praught

English

Etymology

Derived from preach by analogy with teach : taught. Apparently a modern jocular construction but taken seriously by some. In print, generally appearing as a nonce in a much-quoted doggerel verse, attributed by some to Phoebe Cary in 1854, appearing in Punchinello 1.27 in 1870, there attributed to Amos Keeter. See quot. 1870.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɔːt/
• Rhymes: -ɔːt

Verb

praught

1. (nonstandard or humorous) simple past and past participle of preach
   • 1870, Amos Keeter, “The Lovers”, in Punchinello, volume 1, number 27:

     SALLY SALTER, she was a young teacher, who taught,
     And her friend, CHARLEY CHURCH, was a preacher, who praught;
     Though his enemies called him a screecher, who scraught.

   • 1996-05-22 The Anglican Mailing List [1]

     [...] I don't remember the earnest soul who praught it [...]

   • 2000-01-30 Larne Parish Homily Archive [2]

     They praught in the synagogue every Sabbath, week in, week out.

   • 2000-11-18 CHRIST AND CUPID: a sermon praught by Richard Major in the church of St Mark, Florence. [subtitle] [3]
   • 2002-08-16 The Church of Ireland Gazette Online [4]

     [...] including, by the way, York Minster where in 1999 he praught at the consecration of a new area bishop.

   • 2004-05 Beautful Feet International Ministries [5]

     So, I ‘praught’ at this group (median age of late 60’s-70’s J) just like they were teenagers [...]

   • 2004-06-01 Ian McLeod's Confusticated World [6]

     Yesterday our new preacher praught a very good lesson, in which he stated [...]

   • 2005-09-19 Xander: And the Army is disciplined... [7]

     I went to Balga Corps in the morning, then praught at a youth meeting at Morley Corps in the evening.

Synonyms

• preached