what does "arst" mean.

[Anan]

It came up in a word search but I cannot find it in the dictionary

[sandyRoe]

Bothered? As in : couldn't be

[lslowry]

I think it's asked

[starone]

I thought that was 'arsed' sandy - I could be wrong.

[starone]

Word search? - oh, come on!!

[Anan]

no, I thought of `arsed` but the alternative spelling was `arzt' so I thought it must be something else.

[scotman]

This is from the OED

arst, obs. form of erst adv.


erst, a. and adv. Forms: 1_3 ærest, ærost, ærst, 2_4 erest, 3_4 arst, (4 ? eroust, 5 erast, eerst), 3_7 earst, (3 earest), 4_6 erste, (6 ierst, 6, 7 yerst), 4_ erst.
[OE. ærest, superl. of ær (see ere); repr. OTeut. *airisto-, whence OHG. êrist (MHG. êrist, mod.G. erst), OS. êrist (Du. eerst).]
A. adj.
1. First in time or serial order. Obs.

2. absol. in advb. phrases. now (then) at erst: now (then) and not sooner; cf. Ger. erst dann. (App. through misunderstanding of this, Spenser has at erst = _as soon as possible, at once'.) on erst (only early ME.; also on alre erst): in the first place, at first.

B. adv.
1. Earliest, soonest, first in order of time.

2. In the first place, before something else is or was done; in preference to doing something else. (Sometimes pleonastically before ere.) Obs.

3. At first, as opposed to afterwards. Obs.

4. Sooner, earlier; before a specified time or event: esp. with negatives; not erst: not before, not till then. Obs.

5. Before the present time:
a. Referring to a remoter past: _Once upon a time', formerly, of old. arch. or poet.

b. Referring to a recent past: Not long ago, a little while since. Often in Spenser and Milton.

6. In comb. with adjs. and ppl. adjs.
1594 J. Dickenson Arisbas (1878) 33 Wherewith Flora had in plentie poudred the freshnesse of her earst-green hue.
1602 Carew Cornwall 100 a, The earst remembered Sir Ric_entertained at one time_the admirals of the English, Spanish, and Netherland fleets.
1740 Somerville Hobbinol (1749) 135 All but the stout And erst unconquer'd Hildebrand.
Hence erstly adv., in the first place.

[starone]

Wow, scotman, I knew you were good but I now think you are brilliant.

[scotman]

I think you are overestimating the complexity of cut & paste here.

[starone]

I didn't mean the cutting and pasting but the fact that if you don't know something you know where to look.

[Quizmonster]

Arzt is German for doctor, but it seems possible - as others point out - that you may mean arsed as in "I can't be arsed"...ie bothered.
If so, it is definitely NOT asked! This confusion has arisen because the words sound very similar. ‘I can't be arsed' is related to statements such as ‘I told him what he had to do but he didn't bother his arse', 'shift your arse' and ‘arse about'. They all assume that, for some reason, it's one's derrière that has to get involved in the activity rather than one's whole self!
As long ago as the 1500s, a lazy person was called a ‘heavy arse'. Presumably the connection is that one has to get OFF it in order to get actively involved in what is happening. So, the verb 'to be arsed' is just an aspect of that and - if you "can't be" - it just means you can't be bothered to stand up, move and get on with it.
'Ask' doesn't come into the matter and the sentence, ‘I can't be asked' doesn't even make sense. Of course, you can be asked!

[mike11111]

The German for doctor is Artz, not Arzt.

[Quizmonster]

Click http://www.bbc.co.uk/...r_englishgerman.shtml here, Mike. It just happened to be the first site I clicked into when I was checking. If I've got the spelling wrong, then so has the BBC and my English/German dictionary!

[heathfield]

You're right, QM. I use Leo's online dictionary for English/German translation, and there's a huge list of medical references to doctors under 'arzt'.

http://dict.leo.org/e...ellToler=&search=arzt

Could be 'arst' is the same word as OE 'erst', as in 'erstwhile', meaning 'formerly, or before the present'.

[mike11111]

I stand corrected.

[MarkRae]

The German word for doctor is most definitely 'Arzt'.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Arzt

[boxtops]

I agree with those who say "bothered"/arsed - it's just slang.

Someone at work said "fr1gging" today - she had no idea it was an alternative for the other F word, tut.

[mike11111]

Should've stuck to French!

[wildwood]

Can't contribute to the meaning but I think it is a rather cute word and hope that it evolves as an English word midway between arsed and bothered.

[Peter Pedant]

I have always thought without a lot of evidence
that half-arsed - was a contraction of half-rehearsed.

[Quizmonster]

Half-aRsed started life in the USA as half-aSsed, only taking on the 'r' once it got here. It seems, therefore, that any connection with rehearsed is, effectively, a non-runner.