varmint
English
Etymology
Dialectal form of vermin, derived from Latin vermis (“worm”), c. 1530–1540s.[1] Perhaps influenced by Latin vargus (“bandit, outlaw, scoundrel”), though the pronunciation in /ɑː(ɹ)/ is more likely due to the same lowering of /ɛr/ > /ar/ found in carve < Middle English kerven and starve < Middle English sterven. The final syllable is probably altered after -ment; compare parchment < Middle English parchemyn.[2]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈvɑːmɪnt/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈvɑɹmɪnt/
Noun
varmint (plural varmints)
- A pestilent or predatory ground-borne animal, especially one that kills or harasses a farmer's animals or crops.[3]
- (by extension) An obnoxious person or troublemaker.
- 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, pages 36-37:
- You'd be but a fierce young hound indeed, if at your time of life you could help to hunt a wretched warmint, hunted as near death and dunghill as this poor wretched warmint is!
Derived terms
Translations
pestering animal
person who is obnoxious
References
- ^ “varmint”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- ^ Jespersen, Otto (1909), A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)[1], volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 7.62, page 220.
- ^ McDavid, Raven Ioor Jr. (1943), “42. Review of Hall 1942: The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech”, in William A. Kretzschmar, Jr., editor, Dialects in culture: essays in general dialectology[2], University, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, published 1979, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 322.