Daily Word Quiz
 
CANNY WIFE
a) a thrifty housewife
b) a midwife
c) an unmarried woman living with a man
d) a shrewd, scheming woman
 
Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: ELOZABLE
 
ADJ.
readily influenced by flattery; able to be wheedled or coaxed
...1537 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
as if from Old French eslosable, from esloser to praise
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1537 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...but the Execution of the Laws would reach them, as well as others,
who in the time of Tarquin, it seems, found the Prince more elozable."
 
From: Machiavel's Vindication of Himself and His Writings
In The Harleian Miscellany, 1537
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
CANNY WIFE b) a midwife ...1810 Scot

Daily Word Quiz
 
SPREAD A RABBIT EAR TO THE BREEZE
a) to completely ignore someone
b) to listen intently
c) to intoxicate; to make dead drunk
d) to deceive, to dupe
 
Answer below.
 
Today's Featured Word: BROILERY
 
NOUN
dissension; strife; disturbance, disorder ...1521 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from French brouillerie from brouiller to broil
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1521 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...The archbishop of Saint Andrewis putteth all his possible power
to procure their destruction, and to rere broilerie, warre,
and revolution in the Realme..."
 
From: Original Letters
Edited by Henry Ellis, 1521
Sir Thomas More to Cardinal Wolsey, upon the Affairs of Scotland
 
 Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
SPREAD A RABBIT EAR TO THE BREEZE
​b) to listen intently ...20C Amer. sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
NABALISTIC
a) well-to-do, living comfortably
b) neat, trim, well-dressed
c) of things: inferior, paltry
d) churlish, miserly
 
Answer below.
  
Today's Featured Word: PUMILIO
also PUMILO, POMILIO
 
NOUN
a dwarf; a diminutive person or plant ...1576 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin pumilio, pumilo a dwarf
from pumilis dwarfish
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1576 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...He was (belike) some Pomilio or litle dwarfe,
and that made him to vse this eironical method."
 
From: A Panoplie of Epistles
By Abraham Fleming, 1576

Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
NABALISTIC d) churlish, miserly ...1659 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
PEDLAR'S HORSE
a) a mule
b) the legs
c) a walking-stick
d) a dog
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: DIVICIATE
 
VERB
to corrupt, to defile; to deprive a woman of chastity ...c1470 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from di- or de- + Latin vitiare (viciare) to spoil, to injure, to mar,
from vitium blemish
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1470 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"... The women euer they diuiciate
In euery place, and fouly defflorate."
 
From: The Chronicle of Iohn Hardyng, c1470
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
PEDLAR'S HORSE c) a walking-stick ...c1780

Daily Word Quiz
 
THE HAPPY WARRIOR
a) Theodore Roosevelt
b) William Taft
c) Woodrow Wilson
d) Franklin D. Roosevelt
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: RUFTY-TUFTY
 
ADJ.
rude, rough; boisterous; impudent ...1606 obs.
 
INT.
an expression of disapproval ...1606 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
a fanciful/reduplicative formation
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1606 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"... Where I as Vince is, I would handle you
In ruftie tuftie wise, in your right kinde."
 
From: The Gentleman Usher
By: George Chapman, 1606
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
THE HAPPY WARRIOR a) Theodore Roosevelt ...20C Amer. sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
SCROYLE
a) a crowd of people; a herd of horses or other animals
b) a mean fellow; a rascal; a scoundrel
c) a standing dead tree
d) a malingerer, or one who avoids duty
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: WHIFFMAGIG
 
NOUN
1. a trifler; an insignificant, contemptible person;
a mean, paltry person ...1871
2. a shifty or evasive person; a base person ...1871
 
ETYMOLOGY
variant of whiffler a trifler, an insignificant or contemptible person
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1871 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"... Plenty of foreign whiffmagigs are to be found,
but you won't come upon a fellow like that."
 
From: The Adventures of Harry Richmond
By: George Meredith, 1871
  
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
SCROYLE b) a mean fellow; a rascal; a scoundrel ...1595 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
RENICKY-BOO
a) a flighty, giddy girl
b) a thing; a gadget; a contraption
c) a drinking spree
d) a deceptive story or scheme; a prank; a scam
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: MICROPSYCHY
 
NOUN
cowardice, feeble courage, faintness of heart,
pusillanimity ...1651 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek μικρόψυχος (mikrópsychos) pusillanimous
+ -ψυχή (psychí) soul
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1651 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"... if the powers and strength, being outed of their vigour, and now exanimated into a dull and faint mycropsychie, 
no disease can in the least degree"
 
From: Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeos
By: Noah Biggs, Chymiatrophilos, 1651
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
RENICKY-BOO d) a deceptive story or scheme; a prank; a scam ...1916 Amer. dial.

