adjective
scurrilous; foulmouthed; grossly abusive.
The very rare adjective thersitical 鈥渟currilous, foulmouthed, abusive鈥 derives from the Greek personal name 罢丑别谤蝉铆迟脓蝉, itself a derivative of the adjective 迟丑别谤蝉颈别辫岣梥 鈥渂old of speech.鈥 Thersites appears in Book 2 of the Iliad in the assembly of the Achaeans. Homer describes Thersites as lame, bowlegged, with shoulders that sloped inward, and a pointy head covered with tufts of hair鈥攖he ugliest man at Troy. Thersites accuses Agamemnon of greed and Achilles of cowardice, for which Odysseus beats him severely about the head and shoulders to the great amusement of the rest of the Achaeans. Thersitical entered English in the mid-17th century.
… there is a pelting kind of thersitical satire ….
These he lists in language so richly thersitical that his English translator, likely Herring himself, must have strained his vocabulary to its limits to do it justice.
noun
Chiefly Midland and Western U.S.
a usually short, heavy rainstorm.
Gullywasher, 鈥渁 short, heavy rainstorm,鈥 is a dialect and regional word in the U.S. Midwest and West. The first half of the word is a variant pronunciation of gullet 鈥渢hroat, esophagus,鈥 from Middle English golet, gulet, from Old French goulet, from Latin gula 鈥渢丑谤辞补迟.鈥 Gullywasher entered English in the early 20th century.
I used to have a country neighbor who during drouths would inevitably, when he saw a white rim of cloudiness on the easter horizon, prognosticate a gully-washer, a clod-melter, a frog-strangler within the week.
The rounds of rain and flash flooding Tuesday presented another reminder that 2018 has聽featured both gullywashers and full-day washouts.
noun
something of very small value: I don't care a farthing for your opinion.
A farthing was formerly an English coin of the smallest denomination, worth a quarter of a penny. Originally the coin was made of silver, then of a copper alloy, and finally of bronze. The coin was discontinued in 1961. The Middle English name for the coin was ferthing, farthing (with still more variants), made of silver, and came from Old English 蹿脓辞谤迟丑颈苍驳, 蹿脓辞谤迟丑耻苍驳 鈥渁 quarter, a fourth part, a farthing.鈥 The Old English forms are derivatives of 蹿脓辞谤迟丑补 鈥渇ourth鈥 and the noun suffix –ing 鈥渙ne belonging to, descended from,鈥 sometimes used to form diminutives, as here. Farthing entered English before a.d. 1000.
… when he cares not a farthing for the general good, and will sell his vote for a dollar … then his vote becomes a public pest.
Most of the tunes are pegged to the show-within-the-show, which we couldn鈥檛 give a farthing about.