bogart

Pronounced: BOH-gart, verb

Notes: I didn’t know this was a word (thus its inclusion), but you may be able to guess the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word pachydermatous means

  • of or relating to the pachyderms
  • thick; thickened
  • callous; insensitive
First usage

This word came into usage in the early 1800s (maybe mid-1800s)

Background / Comments

In the late 1700s, a French zoologist (Georges Cuvier) called elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and other thick-skinned, hoofed mammal “Pachydermata”. This word has Greek roots and means “thick-skinned” in New Latin – the Latin used in scientific description and classification. In the 1800s, the French word came over into English as pachyderms; around the same time, our word came into being to describe, literally or figuratively, the characteristics and qualities of pachyderms – especially the thick skin. In the mid-1800s, an American poet (James Russell Lowell) used our word in the second and third sense.

pachydermatous

Pronounced: pah-kih-DUHR-muh-tuhs, adj

Notes: You may know one meaning, like I did, but there are other meanings, so I included it

Yesterday’s word

The word jackleg means, as an adjective “unskilled; unscrupulous; incompetent”. As a noun, it refers to an unskilled or unscrupulous worker

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

This word is a combination of jack (man, worker) and blackleg (a swindler; especially in gambling).

jackleg

Pronounced: JACK-leg, adj/noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word

Yesterday’s word

The word compunctious means

  • arising from remorse or regret
  • feeling remorse or regret
First usage

The word came into being in the very late 1500s

Background / Comments

Shakespeare created this word for the play Macbeth. It was created from noun compunction, which came into English from Anglo-French via Late Latin compunctio, which came from the Latin compungere (to prick hard; sting).

compunctious

Pronounced: kuhm-PUNG(k)-shus

Notes: I knew of “compunction”, but not this word

Yesterday’s word

The word four-flusher means “a pretender, bluffer, or fraudster”

First usage

This word started to be used in the early 1900s

Background / Comments

The word comes from poker. A “flush” is five cards of the same suit. Someone who has four cards of the same suit has a four-flush, but it is a worthless (almost? – I’m not a poker player) hand. A player who pretends to have a full flush when he only has four of the needed cards is a “four-flusher”, and thus the meaning.

four-flusher

Pronounced: FOUR-flush-uhr, noun

Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, but my meaning was bit off. In addition, I find the background to be interesting

Yesterday’s word

The word slumgullion is “a meat stew”

First usage

This word first showed up in the late-1800s, but see the background below

Background / Comments

The first usage of this word was in the mid-1800s in a book by Mark Twain, but it referred to a beverage. It is thought that this word is made up of slum (an old word for ‘slime’) and gullion (mud or cesspool) — pretty unappetizing, eh? It’s not clear how this mutated from a beverage to a meat stew in a couple of decades.

slumgullion

Pronounced: SLUM-gull-yuhn, noun

Notes: Yet again, a word I do not know

Yesterday’s word

The word wirepuller is “a person who manipulates or exerts control from behind the scenes”

First usage

This word showed up in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

I was thinking of some device that stretched (“pulled”) wires, but that’s not it. This word is similar to the phrase “pulling the strings”. Puppets are controlled by strings; wires were used to control other things.

wirepuller

Pronounced: WIRE-puller

Notes: This wasn’t what I thought, but it makes sense

Yesterday’s word

The word bolide is “a large meteor : fireball; especially one that explodes”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

A very bright meteor often trails sparks and looks like a missile. Our word was borrowed from the French word bolide (meteor). It came into French from the Latin word bolis (a fireball type of meteor); the Latin word came from the Greek word bolis (missile or javelin); the source of this Greek word is the Greek word bolē (throw or stoke). The 2013 meteor in Russia was a bolide.

bolide

Pronounced: BOH-lide, noun

Notes: As with many of the words I post here, this word is unknown to me… but at least it is something we know

Yesterday’s word

The word highbinder is “a swindler, gangster, or a corrupt politician”

First usage

This word showed up in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

There was a Chinese gang in New York and other cities called the “Highbinders”, and that is the source of our word.

highbinder

Pronounced: HIGH-bine-duhr, noun

Notes: Interesting etymology for this one

Yesterday’s word

The word fomite means “an object (for example, a dish or article of clothing) that may be contaminated with infectious organisms and serve in their transmission.

First usage

This word came into usage in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Our word is back-formation of fomites, the Latin plural of fomes (tinder). As tinder can start a fire, a fomite can kindle a disease. The Latin word fomes is related to the Latin verb for “to heat”, from which we get the word “foment”… thus, a fomite can foment disease.

fomite

Pronounced: FOH-mite, noun

Notes: A word I don’t know, but with an interesting background

Yesterday’s word

The word snollygoster is “a shrewd, unprincipled person”

First usage

This word goes back to the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

This is kind of a fun word to say; I may start using it for other drivers that do stupid things… “You snollygoster!” sounds fun. The origin is uncertain; however, some think it is a altered spelling of snallygaster, a mythical creature that preys on poultry and children, of Pennsylvania Dutch origin from schnelle geeschter, which in turn comes from German schnell (quick) and Geist (spirit).