Real Words Without Definition
This one is a judgement call.
Old English that fell out of use and got dropped from later dictionaries.
abush is an old form of ambush. absee was the alphabet. abiston was a name for asbestos. abbroachment was the offence of buying wholesale to sell on at retail.
These were normal words with normal definitions. People stopped using them and the dictionaries stopped carrying them.
2,710 words · sorted A to Z · each with a line on why it is here
Matches the word itself, not the note beside it. Case does not matter.
| Word, sorted Z to A | What it meant |
|---|---|
| losang | obs. form of lozenge (F. losange) |
| lotment | obs., aphetic form of allotment |
| lourdish | obs., dull, heavy, stupid |
| lourdy | obs., dull and heavy, sluggish |
| lovier | obs. form of lover |
| loyn | obs. spelling of loin |
| lubrify | obs., to lubricate, make slippery |
| lucible | obs., capable of shining, luminous |
| lucration | obs., gain, profit-making |
| lucrify | obs., to make profit of |
| lukeward | obs. variant of lukewarm |
| lundress | obs./dial. form of laundress |
| lusky | obs., lazy, sluggish (from lusk) |
| lustick | obs., merry, jolly (Du. lustig) |
| lustly | obs., pleasant, lusty |
| luxuriety | obs., luxuriousness, luxuriance |
| machecoled | machicolated, furnished with machicolations |
| machinament | a contrivance, machination |
| mahoitre | padded shoulder-piece of a 15th-c. doublet |
| mainferre | armour, the iron hand-guard of a gauntlet |
| mainpast | law, the household one is answerable for |
| mainprisor | law, one who takes another into mainprise |
| mainprizer | law, one who gives mainprize or surety |
| malengin | law, evil design, guile |
| malgrace | disfavour, ill will |
| mameliere | armour, breastplate disc for chain attachment |
| manteline | a short mantle or mantelet |
| manucaption | law, taking into hand as surety, mainprise |
| manucapture | law, to take by the hand as surety |
| manuduce | to lead by the hand, to guide |
| manuduct | to lead by the hand |
| manufact | a manufactured article |
| manufaction | act of manufacturing |
| manuprisor | law, one who takes mainprise; a surety |
| manworth | legal value set on a man's life, wergild |
| marage | marsh, marshy ground |
| maritimate | bordering on the sea |
| markmote | court or meeting of the mark community |
| marrymuffe | a coarse cheap cloth |
| martiloge | a martyrology, register of martyrs |
| martrix | the female marten |
| maselin | a maple drinking bowl, a mazer |
| mastigate | to whip or scourge |
| matral | pertaining to a mother, L. matralis |
| meable | passable, permeable |
| measondue | maison-dieu, an almshouse or hospital |
| meditabund | given to meditation, L. meditabundus |
| meered | bounded, from mere, a boundary |
| megbote | Anglo-Saxon law, fine paid to a slain man's kin |
| meindre | obs., lesser (Anglo-French meindre) |
| melampod | obs., black hellebore |
| melampode | obs. (Spenser), black hellebore |
| melanthy | obs., the herb black cumin (Nigella) |
| melicrate | obs., a drink of honey and water |
| melicratory | obs., of or like a honey-and-water drink |
| mellifluate | obs., to flow sweetly, as with honey |
| mellisugent | obs., honey-sucking |
| mellit | farriery, a scab on a horse's heel |
| memoration | obs., the act of remembering |
| menison | Middle English, dysentery, the flux |
| merchandy | Middle English, merchandise, trade |
| merciably | obs., mercifully |
| meschantly | obs., wickedly, badly (F. méchant) |
| meseled | obs., leprous, measled |
| meseledness | obs., the state of being leprous |
| mesely | obs., in the manner of a leper |
| mesnage | obs., household, husbandry (F. ménage) |
| metamorphostical | 17c. nonce form, pertaining to metamorphosis |
| metamorphosy | obs. form of metamorphosis |
| meward | archaic, toward me, as in "to meward" |
| mication | a twinkling or quivering motion |
| micklemote | a great assembly, OE micel gemot |
| midstead | the middle place, the midst |
| mighted | endowed with might, made mighty |
| migniardise | delicacy, daintiness (Fr. mignardise) |
| migniardize | to make dainty or delicate |
| milched | milked (from the verb milch) |
| millenist | a millenarian, believer in the millennium |
| minchery | a nunnery (from minchen, a nun) |
| minitant | threatening (Latin minitari) |
| mirabiliary | a worker of wonders or miracles |
| misaventeur | Middle English misaventure, misadventure |
| misbede | Middle English misbede, to wrong or injure |
| misgye | Middle English misgye, to misguide |
| missible | that may be sent or thrown |
| missificate | to celebrate mass |
| mobble | to muffle or wrap up the head |
| mocketer | a bib or handkerchief |
| moison | a harvest or crop |
| mokador | a handkerchief or bib |
| molendinar | pertaining to a mill |
| molestious | troublesome, annoying |
| molition | exertion, effort |
| molland | land held by molmen for money rent |
| molman | tenant holding land for money rent |
| momble | to mumble, mutter |
| monach | a monk |
| mondayland | land held on condition of Monday labor |
| monest | to admonish, warn |
| montanto | fencing, an upward thrust |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
