made a nice find couple of days ago: an online edition of john russell bartlett’s 1848 dictionary of americanisms. it’s a truly fascinating read; a record of the colloquial language of the 19th century united states. a huge portion of the words and phrases seem so banal today, so common, that to see them specifically called out as “americanisms” not yet included in the dictionary, and to see their usages pinpointed, is pretty wild. there are entries which are ever so slightly different from modern usage and then of course there are the bits which, some time between then and now, became less common or disappeared entirely. i’ve collected a bunch of them below under my own organizing principles. enjoy-

first off i want to present some entries which, for some reason or other, instantly brought to mind bush and his language mangling “bushisms.” these are all real words they just sound wrong somehow:

TO ARGUFY. To import, to have weight as an argument; to argue.
possible bush usage: “certain folks in the press want to argufy every decision i make! (smirk)”

CIVILIZEE. A civilized man; one advanced in civilization.
possible bush usage: “i’m fightin’ hard for the freedoms of every civilizee here! (smirk)”

DOOMAGE. A penalty or fine for neglect in New Hampshire law.
possible bush misusage: “he’s got weapons of mass doomage! (pause, smirk)”

DUBERSOME. Doubtful. A vulgarism common in the interior of New England.
GALLOWSES. Suspenders; braces.
possible bush usage/misusage: “torture? that’s dubersome. (squint) it ain’t like we’re out there sending people to the gallowses. (smirk)”

GROGGERY. A place where grog and other liquors are drunk.
possible bush misusage: “did i take too long to act? it’s hard work and i just woke up! everyone’s groggery when they wake up. (smirk)”

HAPPIFYING. Making happy. This mongrel barbarism is sometimes heard in our pulpits.
possible bush usage: “did we make mistakes? (squint) what i can say is this- it’s hard happifying everyone! (smirk)”

TO LOGICIZE. To reason.
possible bush usage: “scientists want to logicize everything but i want to hear all the possibilities. (smirk)”

SANCTIMONIOUSLYFIED. This queer word explains itself.
noted usage: “I recollect an old sanctimoniouslyfied fellow, who made his negroes whistle while they were picking cherries, for fear they should eat some.—Crockett, Tour down East.
possible bush usage: This queer word explains itself. (smirk implied)

SLANTENDICULAR. Aslant; oblique. Used in low language.
possible bush misusage: “we’re doing all any nation can in the fight against aids, bird flu, and slantendicular cancer. (squint)”

TO TITIVATE. To dress up. ‘To titivate oneself,’ is to make one’s toilet.
possible bush misusage: “decent people don’t want their kids seeing the obscenity and adult tittivation all over the internets. (squint)”

TWISTICAL. Tortuous; unfair; not quite moral.
possible bush misusage: “i don’t talk like an elite intellectual (smirk), sometimes my words get all twisticaled around (smirk), that’s because i’m not an elitist, i’m an average guy. (smirk again)”

lastly a word bush might want to look up-

DOUGH-FACES. This term may be regarded as nearly or quite synonymous with another not very much unlike it in form—the English “nose of wax.” Generally it means a pliable politician—one who is accessible to personal influences and considerations.
definite usage: bush is a dough-face.

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another natural grouping which seemed to suggest itself was words whose original usage might be of interest to the word-smiths of the hip-hop community:

FRESH. Forward; as, ‘don’t make yourself too fresh here;’ that is to say,
not quite so much at home.

FUNKIFY. To frighten; to alarm.  New England.
noted usage: “Scared! says he, serves him right then; he might have knowed how to feel for other folks, and not funkify them so peskily.”

GAT. (Dutch.) A gate or passage. A term applied to several places in the
vicinity of New York.

GEE. A term used by teamsters to their horses and oxen, when they wish them to go faster. It is also used in directing oxen to the right or off-side.

HOE-CAKE. A cake of Indian meal, baked before the fire. In the interior
parts of the country, where kitchen utensils do not abound, they are baked
on a hoe; hence the name.

ILLY. (as in: illy-illy killy-killy rappers) A word occasionally used by writers of an inferior class, who do not seem to perceive that ill is itself an adverb, without the termination ly.

TO MIZZLE. (mah nizzle) To run away; to abscond. A low word.

NINE-KILLER. The popular name of the Northern Butcher-bird (lanius) of ornithologists. “The name of nine—killer,” says Dr. DeKay, “is derived from the popular belief that it catches and impales nine grasshoppers in a day.”

PIMPING. Little; petty; as, ‘a pimping thing.’ Used in the interior of New England.
noted usage: “Was I little? asked Margaret. Yes, and pimpin’ enough. And I fed your marm with rue and comfrey-root, or ye never’d come to this.”

PIPE-LAYING.This term, in political parlance, means any arrangement by which a party makes sure of a certain addition to its legitimate strength in the hour of trial—that is, the election. In other words, to lay pipe means to bring up voters not legally qualified. The term pipe-laying is a synonym for negotiations to procure fraudulent votes.

SCRATCH.  No great scratch. A vulgar, though common phrase, implying not
worth much—no great shakes.

TO SHOOT ONE’S GRANDMOTHER, is a common though vulgar phrase and means to be mistaken, or to be disappointed; to imagine oneself the discoverer of something in which he is deceived. The common phrase is,
‘You’ve shot your granny.’ It is, in fact, synonymous with ‘You’ve found a mare’s nest.’

