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Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words
Defines little-known English words that have been accepted by major dictionaries
242 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 6, 2018
This is probably my most favourite book in my collection.
It is exactly what it says it is, a dictionary of obscure, unusual and preposterous words, and its incredibly entertaining.
Here's some of my favourites:
bumfodder - toilet paper; an opprobrious name for a collection of documents
cacophrenic - pertaining to an inferior intellect
ingannation - deception, fraud
ingluvious - gluttonous
philoxenist - one who is happiest whilst entertaining strangers
ructation - belching
vecordious - senseless, insane mad
There's so so, so many more. My copy is covered in post it notes and I refer to it all the time.
Unfortunately this is no longer in print (that I'm aware of), so if you happen to see a used copy do snap it up.
Its also a great reference book if you like to baffle people.
I really like to baffle people...
It is exactly what it says it is, a dictionary of obscure, unusual and preposterous words, and its incredibly entertaining.
Here's some of my favourites:
bumfodder - toilet paper; an opprobrious name for a collection of documents
cacophrenic - pertaining to an inferior intellect
ingannation - deception, fraud
ingluvious - gluttonous
philoxenist - one who is happiest whilst entertaining strangers
ructation - belching
vecordious - senseless, insane mad
There's so so, so many more. My copy is covered in post it notes and I refer to it all the time.
Unfortunately this is no longer in print (that I'm aware of), so if you happen to see a used copy do snap it up.
Its also a great reference book if you like to baffle people.
I really like to baffle people...
February 2, 2009
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS!!!
In an effort to bring some order to my unruly "words and language shelf", I attempt here to give a succinct evaluation of the 33 books on it which are essentially devoted to words. Those dealing with usage, etymology, language development, and general linguistic issues will, I hope, be evaluated in future reviews.
As a quick test of whether this review is likely to be of interest to you, consider the following:
The area on your (or any mammal's) back which you cannot reach to scratch is known as the acnestis.
Lurgulary is the term used to denote the act of poisoning a water source.
The adjective meaning "pertaining to walnuts" is juglandaceous.
The verb to maffick means "to engage in wild, boisterous, protracted revelry in the streets", and is a backformation from the city name Mafeking. The association derives from the celebrations that followed the relief of Mafeking on May 17, 1900 after a protracted siege by the Boers; when word of the rescue reached London, "the city erupted in wild celebration which went on for days".
If these words fill you with irresistible glee, despite the very low probability you will ever need to use any of them in casual conversation, then at least some of the books considered in this review are likely to appeal to your latent logolepsy. Read on. If, on the other hand, you react to new, weird, or obsolete words with indifference, you may safely skip the rest of this review.
With 33 books to evaluate, obviously I need some kind of system. So I will evaluate each book on the following 4 criteria:
* breadth of coverage -- does it really deliver the goods, that is, deliver a reasonable quota of truly satisfying obscure words?
* scholarship -- is it to be trusted? Are there any egregious errors? Is there evidence of adequate background research? Cross-checking with other sources?
* usability -- how user friendly is it? Level of cross-referencing appropriate? Adequate examples of word usage? Thematic organization? Helpful citations and indexing? Is the pronunciation key helpful to the casual reader, or does it require mastery of the IPA (international phonetic alphabet).
* charm -- an entirely nebulous quality, but probably the most important. Were the authors having fun when they wrote it? And is that sense of fun transmitted to the reader? Because, frankly, there's nothing more lethally boring than a big book full of fancy words assembled by someone who isn't almost orgasmically enthusiastic about sharing those words.
A couple of the books below make ludicrous attempts to engage readers with promises that expanding their vocabulary will lead to improved "success" in life. Such promises are worded in a way that makes it obvious that "success" is being measured in the basest, most soul-destroying, moneygrubbing terms: having just the right two-dollar word at the tip of your reptilian tongue will open all the right doors, affording you countless opportunities to further your spiritual degradation by playing round after round of lickspittle golf with your vile nouveau riche social climbing "boss". This notion is, of course, frankly ridiculous, being based on implicit, and utterly false, premise that mere possession of the dictionary in question will result in the desired augmentation of vocabulary. Well, as Charles Earle Funk might put it, "horsefeathers!" The only way you are going to augment your vocabulary, gentle reader, is by reading, widely, voraciously, and indiscriminately. And if you haven't figured that out by now in life, then none of the books below is gonna help you, sucker!
So, with the understanding that books like these interest us because of their potential to surprise and delight, and not as stepping stones to greater "status" or "wealth" or "success", let's get on with it. I will assign each book a score of 0 to 5 on each of the four dimensions discussed previously. So that a superstar like Mrs Byrne might hope to end up with a total score close to 20; duds may expect to languish in the single digits.
Obviously this is going to take several posts: I will delay the list of books considered until the next post, coming up immediately.
