peachalorum

n. an attractive or excellent person or thing. Subjects: English, United States

Editorial Note: This word is rare. The second citation is known to have been written by Henry M. Hyde. Etymological Note: Perhaps influenced by cockalorum ‘a self-important little man.’ The Historical Dictionary of American Slang notes that the pseudo-Latin suffixes -alorum and -alorium, possibly extracted from cockalorum, were historically used for humorous emphasis.

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Citations: 1900 George Ade Washington Post (Dec. 2) “Modern Fables” p. 33: If you don’t know how to get away with this Job, you ought not to go against it. You are what Charles Francis Adams would call a Peachalorum. 1901 Chicago Daily Tribune (June 18) “Confessions of the Reformed Messenger Boy: A Reform that Failed” p. 12: In comes a regular honeycooler. Say, de minute I git my lamps on her I knows it was all over wid Ag an’ all de rest of my daisies. She was one, two, t’ree. De rest of ‘em was also rans. “Sally,” laughs de old daisy to de peachalorum, “will you loan me a quarter?”

Posted 3 Feb 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

I pefer the Ybarra variation

He winked (quo usque tandem?)
At puellas on the Forum,
And sometimes even made
Those goo-goo oculorum!

—
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~s siyer/minstrels/poems/499 .html

by degustibus 04 Feb 05, 0448 GMT