Hiberno-Eng. Also meadar, maddor. A drinking-vessel.
"Shorty, stooping among the offerings, was engaged with earthen jars and kegs and wax-crusted green bottles, fondling and opening them and pouring dusky libations into medhers of old thick pewter."
A governess cart is a small two-wheeled horse-drawn cart. Their distinguishing feature is a small tub body, with two opposed inward-facing seats. They could seat four, although there was little room for four large adults. The driver sat sideways on one of these seats. The centre rear of the body was lowered, or else had a small hinged door, and there was a step beneath. The wheels were of moderate size, always fitted with mud guards, and usually carried on elliptical springs. The axle was either straight or dropped, giving a low, stable, centre of gravity.
I am writing on behalf of a friend who is reading Invitation to a Beheading. He came across the term "fried chuckrick" and could not find a definition. I always assumed that it was a made-up word meant to convey something folksy-crude and fried (something like "ponchiki", I imagined), but there have been others who assumed VN made up words, only to be shamed by his unabridged dictionary, so now I wonder... (I don't have Dal' handy.)
Editor's Note.
I do have Dal' handy and it defines "Khukhrik" or "huhrik" ( in VN's transliteration) as a dialectical word meaning "shchegolek. i.e., a "fop" or "dandy"--which doesn't get us very far. "Shchegolek," however, comes from the (possibly different) root(s) shchegOl-/shchOgol' (the
capital "O's" = stress), the first, "shchegOl" now meaning the "Eurasian Goldfinch" (Carduelis carduelis) and the latter, "shchOgol'" a "Spotted Redshank," (Tringa erythropus) related to snipe and woodcock. Both are common in Northern Europe. (On my bird life list as Goldfinch: Lagos, Portugal 10 Dec. 1978 & Spotted Redshanks: Minsmere, England Jun 10, 1992). Small passerines like sparrows (or finchs?) are roasted and eated in Spain, but I have not seen them consumed elsewhere in Europe; nor do I know whether "Spotten Redshanks" are eaten although their kinship with snipe and woodcock suggests that such might be the case. So, to conclude: my guess is that Nabokov's characters are eating a game bird resembling a snipe.
As an irrelevant aside, I suggest (and I do not have Vasmer's etymological dictionary at hand) that the meaning "fop" or "dandy" linked with the root derives from the "goldfinch" meaning since the bird (unlike the "Spotted Redshanks) is extremely colorful. Note too that the English "popinjay" (fop) is a "folk etymology" coming from the same source as the Russian "popugai" (parrot).
I'm trying to deal, but I found the Old Interface to be the best anywhere. This new scheme looks like the cover art for Hector and the Search for Happiness. Not so good; help.
"You remember, of course," resumed the soi-disant de Worms, pulling his beard and looking out of the window, "that when we broke up rather hurriedly the whole arrangements for the atrocity were left in the private hands of the Marquis and Dr. Bull."
found in the Coastal Northeastern North Carolina vernacular to mean a large bird, usually a Great Blue Heron, or a similar bird of the family Ardeidae, and based on the eerily prehistoric sound it makes upon being startled, "QUORK!"
Says Plowdon, the whale so caught belongs to the King and Queen, "because of its superior excellence." And by the soundest commentators this has ever been held a cogent argument in such matters.
But why should the King have the head, and the Queen the tail? A reason for that, ye lawyers!
In his treatise on "Queen-Gold," or Queen-pin-money, an old King's Bench author, one William Prynne, thus discourseth: "Ye tail is ye Queen's, that ye Queen's wardrobe may be supplied with ye whalebone." Now this was written at a time when the black limber bone of the Greenland or Right whale was largely used in ladies' bodices. But this same bone is not in the tail; it is in the head, which is a sad mistake for a sagacious lawyer like Prynne. But is the Queen a mermaid, to be presented with a tail? An allegorical meaning may lurk here.
A ridiculous burlesque, which in 1730 had an extraordinary run at the Haymarket theatre. So great was its popularity that a club called “The Hurlo-Thrumbo Society” was formed. The author was Samuel Johnson, a half-mad dancing master, who put this motto on the title-page when the burlesque was printed:
Ye sons of fire, read my Hurlo-Thrumbo,
Turn it betwixt your finger and your thumbo,
And being quite undone, be quite struck dumbo.
-Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
I believe it was The Professor and the Madman that first tossed this word at me, but having the meaning "a small, limpid stream." I think. Leastways, I'm good with it.
Comments by raven_in_the_woods
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word voel
A bare hill. After a mountain in N. Wales.
April 23, 2014
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word syneisaktism
A monk and a nun living together without carnal knowledge of each other. Found in Isabel Colegate's A Pelican in the Wilderness
April 19, 2014
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word davach
Avgs. about 416 acres
February 27, 2014
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word desart
Albe — the dear capricious, fascinating Albe — has left this desart world!...God grant I may die young!
