ETYMOLOGY
from Latin pigritudo (laziness); from Latin pigr-, piger (lazy) + ‑itudo ‑(itude)
EXAMPLE
“… But, with a little thoughtful frequenting, those deserted river-sides become contemplative and pleasant rambling-places, and, if some whim of fashion do not make the bank of the Hudson like the Marina of Smyrna, a fashionable resort, I have my Sunday afternoons provided for, during the pigritude of city durance. …”
From: Dashes at Life With a Free Pencil
By Nathaniel Parker Willis, 1845
ETYMOLOGY
from rhinoceros + -ical
EXAMPLE (for adj. 1.)
“… Cheat. My lusty rustic, learn and be instructed. Cole is, in the language of the witty, money. The ready, the rhino ; thou shalt be rhinocerical, my lad, thou shalt.
Belf. Admirable, I swear ! Cole ! ready ! rhino ! rhinocerical ! Lord, how long may a man live in ignorance in the country. — And how much cole, ready, and rhino, shall I have? …”
From: The Squire of Alsatia. A comedy
By Thomas Shadwell, 1688
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek µάγειρος (cook) + -ist
EXAMPLE
“… As no inhabitable Corner of the Earth ever was without a sufficient Medicinal Produce of it’s own for it’s Inhabitants, so the respective Natives never wanted a competent Number of their own, that made it their Business, to cultivate those several natural Physical Productions, and even to Carry on their Intelligence further therewith, so as to dive deeper into the Knowledge of all the Medicinals; that they could come any way to be acquainted with, or to know the Use of. And such were call’d at first variously pro re nata, as Magists, Magirists, Opsonarians, Caterers, Carvars, Nurserists, Geoponists, Hygeisys, Prophylactists, Remedists, Aliptists, Gymnastists, Unguentarians, Emplastrists, Veterinarians, Hippo-Jatrists, Mulomedicists. Operators, Herbalists, Botanists, Anatomists, Naturalists, Physicists, Medicinists, Myropolists, Ropopolists, …”
From: Athenæ Britannicæ; or, a critical history of the Oxford and Cambridge writers and writings
By Myles Davies, 1716
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin florulus from flōr-, flōs (flower)
EXAMPLE
They decorated the dining room with florulous wallpaper and florulent-patterned chairs.
ETYMOLOGY
n. 1. possibly a variant of baff (a blow with anything flat or soft)
n. 2. possibly a variant of baff (a big, clumsy person)
vb. possibly a variant of beft (to strike, to give blows)
EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“… Ye shak your head, but o’ my fegs,
Ye’ve set auld Scota on her legs;
Lang had she lien wi’ beffs and flegs,
Bumbaz’d and dizzie,
Her fiddle wanted strings and pegs,
Wae’s me, poor hizzie. …”
From: Aberdeen Journal, June 1768
The Poems of Beattie
By James Beattie
ETYMOLOGY
from Old English stǽlwierðe, from stǽl (place) + wierðe (worth – adj.);
From OED: “The length of the vowel in the first syllable seems to be authenticated by some of the early Middle English forms; the shortening of ǽ to ă in the first element of a compound is normal. The Old English stǽl(the quantity of which is certain from the three occurrences in poetry) appears not to be immediately connected with the synonymous stæl with short vowel (dat. stale); according to some scholars it represents a contraction of Old Teutonic *staþl- or *stađl-, the relation of Old English stǽl to staðol foundation being considered parallel with that of mǽl speech to the synonymous mæðel. The 13th century form staðelwurðe, occurring only once strongly confirms this view.
The early Middle English forms with medial e, stele-, steale-, stalewurðe are difficult to account for.“
EXAMPLE (for n.)
“… Such semblaunt to þat segge semly ho made
Wyth stille stollen countenaunce, þat stalworth to plese,
Þat al forwondered watz þe wyȝe, and wroth with hymseluen,
Bot he nolde not for his nurture nurne hir aȝaynez,
Bot dalt with hir al in daynté, how-se-euer þe dede turned
towrast. …”
From: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Author unknown; a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English alliterative verse;
Edited by Sir Israel Gollancz through the Early English Text Society, 1940
ETYMOLOGY
from ill + tongue + ‑ed
EXAMPLE
“… Man iltunged, ai spekand,
Noght righted sal be in land;
Vnrightwise man, at his endinge
Take sal him iuels in steruinge. …”
From: The Surtees Psalter
Rhymed Middle English psalter dating from 1250 to 1300
ETYMOLOGY
either from niffle (to act in a trifling manner) + ‑ing,
or from nifle (a trifle) + ‑ing
EXAMPLE
“…There are some that are so forestalled with a strong self-conceit of their own light and love of self-will, that whatsoever bears not the stamp and superscription of their approved patrons, schools and institutions, is but as darkness and nifling shadows unto them, and ungrounded prejudice, cavilling superstition, and vain suspicion do so much possess them, that they reject it as not worth the reading over; …”
From: The Epistles of Jacob Boehme
Translated by J. Ellistone, 1649
Preface to the reader
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin correctus + -fy
EXAMPLE
“… It is not to be a Justice of Peace as you are, and palter out your time i’th’ penal Statutes. To hear the curious Tenets controverted between a Protestant Constable, and Jesuite Cobler; to pick Natural Philosophy out of Bawdry, when your Worship’s pleas’d to correctifie a Lady; nor ’tis not the main Moral of blind Justice, (which is deep Learning) when your Worships Tenants bring a light cause, and heavy Hens before ye, both fat and feeble, a Goose or Pig; and then you’ll sit like equity with both hands weighing indifferently the state o’th’ question. These are your Quodlibets, but no Learning, Brother. …”
From: The Elder Brother a comedie
By John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, 1637
ETYMOLOGY
of unknown origin;
possibly from maffle (to talk or act in a silly manner)
EXAMPLE
“… If I had a souple-jack in my hand, wouldn’t I ken whaar to lay it. Don’t ye stand there ogglin’ like a gowk, ye strackle-brain’d scollops! Not a word out o yer head. I’ll hae nane o’ yer miff-maff here. Sarts! it’s bonny doins; fires out, and narra pittayta, and the best pou’t o’ the lot stole, and you sittin’ here croodlin’ in a scog! …”
From: The Shorter Works of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The Bird of Passage, 1838
Lexicophilia 