Daily Word Quiz
 
VAPULATE
a) to see, to look, to observe
b) to beat or strike
c) to vomit
d) to soil, to defile
 
Today's Featured Word
USTORIOUS
 
ADJ.
characterized by the faculty or power of burning;
able to be burnt; combustible ...1724 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin ustus pa. pple. of urere to burn + -orious
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1724 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...It is by an ustorious Quality in the Mirrour or Glass,
and by a cleaving power in the Wedge, arising from
a certain unknown substantial Form in them..."
From: Logick: or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth
By: Isaac Watts, 1724

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
VAPULATE
b) to beat or strike ...1603 rare
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
SWASIVIOUS
a) agreeably persuasive
b) pretentiously stylish; elegant
c) fierce, savage, violent, ill-tempered
d) speaking proudly or haughtily
 
Answer here

Today's Featured Word
RIDDLEMY RIDDLEMY
 
NOUN
unintelligible language, gibberish, rigmarole, nonsense ...1641 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from a fanciful formation of 'riddle me a riddle', or 'riddle my riddle', etc.
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1641 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Hea
I would be drunk
A thousand times to bed, rather than dream
Of any of their Riddlemy Riddlemies.
If they prove happy so: If not, let't go;
From: A Joviall Crew, Or, The Merry Beggars
By: Richard Brome, 1641

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
SWASIVIOUS
​a) agreeably persuasive ...1592 obs. rare
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
OGGLE
a) to see, to watch, to spy
b) to shudder or quiver for fear
c) to injure or destroy by treading
d) to irritate, to annoy
 
Answer below.

Today's Featured Word
JINNIPROUS
also JINIPPEROUS, JINNIPEROUS
 
ADJ.
spruce, trim; finical, over-particular ...1825 Sc.
 
ETYMOLOGY
the form suggests derived from English juniper, either from the tree's compact habit or the use of its berries as a flavouring or a disinfectant
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1825 - Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language
JINIPPEROUS adj. Spruce, trim, stiff. Aberd.
 
EXAMPLE
"...Sir Simon canna turn oot ane wi' a mair jinniprous heidpiece..."
From: Johnny Gibb of Gushetneuk
By: William Alexander, 1871

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
OGGLE
​b) to shudder or quiver for fear ...c1450 obs. rare

Daily Word Quiz
 
HAWBAW
a) an oboe
b) a hawthorn tree
c) a stupid, clumsy fellow; a lout
d) a loud or boisterous laugh

Answer below.
 
Today's Featured Word
FLEWSEY
 
ADJ.
soft and fluffy ...1711 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from flew, flue fluff
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1711 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...its flewsey Heads grow in round clusters with elegant feathered Seed."
From: Philosophical Transactions, Vol. XXVII, 1711

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
HAWBAW
​c) a stupid, clumsy fellow; a lout ...1872 Eng. dial.

Daily Word Quiz
 
ROOSTERED
a) exhausted, worn-out
b) angry, raging
c) deceived, tricked
d) drunk
 
Today's Featured Word
COXCOMB-BIRD
 
NOUN
a parrot ...1732 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from coxcomb + bird
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1732 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Some gen'ral Maxims, or be right by Chance.
The coxcomb bird, so talkative and grave
That from his Cage cries Cuckold, Whore and Knave..."
From: An Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard
Lord Viscount Cobham
By: Alexander Pope, 1732

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
ROOSTERED
​d) drunk ...20C sl.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
QUODLIBETIFICATE
a) to shrivel up; to make limp or flabby
b) of water: to make a noise in boiling
c) to pry, to try to find out
d) to deal quibblingly with

Answer below
 
Today's Featured Word
PROBANT
 
ADJ.
proving, demonstrating, convincing ...1908 rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin probantem pr. pple. of probare to prove
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1908 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...The true probant force of interior experience
regarding the existence of God."
From: The Month: an Illustrated Magazine of Literature, Science, and Art, Jan., 1908
 

Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
QUODLIBETIFICATE
d) to deal quibblingly with ...1743 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
MAXIMIOUS
a) nauseous, disgusting
b) of great power
c) plentiful, over-abundant
d) tiring, fatiguing
 
