supernaculum

supernaculum

English

Etymology

Sham Latin, intended to mean upon the nail.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌs(j)uː.pəˈnæ.kjə.ləm/

Adverb

supernaculum (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) According to the rules of an old drinking game in which the drinker upturned the empty cup and had to drink more if the remaining droplets spilled beyond the edge of his fingernail.
2. To the last drop, to the bottom.
   • Sir Walter Scott

     Nay, it shall be an overflowing bumper, an you will; and I will drink it super naculum.

Noun

supernaculum (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Excellent wine that one would wish to drink to the last drop.
   • 1796, George Colman the Younger, The Iron Chest; Act II, Scene 4

     I've placed another flaggon on the table. Your worship knows it— number thirty-five:— the supernaculum.

   • 1836, Madrid in 1835: Sketches of the Metropolis of Spain and its Inhabitants, and of Society and Manners in the Peninsula

     Between the mattings, or dangling from the arched awning, an experienced eye may detect little pet barrels of supernaculum; some racy wine sent as a present from the correrero of Malaga, to some old friend or patron in the metropolis.