To enjoy using or possessing something is to joise it. Johnny-Knock-SoftlyĪn old English dialect word for a slow, dawdling worker. Someone who keeps telling jokes? They’re a joculator. No one knows for sure what jobber means, but nowl is an old English dialect word for the top of a person’s head. JobbernowlĪlso spelled jabbernowl, this is a good old Tudor-period word for a foolish, empty-headed person. Jobationĭerived from the biblical character of Job, who was made by God to endure a series of devastating personal misfortunes and disasters, to Job or jobe someone is to harangue or castigate them at great length a jobation is a long and drawn-out scolding criticism or rebuke. According to The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang, it derives from “a Russian ‘dog-man,’ ostensibly so-named exhibited in Melbourne,” sometime around 1880. Ninteenth century Australian slang for a man with a very hairy face. JirbleĪn old Scots word meaning “to pour liquid from one vessel into another,” and so also, “to spill liquid by handling it clumsily.” 21. (No, Panama hats aren’t made in Panama.) 20. JipijapaĪnother name for a Panama hat, derived from both the name of the plant fiber from which they’re woven, and the region of Ecuador where they’re made. If you have a jimber-jaw, then your bottom jaw protrudes further out than your upper jaw. JiffleĪ 17th-century word meaning “to fidget” or “to shuffle around.” 18. In other words, that’s a jet d’eau- an ornamental jet of water, like one from a fountain. Jettatura, derived from the same root, is another name for bad luck. Jettatoreĭerived from iettatore, an Italian word for the evil eye, a jettatore is a person who brings back luck. Named after the Lamentations of Jeremiah in the Old Testament, a jeremiad is text or speech outlining a complaint or a list of grievances. Need an adjective to describe something breakfasty? That’s jentacular. If you’re jenticulating, then you’re having breakfast. To confuse or jumble something up is to jargogle it. (And the other 11 months of the year.) 12. January-ButterĪn 18th century southwest English nickname for mud, referring to the typical weather conditions in England in January. Used by Geoffrey Chaucer to mean babbling, idle chatter. JamphleĪn old Scots word meaning “to walk awkwardly because your shoes are too big for your feet.” 10. JambleĪn old dialect word meaning “to ring a bell rapidly.” 9. Originally used only in Scots literature (and popularized by Sir Walter Scott in several of his works in the early 1800s), later writers commandeered the word and misused it as meaning “to jealously begrudge someone something.” Either meaning can be used today. Jalouseĭerived from the French word for jealousy, to jalouse something is to be suspicious of it. JadooĪn old 19th-century word for magic or conjuring, derived from the Hindi word for enchantment, jadu. To jactitate is to toss around restlessly. Jacktance, also spelled jactancy, is a 15th-century word for boastfulness. Jack-SharpĪs well as being an old southwest English word for a holly leaf, a jack-sharp is a harsh, tingling frost or cold. Seventeenth-century slang for someone (originally, a clergyman) called in as a replacement at the very last moment. JabbleĪn old Scots word meaning “to shake liquid around in a container.” 2. Overall, though, J remains a fairly rare letter in English-you can expect to find it in just 0.16 percent of the words in a dictionary, including the 35 joyous J words here. Even today, J is much more likely to be found in the initial position than it is anywhere else in a word. Over time, it began to establish itself as a letter in its own right, with its own distinct sound, but it wasn’t until after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 that J first began to appear in English words: Scribes borrowed it into English from French in the early Middle Ages as a replacement for the initial dzh sound (that’s the voiced palate-alveolar affricate, should you want to know), found in words like judge and jump. The letter J first came about as a variation of the letter i, originally used to clarify the last in a sequence of Roman numerals-so iii, for 3, might once have been written iij to avoid any confusion with whatever followed.
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