Word of the Week: They’re going fast! This archaic adjective in use from the mid-17th to mid-19th century describes something in great demand and ready for a quick sale, from the Middle and Old English lieftell, meaning agreeable and countable
Read moreWord of the week: myriander
Word of the week: It sounds like an exotic name, a form of wandering, or a term for many items, but this beautiful late 17th-century word pertains to an army of 10,000 men, a phrase spanning history and personal metaphor
Read moreWord of the week: nosism
Word of the Week: It sounds like a strange religion or nasal habit, but from Latin ‘nos’, this is the practice of using the ‘we’ pronoun when really only referring oneself in action or opinion - it’s more common in song than ‘we’ might imagine
Read moreWord of the week: organette or orguinette
Word of the Week: It’s a mechanical, hand-operated organ instrument first manufactured in the late 1870s playing music from perforated paper, cardboard, or metal disks on wooden rolls or “cobs” that clunkily and rather beautifully captures another era
Read moreWord of the week: quincunx
Word of the week: This ancient symbolic word is not really one to sing, but points down many cultural roads through history, as well as unearthing a variety of lesser known music
Read moreWord of the week: rondo, rondeau, roundel and round
Word of the week: What comes around … this week's rather shapely word circles culture in many directions – from medieval French poetry to a 17th-century musical form all the way to modern slang on sport stars to derogatory cars
Read moreWord of the week: tonitruone
Word of the week: An evocative term suitable for hearing the effects of changeable weather, this is a lesser known word for a musical instrument used to recreate the sound of thunder. But how? And who uses it?
Read moreWord of the week: umber
Word of the week: Strong in sound and pleasing to say, this week’s word is a dark brown with a hue of yellow or red, depending on type, but does it ever show its true colours in song?
Read moreWord of the week: watchet
Word of the week: It sounds like a small timepiece or a low-key warning, but this is really word of a shade of pale blue, an angler's fly, and also a harbour town in Somerset
Read moreWord of the week: xaphoon
Word of the week: It's another word for bamboo saxophone, handily pocket sized, cheaper than its metal cousin being without complex valves, and closer to a clarinet, yet sounding remarkably sax-like using a similar mouthpiece and reed
Read moreWord of the week: ackamarakus
Word of the week: It’s a rare, slang noun that could easily describe the speeches of several prominent politicians – meaningless activity just for show, deceptive nonsense and bluff. But how might it show up in song lyrics?
Read moreWord of the week: bumposopher
Word of the week: A delightful looking and sounding noun, and an alternative to bumpologist, this is a humorous, gently derogatory mid-19th-century word for a practitioner in the highly dubious, once-popular pseudoscience of phrenology
Read moreWord of the week: coddiwomple
Word of the week: Usually our entries are historical obscurities, but this verb is not yet in the formal lexicon, has only entered language via online circulation, yet has still inspired recent music and its definition harks back to great traditions
Read moreWord of the week: diffibulate
Word of the week: It’s a mid-17th century verb that has sexy, or maybe sensible overtones, meaning to unbutton or undo, and as barely as it is in used in the language, so also is also pretty much naked in song lyrics. Or is it?
Read moreWord of the week: epalpebrate
Word of the Week: It's an obscure adjective from the late 19th century to describe a person lacking something we all take for granted, but definitely notice when they are missing – eyebrows
Read moreWord of the week: foppotee
Word of the week: It’s a very rare and also pleasant sounding, poetic word that was briefly used in the 17th century, but is in fact derogatory, pertaining to simpleton. It could well describe much behaviour in modern life too. But in songs, is it always wrong to be a foppotee?
Read moreWord of the week: gymnure
Word of the week: Survival concerns? Maybe be more gymnure. Small, elusive and nocturnal, it's not a rat, nor a shrew, but a furry hedgehog, a Galericinae from the Erinaceidae family, with acute senses, especially of smell, and likely resembles the earliest form of mammal
Read moreWord of the week: illeism
Word of the week: A mark of self-grandeur or insecure self-consciousness? Narcissism or objectivity? An illeist is someone who talks about themselves in the third person. But how does that manifest in song?
Read moreWord of the week: jussulent
Word of the week: A derivative of the French jus for juice, this rarely tasted mid-17th-century word means full of broth or soup, a deliciously evocative adjective that bubbles up a variety of associations, but does it appear in song?
Read moreWord of the week: murklins
Word of the week: Not to be confused with the pubic wig worn by prostitutes of old and other diseased ridden individuals (the merkin), this rare adjective from the 16th and 17th century simply means ‘in the dark’, an umbrella term to accompany activity
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