Daily Word Quiz
 
BISSY 
a) not difficult, easy
b) pliable, yielding, flexible
c) bowing the neck, cringing
d) cross, easily provoked to anger
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: AGGRUDGE
also AGRUDGE
 
VERB
to grumble, to complain, to express dissatisfaction or annoyance
...1470 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from ag- + grudge
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1470 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...and affection as evar we had, aggrudgynge of the greate
enormyties and inordinate ympositions, contrary to law..."
From: Original Letters
By: Henry Ellis, 1827
Letter XLII: The Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick,
from France, to the Commons of England, 1470
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
BISSY d) cross, ill-tempered, angry; easily provoked to anger, excitable
​...1887 Sc.

Daily Word Quiz
 
DESIDIOSE
a) worthy, honourable, noble
b) foolish, silly, childish, playful
c) destructive, prone to destroy
d) idle, slothful, lazy, sluggish
 
Answer below.
 
Today's Featured Word: RIDICULIZE
 
VERB
to make ridiculous ...1615 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from classical Latin rīdiculus capable of arousing laughter,
funny, amusing, absurd, silly + -ize
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1615 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...My heart still trembling lest the false alarms That words oft strike up should ridiculize me."
From: The Odysseys of Homer
By: George Chapman, 1615
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
DESIDIOSE d) idle, slothful, lazy, sluggish ...1727 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
RUPPERTY
a) sexual intercourse
b) a disturbance
c) a pub
d) diarrhoea
 
Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: OSCULABLE
 
ADJ.
capable of being kissed ...1893 nonce word
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin osculari to kiss + -ble
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1893 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...and the tangible, nay, osculable, Pope may yet, one would suspect,
oust the invisible Mahatma."
From: The Westminster Gazette, 1893
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
RUPPERTY c) a pub ...1898 Aust. sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
MAJIGGER
a) a close friend
b) a tall, untidy woman
c) a thingamajig; a gadget
d) any liquor made with malt
 
Answer below.
 
Today's Featured Word: NUTRIBLE
 
ADJ.
nutritious, nourishing ...1607 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from late Latin nutribilis nourishing, nutritious
from nutrire to be nourishing
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1607 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Swines flesh also is lesse excremental then Pigs flesh, and therefore more nutrible..."
From: The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents
By: Edward Topsell, 1607
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
MAJIGGER c) a thingamajig; a gadget ...1942 Amer. dial.

Daily Word Quiz
 
SWUZZY
a) excellent, first-rate
b) intoxicated with drink
c) conceited, arrogant
d) effeminate
 
Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: LUMP OF BUTTER
 
NOUN
an easygoing, helpless person ...1844 Sc.
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1844 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...and the case wad be nae better though he had Saft Shusie the morn,
​for she's just a lump o' butter..."
From: The Disruption, a Scottish Tale of Recent Times
By: William Cross, 1844
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
SWUZZY a) excellent, first-rate ...1914 Amer. dial.

Daily Word Quiz
 
RAMMELSOME
a) talkative, always chattering
b) furious, raging
c) rough, troublesome
d) bearing branches
 
Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: CUSTODIENT
 
ADJ.
guarding, protecting ...1657 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin custodientem pr. pple. of custodire to guard
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1657 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...without the custodient grace of God always underpropping them..."
From: Correspondence with Mr Henry Jeanes, 1657
In: The Life of Jeremy Taylor
By: Reginald Heber, 1822
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
RAMMELSOME c) rough, troublesome ...1864 Sc.

Daily Word Quiz
 
TUSSICATE
a) to vomit violently
b) to cough
c) to struggle, to writhe
d) to depart hurriedly
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: TORPULENT
 
ADJ.
torpid; disinclined to act, listless; lacking emotional sensibility
...1657 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
irregular from torpor after corpulent, etc.
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1657 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...our prayers do shew what an oscitant, and torpulent people we are..."
From: God's Plea for Nineveh
By: Thomas Reeve, 1657
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
TUSSICATE b) to cough ...1598 obs. rare

Daily Word Quiz
 
FANDANGOUS
a) drunk
b) of enjoyment: good, pleasant
c) showy, pompous
d) eccentric, crazy
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: BLOYSTEROUS
 
ADJ.
of the wind: strong, boisterous ...1568 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
? from boisterous and/or blusterous
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1568 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
Do bloysterous blastes that blow, compell to hoyse thy sayle,
To driue the ship to calmer Port, vnto thy more aduaile.
 
