Word of the Day

Word of the Day: INSTANTER

ETYMOLOGY
Latin adverb, (urgently, earnestly), in late Latin (presently, at once);
originally a law term, but later a substitute for ‘instantly’

EXAMPLE
“… in the third place, the information being read, the Bishops would have excused their pleading to it instanter, but that in this they were refuted …”

From: The Ellis Correspondence:
Letters Written During 1686-1688, and Addressed to John Ellis, Esq.
Edited by George Agar Ellis, 1829
“The Bishops Release from the Tower upon Bail“. 16th June, 1688

Word of the Day: CUNCTATIVE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin cunctat-, participial stem of cunctari (to hesitate) + -ive

EXAMPLE
“… For it hath been a manner much used of late in my last lord’s time, of whom I learn much to imitate, and, somewhat to avoid ; that upon the solemn and full hearing of a cause nothing is pronounced in court, but breviates are required to be made; which I do not dislike in itself in causes perplexed. For I confess I have somewhat of the cunctative; and I am of opinion, that whosoever is not wiser upon advice than upon the sudden, the same man was no wiser at fifty than he was at thirty. …”

From: The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England, 1803
Speech on taking his Place in Chancery, May 1617

Word of the Day: DODMAN

ETYMOLOGY
origin unknown;
a connection with dod (a rounded summit or eminence (dialect)), has been suggested

EXAMPLE
“… KYNGE JOHAN. God hathe me ordeynned in this same princely estate
For that I shuld helpe such as be desolate.
SEDWSYON. Yt is as great pyte to se a woman wepe
As yt is to se a sely dodman crepe,
Or, as ye wold say, a sely goose go barefote.
KYNGE JOHAN. Thou semyste by thy wordes to have no more wytt than a coote.
I mervell them arte to Englond so unnaturall,
Beyng her owne chyld: thou art worse than a best brutall. …”

From: Kynge Johann,
By John Bale, a1563

Word of the Day: NIGHT-WORM

ETYMOLOGY
from night + worm

EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“… Ye noble Pryncis, conceyueth the sentence
Off this story, remembrid in scripture,
How that Sampson off wilful necligence
Was shaue & shorn, diffacid his figure;
Keep your conceitis vnder couerture,
Suffre no nyhtwerm  withynne your counsail kreepe,
Thouh Dalida compleyne, crie and weepe!…”

From: The Fall of Princes
Translated by John Lydgate, a1439
Edited by Dr. Henry Bergen
The Early English Text Society, 1924

Word of the Day: CONTICENT

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin conticentem, present participle of conticere (to be silent or still),
from con- intensive + tacere (to be silent)

EXAMPLE
“… Here they all sit — not in my lord’s grand dining-room, you know, but in the snug study or parlor in front. The cloth has been withdrawn, the General has given the King’s health, the servants have left the room, the guests sit conticent, and so, after a little hemming and blushing, Mr. George proceeds …”

From: The Virginians, a tale of the last century
By William Makepeace Thackeray, 1859

Word of the Day: TIDDY-IDDY

ETYMOLOGY
replication of tiddy (tiny, small)

EXAMPLE
“… In time came those maternal joys
Which take the form of girls or boys,
And strange to say of each they’d one –
A tiddy iddy daughter, and a tiddy iddy son!…”

From: The “Bab” Ballads:
Much Sound and Little Sense
By W. S. Gilbert, 1869
Thomas Green and Harriet Hale.
To be Sung to the Air of “An ‘Orrible Tale”

Word of the Day: MORIGEROUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin morigerus (compliant, obliging), (from mor-, mos [custom, humour] + gerere [to bear, carry]; after the phrase morem gerere [to humour or comply with the wishes of a person]) + -ous

EXAMPLE
“… Call. What pleases Timon, cannot mee displease.

Phil. Timon, thou hast a wife morigerous
Shee is the onely comfort of my age. …”

From: The Life of Timon of Athens
Generally attributed to William Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton, c1600

Word of the Day: NEFAST

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin nefastus (contrary to, or forbidden by divine law), 
from ne- (not) + fastus (lawful for the transaction of business) (from fas – wicked act, moral offense)

EXAMPLE (for adj. 1.)
“… The day of the moneth wherein he was borne, should be adiudged and accounted for an vnluckie, dismall, and nefast day, wherevpon it shoulde not be lawfull for any iudge to sit. …”

From: Beautifull Blossomes
By John Bishop, 1577

Word of the Day: TOW-ROW

ETYMOLOGY
reduplicated or extended form of row (a violent disturbance); orig. dialect

EXAMPLE (for adj.)
“… If a Virgin blushes, we no longer cry the Blues. He that Drinks till he stares, is no more Tow-Row, but Honest. A Youngster in a Scrape, is a Word out of Date; and what bright Man says , I was Joab’d by the Dean …”

From: The Tatlers
By Isaac Bickerstaff. 1710