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Title: A Glossary of Stuart and Tudor Words - especially from the dramatists
Author: Skeat, Walter William
Language: English
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A G L O S S A R Y
OF
TUDOR AND STUART WORDS
_ESPECIALLY FROM THE DRAMATISTS_
COLLECTED BY
WALTER W. SKEAT
Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in
the University of Cambridge, 1878-1912
EDITED WITH ADDITIONS BY
A. L. MAYHEW
M.A., Wadham College, Oxford
O X F O R D
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1914
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK
TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY
HUMPHREY MILFORD M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY
EDITOR’S PREFACE
In the summer of 1910 I was staying at Llandrindod, and had the pleasure
of meeting there my old friend Professor Skeat. Of course we had many a
long talk about our favourite studies, and about his literary plans. He
was always planning some literary task, for before he had finished one
work, he had either begun another, or had another in prospect. I said to
him one day, ‘You’re always working, do you ever find time for
recreation?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘when I want to amuse myself, I take up
some old play.’ This story explains the genesis of this book.
Like John Gilpin’s wife, it seems that though on pleasure he was bent,
he had a frugal mind. He did not forget business. When reading Ben
Jonson or Beaumont and Fletcher he had pencil in hand, and whenever he
came to a word that might prove a stumbling-block to the general reader,
he noted that word, and eventually wrote it on a separate slip
(note-paper size) with exact reference and explanation. In July, 1911,
in Oxford, when we were together for the last time, the professor told
me about the book he was preparing—mainly consisting of the words he
had collected in reading the Tudor and Stuart dramatists. He did not
intend it to be a big book. When I asked whether it would contain
quotations like Nares’ Glossary, he said it would contain only a few
quotations, and those short ones, and would consist mostly of
explanations and references, with brief etymologies. I heard no more of
the book during his lifetime. But frequent letters passed between us on
the etymologies of English words, many of which he was meeting with in
the material he was collecting. On October 6, 1912, that eager,
enthusiastic spirit passed away, to the regret of all who work in the
field of English philology, of all who love the English tongue, wherever
on this habitable globe they may chance to live. Not long after, in
November, I heard from Mrs. Skeat that her husband had left material for
a Glossary of Rare Words, in slips amounting to nearly 7,000, arranged
in alphabetical order, and that Professor Skeat’s executors would be
very glad if I would be able to edit and prepare the work for
publication. I agreed to do this, on condition that the executors should
ask the advice of a pupil of Dr. Skeat, an eminent English scholar, and
also, of course, that the Delegates of the Clarendon Press would consent
to the arrangement. On December 4 I received a letter from the Clarendon
Press, informing me that the Delegates accepted my offer. A day or two
after the box containing the MS. arrived, and on December 9 I addressed
myself to the task. With the exception of a short intermission in July,
the work has had my continuous and undivided attention for one year.
On examination of the MS. it appeared that, although Professor Skeat had
arranged the material in the form of a Glossary, he had not put the
finishing touches to the book (many slips were practically duplicates or
triplicates), and had not even finally limited the scope: the title of
the book was not settled.
And now it will be proper to state as clearly as possible what the
Editor thought it his duty to do in preparing his friend’s work for
publication. In the first place he did not think that it fell within his
province to make any considerable addition to the Word-list. The
Vocabulary remains much as Professor Skeat left it. But it was found
necessary, in going over the work, to make additions in many articles,
in order to explain the history of the word, or to illustrate its
meaning; connecting links had to be supplied, where the meanings of a
word apparently had no connexion with one another. In this part of the
work the Editor found great help in the New English Dictionary; and it
will be seen that there is hardly a page of this book on which there
does not occur the significant abbreviation (NED.). With the same help
the definitions have been revised, and in many cases made more definite
and explicit in order to explain the passage referred to. Professor
Skeat’s plan was to give, as a rule, only references; it has been
thought advisable to add many quotations, especially in cases where a
quotation appeared necessary to illustrate a rare meaning of a word. In
order to secure uniformity in arrangement many of the articles had to be
re-written. For the illustrative matter, outside the literary English of
the Tudor and Stuart period; the comparison of Tudor and Stuart words
with provincial words found in the English Dialect Dictionary (EDD.);
the exact references to earlier English—Middle English (ME.) and Old
English (OE.); as well as the citation of cognate foreign forms, the
Editor is responsible. In giving this additional matter he believes that
he would have had the cordial approval of Professor Skeat, and hopes
that he has added to the usefulness of the book.
If I may be allowed I would end on a personal note. I have thought it a
great privilege to have been invited to complete the work of one held in
such honour and esteem as Professor Skeat. And it has been a great
pleasure to do something which might show, however inadequately, my
gratitude for a friendship of nearly forty years. I wish the work that
has been done on his book had been better done; I wish that it could
have been undertaken by some one better equipped for the task, by one
who had a more intimate acquaintance with the literature of the period
dealt with. I hope that the imperfections of the book as it leaves my
hands will be treated leniently. No one can be more conscious of them
than he who is now bidding farewell to the task.
I have been fortunate in obtaining the help of two scholars who are
masters of their subjects. My friend of many years, Dr. Henry Bradley,
one of the Editors of _The New English Dictionary_, has taken an
interest in the work from the first, which has been most encouraging.
His views of what had to be done with the material I found, after I had
made some progress in my task, coincided with those I had independently
formed. He has most kindly read the proof-sheets throughout, and has
made many valuable suggestions which I have gladly adopted. Mr. Percy
Simpson, who has made a special study of the dramatists of the period
treated, and particularly of Ben Jonson, has also kindly read the
proof-sheets, and from his familiarity with the textual criticism of
these authors has been able to correct some errors in the texts cited. I
cannot conclude without expressing my thanks to the ‘reader’ for the
accuracy with which the proof-sheets represented the MS., as well as for
his judicious and conscientious use of the blue pencil.
A. L. MAYHEW.
OXFORD,
_Dec. 9, 1913_.
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—— Utopia, tr. by R. Robynson, 1551; ed. Arber, 1869; ed. Lumby, 1879.
—— Richard III; ed. Lumby, 1882.
Morte Arthur; see Malory.
Morte Arthure (an alliterative poem); c. 1440; ed. E. Brock (EETS.,
1865.)
Munday, Anthony; Play-writer, ballad-writer, and pamphleteer; The Mirror
of Mutabilitie, or Principal Part of the Mirrour of Magistrates:
Selected out of the Sacred Scriptures.
Nabbes, Thomas; Dramatist; Microcosmus, 1637.
Napier, A. S.; Old English Glosses (Anecdota Oxoniensia, 1900).
Nares, Robert; A Glossary to the Works of English Authors, particularly
Shakespeare and his contemporaries, 1822; a new ed. by J. O. Halliwell
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NED.; The New English Dictionary. Editors, Sir James Murray, Dr. Henry
Bradley, and Dr. William Craigie. The Clarendon Press, Oxford.
North, Sir Thomas; Translation of Plutarch’s Lives, 1595.
—— Shakespeare’s Plutarch, being a Selection from North’s Plutarch, by
W. W. Skeat, 1875.
Norton, Thomas; Collaborator with Thomas Sackville in writing the first
English tragedy of _Gorboduc_, 1561; and of Sternhold and Hopkins, in a
version of the Psalms, 1562. Translator of Calvin’s Institutes, 1561.
Notes on English Etymology, W. W. Skeat, 1901.
Occleve; see Hoccleve.
O’Curry, E.; Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, 3 vols., 1873.
Oldest English Texts; ed. H. Sweet (EETS., 1886).
Oldham, John; Poetical Works, ed. by Robert Bell, 1871. [Born 1653, died
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Oxford Records: Selections from the Records of the City of Oxford,
1509-83; ed. W. H. Turner, 1880.
Palsgrave, Jehan; Lesclaircissement de la Langue Françoyse, 1530;
reprint, Paris, 1852.
Paston Letters, 1422-1509; ed. J. Gairdner, 1872-5.
Paul, H.; Deutsches Wörterbuch, 1897.
Peele, George; Dramatic and Poetical Works; ed. A. Dyce, 1839. [Died
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Pepys, Samuel; Diary, 1659-69; ed. Lord Braybrooke.
Phaer, Thomas; The Nyne First Books of the Æneid of Virgil, 1562; the
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Phillips, Edward; The New World of Words, or Universal English
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Piers Plowman, 1362-1400; ed. W. W. Skeat, with Notes and Glossary,
1877-84.
Plantin, Christophe; Thesaurus Theutonicae Linguae, 1573.
Plowman’s Tale, The, c. 1400; printed in The Works of Jeffrey Chaucer,
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Ray’s Collection, with Large Additions, 1870.
Proverbs. Early English Proverbs, collected by W. W. Skeat, 1910.
Proverbs of Hendyng, 1272-1307; printed in Reliquiae Antiquae (ed.
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Psalter (Anglo-Norman), 12th cent.; ed. by F. Michel from a Bodleian
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Psalter of the Great Bible, 1539; ed. John Earle, 1894.
Psalter, Old English; see Vespasian Psalter.
Puttenham, G.; The Arte of English Poesie, 1589; ed. Arber, 1869.
Quarles, Francis; Argalus and Parthenia, 1621; Emblems Divine and Moral,
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Rabelais, Œuvres de, avec un Glossaire par M. Pierre Jannet, 1874.
Randolph, Thomas; Dramatist; The Muses’ Looking-Glass, 1638.
Ray, John; A Collection of English Proverbs, 1670; ed. 5, H. G. Bohn,
1870.
—— A Collection of English Words, 2nd ed. 1691; rearranged and edited
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Return from Parnassus, The; Pt. i acted in Cambridge, 1601; ed. W. D.
Macray, 1886; Pt. ii, acted 1602. The whole edited by Arber, 1870.
Reynard the Fox, translated and printed by William Caxton, 1481; ed.
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Richard the Redeles, printed with the C text of Piers the Plowman; ed.
W. W. Skeat, 1886.
Rietz, J. E.; Svenskt Dialekt-Lexicon, 1867.
Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, c. 1298; ed. T. Hearne, 1724;
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Robynson, Raphe; tr. of More’s Utopia, 2nd ed. 1556; ed. J. R. Lumby,
1879; ed. Arber. See More, Sir T.
Rogers, Daniel; Divine Naaman the Syrian, 1642.
Roister Doister, see Udall.
Rollo, Richard, of Hampole; died 1349; see Hampole.
Romaunt of the Rose. A translation of the French Roman de la Rose; Part
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Rönsch, Hermann; Itala und Vulgata, 1875 (Die Römische Volkssprache).
Roquette, J. I.; Dictionnaire Portugais-Français, Paris, 1855.
Rough List: of English Words found in Anglo-French, in Skeat’s Notes on
English Etymology, 1901.
Rowley, William; Comedian and Playwright. A Search for Money; or the
Lamentable Complaint for the Losse of the Wandering Knight, Monsieur
l’Argent, 1609.
Sackville, Thomas, Lord Buckhurst [born 1536, died 1608]; see Gorboduc,
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Sainéan, L.; L’Argot ancien, 1907.
Sandys, George; A Relation of a Journey, 1610; ed. 3, 1632.
Schade, Oskar; Altdeutsches Wörterbuch, 1872-82.
Schmid, Johann Christoph von; Schwäbisches Wörterbuch, 1844.
Schmidt, Alexander; Shakespeare-Lexicon, 1874-5.
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Shadwell, Thomas; Dramatist, Poet Laureate. [Born 1640, died 1692.]
Shakespeare. The Globe Edition; ed. by W. G. Clark and W. Aldis Wright,
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Sherwood, Robert (‘Londoner’); A Dictionary. English and French, 1672
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Shirley, James; Dramatic Works; ed. A. Dyce, 1833. [Born c. 1594, died
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Sidney, Sir Philip; Arcadia, 1581, published 1590; Apology for Poetrie,
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Skelton, John; Poetical Works; ed. A. Dyce, 1843. [Born c. 1460, died
1529.]
Skinner, S.; Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae, 1671.
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C. A. M. Fennell, 1892.
Stanyhurst, Richard; tr. of Aeneid, bks. i-iv, 1582; ed. Arber, 1880.
Stevens, John; Spanish and English Dictionary, 1706.
Stow, John; Survey of London, 1598; ed. Thoms, 1842.
Strutt, Joseph; The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, 1801;
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Stubbes, Philip; Anatomy of the Abuses in England, 1583; ed. F. J.
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Student’s Pastime, A; Selections of Articles reprinted from ‘Notes and
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Surrey, Earl of (Henry Howard) [died 1547]. Poems; in Tottel’s
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Sweet, Henry; The Student’s Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, 1897.
Tarlton, Richard; Satirist; Tarlton’s Newes out of Purgatorie, publ.
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Thersites, An Interlude, first performed in August, 1537; 1st ed. c.
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Thomas, Antoine; Essais de Philologie Française, 1897.
Tomkis (or Tomkys), Thomas; Plays in Hazlitt’s Dodsley. Albumazar, 1615.
Topsell, Edward; The History of four-footed Beasts and Serpents, 1608.
Tottel, Richard; Printer of Tottel’s Miscellany, a collection of verses,
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Tourneur, Cyril; Plays and Poems; ed. J. Churton Collins, 1878. [Born c.
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Towneley Mysteries, c. 1450; printed for Surtees Soc., 1836; also ed. G.
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by A. L. Mayhew).
Trevisa, John of; Translation of Higden’s Polychronicon, 1387; ed. J. R.
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Tuke, Sir Samuel; Dramatist. Adventures of Five Hours, 1663; in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley.
Turbervile, George; see English Poets. —— Booke of Venerie [Hunting],
1575.
Tusser, Thomas; Five hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie; first ed. 1573;
ed. Payne and Herrtage (EDS., 1878).
Twyne, Thomas; Completion of Phaer’s translation of the Aeneid, 1573.
Tyndale, William; The Whole Workes of W. Tyndale, John Frith, and Doctor
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Udall, Nicholas; Roister Doister, c. 1553; ed. Arber, 1869. Translation
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Vanbrugh, Sir John; Dramatic Works; see Wycherley. [Born 1666, died
1726.]
Vespasian Psalter, the OE. (Mercian) interlinear version, printed in
‘Oldest English Texts’ (q.v.).
Voc.: Wright’s Old English Vocabularies; ed. Wülcker, 1884; see also
Wright, Thomas.
Warner, William; Albion’s England, 1586; see English Poets.
Weber’s Metrical Romances, 1810. Vol. 1 contains King Alisaunder, c.
1310.
Webster, John; Works; ed. A. Dyce; new ed. 1857. [Born 1607, died 1661.]
Weigand, Friedrich; Deutsches Wörterbuch; ed. 3, 1878.
Westward Ho, a play by Dekker and Webster, 1607.
Wever, R.; An Enterlude called Lusty Juventus, 1550.
Wilkins, George; Miseries of Inforst Marriage, 1607; in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, ix. 533.
William of Palerne, The Romance of, c. 1350; ed. W. W. Skeat (EETS.,
1867).
Withals, John; A Short Dictionarie for yonge beginners, 1556.
Worlidge, J.; Dictionarium Rusticum, 1681.
Wright, Thomas; A Volume of Vocabularies, 1857; ed. 2, privately
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Wright, William Aldis; The Bible Word-Book, 2nd ed., 1884.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas; Poetical Works; ed. R. Bell, 1854. [Born 1503, died
1542.]
Wycherley, William; Dramatic Works; ed. 1840, with those of Congreve,
Vanbrugh, and Farquhar. [Born c. 1640, died 1715.]
Wyclif, John; The Holy Bible, 1382-8; ed. Forshall and Madden, 1850.
—— New Testament, with Glossary; ed. W. W. Skeat.
—— Job, Psalms, &c., with Glossary; ed. W. W. Skeat.
Wynkyn de Worde (Jan van Wynkyn), native of Worth in Alsace. Printer.
Came to England with Caxton from Bruges 1476, died c. 1534.
York Plays, c. 1430; ed. Miss L. Toulmin Smith, 1885.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
=berry.= In the Malone Society’s Reprint, 1. 1432, of Quarto 1599, the
text is:
‘A berrie of faire Rooes I saw to day
Down by the groves, and there I’ll take my stand,
And shoot at one.’
Probably the correct reading would be ‘a bevie of faire Rooes’ (i.e. a
number of fair roe-deer). But see NED. (s.v. Berry, sb.^{3}), where the
word is used as the special name for a company of rabbits.
=bulk,= the trunk, body of a person; cp. Richard III, i. 4. 40, ‘The
envious flood Stopt in my soul . . . smother’d it within my panting
bulk.’
=Burgullian.= Perhaps a contemptuous form of _Burgundian_ (or
_Burgonian_), a native of Burgundy, with reference to John Larrosse, ‘a
Burgonian by nation and a fencer by profession’, who challenged all
comers in 1598.
=forslow.= For _Macilense_ read _Macilente_.
=Napier’s bones,= invented by John Napier, eighth laird of Merchiston
[not Lord Napier].
=skibbered.= The reading of the Bodleian MS. _skybredd_ shows that the
meaning of the word is _sky-bred_.
=sothery.= The play referred to is _The Four P’s_.
=spargirica.= B. Jonson’s spelling _spagyrica_ may be defended from
French usage; cp. Dict. de l’Acad., 1672: ‘_Spagyrique_ ou _Spagirique_.
Il se dit de la Chimie qui s’occupe de l’analyse des métaux, et de la
recherche de la pierre philosophale. C’est la même chose que la _Chimie
métallurgique_ ou la _Métallurgie_’. The word _spagyrique_ in the phrase
‘un philosophe spagyrique’ occurs frequently in Anatole France’s ‘La
Rôtisserie de la Reine Pédauque’.
=strummel.= _Strummel-patch’d_ (so Gifford). The 1616 Folio reads
‘whoreson strummel, patch’t, goggle-ey’d Grumbledories’.
=trash.= For Othello, ii. 1. 132, read ii. 1. 312; and see Schmidt’s
note on the word.
=turm.= Milton, P. R. iv. 66.
=warden.= _Dele_ or (from the arms of Warden Abbey).
A
=aband,= to abandon. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 65; Mirror for Magistrates,
Albanact, st. 20.
=abatures,= the traces left by a stag in the underwood through which he
has passed. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 26, p. 68. F. _abatture_, a throwing
down. See NED.
=abeare,= _reflex._, to demean oneself. Only in Spenser in this sense,
F. Q. v. 12. 19; vi. 9. 45.
=abiliments,= ‘abiliments of war’, warlike accoutrements, things which
made ‘able’ for war. More, Richard III (ed. 1641, 414). OF.
(_h_)_abillement_, ‘tout ce qui est propre à quelque chose, machines de
guerre’ (Didot).
=able,= to warrant, vouch for. Middleton, The Changeling, i. 2 (Lollio);
King Lear, iv. 6. 173.
=ablesse,= ability. Only in Chapman, Iliad, v. 248.
=abode,= to forebode, Hen. VIII, i. 1. 93. An announcement, Chapman,
Iliad, xiii. 146, 226. Cp. OE. _ābēodan_, to announce (pp. _āboden_).
=abodement,= a foreboding, presage, omen. 3 Hen. VI, iv. 7. 13.
=abord,= used by Spenser for _abroad_, adrift. Ruins of Rome, xiv;
Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 324.
=aborde,= to approach. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 99, back, l. 8; lf.
103. 6; ‘_I aborde_, as one shyppe dothe an-other’, Palsgrave. F.
_aborder_, to come to the side of; from _à_, to, _bord_, side.
=abraid, abray,= in Spenser, to start out of sleep, a swoon, to awake;
‘I did out of sleepe abray’, F. Q. iv. 6. 36; ‘Sir Satyrane abraid Out
of the swowne’, F. Q. iv. 4. 22; to arouse, startle, ‘For feare lest her
unwares she should abrayd’, F. Q. iii. 1. 61; ‘The brave maid would not
for courtesie, Out of his quiet slumber him abrade’, F. Q. iii. 11. 8.
ME. _abreyde_, to start up, start from sleep, awake (Chaucer); OE.
_ābregdan_.
=abraid,= to upbraid. Greene, Alphonsus, ii (Belinus), ed. Dyce, 231; ‘I
abrayde one, I caste one in the tethe’, Palsgrave. A n. Yorks. form
(EDD.).
=Abram-colour’d,= auburn. Said of a beard. Middleton, Blurt, Mr.
Constable, ii. 2 (Curvetto); Coriolanus, ii. 3. 21. See Nares.
=Abram-man, Abraham-man,= a sham patriarch, a begging vagabond.
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 5; Massinger, New Way, ii. 1 (Marrall);
‘An Abraham-man is he that walketh bare-armed, and bare-legged, and
fayneth hymselfe mad, . . . and nameth himselfe poor Tom’, Awdeley,
Fraternity of Vagabonds, p. 3.
=abron,= auburn. ‘Curled head With abron locks was fairly furnished’,
Hall, Satires, v. 8. A Shropsh. pronunciation (EDD.). OF. _auborne_,
Med. L. _alburnus_, ‘subalbus’ (Ducange).
=abrook,= to brook, endure. 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 10.
=abrupt,= separated, parted asunder. Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 2
(Maria); as subst., an abrupt place, a precipice over an abyss, Milton,
P. L. ii. 409.
=absey-book,= a spelling-book, primer. King John, i. 1. 196. For _A-B-C
book_.
=aby,= to pay the penalty for. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 175; Spenser, F.
Q. ii. 8. 33. ME. _abye_, to pay for (Chaucer, C. T. A. 4393); OE.
_ābycgan_.
=acates,= provisions that are purchased. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii.
1 (P. sen.); Sad Shepherd, i. 3. 19. Norm. F. _acat_, purchase (Moisy).
=accent,= misused with the sense of ‘scent’. ‘The vines with blossoms do
abound, which yield a sweet _accént_’, Drayton, Harmonie of the Church;
Sol. Song, ch. ii. l. 28.
=access,= an attack of illness. Also spelt _axes_, Skelton, Garl. of
Laurell, 315; _accesses_, pl., Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 822. _Access_
is used in Kent and Sussex for an ague-fit (EDD.). F. _accès_, cp. ‘_un
accès de fièvre_’.
=accite,= to summon. 2 Hen. IV, v. 2. 141; Titus Andron. i. 1. 27;
Chapman, tr. Iliad, ii. 376, has ‘summon’ (his first version had
_accite_); pt. t. _accited_, id. xi. 595; _accite_, imp., Heywood,
Dialogue iv; vol. vi. p. 163. L. _accitare_, to summon.
=accite,= to excite. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 67; B. Jonson, Underwoods (ed.
1692, p. 563).
=accloye,= to stop up, choke (with weeds). Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 15;
‘_accloyed_, as a Horse, Accloy’d or Cloyed, i.e. nail’d or prickt in
the shooing’, Phillips, Dict. 1706. F. _encloyer_, ‘to cloy, choak, or
stop up’ (Cotgr.). Med. L. _inclavare_, to lame a horse with a nail
while shoeing (Ducange); L. _clavus_, a nail.
=accomplement,= accomplishment. Shaks. (?), Edw. III, iv. 6. 66. See
NED.
=accourt,= to entertain courteously. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 16.
=accoy,= to daunt, tame, soothe. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 48; F. Q.
iv. 8. 59. OF. _acoier_, to quiet; deriv. of _coi_, quiet; cp. Med. L.
_acquietare_ (_adquietare_), ‘quietum reddere’ (Ducange).
=accoyl,= to assemble, gather together. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 30. OF.
_acoillir_, to assemble; Med. L. _accolligere_ (Ducange).
=accumber, acomber,= to encumber, oppress. ‘That my sowle be not
_acombred_’, Reynard the Fox (ed. Arber, p. 34). Anglo-F. _encumbrer_,
‘accabler’ (Ch. Rol. 15).
=achates,= provisions, purchased as required. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 31.
See =acates.=
=acknown,= _pp._ acknowledged. Kyd, Cornelia, ii. 229; _to be acknown
on_, to confess knowledge of, Othello, iii. 3. 320; _to be acknowen of_,
to acknowledge, Puttenham, English Poesie, iii. 22 (p. 260). OE.
_oncnāwen_, pp. of _oncnāwan_, to acknowledge.
=a-cop,= on high; sticking up. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Drugger). OE.
_copp_, top, summit.
=acopus,= a restorative plant, mentioned by Pliny. Middleton, The Witch,
v. 2 (Hecate). L. _acopus_, Gk. ἄκοπος; ἀ, not + κόπος, weariness.
=acquest,= an acquisition, gain. Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, pp.
90, 172). OF. _aquest_, Med. L. _acquistum_ (Ducange), L. _acquisitum_,
a thing acquired.
=acquist,= Milton, Samson Ag. 1755. Directly from the Latin, or
from the Ital. _acquisto_.
=acroche,= to grasp, try to acquire. ‘_I acroche_, as a man dothe that
wynneth goodes or landes off another by sleyght, _Iaccroche_’,
Palsgrave.
=acton;= see =haqueton.=
=actuate,= to act. Massinger, Roman Actor, iv. 2 (Paris). Med. L.
_actuare_, ‘perficere’ (Ducange).
=aculeate,= pointed. Bacon, Essay 57, § 5. L. _aculeus_, a sting, sharp
point. L. _acus_, a needle.
=adamant,= a load-stone, magnet. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 195; Marlowe,
Edw. II, ii. 5 (Arundel). ME. _adamaunt_, the loadstone or magnet
(Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1182).
=Adamite,= a member of a sect that dispensed with clothes at their
meetings. Shirley, Hyde Park, ii. 4 (Mis. Car.). Cp. The Guardian, no.
134 (Aug. 14, 1713), § last.
=adaunt,= to quell, subdue. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 8. 11; leaf 79,
back, l. 5. OF. _adonter_, _donter_, L. _domitare_, to tame (Virgil).
=adauntreley,= error for _ad[u]aunt-relay_, lit. a relay in front; a
laying on of fresh hounds to take up a chase. Return from Parnassus, ii.
5 (Amoretto). From _aduaunt_ (_avaunt_) and _relay_; see _Avant-lay_ in
NED.
=adaw,= to daunt, suppress, confound. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 13; iv. 6.
26; v. 9. 35; Shep. Kal., Feb., 141. A word due to the ME. adv. _adawe_,
in phr. _do adawe_, to put out of life (lit. day), to quell. The ME.
_adawe_ = OE. _of dagum_, out of days.
=addulce,= to sweeten, render palatable. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p.
84).
=adelantado,= a Spanish grandee, a lord-lieutenant. Spelt _adalantado_;
B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Puntarvolo); Alchemist, iii. 2
(Face); Fletcher, Love’s Cure, ii. 1 (Lazarillo). Span. _adelantado_,
promoted, advanced, pp. of _adelantar_, to advance. See =lantedo.=
=adjection,= addition. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 6. 5. L. _adjectio_.
=adjouste,= to add, give; lit. to adjust. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 43.
2; lf. 141, back, 24.
=adminiculation,= aid, help, support. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, bk.
i, c. 3, § last; c. 8, § 6; c. 13, § 4. Med. L. _adminiculatio_,
‘auxilium’, _adminiculus_, ‘minister’ (Ducange).
=admire,= to wonder. Milton, P. L. ii. 677; Twelfth Night, iii. 4. 167.
=adore.= A form of _adorn_ in Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 46.
=adoubted,= afraid. Morte Arthur, leaf 241. 2; bk. x, c. 12 (end).
=adowbe,= to adub, to equip, array. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 32. 28;
lf. 222. 15. Also _adubbe_, to dub a knight, id. 312. 31. Anglo-F.
_aduber_, ‘armer’ (Ch. Rol.), also _adubber_.
=adrad,= _pp._ dreaded. Greene, A Maiden’s Dream, st. 4; frightened;
Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 304. ME. _adrad_, afraid (Chaucer, C. T. A.
605); OE. _ofdrǣd_, frightened.
=adrop= (ádrop), a term in alchemy; either the lead out of which the
mercury was to be extracted to make ‘the philosopher’s stone’, or the
stone itself. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Surface).
=adust,= parched, burnt up. Bacon, Essay 36; Milton, P. L. xii. 635.
Also _adusted_, P. L. vi. 514. L. _adustus_, burnt up, pp. of _adurere_.
=advaile,= ‘avail’, advantage, profit. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii,
c. 9, § 6.
=advant-garde,= vanguard. Morte Arthur, leaf 28, back, 35; bk. i, c. 15.
F. _avant-garde_ (Cotgr.) See Dict. (s.v. Van).
=advaunt,= _reflex._, to boast, brag, ‘vaunt’. Sir T. Elyot, Governour,
bk. i, c. 4 (end); bk. i, c. 15, § 3.
=advision,= vision. Morte Arthur, leaf 14. 15; Table of Contents, xiv.
7. ME. _avisioun_ (Chaucer, Hous Fame, 7).
=advoutresse,= an adulteress. Roister Doister, v. 3. 9. Bacon, Essay 19,
§ 6. ME. _avoutresse_ (Wyclif, Rom. vii. 3); OF. _avoutresse_.
=adyt, addit,= a recess or sanctuary of a temple. Greene, A
Looking-glass, iv. 3 (1543); p. 137, col. 1. L. _adytum_, Gk. ἄδυτον,
not to be entered, sacred; from ἀ, not, δύειν, to enter.
=aerie= (in Shakespeare), the brood of a bird of prey, and particularly
of hawks, King John, v. 2. 149; Rich. III, i. 3. 264; ‘aerie of
children’ (with reference to the young choristers of the Chapel Royal
and St. Paul’s, who took part in plays), Hamlet ii. 2. 354. The word
represents an OF. _airiée_, pp. of _aairier_, _adairier_, Romanic type
_adareare_, der. of Med. L. _area_, ‘accipitrum nidus’ (Ducange).
=aeromancy,= divination by the air. Greene, Bacon and Friar Bungay, i. 2
(188); scene 2. 17 (W.); p. 155, col. 1 (D.).
=aesture,= surge, raging of the sea. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xii. 111.
Deriv. of L. _aestus_, the heaving motion of the sea.
=afeard,= afraid. Merry Wives, iii. 4. 28; _affered_, Dryden, Cock and
Fox, 136. In gen. prov. use throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England
(EDD.). ME. _afered_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 482, OE. _āfǣred_,
frightened, pp. of _āfǣran_.
=affamed of,= famished by, starved by. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 248,
back, 2. F. _affamé_, famished, starved (Cotgr.).
=affect,= to love, be fond of. Two Gent. iii. 1. 82; Two Noble Kinsmen,
ii. 4. 2. L. _affectare_, to strive after a thing passionately.
=affect,= affection, passion. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 45; vi. 5. 24; Hymn
in Honour of Love, 180. L. _affectus_, passion, desire.
=affectionate,= to feel affection for. Greene, Bacon and Friar Bungay,
iii. 3; scene 10. 78 (W.); p. 171, col. 1 (D.).
=affrap,= to strike sharply. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 26; iii. 2. 6. Ital.
_affrappare_, to beat (Florio).
=affret,= onset, fierce encounter. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 16; iv. 3. 16.
Cp. Ital. _affrettare_, to hasten, make speed (Florio).
=affront,= to meet face to face, to encounter. Hamlet, iii. 1. 31; Ford,
Perkin Warbeck, v. 1 (Dalyell). _Affront_, an accost, meeting. Greene,
Tu Quoque, or The City Gallant; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xi. 265. F.
_affronter_, ‘to come before, or face to face’ (Cotgr.).
=affy,= to betroth, 2 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 80; _to affy in_, to trust in,
Titus Andron. i. 1. 47. Anglo-F. _afier_, ‘affirmer, assurer; mettre sa
confiance en, se fier à’ (Moisy). Med. L. _affidare_, ‘fidem dare’
(Ducange).
=afterclap,= an unexpected consequence, generally unpleasant. Latimer,
Serm. I, 27; _after-claps_, pl., Butler, Hudibras, i. 3. 4; Tusser,
Husbandry, § 49; Taylor, Life of Old Parr (EDD.). In prov. use in
various parts of England (EDD.).
=agate,= on the way. ‘Let him agate’; Brewer, Lingua, iii. 6
(Phantastes); ‘Let us be agate, let us start’; Interlude of Youth, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 25. In prov. use in the north country, and in
various other parts of England (EDD.).
=agazed,= astounded, amazed. Surrey, Description of Restless State, 44
in Tottel’s Misc. (ed. Arber, 4); _agaz’d on_, 1 Hen. VI, i. 1. 126.
Prob. a variant of ME. _agast_ (Wyclif), E. _aghast_.
=agerdows,= compounded of sour and sweet. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell,
1250. F. _aigre-doux_, sour-sweet. L. _acer_ and _dulcis_.
=aggrace,= to shew grace and favour. Pt. t. _agraste_; Spenser, F. Q. i.
10. 18. Hence _aggrace_, sb. favour; id. ii. 8. 56. Ital. _aggraziare_,
to confer a favour; _agratiare_, to favour (Florio). Med. L.
_aggratiare_ (Ducange).
=aggrate,= to please, delight, charm. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 50; v. 11.
19; vi. 10. 33. Ital. _aggratare_, ‘to sute’ (Florio).
=aglet,= the metal end or tag of a lace. ‘He made hys pen of the aglet
of a poynte that he plucked from hys hose’, Latimer, Serm. (ed. 1869, p.
117); a metallic stud or spangle. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 2. 5;
‘_Tremolante_, aglets or spangles’ (Florio). In Cumberland the metal end
of a bootlace is called an _aglet_ (EDD.). ME. _aglet_, to lace wyth
alle (Prompt. Harl. MS.). F. _aiguillette_, a point (Cotgr.).
=agloute,= to feed to satisfaction, to glut. Caxton, Hist. of Troye,
leaf 187, back, 14; lf. 41, back, 5. ME. _aglotye_ (P. Plowman, C. x.
76). See NED. (s.v. Aglut).
=agnize,= to recognize, acknowledge. Othello, i. 3. 232; _agnise_,
Udall, Erasmus Apophth. (ed. 1877, 271). Formed on the analogy of
_recognize_, cp. L. _agnoscere_, to acknowledge.
=a-good,= in good earnest, heartily. Two Gent. of Verona, iv. 3; Udall,
Roister Doister, iii. 4 (near the end); Marlowe, Jew of Malta, ii. 2
(Ithamar). See Nares.
=agreve,= to aggravate, make more grievous. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk.
i. c. 6 (end); Sir T. More, Rich. III (ed. Lumby, p. 68, l. 13). ME.
_agrevyn_, ‘aggravare’ (Prompt. EETS. 200). Anglo-F. _agrever_ (Moisy).
=agrim, agrum,= a common 16th-cent. form of ‘algorism’, a name for the
Arabic or decimal system of numeration, hence arithmetic; ‘I reken, I
counte by cyfers of agrym’, Palsgrave; ‘As a Cypher in Agrime’, Foxe, A.
& M. iii. 265 (NED.); ‘A poor cypher in agrum’, Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce,
p. 379, col. 1). ME. _awgrym_: ‘As siphre . . . in awgrym that noteth a
place and no thing availith’ (Richard Redeles. iv. 53); _algorisme_
(Gower, C. A. vii. 155). OF. _augorisme_, Med. L. _algorismus_,
‘numerandi ars’ (Ducange), cp. Span. _alguarismo_ (_guarismo_),
arithmetic (Stevens), from _al-Khowârezmi_, the surname of a famous Arab
mathematician who lived in the 9th cent. See Dozy, Glossaire, 131.
=agrise, agryse,= to terrify, horrify. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 46; iii. 2.
24; _agrysed_, afraid, W. Browne, Shepherd’s Pipe, i. 501. OE.
_agrīsan_, to shudder.
=agrum;= see =agrim.=
=aguise, aguize,= to dress, array, deck. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 21. 31;
ii. 6. 7. Cp. _guize_, fashion, appearance, ii. 2. 14; ii. 6. 25; ii.
12. 21.
