Meaning

(informal, rare) The use of extremely obscure and archaic language..

Example Sentences

To the comic and the colloquial of Chaucer's art Mr. Krapp does full justice. Having undertaken to modernize Chaucer, he avoids the affectation of archaic words; he has no "eftsoonery." Some of his phrases are very modern indeed.

Finally, Dr. O'Hare, formerly the tender interest of Nurse Callan, is said (p. 379) to have "died in Mona island through bellycrab three year agone come Childermas." The passage is so full of eftsooneries that "bellycrab" could easily pass as a picturesque antiquarian detail; but an early version of the passage has Dr. O'Hare suffering, more prosaically but realistically, from stomach cancer in Scotland (U. of Buffalo MSS, "Oxen of the Sun"); "bellycrab" is of course a fantastic but literal translation of "stomach cancer."

Thus The Tournament was called "lapidary" in its style (though plain in its dialogue and free of "eftsoonery"), a kaleidoscope rather than a chronicle.

Eglinton remarks, "The peatsmoke is going to his head," and Stephen apparently sums up his own feelings about the "cultic twalette," English Gaelophiles, and [Douglas] Hyde's eftsooneries and versification […]

Word Forms

• eftsooneries

When Should You Use Eftsoonery?

Use eftsoonery when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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