Практический курс английской лексикологии = English Lexicology Test Book

Л.И. Швыдкая 

ПРАКИЧЕСКИЙ КУРС АНГЛИЙСКОЙ

ЛЕКСИКОЛОГИИ 

ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY 

TEST BOOK 

II 

Учебник 
4-е издание, стереотипное

Москва  
Издательство «ФЛИНТА» 
2019 

УДК 811.111(075.8) 
ББК 81.2Англ 

Ш358 

Р е ц е н з е н т ы :  
кандидат филологических наук, профессор Нижегородского государственного 
лингвистического университета 
И.М. Деева 
доктор филологических наук, профессор Санкт-Петербургского
института внешнеэкономических связей, экономики и права 
В.В. Кабакчи 
доктор филологических наук, профессор Волгоградского
государственного педагогического университета 
В.И. Карасик 

Швыдкая Л.И. 
Практический курс английской лексикологии.: в 2-х ч. Ч. II [Электронный ресурс] : 
учебник / Л.И. Швыдкая. – 4-е изд., стер. – М. :ФЛИНТА, 2019. — 244 с. 

ISBN 978-5-9765-2028-8 

English Lexicology Test Book является учебником нового типа, в котором органиче
ски сочетаются теоретические положения с обширным фактическим материалом.  Впервые в
практике преподавания лексикологии использован метод тестирования Multiple Choice, позволяющий выработать автоматический навык соединения теории и практики, а также обеспечить эффективный контроль и самоконтроль. 

Часть I содержит разделы по этимологии и словообразованию; часть II – по систем
ным отношениям лексики, семантике, идиоматике.  Завершает учебник раздел на повторение, включающий три полноформатных теста.  Все разделы учебника и серии заданий имеют
идентичную структуру: от идентификации параметров и механизма создания явления до
узуального и окказионального употребления в разных функциональных стилях.  Все задания
снабжены ключами ответов. 

Учебник предназначен для студентов факультетов иностранных языков, аспирантов, 

филологов широкого профиля, переводчиков, преподавателей и специалистов в области
лингвистики, а также широкого круга лиц, планирующих сдачу экзаменов для получения
одного из сертификатов международного образца.  

УДК 811.111(075.8) 

ББК 81.2Англ 

ISBN 978-5-9765-2028-8  
  © Издательство «ФЛИНТА», 2014 

Ш358

CONTENTS 
 
 
Register, Time Axis and Regional Differentiation of the Vocabulary 
4 

Semantics. Semantic Grouping 
40 

            Semantic Change 
46 

Polysemy. Homonyms 
62 

Paronyms 
85 

Hyponyms. Synonyms 
96 

Antonyms 
106 

Idioms 
117 

Revision 
185 

Answer Keys 
219 

References 
227 

Dictionaries 
231 

Sources 
234 

Index 
245 

 
 
 
 
 

REGISTER, TIME AXIS AND REGIONAL DIFFERENTIATION OF 
THE VOCABULARY 
 
 
TIME AXIS DIFFERENTIATION 
 
 
Obsolete Words (outdated, no longer in active use): Archaic words 
(archaisms) and Historisms. 
Archaisms: 
Lexical archaism, a word that denotes a thing or idea which continues to exist 
but which is generally named differently nowadays. 
E.g., plight – to pledge 
        ween – to think 
        betide – to happen to 
Grammatical archaism, an archaic grammatical form or structure. 
E.g., kine – cows 
        dost – do 
        hath – has 
Historism, a word that denotes an outdated thing or phenomenon. 
E.g.,  lyre – a stringed instrument of the harp family used in ancient Greece; 
musket – a smoothbore shoulder gun used from the late 16th                       

through the 18th century. 
Neologism, a new word or word equivalent formed according to the productive 
structural patterns or borrowed from another language; a new meaning of an 
established word.  
E.g., E-mail, laptop, glasnost, bag lady, etc. 
Neologisms may be the result of: 
1. Abbreviation: comms fr. Communications; SAD – seasonal affective     
depression. 
2. Affixation: to deselect – to remove from participation;  
clothesaholic – a person obsessed with clothes;  
genderist – involving unfair discrimination between male and female. 
3. Back-formation: to explete – to use an expletive, swear. 
4. Blending: magalog (magazine + catalog) – a large magazine-format     
catalog advertizing mail-order goods. 
5. Borrowing: pryzhok (fr. Russian); visagiste (fr. French), intifada (fr. 
Arabic). 
6. Compounding: flesh-pressing – large-scale hand-shaking, especially as a 
political campaign ploy. 

