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I like reading historical fiction, both mainstream and romance, and unfortunately this means I sometimes encounter a word which was completely unknown (or at minimum, unknown in the sense the writer uses it) at the date of the story. This is particularly bothersome if the period character actually says it. Usually I simply blink and keep reading, but occasionally I've been tempted to follow the advice of Dorothy Parker's famous review: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

Here is a partial list of words that have made me at least blink, showing when each of them entered the English language. I could give chapter and verse for many of them, but, as the saying goes, Names Have Been Withheld to Protect the Guilty.

Note that some of these are what I call "soft anachronisms" — terms which didn't exist at the time, but which were well-formed from other words (particularly with Greek or Latin roots) which were known. As such, the neologism would have been perfectly understandable to educated readers or listeners of the period. For example, hallucinate and hallucination have been in use since the 1650's. Nobody found a need for hallucinogen until 1954, but it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in 1654, since it is clearly "that which produces hallucinations". Similarly, words like acrophobia, claustrophobia, and xenophobia could have been used hundreds of years before they are actually recorded without anyone blinking. At worst, the user might have been suspected of trying to show off his or her knowledge of Greek. Shakespeare could have used the word automobile, although he would have had points deducted for mixing Greek auto- and Latin -mobile. (The proper Greek for "self-moving" is automaton, which indeed dates from about 1620, and the Latin version, locomotive, was used in English in 1612.) Insecticide was first used in 1865, but again, the obvious meaning of "insect killer" could have been applied to preparations like fleabane or to people who swatted flies in 1000 ce. (In fact, one of the first things to be called an insecticide was the starling.)

I mention below that the psycho- (mind) words like psychology (mind study) go back to the 1650's, which means at that time nobody with an education should have had a problem with psychosis (mind disease) or psychoanalysis (mind analysis), even though the words weren't actually used until 1847 and 1906, respectively. The particular obsession of a pyromaniac, nymphomaniac, or kleptomaniac would have been obvious to anyone who knew Greek. Nymphomaniac actually was in use by 1775. (Nympha literally meant a semi-divine young maiden in classical Greek. In English it became a synonym for "whore" in such uses as a "nymph of Drury" or "nymph of the pavement".)

A soft anachronism could even be composed of common English words: As I mention below, "trouble-maker" isn't recorded until 1923, but it is impossible to believe that King Alfred wouldn't have understood the phrase in 900 ce. "Double chin" dates from 1832, and again, it certainly could have been used much earlier without confusion.

Getting back to Latin, the meaning of extra-terrestrial (beyond the Earth) would have been clear a thousand years ago, let alone when it was actually first used in 1868 to describe planets as "extra-terrestrial bodies". A medieval reference to an "extra-terrestrial being" probably would have meant an angel, but it's hard to come up with a definition of "alien" or "ET" in the science fiction sense that doesn't include angels — an intelligent non-human life form, not native to Earth, with abilities and lifestyle very different from those of humans. In fact, since angels as commonly depicted have six appendages — two arms, two legs, and two wings — they would seem to be more closely related to earthly insects than to the mammals and other vertebrates, all of which have or had four. The only common mammal with six appendages is of course the centaur, although at least one flying horse has been reported in the literature. Given the accelerating pace of genetic engineering, however, it won't be that many years until some mad scientist creates a flying pig just to prove a point.

I've also included a few apparently non-existent words which are often found in Georgian and Regency novels. These were usually perpetrated by Georgette Heyer, who loved esoteric words and constructions in her novels. Some of these may be from sources the dictionary-makers haven't yet located, but allegedly she was not above making up a plausible-looking word or phrase now and then just to embarrass plagiarists. Since the current generation of historical romance writers all cut their teeth on Heyer and recycle her vocabulary [and plots] quite shamelessly, many of her usages are now common.

When I mention a specific year in connection with a word, it is the earliest Oxford English Dictionary citation for that meaning. Since the oed quotations are from printed works, it is always possible that a much earlier example might yet be found. In addition, it's certainly conceivable that a word was used in speech well before it appeared on paper, depending on its informality. Although this has to be whispered, I also mention a few cases where the oed is wrong!

Important Disclaimer

I hope writers will find this site helps them to avoid missteps, but I understand how difficult it would be to attempt to eliminate all errors without spending more time reading the Oxford English Dictionary than writing books. In theory I approve of accuracy, and I will admit I'm obsessive, but I will also admit that I like to read, and I really don't want my favorite authors to starve — I want them to write more (possibly inaccurate) books, not fewer accurate ones.

Anachronisms and Other Sins

Abnormal

It began to replace "abnormous" in 1853.

allergy, allergic

1911.

anyway

In the sense of "in any event" or "regardless" ("I don't care what you say, I'm going to ride to the village anyway!") not until 1859. Prior use was in the literal usage of the two words — "Is there anyway I can help?" — and "I'm going to ride to the village anyway" would have meant either on horseback, using my carriage, the dogcart, or whatever. C.f. "regardless".

Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador

These names were picked only after independence from Spain in the 1820-1830 era. Previously, Columbia was part of Nuevo Granada, Argentina was the province of Rio de la Plata, and Bolivia and Ecuador were Upper Peru. Some other South American names (Brazil, Peru, Chile, Paraguay) go back much further, though. Venezuela (little Venice, from the stilt-villages on Lake Maracaibo) was so-named by Vespucci in 1499, and Brazil was named by the Portuguese for the brazil trees which grew there. (Well before the discovery of America, brazil was a red dye obtained from an African tree.)

asset

1868, formed as a false singular from assets, a Law French term (asetz) indicating sufficiency. C.f. cherry, pea, the Heathen Chinee, and many more "if it ends in /S/, it must be plural" mistakes.

attic

Until about 1855 this was an adjective — related to the Greek region of Attica. Attic style was an architectural term for buildings with a low decorative story above the main facade of a building, and the upper region of a house where odds and ends were stored was an attic story or attic floor.

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Barge [in]

1888 in the current sense. The only examples of the verb up to that time were concerned with water transportation — "They barged down the canal."

baronet

Baronets were created in 1611 as a revenue-producing gimmick by James I. Going backwards, viscount was added to the peerage in 1440 and marquis in 1399. Before that, the only ranks were baron and earl. (This caution was made necessary by reading about William the Conqueror making somebody a baronet.) By the way, note that a baronet is not a member of the nobility (i.e., a peer); he is a commoner, and is addressed as "Sir Whatever" like a knight. A baronetcy is best described as an inheritable knighthood. Thus of all the English titleholders, knights (or dames) are the only ones guaranteed to have personally done something worthwhile in their life.

barque of frailty

One of Heyer's euphemisms for a female of no particular virtue. Not in the dictionary. C.f. "bit of muslin".

beige

1858 as a fine soft woolen cloth, used for dresses. This was originally made from raw wool, hence the color name (first attested in 1879), but it was occasionally dyed, so it was theoretically possible for a lady to wear a bright blue beige dress. C.f. ecru (1869), another color word from French, which is literally "crude" or "raw", used to describe unbleached linen.

bifocals

Benjamin Franklin may have invented them in 1784, but he called them "double spectacles". They weren't called bifocals until 1889.

binge

1854, from a dialect word that means "soak".

binoculars

1871. The adjective "binocular" itself is much older, of course, in the sense of "having two eyes" — the optical instrument is short for binocular telescope or binocular glass.

bint

1919 in the disparaging sense of "girl". It is Arabic for "daughter" and was brought back by English soldiers serving in the Near East in World War I. Sir Richard Burton used it as an Arabic word in his 1855 book about his disguised pilgrimage to Mecca. Apparently in Arabic it is used as slang for "woman" in general, much as Afro-Americans use "sister".

biopsy

1895. It's cousin necropsy appears in 1842. Autopsy (q.v.) is much older, though.

birthday party

1852. Birth-day present is recorded in 1796, but this may refer to a present given to the mother on the occasion of a child's birth. The first unambiguous use in the modern sense is 1854.

biscuit-colored

Even though every Regency drawing room is full of gentlemen wearing biscuit-colored breeches or pantaloons, the term was first recorded in 1884.

bit of muslin

I've seen this in fifty Regency novels as a disparaging euphemism for "woman" and particularly, "loose woman", but it isn't recorded until 1823. Georgian or Regency use is due to Heyer. C.f. "barque of frailty".

bite the bullet

According to the oed, this phrase was first used to mean "show courage" by Kipling in 1891, making it maybe 2,500 years younger than "bite the dust", discussed below. However, this is a "gotcha" for the oed, because it is in the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue — see "bran-faced". Perhaps I should suggest that the editors of the oed obtain a copy of that book.

bloody

All too many historical novelists seem to think this is a mild expletive — I can't think how many books I have read where Our Hero uses the word in front of Ye Gentle Heroine, and even a few where YGH says it herself when provoked. From about 1750 Through the early 20th century this was not mild in Britain; it was a filthy obscenity, and a person would no more have said "bloody" in mixed company than he or she would have said "fucking". As late as 1913, Shaw caused a minor riot when he had the semi-transformed Eliza Doolittle say "Walk! Not bloody likely!" in Pygmalion. Amusingly, when the play was made into the movie My Fair Lady fifty years later, the word had lost all its shock value, and Alan Jay Lerner had Eliza say "Move your blooming arse!" to a horse at Ascot instead.

Boxing Day

This term for December 26th is first recorded in 1833. For centuries, it had been known as St. Stephen's Day, and the custom of going from house to house begging for gifts was called "Stephening". There was an old joke that Stephen must have been a wonderful saint because St. Stephen's Eve did not require fasting.

bran-faced

It is used to mean "freckled", but I can find no record of this in the oed, and it looks suspiciously like another Heyerism. (Oops, I apologize to the lady -- it's in the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.)

bubonic plague

1886. The disease was known as "the great pestilence" when it afflicted the known world in 1347-1348. Note that the responsible organism is known as Yersenia pestis. It began to be known as "the plague" in 1564, "the Black Death" in 1823, but "bubonic plague" only in the late 19th century. The word "bubonic" itself — having buboes, or swollen lymph glands — dates from 1871. ("Plague" itself originally meant a blow or wound, and then any infliction, as in "I wish he would stop plaguing me." Note the biblical ten plagues of Egypt, most of which were not diseases.)

bun

1894 as a bundle of hair at the nape of the neck. The older term was "chignon", which does mean "nape" in French. (The original meaning of "bun" seems to have been "rounded mass", leading to the bakery sense, the tail of the bunny rabbit, etc.)

burke

The notorious murderer William Burke was captured and executed in 1829, and his name became a general verb for "stifle" or "smother" — to burke a bill in Parliament, e.g. — in about 1835.

burp

Somewhat surprisingly, given the appropriateness of the sound, both noun and verb are first recorded as American slang in 1932. The older term is "belch", but as far as I know, that was never used like burp for an operation on babies — nobody ever belched a baby.

bust

1819 as a euphemism for a woman's breasts. The sense of a sculpture consisting of head, shoulders, and chest is over a hundred years older in English. Bustline was not recorded until 1939, and busty until 1944.

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cad

1832 as an ill-mannered or offensive person, a boor. The earlier meaning was errand-boy, making it the same word as "caddie" and "cadet". The current usage seems to started as Oxford slang for the residents of the city, as if they were good for nothing but to run and fetch for the scholars.

Can of worms

1962. Can itself, in its current sense, goes back to Old English, though, usually as a drinking vessel.

catapult

In the sense of a forked stick with elastic, equivalent to the American slingshot, not until 1871. The military engine sense goes back to the Romans, though.

caveman

Primitive human, 1865. Crude lover (club, dragging by hair …), 1920's.

celebrity, celebration

Celebrity was first used in 1849 in the modern sense of a famous person. Before that it was strictly an abstract noun meaning either fame or notoriety — for example, "The evil assassin had a great deal of celebrity." Meanwhile, celebration only had a religious sense prior to 1844 — performance of a rite, as in a celebration of marriage or celebration of the mass.

charisma

Used since the 1640's in its original theological meaning of "gift of God's grace", but not secularized to "gift of leadership" until 1930. Early quotations in the modern sense usually refer to Hitler. The current meaning has been generalized to "ability to inspire enthusiasm or devotion". C.f. "aura", another religious term used in a similar manner, and also note the original meaning of prestige, given below.

chauvinism

1870 as exaggerated patriotism. Not generalized from "extreme loyalty to ones own country" to "prejudice against all others" (male chauvinist, etc.) until 1955.

chef

Borrowed from French to mean a head cook in 1842. (It is the normal French word for "chief" — English usage is short for chef de cuisine.) Incidentally, French chef d'œuvre, a masterpiece, was used in English beginning in 1619.

chic

1879 in the current sense of tastefully fashionable. 1856 in the general sense of "superior".

chiropractor

1903. Chiropractic as a method of treatment is recorded for 1898.

choppy

This didn't mean "jerky" — "The Channel is quite choppy today," — until 1867. Before that it had the literal meaning of having been chopped into pieces.

Christmas carols

Some anachronistic carols have a nasty tendency to sneak into books set in the Regency — I recently read a novel set in 1814 which described Silent Night as an "old familiar hymn". This is impossible, since it was written and first performed in 1818 and didn't travel beyond Austria until perhaps 1840. Many "traditional" Christmas carols are products of Victorian sentimentalism: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing didn't become known outside Methodist circles (the words are by Charles Wesley) until it was set to Mendelssohn's music (originally a cantata about Gutenberg!) in the 1840's. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen was written in 1833, Good King Wenceslaus in 1853, We Three Kings in 1857, O Little Town of Bethlehem in 1868, and It Came Upon The Midnight Clear in 1874. (There are some carols known well before the 19th century, though — The First Noel, Angels We Have Heard on High, Adeste Fidelis, etc.) I must admit I haven't seen Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer in a Regency novel. Yet.

civilian

1829 in the current sense of a non-military person. Previously, it meant a judge or authority on civil law.

claustrophobia

1879. Most of the psychiatric "-phobia" words date from the 1870's and 1880's, although hydrophobia as a symptom of rabies goes back to the Greeks. On the other hand, phobia itself — "I have a phobia about Almack's," — was first used in the modern sense in this 1786 quotation: "I shall begin, by defining Phobia in the present instance, to be a fear of an imaginary evil, or an undue fear of a real one."

cleavage

This was first used to mean the valley between the breasts in 1946 — it was a euphemism employed by the Hollywood censorship office when complaining about too much exposure in a movie. The older term was "slot".

cliché

Stale phrase, 1892. 1832 in the original sense of a stereotype block used by printers. (It's the French form of "click" — the sound allegedly made by the stereotype mechanism.)

climax

1918 as a noun meaning an orgasm. Not until 1975 as a verb "to achieve orgasm".

clinical

1928 to mean coldly precise and unemotional speech. The adjective literally means "at the bedside" and had been used for 150 years to describe medical school lectures given at a patient's sickbed.

coach

In the sense of tutor, noun and verb, 1848. It's a metaphor for someone "carrying" a student along. C.f. to train, which literally means to drag. That one is a couple of hundred years older, though.

cobalt

The element name goes back to 1653 in English and even further in German, but it wasn't used to mean a deep blue color (cobalt eyes, cobalt glass …) until 1849.

combination lock

Invented in 1845.

condone

1857, evidently as a back-formation from the obsolete Latin legal term "condonation".

contact

As a verb meaning to communicate with — "Lord Redstart contacted his solicitor" — not until 1927. Before that, the sentence would have meant that the earl physically reached out and touched the man. "In contact" translates from Latin as "in touch with", but that wouldn't have worked as a substitute either; see below.

cordite

Patented and trademarked in 1889 as a smokeless replacement for black gunpowder.

corgi

No problem if the person is speaking Cymric (it's Welsh for "small dog"), but the word is not recorded in English until 1926.

crabgrass

Found only in American lawns. In Britain, crabgrass once meant a certain reed growing in salt marshes, but that usage is long obsolete. It must be pointed out that in times of yore, various English weeds were referred to as "crap-grass", but the American plant really does seem to be named for the crab, since it sprawls out from a center.

crocodile

1870 as a double line of school children.

croquet

The game was played in Ireland in the 1840's, but the first evidence of the word in English is 1858.

crucial

This meant "✕-shaped" in phrases like "the surgeon made a crucial incision." The word did not acquire the modern meaning of "decisive" or "critical" until 1830, although medieval philosophers had used Latin crux in the sense of "difficulty". Sports fans are familiar with the all-too-vulnerable cruciate ligaments inside the knee; they used to be called the crucial ligaments, so both senses now apply.

curvaceous

Invented by a press agent in 1936 to describe Mae West.

curves

As applied to the female figure ("voluptuous curves"), 1862.

cut to the chase

Movie slang from the 1920's. "Cut" is Hollywoodese for "change scene", and the implication is to stop the talk and get down to action.

cyanide

The chemical term was coined in 1825, denoting any chemical compound containing cyanogen (the CN radical). Kianos is the Greek word for blue-green, and cyanogen itself was coined in 1815 because it was a component of Prussian Blue dye. Potassium cyanide (used in rat poison) was called "black cyanide" (an oxymoron, please note) beginning in the 1860's, with the simple term being adopted even later.

