The Death of Fissiparous and Other Words: A Dictionary of Words & Phrases on the Verge of Extinction

moiety

MOI-uh-tee

noun

half of something; a part of something; one portion of something divided

1697William DampierA New Voyage Round the WorldIt is fortified and garrisoned by a large Portuguese Colony, but yet under the Chinese Government, whose People inhabit one Moiety of the Town, and lay on the Portuguese what Tax they please; for they dare not disoblige the Chinese, for fear of losing their Trade.1719Daniel DefoeRobinson CrusoeThe old man told me he had not been in the Brazils for about nine years; but that he could assure me that when he came away my partner was living...but he assured me that the steward of the king's revenue from lands, and the providore, or steward of the monastery, had taken great care all along that the incumbent, that is to say my partner, gave every year a faithful account of the produce, of which they had duly received my moiety.1819Sir Walter ScottIvanhoe'It is sufficient,' said the Disinherited Knight. 'Half the sum my present necessities compel me to accept; of the remaining half, distribute one moiety among yourselves, sir squires, and divide the other half betwixt the heralds and the pursuivants, and minstrels, and attendants.'

Labels: Daniel Defoe, Sir Walter Scott, William Dampier

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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jejune

ji-JOON

adjective

uninteresting; insipid; dull

1703William DampierA Voyage to New HollandIt has been Objected against me by some that my Accounts and Descriptions of Things are dry and jejune, not filled with variety of pleasant Matter to divert and gratify the Curious Reader. How far this is true, I must leave to the World to judge.1830Edward Bulwer-LyttonPaul CliffordTo the former decent alternative she knew Paul's great and jejune aversion; and she consequently had little fear for his morals or his safety, in thus abandoning him for a while to chance.1842Nikolai Vasilievich GogolDead SoulsInstantly it became plain that he at least was of an age of discretion, and not one of your jejune chatterboxes and harum-scarums; for, although his hair was still thick and black, he had long ago passed his fortieth year.1880Mark TwainA Tramp AbroadContrasted with the inconceivable antiquity of this modest fossil, those other things were flippantly modern—jejune—mere matters of day-before-yesterday.1922Samuel Hopkins AdamsFrom a Bench in Our SquareJust as decidedly she was quaint and piquant and quite new to his jejune but also somewhat bored experience.1980Alan Dean FosterCachalotHow jejune!

Labels: Alan Dean Foster, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Mark Twain, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Samuel Hopkins Adams, William Dampier

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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ague

AY-gyoo

noun

aches and chills; fever with shivering and shaking, sometimes including aching bones and joints and persistent tiredness or exhaustion; malaria

1697William DampierA New Voyage Round the WorldHere I was taken sick of Fever and Ague that afterward turned to Dropsy, which I laboured under a long time after, a many of our men died of this Distempter, though our Surgeons used their greatest Skill to preserve their Lives.1849Edward Bulwer-LyttonThe Caxtons...the quotidian ague of frigid impertinences…

Labels: Edward Bulwer-Lytton, William Dampier

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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