Tag: 1700 – 1799

Word of the Day: PEDESTRIAL

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin pedestr-, pedester, also pedestris (going on foot), in prose, prosaic
(from pedes a person who goes on foot
(from ped-, pēs (foot) + -es (after eques) + -ter + -al 

PRONUNCIATION
puh-DESS-tree-uhl

EXAMPLE
“…For, the formall esteemed causes (which are pedestriall, equestriall, or nauti∣call) stand either at the disposition of the efficient; or pretend perfection and vse from the finall…”

From: An Essay of the Meanes Hovv to Make our Trauailes, into Forraine Countries,
the More Profitable and Honourable
By Sir Thomas Palmer, 1606

Word of the Day: FALSILOQUENCE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin falsiloquus (from falsus (false) + loqui (to speak)) + -ence

EXAMPLE
“…And that their Mutual Forces Join’d,
Harnass’d with Wit so much refin’d;
And so adorn’d instead of Sense,
With Trappings of Falsiloquence,
Might draw misjudging Fools to be,
In Love with their Sincerity;…”

From: The Fifth and last Part of Vulgus Britannicus
By Edward Ward, 1710

Word of the Day: BERSATRIX

ETYMOLOGY
from French berseaux (cradle) + –trix a feminine ending

EXAMPLE
“…High rewards, as was then customary, were bestowed on the messenger who attended the child, and on the bersatrix who rocked the cradle of the infant hero…”

From: A History of the Life of Edward the Black Prince, 
By George Payne Rainsford James, 1836

Word of the Day: KIME

ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin

EXAMPLE
“…The Emperour yaf the Pope somtyme
So hyghe lordshyp hym aboute,
That at the laste the sely kyme
The proude Pope putte hym out!
So of thys realme is in doute,
But lordes be ware and them defende;
For nowe these folke be wonder stoute:
The kynge and lordes nowe thys amende!…”

From: The Ploughman’s Tale, c1535

Word of the Day: CHERRY-MERRY

ETYMOLOGY
perhaps from cheery + merry; possibly only a jingling combination

EXAMPLE
“…how few of you are enemies to a glass (or two or three) of generous wine, and how much food of such a heating nature, promotes the circulation of the bottle, it is not at all astonishing, that every convivial assistant should go home cherry-merry, after having been a guest at such a repast…”

From: Yorick’s Sentimental Journey Continued,
By John Hall-Stevenson, 1769

Word of the Day: TARADIDDLE

ETYMOLOGY
the first element, tara, is of obscure origin;
+ diddle (n. a swindle, deception) (vb. to cheat, to swindle)

EXAMPLE
“…Bar. My dear Anna Matilda, I don’t know myself; so how can I tell you?
Mrs. B. There’s a bare-faced tarradiddle, Mr. Barbottle…”

From: The Duel:
Or, My Two Nephews 
A Farce, in Two Acts
By R. B. Peake, 1823

Word of the Day: YESTERN

ETYMOLOGY
? partly a) (in English editions of Scots texts) a variant or alteration of yestreen (adv. during the evening of yesterday), after yester (adv. yesterday); and partly
b) a variant or alteration of yester (adv.), yester (n.), and yester (adj.), respectively

EXAMPLE
“…Now wat ye wha I met yestern,
Coming down the street, my jo?
My mistress in her tartan screen,
For bony, braw and sweet, my Jo…”

From: Allan Ramsay in Aviary, 1745
‘Edinburgh Kate’

Word of the Day: POTHERY

ETYMOLOGY
from pother (disturbance, turmoil, bustle; noise, tumult) + -y

EXAMPLE
“…Meer Heat and Cold are very different things from that Pothery and Sultry, that Frosty and Congealing Weather, which alternately in Summer and Winter, at the Line and the Poles we usually now feel….”

From: A New Theory of the Earth
By William Whiston, 1696

Word of the Day: AQUABIB

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin aqua (water) + bibere (to drink)

EXAMPLE
“…To call a man a total abstainer would imply that he abstained from everything; to call him a temperance man is absurd, because from time immemorial men have drunk, as they still drink, wine temperately. Aquabib and hydropot may mean one who drinks water, but most men do that. I drink it always to quench thirst, but then I drink also a moderate quantity of wine…”

From: The Medical Times and Gazette,
A Journal of Medical Science, Literature, Criticism, and News
Volume I for 1883
“Temperance Appellations”