7. Conversion: to Velcro – to be fastened by means of Velcro; to stiff – to be a 
commercial failure; flop. 
8. Semantic change: brilliant (of a weapons system) – capable of extremely 
precise self-guidance to target individual enemy sites [metaphor]; pink 
collar – working in a job traditionally held by women of the middle class 
[metonymy]; to disimprove – to make or become worse [euphemism]. 
Nonce-word, a word coined and used for a single occasion. 
E.g., Every time he gets to the fourth whisky-and-potash [whiskey and soda], 
he always becomes maudlin about this female. (Wodehouse. Life…) Register 
(functional style), a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of 
communication, related to a level of formality, anywhere on a scale from the 
extremely formal or ceremonial to the colloquial or slangy, and manifested in 
syntax, vocabulary, and, possibly, pronunciation. 
Vocabulary: 
Formal (learned, official, literary, bookish), used in official documents, 
business correspondence, etc. (officialese, journalese, etc.). 
E.g., feasible, commence, whereof, proceed, commodities, repudiate, etc. 
Informal (colloquial), used in everyday, informal talk or writing, 
conversational. 
E.g., That was a close shave; you nearly ran over the dog! (Barnhart) 
        I put down the receiver. The buck had been passed, I thought.        
(Francis. Dead…) 
        The intercom buzzed. “Miss Collins returning Mr. Marron’s call.”        
(Clark. I’ll Be…) 
Neutral words form the bulk of the English vocabulary; they are independent 
of the register and can be used in both formal and informal communication. 
Terminology, the system of terms used in a specific field of art, science, etc. 
Special terminology: linguistic terminology, medical terminology, radio 
engineering terminology, etc. 
Term, a word or word-group used to name a notion characteristic of some 
special field of knowledge, industry or culture. 
E.g., Linguistic terms: word, syntax, phoneme, suffix, borrowing, polysemy, 
metaphor, hyponymy. 
Scientific terms: proliferation, tractable, trapezium, bacillus, chemical 
laser, chaology. 
Technical terms: quantum, tenon, transmission, ring gear. 
Slang, a vastly developed subgroup of non-standard (sub-standard) colloquial 
words and phrases used in familiar discourse. Slang words are expressive, 
mostly ironical words serving to create fresh names for some things that are 

frequent topics of discourse. General slang includes words that are not specific 
for any social or professional group. 
E.g., four-eyes – a person who wears eye-glasses; goosy – touchy, jumpy, 
sensitive; schmendrick – a stupid person, esp. an awkward and inert nonentity; 
ratted (Brit.) – drunk; duke it out (U.S.) – to fight with one’s fists. 
Rhyming slang (London’s East End cockney slang) – substitutes a rhyme for 
the word in mind. 
E.g., cod’s roe – dough (money) 
        custard and jelly – telly (television) 
        bacon and eggs – legs 
In speech the actual rhyming word is often omitted. 
E.g., I like me glass of pig’s. [Pig’s ear – beer]  
        That’s worth a lot o’ bees. [Bees and honey – money] 
Slanguage (special slang, professional and/or social jargon) is peculiar for 
some social or professional group. 
E.g., U.S. teenage slanguage: newbs – new boys; moon-man – a person not like 
us; butter – a student who fawns on others, especially on teachers; grungy 
– shabby, dirty. 
College/University student slanguage: to ace – to do very well on a test; 
rack – female chest, a bed; to scope – to look over at a classmate’s exam 
paper; frat – a college fraternity. 
Afro-American slanguage : a – yes, correct; to zap – to move quickly; a 
handkerchief head – an Uncle Tom; ripped – intoxicated. 
Hauliers’ slanguage: anchor – a brake; Chinese dominoes – a load of 
bricks; pimple – a steep hill; pipe – a telephone. 
Moving-picture slanguage: niggers – blackboards used to ‘kill’ unwanted 
reflections from the powerful lights; inkies (fr. incandescent) – lights; 
Gertrude – a giant steel crane with a camera at its head. 
Underworld slanguage: to flag – to arrest; dime – a ten-year prison 
sentence; to make – to rob, steal; rod – a pistol. 
Vulgar word (vulgarism), a phrase or word characterizing (used in) coarse, 
ignorant speech. Vulgar terms are to be used only when one is aware of and 
desires their strong effect. 
E.g., □ shit-all □ – not any; none at all 
        □ to come □ – to have an orgasm 
        □ cock □ – the penis 
Taboo words, forbidden, prohibited, banned. For the most part these are fourletter words, names or abusive terms. Taboo terms are never to be used. 
E.g., ■ nigger ■ – a black person 
        ■ slant-eye ■ – an Asian person 

