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 |
|---|---|
| bagonet | early form of bayonet |
| baign | to bathe or soak |
| balandrana | wide cloak worn in the middle ages |
| balducta | curds; a posset of curdled milk |
| balliage | duty paid on goods shipped by aliens |
| barkary | a tanhouse |
| barmfel | a leather apron |
| basilicock | basilisk |
| bastardice | bastardy, illegitimacy |
| baubling | trifling, paltry |
| baudery | bawdry; also embroidery |
| baufrey | a beam (cf. belfry) |
| bawdstrot | a bawd or procuress |
| bawrel | a kind of hawk |
| bayz | obs. spelling of baize |
| bearance | obs., bearing, endurance |
| bearcoot | obs., Asian golden eagle (berkut) |
| beaume | obs. spelling of balm |
| beaupers | obs., bunting cloth (bewpers) |
| becolme | obs., to begrime with soot (colm) |
| beehead | obs. spelling of behead |
| beeheaded | obs. spelling of beheaded |
| beestride | obs. spelling of bestride |
| beetmister | obs., a helper (beet, to aid) |
| beffroy | obs., belfry or movable siege tower |
| begarie | obs., to variegate, stripe |
| begary | obs., variegation, striping |
| beglew | obs., to smear with glue |
| begrett | obs., to bewail, lament |
| behoot | obs., to promise, vow (behight) |
| beisance | obs. aphetic form of obeisance |
| belfather | obs., father-in-law (cf. beau-father) |
| bellical | obs., warlike, martial |
| belouke | obs., to shut in, enclose |
| benempted | obs., named, called (pa.p. of benempt) |
| beneplacit | obs., good pleasure, approval |
| beneplacity | obs., good pleasure, approval |
| beneurous | obs., fortunate, happy |
| benting | feeding on bent-grass seeds |
| bequirtle | to lash with ridicule, deride |
| beqwete | ME spelling of bequeath/bequest |
| bercelet | a hunting hound |
| berstel | ME form of bristle |
| besmottered | besmirched, soiled (Chaucer) |
| besognier | a needy fellow, a raw recruit |
| bespete | obs. form of bespit |
| bespreng | to besprinkle |
| bestad | bestead, beset, placed |
| bestian | beastlike, of a beast |
| betraise | ME form of betray |
| bewpers | bunting cloth used for flags |
| bewry | to cover or conceal (ME bewrien) |
| bicched | cursed, wretched (Chaucer, bicched bones) |
| bidene | ME bidene, together, forthwith |
| bidstand | a highwayman, one who bids you stand |
| biggonet | a small cap or coif |
| biscot | fen-law tax for repair of banks |
| bisext | the intercalary day, leap day |
| bitake | ME bitaken, to commit or deliver |
| biteche | ME bitechen, to entrust |
| bitore | obs. form of bittern (the bird) |
| blakeberyed | ME, gone blackberrying (Chaucer) |
| blandiloquious | speaking fair, flattering |
| blanque | a lottery; a blank ticket |
| blateration | noisy babbling talk |
| blateroon | a babbler, idle talker |
| blaunner | ME, a kind of white fur |
| blendure | a blending, a mixture |
| blethe | obs. form of blithe |
| bletonism | the faculty of divining underground water |
| blindling | blindly, gropingly |
| bloodworthy | deserving of bloodshed or death |
| bloomfell | old name for bird's-foot trefoil |
| blowess | slang, a woman of the town |
| bockerel | falconry, a young male hawk |
| bockeret | falconry, a young male hawk |
| boget | budget, a leathern pouch |
| bolbonac | old name for honesty (Lunaria) |
| boltspreet | bowsprit |
| bombardelle | a small bombard or cannon |
| bonaught | Irish exaction for billeting soldiers |
| bonderman | a bond tenant, husbandman |
| bonilass | a bonny lass (Spenserian) |
| bonity | goodness (Latin bonitas) |
| boothale | to plunder, forage for booty |
| bordrag | a border raid or incursion |
| bordrage | a border foray (Spenser) |
| borghalpenny | old toll paid in a borough |
| bottekin | a small boot or buskin |
| bowsery | bowers collectively, an arbor |
| boydekyn | Middle English form of bodkin, a dagger |
| brabagious | quarrelsome, given to brabbling |
| bracery | embracery, corrupt influencing of a jury |
| bragly | finely, showily (Spenser) |
| bragwort | bragget, a drink of ale and honey |
| bredstitch | an embroidery stitch (brede, braid) |
| brelaw | byrlaw, local customary law |
| bremely | fiercely, keenly (from breme) |
| bremeness | fierceness (from breme) |
| brended | brinded, streaked, brindled |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
