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DICTIONARY OF EARLY ENGLISH 



MIDCENTURY 
REFERENCE LIBRARY 

DAGOBERT D. RUNES, Ph.D., General Editor 



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PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY, INC. 
Publishers 



15 E. 40th Street 



New York 16, N. Y. 



DICTIONARY OF 

EARLY ENGLISH 



JOSEPH T. SHIPLEY 



'ith a Preface oy 

MARK VAN DOREN 




PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY 

IN e\\r York 



Copyright, 1955, by 
PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY, INC. 

15 East 40th Street, New York, N. Y. 
All rights reserved 



Printed in the United States of America 



To 



BURKE _, THORNE 

and 
NICOLE LINDA 



PREFACE 



Mr. Shipley's Dictionary has been a delight to me, and I can imagine no 
reader, erudite or otherwise, to whom it will be anything less than that, I 
claim no erudition in my own case;*I am not a student of the English language 
of its history, at any rate nor am I, to tell the truth, a scholar of any sort. 
But this does not prevent me from taking a lively and perpetual interest in the 
words men use and have used. There is a sense in which man lives by words 
more than he does by bread; neither is enough for life alone, but whereas 
all animals must eat in order to keep on being themselves, only man must talk 
to this same end. And Mr. Shipley shows him, in so far as he talks English, 
as having pleased himself, generation after generation, by more words than we 
might suppose would ever be remembered, let alone written or spoken in 
their time. 

Among these there are monsters like floccinaucinihilipilification and honor- 
ificabilitudinitatibus which amuse us rather than enlighten us concerning the 
way our forebears thought. Mr. Shipley is rightly more interested in a host 
of terms, gathered by him out of a thousand years, from which we can learn 
fascinating things about the folklore, the medicine, the psychology, the 
philosophy, the art, the cookery, the morals, and the entertainments of ages 
that long since went to sleep and for the most part have ceased even to dream. 
Yet some of them do dream, and to the extent that we can participate in the 
experience we may find ourselves edified; for it is not alone in our generation 
that men have been sensible, acute, and wise. Mr. Shipley is nowhere more 
interesting than he is in those unobtrusive notes or side-remarks which span 
like an electrician's arc the distance between dead and living days, and make 
us wish that we had not thrown away certain words for which we still have 
the things. "Everyman's wife, in America, is noted for her emacity." Absalon- 
ism., he suggests, might still "serve the psychoanalysts." Accidie has been a 
genuine loss for something we shall have always with us; so has atonement 
in its original meaning; and so perhaps has glother I should love to be able 
to say to someone, "Don't glother me," and be sure that he understood. 

But every reader will find his own examples in this copious work which 
will so richly repay the investment of long evenings devoted to it; and these 
evenings need not be merely winter ones; they could be aestival as well. 

Mark Van Doren 
vii 



INTRODUCTION 



"Forgotten" Words 

If a word were completely forgotten, I could not list it here. One man's 
oblivion, moreover, may be another's crowded store. 

Gathered in this DICTIONARY are, in the main, words that have dropped 
from general use. Many of them are Anglo-Saxon words that have been re- 
placed by other terms, or that describe ways of living that have passed. Others 
are learned introductions into our tongue, fashioned from Latin or Greek 
forms, that failed to take long root. In many cases, words came into the 
language in various forms, only some of which not always the simplest; see 
couth may have won survival. 

Language is in a constant process of change, of growth here and decay 
there; although, since recorded writing, no word has wholly died. Some words, 
indeed, have been so transformed as to mean their own opposite (see avaunt). 
In this DICTIONARY are a few still current words, included because of their 
old associations, or because of older meanings lapsed from use. 

The Basis of Selection 

From the vast number of words used in the English past, selection has been 
guided by the following principles. There have been included: 

(1) Words that are likely to be met in literary reading. Chaucer, Spenser, 
Shakespeare, the Tudor pamphlets and translations, are richly represented 
in words and illustrative quotations. The late 18th and early 19th century 
revival has been culled: Chatterton, Ossian; Percy's Reliques and Child's 
Ballads; Scott, in his efforts to bring picturesque words back into use. In 
addition, anthologies, for the general reader or the student, have been ex- 
amined, and works they include combed for forgotten words. 

(2) Words that belong to the history of early England, describing or illumi- 
nating social conditions, political (e.g., feudal) divisions or distinctions, and 
all the ways of living, of thinking and feeling, in earlier times. Anxiety, for ex- 
ample, is indicated, not in the 99 phobias listed in a psychiatric glossary of the 
1950*5 but in the 120 methods (see aeromancy) of discovering if not influencing 
the future. 

Incidentally, research for this volume has made it quite clear that once upon 
a time (as all good stories start!) the English were superb cooks. Cardinal 



Introduction 



Wolsey had 22 specialists in his private kitchen. Some of the early dishes, 
recipes of which are given in this volume, water the anticipant mouth. Judg- 
ing by the dates, it was when the Stuarts returned from their exile in Paris 
that French menus became the London fashion, so that gradually the native 
cooking fell into desuetude. In such ways, the forgotten words send flashes 
of light upon the olden culture. 

(3) Words that in various ways have special interest, as in meaning, back- 
ground, or associated folklore. Included in this group are various imaginary 
beings, and a number of magic or medicinal plants. 

(4) Words that are not in the general vocabulary today, but might be 
pleasantly and usefully revived. 

The Times' Emphases 

Among the many contributions to our English speech, a few tendencies 
seem notable for our purpose, currents in the two main rivers, Germanic and 
Romanic-Greek, that have fed the English ocean. From the Norman Conquest 
(1066) to the 16th century, there was a continuous process of commixion of 
the Anglo-Saxon tongue and the Norman French, with a seeping in of Latin 
terms from the law court, and Latin and Greek from the church. The best 
known example of this amalgamation is in Scott's Ivanhoe, where the jester 
and the swineherd present the point that, when domestic animals have to be 
cared for and tended, they are the defeated but stalwart Saxon pig, bull, calf, 
or sheep, but when they are dressed and served to be eaten, they are the 
triumphant but tender Norman pork, beef, veal, or mutton. 

This observation, however, was rather Scott's than the jester's; it manifests 
a consciousness largely lacking in the language growth of those five hundred 
years. It was in the late i6th century that a conscious concern with words 
developed widely, never to slacken since. Holinshed in his Chronicles (1577) 
said that Anglo-Saxon was "an hard and rough kind of speech, Godwotte, 
when our nation was brought first into acquaintance withall." The many 
monosyllables in the current speech, mainly Anglo-Saxon, were attacked, and 
a wide-ranging quest of variety was begun, that produced the Elizabethan 
profusion. 

Reaction against newfangled words, inkhorn terms, against phrases bor- 
rowed like fashions in dress from Italy, France, and Spain, set in with the 
surge of national spirit that hailed the defeat (1588) of the Invincible Armada. 
For the first sixty years of the 17th century, there was a remarkable interest 
in Anglo-Saxon. An Anglo-Saxon lectureship was established at Cambridge 
University; a dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon tongue was compiled. Enthusi- 
asts went so far as to declare that the parent of Anglo-Saxon, German, was 
the oldest and best of all tongues the original language, indeed, of the Bible. 






Introduction 



As the Germans (Cambrians) were not among the builders of the Tower of 
Babel, their speech in its purity had survived. This boast of preeminence of 
tongue, in Richard Hawkins* A Discourse of the Natural Excellences of Eng- 
land (1685), was expanded to a more general claim: "The English descend 
from those people of Germany which are called Saxons. These by good 
authors were esteemed the strongest and valiantest of its nations ... In a word, 
they were dreaded for their arms, and commended for their extraordinary 
chastity: so that the English derive from a most noble and pure fountain, 
being the offspring of so valiant and so chaste a people." 

The courtiers and writers exiled with the Stuarts had other thoughts. Back 
across the Channel in 1660 came more than Parisian cooking, came also a 
scorn for the rough though chaste "German" speech of the Puritans, and a 
taste for the fluent French. James Howell in 1662 declared, of the English 
tongue, that the French "hath not only enriched but civilized and smoothed 
her with many thousands of words derived from the Latin." 

Some scholars emphasized the idea that in truth all the modern tongues were 
mutable, were ephemeral, that permanence was to be found only in Hebrew, 
Latin, and Greek. This was no new notion; while Chaucer in the 14th century 
was shaping modern English, Gower, to ensure survival, wrote three long 
poems each in a different tongue. In the i7th century not only church ritual 
but international correspondence was still carried on in Latin. About 1650, 
Edmund Waller wrote: 

But who can hope his lines should long 
Last in a daily changing tongue? 
While they are new, envy prevails, 
And as that dies, our language fails. 
Poets that lasting marble seek 
Must carve in Latin or in Greek. 

While such opinions did not loose a flood of works in the classical languages 
Milton wrote Latin poems, but his major works speak to his countrymen in 
their own tongue for a century there were many borrowings from Greek 
and Latin, the classical words being given English forms. Writers sprinkled 
Latinisms in their works, as offering alms to oblivion. Macaulay's schoolboy 
knows how Johnson corrected his lapse into Anglo-Saxon: "It has not wit 
enough to keep it sweet . . . Hrmph ... It has not vitality sufficient to 
preserve it from putrefaction." 

Hence it is that many words of Anglo-Saxon origin lapsed from use in 
the 16th and 17th centuries; while many from Latin and Greek, in those 
centuries first used, lapsed in the 18th or early 19th century. Not within the 
scope of this volume, of course, are the many more, along either stream of 

xi 



Introduction 



history, that remain a vital part of our living speech and that, in the joining 
of their turbulent flow, make English the richest language of all time. 

The Period Covered 

* The centuries covered by this DICTIONARY are, roughly, the 8th to the 
18th. Where a word's use was limited, the period is usually indicated in the 
discussion. Dates of books quoted are, in some cases, approximate; the purpose 
is to indicate the period during which the word was used. 

The Spelling 

In the early, more flexible times, many variations of spelling developed; 
major ones are included. Thus dole, dool, dule appear in the general listing; 
under the main entry, dole, thirteen variants are given. In the illustrative 
quotations, spelling has been shaped to the reader's convenience: the old 
form of the word under discussion has been retained; with other words, the 
old spelling is usually retained if the sense is clear. The aim has been to 
focus attention on the word in hand. 

A capital within a quotation usually indicates the beginning of a new 
line of verse. 

A cknow ledgments 

The indebtedness of a lexicographer extends to all his predecessors. In 
addition to the literary works of the authors named above, I have had re- 
course to the more technical volumes listed below, and my thanks go to the 
many that have lighted and lightened my way. "Forgotten" words have cropped 
up, also, in many an odd corner of my reading, and friends have frequently 
asked me whether one of their favorites is in. Beyond all such aid must be 
listed hers whom I cannot and would not forget, bully in word-play, but ever 
concerned, the golden thread in the pattern of my days. 



WORKS IN MY LIBRARY 

An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, by N. Bailey. London. First Edition, 
1721; my copy, 1751. 

A Glossary and Etymological Dictionary, by W. Toone. London, 1834. 

English Etymologies, by H. Fox Talbot London, 1847. 

A Dictionary of the First, or Oldest Words in the English Language, by the late Her- 
bert Coleridge. London, 1863. 

Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, by Thos. Wright. London, (2 vols.) 
1869. 

xii 



Introduction 



A Dictionary of the Old English Language, by Francis Henry Stratmann. Krefeld, 
1878. 

A Glossary ... in the works of English authors, particularly Shakespeare and his con- 
temporaries, by Robert Nares, with additions by Halliwell and Wright. London 
(2 vols.), 1882. 

Renaissance Dictionaries, by De Witt T. Starnes. Austin, 1954. 

A Shakespeare Glossary, by C. T. Onions. Oxford, 1941. 

Shakespeare's Bawdy, by Eric Partridge. New York, 1948. 

Two dozen dictionaries and glossaries of cant, slang, and specialized vocabularies. An 
excellent general volume is the Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 
by Eric Partridge. New York, 1908. 

The Oxford English Dictionary (13 vols.). Referred to in the text as the O, E. D. 
being a revision of the New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. The 
most comprehensive dictionary of the kind in any language, especially rich in 
illustrative quotations; to it, all succeeding lexicographers, myself included, owe 
an inestimable debt. 

OTHER WORKS FOUND USEFUL 

The Dictionary of Thomas Eliot knyght. 1538. 

An Alvearie or triple dictionarie ... by John Baret. 1573. 

Bibliotheca Scholastica, by John Rider. 1589. 

A Worlde of Wordes, by John Florio. 1598 (enlarged 1611). 

A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, by Cotgrave. 1611. 

Glossographia, by Thos. Blount. 1656. 

A Collection of English Words Not Generally Used, by John Ray. 1674. 

Dictionary ... by E. Coles. 1676. 

B.E.'s Dictionary of the Canting Crew. 1700. 

Vocabularium Anglo-Saxonicum, by Thos. Benson. 1701. 

Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. 1785. 

Welsh and English Dictionary, by W. Owen. 1793. 

A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language, by J. Bosworth. 1838. 

A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, by J. O. Halliwell. 1850. 

Slang and Its Analogues, by Farmer and Henley (7 vols.). 1904. 

J. T. S. 



xin 



aadom. An afternoon repast; afternoon. 
Also aandorn; arndern is evening. Used 
to the ISth century. 

aande. Breath. Not uncommon in the 
15th century, as in Hampole: Hys mynde 
es schort when he oght thynkes, Hys nese 
[nose] oft droppes, hys aande stynkes. 

aas. An early form of ace, aces, 

abacinate. To blind by holding red hot 
metal close to the eyes. Latin ab, off 4- 
bacinus, basin. Hence abadnation; a 
mild medieval torture. 

abactor. One who steals cattle in herds. 
From Latin ab, away + agere, to drive. 
Hence, abaction, cattle-stealing. Ham- 
mond in his commentary ON PSALMS 
(1659) speaks of abactors, whose breaking 
in . . . is attended with the catties passing 
through or going out Lamb, in a letter 
of 1829, refers to an abactofs wife. There 
is no English verb to abaci, but N. Bail- 
ey's ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY of 1751 
includes ab acted, drawn away by stealth 
or violence. 

abafelled. Treated scornfully; an early 
form (and sense) of baffled. 

abalienate. To estrange; to make mad. 
From Latin ab~, away 4- alienare, to es- 
trange, to give to another; alienus, belong- 
ing to another. John Gaule in PYSMANTIA 
THE MAG-ASTRO-M ANGER (1651) says: Ex- 
tastes of prophets did not so abalienate 
their minds as that they apprehended not 



what they did. S. Clark in his LIVES (1683) 
states: Neither difference of opinion, nor 
distance of place, nor seldomness of con- 
verse, nor any worldly respect, did cause 
the least ab alienation. Note that one 
meaning of alienation (from 1450 on) is 
also loss of mental faculties; Lord Brou- 
gham on THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION (1862) 
speaks of a state of mental alienation. 

abarcy. A state of always desiring more. 
In the 1731 edition of his ETYMOLOGICAL 
DICTONARY, N. Bailey traces this to a 
medieval Latin word abartia, insatiable- 
ness. The word, in both languages, seems 
to be the lexicographer's invention. The 
present lexicographer, in a 1953 letter to 
THEATRE ARTS, invented the word eucili- 
ast, a deliberately pompous term (eu, 
good -f cilia, hairs H- -ast, an eager one) 
for a person interested in hirsute adorn- 
ment. In similar vein, H. L. Mencken of- 
fered the word ecdysiast as an elevated 
term for the burlesque 'strip- teaser/ This 
has, however, counterpart in other crea- 
tures; ecdysis (from Greek ec- f ex-, out, 
off + dyein, to put) is the scientific term 
for the shedding of its shell by the cray- 
fish, and for other such slough. 

abarnare. To report or disclose a secret 
crime. The word seems another inven- 
tion of the fertile N. Bailey in his ETY- 
MOLOGICAL DICTIONARY (1751). 

abastardize. To render illegitimate or 
base. Daniel in THE QUEEN'S ARCADIA 
(1605) wrote: Being ourselves Corrupted 



abastick 

and abastardized thus, Thinke all lookes 
ill, that doth not looke like us. Also to 
abastard, 

abastick. Insatiable. Cp. abarcy. 

abate. In the 13th century (Robert of 
Gloucester's CHRONICLE) abate meant not 
to lessen, but to put an end to, to cease. 

abawe. To astonish, confound. Also 
abaue; abave. Also, to bow, cp. abow. 
Chaucer, in THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE 
(1366) has: For soche another, as I gesse, 
Aforne ne was, ne more vermaile; I was 
abawed for merveile. 

abb. The woof or weft in something 
woven. Also aw ebb, oweb; Old English 
awefan; a, up + wefan, to weave. 

abbey-lubber. A lazy monk; a fat slug- 
gard, a porridge-belly. A term used in 
scorn by the anti-Catholics of the 16th and 
17th centuries. Thus Cotgrave in 1611 
defined archimarmitonerastique: an abbey- 
lubber, or arch-frequenter of the cloyster 
beefe-pot. THE BURNYNGE OF PAULES 
CHURCH (1563) said it was a commen 
proverb e to call him an abbey-lubber, that 
was idle, wel fed, a long lewd lither 
loiterer, that might worke and would not. 

abbord. See abord. 

abditoriumu A secret place, especially for 
hiding things. Also abditory. From the 
Latin abdere, abditum, from ab, away 
4- dare, to put. The word is used of a 
chest in which religious relics are kept, 
or money but also, by Dr. Robinson in 
EUDOXA (1658) to say: In the center of 
the kernel of grain, as the safest abditory, 
is the source of germination. Hence also 
abditive, remote, hidden. 

abdominous. Paunch-bellied; unwieldy. 
This is, of course, abdomen + ous, full 
of. The origin of abdomen is unknown; 

^ _ 9 



abigail 

it may be related to abdere, to put away, 
or to adipem, adipomem, fat. Cleveland 
in the DIALOGUE OF Two ZEALOTS (1651) 
says: If s so abdominous, the Trojan Horse 
was not so fully lined. H. M. Stanley, 
whose most famous words are "Dr. Living- 
stone, I presume?", spoke in THE DARK 
CONTINENT (1878) of a native surrounded 
by fat wives and abdominous brats. Sev- 
eral members of the New York sophisti- 
cates* Three-hours-for-lunch Club were, 
as might be expected, abdominous. 

abece. ABC; the alphabet, or an 
alphabet-book. In Robert of Gloucester's 
CHRONICLE,, 13th century: He was more 
than ten yer old ar he couthe ys abece. 
Cp. abecedary; absey-book. 

abecedary. An alphabet book; a primer. 
Used from the 15th to the 18th century; 
also abscedary, absedary. ABCDary; ac- 
cent on the see. Also used as an adjective, 
relating to the alphabet; needing the al- 
phabet, illiterate. Also abecedarie; abece- 
dario (plural abecedarii) , a teacher, or a 
learner, of the ABC's. Cp. abece; absey- 
book. Florio in his translation (1603) of 
Montaigne said: There is a kind of abece- 
darie ignorance preceding science; an- 
other, doctorall, following science. 

abeche. To feed; to satisfy. From Old 
French abeschier; a, to, with + bee, beak: 
the early references were to birds. Gower 
in CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1393) has: Yit 
schulde I sum delle been abeched, And 
for the tyme wel refreched. 

abelde. Become bold. In the romance of 
KYNG ALYSAUNDER, 13th century. 

abequitate. To ride away. Latin ab, 
away + equus, horse. In 17th century 
dictionaries. 

abie. See abye. 

abigail. A waiting-woman. In the BIBLE 



abject 

(FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL, XXV. 24-31) Abi- 
gail o Carmel throws herself at the feet 
of King David, calling herself "thine 
handmaid ... I pray thee, forgive the 
trespass of thine handmaid . . . thine 
handmaid" until he marries her. In 
Beaumont and Fletcher's play THE 
SCORNFUL LADY (1610) the "waiting gentle- 
woman" is named Abigail; from the popu- 
larity of the play, the name became the 
common term for a maid-servant. Smollett 
in HUMPHREY CLINKER (1771) speaks of 
an antiquated abigail, dressed in her 
lady's cast clothes, Congreve in THE OLD 
BACHELOR (1693) indicates another role 
she often played: Thou art some forsaken 
abigail we have dallied with heretofore. 

abject. As a noun, a servile person; one 
cast off, an outcast. Latin abicere, to cast 
off; ab, away + iacere, iactum (in com- 
pounds iectum, whence also conjecture 
and many an object). Shakespeare in 
RICHARD III (1592) speaks of the Queen's 
objects; Shelley in PROMETHEUS UNBOUND 
(1818): The subject of a tyrant's will 
Became, worse fate! the abject of his 
own. 

ablactation. Weaning of a child from 
the mother. From the Latin a b, from 
+ lactare, to suckle, from lac, lactis, milk 
the galactic universe is the Milky Way. 
Ablaction is also used of a type of grafting 
trees in which the "mother" tree is so 
close to the new stock that they may be 
at first joined, then gradually separated. 
Hence ablactate, to wean; ablacted, 
weaned. 

ablaqueate, ablaqueation. This is a term 
drawn from Roman husbandry: Latin ab, 
from + laqueatum, entangled, from 
laqueus, a noose. It meant at first loosen- 
ing hard soil around the roots of trees, 
so that their fibres might spread. Later, 

3 



abluted 

it meant (Bailey's DICTIONARY, 1751) to 
lay bare "the bottom of the trunks and 
roots of trees, that so being exposed to 
the sun and air, etc. they may bear fruit 
the better." 

ablegate. To send abroad; to send far 
off, as used to be done with a son in dis- 
grace. Latin db, away 4- legare, legatum, 
to send on a message, whence legate. An 
ablegate is (still) a messenger of the pope, 
that brings his insignia to a newly ap- 
pointed cardinal. Hence ablegation, des- 
patch, dismissal. Used in the 17th cen- 
tury. 

ablende. To make blind. In Robert of 
Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century. 

ablepsy. Blindness. Greek a, not + 
blepso, I see. Also figuratively, as in 
Urquhart's THE JEWEL (1652) : Who 
doubteth, that is not blinded with the 
ablepsie of an implicite zealf 

abligate. To bind away from; to tie up 
so as to keep away. Latin ab f from + 
ligare, ligatum, to bind, whence ligature. 
An 18th century dictionary word (Bailey; 
Johnson). Also abligation. 

abligurition. Squandering, spending lav- 
ishly, on food and drink. Latin ab, away 
4- ligurire, to eat delicately, to enjoy 
dainties; lingere, to lick; lingua, the 
tongue. Some 17th century dictionaries 
give the form abligury, abligurie, spend- 
ing in belly-cheer. 

abluted. Washed away; washed clean. 
Latin ab, away + lucre, lutum, to wash. 
Abluvion, that which is washed away. 
Ablution, the act or process of washing 
clean: in alchemy first, the purification 
of bodies with suitable liquids; Chaucer 
in THE CANON'S YEOMAN'S PROLOGUE 
(1386) speaks o oyles ablucioun, and 
metal fusible. Then, washing the body 



abodement 



abraid 



as a religious rite (16th century); thence 
(mid-18th century) the washing of one's 
person. When George Gissing, the Grub 
Street writer (18574903) found it neces- 
sary to use the British Museum Library 
as his washroom, he came one morning to 
discover the sign, For casual ablutions 
only. Although the positive form seems 
not to have been used in English, that 
which cannot be washed clean, or washed 
away, is inablutible. 

abodement. A foreboding, especially of 
ill. Also to abode, to presage, to be 
ominous; an abode was also (17th cen- 
tury) a prediction. Shakespeare has both 
noun and verb in HENRY VI, PART THREE 
(1590): The owle shrieked at thy birth, 
an evill signe, The night-crow cryde, 
aboding lucklesse time . . . Tush man, 
aboadments must not now affright us. 

aboht. A 13th century form of bought. 

abolete. Obsolete. Latin abolere, abole- 
tum, to abolish; ab, away 4* the root ob, 
or, to grow, whence also origin; abortive; 
adolescent; proletarian. Skelton in WirV 
COME YE NOT To COURTE? (1522) spoke 
of those that dare use this experiens To 
practyse such abolete sciens. I wonder 
when our sciens will seem abolete. 

abone. (1) To make good or seasonable; 
to ripen. (2) an early form of above. (3) 
well. The 14th century SIR GAWAYNE 
spoke of a good swerde, what wolde byte 
abone. 

abord. To approach; enter, take footing 
upon; to accost; to challenge. Also abourd, 
abb or d, abb oar d; later aboard; French 
ab order, from a bord, to the side of. It was 
also used as a noun, manner or avenue 
of approach, as in Lassels' VOYAGE TO 
ITALY (1670), of Genoa: I never saw a 
more stately abord to any city then to 

4 



this, abordage, an attack on a ship by 
boarding it. abordering, neighboring. Gre- 
ville in THE LIFE OF THE RENOWNED SIR 
PHILIP SIDNEY (1652) calls Sidney born in 
too strong a fortification of nature for 
the less worthy to abbord, either with 
question, familiarity, or scorn. 

abow. To make bend; to bow. Cp. 
abawe. He abueth; past tense forms, 
abuyde, abouynde. In Robert of Glou- 
cester's CHRONICLE, 13th century. 

abowes. Patron saints. French avoues, 
sworn ones, devotes. Used in Robert of 
Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century. 

abrade. See abrase. 

abraham. A tawny or brown color; ap- 
plied to human hair. Also abram. Per- 
haps a corruption of auburn, which 
was sometimes spelled abron. But Shake- 
speare, who uses the term in CORIOLANUS 
(1607): Our heads are some brown, some 
black, some abram, some bald, in THE 
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR tells us Slender 
has a Cain colored beard; and many 
writers speak of Judas-hair. In the old 
tapestries Judas' hair was red; Cain's, 
yellow; Abraham's, brown. The 1685 edi- 
tion of CORIOLANUS altered abram to au- 
burn. An Abraham man, Abram man, 
was a vagabond, especially after the clos- 
ing of the monasteries, as Amdelay said 
in THE FRATERNITYE OF VACABONDES 
(1565), that walketh bare armed and bare 
legged, and fayneth him selfe mad. 

abraid. To wrench or pull out, to draw 
(a sword) ; to start, as out of sleep; to 
startle, arouse; to burst into speech or 
sudden cry. Chaucer in THE SQUIRE'S TALE 
(1386) says she gan of swoun abreyde. 
Lydgate uses the word in these senses (it 
is from Old English a, back + bregdan, 
to twist), but he adds another meaning, 



abraxas 



absist 



to consort with, to frequent, as in his 
translation (1430) o Bochas' FALL OF 
PRINCES: To thy flatterers I never did 
abrayde. See abray. 

abraxas. This meaningless word was used 
in cabalistic writings as a charm. It was 
also engraved on rings and gems worn 
as a talisman; hence Warburton in 1738 
speaks of gems called abraxas. 

abray. An error by Spenser for abraid, 
q. v. Spenser took the form abraid, 
abrayde, as though it were the past tense 
of abray. He uses the verb four times, e.g. 
THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) : the brave 
maid would not for courtesy Out of his 
quiet slumber him abrade. 

abrodietical. This word appears in 17th 
century dictionaries, from the Greek abro- 
diaitos, as meaning eating daintily, or a 
person of delicate ways. No instance of 
its use has been found. 

abrook. To endure; replaced by brook. 
Shakespeare in HENRY VI, PART Two 
(1590) says: Sweet Nell, ill can thy noble 
mind abrooke the abject people, gazing 
on thy -face. 

abrase. To rub or wear off. Also to 
abrade, Latin ab, off + radere, rasum, to 
smooth, scrape, shave. Also abraded, ab- 
rased, abrase, with all marks rubbed off; 
blank, clear, Jonson in CYNTHIA'S REVELS 
(1600) remembers the Latin tabula rasa: 
The fourth, in white, is Apheleia, a 
nymph as pure and simple as the soul, or 
as an abrase table, and is therefore called 
Simplicity. 

abruption. A breaking off, as in one's 
utterance. Latin ab, off + rumpere, rup- 
tum, to break; whence abrupt, corrup- 
tion, eruption, rupture. Thus Shake- 
speare, in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606): 
Troilus: O Cressida, how often have I 

5 



wished me thus! Cressida: Wisht my Lord? 
the gods grant O my Lord, Troilus: 
What should they grant? What makes this 
pretty abruption? 

absalonism. The practice of rebellion 
against a father, from the ways of the son 
of David, in the BIBLE. Listed in Bailey's 
DICTIONARY (1751), this word never came 
into use, but might well serve the psy- 
choanalysts. 

absconce. To hide. Used in the 16th 
century. Latin abscondere, absconditus; 
absconsus, to hide; ab, away + con, to- 
gether + dare, to put. This is an early 
form of abscond, which in the 17th 
century meant to hide; then, to hide one- 
self (as when one seeks to elude the law). 
Hence abscond, absconded, hidden; 
D'Urfey in PILLS TO PURGE MELANCHOLY 
(1719) is pleased with the thought that he 
should sit abscond and see them. Also 
abscondence, abscondment, concealment, 
seclusion. In monasteries and churches, an 
absconce was a dark lantern. 

absentaneous. This word, which never 
grew into use, is found in 18th century 
dictionaries. Fashioned by analogy with 
instantaneous, etc., it refers to something 
done in absence, or while one is absent. 

absey-book. An a-b~c~book, a hornbook. 
See abece. Shakespeare has in KING JOHN 
(1596): And then comes answer like an 
absey-book. 

absinthe. See wormwood. 

absist. To desist, withdraw. Latin ab, 
from + sistere, to stand, reduplicative of 
stare, statum, to be erect, whence status, 
destiny, obstinate. The agent-verb was 
statuere t to make stand, to set up, whence 
statue, statute, obstinate, obstacle, resti- 
tution, destitute; resistance; assist, desist. 
The first meaning of to assist was to be 



absoil 

present at, which assister still means in 
French. Raleigh in A HISTORY OF THE 
WORLD (1614) wrote: They promised to 
absist from their purpose of making a 
war. 

absoil. See assoil. 

absonism. The practice o being dis- 
cordant in the use of language, incongru- 
ous, absurd or an instance of such in- 
congruity. From the Latin ab, away + 
sonus, sound + ism, this term was used 
only by Thomas Nashe, in STRANGE NEWS 
(1592): Everie third line hath some of 
this over-rackt absonisme. The adjective 
absonous, incongruous, unreasonable, was 
more frequently used through the 17th 
century, though even the still current 
absonant was employed in the same sense. 
(All have the accent on the first syllable.) 

abster. To deter. Latin ab(s), from + 
terrere, to frighten. Becon in A PLEASANTE 
NEWE NOSEGAY (1542) wrote that un- 
feigned humility . . . also absterreth and 
frayeth us from all arrogancy, pride, and 
elation of mind. 

abuccinate. To trumpet abroad, to pro- 
claim. This word, from Latin bucina, a 
trumpet, occurs only once in the language, 
in T. Newton's essay (1569) on CICERO: 
But all men cannot be Scipiones or 
Maximij to abuccinate and recount what 
Cities they have sacked* Modern pub- 
licity serves the same purpose. See ebuc- 
cinate. Latin bucina may be from 
bovicina, from bos, bovis, bull (from the 
bull's horn used as a trumpet) + the root 
can, to sound, to sing; but note also 
that bucca means the cheek, as the wall of 
the mouth. The mouth-piece of a helmet, 
in Latin, was buccula; and bucca itself 
is used, as a figure of speech, for a 
trumpeter. 

abusion. Misuse; deceit; violation of 

6 



abye 

law or right. The old (14th through 16th 
century) noun of the verb abuse, from 
Latin ab, away + uti, usus, use. A very 
common word, often used by Chaucer, 
Caxton, Occlere, Penn, Spenser, e.g., in 
THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) : Foolish de- 
lights and fond abusions, Which do that 
sense besiege with fond illusions. 

abuyde. See abow. 
aby. See abye. 

abydocomist. Stating that the inhabi- 
tants of Abydos were known for their 
slanderous tongues, Bailey in his DIC- 
TIONARY (1751) defines the abydocomist 
as a sycophant who boasts of his suc- 
cesses achieved by flattery and falsehood. 
Do you know such a fellow? 

abye. This was an early alternate . form 
of buy; having the prefix a, it meant to 
buy from or buy back. In the sense of pay 
for, it came to be used, figuratively, to 
pay the penalty for. It died out of the 
language about 1600; the latest recorded 
use was in Beaumont and Fletcher's THE 
KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE (1613): 
Foolhardy knight, -full soon thou shalt 
aby this fond reproach; thy body will I 
bang. Then the word was revived by Sir 
Walter Scott, in the LORD OF THE ISLES 
(1815) : By Heaven . . . they shall abye 
it! and used by others since, as Bancroft 
in his HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 
(1876): Dearly did the Cherokees aby 
their rising. Also (13th century) able, 
abigge; past tense aboughte. In the early 
uses, from paying the penalty the word 
abye came also to mean to suffer, to 
endure; and in the sense of endure it 
came also to mean to last in which 
meaning abye was confused with abide. 
Thus Spenser, who uses the word twenty 
times in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) ob- 



ac 



accidie 



serves that nought that wanteth rest can 
long aby. 

ac. But. Common from the 10th to the 
15th century. Also ok, oc, ok, ah, ach, 
and the like. When Orfeo (cp. levedi) 
found his wife stricken, He asked conseil 
at ech man, Ac no man him help no can. 
For another instance of its use, see ferly. 

academe. See deme. 

Acadina. Used in the expression to sink 
in Acadina. Acadina was a fountain in 
Sicily wherein a false oath written on a 
tablet would sink. The lie lay heavy on 
the board. The word is listed in Bailey's 
DICTIONARY (1751). 

acate. Originally this meant purchasing, 
then a thing purchased. It is from Nor- 
man achater (French acheter, to buy). In 
the plural, acates, things purchased, it 
was used of all provisions not baked and 
brewed at home; hence, delicacies. In 
this sense it was shortened (about 1450) 
to cates. The purchaser, then provider 
and preparer of cates, delicacies, was an 
acater, later caterer. Variant forms were 
achate (used by Chaucer and Spenser); 
hence achater, achatour, achatry (acatery), 
the room of the achatour. Ben Jonson in 
THE SAD SHEPHERD (1637) speaks of all 
choice that plenty can send in: bread, 
wine, acates, fowl, feather, fish or fin. In 
THE DEVIL is AN Ass (1637), Jonson has: 
He is my wardrobe man, my acater, cook, 
butler and steward. 

acatharsy. Filth, impurity; lack of purg- 
ing. Greek a, not + katharsios, purging; 
kathairein, to cleanse; hence also the 
tragic catharsis (described by Aristotle as 
the consequence of tragedy, which 
through the arousal of pity and horror 
effects their purging) and the physical 
cathartics. 



accend. To kindle, to set on fire. From 
the Latin ad, to + cendere, to light, 
from candere, to glow whence also 
candid and candidate, one (originally) 
garbed in white as a sign he was seeking 
office. Trevisa about 1440 speaks of a 
stone called asbestos, "which accended 
once is never extinct." The noun is ac- 
cension; Shelvocke in his treatise on 
ARTILLERY (1729) speaks of the great quan- 
tity of windy exhalation, produced by the 
accension of the salpeter. The verb may 
be used figuratively, as in Twyne's 
JENEID (1573): The valiant brothers band 
with grief accensed in ire. In this use, 
accensed has been supplanted by in- 
censed. 

acceptation. A term in Roman law: 
canceling a debt by a receipt from the 
creditor who has not been paid. Latin 
accepti lationem, accounting (a thing) as 
received. Hence, to acceptilate, to dis- 
charge a debt in this fashion. Used also as 
a religious term (16th and 17th centuries) 
applied to Christ's forgiveness. Our justi- 
fication which comes by Christ, said 
Jeremy Taylor in his ANSWER TO THE 
BISHOP OF ROCHESTER (1656), is by impu- 
tation and acceptilation, by grace and 
favour. 

accidie. This is the English form of the 
Latin acedia, sloth the fourth cardinal 
sin, from Greek a, not 4- kedos, care: the 
state of not caring. Also acyde, accydye, 
acedy (17th century), torpor. It was 
thought of, by the ecclesiastics, especially 
as an indisposition to devotion. The word 
was quite common, from the ANCREN 
RIWLE (1230) used by Chaucer, Gower, 
Caxton to the middle of the 16th cen- 
tury. Bailey in his 1731 DICTIONARY lists 
accidious, slothful; he omits it from the 
1751 edition, presumably because he 
found no instance of its use. Neither has 
7 



accite 



acersecomic 



anyone else. The origin of the word accidie 
was forgotten for several centuries, dur- 
ing which it was supposed to be derived 
from acid, sour, hence repulsive, or from 
accidere, to happen as by a spell, an 
access. Chaucer, who uses the word eight- 
een times just in THE PARSON'S TALE 
(1386), calls it this roten-herted sinne, 
and warns that one needs great corage 
against accidie. 

accite. To summon, to quote; an early 
form of cite. Also to arouse, an alternate 
form of excite. Used by Chapman, Donne, 
Jonson, Milton; Shakespeare uses it in 
both senses: in TITUS ANDRONICUS: He 
by the Senate is accite d home from weary 
wars; In HENRY IV, PART Two (1597): 
And what accites your most -worshipful 
thought to think so? 

accoup. See acoup. 

accoutre. To dress, equip. Also acoutre, 
accoustre; French a to + coustre, the 
church vestry keeper, one of whose func- 
tion was to robe the clergyman. Used 
mainly in the participial form; Shake- 
speare in JULIUS CAESAR (1601) has Cas- 
sius boast: Upon the word, accoutred as I 
was, I plunged in. Hence accoutrement 
(mainly in the plural), apparel, equip- 
ment; especially of a soldier, except his 
arms and dress. Shakespeare in THE 
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: Not onely in 
the simple office of love, but in all the 
accustrementj complement, and ceremony 
of it. 

accoy. To calm, appease; to soothe; 
coax; tame, daunt. Old French d to -f 
coi f calm; Latin quietum, whence also 
quietude. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE 
(1596) tells: I received was, And oft im- 
brast . . . And with kind words accoy d. 



acedy. See accidie. 



aceldama. A field of bloodshed; a scene 
of slaughter. Pronounced with a k sound, 
accent on the dah; Aramaic okel damo > 
the field of blood; the field near Jerusa- 
lem bought with the blood money given 
to Judas Iscariot, and in which (THE 
BIBLE: Acts 1) "falling headlong, he burst 
asunder in the midst, and all his bowels 
gushed out." Young in NIGHT THOUGHTS 
(1742) spoke of earth's aceldama; De 
Quincey said that THE CAESARS (1859) all 
brought their tributes of beauty or de- 
formity to these vast aceldamas of Rome. 
Gilbert in PATIENCE (1881) has the poem 
"Heart Foam": Oh to be wafted away 
From the black aceldama of sorrow, 
Where the dust of an earthy today Is the 
earth of a dusty tomorrow. 

acele. To seal. Also asele. In Robert 
of Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century. 

acephalist. One that acknowledges no 
superior. Greek a, not + kephale f head. 
Hence acephal, acephalan, acephalous f 
recognizing no head; headless; a headless 
animal or man. The acephali were a race 
of men without heads, as the cynocephali 
were men with heads like those of dogs. 
Also acephalisis, akephalisis (accent on 
the phal), headlessness; refusal to recog- 
nize a head or leader; applied (17th cen- 
tury) to the condition of a country with- 
out a head. 

acerb. Bitter. Latin acerbus, harsh to 
the taste, surviving in acerbity. Shake- 
speare has, in the First Folio OTHELLO 
(1604): The food that to him now is lus- 
cious as locusts shall be to him shortly 
acerb as coloquintida. 

acerophobia. See aeromancy. 

acersecomic. One whose hair has never 
been cut. Also an adjective; Greek 
akersekomes, with unshorn hair. In 17th 
century dictionaries. 



_ 8 



achape 

achape. See chap e. 

achate. See acate. (Modern French 
acheter, to buy.) 

achesoun. See anchesoun. 

acme. The period of full growth, the 
full bloom of life. So used especially in 
the 17 tli century. Jonson in the Prologue 
to THE STAPLE OF NEWS (1624) says: He 
must be one that can instruct your youth 
And keepe your acme in the state of 
truth. 

acolaust. A riotous liver. Greek a, 
not + kolastos, chastened. Applied to the 
prodigal, in the Biblical parable, by T. 
Adams in his EXPOSITION (1633) of THE 
SECOND GENERAL EPISTLE OF PETER. Hence 
acolaustic, preferably acolastic, unbridled, 
licentious, lascivious. 

acomelyd. Enervated with cold. In the 
PROMPTORIUM PARVULORUM (1440). 

aconite. A plant, wolf's-bane; an extract 
from this plant, used as a poison; hence, 
a deadly poison, Shakespeare uses aconi- 
tum in HENRY IV PART Two (1597); 
Dekker, in a note to NEWES FROM HELL 
(1606): Ingenious, fluent, facetious T. 
Nash, from whose abundant pen hony 
ftow'd to thy friends, and mortall aconite 
to thy enemies. Hence (Urquhart, 1642) 
aconital, poisonous. 

acopede. A variant form of the past 
tense of aculp, q.v. Used in Robert of 
Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century. 

acore. To make sorry; to grieve. Hence 
acorye, chastened, punished. In Robert of 
Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century. 

acoup. To accuse. By way of the French 
acoulper, from Latin ad, to + culpare, 
blame whence English culpable, etc. 
Langland in PIERS PLOWMAN (1377) uses 
till conscience acouped him; Blount 



acrisy 

(1717) and Bailey (1731) in their diction- 
aries quote this as his conscience accouped 
him. 

acoynte. An early form (in the METRI- 
CAL CHRONICLE of Robert of Gloucester; 
1297) of acqueynt, acquainted. Gower also 
used acqueynt for quenched: so that me 
thynketh, my thurst shall never be 
acqueynt. 

acquist. The act of acquiring; that which 
has been acquired. Used by Milton at the 
end of SAMSON AGONISTES (1671): His 
servants he with new acquist Of true ex- 
perience from this great event With peace 
and consolation hath dismist. Also ac- 
quest, which is commonly used for the 
thing acquired, acquist being used for 
the action of acquiring. 

acrasia. Intemperance. Used nine times 
by Spenser who in THE FAERIE QUEENE 
(1596) personifies Acrasy as the Enchant- 
ress of intemperance. Late Latin acrasia 
probably fuses and confuses Greek 
akrasia (second a long), meaning in a 
badly mixed state and akrasia (second a 
short), incontinence, lack of power. 

acratism. A cordial, a drink before 
meals, as an appetizer. Accent on the first 
syllable. Greek akratos, neat (wine); 
akratisma, breakfast. 

acrilogy. Bitter speaking; the use of 
sharp words, as in reproof or scorn. 
Latin acer, acris, sharp; Greek logos, 
word. Used in the 17th century. 

acrisy. Lack of judgment. Also, from 
medieval Latin acrisia, a state of disease 
"in which no right judgment can be made 
of it, or of the patient, whether he will 
recover or no." So Bailey's DICTIONARY 
(1731) ; the few known uses of the word 
employ the Latin form. It is from Greek 
a, not + crisis, a judging, a quarrel, re- 



9 i--"~ 



actity 



acupunctuate 



lated to antes, a judge, criterion, and 
critikos, critic. Many a reputed critic 
suffers from acrisy. 

acrity. Keenness, sharpness. Latin acris> 
keen; also alacrity. But acritude (acridity 
as well) is limited to sharpness of taste, 
pungency. 

acroamatic. Relating to hearing; hence 
(with relation to Aristotle's acroama, 
private lectures, esoteric doctrines for his 
initiate disciples, as opposed to the exo- 
teric doctrines of his public lectures), 
privately communicated by word of 
mouth; esoteric; secret Also acroamatical, 
acroatic. An acroasis (plural acroases) a 
discourse or poem spoken or read aloud. 

acroke. Crooked, awry. Used by Chaucer. 

acrospire. The first sprout or curling 
shoot of a plant in spring. Greek akros, 
tip, peak 4- speira, curling shoot; speirein, 
to sow. Also acrospyre, ackerspyre, aker- 
spire; ackersprit. Used also of corn, and 
barley germinating before it is malted; 
gathered potatoes that sprout prematurely 
are ackerspritted. Used from the 17th 
century. Also as a verb, to acrospire, to 
shoot up the first sprout. 

active citizen. A louse. A late 18th and 
early 19th century phrase, listed in LEXI- 
CON BALATRONICUM: A DICTIONARY OF 
BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT, AND 
PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE (1811). 

acton. A quilted cotton (later, a leather) 
jacket worn under a suit of mail. In later 
use, a plated jacket worn instead of heavy 
armor. Used from the 12th to the 16th 
century. Roundabout from Arabic al qutn, 
the cotton. The French form, in the 15th 
century, developed an h (hocqueton), 
whence English hequeton, haketon, hac- 
ton. The word occurs in the 13th century 

10 



romance of KYNG ALYSAUNDER; Chaucer 
in THE RIME OF SIR THOPAS (1386) states: 
And next his schert an aketoun, And 
over that an haberjoun. 

acuation. See acuminate. 

acue. On his rump. French, au cul. 
From the 13th century (THE LIFE OF ST. 
MARGARET). 

aculp. To accuse. A 13th century form. 
Cp. acopede. Literally, to put guilt upon; 
Latin culpa, fault, guilt, whence culpable, 
culprit. 

acuminate. To sharpen, bring to a 
point. Also as an adjective, pointed. Also, 
intellectually sharpened; keen in dis- 
cernment, concentrated in attention. 
Hence, acumination; also acuminous, 
marked by acumen, as in Bolton's Ad- 
dress to the Reader in FLORUS (1618); 
whose writings are altogether as luminous 
as acuminous. Used both literally: Whe- 
well, HISTORY OF THE INDUCTIVE SCIENCES 
(1837) : Truncation, acuation, and acumin- 
ation, or replacement by a plane, an edge, 
a point, respectively and figuratively: 
CORNHILL MAGAZINE (December 1879); 
The acumination consisting mainly in a 
more frequent and sarcastic repetition of 
the unfortunate Mr. Disraeli's titles and 
distinctions. The diminutive form has 
also been used: acuminulate, tapering; 
somewhat pointed. 

acupunctuate. To prick with a needle or 
pin; also acupuncture. The noun was 
represented (17th to 19th century) by 
acupunctuation, acupunchuration, acu- 
punchure; it was applied, specifically, to 
the thrusting of needles into the body 
for remedial purposes, as for gout in 17th 
century England though M. Collins ob- 
served (1875) that the bees were stinging 



acydenandys 

with unusual sharpness of acupuncture. 
The verb was also used figuratively, as 
when MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE of January, 
1865, commented on that exquisite sweet 
malice wherewith French ladies so much 
delight to acupunctuate their English sis- 
ters. 

acydenandys. See asiden. This form 
occurs in the lexicon PROMPTORIUM PAR- 
VULORUM (1440). 

acyrology. Incorrect use of language. 
Greek a, not + kyros, authority + logos, 
speech. Hence acyrological. Used from 
the 17th century. Lady Rosina Bulwer- 
Lytton in CHEVELY; OR, THE MAN OF 
HONOUR (1839) wrote: His work . . . was 
meant to be ... a condensation of all 
the 'logics' and all the 'ologys'; but, un- 
fortunately, tautology and acryology were 
the only ones thoroughly exemplified. 

ad. A fire; especially, a funeral pyre or 
blazing pile. Also od. Gothic root aids; 
Greek aithos, burning heat. Used from 
the 9th to the 13th century. 

adaction. Driving in violently or by 
force. Also adact, to drive or force (to a 
course of action). Latin ad, to + agere, 
actum, to drive, to act. Fotherby in 
ATHEOMASTIX (1622) said: God himself e 
once compelled the wicked Egyptians, by 
flyes, and frogs . . . to confesse the power 
of his divine Majestie; not vouchsafing to 
adact them by any other of his creatures. 

Adam. The first man; hence, the basic or 
unregenerate traits in a person: the old 
Adam; Shakespeare in HENRY V (1599) 
has the offending Adam. Also (buff was 
used for the bare skin; the bailiff's officer 
of Elizabethan times wore buff) in THE 
COMEDY OF ERRORS, the Old Adam, the 
bailiff's office. In MUCH ADO ABOUT 
NOTHING: Hang me in a bottle like a cat 
and shoot at me, and he that hits me, let 



adaw 

him be clapped on the shoulder and called 
Adam Adam, expert, from the famous 
archer, Adam Bell. Hence the emendation 
in ROMEO AND JULIET: Young Adam 
Cupid, he that shot so trim When King 
Cophetua loved the beggar maid; the 
early editions have Abraham Cupid, 
which has not been explained. 

adamant. This is still used to mean a 
material, especially stone, of surpassing 
hardness, its first sense, from Greek 
adamas, adamanta, invincible; a, not + 
damao, I tame. By way of Late Latin 
diamas came English diamond. The word 
was mistaken, in Medieval Latin, as com- 
ing from adamantem, having a liking for; 
ad, to, for + amantem, present participle 
of amo, amare, amatum, to love. Hence 
up to the 17th century adamant was 
often used to mean a magnet. Thus Drey- 
ton in THE TRAGICALL LEGEND . . . (1596) 
wrote: My lookes so powerfull adamants 
to love. Lyly in EUPHUES (1579) con- 
founds the two senses in one image; 
Shakespeare does likewise in A MIDSUM- 
MER NIGHT'S DREAM (1590): You draw me, 
you hardhearted adamant, But yet you 
draw not iron, for my heart Is true as 
steele. Minsheu's THE GUIDE INTO 
TONGUES (1617) lists adamate, to love 
dearly. 

adaw. (1) To wake up; recover con- 
sciousness; to rouse. Old English a, to 4- 
daw; dayian, to dawn, become day. Used 
by Chaucer, as in TROILUS AND GRISEYDE 
(1374): He gan his breeth to drawe, And 
of his swoun soone aftir that adawe. (2) 
adawe, out of life. Old English o dawe, of 
dayum, from days, from life. Used from 
the 13th to the 16th century, usually 
in the expression to bring (do) adawe, to 
put out of life, to kill. The expression 
they did him adawe led some in the 16th 
century to assume that adawe was a verb, 
11 



addle 

formed from awe; hence (in Tottel's MIS- 
CELLANY; 1557, and into the 17th cen- 
tury). (3) to adaw, to daunt, to subdue. 
Spenser uses this form several times, as in 
THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596): Therewith 
her wrathful courage gan appell, and 
haughty spirits meekly to adaw. 

addle. This is two words, one quite 
common from the 10th to the 19th cen- 
tury, the other in northern England since 
1200. (1) Addle akin to German adel, 
mire, originally meant stinking urine, or 
other miry filth. As late as Burns (1789) 
we find Then lug out your ladle Deal 
brimstone like adle. This early became an 
adjective in addle egg, corresponding to 
Latin ovum urinum, a rotten egg. Since 
that egg would not hatch, many word- 
plays linked addle and idle; Thus Shake- 
speare in TROILUS AND GRESSIDA (1606): 
// you love an addle egg as well as you 
love an idle head, you would eat chickens 
i f the shell. Thus addle came to mean 
idle, vain, or muddled, and developed 
such compounds as addle-brain, addle- 
head, addle-pate. Then the adjective (in 
the 17th century) appeared as addled, from 
which by back-formation came the verb 
to addle (like to sour, to wet, etc.). Charles 
Dickens complains, in a letter of 1841: / 
have addled my head with writing all 
day. (2) From the Old Norse othla, to 
acquire, comes a form addle meaning to 
earn or (of crops) to produce. A 1680 
trial at York records the words: He 
would give me more than I could addle 
in seven years. Tusser, in his HUSBANDRY 
(1580) wisely warns: Where ivy embraces 
the tree very sore, kill ivy, or tree will 
addle no more. Addlings are wages, but 
addling is muddling of the wits. 

adelantado. A Spanish grandee; a gover- 
nor of a province; a commander. Span- 
ish adelantar, to promote, advance; ad, 

~ 12 



adible 

to + el, the -f ante, fore. Common in 
early 17th century pamphleteers and 
playwrights: Nashe; Jonson; Massinger 
and Dekker in THE VIRGIN MARTIR (1622): 
Invincible adelantado over the armado of 
pimpled faces. 

adhibit. To let in; to apply; to employ. 
From Latin adhibere, from ad, to -h 
habere, to hold; whence, with different 
prefixes, the more familiar spirituous 
prohibition and the psychic inhibition. 
This word was used from the 16th into 
the 19th century; thus an advertisement 
in Scott's OLD MORTALITY, in 1862, said: 
The subscribers to the Shilling Edition 
of the Waverley Novels . . . will receive 
a set of adhesive labels, which may be 
adhibited to the back of the volumes. The 
noun adhibition was used, literally, in 
various fields, as with (1838) the adhibi- 
tion of the Seal of the body corporate; 
or as in Leigh Hunt's LONDON JOURNAL 
(1835): An apple pie was improved by the 
adhibition of a quince. (Good cooks take 
notice!) See assation. 

adiaphory. Indifference. Accent on the 
aff. Also adiaphoricy; Greek a, not + 
diaphoros, differing; dia, apart + p here in, 
to bear. The form adiaphorism was used 
especially of religious indifferentism. 
Hence adiaphorist, adiaphorite, one that 
is indifferent (as of religious matters, or 
among the creeds) ; also adiaphoral, adia- 
phorous, adiaphoristic. An adiaphoron is 
a matter of indifference; specifically, a 
practice or belief for which there is no 
church decision, which is therefore left 
to the will of the individual. J. Smith 
(SELECTED DISCOURSES; 1652) said: These 
we may safely reckon, I think, amongst 
our adiaphora in morality, as being in 
themselves neither good nor evil. 

adible. Accessible. Used from the 16th 
century; Latin adire, aditum, to go to; ad, 



adipate 

to + ire, itum, to go;; whence also reiter- 
ate, itinerary, and (from the 17th cen- 
tury) adit, an approach, entrance. Tenny- 
son in THE PRINCESS (1847) promises: 
Yourself and yours shall have free adit. 

adipate. To eat fat; to eat so as to grow 
fat. A 17th century dictionary word that 
describes the procedure of one that should 
diet. Latin adeps, adipem, fat; whence 
also adipal, adipous, and the current 
adipose (Latin -osus, full of). Also adi- 
posity, adiposeness. 

adipsy. Lack of thirst. Greek a, not + 
dipsa, thirst. Also adipsia. An adipson 
(17th century) is a drink that allays thirst, 
sometimes prescribed for a fever, more 
often imbibed in a bar. Adipsic, adipsous, 
quenching thirst. The converse of adipsy 
produces the dipsomaniac. 

adlubescence. Delight. From Latin ad, 
to 4- lubes care, to be pleasing; libet or 
lubet, it is pleasing; libido, pleasure, de- 
sire whence the Freudian libido. An- 
drew Marvell, in THE REHEARSAL TRANS- 
POSED (1673), speaks of Such an expansion 
of heart, such an adlubescence of mind 
. . . that he could scarce refrain from 
kissing it. Samuel Johnson copies from 
Bailey's 1731 DICTIONARY the form allu- 
bescency, willingness, content; it exists 
only in the lexicographers' listings. 

admirative. Relating to or characterized 
by wonder. Hence, an early term for the 
exclamation point (1) . Latin ad, at + 
mirari, to wonder. The phrase note of 
admiration was also used to mean the 
exclamation point, by Swift (1719) and 
earlier by Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S 
TALE (1611): The changes I perceived in 
the King and Camilla, were very notes 
of admiration. 

admonish. See comminate. Also ad- 
monest; Caxton in POLYCRONICON (1482) 

13 



adown 

said that Those thynges whiche our pro- 
genytours by the taste of bytternes and 
experyment of grete jeopardyes have 
enseygned, admonested, and enformed us 
excluded fro such peryllys, to know what 
is prouffytable to oure lyf. Enseygned 
means given a sign of, pointed out. 

adnate. See agnate. 

adnichil, adnitchil. Occurring only in 
17th century dictionaries, this is derived 
from an old French adnichiller, modern 
annihiler, whence annihilate. It is de- 
scribed as an old law term, meaning to 
annul, make void. The word seems to 
have been adnichiled before it was used. 

adnomination. An early form of agnom- 
ination, q.v. Note however that adnomi- 
nal is also a grammatical term, meaning 
attached to a noun, relating to an ad- 
noun (adnomen, adname: which is an 
adjective used with a noun). 

adnoun. An adjective "added to" a 
noun. Occasionally adnoun is used for an 
"adjective" employed as a substantive, as: 
The good are outnumbered. Cp. ad- 
nomination. 

adonize. To adorn (of a man) ; to make 
an Adonis of. The word (accent on the 
ad) is from Adonis, the young man whose 
beauty attracted Venus; hence, an Adonis, 
a dandy. 

adosculation. Impregnation by external 
contact, without intromission. Latin ad, 
to + osculari, osculatum, to kiss; osculum, 
diminutive of os, orem, mouth. Divers 
kinds of birds and fishes, said the CHAM- 
BERS CYCLOPEDIA (1753) are also impreg- 
nated by adosculation. One wonders what 
is implied in that also! 

adown. Down. The earlier form, adown 
(adun, adoun, adown, etc.) is from Old 
English of dune, off the hill. As early as 



adreint 

1200 adown was shortened to down, which 
supplemented but never quite supplanted 
the earlier form, still used by poets. 
Chaucer, in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1586): 
On their bare knees adoun they falle; 
Scott, in MARMION (1808): His gorgeous 
collar hung adown; Hawthorn, in AMERI- 
CAN NOTE-BOOKS (1868): There is a 
beautiful view from the mansion, adown 
the Kennebec; Morris, in THE EARTHLY 
PARADISE (1870) Till the wretch falls 
adown with whirling brain. CHAUCER'S 
DREAM (1500) shows the transition: There 
were a few wells Came running fro the 
cliffs adowne, That made a deadly sleep- 
ing soune, And runnen downe right by a 
cave That was under a rocky grave. Also 
see drury. Cp. bove, which has added, 
instead of losing, the a. 

adreint. Drowned. Past participle of 
adrenchen, to drown; past tense, he 
adrente. Also adrench; past participle 
adraynt, adreynt The verb was an alter- 
native form (in all senses) of adrink, 
meaning also to give to drink; as in 
the AYENBITE OF INWIT (1340): And hire 
adraynkth and maketh dronke of holy 
love. The ANCREN RIWLE (1230) said: 
Ther adreinte Pharao. Lydgate's PYL- 
GRYMAGE or THE SowLE (1413) pictures one 
adrenchyng hym self, as it were, in 
wordly vanyte. 

adrench. See adreint. Earlier adrenchen. 

adrink. To swallow too much water; 
that is, to drown. Let that be a warning 
to youl Past forms are adranc, adronke, 
adrunken. See adreint. 

adrogation. Taking, as a member of 
one's family, of a person of legal major- 
ity, of one that is his own master. Espe- 
cially in Roman law; adoption means the 
taking into one's family of a minor. Hence 
adrogator; to adrogate. Latin ad, to -f 

14 



adure 

rogare, rogatum, to ask, whence also 
arrogate, which now means to take with- 
out asking. Adopt is from Latin ad, to + 
optare, to choose; opere, to wish. 

adscititious. Originally meaning added 
from outside, supplementary, this word 
was used in the 18th century (Bailey's 
DICTIONARY, 1751) to signify counterfeit, 
false. Also ascititious. It is from Latin ad, 
to 4- sciscere, to acknowledge, the incep- 
tive form of scire, to know. It is still oc- 
casionally employed in the original sense, 
which Bacon exemplifies in the NOVUM 
ORGANUM (1620), referring to "perpetual 
and proper" motions on the one hand, 
and on tie other motions that are adsciti- 
tious. 

adure. To scorch; to burn up; to calcine. 
Latin ad, to + were, ustum, to burn, 
whence also combustion. Adure was used 
from the 15th century. In the 16th and 
17th the less common verb to adust was 
used, to scorch, to dry up with, heat; 
Milton in PARADISE LOST (1667) has Sul- 
phurous and nitrous foame . . . Con- 
cocted and adusted they reduced To 
blackest grain. More common was the 
adjective adust (adusted), burnt up, 
parched; browned, sunburnt; dried out 
especially of the four humours in the 
body (see humour), resulting in a state 
that alarmed Medieval and Renaissance 
physicians. The word was also used figura- 
tively; Nabbe in his MICROCOSM (1637) 
exclaimed: Provoke me no more; I am 
adust with rage. Note that adust may also 
be an alternate form for dusty; George 
Eliot in ROMOLA (1863) says: He was tired 
and adust with long riding. Also adustion, 
burning, fiery; adustible, capable of being 
burnt. John Bale in his APOLOGY AGAINST 
A RANKE PAPYST (1550) declares: What 
your adusted conscience thynketh of it 
I can not telL 



adust 



aeromancy 



adust. See adure. 

advertence. Notice, attention, consider- 
ation. Via the French, from Latin ad, 
to + vertere, to turn. Chaucer in TROYLUS 
AND CRISEYDE (1370) has the query: What 
fel experience Hath fro me reft, alas, 
thine advertence'? (The accent, nonethe- 
less, is on the second syllable.) THE LADY'S 
CALLING of 1673 admonishes that a serious 
advertence to -the divine presence is the 
most certain curb to all disorderly appe- 
tites. The habit or quality of being atten- 
tive is advertency; thus Bryden in THE 
LIFE OF PLUTARCH (1683) states that 
through want of advertency he has been 
often guilty of that error. We still must 
frequently admit that an act was in- 
advertent. 

advertisement. The act of turning the 
mind toward, noticing; heed. Also, the 
act of calling attention to; hence, a notice, 
a public notice, as by the town-crier; 
thence (from the 18th century) the cur- 
rent use. Accent always on the second 
syllable. Latin ad, to -f vertere, versum, 
whence verse, obverse, reverse, and more 
diversions. Shakespeare uses it in the sense 
of information, in HENRY IV, PART ONE 
(1597); in other senses in PART ONE, in 
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, and in 
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: My griefs 
cry lowder than advertisement. 

advesperate. From Latin ad, to + vesper, 
evening: advesperascere, advesperatum, 
to draw toward evening; this word means 
to grow toward night. It exists in 17th 
and 18th century dictionaries. 

advision. See avision. 

advoutress. An early variant of adulter- 
ess; cp. advowtrie. 

advowtrie. An early variant (as in 
Chaucer), of adultery. Also advouter, ad~ 

15 



vowter, advowterer; advowteress, advou- 
tress; advowterie, advowtry, avowtry. Cp. 
spousebreach. 

adwole. Mistaken, in error. Cp. dwale. 
Used in the 13th century (THE OWL AND 
THE NIGHTINGALE). 

ae-. In words from Latin and Greek, 
an original ae has frequently been short- 
ened to e. As late as March 1847, we 
could read in THE LONDON QUARTERLY 
REVIEW, of Johnson's edition of Shake- 
speare's plays: His great general powers 
enabled him to paraphrase into perspi- 
cuity many an involved and aenigmatical 
line to stamp with a more legible im- 
press many a noble specimen of worn or 
corroded coinage. 

aegritude. See egritude. 

aeipathy. A long-felt passion. From 
Greek aiei, aei, always 4- pathos, feeling, 
this word, pronounced I-ip'-athy, cap- 
tures the lovelorn. 

aeolist. A pretender to inspiration; a 
wind-bag. From Latin Molus, the god of 
the winds. One use is recorded, by Swift 
in the TALE OF A TUB (1704): The 
learned aeolists maintain the original 
cause of all things to be wind. Hence 
aeolistic, long-winded. 

aequiparate. See equiparate. 

aeromancy. Divination foretelling 
events, predicting the future by appear- 
ances in the air. The depths of the desire 
to know what is coming, or what is the 
best course to pursue to bring about a 
wished-for end, are indicated by the great 
number of types of divination practiced 
in times not long gone by. These include: 
aichomancy, by sharp points, alectro- 
mancy, by a cock's picking up grains. 
aleuromancy, by dough, alphitomancy, 



aeromancy 

barley meal, amathomancy, dust, antko- 
mancy, flowers (She loves me, she loves 
me not!) anthropomancy , human entrails; 
anthroposcopy, observation of personal 
characteristics; auspicy, haruspicy, ap- 
pearance of things being sacrificed; heiro- 
mancy, entrails of sacrificed animals; ex- 
tispice, entrails plucked from a fowl. 
armomancy, shoulders of beasts, austro- 
mancy, winds, axinomancy, a balanced 
hatchet, belomancy, arrows, bibliomancy, 
the Bible; sortes Virgilianae, opening at 
random to a page of Virgil's works; 
stlchomancy, a verse, a passage in a book; 
foliomancy, leaves (of a book; later, tea 
leaves), brontomancy, thunder, capno- 
mancy, altar smoke, catotromancy, mirrors. 
ceromancy, melted wax on water, chao- 
mancy, clouds, chiromancy, palm reading. 
cleromancy, dice, conchomancy, shells. 
coscinomancy, a sieve, cristallomancy, crys- 
tallomancy, images in a crystal ball; 
spheromancy, a crystal sphere, critho- 
mancy, cake dough, barley, cryptomancy, 
by unrevealed means, dactyliomancy, a 
suspended ring; dactylomancy, fingei 
rings, daphnomancy , a laurel tree, or 
branch therefrom, demonomancy, with 
the help of demons; necyomancy, necyo- 
manty, calling up the devil or other 
damned spirits, dririmancy, dripping 
blood, gastromancy (1) rumbles of the 
belly a sort of "fatiloquency," said 
Rabelais (1533), long practiced in Ferrara 
(2) ventriloquism (3) a child looking into 
the "belly" of a glass bottle of water. 
geloscopy, observing the manner of laugh- 
ing, geomancy, digging, graphomancy, 
handwriting, gyromancy, spinning in a 
circle, halomancy, salt, hariolation, sooth- 
saying, hydromancy, ydromancy, water 
(in many ways), hyomancy, the tongue 
bone; as the tongue wags, ichthyomancy, 
the next fish caught, iconomancy, images. 
keraunoscopy, thunder and lightning. 

16 



aeromancy 

lampadomancy, candles; what burns (and 
how it burns or the wick floats about) 
in a lamp; libanomancy, burning of in- 
cense (so the Fates are not incensed); 
lecanomancy, a bowl of water reflecting 
candle flames a practice still current in 
some Slavic lands, especially at Christmas- 
tide. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC REVIEW in 
1913 reported that testing with free asso- 
ciation shows *'the divinations are merely 
the results of the medium's own com- 
plexes." lithomancy, (precious) stones; 
psephomancy, heaped pebbles; pesso- 
mancy, tossed pebbles, logomancy, words. 
macromancy, the largest thing near; 
micromancyj the smallest thing near. 
maculomancy, spots, mathemancy , quan- 
tity, mazomancy , a suckling babe, meco- 
nomancy, sleep, induced by drugs; pop- 
pies, meteoroscopy, meteoromancy, shoot- 
ing stars, miner amancy, found minerals. 
molybdomancy, motions and forms in 
molten lead, myomancy, mice, necromancy 
(Greek nekros, corpse; Latin nigrem, 
black), communicating with the dead; 
sciomancy, shadows, or the shades of the 
dead, necromancy is also the general term 
for illicit divination, black magic; also 
nygromauncy, negromancy, nycromancy, 
necromancy, necromonseys. nephro- 
mancy f the kidneys, odontomancy, the 
teeth, oenomancy, oinomancy, wine. 
omoplatoscopy, scapulimancy, the cracks 
in a shoulder-blade when the bone is 
placed on a fire. See omphalomancyi by 
the navel, oneiromancy, dreams, ono- 
mancy, onomatechny, the letters of one's 
name, onychomancy, nails reflecting the 
sun. ooscopy, inspection of eggs, ophio- 
mancy, serpents, orniscopy, birds; orni- 
thomancy, the flight of birds, orycto- 
mancy, things dug up. ossomancy, bones. 
ouranomancy, uranomancy, the heavens. 
pegomancy, fountains, physio gnomancy, 
phyznomancy, fiznomancy, the coun- 



aeromancy 

tenance; metoscopy, the face, pneumancy, 
blowing; a vestigium of this is the blow- 
ing out of candles on a festival cake. 
pseudomancy, with intent to deceive, as 
when the witches promise Macbeth hell 
be safe till Birnam Wood shall come to 
Dunsinane which would leave more 
than a dunce inane, psychomancy, spirits. 
pyromancy, flames; ceneromancy, ashes; 
tephramancy, tracings in ashes, retro- 
mancy, things seen looking over one's 
shoulder, rhabdomancy, a rod or wand. 
scatomancy, feces, dung, selenomancy, 
the moon, sideromancy, hot metal, sorti- 
lege, sortilegy, casting lots, spasmato- 
mancy, bodily twitchings. stercomancy, 
seeds in dung, sycomancy, figs, terato- 
scopy, prodigies, natural marvels, theo- 
magic, theomancy, oracles, or calling on 
the god. theriomancy, by the movements 
of wild animals, topomancy, the shape of 
the terrain, trochomancy, wheel tracks. 
tyromancy, the coagulation of cheese. 
urimancy, urine, xenomancy, the first 
stranger that appears, zygomancy, weights. 
Astrology has many terms, including 
astromancy, the position of the stars; 
genethliacs, the stars at birth, alchocoden, 
the planet that reigns over a nativity; 
cp. apotelesm. 

Persons today may be less gullible as 
to the prophets and soothsayers and man- 
tics in general; less hopeful of foretell- 
ing the future, they are more manifold in 
their fears of what is to come. The OX- 
FORD PSYCHIATRIC DICTIONARY lists 264 
words for specific dreads, from acero- 
phobia, fear of sourness (to many, the 
world has turned sour) to zoophobia, 
fear of animals. While it lists pono- 
phobia, dread of work, it does not list 
logophobia, dread of words. The topic is 
capped with moromancy, foolish divina- 
tion, a 17th century term that covers 
them all. 



aetites 

aerwene. Desperate, The Old English 
prefix ae-, aer- is a privative, like the cur- 
rent suffix -less. An old word for hope 
is wen. Layamon, in BRUT (1205) used 
aerwene to mean without hope. 

aerwitte. Witless, foolish. Used in Laya- 
mon's BRUT (1205). For etymology, see 
aerwene. 

aestivate. To spend the summer. Latin 
aestus means heat; hence English aestival, 
relating to summer. In zoology, aestivate 
is used as the converse of hibernate, 
spending the season in torpor or sus- 
pended animation. Often used figura- 
tively, as in the PALL MALL GAZETTE of 
December 11, 1870: With -what we are 
pleased to call the cold weather Calcutta 
rouses herself pom her aestivation of 
seven long months. There are other 
forms than the verb and the noun with 
other meanings: aestive, estive, hot; 
aestuant, heaving with heat. By exten- 
sion, the sense of boiling suggesting 
turbulent tides, we find aestuary, a vapor 
bath; aestuate, to heave, to surge like 
the tide, to boil; aestuous, agitated, heav- 
ing. Chapman in his translation of the 
ODYSSEY (1615) says that the seas retain 
Not only their outrageous aesture there. 
It is by calmer seas that city folk delight 
to aestivate. 

aesture. Boiling; rage. See aestivate. 

aetites. Pronounced in three syllables, 
this is the English form of a Greek word 
that means of the eagle, aetites is the 
eagle-stone, so-called from its being 
found (according to the fable) in the 
eagle's nest. Lyly in EUPHUES (1579) called 
it the precious stone aetites; Bacon in 
SYLVA (1626) mentions the peculiarity 
that gave it distinction: the aetites or 
eagle's stone, which hath a little stone 
within it. This effect is produced, ac- 

17 



aeviternal 



affeer 



cording to CHAMBERS' CYCLOPEDIA (1753) 
through the fact that it "consists of sev- 
eral crusts, which have in them a cavity 
with matter in it, loose and moveable." 
Such a stone naturally had powers at- 
tributed to it; as late as 1862 the London 
READER (July 8) said that the aetites 
possessed the singular property . . . of 
detecting theft. The word, despite its 
plural form, is also singular. 

aeviternal; aeviternity. The emphatic 
(and original) forms of eternal and 
eternity, from Latin aevum, age 4- the ad- 
jective suffix. Thus T. Stanley in the 
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY (1660) mentions 
the Gods placed in the highest regions 
of aether, aeviternal. 

afait. This is an early form of affect, via 
Old French afaiter from Latin affectare, 
frequentative of afficere, affectum; ad, to 
4- facere, to make, to do. It meant to in- 
fluence; to shape, mould, adapt to a 
purpose; to fit out, dress; to train (hawks 
and hounds), hence, to tame; to subdue. 
Also affayte, afaytye, affaite; afaite. 
Hence afaitement, training; proper be- 
havior; breeding. Robert of Gloucester's 
CHRONICLE (1297) said: To Yolond he gan 
wende Var to afayty that lond, and to 
wynne ech ende. Langland in PIERS PLOW- 
MAN (1362) wrote: It afaiteth the flesh 
From folies ful manye. 

afear. See affeer. Also of ere, afered, afeir. 

afeng. To take up, receive. The past 
tense was afong. Used in the 13th century 
(Robert of Gloucester's CHRONICLE)* 

aferd, Busied, charged with a matter to 
be executed. A variant form of affaired, 
used in the 13th century (the romance of 
KYNG ALYSAUNDER). 

affect. (The surviving sense, to influ- 
ence, came from the simple Latin affi- 



cere, to do to, to attach to; ad, to 4- facere, 
to make, to do. Other senses came from 
the reflexive form, se facere ad, to apply 
oneself to, to aim at. Hence:) To aim at, 
aspire to; to be drawn toward, to have 
affection for; to do (wear, go) often; 
to show a liking for; to put on, to pre- 
tend. Shakespeare, in HENRY IV, PART 
Two (1593): Have I affected wealth, or 
honour? (TWELFTH NIGHT): Maria told 
me once, she did affect me. (LEAR): Who 
having beene prais'd for bluntnesse, doth 
affect A saucy roughnes. Also, to prefer. 
Marlowe in HERO AND LEANDER (finished 
by Chapman; 1598) states that life (fate) 
chooses for us: And one espedallie do 
we affect Of two gold ingots like in each 
respect. The reason no man knows; let 
it suffice What we behold is censured by 
our eies. Where both deliberat, the love 
is slight; who ever loved, that loved not 
at first sight? 

affectuosity. The vehemence of passion; 
great affection. More common (15th to 
17th century) were the adjective forms, 
affections, affectuous, affectual, earnest, 
eager; tender, loving affectionate; rousing 
the emotions; (more rarely) influential, 
successful perhaps by error for affectu- 
ous. In NERO (1607) we read: Therefore 
my deare, deare wife, and dearest sonnes, 
Let me ingirt you with my last embrace: 
And in your cheekes impress a fare-well 
kisse, Kisse of true kindness and affec- 
tious love. 

affeer. To set a price. Also affear, affere, 
affeir, affure. In law courts, to settle the 
amount of an amercement; to reduce to 
a fair price. From Old French afeurer, 
from Late Latin afforare, from ad, to 4- 
forum, market. The word was a legal term 
from about 1450; Blackstone's COMMEN- 
TARIES (1768) says that the precise sum of 
an amercement (q.v.) is usually set by 
18 



affie 

affeerors, or jurors sworn to affeere, that 
is tax and moderate., the general amerce- 
ment according to the particular circum- 
stances of the offence and the offender. 
From the meaning, to settle, affeer was 
used figuratively in the sense of to con- 
firm, as by Shakespeare in MACBETH 
(160S): Wear thou thy wrongs, the title 
is affeard. 

In the north of England and in Scot- 
land, from about 1350 (in Barbour's 
BRUCE, 1375) to about 1600, quite an- 
other word, from Old French affeirir, to 
pertain, from Latin ad, to + ferire, to 
strike, to affect, also took the form affere, 
affeir. Thus Lyndesay in his DREME (1552) 
wrote Some swift, some slow,, as to their 
kind affeirs (pertains). They did him great 
honour, said MERLIN (1450) as affiered to 
so high a man. 

These words are not to be confused 
with afear, meaning in fear, of ere, afered, 
afeir, as in Chaucer's MONK'S TALE 
(1386): Ever he is afere to do amiss. 

John Shakespeare, father of William, 
was elected in 1559 one of the affeerors 
of Stratford. 

affie. A variant of affy, q.v. 

affine. A relation by marriage; more 
loosely, a relative. Affined related; also 
affinal, in relation to, derived from the 
same source. Latin ad, to -f finem, end, 
border. In a letter of Henry VII (1509) 
we read: His cousyn and affyne the king 
of Spayne. Hence, also affined, related; 
bound by some tie. Thus Shakespeare in 
OTHELLO (1604) bids: Be judge yourself, 
Whether I in any just terme am afin'd To 
love the Moor. 



affy 

ing. Latin afflatus serpentis, hissing. Since 
among many peoples the snake was an 
agent of supernatural communication 
the pythoness of Greek oracle, the ser- 
pent of the Garden of Eden, and other 
worms afflation, afflatus came also (first 
in the Latin forms) to mean the impart- 
ing of supernatural knowledge, or of a 
creative impulse: inspiration, the divine 
afflatus. Also afflatitious (17th century), 
afflated (19th century), inspired. Thack- 
eray in THE ROUNDABOUT PAPERS (1862) 
remarks: We spake anon of the inflated 
style of some writers. What also if there 
is an afflated style when a writer is like 
a pythoness? Gary in his translation (1814) 
of Dante's PARADISO wrote: Diversely Par- 
taking of sweet life as more or less Affla- 
tion of eternal bliss pervades them. 

affodill. See daffadowndilly. Also affa- 
dille, affodell, and more. Applied to the 
king's spear, or asphodel, and to the daffo- 
dil, a species of narcissus. 

affrication. The Latin verb fricare, to 
rub, had two forms for the past: fricatum 
and frictum. From the second comes the 
common English word friction; from ad> 
to, upon -f- fricatum come affrication and 
affricate. Both exist mainly in late 17th 
and early 18th century dictionaries 
(Blount 1656; Bailey 1751) , but Francis 
Hauksbee, in his PHYSICO-MECHANICAL 
EXPERIMENTS (1709) speaks of the affrica- 
tion of a glass tube. 

aflxend. To reconcile. A variant of 
affriend. Apparently used only in the past, 
as by Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE 
(1596): She saw that cruell war so ended, 
And deadly foes so faithfully affrended. 



afflate. To blow upon. Latin ad, to + affy. To trust; to entrust; to confide in; 
flare, flatum, to blow, whence also inflated to assure, to secure by solemn promise; 
and flatulence. Hence afflation, a blow- hence (since the 16th century) to affiance, 
ing or breathing upon; afflatus, breath- to betroth, whence also (though by a 

19 



afgod 

second trip from France) fiancee. Early 
forms were affie, afye, afyghe. Via Old 
French after; Latin ad, to -f- fidare; fidus, 
trusty, fides, faith. Shakespeare in HENRY 
VI, PART Two (1593) exclaims: And 
wedded be thou to the hags of hell For 
daring to affye a mighty lord Unto the 
daughter of a worthlesse king. 

afgod. An idol; a false god. Old English 
af, off + God. THE GENTLEMEN'S MAGA- 
ZINE in 1793 stated: The figure on the 
stone was not intended to represent a 
griff en, but an afgod. The afgod was an 
image like a dragon placed at the feet of 
Woden. 

afoled. Made a fool of. Used in the 13th 
century (THE OWL AND THE NIGHTIN- 
GALE) . 

afrete. To devour. Old English of, away 
-h fretan, to gnaw. Also afretie, afretye. 
A political song of the 13th century ex- 
presses the pious hope: The devel them 
afretye! 

afterblismed. Pregnant. Anglo-Saxon 
blosma, a bud, blossom. In a 13th cen- 
tury translation of the 77TH PSALM. 

afterclap. An unexpected blow after one 
has ceased to be on guard, a further 
disaster when it seems life can bring no 
more, a misfortune that 'caps the climax/ 
Used from the 15th century. Butler in 
HUDIBRAS (1663) knows the unrelenting 
drive: What plaguy mischiefs and mis- 
haps Do dog him still with after claps. 

afterdeal. A disadvantage. Caxton's 
translation of REYNART THE FOXE (1481) 
stated: Isegryn was woe begon, and 
thought he was at an after dele. Malory, 
in THE HISTORY OF KING ARTHUR (1634), 
reported: The battle was great, and often- 
times that one party was at a fordele, and 
anon at an after dele, which endured long. 

20 



agamy 

afterspring. Posterity; offspring. Gold- 
ing in his translation (1583) of Calvin on 
' DEUTERONOMY has: // He should destroy 
the whole world and leave no afterspring 
to call upon Him. 

afterwending. Following. Used in the 
13th century (romance of KYNG % ALY- 

SAUNDER). 

afterwit. (1) Knowledge arrived at in 
later years. (2) Second thought, reconsid- 
eration. Both of these were 17th century 
uses. (3) Wisdom that comes too late. G. 
Whitney (1586): Afterwits are like a 
shower of rayne Which moistes the soile 
when witherd is the graine. The French 
call I'esprit d'escalier, staircase wit, the 
clever remark one thinks of on the way 
home. (4) By extension, recognition of 
one's former follies, 'coming to one's 
senses/ Hence afterwitted, lacking fore- 
thought; wise when too late. 

again-bite. See agenbite. 
againchar. See chare. 

againsay. To refuse; to reverse (a ver- 
dict) ; to contradict. Literally, to speak 
against. Hence againsaw, againsaying, 
contradiction. Used since the 13th cen- 
tury; later shortened to gainsay. 

agambo. An early variant of akimbo. 

agamy. Non-recognition, or non-exist- 
ence, of the marriage tie. From Greek a, 
not -f gamos, marriage. (The accent is 
on the first syllable.) The word had some 
popularity around the beginning of the 
19th century, when rebellious romantics 
preferred agamy to bigamy, and cer- 
tainly to monogamy. The adjective 
agamous was more frequent, and has 
survived as a biological term meaning 
without (distinguishable) sexual organs. 



aganippe 



agelast 



An agamist is one opposed to the institu- 
tion of matrimony. 

aganippe. A source of inspiration; poetic 
power. Aganippe was a fountain on 
Mount Helicon, sacred to the Muses. THE 
LIFE OF ANTONY A WOOD (1695) said: 
Such towering ebullitions do not exuber- 
ate in my aganippe. 

agape. In two syllables, this means on 
the gape, in a state of wonder. Milton in 
PARADISE LOST 1667) mentions a rich 
retinue that Dazzles the crowd, and sets 
them all agape; Tennyson in MAUD (1855) 
pictures a rabbit mouth that is ever agape. 
In three syllables, from Greek agape, 
brotherly love, the word was used of a 
love-feast of the early Christians, at first 
in connection with the Lord's Supper. 
In the primitive days, as Chambers ob- 
serves in his CYCLOPEDIA (1727), the 
agapes were held without scandal or 
offence. That they later became more 
licentious is evident from Bailey's defini- 
tion (1736) of agapet: a man that hunts 
after women. 

agar. A sea-monster. So-called in early 
dictionaries, and so felt to be in Tudor 
times: later identified with the eager, a 
tidal bore, also eagre, q.v. The bores (un- 
usually high tidal waves) were found 
especially in the estuaries of the Humber, 
Trent and Severn. Lyly in GALLATHEA 
(1592) said of Neptune: He sendeth a 
monster called the agar, against whose 
coming the waters roare, the fowles flie 
away, and the cattel in the field for terrow 
shunne the bankes. Sprigge in 1647 neatly 
defined eager, a sudden surprisal of the 
tide. 



It is still a botanical term for a genus 
of mushroom. In Renaissance pharma- 
ceutics, the "female agarick" was widely 
used as a cathartic; another type of tree 
fungus, the "male agarick," was used as 
a styptic to coagulate blood. The Fairy 
Agaric was frequently found in the circles 
of grass called Fairy Rings. From such 
associations, the word moved into poetry. 
Note that Shelley accents the second syl- 
lable, in THE SENSITIVE PLANT (1820): 
And agarics and fungi, with mildew and 
mould; while Tennyson accents the first, 
in GARTH (1859): As one That smells a 
foul-flesh 1 'd agaric in the holt. 

agast. To terrify. From the 13th through 
the 16th century; by 1700 the participle 
agasted, struck with terror, had been 
replaced by aghast. The h came in under 
the influence of the word (and the idea) 
ghost. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE 
(1596) has: Or other griesly thing, that 
him aghast. Cp. gast. 

agate. A tiny person in reference to 
the small figures cut in the precious stone, 
agate, set in rings and used as seals. 
Shakespeare has Falstaff say to his new 
page (HENRY IV, PART Two; 1598): Thou 
whoreson mandrake, thou are fitter to be 
worn in my cap than to wait at my heels. 
I was never manned with an agate till 
now. Note the verb to man, to equip 
with a serving-man. 

agathodemon. See eudemonic. 
agathokakological. See eudemonic. 

agathopoietic. Tending, or intended, to 
do good. Greek agathos, good + poiein, 
to make, do. 



agaric. From Greek agaricon, which agelast. This three-syllable word is from 

Dioscoribes said was named from Agaria, Greek a, not -f- gelastes, a laugher: one 

a place in Sarmatia, comes this word who never laughs. George Meredith in 

agaric, the tree fungus used for tinder, the London TIMES of February 5, 1877, 



agemate 

wrote of men whom Rabelais would have 
called agelasts. The form agelastic is also 
found (in Bailey's DICTIONARY, 1731) with 
the same meaning; or, as an adjective, 
never laughing; sullen, sad. 

agemate. A person of the same age. 
Stanyhurst in the AENEIS (1583) has: 
Whilst I beheld Priamus thus gasping, my 
sire his agemate. Even the staid O.E.D. 
ventures the opinion: "This word is worth 
reviving." That is especially true in this 
era of increased longevity. 

agenbite. Remorse. Also ayenbite; actu- 
ally again-bite, again here meaning back, 
on oneself, against See commorant. The 
AYENBITE OF INWIT, Remorse of Con- 
science, is a translation (about 1340) by 
Dan Michel of Northgate, Canterbury, of 
a French moral treatise. 

agerasia. Eternal youth; a green old age; 
aging without the signs of years. Also 
agerasy. From Greek a, not H- geras, old 
age. Leo H. Grindon, on LIFE; ITS NA- 
TURE, VARIETIES AND PHENOMENA (1856) 
cogently remarks: Agerasia belongs only 
to the soul. 

agesse. To expect. The a is intensive, 
the verb (hard g) became guess. The 13th 
century KING HORN has: He sede he wolde 
agesse To drive in westernesse. 

aggerate. To heap up. Latin aggerare, 
aggeratum, to pile; agger, a heap, whence 
also exaggerate. Foxe plays on the two 
words in THE BOOK OF MARTYRS (1587): 
aggerating and exaggerating the fault to 
the uttermost. Hence aggeration, raising 
a heap; aggerose, formed in heaps; full 
of heaps. To agger ate a tree, to heap earth 
or dung about it. The term aggeration is 
used in archaeology to mean the making 
of a mound, as a method of raising the 
menhir, the giant standing stone of cer- 

22 



aglet 

tain ancient peoples, as at Stonehenge, 
England though many agree with what 
Southey wrote in a letter of 1832: / think 
the stones are more likely to have been 
raised by mechanical means than by the 
rude process of aggeration. 

aghast. See agast. 

agilt. An early spelling (also agulte, 
aguylt, agelte) of the verb aguilt, q.v. 

aginator. A retail dealer. To aginate, to 
retail small wares, Latin aginare, agina- 
tum } to trade; agina, the tongue of a 
balance. In 17th century dictionaries. 

agio. A percentage charged for exchang- 
ing currency. Italian agio, aggio, ease, 
convenience. By extension, money-chang- 
ing; also agiotage, which was extended in 
the 19th century to mean speculation, 
stock-jobbing. Disraeli in ENDYMION 
(1880) says: What they mean by peace is 
agiotage, shares at a premium, and 
bubble companies. 

agist. To take cattle in, for pasture, at 
a price. To agist cattle; also, to agist the 
forest, to pasture cattle in the forest. Per- 
haps from French a giste, for pasture, 
perhaps from adgistare (a Late Latin 
form after the French); Latin jacitare, 
frequentative of iacere, to lie. Hence 
agistage, agistation, agistment, the process 
of agisting, of pasturing or of opening 
the forest for pasturage. The agistor was 
the King's officer who kept charge of 
cattle agisted in the royal forests, or kept 
the accounts of the agistment. 

aglet. The metal tip (earlier called 
point) of a lace, intended for easier 
threading through the eyelets, but later 
made in various shapes as an ornament 
on the lace-ends. Hence, an ornament 
attached to a lace or fringe, a metallic 



agnail 

stud or spangle on a dress. By extension, 
a fragment of flesh hanging by the skin; 
hence, a scrap, a shred. In current use, 
ai guile He, the point or cord over the 
shoulder in certain uniforms. Also aiglet, 
aglotte, aigulet, via French aiguilette, 
diminutive of aiguille, needle; Late Latin 
acicula, diminutive of acus, needle, acuere, 
acutus, to sharpen, whence also acute. At 
the Progress of Queen Elizabeth I in 
1564, when Lord Leicester was made a 
Knight of the Garter, the robe of the 
Garter King at Arms had on the sleeves 
38 paire of gold aglets. Spenser in THE 
FAERIE QUEENE (1596) mentions a silken 
camus . . . Which all above besprinckled 
was throughout With golden aygulets that 
glistred bright, Like twinckling starres. 
An aglet-baby was either a tag shaped like 
a baby, or a doll or baby adorned with 
aglets; Shakespeare in THE TAMING OF 
THE SHREW (1596) says: Give him gold 
enough, and marry him to a puppet or 
an aglet-babie, or an old trot with ne'er 
a tooth in her head. 

agnail. This word was corrupted to hang- 
nail, which has supplanted it. The change 
was established in Bailey's DICTIONARY 
(1742), where agnail is defined as "a sore 
slip of skin at the root of a nail." From 
900 to 1700^agnaz7 meant a corn on the 
foot. It is from ang, compressed, painful 
(Gothic aggurus, whence anguish) + nail. 
The word nail at first did not refer to a 
fingernail or toenail, but to a nail one 
hammered; by extension, the word was 
applied to a round-headed excrescence in 
the flesh, like a wart (originally a wer- 
nail, wer meaning man, as in werwolf: 
a wernail or warnel was a wart). Thus 
agnail meant first a corn, then a whitlow 
(from white + flaw?; a pus-producing in- 
flammation near or under the nail) , then 
a hangnail. The term hang seems appropri- 

23 



agnate 

ate to the hanging shreds of flesh, but 
originally the h was just the cockney 
addition to the sound of the word. 

agname. A name in addition to one's 
formal appellation, a nickname. Latin 
agnomen, ag, ad, to -f- nomen, name, 
whence also agnomen. In Roman use, 
agnomen referred to a third or fourth 
name added because of some special 
event, as Publius Cornelius Scipio was 
called Africanus, as we learn in the first 
act of Shakespeare's play that Gaius Mar- 
cius, victor at Corioli (493 B.C.) was called 
Coriolanus. In English, Scott in WAVERLY 
(1814) speaks of small pale features, from 
which he derived his agnomen of Bean; 
Urquhart in THE JEWEL (1652) men- 
tioned Colonel Alexander Hamilton, 
agnamed dear Sandy. 

agnate. A descendant wholly on the 
male side. Agnation is relationship 
through the male line, through male links 
alone, as in the Salic law. The Salic law 
was established by Clovis (died 511); Ed- 
ward III of England claimed the French 
throne by virtue of the Salic law (re- 
ferred to in Shakespeare's Henry V) and 
thus started the Hundred Years War. 
When Victoria became Queen of England 
in 1837, the Salic law kept her from the 
throne of Hanover. The Justinian Code 
(529-565) , however, modified the regula- 
tions, so that agnation and agnate came 
to include descendants in the male line 
even though female links have inter- 
vened. Agnate is also used as an adjec- 
tive, although both words have now 
purely historical associations. Agnate and 
agnation are from Latin adgnatum, from 
ad, to -J- gnasci, to be born, of the stem 
gen-, to beget, generate. From the same 
source come the forms adnate and adna- 
tion, which are still used in botany and 
physics; but adnate was used in the 17th 



agnification 

century in the sense of acquired, as op- 
posed to native, thus in Theophilus Gales' 
THE COURT OF THE GENTILES (1677): 
There is an adnate or acquired hardness 
by custom in sin. 

agnification. Representing persons as 
sheep. From Latin agnus, lamb + fica- 
tion, the act of making, from facere, to 
make. When God's minister is called a 
pastor (shepherd) it is natural that his 
"flock" be pictured as sheep. The image 
appears throughout medieval church liter- 
ature and painting. Also, of course, Jesus 
as agnus Dei, the lamb of God. 

agnit. An early form of recognize, from 
the 16th through the 18th century. Also 
agnize, agnition. Motteux, in his transla- 
tion of Rabelais (1708), says that the 
silence of the Egyptians was agnited as an 
expressive manner of Divine adoration. 
Gary, in his translation (1814) of Dante's 
INFERNO, has: I was agnized of one, who 
by the skirt Caught me. Richard Crom- 
welFs succession as Protector of the Com- 
monwealth of England was established 
more firmly, it was thought, by changing 
recognizing to agnizing, "that so his right 
might appear to be founded upon the 
consent of the people represented in this 
assembly." Neither the succession nor the 
word proved firm. 

agnomination. (1) The giving of a sur- 
name; also adnomination, q.v.; annomi- 
nation. (2) A word-play, pun; allusion of 
one word to another. On hearing that in 
THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY a stolen 
lamb was hidden in the cradle that 
awaited the about-to-be-born Jesus, a 
schoolboy not knowing how many layers 
of thought were in the agnomination 
commented: "Mary had a litle lamb." Cp. 
agnification. (B) Alliteration. Camden (RE- 
MAINS,, 1605) remarked that the English 

24 



agrise 

and the Welsh delighted much in licking 
the letter and clapping together agnomi- 
nations. 

agnosy. Ignorance. Greek a, not 4- gno-, 
to know (akin to gnaw: "Chew upon 
this") . Agnostic is a common word: 
agnosy, not in the O.E.D., has the accent 
on the first syllable. 

agonal. A book of martyrs, or of stories 
of heroes that sacrificed their lives. Also 
agonel. Shortened from Latin liber 
agonalis, book of agonies. 

agonyclite. From Greek a, not -f gony, 
knee + clitos, bending, this word marks 
one of the 7th century heretics that would 
not kneel but prayed standing. By exten- 
sion, one that refuses to bow to authority. 

agoreblood. Adrip with clotting blood. 
Plutarch's LIVES in the North translation 
(1580) mentions the floods and rivers 
running all agore-blood, by reason of the 
great slaughter. 

agrest. Rustic, rude. From Latin agres- 
tis, of the open country, from agrum, 
field. Caxton in Ovid's METAMORPHOSES 
(1480) uses it as a noun, the agrests that 
enjoy the countryside. Agresty appears in 
18th century dictionaries, meaning rus- 
ticity. More frequent from the 17th 
through the 19th century is agrestic; Dis- 
raeli mentions in ENDYMION (1880) a de- 
lightful ramble to some spot of agrestic 
charm. 

agrill. To annoy. Used in the 13th (THE 
OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE) and the 14th 
centuries. 

agrise. To shudder, to be full of terror; 
to dread, abhor; to terrify. From a-, an 
intensive prefix 4- gris, horror, as in 
grisly. See grise. A common word, found 
in the Laws of Cnut (1000) and up to 



agrodolce 

1650, in many spellings. Thus Chaucer in 
THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN (1385) 
And in his heart he suddenly agroos, and 
pale he waxed; Spenser uses the word 
several times in THE FAERIE QUEENE 
(1596) e.g., whom when she saw . . , Like 
ghost late risen from his grave agryz'd, 
She knew him not. Past tense forms in- 
clude agras, agros, agroos; agresyd, 
agryzd. For another instance of its use, 
see garb oil. 

agrodolce. See aigredoux. 

agrote. To cram, to cloy. This verb, of 
unknown origin, is found from about 1350 
to 1450, only in the past participle form, 
agroted, surfeited, as in Chaucer's LEGEND 
OF GOOD WOMEN (1385): / am agrotyed 
here beforn to write of them that been on 
love forsworn. This also appears in the 
form agroten: agroten (agrotonyd) with 
meat or drink. 

agrypnia. Sleeplessness. Greek a, not -f 
grypnia, drowsiness, sleeping. Hence 
agrypnode, sleep preventing; agrypnotic, 
something administered to keep one 
awake. [The form, from Greek agrypneti- 
koSj should be agrypnetic; the word was 
fashioned, in the mid 9th century, after 
hypnotic.] 

aguilt. To offend, to sin against. From 
Old English a-, with intensive force 
+ gyltan, to sin; gieldan, to pay for, to 
requite. Sometimes used with against, 
sometimes directly as in Chaucer's PAR- 
SON'S TALE (1386): He hath agultid his 
God and defoulid his soule. 

aguise. To adorn; to dress. Used several 
times by Spenser, as in MOTHER HUB- 
BERD'S TALE and in THE FAERIE QUEENE 
(1596): Sometimes her head she fondly 
would aguize With gaudy girlonds. 

aha. A variant of haha, q.v. Not to be 
confused with the exclamation Aha!, 

25 



airling 

which runs from Chaucer and the villains 
of melodrama, a combination of the two 
interjections Ah! and Ha! 

aheave. To lift up (heave); hence, to 
rear, to educate. Also aheve, ahebban. 
Used from the 10th to the 14th century; 
Layamon in 1205 recorded: Cador his 
sweard ahof. 

ahof. An old past tense of aheave, q.v. 

ahte. (1) Possessions, property. (2) 
ought. (3) aught. (4) eight. 

ahwene. See awhene. 
aichomancy. See aeromancy. 

aiel. A grandfather; forefather, ancestor. 
Old French aiel, aieul; Late Latin aviolus, 
diminutive of avus, grandfather, Chaucer 
in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) has: / am 
thyn aiel, redy at thy wille. 

aigredoux. Sweet and sour. Also aigre- 
douce, agerdows. Skelton in A GARLAND 
OF LAUREL (1523) said He wrote an epi- 
taph for his grave stone With wordes 
devoute and sentence agerdows. The 19th 
century used an Italian form; Ford in 
HANDBOOK FOR SPAIN (1845) said: In 
Spain, as Sappho says, love is . . . an 
alternation of the agrodolce. The term is 
also applied to food, as described in Bad- 
ham's HALIEUTICS (1854) a blending of 
sweets and sours, and is made by stewing 
in a rich gravy prunes, Corinth currants, 
almonds, pine-kernels, raisins, vinegar, 
and wine. 

aimcrier. One that indicates the mark. 
By extension, an encourager, applauder; 
one that helps with words alone. Mark- 
ham in ENGLAND'S ARCADIA (1638) said: 
Her own creatures, like aimcriers, beheld 
her mischance with nothing but lip-pity. 

airling. A young, thoughtless person; a 
coxcomb. Also earling. Jonson in CATI- 



airstone 



alamort 



LINE (1611) says: Some more there be, 
slight airlings, will be won With dogs and 
horses. 

airstone. A meteorite. A letter of 1608 
said: They talk of divers prodigies, as 
well in these parts as in Holland, but 
especially airstones. 

aischrology. Shameful discourse, Greek 
aischros, disgracing, shameful; also, ugly 
(opposed to kalos, beautiful, whence callis- 
thenics, calligraphy; see callipygian). 
Aischrology is not in O.E.D., but for an 
illlustration of its use, see morology. 

ait. See eyot. 



ajar. 



See chare. 



ajax. An outhouse; a privy; a room 
for a close-stool, q.v. The word is a pun 
on the name of the ancient hero, which 
in Tudor times was pronounced a jokes. 
A jakes (q.v.) was a toilet. Sir John Har- 
ington is credited with the invention of 
the overhead water closet for flushing; 
for his punning discussion of it, THE 
METAMORPHOSIS OF AJAX (1596), Queen 
Elizabeth I kept him in disgrace. Gamden 
in his REMAINS (1625) told that one 
Solomon, a Jew, -fell into a jakes at 
Tewkesbury on a Saturday. Shakespeare 
used the word earlier, in LOVE'S LABOUR'S 
LOST (1588): Your lion that holds his 
pollax sitting on a close stoole, will be 
given to Ajax. Camden, speaking of pet 
(French for an anal expulsion of wind) 
said: Inquire, if you know it not, of 
Cloacina's chaplains., or such as are well 
read in Ajax. The subtitle of Harington's 
work was A CLOACINEAN SATIRE; Cloacina 
was the goddess of disposal; Latin cloaca, 
sewer; cluere, to purge. In English, cloaca 
has been used for a privy; figuratively, 
for a receptacle of moral filth. Adjectives 
formed from it were cloacal (current as a 

26 



scientific term), cloacaline, cloacean, cloa- 
cinal, doacinean; Meredith in THE EGOIST 
(1879) says: We, sir, dedicate genius to 
the cloacaline floods. The cloaca makes a 
sorry end for next to Achilles the 
bravest of all the Greek heroes, Ajax. 
Jonson shows the rhyme in his poem ON 
THE FAMOUS VOYAGE: And 1 could wish 
for their eterniz'd sakes My muse had 
ploughed with his that sung Ajax. 

akerspire. See acrospire. 

alabandical. Barbarous, sottish, stupid. 
A good word though hitherto found only 
in dictionaries of the 17th and 18th cen- 
turies. Pliny (who died A.D. 79 through 
trying too closely to observe an eruption 
of Vesuvius) speaks of Alabanda, a city 
in Caria, as a barbarous place. In Medie- 
val Latin the word took on meaning from 
Old Teutonic alilandisc, foreign, out- 
landish. 

alacriate. To speed up; brighten; to fill 
with alacrity. Also alacrify. Latin alacris, 
brisk, lively. Hence alacrative, pertain- 
ing, or tending, to alacrity; speeding up; 
sprightly; also alacrious. Warner in AL- 
BION'S ENGLAND (1602) spoke of his alacri- 
ous intertainments, and upright govern- 
ment. 

aladdinize. To transform as if at a rub 
of Aladdin's magic lamp, described in the 
ARABIAN NIGHTS. 

alamort. A form of the French a la mort, 
to the death; mortally sick, dispirited. 
Common from 1550 to 1800. Also all 
amort, amort. Thus Shakespeare in THE 
TAMING OF THE SHREW (1596): What 
sweeting, all-amort?; Dryden in THE 
WIFE OF BATH'S TALE (1700): Mirth 
there was none, the man was a-la-mort; 
Keats in. THE EVE OF ST. AGNES (1820): 
She sighs . . . all amort. 



alan 



alcahest 



alan. A large hunting dog, a wolf-hound. 
Also alant, alaunt. Chaucer in THE 
KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) says: Aboute his 
chaar ther wenten white alauntz. Used 
into the 18th century; Bailey in his DIC- 
TIONARY calls the dog aland; revived by 
Scott in THE TALISMAN (1825) as the 
wolf-greyhound. 

alange. Wearisome, dreary; lonely and 
by confusion with elelende (see alabandi- 
cal), strange, foreign. Also alenge. In 
ARTHUR AND MERLIN (1330) we read In 
time of winter alange it is. The same work 
uses the word as a verb: Rain alange th 
the country; this is the only such use. 
The adjective is found in Occleve and 
Chaucer. It also takes the form elenge, 
which Chaucer accents to rhyme with 
challenge. As late as 1858 MURRAY'S 
HANDBOOK TO KENT claimed that the 
fairies . . . may still be heard in the more 
elenge places of the Downs. A noun 
meaning loneliness was also formed; in 
THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE (1400): She 
had a . . . scrippe of faint distresse, that 
full was of elengenesse; in a letter of 
1536 King Henry VIII wrote to his Queen 
of the hour, of the great ellingness that I 
find here since your departure. 

alapat. To strike. Medieval Latin ala- 
pare, alapatum; alapa, a slap. Melton 
in SIXE-FOLD POLITICIAN (1609) warned not 
with a wand to alapat and strike them. 
An alapite, in Old French, was a clown 
that took a beating to amuse the public, 
what we might call a slapstick artist. 



Greek a, not + last-; lathein, to forget. 
Taylor in THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE in 
1810 wrote of Imps, alastors, and every 
other class of cacodemons. Shelley's first 
important poem (1816) was Alastor, or 
The Spirit of Solitude. 

alate. Three words have used this form. 
(1) alate,, lately. A of 4- late. Greene in a 
poem of 1590 wrote: Where chilling frost 
alate did nip, There flasheth now a fire. 
Mrs. Browning used the word in a poem 
of 1842. (2) alate, to suckle. Latin adlac- 
tare, to give milk to; ad, to + lacturn, 
milk, whence also the galactic universe. 
(3) alate, winged. This meaning demands 
the accent on the first syllable; the word 
is used of leaves, insects and the like, as 
in the observation of G. Buckton (1876) 
of the aphis: The alate females are never 
so plentiful as the apterous. 

alatrate. To bark, bark at. More properly 
allatrate; Latin allatrare, allatratum, from 
ad, at + latrare, to bark. Stubbes in THE 
ANATOMY OF ABUSES (1583) said: Let 
Cerberus, the dog of hel, alatrate what he 
list to the contrary. H 

albification. The process or art of mak- 
ing white. The verb, to albify is used by 
Nicholas Breton in his lines for Sir Philip 
Sidney's OURANIA (1606): As a red brick 
by waters albified. The noun was used 
chiefly as a term in alchemy; Chaucer 
in THE CANON YEOMAN'S TALE (1386) 
speaks of watres albificacioun. To albify 
might well be used figuratively, as now 
to whitewash. 



alaski. To release, free. Via Old French 
a + laskier (modern French Idcher); Late 
Latin lascare; Latin laxare, whence also 
relax; laxative; Latin laxus, loose. Laya- 
mon (1250) wrote Ich wole . . . alaski him 
of care. 

alastor. An avenging spirit, a nemesis, alcahest. A variant of alkahest, q.v. 

27 



albricias. In the days when the bearer of 
ill tidings might be whipped or put to 
death, albricias (still current in Spanish) 
meant a reward given one that brought 
good news. 



alcatote 

alcatote. A simpleton, silly fellow. Ford 
in his FANCIES (1638) confessed: Z am ... 
an oaf, a simple alcatote, an innocent. 

alchemusy. A reflector to catch the sun's 
rays, for prophesying; forecasting by the 
use of this. Cp. aeromancy. Golding in 
his translation (1587) of P. de Mornay's 
WOORKE CONCERNING THE TREWNESSE OF 
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION wrote: After- 
ward he (who would prophecy) must 
gather together the beames of the skie 
into a mirror., which they call alchemusic, 
made according to the rules of catop trick. 

alchocoden. See aeromancy. 

alday. Every day; all the day. Chaucer 
prefers this form to the later all day. 

alder-. Jn combinations, this is a variant 
of aller, the old genitive plural of all. 
Thus alderbest means best of all. Chaucer 
uses this prefix with many words, among 
them: alderfairest, alderfastest, alder first, 
alderlast, alderleast, aldermost, aldernext 
(nearest of all), alderliefest (best loved of 
all), alderwisest, alderworst. Alderman is 
from a different source: the aldor or elder 
was oldest and therefore most respected, 
therefore leader of the family (as in 
China until 1948) or of the clan. The 
alderman is the political successor of 
the aldor. Humorous words have sprung 
from this: aldermanity, behavior proper 
to an alderman (coined after humanity]; 
aldermanikin, a petty office-holder. Shake- 
speare in HENRY VI, PART Two (1590) 
has Queen Margaret pay respect to mine 
alderliefest sovereign. 

aleatory. Dependent on the throw of a 
die, hence, hanging upon uncertain con- 
tingencies. From Latin aleatorius, from 
aleator, dice player, from alea, die. As 
Caesar crossed the Rubicon which com- 
mitted him to the march on Rome he 

28 



aleconner 

said Alea jacta est, The die is cast. Urqu- 
hart, in his translation (1693) of Rabelais, 
speaks of the aleatory way of deciding 
law debates. 

aleberry. Ale boiled with spice and 
sugar and sops of bread. Also albry, ale- 
brue, alemeat. The word is from ale H- 
Old English briw, pottage; this shifted 
to alebre, alebrey, and then by folk- 
etymology to aleberry. It was a popular 
concoction of the 15th and 16th cen- 
turies. By a similar folk-fancy, bread 
brewed in hot water and spiced or sweet- 
ened was called breadberry. 

alec. A herring; also, a sauce of or with 
small herrings, anchovies and the like. 
Used from the 16th century. Hence, 
alecize, halecize, to dress with such a 
sauce. 

alecie. Intoxication; wandering of wits, 
under the influence of ale (as lunacy 
means the state of being under the in- 
fluence of luna, the moon). Also alecy. 
Lyly in MOTHER BOMBIE (1594) said: // 
he had arrested a mare instead of a horse, 
it had beene a slight oversight, but to 
arrest a man, that hath no likenesse of 
a horse, is flat lunasie, or alecie. 

aleconner. An inspector of ale also of 
bread, beere, etc. sold within his juris- 
diction. From the 13th century; also 
alekonner, alecunner. Johnson in 1755 
observed: "Four of them are chosen an- 
nually by the common-hall of the city; 
and whatever might be their use formerly, 
their places are now regarded only as 
sinecures for decayed citizens." The EN- 
CYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA nevertheless re- 
corded in 1876: In London four alecon- 
ners are still chosen annually by the 
liverymen in common hall assembled on 
Midsummer Day (cp. midsummer men). 



alectorian 



alexicacon 



The British Information Office tells me 
they serve today. 

alectorian. A stone (said John de Trevisa 
in his translation (1398) o Bartholomews' 
DE PROPRIETATIBUS RERUM) that is founde 
in the mawes of capons and is lyke to 
dymme cristall. It had the valuable 
property of rendering one invisible. The 
word is from Greek alector, cock; the 
story is cock and bull. 

alectromancy. See aeromancy. Also alec- 
toromancy and alectryomancy. 

alectryomachy. Cock-fighting. A common 
sport, for centuries, in various parts of 
the world. The English also enjoyed bear- 
baiting; the Chinese wagered large sums 
on cricket fights. The word is from Greek 
alectryon, cock 4- machia, fighting; the 
accent falls on the om. A good fighting 
cock is still worth over $1000 in Spanish- 
speaking countries, where alectryomachy 
rivals bull-fighting. The word ale dry- 
omachy, however, seems confined to 17th 
and 18th century dictionaries. 

alecy. See alecie. 

aleger. (1) Ale-vinegar; alegar is to ale 
what vinegar is to wine (1881 glossary). 
Also aleager, alegre; ale + eager; French 
aigre, sharp, sour. Used from the 16th 
century; Carlyle in THE FRENCH REVO- 
LUTION (1837) inquires: Whose small 
soul, transparent wholesome-looking as 
small ale, could by no chance -ferment 
into virulent alegar? (2) lively, cheerful. 
Via Old French from Latin alacrem, 
whence also alacrity; Italian allegro. 
Bacon in SYLVA (1626) noted that the 
root, and leafe befell; the leafe tobacco; 
and the teare of poppy . . . doe all con- 
dense the spirits, and make them strong, 
and aleger. (Both words are pronounced 
in three syllables; the first is accented on 



the long a; the second, with short a, is 
accented on the ledge.) 

aleiptic. Relating to physical training. 
A 17th century word that somehow our 
modern educators have missed. From 
Greek aleiptikos, aleiptes, a gymnastic 
trainer, a rubber; aleiphein, to anoint. 

ale-knight. A tippler (used in scorn). 
Guilpin, in SKIALETHEIA, OR A SHADOWE 
OF TRUTH IN CERTAINE EPIGRAMS (1598) 
said: There brauls an aleknight for 
his fat-grown score. 

alembic. An early type of apparatus, 
used for distilling, especially by the al- 
chemists. From 1500 to 1700 almost com- 
pletely supplanted by the shorter form 
limbec, q.v.; then the full form reap- 
peared, often in figurative use, as when 
Scott in WAVERLY (1814) speaks of the 
cool and procrastinating alembic of 
Dyer's Weekly Letter, or Walpole in a 
letter of 1749, the important mysteries 
that have been alembicked out of a 
trifle. 

alembroth. A universal solvent. Long 
sought by the alchemists, this self-con- 
tradictory substance was often hailed but 
never held. What could hold it? Thus 
sal alembroth was the double chloride 
of mercury and ammonium, also called 
the salt of wisdom. 

alenge. See alance. 
aleuromancy. See aeromancy. 

alexicacon. A preservative against, or 
remedy for, evil. A panacea sought in 
the 17th and 18th centuries. The word 
is from Greek alexein, to keep off 
+ kakon, evil. We need an alexicacon 
for current cacophony via the air 
waves. A dose against poison was called 
an alexipharmic; something to ward off 
29 



alexipharmac 

contagion was an alexiteric or alexitery. 
The PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF 
THE ROYAL SOCIETY for 1671 declare 
that the heart or liver of a viper is one 
of the greatest alexitery's in the world. 
The name Alexander, by the way, means 
protector of men. 

alexipharmac. An antidote to poison. 
Also alexipharmic; see alexicacon. Greek 
pharmakon, poison; hence pharmacy, 
where remedies against poison were 
available. For an illustration of its use, 
see theriac. 

alfavourite. A 17th century hairdress, 
for ladies; probably from France. THE 
LAMES DICTIONARY (1694) listed: al- 
favourites, a sort of modish locks hang 
dangling on the temples. 

alfin. A 15th and 16 century word for 
the bishop, in the game of chess. Also 
alphin, alphyne, alfyn, aufyn, awfyn. Via 
the Romance tongues from Arabic al-fil 
(Sanskrit pilu), the elephant. Rowbotham 
in his ARCHAEOLOGY (1562) said: The 
bishoppes some name alphins } some 
fooles, and some name them princes; other 
some call them archers. The second book 
on the first English printing press, trans- 
lated (1475) by the printer, Caxton, THE 

GAME AND PLAY OF THE CHESSE, Said that 

the alphyns ought to be made and formed 
in manner of judges, sitting in a chair, 
with a book open before their eyes. By 
extention, alfin, a person of limited 
powers, a fool; The MORTE D'ARTHUR 
(1440) exclaimed: Myche wondyre have I, 
that syche an alfyne as thow dare speke 
sych wordez! Wright (1869) defines this 
as a lubberly fellow and suggests it is a 
form of elfin, elvish. 

alfridary. According to astrology, a 
temporary power the planets have over 
the life of a person, each presiding over 

30 



algorism 

his destiny for seven years. From the 
Arabic, al, the + fariydah, a fixed part. 
Cp. almuten. 

algate. In Old English, this was alle 
gate, every way; its meaning grew in many 
ways, and it was a very common word 
into the 17th century. Also algates. It still 
survives, meaning everywhere, in north- 
ern dialects, along with the forms any 
gate, na-gate, sumgate. Among the mean- 
ings are: (1) Always, continually. Used 
by Wyclif; Staynhurst (AENEIS; 1583); 
Holinshed in the CHRONICLES (1587): 
These strangers in Ireland would algate 
now be also called and accompted Nor- 
mans. (2) In any way, by any means. Lyd- 
gate; Gabriel Harvey in THREE WITTY 
LETTERS (1580): Seeing you gentlewomen 
will allgates have it so. (3) At all events, 
in any case. Chaucer; Lydgate; Douglas 
(AENEIS; 1513): Since algatis I must die. 
(4) Altogether. Chaucer (THE .SQUIRE'S 
TALE; 1386): Which is unknown algates 
unto me; Spenser. 

algor. Cold; specifically, the chill that 
marks the onset of fever. Latin algor; 
algere, to be cold. Also algidity, algidness, 
in 17th and 18th century dictionaries. 
More frequent (especially in science and 
medicine, 17th century) were the adjec- 
tives: algid, cold; algific, algifical, causing 
cold, making one chill; algose, very cold. 
Burton in his picture of DAHOME (1864) 
spoke of the algid breath of the desert 
wind. 

algorism. The Arabic system of number- 
ing; hence, arithmetic. Hence algorism- 
stones, counters; cypher in algorism, the 
figure 0; hence, a dummy, a nobody. An 
algorist was one skilful in figuring. From 
the Arabic surname of Abu Ja' far Mo- 
hammed Ben Musa, the translation of 
whoe early 9th century treatise on algebra 



alicant 



alkermes 



brought Arabic numerals into wide use in 
Europe. A native of Khwarazm, he was 
called al-Khowarazmi; this gave his figures, 
in English, such names as augrim, 
awgrym, digram, agrim, agrum, algrim, 
algarisme, algorithm, algarosme. Chaucer 
in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386) says: His 
augrym stoones leyen faire apart. 

alicant. A wine of mulberries, made at 
Alicante, Spain. Also alegant, aligaunt, 
allegant, alycaunt, alligaunte, aligant, and 
the like. Fletcher, in THE CHANCES (1620) 
said: You brats, got [begotten] out of 
alicant. TIMON (1585) depicts a wondrous 
land: Thirtie rivers more With aligaunte; 
thirtie hills of sugar; Ale flowed from the 
rockes, wine from the trees Which we call 
muscadine. Alicant was a popular drink; 
its deep red color was attractive; many 
a courtier wore a doublet of allicant. 
Shakespeare may have had this in mind 
when Mistress Quickly tells Falstaff (in 

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR; 1598) that 

he has brought Mistress Ford into such a 
canaries as 'tis wonderful, when knights 
and lords wooing her have failed, despite 
gift after gift; smelling so sweetly all 
musk and so rushling, I warrant you, in 
silk and gold; and in such alligant terms; 
and in such wine and sugar of the best 
and the fairest, that would have won any 
woman's heart Mistress Quickly uses 
elegant, if not alicant, terms. 

alienation. See ab alienate. 

alife. Dearly. Especially in the expres- 
sion to love alife; Shakespeare in THE 
WINTER'S TALE (1610) has: / love a ballad 
in print alife. Some editions print this 
o' life, as though it meant as one's life; 
but it is probably an adverbial form from 
lief, dear, which survives in the expres- 
sion I'd just as lief. 

aligaunt. See alicant. 



alkahest. The universal solvent sought 
by the alchemists. Also alcakest, alchahest; 
cp. alembroth; alexicacon. The word 
alkahest was created by Paracelsus (cp. 
bombast], as though from an Arabic form; 
a number of English words begin with 
Arabic al, the. Hence alkahestic, alkahesti- 
cal. It has also been suggested, however, 
that alkahest is (1705) from the German 
word Al-gehest, which signifies all spirit. 
There remains the old query: if the uni- 
versal solvent be found, what container 
will hold it? The word has also been used 
figuratively, as of love; Carlyle (MISCEL- 
LANEOUS ESSAYS; 1832) said Quite another 
alcahest is needed. Alger in THE SOLITUDES 

OF NATURE AND OF MAN (1866) Spoke 

neatly of an intellectual alkahest, melting 
the universe into an idea. 

alkanet. A plant, whose root yields a 
bright red dye. Also alcanna and, in the 
East, henna; orco.net, orchanet; a kind of 
bugloss, q.v.; also used in cookery, and 
esteemed as a cordial. 

alker. A kind of custard. A recipe of 
1381 might still prove good to follow: 
For to make rys alker. Take figys, and 
raysons, and do awey the kernelis, and 
a god party of apply s, and do awey the 
paryng of the applis and the kernelis, 
and bray hem wel in a morter; and temper 
hem up with almande mylk, and menge 
hem with flowr of rys, that yt be wel 
chariaunt, and strew therupon powder 
of galyngale, and serve yt forth. 

alkermes. A confection or cordial, made 
with the kermes 'berry/ Arabic al, the 4- 
girmiz, kermes only the 'berry* turned 
out to be an insect, the scarlet grain 
(female of coccus ilicis). Alkermes was also 
used to mean the 'berry* of which the 
concoctions were made. Accent on the 
kur. Captain John Smith, in his account 



alkin 

of his VOYAGE TO VIRGINIA (1624) stated 
that the fruits are of many sorts and kinds, 
as alkermes, currans, mulberries . . . Bacon 

in THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING (1605) 

lists Venice treacle, mithridate, diascor- 
dium, the connection of alkermes. 

alkin. Of every kind, all kinds of. A 
12th to 16th century form; also alra cynna, 
alle kunnes, alkyns, alken. Wors than 
they, said Lyndesay in a COMPLAYNT of 
1552, in alkin thyng. 

allatrate. See alatrate. 

allect. To allure. After the Latin allec- 
tare, frequentative form of allicere, from 
ad, to H- lacere, to entice, laqueus, a noose, 
a snare. Sir Thomas More in HERESYES 
(1528): To allect the people by preaching. 
Allectation, found only in old dictionaries, 
and the once-used (1640) allection were 
formed from allect, to mean an alluring, 
enticement. Allective, as adjective and 
noun, was more frequent in the 16th 
and 17th centuries; Elyot in THE COVER- 
NOUR (1531): There is no better alective 
to noble wits; Gabriel Harvey in PIERCES 
SUPEREROGATION (1592): Her beautiful 
and allective style as ingenious as elegant. 

THE REMEDY OF LOVE (1532) Speaks of 

most allective bait, which has its place 
and allective power in our time. The 
same meaning appears with the forms 
alliciate and allicit. See illect. 

alliciate, allicit. See allect. 
allide. See allision. 

alligate. To tie or bind. From Latin 
ad, to + ligare, to bind. More common 
was the noun, alligation, the act of attach- 
ing, or the state of being attached or 
bound. Phillips (1706) and Bailey (1781) 
in their dictionaries list alligator, a binder 
(as of vines to the stakes up which they 



allograph 

are to grow). The reptile alligator is from 
Spanish al lazardo, the lizard, applied to 
the large American saurians. Allegation 
and alienator (one that alleges or asserts) 
are via Norman alegier from Latin exliti- 
gare, to clear at law, modified by con- 
fusion with Latin allegare, from ad, to 
+ legare, to designate. There is another 
obsolete allege, to lighten a burden, to 
allay, via Old French aleger from Latin 
alleviare (whence also alleviate), from ad, 
to + levis, light. THE ROMANCE OF THE 
ROSE (1400) says: / would this thought 
would come ageyne, For it alleggith well 
my peyne. These words should not be 
confusedly alligated. 

ailing. Altogether, wholly; quite; in- 
deed. Also allings; allunga, allinge, 
allynge, allyng. Used from the 9th into 
the 15th century. Maundeville wrote in 
1366: It is not allynges of suche savour. 

allision. The action of dashing against 
or striking upon. Latin al, ad, to 4- 
laedere, laesum, to dash, strike violently, 
whence the frequent collision. Thus also, 
to allide. Donne, in a sermon of 1631, 
held the old view that the allision of those 
clouds have brought forth a thunder. 

allodium. An estate held in full and 
free ownership, without any service or 
recognition of an overlord; as opposed 
to feudum, feud. Also alodium, allody, 
alody, allod, alod. From all + od, prop- 
erty, estate. An early Teutonic term; the 
forms ending ium are Latinized, and in 

the DOMESDAY BOOK (1086). 

allograph. A writing (as a signature) of 
one person for another. Greek allos, other 
-f graph, writing. The opposite of auto- 
graph; Greek auto, self. Among words in 
English formed with allos may be men- 
tioned: allogeneity, difference in nature; 
allogeneous, the opposite of homogene- 



allophyle 

ous. allonym, an assumed name; a book 
bearing a name as the author's, not that 
of the author; allonymous, falsely at- 
tributed, allo theism, worship of other or 
strange gods, allotropy (accent on the 
lot; current in scientific use), the varia- 
tion of physical properties without 
change of substance first noticed (by 
Berzelius) of charcoal and diamond. 

allophyle. This is a formal term for an 
alien; hence, sometimes, with a measure 
of scorn, a Philistine. It is from Greek 
allos, other + phyle, tribe. It is mainly 
a 19th century term. J. Pritchard, in 
BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE of 1844, speaks 
of the allophylian nations. 

alloquial From Latin ad, to + loquor, 
to talk, alloquial refers to the style of 
speech used in talking to addressing 
others. It is thus contrasted with the col- 
loquial style, used in talking with others; 
conversational. 

allubescency. See adlubescence. 

allycholly. Misused for mallycholly, a 
corrupt form of melancholy (Greek melan, 
black -f choler, bile). Dame Quickly in 
Shakespeare's THE MERRY WIVES OF 
WINDSOR (1598) says: She is given too much 
to allicholy and musing; in his THE TWO 

GENTLEMEN OF VERONA the Host Says tO 

Julia (disguised as a boy): Now, my young 
guest, methinks you're allycholly. I pray 
you, why is it? Julia responds: Marry, 
mine host, because I cannot be merry. To 
cheer her, he has sung the charming song 
Who is Silvia? 

almagest. Originally, the great astro- 
nomical treatise of Ptolemy, of Alexan- 
dria, 2d century; later applied to any 
important book of astrology or alchemy. 
Thus Chaucer in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386) 
has: His almageste and bokes gret and 

33 



almoner 

smale. The word is the title of the Arabic 
translation of Ptolemy's work; it adds the 
Arabic al, the, to Greek megiste, greatest. 
Scott revived the word in THE LAY OF THE 
LAST MINSTREL (1805): on cross, and char- 
acter, and talisman, And almagest, and 
altar, nothing bright. We have had many 
almagests, but only the stars remain 
bright. 

almain. A dance; also, the music there- 
for. References in the 17th century and 
later speak of a slow tempo, and grave or 
solemn measures, but many references in- 
dicate a livelier dance, also called the 
almain-leap. Thus Jonson in THE DEVIL 
is AN ASS pictures a man take his almain- 
leap into a custard. Also almaun, alman, 
almane, aleman, almond. The word liter- 
ally meant German (French aleman, alle- 
mand); Almany, Germany, and an Ale- 
man was a German, almain-quarrel, a 
dispute over nothing, an unnecessary argu- 
ment, almain-rivets, a flexible type of 
light armor, first worn in Germany. 

almariole. See ambry. An I, in combina- 
tions, often replaced an r. 

almifluent. Benovolent, bounteous. Latin 
almus, kindly (as in alma mater) + 
fluentem, flowing. Used in the 15th cen- 
tury. 

almoner. An official, in a monastery, or 
the household of a noble, whose function 
it was to distribute alms. The word was 
naturally popular; it took many forms, in- 
cluding almner, aumoner, almoseir, 
almousser, almaser; almosner, almoisner, 
almosyner; almener, almonar, almoigner, 
aumere, amonerer. These are all round- 
about from Latin eleemosynarius, relat- 
ing to alms; Greek eleos, compassion. 
Almoner was also the purse such a person 
carried; by extension, a bag, a purse. 
Other forms for alms were almose, almus, 



almuten 

almous. The almonry (see ambry) was the 
place where the alms were distributed; 
also almosery. Cavendish in THE LYFFE 

AND DEATH OF CARDYNAL WOOLSEY (1557) 

wrote: Now let us retorne agayn unto the 
almosyner, whose hed was full of subtyll 
wytt and pollecy. 

almuten. The prevailing planet in a 
horoscope. Cp. alfridary. Originally, the 
horoscope meant the point of the ecliptic 
just rising at the time of a person's birth; 
hence, the "house" then at that position; 
hence, one's future as forecast by the stars. 
The heavens were divided into 12 houses 
or sections of 30 each: life, riches, 
brethren, parents, children, health, mar- 
riage, death, religion, dignities, friends, 
enemies. The planet in the eighth house 
(at the time of one's birth) is called the 
anareta (accent on the nar; Greek anair- 
etes, destroyer). The apheta is the giver of 
life, which must counteract the anareta; 
it stems from Greek aphetes; aph, off + 
hienai, to send, the starter in the chariot 
race, hence, the one that starts a human 
on his life's journey. The twelve signs 
of the zodiac (Greek zodion, diminutive 
of zoon, animal; so called from their vari- 
ous names), which successively occupy the 
twelve houses, are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, 
Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagit- 
tarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. The 
Chinese named them more humbly: rat, 
ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, 
sheep, monkey, hen, dog, pig. The fault, 
dear Brutus, is not in our stars ... but 
the word disaster means that the star 
(aster) has not been shining. While 
almuten is the usual form, almute, with 
plural almutesj also occurs. 

alod. See allodium. 

alogy. Absurdity. From Greek alogia, 
from a, not + logos, reason. Sir Thomas 

34 



alow 

Browne in PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646) 
an inquiry into common errors, remarks 
that the error and alogy in this opinion 
is worse than in the last. An allogism, 
alogism is an instance of alogy, being an 
alogical or illogical statement. The poet 
Swinburne uses the Greek form as a suffix, 
in the title of his parodies: Heptalogia, 
or Seven Against Sense. 

a lostell. Disperse! A command for a 
crowd to go to their homes, or soldiers to 
their quarters; used also by heralds to 
the finished fighters at a tournament. 
From Old French a I'ostel (whence Eng- 
lish hostel), to your quarters. The Kyng, 
said Hall's CHRONICLES (1548) caused the 
her aides to cry a lostell, and every man to 
departe. Old ostel t hostel, became hotel, 
and gave Sarah Bernhardt her one pun. 
When she became famous, the public 
wished to know whether she was married 
to the man she was living with. No one 
dared ask, but one reporter ventured to 
inquire: " Where were you married, 
Madame Bernhardt?" Knowing his intent, 
the actress mischievously replied: Natu- 
rellement, a Vautell (Naturally, at the 
altar altar, in French, having the same 
sound as hotel). Cp. hostelity. 

alow. (1) To lower, lessen. Also allow. 
Used in the 16th century, as in Wyatt's 
PSALMS (1541): Whereby he . . . gynneth 
to alowe his payne and penitence. (2) 
Ablate, in flame. Used in the 13th cen- 
tury; revived by Scott in THE HEART OF 
MIDLOTHIAN (1818): To speak to him 
about that . . . wad be to set the kiln alow. 
From a, in, on + low, flame. Low (logh, 
lawe, lou; Aryan root lauk, akin to light) 
was a common word for flame or blaze 
into the 16th century, much later in Scot- 
land. Burns in his VISION (1785) says: By 
my ingle lowe I saw . . . a tight, out- 
landish hizzie. Kipling used the word in 



alp 

BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS (1892). In a low, 

on fire. To take a low, to catch fire, liter- 
ally or figuratively. 

alp. In addition to the mountains (which 
are probably from Latin albiiSj white, 
whence also perfidious Albion: the white 
cliffs o Dover) alp (alpe, awbe, olph) 
meant (1) a bullfinch; 15th to 17th cen- 
tury; (2) an elephant; elp. Hence alpes- 
bone, ivory; 13th century; (B) a bogie, 
nightmare; BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGA- 
ZINE of 1836 mentioned those alps and 
goblins, those nixies and wood-nymphs. 

alphin. See alfin. 
alphitomancy. See aeromancy. 
Alsatia. See bonaroba. 

alsauf. Without fail. Literally, all safe. 
The CHRONICLE of Robert of Gloucester 
(1297) recorded: The kyng . . . bed hym 
alsauf to hym to Gloucestre wende. 

als ob. See ob. 

altam. A variant form of autem (mort), 
q.v. 

altiloquence. Pompous discourse. In the 
18th century dictionaries. A criticism of 
1808 spoke of elegant archaisms . . . con- 
taining an altisonant altiloquence. Altilo- 
quent and altisonant are synonyms; altilo- 
quious means talking much and loud. 
There is more merit in altitonant speech; 
the word is applied to the gods "thunder- 
ing from on high/' Thus Cowley in THE 
GUARDIAN (1641): Hear, thou altitonant 
]ove, and Muses three. 

altitonant. See altiloquence. 

alveary. A company of busy workers; a 
moriumental work, such as an encyclo- 
pedia. (From Latin alvearium, a range of 
beehives; alveus, a hollow vessel, hence 

35 



amarant 

a beehive. Also Latin alvus, womb; hence 
English alvary, womb, lap, as in Barn- 
field's CASSANDRA, 1595: From his soft 
bosom, th' alvary of bliss.) Baret, in 1580, 
used the word alveary of an interlingual 
dictionary (English, Latin, French, and 
Greek), which, for the apt similitude be- 
tween the good scholars and diligent bees 
in gathering their wax and honey into 
their hive, I called then their alvearie. 
For another quotation from Baret, see 
prick (11). By an equal similitude, 
anatomists call the hollow of the ear, 
where wax accumulates, the alveary. 

amabyr. See amober. 

amand. To send away, dismiss. Latin a,, 
ob, off -h mandare, to order. R. Carpenter 

in THE PRAGMATICAL JESUIT NEW-LEVEN*D 

(1665) wrote: I will amand . . . thee to 
some vast and horrid desert. Hence 
amandation., dismissal; the act of sending 
on an errand. 

amanse. To curse, to excommunicate. 
Old English a, away -f mansum, familiar; 
literally, to put out of familiarity. Cp. 
manse. Used until the 14th century (Bede, 
9th century; THE OWL AND THE NIGHTIN- 
GALE, 13th). Hence, amanse d, amansumod, 
anathematized, excommunicated; amans- 
ing) curse, excommunication. 

amarant. The amaranthus (as though 
from Greek a, not + mar, mortal + an- 
thos, flower) was a legendary flower that 
never faded; then the word was used 
figuratively. Drummond of Hawthornden 
speaks (1630) of th' immortal amaranthus; 
Milton uses this form in LYCIDAS (1637), 
but in PARADISE LOST (1667) he exclaims: 
Immortal amaranth! a flower which once 
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life Began 
to bloom. Southey in the QUARTERLY RE- 
VIEW of 1815 says: His laurels are entwined 
with the amaranths of righteousness. 



amaritude 



ambidextrous 



Amaranth is still used in botany, of a 
flower; also, of its purple color. See 
asphodel. There is also an adjective 
amarant(h)ine, meaning immortal, unfad- 
ing. Cowper in HOPE (1781) declares that 
hope Plucks amaranthine joys from 
bowers of bliss. May yours be likewise! 

amaritude. Bitterness. From Latin amari- 
tude, from amarus, bitter. Used from 
about 1450 to 1700, as in Speed's HIS- 
TORY OF GREAT BRITAIN (1611): 
with much more bleeding amaritude of 
spirit. The adjective amarous (accented 
on the second syllable), bitter, hard to be 
appeased, though found only in diction- 
aries, is a useful word; it must not be 
confused with amorous, in love, from 
Latin amor, love though this state often 
leads to the other. 

amate. (1) To dismay, dishearten, daunt. 
Common in the 16th century; from Old 
French a, to + mater; mat, downcast. Re- 
vived by Keats (1821): A half -blown 
flow'ret which cold blasts amate. (2) amate, 
to match, equal, be a mate to. Spenser 
in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) has Many a 
jolly paramoure, The which them did in 
modest wise amate. Note that while amat- 
ing meant dismaying, daunting, amation 
is listed in 17th century dictionaries as 
meaning wanton love. Latin amor, love; 
amare, amatum, to love (only fortui- 
tously related to amare, bitter, cp. amari- 
tude). Thus amatorian, amatorious, 
older forms of amatory, loving, pertain- 
ing to love. In the 17th century, amatory 
was also used to mean a love-potion. An 
amatorculist was a man that trifled with 
women's affections, a Don Juan, a 'gen- 
eral lover/ Also amorevolous (17th cen- 
tury), loving tender, affectionate. Thomas 
Heywood in THE HIERARCHIE OF THE 
BLESSED ANGELLS (1635) listed magicke vani- 
ties, exorcisms, incantations, amatories. 

