Odd Bag

I came across this interesting word and thought to share it:

Frowst

Etymology – Back-formation from frowsty

Noun. (plural frowsts)

1. Stuffiness; stifling warmth in a room.
* 1916, John Buchan, Greenmantle
I was pretty bad myself, but managed to move about all the time, for the frowst in my cabin would have sickened a hippo.

Verb. to frowst (third-person singular simple present frowsts, present participle frowsting, simple past and past participle frowsted)

1. (intransitive) To enjoy a warm, stuffy room.
* 1902, Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories

The cure for this ill is not to sit still, / Or frowst with a book by the fire;

The sound of the word brings both toasty and frosty to my mind in the nature of synonym and antonym. (Not to say it is literally the case.) In any event, the word is deliciously obscure, providing those of us who are conversationally handicapped with something to utter during an awkward moment in a full room.

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http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frowst