​DIMINUTE

ADJ.
1. diminished, lessened; abated; incomplete, defective​, imperfect ...c1475 obs.
2. diminutive, minute, small ...1611 rare

VERB
to lessen; to belittle, to disparage, to put down, to degrade, to humiliate ...1575 rare

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin dī-, dēminūtus, past participle of dī- , dēminuĕre (to diminish)

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1475 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...Perceued it was by hys owne desert,
Saw he and his land shold be disherite,
Exile and deminute by his dedes smart.
When fro the worlde cam in-to ending plite,
A kyng after hym regned in þat site..."
From: The Romans of Partenay, or of Lusignen: Otherwise Known as The Tale of Melusine
Translated from the French of La Coudrette

BUMBARD
also BUMBART​

ADJ.
lazy, idle ...a1513 Sc. obs.

NOUN
1. a lazy, foolish, or stupid person ...a1513 Sc. obs.
2. a bumblebee ...a1614 Sc. obs.

ETYMOLOGY
probably from bum (vb. to hum or buzz loudly, like a bee, an object moving rapidly through the air, or a crowd of people talking) + -ard

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1513 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...I have ane wallidrag, ane worme, ane auld wobat carle, 
A waistit wolroun, na worth bot wourdis to clatter; 
Ane bumbart, ane dron bee, ane bag full of flewme, 
Ane skabbit skarth, ane scorpioun, ane scutarde behind; 
To see him scart his awin skyn grit scunner I think..."
From: The Tretis of the Twa Mariit Women and the Wedo
(The treatise of the two married women and the widow)
- William Dunbar

GURLY
also GURLIE

ADJ.
1. boisterous, stormy, rough ...1718 Sc.
2. surly, cross, crabbed, growly, ill-humoured, bad-tempered, sour-tempered ...1721 Sc.
3. of water: gurgling; of infants: gurgling, crowing ...1823 Sc,
4. of a tree: gnarled ...1837 Sc.

ETYMOLOGY
from gurl (n. a growl, boisterous or rough weather) or gurl (vb. to rumble, to growl) + -y

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1718 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...From me Edina, to the Brave and Fair,
Health, Joy and Love, and Banishment of Care:
Forasmuch as bare Fields and gurly Skies
Make rural Scenes ungrateful to the Eyes;
When Hyperborean Blasts confound the Plain,
Driving, by Turns, light Snow and heavy Rain..."
From: Edinburgh's Address to the Country, November, 1718
- Allan Ramsay

RUNKLE

ADJ.
wrinkled ...1440 obs. rare

NOUN
1. a wrinkle; a rumple; a crease ...a1400 now chiefly Sc. & Irish usage
2. a bunch, snarl, or entanglement ...1930 Sc.
3. a wrinkled, shrivelled or gnarled person ...1934 Sc.

VERB
1. to wrinkle; to rumple; to crumple; to crush ...a1425
2. to gnarl, to twist, to distort, to curl ...1722 Sc.

ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin; 
possibly from early Scandinavian (compare Norwegian regional rukla (wrinkle, ridge), perhaps showing a blend with wrinkle (n.);

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1400 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...Bi his eres skailand sumdele,
In hefd he had a clift be-forn,
Als nazarens has that thar er born.
His for-hed [fair]. wemless to sight,
Wit-vten ani runkel slight,
His vice sumdel wit rede was blend..."
From: Cursor Mundi: A Northumbrian poem of the 14th century
​

TUTIVILLER

​NOUN
(derogatory) a wicked, destructive, or difficult person, a scoundrel, a rogue, a knave; a person who gossips, spreads rumours, or tells tales, a tattler ...1568 obs.

ETYMOLOGY
apparently from Tutivillus (n. a demon or devil that is said to record the sins committed by people as evidence to be used against them on Judgement Day; a wicked, destructive, or difficult person, a scoundrel, a knave; a person who gossips, spreads rumours, or tells tales, a tattler) + -er

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1568 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...Sa mony rakkettis, sa mony ketche-pillaris,
Sic ballis, sic knackettis, and sic tutivillaris,
And sic evill-willaris to speik of King and Quene;
Sic pudding-fillaris, discending doune frome millaris,
Within this land was nevir hard nor sene..."
From: The Bannatyne Manuscript (1928)
A General Satyre
- William Dunbar

NIFLE

​NOUN
1. originally, a trifling or fictitious tale, a jest; later, a trifle; a thing of little or no worth or importance ...c1395 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
2. a light or flimsy article of dress; perhaps a kerchief of fine material ...1463 obs.
3. an insignificant person ...c1635 obs. rare
4. a fit of idleness ...Bk1883 Eng. dial.
5. a whim, a fancy; fussiness ...Bk1905 Eng. dial.

