Word of the Day

[renren]

fascinating stuff!

[MissBubu]

Alegar

[al-uh-ger, ey-luh-] –noun British Informal.
Ale vinegar; sour ale. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1535–45; ale + (vin)egar]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

The mistakes the novice brewer made resulted in a batch of unusable alegar.

[MissBubu]

Attercop

At"ter*cop\, n. [AS. attercoppa a spider; [=ae]tter poison + coppa head, cup.]

1. A spider. [Obs.]

2. A peevish, ill-natured person. [North of Eng.]

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

The judge was an attercop; ruining the lives of the petitioners who came before him as he sat in the middle of his web of power.
(how's that for using both definitions of the word at once?)

[Marietta Graziella]

Huzzah and well done MissBubu!

[MissBubu]

 

(gee, my photo kinda resembles the smiley!)

[MissBubu]

Bafflegab   

[baf-uhl-gab] 
–noun Slang. confusing or generally unintelligible jargon; gobbledegook: an insurance policy written in bafflegab impenetrable to a lay person. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1950–55; baffle + gab1]

—Related forms
baf·fle·gab·ber, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

The poor mother couldn't comprehend the bafflegab of her teenagers.

[MissBubu]

Blatherskite

[blath-er-skahyt] –noun
1. a person given to voluble, empty talk. 
2. nonsense; blather. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1640–50; blather + skite skate3]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Blatherskite is first recorded in an old Scots ballad called Maggie Lauder, attributed to Francis Sempill (or Semple) and dated about 1643, still well known today. There are various transcriptions of the first verse, one being:

Wha wadnae be in love
wi' bonnie Maggie Lauder?
A piper met her gaun tae Fife
and speirt what was't they ca'd her.
Right dauntingly she answered him,
"Begone ye hallanshaker.
Jog on your gate ye blether skyte,
my name is Maggie Lauder".

A rough translation into modern English is:

Who wouldn't be in love
with beautiful Maggie Lauder?
A piper met her going to Fife
and asked what people called her.
Discouragingly she answered him,
"Go away, you vagabond!
Be on your way, you talkative boaster,
my name is Maggie Lauder".

[MissBubu]

Boscage

[bos-kij]–noun

A mass of trees or shrubs; wood, grove, or thicket. 

Also, boskage.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME boskage < MF boscage. See bosk, -age]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.


The peasant thief hid in the boscage to avoid being captured by the sheriff's men.

[MissBubu]

Brummagem

[bruhm-uh-juhm]

–adjective 1. showy but inferior and worthless. 
–noun 2. a showy but inferior and worthless thing. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1630–40; local var. of Birmingham, England (Compare Bromwichham, Bromecham (17th century), ME Burmingeham); orig. in allusion to counterfeit coins produced there in the 17th cent.]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

The crafter was banned from participating in the faire after substituting brummagen wares for their usual inventory.

[MissBubu]

Caitiff   

[key-tif] 
–noun 1. a base, despicable person. 
–adjective 2. base; despicable. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME caitif < AF < L capt?vus captive]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

The landowner was such a caitiff that not only did he order weekly beatings for his shareholders, he made them do the beatings.

[MissBubu]

(here's a favorite of mine)

Callipygian

[kal-uh-pij-ee-uhn]
–adjective having well-shaped buttocks. 

Also, cal·li·py·gous   Audio Help   /?kæl??pa?g?s/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kal-uh-pahy-guhs] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1640–50; < Gk kallipýg(os) with beautiful buttocks; referring to a statue of Aphrodite (kalli- calli- + pyg() rump + -os adj. suffix) + -ian]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.


Callipygian women have the best bahookies! (and I like to think I'm in that number)

[MissBubu]

Cenatory

Cen"a*to*ry\, a. [L. cenatorius, fr. cenare to dine, sup, fr. cena, coena, dinner, supper.] Of or pertaining to dinner or supper. [R.]

The Romans washed, were anointed, and wore a cenatory garment. --Sir T. Browne.

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

This is one of 22,889 words and senses marked in the Oxford English Dictionary as being both obsolete and rare. The OED's only record for it is from a work of 1646 by the physician Sir Thomas Browne. He's immortalised in the OED by 3792 other citations, which include many equally rare words, such as bicipitous (having two heads); elychnious (having the nature of a wick); latirostrous (broad-beaked); stillicidious (falling in drops); and zodiographer (a person who writes about animals).

Cenatory isn't quite so rare as the OED entry might suggest. It turns up, for example, in Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field, by Thomas W. Knox, published in 1865: "On one line of boats, the cold meats on the supper-table were from carefully selected pieces, cooked and cooled expressly for the cenatory meal." And it's in James Branch Cabell's Chivalry (1921), in a passage that follows a description of a meal: "Richard was replete and contented with the world. He took up the lute, in full consciousness that his compliance was in large part cenatory."

World Wide Words copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–2008

[Marietta Graziella]

Boscage

[bos-kij]–noun

A mass of trees or shrubs; wood, grove, or thicket. 

Also, boskage.

The MNRF group can be found at the boskage, to the left of the main gate, every morning at fest. 

Good and useful word!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME boskage < MF boscage. See bosk, -age]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.


The peasant thief hid in the boscage to avoid being captured by the sheriff's men.

[MissBubu]

So would that make it the Breakfast Boskage?

[MissBubu]

Clerihew

[kler-uh-hyoo] –noun

Prosody. a light verse form, usually consisting of two couplets, with lines of uneven length and irregular meter, the first line usually containing the name of a well-known person. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1925–30; named after E. Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956), English writer, its inventor]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Example of a clerihew (written by Edmund Clerihew Bentley):

Sir Humphry Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.