miscall - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
miscall, misca vb To abuse verbally, revile, call names. [oed miscall vb 1 ‘to call by a bad name, to call (a person) names; to revile, abuse, malign’ 1449→, now archaic and regional; dost miscall vb 1 ‘to call by a bad name, to call (a person) names, revile, abuse verbally’ 1598→]
Ulst.:
1753 Scotch Poems 369 Why do the POETS, ane and a’, / Sae fiercely on the criticks fa’: / Misca’ them fae, that nane can pass, / Without his share of goose and ass.
1921 O’Neill More Songs of Glens 11 Never think I’m wantin’ to miscall the race o’ men, / There’ not a taste o’ harm in them, the cratures!
1935 Megaw Carragloon 86 I promised ye I would make it up with Sophie for miscallin’ me.
2014 Fenton Hamely Tongue 155 misca = call names: ‘misca’d hir for a’ the trails an tramps in the country’.
U.S.:
1899 Green Virginia Word-Book 240 = to give an unworthy name or character to, berate, revile.
