Wolfpaw
Banned
[FONT="]G[/FONT]
[FONT="]gabion [FONT="](n.) A wicker basket, cylindrical in form, filled with earth as a field fortification. Ebenezer Denny recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“One third of the army on fatigue every day, engaged in various duties, making gabions, fascines.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gad [FONT="](n.) A cut on an ear of cattle as a sign of ownership. It might be a fore gad or a rear [hind] gad, depending on what part of the ear was cut. A possible derivation is that the mark kept the cattle from gadding, rambling, about. In 1704 in Portsmouth, NH, one was recorded:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The Eare marke…a hind gad on the Right Ear.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gage [FONT="](v.) To pledge. In 1770 Samuel Sewall wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“And God gaged His blessing in lieu of any loss.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Gagite [FONT="](n.) A soldier serving under British General Thomas Gage. In 1775 H. P. Johnston wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The number of those Slain in the Battle between Putnam and the Gagites is uncertain.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]galebury [FONT="](n.) See gallberry. In 1763 Washington described land as:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“abounding in Pine and Galebury bushes.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gal-knipper [FONT="](n.) See gallinipper.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gall [FONT="](v.) To wound by rubbing. William Byrd in 1711 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“I threatened...for galling the harrow horse.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gallberry [FONT="](n.) A holly.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]galleon [FONT="](n.) A large ship with three or four decks. The Spanish used them to carry treasure from South America. John Rowe in 1760 recorded that:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Admiral Sanders has taken a Galloon worth half a million.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]galley [FONT="](n.) A ship of war with oars and two lateen (triangular) sails. Those that Benedict Arnold built in 1776 on Lake Champlain were 72 feet long, 20½ feet wide, and 6 feet, 2 inches high; they held 80 men.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gallinipper [FONT="](n.) A biting insect; a gally (bold) nipper. A 1701 document bewailed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Poor brother Jenkins was baited to death with musquitoes and blood thirsty Gal-Knippers.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gallio [FONT="](n.) A detatched, unconcerned person. After Gallio, the Proconsul who refused to try Saint Paul. Edward Johnson in 1654 wrote facetiously,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Be sure to make choice of the most atheistical person they can find to govern, such as are right galios.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]galliot [FONT="](n.) A small galley with one mast and 16 to 20 seats for rowers. An anonymous pirate in 1680 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Capt. Cooke in his way to us meetes with a Spanish galliote.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gallipot [FONT="](n.) A small jar used by apothecaries. Wyndham Blanton wrote about:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“salvatory bottles and gallipots.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]galloon [FONT="](n.) A narrow lace of gold, silver or silk thread used in trimming. From French galonner ‘to adorn the hair with ribbons.’ The 1673 inventory of the ship Providence included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“4 pieces of Galloune.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gallows and wheel customer [FONT="](n.) A candidate for hanging or torture. See wheel. In 1750 Gottfried Mittleberger wrote:
“Pennsylvania is an ideal country for gallows and wheels customers.”[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gallows balk [FONT="](n.) A beam in a chimney with hooks for pots. It looks like a gallow’s beam.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gallows crook [FONT="](n.) A pothook for the gallows balk.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gamb. [FONT="](n.) An abbreviation of gamboge. The powdered gum resin of an eastern tree exported from Singapore and Canton was used as a drastic cathartic and as a yellow dye. The word is a corruption of Cambodia.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gambrel [FONT="](n.) A crooked stick used by butchers to hang up a hog by its hind leg. A 1764 Massachusetts document said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“He first knock’d her down with a Gemmerill, then run a fork into her neck.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gammon [FONT="](n.) A smoked ham. By extension, buttocks, as in a 1776 play,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“I’ll stick your knife in your gammons.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gander pulling [FONT="](n.) A sport. A goose with a greased neck was hung by the feet. A man, riding quickly on horseback, tried to pull the goose’s head off.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]ganymede [FONT="](n.) A serving boy, after the cupbearer of the Greek gods; a catamite. In 1710 William Byrd wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Went away by himself except his little ganymede that was with him.” From other entrires in Byrd’s diary regarding Mr. Gee it is believed he meant a serving boy.