Tag: 1850 – 1859

Word of the Day: CONTICENT

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin conticentem, present participle of conticere (to be silent or still),
from con- intensive + tacere (to be silent)

EXAMPLE
“… Here they all sit — not in my lord’s grand dining-room, you know, but in the snug study or parlor in front. The cloth has been withdrawn, the General has given the King’s health, the servants have left the room, the guests sit conticent, and so, after a little hemming and blushing, Mr. George proceeds …”

From: The Virginians, a tale of the last century
By William Makepeace Thackeray, 1859

Word of the Day: TOW-ROW

ETYMOLOGY
reduplicated or extended form of row (a violent disturbance); orig. dialect

EXAMPLE (for adj.)
“… If a Virgin blushes, we no longer cry the Blues. He that Drinks till he stares, is no more Tow-Row, but Honest. A Youngster in a Scrape, is a Word out of Date; and what bright Man says , I was Joab’d by the Dean …”

From: The Tatlers
By Isaac Bickerstaff. 1710

Word of the Day: HONEY-FUGGLE

ETYMOLOGY
apparently from honey (n.) + fugle (to cheat, trick), 
perhaps after dialect connyfogle (to deceive)

EXAMPLE
“… Let it be borne in mind that Sharp is a willing, a swift, and a long-winded witness, having come from the Territory, two thousand miles off, mainly for the purpose of devoting to the sitting Delegate the benefit of his counsel and his oath. Pardon me for using the word; but Sharp ‘honey-fuggled‘ around me; He came to me, and stated that Chapman wanted him to make an affidavit, but that he would rather not do it; that he had declined doing it; and thus he misled me and threw me off my guard, and then a few days afterwards, he makes this affidavit, gets on board the cars, and left the city for western Iowa, to pull wires in politics to secure his own election to the Iowa Legislature; …”

From: United States. Congress. Congressional Globe; Containing the Debates and Proceedings of the Congress 1855 – 1856
Nebraska Contested Election.
Speech of Hon. H. P. Bennet of Nebraska,
In the House of Representatives, July 22, 1856.

Word of the Day: FLUMMADIDDLE

ETYMOLOGY
probably from flummery (nonsense, humbug, empty trifling)

EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“… When Mr. Middleton was spoken to on the subject of sending Julia to Frankfort, he at first refused outright. ” No,” said he, ” indeed she shan’t go ! What does she want of any more flummerdiddle notions ? What she does know is a damage to her ! “
“But do you not wish to give your daughters every possible advantage ? ” said Mr. Wilmot. …”

From: Tempest and Sunshine; or, Life in Kentucky
By Mary Jane Holmes, 1854

Word of the Day: NEVER-SWEAT

ETYMOLOGY
from never + sweat

EXAMPLE
“… This would be received with peals of laughter, and followed by a general repetition of the same cry. Next, a hundred and fifty cat-calls of the shrillest possible description would almost split the ears. These would be succeeded by cries of ” Strike up, you catgut scrapers,” ” Go on with your barrow,” ” Flare up, my never-sweats,” and a variety of other street sayings. Indeed, the uproar which went on before the meeting began will be best understood if we compare it to the scene presented by a public menagerie at feeding time. …”

From: London Labour and the London Poor;
A cyclopaedia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work,
By Henry Mayhew, 1851

Word of the Day: OENOPHILIST

ETYMOLOGY
from oeno- (relating to or resembling wine) + -philist (loving the person or thing denoted)

EXAMPLE
“… Are the Temperance men to be allowed to shout in the public places? are the Vegetarians to bellow ” Cabbage for ever?” and may we modest Œnophilists not sing the praises of our favourite plant? After the drinking of good Bordeaux wine, there is a point (I do not say a pint) at which men arrive, when all the generous faculties of the soul are awakened and in full vigour; when the wit brightens and breaks out in sudden flashes; when the intellects are keenest; when the pent up words and confined thoughts get a night-rule, and rush abroad and disport themselves; when the kindest affections come out and shake hands with mankind, and the timid Truth jumps up naked out of his well and proclaims himself to all the world. …”

From: Title: The Virginians
By William Makepeace Thackeray, 1859

PRONUNCIATION
ee-NOFF-uh-list

Word of the Day: GIG-LAMPS

ETYMOLOGY
from gig (a light two-wheeled one-horse carriage) + lamp

EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“… A “Wo-ho-ho, my beauties!” brought the smoking wheelers upon their haunches; and Jehu, saluting with his elbow and whip finger, called out in the husky voice peculiar to a dram-drinker, “Are you the two houtside gents for Hoxfut?” To which Mr. Green replied in the affirmative; and while the luggage (the canvas-covered, ladylike look of which was such a contrast to that of the other passengers) was being quickly transferred to the coach-top, he and Verdant ascended to the places reserved for them behind the coachman. Mr. Green saw at a glance that all the passengers were Oxford men, dressed in every variety of Oxford fashion, and exhibiting a pleasing diversity of Oxford manners. Their private remarks on the two new-comers were, like stage “asides,” perfectly audible.

“Decided case of governor!” said one.

“Undoubted ditto of freshman!” observed another.

“Looks ferociously mild in his gig-lamps!” remarked a third, alluding to Mr. Verdant Green’s spectacles.

“And jolly green all over!” wound up a fourth. …”

From: The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green
By Cuthbert Bede, (real name Edward Bradley), 1853

Word of the Day: FAM

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.

Word of the Day: QUISBY

ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin;
possibly from quiz (n.) + -by

EXAMPLE
“… Alibi. What wou’d I do then?
Air. Aye, Sir, what wou’d you do then?
Soph. Cou’dn’t he push a little feeble old quisby like you down into a chair?
Alibi, How, pray?
Soph. Shew him how, Robin?
Air. Why there – (puts him into a chair) Just that way
Alibi. Well, now Old Quisby’s down in the chair – what wou’d he do then?…”

From: The Toy
By John O’Keeffe, 1789

Word of the Day: JIMJAMS

ETYMOLOGY
a reduplicated term, of which the elements are unknown;
from the mid 16th century – in the singular, originally denoted a knickknack or small article

EXAMPLE (for n. 1)
“… Andy Collins, an Irishman, who has lived alone in his cabin, about a mile below us, for a year or more, has been a hard drinker ever since we have known him. He bought his rum by the gallon and kept soaked all the time. Tuesday night he had a bad attack of the jim-jams, and his nearest neighbor, O’Neil, heard him yelling and shrieking like all possessed. …”

From: The Diary of a Forty-Niner
By Chauncey Canfield, 1906
Chapter XVI, February 1, 1852