Word of the Day: honorificabilitudinitatibus

Word of the Day

honorificabilitudinitatibus (adj)

With honor

"O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words.
I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word;
for thou art not so long by the head as
honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier
swallowed than a flap-dragon."

--Love's Labor's Lost, Act 5, Scene 1

In the context of the play, this odd passage from Shakespeare seems to be a bit of sarcasm aimed at a pedant. A flap-dragon was (is?) a flaming raisin, used in a game in which people grabbed raisins out of a dish of burning brandy and extinguished them in their mouths before eating them. What fun!