Noun

Frescour

noun. Coolness; adj. Cool and crisp By Cold, and by a kinde of Frescour (as we now-a-days speak). Bacon’s Life & D. (1627) OED says noun, but there are some … Continue Reading ⇒

Airgonation

noun. Air travel by hot-air-balloon. A sort of meditation on future airgonation, supposing that it will not only be perfected, but will depose navigation. Letters, Horace Walpole (1784) One who … Continue Reading ⇒

Man-case

noun. Body. He had an handsome man-case, and better it had been empty with weakness, than (as it was) ill-fitted with viciousness.The church-history of Britain, Thomas Fuller (1655) Hey there … Continue Reading ⇒

Hibernophobe

noun. One who is afraid of the Irish. It was long enough to demonstrate even to Protestant Hibernophobes that his system was the right one. Temple Bar Magazine (1889) It … Continue Reading ⇒

Impossibilification

noun. Rendering impossible. Sovereigns and their courtiers were flattered by the degradation of nature and the impossibilification of a pretended virtue. Literary Remains, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1818) The addition of … Continue Reading ⇒

Panpygoptosis

noun. The condition of having short legs. … a distressing pathological condition in which the thighs are suppressed and the buttocks spring directly from behind the knees, aptly described in … Continue Reading ⇒

Swabification

noun. Mopping Here a large puff and blow, and a swabification of the white handkerchief, while the congregation blow a flourish of trumpets. Tom Cringle’s log, Michael Scott (1833) My … Continue Reading ⇒

Achage

noun. The state of having an ache. O, the Pope could dispense with his Cardinalate, and his achage, and his breakage. Queen Mary, Lord Alfred Tennyson (1878) My stomache, dude, … Continue Reading ⇒

Lousologist

noun. One who has scientific knowledge of lice. Mineralogists, astronomers, ornithologists, and lousologists. A memoir by Lady Holland, Sydney Smith (1835) Of all the disrespected professions, lousologists are at the top … Continue Reading ⇒

Thesmophilist

noun. One who loves law. His Bishop [Bp. Wren], that great Thesmophilist. A discourse of proper sacrifice, Sir Edward Dering (1644) Who among you loves law? Or any laws in particular? … Continue Reading ⇒