ETYMOLOGY
n. 1. : from quill (a small pipe or tube) + -er
n. 2. : from quill (to form into small cylindrical plaits or folds resembling a quill) + -er
EXAMPLE
“…Epi. O sir your chinne is but a quyller yet, you will be most maiesticall when it is full fledge. But I maruell that you loue Dipsas that olde Crone…”
From: Endimion, The Man in the Moone
By John Lyly, 1591
ETYMOLOGY
from be- + gab (to impose upon)
EXAMPLE
“…And wend [þat] he begabbit had bene Be wesch-crafte…”
From: Legends of the Saints in the Scottish dialect of the fourteenth century
St. Clemens c1375
ETYMOLOGY
from Old French faillance, from faillir (to almost do something, to fail)
EXAMPLE
“…but when you come to Exercise the whole company ioyned, you may at some times for your owne satissaction in the more ready & gracefull performance of them, command the Postures to bee done by the whole number at once, with such pawse betweene euery Posture, as may afford you meanes to discerne any faylance therein: but whensoeuer you skirmish you shall vse no more of direction then,
1. Make Ready.2. Present.3. Giue Fyre…”
From: The Compleat Gentleman, fashioning him absolute in the most necessary & commendable qualities concerning minde or bodie that may be required in a noble gentleman
By Henry Peacham, 1627
ETYMOLOGY
from Old French orafle (giraffe),
from Arabic zarāfa , zurāfa (giraffe)
EXAMPLE
“…Þere also be many bestes þat ben clept Orafles, In Arabye þei ben clept Gerfauntz, þat is a best pomelee or spotted…”
From: Mandeville’s Travels, a1425
Edited by Paul Hamelius, 1919
ETYMOLOGY
from neighbour (n.) + -ize
EXAMPLE
“…We thought we’d just neighbourise, and happen in to hear what it says…”
From: The Bread of Tears
By George Brown Burgin, 1899
ETYMOLOGY
Middle English, from Old English handhwīl,
from hand, hond (hand) + hwīl (while);
originally alluding to the short span of a handbreadth
EXAMPLE
“…Thou semste (quoth the spider) a costerde monger.
Conscience euery handwhile thou doste cry.
I muste (quoth the flie) se sum token stronger.
Ere I can suppose you of that mistery.
I call not for conscience more comonly.
Then you speake of it seelde, flie I tolde the erste.
Cause why: that conscience at laste ende shulde be perste…”
From: The Spider and the Flie
A Parable of the Spider and the Flie
By John Heywood, 1556
ETYMOLOGY
of unknown origin
EXAMPLE
“…With hart and mynd I luif humilitie
And pauchtie pryde richt sair I do detest…”
From: Maitland Folio Manuscript a1586
Edited by Sir William Alexander Craigie, 1919
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin librārius (concerned with books) + -ous
EXAMPLE
“…Garniston. Exactly, This is the illustration and the measure of what you rightly consider our progress in this matter. The acted Shakespearian drama, now attracts crowds of studious people.
Warnford. Or librarious people, at any rate. I don’t say it isn’t the same thing: only I prefer my own word…”
From: MacMillan’s Magazine
Vol. L, May 1884, to October
The Consolations of Pessimism: A Dialogue
ETYMOLOGY
possibly from skimming + -ton as in simpleton, with the object of simulating a personal name
EXAMPLE
“…And then, if they meere with such dull Lubbers as these Drones are; they may may with lesse blame borrow a point of the Law, and enjoy their longing. Yet when they haue it, let them vse poore Skimmington as gently as they may especially in publike, to hide his shame…”
From: The Feminine Monarchie,
Or the Historie of Bees
By Charles Butler, 1623
ETYMOLOGY
from what (pronoun, adj., & adv.), after whereabout(s
EXAMPLE
“…I wish you were as much in intercourse with the Colonial Office as with the Treasury, for then you might know all of my goings on, and whatabouts and whereabouts from Henry Taylor…”
From: Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey
By Robert Southey, a1843
Lexicophilia 