Daily Word Quiz
 
VAGIENT
a) debased, low, of evil propensities
b) crying, squalling, wailing; said of infants
c) wandering, roaming, unsettled
d) empty
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: LICIOUS
 
ADJ.
delicious, tasty, savoury ...c1420 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
aphetic form of delicious
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1420 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"... Thay did as the marchand bade;
Mete and drinke ynughe thay hade,
With licius drinke and clere."
 
From: Sir Amadace, c1420
 
 Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
VAGIENT b) crying, squalling, wailing; said of infants ...1628 obs.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
BONZERINA
a) marijuana
b) anything large of its kind
c) a notably beautiful woman
d) an umbrella
 
Answer below.
 
Today's Featured Word: CHINCHERY
 
NOUN
niggardliness, miserliness, avarice ...c1386 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from chincher a niggard, a miser + -y
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1386 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...bycause of his skarsete and chyncherie, in the same manere
is he to blame, that spendeth over largely."
 
From: The Canterbury Tales, the Tale of Melibeus
By: Geoffrey Chaucer, c1386
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
BONZERINA c) a notably beautiful woman ...1900s Aust. sl.
 

Daily Word Quiz
 
MACROBIAN
a) a slayer of kangaroos
b) one who has a long life
c) a killer or murderer
d) a kept mistress; a prostitute
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: HIDOUS
 
VERB
1. to be terrified of ...c1380 obs. rare
2. to feel horror, to dread, to abhor ...1382 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from hidous hideous
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1380 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"... for a man kyndeli hidousiþ derknesse and is gladid
bi liȝt as oure witt telliþ. "
 
From: Select English works of John Wyclif
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
MACROBIAN b) one who has a long life ...1727

Daily Word Quiz
 
TWISH
a) an effeminate person
b) a tree with a twisted grain
c) an exclamation of contempt or vexation
d) a state of agitation or restlessness
 
Answer below.
 
Today's Featured Word: JEOPARDIOUS
 
ADJ.
fraught with danger or risk;
hazardous, risky, perilous, dangerous ...1502 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from jeopardy + -ous
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1502 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...O it is ferefull to dy, but parauenture
it is more ieoperdyous to lyve lenger."
 
From: A Full Deuout and Gostely Treatyse of the Imytacyon
and Folowynge the Blessed Lyfe of
Our Moste Mercyfull Sauyour Cryste
Translated by: William Atkynson, Thomas à Kempis, 1502
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
TWISH c) an exclamation of contempt or vexation
​...1577 obs. exc. Eng. dial.

Daily Word Quiz
 
POWFAG
a) to tire; to fatigue the brain
b) to talk non-stop, to chatter noisily
c) to bomb a target successfully from the air
d) to put on airs
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: IMPORTLESS
 
ADJ.
without import or significance; trivial, unimportant;
meaningless ...1606 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from import (n.) importance, significance + -less
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1606 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...That matter needlesse of importlesse burthen
Diuide thy lips; then we are confident
 
From: Troylus and Cressida
By: William Shakespeare, 1606
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
POWFAG a) to tire; to fatigue the brain ...1864 Eng. dial.

Daily Word Quiz
 
OBLIVE
a) to forget
b) to leave out, to omit
c) to hide, to conceal
d) to comply with, to yield to, to obey
 
Answer below.
 
 Today's Featured Word: STARKLE
 
VERB
1. to use threatening gestures ...1527 obs.
2. to shudder with fear, to quake, to be afraid ...1527 obs.
3. to cause dissension, to make a stir ...1544 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
apparently a variant of startle (vb.)
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
"...and warne by his pleyng and starclynge what was to comynge.
From: Caxton's Trevisa, 1527
 
EXAMPLE
"...If those condemne you for altering of your course,
I cannot blame you to starkle."
 
From: Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God Miles Smith,
Late Lord Bishop of Glocester
By: Miles Smith, a1624
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
OBLIVE a) to forget ...c1500 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
KACK
a) a small child
b) a saddle, especially an old or ill-fitting one
c) excrement
d) all the above
 
Answer below.
 
