Colonial American English

[Wolfpaw]

I recently stumbled upon a glossary of Colonial American English compiled by Richard M. Lederer, Jr. and published in 1985, and I cannot think of a better place to post it

I'll be updating it at one letter per whenever I get around to it.

With that said, let us begin at the beginning.

[FONT=&quot]A[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]abatis [/FONT][FONT=&quot](n.) A military obstacle of live or dead trees with their butt ends facing the enemy. From French abatis meaning “mass of things thrown down.” When Maj. John Andreé was captured in 1780, in his possession was found a description of West Point in Benedict Arnold’s handwriting. Arnold had written that Fort Webb at West Point was: “without defense save a slight abatis.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]abroad[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (adj.) Out of doors. Dr. Alexander Hamilton in 1744 wrote of the women of Boston: “Pretty women who appear rather more abroad than they do at York.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]absinthe [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]wormwood[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]abuse [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) (1) To add other material. In 1709 the Virginia House of Burgesses: “drew up a bill against the masters that abuse the hogshead of tobacco.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) To deceive. A 1718 author prayed: “That we may not profane the name of God…nor abuse ourselves into Eternal Perdition.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]accommodate [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) Fit, suitable. In 1643: “The Colledge [Harvard] was…appointed to be at Cambridge (a place very pleasant and accommodate).”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]accustomed [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) As usual. A 1754 bill of lading provided for: “They paying freight for the said goods…with primage and average accustomed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ace of hearts[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) A card game. In 1718 William Byrd wrote: “ played at the ace of hearts and lost 3 guineas.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]acetum [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]vinegar[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Adamite [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A member of a religious sect that worshipped while naked. In 1656 Connecticut legislated that: “No Towne within this Jurisdiction shall entertain any Quakers, Ranters, Adamites, or such like heretiques.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]address [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) Skillful management. In 1775 Gen. Heath, describing troops, wrote: “great address and gallantry were exhibited.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) A petition. In 1719, William Byrd: “moved an address to the Governor” in the Virginia House of Burgesses.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ad libitum [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Latin. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]“At pleasure.” The 1767 South Carolina Remonstrance deplored, “Thus they live ad libitum, quitting each other at pleasure.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]adrat [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](interj.) A mild oath, evolved from God rot. Robert Mumford used the word in a 1770 play: “Here’s at ye, adrat ye, if you’re for a quarrel.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]advantage [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An increase or surplus. A 1776 Connecticut newspaper advertised: “a two year and advantage steer,” one that was two-plus years old.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]adventure [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To risk: place in jeopardy. In a 1625 proclamation the King advised: “all our loving subjects not to adventure the breach of our royal commandments.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]adventurer [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) One who engages in commercial ventures. The 1625 Virginia Charter was given to: “a company of adventurers and planters.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]advertisement [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A notice given; notification. In 1631 Thomas Dudley wrote, “We received advertisement from our friends in England.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It was also used in today’s sense of a public notice.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]advowson [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The right of the lord of a manor to name the local clergyman; who pays the fiddler calls the tune. The 1697 Manor Grant gave Stephanus Van Cortlandt: “the avowson and right of patronage.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]afflatus [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An inspiration. In 1721 Cotton Mather wrote that he received: “an afflatus from heaven.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]afterclap [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An unexpected subsequent event. In 1775 Edward Johnson recorded in his memoirs: “I desired a receipt to prevent any afterclaps.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]agitate [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To discuss; to debate. Gouverneur Morris wrote, “He desires a further conversation when the matter shall be agitated.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]agitation [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A discussion, debate.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]alamode [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A thin silk fabric for scarfs, etc. A 1775 Boston newspaper advertised, “Persons may be supplied with muslins, lute-strings, alamodes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]alb. [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) An abbreviation of Latin albus “white.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Albion [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The Celtic name for England, Scotland, and Wales. From Latin albus “white,” referring to the white cliffs of Dover.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]alfogeo [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The cheek pouches where a tobacco chewer stores his quid. From Spanish alforja “saddlebag.” School mistress Sara Knight wrote in 1704, “In comes a tall country fellow with his Alfogeos full of tobacco.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Algerine [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A native of or a ship belonging to Algiers, particularly the Barbary Coast pirates. In 1678 J. Hull entered in his diary, “James Elson was taken by the Algerines.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]alien [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To transfer property. The 1683 deed to Stephanus Van Cortlandt read: “bargain, sell, alien, enfeof.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]alkermes [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The scarlet grain insect that was once thought to be a berry. In 1616 Capt. John Smith recorded, “Fruits are of many sorts and kids as is Alkermes, Currans, Mulberries.” Ground and boiled with sugar, it made a cordial for sweetening medicine.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]allemande [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) One of various German dances, older forms resembling the minuet, later ones, the waltz. After Yorktown (1781) Cornwallis was satirized in a song, “Now hous’d in York, At minuet or all’mande.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]all fours [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A card game for two, named for the points that counted. In 1755 Samuel Johnson explained, “There all four are high, low, Jack and the game.” Philip Fithian in 1775 wrote, “In our dining room companies at cards, Five & forty, whist, Alfours, Calico-Betty, etc.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]allize [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of alewife, the fish.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]allodial [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) In absolute ownership, free of rent or service to a feudal overlord. Although feudal tenure was abolished in 1660, grants, patents, and deeds after that date often spelled out that the transaction was not subject to feudal law. The New Jersey Legislature in 1787 stated, “Tenure…shall…be…Allodial and not Feudal.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]alopeen [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A silk and wool cloth used for men’s clothing. Named for Aleppo, Syria. Foster & Thomas Hutchinson advertised in a 1765 Boston newspaper, “Tammy, Shaloons, Camblets, Alopeen, Bombazeen, Silk Ferrets, Ticks.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]amain [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To signal surrender by lowering a topsail. From French emener “to surrender.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]amaranth [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A legendary flower that never fades, generally used poetically. Hugh Brackenridge used the word in a 1776 play.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]amber [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A distillate of ground amber prescribed as a cure for epilepsy and hysteria. A 1737 writer referred to: “Not hartshorn, nor spirit of amber, nor all that furnishes the closet of an apothecary’s widow.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ambersune [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of embrasure. Col. Nicholas Fish in 1776 wrote to Richard Varick, “The old battery…with a sufficient number of ambersunes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]amerciament [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A fine or penalty at the discretion of the court, usually imposed on an officer for misconduct or neglect; amercement. The 1697 Courtlandt Manor Grant provided, “…and all Fines, Issues and Amercements at the said Court Leet.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]American Legion[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) The body of Loyalist troops raised by Benedict Arnold after he fled to the British in 1780. He was successful in enlisting only 212 men, who participated in the raid on Ft. Griswold and New London the following year.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ames Medulla [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A statement of Calvinist doctrine written by William Ames (1576-1633).[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]amusette [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A light field piece. From French amuse “a toy.” In 1775 John Adams reported, “They are carting patarares and making amusettes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]amygd.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Almond. An abbreviation of Amygdalaceae, its Latin botanical name.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Anabaptist [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A member of a Baptist sect which did not baptize its members until they reached adulthood.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]anagreeta [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Corn picked before ripening and then dried. Probably from an Indian word.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Anamaboe [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Anamabu, in present-day Ghana. In 1756 Captain David Lindsey noticed: “the Schooner Sierra Leone from Anamaboe” carried a cargo of 44 slaves.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]anatomy [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An anatomical study. The Massachusetts Body of Liberties in 1641 prohibited, “the body be unburied twelve hours unless it be in case of anatomy.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]anchor[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) A frequent misspelling of anker, about ten gallons. In 1719 William Byrd admitted that: “a smuggler brought some brandy and I bought two half anchors.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ancient [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A flag or streamer[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Anderson’s Pills[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) A laxative containing aloes and jalap. Anderson’s Scott Pills were first produced by Patrick Anderson in 1630. In 1739 William Byrd wrote that he’d: “had five stools from Anderson’s Pills.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]angel [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An English coin issued between 1470 and 1634 with the image of St. Michael slaying the dragon. In 1619 the Virginia General Assembly passed a law stipulating that servants caught trading with Indians were to be punished by whipping, “unless the master redeem it off with the payment of an angel.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]anis. [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of Latin anisum, “anise.” Anise oil as used to relieve colic and to flavor alcoholic and oily liquids.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]anker[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) A liquid measure of about ten gallons; a dry measure of one-third barrel. Frequently misspelled anchor.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]an’t [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) An abbreviation of am not. In his 1766 diary, John Adams wrote, “Come, come, Mr. Veasey, says Master Joseph Cleverly, don’t you say too much; I an’t of that mind.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]antic[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (adj.) Odd. In 1684 Increase Mather complained that: “the boy was growing antic as he was on the journey.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]antimo. [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of Latin antimonium, “antimony,” prescribed to counteract numbness or pains the limbs.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Antinomian [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A member of the Protestant sect which opposed the doctrine that the moral law is obligatory.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]apartment [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A room in a building. In 1760 John Galt wrote, “Mr. Robinson conducted the artist to the inner apartment.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]A place separated; a compartment. Washington, in his 1760 diary, reported that he: “mixt my compost in a box with ten apartments.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]aperto prelio[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Latin[/FONT][FONT=&quot]. In open battle.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]apostle [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A short statement of a case sent on appeal to a higher court, together with a statement that the entire record will follow. From Latin apostolus “something or someone sent out.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]apparel [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The equipment of a sailing vessel: masts, rigging, sails, etc. The Naval Act of 1660 referred to: “a vessel with allits guns, furniture, tackle, ammunition and apparel.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]apparitor [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An officer of the ecclesiastical courts. In 1771 Franklin wrote, “He saw the apparitor coming, who was an officer of the spiritual court.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]apple leather [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A food made from apples that have been boiled into a paste, which is rolled out to dry in the sun. The resulting sheet was the color and toughness of leather.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]apple pomace[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) The residue of apple cider. In 1768 Washington: “saved Apple Pumace in the New Garden from Crab Apples.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]apprehend [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To learn about. In 1760 Washington wrote, “apprehending the herring were come.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]appurtenance [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Something that is accessory to something else; an adjunct, such as a right of way, an easement, or a small building. The 1701 grant of Scarsdale, N.Y. to Caleb Heathcote read, “William The Third…doe…grant…profitts, benefits, advantages and appurtenances.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]a quanto…a tanto [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Latin[/FONT][FONT=&quot]. By how much…by so much. In the 1640s John Winthrop wrote, “The Governor was excused a quanto but not a tanto.” That is, apparently he was excused, but not quite in the manner or degree he had expected.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]aqua vitae[/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.)Latin. [Literally, “water of life.”] Spiritous liquor, especially brandy.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]argent viv. [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbrevition of Latin argentums vivum, “quicksilver.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ark [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A large barge used to carry freight on rivers; a descendent of Noah’s. A 1659 magazine reported, “Our great boats called the ark, being near 80 foot long and 30 wide.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]armadillo [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A small armed vessel that got its name from the diminutive of Spanish armada,“armed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Arminianism [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The doctrine of a Protestant sect created by Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609). Their tenets were the basis for Methodism in America.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]arni [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A shortened form of arnica, a liniment made from the herb of that name. It was also used for dissolving coagulated blood.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]arrack [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A distilled rum with fresh fruit added. William Byrd and his friends drank: “a bowl of rack punch” in 1773.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]arroba [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A Spanish or Portuguese measure of weight from 25 to 36 pounds. An Arabic word meaning “quarter,” it being a quarter of a Spanish quintal.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]arrow-wood[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) Viburnum and dogwood, whose straight, thin branches made them particularly desirable for arrows. In 1709 John Lawson wrote, “Arrow-wood, growing on the banks, is used by the Indians for arrows and gun-sticks.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]arsesmart [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]ass smart.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]article [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To bind by articles of covenant or stipulation. After the 1676 Bacon Rebellion, the leaders: “articled for themselves and whomelse they could.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]artist [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Anyone with a special skill or knowledge, as an artisan, surveor, expert seaman, scientist, etc. In 1649 John Winthrop wrote, “they sent out a pinnace well manned…under the conduct of a good artist.” In 1658 the citizens of Lancaster, Mass. Asked, “Iff wee may choose an artists…to lay out our towne bounds.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]asafetida [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A foul-smelling gum resin prescribed as a sedative in hysterical and nervous conditions.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ash cake [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Corn pone, wrapped in cabbage leaves to keep it clean, and baked in hot ashes.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]asinucoe [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A spelling for ass “donkey” used by the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1631.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]asmart [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]ass smart.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Assembly of the XIX [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The body governing The West India Company, and therefore New Netherland from 1609 to 1664. It was made up of delegates from five Dutch provinces and the States General.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]assignation [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A making over by transfer of title; an assignment, not a tryst. In 1650 the Connecticut Colony stated, “Assignation is when simply any thing is ceded, yielded and assigned to another.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]assize [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A standard of weights and measures. This word is the precursor of both excise and size, the latter being a shortened form of it. A 1749 South Carolina law: “made and provided for regulating the price and assize of bread.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Assize, Court of[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) The supreme court of the Province of New York from 1674 to 1684, which was also a legislative body. The term was also used in Maryland and Virginia.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ass smart [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Smartweed or water pepper. According to Manasseh Cutler in 1784, “Arsmart occasions severe smarting when rubbed on the flesh.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]assumpist [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A legal action in which the plaintiff claims damages owing to a breach of contract by the defendant. From Latin for “he has assumed.” The 1641 Termes de la Ley read: “Assumpist is a voluntary promise made by word which a man assumeth…to perform or pay any thing to another.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]astragalus [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A gummy exudation of a plant related to the pea, used to increase the size of pills and to soothe tickling coughs.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]asunder [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) Apart in time. In 1737 Jonathan Edwards worried that: “our sacraments are eight weeks asunder.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]a tiptoe[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]: Anticipatory. In his 1766 diary John Adams described a Braintree, Mass., man as: “a tiptoe for town meeting.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]auditory[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] (n.) Any sort of audience.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]aur. [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of Latin aurum, “gold.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]aurigation [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A wagon or a carriage ride. From Latin aurigare “to drive a chariot.” In 1679 Charles Wolley reported from New York that, “The diversion used by the Dutch is aurigation.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]auripigment [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Trisulfide of arsenic, a bright yellow pigment used in paint. From Latin auripigmentum, “gold coloring matter.” In 1672 John Lederer met: “Five Indians whose faces were covered with auripigment.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Avalon [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A tract in southeastern Newfoundland which was not successfully colonized. George Calvert, Lord of Baltimore, was a proprietor of the provinces of Maryland and Avalon. Everybody knows where Maryland is, but not many know where Avalon was.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]average [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) Miscellaneous charges such as port duty. From French avarie “port dues.” A 1754 bill of lading provided, “goods with primage and average accustomed.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]A payment to the master of a vessel, over and above the regular freight charge, for his care of the goods transported. A 1740 letter offered, “5% more for the average.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Pasturage found after the harvest; stubble. In 1679 Charles Wolle reported, “Horses…nourish themselves with the barks of Trees, and such average and herbage as they can find.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ax [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) A spelling reflecting one pronunciation of ask. A song protesting the stamp tax in 1765 rhymed it with tax: “I shant do the thing that you ax.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]azile [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Probably a misreading of asylum. In 1693 the Huguenots of New Rochelle, N.Y., sent a petition to Gov. Fletcher, “Their Majesties, by their proclamation of ye 25th of April 1689, did grant them an azile in all their dominions.”[/FONT]

 

[Petike]

Dude...

This is going into the Resources section, ASAP ! Keep updating !

 

[Color-Copycat]

Huh, ass smart =/= smart ass. You learn something new every day.

 

[Wolfpaw]

