Word of the Day!

In a sometimes ugsome, plague-filled world of violence and adventure that evokes the swashbuckling nature of The Count of Monte Cristo, you're presented with so many super heroic abilities, you feel like an omniscient kid in a candy store. (Harold Goldberg, 2012 In Review: The Best Games Of 2012, NPR, December 2012)

              When doukin in the River Nile
              I met a muckle crocodile.
              He flicked his tail, he blinked his ee,
              Syne bared his ugsome teeth at me.
                                                 J K Annand, 'Crocodile'

At all events, the statute literally recites the 'ugsome oaths' that are used by the old versifier. (Julian Sharman. A Cursory History of Swearing)

I found my Vivien full sick, and a weariful and ugsome time had I with her ere she recovered of her malady. (Emily Sarah Holt, In Convent Walls)

Origin:

1350–1400; Middle English, equivalent to ugg(en) to fear, cause loathing (Old Norse ugga to fear, dread; cf. Ugly) + -some-some (Dictionary.com)

If this reminds you of the inarticulate cry of disgust that most often appears as ugh! then you’re on the mark. The conventional spelling of ugh! was probably influenced by that of ugsome, something loathsome or horrible. In a case of linguistic turn-and-turn-about, ugsome derives from the ancient and long defunct word ug, which about a millennium ago came into English from the Old Norse ugga, to dread. That Old Norse word is also the source of ugly (which meant frightful or horrible before it weakened to refer to something merely unpleasing in appearance). You could argue that ugsome is the opposite of handsome.

In the centuries before Shakespeare, ugsome was common enough, mostly in Scotland and northern England, but then almost completely died out except in dialect. It was resurrected in the eighteenth century by writers seeking an archaic word to help set a historical scene. The following century, popular authors such as Sir Walter Scott (“Like an auld dog that trails its useless ugsome carcass into some bush or bracken”), Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton (“‘’Tis an ugsome bit of road!’ said the Corporal, looking round him”) and Charles Dickens ('One very ugsome devil with goggling eyes, seems to hold up frightful claws, to bar the traveller’s way') regained it some small exposure, though it was never very popular. (World Wide Words)

Sorry it's a day late... still not really over the grotty from last week :(

skulk [skuhlk]
verb:
1 Keep out of sight, typically with a sinister or cowardly motive; to hide or conceal something (such as oneself) often out of cowardice or fear or with sinister intent.

2 Move stealthily or furtively.

3 Shirk one's duties or responsibilities.

noun:
collective noun for foxes

Examples:

This species is found almost exclusively in salt marshes, where they skulk about like rats. (Chester Reed, Bird Guide)

They skulk and scuttle around our living room every night and in the morning we find leftover bits of flies, beetles and other bugs the giant spider's been gorging on. (Carol McGiffin, We won't tell them to leg it, 2014)

It's a chill day in the Blue Mountains. We pause for a pot of tea and cherry pie in the Everglades cafe, near a skulk of foxes making mischief in a shopping trolley. (Peter Munro, Wild cabinet of wonders: Rod McRae's taxidermy art opens up the animal world, Sydney Morning Herald Jun 2017)

The consequent meanness of me should I skulk or find myself indecent,
while birds and animals never once skulk or find themselves indecent (Walt Whitman, 'Spontaneous Me')

Origin:

Middle English of Scandinavian origin; compare with Norwegian skulka 'lurk', and Danish skulke, Swedish skolka 'shirk'. (Oxford English Dictionary)

Can you name three things that the word skulk has in common with all of these other words: booth, brink, cog, flit, give, kid, meek, scab, seem, skull and wing? If you noticed that all of the terms on that list have just one syllable, then you've got the first (easy) similarity, but the next two are likely to prove a little harder to guess. Do you give up? All of the words listed above are of Scandinavian origin and all were first recorded in English in the 13th century. As for 'skulk,' its closest known Scandinavian relative is the Norwegian dialect word skulka, which means 'to lie in wait' or 'lurk.' (Merriam-Webster)