mallemaroking

/ˌmæləməˈɹoʊkɪŋ/

Etymology

Generally considered to derive from Dutch, although a specific etymon is unclear. Century and some other old dictionaries derive it from a confusion of two similar Dutch words, namely *mallemerok (“foolish woman”) (from malle (“foolish”) + *marok, from French marotte (“jester's sceptre”)) and *mallemok (“sailor of a whaling vessel”), but the first of those words is not attested, and the second is not attested with the claimed meaning (but see mollymawk). Compare mallemolen.

mallemaroking means the act of carousing on icebound Greenland whaling ships. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.

mallemaroking is pronounced /ˌmæləməˈɹoʊkɪŋ/.

Why “mallemaroking” is a great word

MALLEMAROKING — [Noun] The boisterous carousing of sailors confined on an icebound Greenland whaling vessel. Likely derived from Dutch, possibly a blend or confusion of unattested or dialectal terms such as *mallemerok ("foolish woman") or *mallemok ("sailor of a whaling vessel"), combined with the English suffix -ing. Unlike "revelry," a general, landlocked celebration, or "wassailing," with its rooted, seasonal cheer, mallemaroking is a desperate, confined festivity born of absolute stasis. It is the percussive stomp of sea-boots on frozen decking, the sharp reek of blubber-lamps cutting through the cold, and the ragged chorus of shanties swallowed by the immense silence of the ice field—a brief, roaring defiance against the crushing monotony of a world locked fast.

noun

The act of carousing on icebound Greenland whaling ships.“"Just because I had one gin before and a couple of glasses of claret during you thought I'd been mallemaroking."”