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meldrop (c.1480) a drop of mucus at the end of the nose

A WORD IN YOUR SHELL-LIKE

Even the highest in the land have to learn to live with the particular shape of their auditory nerves:

FA Cup (UK playground slang 1990s) a person with protruding ears

leav-lug’t (Cumberland) having ears which hang down instead of standing erect

sowl (Tudor–Stuart 1607) to pull by the ears

PEEPERS

Eyes are more than mere features, they are extraordinary organs we should do our very best to look after:

saccade (French 1953) the rapid jump made by the eye as it shifts from one object to another

canthus (Latin 1646) the angle between the eyelids at the corner of the eye

eyes in two watches (Royal Navy slang) of someone whose eyes appear to be moving independently of each other as a result of drunkenness or tiredness or both

especially if there’s only one of them …

half-a-surprise (UK slang late 19C) a single black eye

seven-sided animal (18C riddle) a person with only one eye (they have a right side and a left side, a foreside and a backside, an outside, an inside and a blind side)

CAKE HOLE

The glabella (Latin 1598) is the gap between the eyebrows, and the philtrum (Latin 17C) the groove below the nose. But though the mouth below attracts such crude names as gob, gash and kisser, its features and actions are more delicately described:

wikins (Lincolnshire) the corners of the mouth

fipple (Scottish and Northern) the lower lip

fissilingual (b.1913) having a forked tongue

bivver (Gloucestershire) to quiver one’s lips

mimp (1786) to speak in a prissy manner usually with pursed lips

GNASHERS

An evocative Australian expression describes teeth like a row of condemned houses. In this state, the only cure is to have them out and replaced with graveyard chompers, a Down Under phrase for false teeth, intriguingly similar to the Service slang dead man’s effects. But dental problems persist from the earliest night-time cries onwards:

neg (Cornwall 1854) a baby’s tooth

shoul (Shropshire) to shed the first teeth

laser lips; metal mouth; tin grin (US campus slang 1970s) a wearer of braces

gubbertushed (1621) having projecting teeth

snag (Gloucestershire) a tooth standing alone

CHEEK BY JOWL

What face would be complete without all those interesting bits in between?

joblocks (Shropshire) fleshy, hanging cheeks

bucculent (1656) fat-cheeked and wide-mouthed

pogonion (1897) the most projecting part of the midline of the chin

prognathous (1836) having a jaw which extends past the rest of one’s face

… not to mention other decorative surface additions:

push (Tudor–Stuart) a pimple

turkey eggs (Lincolnshire) freckles

christened by the baker (late 18C) freckle-faced

BOTTLING IT

Having broad shoulders has generally been seen to be a good thing, both literally and metaphorically. Other shapes are for some reason considered less reliable:

bible-backed (1857) round-shouldered, like one who is always poring over a book

champagne shoulders (c.1860) sloping shoulders (from the likeness to the bottle’s shape)

Coke-bottle shoulders (Royal Navy slang) shoulders possessed by those individuals who are unwilling to take responsibility in any matter (after its rounded shape)

SINISTER

Most of us are right-handed. Once again, it’s the odd ones out who get noticed, and not kindly. Left-handed people have been variously described as molly-dukered , corrie-fisted and skerry-handit (Scotland); car-handed, cack-handed and cowie-handed (North East); kay-fisted, kibbo, key-pawed and caggy-ont (Lancashire); cuddy-wifter (Northumbria); kay-neeaved or dolly-posh (Yorkshire); keggy (East Midlands) and Marlborough-handed (Wiltshire); while awk (1440) is an old English word which means ‘with or from the left hand’ and thus the wrong way, backhanded, perverse or clumsy (hence awkward).

PAWS

But all hands are carefully observed, both for how they are and for what they’re doing:

pugil (1576) what is carried between the thumb and two first fingers

yepsen (14C) as much as the cupped