Do you know what one of the key factors allowing languages to stay alive for centuries is? It’s because they are evolving together with the people they are used by, the culture, and the historical happenings. And we, being not so green on the topic of evolution, know that once something has evolved, the primary version of it becomes obsolete (usually). The same goes for words! Take, for instance, some of the old English words, like bumfuzzle and cattywampus – nobody knows anymore what they mean or that they ever existed! Sorry, now you are aware of their existence, so scratch the latter. Still, they definitely fall under the category of obsolete words and find their place neatly in our list of outdated words!
Before you scroll down below to see the funny words, be advised to do so in your leisure time as you might find yourself spending way more time than you should reading these weird words and laughing at them heartily. Or trying to make your own dictionary entirely out of these outdated words. Now that sounds like a dandy idea, doesn’t it? What’s even more fun is that some of these also fall under the category of outdated slang words, so, yeah – a wave of nostalgia is incoming!
Right-o, grab a pen and a piece of paper – you will definitely want to write some of these bad boys down! Be sure to give your vote for the obsolete word that has amused you the most, and share this article with your friends!
#1
Growlery
Meaning: A place where you can retreat from the world when you’re in bad mood
#2
Cool beans
Meaning: Used to express approval or delight
#3
Hornswoggle
Meaning: To scam or con
#4
Whippersnapper
Meaning: A young and unimportant person who behaves in a way that others think is too confident and rude
#5
Poltroon
Meaning: A spiritless coward; craven
#6
Fuzzle
Meaning: To have a good time – drunk or intoxicated
#7
Rapscallion
Meaning: A person who causes trouble
#8
Twelvemonth
Meaning: A year
#9
Paramour
Meaning: A person that somebody is having a romantic or sexual relationship with
#10
Peeler
Meaning: A police officer
#11
Baloney
Meaning: Ideas, statements or beliefs that you think are silly or not true; lies
#12
Lumming
Meaning: The overwhelming urge to do nothing
#13
Gallivant
Meaning: To go from place to place enjoying yourself
#14
Hootenanny
Meaning: An informal social event at which people play folk music, sing and sometimes dance
#15
Apricity
Meaning: The warmth of the sun in winter
#16
Zenzizenzizenzic
Meaning: An obsolete form of mathematical notation representing the eighth power of a number
#17
Twattle
Meaning: To gossip
#18
Gorgonize
Meaning: To have a paralyzing or mesmerizing effect on
#19
Resistentialism
Meaning: Seemingly spiteful behavior manifested by inanimate objects
#20
Sluberdegullion
Meaning: A filthy, slobbering person
#21
Wonder-wench
Meaning: A sweetheart
#22
Pistoleer
Meaning: One who is armed with a pistol
#23
Salamander
Meaning: A red-hot iron or poker
#24
Sanguinary
Meaning: Involving or causing much bloodshed
#25
Fiddlesticks
Meaning: Used to say that you disagree with somebody
#26
Elflock
Meaning: A lock of hair, fancifully regarded as having been tangled by the elves
#27
Beef-witted
Meaning: Stupid; dull
#28
Blackguard
Meaning: A rude or unscrupulous person
#29
Coxcomb
Meaning: A conceited foolish person; a dandy
#30
Fandangle
Meaning: An ornate or fantastic ornament
#31
Fizgig
Meaning: A silly or flirtatious young woman
#32
Thenceforth
Meaning: From that time, place, or point onward
#33
Thither
Meaning: To or toward that place
#34
Jargogle
Meaning: To confuse or bamboozle
#35
Tickled
Meaning: Pleased; when you think something is funny.
