Friday, March 26, 2010

Atter:

Corrupt matter. A word much used in Lincolnshire.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Anthropophaginian:

A ludicrous word, formed by Shakespeare from anthropophagi, for the sake of a formidable sound.

"Go, knock, and call; he'll speak like an anthropophaginian unto thee; knock I say."

-Shakespeare The Merry Wives of Windsor

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Urchin:

(1) A hedge-hog.

(2) A name of slight anger to a child.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Scurrilous:

Grossly opprobrious; using such language as only the licence of a buffoon can warrant; loudly jocular; vile; low.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Fub:

A plump chubby boy.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Kingsevil:

A scrofulous distemper, in which the glands are ulcerated, commonly believed to be cured by the touch of the king.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Tory:

(A cant term, derived, I suppose, from an Irish word signifying a savage.) One who adheres to the antient constitution of the state, and the apostolical hierarchy of the church of England, opposed to a whig.

"The knight is more a tory in the country than the town, because it more advances his interest."

-Addison.