pilgarlic (pil-GAR-lik) - (arch.) n., a bald person; a man looked upon with humorous contempt or mock pity.
The first was the original sense, but the second seems to have survived longer in the ossified phrase "poor pilgarlic." The term dates to the 1520s, original form pyllyd garleke, literally peeled garlic, comparing a bald head to a skinless garlic clove. Which, ouch.
And that wraps up this week of P-words -- back next week not with the usual random assortment but another theme week, one I've been waiting to run for a while. :rubs hands:
---L.
The first was the original sense, but the second seems to have survived longer in the ossified phrase "poor pilgarlic." The term dates to the 1520s, original form pyllyd garleke, literally peeled garlic, comparing a bald head to a skinless garlic clove. Which, ouch.
And that wraps up this week of P-words -- back next week not with the usual random assortment but another theme week, one I've been waiting to run for a while. :rubs hands:
---L.