goujere

English

Etymology

An alteration of goodyear (“the Devil”). A derivation from French gouge (“prostitute, a camp trull”) has been suggested, but this seems unlikely.

Noun

goujere (plural goujeres)

1. (obsolete, rare) Venereal disease.
   • 1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear:

     Wipe thine eyes; The goujere shall devour them, flesh and fell, Ere they shall make me weep.

   • 1788, “Art. V. Ignoramus, Comoedia; Scriptore Georgic Ruggle, A. M. Aulae Clarensis, apud Cantabrigiensis, elim Socie; nunc denuo in Lucem Edita cum Notis Historicis et Criticis: Quibus injuper praeponitur ponens: Accurante Johanne Sidneio Hawkins”, in The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal, volume 78, page 200:

     Bonus annus de te (literally "the good year on you," as it is sometimes spelled in old English) means, The goujere on you; that is, with the editor's good leave, (See p. lxxxiii. ) The p–x on you.

   • 1804, Malcolm Laing, The History of Scotland:

     In the English version, "May the good year untye us'" the common corrupt expression of the age for the goujere, or venereal disease.