collywobbles

[prettygoodword]

collywobbles - n., intestinal cramps or other gastric disturbances.


A colorful 19th centuryism, formed around 1823 as a combination of colic and wobbles, possibly with a dash of cholera thrown in.

---L.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

mmm, colic, cholera, and wobbles. Yummy...

My husband uses this word--but metaphorically, or by extension. He uses it for when kids have tantrums.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting use. There is a derivative meaning I didn't give, of being afraid, as in the quaking in the bowels sort of fear, but I've not see sense that encompasses anger.

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Now I'm losing my confidence; I'll have to ask him when he gets home. Anyway, it could simply be a malapropism on his part!