-Mary Shelley's Journal of Sorrow
December 29, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word calloo
"But how do the luckless feel
and how do the calloos think?"
- The Kalevala, by Elias Lönnrot, trans. Keith Bosley
December 5, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word refection
In the fifth stanza of Robert Browning's "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister"
November 17, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word marsh light
A dead-end idea.
Found in I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
September 25, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word mearing
Hiberno-Eng. The boundary ditch or fence between two farms.
April 29, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word medher
Hiberno-Eng. Also meadar, maddor. A drinking-vessel.
"Shorty, stooping among the offerings, was engaged with earthen jars and kegs and wax-crusted green bottles, fondling and opening them and pouring dusky libations into medhers of old thick pewter."
from At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
April 29, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word rann
Found in At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
April 12, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word varletess
Z: Midget. Crapper.
M&C: Yes, O Zoot?
Z: Prepare a bed for our guest.
M&C: Oh thank you, thank you...
Z: Away, away varletesses.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
April 9, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word poitin
Irish moonshine, distilled from wheat or rye. Found in Daimons by Nina FitzPatrick
March 7, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word pegnoir
A woman's loose-fitting dressing gown or sack. Also peignoir. Found in Dylan Thomas's Rebecca's Daughters
March 2, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word alembicated
"...the alembicated Donne..." found in The Stuffed Owl by DBW Lewis and C Lee
February 28, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word pudibond
Prudish. Found in the preface to The Stuffed Owl, an Anthology of Bad Verse by D.B. Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee
February 28, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word cicatrised
Scarred
February 19, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word lameter
Found in Jane Eyre
February 19, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word robinsonner
Fr. to travel mentally
February 18, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word deseret
the Mormon word for honeybee.
January 30, 2013
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word mossop
The dormouse drowsy to the soul
In warmth of mossop where he lies,
Uncurls his beech-nut-battened roll,
And is all dart and is all eyes
-sung by the missel-thrush in John Masefield's The Box of Delights
December 18, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word dogbody
early 19th c. Newfoundland fishing vessel with a squared stern
October 26, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word donkey's breakfast
a sailor's straw bed
October 26, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word spellikin
alternative spelling of spillikin
October 25, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word char-a-bancs
found in Hugh Walpole's Portrait of a Man With Red Hair
October 15, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word tallyscoop
votes collected?
October 11, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word pear-drop
a British boiled sweet made from sugar and pear flavourings
October 11, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word ballacher
found in Joyce Cary's The Horse's Mouth
October 11, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word tallyscoop
found in Joyce Cary's The Horse's Mouth
October 11, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word figuerie
found in Rainer Maria Rilke's
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
September 11, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word scoriac
Found in E A Poe's poem "Ulalume—A Ballad"
These were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll—
As the lavas that restlessly roll
September 3, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word saracenal
found in Daniel Hoffman's book
Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe
August 31, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word cymobphobia
fear of sea swell.
from Schott's Original Miscellany
August 31, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word potleg
broken pieces of cast iron used as shot.
found in Joyce Cary's To Be a Pilgrim
"My God, I remember when I stopped that potleg in Ashanti, how i longed for a pipe."
August 22, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word strammaging
Nonsense word by Joyce Cary. Found in the book Herself Surprised from his First Trilogy
August 6, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word governess-cart
A governess cart is a small two-wheeled horse-drawn cart. Their distinguishing feature is a small tub body, with two opposed inward-facing seats. They could seat four, although there was little room for four large adults. The driver sat sideways on one of these seats. The centre rear of the body was lowered, or else had a small hinged door, and there was a step beneath. The wheels were of moderate size, always fitted with mud guards, and usually carried on elliptical springs. The axle was either straight or dropped, giving a low, stable, centre of gravity.
From Wikipedia
August 6, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word divendop
An unknown bird from the 15th c. Found in John Skelton's poem The Requiem Mass
August 4, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word Sarah Jane
slang. a maidservant
found in Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, to say nothing of the Dog!
July 20, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word spelaean
pertaining to or inhabiting caves
June 18, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word chuckrick
I am writing on behalf of a friend who is reading Invitation to a Beheading. He came across the term "fried chuckrick" and could not find a definition. I always assumed that it was a made-up word meant to convey something folksy-crude and fried (something like "ponchiki", I imagined), but there have been others who assumed VN made up words, only to be shamed by his unabridged dictionary, so now I wonder... (I don't have Dal' handy.)
Editor's Note.