■ fuckhead ■ – a despicable person 
 
 
REGIONAL VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY: 
American English and British English 
 
 
American English, the variant or variety of English spoken in the USA. 
Americanism, a word or a set expression peculiar to the English language as 
spoken in the USA.  
E.g., cookie – a biscuit; frame house – a house consisting of a skeleton of 
timber, with boards or shingles laid on; frame-up – a staged or 
preconcerted law case; guess – think; store – shop. 
British English, the variant of English used in Great Britain.   
Briticism, a word or a set expression peculiar to the English language as 
spoken in Great Britain, i.e. a word or phrase that is of distinctively (modern) 
British origin, particularly in contrast to a different American equivalent.    
E.g., laddish – having the quality of macho uncouthness  and aggression 
exhibited by male groups; dawn raid – a sudden unexpected attempt to 
buy a significant proportion of a company’s equity, typically at the start of 
a day’s trading. 
 
 
QUIZ ONE 
 
Each of the following sets contains a historism. Can you identify it? 
 
1. 
A. What is my valley to thee, that thou shouldst tarry in it? Get thee 
gone, and come here no more. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
B. For many weeks activities were confined to long-range shots 
from bows and arbalests and a few stones from the catapults 
that had been erected just out of range of these effective hand 
weapons. (Schoonover) 
C. Its take-off from a carrier deck will be assisted by a catapult, 
which might be described as a giant slingshot. (Barnhart) 
D. One afternoon I saw two boys with catapults aiming, as I 
thought, at a high garden wall. (Barnhart) 
 
2. 
A. I gave him a description of cannons, culverins, muskets, 
carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, 

sieges … (Swift) 
B. The quasi-military status that his craft accorded him opened 
many doors to Hugh … (Schoonover) 
C. There is a war in the mountains of Tartary, and the kings of 
each side are calling to thee. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
D. “Thou hast slain a third of my servants,” she cried, “get thee 
gone.” (Wilde. Fairy…) 
 
3. 
A. 
… I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these 
diminutive mortals, who durst venture to mount and walk up 
on my body … (Swift) 
B. 
It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he shook his 
head by way of disapprobation … (Swift) 
C. 
I had learned in my youth to play a little upon the spinet. 
(Swift) 
D. 
… there I studied physic two years and seven months, knowing 
it would be useful in long voyages. (Swift) 
 
4. 
A. And the Chamberlain spake to the young King, and said … 
(Wilde. Fairy…) 
B. And when he reached the great portal of the cathedral, the 
soldiers thrust their halberts out … (Wilde. Fairy…) 
C. In the salt-marshes live the lepers; they have houses of wattled 
reeds, and none may come nigh them. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
D. In the left there was a sort of engine, from the back of which 
were extended twenty long poles, resembling the palisados 
before your Majesty’s court … (Swift) 
 
