Daily Word Quiz
 
IRRISORY
a) addicted to laughing or sneering at others
b) intoxicated with alcohol
c) impudent, defiant
d) angry, enraged, raging
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: GARRULATE
 
VERB
to say or speak with garrulity; to talk nonstop;
to utter in a chattering manner ...1656 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from ppl. stem of late Latin garrulare, from garrulus talkative
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1656 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Whatsoever these Quakers garrulate to the contrary."
 
From: A Defence of Scriptures
By: Immanuel A. Bourne
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
IRRISORY a) addicted to laughing or sneering at others ...1824 rare
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
HEEPY
a) a penny
b) a mule
c) a neighbour
d) a melancholy or listless person
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: CORSY
also CORSEY, CORSIE
 
ADJ.
corpulent, fat, plump, big-bodied, stout ...c1440 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from French corsé in Old French corsie having body, corpulent,
from cors body
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
Corcy, or corercyows. Corpulentus.
From: Promptorium Parvulorum, c1440
 
EXAMPLE
"...The corsy pasand Osyris hes slane"

From: The XIII Bukes of Eneados of the Famose Poete Virgill
Translated By: Gavin Douglas, 1513
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
HEEPY d) a melancholy or listless person ...1788 Scot. obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
GRUEL-STICK
a) a spoon
b) a ladle
c) a rifle
d) a walking stick
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Phrase: FUDDLE ONE'S NOSE
 
VERB
to get drunk ...1663
 
ETYMOLOGY
from fuddle (vb.) to confuse with drink
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1663 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Why that's as good as the Trick o'the Veil; do, dear Jane, quickly,
'twill make us excellent Sport at Night, and
we'll fuddle our Noses together, shall we dear Jane?"
 
From: Cutter of Coleman-Street
By: Abraham Cowley, 1663
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
GRUEL-STICK c) a rifle ...E20 military sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
LEIGHSTER
a) a gardener
b) a female liar
c) an interpreter
d) a lover or sweetheart
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: SHAMEVOUS
 
ADJ.
shameful, disgraceful ...c1475 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from 'shame', after bountevous, plentevous
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1475 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Aforn all will declare the Auenture,
hou Gaffray hym put to shamevous oppressure,"
 
From: The Romans of Partenay, or of Lusignen
Otherwise Known as The Tale of Melusine
Translated from the French of La Coudrette
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
LEIGHSTER b) a female liar ...c1325 obs

Daily Word Quiz
 
RALPH LYNN
a) gin
b) a male goat
c) a practical joke
d) crack cocaine
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: MISOGAMIC
 
ADJ.
marriage-hating ...1803 rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from modern Latin misogamia from Greek misogamos hating marriage
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1803 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...the prejudices of education, and some leaning (natural enough
in a bachelor) towards the misogamic doctrines of Malthus..."
 
From: The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity
By: John Dawson, 1803
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
RALPH LYNN a) gin ...1920s rhyming sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
QUABBLE
a) confusion
b) a fat-bellied person
c) a duck
d) one who drinks deeply
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: HEAVISOME
 
ADJ.
of heavy mood, doleful, sad, dejected;
dull, gloomy, dark ...1435 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Middle English hevisum = heavy (adj.) + -some
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1435 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Heuisum longyng of þis exile me castis downe"
 
From: The Fire of Love
Translated By: Richard Misyn, 1435
(Englished from Hampole's De Incendio Amoris)
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words,
James Halliwell, 1855
• A Dictionary of the English Language,
Samuel Johnson, 1827
• The English Dialect Dictionary,
Joseph Wright, 1898-1905
• A Glossary of North Country Words,
​John Trotter Brockett, 1825
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
QUABBLE a) confusion ...1887 Eng. dial.

Daily Word Quiz
 
ADJUTORIOUS
a) tending to grow less
b) helpful, giving aid, assisting
c) not based on reason; absurd
d) bewildered, confused, muddled
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: LITHERBY
 
NOUN
a base or rascally person; a bad, wicked person ...1598 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from lither (adj.) bad, wicked, base + -by
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1598 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Ther's no time to plaie the litherbie now, or lasie lubber."
 
From: Terence's 'The Comedies'
Translated By: Richard Bernard, 1598
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
ADJUTORIOUS b) helpful, giving aid, assisting ...1657 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
EXUPERATE
a) to wander at large, to roam at will
b) to go to extravagance in
c) to banish; to put to flight
d) to surpass, to excel; to overcome
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: RAM-HEAD
 
NOUN
1. a halyard block ...1514 nautical usage obs.
2. one who has a head like a ram; a dull, thick-witted, obstinate person;
a stupid person, a blockhead ...1605 obs.
3. a cuckold ...1632 obs.
 
