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 |
|---|---|
| talwood | old law, firewood cut into billets |
| tapling | the leather thong joining the parts of a flail |
| tapnet | a rush basket for packing figs |
| tarage | the taring of a vessel, tare weight |
| tartaret | falconry, a falcon from Tartary |
| tatsman | old cant, one who plays with dice (tats) |
| tatterwag | a flapping rag; cf. Scots tatter-wallop |
| teamland | as much land as one plough team can till |
| teamsman | an old word for a teamster |
| tegment | a covering, from Latin tegumentum |
| teicher | Middle English spelling of teacher |
| teihte | Middle English, taught |
| temperality | obsolete, the state of being tempered, temperature |
| tempete | Middle English tempete, a tempest |
| temprely | Middle English, temperately |
| tendicle | a snare or gin, from Latin tendicula |
| tenorister | one who sings the tenor part |
| tention | the act of holding; old form of tension |
| tenury | old spelling of tenure |
| terass | old spelling of terrace (cf. terras) |
| teretism | a humming or trilling of a tune without words |
| terpodion | a friction keyboard instrument of the early 1800s |
| terrage | old law, a rent or tax paid on land |
| tessaraconter | a Greek galley of forty banks of oars |
| tessel | a small square tile, a tessella |
| tesserarian | relating to dice or dice-playing |
| testril | a tester, an old sixpence |
| tetricous | harsh, crabbed, forbidding |
| thalassiarch | a ruler or commander of the sea |
| thanan | Middle English, thence, from that place |
| thenceward | archaic, from that place or time onward |
| theody | a song or hymn in praise of God |
| theomastix | a scourge of God, one who rails against God |
| thereafterward | archaic, afterward from that time |
| therebiforn | Middle English, before that time |
| therewhiles | archaic, meanwhile, in that time |
| thesaur | obs., treasure, a treasury |
| thesaury | obs., a treasury or storehouse |
| thight | obs., tight, close, compact |
| thirdendeal | obs., a liquid measure of three pints |
| thoftfellow | obs., a bench-mate, a companion at the oar |
| thoroughfoot | nautical, to untwist a tackle by passing a block through |
| thrast | obs., past tense of thrust, thrust or pressed |
| throughgrow | obs., to grow through, to pervade |
| throughknow | obs., to know thoroughly |
| throwst | archaic 2nd person singular, thou throwst |
| throwwort | old name for motherwort |
| thurificate | to burn incense, to offer frankincense |
| thurle | to pierce or bore, variant of thirl |
| timbestere | a woman who plays the timbrel |
| tofile | Middle English to- + file, to defile utterly |
| toftstead | the site of a toft, a homestead |
| togeman | old thieves' cant, a cloak (togeman, togemans) |
| tonitrual | pertaining to thunder |
| tophe | old form of tophus, a gritty concretion |
| torsile | capable of being twisted |
| touret | old form of turret |
| tourette | a small turret, French tourette |
| towght | old spelling of taut |
| trabuch | old form of trebuchet, a siege engine |
| traditious | traditional, handed down |
| trajectitious | civil law, of money lent for a sea voyage |
| tralucency | translucency, from obsolete tralucent |
| transcursive | passing over, rambling, digressive |
| transverbation | a rendering word for word |
| travale | obsolete spelling of travail, to toil |
| tredefowel | Middle English, a treader of hens, a cock |
| treitour | Middle English, traitor |
| treitre | Middle English, traitor |
| tresaiel | law French, a great-great-grandfather |
| tressilate | to quiver or tremble |
| tressilation | a quivering or trembling |
| tresson | Middle English spelling of treason |
| trewel | obsolete spelling of trowel |
| triary | of the third rank, as the Roman triarii |
| tricenarious | of or containing thirty, Latin tricenarius |
| tricon | in old card games, three of a kind |
| triental | of or containing a third part, Latin triens |
| trinidado | obsolete, tobacco from Trinidad |
| trismegist | obsolete, a thrice-great adept, after Hermes |
| tristiloquy | obsolete, mournful speech |
| tristisonous | obsolete, sad-sounding |
| tristive | obsolete, sad or sorrowful |
| triticism | obsolete, a trite saying |
| trolatitious | obsolete, metaphorical, figurative |
| trollol | obsolete, to sing with a trol-lol refrain |
| trouss | obsolete, trouse, close-fitting breeches |
| truandise | obsolete, vagabondage, beggary |
| trugmallion | obsolete cant, a prostitute |
| trunchman | obsolete, an interpreter, truchman |
| trusten | Middle English, to trust |
| trutinate | obsolete, to weigh or ponder |
| trutine | obsolete, a balance or scales |
| tuitive | protective, of tuition or guardianship |
| tumbester | a female tumbler or dancer |
| tundation | a beating (Latin tundere, to beat) |
| turb | a crowd or throng (Latin turba) |
| turbescency | rare, a becoming turbid or disturbed |
| turpify | rare, to make base or foul (Latin turpis) |
| turquet | the torquetum, a medieval astronomical instrument |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
