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 |
|---|---|
| turricle | rare, a little turret |
| turvy | overturned, upset, as in topsy-turvy |
| tutament | a protection or safeguard (Latin tutamen) |
| uhtensang | Old English, matins, the office sung at dawn |
| umbeclad | archaic umbe- (about) + clad, clothed about |
| umbracle | a shade, canopy or shady place |
| unbokel | Middle English, to unbuckle (Chaucer unbokele) |
| unbroid | to unbraid, from archaic broid (braid) |
| uncoft | unbought (coft, archaic past of coff, to buy) |
| uncope | to unmuzzle a ferret or dog; cf. uncape |
| unctorian | pertaining to anointing or an anointer |
| underbudde | underbud with the archaic -e ending, to bud beneath |
| undernam | past tense of undernim, to rebuke or perceive |
| undernomen | past participle of undernim, rebuked |
| undernsong | undern song, the mid-morning church service |
| underntime | undern time, the forenoon |
| uneaths | archaic uneaths, scarcely, with difficulty |
| unfele | Middle English un- + fele (good), foul or unkind |
| unlouken | Middle English, unlocked or opened |
| unmete | Middle English, unmeet, unfitting or excessive |
| unmeth | Middle English, excess, want of moderation |
| unneath | spelling of uneath, scarcely, with difficulty |
| unnethes | Middle English unnethes, scarcely, hardly |
| unnethis | Middle English unnethis, scarcely, hardly |
| unornly | unorne (Middle English, plain or poor) + -ly |
| unparegal | not fully equal; paregal, obsolete for equal |
| unparfit | not perfect; parfit, Chaucer's form of perfect |
| unpleasive | not pleasing; pleasive, obsolete for pleasing |
| unpropice | not favourable; propice, obsolete for propitious |
| unprovised | archaic, unprovided for, unforeseen; from the obsolete verb provise |
| unprovisedly | archaic, unexpectedly, without preparation |
| unqueme | Middle English un- + queme (pleasing), displeasing, unwelcome |
| unquemely | Middle English, unpleasingly, in a way that does not suit |
| unquert | Middle English un- + quert (hale, cheerful), unwell or joyless |
| unray | archaic verb, to disarray or undress; from array |
| unride | Middle English, rough, rude, huge or cruel |
| unridely | Middle English, roughly, cruelly |
| unsaught | Middle English, unreconciled, at odds (saught = peace) |
| unscapable | archaic, inescapable; scape is aphetic escape |
| unseeliness | wretchedness, the state of being unseely |
| unseely | Middle English unsely, unhappy or unlucky |
| unseliness | older spelling of unseeliness, wretchedness |
| unselth | Middle English unselth, unhappiness (OE unsaelth) |
| unseminared | Shakespeare, deprived of seed, gelded |
| unshout | Shakespeare, to undo a shout by shouting again |
| unsittingly | archaic, unbecomingly; unsitting is unfitting |
| unslogh | old spelling of unslough, to cast the skin |
| unsome | archaic, not at one, discordant (OE unsom) |
| unsoothfast | archaic, untruthful; soothfast is truthful |
| unstablished | archaic, not established; stablish is establish |
| unstreng | Middle English, to unstring or take strength from |
| unthende | Middle English, not thriving; feeble, poor |
| unthrid | to unthread; thrid is the old form of thread |
| untine | to open; from tine, obsolete for to shut |
| untrist | Middle English, distrust; not to be trusted |
| untroth | Middle English untrouthe, faithlessness |
| untwind | old form of untwine; to untwist |
| unured | not accustomed or practised; ure, use or practice |
| unwelde | Middle English, unwieldy or feeble |
| unwelth | Middle English unwealth, want or misery |
| unwille | Middle English, unwillingness or ill will |
| unwry | archaic, to uncover or disclose |
| upbrast | archaic preterite of upburst |
| upraught | archaic preterite of upreach |
| upsedoun | Middle English up-so-down, upside down |
| usation | obsolete, use or usage |
| usselven | Middle English, ourselves |
| utible | obsolete, useful or profitable |
| utlagary | obsolete law, outlawry |
| vailable | obsolete, available or profitable |
| validous | obsolete, strong or robust |
| vallancy | obsolete, a large wig that shades the face |
| vanfoss | fortification, the ditch outside the counterscarp |
| vangee | nautical, a machine for working a ship's pump |
| vanlay | hunting, hounds laid on ahead, form of vauntlay |
| vaumure | fortification, an outer or false wall |
| vauntlay | hunting, hounds laid on ahead of the pack |
| veigle | obsolete, to inveigle or entice |
| vellute | obsolete, velvet or velvety, Italian velluto |
| velout | obsolete, velvet, French velours |
| veltfare | old form of fieldfare, the thrush |
| ventoy | obsolete, a fan |
| veredict | older form of verdict, from Latin veredictum |
| vergoyne | Middle English, shame or disgrace |
| veriment | truth, verity |
| versation | a turning about, occupation with something |
| vertugal | a farthingale, from French vertugalle |
| vessets | a coarse woolen cloth, also vesses |
| vessignon | farriery, a windgall or soft swelling on a horse's hock |
| viduous | widowed, bereft, empty |
| vigilation | watching, vigilance |
| vildly | vilely, from vild, obsolete form of vile |
| vildness | vileness, from vild, obsolete form of vile |
| vindemiatory | pertaining to the vintage or grape harvest |
| vindict | vengeance, from Latin vindicta |
| vineatic | of or belonging to vines and vineyards |
| viragin | a virago, a masculine woman |
| visceration | Roman antiquity, a public distribution of flesh |
| visement | advisement, in its aphetic form |
| visenomy | physiognomy, the face; also visnomy |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
