mimmerkin
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From mimmer + -kin. Cognate with Scots mimmerkin, memmerkin (“a dwarf, dwarfish creature”). Compare also mimmering (“doting, dreaming”).
Noun edit
mimmerkin (plural mimmerkins)
- (archaic, Scotland, dialectal) A deformed or freakish person; a dwarf or dwarfish creature.
- 2014 February 14, Pat McIntosh, The Gil Cunningham Omnibus: The Harper's Quine, The Nicholas Feast, The Merchants's Mark, St. Mungo's Robin, C & R Crime, →ISBN:
- 'So it's your problem, no mine, if the wee mimmerkin's run,' he added, wiping his hand on his jerkin. 'Get a move on, man, Iw ant to get a hold of Bernard Stewart before he takes refuge the wrong side of that wall.'
- 2016 November 3, Shirley McKay, 1588: A Calendar of Crime: A Novel in Five Books, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN:
- 'A mimmerkin. A dwarf.' 'I am not a dwarf.' Maude Benet had been stern. Sometimes even sharp. But she had not called folk names. Elspet had telt him, as Maude would have done. And he had laughed at her.
Synonyms edit
- (dotard): dobby, dotel; see also Thesaurus:dotard