CONTRETEMPS
(disagreement)
This obviously French word (literally 'against the time') was originally used as a fencing term in the seventeenth century, to denote an untimely thrust, one made at the wrong moment. From this, the word came to acquire its present sense of 'disagreement', basically implying that at the right time, there could have been agreement. This sense arose in the nineteenth century.
from Dunces, Gourmands & Petticoats by Adrian Room
PAGES
- 2000 MOST CHALLENGING AND OBSCURE WORDS
- A BROWSER'S DICTIONARY
- A HOG ON ICE
- AMERICAN ILLUSTRATED MEDICAL DICTIONARY
- AMERICAN POCKET MEDICAL DICTIONARY
- AMERICAN SLANG
- AMO, AMAS, AMAT AND MORE
- ARS AMORIS
- BOOK OF EUPHEMISM
- CONCISE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF LITERARY TERMS
- CRAZY ENGLISH
- DEVIL'S DICTIONARY
- DICTIONARY OF CONTEMPORARY SLANG
- DICTIONARY OF GERMAN SLANG
- DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS
- DICTIONARY OF WORD ORIGINS
- DIMBOXES, EPOPTS, AND OTHER QUIDAMS
- DUNCES, GOURMANDS & PETTICOATS
- EUPHEMANIA
- FOOLISH DICTIONARY
- FORGOTTEN ENGLISH
- GRAND PANJANDRUM
- GRANDILOQUENT DICTIONARY
- HARVARD BRIEF DICTIONARY OF MUSIC
- HEAVENS TO BETSY!
- HOME MEDICAL DICTIONARY
- HOW TO SPEAK SOUTHERN
- I ALWAYS LOOK UP THE WORD "EGREGIOUS"
- INSOMNIAC'S DICTIONARY
- KLINGON DICTIONARY
- LATIN FOR THE ILLITERATI
- MERDE! ET
- MORRIS DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS
- MRS. BYRNE'S DICTIONARY
- NEW DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN SLANG
- NYT DICTIONARY OF MISUNDERSTOOD, MISUSED & MISPRONOUNCED WORDS
- -OLOGIES & -ISMS
- PARTRIDGE'S CONCISE DICTIONARY OF SLANG
- PHRASE-DROPPER'S HANDBOOK
- POCKET CATHOLIC DICTIONARY
- POPLOLLIES AND BELLIBONES
- ROAD & TRACK ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY
- SLANG AND EUPHEMISM
- SUPERIOR PERSON'S BOOK OF WORDS
- THERE'S A WORD FOR IT
- THEREBY HANGS A TALE
- THEY HAVE A WORD FOR IT
- TOTES REDICTIONARY
- WHAT'S IN A WORD?
- WHY DO WE SAY IT?
- WHY YOU SAY IT
- WICKED WORDS
- WORD ORIGINS
- WORDS
- WORDS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- YANKEE DICTIONARY
No comments:
Post a Comment