IMPROFICUOUS ADJ. unprofitable, profitless, unrewarding ...1650 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from im- + proficuous (adj. profitable, beneficial, useful), from Latin proficuus (profitable, advantageous, beneficial, useful) + -uus, (suffix forming adjectives) + -ous FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1650 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...and as we prune luxurious Vines, so wee may take away and freely coerce that improficuous matter of Haire; nourishing of extraordinarie long Haire, having been ever infamous to Men in all ages..." From: Anthropometamorphosis: Man Transform'd: or, The Artificiall Changling - John Bulwer
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NIGREDITY NOUN blackness ...1547 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin nigrēdō (blackness ) from nigr-, niger (black) + -ēdō, (suffix forming nouns) + -ity FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1547 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...y it is impossible to make whole them the which be sicke in whose vrines any nygredytie or blacknes hathe dominion..." From: The Breuiary of Helthe - Andrew Borde BENEFICIOUS ADJ. doing good, performing kind deeds ...1535 obs. ETYMOLOGY from Latin beneficium (benefit, kindness, favour) + -ous FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1535 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Finally, his good and gentle manner is all full of pleasure and comfort so kind, so friendly, so liberal and beneficious, so piteous and merciful, so ready in all opportunities, so mindful and circumspect, so dulcet and sweet in communication..." From: A Reading from a treatise The Ways to Perfect Religion, written in the Tower of London by John Fisher for his sister, Elizabeth, in 1535, shortly before his execution. - Bishop John Fisher VEHICULATE VERB 1. originally, to convey, to transport; later, to carry or convey in a vehicle, or as if in a vehicle ...1628 obs. 2. to travel, ride, or drive in a vehicle ...1843 rare, chiefly humorous usage ETYMOLOGY from Latin vehiculum (wagon, cart, means of transport), from vehere (to carry, convey) + -ate FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1628 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "... It Clarifies and purifies its owne Body..with the pure and sincere Tinctures and Faculties of the infused Materialls, and with it vehiculates, caries, communicates and diffuses their virtues and powers into all parts..." From: Panala Medica - William Folkingham MADPASH ADJ. wild, rash, scatterbrained, insane, mad ...1693 obs. NOUN a foolish or insane person; a lunatic, a mad fellow; a crackbrained person; a scatterbrain; a hot-headed person; a rash or turbulent person; a wild, giddy person ...1611 obs. ETYMOLOGY from mad (adj.) + -pash (n. the head, the brain) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1611 - Mat, a foole, fop, gull; mad-pash, harebrained ninnie. From: A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues - Randle Cotgrave EXAMPLE "...Come, let us leave this Madpash Bedlam, this hairbrain'd Fop, and give him leave to rave and dose his Belly-full, with his private and intimately acquainted Devils..." From: The Third Book of the Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais - By Francois Rabelais Translated by Thomas Urquhart and Peter Anthony Motteux OPITULATOR NOUN a helper, an aider ...1624 obs. ETYMOLOGY from Latin opitulātor a helper from opitulāt- , past participial stem of opitulārī to bring aid, to assist + -or FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1624 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Papists make Saints speciall opitulators..." (Heading on p. 343) From: A Replie to Iesuit Fishers Answere to Certain Questions Propou[n]ded by his most Gratious Matie: King Iames - Francis White PAVONIZE VERB to behave as a peacock; to flaunt one's appearance in a vain fashion; to strut ...1838 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin pāvōn-, pāvō peacock + -ize FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1838 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...and, I must say, that I never could perceive any more "harmony and fascination" in the movements of the pavonizing gaditanas who frequent it, than in those of the fair promenaders of other Spanish towns..." From: Excursions in the Mountains of Ronda and Granada - Captain C. Rochfort Scott, Vol II RAGMATICAL ADJ. wild, rowdy, ill-behaved, riotous ...1742 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY probably from either rag (n. a piece of old cloth, esp. one torn from a larger piece, esp. any of the scraps to which a garment is reduced by wear and tear), or rag (vb. to scold, to reprove, to dress down) + -matical as in pragmatical FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1742 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Nay," said the lady, "the boy is well enough." — "La! ma'am," cries Slipslop, "I think him the ragmaticallest fellow in the family." — "Sure, Slipslop," says she, "you are mistaken: but which of the women do you most suspect?..." From: The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews - Henry Fielding CESSIBLE ADJ. yielding; ready to yield or give way ...1644 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY as if from Latin *cessibilis, from cessus, past participle of cēdĕre to yield + -ible FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1644 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...But lastly, if the partes of the strucken body be so easily cessible as without difficulty the stroake can diuide them, then it entereth into such a body vntill it hath spent its force..." From: Two Treatises in the One of Which, the Nature of Bodies; in the Other, the Nature of Mans Soule is Looked into: in Way of Discovery, of the Immortality of Reasonable Soules - Sir Kenelm Digby FRIBBLISH ADJ. having the quality of a fribble; frivolous, trifling, ridiculous ...1768 ETYMOLOGY from fribble (n. a trifling, frivolous person) + -ish FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1768 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...His windows are glazed with as much variety as a glazier's sign, but he has picked up a vast quantity of pretty old painted glass. His library is indeed as fribblish as himself, and so furnished with looking-glass that had it the property of representing to him his inside as well as outside, it might read him a better lesson than he could find in his whole collection of books, and shew him his own insignificancy..." From: The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs Delany - Mary Delany EXCEPTIOUS ADJ. prone to making objections; cavilling, peevish, captious, complaining ...1602 ETYMOLOGY from excepti(on) + -ous FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1602 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Our Lords they charge, our Ladies they command, And who but us? And for a thing not done, Our Lords and Ladies anger, out of hand, Must turne us walking in the Summers Sunne, While those things that are done must alwaies lye, As objects to a nice exceptious eye..." From: Sword & Buckler - William Basse HOOKUM-SNIVEY also HOOK AND SNIVEY, HOOK AND SNIVVY, HOOK 'EM SNIVEY, HOOKEM SNIVEY ADJ. deceitful, tricky, sly ...1892 Eng. dial. & sl. NOUN 1. an imposture or deceit ...1781 Eng. dial. & sl. (for the criminal trick, see the EXAMPLE below) 2. a contrivance for undoing the bolt of a door from the outside ...1802 ETYMOLOGY probably from hook (n. a length of metal or other material adapted for catching hold, sustaining suspended objects, or the like), or from hook (vb.) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1781 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...This practice is executed by three men and a dog; one of the men counterfeits sickness, and has a white handkerchief tied round his head, or wears a nightcap. They go into an ale-house, and are shown a room: having hid the dog under the table, they ring the bell and call for a pot of beer, and desire to know of the landlord if he has got any cold meat in the house, and what two of them must give a-piece to dine, as the third man is very ill? He leans his head against the mantel-piece, keeps groaning and sighing, and says he can't eat a mouthful if the whole world were given to him. This trick had once been attempted on a landlord, who was a man of the world and up to their gossip. He informed them that he should charge them only sixpence a-head, and sent them in part of a cold round of beef; He watched them, and saw them give the counterfeit sick man above a pound of beef, and another to the Buffer under the table. When they called to know what was to pay, he told them two shillings for eating, for he would be paid a sye-buck a-piece, and would stand no hook and snivey, or Nix the Buffer....." (sye-buck = a sixpence) From: A View of Society and Manners in High and Low Life, Being the Adventures of G. Parker - George Parker |
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