“Abligurition” is an impressively obscure word, so rare that you won’t even find it in most dictionaries. Even in the dictionaries where it does appear (well, okay, the one dictionary where it seems to appear), it’s called obsolete. This is certainly unjustified; after all, even if the word itself is unfamiliar to most people, the practice it describes seems to be pretty common. And it would be an excellent candidate for resurrection and return to common usage (although it even when it was used you wouldn’t have called it common, exactly).
But then again, most people aren’t going to order a special bagel breakfast created by the Executive Chef in a gazillion-star restaurant — I’m sure you remember; it’s the one with white truffle cream cheese, Riesling jelly infused with goji berries, and golden leaves. “Abligurition” nearly appears on the menu in a different restaurant; the one offering the frittata that includes eggs, lobster, and ten ounces of “sevruga” caviar. After that if you went out again for lunch you could go for the 12 inch pizza created by Domenico Crolla. It’s toped with lobster marinated in cognac, caviar soaked in champagne, Scottish smoked salmon, and sprinkled with flakes of 24-carat gold (gold is edible, by the way — I’ve read that it doesn’t really have a taste, but eating it won’t hurt you).
The prices on those dishes? $1000, $1000, and $4200, respectively. And that should reveal what “Abligurition” means. It’s derived from the Latin verb “abligurire,” which was an amalgam of “ab” (away) and “ligurire” (to eat delicately or be fond of delicacies). In Latin it meant “to squander on delicacies”. In English it just means spending too much on food. But the best definition comes from the 1742 Universal Etymological English Dictionary, which described it as “a prodigal spending on Belly-Cheere”. So when someone gives the holiday greeting “be of good cheer,” you could always ask them which kind of cheer they mean, and if they’re offering to foot the bill for some serious belly cheer!
There are even some foods that are FAR more expensive than the ones above. And no, I don’t have a copy of the Universal Etymological English Dictionary, but you’d be amazed at what you can find online these days.
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