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UPBRAY NOUN a reproach or reproof ...1590 obs. VERB 1. to upbraid; to reproach, reprove, or censure; to find fault with, to carp at ...1581 obs. exc. Eng. dial. 2. of food: to rise in the stomach; to make uneasy with indigestion ...1598 obs. exc. Eng. dial. 3. to give utterance to ...c1600 obs. exc. Eng. dial. ETYMOLOGY an erroneous back-formation from upbrayd, obsolete past tense of upbraid (vb.) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1581 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Harkē a whiles you Portingal. Truly I may selfe haue heard the Iewes obbraying vs christiāns with the same faults, wherwith you do reproch vs now touching disordered life..." From: Against Ierome Osorius Byshopp of Siluane - Walter Haddon and John Foxe Translated by James Bell
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SLUMMOCKY also SLAMMOCKY, SLAWMECKY, SLOMMACHY, SLOMMACKY, SLUMMACKY, SLUMMUCKY ADJ. 1. slovenly, untidy; careless, sloppy ...1855 colloq. & Eng. dial. 2. of a person's body: soft and flabby, out of shape ...1861 colloq. & Eng. dial. 3. ungainly, awkward; characterized by clumsy or careless movement ...1865 colloq. & Eng. dial. ETYMOLOGY adj.1) probably from slummock (n. a person who is habitually negligent or lazy with regard to person appearance or household cleanliness) + -y adj. 2 & 3) probably from slummock (vb. to walk or move in a heavy, ungainly, clumsy, or careless manner) + -y FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1855 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Why, Massa, de common slommachy way people ab ob boiling it on de cob; dat she said was only half a way. Oh, Lordy gracious, one way she wented, de corn was as white as snow, as light as puff, and so delicate it disgested itself in de mout..." From: Nature and Human Nature, by the Author of 'Sam Slick, The Clockmaker' - Thomas Chandler Haliburton APIFACTURE NOUN the work of bees; the production of honey by bees ...1622 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin apis bee + factūra making, production FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1622 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Next let vs somewhat digresse from Manufacture, to Apifacture, (and with Salomon the wise, send the sluggard to imitate the painefull and laborious Bees) for the increase of Hony and Waxe in England, Scotland and Ireland, and others of his Maiesties dominions: and let mans helpe succour this Apifacture, if it may be so called, as followeth...." From: Consuetudo, Vel Lex Mercatoria; Or, The Ancient Law-Merchant - Gerald de Malynes WHUTTER NOUN the sound of the flapping of the wings of a large bird, or of a flight of birds ...1831 ETYMOLOGY imitative FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1831 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...There is silence in the Snuggery from half-past seven till half-past eight; or, rather, a sound like the whutter of wild-fowl on the feed along a mud-bank, by night, in Poole Harbour, at low-water, as described by Colonel Hawker..." From: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Vol. XXIX. January - June, 1831 in: Noctes Ambrosianae - John Wilson KILL-DEVIL ADJ. that would kill devils; deadly ...1831 NOUN 1. a recklessly daring fellow ...a1593 obs. 2. brandy or rum, or newly-made rum ...1647-50 obs. colloq. 3. a gun ...1699 UK sl. 4. an artificial bait used in angling, made to spin in the water like a wounded fish ...1833 5. strong alcohol, esp. whisky ...1867 US sl. 6. very strong tobacco ...1953 US sl. ETYMOLOGY from kill (vb.) + -devil FIRST DOCUMENTED USE a1593 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Let your Balio and your Belcher come here, and Ile knocke them, they were neuer so knockt since they were diuels, say I should kill one of them, what would folkes say? "Do ye see yonder tall fellow in the round slop,, hee has kild the diuell," so I should be cald kill diuell all the parish ouer..." From: The Tragicall History of D. Faustus - Christopher Marlowe BOHUNKUS NOUN 1. silly behaviour, nonsense ...1918 obs. rare, originally and chiefly US usage 2. (often derogatory) an eastern or southeastern European, esp. of the working class; a Bohemian; a foreigner ...1924 Amer. dial. 3. a stupid, obnoxious, or worthless person; often used as a term of abuse or a contemptuous form of address ...1933 4. a person's buttocks; the bottom, the backside ...1941 ETYMOLOGY apparently from the title of a comic song and the name of its rustic and unintelligent character, Bohunkus (1870s) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1918 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Now look here! Any more shilly-shallying and bohunkus and I fire the both of you. See?..." From: The Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia) 14 Dec, 1918 in: Suffering Husbands, by Wallace Irwin NIDGERY NOUN a small or worthless object; a trifle; a knickknack; a piece of foolery ...1611 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from French nigerie (a trifle) from niger (to trifle or waste time) + -ery FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1611 - Nigeries