I do have Dal' handy and it defines "Khukhrik" or "huhrik" ( in VN's transliteration) as a dialectical word meaning "shchegolek. i.e., a "fop" or "dandy"--which doesn't get us very far. "Shchegolek," however, comes from the (possibly different) root(s) shchegOl-/shchOgol' (the
capital "O's" = stress), the first, "shchegOl" now meaning the "Eurasian Goldfinch" (Carduelis carduelis) and the latter, "shchOgol'" a "Spotted Redshank," (Tringa erythropus) related to snipe and woodcock. Both are common in Northern Europe. (On my bird life list as Goldfinch: Lagos, Portugal 10 Dec. 1978 & Spotted Redshanks: Minsmere, England Jun 10, 1992). Small passerines like sparrows (or finchs?) are roasted and eated in Spain, but I have not seen them consumed elsewhere in Europe; nor do I know whether "Spotten Redshanks" are eaten although their kinship with snipe and woodcock suggests that such might be the case. So, to conclude: my guess is that Nabokov's characters are eating a game bird resembling a snipe.
As an irrelevant aside, I suggest (and I do not have Vasmer's etymological dictionary at hand) that the meaning "fop" or "dandy" linked with the root derives from the "goldfinch" meaning since the bird (unlike the "Spotted Redshanks) is extremely colorful. Note too that the English "popinjay" (fop) is a "folk etymology" coming from the same source as the Russian "popugai" (parrot).
(found on listserv.ucsb.edu)
June 18, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word teabroker
an overly costly middleman in the tea trade
June 18, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word bellator
n. Latin. warrior, fighter, soldier
June 18, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word holard
n. the entire water content of the soil
April 17, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word contadine
peasant girls; farmgirls; countrywomen
contadine-partners found in The Marble Faun by Hawthorne
April 16, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word blareting
the bleating of a sheep
April 6, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word beldering
the bellowing of a bull
April 6, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word lyke-wake
the practice of watching through the night by the side of a corpse
April 6, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word illachrymable
unable to cry.
Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words
March 22, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word slammakin
also, slammerkin
n. a slovenly female, a sloven, a slattern
adj. untidy, slovenly
"a female sloven, one whose clothes seem hung on with a pitch fork, a careless trapes."
-A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
February 21, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word bocksdorn
the goji berry or wolf berry
January 8, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word eboulement
landslide?
January 5, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word bogail
Welsh. navel; boss, hub; the hub of a piece of hardware
January 2, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word brousse
a taxi in any form
January 2, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word brousse
a runny sheep's milk cheese
January 2, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word ferrocement
concrete reinforced with chicken wire
January 2, 2012
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word Mulciber
the god Hephaestus or Vulcan
December 21, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word roaring meg
a slang term for a cannon
December 21, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word sabaoth
armies; hosts
Blackie's Standard Shilling Dict.
September 13, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word upsilamba
the combination of Greek letters upsilon and lambda, nonsensically created by Nabokov.
appears in Invitation to a Beheading
September 13, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word arcanna
lovely.
September 5, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word teabroker
found in Mervyn Peake's Mr Pye
September 5, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word halma-man
someone who performs in the halma. found in Mervyn Peake's Mr Pye
August 31, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word heckelclarina
a special musical instrument created for the playing of the shepherd's pipe part of Act III of Wagner's Tristan
August 31, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word crakows
long-toed shoes whose points curl upward and back upon themselves
August 31, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word country matters
sexual intercourse. found in Serenissima by Erica Jong
August 31, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word balneatix
a female attendant in a bath.
July 21, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word balneator
a bath superintendent.
July 21, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word arcanna
red chalk used to mark trees.
July 18, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word elephant-rain
a light Spring rain. Found in The Jungle Books Vol. 1
July 17, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word new interface
I'm trying to deal, but I found the Old Interface to be the best anywhere. This new scheme looks like the cover art for Hector and the Search for Happiness. Not so good; help.
June 18, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word vaisvons
raisins
April 13, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word aurochs
found in Smilla's Sense of Snow, when she takes Isaiah to the zoo
January 4, 2011
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word cocoanut shy
the story
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word embonpoint
found in H. G. Wells' The Invisible Man
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word walk
a hunting district.
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word union pearl
a large pearl.
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word union
a large pearl
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word roaring-meg
a name for a cannon.
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word rhododaphne
a book by Thomas Love Peacock, Rhododaphne: or the Thessalian Spirit.
rhododaphne: the oleander
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word monocerot
a unicorn The Anatomy of Melancholy
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word mummia
a distillation from mummies or dead bodies The Anatomy of Melancholy
November 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word le violon d'ingres
You're doing so well, dar.
October 21, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word cucumber-green
useful.
October 13, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word vulcanism
I'd say it's too late. Hopefully he's a little pacified.
October 13, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word gentamicin
god, that's almost gentenmann's!
October 12, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word pilimiction
the presence of hairs in the urine.
October 12, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the user George.Injetson
Steal more. Eek!
October 7, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word southermost
ha.
