online additions. The latter is meant to reflect current usage, which is why it [already contains](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/08/22/lolz-ridic-and-mwhahaha-added-to-oxford-dictionaries-online/ "undefined") quasi-words like _lolz_ and _mwahahaha_, while the OED aims to be a definitive historical catalog. Here is a selection of other terms that are now appearing in the OED for the first time: **bathroom break (n.):** a short period of time within the duration of an activity (often of a prescribed or limited duration) taken to use the toilet. **beatboxer (n.):** a performer who uses (amplified) vocal effects to imitate the sounds and rhythms of hip-hop music. **bestie (n.):** a person’s best friend; a very close friend. **bookaholic (n.):** a habitual and prolific reader; a compulsive book buyer. **crap shoot (n.)**: a situation or undertaking regarded as uncertain, risky, or unpredictable. **c\*ntish (adj., coarse slang):** nasty, highly unpleasant; extremely annoying. **dead white male (n.):** a dead Caucasian male writer, philosopher, etc., whose pre-eminence is challenged as disproportionate to his cultural significance, and attributed to a historical bias towards his gender and ethnic group. **DIYer (n.):** A person who engages in do-it-yourself activities; an amateur (in construction, repair, etc.). **do-over (n.):** an instance or chance of doing something for a second or further time, after an unsuccessful or unsatisfactory first attempt. **honky-tonker (n.):** a person who owns, works in, or frequents a cheap, sleazy bar or nightclub, typically one where country music is played. **scissor-kick (v):** to perform a kick which involve a scissor-like motion of the legs, as in swimming or soccer. **wackadoodle (adj.):** crazy, mad; eccentric. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/23817/oxford-english-dictionary-adds-bestie-crap-shoot-bathroom-break/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/23817/oxford-english-dictionary-adds-bestie-crap-shoot-bathroom-break/"},"headline":"Oxford English Dictionary Adds ‘Bestie,’ ‘Crap Shoot,’ ‘Bathroom Break’","datePublished":"2014-03-13T19:07:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:46.689Z","description":"There are about 900 new additions to the Oxford English Dictionary, announced this week, including first-timers like 'bathroom break,' 'beatboxer,' 'DIYer,' 'scissor-kick' and— wait for it —'scimitar-horned oryx'","url":"https://time.com/23817/oxford-english-dictionary-adds-bestie-crap-shoot-bathroom-break/","keywords":["Newsfeed","language","Dictionary","Oxford"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4341ee0b02ef2987/69868554cd804d6d75cc9b71/best-friends.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Steinmetz","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4341ee0b02ef2987/69868554cd804d6d75cc9b71/best-friends.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Best Friends","caption":"","creditText":"Digital Vision / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/23817/oxford-english-dictionary-adds-bestie-crap-shoot-bathroom-break/","name":"Oxford English Dictionary Adds ‘Bestie,’ ‘Crap Shoot,’ ‘Bathroom Break’"}}]}] ```