f. nidgeries, fopperies, fooleries, trifles, nifles, friulous bables From: A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues - Randle Cotgrave EXAMPLE "...he never falters or fambles for a word (a bon bec) but will invent one rather than cheat you of your allowance. Ask him the meaning of so light a word as Bagatelle, and he floods you with - "trifle, trash, bawble, peppercorn, nidgeries, feather, punctilio, pimping-thing, piddling-business, fiddle-faddle, stuff, toy, fiddle-stick, fig, foolery, fingle-fangle, flim-flam, kickshaw, trinket..." From: Literature: An International Gazette of Criticism New York, Friday, May 19, 1899 in: Humor of Dictionaries, by Cecil Headlam PROCLIVITOUS ADJ. steep ...1859 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin proclivitas (downward slope, tendency, propensity), from prōclīvis (sloping deeply forwards and downwards) + -ous, probably after declivitous, acclivitous FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1859 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...The roads, as usual in East Africa, are tracks trodden down by caravans and cattle, and the watercourse is ever the favourite Pass. Many of the ascents and descents are so proclivitous that donkeys must be relieved of their loads; and in fording the sluggish streams, where no grass forms a causeway over the soft, viscid mire, they sink almost to the knees..." From: The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London - Sir Richard Francis Burton VIADANT NOUN a wayfarer; a traveller ...1632 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Spanish viandante, Portuguese viandante, Italian viandante, (a traveller, especially on foot) from via way + andar(e to go FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1632 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...are alwayes occupied for the maintaining of their Families: they are but poorely clad, yet wonderfull kinde to all Viadants; so that who so have occasion to passe that Mountain, are there lodged, and furnished of all necessary provision of food..." From: The Totall Discourse, of the Rare Adventures, and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travailes from Scotland, to the Most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia, and Affrica ... - William Lithgow CLANCULARY ADJ. secret, private; clandestine, underhand ...1563 obs. ETYMOLOGY from Latin clanculārius secret, from clanculum adv., diminutive of clam in secret, privately + -ary FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1563 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...If the king and the fautors of his procedings, why be not we now the church abiding in the same procedinges? If clanculary Massemongers mighte bee of the Church, and yet contrary to the kinges proceedings, why may not we as well be of ye church contrarying ye queenes procedinges?..." From: The First Volume of The Ecclesiasticall History Contaynyng the Actes and Monumentes of Thynges Passed... - John Foxe ROARATION NOUN a roaring discourse; a loud or emphatic oration; a deep and prolonged noise ...1617 obs. ETYMOLOGY a humorous blend of roar and oration FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1617 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...but the Gift in this fatal month answered her name and gave them for a New Year's Gift such orations (roarations ye may call them) that they were easily persuaded to leave the Hope, and all hopeless to cool their hot blood with leaping into the sea's cold waters, where many for want of a boat made use of Charon's ..." From: Purchas His Pilgrimage; Or, Relations of the World and the Religions Obserued in all Ages and Places Discouered - Samuel Purchas GLOTTER VERB to chatter ...1656 obs. ETYMOLOGY possibly echoic usage FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1656 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...whence it is, that the sounds of Brute Creatures so much vary, that the Snake hisseth, the Eagle clangeth, the Stork glottereth, the Chough caweth, the Bee hummeth, the Cow loweth, the Bull belloweth, the Sheep bleateth, the Swine grunteth, or whineth, the Fox yelpeth, the Bear murmureth, Etc. and that fishes want voice, becaus they want Lungs and a Rough Artery..." From: The Gate of the Latine Tongue Unlocked - Johannes Amos Comenius TITCH NOUN 1. † a kid ...Bk1867 Ireland 2. a small person; a name for a small person ...1888 chiefly Brit. 3. a very little; a small amount ...1937 colloq. 