October 3, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word soi-disant
"You remember, of course," resumed the soi-disant de Worms, pulling his beard and looking out of the window, "that when we broke up rather hurriedly the whole arrangements for the atrocity were left in the private hands of the Marquis and Dr. Bull."
-The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton
September 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word quork
found in the Coastal Northeastern North Carolina vernacular to mean a large bird, usually a Great Blue Heron, or a similar bird of the family Ardeidae, and based on the eerily prehistoric sound it makes upon being startled, "QUORK!"
September 22, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the user George.Injetson
play here please.
September 21, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word acheulian
lord.
September 21, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word oedematous
pertaining to a condition characterized by an excess of watery fluid collecting in the cavities or tissues of the body; having dropsy
September 20, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word duelling
sic. Hilary Mantel
September 16, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word mold-shot head
found in The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel.
September 16, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word tisick
consumption
September 16, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word hollowmeat
cups, tumblers, bowls, etc; see hollow-ware; as opposed to flat-ware
August 29, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word grangerised
illustrated with prints; see grangerism
August 29, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word erelim
the third order of angels in the Christian hierarchy, "beryl-coloured wheel-within-a-wheels covered with hundreds of eyes;" ophanim
August 27, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word ruddoc
a Robin Redbreast; same as ruddock
August 27, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word amphigouri
same as amphigory.
August 5, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word amphigory
so agreed!
August 5, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word elops
Elops saurus. the ladyfish.
August 3, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word pizer
kudos to you abraxetc. for your knowledge of the Ococker vernacular.
August 2, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word mai
also, a facepaint used in India.
August 1, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word epicarp
found this in the amazing Blackie's Standard Shilling Dictionary!
August 1, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word pettifogging
acting as a lawyer in petty cases.
August 1, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word fluker
Slang. a flounder.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word selvedge
in The Wind in the Willows, when Water Rat and Mole are rowing, Grahame refers to the bank as "the selvedge." love it.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word seplasiary
a perfumer.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word savernapron
a table-napkin.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word partouse
an orgy.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word mermaid pie
a pie containing a suckling pig baked whole therein.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word drove-den
a woodland pig pasture.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word leptosomatic
tall and lean.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word gallinipper
an Alaskan hummingbird. ha. whatev.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word fank
a coil of rope.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word kirn-baby
the last armful of grain cut at harvest; often kept and hung above the fireplace.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word aquæmanale
an aquamanile.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word musterdevilliers
a mixed-grey or mustard wool cloth.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word queen-pin-money
Says Plowdon, the whale so caught belongs to the King and Queen, "because of its superior excellence." And by the soundest commentators this has ever been held a cogent argument in such matters.
But why should the King have the head, and the Queen the tail? A reason for that, ye lawyers!
In his treatise on "Queen-Gold," or Queen-pin-money, an old King's Bench author, one William Prynne, thus discourseth: "Ye tail is ye Queen's, that ye Queen's wardrobe may be supplied with ye whalebone." Now this was written at a time when the black limber bone of the Greenland or Right whale was largely used in ladies' bodices. But this same bone is not in the tail; it is in the head, which is a sad mistake for a sagacious lawyer like Prynne. But is the Queen a mermaid, to be presented with a tail? An allegorical meaning may lurk here.
-Moby Dick
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word faking box
Chicamacomico comes through!
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word wych elm
I believe this is in The Wind in the Willows and Gardener's Nightcap.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word alecost
found this in Muriel Stuart's Gardener's Nightcap.
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word Hurlo-Thrumbo
A ridiculous burlesque, which in 1730 had an extraordinary run at the Haymarket theatre. So great was its popularity that a club called “The Hurlo-Thrumbo Society” was formed. The author was Samuel Johnson, a half-mad dancing master, who put this motto on the title-page when the burlesque was printed:
Ye sons of fire, read my Hurlo-Thrumbo,
Turn it betwixt your finger and your thumbo,
And being quite undone, be quite struck dumbo.
-Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
July 31, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word thiccy
Cornish Dialect. This.
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word mollifying ointment
a skin softening lotion.
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word who-hit-john
Nautical. a type of strong drink
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word cat
also, a collier or coal ship
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word gueules
Old French. red fur neckpiece
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word hock
love that Chiefly British def!
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word manavalins
man-of-wars' pies; almost always plural. found in Melville's Whitejacket
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word nip-cheese
sailor's slang for a ship's purser. clever!
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word pooking fork
a pitchfork used in haymaking
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word aa
I believe it was The Professor and the Madman that first tossed this word at me, but having the meaning "a small, limpid stream." I think. Leastways, I'm good with it.
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the word gnostic
gnostic turpitude
-V. Nabokov
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the user George.Injetson
bees bees bees bees bees bees bees bees etc.
July 30, 2010
raven_in_the_woods commented on the list field-mass
these are not "words I detest"
July 30, 2010