"marplot, n. and adj." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Otto]

When I was 15 we had a band called "The Marplots of Silence"...

2014-11-05 15:21 GMT+01:00 Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>:
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> Subject: "marplot, n. and adj." - Word of the Day from the OED
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> Your word for today is: marplot, n. and adj.
>
> marplot, n. and adj.
> [‘ A person who or (occas.) a thing which spoils a plot or hinders the
> success of any undertaking.’]
> Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈmɑːplɒt/,  U.S. /ˈmɑrˌplɑt/
> Etymology: <  mar- comb. form + plot n.
>
>
>
> For a similar earlier formation as the name of a character in a play (see
> quot. 1709 at sense A.) compare the name of the eponymous protagonist of Sir
> Martin Mar-all, a play by Dryden and William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle
> (1668).
>  A. n.
>   A person who or (occas.) a thing which spoils a plot or hinders the
> success of any undertaking.
> In early use allusively as a personification.
> 1709  S. Centlivre Busie Body Dram. Pers., Marplot.
> 1723  R. Steele  (title) The censor censured; or, The conscious lovers
> examin'd: in a dialogue between Sir Dicky Marplot and Jack Freeman.
> 1765  J. Otis Vindic. Brit. Colonies 21 His employers on either side the
> atlantic should discard him as a meer Sir Martyn Marplot.
> 1795  H. Cowley Town before You v. 87 What Tippy! I'm a bit of a Marplot
> here... This comes of entrusting your friends by halves.
> 1824  CountessGranville Let. May (1894) I. 295 What a marplot anxiety is.
> 1876  ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iv. xxxii. 321 But what is the use of my
> taking the vows and settling everything as it should be, if that marplot
> Hans comes and upsets it all?
> 1880  A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea (ed. 4) VI. ix. 380 In future
> campaigns the lieges shall not be the marplots they were in the days of Lord
> Raglan.
> 1915  F. T. Woodington  (title) Fate the marplot.
> 1940 Amer. Hist. Rev. 45 343 Colonel Nicholas was a meddler and a marplot
> with a genius for intrigue.
> 1978 Economist (Nexis) 25 Nov. 123 Following in the footsteps of such
> marplots, Marxists, Maoists or malignants as the Lords Robbins and Bridges.
> 1982 Time (Nexis) 27 Dec. 12 Donald Nickles of Oklahoma and Gordon Humphrey
> of New Hampshire..teamed with veteran marplot Jesse Helms of North Carolina
> to filibuster the measure to death's door.
> †B. adj.
>  (attrib.).
>   That spoils or defeats a plot or hinders an undertaking. Obs.
> 1824 Lancet 10 Apr. 64/1 He casts a scowling glance upon the incorrigible
> mar-plot man.
> 1850  in  A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea (1877) VI. ix. 230 There were
> some of his fellow-countrymen..whose marplot disclosures seemed likely to
> bring down..a new onslaught of Russian masses.
> 1869  A. J. Evans Vashti xxviii. 392 Beyond the tender mercies of meddling,
> marplot fortune.
>
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