Czechoslovakia

No such country until 1918, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up after World War I. And there never was and never will be such a thing as a person speaking Czechoslovakian — Czechs and Slovaks have always spoken different languages, and they are now separate countries again.

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Dashed

1881 as a euphemism for "damned", perhaps from the practice of printing the word as d----d to avoid the censors. The exclamation "Dash it!" is recorded for 1800, though.

deadline

1920 in the time sense. The literal sense of a limit which cannot be crossed without fatal results originated in 1864 as a military term in the US Civil War, when the infamous Andersonville prison camp had a chalked boundary around the inside of the stockade, and any prisoner who crossed it was shot on sight. (The prison superintendant, Henry Wirz, was the only Confederate to be executed for war crimes.)

débutante

1817. The anglicized spelling (without the "é") and with pronunciation "debyou-" (instead of the French "dayboo-") are 20th-century. The shortened form "deb" isn't recorded until 1922, in James Joyce's Ulysses, believe it or not. (Début was also spelled with an acute accent until the 20th century, and it still is pronounced that way.)

decadent

1834, although decadence was known earlier. The literal meaning is "falling down", although I was tempted to claim it referred to an elderly person with only "ten teeth".

déclassé

1887, while the Englished form "declassed" was used one year later. In any case, it is "removed from one's [social] class, degraded". Note that when used to describe females, technically the noun is déclassée. C.f. divorcée.

décolletage

Noun, 1894. The adjective décolleté was first used in 1831 to describe dresses of which the Queen disapproved.

décor

Used in 1897 for theatrical scenery; in 1926 as an interior decorating term. Decorate, decorative, and decoration go back to the Middle Ages, though.

delope

This word, to fire into the air at a duel, appears once in 1836, but its existence in Georgian and Regency novels is a Heyerism.

dong

This vulgar term for a penis first appeared in the USA in 1930, and for at least the next forty years was only cited from US and Canadian sources.

doorknob

The first known use of the word was in a US patent in 1847.

double chin

1832.

dower house

1862. This is somewhat surprising, given the large number of such structures found hovering around the edges of estates in Regency novels.

dunk

1919, an American word borrowed from Pennsylvania Dutch dunken, to dip. German-American Baptists were often known as Dunkers.

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Éclair

1861 in English.

ecru

1869. See beige.

edgy

1837. (It was earlier used in the literal sense — "This is a very edgy razor.")

entourage

1860 in the current sense; before that it meant "surroundings" in general, as the word still does in French.

erratic

1841 in the current sense of irregular or unstable. The literal meaning (wandering) goes back to Chaucer — an erratic knight and so on.

ethnic

1851 in the sense of peculiar to a race or nation. Previously it only meant "pagan" as a Greek translation of Hebrew goyim.

euchre

First noted in 1846 as a "wild west" American game; I can find no references to it being played in England before about 1890. The generalized verb, to outwit or triumph over, was first used in the United States in the 1860's.

exceptional

1846.

expert

1825 as a noun. Much earlier as an adjective (expert witness, etc.)

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Fanny

American authors have a tendency to use this word as a synonym for "backside" — I have read at least three novels where the heroine slipped and landed on her fanny. Unfortunately, that's an Americanism dating only from 1928. In British English, the word is a coarse term for the female genitals — landing on one's fanny is therefore anatomically unlikely. According to the oed, even that usage only dates from about 1880, but c.f. the heroine of the most famous erotic novel of the 18th century, Fanny Hill, which certainly seems to be a pun on mons veneris. (Her name might be a double pun, since clitoris is Greek for "small hill".)

feisty

1896 as American slang with the meaning of aggressive or excitable. Before that, a feist was a "stinking hound", from a Middle English word which meant to fart. Now you understand those Elizabethan puns about "making a fist".

fiancée

1853. The masculine fiancé appeared in 1864.

fiasco

1855 as a theatrical flop; generalized to any dismal failure by 1862.

fiddle

To drive a carriage, this is Heyer again, and not in the dictionary.

field day

1827 in the current sense of a good or exciting time; previously only as a military or hunting phrase — a day spent in the field.

first stare

This phrase, meaning "the very best quality or fashion" seems to be another Heyerism (see town bronze). It isn't in the dictionaries at all.

flamboyant

First in 1832 as a French architectural term to describe a style with flame-like curves. The sense of "flame-colored" was first used in 1851, and finally, "showy", in 1879.

follow the drum

The OED only has citations with the meaning "be a soldier", although it is commonly used in Historical fiction as if it meant "be a soldier's wife and go with him on campaign."

foreplay

Although the practice itself might be of greater antiquity, the word was invented in 1929. It replaced "forepleasure", coined by Freud (vorlust) in 1910.

freak

1883. The word actually means "whim" or "joke", and the current use is short for "freak of nature", first recorded in 1847 as a translation of Latin lusus naturae.

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Gangster

1896 (USA), 1923 (UK).

ghetto

In 1892 the word was generalized to mean, as the OED succinctly says, "a quarter in a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited by a minority group or groups, usu. as a result of economic or social pressures; an area, etc., occupied by an isolated group; an isolated or segregated group, community, or area." Before that, the only meaning was the original sense, the Jewish quarter of an Italian city, particularly Venice. In other words, one could not call St. Giles in London a ghetto during the Regency. The proper term at that time was a rookery, obligingly defined by the OED as "a cluster of mean tenements densely populated by people of the lowest class." (Also see the note about "slum" — another word which didn't have its current meaning in the early 19th century.)

gorilla

1847.

grandfather clock

This term for a floor-length pendulum clock is from a popular song written in 1876 by Henry Clay Work. Prior to that time, the timepiece was called a case clock or a long clock. (Accurate floor length clocks are easier to build, since in Earth's gravity a 39-inch pendulum has a one-second "tick".)

My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor.
It was taller by half than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride;
But it stopped, short, never to go again,
When the old man died.

gremlin

These mischievous sprites were invented by the RAF in 1941 to account for otherwise inexplicable problems with their airplanes, and by the end of World War II they were responsible for just about anything going wrong anywhere. The explanations for the word all assume a strong connection with Fremlin's Beer.

grog, groggy

1740, when Admiral Vernon, whose nickname was "Old Grog", ordered that a sailor's ration of alcohol, previously straight rum or whisky, would henceforth be diluted 50-50 with water. The unhappy seamen immediately dubbed the mixture "grog". The generalized sense of groggy, unsteady or tottering, didn't appear until 1828 (applied to horses) and 1832 (people). (George Washington's Mount Vernon estate was named for the admiral, by the way.)

