Discover Top Posts Tagged with #fossil words

I used the phrase "waiting on tenterhooks" and then thought "what the hell is a tenterhook".

It's these things! So when you're waiting on tenterhooks, you're stretched tight like a piece of cloth. Very evocative, now that I know what it means.

#linguistics #fossil words

Writing Notes: Fossil Word

Fossil word - In linguistics, a fossil is a word or sense of a word that was once in common use but is now obsolete or no longer actively used except in certain idioms, phrases, or other words.

EXAMPLES

ado - as in "without further ado" or "with no further ado" or "much ado about nothing"

amok - as in "run amok"

bated - as in "wait with bated breath"

betwixt - as in "betwixt and between"

bide - as in "bide your time"

fro - as in "to and fro"

inclement - as in "inclement weather”

lo - as in "lo and behold"

turpitude - as in "moral turpitude"

wedlock - as in "out of wedlock"

yore - as in "of yore", usually "days of yore"