Words rejected from the one-trick list
Some of these were former entries on the list
of one-trick words, removed in pursuit of accuracy.
Others are candidates considered but rejected.
See also the list of highly evolved one-trick
words.
- Abeyance
- Kept, or held.
- Abet
- Can occur by itself as well as with 'aid'.
- Agog
- Not just a mouth but a village, Californians, or the entire town of Stratford (to give but three examples) may be 'agog'.
- Aplomb
- Because things can be done with it, or carried off with it.
- Arrant
- A knave, as well as nonsense, can be arrant.
- Assuage
- Not only can guilt be assuaged but also thirst, sorrow and lust; and,
according to a quick search on google,
so can fears, woes, irate investors and campus parking crises.
- Auspices
- Under the auspices of ...; or, "The auspices are (not) promising ..."
- Batten
- "Batten" the verb is usually followed by "down the hatches",
but "batten" the noun is a useful word in building and carpentry.
- Bearding
- You can go bearding people (or, more traditionally, lions) in their dens or in their lairs.
- Beck
- "At the beck and call of ...", or, a dialect word for a stream.
- Beggared
- Beggared belief, or, beggared by untoward financial circumstance
- Bide
- What most of us bide is our time, but poets, songwriters and people in the tourist industry may also invite us to bide a while.
- Brink
- On the, or back from the
- Broach
-
The
original use is now extinct except in
"Heritage Dictionaries"
and among people who can also use
"cellarmanship" as if it were a real word.
However, as well as a subject, an issue can be broached, and arguably so can a number, a mark or a
barrier.
- Brunt
- The brunt can be borne or taken
- Caboodle
- Can be the whole caboodle, or, in American usage, "kit and caboodle". The 2nd edition (1989) of the
Oxford English Dictionary gives 6 quotes for caboodle all of which
use "whole caboodle". Popular singer Madonna croons "Now I have the kit as well as
the caboodle" on her song "More".
- Chasseur
- Usually chicken, but more generally "chasseur sauce".
- Cloven
- Cloven hoof, cloven-footed animals
- Coddled
- is not necessarily preceded by "molly-".
- Contention
- Point of contention, bone of contention, it is my contention that ...
- Cooped
- Usually "cooped up", but "cooped in", and especially "cooped in together", are also possible.
- Copybook
- Blot one's copybook; a blot on one's copybook.
- Cranny
- Very occasionally appears without a nook.
- Dander
- As well as in the colloquial uses "get one's dander up" and "go for a dander", the word is sometimes used in its literal sense.
- Deckle
- Can be a noun ('the deckle' is a frame involved in papermaking) or an adjective ('deckle edged paper').
- Dereliction
- ... of duty; or, according to Tony Blair, of responsibility. Well, perhaps he's right on this one.
- Doldrums
- Because one can be in the doldrums, go through the doldrums or come out of the doldrums.
- Droves
- Usually, but not always, preceded by 'in'.
- Errant
- Errant knight, errant knave, errant bass player.
- Escutcheon
- You may have a blot on your escutcheon; or you may be one of many people world-wide who know what an escutcheon actually is. I believe they are often made of brass.
- Fangled
- According to the dictionary, there is no such word as "fangled"; only "newfangled".
- Fettle
- As a noun, 'fettle' is invariably 'fine. But the nice man in the bike shop uses 'fettle' as a verb, so there it goes.
- Flotsam
- The distinction between 'flotsam'
(debris that floats ashore) and 'jetsam'
(debris jettisoned from a vessel at sea) remains current. 'Jetsam' is most
likely to be used alone in a nautical context but 'flotsam' is also used by
conservationists and wildlife photographers.
- Forseeable
- ... future, costs, consequences ...
- Fray
- You can "leave the fray", or return to it.
- Fulsome
- ... praise, apology etc.
- Furrowed
- ... brow, earth, turf
- Gainfully
- Employed, occupied, and others.
- Gamut
- Many and varied are the uses on news.bbc.co.uk.
- Gibbous
- The moon can be gibbous, but inferior planets (viewed from Earth, that would be Mercury and Venus) also show a gibbous phase.