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gaol [FONT="](n.) A jail. The old British spelling was used in the colonies. Noah Webster’s 1806 Compendious Dictionary lists both spellings.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]garlix [FONT="](n.) A sort of linen fabric originally from Gorlitz, Silesia. In 1765 in Boston, Briggs Hallowell advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“cestor hats, durants, dowlas, 7/8 & ¾ garlix, thicksets.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]garron [FONT="](n.) A horse; a hack; a jade. From Gaelic gearran, same meaning. In 1696 Farmer Glover complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Ten pounds for a Garran not worth Forty shillings.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]garter [FONT="](n.) A band wrapped around the leg below the knee to hold up stockings. Utilitarian, but also often very fancy. Snakeskin garters warded off leg cramps. In 1608 Capt. John Smith wrote of another use,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Whom he bound to his arm with his garters and used him as a buckler.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Gascoign Powder [FONT="](n.) A medicine. Bezoar, white amber, hartshorn, pearls, crabs’ eyes, coral, and the black tops of crabs’ claws were ground up and made into balls as large as walnuts. Who Gascoign was is unknown. William Byrd took the medicine in 1715.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gasconade [FONT="](n.) A boast; boasting; bravado. The natives of Gascony, France, have a reputation for boastfulness. A 1776 song referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“puffs and flam and gasconade.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gate [FONT="](n.) A right of pasturage. In 1648 Rowley, Mass., legislated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Euery half Two Acre lott shall haue two gates and a quarter.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gauger [FONT="](n.) (1) An exciseman whose business it was to ascertain the contents of casks. The 1693 Civil List included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Wm Shaw gauger att Albany.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="]One who examined weights and measures in commerce. In Springfield, Mass., in 1793,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Symon Smith was Chosen Gager & Packer for the year ensuing.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gavel [FONT="](n.) A variant of gable, the end of a house. John Harrower in 1775 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“It blowed in the gavel of a brick house.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gavelkind [FONT="](n.) A custom for dividing a deceased man’s property whereby:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The Lands of the Father were equally divided among all his Sons,” according to the definition given in 1701 by Charles Wolley.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gay (1) [FONT="](n.) Any gaiety, merriment. A 1765 song went,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Behold a man whose heart was set on gai.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="](adj.) False. William Byrd in 1730 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“He had been a Romish priest…quit that gay religion.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Gayhead [FONT="](n.) Gay Head Indians from Martha’s Vineyard were in great demand as boat steerers in the whaling fleets. In was the boat steerer who cast the harpoon and the Gay Head Indians were judged to be the most skillful and courageous. In 1782 in a Hartfort, Ct., newspaper, Younglove Cutler advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Gayhead wanted.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gazetteer [FONT="](n.) A newspaperman. From Italian gazzetta, first published in Venice (c. 1550), so called for a small coin paid for the newssheet. In a 1776 play Hugh H. Brackenridge wrote:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“of gibing wits and paltry gazetteers.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gehazi [FONT="]See [/FONT][FONT="]ghazi[/FONT][FONT="].[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]general (1) [FONT="](n.) A particular beat of a drum as a signal to assemble. According to a 1757 set of General Orders:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Upon Hearing ye Genll. in Camp they Are to repair to ye Plais Appointed.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="](adj.) Public or common. Hence, general fence, general field, general muster. In 1638 in Rhode Island it was:
“ordered that a General fence be made.” In Derby, Ct., in 1692,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The Town have voted & Agreed to fence in a general field.” In 1624 Edward Winslow reported,[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Captain Standish diuided our strength…And at a general Muster or Trayning, appointed each his place.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]general assistant [FONT="](n.) A town official or clerk. In 1666 in Portsmouth, NH, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The Towne Counsell Chose for yt yeare Mr. William Baulston Genrill assistant.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]General Court [FONT="](n.) The governing body in most of the colonies; a legislative as well as judicial body.