[FONT=&quot]B[/FONT]
​

[FONT=&quot]babyhut [FONT=&quot](n.) A badly designed covered carriage. Also called a booby hatch. Anna Winslow’s 1772 diary recorded: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“She might have sent either one of her chaises, her chariot or her babyhutt.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bafta [FONT=&quot](n.) A cotton fabric from India. From Persian baft ‘woven’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bag holland [FONT=&quot](n.) A coarse linen cloth used for bags. Samuel Sewall’s 1693 letter book referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“One piece of Shepard’s Holland or coase Bag-Holland.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bailiwick [FONT=&quot](n.) The area under the administrative jurisdiction of a bailiff. A 1700 New Jersey document instructed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the Sheriffe summon twenty foure of good & lawful men in his bailewick.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bait[FONT=&quot] (v.) To feed an animal. From Middle English baiten ‘too feed.’ In 1744 Dr. Alexander Hamilton wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I baited my horse,” referring to feeding it.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]baize[FONT=&quot] (n.) A coarse woolen material with a long nap. From French baie ‘bay colored.’ A 1787 Philadelphia newspaper advertised a:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“jacket lined with green baize.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]baldric [FONT=&quot](n.) A shoulder strap used to support a sword.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]balk [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows or at the end of the field. In 1788 Washington wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“All hands went to Hoeing up the Balks between.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A great beam in a chimney from which utensils were hung.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ballafon [FONT=&quot](n.) A musical instrument like a marimba. Probably an African word.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ballarag [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of bullirag ‘bullying language.’ A 1774 Connecticut document read,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“If I can’t answer them by ballarag, I can by small sword.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ball play[FONT=&quot] (n.) A game that was the forerunner of lacrosse, played by both male and female Indians. Henry Timberlake in his 1765 memoirs recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I was not a little pleased likewise with their ball-play…especially when the women played.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]balm [FONT=&quot](n.) The herb melissa from which a tea was brewed. Thomas Morton in 1637 mentioned:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Honeysuckles, balme and divers other good herbes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bals.[FONT=&quot]Latin. [/FONT][FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of balsamum, ‘balsam.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]band [FONT=&quot](n.) A collar. There were standing bands and falling bands. They were fastened with a band string, and clean ones were kept in a band box. Hence the expression: “right out of a band box” means something fresh and clean, and band box is still used in reference to a small baseball field. John Winthrop in 1649 described an unkempt man:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He came in his worst clothes…without a band.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]banjor [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of banjo. In 1781 Jefferson observed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The instrument proper to them is the Banjor which they brought hither from Africa.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]banker [FONT=&quot](n.) A man or ship that fished the Newfoundland Banks. A 1710 Boston newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A French Banker of fourteen guns, laden with Fish, arrived there from Newfoundland.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bank oil [FONT=&quot](n.) Menhaden oil. John Rowe in 1760 requested,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I desire it may be of the pale sort of bank oil.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]banquette [FONT=&quot](n.) A platform inside the outer wall of a fort for defenders to stand on when firing weapons. A 1766 report from Albany stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There is only a stockade round the place with a large banquet.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]banyan [FONT=&quot](n.) A loose-fitting garment for men, women, and children, copied from an Indian costume. In 1744 Dr. Alexander Hamilton described someone as being:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“wrapped up in a banyan.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Baptist [FONT=&quot](n.) A member of the sect that led the opposition to the established church in all the colonies.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bar [FONT=&quot](n.) An athletic contest in which men competed at throwing a heavy bar of iron or wood, forerunner of today’s Scottish sport of tossing the caber. In 1656 John Winthrop deplored men:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“in the street at play openly some pitching the bar.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barber [FONT=&quot](n.) One who preferred blood letting and minor surgery, as distinguished from a surgeon. A 1722 memoir reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“No surgeon to be had but a sorry country barber.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barco longo [FONT=&quot](n.) A fishing boat with two or three masts. From Spanish ‘long barge.’ A 1711 South Carolina document reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Having then a brgantine and barco longo mounted with cannon.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bardan [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant spelling of bardane, ‘burdock.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bargain [FONT=&quot](v.) To make small talk. Philip Fithian in 1773 wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“several assembled to dine and bargain.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barilla [FONT=&quot](n.) Saltwort, or the sodium carbonate that is produced by burning it. William Stork in 1765 described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“salt water marshes full of the barilla.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bark1 [FONT=&quot](n.) A two-masted vessel, square rigged on the foremast, fore-and-aft rigged on the mainmast.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bark2 [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A bed of cyprus bark. In 1733 William Byrd reported:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I slept very comfortably upon my bark.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] Peruvian bark; chinchona from which quinine is derived. In the sixteenth century it was purported to have cured the Countess of Chinchona of malaria. In 1733 William Byrd reported:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“taking another ounce of bark.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barkentine [FONT=&quot](n.) A three-masted vessel, square-rigged on the fore- and mainmasts, fore-and-aft on the mizzenmast.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barleycorn [FONT=&quot](n.) As a measure of length, one third of an inch; as a measure of weight, one gram.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barley water [FONT=&quot](n.) Barley water was used for inflammatory disorder. In 1679 Charles Wolley observed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The women are not so busie…with the strong barley water.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barm [FONT=&quot](n.) The scum that forms on top of fermenting beer. A seventeenth-century cookbook refers to a:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“full quart of ale barm.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barnish [FONT=&quot](v.) To grow fat. Goodwife Charles of New Haven reported in 1649 that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Ther was a maide that satt neare her at meeting that did barnish apace.” She was probably as big as a barn.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barony [FONT=&quot](n.) A political division of a county in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. In 1669 the Constitution of Carolina provided that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“each county shall consist of eight signories, eight baronies and four precincts.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barracan [FONT=&quot](n.) A thick, strong stuff, like camlet. From Arabic barrakan ‘camlet.’ In 1638 a lady bequeathed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“my petticoat of barracan.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barrow [FONT=&quot](n.) A castrated hog. In 1763 Washington counted:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“12 lambs, 2 sows, 5 barrows, 15 pigs.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Barrowist [FONT=&quot](n.) A member of a Puritan sect having Congregationalist views; for Henry Barrow (1550-1593)[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]barvel [FONT=&quot](n.) A fisherman’s leather apron. A 1639 Maine document reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Our men lost many of their thinges in the bootes, barvells…buckets.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bashaw [FONT=&quot](n.) An honorary Turkish title, later pasha. In 1776 Hugh Brackenridge complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Thrust in Bashaws and Viceroys to rule.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]basilicon [FONT=&quot](n.) An ointment of beeswax, rosin, and lard that would not melt at body temperature. It was applied to alleviate wounds and ulcers.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bason [FONT=&quot](n.) A work-bench with a heated metal plate, used in making felt for hats.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]basset [FONT=&quot](n.) A card game similar to faro, said to have been invented in Venice by a nobleman who was banished for introducing it. In 1710 William Byrd said that he:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“played at basset.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bastard [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A sweetened wine. A 17th-century recipe instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“put in a pint of basterd white wine.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] (adj.) Unusual; differing from the normal. In 1753 a Maryland engraver made [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“bastard carving.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bateman’s Drops [FONT=&quot](n.) Dr. Bateman’s Pectoral Drops, patented by Benjamin Okell in 1726, contained opium and camphor. They were prescribed as a cure for rheumatism, agues, and hysterics.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bath [FONT=&quot](n.) A body of water adequate for bathing. The royal grant of Morrisania in New York in 1697 included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“brooks, rivulets, baths, inlets.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bath metal [FONT=&quot](n.) A brass alloy, originally developed in Bath, England. Its sale was advertised in a 1729 Philadelphia newspaper.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bat horse [FONT=&quot](n.) A horse that carried the baggage of an army officer. From French bat ‘pack-saddle.’ In 1757 Washington stated that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the officers provided bat horses at their own expense.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bat money [FONT=&quot](n.) A monetary allowance for carrying military baggage. In 1758 Washington wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“As your troops are allowed bat money.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]battalia [FONT=&quot](n.) Troops arranged as for action. In 1772 Joseph Warren said that troops were:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“drawn up in a regular battalia.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]batteau [FONT=&quot](n.) A flat-bottomed boat, tapering at both ends, propelled by oars, poles, or square sails. An adopted French word. Benedict Arnold’s treasonous estimate in 1780 of the troops at West Point was:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“inclusive of 166 batteaux men at Verplanks.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]batter [FONT=&quot](v.) To beat. When William Byrd wrote in 1709, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I ate battered eggs,” he meant ‘scrambled.’[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]battle hammed[FONT=&quot] (adj.) Having thick buttocks. An obsolete word unrelated to ‘fight,’ battle meant ‘to grow fat.’ A 1727 Boston advertisement described a runaway slave as, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A young negro servant…battle hammed and goes somewhat waddling.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]battle kneed [FONT=&quot](adj.) Having thick knees. See battle hammed. A 1743 thief in New Jersey was described as of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“ruddy complexion, light hair, battle kneed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bavin [FONT=&quot](n.) Kindling; a bundle of small sticks.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bawbee [FONT=&quot](n.) A British halfpenny. Possibly from the Laird of Sillebawby, 16th-century mintmaster. John Leacock used the word in a 1776 play:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I care not a bawbee for them all.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bay gall [FONT=&quot](n.) Swampy ground covered with sweet bay. A 1775 description of Florida included,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“savannahs, swamps, marshes, bay and cypress galls.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bay line [FONT=&quot](n.) In Rhode Island, the boundary line of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The 1725 Providence Records refer to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the highway from Town to the Bay Line.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bayman [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) One who lived near Massachusetts Bay. In 1643 Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Pay Mr. Andrews or the Bay men, by his order.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A sailor on a ship from the Bay of Honduras:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“…as Capt. Lyde was afterward inform’d by some of the Bay-men” appeared in a 1723 Boston newspaper.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bays [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of baize. The Woollen Act of 1699 spells it this way.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bay salt [FONT=&quot](n.) Salt produced by evaporation of sea water. Whether the bay refers to the site of evaporation or to the brownish color of the salt is a matter of dispute. In the 1774 Massachusetts Provincial Congress they referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the method used in that part of France where they make bay salt.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beak [FONT=&quot](n.) A metal-clad ram on the prow of a vessel. In John Trumbull’s 1774 poem, An Elegy on the Time:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“But hostile beaks affright the guarded shore.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beak horn [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of bickern, an anvil with a beak or a point. In a 1636 John Winthrop wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Here was an anvil with a beak horn at the end of it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beareager [FONT=&quot](n.) Vinegar made from soured beer.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“With any Beare or Beereager” appeared in a 1639 Maryland document.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bear garden [FONT=&quot](n.) Originally a place for bear baiting, later any place of uncouth conduct. In 1647 Sameul Ward wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“If the state of England shall…tolerate [other religions] the civil state [will become] a bear garden.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beastlings [FONT=&quot](n.) Rich milk produced immediately after calving; beestings; beastings. A woman was described in 1723:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“She does not know…how to boil a skillet of Beastlings…without letting it turn.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beat [FONT=&quot](v.) (1) To beat a distinctive signal or command on a drum. In 1781 Gen. Heath reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They beat a parley,” meaning ‘They signaled for a conference with an enemy.’[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] To crush. Washington in 1768:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“began to beat cyder at Doeg Run.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beat up [FONT=&quot](v.) To search thoroughly. In 1776 William Smith wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Officers were sent to beat up for volunteers.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beaver [FONT=&quot](n.) A hat made of beaver fur; also called a castor. A 1739 Poor Richard’s Almanac advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“William Reynolds…makes and sells all sorts of Hats, Beavers, Castors and Felts.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beaverette [FONT=&quot](n.) Rabbit fur dyed to look like beaver. A 1731 Boston newspaper offered, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Several sorts of English goods, as Bevers, Beaverette, Castor Hats.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beaver maker [FONT=&quot](n.) One who made beaver hats.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Theodore Atkins of Boston…beaver maker,” advertised in a 1652 Boston newspaper.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beaver mineral [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]castor[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bed case [FONT=&quot](n.) Mattress ticking.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beetle ring [FONT=&quot](n.) A metal ring around a beetle, or heavy mallet, to keep it from splitting.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beforehand [FONT=&quot](adv.) In advance; early. Franklin wrote in 1771,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I now began to think of getting a little money beforehand.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]See also [FONT=&quot]behindhand[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beggar’s velvet [FONT=&quot](n.) An inexpensive fabric similar to velvet. A Philadelphia newspaper of 1721 reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He had a pair of spare breeches of beggar’s velvet.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]behindhand [FONT=&quot](adj.) In arrears; in debt. In 1771 Franklin wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Harry went continually behindhand.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]See also [FONT=&quot]beforehand[/FONT][FONT=&quot].[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]behindments [FONT=&quot](n.) Arrearages. In 1758, Cloucester, Mass., had a problem,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the behindments of the Parish taxes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]behoof [FONT=&quot](n.) An advantage, profit. The 1697 patent for Bedford, N.Y., states,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the only proper use benefit and behoofe.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beldame [FONT=&quot](n.) An ugly old woman; a shrew. Charles Lee, in writing to Robert Morris in 1776, referred to England as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A beldame step mother whose every act is cruelty.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ben [FONT=&quot](v.) To repair. In 1660 in Huntington, Long Island, a man:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“did get a workman in the spring to ben the mill.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]benefit of clergy[FONT=&quot] (n.) Originally, exemption of the clergy from trial by an ordinary court; later, from capital punishment; still later, the exemption was extended to all clerks and those who were literate. At no time did the exemption apply to high treason.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bengal [FONT=&quot](n.) A fabric from Bengal, India, made of silk and hair. It was advertised in a 1774 Phildelphia newspaper.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]benne [FONT=&quot](n.) Sesame. In 1775 Bernard Romans wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The negroes use it as food…they call it benni.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bergamotte [FONT=&quot](n.) A fruit produced by grafting a citron to a pear tree. It was used to produce a fragrant medicinal oil. A 1782 Hartford newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“quill Jesuits Bark, opium, essence of Bergamotte.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Berlin needle work [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Dresden needle work[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]berme [FONT=&quot](n.) A narrow space between the moat and the wall of a fortification. If the wall fell down, it would fall on the berme and not fill the moat. In 1775 Richard Montgomery wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“By the time we arrived the frais around the berme would be destroyed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beryllan [FONT=&quot](n.) Probably barmellion or bermillion, a kind of fustian. A 1729 Philadelphia newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“beryllan and plain Calamanco.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]beset [FONT=&quot](v.) To arrange for. In 1718, William Byrd complained that he, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“sat in the gallery about an hour but none of our tickets came up though I beset [them] myself this morning.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]besom [FONT=&quot](v.) A broom. In 1698 Cotton Mather reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A besom gave him a blow on the head.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bespeak [FONT=&quot](v.) To order or engage beforehand. In 1770 Washington complained that the:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“millstones…were thinner by two inches than what were bespoke.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]best hand, at the[FONT=&quot] (adj.) Cheapest. In 1739, William Byrd recommended to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“ransack the fripperies of Long Lane…for finery at the best hand.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bethlehemite [FONT=&quot](n.) A member of the Moravian Bretheren at Bethlehem, Pa.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bettering house [FONT=&quot](n.) A poor house where work habits were taught. In 1774 Silas Deane described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“What is called a Bettering House, in other words a poor house.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]betty lamp[FONT=&quot] (n.) A shallow, metal, grease-filled dish with a lip on which lay a linen wick. From Early English bettyngs ‘oil or fat.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bever [FONT=&quot](n.) A small repast between meals. In 1646 Harvard College decreed: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“No scholar shall…be absent from his studys…above…halfe an houre at afternoone Bever.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bez. miner.[FONT=&quot] (n.) An abbreviation of bezoar mineral, antimony oxide. The stone isa concretion found in the intestines of ruminants. Ground, it was taken to promote perspiration.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bib [FONT=&quot](n.) The upper part of an apron. Anna Winslow in 1772 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I was dressed in my yellow coat, my black bib and apron.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bickern [FONT=&quot](n.) An anvil ending in a beak, or point.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bien venue [FONT=&quot](n.) A sum assessed on a newcomer. [French, lit. ‘welcome’] Franklin encountered this custom when he started as a printer in Philadelphia in 1723:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a new bien venue or sum for drink.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bigoted [FONT=&quot](adj.) Blindly attached to some creed or opinion. Gouverneur Morris wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He is bigoted to it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bilboes [FONT=&quot](n. pl.) A long, heavy bolt with shackles that slide along it and are locked around a prisoner’s legs above the ankles. The etymology is uncertain.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bill1 [FONT=&quot](n.) An official list of births and deaths, published weekly. Franklin in 1751 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“an observation made upon the bills of mortality, christenings, etc.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bill2 [FONT=&quot](n.) A battle axe on a long staff. The Anglo-Saxon word for sword. The Provincial Congress in New York in 1776 raised two companies for the Continental Army and moved,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It is expected that each man furnish himself with a good gun and bayonet…and two bills.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]billa vera [FONT=&quot](n.) A true bill [From Latin].[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]billet1 [FONT=&quot](n.) A small stick of wood cut to fuel length; sometimes used as a club. In 1630 Francis Higginson wrote that in Salem, Mass., wood was:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“cheaper than they sell billets and faggots in London.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]billet2 [FONT=&quot](n.) A ticket or pass. In 1789 Jefferson received:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a billet for the audience.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]billingsgate [FONT=&quot](n.) A fishmonger, generally foul-mouthed, named after the London market celebrated for fish and foul language near a gate in the old London wall named for an early property owner. Edward Ward in 1699 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Rum, alias Kill Devil, is as much ador’d by the American English, as a dram of brandy is by an old Billingsgate.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bill of Rights[FONT=&quot] (n.) A restatement of the laws dealing with the relationship between the British Parliament and the Crown enacted in 1689.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bilsted [FONT=&quot](n.) See boilsted[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]binder [FONT=&quot](n.) A garment like a cummerbund, worn by children and adult males. In 1688 Samuel Sewall noted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Shifted my linen this day, shirts, drawers, wastcoat, binder.” He apparently didn’t change them often.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]birchen [FONT=&quot](adj.) Made of birch, as a birchen broom[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Birching Lane [FONT=&quot](n.) A street in London, known for the Cockney fripperers, dealers in cast-off clothing; it was named for one Birchouer, a former landowner William Bradford wrote from Plimouth Plantation in 1646 that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“there was sent over som Birching Lane suits in the ship.” The Pilgrims wore second-hand clothing.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bird’s-eye stuff [FONT=&quot](n.) A worsted cloth with small diamond design; sometimes also known as diaper cloth.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bishop [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A half-circular pillow stuffed with horsehair, used as, but larger than, a bustle.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A drink concocted by adding oranges or lemons to wine.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bissextile [FONT=&quot](n.) Leap year. From Latin bissextus ‘twice six.’ The sixth of the calends of March (February 24) was the intercalated day every fourth year.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bistoury [FONT=&quot](n.) A surgical instrument similar to a scalpel.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bit [FONT=&quot](n.) A Spanish real, one eighth of a Spanish peso. Two bits were a quarter of a peso.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bitch [FONT=&quot](v.) To botch. Indentured servant Elizabeth Spriggs in 1756 was whipped for bitching.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bite [FONT=&quot](n.) A cheat. A 1755 Massachusetts document confided,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I’m told horse dealers here are great bites.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bittern [FONT=&quot](n.) A liquid the Indians made from roots; it was used to drug fish so that they might be caught easily. James Adair in 1775 instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“til the water is sufficiently impregnated with the intoxicating bittern.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bitters [FONT=&quot](n.) Quinine. In 1773 Philip Fithian took:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“half a Gill of bitters to qualify my humours.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bitter wort [FONT=&quot](n.) The yellow gentian. A brew made from its leaves was taken to counteract fever. In 1739 William Byrd suffered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“and then my fever began to come. However I ate bitter wort.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]black [FONT=&quot](adj.) Brunette. When William Byrd in 1710 described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a pretty black girl” he meant she was not blonde.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]black coat [FONT=&quot](n.) A disparaging term for a minister. Edward Johnson in 1654 wrote, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I’le bring you a woman that preaches better gospell than any of your black coats.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]black fish [FONT=&quot](n.) The tautog; also a small kind of whale about 20 feet long.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]black frost [FONT=&quot](n.) A frost so severe that vegetables turn black. Washington wrote in his 1787 diary:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This morning there was a small white frost and a black one which was so sevre as to stop brick laying.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]black jack [FONT=&quot](n.) A large drinking mug made of leather with a tar coating. A 1775 Massachusetts document said, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We left a pint black jack abt half full of water.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blackroot [FONT=&quot](n.) Veronocastrum virginicum; taken to induce vomit. In 1710 William Byrd reported that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Dick Cox sent to me for two or three purgatives. I sent him some blackroot sufficient for three doses.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blasting [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A blight to crops. IN 1642 the Governor of Virginia was warned of: “relying on one single harvets, drought, blasting or otherwise.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]Flatulence. An 18th-century book observed that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Oyle of rue is good for wind in ye side & against blasting.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blasting iron [FONT=&quot](n.) A gun. Thomas Anburey in 1778 wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a New Englander riding in the woods with his blasting iron (the term they give to a musket or a gun).”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bleaching ground [FONT=&quot](n.) The area on which cloth was bleached by exposure to sunlight. In 1767 the citizens of South Carolina remonstrated that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It is therefore in vain for us to attempt the laying out of vineyards, sheep walks or bleaching grounds.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bleed [FONT=&quot](v.) To remove blood. During the Colonial period the cure for many ailments was the removal of liquids (which they called humours) from the body by bleeding, cupping, and purging. In one instance where quantity was mentioned, ten ounces of blood were drained.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blister [FONT=&quot](n.) A plaster that caused blisters. Removing serum from blisters was one way to remove liquid from the body. See also bleed. IN 1710 William Byrd reported that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Old Moll continued to have the headache and I put a blister behind her neck.