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Hair-trigger

1830 as a part of a gun. 1876 as a metaphor — a hair-trigger temper, etc.

hectare

A unit of area measure (equivalent to 2.3 acres) established as part of the metric system during the French Revolution and first mentioned in English in 1810. An are is a hundred square meters, and a hectare is a hundred ares.

hello

1883, suggested by the Bell Telephone Company as the proper way to answer their new-fangled telephone.

hindsight

1883. Somewhat earlier, it had been used literally for the rear sight of a rifle. Foresight, however, dates from the fifteenth century. This antiquity could have been predicted from the fact that English has "foresee" but not "hindsee".

hock

As a verb, to pawn, it's American slang from 1878.

hooligan

1898 (USA).

humanitarian

This was condescending or contemptuous before the 20th century. It meant a hypocrite who overdid his or her "concern" for humanity in a showy manner.

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Impact

As a verb, this didn't acquire its modern meaning of to run into until 1916. Before that, it meant to press against, as in an impacted wisdom tooth. The noun, used in constructions like "Her blue eyes made an immediate impact", is unknown before 1946. Before that, it meant a collision. (C.f. the much earlier to impress, originally to mark with a stamp, with exactly the same change of meaning.)

in touch [with]

1884 in the sense of "in close association" or "in communication". The phrase was used earlier in a literal sense by the military — "in touch" and "out of touch" referred to being within arm's length of another soldier. C.f. "to contact".

ingénue

Borrowed from French in 1848 to mean an artless young girl, although the adjective ingenuous (open, frank, or innocent) dates back to 1598 in English. The latter was borrowed straight from Latin, as seen in the pronunciation, compared to the French "ahnzhaynee" pronunciation of the former, now corrupted to "ahnzhenoo". The main purpose of "ingenuous", of course, is to cause confusion with ingenious — ultimately they are both from the Latin for "inborn quality". C.f. naïve, which also means that with which one is born, i.e., that which is native, Latin natus, and compare the phrases "born yesterday" and "wet behind the ears", the latter from the image of a mother animal licking its newborn.

intransigent

About 1880, borrowed from the nickname of a Spanish political party of the time, Los Intransigentes, "The Uncompromising".

irate

1838, although "ire" goes back to 1300.

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Jerusalem (hymn)

Although the poem "And did these feet in ancient time" was written by William Blake in 1804, it didn't become an anthem until 1916 when it was set to music specifically as an idealistic World War I rallying song. (Note it was sung at the funeral service in the movie Chariots of Fire, a phrase taken from the poem.)

jiffy

1785.

jiggle

Nobody jiggled until 1836. Both this and "jigsaw" are from the lively dance, extended to the idea of "rapidly bouncing up and down".

jigsaw

The saw itself, 1873. Jigsaw puzzles (and the extended sense of anything in small irregular pieces), 1909.

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Kick up ones heels

In Georgian and Regency times, this meant to drop dead. It was the same image as "bite the dust", q.v., but it implied falling backward instead of forward. The meaning of "enjoy oneself", with an image of vigorous dancing, didn't come about until almost 1900.

knee-jerk

A medical term for the patellar reflex in 1876. Not used metaphorically (knee-jerk reaction, knee-jerk emotion) until 1963 — "knee-jerk liberal", in fact.

kneecap

1869. For the previous five hundred years, the body part in question had been a knee pan.

knickers

1881 as a feminine undergarment. This is a short form of knickerbockers, first recorded as an item of clothing (i.e., baggy britches) in 1859. (Knickerbocker was used from 1831 to refer to a resident of New York, particularly one descended from the original Dutch settlers.)

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Lesbian

1890. Before then, female homosexuality was called tribadism, from an Indo-European root that meant to rub. (Sapphist is even newer — 1902.) The poet Sappho of Lesbos was awarded two different terms for her alleged preferences a couple of thousand years after her lifetime.

liaise

This ugly back-formation from "liaison" was perpetrated by the military in 1928.

limelight

The intense lime light was invented in 1826. The word was not used figuratively to mean "center of attention" until 1877.

limerick

1896, unless you mean the city in Ireland.

lingerie

1835 as "linen garment" in general; 1850 as women's underclothing.

'll, 'd, and n't contractions

I'll and you'll were known from the time of Shakespeare, but other contractions of that form were unknown in print before the 1880's, when they'll, that'll, etc. began to appear. Ditto with hadn't, didn't, etc. Note a very common technique in historical novels is for the author to suggest archaic speech by not using contractions even in casual conversation — for example, "Did he not remove his coat?" instead of "Didn't he remove his coat?" or "I shall get it," instead of "I'll get it."

loaf, loafer

Both 1838 in the sense of a person who wastes time or the inaction itself. The Loafer shoe was a originally a trademark, registered in 1939.

lovebirds

Applied to a human couple and not real birds, 1911.

love seat

Defined as a "double chair" in 1904. (That was a new meaning for "double chair" also, which before 1904 only meant a light pleasure carriage.)

lunch

First recorded as an abbreviation for "luncheon" in 1829. The earlier meaning was "bunch" or "lump".

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Madam, madame

As the CEO of a whorehouse, not until 1871. Before then, the lady in question was called a procuress or abbess.

magenta

Magenta red dye — the first synthetic dye — was invented in 1860 and named after the French victory over the Austrians at Magenta, Italy the previous year. C.f. mayonnaise, named in honor of a French victory at Port Mahon, Minorca, in 1756. (This engagement led to the court-martial and execution of the losing British admiral, Viscount Byng. This in turn led to Voltaire's famous comment about England, Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres. — "In this country, it is a good idea to kill an admiral now and then to encourage the others.")

marathon

The race was so-named at the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896. It was generalized to "endurance contest" — marathon dance, marathon swim, etc. — in the 1920's.

marzipan

It was marchpane (French marcepain) from 1394, but English didn't adopt the German version of the word until 1901. (The original meaning was a candy box, not the candy itself.)

masochism, masochistic

1892, in the translation of Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novels (Venus in Furs, etc.), were written in the 1870's. Note that Krafft-Ebing's treatise is also responsible for the words sadism, necrophilia, homo-, bi-, and heterosexual, and exhibitionist, all of which would be anachronisms before 1892.

massage

As a noun, 1876, borrowed from French (which had borrowed it from Arabic or Hindi) along with masseur and masseuse. As a verb, 1887. (Massage is related to Messiah, from a Semitic root which meant to rub; "Messiah" literally means "Anointed".)

master of ceremonies

It was "master of the ceremonies" until 1888.

mauve

Another 19th-century French color word — 1859 in this case. C.f. beige, ecru, and magenta.

Melba toast

First crunched in 1897, while peach Melba was first served in 1905. Both were named for the wildly popular operatic soprano Nellie Melba, depending if she was on or off her diet. Well, at least she was and has remained wildly popular with audiences and critics. (Her face is even on the Australian $100 note.) The term "prima donna" wasn't invented for her (see below) but might as well have been; one biographical sketch says, "If a singer's greatness can be gauged by how detested she was by colleagues, then Melba would undoubtedly be the greatest singer of all time." (Her real name was Helen Mitchell; she took her stage name from her home town of Melbourne.)

mess

This didn't mean untidy or state of confusion until the 1830's. Before then, it only meant a dish of food.

meticulous

1827 in the modern sense. See below for the earlier meaning.

midget

1865 to denote a small person. It had been Canadian slang in the 1840's for a small fly — a midge-ette.

milquetoast

This term for a very timid person comes from Caspar Milquetoast, the "hero" of a 1930's series of cartoons.

mincemeat

1845 for the modern sense of a pie filling made with spiced fruit, etc. Before that the word only had its literal meaning of "chopped meat", and the pie was simply called a mince pie, i.e., one with finely chopped ingredients. Note that the threat "to make mincemeat of" somebody (with a sword) uses the older sense — to turn them into hamburger.

mistletoe

Kissing under a mistletoe branch at Christmas is not mentioned in print until 1820, although it's probably a much older folk custom. (The name of the plant is ancient, and the first syllable is German mist, dung, from the belief that the plant grew from bird droppings.)

myth

1830, which seems totally ridiculous when mythical is recorded in 1678, mythological in 1614, and mythology in 1420, but before 1830, the noun was still the original Greek mythos.