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]generality [FONT="](n.) The majority. In 1792 William Eddis referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“the generality of the inhabitants.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]general recorder [FONT="](n.) The official in Rhode Island who was in charge of its records. In a 1662 document,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The Lawes, and orders which Come from the Gennerall Recorder.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]General sergeant [FONT="](n.) In Rhode Island, a sheriff. A 1747 document said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“He that is chosen Generall Sargant shall be an able man of estate, for so ought a Sheriff to be.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]geneva of mint [FONT="](n.) A gin flavored with mint.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“It relieved me,” wrote John Rowe in 1773.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Genoa velvet [FONT="](n.) A richly patterned velvet. A 1759 Newport, RI, newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“To be sold by Simon Pease…Cotton velvet, Best Genoa ditto, Double Allapeens.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gentian [FONT="](n.) A tonic brewed from the rhizome and roots of yellow gentian. The plant’s genus is Gentiana named after the Illyrian king Gentius (r.180-168 BC) , who first discovered its properties.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gentile [FONT="](n.) A pagan; a heathen. In 1711 William Byrd predicted:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“that before the year 1790 the Jews and Gentiles would be converted to the Christianity.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gentleman [FONT="](n.) Originally, one who, without a title, was entitled to a coat of arms; later, anyone above the status of a yeoman. The 1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties decreed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Nor shall any true gentleman nor any man equal to a gentleman be punished by whipping.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gentleman of fortune [FONT="](n.) An adventurer. In 1775 Philip Fithian called:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Mr. Billy Booth a young gentleman of fortune.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gentry [FONT="](n.) Any people of education and good breeding. In 1774 Gouverneur Morris wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The troubles in America…put our gentry upon their finesse.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]get in [FONT="](ph.) To collect. In 1715 William Byrd took steps to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“get in a debt.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]ghazi [FONT="](n.) A Muslim warrior; a champion against infidels. In 1679 Charles Wolley wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“To take a fee a reward or gratuity from a Naaman or a person able to employ the proper faculty, is to act the Gehazi, and not the Prophet Elisha.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gibbet [FONT="](n.) A gallows from which condemned criminals were suspended in chains after hanging and left slowly turning in the wind as warnings. Pirates were gibbeted on Nix’s Mate and Bird Island in Boston Harbor after being hanged at dockside.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gigg [FONT="](n.) A variant spelling of jig. In 1775 Philip Fithian wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Ladies and Gentlemen began to dance…first Minuets…then giggs…third reels.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gilder [FONT="](n.) One who does gilding, applies gold leaf. The 1796 Boston Directory listed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“M’Donald, William, gilder and carver.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gilefate [FONT="](n.) A vat for brewing ale or beer. A 17th century cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Put in a gilefat with yeast.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gilly flower [FONT="](n.) A carnation, pink, or sweet william.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gilt [FONT="](n.) Any gold-plated dishes. In 1716 William Byrd:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“lent Mrs. Harrison on this occasion my knives and gilt.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gim [FONT="](adj.) Spruce, neat. In 1710 William Byrd wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“a wench that was gimm and tidy.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gimp [FONT="](n.) Silk, wool, or cotton tape used for edging. In 1774 Alexandter Bartram advertised in a Philadelaphia newspaper,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“pinchbeck, hand stilliards, gimp, & glover’s needles.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gin [FONT="](n.) (1) A snare or trap for game. Short for Middle English engin, ‘contrivance.’ It was illegal:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“to take or kill or destroy partridges, pheasants or quails with nets, snares, gins or any other engines or devices in the Manor of Philipseburgh.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="]A traplike opening between the end of a fence and a body of water. A 1665 Long Island, NY, document complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“There is damage done upon the plaine by the neglect of those that keepe the gin.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]ging [FONT="](n.) A gang. From an Old Norse word meaning ‘going together.’ In the 1619 Virginia General Assembly they referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Capt. Martin and the ging of his shallop.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]girdle (1) [FONT="](n.) A wampum belt, in addition to other types of blets. A 1666 Massachusetts document referred to:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“having sent a Girdle of Wampum to the Mowhawkes.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="](v.) To kill a tree by cutting the bark completely around. Girdle Ridge in Bedford, NY, is so named because the French soldiers stationed there before going to the Battle of Yorktown tied their horses to the trees and damaged the bark.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gittern [FONT="](n.) A guitar. One was included in an early Virginia inventory.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]give an air [FONT="](ph.) To put on airs. In 1710 William Byrd complained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Mrs. Russel had told him I only gave myself an air in pretending to wait on the Governor.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]give joy [FONT="](v.) To express empathy. In 1711 William Byrd wrote:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Came the Doctor and I gave him joy for his wife’s arrival in this country.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]give out [FONT="](v.) To give up; to quit. In 1760 Washington admitted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“After several efforts to make a plow… was feign [fain] to give it out.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]glacis [FONT="](n.) A sloping bank in front of a fortification. It exposed the attacker to fire from the defender. Ft. Lafayette at Verplanck, NY, had one, but that didn’t prevent its capture.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]glass [FONT="](n.) The length of time which an hour glass runs. On shipboard the glass ran a half-hour. In 1699 in testimony about Capt. Kidd a man said,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“It required eight men every two glasses to keep her [the ship] free.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]glasshouse [FONT="](n.) A glass factory. In 1700 Francis Pastorius said there were:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“already established several good mills, a glasshouse, pottery” in Frankfort, PA.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]glebe [FONT="](n.) The land set aside for a parish minister. Occasionally used to apply to any cultivated land. Parsonage Point was set aside in 1662 by the citizens of Rye, NY, for their minister. In 1772 Joseph Warren wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“With one hand they broke the stubborn glebe, with the other they grasped their weapons.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gleet [FONT="](n.) In general, an ooze; in particular, gonorrhea. In 1715 William Byrd confessed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“My gleet was much better.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gloss [FONT="](n.) (1) An interpretation, an explanation. The 1647 Massachusetts School of Law included,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Meaning of the original might be clouded by false glosses.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="]A specious interpretation. In 1637 Thomas Morton wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“They charged him (because they would seem to have some reasonable cause against him to set a gloss upon their malice) with criminal things.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]glotted [FONT="](adj.) Surprised, startled. Mercy Warren in a 1775 play The Group wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Could laugh to see her glotted sons expire.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]glutton [FONT="](n.) A wolverine, from its appetite. Jefferson in 1781 said in Virginia,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“There remains then the buffalo, red deer, fallow deer, wolf, roe glutton.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]glykyrhig [FONT="](n.) Licorice. Ultimately from Greek glykys ‘sweet,’ rhiza ‘root.’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Goddard’s Drops, Dr. [FONT="](n.) Dr. C. Goddard received a patent in 1673 for this medicine, which he sold to Charles II for £1500. It was made by mixing oil extracted by heating human bones with spirits of niter and spirits of wine. For vertigo or migraine, bones from the skull were used; for gout it was brewed from the bones of the limb affected. Try 20 to 60 drops in a glass of canary. William Byrd did.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Godfrey’s Cordial [FONT="](n.) A patent medicine containing opium and sassafrass, patented by Ambroise Godfrey in 1660.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]goffer (1) [FONT="](v.) To crimp or flute.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="](n.) one who puts a crimp in something. A goffer used a goffering iron to iron ruffles.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Gold Coast [FONT="](n.) The area of Africa, now Ghana, whose principal city was Accra. Named for the grains of gold mixed with the sand of its rivers. In 1756 Capt. Linsey wrote from Cape Coast Road, a minor city,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“There is not one Hogshead of rum on the Gold Coast to sell.” (But there were plenty of slaves to buy.)[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gondola [FONT="](n.) A gundalow.