Words We Don't Use

[Rowan]

napiform - Having the form, shape or appearance of a turnip; from Latin napus, turnip. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1914

Runaway-crop, think or bad crop of turnips on the Isle of Wight. ~ James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855

granch - To grind the teeth. Grizbile, to gnash the teeth. ~ J. Drummond Robertson's Glossary of Archaic Words, 1890

Grandge, a grinding with the teth, as when biting through celery. ~ Ammon Wrigley's Lancashire Words and Sayings, 1940

over a signature - I disagree as to the propriety of the usage. It seems to me that one makes a statement under his signature, whatever may be the relative position of statement and signature on the paper, exactly as a soldier fights under a certain flag though he may be on a mountain top and the colors in the valley far below him, or as a man does business under a certain firm name, though his sign may be on the first floor and his shop on the second. Be that as it may, the expression was first used in England, so far as it is known. ~ Gilbert Tucker's American English, 1921

hart royall - If the King or Queene doe hunt or chase him, and he [the hart] escape away alive, then . . . he is called a hart royall. ~ John Manwood's Treatise of the Lawes of the Forrest, 1598

deterge - To cleanse, clear, or wipe away foul or offensive matter from a wound or sore; from Latin deterge, to wipe off, from tergo, to wipe. ~ Robert Hunter's Encyclopædic Dictionary, 1895

Detergents, medicines which possess the poweer to deterge, or cleanse, parts. ~ Robley Dunglison's Medical Lexicon, 1857

cucumber-time -A tayler's holiday, when they have leave to play, and cucumbers are in season. [From] cucumbers, taylers. ~ B. E.'s Dictionary of the Canting Crew, 1699

The dull session of the year; from the German phrase: "die saure gerkin-zeit," the pickled cucumber-time. ~ Albert Hyamson's Dictionary of English Phrases, 1922

bedswerver - One who swerves from the fidelity of the marriage bed; an adulteress. "She's a bedswerver, evena s bad as those that vulgars give bold'st titles." Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. ~ Robert Nares's Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859

fragor - A strong or sweet scent. ~ John Boag's Imperial Lexicon of the English Language, c. 1850

shrumpsed - Beaten in games; Devonshire. ~ James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855

holiday speeches - Choice language; Shakespeare's Henry IV (1597). ~ Albert Hyamson's Dictionary of English Phrases, 1922

[DianeL]

Yayyyy! Words We Don't Use is back! *Smiling sigh*

My favorites this outing are granch and bedswerver, with the latter out ahead by a length.

I so enjoy this thread - thank you, Rowan!

[Rowan]

It hasn't gone anywhere Diane. It just got too tedious for me to post just one word a day so I wait a few days and post a list of words. I'm glad you enjoy reading the thread, though.

[Madeleine]

I love shrumpsed and bedswerver. Not sure about cucumber-time though!

[DianeL]

[quote=""Rowan""]It hasn't gone anywhere Diane. It just got too tedious for me to post just one word a day so I wait a few days and post a list of words. I'm glad you enjoy reading the thread, though. [/quote]

I love these in nice batches!

[LoveHistory]

I like deterge.

[Rowan]

let squizzle - To fire a gun. ~ Mitford Mathews's Dictionary of Americanisms, 1956

chermany - In the southern United States, a variety of the game of baseball. ~ William Cragie's Dictionary of American English, 1940

four-went - Only [used] in four-went-away, a point where four roads meet. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1901

exust - To burn; from Latin exustus, burned. ~ John Boag's Imperial Lexicon of the English Language, c. 1850

saltation - The act of dancing or jumping. ~ Daniel Fenning's Royal English Dictionary, 1775

Dancing, or saltation, is both a pleasant and profitable art which confers and preserves health. It is proper to youth [and] agreeable to the old. . . It is a useful device for ascertaining whether a person be deformed by the gout. . . or if they emit an unpleasant odour, as of bad meat. ~ Thoinot Arbeau's Orchésographie, 1588

smittlish - Infectious; contagious. ~ John Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, 1825