​VERB
1. to pilfer, to steal articles of small value ...1785 Eng. dial.
2. to trifle, to waste time, or spend it in doing trifling things; to idle or loaf; to work at a slow pace ...Bk1790 Eng. dial.
3. to talk folly...Bk1862
4. to walk with short steps ...Bk1905 Eng. dial. 

ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin;
possibly an influence from trifle;
Hensleigh Wedgwood in 'A Dictionary of English Etymology (1862)', suggests it's from the Norman niveloter (to amuse oneself with trifles)

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1395 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...He planed awey the names euerichon
That he biforn hadde writen in his tables
He serued hem with nyfles and with fables
Nay ther thow lixt thow Somnour quod the frere
Pees quod oure hoost for cristes moder deere..."
From: The Summoner's Tale
- Geoffrey Chaucer

VIAGGIATORY

​ADJ.
given to travelling about ...1847

ETYMOLOGY
from Italian viaggiare (to travel)

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1847 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...Monk Lewis has shewn us, even when they come in the shape of the Madonna, how much they are to be dreaded, even by an Ambrosio. Byron thought the viaggiatory English old maids, who scour the continent, and fix themselves for the time being in all parts of it, were only incarnations of evil spirits..."
From: The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Thomas Medwin

HINCTY
also HINKTY
​ADJ.
1. conceited, snobbish, stuck-up, pretentious; contentious, unpleasant ...1924 US sl.
2. ​suspicious ...1934 US prison sl.
3. scared, jumpy, nervous, paranoid ...1957 US sl.
4. very cheap, petty ...1968 US sl.
​
​NOUN
1. a White person ...1960 US sl.
2. (also HINCHY) a snobbish, pompous, or overbearing person; a prominent or important person ...1970 US sl.


ETYMOLOGY
of unknown origin

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1924 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...The man I love's got lowdown ways for true,
Well, I am hinkty and I'm lowdown too..."
From: Treasury of Blues
- William Christopher Handy
​

AFFLY

​ADVERB
affectionately; with favourable disposition; in a kindly or loving manner; fondly ...1779

ETYMOLOGY
shortened from affectionately (adv.)

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1779 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...I pity the Lady and Children exceedingly, but I have no tender feelings for the old fellow on many accounts. & am Sir Yours most affly., A.B...."
From: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 18 June 1779 - 30 September 1780
Edited by Julian P. Boyd, 1951
To Thomas Jefferson from Cyrus Griffin, 13 July 1779

WARRAYABLE

​ADJ.
fit for warfare ...a1400 obs. rare

ETYMOLOGY
from Old French werreiable, dialect variant of guerroyable (warlike), from werrei-er (guerroyer) (war) 

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1400 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...Wyth all the dyffence that myzt dere,
For the wayys were fulle warryable,
And the dykys depe and defensabylle;
The dycke that was the wall wythoute
The londe syde there alle aboute..."
From: Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity
Siege of Rouen - written in the reign of Henry the Fifth

MASCHERATE

​VERB
to disguise the appearance of something, to mask, to conceal ...1654 obs. rare

ETYMOLOGY
from Italian mascherare (to mask, to hide, to conceal) from maschera + - ate

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1654 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...Wicked man, answered the Infanta, how skilfull thou art to mascherate thy excuses! Thy perfidiousnesse might move me, if I had not proved the dammages of thy disloyalty. Tell me, tell me, perfidious man, how thou canst colour thy flight?..."
From: Dianea: An Excellent New Romance
Written in Italian by Giovanni Francesco Loredano
Translated into English by Sir Aston Cokaine

​

SCRUTATORY

​ADJ.
searching, examining ...1893

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin scrūtāt-, scrūtārī (to examine, to scrutinize) + -ory

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1893 - see EXAMPLE below

EXAMPLE
"...Loripont dropped a scrutatory glance through the depths of the too transparent liquid, which glance went down deep into the Father's heart..."
From: Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers
The Greater Glory
- Maarten Maartens

CULINARIAN
 
ADJ.
pert. to a kitchen ...1615 rare

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin culīnārius (culinary adj. of a kitchen) + -an