36 



amathomancy. See aeromancy. 
amatorculist. See amate. 

ambage. Circumlocution, equivocation. 
Usually used in the plural, ambages, 
from Latin amb~, about + agere, to drive. 
Ambage was used in the Renaissance as 
a term in rhetoric, periphrasis, or round- 
about discourse. It may be used literally, 
of winding paths; or figuratively of in- 
direct ways and delaying practices. Bacon 

in THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING (1605) 

gave the formula: by ambages of diets, 
bathings, anointings, etc., prolong life. 
Sir Francis Palgrave, in THE HISTORY OF 

NORMANDY AND OF ENGLAND (1857) CUt 

through the ambagious obscurity: He 
commenced by a few politic ambages, or 
to speak more plainly lies. Hence 
ambagical, ambaginous, ambagious, 
ambagitory, roundabout; winding; cir- 
cumlocutory. Thus ambagiosity. Scott in 
WAVERLEY (1814) wrote: Partaking of what 
scholars call the periphrastic and ambagi- 
tory, and the vulgar the circumbendibus. 

ambesas. Two aces, the lowest throw 
at dice. Latin ambo, q.v. Hence, to cast 
an ambesas, to have bad luck. Used 10th 
to 14th century, as in THE LIFE OF BEKET, 
13th century. Also ambezas; ambsace, 
ambes aas, aumsase, almsace, amsace, 
ame's ace, and the like. Shakespeare in 
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1601) has: 
I had rather be in this choice than throw 
ames-ace for my life. Lowell in AMONG 
MY BOOKS (1870) speaks of a lucky throw 
of words which may come up the sices 
of hardy metaphor or the ambsace of con- 
ceit. 

ambidextrous. The earlier form, both 
as an adjective and as a noun (the per- 
son) , is ambidexter (in the 17th century 
usually ambo dexter) from Latin ambo, 
both + dexter, right-hand. And those 



ambient 



amel 



that know the meaning "able to use both 
hands alike" may be surprised that the 
first English use of the word (1532) signi- 
fied double-dealing; or, in the law courts, 
a juror that took bribes from both sides. 
Thus De Foe in 1731 spoke of those 
ambodexters in religion, who can any- 
thing dispute, yet anything can do. 

ambient. As a noun. The atmosphere; 
an encompassing circle or sphere; by ex- 
tension, a 'hanger around/ a suitor or 
aspirant. Bishop Hall in CONFIRMATION 
(1649) asked: What fair-like confluences 
have we there seen of zealous ambientsf 
Latin amb-, on both sides, around + 
lent em, present participle of ire, to go. 
The noun is a special use of the adjec- 
tive, ambient, turning round; surround- 
ing. 

ambigu. An entertainment where the 
various courses are served together, the 
viands and the desserts at the same time. 
The term was used during the 17th and 
18th centuries; the practice continues at 
parties and picnics. 

ambilevous. See ambo. Accented on the 
lee. 

ambiloquent. Double-tongued, compe- 
tent in "double talk." From Latin ambi-, 
both + loquor, to talk. The great num- 
ber of those that can and do take 
either side of an argument makes this 
a good word to revive. It is accented on 
the second syllable. 

ambo. The pulpit or reading desk in 
early Christian churches; usually a raised 
oblong enclosure with steps at both ends. 
Also ambon; plural ambos or (three 
syllables) ambones. Greek ambon, a ris- 
ing; anaba-, go up. Milton in 1641 ex- 
claimed: The admirers of antiquity have 
been beating their brains about their 



ambones. Note that Latin ambo (as in 
the quotation Arcades ambo, Arcadians 
both) meaning both, is a frequent prefix 
in English (ambosexous, hermaphrodite) 
in the form ambi-, as in ambiguous; 
ambiloquent; ambidextrous and its op- 
posite ambilevous, doubly lefthanded, 
also ambisinistrous, ambilaevous; hence, 
uncommonly awkward. 

ambry. A place for keeping things; a 
cupboard; especially, a place for keeping 
food. Thus an ambry of hair was a meat- 
safe lined with haircloth. Also aumbry; 
from Latin armarium, a place for keep- 
ing arms and armor, then clothing, etc. 
(The sound b frequently slips into words, 
e.g., Latin numerus, English number.} 
Ambry was a common English word, with 
a dozen spellings, from the 14th to the 
mid- 19th century. Through the 17th and 
18th century, ambry was sometimes used 
as a short form of almonry, the place in a 
church or palace from which alms were 
distributed. Cp. almoner. Stanyhurst in 
his AENEIS (1583) uses ambry of the Trojan 
horse into which the Greeks "rammed a 
number of hardy tough knights/' The 
word was also used figuratively; Earl 
Rivers in THE DICTES OF THE PHILOSOPHERS 
(1477) says The tongue is the door of the 
almerye of sapience. Langland in PIERS 
PLOWMAN (1393) points out that avarice 
hath almaries and yre-bounden [iron- 
bound] co f res. The ambry appeared also 
as almary; a little closet was an almariole. 

ambsace. See ambesas. 

amel. An early form of enamel. Used 
from the 14th century; also ammel, 
aumayl, amall; anmaile and esmayle were 
also used in the 16th century, before 
they were superseded by enamel. The 
forms are via Old French esmail from a 
Teutonic root smalti, to smelt. The word 



amerce 



was often applied figuratively; Phineas 
Fletcher in THE PURPLE ISLAND (1633) men- 
tioned Heav'ns richest diamonds, set in 
ammel white. 

amerce. To fine. Also amercement, a 
penalty, fine. From the French phrase a 
merci, at the mercy of. To be amerced 
was to be at some one's mercy as to the 
penalty one must pay; to amerce was to 
set an arbitrary penalty. (Often this was 
lighter than could have been exacted.) 
Chaucer uses various forms, as in THE 
PARSON'S TALE (1386): Else take they of 
their bondman amerciament which might 
more reasonably be cleped extortions 
than amerciments. Grote, in his HISTORY 
OF GREECE (1849) speaks of the defeat, the 
humiliation, and the amercement of the 
Carthaginians. The words are now mainly 
legal or historical, though it has been 
asked, in recent humorous verse: May a 
miss amerce a mister if he missed her for 
a kiss? See also affeer. 

ames-ace. See ambesas. 
amess. See amice. 

amethodist. A person that follows no 
rational procedure; applied often to a 
quack doctor. Used in the 17th century; 
Whitlock in ZOOTOMIA, OR OBSERVATIONS 

ON THE PRESENT MANNERS OF THE ENGLISH 

(1654) observed: It cannot be lookt for, 
that these empirical amethodists should 
understand the order of art, or the art of 
order. 

amfractuous. See anfractuous. 

amice. Two words fused in this one 
which also took other forms: amess, amict, 
amit, ammas, ames, amysse, ammesse, and 
more. One form came, perhaps, from 
Arabic al, the + German mutse, cap. The 
other came from Latin amictus, some- 

38 



amiss 

thing thrown around; amicere, amictus, 
to throw or wrap around; amb, about 
+ iacere (iaciere), to throw. The first 
meaning, from the Latin, was a scarf, a 
kerchief, or other loose wrap; then, in 
church use, an oblong of white linen for 
the head and neck, later the neck and 
shoulders. In religious costume symbolism 
this was taken as the 'helmet of salva- 
tion'; although this was disputed by 
protestant Tindale, who in his ANSWER TO 
SIR THOMAS MORE'S DIALOGUE (1530) said: 
The amice on the head is the kerchief 
that Christ was blindfolded with . . . 
now it may well signify that he that 
putteth it on is blinded, and hath pro- 
fessed to lead us after him in darkness. 
From the other source, am ice was a part 
of the religious costume (originally a cap) 
lined with gray fur; later, a hood or a 
cape with a hood. Marriott in his study 
of church costume, VESTIARIUM CHRIS- 
TIANUM (1868) tries to keep the two apart: 
Of similar origin is the amess, often con- 
fused with the amice. Sometimes the word 
amice was used of the fur with which the 
garment was lined (marten or gray 
squirrel). Since the 17th century, if a 
distinction is drawn, the fur-lined article 
is called a gray amice. This was used 
figuratively by Milton in PARADISE RE- 
GAINED (1671): Morning fair Came forth 
with pilgrim steps in amice gray. For a 
use by Francis Thompson, see thurifer. 

amicitial. Relating to friendship; 
friendly. Also amicous. Used in the 17th 
century. Latin amicitia, friendship; ami- 
cus, friend; amare, amatum, to love. 
These forms were superseded by amical 
and amicable; the latter, however, is a 
late variation of amiable; similarly, ap- 
pliable existed before applicable. 

amiss. As a noun. An error; an evil 
deed. Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) says: 



amit 



amoret 



Each toy seemes prologue to some great 
amisse. For another instance, see can- 
tharides. 

amit. See amice. 

amiture. The O.E.D. defines this as 
clothing, dress; as from Latin amicire, 
amictum, to cover, from amb-, about H- 
iacere, to throw, whence also English 
amict, also amice, q.v.; amit, a kerchief, 
a cloth for enveloping the head, or cov- 
ering the neck and shoulders. Thus in 
KYNG ALYSAUNDER (13th century) we find: 
Yursturday thow come in amiture. Her- 
bert Coleridge, however, referring to the 
same passage in his DICTIONARY OF THE 

OLDEST WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

(1863), defines amiture as friendship (as 
from Latin amicus, friend, whence also 
amity. Both meanings fit the use of the 
word in English. 

ammove. To move away. Supplanted by 
remove, which literally meant to move 
back. Ammove was not found by the com- 
pilers of the O.E.D. It occurs in a muni- 
cipal order in York (1476), calling four 
players in the mystery cycle to examen all 
the players and plays and pageants. And 
all such as they shall find sufficient in 
person and connyng, to the honour of the 
city, and worship of the said crafts, to 
admit; and all other insufficient persons, 
either in connyng, voice or person to dis- 
charge, ammove and avoid. Connyng was 
sometimes an old form of cunning, which 
then meant skilful, but here it is the 
noun from the verb to con, to learn (by 
repetition). 

amnicolist. See amnigenous. 

amnigenous. From Latin amnis, river 
+ genus, born, this word signifying born 
by a river, like Moses, Shakespeare and 
me, or born on a river, was copied in 

39 



Johnson's DICTIONARY from Bailey's (1731). 
It is a good but apparently unused word. 
Also amnicolist, one that dwells by a 
river. Both are accented on the second 
syllable. 

ainober. The maiden-fee, formerly pay- 
able to a lord (in Wales) on the marriage 
of a maid of his manor. From Welsh am 
+ wobr, gwobr, reward. The lord had the 
right primae noctis, of the first night, 
when virgins of his household were mar- 
ried; if the husband wished to have that 
privilege, he had to buy his bride's vir- 
ginity with the amober. Another spelling 
of the word for this practice, or for the 
fee, is amabyr. 

amoebaean. Alternately answering; of 
verse in which two speak alternately. Also 
amoebean, accent on the be. Greek 
amoibaios, interchanging; amoibe, change, 
whence the volatile amoeba. THE SATUR- 
DAY REVIEW of 25 May, 1861, spoke of 
that amoebean exchange of witticisms be- 
tween the Bench and the Bar. THE CORN- 
HILL MAGAZINE of January 1883 said that 
Spring and Winter sing an amoebean ode. 

amoret. This word has a number of 
lovely senses, from French amourette, 
diminutive of amour, love; Latin amorem. 
(1) A sweetheart, a girl in love. (2) A 
paramour, a mistress. (3) A love-knot or 
other amorous decoration. (4) A love- 
song or sonnet. (5) Loving glance or dalli- 
ance; allurement, love-play. The Italian 
form (masculine) amoretto, similarly has 
several meanings as an English word: (1) 
A lover. (2) A love song. Spenser entitled 
his sonnets (1596) AMORETTI. (3) A game 
or play of love. (4) A Cupid, in statue or 
painting. For this, the word amorino was 
also used. Other forgotten words drawn 
from Latin amorem, both of the 17th 
century, are arnQrevolous (via Italian 



amorevolus 



anacampserote 



from amorem + volo, I want), loving; 
and amoring, love-making. Also amorist, 
a specialist in love-making, like jolly 
Dan who's determined to know a lass of 
every land. Sidney, in a Sonnet of 1581, 
exclaims: Faint amorist! What, dost thou 
think To taste love's honey and not drink 
One dram of gall? Like all Gaul, the 
realm of the amorist is divided into three 
parts: anticipation, exploration, disillu- 
sion. Amoret was spelled amorit in Lodge's 
ROSALYNDE (1590), from which Shakespeare 
drew the plot of AS YOU LIKE IT. Thus 
Rosalynde's eyes were sparkling favour 
and disdaine, courteous and yet coy, as 
if in them Venus had placed all her 
amorits, and Diana all her chastity. 

amorevolus. See amate; amoret. 

amoroso. A lover. This is the Italian 
word, used in English in the 17th and 
early 18th centuries. (In the 15th century, 
amorous was used as a noun, a lover.) 

A RICH CABINET FURNISHED WITH VARIETIE 
OF EXCELLENT DISCRETIONS (1616) re- 

counted that Nobody many times maketh 
the good man cuckold, for though his 
wife's amoroso have beene at home all 
day, yet if hee aske who hath beene there, 
she answer eth suddenly, nobody, who 
should be here, I say againe, sweete hart, 
nobody. In opposite vein Polyphemus the 
Cyclops was misunderstood, when his fel- 
low Cyclopes asked who had blinded 
him; they took his answer, 'No-man/ to 
imply that it was one of the gods. (As a 
matter of fact, the gods had dropped out 
of the picture: when asked his name 
Odysseus sloughed the Zeus, replying 
Odys, which means no man.) 
amort. See alamort 
amphisbaena. A serpent with a head at 
each end. From Greek amphis, both 
ways + bainein, to go. Poets have 
favored the ancient creature: Milton (see 

40 



ellops); Pope, in THE DUNCIAD (1728): 
Thus amphisbaena (I have read) At 
either end assails: None knows which 
leads, or which is led, For both heads 
are but tails; Tennyson more seriously in 
QUEEN MARY (1878): For heretic and 
traitor are all one: Two vipers of one 
breed an amphisbaena, Each end a sting. 
The figurative use still has its uses. 

amphiscii. The dwellers in the torrid 
zone, whose shadows fall northward or 
southward according to the season and 
the sun. Also amphiscians. From Greek 
amphi, on both sides + skia, shadow. 
One of them is an amphiscius, amphis- 
cian. 

amygdaline. This pleasant but ever 
neglected word means relating to the 
almond, which from the 10th to the 13th 
century was also called an amygdaL Greek 
amygdale, almond; also (from its shape) 
a tonsil. Hence amygdalate, made of 
almonds; also as a noun, almond-milk, 
which, heated, makes a delicious dessert- 
broth in China. Amygdaliceous, amygda- 
laceous, amygdalicious, relating to the 
almond. Amygdaliferous, almond-bearing; 
amygdaloid, almond-shaped, also a rock 
with mineral nodes (agate, etc.) the shape 
of almonds, Amygdalitis, however, is ton- 
sillitis. It would be pleasant to rest, of a 
late Spring twilight, within an amygda- 
line grove. 

anabiotic. A restorative; a tonic, a 
stimulant. Greek ana, again + biotikos, 
pertaining to life. Anabiosis, recovery; re- 
turn to life after death (as Lazarus) or 
seeming death. Greek anabioein, to come 
to life again. 

anacampserote. An herb that restores 
departed love. From Greek ana, again 
-f camptein, to bend 4- erot-, love. Mot- 
teux says, in his translation (1708) of 



anacamptic 

Rabelais: Let's taste some of these ana- 
campserotes that hang over our heads. He 
was not referring to the mistletoe. Ana- 
campserotes now are harder to find than 
four-leaf clovers. 

anacamptic. Producing or undergoing 
reflection, as a ball or sound from a wall, 
and light from a surface. From Greek 
ana, back + camptein, to bend. Echoes, 
said the 18th century physicists, are 
sounds produced anacamptically. Ana- 
camp tics is the branch of acoustics or 
optics that deals with reflection, ana- 
campsts. I once saw a deer, on a frozen 
lake, turn and advance toward the 
hunter because the far-off anacamptic 
forest echoed the shot. 

anachorism. Something out of place in 
a reference to a land, as lions in Bo- 
hemia, or a seaport in Switzerland; also, 
the fact of such a misplaced reference, in 
a literary work. Greek ana, back + 
chorion, country, place. Lowell in THE 
BIGLOW PAPERS (1862) spoke of opinions 
that were anachronisms and anachorisms, 
foreign both to the age and to the coun- 
try. Anachronism, Greek chronos, time: 
as a wrist watch on Julius Caesar. 

anachronism. See anachorism. Also (17th 
century) anachronicism. 

anadem. A wreath, a garland, a 
circlet of flowers for the hair. Greek 
ana, together, up 4- deein, to bind; 
Greek diadeein, to bind around, gave us 
English diadem. Used from the 17th cen- 
tury. Shelley in ADONAIS (1821) has: 
Another dipt her profuse locks, and 
threw The wreath upon him, like an 
anadem. In the 17th century the form 
anadesm was used for a surgeon's 
bandage. 



anareta 

Also analeptical. Used since the 17th cen- 
tury, mainly in medicine. In sundialling 
and astronomical calculation, the form 
analemma was used; first it meant the 
pedestal of the sundial, then the dial; 
also, an astrolabe. Greek analemma, a 
support; analeptikos, restorative; ana, up, 
back + lambanein, to take. THE EDIN- 
BURGH REVIEW in 1805 noted that sage is 
analeptic. 

anapes. From Naples; originally (15th 
century) of cloth, fustian a napes, fustian 
o' (of) Naples. The term later -became cor- 
rupted; Middleton (WORKS; 1627) com- 
plained: One of my neighbors . . . set 
afire my fustian and apes breeches. Hav- 
ing lost its meaning, it lost its usefulness. 

anaphroditous. Without sexual desire; 
accent on the die. Greek an, not 4- Aphro- 
ditos, love. Hence anaphroditic, "de- 
veloped without concourse of sexes," as 
the O.E.D. phrases it; and the current 
anaphrodisiac, antaphrodisiac, something 
that lessens or removes sexual desire. 

anaplerosis. The making up of a de- 
ficiency. Hence anaplerotic, that which 
makes up a deficiency (current in medi- 
cine, of deficiencies in tissue, as with an 
ulcer) ; anaplerotical. Greek ana, again 
+ pleroun, to make full, pleres, full, 
whence English pleroma, plenitude, used 
in religion to mean the spiritual universe 
as filled with the totality of the divine 
powers and emanations. Thus Lightfoot 

in his COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS (II, 9: 

1875) observed: The ideal church is the 
pleroma of Christ, and the militant church 
must strive to become the pleroma. Used 
since the 17th century; Henry More in 

APOCALYPSIS APOCALYPSEOS (1680) WTOtC 

respecting the voices of the three angels, 
and anapleroses of them. 



analeptic. Strengthening, restorative, anareta. See almuten. 

41 



anagrif 



ancile 



anagrif. According to the laws of the 
Longobards, this otherwise unused word 
meant rape. Also anagriph. Bailey (1751) 
defines it as the lying with an unmarried 
woman. 

anamnesis. Recollection; memory. From 
Greek ana, back + mna-, call to mind, 
from menos, mind: anamimenokein, to 
remember. In rhetoric, a figure of speech: 
the dwelling upon past joys or sorrows. 
In medicine: (1) the story the patient tells 
of his illness, as in diagnosis from anam- 
nesis (1876); (2) in anamnestic symptoms, 
phenomena recurring and remembered, 
by which the present condition is clari- 
fied (1879). Anamnetics are medicines, or 
exercises, to aid the memory. In religion, 
the doctrine (from Plato) that the soul 
had an earlier existence in a purer state, 
where its basic ideas came to it. Anam- 
nesis is not to be confused with amnesia, 
loss of memory: a-, back, away + mna-. 

ananyin. A name written backward: 
Revel; Serutan. Etymologically the form 
should be anonym, from Greek ana-, back 
+ onoma, name; but anonym is used 
with quite other meaning. A man may, 
however, use an ananym seeking to remain 
anonymous. 

anatocism. Compound interest. Term 
used in the 17th and 18th centuries for 
the "y ear ty revenue of usury, and taking 
usury for usury/' From Greek ana-, back, 
again + tokos, interest. (Literally this 
tokos meant something produced, from 
tiktein, tektein, whence all our technolo- 
gies and techniques, not to mention 
(puro-, pyro-, fire) our pyrotechnics. Or 
consult any bank. (The accent falls on the 
second syllable.) 

anatomy. From the 16th century: a 
skeleton; a skeleton with the skin on; 
a mummy; a withered lifeless form; a 



'walking skeleton/ a person all skin and 
bone. In these senses, often atomy, q.v. 
Shakespeare uses the word in several 
senses. It was also used figuratively, as 
in PAPPE WITH A HATCHET (1589) So like 
the verie anatomie of mischiefe, that one 
might see through all the ribbes of his 
conscience. Shelley in EPIPSYCHIDION (1821) 
pictures Incarnate April, warning . . . 
Frost the anatomy Into his summer grave. 

anchesoun. Occasion, reason, motive, 
cause. Later and more commonly en- 
cheason; also ancheisun, ancheysone, and 
the like. Earlier achesoun; via Old French 
from Latin occasionem, occasion. The 
ancheysoun forms were used in the ANCREN 
RIWLE (1230) and the AYENBITE OF INWIT 
(REMORSE OF CONSCIENCE; 1340). 

anchor. An early variant of anchoret, 
anchoress; used from the 10th century. 
Hence anchorhouse, anchorage, anchor- 
idge, an anchoret's cell, a monastery or 
nunnery. The word took many forms, in- 
cluding ancra, anker, ankyr; the plural is 
well known from the book (1230) ANCREN 
RIWLE, Rule of Nuns. The longer forms 
superseded anchor after Shakespeare, who 
has the Player Queen in HAMLET (1602) 
exclaim: To desperation turn my trust and 
hope, An anchor's cheer in prison be my 
scope. 

anchoret. See eremite. Also anchorite, 
anachorete. 

ancile. The sacred shield of the Romans. 
Like the Stone of Scone, it was said to 
have fallen from heaven, and upon its 
possession hung the power of the city. 
The Trojans had, similarly dropped from 
heaven, an image of the goddess Pallas, 
called the palladium, on which their 
safety hung. It is reputed to have been 
borne (like Anchises) from the city 
doomed by more potent signs, and ulti- 

42 



ancilla 



anele 



mately brought to Rome. Gower in the 
CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1390) reports that the 
priest Thoas . . . Hath suffered Anthenor 
to come And the palladion to steal. 
Thence the word palladium has been used 
of anything on which the safety of a 
nation or whatnot may be said to de- 
pend. Thus, for England: Hume in 1761 
remarked: This stone was care-fully pre- 
served at Scone as the true palladium of 
their monarchy; Blackstone in 1769 stated 
that the liberties of England cannot but 
subsist, so long as this palladium [trial 
by jury] remains sacred and inviolate; 
and McCulloch in 1845 declared that the 
Habeas Corpus act (is) denominated the 
palladium of an Englishman's liberty. It's 
good to have one! The element palladium 
was named in 1803, from the goddess, but 
via the newly discovered asteroid named 
Pallas; likewise named from gods via stars 
are plutonium and cerium. Cp. Palladian. 

ancilla. A maidservant Directly from 
Latin ancilla, diminutive of early Latin 
anca, servant. A word in the 19th cen- 
tury world of fashion; M. Collins in THE 
INN OF STRANGE MEETINGS (1871) says: The 
pert ancilla flutters foolish feet. Similarly 
affected in the 19th century was the adjec- 
tive, ancillary, as used by Thackeray and 
others, e.g. Charles D. Badham in PROSE 
HALIEUTICS (1854): Ancillary reformation 
has not yet begun to be thought of; cats 
are no more detrimental to mice . . . 
than these smashing wenches to . . . 
Sevres teacups. Much earlier, these words 
had legitimate use. In CHAUCER'S ABC 
(1365) we find: From his ancille he made 
the mistress of heaven and earth; and 
ancelle to the lord was a frequent phrase, 
in both lay and religious reference. The 
adjective is still used, in the sense of sub- 
servient or subordinate, as a teacher's an- 
cillary licence. The word has recently 

43 



been revivified (1954) as the title of Moses 
Hadas' learned volume, ANCILLA to 

CLASSICAL READING. 

ancipitous. Doubtful. From Latin an, 
am, ambi, both (as in ambiguous, ambi- 
dextrous) + capit-, head. A 17th century 
term, used in astrology when a planet 
hung hesitant over one's birth, whether 
to tip toward evil or toward good. The 
form ancipitate is used literally of two- 
headed things; the form ancipital means 
having two sharp edges, like certain 
blades of steel or grass. 

anconal. Relating to the ancon, the el- 
bow. Also anconeal, anconeous. Hence 
anconoid, elbow-like. Greek ankon, a 
nook, a bend; the elbow. 

ancren. See anchor. 

and. Sometimes used to mean if; in this 
sense, more often an. For an illustration 
of this use, see the Shakespeare quotation 
for very. 

anecdotographer. Obviously, one who 
writes down anecdotes. The word, used 
but once, by F. Spence in 1686, belongs 
to our era of the gossip-columnist. Anec- 
dotes, by the way, originally meant secret 
and unpublished details of history. The 
word is from Greek an, not 4- ekdotos, 
published, from ek (ex)- out 4- didonai, to 
give. Procopius called by the term Anec- 
dota his "unpublished memoirs" of the 
private life of the court of Emperor 
Justinian; from this use, the term was 
applied to brief personal episodes, the 
tidbits of the anecdotographer. 

anele. To anoint; to administer the last 
anointing, the 'supreme unction/ to the 
dying [Unction; Latin ungere, unctum, to 
anoint; whence also unctuous, unguent. "\ 
Anele (also aneyle, anneal, aneal, aneil, 
enele) is from an, on + elien, to oil; Old 
English ele, oele, oil; Latin oleum, 



anend 

whence also petroleum (rock oil). See 
unaneled. 

anend. At the end; to the end, straight 
through; on end, upright. Shakespeare 
uses the word in the first and the third 
senses; the third in HENRY vi, PART TWO 
(1593) Mine hair be fixed anend, like one 
distract. Richardson shows the second 
sense in CLARISSA HARLOWE (1748) of a man 
who would ride a hundred miles anend 
to enjoy it. The use lasted to Coleridge, 
and well into the 19th century. 

anenst. Over against, against, towards. 
Also anempst, aneynst; these are variants, 
in form and meaning of anent, q.v. 
Thomas Keyword in TROIA BRITANICA 
(1609) wrote: Foure times the brazen horse, 
entring, stuck fast Anenst the ruin'd 
guirdle of the towne. 

anent. Originally this meant on even 
ground with (Old English on efen, on 
emn); by 1200 it had acquired the final t. 
From the original sense it came to mean 
in company with, in the sight of; then 
it was applied to position beside or facing 
something therefore (its latest sense) "re- 
garding," in respect to. Cp. anenst. In 
WyclifFs BIBLE, MARK (1382) we read that 
all things ben possible anemptis God. 
Scott in THE ABBOTT (1820) writes: Nor is 
it worth while to vex oneself anent what 
cannot be mended. 

anerithmoscope. A magic lantern to dis- 
play any number of successively shown 
pictorial advertisements, changed electri- 
cally. Greek anerithmos, countless; an, 
not + arithmos, number -f skopos, ob- 
serving (whence also many other words 
with scope). A primitive (19th century) 
anticipatory form of television. 



angelica 

The can-can exposed upper reaches of 
her nether extremities. 

anfractuous. Winding, involved, cir- 
cuitous. The Latin anfractus, a breaking 
round, a bending, from an-, amb-, about 
-h frangere, fractus, to break, led to sev- 
eral English forms. Anfractuosity, cir- 
cuitousness, was usually used in the 
plural, to mean winding crevices or 
passages. A winding route (as in Coryat's 
CRUDITIES, 1611) was an anfract, or an an- 
fracture. Sometimes the forms are spelled 
with an m, amfractuous, as in Bailey's 
DICTIONARY (1751). Urquhart in THE DIS- 
COVERY OF A MOST EXQUISITE JEWEL (1652) 

revels in the sweet labryinth and melli- 
fluent anfractuosities of a lascivious de- 
lectation. Henry More, in DIVINE DIA- 
LOGUES (1667) prefers to ponder: So intri- 
cate, so anfractuous, so unsearchable are 
the ways of Providence. Boswell (1780) 
tells us that Johnson once remarked: Sir, 
among the anfractuosities of the human 
mind I know not if it may not be one, 
that there is a superstitious reluctance to 
sit for a picture. In anatomy, scientists 
still speak of the anfractuous cavities of 
the ear, and call by the term anfractuosi- 
ties the sinuous depressions separating the 
convolutions of the brain. T. S. Eliot, 
in Sweeney Erect (1920) cries Paint me the 
bold anfractuous rocks Faced by the 
snarled and yelping seas. It is a good, an- 
fractuous word. 

angard. Proud, boastful; boastfulness, 
arrogance. There may be a relation to Old 
Norse agjarn, insolence; there is no rela- 
tion (though some confusion) with 
angered. Used in the 14th and 15th cen- 
turies, as in THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY 

(1400): Angers me full evyll your angard 
desyre. 



anether. To lower; humiliate. Nether is 
still used, in the literal sense of neath, low 
(whence underneath); nether, lower, as: angelica. See angel-water. 

_ 44 



angelot 

angelot. (1) A musical instrument, like 
a lute, used in the 17th century and in 
Browning's Sordello (1863). (2) a gold 
coin of France, minted by Louis IX; also 
by the English King Henry VI in Paris. 
It bore a representation of St. Michael 
subduing a dragon. From French angelot, 
diminutive of Latin angelus, angel; Greek 
aggelos, messenger (the angels were the 
messengers of God). (3) a small cheese, 
first made in Normandy, stamped with 
the coin, the angelot. Various recipes exist 
for the making of angelots, angellet . . . 
and within a quarter of a year they will 
be ready to eat. 

angel-water. A perfume, fashionable in 
the 17th century. Also used as "a curious 
wash to beautify the skin." Short for 
angelica-water. The aromatic angelica 
(Medieval Latin herba angelica) was cul- 
tivated in England, after 1568, for cook- 
ing, for medicine it was used as an anti- 
dote to poison and pestilence and for a 
candy made from its root. Harvey used the 
term figuratively in a letter of 1592: Con- 
verting the wormwood of just offence into 
the angelica of pure atonement. Sedley 
in BELLAMIRA (1687) exclaimed: I met the 
prettiest creature in new Spring Garden! 
her gloves right marshal, her petticoat of 
the new rich Indian stuffs . . . angel-water 
was the worst scent about her. 

anget. To recognize; to acknowledge. 
Appeared in several forms ongetan; 
anndgaeten from the 10th to the 14th 
century. It is the opposite of forget, which 
word is still quite necessary. 

anhang. A 10th to 14th century form of 
hang. Chaucer uses it frequently, as in 
The Monk's Tale (1386): Anhanged was 
Croesus, the proud Kyng. 



anlace 

Old French from Latin ambi, on both 
sides, doubtfully 4- halare, halatus, to 
breathe, whence exhale. Thus anhelant, 
breathing; anheled, breathed out with 
effort; anhelose, anhelous, panting, out 
of breath. To anhele, to puff; to pant 
for; eagerly desire. The figurative use 
developed as early as 1425, in Wyntoun's 

THE ORYGYNALE CRONYKIL OF SCOTLAND: 

Constantynys sonnys three That anelyd to 
that ryawte [royalty]; the reference is to 
the story of the three princes that desired, 
and divided, their father's kingdom, with 
the legend of the three rings, superbly 
retold in Schiller's NATHAN THE WISE. 

anility. Dotage; a more scornful term 
than senility. Senility is from Latin senilis, 
senile, from senex, old man; anility is 
from Latin anilis, from anus (which if 
feminine meant old woman; if masculine, 
what she sat on). Hence, anilar, anile, 
anicular, like an old woman; over-fussy; 
imbecilic. BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE in 1841 
scoffed at the fopperies and anilities of 
fashion. Another instance of its use is at 
editrix. 

animalillio. A tiny creature, an animal- 
cule. Howell (in FAMILIAR LETTERS; 1650) 
wrote: As I was musing thus, I spyed a 
swarm of gnats waving up and down the 
ayr about me, which I knew to be part of 
the univers as well as I, and methought 
it was a strange opinion of our Aristotle 
to hold that the least of those small in* 
sected ephemerans should be more noble 
than the sun, because it had a sensitive 
soul in it, I fell to think that the same 
proportion which those animalillios bore 
with me in point of bignes, the same 1 
held with those glorious spirits which 
are near the throne of the Almighty. 



anhelation. Shortness of breath; pant- anlace. A short two-edged knife or dag- 
ing; hence, (panting after) aspiration. Via ger, tapering to a point. Matthew Paris 

45 



annes 

(1259) Latinized it as anelacius. Also 
anelas, analasse. Used into the 15th cen- 
tury. Blount in his 1656 GLOSSOGRAPHIA 
(retranslating Matthew Paris) spelled it 
anelate. The word was revived by Scott 
and Byron (CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, 
1812): The Spanish maid . . . the anlace 
hath espoused, Sung the loud song, and 
dared the deed of war. 

annes. Unity; concord, agreement; being 
by oneself, solitude. Also annesse, anes. 
Common until about 1300; revived in the 
17th century in the form oneness. 

anno. Latin, in the year of. Used in 
abbreviations, to indicate various dates. 
Quite current is anno Domini, in the year 
of our Lord the Christian era, A.D. Less 
commonly encountered are: anno 
hebraico, in the Hebrew year, A.H. anno 
hegirae, in the year of the hegira (Arabic 
hijrah, separation, flight; the reference 
is to the forced journey of Mohammed 
from Mecca to Medina, 622 A.D.), A.H. 
anno mundi, in the year of the world 
(dated from 4004 B.C.), A.M. anno orbis 
conditi, in the year of creation, a.o.c. 
anno urbis conditae, in the year of the 
founding of the city (the Roman calendar, 
set at 753 B.C.), A.u.a The last abbrevia- 
tion may also be read as ab urbe condita, 
from the founding of the city; either way, 
the date is the same. 

annothanize. See indubitate. The correct 
form, anatomize, is from Greek ana, apart 
4- torn-, to cut. An atom is that which 
cannot be cut, i.e. the indivisible remnant 
according to physics before the electron 
and the atom-bomb. 

annoyous. Vexatious. Supplanted in the 
16th century by annoying. Chaucer speaks, 
in THE PARSON'S TALE (1386) of anoyouse 
veniale synnes. Also ennoyous and noyous. 
The word is ultimately from inodiosus, 

46 



anon 

Latin in with intensifying force + 
odiosus from odium, hatred, aversion. 

annueler. A priest that celebrates anni- 
versary masses for the dead. Chaucer in 

THE CHANOUNS YEMANNES TALE (1386) SaVS 

In Londoun was a prest, an annuellere. 

annuent. Nodding; adapted to nodding 
(as the muscles of the neck) . Latin an- 
nuare, annuatum, to nod to. Thus 
annuate, to nod to; to direct by signs. 
Used in the 17th and 18th centuries. 

anomphalous. Without a navel. From 
Greek an-, without + omphalos, navel. 
Medieval pictures show an anomphalous 
Adam and an equally smooth-bellied Eve, 
and many were the arguments as to 
whether they were thus correctly depicted, 
"not wanting nourishment in the womb 
that way." 

anon. This word has shifted its sense. 
Originally Old English on an, into one; 
on ane, in one, it first meant in one com- 
pany, all together; in accord, in unity. 
Then, in one course, straight ahead. Anon 
to, even to, as far as. Anon so, anon as, 
as soon as ever; anon after, anon right, 
immediately, at once; soon anon, quickly. 
Thus from the 10th into the 15th century. 
Man, however, is a tardy creature; 
presently used to mean in the present 
instant, at once; anon followed the same 
course so that by the 16th century anon 
meant, in a little while, in a while. Also 
anon, here, at this time (opposed to 'at 
that time/ mentioned or understood); 
Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST 
(1588) has: Who now hangeth like a Jewell 
in the eare of Celo the skie . . . and anon 
falleth like a crab on the face of terra. 
Ever and anon, every now and then; in 
the same play ever and anon they made a 
doubt. 



anonymuncle 

anonymuncle. An anonymous writer of 
no account. Combining anonymous (From 
Greek an-, without 4- onyma, name) and 
the diminutive ending from Latin 
homunculus, a little man, from homo, 
man. Charles Reade in his ESSAYS AND 
STUDIES (1869) sneers at the anonymuncles 
that go scribbling about. Today, with 
less modesty, they sign their columns, and 
might be called scribuncles (with, if you 
please, a pun on their material) . 

anophysial. Supernatural; metaphysical. 
A rare form from Greek ano, above + 
physis, nature. 

anorexy. Lack of appetitie. From Greek 
an-, without + oregein, to reach for, de- 
sire. Richard Burton, in A MISSION TO 
GELELE, KING OF DAHOME (1864), rejoiced: 
We bade farewell to anorexy, 

anothergates. Of a different sort (a differ- 
ent "gate," or way) . Also another gaines, 
anotherguess, anotherguise, anotherkins. 
Sidney in ARCADIA (1580): // my father 
had not played the hasty fool ... 7 might 
have had anothergaines husband. Dryden 
in AMPHITRYON (1690): The truth on't is, 
she's anotherghess morsel than old Bromia. 
Butler in HUDIBRAS (1664): When Hudi- 
bras about to enter Upon anothergates 
adventure . . . 

anred. Steadfast, constant; having a 
single aim or purpose. Old English an, 
one + raed, counsel, purpose. Used from 
the 9th into the 13th century. Also 
anrednesse, anraednesse, onredness, stead- 
fastness; unanimity. 

ansal. Two-edged; cutting both ways. 
Used both literally and figuratively, from 
the 16th century, but not often. Latin 
ansa, handle (handles come in pairs). 
In English ansa, anse (plural arises, ansae) 
is used for the handle-like projects of 
the ring around the planet Saturn. John- 

47 



antepast 

son lists ansated (ansate), having handles, 
or something in the form of handles, but 
writers have seemed chary of its use. 

anserine. Pertaining to a goose; by ex- 
tension, stupid, foolish, silly. Also anser- 
ous. Latin anser, goose. Hood in his poem 
THE FORGE (1845) uses the word with refer- 
ence to "goose-flesh": No anserine skin 
would rise thereat, It's the cold that makes 
him shiver. Sydney Smith in a letter of 
1842 declared: He is anserous and asinine. 

anspessade. A petty officer in the in- 
fantry (17th and 18th century); originally 
a cavalier whose horse was killed under 
him he being then given minor rank on 
foot. The word was originally French 
lancespessade, after Italian lancia spezzata, 
broken lance; the I was misunderstood as 
the article le, the: I'ancespessade. Cole- 
ridge uses the term, anspessate, in his 

DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN (1800). Bailey's 

DICTIONARY (1751) gives lanspessade as 
well. 

antecedaneous. Happening before; pre- 
liminary. From Latin ante, before 4- 
cedere to go. The ending -aneous is 
formed as in contemporaneous, simultane- 
ous, coetaneous Cp. absentaneous. 

antejentacular. See jentacular. 

anteloquy. An actor's cue; a preface. 
From Latin ante, before + loquium, 
speech. Found only in the dictionaries, 
but even there sometimes (as in Cock- 
eram's of 1623) misspelled antiloquy. See 
antiloquist. 

antepast. Something taken before a meal, 
to whet the appetite. Hence, a fore- 
taste; a forerunner. Latin ante, before 
-h pascere, pastum, to feed; whence also 
repast, pasture [pastry, pasty, patty, paste, 
pastel, are from Greek paste, barley por- 
ridge; pastos, sprinkled; passein, to strew]. 



antesupper 

The word survives in Italian restaurants 
in the Italian form, antepasto. The Eng- 
lish word was frequently applied to things 
other than food, as when THE LONDON 
QUARTERLY REVIEW (June, 1847) said: It 
was, indeed, a part of the policy of the 
Romish church to encourage the Feast of 
Fools and other outbreaks of popular 
humor, in which popes and priests were 
ridiculed ad libitum; for the watchful 
guardians of the Spotless Hind were 
thus enabled to attend the antepasts of 
undeveloped heresies, which were not 
likely to be very dangerous so long as 
they could be represented as the outpour- 
ings of drunkenness or idiocy. 

antesupper. A display of viands before 
the eating of them. Osborn describes this 
17th century practice in his KING JAMES 
(1658): The Earl of Carlisle was one of 
the quorum that brought in the vanity 
of antesuppers, not heard of in our fore- 
fathers' time. The manner of which was 
to have the board covered at the first 
entrance of the ghests with dishes as high 
as a tall man could well reach, filled with 
the choicest and dearest viands sea or 
land could afford: and all this once seen, 
and having feasted the eyes of the invited, 
was in a manner thrown away, and fresh 
set on to the same height, having only 
this advantage of the other, that it was 
hot. 

anthomancy. See aeromancy. An ex- 
travagant passion for flowers was called 
anthomania, whence anthomaniac. THE 
LONDON TIMES of June 8, 1882 offered a 
proof that anthomania is as real and 
potent as bibliomania. 

anthropinistic. Concerned with what re- 
lates to man. See apandry. 

anthropomancy. See aeromancy. Also 
anthroposcopy; accent on the pos. 

48 



antiloquist 

anthropophagi. Cannibals. From Greek 
anthropos, man + phagein, to eat. Shake- 
speare in OTHELLO (1604) speaks of The 
Canibals that each other eat, the Antro- 
pophague. The word is rarely used in the 
singular, as by Carlyle in SARTOR RESARTUS 
(1831): That same hair-mantled, flint- 
hurling aboriginal anthropophagus. In 
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, Shakespeare 
speaks of an anthropophaginian. 

anthropurgic. Wrought by man; acted 
upon by man. From Greek anthropos, 
man 4- ergon, work. Used only once, in 
1838, but worth reviving. 

antic. A grotesque or burlesque enter- 
tainment, or entertainer. Also antique 
(accent on the first syllable) ; survives 
in plural, antics. Hence, to antic, to make 
grotesque; to perform antics. Shakespeare 
in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606) says: 
The wilde disguise hath almost antickt 
us all. Browning (1871) uses anticize, to 
perform antics. Shakespeare has HAMLET 
(1601) put an antic disposition on. Death 
is often represented as a grinning skull; 
hence, in Shakespeare's RICHARD 11: Within 
the hollow crown That rounds the mortal 
temples of a king Keeps Death his court, 
and there the antic sits . . . 

antilapsarian. One that disbelieves in 
the doctrine of the Fall of man; also as 
an adjective, antilapsarian heresies. Latin 
anti, against + lapsus, q.v., slip, fall. 

antilibration. Counterpoising, weighing 
one thing against another. Latin anti, 
against + librare, libratum, to balance; 
libra, a balance. The word rhymes with 
vibration. De Quincey in WHIGGISM (1858) 
spoke of: His artful antithesis, and solemn 
antilibration of cadences. 

antiloquist. One who contradicts; an 
opponent; one who speaks against some- 



antimacassar 



antre 



thing. Also antiloquy, contradiction. From 
Latin anti- f against -f loquor, to speak. 
See anteloquy. 

antimacassar. A covering, often hand- 
knitted by Victorian maidens, placed over 
the back of a sofa or chair, to protect 
this from the hair-oil of the Victorian 
gentleman. This popular hair-grease, 
macassar oil, was named from the district 
(native name Manghasara) of the island 
of Celebes, from which the manufacturers 
(Rowland & Son) averred that the ingredi- 
ents were obtained. The antimacassar re- 
mains as an ornament; in 1875 G. R. 
Sims freed the Victorian housewife from 
the need of such protection by concocting 
a stainless hair-balm. Sims also concocted 
melodramas, such as THE LIGHTS OF LON- 
DON (1881) and TWO LITTLE VAGABONDS 
(1896); along with Dickens in the novel, 
he was an apostle of the "gospel of rags." 
Some antimacassars are museum pieces. 

antimnemonic. Something that weakens 
the memory. Also as an adjective, 
antimnemonic unconcern. The first m is 
unpronounced. Greek anti, against; 
Mnemosyne^ Memory, daughter of Goelus 
and Terra (Heaven and Earth), was 
mother of the Muses. Coleridge (BIO- 
GRAPHICA LITTERARLA; 1817) said: The 
habit of perusing periodical works may 
be properly added to Averrhoes' cata- 
logue of antimnemonics. As an evil age 
passes many laws, so an ignorant age issues 
many periodicals. 

antipelargy. A return of love or of a 
kindness; specifically, a child's caring for 
an aged parent. Greek antipelargia, 
mutual love; pelargos, a stork (supposedly 
a most affectionate bird which is prob- 
ably a reason why it was selected to 
bring the baby). The word, with the ad- 
jective antipelargic, mutually loving, 

49 



occurs in 17th and 18th century diction- 
aries. 

antipharmic. Overcoming poison. Greek 
pharmacon, poison; see alexipharmac. 

antiphlebotomical. Relating to one that, 
as knowledge of medical treatment im- 
proved, was opposed to phlebotomy or 
blood-letting; opposed to bleeding. 
Phlebotomy is from Greek phleb-, vein 
+ temnein, to cut. 

antiphlogistian. One that, as scientific 
knowledge increased, opposed the phlogis- 
ton theory, the idea that there exists an 
element, fire, Also antiphlogiston. The 
word was also used as an adjective, 
equivalent to antiphlogistic; this term, 
however, was earlier, and developed two 
other senses: conteracting burns and in- 
flammation; allaying excitement. Hood in 

MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER SILVER LEG (1840) 

said: None more needs a Matthew to 
preach A cooling and antiphlogistic 
speech. Phlogiston is from Greek phlogis- 
tos, burning; phlegein f to burn, phlogistic, 
inflammatory, phlogisticate, to render 
flammable, as in arson. Note that Phlege- 
thon> the fiery river in Hades, (from the 
same root), gave us the 17th century ad- 
jectives phlegethontal, phlegetheontic f 
fiery, blazing. Byron in DON JUAN (1821) 
spoke of Cogniac, sweet naiad of the 
phlegethontic rill! A drink that made the 
throat cry for an antiphlogiston! 

antipodize. To turn upside down. The 
antipodes (Greek anil, opposite 4- pous, 
podis, foot) were formerly pronounced 
with three syllables, thus developed a 
singular form, an antipod, antipode; Tay- 
lor, in MAD FASHIONS (1642) declared: This 
shewes mens witts are monstrously dis- 
guis'd, Or that our country is antipodis'd. 

antre. (1) Old English (into the 13th 
century) for adventure, risk. (2) A cavern, 



antur 

a cave. Also (especially of body cavities), 
antrum. Via French from Greek antron, 
cave. Shakespeare in OTHELLO (1604) 
speaks of antars vast, and desarts idle. 
Keats in ENDYMION (1818): Outshooting 
. . . like a meteor-star Through a vast 
antre; Meredith in THE EGOIST (1879): 
She . . . shunned his house as the antre 
of an ogre. 

antur. A short form of adventure. A 
book of the year 1400 was called the 
Anturs of Arther. Cp. antre. 

anxiferous. Causing anxiety, as often 
a child's or a nation's behavior. The 
word has been repeated from 17th century 
dictionaries. 

anythingarian. One that embraces any 
attitude that presents itself as timely or 
advantageous. Hence, anythingarianism. 
Thomas Brown (WORKS, 1704) spoke of 
Bifarious anythingarians, that always 
make their interest the standard of their 
religion. Swift, in his POLITE CONVERSA- 
TIONS (1738) picked up the term; when 
Lady Spark inquires as to a man's re- 
ligion, Lord Spark answers: He is an Any- 
thingarian. This is not a protestant faith. 

anywhen. At any time. We still say 
somewhere and anywhere, but have lost 
the convenient and pleasant somewhen, 
anywhither, and anywhen. (Anywhere 
used to be written separately; before 
1450, its forms were owhere, oughwhere, 
aywhere.) Carlisle in SARTOR RESARTUS 
(1831) wished you were able, simply by 
wishing that you were anywhen, straight- 
way to be then! Similarly, elsewhere calls 
for as elsewhen; indeed Robert A. Hein- 
lein, on its republication in 1953, changed 
the title of a story to ELSEWHEN. Often one 
would rather it were elsewhen than now. 

apagoge. A proof of something by show- 
ing the absurdity of its not being; the 

50 



apandry 

type of argument called reductio ad 
absurdum. Pronounced in four syllables, 
accent on the go. Also apogogy. PHILO- 
SOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS of 1671 said that 
theorems may be demonstrated by the 
apagogick way. Also apogogic, apogogical. 

apair. To damage; to deteriorate. From 
Latin em, en, into + peior-are, to make 
worse. This word has had many forms in 
English: amp ay r, appere, appayr, em- 
pair, etc. and the form still current, im- 
pair. Chaucer in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386) 
laments that one should apeyren any 
man, or him defame. 

apanage. Originally, provision made for 
the maintenance of younger sons of great 
families. Thus Richard Carew in THE 
SURVEY OF CORNWALL (1602) mentions that 
Belinus had for his appanage Loegria, 
Wales, and Cornwall Later, it was applied 
to an appropriated possession; in the 
LONDON REVIEW of July 26, 1862, it was 
-stated that the diplomatic service . . . 
must always remain the apanage of the 
wealthy. Then, figuratively, apanage was 
also applied to a quality or attribute that 
seems to go naturally with something else, 
as by Swinburne in his ESSAYS AND STUDIES 
of 1875: This fretful and petulant appe- 
tite for applause, the proper apanage of 
small poets. Apanage (accented on the 
first syllable) comes via French from 
Latin ad, to -f panare, to supply, from 
panis, bread. It is sometimes spelled 
appanage, as by John Yeats in THE 
GROWTH OF COMMERCE (1872), referring 
to the period when a 'New World' 'was 
the appanage of a European peninsula. 

apandry. Male impotence. Not in 
O.E.D. Greek ap-, away, off + andros, 
anthropos, man. O.E.D. does list apanth- 
ropy, love of solitude, desire to be away 
from men, and apanthropinization, with- 



apanthropinization 



apogean 



drawal from concern with things relating 
to man. G. Allen in the quarterly MIND 
(1880) declared: The primitive human 
conception of beauty . . . must have been 
purely anthropinistic . . . All its subse- 
quent history must be that of an apanthro- 
pinisation ... a gradual regression or 
concentric widening of aesthetic feeling 
around this fixed point, man. 

apanthropinization. See apandry. 
aparage. See apparage. 

apay. To please. Via French from Late 
Latin adpacare; ad, to + pacare, to ap- 
pease, satisfy; pax, pacem, peace. Chaucer 
in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374) wrote (ah, 
fickle woman!): She elleswhere hath now 
her herte apeyde. Spenser used the word, 
in the sense of repay, requite, and it was 
revived by William Morris (1870) in the 
first sense; but it never quite died out in 
the past tense, as an adjective, apayede, 
apaid, apaied, appayd, satisfied, pleased; 
repaid, rewarded, as in Thomson's THE 
CASTLE OF INDOLENCE (1748): Thy toils but 
ill apaid. 

apert. Open, manifest; clear to the un- 
derstanding; straightforward, bold; out- 
spoken, forward in manner. The last 
sense survives in the shortened form, pert. 
Via French from Latin apertum, open, 
aperire, to open. Confused, in some early 
uses, with Old French espert from Latin 
expertus, expert; malapert, from this form 
(Latin malus, bad + appert, espert, ex- 
perienced) shifted its meaning by associa- 
tion with apert, and came to mean im- 
properly frank, saucy, impudent. The 

ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE (1366) Speaks of 

Falsnesse that apert is. Henry Hickman, 

in his ANIMADVERSIONS ON DOCTOR HEYLIN's 

QUINQU ARTICULAR HISTORY (1674) states: 
There are in Zuinglius . . . most apert 
sentences from which it is gathered that 

51 



God is the Author of sin. Many words 
from this source have struggled to find 
place in the language: apert ement, openly 
(14th century); apertion, opening, an 
opening (16th and 17th century) aper- 
tive, manifest (17th century); apertly, 
openly, plainly (13th to 18th century); 
apertness, frankness, plainness of speech 
(17th to 19th century) one succeeded: 
aperture. 

apheta. See almuten. 

aphlogistic. Flameless. From Greek a-, 
without + phlogiston, flame. Applied in 
science to the aphlogistic lamp, invented 
by Sir Humphrey Davy, in which a glow- 
ing platinum wire consumes the fuel. 
Most modern illumination is aphlogistic, 
though a fireplace retains its charm. Cp. 
antiphlogistic. 

apocrisiary. A person appointed (espe- 
cially by the Pope) to give and receive 
answers. From Greek apo- f away, back 
-h crisis, judgment. Used, from .the 15th 
through the 18th century, of a papal 
nuncio. 

apodiabolosis. The common word 
apotheosis, meaning to rank among the 
gods, to deify, is from Greek apo-, used 
as an intensifier, + theoein, to make a 
god of, theos, god. By analogy, in the 
19th century was coined the word apodia- 
bolosis, to devilify, to lower to the rank of 
devil. Accent on the bol Thus in THE 
REALM of May 25, 1864, is the descrip- 
tion: With one base imbecile smugness, 
which is the very apodiabolosis of art. 

apogean. Proceeding from the earth. 
Also apogeal; apogaeic, apogaic. Accent 
on the jee; except the last, which has the 
accent on the gay. Greek apo, away; gala, 
ge, the earth. Baroness Rosina Bulwer- 
Lytton in CHEVELEY; OR, THE MAN OF 



apolaustic 

HONOUR (1839) wrote: When this enter- 
prising and apogaeic old lady had gone 
up so high, she went still -further, even 
to the moon. We still speak of planets 
(or a person's fancies) being at their 
apogee. 

apolaustic. Self-indulgent, seeking pleas- 
ure. Used in the Victorian age, when 
pleasure was seldom mentioned directly. 
Thus the SATURDAY REVIEW in 1880 spoke 
of the lordly, apolaustic, and haughty un- 
dergraduate. Sir William Hamilton, in 

his LECTURES ON METAPHYSICS (1836) SUg- 

gested apolaustics for what Baumgarten 
was calling ^Esthetics; but in the world of 
metaphysics the German term prevailed. 
In its basic meaning, however, the word is 
still widely applicable; we are an apo- 
laustic world. 

apollonicon. A powerful chamber organ, 
with keys and barrels, invented in 1817. 
H. Coleridge in his ESSAYS (1849) wrote: 
Sing 'Songs of Reason' to the grinding of 
a steam apollonicon. 

apomecometry. This smooth-sounding 
word, scarcely used since the 16th century, 
should be renewed in our space-probing 
age. From Greek apo-, away + mecos, 
length + metria, measuring, it means the 
art or science of measuring distance. (The 
accent is on the com; but perhaps the 
six syllables are too many for our speedy 
days.) 

apopemptic. Relating to farewell. From 
Greek apopemptikos, apo-. away + 
pempein, to send. Used in the 18th and 
19th centuries. ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA 
(1815) says They dismissed them, follow- 
ing them to the altars with apopemptic 
hymns. 

apophoret. Though found only in 17th 
and 18th century dictionaries, apophoret 

52 



apostolicon 

(accent on the second syllable) is a smil- 
ing word for a present a hostess gives 
her guest (as at a wedding or a party, or 
for knowing when to take leave). It is 
from Greek apo-, away -f pherein, to 
carry. 

aposiopesis. A rhetorical device more 
often used than named, in which the 
speaker comes to a sudden stop, as if 
(or stating that) he is unable or unwilling 
to speak further. The accent is on the pee. 

