Avoirdupois

Avoirdupois (pronounced av-er-duh-poiz)

(1) As the avoirdupois system, a system of weight measurements.

(2) In informal (and usually jocular) use, excess body weight (mostly US).

(3) Merchandise (usually that sold by weight but also applied generally) (obsolete).

1650s: From the thirteenth century Middle English avoir de pois, aver de peise, haburdy poyse, haburdepays & haburdepeyse, (literally “goods of weight, property of weight”) from the Old French avoir de pois (goods, property, literally “asset of weight”), the construct being avoir (from the earlier aveir, from the Latin habēre (to have) + de (of), from the Latin dē, + pois (from the earlier peis, from the Latin pēnsum (something weighed, weight), from pendere (to weigh, weigh out).  The alternative spelling was the now obsolete averdupois.  Avoirdupois emerged in the 1650s as a misspelling (the French du displacing the original de from Latin) of the Middle English avoir-de-peise, the Norman form of the Old French avoir de pois which was the equivalent of the Medieval Latin averia ponderis), the construct being aveir (property, goods (and a noun use of aveir (have)), from the Classical Latin habere, from the primitive Indo-European root ghabh- (to give or receive) + peis (weight), from the Latin pensum, neuter of pendere (to hang, cause to hang; weigh; pay), from the primitive Indo-European root spen or pen (to draw, stretch, spin).  In the system of weights & measures, the accepted abbreviations are avdp & avoir.  Avoirdupois is a noun; the noun plural is avoirdupoises.

The oldest sense in English is the late thirteenth century “goods sold by weight” and by the late 1400s it had been partially codified as a system of weights based on the pound which contained 16 ounces or 7000 grains (453.59 grams); 100 pounds (US) or 112 pounds (UK) being equal to 1 hundredweight and 20 hundredweights equals 1 ton.  Since circa 1300 it had been the customary system in London and in legislation it was formalized as the UK’s official system in 1856, something which lasted until 1963 (the US mandated it between 1866-1959 although it remains widely used (in the form modified in 1959) to this day).  In England for hundreds of years it was used for all purposes except the measuring of precious metals, gem stones, and medicine but the apothecaries, although they had their own tables of weights & measures needed also to be acquainted with avoirdupois because why they sold their preparations in the apothecaries system, they purchased their raw ingredients in avoirdupois.

Collins English Dictionary: Avoirdupois trend of use.

As a euphemism, avoirdupois is a reputedly more polite way of saying “overweight” and etymologists note the use was historically usually jocular and a popular way to describe the state of one’s self.  At one time it was common for this to be shortened to adipose but it was from a source altogether more blunt, the Latin adeps & adipis meaning “fat” or “grease”.  Adipose found a niche in the international scientific vocabulary and was from the New Latin adipōsus, from the Latin adeps and was probably is some way related to the Umbrian ařepes (offerings of fat) (the “ř” in Umbrian regularly represents an earlier “d”).  The Collins English Dictionary traces word usage and it’s clear avoirdupois has, except for a spike during World War II when much technical documentation was circulated, been in precipitous decline since the early twentieth century, reflecting both the decline in use of it as an informal term and the adoption of the metric system in most of the English-speaking world (even in the US used widely in many sectors).

Lindsay Lohan: Not at all avoirdupois.

Bespoke

Bespoke (pronounced bih-spohk)

(1) A simple past tense and past participle of bespeak.

(2) Of clothes, those made to individual order and custom custom-made.

(3) The making or selling such clothes.

(4) By extension, anything (physical or weightless) produced to a customer’s specifications, especially if a one-off creation.

(5) To ask for in advance; to reserve (obsolete).

(6) As bespeak & bespoken, betrothed or engaged to be married; spoken for (obsolete except in the literary novel).

1745–1755: The adjective was a coining in Modern English in the sense of “custom-made goods; made to order (as distinguished from ready-made; an item on the shelf of a shop)” from the late sixteenth century Middle English bespoken, the past-participle adjective from bespeak (in its sense of “arrange beforehand”), a prefixed variant of speak.  The verb bespeak was from the Middle English bispeken, from the Old English besprecan (speak about, speak against, complain), the construct being be- + sprecan (to speak).  A common Germanic compound (the cognates including the Old Saxon bisprecan, the Dutch bespreken, the Old High German bisprehhan and the German besprechen) originally meaning “to call out”, it evolved by the 1580s to enjoy a wide range of meaning in English, including “speak up”, “oppose”, “request”, “discuss”, “arrange” and “order (goods)”.  By virtue of the different application of the be- prefix, the connections between the various meanings of bespoke, bespeaking; bespeak etc are thought at least very loose and it’s clear some arose independently of others.  Bespoke long was used usually of tailored suits and other clothing but in recent decades it has been applied (with some enthusiasm) to products as diverse as a one-off Rolls-Royce and customized hacking software offered on the dark web.  Bespeak was from the Middle English bespeken & bispeken, from the Old English bespecan & besprecan (to speak about, speak against, accuse of, claim at law, complain), from the Proto-Germanic bisprekaną (to discuss, blame), the construct being be- +‎ speak.  It was cognate with the Scots bespeke (to beseech, speak or negotiate with), the West Frisian besprekke (to discuss), the Dutch bespreken (to discuss, review; debate) and the German besprechen (to discuss, review, talk about).  Bespoke & bespoken are verbs & adjectives, bespeak is a noun & verb, bespeaking is a verb, bespeaker & bespokeness are nouns and bespokely is an adverb; the noun plural use is rare.

