•
ado, as in "
without further ado" or "
with no further ado" or "
much ado about nothing", although the homologous form "to-do" remains attested ("make a to-do", "a big to-do", etc.) •
bargie, as in "argie-bargie/argue-bargue". •
asunder, as in "torn asunder" •
bandy, as in "
bandy about" or "
bandy-legged" •
bated, as in "
wait with bated breath", although the derived term "abate" remains in non-idiom-specific use although the verb, 'to fettle', remains in specialized use in metal casting. •
fro, as in "
to and fro" •
inclement, as in "inclement weather" •
lam, as in “on the lam”,
loggerhead turtle, or
loggerhead shrike •
madding as in "far from the madding crowd" •
math, as in "
aftermath" •
muchness as in "
much of a muchness" • ''ne'er'', as in "
ne'er-do-well" •
scot, as in "
scot free" •
sleight, as in "
sleight of hand" is contested. Despite often appearing on list of fossil words, it is often used elsewhere. •
shebang, as in "
the whole shebang", although the word is now used as an unrelated common noun
in programmers' jargon. •
shrive, preserved only in inflected forms occurring only as part of fixed phrases: 'shrift' in "
short shrift" and 'shrove' in "
Shrove Tuesday" •
span and
spick, as in "
spick and span" •
wedlock, as in "
out of wedlock" •
wend, as in "wend your way", although its former past tense "went" is still in use as the past tense of "to go" •
yore, as in "
of yore", usually "days of yore"
"Born fossils" These words were formed from other languages, by elision, or by mincing of other fixed phrases. •
caboodle, as in "
kit and caboodle" (evolved from "kit and boodle", itself a fixed phrase borrowed as a unit from Dutch ) and never occurring outside this phrase to begin with) •
tarnation, as in "
what in tarnation...?" (evolved in the context of fixed phrases formed by
mincing of previously fixed phrases that include the term "damnation") •
nother, as in "
a whole nother..." (fixed phrase formed by
rebracketing another as
a nother, then inserting
whole for emphasis; almost never occurs outside this phrase) == See also ==