local

Less common meanings

6. 6
   union branchnouncountable

   A branch of a nationwide organization, especially a trade union, serving one area.

   The local negotiated a new contract with the factory owners.

   Several locals sent representatives to the national convention.

   UsageOften the union local, my local, or a number: Local 100.

   Similarbranch, chapter

   Note

   A union member's word: the local is the branch you actually belong to, and it is often known by a number, as in Local 100 of the TWU. People speak of "my local" and of the members in a local. Pam Mitchell's 1990 piece in Gay Community News uses it this way, describing who is and is not out in one union local. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Pam Mitchell wrote a 1990 piece in Gay Community News. en.wiktionary.org
   • Mitchell's article uses local for a union branch while discussing members being out. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   numbing drugnouncolloquialabbreviationclipping

   Short for local anesthetic: a drug that numbs one part of the body without making the patient unconscious.

   The surgeon numbed the area with a local before stitching the cut.

   She stayed awake during the operation because they used a local.

   UsageUsually give someone a local or have a local; in writing, local anesthetic is more usual.

   Note

   Clinical shorthand turns the adjective into a countable noun: a doctor gives you a local, the way Dalton is promised one in Road House (1989). The full term, local anesthetic, numbs only the area where it is applied. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Road House was released in 1989. catalog.afi.com
   • Dalton is promised a local anesthetic in Road House. en.wiktionary.org
   • A local anesthetic numbs a limited area of the body. nigms.nih.gov
8. 8
   limited scope (code)adjective

   Having limited scope, so that it can only be used within a certain part of a program.

   The function stores its results in a local variable.

   A local definition shadows any global one with the same name.

   UsageThe opposite is global: a local variable; a name is local to a function.

   Oppositeglobal

   Note

   Here the boundary is drawn inside the code rather than around a machine. Its opposite is global: a local variable is visible only within its part of the program, and a global one is visible across the program or module. The scope may be lexical, fixed by where the name is written, or dynamic, fixed by what is running at the time. Programmers also use the word as a noun, a local identifier. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • A local variable has visibility limited to its scope within the program. learn.microsoft.com
   • Global variables can be hidden by nearer bindings; their scope can also be limited to a module or file. docs.python.org
   • Lexical scope depends on where a name is declared in the code. perldoc.perl.org
   • Dynamic scope depends on the active sequence of calls during execution. perldoc.perl.org
9. 9
   variable (short)nouncountable

   An identifier that is only accessible within a limited part of a program.

   The compiler warns when a local is never used.

   Several locals in this loop store intermediate values.

   Oppositeglobal

   Note

   The noun form of the scope adjective: programmers shorten local variable to a local and pair it with globals. Cesar Otero and Rob Larsen's Professional jQuery (2012) states the contrast plainly. Globals are visible anywhere, and locals only in the function that declares them. Functional languages usually make locals unchangeable once initialized unless they are marked as mutable. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • Cesar Otero and Rob Larsen wrote Professional jQuery, first published in 2012. oreilly.com
   • The book contrasts globals visible throughout an application with locals visible within their declaring function. studylib.net
   • Functional languages usually prevent changing initialized locals unless explicitly made mutable. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    stopping trainnounabbreviationclipping

    Short for local train: a train that stops at all or most stations on its route.

    Commuters packed onto the local during the evening rush.

    The local was running ten minutes behind schedule.

    UsageSet against the express: take the local, catch the local.

    Note

    A clipping that drops the head noun and keeps the adjective: local train becomes a local, a countable noun with the regular plural locals. Its opposites are express and fast, the trains that skip stations, while stopper names the same thing. Either the service or the train itself can be called a local. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The railway noun local is a clipping of local train, omitting train. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    regular pubnounBritishcountable

    One's nearest or most regularly visited pub or bar.

    After work he stopped by his local for a pint.

    The whole street drinks at the same local on Fridays.

    UsageUsually with a possessive: my local, his local.

    Similarpub, bar

    Note

    It implies habit and belonging rather than mere distance, which is why being barred from your local is a loss worth mentioning. The Script sing of being taken to the singer's local, a short walk away, in Nothing (2010).

12. 12
    adjective

    In Hawaii, born and raised in the islands or belonging to their long-established multiethnic community, as distinct from newcomers and visitors.

    Most of the local kids at the beach grew up speaking Pidgin at home.

    She has lived on Maui for twenty years, but people there still don't consider her local.

    Similarnative

    Oppositeforeign, nonnative

    Note

    In Hawaii the word marks belonging rather than address. Someone local grew up in the islands' multiethnic community, whether of Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino or other descent, while a recent arrival from the mainland does not count. Context has to separate it from the plain "nearby" meaning, as when Hawaiian Pidgin is called the language of local people. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • In Hawaii, this sense distinguishes people brought up in the islands' community from people who merely reside there, including recent mainland arrivals. jstage.jst.go.jp
    • Local identity can include people of Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino and other ancestry. laulima.hawaii.edu
    • Hawaiian Pidgin is associated with local cultural identity. crossingeast.org
13. 13
    nounslangUS

    A news item concerning events in the place where the newspaper is published.
14. 14
    nounslang

    A Twitter user who does not belong to Stan Twitter, the network of dedicated fan accounts.
15. 15
    noun

    An independent trader who deals on their own account rather than on behalf of investors.
16. 16
    adjective

    In mathematics, of a property or condition: holding for, or detectable from, the parts of an object near each point, such as small neighborhoods, localizations, or finitely generated subgroups.
17. 17
    adjective

    Of a ring, having a unique maximal left ideal.