Word.ws English Dictionary

refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram

refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram verb: to tell someone to fuck off.

Verb

refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram (third-person singular simple present refers someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram, present participle referring someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram, simple past and past participle referred someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram)

  1. (UK, euphemistic, humorous) To tell someone to fuck off.
    • I'd be tempted to refer them to the reply given in Arkell vs Pressdram.2015 February 3, skipweasel, “Unhelpful councilfolk”, in uk.rec.sheds (Usenet)
    • Go on then, fatso. May I first refer you to the reply given in Arkell vs Pressdram2016 October 31, Mike Tomlinson, “My post was "discarded" - why?”, in uk.net.news.moderation (Usenet)

Forms of refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram

third-person singular presentrefers someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram
present participlereferring someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram
past participlereferred someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram
pastreferred someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram
alternative formrefer someone to the reply given in Arkell v. Pressdram
alternative formrefer someone to the reply given in Arkell versus Pressdram
alternative formrefer someone to the reply given in Arkell vs Pressdram
alternative formrefer someone to the answer given in Arkell v Pressdram
alternative formrefer someone to the response given in Arkell v Pressdram

Origin of refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram

Coined in 1971 from an incident in which Pressdram, publisher of Private Eye magazine, received a legal letter from a solicitor acting for a Mr Arkell. Pressdram's reply stated: We note that Mr Arkell's attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of our reply and would therefore be grateful if you would inform us what his attitude to damages would be, were he to learn that the nature of our reply is as follows: fuck off. The phrase is written as a pseudo-legal citation, as if Arkell v Pressdram were a real court case, although the proceedings never actually made it to court.

Questions about refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram

What does refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram mean?
Refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram means to tell someone to fuck off.
What part of speech is refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram?
Refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram is a verb.
What is the past tense of refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram?
The past tense of refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram is referred someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram.

Words near refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram in the dictionary

  1. refeoff
  2. refeoffed
  3. refeoffing
  4. refeoffs
  5. refer
  6. refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram
  7. referable
  8. referal
  9. referand
  10. referands
  11. refered

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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