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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
An ancient cliché.
"“No, my young friend,” says Chadband, smoothly, “I will not let you alone. And why? Because I am a harvest-labourer, because I am a toiler and a moiler, because you are delivered over unto me, and are become as a precious instrument in my hands."
Moil \Moil\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Moiled; p. pr. & vb. n.
Moiling.] [OE. moillen to wet, OF. moillier, muillier, F.
mouller, fr. (assumed) LL. molliare, fr. L. mollis soft. See
Mollify.]
To daub; to make dirty; to soil; to defile.
Thou . . . doest thy mind in dirty pleasures moil.
--Spenser.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Ah, yes, we'd more likely read today of something having been defiled rather than moiled. Wonder why it has dropped so much out of use?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The old order changeth, ever giving way to the new.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
But moiled is such a direct word--easy to understand and pronounce. I do wonder why this one dropped out of use, at least among the people I know. I don't know that I've ever knowingly read it, but will look out for it from now on. It gets over a thousand hits on Google, but I suppose many of those will have to do with Irish moiled cattled based on a quick read of hits. Here's a link that has a photograph and information about the Irish breed also known as Irish polled cattle: http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/irishmoiled/
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