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 |
|---|---|
| abaised | obs. pp., abased, brought low |
| abannition | law, banishment for one or two years |
| abaue | obs., to daunt, abash |
| abaze | obs. var. of abase |
| abbroachment | law, buying wholesale to sell retail |
| abedge | obs., to pay the penalty for |
| abiston | obs. name for asbestos |
| ablesse | obs., ability, capability |
| aboardage | obs., boarding or collision of ships |
| abote | obs. preterite of abite, bit |
| abrenunciate | obs., to renounce utterly |
| absee | obs., the ABC, the alphabet |
| absistos | fabled stone that keeps its heat |
| abush | obs. form of ambush |
| acast | obs. pp., cast down, overthrown |
| accersition | obs., a summoning, sending for |
| accidency | obs., quality of being accidental |
| accidential | obs. var. of accidental |
| accoil | obs., to gather together, coil up |
| accounsel | obs., to counsel, advise |
| accurtation | obs., a shortening, abridgment |
| acervose | obs., heaped up, full of heaps |
| achafe | obs., to chafe, heat, irritate |
| achape | obs., to escape |
| acheat | obs. var. of escheat |
| acheer | obs., to cheer, gladden |
| achoke | obs., to choke, suffocate |
| acool | obs., to cool, grow cold |
| acoupe | obs., to accuse, blame |
| acustom | obs. spelling of accustom |
| acutiator | medieval, one who sharpened weapons |
| adaty | an Indian cotton fabric |
| adawn | obs., at dawn, dawning |
| additiment | obs., an addition; = additament |
| adiaphon | 19th-c. keyboard instrument using tuning forks |
| adinvention | obs., a device or contrivance |
| adjoust | obs., to add, to adjust |
| adjutorious | obs., helpful, aiding |
| admerveylle | ME, to marvel at |
| adnumber | obs., to add to the number of |
| adoperation | obs., a covering over |
| adoxy | obs., want of repute; a paradoxical opinion |
| adpromission | civil law, becoming surety for another |
| adrench | ME, to drown or submerge |
| adrent | ME, drowned (pp. of adrench) |
| adscriptitious | obs., added in writing; bound to the soil |
| adstipulation | Roman law, a joint stipulation |
| adulce | obs., to sweeten |
| adventry | obs., adventure, enterprise |
| advoteresse | ME, a female advocate or patroness |
| advowsance | obs., the right of advowson |
| adwesch | ME, to crush or quash |
| aerical | obs., aerial, of the air |
| aestuation | obs., a boiling or surging; agitation |
| aesture | obs., surge, tide, heat |
| affatuate | obs., to infatuate |
| affeeror | old law, one who assesses amercements |
| affich | obs., to fix, fasten, or affirm |
| affidation | hist., a pledging of faith or fealty |
| affinite | obs., affinity |
| affirmly | obs., firmly, with affirmation |
| aforeward | obs., in front; the van |
| afounde | ME, to founder, be numbed with cold |
| agacella | heraldry, imaginary antelope-like beast |
| againward | back again, backward |
| agennetic | theology, unbegotten, uncreated |
| agete | early spelling of agate |
| agnification | rare, a making into a lamb |
| agramed | Middle English, angered, vexed |
| agreing | archaic spelling of agreeing |
| agrote | Middle English, to cloy or surfeit |
| aguilt | to offend against, be guilty toward |
| ahey | archaic interjection of encouragement |
| aigremore | charcoal prepared for gunpowder |
| ajutment | an addition; variant of adjutment |
| akehorne | old spelling of acorn |
| akemboll | old form of akimbo |
| akenbold | old form of akimbo |
| alagarto | early form of alligator (el lagarto) |
| alamire | medieval music, the note A of the gamut |
| alange | Middle English, strange, dreary |
| alarge | to enlarge, set at large |
| alaund | Middle English, a mastiff (alant) |
| albation | alchemy, a whitening |
| albeston | Middle English form of asbestos |
| albificative | rare, having power to whiten |
| alchemister | an alchemist |
| alchitran | tar or pitch (Arabic al-qatran) |
| alcumy | old form of alchemy |
| aleiptic | of the art of anointing athletes |
| alenge | Middle English, dreary, tedious |
| alfridaric | astrology, of an alfridary period |
| aliptic | of the art of anointing athletes |
| alisp | a-lisp, lisping |
| alives | Middle English adverbial form, alive |
| allamotti | sailors' name for the sooty albatross |
| allegorister | one who allegorizes |
| alleve | to lighten or relieve |
| allicholly | comic corruption of melancholy |
| allobrogical | outlandish, of the Allobroges |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
