Georgian Words and Insults

The age of Johnson's Dictionary (1755) and Francis Grose's dictionary of slang (1785): words first recorded between 1714 and 1836.

Shown: A Book Peddler — Master of the Canesso Peddler, ca. 1670–90 · The Met, public domain

by 1731Chuckleheadinsult · nounA blockhead or dolt. 'Chuckle' here has nothing to do with laughing: it is an old word for a clumsy or stupid fellow, perhaps from chuck, 'a lump of wood', so a chucklehead may have a head like a block of wood.
by 1732Scapegraceinsult · nounA reckless, disorderly good-for-nothing, often a mischievous boy; literally one who has 'escaped the grace of God'. Grose defined it as a wild dissolute fellow.
by 1751Humbugword · noun, verb, interjectionFirst a trick, hoax or jest played on someone, and 'to humbug' meant to deceive. By the 1820s it also meant sham, hypocrisy and nonsense in general, and a humbug could be a person who is a fraud. The word's origin is unknown.
by 1757Gadaboutinsult · noun, adjectiveA person who goes restlessly from place to place in search of fun, company or gossip. From the verb gad, 'to wander idly'. The older form 'gadder about' goes back to the 1560s.
by 1785Gollumpusinsult · nounA large, clumsy, loutish fellow. It is known almost only from Grose's dictionary and the later editions that copied it.
by 1788Taradiddleword · nounA fib; a petty lie. Later also pretentious or silly nonsense. Perhaps built on diddle, 'to cheat'.
c. 1798(as a self-important person)Cockaloruminsult · nounA little man with a big opinion of himself; a self-important boaster. It can also mean boastful talk itself, and 'high cockalorum' is a leapfrog-style game.
1811cheese itword · interjection (verb phrase)Thieves' and street slang for 'stop it! be quiet!' and, as a warning, 'look out — run!'. Its origin is unknown (Partridge guessed a corruption of 'cease').
1818(as gobemouche)Gobermouchinsult · nounAn Irish word for a busybody — someone who meddles in other people's business. It comes from French gobe-mouche, 'fly-swallower', which in English means someone who believes anything.
by 1823Collywobblesword · noun (plural in form)A stomach ache or upset stomach ('the gripes'). Later, by extension, a fit of nerves or anxiety. Probably a playful blend of colic and wobble.
by 1823Mollycoddleword · verb, nounFirst a noun for a pampered, over-protected man or boy; by about 1839 (Etymonline; Merriam-Webster says 1865) the verb, to over-indulge or pamper someone. From Molly (pet form of Mary) + coddle.
1826crikeyoath · interjectionAn exclamation of astonishment. Victorian slang dictionaries all explain it as a disguised form of 'Christ!' — Hotten calls it a 'profane exclamation of astonishment'. Today it is mild and especially associated with British and Australian speech.
by 1828Bunkumword · nounFirst, speech-making aimed at impressing voters back home rather than persuading anyone ('talking to Buncombe'). By the usual story, a North Carolina congressman, Felix Walker, insisted during the 1820 Missouri debate on speaking 'for Buncombe', his home county. It soon broadened to mean any nonsense or claptrap, and gave us 'bunk' and 'debunk'.
1829Hornswoggleword · verbTo cheat, trick or swindle someone. American English, first recorded in 1829, and probably made up for the fun of the sound.
by 1830Absquatulateword · verbTo leave in a hurry; to make off or abscond. A jokey mock-Latin American coinage of the 1830s, as if from ab- 'away' + squat + -ulate.
1830scadinsult · nounA man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards women; an ill-bred, ungentlemanly fellow. The word began as a shortening of 'cadet'/'caddie' for errand-boys, bus conductors and townsmen (as scorned by Oxford students), and by the 1830s–40s had become a general term of contempt.
1833Flapdoodleword · nounNonsense. Originally, in 1833, 'the stuff they feed fools on' — a word for what fools eat before it became a word for what they say.
by 1834Catawampusword · adjective, adverb, nounAn American comic word that first meant fierce or utterly (1830s–40s); from the 1860s it came to mean askew, awry or crooked, and later diagonal (like kitty-corner). It could also name an imaginary fierce creature.