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Goodman [FONT="](n.) An appellation of civility; equivalent to Mister. A 1685 Massachusetts deed described land, [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“By said road easterly to the land of Goodman Simons.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Goodwife [FONT="](n.) The feminine of Goodman. In 1712 Joshua Hempstead in Connecticut recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Goodwife Morgan Died Suddenly.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Goodwin Sands [FONT="](n.) The shoals in the Straits of Dover. In 1754 Franklin wondered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Could the Goodwin Sands be laid dry by banks?”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Goody [FONT="](n.) Informal for Goodwife. A 1682 document recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“He was present when Goody Jones and Geo. Walton were talking together, and he heard the said Goody Jones call the said Walton a wizard.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]go off the stage [FONT="](ph.) A euphemism for to die. Philip Fithian used the expression in 1775.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]goose [FONT="](n.) A tailor’s smoothing iron. From the resemblance of the handle to a goose’s neck. In 1782 John Trumball used it metaphorically,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Chang’d tailor’s goose for guns and ball.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gorget [FONT="](n.) (1) Something for the throat. A piece of armor or a symbolic badge. A 1757 letter to Washington commented,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“To see Sash & Gorget with a genteel uniform.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="]A ruff worn at the neck by a woman. In 1658 a Dr. Smith wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“A stomacher upon her breaset so bare,/ For stripes and gorget were not then the wear.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gossip [FONT="](n.) (1) A sponsor, a godparent. From Anglo-Saxon god sib ‘God related.’ In 1714 William Byrd recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“There came abundance of company and I and Dick Kennon with Jenny Bolling were gossips.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="]A partner. In 1675 Mary Rowlandson while a captive of Indians wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“I…invited my master and mistress to dinner, but the proud gossip, because I served them both in one dish, would eat nothing.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gourd [FONT="](n.) (1) A shell of the dried fruit used as a container.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="]A bottle of any material resembling a gourd. A 1776 Boston newspaper offered,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“160 gourds of aloes.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gown [FONT="](n.) An investiture or ordination of one who wears a gown, a judge or a clergyman. In 1774 Philip Fithian wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“He…is going in the Spring for the Gown to England.” He was going to take clerical orders.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gracht [FONT="](n.) A ditch, moat, or canal. A word left over from the Dutch occupation of New Amsterdam. In a 1673 New York document it says,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“In this City to the east of the moate or Ditch, commonly called the prince Graght.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]graft [FONT="](v.) To join one thing to another, to repair. A 1749 New York newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Elizabeth Boyd is removed to Bayard’s Street…where she follows as usual new grafting and footing all sorts of stockings.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]granadilla [FONT="](n.) (1) The fruit of passionflower. In 1751 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“After Dinner was the greatest Collection of Fruits I have yet see on the table there was Granadello the Sappadilla Pomgranate…”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="]The wood of the green ebony. William Browne’s 1664 deposition included,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“There was Aboarde the Shipe when shee was taken from Ro’t Cooke bowt 48 hosheads of Sugar, Some Cocco, Ebbony, Granadilla.” From Spanish granadilla diminutive of granada ‘pomegranate.’[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]granado [FONT="](n.) A grenade. In 1721:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“some unknown Hands, threw a fired Grenado into the chamber” of Cotton Mather.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grand committee [FONT="](n.) A committee of the whole. A 1775 report stated,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The Congress resolved itself into a Grand Com[mitt]ee…to order the General to storm or bombard Boston.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]granny [FONT="](n.) A nurse. In 1794 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Kate at Muddy hole…to serve the negro women (as Granny) on my estate.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grasier [FONT="](n.) See grazier.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grassum [FONT="](n.) A fine paid on transfer of copyhold estate. A variant of gersum, from Anglo-Saxon gaersum ‘treasure.’ A report on Scottish immigration in 1774 commented,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“William Sutherland…left his own country because the rents were raised…and larger fines or grassums.