Today's Featured Word: NIPCHEESE
 
ADJ.
mean, miserly, niggardly ...1819
 
NOUN
1. a ship's purser ...1785 sl. obs.
2. a mean or miserly person; a parsimonious, covetous person;
a skinflint ...1825
 
ETYMOLOGY
from nip (vb.) to steal, to snatch + cheese
'one who steals the cheese'
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785
'Nip cheese, a nick name for the purser of a ship'
 
EXAMPLE (for adj.)
"...who adopt this nip-cheese, candle-end saving, pebble-peeling,
flea-skinning principle."
 
From: Lady Chesterfield's Letters to Her Daughter
By: George Augustus Sala, 1860
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia,
William Dwight Whitney, 1889-1891
• A Standard Dictionary of the English Language,
Isaac K. Funk, 1908
• The Encyclopaedic Dictionary,
Robert Hunter, 1879-1888
• Dictionary of Early English,
Joseph Shipley, 1955
• The English Dialect Dictionary,
Joseph Wright, 1898-1905
 
 Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
KACK d) all the above
- a small child ...1895 Amer. dial.
- a saddle ...1936 Amer. dial.
- excrement ...1972 Aust. sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
FLAP-SAUCE
a) a very talkative person
b) a glutton
c) an argument, a dispute
d) a dog that drools
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: TOLERANTIAL
 
ADJ.
pert. to tolerance, tolerant ...1681 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin tolerantia tolerance + -al
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1681 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...till we have tried our Strength and Patience to the quick in sharp exercises of Vertue's other branch, the Tolerantial part..."
 
From: Religio Clerici, 1681
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
FLAP-SAUCE b) a glutton ...1540 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
NUMMI-AMOROUS
a) fond of food
b) loving oneself; egotistic
c) fond of staying in bed late
d) fond of or loving money
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: FURIAL
 
ADJ.
furious, raging, violent ...c1386 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Old French furial, from Latin furialis furious, frenzied,
from furia fury
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1386 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...That ye be in this furial pyne of helle?"
 
From: The Squieres Tale
By: Geoffrey Chaucer, c1386
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
NUMMI-AMOROUS d) fond of or loving money ...1650 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
CHEW ONE'S CABBAGE TWICE
a) to change one's mind
b) to vomit
c) to repeat oneself
d) to consider carefully before giving an opinion
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: TWITTLE
 
VERB
to utter idly, to chatter, to babble ...1577 obs.
 
ETYMOLOGY
apparently altered from tittle to tell or utter by way of tattle or gossip
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1577 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...and in other places ouer spare, it twitled more tales
out of schoole and drowned weightyer matters in silence..."
 
From: The Historie of Irelande
By: Richard Stanyhurst, 1577
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
CHEW ONE'S CABBAGE TWICE c) to repeat oneself ...L19 US sl.

Daily Word Quiz
 
WINBROW
a) a wrinkled forehead
b) an eyebrow
c) the summit of a hill or pass
d) all of the above
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: BLANDILOQUOUS
 
ADJ.
smooth-talking, flattering, fair-spoken ...1615 obs. rare
 
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin blandiloquus persuasive in speech
from Latin blandus bland + stem of loqui to speak + -ous
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1615 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Though he flatters with the voice of the hyena at the door,
and give blandiloquous proffers..."
 
From: The Blacke Devill, or The Apostle
By: Thomas Adams, 1615
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
• A Supplementary English Glossary,
O. Davies, T. Lewis, 1881
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
WINBROW b) an eyebrow ...1471 obs.

Daily Word Quiz
 
DEBELLISH
a) to scorn
b) to rob of beauty; to disfigure
c) to decrease, to wane
d) to conceal, to hide
 
Answer below.
 
 
Today's Featured Word: PALLIARDIZE
 
VERB
1. to fornicate ...1619 obs.
2. to be a procurer of ...1644 obs.
 
NOTE: the noun PALLIARDISE (lewdness, fornication, lechery) was also spelled PALLIARDIZE in the 16th and early 17th centuries.

ETYMOLOGY
from palliard (n.) a lewd fellow, a lecher + -ize
 
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1619 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Charlemaigne, whose eldest daughter was found
paillardising with one named Eginhard, his Secretary."
 
From: The Treasurie of Auncient and Moderne Times
(Times Storehouse etc.)
Translated out of P. Mexia and F. Sansovino
By: Thomas Milles, 1619
 
SOURCES
• A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles,
James Murray, 1887-1933
 
 
Daily Word Quiz Answer
 
DEBELLISH b) to rob of beauty; to disfigure ...1610 obs.