Uncommon words

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Within J.R.R. Tolkien's works, there are many uncommon, archaic, obsolete and dialectal words (especially from the dialects of the United Kingdom) which might cause confusion to readers and may make a passage of text appear unwieldy.

Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

  • abide - put up with, tolerate; await;
  • abjure - renounce, turn away from
  • abroad - in the open, at large
  • adamant - diamond, or (more generally) any very hard substance
  • afield - away, especially from home
  • aforetime - in earlier times
  • aghast - terrified, amazed
  • agin - a dialect word meaning "against", "next to"
  • aloof - hanging over ones head
  • amiss - not as things should be
  • an - if
  • anon - soon; ever and anon often
  • apace - quickly
  • argent - silver
  • arrassed - covered with arras (rich figured tapestry)
  • assuage - soften, lessen, soothe
  • astonied - stunned, astonished
  • aught - anything

B

  • bade - old past tense of "bid", pronounced "bad"
  • baldric - a shoulder-belt for carrying horns, swords, etc
  • bannock - flat bread-cake
  • barrel - the long, cylindrical part of a key
  • baseborn - ignoble, illegitimate
  • bason - formerly a common spelling of basin
  • bay - (of a dog) bark or howl
  • bebother - bring trouble upon
  • befall - happen, occur
  • belie - give a false impression
  • benighted - in, or overtaken by, darkness
  • bent - open place covered with grass
  • beset - attacked, assaulted by enemies
  • besom - a stiff broom made out of sticks and twigs
  • besotted - made drunk
  • besotted2 - obsessed, entranced
  • besought - old past tense of beseech
  • bier - platform for carrying a coffin or body
  • billow - (large) wave
  • bivouac - temporary camp, without tents
  • blazoned - painted or inscribed (an heraldic term)
  • bond - storage of wine, etc, until duty has been paid; out of bond released from this
  • booby - stupid person
  • boon - favour, gift
  • brakes - thickets
  • brazen - made of brass
  • brood - children
  • brood2 - related creatures
  • brook - tolerate, accept
  • buckler - a small round shield, held in one hand
  • bulwark - a defensive structure
  • burg - walled and fortified town[1]
  • burgeon - come forth, bud, begin to grow quickly
  • burnished - polished

C

  • cairn - a mound of stones or rocks, used as a marker, memorial or tomb
  • carcanet - jeweled necklace
  • carouse - drink heavily
  • carven - old form of 'carved'
  • cataract - waterfall
  • cesspool - a pool of waste-water or sewage
  • chalcedony - a precious form of quartz onyx, agate and cornelian are all types of chalcedony
  • champ - (of a horse) munch on the bit, showing eagerness
  • charger large dish
  • chime - agree with, be in harmony with
  • circlet - a thin band of precious metal, worn on the head
  • clamant - clamorous, noisy
  • clave - old past tense of cleave, in the sense 'stick, adhere'
  • clomb - old past tense of climb
  • cloven - split into two
  • cob - spider (the name survives in the term 'cobweb')
  • coëval - born at the same time
  • coffer - strongbox, especially for holding valuables
  • comely - pleasant-looking
  • commons - shared food; short commons insufficient food
  • compass - accomplish, achieve
  • conclave - a meeting, or the place where a meeting is held
  • concourse - large group of people; crowd
  • confines - borders; borderlands
  • confusticate - a nonsense word, probably not intended to have a meaning (though its Latin roots can be interpreted "beat with a cudgel")
  • constellate formed into a constellation
  • cony - rabbit
  • cools - coolnesses
  • coomb - short valley in the side of a hill or mountain
  • coop - cage, imprison
  • corbel basket
  • corslet - a piece of armour covering the body, but not the arms or legs
  • cot - a small cottage[1]
  • counsels - words of advice
  • covet - be jealous of, desire
  • covetice - (inordinate) desire, covetousness
  • cozen - lie to, cheat, deceive
  • craven - coward
  • crocks - items of crockery plates, dishes, etc.
  • culvert - a channel carrying water beneath a thoroughfare
  • cumbrous - awkward, inconvenient
  • cunning-handed - deft, artful, dexterous
  • curdle - turn sour

