=Tale=, that which is told, what is counted. So also _teller_ (in a bank). =Thorough=, passing _through_, or to the end. =Thread=, that which is _thrown_ or twisted. =Treacle=, Lat. _theriaca_, Gr. _thēriakē_, viper’s flesh; _therion_ (a wild beast), a name often given to the viper. Originally an antidote to the viper’s bite. Milton speaks of ‘the treacle of sound doctrine.’ =Twist=, to twine or wind _two_ threads together. (Compare _twine_, _twirl_, _twiddle_, etc.) =Verdigris=, Fr. _verd-de-grise_, Lat. _viride æris_, _green_ of brass. Not connected with _grease_. =Walrus= = _whale horse_, O. E. _hwæl_, whale; _hors_, horse. The _r_ has shifted its place, as in _three_, _third_; _turn_, _trundle_, etc. =Whole=, hole, O. E. _hael_. The _w_ is redundant; just as it is in the _pronunciation_ of _one_. It does not appear in _heal_, _health_, etc. =Wiseacre=, a corruption of the Ger. _weiss sager_, a wise-sayer or soothsayer, or prophet. 4. =WORDS THAT HAVE CHANGED THEIR MEANING.= =Artillery=, great weapons of war; was once used to include crossbows, bows, etc., before gunpowder was invented, 1 Sam. xx. 40: ‘And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry _them_ to the city.’ =Blackguard=, a name originally applied to the lowest kitchen servants from the dirty work they had to do. =Bombast=, originally cotton-wadding, affected language. =Boor=, originally a peasant or tiller of the soil. In South Africa a farmer is called a _boer_. =Brat= meant originally a rag or clout, especially a child’s bib or apron; hence, in contempt, a child. Mandeville speaks of ‘Abraham’s brats.’ =Carriage= once meant baggage. Acts, xxi. 15: ‘And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.’ =Censure= once meant opinion or judgment. Shakspeare, _As You Like It_, IV. i. 7: ‘Betray themselves to every modern censure.’ =Charity=, once love, now almsgiving. 1 Cor. xiii. 3: ‘And though I bestow all my goods to feed _the poor_, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not _charity_, it profiteth me nothing.’ =Cheat= originally meant to seize upon anything which was _escheated_ or forfeited. =Churl=, a countryman or farmer. =Conceit=, originally a thought or notion. ‘Dan Chaucer was a conceited clerk’--that is, a learned man full of new inventions or thoughts (conceits). =Cunning=, originally knowing, clever, skilled in a craft or trade. The Bible speaks of ‘cunning workmen.’ =Demure=, originally of good manners, now staid, grave. =Disaster=, an unkindly _star_ (Gr. _astēr_, a star); a term from the old astrology. =Fond= once meant foolish.