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wearish

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English warssh, werisch, werische, werish, werissh, werssh, werysshe, of unknown origin; compare Modern English dialectal wairsh and Early Modern English wersh; perhaps related to Middle English wery (modern weary).[1]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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wearish (comparative more wearish, superlative most wearish)

  1. (obsolete) Tasteless, having a sickly flavour; insipid.
  2. (obsolete or dialectal) Sickly, wizened, feeble.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      Who was to weet a wretched wearish elfe, / With hollow eyes and rawbone cheekes forspent […].
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: [] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
      , New York Review Books, 2001, p.16:
      Democritus, as he is described by Hippocrates and Laertius, was a little wearish old man, very melancholy by nature, averse from company in his latter days, and much given to solitariness […].

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ wē̆rish, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007:Origin unknown: cp. MnE dial. (chiefly Northern) wairsh & EMnE wersh; perh. related to ME wẹ̄rī adj.

Anagrams

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