ETYMOLOGY
from wlat (nausea, loathing, disgust) from Old English wlætta
EXAMPLE
“…þe thrid pine es hard to drei,
O wormes þat sal neuer dei,
Fell dragons and tades bath
þat ar apon to lok ful lath,
Ful wlatsum on to here or se,
Ful wa es þam þat þare sal be;
Als we se fixs in water suim,
Sua liue þai in þat lou sa dim….”
From: Cursor Mundi
A Northumbrian poem of the 14th century
ETYMOLOGY
from woman + tired
EXAMPLE
“…Thou dotard, thou art woman-tyr’d; vnroosted
By thy dame Partlet heere. Take vp the Bastard,
Take’t vp, I say; giue’t to thy Croane….”
From: The Winter’s Tale
By William Shakespeare, a1616
ETYMOLOGY
from what (pronoun, adj., & adv.), after whereabout(s
EXAMPLE
“…I wish you were as much in intercourse with the Colonial Office as with the Treasury, for then you might know all of my goings on, and whatabouts and whereabouts from Henry Taylor…”
From: Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey
By Robert Southey, a1843
ETYMOLOGY
from wan- (a prefix approximately equivalent to un- or mis-) + hope
EXAMPLE
“…& is men as in wanhope wende hom aȝen bliue
So þat ich hopie to god pais þe wule ich am aliue
Messagers to denemarch sone isend were
& as þe king adde ised al clene hii founde þere…”
From: The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, 1297
ETYMOLOGY
from weed (n.) + -ling
EXAMPLE
“…PLANTING. MARCH 26.
This morning marked out the weedling-plants of a plantation, made by the late Sir William Harbord twenty-give to thirty years ago…”
From: The Rural Economy of Norfolk
By William Marshall, 1782
ETYMOLOGY
from way (a track, a road, a path) + leader
EXAMPLE
“…who shall perfeitely accomplyshe and fulfyll the lawe in the right kynde as it ought to be, but thy sonne beeyng as a waye leader vnto the heauenly preaching of thissame Messias, shall prepare the heartes of menne, that he may deliuer vp vnto Messias at his cumming…”
From: The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente
– Erasmus, Desiderius
– Translated by Nicholas Udall et al, 1548
DEFINITIONS (cont’d)
n. 1. 1768 UK sl. – a term of address to a man
n. 2. 1823 – anything abnormally large of its kind; a big lie; a heavy blow
n. 3. 1827 Amer. dial. – a driver of animals; a drover; an ox or mule driver
n. 4. 1861 Eng. dial. – a shake; a shiver
n. 5. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – something excellent
n. 6. 1960s Aust. sl. – a fool
n. 7. 1980s US sl. – a masturbator
n. 8. 20C US sl. – a gadget, a thing
n. 9. 20C US sl. – the penis
vb. 1703 Eng. dial. – to tremble, to shake with cold, fear, etc.
ETYMOLOGY
from whack (vb.) + -er
EXAMPLE (for n.3)
“…A noisy train of long-horned, thin-bodied oxen, dragging trailed wagons piled high with freight from the railway terminus, comes round the corner, and stops to listen before unyoking for the night, the whacker’s long whip cracking like pistol-shots as he lashes his unwieldy beasts into position…”
From: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine
No. CCCLIX – April, 1880 – Vol. I.X.
La Villa Real De Santa Fe
ETYMOLOGY
nonce formation based on whippert (adj.) hasty and tart in demeanour, or in the mode of doing anything, and tout or toot (vb.) to blow on a horn and (n.) a blow on a horn
FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1808 – An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language
– John Jamieson
Lexicophilia 