Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Sixty-Seven

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

And catching up today since I’ve missed a few days over the last week.

Caxon

This word is defined as “an old weather-beaten wig” and it is apparently still in very occasional usage today, although I can’t say that I’ve ever heard anyone use it in general conversation. It seems though that the word was usually placed before the word ‘wig’ to signify that it was old and worn, rather than being used as a word on its own.

The dictionaries don’t know how the word came into usage, one suggests it was probably just named after a person called Caxon who happened to have a worn a rather dilapidated old wig. This is what interests me most about the word, some poor sod from centuries ago has likely had centuries of people using his name in vain…..