=aim,= in phr. _to cry aim_, to encourage an archer by crying out _aim!_
King John, ii. 1. 196; _to give aim_, to direct; see Webster, Vittoria
(ed. Dyce, p. 20). The giver of aim stood near the butts, and reported
the success of the shot. Hence _aim-giving_, Ascham, Toxophilus, 160.
=A-la-mi-re,= a name given to the octave of _A-re_; the latter being the
second lowest note in the scale, which was denoted by the letter A, and
sung to the syllable _re_. Middleton, More Dissemblers, v. 1 (Crotchet);
Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 107. N.B. Wrongly defined in the NED.; but the
right definition, with a full explanation, is given in NED. under the
heading _A-re_. The octave of A was, in fact, sung to the syllable _la_
when occurring in the second hexachord, which began with C; to _mi_, in
the third hexachord, which began with F; and to _re_, in the fourth,
which began with the octave of G.
=alate,= of late, lately. King Lear, i. 4. 208; Greene, Friar Bacon, i.
1. 3. Still in use in Yorks. and Lancashire (EDD.). ME. _a-late_ (Dest.
Troy, 4176).
=albricias,= a reward for good news. Tuke, Adventures of Five Hours, v.
1 (Pedro); Digby, Elvira, ii. 1. 1. Span. _albricias_, reward for newes
(Minsheu). Arab. _al bishâra_, joyful tidings, cp. Port. _alviçaras_.
See Dozy, _Glossaire_, 74.
=alcatote,= a simpleton, a foolish fellow. Ford, Fancies Chaste, iv. 1
(Spadone). Cp. the Devon word _alkitotle_ (EDD.).
=alcatras,= a name given by English voyagers to the Frigate Bird,
_Tachypetes aquilus_, Drayton, The Owl, 549. Port. _alcatráz_, ‘mauve,
goéland: oiseau de mer; pélican du Chili, cormoran, calao des Moluques;
_alcatráz les Antilhas_, onocrotale, grand gosier, oiseau de marais’
(Roquette).
=alchemy,= a metallic composition imitating gold; spelt _alcumy_,
Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Alvarez); applied to a trumpet of such
metal or of brass, ‘Put to their mouths the sounding alchymie’, Milton,
P. L. ii. 517.
=Alchoroden,= or =Alchochoden,= the planet which rules in the principal
parts of an astrological figure, at the nativity of any one, and which
regulates the number of years he has to live. Beaumont and Fl., Bloody
Brother, iv. 1 (Norbret). So explained in a note. Spelt _alchochoden_,
B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (P. Canter). From Pers. _Kat-khudā_,
lord of the ascendant (Richardson). See =almuten.=
=alcumise, alchemize,= to change by help of alchemy, to transmute
metals. Heywood, Love’s Mistress, i. 1 (Midas).
=alcumyn,= a kind of brass. Skelton, Why Come ye Nat to Courte, 904. For
_alchem-ine_; see =alchemy.=
=alder,= of all; _your alder_ speed, the help of you all; Everyman, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 135. ME. _alder_ (Chaucer). OE. _ealra_, gen. pl.
of _eall_, all.
=alderliefest,= dearest of all, 2 Hen. VI, i. 1. 28; ‘the
alderliefest swain of all’, Greene, Descript. Shepherd, 42 (ed.
Dyce, p. 304). ME. _alderleuest_ (Chaucer, Tr. & Cr. iii. 239).
=ale,= an ale-house. Two Gent. ii. 5. 61; _at the ale_, Greene, A
Looking-glass, iv. 4 (1616); p. 138, col. 1. Cp. ME. _atten ale_, at the
ale-house (P. Plowman, B. vi. 117).
=ale-bottle,= a wooden ale-keg. Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, iii. 4
(Firk).
=alecie,= drunkenness; a humorous formation from _ale_, with _-cie_
added, as in _luna-cie_ (lunacy). ‘Lunasie or _alecie_’, Lyly, Mother
Bombie, iv. 2 (Riscio).
=Ale-conner,= an officer appointed to look to the assize and goodness of
bread and ale. Middleton, Mayor of Queenb., iii. 3 (Oliver). A
Lincolnshire word, see EDD. (s.v. Ale, 3).
=alegge,= to allay. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 5. ME. _alleggyn_ or
softyn peyn, ‘allevio, mitigo’ (Prompt. EETS. 21).
=alembic,= an alchemist’s still; sometimes, the head of the still. B.
Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Mammon); spelt _lembic_, iii. 2. 4.
=ale-stake,= a stake or pole projecting from an ale-house, to bear a
bush, garland, or other sign. Hickscorner, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 191.
=alew,= halloo, outcry. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 13.
=alferez,= an ensign, standard-bearer. Fletcher, Rule a Wife, i. 1. 12;
_alfarez_, B. Jonson, New Inn, iii. 1 (Tipto). Span. _alférez_. Arab.
_al-fâris_, a horseman, from _faras_, a horse.
=alfridaria,= used of the power which a planet has (each for seven
years) over a man’s life. Tomkis, Albumazar, ii. 5. 5. From Arab. root
_faraḍa_, to define, decree, appoint a time for a thing; with suffix
_-aria_.
=alga,= seaweed. Dryden, Astræa Redux, 119. L. _alga_.
=algate=(=s,= always, continually. Stanyhurst, Aeneid, 1 (ed. 1880, 20);
altogether, ‘Una now he algates must forgoe’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 2;
nevertheless, notwithstanding, Shep. Kal., Nov., 21. _Algates_ is a
north country word, meaning ‘in every way, by all means’ (EDD.). ME.
_algates_, notwithstanding (Chaucer, C. T. B. 2222); _allegate_, in
every way (Ancren Riwle). See NED.
=alguazier, algazier,= an ‘alguazil’, warrant-officer, serjeant.
Fletcher, Span. Curate, v. 2 (heading); Love’s Cure, ii. 1. Span.
_alguazir_ (alguazil); Port. _al-vasil_, _al-vazir_; Arab. _al-wazîr_,
‘the minister’, officer, ‘vizier’, from root _wazara_, to carry.
=alicant, alligant,= wine from Alicante in Spain. Fletcher, The Chances,
i. 8. 10; Fair Maid of the Inn, iv. 2 (Clown); _aligant_, A Match at
Midnight, v. 1 (Sim.).
=a’ life,= as my life, extremely. Middleton, A Trick to Catch, iv. 3 (1
Creditor); The Widow, i. 1 (Martino); iv. 1 (2 Suitor).
=alkedavy,= the palace of a cadi or alcalde. Heywood, The Fair Maid, iv.
3 (Mullisheg); v. 1 (Mullisheg). From Arab. _alqâḍawî_, the (palace) of
the cadi.
=allay,= alloy. Bacon, Essay 1, § 2; Dryden, Hind and Panther, i. 320.
ME. _alay_, inferior metal combined with one of greater value (P.
Plowman, B. xv. 342). Norm. F. _aley_, _alay_, from _aleier_, to
combine. L. _alligare_.
=allect,= to allure, entice. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 14, §
13; Sir T. More, Works (1557), p. 275, col. 1. Med. L. _allectare_
(Ducange).
=allegge,= to alleviate. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 15. See =alegge.=
=alleggeaunce,= alleviation. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 42. OF. _alegeance_,
deriv. of _alegier_, to alleviate. L. _alleviare_, to lighten.
=all-hid,= the game of hide and seek. Love’s Lab. L., iv. 3. 78; cf.
Hamlet, iv. 2. 32; Two Angry Women, iv. 1. 27; Tourneur, Rev. Trag.,
iii. 5. 82.
=All-holland-tide;= see =Hollandtide.=
=alligarta,= alligator. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Overdo);
_aligarta_, Romeo and J., v. 1. 43 (1st Q.). Span. _el lagarto_, the
lizard.
=alloune, aloune,= let us go. Anglicized form of F. _allons_. Marston,
What You Will, ii. 1 (Laverdure).
=all-to-bepowdered,= powdered all over. Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, v. 2
(Mrs. Amlet).
=all-to ruffled,= ruffled extremely. Milton, Comus, 380. The incorrect
compound _all-to_ came into use about 1500, in place of the older idiom
which would have given the form _all to-ruffled_, with the _to-_ linked
to the verb. Here _all_, adv., meant ‘extremely’, and merely emphasized
the prefix _to-_. Spelt _all to ruffl’d_ (1645).
=almacanter, almucantury,= a small circle of the sphere parallel to the
horizon, representing a parallel of altitude. Beaumont and Fl., Bloody
Brother, iv. 2 (la Fiske). Cp. Chaucer, Astrolabe, pt. ii, § 5. Spelt
_almacantara_, B. Jonson, Staple of News. ii. 1 (P. senior). Arab.
_al-muqanṭarât_, pl., bridges, arcs, almucanters. See Dozy, 164.
=Almain,= a German. Othello, ii. 3. 87; a kind of dance, Peele, Arraign.
of Paris, ii. 2, 28; hence _Almain-leap_, B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, i.
1 (Satan); _the Almond leape_, Cotgrave (s.v. Saut). OF. _aleman_,
German (mod. _allemand_).
=almery,= an aumbry, a cupboard. Morte Arthur, leaf 362, back, 24; bk.
xvii. c. 23; _ambry_, Stanyhurst’s Aeneid, bk. ii (ed. Arber. p. 44. 2).
For various prov. forms of this word see EDD. (s.v. Ambry). ME.
_almery_, of mete kepyng, ‘cibutum’ (Prompt. EETS. 10). Norm. F.
_almarie_ (Moisy), Med. L. _armarium_ (Prompt. 395), deriv. of L.
_arma_, gear, tools.
=almuten,= the prevailing or ruling planet in a nativity. ‘Almuten lord
of the geniture,’ Fletcher, Bloody Brother, iv. 2 (Norbret and Rusee);
‘And Mars Almuthen, or lord of the horoscope’, Massinger, City Madam,
ii. 2 (Stargaze); ‘Almuten Alchochoden’, Tomkis, Albumazar ii. 5 (end).
Error for _almutaz_ (NED.); from Arab. _al_, the, and _muʿtaz_,
prevailing, from _ʿazz_, to be powerful.
=alonely,= solely. Kyd, Cornelia, iv. 3. 160; _all alonely_, Barnes,
Works, p. 226, col. 2; _alonely_, id. p. 227, col. 2. From _all_ and
_only_.
=alow,= below, low down. Dryden, Cymon, 370. ‘Ship, by bearing sayl
alowe, withstandeth stormes’, Tusser, Husbandry, § 2. In use in Scotland
(EDD.). ME. _alowe_: ‘Why somme (briddes) be alowe and somme alofte’ (P.
Plowman, B. xii. 222).
=aloyse!= _interj._, look! see! see now! ‘_Aloyse! aloyse_, how pretie
it is, is not here a good face?’ Damon and Pithias; in Hazlitt, iv. 79;
Anc. Brit. Drama, i. 91.
=alphin, alphyn,= a bishop, in the game of chess. Caxton, Game of the
Chesse, bk. ii. ch. 3. § 1. OF. _alfin_, Span. _al-fil_; from Arab.
_al-fîl_, ‘the elephant’. Pers. _pîl_, elephant; see Dozy, Glossaire,
113, 114.
=als,= also. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 18; ii. 1. 7. 40; iv. 7. 35. _As als_,
as also; id. iv. 4. 2. _Als_ is short for _also_, and _as_ is short for
_als_; hence _as als_ = also also.
=alther,= of all. _Alther fyrste_, first of all; Caxton, Hist. Troye,
leaf 303. 2. See =alder.=
=altitonant,= thundering from on high. Middleton, World Tost at Tennis
(Pallas). L. _altitonans_, with reference to Jupiter.
=altitudes,= _in the altitudes_, in a lofty mood, full of airs. Beaumont
and Fl., Laws of Candy, ii. 1 (Gonzalo); _in his altitudes_, Vanbrugh,
The Confederacy, v. 2 (Brass).
=alture,= altitude; said of the sun. Surrey, tr. of Psalm lv., l. 29.
Ital. _altura_, height; _alto_, high. L. _altus_, high.
=aludel,= an alchemist’s pot, used for sublimation. B. Jonson,
Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle). F. _aludel_, OF. _alutel_. Arab. _al-uthāl_,
the utensil. See NED.
=alvarado,= the rousing of soldiers at dawn of day by the beating of the
drum or the firing of a gun; ‘so that the very alverado given sounds the
least hope of conquest’, Dekker, Wh. of Babylon (Works, iii. 255); O.
Fortunatus, ii. 1 (Soldan). Port. _alvorada_, ‘aube, la pointe du jour;
(Mil.). Diane, battement de tambour, coup de canon à la pointe du jour
pour éveiller les soldats’; _alvór_, ‘la première pointe du jour’
(Roquette).
=amate,= to dismay, daunt, confound. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 45; ii. 1. 6
and 2. 5; Greene, Orl. Fur. ii. 1 (488); ‘_Matter_, to quell, mate,
amate’, Cotgrave. Norm. F. _amatir_, ‘soumettre par la frayeur,
terrifier’ (Moisy). See Nares.
=amazza,= (perhaps) slaughter. Pl. _amazza’s_; Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii.
1 (Choler). From Ital. _ammazzare_, to slay (Florio).
=amber,= to perfume with ambergris. Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the
Country, iii. 2 (Zabulon). The sb. is spelt _ambre_ in B. Jonson,
Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer).
=ambidexter,= one who acts with either party, a double-dealer.
Middleton, Family of Love, v. 3 (Dryfat); Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce,
p. 503. Med. L. _ambidexter_, ‘judex qui ab utraque parte dona accipit’
(Ducange).
=Ambree, Mary,= an English heroine, who fought at the siege of Ghent in
1584. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 4 (Lady); B. Jonson, Tale of a
Tub, i. 2 (Turfe).
=amell,= to enamel. Pp. _amell’d_; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 123. ‘I
_ammell_ as a goldesmyth dothe his worke, _Jesmaille_’, Palsgrave. ME.
_amelen_, to enamel (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1080). Anglo-F. _aymeler_
(Rough List). See =aumayld.=
=amenage,= to domesticate, make quite tame. Only in Spenser, F. Q. ii,
4. 11. OF. _amenagier_, _amesnagier_, to receive into a house. Deriv. of
_mesnage_, a household, whence E. _menagerie_.
=amenaunce,= conduct, behaviour, mien. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 17; Mother
Hubberd’s Tale, 781. Deriv. of F. _amener_, to lead, conduct.
=ames-ace,= double aces, the lowest throw with dice. All’s Well, ii. 3.
85; used as a term of contempt, _ambs-ace_, Beaumont and Fl., Queen of
Corinth, iv. 1 (Page). ME. _ambes as_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 124). Norm. F.
_ambes as_, ‘deux as, mauvaise chance’ (Moisy). See =aums-ace.=
=amiss,= a fault, misdeed, misfortune. Hamlet, iv. 5. 18; Sonnet xxxv.
7; cli. 3; Heywood, Pt. 2, King Edward IV (Works, i. 119).
=amite,= aunt. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 88, back, 13. L. _amita_,
father’s sister.
=ammiral,= admiral. Milton, P. L. i. 294. OF. _amiral_; Port. _amiralh_.
=amomus,= amomum, an odoriferous plant. Nabbes, Microcosmus, iii. 13
(from end). L. _amomum_; Gk. ἄμωμον. See NED.
=amoneste,= to admonish. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 216. 1; lf. 327. 17.
Anglo-F. _amonester_ (Rough List).
=amoret,= a love-glance, a loving look. Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 2
(1264); scene 9. 177 (W.); p. 168, col. 2; also iv. 2 (1668); scene 12.
8 (W.); p. 173, col. 2. F. _amourette_, a love-trick (Cotgr.).
=amort,= in phr. _all amort_, spiritless, dejected. Greene, Friar Bacon,
i. 1; Taming Shrew, iv. 3. 36; 1 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 124. The phr. is due
to F. _à la mort_, to the death. See NED.
=amortise,= to alienate in mortmain, to convey (property) to a
corporation. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 71. Anglo-F. _amortir_ (see
Rough List). Med. L. _admortire_, ‘concedere in manum mortuam’
(Ducange).
=a-mothering;= see =mothering.=
=amphiboly,= an ambiguity, a sentence that can be construed in two
different senses. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, ii. 1 (Compass). L.
_amphibolia_; Gk. ἀμφιβολία, ambiguity.
=amphisbæna,= a serpent fabled to have a head at each end, and hence
capable of advancing in either direction. Milton, P. L. x. 524. Gk.
ἀμφίσβαινα, a kind of serpent that can go either forwards or backwards
(Aeschylus).
=amrell,= admiral. Skelton, How the douty Duke of Albany, 55. See
=ammiral.=
=amuse,= to distract, bewilder, puzzle. B. Jonson, Sejanus, v. 6
(Macro); ‘I am amused, I am in a quandary, gentlemen.’ Chapman, Mons.
D’Olive, ii. (D’Olive). See Dict.
=an,= if (freq. in Shaks.); in old edds. mostly written _and_. Of very
freq. occurrence in the phrase _an it please you_, 2 Hen. VI, i. 3. 18;
_an if_, if, Othello, iii. 4. 83. See =and if.=
=anadem,= a wreath, chaplet. B. Jonson, Masque of the Barriers (Truth);
Drayton, The Owl, 1168. Gk. ἀνάδημα, a headband; from ἀναδέειν, to bind
up.
=analects,= pl. scraps, gleanings. ‘No gleanings, James? No
trencher-_analects_?’ (lit. gleanings from trenchers), Cartwright, The
Ordinary, iii. 5 (Rhymewell). Gk. ἀνάλεκτα, things gathered up; from
_ἀναλέγειν_, to pick up.
=anatomy,= a skeleton. King John, iii. 4. 25; Com. Errors, v. 1. 238;
Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 121. Cf. =atomy.=
=anchor,= an anchorite, hermit. Hamlet, iii. 2. 229. ME. _ancre_, a
hermit (P. Plowman, C. i. 30; ix. 146). OE. _ancra_ (Ælfric), shortened
from Eccles. L. _anachoreta_ (Ducange); Gk. ἀναχορητής, one who
withdraws, retires (from the world).
=ancient,= an ‘ensign’, standard, or flag. Hence, _ancient-bearer_, a
standard-bearer, an ‘ensign’; ‘_alférez_, an ancient-bearer, signifer’,
Percivall, Span. Dict.; ‘office or charge, as captaine . . . sergeant,
ancient-bearer’, Act 3, Jas. I (NED.); Dekker, Old Fortunatus, i. 2
(Shadow); also _ancient_ (alone), ‘Welcome, Ancient Pistol!’ 2 Hen. IV,
ii. 4. 120; Othello, i. 1. 33. A corrupt form of _ensign_. Anglo-F.
_enseigne_, a standard (Rough List).
=ancome,= a boil, a foul swelling. Eastward Ho! iii. 2 (Mrs. T.).
‘_Vijt_, an ancombe, or a sore upon one’s finger’, Hexham. _Ancome_ is a
north-country word (EDD.). ME. _oncome_; used of the plagues of Egypt
(Cursor M., 5927). Cp. Icel. _ákoma_, arrival, visitation; eruption on
the skin.
=and if= (a redundant expression, both particles having the same
meaning). ‘But and yf that evyll servaunt shall saye in his herte,’
Tyndal, Matt. xxiv. 48 (cp. A. V.); Two Gent. iii. 1. 257; All’s Well,
ii. 1. 74. See =an.=
=andveld,= an anvil. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 216, back, 16. ME.
_anefeld_ (Wyclif, Job xli. 15), OE. _anfilte_ (Sweet).
=anele,= to anoint with holy oil. ‘I aneele a sicke man, I anoynte hym
with holy oyle’; and ‘I aneele a sicke man . . . j’enhuylle’, Palsgrave.
Hence =unaneled,= q.v. ME. _anelen_ (R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 11269).
Deriv. of OE. _ele_, oil, L. _oleum_.
=an-end,= on end. Hamlet, i. 5. 19; _still an-end_, continually, Two
Gent. iv. 4. 68. _An-end_ in the sense of ‘without stop or intermission’
is in prov. use in various parts of England from Durham to Cornwall, see
EDD. (s.v. On-end, 3).
=anenst,= side by side with, beside, opposite, in view of; ‘And right
anenst him’, B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle). See EDD. (s.v.
Anent). ME. _anentis_, with, in view of; ‘Anentis men this thing is
impossible, but anentis God alle thingis ben possible’ (Wyclif, Matt.
xix. 26); _anent_ ‘juxta’ (Barbour’s Bruce, viii. 124). OE. _on efen_,
on even (ground) with.
=angel,= applied to a bird. ‘An _angel_ of the air’, Two Noble Kinsmen,
i. 1. 16; ‘Roman angel’, the eagle, Massinger, ii. 2 (Harpax).
=angel,= a gold coin worth 10_s._ Merch. Ven. ii. 7. 56. Very common,
and often used in quibbles.
=angelot,= a small rich cheese, made in Normandy. Davenant, The Wits,
iv. 1 (Y. Pallantine). Said to be so called from being stamped with the
coin called an _angelot_, a piece struck by Louis XI (so Littré). F.
_angelot_, the cheese called an angelot (Cotgr.).
=angler,= a term used of a thief who fished for plunder, through an open
window, with a rod, line, and hook. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Moll).
=another-gates,= of a different kind. Butler, Hudibras, pt. i. c. 3.
428; Lyly, Mother Bombie, A. i (Nares). From _gate_, a way; lit. ‘of
another way’. In prov. use in Lancashire (EDD.).
=another-guess,= of a different kind. ‘This is another-guess sort’,
Foote, The Orators, A. iii (O’Drogheda). Howell has the intermediate
form _another-gets_ in his Famil. Letters, vol. i. sect. 4. letter 9
(Feb. 5, 1635). Corruption of the form above. In prov. use in
Gloucestershire (EDD.).
=anslaight,= an onslaught. Fletcher, M. Thomas, ii. 2 _or_ ii. 3
(Sebastian). Some read _onslaught_; see NED.
=anthropophagi,= pl. man-eaters, cannibals. Othello, i. 3. 144; Greene,
Orl. Fur. i. 1. 111 (Orlando, p. 90, col. 2). L. pl. of
_anthropophagus_, Gk. ἀνθρωποφάγος, man-eating; from ἄνθρωπος, a man,
φαγεῖν, to eat.
=antick,= a grotesque pageant or theatrical representation. Ford, Love’s
Sacrifice, iii. 2 (Fernando); Love’s Lab. L., v. 1. 119.
=antick,= a burlesque performer, buffoon, merry-andrew. Richard II, iii.
2. 162; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 51. Ital. _antico_, grotesque. L.
_antiquus_, antique. For the development of the meaning of the Ital.
_antico_ from ‘antique’ to ‘grotesque’, see the full account in NED.
=antimasque,= a burlesque interlude between the acts of a masque. The
prefix is uncertain; perhaps for L. _ante_, before (NED.). But B. Jonson
has the form _antick-masque_, Masque of Augurs (Noteh). Bacon has
_anti-masque_, Essay 37; cf. Shirley, The Traitor, iii. 2 (Lorenzo).
=antiperistasis,= a contrast of circumstances; opposition. B. Jonson,
Cynthia’s Revels, v. 3 (2 Masque: Mercury). Gk. ἀντιπερίστασις,
reciprocal replacement of two substances.
=antlier,= an antler, tine of a stag’s horn. ‘The first _antlier_, which
Phoebus calleth and termeth _antoiller_’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 21, p.
53. The lowest tine was _the burre_, growing out of _the pearles_; the
second tine, the _antlier_; the third, the _surantlier_; the next,
_royal_ and _surroyal_; and those at the top, _croches_ (more correctly
spelt _troches_ at p. 137); see Turbervile (as above), p. 54. ‘The thing
that beareth the antliers, royals, and tops [or troches] ought to be
called _the beame_, and the little clyffes or streakes therein are
called _gutters_’; id. p. 53. OF. _antoillier_ (F. _andouiller_).
=antre,= a cave. Othello, i. 3. 140. F. _antre_, L. _antrum_, Gk.
ἄντρον.
=aourne,= to adorn. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 223, back, 17; lf. 253,
back, 15. Anglo-F. _aourner_ (_adourner_), to adorn (Gower).
=apaid, appaid,= satisfied. Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, p. 381 (Guenthian);
Chapman, Iliad, v. 143; Milton, P. L. xii. 401; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12.
28; v. 11. 64; Shep. Kal., Aug., 6. ME. _apayed_, satisfied (Wyclif,
Luke iii. 14); pp. of _apayen_. Norm. F. _apaier_ (Moisy); deriv. of
_paier_, L. _pacare_, to pacify.
=apayre,= to impair, injure. Morte Arthur, leaf 51, back, 12; bk. iii.
c. 3. ME. _apeyryn_, to make worse (Prompt. EETS. 21). OF. _empeirer_,
deriv. of L. _peiorare_, from _peior_, worse. See =appair.=
=apeche, appeche,= to ‘impeach’, charge with a crime. Morte Arthur, leaf
212, back, 23; bk. x. c. 7; ‘I apeche, I accuse’, Palsgrave. ME.
_apechyn_, ‘appellare’ (Prompt. EETS. 13). Anglo-F. _empescher_ (Rough
List). Late L. _impedicare_, to hinder, catch by a fetter (Ducange). See
=appeach.=
=A-per-se,= A by itself; a type of excellence, because A begins the
alphabet. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, iii. 3 (Lazarillo); Mirror
for Mag., Warwicke, st. 1.
=apostata,= apostate. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iv. 3 (Theoph.); v. 2
(Artemia). The usual old form.
=apostle spoons,= silver spoons, the handle of each terminating in the
figure of an apostle; usually given by sponsors at christenings. B.
Jonson, Barthol. Fair, Act i (Quarlous); Fletcher, Noble Gentlemen, v. 2
(Longueville).
=appair, apaire,= to impair, damage. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c.
7, § last; Skelton, Against Garnesche, i. 19. Also intrans.; ‘I appayre
or waxe worse’, Palsgrave. See =apayre.=
=appeach,= to ‘impeach’, accuse, censure. Richard II, v. 2. 79; Spenser,
F. Q. v. 9. 47. See =apeche.=
=apperil,= peril, risk. Timon, i. 2. 32; B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, v. 3
(Sledge); Magnetic Lady, v. 6 (Ironside).
=appertise,= dexterity, a feat of dexterity. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf
122, back, 4; lf. 303, back, 29. OF. _appertise_, ‘industrie, dextérité,
tour d’adresse’; Histoire de Charles VII: ‘Fist de belles vaillances et
appertises d’armes contre les Anglois’, see Didot, Glossaire; _appert_,
‘adroit industrieux, habile en sa profession’ (id.). Cp. O. Prov.
_espert_, ‘adroit, habile’ (Levy). L. _expertus_.
=apple-John,= or _John-apple_, an apple said to keep for two years, and
in perfection when shrivelled. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 5; Dekker, Old
Fortunatus, iv. 2 (Shadow). Ripe about St. John’s day (June 24).
Purposely confused with _apple-squire_, a pander, B. Jonson, Barth.
Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous).
=apple-squire,= a pander. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 8 (Kiteley);
Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, Meg’s Song.
=apposal,= a posing question. Skelton has _apposelle_, Garl. of Laurell,
141. From _appose_, v.
=appose,= to ‘pose’, to ask a difficult question. Udall, Roister
Doister, i. 1. 14; Short Catechism, Edw. VI, 495 (NED.). ME. _appose_,
_apose_ (P. Plowman, C. ii. 45). Cp. to question (Chaucer, C. T. G.
363), Prompt. 13: ‘_Aposen_ or _oposyn_, opponere’. F. _aposer_ (for
_opposer_), to make a trial of a person’s learning; see Palsgrave (s.v.
Oppose).
=appropinque,= to approach. Butler, Hudibras, pt. i. c. 3. 590. L.
_appropinquare_.
=approve,= to prove, demonstrate to be true; to corroborate, confirm.
Merch. Ven. iii. 2. 79; All’s Well, iii. 7. 13; to put to the proof,
test, as in _approved_, tested, tried, 1 Hen. IV, i. 1. 54.
=apricock,= an apricot. Richard II, iii. 4. 29; Two Noble Kinsmen, ii.
1. 291. ‘_Abricot_, the abricot or apricock plumb’, Cotgrave. _Apricock_
is in common prov. use in various parts of England from the north
country to Somerset; _abricock_ is the usual form in West Somerset
(EDD.). Port. _albricoque_.
=aqueity,= watery quality. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle).
=arace, arasche,= to tear, tear away. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 256,
back, 14; lf. 319. 1. ‘I _arace_, I pull a thyng by violence from one’,
Palsgrave. ME. _arace_, to uproot (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 954). OF.
_esrachier_; L. _exradicare_, to tear up by the roots.
=arber, erber,= the whole ‘pluck’ of a slain animal. _To make the
erbere_, to take out the ‘pluck’, the first stage in disembowelling,
Boke of St. Albans, fol. iij.; Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 2 (Hubert);
spelt _arbor_, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Marian). F. _herbier_, ‘le
premier ventricule du bœuf et des autres animaux qui ruminent’, Dict. de
l’Acad. (1762).
=arblast,= a cross-bow used for the discharge of arrows, bolts, stones,
&c., Caxton, Chron. Eng. xxviii. 23 (NED.). ME. _arblaste_ (Rob. Glouc.,
ed. 1810, 377). Anglo-F. _arbeleste_, Late L. _arcubalista_, a bow for
throwing missiles.
=arblaster,= a cross-bowman, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 144, back, 20;
lf. 284, back, 30. ME. _arblaster_ (K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 2613).
Anglo-F. _arblaster_, Med. L. _arcubalistarius_ (Ducange).
=arcted,= pp. closely allied. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aen. i. 336. L.
_arctare_, to draw close; from _arctus_, confined. See =art= (to
constrain).
=arecte,= to assign, attribute, impute. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 95. The
form used by Lydgate for _arette_. Med. L. _arrectare_, to accuse
(Ducange), due to association with _rectum_. See =arette.=
=areed,= to counsel, advise. Milton, P. L. iv. 962; Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, viii. 85; to explain, recount, Drayton, vi. 87. ME. _arede_, to
explain, counsel (Chaucer). OE. _ārǣdan_, to explain.
=areed,= advice. Downfall of E. of Huntingdon, i. 3 (Little John); in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 116.
=arette,= to count, reckon. Morte Arthur, Caxton’s Pref., leaf. 1, back.
(_Aret_, _arret_, misused in Spenser in the sense of ‘to entrust,
allot’; F. Q. ii. 8. 8; iii. 8. 7.) ME. _aretten_, to count, reckon
(Wyclif, Luke xxii. 37). Anglo-F. _aretter_, to lay to one’s charge
(Rough List); cp. Span. _retar_, to accuse. O. Prov. _reptar_, ‘blâmer,
accuser’ (Levy). L. _reputare_, to count, reckon.
=arew,= in a row. Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 29. Chapman, tr. Iliad, vi. 259;
Odyssey, viii. 679. _Rew_ is a prov. form of the word ‘row’ (EDD.). ME.
_a-rew_, ‘seriatim’ (Prompt. EETS. 15); _a-rewe_, in succession
(Chaucer, C. T. D. 1254). OE. _rǣw_, a row. See =rew.=
=argaile,= argol; i.e. tartar deposited from wine and adhering to the
side of a cask. B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1 (Subtle). ME. _argoile_,
crude tartar (Chaucer, C. T. G. 813). Anglo-F. _argoil_ (Rough List).
=argal,= therefore. Hamlet, v. 1. 21. A clown’s substitution for L.
_ergo_, therefore.
=argent,= silver; hence, money. Udall, Roister Doister, i. 4 (Roister).
F. _argent_. L. _argentum_, silver.
=argent vive,= quicksilver. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Mammon). Cp. F.
_vif-argent_, quick-silver (Cotgr.).
=Argier, Argièr,= Algier, Algiers. _Argier_, Temp. i. 2. 261; _Argiers_,
Massinger, Unnat. Combat, i. 1 (Beauf. sen.).
=argin,= an embankment in front of a fort, glacis. Marlowe, 2
Tamburlaine, iii. 2. 85; 3. 23. Ital. _argine_, ‘a banke’ (Florio). See
Ducange (s.v. Arger (‘agger’) and Arginerius).
=argolet,= a light-armed horse-soldier. Peele, Battle of Alcazar, i. 2.
2; iv. 1 (Abdelmelec). F. _argolet_ (Cotgr.); _argoulet_, Essais de
Montaigne I. xxv (ed. 1870, p. 68): ‘Les _argoulets_ étaient des
arquebuisiers à cheval; et comme ils n’étaient pas considérables en
comparaison des autres cavaliers on a dit un _argoulet_ pour un homme de
néant’ (Ménage).
=argolettier,= a light-armed horse-soldier. Florio, tr. Montaigne, bk.
i. ch. 25: ‘_Guidone_, a banner or cornet for horsemen that be shot, or
Argolettiers’, Florio, Ital. Dict. See NED.
=argosy,= a merchant-vessel. Twice used as if it were _plural_; Marlowe,
Jew of Malta, i. 1. The original sense was ‘a ship of Ragusa’, the name
of a port in Dalmatia, on the Adriatic. Ragusa appears in 16th-cent.
English as _Aragouse_, _Arragosa_ (NED.).
=argument,= subject, topic, theme. Much Ado, i. 1. 266; 1 Hen. IV, ii.
2. 104; ii. 4. 314. So L. _argumentum_ (Quintilian).
=arietation,= an attack with a battering-ram. Bacon, Essay 58, § 8. L.
_ariēs_, a ram.
=armado,= an army. Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 14. Span. _armada_. Med.
L. _armata_, army (Ducange); cp. F. _armée_.
=armiger,= an esquire. Purposely altered to _armigero_ in Merry Wives,
i. 1. 10. L. _armiger_, one who bears arms, in Med. L. an esquire.
=armine,= a beggar, a poor wretch. London Prodigal, v. 1. 174. Coined
from Du. _arm_, poor; and put into the mouth of a supposed Dutchwoman.
=armipotent,= powerful in arms. Dryden, Palamon, ii. 545; iii. 293. L.
_armipotens_, powerful in arms.
=arms:= phr. _to give arms_, to have the right to bear arms, in the
heraldic sense. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Capt. Albo).
=aroint thee!,= begone!, out of the way!, make room!, ‘aroint thee,
witch!’ King Lear, iii. 4. 127; Macbeth, i. 3. 6. ‘A lady well
acquainted with the dialect of Cheshire informed me that the word is
still in use there. For example, if the cow presses too close to the
maid who is milking her, she will give the animal a push, saying at the
same time, _’Roynt thee!_ by which she means, stand off’ (Nares).
_Roint_ is used in this sense in the north country: Yorks., Lancs., and
Cheshire (EDD.). OE. _rȳm ðū, gerȳm ðū_, make thou room, cp. _rȳm þysum
men setl_, give this man place (Luke xiv. 9); _rȳman_, to make room,
deriv. of _rūm_, wide, roomy. See Dict.
=arpine, arpent,= a French acre. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iii. 1 (near
the end). F. _arpent_.
=arraign,= to arrange, place. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt (Suffolk), ed. Dyce,
p. 187: ‘See them arraign’d, I will set forward straight’, Webster (Wks.
ii. 261). See Halliwell.
=arras-powder,= orris-powder. Webster, White Devil (Brachiano), ed.
Dyce, p. 41. So also _arras_, orris; Duchess of Malfi, iii. 2 (Duchess).
See Halliwell (s.v. Arras (2)).
=arraught,= _pt. t._, seized forcibly, with violence. Spenser, F. Q. ii.
10. 34. ME. _arahte_, pt. t. of _arachen_, to obtain, attain (Gower, C.
A. i. 3207). OE. _ārǣcan_, to attain.
=arre,= to snarl as a dog. ‘They _arre_ and bark’, Nash, Summer’s Last
Will (Autumn), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 44; ‘a dog snarling _er_’, B.
Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1. 691 (Subtle).
=arrearages,= arrears. Massinger, Picture, ii. 2 (Honoria); Cymb. ii. 4.
13. OF. _arerage_; from _arere_, behind.
=arrect,= to direct upwards, to raise. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 55; to
set upright, ‘I arecte . . . or set up a thyng; _Je metz sus . . . je
metz debout_’, Palsgrave. From L. _arrect-_, pp. stem of _arrigere_, to
raise up.
=arride,= to please, gratify. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of his Humour, ii.
1 (Fastidious); Marmion, The Antiquary, ii. 1 (Mocinigo). L. _arridere_,
to smile upon.
=arrouse,= to bedew, moisten. Spelt _arowze_, Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4.
103; _arrowsid_, pp., Caxton, Hist. of Troye, leaf 249, back, l. 24.
Norm. F. _ar_(_r_)_ouser_, ‘arroser’ (Moisy). O. Prov. _arozar_ (Levy).
Romanic type *_arrosare_, L. _ad_ + _rorare_, fr. _ros_, dew.
=arsedine,= a gold-coloured alloy of copper and zinc, rolled into thin
leaf, and used to ornament toys. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Trash).
Of unknown origin.
=arsee-versee,= _adv._, backside foremost, contrary-wise, conversely.
Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 13; Diogenes, § 45; ‘fighting
arsie-versie’, Butler, Hudibras, i. 3. 827; ‘_Cul sur pointe_,
topsie-turvy, arsie-varsie’, Cotgrave. In common prov. use, see EDD.
(s.v. Arsy-versy).
=arsmetrike,= arithmetic. Fabyan, vii. 604 (NED.). ME. _arsmetrike_
(Chaucer, C. T. D. 2222); _arsmetique_ (Gower, C. A. vii. 149). OF.
_arismetique_, Med. L. _arismetica_ for L. _arithmetica_, Gk. ἡ
ἀριθμητική (τέχνη). The form _arsmetrike_ is due to popular etymology,
which associated the word with L. _ars metrica_, ‘the art of measure’.
See NED. (s.v. Arithmetic).
=arsmetry,= a corruption of _arsmetrick_, by form-association with
_geometry_. Greene, A Looking-glass, iii. 2 (1161); p. 132, col. 1.
=arson,= saddle-bow. ‘The arson of his sadel’, Morte Arthur, leaf 339,
back, 22; bk. xvi. c. 10. F. _arçon_.
=art,= to constrain. Court of Love, l. 46. ‘I _arte_, I constrayne’,
Palsgrave. L. _artare_, to confine. See =arcted.=
=artier,= an artery. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, v. 3 (Physician). F.
_artere_, ‘an artery’ (Cotgr.). L. _arteria_, Gk. ἀρτηρία.
=artillery,= missile weapons. ‘_Artillarie_ now a dayes is taken for ii.
thinges, Gunnes and Bowes’, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 65; Bacon, Essay 29,
§ 3; Fairfax, Tasso xvii. 49; BIBLE, 1 Sam. xx. 40 (AV.). Norm. F.
_artillerie_, ‘armes de jet et de trait, non à feu; comme arbalètes,
flèches, lances, etc.’ (Moisy).
=askaunces,= as if, as much as to say. Gascoigne, Dan Bartholomew; ed.
Hazlitt, i. 113, l. 4; i. 136, l. 16. So in Chaucer, C. T. G. 838. Cp.
OF. _quanses_, as if (Godefroy). See Romania, xviii. 152; Cliges (ed.
Förster, l. 4553, note). The M. Dutch _quansijs_ (as if saying, as much
as to say) in Reinaert, 2569 (ed. Martin, p. 78) is probably the same
word as the OF. _quanses_. The Chaucerian use of _ascaunces_ in Tr. and
Cr. i. 205, 292 is precisely the same as that of _als quansijs_ in
Reinaert.
=aspect,= (_aspéct_), the peculiar position and influence of a planet.
King Lear, ii. 2. 112. Common. ME. _aspect_, the angular distance
between two planets (Chaucer).
=asper,= a Turkish coin worth about two farthings or less. Fletcher,
Span. Curate, iii. 3 (Jamie). F. _aspre_. Byzantine Gk. ἄσπρον, white
money, from ἄσπρος, white.
=asprely,= fiercely. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i. c. 17. § 8. OF.
_aspre_; L. _asper_, fierce.
=assalto,= assault. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 7 (Bobadil). Ital.
_assalto_.
=assassinate,= an assassin, murderer. Dryden, Span. Friar, iv. 1
(Dominic); Don Sebastian, v. 1 (Almeyda).
=assay,= proof, trial; attempt; attack. Hamlet, ii. 1. 65; ii. 2. 71;
iii. 3. 69. _At all assays_, in every trial or juncture, in any case, on
every occasion, always, Drayton, Harmony of the Church, Ecclus. xxxvi.
st. 6; ‘At all assayes, _en tous poynts_’, Palsgrave. ME. _assay_, trial
(Chaucer, C. T. D. 290). Anglo-F. _assai_ (Gower).
=assinego,= a donkey, a dolt. Also _asinego_, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful
Lady, v. 4 (Welford); _asinigo_, Marmion, Antiquary, v. 1 (Ant.). Spelt
_asinico_ in ed. 1606; Tr. and Cr. ii. 1. 49; Span. _asnico_, ‘a little
asse’ (Minsheu), deriv. of _asno_, an ass, L. _asinus_, ass.
=assistant,= used by Fletcher for Span. _asistente_, the chief officer
of justice at Seville. Span. Curate, iii. 1. 15.
=assoil,= to set free, to dispel. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 58; iv. 5. 30.
A peculiar use of _assoil_, to absolve. ME. _assoilen_, to absolve,
pardon, discharge (Chaucer). Anglo-F. _assoiler_, to pardon (Rough
List); _-soiler_ is formed from the present stem _soille_ of the verb
_soldre_, Romanic type _sol’re_, L. _solvere_, to loosen.
=assoil,= used for _soil_, to sully, taint. Fletcher, Queen of Corinth,
iii. 1 (Euphanes). [NED. quotes a modern instance, from D’Israeli.]
=assot,= to befool, make a fool of. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 8; iii. 8.
22; _assot_, pp. infatuated, Shep. Kal., March, 25. Anglo-F. _assoter_,
to make a fool of, deriv. of _sot_, a fool (Gower). Med. L. _sottus_,
‘stolidus, bardus, simplex’ . . . ‘hinc Carolus Sottus, qui vulgo
“Simplex”’ (Ducange).
=assurd,= to burst forth. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 302. OF.
_assordre_, _essordre_, L. _exsurgere_.
=assured,= affianced. Com. Errors, iii. 2. 145; King John, ii. 535.
=astart,= to start up. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 29.
=astarte,= to escape. Turbervile, Hunting, 138. ME. _asterte_, to escape
(Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 1802).
=astert,= to come suddenly upon, happen suddenly to. Spenser, Shep.
Kal., Nov., 187. ME. _asterte_, to happen, befall (Gower, C. A. i. 722;
v. 707).
=astone,= to astound, confound. Peele, Sir Clyomon; ed. Dyce, p. 526.
ME. _aston-en_ (Chaucer); OF. _estoner_; Pop. Lat. _extonare_, for L.
_attonare_, to stun, stupefy as by thunder, _tonare_, to thunder.
=astonied,= astonished, astounded. BIBLE, AV.: Job xvii. 8; Jer. xiv. 9;
North’s Plutarch, M. Antonius (ed. Skeat, p. 204); stunned, Spenser,
Shep. Kal., July, 227; spelt _astoynde_, astounded, Sackville Mirrour,
Induct. 29. ME. _astonie_, to amaze (Chaucer, H. Fame, iii. 1174). See
=stoin.=
=astracism,= an astracism, or collection of stars. ‘The threefold
astracism’, Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, iv. 4. Possibly a deriv. of Med. L.
_astracum_ ‘pavimentum domus’ (Ducange); cp. Ital. _astracco_, a fretted
ceiling (Florio).
=at-after,= after. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 22; Richard III, iv. 3. 31.
In prov. use in various parts of England from the north to Shropshire
(EDD.). ME. _at after_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1445).
=at all!= a gamester’s exclamation, when he challenges all present. ‘Cry
at all!’, Massinger, City Madam, iv. 2. 4; ‘have at all!’, Skelton,
Bowge of Courte, 391.
=atchievement,= ‘achievement’, an ensign memorial granted in memory of
some achievement or distinguished feat. Milton, Tetrachordon (Trench,
Sel. Gl.); Dryden, Palamon, iii. 344, 932.
=athanor,= an alchemist’s furnace. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle).
Arab. _attannūr_; _al_, the, _tannūr_, furnace.
=atomy,= an atom. As You Like It, iii. 2. 245; a tiny being, id. iii. 5.
13.
=atomy,= an emaciated person, a walking skeleton. 2 Hen. IV, v. 4. 33
(Qu. 1597). For _anatomy_ (a skeleton), the _an-_ being taken for the
indef. article.
=atone,= to set two persons ‘at one’. ‘Since we cannot atone you’,
Richard III, i. 1. 202; to agree, Coriolanus, iv. 6. 72.
=atonement,= reconciliation. Richard III, i. 3. 36; Beaumont and Fl.,
Bloody Brother, i. 1 (Rolls).
=attaint,= to hit, strike, wound. ‘His attainted thigh’, Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, xi. 572; _attaint_, pp. stricken, Sackville, Induction, st. 15.
‘I _atteynt_, I hyt or touche a thyng, _Iattayngs_’, Palsgrave.
=attame,= to commence. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 19, 12; lf. 71, back,
28. OF. _atamer_; L. _attaminare_, to lay hands on. Cp. O. Prov.
_entamenar_. ‘entamer’ (Levy). See Hatzfeld (s.v. Entamer).
=atte,= for _at the_; _atte last_, at the last; _atte castel_, at the
castle; Morte Arthur (see Glossary); _atten ale_ (_at nale_), at the
ale-house; Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 387. ME. _atte_, at the (Chaucer);
_atte nale_, at the ale-house (P. Plowman, c. viii. 19).
=attend,= attendance. Greene, A Looking-glass, i. 1. 8.
=attent,= attentive, attentively. Milton, P. R. i. 385; Dryden, Wife of
Bath, 310.
=attentate,= a criminal attempt or assault. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby,
p. 86. F. _attentat_, ‘tentative criminelle’ (Hatzfeld).
=atteynt,= an ‘attaint’, a wound on a horse’s foot due to a blow or
injury; either from overstepping, or from being trodden on by another
horse. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 113; Topsell, Four-footed Beasts, 313
(NED.).
=attonce,= at once. Peele, Arr. of Paris, iii. 2 (Paris); iv. 1 (Paris).
=attract,= an attractive quality, charm. ‘The Soule . . . glides after
these attracts’, Manchester Al Mondo (ed. 1639, p. 117). Late L.
_attractus_, attraction.
=attrapt,= ‘trapped’, furnished with ‘trappings’; said of a horse.
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 4. 39.
=attrite,= worn by friction. Milton, P. L. x. 1073. L. _attritus_.
=atwite,= to reproach, upbraid, twit. Calisto and Melibaea, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, i. 85; spelt _attwite_, Hazlitt, Early Pop. Poetry, iii. 25.
OE. _æt_, prep., and _wītan_, to blame. The mod. E. _twit_ is a
shortened form of _atwite_.
=auberge,= a lodging, a term technically applied to a reception-house
provided by the Knights Hospitallers, hence, to their fraternity.
Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, i. 3 (Mountferrat). F. _auberge_, O.
Prov. _alberga_. Cp. Med. L. _albergia_, ‘apud Milites Hospital. S.
Joan. Hieros. vocantur domus, in quibus Fratres Ordinis per nationes una
comedunt et congregantur. Statuta ejusd. Ordin. tit. 19 § 3’ (Ducange).
=aubifane,= the corn blue-bottle, _Centaurea cyanus_. Peacham, Comp.
Gentleman, c. 14, p. 158. F. _aubifoin_, the weed Blew-bottle (Cotgr.).
=auke,= backward, contrary to the usual way, from left to right. ‘With
an auke stroke’, Morte Arthur, leaf 156, back; bk. viii. c. 25 (end);
‘Ringing as awk as the bells, to give notice of the conflagration’,
Lestrange, Fables (NED.). In E. Anglia bells are said to be ‘rung awk’
when they are rung backward or contrary to the usual way, to give alarm
of fire (EDD.). The word is found in many German dialects: Kurhessen,
_afk_ perverse (Vilmar). See =awk.=
=auke,= untoward, froward. Tusser, Husbandry, § 62. 13.
=aukly,= inauspiciously; said of the flight of birds. Golding, Metam. v.
147; fol. 57, back.
=aulf,= elf, goblin. Drayton, Nymphidia, st. 10. See =ouphe.=
=aumayld,= enamelled. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 57. Deriv. of OF. _amail_,
for _esmail_, enamel. See =amell.=
=aums-ace,= double aces; given as the name of a card-game. Interlude of
Youth, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 35. See =ames-ace.=
=aunt,= a cant term for a bawd or procuress. Middleton, A Trick to
Catch, ii. 1 (first speech); Michaelmas Term, ii. 3 (Thomasine).
=aunters:= in phr. _in aunters_, in case, in case that, if. ‘In aunters
the Englishmen shoulde sturre’, Robinson, tr. of More’s Utopia, p. 57.
_Aunters_ (without _in_) was used in the same sense, and represented an
adverbial form founded on _aunter_, a contraction of _aventure_ (Mod. E.
_adventure_); see _Aunters_ in NED. Cp. the Yorkshire word _anters_: ‘We
must have it ready, anters they come’ (i.e. in case they come); see EDD.
(s.v. Aunters, 2).
=autem mort,= a married woman (Cant). ‘_Autem-mortes_ be maried wemen’,
Harman, Caveat, p. 67. He adds ‘for Autem in their [slang] language is a
Churche; so she is a wyfe maried at the Church’. Spelt _autumn mort_,
Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Randal).
=avails,= profits, proceeds, ‘vails’. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p.
94).
=avale, avail,= to sink, descend, droop; also, to lower, let down. To
sink, Spenser. F. Q. i. 1. 21; iii. 2. 29; to descend, ii. 9. 10; iv. 3.
46; to droop, Shep. Kal., Feb., 8; to lower, let down, F. Q. iv. 10. 19;
Shep. Kal., Jan., 73. Anglo-F. _avaler_, to lower, bring down, swallow,
deriv. of _aval_, down, lit. to the valley (Gower), L. _ad vallem_.
=avaunce,= to advance, promote, Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. iii. 71. ME.
_avaunce_, to promote (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 2022). Anglo-F. _avancer_
(Gower).
=avaunt,= to ‘vaunt’, boast. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 6. ME. _avaunten_
(Chaucer). Anglo-F. _s’avanter_, to boast; _avantance_, _avanterie_,
boasting (Gower).
=Ave-Mary bell,= a bell rung daily (once or twice) to direct the recital
of an Ave-Maria, or prayer to the Virgin. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici,
pt. 1. § 3.
=avenant,= suitable; _after the avenant_, in proportion, Caxton, Hist.
Troye, leaf 149. 30; _at avenant_, in proportion, id. lf. 225. 4. ‘Fayre
and avenant’, fair and graceful, id. lf. 256. 4. ME. _avenaunt_,
graceful, comely (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1263). Anglo-F. _avenant_,
suitable, agreeable (Gower), pres. pt. of _avenir_, to be suitable
(id.).
=avente him,= to refresh himself with air. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf
298. 2. ME. _aventen_, to open the helmet to admit the cool air, to
refresh with cool air (Merlin, xx. 335). Anglo-F. _aventer_; cp. OF.
_esventer_ (mod. _éventer_), Med. L. _eventare_ (Ducange), L. _ex_ +
_ventus_, wind.
†=aventre= (?). ‘[She] aventred her spear’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 28;
‘[He] aventred his spear’, iv. 3. 9; ‘aventring his lance’, iv. 6. 11.
The phrase ‘they aventred their speres’ occurs in King Arthur (ed.
Copland); see NED. Can this word be an error for _aveutre_? _Aveutre_ =
_afeutre_ = OF. _afeutrer_, to lay a spear in rest in the _feutre_, the
felt-lined socket for a lance or spear attached to the saddle of a
knight. Spenser has the verb _fewter_ equivalent in meaning to
_afeutrer_ in F. Q. iv. 6. 10: ‘He his threatfull speare Gan fewter’.
See NED. (s.v. Fewter).
=aventure,= in phr. _at aventure_, at adventure, at hazard, at random.
BIBLE, 1 Kings xxii. 34 (improperly printed _at a venture_); ‘Certayn
. . . rode forthe at adventure’, Berners, Froissart, I. cxcii. ME.
_aventure_, chance, peril (Gower). Anglo-F. _aventure_, chance, danger,
uncertainty: _par aventure_ (Gower, Mirour, 1239).
=averruncate,= to avert, ward off. Butler, Hudibras, pt. i, c. 1. 758.
L. _auerruncare_, to avert. Often explained in the 17th cent. by ‘to
weed out’, or ‘to root up’, but Butler uses the word correctly. See NED.
=aversation,= aversion. Bacon, Essay 27.
=avile,= to hold cheap, think little of. B. Jonson, Prince Henry’s
Barriers (Lady). Anglo-F. _aviler_, to debase (Gower).
=avise,= to see, observe; to think; _refl._ to bethink. Spenser, F. Q.
ii. 1. 31; iv. 2. 22; iii. 12. 10; _refl._ ii. 6. 46; iii. 3. 6. _To be
avised of_, to be well informed about, Merry Wives, i. 4. 106; Meas. ii.
2. 132. ME. _avise_, refl. to consider (Chaucer, C. T. B. 664). Anglo-F.
_s’aviser_, to take thought (Gower).
=avisefull,= observant. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 26.
=avision,= a dream, vision. Douglas, Aeneid, iii. 1. 69. ME. _avisioun_
(Lydgate, Temple of Glas, 1374). Anglo-F. _avisioun_ (Gower).
=aviso,= advice, intelligence, piece of information. B. Jonson, Magn.
Lady, i. 1 (Sir Moth); Habington, Castara, ed. Arber, p. 102. Span.
_aviso_, information.
=avouch,= to maintain, make good. Mids. Night’s D., i. 1. 106; Tusser,
Husbandry, § 10. 12. Hence _avouch_, assurance, Hamlet, i. 1. 37.
=avoure,= acknowledgement, avowal. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 48. OF.
_avouer_, an avowal, prop. infin., to avow.
=avoutry,= adultery. Paston, Letters, no. 883; vol. iii, p. 317;
Hickscorner, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 175. ME. _avouterye_ (Chaucer).
Anglo-F. _avoulterie_ (Gower).
=avowre,= to vow, devote. Only in Phaer, Aeneid, viii. 85, Latin text (M
iiij, l. 6). See NED.
=awaite:= _in await_ (_awate_), in ambush. Fairfax, tr. Tasso, v. 18.
Anglo-F. _en await_ (_agwait_, _agueit_, _agait_), in ambush, lying in
wait (Rough List, s.v. Await).
=awaite:= in phr. _to have good awaite_, to take good care. Sir T.
Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, ch. 5, § 10.
=a-wallop,= in a boiling state, boiling quickly. Golding, Metam. vii.
263; fol. 82 (1603). Cp. the prov. word _wallop_, ‘to boil violently
with a bubbling sound’, in common use in Scotland and in various parts
of England. See EDD. (s.v. Wallop, vb.^{2}).
=awbe,= a bull-finch. Gascoigne, Philomene, l. 35. ME. _alpe_,
‘ficedula’ (Prompt.). See =nope.=
=awful,= profoundly reverential. Richard II, iii. 3. 76; Dryden,
Britannia, 106.
=awhape,= to amaze, confound. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 5; v. 11. 32. ME.
_awhapen_ (Chaucer).
=awk,= reversed; _the awk end_, the wrong end, the other end. Golding,
Metam. xiv. 300 (L. ‘conversae verbere virgae’); fol. 170, back (1603).
See =auke.=
=awkward,= untoward, unfavourable, adverse. 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 83;
Marlowe, Edw. II, iv. 6. 34.
=axtree,= axle-tree. Drayton, Pol. i. 498. Still in prov. use, see EDD.
(s.v. Ax, sb.^{1} 3). OE. _œx-trēo_.
=aygulets,= an aglet, metal tag. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 25. A doublet of
_aglet_. Spenser seems to speak here of the bright metal tops or tags of
lace, which he likens to stars; as in Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 4. 2. F.
_aiguillette_, a point (Cotgr.), dimin. of _aiguille_, a needle.
=ayle,= a grandfather. ‘_Ayle_, _Pere_, and _Fitz_, grandfather, father,
and son’, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, i (Jerry). ME. _ayel_, grandfather
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 2477). Norm. F. _aiel_ (Moisy).
=azoch,= ‘azoth’, the alchemist’s name for quicksilver. B. Jonson,
Alchemist, ii. 1 (Surly). Also spelt _assogue_. F. _assogue_; Span.
_azogue_, quicksilver; Arab. _az-zāūq_; _zāūq_ is adapted from Pers.
_zhīwah_ (_jīvah_), quicksilver. See NED., Ducange, and Dozy, Glossaire
(s.v. Azogue).
B
=babion,= baboon. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, i. 1 (Amorphus); Drayton,
Man in the Moon, 331; spelt _babyone_ Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 124, l. 163.
F. ‘_babion_, a babion or baboone’ (Cotgr.).
=bable,= a ‘bauble’, a toy, trick, fancy. ‘Has fill’d my head So full of
_bables_’ (some edd. _baubles_), Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, v.
4. 7; ‘That _bable_ called love’, Lyly, Endimion, iii. 3 (Epi.). OF.
_babel_, _baubel_, a child’s plaything (Godefroy); _beau_ + _bel_, cp.
F. _bonbon_.
=bace,= (Spenser); see =base.=
=bacharach, backrack,= the name of a wine. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 2
(Vandunke); _Bacrack_, Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 300. From _Bacharach_,
on the Rhine. See =backrag.=
=back,= a bat. _Backes_ or reermice; Golding, Metam., iv. 415; fol. 49
(1603). The pl. _backes_ is the form used by Wyclif, Coverdale and the
Geneva Bible, in Isaiah ii. 20, where AV. has _battes_, see NED. (s.v.
Bat). In Scotland the usual word for the bat is _Backie_ (or
_Backie-bird_), see EDD. (s.v. Backie, sb.^{1} 1 and 2).
=backare!,= go back, keep back. ‘_Backare! quod Mortimer to his sow_;
i.e. keep back, said Mortimer’; an old proverb, often quoted against
such as are too forward, Udall, Roister Doister, i. 2 (Roister); Tam.
Shrew, ii. 1. 72. See EDD. (s.v. Baccare).
=backcheat,= stolen apparel, lit. things from the back. (Thieves’ cant.)
‘Back or belly-cheats’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). See
=cheat.=
=backrag,= the name of a wine. Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, v. 1
(Bornwell); Mayne, City Match, i. 3 (near the end). See =bacharach.=
=backside,= a yard behind a farmhouse. Witch of Edmonton, iv. 1 (Old
Banks). Very common in prov. usage, see EDD. (s.v. Backside, 2).
=badger-nab,= a strong little badger. ‘_Meg_ [a witch] What Beast was by
thee hither rid? _Mawd_ [second witch] A Badger-nab’, Heywood, Witches
of Lancs., iv. 1, vol. iv. p. 220. Cp. _knab_, a strong boy, a thickset,
strong little animal (EDD.).
=baffle,= to treat with ignominy and contempt. It was originally a
punishment inflicted on recreant knights, one part of it being that the
victim was hung up by the heels and beaten. See Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7.
27; Beaumont and Fl., A King and no King, iii. 2 (Bessus); 1 Hen. IV, i.
2. 113; Richard II, i. 1. 170. See Trench, Select Glossary, and NED.
=bag:= phr. _to give the bag_, to cheat. Westward Ho, iv. 2
(Honeysuckle).
=bagage,= refuse, worthless stuff; ‘When brewers put no bagage in their
beere’, Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1082; Tusser, Husbandry, st. 21. An Essex
word in this sense, see EDD. (s.v. Baggage, sb.^{1}). Cp. Port.
_bagaço_, ‘marc; ce qui reste de plus grossier de quelque fruit, qu’on a
pressé pour en retirer le suc’ (Roquette).
=bagatine,= a small Italian coin, worth about the third part of a
farthing. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 2 (Vol.). Ital. _bagatino_,
_bagattino_, ‘a little coyne vsed in Italie’ (Florio).
=bagle,= a staff, or crosier such as a bishop carries. _Bagle-rod_,
Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vii. 188 (see the side-note). Icel. _bagall_, a
crosier, L. _baculum_, a rod, staff.
=bague, baghe,= a ring, brooch. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 54, back, 8;
lf. 98. 11. F. _bague_.
=baies,= scoldings (?). ‘Ill servant . . . deserveth hir fee to be paid
hir with _baies_’, Tusser, Husbandry, § 81. 2.
=bain,= a bath. Chapman, tr. Odyssey, x. 567; to bathe, Greene, The
Palmer’s Verses, l. 88 (Capricornus); _bayne_, Surrey, Desc. of restless
state of a Lover, 13. F. _bain_.
=bain,= supple, lithe. Golding, Metam. iv. 354 (fol. 48); xv. 202; fol.
182 (1603). In common prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Bain, sb. 1). ME.
_beyn_, ‘flexibilis’ (Prompt.). Icel. _beinn_, straight; also, ready to
serve.
=bains;= see =banes.=
=bait,= to stop at an inn to feed the horses, also to stop for
refreshment; used _fig._ ‘Evil news rides post, while good news baits’,
Milton, Samson, 1538. In prov. use in the sense of stopping to feed. See
EDD. (s.v. Bait, vb.^{1} 2).
=bald,= marked with white upon the head. Hence ‘bald coot’, a coot
(_Fulica atra_); Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, i. 1 (Zanthia). In
prov. use (EDD.).
=bale,= a set of dice; usually three. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Host);
Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 1 (Young Chartley); A Woman never
vexed, ii. 1 (Stephen). See NED. (s.v. Bale, sb.^{3} 4).
=ball,= a white streak on a horse’s face. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 73.
Hence _ball_, as a horse’s name; orig. one marked with a white streak;
Tusser, Husbandry, § 95, st. 2. Prob. of Celtic origin; cp. Gael.
_ball_, spot, mark, Breton _bal_, a white mark on an animal’s face.
=balloon,= a game in which a large ball (like a football) was struck by
the arm, which was protected by a stout guard. Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Sir
Petronel); Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracy, iv. 1 (_1st Lady_). _Balloo_, in
the phr. _at the Balloo_ (B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1: _Volpone_), must be
an error for _at the Balloon_, i.e. when playing at the game. Also
_balloon-ball_, Middleton, Game at Chess, ii. 1 (B. Knight).
=ballow,= smooth. ‘Ballowe wood’, i.e. smooth wood without bark, see
Nottingham Corporation Records, ed. Stevenson, vol. iv, Glossary (date
of entry 1504); ‘The ballow nag’, Drayton, Pol. iii. 24. ME. _balhow_,
smooth, plain (Prompt. EETS., see note no. 136).
=ballow,= in King Lear, iv. 6. 247, prob. means a quarter-staff
made from _ballow_ wood. See above.
=ban,= to curse, imprecate damnation on. 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 25; a curse,
Hamlet, iii. 2. 269. Icel. _banna_, to prohibit, curse.
=band,= a collar, lying flat upon the dress, worn round the neck by man
or woman. Also called _falling-bands_, Middleton, Roaring Girl, i. 1
(Mary). The falling band succeeded the cumbersome ruff.
=band,= to bandy about, like a tennis-ball. Look about You, sc. 32, l.
5; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 490.
=banding-ball,= a ball to be driven about at tennis or in the game of
bandy. Wounds of Civil War; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 116.
=bando,= a proclamation. Shirley, Sisters, v. 2 (Longino). Ital.
_bando_, a public proclamation (Dante).
=bandoleer, bandalier,= a broad belt, worn over the shoulder and across
the breast. Peele, Polyhymnia, The Third Couple (l. 10). Hence, a wearer
of a bandoleer was _himself_ called by the same name. Thus Gascoigne
has: ‘Their peeces then are called Petronels, And _they themselves_ by
sundrie names are called, As Bandolliers . . . Or . . . Petronelliers’,
Works, i. 408. See Dict.
=bandora,= a kind of guitar; now called _banjo_. Middleton, Your Five
Gallants, v. 2 (hymn); also _pandore_, Drayton, Pol. iv. 361. Ital.
_pandora_, a bandora (Florio).
=bandrol,= a long narrow flag, with a cleft end; a streamer from a
lance. Drayton, Pol. xxii. 211. Spelt _bannerall_, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7.
26. F. _banderole_, a little flag or streamer, a penon (Cotgr.).
=banes,= ‘banns’ of marriage (the usual spelling to 1661); Tam. Shrew,
ii, 1. 181; spelt _bains_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 36. ME. _bane_ of a
play (or mariage, Pynson), ‘banna’ (Prompt.).
=bangling,= frivolous contention, squabbling. Englishmen for my Money,
iv. 1 (Heigham); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 528.
=banquerout, bankrout,= a bankrupt. Webster, Appius, v. 2 (Virginius);
Com. Errors, iv. 2. See Dict. (s.v. Bankrupt).
=banquet,= a slight refection, a dessert after dinner. Tam. Shrew, v. 2.
9; Timon, i. 2. 160; ‘The Banquet is brought in’, Middleton, No Wit like
a Woman’s, ii. 1 (stage direction).
=barate,= treason. Caxton, Hist. Troye, 327, back, 10; 335. 29. OF.
_barat_, deceit. See NED. (s.v. Barrat).
=barathrum,= abyss, a bottomless pit. ‘To the lowest barathrum’,
Heywood, Silver Age (Pluto), vol. iii. p. 159; used _fig._ ‘You
barathrum of the shambles!’ Massinger, New Way, iii. 2 (Greedy); (cp.
_barathrumque macelli_, Horace, Epist. i. 15. 31). L. _barathrum_, the
underworld; Gk. βάραθρον, the yawning cleft near the Acropolis at
Athens, down which criminals were thrown.
=baratour,= a quarrelsome person, a brawler, a rowdy, Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. ii. c. 12. § 8. ME. _baratowre_, ‘pugnax, rixosus,
jurgosus’ (Prompt.). Norm. F. _barateur_ ‘provocateur, querelleur’
(Moisy), deriv. of _barat_, ‘lutte, dispute’ (id.).
=baratresse,= a female warrior. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aen. i. 500.
†=baratto, barrato,= a small boat; explained as ‘an Indian boat’.
Fletcher, Island Princess, i. 1. 19; ii. 6 (end).
=barb,= to shave. Turbervile, Trag. T. 53 (NED.); to mow, Marston,
Malcontent, iii. 1 (Malevole); to clip money, B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1
(Face). F. _barber,_ to shave, to cut the beard (Cotgr.).
=barbed,= wearing a barb. From _barb_, lit. a beard (F. _barbe_); hence,
a piece of white plaited linen, passed over or under the chin, and
reaching midway to the waist; chiefly worn by nuns. ‘Barbyd lyke a
nonne’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1000.
=bard;= see =barred.=
=bard cater-tray,= for _barred cater-tray_, a kind of false dice in
which the throws _cater_ (four) and _tray_ (three) were _barred_, or
prevented from being likely to appear. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 1
(Matheo). NED. quotes from Diceplay (1532), ed. 1850, p. 24:—‘a
well-favoured die that seemeth good and square, yet is the forehead
longer on the cater and tray than any other, way . . . Such be also
called _bard cater-tres_, because, commonly, the longer end will, of his
own sway, draw downwards, and turn up to the eye sice, sinke, deuis or
ace; i.e. 6, 5, 2, or 1, but not 4 or 3’.
=baretour,= a fighting man, a brawler. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aen. i. 472;
id. i. 142. Anglo-F. _barettour_ (Rough List). See =baratour.=
=bargenette, bargynet,= the name of a rustic dance, accompanied with a
song. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i. c. 20. § 12; Gascoigne, ed.
Hazlitt, i. 430. Variant of _bargaret_ or _bargeret_; F. _bergerette_,
‘chant que les bergers chantaient le jour de Pâques’ (Hatzfeld). See
NED. (s.v. Bargeret).
=barley-bread,= coarse food. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 637.
=barley-break,= an old country-game; usually one couple, left in a
middle den termed ‘hell’, had to catch the other two couples (who were
allowed to separate and ‘break’ when hard pressed, and thus to change
partners); when caught, they had to take their turn as catchers. _Two
Noble Kinsmen_, iv. 3. 34; ‘A course at _barley-break_’, B. Jonson, Sad
Shepherd, A. i (Clarion). The last couple left were said to be in hell:
‘_Barly-break: or Last in Hel_’, a poem by Herrick. See EDD.
=barley-hood,= a fit of ill-temper, brought on by drunkenness. So called
because caused by _barley_, i.e. malt liquor. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 372.
See EDD.
=barn,= a ‘bairn’, a child. Much Ado, iii. 4. 48. ME. _barne_, ‘infans’
(Cath. Angl.). OE. _bearn_ (Anglian _barn_).
=barnacles,= barnacle-geese. Drayton, Pol. xxvii. 305 (where the fable
is given). See EDD. (s.v. Barnacle, sb.^{1}).
=barratry,= vexatious persistence in litigation. Butler, Hudibras, iii.
3. 695. See =baratour.=
=barrèd,= misused for _barded_, i.e. caparisoned. Drayton, Pol. xii.
481. Shortened to _bard_; Dekker, O. Fortunatus, iii. 1 (Cornwall).
=barred gown,= a gown marked with stripes or bars of gold lace, like
that of a judge or law-officer. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, i. 1
(Rolliardo).
=barrendry,= a barony, a title of a baron. Chapman, Humorous Day’s
Mirth, p. 31. Anglo-F. _baronnerie_, a baronry, the domain of a baron,
the rank or dignity of baron. See NED. (s.v. Baronry).
=barriers,= lists, as for a tournament. _To fight at barriers_, to fight
within lists. ‘_Jeu de Barres_, a martial sport of men armed and
fighting together with short swords within certain Barres or lists,
whereby they are separated from the spectators’, Cowel’s Interpreter
(ed. 1701). Webster, White Devil; ed. Dyce, p. 40; at p. 6, the ‘great
barriers’ are said ‘to moult feathers’; alluding to the plumes cut from
the helmets of the combatants.
=barth,= a warm place or pasture for calves or lambs. Tusser, Husbandry,
§ 33. 26; Coles, Dict., 1677. An E. Anglian word (EDD.). Prob. a
derivative of OE. _beorgan_, to shelter, protect.
=basciomani,= kissings of the hand. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 56. Ital.
_basciamano_, a kissing of the hand (Florio).
=base,= or _prison-bars_, the name of a boys’ game. _To bid base_, to
challenge to pursuit, as in the game, Venus and Adonis, 303; Spenser, F.
Q. iii. 11. 5; _at bace_, id. v. 8. 5. ‘_Barres_, play at _bace_, or
prison Bars’, Cotgrave. ME. _bace_, play, ‘barri’ (Prompt. EETS. 24, see
note no. 100). ‘_Barri_ sunt ludi, anglicè _bace_’ (Wright, Vocab. 176;
foot-note).
=bases,= pl. (used like _skirts_), applied to a plaited skirt of cloth,
velvet, or rich brocade, appended to the doublet, and reaching from the
waist to the knee, common in the Tudor period. Massinger, Picture, ii. 1
(Sophia); Chapman, Mask of the Inner Temple, § 2. Called ‘a pair of
_bases_’, Pericles, ii. 1. 167.
