»swivet, thew, faineance

Several new words, most of which entered my lexicon through reading books written a century or more ago.

swivet

One might now say that so-and-so is "in a snit"; swivet describes a "state of excited distress or discomposure". P G Wodehouse uses this word in his earlier novels.

thew

thews, an exemplary English word, means "A well-developed sinew or muscle; Muscular power or strength", and typically is used in the plural: thews. From the Middle English for "virtue, strength", itself from the Old English th?aw, "a custom, habit"; its form and meaning are similar to sinew. Initially the word signified that an individual had "good qualities", thews "acquired a sense of "muscular development" when it was revived by Scott (1818)".

faineance

faineance: idleness, or the trait of being idle due to a reluctance to work. This word may have a distinct legal denotation as well.