foppery

Pronounced: FAH-pree (alt: FAH-puh-ree), noun

Notes: This is a borderline word; I was pretty close to the definitions

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Yesterday’s word

The word cock-horse means, as an adverb, “mounted with a leg on each side”. As a noun, it is “a hobby horse”.

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I know our word from a nursery rhyme that begins Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross (full text below). In old days, proper women (generally) rode sidesaddle; the opposite is called “astride”, but that is also the meaning of the adverb form. Our word came from the combination of cock (a rooster) and horse; it may have been from the strutting of a rooster. I really didn’t know about the noun definition, despite the fact that the nursery rhyme clearly uses the noun definition. For those interested, the text of the nursery rhyme is:

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes.