1600 – 1699 – Page 34

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: FEMINARY

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin femina (woman, feminine) + -ary

EXAMPLE
“…and not (lest any bodie should be deceiued) a softnesse, a feminarie, sottish calmenesse and vitious facilitie, whereby a man delighteth to please all, and not to displease or offend any, although he haue a iust and a lawfull cause…”

From: Of Wisdome,
By Pierre Charron
Translated by S, Lennard, 1630

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: VERSUTIOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin versutus (wily, cunning) + – ious

EXAMPLE
“…And what do I not ow thee for thy versutious Complements to my Lady Lambert, whose beauty and elegance bewitched my affections, as thou well knowest; so that I could not forbear toying and tickling her at my son Ireton’s Funeral in Somerset-house, before all the Company!…”

From: A Third Conference Between O. Cromwell and Hugh Peters In Saint James’s Park, 1660

Word of the Day: MERETRICATE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin meretricat-, past participial stem of meretricari (to frequent a prostitute; later, to play the whore),
from Latin meretrīc- (a prostitute)

EXAMPLE
They meretricated in Egypt; they meretricated in their youth.

(Taken from Ezekiel 23, replacing ‘played the whore’ with meretricated)

Word of the Day: ELENCHIZE

ETYMOLOGY
from elench ,from Latin elenchus, from Greek ἔλεγχος (cross-examination) + -ize

EXAMPLE
“…Lady. So do all Politicks in their Commendations.
   Host. This is a State-bird, and the verier Fly;
Tipto. But  Hear him problematize.   Prudence. Bless us, what’s that?
   Tipto. Or syllogize, elenchize.   Lady. Sure, petard’s,
To blow us up.   Lat. Some inginous strong words!
   Host. He means to erect a Castle i’ the Air,
And make his Fly an Elephant to carry it….”

From: The New Inne, or The Light Heart, a Comedy
By Ben Jonson, 1631

Word of the Day: OCEANINE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin oceanus + -ine

EXAMPLE
Gulls, petrels, albatrosses, cormorants are all oceanine birds.

Word of the Day: PHILOSOPHATE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin philosophāt-, ppl. stem of philosophārī (to do the philosopher, to philosophize), from philosophus (a philosopher)

EXAMPLE
“…If, as some say, to philosophate be to doubt; with much more reason to rave and fantastiquize, as I doe, must necessarily be to doubt: For, to enquire and debate belongeth to a scholler, and to resolve appertaines to a cathedrall master…”

From: The Essayes, or Morall, Politike, and Millitarie Discourses of Lord Michaell de Montaigne
Translated by John Florio, 1603

PRONUNCIATION
fuh-LOSS-uh-fayt

Word of the Day: SNATTER

ETYMOLOGY
vb.: from Dutch snateren or Low German snat(t)ern (Greek schnattern, Swedish snattra),
of imitative origin

EXAMPLE (for vb.)
“…for if thou considerest the things are easie attained, every ditch offering the some of them, and the preparation so trinial, that there is as much art to make a mess of pottage; in this above all other I have deserved well at thy hand, if thou hast a heart to improve it, neither do I doubt, although many will be angry and snatter at it, but this entrance which I have given in this receipt will stand while the world indures and get strength, and my memory held in honor, for so good service in it…”

From: The Unlearned Alchymist His Antidote
By Richard Mathews, 1662

Word of the Day: TITUBATE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin titubat-, past participial stem of titubare (to walk unsteadily, to totter, to stagger, to falter, to vacillate or dither, to make a mistake, slip up, or stumble (in speech or action)

PRONUNCIATION
TIT-yuh-bayt

EXAMPLE
“…Repercussed by the ryght redolent & rotounde rethorician R. Smyth P. with annotacios of the mellifluous and misticall Master Mynterne, marked in the mergent for the enucliacion of certen obscure obelisques, to thende that the imprudent lector shulde not tytubate or hallucinate in the labyrinthes of this lucubratiuncle…”

From: An Artificiall Apologie (title page)
By R. Smyth, 1540