In an effort to bring some order to my unruly "words and language shelf", I attempt here to give a succinct evaluation of the 33 books on it which are essentially devoted to words. Those dealing with usage, etymology, language development, and general linguistic issues will, I hope, be evaluated in future reviews.
As a quick test of whether this review is likely to be of interest to you, consider the following:
The area on your (or any mammal's) back which you cannot reach to scratch is known as the acnestis.
Lurgulary is the term used to denote the act of poisoning a water source.
The adjective meaning "pertaining to walnuts" is juglandaceous.
The verb to maffick means "to engage in wild, boisterous, protracted revelry in the streets", and is a backformation from the city name Mafeking. The association derives from the celebrations that followed the relief of Mafeking on May 17, 1900 after a protracted siege by the Boers; when word of the rescue reached London, "the city erupted in wild celebration which went on for days".
If these words fill you with irresistible glee, despite the very low probability you will ever need to use any of them in casual conversation, then at least some of the books considered in this review are likely to appeal to your latent logolepsy. Read on. If, on the other hand, you react to new, weird, or obsolete words with indifference, you may safely skip the rest of this review.
With 33 books to evaluate, obviously I need some kind of system. So I will evaluate each book on the following 4 criteria:
* breadth of coverage -- does it really deliver the goods, that is, deliver a reasonable quota of truly satisfying obscure words?
* scholarship -- is it to be trusted? Are there any egregious errors? Is there evidence of adequate background research? Cross-checking with other sources?
* usability -- how user friendly is it? Level of cross-referencing appropriate? Adequate examples of word usage? Thematic organization? Helpful citations and indexing? Is the pronunciation key helpful to the casual reader, or does it require mastery of the IPA (international phonetic alphabet).
* charm -- an entirely nebulous quality, but probably the most important. Were the authors having fun when they wrote it? And is that sense of fun transmitted to the reader? Because, frankly, there's nothing more lethally boring than a big book full of fancy words assembled by someone who isn't almost orgasmically enthusiastic about sharing those words.
A couple of the books below make ludicrous attempts to engage readers with promises that expanding their vocabulary will lead to improved "success" in life. Such promises are worded in a way that makes it obvious that "success" is being measured in the basest, most soul-destroying, moneygrubbing terms: having just the right two-dollar word at the tip of your reptilian tongue will open all the right doors, affording you countless opportunities to further your spiritual degradation by playing round after round of lickspittle golf with your vile nouveau riche social climbing "boss". This notion is, of course, frankly ridiculous, being based on implicit, and utterly false, premise that mere possession of the dictionary in question will result in the desired augmentation of vocabulary. Well, as Charles Earle Funk might put it, "horsefeathers!" The only way you are going to augment your vocabulary, gentle reader, is by reading, widely, voraciously, and indiscriminately. And if you haven't figured that out by now in life, then none of the books below is gonna help you, sucker!
So, with the understanding that books like these interest us because of their potential to surprise and delight, and not as stepping stones to greater "status" or "wealth" or "success", let's get on with it. I will assign each book a score of 0 to 5 on each of the four dimensions discussed previously. So that a superstar like Mrs Byrne might hope to end up with a total score close to 20; duds may expect to languish in the single digits.
Obviously this is going to take several posts: I will delay the list of books considered until the next post, coming up immediately.
February 6, 2008
Etymology is a guilty pleasure of mine-- and this book is the guiltiest of them all! Deliciously obscure words all at my fingertips...what more could i ask for. This copy was hard to come by... i think it's out of print now and so if you happen to see a used copy somewhere, no matter how dog-earred, grab it! You won't be disappointed. It's a gem.
August 1, 2007
This book will knock you agroff with aeonian delight!
Who says reading the dictionary isn't fun?
Who says reading the dictionary isn't fun?
July 19, 2013
An Entertaining, Wonderful Source of Little-Known but Interesting Words
Whether you are a sectary compiler of sesquipedelian logisms or simply wish to eschew obfuscation, here is an entertaining collection of words of the English language you are unlikely to find anywhere else, from aasvogel to zzxjoanw - perhaps some other pleonasms to wit. My only misgiving is that the etymologies are not included, though some of the definitions state the source of the word if it is sufficiently unfamiliar. Linguists and wordsmiths will delight in this collection.
Whether you are a sectary compiler of sesquipedelian logisms or simply wish to eschew obfuscation, here is an entertaining collection of words of the English language you are unlikely to find anywhere else, from aasvogel to zzxjoanw - perhaps some other pleonasms to wit. My only misgiving is that the etymologies are not included, though some of the definitions state the source of the word if it is sufficiently unfamiliar. Linguists and wordsmiths will delight in this collection.
November 13, 2011
This book was my near constant companion for writing letters to my friend Herb the 2 years of jr high that he was living in California.
September 6, 2014
Cute book! A good bathroom reader to have around. Easily, this would make a funny gift for a college or H/S grad to have a as a reference on their desk.
