CURMUDGEON. A stingy person; one who grudges all he parts with; one of an avaricious temper. Gere mij egge je aen; q. e. covetousness constantly eggs me on; my mind is constantly harrowed by greediness; cupidity harrasses [disturbs] me at all hours [perpetually]. The expression sounds ker m' egg' j'ann; and by an easy transition curmudgeon, now a selfconstituted noun, as is the case with many other familiar terms in our present language. Ghere, gere, cupidity. Egge, harrow, excitement, agitation; whence egghen, to egg on, to excite. Aen, aan, on. JOHNSON imputes the term to the French words cœur mechant, more applicable to a murderer than a miser, and a mere whim. THE DEVIL TG PAY. A disturbance made; state of things put into disorder; scene of confusion. Die't evel toe paije ; q. e. this is the enemy to peace; the perversion of happiness; the disturbance of contentment; the destroyer of content. 'T evel explains itself. Toe paije, to contentment [satisfaction]. There was the devil to pay, there was a disturbance, and thus an opposing state, one hostile to quiet; that which opposes [acts the enemy to] peace. LONG RUN. In the long run; is in the course of time. Langer . aen; q. e. some time hence; further on; by and by, Langer, longer, further, more advanced. Aen, aan, on, onwards. We have turned the phrase into a dissyllabic noun; the original form having merged in the course of use and change of dialect. HE SENT HIM ON A SLEEVELESS ERRAND. It was all to no purpose what he did; he might as well have saved himself the trouble of doing it. Hij seijnt hem aen er siel lijveloos her aen; q. e. he bestowed his blessing upon a sou faith in its efficacy; on one who sense of its value; on a person wh one farthing for such things. Impl as well have saved himself the doin it. Seijnen, seghenen, to make the s as the catholic priest does in his bened not the heartfelt genuine blessing [parent, the friend, or the lover] to th affection, but the indiscriminate a mummery of the monk, which is Siel, soul, individual, as when we say a soul present, Lijfloos, lijveloos, all feeling, insensible to. Her aen this respect, here upon. Siel lig "Gode childe, quoth she, what echeth the conscience of a wise man, that loketh a godenesse, not by SLEVELESS + wordes of th sothefastenesse of conscience? By God, not AS DRUNK AS CHLOE. Thoroughly drunk. Als dronck a as moist as a cleft; as full of wet as a sun and air are excluded by the r Drunk, as drenched [saturated] wit been explained above. Klove, kloé, a A cleft is as the emblem of a state a place never dry. Drunk, was fo dronkin. "Aaron that had the temple in governa *To eche, to add, to increase, and the same Dutch oecken in the same sense. ti. e. Heartless, senseless, not the effect of f No kind of drink, that DRONKEN might 'hem make. PUG. CHAUCER. a The ellipsis of pug-dog; a lap-dog, a pet-dog. I take the word to be as the moso-gothic pugg, pocket, a pouch, a purse; in another dialect pong, bong. To knip the bung, was a slang phrase at one time, for to pick the pocket. The pocket then worn by the females was of considerable dimensions, and fastened to a girdle from which it hung before them, so as to form the lap. It was in this pocket they deposited the little favourite; usually, at that time, the Dutch Mastiff, and called the lap-dog from the circumstance of being carried about by its mistress in this pouch or lap. Pug-nose is evidently from the nose natural to this species of dog. TATTERDEMALLION. As one whose general appearance prognosticates his being in a destitute state; one whose look announces the want of necessary means. Dat er de mael lije aen: q. e. that there which [he who] is suffering in the viaticum (provision store); one who is in want of necessaries; one who seems wandering in an unprovided state; in a beggarly condition. Mael answers to viaticum as the traveller's storebag; and still more closely to bulga, budget, wallet, in another shade of the same sense.-Cum bulgá canat, dormit, lavat, omnis in und spes hominis bulga.-The phrase, like so many others of this class with us, has become a substantive by travesty. Mael in the shape of male had once with us the same import. Lije is the third person of the potential mood of lijden, lijen, to suffer, to be in distress.. "Yes once I was herberd, quoth he, with a hepe of chapmen, I rose when they were at rest, and rifled their MALES. * Died. That was no restitucion, quoth Repentance, but robers theft; I toke rifling for restitucion, quoth he, for I never red boke, This goith aright, unboklid is the MALE*, Let se now who shall tell another tale.-CHAUCER. HE LOOKED AS IF BUTTER WOU'D NOT MELT IN HIS MOUTH. Used in regard to some Judas-faced libertine, foremost to revile the shadows of vice as a saving to his practice of its substantial forms; or in relation to some judicial hypocrite [official ruffian] as notorious for his constant appeals to religion, conscience, honesty, &c. as he is for his disregard of them all in practice. Hie lucht als heffe botter woede nae 't meld; hin ijse moed; q. e. with him it looks as if the ruffian boiled up with rage to display himself in practice; but fear [dread] restrains the giving vent to the fit; he would lay aside all cloak and show himself openly to be the villain he is, if he had but courage, and thus implying the ruffian, the impostor, and the coward. Hie, hier, in this instance here. Luchten, to have the appearance of, to look like. Heffen, to ferment, to fume, to boil up, and here used in the subjunctive mood. Botter, impostor, hypocritical scamp, rake, villain. Meld, melde, as the participle present of melden, to make known to mention. Ijse as the subjunctive form of ijsen to alarm, to fill with dread [horror]. Moed, self-possession, confidence, spirit, courage, and the same word with our mood, sometimes spelt moud, in which form it approaches nearer to the travesty of mouth. Hin, hence, away. Woeden, to rave. "For when he herd a man within he was almost wood * Mad. Temper, disposition. * "For vices ben so cruell that thei persen and thorowpassen the courage within, and thoughe thei ne anoye not the body, yet vices to woDEN to destroyen men by wounde of thought." CHAUCER. A SCAMP. In the sense of, one who is a disgrace to society, to his family and connections. Er schamp; q. e. a contumely; disgrace, reproach, slur to nature; one who disgraces the human form. Evidently of the same stock as the Italian scempio in an analogous sense. NUTS. As in the expression, that was nuts to him, and in the sense of, it gave him pleasure; rejoiced him. Nuts; q.e. of use, of profit to; and thus as something that gives pleasure to. Utilis, utor, usus, &c. are of the same stock. A HUMBUG. Er ham A deception; a take in; moonshine. b'oog; q. e. a taking hold of by the eye; taking to the eye; a catch for the eye; engaging the eye; implying an appearance and nothing more; in appearance only. Hame, ham, the contraction of haing, the participle present of the antiquated ha-en, to lay hold of, to take by, to grasp; and the root of hand, ham, and other terms to be observed on by and by. Bij oog, b'oog, by the eye to the sight. So that humbug is a taking by appearance; and we say he was taken in by appearances, in the sense of, he was deceived by his eyes; implying his reason had no share in the consequence. To humbug is the verb of this substantive. JOHNSON omits the word, although as genuine English as any in his Dictionary. To hum, to deceive, is the familiar contraction of to humbug. Hum, sound has quite a different source. TO SET THE TEETH ON EDGE. An expression perfectly understood, but not accounted for. Its literal import has been lost sight |