ETYMOLOGY
from Middle English belsyre,
from belfair (beautiful) (from Old French)
EXAMPLE
“… With those delicious Brooks, by whose immortall streames
Her greatnesse is begunne: so that our Riuers King,
When he his long Descent shall from his Bel-sires bring,
Must needs (Great Pastures Prince) deriue his stem by thee,
From kingly Cotswolds selfe, sprung of the third degree: …”
From: Poly-Olbion
By Michael Drayton, 1612
ETYMOLOGY
fancifully from solemn (adj.), after melancholy
EXAMPLE
[Dr. John Beatty to Philip Fithian]
Philadelphia, December 18th, 1772
“… I rode that evening you left me as far as Cormans; being very Solemncholly and somewhat tired, I concluded to stay there all night; and very early next morning breakfasted at Gloucester and got into Philadelphia before Eleven of the clock …”
From: Journal and Letters
By Philip Vickers Fithian, 1900
ETYMOLOGY
from pinch- (comb. form) + penny
EXAMPLE
“… A prince & kyng of al a regioun
Mot avarice thrist a-doune to grounde;
To hym þat lith in helle depe I-bounde,
The, auarice, by-take I to kepe;
Thow pynepeny, [pynchepeny] ther ay mot þou slepe! …”
From: Hoccleve’s Works,
Edited by Frederick J. Furnivall, 1892
De Regimine Principum
By Thomas Hoccleve, Composed c1412
ETYMOLOGY
reduplicated extension of prattle (to talk in a foolish, childish, or inconsequential way)
EXAMPLE (for vb.)
“… they are poore honest folkes, and haue here an honest company at their mariage, now they lacke wyne, I pray you helpe, She was not long in bibble bable, with saying she wist not what, but sayth at one word, helpe for it is nede. She doth not, as our Papistes do, whiche prittle prattle a whole day uppon their Beades, saying our Ladyes Psalter. But she only sayth, they haue no wyne; helpe. etc. …”
From: Frutefull Sermons
A Sermon Preached by Hugh Latymer, a1552
ETYMOLOGY
from French discutable,
from discuter (to discuss),
(from Latin discutere (to discuss) + -able)
EXAMPLE
“… A definite and complete study of all literary works of the period inspired by the event would be not only an enterprise worthy of an inquisitive erudition, but also a useful help in tracing a line of demarcation between legend and history, and would throw a flood of light on many insoluble or discutable points. …”
From: The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, 1893
Christopher Columbus and Lope de Vega
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin claudicare,
from claudus lame
EXAMPLE
“… Toss’d, half the night, as Vulcan a whole morn,
No Lemnian there to catch the wretch forlorn;
Till his last step to claudicate in gait,
Like him halt, hobble, and hallucinate! …”
From: The Vestriad: A Poem
By Hans Busk, 1820
Canto IV. The Descent.
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin coinquinat- participial stem of coinquinare (to defile all over),
from co- (together) + inquinare (to defile)
EXAMPLE
“... For the wele publyke
Of preesthode in this case
And alwayes to chase
Suche maner of sysmatykes
And halfe-heretykes
That wolde intoxicate
That wolde conquinate
That wolde contemminate
And that wolde vyolate
And that wolde derogate
And that wolde abrogate
The churche hygh estates…”
From: Colyn Cloute
By John Skelton, a1529
ETYMOLOGY
from Old French solacieus (soulaceus, etc.),
from solas (solace, comfort, consolation)
EXAMPLE
“… þou allone most swete & most solacious, þou allone most faire & most louely, þou allone most noble and most gloriose, …”
From: Translation of Thomas à Kempis, De Imitatione Christi, c1450
ETYMOLOGY
from passant (passing by or along, going, proceeding; travelling, journeying)
EXAMPLE
“… Thus passed they their passance, and wore out the wéerie way with these pleasant discourses, & prettie posies, where after their tedious toyle, they came to their Inne, where Phemocles coulde neither eate meate for ioy, nor sléepe in his bedde for the pleasure he cōceiued of his trauell. ..”
From: Narbonus The Laberynth of Libertie
By Austin Saker, 1580
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin pridianus (relating to the previous day),
from pridie (adv. on the day before),
from pri- before + dies a day + -anus (-an)
EXAMPLE
“… This Gann, I take it, has similar likings, for I hear him occasionally at midnight floundering up the stairs (his boots lie dirty in the passage)—floundering, I say, up the stairs, and cursing the candlestick, whence escape now and anon the snuffers and extinguisher, and with brazen rattle disturb the silence of the night. Thrice a−week, at least, does Gann breakfast in bed—sure sign of pridian intoxication; and thrice a−week, in the morning, I hear a hoarse voice roaring for ‘my soda−water.’ How long have the rogues drunk soda−water? …”
From: A Shabby Genteel Story,
And Other Tales.
By: William M. Thackeray, 1840
How Mrs. Gann received two lodgers.
Lexicophilia 