Seldom-Used Words

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New to me HP

I haven't come across that one before. It's in neither Chambers, nor the Concise Scots Dictionary.

It is in the Oxford though:

adj; boldly dispespectful, impudent
n; an impudent person.

Origin; Middle English


I've discovered another old Scots word:
Malapert

It's a less than complimentary expression for a young woman of unsavoury, impudent or saucy behaviour.
 
In researching opium use among upper class women in the late 1800s, I found that many wealthy women were prescribed laudanum to ease their hysteria.

Since the word hysteria comes from the Latin for womb, hystericus, it seems these women were simply acting like women and therefore needed to be drugged, or so the professionals thought.

hysteria - the former notion that hysteric women were suffering disturbances of the womb, (like menstruating, pregnancy and birth?)
 
Hysteric n,

1 (in pl) a a fit of hysteria. b. colloq. overwhelming mirth or laughter (we were in hysterics).

2 a hysterical person. [from Greek husterikos 'of the womb', hysteria being thought to occur more frequently in women]
 
Here's another one from the British Isles with two entries;

shog - to move along

shog - shake, jolt

And thanks for the explanation of chari-vari, I learn something new every day on this thread from all of you, wonderful gentleman. (I seem to be the only female here for some unknown reason, but I love it.)
 
A few different definitions of shag:

1. A copulation; also copulation generically: C19 -20.

Ex: 2 A performer (rarely of a woman) of the sexual act, esp. in 'he is but bad shag; he is no able woman's man' Grose, 2nd ed.: late C18-mid-19. Ex the v.,1.

3. 'Any coat other than an "Eton" or "tails" is a "shag", R.Airy, Westminster, 1902: Westminster School: late C19-20.

Ex shaggy

shag v.t. To copulate (with a woman): late C18-20. Prob. ex shag, to shake, toss about. cf. n., 1, 2. Whence perhaps, v.i. to masturbate; Public Schools: certainly ca 1900 and prob. many years earlier.

shag, miserable as a. Very miserable indeed: Australian coll: late C19-20. cf.:

shag, wet as a. Very wet indeed: a mainly rural coll: from ca 1830. Marryat. Ex shag, a cormorant.

shag back. To hang back; refuse a fence: hunting coll: from ca 1870.

shag-bag. A poor shabby fellow; a worthless fellow: coll: late C17-20; slightly ob. Ex shake-bag or shag-rag, via cockfighting.

shag-off. To go away: low: late C19-20. Prompted by FUCK OFF.

shagged out. Exhausted, utterly weary: Clifton College: late C19-20. Of same origin as SHAG.
 
Shog

Isn't in my Oxford. Admittedly I only have the one-vol 'Oxford Dictionary of English' to hand right now...

It is however in the 'Concise Scots Dictionary', more or less as you define AC.

Here's another one from the British Isles with two entries;

shog - to move along

shog - shake, jolt

And thanks for the explanation of chari-vari, I learn something new every day on this thread from all of you, wonderful gentleman. (I seem to be the only female here for some unknown reason, but I love it.)
 
I am the daughter of an admitted "bohemian" and wondered yesterday about the origin of this word;

bohemia - a community of bohemians: the world of bohemians

Bohemian - 1. a. a native of inhabitant of Bohemia b. the group of Czech dialects used in Bohemia 2. a. (not capitalized) vagabond, wanderer; esp. gypsy 2. b. a writer or artist living an unconventional lifestyle

My musician father was referring to the last definition in describing himself, since he was born in Los Angeles in the 20s. He truly was an unconventional man.
 
All my life I have heard the word kowtow and never knew its true meaning;

kowtow - (from Peking, literally means bump head) 1. to kneel and touch the forehead to the ground to show homage, worship or deep respect 2. to show obsequious deference

I think my father was using the latter definition when telling my mother he would not kowtow to her.
 
All my life I have heard the word kowtow and never knew its true meaning;

kowtow - (from Peking, literally means bump head) 1. to kneel and touch the forehead to the ground to show homage, worship or deep respect 2. to show obsequious deference

I think my father was using the latter definition when telling my mother he would not kowtow to her.

