Definitions For Runcible

Adjective

(not comparable) (humorous) {{non-gloss definition, A {{glossary, nonce word}} used for humorous effect, and perhaps originally to maintain the number of syllables in line#noun, lines of poems.}} from c. 1870

Derived terms

runcible spoon

Etymology

{{multiple images }} A {{glossary, nonce word}}See, for example, {{cite-journal, title=Our Letter Box, editors=w:john townsend trowbridge, j[ohn] t[ownsend] trowbridge and {{w, Lucy Larcom}}, magazine=w:st. nicholas magazine, our young folks. an illustrated magazine for boys and girls, location=Boston, Mass., publisher=w:james r. osgood, james r. osgood and company, 124 {{w, Tremont Street}}, month=November, year=1872, volume=VIII, issue=XI, page=703, pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADVAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA703, column=1, oclc=29249045, passage="Runcible" is a nonsense word introduced in the nonsense poem for the comical effect of a well-sounding epithet, without any shadow of a meaning.}} coined by the English artist and poet {{w, Edward Lear}} (1812–1888) in his poem The Owl and the Pussy-cat (published 1870). It has been suggested that the word was modelled after rounceval, rouncival, , a large pea, the marrowfat {{qualifier, late 16th c.}}.{{R:Lexico}}