Word of the Day

[MissBubu]

Mattoid

Mat"toid\, n. [It. matto mad (cf. L. mattus, matus, drunk) + -oid.] A person of congenitally abnormal mind bordering on insanity or degeneracy.


Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

H G Wells, in Mankind in the Making, "Among such theorists none at present are in quite such urgent need of polemical suppression as those who would persuade the heedless general reader that every social failure is necessarily a 'degenerate', and who claim boldly that they can trace a distinctly evil and mischievous strain in that unfortunate miscellany which constitutes 'the criminal class'... These mattoid scientists make a direct and disastrous attack upon the latent self-respect of criminals."

[MissBubu]

Merrythought

[mer-ee-thawt] –noun Chiefly British.
The wishbone or furcula of a fowl. 


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[Origin: 1600–10; so called from the custom of pulling the bone apart until it breaks, the person holding the longer (sometimes shorter) piece supposedly marrying first or being granted a wish at the time]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

As children, my brother and I would get to make wishes on the merrythought of the Thanksgiving turkey.

[MissBubu]

Mudlark

[muhd-lahrk]
–noun
1. Chiefly British. a person who gains a livelihood by searching for iron, coal, old ropes, etc., in mud or low tide. 
2. Chiefly British Informal. a street urchin. 
3. either of two black and white birds, Grallina cyanoleuca, of Australia, or G. bruijni, of New Guinea, that builds a large, mud nest. 
–verb (used without object)
4. to grub or play in mud. 


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[Origin: 1790–1800; mud + lark1]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

The Peasant Union #2 gained a group of young mudlarks this year.

[MissBubu]

Mugwump

[muhg-wuhmp] –noun
1. a Republican who refused to support the party nominee, James G. Blaine, in the presidential campaign of 1884. 
2. a person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue, esp. in politics; a person who is neutral on a controversial issue. 


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[Origin: 1830–35, Americanism; artificial 19th-cent. revival of Massachusett (E sp.) mugquomp, syncopated form of muggumquomp war leader (equiv. to Proto-Algonquian *memekw- perh., swift + *-a·pe·w man)]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

In an effort to be unbiased between my liberal friends and conservative family members, I have unfortunately become an ineffective mugwump when it comes to politics.

[MissBubu]

Mulligrubs

[muhl-i-gruhbz]
–noun (used with a singular or plural verb) Southern U.S. ill temper; colic; grumpiness. 


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[Origin: 1590–1600; earlier mulligrums, appar. alter. of megrims]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

I usually find myself in a state of mulligrubs when fest season ends.

[MissBubu]

Mundungus

[muhn-duhng-guhs]
–noun Archaic. malodorous tobacco. 


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[Origin: 1630–40; Latinized var. of Sp mondongo tripe]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

The cheap man left the air fouled with the smoke of the mundungus in his pipe.

[MissBubu]

Nepenthe

[ni-PEN-thee] –noun
1. a drug or drink, or the plant yielding it, mentioned by ancient writers as having the power to bring forgetfulness of sorrow or trouble. 
2. anything inducing a pleasurable sensation of forgetfulness, esp. of sorrow or trouble. 


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[Origin: 1590–1600; < L népenthes < Gk népenthés herb for soothing, n. use of neut. of népenths sorrowless, equiv. to né- not + pénth(os) sorrow + -és adj. suffix]

—Related forms
ne·pen·the·an, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven: "Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore! / Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'."

[MissBubu]

Nescience

[nesh-uhns, nesh-ee-uhns, nes-ee-] –noun
1. lack of knowledge; ignorance. 
2. agnosticism. 


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[Origin: 1605–15; < LL nescientia ignorance, equiv. to ne- not + scientia knowledge; see science]

—Related forms
nescient, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

G K Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown: "Flambeau had been missed at Harwich; and if he was in London at all, he might be anything from a tall tramp on Wimbledon Common to a tall toast-master at the Hotel Metropole. In such a naked state of nescience, Valentin had a view and a method of his own".

[MissBubu]

Ninnyhammer

[nin-ee-ham-er] –noun
a fool or simpleton; ninny. 

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[Origin: 1585–95; ninny + hammer]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

John Arbuthnot's satirical pamphlet of 1712, The Law is a Bottomless Pit: "Have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus, that has saved that clod-pated, numskull'd ninnyhammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?"

[MissBubu]

Nipperkin

Nip"per*kin\, n.
A small cup. [Obs.]


Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

English West Country song, the Barley Mow:

We'll drink it out of the nipperkin, boys,
Here's a health to the barley-mow!
The nipperkin and the jolly brown bowl,
Here's a health to the barley-mow, my brave boys,
Here's a health to the barley-mow!

[MissBubu]

NUBBING-CHEAT

The gallows.

World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–2008.

Henry Fielding, Tom Jones (1745): "I will shew you a way to empty the pocket of a queer cull, without any danger of the nubbing cheat"

[MissBubu]

Nympholepsy

[nim-fuh-lep-see] –noun, plural -sies.
1. an ecstasy supposed by the ancients to be inspired by nymphs.
2. a frenzy of emotion, as for something unattainable.

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Origin:
1765–75; formed on nympholept, on the model of epilepsy
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

George Moore, Memoirs of My Dead Life:

I have always thought it must be a wonderful thing to believe in the dryad. Do you know that men wandering in the woods sometimes used to catch sight of a white breast between the leaves, and henceforth they could love no mortal woman? The beautiful name of their malady was nympholepsy. A disease that every one would like to catch.

[MissBubu]

Obnubilate

[ob-noo-buh-leyt, -nyoo-] –verb (used with object), -lat?ed, -lat?ing.
to cloud over; becloud; obscure.


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Origin:
1575–85; < L obn?bil?tus, ptp. of obn?bil?re to darken, obscure, equiv. to ob- ob- + n?bil?re to become cloudy, v. deriv. of n?bilus cloudy; see nubilous
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver: "This was a wonder all by itself, with its ropewalks — skinny buildings a third of a mile long — windmills grinding lead and boring gun-barrels, a steam-house, perpetually obnubilated, for bending wood, dozens of smoking and clanging smithys including two mighty ones where anchors were made ...".

[MissBubu]

Oxter

[ok-ster] –noun Scot. and North England.
The armpit.


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Origin:
1490–1500; akin to OE ?custa armpit, ON (h)?str throat
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

George Macdonald Fraser, Flashman and the Mountain of Light: "A lackey serving the folk in the gallery put a beaker in my hand. What with brandy and funk I was parched as a camel's oxter, so I drank it straight off".

[MissBubu]

Palimpsest

[pal-imp-sest] –noun
A parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.

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Origin:
1655–65; < L palimps?stus < Gk palímps?stos rubbed again (pálin again + ps?stós scraped, rubbed, verbid of psân to rub smooth)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Many important historical writings have been found on palimpsests which have been used to write vastly inferior dross.