D

  • dainty - morsel, delicacy
  • damask - steel and iron specially welded to make a serpentine pattern
  • darkling - dark (poetical)
  • daunt - intimidate
  • declaim - speak or recite passionately
  • deem - consider, conclude
  • defile - ruin, corrupt
  • defray - pay for
  • dell - small valley
  • descry - catch sight of, especially something difficult to see
  • devices - things, especially situations, devised or engineered
  • dingle - deep hollow, usually shaded with trees
  • dissemble - hide one's true intentions
  • divers - numerous and various
  • dolven - delved, dug out
  • doom - fate (as opposed to modern usage, doom in this sense is not necessarily bad)
  • dotard - a person who has lost their wits, especially through old age
  • doughty - strong, powerful
  • draught - drawing or pulling force
  • draught2 - a drink drawn from a barrel or storage jar
  • drear - dismal, gloomy
  • dregs - sediment found at the bottom of wine, tea, etc. To "drink to the dregs" is to completely drain a cup or (metaphorically) fully involve oneself
  • dry - (of bricks or stone) laid without mortar
  • durstn't - dare not
  • dwimmer-crafty - skilled in the arts of magic

E

  • eaves - the fringe of a forest (from the resemblance of the overhanging forest canopy to the eaves of a house)
  • eld - old age
  • ell - a measure of length, usually equivalent to 45 inches or 114 cm
  • embattled - of a fortress, having battlements
  • embattled2 - of an army, fortified against attack (this is the dictionary definition, but in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's usage seems to mean simply "in battle")
  • embrasure - beveled door or window frame cut into a wall
  • encompass - surround
  • ere - before
  • errantry - journeying in search of adventure
  • espy - catch sight of
  • essay - attempt
  • esteem - consider to be of worth; esteem too lightly underestimate
  • et - a variation of "ate", common in British rural dialects
  • etten - eaten - see "et"
  • ewer - pitcher for water[1]
  • eyot - a small island[1]

F

  • faggot - bundle of sticks used as firewood
  • fain gladly; disposed, desirous; fain of well-pleased with
  • falter - waver, lose courage
  • fane temple
  • fare - travel, go on a journey
  • fastness - secure fortress
  • fawn - cringe, grovel
  • fealty - allegiance and service to a lord
  • feign - pretend
  • fell - merciless, terrifying
  • fell2 - animal's hide
  • fell3 - moorland hill
  • fender - a metal frame placed around a fireplace
  • fetter - chain, shackle
  • fey -The old senses were ‘fated, approaching death; presaging death’. It seems very unlikely that the later sense ‘possessing or displaying magical, fairylike, or unearthly qualities’ (O.E.D. Supplement) was intended.
  • field - background color on a flag or shield in heraldry.
  • figured - marked with drawings or writing
  • firth - An inlet of the sea at a wide river estuary
  • flagon - large jug or mug, usually used to hold wine or beer
  • flammifer - in Latin, flammifer means "fiery", but Tolkien's usage is likely meant to suggest "flame-bearer", as a reference to the blazing Silmaril borne by Eärendil.
  • flank - the exposed side of an attacking or marching army
  • flittermice - bats
  • flotsam - floating wreckage; flotsam and jetsam items washed up by the sea, or a flood (also used figuratively)
  • flummoxed - bewildered, disconcerted
  • footpad - a thief (historically, a "footpad" was a highwayman who had no horse)
  • forbear - hold back from
  • forebode - foresee (especially something that is evil)
  • forespeak - foretell, predict
  • foreswear - swear not to do something
  • forgo - let go, do without
  • forlorn - abandoned, desolate
  • forsake - desert, turn away from (the past tense is forsook)
  • forsooth - in truth, actually
  • fortnight - a period of two weeks
  • fosse - a defensive trench or ditch; pit[1]
  • founder - sink, after taking on water
  • fraught - full (of)
  • freshet - a stream, or (strictly) a flood of fresh water
  • furlong - one eighth of a mile (220 yards), or about one fifth of a kilometre