The be- prefix was from the Middle English be- & bi-, from the Old English be-, from the Proto-Germanic bi- (be-), from the Proto-Germanic bi (near, by), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European hepi (at, near) and cognate with the Saterland Frisian, West Frisian, Dutch, German Low German, German and Swedish be-.  Although there remain in English many relics of its use, (becalmed, beseige et al), the be- prefix has long ceased to be productive.  It was used to modify other forms to create various meanings: (1) By, near, next to, around, close to (beset), (2) Aound; about (belay, bestir, belive), (3) About, regarding, concerning, over (bemoan, bewail), (4) On, upon, at, to, in contact with something (behold, befall), (5) Off, away, over, across (behead, besleeve), (6) As an intensifier (ie thoroughly, excessively; completely; utterly) (belabour, bedazzle), (7) All around; about; abundantly; all over (belick, bescatter), (8) Forming verbs derived from nouns or adjectives, usually with the sense of "to make, become, or cause to be" (becalm, befriend) and (9) Used to intensify adjectives meaning "adorned with something", often those with the suffix -ed (now mostly archaic or informal) (besequined, befeathered, beclawed, beloved).

Artist Louise Duggan (b 1974) delivers the bespoke "mixed-media work" Blue Lips, commissioned by Lindsay Lohan to hang in her villa in Dubai, June 2023.

Bespoke is an uncontroversial word if applied in the way which for centuries mostly it was: clothing custom made for an individual, based on measurements taken prior to the a tailor or seamstress cutting the fabric.  It was used also of the shoes made by cobblers, the gloves sewed by glove makers, the hats created by milliners and so on, all of whom had their own methods of maintaining their customer records, those dealing with body parts which usually didn’t much change able to use the same dimensions for decades; other had to re-measure with some frequency.  In the case of cobblers, for regular customers they would keep a pair of wooden lasts which emulated exactly the shape of the feet.  The synonyms for bespoke in this context included “custom-made”, “customized”, “purpose-built”, “tailored” & “tailor-made” and the traditional antonyms were “off the peg”, “off the rack” & “off the shelf”.  In recent years, “bespoke” has become a marketing term and stuff which is far from unique and in many cases produced in great volume (perhaps with some minor change) is now often labeled “bespoke” and “bespoke solution” is a favorite in the software business, whether it be something to manage a hairdressing salon or code on the dark web supplied by Russian hackers to the DPRK (North Korean) military for enable theft or covert operations.

Because of the way Google harvest it data, their ngrams tracking trends in the use of words aren’t wholly accurate and even the degree of accuracy can’t be assessed but the trend lines are thought vaguely indicative and it appears bespoke came increasingly to be used in the late twentieth century and the rate of increase has shown no signs of subsiding.  That may to some extent be accounted for by Google’s methods or the publications over-represented in its catchment but, impressionistically it seems plausible and in the US, scholars by the 1990s were noting the way bespoke was tending to supplant the traditional American “custom”, apparently because the word had appeal because it conveyed “wealth and prestige” whereas custom had been devalued by its association with things like hotted-up motor cycles.  If bespoke is uncontroversial when used of anything genuinely one-off, the appropriateness when used of anything else needs to be assessed on a case by case basis and because it’s so popular in the business of expensive cars, they provide a good case-studies.

The Maserati 5000 GT (1959-1966)

1959 Maserati 5000 GT (Shah of Iran) by Touring.

Before the Ayatollahs ran Iran, it was ruled by the Shah (king) and he got a lot more fun out of life than his clerical successors, noted especially as a connoisseur and of fast, exotic and expensive cars, his collection including multiple models from Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari and Maserati among others.  In 1958 he’d driven Maserati’s then popular 3500 GT but thought it lacking in power and, because hundreds a year were sold to the (rich) public, a bit common.  Accordingly, after receiving material advertising both the 3500 GT and the remaining 450S race cars the factory wished to dispose of after withdrawing from racing, the shah decided he wanted a combination of the two, the race engine in the road car.  To have it created, essentially he sent Maserati a blank cheque and asked them to call when it was ready.  Delivered to the shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, 1919-1980) in 1959, it was almost a secret but when a second, commissioned by a South African customer,  was displayed at the 1959 Turin Motor show, it generated such interest that Maserati were soon fielding enquiries from rich commoners wanting what royalty had.  Priced stratospherically however, there weren’t enough rich folk on the planet to make it a viable option for their production lines so it entered the catalogue as a bespoke item, Maserati modifying the 3500 chassis which, frankly had been a bit over-taxed by the big V8 and tweaking the engine still further, slightly increasing the capacity but in a way that rendered it more docile, yet still a howler when stirred.  The chassis appeared in the list and buyers could choose their own coachbuilder and eventually eight produced their own interpretations, the most numerous being by Carrozzeria Allemano which, over the years, finished twenty-two, the Allemano cars thought also the most alluring.

1959 Maserati 5000 GT by Allemano.

So the conclusion must be that the Shah’s original was and remains a true bespoke creation because exclusively it was built for him.  Of the other 33 5000 GTs built, although they were all variations on the theme and mechanically similar, no two were exactly alike and each was built in response to an order from an individual customer, some of whom specified certain touches.  Given that, all probably deserve to be regarded as bespoke though pedants might insist the chassis was a regular production item and only the coachwork was truly bespoke.  Few seem to agree and on the rare occasions the things are offered for sale, they’re almost always described as “bespoke”.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom IV (1950-1956)

1950 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV pick-up truck.