4. (also as TISH) phencyclidine (PCP) ...1979 US drugs sl. ETYMOLOGY n. 2. from 'Little Tich', the stage name of Harry Relph, an English music hall comedian and dancer (1867–1928), whose performances played on his unusually short stature n. 3. a regional and colloquial pronunciation of 'touch' (n. the degree of purity of gold or silver as determined by testing with a touchstone) n. 4. a variant of tic, a misreading of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1868 - Titch. A kid From: A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland - Jacob Poole, 1867 EXAMPLE "...John Thomas Young, better known as ‘Tich’, died in Oldham Workhouse on Saturday night...." From: The York Herald Tuesday, September 11, 1888 SHRIGHT NOUN shrieking; a shriek ...1558 obs. VERB to shriek ...a1542 obs. ETYMOLOGY n. corresponding to scright (n. a shout, a cry) = Old Frisian skrichte, Middle Low German schricht(e vb. either from the noun, or from shritch (vb. to shriek, to screech) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE a1542 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...And ye salt teres, again my will eche nyght That are with me, when fayn I would be alone : Then are ye gone when I should make my mone. And you, so reddy sighes to make me shright, Then are ye slake when that ye shulde owtestert, And onely my loke declareth my hert...." (...And ye salt tears, again my will each night That are with me, when fain I would be alone, Then are ye gone when I should make my moan. And you, so ready sighs to make me shright, Then are ye slake when that ye should outstart, And onely my look declareth my heart...) From: Collected poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt - Thomas Wyatt MICKLEWISE ADJ. having much wisdom ...1650 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from mickle (adv. to a great extent or degree, greatly) + -wise FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1650 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...For, our Eares are naturally extant and looke forward, because wee heare better when we turne our Faces to the sound, our Eares so better encountring with the sound; and the prominency of our Eares serve also for a defence to cast off the sweat and filth, and the furfuracerous excrements of the Temples and the upper part of the Eare, least they should slide into the auditory passage; all which commodities our mickle-wise Mothers defraud us of by their nice dislike of Lugs, and as they call them in reproach, Prickeares...." From: Anthropometamorphosis: Man Transform'd: or, The Artificiall Changling - John Bulwer WRIG NOUN 1. the willow tree ...1564 obs. 2. also 'RIG' - the smallest or weakest of a litter, brood, or family; the youngest or feeblest of a family; a weak, puny child ...1805 Sc. VERB to wriggle, to writhe ...Bk1854 Eng. dial. ETYMOLOGY n. 1. ? from werg (n. a willow) n. 2. of unknown origin FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1564 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...[The tenant may take] boowes of the wrigges to make stakes..for the mentayning of the mowndes..." From: Assignment of Lease, 1564 (Brasenose College, Oxford Archives) OBDURATIOUS ADJ. hardened against persuasion, the sentiment of pity, etc.; stubborn, obstinate, unyielding, inflexible, relentless, hard-hearted ...1672 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin obdurat- (hardened, stubborn) + -ious FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1672 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "... I had been guilty of an obduratious self-saving, and perfidious silence...." From: The Church told of Mr. Ed. Bagshaw's Scandals - Richard Baxter FOLABILITY NOUN foolishness, folly ...a1529 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from fol fool + -able + -ity FIRST DOCUMENTED USE a1529 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...And so litle learning, so lewdly alowed: What fault find ye herein but may be auowed? But ye are so full of vertibilite, And of frenetyke folabilite. And of melancoly mutabilite. That ye would coarte, and enforce me. Nothing to write, but hay the gy of thre. And I to suffre you lewdly toly, Of me, with your language full of vilany..." From: Against Venemous Tongues Enpoysoned with Sclaunder and False Detractions, &c. - John Skelton PRASINOUS ADJ. leek-green in colour ...1924 rare NOUN a leek-green colour ...1826 obs. ETYMOLOGY from classical Latin prasinus leek-green + -ous, from Ancient Greek πρᾰ́σῐνος (prásinos, leek-green, light green) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1826 - "Prasinous (Prasinus). Green with a mixture of yellow. The colour of the leaves of leeks or onions." From: An Introduction to Entomology; or, Elements of the Natural History of Insects - William Kirby and William Spence EXAMPLE "...Here, likewise, everything pleased the eye and galled the blood; here the silvery streaks on the dark-green satin, and there the argentine tracery on the smooth, prasinous leaves of the water-lilies were only the slimy trail - here of man's creative power...." From: Teleny, or, The Reverse of the Medal: a Physiological Romance of To-day - Anonymous. 1893 Attributed to Oscar Wilde SPLENDIOUS ADJ. splendid, very impressive, very good ...1609 obs. ETYMOLOGY ? from Italian splendioso FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1609 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Sir that is France, a faire beseeming friend, On yonder continent stands Ireland, On this side Brittaine, and on that side Garsie, Ilands besides of much hostillitie, Which are as sun-shine, sometimes splendious, Anon disposed to altering frailtie. We that all neighbor must so strēgth our being, As fearelesse we may frolicke yet not seeing...." From: The History of the Two Maids of More-clacke, with the Life and Simple Maner of Iohn in the Hospitall - Robert Armin |
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