pimplen.
/ˈpɪmpl/, U.S. /ˈpɪmp(ə)l/ 1. A small, firm, inflamed spot on the skin; a papule, a pustule.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > eruption > [noun] > spot of > pimple
pimplea1398
plouk?c1425
whealc1440
knoll1499
red spota1500
knop1558
blob1597
bumb1598
pumple1601
burl1607
pimple spot1658
tiler1660
pipjenny1670
papula1694
grub1731
papilla1793
papule1828
maculopapule1900
hickey1934
zit1965
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 46 Þe mouþ is..i-greued wiþ pymples & bleynes and wiþ whelkes & bocchis.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 248 (MED) Scabies is whanne þe iȝe liddis ben reed & to-swolle, & ful of reed pinplis.
c1450 in W. R. Dawson Leechbk. (1934) 202 (MED) This watir is gode..for frakkens and pymples in a mannes face.
a1500 in G. Henslow Med. Wks. 14th Cent. (1899) 139 (MED) For reed pympyl þat warit on þe face: Take coriandyr, [etc.].
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxiii The pockes apere..lyke reed pumples as brode as a farthing.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. lix. 86 The distilled water..is good against the freckles, spottes, and pimpels of the face.
1663 S. Pepys Diary 10 Feb. (1971) IV. 39 In the morning, most of my disease, that is, itching and pimples, was gone.
a1704 T. Brown Satyr upon French King in Wks. (1707) I. i. 91 My very Pimples bilk my face.
1780 Mirror No. 80 The change of situation from pimples and scales to a blooming complexion.
1818–20 E. Thompson Cullen's Nosologia (ed. 3) 203 Small clustering pimples..after three days go away in a small mealy desquamation.
1876 J. S. Bristowe Treat. Theory & Pract. Med. ii. i. 250 The pimple which results from syphilitic inoculation.
1906 J. Galsworthy Man of Prop. 177 Concernedly he felt the promise of a pimple on the side of his slightly curved and fattish nose.
1988 S. Gray Time of our Darkness ix. 132 Disley..had been squeezing pimples at the mirror.
2019 I. Ferguson in D. Kritsotaki et al. Preventing Mental Illness viii. 78 What initially began as an effort to rid their face of pimples quickly became a device for punishing oneself compulsively.
2. figurative.
a. Something resembling a pimple; a small rounded lump, protuberance, or swelling.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > bud > [noun]
burgeoninga1340
bud1398
burging1398
burgeona1400
tendron14..
buttona1425
pumple1523
oillet1574
dodkin1578
pimple1582
eyelet1600
knot1601
eye1618
budleta1864
button bud1869
break1933
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > swelling > [noun] > a swelling or protuberance
ampereOE
kernelc1000
wenc1000
knot?c1225
swella1250
bulchc1300
bunchc1325
bolninga1340
botcha1387
bouge1398
nodusa1400
oedemaa1400
wax-kernel14..
knobc1405
nodule?a1425
more?c1425
bunnyc1440
papa1450
knurc1460
waxing kernel?c1460
lump?a1500
waxen-kernel1500
bump1533
puff1538
tumour?1541
swelling1542
elevation1543
enlarging1562
knub1563
pimple1582
ganglion1583
button1584
phyma1585
emphysema?1587
flesh-pimple1587
oedem?a1591
burgeon1597
wartle1598
hurtle1599
pough1601
wart1603
extumescence1611
hulch1611
peppernel1613
affusion1615
extumescency1684
jog1715
knibloch1780
tumefaction1802
hunch1803
income1808
intumescence1822
gibber1853
tumescence1859
whetstone1886
tumidity1897
Osler's node1920
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis Ded. sig. Aiij I should bee thoght ouer curious, by prying owt a pimple in a bent.
1601 G. de Malynes Treat. Canker Englands Commonw. sig. K2 Tender yellow stones, commonly hauing pimples or burbuls in them.
1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd ii. 11 He demonstrates at large how impossible it was..for Mankind to be produced at first from certain Vesicles or Pimples of the Earth.
1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 528 He pinches from the second stalk A pimple, that portends a future sprout.
1855 ‘E. S. Delamer’ Kitchen Garden 103 The pimples daily grow bigger and bigger... They grow into buttons, which spread into mushrooms.
1881 C. Darwin Form. Veg. Mould vi. 286 On poor pasture land,..the whole surface is sometimes dotted with little pimples,..and these pimples consist of old worm-castings.
1974 S. Clapham Greenhouse Bk. xvii. 178 Haworthia margaritifera, with white pimples on its dark green leaves, is one of the most commonly grown.