It's used in in England as :-
"I will not kowtow to this man".
 
A few different definitions of shag:


shag, miserable as a. Very miserable indeed: Australian coll: late C19-20. cf.:

The commoner Australian expression is "like a shag on a rock." which is a simile with the bird which is usually solitary, wet and cold. It has a second meaning as applied to someone with an isolated point of view with few supporters.

Most recently the SBS football commentater referred to Wayne Rooney as a shag on a rock reflecting on the absence of support from his team mates!
 

tergiversation
• n. 1. The act of tergiversating; a shifting; shift; subterfuge; evasion. 2. Fickleness of conduct; inconstancy; change.




___________________________________

Once upon a time ( obviously, in a prolonged and profound state of ennui ), I recorded all the words used in the final round of the National Spelling Bee with the intention of looking up their definitions. "Tergiversation" was among them.

The words used were frighteningly obscure and the idea that anyone ( much less a juvenile ) could accurately spell them was more than humbling.


 
While watching the Wizard of Oz, I discovered many words I did not know the meaning of, but this one won the first entry;

pusillanimous - lacking courage or resolution: marked by contemptible timidity
 
ithyphallic

1 A particular kind of poem, obscene or sexually explicit
2 A cult or ceremony in the form of Festivals (Bacchanalian orgy ?)
3 Grossly indecent or obscene.
 
Nice one HP...

My ODE says:
adjective (especially of statue or other representation of a deity) having an erect penis.

ORIGIN early 17th cent. (as a noun denoting a sexually explicit poem)

Your source? Just curious!

ithyphallic

1 A particular kind of poem, obscene or sexually explicit
2 A cult or ceremony in the form of Festivals (Bacchanalian orgy ?)
3 Grossly indecent or obscene.
 
My Webster's 7th Collegiate dictionary says;

ithyphallic - 1. of or relating to the phallus carried in procession in ancient festivals of Bacchus 2. LEWD

And nothing about poems at all. I realize it is an inferior dictionary and I need a new, much better, one.
 
Words from Middle English:

Burd - young woman or teenaged girl. Spelled "Bird" in and around 13th century as a mistaken notion that it was a metaphor.

Berne - young man or teenaged boy. Guess it would be spelled Bern or Byrn in modern English?
 
My ODE says:
adjective (especially of statue or other representation of a deity) having an erect penis.

ORIGIN early 17th cent. (as a noun denoting a sexually explicit poem)

Your source? Just curious!

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ithyphallic /thfalk/ n. & a. E17. [Late L ithyphallicus f. Gk ithuphallikos, f. ithuphallos, f. ithus straight + phallos PHALLUS: see -IC.]
A n. A poem in ithyphallic metre. Also, an obscene or sexually explicit poem.
B adj. 1 Of a cult, ceremony, carved figure, etc.: associated with or characterized by (the symbol of) a phallus, esp. in the context of Bacchic festivals in ancient Greece; spec. composed in the metre of the Bacchic hymns (the trochaic dimeter brachycatalectic).
2 Grossly indecent, obscene.

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 
unctuous - 1. a. fatty, oily b. smooth and greasy in texture or appearance 2. a. rich in organic matter and easily workable b. plastic 3. full of unction; esp: revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating and false earnestness or spirituality
 

Oleaginous • adj. buttery: unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech; "buttery praise"; "gave him a fulsome introduction"; "an oily sycophantic press agent"; "oleaginous hypocrisy"; "smarmy self-importance"; "the unctuous Uriah Heep"; "soapy compliments."


 
Yes, exactly, Trysail, a sickeningly sweet sway of speech. How that for alliteration, aka head rhyme or initial rhyme for ya? hehehe
 
Words from Middle English:



Berne - young man or teenaged boy. Guess it would be spelled Bern or Byrn in modern English?

The OED suggests Berne is old English and means warrior which is a bit different wheras Bairn (Scottish spelling) or Bearn( English spelling both mean child (of either sex)
 
its... we have had a lot of archaic words but how about this modern one. Did Shakespeare use it ...much? :)
 
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