PRACTISANT NOUN a schemer; a plotter, a conspirator - 1550 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY apparently from practise (vb.) + -ant, originally after Middle French practicien FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1550 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...that they shulde make allyance with thē, for to geue ayde the one to the other, whan yt shulde be nedefull, and for to chose people and capytaynes that shulde haue authorytie for to prouyde in all affayres, to the entente that the enterpryses shulde be secrette, and that the commons specyallye shulde not be aduertysedde of the affayres, whereunto yt shulde be thoughte that they woolde not consente: for there were manye of theyme (sayde the sayde practisans of Corynthe) whyche for the hatredde that they haue agaynste the Lacedemonyans woulde reallye themselfe wyth the sayde Argiues..." From: The Hystory Writtone by Thucidides the Athenyan of the Warre, whiche was Betwene the Peloponesians and the Athenyans - Thucydides - Translated out of French by Thomas Nicolls
0 Comments
CIVITY NOUN a city - 1577 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin cīvitās (city), Italian cività: FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1577 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...The Irish call it, Ballée er Cleagh, that is, a towne planted vpon hurdelles. For the com∣on opinion is, that the plotte, vppon which, the ciuitie is buylded, hath béene a marishe ground, & for that by the arte or inuention of the first founder, the water could not be voyded, he was forced to fasten the quakemyre with hurdles, and vpon them to buylde the citie...." From: The Firste (Laste) Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande - Raphael Holinshed - Compiled by Richard Stanyhurst BLOOD-HUNTER NOUN n. 1. a person or creature who seeks blood or bloodshed - 1592 n. 2. a person who deliberately brings harm to another, esp. for personal gain - 1644 obs. ETYMOLOGY from blood + hunter FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1592 (n. 1) - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Too long were it to rehearse all the practises of this sauadge blood-hunter, how he assailed the Vnicorne as he slept in his den, and tore the heart out of his breast ere he could awake: how hee made the lesser beasts lye in wayte one for the other, and the Crocodyle to coape with the Basiliske, that when they had enterchangeably weakened each other, he might come and insult ouer them both as hee list...." From: Pierce Penilesse, His Supplication to the Diuell - Thomas Nashe RIXOSOUS ADJ. given to brawling, pugnacious, quarrelsome - 1623 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin rixōsus (given to brawling, pugnacious), from rixa (quarrel, brawl) + -ōsus (full of or abounding in) + -ous FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1623 - Rixosous, full of brabbles. From: The English Dictionarie; or, An Interpreter of Hard English Words - Henry Cockeram FODGE VERB to proceed, to happen; also, to thrive, to take shape - 1581 obs. ETYMOLOGY a variant of fadge (vb. to fit in with or suit the surroundings; hence to get on, to succeed, to thrive) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1581 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Againe Priam perceiuing well, that thus this geare woulde fodge, Priam to the Troyās & Greekes..." From: Ten Books of Homers Iliades - Translated out of French by Arthur Hall OLENT ADJ. smelling, giving out a smell or scent - 1607 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin olent-, olēns (giving out a smell) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1607 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...If the vrine of a Foxe fall vpon the grasse or other Herbs it drieth and killeth them, and the earth remaineth barren euer afterward. The sauour of a Foxe is more strong then of any other vulgar beast, he stincketh at Nose and taile, for which cause Martiall calleth it Olidam Vulpem, an Olent or smelling beast..." From: The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes - Edward Topsell JESSIE NOUN n. 1. a bluff or threat - 1914 US criminals' sl. n. 2. a cowardly or effeminate man - 1923 colloq. n. 3. a young woman - 1942 US sl. n. 4. chastisement - Bk1942 US sl. n. 5. a red-haired girl or woman - 1947 African-American sl. n. 6. a homosexual man - 1958 sl. n. 7. a Jewish homosexual man - 2003 S. Afr. homosexual sl. ETYMOLOGY from female proper name FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1914 - JESSIE, Noun General currency. A bluff; a threat. Example: “He rang in a jessie and got away with it.” From: A Vocabulary Of Criminal Slang, With Some Examples Of Common Usages - Louis E. Jackson & C.R. Hellyer (1914) EXAMPLE (n. 2.) "...He proceeded to explain his case, flustered, but very anxious to be reasonable ... very anxious. Bella liked him. He was a big Jessie, but ... but she liked him...." From: Mince Collop Close - George Blake SMICK-SMACK ADJ. elegant, first-rate - 1802 rare NOUN a smacking noise; a smacking or frequent kissing - 1550 obs. ETYMOLOGY from smick (? to kiss), and smack (a sharp noise made in kissing) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1802 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...What a hurly burly is here! Smicke smacke, and all this gere! You will to ticke tacke, I fere, If you had time: Well, wanton, well; I wysse, I can tel, That such smocke smell Will set your nose out of tune..." From: Lusty Juventus - Richard Weaver MOBARD also MOBBARD NOUN a villain; a rascal; a fool - a1450 obs.rare, contemptuous usage ETYMOLOGY of unknown origin FIRST DOCUMENTED USE a1450 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...John Nay, such mobardis schall neuere man vs make, Erste schulde we dye all at onys..." From: The York Plays The Plays Performed by the Crafts or Mysteries of York on the Day of Corpus Christi in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries (1885) - Lucy Toulmin Smith ARBORATOR NOUN one who attends to the culture of trees - 1664 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Latin arborātor (pruner of trees), from arborāre (to cultivate trees) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1664 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...To conclude, in the time of this