Continuing the list of olde archaic words for your enjoyment and enlightenment:
Daw, in common speech, is to awaken; to be dawed, to have shaken off sleep, to be fully awakened and to come to one's self out of a deep sleep.
Chilblains - An inflammation of the feet, hands, &c., occasioned by cold . . . Chilblains are treated by accustoming the parts to exposure, stimulant, terebinthinate and balsamic washes.
To thrash chilblains with holly is an old-fashioned cure, but in some places it is only efficacious if the feet are crossed during the painful operation.
Snoutfair - A person with a handsome countenance.
Screevers - Writers of false or exaggerated accounts of afflictions and privations . . . professional begging-letter writers. Persons who write begging-letters for others sometimes, though seldom, beg themselves. They are, in many cases, well supported by the fraternity for whom they write. A professional of this kind is called by the cadgers their "man of business." Their histories vary as much as their abilities, generally speaking, they have been clerks, teachers, shopmen, reduced gentlemen, or the illegitimate sons of members of the aristocracy, while others, after receiving a liberal education, have broken away from parental control and commenced the profession in early life, and will probably pursue it to their graves.
No comments:
Post a Comment