Tag: 1600 – 1699

Word of the Day: REFRACTARIOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin refractarius (obstinate, stubborn) + -ous

EXAMPLE
“…Thirdly, if we do well obserue the preposterous & disastrous studies of many schismaticall and refractarious spirits, their heate, their violence, description and vncharitablenes, how vnnaturally they do reiect & reuile their Mother, how passionately they doe blaspheme the Church, which God hath planted with his owne hand, and with what morosity they haue ab-alienated themselues from their Bretheren; they can by no pretext acquit themselues of great vndutifulnes vnto God, being so turbulent in his House, so disobedient to their Mother, & so farre exorbitant in all their courses; not much vnlike to mothes, that fret the cloth, wherein they breed; to water-boughes, which hurt the tree,…”

From: The Picture of a True Protestant:
or, Gods house and husbandry wherein is declared the duty and dignitie of all Gods children, both minister and people.
By Thomas Tuke, 1609

Word of the Day: PEEPY

ETYMOLOGY
from peep + -y

EXAMPLE (for adj. 1)
“…An individual of the latter kind is distinguished in his earliest petticoats – even before he has well left the nursery. He is then a poor, peepy wretch, with blear eyes, and one everlasting dingy night-cap. constantly sitting by the fire, to the great annoyance of the nurse, who frequently declares him to be more of an infant than even his younger brother the baby…”

From: Chambers Edinburgh Journal
Conducted by William Chambers, and Robert Chambers,
Volume I No. 49, Saturday, January 5, 1833,
‘The Domestic Man’

Word of the Day: EFFEROUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin efferus [from ex– out + ferus (fierce)] + -ous

EXAMPLE
“…But whatsoeuer be done with the foxes, yet from the teeth of that efferous beast, from the tuske of the wild bore, from the sucking and drawing of Romish horse-leaches, from the bloud-thirsty dropsie of Antichrist and his adherents, from the cursed Assasinates of Iesuites and their darke disciples, from the peremptory knife of Popish, worse then paganish, pruners, ô thou that art the root & generation of Dauid preserue our root and all his generation, together with his most glorious stemme…”

From: Vitis Palatina
A sermon appointed to be preached at VVhitehall vpon the Tuesday after the mariage of the Ladie Elizabeth her Grace.
By Bishop John King, 1614

Word of the Day: COMPUNCTIOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from stem of compunction (pricking of the conscience, remorse) + -ous

EXAMPLE
“…The Rauen himselfe is hoarse,
That croakes the fatall entrance of Duncan
Vnder my Battlements. Come you Spirits,
That tend on mortall thoughts, vnsex me here,
And fill me from the Crowne to the Toe, top-full
Of direst Crueltie: make thick my blood,
Stop vp th’ accesse, and passage to Remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of Nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keepe peace betweene
Th’ effect, and hit. Come to my Womans Brests,
And take my Milke for Gall, you murth’ring Ministers,
Where-euer, in your sightlesse substances,
You wait on Natures Mischiefe. Come thick Night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoake of Hell,
That my keene Knife see not the Wound it makes,
Nor Heauen peepe through the Blanket of the darke,
To cry, hold, hold….”

From: Macbeth
By William Shakespeare, a1616

Word of the Day: HODDY-DODDY

ETYMOLOGY
the element dod is evidently the same as in dodman (a shell-snail);
hoddy-dod, hoddy-doddy, & hodman-dod, are perhaps from nursery reduplications;
but the element hoddy- appears itself to have come to be associated to mean ‘snail’ (or ? horned);
for n. 2. (a cuckold) – with reference to the ‘horns’ of a cuckold

EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“…My living lieth here and there, of God’s grace,
Sometime with this good man, sometime in that place;
Sometime Lewis Loiterer biddeth me come near;
Somewhiles Watkin Waster maketh us good cheer;
Sometime Davy Diceplayer, when he hath well cast,
Keepeth revel-rout, as long as it will last;
Sometime Tom Titivile keepeth us a feast;
Sometime with Sir Hugh Pie I am a bidden guest;
Sometime at Nichol Neverthrive’s I get a sop;
Sometime I am feasted with Bryan Blinkinsop;
Sometime I hang on Hankyn Hoddydoddy’s sleeve;
But this day on Ralph Roister Doister’s, by his leave…”

From: Ralph Roister Doister,
By Nicholas Udall, a1556

Word of the Day: INSTIGATRIX

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin instigatrix, female agent-n. from instigare (to instigate, bring about by incitement or persuasion)

EXAMPLE
“…She was (saies Salme∣ron, a main Supporter of the Roman Church among the Tridentine Fathers) cooperatrix, that is, Christs Fellow-laborer in the very Passion to the end, that as a Man and a Woman did work out the utter ruine of Man-kind, so a Man and a Woman might perfect their Salvation; and as well here as there, the Woman should be the Instigatrix, or the first Sollicitress, Eve to temt, and Mary to set the Man to work. Thus she is, saies another, the Mother of Redemtion, by shedding her Soul into compassion under, as Christ did his in Passion upon the Cross…”

From: Saul and Samuel at Endor,
or The new waies of salvation and service, which usually temt men to Rome, and detain them there Truly represented, and refuted,
By Daniel Brevint, 1674

Word of the Day: INCAUTELOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from in- + cautelous (cautious, wary)

EXAMPLE
“…The bold Physitian, too incautelous,
By those he cures, himselfe is murdered,
Kindnes infects, pitie is dangerous,
And the poore infant, yet not fully bred,
Thear where he should be borne, lies buried,
So the darke Prince, from his infernall cell,
Casts vp his griesly Torturers of hell,
And whets them to revenge, with this insulting spell….”

From: Christs Cictorie, and Triumph in Heauen, and Earth, Ouer, and After Death
By Giles Fletcher, 1610

Word of the Day: SWITCH-TAIL

ETYMOLOGY
from switch + tail

EXAMPLE 1 (for n.1)
“…she was observed to ride forth in a Cavalcade somewhat extraordinary pleasant , viz. a good rich Velvet Saddle, and fashionable upon a sorry Horse with a Switch-Tail that us’d to carry Lime, and not Ladies; A gentile Surtout or riding-Suit; with her Shoulders warmly wrapt up in a good White Serge whittle: A pretty handsome Commode of the newest fashion, upon which was gracefully plac’d a good homely Straw Hat, with a long Pole like a Sugar Loaf, so that Cit and Bumpkin seem’d never better met or set off since the Creation …”

From: The Adventures of the Helvetian Hero, with the Young Countess of Albania;
Or, The Amours of Armadorus and Vicentina: a Novel
Unknown author, 1694

EXAMPLE 2 (for n. 2.)
“…I can look a gangster in the eye and make him change his mind, but I can’t do a thing with a woman no more. At one time I had nine big switch-tail women on my personal payroll, and they all stole from me, picked me clean. Buzzards!

From: McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon
By Joseph Mitchell, 1943

Word of the Day: KITCHENIST

ETYMOLOGY
from kitchen (n.) + -ist

EXAMPLE
“…If, notwithstanding All that hath bin said,
TOBACCONISTS will still hold on their Trade,
And by their Practice still hold vp their Name,
Though Iewes, though Diuels, better suite the same;
I’le say no more but only This, of This:
Henceforth, let none whose meaner Lot it is
To liue in Smoak; Lime-burners, Alchymists,
Brick-makers, Brewers, Colliers, Kitchenists;
Let Salamanders, Swallowes, Bacon-stitches,
Red-Sprats, red-Herings, and like Chimnie-wretches,
Think no Disparagement, nor hold them base:
TOBACCONISTS their Companie will grace,
And teach them make a Vertue of Necessitie…”

From: Tobacco Battered; & the pipes shattered
By Josuah Sylvester, 1617