Pope in THE ART OF SINKING IN POETRY 

(1727) calls it "an excellent figure for the 
ignorant/' Goldsmith uses the term, in 

A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD (1762) to laugh 

at the tragedies of his day: Observe the 
art of the poet . . . When the Queen can 
say no more, she falls in a fit. While thus 
her eyes are shut, while she is supported 
in the arms of Abigail (q.v.), what horrors 
do we not fancy! We feel it in every 
nerve; take my word for it, that fits are 
the true aposiopesis of modern tragedy. 

aposta. Bailey, in 1751, defines this as 
"a creature in America, so great a lover 
of men that it follows them, and delights 
to gaze on them." Obviously an 18th cen- 
tury word for woman. 

apostasy. See apo tactical. 

apostil. This word of uncertain origin 
(perhaps from Latin ad, to + postum, 
positum, placed) means to write a note 
in the margin, or the note thus made. 
Motley, in THE RISE OF THE DUTCH RE- 
PUBLIC (1858) says that, in the opinion of 
Philip, the world was to move upon 
protocols and apostilles. A record of 1637 
notes, of Charles I: apostiled with his 
own hand. 

apostolicon. A cure for all kinds of 
wounds. Named because (like apostle's 
ointment) it is a mixture of twelve in- 



apotactical 

gradients, thus enforced with the apostles' 
power of healing. In the Wyclif (1382) 
and the King James (1611) BIBLE, Jesus 
is called the Apostle. The twelve apostles 
were originally persons sent; Greek 
apostolos, messenger; apo, forth, away 
+ stellein, to send. 

apotactical. Renouncing; recreant. 
Greek apo, away, apart; tasso, to arrange; 
apotassomai, to bid adieu, renounce, 
abandon. Apostasy (Greek stasis, stand- 
ing) means standing off, the renouncing 
of one's faith or allegiance; hence 
apostate; apostatic, apostatical. Bishop 
Hall in his tractate NO PEACE WITH ROME 
(1627) cried out upon monsters of men 
. . . apotacticall and apostaticall mis- 
creants. 

apotelesm. The casting of a horoscope 
(accent on the pot). Greek apo, off + 
teleein, to finish; teleos, complete; telos 
end, whence teleology, the doctrine of 
final causes. Literally apotelesm meant 
(17th century) the result, the sum and 
substance; one's horoscope settled one's 
outcome. Also apotelesmatic, apotelesmati- 
cal (accent on the mat), relating to the 
casting of horoscopes. 

apozen. A decoction, an infusion. Also 
apozume, apozeme; Greek apo, off + 
zeein, to boil. Hence apozemical. Jonson 
in SEJANUS (1603) speaks of physic more 
comforting Than all your opiates, juleps, 
apozems. 

appair. See apair. 
appanage. See apanage. 

apparage. An early form of peerage, 
noble rank. It is from Latin ad, to 4- par, 
equal, peer. Thus Stephen Hawes in THE 
EXAMPLE OF VIRTUE (1503) says: She is 
comen of royall apparage, and later speaks 
of a gown of silver for great aparage. 



applejohn 

apparance. Preparation. From Latin ad, 
for + parantem, preparing, par are, to 
arrange. Richard Hooker, in his ECCLESI- 
ASTICAL POLITY (1594) complains of one 
who would go about the building of an 
house to the God of heaven with no other 
apparance, than if his end were to rear 
up a kitchen. Originally apparatus meant 
the work of preparing; then it came to 
mean the things involved in the prepara- 
tion e.g., 1767: the gaudy apparatus of 
female vanity then the prerequisite 
instruments for an action (such as a scien- 
tific experiment). 

apparitor. A servant or attendant, espe- 
cially, of the Roman magistrates; hence, 
a minor court officer. Also a herald, an 
usher, an announcer; in this sense, also 
figuratively. More rarely, one that puts 
in an appearance; Carlyle in PAST AND 
PRESENT (1843) spoke of that Higher Court 
in which every human soul is an ap- 
paritor. The court officer might be used on 
questionable errands, as Landor implies 
in IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS (1829): The 
judges will hear reason, when the wand 
of the apparitor is tipped with gold. 

appease. See pease. 

appere. A variant form of appear. Sur- 
rey's HOW NO AGE IS CONTENT WITH HIS 

OWN ESTATE (1537) uses this, in the 
poulter's measure (cp. himpnes): Layd in 
my quiet bed, in study as I were, I saw 
within my troubled head a heape of 
thoughtes appere: And every thought did 
shew so lively in myne eyes That now 1 
sighed, and then I smilde, as cause of 
thought dyd rise. 

applejohn. An apple supposed to be at 
its best when shriveled, keeping good for 
two years. Also johnapple; thus named be- 
cause ripening on St. John's day. Sir John 
Falstaff (in Shakespeare's HENRY iv, PART 
53 



applemose 

TWO; 1597) cannot endure an applejohn, 
because the Prince once set a dish of 
apple Johns before him, and told him 
there were five more Sir Johns and, 
putting off his hat, said, "I will now take 
my leave of these six dry, round, old, 
withered knights." 

applemose. A dessert made with the pulp 
of stewed apples, in the 14th and 15th 
centuries. Old English mos, pap, pottage. 
Also applemoise, appulmoy, appulmoce, 
and the like. A recipe o 1390 suggests: 
Take apples and seethe hem in water. 
Drawe hem thurgh a stynnor. Take al- 
mande mlyke, and hony, and floer of rys, 
safron and powdor-fort, and salt; and 
seeth it stondyng. 

applesquire. The male servant of a pro- 
curess or prostitute. Frequent in the late 
16th and early 17th century, as in the 
play WHAT YOU WILL: Of pages, some be 
court pages, others ordinary gallants^ and 
the third apple squires. The term was 
possibly coined with thought of Eve's 
proffering, but it has been suggested that 
the costermongers, dealers in apples, were 
often intermediaries in intrigues. 

apricate. To bask in the sun; to expose 
to the sun. Aubrey in 1697 wrote: His 
lordship was wont to recreate himself 
in this place,, to apricate and contemplate. 
(This place' was the top of the old gate- 
house at Chelsea; once, while Sir Thomas 
More was apricating there with his dog, 
a wandering Tom o' Bedlam climbed up 
and wished to throw Sir Thomas over 
the battlements. "Let's throw the dog 
over first," said Sir Thomas. Over it 
went "Now go down and fetch it up 
again." Tom o' Bedlam went down; Tom 
More locked the door, and continued 
his aprication.) Fire Island, New York, 
and Key West, Florida, are popular places 

54 



arbalest 

to apricate. Note that the apricot, some- 
times explained as from in aprico coctus, 
ripened in a sunny place, is via Latin 
praecoctum, early ripe, which sounded 
like the original Arabic name of the 
fruit, al birquq. The early European 
name was Armenian apple. Aprique is a 
rare word for sunny; Richard Tomlinson 
in his MEDICINAL DISPENSATORY (1657) avers 
that the sanlal-tree fruticates best in 
aprike places. See beek. Hence aprication, 
basking in the sun; apricity, the sun's 
warmth, as on an August afternoon, but 
also applied to the warmth of a sunny day 
in winter. 

apricide. See stillicide. 

aprike. See apricate. The accent is on 
the first syllable. With accent on the 
second syllable, aprick is a rare (13th 
century) verb meaning to spur on. 

aqueity. Wateriness; the essence of 
water. Cp. terreity. 

arace. Uproot; snatch away; tear. From 
Latin ab, away + radicem, root, whence 
also radish. One of the seven English 
nouns spelled race means (ginger) root. 
Under French influence, the word was 
sometimes spelled arache. Chaucer in 
TROYLUS AND CRiSEYDE (1374) has him soon 
out of your heart arace; in THE CLERK'S 
TALE (1386): The children from her arm 
they gonne arace. 

aradmean. See orifex. 

arain. A spider. Also erayne. Via French 
from Latin aranea; Greek arachne, spider. 
For the story of Arachne, see orifex. 

arbalest. A medieval weapon, a cross- 
bow: a steel bow fitted to a wooden shaft, 
with a mechanism for drawing the bow- 
string taut and letting it slip. Arrows and 
bolts were the usual missiles; occasionally 



arbor 



aread 



stones. The word had many forms 
arcubalist, arbalist, arblast, arbalust, al- 
blast, alablaste, aroblast; it is from Latin 
arcus, bow + ballista (q.v., a larger but 
similar weapon). Arbalester, arblaster, 
alblaster, a soldier armed with an arbalest; 
also, the missile shot from the weapon. 
Arbalestry, the art or practice of cross- 
bow shooting. 

arbor. See arbust. 

arbust. A shrub; a dwarf tree. Medieval 
Latin arbuscula, diminutive of arbos, 
arbor, tree. Also as a verb (17th cen- 
tury) arbust, to plant with trees. Also 
arbustal, arbustive, relating to shrubs or 
young trees. Other words for a dwarf tree 
or sapling are arbuscle, arboret, the lat- 
ter favored by poets (Spenser, 1596; 
Sou they, 1805; Milton in PARADISE LOST, 
1667: Among thick wov'n arborets and 
flours.) From Latin arbor, tree, come many 
forms: arboreal, arborean, arboral, arbori- 
cal, relating to trees, arboricole, dwelling 
in or among trees, arborescent, like a 
flourishing tree; with many branches; E. 
Burr in ECCE COELUM (1867) speaks of 
God whose unity is arborescent with end- 
less varieties of beauty and power. 
Arborous (Milton, 1667; Coleridge, 1796), 
with many trees. There is quite a distinct 
word arbor, now used in the sense of a 
bower, shady retreat, covered walk. This 
was originally herber, Old French herbier, 
a place covered with grass, a garden of 
herbs; Latin herba, grass, herb. This be- 
came erber; it was pronounced arbor (as 
clerk is pronounced dark), then spelled 
as pronounced. In the 14th century this 
arbor (arbour) meant a garden of herbs, 
a grassy lawn; then, since fruit trees were 
planted on grass plots, an orchard; then 
(15th century) trees or vines trained on a 
framework or trellis whence the current 



uses. 



arcanum. A mystery; a deep secret. 
Hence, one of the great secrets of nature 
the alchemists sought to discover; there- 
fore, a universal remedy, elixir of life. 
The word was often used in the plural, 
arcana, the dark mysteries. Latin arcanus; 
arcere, to shut up; area, chest, ark, arche 
(13th and 14th centuries, Noah's arche). 
Also arcanal, of a secret nature, mysterious, 
dim; arcane, hidden from the common 
eye, secret. Boorde in THE BREVIARY OF 
HEALTHE (1547) wrote of the eximiouse 
and archane science of physicke. Scott in 
KENILWORTH (1821) noted the pursuit of 
the grand arcanum. 

archlute. A long lute, with two sets of 
strings, one open, one stopped. Used for 
playing a thorough bass. Also arcileuto, 
archilute. 

arctation. Constriction; the act of draw- 
ing close together. Used in medicine, but 
also figurative, as of the huddling to- 
gether of children in fear. From Latin 
arctare, artare; artus, confined. There is 
an old English verb art, to cramp, restrict, 
press, used by Wyclif in his BIBLE (1382); 
Chaucer uses it in the sense of to press, 
to urge, in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374): 
What for to speke, and what to holden 
inne, And what to arten. 

arcticize. To make frigid; to accustom 
to arctic conditions. Cp. cynarctomachy. 

areach. See arecche. 

aread. To decree; to declare by super- 
natural counsel, to prophesy; to declare; 
to guess; to advise. Old English a, out 
+ redan, read. Also spelled arede, areed. 
Used from the time of King Alfred, about 
875, to about 1650, by Gower, Tindale, 
Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374): 
What it is, 1 leye I kanne arede. Later 
used, as a revival, by Spenser, by Milton 



55 



arecche 

in his tract on DIVORCE (1643): Let me 
areed him, not to be the foreman of any 
ill-judgd opinion. The word is also used 
as a noun, advice, as by Lodge in 

EUPHUES' GOLDEN LEGACIE (1590): Follow 

mine arreede. In Spenser's THE FAERIE 
QUEENE (1596) the Faun has bribed one 
of Diana's nymphs to tell him where the 
goddess bathes; when he beholds her, he 
laughs aloud in joy: A foolish faune in- 
deed, That couldst not hold thy selfe so 
hidden blest, But wouldest needs thine 
owne conceit areed. Babblers unworthy 
been of so divine a meed. 

arecche. To explain, state the meaning 
of; to speak. Also areche, areccan. Past 
tense forms included arehte, araht, 
ar ought. An emphatic form of recche f 
reche, to tell, say; to go (by mistake for 
reach; arreche was similarly confused 
with areach), to get at, to obtain; to de- 
liver; to strike. Used (both recche and 
arecche} into the 15th century; Gower in 
CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1393) says: Christ 
wroughte first and after taught, So that 
the deed his word drought. 

arefy. To dry up, parch. From Latin 
arere, to dry (aridus, arid) 4- facere, to 
make. Bacon in SYLVA SYLVARUM (1626) 
says that the heat which is in lime and 
ashes . . . doth neither liquefy nor arefy. 
A synonym for arefied is arefacted, with- 
ered. 

arenate. To cover or mix with sand. 
From Latin arena, harena, sand, espe- 
cially the sand-covered battle-'ring' of an 
amphitheatre. The verb exists only in 
dictionaries, but arenation is an 18th cen- 
tury medical term for a sand-bath. Many 
a person, on a sunny summer day at the 
seashore, indulges in an arenation. Hence 
also arenous, arenose, sandy, full of sand, 
like one's shoes when one comes home 
from the seashore. 



arfname 

areopagy. A conclave; a secret tribunal. 
Also areopagus, a high tribunal. Accent 
on the op. From Areopagus, Greek 
Areios pagos, the hill of Ares (Mars), 
where the highest judicial court of Athens 
held its hearings; hence, a high tribunal. 
An areopagite, a member of the tribunal. 
Also areopagitic, areopagitical. Sir Thomas 
Browne in CHRISTIAN MORALS (1682) said 
that conscience sits in the areopagy and 
dark tribunal of our hearts. 

aret. To reckon; hence, to reckon to 
someone's account, to credit or blame. 
From Old French areter; a, to 4- reter, 
Latin reputare, to reckon, from re-, back 
4- puto, to think. This word was very 
frequent in the 14th and 15th centuries; 
Chaucer used it many times, as when he 
asks the reader, if he find an error in his 
work, to aret it to Adam Scrivener. Spen- 
ser (whom others have followed) misunder- 
stood aret as meaning to commit a charge 
to someone, to entrust; hence in THE 
FAERIE QUEENE (1596): The charge, which 
God doth unto me arrett . . . When the 
English learned Latin, they associated this 
word with Latin rectum, meaning right; 
hence during the 15th and 16th centuries 
we find the word often spelled arect, 
arrect. Which is incorrect. 

aretaics. The science of virtue. Four 
syllables; Greek arete, virtue. Grote in 
MORAL IDEAS (1865) said that in moral 
philosophy there are two sciences . . . 
the science of virtue, aretaics . . . the 
science of happiness, eudaemonics. In 
17th century dictionaries we find areta- 
loger (Blount, 1656): one that braggs or 
boasts of vertue in himself; a Iyer. 

arfname. An heir. Old Norse arfr, in- 
heritance; Old English numa, taker; 
niman, to take; see nim. Used from the 
10th to the 13th century. 



56 



argal 

argal. Therefore. A perversion of Latin 
ergo; cp. ergotize. By extension, as a 
noun, a clumsy piece of reasoning. 
Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) has the 
gravedigger reason: He drownes not him- 
selfe, Argal, he . . . shortens not his owne 
life. THE TIMES of 23 August 1861 called 
Mr. Buckle's argument as absurd an 
argal as ever was invented by philosopher 
or gravedigger. 

argh. Cowardly, timid; inert, sluggish, 
loath, reluctant; base, good-for-nothing. 
From the 9th to the 15th century, later 
in northern dialects. Also, as a verb, argh, 
to be disheartened, frightened; to frighten. 
Me arghes, I am afraid. Other forms in- 
cluded arg, ergh, arwe, arewe, arwhe, 
arowe, arch, ergh, erf, arrow. Also arghship, 
arghth, arghness, arghhood, cowardice, 
timidity. William Stewart in THE BUIK OF 

THE CRONICLIS OF SCOTLAND (1535) WTOte: 

King Duncane so arch ane man wes he. 

argosy. A large merchant ship of the 
middle ages. Also a Ragusee, a ship from 
Ragusa in Italy. Ragusa was also called 
in 16th century England, Aragouse, 
Arragosa. Other forms for argosy in- 
cluded arguze, argosea, ragusye, argozee. 
Shakespeare uses the word in THE TAMING 
OF THE SHREW (1596) and THE MERCHANT 
OF VENICE: Argosies with portly saile Like 
signiors and rich burgers on the flood 
Do over-peer e the pettie traffiquers That 
curtsie to them, do them reverence. As 
they flye by them with their woven wings. 
There may later have been some thought, 
in connection with an argosy, of the Argo 
(Greek argos, swift) the ship in which 
Jason sailed in quest of the golden fleece, 
with his argonauts (Greek nautes, sailor). 
From a different story, but related in 
origin, comes Argus, a watchful guardian. 
Hence Argus-eyed, on the qui vive. This 
is from Greek Argos-Panoptes (literally, 

57 



ariolation 

the swift all-eyes), who had 100 eyes 
sprinkled over his body. The jealous 
Hera set him to watch lo, whom Zeus 
was courting; he was killed by Hermes 
(Mercury), thence called the Argus- 
queller. When Argus died, Hera set his 
orbs in the peacock's tail, wherefore 
Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) says: 
Fayre pecocks . . . full of Argus eyes 
Their tayles dispredden wide. 

Argus-eyed. See argosy. 

argute. Sharp; clear. From Latin 
argutus, from arguere, to make clear, to 
assert whence English argue. Argute 
tastes are sharp; argute sounds are shrill 
Landor wrote to Barry Cornwall in 
1864 of a rich but too argute guitar; 
argute persons are sharp, subtle, shrewd, 
especially in details. Thus the QUARTERLY 
REVIEW of 1818 speaks of argute emenda- 
tions of texts. Browning, in ARISTOPHANES' 
APOLOGY (1875): Thou, the argute and 
tricksy. There is also an adverb, as in 
Sterne's TRISTRAM SHANDY (1762): "You 
are wrong," said my father argutely. 

Ariachne. See orifex. 

arietation. The act of butting, from 
Latin arietatum, arietare, to butt, from 
aries, ram. Used in the Middle Ages of 
the battering-ram. Bacon observed in his 
ESSAYS (1625) that ordnance doe exceed 
all arietations; Fuller in THE HISTORY OF 
THE HOLY WAR (1639) says that Before 
ordinance was found out, ships were both 
gunnes and bullets themselves, and furi- 
ously ranne one against another. They 
began with this arietation. The word was 
also used figuratively, as in THE MONTHLY 
REVIEW in 1797: props of our old consti- 
tution against the arietations of democ- 
racy. Now it seems democracy's turn to 
be arietated. 

ariolation. Soothsaying. From Latin 



arista 



arnement 



ariolatum, hariolatum, from hariolus, 
soothsayer. Sir Thomas Browne in PSEUDO- 
DOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646) speaks of persons 
deluding their apprehensions -with ariola- 
tlon, sooth-saying, and such oblique idola- 
tries. John Gaule in THE MAGASTRO- 
MANCER (1652), in addition to ariolation, 
uses ariolist and ariolater for soothsayer, 
also the verb: to vaticinate and ariolate 
his Persian victory. There are other 
forms, e.g., Cassandra was a foredoomed 
ariole. For methods of ariolation, see 
aeromancy. 

arista. See muticous. 

aristarch. A severe critic. Used from the 
17th century; from Aristarchos (P220-150 
B.C.), librarian at Alexandria, who rejected 
much of Homer as spurious. Plural 
aristarchs, aristarchi. Harington (1612) 
used aristarchy to mean severe critics as a 
body. Note that the first meaning of 
aristocracy (Greek aristos, best) was gov- 
ernment by the best citizens; aristarchy, 
in that sense, is listed by O.E.D. as a 
spurious word. Samuel Johnson has by 
many been deemed an aristarch. Make 
your own choice among today's. 

aristology. The art of dining. Greek 
ariston f luncheon + logia, talk. Used in 
the 19th century; also aristological. An 
1864 cookbook was listed as by an Aus- 
tralian aristologist. The Romans, said M. 
Collins in PEN SKETCHES (1879) defied all 
the rules of aristology "by their abomi- 
nable excesses; for a contrary thought, see 
vomitorium. 

aimiger. This word comes directly from 
a Latin form meaning a bearer of arms; 
hence, a squire. Originally it meant a 
soldier who carried a knight's shield and 
spear. Later it was applied to a person 
entitled to bear heraldic arms (that is, a 
coat of arms). Shakespeare in THE MERRY 

58 



WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) speaks of A 
Gentleman born . . . who writes himself 
Armigero. In his AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1840) 
Thomes De Quincey uses the word in the 
second sense, and defines it. Blackmore 
in his rousing romance LORNA DOONE 
(1869) says of a wealthy man: He . . . 
could buy up half the county armigers. 

armil. The word armilla was taken di- 
rectly from the Latin in the description 
(1485) of the coronation of King Henry 
VII, for the "stole woven with gold and 
set with stones" that the Cardinal placed 
upon the King at the coronation. More 
frequently, however, perhaps from the 
association of its first three letters, armilla 
meant the royal bracelet. In the sense of 
bracelet the word is still used in archae- 
ology. The Latin armus meant shoul- 
der. The word armil, or armilla was also 
applied to an astronomical instrument, 
consisting of one or two circular loops 
so arranged that shadows on them indi- 
cated the recurrence of the equinoxes 
and solstices. The word armillated, wear- 
ing bracelets, aptly describes one whose 
arms are thus burdened. 

arming. A wretched creature. Old Eng- 
lish earm, poor. In the play THE LONDON 
PRODIGAL (1605), formerly attributed to 
Shakespeare, occurs the exlamation: O 
here God f so young an armine! The word 
was more frequent in the llth, 12th, and 
13th centuries. 

armomancy. See aeromancy. 
armozeen. See ormuzine. 

arndern. See aadorn. Drayton's THE OWLE 
(1604) spoke of the sad arndern shutting 
in the light. 

arnement. Ink, or its components. Via 
Old French arrement from Latin atramen- 
tum, ink; atrum, black. From the 13th 



aroint 



arras 



through the 16th century. THE SEVEN 
SAGES (1320) neatly says: He let him make 
a garnement As black as any arnement. 
Thomas Lupton in A THOUSAND NOTABLE 

THINGS OF SUNDRIE SORTS (1586) offers a 

recipe: Take arnement, hony, and the 
white of eggs. (Some books are to be 
digested.) 

aroint. This is a word much discussed by 
commentators, apparently coined by 
Shakespeare, to mean Begonel He uses it 
in MACBETH (1605): Aroynt thee, Witch, 
the rump-fed ronyon cries, and also in 
KING LEAR. The nearest to an earlier use 
seems to be an old Cheshire exclamation: 
Rynt you, witch. The word has been 
used by writers after Shakespeare; in Sir 
Walter Scott's works it appears seven 
times; both Robert Browning and Eliza- 
beth Barrett Browning used it. In 
Cheshire, the milkmaids may say to a 
cow: Roint thee!, whereupon it moves off 
"the cow being in this instance," Nares 
remarks in his 1882 GLOSSARY, "more 
learned than the commentators on Shake- 
speare." 

Ronyon is an alternate spelling for 
runnion, which Samuel Johnson defines 
as a mangy creature, from French rogne, 
the itch. Shakespeare uses it not only in 

MACBETH but also in THE MERRY WIVES OF 

WINDSOR: Out of my door, you Witch, 
you Rag, you Baggage, you Polecat, you 
Runnion. No one seems to have followed 
Shakespeare in using runnion as a scorn- 
ful term for a woman; in the only other 
recorded use (1655), the word refers to 
the male organ. 

aromatizate. To spice, to render fra- 
grant. Used in the 16th and 17th centuries. 
The more familiar aromatize (from the 
15th century) was also used figuratively, 
as when Sir Thomas Browne (1646) spoke 
of Jews aromatized by their conversion. 

59 



In the 17th century, a dealer in spices 
might be called an aromatary. Barroughs 

in THE METHOD OF PHYSICK (1624) WTOte: 

Let it be boiled upon the coales without 
any smoake long time together, wringing 
the reubarbe strongly, being bound in a 
peece of linnen cloth, clarifie it, and 
aromatizate it. 

arrant. Originally a variant of errant, 
wandering, present participle of Latin 
errare, to stray. The original form is still 
used in knight errant. In such expres- 
sions as thief errant, arrant thief, the 
term meant a roving robber or highway- 
man; hence, a professed, manifest thief; 
hence, anything manifest, downright; 
thorough (thoroughly bad). The word is 
quite common from the 14th century to 
about 1850, and is still used, as by 
Chaucer, Langland, Shakespeare, Fuller, 
Richardson, Fielding TOM JONES (1749): 
The arrantest villain that ever walked 
upon two legs Washington Irving, a 
half-dozen times, occasionally without op- 
probrious implications, as in THE SKETCH 
BOOK. (1820): a tight brisk little man, with 
the air of an arrant old bachelor. More 
often there is an implication of evil 
arrant coward which sometimes becomes 
part of the meaning of the word, as in a 
letter (1708) of Pope: You are not so 
arrant a critic . . . as to damn them with- 
out a hearing. That would be a sign of 
an arrant ass! 

arras. A tapestry fabric, usually woven 
with colored figures and scenes; a hanging 
made of this material, often far enough 
from the wall to conceal a person, as 
Hamlet stabs Polonius through the arras. 
The word occurs in several spellings 
ares, arays, aresse, arrace but it is from 
Arras, a French town where the fabric 
was made. Common since 1400, the word 
is most frequent in literature: Bacon, 



arrect 

Cowper, Byron, Scott; Carlyle in SARTOR 
RESARTUS (1831) speaks of our dim arras- 
picture of these University years. 

arrect. See aret. There is also a verb 
arrect, to set upright; to set right, direct. 
See arrectary* As an adjective, arrect 
means set upright, pricked up (as a dog's 
ears); hence, on the alert. Bailey's DIC- 
TIONARY (1751), without any origin or 
instance, gives arrectate, suspected or 
accused of a crime. 

arrectary. An upright post, especially 
the upright post of the cross. From Latin 
arrect-, past participle of arrigere; ad> to 
-f rigere, regere, to straighten. 

arrectate. See arrect. 

arrestographer. A writer, or a collector 
and publisher, of arrets. An arret (also 
arrest] was a judgment, decision, decree; 
especially, of the French supreme court. 
The form arrest, used from the 15th 
through the 17th century, was supplanted 
by the French form arret. Scott in IVAN- 
HOE (1820) uses it figuratively, of an ex- 
pert in all matters concerning the arrets 
of love, 

arrha. An advance on sums to be paid; 
earnest-money; a pledge. Latin arrha, 
arrato; Greek arrabon. Used from the 
15th into the 18th century. Also arrhal, 
relating to, or given as, a pledge. 

arrhenotoky. Production of males only. 
See thelyphthoric (thelytoky). Also arreno- 
toky. Greek arren, male H- -tokos, be- 
getting. Hence arrenotokous (accent on 
the not). 

arride. To smile at; to please. From 
Latin arridere, ad, at 4- ridere> to laugh, 
whence also risible. Mainly in the 17th 
and 18th century, Jonson in EVERY MAN 
OUT OF HIS HUMOUR (1599) has: 'Fore 

60 



artolater 

Heavens, his humour arrides me exceed- 
ingly. Lamb in ESSAYS OF ELIA (1823): 
That conceit arrided us most . . . and still 
tickles our midriff to remember. The ad- 
jective arrident (accent on the long i) 
occurs, but rarely, meaning smiling, pleas- 
ant; Thomas Adams wrote, in 1616, of a 
pleasing murderer, that with arrident 
applauses tickles a man to death. 

ars. Art; one of the seven arts. This is a 
direct borrowing of Latin ars, artem 
which also included what we call science. 
A Master of Arts, or a Bachelor, was 
learned in the seven arts, which, until the 
advent of finer distinctions, were: arith- 
metic, geometry, music, astronomy, gram- 
mar, rhetoric, and logic. THE LEGEND OF 
POPE GREGORY (1300) said: Gregorii 
couthe not well his pars, And wele rad 
and songe in lawe, And understode wel 
his ars. Ars longa, vita brevis. 

arson. A saddle, as the tyro has reason 
to feel. The word is thus used in KYNG 
ALYSAUNDER, 13th century. More strictly, 
a saddle-bow; Via Old French from Late 
Latin arcionem; Latin arcus, bow. One 
of the two curved pieces of wood or metal, 
knobs, at the front and the back of the 
saddle, to give the rider greater security. 
Thus we read in KING ARTHUR (1557): The 
arson of his sadel brake, and so he fiewe 
over his hors tayle. The current arson is 
from Late Latin arsionem; Latin ardere 
(whence ardent), arsum, to burn. 

art. To press; to urge. See or elation. 

artolater. A worshipper of bread. Used 
in the 17th century against the Catholics, 
as by Lewis Owen in SPECULUM JESUITICUM 
(1629): Dare you (artolaters) adore a piece 
of bread, for the living God? Also 
artolatry, bread worship, from Greek 
artos, bread 4- latreia, worship. Used fig- 
uratively of one that gives preeminence 



artotyrite 

to his "daily bread/' to the material aspect 
of living. 

artotyrite. An eater of bread and cheese. 
Greek artos, bread + tyros, cheese. In 
ecclesiastic history, a follower of Mon- 
tanus (of the 2d century), who celebrated 
the Eucharist with bread and cheese. His 
most distinguished convert was Tertul- 
lian; the sect was finally suppressed under 
Justinian, by 565. With wine instead of 
religion, artotyrites flourish today. 

artry. A 15th century contraction of 
artillery. 

aruspicy. A variant of haruspicy; 
prophecy by inspecting sacrificed animals. 
See aeromancy. 

arval. (1) A funeral feast, a wake. Also 
arvel, arvill. Old Norse arfr, inheritance 
4- ol, ale, banquet. A feast (to celebrate 
the inheritance?) follows the funeral in 
many lands. Sometimes the late lamented 
would provide the banquet; in his will of 
1459 John Alanson left an ox for his 
friends and relatives, for my arvell. There 
are many references to the arvil-supper, 
and to arval-bread, in 1875 (averill-bread) 
described as "funeral loaves, spiced with 
cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and raisins." 
(2) Related to ploughed land, from Latin 
arvolis, from arvum, arable land. The 
Arval Brethren were twelve priests of 
pagan Rome, whose task it was, by ap- 
propriate prayer and sacrifice, to ensure 
the fertility of the soil. 

aschewele. To frighten away. Rarely 
used; from Old English a- + schewel, a 
scarecrow. Sidney uses shew el in his 

ARCADIA (1590). THE OWL AND THE NIGHTIN- 
GALE (1250) has a figure hanging: There I 
aschwele pie and crow. The shewel (also 
sewel, sewell) was used especially to 
frighten away deer. 

61 



aspector 

ascititious. See adscititious. 
asele. See acele. 

asiden. Sideways, aslant. Also asyden; 
an early variant of aside. Cp. acy- 
denandys. An old saying (in Ray's 
PROVERBS; 1691) spoke of things all asid- 
ing as hogs fighting. 

asinego. A little ass; a fool. From Spanish 
asnicOj diminutive of asno, ass. In Shake- 
speare's TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606), 
Thersites cries to Ajax: Thou hast no 
more brain than I have in mine elbows; 
an asinego may tutor thee, thou scurvy- 
valiant ass! The word is also spelled asi- 
nico, assinego. 

askefise. A coward; especially, one that 
stayed home by the fire while his fellows 
went forth to combat. Swedish aske, 
ashes 4- fisa, to blow, to pass wind. Also 
askebathe. Used from the 13th to the 
16th century. There was also a form 
axwaddle, defined by Nares: One, who by 
constantly sitting near the fire, becomes 
dirty with ashes; an idle and lazy person. 

aslope. Slantwise. In origin this is prob- 
ably from Old English aslopen, slipped 
away; cp. adown. It was used both liter- 
ally and figuratively, the latter, for 
instance, in A WARNING TO FAIRE WOMEN 
(1599): My hope is aslope, and my joy 
is laid to sleepe. Also aslopen, fallen 
asleep; Middle ton in BLURT MASTER CON- 
STABLE (1604) said Good night, we are 
all aslopen. 

asmatographer. A writer of songs. This 
pompous word which might be revived 
in humor or scorn is from Greek asma, 
asmat-, song + graphos, writing. It is 
found only in 17th and 18th century dic- 
tionaries. 

aspector. Beholder. Also aspection f the 



asper 

action of looking at, of watching; this was 
the first meaning also of aspect; Bacon in 
SYLVA (1626) spoke of the tradition that 
the basilisk killeth by aspect. As a verb, 
to aspect (accent on the pect) f to look for, 
expect; to look upon; to look upon with 
favor. The verb was also used in astrology, 
of one planet looking upon another. 
Hence, aspectable, visible, within sight; 
fair to look upon. Also aspectabund, ex- 
pressive of countenance; aspectant, facing 
(each other); aspected, looked at; aspect* 
ful, of favorable aspect, benignant. J. 
Davies in EXTASIE (1618) spoke of Lyons, 
dragons, panthers, and the like That in 
th' asp ec tors harts doe terror strike. 

asper. This word, directly from Latin 
asper, rough, harsh, wild whence also 
asperity was frequent in the 16th and 
17th centuries; it was used by Caxton and 
Bacon. Chaucer earlier used it in both 
prose and poetry, as in BOETHIUS (1374): 
Thou . . . makest fortune wrothe and 
aspere by thine inpacience. The KALENDER 
OF SHEPHERDES (1503) declared that 
Naturally a man is . . . aviricious as a dog, 
and aspre as the hart. There was also a 
small silver Turkish coin called an asper 
(from Greek aspros, white; probably the 
same word as the Latin); in 1589 five 
aspers were "but two pence English." 
Scott uses this word in IVANHOE (1819): / 
relieve not with one asper those who beg 
for alms upon the highway. 

asperge. See aspersionating. 

aspersion. See conspersion; aspersionat- 
ing. In warm weather, a cold aspersion 
may be quite welcome. 

aspersionating. Casting slurs upon, un- 
justly defaming. There is no verb asper- 
sionate; the noun aspersion has the (less 
common) verb asperse. The original 
meaning of asperse was to besprinkle, from 



asphodel 

Latin ad, at + spergere, spersum, to 
sprinkle. There is also an English verb 
asperge, which kept the meaning be- 
sprinkle, in connection with religious 
ritual. Since that which is sprinkled may 
become spotted, muddy, soiled, to asperse 
came to mean to bespatter with false, in- 
jurious charges; an aspersion, a false and 
damaging charge or insinuation. Shake- 
speare in THE TEMPEST (1610) still uses 
the term in its early sense of shower, 
spray: No sweet aspersion shall the 
heavens let fall. Fielding in TOM JONES 
(1749) shows the other use: I defy all the 
world to cast a just aspersion on my char- 
acter. William Barriffe, in MILITARY DIS- 
CIPLINE (1635) makes the only use of the 
participle above, speaking of private and 
frosty nips from aspersionating tongues. 
Other words are retained for the ritual: 
aspersorium, the vessel to hold the holy 
water for sprinkling; asperge, asperges, 
aspergill, aspergillum, names for the 
brush with which the holy water is 
sprinkled. The Mass begins with the 
Latin words Asperges me, Domine: 
Sprinkle me O Lord . . . 

aspheterism. Disbelief in private prop- 
erty; communism. Greek a, not + sphe- 
teros, one's own; spheterismos, appropria- 
tion. Accent on the sfet. Also aspheterist. 
Hence also aspheterize, to be a com- 
munist, to practice communism. This is 
the name used by the English Romantics 
(Coleridge; Southey) in their considera- 
tion of communal living. As Coleridge 
put it in 1794, our aspheterismg in 
Wales. 

asphodel. A common flower; the earlier 
form of the word, affodil, gave us daffodil. 
Poets turned it into an immortal flower, 
like amaranth (q.v.), growing in the Ely- 
sian fields. Milton in COMUS (1634) thinks 
it pleasant to embathe In nectared lavers 
62 



aspic 



assuefaction 



strewed with asphodel; Tennyson tells us, 
in THE LOTUS-EATERS (1842): Others in 
Elysian valleys dwell. Resting weary 
limbs at last on beds of asphodel. 

aspic. A form of asp, the small poisonous 
serpent found in Egypt and Libya; from 
Greek aspis. Also spelled aspycke, aspike, 
etc. Found chiefly in poetry, as Shake- 
speare's Antony and Cleopatra (1606): 
This is an aspickes trail. Used also by 
Jeremy Taylor, Addison, Lamb, Tenny- 
son; in a figurative sense by George 
Daniel in TRINARCHODIA: HENRY v (1649): 
Stung with the aspicke of invading fear. 
The adjective, snaky, is not aspic, but 
aspine. 

aspre. See asper. 

assart. Forest land converted into arable 
land; a clearing in a forest; also, the 
action of grubbing up trees and bushes 
to make land arable. Also assartment. Via 
Old French from Latin ex, out + sartare, 
frequentative of sarrire, saritum, sartum, 
to hoe, weed. From the 13th century, to 
assart, to clear forest land; the noun ap- 
peared in the 16th century. It was illegal 
to assart without permission of the king 
or overlord, and usually paying assart 
rents. 

assation. Roasting. From Latin assare, 
assat-, to roast. Thomas Love Peacock in 
HEADLONG HALL (1815) speaks of the 
malignant adhibition of fire and all its 
diabolical processes of elixion and assa- 
tion. (See adhibit.) There is also a rare 
assate, to roast, and only in the dic- 
tionaries assature, a roast. For a dis- 
crimination, see semiustulate. The word 
might well be employed figuratively, as 
when a wife gives her husband (not at 
the table!) a rare assation. 

assinego. See asinego. 

assoil. To absolve, pardon, forgive: one 

63 



said, when mentioning a dead person, 
Whom God assoil! Hence, to set free 
(from obligations); to acquit, to clear. 
Also, to clear up, solve (soil, soyle; 16th 
century); to refute; to clear one self of, 
to atone for, to discharge, get rid of; 
Spenser thus in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596): 
Till that you come where ye your vowes 
assoyle. Also asoylen, asoyli, asoylle, 
assoilzie; in Scotch law the term for to 
acquit is still to assoilzie. The forms are 
via Old French from Latin ab, from + 
solver e, to loosen, dissolve. A later form 
was absoil; and around 1500, directly 
from the Latin, was fashioned the form 
absolve, which supplanted assoil. Hence 
assoilment, absolution. Scott in THE 
ANTIQUARY (1816) has: "God assoilzie her!" 
ejaculated old Elspeth. "His mercy is in- 
finite." Oxford, said De Quincey in his 

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES in 1840, 

might avail to assoil me. 

assoine. A variant of essoin, q.v. Both 
noun and verb. Also asoyne, asunien, 
assoygne; assonzie (Scotch verb form). 
Used from the 13th century. 

assubtile. To subtilize; to refine. Also 
assubtiliate. Latin ad, to -f subtilis, 
subtle, woven fine; sub, under -f tela, 
web. Puttenham in THE ARTE OF ENGLISH 
POESIE (1589) speaks of much abstinence 
as assub tiling and refining their spirits. 
In his list of many more like usurped 
Latine and French words, Puttenham in- 
cludes methodicall, placation, compendi- 
ous, assub tiling, prolixe, figurative, in- 
veigle. Of all his list, assub tiling alone 
has not survived. 

assuefaction. The process of growing 
accustomed, or of making (someone) ac- 
customed, to a thing. Thus also assuete, 
accustomed, practiced. Latin as, ad, to 
+ suescere, suetum, to accustom, to grow 
used to; Old Latin suere, to make one's 



assyth 

own; suus, one's own (whence also sui- 
cide). Bacon in SYLVA (1626) said that 
assuetude of things hurtful, doth make 
them lose their force to hurt (Pope ex- 
pressed the idea otherwise, in his quatrain 
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 
As to be hated., needs but to be seen; But 
seen too oft, familiar with her face, We 
first endure, then pity, then embrace) . 
The term assuetude has fallen into in- 
nocuous desuetude. 

assyth. To satisfy; to compensate. Also 
asyth, assithe, asith; cp. syth. As a noun, 
assyth, satisfaction; also assythment; as- 
sythzng, giving satisfaction for an offence. 
Mainly in Scotland, 14th to 17th century. 
A York Mystery of 1450 said: To hym 
will I make asith agayne. 

astart. To start up; to start (into ex- 
istence), to happen, to happen to; to 
start off, to escape. The word existed in 
many forms in the 14th, 15th and 16th 
centuries; in the third sense above, it is 
probably a variation of the earlier atstert. 
Chaucer in THE FRANKLIN'S TALE (1386) 
says that no man may from his death 
asterte. Spenser uses the word several 
times, as in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596): 
Out of her bed she did astart; in THE 
SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579): No danger 
there the shephard can astert. 

astatic. With no tendency or ability to 
remain in one position. Greek a, not + 
statos, stable; sta-, stand. An astatic needle 
is one so set as to be unaffected by the 
earth's magnetism; an astatic youngster is 
unaffected by other things. 

astert. To escape. An old variant of 
astart, q.v. 

asterve. To die; especially, of hunger; to 
kill, destroy, starve out. Used from the 
10th century, gradually replaced by 

64 



atheticize 

sterve, q.v., the early form of starve. 
(Sterve was pronounced starve as clerk, 
dark.) 

asthenia. Weakness, debility. Greek a, 
not + sthenos, strength. Also astheny. 
Used in the 19th century; still a medical 
term. Hence, asthenic, asthenical, weak. 

astrologaster. A foolish lying astrologer; 
a 'phony' fortune-teller. (There were, of 
course, astrologers that believed in the 
truth of the stars' telling.) The Latin 
ending aster originally meant somewhat 
like; hence, not genuine. In English it is 
used to mean a pretender, as in grammati- 
caster, poetaster, politicaster the last 
especially pointing to disaster. 

astromancy. See aeromancy. 
ate. See atel. 

atel. Hateful; hideous, foul. Also atelich, 
into the 13th century, as in Mapes THE 
BODY AND THE SOUL (1275): The bodi ther 
hit lay on bere, An atelich thing. Old 
Norse atall, fierce, dire; but Ate was the 
Greek goddess of discord: when not in- 
vited to a feast of the gods, she tossed in 
a golden apple with the message Tor the 
fairest'; the contest to win the apple led 
to the Trojan War. Hence Ates (two 
syllables), incitements to mischief; Shake- 
speare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1594): More 
Ates, more Ates! Stir them on! 

athanasy. Immortality. Also athanasia; 
Greek athanasia, from a-, without H- 
thanatos, death. Bryant's poem THANA- 
TOPSIS is (Greek opsis, sight) "a view of 
death." Lowell in MY STUDY WINDOWS 
(1871) queries: Is not a scholiastic athan- 
asy better than none? He seems to have 
achieved it. 

atheticize. To set aside, invalidate. 
Greek athetos, invalid; a, not + thetikos, 



athlothete 

positive. Also athetise, to condemn as 
spurious; athe tests. Beverley in THE PRAISE 

OF THE GLORY OF GRACE (1701) asked: 

Might he not even atheticize and disannul 
sin, and bring it even to nothing? 

athlothete. The judge, or awarder of 
prizes, at games. From Greek athlos, con- 
test, athlon, prize 4- thetes, one who 
places. 

atomy. (1) An anatomical preparation, a 
skeleton; hence, an emaciated person, a 
'walking skeleton/ Shakespeare in HENRY 
iv, PART TWO (1597) has: You starved 
blood-hound! . . . Thou atomy, thou! 
This is a shortening of anatomy, the 
word being understood as an atomy; also 
by misunderstanding (a) the forms natomy 
and nathomy developed. Cp. anatomy. 
Gay in THE BEGGAR'S OPERA (1728), Smol- 
lett (1755) and Cooper (1823) used the 
word. (2) At atom, a mote. A use as 
though it were singular, of atomi, plural 
of atomus, a 16th century learned form 
of atom via Latin from Greek a, not 
+ tomos, cut. Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE 
IT tells us: It is as easie to count atomies 
as to resolve the propositions of a lover. 
Hence, anything tiny; a mite, a pigmy. 
Shakespeare, in ROMEO AND JULIET: 
Drawne with a teeme of little atomies 
Over mens noses; Kingsley in THE WATER 
BABIES (1863): / suppose you have come 
here to laugh at me, you spiteful little 
atomy. 

atonement. Reconciliation; harmony; 
the state of being at one with others. 
There was an earlier word, onement, with 
the same sense. Also attonement, atton- 
ment. The word was in use in the 16th 
century; the first occurrence of the sur- 
viving sense, expiation, is in the King 
James BIBLE (1611). More in RICHARD m 
(1513) spoke of men having more regarde 



atter 

to their olde variaunce then their newe 
attonement. 

atrabiliarious. See air amentaceous. Also 
atrabilar, atrabilarian (also, as a noun, 
a hypochondriac), atrabilarious, atrabi- 
laric, atrabilary, atrabiliary, atrabilious, 
atrabilous. Used mainly in the 17th and 
18th centuries. 

atramentaceous. Full of ink, like a poor 
writer's fingers; inky. Also atramental, 
atramentarious, atramentary, atramentous, 
atramentitious, all meaning inky; black 
as ink; of or pertaining to ink; hence, 
written or printed. Atrament, ink; black- 
ing. Latin atramentum; atrare, to blacken, 
ater, black. Hence also atrabiliarious, 
atrabilious, affected by black bile one 
of the four medieval humours better 
known from the Greek, melancholy. See 
humour. 

atretus. In Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751): 
"one whose fundament, or privy parts, are 
not perforated." From Greek atretos, a-, 
not + tresis, perforation. The noun 
atresia is used in pathology. 

atter. Atter was a common word for 
poison, from 1000 to 1650; almost as 
early, it was used figuratively to mean 
bitterness; later (again in a physical sense) 
it was used of pus or other exudation 
from abscess or wound. From an olden 
belief that spiders are poisonous, alter- 
cop (cop, cup, round head) came to mean 
spider; the word was also applied to a 
venomous person. Also ettercap; ether- 
cap. Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751), quoting 
Cumberland, gives "attercob, spider's 
web"; both spelling and meaning are in 
error. Our language is a tangled web. 
Other old forms include a-tterlich, bitter, 
venomous; atterling, a malignant person; 
atterlothe (Old English lath, hostile), an 
antidote for poison. 

65 



ittercop 



autem 



attercop. See atter. 

aucupate. To lie in wait for; to hunt 
for; to win by craft. Literally, to go bird- 
catching; Latin auceps, aviceps; avis, bird 
4- cap ere, cepi, cap turn, to catch. Hence 
aucupation; aucupable, fit for hunting, 
desirable. In the Water-Poet Taylor's 
WORKS (1630) we read: Some till their 
throats ake cry alowd and hollo, To 
aucupate great favors from Apollo. 

audaculous. Timidly daring, slightly 
bold. Latin audaculus, diminutive of 
audax, audacem, bold, whence audacious. 
Sir Christopher Heydon in A DEFENCE OF 
JUDICIALL ASTROLOGIE (1603) wrote: The 
ignorance hereof hath carried him too 
jarre in this audaculous dispute. 

auf. See ouph. 
aufyn. See alfin. 
Augean. See orgyan. 
augrym. See algorism. 

aulary. Relating to a hall. Also aularian. 
As a noun, aularian, a member of a hall 
(as distinct from a college) at an English 
university. Greek aule, court, hall; cp. 
aulic. Used from the 17th century. 

aulete. A flute-player. Hence auletic. 
Greek auletes; auleein, to play the flute; 
Sj flute. 



aulic. Courtly; relating to a court. Wat- 
son, in 1602, contrasted aulicall, martial, 
and rural Greek aule, hall, court; cp. 
aulary. T. Adams in his COMMENTARIES 
(1633; 2 PETER) said: God affects not auli- 
cisms and courtly terms. Aulicism, a 
courtly phrase. De Quincey (WORKS, 1853) 
spoke of investing the homeliness of &sop 
with aulic graces and satiric brilliancy. 

aumbry. See ambry. 



aunt. In addition to its still current 
sense, aunt was commonly used in the 
17th century as a light woman; a pro- 
curess or prostitute. One of Autolycus' 
songs in Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE 
(1610) has a stanza: The lark, that tirra- 
lyra chants. With heigh! With heigh! the 
thrush and the jay, Are summer songs for 
me and my aunts While we lie tumbling 
in the hay. In this sense (and others) 
sometimes naunt, by improper shifting of 
mine aunt to my naunt. Shakespeare also 
uses aunt to mean an old gossip; in A 

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM he has the 

wisest aunt telling the saddest tale. 

aunters. At a venture, in any case. A 
14th and 15th century form from of aven- 
ture, by adventure. Later used for per- 
adventure, perhaps. Cp. enaunter. Also 
auntre, aventurs, awnturs, anters. Chaucer 
uses auntre as a verb, to venture, i.e. in 
THE REEVE'S TALE (1386): / wol arise and 
auntre it, by my fay. Hence auntrous, 
adventurous. 

aurum potabile. A potion of minute 
particles of gold in an oil, to be drunk as 
a cordial. Directly from the Latin: drink- 
able gold. Quarles in JUDGMENT AND 
MERCY (1644) puns upon the potion: 
Poverty . . , is a sickness very catching. 
The best cordial is aurum potabile. 

auspicy. See aeromancy. 
austromancy. See aeromancy. 

autangelist. This word, apparently the 
creation of N. Bailey (I found it in hiy 
1751 DICTIONARY), might have more fre- 
quent use. It means one who is his own 
messenger. In Greek auto- means self; 
aggelos, messenger. Double g in Greek 
was given a nasal sound; an angel was a 
messenger of the Lord. 

autem. See pedlers French. Also altam, 
altham. 



66 



autophoros 

autophoros. A person "caught with the 
goods/' from Greek auto-, self + phoreo, 
phero, to bear. Found only in the dic- 
tionaries, but (with accent on the second 
syllable) not a bad word for "a thief with 
the thing he stole upon him." 

avage. A payment made by tenants (es- 
pecially of the manor of Writtel, Essex) 
for the privilege of feeding pigs in the 
manor woods. Also, avisage. 

avarous. Avaricious, Originally averous. 
The word was changed by association 
with French avare, miser; Latin avarus, 
greedy. It is, however, from aver (also 
havour; hawere, avyoure and more; 
common from the 14th to the 17th cen- 
tury); Latin hob ere, to have. English aver 
meant wealth, property; in the plural, 
possessions; farm-stock. In DIVES AND 
PAUPER (1496) we read: Unryghtfull 
occupyenge of ony . . . aver in this worlde, 
is called theeft. Chaucer in THE PERSONES 
TALE (1386) says: The avarous man hath 
more hope in his catel than in Jhesu 
Crist. 

avaunt. This word has had several mean- 
ings; among them, it came to be its own 
antonym. Via Old French avanter from 
Latin vanitare, to boast (frequentative of 
vanare) from vanus, empty, vain, it meant 
to speak proudly of, to boast, to praise, 
to vaunt. Chaucer (1386) used it so. As 
a verb, it was also an early form of ad- 
vance, French avant; Latin ab, from + 
ante, before. It meant (as in Spenser, THE 
FAERIE QUEENE; 1596: To whom avaunt- 
ing in great bravery) to come forward. 
Then it was widely used as a command: 
Avaunt! Move on! hence Begone! Thus 
the verb came to mean both to come and 
to go: its own opposite. 

So many words have meant their own 
opposite that it has been suggested that 



avent 

in early times a polarity (a wide scale of 
meaning) was designated by one word, as 
temper and humor may still be good or 
bad; but in humorous and He has quite a 
temper (or temperature) become specific. 
Thus, in ancient Egyptian, keu meant 
strong and weak; in Hebrew, sechel, wise 
and foolish; kieless, to mock, to pray; 
boruch, blessed, cursed; in Latin, sacer, 
sacred, accursed; altus, high, deep; 
damare, to shout, dam, secretly. In Eng- 
lish, with, together, for, but in com- 
pounds as withhold, withstand, apart, 
against. So cleave, to hold tight together, 
to cut clean apart. A fast horse runs 
rapidly, a fast color runs not at all. To 
let, to allow, permit, also to hinder, 
as a let ball in tennis. Seeded raisins have 
the seeds removed; seeded bread has the 
seeds put in; similarly dusted. Cp. dup; 
stickler (stightle); to-; trip, couth. There 
are also pairs of words that look like 
antonyms, yet are almost identical in 
meaning: sever, dissever; ravel, unravel; 
flammable, inflammable. More of both 
sorts can easily be gathered. 

avenage. From Latin avena, oats; the 
English word is accented on the first syl- 
lable. It is a term of feudal times, mean- 
ing a payment in oats, instead of service, 
to a landlord or feudal chief. The officer 
of the stable in charge of the provender 
was the avener accent on the second syl- 
lable. Might well be used for any pay- 
ment in goods instead of labor. 

avenant. Convenient, agreeable, hand- 
some. Via French avenir from Latin ad, 
to + venire, come; to be becoming. Used 
as a noun in the expression at your 
avenant, at your convenience. 

avener. See avenage. 

avent. To refresh with fresh air; hence, 
to open the aventayle for this purpose; by 

67 



aver 



avision 



extension, to come out into the open air, 
to escape from confinement. Old French 
esventer; Latin ex, out + ventum, wind. 
Used especially in the 14th and 15th cen- 
turies. An aventayle (aventail, avantaill, 
adventayle, aventaille) was the mouth- 
piece of a helmet, usually kept raised to 
admit fresh air. Chaucer tells, in TROYLUS 
AND CRISEYDE (1374), He drough a kynge 
by th' avantaille. After the 15th century, 
Scott brought the word back in THE LAY 
OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805): And lifted 
his barred aventayle. 

aver. See avarous. Accent on the long a; 
not to be confused with the verb aver 
(Latin ad, to + verus, true), to declare to 
be true. 

avernal. Infernal, hellish. Also avernian. 
Avern (Latin Avernus; Greek a, without 
-f ornis, bird) was a lake in Campania, 
which supposedly gave off a poisonous 
effluvium that killed all birds flying over 
it. By extension, the infernal regions, as 
in the famous words of the JEneid: Facilis 
des census Averno, Easy is the road to hell. 
Both forms in English may be nouns, 
meaning a devil. In THE WYLL OF THE 
DEVILL (1550) at the courts avernall, 
Pamachios, we read, doth cause all his 
avernals, forked types and annointed 
gentlemen to come to the ready nge of 
the devylls testament and last wyll. 

averrancate. To avert, ward off. From 
Latin a, off 4- verruncare, to turn, often 
used in prayer: bene verruncare, to turn 
out well. The 17th century misinterpreted 
the word as from ab, off + eruncare, to 
weed off; whence it was used to mean to 
weed, to prune, to cut off what hurts. 
Thus De Quincey in THE CONFESSIONS OF 
AN OPIUM EATER (1821) speaks of His 
decree of utter averruncation to the simple 
decoration overhead. A long pole topped 

68 



by shears worked from below by wire, 
for pruning high branches, is still called 
an averruncator. In its basic sense Butler 
in HUDIBRAS (1663) has: Sure some mis- 
chief will come of it Unless by provi- 
dential wit Or force we averruncate it. 

averty. See verty. 

avetrol. A bastard. (Three syllables, 
accent on the last.) Roundabout, Old 
French awotron, from Latin adulterum, 
whence also adultery. Used in the 13th 
century romance of KYNG ALYSAUNDER: 
Whar artow, horesone! wharf . . . Thou 
avetrol, thou foule wrechel and into the 
15th century. 

aveugle. To blind; to hoodwink. Via 
French aveugle from Latin ab, away + 
oculus, eye. Sharington is quoted (1547) 
in Froude's HISTORY OF ENGLAND as being 
so seduced and aveugled by the lord ad- 
miral. The still current inveigle is from 
the same source, although it is suggested 
that Medieval Latin aboculus is a short- 
ening of albus oculus, blind (literally, 
white eye). 

avidulous. Although this word, meaning 
somewhat greedy, occurs only in dic- 
tionaries, the frequency of the quality 
produced a variety of words. Avid is from 
Latin avidus, from avere, to crave. John 
Bale, in THE IMAGE OF BOTH CHURCHES 
(1550) states: Nothing is more avidiously 
to be desired. Avidulous contains the 
diminifying root -ul-. Avidous is a stronger 
word, the -ous, from Latin -osus, meaning 
full of: courageous, full of courage; pious, 
full of piety. 

avisage. See avage. 

avision. A dream, a vision; a warning 
in a dream. Also a visyon, avysioun, and 
more; in the 16th century, often advision. 
Chaucer in THE NONNE PREESTES TALE 



aviso 

(1386) states that A litil or [before] he 
was mordred . . . His mordre in his avy- 
sioun he say [saw]. 

aviso. Information; a notification, dis- 
patch; a formal notice. From Spanish 
aviso, but in the 16th century often 
spelled adviso, as though more directly 
from Latin ad, to + videre, visum, to see, 
whence English advise, advice. 

avital. Ancestral, of long standing. Latin 
avitus, pertaining to the avus, grand- 
father. Pronounced a-vy-tal or av-i-tal. 
Also avitall, avitic, avitous (accents on 
the vit). The 17th century spoke of avital 
customs. 

avowtry. See advowtrie. 

avulse. To pluck off, tear away. Latin a, 
from + vellere, vulsum, to pluck, pull, 
whence also convulsion, revulsion. Hence 
avulsion, the action of pulling away, 
plucking off; forcible separation; also, a 
portion torn off. Lamb in a letter of 1822 
rejected the literal sense, saying that the 
eyes came away kindly, with no (Edipean 
avulsion. 

awhene. To vex, trouble. Earlier 
ahwene; Old High German hwennen, to 
shake. Most of the English words be- 
ginning wh (e.g., when, whither, while) 
were originally forms in hw and are still 
to be pronounced with the breath before 
the w. Awhene was used from the 10th 
to the 14th century. 

awk. Originally, with or from the left 
hand: hence, the wrong way, back- 
handed, perverse, clumsy. To ring awk, 
the wrong way: used of bells warning of 
evil, as a fire. To sing awk (of a bird), 
to call as an omen of evil. Hence, awky, 



ayword 

awkly; awkness, clumsiness, perversity, 
wrongness. The same development 
occurs in words from Latin; dexter, 
right, gives us dexterity, while sinister, 
left, remains sinister in English. Awk 
was also used as a noun, untoward- 
ness; Bulwer in CHIRONOMIA (1644) wrote: 
To fling words at his auditors out of the 
auke of utterance. The word survives in 
the form awkward, which originally 
meant upside down, turned the wrong 
way. 

axe. To ask. Forgotten in standard 
speech, this form occurs in the earliest 
printed books. In Caxton's ENEYDOS (THE 
AENEID; 1490), for example, we read that 
a mercer came in to a hows and axed for 
mete, and specyally he axyd after eggys. 
Incidentally, the good wyf understode 
hym not, until someone explained that 
by eggys he meant eyren. 

axinomancy. See aeromancy. 
axwaddle. See askefise. 
ayenbite. See agenbite. 

ayenst. An early form of against; also 
ayen. Sometimes used to mean in antici- 
pation of, as when Cavendish in THE 

LYFFE AND DEATHE OF CARDYNALL WOOL- 

SEY (1557) told of the coming of the 
King: He came by water to the Watergate 
without any noyse, where ayenst his 
commyng was layed charged many cham- 
bers. At whos landyng they ware all shot 
off, whiche made suche a romble in the 
ayer that it was lyke thonder. 

ayren. An early plural of egg: eggs. 
ayword. See nay word. 



69 



B 



babes-in-the-cradle. See Hymen's torch. 

babion. An early variant of baboon. 
From the French; also babian, babioun. 
Used in the 17th century as a contemptu- 
ous term for a person. Massinger in THE 
PARLIAMENT OF LOVE (1624) says Farewell, 
babions! Also bavian, in which form the 
word appeared in Dutch. The bavian was 
a frequent comic figure in the old morris 
dance, where his long tail and tumbling 
antics added much to the jollity. 

baccare. See backare. 
bacchanal. See bacchatwn. 

bacchation. Revelry; drunkenness. From 
the Bacchantes, revelers at the festival of 
Bacchus, Roman god of wine (and father 
of Hymenaeus, god of marriage) . There is 
also a verb, to bacchanalize (accent on the 
first syllable), as well as the adjective 
bacchant. Thus Thomas Moore in his 
translation (1800) of the ODES of An- 
acreon: Many a roselipped bacchant maid 
Is culling clusters in their shade; and 
Byron in DON JUAN (1821) : Over his 
shoulder, with a bacchant air, Presented 
the o'erflowing cup. Many a new bac- 
calaureate has celebrated with a baccha- 
tion. The word bacchanal, still used of the 
revel (bacchanalia) was earlier used of 
the reveling person; by extension, one 
whose emotions are out of control. Thus 
Nashe in NASHES LENTEN STUFFE, OR THE 

PRAYSE OF THE RED HERRING (1599) tells 

jestingly the story of Hero and Leander, 

70 



which Musaeus (500 A.D.) and Marlowe 
(1598) had more seriously told. Nashe 
ends, when the tide carries the corpse of 
Leander away: At that Hero became a 
franticke bacchanal outright, and made no 
more bones but sprang after him, and so 
resigned up her priesthood, and left worke 
for Musaeus and Kit Marlowe. 

baccivorous. Berry-eating; like me in 
old-fashioned strawberry shortcake time; 
living mainly on berries. Latin bacca, 
berry. The accent is on the siv. Also bac- 
ciferous, berry-bearing; bacciform, shaped 
like a berry. 

bace. A blow, a drubbing. In the 16th 
century. So O. E. D. Bace was also a vari- 
ant of base, as the name of an old game, 
later called prisoners' bars, prisoners' base. 
By act of Parliament during the reign of 
Edward III, playing bace was prohibited 
in the avenues of Westminster palace 
while Parliament was in session. Spenser 
in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) says: So ran 
they all as they had been at bace, They 
being chased that did the others chase. 

bacharach. See backrag. 

backare. Stand backl The origin is un- 
known; "Back therel"? At times spelt 
bacare, baccare and pronounced in three 
syllables, like a yokel pretending to Latin, 
Shakespeare, in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW 
(1596) : Bacare, you are mervaylous for- 
ward. The word appeared in a proverbial 



backberend 



badeen 



saying, Backare, quoth Mortimer to his 
sow. 

backberend. Carrying on the back. A 
10th to 15th century term for a thief 
caught carrying off stolen property, es- 
pecially venison in the forests. Sir Walter 
Scott revived the word, in THE FAIR MAID 
OF PERTH (1828) . The term is sometimes 
modernized, to backb earing, whence the 
verb, to backb ear., used in 16th and 17th 
century English forest laws, of carrying 
illegally killed deer. 

backfriend. A pretended, a false, friend; 
an enemy masked as a friend. From the 
15th century. / have had backfriends, said 
Sou they (LIFE; 1827) , as well as enemies. 
By a few in the 16th century, and Scott in 
QUENTIN DURWARD (1823) backfriend was 
used in the opposite sense, of a backer, a 
friend standing firmly at one's back. 

backrag. A wine from Bacharach, a town 
on the Rhine; the flavor was much ap- 
preciated in the 17th century. Hence also 
bacharach, backrak, bachrag, bachrach. 
Fletcher and Massinger's THE BEGGAR'S 
BUSH (1620) has: My fireworks and flap- 
dragons and good backrack. 

bacon. (1) A rustic, a clown. Perhaps a 
shortening of chaw-bacon. In early Eng- 
land, the meat most eaten in the country 
was swine's flesh. Shakespeare in HENRY 
iv, PART ONE (1596) has Falstaff cry, when 
waylaying the travelers: On, bacons, on! 
What, ye knaves! Young men must live, 
bacon-brains, a 'fathead', a fool, bacon- 
picker, a glutton, baconer, a pig that will 
make good bacon, baconize; to make into 
bacon; also figurative, as when Burritt in 

A WALK FROM LONDON TO LAND'S END 

(1865) said that magnipotent chimneys 
. . . puff their black breathings into the . . . 
sky above, baconising its countenance. (2) 
A variant form of baked, past tense of to 

_ 71 



bake. Thus in Wyatt's poem of THE MEANE 
AND SURE ESTATE (1536) the country mouse 
envies her sister, the town mouse: She 
fedeth on boyled, bacon meet, and roost 
. . . And when she list, the licor of the 
grape Doeth glad her hert till that her 
belly swell. 

baculine. The line of the flagellant. Re- 
lating to the rod, or to punishment by 
flogging. Thackeray in THE VIRGINIANS 
(1858) states that the baculine method 
was a common mode of argument. Bacul 
was used in the 15th century for a religious 
staff or crosier. From Latin baculus, a rod, 
the symbol of power, also used in English. 
Hence baculiferous, bearing a cane, like 
the dandy of yore. The common bacillus 
was named from its shape: Latin bacillus, 
little rod; diminutive of baculus. Baculo- 
metry, says Bailey in his DICTIONARY 
(1751), is the art of measuring accessible 
or inaccessible distances or lines, by one 
or more staves. The baculine schoolmaster 
is a fading phenomenon. 

bad. See badling. 

badeen. Frivolous, jesting. Via French 
badine, silly, from Late Latin badare, to 
gape. Its only literary use is in F. Spence's 
translation (1685) of THE SECRET HISTORY 
OF THE HOUSE OF MEDicis: a dialog com- 
pletely bouffon, waggish, and badeen, be- 
tween the head and the cap. The noun 
from the same source remains in use, as 
in Disraeli's ENDYMION (1880), which 
warns: Men destined to the highest places 
should beware of badinage. We have used 
other forms: the verb to badiner a char- 
acter in Vanbrugh's THE RELAPSE (1697) 
wishes that Loveless were here to badiner 
a little; badinerie Shenstone, in his 
WORKS AND LETTERS (1712) laments that 
the fund of sensible discourse is limited; 
that of jest and badinerie is infinite; badi- 



badger 

neur Pope wrote to Swift, on December 
19, 1734: Rebuke him for it ... as a 
badineur, if you think that more effectual 
Many a badeen badger (q.v.) has built 
a reputation on a caustic tongue, as in 
the play THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER; 
the more insulting he is, the more his 
sycophants and the audience laugh. 

badger. Two wholly different words, 
from origins unknown, ended in this form. 
(1) From the 16th through the 18th cen- 
tury, a badger was a peddler of victuals, 
buying especially corn and butter and 
cheese, later other provisions as well, from 
the farmers to sell at the market towns. 
In the 16th and 17th century there were 
many laws regulating (and trying to tax) 
their trade. There is also a verb, to badge, 
to hawk for sale. (2) The common fight- 
ing animal, between a weasel and a bear. 
This use is of course still common; but 
from it rose two by-products now less 
familiar, (a) badger-drawing, badger-bait- 
ing. The badger was a fierce fighter. It 
became a game in England to put a badger 
into a hole (usually a barrel) and set 
dogs to draw it out the better 'sports' 
set one dog at a time against the doomed 
but valiant creature. Hence, to badger 
came to mean to constantly pester and 
persecute one who cannot escape. THE 
SATURDAY REVIEW of February 8, 1862, 
speaks of The coarse expedients by which 
the Old Bailey advocate badgers and con- 
fuses a nervous witness. Thomas Fuller, in 

THE HOLY AND THE PROFANE STATE (1642) 

anticipates this sense when he observes: 
Erasmus was a badger in his jeers; where 
he did bite he would make his teeth meet. 
The verb, however, refers to the actions 
of dogs and their masters, (b) The bad- 
ger-game. In the 1920's there came to 
public attention a practice that goes at 
least as far back as Elizabethan days, con- 



baffle 

sisting of a woman's luring a man to her 
chamber, whereupon her accomplice 
breaks in, plays the role of an outraged 
husband, then spares the man's life for 
as large a sum as can be extorted. Herbert 
Asbury in THE GEM OF THE PRAIRIE (1941) 
states that John Hill and his wife Mary 
. . . are said to have been the first persons 
in Chicago to -work the badger game. 
(The spirit of the pioneer!) The woman 
partner was called the badger-worker; the 
man, the badger though sometimes, 
loosely, the decoy was also called the 
badger. The whole game arose from living 
loosely. If the peddler badger is derived 
from Latin bladium f blade (of wheat) the 
two senses of the word approach one an- 
other in this game that may be played on 
a sower of wild oats. 

battling. An effeminate man. The word 
was used from the 10th through the 17th 
century; it dropped out of use because 
the word bad had come to mean evil, and 
badling was consequently misunderstood. 
Bad, Old English badde (two syllables) 
originally meant homosexual; the change 
to its present meaning came in the 13th 
century. 

badminton. See bailer. 

baetyl. Directly from Greek baitylos, this 
rare word means a meteoric stone held 
sacred. Such a stone, either because it was 
seen falling from another world, or be- 
cause its structure is manifestly different 
from local terrene rocks, became the ob- 
ject of awe and adoration. 

baffle. To disgrace; especially, of a re- 
creant knight, to disgrace publicly; the 
punishment usually included hanging by 
the heels. A common Romance term; Pro- 
venc,al bafar, to mock, from baf, an ex- 
clamation of disdain (English bah!) 
Spenser in THE FAERIE QJQEENE (1596 tells; 
72 



bagge ^^ 

And after all for greater infamie He by 
the heels him hung upon a tree, And 
bafful'd so, that all which passed by The 
picture of his punishment might see. Also 
to cheat, hoodwink, and then (17th cen- 
tury) the current sense, bewilder, con- 
found, foil. Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART 
ONE (1597) cries: An I do not, call me 
villain, and baffle me! 

bagge. To leer; to look at sidewise; to 
glance aside. (Bailey in 1751 gives the 
meaning to swell, and bagged was used 
from the 15th through the 17th century 
to mean pregnant.) The origin of bagge, 
to leer, is not known, but the word was 
used in that sense by Wyclif (1380) and 
by Chaucer in THE BOKE OF THE DUCHESSE 
(1369) : The traiteresse false and full of 
guile . . . That baggeth joule and looketh 
faire. The practice continues. 

bagnio. Originally, a bath-house for hot 
and cold baths, sweating, and cupping; 
the 17th century equivalent of the Turkish 
bath. Italian bagno; Latin balneum, bath; 
bagnio was pronounced ban-yo. Also 
banio, bagno, bannia, banniard, bagnard. 
In the 17th century also, the word was 
used of an oriental prison or slave-pen. 
From the beginning, however, the bagnios 
were places of assignation and licentious- 
ness; as early as 1624 bagnio was used to 
mean brothel. The same fate overcame the 
hummum (hammam, hammaum) or 
Turkish bath proper; Arabic hammam, 
hot bath, hummum, coal. The Hummums 
opened in Coven t Garden in 1631; when 
the baths were suppressed for immorality, 
the place became a hotel. Hoadley in THE 
SUSPICIOUS HUSBAND (1747) bids: Carry 
her to a bagnio, and there you may lodge 
with her. 

bagpudding. (1) A pudding boiled in a 
bag; in early use, with two ends. POOR 



baignoire 

ROBIN said in 1709: True love is not like 
to a bag-pudding; a bag-pudding hath 
two ends, but true love hath never an end. 
It was made with flour, with suet and 
plums, and was popular from Jack Hor- 
ner's days at least to the Christmastides 
of my childhood. (2) A clown, a merry- 
andrew perhaps from the inflated blad- 
der that was his characteristic equipment. 
Cp. fackpudding. 

baignoire. A box at the theatre at the 
level of the orchestra seats (English 
'stalls') . Baignoire is a French word mean- 
ing a place or a vessel to bathe in, from 
baigner, to bathe. Browning, in RED COT- 
TON NIGHT-CAP COUNTRY (1873) , queries: 
Should one display One's robe a trifle o'er 
the baignoire edge. Bain was also used 
from the 13th through the 17th century, 
as a noun, bath, or as a verb, to bathe. It 
comes via the French from Latin balneum, 
bath. Twyne in his 1573 translation of 
THE AENEID says: The launce . . . in 
virgins blood doth bayne. Surrey (1557) 
uses the word metaphorically: Salt tears 
do bayne my breast. 

