dudgeon
dudgeon Lexical Profile
dudgeon Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A feeling of offense, deep resentment, or angry indignation, now used chiefly in the phrase 'in high dudgeon'.
"After his proposal was summarily dismissed by the committee, the director departed the meeting in high dudgeon."
A type of mottled wood, especially the root of the boxwood tree, historically used for making the hilts of daggers, or a dagger having such a hilt.
"The museum's sixteenth-century armory collection features a finely carved dudgeon dagger worn by a Tudor nobleman."
Word Nuance & Usage
In contemporary English, 'dudgeon' is almost exclusively encountered in the fixed prepositional phrase 'in high dudgeon', meaning in a state of deep resentment or offended indignation.
• Rhymes for dudgeon
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the late 16th century in the sense of resentment, of unknown origin; an earlier homonym meaning 'a kind of wood used for dagger hilts' came from Anglo-Norman digeon, though the two senses are believed to be etymologically unrelated.