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Nag

As a verb, to irritate or complain, about 1830. As a broken-down horse, not until 1930! (Before that it could be any horse, good or bad.)

nancy

1905 as an insulting term for an effeminate man. The even more disparaging "nancy-boy" didn't emerge until 1958. C.f. "pansy", another 20th century insult.

necrophilia

1892, in Krafft-Ebing. C.f. masochism and sadism.

needle

As a verb (to annoy or irritate), 1881. Before that, only to literally prick someone or something.

noblesse oblige

It was coined in French in 1808, but the first use in an English-language document was in 1837. ("Noblesse" itself was commonly used in English to mean "nobility" from about 1200 to 1700.)

nosy

First used to mean inquisitive in 1882. Until then, it meant (as one might expect) having a prominent nose. C.f. Old Nosey, a common nickname of the Duke of Wellington. (This is another "soft anachronism", since the verb to nose (nose around, nose out, etc.) is hundreds of years older, from the behavior of dogs.)

nymphet

I hope no author would think of calling a a girl a "lolita" in 1820, but in fact "nymphet" is exactly as incorrect. The latter term was coined by Nabakov in 1955 to describe the title character in his novel Lolita. Obviously English needed terms for a sexually precocious young girl, since both words are now common.

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Off-key

First used in 1929 for a singer "who had great difficulty moving her vowels". Not until 1943 to mean inappropriate or jarring.

orchestrate

1880 in the literal musical sense. 1883 as a metaphor — fit together harmoniously.

opera glass

1842.

orchid

1845. Until then, the flower was an orchis, with orchidae as the Latin plural.

orgasm

1936 in the modern sense. Before that it had to be qualified — sexual or venereal orgasm. See below for more on orgasmic behavior.

orientation

1868 in the general sense of bearings or direction. Until then, it only was a geographical term, "facing eastward" in a literal sense, used of aligning churches, graves, etc. Similarly, the verb to orient (get one's bearings) dates from 1850.

orphanage

Surprisingly, 1865 as a home for orphans. Previously used only as an abstract noun — "He suffered orphanage at an early age," — and as an English legal term meaning guardianship of an orphan. This may hold the record for anachronistic citations, since no self-respecting Regency novel can be complete without a bricks-and-mortar orphanage somewhere within its pages. The correct terms at that time were "orphan asylum" or, if the children were young enough, "foundling hospital" or "foundling house".

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Pansy

Fifteenth century as a flower, but 1929 in the sense of an effeminate man. (It's French pensee, thought, because the flower looks like a face.)

persistent

1830 in the current sense of tenacious. The earliest record of the word at all is only from 1826 as a biological term, applied to plants with leaves that didn't fall off.

pervert

This did not have the current sexual usage until the 1890's. Before then, a pervert was a religious apostate, a convert seen from the rear. For example, in 1860 Thackeray called Henry of Navarre "a notorious pervert" for his "Paris is worth a mass" conversion. In 1879 a religious tract mentioned that Paul was regarded as a pervert by Jews for becoming a Christian. An extreme pervert was the semi-legendary Vicar of Bray, who was twice a Catholic and twice a Protestant in maintaining his position during the reigns of Henry VIII, Mary, and Elizabeth. When accused of having no principles, he said he had one principle, to live and die as the vicar of Bray. The song about him, however, updates his career to the "glorious revolution" reigns of Charles II, James II, William of Orange, and George I a hundred and fifty years later.

pessimist

1836, while pessimistic was not used until 1868. Optimist, etc. are a century earlier, though. The word optimism was coined in French to describe Leibnitz's philosophy of "the best of all possible worlds", but it gained currency in English mainly from Voltaire's thorough demolition of the doctrine with Candide ou l'optimisme in 1759.

phenomenal

1850 in its modern sense of unusual or extraordinary.

playboy

In the 17th century, it meant a boy actor. The current meaning was recorded in 1829 in Ireland, but didn't appear in general English until popularized by Synge's Playboy of the Western World in 1907.

ploy

1950 in the current sense of a maneuver to gain advantage. For 250 years before that, it meant a hobby or pastime. (It definitely isn't related to "plot", but nobody knows whether it's a clipped form of "employ" or not.)

poker

Card game, 1836 in the U.S., 1855 ("pocher") in England. "Poker face" is recorded 1885. C.f. euchre.

polarize

Not until 1949 in the "accentuate a division" sense. The optical connotation, however, dates from 1811.

polka

1844. By the way, the dance is Czech pulka, half (presumably because of the short quick steps), not Polish. This does not mean, however, that a polka is the same as a minuet, also named for the short steps, or a polonaise, which does mean "Polish".

pornography

1864 in the modern sense. The word was used in 1857 in its literal Greek meaning, "description of prostitution", in a medical report on the plight of London streetwalkers.

pose

About 1850 in the artistic sense, both as noun and verb. About 1840 in the sense of "pretend" — "The spy posed as an Albanian prince." Incidentally, the word is not related to position. That's a member of the large put/place family (component, composition, …) from Latin ponere/posit-. By the way, a poser meant a questioner (apposer) for hundreds of years; the related sense of a difficult question didn't turn up until 1793.

pragmatic

The current sense of practical or realistic dates only from 1853. Before that it meant interfering, conceited, or dictatorial.

presentable

The original usage of the word was "subject to criminal prosecution". C.f. the presentation of a grand jury. The modern meaning is not found until 1827.

prestige

Until 1829, this was French and meant trickery or deception. It is Latin prae-stringere, to dazzle or blindfold, literally to "bind beforehand". In the early 19th century it was used as a metaphor for the charismatic power of Napoleon. The current sense of prestigious isn't recorded until 1913; before then it was only applied to jugglers and magicians. Also note the current meaning of spellbinding, and see charisma above.

prima donna

It was used in its literal Italian sense of "first lady" to refer to the leading soprano of an opera in 1768, but it wasn't generalized to someone who is aggressively self-important or temperamental in other fields (male or female) until 1834. P.S. — the plural is "prima donne", but this is not often encountered because, by definition, there can't be two at the same place at the same time without bloodshed.

Prince Charming

1850, as a character in a play called, logically enough, King Charming.

pub

This clipped version of "public house" for a tavern was recorded as underworld slang about 1860, but wasn't fully acceptable until 1890.

pussyfooting

American slang from 1903.

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Randy

This did not mean lustful or "horny" until 1847, and then only in the North of England — Yorkshire, etc. It didn't migrate south to London until the 1880's. For the previous two hundred years, it (as one might expect) had been purely a Scottish word, and it meant boisterous or rude.

realistic

1856. Realist was first used in 1850.

regardless

Mark Twain first used it to mean "in any event" in 1872. Prior citations only have the literal sense — "He was regardless of his duty," or "I have very regardless children." The current usage is elliptical for "regardless of expense" or "regardless of the consequences", and was regarded as an Americanism.

revolver

I managed to encounter a specifically-described revolver — "He spun the chamber, which contained a single bullet..." — in a novel set in 1815. No, no, no. At least this pistol wasn't called a revolver, which was a trademark of Colt when he patented the first practical revolving gun design in 1835. Another Regency featured a pistol which somehow fired at least four shots without reloading. (C.f. Hollywood westerns with six-shooters that somehow managed to plug twenty or thirty Injuns without the cowboy reloading.)

risky

1827.

risqué

1867.

rocket

As a noun, used for fireworks since 1611. As a verb (to soar or speed), not until 1881.

rodent

1835 as a noun. 1833 as a present participle — Rabbits are rodent [gnawing] in my garden.

romance

This meant "imaginative adventure story" until 1916, when it was first used to mean "love affair". King Solomon's Mines was a romance novel when published, for instance, as were Sir Walter Scott's stories. Roman is the normal French word for "novel", as in roman à clef, literally a novel with a key [to the characters' real-life equivalents].

rotate

1808, a back-formation from the much older "rotation".

rugrat

1968 (small child). Never as a small dog, which I have found in at least two Regency novels.