VERB
to make a cuckold of ...1713 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from ram (n.) a male sheep
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
"Ramehedes with ij shevers of Brasse"
In Michael Oppenheim's A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy
... (1896)
"Here ensuyth An Inventorie or boke of All such Stuff, tacle, apparell, Ordynaunce, Artillarie and habillamentes for the warre...", 1514
 
EXAMPLE (noun 2)
"...And make the ram-heads hear that are within."
 
From: The Play of Stucley (1605)
in The School of Shakspere, 1878
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
EXUPERATE d) to surpass, to excel; to overcome ...1559 obs.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
SNAPPER
a) the point or climax of a story or joke
b) a wooden match
c) a small fast-breaking wave
d) all of the above
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: TWIT-TWAT
 
ADJ.
addicted to chatter, gossiping ...1677 obs.
 
NOUN
1. idle talk, chatter, tittle-tattle ...1677 obs.
2. the house-sparrow ...1891
 
ETYMOLOGY
apparently from twittle-twattle, altered from tittle-tattle
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1677 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...I believe this way of ordering the young Women in Germany is one
great cause that the German women have so little of the twit twat."
 
From: England's Improvement by Sea and Land
By: Andrew Tarranton, 1677
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
SNAPPER d) all of the above.
- the point or climax of a story or joke ...1857 Amer. sl.
- a wooden match ...1970 Amer. sl.
- a small fast-breaking wave ...1977 Aust. sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
BENGAL BLANKET
a) the sun; a blue sky
b) a tramp; an itinerant worker
c) a samosa
d) a tiger
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: QUAKE-BELLY
also QUACK-BELLY
 
NOUN
a fat-bellied person ...1622 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from quake + belly
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1622 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...that they will all forsooth be alike; the tall man and the short;
the Quack-belly, as the Scranio; the fat, as the leane..."
 
From: The Rogue;
Or The Life of Guzman de Alfarache
Written in Spanish By: Mateo Aleman
Translated By: James Mabbe, 1622
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
BENGAL BLANKET a) the sun; a blue sky ...19C Anglo-Indian

Daily Word Quiz
 
THORN-BACK
a) an old maid
b) a hedgehog
c) a harmless incompetent in public office
d) a monstrous lie
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: AWKLY
 
ADJ.
untoward, perverse ...1556 obs.
 
ADVERB
1. in the wrong direction, backhanded or left-handed wise;
hence, sinisterly, unluckily ...c1440 obs.
2. perversely, untowardly ...c1440 obs.
3. inauspiciously ...1565 obs.
4. in ungainly fashion, clumsily, awkwardly ...1603 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from awk (adj.) + -ly
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
Awkly or wrongly, sinistre
From: Promptorium Parvulorum, c1440
 
EXAMPLE (for adv. 1)
"...They (the Egyptians) write their letters awkelie (i.e. from right to left)."
 
From: The Abridgment of the Histories of Trogus Pompeius,
Collected and Wrytten in the Laten Tonge
By: the famous historiographer Iustine
Translated into English by: Arthur Goldyng, 1564
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
THORN-BACK a) an old maid ...17C Brit. sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
MACTATE 
a) to spot, to stain
b) to exasperate; to anger
c) to kill or slay
d) to cause to move more quickly; to urge, to press on
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: BOWBERT
also BOWBARD, BOWBART
 
ADJ.
lazy, inactive ...1513 Scot. obs.
 
NOUN
a sluggish fellow, a dull lout, an oaf ...1513 Scot. obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
apparently from Old French bobert stupid fellow, lout
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1513 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Or fra thar hyve togyddir in a rowt
Expellis the bowbart beist, the faynt drone be."
 
From: Virgil's Aeneid
Translated By: Gavin Douglas, 1513
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, James Murray, 1887-1933
• The Encyclopaedic Dictionary, Robert Hunter, 1879-188
• An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, John Jamieson, 1879-1887
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
MACTATE c) to kill or slay ...1623 obs.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
CHEESE-CUTTER
a) a disgusting or contemptible fellow
b) a prominent and aquiline nose
c) a prison guard
d) a hatchet
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: POPPINODDLES
 
NOUN
a boyish term for a somersault ...1867 Eng. dial. (Cumberland)
 
ETYMOLOGY
? - noddles for head, as in over 'pop over the head'
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
Poppinoddles, a boyish term for a summerset.
From: A Glossary of the Words and Phrases of Cumberland: Supplement
By: William Dickinson, 1867
 
EXAMPLE
"..."I is to tumble the poppenoddles," cries the bullet-headed gentleman.
And presently the rustic young gamester is tossing somersets for a penny."
 