There is another bain, of different origin 
(Old Norse beinn, straight, direct) that 
into the 19th century was used to mean 
ready, willing, supple, handy. Douglas in 
his 1513 translation of THE AENEID says: 
To seek your old mother make you bane. 
This in turn must not be confused with 
the word bane, a common Teuton word, 
which first meant murderer, then, as in 
Chaucer and in Henry More's PLATONICAL 
SONG OF THE SOUL (1647) : Brimstone thick 
and clouds of fiery bain, meant anything 
deadly, and now is used to mean poison 
or (poetically) any great harm but 
chiefly survives in the names of plants, as 
dogbane, henbane, wolfs bane and the 
like. 



73 



bain 



balaam 



bain. See baignoire. Barnaby Googe tells, 
in his EGLOGS (1563): Princely nymphs 
accompanied Diana in her baynes. See 
also balneum. 

bairman. Pauper. A variant spelling of 
bare man; not in the O. E. D. (1933) but 
often in the early law courts. Defined by 
Bailey (1751) as a poor insolvent debtor, 
left bare and naked, who was obliged to 
swear in court that he was not worth more 
than five shillings and five pence. 

baisement. A kissing of the hands. Also 
baisemain; French baiser, to kiss + main, 
hand. In the plural, baisemains, respects. 
Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) uses 
the Italian form basciomani; and in the 
15th century (Caxton) baisier, a kiss. 
Farquhar in THE BEAUX' STRATAGEM 
(1707) has: Do my baisemains to the 
gentleman, and tell him I will . . . wait 
on him immediately. 

bajardour. See bajulate. 

bajulate. To carry (a burden). From 
Latin bajulus, porter; but see badger. 
Fuller, in his HISTORY OF THE WORTHIES OF 
ENGLAND (1662) speaks of bajulating pro- 
visions to London. Bailey in his DICTION- 
ARY (1751) lists bajardour, a carrier of 
burdens. 

bakemeat. A pastry, a pie. Also baken 
meat, baked meat. Used by Chaucer 
(1386) , by Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) , 
and in THE WHITE DEVIL (1700) : As if a 
man Should know what fowl is coffin' d in 
a bak'd meat Afore it is cut up. It might 
be four and twenty blackbirds. 

baker's dozen. Thirteen. In the 16th 
century, when there were special pillories 
for cheating bakers (Heywood in his 
PROVERBS, 1562, includes: / feare we parte 
not yeet, Quoth the baker to the pylorie) , 
a huckster was entitled by law to receive 



thirteen batches and pay for twelve, the 
extra batch (baking) providing his profit 
on resale. Nares (GLOSSARY; 1882) confuses 
the term: It was originally called a devil's 
dozen, and was the number of witches 
supposed to sit down at table together in 
their great meetings or sabbaths. Hence 
the superstition relating to the number 
thirteen at table. The baker, who was a 
very unpopular character in former times, 
seems to have been substituted on this 
account for the devil. Nares has found a 
mare's nest with this explanation. The 
unlucky thirteen is of course traceable to 
the Last Supper of Christ and the twelve 
apostles, but it goes farther back. In Norse 
mythology, Loki once intruded and made 
thirteen at a feast in Valhalla; Balder was 
slain. The baker's dozen was entirely com- 
mercial, there being a time within my 
memory when the local baker gave an 
extra roll or bun with every dozen, much 
as the neighborhood Chinese laundryman 
gave children come for the family's wash 
their first taste of lichee nuts. Cp. himp- 



nes. 

balaam. This word draws its meanings 
from the story of Balaam in the BIBLE: 
NUMBERS, 22-24. Balak, the King of Moab, 
summons Balaam to curse the children of 
Israel, new-come from Egypt. Balaam ap- 
proaches on his ass; three times, when the 
ass holds back, Balaam beats it, until the 
ass finds words, and reproaches Balaam. 
Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, 
and he saw the angel of the Lord standing 
in the way. And instead of the curse Balak 
desired, the Lord gave Balaam blessings 
to pour forth upon the children of Israel. 
Hence (1) directly, as in Milton's OBSERVA- 
TIONS ON THE ARTICLES OF PEACE (1648) : 

God has so disposed the mouth -of these 
Balaams, that comming to curse, they have 
stumbled into a kind of blessing. (2) 
74 



balas 

Balaamite, one that follows religion for 
the sake of gain; hence balaamitical. At 
each of the three places to which Balak 
brought him, Balaam demanded seven 
altars, seven bullocks and seven rams. 
(8) balaam. An article, or news items, of 
freak events, saved to fill odd spaces in 
a newspaper or magazine. From the phe- 
nomenon of the talking ass. Hence balaam- 
box, balaam-basket; a receptacle for such 
material. 

balas. A delicate rose colored ruby. Via 
the French from Marco Polo's Latin 
balascusj from the Arabic balakhsh, from 
Badakhshan, a district near Samarcand, 
whence come the choice ones. Holinshed's 
CHRONICALES (1577) : a great bauderike 
(see baldric) about his necke of great 
balasses. The word, revived by Scott THE 
FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822) : a carcanet 
(q.v.) of large balas rubies is now used 
by jewelers in the combination balas ruby. 

balatron. A babbler; jester; buffoon; 
booby. Also balatroon. Latin balatro, with 
the same meaning; b later are, blateratum, 
to babble; whence also to blate, blaterate, 
to babble, talk vainly; blateration; blat- 
eroon all in the 17th century. Aphra 
Behn in SIR PETER FANCY (1678) wrote: 
The affront this balatroon has offered me. 

THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS of 10 

November, 1883 mentioned an interleaved 
copy of the Slang Dictionary for students 
of the balatronic dialect. 

balbutiate. To stammer, stutter. Latin 
balbutire; hence also balbutient, stammer- 
ing, stuttering. The noun balbuties (four 
syllables) is still used in medicine. 

baldachin. See baudekin. 

baldrib. A thin person. Originally, a cut 
of pork nearer the rump than the spare- 
rib. Middleton, in THE MAYOR OF QUIN- 



bale 

BOROUGH (1621) exclaims: Thou art such 
a spiny baldrib. 

baldric. A belt, usually richly orna- 
mented, worn over one shoulder and 
under the opposite arm, to support a 
sword, a bugle, or the like. The origin of 
the word is unknown, though it comes 
from Medieval Latin baldringus, perhaps 
related to Latin balteus, Old High Ger- 
man bah, English belt. A very frequent 
word in references to swords, it is also 
used figuratively, as in Frederic W. Far- 
rar's LIFE AND WORK OF ST. PAUL (1879) : 
Let spiritual truth be their baldric. The 
word is found in many spellings, as 
baudrick, bawdrik. It has been used, 
loosely, to mean a necklace, and meta- 
phorically of the gem-studded belt in the 
sky, the zodiac as in Spenser's THE FAERIE 
QUEENE (1596) : Those twelve signes which 
nightly we do see The heavens bright- 
shining baudricke to enchace. Spenser 
liked the image; his PROTHALAMION speaks 
of the twins of Jove Which deck the bald- 
ric of the heavens bright. 

balductum. Curdled milk, buttermilk. 
Also, hot milk curdled with ale or wine. 
Used in the 15th century; also balducta, 
balducktum, balduckstome. By extension, 
in the 16th century, trashy writing, a far- 
rago of words; a paltry, affected writer. 
Harington in 1596 speaks of a balductum 
play. POLIMANTEIA (1595) stated: Because 
every balductum makes divine poetry to 
be but base rime, I leave thee (sacred 
eloquence) to be defended by the Muses 
ornaments, and such (despised) to live 
tormented with endless povertte. 

bale. This form belongs to three words, 
one obsolete, one poetic, and one practical 
and current. (1) bale, a great conflagra- 
tion; hence, specifically, a funeral pyre. 
Old English bael, a blazing fire, cognate 

75 



baleu 

with Sanskrit bhalas, lustre. Used through 
the 16th century, and briefly revived by 

Scott in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL 

(1805) : On Penchryst glows a ba 1 of fire, 
And three are kindling on Priesthaughs- 
wire. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE 
(1596: He strove to cloak his inward bale, 
and hide the smoke that did his fire dis- 
play) uses it to mean fire of wrath, and 
thus fuses it with the second use. (2) bale, 
active evil; great torment. This is common 
Teuton, Old English bealu, Old Norse 
bol. The word was often paired, as its 
opposite, with bote, relief, q.v. It was 
marked obsolete in 17th century diction- 
aries, but was revived, as a vague but 
powerful word for destructive forces of 
evil, by 19th century poets. Thus Southey 
in THE DOCTOR (1834) says: Death . . . 
calls up a soul from bale and Bryant in 
Homer's ODYSSEY (1870) says: Tidings 
of bale she brought. (3) bale, a large 
bundle or package, as a bale of hay. This 
word is from Old High German balla, 
palla, or Greek palla, meaning a ball, 
then a round bundle. This sense, too, has 
"an obsolete meaning (15th through 17th 
century) of a set of dice for a game in 
those days, usually three. Scott tried to 
revive this meaning also in THE FORTUNES 
OF NIGEL (1822) : The Captain, taking a 
bale of dice from the sleeve of his coat . . . 
This kind of bale has often brought the 
other. Cp. hext. 

baleu. Ruby. A variant form of balas, 
q.v. Urquhart, in his translation of Rabe- 
lais, speaks of a perfect baleu. 

balk. A ridge, as between two furrows 
or fields. From the 9th century. Also, a 
piece of ground carelessly unploughed; 
hence, a balk, a disappointment; to make 
a balk, to waste, to miss an opportunity. 
Also baulk, bale, bawk; in Old English 
it meant a division, either a ridge or a 



ballock 

bar; hence also, a beam of wood (from 
the 13th century) . This is the same word 
as baulk in billiards. Breton in THE PAS- 
SIONATE SHEPHERD (1604) inquired: Who 
can live in heart so glad As the merrie 
countrie lad? Who upon a faire greene 
balke May at pleasure sit and walke . . . 
Or to see the sub till foxe, How the villaine 
plies the box . . . N. McClure, in a note 

in 16TH CENTURY ENGLISH POETRY (1954) 

explains plies the box as 'plays a trick'; 
it seems rather to mean 'strikes the blow' 
that knocks out the victim, as when Green 
in his SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH 
PEOPLE (1874) tells us that Queen Eliza- 
beth I met the insolence of Essex with 
a box on the ear. 

balker. A man on a high point ashore, 
who signals to fishing-boats the direction 
taken by the schools of herring or other 
fish. From the 17th through the 19th 
century; 20th century devices make him 
unnecessary. 

ballard. (1) A bald-headed person. Used 
by Wyclif (1382) in the BIBLE: KINGS 2 
and Caxton (1485) . (2) A musical in- 
strument, described in Purchas' PILGRIMES 
(1625) : Their ballards are a foot above 
ground, hollow under, with some seven- 
teen keyes on the top, on which the player 
strikes . . . *with two strikes a foot long, 
with balls fastned on the end. Evidently 
an early sort of xylophone. 

ballista. An ancient weapon, shaped like 
a large bow stretched with thongs, for 
hurling stones. Also balista. The usual 
plural was the Latin form, ballistae; the 
word is from Greek ballein, to throw. The 
word was sometimes used for arbalest, q.v. 

ballock. Once (politely) used in various 
compounds. Also bealluc, ballok, balluk, 
balok, and the like. Thus bollock-cod, the 
scrotum; cp. cod. ballock-hafted, with a 
76 



balneum 

handle shaped like a ball, ballock-knife, a 
knife worn hanging from the girdle, bal- 
lock-broth seems unrelated, being thus 
described in THE FORME OF CURY (1390) : 
Take eelys, and hilde hem, and kerve hem 
to pecys, and do hem to seeth in water and 
wyne, so that it be a litel over-stepid. Do 
thereto sage an oothir erbis, with -few 
oynons yminced. Whan the eelis buth 
so den ynough, do hem in a vessel; take a 
pyke, and kerve it to gobettes, and seeth 
hym in the same broth; do thereto powdor 
gynger, galyngale, canel, and peper; salt 
it, and cast the eelys thereto, and messe 
it forth. Hence also ballop, ballup, the 
front or flap of smallclothes. 

balneum. A bath; bathing. This word is 
taken directly from the Latin; several 
other forms were also used, mainly from 
the 15th through the 18th century: balne; 
bawne; balneo. The usual implication was 
of a warm bath; balneary was used for a 
medicinal spring. Balneal and balneatory 
are adjectives; compounds include bal- 
neography, a treatise on baths; balneology, 
study of (medicinal) baths; balnea- 
therapy, treatment by baths. Hence bal- 
neation, bathing. The balneum Mariae 
or bain-Marie is a chemical or culinary 
dishwarmer: a pan of hot (not boiling) 
water into which saucepans, etc. were put 
to keep them warm (supposedly so called 
from the mildness of the bath) . Cp. 
baignoire. 

bam. To hoax, deceive, impose upon, 
bamboozle, of which it is either the origin 
or a shortening. Both words arose in the 
early 18th century. Also a noun, a bam, 
a story or device intended as a hoax. Swift 
in his POLITE CONVERSATION (1738) ob- 
served: Her ladyship was plaguily bamb'd. 



bandog 

working with fire; baunos, forge. George 
Grote, in FRAGMENTS ON ETHICAL SUBJECTS 
(1871) joined a controversy: that the 
teaching music as a manual art was 
banausic and degrading. 

bancalia. Equipment, such as covers and 
cushions, for benches and chairs. Bank, 
bane, is a common Teutonic word for 
bench whence mountebank and bank- 
rupt. Cp. bankrout. Bancalia, however, 
seems to occur only in the 17th and 18th 
century dictionaries Bailey (1751) if not 
Barnum. 

banderol. This word, in a dozen spell- 
ings, came through the French from the 
Italian banderuola, a diminutive of bandi- 
era, banner. It meant the long narrow 
flag a ship flies from the mast-head, a 
streamer on a lance, or the like. Shortly 
after Spenser's use in THE FAERIE QUEENE 

(1596) the word was forgotten, until re- 
vived by Sir Walter Scott in MARMION 

(1808) : Scroll, pennon, pensil, bandrol 
there O'er the pavilions flew. After Scott, 
Washington Irving and others used the 
word. Pensil (spelled as though related to 
pensile, hanging, pendent, from Latin 
pendere, pens-, to hang, as in suspense) 
is a variant of pencel, a streamer. Pencel 
is a shortening of penoncel, a French 
diminutive of penon, English pennon. 
Pencel was frequently used from the 13th 
to the end of the 16th century, then it 
lapsed until revived by Scott, first in THE 

LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805) : Pensils 

and pennons wide were flung. Chaucer 
and Malory also used the word pencel 
to mean a lady's token borne by her knight, 
e.g., Chaucer, TROYLUS AND CRYSEYDE 
(1374) : She made him wear a pencel of 
her sleeve. 



banausic. Mechanical (with implied bandog. A dog tied up, as a guard or be- 
scorn) . From Greek banausos, mechanical, cause it is fierce; hence, generally, a fierce 

77 



bandon 

dog; a mastiff, a bloodhound. Also bonde- 
dogge, bandogge, and more. Etheredge in 
LOVE IN A TUB (1669) wrote: As fierce as 
a bandog that has newly broke his chain. 
To speak bandog and bedlam, to talk 
furiously and madly. The word was also 
used figuratively, as in Ussher's A Body of 
Divinitie (1645) : Letting loose Satan, his 
bandog, to . , . molest the godly. Scott, 
who revived the word in the 19th century, 
used it sixteen times. 

bandon. Jurisdiction; authority; control. 
The plural, bandons, orders, commands. 
In (at) one's bandon, under one's control, 
at one's pleasure. Late Latin bandum, 
edict, a form of bannum, whence the 
marriage banns. An edict might often 
work to interdict; hence to ban came to 
mean to forbid; hence banish, bandit. 
Latin bannum, authority, was also used 
for the symbol of authority (under one's 
bannum might mean either); hence, ban- 
ner. 

bandore. Two words have been cor- 
rupted, into this form. (1) The Greek 
musical instrument, pandoura, q.v. The 
name was given to a 16th, 17th, and 18th 
century wire-stringed instrument, used as 
a bass to the cittern, q.v. Shadwell, in 
BURY-FAIR (1689) hails the best music in 
England . . . shawm and bandore. The 
word easily became figurative, as in Hey- 

WOOd's THE FAYRE MAYDE OF THE EXCHANGE 

(1607) : Whafs her hairf Faith two 
bandora wires. It has been further cor- 
rupted, into the forms mandoline and 
banjo. (2) From French bandeau, and 
with the same meaning, came bandore, 
a widow's head-dress. Thomas D'Urfey, in 

PILLS TO PURGE MELANCHOLY (1719) , pic- 

tures the buxom widow, with bandore and 
peak. The musical bandore had three, 
four, or six wire strings. 



bantling 



bandrol. See banderol. 
bane. See baignoire. 

bankrout. An early form of bankrupt, 
perhaps with the idea of putting to rout. 
After Tarquin's violation, in Shakespeare's 

THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (1594) , the pOCt 

declares: Feeble Desire all recreant, poor, 
and meek, Like to a bankrout beggar 
wails his case. The word bankrupt is via 
French banqueroute from Italian banca 
rotta, broken bench the end being later 
refashioned after Latin ruptus, broken. 
The original money-changers (later 
bankers) worked in the open, on a bench. 
Cp. scaldabanco; bancalia. 

banner. See bandon. 

banneret. An old title, lower than baron, 
superior to bachelor and knight: a knight 
entitled to bring a company of vassals 
into the field under his own banner. From 
Old French baneret, bannered; cp. 
bandon. Later the title was awarded on 
the battlefield, for valiant deeds in the 
king's presence. Sometimes, when this 
occurred, the knight's pennon was cut to 
the shape of a banner (square) whence 
the suggestion in Sir William Segar's 

HONOR, MILITARY AND CIVIL (1602) : / 

suppose the Scots do call a knight of this 
creation a Bannerent, for having his ban- 
ner rent. The official English heralds have 
not allowed the title since 1612, the year 
after the rank of baronet was created. 

bannerol. See banderol. 

bantling. A brat; a young child. Drayton 
in his ECLOGUES (1593) pictures lovely 
Venus . . . Smiling to see her wanton 
bantlings game. More often the word is 
a term of scorn; originally it meant 
bastard, probably a corruption of German 
bankling, begotten on a bench. Thus, in 
Father KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OF NEW 
78 



baragouin 

YORK (1809) Washington Irving mentions 
a tender virgin, accidentally and un- 
accountably enriched with a bantling. The 
word is also used figuratively, as when 
Byron wrote, in a letter of 1808: The 
interest you have taken in me and my 
poetical bantlings . . . These, who has 
not had? 

baragouin. Unintelligible speech; jargon; 
double-talk. Breton bara, bread + gwenn, 
white because of the astonishment of 
Breton soldiers at seeing white bread. The 
word baragouin was French, taken di- 
rectly into English in the 17th century. 
Overbury in his CHARACTERS (1613; THE 
LAWYER) declared: He thinks no language 
worth knowing but his barragouin. From 
the Welsh bara pyglyd, pitchy bread, came 
a 17th century term for dark bread, bara- 
pickle t, barrapyclid, which did not grow 
into figurative use, like baragouin. 

barathrum. A pit; especially, a deep pit 
at Athens, whereinto were hurled crimi- 
nals condemned to die. In early English 
use, the pit of hell. By extension (a pit 
that cannot be filled) an insatiable ex- 
tortioner or glutton. Massinger in A NEW 
WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS (1633) exclaims: 
You barathrum of the shambles! 

barato. A small amount of a gambler's 
winnings, given to the bystanders, for 
luck. From the Spanish. Mabbe in his 
translation (1622) of Aleman's GUZMAN 
DE ALFARACHE said And, though I were no 
gamester, yet I might receive barato as 
a stander by. A pleasant practice, recently 
foregone. 

barber. Used figuratively for one that 
cuts things short, a curtailer. Jonson in 
THE SILENT WOMAN (1609) speaks of an ex- 
cellent barber of prayers. Also in com- 
binations: barber-monger, a frequenter of 
the barber, a fop. Shakespeare in KING 



barbican 

LEAR (1605) has: You whoreson cullyenly 
barber-monger, draw! barber's music, dis- 
cordant music in scornful reference to 
the music made by waiting customers in 
a barber-shop, where a cittern was com- 
monly left, in the 16th and 17th centuries, 
for such entertainment. Thus Pepys in his 
DIARY (5 June, 1660) records: My Lord 
called -for the lieutenant's cittern, and 
with two candlesticks with money in them 
for symbols, we made barber's music. 
Dekker in THE HONEST WHORE (1604) has 
a woman called a barber's citterne, -for 
every serving man to play upon; thus, a 
strumpet. Cp. cithern. Also, barber's chair, 
one in which all comers sit. Shakespeare 
in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1601) has: 
Like a barber's chair that fits all buttocks; 
hence also, a strumpet. Motteux in his 
translation (1708) of Rabelais spoke of 
bonarobaes, barbers chairs, hedge-whores. 

barbery. A barber's shop; the art of the 
barber, shaving. French barberie, from 
Latin barb a, beard. About 1690 laws were 
passed in England, seeking to separate the 
barber from the doctor: Neither shall any 
chirurgeon there use barbery. See bar- 
bigerous. A bar bet is a small beard; the 
word is also applied to "bearded" crea- 
tures, as (1) a sort of poodle; (2) a 
hairy worm that feeds on the aphis; (3) 
a bird with tufts of bristles at the base 
of the bill. 

barbican. An outer fortification to a 
castle or city wall; especially, a double 
tower over a gate or bridge. It was often 
made high enough to serve as a watch- 
tower. Also barbycon, berbikan, barb a- 
kane, barbygan, and the like. Hence bar- 
bicanage, a tax paid for the building and 
maintenance of a barbican. In the 16th 
and 17th centuries, barbican was also used 
for a loophole in a wall, through which 
one might fire missiles. Spenser in THE 
79 



barbigerous 

FAERIE QUEENE (1596) has: Within the 
barbican a porter sate. After the 17th cen- 
tury, Scott renewed the word in KENIL- 
WORTH (1821), and figuratively in THE 
FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828): Dawn seemed 
to abstain longer than usual from occupy- 
ing her eastern barbican. In all, Scott used 
barbican 31 times. 

barbigerous. Bearded. The word indi- 
cates pomposity or a most imposing 
beard. From Latin barba, beard + ger-, 
bearing. See abarcy. 

barbiton. A musical instrument, many 
stringed, a sort of large lyre. Also barbitos. 
For a use of the word, see sambuca. 

barbula. A small beard; directly from 
the Latin, barbula being the diminutive 
of barba, beard. Randle Holme, in THE 
ACADEMY OF ARMORY (1688) sets it in its 
place: The barbula or pick-a-divant, or 
the little tuft of hair just under the middle 
of the lower lip. Pick-a-divant is French 
pic a devant, point in front. The last 
Republican alderman of New York City 
insisted (in the lingo of his native Mon- 
tana) that my barbula is a sonofabitch; 
politer persons today prefer to call it an 
imperial. 

barcelona. A kerchief of twilled silk, 
commonly worn about the neck in the 
early 19th century. Usually of bright color. 
From the Catalan city of Barcelona, 
whence also as goodly a couple as recent 
vicissitudes have brought to our shores. 

bardash. See bur dash. 

bar'd cater-tra. False dice, so constructed 
that the four and the three very seldom 
come on top. Also bard eater-tray, bar'd 
cater trea, barfd quatre trois. Dekker in 
THE HONEST WHORE (1604) says: / have 
suffered your tongue, like a bar'd cater 
tra, to run all this while and have not 



barleybreak 

stopt it. Such dice (in a pair) make it 
very hard to cast a five or a nine; they 
were used in the game of dice called 
novum (novem), in which a toss of nine 
won. Cp. fullam, langret. 

bardlet. A petty poet, a tyro at the 
versifying art. Also bardling. Both are 
19th century coinages; Bailey in THE AGE 
(1858) cried: So woe to you young bard- 
lings scant of brains! 

bardocucullus. A crude woollen cloak, 
with a hood, worn by peasants (in France) 
and monks. Hence bardocucullated, wear- 
ing a cowled cloak. Motteux in his trans- 
lation (1694) of Rabelais scorns these 
monkhawks whom you see bardocucullated 
with a bag. 

bardolf. One of the dishes made when 
the English joyed to cook: Bardolf. Take 
almond mylk, and draw hit up thik with 
vernage [a strong, sweet white wine] and 
let hit boyle, and braune of capons 
braied, and put therto; and cast therto 
sugre, cloves, maces, pynes, and ginger, 
mynced; and take chekyns parboyled, and 
chopped, and pul of the skyn, and boyle al 
ensemble, and in the settynge doune from 
the fire put therto a lytel vynegur alaied 
with pouder of ginger, and a lytel water 
of everose [rose water], and make the 
potage hanginge [clinging, i.e., thick] and 
serve hit forthe. And if you do, invite me. 

barleybreak. A game originally played 
by three couples, something like prisoners' 
base. Sidney described the game in ARCADIA 
(1580) : Then couples three be straight 
allotted there, They of both ends the 
middle two do flie; The two that in mid 
place. Hell called, were Must strive with 
waiting foot and watching eye To catch 
of them, and them to Hell to beare That 
they, as well as they, Hell may supply. 
There you may see that, as the middle 



80 



barleyhood 

two Do coupled towards either couple 
make, They, -false and fearful, do their 
hands undo. The game went on; when 
a couple was caught, it replaced the 
chasers; the last couple in Hell (sup- 
posedly staying there) ended the game. 
It was named because first played in a 
field, and the chased couple, if in danger, 
could break separate amid the barley. 
Also barlebreyke, barlibreak f barleybrake. 
Mackyn in his DIARY (1557) noted that 
Master par sun . . . entry d into helle, and 
ther ded at the barlebrayke with alle wyffe 
of the sam parryche. The game, played in 
Scotland into the 19th century, naturally 
developed many variations. Herrick, 
among others, played on the name o the 
central station, of the couple that was 
"it" and showed the forfeit on being 
caught in an epigram of 1648: We two 
are last in hell: what may we feare To be 
tormented or kept prisoners here? Alas, 
if kissing be of plagues the worst, We'll 
wish in hell we had been last and first. 

barleyhood. A spell of bad temper in- 
duced by drink. Barley is used to mean 
malt liquor, which is made therefrom. 
Skelton said in THE TUNNYNG OF ELYNOUR 
RUMMYNG (1529) And as she was 
drynkynge, she fyll in a wynkynge With 
a barlyhood. Also, to wear a barleycap, 
to be tipsy; a barleycap, a tippler. Thus, 
and still, John Barleycorn. 

barm. Bosom, lap. Used 9th through 
15th centuries, from a Teutonic form re- 
lated (berm) to beran, to bear. Also in 
combination, as in Chaucer's THE MILLER'S 
TALE (1386) : A barmcloth eek as white 
as morning milk. There is also a barm 
that means the froth on poured beer or 
fermenting malt liquors; yeast sometimes 
used figuratively, as when Landor, in 
IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS (1828) declares: 



barth 

Milton's dough . . . is never the lighter 
for the barm he kneeds up with it. 

Barmecide. See stillicide. 

barnard. A lurking sharper; the decoy 
of the 16th century sharpers' gang. Also 
bernard; probably a variant of berner, 
originally the feeder of the hounds; bran 
-h ard, a derogatory suffix as in coward. 
The berner, during a hunt, waited with 
extra hounds along the way the animal 
was expected to take. Dekker in THE BEL- 
MAN OF LONDON (1608) describes the work 
of the barnard, also Greene in A DISCOVERY 
OF COZENAGE (1591) , which lists the usual 
team: the taker up, the verser, the barnard, 
and the rutter . . . Comes in the barnard 
stumbling into your company, like some 
aged farmer of the countrey . . . and is 
so carelesse of his money, that out he 
throweth some fortie angels on the boards 
end. 

barrat. Fraud; distress; quarreling. A 
common Romanic word, accent on the 
first syllable, of doubtful origin, the first 
meaning of which was commerce, trade. 
Also baret (THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE, 
13th century) , barette. One can see what 
the middle ages thought of business! A 
barrator was a cheater; in the 15th and 
16th centuries, especially an ecclesiastic 
who buys or sells preferment, or a dis- 
hqnest judge. From the 16th to the 18th 
century, the word was used mainly of 
rowdies, brawlers; hence barratress, a fe- 
male brawler, virago; amazon. In law, it 
meant one who incites to discord or to 
law-suits; and barratry means such incite- 
ment. Barratry is also used, in law, of 
fraud at sea, especially of the captain 
against the owners such as sinking or 
running away with the ship or its cargo. 

barth. A warm, sheltered pasture for 
calves, lambs, and the like. Possibly from 

81 



bartholomew-pig 



barton 



Old English beorgan, to protect. From 
this source come also the verb bergh, to 
shelter, protect, save; bergh as a noun, 
protection; berghless, unprotected; bergh- 
er, a protector, saviour. All these are 
words of the 10th through the 13th cen- 
tury. Bergher was in those years used of 
the Lord. 

bartholomew-pig. Prominently displayed 
roasted pigs were among the chief attrac- 
tions at Bartholomew Fair, held annually 
on St. Bartholomew's Day (24 August) 
from 1133 to 1855 at West Smithfield, 
London. As Jonson pictures in his BAR- 
THOLOMEW FAIR (1614) pregnant women 
were most fond of the flesh or pretended 
a yearning to get to the fair. Davenant 
mentions the Bartlemew pig That gaping 
lies on every stall Till female with great 
belly call Perhaps because on St. Bar- 
tholomew's Day (1572) Protestants were 
massacred in France and (1662) the Eng- 
lish Uniformity Act (Bartholomew Act) 
was passed, the Protestants resented the 
day. They certainly resented the revelry 
of the Fair; there Is little excess of satire 
in Jonson's Puritan's cry: For the very 
calling it a Bartholomew pig, and to eat 
it SO; is a spice of idolatry. Shakespeare 
in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) applies the 
term to Falstaff: Thou whorson little 
tydie Bartholmew bore-pigge. Also Bar- 
tholomew-baby, a gawdy doll; a puppet. 
POOR ROBIN (1740) speaks of telling farm- 
ers what manner of wife they should 
chuse, not one trickt up with ribband 
and knots, like a Bartholomew-baby; for 
such a one will prove a holiday wife, all 
play and no work. Also Bartholomew 
ware, cheap and showy goods; used figura- 
tively, as in a 1645 letter of Ho well: 
Freighted with mere Bartholomew ware, 
with trite and trivial phrases. Bartholo- 



mew-gentleman, a man not to be trusted; 
a pickpocket (as often at the Fair). 
bartizan. A battlemented parapet; a tur- 
ret overhanging the top of a tower. Scott 
in THE EVE OF ST. JOHN (1801) has He 
mounted the narrow stair, To the barbizan 
seat. Scott uses the word also in MARMION 
and WAVERLEY, and in THE HEART OF 
MIDLOTHIAN (1818) he speaks of a half- 
circular turret, battlemented or, to use 
the appropriate phrase, bartizan' d on the 
top. The "appropriate phrase/' however, 
rose from an error; the word was created 
by Scott. The early term used by Wyclif 
in 1395 and into the 17th century, was 
bretticing, bratticing, a temporary wooden 
parapet. Bratticing or brattice-work is still 
used, of supports of wood in a mine. But 
later historians accepted Scott's word as 
genuine. 

bartolist. A skilled attorney. From a 
noted Italian lawyer, Bartolo, of the 14th 
century. Samuel Daniel, in a letter of 
1602, wrote of these great Italian Bartolists 
Called in of purpose to explain the law. 
Portia, in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, vol- 
unteered for the task. 

barton. Originally, this was a threshing 
floor, Old English bere~tun, barley en- 
closure. Then it was used of a farm yard; 
especially, of the farm a lord kept for 
his own use. It was also applied to a 
chicken coop or larger pen, but the lord 
kept claim (1783) to the eggs of the 
bartons of his demesne. A book on 
HUSBANDRY by George Winter (1787) de- 
clares that stale urine and barton draining 
are greatly preferable to dung. In con- 
trast, we are told of a fine grove of Scotch 
and silver fir on the barton of Bridestow. 
And Southey in THE POET'S PILGRIMAGE TO 
WATERLOO (1816) speaks of Spacious 
bartons clean, well-wall'd around, Where 
all the wealth of rural life was found. 



barytone 

barytone. A deep-sounding musical in- 
strument. Applied to a bass viol invented 
by Joachim Fielke in 1687; in the 19th 
century, to a bass saxhorn (invented by 
the Belgian C. J. Sax, died 1865; his son 
is to be blamed for the saxophone) . Greek 
barys, deep + tonos, pitch. Also baritone, 
in which spelling it is still applied to a 
singer between tenor and bass; barritone, 
bariton, baryton. In Greek grammar, bary- 
tone was used of a word not having the 
acute accent on the last syllable. Hence 
bary ionize, to make a deep sound, as in 
Urquhart's translation (1653) of Rabelais, 
in which we are told Gargantua would loll 
and rock himself in the cradle . . . mono- 
cordising with his fingers and barytonising 
with his tail. (The O.E.D. defines this 
word-play as though Gargantua were a 
dog. Cp. Mono-.) 

bas. A kiss. A variant of bass, q.v. Also 
cp. basiate. 

base. Short for prisoner's base, the game. 
Cp. barleybreak. Spenser uses it in THE 
FAERIE QUEENE (1596) ; Shakespeare in 
CYMBELINE (1611) speaks of lads more 
like to run the country base, then to 
commit such slaughter. Hence, to bid 
base, to challenge someone to chase one 
(as in the game) ; by extension, to chal- 
lenge. Used by Shakespeare (VENUS AND 
ADONIS) and by Milton in ANIMADVERSIONS 
(1641) : / shall not intend this hot season 
to bid you the base through the wide and 
dusty champaine of the Councels. 

baselard. A dagger, usually worn at the 
belt. Used from the 14th through the 18th 
century, as in THE NEW LONDON MAGAZINE 
of 1788: The Mayor, drawing his baselard, 
grievously wounded Wat (Tyler) in the 
neck. 



basery. See basiate. 



basilicon 

bashaw. An early form of the Turkish 
title pasha, associated with haughty ty- 
ranny; whence bashawism, imperiousness. 
From Turkist bash, head. In the 16th cen- 
tury the word was also spelled bassa, bassi, 
basha, and the like. Fielding has, in 
JONATHAN WILD (1743) : He addressed 
me with all the insolence of a basha to a 
Circassian slave. A bashaw of three tails 
was of high rank, with three horse-tails 
hung on his standard. 

basiate. To kiss in the 17th century. 
Latin basium, kiss; whence also basial; 
basiation; see bass; deosculate. Note also 
basifugal (q.v.), turning away from a kiss; 
but also, tending away from the base: 
Latin and Greek basis, a stepping, a pedes- 
tal; something to step or stand on; Greek 
ba-, to walk, go. The adjective base (Latin 
bassus, low) developed in the 17th cen- 
tury the noun basery >, dishonorable deal- 
ing; Thomas Brian in THE PISSE PROPHET 
(1637) wrote: They will hardly acknowl- 
edge their errours, and relinquish this 
basery. Meredith in THE EGOIST (1879) 
spoke of love that . . . seems to the scoffing 
world to go slinking into basiation' s ob- 
scurity. A basifuge is one who or that 
which drives away kisses, as a two day's 
growth of beard, or bad taste. 

basifugal. Fleeing its base; tending to 
fly from its base. Accent on the sif. It 
might be said that psychoanalysis attempts 
to basify the basifugal. But see basiate. 

basil. See basilicon. 

basilicon. An ointment of 'sovereign' vir- 
tue, from Greek basilicos, royal. The herb 
basil, used in royal bath or unguent, drew 
its name from this source; but the basilisk 
(q.v.) was drawn into the notion. A 
basilica, originally a royal palace, then a 
hall of justice granted by Roman emperors 



83 



basilisk 



bass 



for religious use, is now a church, es- 
pecially an early church, e.g., one of the 
seven principal churches of Constantine. 
There is an adjective basilic, royal; the 
basilic vein is the large vein from elbow 
to armpit. 

basilisk. A fabulous serpent, whose very 
glance was mortal. It was marked by a 
crown-like spot on its head, hence the 
name basilisk (little king; see basilicon.) 
It was hatched by a serpent from a cock's 
egg, hence also called basilicock (as in 
Chaucer's THE PARSON'S TALE, 1386) and 
cockatrice (in Wyclif's BIBLE,, 1382, and 
King James', 1611; in Spenser's SONNETS 
of 1595 and Shakespeare's ROMEO AND 
JULIET of 1592: the death-darting eye of 
cockatrice) and cokadrill. The word, es- 
pecially in adjective forms, is also used 
figuratively. Shakespeare in TIMON OF 
ATHENS (1600) cries: With my basiliscan 
eyes May I kill all I see. J. Wilson in 
BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE of 1828 speaks of 
the fascinating and basiliskian glare of 
gorgeous and rhetorical embellishment. 
Kingsley in WESTWARD HO (1855) uses a 
third form, speaking of Our fair Oriana, 
and the slaughter which her basiliscine 
eyes have caused. Basilisk was also used, 
beginning in the 16th century, as the 
name of a large cannon. Culverin, another 
cannon, comes via French couleuvre from 
Latin coluber, snake. There is also a 
shorter cannon called battard (from 
French bitard, bastard) , contracted from 
culverin battard or battard-falcon. 

basin. See basnet. 

basnet. A small, light helmet; smaller 
than a basin. Medieval Latin basinetum, 
diminutive of bacin, English basin. Also 
basinet, bacinet, basynet, bassenet, and 
more. When worn in battle without an 
aventayle (q.v.), the basnet was often cov- 



ered by the great helm, which rested on 
the shoulders. Such a stroke, Lord Berners 
admires in his translation (1523) of 
Froissart, that their basenettes were cloven. 
DIVES ET PAUPER (1496) spoke figuratively 
of the basynet of helthe, that is hope of 
the lyfe that is to come. Scott, using 
basnet six times, brought it back into the 
vocabulary in the 19th century. 

bass. A kiss. Common on all Roman 
tongues; Latin basium, kiss; cp. basiate. 
Also used as a verb, thus one of J. Hey- 
wood's PROVERBS (1562) : He must needs 
basse her. Still known uses of bass include: 
(1) a fish of the perch species, earlier 
barse; (2) the inner bark of the lime or 
linden tree, earlier bast; (3) the deepest 
male voice; Greek basis, base. This deep- 
toned bass is pronounced base, but Pope 
rhymed it with ass. The word buss, which 
in one sense meant a two- or three-masted 
ship, a fly-boat; is also a corrupt form of 
bass, kiss, especially common since the 
16th century, as a hearty word for a 
smacking kiss. Shakespeare also used the 
verb figuratively, as in TROILUS AND CRES- 
SIDA (1606) : Yond towers, whose wanton 
tops do busse the clouds . . . Tennyson 
refrains, in THE PRINCESS (1847) : Nor 
burnt the grange, nor buss'd the milking- 
maid. Meredith, in VITTORIA (1866) , 
urges: Up with your red lips, and buss 
me a Napoleon salute. Children in their 
teens, word-conscious and coy, used to 
play a game with this variation e.g., 
blunderbus, to kiss the wrong party; 
omnibus, to kiss all the girls in the room. 
When Shakespeare in CYMBELINE (1609) 
says that Imogen must Forget that rarest 
treasure of your cheek, exposing it . . . to 
the greedy touch Of common-kissing titan, 
he meant the sun, which 'kisses' all alike, 
the good and the bad, the fair and the 



bast 

foul, the young and the old, the ascetic 
and the erotic. Quite an omnibuster! 

bast. In addition to its scientific use, 
as the inner bark of certain trees (lime, 
linden) , which is sold for matting; bast 
has meant (1) the fish, the bass. (2) 
bastardy. (3) a bastard. This sense is from 
Old French bast, a pack-saddle which 
muleteers used for a bed; originally there 
was a phrase fils de bast, son of a pack- 
saddle. (4) to boast. Note that bastard 
was applied to many things of mixed 
genesis: a kind of cannon (16th century) ; 
a kind of cloth (15th and 16th centuries) ; 
a kind of galley used as a war-ship; a sweet 
wine Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART ONE 
(1596) says: Anon, anon sir, Score a pint 
of bastard in the Halfe Moone. 

bastard. See bast 
bastinado. See baston. 

baston. To thrash with a stick. The stick 
itself was also a baston, other forms for 
this were batten, batoon, and the current 
baton. To bastinade, bastonate (17th cen- 
tury) , to beat. Also to baste; occasionally 
referred to as a dry basting (Shakespeare, 
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, 1590: Lest it make 
you chollericke, and purchase me another 
drie basting) in contradistinction to the 
'wet* basting given roasting flesh or fowl. 
Hence also a bastinado, bastinade, bas- 
tonade, as every schoolboy used to know. 
Shakespeare, in KING JOHN (1595) uses 
this figuratively: He gives the bastinado 
with his tongue: our ears are cudgell'd. 
In cards, since the 17th century, the ace 
of clubs (club, to beat with) was called 
basto. In Spanish, the whole suit of clubs 
is basto; the ace, el basto. And in the 14th 
century (translating staff, stave) a baston 
was a stanza of poetry. 

bat. (1) A pack-saddle; used in combi- 
nations, as bat-horse, one that carries the 



bathykolpian 

baggage of military officers. Cp. bast. (2) 
To flutter, as the wings of a hawk, or the 
phrase to bat an eye; a variant of bate, 
q.v. The stick and the bird are both Old 
English; the former, perhaps associated 
through French battre with Latin batuere, 
to beat; the latter, replacing older forms 
such as bakke, blaka, in Scandinavian 
countries, where bats might be in any 
belfry. 

bate. (1) To fight, to contend with 
blows or arguments. In the latter mood, 
replaced by debate. Also, to beat the 
wings (as a falcon or hawk) and flutter 
away from the perch. Hence, to be restless 
or impatient. Shakespeare in ROMEO AND 
JULIET (1592) bids night Hood my un- 
mann'd blood, bayting in my cheekes. (2) 
To beat or flutter down; to end. In R. 
Brunne's CHRONICLE (1330) we read: 
Bated was the strife. Also, to cast down; 
hence, to humble, depress; to be dejected; 
to lower, reduce, lessen. In these senses, 
a shortening of abate. At bate, at odds, 
contending. The word is frequent in 
Shakespeare, in various senses. Hence 
bated breath, subdued breathing, bateless, 
that cannot be blunted; Shakespeare in 
THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (1593) has: Haply 
that name of chaste unhappily set This 
bateless edge on his keen appetite, bateful, 
quarrelsome, batement, lessening, abate- 
ment, bate-breeding, quarrel making, in- 
citing to strife; Shakespeare in VENUS AND 
ADONIS speaks of This sour informer, this 
bate-breeding spy. 

bathykolpian. Deep-bosomed. Also bathy- 
kolpic; Greek bathos, deep 4- kolpos, 
breast. Both forms have been used spelled 
with uk, yc, uc. The word bathos, descent 
from the sublime to the ridiculous, springs 
from Pope's satire BATHOS, THE ART OF 
SINKING IN RHETORIC (1728) , a travesty 
of Longinus' essay ON THE SUBLIME. Hence 
85 



batler 

bathetic, fashioned after pathetic; also 
bathotic. While a plain and direct road is 
paved to their hypsos, or sublime, said 
Pope, no track has been yet chalked out 
to arrive at our bathos, or profund. Other 
words formed with bathy-, deep, include: 
bathyal, of the deeper regions of the sea; 
bathybic, dwelling in the deeps, also 
bathypelagic. bathylimnetic, living at the 
bottom of a marsh or lake, like the 
ondines. 

batler. A flat-sided stick with a handle, 
for beating clothes. Shakespeare in AS 
YOU LIKE IT (1600) has: / remember the 
kissing of her batler. Later editions say 
batlet, as though a diminutive of bat. The 
battledore was originally a batler or beetle, 
sometimes cylindrical for mangling, but 
usually flat. Hence, other instruments of 
that shape: a paddle, a wood for putting 
loaves into an oven; especially, a small 
bat for hitting the shuttlecock in the game 
also called battledore. Other forms of this 
word, common from the 15th century, 
were batylledore, batyndore, batteldoor, 
and the like. The word was also used 
figuratively, as by Lowell in 1879: So they 
two played at wordy battledore. The game, 
once vigorously enjoyed, has been re- 
placed by tennis, ping-pong (table tennis) 
and, especially badminton. Badminton, 
from the country seat of the Duke of 
Beaufort, was also in the 19th century the 
name of a drink, a 'grateful compound* 
of claret, sugar, and soda-water. The 
shuttlecock (also shittlecock, shoottlecock, 
and more) was a piece of cork tufted with 
feathers, used as far back as the 15th 
century, and is used frequently (literally 
and figuratively) by poets and playwrights 
of the 16th and 17th centuries who, as 
Sears said later (1858) in ATHANASIA, 
were only playing at shuttlecock with 
words. 



battologist 



batlet. See batler. 



balling. See battle. 

Batrachomyomachia. See cynarctomachy. 
battalia (pie). See beatilles. 
battard. See basilisk. 

battle. In addition to the too well known 
activity named by this word, to battle 
meant to furnish with battlements, and 
also quite apart to nourish, supply with 
rich pasture or food; also, to make soil 
fertile; hence, to grow fat, to thrive. In 
this sense the word was also spelled batle, 
battel, and is related to batten. The ad- 
jective battle meant nourishing; fertile, 
fruitful. Douglas in his AENEIS (1513) 
spoke of battill gras, fresche erbis and 
grene suardis. Hence also bailing pastures 
(battling, batteling) , nourishing, fertiliz- 
ing; growing fat; Fuller in A PISGAH-SIGHT 
OF PALESTINE (1650) exclaimed: A jolly 
dame, no doubt, as appears by the well- 
battling of the plump boy. 

battledore. See batler. Also: a battledore 
(short for battledore-book) was a horn 
book, a single sheet, with the alphabet 
thereon, covered with horn and fastened 
to a flat piece of wood with a handle. 
The shape of the wood gave it the name. 
Hence battledore boy, one learning his 
a b c's. Thus the old saying He doesn't 
know a bee from a battledore (sometimes 
He doesn't know A B . . .) 

battologist. One that endlessly and use- 
lessly repeats the same thing. Greek bat- 
talogos; Battos -h logos, speaking. The 
form battos may be echoic of the sound of 
stuttering, but is supposedly derived from 
a Lacedaemonian named Battus, who in 
630 B.C. founded the city of Gyrene, and 
is mentioned in Herodotus as the stutter- 
ing king. Hence battological; battology; 
86 



baude 

battologize. Southey in the QUARTERLY 
REVIEW of 1818 cried: Away then with . . . 
the battology of statistics. 

baude. Joyous; forward; gay. Old French. 
baud, gay; Old Low German bald, bold, 
lively. The adjective was used in THE 
ROMANCE OF THE ROSE (1400) ; the noun 
baudery (q.v.), jollity, was more frequent. 
There is also a verb bawdefy, to bedeck, 
to make gay. Somehow, in the transfer 
from French to English, bawd perhaps 
compounded with bawd, earlier bad, a cat, 
a pussy, a rabbit, used in slang senses 
came to be applied to a pander. Shake- 
speare in ROMEO AND JULIET (1592) CTICS 

A baud, a baud! meaning a hare; but in 
AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) he has Touchstone 
tell Audrey We must be married, or we 
must live in baudrey. The earliest form of 
bawd in the sense of pander (male or 
female) is bawdstrot; this became baw- 
strop and, especially in the plays of Mid- 
dleton, bronstrops, as in A FAIR QUARREL 
(1617) : I say thy sister is a bronstrops. 
Much better to be baude. 

baudekin. An embroidered cloth, the 
warp of gold thread, the woof of silk; 
later, any rich brocade or heavy silk. The 
word, from Baldacco, the Italian name for 
Bagdad, has many spellings: baldachin 
(which was also applied to a canopy made 
of such cloth) , baldaquin, baudkin, bawd- 
iky n, bodkin, and more. Bulwer-Lytton in 
THE LAST OF THE BARONS (1843) says: The 
baudekin stripes (blue and gold) of her 
tunic attested her royalty. 

baudery. (1) A variant of bawdry. (2) 
Gaiety, mirth. Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S 
TALE (1386) speaks of Beautee and youthe, 
bauderie, richesse a happy trainl See 
baude. 

baudrick. See baldric. 



bawdreaminy 

bauson. A badger, q.v. Also b aw son; 
bawsym, baucyne, boreson. Hence bauson- 
faced, with a white mark on its face, like 
the badger, bausond, spotted; with white 
spots on a black or bay ground. From the 
qualities of the animal, applied in scorn 
to (1) a stupidly persistent man, (2) a 
clumsy fat man. Chatter ton (1765) used 
bawsyn several times, to mean large. In 
LINGUA (1607) we read: Peace, you fat 
b aw son, peace! 

bavardage. Gay, jolly talk; teasing ex- 
change; chatter. The word has softened: 
French bavarder, to prate, chatter; bavard, 
talkative; bave, saliva. Used in the 19th 
century; now both the word and the art 
are neglected. 

bavian. See babion. 

bavin. Brushwood; especially, a bundle 
of light wood (as for bakers' ovens) tied 
with one withe or band; a fagot is tied 
with two. The word was used figuratively, 
of slight things, as in Chapman's EASTWARD 
HOE (1605) : // he outlast not a hundred 
such crackling bavins as thou art; and 
Shakespeare's HENRY iv, PART ONE (1596) : 
Shallow jesters, and rash bavin wits, Soon 
kindled and soon burnt. 

bawcock. Fine fellow. A jocular term of 
endearment, from French beau coq, fine 
cock, used in the same way. Shakespeare 
uses the word in TWELFTH NIGHT, and twice 
in HENRY v (1599) e.g.: The King's a 
bawcock, and a heart of gold. 

bawdreaminy. Bawdy misbehavior. Used 
by Dampit, in Middleton's A TRICK TO 
CATCH THE OLD ONE (1608) . Like Urquhart 
in his translation (1653) of Rabelais, 
Middleton liked to invent resounding 
words. Dampit, an unscrupulous: usurer 
and a drunkard, when his serving maid 
well, wench Audrey tries to get Mm 

87 



bawdrik 

from his cups to his bed, favors her with 
fine examples: Thou quean of bawdream- 
iny! . . . Out, you gernative quean! the 
mullipood of villainy, the spinner of con- 
cupiscencyl . . . Out, you babliaminy, you 
unfeathered cremitoried quean, you cul- 
lisance of scabiosity! 

bawdrik. See baldric. 

bawdstrot. See baude. Probably from 
baude (q.v.) , lively + strutt, strut: one 
with an inviting walk. Also baudetrot, 
baldestrot, baldystrot, bawstrop, bron- 
strops. In Langland's PIERS PLOWMAN 
(1362) one manuscript has bawdstrot; 
another, bawd. 

bawdy. See baude. 

bawn. A fortified enclosure. From Irish 
babhun, of unknown origin. Spenser, in 

A VIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF IRELAND 

(1596) speaks of the square bawns which 
you see so strongly trenched and thrown 
up. The word is still used in Ireland, but 
now referring to the yard where the cows 
are milked, the cattlefold. 

bawson. A frequent variant of bauson., 
q.v., as applied to a person. 

baxter. Baker. Originally feminine; from 
10th through 15th century used of both 
sexes; thereafter masculine. In the 16th 
century, a new feminine form was fash- 
ioned: backstress. Sir Walter Scott used the 
word in THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818) : 
One in appearance a baxter, i.e. a baker's 
lad, handed her out of her chair. After 
about 1400, however, baxter was rarely 
used save in Scotland. 

bayard. One that is self-confident through 
ignorance; one firmly equipped with blind 
assurance. Originally, bayard, a bay horse. 
Then, the name of the magic (bay-colored) 
steed King Charlemagne gave to Rinaldo. 



be- 

From some now forgotten story with a 
leap before you look/ Bayard became a 
type or symbol of blind recklessness. Also, 
bayard's bun, a kind of cake for horses. 
To ride the bayard of ten toes, to walk; 
similarly, to go on shanks' mare. Hence, 
bayardly, in blind self-confidence; bay- 
ardism, ignorant presumption. According 
to some versions of the story, Bayard was 
given not to Rinaldo alone but to him 
and his three brothers, sons of Agmon. 
The horse changed size according to how 
many of the brothers mounted him. He 
may still be heard neighing, we are told, 
in the Ardennes on Midsummer Day. 
There was also a man, Bayard, Pierre du 
Terrail, Chevalier de Bayard (1475-1524) 
distinguished under three kings, and 
called le chevalier sans peur et sans 
reproche.' 

be-. As a prefix, be- is used to add force, 
or to make an active verb, in many Old 
English words. Chaucer is fond of the 
form. Among these may be listed: bebay, 
to bay about, hem in, surround; beblast, 
to blast completely, wither; bebleed, to 
make bloody; beblind; beblister; beblot 
(Chaucer, TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE, 1374: 
Biblotte it with thy tears); bebroyde, 
embroider; beclip, embrace; be close, im- 
prison; beclout, to dress up ( as in a loin- 
cloth; usually a term of scorn) ; becudgel; 
becurl; bedaff, to make a fool of; bedog, 
be daggle, to trail in the mire, befoul; 
be daggle, to deceive; bedight, to equip, 
bedeck (Poe, EL DORADO, 1849: Gaily 
bedight, a gallant knight) ; bedilt, hidden; 
bedoubt, bedoute, to dread; bedove, be- 
doven, plunged, immersed; bedwynge, to 
restrain; befong (Old English fon, to 
grasp), to seize; begab, to fool with words, 
impose upon; beghost, to make a ghost 
of; begin (pronounced bejin: gin, a trap, 
13th and 14th centuries), to ensnare; 
88 



be- 



beadle 



be go, to go about, to encompass, to over- 
run, to beset survives in the participle 
begone, as in woe-begone; begod, to deify; 
begrede, to weep for; behest, to promise 
(land of behest was a common term for 
land of promise; then the noun took on 
the sense of bidding, command: at his 
behest}', behight, to promise, to hold out 
hope, to warrant; used (archaically, and 
improperly) by Spenser to mean to de- 
liver, to command, to name, as in THE 
SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR: DECEMBER (1579) 
Love they him called . . . But better 
might they have behote him Hate; be- 
h ounce, to adorn, deck out; be jape, to 
trick; bekend, known; bekiss, to cover 
with kisses; belace, to adorn with lace, to 
stripe, to beat until one's back is striped; 
belack, to find fault with; belate, to detain, 
delay survives in belated; belaud, to 
load with praise; belay, to set things 
around, as ornamentation, to set armed 
men around, to besiege, to forestall, to 
waylay survives in the nautical sense, to 
set a rope around a cleat, etc. so as to 
fasten it securely, hence, in sailor's slang, 
belay there! stop! (Tie youself up!); 
belirt, to deceive, to cheat; belive, to re- 
main, also (confused with beleave) to go; 
belouke, to shut, to shut in or out, to 
encompass; bemark, to make the sign of 
the cross; bemete, to measure, measure 
out (Shakespeare, THE TAMING OF THE 
SHREW, 1596: I shall so bemete thee with 
thy yard); beneaped, left ashore by the 
neap tide, hence beyond reach of ordinary 
high water; benight, to darken, literally 
or figuratively, as of those whom error 
doth benight; beray, to dirty, befoul, cover 
with abuse; berede, to advise, to plan, to 
deliberate; beseem, to appear, to suit in 
appearance, befit, be fitting; beshrew, to 
make or wish evil, to invoke evil upon 
later, mainly an exclamation (Shake- 
speare, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, 1599: 



Marry beshrew my hand, if it should give 
your age such cause of fear; Sir Walter 

Scott, THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH, 1828: Be- 

shrew me if thou passe st this door with 
dry lips!) ; bespall, bespaul, bespawl, to 
spatter with saliva, as some persons when 
they talk, also figuratively, as in Jonson's 
THE POETASTER (1602) : Bespawls The con- 
scious time with humours, foam, and 
brawls; bespreng, to sprinkle (Words- 
worth, AT VALLOMBROSA, 1837: The flower- 
besprent meadows); besprink, besprinkle; 
bespurt, bespurtle, to sully, to smear with 
abuse; bestead, to assist, relieve, be of 
service to (Arthur H. Clough, in MAC- 
MILLAN'S MAGAZINE of August, 1862: Thou 
vain Philosophy! Little hast thou bestead, 
Save to perplex the head; beswink, to 
work hard for; beteem, to think proper, to 
grant, to allow (Shakespeare, A MIDSUM- 
MER NIGHT'S DREAM, 1590: Rain, which I 
could well Beteeme them, from the tem- 
pest of mine eyes; betine (from tine, a 
late form of tind, tinder) , to set on fire; 
bewhapped, utterly amazed, confounded; 
bewray, to speak evil of, to expose (es- 
pecially to reveal bad things, or what one 
wanted to keep hidden) as in Shake- 
speare's CORIOLANUS (1607) : Our raiment 
And state of bodies would bewray what 
life We have led since thy exile. And there 
are many more that buzzed in the Middle 
Ages. 

beadle. A herald; a town-crier; a mace- 
bearer before authority; one that delivers 
or carries out the orders of officials. Used 
from the 10th century; also by del, beadel, 
bedell; still bedel at Oxford and Cam- 
bridge Universities. The word was used 
figuratively, especially with allusion to the 
beadle as bringing punishment; thus in 
Shakespeare's KING JOHN (1595) : Her in- 
jurie the beadle to her sinne. The dignity 
of a beadle was beadlehood; his jurisdic- 



89 



beatilles 



bel- 



tion, beadlery; his office, beadleship; his 
qualities as a class i.e., stupid officious- 
ness as in Dickens* Oliver Twist (1838) 
beadleism, or beadledom. Cousin to 
Tweedledum. Guilpin in SKIALETHEIA 
("Shadow of Truth"; 1598) prefers the 
satire to the amorous ode; even the strict- 
est Plato, he avers, Will of the two affoord 
the satyr e grace, Before the whyning love- 
song shall have place: And by so much his 
night-cap's overawde As a beadle's better 
statesman than a bawde. 

beatilles. Literally little blessed things/ 
from a diminutive of Latin beatus, blessed. 
Also beatilia, beatilla. Originally applied 
to pieces of needlework by nuns, pin- 
cushions, samplers with pious mottos, and 
other knick-knacks. Hence, trinkets, trifles, 
odds and ends finally, odds and ends 
baked in a pie: cocks' combs, sweetbreads, 
giblets in merry mixture. A good cook can 
make such a dish tasty indeed; Disraeli in 
VENETIA (1837) speaks of that masterpiece 
of the culinary art, a grand battalia pie. 

beaver, See bever. 

bebled. The past of bebleed, to cover or 
stain with blood, used almost always in 
the past tense. Used through the 15th cen- 
tury (CaXtOn, CHARLES THE GREAT, 1485.* 

The place was alle by bled) and revived 
in the 19th by Kingsley. Cp. be-. 

bedight. See dight; be-. 

bedstraw (1) The straw, covered by a 
sheet, that formerly constituted the bed- 
ding of a second-best bed and lesser sleep- 
spots. (2) The straw within a mattress; 
hence, a mattress. Chaucer knew the 
danger; he cries in THE MERCHANT'S TALE 
(1386) : O perilous fyr that in the bed- 
straw bredeth! 

bedswerver. A person unfaithful to the 
marriage bed. Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S 



TALE (1611) has Leontes say of Hermione: 
She's a bed-swerver, even as bad as those 
That vulgars give bold'st titles. 

beelc. To bask in the sun, or before a 
fire. The word is probably a mild form of 
bake. Hence beehing, exposure to genial 
warmth. Cockeram (1623) defines apri- 
cation (q.v.) as a beaking in the Sunne. 

beesom. See besom. 
beetle. See bottle. 

begarred. See rochet. Scotch begary (ac- 
cent on the gare) was also a noun, used 
in the 16th century to mean variegated 
facings on a dress. 

behoveful. Useful; expedient; fit; neces- 
sary; due. Also behooveful; byhooful, be- 
hofuly and more. Very common from 1380 
to the 18th century. Shakespeare in ROMEO 
AND JULIET (1595) has: We have culled 
such necessaries As are behooveful for our 
state tomorrow. 

bel-. Also bell-; but see bell-. This prefix, 
via French bel, beautiful, from Latin 
bellus, has entered into many English 
words. Some of those that have slipped 
out of common use are: bellaria, delight- 
ful foods, desserts; bellaview, a fair pros- 
pect; bellibone, a fair maiden (Spenser, 
in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR, 1579, uses 
both this form and its reverse, bonibel) ; 
bellify, to beautify, also hellish, short for 
embellish; bellitude. The word belle was 
once good English, meaning pretty, and 
was employed in various phrases, as in 
Chaucer's THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE 
(1386) : He that wolde han my bele chose 
[my pretty thing] . . . Congreve in the 

Epilogue to THE WAY OF THE WORLD 

(1698) speaks of Whole belles as- 
semblees of coquettes and beaux; Lady 
Montague in a letter of 1716 refers to the 
belles passions. But spare me a bellicose 



90 



belaccoil 



beme 



belle! Note that the bellarmine, a drink- 
ing-mug of capacious belly and narrow 
neck, took its name (and shape) as a 
Netherlands Protestant satire on Cardinal 
Bellarmine (1542-1621; beatified 1924). 
D'Urfey in PILLS TO PURGE MELANCHOLY 
(1719) listed jugs, mugs, and pitchers, and 
bellarmines of state. 



belaccoil. Friendly greeting. Also bel- 
accoyle. Cp. bel-. Spenser, in THE FAERIE 
QUEENE (1596) her salewed with seemly 
belaccoil,, Joyous to see her safe after long 
toil 

belamour. A loved one, a sweetheart; a 
lover, a mistress. Cp. bel-. Spenser, in THE 
FAERIE QUEENE (1596), said: But as he 
nearer drew, he easily Might scerne that 
it was not his sweetheart sweet, Ne yet his 
belamour, the partner of his sheet. 

belamy. Good friend. Often used (13th 
to 18th century) as a form of address. 
French bel, fair + ami, friend. Also bele 
amys, bellamy. Cp. bel-. Thus in a Towne- 
ley Mystery (1460) we read: Welcom be 
thou, belamy! 

belgard. A kind look, a loving look. 
Italian bel guardo. Spenser uses the word 
in THE FAERIE QUEENE and in his HYMNE 
IN HONOUR OF BEAUTIE (1596): 
Sometimes within her eyelids they unfold 
Ten thousand sweet belgards, which to 
their sight Doe seem like twinckling 
starres in frostie night. 

belive. Speedily, eagerly; at once. As 
blive ^ as quickly as possible. Middle Eng- 
lish bi life, be live, with life (liveliness) . 
The ballad of ROBIN HOOD AND GUY OF 
GISBORNE has: Fast Robin he hied to Little 
John, He thought to loose him blive. 
Surrey (THE AENEID, 1547) : To bring the 
horse to Pallas' temple blive; Spenser (THE 
FAERIE QUEENE, 1596) : And down to 

91 



Pluto's house are come bilive. Later by 
the same process of human procrastina- 
tion as altered presently (which first 
meant at the present moment, immedi- 
ately) belive (in the 17th century) came 
to mean by-and-by. 

bell-. This prefix, from Latin bellum, 
war, has given us a number of English 
words. Bellacity, a spirit of warlikeness, 
is only in the 18th century dictionaries; 
likewise bellatrice, a female warrior, a 
virago. Belliferous, bringing war, is rare; 
and the common belligerent developed a 
dictionary form belli gerate, to wage war. 
Belligerous, full of warlike spirit, is also 
rare; bellicose is more common in the 
same sense; bellatory has dropped out of 
use; bellipotent, mighty in war, is now 
used only to create a pompous effect. Bel- 
Ionian^ warlike, is from Bellona, the Ro- 
man goddess of war; an imposing and 
strong-willed woman might be called a 
Bellona. 

bellarmine. See bel-. 
belle. See bel-. 
belomancy. See aeromancy. 

belswagger. A swaggering bully or gal- 
lant; a pimp. The bel may be from the 
French, but the form bellyswagger also 
appeared. Used from the 16th into the 
18th century. Dryden in THE KIND KEEPER 
(1678) cried: Fifty guineas! Dost thou 
think I'll sell my self f . . . thou impudent 
belswagger. 

belvedere. See gazebo. 

beme. A trumpet. Used from the 8th to 
the 15th century. Figuratively, parade, 
trumpeting; ARTHUR in 1400 spoke of a 
Pater Noster wythout any beeme. Hence, 
as a verb, to trumpet; to trumpet (loudly 
proclaim) a thing; to summon with trum- 
pet-call. 



beneme 



benthal 



beneme. See benim. 

beneurte. Happiness. Beneurous, happy, 
is a 15th century borrowing. French bien- 
heureuK. Used by Caxton, in the GOLDEN 
LEGEND and other 15th century works, as 
the translation (1480) of Ovid's META- 
MORPHOSES: Benewrte and honour laste 
her not longe. 

