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Seldom-Used Words

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AllardChardon said:
Here are two interesting words from the same French root, outrer;

outrance - noun the last extremity

outre' - adj violating convention or propriety: BIZARRE
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Interesting, that one.
You may have seen a film where one Knight slaps the face of another to challenge for a duel (they were quite popular in the 1950s and can be seen on TV today).
However, a duel so serious as being to the Death was described as "a l'outrance"
[forgive the spelling please].
 
Accented letters

Handley_Page said:
Interesting, that one.
You may have seen a film where one Knight slaps the face of another to challenge for a duel (they were quite popular in the 1950s and can be seen on TV today).
However, a duel so serious as being to the Death was described as "a l'outrance"
[forgive the spelling please].
Click to expand...

We're about to find out if what works in stories to be posted on Lit. also works here. In a story, you can achieve the accented letter in the word outré by typing the appropriate HTML code in place of the letter you want. In this case that code consists of an ampersand followed by the characters eacute; . (The semicolon is part of both codes; don't leave it off.) Or by the characters #233; .

I didn't type either of the codes all as one piece, because, if they work, the results would simply appear as the accented character, which is what I hope will appear in the bold-faced word above.

There's a useful list of HTML codes at http://www.ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm . Many, though perhaps not all (no one but Laurel and Manu seems to know for sure), can be embedded in your submissions with salutary results.

-----------

I see, after previewing this note, that one of the codes doesn't work here. Too bad. But it makes it easier for me to tell you that one of the correct codes is é . I can't do so with the other, because it does work, producing outré. I believe that both codes work in stories; I know I've gotten what I wanted.
 
Thank you, Handley, for the additional information.

And thank you, Carlus, for the tool to use accents correctly, which I appreciate greatly.

I am adding this one because I love the sound of it;

outlandish - adj 1. of or relating to another country: FOREIGN 2. foreign looking: BIZARRE 3. remote from civilization
 
AllardChardon said:
Here in an odd one;

out-Herod - vt to exceed in violence or extravagance
Click to expand...

Shakespeare uses it in the opening speech Act 3 Scene 2 of Hamlet, I don't know about As you Like it,

The context is interesting as it explains the origin of the expression:

"O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig pated fellow tear a passion to tatters ---- I would have such a fellow whipped for o'er doing Termagant; it out-herods Herod"

Hamlet is here referring to the very popular mediaeval Passion Plays in which Herod was always played as a very loud aggressive character - a pantomime villain that the crowd could boo and hiss.

Incidentally Shakespeare uses a few other interesting words just in that speech: for examples, rumbustious, pated, Termagent .
 
Ishtat, there is no out-Herod in As You Like It. But the quote you shared was wonderful, thanks so much. My dictionary said something to the same effect;
out-Herod [out + Herod ]Antipas, A.D. 40 , depicted in medieval mystery plays as a blustering tyrant]. Yes, I am sure there are more current versions, but I find these odd entries quite entertaining.

outbye or outby - adv chiefly Scot: a short distance away: OUTDOORS
 
Good day, everyone. I had company last week and was extra busy because of it, but now I am back to my regular schedule.

out-and-out - adj (or adv) 1. OPEN, UNDISGUISED 2. COMPLETE, THOROUGHGOING

out-and-outer - noun EXTREMIST
 
AllardChardon said:
Good day, everyone. I had company last week and was extra busy because of it, but now I am back to my regular schedule.

out-and-out - adj (or adv) 1. OPEN, UNDISGUISED 2. COMPLETE, THOROUGHGOING

out-and-outer - noun EXTREMIST
Click to expand...

And I was away, with intermittent net access which I needed for community affairs.

In British English, out-and-out is usually seen with a noun e.g. an out and out rotter, coward, bounder, chump...

An out and outer is shorthand for someone you wouldn't want to associate it with, someone 'beyond the Pale' i.e. outside the local society.

'Beyond the Pale' has an interesting history. It is usually associated with Ireland. Within the Pale (=fence), were the Protestant settlers; beyond the Pale were the native Irish. It also applied to Calais in Northern France when it was owned by the English. The Pale was the boundary of the English territory and beyond the Pale were the hostile French - until Calais was lost by the English in Queen Mary's reign.
 
I certainly missed your company, Og, it is great to have you back and with such interesting information, as usual. You are priceless.

Yes, Carlus, you are quite right. This is from the Free Dictionary;

pale - noun 1. a stake or pointed stick; a picket 2. a fence enclosing an area 3. the area enclosed by a fence or boundary 4.a. a region or district lying within an imposed boundary or constituting a separate jurisdiction b. Pale - the medieval dominions of the English in Ireland (used with the) 5. Heraldry - a wide vertical band in the center of an escutcheon

Idiom:
beyond the pale - irrevocably unacceptable or unreasonable: behavior that was quite beyond the pale
 
AllardChardon said:
I certainly missed your company, Og, it is great to have you back and with such interesting information, as usual. You are priceless.

