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).

snollygoster

Pronounced: SNOL-ee-gos-tuhr, noun

Notes: Another word I don’t recall hearing

Yesterday’s word

The word pococurante means “indifferent; nonchalant”

First usage

The word showed up as a noun in the mid-1700s; it was first used as an adjective in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

The word was first used as the name of apathetic character by Voltaire in Candide (1759); he chose his characters in that work to create allegories. The name Pococurante means “caring little” in Italian. The word was picked up by Laurence Sterne in English, and a later writer – Thomas Moore – used it as an adjective.

pococurante

Pronounced: POH-koh-kyuh-RAHN-tee, adj

Notes: This word isn’t one that I know

Yesterday’s word

The word dreadnought has multiple meanings

  • a fearless person
  • a battleship armed with all heavy guns
  • a thick cloth
  • a warm garment made of thick cloth
  • a type of acoustic guitar with a large body and loud sound
First usage

This word goes back to the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I only knew the second meaning (how about you?) The word literally means “fear nothing” because it is composed of dread (fear) and nought (nothing). The word nought (also naught) comes from na (no) and wiht (thing). The first meaning comes from a 1573 English ship “Dreadnought”. The second and last meaning comes from a 1906 battleship, “HMS Dreadnought”, known for its heavy guns. The other two meanings come from the heavy garments worn on ships to protect from the elements.

dreadnought

Pronounced: DRED-not

Notes: This word has several varied definition; I only knew one of them. How many do you know?

Yesterday’s phrase

An Augean stable is “a condition or place marked by great accumulation of filth or corruption”

First usage

It looks like this phrase came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

When I was in late grade school and high school, I had an interest in Greek and Roman mythology, so I knew that one of the twelve labors of Hercules was to clean the “Augean stables”. They belonged to a king who kept 3,000 oxen, and they not been cleaned for decades (truly a Herculean task). Hercules accomplished the task by diverting a river to run through them. I wasn’t aware that the phrase had come into English with the meaning — the “corruption” part seems to be an extension to the idea of great filth. Note that the word Augean is a word in its own right, meaning “very difficult (usually distasteful)”, thus “Augean task” or “Augean assignment”.