benevolence. Used since the 15th cen- 
tury for a gift of money, a contribution to 
help the poor. Used by various kings 
first, Edward IV, in 1473 of a forced 
contribution imposed upon their subjects. 
There were, of course, many protests. Lord 
Digby in 1644: so preposterous a name as 
of a benevolence, for that which is a 
malevolence indeed. Pepys in his DIARY, 
31 August, 1661: The benevolence proves 
. . . an occasion of so much discontent 
everywhere, that it had better it had never 
been set up. And in 1775 Chatham 
pointed out in Parliament: The spirit 
which now resists your taxation in America 
is the same which formerly opposed loans, 
benevolences, and shipmoney in England. 

benim. To take away; to rob; to deprive. 
Also beneme; after 1500 usually benum, 
benumb. (Benum, to deprive, added a b 
by analogy with dumb, limb, etc. The 
meaning was gradually limited to depriv- 
ing (a part of the body) of its capacity 
for feeling. Numb is a shortening from 
benumb. Benim was a common word 
from the 10th to the 16th century; Chau- 
cer uses it several times twice in THE 
PARSON'S TALE (1386) : the likeness of the 
devil, and bynymeth man from God . . . 
bynymeth from man his witte. May ours 
be spared! 

benison. Blessing. A shortening of the 
Latin benediction, which is now the usual 
English word. Shakespeare, in KING LEAR 
(1605), refers to the bountie and the 

92 



benizon of heaven. Scott in THE FAIR MAID 
OF PERTH (1828) : / have slept sound 
under such a benison. Back in 1755 Samuel 
Johnson in his DICTIONARY said of benison: 
"not now used, unless luricrously," but 
the word still survives in historical fiction 
and in poetry. Cp. malison. 

benjamin. A short coat worn by men in 
the late 18th and early 19th century. 
Brewer derives it from the name of a 
tailor, but it is more probably a Biblical 
transference, Benjamin being the youngest 
brother of Joseph. An 18th century ladies' 
riding cloak was called a Joseph, from the 
"coat of many colors" in the Bible. Thus 
Goldsmith in THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD 
(1766) pictures Olivia dressed in a green 
Joseph, richly laced with gold, and a whip 
in her hand. Peacock in NIGHTMARE ABBEY 
gives us the younger brother: His heart 
is seen to beat through his upper ben- 
jamin. 

bennet. (1) An old stalk of grass, left 
in late winter and early , spring; eaten 
then by cattle, or the seeds by birds. An 
early form of bent (grass) . (2) An herb 
(often identified as the avens) which the 
middle ages believed drove the devil away; 
hence called (herb) bennet, Old French 
beneite; Latin benedicta, blessed. The 
ORIUS SANITATIS (1486) quotes Platearius: 
'Where the root is in the house the devil 
can do nothing, and flies from it; where- 
fore it is blessed above all other herbs/ 
Urquhart in his translation (1653) of 
Rabelais, ascribes to it another quality: 
Fervency of lust is abated by certain drugs, 
plants, herbs, and roots . . . mandrake, 
Rennet, keckbuglosse. [There is a different 
opinion regarding mandrake; cp. man- 
dr agora.] 

benthal. Relating to (ocean) depths of 
over 1000 fathoms. From Greek benthos, 



benumb 



bested 



deep of the sea; related to bathos, whence 
bathysphere. May also be used figura- 
tively, as when one reveals his benthal 
ignorance. 

benumb. See benim. 

bergamask. A rustic dance. Italian berg- 
amasco, of Bergamo, a province of Venice; 
the dance supposedly mocked its country 
ways. From the same town came the berg- 
amot, a citrus tree and its fruit; also, the 
fragrant oil prepared from the fruit rind. 
There is also a bergamot, an excellent 
variety of pear (Turkish beg-armudi, 
prince pear) . Shakespeare in A MIDSUM- 
MER NIGHT'S DREAM (1590) says Will it 
please you . . . to have a bergomask dance 
. . . Come, your burgomask. Thackeray in 
PENDENNIS (1850) says: A delightful odour 
of musk and bergamot was shaken through 
the house. Among the CRYS OF LONDON 
(BAGFORD BALLADS; 1680) resounded: Do 
you want any damsons or bergume paref 

bergh. See barth. 
berlaken. See byrlakin. 

berne. Before 1400, a warrior; later, a 
poetic word for a man. Sometimes used 
interchangeably with baron. The corre- 
sponding feminine word was burd, lady; 
in poetical use, usually young lady, 
maiden. Frequent in ballads. The term 
burd-alone was used, of either sex, to mean 
all alone. The ballads have Sir Roland 
riding burd-alane, whereas King Henrie 
lay burd-alane. 

berner. See barnard. 

bersatrix. A rocker of cradles; a baby- 
sitter. From French berceau, cradle + trix, 
a feminine ending. Found in Bailey's 
DICTIONARY of 1751, but applicable 200 
years later. 

berwe. A shady place, a grove. Also be- 
rowe. Used from the <Hh to the 15th cen- 



tury; surviving in place-names as bere f 
be ere, bear, ber. 

beshrew. See shrew; be-. 
besmotered. See smotherlich. 

besom. A bundle of rods used for punish- 
ment; a similar bundle used for sweeping, 
a broom; hence, anything used to cleanse 
or purify. A common Teutonic word, with 
variant spellings: besme, besum, beesom, 
bissome, etc. There are references to a 
bessume (1493) of peacock's feathers; to 
a beasome (1697) of laurel; to (1756) a 
birchen beesom. Lyly in EUPHUES (1580) 
says: There is no more difference between 
them, than between a broome and a bee- 
some. Carlyle in THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
(1837) says: With steel-besom, Rascality 
is brushed back; Tyndall in MOUNTAINEER- 
ING (1862) : Grandly the cloud-besom 
swept the mountains. From its shape, a 
comet has been called (1566) the fyrie 
boosome, (1639) a firie bissome. Which is 
sweeping enough! However, a besom-head 
is a stupid or foolish person. And bee- 
some (though not so listed in O.E.D., 
which gives that form in the quotation 
from Shakespeare here under conspectuity) 
is one form as also bisene, bysome, bisme, 
beasom, bysone of bisson, blind; part 
blind; blinding, as in Shakespeare's HAM- 
LET (1602) with 'the mobled queen' 
threatening the flame With bisson rheume. 

besonio. See bezonian. 

bestad. An old form of the past parti- 
ciple of beset. Also bestadds. Used by 
Spenser in the AUGUST ECLOGUE, THE 
SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) and in THE 
FAERIE QUEENE: But both attonce on both 
sides him bestad. This is a variant of 
bested, q.v. 

bested. Placed, situated; settled; ar- 
ranged; set with, ornamented. Also, placed 



93 



bestented 



bever 



in a certain situation, hard bested; 
troubled, beset by (earlier, bested with) 
fears, dangers, difficulties. Accent on the 
second syllable; not to be confused with 
bested, accent on the first syllable, past 
participle of best, to overcome, to worst. 
Bested, also bestead, bestad, bestadde, is 
the old past participle of beset. Gower in 
CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1393) : Whan they 
ben glad I shall be glad, And sorry whan 
they ben bestad. Shakespeare in HENRY vi, 
PART TWO (1593) says: / never saw a fellow 
worse bestead. There was also a verb 
(from the 16th century) to bestead, to 
help, to be of service to; to take the place 
of, from be -f- stead, to prop, support, 
whence also steady. At nights, Woodhead 
thought in ST. TERESA (1669) of our 
mantles of thick cloth which many times 
besteaded us. We still say stood us in good 
stead. 

bestented. Distended. In Herrick's HES- 
PERIDES (1648), the poem OBERON'S FEAST 
gives the one literary use of this form (an 
emphatic form of stent, stend, which sur- 
vives in extend and distend] : The sag 
And well bestented bees sweet bag. 

bestiate. To make beastly. Latin bestia, 
beast. Used in the 17th century especially 
of liquor, as by Owen Feltham in RE- 
SOLVES (1628) : Drunkenness . . . bestiates 
even the bravest spirits. The verb was 
sometimes Anglicized to beastiate. Bestiary 
means (1) a fighter of wild beasts in the 
Roman amphitheatre; (2) a moralizing 
treatise, using animals to point lessons, as 
written in the Middle Ages. A bestiarian, 
however, is a friend of the animals, es- 
pecially, in the 19th century, an anti- 
vivisectionist. 

bet. Old form of better, comparative of 
good. For several hundred years both 
forms were used, but by 1600 better had 



supplanted bet. Gower in CONFESSIO AMAN- 
TIS (1393) says: One jousteth well, an- 
other bet. In the frequent expression Go 
bet (Chaucer, THE PARDONER'S TALE, 1386: 
Go bet, quod he, and axe redily what 
cors is this) , bet means quickly. 

betony. A plant, with spiked purple 
flowers, helpful to keep evil spirits from 
the house, but still more efficacious as a 
healer. Hence frequently used in foods. 
Betony is from the Late Latin betonia, 
betonica; Pliny (HISTORIA NATURALIS; 70 
A.D.) called it vettonica, ascribing its dis- 
covery to a Spanish tribe, the Vettones. 
Barbour in ST. BAPTISTA (1375) said: 
Quhare mene makis drink of spycery, Of 
betone thare is gret copy. Cp. copy; 
coltsfoot. 

bevel. Slanty, sloping; hence (figura- 
tively) , away from a straight line or course 
of behavior. Shakespeare in SONNET 121, 
says: / may be straight though they them- 
selves be bevel. 

bever. A drink; time for drinking; a sip 
and a bite between meals, especially in 
the afternoon. In the first sense (from 
Latin bib ere, to drink) the word survives 
in beverage. Marlowe in DOCTOR FAUSTUS 
(1590) speaks of thirty meals a day and 
ten bevers. The word bever was also used 
as a verb, to take a snack; but there was 
another verb of the same form bever, 
from Old English beofian, to tremble, 
meaning to tremble, to quake, and still 
used in north dialects. [Bever was also a 
variant from bavour, baviere, beavoir 
of beaver, originally (in French) a child's 
bib; Old French bave> saliva; but used in 
English for the lower part of a visor, the 
movable face-guard of a helmet. Some- 
times beaver was used for the visor. An 
early movable beaver is pictured on the 
effigy of Thomas, Duke of Clarence, who 
94 



bevue 

was killed in 1421. Shakespeare in HAMLET 
(1602) has Hamlet inquire about the 
ghost: Then saw you not his face? and 
Horatio answer: Oh yes, my lord, he 
wore his beaver up. Hence beaver-sight, 
eye-hole of a helmet. The word beaver is 
sometimes used to imply concealed (down) 
or exposed, revealed (up) as in Hamil- 
ton's query in POPULAR EDUCATION (1845) : 
Why should the author suppress this 
anecdote now that his beaver is upf 
The animal beaver is related to the Old 
Aryan form bhebhou, brown. A visor 
vizor, vysere, vesoure, vysour, etc. was 
originally the upper part of the face 
guard; more frequently, the whole front 
part, so that in use the term was inter- 
changeable with beaver. This word is from 
French vis, face, as in vis-a-vis, face to face; 
but occasionally, as though connected 
with videre, visum, to see (vision), visor 
has been used to mean a hole the visures 
to see through in a beaver. Also visiere, 
vizard; these mainly in other senses: a 
countenance; a mask to conceal the face; 
hence, a false outward show. Spenser in 
THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) speaks of the 
crafty cunning traine By which deceipt 
doth maske in visour faire.] 

bevue. An error of inadvertence. French 
bes 3 bad + vue, view. Also bevew. Used 
in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Scott 
in his MEMOIRS (Lockhart, 1839) said: 
He will content himself with avoiding 
such bevues in future. Ah, sweet content! 

bezoar. An antidote, a counterpoison. 
Through French, Spanish, and Arabic 
from Persian pad-zahr, counterpoison, 
zahr, poison. The word had many spell- 
ings in English, as besert, bezahar, beazer, 
bazar, bezoard. It was applied particularly 
to a 'stone' (the bezoar-stone) , believed to 
be an antidote, found in the digestive 
organs of ruminant animals, especially the 



bib 

wild goat of Persia, the bezoar-goat. Ed- 
ward Topsell, in THE HISTORIE OF SERPENTS 

(1608) advises: The juice of apples being 
drunk, and endive, are the proper bezoar 
against the venom of a phalangie. The 
Earl of Monmouth, in his translation 

(1637) of Malvezzi's ROMULUS AND TAR- 
QUIN, uses the word figuratively: Valor is 
a kind of besar, which comforts the hearts 
of subjects, that they may the better 
endure a tyrant's venom. In the 17th and 
18th century, the adjective, bezoar die, 
bezoar tic, was sometimes used as a noun 
instead of bezoar. And in 1693 Sir Thomas 
Blount in his NATURAL HISTORY remarked 
that everything good against poysons is 
commonly term'd bezoardical. (Bezoar is 
pronounced in two syllables, with the 
accent on the first.) 

bezonian. A raw recruit. Later, a beggar, 
a rascal. Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART 
TWO remarks that Great men oft dye by 
vile bezonians. And Massinger, in THE 
MAID OF HONOUR (1632) , speaks of the slut 
who would, for half a mouldy biscuit, sell 
herself to a poor bisognion. The word was 
originally besonio. It is from the Italian 
bisogno, need, want, applied in derision to 
the raw soldiers who came to Italy from 
Spain, in the 15th and 16th centuries, 
without proper equipment or means. 
Robert Johnson, in his translation (1601) 
of Botero's THE WORLD, AN HISTORICALL 
DESCRIPTION, speaks of a base besonio, 
fitter for the spade than the sword. Both 
forms, after a lapse of two centuries, were 
revived in historical novels: Scott in THE 
MONASTERY (1820) : Base and pilfering 
besognios and marauders', Bulwer-Lytton 

in THE LAST OF THE BARONS (1843) : Out 

on ye, cullions and bezonians! 

bib. To drink; to tipple. The word may 
be imitative in origin, or from Latin 
bib ere, to drink probably imitative in 

95 



biblio- 



bifarious 



origin. Also beb. Chaucer says, in THE 
REEVE'S TALE (1386) : This Miller has so 
wisely bebbed ale That as an horse he 
snorteth in his sleep. The word was 
naturally very common, and developed 
many forms: bibitory, relating to drink; 
bibatious, fond of drink: a writer in 
BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE (1834) calls the 
middle class bibacious more than health 
requires; bibacity, bibbery, bibation, bibi- 
tion; a bibber, bibbler, or a biberon; bib- 
bing, also as a compound: ERASER'S MAGA- 
ZINE (1833) speaks of a port-bibbing, gout- 
bemartyred believer in the Tory faith. To 
bibble is to keep on drinking though 
bibble-babble takes its sense from the sec- 
ond part, and means long empty talk. 
Bibesy means a too great desire to drink; 
too many even today are afflicted ith 
bibesy. The verb bib, to drink, survives in 
the form imbibe. Two current nouns were 
formed from it: bib, a fish that distends 
a membrane in its head as though filling 
it with liquid; and bib, the cloth tucked 
under a child's chin when it drinks. This 
bib was also applied to a neck cloth for 
adults, sometimes for protection, some- 
times as adornment. Hence, one's best bib 
and tucker means one's best attire. See 
tucker. There is also a rare form biberage 
(influenced perhaps by beverage; see 
bever) meaning a drink given in payment. 
See bibulate. 

biblio-. See bibliopole. 
bibliomancy. See aeromancy. 

bibliopole. A bookseller. During the 18th 
and 19th centuries many formal or pedan- 
tic terms, from Greek biblion^ book, de- 
veloped in the literary field. Often they 
were used for humorous effect. Among 
these are: bibliodasm, destruction of 
books; bibliodastj destroyer of books; bib- 
liognost, an expert on books; bibliogony, 



96 



production of books; biblioklept, a book 
thief; bibliopegy, the art of book-binding, 
hence bibliopegist; bibliophagist, a de- 
vourer of books, an ardent reader; biblio- 
pyrate, a burner of books; bibliopoly, bib- 
liopolery, bookselling; bibliotaph, one who 
'buries* books by keeping them locked 
away. The still current bibliophile was 
contrasted with the bibliophobe but had 
its excess in the bibliomane. At which I 
(looking at my book-shelves) pause. 

bibulate. To tipple; a humorous diminu- 
tive from Latin bib ere, to drink, whence 
also imbibe; see bib. Used in the 18th and 
19th centuries. BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE 
(1828) tells of persons who bibulate gin 
and water with the housekeeper. ST. 
JAMES'S GAZETTE of April 12, 1882, speaks 
of the extraordinary capacity for bibula- 
tion displayed by the regular soldier. The 
word bibulous was more frequently used; 
it meant both fond of drinking and (tech- 
nically) able to absorb moisture; Cowper 
in his translation (1790) of the ODYSSEY 
speaks of bibulous sponges. 

bicipital. Having two heads. In current 
anatomical use, as of a muscle ( the bi- 
ceps) , but applicable also to a committee 
with co-chairmen or a party with two 
leaders, or Siamese twins. 

bidale. A party (ale-drinking) to which 
all the neighbors were bid, when, as 
Blount explained in 1656, "an honest man 
decayed in his estate is set up again by 
the liberal benevolence and contribution 
of friends at a feast." Bidales were for- 
bidden in Wales by a law (1534) of King 
Henry VIII, and later in England by the 
Puritans. The practice, nevertheless if 
not the word survives. 

bifarious. Ambiguous, capable of being 
interpreted in two ways; taking a dual 
stand, so as to be accepted according to 



bigama 

the liking of each listener. The even more 
plural multifarious has survived. E. Ward 
in HUDIBRAS REDIVIVUS (1707) spoke of 
Some strange, mysterious verity In old 
bifarious prophesy. Sir Roger de Coverley 
frequently observed: "There is much to 
be said on both sides." 

bigama. A woman living in bigamy. Also 
bigame, applied to a bigamous man or 
woman. A 15th and 16th century term, 
apparently no longer needed. 

Big-endian. See cynarctomachy. 

bigenerous. Hybrid; with characteristics 
of two genera. Nature has been generous. 
Guillim in his book on HERALDRY (1610) 
wrote of a bigenerous beast of unkindly 
procreation. 

biggen. To recover weight and strength 
after illness; especially, one's strength after 
pregnancy; to grow big; to make big. 
Shakespeare uses the word as a noun, in 
the sense of a cloth wound round the 
head at night, as a comforting night head- 
dress, in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1598) as 
Prince Henry looks upon his father asleep 
with his crown on his pillow: Sleep with it 
now! Yet not so sound and half so deeply 
sweet As he whose brow with homely 
biggen bound Snores out the watch of 
night. (Quite a phenomenon, a snoring 
brow!) 

bigote. The moustache. In Mabbe's trans- 
lation (1623) of Aleman's GUZMAN DE 
ALFARACHE we read: It seeming perhaps 
unto them that . . . the bearing their 
bigotes high, turn'd up with hot yrons 
. . . should be their salvation and bring 
them to heaven. The word is Spanish, ap- 
parently unconnected with bigot. 

bilbo. (1) A sword, of fine temper and 
elastic blade. Used by Shakespeare (THE 
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, 1598) and other 

97 



billingsgate 

Tudor writers; revived by Sir Walter 
Scott, in WOODSTOCK. (1826) : My tough 
old knight and you were at drawn bilbo. 
Also transferred to the man who wears 
a sword, as by Shakespeare (again in THE 
MERRY WIVES) : / combat challenge of this 
latin bilboe. (2) A long iron bar, with 
shackles for the ankles of prisoners, and 
a lock to fasten one end to the floor or 
ground. Shakespeare uses this sense in 
HAMLET. Both words are supposed to 
come from the city Bilbao (which the 
English called Bilboa) in Spain, a center 
of sword-making. The bars were sup- 
posedly shipped on the Spanish Armada 
(1588) , to fetter the English prisoners; 
but the word, and the instrument, appear 
at least as early as 1557. From bilbo, 
sword, came the expression bilbo-lord, 
a swaggerer, a bully. 

biliment. See billyment. 
bill. See glaive. 

billingsgate. Scurrilous and violent abuse. 
By the 16th century Billings Gate, Lon- 
don, brought inevitably to mind the foul- 
mouthed workers (women as well as men) 
in the fish-market there, and by the mid- 
nth century the name of the gate was 
being used for the language there spoken. 
The Third Earl of Shaf tesbury, in CHARAC- 
TERISTICKS (1710) speaks of philosophers 
and divines who can be contented to . . . 
write in learned billingsgate. The word is 
quiescent, but the practice still is loud. 
Bailey (1751) defines a billingsgate as 
"a scolding impudent slut." THE PRESENT 
STATE OF RUSSIA (1671) stated: // you 
would please a Russian with musick, get 
a consort of billingsgate nightingales, 
which, joyn'd with a flight of screech owls, 
a nest of jackdaws, a pack of hungry 
wolves, seven hogs in a windy day, and 
as many cats with their corrivals . . . 



billyment 

billyment. A variant form of biliment, 
itself short for habiliment , garment. Via 
French habiller, to clothe, make fit, from 
Latin habilis, fit, able, suitable, from the 
root hab, to have. Usually in the plural, 
billyments, garments, clothing. 

bilynne. See blin. 

bimana. Two-handed animals; men. 
From Latin "hi-, two + manus, hand. One 
of the bimanous (or bimanal) tribe is a 
bimane. This is a late 18th and 19th cen- 
tury pedantic way (used first by Buffon 
and Cuvier, in their natural histories) of 
referring to the highest order of mam- 
malia, of which man is the only known 
species. 

birdsnie. My sweet one; a term of en- 
dearment. Used in 17th century plays. 
The nie (also birdsnye) means eye; old 
myn eye became my nye. R. Davenport in 
THE CITY NIGHT-CAP (1661) cried Oh, my 
sweet birds-nie! What a wench have I of 
thee! 

birthdom. Inheritance, birthright. So in 
the O.E.D. In his notes to Shakespeare's 
MACBETH (1605), however, G. B. Harri- 
son defines the word as meaning native 
land. Macduff is speaking, fled to Eng- 
land from Scotland and Macbeth's sav- 
agery: Let us rather Hold fast the mortal 
sword, and like good men Bestride our 
downfall'n birthdome. 

biscot. Three words have taken this form. 
(1) A fine exacted in the 16th and 17th 
centuries, from landowners who failed to 
repair ditches, marsh banks, etc. The first 
syllable may be Old English by, borough, 
which survives in by-law and such names 
as Derby, The second is Old English scot, 
contribution, payment, which survives in 
the expression scot free. The sc was also 
pronounced like sh, whence to pay one's 

98 



bissextile 

shot and (slang) the whole shoot, some- 
times expanded, in mistake of its origin, 
to the whole shooting-match. Also, to pay 
scot and lot (shot and lot) , to pay 
thoroughly, to settle with; Shakespeare 
puns on this in HENRY iv, PART ONE 
(1597) : Or that hot termagant Scot had 
paid me scot and lot too. (2) To caress. 
From French biscoter, this is used in Ur- 
quhart's translation (1653) of Rabelais: 
Wheresoever they should biscot and thrum 
their wenches. (3) Biscuit. Also, a small 
one, bis co tin. From the 16th to the 18th 
century the preferred spelling was bisket; 
then in imitation of modern French the 
spelling was changed to biscuit but the 
sound was kept the same. The Latin form 
would be biscoctum panem, twice-cooked 
bread. 

bismer. Shame; mockery, scorn. Old High 
German bismer, ridicule, from bi, by + 
smier, smile. Also bismer e, bysmer, bismor, 
busmar, busmeyr, and the like. Bismer is 
also a verb, to mock; and from 1300 to 
1550 was applied to a person worthy of 
scorn. From the time of King Alfred 
(about 890) to the mid-1 6th century, the 
word was used, e.g. Chaucer, THE REEVE'S 
TALE (1386) As ful of hokir and of bis- 
semare. (Hokir, contempt, abuse.) 

bismotered. See smotherlich. 

bissextile. Leap year, the year contain- 
ing the bissext. Also bisext, bisex, bysext. 
Latin bis, twice + sextus, sixth. The cal- 
endar as improved under Julius Caesar 
created 'leap year/ by adding a day in 
February. This was inserted after Feb- 
ruary 24, the sixth day before the calends 
of March which day was counted twice, 
making it bissextile (in English, both ad- 
jective and noun) . Tomlinson (1854) 
pointed out a refinement of the Julian 
calendar: Thus 1600 was bissextile, 1700 
and 1800 were not so. Mrs. Somerville 



bisson 



blaze 



had observed, a score of years earlier, that 
if in addition to this, a bissextile be sup- 
pressed every 4000 years, the length of the 
year will be nearly equal to that given by 
observation. That is one act of suppression 
we must remember and be ready to 
perform. 

bisson. See besom. Perhaps from bi- 
seonde; bi, by, near at hand 4- seonde, 
seeing. 

black acre. A name used in court, to dis- 
tinguish one plot of ground from another: 
black acre; white acre; green acre some- 
what like "party of the first part" etc. The 
colors were perhaps originally chosen from 
various crops. After a time, to black-acre 
meant to litigate over land; in Wycherley's 
THE PLAIN DEALER (1677) the litigious 
widow is Mrs. Blackacre; her son Jerry 
Blackacre is so well trained by her in court 
procedure that he wins all of her land. 

bladarius. A dealer in grain. Found only 
in the dictionaries (Bailey, 1751) . Blaed 
was Old English, from a common Teuton 
form, for blade (of grass, as opposed to 
leaf) though influenced by Latin bla- 
dum, Old French bled> corn, wheat. By 
the llth century blade was transferred 
from plants to the broad flat part of an 
oar, a spade and the like; and by the 
14th, to the blade of a knife and a sword. 

blake. Pale. As a verb, to make or to 
become pale. This is from a common 
Teuton word blikan, shine, but in Old 
English it lost the sense of white from 
shining light, and came to mean white 
from lack of color pale. Hence it was 
often confused, in form then in meaning, 
with that other word for absence of color, 
black. Figuratively (as listed by Bailey, 
1751) blake also meant skin-white, i.e., 
naked. In various parts of England, the 
word took different hues, as ash-colored, 

99 



pale yellow ("as blake as butter") , whence 
also blakes came to mean cow dung dried 
for fuel. 

bias. (1) A blast, breath. A common 
Teuton term; Old Norse blasa, to blow. 
Used 10th through 14th centuries. (2) 
The supposed twofold motion of the stars, 
producing changes in terrestrial weather. 
The term bias was invented for this by 
Van Helmont (about 1640) ; he also in- 
vented the longer-lived word gas. 

blate. (1) Pale; bashful; backward. Used 
from Old English through the 17th cen- 
tury, surviving in dialect. Scott tried to 
revive the word in QUENTIN DURWARD 

(1823) : You are not blate you will 
never lose fair lady for faint heart. (2) 
To babble, to prate. Pepys in his DIARY 

(1666) entered: He blates to me what 
has passed between other people and him. 
Loud talk and empty chatter being what 
they are, other words developed: blater- 
ate t to babble; blateration; blateroon, a 
foolish talker. Also blather; blether; 
bletherskate; blatherskite, a noisy talker 
of nonsense. This word became common 
in the United States from the lines Jog 
on your gaitj ye bletherskate in MAGGIE 
LAUDER (1650) , which was a favorite song 
in the American Revolution. Burns, in 
TAM o' SHANTER (1790) speaks of A bleth- 
erin, blusterinj drunken blellum. Even 
Coleridge (1834) was annoyed by blether- 
ing, though he did not go so far (Ameri- 
can-wise) as to call the offender a bleth- 
ering idiot! 

blaze. A variant form of blazon, to pub- 
lish forth. Spenser begins his song to 
Queen Elizabeth, in the April Eclogue of 
THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) : Ye 
dayntye nymphes, that in this blessed 
brooke Do bathe your brest, Forsake your 
watry bowresj and hether looke, At my 



bleb 



blonk 



request: And eke you virgins that on 
Parnasse dwell, Whence floweth Helicon 
the learned well, Helpe me to blaze Her 
worthy praise, Which in her sexe doth all 
excell. 

bleb. A bubble of air, as in water or 
glass. Also blebb. An imitative word, mak- 
ing a bubble with the lips, like bubble, 
blob, blubber, blobber, etc. Also used as 
a verb, as in Clare's THE VILLAGE MINSTREL 
(1821) : While big drops . . . bleb the 
withering hay with pearly gems. 

blee. Color, hue; complexion. Also blio, 
bleo, bio, ble, bleye. (Note that this word 
is not related to Anglo Saxon blae, blue.) 
Used only poetically in Middle English; 
obsolete before Shakespeare, but frequent 
in early ballads and metrical romances, 
whence it was revived by 19th century- 
poets, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning 
(1850) : The captain, young Lord Leigh, 
With his eyes so grey of blee. 

bleo. See blee. 

blete. Naked, bare. Also bleat. From the 
10th to the 14th century. 

blethe. Timid, lacking in spirit. Also 
bleath. From the 10th to the 14th cen- 
tury. 

blether. See blate. 

bletonism. Divining; indicating "by sen- 
sation" the location of subterraneous 
springs. Derived from a Mr. Bleton who, 
according to the MONTHLY MAGAZINE of 
1821 "for some years past has excited uni- 
versal attention by his possessing the above 
faculty." A bletonist, bletonite, a prac- 
titioner with the divining-rod whose most 
effective instrument was (naturally) of 
witch-hazel. 

blin. From the prefix be, off and the 
common Teutonic linnam, to cease; used 



in English in the senses to stop, to stay, 
and to stay silent. Used by Chaucer and 
Spenser, who in THE FAERIE QUEENE says 
Nathemore . . . Did th f other two their 
cruel vengeance blin. It also appeared as 
bilynne, etc. It was a frequent word from 
about 950 to about 1600, and would make 
a better exclamation than, say, "Cut it 
out!" Blin! 

blissom. In heat. As a verb, to couple; 
used 16th through 18th century of a ram 
and a ewe. Hence, to be lustful, to go 
ablissoming. 

blithemeat. A party or feast at the birth 
of a child. From blithe, merry. A term of 
the 17th and 18th centuries, blithemeat 
lingers in Scotland. In China, the feast is 
held at the next new moon. In the United 
States, the happy father hands out cigars. 

blive. See belive. 

bio. See blue (blueman) . 

Woman. A black man, Negro. See blue 
(blueman) . Wright's DICTIONARY OF OB- 
SOLETE ENGLISH (1849) lists bloman: a 
trumpeter. There are no instances of this 
use. 

blomanger. An early English dish. It 
can be made with capon, or other fowl. 
Let us note, from Warner's ANTIQUITATES 
CULINARIAE (1791) the recipe for a bio- 
manger of fish: Tak a pound of rys, les 
hem wel and wasch, and seth tyl they 
breste; and let hem kele; and do thereto 
mylk of to pound of almandys; nym the 
perche, or the lopuster, and boyle yt, and 
kest sugur and salt also thereto, and serve 
yt forth. 

blonk. A steed, a war-horse. Also blanka, 
blank, blonke; Old High German blanch, 
white. Used from Beowulf to the 16th 
century; a poetic term. 



100 



blore 



blue 



blore. A violent blowing or blast. A 
favorite word of Chapman's; in his transla- 
tion (1598) of THE ILIAD: The west wind 
and the north . . . join in a sudden blore. 
Sometimes used to mean the air: Chap- 
man's THE ODYSSEY (1614) : Vanish* d again 
into the open blore. Johnson's DICTIONARY 
(1775) calls it "an expressive word, but 
not used"; it has, however, lingered in 
poetry. There is also a verb blore, surviv- 
ing in dialects, meaning to cry, to bellow. 
Both are probably imitative o sounds. 

blowen. A wench; a prostitute. Also 
blowing. The O.E.D. gives all its examples 
in the 19th century; but Shad well in THE 
SQUIRE OF ALSATIA (1688) has Cheatly 
remark to the booby country fellow he 
is trying to gull: What ogling there will 
be between thee and the blowings! Old 
staring at thy equipage! And every but- 
tock shall fall down before thee! 

blowess. A variant of blowze, q.v. Bishop 
Hall in his first SATIRE (1597) wrote: Nor 
ladies wanton love, nor wandring knight, 
Legend I out in rymes all richly dight . . . 
Nor list I sonnet of my mistresse face, To 
paint some blowesse with a borrowed 
grace . . . Nor can I crouch, and writhe 
my fauning tayle To some great patron, 
for my best availe. Such hunger-staruen 
trencher-poetry, Or let it never live, or 
timely die. 

blowze. A beggar's wench, a trull. Bur- 
ton in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY 

(1621) says: / had rather marry a fair 
one, and put it to the hazard, than be 
troubled with a blowze. Bailey (1751) 
defines a blowze as "a fat, red-fac'd, bio ted 
wench, or one whose head is dressed like 
a slattern." Shakespeare declares, in TITUS 
ANDRONICUS (1588) : Sweet blowse, you are 
a beautious blossome sure. Hence also 
blowze d, blowzing, blowzy. Occasionally 



the word has a pleasant savour, as when 
Tennyson in THE PRINCESS (1847) speaks 
of Huge women blowzed with health and 
wind and rain And labour. 

blue. This color word was very popular 
in compounds and phrases. Thus blue 
apron, a tradesman; hence, blue-apron 
statesman, a tradesman who interferes in 
politics, blue beans, bullets (of lead) ; 
blue-beat, to beat black and blue, blue 
blanket, the sky. blue blood, (one of) 
aristocratic heritage, from the Spanish idea 
that the veins of aristocratic families show 
through the skin a 'truer blue' than those 
of commoners, blue bonnet, also blue cap, 
a Scotsman. To burn blue, of a candle, to 
burn without red or yellow light: an omen 
of death, or sign of the presence of ghosts 
or the Devil. Shakespeare in RICHARD m 
(1594) says: The lights burne blew! blue 
bottle, a beadle; also a policeman. Shake- 
speare in HENRY iv, PART TWO says to a 
beadle: / will have you as soundly swindg'd 
for this, you blue-bottle rogue. Also blue 
coat, as in the American boy's taunt: 
Brass button, blue coat, Couldn't catch a 
nanny-goat! But blue coat likewise (Shake- 
speare, Dekker) , being then the garb of 
lower servants and charity folk, was used 
to mean a beggar, an almsman, blue- 
dahlia, a rarity or most unlikely thing. 
blue devil, an evil demon; in the plural, 
blue devils, despondency, also the blues. 
Byron in DON JUAN (1823) declares: 
Though six days smoothly run, The sev- 
enth will bring blue devils or a dun. Also, 
the horrid sights in delirium tremens. 
blue fire, a stage light for eerie effects; 
hence (19th century) sensational, as; 
blue-fire melodrama, blue funk, a spell of 
fright, nervous dread, blue gown; in Scot- 
land, a licensed beggar; in England (17th 
century) a harlot; especially one in prison 
(where a blue gown marked her shame) . 



101 



blushet 



bobance 



blueman, also bloman, blamon, a Negro. 
From the 13th to the 17th century, bio 
was used for blue, bluish black, lead 
colored, blue hen, in the expression Your 
mother must have been a blue hen, a 
reproof given to a braggart, from the say- 
ing, No cock is game unless its mother 
was a blue hen. To shout blue murder, 
to cry out more from fear than because 
of actual danger, blue ruin, a bad quality 
of gin; gin. blue story, an obscene or 
pornographic story, [In French, conte bleu 
is an old wives' tale; a lascivious or ob- 
scene story is conte gras.] Other blue com- 
pounds, like bluebeard, blue stocking, 
blue ribbon, remain well known. Cp. red. 

blushet. A shy maiden; a modest girl 
(literally, little blusher). Jonson in THE 
STAPLE OF NEWS (1625) Though mistress 
Band would speak, or little blushet Wax 
be ne'er so easy, Jonson, who likes the 
word (and why not?) seems to be the 
only one that has used it. 

bly. Likeness; aspect; character. Sur- 
vives in dialects: I see a bly of your father 
about you. 

boanerges. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. 
MARK tells us that "Simon he surnamed 
Peter"; James and John, he surnamed 
them Boanerges, which is, The sons of 
thunder. As they became preachers, the 
word boanerges (four syllables; used as a 
singular noun) was applied to a loud or 
fiery preacher. It was also used figuratively; 
R. S. Hawker, in CORNISH BALLADS (1869) 
has: Loud laughed the listening surges . . . 
You might call them Boanerges From the 
thunder of their wave. Hence also boan- 
ergism, boanergy, for loud oratory or 
vehement denunciation. 

boanthropy. "Man into ox": a madness 
in which a man imagines himself an ox, 



as was prophesied and fulfilled of Nebu- 
chadnezzar in the BOOK OF DANIEL in the 
BIBLE. Also figuratively, as when a man 
becomes obstinate, stolid, stupid, or de- 
velops other unpleasant ways we can foist 
upon the patient ox. 

bob. Among the forgotten meanings of 
bob are: a bunch of flowers; an orna- 
mental pendant; an ear-drop; Goldsmith 
in SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER (1773) : My 
cousin Con's necklaces, bobs and all. In 
the 17th century, bobbed hair, a bob, 
meant hair drawn into a bunch in the 
back, or with a bunched or tassel-like 
curl; also, a man's wig so made. Thus, 
bob-wig, bob-peruke. The refrain of a 
song: to bear the bob, join in the chorus; 
Lestrange in his FABLES (1692) : To bed, 
to bed, will be the bob of the song. A 
trick, befoolment; to give the bob, to fool, 
mock, impose upon. A blow with the fist; 
a sharp rap; hence, a rap with the tongue, 
a rebuke this sense combined with the 
one before, to develop the meaning, a 
taunt, scoff, bitter jibe; thus Shakespeare 
in AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) : He that a foole 
doth very wisely hit, Doth very foolishly, 
although he smart, Seeme senselesse of 
the bob. Hence also the verb, as in Shake- 
speare's OTHELLO: Gold, and Jewels, that 
I bob'd from him. To bob off, to get rid 
of fraudulently. Also blind-bob, an early 
name for the game of blind-man's buff. 

bobadil. A blustering braggart, a swag- 
gering pretender to prowess. From the 
character Bobadil, in Jonson's EVERY MAN 
IN HIS HUMOUR (1598) . Hence also bobadi- 
lian, bobadilish; bobadilism. Carlyle in 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1837) Speaks of 

that bobadilian method of contest. 

bobance. Pride; pomp; boasting. Also 
boban, bobanh In the plural, bobances, 
"pomps and vanities." Chaucer in THE 



102 



bodement 

WIFE OF BATH'S PROLOGUE (1386) has: 
Certeinly I sey -for no bobance Yet was 
I never e withouten purueiance Of manage. 

bodement. An omen; a presentiment; an 
announcement; from the 16th century. 
From the 14th century bode was used in 
the same sense; Chaucer in THE PARLEMENT 
OF FOULES (1374) mentions The owl 
eke, that of death the bode bringeth. Old 
English bod, related to bid; the earliest 
meaning of bode (10th century) was 
command; then message, tidings. But 
note also bide, abode; in the 14th, 15th, 
and 16th centuries, bode was used to mean 
a tarrying, waiting, delay. But bode, with- 
out delay. The first sense of the verb to 
bode was to announce, to teach; then, to 
proclaim; to command; to announce be- 
forehand; to foretell, to portend. In 
Shakespeare's MACBETH (1605) when Mac- 
beth is told that he is safe until Birnam 
forest come to Dunsinane, he exclaims: 
Sweet boadments, good! 

bodkin. Originally, a short pointed dag- 
ger. So in Chaucer, and in Hamlet's 
soliloquy: He himself might his quietus 
make with a bare bodkin. Then used of 
similarly shaped instruments, for piercing 
holes in cloth, for fastening up or friz- 
zling ladies' hair, etc. A bodkinbeard is 
one dagger-shaped. A bodkin is also a 
person squeezed between two others with- 
out proper room; hence, to ride bodkin, 
to sit bodkin; Thackeray in VANITY FAIR 
(1848) protests: He's too big to travel 
bodkin between you and me. The verb 
bodkin thence meant to squeeze in. The 
exclamation Ods bodkins!, however, is a 
corruption of God's bodikin, little body. 

boeotian. A stupid fellow, blockhead, 
Gothamite. See Gotham. Boeotia was a 
region of ancient Greece proverbial for 
the stupidity of the natives. Hence boeo- 



bonabace 

tize, to behave like a fool; boeotic. 
Boeotian is also used as an adjective, 
stupid; it is pronounced Bee-ocean. Lock- 
hart in VALERIUS (1821) spoke of an op- 
portunity which I should have been a 
boeotian indeed had I neglected. Byron, 

in ENGLISH BARDS AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS 

(1809) : To be misled By Jeffrey's heart, 
or Lambe's boeotian head. 

boggard. A jakes, privy. Also boghouse, 
bogshop. From bog (never in literary use), 
'to exonerate the bowels,' says the O.E.D.; 
to defile with excrement. "Martinus Scrib- 
lerus" in 1714 said: He cast them all into 
a bog-house near St. James'. 

boist. A box, especially for ointment; a 
cupping-glass. Hence, to boist, to cup. Via 
Old French boiste, box (modern boite) 
from Greek pyxis, box. Also, later (like 
the French word) , used in slang to mean a 
rude hut, a "joint." 

boistous. Rough, rude; coarse; vigorous; 
roughly violent. From the 13th century; 
a common word, appearing in many 
forms, such as boysteous, buystaus, buste- 
ous, bustwys, boisteous, boystuous, which 
by the 16th century were mainly gathered 
into boisterous. Hence also boistousness, 
boistness, and (a rare 17th century form) 
boisture. Surrey in a song of 1538 said: 
/ call to minde the navie great That the 
Grekes brought to Troye town: And how 
the boysteous windes did beate Their 
ships, and rent their sayles adown, Till 
Agammemnons daughters blood Appeasde 
the goddes that them withstood. Euripides 
tells the story of the daughter's sacrifice 

in IPHIGENIA AT AULIS. 

bombace. Raw cotton; cotton wadding; 
hence stuffing, padding. Also bombage, 
bombase, bumbasie, bombasie, bombasine, 
bombazeen, bombazine. The verb bom- 
base^ to stuff with cotton-wool, to pad 



103 



bombard 



bonaroba 



Gascoigne in A VOYAGE TO HOLLAND (1572); 
They march bumbast with buttered beer 
(originally accented on the second syl- 
lable; so in Byron; later, on the first) 
developed in the late 16th century the 
still current sense of the noun bombast, 
inflated language. It has been (errone- 
ously) suggested that this later use of the 
word sprang from the name and manner 
of Paracelsus (1493-1541), whose full 
name was Philippus Aureolus Theo- 
phrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. 
Which is bombastic enough! 

bombard. The earliest type of cannon. 
Also bumbard, boumbard. It was intro- 
duced in the late 14th century, but did 
not prove effective. It was usually loaded 
with a stone, weighing sometimes 200 
pounds. Also, from the shape, a leather 
jug for liquor; hence, a heavy drinker 
(1 7th century) . Also, from the sound, a 
deep-toned wooden musical instrument, 
like a bassoon; bombardo. A bombard- 
man was a pot-boy, bartender; a bombard- 
phrase was a loud-sounding utterance, in- 
flated language. Shakespeare mentions the 
drinking jug in THE TEMPEST and in HENRY 
iv, PART ONE (1596) : that huge bombard 
of sacke. Thomas Heywood in PHILOCO- 

THONISTA, OR THE DRUNKARD OPENED, DIS- 
SECTED AND ANATOMIZED (1635) Spoke of 

the great black jacks and bombards at the 
Court, which, when the Frenchmen first 
saw, they reported . . . that the English- 
men used to drink out of their bootes. 
(Champagne from milady's slipper?) 
Jonson in his translation (1640) of 
Horace's THE ART OF POETRY said: They 
. . . must throw by Their bombard phrase, 
and foot and half-foot words. Also cp. 
sesquipedalian. 

bombast. See bombace. 



bombazine. See bombace. 



bombilate. To hum, to buzz. Derived 
by error from Latin bombitatio, bombila- 
tion. Also bombinate, bombination, as in 
Rabelais' riddle of the bombinating chi- 
maera. (Rabelais, ridiculing the over-re- 
fined subtleties of the Schoolmen, posed 
"the most subtle question, whether a 
chimaera bombinating in a vacuum could 
eat up second intentions.") 

bombycinous. Silken; pale yellow. Greek 
bombyx, silk-worm. 

bomination. Short for abomination; used 
as an adjective, execrable, abominable. 
Nashe in HAY [Have Ye] ANY WORK FOR 
COOPER (1589) , the title playing on the 
name of Thomas Cooper, Bishop of Win- 
chester, whom he was attacking in the 
Martin Marprelate controversy, protests 
that he was misunderstood: Non would be 
so groshead as to gather, because my rever- 
ence telleth Dean John that he shall have 
twenty fists about his eares more then his 
owne (whereby I meant in deede that 
manye would write against him by reason 
of his bomination learning, which other- 
wise never ment to take pen hand) that 
I threatned him with blowes and to deale 
by Stafford law. [Stafford law is a play on 
English place names; law of the staff, i.e., 
the use of force; as they might say / am 
going to Bedfordshire, meaning to bed.] 

bombylious. Buzzing, humming. Greek 
bombylios, a buzzing insect. Cp. bombilate. 

bonaroba. A showy wanton. From Italian 
buona, good + roba, gown, stuff. Shake- 
speare has, in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) : 
We knew where the bonarobas were, and 
had the best of them all at commandment. 
Scott revived the word, in THE FORTUNES 
OF NIGEL (1822) : Your lordship is for a 
frolic into Alsatia? . . . There are bona- 
robas to be found there. [Alsatia was the 



104 



bongrace 

cant name of the section of London under 
the White Friars; hence, a sanctuary for 
debtors and law-breakers; thence, a haunt 
of prostitutes and criminals.] 

bongrace. A protection. From the French: 
bonne,, good + grace, grace. Specifically, 
a shade hanging from a woman's bonnet 
to protect her face from the sun and, 
later, a broad-brimmed hat for the same 
purpose. A commentator of 1617 speaks of 
bonegraces, now altogether out of use with 
us. The word was also used figuratively, 
as by Thomas Heywood in TROIA BRITAN- 
ICA (1609) : A grove through which the 
lake doth run, Making his boughs a bon- 
grace from the sun. Sir Walter Scott re- 
vived the word in GUY MANNERING (1815) . 
On the sea, a frame of old rope etc. hung 
over a ship to protect it "from damage of 
great flakes of ice" (Bailey, 1751) and 
other encounterings was also called a 
bongrace. 

bonibel. See bel-. 

bonism. See malism. This 'best of all 
possible' worlds. 

bookholder. A prompter in a theatre. 
Used in the 16th and 17th centuries. 
Nothing like the current bookkeeper or 
bookmaker. 

boot. See bote. 

boots-and-shoes. See pattens-and-clogs. 

booze. See bouse. 

bopeeper. A mask. Behind it, one plays 
bo-peep. Bo-peep is often used figura- 
tively: to play bo-peep with one's credi- 
tors, with one's fancies, with the Al- 
mighty. 

bora. See borasco. 

borable. That may be bored (physically 
or mentally) . Also boreable. Listed by 



borborygmite 

Johnson (1755), who ought to have 
known. Hence, sophisticate. 

borachio. A large leather bottle for wine, 
especially as used in Spain. From Spanish 
borracha, wine bag; borracho, drunkard. 
Also used in English for a man who is a 
'wine bag'; in Shakespeare's MUCH ADO 
ABOUT NOTHING (1599) there is a character 
named Borachio. Greene's MAMILLIA, A 

LOOKING GLASSE FOR THE LADIES OF ENG- 
LAND (1594) uses the word figuratively: 
a borachio of kisses. Bailey's DICTIONARY 
(1751) reminds us that borachios are the 
bottles we are warned against in the SCRIP- 
TURES, MARK: "And no man putteth new 
wine into old bottles: else the new wine 
doth burst the bottles." 

boraginaceous. See bu gloss. Borage was 
used in cookery; see eowte. 

borametz. "A strange plant in Scythia, 
like a lamb, which consumes the grass 
round about it." So says Bailey's DICTION- 
ARY (1751) . When all the grass is gone, 
the plant dies. There are many barren 
stretches in Scythia. 

borasco. A violent squall. Via French 
from Catalan borrasca, Italian burasca, the 
intensive of bora, a severe north wind in 
the Upper Adriatic, from Latin Boreas, 
god of the winds. Both bora and borasco 
(also borasque, burrasca) were taken into 
English in the 17th century and used into 
the 19th. 

borborygmite. A filthy fellow, especially 
in talk. Borborygm, from Greek borboryg- 
mos, rumbling in the bowels, is still a 
medical term. A borborite (Greek borbo- 
ros, filth) was a nickname of some early 
heretics; used in the 16th and 17th cen- 
turies meaning one who holds filthy or 
immoral doctrines (applied, e.g., to the 
Mennonites) . Borborology is filthy talk; 



105 



bordar 

Shun obscene borborology and filthy 
speeches, said John Trapp in a COM- 
MENTARY ON THE EPISTLES (1649) . 

bordar. A peasant (villein) of the lowest 
rank in the feudal system. He held a cot- 
tage, for which he did menial work (see 
b or diode] at his lord's pleasure. THE 
DOMESDAY BOOK (1087) used the Latin 
plural form bordarii. Land such a person 
was permitted to till was called bordland; 
he held it in bordage. The word bordage 
also meant the services he owed, which 
might include, besides drawing wood, 
drawing water, threshing, grinding corn 
and the like. 

bordel. A house of prostitution; also, the 
act there perpetrated. Toone's GLOSSARY 
of 1834 suggests bordel may be from 
French bord, edge + d'eau, of the water, 
as the river shore was the most convenient 
place for such a house, witness "the stews 
at the bankside," and Dekker in THE 
GULL'S HORNBOOK. (1609) suggests that the 
gallant take a house along the Thames, to 
ship his cockatrice away betimes in the 
morning. But bordel in Saxon and Old 
French meant a cottage, "which growing 
out of repute by being made common ale- 
houses and harbours for lewd women," 
Toone admits, gave their name to the 
brothel. Brothel originally meant a good- 
for-nothing, a wretch, then a prostitute; 
a brothel's house was shortened to brothel; 
confused with bordel, it lost its meaning of 
wretch, and came to be used instead of 
bordel. Brothel is a variant of earlier 
brethel, wretch; the verb, brethe, to go 
to ruin. They are from Old English 
brerthan, to go to ruin, brothen, ruined. 
Sometimes the Italian form bordello was 
used (Jonson, 1598; Milton, 1642). Also 
bordeler, a keeper or frequenter of a 
bordel\ bordelry. Chaucer, in THE PER- 
SONES TALE (1386) speaks of harlottis, 



botargo 

that haunten bordels; Carlyle, in LATTER- 
DAY PAMPHLETS (1850) said that this 
universe . . . was a cookery-shop and 
bordel. 

bordlode. A service required of the 
bordar (q.v.) by the feudal lord: carrying 
timber out of the lord's wood to the 
lord's house. 

borreL See bur el 

boscage. Woodland; sylvan scenery; es- 
pecially, a picture of wooded land; a 
decorative design representing leaves or 
foliage. Also boskage. Late Latin boscum, 
wood. Sylvan paintings were de rigueur in 
the 17th century. Sir Henry Wotton, in 

THE ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE Called for 

chearful paintings in feasting and ban- 
queuing rooms . . . landskips and boscage 
and such wild works in open terraces; and 
a poem, THE CONFINEMENT, of 1679 states 
that Boscage within each chamber must be 
shown, Or the mean pile no architect will 
own. Rousseau in French, and North (in 
LIVES, 1734) in English used the word 
boscaresque. Hence bosky, wooded, as 
when Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST (1610) 
speaks of My bosky acres, and my un- 
shrubd downe. In the 18th and early 19th 
century, bosky was also a common term 
for tipsy ('overshadowed') , as when BLACK- 
WOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE in 1824 re- 
marked that a gentleman may be tipsy, 
bosky, cut, or anything but drunk. Many 
a man's grown bosky in the boscage. 

boswellize. To note a person's actions 
minutely; to write in the style of Bos- 
well's LIFE OF JOHNSON (1791) . Macaulay, 
in an essay of 1825, first spoke of Bos- 
wellism. Hence also Boswellian. 

botargo. A relish of the roe of the mullet 
or tunny fish. Via Italian from Arabic 
butarkhah; Coptic outarakhon, from 



106 



bote 

Coptic ou (the article) + Greek parixion, 
pickle. Captain John Smith, in the new 
world (1616) , called it puttargo. Hood, in 

MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER SILVER LEG (1840) 

speaks o that huge repast With its loads 
and cargoes Of drink and botargoes At 
the birth of the babe in Rabelais. In 
1598 the recipe is given simply: "fish 
spawn salted." By 1751 it had grown more 
complicated; Bailey's DICTIONARY gives it: 
"a sausage made of eggs and of the blood 
of a sea mullet." In 1813 it is described as 
Boutaraga, the roes of fish, salted and 
pressed into rolls like sausages. It might 
be worth trying. 

bote. Remedy; advantage; health. The 
verb bo ten, botne } to heal, lasted through 
the 14th century; but bote was replaced 
much earlier by boot, which survives in 
the phrase to boot, to the good, into the 
bargain. Often used in contrast to bale, 
q.v. Thus Chaucer in THE CANON'S YEO- 
MAN'S PROLOGUE AND TALE (1386) prays: 
God send every true man boote of his 
bale. The word was extended to mean 
amends, compensation for injury, as in 
Stephen's LAW OF ENGLAND (1845) : // the 
great toe be struck off, let twenty shillings 
be paid him as bot. From the phrase to 
make boot of (make advantage, profit) 
the word was confused with booty, 
plunder; thus Shakespeare in HENRY v 
(1599) speaks of bees that, like soldiers, 
Make boote upon the Summers velvet 
buddes: Which pillage they . . . bring 
home. To boot may sometimes be used as 
an intensifies meaning futhermore, in ad- 
dition; there is always the fellow, as the 
punster remarked, who is a scoundrel and 
a good one to boot. And we hope that one 
that deserves reward will not go bootless. 
Cp. hext. 

bottle. (1) A dwelling, building. Used 
up to the 13th century. This sense sur- 



bounce-Jane 

vives in place names, such as Harbottle. 
(2) a bundle, especially of hay or straw. 
The remark about a needle in a haystack 
was originally to look for a needle in a 
bottle of hay. Chaucer in THE MAUNCIPLE'S 
PROLOGUE (1386) says: Although it be 
not worth a botel hey. Several combina- 
tions of bottle, container, have lapsed 
from use: bottle-boot, a leather case for a 
bottle; especially, one to hold the bottle 
firm while corking, bottle-coaster, a tray 
or stand for passing around a decanter; 
also bottle-slide, bottle-slider, bottle-track, 
the path in the ocean of a bottle thrown 
overboard; from such was made a bottle- 
chart, a chart of surface currents, bottle- 
jack, a jack for roasting meat, shaped like 
a bottle, bottle-screw, a corkscrew. To pass 
the bottle of smoke, used by Dickens to 
mean to join in a falsehood, to carry on 
a deceit. Also a three-bottle man, etc., one 
that drinks three (etc.) bottles of wine 
at a sitting; Leigh Hunt in THE EXAMINER 
(11 May, 1812) spoke of six-bottle mini- 
sters and plenitudinous aldermen. A bot- 
tle-head, a fool, is an alteration of beetle- 
head. A beetle is a sdrt of hand pile-driver, 
with a heavy weight for a 'head' and a 
handle sometimes three men used together. 
Hence, dumb as a beetle; beetle-brain; 
beetle-head, blockhead, bottlehead. bottle- 
holder, a backer; a second; in 18th century 
prizefights, the pugilists' attendants had a 
bottle ready, as they still do; Carlyle in 
FREDERICK THE GREAT (1858) referred to 
someone as His Majesty's bottle-holder in 
that battle with the finance nightmares 
and imbroglios. 

bounce- Jane. A delicious dish, in 15th 
century cookery. Take gode cowe my Ik, 
and put hit in a pot, and sethe hit, and 
take sage, parsel, ysope, and savory, and 
other gode herbes, and sethe horn and 
hew horn smalle, and do horn in the pot; 



107 



bouch 

then take henries, or capons, or chekyns; 
when thai byn half rosted, take horn of 
the spit, and smyte horn on peces, and do 
thereto, and put therto pynes and ray- 
synges of corance, and let hit boyle, and 
serve hit forthe. Minced fowl boiled in 
milk with currants and herbs would be 
a delicious dish in the 20th century. 

bouch. An allowance of food granted by 
a king or noble to his household or at- 
tendants on an expedition. Also bouge, 
bowge, bouche, and especially in the 
phrase to have bouche in court. French 
bouche, mouth; avoir bouche en cour. 
Hence, to have bouch of court, to eat and 
drink at the lord's expense. 

bouchee. A small baked confection; a 
patty. French bouchee, mouthful; bouche, 
mouth. 

boucon. Veal-steak rolled in bacon and 
gammon. From French boucon, a mouth- 
ful which it seems succulently to be. See 
gammon. 

bouffage. A satisfying meal. Old French 
bouffage, a meat that puffs the cheeks. 

bouge. (1) A bag, a wallet; a skin-bottle; 
also bowge, q.v.; bulge, bulch. Latin bulga, 
a leather bag; the womb. Also, a bulge, 
a swelling; hence, bowgework, raised work. 
(2) Court rations; provisions. A variant 
of bouche, mouthful. To have a budge-a- 
court, to be given free food and drink. 

bouillans. "Little pies of the breast of 
roasted capons minced with udders, etc." 
So in the 1751 DICTIONARY of Bailey, who 
seems to have been an 18th century 
gourmet. 

bouksome. Corpulent. Bouk was an old 
word for belly; then for the trunk, then 
the body, of a man. After the 14th cen- 
tury bouk was used only in Scotland; 



bourdon 

bouksome was influenced by buxom and 
by bulk. The result of too many a 
bouffage. 

boun. To prepare, make ready; to dress; 
to betake oneself. Also bown, bune, bowen, 
bowyn. Used from the 13th to the 17th 
century; revived by Scott, in MARMION 
(1808) : Each ordering that his band 
Should bowne them with the rising day. 

bourd. Mockery. So in the early 14th 
century. Soon, however, the sense softened, 
to jesting, merriment, fun; a merry tale; 
a game, play. Also as a verb, to make 
game, to say things in jest; to play. R. 
Brunne in HANBLYNG SYNNE (1303) tells 
how a bonde man bourdede wyth a knyght. 
Also burde, borde, boward, bowrde, 
bourde. Hence bourder, a jester; a buf- 
foon; a mocker. Bourdful, sportive. There 
was another verb, to bourde, to burdis, 
to joust; bourdis, tilting, fencing with 
lances; Old French behourt, lance. Caxton 

in GEOFFROI DE LA TOUR I/ANDRI (1483) 

said: He is but a bourdour and a deceyver 
of ladyes. 

bourdon. (1) A pilgrim's staff; a club or 
cudgel; a spear-shaft. Apparently from 
Latin burdonem, mule; shifted from the 
pilgrim's mount to his staff. A bourdonasse 

(16th century) , a light lance, with a hol- 
low shaft; a similar javelin. Used from 
the 13th century; Urquhart in THE JEWEL 

(1652) pictured a man with a palmer's 
coat upon him, a bourdon in his hand, 
and some few cockle shels stuck to his 
hat. (2) A low undersong, while the lead- 
ing voice sang the melody. Used from the 
14th century; Late Latin bur do, drone, 
perhaps an echoic word. Chaucer used 
this rather common word, in the Prologue 

tO THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) : This 

somonour bar to hym a stiff burdoun, Was 
never trompe of half so greet a soun. This 



108 



bouse 



bower-maiden 



sense grew into the form burden; indeed, 
bourdon is (3) an early variant of bur- 
den, q.v., in all its meanings. 

bouse. Liquor; a drinking-bout. Also a 
verb; Herrick says, in the HESPERIDES 
(1648) : But before the day comes Still 
I be bousing. In nautical parlance of the 
19th century, to bowse up the jib was to 
get drunk. Bouse, related to early Dutch 
busen, was usually pronounced buz, 
whence the still current b ooze. Sometime 
booze was used to imply drinking for good 
fellowship, as when Colman says, in his 

EPILOGUE FOR THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL 

(1777) : While good Sir Peter boozes with 
the Squire. But, warns BLACKWOOD'S EDIN- 
BURGH MAGAZINE (1824) : Never boozify a 
second time with the man whom you have 
seen misbehave himself in his cups. Some 
would cut off the last fifteen words. 

bousy. See semibousy. 

boutade. A sudden outburst; a sally. Also 
boutado. From French bouter, to thrust, 
to put, of Teutonic origin. Used in the 
17th century; Swift in A TALE OF A TUB 
(1702) said: His first boutade was to kick 
both their wives . . . out of doors. 

boutefeu. A firebrand, incendiary; an in- 
citer to dissention and strife. French 
bonier, to put 4- feu, fire. Also beautifew, 
boutfeu, boutefeau, botefeu, bowtifeu, and 
more. A common 17th century word. 
North in THE EXAMINER in 1734 com- 
plained of factious boutefews, bawlers for 
property and against popery; Richardson 
in a letter to Mrs. Barbauld, in 1754, 
spoke of a boutefeu editor. 

bouteselle. A call to arms: boot and sad- 
dle, the trumpet signal to put saddle on 
and mount horse. French bouter, to put 
+ selle, saddle. The sprightly chanticlere, 



said Cleveland (POEMS, 1658) , Sounds 
boutesel to Cupid's knight. 

boutgate. A going about; by extension, 
circumlocution; equivocation, quibble. 
About + gate (gait), going. R. Bruce in 
a sermon of 1591 said: The boutgates and 
deceites of the heart of man are infinite. 

bouts-rimes. A popular game of the late 
17th and the 18th century, in which a set 
of rhymes is given a person, who must 
then compose the verses. Games of the 
sort are still played. French bouts, ends + 
rimes, rhymed. Past, last; roam, home; 
deal, seal; old, manifold for an instance. 

bove. An early form of above. Also be- 
ufan, bufan, buven, buve, boven. A com- 
pound of three forms: by beside 4- w/, 
up + ana, a suffix indicating motion 
from. The a in above also meant down 
from, as in the old adown, q.v., which has 
permanently lost the a. Used through the 
15th century, after which (in Spenser, 
Shakespeare THE TEMPEST, 1610; 'Bove 
the contentious waves and later poets) it 
is thought of as a contraction of above. 

bovicide. See stillicide. The term bovi- 
cide has been applied, humorously, to a 
butcher whom it literally fits. 

bovoli See fagioli. 

bower-maiden. A lady in waiting; a 
chambermaid. Also bowermaid, bower- 
woman. From bower, a cottage, an abode 
later used by poets as a vague term for an 
idealized dwelling, as in Goldsmith's THE 
DESERTED VILLAGE (1770) : Dear lovely 
bowers of innocence and ease! Also bur- 
maiden, bourmaiden. Wyclif (1380) : This 
gospel tellith not how Marie took a bour- 
woman, but went mekeli in hast to salute 
her cosyn. Also in Scott; Tennyson in his 
play BECKET (1884) says: My best bower- 
maiden died of late. 



