callithump
May. 10th, 2010 07:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordcallithump (KAL-ih-thuhmp) - n., a noisy, boisterous band or parade; a shivaree.
Another 19th-century Americanism, though not as colorful as some given it's a backformation from callithumpian band, a group of New Years noisemakers, itself alteration of 18th century British dialect gallithumpians, people who disrupt elections, probably from gally, to frighten (cf. gallicrow, scarecrow) + thump. In the Midwestern U.S., some towns still hold callithump parades of children in costumes as part of Independence Day.
---L.
Another 19th-century Americanism, though not as colorful as some given it's a backformation from callithumpian band, a group of New Years noisemakers, itself alteration of 18th century British dialect gallithumpians, people who disrupt elections, probably from gally, to frighten (cf. gallicrow, scarecrow) + thump. In the Midwestern U.S., some towns still hold callithump parades of children in costumes as part of Independence Day.
---L.
