notomy

Back-formation from anatomy.

notomy (plural notomies)

1. (dialectal, obsolete) A skeleton; (also figurative) someone emaciated.

   Synonyms: atomy; see also Thesaurus:thin person

   • 1765, Sheridan, “Letter LXXX. To Mrs. Susanna Neville”, in Jonathan Swift, editor, The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, volume XIII,  […] George Faulkner, pages 233-234:

     They allow me to eat nothing at night but blanchius manſhius, which has made a perfect notomy of me; […]

   • 1806, Rachel Hunter, chapter V, in Lady Maclairn, The Victim of Villan, volume I, London:  […] W. Earle; J. W. Hucklebridge, page 133:

     Dame Dobs, who nurses Miss, told me a wesk agonie she did not know which of the dear souls would go first, for Madam Howard was a mere notomy with fretting.

   • 1833, Asa Greene, chapter XVII, in The Life and Adventures of Dr. Dodimus Duckworth, A. N. Q., volume I, New York: Peter Hill, page 215:

     But the good lady, thought she had courage enough to speak, dared not touch the skeleton. […]
     "Do, do," said Dody, "take off the notomy!"
     "Why don't you get up?" asked Mrs. Whistlewind"
     "I can't," said the student, "I can't stir a limb, any more than if a night-mare was a top on me. The notomy is holding me down."

   • 1846, Harry Hieover, Stable Talk and Table Talk; or, Spectacles for Young Sportsmen, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, page 298:

     If he sees a gentleman on a horse that is not a colt, he begins, in a particularly civil voice, "Beg pardon, Sir! what are you axing for the old horse?" Should a servant be on one that looks in good working condition, he begins, with, "Now, then, how much for the notomy? wo, old Step-and-fetch-it: let's look at you" — this of course loud enough to be heard by all by-standers.