Among collectors, the Phantom IV has quite an allure because it was one of the few cars produced in any number never offered for sale to the general public, only 18 produced and available only to head of state or crowned royalty (a distinction important in royal circles which has its own pecking order).  In a manner similar to the Maserati 5000 GT, no two Phantom IVs were exactly the same although all were built on substantially the same underpinnings (the only Rolls-Royce passenger cars ever to use a straight-8).  Thus all should be though “bespoke” in the context of the industry but there was one version which was radically different, a Phantom IV pick-up truck (ute in Australian parlance) which was used by the factory to ferry various bits and pieces from place to place.  So it’s a genuine one off pick-up truck but because it was just a functional workhorse which existed only because an unsalable prototype chassis was available, it’s never been regarded as something bespoke, the long ago scrapped unique “shop ute” just a historic curiosity.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom V (1959-1968) & Phantom VI (1968-1990)

1973 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI "All Weather Cabriolet" (four-door convertible) by Fura (right) and 1971 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI DHC by Fura (left). 

By comparison with the exclusive Phantom IV, its two successors were almost mass produced, 1206 (832 of the Phantom V & 374 of the VI respectively) crafted over three decades.  In this case, it’s thought only some should be thought truly bespoke because although there were a few variations in the coachwork, many were substantially the same and its only the ones with the greatest differences (notably the odd sedanca de ville, the handful of landaulets or the other “state” cars with their elevated rooflines) which are usually thought “bespoke” and even they weren’t unique things like the Phantom IVs.  Two of the Phantom VI chassis however were indisputably bespoke.  By the 1970s, it was only the big Phantom VI which Rolls-Royce still built on the separate chassis which made bespoke bodies easier to mount so anyone wanting a really exclusive Rolls-Royce had no other choice.  Accordingly the Italian house Fura fashioned two very big bespoke creations, one a drophead coupé (DHC, which by then the rest of the world was calling a cabriolet or convertible), the other described as an "all weather cabriolet" (which eventually was re-fashioned as a four-door convertible).  Both were on a scale not seen since seen since the 1930s and nothing like them has since been attempted.  Because the limousine chassis was designed for something long, narrow and tall, both the Fura cars were fundamentally ill-proportioned although skilled photographers have managed to create pleasing images by selecting just the right angle.  Flawed though they were, at the time there was probably nothing on four wheels which so conveyed disposable wealth which, in many cases, is of course often the essence of the bespoke.  It was a good thing they made such an impression because presumably it dissuaded people from looking too closely: underneath the engineering was pure Phantom VI which meant drum brakes and a rear axle suspended on semi-elliptic (cart) springs so it was (refined) Ford Model T (1908) technology under all that leather and walnut.  Such was the attention to detail those cart spring were encased in leather so those enjoying the seclusion of the rear compartment (trimmed usually in West of England cloth rather than the leather on which the chauffeur sat) weren't disturbed by any squeaks.   

1956 Mercedes-Benz 300c (W186 "Adenauer") Estate Car by Binz.

Consumption can be conspicuous yet still subtle, achieved usually if a bespoke creation is both expensive and functional.  The Mercedes-Benz 300 saloons and four-door cabriolet of (W186 & W189 1951-1962) were large, stately and beautifully built and the platform attracted coachbuilders who saw the potential for estate cars (station wagons), ambulances and (especially) hearses.  Many were built and the hearses in particular typically aren't regarded as bespoke because they were essentially catalogue items with little variation between editions.  Some of the rare estates ("shooting brakes" to the English, "station wagons" in North America and for a time, "station sedans" if built by Holden, General Motors' (GM) Australian outpost) however have always been treated as bespoke even though from an engineering point of view the changes were minimal and the styling hardly imaginative.  The reason for the association seems to be that they “dripped money”; even to the uninformed they were obviously expensive so it seems possible there is the matter of "bespoke by acclamation".  Interestingly, in 1960 the factory did their own one-off 300 Estate, this one a “telemetry car” built in the era before sensors to travel at high speed on a test track, recording data from the vehicle ahead.  Styled in an almost avant-garde manner with rear glass which curved into the roof, the factory regarded it rather as Rolls-Royce treated their pick-up: a mule to be used until something better came along.  They never called it bespoke.

1965 Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake.

Sir David Brown (1904–1993) liked his DB5 coupé (which the factory in their English way called a "saloon") but found it too cramped comfortably to accommodate his polo gear, shotguns and hunting dogs.  Now, that would be called a “first world problem” but because Brown then owned Aston Martin, he simply wrote out a work order and had his craftsmen create a bespoke shooting brake (an English term which means “station wagon owned by someone rich”) which they did by hand-forming the aluminum with hammers over wooden formers.  It delighted him and solved his problem but created another because good customers stared writing him letters asking for their own.  Unfortunately, Aston Martin was at full capacity building DB5s and developing the up-coming DB6 and V8 models.  With a bulging order book, the resources didn’t exist to add another niche model so the project was out-sourced to the coachbuilder Radford which built a further 11 (and subsequently another 6 based on the DB6).  That Brown’s original car was bespoke seems clear but the others are a gray area because the coachbuilder’s records and assessments of the cars indicate they were identical in all but the color of the paint and leather trim.  There may have been only 12 DB5s and 6 DB6s but by conventional definition, they came of a production line, albeit a leisurely and exclusive one so can all but the original be thought truly bespoke?  According to the Aston Martin website, they are bespoke so that’s presumably the last word on the subject.

The Smart Fortwo (top left) and some bespoke imaginings.

The happy combination of the internet, Photoshop and a large cohort of gullible viewers some years ago encouraged the creation of a meme purporting to be a survey of the bespoke carbon fibre bodies available to be bolted to the diminutive Smart Fortwo (C451; 2007-2015).  Even a cursory look at the scale of the humans included in some of the photos should have been enough for people to work out this was fake news but the factory is said to have received “some” enquiries asking where the bespoke bodies could be bought.

