pilgarlic
Americannoun
-
a person regarded with mild or pretended contempt or pity.
-
Obsolete. a baldheaded man.
noun
-
obsolete a bald head or a man with a bald head
-
dialect a pitiable person
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pilgarlic
1520–30; earlier pyllyd garleke literally, peeled garlic, originally metaphor for a bald man, whose head is compared to a peeled garlic bulb. See pill 2, garlic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
No man that knows me e'er shall judge I mean to make myself a drudge; Or that pilgarlic e'er will dote Upon a paltry petticoat.
From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 5 by Motteux, Peter Anthony
So don't I, quoth Panurge; poor pilgarlic is fain to make everybody's time his own; if they have time, I find time.
From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 5 by Motteux, Peter Anthony
After this, we e'en jogged to bed for that night; but the devil a bit poor pilgarlic could sleep one wink—the everlasting jingle-jangle of the bells kept me awake whether I would or no.
From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 5 by Motteux, Peter Anthony
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
