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Words We Don't Use

annis
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Post by annis » Mon September 10th, 2012, 8:18 pm

Reading about someone described as being in an brown study is not that rare, though you're more likely to come across the term in literature rather than in conversation.

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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Tue September 11th, 2012, 4:47 pm

I quite like amaritude. I shall endeavor to use it in a story.

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Rowan
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Post by Rowan » Tue September 11th, 2012, 4:58 pm

If brun means 'sad or melancholy', what does that say about brunettes? Are we all a sad, depressed lot? :p

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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Wed September 12th, 2012, 3:06 pm

I thought brun meant brown. I could see how there would be a connotation of sadness when used in another way though. Brown is not a color associated with cheerfulness. For the record I am a brunette and naturally melancholy. :D

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Rowan
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Post by Rowan » Wed September 12th, 2012, 3:07 pm

No, you're funny. :p

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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Wed September 12th, 2012, 8:20 pm

I'm both melancholy and funny. I multi-task. ;)

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DianeL
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Post by DianeL » Wed September 12th, 2012, 11:33 pm

I've been acquainted with brown study most of my life, but don't recall ever seeing it rendered as a single word.

Bleezed is a new one - I've always liked squiffed and spifflicated for this state, but bleezed is nice!
"To be the queen, she agreed to be the widow!"

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Rowan
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Post by Rowan » Tue September 25th, 2012, 4:05 pm

Cornish hug - The Cornish men were famous wrestlers, and tried to throttle their antagonists with a particular lock called the Cornish hug. ~ Henry Reddall's Fact, Fancy, and Fable, 1889

Figuratively, a treacherous "throw," or injury, done by a pretended friend. ~ Robert Hunter's Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1895

squareman - A carpenter, stone-cutter, or other workman who regularly uses a square for adjusting or testing his work; [late 1700s-1800s] ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1919

encrampish - To cramp, hamper; after words like impoverish. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1901

boutefeu - Literally "to set fire." An incendiary, firebrand, agitator; from French. ~ C. A. M. Fennell's Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words and Phrases, 1892

swacker - Something huge; a bulky and robust person. Figuratively, a great lie. ~ Rev. Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia, 1830

cold coffee - Misfortune; sometimes varied to "cold gruel." Sea [slang]. ~ John Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887

A hoax, a trumpery affair; Oxford University. . . An unpleasant return or snub for a proffered kindness. ~ John Farmer's Slang and Its Analogues, 1891

mought - This old [past tense] of "may," now obsolete in England, has been retained in the South, and is very common in all parts of the Union. Until of late years, its use was mainly confined to . . . people in the interior of the New England states. Latterly, however, a spirit of change appears to have revived the popularity of this form. In North Carolina, "perhaps" is almost invariably rendered "it mought be." ~ John Farmer's Americanisms Old and New, 1889

Frequently heard in the South, where the negroes use it almost exclusively. Derived from the ancient verb mowe - the ancestor of may and corresponding to the German mochte - it was once correct. ~ M. Schele de Vere's Americanisms, 1872

byblow - An illegitimate child. ~ John Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887

nose-swelling - To make a person's nose swell, to make him jealous of a rival; [found in John Ray's 1678 collection of proverbs]. ~ James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855

To offer or pretend to do kindnesses to one, and then pass him by and do it to another. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1908

hebetude - Dullness; bluntness; obtuseness; want of discernment. Hebetate, to dull, to blunt; to stupify. "The eye is hebetated." ~ Daniel Fenning's Royal English Dictionary, 1775

Hebetudinous, inclined to hebetude. Hence hebetudinosity, dullness, obtuseness. Hebetize, to make dull. [From] hebete, dull, stupid, obtuse. Adapted from Latin hebes, hebet, blunt, dull. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1901

livercolour - Dark red. ~ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, 1755

leatherdick - A leathern pinafore such as is used by shoemakers. The acquisition of one used to be a great object of ambition with Almondbury lads. They regarded it as a kind of toga virilis. ~ Alfred Easther's Dialect of Almondbury and Huddersfield, 1883

caboodle - A noisy, rowdy place or crowd. ~ John Wilkinson's Leed's Dialect Glossary and Lore, 1924

The whole caboodle, the whole lot; supposed to be a corruption of the phrase kit and caboodle. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1893

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Madeleine
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Post by Madeleine » Wed September 26th, 2012, 4:13 pm

I've come across "byblow", I'm sure it was in one of Catherine Cookson's Mallen books. The time period is correct, I think, according to the source you give.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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Rowan
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Post by Rowan » Wed September 26th, 2012, 4:17 pm

Yes byblow is one I've seen countless times. :) Livercolour is familiar as well.

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