=bash,= to be abashed, Greene, Looking Glasse, i. 1. 3; Peele,
Arraignment of Paris, iv. 1 (Venus); to make abashed, Greene, Looking
Glasse, i. 1. 75 (Rasni). In prov. use in both senses, see EDD. (s.v.
vb.^{3}).
=basilisk,= a species of ordnance. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 3. 56; Marlowe, 1
Tamburlaine, iv. 1. 2; Harrison, Desc. England, bk. ii, ch. 16 (ed.
Furnivall, 281).
=basket, the,= one in which the broken meat and bread from the sheriffs’
table was carried to the counters, for poor prisoners. Middleton,
Inner-Temple Masque (Dr. Almanac). Hence, _go to the basket_, i.e. to
prison, Massinger, Fatal Dowry, v. 1 (Pontalier). Cp. Shirley, Bird in a
Cage, iii. 4 (Rolliardo). There were three grades of prisoners in each
of the counters; they occupied, respectively, the Master’s side, the
Twopenny Ward, and the Hole. Those in the Hole paid nothing for their
provisions, but depended upon the basket.
=baslard,= a kind of hanger, or small sword. Mirror for Mag., Glocester,
st. 18. Anglo-F. _baselard_. For the other French forms, _bazelaire_,
_badelaire_, _beaudelaire_, see Ducange (s.vv. Basalardus, Basalaria,
Bazalardus, Badelare).
=basque,= a short skirt. Etheredge, Man of Mode, iv. 1 (Sir Fopling). F.
_basque_, a short skirt (Cotgr.); from _Basque_, name of the ancient
race inhabiting both slopes of the western Pyrenees.
=bass,= to kiss. ‘Bas me’, Skelton, Speke Parrot, 106; ‘I _basse_ or
kysse a person, _Ie baise_’, Palsgrave. F. _baiser_; L. _basiare_.
=bassa,= an earlier form of the Turkish military title ‘Bashaw’. Butler,
Hudibras, iii. 3. 306; spelt _basso_, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iii. 1. 1.
Turkish _bāshā_, prob. fr. _bāsh_, a head. See NED. (s.v. Pasha).
=basta,= enough. Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 203. Ital. (and Span.) _basta_, it is
enough (Florio); Ital. _bastare_, and Span. _bastar_, to suffice.
=bastard,= a sweet Spanish wine resembling muscatel. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4.
30; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 1. 12.
=bastardeigne,= for =bastard eigné,= firstborn bastard. Wycherley, Plain
Dealer, iv (Widow). _Eigné_ is a late spelling of _ayné_, _ainé_; from
F. _aîné_, OF. _ainsné_; _ains_, before, + _né_, born (Hatzfeld).
=bastone,= a ‘baton’, cudgel. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iii. 3 (Tamb.).
ME. _baston_, a cudgel (Cursor M. 15827). OF. _baston_ (F. _bâton_). See
=batoon.=
=batable,= debatable. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 4, § 2.
‘_Batable ground_ seemeth to be the ground in question heretofore
whether it belonged to England or Scotland, 23 Hen. VIII, c. 16, as if
we should say debatable ground,’ Cowell, Interp. (ed. 1637).
=bate= (short for =abate=), to reduce, diminish, decrease, deduct.
Merch. Ven. iii. 3. 32; iv. 1. 72; 1 Hen. IV, iii. 3. 2; Hamlet, v. 2.
23; to blunt, Love’s L. L. i. 1. 6. Phr. _to bate an Ace_, to abate a
tittle, to make the slightest abatement, Heywood, Witches of Lancashire
iv (Robin); vol. iv, p. 223, l. 2; _Bate me an ace, quod Bolton_, an
expression of incredulity, R. Edwards, Damon and P. in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, iv. 77 (NED. s.v. Bate, vb.^{2} 6 d).
=bate,= to beat the wings impatiently and flutter away from the fist or
perch. Tam. Shrew, iv. 1. 199; 1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 99 (old edd. _bayted_).
F. _se battre_.
=bate,= bit, a northern form of the pret. of _bite_. Spenser, F. Q. ii.
5. 7. See EDD. (s.v. Bate vb.^{4}).
=batful,= fattening, full of sustenance. Drayton, Pol. iii. 349; vii.
93; &c. See =batten.=
=batoon, battoon,= a stick, cudgel. Shirley, The Traitor, iii. 1
(Rogers); _battoon_, Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, v. 1 (Egremont).
See =bastone.=
=battaile,= a body of troops in battle array. Bacon, Essay 58, § 9;
_battayle_, Psalm lxxvi. 3 (Bible 1539); _the main battle_, main body of
an armed force, Richard III, v. 3. 301. Prov. _batalha_ ‘troupe rangée’
(Levy).
=batten,= to feed gluttonously, Hamlet, iii. 4. 67; to fatten,
‘Battening our flocks’, Milton, Lycidas, 29; to grow fat, B. Jonson,
Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Moon-calf). See Dict.
=battle,= (at Oxford) to have a kitchen and buttery account, to obtain
provisions in college. ‘I eat my commons with a good stomach and battled
with discretion’, Puritan Widow, i. 2. 42; ‘To battle, as scholars do in
Oxford, _Estre debteur au College pour ses vivres_’, Sherwood, Dict.
1672.
=battle, battill,= to grow fat. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 38; _battling_,
fattening, nourishing to cattle, Greene, Friar Bacon, scene 9. 4;
nutritious to man, Golding, tr. of Ovid Met. xv. 359. See =batten.=
=battle.= See =battaille.=
=battled,= ‘embattled’, furnished with battlements. Fletcher, Woman’s
Prize, iii. 2 (Maria).
=battree,= a battle, encounter. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Julius, 16;
Pompey, 1. Variant of _battery_.
=baudkin,= a rich embroidered stuff, a rich brocade. Holland, Camden’s
Brit. i. 174; Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 777. Hence, _cloth of bodkin_,
Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, iii. 2 (Frederick); B. Jonson, Discoveries,
lxviii; Massinger, City Madam, ii. 1. OF. _baudequin_, med. L.
_baldakinus_ (Ducange), cp. Ital. _baldacchino_, lit. belonging to
_Baldacco_, the Italian name for Bagdad.
=baudricke,= ‘a baldric’, belt, girdle. Spenser calls the zodiac the
_baudricke_ (or _bauldricke_) of the heavens, F. Q. v. 1. 11;
Prothalamion, 174. ME. _bawdryk_ (Prompt.), MHG. _balderich_, a girdle
(Schade). See Dict. (s.v. Baldric).
†=bause= (?). Only in this passage: ‘My spaniel slept, whilst I _baus’d_
leaves’, Marston, What you Will, ii. 2 (Lam.).
=bauson, bawson,= a badger. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 71; _bauzon’s_
skin; Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. iv; Ballad of Dowsabel, st. 10. _Bauson_
is a common north-country word for a badger, see EDD. Cp. OF. _bausen_,
_bauzan_, black and white spotted, Ital. _balzano_, a horse with white
feet (Florio). See NED. The French word for a badger is _blaireau_.
=baux= (a plural form), the name of a breed of swift hounds used in the
chase; ‘Those dogges called Baux of Barbarie, of the whiche Phoebus
doeth speake’, Turbervile, Hunting, ch. i. p. 3; ‘White dogges called
Baux, and surnamed Greffiers’, id. ch. ii, p. 4; ‘_Greffiers_, a kind of
white hounds, the same as Bauds’, Cotgrave; ‘_Souillard_, the name of a
dog, between which and a bitch called _Baude_, the race of the _Bauds_
(white and excellent hounds) was begun’ (id.). Comb. _Baux-hound_,
Holme’s Academy of Armory, p. 184. F. _baud_, ‘chien courant, originaire
de Barbarie’ (Hatzfeld). Probably of Germanic origin, cp. OHG. _bald_,
bold (Schade).
=bavian,= a baboon, an occasional character in the old Morris dance. He
appears in Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 5. See Nares. Du. _baviaan_.
=bawcock,= a fine fellow, Hen. V, iii. 2. 27; Twelfth Night, iii. 4.
125. A Lincolnshire word for a foolish person (EDD.). Hence probably the
surname ‘Bawcock’, see Bardsley, 475. F. _beau coq_, a fine cock.
=bawn,= a fortified enclosure, outwork of a castle. Spenser, View of
Ireland, Globe ed. p. 642, col. 2. Irish _baḋḃḋún_, an enclosure
(Dinneen).
=bawson,= see =bauson.=
=bay,= see =beck and bay, at.=
=bayard,= the name of the horse given to Renaud, one of the Four Sons of
Aymon (name of a romance), hence, a common name for a horse; ‘Bolde
bayarde, ye are to blynde’, Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 123, l. 101; _a
Bayard’s bun_, horse bread, id. i. 15, l. 8. _Bayard_, lit. of a bay
colour, O. Prov. _baiart_, ‘bai; cheval bai’ (Levy).
=bayes,= ‘baize’. Howell, Foreign Travell, sect. v, p. 31. A plural form
of _bay_, bay coloured, reddish-brown. See Dict. (s.v. Baize).
=beace,= beasts; pl. of _beast_. Golding, Metam. xv. 13. This is the
usual pron. of _beast_ (and _beasts_) in the north of England. For
various spellings—_beas_, _beece_, _beess_, &c., see EDD. (s.v. Beast).
=beached,= apparently for _beeked_, i.e. seasoned (as wood) by exposure
to heat. ‘A coodgell [cudgel] _beached_ or pilled [peeled] lawfully’,
Turbervile, Hunting, c. 39; p. 106. Cp. ME. _beke_: ‘to beke wandes’
(Cath. Angl.), see NED. (s.v. Beek vb.^{1} 1 b). See =beak.=
=bead,= a prayer, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 30; Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 872.
This is the orig. sense of mod. E. _bead_; a perforated ball was so
called because it was used for counting prayers. ME. _bede_ ‘oracio’
(Prompt.). OE. (_ge_)_bed_ prayer.
=bead-roll,= a list, catalogue. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 32;
_bed-roll_, Heywood, A Woman Killed, iii. 1 (Sir Charles).
Properly, a list of persons to be specially prayed for.
=beadsman,= one who prays for another, Two Gent. i. 1. 18. ME.
_bedeman_, ‘orator, supplicator’ (Prompt.). OE. (_ge_)_bedmann_
(John iv. 23).
=bead-hook,= a kind of boat-hook. Chapman, tr. of Homer, Iliad xv. 356,
624; Caesar and Pompey, v. 1 (Septimius). Spelt _beede-hook_, Raleigh,
Hist. World (NED.).
=beak, beyk,= to expose to the warmth of the fire; to season by heat.
‘Beak ourselves’, Grimald, Metrodorus, 3; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 109.
_Beyked_, seasoned, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 24. 3. See EDD. (s.v. Beek
vb. 1 and 2). See =beached.=
=beam,= the main trunk of a stag’s horn which bears the antlers,
Turbervile, Hunting, 53.
=beam,= see =beme.=
=beamy,= beam-like, massive. Dryden, Palamon, iii. 480; tr. of Aeneid,
xii. 641. Cp. 1 Sam. xvii. 7 (massive as a weaver’s beam—the spear of
Goliath).
=bear= (the animal). Are you there with your _bears_? are you at it
again? ‘Explained by Joe Miller as the exclamation of a man who, not
liking a sermon he had heard on Elisha and the bears, went next Sunday
to another church, only to find the same preacher and the same
discourse’ (NED.). Some think it refers to the bears in a bear-garden;
but they do not say why, nor how. Lyly, Mother Bombie, ii. 3 (Silena);
Howell, Foreign Travell, p. 20.
=bear-brich,= bear-breech, bear’s-breech; a popular name of the
acanthus; see NED. (s.v. Brank-ursine). Golding, Metam. xiii.
701 (L. acantho); fol. 162 (1603).
=bear-herd,= the keeper of a bear, 2 Hen. IV, i. 2. 191.
=bear-ward,= B. Jonson, Masque of Angus (Slug). Fletcher,
Beggar’s Bush, iv. 4 (Prigg).
=bear a brain,= to use one’s brains, to be cautious; also, to remember.
Romeo, i. 3. 29; Grim the Collier, v. 1. 1; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii.
457. Cp. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1422.
=bear in hand,= to lead one to believe, to keep in expectation, to amuse
with false _pretences_, Meas. for M., i. 4. 51. Hamlet, ii. 2. 67; B.
Jonson, Volpone i. 1; ‘_I beare in hande_, I threp upon a man that he
hath done a dede, or make hym byleve so’, Palsgrave. See EDD. (s.v.
Barenhond). ME. ‘I bar him on honde he hadde enchanted me’ (Chaucer, C.
T. D. 575).
=bearing.= ‘A standing [upright] bearyng bowe,’ Ascham, Toxophilus, p.
79. _A bearing arrow_ seems to have meant an arrow true in its flight
(Nares), though it merely meant stout, or strong; probably _a bearing
bow_ was a strong and trusty one, one to be relied upon to shoot
straight and well. So also _bearing_ dishes, i.e. solid, substantial
dishes or viands; Massinger, New Way to pay, v. 1 (Greedy).
=bearing-cloth,= the cloth in which a child was carried to the font.
Winter’s Tale, iii. 3. 119; Beaumont and Fl., Chances, iii. 3
(Landlady).
=beast,= an obsolete game at cards, resembling the modern ‘Nap’. Butler,
Hudibras, iii. 1. 1007. See NED. (s.v. Beast, 8).
=beaten,= orig. hammered; hence, overlaid or inlaid; embroidered.
‘Beaten damask’, Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, iii. 1 (Firk).
=beath,= to dry green wood by placing it near the fire, to season wood
by heat. Tusser, Husbandry, § 23. 9; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 7. An E.
Anglian word (EDD.). ME. _bethen_ (Treatyse of Fysshynge). OE. _beðian_,
to foment, to warm.
=beauperes,= fair companions. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 35. OF. _beau_ +
_per_. F. _pair_, an equal, a peer.
=beaver;= see =bever.=
=becco,= a cuckold. Marston, Malcontent, i. 1 (Malevole); Massinger,
Bondman, ii. 3 (Gracculo). Ital. _becco_, a he-goat, a cuckold (Florio).
=beck and bay, at,= at some one’s command. Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, 381.
The meaning of the word _bay_ in this phrase is uncertain; it is prob.
connected with ME. _beien_, to bend; OE. (Anglian), _bēgan_; cp. the
phr. _buken and beien_, Juliana, 27. See EDD. (s.v. Bay, vb.^{3}), and
NED. (s.v. Bow, vb.^{1} 6, quot. A.D. 1240).
=become;= ‘I know not where my sonne _is become_’, i.e. what has become
of him, Gascoigne, Supposes, v. 5 (Philogano); ed. Hazlitt, i. 251. Once
very common.
=bed,= to pray. Spenser, F. Q., vi. 5. 35. Cp. ME. _bede_, a prayer. See
=bead.=
=bed,= to command, to bid; ‘Until his Captaine _bed_’, until his captain
may command, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 41. 3 pr. sing. subj. of ME. _beden_;
OE. _bēodan_, to command.
=bedare,= to dare, defy. Peele, David (Salomon); ed. Dyce, p. 484. From
_dare_; see NED. (s.v. _Be-_, prefix, p. 720).
=bed-fere,= bed-fellow. Chapman, tr. Odyssey, iii. 542: spelt
_bedphere_, B. Jonson, Silent Woman, ii. 5.
=bedlam,= a lunatic; one who had been in Bethlehem hospital; the
half-cured patients were licensed to beg for alms for their support.
Barnes, Works (1572) p. 294, col. 2; Gammer Gurton’s Needle has, for one
of its characters, Diccon _the Bedlam_; Bunyan, Pilgr. i. 123 (NED.); ‘A
bedlam, _maniacus_, _insanus_, _furiosus’_, Coles, Lat. Dict. See EDD.
(sb.^{1} 4).
=bedrench,= to soak, swamp. Richard II, iii. 3. 46; _bedrent_, pt. s.
Sackville, Induction, st. 21.
=bed-staff,= ‘a staff or stick used in some way about a bed’ (NED.). The
precise sense is uncertain. Often used as a weapon; B. Jonson, Every
Man, i. 4 (Bobadil). ‘With throwing _bed-staves_ at her’, Staple of
News, v. 1 (Lickfinger).
=bee,= an armlet, ring. ‘A riche _bee_ of gold’, Morte Arthur, leaf 135
(end); bk. vii, c. 35. The word is still in use in Ireland for a ferule
(EDD.). ME. _bee_, an armlet (Paston Letters, iii. 464). OE. _bēah_.
=beech-coal,= charcoal made from beech wood. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1
(Face).
=beeld,= to ‘build’. Mirror for Magistrates, Emp. Severus, st. 21.
_Beeld_ is the pron. of _build_ in many parts of England and Scotland,
see EDD., The Grammar; Index (s.v. Build).
=beer,= a pillow. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aen. iv. 414. See NED.
(s.v. Bear, sb.^{4}). See =pillowbeer.=
=before me,= a form of asseveration. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 194; Oth. iv. 1.
149. Cp. _before heaven_, Meas. ii. 1. 69; _before God_, Much Ado, ii.
3. 192.
=beg for a fool,= to ask for the guardianship of an idiot. The custody
of an idiot or witless person could be granted by the king to a subject
who had sufficient interest to obtain it. If the ‘fool’ was wealthy, it
was a profitable business. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 2 (Sancho);
Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2 (Fustigo).
=begin,= s., a beginning. ‘Of fowr begynns’ (i.e. the four elements),
Grimald, Death of Zoroas, 38; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 121. ‘The hard
beginne’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 21.
=beglerbeg,= the governor of an Ottoman province. Massinger, Renegado,
iii. 4 (Carazie). Turk. _begler-beg_, bey of beys.
=beglarde,= for _beglaired_, smoothed over, as with a cosmetic. Mirror
for Magistrates; Guidericus, st. 43. From _glair_, q.v.
=behave,= to manage, govern, control. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 40; Timon,
iii. 5. 22. OE. _behabban_, to restrain.
=behight= (in Spenser). Forms: _behight_, pres., pt. t., and pp.;
_behot_ (_behote_) pp. Meanings: (1) to promise, Pt. t.: F. Q. iv. 11.
6; Pp.: F. Q. ii. 3. 1; F. Q. i. 11. 38 (behot); (2) to name, call,
pronounce, F. Q. i. 10. 64; Pp.: Shep. Kal., April, 120; (3) to order,
command, F. Q. vi. 2. 30; Pt. t.: F. Q. ii. 11. 17; (4) to entrust,
commit, Pt. t.: F. Q. v. 9. 3; Pp.: F. Q. i. 10. 50; (5) to account,
consider, Pp.: F. Q. iv. 1. 44; (6) to adjudge, Pp.: F. Q. iv. 5. 7. The
normal ME. forms are: _Behote_ (infin.), _behight_ (pt. t.),
_behote_(_n_ (pp.).
=behight,= a promise. Surrey, tr. of Psalm lxxiii, l. 60.
=beholding,= indebted, under obligation. Merry Wives, i. 1. 283;
Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1 (Pinac). In common prov. use
in many parts of England (Midlands, E. Anglia, Somerset). See EDD.
=beholdingness,= obligation, indebtedness. Marston, Malcontent, iv. 1
(last speech).
=bel-accoyle,= fair welcome. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 25. OF. _bel acoil_,
fair welcome. See =accoyl.=
=belamour,= a lover. Spenser, F. Q. 6. 16; iii. 10. 22. F. _bel amour_.
=belamy,= fair friend. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 52. ME. _bel amy_ (Chaucer,
C. T. C. 318). OF. _bel ami_.
=belay,= to beset, encompass. Spenser, Sonnet, 14; _belayd_, pp. set
about with ornament; F. Q. vi. 2. 5.
=belee,= to place on the lee, in a position in which the wind has little
influence; ‘Beleed and calmed’, Othello, i. 1. 30.
=beleek,= belike, probably. Peele, Arr. of Paris, iii. 1 (Mercury); id.
Tale of Troy; ed. Dyce, p. 555. See =belike.=
=belgards,= amorous glances. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 25; iii. 10. 52.
Ital. _bel guardo_, fair or kindly look.
=belike,= perhaps, no doubt (used ironically). Milton, P. L. ii. 156;
Two Gent. ii. 1. 85. In common prov. use (EDD.).
=belive,= quickly. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 227; B. Jonson, Sad
Shepherd, ii. 1. Still in use in Scotland and the north of England
(EDD.). ME. _bi life_, lit. with life or liveliness. See =bilive.=
=bell, to bear the,= to take the first place, be the first, be
pre-eminent. ‘Win the spurres, and beare the bell’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Aristippus, § 1. From the precedence of the bell-wether; see
NED.
=bellibone,= a fair lass. ‘Such a bellibone’, Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
April, 92. From F. _belle et bonne_, fair and good girl. See
=bonnibell.=
=bells,= pl.: in phr. _to take one’s bells_, used _fig._, to be ready to
fly away. Ford, Sun’s Darling, iii. 1 (Humour). A hawk had light bells
fastened to her legs before she flew off, that her flight might be
traced.
=belly-cheat,= an apron. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1
(Higgen); ‘A belly-chete, an apern’, Harman, Caveat, p. 83. See
=backcheat.=
=belly-cheer,= feasting, gluttony. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat.
ix. 114; also, meat, viands; ‘_Carrelure de ventre_, meat, belly-timber,
belly-cheere’, Cotgrave.
=belsire,= grandfather. Drayton, Pol. viii. 73; _beel sire_, Caxton,
Hist. Troye, leaf 321. 6; _bele-fader_, id. lf. 344, back, 27;
‘_Belsyre_, grant pere’, Palsgrave. ME. _belsyr_, or belfadyr, ‘Avus’
(Prompt.).
=beme,= a trumpet. _Beames_ (spelt _beaumous_) pl., Morte Arthur, leaf
423, back, 1; bk. xxi. ch. 4. ME. _beme_ (Chaucer, Hous Fame, 1240). OE.
(Mercian) _bēme_.
=bemoiled,= covered with dirt. Tam. Shrew, iv. 1. 77. In prov. use in
the Midlands (EDD.).
=bemol,= B flat, in the musical scale. In the old sets of hexachords,
which began with C, G, or F; it was found necessary, in the hexachord
beginning with F, to flatten the note B. The new note, thus introduced
into the old scale, was called _B-mol_ or _Be-mol_, i.e. B soft; from
OF. _mol_, soft; L. _mollis_. Its symbol was _b_, later ♭, which
afterwards became a general symbol for a flattened note. ‘La, sol, re,
Softly bemole’, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 533. Also, a half-note; ‘_Two
beemolls_, or halfe-notes’, Bacon, Sylva, § 104.
=ben,= a cant term for good; _ben cove_, a good fellow. Middleton,
Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Tearcat).
=ben bouse,= a slang term for good drink. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Trapdoor).
=bend= (in heraldry), an oblique stripe on a shield. Morte Arthur, leaf
216. 27; bk. x. c. 12; ‘Our bright silver bend’, Drayton, Heroical
Epistles, Surrey to Lady Geraldine, 95. The _bend_ is usually the _bend
dexter_, from the dexter chief to the sinister base; the _bend sinister_
slopes the other way.
=bend,= a band or company. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 32. F. _bende_
(Cotgr.). See NED.
=bend,= a piece of very thick leather, a piece of sole-leather. ‘A bend
of leather’, Heywood, First Part of K. Edw. IV (Hobs); vol. i. p. 40.
Also, _bend-leather_ (NED.). The words _bend_, _bend-leather_, _bend of
leather_, _leather bend_ are in use in Scotland and the north of
England, see EDD. (s.v. Bend sb.^{1}).
=bend,= to cock a musket, pistol, or other fire-arms. A transferred use,
from bending a bow. ‘Like an engyn bent’, Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 3. 53
[‘With hackbut bent’, Scott, Cadyow Castle, 137]; to direct any weapon
(spear, dart, &c.), ‘to bend that mortal dart’, Milton, P. L. ii. 729;
‘so bent his spear’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 34; (figuratively), King Lear,
ii. 1. 48.
=bene-bouse, benbouse,= good drink. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush,
iii. 3 (Higgen); B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman).
=bene whids,= good words; _to cut bene whids_, to speak good words.
(Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen).
=benedicite:= phr. _under ‘benedicite’ I speak it_, Stubbes, Anat.
Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 186). The expression is used by Stubbes, when
making a serious charge against the magistrates, as an invocation for
deliverance from evil. L. _benedicite_, bless ye.
=benempt,= _pp._ named. Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 214. OE. _benemned_,
pp. of _benemnan_, to name (Matt. ix. 9, Lind.).
=benjamin,= corruption of _benjoin_, earlier form of benzoin. B. Jonson,
Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer); Herrick, Hesp. (ed. 1869, p. 139).
=benome, benoom,= to deprive. Spelt _benome_, Mirror for Mag., Somerset,
st. 9; _benoom_, id. Buckingham, st. 15. _Benome_ due to pret. forms of
OE. _beniman_ (_nōm_, sing.; _nōmon_, pl.).
=bent,= a grassy slope. Dryden, Palamon, ii. 544 (from Chaucer, C. T. A.
1981); Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, XX. 9. Still in use in this sense in
Scotland and north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Bent, II. 3).
=benting times,= scarce times, times when pigeons have no food but
_bent-grass_. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 1283.
=bepounced,= ornamented. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aen. i. 454. See
=pounce.=
=beray,= to defile, befoul; ‘Berayde with blots’, Gascoigne, Steel Glas,
241 (p. 56); Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Firestone); ‘It’s an ill bird
that berays its own nest’, Ray’s Proverbs (A.D. 1678); Palsgrave;
Sherwood.
=berew,= in a row; ‘Mock them all berew’, World and Child, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, i. 246. See =rewe.=
=bergomask,= a rustic dance. Mids. Night’s D. v. 360. Ital.
_bergamasca_, ‘sorta di ballo composto tutto di salti e capriole’
(Fanfani); _Bergamasco_, belonging to _Bergamo_, a province in the state
of Venice. The inhabitants were ridiculed as being clownish in manners.
=berlina,= a pillory. B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 8 (1 Avoc.). Ital.
_berlina_, ‘a pillorie’ (Florio). Med. Lat. _berlina_ (Ducange).
=Bermoothes,= the Bermudas. Temp. i. 2. 229. See =Burmoothes.=
=berne,= a herb; ‘The iuyce of Berne or wylde Cresseys’, Turbervile,
Hunting, c. 8; p. 21. F. _berle_, Med. L. _berula_, the water-pimpernel,
see Gerarde, p. 621. See Prompt. EETS. (s.v. Bellerne, note no. 176).
†=berry,= an error for _bevy_, i.e. a number; ‘A _berry_ of fair roses’,
Two Angry Women, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 322. Cp. ‘A Beuy of Roos’,
Book of St. Albans, fol. f 6.
=beryels,= a tomb. Morte Arthur, leaf 141, back, 7; bk. viii. c. 6
(end); spelt _buryels_, id. leaf 233, back, 23; bk. x. c. 32. OE.
_byrgels_. See Dict. (s.v. Burial).
=besant, besaunte,= a gold coin of Byzantium. Morte Arthur, leaf 78. 15;
bk. iv. c. 26. It varied in value from half a sovereign to a sovereign.
See Dict.
=bescumber,= to befoul. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. ix. 34; B.
Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1. (Tibullus); Staple of News, v. 2; Comical
History of Francion (Nares); spelt _bescummer_, Beaumont and Fl., Fair
Maid of the Inn, iv. The word _bescummer_, to besmear with dirt, _fig._
to abuse, calumniate, is in obsolescent use in Somerset and Devon
(EDD.). See =scumber.=
=beseen:= in phr. _well beseen_; spelt _well bisene_, Morte Arthur, leaf
22, back, 32; bk. i. c. 8; _well beseene_, well furnished, Spenser,
Tears of the Muses, 180; ‘I am besene, I am well or yvell apareyled’,
Palsgrave.
=besgue,= stammering. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 271. 5. OF. _besgue_ (F.
_bègue_).
=besides himself,= all by himself, alone. Middleton, Blurt, Mr.
Constable, i. 1 (Violetta).
=besit,= to suit, befit. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 10; _besitting_,
befitting, id. iv. 2. 19; ‘It well besits’, Holland, Plutarch’s Morals,
227. Cp. use of F. _seoir_, to sit, also, to fit, suit, sit properly on
(Hatzfeld).
=beslurry,= to sully all over; ‘All beslurried’, Drayton, Nymphidia, st.
32. Prov. E. _slurry_, to soil, bedaub (EDD).
=beso las manos,= a kissing of hands; lit. ‘I kiss your hands’, a common
Spanish salutation to a lady. Massinger, Duke of Florence, iii. 1
(Calandrino).
=besogno,= a needy fellow (a term of contempt). B. Jonson, Cynthia’s
Revels, iv. 2 (Asotus). See =bisogno.=
=bespawl,= to bespatter with saliva. B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1 (Tucca);
‘Foam bespawled beard’, Drayton, Pol. ii. 440. OE. _spāld_ (_spādl_,
_spāðl_, _spātl_), saliva.
=besprint,= besprinkled. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 111. Also
_besprent_, _bespreint_. OE. _besprenged_, pp. of _besprengan_, to
sprinkle.
=bestead,= pp. _ill bestedded_, ill helped, in a bad plight. Spenser, F.
Q. iv. 1. 3; _ill bestad_, id. ii. 1. 52; _strangely bestad_, strangely
beset or placed, id. iii. 10. 54; _bestad_, treated, id. vi. 6. 18;
circumstanced, Tusser, Husbandry, § 113. 23. See Dict.
=bestraught,= distracted. Tam. Shrew, Induction, ii. 26. L. _distractus_
gave _distract_ and _distraught_ on the analogy of ME. _straught_, pp.
of _strecchen_, to stretch (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 599); hence the
forms _bestraught_, _astraught_. See NED. (s.v. Bestraught).
=betake,= to commit, consign, deliver, hand over. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12.
25; vi. 11. 51; pt. t. _betook_, id. iii. 6. 28; pp. _betake_, Phaer,
tr. of Aeneid, i. 62; fol. B ij. ME. _bitaken_; ‘Ich bitake min soule
God’ = I commit my soul to God (Rob. Glouc. 475).
=be-tall,= to pay; ‘What is to _be-tall_, what there is to pay; the
amount of the reckoning’, Heywood, Fair Maid of the West, ii. 1 (Clem);
with a quibble on _to be tall_. Du. _betalen_, to pay (Hexham).
=beteem,= to grant, bestow, concede, indulge with. Mids. Night’s D. i.
1. 131; Hamlet, i. 2. 141; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 19. A Gloucestershire
word (EDD.). Cp. ME. _temen_, to offer or dedicate (to God), Cursor M.
6170; see NED. (s.v. Teem, vb.^{1} 7).
=betight,= _pp._ for _betid_ or _betided_; happened. Spenser, Shep.
Kal., Nov., 174.
=betso,= a small Venetian coin; worth about a farthing. Marmion, The
Antiquary, iii. 1 (Bravo). Ital. _bezzo_, a small brass coin in Venice
(Florio).
=bett,= better. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 15. OE. _bet_, adv. better.
=beurn,= for _berne_, a warrior. Grimald, Death of Zoroas, 54; in
Tottel’s Misc., p. 121. ME. _burne_, a man (P. Plowman, C. xvi. 163).
OE. _beorn_, a brave man.
=bever,= the lower part of the moveable front of a helmet. Bacon, Essay
35, § 1; Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 31; _beaver_, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 120; Hen.
V. iv. 2. 44. F. ‘_Bavière d’un armet_, the beaver of a helmet’
(Cotgr.).
=bever,= a short intermediate repast. A supper, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey,
xvii, l. 10 from end. _Bever_ is in prov. use in many parts of England
in the sense of a slight refreshment taken between meals, either at 11
a.m. or 4 p.m. (EDD.). Norm. F. _bever_, ‘boire’ (Moisy); cp. Mod. Prov.
_grand-béure_, ‘petit repas que les moissonneurs font vers 10 heures du
matin’ (Glossaire, _Mirèio_).
=bever,= to tremble. Morte Arthur, leaf 28, back, 4; bk. i, c. 15.
_Bever_ (_biver_), to tremble, is in common prov. use in England and
Scotland (EDD.).
=bewaile,= to lament over; ‘An hidden rock . . . That lay in waite her
wrack for to bewaile’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 31. The meaning seems to be:
the rock lay in wait so that she would have to bewail her wreck.
=beware,= to spend, bestow money. _Wel bywaryd_, well bestowed. Morte
Arthur, leaf 123, back, 18; bk. vii, c. 21. Cp. prov. word _ware_, to
spend, to lay out money (EDD.). ME. _waryn_, ‘mercor’ (Prompt.).
=bewared,= made to beware, put on one’s guard. Dryden, Cock and Fox,
799.
=bewet, buet,= a ring or slip of leather for attaching a bell to a
hawk’s leg. ‘The letheris that be putt in his bellis, to be fastyned
a-boute his leggys, ye shall calle _Bewettis_’, Boke of St. Albans, fol.
B 6; ‘That, hauing hood, lines, _buets_, bels of mee,’ Turbervile, To a
fickle Dame, 2. Dimin. of OF. _buie_, _bue_, _boie_, a bond, chain,
fetter. L. _boia_, sing. of _boiae_, a collar.
=bezoar’s stone,= for =bezoar-stone,= a supposed antidote to poison. B.
Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo). See Dict.
=bezonian,= needy beggar, rascal. 2 Hen. IV, v. 3. 115; 2 Hen. VI, iv.
1. 134; spelt _bisognion_, Massinger, Maid of Honour, iv. 1. 13; see
Dict. See =bisogno.=
=bezzle,= to besot, stupefy, to drink immoderately. Marston, Malcontent,
ii. 2 (Malevole). ‘To bezzle, _pergraecor_’, Coles, Dict. Hence,
_bezeling_, tippling, Marston, Scourge, ii. 7. In prov. use in the sense
of drinking immoderately, in various parts of England; see EDD. (s.v.
Bezzle, vb.^{1} 2). Norm. F. ‘_besiller_, s’user, s’épuiser, se perdre,
dépérir’ (Moisy). See Ducange (s.v. Besilium).
=bias, from the,= out of the way, off the track. Dekker, Shoemaker’s
Holiday, iii. 1 (Hodge). Prov. _biais_, ‘manière, façon’; _de biais_,
‘obliquement’ (Levy).
=bibble, bible,= to drink frequently. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aen. i.
478; Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 550. In prov. use in various parts of
England (EDD.).
=bidcock,= a bird; said to be the water-rail. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 100.
=biddell,= a beadle. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Augustus, § 28. OE. _bydel_.
=bidene,= in one body or company, together, World and Child, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 268 (NED.); straightway, at once, forthwith,
Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 956; Douglas, Aeneid, I. ii. 33 (NED.). Often
used in Scottish poetry as a rime word, or to fill up the line, or as a
mere expletive, see EDD. (s.v. Bedene). Cp. ME. phrase _all_(_e bidene_,
continuously, one after another (Cursor M. 1457); in one body, all
together (Ormulum, 4793).
=bid-stand,= a highwayman. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iv. 4
(Sogliardo). Because he _bids_ men _stand and deliver_.
=bienvenu, benvenu,= a welcome. A Woman never vext, v. 1 (King);
Massinger, The Picture, ii. 2. 4. F. _bienvenuë_, a welcome (Cotgr.).
=big,= a pap or teat. Tusser, Husbandry, 74; Shadwell Witches (EDD.),
Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xviii. ch. 7; ‘_Bigge_, a country word for a
pap or teat’, Phillips, Dict., 1706. See EDD.
=big,= a boil, small tumour. Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xxxii. ch. 9;
Gaule Cases Consc. 6 (NED.).
=biggin,= a child’s cap. B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 5 (Mosca); Proverb,
‘From the biggen to the nightcap’ (i.e. from infancy to old age), B.
Jonson, Sil. Woman, iii. 2 (Haughty); the saying is still in use in
Cornwall (EDD.). F. ‘_beguin_, a biggin for a child’ (Cotgr.).
=biggon,= a barrister’s cap. Mayne, City Match, iv. 7 (Aurelia).
=bilander,= a coasting vessel, a by-lander. Dryden, Hind and Panther, i.
128. Du. _bijlander_.
=bilbo,= a sword of excellent quality. Merry Wives, iii. 5. 112. Hence,
one who wears a bilbo, id. i. 1. 165. From _Bilbao_ (E. Bilboa) in
Spain.
=bilboes,= pl., an iron bar, with sliding shackles, for securing
prisoners. Hamlet, v. 2. 6; Beaumont and Fl., Double Marriage, ii. 2
(near the end). Perhaps from Bilbao; see above.
=bilive,= soon, quickly. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., ii. 1 (Lord). See
=belive.=
=bilk,= a statement having nothing in it. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 1
(Tub); a cheat, a fraud, Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 376.
=bill,= an advertisement. Much Ado, i. 1. 39; B. Jonson. Ev. Man out of
Humour, iii. 1. 1; a doctor’s prescription, Butler, Hudibras, i. 1. 603.
=billed,= _pp._ enrolled. North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antony, § 3 (Shak.
Plut. p. 157, note 3).
=billiments,= pl., habiliments, apparel. Udall, Roister Doister, ii. 3
(Tibet); _billements_, Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, iii. 4 (Song). Short
for _habiliments_.
=bill-men,= watchmen, armed with a pike or halbert. Middleton, Blurt,
Mr. Constable, i. 2 (Blurt).
=bind with,= to grapple with, seize; said of a hawk. Massinger,
Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo).
=bing,= to go. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. I (Song); _bynge a
waste_, go you hence, Harman, Caveat, p. 84; _bing awast_, go away,
Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).
=bird-bolt,= a short blunt arrow, usually shot from a cross-bow at
birds. Much Ado, i. 1. 42; L. L. L. iv. 3. 25.
=birle,= to pour out liquor. Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 269; Levins
Manip. A north-country word (EDD.). ME. _byrle_ (Cath. Angl.); OE.
_byrlian_, to give to drink; _byrel_, a cup-bearer.
=bisa, bise,= a north wind. Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 1 (1339); p.
134, col. 2. F. _bise_, a north wind (Cotgr.). O. Prov. _biza_, ‘bise,
nord’ (Levy).
=bisogno, bisognio,= a needy fellow, a term of contempt. Fletcher,
Love’s Cure, ii. 1 (Alguazier); Chapman, Widow’s Tears, i. (Lysander).
Ital. _bisogni_, pl. new-levied soldiers, needy men; _bisogno_, need,
want. Cp. =bezonian.=
=bitched,= a term of opprobrium; ‘Bitched brothel’, World and Child, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 254.
=bite on the bridle,= to be impatient of restraint. Gascoigne, i. 449,
l. 25.
=bitter, bittour,= a bittern. _Bitter_, Middleton, Triumph of Love, ed.
Dyce, v. 289; _bittour_, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, v. 89; Dryden, Wife of
Bath’s Tale, 194; Coles, Dict. (1679). ME. _bitore_ (Chaucer, C. T. D.
972); OF. _butor_, a bittern (Hatzfeld).
=bizzle,= to become drunk, to drink to excess. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt.
II, iii. 1 (Matheo). See =bezzle.=
=black:= phr. _black is your eye_. To say ‘black is your eye’, to find
fault with one, to lay something to his charge. ‘I can say, _black’s
your eye_, though it be grey’, Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, iii. 1
(Alguazier); ‘black’s mine eye’, Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, i. 2
(Blurt).
=black guard,= orig. a jocular name given to the lower menials of a
noble house, esp. those who had charge of kitchen utensils, and carried
them about when required; ‘A lousy slave, that within this twenty years
rode with the black guard in the duke’s carriage [i.e. among his
baggage], ’mongst spits and dripping-pans’, Webster, White Devil, ed.
Dyce, p. 8; Fletcher, Woman-hater, i. 3 (Lazarillo).
=black jack,= a leathern jug for beer, tarred outside. Beaumont and Fl.,
Scornful Lady, ii. 2 (Savil); Middleton, The Witch, i. 1 (Gasparo).
=black-mack,= a blackbird; ‘A leane birde of the kind of
_blacke-mackes_’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Augustus, § 34; ‘_Merula_, a
birde called a black-mack, an owzell, a mearle, or black-bird’, Florio.
=black ox;= ‘The Black Ox has trod on his foot, he has fallen on
misfortune or sorrow’, Lyly, Sapho and Phao, iv. 1; Heywood, Eng. Prov.
(ed. Farmer, 112). See Nares, and EDD. (s.v. Black, 5 (11)).
=black-pot,= a beer-mug; hence, a toper. Greene, Friar Bacon, ii. 2
(scene 5, W.), at the end; p. 160, col. 2 (D.).
=blacks,= mourning clothes. Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iii. 1 (Francisco);
Maid in a Mill, iv. 2 (Bustopha); Bacon, Essay 2; Massinger, Fatal
Dowry, ii. 1 (Charalois); Herrick, Hesperides, 379. In prov. use; see
EDD. (s.v. Black, sb.^{1} 4).
=Black Sanctus,= or =Black Saunce;= see =Sanctus.=
=blanch,= to give a fair appearance to by artifice or suppression of the
truth. Bacon, Essays 20 and 26; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xii. 222; Od. xi.
492; Latimer, Serm., Ploughers (Arber, 37).
=blanch= (a hunting term), to ‘head back’ the deer in his flight. Lyly,
Gallathea, ii. 1. 231. Hence _blancher_, a person or thing placed to
turn the deer from a particular direction; Sydney, Arcadia, 64; _fig._ a
hinderer, Latimer, Serm., Ploughers (Arber, 33 and 36). _Blanch_ still
used by huntsmen in Somerset and Devon in this sense (EDD.). See
=blencher.=
=blank,= the white spot in the centre of a target; now, bull’s eye.
Hamlet, iv. 1. 42; _at twelve-score blank_, at a range of twelve score
yards, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 3 (Sophocles).
=blank,= a blank bond, to be filled up at pleasure. Beaumont and Fl., i.
1 (Arbaces). Also, a small French coin, orig. of silver, but afterwards
of copper, Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Alvarez).
=blank,= to render pale, to blanch. Hamlet, iii. 2. 232; to dismay,
Milton, Samson Ag. 471; _blanck_, disappointed, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3.
17.
=blatant, blattant,= bellowing. Spenser, F. Q. v. xii. 37, 41; Dryden,
Hind and Panther, ii. 230. ‘Blate’, to bellow, is in prov. use (EDD.).
=blaze,= a white mark on an animal’s forehead; (on a black bull),
Fuller, Pisgah, iv. 7. Still in prov. use, esp. Yorksh. and Lincolnsh.,
see EDD. (s.v. Blaze, sb.^{2} 1).
=blazing star,= a comet. All’s Well, i. 3. 91; Middleton, Roaring Girl,
i. 1 (Sir Alex.).
=bleaking-house,= bleaching-house. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, iv.
2 (Savourwit). ME. _blekyn_, blechen clothe (Prompt.).
=blear,= dim, indistinct, in outline. Milton, Comus, 155.
=blear:= phr. _to blear the eyes_, to deceive, throw dust in the eyes.
Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 120; ‘He is nat in Englande that can bleare his eye
better than I can’, Palsgrave.
=bleat= (meaning obscure); ‘How the judges have bleated him!’, Webster,
Devil’s Law-case, iv. 2 (Julia).
=bleater,= a sheep. (Cant.) Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song).
=blee,= colour, complexion, hue. Morte Arthur, leaf 88, back, 32; bk. v.
c. 10; Tottel’s Misc. (ed. Arber, 100). Occurs in ballad poetry in the
north (EDD.). ME. _blee_ (York Plays, xxviii. 259), OE. _blēo_.
=blemish,= ‘When they [the huntsmen] find where a deare hath passed and
breake or plashe any boughe downewardes for a marke, then we say, they
blemish or make blemishes’, Turbervile, Hunting, 244.
=blemishes,= ‘The markes which are left to knowe where a deare hath gone
in or out’, Turbervile, Hunting, 114.
=blench,= a side glance, glimpse; ‘These blenches gave my heart another
youth’, Sh. Sonn. cx. A Warwickshire word (EDD.).
=blench,= to start aside, to flinch, shrink. Fletcher, False One, iv. 4.
ME. _blenchen_ (Anc. Riwle, 242).
=blencher,= a person stationed to ‘head hack’ the deer, to prevent him
from going in a particular direction. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, ii. 1
(Sanchio); spelt _bleinchers_, pl., scarecrows, things put up to
frighten animals away, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 70, 192; ‘which some call
_shailes_, some _blenchars_, . . to feare away birdes’, Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. i, c. 23, § 2. See =blanch.=
=blend,= to blind, to dazzle. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 35; _blent_, pp., F.
Q. ii. 4. 7; rendered obscure, Greene, Looking Glasse, ii. 1. 521;
_yblent_, F. Q. ii. 7. 1.
=blend,= to mix, confuse, render turbid, disturb, pollute. Spenser, F.
Q. ii. 7. 10; _blent_, pp. defiled, F. Q. ii. 12. 7.
=blenge,= to blend, mix. Tusser, Husbandry, § 100. 3. A ‘portmanteau’
word; combination of _blend_ and _menge_, to mingle.
=blenkard,= one who blinks, or has imperfect sight or intelligence.
Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 610. A north-country pronunc. of _blinkard_
(EDD.).
=blent;= see =blend.=
=bless,= to wound, hurt; ‘When he did levell to shoote, he blessed
himselfe with his peece’, Hellowes, Guevara’s Fam. Ep. 237. F.
_blesser_, to wound (Cotgr.), Anglo-F. _blecer_ (Ch. Rol.).
=bless,= to preserve, save. Spenser, F. Q. i. 2. 18; iv. 6. 13.
=bless,= to brandish (a sword), to wave about. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 6;
i. 8. 22; vi. 8. 13; to brandish round an object with a weapon, ‘His
armed head with his sharpe blade he blest’, Fairfax, Tasso, ix. 67.
=blewe point,= a blue point, or blue-tagged lace; ‘Not worth a blewe
point’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 9. See =point.=
=blin, blinn,= to cease, leave off. Turbervile, Poems, in Chalmers’s
Eng. Poets, II, 589; to cause to cease, to put a stop to, Spenser, F. Q.
iii. 5. 22. Very common in northern ballad poetry (EDD.). ME. _blinnen_,
to cease (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1171); to cause to cease, Towneley Myst.
133. OE. _blinnan_, to cease. See =lin.=
=blince,= (perhaps) to flinch, give way, to ‘blench’; ‘The which will
not _blince_’ riming with _prince_, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, iv. 148.
=blindfeld,= blindfolded. Spelt _blyndefeld_, Morte Arthur, leaf 69,
back; bk. iv. c. 15; _blyndfielde_, R. Eden, First Three Books on
America, ed. Arber, p. 347, l. 7 from bottom. ‘I blyndefelde one’,
Palsgrave. See Dict. (s.v. Blindfold).
=blinkard,= ‘He that hath such eies that the liddes cover a great parte
of the apple’, Baret (1580); ‘a blinkard, _caeculus_, _paetus_,
_strabus_’, Coles (1679). Still in use in Northumberland and Lancashire
(EDD.).
=blive,= quickly, soon, immediately. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 18; Surrey,
tr. of Aeneid ii. l. 294. See =belive.=
=blo, bloo,= livid, esp. used of the colour caused by a bruise. _Bloo_
and wan, Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 141, l. 5; id. Magnyfycence, 2080. A
Yorkshire word (EDD.). ME. _blo_(_o_, ‘lividus’ (Prompt. EETS., see note
no. 195). Icel. _blā_, livid.
=bloat, blote,= to smoke-dry (herrings); ‘_Fumer_, to bloat, besmoake,
hang or drie in the smoake’, Cotgrave; Fletcher, Island Princess, ii. 5
(1 Citizen). Hence, _bloat-herring_, a smoked herring, B. Jonson, Masque
of Augurs (Groom); Pepys, Diary (Oct. 5, 1661). A Suffolk word (EDD.).
=block,= a mould for a hat; a fashion of hat. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at
Several Weapons, iv. 1 (Cunningham); Much Ado, i. 1. 77.
=blonk,= fair, blond; said of hair. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 270. 13.
See NED. (s.v. Blank).
=blore,= a blast of wind. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, ii. 122; ix. 5; xiv.
330. ME. _blore_ (York Plays, xxvi. 188).
=blot in the tables,= an exposed piece or ‘man’ in the game of
backgammon, liable to be taken; hence, a weak point. Middleton, Family
of Love, v. 3 (Gerardine); Porter, Two Angry Women, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, vii. 276. See Dict. (s.v. Blot (2)).
=blother,= to gabble nonsense; to babble. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1049;
Colyn Cloute, 779. A west Yorks. word, see EDD. (s.v. Blather, vb.^{1}).
Icel. _blaðra_, to talk indistinctly, to talk nonsense.
=blow-boll,= one who ‘blows in a bowl’, an habitual tippler. Skelton,
ed. Dyce, i. 23; l. 25.
=blowen,= a wench, a trull. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1
(Shamwell). [Cp. _blowing_, in Byron’s Don Juan, xi. 19.]
=blow-point,= a game ‘played by blowing an arrow through a trunk at
certain numbers by way of lottery’, Strutt (quoted in NED.). Sidney,
Arcadia, ii. 224; Brewer, Lingua, iii. 2 (Anamnestes); Marmion, The
Antiquary, i. 1 (Leonardo). See Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 531.
=blue,= the usual colour of the dress of servants, or of beadles.
_Blue-coat_, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iv. 2 (Launcelot). _The blue
order_, i.e. of servants, B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 2 (Onion).
Women condemned to Bridewell wore _blue gowns_, Massinger, City Madam,
iv. 2 (Luke); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II. v. 1 (Lodovico).
=blue-bottle rogue,= a term applied to a beadle, with reference to his
blue uniform. 2 Hen. IV, v. 4. 22.
=blunket, blonket,= grey, greyish blue. ‘Bloncket liveries’, glossed by
‘gray coats’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 5.
=blurt,= an exclamation of contempt, pish!, pooh!; ‘Blurt, Master
Constable’, the title of a play by Middleton, Dekker, Honest Wh., i. 5
(Fluello); to treat contemptuously, Fletcher, Wild-goose Chase, ii. 2
(last speech).
=blushet= (only used by B. Jonson), a little blusher, a modest girl,
Staple of News, ii. 1 (Pennyboy senior); The Penates (Pan).
=board, bord,= to accost, address. Hamlet, ii. 2. 171; Merry Wives, ii.
1. 92; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 5; _boorded_, addressed, id. ii. 4. 24. F.
_aborder_, to approach, accost (Cotgr.) A metaph. expression from
boarding a ship; see Nares.
=board, bord,= a shilling. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll);
_a bord_, a shylling; Harman, Caveat, p. 83.
=bob,= a blow that does not break the skin, a rap; ‘Pinches, nippes and
bobbes’, Ascham, Scholemaster (ed. Arber, 47); a taunt, a bitter jibe,
As You Like It, ii. 7. 55; Wycherley, Dancing-master, i. 2 (Monsieur);
‘_Ruade seiche_, a drie bob, jeast or nip’, Cotgrave. ‘Bob’, in the
sense of a slight blow, is in prov. use in the Midlands and in E.
Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Bob, sb.^{2} 1).
=bob,= to fish (for eels) with a _bob_, or grub for bait. Fletcher, Rule
a Wife, ii. 4. 9. In use in the Norfolk Broads, see NED. (s.v. Bob,
vb.^{4}), and EDD. (s.v. Bob, vb.^{6} 1).
=bob,= to deceive, cheat. Tr. and Cr. iii. 1. 75; ‘_Avoir le moine_, to
be gleekt, bobbed’, Cotgrave; Fletcher, Span. Curate, v. 2 (Bartolus);
Little French Lawyer, ii. 1. 24. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Bob,
vb.^{5}). OF. _bober_.
=bobber,= a cheat, deceiver. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, §
12.
=bobance, bobaunce,= arrogance, vanity. Morte Arthur, leaf 262. 12; bk.
x, c. 63; id. lf. 376. 25; bk. xviii, c. 15. F. _bobance_, ‘excessive
spending; insolency, surquedrie, proud or presumptuous boasting’
(Cotgr.). O. Prov. _bobansa_, ‘faste, ostentation’ (Levy).
=bob-fool:= in phr. _to play bob-fool_, to flout, make sport. Greene,
Alphonsus, iv (Amurack).
=Bocardo,= the name of the prison above the old North Gate of the city
of Oxford, where Cranmer was confined, Strype, Archbp. Cranmer, iii. 11.
341; Oxford Records, 414; a prison, Stubbes, Anatomy of Abuses (ed.
Furnivall, 126); Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3 (Club). ‘Bocardo’ is a
mnemonic word used in Logic.
=bodge,= an odd measure of corn. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Host). In
Kent the word _bodge_ means an odd measure of corn, left over after the
bulk has been measured into quarters and sacks; _bodge_ also means in
Kent a flat oblong basket used for carrying produce of garden or field,
see EDD. (s.v. Bodge, sb.^{1} 1 and 2).
=bodkin,= a dagger. Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, ii. 3
(Duarte); Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, ii. 2 (Aphobus); cp. Hamlet,
iii. 1. 76.
=bodkin;= see =baudkin.=
=bodrag,= a hostile incursion, a raid. ‘Nightly _bodrags_’, Spenser,
Colin Clout, 315. Hence _bodraging_, misspelt _bordraging_, the same; F.
Q. ii. 10. 63. Irish _buaidhreadh_, molestation, disturbance;
_buaidhr-im_, I vex, bother, trouble (Dinneen).
=bog,= proud, saucy, bold. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. vii, ch. 37.
st. 109; Rogers, Naaman, 18. Cp. ME. _boggisshe_, ‘tumidus’ (Prompt.
EETS., see note no. 161).
=boggard,= a privy, _latrina_. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv. 6 (end).
=boistous, busteous, bousteous,= rough, rustic, coarse, violent,
vigorous. _Bousteous_ tree, vigorous tree; Turbervile, Time Conquereth
all Things, st. 7. _Boystous_, rude, coarse, A. Borde, Introd. of
Knowledge, bk. i, c. 14; p. 160. ME. _boystows_, ‘rudis’ (Prompt. EETS.,
see note no. 166). See Dict. (s.v. Boisterous).
=boll,= a rounded seed-vessel or pod, as that of flax or cotton.
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 146. 50. Hence _bolled_, having ‘bolls’, pods;
BIBLE, Ex. ix. 31 (AV.). ‘Boll’, in the sense of the seed-vessel of
flax, is in prov. use in Scotland and Ireland, also in Lincolnshire, see
EDD. (s.v. Boll, sb.^{2}).
=boll,= to quaff the bowl, to booze; ‘They might syt bebbinge and
bollynge’, Coverdale, Micah, ii. 11. Hence _boller_, one who lingers at
the bowl, a drunkard, Udall, tr. Apoph., Socrates, § 81.
=bollen,= swollen. Lucrece, 1417 (in old edd. _boln_); _bolne_, Hawes,
Past Pleas., p. 135; Surrey, tr. Aeneid ii, 616; _bowlne_, id. ii. 348.
Cp. the E. Anglian _bown_, swollen (EDD.). ME. _bollen_, swollen (Cursor
M. 12685). Icel. _bólgna_; Dan. _bolne_, to swell. See NED. (s.v. Bell,
vb.^{1}).
=bolt,= an arrow for a cross-bow, with a blunt or square head, also
_gen._ an arrow; ‘The bolt of Cupid’, Mids. Night’s D., ii. 1. 165; ‘A
fool’s bolt is soon shot’, Hen. V, iii. 7. 132; Heywood, Eng. Prov. (ed.
Farmer, 145); ‘I’ll make a shaft or a bolt on’t’, Merry Wives, iii. 4.
24 (i.e. I’ll take the risk, whatever may come of it).
=bolt’s-head,= a kind of retort used by alchemists. B. Jonson,
Alchemist, ii. 1 (Mammon); named from its long cylindrical neck.
=bolt,= a roll of a woven stuff. B. Jonson, Alchem. v. 2 (Subtle).
=boltered,= clotted, coagulated. ‘Blood-boltered’, having the hair
clotted with blood, Macbeth, iv. 1. 123. A Warwickshire word (EDD.).
=bolting-hutch,= a trough into which meal is sifted. Middleton, Mayor of
Queenborough, v. 1 (Simon). A Lincolnshire word, see EDD. (s.v. Bolting,
2 (3)).
=bombard,= ‘a great gun or piece of ordnance’ (Bullokar). Caxton,
Reynard (ed. Arber, 58). F. _bombarde_, a bumbard, or murthering-piece
(Cotgr.).
=bombard,= a large leathern vessel to carry liquors. Tempest, ii. 2. 21;
Hen. VIII, v. 4. 85. Hence _bombard-man_, one who provides liquor. B.
Jonson, Masque of Love Restored (Robin).
=bombast,= cotton wadding. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 359; Beaumont and Fl.,
Little French Lawyer, ii. 2. 8. OF. _bombace_, cotton (Godefroy). See
Dict.
=bonair=(=e,= gentle, courteous. Holland, Livy, iv. 2. 446; _bonerly_,
in debonnaire fashion, World and Child, l. 2, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i.
243. F. _bonnaire_ and _bonnairement_ (Cotgr.).
=bona roba,= a handsome wench, a wanton. 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 26. Ital.
_buonaroba_, ‘as we say, good stuffe, a good wholesome plum-cheeked
wench’ (Florio).
=bone;= ‘Look not upon me as I am a woman, But as a bone, thy wife, thy
friend’, Otway, Venice Preserved, ii. 2 (Belvidera). Meaning doubtful.
=bones:= in phr. _to make bones_, to make scruples about, find
difficulty in; ‘Who make no bones of the Lord’s promises, but devoure
them all’, Rogers, Naaman, 579; ‘He made no manier bones . . . but went
in hande to offer up his only son Isaac’, Udall, Erasm. Par., Luke i.
28. Formerly also, _to find bones in_ (Paston Letters, 331), referring
to the occurrence of bones in soup, &c., as an obstacle to its being
easily swallowed, see NED. (s.v. Bone, 8).
=bones,= dice. A Woman never vext, i. 1 (Stephen). A common expression.
=bonfacion,= of good fashion, fashionable. Three Ladies of London; in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 251, 311.
=bongrace,= a shade worn on the front of a woman’s bonnet as a
protection from the sun. Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, iii. 4 (Song). F.
‘_bonnegrace_, the uppermost flap of the downhanging taile of a French
hood; whence belike our Boongrace’ (Cotgr.).
=bonnibell,= a fair lass. Spenser, Shep. Kal., August, 62; B. Jonson,
The Satyr, l. 21. From F. _bonne et belle_, good and fair girl. See
=bellibone.=
=bonny-clabber,= sour buttermilk. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Host); Ford,
Perkin Warbeck, iii. 2. 8. ‘Bonny-clabber’ in Ireland means thick milk.
Irish _bainne_ [pronounc. _bonny_], milk, and _clabair_, anything thick
or half-liquid. In use in the United States wherever Irishmen forgather.
See Joyce, English in Ireland, 219.
=bookholder,= a prompter in a theatre. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, Induct.
=books:= phr. _to be in a person’s books_; ‘I see, lady, the gentleman
is not in your books’, Much Ado, i. 1. 179 (the probable meaning is, he
is not in favour, not in the lady’s ‘book of memory’, 1 Hen. VI, ii. 4.
101).
=boon,= good; esp. in French phrases. ‘On a boon voyage’, Conflict of
Conscience; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 63. ‘Nature boon’, Milton, P. L.
iv. 242; cp. ix. 793.
=boord, bord;= see =board,= and =bourd.=
=boot-carouse,= a carousing out of a bombard or black-jack, which was
likened to a boot. Marston, Sat., ii. 154.
=boot-hale,= to carry off booty. Heywood, Sallust, 33. Hence,
_boot-haler_, a freebooter, highwayman, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(J. Dapper); Holland, Livy, xxii. 41. 458; _boot-haling_, the carrying
away of booty, Florio, Montaigne, ii. 31; Fletcher, The Chances, i. 4
(Frederic); Maid in the Mill, ii. 2 (Antonio).
=booty:= in phr. _to play booty_, to play so as to lose, in order to
draw the opponent on, and get some ‘booty’ in the end’, Dryden, Pref. to
Don Sebastian, § 7; Heywood, A Woman Killed, iii. 2 (Frankford). Also,
_to bowl booty_, to play at bowls so as to lose at first, Webster, White
Devil (Camillo), ed. Dyce, p. 7. See Nares.
=borachio,= a large leather bottle or bag used in Spain (_borracha_). B.
Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Meer); Greene, Looking Glasse (Works, ed.
1861, 133); _fig._ a drunkard, Middleton, Span. Gipsy, i. 1. 7. Span.
_borracho_, a drunkard.
=bord,= rim, circumference. ‘He plants a brazen piece of mighty bord’,
Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, iii. 2 (Host). The reference is
to a barber’s basin. F. _bord_, edge, border.
=bordello,= a brothel. B. Jonson, Every Man, i. 1 (Knowell). Ital.
‘_bordello_, a bawdy-house’ (Florio).
=bordon,= a staff. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 132, back, 24. ME.
_bordun_, a pilgrim’s staff (P. Plowman, A. vi. 8). F. _bourdon_
(Cotgr.). O. Prov. _bordon_, bâton de pèlerin.
=bordraging;= see =bodrag.=
=bore,= to trick, cheat, overreach. Hen. VIII, i. 1. 128; Life T.
Cromwell, ii. 2. 103 (NED.).
=boree, bouree,= a rustic dance, orig. of Auvergne. Etheridge, Man of
Mode, iv. 1 (Sir Fopling); Steele, Tender Husband, i. 2 (Tipkin). F.
_bourrée_ (Hatzfeld).
=borrel,= unlearned, rude, rough, rustic. Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 95;
Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 28. ME. _borel_, in Chaucer: coarse
woollen clothes, C. T. D. 356; _borel men_, laymen, C. T. B. 3145.
=borrow, borow,= a pledge, surety. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 131, 150;
‘Dear Pan bought with dear borrow’, id. Sept., 96. ME. _borwe_, a surety
(Chaucer, C. T. B. 2998). OE. _borh_ (_borge_) a pledge, surety.
=borrow,= to give security for, to assure, warrant. Greene, Isabel’s
Ode, 33; ed. Dyce, p. 296.
=bosky,= full of thickets. Peele, Chron. Edw. I (ed. 1874, p. 407);
Tempest, iv. 1. 81; Milton, Comus, 312. A Cheshire and Yorkshire word,
from _bosk_, an underwood thicket (EDD.). ME. _boske_, a bush.
=boss,= a fat woman, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iii. 3 (Zenocrate); ‘A fat
boss, _femme bien grasse et grosse, une Coche_’, Sherwood. A Lancashire
word for a fat lazy woman, see EDD. (s.v. Boss, sb.^{1} 6).
=bosse,= supposed to mean a water-conduit; esp. used of _the Bosse of
Billingsgate_, W. de Worde, Treatyse of a Galaunt (see Title of the
Play); B. Jonson, Time Vindicated (Eyes); ‘_Bosse Alley_, so called of a
Bosse of Spring-water continually running, which standeth by
Billingsgate against this alley’, Stow, Survey (ed. 1842, p. 79). See
NED. (s.v. Boss, sb.^{2}).
=botcher,= a mender of old clothes; or (disrespectfully) a tailor. All’s
Well, iv. 3. 211; Cor. ii. 1. 93; Dekker, Old Fortunatus, i. 1
(Fortune).
=bottom of packthread,= a ball of string. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv, 4
(Brainworm); Tam. Shrew, iv. 3. 138. Properly the clew or nucleus on
which the ball was wound. [‘I wish I could wind up my bottom
handsomely’, Sir W. Scott, Diary, March 17, 1826.] See EDD. (s.v.
Bottom, 8). ME. _botme_ of threde (Prompt.).
=bouche:= in phr. _bouche in court_, an allowance of victual granted by
a king or noble to his household; ‘A good allowance of dyet, a bouche in
court, as we use to call it’, Puttenham, English Poesie, bk. i, c. 27
(ed. Arber, 70). F. _avoir bouche à Court_, ‘to eat and drinke scotfree,
to have budge-a-Court, to be in ordinarie at Court’ (Cotgr.). See
=bouge.=
=bouffage,= a satisfying meal. ‘No bouffage, but a light bit’, Sir T.
Browne, Letter to a Friend, § 9. F. _bouffage_, ‘any meat that (eaten
greedily) fills the mouth and makes the cheeks to swell; cheek-puffing
meat’ (Cotgr.). F. _bouffer_, to swell.
=bouge,= to flinch. Julius Caesar, iv. 3. 44; _boudge_, Beaumont and
Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, ii. 4 (Leontius). See Dict. (s.v. Budge (1)).
=bouge,= to ‘bilge’, to stave in a ship’s side; intr., to suffer
fracture, as a ship. ‘My barke was _boug’d_’, Mirror for Mag., Carassus,
st. 44. ‘Least thereupon Our shippe should _bowge_’, Gascoigne, Voyage
into Holland, ed. Hazlitt, i. 390. See NED. See Dict. (s.v. Bilge).
=bouge,= provisions; ‘A bombard man, that brought bouge for a country
lady’, B. Jonson, Love Restored (Robin).
=bouge of court,= court-rations; ‘The Bowge of Courte’ (the
title of a poem written by Skelton); ‘Every of them to have lyke
bouge of courte’, State Papers, Hen. VIII, i. 623 (NED.). See
=bouche.=
=bouget,= a budget, wallet. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 29; a water-vessel
of skin, Damon and Pithias, in Hazlitt, iv. 72. F. _bougette_ (Cotgr.);
dimin. of OF. _bouge_, a water-skin; cp. ME. _bowge_, ‘I am maad as a
bowge in frost’ (Wyclif, Ps. cxix. 83). See Dict. (s.v. Budget).
=bough-pot,= a flower-pot, a vase for boughs or cut flowers. Chapman,
Mons. d’Olive, iv. (Rhoderique). A Lincolnsh. and Northamptonsh. word
(EDD.).
=bought,= a twist, a knot. Middleton, The Witch, ii. 2. 13; used of the
coil of a serpent, Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 255. ‘Bought’ is in prov. use
in the north country for a curve or bend; the curve of the elbow or
knee. See EDD. (s.v. Bought, sb.^{1} 1).
=bounty,= goodness in general, worth, virtue; ‘He is only the true and
essential Bounty’, Drummond of Hawthornden, Cypress Grove (Wks. ed.
1711, p. 127); _bountie_, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 4; ‘A lovely lasse,
Whose beauty doth her bounty far surpasse’, F. Q. iii. 9. 4; ‘Large was
his bounty and his soul sincere’, Gray, Elegy, 121 (The Epitaph). ME.
bountee, goodness (Chaucer. An A.B.C., 9). F. _bonté_ ‘goodness,
honesty, sincerity, vertue, uprightness’ (Cotgr.); L. _bonitas_,
goodness (Vulgate).
=bourd, bord,= a jest. Drayton, Eclogue, vii. 208; _bord_, Spenser, F.
Q. iii. 3. 19; iv. 4. 13. F. _bourde_, ‘a jeast, fib, tale of a tub’
(Cotgr.).
=bourd,= to jest. Ford, ’Tis pity, ii. 4 (Peggio).
=bourd,= to accost. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid iv, l. 899. See =board.=
=bourdel,= a brothel. Farquhar, Constant Couple, ii. 2. 4. See
=bordello.=
=bout, bowt,= a coil; a circuit, orbit. Sir T. Wyatt, Song of Iopas, 45;
in Tottel’s Misc., p. 94. See =bought.=
=boute-feu,= a fire-brand, incendiary. Bacon, Hen. VII, ed. Lumby, p.
66, l. 13; Butler, Hudibras, i. 1. 786. F. _boute-feu_, ‘a boute-feu, a
wilful or voluntary firer of houses; also, a fire-brand of sedition, a
kindler of strife and contention’ (Cotgr.).
=bout-hammer,= a heavy two-handed hammer. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful
Friends, v. 4 (Pergamus). For _about-hammer_, the largest hammer
employed by blacksmiths; it is slung round (or _about_) near the
extremity of the handle. An East Anglian word (EDD.).
=bouzing-ken,= drinking-house, ale-house. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s
Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen); Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor). See
Harman, Caveat, p. 83.
=bovoli,= snails, cockles; considered as delicacies. B. Jonson,
Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury). Ital. _bovolo_ (pl. _bovoli_), ‘a
snayle, a cockle, periwinkle’ (Florio).
=bowd,= a weevil, malt-worm. Tusser, Husbandry, § 19. 39; ‘A boude,
_vermis frumentarius_’, Coles, Dict. (1679). ME. _bowde_, malte-worme
(Prompt.). An East Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Boud).
=bow-dye,= a scarlet dye; name from _Bow_, near Stratford, Essex, where
the dyers mostly lived, in the 17th cent. Hence, as attrib., ‘My bowdy
stockings’, Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-master, iv. 1 (Prue).
=bowerly,= comely, portly, ‘burly’. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Alexander, §
8. In common use in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall (EDD.). See Notes on
Eng. Etym. (s.v. Burly).
=bow-hand,= the hand that holds the bow, the left hand. In phr. _wide o’
th’ bow-hand_, wide of the mark (towards the left); L. L. L. iv. 1. 135;
_much o’ th’ bow-hand_, Fletcher, Noble Gentleman, iv. 2 (end); Coxcomb,
i. 3. 2.
=bowlne,= swollen. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid ii, l. 348. See =bollen.=
=bowne,= a bound, limit. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. v. ch. 23. st.
45. In the same, st. 1 ‘the former bowne’ seems to mean ‘the preceding
chapter’. Norm. Fr. _bowne_ (_bodne_), ‘limite’ (Moisy). Cp. Med. Lat.
_bonna_, _bodina_ (Ducange).
=bowne,= a boon, a favour in answer to a request. Mirror for Mag.,
Cobham, st. 45; Adam Bel, 509, in Hazlitt’s Pop. Poetry, ii. 160. Icel.
_bōn_, a prayer.
=bowrs, bowers,= muscles that bend the joints, strong muscles. Spenser,
F. Q. i. 8. 12. Lit. _bow-er_, i.e. that which bows or bends; see NED.
=box-keeper,= the keeper of the dice and box at a gaming-table;
‘Gettall, _a box-keeper_’, Massinger, City Madam (Dramatis Personae).
=boyn,= to swell. ‘Her heeles behind _boynd_ out’, Golding, Metam. viii.
808; fol. 105 (1603). Cp. _boine_, _bunny_, Essex words for a swelling
caused by a blow (EDD.). OF. _buyne_ (now _bigne_); see Hatzfeld.
=brabble,= to wrangle, quarrel, Coles, Dict. (1679); _brabble_, a
quarrel, brawl, Twelfth Nt. v. 1. 69; Titus And. ii. 1. 62; hence,
_brabbler_, a quarreller, King John, v. 2. 162; _brabbling_, Middleton,
A Fair Quarrel, i. 1 (Colonel); ‘Noe more brabbling with him’ (your old
Glasier), Dorothy Wadham, Letter (1614), in T. G. Jackson’s Wadham
College (1893, p. 161). Du. ‘_brabbelen_, to brawle or to brabble’
(Hexham).
=brace,= to gird, encompass. ‘Bigge Bulles of Basan brace hem about’,
Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 124. OF. _bracier_, to embrace, deriv. of
_brace_, the two arms (Ch. Rol., 1343).
=bracer, braser,= a protection for the arm in archery. Ascham,
Toxophilus, pp. 108, 109.
=brach,= a bitch-hound. Properly a kind of hunting-dog; but it came to
be used with reference to a bitch in general. Webster, White Devil
(Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 48; Massinger, Unnat. Combat, iv. 2 (Belgarde);
King Lear, i. 4. 125. OF. _brac_, hunting-dog (Didot). OHG. _bracco_
(Schade).
=brachet,= a small hunting-dog. Morte Arthur, leaf 52, back, 22; bk.
iii, c. 5. F. ‘_brachet_, a kind of little hound’ (Cotgr.).
=brachygraphy,= shorthand, stenography. B. Jonson, Paris Anniversary
(Fencer); Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iv. 2 (Sanitonella). Gk.
βραχυγραφία.
=brack,= salt water. Only in Drayton, Pol. xxv. 50; Agincourt, 185
(NED.). Du. _brak_, briny, brackish.
=brack,= a breach, fracture, Oxford City Records, 387; ‘_Breche_, a
brack or breach in a wall’, Cotgrave; a flaw, fault, ‘A brack,
_vitium_’, Coles, Dict. (1679); Digby, On the Soul, Dedic. (Johnson); a
flaw in cloth, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 33); Chapman, tr. of Odyssey,
xvii. 249; a rupture, a quarrel, Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracy, v. 1
(Byron).
=brag,= brisk, lively. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 2. 11; ‘the bragge
lambs’, G. Fletcher, Christ’s Victory, i (NED.).
=braid,= a sudden or brisk movement. Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2
(Marcella). ME. _brayd_: ‘She (Dido) walketh, walweth, maketh many a
brayd’ (Chaucer, Leg. G. W., 1166); OE. _bregdan_, to move suddenly to
and fro.
=braid,= a sudden outburst of passion, anger. Warner, Alb. England, bk.
vii, ch. 37, st. 105; a sudden assault, Golding, Metam., xiii. 240; an
adroit turn, trick, deception, Greene, Radagon in Dianam, 62 (ed. Dyce,
302); (?) deceitful, All’s Well, iv. 2. 73.
=braided;= _braided ware_, goods that have changed colour, tarnished,
faded. Marston, Scourge Villainie, Sat. v. 73 (cp. Bailey’s Dict., 1721;
see NED.).
=brail,= in hawking, to confine a hawk’s wings by means of a _brail_, or
soft leather girdle; ‘They _brail_ and hud us’ [confine and hood us],
Tomkis, Albumazar, ii. 9 (Flavia). OF. _brail_, _braiel_, a girdle. Med.
L. _bracale_, deriv. of _bracae_, breeches (Ducange).
=brake,= a powerful bit for horses. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, iv. 2
(Cent.).
=brake,= to set one’s face in a brake, to assume an immovable expression
of countenance. Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, i. 1 (Bussy).
=brame,= longing, desire. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 52. Ital. _brama_,
earnest desire; from _bramare_, to desire. Cp. O. Prov. ‘_bramar_,
braire, désirer ardemment’ (Levy), F. _bramer_ (Hatzfeld).
=branched,= adorned with a figured pattern in embroidery, &c.; ‘Branched
velvet’, Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 54; Ford, Witch of Edmonton, iii. 2 (Frank).
=branded,= brindled; of mixed colour, streaked. Chapman, tr. of Homer,
Iliad, xii. 217. A common prov. word (EDD.).
=brandenburg,= a morning gown, with long sleeves. Etheredge, Man of
Mode, iv. 1 (Sir Fopling); Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii. 1 (Olivia). From
Brandenburg, in Germany, where there were woollen manufactories.
=brandle,= to shake, endanger, cause to waver. Bacon, Henry VII, ed.
Lumby, p. 155. F. _branler_. See =brangle.=
=brandlet,= a bird; prob. the brand-tail or redstart. Gascoigne, Prol.
to Philomene, 31. See EDD. (s.v. Brand-tail).
=brand-wine,= brandy. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 1 (Clause). Du.
_brande-wijn_, brandy, lit. burnt (i.e. distilled) wine.
=brangle,= to shake, cause to waver; hence, to render uncertain, to
confuse. Merry Devil, ii. 2. 6. F. _branler_. Cp. =brandle.=
=brank,= buck-wheat; ‘Brank, Buck, or French-wheat, a summer grain
delighting in warm land’, Worlidge; Tusser, Husbandry, § 19. 20. An E.
Anglian word (EDD.).
=bransle,= a kind of dance. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 8. F. ‘_bransle_, a
brawl or dance wherein many (men and women) holding by the hands,
sometimes in a ring, and other-whiles at length, move all together’
(Cotgr.). Cp. =brawl.=
=brant,= steep. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 58; ‘Even brant agenst Flodon
hil’, (perhaps) even on the steep side of Flodden hill; id. p. 88. In
common prov. use in the north country (EDD.). OE. (Anglian) _brant_.
=brasell;= see =brazil.=
=brast,= to burst. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, ch. 2, § 2; Douglas,
Eneados, iv. 81; pt. t., Sir T. More, Richard III (ed. Lumby, p. 74);
Bunyan, Pilg. Pr. (ed. 1678, p. 73). In common prov. use in the north
(EDD.). ME. _breste_(_n_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 1008). OE. _berstan_.
=brathel,= a malignant scold. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 60. See
=brothel.=
=brave,= finely arrayed; showy, splendid; fine, excellent. Tam. Shrew,
Ind., i. 40; Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 2 (Sancho); ‘Brave,
_splendidus_’, Levins, Manip.; As You Like It, iii. 4. 43. In gen. prov.
use (EDD.).
=brawl,= a French dance. L. L. L. iii. 9; the figure is fully described
in Marston, Malcontent, iii. 1 (Guerrino). See =bransle.=
=brawn-fall’n,= having arms from which the muscle has fallen away. Kyd,
Cornelia, iii. 1. 77; Lyly, Euphues, ed. Arber, p. 127.
=braye,= a brae, a steep bank; ‘Agaynste a rocke or an hye braye’,
Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 159. ‘Bray’ is still in use in Yorksh. and
Lincolnsh., see EDD. (s.v. Brae). Icel. _brā_, eyebrow, see NED.
=braye,= a military outwork, a mound or bank defended by palisades and
watch-towers. Act 4 Hen. VIII. 1. § 1 (NED.). _False braye_, an advanced
parapet surrounding the main rampart, Urquhart, Rabelais, iii. Prol. F.
_faulses brayes_, ‘issues qui doivent être bouchées, dans une place
forte, quand l’ennemi approche’, Jannet, Glossaire, Rabelais, iii. Prol.
Norm. F. _faulses brayes_, ‘espèce de muraille, établie en dehors d’une
forteresse et servant de retranchement’ (Moisy). Med. L. _braca_,
‘moles, agger’ (Ducange).
=brazil, brasell,= a hard wood which yields a red dye. Davenant, The
Wits, i. 1. 9; Ascham, Toxophilus (Arber, 133). In popular use in the
Yorksh. phrase, ‘As hard as brazzil’, see EDD. (s.v. Brazil, sb.^{1}).
Port. and Span. _brasil_. The country in S. America is named from this
wood (NED.).
=break:= phr. _to break one’s day_, to fail to make a payment on the day
appointed. Heywood, Eng. Traveller, iii. 1 (Prud.).
=break up,= to break open; to open a letter. 1 Hen. VI, i. 3. 13; Merch.
Ven. ii. 4. 10. Also, to carve, L. L. L. iv. 1. 56.
=breast,= the source of the voice, the voice in singing. Twelfth Nt. ii.
3. 20; Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 6 (Fool); G. Herbert, The Temper, p. 47.
=breathe:= phr. _to breathe a vein_, to open a vein by lancing it.
Dryden, Oliver Cromwell, st. 12; Georgics, iii. 700; Palamon, iii. 755.
=breathely,= worthless. Tusser, Husbandry, § 33. 36. Cp. ME.
_brethel_(_l_, a worthless fellow (York Plays, xxvi. 179). See NED.
=breck,= a breach, gap. Tusser, Husbandry, § 16. 16 (p. 40). A
north-country word (EDD.). ME. _brekke_ (Chaucer, Bk. Duch., 940).
=breme,= fierce, stormy; ‘Breme winter’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 42;
‘_Froid_, cold, breame, chill’, Cotgrave; Drayton, Heroic. Epist., xvi.
8. ME. _breme_ (Lydgate, Chron. Troy, ii. 16). Still in use in the north
country (EDD.). Cp. OE. _brēman_, to rage: _broeman_ ‘fervere’, in
Preface Lind. Matthew (ed. Skeat, p. 5, l. 5).
=breme.= Of reports, loudly prevalent; ‘In their talke most breeme Was
then Achilles victorie’, Golding, Met. xii. 280. OE. _brēme_, famous,
celebrated.
=brended,= brindled. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (Puppy). See
=brinded.=
=brenne,= to burn. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 45; pt. t. _brent_, id. i. 9.
10; pp. _brent_, id. ii. 6. 49. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. _brennen_
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 2331). Icel. _brenna_.
=brere,= a briar. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec, 2; Sackville, Induction, st.
39. A very common prov. pronunc. (EDD.). OE. (Mercian) _brēr_, WS.
_brǣr_.
=bret,= the name of a fish like the turbot; ‘The bret, of all [fishes]
the slowest’, Lyly, Alexander, ii. 2 (Hephestion). Also called a _birt_
or _burt_. See EDD.
=bretch,= a breach; ‘With careless _bretch_’, Phaer. and Twyne, tr. of
Aeneid, x. 467. F. _brèche_.
=brevit,= to hunt about, search, pry, beat about, forage; ‘Breviting by
night’, Drayton, The Owl, 179. Prob. from _brevet_, in the sense of
taking by ‘brevet’ or written warrant (NED.). In gen. use in the midland
counties (EDD.).
=briars:= phr. _in the briars_, in troubles, among thorns; ‘I ought not
so to leave Eccho _in_ the bryers’, Gascoigne, Glasse of Governement, v.
1.
=bribe,= a thing stolen, Barclay, Shyp of Folys, ii. 85. OF. _bribe_, a
piece of bread, F. ‘_bribe_, a peece of bread given unto a beggar’
(Cotgr.).
=bribe,= to take dishonestly, to purloin, to steal or rob; ‘They do
deceive the needy, bribe and pill from them’, Cranmer, Instr. of Prayer;
‘I bribe, I pyll’, Palsgrave. ME. _brybyn_ (_briben_) ‘latrocinor’
(Prompt.).
=bribery,= robbery with violence, extortion, Geneva Bible (Matt. xxiii.
25).
=bribour,= a thief or robber, Berners, tr. of Froissart, ii. 10. 21. ME.
_brybowre_ (Prompt.).
=brickle,= fragile, easily broken; ‘Brickle vessels’, BIBLE (AV.),
Wisdom, xv. 13; ‘brickle, _fragilis_’, Levins, Manip.; Spenser, Ruins of
Time, 499; Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 100. 8. OE. _brycel_, see NED.
(s.vv. Britchel, Brickle). See =brokle, bruckle.=
=bride-house,= the house where a wedding is held. ‘A public hall for
celebrating marriages’, Nares. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 22.
=bride-lace,= a piece of gold, silk, or other lace, used to bind up the
sprigs of rosemary formerly used at weddings. Shirley, Gamester, iii. 3
(Hazard).
=bridling-cast,= a glass taken when the horse is bridled; a
stirrup-glass, stirrup-cup. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 2 (Yo.
Loveless).
=brigand-harness,= a brigandine, a piece of armour worn by a ‘brigand’
or foot-soldier. World and Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 251. See
=brigandine.=
=brigandine,= a small vessel equipped both for sailing and rowing.
Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iii. 3 (Tamb.); also _brigantine_, Baret,
Alvearie. F. _brigandin_ (_brigantin_).
=brigandine,= a coat-of-mail, corslet. Milton, Samson, 1120.
=briggen-yrons,= brigand-irons, armour for the arms. Thersites, ed.
Pollard, l. 169. See =brigand-harness.=
=brim,= fierce, esp. an epithet of the boar; ‘Never bore so brymme’,
Udall, Roister Doister, iv. 6. 5; ME. _brym_ (_brim_) fierce (Prompt.).
See =breme= (1).
=brim,= (of reports, rumours) loudly current, much spoken of.
Throgmorton (NED., s.v. Breme 4); _brimme_, Warner, Albion’s England,
bk. iv. ch. 20, st. 35. See =breme= (2).
=brimse,= a gadfly. Gosson, School of Abuse (Arber, 64); _brimsees_,
pl., Topsell, Serpents, 769. A Kentish word, ‘You have a brims in your
tail’, see EDD. (s.v. Brims). G. _bremse_; Icel. _brims_ (Fritzner).
Norw. dialect _brims_ (Aasen); Swed. _brems_.
=brinch,= to pledge in drinking. Lyly, Mother Bombie, ii. 1 (Halfpenie);
also written _brince_, to offer drink: ‘Luther first brinced to Germany
the poisoned cup’, Harding, in Jewel’s Works, IV, 335 (NED.). Cp. the
German expression, _Ich bring’s_ (_euch_), i.e. I drink to you, lit. I
bring it (to you). Cp. Ital. _brindisi_ (Florio).
=brinded,= brindled, streaked; ‘The brinded cat’, Macbeth, iv. 1. 1. In
prov. use (EDD.).
=bring:= phr. _to be with one to bring_: a phrase of various
application, but usually implying getting the upper hand in some way.
Tr. and Cr. i. 2. 304; Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 4 (Lady and
Welford); Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, 503); Heywood, Wise Woman of
Hogsdon, i. 2 (Y. Chartley); Kyd, Spanish Tragedy, iii. 12. 22.
=brist:= phr. _full brist_, full burst, with sudden violence. Golding,
Metam. xi. 510; fol. 138 (1603). A northern form of OE. _berstan_, to
burst (EDD.).
=brize,= a breeze, a gadfly. Spenser, Visions of the World’s Vanity, ii.
10; spelt _bryze_, F. Q. vi. 1. 24. The gadfly is called _briz_ in
Cheshire, Shropsh., and Gloucestersh., see EDD. (s.v. Breeze, sb.^{1}).
OE. _briosa_ (_breosa_).
=brocage,= procuracy in immorality. Spenser, Introd. to Shep. Kal.
(beginning); Mother Hubbard’s Tale, 851. Also, bribery, mean practice,
Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 7. ME. _brocage_ (Chaucer, C. T. A.
3375). Anglo-F. _brocage_, the action of an intermediary.
=broche,= the ‘first head’ of a hart. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 21; p. 52.
OF. _broche_. Med. L. _broca_, ‘cornu’ (Ducange).
=broche, broach,= a spit. Morte Arthur, leaf 84. 34; bk. v, c. 5; ‘hazel
broach’, spit made of hazel-wood, Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Georg. ii. 545;
to pierce with a spit, to pierce, Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid i.
92. F. _broche_, a spit; _brocher_, to broach, to spit (Cotgr.).
=brock,= a badger. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Tuck); ‘Brocke or
badger’, Huloet; applied as a term of contempt to a dirty stinking
fellow, Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 114. ME. _broke_, ‘taxus’ (Prompt.). OE.
_broc_, cp. O. Irish _brocc_. In prov. use in various parts of England
and Scotland for the animal, and in Scotland in its transferred sense
(EDD.).
=broken beer,= remnants or leavings of beer in pots and glasses. Founded
on the phrases _broken meat_, _bread_, or _victuals_, meaning fragments
of meat, &c. Cartwright, The Ordinary, i. 4 (Slicer). So also _broken
bread_, The London Chanticleers, sc. 1 (Heath).
=broken music,= concerted music, music arranged for parts. As You Like
It, i. 2. 150; Hen. V, v. 2. 263; Tr. and Cr. iii. 1. 52.
=brokle,= brittle, frail. Sir T. Elyot, bk. iii, c. 19, § 1. See
=bruckle.=
=bronstrops,= a prostitute. ‘A bronstrops is in English a hippocrene’,
Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1 (Col.’s Friend); id. iv. 4 (Chough);
Webster, Cure for Cuckold, iv. 1.
=brothel,= an abandoned wretch; ‘Go hence, thou brothel’, Calisto and
Melibaea, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 82; ‘bitched brothel’, World and
Child, in the same, i. 254. ME. _brothell_, a worthless fellow (Gower,
C. A. vii. 2595).
=brouse, brouze,= young shoots of trees, eaten by cattle. Fitzherbert,
Husbandry, § 132. 3; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 45.
=brown bill,= a weapon, a kind of halbert. 2 Hen. VI, iv. 10. 13; King
Lear, iv. 6. 92.
=bruckel’d,= begrimed, dirty. Herrick, The Temple, 58. In use in the
north country and in East Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Bruckle, vb.^{2}).
=bruckle,= brittle, fragile. Puttenham, E. Poesie, p. 219. In prov. use
in various parts of England, and in Scotland and Ireland (EDD.). OE.
_brucol_. See =brokle, brickle.=
=bruit,= a rumour, report. 3 Hen. VI, iv. 7. 64; Timon, v. 1. 198; to
noise abroad, 2 Hen. IV, i. 1. 114; 1 Hen. VI, iii. 3. 68. F. _bruit_,
noise, rumour.
†=brusle= (meaning doubtful), to crack (?). Fletcher, A Wife for a Month
ii. 6 (Camillo). Perhaps the same word as =brustle.=
=brustle,= to parch, scorch, to crackle in cooking or burning, as in
Gower, C. A. iv. 2732. ‘He . . . brustleth as a monkes froise
(pancake)’. Hence, to make a noise like the waves of the sea, spelt
_brussel_, Fletcher, Span. Curate, iv. 7 (Lopez). In prov. use in the
north, also in Kent and Sussex, in the sense of scorching, crackling;
see EDD. (s.v. Brustle, vb.^{2}).
=brustle, brusle,= to raise the feathers, like a bird. Herrick, Hesp.
(ed. 1859, p. 122).
=brutel,= brittle. Spelt _brutyll_, Morte Arthur, leaf 65, end; bk. iv,
c. 8 (end). ME. _brutel_, _brotel_ (Chaucer).
=bub,= to bubble. Sackville, Induction, st. 69.
=bubber,= a drinker of wine. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Costanza).
=bubble,= to delude with _bubbles_, or unsubstantial schemes; to cheat.
Etheredge, Love in a Tub, ii. 3 (Wheedle).
=bubble,= one who can be easily ‘bubbled’; a dupe. Shadwell, Squire of
Alsatia, iv. 1 (Belfond Senior).
=buck,= to steep or boil (clothes) in lye; ‘Bucke these shyrtes’,
Palsgrave; Puritan Widow, i. 1. 150; the quantity of clothes washed at
once, 2 Hen. VI, iv. 2. 52; _buck-basket_, basket for dirty linen, Merry
Wives, iii. 3. 2. Phr. _to beat a buck_, to beat clothes when being
washed, Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iv. 2 (Spungius); _to drive a buck_,
to wash clothes, B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii (end). See EDD. (s.v.
Buck, sb.^{2}). ME. _bouken_, to steep in lye (P. Plowman). OE. type
*_būcian_, cp. G. _bäuchen_, to steep in lye; also Ital. _bucata_, F.
_buée_, lye, a wash of clothes.
=buckall,= the point of a horn; ‘You all know the device of the horn,
where the young fellow slips in at the butt-end, and comes squeezed out
at the _buckall_’, Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Touchstone). Here _buckall_ =
_buckle_, meaning the twisted or curled end of the horn, i.e. the
smaller end. Cp. prov. E. _buckle-horn_, a crooked or bent horn;
_buckle-mouthed_, having a twisted mouth (EDD.).
=bucke,= the body of a chariot; ‘The axletree was massie gold, the
_bucke_ was massie golde’, Golding, Metam., ii. 107; fol. 16 (1603). In
E. Anglia ‘buck’ is still in use for the body of a cart or wagon; esp.
the front part, see EDD. (s.v. Buck, sb.^{6} 3); also pronounced _bouk_
(Bouk, sb.^{1} 5). See NED. (s.v. Bulk, sb.^{1} 3. c).
=buckle,= to prepare oneself, esp. by buckling on armour; ‘To teach
dangers to come on by over-early buckling towards them’, Bacon, Essay
21. _Buckle with_, to cope with, join in close fight with, 1 Hen. VI, i.
2. 95; Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iv. 3. 19. Also _buckle_, to
bow, give way, 2 Hen. IV, i. 1. 141; _buckled_, doubled up, Witch of
Edmonton, ii. 1. 4.
=bud,= said of children; or used as a term of endearment. King John,
iii. 4. 82; ‘O my dear, dear bud’, Wycherley, Country Wife, ii. 1 (Mrs.
Pinchwife). A transferred sense of _bud_ (of a flower).
†=bud;= ‘’Tis strange these varlets . . . should thus boldly Bud in your
sight, unto your son’, Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas, iv. 2 (Thomas).
Meaning unknown.
=budge,= lamb’s fur. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. vii. 65.
_Budge-bachelor_, a bachelor or younger member of a company, who wore a
gown trimmed with _budge_ on Lord Mayor’s day (NED.). Hence, _budge
doctor_, a consequential person, Milton, Comus, 707.
=buff ne baff,= never a word; ‘Saied to hym . . . neither buff ne baff’
Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 25. Caxton, Reynard (Arber, 106).
_Buff nor baff_ is a phr. in use in Leicestersh., see EDD. (s.v. Buff,
sb.^{5} 6).
=buffe,= to bark gently; ‘_Buffe_ and barke’, Udall, tr. of Apoph.,
Diogenes, § 140. A Yorksh. word, see EDD. (s.v. Buff, vb.^{3} 1).
=buffin,= a coarse cloth in use for gowns of the middle classes.
Massinger, City Madam, iv. 4 (Milliscent); Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Gertrude).
See NED.
=buffon= (búff-on), a buffoon. B. Jonson, Every Man, ii. 3. 8. F.
_bouffon_.
=bufo,= a term in alchemy. B. Jonson, Alchem., ii. 1 (Subtle). ‘The
black tincture of the alchemists’ (Gifford). Only occurs in this
passage. L. _bufo_, lit. a toad.
=bug,= an object of terror, bogey, hobgoblin. Tam. Shrew, i. 2. 214;
Hamlet, v. 2. 22; Peele, Battle of Alcazar, i. 2 (Moor); ‘Thou shalt not
nede to be afrayed for eny bugges by night’, Coverdale, Ps. xc (xci), 5.
ME. _bugge_, ‘ducius’ (Prompt.).
=bug words,= pompous, conceited words, Massinger, New Way to Pay, iii. 2
(Marrall); Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iii. 2 (Huntley). See EDD. (s.v. Bug,
adj. 1).
=bulch,= to stave in the bottom of a ship. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil,
Aeneid i. 132. Cp. _bulge_, the ‘bilge’, bottom of a ship’s hull (NED.
s.v. Bulge, sb. 4).
=bulch,= a bull-calf; used as a term of endearment by a witch. Ford,
Witch of Edmonton, v. 1 (Sawyer). Still in prov. use in Scotland: ‘Sic a
bonnie bulch o’ a bairn’, a Banffshire expression (EDD.).
=bulchin,= a bull-calf. Tusser, Husbandry, 33; Drayton, Pol. xxi. 65;
used as a term of endearment, Shirley, Gamester, iv. 1 (Young B.); a
term of contempt, Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Capt. Albo). A
Shropsh. word for a calf; _fig._ a stout child (EDD.). See =bulkin.=
=bulcking,= a term of endearment. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, i. 671. See
NED. (s.v. Bulkin).
=bulk,= the belly, Lucrece, 467; the trunk, the body; spelt _boulke_.
Elyot, Castle Health (NED.); Richard III, i. 4. 40.
=bulk,= a framework projecting from the front of a shop. Coriolanus, ii.
1. 226; Othello, v. 1. 1.
=bulker,= a petty thief; also, a street-walker, prostitute. (Cant.)
Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, i. 1 (2 Bully). One who sleeps on a ‘bulk’,
one who steals from a ‘bulk’; see =bulk= (above).
=bulkin,= a bull-calf; ‘A young white bulkin’, Holland, tr. of Pliny,
bk. xxviii, c. 12. An E. Anglian word (EDD.). See =bulchin.=
=bull,= a jest; ‘To print his _jests_. _Hazard._ His _bulls_, you mean’,
Shirley, Gamester, iii. 3.
=bull-beggar,= an object of terror, a hobgoblin. Middleton, A Trick to
Catch, i. 4 (near the end); A Woman never vext, ii. 1 (Host);
Bull-begger, ‘_larva_, _Terriculamentum_,’ Skinner (1671). Perhaps a
corruption of _bull-boggart_. See NED.
=bulled,= swollen. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (George). Still in use
in Northamptonsh. and Shropsh. (EDD.). ME. _bolled_, swollen (NED.).
=bullions.= The full form is _bullion-hose_ (NED.), a term applied to
trunk-hose, puffed out at the upper part, in several folds. ‘His bastard
bullions’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iv. 4 (Higgen) [_bastard_ is the
name of a kind of cloth]; _a pair of bullions_, The Chances, v. 2
(John); _in the bullion_, i.e. wearing bullions, Massinger, Fatal Dowry,
ii. 2 (Pontalier).
=bully-rook,= a familiar term of endearment, fine fellow. Merry Wives,
i. 3. 2; ii. 1. 200; Shirley, Gent. of Venice, iii. 1 (Thomazo). See
EDD. (s.v. Bully, sb.^{1}).
=bum,= to strike, beat, thump. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iv. 2
(Spungius); Greene, James IV, iii. 2 (Andrew). See EDD. (s.v. Bum,
vb.^{3} 1).
=bum out,= to project; ‘What have you bumming out there?’ Rowley, A
Match at Midnight, i. 1 (Tim).
=bum vay,= a familiar contraction of _by my fay_, by my faith.
Contention between Liberality and Prodigality, iv. 3, near the end; in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 364; _by my vay_, Wily Beguiled, Hazlitt, ix.
328. See EDD. (s.v. Fay, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _by my fey_ (Chaucer, C. T. A.
1126).
=bumb-blade.= (Cant.) Given in NED. as _bum-blade_, a large sword,
Massinger, City Madam, i. 2 (Page).
=bump,= to make a noise like a bittern, to boom. Dryden, Wife of Bath,
194. _Bumping_, the boom of the bittern, Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors,
bk. iii. c. 27 (4). See EDD. (s.v. Bump, vb.^{2}).
=bunch,= a company of teal; a technical word in falconry. Drayton, xxv.
63. In E. Anglia they speak of a ‘bunch’ of wild-fowl, see EDD. (s.v.
Bunch, sb.^{1} ii. 2).
=bung,= a purse. (Cant.) Dekker, Roaring Girl (Wks., ed. 1873, iii.
217); a pick-pocket, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 138.
=bunting,= fat, plump. In Peele, Arraignment of Paris, i. 1. 10. NED.
explains it as ‘plump’; but suggests that it may perhaps mean ‘butting’,
from the verb _bunt_, to butt. I was at first inclined to take the same
view; but the context decides altogether in favour of the adjective. In
l. 7, Faunus brings with him ‘The _fattest_, fairest fawn in all the
chace: I wonder how the knave could skip so fast.’; i.e. because he was
so fat. And Pan replies that he has brought with him an equally fat
lamb, viz. ‘A _bunting_ lamb; nay, pray you, feel no bones [i.e. you
can’t feel his bones]. Believe me now, my cunning much I miss If ever
Pan felt _fatter_ lamb than this’. See EDD. (s.v. Bunting, adj.^{1}).
=burble,= to bubble. Spelt _burbyl_, Morte Arthur, leaf 382, back, 8;
bk. xviii. c. 21; pres. pt. _burbelynge_, id. lf. 208. 17; bk. x. c. 2;
‘I boyle up or burbyll up as a water dothe in a spring’, _Je
bouillonne_, Palsgrave. See EDD.
=burbolt,= a bird-bolt, a kind of blunt-headed arrow used for shooting
birds. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 2 (Custance); Marston, What you
Will, Induction (Philomuse).
=burden,= a staff, club. In Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 46. See =bordon.=
=burdseat,= a board-seat, i.e. a stool. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil,
Aeneid, iii. 408.
=burgh;= See =burre= (2).
=burgullian,= a term of abuse. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 4 (Cob).
=burle,= to pick out from cloth knots, loose threads, &c.; ‘_Desquamare
vestes_, to burle clothe’, Cooper, Dict. (1565). Hence _Burling-iron_, a
pair of tweezers used in ‘burling’, Herrick, To the Painter, 10. In
prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Burl, vb. 1). ME. _burle clothe_, ‘extuberare’
(Cath. Angl.).
=Burmoothes,= the Bermudas. Beaumont and Fl., Women Pleased, i. 2 (end).
See =Bermoothes.=
=burnish,= to grow stout or plump, to fill out; said of the human frame.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xi, ch. 37; vol. i, p. 345 b (1634);
Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 3 (Mrs. Marwood); ‘_Femme qui
encharge_, that grows big on’t, who burnishes, or whose belly
increases’, Cotgrave; Dryden, Hind and Panther, i. 390. In prov. use,
see EDD.
=burnt,= branded as a criminal. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II. v. 2 (Cat.
Bountinall).
=burnt sack,= a particular kind of wine heated at the fire, Merry Wives,
ii. 1. 222; _burnt wine_, Heywood, Eng. Traveller, i. 2 (Scapha); _burnt
claret_, The Tatler, no. 36, § 5 (1709).
=burre,= the lowest of the tines on a stag’s horn. Turbervile, Hunting,
c. 21, p. 53. Still in use in Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Burr, sb.^{1} 7),
where the word is defined, ‘the ball or knob of a stag’s horn at its
juncture with the skull’. See =antlier.=
=burre,= an iron ring on a tilting spear, just behind the place for the
hand. ‘Burre or yron of a launce, &c.’, Florio, tr. of Montaigne, ii.
37; in form _burgh_, Middleton, Roaring Girl, ii. 1 (Moll). ME.
_burwhe_, sercle, ‘orbiculus’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 268). See
EDD. (s.v. Burr, sb.^{6}), and NED. (s.v. Burr, sb.^{1}).
=burrough, borrow,= a pledge, a surety. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1
(Pan); v. 2 (Turfe). ME. _borwe_, a pledge (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1622). OE.
_borh_ (dat. _borge_).
=Burse,= an Exchange; esp. the Royal Exchange built by Sir Thomas
Gresham in 1566; it contained shops. Massinger, City Madam, iii. 1. 13;
Middleton, The Roaring Girl, iv. 1 (Moll’s Song). F. _bourse_.
=bursmen,= (perhaps) shopmen; ‘Welcome, still my merchants of _bona
speranza_ [i.e. gamblers]; . . what ware deal you in? . . Say, my brave
bursmen’, A Woman never vext, ii. 1 (beginning). I think the reference
is to keepers of shops in the Burse; see above.
=bursten,= ruptured. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 3 (Savil). In
common prov. use (with various pronunciations), see EDD. (s.v. Burst,
vb. 2).
=bushment,= an ambush. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 70. ME. _buschment_
(Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 269).
=busine,= a trumpet. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 199. 20; _busyne_, id.,
lf. 187, back, 26. Anglo-F. _buisine_ (Ch. Rol., 3523), L. _buccina_.
=buske,= a bush. Ralph, Roister Doister, i. 4 (M. Merygreek). ME.
_buske_, or busshe, ‘rubus’ (Prompt.).
=buskets,= a spray, as of hawthorn. _May buskets_, sprays of ‘May’ or
hawthorn, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 10. See Dict. (s.v. Bouquet).
=buskined,= wearing the buskins of tragedy; hence tragic, dignified.
‘The buskin’d scene’, Massinger, Roman Actor, i. 1. 6; ‘buskin’d
strain’, Drayton, Pol. ii. 333.
=busking,= an attiring; esp. the dressing of the head. Ascham,
Scholemaster, bk. i. (ed. Arber, p. 54). ME. _busken_, to get oneself
ready (Cursor M., 11585). See Dict.
=buskle,= to prepare oneself; hence, to set out, start on a journey, set
to work, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid iii. 359 (ed. Arber, 81); to hurry
about, Warner, Albion’s England, bk. i, c. 6, st. 51. Freq. of _busk_,
vb.; see above.
=busk-point,= the lace, with its tag (or point), which secured the end
of the ‘busk’, or strip of wood in the front of the stays. Dekker,
Shoemaker’s Holiday, v. 2 (Hodge); Marston, Malcontent, iv. 1
(Maquerelle); How a Man may Choose, i. 3 (Fuller).
=busky,= bushy. 1 Hen. IV, v. 1. 2. See =bosky.=
=bustain,= (prob.) clothed in _bustian_ or _busteyn_, a cotton fabric of
foreign manufacture; used as a term of derision; ‘Penthesilea with her
bustain troopes’ (i.e. her Amazons). Heywood, Iron Age, pt. ii; vol.
iii, p. 368. OF. _bustanne_, ‘sorte d’étoffe fabriquée à Valenciennes’
(Godefrey).
=but,= except, 2 Hen. VI, ii. 2. 82; Massinger, Renegado, i. 2; unless,
BIBLE, Amos iii. 17; _but if_, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 16; iv. 8. 33. In
prov. use in Cheshire (EDD.). ME. Wyclif, John xii. 24: ‘But a corn of
whete falle in to the erthe, and be deed, it dwellith alone.’
=but-bolt, butt-bolt,= an unbarbed arrow used in shooting at the butts.
Ford, Witch of Edmonton, ii. 1 (Cuddy). See =butt-shaft.=
=butin,= booty. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 277, back, 18. F. _butin_.
=butter-box,= a contemptuous term for a (fat) Dutchman. Massinger,
Renegado, ii. 5. 8; Ford, Lady’s Trial, iv. 2 (Fulgoso).
=butter-print,= a humorous expression for a child, as bearing the stamp
of the parents’ likeness. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, v. 4. 10;
The Chances, i. 5 (Don John); Span. Curate, ii. 1 (Diego).
=buttery-bar,= the horizontal ledge on the top of the _buttery-hatch_,
or half-door, to rest tankards on, Twelfth Nt., i. 3. 75.
_Buttery-hatch_, Heywood, Eng. Traveller, i. 2 (Robin). A
‘buttery-hatch’ is still to be seen opposite the entrance to the
dining-hall in every college in Oxford. See NED.
=button,= a bud. Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 1. 6. ME. _botoun_ (Rom. Rose,
1721). OF. _bouton_, a bud (Rom. Rose); see Bartsch, 412.
=buttons, to make,= to be in great fear. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 3
(Sancho). See EDD. (s.v. Button, sb.^{1} 8 and 12).
=butt-shaft,= an arrow (without a barb), for shooting at the butts. B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 3 (2 Masque: Cupid); L. L. L. i. 2. 181.
=buxom,= yielding, obedient; blithe, lively. Spenser, Mother Hubberd’s
Tale, 626; Henry V, iii. 6. 28; Milton, L’Allegro, 24. See Dict.
=buzzes,= for _burrs-es_, double pl. of _burr_; burrs; used of the rough
seed-vessels of some plants. Field, Woman a Weathercock, ii. 1
(Scudmore).
=by and by,= immediately. BIBLE, Matt. xiii. 21; Luke xxi. 9; Spenser,
F. Q. i. 8. 2. See Wright’s Bible Word-Book.
=by-blow,= a bastard. Ussher, Annals, 499 (NED.); Cox, Registers,
Lambeth, A.D. 1688, p. 75. In common prov. use in the north of England
and the Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. By(e, 8 (4)).
=by-chop,= a bastard. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, iv. 2 (Chair).
=bye,= a secondary object; _bye and main,_ a term orig. used in dicing,
expressing different ways of winning. _To bar bye and main_, to prevent
entirely, stop altogether, Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1
(Rosalura).
=bye,= to pay the penalty for, atone for. Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 1. 30.
