Cockshut or Cock-shut
Evening twilight.
Probably deriving from the time when poultry go to rest and are shut up for the night although it is also suggested to derive from cockshoot, the time when woodcock ‘shoot’ or fly. In consequence of the latter it has been recorded as used to mean a net to catch woodcock, although this seems to be unusual and isn’t recorded by the OED.
The first use recorded by the OED is 1594 in Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Binnacle
A box or case on the deck of a ship near the helm, which supports and protects a ship’s compass.
According to the OED the current binnacle first appears after 1750, as a corruption of the earlier bittacle of which the earliest cited reference is in 1622.
I met these two on the intertube this morning …
Gambeson
A quilted and padded, or stuffed leather or cloth, garment worn under chain mail in the Middle Ages and later as a doublet by men and women. A military tunic, worn especially in the 14th century, made of leather or thick cloth, sometimes padded; it covered the trunk and thighs, and was originally worn under the habergeon, to prevent chafing or bruises, but was sometimes used as a defence without other body-armour.
Habergeon
A sleeveless coat or jacket of mail or scale armour, originally smaller and lighter than a hauberk. A short, sleeveless coat of mail.
Hauberk
A long tunic made of chain mail. A piece of defensive armour (originally intended for the defence of the neck and shoulders but already in 12th and 13th centuries developed into a long coat of mail) or military tunic, usually of ring or chain mail, which adapted itself readily to the motions of the body.
Over time Habergeon and Hauberk seem to have become more or less interchangeable.
Petrichor
The sweet smell of rain on earth.
The pleasant, distinctive smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions. Also applied to an oily substance obtained from the ground in which this smell was concentrated.
The term was coined in 1964 by two Australian researchers, Bear and Thomas, for an article in the journal Nature. In the article, the authors describe how the smell derives from an oil exuded by certain plants during dry periods, whereupon it is absorbed by clay-based soils and rocks. During rain, the oil is released into the air along with another compound, geosmin, producing the distinctive scent. In a follow-up paper, Bear and Thomas showed that the oil retards seed germination and early plant growth.
Petrichor was concocted from the Greek petros (stone) plus ichor (the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology).
Maculate
Verb. To spot, stain or soil.
Adjective. Spotted or blotched; stained or impure.
Hence immaculate: unspotted, pure, undefiled.
According to the OED the first usage is in a legal roll from 1432-50, shortly followed by Caxton in 1481. Sadly maculate is now confined to medical and zoological usage.
The Panther (or Rusty-Spotted) Genet (Genetta maculata)
Zaftig
Of a woman: plump, curvaceous, ‘sexy’.
Full-bosomed.
Having a full, shapely figure.
From the Yiddish zaftik, juicy.
The first use recorded by the OED is in 1937.
Monday 22 to Sunday 28 April is National Stationery Week. Yes, that’s “stationery” with an “e” as in “envelope”.
The aim of National Stationery Week is to get people writing. It is a celebration of the written word and all things stationery. The idea is to get more people putting pen to paper and writing by hand more often, especially children. Oh and to get them spelling stationery correctly with an “e”!
Some would have us believe that, in this digital age, letter writing and writing by hand is dead in the water and no longer matters. But in truth technology has merely distracted us from the joy and importance of writing, it hasn’t replaced it — we still have to write note, postcards, posters and exam papers; and many still enjoy writing letters and even novels by hand. Indeed there remains something special about receiving a handwritten letter or card.
There’s a whole website devoted to National Stationery Week at nationalstationeryweek.com including a page which focuses on children and schools.
Ebonics
African-American English, especially when considered as a distinct language or dialect with linguistic features related to or derived from those of certain West African languages, rather than as a non-standard variety of English.
What linguists far more often term African American Vernacular English, and that was originally used with strong connotations of the African origin of this language.
The term is a conflation of “ebony” and “phonics” and , according to the OED, was first used by Prof. RL Williams in January 1973.
Examples, as quoted by the Urban Dictionary, are:
Ebonics: “Yo G, you frontin me?”
English: “Excuse me, my peer, are you attempting to influence me to engage in a violent action with you?”
Ebonics: “You gots to git those Benjamins so you cin git dat bling-bling fo yo ride.”
English: “You need to get money so that you can get expensive accessories for your car.”
Novate
To replace by something new; specifically in law, to replace by a new obligation, debt, etc.
Hence …
Novation
1. The introduction of something new; a change, an innovation. (Scots, obsolete)
2. The substitution of a new debtor, creditor, contract, etc. in place of an old one.
I’ve most commonly encountered novation in the second sense and in the situation of company acquisitions etc. X has a contract to provide a service to Y; when X is bought by Z the contract with Y is novated from X to Z, but only by mutual agreement of the parties through a legal process. It applies equally to company contracts and to moving your bank account during a take-over/acquisition.
The earliest use recorded by the OED is from Speed’s History of Great Britain of 1611.