ETYMOLOGY
from lick (vb.) + spittle (a house or place for the reception of the indigent or diseased)
EXAMPLE
“…Yes – and to hear his lickspittles speak, you would think that a man of great and versatile talents was a miracle; whereas there are some thousands of them publicly acknowledged in England at this day…”
From: Noctes Ambrosianae (J. Wilson) in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine,
Volume XVIII, July-December, 1825
ETYMOLOGY
from: a) Middle French pusille, puzil, pusil (very small, weak),
b) Latin pusillus (very small, insignificant, petty) from pusus (boy) + -illus
EXAMPLE
“…And to amase her weake, and pusill minde,
In creepe through crannies of imagination.
Deformd Idean formes, and phansies blinde.
Sent foorth by hir sicke sences, instigation.
Like staringe greisly fendes, threatninge invasion.
Presenting to her heart, the homely iarres.
And houshold cares, accurringe nuptiall warres…”
From: Eustathia, or the Constancie of Susanna
By Robert Roche, 1599
ETYMOLOGY
from the drunkard’s reeling
EXAMPLE
The lean-away wavered out of the local public house.
ETYMOLOGY
of unknown origin
EXAMPLE
“…A shackazin’ owd tallock…”
From: The Folk-Speech of South Cheshire,
By Thomas Darlington, 1889
ETYMOLOGY
? from quiz (a prying, inquisitive person (Eng. dial.)) + cuss (a person of a specified character)
EXAMPLE
“…A tenant complained that his landlord’s agent was a regular quizcuss…”
From: The Folk-Speech of South Cheshire
– Thomas Darlington, 1887
ETYMOLOGY
from idio- (own, personal, private, peculiar, separate, distinct) + glottic (pertaining to language)
EXAMPLE
“…This impression he uttered with the word “pupu,” meaning a very big papa. The boy soon gave up his idioglottic endeavors, learning German before his next-born sister had reached the age of beginning speech. So that language could have no further grammatical development…”
From: Proceedings of the Royal Canadian Institute
Being a Continuation of the “Canadian Journal” of Science, Literature, and History
October, 1888, Vol. XXIV
The Development of Language, by Horatio Hale
ETYMOLOGY
– ? a cross between blib (a weak, watery portion, as of tea, etc.) and ribbons
EXAMPLE
“…Now, Jenny, min’, nae blibbans in the kail the day.”
From: Supplement to Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary, 1887
Lexicophilia 