Word of the Day: FRUISH

ETYMOLOGY
from Old French fruiss- lengthened stem of fruir (to enjoy),
from Latin *fruire (classical Latin frui deponent vb.)

EXAMPLE
“… I may not fruisshe tho iocunde clippinges that are redy to holy spirites. …”

From: The earliest English translation of the first three books of the De Imitatione Christi
By Thomas à Kempis, c1425

Word of the Day: EVAGATION

ETYMOLOGY
First introduced in the fig. n.1; from French evagation, Latin evagationem, noun of action from evagari, from e (out) + vagari (to wander)

EXAMPLE (for noun 1)
“… Clarefie me with fy clernesse of euerlastinge lijt, and bringe oute of fe liabitacle of myn herte aH maner of derkenes. Restreyne all euel evagacions & all miȝty temptacions. …”

From: The earliest English translation of the first three books of the De imitatione Christi
By Thomas à Kempis, c1425

Word of the Day: PINCHPENNY

ETYMOLOGY
from pinch- (comb. form) + penny

EXAMPLE
“… A prince & kyng of al a regioun
Mot avarice thrist a-doune to grounde;
To hym þat lith in helle depe I-bounde,
The, auarice, by-take I to kepe;
Thow
pynepeny, [pynchepeny] ther ay mot þou slepe! …”

From: Hoccleve’s Works,
Edited by Frederick J. Furnivall, 1892
De Regimine Principum
By Thomas Hoccleve, Composed c1412

Word of the Day: RABIOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin rabiosus (rabid, mad, frenzied, furious), from rabies (rabies) + –osus (-ous)

EXAMPLE
“… Ethelred, languishing in minde and body, Edmond his sonne, surnamed Ironside (to oppose youth to youth) was imployed against this rabious inuador. A Prince worthy of a better time, and had he found faith, had made it so, and deliuered his country at that turne, from the worst of miseries, the conquest by strangers. …”

From: The First Part of the Historie of England
By Samuel Daniel, 1612

Word of the Day: SEGGER

ETYMOLOGY
from segge (to say) + -er

EXAMPLE (for n.1.)
“… As yoe are a lorde most lofsom of lyre
Vndir sir Pilate that lyfis in this empire,
Ȝone
segger that callis hymselffe a sire
With tresoure and tene sall we taste hym.
Of yoone losell his bale schall he brewe,
Do trottes on for that traytoure apas
In hast.
…”

From: York Mysteries, c1440
The Agony and Betrayal

Word of the Day: GAINSTAND

ETYMOLOGY
from gain- (against, in opposition to) + stand (vb.)

EXAMPLE (for vb.)
“… Throuch his falsheid and craftynes
He sall flow in to welthynes
The Godlye pepyll he sall noye
By creuell deith, and thame distroye
The kyng of Kyngis, he sall ganestand
Syne be distroyit withouttin hand. …”

From: Ane Dialog Betuix Experience and ane Courteour off the Miserabyll Estait of the Warld
By David Lindsay, 1554

Word of the Day: ORGULOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Anglo-Norman orguillous, orgeillus, orgoilous, orgullous,
orgulous, orgulus, orgilousorgillus and Old French orguillus,
orgoillus, orguilleus, orgueilleux;
from  orgueil (pride, haughtiness) + ‑ous 

EXAMPLE 1 (for adj. 1.)
“… yet habbeþ manitime maked of watere wyn; gostliche. wanne þurch his grace maked of þo euele manne good man. of þe orgeilus umble. of þe lechur chaste. of þe niþinge large. and of alle oþre folies; so ha maket of þo watere wyn. þis his si signefiance of þe miracle. …”

From: An Old English miscellany containing a bestiary, Kentish sermons, Proverbs of Alfred, religious poems of the thirteenth century
Edited by Richard Morris, 1872


EXAMPLE 2 (for adj. 1)
”…I was banished from my own country, and was dishonoured, and with hard labour gained I what I have got ; and now I stand in the King’s favour, and he asketh of me my daughters for the Infantes of Carrion. They are of high blood and full orgullous, and I have no liking to this match ; but if our Lord the King adviseth it we can do no other-wise: …”

From: Chronicle of the Cid
By Robert Southey, 1808

Word of the Day: STOTAY

ETYMOLOGY
possibly from Old French estoutoierestoteier (to fall into disorder)

EXAMPLE
“… Þo cried þat freoly foode:
“Whi spille ȝe innocens bloode?”
And alle þei stoteyd and stoode,
Þis ferlys to frayne. …”

From: The Pistill of Susan – a Middle English adaptation of the Old Testament Apocryphal book The History of Susanna, a1400