Yes, Carlus, you are quite right. This is from the Free Dictionary;

pale - noun 1. a stake or pointed stick; a picket 2. a fence enclosing an area 3. the area enclosed by a fence or boundary 4.a. a region or district lying within an imposed boundary or constituting a separate jurisdiction b. Pale - the medieval dominions of the English in Ireland (used with the) 5. Heraldry - a wide vertical band in the center of an escutcheon

Idiom:
beyond the pale - irrevocably unacceptable or unreasonable: behavior that was quite beyond the pale
Click to expand...

Although I enjoyed my holiday in Lancashire (300 miles from home which is a long way in the UK!), I missed the AH.

While on the march, Roman Legionaries used to carry a Pale on their backs - a long pointed stick which was used for setting up the palisade for the boundaries of the overnight camp.
 
That makes perfect sense, Og. Pickets were a common sight during The War Between the States and were moved right along with the company as well.

ouph or ouphe - noun ELF
 
CarlusMagnus said:
Though I expect that they called it a palus, without the article—English not yet having been invented. :D
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True. If I remember my classical reading correctly, legionnaires used to complain about that bloody stick they had to carry. In Imperial times the legions used more wheeled transport and the individual soldiers' loads reduced.

But this thread is for Seldom-Used English words. :D

If we were to include Latin words except for derivations, this long running thread would get even longer.
 
A broken tooth and unexpected company from out of town popped up this week. The crown prep is complete and now I am ready to continue on with the Os;

ouch(1) - noun 1. obs: CLASP, BROOCH 2.a. a setting for a precious stone b. JEWEL, ORNAMENT; esp: a buckle or brooch set with precious stones
 
AllardChardon said:
A broken tooth and unexpected company from out of town popped up this week. The crown prep is complete and now I am ready to continue on with the Os;

ouch(1) - noun 1. obs: CLASP, BROOCH 2.a. a setting for a precious stone b. JEWEL, ORNAMENT; esp: a buckle or brooch set with precious stones
Click to expand...

The word Ouch! that might be a response to your broken tooth is pronounced differently from the word ouch for a clasp or brooch. I think that is sounded like oooch... as in hooch.
 
Og, Fortunately, my broken tooth never did hurt. Thanks for the way to pronounce my last entry. Here is one you might know already;

oubliette - noun a dungeon with only an opening at the top
 
AllardChardon said:
Og, Fortunately, my broken tooth never did hurt. Thanks for the way to pronounce my last entry. Here is one you might know already;

oubliette - noun a dungeon with only an opening at the top
Click to expand...

Oubliettes are very nasty places. The word comes from Norman French - a place where people will be forgotten.
 
AllardChardon said:
Og, Fortunately, my broken tooth never did hurt. Thanks for the way to pronounce my last entry. Here is one you might know already;

oubliette - noun a dungeon with only an opening at the top
Click to expand...

The meaning of oubliette might be clearer if the dictionary had said "...an opening only at the top", or even "...an opening at the top only".

The word "only" is one of the most difficult words in English to use properly. I think it's right up there with the various forms of "to lie" and "to lay"—though for different reason.

I still remember a fight I had with a journal editor over where to place that word in a sentence. Neither of us would capitulate, so I completely recast the sentence to avoid the issue altogether. That editor was wrong, of course. :)
 
AllardChardon said:
Og, Fortunately, my broken tooth never did hurt. Thanks for the way to pronounce my last entry. Here is one you might know already;

oubliette - noun a dungeon with only an opening at the top
Click to expand...

I think there was one of these in Wakefield Castle.
It was the final resting place of of of some C15th sovereigns or relations.
 
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Gentlemen, it sounds like a perfectly horrid place to end up.

Carlus, only has caused me some trouble in the past as well. "Only one" is one of those redundant word combinations that I love to use, too.

oubain - noun a poisonous glycoside obtained from several African shrubs or trees of the dogbane family and used medically like digitalis and in Africa as an arrow poison
 
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. It is very hot here, once again. Seems like a series of heat waves this year. I am up early and out watering, of course, but now I can munch of dew-covered snap peas I planted and blackberries that I allow to fruit in certain special places. I must admit, the heat is making my Elberta peaches turn the most lovely shades of red and pink. That is something to look forward to, oh yes, a breakfast of tree-ripened peaches is hard to beat.

ottava rima - noun a stanza of eight lines of heroic verse with a rhyme scheme of abababcc
 
Good day, all. Here are a couple of words I found interesting;

otherness - noun 1. the quality or state of being other or different 2. something that is other or different

otherguess - adj archaic DIFFERENT
 
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