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blonde lace [FONT=&quot](n.) Lace made from silk[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bloodroot [FONT=&quot](n.) A plant named for the color of its roots; also called puccoon, turmeric and red root. In 1722 Thomas Dudley recommended,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Remedies for the sting of a rattlesnake…is…bloodroot.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bloody back [FONT=&quot](n.) A derogatory name for a British soldier, a redcoat. A 1770 Boston newspaper reported that the mob taunted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Come you Rascals, you bloody backs, you lobster scoundrels.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bloody flux [FONT=&quot](n.) Dysentery; a disease in which the discharges from the bowels have a mixture of blood.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bloomery [FONT=&quot](n.) The first forge through which iron passes after it is melted from the ore into a bloom, a mass of wrought iron. A 1757 document reported that: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“there were two Furnaces in the Mannor of Cortland & several Bloomeries.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blossom hemp [FONT=&quot](n.) Hemp with pollen, that is, male hemp; seed hemp is female. Washington in 1766:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Began to pull hemp…to late for the blossom hemp.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blue [FONT=&quot](adj.) Obscene. Perhaps from the color of burning brimstone.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blueskin [FONT=&quot](n.) A zealous rebel. A 1783 poem went,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“James Rivington, printer of late to the king,/ But now a republican./ Let him stand where he is/ And he’ll turn a true Blue-Skin.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]blue wing [FONT=&quot](n.) A kind of duck. In 1709 William Byrd:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“ate blue wing for dinner.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Board of Trade and Plantations [FONT=&quot](n.) A board made up of several lords of the Privy Council to whom the supervision and management of the British colonies were entrusted. Created in 1696, it functioned until the Revolution.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bobbin lace [FONT=&quot](n.) Lace made by knotting threads on bobbins around pins.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bobbinet [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]bobbin lace.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bodies [FONT=&quot](n.) A bodice. This ladies’ outer garment looked like a corset, laced both in front and in back. A 1674 book on plants observed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A flower without its Emplacement would hang as uncouth and tawdry as a Lady without her Bodies.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bodkin [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A dagger[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot]A blunt, thick nail. Capt. John Smith reported a 1608 punishment, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A bodkin was thrust through his tongue.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Body of Liberties [FONT=&quot](n.) A code of laws largely drafted by Nathaniel Ward (1578-1652) adopted by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1641[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bogue [FONT=&quot](v.) To walk. In 1775 Rauck admitted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We were four days boguing in the woods seeking the way.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bohea [FONT=&quot](n.) A coarse, low-priced black tea from the Wu-i hills in China. Pronounced boo-hee. A 1773 song threatened, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We will throw your bohea into the sea.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]boilsted [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of bilsted, maple wood. A 1776 inventory included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“1 large boilsted table.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bole1 [FONT=&quot](n.) A dry measure; six bushels of oats, corn, barley or potatoes; four of wheat or beans.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bole2 [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant spelling of bolus, a soft mass of anything medicinally made into a large pill. A Virginia doctor’s 1658 bill asked 36 pounds of tobacco:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“for a bole as before.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bolster [FONT=&quot](n.) The padding wore under a skirt to enlarge the hips and buttocks. In impolite language it was known as a ‘bum roll.’ In 1731 Swift wrote:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Off she slips The bolsters, that supply her hips.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bolt [FONT=&quot](v.) To separate wheat from chaff by sifting it through coarse silk, linen, or hair cloths in a bolting mill.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bolts [FONT=&quot](n.) Leg irons. A form of punishment. In 1619 the Virginia General Assembly, as a punishment for drunkenness, decreed that an offender must:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“lie in bolts 12 hours in the house of the provost marshal.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bombazine [FONT=&quot](n.) A twilled dress fabric of silk and worsted.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bonavist [FONT=&quot](n.) A variety of bean. In 1682 Thomas Ash reported that in Carolina:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“they have a great Variety…beans, pease…and Bonavist.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bond slave [FONT=&quot](n.) An indentured servant. The Massachusetts Body of Liberties in 1641 provided that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There shall never be any bond-slavery, villenage or captivity among us.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bone lace[FONT=&quot] (n.) Bobbin lace. The first bobbins were small bones. A 1636 Massachusetts law provided that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“No person…shall make or sell any bone lace, or other lace, to bee worn upon any garment.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bonnyclabber [FONT=&quot](n.) Thickened sour milk. [From Irish bainne ‘milk’ and clabar ‘the dasher or lid of a churn.’] In 1731 a Massachusetts document recorded:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Today we dined on roast mutton…mixed with bonnyclabber sweetened with molasses.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]booby [FONT=&quot](n.) Baby. Poor Richard’s Almanac quoted John Gay (1685-1732),[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Where yet was ever found the mother, Who’d change her booby for another.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]booby hutch [FONT=&quot]see [/FONT][FONT=&quot]babyhut[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]boodle [FONT=&quot](n.) Personal effects. [From Dutch boedel ‘estate, possession.’] A 1699 document stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Elisabeth had the Boedel of Jan Verbeek, desceased, in hands.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]booger [FONT=&quot](n.) A pronunciation spelling of bugger. In low English it merely means a man, a person, not a sodomite. A 1770 Boston newspaper reported that the mob taunted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Where were the boogers, where were the cowards”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]book[FONT=&quot] (n.) (1) The Bible; in this case representing benefit of clergy. A 1639 Maryland document read,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Then was read the Bill…for allowing Book to certain felonies.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A cloth so called because it was folded like a book. See kenting and muslin.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]boor [FONT=&quot](n.) A farmer in New Netherlands. [From Dutch boer ‘farmer’] In 1701 Charles Wolley wrote that he heard quarreling:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“betwixt two Dutch Boors.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]boot [FONT=&quot](n.) An extremely painful form of punishment. Four pieces of wood tied by wet thongs encased the leg; when the thongs dried and shrank an excruciating pressure was created. In 1711 William Byrd:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“put the boot” on a slave.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]boothose [FONT=&quot](n.) Stocking hose or spatterdashes.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]boot top [FONT=&quot](v.) To coat the underwater part of a vessel with tallow and sulfur to prevent the growth of barnacles.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]borage [FONT=&quot](n.) A plant of the genus Borago, used medicinally and in salads.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]borderer [FONT=&quot](n.) A person who lives on or near a border. In 1722 William Byrd wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“nor were there worthy borderers content to shelter runaway slaves.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]borough town [FONT=&quot](n.) A self-governing town which could send representatives to a provincial assembly.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bosom bottle [FONT=&quot](n.) A small flask, tucked into a stomacher, to hold flowers.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bossloper [FONT=&quot](n.) An inhabitant of the woods. [From Dutch boschlooper ‘wood runner’][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]boston [FONT=&quot](n.) A card game for four using two decks, similar to whist. French officers created it and named it for the siege of Boston.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bottom [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A ship. A 1696 Virginia law stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He hath power to enter into any Ship, Bottome, Boat or other Vessell.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A ship in its figurative sense. Boston’s instructions to its delegates to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1764 observed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Other Northern American colonies are embarked with us in this most important bottom.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) [FONT=&quot]Flat land adjoining a river. In 1765 George Croghan described land in Ohio,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“this creek…between two fine rich bottoms.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) [FONT=&quot]The foundation or groundwork of anything. In 1774 Richard Henry Lee recommended to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“lay our rights upon the broadest bottom.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bounty [FONT=&quot](n.) A payment by a government as an inducement to do something. In addition to the well-known meaning of a payment for killing wolves, etc., in 1723 it was poroposed that a bounty be paid to encourage the production of white pine trees for masts and for tar.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bouting rows[FONT=&quot] (n.) The rows made by the round-trip of a plow. In 1767 Washington:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“sowed the bouting Rows at Doeg Run with 1½ Bushels.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bouwerie [FONT=&quot](n.) A farm. The Dutch word from which The Bowery in New York came.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bowl[FONT=&quot] (n.) An American Indian game for two. Six or eight small bones were tossed into the air and caught in a bowl.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bowse1 [FONT=&quot](v.) To pull or haul hard. John Leacock used the word in a 1776 play.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I must bowse taught there, or we shall get at loggerheads soon.” Also bouse.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bowse2 [FONT=&quot](v.) To drink too much; to stagger drunkenly. In 1774 Philip Fithian told of a friend, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“up he bowses with a bottle of rum in his hand.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bowyer [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) An archer[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]One who makes bows. There was a 1697 law:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“concerning Bowyers and the making and keeping of bows.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]box (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) A cut in a tree from which to collect sap or resin. In 1720 P. Dudley observed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The box you make may hold about a pint.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot](v.) To make such a cut. In 1700 Springfield, Mass., enacted a law stating that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“no Stranger…shal box any trees…for turpentine.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brace [FONT=&quot](n.) Wrist armor.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bracket shoes [FONT=&quot](n.) Snow shoes. A 1648 report from New England stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Hunters persue with bracket shooes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brake1 [FONT=&quot](n.) A tool used in breaking flax or hemp. John Winthrop wrote in 1634, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We…have need of…a brake for hemp.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brake2 [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) Fern.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]An area where fern grows. In 1748 Jared Eliot wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“nex to the salt marsh…then large Brakes and Bushes.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) [FONT=&quot]Any thicket. In 1757 J. Carver recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I threw myself into a brake.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brand [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) The mark of a criminal. Branding was a widely used punishment. A Quaker in Connecticut was branded for engaging in business without a license. The practice of instructing a witness in court to raise his right hand has its roots in the former practice of determining thereby if the witness had been branded as a criminal and, if so, what kind.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]The word was also used in a figurative sense. An anonymous 1705 Virginia writer explained:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I advised him to be very wary for he saw the Governor had put a brand upon him.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brandlet [FONT=&quot](n.) A cooking utensil used for broiling.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brase [FONT=&quot](v.) To burn; cause food to stick. A 17th-century cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Set them on the fire in a pan or pot that will not brase.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brawn [FONT=&quot](n.) Pig flesh, rolled and tied with a string. A 17th-century recipe instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“then roule it up like a coller of brawne.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brazier [FONT=&quot](n.) One who works in brass. In 1771 Franklin went to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“see joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers, etc. at their work.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]braziletto [FONT=&quot](n.) A kind of red dyewood, inferior to brazilwood, imported from Jamaica. A 1790 newspaper advertised, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“For sale by John Leamy…Braziletto Dye wood.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]breach [FONT=&quot](n.) An opening along a coastline. In 1624 Capt. John Smith wrote, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We found many shoules and breaches.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]breachy [FONT=&quot](adj.) Apt to break fences. In 1780 Ebenezer Parkman complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“my oxen have been breachy.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]break [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A variant of brake, ‘a baker’s kneading trough.’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]The annual quantity of hemp. See also brake[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) [FONT=&quot]Ground meal. In 1771 Franklin wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“My breakfast was a long time break and milk.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]break the Pope’s neck [FONT=&quot](n.) An indoor game played by a “Pope” and “friars” in which a plate was spun. Philip Fithian played it in 1773.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]breast horn button [FONT=&quot](n.) A coat button made of horn.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]breathe [FONT=&quot](v.) to exercise. In 1710 William Byrd wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I ran to breathe myself.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]breeches [FONT=&quot](n.) A baggy garment tied below the knees and fastened to a doublet. A 1661 diarist recorded that he:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“put both his legs through one of his knees of his breeches.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]breviate [FONT=&quot](n.) A brief account; a summary. From French brève ‘short.’ A 1665 New York document said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“of which ye comrs [commissioners] made a breviat.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bridewell [FONT=&quot](n.) A jail, after the one of this name in London. The jail, built in 1688 and demolished in 1864, was on the site of the Palace of Bridewell near the well of St. Bride’s [Bridget’s] Church. In 1767 it was recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We have not a bridewell, whipping post or a pair of stocks in the province.” [South Carolina][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brig [FONT=&quot](n.) A square-rigged, two-masted vessel. A 1722 newspaper reported, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“[the pirates] promise him his Brig again when they have taken a better Vessel.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brigand [FONT=&quot](n.) Probably a variation of brigantine. In a 1718 letter William Pepperill wrote, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We have a large brigand which went to Barbados.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brigantine [FONT=&quot](n.) A vessel similar to a brig, but without a square mainsail.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brilliant [FONT=&quot](n.) A silk material. [1774 Philadelphia newspaper][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bristol stone [FONT=&quot](n.) Rock crystal from near Bristol, England. In 1699 Lord Bellomont wrote about Captain William Kidd to the Board of Trade,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There was in it [an enameled box] a stone ring, which we take to be a Bristoll Stone.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bristol water [FONT=&quot](n.) Water from the warm springs at Clifton, near Bristol, England. It was prescribed for dropsy, internal hemorrhages, immoderate menses, dysentery, scrofula, diabetes, and gleets. Wiliam Byrd used it in 1740.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bristowman [FONT=&quot](n.) A ship from Bristol, England. Bristow was the early name of Bristol. In 1685 Samuel Sewall wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A Bristow-man comes in this day and fires five Guns at the Castle.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]britania [FONT=&quot](n.) A cloth of cotton, or cotton mixed with linen, made in Brittany. A 1783 Philadelphia newspaper offered:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Platilla & Britania”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]britch [FONT=&quot](n.) The large end of a musket. From German britsche ‘club.’ A Revolutionary War veteran reminisced,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Every man was ordered on his right knee and the britch of his gun on the ground.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]broad arrow [FONT=&quot](n.) A sign used to mark the property of the English Crown. In Maryland in 1642 it was recorded:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The sheriff…shall mark it with a broad arrow.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]broadcloth [FONT=&quot](n.) A fine, plain-woven woolen cloth used mainly for men’s clothing. So called because it was woven double-width. In 1691 Samuel Sewall requested,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Send me an end of coloured Broad-Cloth…rather inclining to sad than light colour.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]broad seal[FONT=&quot] (n.) The great seal of England. The 1701 Charter for Pennsylvania included: “set my hand and broad seal.”[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brockle [FONT=&quot](adj.) White and black. Joshua Hempstead in 1749 referred to: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“my cattle…1 black brockle faced.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]broglio [FONT=&quot](n.) A silk and wool fabric with small geometric patterns.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]broken days [FONT=&quot](n.) Among American Indians, the length of time agreed upon for the performance of some act. In 1775 James Adair wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Seventeen were the broken days…when the Choktah engaged to return with the French scalps.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brooklime [FONT=&quot](n.) A tea from the leaves and young stems of this herb, used to counteract scurvy.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]broomrape [FONT=&quot](n.) A plant of the genus Orobranche. In 1729 Mark Catesby reported from North Carolina,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Broomrape…risen to the height of eight to ten inches, and is of flesh colour.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Brother Jonathan [FONT=&quot](n.) Any Yankee or American. The phrase was frequently used by Washington to refer to Gov. Trumbull of Connecticut. It was later replaced by Uncle Sam.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Brownist [FONT=&quot](n.) A follower of Robert Brown who, around 1580, proposed a system of Puritan church government.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Brunswicker [FONT=&quot](n.) See Hessian[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brush away [FONT=&quot](v.) To lose. In 1647 William Bradford deplored that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Many of them had brushed away their coats and cloaks at Plymouth.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]brussels [FONT=&quot](n.) A fine bobbin lace[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]buckra [FONT=&quot](n.) A white man. Probably from Gullah (an Afro-American language used by southern blacks).[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]buckskin [FONT=&quot](n.) A country bumpkin. John Harrower in 1774 referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a buckskin, a lubber, a thick-skull.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]budget [FONT=&quot](n.) A bag or sack. From French bougette, diminutive of bouge ‘leather bag.’ A 1677 book referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a Budget or Pocket to hang by their sides.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]buhrstone, burrstone [FONT=&quot](n.) [pl. burze] The rock used for millstones. In 1652 in Dedham, Mass., a document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the burze brought to make a new millstone.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bul, bul[l]-beggar, bulbeggar [FONT=&quot](n.) A bogey; a bugbear. William Byrd uses this word in his essay “The Female Creed” in 1725,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“having been terrified in the nursery with bul beggars and apparitions.” The footnote in Another Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1739-1741 says bul is a ‘falsehood.’ This is true, but Byrd’s shorthand probably intended bull.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bulles [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of bullace ‘a wild plum.’ A 17th-century cookbook said to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Take bulles & boyle them.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bully [FONT=&quot](n.) A ludicrous jest. In 1766 Gov. Bernard of Massachusetts wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“for New England to threaten the mother country with manufactures is the idles bully that ever was attempted.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bum [FONT=&quot](n.) Buttocks. From Dutch boem ‘bottom.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bumbo [FONT=&quot](n.) A drink of rum, sugar, and water. From Italian bombo ‘a child’s word for drink.’ In 1733 William Byrd had:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A Capacious Bowl of Bombo.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bumkin [FONT=&quot](n.) A small water barrel. From Dutch bommekijn ‘little barrel.’ In 1680 an anonymous pirate went ashore:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to fill our Bumkings with water.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bumper (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) A filled cup or glass to be drunk as a toast. In 1768 some Loyalists sang,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This bumper I crown for our Sovereign’s health.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] (v.) To toast with a bumper.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bum roll [FONT=&quot](n.) A bolster or bishop. See bum[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bunch [FONT=&quot](n.) The hung on a bison’s neck, considered a delicacy. In 1733 William Byrd commented:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a rarer morsel, the Bunch.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bundle [FONT=&quot](v.) Of young courting lads and lasses, to occupy the same bed, with the clothes on, for warmth. Sometimes a bundling board was used to separate them. A 1777 song suggested:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“better bundle than fight.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bunter [FONT=&quot](n.) A low, vulgar woman. A 1768 song referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“your brats and your bunters.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burden grass [FONT=&quot](n.) Burden’s grass; redtop. Franklin in 1749 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I threw in the following seed…a peck of Burden grass.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burdock[FONT=&quot] (n.) A plant from the root of which a brew was made and prescribed for scurvy and rheumatism.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burgair [FONT=&quot](n.) A large upholstered chair. A variant of French bèrgere ‘easy chair.’ In 1773 E. Singleton announced:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“[Joseph Cox] makes all sorts of…settees, couches, burgairs.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burgess [FONT=&quot](n.) A representative of a borough to a legislature. In Maryland and Virginia the Colonial legislature was called “The House of Burgesses.”[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burgher [FONT=&quot](n.) A freeman of New Amsterdam[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burgomaster [FONT=&quot](n.) A burgh-master, the chief magistrate of New Amsterdam[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burgoo [FONT=&quot](n.) Burgout, outmeal porridge, eaten chiefly by seamen. In 1787 P. M. Freneau wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“If I had him at sea…a bowl of burgoo.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burgoynade [FONT=&quot](n.) A surrender; coined after Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga in 1777. A 1779 Charleston, S.C., newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He has made a very sudden and perceptive retreat to escape a burgoynade.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burial cake [FONT=&quot](n.) A cake about four inches square, marked with a deceased’s initials and kept as a souvenir.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Burlington gammon [FONT=&quot](n.) Bacon from the capital of West New Jersey, famous for its quality.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burnet [FONT=&quot](n.) A garden plant resembling sainfoin. Washington’s 1786 diary reported, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Began to plow a piece of gr[oun]d in the Neck for Burnet.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burning [FONT=&quot](n.) The distillation of tar from wood. A 1646 Springfield, Mass., document said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Shall joyne with him in the burninge of tarr.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burrstone [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]buhrstone[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burthen [FONT=&quot](n.) Burden, the cargo capacity or weight of the cargo of a ship.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burthenage [FONT=&quot](n.) A tax on goods carried. A 1725 traveler reported, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The traders are obliged to pay double burthenage.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burthensome [FONT=&quot](adj.) Able to carry a large cargo. A 1763 Boston newspaper offered: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a very good and burthensome schooner for sale.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]burze [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]buhrstone[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bushel bean [FONT=&quot](n.) A very common variety of bean. A 1709 traveler to North Carolina wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“so called because they bring a bushel of beans for one which is planted.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bush harrow [FONT=&quot](n.) A harrow with branches rather than discs or spikes. In 1770 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The grass Seed was sowed and harrowed with a Bush Harrow.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]bushloper [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of bossloper.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]busk [FONT=&quot](n.) A removable stay in the center of a corset; sometimes applied to the whole corset. One source, from 1688, speaks of it as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“wood, or whalebone thrust down the middle of the Stomacker.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]buss [FONT=&quot](n.) A two- or three-masted, square-rigged fishing vessel. Adapted from Dutch buis.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]butler [FONT=&quot](n.) A college officer at Yale or Harvard; among his duties was the charge of the buttery. From Old French bouteillier ‘bottler.’ Harvard in 1734 ruled:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The butler shall take care that all fines imposed by the President…be fairly recorded.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]butt [FONT=&quot](n.) A cask or barrel varying in size from 108 gallons for beer to 140 gallons for Spanish wine, depending on its use. It was generally two hogsheads.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]butter whore [FONT=&quot](n.) A scolding woman who sells butter. A 1776 play used the description, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Like a parcel of damned butter whores.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]buttery [FONT=&quot](n.) The place where liquor, fruit, and refreshments are sold/ From Old French boterie ‘place for keeping bottles.’ Harvard regulations of 1790 decreed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Every Scholar…shall enter his name at the Buttery.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]button [FONT=&quot](n.) A guessing game in which penalties were assessed for guessing wrong. In 1733 Philip Fithian bragged that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We played button to get pawns for redemption…in the course of redeeming my pawns I had several kisses from the ladies.” Buttons were used as the pawns, given by wrong guessers to those asking questions, who could then redeem the pawns in some agreed manner.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]buttonbush [FONT=&quot](n.) Cephalanthus occidentalis, a shrub with globular white flowers. A button is any small, rounded body; a globe.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]by [FONT=&quot](adj.) Incidental, in its sense of near. When Gov. Lovelace of New York instituted the first post he wrote to Gov. Winthrop of Massachusetts,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Only by-letters are in an open bag, to dispense by the wayes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]by inch of candle [FONT=&quot](adv.) A phrase referring to the fact that the bidding at a public auction was stopped when an inch-long candle, used as a timing device, burned out.[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[Wolfpaw]