2003 Cakes & Sugarcraft Winter 46/1 Roll out some white cold porcelain thinly, leaving a slightly thicker pimple in the centre.
b. colloquial (originally Boxing slang). A person's head. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > [noun]
nolleOE
headOE
topa1225
copc1264
scalpa1300
chiefc1330
crownc1330
jowla1400
poll?a1400
testea1400
ball in the hoodc1400
palleta1425
noddle?1507
costard?1515
nab?1536
neck1560
coxcomb1567
sconce1567
now1568
headpiece1579
mazer1581
mazardc1595
cockcomb1602
costrel1604
cranion1611
pasha1616
noddle pate1622
block1635
cranium1647
sallet1652
poundrel1664
nob1699
crany?1730
knowledge box1755
noodle1762
noggin1769
napper1785
garret1796
pimple1811
knowledge-casket1822
coco1828
cobbra1832
coconut1834
top-piece1838
nut1841
barnet1857
twopenny1859
chump1864
topknot1869
conk1870
masthead1884
filbert1886
bonce1889
crumpet1891
dome1891
roof1897
beanc1905
belfry1907
hat rack1907
melon1907
box1908
lemon1923
loaf1925
pound1933
sconec1945
nana1966
1811 Lexicon Balatronicum Pimple, the head.
1818 Sporting Mag. 1 298 Scroggins..planted many clumsy hits upon his adversary's pimple.
1829 P. Egan Boxiana New Ser. II. 18 The Popper..again tried it on, but, in a counter-hit, received an ogler that made his pimple shake again.
a1887 Racing Song in H. Baumann Londinismen (1887) 138/1 Sharp brains in my noble pimple.
1938 D. Runyon Take it Easy 3 I am standing in the same spot wondering where I can borrow a Betsy with which to shoot myself smack-dab through the pimple.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a companion or associate > [noun] > close
fellowa1225
loukec1386
second self1586
dear heart1669
pimple1700
fellow well met1730
hearty1880
sidekick1893
side-kicker1894
1700 W. Congreve Way of World iv. i. 63 The Sun's a good Pimple, an honest Soaker.
Compounds
C1.
pimple-faced adj.
ΚΠ
1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 16 Of a crabbed nature, pimple faced [It. zoppo], and a creple.
1796 W. Cole Contradiction 56 He..dared to marry a fat and bloated, pimple-faced, squat, Dutch woman.
1822 M. Edgeworth Let. 6 Apr. (1971) 388 I..was told by a pimple faced red blotched door holder that her Ladyship was not at home.
1954 Mag. Fantasy & Sci.-Fiction Aug. 106 Trick-suits or not, pimple-faced extras or no pimple-faced extras, he hated the Jovians for what they had done.
2010 R. Hatfield Triorities iv. 40 She meets that one pimple-faced boy who she just knows is her knight in shining armor.
pimple-nosed adj.
ΚΠ
1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster North-ward Hoe i. sig. A4v Ile tickle the pimple-nosed varlets.
1759 O. Goldsmith in Busy Body 13 Oct. 15 The pimple-nosed spirit, at the President's right elbow.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) vii. 63 Is there no Chelsea or Greenwich for the old honest pimple-nosed coachmen?
1923 Strand Mag. Jan. 70/2 Two rat-faced, pimple-nosed, Woodbine-smoking youths who combined Socialistic leanings with the Scotch money-temperament.
2015 S. Watkins Creature Teacher goes Wild vi. 72 Aliens of all shapes... Purple pimple-nosed ones. Furry, cute ones. Slimy, not-so cute ones.
C2. † pimple copper n. Metallurgy Obsolete = pimple metal n.† pimple-mite n. Obsolete a parasitic acarid mite, Demodex folliculorum, found around hair follicles.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > base metal > [noun] > copper > types of
garcopper1654
rose copper1678
tile copper1825
pimple copper1848
blister-copper ore1861
pimple metal1870
tough-cake1881
tough pitch1881
electrolytic1912
1848 Jrnl. Franklin Instit. Apr. 318 Cuivre Ampoulé,..crude copper ready for refining called ‘pimple copper’.
1871 W. A. Miller Elem. Chem. (ed. 3) ii. 611 The ingots thus obtained, being full of bubbles, are termed pimple or blistered copper.
