fiddlestick

Pronounced: FIH-dull-stick, noun and interjection

Notes: The interjection is well known, and one meaning is straightforward, but there is a meaning I didn’t know

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Yesterday’s word

The word bespoke means

• custom-made
• dealing in or producing custom-made articles

Background

In old English, the verb bespeak meant (among other things), “to speak”, “to accuse”, and “to complain”. It acquired another meaning (see the date below): “to order or arrange in advance”, and this meaning is what gives us the adjective bespoke. The word usually refers to clothes and other things that are ordered before they are made.

First usage

This word came into used in the 1500s.