atomy

noun /ˈætəmi/

1. A skeleton.

   archaic

   Poor Brother Tom had an Accident this time Tvvelve-month, and ſo clever a made Fellovv he vvas, that I could not ſave him from thoſe fleaing Raſcals the Surgeons; and novv, poor Man, he is among the Otamys at Surgeon's Hall.

2. A person who is very emaciated or thin; a skeleton.

   figuratively

   Hoſt[ess, i.e., Mistress Quickly]. I [aye] come, you ſtarude blood-hound. / VVhoore [Doll Tearsheet]. Goodman death, goodman bones. / Hoſt. Thou Atomy, thou. / VVhoore. Come you thinne thing, come you raſcall.

3. Chiefly in the works of the English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870): a thing which is very slender and weak.

   figuratively, obsolete

   [T]he contents of his plate chest, consisting of two withered atomies of teaspoons, and an obsolete pair of knock-knee'd sugar tongs; […]

Where it comes from

Rebracketing of anatomy (“skeleton”) as an atomy; compare notomy.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry atomy (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← athetizeattar →

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