In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
VILLANAGE
Etymology
Noun
villanage (countable and uncountable, plural villanages)
Alternative form of villeinage
Source: Wiktionary
Vil"lan*age (; 48), n. Etym: [OF. villenage, vilenage. See Villain.]
1. (Feudal Law)
Definition: The state of a villain, or serf; base servitude; tenure on condition of doing the meanest services for the lord. [In this sense written also villenage, and villeinage.] I speak even now as if sin were condemned in a perpetual villanage, never to be manumitted. Milton. Some faint traces of villanage were detected by the curious so late as the days of the Stuarts. Macaulay.
2. Baseness; infamy; villainy. [Obs.] Dryden.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
17 May 2025
ANTHOZOAN
(noun) sessile marine coelenterates including solitary and colonial polyps; the medusoid phase is entirely suppressed
Coffee Trivia
