Frogging

Posted by Lewis on March 06, 2003

In Reply to: Befrogged? posted by S. on March 04, 2003

: : : Has anyone else seen this strange word in print? I don't remember the exact context, but I'm fairly certain that it wasn't just a misspelling of "befogged".

: : There is indeed such a word, and it means "gilded or adorned with decorative braids". The only place I recall seeing the word is the Sherlock Holmes stories:

: : "Our new acquaintance [Mr Thaddeus Sholto] very deliberately coiled up the tube of his hookah and produced from behind a curtain a very long befrogged topcoat with astrakhan collar and cuffs."

: : --Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign Of [The] Four, Chapter 4

: Thanks a lot.

Also mentioned in the Bernard Cornwell "Sharpe" series of historical action-adventures.