This page gathers the 6,588 dictionary entries of which at least one sense is labelled “Historical” by Wiktionary. The definition shown is that sense; each word leads to its full entry. Page 13 of 66: from “civil rights movement” to “commissariat”.
- civil rights movement noun A social and political movement in the United States between 1954 and 1968 that aimed to end racial segregation, discrimination, and…
- clam noun A type of strong pincers or forceps.
- claptrap noun A device for producing a clapping sound in theaters.
- clarion noun A medieval brass instrument chiefly used as a battle signal; related to the trumpet, it had a narrow, straight pipe and a high-pitched…
- classical college noun An educational institution in Quebec providing postsecondary education leading to baccalauréat ès arts degrees, that existed from the 17th…
- classman noun A candidate for graduation in arts who is placed in an honour class, as opposed to a passman, who is not classified.
- Claudian letters noun Three letters which were added to the Latin alphabet by the Roman emperor Claudius, and were briefly used in some public inscriptions…
- clerk of the pipe noun A person employed by the English Exchequer and its successors to work in the pipe office maintaining the pipe rolls on which government…
- cleruchy noun A form of Athenian colony in the time of Ancient Greece, under which the settlers or cleruchs retained their citizenship, and were assigned…
- clicker noun An employee who locks the type in the form to make it ready for printing.
- client noun In ancient Rome, retainers and followers associated with a gens.
- cliffage noun The right to quarry limestone from the cliffs of the Gower, or the payment charged for this right.
- climatist noun One who believes that certain diseases, especially yellow fever, are mainly caused by local atmospheric conditions.
- climbing boy noun A small child employed by a chimney sweep to ascend and clean flues.
- clinching noun The distortion of computer tape by wrinkling.
- clip the church verb To hold hands in an outward-facing ring around a church, an ancient English custom traditionally observed by local communities on Easter…
- clipeus noun A shield worn by soldiers of ancient Greece and Rome.
- clipper noun A person who mutilates coins by fraudulently paring the edges.
- Clipper chip noun A microchip promoted by the US government in the mid-1990s as an encryption device to be used by all telecommunications companies, and…
- clivus noun A road ascending a slope in Ancient Rome.
- cloche noun An apparatus used in controlling certain aeroplanes, consisting principally of a steering column mounted with a universal joint at the…
- clodhopper noun A peasant or yokel (countryperson).
- cloff noun An allowance of two pounds in every three hundredweight after the tare and tret are subtracted; now used only in a general sense, of small…
- close noun Private fenced land, such as a paddock, orchard or yard, that, along with the common pasture land and woodland, constituted the inarable…
- closed shop noun A facility that runs programs on behalf of others, giving them no oversight over execution but merely returning the output at the end.
- cloth hall noun A historic building in European marketplaces, where stallholders sold cloth, leather, and exotic imports such as silks and spices.
- clothes press noun A wardrobe or closet in which clothes are kept.
- clovewort noun an herb mentioned in Old English herbals, probably Ranunculus acris
- cloyer noun One who intruded on the profits of young sharpers, by claiming a share.
- club kid noun A member of a group of young New York City dance club personalities in the late 1980s and early 1990s, known for their flamboyant behavior…
- club-walking noun An annual procession, usually held on Whitmonday, of members of a sick club, common in British villages in the nineteenth century.
- clubmen noun One of several apolitical local militias formed for protection (from both sides) during the English Civil War.
- clump noun A thick addition to the sole of a shoe.
- Cluniac noun A monk of the reformed branch of the Benedictine order, founded in 910 at Cluny (or Clugny) in France.
- Clyde puffer noun A type of small steamboat that provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides islands of Scotland.
- coach horn noun A long, straight, valveless instrument, traditionally made of copper, originally used as a signal horn on fast coaches.
- coachbuilder noun A builder of horse-drawn coaches.
- coachdog noun A dog trained to accompany carriages.
- coachee noun An American style of carriage shaped like a coach but longer and open in front.
- coaching noun The operation of horse-drawn coaches, especially as a business.
- coaching inn noun An inn (hotel) along a route used by stagecoaches, where horses could be changed, and passengers could obtain food and drink.
- coachmaster noun A person who runs a business transporting people in horse-drawn coaches (but who generally does not do the driving).
- coachwheel noun A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.
- Coahuiltecan adj Belonging to a proposed Native American language family associated with these people.
- coal cracker noun A breaker boy.
- coal-meter noun A licensed or official measurer of coal; (especially in London) One responsible for supervising the loading, unloading, and weighing of…
- coalie noun A supporter of the proposed coalition between the Liberal and Conservative Parties.
- coarb noun The successor to the founder of a religious institution.