Damocles

Damocles (pronounced dam-uh-kleez)

As Sword of Damocles, any situation threatening imminent harm or disaster.

Circa 300 BC: From the Ancient Greek name Δαμοκλῆς (Damoklês).  The most commonly used derived form is the adjectival Damoclean.  There is a school of thought no initial capital is demanded except when referring to Damocles himself.

In mythology

In Classical mythology, Damocles was a sycophantic courtier at the court of King Dionysius II of Syracuse.  Damocles was heard to say Dionysius must be very happy  living the life of a king and on hearing of this, the ruler offered to let him live like that for a day.  Delighted, Damocles accepted and was placed on a throne, attended by servants serving him the finest wines at a most lavish banquet.  Hours into the feast, Damocles chanced to look up and saw, just above his head, a razor-sharp dangling sword, suspended by a single strand from the tail of a horse.  Shocked at the risk to his life, Damocles asked the king why the blade was there.  Dionysius explained it was so Damocles might fully experience the life of a king, including the constant sense of danger powerful people must endure.  Damocles asked to be excused from the feast and be allowed to return to his humble station; the king granting his request.  The original meaning from Antiquity, the sword symbolizing the constant threats powerful people face, has changed over time, now referring to any looming threat, not just those afflicting the rich and powerful.

Long thought apocryphal, legend has it the story was in a lost history of of Sicily by Timaeus of Tauromenium (circa 356–260 BC) and it’s speculated Cicero may have read it in the works of the (1^st century BC) Greek historian Diodorus Siculus for he included it in his Tusculanae Disputationes (Tusculan Thoughts (45 BC)), a five-part treatise of Greek philosophy discussing: the contempt of death; pain; grief; emotional disturbances; and whether virtue alone is sufficient for a happy life).  It was from here the phrase entered classical languages, Horace exploring the theme in the Third Book of Odes (23 BC), noting none could be happy "above whose impious head hangs a drawn sword (destrictus ensis)."  It became part of modern European languages after the myths of antiquity were widely published after the Renaissance.  William Shakespeare (1564–1616) explored the theme in Henry IV, Part 1 (circa 1596), Geoffrey Chaucer (circa 1344-1400) used the phrase in The Canterbury Tales (1386-1400) and sixteenth & seventeenth century works sometimes explained the story using the words metus est plenus tyrannis (a tyrant is always fearful).  During the Cold War, both John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963) and comrade Khrushchev (1894–1971; Soviet leader 1953-1964) described nuclear weapons as Damoclean although JFK was lamenting the threat they posed to humanity whereas comrade Khrushchev was more bullish, telling the West the USSR’s newly tested fifty-plus megaton hydrogen bomb would "hang like the sword of Damocles over the imperialists' heads".

Comrade Khrushchev's Damoclean sword: A depiction of 30 October 1961 test of Soviet AN-602 hydrogen bomb (Царь-бомба (Tsar Bomba, known also by the Soviet code names Ivan or Vanya (the Pentagon preferred Tsar Bomb)).  The most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated, the design was technically capable of being able to be produced in a form which would have yielded some 100 megatons but the Soviets built it in smaller form (1) to reduce fall-out and (2) the bomber would have time to escape from the critical blast zone.  For a long time the US estimated the yield at 54 megatons and the Russians at 58 but after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was confirmed the true yield was 50-51 megatons.

Hangry

Hangry (pronounced hang-gree)

Feeling irritable or irrationally angry because of hunger.

1915-1920: A portmanteau word, the construct being from h(ungry) + angry.  Hungry is from the Middle English hungry, from the Old English hungriġ & hungreġ (hungry; famishing; meager), from the Proto-Germanic hungragaz (hungry).  It was cognate with the Dutch hongerig, the German hungrig and the Swedish hungrig, all of which meant “hungry”.  Anger is from the Old Norse angr (affliction, sorrow).

Hungry (pre 950) was from the Middle English hungry & hungri, from the Old English hungriġ & hungreġ (hungry; famishing; meager) which existed also in the Common West Germanic and was from the Proto-Germanic hungragaz (hungry).  It was cognate with the German hungrig, the Old Frisian hungerig, the Dutch hongerig, the German hungrig and the Swedish hungrig, all of which meant “hungry”.  The use as a figurative form is noted from circa 1200.

Angry (1350-1400) in the sense of "hot-tempered, irascible; incensed, openly wrathful" is a construct of the earlier noun anger + -y,  The Old Norse adjective was ongrfullr (sorrowful) (the Old Norse angr meant “affliction, sorrow”), from the mid thirteenth century a Middle English form was angerful (anxious, eager).  The “angry young man” dates from 1941 but became a popular form only after John Osborne's (1929-1994) play Look Back in Anger was performed in 1956 although the exact phrase does appears nowhere in the text.  The rare related form is angriness.

The –y suffix is from the Middle English –y & -i, from the Old English -iġ (-y, -ic), from the Proto-Germanic -īgaz (-y, -ic), from the primitive Indo-European -kos, -ikos, & -iḱos (-y, -ic).  It was cognate with the Scots -ie (-y), the West Frisian -ich (-y), the Dutch -ig (-y), the Low German -ig (-y), the German -ig (-y), the Swedish -ig (-y), the Latin -icus (-y, -ic) and the Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós); a doublet of -ic.  The –y suffix was added to (1) nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of” and (2) verbs to form adjectives meaning "inclined to".

A question understandably frequent in some marriages.

