Obsolete Word of the Day

gobemouche

2010-12-21T01:42:00.002-05:00

This word is of French origin and literally translated means, fly swallower. So, a person who keeps their mouth open: a silly or naive person.

roinish

2008-08-14T22:27:00.001-04:00

Scabby, despicable. (Obsolete)

But any word meaning scabby must make a comeback!

skybosh

2008-08-13T21:23:00.001-04:00

An obsolete word for practical joking or tomfoolery.

nidulation

2008-08-10T13:12:00.001-04:00

Nesting or nest making.

put on the dog

2008-08-07T22:45:00.002-04:00

Time for a phrase today. If it is not obsolete, it certainly must be obscure.

To put on the dog originated as college slang in the 1860s. It means to make a flashy display, by dress or putting on airs.

tziganologist

2008-08-03T21:36:00.002-04:00

Here's an interesting one. Not obsolete, but not used everyday, I imagine. Well, for most anyway. A tziganologist studies Hungarian gypsies.

slubberdegullion

2008-08-01T21:00:00.001-04:00

An archaic word for a slovenly person.

natkin

2008-07-31T22:11:00.000-04:00

A bad taste or smell.

special-bastard

2008-07-29T21:45:00.001-04:00

This is a child that is born to a couple who are not married, but then they later marry.

[He's soooo special!]

bumwhush

2008-07-27T22:06:00.002-04:00

Ruin and obscurity.

Which I'm in danger of falling into. Sorry the posts have been so sporadic. Between travel for work and the docs using me as a guinea pig, I've had trouble updating daily. I will continue to do the best I can and hope that you all keep checking in. Thank you to all who are sticking with me.

ottomised

2008-07-22T22:17:00.000-04:00

To be dissected.

lank sleeve

2008-07-21T19:57:00.001-04:00

The empty sleeve of a one armed man.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

knoup

2008-07-20T22:55:00.001-04:00

To ring the church bell.

shail about

2008-07-18T21:11:00.002-04:00

This means to move as if one's bones are loose in the sockets. It comes from the Belgian word schale, meaning shell. Shail about, as in moving like a ripe nut within its shell (Kacirk 2000).

Flamingantism

2008-07-10T20:40:00.002-04:00

This is a good one. It means to encourage and spread the use of the Flemish language.

Because it is very important, that's why!

naology

2008-07-09T19:38:00.002-04:00

This is the study of sacred buildings, such a churches and temples.

This does not appear to be obsolete, just not used in everyday conversation.

Sardoodledom

2008-07-08T19:50:00.002-04:00

This word describes a type of play with a contrived and often melodramatic plot. It also describes plays that are well-written, but have trivial or morally objectionable plots. The word is derived from the French playwright Victorian Sardou, who wrote in the later part of the 1800s. I guess he was prone to Sardoodledom.

rememble

2008-07-07T20:24:00.002-04:00

A false memory. Perhaps a mixing of the words fumble and remember.

influous

2008-07-06T21:28:00.002-04:00

This is an obsolete adjective that describes when you ignore your horoscope because it is bad.

Because it's a horror-scope!

murlimews

2008-07-05T14:27:00.002-04:00

These are the blessings and crossings that priests make with the holy water.

Not to be confused with curlicues.

stafador

2008-06-30T20:24:00.002-04:00

Here's an obsolete word for imposter. It comes from the Spanish word that means to swindle (estafar).

aquabob

2008-06-29T00:21:00.001-04:00

This is an icicle.

oliver's scull

2008-06-28T23:57:00.000-04:00

A chamber pot.

volacious

2008-06-23T20:22:00.002-04:00

In honor of all my air travel lately. It means suitable for flying.

Two-year olds are NOT volacious. One was screaming in the back of the plane for over an hour. I thought my head would explode.

sursaut

2008-06-22T14:23:00.002-04:00

This means all of a sudden. I'm not sure if it is obsolete or not. It comes from the Latin word for leap.

I'm off to Baltimore again. Yay. I'll try to keep up, but I can't promise anything!

nocency

2008-06-21T20:00:00.001-04:00

Guilt. Opposite of innocence.

Something nocent is harmful or criminal.

------------
Sorry there have been few words going up lately. I've been out of town for work and will be the next couple of weeks. I'll try to get some words up, but it becomes difficult sometimes. Please keep checking in, though!

ogerhunch

2008-06-17T08:39:00.002-04:00

Any frightful or loathsome creature, especially a bat.
- Kacirk 2000

I can think of plenty of ogerhunches other than bats! Some I encountered just this last week...

monsterful

2008-06-15T23:33:00.002-04:00

Wonderful and extraordinary.
- from Grose's 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

gilly-gaupus

2008-06-13T17:25:00.001-04:00

A foolish person. Also an awkward one.

