VERB
to swing a child up and down on one's foot ...1848
 
ETYMOLOGY
Grown-ups often amused children in this way, sitting on a chair or sofa, repeating the nursery rhyme:
 
Ride a cock-horse
To Banbury Cross,
To see an old woman
Ride on a white horse,
With rings on her fingers
And bells on her toes,
She shall have music
Wherever she goes.
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1848 - See Example below
 
EXAMPLE
"...that she caught up little Miss Toodle, who was running past,
and took her to Banbury Cross immediately."

From: Dombey and Son
By: Charles Dickens, 1848
 
SOURCES
• Dictionary of Idiomatic English Phrases, James Main Dixon, 1891
 

NOUN
foolish talking, vain babbling, a talking like an ass ...1674 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek όνος (ónos) ass + λόγος (lógos) speech
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1674 - Onology, Vain babling, talking like an Ass
From: Glossographia Anglicana Nova, or, A Dictionary Interpreting such Hard Words...
Thomas Blount, 1674 (Edition 4)
 
EXAMPLE
"...A philosopher may learn from an ass; I shall take your words
in my own sense, but I foresee that many will follow you when
hey think they are amending me." And this is the true account of the
origin of ontology simultaneously with that onology which
more than one eminent German, to say nothing of others,
has unconsciously preferred."
 
From: The Athenaeum Journal of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts
July to December, 1860
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• The New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language,
John Ash, 1795
• The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia,
William Dwight Whitney, 1889-1891
• A Standard Dictionary of the English Language,
Isaac K. Funk, 1908
• Webster's International Dictionary of the English Language,
​Noah Porter, 1895

NOUN
a large clenched fist that can deal a heavy blow;
hence, a rough, brutal fellow, a thug ...1575 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from club + fist
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1575 - See Example below
 
EXAMPLE
"...The rascall rude, the rooge, the clubfist gript My little arme."
 
From: Parts added to The Mirror for Magistrates
Tragedy 5 Sabrine, 1575
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia,
William Dwight Whitney, 1889-1891
• A Dictionary of the English Language,
Samuel Johnson, 1827
• A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words,
A.L. Mayhew, 1914
• Webster's International Dictionary of the English Language,
​Noah Porter, 1895
 

ADJ.
of the nature of 'farandine' (see Etymology);
hence, second-rate, worthless ...1675 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from 'farandine'
'farandine' was a cloth used in the 17th century made partly of silk,
and partly of wool or hair
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1675 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...You louzy farandinical Sots, Reputation!"
 
From: The Mock Tempest
By: Thomas Duffett, 1675
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 

VERB
to droop or bend downwards ...1880 rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from ppl. stem of Latin nutare to nod
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1880 - See Example below
 
EXAMPLE
"...he has shown in the case of certain seedlings, whose tips are bent downwards (or which nutate), that whilst the ..."
 
From: The Power of Movement in Plants
By: Charles & Francis Darwin, 1880
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 

​1. DOLLY-BONES
a) the buttocks
b) the knees
c) the feet
 
2. KETCHED
a) caught
b) pregnant
c) hanged
 
3. THORN-SPECKLES
a) freckles
b) splinters
c) roses
 
4. HAM-CASES
a) shoes
b) trousers
c) gloves
 
5. OVERITIOUS
a) boisterous, headstrong, impetuous
b) intoxicated with alcohol
c) past a bad situation and moving on
 
6. BIBBLES
a) knickknacks, odds and ends
b) mucus from the nose
c) young chickens
 
7. CANDLES OF THE NIGHT
a) vehicle lights
b) the northern lights
c) stars
 
8. SPURCIDICAL
a) given to excessive spitting or salvation
b) genuine, authentic, straightforward
c) speaking dishonestly, obscenely, or smuttily
 
9. MAMMONIST
a) a child brought up by its grandmother
b) a person devoted to the acquisition of wealth
c) one who is dainty in eating
 
10. WITCHES' KNICKERS
a) men's boxer shorts
b) plastic bags caught up in trees or shrubs
c) useless possessions

ADJ.
1. short, stumpy, dwarfish, stunted ...1756 Scot. & N. Eng. dial.
2. short-tempered, easily offended, sulky, out of humour, pettish, huffy ...1825 Scot. & Eng. dial.
3. misty, foggy ...1879 Scot.& Eng. dial.
 
ETYMOLOGY
(adj. 1) from strunt (n.) anything cut short or stunted (Eng. dial.)
(adj. 2) from strunt (n.) a fit of ill humour or sulkiness (Eng. dial.)
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1756 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...and all the road we had to travell was a dead, sandy desert, covered
with a poor strunty heather and a good deall of oak wood."
 
From: Mrs. Calderwood's Journey
By: Margaret Calderwood, 1756
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• The English Dialect Dictionary,
Joseph Wright, 1898-1905
• A Glossary of North Country Words,
John Trotter Brockett, 1825
• Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language,
​John Jamieson, John Johnstone, 1867 

also ORNEFY
 
VERB
to adorn, to ornament ...1594 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from French orner or Latin ornare, to adorn
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1594 - see Example below
 
EXAMPLE
"...They likewise ornefied their city with new buildings..."
 
From: Machiavelli's Florentine Historie
Translated By: Thomas Bedingfield, 1594
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 

VERB
to make possible ...1829
 
ETYMOLOGY
from possibility + -ate
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1829 - see Example below
 
EXAMPLE
"...But that this object has been possibilitated, must be understood
from a resolution recently past..."
 