109 



bowge 

bowge. A variant of bouge, q.v. In sense 
(1) also bowger, a purser, treasurer. In 
sense (2) , used in the title of a satiric 
poem by Skelton, The Bowge of Court 
(1498) . 

bowssen. To immerse (suddenly, in a 
holy well, especially as a cure for mad- 
ness) . Also boossen, bousen, bowsen. It 
was apparently a treatment especially 
favored in Cornwall; the Cornish-Breton 
beuzi meant to drown. Carew in his THE 
SURVEY OF CORNWALL (1602) referred to 
the practice: There were many bowssening 
places, -for curing of mad men . . . if there 
appeared small amendment he was bows- 
sened again and againe. (The final e is 
presumably to emphasize his gain.) 

bowyer. One that makes, or deals in 
bows. Also, a bowman. Cp. ftetcher. 
Formed as was lawyer, save that archery 
is now seldom practiced. 

box. See balk. 

boy. Be with you. Also boye. Used in 
16th and 17th century plays; superseded 
by bye, by, especially in good-by, God be 
with you. 

boysteous. See boistous. 

brabble. See prabble. It has been sug- 
gested that the word is a corruption of 
Medieval Latin parabolare, to harangue, 
Greek para, beside + ballein, to throw 
(whence also parabola and parable) ; but 
it is more probably echoic, like babble, 
but stronger, meaning a noisy quarrel, a 
petty discordant brawl. Shakespeare, in 
TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) has: Heere in the 
streets . . . In private brabble did we ap- 
prehend him. 

bracery. Corruption. Short for embracery, 
q.v. A law of Henry VIII (Act 32, 1540) 



bra g 

was entitled: The bill of bracery and buy- 
ing of titles. 

brache. A hound that hunts by scent; 
later, any kind of bitch hound (always 
feminine) . A common medieval form, 
later usually brack (also bracke, brasche, 
bratche) . The word was sometimes (as in 
Jorison's THE ALCHEMIST, 1610) used as a 
term of abuse, like bitch and her offspring 
today. For a list of dogs in Shakespeare, 
see lyam. 

bradypeptic. Slow to digest. Meredith in 
THE EGOIST (1879) says: For -facts, we are 
bradypeptics to a man, sir. Greek bradys, 
slow + pepsis, cooking, digestion. Hence 
also bradypepsy, bradiopepsy, bradypepsia. 
A bradypod, bradypus, a slowfoot. 

bradypus. See bradypeptic. Greek pous, 
podis, foot. In zoology, used of the family 
of quadrupeds that includes the sloth. 

brag. As a noun. In the current sense 
of boastful language, one might remem- 
ber the words of Johnson's mother 
which he recorded in THE RAMBLER (1752; 
No. 197) when he envied a neighbor's 
finery: Brag was a good dog, but Holdfast 
was a better. Among less remembered 
uses of brag are: (1) a loud noise, as the 
blare of a trumpet. (2) Pomp, display; 
pompous behavior. Udall in RALPH ROY- 
STER I>OYSTER (1553) said: Ye must have a 
portely bragge, after your estate . . . Up 
man with your head and chin. (3) When 
the YORK MYSTERY (1440) said: Here are 
bragges that will not faile, it meant by 
brag a large nail. (4) An 18th and early 
19th century card game, later called 
poker. It was named from the brag or 
challenge of one player to the others, to 
match the value of his cards. As an ad- 
jective, from the 14th century, brag meant 
boastful, also spirited, mettlesome, lively. 
Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; 



110 



bragance 

FEBRUARY) used it as an adverb: Seest 

how brag yond bullock beares . . . his 
pricked eares? Also see bragly. 

bragance. See bragly. 

bragget. A drink of honey and ale fer- 
mented together. Chaucer in THE MILLER'S 
TALE (1386) says: Her mouth was sweet 
as bragot. Also braket, brogat, and the like. 
Bailey, in 1751, omits the ale, saying 
"of honey and spice"; the O.E.D. in 1933 
says that "latterly the honey has been 
replaced by sugar and spice." Hardwick in 

TRADITIONS OF LANCASHIRE (1872) States 

that Mid Lent Sunday is likewise called 
Braggat or Braggot Sunday, from the cus- 
tom of drinking mulled or spiced ale on 
that day. 

bragly. Briskly; with pleasant show. 
Formed from the verb to brag, to sound 
loudly; to boast; to show off; whence also 
bragance (15th century) , braggade (18th 
century) , boasting, supplanted by brag- 
ging. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR 
(1579; MARCH) has: Seest not thilke same 
hawthorne studde, How bragly it begins 
to buddef 

brahminicide. See stillicide. Also brah- 
manicide. 

brand. See brandle. 

brandewine. An early form of what is 
now called brandy. Also brandwine; Dutch 
brandewijn, burnt [distilled] wine. 

brandish. See brandle. 

brandle. To shake (both transitive and 
intransitive) . From French branler, with 
the same meaning. Hence also in English, 
though rare, branle, to agitate, to toss 
about. Pepys in his DIARY for 1662 says: 
They danced the brantle. The dance, and 
the music for it, also appear as branle; 



branks 

and a 1581 translation of Tacitus says 
that the first legion was put in branle 
(agitation, confusion) . The verb is also 
used of onanism. A more vigorous form 
of the same word is br angle, to shake 
vehemently, to brandish; to make uncer- 
tain; in THE MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON 

(1608) , a man's title to a piece of property 
is, he is reminded, brangled with thy 
debts. Another French form of the same 
root word is brandir, brandiss , from 
which comes English brandish. The words 
are related to the common Teuton brand, 
a sword, which in turn comes from Teu- 
ton bran,, brinnan, to burn. The gleaming 
or waving of the sword, the flickering or 
brightness of the flames. Note also the 
rare branskate (brand + German schatz, 
treasure, tribute) , a ransom paid so that 
a place will not be burned. 

brandreth. A three-legged fire-grate; a 
gridiron. By extension, various other 
frameworks, as for a hay-rick; a rail 
around the opening of a well. Also 
branrith, branlet, brandelette, etc. Old 
Norse brand, burning -I- reith, carriage. 

brandy-cowe. The washings of brandy 
casks, used in making inferior drinks. 

brandy-pawnee. Brandy and water. Hin- 
dustani pani, water. Used by Thackeray in 

VANITY FAIR (1848) . 

brangle. See brandle. 

branks. A bit and bridle for a scold: an 
iron framework to enclose the head, with 
a metal gag for the mouth. 16th and 17th 
centuries, especially in Scotland. The New- 
castle Municipal Accounts of 1595 list: 
Paid for carrying a woman through the 
town for scolding, with branks, 4 d. Per- 
haps by humorous extension from this, 
branks was used in the 18th and 19th cen- 
turies for that mouth-closing disease, the 



Ill 



branle 



breech 



mumps. T. N. Brushfield in OBSOLETE 
PUNISHMENTS (1858) gave various names: 
a brank, the branks, a pair of branks, the 
scold's bridle, gossip's bridle and . . . 'a 
brydle for a curste queane.' 

branle. See brandle. 
branskate. See brandle. 

brant. Steep, sheer, straight. In 1544 
Ascham, in TOXOPHILUS, wrote that 
Hawarde . . . slew King Jamie even brant 
against Flodden Hill. The word was also 
applied to a straight, unwrinkled fore- 
head. The Scotch form is brent; Burns in 
his song JOHN ANDERSON MY jo (1789) 
says Your bonny brow was brent. 

brantle. See brandle. 
bratticing. See bartizan. 

bravery. Swaggering; behaving like a 
bravo or reckless swaggerer. For (in, upon) 
a bravery, in defiance; in display of reck- 
less daring, as a brag. Also, an adorn- 
ment; finery; ostentatious show, pretense; 
flamboyance. Sometimes used to mean a 
person, or gallants as a class; Jonson in 
THE SILENT WOMAN (1609) says: Hee is 
one ,of the braveries, though he be none 
o' the wits. Lodge in AN ALARUM AGAINST 
USURERS (1584) declared: Thy modest at- 
tire is become immodest braverie; thy 
shame-fast seemelynes is shamelesse im- 
pudencie; thy desire of lerning to loitering 
love. 

bray. To beat small; crush to powder. 
In Coverdale's BIBLE: PROVERBS (1535) we 
read: Though thou shuldest bray a foole 
with a pestell in a morter like otemeel, yet 
wil not his foolishnesse go from him. 

braythe. To rush up, to start up. Also 
breythe, breathe, breat. Old English braeg- 
dan, whence also braid. The earliest 



meaning of braid was to pull quickly, to 
make a jerky movement, move to and 
f ro hence also broid, broider, embroider; 
brawde, browde, browder. In EARLY 

ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE POETRY (14th CCn- 

tury) we read that wine warmed his hert 
and breythed uppe in to his brayn. How 
often since! 

breadberry. See aleberry. 

brede. This word has many forms 
breed, bread, breid, etc. and three dis- 
tinct meanings. It appears about the year 
1000 in the sense of roast meat: Swines 
brade is well sweet which sense lingers 
in the word sweetbread. About the same 
time it was used to mean width, or a 
measure of width; a will of 1554 leaves 
one pair of fine sheets of two bredes and 
a half; by 1600 this sense was taken over 
by the form breadth. In the 17th century 
brede, as a variant of braid, was used of 
tresses or threads or colors intertwined. 
This use lingered with the poets, as in 
Keats' ODE ON A GRECIAN URN: with brede 
Of marble men and maidens overwrought. 
Lowell pictures the three fates (the Par- 
cae: Clotho, who held the distaff; Lachesis, 
who spun the events of our life; and the 
eldest sister, Atropos, who cut the thread) ; 
the ancient Three . . . Still crooning, as 
they weave their endless brede. The form 
meaning to burn, or heat, is related to 
the words breath and brood. In all senses 
the word was also used as a verb; in THE 
PARLIAMENT OF DEVILS (1509) one of the 
fiends exclaims: I will . . . in hell his 
soule brede. 

breech. A garment covering the loins 
and thighs; originally a breech-cloth, a 
loin-cloth; later reaching to the knees; 
after the 15th century and still current, in 
the plural and pronounced britches, com- 
ing below the knees and used as a dialect, 



112 



breme 

humorous, or scornful word for trousers. 
The Geneva BIBLE translation of 1560 is 
called the breeches Bible because of Gene- 
sis 3: They sewed figge tree leaves to- 
gether, and made themselves breeches. To 
wear the breech (later, breeches) , to be 
boss of the household, usually said of the 
wife; Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART THREE 
(1593) has: You might still have worne 
the petticoat, And ne'er have stolne the 
breech from Lancaster. 

breme. Also breem, brim, etc. Originally, 
in Old English, this word meant famous, 
glorious. The sense was extended to any- 
thing great in its kind: brilliant color; 
loud sound; violent, raging storm. Hence 
it was often used by the poets of a fierce 
winter, or a fierce beast. Thus in 1400 we 
read of beastes breme; in 1526 of the 
breme light of grace. Lydgate in 1430 and 
Spenser in 1579 speak of breme winter; 
other poets follow them, as Thomson 
(1748) in THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE: Glad 
summer or the winter breme. Bremely is 
also used in this manner a song of 1500 
says That brymly beast but is usually 
the adverb, meaning brightly, loudly, or 
fiercely; Stanyhurst in his AENEIS (1583) 
says At the windoors . . . moonshyne 
brimly did enter. 

The original English name for sulphur 
was bernstone, the burnstone. This was 
shifted to brenstone; then association with 
brim, fierce, may have changed it to 
brimstone. Similarly, in the 1250 poem of 
GENESIS and EXODUS, we read of the 
"stinken smoke" of the brinfire. 

bren. An old form of burn, used by 
Chaucer. Also brenne. 

brendice. A cup in which a person's 
health is drunk. From the Italian brindisi, 
but perhaps a corruption of the German 
Ich bringe dir's zu. A nonce-word: Dryden 



breviloquence 

begins his AMBOYNA, 1673: / go to fill a 
brendice to my noble Captain's health. 
The verb brince, or brinch, meaning to 
drink or to give to drink, was fairly com- 
mon in the 16th and 17th centuries; a 
Psalter of 1556 says: The good at brink 
the clear doth drink, God brinche them 
gently so. 

brent. See brant. 

breviate. To shorten; to abridge, to ab- 
stract. Used in the 16th and 17th cen- 
turies; Latin brevis, short cp. motto on 
the New England gravestone of Henry 
Longbottom, age 13: Ars longa, vita 
brevis. The current form, of course, is 
abbreviate. Skelton, in MAGNYFYCENCE 
(1526) says: By myschefe to breviate and 
shorten his dayes. Breviate was also used 
as an adjective, meaning shortened, and 
as a noun, meaning a brief statement, a 
note, or a lawyer's brief. How often, says 
a poem of 1594 (ZEPHERIA) hath my pen 
(my hearts solicitor!) Instructed thee in 
breviat of my easel Hence also breviately; 
breviation; breviator; breviature. A brevi- 
ger was, first, one who carries briefs; by 
extension, a begging friar. 

breviloquence. Brevity in speech. Latin 
brevis, short; whence brief + loquens, 
loquentem, speaking. Hence breviloquent, 
as were the Spartans, hence laconic 
from Laconia, the country of which 
Sparta (or Lacedaemon) was the capital. 
Lacedaemon was a son of Jupiter and 
Taygeta (daughter of Atlas) ; he married 
Sparta the daughter of Eurotas. [The 
Spartans never set out on an expedition 
or opened a battle save at the full moon, 
which shows they were lunatic as well as 
laconic. In the 15th and 16th centuries 
lunatic, in addition to meaning from 
the 13th century moonstruck, crazy, was 
used to mean influenced by the moon . . . 



113 



breythe 

borne, said Greene in MAMILLIA (1583) 
under the influence of Luna, and there- 
fore as firme . . . as melting waxe.] The 
proverbial brevity of Spartan speech is 
illustrated in their reply to Philip of 
Macedon's threat: // / enter Laconia, I 
-will level Lacedaemon to the ground. 
The Spartans responded: //. Pope in a 
letter to Swift (17 August, 1736) said: 
/ grow laconic beyond laconicism; brevi- 
loquence changed this to laconism, though 
Jeremy Collier (1697) noted that no 
laconism can match the language of the 
face. Cp. chilonian. 

breythe. See bray the. 

bricole. Indirectly, on the rebound. Orig- 
inally the word was applied to a sort of 
catapult for hurling stones, and may be 
derived from a name, as gun, Big Bertha, 
etc. In the 16th century, when tennis was 
popular, the term was applied to a stroke 
(or to the rebound) when a ball was 
driven to hit the side wall, then bounce 
in the opponent's court. In the 19th cen- 
tury, the term was applied to a cushion- 
shot in billiards. In the 17th century, 
bricole was used figuratively; as late as 
1798 Walpole speaks of a play's introduc- 
ing two courtiers to acquaint one another, 
and by bricole the audience, with events 
offstage. The walls of the tennis courts 
were of brick, hence by error bricole 
sometimes became brick-wall, as some today 
say net ball for let (hindered) ball. Thus 
Sidney in ARCADIA (1580) speaks of music 
. . . which tho' Anaxias might conceive 
was for his honour, yet indeed he was but 
the brickwall to convey it to the ears of 
the beloved Philoclea. Schoolboys copy- 
ing their assignments must be careful lest, 
as F. Greville said in 1628, they brickwall 
errors from one to another. 



brinfire 



bridal. See givale. 



bridelope. This is the oldest English 
word for a wedding, meaning the run 
(lope] of the man bearing his choice to 
her new home, a ritual probably symboliz- 
ing the earlier actual carrying off of the 
woman. (We still use the term elope.) 
Many combinations of bride have been 
forgotten, e.g.: bridebush, a bush hung 
out at the local tavern in honor of the 
wedding; bridecake; bridecup, a cup of 
spicy drink offered the bride-couple before 
the bridebed; brideknot, bridelace, a wed- 
ding favor, or the band on the sprigs of 
rosemary worn at weddings; bridestake, a 
pole set up to dance around at the wed- 
ding, similar to the Maypole; bridelock, 
a word for wedlock until about 1250; 
bridewain, a wagon bearing the "hope 
chest" (topped by the spinning wheel 
adorned with blue ribbons) to the bride's 
new home. Brideale is a deliberate spell- 
ing, used by Cranmer in the Preface to his 
BIBLE of 1540, and for 300 years after, to 
remind readers that a bridal is really an 
ale-drinking, a party, for the bride. Bride- 
well, meaning a prison, is from St. Bride's 
well in London; near this holy well King 
Henry VIII had a house, which Edward 
VI donated as a hospital, later a house 
of correction. The word bride originally 
meant not a woman on the brink of mar- 
riage, but a daughter-in-law; the French 
word for daughter-in-law is bru. It is 
related to the root bru, meaning to brew 
broth, to cook which in the primitive 
family was a task of the daughter-in-law. 

brides-laces. See Hymen's torch. 
brimstone. See breme. 
brince. See brendice. Also brinch. 
brinfire. See breme. 



114 



britzka 



broom 



britzka. A fashionable carriage of the 
19th century (from Polish bryczka) , open, 
with room for reclining. Often mentioned 
in the current fiction, as Disraeli's CON- 
INGSBY (1844) and Thackeray's VANITY 
FAIR (1848). 

briviatic. Pertaining to a beggar. From 
Old Spanish brivion, a wandering beggar. 
In 1623, references to the briviatick art. 

broadside. A sheet of paper printed on 
one side; usually large. Broadsides were 
the forerunners of newspapers; they might 
contain a decree, but more often a ballad 
or other verse based on a current happen- 
ing. In the 18th century, also broadsheet. 
Many of the fabliaux and comic poems, 
said Wright (ESSAYS; 1861) were issued as 
broadside ballads. 

broch. A prehistoric structure in Scot- 
land (many remain on the Orkney and 
Shetland Islands) : a round tower with 
inner and outer stone walls, between 
which the humans lived, while the central 
space was used to keep their cattle secure. 
Also brough. Old Norse borg, castle; Old 
English burh, surviving in burgh and 
borough. 

brock. This common Celtic word de- 
veloped many senses. (1) a badger. So 
used by Ben Jonson (1637) and Burns 
(1786) . Hence brock-faced, with a face 
streaked like a badger's. (2) A dirty or 
stinking fellow. So in Shakespeare's 
TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) : Marry, hang thee, 
brocke. (3) An inferior horse; so used by 
Chaucer (1386). (4) The larva of the 
frog-hopper, that froths upon leaves, leav- 
ing what is called "cuckoo-spit." (5) A 
three-year-old deer, a brocket. (6) As a 
verb, to brock is to talk complainingly, or 
in broken speech again in Chaucer. 
Brockish means beastly, dirty. 



brodekin. A boot reaching halfway up 
the calves; a buskin. French brodequin, 
Italian borzacchino, buskin. Used from the 
15th through the 17th century; Urquhart 
in his translation of Rabelais (1653) has 
brodkin blowes for kicks. Revived in 19th 
century historical novels, as Thackeray's 
PENDENNIS (1850) : From their bonnets to 
their br ode quins. 

broil. As a noun; tumult, turmoil, a dis- 
orderly quarrel. To set in broil, to create 
a disturbance; broiler, one that takes part 
in or instigates quarrels; broilery, dis- 
sension, disorder. Shakespeare has in 
HENRY vi, PART ONE (1591) : Prosper this 
realme, keepe it from civill broyles; in 
SONNET 55: And broils root out the work 
of masonry. The senses overlap with broil, 
a state of great heat (from to broil? cur- 
rent today), as in Badington's A VERY 

FRUITFULL EXPOSITION OF THE COMMAND- 
MENTS (1583) : What broyles of scorching 
lust soever the minde abideth. 

broke. See gerning. 

bronstrops. A procuress, bawd; see baude; 
bawdstrot. Used in the 17th century, es- 
pecially by Middleton; Webster alludes 
to Middleton when he remarks, in A CURE 
FOR A CUCKOLD (1661) : A tweak or bron- 
strops: I learned that name in a play. 

brontomancy. See aeromancy. 

broom. A shrub, with large yellow or 
white flowers. Old English brom; Middle 
High German brame, whence also bram- 
ble. The petals of the broom were used to 
dye hard boiled eggs green, at Eastertide; 
they were thus doubly symbolic of fertility, 
so that the eating of them portended large 
families. Now folks use other colors. 
Wordsworth in TO JOANNA (1800) says: 
'Twas that delightful season when the 



115 



browet 



buccellation 



broom, Full-flowered . . . Along the copses 
runs in veins of gold. 

browet. Soup of the juice of boiled meat, 
thickened with other savory substances. 
Enjoyed in the 14th and 15th centuries. 
Also brewet, bruet; Medieval Latin brod- 
ium; Old High German brod; akin to and 
supplanted by broth. A COOKERY of 1440 
gives a recipe for white almond soup, 
blaunche bruet of almayn; a Towneley 
MYSTERY (1460) : broght me bruet of deer. 

brumal. Wintry; relating to the time of 
short days. Latin brumalis, relating to 
winter; bruma, short for brevima, shortest 
(day) . Hence brume, fog, mist. Hail, with 
its glassy globes, said J. Barlow in THE 
COLUMBIAD (1808) , and brume congealed. 
Lowell in MY STUDY WINDOWS (1871) 
wrote: What cheerfulness there was in 
brumal verse was that of Horace's. 

brummagem. A counterfeit coin (especi- 
ally, counterfeit groats coined at Birming- 
ham in the 17th century) ; a sham, showy 
imitation. Also brummagemize, brum- 
magemism, brummagemish. The word is a 
corruption of Birmingham, a manufac- 
turing town. A half-way stage of the forma- 
tion is quoted at shab. A. K. H. Boyd, in 

RECREATIONS OF A COUNTRY PARSON (1861) 

watched the vulgar dandy , strutting along, 
with his brummagem jewelry. 

bnisole. "Stakes of veal well seasoned, 
laid in a stewpan between slices of bacon, 
and baked between two fires." The DIC- 
TIONARY (1751) of Bailey the epicure 
again gives a revivable recipe. 

brustle. (1) To make a crackling or rus- 
tling noise; to move swiftly with such a 
noise; to rustle, to bustle. (2) An early 
form of bristle, as hair, or the mane of a 
beast, or the feathers of a bird; hence (as 
the peacock), to show off, to bluster. 



Fletcher in THE SPANISH CURATE (1622) : 
See where the sea comes, how it foams 
and brussels. 

brut. A chronicle. From the many medi- 
eval chronicles of Brutus, Brut, and his 
descendants in Britain, by Wace, Laya- 
mon, etc. There is also a 16th and 17th 
century verb to brut, to browse, as in 
Evelyn's ACETARIA, OR A DISCOURSE OF 
SALLETS (1699) : marking what the goats 
so greedily bruited upon . . . 

brygge. An early variant of bridge. Not 
so listed in O.E.D. Apparently used in the 
sense of wharf or pier, by Cavendish in 

THE LYFFE AND DEATHE OF CARDYNAL 

WOOLSEY (1557) : It semed to them that 
there shold be some noble men and 
strangers arryved at his brygge [at the 
Thames' bank] as ambassitors frome some 
forrayn prynce. (Cavendish is telling of 
the coming of Henry VIII, masked, with 
companions dressed as shepherds, to a 
party at the Cardinal's.) 

brynnyng. A variant form of burning. 
Skelton (WORKES; 1529; cp. shyderyd) de- 
clared: Oure days be datyd To be chek 
matyd With drauttys [moves] of deth Stop- 
ping cure breth, Oure eyen synkyng, Oure 
bodys stynkyng, Oure gummys grynnyng, 
Our soulys brynnyng. 

bubble-bow An 18th century fashionable 
case for a lady's tweezers and the like. 
Used by Pope; explained by Arbuthnot 
in JOHN BULL (1712) as from to bubble a 
beau, to dazzle or fool a gallant. Also 
spelled bubble-boy; explained (in THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE of 1807) as probably 
a misspelling for bauble-buoy, a support 
for baubles. They now dangle from jingly 
bracelets or lie concealed in a purse. 

buccellation. Division into tiny pieces. 
A 17th and 18th century dictionary word, 



116 



buccinate 

from Late Latin buccella, morsel, from 
bucca, cheek. 

buccinate. To blow a trumpet. Latin 
buccina, a crooked trumpet; whence also 
buccinal (pronounced buck' small), shaped 
like or sounding like a trumpet. But note 
that Latin bucca means cheek. The buc- 
cinator muscle is the muscle that forms 
the wall of the cheek, so called, says the 
O.E.D. (1933), "because it is the chief 
muscle employed in the act of blowing." 
It is at least as likely, however, that the 
reverse process is correct: that the trum- 
pet was called buccina from the charac- 
teristic puffing of the bucca, cheek, to blow 
it, to buccinate. Sterne in TRISTRAM SHANDY 
(1760) says: Directing the bussinatory 
muscles along his cheeks . . . to do their 
duty, he whistled Lillabullero. A buccu- 
lent fellow is one agape, "blub-cheeked," 
as beholding a succulent morsel. 

bucentaur. A large ship; a gaily deco- 
rated barge. Especially, the ship (Bucen- 
toro] in which the Doge of Venice, on 
Ascension Day, went to wed the Adriatic 
by dropping a ring in it. From Greek 
bous, ox + centauros, the figure-head of 
the Doge's galley. Byron in CHILDE HAROLD 
(1818) states: The Bucentaur lies rotting 
unrestored. A 1658 account of Queen 
Christina of "Swedland" says that Her 
Majesty sailed towards Bruxells in a buc- 
entoro most richly adorned, and guilded 
within and without. 

bucksome. An old variant of buxom. 
Also buhsum, bocsum, bowsome, and 
more. The word first meant easily bowed, 
pliant; submissive; flexible hence, good- 
natured, lively, gay whence its current 
meaning. 

bude-light. A light obtained by directing 
a stream of oxy-hydrogen gas over crushed 
egg shells. Invented (and named in 



bum 

1 835) by Sir Goldsworthy Gurney of Bude, 
Cornwall. Also bude-burner, of three con- 
centric perforated rings. 

bugloss. One of various boraginaceous 
plants; especially the prickly ox-tongue. 
Greek bous, ox -h glossa, tongue; from 
the shape and roughness of the leaves. 
Used in cookery and medicine; Jonson in 
VOLPONE (1605) lists a little muske, dri'd 
mints, buglosse } and barley-meale. The 
boraginaceous plants belong to the genus 
borage (burrage, burridge; Latin burra, 
a shaggy garment) , used in making claret 
cup and as a cordial. Steele in THE TATLER 
(1709; No. 31) speaks of burridge in the 
glass when a man is drinking. 

bum. The buttocks. A very common 
word from the 14th to the 17th century; 
replaced by bottom. Used of a person, in 
contempt; sometimes bum, short for bum- 
bailiff, q.v.; used in combinations; see 
bumrowl. Harvey in his attack on Nashe 

in PIERCES SUPEREROGATION,, OR A NEW 

PRAYSE OF THE OLD ASSE (1593; for Nashe's 
fling, see gallimaufry) cried upon value 
Nash, railing Nash, craking Nash, bibbing 
Nash, baggage Nash, swaddish Nash, 
rogish Nash, Nash the bellweather of the 
scribling flock, the swish-swash of the 
presse, the bumm of impudency, the 
shambles of beastliness, the poulkat 
[skunk] of Fouls-churchyard, the shriek- 
owle of London, the toade-stoole of the 
realme, the scorning-stocke of the world. 
Nashe had earlier (1591) as Adam Foule- 
weather, Student in Asse-tronomy, paro- 
died a poor astrological prediction of 
Gabriel Harvey's brother Richard, and 
returned to the attack the next year in 

PIERCE PENILESSE HIS SUPPLICATION TO THE 

DIVELL, in which Nashe boasts: Have I not 
an indifferent prittye vayne in spurgalling 
an asse? Spurgall means to gall, injure, 
with the spur. It was also used figuratively, 



117 



bumbailiff 

as when the Water Poet (WORKS; 1630) 
said: Like to a post lie runne through 
thicke and thin To scourge iniquity and 
spurgall sinne. Many that run on that 
errand find themselves fallen on their 
bum. 

bumbailiff. A bailiff; one that makes ar- 
rests. The term is one of contempt (bum, 
buttocks; cp. bumrowl) , implying that the 
bailiff is close upon the debtor's back. The 
similar French word is pousse-cul. Shake- 
speare in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) says: 
Scout mee for him at the corner of the 
orchard like a bum-baylie. The word was 
used by Washington Irving and Thack- 
eray (1859) . A similar word of scorn was 
bumtrap; The noble bumtrap, observes 
Fielding in TOM JONES (1749) into the 
hands of the jailer resolves to deliver his 
miserable prey. Tucker in THE LIGHT OF 
NATURE PURSUED (1768) spoke of the two 
necessary ministers of justice, a bumbailiff 
and Jack Ketch. 

bumboat. A scavenger's boat for remov- 
ing filth from ships on the Thames. Ap- 
parently from bum, buttocks + boat; a 
bumbay on a farm was a pool formed by 
draining dung, etc. Bumboats were made 
requisite for London harbor, by a law 
of 1685. They often carried robbers to the 
ships. As they also carried provisions to 
sell on the ships, the word bumboat 
(after the earlier practice ended) came 
to mean a boat carrying things to sell to 
ships anchored offshore. This 19th cen- 
tury use, frequent in the nautical novels 
of Frederick Marryat, is kept alive in 
Gilbert's H.M.S. PINAFORE (1878) : Little 
Buttercup is a bumboat woman. 

btunrowl. A bustle, or other protuberant 
part of the feminine skirts; especially, 
stuffed cushions or padding worn about 
the hips. Cp. dress-improver. Also bum- 



burdash 

roll} bum-barrel. From bum, the buttocks. 
Bum was frequently combined, especially 
by 17th century playwrights. Thus bum- 
blade, bum-dagger, a wide one, for strik- 
ing with the flat, bumfodder (Latin anit- 
ergium; anus, bum + tergere f to wipe) , 
worthless literature; French torchecul, 
used in Urquhart's translation (1653) of 
Rabelais. A bumbrusher (18th century) 
a flagellant or flogger; a schoolmaster; 
hence (Peter Pindar, ODE, 1786) bumproof 
to all the flogging of the schools. In Jon- 
son's THE POETASTER (1601) the lady 
Chloe, married to a plain citizen, com- 
plains: Nor you nor your house were so 
much as spoken of, before I disbased my- 
self, from my hood and my farthingal, to 
these bumrowls and your whale-bone 
bodice. The next year, Warner in ALBION'S 
ENGLAND pictured another woman: Sup- 
porters, poolers, fardingales above the 
loynes to waire, That be she near so 
bombe-thin yet she cross-like seems foure- 
squaire. 

burd. See berne. 

burdash. A foppish adornment to a 
man's costume, in the reigns of Queen 
Anne and George I: a fringed sash, or a 
kind of cravat. Steele in THE GUARDIAN 
(1713) says: / have prepared a treatise 
against the cravat and berdash. Sometimes 
spelled bardash, and influenced by that 
word (meaning catamite, effeminate, 
from Arabic bardaj, slave) . Butler in 
HUDIBRAS (1678) speaks of Raptures of 
Platonick lashing And chast contempla- 
tive bar dashing. There is double play in 
Mrs. Centlivre's words of 1721 of an 
effeminate man with your false calves, 
burdash, and favorites. The last word 
meant curls dangling at the temples; but 
which meaning of burdash had she in 
mind? 



118 



burden 

burden. The bass, or accompaniment, 
of a song; see bourdon. By extension and 
more commonly, the refrain or chorus of 
a song or stanza. Figuratively, the main 
idea or tenor, or chief sentiment. Cp. 
dildo; for an instance of its use, see 
whist. 

burel. A coarse woolen cloth; a garment 
made thereof; hence, plain clothing. Used 
from the 13th into the 17th century. The 
original color was probably reddish-brown, 
from Latin burrus, red. Other forms were 
borel, barrel, burrell. The French form 
bureau, from the fact that this coarse 
cloth (baize) was used for the top of 
a writingdesk, came to be used for the 
desk, and gave us the current bureau. 
The form borrel, borel (because the clergy 
never used such coarse cloth) came in 
the 14th century to be applied as an 
adjective, meaning belonging to the laity. 
Hence, by the 16th century, borrel (also 
b or owe, borou) , unlearned, rude, rough. 
Gascoigne in A HUNDRETH SUNDRIE FLOWERS 
(1572) said: My borrell braine is all too 
blunt To give a gesse. Spenser in THE 
SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) uses borrell 
to mean a plain fellow. 

bum. Besides the current sense of a 
burn, the result of contact with excessive 
heat, burn as a noun was (1) a short 
form of burden; since the 14th century. 
(2) a spring, fountain; a brook. It was 
also used of water from a well since 
the 9th century and, poetically, of the 
sea. Hence also burngate, a water course; 
burnside, burnhead, burnmouth; now 
preserved in place names. Burn, as a 
brook, is still current in dialects. Note that 
the idea is related to burning, as a torrent 
is from Latin torrere, to scorch, whence 
also the torrid zone. 



burridge. See bugloss. 



by-and-by 

burthen. A variant of burden (16th-18th 
century) . See dildo. 

buskin. A half-boot, reaching to the calf, 
sometimes to the knee. Especially, the 
high, thick-soled cothurnus worn by the 
tragic actors of ancient Greece, as op- 
posed to the comic sock (soccus) or low 
shoe. Hence, buskin is used to signify 
tragic style or matter, as in the phrase 
to put on the buskin. In Spenser; Dryden 
(TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, 1679, Preface) : I 
doubt to smell a little too strongly of the 
buskin. A buskinade is a kick with a 
buskin; see brodekin. Many writers use 
buskined, meaning shod with, buskins; 
thus Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S 
DREAM (1590) : The bouncing Amazon 
Your buskin' d mistresse and Pope in 
WINDSOR FOREST (1704) : Her buskin' d 
virgins without suggestion of tragedy. 
Marlowe in HERO AND LEANDER (finished 
by Chapman; 1598) pictures artificial 
birds singing on Hero's legs: Buskins of 
shels all silvered used she, and brancht 
with blushing corall to the knee, Where 
sparrowes pearcht, of hollow pearle and 
gold, Such as the world would woonder to 
behold: Those with sweet water oft her 
handmaid ftls, Which as shee went would 
cherupe through the bils. 

buss. See bass. Shakespeare in KING LEAR 
(1605) declares: You have heard of the 
news . . . I mean the whispered ones, for 
they are yet but ear-bussing arguments. 

buxom. See bucksome. 

by-and-by. Immediately. Thus presently 
originally meant at the present moment, 
at once. The dilatory tendency of human 
nature drew both terms to their current 
protraction. Merygreeke says of the title 
figure in UdalFs RALPH ROISTER DOISTER 
(1558) : // any woman smyle, or cast on 



119 



by-blow 

hym an eye } Up is he to the harde eares 
in love by-and-by. 

by-blow. A side stroke. Hence other 
meanings grew: (1) a calamity as a side 
effect of the main action, as in the state- 
ment that inequality is a by-blow of 
man's fall; (2) a blow that misses its 
aim, as in Bunyan's PILGRIM'S PROGRESS 

(1684) : Now also with their by-blows 
they did split the very stones in pieces; 

(3) an illegitimate child an unintended 
side-effect; thus Motteux in his transla- 
tion (1708) of Rabelais remarks that 
Kind Venus cured her beloved by-blow 
Aeneas-, and Browning in THE RING AND 
THE BOOK (1868) refers to A drab's brat, 
a beggar's bye-blow. 

bycorne. See chichevache. 

byental. An 18th century term for "the 
yard or privy member of a horse." 



byrlakin 

bynempt. Named; called. Old past par- 
ticiple of bename. Used in THE SHEPHERD'S 
CALENDAR (1579; JUNE) by Spenser. 

byrespect. Attention paid to something 
other than the apparent purpose; a side 
aim; an ulterior motive. Used 16th to 
18th century; Burkitt ON THE NEW TESTA- 
MENT (1703) exclaimed: How natural it 
is for men to seek Christ for sinister ends 
and byrespects! 

byrlakin. A contraction of By Our Lady- 
kin, by our darling lady referring to 
the Virgin Mary, and used as a mild oath. 
Also the simpler byrlady berlady, bur- 
lady, birlady, byleddy; bylakin, belakin, 
berlakin, and more. Shakespeare swears 
Berlady thirtie yeares in ROMEO AND JULIET 
(1592) and Berlaken, a parlous feare in 

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. 



120 



cabbage. See caboche. 

cablish. Brushwood. Its disposition was 
covered by law. Originally the word meant 
trees or branches blown down by the 
wind. 

caboche. To cut off the head (of a deer) 
close behind the horns. Via French from 
Italian capocchia, big head, from capo, 
head. It is sometimes spelled cabage, 
through confusion with the early verb 
to cabbage, to grow or come to a head 
(like the horns of a deer) . As the head 
of the vegetable is removed when it has 
"cabbaged," so was the head of the deer. 

cacafuego. A braggart; a spitfire (etymo- 
logically, the second letter of spitfire 
should be h: Latin cacare, Spanish cagar, 
to void excrement -f Spanish fuego, fire) . 
The word came into English as a term of 
contempt because it was the name of the 
Spanish galleon Drake captured in 1577. 
Bailey explains it, in 1731, as the name 
of a Spanish fly that by night darts fire 
from its tail. Fletcher in THE FAIR MAID 
OF THE INN (1625) cries: She will be 
ravished before our faces by rascals and 
cacafugos, wife, cacafugoes! 

cachespeU. Tennis. The 16th and 17th 
century term, from Flemish caestespeel, 
from French chasse, chase + speel, play. 
Also the Dutch kaats, place where the ball 
hits the ground. There were many spell- 
ings cachepule, kaichspell, cachespale, 
etc. in the 16th century, before the 



French name for the game, tennis, took 
its place. 

cachexy. A depraved condition: of a per- 
son body or mind or of a state, as 
MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE of November 1883 
said that Ireland lies fretful and wrathful 
under a grim social cachexy of distress- 
ful centuries. From Greek kakos, bad + 
exia, exis, habit, state, exein, to have, to 
be in a condition. Hence also cachectic, 
cachectical, cacexicate, cachexicate* 

Other English words come from Greek 
kakos, bad. Cack, to void excrement (see 
cacafuego) ; Cranmer in 1549 tells of a 
man who cached out the Devil. The fish 
cackerel was a small Mediterranean fish, 
eaten only by the poor, so-called in scorn; 
others, as Johnson records in 1755, say 
that eating it is laxative, cacodaemon, an 
evil spirit, a nightmare; caco demoniac, 
one possessed; cacodemonic, bringing mis- 
fortune, cacochyme, cacochymic, full of 
evil humors, cacodorous. cacodox, hold- 
ing evil opinions: cacodoxy. cacoethes (4 
syllables) , an evil habit, an 'itch' to do, 
as the insanabile cacoethes scribendi (in- 
curable itch to write) Addison (1713) 
quotes from Juvenal, saying it is as epi- 
demical as the small pox. cacolike was a 
16th and 17th century scornful perversion 
of Catholic, cacology, ill report; bad 
speaking, cacomagician, sorcerer. There 
are others, in medicine and prosody (caco- 
phonous, cacorhythmic, etc) . Jeremy 
Bentham, countering More's Utopia, sup- 



121 



cachinnate 



caddis 



poses a Cacotopla or worst possible gov- 
ernment. The O.E.D. (1933) probably 
errs in calling Bentham mistaken. Eras- 
mus, when he wrote IN PRAISE OF FOLLY, 
was living with More, and the Latin title 
is a pun on More's name (as though IN 
PRAISE OF MORE: ENCOMIUM MORIAE) . 
More punned in his title UTOPIA: the 
beautiful (eu-) place that is no (ou-) 
place. The world must be ever vigilant, 
to avoid Cacotopia. cacozelia (perverse 
imitation, like "copying the cough of 
genius" or the manners and tactics of a 
Hitler) is quite pervasive, easily caught. 
It is sometimes spelled cacozeal, which is, 
more properly, misdirected zeal; whence 
cacozealot; cacozealous. cacozelia (the 
term) was used especially in the 16th and 
17th centuries, as by Spenser and Putten- 
ham; Bulwer (1644) warns lest imitation 
degenerate into cacozeale, developing a 
left-handed Cicero. 

cachinnate. To laugh loud and long, im- 
moderately. From the 15th century, 
through Browning (THE RING AND THE 
BOOK, 1868) ; the practice extends farther. 
Scott, in GUY MANNERING (1815) mentions 
the hideous grimaces which attended this 
unusual cachinnation. Also cachinnator; 
cachinnatory. Sometimes in the theatre 
one can sympathize with Hawthorne, who 

in MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE (1846) 

threatened instant death on the slightest 
cachinnatory indulgence. 

caco-. A combining form meaning bad 
or evil, from Greek kakos, bad. See 
cachexy. 

cacodemon. See cachexy; eudemon. 

cacography. (1) Bad handwriting. The 
opposite of calligraphy. (2) Bad spelling. 
The opposite of orthography. Also a bad 
system of spelling, such as says O.E.D., 
abandoning historical perspective "that 



of current English". Also cacographic; 
cacographer. Used from the 16th century. 

Cp. cachexy. 

cacuminous. Pointed; of a tree, pyrami- 
dal in shape. Latin cacuminem } point, 
peak, top. Hence cacuminate, to sharpen, 
especially at the top, as with a stake; to 
shape like a pyramid; also cacumination. 
M. Collins in PEN SKETCHES (1879) wrote 
of Luminous books (not voluminous) To 
read under beech-trees cacuminous. 

cad. See cadcatcher. 

cadcatcher. A cheap article for sale, es- 
pecially prepared to ensnare the undis- 
criminating. A 19th century term from 
cad . Before its current meaning of a vulgar 
person, cad grew through several senses. 
In the 17th century, it meant a goblin, a 
familiar spirit, as when Bishop King wrote 
in his POEMS (1657) : Rebellion wants no 
cad nor elfe But is a perfect witchcraft of 
itself. In the 18th century, it was used for 
an unbooked passenger in a coach, whose 
fare was pocketed by the driver; in the 
19th, for an assistant or helper; a cheap 
laborer; an omnibus conductor (Hood; 
Dickens, PICKWICK PAPERS; Thackeray, THE 
BOOK OF SNOBS) ; then as a school term 
(Eton, Oxford; in Scotland, caddie) for 
a fellow that did odd jobs, as around the 
sporting fields, then contemptuously, for 
a townsman (as opposed to a gownsman) . 
Hence, the current use. 

caddis. A yarn; a worsted tape, used for 
garters and the like; hence, short for cad- 
dis ribbon or caddis garter. Shakespeare 
uses it in THE WINTER'S TALE (1610) : He 
hath ribbons of all the colors i* the rain- 
bow, points more than all the lawyers in 
Bohemia can learnedly handle, though 
they come to him by the gross inkles, 
caddises, cambrics, lawns; and in HENRY 

IV, PART ONE. 



122 



cade 

cade. (1) a barrel, from Latin cadus, a 
large earthenware vessel. From the 14th 
through the 18th century, especially a 
barrel of herrings holding six great hun- 
dreds (6 score in a great hundred) ; later 
the cade held 500. (2) A pet; a lamb or a 
foal raised by hand; hence, a spoiled or 
petted child. See cosset. (3) A kind of 
juniper bush, yielding cade oil, used by 
veterinarians. To cade may mean, from 
(1) , to put into a keg or, from (2) , to 
pamper. 

cadent. Falling. Latin cadentem, falling; 
cadere, to fall. Shakespeare in KING LEAR 
(1605) : With cadent tears fret channels 
in her cheeks. 

Cadmean. Related to the Phoenician 
Cadmus, brother of Europa, founder of 
Thebes, who brought the alphabet to 
Greece. He killed a dragon and sowed its 
teeth, whereupon armed men sprang from 
the ground; he threw a stone amongst 
them and they at once attacked one an- 
other; all perished save five, who helped 
Cadmus build his. city. From his legend 
come two uses of Cadmean, Cadmian: 

(1) Tennyson in a poem of 1868 speaks of 
Dragon warriors from Cadmean teeth; 

(2) a Cadmean victory, a victory involv- 
ing the winner's ruin like that of World 
War II and thereafter. 

caducous. Fleeting, transitory; liable to 
fall; infirm, feeble. Also (15th through 
17th century) caduce, caduke. Latin cadu- 
cus; cadere, to fall. In biology, caducous 
is used of parts that fall off naturally 
when they have served their purpose. Cax- 
ton in the translation (1484) of THE 

CURIAL MADE BY MAYSTRE ALAIN CHARRETIER 

wrote: Our lyf . . . ne hath glory mon- 
dayne ne pompe caduque wythoute ad- 
versyte. And Biggs in THE NEW DISPENSA- 
TION (1651) noted that caduce, specious 
and seductive chameleon, reason. 



calamist 

caffa. A cloth, of rich silk, popular in the 
16th century. Also capha. The Wardrobe 
Accounts of King Henry VIII (for 18 
May, 1531) list white caffa for the Kinges 
grace. Cavendish in THE LYFFE AND DEATHE 

OF CARD YN ALL WOOLSEY ( (1557) Spoke of 

Woolsey's habytt, which was other of 
fynne skarlett or elles of crymmosyn sat- 
ten, taffeta, dammaske, or caffa, the best 
that he could gett for money. 

cagastric. Sent by an evil star; used by 
Paracelsus of certain diseases, fevers, or 
the plague. Also, under the baneful in- 
fluence of a star. Thus cagastrical; from 
(?) cacos-, evil + aster, star; cp. cachexy. 

caitiff. A captive; later, a poor wretch; 
a despicable wretch, a villain. In many 
spellings, including caytive, chaytif, via 
French from Latin captivus, captive. A 
very common word from the 13th through 
the 17th century. Also caitifhede, wretch- 
edness; wickedness; caitifly; caitifty, cap- 
tivity; wretchedness; villainy. Wyclif and 
Chaucer use the verb caitive, caytifue, to 
imprison. Caitisned, chained, listed in 
Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751) and elsewhere 
as used by Chaucer, is a 1560 misprint for 
caytifued, in Chaucer's TESTAMENT OF 
LOVE (1400). 

calamist. A piper. From Latin calamus, 
reed, which is used in English as the name 
of various reeds and rushes, especially the 
sweet flag. In Whitman's LEAVES OF GRASS, 
the section of 45 poems first published in 
1860 is called CALAMUS. Possibly from the 
curling leaves of rushes came Latin cal- 
amistrum, curling-iron, whence 17th cen- 
tury English (Burton, ANATOMY OF MEL- 
ANCHOLY; 1621) calamistrate (accent on 
the mis) , to curl or frizzle the hair. Also 
in the 17th century: calamize, to pipe or 
sing. 



123 



calash 



calewise 



calash. A light carriage with low wheels 
and a removable top. Hence also, the 
folding hood of a carriage, a perambula- 
tor, etc. In the 18th and 19th centuries, 
a woman's hood, supported by whalebone 
or cane hoops, projecting beyond the face, 
as in Mrs. Gaskell's CRANFORD (1867) ; 
Three or -four ladies in calashes met at 
Miss Barker's door. From French caleche, 
from the Slavonic, kolasa, wheel-carriage, 
kolo, wheel. A small two-wheeled carriage 
in Canada, usually without a cover, is 
still called a caleche. 

calcate. To trample or stamp upon. From 
Latin calcare, from calx, heel. BLACKWOOD'S 
EDINBURGH MAGAZINE of 1822 remarks that 
even a few supernumerary calcations 
would have been overlooked. A calcatory 
was a 15th century term for a winepress, 
where the grapes are stamped upon. Com- 
binations formed with calcar, such as 
calcarine, calcariferous, spur-like, bearing 
spurs, are from Latin calcar, spur, from 
calx, calcis, heel. Calceate is a 17th and 
18th century term for shod, from Latin 
calceus, shoe. The Fathers Calceate were 
the moderate Carmelites, "of the rule re- 
laxed," who did not go barefoot. Hence 
also calced and discalced, shod and un- 
shod. Calceolate means shaped like a slip- 
per, used in botany today, the genus 
calceolaria. Calcimine, however, calcium 
and its many compounds and related 
words, are from the Latin calx, colds, 
meaning lime. The change of heat-rays 
from non-luminous to luminous, which 
Tyndall (1872) called calorescence, was 
earlier called calcescence, because it hap- 
pened in the lime-light. I suppose cal- 
cescence is the main process in the crea- 
tion of a Hollywood star. 

calcey. Causeway. Also calcetum. Listed 
as old by Bailey, 1751. 

calcium. See calcate. 



124 



caldese. See chaldese. 

calendar. In addition to its still current 
senses (in use since the 14th century) 
calendar was used to mean a guide, a 
model Chaucer (LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN; 
1385); Shakespeare (HAMLET; 1602): He 
is the card or calendar of gentry. Also, a 
list, as of canonized saints (17th century) 
or of prisoners awaiting trial (16th cen- 
tury) ; a record; Shakespeare (ALL'S WELL 
THAT ENDS WELL) : The kalender of my 
past en devours. Also, a record in the sense 
of a sign; Lodge (EUPHUES GOLDEN LEGEND; 
1590) : Nor are the dimples in the face 
the calendars of truth. 

calenture. A tropical disease afflicting 
sailors, who in delirium fancy the ocean 
to be a green field and wish to leap into 
it and play. It is also used figuratively, of 
a burning passion or zeal, as in a poem 
(1631) of Donne: Knowledge kindles cal- 
entures in some. Pure chastity, Bishop 
Thomas Ken piously observed in 1711, 
excels in gust The calentures of baneful 
lust Congreve in LOVE FOR LOVE (1695) 
uses the word to mean the victims of the 
disease, as Ben exclaims: / believe all the 
calentures of the sea are come ashore. 

calepin. A dictionary, especially a poly- 
glot. Figuratively, a note-book; to bring 
one to one's calepin, to the limits of one's 
information, one's wit's end. From Am- 
brosio Calepino, of Calepio, Italy, an Aug- 
ustine friar who in 1502 published a Latin 
DICTIONARY that was the standard for the 
century; an edition in eight languages 
was issued in 1609. Taxations, monopolies, 
tolls, protested Drummond of Hawthorn- 
den in 1649, such impositions as would 
trouble many calepines to give names 
unto. 

calewise. Warmly. Latin calere, to be 
warm. In 18th century dictionaries. 



calibogus 

calibogus. A mixture of rum and spruce 
beer, imbibed by misguided Americans in 
the 18th and 19th centuries; as L. de 
Boileau described it in his RECOLLECTIONS 
OF LABRADOR LIFE (1861) , "more of (he 
former and less of the latter." 

calicrat. An ant. A 16th century term, 
apparently from Calibrates, a Greek artist, 
mentioned by Pliny, who specialized in 
sculptures minute ivory carvings of ants 
and other tiny creatures. 

caligate. Wearing military boots. From 
Latin caliga, half-boot, worn by the 
Roman soldiers, A caligate knight , in the 
16th century, was one that fought on foot. 

caliginous. Obscure; dark. Latin caligi- 
nem, obscurity, mistiness. Caliginosity, 
dimness of sight. Used mainly in the 16th 
and 17th century, but Mrs. Piozzi is not 
the only one who commented (1794) on 
the caliginous atmosphere of London', and 
Bulwer-Lytton in THE CAXTONS (1849) 
has: Her lone little room, full of cali- 
ginous corners and nooks. 

calino. A rascal. French calin, *a beg- 
garly rogue or lazie vagabond that coun- 
terfeits disease/ Nashe in LENTEN STUFFE 

(1599) spoke of our English harmonious 
calinos. The word may be corrupted from 
an Irish song, calino custure me, popular 
about 1600. Shakespeare in HENRY v 

(1599) makes Pistol, when his prisoner 
speaks French, respond in meaningless 
English: Qualtitie calmie custure me. 

callet. A lewd woman, a strumpet. Also 
calat, kallat, calot, etc. Shakespeare in 
OTHELLO (1604) : A beggar in his drink 
Could not have laid such terms upon his 
callet', Burns* THE JOLLY BEGGARS (1785) : 
I'm as happy with my wallet, my bottle 
and my callet. As a verb callet means to 
scold, to rail, and sometimes the noun is 



callipygean 

used as a general term of abuse, meaning 
no more than 'a scold' thus used in GAM- 
MER GURTON'S NEEDLE (1575) , by Skelton, 
by Stanyhurst, by Shakespeare (THE WIN- 
TER'S TALE, 1611): A callat of boundless 
tongue, who late hath beat her husband, 
and now baits me. 

calliblephary. A coloring for the eye-lids. 
Greek kallos, beauty + blepharon, eye-lid. 
Accent on the bleph. Robert Lovell, in A 

COMPLEAT HISTORY OF ANIMALS AND MINER- 
ALS (1661) recommends: the marrow of 
the right fore legge with soot . . . serveth 
for a calliblephary. Modern maids have 
other modes. 

callidity. Cunning, craftiness. From Latin 
callidus, skilful, crafty (in good or bad 
sense) . Used in 16th, 17th and 18th cen- 
turies, but ERASER'S MAGAZINE in 1833 
spoke of persons that suspect their own 
intimate friends of callidity. The formality 
of the term seems somewhat to lessen the 
offence. 

callipygean. "Largely composed behind," 
as Sir Thomas Browne put it in 1646. 
From Greek kalos, kallos, beauty -f pyge, 
buttocks. Also callipygian, callipygous; cp. 
aischrology. The word kalos was also used 
of moral values; the Greeks set in opposi- 
tion to kalon kai to aischron; the Romans, 
honestum et turpe; the English, virtue and 
vice. And also callipygy, beauty behind. 
Lyly in EUPHUES (1580) tells, of the 
ancient artists: Zeuxis having before him 
fiftie faire virgins of Sparta whereby to 
draw one amiable Venus, said, that fiftie 
more fayrer than those coulde not minister 
sufficient beautie to shewe the godesse of 
beautie, therefore being in dispaire either 
by art to shadow hir, or by imagination to 
comprehend hir, he drew in a table a 
faire temple, the gates open, and Venus 
going in, so as nothing coulde be per- 



125 



caltrop 

ceived but her backe, wherein he used 
such cunning that Appelles himselfe, see- 
ing this worke, wished that Venus would 
turn hir face, saying that if it were in all 
paries agreeable to the backe, he would 
become apprentice to Zeuxis, and slave to 
Venus. It may not be impious to note that 
another god himself said (BIBLE: EXODUS 
33) : And it shall come to pass, while my 
glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a 
clift of the rock, and will cover thee with 
my hand as I pass by: And I will take 
away mine hand, and thou shalt see my 
back parts: but my face shall not be seen. 
This takes us on philosophical roundings. 
As might be expected of the Victorian 
era, THE ATHENAEUM of 17 October, 1885, 
speaks of the callipygian luxuriance he so 
deplores. 

caltrop. A snare. Originally a trap to 
catch the feet of men or horses in war, 
and of hunted beasts; probably from Latin 
calx, heel -h Old High German trapo 
(Latin trappd) , trap. Spelled in many 
ways: coltetraeppe, calteroope } calthrap, 
galtrop, etc. In the 16th and 17th cen- 
turies, an iron ball with four prongs so 
arranged that one always pointed up, flung 
on the ground to hinder charging cavalry. 
Also used figuratively as by Dekker in THE 
WHORE OF BABYLON (1607) : // ever I come 
back I'll be a calthrop to prick my coun- 
tries feet that tread on me. 

cam. See kam. 

camarane. A fetid marsh or swamp. From 
Camarina, a town in Sicily beside a pesti- 
lential marsh. Thomas Newton in 1576 
speaks of a man who can wade into the 
very gulph and camarine of man's ap- 
parant wzlfulnesse. Paul Rycant, in his 
translation (1681) of Gracian's THE 
CRITICK, speaks of camarines of customs, 
which use to envenome and infect the 
soule. 



camlet 

cambium. (1) Exchange; a place of ex- 
change. Late Latin cambium, exchange. 
A cambist was a dealer in bills of ex- 
change; by extension, a manual of meas- 
ures, weights, etc. Hence also cambistry. 
(2) One of the ' 'alimentary humours" 
supposed to nourish the body; in 1708 
Kersey's DICTIONARY lists three, the other 
two "being called gluten and ros." (3) 
The cellular tissue in which the annual 
growth of wood and bark takes place. By 
extension from (2) and still used in 
botany. 

cambrel. A bent piece of wood or iron, 
on which butchers hung meat. J. Jackson 
in 1641 pictured a man crucified head 
downward, like a sheep upon the cambrel. 
Also cambren, perhaps the original form, 
Welsh cam, crooked (surviving in arms 
akimbo) + pren, wood. 

camis. A light loose silk or linen dress; 
a shirt. Via Spanish camisa from Late 
Latin camisia, tunic, shirt. The French 
form is the familiar chemise; the English 
has many: camus; camise (from Arabic 
gamic, which occurs in the KORAN but is 
probably borrowed from Latin) ; camisole., 
a negligee jacket; also, a strait jacket. 
Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) tells 
of a woman who was yclad, for heat of 
scorching aire } All in a silken camus lily 
white. 

camisado. A night attack. The word, fre- 
quent in the 16th and 17th centuries, is 
liteially (Spanish) "shirted"; see camis. 
The attackers wore a white shirt over their 
armor so as to be recognized by one an- 
other in the dark. 

camlet. Originally a beautiful and costly 
eastern fabric, made especially in the 
16th and 17th centuries of the hair of 
the angora goat. Also (and in French) 
camelot, from Arabic kernel, angora 



126 



campes trial 

sometimes confused with camel, though 
the cloth was never made of camel's hair. 
There was also a "watered" camlet, with 
a wavy surface, and as a verb to camlet 
came to mean to mark with wavy lines; 
Edmund Bolton in his translation (1618) 

Of THE ROMAN HISTORIES OF LUCIUS JULIUS 

FLORUS speaks of cassocks chambleted with 
figures of palms. The word was also used 
of a garment made of the material. Later 
camlet was made of mohair, then spun of 
wool and silk, then wool and linen or 
cotton. By 1815 tents were made of it, of 
a kind of black blanket, or rather of 
coarse camlet. Then it dropped out of use. 

campestrial. Also campestral. See champ- 
estrial. 

campion. An earlier (later, a Scotch) 
form of champion. The Late Latin was 
campionem, a fighter on the campus, a 
field for pugilistic contests as the campus 
may still be. See champestrial. 

canary. (1) A lively dance, or the music 
thereto. Also to canary, to dance. Shake- 
speare in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 
(1601) has a medicine Thafs able to 
breath life into a stone, Quicken a rock, 
and make you dance canari; in LOVE'S 
LABOUR'S LOST, jig off a tune, at the 
tongue's end, canary to it with your feet. 
Other writers of the time usually employed 
the plural; Nashe (1592) ; Dekker in THE 

SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF LONDON (1606) : 

They would make all the hogges-heads 
that use to come to the house, to dance the 
cannaries till they reeld againe. (2) A 
light sweet wine. Both of these come from 
the Canary Islands, which also gave their 
name to the yellow songster but took it 
(Latin canaria insula, island o the dogs; 
cants, dog) from the dogs that used to 
roam there. Also (3) a quandary; an 
anticipatory malapropism by Mistress 
Quickly in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: 



canicular 

You have brought her into such a ca- 
naries; the best courtier of them all could 
never have brought her to such a canarie. 

candicant. Waxing white, like the morn- 
ing; whitish. To candicate is to turn 
(something) white; to grow white. Rare 
words both, ultimately from Latin candi- 
dus, white whence also candidate, be- 
cause aspirants to office in Rome wore a 
white toga. Dictionaries of the 18th cen- 
tury include canitude, hoariness, white- 
ness probably in error from this source. 

candlewaster. One that 'wastes candles' 
by study late at night. Applied in scorn 
to fruitless elucubration. Jonson in CYN- 
THIA'S REVELS (1599) speaks of a whoreson 
bookworm, a candle-waster. Shakespeare 

in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1599) bids 

Patch griefe with proverbs, make misfor- 
tune drunke With candlew asters. 

canephor. One that bears a basket on 
her head. Also canephora, canephorus; 
Greek caneon, basket + phoros, carrying. 
Applied in ancient Greece to a maiden 
bearing the sacred items for the feasts of 
Demeter, Bacchus, and Athena. FRASER'S 
MAGAZINE of 1849 said: To be chosen 
canephor was as if 'Beautiful* were 
stamped on the lintel of a woman's door. 

canescent. See canons. 

canicular. Relating to a dog. Latin cani- 
cula, diminutive of canis, dog. In Latin 
the diminutive was used to name the dog- 
star; thus usually also in English. The 
canicular days, the dog-days, around the 
rising of the dog-star (Sirius or Procyon), 
about 1 1 August. Caniculars has also been 
used to mean doggerel verses. Harvey in 
his FOURE LETTERS (1592) declared: // 
Mother Hubbard . . . happen to tel one 
canicular tale, father Elderton and his 
sonne Greene will counterfeit an hundred 



127 



canion 

dogged fables, libles, calumnies, slaunders, 
lies -for the whetstone, what not, and most 
currishly snarle and bite where they should 
most kindly fawne and licke. 

canion. Used in the plural, of rolls of 
cloth 'laid like sausages" round the bot- 
tom of breeches-legs. A style for men in 
the 16th and 17th centuries. Pepys in his 
DIARY of 2,4 May, 1660, says: Made myself 
as fine as I could, with the linning stock- 
ings on and wide canons. (The word was 
also spelled cannons and cannions.) Por- 
traits of Henry III of France and his 
Court show costumes with cannions. 

canitude. See candicant. 

cankedort. A critical situation; "a woful 
case" (Bailey, 1751). Chaucer in TROYLUS 
AND CRISEYDE (1374) inquires: Was Troy- 
lus nought in a kankedortf Also (Med- 
wall, 1500) : That were a shrewd crank- 
dort. The etymology is unknown. 

canorus. Melodious; singing; resonant. 
Latin canorem, song; canere, to sing. De 
Quincey in his CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH 
OPIUM-EATER (1822) breaks into a long, 
loud, and canorous peal of laughter. Lo- 
well remarks in AMONG MY BOOKS (1870) : 
He chooses his language for its rich can- 
orousness rather than /or intensity of 
meaning. 

canous. Hoary; grey. Used in the 16th 
century; also canois, canus; Latin canus, 
hoary. Thus canescent, growing gray; 
rather hoary; dull white. Also canescence} 
R, Burton in EL MEDINAH (1855) wrote: 
All colour melts away with the canescence 
from above. The sky is of a dead milk- 
white. 

cantankerous. See conteck. 



capelclawer 

blister-fly.) Also cantharids, cantarides. 
Used figuratively, as by Jonson in THE 
POETASTER (1601) : I, you whoreson can- 
tharides! was it If Burke in THE FRENCH 
REVOLUTION (1790) : cantharides to our 
love of liberty. Guilpin in SKIALETHEIA 
("SHADOW OF TRUTH"; 1598) said of satires 
and epigrams: They are philosophicke true 
cantharides To vanities dead flesh. An epi- 
grame Is popish displing [discipline], re- 
bell flesh to tame: A plain dealing lad, that 
is not afraid To speak the truth, but calls a 
jade a jade. And Mounsieur Guulard [Big- 
gullet] was not much to blame When he for 
meat mistook an epigrame, For though it 
be no cates, sharpe sauce it is To lickerous 
vanitie, youths sweet amisse. We no longer 
use amiss (q.v.) as a noun; and, for the 
most part, we no longer use cantharides 
as an aphrodisiac. 

cantle. A nook or corner; especially, a 
projecting corner of land. Hence, a corner 
sliced off; by extension, a slice of bread, 
a section of anything (especially, a seg- 
ment of a circle or sphere) , a separate 
part or portion. Also the bump at the 
back of a horse's saddle, the bar at the 
back of a earners. Figuratively (Scotch) , 
the crown of the head, as in /'// crack his 
cantle for him. Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S 
TALE (1386) : For Nature has not taken 
his beginning Of no par tie ne cantel of 
a thing. Shakespeare uses the word in 
HENRY iv PART ONE (but see scantle); also 
in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606) : The 
greater cantle of the world is lost With 
very ignorance a remark not of an age 
but for our time. 

capel. See caple. In alchemy capel, cap- 
pell was also the name for a large crucible 
or furnace. 



cantharides. The dried beetle or Spanish capelclawer. A groom, a horse-scrubber, 
fly; formerly used as an aphrodisiac. (Four Hence, a scurvy fellow. So used in PO- 
syllables; plural of Greek kantharis, LITICAL SONGS of the time of Henry III 

128 



capha 

and Edward I, collected by Thomas 
Wright, 1839. Cp. caple. 

capha. See caffa. 

capilotade. A meat dish; in the 17th and 
18th centuries, usually capirotade: of 
stewed veal, capon, chicken, or partridge 
minced, spiced, and laid upon several 
beds of cheese. Rabelais uses the form 
cabirotade; perhaps the word is from capi- 
rote, hood: a covered dish. Another old 
recipe worth re-trying. The word was 
applied figuratively to "a cooked-up story": 
Vanbrugh in THE CONFEDERACY (1705) 
has: What a capilotade of a story's here! 

capistrate. To muzzle. A rare word of 
the 17th and 18th centuries, from Latin 
capistrum, halter, Latin caput, head. 

caple. A horse. Also cab all (not to be 
confused with cabal 3 cabbala, from the 
Hebrew) , cap el, capul, capil, capylle and 
the like (Drayton uses cauple) round- 
about from Latin caballus, horse, which 
by French routes gives us chevalier and 
cavalier. Chaucer in THE FRERES TALE 

(1386) says: Bothe hey and cart and elk 
his caples three. Drayton (1603) pictures 
the course of the sun: Phoebus took his 
lab'ring teame . . . To wash his cauples 
in the ocean streame. Scott in IVANHOE 

(1819) revived the word, borrowing my 
neighbour 3uthan's good capul. 

capnomancy. See aeromancy. 

capocchia. Simpleton, blockhead. Italian 
capocchio, from capo, head. The word in 
English is a suggestion by Theobald 

(1726; SHAKESPEARE RESTORED, which CTlti- 

cized Pope's edition of Shakespeare, after 
which Theobald was made the chief butt 
in Pope's DUNCIAD) . Theobald suggests 
capocchia as the correct reading, in TRO 
ILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606) : Alas poore 
wretch: a poor chipochia. 



capul 

capot. To win all the tricks in the game 
(of piquet) . The player who fails to make 
a single trick is capot. The game was in- 
troduced into England from France in the 
17th century. Capot is also a variant spell- 
ing of capote (augmentative form of 
French cape, cape) , a long mantle for 
women or cloak for men. Capote (Latin 
caput } head) is also used for a close- 
fitting hat, which fits the head almost like 
a skull-cap; Scott in KENILWORTH (1821) 
has this in the form capotaine. There is 
also a 16th and 17th century head-dress 
called capuchon (from the French aug- 
mentative of capuche, hood; Latin caput, 
head) ; this was sometimes simple as a 
cowl, but often twisted and piled upon 
the head as an adornment. 

capotaine. See copataine. 
capripede. A satyr. Capriped, goat-foot- 
ed; Latin caper, capri, caprem } goat 
(whence the island and the taxi: short for 
taxicabriolet) + pedem, foot. Among 
words formed from caprem are cap- 
rice (still current) , in the form capriccio 
used by Shakespeare (ALL'S WELL THAT 
ENDS WELL; 1601: Will this caprichio hold 
in thee, art suref) and revived by Scott 
(REDGAUNTLET; 1824) . Capricorn, capri- 
cornify, to equip with horns; to cuckold: 
in 1665 A wily wench there was . . . Who 
used to Capricorn her husband's head, 
caprid, caprine, relating to a goat, capri- 
zate, to leap like a goat; used in medicine 
of an irregular pulse. The caprifig is the 
goat-fig, the wild fig; caprification; to 
caprijy, to ripen artificially; specifically, to 
ripen figs by means of the puncture of 
insects, or of a small feather. Noted by 
Pliny in ancient times, extensive on the 
island of Malta, caprification is now con- 
sidered both unnecessary and injurious. 

capuchon. See capot. 
capul. See caple. 



