Friday, January 29, 2010

Beforehand:

In a state of accumulation. or so as that more has been received that expanded.

"Stranger's house is at this time rich, and much beforehand; for it hath laid up revenue these thirty seven years."

-Bacon

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Brabble:

A clamorous contest; a squabble, a broil.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Travesty:

Dressed so as to be made ridiculous; burlesqued.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Whist:

A game at cards requiring close attention and silence.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Junket

To Junket:
To feast secretly; to make entertainment by stealth.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Slop:

Mean and vile liquor of any kind. Generally some nauseous or useless medicinal liquor.

to slop: to drink grossly and greedily

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Weatherspy:

A star-gazer; an astrologer; one that foretels the weather.

"And sooner may a gulling weatherspy,
By drawing forth heav'n's scheme tell certainly,
What fashion'd hats or ruffs, or suits next year,
our giddy-headed antik youth will wear."

-Donne

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Pass:

An order by which vagrants or impotent persons are sent to their place of abode.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Bragly:

Finely; so as it may be bragged.

Monday, January 18, 2010

bo:

A word of terror; from Bo, an old northern captain, of such fame, that his name was used to terrify the enemy.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Contrite:

(1) Bruised; much worn.

(2) Worn with sorrow; harrassed with the sense of guilt; penitent. In the books of divines contrite is sorrowful for sin, from the love of God and desire of pleasing him; and attrite is sorrowful for sin, from fear of punishment.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Bawdry:

Obscenity; unchaste language.

"I have no salt; no bawdry he doth mean; For witty, in his language, is obscene."

-B. Johnson

Bawd:
A procurer, or procuress; one that introduces men and women to each other, for the promotion of debauchey.

to bawd:
To procure; to provide gallants with strumpets.

"And in four months a batter'd harridan;
Now nothing's left, but wither'd, pale, and shrunk,
To bawd for others, and go shares with punk."

-Swift

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Ambidexter:

A man who is equally ready to act on either side, in party disputes. This sense is ridiculous.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Dern:

(1) Sad, Solitary.

(2) Barbarous; cruel. Obsolete.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Contrition:

(1) The act of grinding; or rubbing to powder.

(2) Penitence; sorrow for sin: in the strict sense, the sorrow which arises from the desire to please God, distinguished from attrition, or imperfect repentance produced by dread of hell.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Magnality:

A great thing; something above the common rate.

Not used.

Friday, January 8, 2010

File

to file:

To foul, to sully; to pollute. This sense is retained in Scotland.

"His weeds, divinely fashioned,
All fil'd and mangl'd."

Chapman's Iliads. b. xvii

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Beldam

An old woman; generally a term of contempt, marking the last degree of old age, with all its faults and miseries.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Chicane

The art of protracting a contest by petty objection and artifice.

"His attornies have hardly one trick left; they are at an end of all their chicane."

-Arbuthnot's History of John Bull.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Pother

To pother:

To make a blustering, ineffectual effort.

"He that loves reading and writing, yet finds certain seasons wherein those things have no relish, only pothers and wearies himself to no purpose.

-Locke

Monday, January 4, 2010

Embase

to embase:

(1) To vitiate; to depauperate; to lower; to deprave; to impair.

(2) To degrade; to vilify.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Cully

A man deceived or imposed upon; as by sharpers or a strumpet.

"Yet, the rich cullies may their boasting spare:
They purchase but sophisticated ware."

-Dryden.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Vastidity

Wideness; immensity. A barbarous word.

"Perpetual Durance, Through all the world's vastidity".

-Shakespeare