I am gilly-gaupus for not quitting my job right now.

scriptitation

2008-06-12T22:17:00.001-04:00

An obsolete word that means writing continuously.

surbater

2008-06-11T22:39:00.002-04:00

An obsolete word that describes someone who tires someone else out by walking.

I surbated myself today at my job.

[That sounds a bit dirty...]

fuzzle

2008-06-10T22:53:00.002-04:00

To make fuzzy with drink. From the German fusslig, which means just impaired enough with drink to speak indistinctly.

Been there, done that!

devil to pay

2008-06-09T21:00:00.002-04:00

The phrase refers to trouble that results from one's action. According to Mordock and Korach (2001), the origin of this phrase comes from an old English tavern that was located near the London Civil Courts; it was called The Devil. The Devil was frequented daily by lawyers; many who spent large amounts of their clients' money. Defrauded clients would complain that their money had gone "for the Devil to pay". The phrase gone to the devil also comes from this bar. When the clients would call at their lawyers' office, they were told that the lawyer had "gone to The Devil".

An internet search suggests a nautical origin for the phrase. Apparently, the devil is the seam inside the ship where the hull meets the deck. To pay a seam is to fill it with rope and seal with pitch. To seal, or pay, the devil seam was a very difficult task.

I kind of like the first explanation, but who knows which one is right.

joinpee

2008-06-08T14:38:00.002-04:00

Here's a rare word meaning having the feet joined or put close together.
[McKean 2003]

I'm going to be doing quite a bit of traveling in the next couple weeks for work. I'm going to try to keep up with the blog, but sometimes is gets hard being out of town. This job stuff really gets in the way of my fun!

mawmsey

2008-06-07T20:16:00.002-04:00

Heh. This one is so appropriate to how I feel today.

Mawmsey means sleepy, or stupid from lack of sleep or drinking too much.

Oh, yes, they both apply today.

gleimous

2008-06-05T22:39:00.002-04:00

In honor of my bronchitis, a rare word that means full of phlegm or mucus. Gleimousness means stickiness. Engleimous means something is slimy AND venomous.

I might use engleimous to describe the place I worked at this past week. Ew.

hit the hay

2008-06-04T20:48:00.004-04:00

WHEW!! I've had a week. I was working out of town and in the last 8 days, I've worked about 120 hours. Sorry to my regulars, but I just didn't have the energy or time to post each evening. So, to ease us back into it, I'll do a phrase origin today.

You may think that hit the hay, meaning of course, to go to sleep, came from farmers. Not so. In the olden days, sailors supplied their own bedding, canvas covers stuffed with hay. The bedding was referred to as a hay, so when the sailor was off to bed, he would say he was going to hit the hay.

balatronic

2008-05-28T20:59:00.001-04:00

Pertaining to buffoons.

Like me!!

colt's-tooth

2008-05-26T19:21:00.001-04:00

A love of youthful pleasure.

I love colt's tooth!!!

sackbut

2008-05-25T23:22:00.001-04:00

An ancient trombone-like instrument.

Who knew?

imberb

2008-05-24T22:38:00.000-04:00

A rare word that means beardless.

croodle

2008-05-22T22:32:00.001-04:00

To snuggle.

nicknackatory

2008-05-21T22:13:00.001-04:00

It's a toy store.

dog's nose

2008-05-20T20:44:00.002-04:00

A mixture of ale and gin enjoyed by Londoners in the 19th century.

I always thought dog's nose was that smear left on the car window when my doggy smooshed her nose against the glass.

phobanthropy

2008-05-19T20:18:00.002-04:00

Fear of mankind.

I guess that's kind of the opposite of philanthropy.

pinguescence

2008-05-18T22:30:00.002-04:00

Here's a rare word for the process of becoming fat. From the Latin, pinquis, meaning fat. If you pinguefy something, you saturate it with oil, make it greasy.

abracadabra

2008-05-17T23:25:00.001-04:00

The origin of this magician's word is from the Hebrew, avrei kadaber, meaning I Will create as I speak.

bumbledom

2008-05-14T20:33:00.002-04:00

The pomposity and stupidity of government officials and other authority figures.

Apparently, it comes from the character Mr. Bumble who was the parish beadle in Oliver Twist.

conbobberation

2008-05-13T21:49:00.002-04:00

A disturbance, a row.