From: The Quarterly Review
Principles of Elementary Teaching, 1829
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 

also EXUPERATE
 
VERB
1. to overtop, to surmount, to surpass, to exceed, to excel; to overcome
...1559 obs.
2. to abound ...1625 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin ex(s)uperat- ppl. stem of ex(s)uperare to surpass
from ex- + superare to rise above
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1559 - see Example below
 
EXAMPLE (for vb. 1)
"...And if bewtie bred such blisfulnesse,
Enamouring both God and man,
Good lady, let no wilfulnesse,
Exuperate your bewtie, then,
To slaye the hertes, that yeld and crave,
Ladye! ladye!
The graunt of your good wil to have,
My deare ladye."
 
From: The Pangs and Fits of Love
By: William Elderton, 1559
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• The English Dictionarie or an Interpreter of Hard English Words, 
Henry Cockeram, 1647
• The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia,
William Dwight Whitney, 1889-1891
• The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language,
​Rev. John Ogilvie, 1847-1850

ADJ.
disorderly, riotous ...1602 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from 'rout' (n.)
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1602 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Their most incestuous, lecherous, and routious Drinke-mad Feasts."
 
From: Albions England
Or, Historicall Map of the Same Island
Revised and Inlarged (books I-XIII)
By: William Warner, 1602
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 

ADJ.
dull-witted, stupid, blockheaded, simple-minded ...1563 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
variant of 'duncical' from dunce
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1563 - See Example below
 
EXAMPLE
"...all those decretall letters, nothing sauouring of that age,
but rather of the latter dunsticall times that followed."
 
From: The Acts and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Dayes"
By: John Foxe, 1563
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words,
​James Halliwell, 1858
 

ADJ.
boiling, bubbling ...1669 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin bullientem, pr. pple. of bullire, to boil
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1669 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...I left the iron tube in the same posture: but this day one of the ends
of it being unstopped, and some beans taken out, the murmur
of the bullient water was heard, as before."
 
From: The Second Continuation of Physico-Mechanical Experiments
By:  Robert Boyle, 1669
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 

ADJ.
1. full of desire or cupidity, covetous, desirous, greedy ...1656 rare
2. lustful, libidinous, amorous ...1859 nonce use
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin type cupidinosus, from cupido, cupidinis desire
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1656 - Cupidinous, Cupidous, covetous, desirous, greedy
From Blount Glossographia, 1656
 
EXAMPLE (for def. 2)
"...It's a wholesome interlude to your extremely
Cupidinous behaviour, my dear boy."
 
From: The Ordeal of Richard Feverel
By: George Meredith, 1859
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 

ADJ.
in some British schools, appended to a surname to designate
the youngest (in age or standing) of three or four boys
having the same surname; e.g. J. Smith minimus ...1791
 
NOUN
1. a creature of the smallest size; a dwarf;
a small or insignificant person ...1590
2. the little finger, the little toe ...1881
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin minimus smallest
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1590 - See Example below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Get you gone, you dwarfe,
You minimus of hindering knotgrass made,
You bead, you acorn!
 
From: A Midsummer Night's Dream
By: William Shakespeare, 1590
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language,
Rev. John Ogilvie, 1847-1850
• A Shakespeare Glossary,
C.T. Onions, 1911
• Dictionary of Early English,
Joseph Shipley, 1955
• The Shakespearian Referee,
J.H. Siddons, 1886
• Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English,
​Thomas Wright, 1880

NOUN
a mole on the skin ...1547 obs. exc. Scot.
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1547 - Man geni, Mole, hony spotte
From: A Dictionary in English and Welsh
By: William Salesbury, 1547
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• The English Dialect Dictionary,
Joseph Wright, 1898-1905
• A Scots Dialect Dictionary,
​Alexander Warrack, 1911
 

ADJ.
hurriedly done; irregular, disorderly, confused;
haphazard, random ...1607 rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin tumultuarius, belonging to hurry or tumult
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1607 - see Example below
 
EXAMPLE
"...and therfor such turbulent, and tumultuarious spirits
were subject to that lawe."
 
From: The Dolefull Knell, of Thomas Bell, 1607
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 

ADJ.
noisy, harsh-sounding, loud, boisterous ...1637 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from medieval Latin streperus, noisy
from strepere, to make a noise
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1637 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
:...When Triton with his pearly trumpets blew
A streperous blast, to summon all the crew..."
 
From: Londini Speculum: or.
Londons Mirror
By: Thomas Heywood, 1637
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia,
William Dwight Whitney, 1889-1891
• The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language,
Rev. John Ogilvie, 1847-1850
• A Dictionary of the English Language,
Samuel Johnson, 1827
 

also GREASE THE GILLS
 
VERB
to make a good or luxurious meal; to have a good feed;
​to eat heartily ...Bk1860 sl.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from grease (vb.) to eat (sl.) + gills (n.) the cheeks (sl.)
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
? 1860 - "To grease one's GILLS,"  "to have a good feed,"
or make a hearty meal
From: A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words,
​John Camden Hotten, 1860
 
EXAMPLE
"...By jove, to grease my gills at last!"
 
From: The Ruins
By: Trace Farrell, 1998
 
SOURCES
• A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words,
John Camden Hotten, 1860
• Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present,
John S. Farmer, W.E. Henley, 1891-1902