Definitions
Etymologies
- Attested 1823, presumably from colic + wobble. Alternative theories are that it derives from colly ("coal dust"), via the putative sense “ill from breathing coal dust,” or that it is a corruption of cholera. The first attestation (a mention, not a usage) is in the 1823 edition of A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. (Wiktionary)
- Probably alteration (influenced by colic and wobble) of cholera morbus. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“No, having "collywobbles" does not mean you're addicted to cauliflower, and don't bother buying a bra if you're a "titulaire.”
“In New Zealand, if you've got "collywobbles" before a big game, you:”
“Here's Iran, causing collywobbles wherever summits convene; here's Iraq, a profoundly unsettled state; and Nato's Afghanistan, a disaster without end.”
“Nineties collywobbles are one thing, fifties and sixties somewhat different. 15 fifties, Duncan, and two centuries.”
The Guardian: The Ashes 2010: Australia v England – day three live! | Andy Bull and Rob Smyth
“VIEW FAVORITES yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'The tanks on Satmasjid Road in Dhaka, Bangladesh'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'The tanks seem to have given the mutineers the collywobbles: they finally handed in their weapons and gave in.”
OpEdNews - Quicklink: The tanks on Satmasjid Road in Dhaka, Bangladesh
“The tanks seem to have given the mutineers the collywobbles: they finally handed in their weapons and gave in.”
OpEdNews - Quicklink: The tanks on Satmasjid Road in Dhaka, Bangladesh
“There was some kind of psionic field which did not register on McCoy's scanners, but gave him the personal collywobbles.”
“It gave the professor, who was, as we have already established, not an imaginative man, a distinct case of the collywobbles.”
“I get the collywobbles just thinking about a hardback mixed in with a paperback!”
“At one moment, the world's my oyster, at the next, I have a real fit of the collywobbles.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘collywobbles’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Silly-sounding words
Serious words that sound silly when you say them
philosophunculist, argy-bargy, Labradoodle, shittah, shittim, floccinaucinihili..., succedaneum, honorificabilitud..., fag-ma-fuff, buffarilla, yazzihamper, mammothrept and 140 more...
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A List Of The Cutest Words Ever Created!
HEE OK LETS DO IT! I'm v.v. excited! (with thanks to whichbe, Lampbane, bilby, effigy, frogapplause, and fredrx!)
piggy, toesy woesies, snurfle, wiggly, chomp, lewispoo, dobby, dunderhead, cupcake, mumbo jumbo, wigglebop, scuttle and 99 more...
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for school!
squally, monetization, honorificabilitud..., hornswoggle, collywobbles, slangwhanger, filibuster, cliona, beknow, gallimaufry, sylvan, aide-de-camp and 31 more...
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slackagogo's Words
agelast, aggiornamento, zaftig, wowserism, vox barbara, verbigeration, tchotchke, tautology, sycophant, spoonerism, solipsism, sobriquet and 288 more...
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Pluralia Tantum
Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form.
scissors, thanks, clothes, remains, tights, trousers, pants, news, billiards, means, mathematics, physics and 221 more...
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Sound or sequence
dulcimer, borborygmi, ecchymosis, scrivener, fustilugs, zarf, bawdyhouse, googleable, archfiend, gymkhana, cuckoopint, pilpul and 104 more...
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Words gathered while reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
refectory, soutane, ha-ha, jewelly, girt, centenary, collywobbles, coadjutor, catafalque, beeftea, pierhead, bedad and 235 more...
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Miscellany, pt. c
chokedamp, clitter, circumbendibus, catmint, cacoëpy, co-feoffee, caribou, conturbation, chalicothere, calamus, cochineal, cincture and 168 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
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Odd-Ball
Just plain fun to say and wonder about their origins.
rapscallion, ramahanukwanzmas, cockamamie, nincompoop, hemidemisemiquaver, antiinterdenomina..., cattywampus, ragamuffin, tatterdemalion, blunderbuss, brobdingnagian, tintinnabulation and 127 more...
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My Words
heuristic, malapropism, vicissitude, discursive, interstitial, velleity, phosphene, pandiculate, obdormition, vertiginous, flibbertigibbet, truculent and 128 more...
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daleshipley's Words
brinksmanship, contravene, teleological, sartorial, conventicle, habiliment, tendentious, acrimonious, ontology, epistemology, impugn, dysphasia and 219 more...
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Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for collywobbles.
trivet I feel a list coming on... Sep 23, 2007
reesetee Around here, that feeling is also called "the creeps." :-) Sep 23, 2007
uselessness A feeling of unease of dread. See also: willies, heebie-jeebies. Sep 23, 2007