brillig

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Supposedly from bryl or broil.

Noun[edit]

brillig (uncountable)

  1. A nonce word in Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, explained by Humpty Dumpty as "four o'clock in the afternoon — the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."
    • 1871, Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky:
      'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]