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do you remember the word limns?
it's a word that has fallen out of general use.. it once used to be common enough, (it was used in woman's magazines like woman's day--with generally features a vocabulary of a 6th grader!(circa 1970)) but now, its hardly ever seen in general use.
can you think of other words that have fallen out of fashion?
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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not to stretch a point; but, pundigrion. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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How 'bout skulk? Don't hear or read that much, any more, but wasn't it used a lot in, I think, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys mysteries, for ex.?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Great! i was reading a bunch of newsletters (dating from the 1970's) and stumbled across limn's.. i remembered it.
nancy drew had old words even in the 1950's like "roadster" (for her car!)
and nowdays, no one opens their clutch, to get there pancake and to touch up their foundation..
(they open their purse or bag, and add more blusher or check their base (makeup) Rouge (really a word that was before my time.. is long gone too..
my mother used a bit of VO5 hair pommaide.(is that spelled right?) now my daughter uses "product" sometimes lots of product, sometimes almost none.. (could be gel, or mouse, or anti frizz serum, or 'shiners' or polishers.. but VO5?
never!)
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I was hoping this would come up. Or, not so much words falling out of fashion, but the rich patina of their original meaning being worn off.
I am frequently disappointed to re-look up words in modern dictionaries whose definitions I remember reading in my father's dictionary, only to find that the definition I remembered is no longer the given one.
A few examples.
"Malaise". I recall this meaning something like, "an uneasy, ill-defined feeling, especially due to incipient illness." Today most dictionaries define it as simply "a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify" with no mention of incipient illness, which is sad, I think, because it adds such a potent touch of hypochondria to the word.
The verb of "drab." I can recall this word's simple definition in my old dictionary, verbatim: "to consort with whores." My Oxford Concise doesn't give even list a verb form for "drab".
Then there's "conviviality" whose definition of "a lively atmosphere" I distinctly recall included a reference to "food and drink". The word "conviviality" was always accompanied for me by a sound of knives and forks clanking on plates and clanking glasses and laughter; always, but now the banquet hall is deserted, and the definition reads simply, "friendly, lively, and enjoyable."
And there are many, many more.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
"Malaise". I recall this meaning something like, "an uneasy, ill-defined feeling, especially due to incipient illness." Today most dictionaries define it as simply "a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify" with no mention of incipient illness, which is sad, I think, because it adds such a potent touch of hypochondria to the word.
I think the word has been use metaphorically so often lately that limiting its cause to incipient illness in a dictionary, except perhaps in a secondary definition, would be a disservice to the reader.
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Pollution (the sexual kind), harrow (the equipment), gun cotton, quicksilver, quick (the living), inkhorn, windrow, and stichometry.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Pooh-Bah
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Helen: "Limn" is definitely of type 3
"...and nowdays, no one opens their clutch, to get their pancake and to touch up their foundation.."
At least amongst us very old males, "pancake" and "foundation" are of type 1 and still current
However Laverne, who is much smarter than I, agrees that they have dropped out but maintains "clutch" is still current though of type 2, being but a subclass of "bag", which is of course type 1
"...(they open their purse or bag, and add more blusher or check their base (makeup) Rouge (really a word that was before my time.. is long gone too.."
...while she agrees that "blusher" is current, though asserts should be "blush," and is of type 1, while it definitely replaces "rouge," which she agrees has fallen out
Pursuant to your excellent followup I have created a new category for terms such as "rouge," “pancake,” and “foundation,” common words dropping out of use: Type 1a
Jackie: "Skulk" is definitely type 2, a most excellent word
tsu: "pundigrion" not in Random unabridged. What does it mean and under what category would it fall
Hydra: I would place "malaise" and "conviviality" in type 2, though many might disagree; eg, Laverne places the latter as 3. Wouldn't you agree that "Drab" as a verb might go in new category 1c...
...or perhaps 2a
Helen: Thank you for this jolly opportunity
dalehileman
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