supernaculumadv.n.int.

1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. G2^v (margin) Drinking super nagulum, a deuise of drinking new come out of Fraunce: which is, after a man hath turnde vp the bottom of his cup, to drop it on hys nayle and make a pearl with that is left which, if it slide & he cannot mak stand on, by reason thers too much, he must drinke againe for his penance.

c1600 Timon (1980) ii. v. 35 I drinke this to thee super naculum.

1680 J. Dryden Kind Keeper i. i. 8 He drank thy health five times, supernaculum, to my Son Brain-sick.

1693 H. Higden Wary Widdow iv. 39 Here's my Leiutenants health in pure Nantz Brandy as ever was tipt Supernaculum.

1728 A. Ramsay Epist. to Friends in Ireland 11 Drinking..bumpers fair out, Supernaculum but spilling.

1784 W. A. Yardley tr. ‘A. F. de Avellaneda’ Don Quixote II. vi. vii. 221/1 Having found the bottle, he put it to his mouth, and at one pull sucked it so dry that there was not enough left to drop supernaculum.

1835 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 41 Personages..drinking supernaculum out of grotesque goblets.

1907 What to Eat June 206/2 To drink supernaculum is the rule in New York.

1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 74 Not the lowsie riddle wherewith fishermen constrayned..Homer..to drowne hymselfe..but should be dressed and set before you supernagulum, with eight score more galliarde crosse-poynts.

1609 B. Jonson Case is Alterd iii. sig. F4^v I confesse Cupids carouse, he plaies super negulum with my liquor of life. View more context for this quotation

1660 S. Fisher Rusticus ad Academicos iii. 39 Thou runst away an end it with it, as an undoubted truth, and layest it down as it were supernaculum.

1766 W. Kenrick Falstaff's Wedding iii. vi. 40 Let me alone for speaking supernaculum; I have a set of the courtliest phrases in my huswifry book!

1622 T. Dekker & P. Massinger Virgin Martir ii. sig. C4^v Bacchus,..grand Patron of rob-pots, vpsie-freesie-tiplers, and super-naculam takers.

1660 R. L'Estrange Apol. with Short View Pref. sig. B4 He plants himself before the Glass, and tries how This Oath, or That Whiff, becomes him—the Supernaculum;—then makes the Face that skar'd the Drawer.

1827 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey IV. vi. i. 45 One pull—a gasp—another desperate draught—it was done! and followed by a supernaculum almost superior to the exulting Asmanshausen's.

1664 C. Cotton Scarronides 108 She set it to her Nose,..Untill that she had supt it all in. Then turning't Topsey on her Thumb Sayes look, here's Super-naculum.

1694 tr. G. P. Marana Lett. Turkish Spy VII. iii. xii. 245 The least dry and crumbling Lump of the late fainting Glebe, has Drops and Supernaculum's enough to revel on.

1739 ‘R. Bull’ tr. F. Dedekind Grobianus 180 Yours first turn topsy-turvy on your Thumb, And cry, behold! here's Supernaculum.

1871 M. Collins Inn of Strange Meetings 55 I drained the tankard to the very dregs, Leaving no sign of supernaculum.

1926 R. Kipling Debits & Credits 329 He shook off one drop from his polished nail on to the polished table—‘even such a supernaculum as this’.

1704 W. King Orpheus & Eurydice in Some Remarks Tale of Tub 50 I saw some Sparks as they were Drinking, With mighty Mirth, and little thinking Their Jests were Supernaculum, I snacht the Rubies from each Thumb.

1760 S. Foote Minor i. 43 Levant me, but it is supernaculum—Speak when you have enough.

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Supernaculum, good liquor, of which there is not even a drop left sufficient to wet one's nail.

1804 W. Blake Let. 28 Dec. (1906) 177 With our good Flaxman's good help, and with your remarks on it [sc. a portrait] in addition, I hope to make it a ‘supernaculum’.

1849 J. R. Lowell Poems (rev. ed.) II. 150 And empty to each radiant comer A supernaculum of summer.

1895 H. Watson in Chap-bk. III. 490 I called for Burgundy—some of the right supernaculum.

1915 J. C. Powys tr. F. Rabelais in Visions & Revisions 32 Pour me out the fair Greek wine, the extravagant wine, the good wine, Lacrima Christi, supernaculum.

1947 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Kist of Whistles 19 Come, let us drink, beloved. You have brimmed my glass With a supernaculum of a cherry bounce.

1989 A. Brunton Best Bet i, in Red Mole Sketchbk. 58 A supernaculum. If you know what I mean. Something matchless.

1623 J. Mede in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. cclxxvi. 126 Our Doctors pledged healths to the Infanta and the Archduchesse, and if any left to big a snuffe, Columbo would cry ‘Supernaculum, Supernaculum.’

1659 J. Shirley Honoria & Mammon v. 75 5 So. You must take your chance, The Yeoman of the wine-seller did not Provide'em for our palate. 2 So. Supernaculum!

1827 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey IV. vi. i. 42 As he withdrew the horn from his mouth, all present..gave a loud cry of ‘Supernaculum!’

1871 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows (1890) 229 He..could see the shadow of his benign face in a flagon of Gascon wine without fancying Death sitting opposite to cry Supernaculum! when he had drained it.