Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Affectedly archaic or elaborate speech writing.
- noun An affected or over-elaborate style of gardening or attitude towards gardens.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Both senses are allusions to Thomas Edward Brown's short 1876 poem, “My Garden”, which begins: “A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot.”
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Examples
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There is no need to descend to Godwottery, or even to know the difference between an aquilegia and an antirrhinum, in order to be enthralled by the ingenious and lovely permutations of shape, colour and texture – to say nothing of scent – which surround you.
Try Anything Twice 1938
vendingmachine commented on the word Godwottery
A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Fern'd grot --
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not --
Not God! in Gardens! when the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign;
'Tis very sure God walks in mine.
T. E. (Thomas Edward) Brown (1830 - 1897), "My garden", appears in Old John and other Poems, first published in 1893
April 20, 2023