From: The Shadow of a Crime
By: Thomas Henry Hall Caine, 1885
 
SOURCES
• The English Dialect Dictionary,
Joseph Wright, 1898-1905
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
CHEESE-CUTTER b) a prominent and aquiline nose ...1873 sl.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
QUOCK
a) to waddle
b) to work as a prostitute
c) to make a noise like a duck, to quack
d) to vomit
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: VOLPONE
 
NOUN
a cunning schemer or miser; a hoarder of wealth ...1710 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
the name of the chief character in Ben Jonson's play,
"Volpone, or The Fox"
from Italian volpone a crafty old fox, from volpe fox
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1710 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...In what moving and lively Colours does the Holy Psalmist paint
out the crafty Insiduousness of such wilely Volpones?"
 
From: The Tryal of Dr. Henry Sacheverell,
Before the House of Peers, for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, 1710
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
QUOCK d) to vomit ...B1900 Eng. dial.

Daily Word Quiz
 
GO BETWEEN BARK AND TREE
a) to disagree with popular opinion
b) to sit lazily in front of a fire
c) to meddle, especially in family matters
d) all of the above
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: CONTRANITENT
 
ADJ.
struggling or striving in opposition ...1712 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from contra- against, in opposition + Latin nitentem struggling
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1712 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...never quit hold of his trusty cudgel; which by the contranitent
Force of two so great Powers broke short in his Hands."
 
From: Lewis Baboon Turned Honest,
and John Bull Politician
Being the Fourth Part of Law is a Bottomless Pit
By: John Arbuthnot
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
GO BETWEEN BARK AND TREE c) to meddle,
especially in family matters ...1562
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
WUMBLE-CROPPED
a) of the hair: cut very short
b) starving, very hungry
c) having much wealth
d) vaguely unwell, under the weather
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: GIGANTINE
 
ADJ.
1. very great in quantity or amount ...1605 obs.
2. large, huge, gigantic ...1664 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from French gigantin uncountable
from Latin gigant-, gigas giant
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1605 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...For that Gygantine state of mind which possesseth
the trowblers of the world."
 
From: The Advancement of Learning
By: Francis Bacon, 1605
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
​James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
WUMBLE-CROPPED d)  vaguely unwell, under the weather ...1972 Amer. dial.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
ANCIPITOUS
a) doubtful, uncertain; ambiguous
b) excellent, pleasant, delightful
c) mischievous
d) evasive, non-committal
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: OPPROBRATORY
 
ADJ.
conveying reproach or detraction ...1833 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from ppl. stem of Latin opprobrare taunt, reproach
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1833 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...I hoped to find some observation, either
approbatory or opprobatory*, touching this portico..."
 
* erroneous spelling
 
From: Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country
"Wilkins and the Wiseacre Press"
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
ANCIPITOUS a) doubtful, uncertain; ambiguous ...1652 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
SIMULACRIZE
a) to mimic, to ape
b) to pretend
c) to use profane language, to swear
d) to mutter, to mumble
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: SUFFRAGATORY
 
ADJ.
exercising a right to vote ...1813 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin suffragatorius belonging to the support of a candidate
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1813 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...might deserve attention in France, when suffragatory institutions
were to be solicited at the hands of pre-established power."
 
From: The Monthly Magazine, 1813
"Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters"
"Plumping at Elections"
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
SIMULACRIZE b) to pretend ...1845

Daily Word Quiz
 
NICODEMICAL
a) frugal, saving
b) foul-mouthed, vulgar
c) timid
d) reckless, careless
 
Answer below.

 
 Today's Featured Word: ECSTASIATE
 
VERB
to go into an ecstasy, to cause to become ecstatic;
to give pleasurable excitement to ...1823 rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from ecstasy from Middle English extasie + -ate
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1823 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...then the singer may give full scope to his genius, then
 
"With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,"
 
he may extasiate* his audience, and then, if he has any power,
that power will assuredly be deeply felt."

​(* see etymology) 
From: The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal,
July to December 1823
"On the Art of Singing Songs"
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
NICODEMICAL c) timid ...1642 obs. rare