Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb Used in the imperative to express an order of dismissal.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An interjectional imperative, equivalent, in the passages quoted, to avaunt! begone! See etymology.
  • To say “aroint” to; bid begone.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb rare To drive or scare off by some exclamation.
  • interjection obsolete Stand off, or begone.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb archaic to dispel, to drive away

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin unknown.

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Examples

  • Coleridge, and jam it down my throat; or I'll aroint myself.

    The Clarion Samuel Hopkins Adams 1914

  • Co. -- inimitable Pickwick -- hail, all hail! but triumphs of burglary, and escapes of murderers, aroint ye!

    An Author's Mind : The Book of Title-pages Martin Farquhar Tupper 1849

  • Co. -- inimitable Pickwick -- hail, all hail! but triumphs of burglary, and escapes of murderers, aroint ye!

    The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper Martin Farquhar Tupper 1849

  • For I would sooner face fifty deevils as my master’s ghaist, or even his wraith; wherefore, aroint ye, if ye were ten times my master, unless ye come in bodily shape, lith and limb.”

    The Bride of Lammermoor 2008

  • Collections I found it in a very old drawing, that he has published, in which St. Patrick is represented visiting hell, and putting the devils into great confusion by his presence, of whom one that is driving the damned before him with a prong, has a label issuing out of his mouth with these words, OUT OUT ARONGT, of which the last is evidently the same with _aroint_, and used in the same sense as in this passage.

    Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746

  • Well, if a witch can be arointed, why shouldn't she aroint other things? "

    The Clarion Samuel Hopkins Adams 1914

  • For I would sooner face fifty deevils as my master's ghaist, or even his wraith; wherefore, aroint ye, if ye were ten times my master, unless ye come in bodily shape, lith and limb. "

    The Bride of Lammermoor Walter Scott 1801

  • ARONGT, "of which the last is evidently the same with _aroint_, and used in the same sense as in this passage.

    The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 05 Miscellaneous Pieces Samuel Johnson 1746

Comments

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  • "Mrs. Izard turned around. She faced Mrs. Zimmermann calmly. "So it's you," she said. "Well, my power has not reached its height, but I am still strong enough to deal with you. Aroint ye!"

    She pointed the ivory cane at Mrs. Zimmermann. Nothing happened. She stopped smiling and dropped her cane."

    The House with a Clock in Its Walls, by John Bellairs, p 152 of the Puffin Books paperback edition

    March 3, 2010

  • JM is trying to remove stains by yelling 'aroint!'.

    January 18, 2011

  • An incredibly hard word to find with a simple rack. Has an anagram: ration.

    August 11, 2013

  • (verb) - (1) A word of aversion to a witch or infernal spirit, of which the etymology is uncertain . . . It occurs in Shakespeare's Macbeth, "Aroint thee, witch, the rump-fed ronyon cries." A lady well-acquainted with the dialect of Cheshire informed me that it is still in use there. For example, if the cow presses too close to the maid who is milking her, she will give the animal a push, saying at the same time, 'Roint thee! by which she means stand off. To this, the cow is so well used that even the word is sufficient, the cow being in this instance more learned than the commentators on Shakespeare.

    --Robert Nares' Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859

    (2) Aroint thee! Be gone! Out of the way! Make room! "Aroint thee, witch!" King Lear. Roint is used in this sense by milkmaids, as above in the North Country - Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire.

    --Walter Skeat's Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, 1914

    January 14, 2018