WAKERIFE

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 10 November 2011

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WAKERIFE  (adj.)

Definition(s):

1. (adj.) wakeful; alert; vigilant

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: (none)
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Epilogue:
This is an old Scottish word, used by both Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, two of the most famous writers from that land.  

She was up early, and down late, and seemed, to her over-watched and over-tasked maidens, to be as wakerife as the cat herself.
~ Sir Walter Scott, Waverley Novels: The Pirate (1822)

 The word combines two hardy old Anglo-Saxon words, WAKE and RIFE.  The latter means “abundant” and is also found in RIFER, RIFEST, RIFELY, OVERRIFE, and RIFENESS.  While WAKERIFE maintains a spot in the dictionary and still surfaces occasionally in modern writing, other similarly useful -rife words such as cauldrife (“cold, chilly”), wastrife (“wasteful, extravagant”), and the delightful witrife (“abounding in cunning”) have, regrettably, passed out of the language.

Recapping this week’s words: WOOMERA, WITTOL, WUSHU, and WAKERIFE

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