May. 9th, 2018

dornick

May. 9th, 2018 07:46 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
dornick (DWAR-nik) - n., (US) a stone small enough to throw.


For ex, from a field being cleared, but also can have a connotation of a stone that is a good size for throwing. There is another word with the same spelling, meaning a type of stout linen, but I'm ignoring this -- glass houses and all that. This is very strongly an Americanism, and the American Heritage Dictionary says it's from Lower Northern US (which I assume means southern New England/southern Midwest), and given it's generally pretty good on American regional dialects, I'll accept that. First appears around 1840, apparently from Irish Gaelic dornĂ³g, a small round stone that can be easily flung with the hand, from dorn, fist.

---L.

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