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Sabotage

1910 in English; somewhat earlier in French. The word really became established during World War I. Saboteur wasn't recorded until 1921, though.

sadism, sadistic

Although the eponymous Comte (not Marquis) de Sade died in 1814, these terms were first used in 1892, in Krafft-Ebing. See masochism, also named in honor of a 19th-century author.

safe

The current sense of a place for storing money or other valuables is first recorded in 1820. For the previous 400 years, the only meaning (as a noun) was a meat locker. Safe-breaking and safe-cracking date from 1934.

sanitize

1836. Of the derivatives, sanitary is first recorded in 1842, and sanitarium in 1851. The British euphemism "sanitary towel" first saw print in 1881 and the US equivalent, sanitary napkin, in 1917.

sassy

This was purely American slang until the 20th century. The British used the original form — saucy.

scam

1963, both noun and verb.

scientist

1840. "Science" in the modern sense is mid-19th century; before that it was "natural science". A phrase like "the conflict of science and religion" is an anachronism before then, because Theology was a science. Darwinian evolution and the geologists' insistence on the multi-billion year age of the earth were mainly responsible for this split. Late-breaking news flash — in November, 2005, the state of Kansas, USA, voted to redefine "science" to include theology and astrology again, so that biblical "Creation Science" could be taught in Kansas schoolrooms. Further Update — in February, 2007, Kansas decreed that theology and astrology are not sciences any more. Stay tuned for the next election. (The 2007 definition of science is again "a human activity of systematically seeking natural explanations". The 2005 definition omitted the word "natural".)

Scotch

As a drink (elliptical for Scotch whisky), 1895. Before that, the stand-alone noun Scotch meant a variety of snuff.

scram

1928, probably a back-formation from "scramble". (There is a much older unrelated "scram" which means shrivel or paralyze, as in "His hands were scrammed from the cold.")

séance

The word is French for "sitting" and was used as a synonym of "session" (legislative séance, etc.) until the spiritualism craze of the 1850's. C.f. "spiritualism" below.

sensational

1898 in the current meaning of "causing great excitement". The current noun usage — "Her red gown caused a sensation," — is first recorded in 1864. The literal implication of "sensation" (the operation of the senses) is hundreds of years older, though.

sewage

1834, even though "sewer" goes back almost to 1400.

Sex

1929 as a synonym for "sexual intercourse", as in "have sex", "sex before marriage", "great sex", etc. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first known author to use the word in this sense was D.H. Lawrence.

sexy

1925.

shamus

I found this nickname for a detective used by a duchess in a Regency novel! It is Yiddish slang (shames, synagogue watchman) first recorded in 1925 in American detective novels. (To compound the crime, her grace said the individual in question was pussyfooting — see above.)

shimmy

The American slang for "chemise" was first recorded in 1837. The other "shimmy", to shake, dates from 1919, and is the same word. It is actually a back-formation from a popular dance of the time ("I wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate"), which apparently was first known as the vulgar "shaking the shimmy".

shoddy

1862 in the modern sense. In 1832 it was used as the name of an inferior kind of cloth.

shrapnel

A Shrapnel's Shell (named for the inventor) was an explosive shell packed with bullets, invented in the Napoleonic wars. It was also known as "case shot". The extended meaning of "shell fragment", in phrases like "He received some shrapnel in his leg," did not come into use until 1940. To quote Winston Churchill: "…great numbers of shell splinters usually described most erroneously as shrapnel, will be falling in the streets."

shut up

As an order to stop talking, 1840.

sibling

In Old English this meant any blood relative, but it dropped out of use in the Middle Ages. The term was re-invented by early 20th-century anthropologists with a new specific meaning of "one of the children of the same parents". The simple sib stayed in English with the meaning of "relative" in general — c.f. gossip, which is god-sib, i.e., godparent.

skid

As a verb meaning to slide along (the coach skidded off the road) not until 1838. The original meaning was a strip of wood placed underneath something, related to a ski. (In the late 19th century, a skid road was a pathway for sliding logs downhill. The current sense of a rundown area full of alcoholics, etc. seems to be from the term being used in Seattle for the area where the loggers congregated while in town, complete with the bars, whorehouses, and cheap rooms necessary for their comfort.)

skivvy

1902 as a maid of all work. 1932 as slang for underwear.

slingshot

1849. Also see catapult above.

slum

1845 in the current sense of a lower-class district. 1825 as a single dwelling, a rear tenement, often in the phrase "back-slum". Not until 1860 as a verb ("go slumming", etc.)

snide

The modern sense of slyly insinuating or derogatory dates from 1933. The word first appeared in 1859 with the meaning of "worthless" or "counterfeit". An intermediate usage was slippery or cunning.

snob

1911 in the current sense of one who considers himself superior and sneers at the "lower classes". This was a complete reversal of meaning, because originally the word meant a member of the lower classes — it was the opposite of "nob", a wealthy person. The change began with Thackeray using it in the sense of "vulgar social climber" in the 1840's. ("Nob" might be a clipped form of "noble"; if not, the origin is unknown. C.f. "nib" ("his nibs") in the same sense.)

socialize

1895 in the sense "participate in social activities". Before that, it meant to make fit for society — "You should socialize that little brat before allowing him to appear in public; a few beatings should do the trick."

society

The sense of "polite society" or "good society" in phrases like "he was often seen in society") didn't appear until 1823.

sovereign (coin)

This one-pound (20 shilling) gold coin was first minted in 1817, replacing the earlier guinea, whose value originally varied with the price of gold but which became standardized as 21 shillings. Giving somebody a sovereign on the day of Waterloo is therefore contraindicated. (Actually, I recently read a historical novel which featured a bag of sovereigns in 1748, a seventy-year anachronism. On the other hand, silver dollars (q.v.) or crowns had been common for a couple hundred years.)

Note that guineas were quite rare during the Napoleonic Wars, too. The war had caused the price of gold to rise above the face value of the coin, so that many of them had been melted down to bullion or used to pay for smuggled goods. The wartime English economy ran on paper money. Unlike the French, Wellington's army in the Peninsula insisted on paying for supplies. The British government minted an issue of guineas during the war specifically for army use, because the Spanish and Basques would only take gold and silver — British banknotes would be worthless if the French won — and the mint lost its shirt on the deal because it had to buy the gold on the open market for more than the coins' face value.

spill

1821 in the sense of a thin piece of wood or twisted paper used to light a candle or pipe.

spiritualism

The modern sense of both this word and spiritualist date from the early 1850's, when the idea of communicating with the dead via a medium became a large fad. Before that, the words only had a philosophical and religious sense, describing a belief in the importance of the soul compared to the body. C.f. seance.

spotlight

1904. C.f. "limelight".

sprig muslin

Yet another Heyerism, at least as applied to the Regency. The first recorded use of the phrase was by Hardy in 1922, and the second as the title of one of Heyer's novels. "Sprigged muslin" was the 19th-century name of the cloth.

stein

1855 for an earthenware beer mug. C.f. stoneware.

stunning

David Copperfield, in 1849, has the first recorded use with the meaning of first-rate or outstanding. Before then, it only had the literal meaning of causing unconsciousness. C.f. astound and astonish; all three are the same metaphor, from Latin ex-tonare, to strike with a thunderbolt.

switch

This is another very common word I can find in almost every story. Unfortunately, it didn't exist until about 1830 in any noun sense except the original one of a flexible tree branch. The verb sense of "to change" appeared about 1850 — before that its only use was to hit with a switch. (The modern usages came by way of railroad slang for a "branch" track. C.f. "asleep at the switch", etc.)

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Tangerine

1842 (fruit), 1899 (color). Previously only with a capital letter as a resident or product of Tangier. The fruit was a Tangerine orange, but even that is only recorded for 1841.

tart

1887 to mean "prostitute", from an earlier sense (1864) of "attractive woman".

thug

1839 in its current meaning. Before that, the term was only used in India (thuggee), and referred to a religious sect who believed in strangling strangers as an offering to the god.

thundermug

This slang term for a chamber pot was first recorded as an Americanism in 1890. C.f. "thunderbox" for a portable commode, first noted in 1939.

ticker

In the sense of "heart", US slang from 1930.

tiens!