work should our ingenious arborator frequently incorporate, mingle, and unite the arms and branches of some young and flexible trees which grow in consort, and near to one another; by entering them into their mutual barks with a convenient incision..." From: Sylva; or, A Discourse of Forest-Trees - John Evelyn CREATOPHAGOUS also KREATOPHAGOUS NOUN flesh-eating, carnivorous - 1850 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Greek κρέατ-, κρέας (kreas) (flesh) + -phagous (that feeds on) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1850 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...The great evil of the ordinary diet of Europeans seems to be, not in its animal nature, - for if it were so, the Guachos of South America, who are exclusively kreatophagous, must be rapidly killing themselves..." From: The British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, Or Quarterly Journal of Practical Medicine and Surgery FLABERGULLION also FLABERGUDGION NOUN a dirty, mean fellow; a worthless, slovenly fellow; a base, foul, nasty wretch; a scoundrel - 1611 obs. ETYMOLOGY ? variant of slubberdegullion, clapperdudgeon? FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1611 - Baligaut: m. An vnweldie lubber, great lobcocke, huge luske, mishapen lowt, ill fauoured flabergullion. From: A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues - Randle Cotgrave DRUNKENSOME ADJ. addicted to drunkenness - a1300 obs. exc. Eng. dial. ETYMOLOGY from drunken + -some FIRST DOCUMENTED USE a1300 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...And þou him haue don priue scath þat him to scau þou wat war wath, Als brath, and drunkensum, and skald, And telles in breth þat him es tald..." From: Cursor Mundi (The Cursur o The World - The Runner of the World) A Northumbrian poem of the 14th century IMBRATE VERB to defile, to sully, to pollute - 1542 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Italian imbrattare (to dirty (with), to smear) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1542 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...The thinges of this State semith to be fowle imbratid by corruptid factions..." From: State Papers (1849) King Henry the Eighth Part V, Foreign Correspondence Harvel to Henry VIII (1542) BOBOLYNE NOUN a fool, a gaby - c1540 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY ? from bob (vb. to make a fool of, to deceive [obs.]); also Spanish 'bobo' (a fool) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE c1540 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...It wonder is to me, Howe ye maye fathers be Your sede to multiply, But yf yow be incubi, That gender gobolynes: Be we not bobolynes, Sutch lesinges to beleve, Whiche ye amonge vs dry [ve]?..." From: The Image of Ipocrysy - in The Poetical Works of John Skelton (1843) HIGH STRIKES NOUN hysterics; a display of over whelming, uncontrollable emotion or agitation, esp. as a result of acute distress; chiefly used with 'the' - 1809 rare, colloq. & humorous usage ETYMOLOGY punning alteration of hysterics, after 'high' and the plural of 'strike' (a distance, obs.) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1809 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...The orator once more gets into the high strikes, and again suffers his philosophical spirit to regale itself with what we conceive to be (though perhaps erroneously) another tit bit of domestic scandal..." From: The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine; Or, Monthly, Political, and Literary Censor September to December Inclusive. 1809 - Abolition of Tithe, Richard Flower WOMANTHROPE NOUN a person who hates women; a misogynist - 1863 rare, humorous usage ETYMOLOGY a humorous blend of woman and misanthrope (a hater of mankind) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1863 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...I had nothing to beguile the time except the conversation of a stoker in a state of what I once saw described in a novel by a female hand as "doubtful ebriety" - a mistake in etymological analogy, for which I had been prepared a few pages before, by finding a misogynist called a " womanthrope."..." From: The Competition Wallah - George Otto Trevelyan PLORE VERB to shed tears, to wail; also, to lament - 1373 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Anglo-Norman and Middle French plorer, plourer ; also in Anglo-Norman as plurer, plorrer, ploure, variants of Old French, Middle French, French pleurer to shed tears, to suffer, to lament, to mourn, or their etymon Latin plōrāre to wail, lament FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1373 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Flatrie flourith, treuthe plourith..." From: The Sermons of Thomas Brinton, Bishop of Rochester - Edited by Sister M.A. Devlin, (vol. 1, Royal Historical Society Publications ser. 3, vol. 85 (1954)) STRADAROLLE NOUN a highwayman - 1562 obs. rare ETYMOLOGY from Italian stradaruolo (freebooter), from strada (street) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1562 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Then this subtill olde Ruter sent to Scanderbeg a messager, requiring him to fyght with him like a prince in appointed battayle, and not vpon suddennes in suche sorte lyke a stradarolle and thefe, seking alwaye to take the enemye vnprouided...." From: Two Very Notable Commentaries te one of the Originall of the Turcks and Empire of the house of Ottomanno - Translated out of Italian into English by John Shute NOBBER ADJ. nine - 1996 Brit. sl. NOUN n. 1. a blow to the head - 1811 boxing sl., rare n. 2. a boxer skilled in delivering blows to the head - 1821 boxing sl., obs. n. 3. a person who seeks contributions of money, esp. after a performance; one who collects money for a street entertainer - 1890 Brit. sl., rare n. 4. nine - M19 sl. n. 5. one who is having sexual intercourse - 20C Irish sl. ETYMOLOGY n. 1. - from nob (the head) + -er n. 2. - from nob (to beat, to strike) + -er n. 3. - from nob (to seek contributions of money) + -er FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1811 (n. 1.) - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...A Nobber A Doubler...." From: Catalogue of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum Division I. Political and Personal Satires |
Archives
September 2021
|