Today's Featured Word
NIDORULENT
 
ADJ.
of smells: of a strong and unpleasant nature ...1634 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from nidor a strong smell or odour + -ulent
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1634 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...that Countrie-men doe very well digest Beefe and Bacon,
which commonly they use; but will turne into nidorulent vapours,
​Partridge, Capons, ..."
 From: An Introduction or Compendious Way to Chyrurgerie
By: Ambroise Pare, 1634
 

Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
MAXIMIOUS
​b) of great power ...c1566

Daily Word Quiz
 
KNAPPISH
a) short in stature
b) rudely abrupt or forward; testy, spiteful
c) given to falsehoods
d) silly-looking, foolish
 
Answer Below

Today's Featured Word
IMPREJUDICATE
 
ADJ.
unprejudiced ...1640 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from im- + prejudicate biased, prejudiced
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1640 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...to the ful satisfaction of the whole world of free
and imprejudicat mindes."
 From: The Canterburians Self-Conviction
By: Robert Baillie, 1640

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
KNAPPISH
​b) rudely abrupt or forward; testy, spiteful ...1513 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
CURGLAFF
a) the shock felt when one first plunges into cold water
b) a slide on the ice on the buttocks
c) a mess, disorder
d) the cone of a pine or fir tree
 
Answer Below

Today's Featured Word
SPOUSE-BREACH
 
NOUN
1. adultery ...a1225 obs.
2. an adulterer ...c1315 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from spouse (n.) + -breach
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1225 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...one Bersabee spus bruche þe lefdi he lokede on...:
(adultery with Bathsheba, the lady upon whom he looked...)
From: The Ancren Riwle
A Treatise on the Rules and Duties of Monastic Life (a1225)

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
CURGLAFF
​a) the shock felt when one first plunges into cold water ...1825 Sc. obs.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
TIDDYWHOPPER
a) a log floating in coastal waters
b) a present given by a guest to the host
c) a bag for scraps, odds and ends, etc.
d) an untruth, a falsehood

Answer below
 
Today's Featured Word
MILLIONOUS
 
ADJ.
numbered by the million; counted in millions ...1666 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from million + -ous
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1666 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...for they arrive in millionous multitudes in Mary-Land
about the middle of September..."
 From: A Character of the Province of Maryland
By: George Alsop, 1666
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
TIDDYWHOPPER
​d) an untruth, a falsehood ...B1900 Eng. dial. obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
PIGRITIOUS
a) slothful
b) pawned
c) filthy, dirty
d) avaricious, greedy
 
 Today's Featured Word
HEELIEGOLEERIE
 
also HEELIGLEERIE, HELDIGOLEERY, HILDEGALEERIE, HILLIEGILEERIE, HULLYGOLEERIE
 
ADV.
topsy-turvy, in a state of confusion, higgledy-piggledy ...1808 Sc.
 
NOUN
confusion, hubbub, noise, a to-do, bustle ...1819 Sc.
 
ETYMOLOGY
apparently a fanciful formation originally from a children's action rhyme,
with influence from similar words like haligo-mary, hullabaloo,
whigmaleerie, bummeleerie, etc.
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1808 - Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language,
By: John Jamieson
Heeliegoleerie, adv. topsy-turvy
 
EXAMPLE
"...And barley-pickles flee round and round Hilliegileerie 'mang the bree."
From: Papistry Storm'd
By: William Tennant, 1827

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
PIGRITIOUS
​a) slothful ...1638 obs. rare

Daily Word Quiz
 
MOEY
a) a pendant earring
b) a cat
c) the face; the mouth
d) a drop of mucus hanging from the nose
 
 Today's Featured Word
ENORMITAN
 
NOUN
one who deviates from normal standards of behaviour;
one who behaves extravagantly ...1654 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from enormity (n.) something that is abnormal;
an irregularity, extravagance + -an
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1654 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...What St. Augustine said of some Enormitans
in his time, is no less true of ours..."
From: The Reign of King Charles
By: Hamon L'Estrange, 1654

 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
MOEY
c) the face; the mouth ...1859 sl.