Etymologists list hangry as a humorous invention in US English dating from circa 1915-1920 but use soon died out, not to be revived until 1956 when it was mentioned in the US psychoanalytic journal American Imago in a discussion about various kinds of deliberate and accidental wordplay.  Hangry, unlike some of contractions or elisions documented, survived (or was again revived) in the internet age, becoming popular from the mid-1990s and achieved sufficient linguistic critical-mass for the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to accept it as a word in their 2018 update.  Even among those who dismiss hangry as slang, the usual rules of English should apply so the comparative is more hangry, the superlative most hangry, and the adjectives hangrier and hangriest.

Some dictionaries still resist, apparently not convinced it’s yet a proper word despite the usually authoritative imprimatur of the OED.  For those who side with the OED, of note is that hangry thus becomes only the third word in English to end in –gry, the other two being, predictably, angry and hungry.  There is the odd instance in the historic record of puggry (a light scarf wound around a hat or helmet to protect the head from the sun) but etymologists overwhelmingly say this is a mistake, a Raj-era corruption of the correct puggaree, from the Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi pagṛī (turban), related to the Punjabi pagg (turban) and Kashmiri pag (turban), all of unknown origin.

Dump

Dump (pronounced duhmp)

(1) To drop something or let fall in a mass; fling down or drop heavily or suddenly.

(2) To empty the contents of something (by tilting, overturning etc).

(3) To dismiss, fire, or release from a contract.

(4) In informal (and very common) use, to end a relationship with someone (especially a romantic partner), used mostly when the action is one-sided although there are many mutual dumpings, even if some are technically retrospective.

(5) Suddenly to transfer or rid oneself of some responsibility, task or duty.

(6) In the slang of boxing (1) to knock down an opponent & (2) intentionally to lose a match.

(7) In commerce (1) to put (goods or securities) on the market in large quantities and at a low price without regard to the effect on market conditions or (2) deliberately to offer goods in large quantities or at prices below the cost of production & distribution in an attempt to drive out competition.

(8) In international trade, to sell (goods) into foreign markets below cost in order to promote exports or damage foreign competition.

(9) In computers, (1) to print, display or record on an output medium the contents of a computer's internal storage or the contents of a file, often at the time a program fails, later to be used to debug or determine the cause or point of failure or (2) as screen dump, to print or create an image file of the screen’s display.

(10) Of precipitation (rain, hail & (especially) snow), heavy downfalls.

(11) In historic use, a small coin made by punching a hole in a larger coin (called a holey dollar and issued in both Canada and Australia).

(12) A deep hole in a river bed; a pool (a northern England regionalism).

(13) In slang, to kill; to arrange or commit murder.

(14) To fall or drop down suddenly.

(15) To throw away, discard etc something.

(16) In informal use, to complain, criticize, gossip, or tell another person one's problems (often as “to dump on”); to treat with disrespect, especially to criticize harshly or attack with verbal abuse.

(17) In vulgar slang, an evacuation of the bowels; to defecate (often as “take a dump”; men especially fond of the phrase “huge dump”).

(18) An accumulation of discarded garbage, refuse etc; a tip or landfill site, also called a dumpsite or dumping-ground.

(19) In military use, a collection of ammunition, stores, etc, deposited at some point, as near a battlefront, for distribution (ammo dump, fuel dump etc).

(20) In mining, a runway or embankment equipped with tripping devices, from which low-grade ore, rock etc., are dumped; the pile of stuff, so dumped.

(21) In informal use, a place, house or town (even a state or entire country according to some) that is dilapidated, dirty, or disreputable.

(22) In merchandising, a bin or specially made carton in which items are displayed for sale.

(23) In surfing (of a wave) to hurl a swimmer or surfer down.

(24) To compact bales of wool by hydraulic pressure (Australian and New Zealand).

(25) A mournful song; a lament; a melancholy strain or tune in music; any tune (obsolete).

(26) A sad, gloomy state of the mind; sadness; melancholy; despondency (usually in the form “down in the dumps”).

(27) Absence of mind; reverie (now rare).

(28) Heavily to knock; to stump (Scottish, obsolete).

(29) A thick, ill-shapen piece (UK, archaic).

(30) A lead counter used in the game of chuck-farthing (UK, archaic).

(31) A type of dance (obsolete).

1300–1350: From the Middle English dompen & dumpen (to fall suddenly, plunge), from the Old Norse dumpa (to thump, strike, bump).  The modern senses of the transitive verb and noun are unknown prior to the nineteenth century and may either be from another source or are an independent expressive formation.  There may have been some Scandinavian influence such as the Norwegian dumpa (suddenly to fall) which may also be linked with other Germanic forms such as the Middle Low German dumpeln (to duck) and the Danish dumpe (suddenly to fall).  The use in the sense of “hole used for the disposal of unwanted items by burying” was a development of the Scots dump (hole in the ground), the Norwegian dump (a depression or hole in the ground), the German Low German dumpen (to submerge) and the Dutch dompen (to dip, sink, submerge), something obviously not unrelated to the early fourteenth century meaning “throw down or fall with force, drop (something or someone) suddenly” which didn’t exist in Old English.  The modern use is actually most modern, the sense “unload en masse, cause to fall out by tilting up a cart etc” not recorded until it emerged in American English by 1784 while that of “discard, abandon” dates from 1919.  The use in economics to describe “export or throw on the market in large quantities at low prices” was first noted in 1868 in the context of anti-competitive practices.  A dumping ground was first documented in 1842 although the term may earlier have been in oral use.  Dump & dumping are nouns & verbs, dumped is a verb, dumper & dumpage are nouns and dumpy is an adjective; the noun plural is dumps.

