ETYMOLOGY
from be- + daff (a fool, a simpleton)
EXAMPLE (for vb. 1.)
“… Folweth ecco, that holdeth no silence,
But ever answereth at the countretaille :
Beth not bedaffed for your innocence,
But sharply taketh on you the governaille :
Emprenteth wel this lesson in your minde,
For comun profit, sith it may availle. …”
From: Canterbury Tales; The Clerkes Tale
By Geoffrey Chaucer, c1386
ETYMOLOGY
probably an alteration of blandish (to charm or flatter in order to entice, etc.), perhaps after philander;
apparently intended as a form characteristic of Irish English; (Irish blanndar (dissimulation, flattery))
EXAMPLE
“… He looked at me wearily; his eyes were sunk in his head, and his face was drawn and white. ‘Eyah!’ said he; ‘I’ve blandandhered thim through the night somehow, but can thim that helps others help thimsilves? Answer me that, sorr!’…”
From: Soldiers Three
By Joseph Rudyard Kipling, 1888
With the Main Guard
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek βόρβορος (filth) + -λογία (discoursing)
EXAMPLE
“… Evil words are not winde, as most imagine, but the devils drivell, that leaves a foul stain upon the speaker, and oft sets the like upon the hearer. Shun obscene borborology (saith one) and unsavoury speeches: thou losest so much of thine honesty and piety, as thou admittest evil into thy tongue. …”
From: A Commentary or Exposition upon all the Epistles, and the Revelation of John the Divine
By John Trapp, 1647
ETYMOLOGY
from the genitive of bird + nye for eye, as in my nye = myn eye;
possibly an alteration of pigsney (a sweetheart, a term of endearment)
EXAMPLE
“… Oh Mistris May, come to bed Sweet-heart come, my Duck, my Birds-nye; Zblood, I must goe to Salisbury to morrow, bring me my Boots quickly; Zounds, will not the Rogues bring me more Money; Zblood, that Cock’s worth a Kings Ransome, a runs, a runs, a thousand pound to a Hobby-horse; Rub, Rub, Rub, a pox Rub a whole hundred Rubs; …”
From: The last vvill and testament of Philip Herbert, burgesse for Bark-shire, 1650
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin blandiloquent-, blandiloquens (smooth-talking), from blandus (bland) + ‑loquens ‑loquent (speaking in an indicated manner)
EXAMPLE
“… Graunt to me no learning, Muses, thou Pagan Apollo,
Cynthia, with Charites, thou blandiloquent mery Pytho,
Mercury, with Sappho, Pallas nam’d also Minerva,
Graunt to me no favour: but thou, thou mightie Jejova,
Thou, Lord Emmanuel, Lord of celestial heaven,
Only God imperiall, to mee wretch terrestrial harken. …”
From: The First Booke of the Oreseruation of King Henry the vij. when he was but Earle of Richmond, grandfather to the Queenes maiesty, 1599
ETYMOLOGY
from brothel + ‑ous
EXAMPLE
“… I could show you the sharp Inuections, and grounded rea∣sons of many, as of Augstine, Hierome Chrisostome, Gregorie, Caluin, Peter Mar∣tyr, Gualter, and of an infinite number more: yea of all generally since the beginning of the world, against this whorish and brothellous painting and coulouring of faces, but to auoid prolixitie, I will omit them, deferring them to further oportunitie, for pauca sapienti, To a wiseman few woords are sufficient. …”
From: The Anatomie of Abuses
By Phillip Stubbes, 1583
ETYMOLOGY
from babble (to talk excessively, to chatter quickly) + -iaminy (of uncertain origin)
EXAMPLE
“… Out you babliaminy, you vnfetherd cremitoryed queane, you cullisance of scabiosity. …”
From: A Trick to Catch the Old-one
By Thomas Middleton, 1608
ETYMOLOGY
from Old French barateus, from barat: masculine (= It. baratto, Old Spanish barato, Provencal barat), also Old French barate feminine (= Old Spanish, Catalan, Provencal barata) ‘deceit, fraud, confusion, trouble, embarrassment’ + -ous
EXAMPLE
“… For other Analyses he ouerpassed, as impertinent, or not specially materiall. After such examination of their autorities, and argumentes, not with a rigorous Censure of either, but with a fauorable Construction of both: Pardon him, though he presume to deliuer some part of his animaduersions in such termes, as the instant occasion presenteth: not for any contentious, or sinister purpose (the world is too-full of litigious, and barratous pennes) but for the satisfaction of those, that de∣sire them, & the aduertisement of those, that regard them. …”
From: Pierces Supererogation or A New Prayse of the Old Asse
By Gabriel Harvey, 1593
ETYMOLOGY
from Old French baisier (modern baiser) (to kiss)
EXAMPLE
“… Fynably Medea conueyed Iason vnto his chambre dore and their began there amorouse baisiers & kyssinges vnto the time that it was force that Medea must withdrawe her & thenne she recommanded Iason in the garde of the goddes and shette fast the dore. …”
From: The History of Jason
By Raoul Le Fevre
Translated by William Caxton, 1477
ETYMOLOGY
n. 1. possibly a variant of baff (a blow with anything flat or soft)
n. 2. possibly a variant of baff (a big, clumsy person)
vb. possibly a variant of beft (to strike, to give blows)
EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“… Ye shak your head, but o’ my fegs,
Ye’ve set auld Scota on her legs;
Lang had she lien wi’ beffs and flegs,
Bumbaz’d and dizzie,
Her fiddle wanted strings and pegs,
Wae’s me, poor hizzie. …”
From: Aberdeen Journal, June 1768
The Poems of Beattie
By James Beattie
Lexicophilia 