ETYMOLOGY
alteration of cockabell, cockerbell, variants of cocklebell (an icicle);
probably after English dialect conker (snail-shell)
EXAMPLE
“… An’ leetle Bob! tha daps o’s veather,
Hoi, wull, us did count on un, reather :
Yer Bobby yer’s tha crickett,
Tha chield’s avroared, tha conkerbells
Be hangin’ to un — Yett theesel,
Bob — Yen thick auther thicket. …”
From: Jim and Nell: a Dramatic Poem in the dialect of North Devon
By William Frederick Rock, 1867
ETYMOLOGY
from Dutch hondsvot, German hundsfott (scoundrel, rascal), lit. cunnus canis
EXAMPLE
“… If the Violence of a hooping Cough can cauſe a Rupture , what may not one justly dread from such an Explosion of Wind and Vapour? But hold, Sirs! Methinks I shou’d know the Skream, I have heard something like it before now. O pox! It’s that Hounsfoot Tom Whigg, A Son of a—! He’ll skream to be heard from London to Geneva, when he’s no more hurt than I am this Minute. …”
From: A True and Faithful Account of the Last Distemper and Death of Tom Whigg, Esq., 1710
ETYMOLOGY
from gripe (to grasp strongly) + penny
EXAMPLE
“… Is it not “astounding” that some gripe-penny should live in squalor in order to make rich at the end of some unknown and never seen relatives in Ireland or Scotland? …”
From: The New York Times
1924-01-26: Vol 73
“The Mysterious Visitor”
ETYMOLOGY
formed on exquisititious (adj.), from Latin exquisit- participial stem of exquirere (to search out)
EXAMPLE
“… It is enough that the Priests and learned Men explain the difficult Passages of it to the People, and write Commentaries for the Use of the more curious and exquisitive. The Persians, on the contrary, think it no Disparagement to the Arabick, or Profanation of the Sense, to translate this cursed Book into their own Language; and Copies are frequent among them. …”
From: The Philosophical Transactions and Collections
to the End of the Year MDCC (1700)
By John Lowthorp, 1731
Chapter II, Chronology, History, Antiquities
ETYMOLOGY
adj. 1.: from chit (a freckle or wart, obsolete) + -y
adj. 2. & 3..: apparently deduced from chitty-face, (thin face), but afterwards associated with chit (the young of a beast)
n. 1.: from Hindi chiṭṭhi, Marathi chitthi, chithi and its cognate
Hindi ciṭṭhi (document, letter, note, promissory note, pass), of uncertain origin
EXAMPLE (for adj. 1.)
“… How shall I stifle now my rising Phlegm,
Are all, are all his Thoughts employ’d on them
Shall they such Chitty Jades so happy be,
And can he not bestow one word on me;
Hence from my Sight, avoid this wicked Room,
Go you ungracious Minxes, get you home. …”
From: The Rival Milliners: or, the Humours of Covent Garden
A Tragi-Comi-Operatic-Pastoral Farce
By Robert Drury, 1737
ETYMOLOGY
from muss (a game in which small objects are thrown down to be scrambled for; a scramble);
the verb muss occurs in Lincolnshire dialect ( to scramble for, to take forcibly and by surprise)
EXAMPLE
“… because this their Cadet, from his very Cradle, had shewed so strong a Propension to hoarding, that being but five or six Years old, he denied himself the Enjoyment of such Knicknacks as were given him, and would scramble for and smuss those of other Children, his Play-fellows; yet was he so very careful and saving of his own, that he let his Fruit and Sweatmeats spoil and grow mouldy rather than he would eat them. …”
From: Histoire du Prince Titi,
A.R. The history of Prince Titi, a royal allegory
By Themiseul de Saint-Hyacinthe
Translated by Eliza Stanley, 1736
ETYMOLOGY
from hundred + legs
EXAMPLE
“… They have also lizards three or four feet in length, and in great numbers; and also creatures called centipedes, or hundred legs, very venomous and troublesome. …”
From: The Beauties of Nature and Art
Displayed in a Tour Through the World
Volume X, 1774
Chapter I. Of South America
Sect. II. Animals
ETYMOLOGY
short for famble;
for n. 4.: shortened from family
EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“… Jenny being very genteely dressed, he observed a Gentleman who was a very Rum Muns, (that is, a great Beau) who had a very Glim Star, (that is, a Ring) upon his Feme, (that is, Hand} which she longed to make, so giving the Hint to her Companions to Bulk the Muns forward, (that is, Push) they pushed him quite in; …”
From: Select trials at the Sessions-House in the Old-Bailey, for murder, robberies, rapes, sodomy, coining
From the year 1720, to this time. 1742
The following is a particular Account of the Transactions of the Life of Mary Young, alias Jenny Diver, &c. &c. &c.
ETYMOLOGY
from rhinoceros + -ical
EXAMPLE (for adj. 1.)
“… Cheat. My lusty rustic, learn and be instructed. Cole is, in the language of the witty, money. The ready, the rhino ; thou shalt be rhinocerical, my lad, thou shalt.
Belf. Admirable, I swear ! Cole ! ready ! rhino ! rhinocerical ! Lord, how long may a man live in ignorance in the country. — And how much cole, ready, and rhino, shall I have? …”
From: The Squire of Alsatia. A comedy
By Thomas Shadwell, 1688
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek µάγειρος (cook) + -ist
EXAMPLE
“… As no inhabitable Corner of the Earth ever was without a sufficient Medicinal Produce of it’s own for it’s Inhabitants, so the respective Natives never wanted a competent Number of their own, that made it their Business, to cultivate those several natural Physical Productions, and even to Carry on their Intelligence further therewith, so as to dive deeper into the Knowledge of all the Medicinals; that they could come any way to be acquainted with, or to know the Use of. And such were call’d at first variously pro re nata, as Magists, Magirists, Opsonarians, Caterers, Carvars, Nurserists, Geoponists, Hygeisys, Prophylactists, Remedists, Aliptists, Gymnastists, Unguentarians, Emplastrists, Veterinarians, Hippo-Jatrists, Mulomedicists. Operators, Herbalists, Botanists, Anatomists, Naturalists, Physicists, Medicinists, Myropolists, Ropopolists, …”
From: Athenæ Britannicæ; or, a critical history of the Oxford and Cambridge writers and writings
By Myles Davies, 1716
Lexicophilia 