G

  • gaffer - a word meaning both "old man" and "foreman"* its use as the nickname of Hamfast Gamgee is probably mean to combine both meanings.
  • gainsay - contradict
  • gallop - boil and bubble
  • game - crippled
  • gammer - old woman
  • garth - an enclosed garden or yard
  • ghyll - deep ravine
  • gibbet - A gallows built to display the body of an executed criminal
  • gimlet - A sharp boring tool, similar in general design to a corkscrew; see like gimlets see sharply
  • girdle - belt or cord used especially to confine clothing
  • girdle2 - something which surrounds or encircles; girdle of Arda the central regions of Arda, equidistant from the far north and south
  • girt - bound or attached with a belt
  • glede - burning coal or cinder
  • gloaming - the twilight of evening
  • glower - scowl, frown
  • goggle - stare with round eyes
  • gorcrow - carrion crow
  • graven - engraved, carved
  • greened - made green from the mosses and lichens on a tree's trunk
  • grot - old form of "grotto"; an ornamental or picturesque cavern
  • guileful - treacherous, deceitful
  • gunwale - the top edge of a boat's side, pronounced (and sometimes spelt) 'gunnel'

H

  • habergeon - a mail-coat without sleeves
  • hale - robust, strong of body
  • hame - hide, pelt
  • hang - to leave food, especially game, in the open until it becomes "high" or tender
  • harbour - succor, assistance
  • hardly - with great difficulty
  • hardly2 - only just
  • harry - ravage
  • haste - hurry, rush
  • hauberk - mail-coat
  • headstall - a covering for a horse's head, used as an alternative to bridle and bit
  • hearken - listen, pay attention
  • heed - thought, consideration
  • heedless - careless of danger
  • hence - from here
  • hew - chop, slice
  • hither - to here, to this place; hither and thither in various directions
  • hither2 - nearer, closer
  • hoar - grey- or white-haired
  • hobble - limp, walk with difficulty
  • hock - the middle joint of a horse's or pony's leg
  • houseleek - a fleshy plant that grows on the walls and roofs of houses
  • hue - form or shape
  • hummock - a small hill or knoll (in The Lord of the Rings, "hummock" is used metaphorically to describe the shape made by the palantír beneath Gandalf's cloak)
  • hundredweight - the pun in Tolkien's description of Bilbo's 112th birthday as a "Hundredweight Feast" is based on the fact that in Britain a hundredweight is 112 pounds. [2][3]
  • hunter's moon - the full moon of mid- to late October
  • hythe - a small harbour or haven, especially on a river

I

  • ill - evil, wrong
  • inaureoled surrounded with a halo, (the word is only recorded in the O.E.D. in a poem by Francis Thompson, 1897).

J

  • jacinth - blue[1]
  • jetsam - items thrown overboard from a ship, and later washed ashore

K

  • keen - sharp
  • kerb - a raised edge to a road or path
  • kindle - set fire to, begin to burn

L

  • lampads - The word is only recorded in the O.E.D. (first used by Coleridge) of the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne of God in the Book of Revelation, chapter 4 verse 5.
  • lave - wash, bathe
  • lay - a poem that is meant to be sung
  • league - a measure of distance, about three miles[1]
  • leaguer - an encampment or encampments, especially for defensive purposes
  • leave - permission
  • lee - shelter, especially from wind and weather
  • leech - healer
  • leechcraft - the practice of magical medicine. The name is based on the Celtic word for stone. The animal leech (Latin: sanguisuga, literally: blood sucker) is named for the healer (leech), rather than the other way around. [4]
  • legendarium - term coined by Tolkien to mean the entirety of his works concerning his imagined world of
  • lets upon gives on to, opens on to
  • lief gladly, willingly
  • liever more gladly, more willingly, rather
  • lissom - lithe, supple
  • loath - reluctant
  • lob - spider (seen, for example, in the name Shelob)
  • loth - reluctant [a variation on loath above]
  • louver - a domed structure built on a roof with side-openings to allow smoke to escape
  • lustihead vigour

M

  • malefactor - one who commits an evil act
  • mantle - cloak, cover
  • mar - spoil or damage beyond repair
  • march - share borders
  • marchwarden - border guard
  • mark - notice, detect
  • marshal - place in proper order
  • mattock - a primitive weapon, originally a farming tool, perhaps best described as a double-headed battle-hoe
  • maw - jaws and throat, especially of a ferocious animal
  • mayhap - perhaps
  • mead - an alcoholic drink made from honey
  • mead2 - meadow
  • meed - requital
  • mere - lake or pond
  • mew - a type of gull
  • midge - tiny airborne biting insect; not unlike a mosquito, but much smaller
  • minished reduced, diminished
  • mischance - accident
  • misgive - fill with doubt or suspicion
  • moonshine - fantastic ideas
  • muster - collect, assemble

