ETYMOLOGY
from Ichabod, the name given by Eli’s daughter-in-law to her son, used as an exclamation of regret, in allusion to 1 Sam. iv. 21
EXAMPLE
“… Dirges were sung with an Ichabodian refrain. …”
From: Daily News
December, 1887
ETYMOLOGY
from glum + -y
EXAMPLE (for adj. 1)
“… yet it can not be denyed, but that such casuall blastes may happen, as are most too bee feared, when the wether waxeth darke and glummy. …”
From: The Triall of Truth, wherein are discovered three greate enemies vnto mankind
By Edward Knight, 1580
ETYMOLOGY
vb.: from Old French troillier, truillier, treuiller, from Middle High German trüllen
EXAMPLE (for vb.)
“… Thus with treison and with trecherie · þow troiledest hem boþe,
And dudest hem breke [here] buxomnesse · þorw false by-heste;
Thus haddest þou hem oute · and hyder atte laste. …”
(Thus with treason and with treachery · thou troiledest them both,
And diddest them break their buxomness · through false byhest;
Thus haddest thou them out · and hither at the last.)
From: The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman
By William Langland, 1393
ETYMOLOGY
perhaps the same as Tib, a shortened hypocoristic form of the female name Isabel; now rather rude or slighting (except playfully);
also with dim. -y or -ie, Tibbie, a common female name in the north
EXAMPLE
“… .Trupeny. Mary then prickmedaintie come toste me a fig,
Who shall then know our Tib Talke apace trow ye?
An. Alyface. And why not Annot Alyface as fyne as she?
Trupeny. And what had Tom Trupeny, a father or none?
An. Alyface. Then our prety newe come man will looke to be one …”
From: Ralph Roister Doister
By Nicholas Udall, a1556
ETYMOLOGY
for. n. 1. & n. 2. from cuff (to strike with the fist or open hand, to buffet) + -er
for n. 4. from cuff (to discuss, to talk over) + -er
EXAMPLE (for n. 1.)
“… LET US LEARN THE LAWS OF FASTING, that we run not uncertainly, nor beat the air, nor be as such cuffers who fight as it were with their shadow. Fasting is a medicine; but physick, although it be never so good, that is prescribed, oftimes becomes unprofitable, by reason of the imprudence of him that useth it. …”
From: The Paschal or Lent-Fast, Apostolical & Perpetual at first deliver’d in a sermon preached before His Majesty in Lent and since enlarged
By Peter Gunning, 1662
ETYMOLOGY
reduplication of wrangle (n.) with change of vowel as in jingle-jangle, tingle-tangle, etc.
EXAMPLE
“…It was a most delightful godsend to the paper in which it appeared, and it came at a time when the House was not sitting, and there was no wringle-wrangle of debates to furnish material for the columns of big type which are supposed to sway the masses. …”
From: All Sorts and Conditions of Men: An Impossible Story
By Walter Besant, 1882
ETYMOLOGY
noun: from the French
verb: French blaguer, from the noun
EXAMPLE
“…In later editions of The French Revolution Carlyle did not alter a word of his original account. Instead, he added directly to the main text a new concluding paragraph correcting Barere’s story, which he terms a ‘masterpiece; the largest, most inspiring piece of blague manufactured, for some centuries, by any man or nation. As such, and not otherwise, be it henceforth memorable’…”
From: The French Revolution
By Thomas Carlyle, 1839
ETYMOLOGY
from Greek νέμος [némos] (wooded pasture, glade) + ‑philous
EXAMPLE
“…The remainder may be classed with regard to requisite moisture as Hygrophilous, Xerophilous, or Noterophilous, the former division including most shade-loving or Nemophilous plants, the Dryads of Martius, and the Xerophiles most but not all Calcophiles or lime-loving plants…”
From: Journal of Botany, British and Foreign
Edited by James Britten, Vol. IX, 1880
‘Proceedings of Societies. Geologists’ Association’
ETYMOLOGY
from dry (miserly, stingy) + fist
EXAMPLE
“…Ferentes. Yet again ? nay, an if you be in that mood, shut up your fore-shop, I’ll be your journeyman no longer. Why, wise Madam Dryfist, could your mouldy brain be so addle to imagine I would marry a stale widow at six-and-forty? Marry gip! are there not varieties enough of thirteen? come, stop your clap-dish, or I’ll purchase a carting for you. By this light, I have toiled more with this tough carrion hen than with ten quails scarce grown into their first feathers …”
From: Loves Sacrifice
By John Ford, 1633
ETYMOLOGY
from blast (a blowing or strong gust of wind) + -ful
EXAMPLE
“…Breezy hills and blastful mountains,
Chirp of birds, and thunder’s roll.
Tinkling rills and gushing fountains.
Powers that spurn weak man’s control.
Cradle song and chariot’s rattle.
Mighty thoughts that stir the soul,
Throng of business, roar of battle,
All make music In the whole. …”
From: Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine,
July – December 1883
‘October Song’
Lexicophilia 