different between gewgaw vs fangle

English

Alternative forms

• geegaw
• gew-gaw

Etymology

From earlier gugaw, gygaw, from Middle English givegove (“gewgaw, trifle”), a reduplication of Middle English give, geove (“gift”), from Old English giefu, geofu, geafu (“gift”), from Proto-Germanic *geb? (“gift”). Compare Icelandic gyligjöf (“showy gifts, gewgaw”). More at give.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??ju????/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??u??/
  • (US) (cot-caught merger)

Noun

gewgaw (plural gewgaws)

1. A showy trifle, a toy; a showy trinket, ornament or decoration. [from 15th c.]

   • A heavy gewgaw called a crown.

   • 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), part V: “The Merchant Princes”, chapter 11, page 163, ¶¶ 2–4:

     “I am not of the neighbourhood,” said Mallow, calmly, “but the matter is irrelevant. I have had the honour to send you a little gift yesterday?——” [¶] The tech-man’s nose lifted. “I received it. An interesting gewgaw. I may have use for it on occasion.” [¶] I have other and more interesting gifts. Quite out of the gewgaw stage.”

   • 2011, Will Self, "The frowniest spot on Earth", London Review of Books, XXXIII.9:

     You or I may well view our desire to push buttons and order new electronic gewgaws as the mere reflex spasms of consumerism, but to this dynamic duo the future of the earth depends on our instant gratification more than anything else.

Translations

Adjective

gewgaw (not comparable)

1. Showy; unreal; pretentious.
   • 1678, Dryden, John, All for Love, Scene II,

     The rattle of a globe to play withal,

     This gewgaw world, and put him cheaply off;

   • 1855, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Maud; A Monodrama, X, stanza 1,

     Seeing his gewgaw castle shine,

     New as his title, built last year.

Synonyms

• gewgawish

Derived terms

• Jew's harp (possibly)

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fæ?.??l/
• Rhymes: -æ???l

Etymology 1

From Middle English fangelen (verb), from fangel (“inclined to take”, adjective), from Old English *fangol, *fangel (“inclined to take”), from f?n (“to take, seize”). Compare Old English andfangol (“undertaker, contractor”), Old English underfangelnes (“undertaking, hospitality”), Middle English fangen (“to take, seize, catch”), German fangen (“to catch”). More at fang, onfang.

Verb

fangle (third-person singular simple present fangles, present participle fangling, simple past and past participle fangled)

1. (obsolete or dialectal) To fashion, manufacture, invent, or create.
   • 1641, John Milton, Of Prelatical Episcopacy^[1]:

     […] not hereby to control and new fangle the Scripture, God forbid, but to mark how corruption and apostasy crept in by degrees, and to gather up wherever we find the remaining sparks of original truth, […]

2. (obsolete or dialectal) To trim showily; entangle; hang about.
3. (obsolete or dialectal) To waste time; trifle.

Usage notes

Although obsolete in general English, the verb is still occasionally used in some regions, and is retained in the expression newfangled.

Derived terms

• fangleness
• newfangle
• newfangled

Etymology 2

Back formation from newfangled (adjective) as if new + fangle (noun). See newfangle.

Noun

fangle (plural fangles)

1. (obsolete) A prop; a taking up; a new thing.
2. Something newly fashioned; a novelty, a new fancy.
3. A foolish innovation; a gewgaw; a trifling ornament.
4. A conceit; whim.

Anagrams

• flange