yarblockos

English

Alternative forms

• yarbles

Etymology

From Russian яблоко (jabloko, “apple”); coined by Anthony Burgess in 1962, when he introduced it within the invented slang Nadsat found in his dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /jɑː(ɹ)blɒkəʊs/

Noun

yarblockos pl (plural only)

1. (slang, mildly vulgar, augmentative, rare) Testicles; bollocks.
2. (slang, mildly vulgar, figurative, uncountable, rare) Courage, fortitude, or machismo.

   Synonyms: (vulgar) balls, (vulgar) bollocks, (vulgar) cojones, guts, nerve, chutzpah; see also Thesaurus:courage

   • 1993 December, Sheli Teitelbaum, “Stallone Demolition Man”, in Cinefantastique, volume 24, number 5, Forest Park, Illinois: Algol Press, →ISSN, page 16:

     The police, only barely adept at directing automated traffic, need an action hero to contain Snipes. But the only one around with yarblockos of sufficient mettle—Sly, of course, as former tough-guy cop Sgt. John Spartan—has himself been on ice for the last 25 or 30 years.

     Describing the plot of the 1993 film Demolition Man.