Have you ever sent a message via scandaroon (a carrier pigeon), needed the services of a nimgimmer (a doctor or surgeon), or fallen victim to bowelhive (a “deadly distemper, common amongst Scottish infants”)? If you’ve never heard of these terms it’s because they are things of the past. But words like these are alive and well in Forgotten English, a collection of hundreds of archaic expressions, their definitions, and dozens of old-fashioned line drawings.

The word histories include pithy citations from a wide array of older sources, from Shakespeare, the Bible, and American and European writers of history, prose, poetry, law, medicine, and religion. Even cookery is represented, with recipes and tips for making the best dilligrout, horse-bread, and uzzle-pye. So have some glig (fun) with the English of our ancestors!