ETYMOLOGY
perhaps a variation of jimp (slender, slim, delicate, graceful, neat)
EXAMPLE
“…Hys wifis, Toppa and Partelot, hym by,
As byrd al tyme that hantis bigamy.
The pantyt povn, pasand with plomys gym,
Kest vp his taill, a provd plesand quheill rym,
Yschrowdyt in hys fedrame brycht and scheyn,
Schapand the prent of Argus hundreth eyn…”
From: Virgil’s Aeneid translated into Scottish verse
By Gavin Douglas, 1513
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin pluviatilis consisting of rain,
from pluvia (rain) + -atilis (-atile)
EXAMPLE
“…Take Hogges suet lb 6. Terebinthine which hath binne washed in pluviatile water & mixe the Quicksilver therwith…”
From: The Boock of Physicke
By Oswald Gaebelkhover
Translation by A.M., 1599
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek ὀνόµατ– ὄνοµα (name) + -ous
PRONUNCIATION
uh-NOM-uh-tuhss
EXAMPLE
“…For our own parts, we will not be forward to remove the disguise, and, indeed, in very many cases we should as a rule prefer the anonymous to the onomatous mode of addressing the public…”
From: The Spectator
A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature, Theology, and Art
Volume the Forty-Second, 1869
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin arguit- ppl. stem of arguere + -ive, as if from Latin arguitivus (attacking or accusing)
EXAMPLE
“…But, as it is, the only knowledge of God to which the mind of man can naturally attain, is arguitive, being deduced from his cognitions of the creature; and therefore in the enunciation of the Thesis, the direct measure of the human intellect is restricted to finite Being…”
From: The Metaphysics of the School
By Thomas Harper, 1879
ETYMOLOGY
from Epicurus (or epicure) + -ize
EXAMPLE
“…See whether in our time this be not a custom among some people, that if a man were disposed to epicurize a little, he would not rather choose to fast as some hold fasting, than to feast at a sober banquet…”
From: An Exposition Upon the Prophet Jonah
By George Abbot, 1600
ETYMOLOGY
formed by compounding, from ring
EXAMPLE
He was a ring-pigger and a debauchee, and his family were divided in opinion as to whether he died from the effects of drink or from licentious living.
ETYMOLOGY
from im- + memorious
EXAMPLE
“…And we like wretches, carelesly oreseene
Neglecting all continuance of our good,
Of our owne birth haue immemorius beene,
And quite forgot the Nephewes of our blood,
And of neere kin are growne meere strāgers rather,
Almost forgetting we had all one father…”
From: Svvord and Buckler, or, Seruing-Mans Defence
By William Basse, 1602
ETYMOLOGY
from frost + brained
EXAMPLE
“…MARTIANUS: Madam, we all have so importund him
Laying unto his judgement every thing
That might attract his sences to the crowne;
But he, frost-braind, will not be obtaind
To take upon him this Realmes government…”
From: No-Body and Some-Body, 1606
“Printed for John Trundle, and are to be sold
at his shop in Barbican, at the signe of No-body.”
ETYMOLOGY
adj. 1: ? from side (adj.) + -y
adj. 2: from side (pretentiousness, swagger, conceit )
PRONUNCIATION
SIGH-dee
EXAMPLE
She is such a sidy woman – happy one minute, then angry the next.
ETYMOLOGY
from French berseaux (cradle) + –trix a feminine ending
EXAMPLE
“…High rewards, as was then customary, were bestowed on the messenger who attended the child, and on the bersatrix who rocked the cradle of the infant hero…”
From: A History of the Life of Edward the Black Prince,
By George Payne Rainsford James, 1836
Lexicophilia 