Seldom-used words - M to A

[Handley_Page]

Mata Hari - Fresian dancer and spy.

"She was executed by firing squad on 15 October 1917, at the age of 41.

German documents unsealed in the 1970s proved that Mata Hari was truly a German agent."

 

[AllardChardon]

Most interesting information on Mata Hari, Handley, thanks for adding it.

Here is another word about religion;

Monarchian - noun an adherent to one or two anti-Trinitarian groups of the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. teaching that God is one person as well as one being

 

[NaokoSmith]

Mauve - the colour. I don't see that a lot these days.
Or magenta, people used to say so-and-so had magenta hair.

 

[Weird Harold]

'Twasn't I. Though I did mention nocent and have often wondered whether anyone ever hears from a gruntled customer or client.

In the same spirit:

http://assets.amuniversal.com/94be1a60df00013171e6005056a9545d

 

[Handley_Page]

'Twasn't I. Though I did mention nocent and have often wondered whether anyone ever hears from a gruntled customer or client.

I've heard "Gruntled" before.
I wondered in one might be "Un-gruntled" and did it mean the same as Dis ?
I have a feeling this might point to one of those wonderful mixtures of Norman, Saxon, Dane, Jute and even Celt words ?

 

[CarlusMagnus]

I've heard "Gruntled" before.
I wondered in one might be "Un-gruntled" and did it mean the same as Dis ?
I have a feeling this might point to one of those wonderful mixtures of Norman, Saxon, Dane, Jute and even Celt words ?

I am reasonably sure that one must tire before one can retire.

Must one first provide partée before one can provide repartée?

If I deliver a punchline, does the one who hears it liver it?

If X is under Y, does that mean that Y is der X?

 

[NaokoSmith]

I am reasonably sure that one must tire before one can retire.

Must one first provide partée before one can provide repartée?

If I deliver a punchline, does the one who hears it liver it?

If X is under Y, does that mean that Y is der X?

Presumably, too, people are bauched before they can become debauched?

 

[NaokoSmith]

Matutinal - very appropriate, as I am about to get up and make pancakes.

Hullo birds! Hullo cats! Hullo little froggy friends who were brought in during the night!

(I thought of it while having to admonish Tio in one of the other threads )

 

[AllardChardon]

Very entertaining, Harold, Handley and Carlus. Of course, once we get to the D words, there will be plenty of those kinds of entries to pick from, but the one I always liked was de-lay. I suppose one must lay first, before one can get delayed.

Naoko, you made me look your word up, which is fine because that is what this thread is about. I could not guess its meaning from its sound, so the definition of EARLY came as rather anti-climatic. LOL Off- topic: How did the pancakes turn out? What kind, they come in so many flavors?

This is LIT, so I felt compelled to add this one;

monandry - noun 1. a marriage form or custom in which a woman has only one husband at a time 2. a monadrous condition of a plant or flower

Since my dictionary says that this word comes from mon + androus having (so many) men, how did having "only one husband" define it?

 

[sr71plt]

Just encountered (strangely enough in something I wrote several years ago), but I think it sounds exactly like what it means (and it's a bear of a word to spell correctly):

cockamamy -- adj., ridiculous, incredible

 

[NaokoSmith]

Very entertaining, Harold, Handley and Carlus. Of course, once we get to the D words, there will be plenty of those kinds of entries to pick from, but the one I always liked was de-lay. I suppose one must lay first, before one can get delayed.

Naoko, you made me look your word up, which is fine because that is what this thread is about. I could not guess its meaning from its sound, so the definition of EARLY came as rather anti-climatic. LOL Off- topic: How did the pancakes turn out? What kind, they come in so many flavors?

(I suppose one must be flowered too )

Sorry the meaning of the word was a bit of an anticlimax. The pancakes were fine! They were very bubbly, either because there was more egg : other ingredients ratio in this mix, or because I had to use the incredibly healthy totally skimmed milk in the fridge which is the Fella's, as I had run out of the incredibly unhealthy Gold Top super creamy milk which Piglet and I drink. Ours is a household of extremes

Usually we have pancakes with chocolate spread and bananas, to encourage Piglet to eat the bananas, but yes, we had no bananas! so Piglet scoffled hers with just chocolate spread (and some slices of ham rolled round cheese on the side), and I had mine with chocolate spread and walnuts.

cockamamy -- adj., ridiculous, incredible

In that spirit, I have brought in the word mimsy, which is so seldom-used that I think its only proper usage is in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark:
"All mimsy were the borogoves..."

I've brought a Moomin along too. Here is Moominmama, with her famous handbag. She likes cooking and gardening .

http://www.themoominshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/moominmamma-featured-300x189.png

 

[CarlusMagnus]

(I suppose one must be flowered too )

I should think that pancakes would be floured.

In that spirit, I have brought in the word mimsy, which is so seldom-used that I think its only proper usage is in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark:
"All mimsy were the borogoves..."

That line's from The Jabberwock.

 

[NaokoSmith]

I should think that pancakes would be floured.

before being de-voured.

That line's from The Jabberwock.

Ooops! Oh yes, Snark is all vorpal blades and uffishness, although there is the superlative form of mimsy in it: mimsiest.

 

[AllardChardon]

Naoko, those are some delicious-sounding pancakes. I like buckwheat pancakes with real maple syrup and a little butter, but no one else in my family likes them, so I rarely make them for myself. (Sometimes I even sprinkle pecan pieces in the batter and that makes them really good.) The Jabberwock has always been one of my favorites, thanks for bringing it up, even if it was a bit of a mistake at first.

