what-d'ye-call-'em (-um), -her, -him, -it colloq.
(ˈhwɒtdjə-, ˈwɒtʃəkɔːləm, ɛtc)
Less commonly what-do-you-call-'em, etc.; also variously abbreviated (see quots.); also simply 7–8 what-d'ye-call. See also β. below.
[what pron. A. 1.]
An appellation for a thing or person whose name the speaker forgets, does not know or wish to mention, or thinks not worth mentioning. Also occas. substituted for any word (e.g. an adjective) which the speaker fails to recall.
| 1639 [J. Taylor] (Water-P.) Divers Crabtree Lect. 217, I..gave her a sound spurnne upon the Buttocks:..O my what doe you call't, said shee. 1641 Cowley Guardian v. v, Dog. .. How the what-d'ye-call-'um runs? What do ye call it? Pun. Time, Sir. c 1646 Milton Sonn., On new Forcers Consc. 12 By shallow Edwards and Scotch what d'ye call. 1678 Dryden Kind Keeper iii. i, His Father was Squire what-d'you call him, of what d'you call 'em Shire. 1704 Swift T. Tub Pref. 17 Spoken by Mr. Whatdicall'um. 1752 Foote Taste ii, She was a kind of a what d' ye call 'em..a sort of a Queen or Wife, or something or other to somebody, that liv'd a damn'd while ago. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy VIII. xix, There being so many tendons and what d'ye call-'ems all about it. 1773 H. Walpole Let. to W. Cole 8 Jan., Mr. What-d'ye-call-him's pamphlet. 1779 F. Burney Diary 16 June, Miss What-d'ye-call-her. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. III. 257 We..went to that public house or what-d'ye-call, in Piccadilly. 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate iii, There is good accommodation at the what-d'ye-call-'em arms. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxv, To break up old associations and what-do-you-callems of that kind. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 74 As legitimate a subject of human study as the glacial period or the silurian what-d'ye-call-ems. 1875 F. E. Trollope Charm. Fellow i, College is out of the question..unless he entered himself as a what-do-you-call-it?.. A sizar. |
† (β) In contracted forms whatd'ecalt, what d'ee cal't, what-d'ye-caw't, whatchicalt, what-sha-callum, etc. (cf. washical): sometimes analysed as = what shall I call..? Obs.
| 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 57 Hollinsheads engrosing; some-bodies abridging; and what⁓chicaltes translating. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. ii. (1601) B 4, Didst thou not see a fellow here in a what⁓sha-callum doublet? 1632 Brome North. Lasse v. v, Your great acquaintance, and alliance in the Whatshicall Court Non obstante. 1641 ― Jov. Crew ii. (1661) F 1, Rogue enough though, to offer us his whatd'ecalts? his Doxies. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 121 What think you Sir of your what-sha'come Water and Diascord? 1658 A. Fox tr. Würtz' Surg. ii. xxviii. 188 It is called also the not-named, or (a whats you call) an unknown Sore, no body knows what it is. 1673 S'too him Bayes 55, I came onely to..be a witness for the orthodoxness of what d'ee cal't. 1691 Mrs. D'Anvers Academia 10 'Tis, let me see, now, whach'ee call, Syncategorematical. a 1807 J. Skinner Songs & Poems (1859) 43 That camsteary—what-d'ye-caw't? (I think it's genius, walie fa't). 1820 Scott Abbot xxvi, My Lady What-shall⁓call 'um's powder. |
(γ) So what-ye (or -you) -call(-it, etc.), later usually what-you-may-call-it [what pron. C. 4].
| 1598 Chapman Blinde Beg. Alexandria Plays 1873 I. 28 Eli. Why hees a what you calt. Mar. A what you call it can you not name it. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iii. 74 Good euen good M{supr} what ye cal't. 16.. Middleton, etc. Old Law iii. ii, Lis. Heeres your first weapon ducks meat. Sim. How, a dutch what you call em, Stead of a German falchion. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxvii, There is no What's-his-name but Thingummy, and What-you-may-call-it is his prophet! 1870 M. Bridgman Robt. Lynne xxiv, Fine place, Bob; built by the what-you-may-call-its. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed ix, Say good-bye to the what-you-call-um girl. |