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gravamen [FONT="](n.) A remonstrance. From Latin gravamen ‘a physical inconvenience.’ In 1764 in his account of the Paxton Boys, Henry Muhlenberg wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“They had repeatedly sent their gravamina to the government in Philadelphia.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grave [FONT="](v.) To clean a ship’s bottom and coat it with tar. In 1775 Capt. Zachariah Burchmore reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“I have cleared out for Gibraltar and shall grave the vessel.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gravel [FONT="](n.) A variant of gable, the upper side wall of a house. In 1744 Dr. Alexander Hamilton wrote of:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“houses…with their gravel ends facing the street.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]graver [FONT="](n.) An engraver. The 1796 Boston Directory included:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Blackburn John, Graver Sea street.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] grazett (n.) A cheap, gray woolen cloth. A corruption of French grizette, same meaning. A 1774 Philadelphia newspaper advertised many fabrics including,[/FONT]
[FONT="]“hairbines, brilliants, grazetts, striped Bengals.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grazier [FONT="](n.) One who grazed cattle. In a 1705 Boston election:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Mr. John Briggs grasier to serve as Constable.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]great [FONT="](n.) A variant of groats, hulled and crushed oats. A 17th-century cookbook instructed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Put in two quarts of great oatmeal.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Great and General Court [FONT="](n.) The name of the governing body of the Virginia Company and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, according to their charters in 1612 and 1629, respectively.’’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Greek Testament [FONT="](n.) The New Testament in Greek. One of the requirements for graduation by Yale in 1754 was to be:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“able…to read…Greek Testament.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]green scalp [FONT="](n.) A fresh scalp. Robert Eastburne in 1758 reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“An Indian…had a large Bunch of green Scalps.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]green seed cotton [FONT="](n.) A variety of cotton. Bernard Romans in 1775 said it was:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“also known by the name of green seeded cotton.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Gregorian Calendar [FONT="](n.) Although Pope Gregory XII decreed a revised calendar in 1582, it was not until 1752 that it was adopted by England and her colonies. The beginning of the year was changed from March 25 to January 1. Before that, January, February, and the first 24 days of March were at the end of the calendar year. Also, the year 1752 lost 11 days to adjust the calendar properly to the solar-based cycle of seasons; hence, the day after September 2 was September 14. If you read that George Washington was born on February 22, 1731/32, it means that he was born on February 11, 1931 Old Style, or February 22, 1732 New Style.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grenadier [FONT="](n.) A member of an elite troop that usually served as one of the flank companies of each regiment. They were originally large, powerful men who could throw hand bombs (grenades). In 1776 Gen. Charles Lee reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“I have formed two companies of grenadiers to each regiment.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]griskin [FONT="](n.) The spine of a hog. From Middle English gris ‘pig.’ In 1739 William Byrd:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“ate pork griskins.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]groat [FONT="](n.) An English silver coin worth about four pence. From great, because before this coin there was no silver coin larger than a penny. In 1748 Franklin observed,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Six pounds a year is but a groat a day.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]groats [FONT="](n.) Hulled oats. From Middle English grotes, same meaning. Now, grits.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grogram [FONT="](n.) A silk and mohair cloth. From French gros grain ‘large grain.’ A 1732 Charleston, SC, newspaper offered:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“lately imported…Dowlasses, Dantzick, Gorgrams with Trimming.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]ground brief [FONT="](n.) A license from the Governor in New Amsterdam which permitted the holder to buy land from the Indians. An Anglicization of Dutch grondbrief ‘land-letter.’[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]ground leaves [FONT="](n.) The leaves of a tobacco plant nearest the ground, which were not satisfactory. A 1640 Maryland document read,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Bad tobacco shall be judged round leafes.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]ground nut [FONT="](n.) (1) In New England, the root of the wild bean. In 1675 Mary Rowlandson in Massachusetts reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“that day…the Indians…gleaning what they could find…some found groundnuts.”