ETYMOLOGY
from French bel (belle) ami (fair friend)
EXAMPLE
“…Thenne aunsweryd the kyng off Fraunce To Kyng Richard withouten destaunce, ” I suffre, sere, bele amys, Thou hast wrong, sere, be Seynt Denis, That thou thretest that markys, That thè never yit dede amysse…”
From: Richard Coer de Lion
A Middle English Romance, c1325
ETYMOLOGY
from yonder (adv., adj., pron., & n.) + -ly
EXAMPLE
“…Poor lass, hoo were kinder becose aw were quare;
“Come, Jamie, an’ sattle thisel in a cheer;
Thae’s looked very yonderly mony a day;
It’s grievin’ to see heaw thae’rt wearin’ away,
An’ trailin’ abeawt,
Like a hen at’s i’th meawt;
Do, pritho, poo up to thi tay!…”
From: Lancashire Songs
By Edwin Waugh, 1863
Jamie’s Frolic
ETYMOLOGY
from flesh (n.) + -ful
EXAMPLE
“…He looked like one of those burly Flemings that Rembrandt would sometimes paint, with his orange moustache and imperial, his solid fleshful face, and his big, chubby hands, on whose knuckles were little tufts of tawny hair…”
From: Loaded Dice: A Novel
By Edgar Fawcett, 1891
ETYMOLOGY
after Smelfungus, a hypercritical traveller in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768) by Laurence Sterne (died 1768 British novelist), who intended this character to satirize Tobias Smollett (died 1771 British novelist) for his descriptions in Travels through France and Italy (1766)
EXAMPLE
“…I was, however, much pleased to see that red maintains its ground against all other colors, because red is the color of Mr. Jefferson’s ********, Tom Paine’s nose, and my slippers. Let the grumbling smellfungi of this world, who cultivate taste among books, cobwebs, and spiders, rail at the extravagance of the age; for my part, I was delighted with the magic of the scene, and as the ladies tripped through the mazes of the dance, sparkling and glowing and dazzling, I, like the honest Chinese, thanked them heartily for the jewels and finery with which they loaded themselves, merely for the entertainment of bystanders, and blessed my stars that I was a bachelor…”
From: Salmagundi; or, The Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, (pseudonym) Esq. and Others
By William Irving, James Kirke Paulding and Washington Irving, 1807
ETYMOLOGY
from cluster in sense of lump, clumsy mass + fist
EXAMPLE
“…Saturday Night passed with much Perplexity to the Monks, who were at their Wits Ends, and Lives too (they could not hope better things) about the Charter, which was no where extant but in the Noddles of these Cluster-fists. But Day and Comfort broke out together upon them; suddenly this Overflow of Pride, and Arrogancy abated, their Loftiness fell, and their Bristles were somewhat laid…”
From: The Works of Mr. John Cleveland
By John Cleveland, 1687
The Rustick Rampant, or Rural Anarchy Affronting Monarchy, a1658
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek γελαστικός (gelastikos), from γελᾶν (to laugh)
EXAMPLE
“…or even exempt it from his unexcepting Censure and Undutiful Reflection against that Right Reverend Father of our Church, not without a Gelastick deference to so great a name, no more than without as high a Conception as possibly conceivable of the unappearing performances of so learned a Prelate…”
From: Athenae Britannicae:
Or, A Critical History of the Oxford and Cambridge Writers and Writings
By Myles Davies, 1716
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek ἀστραπή (astrape lightning) + phobos (fear)
EXAMPLE
“…These nervous perturbations, in their various degrees, have seemed to me to be sufficiently frequent and distinctive to entitle them to be regarded as a separate disease. To this disease I have given the name Astraphobia…”
From: Te Popular Science Monthly
Conducted by E. L. Youmans, Vol. IV. February 1874
Atmospheric Electricity and Ozone
ETYMOLOGY
either from affront (n.) or affront (vb.) + -ous,
perhaps after Middle French affronteur (opposing, attacking)
EXAMPLE
“…for those Counsels are sufficient honourable, which render securitie vnto doubtfull affaires. And on the contrary, those are most affrontous, & miserable; when being enterprised with temeritie, onely to shew a vaine presumption, and rigorous boldnesse of minde, they are wont to disturbe the good courses of the honorable enterprises, and of the victories whereof great hope is to be had…”
From: The Theorike and Practike of Moderne Warres
By Robert Barret, 1598
ETYMOLOGY
either from French opiniastre (adj. – opinionated) + -ous,
or from opiniastre (n. – an opinionated person) + -ous
EXAMPLE
“…Next, in matter of death, the Laws of England, wherof you have intruded to bee an opiniastrous Sub advocate, and are bound to defend them, conceave it not enjoyn’d in Scripture, when or for what cause they shall put to death, as in adultery, theft, and the like; your minor also is fals, for the Scripture plainly sets down for what measure of disagreement a man may divorce…”
From: Colasterion
A Reply to a nameless Answer against the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
By John Milton, 1645
ETYMOLOGY
alteration of Latin lilium convallium (lily of the valleys), influenced by fancy
EXAMPLE
“…Of Liricumancie.
Liricumfancie, or as other iudge May Lilie, for resemblace alike: It hath his flowre verie white. In Greeke it is called Ephemeron, for his short continuance and daylie dying…”
From: A Greene Forest
By John Maplet, 1567
Lexicophilia 