SHOT IN THE NECK. Drunk. A Southern phrase.

SLANG-WHANGER. This curious word is defined as signifying “a writer or noisy talker, who makes use of that sort of political or other cant, which amuses the rabble, and is called by the vulgar name of slang.”

TO SMOKE. To find any one out; to discover anything meant to be kept secret.
noted usage: “The two free-booters, seeing themselves smoaked, told their third brother he seemed to he a gentleman and a boone companion; they prayed him, therefore, to sit down with silence.”

noted usage b: “The fellow takes me for a country dealer. Good! I’ll smoke him. Ahem!”

SPOONEY. (as in spooney gee, who would likely rethink his monicker had he read this book) A man who has been drinking till be becomes disgusting. A stupid or silly fellow.

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did you know the moneyed word-makers of the 19th century had a seriously weird obsession with people’s shins?

TO SHIN. To borrow money. A word well understood in New York in times when
money is scarce. The author of the amusing work, entitled Perils of Pearl
Street  thus describes it:

“By shinning, in mercantile phrase, is meant running about to one’s acquaintance, to borrow money to meet the emergency of a note at bank. It is doubtless so called, because in the great hurry of picking up cash to meet the hour of three, which perchance is just at hand, the borrower, not having the fear of wheelbarrows, boxes, barrels, piles of brick, before his eyes, is very apt to run furiously against them with his shins, the bark whereof is apt to he grievously battered off by the contact ..... So fares it with the poor merchant.

TO BARK ONE’S SHINS. To knock the skin off the shins by stumbling or
striking against something.

SHINPLASTER. A cant term for a bank-note, or any paper money. It probably came into use in 1837, when the banks suspended specie payment, and when paper money became depreciated in value.

BLACK-LEG. (almost certainly due to all them “barked shins”) The common term for a gambler.

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here’s one for them damned hippies out there:

DEAD HEADS.  Persons who drink at a bar, ride in an omnibus, or railroad car, travel in steamboats, or visit the theatre without charge, are called dead heads.

suck on that long-hairs.

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here is a hodgepodge i found interesting presented all willy-nilly:

ABSQUATULATE. To run away, to abscond. Used only in familiar language.

AFTERCLAPS. Unexpected events happening after an affair is supposed to be at an end.

BAD BOX.  To be in a bad box, is to be in a bad predicament.

BLATHERSKITE. A blustering, noisy, talkative fellow.

NOT BORN IN THE WOODS TO BE SCARED BY AN OWL. Too much used to danger, or threats, to be easily frightened.

BROWN STUDY. Deep thought; absence of mind. “He is in a brown study,” i. e. in deep thought, or intent upon his book. The adjective is here used in a metaphorical sense; brown being considered a dull, sober color.

TO BUNDLE. Mr. Grose thus describes this custom: “A man and woman lying on the same bed with their clothes on; an expedient practiced in America on a scarcity of beds, where, on such occasions, husbands and parents frequently permitted travelers to bundle with their wives and daughters.”—-of the Vulgar Tongue.

CALLITHUMPIANS. It is a common practice in New York, as well as other parts of the country, on New-Year’s eve, for persons to assemble with tin horns, bells, rattles, and similar euphonious instruments, and parade the streets making all the noise and discord possible. This party is called the Callithumpians, or the Callithumpian Band. On wedding nights the happy couple are sometimes saluted with this discord by those who choose to consider the marriage an improper one, instead of a serenade.

TO CASCADE. To vomit—from the resemblance to a waterfall.

CATAWAMPTIOUSLY CHAWED UP. Completely demolished, utterly defeated. One of the ludicrous monstrosities in which the vulgar language of the Southern and Western States abounds.

TO DEACON A CALF, is to knock it in the head as soon as it is born.

DICK’S HATBAND. a comparison for what is obstinate and perverse. Ex. “As curst as Dick’s hatband, which will come nineteen times round and wont tie at last;” “As contrary as Dick’s hatband;” “As false as Dick’s hatband;” “As cruikit as Dick’s hatband;” “As twisted as Dick’s hatband;” “All across, like Dick’s hatband;” “As queer as Dick’s hatband.”

FRENCH LEAVE. ‘To take French leave,’ is to depart without taking leave; to run away.

GADABOUT. One who walks about without business.

TO GIVE HIM JESSY, is to give him a flogging. A vulgarism of recent origin.

TO GIVE HIM THE MITTEN. This phrase is used of a girl who discards her sweetheart. She gave him the mitten means that she gave her lover his dismissal or discarded him. In England the phrase to give him the sack or give him the bag, denotes the same thing.

LEG BAIL. To give leg bail, is to run away.

SAVAGE AS A MEAT AXE. Exceedingly hungry.

WAMBLE-CROPPED. Sick at the stomach; and figuratively, wretched; humiliated.

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lastly here is a good example of… well… something:

SOME PUMPKINS. A term in use at the South and West in opposition to “small potatoes.” The former is applied to anything large or noble; the latter to anything small or mean.

well, we’ve still got “small potatoes” but what happened to “some pumpkins?”

i can hear the taters whispering… what’s that they are saying?

whose “small potatoes” now?

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anyhow, it really is an interesting document. if you’re interested in language or just looking to mine some cheap joke about bush or hip-hop be sure to check it out.