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1615 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...And what are the Doctrines which your Hall wonders serue to confirme? are they not Culinarian Theorems which they striue to support? Forsooth they are the buttresses of Purgatory, Transubstantiation, Worshipping of Images, Prayer for the dead, and of that diuine honour, which is sacrilegiously ascribed to the Virgin Mary..."
From: A Curry-combe for a Coxe-combe. Or Purgatories Knell. In Answer of a lewd Libell lately foricated by Iabal Rachil against Sir Edw. Hobies Counter-snarle: entituled Purgatories Triumph ouer Hell
- Edward Hoby

FEMALE-MASTIX
 
NOUN
a person who writes in denunciation of women ...a1631 obs.
​
ETYMOLOGY
from female (n.) + -mastix (combining form - forming nouns designating a person violently hostile to an idea, institution, etc.)

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1631 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...The monstrous fashions, how, were, alive, to eate
Deare reputation. Would to God she were
But halfe so loath to act vice, as to heare
My milde reproofe. Liv’d Mantuan now againe,
That fœmall Mastix, to limme with his penne
This she Chymera, that hath eyes of fire,
Burning with anger, anger feeds desire,
Tongued like the night-crow, whose ill boding cries
Give out for nothing but new injuries,
Her breath like to the juice in Tenarus..."
From: Elegies
- John Donne
Julia

EXCOGITOUS
 
ADJ.
inventive ...1646 obs. rare

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin excōgitāre (to think out, to devise, to invent) + -ous; after medieval Latin cōgitōsus

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1646 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Impatience is very excogitous: a man had need have more naturall strength then ten men, or else he will fall into a consumption, the soule is so uncessantly hammering it selfe, and other folks, about its owne devices and divine events..."
From: A Sermons Preached before the Honourable House of Commons assembled in Parliament: at their late solemn fast, Octob. 28. 1646. in Margarets Westminster
- Nicholas Lockyer

​

​LEWTIFULL
 
ADJ.
faithful, loyal; upright, honourable ...1563 Sc. obs.

ETYMOLOGY
from lewty (n. fidelity, loyalty) + -ful

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1563 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...As to the phrase and dictiouns heirof, guid it war to remember that the plane and sempill trewth of all thingis requiris only amangis the lautefull and faithfull peple plane, familiar, and na curius nor affecfat speche..."
From: Certain Tractates: Together with the Book of Four Score Three Questions and a Translation of Vincentius Lirinensis
- Ninian Winzet

DUNGISH
 
ADJ.
1. base, worthless; contemptible, despicable, vile ...1550
2. * resembling dung; characteristic of dung ...a1722

ETYMOLOGY
from dung (n. compost, manure) + -ish

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1550 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...How can he be closed wythin limytes, that ouerspreadeth the heauens and contayneth all thynges? Thys dyuinite of yours is but dougyshe daubry..."
From: The Apology of Iohan Bale Agaynste a Ranke Papyst Anuswering both hym and hys doctours, that neyther their vowes nor yet their Priesthode are of the Gospell, but of Antichrist
- John Bale

ONGLE
 
NOUN
1. a fingernail ...c1436 obs.
2. a claw ...1484 obs.

ETYMOLOGY
from Middle French ongle (talon of a bird of prey, claw of a wild animal, fingernail), from Latin ungula (hoof, claw, talon)

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
c1436 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...In the same maner zif on merchaunt selle his merchaundise to an other merchaunt for to payen at short day or fresshly to suyn the ongle, in which cas merchauntes vsyn not comounlychfor hastyff payment for to makyn writ ne tayle, that zif the plee rise be twixe the same personys in the forseid court of Gippeswich for no sute of that same merchaundise, thanne be not that merchaunt..."
From: Monumenta Juridica: The Black Book of the Admiralty
The Domus Day of Gippeswich
- Edited by Travis Twiss

TANTALEAN
also TANTALIAN 

ADJ.
pertaining to Tantalus; only apparently reachable; tantalizing, elusive ...1605

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin tantaleus (belonging to Tantalus), (from Tantalus n. the name of a mythical king of Phrygia, son of Zeus and the nymph Pluto, condemned, for revealing the secrets of the gods, to stand in Tartarus up to his chin in water, which constantly receded as he stooped to drink, and with branches of fruit hanging above him which ever fled his grasp; a rock is also said to have hung over him threatening to fall) + - an 

