Words We Don't Use

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Mon March 5th, 2012, 6:09 pm

Comstockery looks like a fun word to use!

I just came across the word scavel. Couldn't find a proper dictionary entry for it (though I didn't exhaust all sites searching for it, either). Did find this definition from Wordnik.com: Twitch, the (not always so) smoovements; scattered, oscillating, jerky, and unpredictable.

And smoovement looked like a made-up word, but I found smoove in the online slang dictionary. Apparently a variant of smooth, some argue better than smooth.

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon March 5th, 2012, 6:38 pm

scavel
I was intrigued by this word which seemed to have a Scandinavian feel about it, and sure enough, according to the OED it is of Old Norse origin. It's a small spade of a particular type used for digging drains.

scavel, n.

Pronunciation: /ˈskævəl/
Forms: Also ME, 16 scavell, 15–16 skavell, 15 skavel, 16 ? skeval, 18 skafell, skaffel
Etymology: Old Norse skafa to scrape, shave v.

A small spade (see quot. 1823).

1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 352 Skaffel, a small spade or skuppet used in draining.‥ It differs from a spade in not tapering toward the edge, and in having its sides slightly turned up.

And following on: skuppet
ˈscuppet, n.

Forms: ME–15 scopett, 15 scopytt, skuppat, 17 scoopet, skippet, 18 scuppett, skoppit.
Etymology: Apparently < scope scoop n.1 (sense 2) + -et suffix1.
Obs. exc. dial.

A spade used for trenching and in making ditches; also, a similar instrument used for turning hops while drying.

Rowan · Post by **Rowan** » Tue March 6th, 2012, 6:18 pm

beef-witted - Having an inactive brain, thought to be from eating [beef]. ~ John Phin's Shakespeare Cyclopædia and New Glossary, 1902

Beef-headed; beef-brained; hence beef-wittedness. ~ Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1897

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Tue March 6th, 2012, 6:55 pm

Beef-witted I think I've actually used in my writing, courtesy of a Shakesperean Insult Generator.

DianeL · Post by **DianeL** » Tue March 6th, 2012, 11:53 pm

Beef-witted reminds me of Meathead - and I swear, I think I heard this morning it was Rob Reiner's birthday. Heh.

Rowan · Post by **Rowan** » Wed March 7th, 2012, 1:46 pm

[quote=""DianeL""]Beef-witted reminds me of Meathead - and I swear, I think I heard this morning it was Rob Reiner's birthday. Heh.

[/quote]

LOL!! Too funny.

Rowan · Post by **Rowan** » Wed March 7th, 2012, 1:47 pm

be blowed - You be blowed, or you go and be blowed, a vulgar form of refusal or dismissal; [it] probably has a still coarser allusion underlying it, that of being "fly-blown," or rotting - that is, dying. ~ A. Wallace's Popular Sayings Dissected, 1895

Today is also the Feast Eve of St John of God the patron saint of publishers and booksellers.

Rowan · Post by **Rowan** » Thu March 8th, 2012, 3:43 pm

walt - The ship is walt, that is, wants ballast. ~ Capt. John Smith's Sea-Man's Grammar and Dictionary, 1640

DianeL · Post by **DianeL** » Fri March 9th, 2012, 12:37 am

My dad used to say (good naturedly, of course) "go blow" when we were supposed to leave for school or that sort of thing. I've also heard it used in annoyance, "Why don't you go blow?"

Rowan · Post by **Rowan** » Mon March 12th, 2012, 1:50 pm

vitativeness - Love of life as such; unwillingness to die. ~ O.S. Fowler's Phrenology Proved, Illustrated, and Applied, 1855

ebony optics - Black eyes. Ebony optics albonized, black eyes painted white, an art much practiced by pugilists. Pugilists' cant. ~ Ducange Anglicus's Vulgar Tongue: Two Glossaries of Slang, Cant, and Flash Words and Phrases, 1857

blacksheep - To take another person's job; West Virginia; noted 1925. ~ Harold Wentworth's American Dialect Dictionary, 1944