#36
With squirrel
Meaning: Pregnant; expecting a baby
#37
Fishwife
Meaning: A woman who sells fish
#38
Grimalkin
Meaning: An old female cat
#39
Iron horse
Meaning: A steam locomotive
#40
Quaggy
Meaning: Flabby; marshy
#41
Scapegrace
Meaning: A mischievous person; a rascal
#42
Going steady
Meaning: Having a long, fairly serious romantic relationship
#43
Hooch
Meaning: Strong alcoholic drink, especially something that has been made illegally
#44
Frock
Meaning: A dress
#45
Yuppie
Meaning: A young college-educated adult who is employed in a well-paying profession and who lives and works in or near a large city
#46
Cockalorum
Meaning: A self-important little man
#47
California widow
Meaning: A married woman whose husband has been absent for an extended period
#48
Asunder
Meaning: Apart from each other
#49
Bedlam
Meaning: An asylum for the mentally ill
#50
Gammer
Meaning: An old woman
#51
God’s acre
Meaning: A churchyard
#52
Hearken
Meaning: To listen
#53
Horseless carriage
Meaning: a car; automobile
#54
Jakes
Meaning: An outdoor toilet
#55
Knave
Meaning: A dishonest or unscrupulous fellow
#56
Small beer
Meaning: Weak or inferior beer
#57
Sweetmeat
Meaning: An item of confectionery or sweet food
#58
Unhand
Meaning: To remove the hand from; let go
#59
Whence
Meaning: From what place, source, or cause
#60
Zounds
Meaning: An expression of surprise or indignation
#61
Fudgel
Meaning: Pretending to work when you’re really just goofing off
#62
Grog-Blossom
Meaning: The rosy red hue of an alcoholic’s nose
#63
Kerfuffle
Meaning: A disturbance or commotion typically caused by a dispute or conflict
#64
Galoshes
Meaning: Rubber shoes that are worn over normal shoes in wet weather
#65
Clicker
Meaning: A device that allows you to operate a television, etc. from a distance
#66
Stoked
Meaning: Excited and pleased about something
#67
Broad
Meaning: A woman
#68
Phat
Meaning: Very good
#69
Boob tube
Meaning: The television
#70
Britches
Meaning: Short trousers fastened just below the knee
#71
Grumpish
Meaning: Bad-tempered; sulky
#72
Curglaff
Meaning: The shock felt when one first plunges into cold water
#73
Lunting
Meaning: Walking around while smoking a pipe
#74
Callipygian
Meaning: Having well-shaped buttocks.
#75
Houppelande
Meaning: A loose belted overgown usually with long wide sleeves, dagged edges, a fur lining, and full-length skirt often with slits in it
#76
Affright
Meaning: To frighten (someone)
#77
Brimstone
Meaning: Sulfur
#78
Camelopard
Meaning: A giraffe
#79
Cordwainer
Meaning: A shoemaker
#80
Espousal
Meaning: A marriage; engagement
#81
Gadzooks
Meaning: An expression of surprise or annoyance
#82
Glabriety
Meaning: Baldness
#83
Leech
Meaning: A physician; healer
#84
Love apple
Meaning: A tomato
#85
Parlor
Meaning: A room used primarily for conversation or the reception of guests
#86
Picaroon
Meaning: A scoundrel
#87
Plain over
Meaning: lament; cry over
#88
Slugabed
Meaning: A person who stays in bed after the usual or proper time to get up
#89
Strumpet
Meaning: A female prostitute
#90
Water closet
Meaning: A compartment or room with a toilet
#91
Tittynope
Meaning: A small quantity of something left over
#92
Tight
Meaning: Drunk; tipsy
#93
Stepping out
Meaning: Being unfaithful; cheating
#94
Pismire
Meaning: An archaic word for an ant
#95
Excogigate
Meaning: Think out, plan, or devise
#96
Snoutfair
Meaning: Having a fair countenance; fair-faced, comely, handsome
#97
Brabble
Meaning: To argue stubbornly about trifles; wrangle
#98
Twitter-light
Meaning: Twilight
#99
Apothecary
Meaning: One who prepares and sells drugs or compounds for medicinal purposes
#100
Buss
Meaning: A kiss
#101
Cutpurse
Meaning: A pickpocket; thief
#102
Dame
Meaning: An elderly or mature woman
#103
Damsel
Meaning: A young unmarried woman
#104
Darbies
Meaning: Handcuffs
#105
Jade
Meaning: A bad-tempered or disreputable woman
#106
Man-at-arms
Meaning: A heavily armed and usually mounted soldier
#107
Mayhap
Meaning: Perhaps; possibly
#108
Mooncalf
Meaning: A foolish person
#109
Schoolmarm
Meaning: A woman who is a schoolteacher especially in a rural or small-town school
#110
Boreism
Meaning: The act or condition of being a bore
#111
Hugger-mugger
Meaning: To act in a secretive manner
#112
Rolodex
Meaning: A rotating card file device used to store business contact information
#113
Pocketbook
Meaning: A small bag for money, keys, etc., carried especially by women
#114
Bosom
Meaning: A woman’s chest or breasts
#115
Percolator
Meaning: A pot for making coffee, in which boiling water is forced up a central tube and then comes down again through the coffee
