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capernosity

noun

Etymology

Coined by Brendan Behan, using the learned suffix -osity. Augustine Martin suggests Blend of capability + generosity. Barry Baldwin suggests a link with Scots capernoity (“befuddled”) or Latin caper (“goat”).

  1. derived from generōsitās
  2. inherited from generosite
  3. compounded as capernosity — “capability + generosity”

Definitions

  1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include

    • … in Howth they have a paper of their own, in which is reported the wedding of a girl from the Hill. The affair was carried out with function and capernosity, by all accounts …
    • Myself and my brothers joined in this [singing], with function and capernosity, as true little Republicans …

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for capernosity. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA