word-hoard \WURD-hawrd\,
noun:
A person's vocabulary.
It held what our Saxon forebears would have called his word-hoard. Prisk dipped into his invisible bag, drew out a word apparently at random, fingered it jealously for some minutes, returned it, and brought out another word.
-- Michael Innes, "The Weight Of The Evidence"
This audience, more than anything, perhaps, gave William the energy to once again unload his word hoard. And what a word hoard it was.
-- Victor Bockris, "With William Burroughs"
When Inman spoke to them they neither answered nor flickered an eye in his direction to even acknowledge the sound of his voice, and he began to assume that what the boy had spoken at the fire comprised their collective word hoard.
-- Charles Frazier, "Cold Mountain"
We need a well stocked word-hoard and should be avid to add to it.
-- Paul Edwards, "The Practical Preacher"
Word-hoard first occurred in modern English in the 1890s. It was a literal translation of the Old English word wordhord which meant "a store of words."
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