#116
TiVo
Meaning: A brand of digital video recorder and subscription-based service used chiefly for recording television programs
#117
Videotape
Meaning: A type of magnetic tape used in the past for recording moving pictures and sound; a box containing this tape, also called a video cassette
#118
Whoopee
Meaning: A sexual play
#119
Snowbrowth
Meaning: Freshly melted snow
#120
Monsterful
Meaning: Extraordinary; marvelous
#121
Quockerwodger
Meaning: A type of wooden puppet controlled by strings
#122
Ague
Meaning: A fever (such as malaria) marked by paroxysms of chills, fever, and sweating that recur at regular intervals
#123
Behoof
Meaning: Advantage; profit; benefit
#124
Buck
Meaning: A fashionable and daring young man
#125
Bumper
Meaning: A generous glass of an alcoholic drink
#126
Crinkum-crankum
Meaning: An elaborate decoration or detail
#127
Crookback
Meaning: A person with a humped or crooked back
#128
Davenport
Meaning: A large upholstered sofa often convertible into a bed
#129
Fourscore
Meaning: Being four times twenty; eighty
#130
Gallant
Meaning: A young man of fashion
#131
Handmaid
Meaning: A personal maid or female servant
#132
Leman
Meaning: A lover; sweetheart
#133
Rover
Meaning: A pirate
#134
Stoup
Meaning: A beverage container
#135
Yonder
Meaning: At or in that indicated more or less distant place usually within sight
#136
Hideosity
Meaning: The state or condition of being hideous; extreme ugliness
#137
Zafty
Meaning: A person very easily imposed upon
#138
Freck
Meaning: To move swiftly or nimbly
#139
Groovy
Meaning: Fashionable, attractive and interesting
#140
Icebox
Meaning: A separate section in a fridge for making and storing ice
#141
Floppy Disk
Meaning: A thin plastic disk coated with magnetic material on which data for a computer can be stored
#142
Crapulous
Meaning: Marked by intemperance especially in eating or drinking
#143
Groak
Meaning: To stare at people who are eating in the hope that they will offer to share their food
#144
Jollux
Meaning: An obese, fat person
#145
Curmuring
Meaning: Rumbling especially in the bowels
#146
Bridewell
Meaning: A prison or reform school for petty offenders
#147
Doxy
Meaning: A lover; mistress
#148
Drab
Meaning: A slovenly woman
#149
Forsooth
Meaning: indeed; in truth
#150
Galoshes
Meaning: waterproof shoes; shoes with a heavy sole
#151
Inscribe
Meaning: To enter on a list; enroll
#152
Sanative
Meaning: Having the power to cure or heal
#153
Scruple
Meaning: A unit of capacity equal to ¹/₂₄ Apothecaries’ ounce
#154
Scurvy
Meaning: Worthless; contemptible
#155
Steed
Meaning: A horse used or trained for riding; a spirited horse
#156
Stripe
Meaning: A stroke or blow with a rod or lash
#157
Turnkey
Meaning: A jailer
#158
‘tween
Meaning: Between
#159
Wherefore
Meaning: For what reason or purpose; why
#160
Snoutflair
Meaning: A good-looking person
#161
Scrub
Meaning: A less-than-desirable guy or girl
#162
Necking
Meaning: The act or practice of kissing and caressing amorously
#163
Courting
Meaning: To try to please somebody in order to get something you want, especially the support of a person, an organization
#164
Afeard
Meaning: Afraid, frightened
#165
Greenwood
Meaning: A forest
#166
Melodist
Meaning: A singer; composer of melodies
#167
Morrow
Meaning: The following day
#168
Nylons
Meaning: Stockings made of nylon
#169
Therewith
Meaning: With or in the thing mentioned
#170
Thrice
Meaning: Three times
#171
Wherewith
Meaning: That with or by which
#172
Whither
Meaning: To what place or state
#173
Yoke
Meaning: The amount of land that one pair of oxen could plough
in a day
#174
Pictures
Meaning: A painting or drawing, etc. that shows a scene, a person or thing
#175
Stories
Meaning: Television series
#176
Hottie
Meaning: A person who is very sexually attractive
#177
World Wide Web (WWW)
Meaning: A system for finding information on the internet, in which documents are connected to other documents using hypertext links
#178
Heavens
Meaning: Used to show that you are surprised or annoyed
#179
Clerk
Meaning: A literate or scholarly person
#180
Fair
Meaning: Beautiful
#181
Go-cart
Meaning: A baby walker
#182
Desuetude
Meaning: A state of inactivity or disuse
#183
Ostentatious
Meaning: Attracting or seeking to attract attention, admiration
#184
Mobile phone
Meaning: A phone that does not have wires and works by radio, that you can carry with you and use anywhere
#185
Coz
Meaning: Cousin
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