Sr71plt, that is a great word and my parents used it a lot in regards to my latest schemes.

monad - noun 1.a. UNIT, ONE b. ATOM c. an elementary unextended individual spiritual substance from which material properties are derived 2. a minute simple organism or organic unit 3. an univalent element, atom or radical

 

[AllardChardon]

Good day, everyone.

Here is the Greek God, who inspired Mardi Gras revelers in America in the late 1800s;

Momus - noun 1. the Greek god of censure and mockery 2. a carping critic

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Mong

Mong, preterite of ming, mingled: whence the preposition among, i. e., mingled with.

From Lost Beauties of the Englinsh Language, Charles Mackay.

When used of an English tense, the word preterite usually refers to the simple past; however, it can also be used to refer to the past perfect. It isn't clear to me which Mackay means here. The question may be unanswerable without a trip to a good library; ming, of course, doesn't appear in any of today's dictionaries to which I have access. Even the OED doesn't give this form, though ming, along with a number of forms, does appear there. Most of them, however replace the i with e rather than o.

 

[Handley_Page]

Mong, preterite of ming, mingled: whence the preposition among, i. e., mingled with.

From Lost Beauties of the Englinsh Language, Charles Mackay.

When used of an English tense, the word preterite usually refers to the simple past; however, it can also be used to refer to the past perfect. It isn't clear to me which Mackay means here. The question may be unanswerable without a trip to a good library; ming, of course, doesn't appear in any of today's dictionaries to which I have access. Even the OED doesn't give this form, though ming, along with a number of forms, does appear there. Most of them, however replace the i with e rather than o.

I take it you don't count the Ming Dynasty ?

As to Mong:-

mong /m/ n.1 Long obs. exc. dial. Also mung. [OE gemang, f. Gmc base also of MENG. Aphet. early in ME.]
1 A mingling, a mixture. Formerly also, commerce. Long rare. OE.
2 A mixture of different kinds of grain or meal; = MASLIN n.2 1. ME.
3 A crowd, an assembly. ME.

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


It is worthy of note that it is also a term of some abuse.

 

[oggbashan]

Welcome back, Carlus, and thanks for all the catching up, most amusing as usual. I also hope you had a lovely vacation, we did miss you and your input.

My father used to tell my mother to quit sounding like a fishmonger's wife. I never really thought about the end of the word alone;

monger(1) - noun BROKER, DEALER

monger(2) - vt to deal in: PEDDLE

Og, are there some slang words with monger in it?

Sorry I'm late responding. I've been away for a few days.

The most obvious one is whoremonger for pimp.

There are many others:

Poxmonger - diseased prostitute.

Mortmonger - pimp again.

Any dubious article or service offered such as a pig in a poke can be used with monger e.g. spademonger who sells forged guineas (from the spade-shaped shield on a guinea of the period).

 

[oggbashan]

Hello, Lit lovers, here we go, again;

I am going to post two words, neither of which are seldom-used, just because;

mongrel - noun 1. an individual resulting from the interbreeding of diverse breeds or strains; esp: one of unknown ancestry 2. a cross between types of persons or things

...

1811 Slang

Mongrel - A hanger on among cheats, a sponger; also a child whose father and mother are of different countries.

 

[NaokoSmith]

1811 Slang

Mongrel - a child whose father and mother are of different countries.

Tee hee hee! that's me.

When I was a child, someone said as a joke that my siblings and I had 'hybrid vigour' and for years I thought it was a scientific truth, LOL, and that we were doing well at school etc, because of our genetic crossover! It wasn't till I met another mixed heritage woman of similar background, who wasn't particularly clever, that I suddenly realised it was just a joke.

 

[AllardChardon]

Very interesting, Carlus and Handley, I always love to learn new things about words.

Thank you, Og, for answering my monger question, and I hope you enjoyed your days away, even though we missed you.

Naoko, you are simply one of a kind! And that is very good, indeed.

Here is a word I knew, but not its first definition;

moment of truth - noun 1. the final sword thrust in a bullfight 2. a moment of crisis on whose outcome much or everything depends

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Poke

Sorry I'm late responding. I've been away for a few days.

The most obvious one is whoremonger for pimp.

There are many others:

Poxmonger - diseased prostitute.

Mortmonger - pimp again.

Any dubious article or service offered such as a pig in a poke can be used with monger e.g. spademonger who sells forged guineas (from the spade-shaped shield on a guinea of the period).

Poke, in the sense used here (and not the sense in which is likely to be used on a site like Literotica), is probably a little-used word for many readers here. It means a sack, and was commonly used in that sense where I grew up: Many of my schoolmates brought "lunch-pokes" to school. I've since learned that most Americans don't know this sense of the word, and the phrase "to buy a pig in a poke" is thus something of a mystery to them—even though they may know that it means to trust the seller absolutely and to buy an object without having examined it to see whether it really is what's been advertised.

 

[Handley_Page]

Matutinal - very appropriate, as I am about to get up and make pancakes.

Hullo birds! Hullo cats! Hullo little froggy friends who were brought in during the night!

(I thought of it while having to admonish Tio in one of the other threads )

Duchess,
When you put up a strange new word, please be kind enough to provide the meaning!

 

[Weird Harold]

Poke, in the sense used here ...

Derived from the same root as "Pocket," IIRC.

 

[oggbashan]

Derived from the same root as "Pocket," IIRC.

A pocket used to be a bag slung from the waist.

Pickpockets originally cut the cord holding the pocket and ran off with it.