By 1865, the noun dump was understood as place “where refuse is dumped, piled or heaped; a repository of refuse matter” and applied originally to extractive mining as a development of the verb, the use extending to sites for discarding domestic rubbish by 1872, the earlier “dumping-ground” common by 1857.  The meaning “any shabby or dilapidated place” dates from 1899 while the use by the military to describe places for the “collection of ammunition, equipment etc, deposited at a convenient point for later distribution” was a product of World War I (1914-1918), noted first in 1915 and possibly a development from soldiers’ slang although the later war-time slang to mean “act of defecating” appears to be of civilian origin, noted first in the US in 1942.  The dump-truck was first so described in 1930s and although truck had for decades been used to dump stuff, the name was derived from the use of hydraulic rams to enable to load more quickly to be emptied by raising the load bed or freight compartment at an acute angle.

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, 2011.

The “Dempster-Dumpster trash-hauling mechanism” remains familiar as the modern “dumpster”, a large, mobile container designed to be removed by a truck and taken away so the contented could be dumped in a dump, the container quickly reused.  It was patented by the Dempster brothers of Knoxville, Tennessee who ran an operation manufacturing waste collection vehicles (which would eventually include the Dempster Dumpmaster and Dempster Dinosaur).  The Dempster-Dumpster system achieved success by creating a system of mechanically emptying standardized metal containers which had been perfected between 1935-1937.  The concept of the dumpster (a standardized design able to be stored, re-used and transported efficiently) later influenced the development of container shipping.  The name dumpster became generic and was itself linguistically productive: “dumpster diving” (1979) described the practice of scavenging from dumpsters while “dumpster fire” was a figurative reference to a situation at once calamitous, foul and either insoluble or, if fixable, not worth the effort.  In use, a “dumpster fire” is similar to a “train wreck” or “shit show” but different from a “hot mess”, hot messes worth fixing because they remain in essence, desirable.  The use of “dumpster fire” spiked in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election, used not only by both camps but also disillusioned neutrals.

The noun landfill dates from 1916 was a euphemism for dump although unlike some of the breed, it was at least literally true.  The adjective dumpy (short and stout) was from circa 1750 and the origin is undocumented but many etymologists assume it was linked to dumpling (mass of boiled paste (also “a wrapping in which something is boiled”)) which dates from circa 1600 and was from the Norfolk dialect, again of uncertain origin but the source may be Germanic or simply from “lump” (and there are those who argue dumplings were probably originally “lumplings”).  Lump was from the Middle English lumpe, from a Germanic base akin to the Proto-Germanic limpaną (to glide, go, loosely to hang).  “Humpty Dumpty” was a French nursery rhyme hero (it seems first to have been translated into English in 1810) and in the late eighteenth century it had been used to mean “a short, clumsy person of either sex”, presumably a reduplication of Humpty (a pet form of Humphrey (which was used of mandarin Sir Humphrey Appleby in the BBC Television comedy Yes Minister) although a humpty-dumpty in the 1690s was originally was a drink, a cocktail of “ale boiled with brandy” which probably tasted better than it sounds.  The construction was based presumably on hump and dump but the basis has eluded researchers.  In the late twentieth century, “hump & dump” was repurposed to describe the practice (habit, calling, tactic, whatever) of enticing a woman in order to enjoy sex and immediately afterwards leaving, never to ring or call.  It’s subsequently be claimed by bolshie women for much the same purpose; the variations included “fuck & chuck”, “pump & dump:, “jump and dump” and “smash and dash”.

Crooked Hillary dumping on deplorables, Georgia, 2016.

Big buses have long been used by politicians for their campaign tours.  They offer lots of advantages, being offices and communications centres with at least some of their running costs offset by a reduction in staff travel expenses.  Additionally, with five large, flat surfaces, they are a rolling billboard although that can be good or bad.  In 2016, one of crooked Hillary Clinton’s campaign buses was photographed in Lawrenceville, Georgia dumping a tank full of human waste onto the street and into a storm drain.  The local news service reported that when police attended the street was “…was covered in toilet paper and the odor was noxious”.  Hazmat crews were called to clean up the scene and the matter was referred to the environmental protection division of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources.  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) later issued an apology, claiming the incident was “an honest mistake.”  Using the word “honest” in any statement related to crooked Hillary Clinton is always a bit of a gamble and there was no word on whether the dumping of human excrement had been delayed until the bus was somewhere it was thought many deplorables may be living.  If so, that may have been another “honest mistake” because Gwinett County (in which lies Lawrenceville) voted 51.02% Clinton/Kaine & 45.14% Trump/Pence although the symbolism may not have been lost on much of the rest of Georgia; state wide the Republican ticket prevailed 50.38% to 45.29%.

Dump has been quite productive.  A “dump-pipe” is part of the exhaust system in an internal combustion engine; a “brain dump” or “info dump” is the transfer of a large quantity of information or knowledge from one person (or institution) to another, although it’s also used in the slang of those working in the theoretical realm of the digitizing of human consciousness; a block dump was an image contains the sectors read from an original floppy diskette or optical disc; “dump months” are those periods during which film distributers & television programmers scheduled content either of poor-quality or of limited appeal; a “dump job” was either (1) the act of moving a corpse or some incriminating material from the scene of the crime to some un-related place, preferably remote & deserted or (2) the abandonment of an unfinished task for which the abandoner might be expected to take responsibility, especially in a fashion that makes it likely that one or more colleagues will take on its completion; the “mag dump” was military slang for the act of firing an entire magazine-full of ammunition from a fully-automatic weapon in a single burst; “dumpsville” could be either (1) the figurative location of a person who has been dumped by a lover or (2) a description of an undesirable town or other locality; to be “down in the dumps” is to be depressed, miserable and unhappy.

An electrically controlled exhaust system "cut-out", the modern version of the old, mechanical, "by-passes".  All dump-pipes work by offering exhaust gasses a "shortcut" to the atmosphere.