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1605 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Men ouertoild in Common-Wealth affaires
Gett much Tantalian wealth by wealthie paines:
Which they enioy not through vncessant Cares:
So, all their Comfort is in Care, and Gaines
Good reason then, that they should care to gett,
Who gett great Cares, by getting great Comands..."
From: Wittes Pilgrimage, (by Poeticall Essaies) Through a World of amorous Sonnets, Soule-passions, and other Passages, Diuine, Philosophicall, Morall, Poeticall, and Politicall
- John Davies

PAPERASSERIE
 
NOUN
excessive bureaucratic procedure or paperwork; bureaucracy; red tape ...1856

ETYMOLOGY
from French paperasserie (bureaucracy; red tape) (1807) from paperasse (quantity of paper, especially of bureaucratic paperwork) (c1590 in Middle French; from papier (paper n.) + -asse, augmentative suffix; + -erie 

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1856 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...but  his long experience led him to the conviction that the Prussian system of official interference was thoroughly defective and wasteful. In his later life he lost no opportunity of denouncing bureaucracy and paperasserie (red-tapism), or of dwelling on the comparative cheapness and efficiency of the less elaborate State machinery which is employed in England..."
From: The Edinburgh Review, Or Critical Journal: For January, 1856....April, 1856
​ART. IV - Das Leben des Ministers Freiherrn vom Stein. By G.H. Pertz. Berlin 1849-1855

GOBBIN

ADJ.
uncouth, lubberly ...Bk1886 Eng. dial.
 
NOUN
1. (also GOBLIN, GUBBINS) an unintelligent, uneducated, or ignorant person; a fool, an idiot, a blockhead; a greedy, clownish person, a country fellow ...1740 Eng. dial.
2. waste material from a coal mine, especially waste material used to fill an empty space from which coal has been extracted ...1811 Eng. dial. rare
3. a receptacle for any kind of waste goods ...Bk1876 Eng. dial.
4. a spoiled child ...Bk1886 Eng. dial.

ETYMOLOGY
of obscure origin

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1740 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Boh th' gobbin nere consithert at hangin wuldo be coed good spwort by onybody i'ther senses, an wur enoof fort edge a finer mon's teeth thin mine..."
From: A View of the Lancashire Dialect; by way of Dialogue between Tummus o'Williams, o'Margit o'Roaphs, and Meary o'Dicks, o'Tummy o'Petty's
- Tim Bobbin (pseudonym)

​SWOLTERY
 
ADJ.
sultry, sweltering ...1603 obs. rare

ETYMOLOGY
from swolter, swalter, variant of swelter (n. a sweltering condition) + -y

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1603 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Ham. I shall sir giue you attention:
By my troth me thinkes t'is very colde.
Gent. It is indeede very rawish colde.
Ham. T'is hot me thinkes.
Gent. Very swoltery hote:
The King, sweete Prince, hath layd a wager on your side,
Six Barbary horse, against six french rapiers,
With all their acoutrements too, a the carriages:
In good faith they are curiously wrought..."
From: The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke
- William Shakespeare
​

​IRRITATORY
 
ADJ.
causing irritation; irritating ...a1656 rare

ETYMOLOGY
from irritate (vb. to stir up, to excite, to provoke, to provoke, or to rouse to some action) + - ory

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
a1656 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...The other peradventure is sufficiently Grounded for Principles of Faith, yet is Weak, by reason either of some Passion, or of some irritatory and troublesome Humour in his behaviour..."
From: Golden Remains, of the Ever Memorable, Mr. John Hales, of Eaton Colledge, &c.
- John Hales

BOODLEIZE
 
VERB
to bribe ...1883 US sl. obs.

ETYMOLOGY
from boodle (n. a number of people, animals, or things grouped together or considered collectively by the speaker or writer) + -ize

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1883 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Who Boodleized Murch?..."
From: The Evening Critic (Washington, D.C.) (Headline)
June 13, 1883

REBOANT
 
ADJ.
resounding, reverberating; loudly echoing ...1830 chiefly literary and poetic usage

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin reboant-, reboāns, present participle of reboāre (to re-echo, to resound, to call or cry in answer) from re- + boāre (to bellow) 

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1830 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Wert thou, and yet unheard.  What if
Thou pleadest still, and seest me drive
Thru' utter dark a full-sail'd skiff,
Unpiloted i' the echoing dance
Of reboant whirlwinds, stooping low
Unto the death, not sunk! I know
At matins and at evensong..."
From: Supposed Confessions of a Second-rate Sensitive Mind
(Original title: Supposed Confessions of a Second-rate Sensitive Mind not in Unity with Itself)
- Alfred Tennyson
​