As an expression of surprise (borrowed from French), once again a Georgette Heyer usage.

tiger

1825 in the sense of a young groom riding on the back of a carriage. Georgian and Regency use from Heyer.

town bronze

It allegedly means the sophistication gained through spending a season in London, but I can find no record at all of this phrase before its use by Georgette Heyer — I have a nasty suspicion she made it up.

trade

As a verb, the sense of "to exchange" is first recorded in 1863. Before that it meant buy or sell (still the stock market meaning), and before that it was a synonym of "tread".

trapeze

1861, in a description of the performance of Jules Leotard, the daring young man who invented the flying trapeze act, had a song written about him, and joined Amelia Bloomer, Dietrich Knickerbocker, Mae West, Lords Cardigan, Spencer, and Wellington, and a few others in being known for a characteristic garment.

treasure hunt

1913 in the game sense. Quite a bit older in the literal sense, of course.

troll

Borrowed from Scandinavian mythology in 1851. A different word than the much older troll, to drag.

trouble-maker

1923, in Time magazine. This a perfect "soft anachronism", since "trouble" itself goes back to the Middle Ages, as do usages like "in trouble" and "troublesome". On the other hand, "in trouble" to mean inconveniently pregnant was first used in 1891 by Hardy in Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

turf

1953 in the sense of "territory", as a gang's turf. "On the turf" had been used from the 1860's for a prostitute walking the streets, and "The Turf" as metonymy for "the horse racing world" goes back to 1750.

twerp

First recorded in print in 1925, but it was Oxford slang from about 1911, evidently formed from the name of a certain objectionable student named T.W. Earp. (The authority for this is J.R.R. Tolkien, one of Earp's classmates.)

tyke

The word meant "bitch" or "mongrel" from the 1300's. It wasn't transferred from canines to small children until 1902.

type, typical

The current meaning of a general class isn't recorded until 1843. For the preceding 400 years, it meant an emblem or symbol, from a root that meant to strike or stamp and which is also seen in tympani. "Typical" in the modern sense dates from 1850. C.f. character, from the "carve" root, also first used to mean "identifying mark".

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Valentine

1824 for the paper variety. They are thus earlier than Christmas cards, which didn't come into fashion until the 1860's.

velour

The proper form is velours, the French word for velvet. English didn't lop off the /S/ to form a false singular until well into the 20th century. C.f. Velcro®, which is French velours croché, hooked velvet.

vet

As a verb meaning "to carefully examine, verify", this was first recorded in 1904. (It is racing slang, from the idea of having a veterinarian check the soundness of a horse.)

vibrant

The meaning of "lively" arose about 1867. Before that, the adjective only had its literal meaning of "vibrating" or "shaking".

Viking

1840, although the Scandinavian form "vikingr" was used by an English historian in 1807.

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Wallflower

1820 to describe a woman who is not dancing. Much earlier as a literal flower.

War of the Roses

This term was originated by Sir Walter Scott about 1815, 350 years after the conflict itself.

widgeon

A widgeon is a kind of wild duck, but it was also used for a silly or clueless person, from the alleged behavior of the bird. (C.f. "goose" and "gull", applied to a person.) Unfortunately, the last recorded use of calling someone a widgeon was in 1741. Heyer used it frequently in her Regency novels, though, and of course everybody else has followed suit. (There is a separate old word "pigwiggen" a fairy or dwarf, generalized to something small or insignificant, which was occasionally modified to "pigwidgeon". That word has survived to modern times, in phrases like a "pigwidgeon lawyer".)

Yen

This is Chinese "yan", used both of the craving for opium and for the drug itself. It first made it into English in 1876 as "yin" or "ying" before everyone settled on "yen" about 1910. Western addicts adopted several Chinese terms in connection with the practice — "yen hop" for an opium pipe, "yen pok", a pill ready to be smoked or eaten, "yen shi" the ashes, and so on. No relation to the Japanese coin, of course.

Yiddish

1875 as a shortening of German jüdisch deutsch, Jewish-German, the language of the Ashkenazi Jews. Yid, an offensive term for a Jew, is a back-formation, by analogy with Jewish, Polish, Kurdish, Danish, etc. C.f. the casual "Brit" from British. I suppose we should be grateful that English is not yet blessed with "horserad", a pungent plant, and "varn", a shiny coating.

Zip

About 1875 as either a sound or a quick movement (e.g., zipping right along). The clothing Zipper was a trademark of 1923. Zap doesn't appear until 1940, with a meaning of shoot or kill.

Surprisingly Legal

Just to balance the above list of anachronisms, here are several modern-looking words which were in use at an earlier date than one might suspect. All these citations are for the current use of the word; sometimes a different meaning existed even earlier.

Acupuncture

Mentioned as a treatment for gout in a medical text of 1684.

anorexia

1598, in the same sentence as bulimia.

anthropology

1653.

antiseptic

1751 for both the noun and the adjective. Antibiotic is 20th century, however. Septic itself (septic throat, septic wound) was borrowed from Greek about 1600.

autopsy

1678 in the modern sense of the dissection of a corpse for medical investigation, and 1651 in the original Greek sense of "eyewitness" — auto (self) + ops (eye).

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Back yard

(of a house) 1659.

ballistic missile

Both words were well-known in English by 1750.

bamboozle

1703. Also seen as the clipped "bam" or "bamb" in the 18th and 19th centuries.

barbecue

About 1730 for an outdoor feast where a whole animal was roasted. Also applied to the guest of honor — i.e., the animal so roasted. Thus both "Let us have a barbecue in the back yard for our friends," and "This barbecue tastes wonderful," are legitimate 18th century usages.

baseball

1744. Also mentioned by Jane Austen. (The rules have changed over time, so the original game of baseball was probably similar to modern rounders.)

bite the dust

In ancient Greek, this was a favorite cliché of Homer. The phrases "bite the ground", "bite the sand", and/or "bite the dust" have been used in almost every English translation of the Iliad since 1697.

bulimia

1598, along with anorexia.

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Carcinoma

This goes back before 1600. It's a Greek form of the same word that's in English canker and Latin cancer. It's tumorous cousins sarcoma (fleshy growth) and melanoma (black growth) date to the early 19th century, though.

Chock-full

About 1400! (It's in a version of Morte Arthur — "Charottez [chariots] chokkefulle charegyde with golde.")

Christmas tree

Most people think these are Victorian, but the first mention of a Christmas tree being set up in England was in 1789. They remained a curiosity and didn't become fashionable in imitation of the German custom until mid-19th century, though.

come

In the sense "achieve sexual orgasm" or "ejaculate", this looks like modern vulgar slang, but it was first used with that meaning about 1650.

commissar

This word is strongly associated with the Soviet Union, but it is first recorded in English about 1400, from Latin commissarius. It's the same word as a commissary, namely a delegate or one entrusted (commissioned) with a certain task. C.f. commit, committee, etc.

corned beef hash

1621 for corned (i.e., salted) beef, and 1662 for hash as a dish of cut-up meat.

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Detergent

1626 as an adjective meaning "cleansing", and 1676 as a noun, a cleansing agent or soap.

dollar

This is the English pronunciation, going back to 1553, of the German silver Thaler (aka the Spanish peso or piece of eight). As early as 1560 it was pointed out that a dollar was worth five shillings, and the English 5-shilling piece (the crown) was therefore so-called. (Crowns had been minted starting in 1542.)

doughnut

1809.

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Easy chair

1707.

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Football

1424 for the game itself, and 1486 for the inflated ball. The very first citation is in a legal proclamation against the sport: "The king forbiddes þt na man play at þe fut ball vnder þe payne of iiijd." The second citation in the oed is in 1531: "Foote balle, wherin is nothinge but beastly furie and exstreme violence." One gets the impression that the gentler elements of society were not too fond of the sport. In 1650, someone described a person in distress as being "like a football in the midst of a crowd of boys".

fountain pen

1710 in English; even earlier in French.

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Gag

Recorded in 1805 as a bad joke or ridiculous story, and in 1777 as a verb, to deceive. These are both from the much older "choke" sense — the oed has a quotation from 1819: "Gagging…signifies, as its name may lead you to suspect, nothing more than the thrusting of absurdities, wholesale and retail, down the throat of some too credulous gaper."

germ

Disease-producing agent, 1803, in this very modern-sounding quotation from a medical journal: "The vaccine virus must act in one or other of these two ways: either it must destroy the germ of the small-pox...or it must neutralize this germ."

goodies

Used to describe tasty snacks in 1745.

goody two-shoes

The History of Goody Two-Shoes was published in 1766.