From: Newe Sonets, and Pretie Pamphlets
By: Thomas Howell, 1568
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
FANDANGOUS c) showy, pompous ...1797 Eng. dial.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
ABOB
a) to make a hasty departure, to disappear
b) to breathe or blow on one
c) to bring to an end, to terminate
d) to astonish, to confound
 
Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: RIFTY TUFTY
 
ADVERB
with disorderly haste or confusion; helter-skelter ...1592 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
origin unknown
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1592 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...To sweare and stare until we come to shore,
Then rifty tufty, each one to his skore."
From: The Pilgrimage to Paradise
By: Nicholas Breton, 1592
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
ABOB d) to astonish, to confound ...c1330 obs. rare

Daily Word Quiz
 
URSICIDE
a) the killing of bees
b) one who kills a bear
c) one who kills a wolf
d) the act of killing one's husband
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: ELACRYMATE
 
VERB
to shed in the form of tears ...1657 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin elacrimat- ppl. stem of elacrimare
from e out + lacrimare to shed tears, to weep
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1657 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...The trunk of the greater ivy vulnerated, and sometimes spontaneously,
​ elacrymates a certain Gummeous succe of an aureous colour..."
From: A Medicinal Dispensatory
Composed by the Illustrious Renodaeus.
Englished and Revised by Richard Tomlinson of London, 1657
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
URSICIDE b) one who kills a bear ...a1861

Daily Word Quiz
 
RAMAGIOUS
a) furious, frenzied, raging
b) talkative, untrustworthy
c) lecherous, lewd
d) exhausted, fatigued
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: MECONOPHAGIST
 
NOUN
an 'opium-eater'; a user of opium ...1886
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek meconium poppy juice, opium + phago eating + -ist
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1886 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...If they happen to find solace in opium readily,
they become meconophagists..."
From: Alien and Neurologist, 1886
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
RAMAGIOUS  a) furious, frenzied, raging ...a1600 obs

Daily Word Quiz
 
LEPID
a) charming, elegant
b) full of joy
c) lukewarm, tepid
d) unrestrained, uncontrolled

Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: JOISE
 
VERB
1. to rejoice, to enjoy ...c1320 obs.
2. to enjoy the possession or use of ...1381 Sc. obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Old French joiss- lengthened stem of joir to rejoice, to enjoy
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1320 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...That thai made so grete josying."
From: The Process of the Seuyn Sages, c1320
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
LEPID a) charming, elegant ...1660 rare
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
HAND-BOLT
a) a wedding ring
b) a glove
c) a handcuff
d) a screwdriver
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: PROVOCANT
 
NOUN
one who provokes, incites, or stimulates a person, reaction, etc.
...1894 rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from French provocant, or Latin provocantem,
pr. pple. of provocare to provoke
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1894 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...my lady's attitude such that it was very evident she was the provocant."
From: My Lady Rotha: A Romance
By: Stanley Weyman, 1894
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
HAND-BOLT c) a handcuff ...1816

Daily Word Quiz
 
EXULANT
a) astonishing, remarkable
b) overflowing, superabundant
c) eminent, famous, renowned
d) living in exile
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: HORRESCENT
 
ADJ.
shuddering with fear; expressing or showing horror ...1865 rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin horrescentem,
pres. pple. of horrescere to dread, to shudder at
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1865 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...I agree in the main with A.B.; but can, of course, make none but horrescent reference to his treatment of the smaller philosophers.
From: A Budget of Paradoxes
In The Athenaeum,
Journal of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts, 1865
By: By Augustus De Morgan
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
EXULANT d) living in exile ...1636 obs. rare
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
GIVE A PERSON HIS OATMEAL
a) to aid or assist him
b) to punish, to rebuke severely
c) to dismiss, to 'send packing'
d) to humiliate
 
Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: FRENZICAL
also FRANSICAL, PHRENSICAL
 
ADJ.
affected with frenzy; crazy, mad; frenzied, raging;
wildly enthusiastic; frantic ...a1586 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from frenzy (n.) + -ical
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1586 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...with a certain fransical maladie they call Loue,
when I was a yong man they called it flat folly.
From: The Lady of May
By: Sir Philip Sidney, a1586
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
GIVE A PERSON HIS OATMEAL
​b) to punish, to rebuke severely ...M18 sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
XANTHOCOMIC
a) yellow-haired
b) outrageously funny
c) foreign, strange
d) ill-tempered, irritable
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: SPERATORY
 
ADJ.
resting in hope or expectation; hoped for, hopeful, expected ...1629 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin speratus hoped for, expected,
pa. pple. of sperare to hope
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1629 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...he the present and possessory things of this world,
​God but the future and speratory things of the next."
From: Sermon CXXXVI
A Lent Sermon Preached to the King, At Whitehall, February 12, 1629
By: John Donne
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
XANTHOCOMIC a) yellow-haired ...1861 nonce word

Daily Word Quiz
 
LABEON
a) a kiss; a kissing
b) one who has large lips
c) the flap or skirt of a man's coat or shirt
d) money
 
Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: DRAVEL
 
VERB
to sleep unsoundly, to have troubled sleep ...a1300 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
origin unknown
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1300 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...In dreȝ droupyng of dreme draueled þat noble,
(In deep drowsing of dream driveled that noble,)
As mon þat watz in mornyng of mony þro þoȝtes,
(As man that was in mourning for many sad thoughts)
 
From: Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight,
An Alliterative Romance Poem, a1300
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
LABEON b) one who has large lips ...1650 obs. rare

Daily Word Quiz
 
PRANDICLE
a) the buttocks
b) a breakfast, a little dinner, a small meal
c) a loved one, a sweetheart
d) an incredible story
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: WATTLE-HEAD
 
NOUN
a weak-headed person, one of weak intellect ...1613 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
? from wattles (n.) rods or stakes used to trim fences,
roofs of buildings, etc., designating a weak building material
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1613 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...But he that is with a humor led,
I may be bold to terme a watle-head."
From: Abuses, Stript, and Whipt,
Or, Satirical Essayes
By: George Wither, 1613
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
PRANDICLE b) a breakfast, a little dinner, a small meal ...1656 obs. rare

Daily Word Quiz
 
MEDITABUND
a) talking loudly
b) modest, chaste in habits
c) absorbed in meditation; pensive, thoughtful
d) drug intoxicated
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: CLEMENTIOUS
 
ADJ.
mild and humane in the exercise of power or authority; merciful, lenient, kindly towards those in one's power ...1632 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin clementia mercy, clemency + -ous
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1632 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...and the clementious Ile-ruling Lady of Trapundy in Sicilia..."
From: The Totall Discourse, of the Rare Adventures,
and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travailes...
By: William Lithgow, 1632
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
MEDITABUND c) absorbed in meditation; pensive, thoughtful
​...1681 obs. rare

Daily Word Quiz
 
BLELLUM
a) nonsense, foolish talk
b) a lean, worn-out animal
c) a foolish, talkative person
d) an eyelid
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: PREDATITIOUS
 
ADJ.
characterized by plundering, pillaging, or robbing; predatory
...1659 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin praedaticius, -itius taken as booty or plunder
from praedari, praedat- to plunder + -itious
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1659 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...not predaticious to any, but propitious to all true Saints;"
From: A Sermon Preached ...at the Funeral of
...Dr. Brounrig, dated 1659
By: John Gauden, 1660
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
BLELLUM c) a foolish, talkative person, an idle chatterer ...1787 Scot.