[FONT=&quot]C[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]caboose [FONT=&quot](n.) The kitchen of a ship. John Rowe’s 1764 diary reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Capt. Dashwood’s Brigg caught on fire occasioned by the tar boiling over the caboose.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cachexie [FONT=&quot](n.) A sickness caused by cancer or tuberculosis. From Latin cachexia ‘a consumption; wasting.’ Robert Beverley’s 1705 description of Virginia stated:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“disorders grow into a cachexie on which the bodies overrun with obstinate scorbutic humours.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cacique[FONT=&quot] (n.) An Indian chief. The word is of Arawak Indian origin and is found in many variations. In 1609 Richard Hakluyt wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The cacique had done the same to learn his mind.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]caetus [FONT=&quot](n.) Probably a misprint of caucus. William Smith in his 1757 History of the Povince of New York wrote:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In several of their late annual conventions at New York called the caetus.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cag [FONT=&quot](n.) A small cask. Cag was used in the Plymouth Colony records in 1653.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cain [FONT=&quot](n.) The rent for land paid in its produce. A Celtic word. Robert Rogers used it in a 1777 play:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“if you are but secure and have the cain in hand.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calamanco [FONT=&quot](n.) A woolen or worsted fabric resembling camel’s hair cloth.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calamin. [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of calaminaris lapis ‘zinc carbonate,’ the basic ingredient for an eyewash.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calculate [FONT=&quot](n.) A computation, reckoning. In 1740 Robert Dinwiddie reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The calculate is taken from the years of 16 to 60.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calenture [FONT=&quot](n.) A fever affecting people in hot climates. From Spanish calentura ‘fever.’ The treatment was rest, bleeding, barley water, an emetic, and then a blister. In 1649 W. Bullock reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Being over-heated he is struck with a Calenture or Feaver, and so perisheth.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calibogus [FONT=&quot](n.) A rum drink with spruce beer and molasses added. It is suggested that the –bogus comes from bagasse ‘the residue of crushed sugar cane.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calico betty [FONT=&quot](n.) A card game. Philip Fithian in 1775 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In our dining room companies at cards. Five & forty, whist, Alfours, Calico-Betty, etc.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calipash [FONT=&quot](n.) The edible, greenish, fatty meat of a turtle attached to the upper shell, considered a delicacy.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calipee [FONT=&quot](n.) The light-yellow delicacy attached to a turtle’s lower shell.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calker [FONT=&quot](n.) An iron addition to a shoe heel. In 1740 William Byrd indelicately wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“She’ll unavoidably run a calker into her thrummy breech.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]caltrop [FONT=&quot](n.) A metal instrument with four one-inch points so that three rest on the ground and one always points up. They were strewn on the ground to pierce the feet of horses. Also called ‘crow’s feet.’ From calk ‘a pointed piece on a horseshoe’ and trap.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]calumet [FONT=&quot](n.) The ceremonial tobacco pipe used by the Indians as a symbol of peace and war. From French form of Latin calamus ‘reed.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Calvinist [FONT=&quot](n.) A member of the group which tried to “purify” the Church of England by simpler forms of worship. Founded by French theologian Jean Calvin (1509-1564), the majority of the early New England population belonged to this sect.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Cambridge Platform [FONT=&quot](n.) The rules for church conduct formulated by the New England Puritans in 1648. They were very similar to the Westminster Congress of the year before. Cotton Mather noted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A synod assembled at Cambridge…framed, agreed and published, ‘the Platform of Church-discipline.’”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]camlet [FONT=&quot](n.) A fabric made originally from camel’s hair, later from Angora goat hair and other materials. In 1713 Samuel Sewall wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Send a pattern for a cloak of good black hair camlet.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]camphor [FONT=&quot](n.) A substance extensively used as a mild irritant in liniments.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Canary [FONT=&quot](n.) Win from the Canary Islands which tasted much like Madeira. In 1722 Samuel Sewall recorded that Mrs. Winthrop:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“gave me a glass or two of Canary.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cancerroot [FONT=&quot](n.) A root parasite.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cancr[FONT=&quot]. [/FONT][FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of Latin cancer ‘crab.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Candlemas [FONT=&quot](n.) February 2. Candles for the altar are blessed at mass to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]candlewood [FONT=&quot](n.) Splinters of pitch pine used as candles or to start a fire. A 1694 Massachusetts law referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Our best pine wood alias candle wood.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]candy (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) Any crystallized substance resulting from evaporation; it looks like crystallized sugar.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot](v.) To crystallize by evaporation. In 1629 William Bradford referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“salt which they found candied by the sun.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cane [FONT=&quot](v.) To form a scum during the fermentation process. A 17th-century cookbook described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“laying a clean ragg upon ye pickle w[hic]h will keepe them from canneing.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]can hooks [FONT=&quot](n.) Hooks with which to lift barrels. A corruption of cant hook; a cant is a segment forming a sidepiece in the head of a cask.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]canker [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of cancer. William Robinson in 1659 deplored the persecution of Quakers which:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“eat you up as doth a canker.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]canoewood [FONT=&quot](n.) The wood of the tulip tree, from which Indians made dugout canoes.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]canticoy[FONT=&quot] (n.) A ceremonial Indian dance. An Algonquin word. In 1670 Daniel Denton wrote of New York Indians,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“At their Canticas or dancing Matches.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]canton1 [FONT=&quot](n.) A fabric from Canton, China. The word is generally used in combinations, such as Canton crepe.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]canton2 [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A division of a county. In 1796 Jefferson wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In the retired canton where I live.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] An Indian tribe. Instructions to the Governor of Virginia in 1771 said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“there are several nations, cantons or tribes of Indians[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]canton3 [FONT=&quot](v.) To assign quarters for bodies of troops. In 1752 James MacSparran recorded, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Four Independent Companies…are cantoned in York, Albany, Schenectady.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cap a pie [FONT=&quot](adj.) From head to foot. From French cap à pied ‘head to foot.’ Thomas Morton in 1632 writing on Puritan intolerance said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I will draw their pictures cap a pie that you may discuss them plainly head to toe.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]capcase [FONT=&quot](n.) A small covered case. Jeremy Taylor wrote metaphorically,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A woman should be the capcase of friendly toleration.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]capelin [FONT=&quot](n.) A small fish, about six inches long, related to the smelt.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cape merchant [FONT=&quot](n.) The head merchant. From Italian capo ‘head.’ All goods sent to Virginia in its early days were kept in a common store run by a cape merchant. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The President’s and Capt. Martin’s sickness constrained me [Capt. John Smith] to be cape merchant.” [1608][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]caper [FONT=&quot](n.) A Dutch privateer. From Dutch kaper ‘privateer.’ In 1672 J. Hull wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“ships…were taken by the Dutch capers.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]capais[FONT=&quot] (n.) An arrest warrant. From Latin ‘you may take.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]capital [FONT=&quot](adj.) Principal. It applied to laws as well as cities. The Massachusetts School Law in 1642 referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the capital laws of the country.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]capite [FONT=&quot](n.) Land held directly of the king. The ablative Latin caput ‘head.’ This tenure was abolished in 1660.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cappewee [FONT=&quot](n.) A spelling based on one pronunciation. See copivi, Balsam of.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]capsill [FONT=&quot](n.) The top beam of a structure. A 1681 Boston document mentions, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a survey of the North Battery wharf…only wanting of good Cap-Sills.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]captivity [FONT=&quot](n.) Slavery. Massachusetts Body of Liberties in 1641 provided that, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“there shall never be any bond-slavery, villenage or captivity among us.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]capuchin [FONT=&quot](n.) A woman’s garment resembling a Capuchin monk’s habit. An advertisement in a 1754 South Carolina newspaper offered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The ladies…covered their lovely necks with cloaks…the capuchine.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]carbonado [FONT=&quot](v.) To broil over coals. From Latin carbon ‘charcoal.’ Capt. John Smith wrote regarding Starving Time in Virginia in 1608,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“And one among the rest did kill his wife, powdered her and had eaten part of her before it was known; for which he was executed, as well he deserved. Now, whether she was better roasted, boiled or carbonaded, I know not; but of such a dish as powdered wife I never heard.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]carcajou [FONT=&quot](n.) A wolverine. From Algonquin karkajoo.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]carcass [FONT=&quot](n.) A canvas container with metal hoops and filled with combustible material that was fired from cannon to set fire to buildings or defenses. A 1775 Boston letter said, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The carcasses, bombs, and red-hot balls…fired into the town had little or no effect.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]card. benedict. [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of Carduus benedictus ‘blessed thistle,’ the salt of which was used to induce vomiting.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cardinal [FONT=&quot](n.) A short, hooded, scarlet, woman’s cloak. A red riding hood.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]card wires [FONT=&quot](n.) The wires that move guide threads through the control cards in the loom invented by the Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834).[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]career [FONT=&quot](n.) A running charge made at high speed. William Smallwood wrote in a 1776 letter,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The enemy might be checked in their career.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]carf [FONT=&quot](n.) A kerf; a cut in a tree by an axe. From Old English cyrf ‘a cutting off.’ The word is cognate with carve.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cariole [FONT=&quot](n.) A small, one-horse carriage. From French cariole ‘small, covered carriage.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Carlisle Road[FONT=&quot](n.) The roadstead, or anchorage, of Bridgetown, Barbados.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Carolina [FONT=&quot](n.) The colony of Carolina, granted by Charles II in 1663 to eight proprietors and named for him. It was not separated into North and South until 1729. In 1722 Daniel Coxe wrote A Description of the English Province of Carolina.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]carpenter [FONT=&quot](n.) The workman who did the heavy framing of a house. A joiner did the finish work.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]carriage [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) The manner of carrying oneself; bearing. The 1650 Connecticut Blue Laws referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“contemptuous carriages.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A means for conveying. In 1784 Franklin wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Braddock halted at Frederick, Maryland, for carriage.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]carry log[FONT=&quot] (n.) A pair of wheels with which to move heavy things. A 1781 Virginia document described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“want of wagons and a carry-log.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cartel [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) An agreement in writing to exchange prisoners.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A ship carrying such agreements or other proposals under safe-conduct. In Gen. William Heath’s 1798 Memoirs he wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I take the earliest opportunity by Lt. Carter, in the Harbor Cartel, to inform you of the arrival of the transports.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cartouche [FONT=&quot](n.) A cartridge. A roll of paper containing one charge of powder and ball for a gun or pistol. The 1720 Statutes of Virginia provided for:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“each man to be provided with…a horne or cartouche box suitable ammunition and a snapsack.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]caruel [FONT=&quot](n.) Caraway seeds, used medicinally to alleviate flatulence.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]carver [FONT=&quot](n.) One who cleans fish for market. In 1765 Robert Rogers, later famous for Rogers’ Rangers, wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the carver…splits the fish open.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]case [FONT=&quot](v.) To strip off the skin (case) of an animal. A 1796 cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Take a full grown hare and let it hang four or five days before you case it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cask [FONT=&quot](n.) A loosely used term for keg, barrel, butt, hogshead, pipe, tun, etc.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cass. [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of cassia fistula, the dried pods of the drumstick tree, used to treat acute constipation.”[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]casse tete [FONT=&quot](n.) An Indian war club. From French casse tête ‘break [the] head.’ In 1778 Jonathan Carver mentioned:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“bows and arrows, and also the casse Tete or war club.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cassimere [FONT=&quot](n.) A thin, twilled woolen cloth used for making men’s clothes. From Kashmir, India.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cassine [FONT=&quot](n.) A black tea, concocted from the leaves of a southern holly. The word applied to both the plant and the drink. In 1587 Richard Hakluyt wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Baskets full of the leaves of Cassine, wherewith they make their drinks.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cassock [FONT=&quot](n.) A loose, smocklike garment with buttons down the front, for men, women, and children, now worn only by clergymen. In 1624 Capt. John Smith referred to a:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Sailers canvas Cassoke.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cassop [FONT=&quot](n.) An alkaline salt related to potash[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cast (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) Help to a traveler by giving him a ride; a lift. In 1710 William Byrd’s sister:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“gave us a cast over the river.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A throw of good luck. In 1774 John Harrower prayed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“God grant that such a cast may happen to you.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) [FONT=&quot]A slight degree; a taste. William Byrd in 1722 commented,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“If a person came in their way they will crave a cast of his office.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) [FONT=&quot](v.) To thrust, as a man into prison. The 1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties stated, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It shall be in the liberty of every man cast, condemned or sentenced.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](5) [FONT=&quot](adj.) Discarded; cast-off. Benjamin Tompson in 1675 wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“comlier wear…than the cast fashions from all Europe brought.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]casting voice [FONT=&quot](n.) The deciding vote to break a tie. A 1638 Connecticut document provided that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Governor…shall have the casting voice.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]castor [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) An abbreviation of castoreum, the dried reddish-brown substance taken from the cods in the groin of a beaver. It was prescribed as a stimulant and antispasmodic. Also called beaver mineral.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A beaver; a hat, originally made of beaver fur, later of rabbit fur. A 1688 newspaper offered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“2 black hats, one a Beaver, the other a new Caster.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cat [FONT=&quot](v.) To apply the first coat of plaster. A chimney is catted when it has cat-sticks in the clay filling and is ready for plaster. A 1665 Southampton, NY, document noted:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a chimney catted and fit for daubing.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]catamaran [FONT=&quot](n.) A raft. Form Tamil katta-maram (tied tree). By 1800 it came to mean two boats lashed together. A 1758 Rhode Island newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“one brass 24 pounder was lost…by slipping off the Catamarin.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]catch [FONT=&quot](n.) A rondo; a song for three or more voices. A 1725 song praised a man who [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“heartily quaffs, sings catches, and laughs.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cate [FONT=&quot](n.) Store-bought food as contrasted to homemade. A shortened form of acate ‘a purchase’ from French acheter ‘to buy.’ In 1675 Benjamin Thompson described, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“when men fared, hardly without complaint, on vilest cates.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]catholicon [FONT=&quot](n.) A remedy for all diseases; good-for-what-ails-you pills; panacea.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]caudle [FONT=&quot](n.) A kind of warm broth, a mixture of wine and other ingredients for sick people. A 1659 diary recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Went to bed and got a caudle made me, and sleep upon it very well.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]caul [FONT=&quot](n.) A membrane covering most of the lower intestines. A 17th-century cookbook suggested using:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“some of the best of the kell shred amongst it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]causey [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of causeway, a way raised above the natural level of the ground. In 1637 a Dedham, Mass., document recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the making of a Causey & bridge over the little River.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cautery [FONT=&quot](n.) A hot iron use to cauterize, or destroy tissue by burning. From Latin cauterium ‘branding iron.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]caution [FONT=&quot](n.) The security or bond posted to insure performance. A 1793 reported stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“this coin…they giving caution for the performance of the trust reposed in them.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cavallo [FONT=&quot](n.) A food fish. The word is adopted from Italian.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]censure [FONT=&quot](v.) To condemn by judicial sentence. In the 1640s John Winthrop wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“being convict…was censured to be whipped, lose his ears and [be] banished.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]centaur [FONT=&quot](n.) A brew of the flowering tops of the knapweed Centauria nigra or milkwort; used as a tonic.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cent per cent [FONT=&quot](n.) A very high interest rate; 100%. Charles Wolley in 1697 wrote that in New York,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“they were fain to give after the rate of cent per cent.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]centrical [FONT=&quot](adj.) Central. In 1763 William Roberts described,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“From the excellent and centrical position of this fine port.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cephalic [FONT=&quot](n.) A medicine good for headache. A 17th-century Virginia doctor prescribed treatment:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“with cephalic powders.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cerv. [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of Latin cervus ‘deer.’ Deer or hart. See hartshorn.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chafery [FONT=&quot](n.) A forge in which a square mass of iron was forged into a bar. In 1679,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Forges are of two sorts…[one is] the chafery.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chafing dish [FONT=&quot](n.) A wire container holding burning coals. A 1612 book advised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Have ever ready a chaffen-dish with fire…to warm clouts.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chain [FONT=&quot](n.) A linear measure used in surveying, Gunter’s chain; four rods; 66 feet. See Gunter. Ten square chains equal one acre.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chair [FONT=&quot](n.) A two-wheeled, one-horse carriage. Also spelled ‘chaise,’ ‘cheer,’ ‘shay.’ Used in combining form as, chair horse ‘ a horse suitable for drawing a chair’; chair house, ‘a carriage house for a chair’; chair road; chair saddle; chair wheel.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chaise [FONT=&quot](n.) A carriage. Depending on where and when, two- or four-wheeled, one or two horses, covered or uncovered.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chaldron [FONT=&quot](n.) A measure of coal varying in size from place to place. In New York it was 2500 pounds. In London it was 36 bushels.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chamade [FONT=&quot](n.) A drum beat or trumpet signal to invite a parley with the enemy. From French chamar ‘to call.’ See also beat (1).[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chamoiser [FONT=&quot](n.) One who works with chamois leather. A 1732 South Carolina newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Skins are then returned to the Mill to the Chamoiser, to be scoured.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]champain [FONT=&quot](n.) Also, champaign. Flat, open country. In 1680 Charles Wolley wrote: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the island it stands on all a level and champain.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]champerty and maintenance [FONT=&quot](n.) A legal action in which a party not naturally concerned in a law suit engages to prosecute or defend it with an agreement to share in the proceeds.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chancer [FONT=&quot](v.) To make a fair settlement, as would a court of chancery.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chandelier [FONT=&quot](n.) A movable parapet serving to support fascines for the protection of men digging trenches. In 1775 Gen. Heath ordered:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Chandeliers, fascines, etc. to be made.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chandler [FONT=&quot](n.) An artisan who makes or deals in candles. A 1711 law referred to a: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“chandler or maker of candles.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]channel [FONT=&quot](n.) A groove in the sole of the shoe in which lie the stitches that fasten the sole to the upper.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chapel ghost [FONT=&quot](n.) The gremlin who mixes things up in a printing house. When type was messed up Franklin said in 1771 it was:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“all ascribed to the chappel ghost.” A printing house is called a chapel because William Caxton did his printin in a chapel connected to Westminster Abbey in 1476.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chapman [FONT=&quot](n.) A seller or marketman. From Old English ceap ‘to trade.’ In 1642 it was said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It is not meete that a man be both chapman and customer.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]character [FONT=&quot](n.) A shorthand symbol. Franklin used the word,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“If I would learn [to read] his characters.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]charge, be at[FONT=&quot] (adv.) To be financially responsible for. Poor Richard’s Almanac preached, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Craft must be at charge for clothes, but Truth can go naked.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]charger [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A device for loading a charge into a musket[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A large dish. A 17th-century cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“roule it out thin & as bigg as a charger.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chariot [FONT=&quot](n.) An ornate, four-wheeled carriage drawn by four, six, or even eight horses. In 1765 Cadwalader Colden complained that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“they broke open the Lieutenant Governor’s coach house…carried his chariot round the streets.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]charlock [FONT=&quot](n.) A weed often pernicious among grain.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]charter party [FONT=&quot](n.) The agreement made between a merchant and the master for the charter of a ship setting forth all arrangements. From French charte-partie ‘a divided character.’ It was written in duplicate on one sheet, then the sheet was cut irregularly so that the pieces could be uniquely matched together.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chase lane [FONT=&quot](n.) A narrow road. Apparently wide enough for only a chaise. A 1639 Connecticut document referred to,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A Chasse lane leading from the little River to the meeting house.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chasery [FONT=&quot](n.) A hearth where cast iron is heated in order to chase it (emboss it or cut away parts). A 1748 newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“To be sold…a Good Forge, or iron work, having three fires, viz, two finerys and one chasery.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chasseur [FONT=&quot](n.) A term used of light infantryman in the French and British armies. From the French word for ‘huntsman.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cheat [FONT=&quot](n.) A weed resembling and often growing among wheat. Also called chess. In 1786 Washington complained that the wheat:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“was mixed exceedingly with cheat.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chechinquamin [FONT=&quot](n.) Chinquapin, the dwarf chestnut. From an Algonquin word.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]check [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) The squares formed by furrows, and the points at which they cross at right angles, in a plowed field. It resembled a checker board. In 1787 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In each of these checks or crosses, a root, when it was large and looked well, was put.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A snack. In 1775 Philip Fithian wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This is an Irish settlement…will you just take a check? She meant a late Dinner.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) [FONT=&quot]A counter or chip used in certain games. In 1774 Philip Fithian observed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Often the girls play at a small game with peach stones which they call checks.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) [FONT=&quot]Restraint. Gen. William Heath in his memoirs wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to the check and disappointment of the enemy.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cheek music [FONT=&quot](n.) Eloquence. In a song William Pitt’s was described as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“cheek music.” (By 1836 the phrase had become chin music.)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cheer1 [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of chair, the vehicle.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cheer2 [FONT=&quot](n.) Provisions; food. When Mary Rowlandson was captured by the Indians in 1675 she subsisted on:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“poor Indian cheer.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cheesefat [FONT=&quot](n.) Cheesevat, the vat in which curds are confined for pressing. A 1650 document listed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“One cherne, 3 cheesefatts.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cheesepan [FONT=&quot](n.) A sieve. A 17th-century cookbook advised:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“put ye curds into yr cheespan.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chelloe [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of challis. Henry Remsen spelled it this way in a 1775 letter.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chemistry [FONT=&quot](n.) A mental process. In 1645 Nathaniel Ward described,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“such are fittest to mountebank his chemistry into sick churches and weak judgments.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chersonese [FONT=&quot](n.) A peninsula. From Latin chersonesus ‘dry island.’ The 1632 charter for Maryland mentioned,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“All that part of the peninsula or chersonese.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chess [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]cheat[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Chesterfield’s Plan [FONT=&quot]Although the advice of Lord Chesterfield in his Letters to His Son (1746-1753) reflected the manners and morals of a man of the world at that time, many people considered them immoral. As Dr. Samuel Johnson put it,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master.” Nabby Adams, daughter of Abigail and John, refused to marry actor Royall Tyler because he had a reputation for:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“practicing upon Chesterfield’s plan.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cheval-de-frise [FONT=&quot](n.) On land, a large log with spikes, used to bar roads and supplement fortifications. In rivers, it was used to rip bottoms out of ships. From French cheval ‘horse’ de Frise ‘of Friesland,’ in Holland, where they were first used. Benedict Arnold’s description of West Point said that there was:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a chevaux de fries on the West Side” of Fort Putnam.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cheyney [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of china. A 17th-century cookbook directed, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“put all these together in a cheney pot.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Childermas Day [FONT=&quot](n.) December 28, Holy Innocent’s Day, in commemoration of the children of Bethlehem slain by Herod. In 1740 William Byrd recorded that,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the children every Childermas Day go to St. Paul’s Church.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chilly [FONT=&quot](adj.) Cloudy. In 1775 John Rowe complained that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the last Madeira was chilly.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chimney glass [FONT=&quot](n.) A mirror over a mantelpiece. A 1715 Boston newspaper advertised, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“New Fashion Looking-Glasses and Chimney-Glasses.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]china [FONT=&quot](n.) A woolen material. In 1747 in Virginia Lyman Chalkley remarked: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They were robbed of…one orange-colored sitting gown, a pale china gown.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]china briar [FONT=&quot](n.) A variety of smilax from the East Indies, with no smell and little taste. A 1745 observer wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“and for greens, boiled the tops of China Briars, which eat almost as well as Asparagus.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chinae [FONT=&quot](n.) China root ‘smilax china,’ prescribed to promote perspiration and urination.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chincomen [FONT=&quot](n.) One of many variant spellings of chinquapin[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chine [FONT=&quot](n.) The spine of an animal. From French échine ‘spine.’ When in 1710 William Byrd wrote:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I ate chine and turkey,” it was probably saddle of pig and wild turkey.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chinquapin [FONT=&quot](n.) The dwarf chestnut. An adaptation of an Algonquin word. In 1709 John Lawson observed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Chinkapin is a sort of Chestnut, whose Nuts are most commonly very plentiful; insomuch that the Hogs get fat with them.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chip hat [FONT=&quot](n.) A hat or bonnet woven of thin strips of wood or palm fiber. A 1776 Boston newspaper advertised a:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“sale of chip hats.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chirk [FONT=&quot](adj.) In lively spirits, cheerful. As early as 1789 in his Dissertation on the English Language Noah Webster deplored that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“this word is wholly lost except in New England.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chirurgeon [FONT=&quot](n.) A surgeon. A 1711 North Carolina document told of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the petition of Edmond Ellis praying to be admitted Chyrurgeon for the expedition.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chitterling [FONT=&quot](n.) A frill on the breast of a shirt. Such a frill resembled the mesentery which connects the intestines to the abdominal cavity. A 1776 New Jersey document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A fine shirt with chitterlings on the bosom.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]choice [FONT=&quot](adj.) Holding dear; using with care. In 1775 Abigail Adams wrote John regarding some articles he sent her,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I shall be very choice of them.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chop1 [FONT=&quot](n.) The sides of a river’s mouth, especially in reference to the turbulent water often encountered there. In 1765 Robert Rogers wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We entered the chops of a river.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chop2 [FONT=&quot](v.) To thrust suddenly. A 17th-century cookbook directed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Chop him into a hot mash, or hot water.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chop-fallen [FONT=&quot](adj.) Dejected, dispirited. Having the lower jaw or chap fallen. Gouverneur Morris wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“His friends appeared chop-fallen.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chopin [FONT=&quot](n.) A French liquid measure equal to a pint; a Scottish liquid measure of wine equal to a quart. John Harrower, who had emigrated from Scotland, referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“One chopin sweet milk” in 1774.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chopine [FONT=&quot](n.) A shoe with a thick sole. From Spanish chapin ‘a clog with a cork sole.’ A 1645 letter referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“their high chapins.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]choque[FONT=&quot](n.) A shock. In 1750 William Byrd wrote that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“she is able to sustain the choque of Bad with the greater security.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]chunky [FONT=&quot](n.) An Indian game played with a stone and crooked sticks. Bernard Romans referred to it in 1775:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“their favorite game of chunke.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cider oil [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]cider royal[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cider pap [FONT=&quot](n.) A porridge of crushed corn and cider. In 1708 Ebenezer Cook sneered at,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Homine and Syder-pap,/ (which scarce a hungry dog wou’d lap).”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cider royal [FONT=&quot](n.) A type of cider, first concentrated by boiling or freezing, then sweetened with honey.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cinnamoni [FONT=&quot](n.) Latin ‘cinnamon,’ referring to cinnamon water, a stimulating and invigorating drink.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]circiter [FONT=&quot](adv.) Latin. Roughly. In 1729 William Doulass wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Boston is in west longitude 71° 29’ circiter.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]circumferentor [FONT=&quot](n.) An instrument used by surveyors for taking angles, now superseded by the theodolite. A 1744 Maryland document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“One Light Circumferenter for Surveying Land.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]circumvallation [FONT=&quot](n.) A surrounding with a wall or rampart.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]citizen [FONT=&quot](n.) The word applied only to males in Colonial times.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cive [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of chive, a species of leek. John Lawson in 1709 wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Garlick, Cives, and the Wild-Onions” in Carolina.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clame [FONT=&quot](v.) To daub. A 17th-century cookbook directed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Take a trencher and clame it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clamp [FONT=&quot](n.) A brush. In 1774 Philip Fithian in Virginia wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Sometimes they get Sticks & splinter one end for Brushes, or as they call them here Clamps.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clash [FONT=&quot](n.) Any opposition. In 1770 Robert Munford in a play wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I can vote for him without your clash.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]classis [FONT=&quot](n.) A governing body of the Dutch Reformed Church. From Latin classis ‘a class or division of the Roman people.’ William Smith in 1732 wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the majority being inclined to erect a classis, or ecclesiastic judicatory.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clavel piece [FONT=&quot](n.) A mantelpiece over a fireplace. From Old French clavel ‘keystone of an arch.’ John Wynter used the word in 1634.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clerk [FONT=&quot](n.) A clergyman. Today the word is cleric. In 1744 Dr. Alexander Hamilton sneered at:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the ignorance and stupidity of our Presbyterian clerks.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clever[FONT=&quot] (adj.) (1) Performing with skill and address. In 1776 The Battle of Brooklyn referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“clever horses.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] Good natured (limited to New England). A 1758 journal described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a very clever family.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cleverly [FONT=&quot](adv.) (1) In good health. Describing one who has been ill, Abigail Adams in 1784 noted, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“She is cleverly now.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] Completely. Jefferson wrote in 1788 that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“revolution…is cleverly under way.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]climate struck [FONT=&quot](adj.) Lazy. In 1724 Hugh Jones described Virginia,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the Heat of the Summer makes some very lazy, who are then said to be Climate-struck.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clip [FONT=&quot](v.) (1) The pare of the edge of a coin for the purpose of stealing some metal. To prevent this, coins were milled or had inscriptions on their edges. A 1705 Boston newspaper reported:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a Proclamation, Prohibiting the Importation of any clipt Money.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]To cut off as a punishment. In 1729 in Rhode Island, J. Comer recorded that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Nicholas Octis stood in ye pillory, and had his ears clipt for making money.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clog [FONT=&quot](n.) Any device put upon an animal to hinder motion. A 1776 Connecticut newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A horse was galled on the off side of her neck with a clog.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]close [FONT=&quot](n.) An enclosed place, an enclosed field or piece of land. A 1638 description in the Charlestown, Mass., land records mentions a place:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“bounded on the west by Bakers close.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]closet [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A small room for privacy. In 1710 William Byrd wrote that he:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“set things in order in my closet.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A large case for curiosities or valuables. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A closet full of pieces of rock crystal.” [1756][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cloth colored [FONT=&quot](adj.) Undyed. Samuel Sewall in 1725 described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“One full Suit of Striped Satin lined with Cloth-colourd Lutestring.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clothier [FONT=&quot](n.) One who fulled and dressed cloth, not a maker of clothes. A 1714 Boston newspaper referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Jeremiah Jackson Cloathier and Stuffe Weaver.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clout (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) A cleat; an iron plate on an axle tree to prevent wear.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A patch; a piece of cloth.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3)[FONT=&quot](v.) To patch clothing. Forefathers’ Song in 1630 complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“our other in-garments are clout upon clout…they need to be clouted soon after they’re worn.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clove [FONT=&quot](n.) A ravine. From Dutch klove ‘a rocky cleft or fissure.’ In 1779 Jared Sparks described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a clove which runs round that ridge on which the forts are situated.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clover [FONT=&quot](n.) In some contexts, refers to sweet clover added to medicinal plasters to give them a green color.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]club [FONT=&quot](v.) To unite for a common purpose. Franklin in 1771 recorded:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“clubbing our books.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clunce [FONT=&quot](v.) To stop up. Possibly from clunch, ‘a type of clay.’ A 1781 Maryland document included, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We never clunced the ceiling, that is stopped the cracks.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]clyster [FONT=&quot](n.) An enema. From Latin clyster ‘syringe.’ As a treatment for fever William Byrd in 1710:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“put blisters and gave her a clyster which work very well.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coach [FONT=&quot](n.) A large, ornate, four-wheeled vehicle with doors and an elevated driver’s seat, drawn by four, six, or eight horses.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coachee [FONT=&quot](n.) A carriage longer and lighter than a coach, open in front, and with only two horses.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coal [FONT=&quot](n.) Charcoal as well as coal as we know it.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coal dish [FONT=&quot](n.) A charcoal container. The word appears in a 1640 Connecticut inventory.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coaler [FONT=&quot](n.) A dealer in coal. In 1710 William Byrd referred to one.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coal wood [FONT=&quot](n.) Wood for charcoal. In 1788 Washington wrote, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Men were cutting the Tops of the Trees which had fallen for Rails into Coal-wood.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coast commission [FONT=&quot](n.) A commissions agent’s fee. A 1754 letter of instructions to a sea captain offered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“You are to have four out of 104 for your coast commission.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coaster [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) One who coasts; an idler.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A vessel carrying cargo between ports on the coast. A 1739 Boston document warned, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Our Fishery and Coasters…will be exposed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coatee [FONT=&quot](n.) A short close-fitting military tunic. Harper’s Magazine in 1775 reported, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Every officer to provide himself with a blue cloath Coatie faced and cuffed with scarlet cloath.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coat money [FONT=&quot](n.) The money given to a soldier to buy a coat. A 1775 New Hampshire document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“their wages, exclusive of Coat Money.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cobbler [FONT=&quot](n.) One who mended shoes; a cordwainer made them.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It is never well, when the cobbler looketh above the ankle.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cob house [FONT=&quot](n.) A toy house of twigs or corn cobs in imitation of a log cabin. In 1776 John Adams wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They are erecting governments as fast as children build cob-houses.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cob money [FONT=&quot](n.) Pieces of eight. From Spanish cabo de barra ‘end of a bar.’ A bar of metal was sliced and then die struck to make coins.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cock [FONT=&quot](n.) The part of a musket to which the flint is attached. The cock was drawn back and triggered to create a spark. (Guns occasionally went off half-cocked.) In 1646, during Bacon’s Rebellion,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“[fusiliers] who with their cocks bent presented their fusils at a window.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cockarouse [FONT=&quot](n.) Chief. [Algonquian][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cocket [FONT=&quot](n.) A document given by the officer of a custom house certifying that the merchandise has been entered. From French cachet ‘seal.’ A 1756 invoice included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“duty and cocket £5.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cockscomb [FONT=&quot](n.) Short for cockscomb oyster. In 1710 William Byrd wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We drank coffee and cockscomb for breakfast.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]codille [FONT=&quot](n.) In the card game omber, the loss of the game by the challenger. From Spanish codillo ‘angle.’ A 1725 song cheered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The King is forced to lose codille.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]codling [FONT=&quot](n.) An apple suitable for coddling, parboiling. See caudle.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coetus [FONT=&quot](n.) The body governing the Dutch and German Reformed Church from 1747 to 1793.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cog [FONT=&quot](v.) To cheat. A slang word from Swedish kugga ‘cheat.’ A song Newgate’s Garland, date unknown, was about:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Ye gallants of Newgate whose fingers are nice/ In diving in pockets, or cogging of dice.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cohoes [FONT=&quot](n.) A waterfall.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cohonk [FONT=&quot](n.) From Virginia Indian. (1) A winter or year.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A wild goose. In 1724, Hugh Jones writing about Virginia,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They reckon the Years by the Winters, or Cohonks, as they call them; which is a Name taken from the Note of the Wild Geese.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coif [FONT=&quot](n.) A cap worn by sergeants at law and clerics.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A close fitting white coif under the hood.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]colewort[FONT=&quot] (n.) A species of cabbage. The word has now evolved into collard.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]colica pituitosa [FONT=&quot](n.) A phlegmy colic. The term was used figuratively by Henry Muhlenberg in 1764, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a strange republic which has caught a fever or rather a suffering from colica pituitosa.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]colin [FONT=&quot](n.) A quail. Adopted from Mexican Spanish.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]collate [FONT=&quot](v.) To institute a clergyman. In 1683 James II wrote to Gov. Dongan of New York,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“And we do by these presets authorize and empower you to collate any person or persons to any churches.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Collect [FONT=&quot](n.) The pond at Pearl and Franklin Streets in New York. An English corruption of its Dutch name Kalch-hook ‘Shell point.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]college Indian [FONT=&quot](n.) An Indian who has gone to school. Hugh Jones used the phrase in 1724 writing about Virginia.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]collier [FONT=&quot](n.) A coal miner or a coal merchant.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]colloct [FONT=&quot](v.) A misreading of collect; to infer.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]collop [FONT=&quot](n.) A thin slice of meat. From Middle English scalop ‘scallop.’ A 1787 cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Cut a stale leg of mutton into as thin collops as you can.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]colluvies [FONT=&quot](n.) An accumuliation of filth or dregs. From Latin colluvio ‘a collection of dregs.’ Nathaniel Ward in 1647 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We have been reputed a colluvies of wild opinionists.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]colony [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A plantaion or settlement. In 1624 the West Indies Company addressed itself to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“All such as shall plant any colonies in New Netherlands.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A government in which the governor is elected by the inhabitants under a charter of incorporation by the king, in contrast to one in which the governor is appointed.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]colour [FONT=&quot](n.) A superficial cover, palliation, excuse. In 1765 Cadwalader Colden wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“[The leaders of the mob] wanted some colour for desisting from their designs and save their credit from the deluded people.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]comb fry [FONT=&quot](n.) A lady’s miscellaneous toilet articles. Fry is a collective term for insignificant things, e.g. small fry. In 1740 William Byrd wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“She threw her comb frey with all its furniture.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]come in [FONT=&quot](v.) To cause to enter; import. In 1710 William Byrd and his wife had a:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“quarrel about things she had come in.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]comfit [FONT=&quot](n.) A piece of dried fruit preserved with sugar. From Latin confectum ‘some-thing prepared.’ In 1722 Samuel Sewall reported that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Madame W[inthrop] served comfits to us.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]comfrey [FONT=&quot](n.) A plant whose mashed roots were used to treat wounds. In 1775 Philip Fithian said that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the Hostler…fill[ed] it with Comfrey Roots pounded Soft.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]command [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A request to get or do something. In 1718 William Byrd:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Went to know if Lord Boyle had any command to his father.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] An order for goods.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I desire to be favored with her commands for London.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commencer [FONT=&quot](n.) A candidate for a bachelor’s degree. Commencement takes place when the degree is granted.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commerce [FONT=&quot](n.) A card game in which cards were exchanged. William Byrd played it in 1718.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commissary [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A church officer representing a Bishop of the Church of England. From Latin commissarius ‘one to whom a duty is committed.’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A Vice-Admiralty judge. In 1753 a commission read,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We do by these Presents make…James Michie Esquire to be our Commissary.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commission of the peace [FONT=&quot](n.) The authority to act as a Justice of the Peace. In 1718 William Byrd:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“could get no commission of the peace for our country.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commissioners for collecting evidence [FONT=&quot](n.) An appointed body that took depositions for use in other jurisdictions. The phrase appeared in a 1780 New York document.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commit [FONT=&quot](v.) To incarcerate pending trial. After the Boston Massacre of 1770 a newspaper reported that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Capt. Preston was committed as were the soldiers who fired a few hours after him.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Committee of Correspondence [FONT=&quot](n.) A committee created by the Colonial legislatures in the 1760s and 1770s. The Virginia House of Burgesses created one:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“whose business it shall be to obtain most early and authentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament or proceedings of administration as may relate to or affect the British Colonies in America and to keep up and maintain correspondence and communication with our sister colonies respecting those important considerations.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Committee of the States [FONT=&quot](n.) A committee that acted as an executive committee when the Continental Congress was not in session.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commode [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A kind of headdress. A 1787 advertisement in Harper’s Magazine proposed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to furnish ladies with braids, commodes, cushions.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A bureau. The use of the word to apply to a piece of furniture holding a chamber pot did not appear until 1851. In 1773 “[Joseph Cox] makes commodes, dressers and toilet-tables.”[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commodious [FONT=&quot](adj.) Convenient, suitable. In 1608 Capt. John Smith described Virginia as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“pleasing and commodious.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commodity [FONT=&quot](n.) An advantage. In 1630 Francis Higginson promised:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to tell the truth and tell the discommodities as well as the commodities.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]common [FONT=&quot](n.) Any land owned by the public. It might be land held for timber or pasture, either outlying or in the center of town, as the Boston Common.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commonage [FONT=&quot](n.) The right of pasturage on a common. A 1734 Eastchester, New York, deed transferred:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the right of commonage within Eastchester olde Patent.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commonality [FONT=&quot](n.) The common people. In 1676 Nathaniel Bacon rebelled against,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“unjust taxes on the commonality for the advancement of private favorites.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commonplace [FONT=&quot](n.) Short for commonplace book, a notebook. William Byrd:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“read a little in my commonplace” in 1710.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commons [FONT=&quot](n.) The common people. In 1676 Nathaniel Bacon, speaking for his peers stated: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This we, the commons of Virginia, do declare…”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]commonwealth [FONT=&quot](n.) A free state, a popular or representative government. The term legally applied to all, but only Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia used it as such.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]communibus annis [FONT=&quot](Latin) ‘in average years.’ A 1697 report on Virginia mentioned that tobacco:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“sold communibus annis at five shillings.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]company keeper [FONT=&quot](n.) It could be a prostitute, but it doesn’t have to be. Jonathan Edwards was prone to exaggerate in 1737:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a young woman who had been one of the greatest company keepers in the whole town [Northampton, Mass.].”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]compotier [FONT=&quot](n.) A fruit dish. [From French.][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]compound [FONT=&quot](v.) To settle amicably. In 1710 William Byrd wrote that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A man came…to compound for land escheated to the Queen.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]compromit [FONT=&quot](v.) To put in danger by some previous act. In 1787 Jefferson wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The public reputation is, every moment, in danger of being compromitted with him.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]conceit [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A favorable opinion. In 1784 Franklin wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This was enough to put us out of conceit of such defenders.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A conception, thought, idea. In 1619 minutes of the Virginia Assembly contained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“such as may issue out of every man’s private conceits.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]concern [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A motivation toward religious activity. In 1772 future minister Philp Fithian referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“some under concern.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] An interest. Gouverneur Morris:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“proposed to him the supplying of the marine with provisions and offered him a concern.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]concert [FONT=&quot](v.) To arrange by agreement with someone, to form plans. A 1676 report on Bacon’s Rebellion stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“300 men, taking Mr. Bacon for their commander, met and concerted together.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]concession [FONT=&quot](n.) The 1664 grant to the inhabitants of New Jersey by the proprietors Berkely and Carteret.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]concourse [FONT=&quot](n.) A meeting; an assembly. A 1715 bulletin to the The Board of Trade referred to:
“these concourses of people.”[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]condition [FONT=&quot](v.) To make terms. In 1760 Washington wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Mr. Clifton came here and we conditioned for his land.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Conestoga wagon [FONT=&quot](n.) The covered wagon of western fame, first made in 1716 in the town of Conestoga, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It was named for a local Indian tribe whose name meant:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“at the place of the immersed pole.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]conf. [FONT=&quot](n.) An abbreviation of confection; a mixture.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]congee [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) Departing with customary civilities. Philip Fithian in 1775 wrote, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“after the ceremony of introduction, and our congees were over.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] Formal permission to leave. When Jefferson was ambassador to France,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I have not yet received my conge.” [From French congé ‘permission, leave’][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]congo [FONT=&quot](n.) A black Chinese tea. A corruption of kung-fu ‘work.’ A 1783 newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Teas: Tonkay, Congo, Bohea.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Congregational Church [FONT=&quot](n.) The established church in Connecticut and Massachusetts. All were taxed to support it.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]conner [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of cunner, the blue perch. Samuel Sewall in 1685:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Supped with a new sort of Fish called conner.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]conquedle [FONT=&quot](n.) The bobolink. Etymology unknown. In 1783 John Latham wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This species is known in the country by the names of Bob-Lincoln and Conquedle.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]construe [FONT=&quot](v.) To translate. In 1745 Yale Regulation required students to be:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“able extempore to read, construe and parse Tully, Vergil.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]contain [FONT=&quot](v.) To abide; be contained in. In 1637 John Winthrop wrote a word used chiefly in Scotland and northern England,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Two so opposite parties could not contain in the same body.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]contemn [FONT=&quot](v.) To despise, to scorn. In 1732 William Smith wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Pretending himself to be a Protestant, dissenting minister, contemning and endeavoring to subvert the Queen’s ecclesiastical supremacy.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]continental [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A soldier in the Continental Army as contrasted to one of the militia of one of the various states.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]Currency or securities issued by the Continental Congress after 1774.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]contrive [FONT=&quot](v.) John Witherspoon used an obvious ellipsis when in 1781 he wroe,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I wish we could contrive [to transport] it to Philadelphia.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]convent [FONT=&quot](v.) To call before. In 1619:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Capt. Spellman was convented before the [Virginia] General Assembly.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]conventicle [FONT=&quot](n.) A secret assembly. New Netherland Regulations in 1641 said that,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“conventicles and meetings have been held here.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]conveyancer [FONT=&quot](n.) One whose occupation is to draw deeds and leases for the conveying of property. In 1771 Franklin wrote about:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“two who were clerks to an eminent scrivener or conveyancer in the town.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]convict servant [FONT=&quot](n.) A man sentenced to being an indentured servant. A 1751 newspaper advertisement appealed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Ran away from the Subscriber, last night, a Convict Servant Man, Named Edward Sutton.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]conyfish [FONT=&quot](n.) One of several fish. Possibly named because it hides in holes of river banks as a rabbit does on land. Capt. John Smith in 1612 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We were best acquainted with Conyfish, Rockfish, Eeles, Lampreyes, Catfish.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cooper [FONT=&quot](n.) One who makes casks. In 1610 the Virginia Colony had need of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“good artificers as shipwrights, sturgeon dressers, turners, coopers, salt makers, iron men for furnaces and hammer, mineral men, gun founders, plow wrights, brewers, sawyers, fowlers, vine dresser.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]copalm [FONT=&quot](n.) A tree which produces an amber-like exudation. In 1775 Bernard Romans wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Live oak abound here, intermixed with copalm and other timber.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]copivi [FONT=&quot](n.) Short for Balsam of Copivi, a resin from several species of Copiafera; it was prescribed as a cure for gonorrhea, leucorrhea, and lung ailments.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]copperas [FONT=&quot](n.) A green vitriol; used as a dye, as an ink base, and in tanning.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coppers [FONT=&quot](n.) A game, probably another name for faro, in which one places a copper on or against his card. Caleb Rea in 1758, during the campaign against Ft. Ticonderoga, wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“No officer nor Soldier shou’d play at Cards or Coppers.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]copyhold estate [FONT=&quot](n.) A tenure of land in which the only evidence of title is in the copy of the rolls kept by the steward of the manor.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]copy money [FONT=&quot](n.) The cost of copyright. In 1771 Franklin wrote that it:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“cost him nothing for copy money.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coral [FONT=&quot](n.) The ground up coral used in medical preparations for its alkaline and absorbent qualities.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coram[FONT=&quot](adj.) From Latin, ‘before, in the presence of.’ A 1713 document, when he was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in New York, was signed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Coram, Caleb Heathcote.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cord [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) The hanging noose. A 1779 New York newspaper wrote about:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“four men of the Provincial corps, who had been made prisoners on the North River, tried and destined for the cords.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A bedcord, a rope strung on a bed frame to support the mattress. A 1653 Massachusetts document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“one bedsteed and cord.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]corder [FONT=&quot](n.) One who saw to it that the wood for sale was in full cords. In 1654 two men in Boston were:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“chosen for corders of wood.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cordial [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) Anything that comforts, gladdens, or exhilarates. In 1775 Charles Lee wrote to a friend,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The New England delegates I am told have lately received so many ribs that they want a Cordial.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A stimulating drink for medicinal purposes. William Byrd in 1710 wrote that: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Mr. Anderson advised me to give my people cordials since the other physics failed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cordwainer [FONT=&quot](n.) A shoemaker. From French cordouan ‘leather from Cordoba.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]corfish [FONT=&quot](n.) A salted fish. In 1616 Capt. John Smith wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They take nothing but small Cod, whereof the greatest they make Cor-fish, and the rest is hard dried, which we call Poore-John.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]corlear [FONT=&quot](n.) The Indian appellation for the Governor or New York. William Smith’s 1752 History of the Province of New York explained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“All Governors of New York were called corlear by the Indians in honor of a dutchman called Corlear who in 1665 saved Indians at Schenectady from the French.” The Corlears Hook section of Manhattan, at the end of Grand Street, on the East River, is named for him.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cornet [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) The officer in a cavalry troop who carried the flag. In 1707 in Braintree, Massachusetts,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Cornet Jos Allin was chosen Town Treasurer.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A woman’s headdress, originally Dutch, with two horn-like lace points.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]corporation [FONT=&quot](n.) Cooperation was purposely misspelled in 1780 song A Pastoral Elegy to rhyme with oration,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They forc’d our Troops to ground their arms and eke their corporations.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]correspondency [FONT=&quot](n.) A relationship. In 1619 the Virginia House of Burgesses tried to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“keep them in such good respect of correspondency.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]corruption [FONT=&quot](n.) Any putrid matter, pus. In 1692 Cotton Mather, describing one bewitched in Salem, Massachusetts, who had a sore lanced, wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“several gallons of corruption ran out of it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]corslet [FONT=&quot](n.) A piece of body armor. In 1644, Southampton, New York, decreed that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Euery man within this towne that beareth arms shall haue a sufficient coslet of clabboard or other wood.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cosmographer [FONT=&quot](n.) One who describes the world. Charles Wolley in 1678 reported that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The City of New York by Dr. Heylin and other cosmographers is call’d New Amsterdam.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cossas [FONT=&quot](n.) Plain Indian muslins. From Hindu khassah ‘special.’ A 1790 Pennsylvania newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Two yard Pullicat Cossacs.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cottrel [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of cotterel, a pot hook. A 1651 Massachusetts document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“an iron pot, tongs, cottler & pothooks.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coulter [FONT=&quot](n.) The fore-iron of a plow that cuts the earth. A 1664 Connecticut inventory included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a share & culter.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Council of Estate [FONT=&quot](n.) A council created for the governance of Virginia under the instructions of the Virginia Council to Gov. Gates in 1609. It consisted of Philip, Earl of Montgomery, William, Lord Paget, and Sir John Starrington.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Council of Trade [FONT=&quot](n.) A council made up of the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, and ninety-nine others was committed with the care of the trade with the plantations in America by Charles II in 1660. It was superseded by the Board of Trade and Plantations in 1696.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]countenance [FONT=&quot](v.) To favor; encourage. In 1749 Franklin wrote of the need to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“encourage and countenance the youth.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]counter bond [FONT=&quot](n.) A bond or security posted to indemnify another. A 1729 Philadelphia newspaper offered them for sale.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]country custom [FONT=&quot](n.) Business from the surrounding countryside. In 1771 Washington had “country custom coming in” to his mill at Piney Branch.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]country mark [FONT=&quot](n.) A distinctive tribal scar on a slave’s face. A 1754 South Carolina newspaper wrote of a slave:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“with several of his country marks down each side of his face.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]couranteer [FONT=&quot](n.) A newspaper publisher. From Dutch krant from korant ‘newspaper.’ The New England Courant in 1722 reported:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A full Meeting of the Couranteers, Gazeteers, &c.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coureur de bois [FONT=&quot](n.) From French, ‘a runner of the woods.’ A Canadian hunter, trapper, or trader. A 1700 New York document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“severall of the French Coureurs de Bois or hunters.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]course [FONT=&quot](v.) To place in orderly rows. A 1685 Maryland bill was:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“For the carpenter for pulling down the dormant windows of the court house and coursing the same with good boards.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]court baron [FONT=&quot](n.) A court conducted by the lord of a manor to punish offenses of tenants and to settle disputes involved less than 40 shillings. From Latin curia baronis ‘court of the baron, (or lord.)’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]courtier [FONT=&quot](n.) A supporter of the royal court, a Tory. Philip Fithian in 1774 surmised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I conclude he is a courtier.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]court leet [FONT=&quot](n.) A sheriff’s court for criminal offenses below the degree of treason. Leet is from an Old English word, ‘coming together, meeting.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]court messenger [FONT=&quot](n.) The official messenger of a civil jurisdiction. Claes van Elslant was the court messenger whom Van Tienhoven, the fiscal of New Amsterdam, sent in 1654 to chase the men from West Chester.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Assistants [FONT=&quot](n.) The court in Massachusetts, organized in 1630, consisting of the Governor, Deputy Governor, and elected Assistants. It exercised both legislative and judicial power.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Chancery[FONT=&quot] (n.) A court of equity[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Common Pleas [FONT=&quot](n.) A civil court[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Exchequer [FONT=&quot](n.) A court of record in Virginia, administering justice in question of law and revenue. In 1771 the Governor of Virginia was instructed to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“take care that a court of exchequer be called.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of General Sessions [FONT=&quot](n.) A criminal court.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]court of guard [FONT=&quot](n.) Not a court at all, but a guardhouse. A corruption of the French phrase corps de garde ‘guard-house.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Judicature [FONT=&quot](n.) A court of appeals.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Ordinary [FONT=&quot](n.) The probate or surrogate’s court in New Jersey, Georgia, and South Carolina.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Oyer and Terminer [FONT=&quot](n.) A court in New York and Virginia (1683-1691) with civil, criminal, and appellate jurisdictions. Directly from Old French meaning ‘to hear and determine.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Quarter Sessions [FONT=&quot](n.) A criminal court, meeting quarterly. In 1732 Poor Richard’s Almanac reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Courts of Quarter Sessions are held at Philadelphia.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court of Vice-Admiralty [FONT=&quot](n.) A court for marine cases.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cousin-german [FONT=&quot](adj.) Closely related. The word is related to germane ‘akin,’ rather than to Germany. Gouverneur Morris described an expression as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“cousin-german to contempt.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cover [FONT=&quot](v.) To cause (animals) to breed. Washington once wrote that he:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“had a mare covered.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coving [FONT=&quot](n.) An arched projection supporting an upper story of a house. In 1713 Samuel Sewall:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“observed the water to run trickling down a great pace from the Coving.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]covenous [FONT=&quot](adj.) Collusive, deceitful. The 1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties referred to,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“all covenous or fraudulent alienations or conveyances of land.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cowboy [FONT=&quot](n.) An outlaw with Loyalist sympathies who ravished The Neutral Ground, southern Westchester County, New York, from the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 until government was reestablished in 1783. See skinner.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cowkeep [FONT=&quot](n.) One who tended the town cattle. In 1643 the citizens of Plymouth, Massachusetts, voted that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“John Smythe shal be the Cowe Keep for this yeare to keep the Townes Cowes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cowl [FONT=&quot](n.) A large tub. A 1640 Connecticut inventory included,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“4 brueing vessells, 1 cowl, 2 firkins.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cow lease [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A pasture.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]The right to pasture in common, commonage. In 1642 in Massachusetts a man bequeathed his farm:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“reserving a peece of land called the cowleas.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cowpen [FONT=&quot](v.) To fertilize land by penning cattle on it. In 1760 John Clayton wrote that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A fresh piece of Ground…will not bear Tobacco past two or three years, unless Cow-penn’d.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cowskin [FONT=&quot](n.) A rawhide whip. In 1738 Franklin suggested that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A good cowskin, crabtree, or Bulls pizzle may be plentifully bestowe’d on your outward man.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cow walk [FONT=&quot](n.) Common pasture land. In 1652 a man bequeathed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“My three divisions in the Cow walke of Dorchester [Mass.].”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]coxcomb [FONT=&quot](n.) A superficial pretender to knowledge. Gouverneur Morris in 1774 wrote that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The troubles in America during Grenville’s administration…stimulated some coxcombs to rouse the mob.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cozen [FONT=&quot](v.) To cheat. The etymology is debatable, but it may be from cousin ‘kinsman, to cheat under pretext of kinship.’ In 1620 William Bradford wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the rogue would cozen him.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crabs’ eyes [FONT=&quot](n.) A concretion on the head of a fresh-water crawfish. It was prescribed to treat acid stomach and as a laxative.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crackling [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) Fat after rendering. A cookbook called for:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“1 qt. sifted corn meal and a teacup of cracklin.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] Corn bread containing crackling.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cracknell [FONT=&quot](n.) A hard, brittle cake. A 1701 dictionary defines it as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A sort of cakes made in shape of Dish and bak’d hard, so as to crackle under the Teeth.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cradler [FONT=&quot](n.) A workman who had rods attached to his scythe to catch the flax when he mowed it. In 1766 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“pulling flax…and two cradlers hired.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crail [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of creel, a wicker fish trap. Today it applies to the basket in which fish are placed after being caught on a line. In 1775 James Adair wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Indians…catching fish in long crails made with canes and hickory splinters, tapering to a point.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crank1 [FONT=&quot](adj.) Liable to capsize. From Dutch krengen ‘careen.’ John Harris’ 1704 Lexicon defined it as,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the Sea Term for a Ship that Cannot bear her Sails…for fear of oversetting.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crank2 [FONT=&quot](adj.) Bent. A 1701 document referred:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to a tree called the crank tree.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crape [FONT=&quot](v.) To curl hair, to form into ringlets. From French crèpe ‘curled.’ In 1774 Philip Fithian described one of the Carter girls’ hair,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It was crap’d up with two Rolls at each side.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]credence, letter of [FONT=&quot](n.) A letter commending the bearer. In 1666 the Maryland legislature instructed the Lieutenant General to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“draw the letters of Credence from Mr. Charles Brooke.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]credit [FONT=&quot](n.) The capacity of being trusted. In 1766 Gov. Bernard of Massachusetts wrote of something:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“proved by the oaths of two gentlemen of credit.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]creeper [FONT=&quot](n.) A pair of small andirons set between a larger pair to hold shorter logs, etc. Someone in 1655 in Massachusetts bequeathed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a p[air] of creepers & p[air] of toungs.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crib [FONT=&quot](n.) A small wooden raft. In 1776 Charles Carroll wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The small rafts were called cribs.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cricket [FONT=&quot](n.) An early form of bat and ball game with as few as two on a side. From Old French criquet ‘hooked stick.’ William Byrd played it in 1710 with two on a side on one occasion, with four on another.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crimp [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) An unscrupulous recruiter for ships’ companies. In 1758 John Blake wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a crimp…who makes it his business to seduce the men belonging to another ship.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]An agent for a shipping company. In Franklin’s Autobiography, first published in 1791, he reported that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a crimp’s bill was put into his hand.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cripple [FONT=&quot](n.) A swamp. A 1647 deed described land as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“extending along a meadow to a cripple or brushwood.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crisping pin [FONT=&quot](n.) A curling iron. In 1790 Mercy Warren in a poem referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“wimples, mantles, curls and crisping pins.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]croaker [FONT=&quot](n.) A predictor of misfortune. In his Autobiography Franklin wrote in 1771,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crock [FONT=&quot](v.) To black with soot. In 1781 Thomas Hutchinson wrote, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The thunder cloud gathered black enough to crock charcoal.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]croes [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of croze.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cronocko [FONT=&quot](n.) Virginia Indian, advisor. In 1618 William Strachey writing about Virginia mentioned:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“his cronoccoes, that is councellours.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]croop [FONT=&quot](n.) Probably a Scottish pronuciation and spelling of crop. John Harrower (who was born in Scotland) recorded in his diary:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“spinning [his] croop of cotton at night.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crooper [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of crupper, a horse’s rump. In 1705 Samuel Sewell confessed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“My horse fell with me this Journey, broke my crooper.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crop (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) A distinctive cut to indicate ownership. The 1699 Mamaroneck, NY, town records state,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The mark of Capt Jeams mott a half Crop on the uper side of the Left ear.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot](v.) To cut off one or both ears as punishment. In 1773 in Connecticut a man was:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“punished by branding, cropping and imprisonment.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cross cloth [FONT=&quot](n.) A head band.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cross dollar [FONT=&quot](n.) A Peruvian coin depicting a cross on one side, worth, in 1704, four shillings, four pence, three farthings.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cross garnet [FONT=&quot](n.) A door hinge. A 1653 Massachusetts document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“two payer of cross garnet & a payer of esses for doores.” (You can almost hear the down-east accent.)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cross or pile [FONT=&quot](n.) The gambling game of flipping a coin. A corruption of French croix ‘the obverse of a coin’ ou ‘or’ pile ‘the reverse of a coin.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]croup [FONT=&quot](n.) Diphtheria, not merely the respiratory ailment and cough, although the word is of imitative origin. The cure prescribed was the juice of roasted onions.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crowd [FONT=&quot](n.) A descendent of an ancient Celtic six-stringed instrument. From Middle English croude ‘belly.’ In 1774 Dr. Alexander Hamilton reported that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the miller, I found, professed music and would have turned his crowd to us.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crowdy [FONT=&quot](n.) A thick oatmeal.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crowner [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant spelling of coroner. Roger Williams in 1656 referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the Crowners Inquest.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crown glass [FONT=&quot](n.) The finest English window glass; later superseded by cylinder glass. An advertisement in a 1725 Boston newspaper offered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the best Sort of London Crown Glass to put over prints.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]croze [FONT=&quot](n.) The groove at the end of a barrel stave which admits the head. The 1730 Virginia Tobacco Law governed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“hogsheads, which exceed eight and forty inches in the length of the stave, or thirty inches at the head, within the croes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crud [FONT=&quot](adj.) Unripe, unrefined, unprepared. A shortening of the Latin crudis ‘crude, raw.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crump [FONT=&quot](adj.) Crunchy. A 17th-century cookbook described vegetables as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“crump and green.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crupper [FONT=&quot](n.) A horse’s rump. Sometimes used to apply to humans as in:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“jigg her crupper at dancing school.” To come a cropper is to fall on one’s backside, especially by being thrown over a horse’s croup.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]crusado [FONT=&quot](n.) This Portuguese silver coin had a cross on it because Alfonso I (1112-1185) had been a crusader.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cry [FONT=&quot](v.) To auction. In 1644 in New Haven,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The marshall is to cry all lost things.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cucking stool [FONT=&quot](n.) A chair into which a scold or a dishonest tradesman was fastened. Passerby could throw objects or insults at the victim. Occasionally the chair would be taken to water and the victim ducked. The word comes from Old Norse kuka ‘dung,’ from the resemblence of the stool to that which held a chamber pot. In 1665 the court in Maine ordered that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“every town shall take care that there be a pair of stocks, a cage and couking stool.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cuckold [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of cockle, burdock, a plant having small barbed fruits.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cucumber tree [FONT=&quot](n.) The magnolia tree, whose fruit looks like a small cucumber.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cuddy [FONT=&quot](n.) A small ship’s cabin under the poop deck; sometimes a cook room. In 1649 John Winthrop recorded that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“he threw himself in at the door of the cuddy.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cuffee [FONT=&quot](n.) A word used for a Negro. From Tshi (the language of the Gold Coast) Kofi ‘the name given to boys born on Friday.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]culheag [FONT=&quot](n.) A type of trap. Probably an Indian word. In 1784 Jeremy Belknap in New Hampshire recorded that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“we saw the culheags or log-traps, which the hunters set for sables.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]culler [FONT=&quot](n.) An inspector who selects, or culls, merchantable hoops and staves for market.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]culliver [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of caliver, a kind of handgun, musket. In Connecticut in 1676 it was required that each man have:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“one good and seruiceable firelock gunn, viz a musket, culliver or curbine.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cully [FONT=&quot](n.) One easily tricked, culled, or imposed on. William Byrd in 1740 referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“so many cullys at the other end of town.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]culm [FONT=&quot](n.) A species of coal, difficult to ignite and yielding a smell. A 1703 law imposed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“duties upon Coles, Culm and Cynders.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]culverin [FONT=&quot](n.) A long, slender field piece with long range. An adaptation of the French culevrin, from Latin colubra ‘snake.’[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cup [FONT=&quot](v.) To employ a method for raising blood or other fluid to the surface of the skin. Heated cups were placed on the skin; as they cooled a vacuum was created causing a welt or wheal. In 1757 Franklin reported that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“they cupped me on the back of the head.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]curricle [FONT=&quot](n.) A chaise with two wheels drawn by two horses abreast. In 1775 Andrew Burnaby wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“At colonel Washington’s I disposed of my horses, and, having borrowed his curricle and servant I took leave of Mount-Vernon.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]currier [FONT=&quot](n.) One who dressed and colored leather after it was tanned. Edward Peggy was a “curryer” in Boston in 1685.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]curry. [FONT=&quot](n.) A shortening of currency. In 1760 Washington referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“£1700 curry.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]curtain [FONT=&quot](n.) The rampart of a fortified place between two bastions. A 1741 South Carolina document described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a square Fort…with four Bastions; the Curtain about sixty yards in length.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]curtalax [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of cutlass, a broad, curving sword. In 1685 a Boston man bequeathed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to my son Daniel Gookin…my curtelax.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cusk [FONT=&quot](n.) A burbot. In 1624 Capt. John Smith noted:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“cuske or small Ling, Sharke, Mackarell.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]customer [FONT=&quot](n.) A customs collector. In Massachusetts in 1649,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Edward Bendall…chosen customer for the yeare ensuing.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cut (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) Something less than a full meal. In 1770 Washington:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“would not stay for dinner, taking a cut before it.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot](v.) To castrate. In 1710 William Byrd recorded that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Mr. Mumford cut my young horse.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cutler [FONT=&quot](n.) One who makes cutlery, knives, or other cutting instruments. In 1771 Franklin worte,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“My father at last fixed upon the cutler’s trade.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cut money [FONT=&quot](n.) Fractions of the Spanish dollar, which was frequently cut into halves, quarters, and eighths, and the pieces circulated as coins.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cut off [FONT=&quot](v.) To kill, probably by cutting off one’s head. In 1710 William Byrd hired Tuscarora Indians:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to cut off those Indians that committed the murder in Carolina.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cut work [FONT=&quot](n.) Lace, open work.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cuttoe [FONT=&quot](n.) A large knife. In 1654 land was bought on Long Island, they had to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“pay to the afore said Ratiocan, Sagamore, three coats, three shirts, two cuttos.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cylinder glass [FONT=&quot](n.) Glass made into a cylinder after which it was cut and flattened. This process, introduced in 1752, eliminated the knob found in crown glass.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cymling [FONT=&quot](n.) A squash. A 1779 New Jersey document recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We…destroyed a large country of corn, pumpkins, cymlings, cucumbers.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]cyttle [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of kettle. In 1634 in Maine John Wynter wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The chimney is large…we can brew and bake and boyl our cyttle all at once.”[/FONT]

