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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 
