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Archaic Definition of the Week – Redingote
REDINGOTE _ A woman’s coatdress modeled on the man’s greatcoat, especially fashionable in the 1780s. - What People Wore When: A Complete Illustrated History of Costume from Ancient Times to the...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Gimp (and Pinchbeck)
gimp (n.) Silk, wool, or cotton tape used for edging. In 1774 Alexander Bartram advertised in a Philadephia newspaper, “pinchbeck, hand stilliards, gimp, and glover’s needles.” - Colonial American...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Tail-Race
TAIL-RACE. _ The water which leaves the paddles of a steam-boat. Also, the water-course of a mill beyond the water-wheel. - The Sailor’s Word Book (1867) by Admiral W. H. Smyth
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Tolliban Rig
TOLLIBAN RIG, subs. phr. (old). — ‘A species of cheat carried on by a woman, assuming the character of a dumb and deaf conjuror’ (GROSE). - Historical Dictionary of Slang by J. S. Farmer & W. E....
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Storyville
Storyville. A large restricted district operating in New Orleans between 1897 and 1917. It was named after city alderman Sidney Story who introduced the ordinance setting aside a specific part of the...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Struggle-Buggy
struggle-buggy: students’ nickname for a car, because making out in one was a struggle. - The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition Through World War II by Marc McCutcheon, Section Six,...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Rafter
RAFTER _ To lie under your blankets with your knees sticking up. - Dictionary of the American West by Winfred Blevins.
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Ownshook
ownshook n also eunchuck, oanshick, onshook, oonchook, oonshik, owenshook. Cp DINNEEN óinseach ‘a fool, esp a female fool'; JOYCE oanshagh ‘a female fool’ … 1 Foolish, ignorant person. _ 1924 ENGLAND...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Ullage
ULLAGE, subs. (common). — In pl. = drainings, dregs of glasses or casks. [Properly the wantage in a cask of liquor.] - Historical Dictionary of Slang by J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Parbuckle
PARBUCKLE, a contrivance used by sailors to lower a cask or bale from any heighth [sic], as the top of a wharf or key, into a boat or lighter, which lies along-side, being chiefly employed where there...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Mose in the Chine & Glanders
mose in the chine [unclear meaning] be in the final stages of the glanders TS III.ii.50 [Biondello to Tranio as Lucentio, of Petruchio’s horse] possessed with the glanders and like to mose in the chine...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Nuts (of the anchor)
NUTS of the anchor, two little prominencies, appearing like short square bars of iron, fixed across the upper part of the anchor-shank, to secure the stock thereof in its place; for which purpose there...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Crimp
crimp (n.) (1) An unscrupulous recruiter for ships’ companies. In 1758 John Blake wrote, “a crimp … who makes it his business to seduce the men belonging to another ship.” (2) An agent for a shipping...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Bindle Punk
Bindle punk, bindle stiff: Chronic wanderers; itinerant misfits, criminals, migratory harvest workers, and lumber jacks. Called so because they carried a “bindle.” George and Lenny in Of Mice and Men...
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Archaic Definition of the Week : Crocodilus
My apologies for being late with the archaism this week. I was on vacation in Florida, so in honor of that I will make the crocodile the subject of this week’s definition. Latin name: Crocodilus Other...
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Archaic Dictionary updated-backdated
I’ve been updating the way the Archaic Definition of the Week is archived in the dictionary page (see the link above). The old style, just a list of links, was a bit clumsy and it led to artificial...
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Excoct
to exco’ct. To boil up; to make by boiling. - Johnson’s Dictionary : A Modern Selection, originally by Samuel Johnson, edited by E. L. McAdam and George Milne
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Archaic Definition of the Week : Forty-Rod
forty-rod. The worst possible whiskey, said to be lethal at a distance of forty rods. - The Encyclopedia of Civil War Usage by Webb Garrison with Cheryl Garrison
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Down-Hills
DOWN-HILLS, subs. (old). — Dice cogged to run on the low numbers. [1785, GROSE.] - Historical Dictionary of Slang, by J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley
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Archaic Definition of the Week – Ripesuck
ripesuck /RIPE suk/ n • One who is easily bribed. - Depraved and Insulting English, by Peter Novobatsky and Ammon Shea
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