In internal combustion engines (ICE), there are both down-pipes and dump-pipes.  Their functions differ and the term down-pipe is a little misleading because some down-pipes (especially on static engines) actually are installed in a sideways or upwards direction but in automotive use, most do tend downwards.  A down-pipe connects the exhaust manifold to exhaust system components beyond, leading typically to first a catalytic converter and then a muffler (silencer), most factory installations designed deliberately to be restrictive in order to comply with modern regulations limiting emissions and noise.  After-market down-pipes tend to be larger in diameter and are made with fewer bends to improve exhaust gas flow, reduce back-pressure and (hopefully) increase horsepower and torque.   Such modifications are popular but not necessarily lawful.  Technically, a dump-pipe is a subset of the down-pipes and is most associated with engines using forced aspiration (turbo- & some forms of supercharging).  With forced-induction, exhaust gases exiting the manifold spin a turbine (turbocharger) or drive a compressor (supercharger) to force more of the fuel-air mixture into the combustion chambers, thereby increasing power.  What a dump-pipe does is provide a rapid, short-path exit for exhaust gases to be expelled directly into the atmosphere before reaching a down-pipe.  That makes for more power and noise, desirable attributes for the target market.  A dump pipe is thus an exit or gate from the exhaust system which can be opened manually, electronically, or with a “blow-off” valve which opens when pressure reaches a certain level.  In the happy (though more polluted) days when regulations were few, the same thing was achieved with an exhaust “by-pass” or “cut-out” which was a mechanical gate in the down-pipe and even then such things were almost always unlawful but it was a more tolerant time.  Such devices, lawful and otherwise, are still installed.

Grab from a Microsoft Windows system dump.  Although dumps contain much, of the thousands of lines one might contain, only a small string of text in one line might be relevant and users may need some assistance to interpret the result. 

In computing, a system dump is typically a commitment to a file of what exists in memory (random access memory (RAM) or on a paged volume) and they’re created usually at points of failure, creating essentially a snapshot of what was happening either at or immediately prior to the unfortunate event.  The contents of a system dump can be used to identify errors and debug programs.  A “stand-alone dump” program (a SAD or SADMP) produces a dump occupied by either (1) a system that failed or (2) a stand-alone dump program that failed.  Either the stand-alone dump program dumped itself (a self-dump) or the operator loaded another stand-alone dump program to dump the failed stand-alone dump program.  It’s less ominous than it sounds and together, the stand-alone dump program and the stand-alone dump together form what is known as the stand-alone dump service aid.  The significance of the element “stand-alone” is that the dump is performed separately from normal system operations and does not require a system to be in a condition for normal operation.  It means that except in cases of catastrophic failure (especially if involving the total loss of mains & UPS (uninterruptable power supply) power, it should be possible always to create a high-speed, unformatted dump of central storage and parts of paged-out virtual storage on a tape device or a direct access storage device (DASD).  The stand-alone dump supplies information which can be used to determine why the system or the stand-alone dump program failed.

Phlebotomy

Phlebotomy (pronounced fluh-bot-uh-mee)

(1) The act or practice of opening a vein for letting or drawing blood as a therapeutic or diagnostic measure; the historic practice of bleeding (the letting of blood).

(2) Any surgical incision into a vein (also known as venipuncture & (less commonly) venesection).  It shouldn’t be confused with a phlebectomy (the surgical removal of a vein).

1350–1400: From the earlier flebotomye & phlebothomy, from the Middle French flebotomie, from the Old French flebothomie (which exists in Modern French as phlébotomie), from the Late Latin phlebotomia, from the Ancient Greek φλεβοτόμος (phlebotómos) (that opens a vein), from φλέψ (phléps) (vein) of uncertain origin.  The construct of the Greek was phléps (genitive phlebos) + tomē (a cutting), from the primitive Indo-European root tem- (to cut).  It replaced the Middle English fleobotomie, from the Medieval Latin fleobotomia, a variant of phlebotomia.  The noble profession had long been recognized but the job first gained the designation phlebotomist (one who practices phlebotomy, a blood-letter) in the 1650s (phlebotomizer never existed). The earlier noun and verb in English were the early fifteenth century fleobotomier & fleobotomien.  The instrument used by a phlebotomist (and this in the pre-anesthetic age) was the fleam (sharp instrument for opening veins in bloodletting), from the late Old English, the from Old French flieme (which exists in Modern French as flamme), from the Medieval Latin fletoma, from the Late Latin flebotomus, from the Ancient Greek phlebotomos (a lancet).  Phlebotomy, phlebotomization & phlebotomist are nouns, phlebotomize is a verb and phlebotomic & phlebotomical are adjectives; the noun plural is phlebotomies.

Phlebotomy describes the process of making a puncture in a vein cannula for the purpose of drawing blood.  In modern medicine the preferred term is venipuncture (used also for therapy) although the title phlebotomist continues to be used for those who specialize in the task.  One of the most frequently performed procedures in clinical practice, it’s commonly undertaken also by doctors, nurses and other medical staff.  Although the origins of phlebotomy lie in the ancient tradition of blood letting, it’s now most associated with (1) the taking of blood samples for testing by pathologists and (2) those carried out as “therapeutic phlebotomies” as part of the treatment regimen for certain disorders of the blood.  The inner elbow is the most often used site but in therapeutic medicine or in cases where the veins in the arms are not suitable, other locations can be used.

Bleeding the foot (circa 1840), oil on canvas following Honoré Daumier (1808-1879).

