Words Worth Remembering

Once common words and phrases now out of use

As you can immediately see, still hold meaning today

Betrump: To deceive, cheat; to elude, slip from
 
Coney-catch: To swindle, cheat; to trick, dupe, deceive
 
Slug-a-bed: One who lies long in bed through laziness
 
Momist: A person who habitually finds fault; a harsh critic
Snout-fair: Having a fair countenance; fair-faced, comely, handsome
 
Ear-rent: The figurative cost to a person of listening to trivial or incessant talk
 
Peacockize: To behave like a peacock; esp. to pose or strut ostentatiously
 
Sillytonian: A silly or gullible person, esp. one considered as belonging to a notional sect of such people
 
Merry-go-sorry: A mixture of joy and sorrow
 
Teen: To vex, irritate, annoy, anger, enrage / To inflict suffering upon; to afflict, harass; to injure, harm
 
Wasteheart: Used to express grief, pity, regret, disappointment, or concern: “alas!” “woe is me!” Also wasteheart-a-day, wasteheart of me
 
Dowsabel: Applied generically to a sweetheart, “lady-love”
 

Many more such words, compiled by York University, can be found HERE.

 
 

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