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Hop

As an informal term for a dance or ball, this looks like it belongs to the 1920's, but it was first used in that sense in 1731.

howitzer

1703. "Howitz", without the German ending, is recorded in 1700. The source, German haufnice, a catapult, goes clear back to the 1400's. In the mid-1700's, the English called the gun a hobbit.

hubby

As a pet form of "husband", 1688.

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Jig is up

Jig has many meanings; the sense of "game" or "trick" dates back to 1592, and "the jig is up", i.e., ended, was recorded in 1777. (C.f. "the game is up", not used until 1808.)

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Kid

1599 in the noun sense of "small child". The verb, to hoax or joke with, as in "kidding around", goes back to 1811.

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Lite beer

About 1000 ce. The Miller brewery people undoubtedly believe this is a cutesy spelling of "light", but in fact the word has meant "few", "meager", or "of poor quality" since Old English. "Lite" is not even related to "light". The latter strictly means "low in weight" — light is the opposite of heavy — while lite is a form of "little" and is the opposite of fine or luxurious. The difference between the words was much more obvious in Ye Olde Days when the /GH/ of "light" was pronounced.

I love it when I see products where an advertising agency obviously does not know the meaning of the word — my grocery features not only Lite Beer but also a snack food called Poppycock, which is straight Dutch poppe-kak, doll shit, implying something tiny and worthless. At the cosmetic counter I can find a skin cream called Porcelana, which etymologically implies it will make one's face look like the hind end of a pig. The version of Linux I am currently using is code-named "Feisty", literally "stinking".

locomotive

As an adjective describing something which could "move to a place" by itself, this is first recorded in 1612. It also was applied to people who liked to travel — a historian said that Hadrian was "the most locomotive emperor Rome ever had". The current usage is for "locomotive engine", one that is self-propelled, and dates from the early 1820's. (Early steamboats were also called locomotives.)

lollipop

1784 as a piece of candy for children, although the stick seems to have come later.

loop-hole

First used to mean "technicality for evading the intent of a law" in 1663. It originally was a porthole, either to shoot from or to admit light and air, but loopholes could also be used as an escape route, if a person was sufficiently slippery.

lousy

The literal "full of lice" sense goes back to the time of Chaucer, and surprisingly, so does the figurative use to mean worthless or inferior. C.f. this quote from 1568: "His base birth and lowsy lynage," or this newspaper pop music critic in 1707: "Wicked Rhimes...sung to lowsey Tunes".

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Mad at

1702. "Mad with" dates from 1577 and "mad upon" is in the 1539 Bible (Psalm 102), all in the sense of angry with.

Mardi gras

1699 for both Shrove Tuesday and the masquerade ball on that day.

megillah

This is Hebrew for "scroll", and was used in English as early as 1650 to refer to certain books of Jewish scripture — particularly the book of Esther, which is read in its entirety at the festival of Purim. Hence, "The Rabbi read the whole Megillah." Ironic usage to mean an interminable and boring affair is 20th century Yiddish slang, though.

meteorology

About 1570. Meteorologist, one who studies the weather, was recorded in 1621.

mug

The first use of "to mug" to mean "assault" was in 1818. Mugger (an assailant) didn't come along until 1865. Before that, a mugger was a blow to the face, as in "Gentleman Jackson delivered a powerful mugger."

mule

As a soft shoe or slipper, often made of velvet, 1565. (Both sexes could originally wear mules around the house, by the way.)

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Neurosis

1776.

nicotine

The chemical was isolated in 1819. Nicotiana is the genus of the tobacco plant, named for Jacques Nicot, who introduced tobacco into France in 1560.

nymphomania

1775.

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Open sesame

Introduced to English in the 1797 translation of the Arabian Nights, and quickly generalized to a bribe, etc. to "magically" gain entrance.

oxygen

1790. ditto for hydrogen.

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Pal

1681, borrowed from the Gypsies, where it means "brother". (Until at least 1850 it was always used in a criminal context — a synonym of "accomplice".)

pathology

1597. (Pathologist is recorded for 1650.)

pea-shooter

1803; quickly generalized to any ineffective weapon.

penny post

1680 as long as the sender and recipient were within a ten-mile radius of London. It was not extended to the rest of Great Britain until 1840.

pharmacist

1721.

phobia

1786 in the modern sense — see the discussion of "claustrophobia" above.

plastic surgery

1839.

posse

This clipped form of the Latin phrase posse comitatus (a sheriff's "power of the county" to commandeer citizens to pursue criminals, put down civil unrest, etc.) has been used since 1690.

practical joke

1804.

pronto

A musical direction borrowed from Italian in 1744, meaning "quickly". (It is the same word as "prompt".) C.f. presto, largo, allegro, adagio, etc. It was reborrowed from Spanish in the American Southwest about 1850.

psychology

1653, in the same sentence as the first use of "anthropology". Psychologist dates to 1727, etc.

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Ravioli

1399, when "rafyols" were defined as small meatballs baked in a crust.

real thing

"He's the real thing", meaning genuine, was first used in 1818.

refrigerator

1611. Even earlier, a cooling mechanism was called a refrigeratory.

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Sandwich

1762. As a verb ("sandwiched together") not recorded until 1861.

savvy

1785, both noun and verb. It's either from French savez[-vous] or Spanish sabe [usted], take your choice.

shiv

This term for a knife or razor certainly looks like it comes from 20th-century gangster movies, but was first recorded (spelled "chiv") in 1673.

shorthand

1636. The use of "hand" to mean "style of writing" is first recorded in 1390. The unrelated "short-handed", not having enough hands, is from 1794.

shuffleboard

Played since 1532. (The first element means "shove repeatedly", which is a pretty good description of the game.)

skim milk

In Shakespeare.

sleazy

1645, first used to mean a thin or weak fabric. It was very quickly generalized to describe anything insubstantial or worthless. The OED has a quotation from 1648 about someone's "vain and sleasy opinions about Religion". The further degeneration to sordid or depraved (a sleazy night club) is 20th century, though.

squiggle

1816, defined as "move like an eel". It's evidently a cross between "squirm" and "wriggle".

stockbroker

1706. Pawnbroker is even earlier — 1687.

subconscious

1834.

swell

As an adjective meaning excellent (a swell party), 1812. This is from the noun use to mean a distinguished or stylish person (the swell strolled down Bond Street), first attested in 1786. This in turn was from an earlier meaning of arrogant, i.e., "puffed up" or pompous. C.f. a "swelled head".)

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Technology

1615.

telegraph

1794 as a mechanical signaling device, 1797 for an electrical version. The word was quite common in connection with the Napoleonic wars.

tin foil

1467. It was originally used mainly for backing precious stones and mirrors; it didn't get cheap enough for casual wrapping and sealing until the early 19th century. Lead foil was more common in that role; c.f. the lead seals on wine bottles.

trampoline

1797 in the current bouncing and tumbling sense, 16th century in the sense "walking on stilts".

traumatic

1656. Interestingly, that's almost 40 years earlier than the first recorded use of trauma itself.

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Undertaker

Professional organizer of funerals, 1698. On the other hand, "mortician" didn't emerge until 1895. This is one of the few examples of a new word being less euphemistic than what it wished to replace. Hundreds of years older in the literal sense of one who takes on a task or provides a service of some kind. The OED has a quotation about "The Lord is my Undertaker."

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Virus

1728 as a cause of contagion. (Virus is the Latin word for poison. C.f. virulent, i.e., poisonous.) Phrases like "smallpox virus" were common in the 18th and 19th centuries — see the comment on "germ" above. A virus [particle] was restricted to its current sense in the early 20th century.

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Waffle

The verb to waffle (to make a noise like a politician) is recorded for 1803.

washing machine

1754.

How to Make a Reader Jump

Many words have changed meaning enough that, when used appropriately in the context of an earlier century, they give quite the wrong impression to a modern reader. Consider the following hypothetical quotations from a historical novel: