What are some examples of idioms that include obsolete words?
language/english/etymology/fossil Added material
Problem
What are some examples of idioms that include obsolete words?
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These are called fossil expresions -- words that have dropped out of common use but hang around in idioms. Not all of them are separate words, some are part of other words or have prefixes or suffixes attached. There are also words which have current meaning, but the meaning in the idiom is unrelated to it. idiom fossil meaning of fossil -------------------------------------------------- swashbuckler buckler small shield newfangled fangled siezed rank and file file column to and fro fro from gormless gorm attention hem and haw haw make the sound "haw" hem and haw hem make the sound "hem" hue and cry hue outcry kit and kaboodle kaboodle collection out of kilter kilter order kith and kin kith friends let or hindrance let hindrance footpad pad highwayman pratfall prat buttocks rank and file rank row raring to go raring enthusiastic ruthless ruth compassion short shrift shrift confession spick-and-span span chunk of wood spick-and-span spick nail (spike) swashbuckler swash bluster or stagger bank teller tell to count
Additional material
[ Editor: from a 1995 thread "Single Purpose Words", on words said to
occur only in one fixed phrase. ]
In article <3l5sf9$kgo@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>,
> beck, as in "beck and call".
A "beck" is also running water, smaller than a stream but larger
than a creek. I can think of at least one recent usage: the Archie Fisher
song "Witch of the West-mere Lands", which has the line
Beck water cold and clear will never heal yuir wound;
there's nane but the Witch o' the West-mere Lands
can make thee hale and sound.
Fisher is Scottish, but the song was covered by the American folksinger
Stan Rogers (as "Witch of the Westmoreland") and the line remained the same.
>> aback, as in "taken aback".
A sail can be aback. That is in fact the origin of the phrase, I've
heard: that misjudging the wind when tacking can result in the sails being
suddenly taken aback.
>> And can "spic" and "span" ever be used without each other?
Well, not to mean "clean"; but spic is a racial slur, and a span
is the distance from the heel of the hand to the tip of the middle
finger.
-- Michael A Phipps <caius@titan.oit.umass.edu>
In article <3l5sf9$kgo@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> positron@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM
(Jonathan Haas) writes:
>aback, as in "taken aback".
Sails can definitely be aback. (One way they can get into this
condition is by being "taken aback," purportedly the origin of the
everyday phrase. Another way is to be backed purposefully by the
boat's crew.)
>caboodle, as in "kit and caboodle".
I believe in Disney's 101 Dalmatians there is a line, "You couldn't get
'alf a dozen coats out o' the 'ole caboodle."
-- David A. Karr <karr@cs.cornell.edu>