Adj. Comprised of both good and evil.

There may be an opposite fault; for indeed upon the agathokakological globe there are opposite qualities always to be found in parallel degrees, north and south of the equator.
- The Doctor, Robert Southey (1848)

Greek word for ‘good’ + Greek word for ‘bad’ + ‘-logical’ + Robert Southey = Agathokakological. Why would someone create such a big word? We must hope that his readers knew the Greek words necessary for understanding it. I’m not too surprised it didn’t catch on.

There are a lot of things out there that have both good and evil in them and just as many missed opportunities for using this lovely word to describe them. Come on writers!

Maybe the word would have had more life if Robert Louis Stevenson had used it to describe the duality present in every person in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Even so, it’s still a useful word. It will make you sound much smarter if you use this word instead of “bad-goodness” or “good-badness.”

verb. To be extremely hot (weather)

It vesuviates. This sudden heat in the atmosphere has something to do with the eruption of the mountain which killed Pliny the Elder. The inner fire of this planet cannot come to the surface without affecting the whole atmosphere.
- Thoughts in My Garden, Mortimer Collins (1880)

What a neat word! It’s picturesque almost. I see a volcano erupting and feel the heat that those 9 letters contain.

Most well-educated people (and who knows how many of those there are with the budget that schools are getting) know something about Mount Vesuvius, at least they know it’s a volcano. So if you happen to use this word — and you should — your partner in conversation will most likely gather you are speaking of something cataclysmic.

That’s hot.

adj. Apricot-colored.

The abricotine building stood out like a tree among elephants.
- This Blog, Me (2009)

I’m allowed to make up citations, right? Okay fine. It’s a nonce-word so you can have a real one.

Shone..apricots so ripe their kernels seem Gemmed amethysts,the rose abricotine, And one who wears a blond lace pelerine.
- Collected Poems, Edith Luisa Sitwell (1930)

Are you tired of being vague about the color descriptions you give? I sure am. Sometimes adding “-ish” just doesn’t cut it. “Red-ish” is so unspecific. Bright red? Dark red? Fresh-blood red? Dried-blood red? It can be a little on the brown side, orange-y, pink-ish, burgundy, or nearly purple.

Well now with abricotine you can describe anything very precisely that is the color of of an apricot! Now is it the yellow on an apricot, or maybe the kind that has the red on the side, or perhaps one that’s more bright orange…

verb. To hit, strike, beat.

Nine or ten times
I had thought t’ have yerked him here under the ribs.
- Iago, Othello (I.ii.5) – William Shakespeare

Many references of this word are used when referring to kick, whip, or spur a horse or other animal to get moving. It has had a lot of different usages over the years, actually. One source uses this word to mean “beat” in a metaphorical sense, such as, “the Sun’s rays beat down on us.” So on a hot day you can tell your friends, “The Sun’s rays yerked us all day long.”

The word has had 500 years of life, but not much in the last 100. It’s a shame, really. Such a fun word to use.

“Why I oughta yerk you…”

Also works as a threat, as in the above. Sprinkle this one into your conversations. Might be a good way to keep the chat going after you’ve run out of things to say about the weather.

noun. Female babbler.

O you cockatrices and you bablatrices,
that in the woods dwell:
You briers and brambles, you cook’s shops
and shambles, come howl and yell.
- Locrine (1595)

The author of Locrine is up for speculation, some attribute it to George Peele, Robert Greene, and even William Shakespeare. Whoever wrote it, I thank them for giving us such a fun word! 

If we are to look at this word in context of the above, it would seem to be perhaps a female cockatrice. A mighty foe indeed. But the definition above from the OED gives it a broader meaning.

A babbler is basically anything that won’t shut up. A bablatrice is a female that won’t shut up. Do you know any of those? Of course you do.

You now have a name for all those valley girls, talkative co-workers, the never-silent spouse, and all other women in your life who flood you with chat. Use it wisely.

Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak.
- Rosalind, As You Like It (III.ii), William Shakespeare 

Noun. An obstreperous mouth.

Hark! Shut your obstropolos.
- Ulysses, James Joyce (1922) 

Leave it to the OED to give you a definition that you probably need to look up.

Obstreperous: adj. Clamorous, noisy, vociferous. Give yourself a pat on the back if you already knew obstreperous. You are a true word-nerd.

This could be a good word to use when you feel like coming off like a total snob to someone who just won’t be quiet. Just say, “Shut your obstropolos,” and you’ll no longer be plagued by their presence. Works well for co-workers, in-laws, and tele-marketers.

Noun. An assemblage of demons.

Slavery..unless it had been now and then checked, would have transformed the earth ere now into a demonagerie.
- Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, XV p 433 – 1848 

Demon + Menagerie. Pretty good combo! Good enough to catch my eye at least. I don’t know how often this one might come up in general conversation but when the opportunity presents itself — USE IT! You will impress your friends and foes alike.

The word conjures a great image in my head of hellish beasts lined up neatly ready to smite something with their smiteful powers.

It might find its way into the vocabularies of religious or political leaders inspiring fear into the hearts of the masses, warning of the price to pay for sinning, and the impending armageddon.

Not to be confused with a demonage a trois: something to be avoided.

Noun. A government ruled by the wind.
From the Greek for wind, anemo.  

Such is the miserable and precarious state of an anemocracy, of a
people who put their trust in hurricanes, and are governed by wind.
- Peter Plymley’s Letters by Sydney Smith 

The Oxford English Dictionary dates this word to 1808 but it’s still very usable today. As unpredictable the future is, criticizing the government will always be around. It is a favorite pastime of many. Calling your country an Anemocracy is a wonderful — nearly poetic — way to say that the head honchos don’t know what they’re doing.

I vote that we bring this word back. Please help me in my campaign to spread the word to the people. Ask not what your language can do for you, but what you can do for your language.