Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rare Careless handwriting; A crude or illegible
scrawl .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But I must reserve a description of these trips until another letter, as I am sure you will be heartily tired by the time you have got through my griffonage.
Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice-Admiral R.N. — a Memoir Lady Biddulph of Ledbury
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But I must reserve a description of these trips until another letter, as I am sure you will be heartily tired by the time you have got through my griffonage.
Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice-Admiral R.N. Ledbury, Lady Bidulph of 1910
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This is a fine griffonage, to be sure! but I have not patience to write prettily; if you can only read it, it will do well enough.
The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart, Wolfgang A 1864
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There was a heap of little crumpled bills which, with Felicie's griffonage, Helen had thrown into her table-drawer.
Tales and Novels — Volume 10 Maria Edgeworth 1808
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This is a fine griffonage, to be sure! but I have not patience to write prettily; if you can only read it, it will do well enough.
The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1773
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We hastened to pack up our “trumpery,” as Captain Mirven unkindly calls the paraphernalia of the ladies, and among the rest, my six hundred pages of griffonage.
whichbe commented on the word griffonage
Illegible or sloppy hand writing. (From Grandiloquent Dictionary)
July 6, 2008
lil_grammar_nazi commented on the word griffonage
To someone coming unawares upon this word, it might seem to have a connection to that fabulous beast called the griffin or gryphon, the one with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Or might it perhaps refer to the vulture with that cognomen or breeds of dog similarly named, both of which derive from an older English spelling of griffin? Alas, no. It’s more prosaic than that.
Readers with knowledge of French will be at an advantage, since the word appears in that language, as griffonnage, a noun that is formed from the verb griffonner, to scribble or scrawl. A griffonage is therefore an illegible scrawl.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gri1.htm
February 11, 2010
mtc commented on the word griffonage
Although griffonage is unrelated to the mythical beast, why do we associate birds with poor handwriting, e.g., the part-bird griffon and chicken scratch? We use bird plumes to write, but we associate bird feet with scratchy, illegible writing.
January 23, 2013