Caligulism

noun. A mad extravagance such as Caligula comitted. Alas! it would be endless to tell you all his Caligulisms. Letters to Sir Horace Mann, Horace Walpole (1745) Caligula was a … Continue Reading ⇒

Frigorific

adj. Producing cold. Data for determining the frigorific effect of the ice on the temperature of the Pole. An account of the artic regions, William Scoresby (1820) It’s summer right … Continue Reading ⇒

Burgullian

noun. A braggart, bully. …that rogue, that foist, that fencing Burgullian? – Every Man In His Humor, Ben Jonson (1598) This word has a great sound to it. If you … Continue Reading ⇒

Condunghill

verb. To make like a dunghill. These dreery, direfull dayes condunghill’d and uglified me into a darke dense lumpe. Discollimunium, B. (1650) When I first saw the definition I thought, … Continue Reading ⇒

Niggle

Verb. To annoy, irrititate. There’s nothing niggles me more than cutting myself shaving. – A Kind of Loving, Stan Barstow (1960) The word has had many different meanings over the … Continue Reading ⇒

Agathokakological

Adj. Comprised of both good and evil. There may be an opposite fault; for indeed upon the agathokakological globe there are opposite qualities always to be found in parallel degrees, … Continue Reading ⇒

Vesuviate

verb. To be extremely hot (weather) It vesuviates. This sudden heat in the atmosphere has something to do with the eruption of the mountain which killed Pliny the Elder. The … Continue Reading ⇒

Abricotine

adj. Apricot-colored. The abricotine building stood out like a tree among elephants. – This Blog, Me (2009) I’m allowed to make up citations, right? Okay fine. It’s a nonce-word so … Continue Reading ⇒

Yerk

verb. To hit, strike, beat. Nine or ten times I had thought t’ have yerked him here under the ribs. – Iago, Othello (I.ii.5) – William Shakespeare Many references of … Continue Reading ⇒

Bablatrice

noun. Female babbler. O you cockatrices and you bablatrices, that in the woods dwell: You briers and brambles, you cook’s shops and shambles, come howl and yell. – Locrine (1595) The … Continue Reading ⇒