why-not

why-not is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 1 sense. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.A violent and peremptory procedure without any assigned reason; a sudden conclusive happening. [Obs.] When the church Was taken with a why-not in the lurch. Hudibras. This game . . . was like to have been lost with a why-not. Nugæ Antiq.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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