 

[Thande]

Cool find!

 

[Wolfpaw]

Cool find!

Thanks, Thande

"D" should be up soon.

 

[Wendell]

This is great. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Nilats]

Are you typing all of this???

 

[Wolfpaw]

Are you typing all of this???

Yup ...........

 

[Wolfpaw]

D​

dabble (v.) To tamper, meddle. In 1744 John Harrower referred to:
“seeing so many dabbling wives at Johnsmiss.”

daggle (v.) To run through mud and water. William Byrd went:
“daggling through the rain after him.”

d—n (v.) John Leacock used the word in a 1776 play. It seems that it was all right to say it, but not to print it, although it appears spelled out in Webster’s 1806 Dictionary.

damascene (n.) A damson plum. The tree was introduced into Greece and Italy from Damascus, Syria. In 1693 Increase Mather wrote about:
“choice Damascen Plumbs.”

Damien and Ravillac (ph.) The former suffered martyrdom in the third century for which he was sainted. The latter was François Ravillac, murderer of Henry IV of France (1553-1610). An anonymous writer in 1774 said,
“the tortures of Damien and Ravillac would be rendered abortive.” This is an example of the literary allusions which complicate the reading of documents of an earlier age when education and referents were much different from ours.

damnify (v.) To damage. In 1775, a book on animal husbandry instructed to:
“condemn and burn that which appears damnified or insufficient.”

dangerous (adj.) In a perilous condition. In 1776 a woman wrote,
“My husband was wounded…he is very dangerous.”

dart (v.) To shoot. In 1774 Philip Fithian admitted that Princeton students:
“dart sunbeams upon the townspeople” with mirrors.

date (v.) Dog feces. Pomet’s Compleat History of Drugs (1712) recommended,
“Take the powder of the white date of a dog…to take the stayns out of linnen.”

daub (n.) The mud and plaster with which to fill the open spaces of a log house.

deaden (v.) To kill. James Adair in 1775 wrote that the Indians:
“deadened the trees by cutting through the bark.”

dead men’s caps (n.) A growth found at the base of certain trees. In 1675 John Josselyn recorded,
“There is an excressence growing out of the body of the tree called spunck or dead men’s caps.”

dead shout (n.) In 1758 Robert Eastburn as a former captive of the Indians reported,
“They frequently every Day gave the dead Shout, which was repeated as many Times, as there were Captives and Scalps taken!”

deal (n.) A division of a piece of timber, a board or plank. In 1724 Hugh Jones wrote,
“may be found cood Clapboards, Pipe Staves, Deals, Masts.”

death head (n.) A skull or design resembling one. A 1776 Boston newspaper advertised,
“death head buttons.”

decline (n.) A deterioration caused by disease. In 1778 Jonathan Carver thought that rock liverwort:
“is esteemed as an excellent remedy against declines.”

decreation (n.) A dialectical rendition of recreation. Robert Mumford in a 1776 play wrote,
“Why might not their servants have little decreation.”

decretal (adj.) Pertaining to a decree. A 1689 Pennsylvania document was:
“persuant to a Decretall order.”

decumbent (n.) One lying down. In 1722 Dr. William Douglas wrote about:
“more decumbents, the infection [smallpox] was the more intense…October…was the time of the greatest decumbiture and mortality.”

de die in diem (ph.) Latin, ‘From day to day.’ In 1771 George III instructed the Governor of Virginia:
“You are not to allow them [the legislature] to adjourn themselves otherwise than de die in diem except Sundays and Holidays.”

dedimus (n.) Authorization as a judge, from Latin ‘we have given.’ In 1711 Samuel Sewall recorded,
“By a dedimus, Col. Phillips…and my self.”

deed poll (n.) A deed not indented, made by one party only. So called as it is cut straight across, polled, rather than indented as it would be were two parties to sign.

defensif (n.) A covering for a wound to keep air out.

delenda est Carthago (ph.) Latin, ‘Carthage must be destroyed.’ In a 1775 speech before the Second Continental Congress rejecting Lord North’s motion of reconciliation, a delegate used the exhortation immortalized by Cato the Elder (234-149 BC):
“An avowed partisan of ministry has more lately announced against us the dreadful sentence, ‘delenda est Carthago.’”

delve (v.) To dig, to open the ground with a spade. A Scots immigrant returned home in 1774 because:
“he could not raise so much corn by delving as would maintain his family.”

demicastor (n.) A hat made of beaver fur and some additive. See castor. A 1654 Massachusetts will bequeathed,
“1 Tafetie Scarfe, 6s; 1 demycaster.”

demur (n.) (1) In law, a demurrer. A pleading in an action that the opponent’s claim is insufficient and the action should be stopped.
(2) In ordinary speech, an objection. In 1775 John Rowe wrote,
“I bought them…and twill be a great hardship to have…a demur about them.”

denizen (n.) A citizen. In New York in 1664 the law provided,
“That whoever shall take the Oathes is from that time a free Denizen.”

deodand (n.) A personal chattel which caused the death of a person. It was forfeited to the king and sold for the benefit of the needy. In the patent for the Manor of Scarsdale, NY, from William III to Caleb Heathcote in 1701, it said,
“enjoying the premises, & every parte & parcel of the same, & all waifes, estrays, deodands, & goods of felons, happening, or to happen, being or to be, forefeited within the s[ai]d Lordship or Mannour of Scarsdale.”

derange (v.) To throw into confusion physically. In 1771 Franklin wrote,
“He deranged all our mercantile operations.”

descant (v.) To comment, to discourse. In 1749 Franklin advocated teaching:
“morality, by descanting and making continual observations on the causes of the rise or fall of any man’s character.”

desobligeant (n.) French. ‘A chaise for only one person;’ also, ‘unobliging.’ One cannot, with room for only one, be very obliging. In 1770 Franklin:
“Got into my desobligeant to go home.”

despot (adj.) A dialectical spelling of desperate, meaning ‘great or very.’ A character in a 1781 play commented in rather foppish, affected speech:
“This is despot good tea.”

detinue (n.) An action to recover personal property obtained unlawfully (if you couldn’t get the culprit for piracy). In 1742 William Bollan, King’s Advocate in Boston, wrote to the Board of Trade,
“As a cure of this mischievous trade is that actions of detinue be brought against some of the principal offenders.”

devil’s weed (n.) The hawkweed. In 1731 J. Seccomb advocated,
“Some Devil’s Weed, And Burdock Seed to season well your porridge.”

devoirs (n.) An act of civility or respect. In 1775 Philip Fithian wrote,
“After the ceremony of introduction and our devoirs were over.”

devotion (n.) The state of being dedicated; ardent love or affection. In 1722 William Byrd wrote,
“If her daughter had been but one year older, she should have been at his devotion.”

diabetis (n.) An emission of a long, continued, increased quantity of urine. In 1739 William Byrd discreetly wrote,
“Goblins scare a maid and her mistress into a diabetis.”

diachylon (n.) A soothing medicinal plaster that contained several juices. The word comes from the Greek for ‘very juicy, succulent.’

dialth See marshmallow

diapalm (n.) An irritating medicinal lead plaster. It originally included palm oil.

diaper (n.) A linen fabric originally came d’Ypres, ‘from Ypres,’ Belgium. A 1686 inventory included:
“four diaper table cloths.”

diascordium (n.) The dried leaves of the water germander, or scordium, were mixed with honey to stimulate stomach action.

diaseterion (n.) A powder of the herb satyrion mixed with honey; used as an aphrodisiac. A 17th-century cookbook prescribed,
“3 drams of diaseterion.”

dicker (n.) A group of ten. From Latin decem ‘ten.’ It was used as a unit of trade of hides or skins.

diet (v.) (1) To feed; to board. In 1771 Franklin wrote,
“and there I lodged and dieted.”
(2) To provide food. A 1782 Virginia document reported,
“two shillings for dieting a soldier.”

diet drink (n.) A medicinal drink. Jonathan Carver in 1778 noted that wintergreen can be used:
“as a diet-drink for cleaning the blood.”

dimity (n.) A stout, ribbed linen cloth resembling corduroy. A 1778 Boston newspaper offered:
“India Dimothy, Buttons and Twist, Snail Trimmings” for sale.

dingeely (adv.) Painfully as a result of bouncing. An adaptation from the verb ding, ‘to strike or bounce.’ In 1704 Sarah Knight wrote,
“This bare mare hurts me Dingeely.”

dingle (n.) A narrow dale or valley. A 1660 Massachusetts document stated,
“Land lyes betweene two dingles.”

dip (v.) To baptize by immersion. In 1782 Lucinda Dalrymple referred to:
“six people to be dipt.”

Director General and Council of New Netherland (n.) The Director General was appointed by the Assembly of XIX and was tantamount to Governor of the province. The Council consisted of five men, the Provincial Secretary, and the Schout.

discommodity (n.) A disadvantage. See also commodity

discover (v.) To uncover, disclose. In 1771 Franklin wrote,
“He would not discover the author.”

dismal (n.) A swamp. In 1763 Washington wrote,
“5 miles from the aforesaid mills, near to which the Dismal runs.”

disoppilate (v.) To clear obstruction.
“Sassafrass comforteth the liver and stomach and doth disopilate.”

disordered (adj.) Disorderly. William Byrd in 1717 wrote that:
“my cousin Braye had been disordered, for which I gave him a good scolding.”

disrest (v.) To disturb. Benjamin Church in 1696 hoped:
“to disrest and remove the Enemy from that Post.”

disseize (v.) To dispossess wrongfully from freehold land. The Federation of Rhode Island in 1647 provided,
“No person in this Colony shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseized of his land.”

dissuetude (n.) The failure to exercise or assert a privilege. In 1640 Freedoms and Exemptions of the West India Company appears,
“in case of privilege, innovation, dissuetude, customs, laws.”

distaff (n.) The staff of a spinning wheel to which a bunch of flax or tow was tied and from which the thread was drawn.

distemper (1) (n.) A political disorder, tumult. John Winthrop in 1645 wrote about:
“such distempers as have arisen.”
(2) A disease. A 1750 Pennsylvania law referred to:
“mortal and contageous distempers.”
(3) (v.) To make drunk. In 1656 William Bradford wrote,
“About 80 lustie men…did so distemper them selves with drinke as they became like madd-men.”

distress (v.) To harass. In 1771 Franklin wrote of interferences with business that:
“distress’t our trade.”

dittany (n.) Pennyroyal; also, sometimes, snakeroot. It was brewed as a drink to counter nausea and it had a strong smell. Charles Wolley in 1678 wrote,
“Penny-royal or Ditany, whose leaves bruised are very hot and biting upon the Tongue, which being tied in a clift of a long stick, and held to the nose of a Rattle Snake, will soon kill it by the smell and scent thereof.”

divident (n.) A share or division of land. A 1624 Virginia statute provided:
“that every private planters devident shall be surveyed.”

division (n.) (1) A share or allotment of land; a divident. In Providence in 1721 a man received:
“Eleven acres of Land…upon the forty acre devision.”
(2) A discord, variance, difference. In 1774 Gouverneur Morris wrote to John Penn,
“I was present at a grand division of the city.”

dock (n.) A sheltered area, as a cove, where ships anchor. A 1648 Boston documentrecorded,
“The accounts of Mr. Hill…Edward Bendall about the cove or dock.”

dog dollar (n.) A Dutch silver dollar depicted a lion o the obverse, jokingly described as a dog. A 1697 Virginia document referred to
“52 Dollars, commonly called Lyon or Dog Dollers.”

dog fox (n.) A male fox. A female is a bitch. Washington often hunted foxes. In 1769 he noted,
“Started and killed a Dog fox.”

dog whipper (n.) One hired to chase dogs out of church. In 1662 in Massachusetts,
“The owner of the dogs shall pay sixpence for every time they come to meeting, that doth not pay for the dog whipper.”

dogwood (n.) A brew from the flowers, fruit, and outer bark of the dogwood tree prescribed to counteract fever and malaria; a brew from the inner bark, taken for dysentery. In 1717 William Byrd
“took dogwood which made me sleep pretty well.”

don (n.) An important person, or maybe one who just thinks he is. From the Spanish title of respect. In 1744 Dr. Alexander Hamilton wrote of the Hungarian Club in New York,
“To talk bawdy and to have a knack att punning passes among some there for good sterling wit. Govr. Clinton himself is a jolly toaper and…is esteemed among these dons.”

dool (n.) A variant of dole, a boundary. A 1653Massachusetts law provided,
“In Cace That any neglect to set up Dools by stacks or fences They shall paie 5s.”

dopping stool (n.) A cucking or ducking stool. In 1654 in Portsmouth,
“It is ordered that a dopping stool shalbe made into this toowne and sett at the side of the po[n]de.”

dormant (adj.) Neglected, unused. A 1662 Plymouth law referred to:
“both meddow lands improved or dormand lands.”

dornick (n.) A coarse fabric used for curtains; it originally came from Doornick, Belgium (French Tournai). A 1648 Massachusetts will bequeathed,
“a payre of darnicle Curtaines & Vallens.”

dorp (n.) The Dutch word for ‘village,’ used in New Netherland and later in New York.

dorseteen (n.) A dorset cloth; a low grade, plain-woven cotton or wool fabric. It was advertised for sale in a 1774 Philadelphia newspaper.

double bowl (n.) A punch bowl that held two quarts. A tavern in Newburyport, Maine, rendered a bill for:
“A double bowl punch.”

double house (n.) A house with rooms duplicated on each side of the entrance. A 1726 Boston newspaper offered,
“To be Sold, A well built brick double House, in good repair.”

doublet (n.) A double-thick garment fastened in front, generally without sleeves, worn by women or, usually, me. In 1675 Benjamin Tomson rhymed,
“Deep-skirted doublets, puritan capes/ Which now would render men like upright apes.”

doubloon (n.) A Spanish gold coin worth sixteen silver dollars. Originally double the value of a pistole. In 1757 Richard Haddon, commander of the privateer Peggy, testified,
“Having on Board ten Doubleloons.”

dowd (n.) A nightcap. William Byrd in 1740 wrote,
“Tho she put on nothing but the dowd she lay in.”

dower (n.) Property owned by the bride at the time of her marriage. Washington’s diary in 1760 refers to:
“3 Dower Negroes” and a “dower plantation,” and in 1769 he:
“Rid over [his] dower Land.”

dowlas (n.) A coarse linen cloth originally from Daoulas, Brittany. A 1780 Philadelphia newspaper offered:
“check dowlas.”

dowry (n.) The share of a man’s estate which a widow holds for her lifetime. See also dower. A 1708 deed provided,
“free of initials, jointers, dowries, extents.”

doxy (n.) A prostitute. A character in a 1776 play said,
“I’ll go and inform his Lordship and his pair of doxies; I suppose by this time they have trimmed their sails, and he’s done heaving the log.”

dozens (n.) A coarse woolen cloth, Devonshire kersey. In 1629 a man ordered a:
“suit of Northern Dussens.”

drab (n.) A heavy, woolen cloth used for overcoats. Undyed it was a drab color. A 1713 Massachusetts document stated,
“He is making a Coate of extraordinary good drab.”

draft (n.) (1) An upper branch of a stream. A 1742 report in Maryland stated,
“We follow the Greatest Longest Branches & Drafts.”
(2) A drawing. A 1778 letter to Gen. Gates spoke of:
“orders for our having an equal draft for our clothing.”
(3) An allowance for error made in weighing. In 1757 William Thompson wrote,
“To put his Foot into the Scale to weigh it down to make the Draft good.”

drag (1) (n.) A kind of harrow.
(2) The trail of scent left by a fox. In 1772 Washington wrote,
“Touched the Drag where we found the last, but did not move the fox.”
(3) (v.) To hunt a fox with dogs. In 1773 Washington:
“dragged a fox for an hour.”

dragee (n.) A sugar-coated nut or fruit; also, a sugar-coated medicinal pill. In 1774 Monsieur Lenzi offered:
“All sorts of sugar plums, dragees, barley sugar, white and brown sugar candy…for sale.”

draggle tail (n.) A skirt dirtied by dragging on the ground. A song sang of:
“Girls with their milking pails, who trudge up and down with their draggle tails.”

dragon beam (n.) A short horizontal beam in a hip roof of a house. There are also a dragon summer and a dragon tie.

dragon’s blood (n.) The rhizome of draconis calamis. It was ground, and, in different mixtures, prescribed for diarrhea, catharsis, and syphilis.

dragoon (n.) A mounted infantryman. Whereas cavalry fought on horseback, dragoons scouted, pursued, and moved on horseback, but dismounted to fight. The word is derived from a firearm called a dragon, which spit fire from its mouth. Benedict Arnold’s 1780 estimate of the strength of the garrison at West Point included:
“Colonel Sheldon’s Dragoons.”

drail (n.) A fishhook used for trolling. An adaptation of trail, which one does when one trolls. In 1634 William Wood wrote,
“These Macrills are taken with drails.”

drake (n.) A small piece of artillery. From Latin draco ‘dragon.’ See dragoon. In 1649 John Winthrop recorded,
“at their landing the Captain entertained them with a guard and divers vollies of shot and three drakes.”

dram (1) (n.) A drink of whiskey, taken in one gulp. Technically it is 1/8 fluid ounce. The word comes from the Greek coin drachma which weighed in apothecaries’ weight, 1/8 ounce. By extension there are dram bottle, dram cup, and dram shop. John Rowe’s 1774 diary refers to:
“my leather dram bottle.”
(2) (v.) To drink drams. In 1771 Franklin recorded,
“They discovered his dramming by his breath.”

draper (n.) A dealer in cloth.

draught (n.) A piece of land to be acquired by drawing lots. A 1673 Connecticut law provided,
“Every man hence forward shall have their draughts of land.” See also drafts with which it was often interchangeably used.

draw (v.) (1) To take from an oven or kiln. In 1760 Washington:
“began drawing bricks, burning lime.”
(2) To eviscerate. A 17th-century cookbook instructed,
“Take a fat capon & pull & draw it.”

drawback (n.) (1) A deduction from profit. A 1775 letter regarding a cargo said,
“However considerable you may consider this drawback I assure you it is much less than I apprehended would have been the case from the miserable situation of the cargo.”
(2) A remission of duty upon the export of imported goods. In 1771 Gov. Dunmore of Virginia was instructed to enact,
“An Act to prevent Frauds in the Drawback of the Duties on Liquor imported into that Colony.”

drawboy (n.) Originally, a boy who drew a loom’s harness cords; later the mechanism that did it; also, the kind of cotton cloth so made. A 1776 Boston newspaper advertised,
“124 pieces hairbines, 32 pieces draw-boys, 150 dozen cuttoe knives.”

drawers (n.) In addition to the undergarment which one draws on one’s legs, Franklin called a pajama-like lounging garment which he wore in hot weather his:
“long drawers.”

drawing plaster (n.) A poultice that promoted the formation of pus.

drawn way (n.) A road for hauling or drawing wood. A 1640 Dedham, Mass., law referred to:
“who can so euer hereafter shall annoy any high way or drawen way.”

draw window (n.) A window opened by drawing inward.

drench (n.) Any medicine forcibly given. In 1750 Thomas Walker wrote,
“I rub’d the wounds with Bears oil, and gave him a drench of the same.”

Dresden work (n.) A lace made by removing some threads and drawing others together to form patterns.

dress (v.) (1) To put in good order. In 1643 Roger Williams worte,
“They plant it, dresse it, gather it.” Also, the Pennsylvania Flour Inspection Act of 1725 referred to:
“ill dressed or unmerchantable wear.
(2) To search thoroughly. A 1676 Connecticut document recorded,
“We girt the s[ai]d swamp and with English & Indian souldrs drest it, and within 3 hours slew and tooke prisoners 171.”

dresser (n.) One employed in preparing or trimming anything. A sturgeon dresser prepares fish for cooking. A leather dresser finishes leather after tanning.”

dressing glass (n.) A mirror over a dressing table. A 1732 South Carolina newspaper offered for sale,
“Sconces, and dressing Glasses.”

drift (n.) A driving. Hence, drift highway, driftway, a common road for driving cattle. A 1751 deed in Mamaroneck, NY, states,
“Beginning at a heap of Stones which is the South east Corner of the Underhill Budds Land and the Northwesterly Side of a Drift way left by the proprietors of Mamaroneck between the Great lots and lower lots.”

drill (n.) A cotton material with a diagonal design. From German Drillick ‘triple-twilled (thread).’ The 1792 Congress felt:
“It would…be good policy to raise the duty…on…drillings, osnaburgs, ticklenburgs.”

drink (v.) To smoke, to inhale. In 1638 Roger Williams wrote,
“Arthur called him to drink tobacco.”

drisk (n.) A drizzly fog. Samuel Sewall in 1717 recorded that:
“my calash defended me well from the Cold Drisk.”

driver (n.) (1) One who impounded cattle and swine. In 1686 Charlestown, Mass., townspeople:
“Chose…drivers of the sd pasture.”
(2) A slave acting as a slave driver. In 1772 Col. Joseph Habersham had:
“A most valuable Negro…The fellow is my Driver at Dean Forest [Georgia].”

droger (n.) A cargo vessel. In 1781:
“a droger, laden with tobacco” was seen off Maryland.

drop shot (n.) The firearm shot made by dropping molten lead in a shot tower to get it perfectly round. A 1638 Maryland document referred to:
“a rondlett of drop-shot, 2 gunnes.”

drove (n.) A group of Negro slaves. They were treated so impersonally that a group was sometimes referred to as one would refer to a drove of horses or cattle. Robert Rogers did so in 1765,
“Their droves of negroes are employed round the year.”

drover (n.) One who dealt in cattle and sheep; also, one who drove them. In 1774 a writer reported that:
“The factor was also a drover.”

drugget (n.) A wool cloth for wearing apparel. It was one of the products mentioned in the Woollen Act of 1699.

drum (n.) A noisy gathering in a private home. John Andrews in a 1773 letter wrote of:
“a drum or rout given by the admiral last Saturday evening.”

dry bones (n.) A skinny person. In 1737 Jonathan Edwards reported,
“The noise amongst the dry bones waxed louder.”

dry salter (n.) A dealer in salted or dry meats, pickles, etc. It was one of the trades which in 1681 William Penn said depended on navigation.

ducape (n.) A stout silk cloth. Origin uncertain. Widow Hendly offered:
“Ducapes and castor hats” for sale in a 1783 Philadelphia newspaper.

ducatoon (n.) A silver coin, Italian or Flemish, first struck in 1598. A little ducat. A 1671 Maryland document referred to:
“Sterling duccatones att Seaven Shillings.”

ducid (adj.) Phonetic spelling for deuced, ‘devilish.’ One line of Yankee Doodle goes,
“Upon a ducid little cart.”

ducking stool See cucking stool. In 1663 Maryland passed:
“An Act for the Erecting a Pillory Stocks and Ducking stoole in every county.”

duffel (n.) A coarse but soft woolen cloth widely used for trading with the Indians. It was originally made in Duffel, near Antwerp, Belgium. Among other things Stephanus Van Cortlandt gave:
“14 fathoms of Duffels” to the Indians for land in 1677.

Duke’s Laws (n.) When the British took over New Netherland from the Dutch, the Duke of York convened delegates from all the towns in the province. They enacted a code of laws for the governance of the province of New York on June 24, 1665.

dumb betty (n.) A mechanical device such as a dumb waiter or a washing machine. A 1766 Boston newspaper wrote of:
“The utility of Tubs, Cags, and Dumb-Bettys.”

dum latet in herba . (ph.) Latin, ‘While hiding in the grass.’ In 1679 Charles Wolley chose to say it in Latin.

Dumpler See Dunker.

dun (n.) A mayfly. William Byrd in 1740 wrote,
“If a dun happens to ruffle his temper.”

Duncard See Dunker.

dunfish (n.) A dunned codfish. Twice salted, the fish became dun colored. A 1776 Boston newspaper advertised,
“Choice Dumb-Fish.”

dung (v.) To manure with dung. A 1775 book said,
“The raising of hemp required rich land and dunging.” See manure.

dunghill fowl (n.) An ordinary chicken. In 1689 Samuel Sewall recorded that:
“Mr. Mather, Son and I sup’d on two Dunghill fowls.”

Dunker (n.) A member of the German Baptist Brethren. So called because they dipped three times in the ceremony of baptism. From German tunker ‘to dip.’ Also Dumpler, Duncard.

durance (n.) A glazed woolen stuff called by some ‘everlasting.’ In 1744 James MacSparran recorded,
“My wife put her red Durance Petticoat in the Frame.”

durante placito (ph.) ‘During pleasure,’ from Latin. The 1767 South Carolina Remonstrance deplored:
“marriages that are only temporary or durante placito.”

durham boat (n.) A large, shallow-draft boat. It was used on the Delaware River, could carry 50 to 60 casks of flour, and was named for its designer.

duroy (n.) A coarse woolen fabric like tammy; not the same as corduroy. A 1715 Boston newspaper advertised,
“Winter Goods, Shallouns, Duroys.”

Dutch (adj.) German. Probably in confusion with German Deutsch ‘German.’ The word survives in Pennsylvania Dutch.

Dutch gold (n.) An alloy of 11 parts of copper and 2 of zing; used as a substitute for gold leaf. In 1749 Franklin wrote,
“Take leaf gold, leaf silver, or leaf gilt copper, commonly called leaf brass or Dutch gold.”

Dutch oven (n.) There were two types: a covered cast-iron pan to hold burning coals, and a brick oven in which a fire was built, then removed. Both were used for baking.

Dutch pound (n.) In 1678 Charles Wolley wrote that in New York:
“a Dutch pound contains eighteen ounces.”

Dutch quill (n.) A pen from Holland, hardened by heating. A 1778 Boston newspaper advertised:
“Dutch Quills, Spinnet Hammers, Japan’d Waiters.”

Dutch stove (n.) A German stove. It was stoked from a room other than the one heated. In 1744 Franklin commented,
“You do not lose the pleasing Sight nor Use of the Fire, as in the Dutch stove.”

 

[Thande]

Re the last ones, remember in colonial America "Dutch" and "German" were still used interchangeably (compare "Deutsch"). People normally said "Hollander" to mean people or things from the Netherlands (as is still the case today, people mistakenly thought Holland and the Netherlands are synonymous).