- Gist
- Get the gist, or, the gist was ...
- Half-cock
- "Gone off half-cock" but also "half-cock project", "half-cock system", implemented half-cock"
- Handsomely
- Once can either behave, or pay, handsomely.
- Harbinger
- ... of doom, hope, spring etc.
- Havoc
- can be caused, created or wreaked
- Heinous
- Because in one morning I heard "heinous offence" and
"heinously late", in addition to the obvious "heinous crime".
- Hobnail
- A type of boot; or, a texture on a trinket, as in the "Fenton Ruffled Hobnail White Milk Glass Rose Bowl" and similar tempting items I have seen advertised on ebay.
- Hoity-toity
- is one word.
- Ins
- Ins and outs; or, the plural of sense 3 of 'in' in the dictionary.
- Jetsam
- See Flotsam.
- Jockeying
- is often done "for position", but it arises in other contexts, including 'disc jockeying' and a technical meaning in football.
- Jut
- out, over
- Kilter
- Fears that "off kilter" might be as valid as "out of kilter" were
confirmed by a sighting of "on kilter".
- Knee-jerk
- Reaction or response
- Mettle
- On, or showing
- Malthusian
- A crisis, a catastrophe, or a check can be Malthusian.
- Misspent
- In addition to youth, childhood, life and tax millions can be misspent.
- Moot
- A point can be moot, or an issue, or moot can be a verb, or things can simply be or become moot.
- Motley
- Because a collection, as well as a crew, can be motley.
- Nether
- Regions, parts, reaches, world
- Nigh
- Nigh on, or, the end is nigh.
- Nog
- Recipes exist for orange nog as well as egg nog.
- Overstay
- You can overstay a visa as well as a welcome: but see outstay instead.
- Pared
- Pared down, pared back, pared potatoes, pared apples
- Pent
- up, in
- Peradventure
- Most commonly "beyond ... peradventure", but other uses are still possible. The OED cites "without any possibility of a
peradventure" (The Times, 1996).
- Pinking
- Pinking shears; or, what the wrong kind of fuel does to a diesel engine.
- Pooper
- Party pooper or pooper scooper
- Raring
- Examples have been found of "raring to start", "raring to return" and "raring for court battle" as well as "raring to go".
- Regius
- To my surprise, "Professor" doesn't even appear on the first page of Google searches for "Regius".
- Reinvent
- People can reinvent the wheel or reinvent themselves.
- Qualms
- You can have qualms or be without them.
- Rollicking
- In addition to a rollicking time, you may also have a rollicking party (R
Mistry, "Auspicious occasion", 1987) or tell rollicking stories, among other
usages.
- Roughshod
- because you can tread it, as well as ride it.
- Roundly
- Abused, criticised.
- Salvos
- Can be fired, but don't have to be.
- Sinker
- "Hook, line and sinker" or "He was a sinker not a swimmer"
- Smithereens
- because you can be blown to them or smashed to them.
- Sufferance
- Because you can do things on it, as well as under it.
- Swathe
- I thought the only thing to do with a swathe was cut, but I've also heard "miss a large swathe of ...".
- Teeter
- ... on the brink, on the edge, on a knife-edge, etc.
- Torrid
- Torrid affair, torrid time
- Transverberation
- St Teresa of Avila, and Padre Pio, are but two examples of transverberation.
- Troth
- You can plight it, or you can pledge it.
- Twain
- Never the twain shall meet / cleave the twain in two
- Umbrage
- because you can give it, as well as take it.
- Untoward
- Nothing untoward, anything untoward, something untoward
- Vanishingly
- ... small, rare, short
- Varicose
- Ulcers, as well as veins, can be varicose.
- Whet
- Literally means "sharpen"; as well as the widespread "whet one's appetite", the noun "whet stone" is still in use.
- Whit
- Because of "to whit" as well as "not one whit".
- Wreak
- Revenge, havoc
Wordplay compiled by
Richard Stevens with Sarah Mann, Rupert Mann and Dave Martin.