Dictionary of Old-fashioned Words: Vocabulary Building: English Word Power, #8

What are "Old-fashioned Words"?

Definition of 'Old-fashioned words':
"Words and expressions that were common in the past but are passing out of ordinary use."

'Old-fashioned words' are also known as 'archaic words'. Many people use the term 'old use' for the words and expressions that were common in the past but have passed out of ordinary use.
These words are mainly used in historical novels. They are also used to amuse people.

Examples:
Old-fashioned word:
dandified [adjective]
(of a man) too careful about his look or clothes

Old-fashioned word:
vamoose [verb]
to leave fast

Old-fashioned idiom
blot your copybook -- to do something bad to spoil your good reputation among people

Old-fashioned phrasal verb
buck up! -- used to tell somebody to make haste

A detailed list of "old-fashioned words", parts of speech they belong to, and their meanings are as follows:


Old-fashioned Words -- A

abed [adverb]
in bed

abide [verb]
to stay or live in a place
Use in a sentence: Everybody must abide by the law.

abroad [adverb]
outside; outdoors

accidence [noun]
the part of grammar that deals with the change in the form of a word

accursed [adjective]
having a bad magic spell on something
Use in a sentence: They lived in the forest as if accursed. || There is no escaping the sense of anxiety that we humans are accursed with.

adieu [exclamation]
goodbye
Use in a sentence: They bid adieu to him with mixed emotions.

addled [adjective]
confused / (of an egg) not fresh
Use in a sentence: He is not a silly and addled dude.

without further/more ado [idiom]
at once; immediately
Use in a sentence: Once it was sure that the area had been secured, the children were without more ado accompanied to the assembly hall.

adventurer / adventuress [noun]
a person who is very fond of going to unusual places or gaining new experiences
Use in a sentence: She is a hard-core adventuress, a travel journalist, who has traveled around the world.

aerodrome (airdrome) [noun]
a small airport
Use in a sentence: The extension of the runway was aimed at better services for private operators at the aerodrome.

affair [noun]
a strange or inexplicable thing

affright [verb]
to scare; to frighten
Use in a sentence: Let nothing affright you.

ague [noun]
malaria, dengue or other diseases that cause fever and shivering

ail [verb]
to make somebody ill/sick

air hostess [noun]
a female flight attendant

alack [exclamation]
a word that is used to show you are sad or sorry
Use in a sentence: Alas and alack, only a few of those stories are all that funny.

alas [exclamation]
a word that is used to show you are sad or sorry
Use in a sentence: His experiments, alas, were flawed and had been mythologized.

be all up (with somebody) [idiom]
to be the end for somebody

almoner [noun]
a person employed by a hospital to handle the financial and social problems of patients
Use in a sentence: They wanted a more active almoner, who could find innovative ways to help the poor.

alms [noun]
money, clothes, food, etc. given to beggars or poor people
Use in a sentence: They were injured in a stampede to receive alms being distributed by a charity.

in the altogether [idiom]
without wearing any clothes

Amerindian [noun]
Native American
Use in a sentence: The word 'guava' originates from the language of the Arawaks, an Amerindian people from the Caribbean.