 

[Wolfpaw]

[FONT=&quot]E[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]ear mark [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A cut on the ear of an animal to indicate ownership. In 1738 W. Stephens in Georgia wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He swore that his Hogs were all marked with the same Ear-Mark.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]earnings [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A curdled milk or rennet. From Middle English erne ‘to curdle.’ A 17th-century cookbook instructed to:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Put in a little mild earning in a gallon of new milk.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]earwig [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An insect reputed to crawl into people’s ears; hence, a sycophant or whispering busybody who metaphorically crawls into people’s ears. In 1778 Lady’s Magazine wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Instigated by some of those dirty earwigs, who will for ever insinuate themselves near persons in high office.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Eastland merchants [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Those traders from countries bordering on the Baltic Sea. In 1681 William Penn listed them as ones benefitting from navigation.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]easy [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) Not burdensome, moderate. Samuel Sewall in 1700 commented,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Though they might have it at easy rates.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ebenezer [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A song of praise to God. Cotton Mather in 1693 said,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Many an Ebenezer has been erected unto the Praise of God.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ebo [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A slave from the African Ibo tribe. A 1732 South Carolina newspaper advertised,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Stolen…an old Ebo Negro Man.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ebullition [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The operation of boiling. In 1721 Cotton Mather wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I must mightily take heed unto my own Spirit, and watch against all Ebullitions of Wrath, lest being provoked, I speak unadvisedly with my Lips.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ebulum [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The juice of elder and juniper berries, spiced and sweetened.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]economist [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) One who manages domestic concerns frugally. Philip Fithian in 1775 described the wife of his employer,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Mrs. Carter…a remarkable economist.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]écu [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A French silver coin. It was about the size of an English crown and depicted an écu ‘shield.’[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]eddo [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A variety of arum. An African word from the Gold Coast, in 1775 Bernard Romans wrote that it:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“is good food for negroes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]edging [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The land bordering a shore. In 1783 a Long Island, NY, man bequeathed,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“my edgings from the beach to the beach channel.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]eelpout [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A delicate fish resembling an eel. In 1775 Bernard Romans wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Besides these there are three Species of Eel Pouts.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]effulgent [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) Shining, bright. In 1774 John Trumball rejoiced,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The morning dawns, the effulgent star is nigh.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]elaboratory [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A laboratory, a munitions factory. In 1776 Congress authorized:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a magazine…and also…an elaboratory adjacent.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]elbow chair [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An armchair. Samuel Sewall in 1696 wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I reach’d the elbow chair to him and with my Arms crowded him into it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Election Court [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) In Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, the General Assembly which elected the colony’s officers. William Bradford in 1656 spoke of:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“ye spring of ye year, about ye time of their Election Court.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]electuary [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A confection of powders and honey. A 1756 medical book noted that:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the antiscorbutic Electuary…is very efficacious in this disease.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]elixir [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) In medicine and in general use, a liquid with more than one component. Sometimes intoxicating.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ell [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A measure of length. In the Colonies the English ell of 45 inches was used. In other countries it designated other lengths. Originally it was the distance from the elbow to the tip of one’s fingers. William Bradford in 1630 wrote of:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“125 yards of kersey, 127 ellons of linen.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]embassage [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The sending of an ambassador. Thomas Morton in 1632 wrote of undertaking:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“an embassage to treat with foreign princes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]embody [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To form or collect into a body. In 1675 Connecticut:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Ordered, that each county does speedily rayse…sixty soulders…who shall be imbodyed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]emolument [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Profit. The 1668 royal patent to John Richbell for Mamaroneck and Scarsdale, NY, entitled him to:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“all other profits, immunities and emoluments to the said parcel or tract.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]emulous [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) Desirous or eager to imitate. William Eddis in 1792 wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Attracted by the moderation and equity of his government [they] were emulous to obtain settlements.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]en cavalier [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](French) Arrogantly. In 1739 William Byrd used the phrase to describe the way Mrs. Spotswood’s sister, Miss Theys, greeted the Governor.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]enfeoff [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To grant a freehold estate. A 1683 Indian deed to Stephanus Van Cortlandt in New York provided,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to barain, sell, alein enfeof and confirm.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]enfranchise [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To make a freehold, a land lease in perpetuity. In 1687 the royal grant to John Pell in New York involved:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“land…held, deemed…be an intire infranchised townshipp, manner and place…[to] have, hold and enjoy.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]engage [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To promise. See gage. In 1760 Washington recorded,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Call’d at Mr. Possy’s…after he had engaged to let me have it at 20/.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]engine [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A trap or snare; often abbreviated to gin. In 1616 Capt. John Smith wrote of young Indians,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He is very idle who is past twelve years of age and cannot do very much; and she is very old who cannot spin a thread to make an engine to catch them.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]enginery [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A machination. In 1766 Robert Rogers mentioned:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“all the engin’ry of love at work.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]English corn [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Any cereal except Indian corn; maize. In 1698 Samuel Sewall reported:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a plentifull Harvest both English and Indian.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]English grass [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Bluegrass. In 1785 Washington complained,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The little rain which fell prevented my continuing to pull the seeds of the bleu or English grass.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Englishman’s fly [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A bee. In 1778 Thomas Anburey wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Indains…have no word for a bee, and therefore they call them…the Englishman’s fly.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Englishman’s foot [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A plantain. In 1687 botanist John Clayton wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“As to our Plantain, they [Indians in Virginia] call it the Englishman’s foot.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]English potato [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An Irish potato. In 1750 James Birket remarked,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They have…English or whats commonly called Irish Potatoes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]English school [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An elementary school. A 1780 New Jersey document stated that:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“an English School is kept contiguous to the Academy, where Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and several Branches of the Mathematics are taught.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]engross [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) (1) To copy in a large hand. Statutes were engrossed when they were ready for final action. The Declaration of Independence was engrossed on July 3, 1776.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot](2) [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]To purchase large quantities with a view to sell again. In 1771 instructions to the Governor of Virginia stated,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“large tracts of land have been engrossed by particular persons.” Also, in 1710 a Boston newspaper reported,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Our Governor has Issued a Proclamation, prohibiting all persons to engross any large quantities of all sorts of provisions.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]enjoy [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To get pleasure from. When in 1710 William Byrd wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In the afternoon I enjoyed my wife,” he meant ‘physically.’[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]enlist [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To enter on a list. In 1768 Washington:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“began to enlist my Corn Ground at the mill.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ensign [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The lowest commissioned officer in the infantry; he carried the ensign or flag. In 1756 Washington wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I can instance several cases where a captain, lieutenant, and…ensign…will go on duty at a time.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]entail [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The limiting of the settlement of a landed estate to issue or certain classes of issue. A 1708 deed to part of Ridgefield, CT, mentioned,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“will, intails, joynters, dowries…extents.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]enter [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To file a claim to land by entering, or recording it in a land office.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]entertain [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To keep in service. William Byrd in 1710 wrote of:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“getting evidence against the men who entertained my negroes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]entertainment [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) Provisions and lodging. The 1767 South Carolina Remonstrance referred to:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“ a tavern…[to] provide entertainment for man and horse.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Provision for the table. In 1675 Mary Rowlandson complained,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We were feeble with our poor and coarse entertainment.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]entry [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The act of entering. Also, the land obtained in this way. In 1733 William Byrd:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“rode with my Overseer to a new Entry I had made on Blue Stone Creek.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]environ [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To surround. Capt. John Smith described Indians hunting,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Having found the deer, they environed them with many fires.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]epispastic [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) Blistering.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]equivote [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A tie vote. The 1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties provided that:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the Governor shall have a casting voice whensoever an Equi vote shall fall out.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]erf [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A land measure about one half-acre, from Dutch. A 1675 New York deed (eleven years after Dutch withdrawal) still mentioned:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“making over ye said erve or parcell of land.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]erminet [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A material spotted to look ermine. A 1754 South Carolina newspaper advertised,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“cotton gowns, fine striped hollands, erminets, blue and white printed handkerchiefs.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]eryngo [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The sea holly. A 17th-century cookbook instructed,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“take a pound of fayre oryngo roots yt are not knotty.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]escheat [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The land forfeited to the state because a man died intestate or for want of an heir or claimant; also, the forfeiting thereof. The 1771 instructions to the Governor of Virginia included:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“You do not dispose of any forfeitures or escheats to any person…”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]espontoon [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A spontoon or half-pike; a spear with a crossbar. The 1792 Congress provided that:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the commissioned officers shall Severally be armed with a sword or hanger, and espontoon.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Esquire [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The title given to any owner of a large tract of land. It was also the title given to a Justice of the Peace, but as nearly every lawyer in colonial America at one time became a J.P., the title ultimately devolved on all lawyers. The word was originally squire from Latin scutarius ‘shield-bearer.’[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]essoin [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) An excuse for neglecting to appear in court. The 1660 Navigation Act provided,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Wherein no essoin, protection or wager of law shall be allowed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]estate [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A condition. In 1608 Capt. John Smith wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“[We] greatly refreshed our weak estates.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]estrange [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To pass ownership. A 1661 deed in Mamaroneck, NY:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“ doe this day alienate and estrange from mee, my heires and assignes.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]estray [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A beast that has strayed from its owner. The 1701 grant to Caleb Heathcote for Scarsdale, NY, read,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“William The Third…doe…grant…all waifs, estrays, deodands & goods of fellons.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ethiopian [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A Negro. A 1722 Boston newspaper reported:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Having in his Garden a plentiful Crop of Rare Ripes, he agreed with an Ethiopian Market Man.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]euphorbium [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The sap of the spotted spurge was a strong emetic and laxative; in a plaster it was used for palsy. The plant, originally from Africa, was named for Euphorbus, a Greek physician to Juba, King of Mauritania.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Evangelical [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](adj.) Anglican.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Evangelists of the Almighty God [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The four gospels. A 1717 document mentioned:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“being sworn on the holy Evangelists.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]even [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A shortening of evening. In 1692 Samuel Sewell referred to,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“last sabath day sennight at even.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]everlasting [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A wool or wool-cotton cloth for clothing. See durance. It was advertised for sale in a 1783 Philadelphia newspaper.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]excite [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To call into action. The 1767 South Carolina Remonstrancehoped that:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“learned and goodly men may be excited to come over to us.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]execution [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) The carrying into effect of a court sentence. In the 1677 charter of West New Jersey:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“And if he…[is] condemned by legal trial…[to] lie in execution till satisfaction of the debt.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]exequatur [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A written recognition issued to a consul or commercial agent. An adopted Latin word meaning ‘he may perform.’[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]exercise [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) To conduct a religious service. In 1633 John Winthrop wrote,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Refusing to leave either the place or his exercisings, he was disenfranchised and banished.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]exhibit [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](v.) (1) To pay for maintenance. In 1722 a grant was given at Harvard,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The yearly interest [is] to be exhibited to such members of the College as need it.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]To present at court. A 1704 Boston newspaper reported,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“[Men] were brought to the Barr, and the articles exhibited against them read.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]expin [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A linchpin; a pin through an axle to keep the wheel from slipping off. A 1648 inventory included,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“waine, wheels, expinns.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]expostulation [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) Reasoning with a person in opposition. The 1643 New England Articles of Confederation said,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“without any further meeting or expostulation.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]ex supra abundatandi [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](ph.) Latin, ‘generously from above [The States General].’ In 1634 the patroons of New Netherland wrote to The States General,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Patroons Colonies were ex supra abundatandi confirmed.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]extent [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A writ commanding a sheriff to value the land of a debtor. A 1708 deed in Connecticut provided,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“free of…will, intails, jointers, dowries…extents.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]eye servant [/FONT] [FONT=&quot](n.) A servant one had to keep one’s eye on. In 1717 William Byrd described one who:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Would make an admirable overseer where servant will do as they are bid, but eye-servants who want an abundance of overlooking are not so proper to be committed to his care.”[/FONT]

 

[Wolfpaw]

