Lo how the trees GRENYTH, Bare this month afore. that nakid wer, and nothing CHAUCER. AT SIX AND SEVEN. Now used in the form of at sixes and sevens; and implying a state of confusion, general disorganization. Haet sieck's hanse even; q. e. a set of people (a society) hating each other heartily; a company who are mutually sick of one another; a corporation of mutual detesters; and thus an emblem of distraction and confusion among its members. The literal version of the original phrase is, the confederation [body, society] is internally, equably, and mutually spite-sick. Sieck's, is sick. Hanse, a confederate body, a company, a guild. Even, all alike. "But time will not permit. All is uneven And every thing is left AT SIX AND SEVENT." WALL-EYES. White eyes, eyes with a defectively pale pupil, one hardly to be distinguished from the white of them. Wie al ei's; q. e. the whole of it is as if it was an egg; the whole eye has more the appearance of an egg than an eye. And this is the true appearance of a wall eye. Wie, as; al, all. Ei, egg. 'S, is, is. Ei sounds eye. JOHNSON tells us the phrase is as wall and eye; but there are mud-walls, stone-walls, and brick-walls, as well as whitened-walls, and what becomes then of this conundrum? Besides, whoever was remembered of a wall by the queerest eye ever yet seen? It is not thus that reason ever abuses the sacred trust of human intercourse. Egg was once spelt eye with us. * Shoot out, grow out afresh. In disorder from want of mutual agreement with each other. "Our lampis brenning bothe nighte and daie, Unslaked lime, chalke, and GLEIRE OF AN EYE, CHAUCER. [The passage relates to the outfit of an Alchemist.] "Upon a bearded gote, whose ragged heare Was like the person selfe whom he did beare." AT A LOSS. As in he is at a loss for something to say; distressed for words on the occasion alluded to; nonplussed. Aet er los; q. e. deficient there in provision; without means of going on; unprovided in this case; in want of that which was then needed. Aet, provision, the needful, that which is requisite to get on by, sustenance, food. Er, there. Los, void of, minus. A DUMPLING. Er dompeling; q. e. a plunging; that which is plunged into water, just as it is, naked, uncovered; and which circumstance is in fact the culinary distinction between the dumpling and the pudding, which last is boiled in cloth. The word is the obsolete form of the participle present of dompelen, to plunge in, to dip; but used in a substantive sense. In the United States the Anabaptists are styled dumplers, on account of their form of baptism by immersion. JOHNSON derives the term from dump in the meaning of heaviness; but that would do better for a cannon-ball than a dumpling, which should be any thing but heavy. TANTERUMS, TANTRUMS. Fits of ill-humour; petulant conduct; Tant herom's; q. e. in a passion at that which has *The glaire [white] of an egg. happened; in a fit of rage about something which has passed [been done at the moment]. Tant, tand, getand, the participle of tanen, tenen, to become irritated, to feel provoked, to become enraged. Herom, hierom, hereat, at this, about this. 'S, is, is. The word is not in JOHNSON'S Dictionary; but is one well known, and in popular use. Tanen, has both an active and deponent sense. IN GOOD PART. Good humouredly; as in the expression, he took it in good part; as well meant; was not offended. In goede part; q. e. for a good joke; a well meant piece of wit; an innocent trick; a well-intentioned artifice. Part, trick, device, artifice, buffoonery, fun. A QUIBBLE. As something said which may bear a double sense; an uncertainty; a shuffling ambiguity; a double entendre. Erge wip hel; q. e. that's a clear see-saw, a thing that goes up and down and belongs to either position [state of the case] equally; something applicable to a double purpose, from its nature or use made of it. Erg, arg, cunning, arch. Wip, a wavering [see-saw] motion, vibration, unsteady flashing. Hel, evident, apparent. P and b interchange. JOHNSON gives the term as the Latin quidlibet;-but what you please is not a quibble. SKIN-FLINT. One unduly parsimonious, penurious beyond economy. Schim-villent; q. e. stripping off even an appearance; and thus not leaving even an appearance for a cover to this propensity; indecently penurious; a shameless miser. Schim, shade, appearance, shadow. Villen, to strip off, to flay, and at bottom the same with vlaen, to flay, to skin. Sky belongs to the same stock as schim, and was once used in the sense of an appearance. Flint and villent belong to the same source:-of this elsewhere. But flint in the sense it is now used in, has no share in this phrase, except that of analogy of sound, and which has brought it into the travesty of the original expression. Villent, villend, the participle present of villen. Skin-flint is the ellipsis of skin-flint man. "And (Eolus) let a certaine winde ygo That blewe so hideously and hie That it ne left not a SKIE In all the welkin long and brode."-CHAUCER. SKIM-MILK. Milk from which the cream has been taken. Schim-melck; q. e. shade-milk; the appearance of milk without its reality (essence). Schim (pro nounced skim), shadow, apparition, ghost, a mere appearance. The word is the contraction of schieing, flitting, from schie-en, to depart; and in some places skim-milk is known by the term flitmilk. To skim milk is, to take away the essence (substance) and leave only the appearance. To skim along is, to flit along, to pass along with the lightness and quickness of a shadow. JOHNSON attributes the phrase to to scum; but to scum is, to take away the froth (foam), and is from schuijm, scum, which originates in an onomatopy of the hissing sound proceeding from fermentation and incipient boiling. We use the term cream in the sense of essence (substance); and say, that was the cream of the jest. GIMCRACK. As that which is flashy [evanescent]; something which strikes the eye for an instant and leaves no appearance after the moment it was meant for. The word is compounded of gim, as the travesty of gin, the contraction of engine, and the same word at bottom as gun; and means a trap [snare] as that which goes off with a sudden snap [explosive] sound, and of crack, as the noise; and thus furnishing the sense of that which surprises [catches] the attention for a moment and then is lost entirely. SKYNNER was right in regard to the first member of the term, but misconceived the import of the second. MAUDLIN. Maudlin drunk, crying (whining) drunk, is evidently the familiar contraction of Magdalene, as her whose expressions of grief have been amplified and varied, in a once popular hymn, by Chaucer, taken from the works of St. Origen. Chaucer, speaking of himself, says, "He madin also, gon is grete while, SNACKS. A share slily obtained; but in reality the sly or undue way the entire gain has been made in. Snaaksch, [snoecksh]; q. e. slyly, cunningly, sharperlike. And to go snacks, is to take a share (participate) in the transaction by which the gain alluded to has been acquired; and the stigma implied by snacks attaches to all concerned. The word is an adjective formation from snake, snaeck, snake, the emblem of fraudulent, mischievous, cunning. The same word as snoeck, Jack fish, the sly greedy way-laying watchful freebooter of fresh water. The name I take to be as je hach; q. e. the one always upon the look out for a chance to profit by (see Jack-ketch p. 124). Snoeck sien is, to look out sharp after. Snaak is as sno-ig, sly, sharp, from snode, snood, snoo, cunning, unduly knowing; a contraction of snedig from snede, sharpness, edge. |