Word of the Day

Word of the Day: IMMEMORIOUS


ETYMOLOGY
from im- + memorious


EXAMPLE
“…And we like wretches, carelesly oreseene
Neglecting all continuance of our good,
Of our owne birth haue immemorius beene,
And quite forgot the Nephewes of our blood,
And of neere kin are growne meere strāgers rather,
Almost forgetting we had all one father
…”

From: Svvord and Buckler, or, Seruing-Mans Defence
By William Basse, 1602

Word of the Day: FROST-BRAINED


ETYMOLOGY
from frost + brained


EXAMPLE
“…MARTIANUS: Madam, we all have so importund him
Laying unto his judgement every thing
That might attract his sences to the crowne;
But he, frost-braind, will not be obtaind
To take upon him this Realmes government
…”

From: No-Body and Some-Body, 1606
“Printed for John Trundle, and are to be sold
at his shop in Barbican, at the signe of No-body.”

Word of the Day: BERSATRIX


ETYMOLOGY
from French berseaux (cradle) + –trix a feminine ending


EXAMPLE
“…High rewards, as was then customary, were bestowed on the messenger who attended the child, and on the bersatrix who rocked the cradle of the infant hero…”

From: A History of the Life of Edward the Black Prince, 
By George Payne Rainsford James, 1836

Word of the Day: NOVANTIQUE


ETYMOLOGY
from Latin novus (new) + antique


EXAMPLE
“…yet as they will not counterbalance the weight of those other arguments that militate on the contrary side, so they will without any difficulty be answered by the assertors of this Novantique philosophy…”

From: Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality
By Ralph Cudworth, a1688

Word of the Day: IMAGINOUS


ETYMOLOGY
? from Latin imagoimaginem (image) + -ous,
or ? from imagine (vb.) + -ous


PRONUNCIATION
uh-MAJ-uh-nuhss


EXAMPLE
“…I oft haue heard there is a kind of cure
To fright a lingring Feuer from a man
By an  imaginous feare, which may be true,
For one heate (all know) doth driue out another,
One passion doth expell another still,
And therefore I will vse a fainde deuice
To kindle furie in her frozen Breast,
That rage may fire out griefe, and so restore her
To her most sociable selfe againe
…”

From: Monsieur D’Oliue
By George Chapman, 1606

Word of the Day: SILLIKIN


ETYMOLOGY
from silly (adj.) + -kin


EXAMPLE
“…In every small band, or knot of young thieves, there will always be found one or two sillikins, as they denominate those whom they can persuade to be foremost in any undertaking, by taunts of cowardice and threats of dissolving partnership…”

From: Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country
Volume VI, August to Decemeber, 1832
The Schoolmaster’s Experience in Newgate

Word of the Day: GLOPPEN


ETYMOLOGY
from Old Norse glupna (to be downcast);
a root of identical form appears in Old Frisian glûpa, Middle Low German glûpen (to lie in wait for), Dutch gluipen (to watch slily, to sneak), Old Swedish glupa (to gape, swallow), Swedish glupande, Danish glubende (ravenous, fierce);
whether there is any etymological connection is uncertain


EXAMPLE (for vb. 1)
“…Quen [he] þar-of son had a sight,
Al was he gloppend for þat light
…”

From: Cursor Mundi
(The Cursur of the World)
A Northumbrian Poem of the XIVth Century

Word of the Day: DICTERY


ETYMOLOGY
from Latin dicterium (a witty saying, bon-mot), of uncertain origin


EXAMPLE
“…I took a snatch where I could get it; nay more, I railed at marriage downright, and in a public auditory, when I did interpret that sixth Satire of Juvenal, out of Plutarch and Seneca, I did heap up all the dicteries I could against women; but now recant with Stesichorus…”

From: The Anatomy of Melancholy
By Robert Burton, 1632

Word of the Day: SPILL-TIME


ETYMOLOGY
from spill- (comb. form in the sense spoilt) + time


EXAMPLE
“…That fynden þe þy fode? for an ydel man þow semest,
A spendour þat spende mot oþer a spille-tyme,
Oþer beggest þy bylyue a-boute at menne hacches,
Oþer faitest vp-on frydays · oþer feste-dayes in churches
…”

From: The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman
By William Langland, 1393