There was quite a conbobberation downtown near the baseball stadium yesterday afternoon. I was walking to my car after work and a man was waving his arms and yelling at a woman seated at a vendor's table on the street. He was throwing the F-bomb and she was admonishing him to stop being a shithead. I have no idea what they were fighting about, but it didn't seem to be a big business draw. I had to laugh, though, as I passed the fighters and the table, the second vendor at the table yelled out at me, "PEANUTS! PISTACHIOS! CANDY!"

Like I'm going to suddenly stop and go back...OOO, candy! Ignore the man yelling the F-word. Buy some peanuts!

dumfungled

2008-05-12T20:55:00.001-04:00

Another fun one...

It means used up.

miscomfrumple

2008-05-11T23:02:00.002-04:00

I love the sound of this one.

It means to rumple or crease.

ludibrious

2008-05-10T10:32:00.001-04:00

Obsolete word meaning scornful, mocking.

jingle brains

2008-05-09T22:04:00.002-04:00

A wild, thoughtless, rattling fellow.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

The Dictionary of Thieving Slang (1721), says a jingle brains is "maggot-pated fellow."

Maggot-pated is an obsolete expression meaning silly.

quack oneself

2008-05-07T20:35:00.003-04:00

A bit of slang today. It means to be a hypochondriac.

My new job has been super busy, so sorry the posts haven't been regular.

king's weather

2008-05-03T15:21:00.002-04:00

This is what you call the vapors that you can sometimes see shimmering off the ground on a warm day.

No king's weather here in Cleveburg today. More like King Neptune's weather!

strewberries

2008-05-02T19:04:00.003-04:00

Strawberries were originally called strewberries because the berries appeared strewn among the leaves of the plant. The name was changed through mispronunciation.

Did you know that strawberries are not berries? They are classified as an aggregate fruit - a fleshy fruit receptacle covered on the surface with single-seeded fruits. Berries are fruits with a soft ovary wall and a pit inside, such as blueberries or cranberries.

engastrimyth

2008-05-01T21:28:00.001-04:00

A ventriloquist.

From Greek en meaning in, gaster meaning belly, and muthos meaning speech.

able-whackets

2008-04-28T22:20:00.002-04:00

An obscure card game from the 19th century.

A popular sea-game with cards, wherein the loser is beaten over the palms of the hands with a handkerchief tightly twisted like a rope. Very popular with horny-fisted sailors.
- Sailor's Word-book by Admiral William Smyth (1865)

Aaargh!

jocuserious

2008-04-27T21:00:00.001-04:00

A blend of jokes and serious matter; part silly and part serious.

beau trap

2008-04-26T23:48:00.001-04:00

A loose stone in a pavement, under which water lodges, and on being trod upon, squirts it up, to the great damage of white stockings; also a sharper neatly dressed, lying in wait for raw country squires, or ignorant fops.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

to yam

2008-04-25T23:18:00.001-04:00

To eat or stuff heartily.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Kellogg

2008-04-24T21:45:00.002-04:00

This will make you think twice while eating your cereal. Kellogg is one of those names that also described an occupation, in this case, a pork butcher. It comes from the Old English kullen meaning to kill, plus hog.

That's gggggggggggggrrrrreat!

smelling of the inkhorn

2008-04-23T22:26:00.002-04:00

An inkhorn was an old word for an inkwell, because the early ones were made of cow's horn. Formal, unimaginative writing was said to smell of the inkhorn because the words needed too much ink to write them.

three square meals

2008-04-21T20:01:00.002-04:00

This expression comes from the old seafaring days of the 18th century. The sailors used to eat their meals off of square wooden plates.

oil of gladness

2008-04-20T21:57:00.001-04:00

I will anoint you with the oil of gladness; ironically spoken for, I will beat you.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

saliferous

2008-04-18T23:10:00.002-04:00

Containing salt.

I'm supposed to be lowering my sodium intake. I'm finding that our foods are much too saliferous.

funkify

2008-04-17T20:15:00.000-04:00

No, it is not to make something funky! It is to run away in fear.

hypokoristikon

2008-04-15T21:47:00.000-04:00

A pet name.

[Kind of a mouthful for a pet name if you ask me...]

preterist

2008-04-14T21:23:00.000-04:00

Someone who lives in the past.

here's a Hawaiian riddle

2008-04-13T21:09:00.002-04:00

Ku'u punawai kau i ka lewa. The answer is niu.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, that's a good one!!

[Translation: My spring of water high up in the clouds. The answer is a coconut.]

haberdasher of pronouns

2008-04-10T21:30:00.002-04:00

A schoolmaster, or usher.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

An usher??

jirble

2008-04-09T19:11:00.002-04:00

When pouring liquid from one container to another and your hand is shaking so you spill the liquid...that's a jirble.

