Sunday Word: Miching

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

mich·ing [mɪtʃ'iNG]:
origin: (1910) Slang; Irish, via Old French muchier= hide, lurk or Germanic mitch= to steal.

adjective
Dialectical; to shirk, sneak, or hide -- like ditching school or loitering in order to pick-pocket. Implies cowardice and/or deliberately anti-social behavior.

"With Leo Dillon and a boy named Mahony I planned a day's miching." - James Joyce

See also, the oft debated Shakespearean expression from Hamlet: miching mallecho.

Monday word: espial

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

espial (ĭ-spī′əl), noun
1. The act of watching or observing.
2. A discovery
3. The act of being seen or noticed.

Etymology:  1300s, from Old French espier, to watch.  Same origins as espy (catch sight of).

"When the waggon had passed on, Gabriel withdrew from his point of espial, and descending into the road, followed the vehicle to the turnpike-gate some way beyond the bottom of the hill, where the object of his contemplation now halted for the payment of toll." - Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd