septic
part of speech
adjective (septic); noun (Australia, slang: a septic, septics)
meaning for a pupil
1) (of a wound or body part) Infected with germs so it becomes red, swollen, painful and full of pus. tree →
2) A septic tank is an underground tank where waste from toilets is broken down by bacteria, used by homes not joined to the main sewers. tree →
3) (Australia, UK, slang) A septic is an American; it comes from rhyming slang «septic tank» = «Yank». It can sound mocking. tree →
sense in the lessons
In health lessons «go septic» warns pupils to clean cuts and splinters; in science and geography septic tanks show how countryside homes deal with waste. In Australian talk «a septic» or «seppo» is a jokey, sometimes rude word for an American. Phrases: «go septic», «a septic finger», «a septic tank».
examples
- Clean that cut, or it might go septic. tree →
- His toe went septic after he stood on a rusty nail. tree →
- The farmhouse has a septic tank instead of a sewer pipe. tree →
- A truck comes every few years to empty the septic tank. tree →
- The doctor gave her cream for a septic insect bite. tree →
- (Australia, slang) "Who's the bloke with the accent?" "Some septic on holiday." tree →
- Wash your hands before you touch a blister so it doesn't turn septic. tree →
note
«Septic» goes with «sepsis». Opposite: «antiseptic» (stopping germs), as in antiseptic cream. Do not confuse with «sceptic» (UK spelling of skeptic, a doubter), which sounds like «SKEP-tic». The slang sense is not polite to say to an American.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «septic» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.