ETYMOLOGY
after the manner of Cleopatra
EXAMPLE
“…Oh, Cleopatricall! what wanteth there
For curious cost, and wondrous choise of cheare?
Beefe, that earst Hercules held for finest fare;
Porke for the fat Boeotian; or the hare,
For Martiall, fish, for the Venetian…”
From: Virgidemiarum
By Bishop J. Hall, 1597
Satire III
ETYMOLOGY
from hog + grubber (a person who gets wealth by sordid or contemptible methods)
EXAMPLE
“…The next that in our little Ease,
Came to be bit with Lice and Fleas,
Was a spruce Knave, like none of these, But sober,
As the Strand May-pole, – he did go,
In russe, – His thumb th’row ring, did show
A Gentleman seal’d, – for he was no Hog-grubber:
It was a Petty-fogging Varlet,
Whose back worse freez, but burn no scarlet,
And was tane napping with his Harlot, At noddy: …”
From: The Counter-Scuffle
Whereunto is added, the Counter-Ratt
By Robert Speed, 1626
ETYMOLOGY
from Old French gorel, gorreau (a pig, hog);
related to Old French gore (sow): of unknown origin.
EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“…Crampe that comyth of replycyon fallyth ofte to fatte men and flesshly and well fedde and gorrelles…”
From: Bartholomew de Glanville’s De Proprietatibus Rerum,
Translated by John Trevisa, 1495
ETYMOLOGY
of obscure origin: perhaps originally a name of some bird
(From Murray’s N.E.D.: “the suggestion that it is from meek (adj.) is untenable”)
EXAMPLE
“…He shuld be no cowarde, no maycocke, ne fearfull persone that dare no thyng enterprise….”
From: Here Begynneth a Deuout Treatyse in Englysshe, called the Pylgrimage of Perfection,
By William Bonde, 1526
ETYMOLOGY
from spill (to lose waste in a wasteful or accidental manner) + good
EXAMPLE
She was by no means a spill-good, but somehow all their money disappeared anyway.
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin pedisequus (following on foot, a foot-follower),
from pedi- (foot) + -sequus (following), sequī (to follow)
EXAMPLE
“…not onely melancholical and contumacious ones, but viscid and pituitous also, which sometimes put on the habit of Melancholly, and some adust bilious humours: and therefore we adde Rhabarb and Turbith, that we may with the Melancholical Captain-humour, educe the Pituitous, his companion inseparable, and also the Bilious, which is pedissequous.
And because this Medicament most respects melancholy, we have selected black Hellebore for this black humour; rejecting the white, as more convenient for Phlegm…”
From: A Medicinal Dispensatory: Containing the Whole Body of Physick
By Jean de Renou
Translated by Richard Tomlinson, 1657
The Apothecaries Shop: Of Liquid Electuaries
ETYMOLOGY
of fanciful formation
EXAMPLE
“…Curious enough, there is a Lady Erskine, wife of Lord E, her husband’s eldest brother living at Bollington, who tipples & ‘gets squiffy‘ just like this Mrs E. …”
From: The Letters of Mrs. Gaskell
By Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, 1855
Edited by J. A. V. Chapple, Arthur Pollard, 1966
ETYMOLOGY
diminutive of faunt: aphetic form of Old French enfaunt, enfant;
the shortened form has not been found in French, but Italian has the corresponding fante (boy, servant, foot-soldier), whence German fant
EXAMPLE
“…”Þat is soth,” quod clergye “I se what þow menest,
I shal dwelle as I do my deuore to shewen,
And conformen fauntekynes and other folke ylered,
Tyl pacience haue preued þe and parfite þe maked…”
From: The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman,
By William Langland, 1377
ETYMOLOGY
perhaps from cheery + merry; possibly only a jingling combination
EXAMPLE
“…how few of you are enemies to a glass (or two or three) of generous wine, and how much food of such a heating nature, promotes the circulation of the bottle, it is not at all astonishing, that every convivial assistant should go home cherry-merry, after having been a guest at such a repast…”
From: Yorick’s Sentimental Journey Continued,
By John Hall-Stevenson, 1769
ETYMOLOGY
the first element, tara, is of obscure origin;
+ diddle (n. a swindle, deception) (vb. to cheat, to swindle)
EXAMPLE
“…Bar. My dear Anna Matilda, I don’t know myself; so how can I tell you?
Mrs. B. There’s a bare-faced tarradiddle, Mr. Barbottle…”
From: The Duel:
Or, My Two Nephews
A Farce, in Two Acts
By R. B. Peake, 1823
Lexicophilia 