From the old Saxon smittan, to spot or infect; whence our word smut. ~ John Ray's Collection of English Words, 1674

"Get thy saddles off, lad, and come in; 'tis a smittle night for rheumatics." ~ Henry Kingsley's Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn, 1859

Smittleness, infection; smittral, infectious; smittock, a particle. ~ Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 1896-1905

pigsty-doors - Trousers buttoned breeches-fashion, having the flap instead of fly-fronts. ~ G. F. Northall's Warwickshire Word-Book, 1896

Barn-door breeches, the old-fashioned trousers still worn by country people in some places, which opened by a flap extending from hip to hip. ~ Michael Traynor's English Dialect of Donegal, 1953

boracic - Don't give me the old boracic, don't tell me tall yarns. ~ Paul Tempest's Lag's Lexicon: A Dictionary of the English Prison, 1950

flitch - The side of an animal, now only of a hog, salted and cured; a "side" of bacon. A square piece of blubber from a whale. A steak cut from a halibut. A slice cut lengthways from the trunk of a tree. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1901

[Madeleine]

Yup, flitch is still used to describe a side of bacon. The village of Dunmow, in Essex, has a Flitch day every 4 years, whereby married couples from all over the world are invited to prove that they have lived in matrimonial bliss for a year and a day - and the winning couple are awarded a flitch! It's very famous and has been around for centuries, and is mentioned in The Canterbury Tales. Dunmow is known as the Flitch Town, andthis year it takes place on 14th July.

[Rowan]

That very explanation was covered on the date the word flitch appeared on the calendar.

[Rowan]

sistren - The ancient plural of sister. Chaucer speakes of the fates, or weird sisters, as "the fatal sistren." Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms[1848] syas that the word is a "vulgarism sometimes heard from uneducated preachers [in] the West" . . . It appears, however, that the word was not vulgar in Chaucer's time. It is, as such, as well entitled to a place in pulpit eloquence as its equally antique partner, brethren. ~ Charles Mackay's Lost Beauties of the English Language, 1874

pilgarlic - One who peels garlick for others to eat, who is [metaphorically] made to endure hardships while others are enjoying themselves at his expense. ~ Hensleigh Wedgwood's Dictionary of English Etymology, 1878

Said originally to mean one whose skin or hair had fallen off from some diseas, chiefly a veneral one. But now commonly used by persons speaking of themselves, as "There stoody poor pilgarlick," there stood I. ~ Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1796

A person dressed shabbily or fantastically. ~ W. Hugh Patterson's Glossary of Words of Antrim and Down, 1880

bienseance - Decorum; propriety. Rather common in English use about the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. From French bien, well, and séant, past participle of [French] seoir, to befit . . . Etiquettical, pertaining to etiquette. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1888

adoratory - A place of worship, specially applied . . . to those of the pagans. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1888

aporrhipsis - An insane dislike to clothes. ~ John Coxe's Philadelphia Medical Dictionary, 1817

jack-o'-the-clock - In old clocks, a figure which struck the bell to mark the hours. ~ John Phin's Shakespeare Cyclopædia and New Glossary, 1902

frout - Of animals, to take fright. "My horse frouted and ran away." ~ George Dartnell's Glossary of Words Used in Wiltshire, 1893

green gown - To give a lass a green gown, to throw her down upon the grass so that the gown was stained. ~ Walter Skeat's Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, 1914

To have one's greens, to have sexual intercourse. ~ Albert Barrère's Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant, 1889

cully - ONe that maintains a mistress, and parts with money generously to her. ~ B. E.'s Dictionary of the Canting Crew 1699

A companion, mate. One who is cheated or imposed upon by a sharper, strumpet, etc. One easily deceived. Much in use in the 17th century . . . Compare Italian coglionare, "to foist, to deceive." ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1908