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amber words

A list of 122 words by sionnach.

About

amber words is the term I use for words that are all but fossilized, in the sense that their use is always in the context of a single expression. Examples include caboodle, dudgeon, umbrage

Comments

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  • sionnach commented on the list amber-words

    In some sense, simply being on this list should imply that no further explanation of the word in question is necessary, because the reader should be able to associate it immediately with the single expression in which it occurs, obviating the need for further explication.

    if you know what i mean..

    February 25, 2007

  • trivet commented on the list amber-words

    Neat list!

    brazen, hither/thither, hale, betwixt, hearth, flotsam, brimstone?

    February 25, 2007

  • sionnach commented on the list amber-words

    I'm guessing you are thinking of 'brazen hussey', but since brazen shows up in other contexts, e.g. 'to brazen it out', I don't think it's eligible. 'Hearth' doesn't seem like a word that occurs in only one phrase. I'm on the fence about 'hale'.

    February 26, 2007

  • pamelad commented on the list amber-words

    Escutcheons only come with blots.

    February 26, 2007

  • trivet commented on the list amber-words

    You're right, even if I still think that brazen & hussy go together like rama lama ding dong.

    How about wreak?

    February 26, 2007

  • seanahan commented on the list amber-words

    I prefer to use hussy by itself, and pair brazen with harlot. I believe I first saw the latter paired in a Clive Cussler novel.

    February 27, 2007

  • sionnach commented on the list amber-words

    how about trollop? perhaps brazenness is already intrinsic to trollopdom.

    considered, but not included gibbous, briny, fatted, scruff, because I have seen these words refer to something other than the moon, the deep, a calf, or one's neck, though rarely. Similarly, unsung.

    on the fence about reflux, nitty, beck

    February 27, 2007

  • reesetee commented on the list amber-words

    How about fritz, as in "on the fritz"? Then there's haw ("hem and haw"), offing ("in the offing"), and umbrage ("take umbrage").

    February 27, 2007

  • sionnach commented on the list amber-words

    I've seen haw used to designate a kind of shrub; also, given the prevalence of the term "to off s.o." in the context of assorted TV reality shows of the "Survivor" genre, I reluctantly rejected "offing" as it could now plausibly appear in sentences such as "who are the WAAMU tribe offing this week?"

    February 27, 2007

  • reesetee commented on the list amber-words

    Quite so. Tough list--I love the challenge!

    February 27, 2007

  • sionnach commented on the list amber-words

    I'm adding knoll to this list because it seems to me that, ever since November 1963, it is inextricably linked to the adjective grassy.

    November 8, 2007

  • yarb commented on the list amber-words

    Knoll is not an amber word for me, nor I suspect for other non-American post-Kennedy English speakers. Knell, on the other hand, is fossilised in "death knell".

    November 9, 2007

  • sionnach commented on the list amber-words

    yarb: Guess you didn't have to memorize Gray's "Elegy' in school then?

    Elegy written in a Country Churchyard

    THE Curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

    The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,

    The plowman homeward plods his weary way,

    And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

    and on, for many more stanzas .....

    November 9, 2007

  • yarb commented on the list amber-words

    Ha. I read (and dare I say enjoyed) that poem at university but no, memorisation was not required.

    Even here though the sense is of departure, death. Could one, for example have a knell of joy?

    November 9, 2007

  • reesetee commented on the list amber-words

    Wouldn't that be great? A knell of joy. :-)

    November 9, 2007

  • mollusque commented on the list amber-words

    Does zoot qualify? It never had a much of separate existence, though OED2 does list zoot-shirt and zooty.

    November 9, 2007

  • sarra commented on the list amber-words

    pique has two separate applications, but little more. Might it count?

    dander is like haw for me: mostly, it stands alone. betwixt too, to a lesser degree.

    January 27, 2008

  • sarra commented on the list amber-words

    abetting too, though I was reminded of it just now by seeing it alone!

    February 15, 2008

  • sarra commented on the list amber-words

    I submit fro, and beck.

    November 1, 2008

  • sionnach commented on the list amber-words

    Thanks, sarra. Duly added.

    November 2, 2008

  • yaybob commented on the list amber-words

    This is a terrific idea - giving this concept a name. I shall add it to my vocabulary and begin posting them when I notice one.

    How about wicket? fair-weathered? tuck? unbeknownst?

    December 12, 2008

  • bilby commented on the list amber-words

    Wicket? Can't agree there. Craythur came up yesterday.

    December 12, 2008

  • sionnach commented on the list amber-words

    There is a second, reasonably common, phrase involving "craythur": "Stick to the craythur", so I must, with regret, leave it off the list.

    December 30, 2008

  • mollusque commented on the list amber-words

    Scaredy?

    May 31, 2009

  • bilby commented on the list amber-words

    madding?

    August 28, 2009

  • bilby commented on the list amber-words

    luke

    November 2, 2009

  • yarb commented on the list amber-words

    mete

    March 28, 2011

  • bilby commented on the list amber-words

    Whaddyall think about bystander? Maybe not amber enough, yet.

    March 28, 2011