Not the cute little furry critter...that's a gerbil.

owl in an ivy bush

2008-04-08T21:24:00.001-04:00

He looks like an owl in an ivy bush; frequently said of a person with a large frizzled wig, or a woman whose hair is dressed a-la-blowze.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

slangrel

2008-04-07T21:46:00.000-04:00

A lean or long person or thing. Obsolete.

battologize

2008-04-06T19:28:00.002-04:00

To keep repeating the same thing needlessly.

To keep repeating the same thing needlessly.

To keep repeating the same thing needlessly.

To keep...oh, now I'm just being silly!

break-teeth words

2008-04-05T23:55:00.001-04:00

Hard words that are difficult to pronounce.

Broke da mouth!

yemeles

2008-04-04T21:07:00.000-04:00

Here's an obsolete word meaning careless or negligent.

inhume

2008-04-03T21:27:00.001-04:00

To bury.

I guess that explains exhume, eh? So, what is hume...on the surface?

hydrophanous

2008-04-02T21:06:00.000-04:00

Transparent in water.

Like me!!

punaise

2008-04-01T21:13:00.000-04:00

A bedbug.

rhyparographer

2008-03-31T22:01:00.002-04:00

This is a painter who paints unpleasant or sordid subjects.

[That's the kind of painter I would be. Good thing I hate painting.]

pudibund

2008-03-29T23:05:00.000-04:00

Bashful or modest.

duke of limbs

2008-03-28T22:26:00.001-04:00

A tall, awkward, ill-made fellow.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

scevity

2008-03-27T19:33:00.001-04:00

An obsolete word for unluckiness.

go whole hog

2008-03-25T20:50:00.002-04:00

A phrase origin today, I think.

As we all know, to go whole hog is to do something all the way, to the limit.

According to Common Phrases (Mordach & Korach 2001), this phrase originated with one of Muhammad's sermons. In the sermon, he forbade his followers to eat one part of the hog, but he never specified which part not to eat. His followers were hungry, but also wanted to follow the teachings of Muhammad. So they cut up the hog into lots of parts and each person ate one. No single person ate the whole hog, but the whole hog was eaten.

morfound

2008-03-24T21:18:00.000-04:00

To be chilled, numb from cold.

I'm feeling it right now!

jobation

2008-03-23T21:16:00.001-04:00

A scolding; tedious criticism.

flamfoo

2008-03-22T23:49:00.000-04:00

This is a woman who is dressed gaudily.

elfmill

2008-03-21T14:06:00.001-04:00

The sound a worm makes as it eats through the wood of your house.

mahometan gruel

2008-03-20T21:31:00.000-04:00

Coffee: because formerly used chiefly by the Turks.
-Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

cultrivorous

2008-03-19T22:00:00.001-04:00

Here's a rare word that means swallowing or pretending to swallow knives.

Ooookay.

half seas over

2008-03-18T22:08:00.001-04:00

Almost drunk.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

I wish.

rackensak

2008-03-17T21:20:00.000-04:00

Native of Arkansas.

percunctorily

2008-03-16T16:26:00.001-04:00

An obsolete word for lazily.

megrim

2008-03-15T11:45:00.002-04:00

A pain in the head. Apparently, they used to think it was caused by a worm bite. They also used to think that acting unpredictably and impulsively was caused by being bitten by maggots. Therefore, megrim can also mean to act capriciously.

jerrycummumble

2008-03-14T20:56:00.003-04:00

To shake, towzle, or tumble about.
- Francis Grose's The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

And now I'm going out of town for about a week. I'll still try to post. My new job is jerrycummumbling me.

mimp

2008-03-13T22:07:00.000-04:00

To purse the lips.

ramage

2008-03-12T20:35:00.002-04:00

An endangered word for the branches of a tree.

This is in honor of the huge limb that broke off our pine tree in our ice/slush storm about a week ago. Po' ting.

filipendulous

2008-03-11T18:37:00.002-04:00

An endangered word meaning hanging by a thread.

Very appropriate for what's been going on lately.

ides

2008-03-10T22:55:00.002-04:00

Sorry, more health issues have kept me away. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon. Stay tuned.

Today's word is not obsolete, it comes out of a question my brother asked me today. Is March the only month with ides.

Ides is the term for the 15th day of March, May, July, or October or the 13th day of any other month in the ancient Roman calendar.

The Ides of March are famous, of course, for being the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated. The phrase Ides of March has come to mean impending doom.