A fossil word is a
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consen ...
that is broadly
obsolete but remains in current use due to its presence within an
idiom
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...
,
word sense
In linguistics, a word sense is one of the meanings of a word. For example, a dictionary may have over 50 different senses of the word " play", each of these having a different meaning based on the context of the word's usage in a sentence, as ...
, or
phrase
In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can con ...
. An example for a word sense is 'navy' in '
merchant navy', which means 'commercial fleet' (although that sense of navy is obsolete elsewhere). An example for a phrase is '
in point' (relevant), which is retained in the larger phrases '
case in point
Case or CASE may refer to:
Containers
* Case (goods), a package of related merchandise
* Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component
* Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books
* Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to ...
' (also 'case on point' in the legal context) and '
in point of fact
IN, In or in may refer to:
Places
* India (country code IN)
* Indiana, United States (postal code IN)
* Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN)
* In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Businesses and organizations
* In ...
', but is rarely used outside of a legal context.
English-language examples
* ''ado'', as in "
without further ado Without may refer to:
* "Without" (''The X-Files''), an episode in the eighth season of ''The X-Files''
* "without", an English preposition
Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply p ...
" or "
with no further ado
With or WITH may refer to:
* With, a preposition
Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ...
" or "
much ado about nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
", although the homologous form "to-do" remains attested ("make a to-do", "a big to-do", etc.)
* ''amok'', as in "
run amok"
* ''bandy'', as in "
bandy about" or "
bandy-legged
Genu varum (also called bow-leggedness, bandiness, bandy-leg, and tibia vara) is a varus deformity marked by (outward) bowing at the knee, which means that the lower leg is angled inward ( medially) in relation to the thigh's axis, giving the ...
"
* ''bated'', as in "
wait with bated breath", although the derived term "abate" remains in non-idiom-specific use
* ''beck'', as in "
at one's beck and call", although the verb form "beckon" is still used in non-idiom-specific use
* ''champing'', as in "champing at the bit", where "champ" is an obsolete precursor to "chomp", in current use
* ''coign'', as in "
coign of vantage"
* ''deserts'', as in "
just deserts
Desert () in philosophy is the condition of being deserving of something, whether good or bad. It is sometimes called moral desert to clarify the intended usage and distinguish it from the dry desert biome. It is a concept often associated with ...
", although singular "desert" in the sense of "state of deserving" occurs in nonidiom-specific contexts including law and philosophy. "Dessert" is a French loanword, meaning "removing what has been served," and has only a distant etymological connection.
* ''dint'', as in "
by dint of"
* ''dudgeon'', as in "
in high dudgeon"
* ''eke'', as in "
eke out"
* ''fettle'', as in "
in fine fettle", although the verb, 'to fettle', remains in specialized use in metal casting.
* ''fro'', as in "
to and fro"
* ''hark'', as in "hark back to" or "hark at you"
* ''helter skelter'', as in "scattered
helter skelter about the office", Middle English to hasten
* ''hither'', as in "come hither", "hither and thither", and "hither and yon"
* ''inclement'', as in "inclement weather”
* ''jetsam'', as in "
flotsam and jetsam
In maritime law, flotsam'','' jetsam'','' lagan'','' and derelict are specific kinds of shipwreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage. A shipwreck is defined as the remai ...
", except in legal contexts (especially admiralty, property, and international law)
* ''kith'', as in "
kith and kin"
* ''nap'', meaning to steal, as in "
kidnap
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/ asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the ...
"
* ''lo'', as in "lo and behold"
* ''loggerheads'' as in "
at loggerheads" or
loggerhead turtle
The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when full ...
* ''muchness'' as in "
much of a muchness"
* ''neap'', as in "
neap tide"
* ''pale'', as in "
beyond the pale"
* ''shebang'', as in "
the whole shebang", although the word is now used as an unrelated common noun
in programmers' jargon.
* ''shrive'', preserved only in inflected forms occurring only as part of fixed phrases: 'shrift' in "