"Wart," on the other hand, has meant "a small excrescence on the skin" since it appeared in [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] from a Germanic [[root]]. Several centuries of [[development]] gave "wart" a variety of figurative [[meanings]], including that of "a [[defect]] or unattractive feature" (as in the phrase "warts and all") and, perhaps [[inevitably]], "an annoying, obnoxious or insignificant person" in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 19th century]. | "Wart," on the other hand, has meant "a small excrescence on the skin" since it appeared in [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] from a Germanic [[root]]. Several centuries of [[development]] gave "wart" a variety of figurative [[meanings]], including that of "a [[defect]] or unattractive feature" (as in the phrase "warts and all") and, perhaps [[inevitably]], "an annoying, obnoxious or insignificant person" in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 19th century]. |