- coastwatcher noun Any of the allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific island locations during World War II, to observe enemy…
- coat armour noun A silk vest embroidered in colours, worn by a knight over the armour.
- coat money noun Money that was issued to provide coats for servicemen in the British military, as exacted by Charles I.
- cob noun A cylinder with pins in it, encoding music to be played back mechanically by a barrel organ.
- cockpit noun A pit or other enclosure for cockfighting.
- cocky verb To operate a small-scale farm.
- cocobolo noun An old South American coin.
- Cocos rupee noun A plastic token that served as currency among workers on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the 1800s, under Scottish sea captain John…
- coction noun The change which the humoralists believed morbific matter undergoes before elimination.
- codpiece noun A part of male dress in the 15th and 16th centuries, worn in front of the breeches to cover the male genitals.
- coehorn noun A small bronze mortar mounted on a wooden block with handles, and light enough to be carried short distances by two people.
- coemption noun A form of civil marriage (in Roman law) in which a fictitious sale of the man and wife took place.
- cofferer noun The Cofferer of the Household.
- coffin ship noun A ship that carried Irish emigrants escaping the potato famine, usually with an extremely high death rate onboard.
- cog noun A partially clinker-built, flat-bottomed, square-rigged mediaeval ship of burden or war, with a round, bulky hull and a single mast…
- cognomen noun A personal epithet or clan name added to the given name and family name of Ancient Romans.
- cogware noun A coarse cloth of the 14th century.
- cohong noun A guild of Chinese merchants or hongs who operated the import-export monopoly in Canton (present-day Guangzhou) during the Qing dynasty…
- cohort noun Any division of a Roman legion, normally of about 500 or 600 men (equalling about six centuries).
- coif noun A hood; a close-fitting cap covering much of the head, widespread until the 18th century; after that worn only by small children and…
- coign and livery noun In Gaelic Ireland, the free entertainment which a chief exacted from his subjects for his servants and followers.
- coin-sword noun a type of Chinese numismatic charms that were primarily used in southern China to ward off evil spirits and malicious influences
- collator noun A machine that selects, merges and matches decks of punch cards.
- collector noun One holding a Bachelor of Arts in Oxford, formerly appointed to superintend some scholastic proceedings in Lent.
- Collegiant noun A member of an association of Arminians and Anabaptists in Holland, founded in 1619, who held a college (meeting) on the first Sunday of…
- collegiate adj Of or relating to a collegium.
- collegium noun A government department or ministry.
- collier noun A person in the business or occupation of producing (and selling) charcoal.
- Collyridian adj Of or relating to Collyridianism.
- Collyridianism noun An alleged Early Christian heretical movement in Arabia whose adherents apparently worshipped the Virgin Mary as a goddess.
- colonel noun A military leader, distinct from the modern professional military rank.
- colonel commandant noun A senior colonel who had authority over other colonels; nowadays used as a ceremonial title for some military formations in the United…
- colonial empire noun A collective of territories that are either contiguous with the imperial center or located overseas, and settled by the population of a…
- Colophonian noun A native or inhabitant of the Lydian city of Colophon.
- colored adj Designated for use by colored people (in either the US or South African sense).
- colortype noun A color print that is produced by combining the images from three photo-engraved plates, each contributing a single primary color (red…
- colt noun A short piece of rope once used by petty officers as an instrument of punishment.
- columbarium noun A columbary, especially a large and architecturally impressive one for housing a large colony of pigeons or doves, such as those in ancien…
- columbiad noun A form of cannon from the 19th century, mostly used for seacoast protection. It is a large-caliber, smoothbore, muzzle-loading cannon…
- Comacine master noun An early medieval Lombard stonemason working in a region of excellent building stone who gave to Lombardy its preeminence in the stone…
- Comanchero noun A Hispanic trader of New Mexico who made a living by trading with the nomadic plains tribes, especially the Comanches.
- comb test noun A method of determining racial identity, based on how easily a comb passes through a person's hair.
- come out verb To make a formal debut in society.
- comedy noun a choric song of celebration or revel, especially in Ancient Greece
- comfort woman noun A woman forced, or supposedly recruited, into brothels by the Japanese occupation forces before or during World War II.
- comitatus noun A group of warriors or nobles accompanying a king or other leader.
- commandant noun lieutenant-colonel
- commandery noun The smallest division of a manor under the control of a commander of an order of knights, originally only the Knights Hospitaller.
- commando noun An organized force of Boer troops in South Africa; a raid by such troops.
- commerce destroyer noun A fast, unarmoured, lightly armed naval vessel designed to capture or destroy the enemy's merchant ships.
- commissar noun An official of the Communist Party, often attached to a military unit, who was responsible for political education.
- commissariat noun A department of the government of the Soviet Union in the early period of its existence.