[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) [FONT="]In the South, the peanut. Bernard Romans in 1775 mentioned,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“the ground nut also introduced by the Blacks from Guinea.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grum [FONT="](adj.) Morose, surly, glum. In 1771 Franklin deplored:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“my brother, still grum and sullen.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grunt [FONT="](n.) A dessert made of dough filled with berries steamed for an hour and a half.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]grutch [FONT="](v.) To begrudge. Describing Virginia in 1705, Robert Beverley wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“They spunge upon the Blessings of a warm sun, and a fruitful Soil, and almost grutch the Pains of gathering in the Bounties of the Earth.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]guaiacum [FONT="](n.) A brew made from the hardwood tree lignum vitae which increased perspiration, a treatment for venereal disease. A Haitian word. Also guejaec.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gudgeon [FONT="](n.) The socket in which a fireplace crane was seated. In 1762 Franklin explained,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The spindle, which is of hard iron…is made to turn on brass gudgeons at each end.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]guejac [FONT="](n.) See guaiacum.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]guest house [FONT="](n.) An infirmary. Capt. John Smith in 1609 wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“On the other side of the river, is Mount Malado (a guest house for sick people).”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]guilder [FONT="](n.) A corruption of Dutch gulden ‘gold coin.’ In 1704 the three guilder piece was worth five shillings, two pence, one farthing.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]guinea [FONT="](n.) A British gold coin, issued between 1663 and 1813, worth 21 shillings. So named because it was first struck from gold from Guinea on the Gold Coast.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]guinea corn [FONT="](n.) The durra or millet. In 1743 Mark Catesby wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Bunched Guinea Corn…It was at first introduced from Africa by the negroes.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gum elemi [FONT="](n.) A gum resin used for varnish and as an ointment. In 1729 Mark Catesby wrote,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“The Gum-elimy Tree…produces a large quantity of Gum…the consistency of Turpentine.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gunboat [FONT="](n.) A small boat with one or two cannon. Propelled by oars, it may or may not also be moved by a sail. The 1777 Continental Congress:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Resolved…That General Gates be empowered to order such a number of gallies, gunboats, fire-rafts.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gundalow [FONT="](n.) A double-ended, flat-bottomed, one-masted boat with one heavy gun mounted on a forecastle deck foreward and two or four guns broadside. A 1777 document reported,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Colonel Brown has taken Ticonderoga…a number of gundeloes, one armed sloop.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gunstick [FONT="](n.) A ramrod.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Gunter [FONT="](n.) Reference to Edmund Gunter (1581-1626) an English mathematician.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Gauging by Gunter” or “according to Gunter” meant to measure by the most precise method. Alsto gunter.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gurry [FONT="](n.) What is left of a whale after the oil is tried out; the offal of any animal, especially a fish. Etymology unknown. A 1776 Connecticut newspaper advertised,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Oil and Gurry to be sold by the barrel.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gusset [FONT="](n.) The clock on a stocking. A 1754 newspaper editorial deplored recent fashions which:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“lately shortened the rear, so that the heels and ancles are exposed, even for the very gusset and clock.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gust [FONT="](n.) A sudden squall and blast of wind. In 1731 Joshua Hempstead recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Sund[ay] 7 hot a Thunder gust & shower.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gut [FONT="](n.) Short for gutter, a channel worn by a current of water. In 1770 Washington recorded,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“I also marked at the Mouth of another Gut lower down.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gut scraper [FONT="](n.) A fiddler. The strings of a fiddle are made of catgut. A 1698 song exhorted,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“Strike up drowsie Gut-Scrapers.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]gynecandrical [FONT="](adj.) Men and women together. In 1684 Increase Mather deplored,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]“There are questions regarding gynecandrical dancing or that which is commonly called mixed promiscuously dancing viz men and women together. Now this we affirm to be utterly unlawful and it cannot be tolerated in such a place as New England without great sin.”[/FONT]
