Limericks
A limerick is a humorous five-line verse with a characteristic rhyming pattern, as shown in these examples:
There was a young lady named Bright,
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
In a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
ARTHUR BULLER
An Anglican curate in want
Of a second-hand portable font
Will exchange for the same
A photo (with frame)
Of the Bishop-Elect of Vermont.
RONALD KNOX
It is allegedly so called because the line ‘Will you come up to Limerick?’ (referring to the place of that name in Ireland) was formerly used as a refrain for similar nonsense verses.
8.14 breakage, wastage, weighbridge, Weybridge, Cambridge, Bainbridge, drainage
8.15 Baal, Mayall, Abel, able, Babel, cable, fable, gable, label, Mabel, sable, stable, table, maple, papal, staple, Gaitskell, bagel, Hegel, plagal, Schlegel, cradle, ladle, fatal, natal, ratel, playful, wakeful, fateful, grateful, hateful, tasteful, wasteful, faithful, baleful, shameful, baneful, gainful, painful, graceful, changeful, Flavell, naval, navel, Wavell, April, sacral, wastrel, Bakewell, anal, basal, staysail, mainsail, hazel, Hazel, nasal, phrasal, facial, glacial, racial, spatial, Rachel, angel, * betrayal, defrayal, portrayal, unable, unstable, Clark Gable, relabel, enable, disable, cloacal, inveigle, finagle, prenatal, hiatal, nonfatal, postnatal, ungrateful, distasteful, unfaithful, disdainful, disgraceful, decanal, appraisal, abbatial, palatial, preglacial, biracial, nonracial, postglacial, archangel, * worktable, turntable, timetable, witch hazel, * antenatal, perinatal, neonatal, reappraisal, interracial, multiracial, * maxillofacial
8.16 abled, cabled, fabled, labelled, stapled, cradled, * unlabelled, enabled, disabled, etc.
8.17 gables, labels, tables, Naples, staples, Rachel’s, angels, etc.
8.18 paynim, * verbatim, * restrain him, hate him, etc.
8.19 Graham, Grahame, begum, sheikhdom, saintdom, datum, Tatum, Latham, Nahum, Salem, Abram, sacrum, eightsome, Hailsham, * vade mecum, petrolatum, ultimatum, simulacrum, * pay ’em, fail ’em, etc.
8.20 weigh-in, Sabin, tailspin, Aitken, snakeskin, Fagin, Palin, * Onegin, * riboflavin, * shapin’, misbehavin’, etc.
8.21 crayon, rayon, capon, bacon, Bacon, shaken, taken, waken, pagan, Reagan, Aden, Aidan, Blaydon, Braden, Gaydon, Haydon, laden, Leyden, maiden, Clayton, Dayton, Deighton, Drayton, greaten, Layton, Paton, Peyton, phaeton, Satan, straighten, straiten, Paignton, Maidstone, Avon, craven, graven, haven, raven, shaven, Nathan, Galen, apron, matron, patron, Bremen, cayman, Cayman, Damon, drayman, Eamon, Hayman, layman, Lehmann, baseman, statesman, tradesman, dalesman, salesman, gamesman, plainsman, Canaan, basin, caisson, chasten, Grayson, hasten, Jason, mason, Mason, Jameson, blazon, brazen, raisin, Asian, suasion, Cajun, Trajan, * Malayan, Ghanaian, Linnean, Pompeiian, misshapen, awaken, Jamaican, forsaken, unshaken, partaken, mistaken, Nijmegen, unshaven, O’Faolain, Marquesan, liaison, emblazon, occasion, pervasion, abrasion, persuasion, evasion, invasion, equation, dissuasion, Caucasian, Eurasian, contagion, * handmaiden, Newhaven, handbasin, Freemason, washbasin, stonemason, * Galilean, Eritrean, Himalayan, reawaken, godforsaken, overtaken, unmistaken, Copenhagen, overladen, Milford Haven, Venezuelan, diapason, dermabrasion, Australasian, * Kyrie eleison
8.22 Asian, Haitian, nation, station, Thracian
8.23 probation, gradation, collation, Galatian, conflation, Horatian, narration, serration, natation, lactation, plantation, salvation, stagflation, translation, castration, Dalmatian, stagnation, damnation, taxation, Alsatian, carnation, tarnation, starvation, aeration, vacation, claymation, temptation, gestation, cessation, vexation, sensation, purgation, flirtation, creation, Creation, deflation, reflation, predation, sedation, cetacean, dictation, legation, negation, elation, relation, inflation, filtration, cremation, fixation, striation, libation, citation, dilation, gyration, vibration, migration, titration, privation, oblation, prostration, oration, formation, causation, duration, foundation, Croatian, location, vocation, rogation, flotation, notation, potation, quotation, rotation, ovation, donation, truncation, crustacean, gustation, slumpflation, frustration, summation, pulsation, pupation, mutation, Eustachian
Praise with elation,
Praise every morning,
God’s re-creation
Of the new day.
ELEANOR FARJEON
8.24 approbation, masturbation, avocation, advocation, allocation, translocation, arrogation, abrogation, annotation, lamentation, fragmentation, aggravation, appellation, Appalachian, cancellation, flagellation, aberration, adoration, laceration, maceration, adumbration, affirmation, acclamation, adaptation, transplantation, affectation, attestation, annexation, palliation, abdication, mastication, application, fabrication, castigation, navigation, allegation, aggregation, abnegation, validation, habitation, capitation, palpitation, gravitation, sanitation, agitation, captivation, activation, salivation, vacillation, aspiration, transpiration, admiration, calibration, animation, marination, lamination, fascination, vaccination, machination, pagination, assignation, affixation, transmigration, transportation, malformation, transformation, blaxploitation, graduation, actuation, valuation, amputation, salutation, transmutation, tabulation, calculation, strangulation, adulation, granulation, maturation, saturation, adjuration, accusation, * exacerbation, extrapolation, collaboration, elaboration, evaporation, exasperation, exaggeration, amalgamation, retaliation, repatriation, expatriation, substantiation, emancipation, eradication, elastication, reapplication, prevarication, prefabrication, dilapidation, invalidation, cohabitation, decapitation, deactivation, reactivation,