Word of the Day

Word of the Day: CONFARREATION

ETYMOLOGY
– from Latin confarreātiōnem, a noun of action from confarreāre (to unite in marriage by the offering of bread), 
from con- + farreus (of spelt, corn, or grain), farreum (a spelt-cake),
from far, farr-is (grain, spelt)

EXAMPLE
“…And if fell out that, that iust number coulde not bee founde, the vse of confarreation, or marriage with a cake of Wheate, either not vsed, or only of a few: whereof he alleaged many reasons, though the chiefest was, the carelesnes of men and women…”

From: The Annales of Cornelius Tacitus. The Description of Germanie.
(Translation Richard Grenewey)
Cornelius Tacitus, 1598

Word of the Day: DAPOCAGINOUS

ETYMOLOGY
– from Italian dappocaggine (lack of intelligence or ability);
from dappoco (of a person: lacking intelligence or ability);
from da (of ) + poco (adv. a little, slightly) + -ous

EXAMPLE
“…Were any one of the wretched broadcasting financial experts to declare not that the housing market is ‘being squeezed’ but that his dapocaginous (mean-spirited; heartless) rigadoon (lively baroque period dance) of fiscal ineptitude that has elumbated (made weak in the loins) every homeowner to an abapical (at the lowest point) financial state is made no better by the rodomontade (bluster) of politicians yarling (howling), why then I might again pay attention…”

From: The Chain of Curiosity
Sandi Toksvig, 2013

Word of the Day: MARITATED

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin marītātus pa. pple. of marītāre (to marry) + -ed

EXAMPLE
“…I am still an agamist, although nubile for several annuary epochs. I have had multitudinous allectations to enter into a maritated condition, but have as yet evitated all morsure at the proffers coming from your genus…”

From: Letters to Squire Pedant In the East, 
By Lorenzo Altisonant, an Emigrant to the West.
By Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour, 1870
Amenityville, Occident, (Letter written July 4, 1844)
To Seignior Lorenzo Altisonant

Word of the Day: WHACKER

DEFINITIONS (cont’d)

n. 1. 1768 UK sl. – a term of address to a man
n. 2. 1823 – anything abnormally large of its kind; a big lie; a heavy blow
n. 3. 1827 Amer. dial. – a driver of animals; a drover; an ox or mule driver
n. 4. 1861 Eng. dial. – a shake; a shiver
n. 5. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – something excellent
n. 6. 1960s Aust. sl. – a fool
n. 7. 1980s US sl. – a masturbator
n. 8. 20C US sl. – a gadget, a thing
n. 9. 20C US sl. – the penis
vb. 1703 Eng. dial. – to tremble, to shake with cold, fear, etc.

ETYMOLOGY
from whack (vb.) + -er

EXAMPLE (for n.3)
“…A noisy train of long-horned, thin-bodied oxen, dragging trailed wagons piled high with freight from the railway terminus, comes round the corner, and stops to listen before unyoking for the night, the whacker’s long whip cracking like pistol-shots as he lashes his unwieldy beasts into position…”

From: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine
No. CCCLIX – April, 1880 – Vol. I.X.
La Villa Real De Santa Fe

Word of the Day: FAMELICOSE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin famēlicōsus, from fames (hunger)

EXAMPLE
“…We arrived there by 10:30 p.m. and were super hungry despite eating all the stuffed pranthas all the way. I guess all Punjabis are famelicose because no matter how much we eat, we can still manage to eat more if given something that is delicious…”

From: Unanswered Questions
Love is Lost When the Answers are Assumed,
Katie Khanna, 2016

Word of the Day: BUNGFUNGER

ETYMOLOGY
– ? from bumfuddled,
? from bamboozle

EXAMPLE
“…Well, father, I thought he’d a fainted too, he was so struck up all of a heap, he was completely bung fungered; dear, dear, said he, I didn’t think it would come to pass so soon, but I knew it would come; I foretold it…”

From: The Clockmaker
or The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick,
Thomas Chandler Haliburton, 1836

Word of the Day: JINGLE-BRAINS

ETYMOLOGY
– from jingle + brains

EXAMPLE
“…We left these Jingle Brains to their Crotchets , and proceeded to the West end of the Cathedral , where we past by abundance of Apples, Nuts, and GingerBread, till we came to a melancholly Multitude , drawn into a Circle , giving very serious Attention to a blind Ballad-singer who was mournfully setting forth the wonderful Usefulness…”

From: The London-spy Compleat, in Eighteen Parts,
Edward Ward, 1718