Author: Lexico

Word of the Day: WRIXLE

ETYMOLOGY
Old English wrixlian, -an (to alter, change, exchange, etc.),
also ᵹewrixlian, altered form of ᵹewixlian, = Old Frisian wixlia, Old Saxon wehsalon, Old High German wehsalon (German wechseln)

EXAMPLE (for vb. 2)
“…Kynges, & knightes, & other kyde Dukes,
That the charge, & the chaunse hase of þis choise wer,
Thurgh oure might & oure monhod maintene to gedur!
What whylenes, or wanspede, wryxles our mynd?
Þat for meuyng of a man,—Menelay the kyng,—
And the wille of a woman, as ye weton all,
Oure londes haue leuyt, & oure lefe godys…”

From: Destruction of Troy,
The gest hystoriale of the destruction of Troy,
An alliterative romance translated from Guido de Colonna’s Hystoria Troiana

Word of the Day: ACCUSANT

ETYMOLOGY
from French accusant (n. person who accuses), (adj. that accuses)

PRONUNCIATION
uh-KYOO-zuhnt

EXAMPLE
“…The whole Councell beeing afterward called together, they gaue them-selues to the vnderstanding of the matter. As for the crime and the punishment, was of the accusant called vpon in these wordes: The Iudgement of death is due to this man, because hee hath done this or that. But the Defendant repelled it, with these wordes. The Iudgement of death is not due this man, because hee hath not done it, or because hee hath doone it righteously …”

From: A Defence of the Government Established in the Church of Englande
By John Bridges, 1587

Word of the Day: MACROBIAN

ETYMOLOGY
formed on Greek.µακρόβιος (long-lived (from µακρός (long) + βίος (life)) + -an

PRONUNCIATION
muh-KROH-bee-uhn

EXAMPLE
“…Nor did we think it more reasonable to doubt of the Transmogrification of the Macrobian Children into Swans, or that of the Men of Pallene in Thrace into Birds, as soon as they have bath’d themselves in the Tritonie Lake. After this the Devil a word we could get out of him but of Birds and Cages…”

From: The Fifth Book of The Works of Francis Rabelais, M.D.
Translated by Peter Anthony Motteux, 1694

Word of the Day: BUMFEG

ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin;
possibly from bum (to give a beating to, especially as a punishment) + feague (to beat, to whip)

EXAMPLE
“…I wil presently proue both maior and minor of this sillogisme. And hold my cloake there sombody, that I may go roundly to worke. For ise so bumfeg the Cooper, as he had bin better to haue hooped halfe the tubbes in Winchester, then write against my worships pistles…”

From: The Marprelate Tracts
‘Penned and compiled by Martin the Metropolitane’
Hay Any Worke for Cooper, 1523

Word of the Day: SPARROW-FART

ETYMOLOGY
from sparrow + fart

EXAMPLE (for n. 2.)
“…Miss This Miss That Miss Theother lot of sparrowfarts skitting around talking about politics they know as much about as my backside anything in the world to make themselves someway interesting Irish homemade beauties soldiers daughter am I ay and whose are you bootmakers and publicans I beg your pardon coach I thought you were a wheelbarrow…”

From: Ulysses
By James Joyce, 1922

Word of the Day: BIBITORY

ETYMOLOGY
from modern Latin bibitorius, from  bibit- ppl. stem of bibere (to drink)

EXAMPLE
“…The verdict does not favour total abstinence, though it is decidedly against bibitory indulgence. It was clear from the close study of the patient – who was so well-formed and healthy that hey may be regarded corporeally as a typical man – that alcohol was not necessary to him…”

From: The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle
Volume 229, 1870
Notes and Incidents

Word of the Day: MIRLIGOES

ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin;
perhaps from Scots mirl (to speckle, to spot),
with reference to the pattern seen before the eyes when in a state of dizziness + -igo 

PRONUNCIATION
MUR-luh-gohz

EXAMPLE
“…Sure Major Weir, or some sic warlock wight,
Has flung beguilin’ glamer o’er your sight;
Or else some kittle cantrup thrown, I ween,
Has bound in mirlygoes my ain twa ein,
If ever aught frae sense cou’d be believ’d
(And seenil hae my senses been deceiv’d),
This moment, o’er the tap of Adam’s tomb,
Fu’ easy can I see your chiefest dome:
Nae corbie fleein’ there, nor croupin’ craws,
Seem to forspeak the ruin of thy haws,
But a’ your tow’rs in wonted order stand,
Steeve as the rocks that hem our native land….”

From: The Poems of Robert Fergusson
By Robert Fergusson, 1785
The Ghaists: A Kirk-yard Eclogue

Word of the Day: QUINKLE

ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin;
apparently formed on quink = Old English cwincan (to go out, be extinguished)

EXAMPLE
“…The lycht begouth to quynkill owt and faill,
The day to dyrkyn, decline, and devaill;
The gummys rysis, doun fallis the donk rym,
Baith heyr and thair scuggis and schaddois dym…”

From: Translation of Virgil, Æneid
By Gawin Douglas, 1513

Word of the Day: VOUTER

ETYMOLOGY
aphetic formed on avouter (an adulterer, esp. a male one);
in its oldest form from Old French avoutre, aoutre

EXAMPLE
“…For in þis werlde is no doge for þe bowe
þat knowe an hurt dere fro an holde bet cowe
þan þis Somenour knewe a licour
Or a vouter or elles a paramour
And for þat was þe fruyte of al þe rente
Ther-for on it he set al his entente…”

From: The Lansdowne Manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,
Geoffrey Chaucer, c1386