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adjective
ancient, as a witticism, expression, etc.; passé; hoary: a bewhiskered catchword of a bygone era.
Bewhiskered is first recorded in 1755–65. It combines be-, a prefix used in the formation of verbs, with whiskered.
That bewhiskered saying that “pride goeth before a fall” is true only in the case of ignorant people, says The International Lifeman.
Good things come in small packages. … This wrinkled and bewhiskered expression haunts our editorial vision when we pause to contemplate the career of a life, progressive citizen of the gopher state, a man small in stature but big in brain.
noun
anything that tends to rouse, excite, or revive; a stimulus: Praise is an excellent fillip for waning ambition.
Fillip is imitative, or onomatopoeic, in origin. Earlier forms include filip, fylippe, philip, and phillip. Fillip looks like a variant of flip, but flip is first recorded in the late 17th century, whereas fillip dates from the 16th.
It is so pleasant to receive a fillip of excitement when suffering from the dull routine of everyday life!
His ordinary government allowance of spirits, one gill per diem, is not enough to give a sufficient fillip to his listless senses …
Chiefly Scot. a familiar name for a pig.
Grumphie is an exclusively Scottish word, first used by Robert Burns (1759-96). Grumphie is formed from the verb grumph “to grunt” and is imitative of the typical sound pigs and some humans make. The suffix -ie is a spelling variant of -y, one of whose functions is to form endearing or familiar names like Billy, doggy (doggie), and sweetie. Grumphie entered English in the late 18th century.
“Grumphie smells the weather, / An’ grumphie sees the wun’; / He kens when clouds will gather, / An’ smoor the blinikin’ sun.” This extravagant tribute to the pig as a weather prophet is typical of a large number of proverbs, though, perhaps no other animal has been credited with actually seeing the wind.
If ye’re proud to be a grumphie clap yer trotters!