oxter

Etymology

From Old English ōxta, related to eax (“axis, axle”)^[1] and eaxl (“shoulder”). See also axis and axon.

Noun

oxter (plural oxters)

1. (chiefly Scotland, Ireland) The armpit. [from 15th c.]
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare & Co.; Sylvia Beach, OCLC 560090630; republished London: Published for the Egoist Press, London by John Rodker, Paris, October 1922, OCLC 2297483:
     , Episode 12: The Cyclops,

     And begob there he was passing the door with his books under his oxter and the wife beside him and Corny Kelleher with his wall eye looking in as they went past,...

   • 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, p. 90:

     ‘It's a small beast,’ he said. ‘I could carry it under my oxter.’

References

Anagrams

• retox