Tag: 1500 – 1599

Word of the Day: LONG-TONGUED

ETYMOLOGY
from long + tongued

EXAMPLE
“…And tyme hathe this one vngracious propertee,
   to blab at length open all that he doothe see.
   Than a daughter eke he hath called veritee,
   As vnhappie a longtounged girle as can bee.
   she bringeth all to light, some she bring[eth] to shame,
   she careth not a grote what manne hathe thanke or blame.
   yf men be praise worthie she dothe so declare them
   And if otherwyse in faithe she dothe not spare them…”

From: Respublica: an interlude for Christmas
Attributed to Nicholas Udall, 1553

Word of the Day: CONCITATE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin concitat- participle stem of concitare (to move violently, to excite),
from con- + citāre (to move)

EXAMPLE
“…Cyrus king of Persia, mynding to concitate the myndes of his people, to wery & anger them, with payneful labour, held thē all one day at worke and vtterly tyred thē, in hewing vp a certayne Wood, on the morow after he made for them a very plentitious feast, demaunding in the feast tyme…”

From: A Right Exelent and Pleasaunt Dialogue Betwene Mercury and an English Souldier contayning his Supplication to Mars
Barnabe Rich, 1574

Word of the Day: QUARTER-CLEFT

ETYMOLOGY
from quarter + cleft (n. and adj. split asunder)

EXAMPLE
“…It is the fashion to talk of Lord Ellenborough in contemptuous terms, as a mere nincompoop, or quartercliff, or what else you will, that implies feebleness of intellect and deficiency of talents; but those who so describe him either mistake his character, or wilfully misrepresent it…”

From: Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country
Vol. IV. August, 1831 to January 1832
Parliamentary Eloquence, No. IV, House of Lords, by Oliver Yorke

Word of the Day: PERLEGATE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin perlegere to read through, from per- + legere (to read) + ‑ate

EXAMPLE
“…I am vouchsafede to perlegate vvith pleasure, & imploye a small of their time in the readinge, of my scriptsons, and vvritinges, I most courtiouslye desire thē, that they vvould more vvith good vvill, then vvith a spirite…”

From: The Frenche Chirurgerye, or all the Manualle Operations of Chirurgerye
By Jacques Guillemeau
Translated by A.M., 1598

Word of the Day: NIDDICOCK

ETYMOLOGY
of obscure formation: possibly a blend of nidiot and nodcock (a fool, a simpleton)

EXAMPLE
“…And as touching implements for warre, they were neuer such fond niddicockes, as to offer anie man a rod to beat their owne tailes, or to betake their mastiues vnto the custodie of the woolues, maruelling much that their capteine would so farre ouershoot himselfe, as to be taken with such apparent repugnancie….”

From: R. Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1577

Word of the Day: MANLING

ETYMOLOGY
from man + -ling

EXAMPLE
“…Marry sir euen all in all, a well lyned pursse, wherwith he could at euery call, prouide such pretie conceytes as pleased hir péeuish fantasie, and by that meanes he had throughly (long before) insinuated him selfe with this amorous dame. This manling, this minion, this slaue, this secretary, was nowe by occasion rydden to London forsothe: and though his absence were vnto hir a disfurnishing of eloquence…”

From: A Discourse of the Aduentures Passed by Master F. I.
In ‘A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres bounde vp in one small poesie’
By George Gascoigne, 1573

Word of the Day: EXOSCULATE

ETYMOLOGY
from participle stem of Latin exosculari, from ex- + osculari (to kiss), from osculum (a kiss)

EXAMPLE
“…And thus having copulated our plebeian endeavours, we exosculate the subumbrations of your subligacles; and sooner shall the surges of the sandiferous sea ignify and evaporate, than the cone of our duty towards you be in the least uncatenate or dissolved; always wishing you health and happiness…”

From: The Works of Jonathan Swift
By Jonathan Swift, 1814

Word of the Day: NIMBLE-CHOPS

ETYMOLOGY
from nimble + the plural of chop (the jaws and cavity of the mouth)

EXAMPLE
“…Why frend Nimblechaps me thinks you seeme rather ready to play with ye shadowe of euery thing then wi[l]ling to vnderstand the substantiall matter in a­ny thing: can you rightly gather vpon my speech that a woman is euill? if you do well vnderstande mee, you shal finde nothing lesse, but rather that shee is for the most parte one of the greatest good thinges in this world, and most necessa­ry of any thing els besydes…”

From: A Short Inuentory of Cer­tayne Idle Inuentions
The Fruites of a Close and Secret Garden of Great Ease, and Litle Pleasure
By C. Thimelthorpe, 1581