129 



caput mortuum 



carline 



caput mortuum. (1) A death's head 
(this is the literal translation of the Latin 
words) , a skull. (2) In alchemy (and 
chemistry) the residuum after distillation 
or sublimation of a substance, the useless 
remains, 'good for nothing' (said Willis 
in 1681) 'but to be flung away, all vertue 
being extracted.' Hence (3) worthless resi- 
due. Cp. terra damnata. Bishop Thomas 
Ken, in his epic poem EDMUND (1700) , 
speaking of a person that turns to re- 
ligion late in life, observed: His youthful 
heat and strength -for sin engage; God has 
the caput mortuum of his age. 

carbonado. A steak (says Bailey, 1751) 
broiled on the coals. A piece of fish, flesh, 
or fowl (says the O.E.D.) scored across 
and grilled or broiled upon the coals. 
The idea of "flesh scored across" appealed 
to many writers including Shakespeare: 
CORIOLANUS (1607) : He scotcht him and 
notcht him like a carbinado; THE WINTER'S 
TALE (1611): How she longd to eate 
adders heads, and toads carbonadoed. 
Hence to carbonado came to mean to 
slash, to hack as again in Shakespeare, 
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1601) : Your 
carbinado' d face. Washington Irving in 
THE ALHAMBRA (1832) speaks of a man 
so cut up and carbonadoed that he is a 
kind of walking monument of the troubles 
of Spain. 

carcan, (1) An iron collar used for 
punishment, in the 13th through 16th 
centuries. (2) An ornamental collar or 
neckline, later called a carcaneL In the 
PROGRESS of Queen Elizabeth I, of 1572, 
we read that she received one riche car- 
kanet or collar of golde, having in it two 
emeralds. Stanyhurst's AENEIS (1583) 
speaks of a garganet heavy. Carcanet was 
sometimes used for a circlet for the head; 
it might be, as in Herrick's HESFERIDES 



(1648), a carkanet of maidenflowers, or 
even (1876) a carcanet of smiles. 

cark. A load, a burden; hence, trouble, 
troubled state of mind. Also carke, kark. 
Via old French carkier and Late Latin 
carcare from Latin carricare, to load, 
whence also carriage-, the same Latin by 
another route gave Old French cargier, 
chargier, English charge, which also first 
meant a load. Used from the 14th cen- 
tury, frequent in the alliterative phrase 
cark and care. Spenser makes other pattern 
in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) : Downe did 
lay his heavie head, devoid of careful 
carke. Cark was also used as a verb, to 
load; to burden with trouble; to be 
worried, to toil anxiously. Thus Berkeley 
in ALCIPHRON (1732) wrote: Old Bubalion 
in the city is carking, starving, and cheat- 
ing, that his son may drink, game, and 
keep mistresses. 

carkanet. See carcan. Shakespeare said, 
in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (1592) : Say 
that I lingered with you at your shop, To 
see the making of her carkanet; Massinger, 
in THE CITY MADAM (1632) : Curled 
haires, hung full of sparkling carcanets, 
Are not the true adornments of a wife 
though many wives prefer them. 

carkes. See sloth. 

carline. Several words shaped into this 
form (always with a short i) . (1) An 
olden coin of Naples and Sicily, worth 
less than a dime. Also carlin; from a ruler 
Carlo, perhaps Carlo I, 1266. (2) A 
woman; especially a scornful term for an 
old woman; Arbuthnot in JOHN BULL 
(1712) has Peg exclaim There's no living 
with that old carline his mother! Hence, a 
witch; in Burns' TAM O'SHANTER (1790) : 
The carlin caught her by the rump. From 
Middle English kerling, feminine of karl. 
(3) A kind of plant, the carline thistle. 



130 



carlot 



carri wit diet 



also Caroline, supposedly named after King 
Carolus Magnus, Charlemagne. (4) The 
yellow ball in carline billiards, played 
with two white, one red, one blue, and 
the carline ball, which holed in a center 
pocket scores six (Hoyle, 1820) . (5) One 
of the pieces of timber supporting the 
deck-planks of a ship. Also carling. (6) 
Parched peas. Probably so-called because 
eaten on Carling Sunday, the fifth Sunday 
in Lent. This is, more properly, Care 
Sunday, with care in its early meaning, 
sorrow. 

carlot. A fellow, peasant. A variant of 
carl, churl. Churl has come down from 
earliest English times; carl at that period 
was used in combinations, as housecarl. 
Both are common Norse and Teuton, 
from the same root, and survive in the 
names Carl and Charles. Both carl and 
churl went through the same shift of 
meanings. Churl first meant a male, then 
a husband (correlative to wife) ; to churl 
(10th and llth centuries), to take a hus- 
band. Then it meant a plain man, a 
member of the lowest (third) rank of 
freemen. At this point carl also came into 
separate use, mainly as a countryman. 
Then after the Norman Conquest the 
Saxon ceorlas (churls, carls) came to be 
serfs. By extension, a boor, a rude ill- 
bred fellow. Hence carlish, churlish, the 
latter of which survives. Wyclif uses churl- 
hood; Chaucer, churldom. Shakespeare, in 
AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) says: He hath 
bought the cottage and the bounds That 
the old carlot once was master o/. 

carminate. To card wool; to expel wind. 
From Latin carminare, from carmen, a 
card for wool. This original sense, though 
in 17th century dictionaries, was appar- 
ently never used in English. But in Renais- 
sance medicine, certain substances were 
supposed to dilute the gross humours in 



the stomach and bowels that give rise to 
wind, and to comb them out like the 
knots in wool. Such medicines were there- 
fore called carminative-, their purpose was 
to expel flatulence. Note however that 
carmination is a rare word for incanta- 
tion, charm, from Latin carmen, song. 

carnation. Flesh-color. Latin carnem t 
flesh. Especially, in the plural, the flesh 
tints in a painting, the parts of a body 
drawn naked. Goldsmith in A CITIZEN OF 
THE WORLD (1760) exclaims: What atti- 
tudes, carnations, and draperies! The car- 
nation is also a variety of cherry. The 
flower carnation was originally corona- 
tion, as in Spenser's SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR 
(1579) : Bring coronations and sops-in- 
wine, Worn of paramours. 

camifex. See excarnation. Also cp. carna- 
tion. 

carrack. A large ship, such as was used 
by the Portuguese in East Indian trade, 
also equipped for fighting. Chaucer, in 
THE SOMPNER'S TALE (1386) says: Broader 
than of a carryk is the sail. (Also in vari- 
ous manuscripts, carrik, carike, caryke.) 
Shakespeare has still another spelling, in 
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (1590) : Spain, who 
sent whole armadoes of carrects. 

carranto. See coranto. 

carriwitchet. A pun, a hoaxing question, 
a quibble. Ben Jonson has, in BARTHOLO- 
MEW FAIR (1614) : All the fowle i' the 
Fayre, I mean, all the dirt in Smithfield 
(that's one of Master Littlewifs carwitch- 
ets now). The word occurs (corwhichet, 
carry-which-it, etc.) in Dryden, Butler, 
Arbuthnot, and was revived by Scott in 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822) : mortally 
wounded with a quibble or a carwitchet 
at the Mermaid. A SLANG DICTIONARY of 
1874 defines carriwitchet: a hoaxing, puz- 



carrucage 

zling question . , . as. How far is it from 
the first of July to London Bridge? 

carrucage. A tax levied on each car- 
rucate of ground. From medieval Latin 
carrucagium, from carruca, plough. (All 
these words are also spelled with one r.) 
Also, caruage. A carrucate was as much 
land as could be tilled with one plough 
in one year. A plough had a team of eight 
oxen. The size of a carrucate varied with 
the nature of the soil. The terms caruck 
and carue (in error, carve; see caruage) 
were occasionally used in old law; they 
are shortened forms of carrucate. 

caruage. See carrucage. Caruage was used 
in the 17th century to mean ploughing. 
It was sometimes spelled caruage; in early 
English v was printed as u, and some 
errors were made when v was first em- 
ployed. 

carus. Profound sleep or insensibility, 
From Greek karos, torpor. Phillips (1678) 
defines it as "a disease in the head which 
is caused by an overfull stomach and want 
of concoction"; Bailey (1751) describes 
it as "a sleep wherein the person affected 
being pulled, pinched, and called, scarce 
shows any sign of either hearing or feel- 
ing/' The four degrees of insensibility are 
sopor, coma, lethargy, and carus. Sopor 
is also used in English, of a deep sleep, 
especially of a mentally or morally be- 
numbed condition. It is direct from Latin 
sopor, deep sleep. Hence also soporate, 
to put to sleep, to stupefy; soporation; 
soporiferous; soporose, soporous, and the 
still current soporific. 

cashier. See cass. Cashier, to dismiss, is 
a verb; the noun for one who dismisses 
is cashier er. 

cashmarie. A fish-peddler; especially, one 
who brings fish from the seacoast to sell 

132 



castellan 

inland. A 16th and 17th century word: 
Old Northern French cacher, to hurry, to 
drive fast + maree, tide. 

cass. To annul; to dismiss. From Latin 
quasar e, to dash to pieces, which took on 
the meanings of Latin cassare f to bring to 
naught, from cassus, empty, void. After 
1700 cass was gradually supplanted by 
quash and cashier. Rarely cass, to dismiss, 
was spelled cash. [The original meaning 
of cash, money, was money-box, French 
casse from Latin capsa, case, coffer. Only 
in English did it come, by transfer from 
the container to the thing contained 
noticed also in the expression "He's fond 
of the bottle" to mean money.] From 
cass also came cassate, to annul; cassation, 
cancellation. 

cassan. See pedlers French. 
cassolette. See caxon. 
cassoon. See caxon. 

castellan. The governor of a castle. Also 
chastelain; chatelain (feminine chatelaine, 
mistress of a castle; by extension, an orna- 
ment worn hanging at a lady's waist, as 
it were the keys of the castle usually a 
series of loops or short chains attached 
to the girdle, with scissors, thimble-case 
and other such objects. Later applied to 
a bunch of such articles on a watch-chain 
or bracelet. CASSELL'S FAMILY MAGAZINE 
of October 1883 reported that chatelaine 
bags are much worn again) . Other forms 
are castellin, castelane, castelyn, castelain; 
ultimately from Latin castellum, castle. 
Hence also castellanship, castellany, the 
lordship of a castle; the district under its 
control. Also castellated, built like a castle 
(e.g., with battlements) ; enclosed as in a 
castle, as were the 18th century cisterns 
and fountains of London; shaped like a 
castle, as Washington Irving in CHRONI- 
CLES OF WOLFERT'S ROOST (1840) described 



casting 

stately dames, with castellated locks and 
towering plumes. 

casting. This word was used as a com- 
pound, in several terms. A casting-box, 
a box for shaking dice, then throwing 
them. Castingcounters, counters used in 
calculating, in casting an account. Casting- 
bottle, casting-glass, a container from 
which perfume was sprinkled: an Eliz- 
abethan dainty device, mentioned by 
Jonson in CYNTHIA'S REVELS (bottle; 1600) 
and EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR: Faith, 
ay: his civet and his casting-glass Have 
helpt him to a place among the rest. 

castorides. See lycisk. 

castrametation. The act, art, or science 
of laying out a camp; the pattern or out- 
line of a camp set down. Latin castra, 
camp + metari, to measure. Cp. Chester. 
Also castral, pertaining to a camp. The 
Romans, when they occupied Britain (55 
B.C. to the 6th century) , laid out many 
camps, as can be seen from such place 
names as Lancaster, Westchester, Leices- 
ter. In Worcestershire the early British, 
the Roman, and the Saxon combine to 
give us the name of a sauce. 

cata-. A Greek combining form (also 
cat-, cath-) meaning down, reflected back, 
used up, etc. In many current words. Also 
in some less known: cataballatwe, tending 
to throw down; Peacock in HEADLONG 
HALL (1815) mentions a machine con- 
taining a peculiar cataballative quality, 
catabaptist, a 16th and 17th century term 
for one opposed to the sacrament of 
baptism; catachthonian (Greek chthon f 
earth) , underground: Pluto was a cata- 
chthonian Zeus; catadupe (Greek doupos, 
thud, sound of a heavy fall) , a cataract; 
originally, of the River Nile, used figura- 
tively by Lodge in WITS MISERIE AND 
WORLDS MADNESS (1596) : In the catadupe 



cata- 

of my knowledge I nourish the crocodile 
of thy conceit. The Catadupes are (17th 
century) the dwellers by the cataracts of 
the Nile. A catafalque is a platform to 
hold a coffin, in church or movable, used 
in elaborate funeral ceremonies. Cata- 
glottism is a scornful dictionary word for 
"a lascivious kiss," a tongue-kiss. Catal- 
lactic means in exchange; Ruskin in UNTO 
THIS LAST (1862) warns: You may grow 
for your neighbor . . . grapes, or grape- 
shot; he will also catallactically grow 
grapes or grapeshot for you, and you will 
each reap what you have sown; in 1831 
Whately suggested the name catallactics 
for "the science of exchange." Catamidiate 
is a rare (17th century) term for to de- 
fame, to hold up to open shame. A cata- 
mite is not formed from cata-, but is a 
corruption of Ganymedes, the name of 
the cup-bearer of Zeus. Cataphor, a coma 
(in 17th century medicine; see cartes) . 
Cataphysical, contrary to nature; DeQuin- 
cey in his AUTOBIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES 
(1839) says he has seen portraits of Scott 
with a cataphy steal pile of forehead. 
Catoptric, relating to a mirror, or to re- 
flection. It is good to pause for reflection. 
Then continue: cataskeuastic (17th cen- 
tury) , constructive, catasophistry, quib- 
bling, deception, catasta, a platform on 
which slaves were exhibited for sale; a 
torture-bed; the stocks (pedantic) ; Kings- 
ley in HYPATIA (1853) : Standing an hour 
on the catasta to be handled from head to 
foot in the minimum of clothing, cata- 
staltic, restraining, cutting short, cataster- 
ism, a constellation; a collection of legends 
of the stars; Greek katasterismoi was the 
title of such a collection attributed to 
Eratosthenes (3d century B.C.). cata- 
thleba, a fabulous monster of 14th cen- 
tury England; catawampus, a fierce and 
fabulous monster of 19th century United 
States; catawampous, fierce, destructive. 



133 



catafalque 

Bulwer-Lytton in MY NOVEL (1853) did 
not like to be catawampously chawed up 
by a mercenary selfish cormorant of a 
capitalist. 

catafalque. See cata-. Old French cha- 
fault, chafauld, whence also English scaf- 
fold. The origin of the word is unknown; 
the first part may not be the Greek cata~. 
Also catafalco, catafalc, catafalk. The 
forms were used since the 17th century; 
by Evelyn in his DIARY (1641) , Landor 
(1831) , Browning; by Francis Thompson 
figuratively in A CORYMBUS FOR AUTUMN 
(1888) : Heaven's death-lights kindle, yel- 
low spark by spark, Beneath the dreadful 
catafalque of the dark. 

cataglottism. See cata-* The humour of 
lovers. 

cataplasm. A poultice, plaster in the 
17th century made with herbs and flour, 
or (1612) of bread crumbs, milk, and a 
little saffron. In the 19th century (1866) , 
the well known mustard plaster or cata- 
plasm. Shakespeare knew it too; in HAM- 
LET (1602) , Laertes puts a poison on his 
sword So mortal that but dip a knife in 
itj Where it draws blood no cataplasm so 
rare. Collected from all simples that have 
virtue Under the moon, can save the 
thing from death That is but scratched 
withal 

catastrophe. When Falstaff, in HENRY iv, 
PART TWO (1597) , cries euphemistically to 
Mistress Quickly: Away, you scullion! you 
rampallion! you fustilarian! Til tickle 
your catastrophe, the meaning of the last 
word centers in the second syllable: 111 
give you a drubbing, and you'll deem it 
a disaster. 

catchpenny* Designed to lure purchasers; 
also, an item or article of little value, 
concocted merely to sell. Thus Wesley 



catercap 

(WORKS; 1785) said: The late pretty tale 
of her being the Emperor's daughter is 
doubtless a mere catchpenny. Other terms 
of the same significance are: (first, in the 
theatre) claptrap, a device to ensnare ap- 
plause; potboiler, something whose sole 
function is to earn money to 'keep the pot 
aboiling.' Hence, a shoddy work. 

cate. Usually in the plural. See acate. 

catekumeling. A young catechumen, a 
convert being instructed before baptism. 
Thus catechesis (accent on the kee) , oral 
instruction to a beginner; catechism, an 
elementary treatise, especially in the form 
of question and answer. Greek kata, 
thoroughly 4- echein, to sound, ring; eche, 
sound; English echo. In Shakespeare's 
HENRY iv, PART ONE (1596) , Falstaff asks 
(and answers) a series of questions about 
honour, concluding: Honour is a meere 
scutcheon, and so ends my catechisme. 
Langland in THE VISION OF PIERS PLOWMAN 
(1377) has: To baptise barnes that ben 
catekumelynges, 

catel. An old form of cattle. 

cateran. A troop or band of fighting 
men, especially Scotch Highlanders. Irish 
ceithern (the th became silent, hence 
English kern, a peasant, a rustic, an Irish 
foot-soldier) . Hence also, one of the band, 
a fighting man, a marauder. Used from 
the 14th century, renewed by Scott, who 
used it some BO times. Lowell in MY STUDY 
WINDOWS (1870) speaks scornfully of a 
man with the statecraft of an Ithacan 
cateran. 

catercap. The 'mortar board/ the four- 
cornered hat once worn by presbyters and 
now by academics. Also, the wearer there- 
of. Cater, four. Hence, catercapt. In THE 

PROTESTACYON OF MARTIN MARPRELAT 

(1589) , in the face of imminent arrest, 
the author declares that, notwithstanding 



134 



cater-cousin 



catso 



the surprizing of the printer, he maketh 
it known unto the world that he feareth 
neither proud priest, Antichristian pope, 
tiranous prelate, nor godlesse catercap: 
but defieth all the race of them by these 
presents. 

cater-cousin. A close friend. In Tudor 
times, cousin was used by close friends, 
without blood relationship; in AS YOU LIKE 
IT Shakespeare has Rosalind and Celia say, 
Sweet my coz. Jonson suggests that cater- 
cousin meant quarter-cousin, "from the 
ridiculousness of calling cousin or rela- 
tion to so remote a degree," but there is 
no ridicule intended, in the use of the 
word. It may be from cater, to care for, 
to feed, cater-cousins being those that 
have eaten together, as companions 
means those that have broken bread to- 
gether. Shakespeare used the expression 
in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1596) : His 
maister and he (saving your worships 
reverence) are scarce catercosins; and 
writers since have followed him. 

caterpillar. See complice. 
catha. See queth. 

catharan. One that admits his superior 
purity; a puritan. Also catharian, cathare, 
catharist, catharite. Applied to various 
religious sects. While O.E. (Matthew Sut- 
cliffe) in A BRIEFE REPLIE TO A CERTAINE 
. . . LIBEL (1600) said: The catharistes do 
boast much of their merits, Donne in a 
sermon of 1616 turned the other way and 
declared: The catharists thought no cre- 
ature of God pure. The word is from 
Greek katharizein, to make clean, to puri- 
fy, purge; katharos, clean, whence also 
cathartic. Hence also catharize, to purify 
(usually, by a ceremony) ; catharm, a 
purging, purgation. 

catholicon. A universal remedy. Greek 
catholicon, universal, whence also catholi- 



city and the Catholic faith. The word 
catholicon, in the sense of a universal or 
comprehensive treatise, was applied by 
Johannes de Balbis de Janua in 1286 to 
his noted Latin grammar and dictionary, 
whereafter the name catholicon has been 
applied to other dictionaries. The word 
has been used, figuratively, to mean faith, 
inspiration, wit and as by Baker in a 
translation (1638) of Balzac's UETTERS: A 
good wife is a catholicon, or universal 
remedy for all the evils that happen in 
life. More literally Sir Thomas Browne in 
RELIGIO MEDICI (1642) declared: Death is 
the cure of all diseases. There is no catho- 
licon ... I know but this. 

cat-o'-nine-tails. A whip with a short 
handle and nine lashes; in early use the 
lashes were knotted for the inflicting of 
greater pain. Until 1881 the use of the 
cat-o'-nine-tails was allowed in the British 
army and navy; Gilbert uses the short- 
ened form, the cat, in a pun in H.M.S. PIN- 
AFORE (1878), when Deadeye Dick re- 
assures the startled sailors by telling them 
"It was the cat" they heard. 

catoptric. Relating to a mirror, or to re- 
flection. Also, the science of reflection 
for an instance of this use, see alchemusy; 
in this sense, now used in the plural, 
catoptrics. Also tricks of reflection; an ap- 
paratus or device for producing such 
effects. With Dutch patience, said Evelyn 
in his DIARY (1644) , he shew'd us his per- 
petual motions, catoptrics, magnetical ex- 
periments; and Burton declared in THE 

ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621) : 'TlS 

ordinarie to see strange uncouth figures 
by catop tricks. Such tricks of vision still 
amuse at fairgrounds and play places. 

catoptromancy. See aeromancy. 

catso. A rogue; a fraudulent beggar. Also 
catzo. Also used an exclamation 



_ 135 



caudle 

Italian cazzo, the male generative organ. 
Ben Jonson in EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS 
HUMOUR (1602) speaks of nimble-spirited 
catsos. Both Urquhart (1653) and Mot- 
teux (1708) use the word in their versions 
of Rabelais, as might be expected (Mot- 
teux): Catso! Let us drink! The noun 
naming the activity of a catso, catzery, 
is used in Marlowe's THE JEW OF MALTA: 
Who when he speaks, grunts like a hog, 
and looks Like one that is employed in 
catzerie. 

caudle. A warm, soothing drink. From 
Latin calidum, warm. Bailey (1751) says 
it is made of ale or wine with sugar and 
spices; earlier writers (Woodall, 1612) 
add the yolk of an egg; the CXE.D. (1933) 
says these are mixed with a thin gruel. 
All agree the drink was served mainly to 
women in childbed (and to their visitors) . 
Pepys (1660) used to drink a caudle 
when he went to bed. Fuller in THE HOLY 

AND THE PROFANE STATE (1642) Speaks of 

a ship that cast out much sugar, and 
packs of spices, making a caudle of the 
sea round about From the idea of its 
comforting, a caudle of hemp-seed was 
used, ironically, to mean hanging (rope 
being made from hemp) ; thus Shake- 
speare in HENRY vi, PART TWO (1593) : Ye 
shall have a hempen caudle then. 

cautel. A crafty device or trick; trickery; 
a precaution. Cautela, in Roman law, was 
an exception made as a precaution, from 
caut~, the past stem of cavere, to take 
heed (cp. caveat] ; this also gives us Eng- 
lish caution, but the two forms developed 
different meanings. Cautelous means 
wary, heedful (cautious) , but more com- 
monly deceitful, wily, as in Shakespeare's 
CORIOLANUS (1607) : Your son . . . caught 
With cautelous baits and practice. 

caveary. An early variant of caviar. Shake- 
speare used caviarie; Swift, caveer. Also 

136 



caxon 

gaveare, kavia, cavery, cavialy, chaviale. 
Enjoyed in England since the 16th cen- 
tury, always as a luxury. Thus Hamlet 
(in Shakespeare's play; 1601) said: For 
the play, I remember, pleased not the 
million; 'twas caviarie to the general. And 
E. Blount in his OBSERVATIONS (1620) re- 
marked: A pasty of venison makes him 
sweat, and then swear that the only deli- 
cacies be mushrooms, caveare, or snails. 

caveat. A warning. Latin caveat, let him 
beware; caver e, cautum, to beware, whence 
also caution; cavus, wary. Cp. cautel. 
The root cav, watch, ware, via cavira, cura, 
also gave us cure, secure and endless 
curiosity. It survives in the (Latin) warn- 
ing Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware, 
which is a principle of common law. It 
was often used in titles, as in Harman's 

A CAVEAT OR WARENING FOR COMMON 
CURSETORS, VULGARELY CALLED VAGABONDES 

(1567) . Budgell in THE SPECTATOR (1712; 
No. 365) said: I design this paper as a 
caveat to the fair sex. Perhaps it is the 
other sex that needs it. 

cavel. See javel. 

cavenard. A villain. Probably a corrup- 
tion of, or error for, caynard, q.v. It oc- 
curs in HAVELOCK. THE DANE (1300) : Hede 
cavenard! Wat dos thu here at this pathef 

caxon. (1) An 18th century style of wig. 
James Cawthorn, in some verses of 1756, 
has: Though that trim artist, barber Jack- 
son, Spent a whole hour about your 
caxon. The word is probably drawn from 
someone's name. (2) A chest of ore ready 
to be refined. From Old Spanish caxon, 
augmentative of caxa, case, chest. The 
French form gives us English caisson; the 
Italian, cassoon (18th century; in the 
17th, casson) . A cassolette was a small box 
or vessel, usually with a perforated cover, 
in which perfumes were burned or sav- 



caynard 

orous essences allowed to spread their 
perfume. A larger box (in which, for in- 
stance, a broken leg in plaster might be 
set to rest) was in the 16th and 17th 
centuries a cassole. 

caynard. A sluggard; a scoundrel. French 
cagnard, Italian cagna, bitch, feminine of 
cane, dog. Thus the word is tantamount 
to the current slang bitch, though its use 
seems to have been milder, as in the Pro- 
logue to Chaucer's THE WIFE OF BATH'S 
TALE (1386) : See, olde caynard, is this 
thine array? 

caytive. See caitiff. 

ceaze. A variant form of seize. Rowlands 
in his satire LOOKE TO IT: FOR ILE STABBE 
YE (1604; cp. Vulcan's brow) attacked the 
glutton, that hast a nose to smell out any 
feast, a brazen face to ceaze on every 
messe, That undertakest nothing with 
good will Unlesse it be thy puddinghouse 
to fill. lie stabbe thee. 

cecils. A mixture of minced meat, onions, 
anchovies, crumbs of bread, chopped pars- 
ley, and seasoning; make them into balls, 
with an egg; sprinkle them with fine 
crumbs, and fry them of a yellow brown. 
An early 19th century savory sort of meat- 
ball. 

cecity. Blindness. From Latin caecus, 
blind. A cecograph, developed in the 19th 
century, was a writing-instrument for the 
blind. A tendency to blindness, or partial 
blindness, is cecutiency; Sir Thomas 
Browne (1646) said that in moles there is 
no cecity, yet more than a cecutiency. 
Degrees of blindness are not exact; from 
stone blind, blind as a stone, completely 
blind, Shakespeare developed gravel blind 
and sandblind. Sandblind, however, is 
really samblind, sam (related to semi-) , 
half + blind. Cecity may also be used 



celeusma 

figuratively, as by Disraeli in THE AMENI- 
TIES OF LITERATURE (1841) : the cecity of 
superstition. 

ceduous. Suitable for felling, as a straight 
tree or a battered prizefighter. Latin 
caeduus; caedere, to fell. Used in the 17th 
century. Cp. caducous. 

ceint. See seynt. 

celation. Concealment. From Latin celare, 
to conceal. In 19th century English law, 
especially concealment of pregnancy or 
birth. 

celature. Embossing; an embossed figure. 
From Latin caelare, to emboss, engrave. 
Jeremy Taylor in THE GREAT EXEMPLAR OF 
SANCTITY (1649) says: They admitted even 
in the utensils of the Church some cela- 
ture s and engravings, 

celebrious. Crowded (of an assembly 
hall) ; hence, festive. From Latin cele- 
brem, honored by an assembly. Hence, 
renowned, famous in this sense also cele- 
brous. From this source we have the well- 
known celebration and forms akin. A rare 
(humorous) form for 'most noted' (from 
the Latin superlative) is celeb errimous. 

celestinette. An 18th century musical in- 
strument. Walpole described it in a letter 
to Sir W. Hamilton, 19 June, 1774: 7 
heard a new instrument yesterday . . . It 
is a copulation of a harpsichord and a 
violin; one hand strikes the keys and the 
other draws the bow . . . The instrument 
is so small it stands on a table, and is 
called a celestinette. 

celeusma. A battle-cry or watchword; 
specifically, the call that gives the time to 
rowers. From Greek keleuein, to order. 
Often the rowers in large vessels propelled 
by oars would sing hymns and psalms by 
way of celeusma. 



137 



celostomy 

celostomy. Hollowness of sound; speak- 
ing with the mouth hollow. Accent on the 
second syllable. From Greek koilos, hollow 
+ stoma, mouth. Used in the 16th and 
17th centuries, when actors needed Ham- 
let's advice. 

celsitude. High rank, eminence; dignity; 
exalted character; height. Also used as a 
title of respect: His Celsitude (Late Latin 
and in English, 17th century) . From Latin 
celsus, lofty; seen also in excel, excelsior. 
In the sense of height the word may still 
be used humorously, as by Scott in RED- 
GAUNTLET (1824) : Peter Peebles, in his 
usual plenitude of wig and celsitude of 
hat. The form, celsity, with the same 
meaning, appears in 17th century dic- 
tionaries. 

cenacle. See cenation. 

cenation. Dining. From Latin cenare, to 
dine. Latin cena was the mid-day or after- 
noon meal, eaten in the cenacle. Cenacle, 
dining room, is used especially of the 
upper chamber where Christ and his 
disciples ate the Last Supper. Cenation 
and cenatory (as in cenatory garments) 
are 17th century words, used e.g. by Sir 
Thomas Browne (1676) . Cp. coenaculous. 

ceneromancy. See aeromancy. 
cenobite. See eremite. 
centure. See seynt. 
cephalotomy. See kephalotomy. 

cepivorous. Feeding on onions. Latin 
cepa, onion; hence also cepous, like an 
onion. 

cerastes. A horned serpent. Greek keras, 
horn. Actually a poisonous viper of Africa 
and Asia, with a projecting scale over each 
eye; loosely used to suggest a horrid 
snake. Thus Gary in his translation (1814) 



Cerberean 

of Dante's INFERNO: Adders and cerastes 
crept Instead of hair, and their fierce 
temples bound. For its use by Milton, 
see ellops. 

ceratine. Sophistical and intricate (of 
an argument) . Greek keratinos, horny, 
her as, horn. Given in 17th and 18th cen- 
tury dictionaries, taking its meaning from 
"the fallacy of the horns" (the horns of 
a dilemma) , in Diogenes Laertius (3d 
century A.D.) : "If you have not cast a 
thing away, you have it: but you have 
not cast horns; therefore you have horns." 
The ceratine perplexity is more com- 
monly created by such questions as "Do 
you still beat your wife?" 

ceration. Covering with wax; softening 
a substance that will not liquefy. A term 
in alchemy. Via French ceration from 
Latin cerare, to smear with wax, from 
cera, wax. Johnson in THE ALCHEMIST 
(1610) : Name the vexations and the 
martyrizations of metals in the work . . . 
Putrefaction, solution, ablution . . . calci- 
nation, ceration and fixation. Also, from 
Greek keros, wax, comes ceruse, white 
lead, especially as a cosmetic; also a verb 
ceruse, to paint the face. Used in plays 
of Massinger and Jonson (SE JANUS, 1603): 
very common in the 17th and 18th cen- 
turies; Macaulay in his life of Samuel 
Johnson (1849) remarked that the old 
bumbleton's eyesight was too weak to dis- 
tinguish ceruse from natural bloom. 

ceraunite. Thunderstone. Greek kerau- 
nos, thunderbolt. A piece of meteoric 
iron, or an arrow-head of prehistoric 
times (formerly thought to be a thunder- 
bolt) . A ceraunoscope was a machine used 
in the Greek theatre to imitate thunder. 

Cerberean. Related to Cerberus, the 
three-headed watchdog at the entrance to 
the infernal regions, in Greek and Roman 



138 



cerebrosity 

mythology. According to Hesiod, Cerberus 
had fifty heads. Hence used of the fierce- 
ness of the beast, or the keenness of his 
guard, or the noise of his barking. Milton 
in PARADISE LOST (1669) has: A cry of 
Hell Hounds never ceasing bark f d With 
wide Cerberean mouths; Coleridge in 

BIOGRAPHIA LITTERARIA (1817) Speaks of 

the Cerberean whelps of feud and slander. 
Orpheus quieted Cerberus with his lyre; 
Hercules fought him; but Aeneas stopped 
each mouth with a cake. Hence a sop to 
Cerberus is a gift to appease a fierce or 
angry person in authority (guardian, head- 
waiter, etc.) . 

cerebrosity. Wilfulness; a state of brain- 
storm. Used by Sidney (1586) and other 
euphuistic extravaganzists as Anthony 
Wood, in his LIFE (1647) : To admit . . . 
a meer frog of Helicon to croak the 
cataracts of his plumbeous cerebrosity be- 
fore your sagacious ingenuities. The 
plumbeous cerebrosities comes right out 
of Sidney. A cerebrose person is 'mad- 
brained/ 

ceromancy. See aeromancy. 

cerule. An early form of cerulean. Also 
ceruleal, ceruleous. In early use (Spenser 
and others) as in Latin caeruleus, the 
word meant the dark blue of the sky or 
the dark green of the sea, and was oc- 
casionally applied to leaves and fields. 
After the 17th century it was tinted only 
of the sky. Byron, in DON JUAN (1821) , 
uses the word humorously, to mean a 
blue-stocking: O ye who make the fortunes 
of all books! Benign ceruleans of the 
second sex! 

ceruse. See ceration. 

cervelat. (i) A short thick sausage, "eaten 
cold in slices/' says Bailey (1751) . He 
does not give the recipe, but on his recom- 



chad 

mendation you may serve a lot. (2) From 
the shape, a short reed musical instru- 
ment. Also cervalet. 

cervicide. See stillicide. Latin cervus, 
stag. If it was the King's deer, the offence 
as Robin Hood knew was regarded 
gravely. 

cessant. See couth. Cessant was used in 
the 17th and 18th centuries, meaning in- 
termittently, at intervals; a scientific ob- 
server of 1746 recorded: / personally knew 
a Gentleman . . . who cessantly winked 
with one eye. 

cestus. (1) A belt; especially a marriage 
girdle, unloosed by the bridegroom on the 
wedding night. From Greek kestos, 
stitched. In particular, the love-belt of 
Aphrodite, which made her irresistible. 
Yet Addison in THE SPECTATOR (1712) 
seems to prefer Venus without any orna- 
ment but her own beauties, not so much 
as her own cestus. Also used figuratively; 
there is a pathetic tone, today, in Garlyle's 
words (in FREDERICK THE GREAT, 1865) : 
The brightest jewel in the cestus of Polish 
liberty is this right of confederating. (2) 
An ancient boxer's glove: a band made 
of thongs of bull-hide, with strips of iron 
and lead. Latin caestus, perhaps from 
caedere, to strike, more probably the same 
word as (1) , cestus^ girdle, band. In our 
degenerate times the cestus has dwindled 
to the brass knuckles, and it is no longer 
the boxer that wears them. 

chad. I had. Old English Ich, I + had. 
Many verbs, especially the auxiliaries, 
through the 17th century in dialects, were 
combined with ch. Thus cham, I am; 
chave, I have; chard, I heard; chill, I will; 
chold, chud, I would; etc. Many in Sir 
Thomas More (1510-1540); RALPH ROY- 

STER DOYSTER (1553) ,' GAMMER GURTON's 

NEEDLE (1575) , and later plays including 



139 



chaeltophorous 



chamfrain 



Shakespeare's KING LEAR (1605) : Chill not 
let go zir . . . and 'chud a bin zw agger d 
out of my life. 

chaetophorous. Bristle - bearing; hence 
(pedantically humorous) , in need of a 
shave. Pronounced kye; accent on the toff. 
Greek chaite, hair -f- phoros, bearing. 

chafe. To warm, to heat. Hence, to in- 
flame the feelings, to excite. Used in both 
senses since the 14th century. The current 
sense, to rub (so as to warm) developed 
in the mid 15th century. Also chauffe, 
chaufe, chaff, and more; via Old French 
from Latin calefacere; calere, to be warm 

(whence the calories) 4- facere, to make. 

(In many English words gauge; Ralph; 
safe au became long a.) A chafer 

(chaver, chaufer) from the 14th century, 
was a chafing-dish., a portable stove or 
warming-pan; the 18th and 19th centuries 
revived the forms chauffer, chauffet. 
Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (MUTA- 
BILITY; 1596) pictures Spring wearing a 
garland on his head, from which as he 
had chauffed been The sweat did drop. 

chaffron. See chamfrain. 

chaldese. To trick; to play a mean turn. 
Perhaps from Chaldees, the idea being 
that astrologers are cheats. Butler in HUDI- 
BRAS (1664) : He stole your cloak and 
picked your pocket, Chews'd and caldes*d 
you like a blockhead. For chews'd, see 
chouse. 

chalon. A blanket or other bed-cover. 
Perhaps from Chalons-sur-Marne, a town 
in France where the material was made. 
Chaucer in THE REEVE'S TALE (1386) pic- 
tures a bed With schetys and with cha- 
louns fair i-spred. The manufacturer of 
chalons was a chaloner, quite busy in the 
14th and 15th centuries. 

chamade. A beat of drums or peal of 
trumpet, calling to a parley. Portuguese 



chamada, chamar, from Latin clamare, 
to call whence also the current clamor 
and exclamatory impulse of our time. 

chamber (a verb). (1) To confine, en- 
close. Shakespeare in KING RICHARD n 

(159S) : The best blood chamber'd in his 
bosom. (2) To restrain. (3) To provide 
with a chamber, as the chambered nauti- 
lus. (4) To lodge in a chamber, or as 
though in one. Hey wood in THE GOLDEN 
AGE (1611) : You shall no more . . . cham- 
ber underneath the spreading oaks. (5) 
To indulge in lewdness, to seek a chamber 
for wanton ends. Scott in WOODSTOCK 

(1826) : What chambering and wanton- 
ing in our very presence! 

chamberdekin. A poor (impoverished) 
scholar from Ireland, who attended Ox- 
ford, especially in the 15th century, but 
did not belong to any college. Often he 
acted as a servant for noblemen at the 
university; hence chamber-deacon. Bailey, 
in 1751, defines chamber-dekins as Irish 
beggars, in the habit of poor scholars of 
Oxford, who often committed robberies 
etc. and were banished the kingdom by 
Henry V. The modern counterpart sells 
magazines from door to door "to pay his 
way through college." 

chamberer. (1) A lady's maid; a cham- 
bermaid. (2) A concubine. In earlier use, 
these two forms usually had the feminine 
final e; thus chamber ere, chambriere, 
chambryere. (3) A chamberlain; a valet. 

(4) A frequenter of ladies' chambers; a 
gallant; a wanton. Shakespeare in OTHELLO 

(1604) says: / . . . have not those soft 
parts of conversation That chamberers 
have. 

chamfrain. The frontlet of an armed 
horse, for a knight in feudal times. Also 
chamfr-on, chaufrayne; (15th and 16th 
centuries) cheveronne, chieffront; chafron, 



140 



champerty 

chaffron, shaffron, shaferne; shamfron, 
shawfron, and more. Scott revived the 
word in IVANHOE (1820; chamfrori) . ^fhe 
frontlet was often ornamented with en- 
graved designs; ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE of 20 
June, 1884 mentioned a chamfrein chased 
with a combat of two horsemen. 

champerty. (1) Division of lordship; 
partnership in power. From French cham- 
part, originally a division of the field, or 
a part of the produce going to the over- 
lord, Latin campi pars, part of the field. 
Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) is 
emphatic: Wisdom ne richesse, Beautee 
ne sleighte, strength, hardynesse, Ne may 
with Venus holde champartie. Lydgate, 
misinterpreting this passage, used the word 
as though it meant rivalry; a few others, 
especially in the 16th century, followed 
him. (2) a combination or partnership 
for an evil purpose; especially, in law, a 
conspiracy to help a litigant in return for 
a share of the disputed property. Some- 
thing of this sort, however, is common 
practice in accident suits. 

champery. Contending in the lists. Old 
French champier, to fight in a field; 
whence also champion etc. 

chanipestrial. A variant of campestrial, 
campestral, pertaining to the fields. Also 
champestre. The ch forms are from the 
French; fete champetre, a rural festival 
or party. Many English words, from camp 
to champignon, come ultimately from 
Latin campus, field. 

chancemedley. Inadvertency; largely ac- 
cidental. Used in law, from the 15th cen- 
tury, especially in the phrase man- 
slaughter by chance-medley, homicide by 
misadventure. The word is sometimes used 
to mean pure chance, but more precisely 
means a mixture of intention and chance. 
Thus Brimley in an essay of 1855 inquires: 

141 



chantepleure 

Why does . . . Hamlet after murdering 
Polonius die by chancemedley? 

chandler. See chandry, 

chandry. A short form (especially used 
in the 17th century) of chandlery, a place 
where candles are kept; candles and other 
provisions sold by a retail dealer. By the 
19th century, chandler, as a retail dealer, 
was somewhat contemptuous; Dickens in 
SKETCHES BY Boz (1836) says: The neigh- 
bors stigmatized him as a chandler. Fal- 
staff says to Bardolph, in Shakespeare's 
HENRY iv, PART ONE (1596) : Thou hast 
saved me a thousand marks in links and 
torches, walking with thee in the night 
betwixt tavern and tavern; but the sack 
that thou hast drunk me would have 
bought me lights as good cheap at the 
dearest chandler's in Europe. Chandler 
also meant the officer who supervised the 
candles in a household; also, a support 
for candles, a chandelier. 

changeling. (1) A fickle person; a wav- 
erer; a turncoat. (2) A person or thing 
secretly substituted for another. Especi- 
ally, of a child particularly, of an ugly 
or stupid child supposedly left in in- 
fancy, by the fairies, in exchange for the 
real (and of course beautiful and bright) 
child stolen. Hence, a half-wit (as in 
Pepys' DIARY, 28 December, 1667) . Shake- 
speare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM 

(1590) has the King of the Fairies say: 
/ do but beg a little changeling boy, to 
be my henchman. [Note that Oberon re- 
fers to the child taken; the word usually 
refers to the child left amongst us hu- 
mans.] 

chantepleure. Title of a 13th century 
French poem, to those that sing (chanter) 
in this world but will weep (pleurer) in 
the next. By extension, a mixture or 
alternation of joy and sorrow. Chaucer in 



chaogenous 

ANELIDA AND ARCiTE (1374) has: I fare as 
doth the song of Ghantepleure, for now I 
pleyne and now I play. 

chaogenous. Born out of chaos. Like the 
cosmos, and the chaogenous hero-gods of 
Hesiod. 

chaomancy. See aeromancy. 

chapbook. A pamphlet containing tales, 
ballads, or other examples of the popular 
literature of the 15th to 18th centuries. 
The name was not contemporary, but 
created (in the 19th century) by collec- 
tors, from chapman (q.v.) + book. 

chape. A metal plating, used as a cover 
or ornament. Especially, the extra cover- 
ing on the point of a scabbard; by ex- 
tension, the tip of a fox's tail, which re- 
sembles this also by extension, the sheath 
or scabbard itself. Also chaip, schape, 
cheap. Hence as a verb, to chape, to fur- 
nish with a chape; Chaucer in the Pro- 
logue tO THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) 

pictures five well-to-do merchants (An 
haberdassher and a carpenter, A webbe y 
a dyere f and a tapicer) , each fit to be an 
alderman: hir [their] knyves were chaped 
noght with bras But al with silver wroght 
ful dene and weeL There was also a chape 
(14th to 16th century) short for achape 
(Old French achaper, eschaper) , escape. 
In Shakespeare's ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS 
WELL (1601) a French lord speaks of the 
prisoner Monsieur Parolles, the gallant 
militarist [military expert] that was his 
own phrase that had the whole theoricke 
of wane in the knot of his scarfe, and the 
practise in the chape of his dagger. 

chapman. A dealer. From Old English 
ceap f barter + man. Later (16th century 
on) an itinerant dealer, a peddler; more 
rarely, a broker, or a customer. Hence also 
chapmanable, marketable; chapmanry; 
chapmanshipj in which "the children of 



chare 

the east" excelled. Chap-money (chap- 
manry is also used in this sense) , a small 
surfr returned to the purchaser when pay- 
ment is made, an old way of allowing a 
discount. Thomas Freeman in RUBBE, AND 
A GREAT CAST (1614; cp. sute) puns in his 
praise of George Chapman, who commeth 
near'st the ancient commicke vaine, Thou 
hast beguilde us all of that sweet grace: 
and were Thalia to be sold and bought, 
no chapman but thyselfe were to be 
sought. From George to John, still dealing 
in good plays. 

char. See chare. In addition to its cur- 
rent senses, char was an early form of both 
chair and car; it meant a cart; by ex- 
tension, a cart-load. Also, a chariot, as in 
Hobbes' Homer (1677) : For all his flam- 
ing horses and his charre. 

charactery. Writing; expressing thought 
by symbols. Shakespeare in THE MERRY 
WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) says that Fairies 
use flowers for their characterie. 

charbon. A charbon (French charbon, 
charcoal, pustule) is used in English for 
the disease anthrax (19th century) . In 
Shakespeare's ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 
(1603) , however, the Clown refers to 
young Charbon the puritan and old Poy- 
sam the papist, the names are labels and 
probably from the French chair bon, good 
flesh, and poisson, fish, alluding to the 
diet of the two faiths on 'fast* days. 

chare, (i) The return of a time, day, or 
season; hence, time, occasion. Also char, 
cherre, cyrr, chewre, chore. Hence, a turn- 
ing back; againchar, gainchar, repentance. 
On char, on the turn, in the act of shut- 
ting; this survives in the form ajar: "When 
is a door not a door?" By extension, a 
turn or stroke of work; this sense survives 
in English charwoman and American 
chore (s). Also char folk, chairfolk (17th 



142 



charet 



chaud-mell 



century) , temporary servants. Hence 
(from the sense of turning) a name for a 
narrow lane or wynd, in parts of England, 
since the 13th century, chare is also a 
verb, indicating the actions named above. 
(2) An old form of chary, careful. (3) 
In names of dishes from France, flesh, 
meat (French chair, Latin carnem, flesh) . 
Also the flesh (pulp) of certain fruit, as 
in: chardecoynes, chardeqweyns, charde- 
quynce (15th and 16th centuries) , a 
quince preserve; chare de war don, a pre- 
serve of Warden pears; a COOKERY BOOK 
of 1425 states: Charwardon. Take pere 
Wardonys, seethe hem in wyne . . . Good 
for any perel 

charet. An earlier form of chariot, until 
the mid- 17th century. Used widely in the 
King James BIBLE (1611). In France a 
charette was two-wheeled; a chariot, four- 
wheeled. Hence chareter, early for chari- 
oteer. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE 
(1596) has She bad her charett to be 
brought. 

charientism. A species of irony, couching 
a disagreeable sense in pleasant terms. 
Later called euphemism, like saying "He 
stretches the truth" instead of "He lies." 

chark. See jar. 

charlet. A sort of omelet. The recipe is 
in THE FORME OF CURY (1390) : Take pork, 
and seeth it wel. Hewe it smale. Cast it 
in a panne. Breke ayrenn [eggs], and do 
therto, and swyng it wel togyder. Put 
therto cowe mylke and safroun, and boile 
it togyder. Salt it, and messe it forth. 

charneco. A kind of wine, drunk in the 
16th and 17th centuries. Also charnico, 
charnaco. Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART 
TWO (1593) proffers it: Here's a cuppe 
of charneco, but we have lost its savour. 
It may be named from a village near 



Lisbon. The term degenerated, so that in 
1775 Ash defined it: charneco (a cant 
word) , any kind of strong liquor which 
is like to bring drunken fellows to the 
stocks. 

chasmophile. A lover of crannies and 
crevices; a haunter of holes. Hence 
chasmophilous. In botany, a chasmophyte 
is such a plant as Tennyson apostrophized: 
Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you 
out of the crannies, I hold you here, root 
and all, in my hand, Little flower but 
if I could understand What you are, root 
and all, and all in all, I should know 
what God and man is. 

chassis. An early form (also shashes, 
shasses) of sash, a window-frame; especi- 
ally one fitted with paper or linen (before 
the widespread use of glass) . Thus Urqu- 
hart in his translation (1693) of Rabelais 
speaks of chassis or paper-windows. 

chatelaine. See castellan. 

chaterestre. A female chatterer. Femi- 
nine of chat er ere, which was the early 
form of chatterer. THE OWL AND THE NIGHT- 
INGALE (13th century) exclaims: Site nu 
stille, chaterestre! A less pleasant word 
than chatmate, q.v. 

chatmate. A companion in conversation. 
Nashe in LENTEN STUFFE (1599) , speaking 
of the fair Hero, mentions the toothlesse 
trotte her nurse, who was her onely chat- 
mate and chamber maide. 

chaud-melle. A sudden flare of fighting, 
out of the heat of roused passion; hence, 
a killing without premeditation. French; 
literally, hot broil; melee. Also chaud- 
mella (15th and 16th centuries) ; by some 
17th century writers altered to chance- 
medley, q.v.', thus Blackstone in his COM- 
MENTARIES (1769) : Chance-medley, or (as 



143 



chauffe 



cheese 



some rather chuse to write it) chaud- 
medley. 

chauffe. See chafe. 

chaundrye. A variant of chandlery, the 
place where candles were kept. In Tudor 
times, this was an important room; Cardi- 
nal Wolsey had three servants in his 
chaundrye. As Cavendish tells, in THE 

LYFFE AND DEATHE OF CARDYNALL WOOLSEY 

(1557) , in addition to a score of men in 
his hall kytchen: In his privy kytchen he 
had a master cooke who went dayly hi 
dammaske, fatten, or velvett with a chayne 
of gold abought his nekke; and ii gromes, 
with vi laborers and children to serve in 
that place. In the larder there a yoman 
and a grome; in the schaldyng house a 
yoman and ii gromes. In the scollery there 
ii persons. In the buttery ii yomen and ii 
gromes, with ii other pages. In the pantrie 
ii yomen; ii gromes and ii pages, and in 
the ewrie lykewyse; in the seller Hi yomen, 
ii gromes and ii pages, besides a gentil- 
man for the monthe. In the chaundrye 
Hi persons. In the wafery ii. For food and 
drink alone, 67 servants. The ewrie 
(ewery, ewry, y ewrie) was the room where 
table linen, towels, and water ewers 
(pitchers with a wide spout, to bring 
water for washing the hands) were kept. 
The wafery was the kitchen for biscuits 
(flat cakes) . It is little wonder that one 
of the charges in the arrest of Cardinal 
Wolsey for high treason (1530) was that 
he sought to be grander than the king. 

chawdron. A sauce, made with chopped 
entrails and spices; hence, entrails, especi- 
ally as used for food. Also chawdon, 
chalderne, chaldron, chawdre, akin to 
chowder; ultimately (by long popular 
mouthing) from Latin calidus, hot. It is 
interesting to note that, in the early 
chowder (from Breton fishermen to New- 



foundland to New England) there was 
often a goodly dash of cider or cham- 
pagne. Soups, said THE LITERARY WORLD 
(Boston, U.S.A.; 15 November 1884), are 
divisible into four groups: viz. clear, thick, 
purees or bisques, and chowders. 

cheap. As a noun: Bargaining; buying 
and selling. So used from the 8th century. 
Hence, a market. This sense is preserved 
in names, such as Cheap side, Eastcheap. 
Hence also, price, value. Good cheap, a 
bargain; Chaucer in the Prologue to THE 
WIFE OF BATH'S TALE (1386) says To great 
cheap is holden at litel price. Dear cheap, 
high prices, scarcity. Niggard cheap, close 
economy, niggardliness. (At) good cheap, 
on advantageous terms; this phrase, short- 
ened, gave us the still known adjective 
cheap, which is not often appropriate 
today. Other forms included: cheapable 
(16th century), valuable. To cheapen, to 
bargain for; a cheapener, cheaper, a bid- 
der, cheaping, marketing, buying and sell- 
ing; cheapild, a marketwoman. 'Sir George 
Wheler, in A JOURNEY INTO GREECE (1682) 
wrote: Here is very good bread and wine, 
and good cheap I believe. 

cheer. Face; countenance; aspect, mien; 
hence, disposition, mood (as shown in the 
face) . Also chere, chire, cheyr, cheare, 
chaire, and the like. To make a cheer, to 
put on a (pleased, angry, etc.) expres- 
sion. What cheer? (with you? make you?) , 
How are you? Used from the 13th cen- 
tury to the 17th, lingering in poetry. 
Sackville, in A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES 
(1563) : With ruful chere, and vapored 
eyes upcast. Shakespeare, in A MIDSUMMER 
NIGHT'S DREAM (1590) : All fancy sicke 
she is, and pale of cheere. Blake, in SONGS 
OF INNOCENCE (1783) : So I piped, with 
merry cheer. 

cheese. Used in several combinations 
now lapsed: cheeseparing, a thing of little 



144 



chemise 



chevaline 



value; the concern of a niggard. Shake- 
speare in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) says: 
/ doe remember him at Clements Inne, 
like a man made after supper, of a cheese- 
paring, cheese and cheese, two ladies kiss- 
ing, or riding on one horse. To make 
cheeses (o school-girls) , to spin around 
and suddenly sink, so that petticoats and 
skirt spread all around, inflated vaguely 
resembling a cheese; hence, a deep 
curtsey. Used by Thackeray in THE VIR- 
GINIANS, and throughout the 19th cen- 
tury. Other combinations whet the ap- 
petite. 

chemise. See camis. 



by Chaucer. Sometimes used in the sense 
of cheerfulness, as though related to cheer, 
Chertes, says Bailey (1751, attributing the 
use to Chaucer) , are merry people. [In 
geology there is a kind of quartz called 
chert, whence also cherty, like hornstone, 
chert.} A frequent 14th and 15th century 
expression was to have (or hold) some- 
one in chertee. 

chese. A variant form of choose. Wisely 

in THE PARLEMENT OF THE THREE AGES 

(1350; in the old 4-beat alliterative verse): 
And chese me to the chesse that chefe is 
of gamnes: And this es life for to lede 
while I shalle lyfe here. 



cherisaunce. Comfort, support. French chessner. A player at chess. Middleton 



cherir, to cherish; chere, cheer. So 
Toone's GLOSSARY (1834) . Chaucer's RO 
MAUNT OF THE ROSE (1370) has: For I ne 
know no cherisaunce That fell into my 
remembrance. It is likely that Bailey *s 
cherisaunie (#.t/.) is a misprint for cheri- 
saunce. But cherisaunce itself is a mis- 
print, listed as a 'spurious word' in O.E.D. 
See chevisance. 

cherisaunie. A pleasant word in diction- 
aries, which Bailey (1751) lists as 'old/ 
and defines as 'comfort/ With glass and 
book on a wintry night, before a fireside 
I seek my cherisaunie. But see cheri- 
saunce. 

cherry-pit, A hole into which children 
try to throw cherry-stones; the game of 
throwing them. Shakespeare in TWELFTH 
NIGHT (1601) says 'Tis not for gravity to 
play at cherry-pit with Satan; Randolph 
in THE JEALOUS LOVERS (1632) has: Jour 
cheeks were sunk So low and hollow they 
might serve the boys For cherripits. 

chertee. Fondness, affection; dearness (in 
price) . Latin caritatem, from carus, dear. 
An early form of charity, which first 
meant love. Spelled chiertee, cherte, chierte 

145 



uses the term in his play, A GAME AT CHESS 
(1624; for which he was censured because 
it satirized court policy in regard to the 
Spanish marriage) : Yonder's my game, 
which, like a politic chessner, I must not 
seeme to see. My good friend Motty is an 
ardent chessner, keeping me on the qui 
vive. 

Chester. A city or walled town; origi- 
nally, the site of a Roman camp. Latin 
castra, camp. The Latin word survives in 
English in place names, taking three 
forms, as in Lancaster, Worcester, West- 
Chester. Used from the 9th to the 13th 
century, thereafter historically. Cp. cast- 
ametation. 

chete. See pedlers French. 

chevachance. Chivalry; the spirit of the 
true gentleman. Used in the 16th cen- 
tury. See chevisance. 

chevachee. See chyvachie. Old French 
chebauchie. cavalcata, riding; Medieval 
Latin caballicare, caballicatum, to ride; 
caballus, horse. 

chevaline. Pertaining to the horse; es- 
pecially, of its flesh as food. The LONDON 



clievance 



chichevache 



TIMES of 5 October, 1864, speaks of cold 
horse pie, and other chevaline delicacies, 
not appreciated in the western hemi- 
sphere. 

chevance. Fortune; acquired wealth. 
Hence, achievement in other fields. To 
make chevance is to raise money, borrow. 
Also chievance, chevaunce; from Old 
French chever, to finish, to accomplish, 
chef (chev-} , head. Hence also achieve. 
But see chevisance. 

cheverel. Kid leather. Old French chev- 
relle, diminutive of chevre, she-goat; Latin 
capra, whence caper, capricious, cabriolet] 
cp. capripede. Also cheveriL Kid leather 
was noted for its pliancy and capability 
of stretching, whence various figurative 
uses. Thus Shakespeare, in ROMEO AND 
JULIET (1592) : Here's a wit of cheverell, 
that stretches from an inch to an ell 
broad] in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) : A sen- 
tence is but a chev'rill glove to a good 
witte, how quickly the wrong side may be 
turn'd outward; in HENRY vni (1613) : the 
capacity of your soft chiverell conscience. 
Cheverel conscience was a frequent phrase 
still too widely applicable. 

chevese. Mistress, concubine. A common 
Teuton term. Ghevese-born was euphemis- 
tic for bastard. 

chevetaine. Early form of chieftain, until 
the mid-1 7th century. 

cheville. Originally a peg, a plug; then, 
a meaningless or unnecessary word used 
to complete a verse or round off a sen- 
tence. 

chevisance. Bringing to a head; comfort; 
help; hence an expedient, a device; shift- 
iness; ability to shift; provision, supply; 
booty. To make a chevisaunce was to 
arrange a loan; hence (in a bad sense) , 
a shift to get money; to make chevisaunce 
of was to convert to one's profit (with bad 



implications) . From Old French chevir, 
chevissant, to finish, succeed with, etc.; 
see chevance. The word chevisance was 
widely used (14th and 15th centuries) in 
these many senses. Spenser, in the Gloss 
to the SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) mis- 
understood the word, confusing it with 
chevance and chivalry, as in THE FAERIE 
QUEENE (1590) : Shameful thing It were 
t' abandon noble chevisaunce For show 
of peril, without venturing. This error 
was repeated, as late as 1849 by Bulwer- 
Lytton in KING ARTHUR: Frank were those 
times of trustful chevisaunce, and 1880 
by Shorthouse in JOHN INGLESANT: When 
the northern gods . . . rode on their 
chevisance, they went down into the deep 
valleys singing magic songs. More pro- 
saically, a chevisancer was (a rare word 
for) a money-lender, usurer. Also chevi- 
sance, a flower, possibly the wallflower 
(not the lorn maiden) ; cp. pawnee. 

chevise. The verb form of chevisance, 
q.v., meaning to accomplish; to provide 
for, help; to raise money, etc. 

chibol. See ramolade. 

chichevache. There was an Old French 
bogy, to scare children into good behavior, 
an imaginary monster called chinceface, 
thin-face, ugly-face. This was changed, in 
English, to chichevache, ugly cow, and 
used of a monster that fed only on pa- 
tient wives, hence was always starving. 
Chaucer, in THE CLERK'S TALE (1386) 
ironically warns women to avoid humility, 
lest chichevache you swallow in her en- 
trail. Lydgate in 1430 wrote a poem 
Chichevache and Bycorne. Cp. palmer. 
This bycorne, as the poem tells, is a fabu- 
lous monster that fed on patient husbands, 
hence was always fat. The name bicorn, 
which means two-horned, may be an al- 
lusion to the traditional horns of the 
cuckold. In the 15th century, the term 



146 



chickweed 

bicorne was applied to a two-pronged 
pitchfork. 

chickweed. A small plant, earlier called 
chickenweed. It was formerly used for 
feeding caged birds (linnets; goldfinches) . 
The Elizabethans enjoyed it in salads. 

THE SHEPHERDS KALENDER (1503) advised: 

Take chickweed, clythers, ale, and oat- 
mealy and make pottage there with. 

chideress. A female scold or brawler. 
Also chidester. Manuscripts of Chaucer's 
THE MERCHANT'S TALE (1386) spell this 
chidestere, chidystere, chydester: A chid- 
ester and waster of thy good. 

childwit. "A power to take a fine of a 
bondwoman who has been gotten with 
child without her owner's consent": Bailey, 
1751. Paid to the woman's lord, by Eng- 
lish law, 10th to 16th century. Also child- 
wite; Old English wite, penalty, satisfac- 
tion. 

chiliad. (Pronounce the ch as k.) A col- 
lection or group of 1,000 things; the mil- 
lennium. From Greek chiliados, from 
chilioi, thousand. In the 17th and 18th 
centuries, tables of logarithms were called 
chiliads. A chiliast is one that believes 
Christ will reign on earth, in person, for 
a thousand years. 

chilindre. A cylindrical, portable sun- 
dial, carried before there were watches. 
Greek kylindros, cylinder; in Medieval 
Latin chilindrus and in Italian cilindro 
meant this kind of dial. Chaucer in THE 
SHIPMANNES TALE (1386) says: And let us 
dine as soon as that ye may for by my 
chilyndre it is pryme of day. Also chy- 
lendre, chilandre, chilyndre, chylawndur. 
They could not agree on the spelling, but 
it gave them the time. 

chilonian. Succinct. In 17th and 18th 
century dictionaries; also chilonic. From 



chirocracy 

Chilon, one of the seven wise men of 
ancient Greece, whose utterances were 
brief and to the point. Not so abrupt as 
laconic, q.v. 

chimer. See cymar. 

chiminage. A toll paid for passage 
through a forest. Usually collected in be- 
half of the lord who had had the way 
cleared, sometimes also by the local Robin 
Hood. Chimin was a 17th century legal 
term for road; Law Latin chiminus, 
French chemin; camino real is Spanish for 
royal way, highway and the title of an 
American play (1953) by Tennessee Wil- 
liams. Latin caminus, however, means 
furnace; English chimney. 

chinch. Niggardly. Originally chiche, a 
Middle English word meaning parsimoni- 
ous; thin; see chichevache. Hence also 
chincherd, niggard; chinchery, chincery 
(in Chaucer chyncherie) , miserliness. (In 
the United States, chinch is still a name 
for the bed-bug.) 

chine. The spine, or part of the back 
along the vertebral column. French 
echine; Latin spina. To b-ow the chine 

(often back and chine) , to pay homage. 
By extension, of meat: the cut left of a 
hog when the sides are cut for bacon; a 
saddle of mutton; ribs or sirloin of beef. 
By transference (19th century) a crest or 
ridge of land. Kingsley, in TWO YEARS AGO 

(1857) : Crawling on hands and knees 
along the sharp chines of the rocks. 
Cooper in THE PIONEERS (1823) served a 
prodigious chine of roasted bear's meat. 

chipochia. See capocchia. 

chirocracy. Government with a strong 
hand; by physical force. Greek cheir, hand 
4- kratia, rule; accent on the rock. Hence 
also: chirocosmetics, the art of adorning 
the hands, chiroponal (Greek ponos, toil), 



147 



chiromancy 

relating to or involving manual labor. 
chironomy, the art of gesticulation, chi- 
romachy, a fist-fight; a hand-to-hand bat- 
tle, chirosopher, one learned as to the 
hand, chirosophist, one that practices 
sleight of hand; one that reads palms, a 
chiromancer, a chiroscopist. chiroscopy, 
palmistry, chirotony (accent on the rot) , 
voting by show of hands; also chirotonia; 
to chirotonize, to vote by show of hands. 

chiromancy. See aeromancy. 

chirurgeon. An early form of surgeon. 
Also chirurge (in the 16th century) , Ulti- 
mately from Greek cheiro, /zand + ergos, 
working. Hence also chirurgeonly, chirur- 
gery, chirurgical, chirurgy. Cp. chyurgerie. 

chis. Fastidious, dainty in eating; choice, 
exquisite. From the 7th through the 15th 
century. Also chise, chys, chyse. 

chisan. An inviting early dish; also chy- 
sanne. One recipe runs: Take hole roches 
and enchys, or plays [or other fish] but 
choppe horn on peces, and frie horn in 
oyle; and take crustes of bredde, and 
draw horn with wyn and vynegur, and 
bray fygges, and draw horn therewith; 
and mynce onyons, and frie horn, and do 
therto, and blaunched almondes fried, and 
raisinges of corances [raisin'd, i.e., dried, 
currants], and powder of clowes and of 
ginger and of canelle, and let hit boile, 
and then do thi fissh in a faire vesselle, 
and poure thi sewe above, and serve it 
for the colde. 

chitarrone. A 17th century musical in- 
strument, used for basso continuo. Like 
the cithern or cittern, gittern, zither, it 
was developed from the Greek cithara, 
q.v., which was triangular, with from seven 
to eleven strings. There is one in the New 
York Metropolitan Museum of Art col- 
lection. 



chouse 

chlamys. A short mantle worn by men 
in ancient Greece. Used historically and 
poetically (also, in botany, for the floral 
envelope) . 

chopin. A liquid measure. From the 
French chopine, half a chope. It seems 
to have varied; the French measure was 
about an English pint. In Scotland, about 
a half-pint, which was almost a quart by 
English wine measure. Also choppin, 
choppyne, schopin but see chopine. The 
word was used from the 13th into the 19th 
century; Smollett in HUMPHREY CLINKER 
(1771) mentions a call for a chopine of 
two-penny. Hence, as a verb, to tipple; 
Urquhart in his translation (1653) of 
Rabelais speaks of chopining and plying 
the pot. 

chopine. A shoe raised above ground by 
a cork sole. Apparently from Spanish 
chapa, plate of metal, then a thin cork 
sole. English writers in the late 16th and 
17th century associated the word with 
Italy, especially Venice, spelling it ciop- 
pino, but it is not in the Italian diction- 
aries. The soles; apparently, were made 
thicke