What is a California Widow?

Just like we are creating new words in the English language all the time, like googling, there are many obsolete words, too. Here are some examples:

California widow: A married woman whose husband is away from her for any extended period

-John Farmer’s “Americanisms Old and New”, 1889

Pussyvan: A flurry, temper

“The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Queerplungers: Cheats who throw themselves into the water in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices, who carry them to one of the houses appointed by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a guinea each, and the supposed drowned person, pretending he was driven to that extremity by great necessity, is also frequently sent away with a contribution in his pocket.

— “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

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