1920 Internat. Libr. Technol.: Cyanide Process §36. 43 (heading) Smelting for Pimple Copper.—The preceding method is employed when it is desired to obtain blister copper from coarse metal.
pimple metal n. Metallurgy an intermediate product in the smelting of copper, containing about 75 per cent or more of copper and having pimples on the surface formed by escaping bubbles of sulphur dioxide.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > base metal > [noun] > copper > types of
garcopper1654
rose copper1678
tile copper1825
pimple copper1848
blister-copper ore1861
pimple metal1870
tough-cake1881
tough pitch1881
electrolytic1912
1870 C. L. Bloxam Metals 117 When the charge has contained an excess of oxide of copper, the fine metal has..a pimply appearance caused by the escape of sulphurous acid gas; it is then called pimple metal.
1910 Encycl. Brit. VII. 103/2 The coarse-metal is now smelted,..and the product, consisting of an impure copper sulphide, is variously known as..‘pimple-metal’, when free copper and more or less copper oxide is present, [etc.].
1958 A. D. Merriman Dict. Metall. 246/1 Pimple metal, a term used in reference to the product of smelting roasted copper ore or coarse metal with coke and siliceous flux.
ΚΠ
1872 Chambers's Encycl. IV. 100/2 Fleas, lice, bugs, ticks, &c., belong to the first group; the Itch-insect or Sarcoptes, the Pimple-mite or Demodex folliculorum..to the second.
pimple spot n. rare = sense 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > eruption > [noun] > spot of > pimple
pimplea1398
plouk?c1425
whealc1440
knoll1499
red spota1500
knop1558
blob1597
bumb1598
pumple1601
burl1607
pimple spot1658
tiler1660
pipjenny1670
papula1694
grub1731
papilla1793
papule1828
maculopapule1900
hickey1934
zit1965
1658 J. Rowland Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 104 The same..taketh away pimple-spots [1607 pimples-spots] out of the face.
1944 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 21 Mar. 4/2 Diseases which create a mass of pimple spots are the inevitable heritage of infancy and childhood.
Derivatives
ˈpimple-like adj. resembling a pimple.
ΚΠ
1801 J. Bell Princ. Surg. I. xi. 461 Nearly seven years before, he had first observed a small pimple-like tubercle rise on his forehead.
1848 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) I. 112/1 Tubercularia, the small, red, pimple-like fungus, also found on rotten sticks.
1898 P. Manson Trop. Dis. xviii. 298 Minute pimple-like abscesses.
1997 Science 5 Sept. 1445/2 The image shows early atherosclerosis—as indicated by the white blood cells (dark colored pimple-like structures) stuck to the wall of the vessels.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pimplev.
/ˈpɪmpl/, U.S. /ˈpɪmp(ə)l/ 1. transitive. To cover, mark, or disfigure with or as with pimples. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > eruption > erupt in spots, etc. [verb (transitive)] > raise pimples
pimple1604
button1605
the mind > attention and judgement > lack of beauty > disfigurement > disfigure [verb (transitive)] > impair the beauty of > pimple
pimple1604
1604 T. Middleton Blacke Bk. sig. F You will pimple your soules with oathes, till you make them as well fauoured as your faces.
1691 R. Ames Farther Search after Claret 7 Had he now been alive he'd have blusht with disgrace, T'have seen his Wines pimpled as once was his Face.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison III. v. 30 His face, fiery and highly pimpled, is set off to advantage by an enormous solitaire.
1825 T. Hood Ode to Great Unknown in Odes & Addresses 51 This is dimpled, Like a pale crumpet face, or that is pimpled.
1874 Ld. Lytton Fables in Song I. 113 A breed Of brassy-headed, spongy-bodied buds Pimpled the slippery banks of that black pool.
1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 14 The rain of London pimples The ebony street with white.
1990 Sci. News 23 July 392/2 Venus could have at least 88,000 domes pimpling its face.
2. intransitive. To become pimply; to develop goose pimples; to develop small spots or swellings.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > lack of beauty > disfigurement > become disfigured [verb (intransitive)] > become pimply
pimple1665
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > eruption > erupt [verb (intransitive)] > in pimples
pimple1665
1665 S. Pepys Diary 4 Jan. (1972) VI. 4 I find myself, as heretofore in cold weather, to begin to burn within and pimple and prick all over my body, my pores with cold being shut up.
1679 R. Josselin Diary 12 July (1976) 622 I found a great humour in my legge. Hot, pimpling, sore as catbites, running, hard as tending to an inflamacon.
1964 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 15 Apr. 6/6 It seems criminal to me to attempt to make adults out of children who are still pimpling.
1995 M. Kesavan Looking through Glass 130 I shivered—and all of me not covered with the loincloth pimpled like a ping-pong bat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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