[FONT=&quot]F[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fabian [FONT=&quot](adj.) Delaying, dilatory. In imitation of the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus who conducted operations against Hannibal in 202 B.C. by harassing him but declining decisive battles, thus living to fight another day. A 1777 Philadelphia newspaper said, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Washington persisted in his Fabian system of defense.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]facetious [FONT=&quot](adj.) Merry, jocular. From Latin facetus ‘well made, choice, elegant.’ In 1775 Philip Fithian wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He calls the Doctor facetious, sensible and prudent.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]facit [FONT=&quot](adj.) Artificial. Derived from Latin facit, the third person singular, present tense of facere ‘make.’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]factor [FONT=&quot](n.) An agent. From Latin. A 1742 letter from New York to the Board of Trade said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Trade from Holland is carried on by factors here for the sake of their commission.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]faculty [FONT=&quot](n.) A personal quality. A 1623 document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“trades, professions and faculties of all the pass[enger]s.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fag end [FONT=&quot](n.) The useless, untwisted end of a piece of rope. The phrase was often used metaphorically. Thomas Morton in 1632 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The fag end of it he passes away, as a superfluous remnant.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]faggot [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A bundle of sticks used for fuel. In 1780 Benedict Arnold described the defenses of West Point as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“easily fired with faggots dipped in pitch.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] A bundle of pieces of iron or steel ready to be heated and rolled out into bars. A 1714 Boston newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“To be sold…best English Steel, in Fagotts.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fain [FONT=&quot](adj.) Glad, pleased. In 1646 William Bradford recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This fellow was so desperate a quarreler, as the captain was fain many times to chain him under hatches from hurting his fellows.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fair chance [FONT=&quot](n.) A card game. William Byrd played it in 1717.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]faith [FONT=&quot](adj.) Faithful, In 1679 Charles Wolley recordedm[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“[Indians] are faith guides in the woods in times of peace and dangerous enemies in times of war.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]falchion [FONT=&quot](n.) A short, curved sword. From Latin falx ‘sickle.’ A 1783 song referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“her patriot faulchion sheaths.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fall [FONT=&quot](n.) A wide, unstarched collar. A 1673 inventory included,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“12 pa[ir] fr[ench] falls.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fall back [FONT=&quot](adj.) Designating a type of chaise whose top could fall back. A 1776 Boston newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A Fall Back Chaise with harness compleat.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fall down [FONT=&quot](v.) To sail toward. A nautical term. In 1649 John Winthrop wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The White Angel fell down for Plymouth.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]falling sickness [FONT=&quot](n.) Epilepsy.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]falling weather [FONT=&quot](n.) Any bad weather when rain or snow was falling. 1760 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In the Evening it…promised falling weather but no appearance of a thaw.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fall out [FONT=&quot](v.) To happen; to occur. The 1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties provided that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the Governor shall have a casting voice whensoever an Equivote shall fall out.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fallowed [FONT=&quot](adj.) Plowed and harrowed for sowingat some future date; allowed to lie fallow. In 1769 Washington wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Fallowed Ground…containd abt. 40 Acres.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]false conception [FONT=&quot](n.) A conception in which no fetus is produce; the placenta undergoes deterioration and is discharged. William Byrd in 1710 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“She was delivered of a false conception.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]famed [FONT=&quot](adj.) Much talked of; renowned. In 1756 Dr. Thomas Lloyd claimed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I am sensibly famed.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]familist [FONT=&quot](n.) One of the religious sect called the Family of Love, an Antinomian sect created in Holland by Hendrik Niclaes. Cotton Mather in 1702 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There was a generation of Familists in our town and other towns who…did secretly vent sundry and dangerous errors and heresies.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]family [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A religious unit. In 1772 John Woolman:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“visited Joseph White’s family.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]The staff of an army officer. In 1780 Robert Harrison deposed that Col. Richard Varick was:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“in and one of the late Major General Arnold’s family.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fancy goods [FONT=&quot](n.) Any novelties to strike one’s fancy. A 1772 Boston newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A large and extensive assortment of staple and fancy Goods.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fandango [FONT=&quot](n.) A dance, a ball. An adopted Spanish word. A 1780 New Jersey document recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They were found at a fandango or merry-meeting, with a party of lasses.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fanega [FONT=&quot](n.) A Spanish measure which varied in size from one to one and a half bushels. 1774 orders to a sea captain referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“20 fanegas of almonds.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fantastical [FONT=&quot](adj.) Unsteady; irregular. William Byrd deplored:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the man so tame as to be governed by an unprofitable and fantastical wife.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]farcy [FONT=&quot](n.) A disease of horses and mules, sometimes of oxen, akin to scabies or mange. A 1706 document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“curing your horse of Cold & farsey.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fardel [FONT=&quot](n.) A bundle or pack. Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A woman should be but the fardel of friendly toleration.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]farina [FONT=&quot](n.) A pollen. In 1770 Washington wondered:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“whether the corn for want of the Farina will ever fill.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]farm [FONT=&quot](v.) To lease the right to collect taxes on an area. In 1698 Lord Bellomont reported to the Lords of Trade that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Brooks…has gon and farmed the Excise of the county of West Chester to Col. Heathcote for seaven pounds.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]farmer [FONT=&quot](n.) The owner of the right to farm. See farm. In 1643 a Massachusetts document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“customers, farmers & collectors of customs.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]far nations [FONT=&quot](n.) Those Indians living west of the seaboard as far as the Mississippi. So referred to by William Smith in 1757.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]farrier [FONT=&quot](n.) A smith who shoes horses and professes to treat their diseases. A 1723 Boston newspaper asked,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Why take you no Notice of Sow-gelders & Farriers that take the title of Doctor?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]farthingale [FONT=&quot](n.) The framework, usually whalebone, that makes a hoop skirt hoop. A corruption of old Spanish verdugado, same meaning.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fascine [FONT=&quot](n.) A long, bound bundle of brushwood. Used both to make military defenses and in the assault on them. In 1780 Benedict Arnold, describing the defenses at West Point, wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Fort Arnold is built of Dry Fascines and Wood.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fast [FONT=&quot](n.) That which fastens, a hawser by which a ship is made fast. In 1720 Samuel Sewall recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In the…Storm…several Ships were driven from their fasts at the Wharf.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fast land [FONT=&quot](n.) The upland. Fast in the sense of ‘firm or secure; safe from flooding.’ A 1681 Delaware deed referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“724 acres of fast Land.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fault [FONT=&quot](n.) Having lost a scent while hunting. In 1786 Washington complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I came home and left the Dogs at fault.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Fayal [FONT=&quot](n.) A wine made on Fayal, one of the Azores. A 1776 Boston newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Sale on John Hancock wharf…Fayal wines.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fearnaught [FONT=&quot](n.) A very thick woolen cloth for clothing. A 1775 Philadelphia newspaper wrote of a:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“fearnaught jacket” on a runaway.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feather, rise to a [FONT=&quot](ph.) To lose one’s temper easily. In 1794 Jefferson reflected,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Being so patient of the kicks and scoffs of our enemies and rising at a feather against our friends.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]featheredge [FONT=&quot](n.) Clapboard. One edge is thinner than the other. John Harrower in 1774 wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“new weather board on the house with featherage plank.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feather merchant [FONT=&quot](n.) A loafer or slacker; a person of questionable honesty. A 1784 Boston newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A couple of feather merchants were taken up here last week for passing counterfeit French Guineas.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fee (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) A feudal legal term. According to Sir William Blackstone in his 1767 Commentaries on the Laws of England:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Feodum, or fee, is that which is held of some superior, on condition of rendering him service.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot](v.) To pay a fee to. In West New Jersey, according to its 1677 Charter:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“No person shall be compelled to fee an attorney.” [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feedings [FONT=&quot](n.) A rich pasture. The 1697 Cortlandt [NY] Manor grant included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“fields, feedings, woods.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fee-farm lease [FONT=&quot](n.) A lease in perpetuity; a freehold subject to a fixed yearly rent.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fee simple [FONT=&quot](n.) A fee without limitation; an interest in land in one or more persons exclusive of anyone else. A 1655 Massachusetts deed said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A good perfect and Absolute estate of inheritance in fee simple.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feetail [FONT=&quot](n.) An interest in land limited to lineal descendents. An Act of the 1769 New York Assembly included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a freehold in lands, messuages, or tenements, or rents, in fee, feetail or for life.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feeze (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) A state of fretful excitement or alarm. From Middle English fesen ‘to drive away.’ A 1647 Rhode Island document included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Without making any assault upon his person or putting him in a fease.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot](v.) To drive away. In 1689 Cotton Mather wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A Devil would…make her laugh to see how he feaz’d ’em about.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feign [FONT=&quot](v.) To cover up. From Latin fingere ‘to form, mold, feign.’ Franklin in 1771 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“His proselytes would be left at liberty to feign for him.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feist [FONT=&quot](n.) A small dog. In parts of England a feist was a puff ball. Hence a small dog from its appearance. Washington in 1770 referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a small foist looking yellow cur.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feliticy [FONT=&quot](n.) The prosperity. In 1754 the records of Princeton College referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“several gentlemen…[from] New Jersey who were all wishers to the felicity of their country.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fellmonger [FONT=&quot](n.) A dealer in skins fells or hides.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Glovers, Fellmongers, and Furriers are orderly turned to their trades,” wrote Edward Johnson in 1654.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]felloe[FONT=&quot] A variant of felly.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fellowship [FONT=&quot](n.) The arithmetic method of computing a partner’s proportionate profit or loss. In 1775 Philip Fithian recorded that,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Harry began at reduction and is now working Fellowship.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]felly [FONT=&quot](n.) A two-spoke, wooden section of the rim of a wheel. Also felloe. Franklin in 1773 referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the new Art of making Carriage wheels, the Fellies of one piece.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]felon de se [FONT=&quot](n.) A suicide; felo-de-se. In 1659 in Massachusetts,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“these persons…become felons de se and the sovereign law salus populi been preserved.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]female hemp [FONT=&quot]See [/FONT][FONT=&quot]karl[/FONT][FONT=&quot].[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fence viewer [FONT=&quot](n.) One who saw to it that fences were erected and maintained. In 1791 on Long Island,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The fence viewers shall have half a croun a day for viewing fences.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fennel [FONT=&quot](n.) An herb. A bew of fennel seeds was taken to counteract nausea.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fenugreek [FONT=&quot](n.) An Asiatic plant whose seeds were an ingredient in curry. From Latin foenum Graecum ‘Greek hay.’ Washington sowed some in 1765.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feofee [FONT=&quot](n.) A trustee holding land for a minor, or a trustee of a school for the public use. 1653 Harvard records show,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I am willing to refer it to the President and Feofees & Overseers.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]ferret [FONT=&quot](n.) A narrow tape, usually of cotton or silk, used to tie leather breeches at the knee or to tie up documents. Green ferret had the meaning that red tape does today. From Italian fioretti ‘floss silk,’ literally ‘little flower.’ A 1765 Boston newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Tammy, Paduasoy, Shalloons, Camblets, Alopeen, Bombazeen, Silk Ferretes, Ticks.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feu de joie [FONT=&quot](French) ‘Fire of joy.’ A joyous firing of guns timed to effect a continious noise to mark a celebration. In his 1778 orderly book Maj. Fishbourne referred to a:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“joie de feau.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]feverbush [FONT=&quot](n.) One of several bushes from which remedies for fever were made. Jonathan Carver in 1778 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Fever Bush grows about five or six feet high.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fief [FONT=&quot](n.) An inheritable right to land with a mutual obligation and protection by the lord on one hand and a duty of homage and service to him on the other. The 1640 Freedoms and Exemptions in the New Netherland referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“matters pertaining to possession of benefices, fiefs.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]field carriage [FONT=&quot](n.) The wheels with which to move a cannon. In 1628 the Virginia House of Burgesses pleaded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Wee doe intreate you to send us…11 field carriages for demi Culverin.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]field day [FONT=&quot](n.) A day for military exercises. A 1775 Boston newspaper wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“the method geneally practiced at Review, Field-day, etc.” The slang to have a field day ‘to engage in uncontrolled activity, revelry, etc.’ did not come into use until after the Civil War.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]field driver [FONT=&quot](n.) One who kept stray cattle from roads and highways. In 1736 in Boston:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Mr. Nathanael Tuttle be Haward for field driver.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fifth day [FONT=&quot](n.) Thursday, among Quakers. In 1698 Samuel Sewall recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Am going to keep Court at Springfield, next Fifth day.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]filature [FONT=&quot](n.) A place where silk yarn is put on reels. A 1759 book said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Silk-Balls…are then to be carried to the Filature, or Silk House, where the Money is to be paid.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]file [FONT=&quot](n.) A mispronunciation of foil, as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“bile” is sometimes said for boil. The 1745 rules at Yale College provided, [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“And if any scholar shall play at swords, files or cudgels, he shall be fined not exceeding 1 s.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fill [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of thill ‘the shaft of a cart or carriage.’ A 1795 South Carolina document stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The young horse was not able to get on in the fills.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fillet [FONT=&quot](n.) An obstetrical device, a loop, for extracting a fetus. A 1721 Boston newspaper wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“That they be completely armed with Incision, Lancet, Pandora’s Box, Nut Shell and Fillet.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fimble [FONT=&quot](n.) The male hemp plant. See also karl.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]final [FONT=&quot](n.) The interest-bearing paper finally issued in 1780 by the Continental Congress in exchange for continental currency at its depreciated value of forty to one. A 1788 Baltimore newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Wanted at said office, Finals, Depreciation Certificates and every other kind of Paper.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]find [FONT=&quot](v.) To supply, provide, furnish. In 1661 in Bedford, NY,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Joshua Webb doth bind himself to finde the town at hop-ground with good meale.” In Scarsdale, NY, an indenture provided,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Said master shall and will find and allow unto his said servant meat, drink, washing and lodging.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fine [FONT=&quot](v.) To bring to an end. In 1677 in South Carolina they complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Compelled to buy ourselves guns…and keep ourselves from fining.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fine, in [FONT=&quot](ph.) In the end, in conclusion. In 1751 Franklin wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In fine, a nation well regulated.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]finery [FONT=&quot](n.) A hearth where cast iron is made malleable. In 1748 an advertisement in a Philadelphia newspaper offered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“To be sold…a good Forge, or iron-work, having three fires, viz. two finerys and one chasery.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]finesse [FONT=&quot](n.) Ingenuity, subtlety. An adopted French word. In 1774 Gouverneur Morris wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The troubles in America…put our gentry upon their finesse.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]finical [FONT=&quot](adj.) Fastidious; overly concerned with trivial details. In 1744 Dr. Alexander Hamilton:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“was shaved by a little finicall humpbacked old barber.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire [FONT=&quot](n.) An Indian household, family; or nation. Apparently an Anglicization of an Indian word.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire and candle [FONT=&quot](n.) The home. In 1696 part of the verdict in the case of Ann Richbell against the people of Rye, NY, stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Pattent with the rest of Papers needful Given to the Jury, and the Sheriffe sworn to Keepe them from fire & candles &c untill they bringe in their verdict.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire and candle, keep [FONT=&quot](ph.) To stay at one’s home. A 1683 New York petition for a new charter stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“And if any ffreeman should bee absent out of the Citty a space of Twelve moneths and not keep fire and candle and pay Scott and lott should lose his ffreedom.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire brig [FONT=&quot](n.) A vessel filled with combustibles used to set fire to enemy ships. There were also fire boats, fire rafts, fire ships, and fire sloops.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire lock [FONT=&quot](n.) A flintlock gun. A 1770 Boston newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“They would club their fire-locks and return home.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fireplace [FONT=&quot](n.) A place on a coast for a fire as a beacon. A 1666 Long Island, NY, deed described pieces of land,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“one at the landing place one a the humuck [hummock] & one at the fire place.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire room [FONT=&quot](n.) A room with a fireplace. A 1708 Boston newspaper offered for rent:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a good Dwelling House, three Fire Rooms on a Floor.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire slice [FONT=&quot](n.) A long-handled tool for removing baked goods from an oven; a peel. In 1665 in Massachusetts a:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Drawing shave…fire slice” was bequeathed.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire stick [FONT=&quot](n.) In the singular, a poker; in the plural, tongs.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fire ward [FONT=&quot](n.) One who directed fire fighting. A 1711 Massachusetts law appointed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“firewards…to command and require assistance fore the extinguishing and putting out the fire.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]firkin [FONT=&quot](n.) A measure; 56 pounds of butter; eight gallons of ale, soap or herring; nine gallons of beer.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]first cost [FONT=&quot](n.) The cost of the raw material before adding overhead, handling, etc. William Byrd in 1710 recorded that he:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“brought my goods[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]first day [FONT=&quot](n.) Sunday, among Quakers.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]first rate [FONT=&quot](adj.) Of the largest size, not (necessarily) of the highest excellence. In 1775 Washington referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“all vessels except Ships of the first Rate.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]first table [FONT=&quot](n.) One of the Puritan arrangements of the Ten Commandments. The Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) alludes to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“punishing all such crimes (being breaches of the First or Second Table) as are committed against the peace of our sovereign lord.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fiscal [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) In New Amsterdam, the fiscal, van Tienhoven, was public prosecutor, treasurer, and sheriff.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] In Massachusetts, a revenue officer. A 1705 Bostson newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“And then it Shall be free for the Governour, Fiskal or Receiver to accept of the sale of the said Goods at the price they set on them.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fish [FONT=&quot](v.) (1) To fertilize with fish. A process taught at Plymouth by the Indians. In 1651 Samuel Hartlib wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In New-England they fish their ground.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] In Harvard College slang, to seek approval. Thomas Hutchinson in 1774 recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He courts me a good deal and fishes [for compliments].”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3)[FONT=&quot] To strengthen the mast with a piece of timber. Probably from French ficher ‘to fix.’ The journal of the sloop Revenge in 1741 recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Wednesday 22. Fish Our Mast and made him as Strong as Ever.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fish pot [FONT=&quot](n.) A bag net for catching fish; a fyke. In 1785 Washington complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Fish pots, of which there are many in the River, serve to clog the Navigation.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fish stake [FONT=&quot](n.) A stake to which a net may be fastened, still used in the Hudson River for shad fishing. In 1754 a Massachusetts newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“To be sold…a Farm…very convenient for carrying on a fishery and has Fish Stakes already errected.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fishy [FONT=&quot](adj.) Drunk. Bleary eyes and turned-down mouth corners make a drunk resemble a fish. A 1737 Philadelphia newspaper described a man as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“fishy.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fistul [FONT=&quot](adj.) Hollow. From Latin fistula ‘pipe.’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fitch [FONT=&quot](n.) Short for fitchew, the European polecat, similar to a ferret. In 1616 Capt. John Smith wrote of seeing:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“17 Fitches, Musquassus, and diuerse sorts of vermine, whose names I know not.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]five and forty [FONT=&quot](n.) A card game, forty-five, in which the object is to score forty-five points. In 1775 Philip Fithian recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In our dining room companies at cards, Five & forty, Whist, Alfours, Callico-Betty etc.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Five Nations [FONT=&quot](n.) The Indian alliance comprising the Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, and the Senecas. See also nation; Six Nations.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fives [FONT=&quot](n.) A game of handball, for two or four people, still played in England. In 1775 Philip Fithian wrote:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Newark reminded me of my old days at Princeton…playing at fives.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fizgig [FONT=&quot](n.) A harpoon with barbed prongs. From Spanish fisga ‘harpoon.’ The 1673 inventory of the ship Providence included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“1 fiz gigg.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flag [FONT=&quot](n.) An aquatic plant with long, broad leaves used for mats, roofing, and chair seats. Hence, flag bottom and flag chair. In 1634 William Wood wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In Summer they gather flagges, of which they make Matts for houses.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flagitious [FONT=&quot](adj.) Grossly wicked, scandalous. A 1768 cicular letter exhorted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Exert your utmost influence to defeat their flagitious attempt to disturb the public peace.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flake [FONT=&quot](n.) A platform for drying fish. In 1635 in Massachusetts,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Granted unto Mr. John Holgrave fisherman three quarters of an acre…for flakes, &c.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flam [FONT=&quot](n.) A falsehood. A 1776 song referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“puffs and flam and gasconade.” Short for flim-flam.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flanker [FONT=&quot](n.) A projecting fortification designed to flank an attacking force. In 1630 William Bradford recommended,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Make flankers in convenient places with gates to shut.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flanking mare [FONT=&quot](n.) A horse which tended to move sidewise, shying, and generally being tedious to ride. An actor in a 1770 play complained of being obliged:
“to ride a flanking mare about camp (which was no small mortification).”[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flappet [FONT=&quot](n.) A little flap; an appendage to a woman’s cap. A 1754 New York newspaper inveighed on European fashions,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“These foreign invaders first made their attack upon the stays, so as to diminish them half down the waist exposing the breast and shoulders. Next to the caps; cut off the flappets and tabs.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flare [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of flair, a flat fish; a ray or a skate. Charles Wolley in 1679 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I mean the shark…mouth…in shape like a skate or flare as we call them in Cambridge.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flasket [FONT=&quot](n.) A flat basket. A 1651 will in Massachusetts bequeathed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a flasket & a paile.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flat [FONT=&quot](n.) A broad flat-bottom boat. In 1710 William Byrd recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Came with several flats to fetch 36 hogsheads of tobacco.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flattening [FONT=&quot](n.) A kind of apple. In 1709 John Lawson wrote that in Carolina:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“we have…the long apple…Flattings, Grigsons.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flaw [FONT=&quot](v.) To flay; to skin. A 17th-century cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Take 2 chickens, kill and flaw them hot.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fleche [FONT=&quot](n.) A fortification with two faces and an open rear, in the shape of an arrowhead. From a French word meaning ‘arrow.’ In 1776 Jared Sparks wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It was my intention…to throw up a great number of large fleches or redans.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fleer [FONT=&quot](v.) To mock. From an anonymous song, “Cobler’s End,” from 1728 or earlier:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“She would flounce and she would fleer.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fletcher [FONT=&quot](n.) One who deals in arrows. See fleche.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flight [FONT=&quot](n.) A light fall of snow. From Old English fliht ‘flake.’ A 1670 Massachusetts document recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This day was the first flight of snow this winter.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flight shot [FONT=&quot](n.) The distance that an arrow, or flight, flies. A 1676 description of Bacon’s Rebellion said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Not a flight shot from the end of the state house.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flint corn [FONT=&quot](n.) One variety of Indian corn usually having hard kernels. Robert Beverley in 1705 said in Virginia,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“One looks as smooth, and as full as the early ripe Corn, and this they call Flint Corn.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flip [FONT=&quot](n.) A drink of hot, spiced wine whipped up with egg. In 1763 John Adams wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“they drink flip” in the caucus room.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flirt [FONT=&quot](v.) To throw with a jerk. Franklin, in a 1770 letter regarding soap making wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“flirting the froth with a skimmer.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fliting [FONT=&quot](v.) Scolding, brawling. A word used in Scotland. John Harrower in 1774 described:
“some shiting, some farting, some flyting, some daming.”[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]float (1) [FONT=&quot](n.) A sluice for irrigating or draining. A 1650 Massachusetts document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a floate or sluce to preuent damage by floods.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) [FONT=&quot]A timber or lumber raft. In 1749 William Douglass wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“All the other falls are passable for floats of timber and for canoes.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) [FONT=&quot]A scow or small boat. A 1734 Massachusetts document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a float or small Boat of about sixteen or eighteen feet Keel.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) [FONT=&quot](v.) To flood, to inundate. In 1683 Topsfield, Connecticut, authorized,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Float soe much of the Towne Common as is for ye good and Vese of ye Mille.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flor [FONT=&quot](n.) Flowers.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Florence flask [FONT=&quot](n.) A round-bottomed bottle encased in straw often used for a superior kind of Italian olive oil. In 1744 Franklin recommended,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A Florence Flask stript of the straw is best.” In 1765 in a Boston newspaper Benjamin Faneuil, Jr. offered:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Ravens Duck, Oznabrigs, Florence Oil.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flourish [FONT=&quot](n.) An act of hasty sexual intercourse. Possibly from the flourishing of a weapon. In 1709, 1710, and 1711 William Byrd entered into his diary,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I gave my wife a flourish this morning.” (Once was on a billiards table.)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flow [FONT=&quot](v.) To flood, to inundate. A 1685 Massachusetts document recorded:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Granted to John Hanchet, ten acres of Land…provided he make a dam & flow it.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flower-de-luce [FONT=&quot](n.) An iris. An Anglicization of French fleur de lis.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fluke [FONT=&quot](n.) A double plow. From the shape of a tail of a whale. In 1775 Washington ordered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Get 2 light fluke Plows.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flummery [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A sort of jelly thickened with cornstarch. A 1769 cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“When you make a hen’s or bird’s nest, let part of your jelly be set in your bowl before you put in your flummery.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] By transfer from the above, flattery, nonsense, empty trifling.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flushing [FONT=&quot](n.) A coarse cloth from Flushing, Netherlands. A 1790 Boston newspaper offered:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Goods suited to the season…flushing and common Duffils.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flux [FONT=&quot](n.) Almost any flow, bleeding, purging, or abortion. William Byrd in 1717 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I gave her ten Guineas to flux.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flux and reflux of the sea, within [FONT=&quot](ph.) High tide; between the flow and ebb of the sea. In Boston in 1717:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“7 convicted and 6 hanged for piracy within flux and reflux of the sea.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fly [FONT=&quot](n.) A lowland. From Dutch vly ‘valley.’ In 1695 a New York document described:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“a valley begginning att the head of a flye or Marshe.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fly-blow[FONT=&quot] (n., v.) A fly egg deposited in the flesh of an animal, hence used in reference to something tainted or contaminated, as a noun or a verb. In 1645 Nathanael Ward wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“yet that Beelzebub can fly-blow their intellectuals rapidly.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fly boat [FONT=&quot](n.) A large, flat bottomed vessel for bulk transport. First used on the Vlie, the channel between the North Sea and the Zuider Zee. A 1707 Boston newspaper reported from New York,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A Fly Boat arrived here from Boston.” See also fly.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flying [FONT=&quot](adj.) Mobile, as applied to a military installation. There were flying artillery, flying camps, flying hospitals, and flying sappers. In 1776 the Continental Congress:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Resolved that the flying camp be under the command…general officers.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flying machine [FONT=&quot](n.) A fast stagecoach. A 1770 Philadelphia newspaper carried an advertisement, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Flying Machine kept by John Barnhill in Elm-street sets out for New York, on Mondays and Thursdays, and performs the Journey in Two Days.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]flying seal [FONT=&quot](n.) A seal attached to, but not sealing, a letter so that it may be read by the person forwarding. A 1780 letter read,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In inclose you mail to Wilson under flying seal.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foenicl. [FONT=&quot](n.) Fennel. An abbreviation of Foeniculum vulgare, its botanical name.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fog dram [FONT=&quot](n.) A drink taken as a precaution against fog, like one taken as a procaution from snakebite.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fogrum [FONT=&quot](n.) One who is behind the times, a fogey. In 1760 John Rowe deprecated:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“some of these old fogrums.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fol. [FONT=&quot](n.) Leaves. An abbreviation of Latin folia.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]folly1 [FONT=&quot](n.) A sin. When William Byrd went to Williamsburg to attend meetings of the House of Burgesses he frequently recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I committed folly with F—, God forgive me.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]folly2 [FONT=&quot](n.) A variant of felly.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foment [FONT=&quot](v.) To bathe with warm medicated liquids. William Byrd in 1710 recorded, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Jack had a bad knee so I sent John to foment it.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fontanel [FONT=&quot](n.) A puncture or incision, made by a heated instrument, for the discharge of pus or other fluid.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fool [FONT=&quot](n.) A puree of gooseberries, scalded and pounded, with cream.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foot causey[FONT=&quot] (n.) A foot causeway. See causey. A 1649 Connecticut document provided,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There shall be foot Causey made from ye Dwelling howse of George Steele.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foot lock [FONT=&quot](n.) A locked leg iron. A 1763 Massachusetts document regarding an escaped prisoner reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“[He] had on when he went away, Part of a Chain and Foot lock.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foot post [FONT=&quot](n.) A mail carrier on foot; also, the service he performs. In 1790 Congress said: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“If any person…shall be concerned in setting up any foot or horse post.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forbear [FONT=&quot](v.) To delay. In 1648 a New Hampshire document recorded:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The petition of the inhabitatnts of Exceter for their rate and head money to be foreborne.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fore bay [FONT=&quot](n.) A reservoir above a water wheel. In 1770 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Began to Grind Sand in my Mill, the Water being let in upon the Fore Bay.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forehanded [FONT=&quot](adj.) Prudent; thrifty; free from debt. In 1777 John Adams observed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Here and there [one finds] a farmer and a tradesman, who is forehanded and frugal enough to make more money than he has occasion to spend.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foreign [FONT=&quot](adj.) Coming from another area. In 1660 Plymouth, Mass., passed a law, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Noe strange of forraigne Indians shal be permitted to come into any parte of this jurisdiction.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foremastman [FONT=&quot](n.) An ordinary seaman. Officers slept aft; seamen slept before the mast. John Josselyn in 1674 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“To every Shallop belongs four fishermen, a Master or Steersman, a midship-man, and a Foremast-man, and a shore man who washes it out of the salt.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foreroom [FONT=&quot](n.) The main room of a house, the parlor. In 1745 a man in New Hampshire bequeathed:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“to my beloved wife…The following part of my dwelling house Namely: the fore Room Next to the Street.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forestall [FONT=&quot](v.) To intercept one or obstruct on a highway. A 1757 New York document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“oppressions, extentions, forestallings, regratings, trespasses.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forestaller [FONT=&quot](n.) One who buys a commodity secretly in anticipation of a price increase. Gouverneur Morris wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There is enough wheat in the Kingdom, but it is bought up by forestallers.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forest cloth [FONT=&quot](n.) A type of cloth. A 1776 New Jersey newspaper offered:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“common coatings, hunters, forest cloth.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forfeit [FONT=&quot](n.) A penalty paid, generally playfully, for having made a mistake. In 1774 Philip Fithian admitted that he:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“had a forfeit for kneeding biscuit.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forlorn [FONT=&quot](n.) A soldier member of a vanguard. Short for forlorn hope, from Dutch verloren hoop ‘lost troop.’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]form [FONT=&quot](n.) (1) A backless bench. A 1640 Connecticut inventory included: [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“sixe cushions and one little forme.” The origin of this use of the word lies in French s’asseoir en forme ‘to sit in a row,’ as applied to the bench in a choir stall.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] Type arranged and ready for printing. In 1771 Franklin referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“having imposed my forms.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forsado [FONT=&quot](n.) A person forced into service. From Spanish forzado ‘a galley slave.’ Daniel Coxe, describing Carolina in 1722 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Majority of the Inhabitants, are Forc’adoes or forc’d people, having been Malefactors in some Parts of Mexico.” (Carolina was not divided into North and South until 1729.)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fort[FONT=&quot] (adj.) Strong. Also used in medical terms. Gouverneur Morris in 1789 wrote a truism,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Each individual has his peculiarities of fort and feeble.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fort major [FONT=&quot](n.) The deputy commander of a fort. A 1711 Boston newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Panabicot [Penobscot] Indians…wounded Fort-Major William Elliot.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fortune biter [FONT=&quot](n.) A sharper, a swindler. Partridge attributes the phrase to coinage by Thomas D’Urfey in his 1698 Mr. Lane’s Magot[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fortune le garde [FONT=&quot](ph.) John Winthrop probably meant “Good fortune guard him” when he wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Signed underneath fortuune le garde and no more to it.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]forwardness [FONT=&quot](n.) An advanced state beyond the usual degree. Richard Corbin in 1759 exhorted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Animate the overseers to great diligence that their work may be in proper forwardness.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]found [FONT=&quot](v.) To be supplied, furnished. An apprentice or indentured servant was found with food and clothing; a ship was found with food and stores. See find.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]founder [FONT=&quot](v.) Of a ship, to sink; of a horse, to trip and fall. In 1710 William Byrd reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The Doctor’s horse was foundered so that he could not go.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fourfold [FONT=&quot](n.) A quadruple assessment. A 1779 Vermont document instructs,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The listers shall add the sum total of such additions and four-folds, to the sum toltal before mentioned.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fourpence [FONT=&quot](n.) The Spanish silver half-real, worth five to six cents. A 1759 Massachusetts document reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A Sailor coming from a vessel in the Harbor was nigh as a four pence to a groat of being drowned.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fourpenny [FONT=&quot](n.) A type of ale, sold at four pence a quart. In 1729 Franlin wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Let him give notice where any dull stupid rogue may get a quart of four-penny for being laughed at.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Fourth Day [FONT=&quot](n.) Wednesday, among Quakers.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fowler [FONT=&quot](n.) One who hunts wild birds, generally with nets. It was one of the trades or occpations listed as needed in the Virginia colony in 1610.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fowl meadow grass [FONT=&quot](n.) Poa trivialis. So called for its resemblence to a bird’s foot.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]foxwood [FONT=&quot](n.) A foxfire; phosphorescent decayed wood. In 1775 Silas Deane wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He always depended on fox-wood, which gives light in the dark, to fix on the points of the needle of his compass.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fraise [FONT=&quot](n.) A pancake with bacon in it. From French fraise ‘a ruffle.’ In 1710 William Byrd recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I ate some bacon fraise for dinner.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]franchise [FONT=&quot](n.) A privilege specifically given by the crown appended to letters patent, such as fowling, hawking, advowsons, deodands, etc.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frankincense pine [FONT=&quot](n.) The loblolly pine, whose exudation may be used for incence. Humphrey Marshall in 1785 referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Virginia Swamp, or Frankincense Pine.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frank-pledge [FONT=&quot](n.) A pledge or surety for good behavior. From a Norman mistranslation of Old English frith-borh ‘peace pledge.’ The 1632 Maryland Charter included:
“to have and to keep a view of frank-pledge, for the conservation of the peace and better government.”[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]freak [FONT=&quot](n.) A whim, a capricious prank, a sudden turn. From Old English frek ‘quick.’ On March 16, 1770, John Rowe recorded in his diary,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Mr. [Samuel] Otis got into a mad freak tonight and broke a great many windows in the Town House.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]freedom of the city [FONT=&quot](n.) The rights of a citizen. In 1683 in New York one had to pay a tax and be admitted by a magistrate in order to sell merchandise or ply a trade.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Freedoms and Exemptions [FONT=&quot](n.) The special privileges, powers, and exemptions granted by the Assembly of XIX (which see) to members of the West India Company who would establish plantations in “Nieuw Netherlandt.”[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]freehold [FONT=&quot](n.) A lease in perpetuity.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]freeman of the commons [FONT=&quot](n.) The term used in Boston for one with the rights of a citizen. John Winthrop reported, ca. 1640, that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“all the freemen of the commons were sworn to the government.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]free stone [FONT=&quot](n.) Any stone, especially sandstone or limestone, that may be cut easily. In 1629 Francis Higginson listed stone available near Boston,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“limestone, freestone, and smoothstone, and ironstone and marblestone.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]free thinker [FONT=&quot](n.) An unbeliever. It was included in Gottfried Mittleberger’s list of religiouns represented in Pennsylvania in 1750.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]free willer [FONT=&quot](n.) An indentured servant who of his free will sold his services, generally for five years, in exchange for his passage from Europe.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]French bean [FONT=&quot](n.) The kidney bean. William Byrd said he ate them in 1740.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]French crown [FONT=&quot](n.) An écu.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“1 french Crown” appears in the 1741 account of the crew Revenge to her owners.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]French fall shoes [FONT=&quot](n.) The shoes of a French style worn by both men and women. Referred to in Boston newspapers in 1705, 1710, and 1714.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]French heel [FONT=&quot](n.) A heel for women’s shoes, sometimes as high as three and a half inches. In 1760 Universal Magazine ridiculed fashion change with,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Now high in French heels, now low in your pumps.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]French Indian [FONT=&quot](n.) An Indian allied with the French. In 1711 a Boston newspaper reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The wrote from Albany that several Cannoo’s with French Indians and their Families are come thither.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frenchman [FONT=&quot](n.) A tobacco plant which grows tall rather than bushy. P. A. Bruce explained in 1896 that the Virginian mind associated tallness with Frenchmen.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]French prophet [FONT=&quot](n.) One of a fanatical Protestant sect in the south of Franc which claimed the gift of prophecy. In 1771 Franklin wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He had been one of French prophets and could act their enthusiastic agitations.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]French roll [FONT=&quot](n.) A roll resembling French bread in texture. IN 1763 an advertisement in a New York newspaper stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Spring Gardens, near the college…Tea in the afternoon from 3 till 6. The best of Green tea eatc. Hot French rolls will be provided.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]French wheat [FONT=&quot](n.) Buckwheat. A 1658 cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Take…a pint of French wheat flower.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fresh [FONT=&quot](n.) Short for freshet; a stream of fresh water. In 1760 Washington:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“took a view of the ruins the fresh had caused.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fresh marsh [FONT=&quot](n.) A fresh-water marsh as contrasted to a salt marsh. A 1698 New Hampshire will bequeathed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I give to my Eldest Son John Cutt…all my Fresh Marsh at the head of the Creek.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fresh meadow [FONT=&quot](n.) The land a little higher than a fresh marsh. A 1635 Cambridge, Mass., deed conveyed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“All the right title and Interest which hath in the ffresh Meaddows and the Ox pastuer.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fret [FONT=&quot](n.) The agitation of th surface of a fluid by fermentation. Ebenezer Cook’s 1704 The Sotweed Factor included,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Who found them drinking for a whet,/ A cask of cider on the fret.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fribble [FONT=&quot](n.) A trifle. Possibly a variant of frivol. In 1774 Philip Fithian referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“many womanish fibbles.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frieze [FONT=&quot](n) (1) A coarse woolen cloth with a nap on one side. From French friser ‘to curl.’ It is one of the fabrics covered by the Woollen Act of 1699.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2)[FONT=&quot] Short for cheval-de-frise. In 1781 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There is an abatis around the work, but no friezing.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frigate [FONT=&quot](n.) A swift naval craft, usually with three masts, raised quarterdeck and forecastle, and more than 20 guns.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frippery [FONT=&quot](n.) A place where old clothes were sold. From French friperie ‘rags, old clothes.’ In 1740 William Byrd wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Ransack the fripperies of Long Lane for finery.” Long Lane in London, ¾ mi. north of St. Paul’s Cathedral, was noted for its dealers in second-hand clothes.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frock [FONT=&quot](n.) A man’s short, loose hunting shirt worn over his other clothes. Ebenezer Denny’s 1781 Journal said that Lafayette’s men were:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“chiefly all light infantry, dressed in frocks and overalls of linen.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]froe [FONT=&quot](n.) A tool for splitting shingles. In 1775 Bernard Romans wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“A river or splitter…rives them with the fro.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frolic [FONT=&quot](n.) A party. From Dutch vroolijk ‘merry.’ In 1737 Jonathan Edwards deplored,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It was their manner to frequently get together in conventions of both sexes for mirth and jollity which they called frolics.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frost [FONT=&quot](n.) A shoe with calks, or frost nails. Samuel Sewall in 1718 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Great Rain, and very slippery: was fain to wear Frosts.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frost fish [FONT=&quot](n.) The tomcod, because it appears in the winter. William Wood in 1634 mentioned:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Th’ Frost fish and the Smelt.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]frumenty [FONT=&quot](n.) A dish made of wheat boiled in milk with sugar, raisins, and egg yolk added. From Latin frumentum ‘corn.’ In 1717 Wiliam Byrd:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“ate some frumenty.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fry [FONT=&quot](n.) The offspring. Applied to children as well as fish. In 1584 Richard Hakluyt in recommending colonization wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The fry of the wandering beggars of England, that grow up idly, and hurtful and burdensome to this realm, may there be unladen.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]full [FONT=&quot](v.) To clean and thicken cloth.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fuller [FONT=&quot](n.) One who fulls cloth.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fulling mill [FONT=&quot](n.) A mill where fulling is done. In 1670 Plymouth, Mass., [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Sett up a ffulling mill soe as it annoy not the Corn Mill.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fundament [FONT=&quot](n.) Either buttocks or rectum. In 1710 William Byrd recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I had eight stools and my fundament was swelled with a sharp humour and very sore.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fundor [FONT=&quot](n.) One with credit in a fund. In the Massachusetts Colony a 1682 document said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“If one Fundor passeth Credit to another.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]furbelow [FONT=&quot](n.) The edge of an overskirt or the hemline of a petticoat. From French falbela ‘flounce.’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]furnace [FONT=&quot](n.) A cooking kettle. A 1644 Connecticut document included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“An Inuentory…iron spits, pot hangers…a Fornace.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]furniture [FONT=&quot](n.) That with which anything is furnished. For the person, it was body armor. In 1644 in Rhode Island a document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Furniture for their bodies in time of war.” For a gun, it was powder, shot, match, etc. In 1639 a Rhode Island document read,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It is ordered, that Eight Gunns and their furniture…be taken off.” For a horse, saddle or harness. In 1682 Mary Rowlandson complained,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There being no furniture upon the horse’s back.” For a ship, masts, sails, rigging, and stores. In 1699 Duncan Campbell deposed,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The said ship being disabled from comeing for want of furniture.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]furniture check [FONT=&quot](n.) An upholstery fabric with a checked pattern. In a 1762 Boston newspaper advertisement:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Nathaniel Williams [offered] furniture Check, Cambricks.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fusee [FONT=&quot](n.) A fusil.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fusil [FONT=&quot](n.) A light flintlock gun. From French. Originally developed for artillery guards, it was later carried by light infantry and officers.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fusilier [FONT=&quot](n.) A soldier armed with a fusil; a light infantryman. In a 1705 Boston newspaper:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“That a Sum may be provided sufficient to pay One Hundred Fusiliers.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fustian [FONT=&quot](n.) A coarse, stout, twilled cotton. A 1797 Boston newspaper mentioned,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Caleb Johnson’s Variety Store [offered] Kerseymeres, Fustians, Janes, Moreens.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fustic [FONT=&quot](n.) A West Indian tree from which a light-yellow dye was produced. A 1776 Boston newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“14 tons of lignum vitae and fustick.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fuzee [FONT=&quot](n.) A fusil.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]fyke [FONT=&quot](n.) A bag-net. A 1775 New York colonial law empowered two men to build a bridge to what is now City Island which would:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“moreover afford a convenient and proper station for taking great quantities of fish with nets and fikes.”[/FONT]

 

[Thande]

Keep this up, we appreciate it.

 

[mowque]

Afterclap...I'm bringing that back.

 

[Thande]

Afterclap...I'm bringing that back.

I came across several good ones in that 1812 (British) slang dictionary that was put up here a while back. "Zedland" for the West Country, for one.

 

[Deleted member 6086]

Afterclap...I'm bringing that back.

Sounds like an STD symptom.

 

[Wolfpaw]

Seems I accidentally posted G instead of F; it's been corrected

Keep this up, we appreciate it.

Thanks, Thande

Sounds like an STD symptom.

Well this gave me a right chuckle, it did.

 

[Thande]

Interesting that "frolic" comes from the Dutch, it makes sense when you consider it but I'd never thought of that...