N

  • nethermost - lowest, deepest
  • nicety - precision, exactness; weigh to a nicety measure exactly
  • nigh - near; well nigh, wellnigh almost, very nearly
  • nightshade - probably simply "darkness" (the literal use of this word appears to be unique to Tolkien - in * historical English, it is only used figuratively as the name of a poisonous plant)
  • noisome - foul-smelling, poisonous
  • nook - corner, recess

O

  • obeisance - bowing or kneeling in submission
  • oft - often
  • or ... or - either ... or[1]
  • or yet - apparently means "already",
  • ostler - stable-keeper
  • ousel blackbird, 43 (now spelled ouzel, in Ring-ouzel and other bird-names).
  • oust - take possession of another's lands, property, title, etc.
  • outworn - exhausted
  • overbear - defeat by weight of numbers

P

  • pallid - pale
  • panoply - full suit of armour
  • parapet - defensive wall built to protect troops
  • parley - discuss terms of peace or cease-fire
  • passward - something granting passage of a guard
  • pate - head, mind
  • pent - restricted, confined
  • penthouse - the area beneath a sloping roof, especially as a later extension to an existing building
  • perforce - having no choice, being forced
  • pinion - a bird's wing, and especially the tip
  • plash - splash
  • pleasance - "A pleasure-ground, usually attached to a mansion; sometimes a secluded part of a garden, but more often a separate enclosure laid out with shady walks, trees and shrubs..." (O.E.D.)
  • pled old past tense of plead, 186
  • plenilune - the time of full moon (see Letters p. 310).
  • portage - transporting a boat overland
  • portent - omen, sign
  • postern - a back- or side-entrance
  • pricks - (spurs his horse), rides fast. Oromë pricks over the plain echoes the first line of The Faerie Queene, A Gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine.
  • profound - deep
  • prosy - dull, contented with the commonplace
  • provender - food
  • puissant - powerful[1]
  • purloin - steal

Q

  • quaff - drink deeply
  • quail - give way to, be intimidated by

R

  • raiment - clothing
  • rearguard - that part of an army set to cover its rear ranks, especially in retreat
  • recked - troubled, cared
  • rede - counsel, advice; plan; redes counsels
  • redound - contribute to, advance
  • redress - setting right
  • reft - past tense of the old word reave, to take by force
  • rent - past tense of rend, to tear or split
  • repair - make one's way, go[1]
  • respite - relief, calm interval
  • revelry - merrymaking
  • rick - a stack, especially of hay
  • rill - a small stream
  • rondured - (in golden-rondured). Rondure "circle, rounded form"; rondured is not recorded.
  • rude - simple, primitive
  • rue - regret, repent of
  • rumour - sound
  • ruth - matter of sorrow, calamity; distress, grief; remorse

S

  • sable - heraldic term for black
  • sallow - having yellow or pale brown skin
  • saps - deep diggings
  • sate - old past tense of sit
  • save - except
  • seamews - seagulls
  • selenites - inhabitants of the Moon
  • semblance - appearance
  • shade - ghost or phantasm
  • shallop - This word had precise applications to particular kinds of boat, but here apparently means "open boat propelled by oars and sail".
  • shank - leg; especially that part between the knee and ankle
  • share - share=ploughshare, but used here of the blade of a scythe.
  • sheaf - bundle or cluster of stalks
  • shoal - a particularly shallow part of a river- or sea-bed
  • shore - slice, tear (an old past tense of "shear")
  • shun - refuse
  • sister-son - nephew
  • sledge-blows blows as of a sledge, a large heavy hammer
  • slot - track of an animal[1]
  • slowcoach - someone who moves slowly, or is often late
  • sluggard - slow or lazy person
  • smite - strike, attack (the past tense is smote)
  • snuff - sniff deeply
  • sojourn - temporary stay
  • sooth - true, truthful
  • sortie - an attack launched by a besieged force
  • spinney - group of trees, or small wood
  • sprent - past participle of the lost verb sprenge "sprinkle, scatter"
  • sprite(s) - spirit(s)
  • stead - place, position
  • stem - block, hold back
  • stock - the trunk or stump of a tree; stock and stone inanimate things
  • stoop - in falconry, to swoop on prey
  • straightway - immediately, directly
  • strait - narrowly confining
  • straitly - narrowly, tightly
  • strand - shore, shoreline, especially a beach
  • stricken - struck, beaten;[1] (as an adjective) damaged, broken
  • suaded - persuaded
  • succour - give aid
  • sunder - divide, separate
  • surname - an additional name indicating some quality or ability (as distinct from modern usage, surname in this context has no connection with family)
  • sward - region of short grass, lawn
  • swart - dark-skinned
  • swarthy - dark-skinned
  • swath - a strip of grass that has been flattened or mown
  • swoon - faint

T

  • tarn - mountain lake
  • tarry - pause, wait
  • thanksgiving- festival of giving thanks, as in a prayer
  • thenceforward - from that time on
  • thither - to or in that place
  • thraldom - slavery
  • thrall - slave
  • thrawn - twisted, misshapen
  • thrawn2 - obstinate, stubborn
  • throe - violent agony
  • throve - old past tense of 'thrive'
  • thwart - foil, stop
  • tidings - news
  • tipsy - slightly drunk
  • tithe - tenth part[1]
  • toils - trap, snare
  • toothsome - pleasantly appetising
  • tors - rocky hill-tops
  • toss-pot - drunkard
  • tracery - complex interlinked ornamentation
  • traffic - trade
  • trammels - nets, traps
  • traverse - travel through or across
  • trillups, trillaping - Unknown
  • trove - found treasure
  • truncheon - a wooden shaft used as a weapon, or part of a weapon
  • tryst - a prearranged meeting; break tryst fail to appear at the agreed upon time and place
  • tumult - noisy disturbance
  • tunic - a loose, short-sleeved garment
  • tuppence - two pence, a very small amount of money; not care tuppence have no interest
  • turnkey - jailer
  • tussock - clump of grass
  • twine - twist strands together into a rope

U

  • umbel - long flower, as in hemlock or parsley
  • unblazoned - an heraldic term, plain, undecorated
  • umbraged - (in wide-umbraged) Umbraged "shaded, shadowed", but here in the sense "shadowing", "casting a shade".
  • ungentle - rough, coarse
  • unquiet - anxious, concerned
  • unsated - unsatisfied
  • unsullied - pure, uncorrupted
  • upbraid - criticise
  • upheave - push or force upwards

V

  • vale - the valley of a river
  • varmint - pest, bothersome person or animal
  • vassal - servant, bondsman
  • vie - struggle with, be rival to
  • vigil - watchfulness; hold vigil make devotion
  • viol - an old instrument, usually with six strings, similar to a violin but held in a vertical position like a 'cello

W

  • waif - homeless person
  • wain - wagon; The Wain the constellation of the Plough or Big Dipper
  • wan - pale
  • wards - the "teeth" of a key
  • ware - old form of aware
  • waver - shimmer, flicker
  • waver2 - show indecision
  • wax - grow stronger; increase
  • waylay - intercept, prevent from going forward
  • wayward - uncontrollable, unpredictable
  • web(s) - woven fabric
  • wellnigh - almost, very nearly
  • weregild - a payment in compensation for a death (literally "man-money")
  • wheedle - coax, persuade
  • whelm - engulf, cover
  • whence - from where
  • whereat - for which reason
  • wherefore - for what (or which) reason
  • whet - sharpen
  • whickering - The verb whicker meant to laugh or titter, or of a horse to whinny, but the O.E.D. cites a line from Masefield the wall-top grasses whickered in the breeze, and the 1920 Supplement to the Dictionary gives a meaning "to make a hurtling sound", with a single citation where the word is used of a thunderbolt "whickering through the sky". In the 1962 version of The Man in the Moon the word flickering occurs in this verse.
  • whitethorn - hawthorn
  • whither - to which place
  • wildered - perplexed, bewildered
  • wile - trick, deceit
  • wizened - of shriveled appearance
  • wold - an upland region of moorland
  • wont - customarily, regularly; wont to err thus regularly make mistakes of this kind
  • worrit - worry
  • worst - defeat
  • wrack - devastation, downfall, ruin, (compare with rack and ruin)[1]
  • wrack2 - clouds being driven by a strong wind?
  • wraith - ghost, apparition
  • wreathe - engulf, surround (especially of vapour or fire)
  • wrest - take by force
  • writhen - writhing, twisting
  • wroth - angry

Y

  • yammer - wail, weep, cry
  • yoke - wooden harness for oxen; under the yoke under complete control
  • yonder - over there
  • yore - long ago

Z

  • zenith - highest point

References

External Links