May 11, 2012
Resource book mainly. Very entertaining for wordsmiths and amateurs alike
August 23, 2020
Indispensable for logophiles.
July 28, 2016
What an amazing accomplishment this book is! I am kind of a lexiphile, and was surprised that this type of list did not exist on the internet. Eventually I came across the grandiloquent dictionary (, which is mostly a condensed form of Mrs. Byrne's compendium), but by then I was committed to combing through all of the pages of this book and copying down those that I thought most enjoyable and useful. At times it got tedious--there are a ton of Latin and Greek words in here that are essentially just mechanical conjunctions for mostly inutile words along the lines of "reverse heart shaped" and "fear of the number 14", etc.--but there were enough French and Germanic words and useful Greek/Latin ones to make it worth the while.
There was no plot to this, but I am enclosing my favorite word for each letter of the alphabet, along with its definition. Enjoy!
Afterclap � an unexpected repercussion
Breedbate � someone looking for an argument
Cooster � a worn-out libertine
Dearbought � purchased at a high price
Enucleate � to extract the kernel of truth from
Footle � to waste time, to talk nonsense
Grimgribber � technical legal jargon
Hellkite � an extremely cruel person
Imbonity � lack of good qualities
Jawbone � to attempt to influence or pressure by persuasion rather than by the exertion of force or one's authority, as in urging voluntary compliance with economic guidelines
Kokshut � used up or worn out
Lypophrenia � a feeling of vague sadness without cause
Mossback � a conservative reactionary
Nostrificate � to accept as one’s own
Obganiate � to cause irritation by repetition
Pilpul � an ingenious, hairsplitting argument
Quonking � sideline or audience chatter that disturbs a performance
Rejectamenta � things rejected as worthless
Spizzerinctum � ambition or will to succeed
Thoke � to lie or idle in bed
Ultracrepidarian � overstepping one’s boundaries
Viraginity � masculinity in a woman
Wight � brave and strong
Xanthochroid � light skinned and blonde
Yesterfang � something taken yesterday (or long ago)
Zygal � shaped like the letter H
There was no plot to this, but I am enclosing my favorite word for each letter of the alphabet, along with its definition. Enjoy!
Afterclap � an unexpected repercussion
Breedbate � someone looking for an argument
Cooster � a worn-out libertine
Dearbought � purchased at a high price
Enucleate � to extract the kernel of truth from
Footle � to waste time, to talk nonsense
Grimgribber � technical legal jargon
Hellkite � an extremely cruel person
Imbonity � lack of good qualities
Jawbone � to attempt to influence or pressure by persuasion rather than by the exertion of force or one's authority, as in urging voluntary compliance with economic guidelines
Kokshut � used up or worn out
Lypophrenia � a feeling of vague sadness without cause
Mossback � a conservative reactionary
Nostrificate � to accept as one’s own
Obganiate � to cause irritation by repetition
Pilpul � an ingenious, hairsplitting argument
Quonking � sideline or audience chatter that disturbs a performance
Rejectamenta � things rejected as worthless
Spizzerinctum � ambition or will to succeed
Thoke � to lie or idle in bed
Ultracrepidarian � overstepping one’s boundaries
Viraginity � masculinity in a woman
Wight � brave and strong
Xanthochroid � light skinned and blonde
Yesterfang � something taken yesterday (or long ago)
Zygal � shaped like the letter H
January 15, 2008
A delight.
May 24, 2009
Excellent.
October 13, 2021
As with any gathering of obscure words, there are numerous delights to be found here. Perhaps most inpressive is that the author - Mrs Byrne - undertook this project purely out of passion. She was a musician by training, not a linguist or lexicographer, and this collection is therefore highly idiosyncratic. However, eccentricity aside, it is just a list and, at the end of day, gloriously odd though some of these words are, you do feel that only Scrabble nerds and bad writers will benefit from Byrne's labour of love. That said, it is great fun to dip randomly into this mini dictionary and pluck out little known gems. It certainly helps you appreciate the enormous breadth of English and reminds you that we vastly under-utilise the tools at our disposal.
April 4, 2018
Inspired by "Reading the OED," I read this dictionary. It is just plain fun, to get acquainted with a wide variety of unusual words, on topics I'd never have thought of!
February 24, 2019
This one is a blast. Plenty of words drawn from other languages and a lot of latinate words, but also oodles of monosyllabic words and compound nouns just begging to be rescued from obscurity.
August 7, 2022
I love this book. I learned a lot of interesting new words. I absolutely recommend this to all writers.
July 17, 2023
Chloe bookclub 2023 �
January 22, 2016
Feh. I like word books but a lot of the words here aren't half as obscure as the author thinks. And there doesn't seem to be any standard for collecting them other than "I pick that word." So it's basically a small and not terribly useful dictionary.
Want to read
August 3, 2018Mentioned on the .
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