Cp. ME. _abyen_, to buy off (Chaucer, C. T. A. 4393). See =aby.=
=bynempt,= declared solemnly, promised with an oath. Spenser, F. Q. ii.
1. 60; Shep. Kal., July, 214. See =benempt.=
=by’r lakin,= by our Lady-kin or little Lady (with reference to the
Virgin Mary). Temp. iii. 3. 1; Mids. Night’s D. iii. 1. 14. So also
_Byrlady_, Middleton, A Trick to Catch, iv. 2 (1 Gent.). In prov. use
from Yorksh. to Derbysh., see EDD. (s.v. Byrlakins).
=byse,= greyish; light blue, or azure. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1158.
See Dict. (s.v. Bice).
=bysse,= fine linen; also, a vague name for any fine or costly material.
Middleton, Father Hubberd’s Tales, ed. Dyce, v. 558; Peele, Honour of
the Garter, l. 88. OF. _bysse_, L. _byssus_, Gk. βύσσos, ‘fine linen’
(Luke xvi. 19); Heb. _būts_, applied to the finest and most precious
stuffs as worn by persons of high rank or honour (1 Chron. iv. 21).
C
=cabage,= to cut off the head of a deer close behind his horns.
Turbervile, Hunting, xliii. 134; ‘I wyll cabage my dere, _je cabacheray
ma beste_’, Palsgrave. ME. _caboche_ (Book on Hunting; NED.). F.
(Picard) _caboche_, the head, see H. Estienne, Précellence, 175. 397.
=cabbish,= a cabbage. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 3 (Sir O.
Twi.). A Yorksh. pronunc. (EDD.).
=cabinet,= a cabin, hut, lodging. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 83; ‘(the
lark’s) moist cabinet’, Venus and Adonis, 854.
=cabrito,= a kid. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3 (B. Knight). Span.
_cabrito_.
=cacafugo,= a spitfire, a braggart, blustering fellow. Fletcher, Fair
Maid of the Inn, iii. 1. 8. Span. _cacafuego_.
=cackler,= the domestic fowl. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed
(Jackman).
=cackling-cheat;= see =cheat.= (Cant.)
=cacokenny,= a purposely perverted form of _cacochymy_, an unhealthy
state of the humours or fluids of the body. Middleton, Anything for a
Quiet Life, iii. 2 (Sweetball). Gk. κακοχυμία.
=caddess,= the jackdaw. Chapman, tr. Iliad, xvi. 541; ‘A cadesse or a
dawe, _Monedula_’, Baret, Alvearie. An old Yorksh. word (EDD.).
=caddow,= the jackdaw. Huloet, Dict. (1552); spelt _cadowe_, Golding,
Metam., vii. 468; Tusser, Husbandry, § 46. 28. ME. _cadow_(_e_,
‘monedula’ (Prompt. EETS., see note no. 313).
=cade,= a young animal brought up by hand; usually, a pet-lamb; rarely,
a foal. ‘The _Cade_ which cheweth the Cudde’ (here, apparently, a calf),
Gascoigne, Glasse of Governement, iii. 4 (Ambidexter). In prov. use in
various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Cade, sb.^{3} 1). ME. a _cade_,
‘ovis domestica’ (Cath. Angl.).
=cade, oil of,= oil from the prickly cedar. _Oyle of Cade_, Turbervile,
Hunting, c. 66; p. 187. F. _cade_, the prickly cedar (Cotgr).
=caitif,= a captive. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 794; _caitifes_, unhappy
men, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid ii. 253. Also, mean, niggardly, Sir T.
Browne, Rel. Medici, pt. 2, § 3. Norm. F. ‘_caitif_, malheureux,
misérable, captif’ (Moisy); cp. Prov. _caitiu_, ‘captif, chétif,
misérable, mauvais, méchant’ (Levy). Celto-L. type *_cactivum_, L.
_captivum_.
=calambac,= an Eastern name of aloes-wood or eagle-wood. A Knack to know
a Knave, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 571. Malay _kalambak_. See NED.
=caldesed, chaldesed,= cheated. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 1010; Elephant
in the Moon, 494. Coined from Chaldees, pl. of Chaldee, a Chaldean, an
astrologer.
=Calipolis,= the wife of the Moor in Peele’s play, Battle of Alcazar,
ii. 3: ‘Feed, then, and faint not, fair Calipolis.’ Hence Pistol has:
‘Feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis’, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 193; and
Heywood has: ‘To feed, and be fat, my fine Cullapolis’, Royal King
(Captain), vol. vi, p. 30. Those who consult Peele’s play will find the
quotation to be extremely humorous. Pistol’s words occur again in
Marston, What you Will, v. 1. 1.
=calke,= to calculate. Mirror for Mag., Cobham, st. 15; _kalked_, pp.;
id. Clarence, st. 26. Short for _calcule_, F. _calculer_, L.
_calculare_.
=calker, calcar,= a calculator, an astrologer; ‘_Calkers_ of mens
byrthes’, Coverdale, Isaiah ii. 6; _calcars_, Sir T. Wyatt, Song of
Jopas, 60; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 95.
=calkins,= the turned-up ends of the horse-shoe which raise the heels
from the ground. Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 4. 68; ‘_Rampone_, a calkin in a
horses shoon to keepe him from sliding’, Florio. This word, with various
pronunciations, is in prov. use in many parts of England from Lancash.
to Shropsh. and Lincolnsh., see EDD. (s.v. Calkin). OF. _calcain_, heel
(Godefrey). L. _calcaneum_, heel (Vulg., John xiii. 18).
=callet,= a lewd woman, a tramp’s concubine. Othello, iv. 2. 122. B.
Jonson, Volpono, iv. 1 (Lady P.); ‘_Paillarde_, a strumpet, callet’,
Cotgrave. In prov. use in Scotland, Yorksh., and Lancash., see EDD.
(s.v. Callet, sb.^{1} 1). A Gipsy word, see Englische Studien, XXII
(ann. 1895).
=callot, calotte,= a coif worn on the wig of a serjeant-at-law, a
skull-cap. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Bias); Etheredge, She Would if
she Could, iii. 3 (Sir Joslin). F. _calotte_, dimin. of _cale_, a caul.
†=callymoocher,= a term of abuse. Only occurs in Middleton, Mayor of
Queenborough, iii. 3 (Oliver).
=calophantic,= making a show of excellence; hypocritical. ‘Calophantic
Puritaines’, Warner, Albion’s England, bk. ix, ch. 53, st. 21. Gk.
καλό-ς, fair + -φαντης, one who shows, from φαίνειν, to show.
=calvered salmon,= fresh salmon prepared in a particular way; sometimes,
apparently, pickled salmon. Massinger, Maid of Honour, iii. 1 (Gasparo).
ME. _calvar_, ‘as samone or oder fysch’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no.
320).
=cambrel,= a crooked stick with notches on it, on which butchers hang
their meat. Also _cambren_, see Phillips (1706). Wel. _cambren_; _cam_
crooked, and _pren_ wood, stick. In prov. use in Scotland, and in
England, from the Border as far south as Warwick, see EDD. (s.v.
Cambrel, sb.^{1}). See =gambrel.=
=cambrel,= the hock of an animal; spelt _camborell_. Fitzherbert,
Husbandry, § 107. 3; ‘His crooked cambrils’, Drayton, Muses’ Elysium,
Nymphal, x. 20; ‘_Chapelet du jarret_, the cambrel hogh of a horse’,
Cotgrave. See EDD.
=camisado,= a night attack by soldiers; orig. one in which the attacking
soldiers wore shirts over their armour, that they might recognize one
another. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 297; Gascoigne, Jocasta, Act ii, sc.
2, l. 56. Span. _camiçada_, ‘a camisado, assault’ (Minsheu). _Camiça_,
_camisa_, ‘a shirt’, id. Late L. _camisia_, a shirt (Jerome). See NED.
(s.v. Chemise).
=cammock, camocke,= a crooked tree; esp. one that is artificially bent.
Lyly, Euphues, pp. 46, 408; Peele, Works, ed. Dyce, p. 579, col. 2. ME.
_cambok_, ‘pedum’ (Voc. 666. 27); Med. L. _cambuca_, ‘baculus
incurvatus’ (Ducange).
=camois=(=e.= Of the nose: low and concave; ‘a Camoise nose, crooked
upwarde as the Morians’, Baret, Alvearie; ‘Camously croked’, Skelton,
El. Rummyng, 28; _camused_, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 1 (Lorel). F.
_camus_, having a short and flat nose (Cotgr.).
=camomile;= said to grow the more, when the more trodden upon. 1 Hen.
IV, ii. 4. 441; Shirley, Hyde Park, iii. 2 (Mis. Carol).
=camouccio,= a term of reproach. B. Jonson. Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 3
(Sogliardo); spelt _camooch_, Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable
(Lazarillo). Perhaps Ital. _camoscio_, the chamois.
=can,= a wooden measure for liquor. Phr. _burning of cans_, branding
measures, to show that they were of legal capacity; B. Jonson, Cynthia’s
Revels, i. 1 (Amorphus).
=Can,= a lord, prince; ‘A great Emperor in Tartary whom they call Can’,
Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. ii, c. 11; p. 106. See Dict. (s.v. Khan).
=can,= _pres. indic._, know; ‘Unlearned men that can no letters’, Foxe,
Martyrs (ed. 1684, ii. 325); ‘Can you a remedy for the tysyke?’ Skelton,
Magnyf. 561; B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, i. 1 (Compass). ME. ‘I can a
noble tale’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3126). See NED. (s.v. Can, vb.^{1} 1).
=can,= used as an auxiliary of the past tense; ‘Tho can she weepe’,
Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 50; ‘He can her fairely greet’, id. i. 4. 46. ME.
very common in Cursor M.; e.g. ‘Moses fourti dais can (v.r. gan) þer-on
duell’, 6462. See NED. (s.v. Can, vb.^{2} 2).
=canaglia,= canaille, rabble. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1 (Vol.). Ital.
_canaglia_, ‘base and rascally-people, only fit for dogs company’
(Florio).
=canary,= a quick and lively dance. All’s Well, ii. 1. 77; pl.
_canaries_, Middleton, Women beware, iii. 2 (Ward); to dance, L. L. L.
iii. 12.
=canceleer, cancelier,= a hawking term. A hawk _canceleers_ when, in
stooping, she turns two or three times upon the wing, to recover herself
before she seizes the prey. Massinger, Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo); a turn
or two in the air, Drayton, Pol. xx. 229. OF. (Picard) _canceler_ (F.
_chanceler_), to swerve, waver.
=candle:= phr. _to hold a candle to the devil_, to assist an evil
person, to persevere in evil courses. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 316
(Orgalio, p. 93, col. 1). Cp. the Gloucestersh. saying, ‘To offer a
candle to the devil’, see EDD. (s.v. Candle, 2 (5)).
=candles’ ends,= bits of lighted candle swallowed as flapdragons; see
=flapdragon.= Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, ii. 2. 24; 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 267.
=candle-waster,= one who sits up late, and so wastes candles; a student,
or a rake. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iii. 2 (Hedon); Much Ado, v. 1.
A Somerset expression, see EDD. (s.v. Candle, 1 (22)).
=cane,= a ‘khan’, an Eastern inn. G. Sandys, Trav. p. 57. See Stanford
(s.v. Khan). Arab, _khān_, a building (unfurnished) for the
accommodation of travellers (Dozy, Glossaire, 83). See =hane.=
=canicular,= due to the dog-star. _Canicular aspect_, influence of the
dog-star, excessive heat, Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 3 (2083); p. 144,
col. 1. ‘Of the canicular or dog-days’, Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors;
bk. iv, ch. 13. L. _canicula_, dog-star (Horace).
=canion,= an ornamental roll laid in a set like sausages round the ends
of the legs of breeches; ‘French hose . . . with _Canions_ annexed
reaching down beneath their knees’, Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (see
Furnivall, 56). ‘_Chausses à queue de merlus_, round breeches with
strait cannions’, Cotgrave. Span. _cañon_, a tube, pipe, gun-barrel.
=canker,= a caterpillar, a canker-worm. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 2. 3;
Milton, Lycidas, 45. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Canker, sb.^{2}
6). ME. _cankyr_, ‘teredo’ (Prompt.).
=canker,= the dog-rose. 1 Hen. IV, i. 3. 176. Cp. the prov. words
_canker-ball_, the mossy excrescence on a wild rose-bush, _canker-bell_,
the bud of a wild rose, _canker-berry_, the ‘hip’ of a wild rose,
_canker-rose_, ‘Rosa canina’, the wild rose (EDD).).
=cankered,= ill-tempered. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 3; King John, ii. 1.
194. In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.).
=cannakin,= a small can; ‘Let me the cannakin clinke’, Othello, ii. 3.
71.
=cannel:= _Cannel bone_; ‘The neck-bone or windpipe’, Phillips, Dict.;
Golding, tr. Metam. 284; the collar-bone, Holland, Plutarch’s Mor. 409;
spelt _canell_: _canell of the necke_ (?), the nape of the neck, Caxton,
Hist. Troye, leaf 348. 10. Cp. _cannell-bone_ (Lancash.), and
_channel-bone_ (Somerset) in prov. use for the collar-bone (EDD.). OF.
(Picard) _canel_, a channel; F. _canneau du col_, ‘the nape of the neck’
(Cotgr.).
=canon-bitt,= a smooth round bit for horses. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 37;
‘_Canon_, a canon-bitt for a horse’, Cotgrave. O. Prov. _canon_, a tube
(Levy).
=canstick,= a candlestick. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 131. Still in use in
Berks. (EDD.).
=cant,= a corner, a niche; ‘Irene or Peace, she was placed aloft in a
cant’, B. Jonson, James I’s Entertainment (1603); Warner, Monuments of
Honour (ed. Dyce, 369) See EDD. (s.v. Cant, sb.^{3} 1). Norm. F. _cant_,
‘angle’ (Moisy).
=cant,= a piece, portion. Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. iii. 45. A Kentish term,
see EDD. (s.v. Cant, sb^{4} 2). Cp. M. Du. _kant_ (Verdam).
=canted,= tilted up, thrown up. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid, iii.
211. See EDD. (s.v. Cant, vb.^{3} 9 (1)). E. Fris. _kanten_, ‘etwas auf
die Seite legen’ (Koolman).
=canter,= one who _cants_, a vagrant. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1
(P. Can.).
=cantharides,= a kind of flies; Spanish flies; sometimes Aphides.
Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymph, viii. 54. Used as a stimulant, Beaumont
and Fl., Philaster, iv. 1 (Cleremont). L. _cantharides_, pl. of
_cantharis_; Gk. κανθαρίς, blister-fly.
=canting out,= singing out, in a beggar’s whine; ‘’Tis easier _canting
out_, “A piece of broken bread for a poor man”, than singing “Brooms,
maids, brooms: come, buy my brooms”,’ The London Chanticleers, scene 1
(Heath).
=cantle,= a part, portion; ‘_Liron de pain_, a cantle of bread’,
Cotgrave; ‘A cantel _pars, portio_’, Levins. Manipulus. ME. _cantel_,
‘minutal’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 324). OF. (Picard) _cantel_ = F.
_chanteau_, ‘a corner-piece or piece broken off from the corner, hence,
a cantel of bread’ (Cotgr.).
=cantle,= to portion out, Dekker, Whore of Babylon, i. 1. 9; Dryden,
Juvenal’s Satire, vii.
=cantore,= counting-house, office; ‘A Dutchman’s money i’ th’
_Cantore_’, Butler, Abuse of human learning (Remains i. 211). Du.
_kantoor_, F. _comptoir_, a counter.
=cantred,= a hundred; a district containing 100 townships. Spenser, View
of Ireland, Globe ed., p. 676, col. 1. Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, 398.
Wel. _cantref_, a cantred; _cant_, a hundred + _tref_, a town. See
Ducange (s.v. Cantredus).
=canvas:= phr. _to receive the canvas_, to get the sack; i.e. to be
dismissed. Shirley, The Brothers, ii. 1 (Luys); _give the canvas_, to
dismiss, Hyde Park, i. 1 (end).
=canvasado,= a night attack by soldiers. Merry Devil, i. 1. 44. App. a
perverted form of =camisado,= q.v.; due to confusion with _canvass_,
vb., to knock about, to assault (NED.).
=cap,= to arrest. Beaumont and Fl., Knight of the B. Pestle, iii. 2
(Host). From. L. _capias_, the name of a writ; _writ of capias_, a writ
of arrest.
=cap a-huff, to set,= to cock one’s cap or hat, to put on a swaggering
appearance. Greene, James IV, iv. 4. 13. See =huff-cap.=
=cap of maintenance,= a kind of hat or cap worn as a symbol of official
dignity, or carried before a sovereign or a high dignitary in
processions. In the 17th cent. and later it is mentioned chiefly as
borne, together with the sword, before the Lord Mayor, and before the
Sovereign at his coronation. Massinger, City Madam, iv. 1; A Woman never
vext, i. 1 (Stephen). See NED. (s.v. Maintenance).
=capadochio,= a prison. Puritan Widow, i. 3. 56; ‘in _Caperdochy_, i’
tha gaol’, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 72; spelt _Capperdochy_, id. p.
86. App. for _Cappadocia_ (a bit of university slang).
=cap-case,= a bandbox, cover, basket. Middleton, The Changeling, iii. 4
(De F.); a small travelling-bag, Gascoigne, Supposes, iv. 3 (Philogano).
=caper,= a privateer, cruiser. Otway, Cheats of Scapin, ii. 1 (Scapin).
Du. _kaper_, a privateer (Sewel, ed. 1766).
=capilotade,= a kind of hash, or mixed dish; hence, a hash, a made-up
story. ‘What a capilotade of a story’s here!’ Vanbrugh, The Confederacy,
iii. 2 (Flippanta). F. _capilotade_, ‘a capilotadoe, or stued meat’, &c.
(Cotgr.).
=capnomanster,= one who divines from the way in which smoke rises from
an altar. For _capnomancer_, Birth of Merlin, iv. 1. 62. From
_capnomancy_, divination by smoke. Gk. καπνομαντεία.
=capocchia,= a simpleton. In Tr. and Cr. iv. 2. 33. Fem. of Ital.
_capocchio_, ‘a doult, a noddie’ (Florio).
=capot,= in the game of piquet, the winning of all the tricks by one
player, which scores 40. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, ii. 2 (Wildair);
to win all the tricks at the game of piquet against another; ‘I have
_capotted_ her’, id. i. 1 (Fireball). F. _faire capot_ (Dict. de
l’Acad., ed. 1762).
=cappadocian.= In Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, v. 1, Eyre, who had come
to be Lord Mayor of London, says that he had promised ‘the mad
_Cappadocians_’, who had been his fellow-apprentices, that he would
feast them if he ever attained to that dignity. I think it is evidently
a jocose expression for _mad-caps_, with a punning reference to the
_cap_, i.e. the _flat-cap_, which was the special headgear of the London
apprentice, and to which frequent references are made. Just below he
varies it to ‘my fine dapper Assyrian lads’.
=caprich,= a freak, a whim, fancy, sudden giddy thought. Butler,
Hadibras, ii. 1. 18; printed _capruch_, Shirley, Example, ii. 1
(Vainman). Ital. _capriccio_, ‘a sudden fear apprehended, making one’s
hair to stand on end’ (Florio); lit. the bristling of the head (_capo_ +
_riccio_); see note on ‘Caprice’, by A. L. Mayhew, in Mod. Lang. Rev.,
July, 1912.
=capricious,= witty. As You Like It, iii. 3. 8; Heywood, The Fair Maid,
iii. 2 (Roughman).
=capte,= capacity. Only in Udall: tr. of Apoph., Preface, p. vi (1877);
fol. 23, back (1542); id. Cicero, § 45.
=capuccio,= a hood. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 10. Ital. _capuccio_, a
cowl.
=carabin=(=e, carbine,= a mounted musketeer. Beaumont and Fl., Wit
without Money, v. 1 (Merchant). F. _carabin_, ‘cavalier qui porte une
carabine’ (Dict. de l’Acad.).
=caract,= worth, value. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., iii. 3. 23 (Kitely);
Volpone, i. 1 (Corvino); Magnetic Lady, i. 1 (Compass).
=caract, carect,= a mark, sign, character. Meas. for M. v. 1. 56; _holy
Carects_, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Golding, De Mornay, iii. 37. ME.
_carect_ (Wyclif, Apoc. xx. 4). Prov. _caracta_, ‘marque, caractère’
(Levy). Norm. F. _caractes_, pl. caractères magiques (Moisy). L.
_caracter_ (Vulg., Apoc. xx. 4), Gk. χαρακτήρ.
=caravan= (Cant), an object inviting plunder; hence, a dupe, one easily
cheated. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1; iv. 1 (Belfond Senior).
=caravel, carvel,= a kind of light ship. Eden, Three Books on America
(ed. Arber, p. 45). Spelt _carvel_, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money,
i. 2. 15. F. _caravelle_, Ital. _caravella_, Port. _caravéla_.
=carbonado,= a piece of flesh scored across and grilled upon coals.
Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iv. 4. 47; Coriolanus, iv. 5. 199; Lyly, Sapho,
ii. 3. 175; to make a ‘carbonado’ of, King Lear, ii. 2. 42. Span.
_carbonada_, ‘a carbonado on the coles’ (Minsheu).
=carcanet,= a collar or necklace of jewels. Com. Errors, iii. 1. 4;
‘Captain jewels in the carcanet’, Sonnet 52. 8. Cp. F. _carcan_, ‘une
espèce de chaîne ou de collier de pierreries’ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762).
=card,= a chart; esp. the circular card on which the points of the
compass were marked. Macbeth, i. 3. 17; Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iii. 2
(Archas). _To speak by the card_, i.e. with the precision shown by such
a card, Hamlet, v. 1. 149. ‘Climes that took up the greatest part o’ th’
card’, i.e. of the map, Heywood, If you know not me (Medina), vol. i. p.
334.
=card,= to play at cards. Latimer, Sermon on the Ploughers, ed. Arber,
p. 25. _To card a rest_, to set up a rest, at the game of primero (see
=rest=), Heywood, The Royal King, vol. vi, p. 32.
=cardecu,= an old silver coin, a quarter of a crown. All’s Well, iv. 3.
314; v. 2. 35. F. _quart d’écu_.
=carduus benedictus,= the Blessed Thistle, noted for its medicinal
properties. Much Ado, iii. 4. 72; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, ii. 2
(Galatea). See Sin. Barth. 14.
=care:= phr. _to take care for_, to give attention to. BIBLE, 2 Kings
xxii, and Esther vi (contents).
=carect, carrect,= a carrack, a ship of burden. ‘Carects or hulks’,
North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 36 (in Shak. Plut., p. 213, n.
3); _carrects_, pl., Com. Errors, iii. 2. 140. Med. L. _carraca_, see
Ducange, and Dozy, Glossaire (s.v. Caraca).
=careful,= anxious, solicitous. Titus And. iv. 4. 84; Milton, P. L. iv.
983; BIBLE, Dan. iii. 16. ME. _careful_, full of care, sorrowful
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 1565).
=carfe,= an incision, cut. Golding, Metam. viii. 762; fol. 104, bk.
(1603) ‘Carf’ is in prov. use for the incision or notch made by a saw or
axe in felling timber (EDD.).
=cargazon,= a cargo; ‘A cargazon of complements’, Howell, Foreign
Travell, sect. xv, p. 67. Also, a list of goods shipped; Hakluyt, vol.
ii, pt. 1, p. 217. Span. _cargazon_, cargo.
=cargo,= used as an exclamation. Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage,
iv (Butler); Tomkis, Epil. to Albumazar. In both cases the context
refers to great riches.
=cark=(=e,= anxiety, grief. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 44; Massinger, Roman
Actor, ii. 1 (Paris); ‘_Esmoy_, cark, care, thought, sorrow, heaviness’,
Cotgrave; Levins, Manipulus. In prov. use in the north country; gen. in
phr. _cark and care_ (EDD.). ME. _cark_(_e_, anxiety (Gamelyn, 760).
Anglo-F. _cark_ (_kark_), charge, load (Rough List). The Norman and
Picard form of Central F. _charge_. See Dict. _Cark_(_e_, to be anxious;
‘I carke, I care, I take thought’, Palsgrave; Tusser, Husbandry, § 113.
15; Robinson, tr. More’s Utopia, 107.
=carl,= a countryman, a churl. Cymb. v. 2. 4; Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 54.
Icel. _karl_, a man, also, one of the common folk; opposed to _jarl_, as
OE. _ceorl_ to _eorl_.
=carl,= to act as a carl or churl, to snarl. Return from Parnassus, last
scene (Furor). The verb is given as a north Yorksh. word in EDD. (s.v.
Carl, sb.^{1} 3).
=carlot,= a peasant. As You Like It, iii. 5. 108.
=carnadine,= a carnation-coloured stuff. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet
Life, ii. 2. 4. Ital. _carnadino_, a flesh-colour (Florio); _carne_,
flesh.
=carnifex,= a hangman; hence, a scoundrel. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel,
iv. 4 (Capt. Albo). L. _carnifex_, an executioner.
=caroche,= a luxurious kind of carriage. Webster, White Devil (ed. Dyce,
p. 6); Duchess of Malfi, iv. 2; Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Leonora). F.
_carroche_ (Cotgr.). Ital. _carroccio_, a carriage, a ‘caroche’.
=carosse,= a carriage. Chapman, Byron’s Tragedy, v. i (D’Escures). F.
_carosse_ (Cotgr.); Med. F. _carrosse_.
†=carpell.= Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, p. 401, col. 1. Sense unknown.
=carpet,= a table-cloth, a table-cover. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, iv. 2
(Truewit); Staple of News, i. 2. 2; ‘a carpet to cover the table’,
Heywood, A Woman killed, iii. 2 (Jenkin); ‘carpets for their tables’,
Heylin, Hist. of the Reformation, To the Reader. It was in this sense
that a matter was said to be ‘on the carpet’ (i.e. of the
council-table). See Trench, Select Glossary.
=carpet-knight,= a contemptuous term for a knight whose achievements
belong rather to the carpet (the lady’s boudoir) than to the field of
battle; ‘_Mignon de couchette_, a Carpet-knight, one that ever loves to
be in women’s chambers’, Cotgrave; Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, i. 1
(Alberto). There was once an order of Knights of the Carpet, so called
to distinguish them from knights that are dubbed for service in the
field. See NED.
=carriage,= that which is carried, baggage. BIBLE, 1 Sam. xvii. 22; Acts
xxi. 15; ‘Carriages of an army are termed _impedimenta_’, Fuller,
Worthies of England, Norfolk; manner of carrying one’s body, bodily
deportment, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 472; demeanour, behaviour, Com. Errors,
iii. 2. 14; moral conduct, Timon, iii. 2. 89; Fletcher, Love’s
Pilgrimage, i. 1 (Sanchio); Island Princess, ii. 6. 12.
=carricado,= a movement in fencing. Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler);
Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. xi. 57. See NED. (s.v. Caricado).
=carvel;= see =caravel=.
=carwitchet, carwhitchet,= a pun, quibble, conundrum. B. Jonson, Barth.
Fair, v. 1 (Leath.); Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (Morello). See NED.
(s.v. Carriwitchet), and Nares (s.v. Carwhichet).
=case,= a pair; ‘This case of rapiers’, Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, ii. 2
(description of _Wrath_); ‘A case (pair) of matrons’, B. Jonson, Case is
altered, ii. 3. 1; ‘a case of pistols’, Shirley, The Traitor, iii. 1
(Rogers); ‘two case of jewels’, Webster, White Devil (ed. Dyce, p. 46).
=case,= to skin. All’s Well, iii. 6. 111; ‘A cased rabbit’, Dryden,
Span. Friar, v. 2 (Gomez); Vanbrugh, Provok’d Wife, iv. 1 (Taylor).
Still in use in the north and the W. Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Case,
sb.^{1} 6).
=casible,= a chasuble. Middleton, A Game at Chess, i. 1 (Blk. Knt.’s
Pawn). Med. Lat. _casibula_ (Ducange, s.v. Casula).
=caskanet,= a word common in the 17th cent., used sometimes in the sense
of a necklace set with jewels (or _carcanet_), sometimes in the sense of
a _casket_. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Jolenta); Lingua, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ix. 426. See NED.
=cass,= to cashier, dismiss; ‘_Malandrin_, a cassed soldier’, Cotgrave.
The pp. was confused with _cast_, and so spelt. ‘Pontius, you are cast’,
Beaumont and Fl., Valentinian, ii. 3 (Aëcius). F. _casser_, ‘to break,
to casse, casseere, discharge, turn out of service’ (Cotgr.). Prov.
_casar_, ‘casser, briser’ (Levy).
=cassan, casson,= cheese. (Cant.) Harman, Caveat, p. 83. _Casson_,
Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song). Cp. Du. _kaas_, a cheese.
=cassock,= a soldier’s cloak or long coat. All’s Well, iv. 3. 191; B.
Jonson, Every Man, ii (near the end). The military use is the original;
so F. _casaque_, Span. and Port. _casaca_, and Ital. _casacca_. Cp. MHG.
_casagân_, a horseman’s coat (Schade). Probably of Persian origin
(through the Arabic), see NED.
=cast,= for _cassed_; see =cass.=
=caster,= one who casts dice, in gaming. The _setter_ is one who _sets_,
or proposes, the amount of the stake against him. If the setter wants to
propose a very high stake, he says—_ware the caster!_ i.e. let him
beware. The caster usually says _at all!_ i.e. I cast against all
setters; but he may limit the amount of the stake. Massinger, City
Madam, iv. 2 (Tradewell).
=caster,= a cant term for a cloak. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song);
Harman, Caveat, p. 82.
=casting,= anything given to a hawk to cleanse and purge her gorge.
Massinger, Picture, iv. 1 (Ubaldo).
=casting-bottle,= a bottle for sprinkling perfumes. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s
Revels, i. 1 (Cupid); Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, v. 1 (Livia). So also
_casting-glass_, B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iv. 4 (Macilente).
=castrel,= a kestrel, a base kind of hawk. Fletcher, The Pilgrim, i. 1
(Alphonso); Ford, Lady’s Trial, iv. 2 (Futelli). F. _cercerelle_, a
kestrel (Cotgr.).
=cat,= in military phrase; a lofty work used in fortifications and
sieges. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (P. Canter); Shirley, Honoria,
i. 2. This military work was also called a =cavalier,= q.v. See NED.
(s.v. Cat, sb.^{1} 6 b).
=Cataian,= a _Cathaian_, an inhabitant of Cathay; hence a thief, a
scoundrel; because the Chinese were thought to be clever thieves, Merry
Wives, ii. 1. 148; Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 1 (Matheo). See
Nares.
=cataphract,= a horse-soldier, protected (as well as his horse) with a
coat-of-mail. Milton, Samson, 1619. Gk. κατάφρακτος, one completely
protected.
=catasta,= a jocose term for the stocks. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 1. 259.
L. _catasta_, a stage on which slaves were exposed for sale; Med. L.
_catasta_, an engine of torture (Ducange).
=catastrophe,= conclusion; (humorously) the posteriors. L. L. L. iv. 1.
77; (2) 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 66; Merry Devil, ii. 1. 10.
†=Catazaner,= only in Shirley, Ball, v. 1 (Freshwater). Perhaps a
misprint for _Catayaner_ = =Cataian,= q.v.
=cater,= a caterer, purveyor, buyer of provisions. Massinger, City
Madam, ii. 1 (Luke); Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 26. ME. _catour_ (Gamelyn,
321), for Anglo-F. _acatour_, a buyer. See Dict.
=cater-tray,= lit. ‘four-three’; alluding to the four and three on
opposite faces of a die. Hence _stop-cater-tray_, the name of a false or
loaded die. Chapman, Mons. d’Olive, iv. 1 (Dique). See =quatre.=
=Catherine pear,= a small and early variety of pear. Suckling, Ballad on
Wedding. _Catherine-pear-coloured_, of a light red colour, used of a
lady’s complexion, Westward Ho, ii. 3 (Birdlime). [Cp. Crabbe, Tales of
the Hall, ‘’Twas not the lighter red, that partly streaks The Catherine
pear that brighten’d o’er her cheeks’ (x. 599).]
=catlings,= catgut strings for a violin. Tr. and Cr. iii. 3. 306.
=catso,= a rogue, a scamp. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, ii. 1
(Carlo); also as interj., ‘Cat-so! let us drink’, Motteux, Rabelais, v.
8 (NED.). Ital. _cazzo_, an interjection of admiration, as some women
cry suddenly (Florio); _cazzo_, ‘membrum virile’.
=catstick,= a stick or bat used in playing tip-cat or trap-ball.
Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 2 (Page); Middleton, Women beware Women,
i. 2 (Ward).
=catzerie,= roguery. Only in Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5. 12.
=cauled,= having or adorned with a caul or close-fitting cap; ‘My cauled
countenance’, Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 327.
ME., P. Plowman, C. xvii. 351.
=causen,= to give reasons. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 26. Med. L. _causare_.
(Ducange).
=cautel=(=e,= wariness, caution. Elyot, Governour, i. 4; a crafty
device, trickery, Hamlet, i. 3. 15. OF. _cautele_, L. _cautela_ (in
Roman Law) precaution. Anglo-F. _cautele_, deceit (Rough List).
=cautelous,= cautious, wary. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 3 (Wit.);
Spenser, View of Ireland (Globe ed. 619); crafty, wily, Coriolanus, iv.
1. 33.
=cavalier=(=o.= Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, ii. 4. 83; iii. 2. 81. Span.
_cavalléro_, ‘in Fortification, a Cavalier, or Mount, which is an
Elevation of Earth with a platform for Canon on it, to overlook other
Works’ (Stevens, 1706); cp. Ital. _cavagliére a cavállo_ (Florio). F.
_cavalier_, ‘se dit d’une pièce de fortification de terre fort élevée, &
où l’on met du canon’ (Dict. de l’Acad., ed. 1762).
=cavallerie,= an order of chivalry; ‘The knighthood and cavallerie of
Rome’, Holland, Pliny, ii. 460; the collective name for horse-soldiers,
Bacon, Hen. VII, 74; Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 3 (Gonzaga). F.
_cavallerie_, ‘horsemanship; horsemen’ (Cotgr.).
=cavell,= a mean fellow. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2217; Lyndesay, Satyre,
2863. See Jamieson.
=caveson,= a strong nose-piece for a horse, a kind of curb; ‘The
Lithuanians, sir, . . . must Be rid with _cavesons_’, Sir J. Suckling,
Brennoralt, iii. 1; ed. Hazlitt, vol. ii, p. 104. F. _caveçon_, ‘a
cavechine or cavasson for a horse’s nose’ (Cotgr.). Ital. _cavezzone_,
augmentative of _cavezza_ a halter; Med. L. _capitia_, _capitium_, a
head-covering (Ducange). See NED. (s.v. _cavesson_).
=cazimi, cazini:= in phr. _in cazimi_, ‘a Planet is in the heart of the
Sunne, or in Cazimi, when he is not removed from him 17 minutes’, Lilly,
Astrology, xix. 113; ‘In cazini of the sun’, Massinger, City Madam, ii.
2 (Stargaze); Tomkis, Albumazar, ii. 5. 6; Selden’s notes to Drayton,
Pol. xiv (near the end).
=cecchin,= a sequin, gold coin. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iv. 2. Ital.
_zecchino_, ‘a coin of gold current in Venice’ (Florio). See =chequin.=
=cedule,= a slip or scroll of parchment or paper containing writing.
Caxton, Golden Legend, 114; spelt _cedle_, Morte Arthur, leaf 421, back,
5, bk. xxi, ch. 2; spelt _sedyl_ (same page). OF. _cedule_; Med. Lat.
_cedula_, _scedula_ (Ducange), dimin. of _sceda_, _scheda_. See NED.
(s.v. Schedule).
