What it means
An old-school little word for pep, bounce, and cheerful get-up-and-go. You’ll mostly hear it in full of vim and vigour, especially when someone’s charging about with suspicious amounts of energy. It usually lands half admiring, half taking the mick. Not fresh slang, more a vintage sparkle-word people still dust off for fun.
Usage examples
"You’re full of vim and vigour this morning, aren’t you? I’ve not even had my brew, and you’re belting tunes like it’s karaoke night."
"She tackled the garden with such vim that it was done by lunch."
"He rocked up to the 9 a.m. meeting full of vim and vigour, chatting everybody’s ear off while the rest of us were still buffering."
"Nan’s got more vim than all of us put together. She’s done the shops, cleaned the kitchen, and now she wants to go for a walk."
"He came back from that holiday full of vim, reorganised the kitchen, fixed the shed, and started lecturing us on proper bin rotation."
Where it comes from
Vim comes from Latin vis, meaning strength or force. It showed up in English in the late 19th century as a snappy little word for energy, spirit, and get-up-and-go. It stuck especially through the set phrase vim and vigour, which is why it still carries that jaunty, slightly antique sparkle.
Other ways to say it
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