abacot

English

Etymology

From a series of mistranscriptions and misprints, from "a bycoket" to "a bicoket" to "abocoket" to "abocoke" to, at last, "abacot".

Noun

abacot

1. (obsolete) Misspelling of bycoket.
   • 1822, Lee Gibbons (William Bennett), Malpas; Or Le Poursuivant D'Amour. A Romance, Etc, page 71:

     On his head du Chatelet wore an abacot, or cap of state, looped at one side with a jewelled button.

   • 1893, Henry Benjamin Wheatley, Literary Blunders: A Chapter in the "History of Human Error.", page 3:

     It was found to be a mistake for by-cocket, which is the correct word. In spite of this exposure of the impostor, the word was allowed to stand, with a woodcut of an abacot, in an important dictionary published subsequently, although Dr. Murray's remarks were quoted. This shows how difficult it is to kill a word ...

Descendants

• →? Portuguese: abacote