5. 
A. One evening I met some negroes carrying a heavy palanquin 
through the bazaar. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
B. … a pale-faced Circassian looked out and smiled at me. (Wilde. 
Fairy…) 
C. … and when he had wiped away the bright sweat from his brow 
with a little napkin of purfled and purple silk, he said to me … 
(Wilde. Fairy…) 
D. In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest, with a cover of the 
same metal … (Swift) 
 
6. 
A. In a city that I know of there is an inn that standeth by a river. 
(Wilde. Fairy…) 

B. And his Soul said to him, “Smite that child.” So he smote the 
child till it wept … (Wilde. Fairy…) 
C. Her eyes are coloured with stibium, and her nostrils are shaped 
like the wings of a swallow. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
D. Their skins appeared so coarse and uneven, so variously 
coloured, when I saw them near, with a mole here and there as 
broad as a trencher, and hairs hanging from it thicker than pickthreads … (Swift) 
 
7. 
A. I then said to the Queen, since I was now her Majesty’s most 
humble creature and vassal, I must beg the favour, that 
Glumdalclitch … might be admitted into her service, and 
continue to be my nurse and instructor. (Swift) 
B. He stood there in the raiment of a king, and the gates of the 
jewelled shrine flew open and from the crystal of the manyrayed monstrance shone a marvellous and mystical light. 
(Wilde. Fairy…) 
C. … the bulk of the people consist in a manner wholly of 
discoverers, 
witnesses, 
informers, 
accusers, 
prosecutors, 
evidences, swearers … (Swift) 
D. Pierre discovered that Latin was not only the language of the 
Mass, but that it was the daily vehicle of speech among 
thousands of European scholars and statesmen … (Schoonover) 
 
8. 
A. Suffer me now to tell thee of the world’s pain, and it may be that 
thou wilt hearken. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
B. On and on went the two Woodcutters, blowing lustily upon their 
fingers, and stamping with their huge iron-shod boots upon the 
caked snow. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
C. Well, this one is missing his camail. He came out from behind a 
rock. I was surprised to see him so close. (Schoonover) 
D. Nicol the Chirurgeon bowed in acknowledgement, and asked, 
“Are you sure the spot was there this morning?” (Schoonover) 
 
9. 
A. There were six Spanish pieces of four pistols each, besides 
twenty or thirty smaller coins. (Swift) 
B. In its original ownership the inn had gone by the grandiose name 
of l’Hôtel Saint-Denis, in honour of the patron saint of France 
… (Schoonover) 
C. Better that we had died of cold in the forest, or that some wild 

beast had fallen upon us and slain us. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
D. But as they were bewailing their misery to each other this 
strange thing happened. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
 
10. 
A. I gathered plenty of eggs upon the rocks, and got a quantity of 
dry sea-weed, and parched grass, which I designed to kindle the 
next day, and roast my eggs as well as I could (for I had about 
me my flint, steel, match, and burning-glass). (Swift) 
B. The place is stored with great variety of sextants, quadrants, 
telescopes, astrolabes, and other astronomical instruments. 
(Swift) 
C. This sounds like a very treasonable transaction, friend Pierre! 
(Schoonover) 
D. I did not omit even our sports and pastimes, or any other 
particular which I thought might redound to the honour of my 
country. (Swift) 
 
 
QUIZ TWO 
 
Each of the following sets contains a lexical archaism. Can you identify it? 
 
1. 
A. … the trusty messenger who bare the child across his saddlebow stooped from his weary horse and knocked at the rude door 
of the goatherd’s hut … (Wilde. Fairy…) 
B. Then the negroes seized the youngest of the slaves and knocked 
his gyves off, and filled his nostrils and his ears with wax, and 
tied a big stone round his waist. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
C. And of everything that he met he made inquiry if perchance 
they had seen his mother. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
D. … and their hired men drave him away, and there was none 
who had pity on him. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
 
2. 
A. “My desire is but for a little thing,” said the young Fisherman, 
“yet hath the Priest been wroth with me, and driven me forth 
…” (Wilde. Fairy…) 
B. Its voice was low and flute-like, and its lips hardly moved while 
it spake. (Wilde. Fairy…) 
C. We took the ripe pomegranates from the trees, and brake them. 
And drank their sweet juices. (Wilde. Fairy…)