The Greek physician Hippocrates of Kos (460-375 BC) is regarded as one of the founders of medicine as a science rather than an appeal to the gods and the Hippocratic Oath which still underpins the ethics of Western medicine is based on his teachings.  His influence thus endures but one of his most famous theories which persisted for decades resulted in much lost blood for no known benefit and an unknown number of deaths.  Drawing from the notion of earlier philosophers that the basis of the universe was air, earth, water & fire, the theory was that there were four “humors” which had to be maintained in perfect balance to ensure health in body & mind, the four being flegmat (phlegm), sanguin (blood), coleric (yellow bile) & melanc (black bile) which were the source of the four personality types, the phlegmatic, the sanguine, the choleric & the melancholic.  Had Hippocrates and his successors left the humors in the realm of the speculative, it would now be thought some amusing fragment from Antiquity but unfortunately surgical intervention was designed to ensure balance was maintained and the mechanism of choice was bloodletting to “remove excess liquids”.

George Washington in his last illness, attended by Doctors Craik and Brown (circa 1800) engraving by unknown artist, Collection of The New-York Historical Society.

Apparently, bloodletting was practiced by the ancient Egyptians some 3000 years ago and it’s not impossible it was among the medical (or even religious) practices of older cultures and From there it’s known to have spread to the Middle East, Rome, Greece and West & South Asia, physicians and others spilling blood in the quest to heal and the evidence suggests it was advocated for just about any symptom.  The very idea probably sounds medieval but in the West that really was the nature of so much medicine until the nineteenth century and even well into the twentieth, there were still some reasonably orthodox physicians advocating its efficacy.  Still, in fairness to Hippocrates, he was a pioneer in what would now be called “holistic health management” which involved taking exercise, eating a balanced diet and involving the mind in art & literature.  He was an influencer in his time.  All the humors were of course good but only in balance so there could be too much of a good thing.  When there was too much, what was in excess had to go and apart from bloodletting, there was purging, catharsis & diuresis, none of which sound like fun.  Bloodletting however was the one which really caught on and was for centuries a fixture in the surgeon’s bag.

Blood self-letting: Lindsay Lohan as Carrie from the eponymous film, Halloweeen party, Foxwoods Resort & Casino, Connecticut, October 2013.

Actually, as the profession evolved, the surgeons emerged from the barber shops where they would pull teeth too.  The formal discipline of the physician did evolve but they restricted themselves to providing the diagnosis and writing scripts from which the apothecary would mix his potions and pills, some of which proved more lethal than bloodletting.  The bloodletting technique involved draining blood from a large vein or artery (the most productive soon found to be the median cubital at the elbow) but if a certain part of the body was identified as being out-of-balance, there would be the cut.  The mechanisms to induce blood loss included cupping, leeching & scarification and with the leeches, they were actually onto something, the thirsty creatures still used today in aspects of wound repair and infection control, able often to achieve better results more quickly than any other method.  Leeches have demonstrated extraordinary success in handing the restoration of blood flow after microsurgery and reimplantation and works because the little parasites generate substances like fibrinase, vasodilators, anticoagulants & hyaluronidase, releasing them into the would area where they assist the healing process by providing an unrestricted blood flow.  Of course the leeches don't always effect a cure.   When in 1953 doctors were summoned to examine a barely conscious Comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953), after their tests they diagnosed a hemorrhagic stroke involving the left middle cerebral artery.  In an attempt to lower his blood pressure, two separate applications of eight leeches each were applied over 48 hours but it was to no avail.  Had he lived he might have has the leeches shot but they probably lived to be of further service.

A Surgeon Letting Blood from a Woman's Arm, and a Physician Examining a Urine-flask (in some descriptions named Barber-Surgeon Bleeding a Patient), eighteenth century oil on canvas, attributed to school of Jan Josef Horemans (Flemish; 1682-1752); Previously attributed to Richard Brakenburg (Dutch; 1650-1702); Previously attributed to the Flemish School,

Scarification was a scraping of the skin and if the circumstances demanded more, leeches could be added.  Cupping used dome-shaped cups placed on the skin to create blisters through suction and once in place, suction was achieved through the application of heat.  However it was done it could be a messy, bloody business and in the twelfth century the Church banned the practice, calling it “abhorrent” and that had the effect of depriving priests and monks of a nice, regular source of income which wasn’t popular.  However, especially in remote villages far from the bishop’s gaze, the friars continued to wield their blades and harvest their leeches, the business of bloodletting now underground.  In the big towns and cities though the barbers added bloodletting to their business model and it’s tempting to wonder whether package deals were offered, bundling a blooding with a tooth pulling or a haircut & shave.  From here it was a short step to getting into the amputations, a not uncommon feature of life before there were antibiotics and to advertise their services, the barber-surgeons would hang out white rags smeared in places with blood, the origin of the red and white striped poles some barbers still display.  To this day the distinctions between surgeons and physicians remains and in England the Royal College of Physicians (the RCP, a kind of trade union) was founded by royal charter in 1518.  By the fourteenth century there were already demarcation disputes between the barber surgeons and the increasingly gentrified surgeons and a number of competing guilds and colleges were created, sometimes merging, sometimes breaking into factions until 1800 when the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) was brought into existence.  It's said there was a time when fellows of the RCP & RCS, when speaking of each-other, would only ever make reference to "the other college", the name of the institution never passing their lips. 

Bloodletting tools: Late eighteenth century brass and iron “5-fingered” fleam.

Unfortunately, while doubtlessly lobbying to ensure the fees of their members remained high, the colleges did little to advance science and the byword among the population remained: “One thing's for sure: if illness didn't kill you, doctors would”.  It was the researchers of the nineteenth century, who first suggested and then proved germ theory, who sounded the death knell for most bloodletting, what was visible through their microscopes rendering the paradigm of the four humors obsolete.  By the twentieth century it was but a superstition.