=cee,= a small portion of beer; marked in the buttery-book of a college
with the letter _c_, which denoted one-sixteenth of a penny, or half a
_cue_, as being its price. ‘Eate _cues_, drunk _cees_’, 1 Part of
Jeronimo, ii. 3. 9; see Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 367. ‘_Cues_ and _cees_’,
Earle, Microcosmographie, § 16, ed. Arber, p. 38. See =cue.=
=cellar,= a case or stand for holding bottles. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady,
iii. 1 (last line).
=cemitare,= a ‘scimitar’. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 3. F. _cimeterre_
(Cotgr.), Span. _cimitarra_.
=censure,= judgement, opinion, Richard III, ii. 2. 144; to form or give
an opinion, to estimate, ‘How you are censured here in the city’,
Coriolanus, ii. 1. 25.
=cent,= a game at cards; also spelt _saint_, _sant_; it seems to have
resembled piquet. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One; Triumph of Death,
sc. 5 (Gentille); Shirley, Example, iii. 1 (Confident). So called,
because 100 was ‘game’. See Nares.
=centener,= a centurion. North, tr. of Plutarch, Octavius, § 4 (Shak.
Plut., p. 237, n. 2); _centiner_, id. § 3 (p. 235, n. 2). F. _centenier_
(Cotgr.), L. _centenarius_, consisting of a hundred; = centurio
(Vegetius, fl. A.D. 385).
=cento,= a patched garment; ‘His apparel is a cento’, Shirley, Willy
Fair, ii. 2; used _fig._, ‘There is under these centoes and miserable
outsides . . . a soule of the same alloy with our owne’, Sir T. Browne,
Rel. Medici, pt. 2, § 13. L. _cento_, a garment of patchwork.
=centre,= the centre of the earth, which was supposed to be also the
fixed centre of the universe; ‘The firm centre’, Webster, Appius, i. 3
(Mar. Claudius).
=centrinel, centronel,= a sentinel. Young, Diana, 120 (NED.); Marlowe,
Dido, ii. 1. 323 (Venus).
=cerastes,= a horned snake. Milton, P. L. x. 525. Gk. κεράστης.
=ceration,= a reducing to the consistency of wax. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii.
1 (Face). L. _cera_, wax.
=cere,= to cover with wax, to shroud in a cere-cloth; ‘Then was the
bodye . . . embawmed and cered’, Hall, Hen. VIII, ann. 5. L. _cerare_,
to wax; _cera_, wax.
=cere-cloth,= the linen cloth dipped in melted wax to be used as a
shroud. Merch. Ven. ii. 7. 51; cp. _cerements_, Hamlet, i. 4. 48. See
=sear-cloth.=
=certes,= certainly. Temp. iii. 3. 30; Com. Errors, iv. 4. 77. F.
_certes_, truly (Cotgr.), O. Prov. _certas_ (Levy).
=cestron,= a ‘cistern’. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 52.
=cetywall,= see =setwall.=
=ch,= a form of _ich_, _utch_, southern form of the first personal
pronoun _I. Cha_, I have, More, Heresyes, iv (Works, 278); _chad_, I
had, Udall, Roister Doister, i. 3; _cham_, I am, Peele, Sir Clyom.,
Works, iii. 85; B. Jonson, Tale of Tub, i. 1; _chave_, I have, Peele,
Arr. Paris, i. 1 (Pan); _chee_ (for _ich_), I, London Prodigal, ii. 168;
_I chid_, I should, ii. 1. 20; _chill_, I will, King Lear, iv. 6. 239;
_chud_, I would, ib. See NED. and EDD.
=chacon,= a slow Spanish dance, or its tune; ‘_Chacon_: Two Nymphs and
Triton sing’, Dryden, Albion, Act ii (end). F. _chaconne_ (Hatzfeld);
Span. _chacona_ (Neuman and B.).
†=chaflet,= (?) a small platform or stage; ‘He satte vpon a _chaflet_ in
a chayer’ [chair], Morte Arthur, leaf 422, back, 2, bk. xxi, c. 3. Only
in this passage. Probably the same as OF. _chafault_, a temporary
platform. See NED. (s.v. Catafalque), and Dict. (s.v. Scaffold).
=chaldrons,= entrails of a calf, &c. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I. iii. 1
(Fustigo). Spelt _chawdron_, Macbeth, iv. 1. 33. Cp. dialect forms,
_chauldron_, Hertford, _chaudron_, Gloucester, _chawdon_, Leicester, see
EDD. (s.v. Chawdon). OF. _chaudun_, tripes (Roquefort); cp. G.
_kaldaunen_.
=challes,= jaws. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 75; _chall-bones_, jaw-bones;
id. § 86. In common prov. use in England as far south as Bedford, see
EDD. (s.v. Chawl). ME. _chaul_ (Wyclif, 1 Kings xvii. 35); OE. _ceafl_.
=cham,= khan. The _Great Cham_, the Great Khan; commonly applied to the
ruler of the Mongols and Tartars, and to the Emperor of China. Much Ado,
ii. 1. 277; Fletcher, The Chances, v. 3 (Don John). Turki _khān_, lord,
prince. See NED. (s.v. Cham, Khan).
=chamber,= a small cannon used to fire salutes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 57;
Massinger, Renegado, v. 8. See NED. (s.v. Chamber. 10 b).
=chambering,= wanton behaviour in private places. BIBLE, Romans xiii.
13; Beaumont and Fl., Woman’s Prize, ii. 4 (Citizen). Cp. _chamberer_,
one of wanton habits, Othello, iii. 3. 265.
=chamber-lie,= see =lye.=
=chamelot,= a name originally applied to some beautiful and costly
eastern fabric, camlet. _Water Chamelot_, camlet with a wavy or watered
surface. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 45; Holland, Pliny, i. 228; Bacon, New
Atlantis (ed. 1650, p. 3). OF. _chamelot_ (Littré).
=chamfered,= furrowed, wrinkled. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 23. OF.
_chanfraindre_, to chamfer, to furrow, also, to bevel an edge. Possibly
for _chant-fraindre_, which may = Med. L. _cantum frangere_, to break
the edge or side.
=champian, champion,= the champaign, level open country, BIBLE, Deut.
xi. 30; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xii. 29; Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 173; Gosson,
School of Abuse, 29.
=chandry, chandrie,= short for _chandlery_, the place where candles were
kept in a household; ‘Six torches from the chandry’, B. Jonson, Masque
of Augurs (Notch). OF. _chandel_(_l_)_erie_.
=changeling,= a half-witted person. In Middleton’s play ‘The
Changeling’, the reference is to Antonio, who enters ‘disguised as an
idiot’, A. i, sc. 2. _To play the changeling_, to play the fool,
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 1 (Mis. Knavesby). See EDD.
(s.v. Change. 8).
=chank,= to champ, to eat noisily. Golding, Metam. viii. 292 (fol. 97),
viii. 825 (fol. 105, back).
=channel,= the neck. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, 1. 3 (Calyphus). See
=cannel.=
=channel-bone,= the collar-bone, clavicle. Chapman, Iliad, xvii. 266;
Holinshed, Chron. iii. 805; Kyd, Soliman, i. 4. 55. See =cannel.=
=chapine,= a high-heeled shoe. Massinger, Renegado, i. 2 (Donusa);
Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, iii. 5 (last Song). See Stanford (s.v.
Chopine). Span. _chapin_, a woman’s high cork shoes (Minsheu). See
=choppine.=
=char, chare,= car, chariot. Surrey, A Complaint by Night, 4; Sackville,
Induction, st. 7. F. _char_, a chariot (Cotgr.).
=character,= handwriting. Rowley, All’s Lost, ii. 6. 6; Meas. for M. iv.
2. 208. F. _caractere_, a form of writing (Cotgr.).
=chare,= chary, careful. Golding, tr. Ovid, Met. xiv. 336 (ed. 1593);
dear, Golding, Calvin on Deut. xxiii. 134.
=chare, charre,= a turn of work, an odd job or business. Ant. and Cl.
iv. 15. 75; _Chare_, to do a turn of work, esp. in phr. (_This_)
_char_(_re is char’d_, this bit of business is done, Sir Thos. More,
iii. 1. 118; Marriage of Wit and Science, in Hazlitt’s Old Plays, ii.
375; Peele, Edward I (ed. Dyce 392); ‘Here’s two chewres chewred’,
Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, iii. 2 (Bobadilla). See EDD. (s.v. Chare,
sb.^{1}). OE. _cerr_, a turn, ‘temporis spatium’ (B. T.).
=charet=(=t,= a car, chariot. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 32; BIBLE, Exod. xiv.
6; 2 Kings ix. 16; _charettes_, carts, _Gascoigne_, Supposes, ii. 1
(Erostrato). F. _charette_, a chariot (Cotgr.).
=charm,= the blended sound of harmonious notes, as of music, children’s
voices or song-birds. Milton, P. L. iv. 642; Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1
(Pomona); Bunyan, The Holy War (Temple ed., 293); Udall, Erasmus (ed.
1548, Luke ii, fol. xxxii a); _charme_, to make a melodious sound,
Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 13. ‘Charm’ is in gen. prov. use in the midland and
southern counties in the sense of a confused murmuring sound of many
voices, of birds, bees, &c.; see EDD. (s.v. Charm, sb.^{1}). See
=chirm.=
=charm,= to control, to silence, as if by a strong charm. Middleton, A
Fair Quarrel, v. 1 (Russell). Also, to induce to speak, as by a charm,
Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, ii. 1 (Rhetias).
=charneco, charnico,= a species of sweet wine. From a village so called
near Lisbon (Steevens). 2 Hen. VI, ii. 3. 63; _Charnico_, Puritan Widow,
iv. 3. 89; Heywood, Maid of West, iii (Wks. ed. 1874, ii. 301). See
Stanford.
=chartel,= a ‘cartel’, a written challenge. B. Jonson, i. 5 (or 4):
Bobadil. Span. _cartel_, Ital. _cartello_, dimin. of _carta_, paper,
letter.
=chase,= a hunting-ground. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 137; Titus, ii. 3.
255; ‘The chase alwaie open and nothing at all inclosed’, Harrison,
Desc. England, ii. 19 (ed. Furnivall, 310). Anglo-F. _chace_, a
hunting-ground, a chase (Rough List).
=chatillionte,= delightful, amusing. Farquhar, Sir H. Wildair, iv. 2
(Lurewell). F. _chatouillant_, pr. pt. of _chatouiller_, to tickle, to
provoke with delight (Cotgr.).
=chauf,= to chafe, heat, vex. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 18, §
2; _chauffed_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 33. OF. _chaufer_ (F. _chauffer_),
to warm.
=chave,= for _ich have_, I have. Peele, Araygnement of Paris, i. 1
(Pan). See =ch.=
=chawne,= a gap, fissure. Holland, Pliny, i. 37; to gape open, id. i.
435; to cause to gape open, to rive asunder, Marston, Antonio, Pt. I,
iii. 1 (Andrugio); ‘_Crevasser_, to chop, chawn . . . rive’, Cotgrave.
‘Chawn’ is in prov. use in the Midlands for a crack in the ground caused
by dry weather, see EDD. (s.v. Chaum). See =choane.=
=cheasell,= gravel. Turbervile, Epitaph II. on Master Win, st. 5. Cp.
the Chesil Bank (Portland), Chiselhurst, Kent. ME. _chisel_ or gravel,
‘arena, sabulum’ (Prompt. EETS. 82), OE. _ceosel_, _cysel_, gravel.
=cheat,= wheaten bread of the second quality. Chapman, Batrachom., 3;
Drayton, Polyolb. xvi, p. 959; _cheat bread_, Middleton, A Fair Quarrel,
iv. 1 (Chough); Eastward Hoe, v. 1 (Mrs. T.); _cheat loaf_, B. Jonson,
Masque of Augurs, vol. vi, p. 123; Corbet, Poetica Stromata (Nares).
Bread of the first quality was called _manchet_. See NED. (s.v. Cheat,
sb.^{2}).
=cheat= (Thieves’ Cant), used in general sense ‘thing’, gen. preceded by
some descriptive word. _The Cheate_ (= _treyning cheate_), the gallows,
Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 28; _cackling-cheate_, the domestic fowl,
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Prigg); _grunting cheate_, a pig (id.);
_belly-cheat_, an apron, id. ii. 1 (Higgen). See NED. (s.v. Cheat,
sb.^{1} 3). See =backcheat.=
=cheator,= a cheat. Esp. used of one who lived by cheating at dice;
Marston, What you Will, v. 1 (Quadratus).
=check= (in Hawking), a false stoop, when a hawk forsakes her proper
game, and pursues rooks, doves, &c. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 2
(Maria); _to fly at check_, Dryden, Ann. Mirab. st. 86; _check_, base
game, rooks, &c, Drayton, Pol. xx. 217; Turbervile, Falconrie, 110.
=checked,= chequered, variegated. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 18; Greene,
Friar Bacon, i. 1. 83; spelt _chequed_, ‘The chequed, and purple-ringed
daffodillies’, B. Jonson, Pan’s Anniversary (Shepherd).
=checker-approved,= approved by one who checks, a controller. Ford,
Fancies Chaste, i. 2 (Spadone). See NED. (s.v. Checker, sb.^{1} 1).
=checklaton,= a cloth of rich material; ‘A Jacket, quilted richly rare
Upon checklaton’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 43. OF. _chiclaton_, also
_ciclaton_ (Godefroy). The ME. form was _ciclatun_ (_syklatoun_); see
Juliana, 8, and Chaucer, C. T. B. 1924. See NED. (s.v. Ciclatoun).
=chedreux,= a kind of perruque. Etheredge, Man of Mode, iii. 2 (Sir
Fopling); Oldham, tr. of Juvenal, Sat. iii. 191. From the maker’s name.
Also Shaddrew (NED.).
=chequin,= an Italian gold coin, a ‘sequin’. Pericles, iv. 2. 28
(_chickeens_ in ed. 1608); B. Jonson, Volpone, i (last speech but 8 of
Volpone). See Dict. (s.v. Sequin), and Stanford. See =cecchin.=
=cherry,= to cherish, cheer, delight. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 22. F.
_chérir_, to hold dear.
=cherry-pit,= a children’s game, in which cherry-stones were thrown into
a pit or small hole. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 129; Witch of Edmonton, iii. 1
(Cuddy).
=cheve,= to bring to an end, to finish; ‘I cheve, I bring to an ende,
_Je aschieve_’, Palsgrave. OF. _chever_, to finish (NED.).
=cheve, chive,= to befall, happen to. Phr. _foul cheeve him_, ill befall
him, Sir A. Cockain, Obstinate Lady, iii. 2; _foul chive him_, Beaumont
and Fl., Knight of the Burning Pestle, i. 3 (Mrs. Merry Thought).
=cheveril,= kid-leather; used allusively as a type of pliability.
Twelfth Nt. iii. i. 13; B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Tucca). ME.
_cheverel_, ‘ledyr’ (Prompt.), Anglo-F. _cheveril_ (Rough List), deriv.
of OF. _chevre_, a goat.
=chevin, cheven,= the chub. Book of St. Albans, fol. F 7, back; Drayton,
Pol. xxvi. 244; ‘_Chevesne_, a chevin’, Cotgrave. ‘Cheven’ is a Yorks.
word for the chub (EDD.). OF. _chevesne_; see Hatzfeld (s.v. Chevanne).
=chevisaunce,= merchandise, gain (in a bad sense). Coverdale, Deut. xxi.
14. ME. _chevisaunce_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1519). OF. _chevissance_,
‘pactum, transactio, conventio’. Med. L. _chevisantia_ (Ducange).
=chevisaunce= (as used by Spenser and his imitators), enterprise,
achievement, expedition on horseback, chivalry, F. Q. ii. 9. 8.
=che vor:= in phr. _che vor ye_. The meaning seems to be ‘I warrant
you’, King Lear, iv. 6. 246, but the relationship or etymology of the
word _vor_ has not yet been discovered; nothing like it is known to
exist in prov. use. _Che vore ’un_, (?) I warrant him, B. Jonson, Tale
of a Tub, ii. 1 (Hilts). _Cha vore thee_ is found in The Contention
between Liberality and Prodigality, ii. 3 (Tenacity), in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, viii. 345, ‘What will you give me? Cha vore thee, son . . .
Chill give thee a vair piece of three half-pence’. (Here, _cha vore
thee_ may be West dialect for ‘I have for thee.’)
=chewet, chewit,= a chough, _fig._ a chatterer. 1 Hen. IV, v. 1. 29. F.
_chouette_, a chough, jackdaw (Cotgr.).
=chewet,= a dish of meat or fish, chopped fine and mixed with spices and
fruits. Middleton, The Witch, ii. 1 (Francisca).
=chewre,= a turn of work; see =chare.=
=Cheyney;= see =Philip.=
=chiarlatan,= a mountebank or Cheap Jack who descants volubly to a
_crowd_. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 971; _ciarlitani_, pl., B. Jonson,
Volpone, ii. 1 (Volpone, Speech, 3). Ital. _ciarlatano_, a babbler,
mountebank, fr. _ciarlare_, to babble; whence F. _charlatan_, ‘a
pratling quack-salver’ (Cotgr.).
=chiaus=(=e,= a Turkish messenger, sergeant, or lictor. Massinger,
Renegado, iii. 4; B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 2. 25. Turkish _chāush_.
=chiause, chouse,= one easily cheated, a dupe, gull. Newcastle, The
Variety, in Dramatis Personae (‘A country Chiause’). [Cp. Johnson’s
Dict., A _chouse_, a man fit to be cheated.]
=chiause, chowse,= _v._, to chouse, to cheat. ‘Chiaus’d by a scholar!’,
Shirley, Honoria, ii. 3 (Conquest); ‘And sows of sucking-pigs are
_chowsed_’, Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 114, also l. 1010.
=chibbal,= a young onion with the green stalk attached, Fletcher,
Bonduca, i. 2 (Petillius); _chibal_, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (2
Gipsy). ‘Chibbal’ (‘chibble’) is in gen. prov. use in the Midlands and
south-west country, see EDD. (s.v. Chibbole). ME. _chibolle_ (P.
Plowman, B. vi. 296). OF. (Picard) _chibole_ (F. _ciboule_); L.
_cepulla_, dimin. of _cepa_, onion.
=chibrit,= sulphur. B. Jonson, Alchem., ii. 1 (Surly). Also spelt
_kibrit_ (NED.). Arab. _kibrīt_, sulphur; cp. Heb. _gophrīth_, Aramaic,
_kubrīth_.
=chiches,= chick-peas. B. Jonson, tr. of Horace, Art of Poetry (L.
_ciceris_, l. 249); spelt _chittes_, Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helthe, iv.
10; Udall, Apoph., Diogenes, 47. F. _chiches_, ‘sheeps-cich-peason,
chiches’ (Cotgr.); OF. _chiche_ (Roman. Rose, 6911).
=chiefrie,= the payment of rent or dues to an Irish chief. Spenser, View
of Ireland (Globe ed., p. 663).
=chievance,= raising of money. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 64). F.
‘_chevance_, wealth, substance, riches’ (Cotgr.).
=child:= phr. _to be with child_, used _fig._, to be full of
expectation. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 3 (King); also, to long
after, desire vehemently, id., Honest Wh., Pt. I, iii. 1 (Viola).
=Child Rowland,= a young knight; with reference to a scrap of an old
ballad. King Lear, iii. 4. 187; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 1. 16.
=chilis,= a large vein. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 2. 4 (where it is
equated to _vena cava_). Dyce’s note says—‘Out of the gibbosyte . . .
of the liuer there issueth a veyne called _concava_ or _chilis_’,
Traheron, Vigo’s Workes of Chirurgerie, 1571, fol. ix. Gk. φλὲψ κοίλη,
_vena cava_.
=chill;= as in _I chill_, for _Ich ’ill_, I will. ‘Tell you I _chyll_’,
Skelton, El. Rummyng, 1. See =ch.=
=china-house,= a china-shop. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 2 (Subtle).
=chinchard,= a niggard, miser. Spelt _chyncherde_, Skelton,
Magnyfycence, 2517. ME. _chinche_, a niggard (Chaucer, C. T. B. 2793);
Norm. F. _chinche_, ‘mesquin avare’ (Moisy).
=chinclout,= a muffler covering the lower part of the face. Middleton, A
Mad World, iii. 3 (Follywit). Cp. _muffler_ in Merry Wives, iv. 2. 73.
=chine,= to divide or break the back of. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 13.
Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, iii. 3. 6; ‘_Eschiner_
(_échiner_), to chine, to break the back of’, Cotgrave. In everyday use
in Suffolk (EDD.).
=chink,= a bed-bug. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1 (Hostess). Also
spelt _chinch_. Span. _chinche_, a bug; L. _cimex_.
=chink,= a piece of money. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 503.
=chire,= a slender blade of grass, a sprout. Spelt _chyer_, Drayton,
Harmony, Song Solomon, ch. ii, l. 3. ME. _chire_, ‘genimen’ (Cath.
Angl.).
=chirm,= a confused noise, the mingled din or noise of many birds or
voices. Spelt _chyrme_, Mirror for Mag., Glocester, st. 5; _churm_,
Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 170). See =charm.=
=chirr,= to chirp like a grasshopper; ‘The chirring grasshopper’,
Herrick, Oberon’s Feast, 16.
=chitterling,= a frill, ruff; esp. the frill down the breast of a shirt.
Like Will to Like, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 310; Gascoigne, Delic Diet
Droonkardes (NED.). For examples of prov. use see EDD. (s.v. 4).
=chitterlings,= the smaller intestines of the pig, &c., esp. when fried
or boiled. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iii. 1 (Fustigo); Butler,
Hudibras, i. 2. 120. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
=chitty-face,= one who has a thin pinched face; used as a term of
contempt; ‘You half-fac’d groat, you thin-cheek’d chitty-face’, Munday,
Downfall of E. of Huntingdon, v. 1 (Jailer), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii.
188; Massinger, Virgin Martyr, i. 2 (Spungius); ‘Chittiface,
_puellulus_, _improbulus_’, Coles, Dict. (1679); ‘A chittiface, proprie
est facies parva et exigua’, Minsheu, Ductor (1617). OF. _chiche-face_
(_chiche-fache_), lean face (Godefroy). The word occurs in Rabelais, i.
183 (ed. Jaunet). From this word comes the perverted form _chichevache_
(Chaucer, C. T. E. 1188), the name of a fabulous monster said to feed on
patient wives.
=chival,= a horse; ‘Upon the captive chivals’ (in captivis equis),
Turbervile, Ovid’s Ep., 148 b; Mucedorus, Induction, 29, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, vii. 204; but here _chival_ may be for _’chieval_, _achieval_,
achievement.
=chive, cive,= a small kind of onion or garlic; ‘_Escurs_, the little
sallad herb called _Cives_ or _Chives_’, Cotgrave. F. _cive_ (North F.
_chive_), onion; L. _cepa_, onion.
=chive;= see =cheve.=
=choane,= a cleft, rift, fissure; ‘_Fendasse_, a cleft, choane’,
Cotgrave. See =chawne.=
=choke-pear,= a rough, harsh pear; also, something impossible to swallow
or get over. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 321); Mydas, iv. 3 (end).
=choplogic,= a contentious, sophistical arguer. Awdelay, Fratern. of
Vacabondes, p. 15. Shortened to _choploge_; ‘Choploges or greate
pratlers’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Antigonus, § 27; Roister Doister, iii.
2 (Merygreek).
=choppine,= a kind of shoe raised above the ground by means of a cork
sole or the like. Hamlet, ii. 2. 445; ‘_Pianelloni_, great pattins or
choppins’, Florio; ‘Corke shooes, chopines’, Marston, Dutch Courtezan,
iii. 1 (Tissefew). See Stanford (s.v. Chopine). See =chapine.=
=chreokopia,= a cancelling of debts, or of a part of a debt. Massinger,
Old Law, i. 1 (2 Lawyer). Gk. χρεωκοπία, a cutting off of debt.
=Christ-cross, Chriss-cross, Crisscross,= a cross (✠) placed at the
beginning of the alphabet in a horn-book. Hence, _Christcross-row_, the
alphabet, Two Angry Women, v. 1 (Mall); shortened to _cross-row_,
Richard III, i. 1. 55. A similar cross was sometimes used (instead of
XII) to mark noon on a clock or dial; hence ‘the Chrisse-crosse of
Noone’, Puritan Widow, iv. 2. 85; see Nares.
=Christ-tide,= Christmas. A term for Christmas, used by Puritans, to
avoid the use of the word _mass_. B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Ananias)
See NED.
=chrysopoeia,= the making of gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle).
Gk. χρυσοποιία.
=chrysosperm,= seed of gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). Gk.
χρυσός, gold + σπέρμα, seed.
=chuck,= darling; a term of endearment. Hen. V, iii. 2. 20; Macbeth,
iii. 2. 45; ‘His _chuck_, that is, his wife’, Earle, Microcosmographie,
§ 68 (ed. Arber, p. 94). See EDD. (s.v. Chuck, sb.^{1} 4).
=chuff,= a rustic, a clown. Generally applied opprobriously to any
person disliked, esp. a rude coarse fellow. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 93; a
churlish miser, Nashe, P. Pennilesse (NED.); Massinger, Duke of Milan,
iii. 1 (Medina). In prov. use in the sense of surly, ill-tempered, see
EDD. (s.v. Chuff, adj.^{1} 1). ME. _choffe_ or _chuffe_, ‘rusticus’
(Prompt.).
=church-book,= (1) the Bible; (2) the parish register. Both senses are
quibbled upon; Massinger, Old Law, i. 1 (1 Lawyer).
=ciarlitani;= see =chiarlatan.=
=cibation,= a process in alchemy; lit. ‘a feeding’. B. Jonson, Alchem.
i. 1 (Dol). From L. _cibus_, food.
=cinoper,= ‘cinnabar’. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle). Cp. MHG.
_zinober_.
=cinque-pace,= a kind of lively dance. Much Ado, ii. 1. 77. F. _cinq
pas_, lit. five paces; Littré gives _cinq pas et trois visages_ (five
paces, three faces) as the name of an old French dance.
=cioppino,= a ‘chopine’. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Hedon). See
=choppine.=
=circling:= phr. _a circling boy_, i.e. a kind of _roarer_, one who
circumvented and cheated his dupes. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 2
(Edgworth). See Nares.
=circular,= going round-about, indirect. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, ii.
2 (Physician).
=circumstance,= detailed and circuitous narration; details, particulars;
‘Without circumstance’, i.e. without further details, Romeo, v. 3. 181;
ceremony, formality, ‘Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war’,
Othello, iii. 3. 355.
=citronise,= to bring to the colour of citron; a process in alchemy. B.
Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Subtle).
=cittern-headed,= ugly; because the head of the cittern (a kind of
guitar) was often grotesquely carved to resemble a human head. Ford,
Fancies Chaste, i. 2 (Spadone). The citterns were mostly found in
barbers’ shops.
†=city-wires= (?); ‘His cates . . . Be fit for ladies: some for lords,
knights, ’squires; Some for your waiting-wench, and city-wires’, B.
Jonson, Epicoene (Prologue).
=civil,= sober, grave, not gay; said of colour. Romeo, iii. 2. 10;
Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iii. 2 (Maria); ‘civil-suited Morn’, Milton, Il
Pens., 122.
=clack-dish,= a wooden dish with a lid, carried and clacked by beggars
as an appeal for contributions. Middleton, Family of Love, iv. 2
(Gerardine). See =clapdish.=
=clad,= to clothe. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 4; Peele, Poems, ed. Dyce p.
602.
=cladder,= a man of loose and vicious manners. (Cant.) ‘_Cladders_? Yes,
catholic lovers’, Mayne, City Match, ii. 3 (Bright and Aurelia).
=clair-voyant,= clear-sighted, having good insight. _Clara voyant_,
Buckingham, The Rehearsal, iii. 1 (end).
=clamper up,= to gather up together hastily. Ascham, Toxophilus, (ed.
Arber, 83). [Sir W. Scott uses the expression ‘to _clamper up_ a story’,
in a letter to Joanna Baillie (Feb. 10, 1822).]
=clap,= a sudden stroke of misfortune; a touch of disrepute. B. Jonson,
Alchem. iv. 4. 3; _to catch a clap_, to meet with a mischance, Heywood,
Wise Woman of Hogsdon, iii. 1 (Wise Woman).
=clapdish,= a wooden dish for alms with a cover that shut with a
clapping noise, used by lepers and other mendicants. Massinger, Parl. of
Love, ii. 2 (Leonora); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 1 (Matheo). See
=clack-dish.=
=clapper,= a rabbit-burrow. Tusser, Husbandry, § 36. 25; ‘As a cony
. . . in his _claper_’, Fabyan, Chron. pt. vii, an. 1294-5 (p. 395).
‘_Clapier_, a clapper of conies’, Cotgrave. A Dorset word for a
rabbit-hole (EDD.). O. Prov. _clapier_, ‘garenne privée’ (Levy).
=clapperclaw,= to beat, to maul. Merry Wives, ii. 3. 67; Tr. and Cr. v.
4. 1. In prov. use in various parts of England, and in Scotland (EDD.).
=clapperdudgeon,= a cant name for a beggar; a term of reproach. B.
Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (P. sen.); Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. i.
4; Greene, George-a-Greene (l. 909), ed. Dyce, p. 265, col. 1; Harman,
Caveat, p. 44. Cp. _clapper_, the lid of a beggar’s clap-dish; _dudgeon_
was the name of a kind of wood for making handles of knives, &c.
=clarissimo,= a grandee. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2. 6. A Span.
word, lit. most illustrious.
=clary, clare,= a pot-herb, the _Salvia Sclarea_, supposed to be good
for the eyes, and so by pop. etym. often spelt _Cleare-eie_,
_Clear-eye_; ‘Spirits of clare to bathe our temples in’, Davenant, The
Wits, v (Thwack); spelt _clary_, ‘Clary quasi Clear Eye’, W. Coles, Adam
in Eden, xxiii. 47. See NED. (s.v. Clary, sb.^{2}).
=clary,= a sweet liquor made of wine, clarified honey, and spices.
Congreve, Way of World, iv. 5 (Mirabell); Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, iii.
1 (Lord Rake). ME. _clarree_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1471). OF. _claré_, that
which is cleared or clarified, see NED. (s.v. Clary, sb.^{1}).
=classhe.= See =closh.=
=claw,= to stroke; hence, to flatter. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 186; Marston,
Antonio, Pt. II, i. 1 (Piero); Much Ado, i. 3. 18. Phr. _claw me, I’ll
claw thee_, ‘We saye, clawe me, clawe thee’, Tyndal, Expos. John (ed.
1537, 72), see NED.; _to claw the back_, to flatter, Hall, Sat. i. prol.
11. ‘Claw’ means to flatter in Leic. and Warw., see EDD. (s.v. Claw, vb.
7).
=clawback,= one who strokes the back; a flatterer; ‘These flattering
clawbackes’, Latimer, 2 Sermon bef. King, p. 64; Mirror for Mag., Iago,
st. 6; ‘_Blandisseur_, a flattering sycophant or clawback’, Cotgrave. So
in north Yorks. and Leic., see EDD. (s.v. Claw, vb. 10 (b)).
=clear,= very drunk. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iv. 1 (Belfond
Senior).
=cleave the pin;= see =pin.=
=cleaze;= see =clee.=
=clee,= a claw; ‘_Pied d’un cancre_, the clee or claw of a crab’,
Cotgrave; ‘The clee of a bittor’, Turbervile, Falconrie, 349; _cleaze_
pl., Phaer, tr. Aeneid, viii. 209; Studley, Seneca’s Hercules, 206 b
(NED.). See EDD. (s.v. Clee). ME. _cle_, ‘ungula’ (Cath. Angl.). OE.
_clēa_. Cp. =cleye.=
=cleeves,= cliffs; ‘Dover’s neighbouring cleeves’, Drayton, Pol. xviii;
Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1. 62. ME. _clefe_ of an hyll, ‘declivum’
(Prompt.). Due to OE. _cleofu_, the plural form, or to _cleofe_, the
dat. of _clif_. ‘Cleeve’ is very common in place-names in the west of
England: Cleeve (Clyffe Pypard) in Wilts.; Church Cleves in Dorset; Old
Cleeve, Huish Cleeve, Bitter Cleeve in Somerset.
=clem,= to starve for want of food. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour,
iii. 1 (Shift); Poetaster, i. 1 (Tucca). To ‘clem’ (or to ‘clam’) is the
ordinary word for starving in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Clam, vb.^{2} 1). The lit. meaning of _clam_ (_clem_) is ‘to pinch’,
still used in this sense in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Clam,
vb.^{1} 1. Cp. Dan. _klemme_, Sw. _klämma_, to pinch.
=clench, clinch,= a pun. Dryden, Mac Flecknoe, 83; Prologue to Tr. and
Cr. (1679), 27.
=clenchpoop,= a lout, a clown; a term of contempt. Warner, Albion’s
England; bk. vi, ch. xxxi, st. 22; _clinchpoop_, or _clenchpoop_, Three
Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 256.
=clepe,= to call. L. L. L. v. 1. 24; Hamlet, i. 4. 19. The pp. is spelt
_cleeped_ in Chapman, Gent. Usher, ii. 1 (Pogio); the usual form is the
archaic _y-clept_, spelt _y-clep’d_ in Milton, L’Allegro, 12. OE.
_clipian_, _cleopian_, to call; pp. _ge-cleopod_.
=clergion,= a young songster, _fig._ of birds. Surrey, Description
Restless State, 22; Poems, 72; in Tottel’s Misc. 231. ME. _clergeon_, a
chorister (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1693). F. _clergeon_.
=clergy,= clerkly skill, learning. Proverb, ‘An Ounce of Mother-Wit is
worth a Pound of Clergy (or Book-learning)’, see NED.; Middleton, Family
of Love, iii. 3 (Purge). The privilege of exemption from sentence which
might be pleaded by every one who could read; ‘Stand to your clergy,
uncle, save your life’, Munday, Death Huntington, i. 3, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, viii. 244. _Clergy of belly_, respite claimed by a pregnant
woman. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 1. 884. ME. _clergy_: ‘Lewdnesse of
clergy, _illiteratura_’ (Prompt. EETS., 261).
=cleye,= a claw. Marlowe, tr. Lucan, bk. i, l. 36 from end; B. Jonson,
Underwoods, Eupheme, ix. 18; ‘The cleyes of a lobster’, Skinner (1671).
‘Cley’ is an E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Clee). ME. _cley_ of a
beast, ‘ungula’ (Prompt. EETS., 85, see note, no. 383). Cp. =clee.=
=clicket,= to be _maris appetens_, to copulate. Massinger, Picture, iii.
4 (Eubulus); Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, ii. 4 (Leontius);
Tusser, Husbandry, § 77. 9. As a hunting term, it had reference to the
fox and the wolf; see Turbervile, Hunting, c. 66, p. 186; c. 75, p. 205.
=cliffe,= a clef, key, in music. Tr. and Cr. v. 2. 11; Gascoigne, Steel
Glas, 1. 159. F. _clef_.
=clift,= a cliff. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 79; p. 90, col. 1; _clifte_,
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 23. The E. Anglian form (EDD.).
=clighte;= see =clitch.=
=Clim of the Clough,= a proverbially famous archer. Clement of the Glen,
in the ballad of Adam Bell. Gascoigne, Flowers, ed. Hazlitt, i. 72; B.
Jonson, Alchemist, i (Face). _Clem a Clough_, Drayton, Pastorals, vi.
36.
=clinch;= see =clench.=
=cling,= to cause to shrink, shrivel; ‘Till famine cling thee’, Macbeth,
v. 5. 40. Cp. prov. use in Ireland and in the north of England, where
the word means to wither, contract, also, of cattle, to become thin from
want of proper food, see EDD. (s.v. Cling, vb.^{1} 4). ME. _clyngyn_, to
shrink, to shrivel (Prompt.). OE. _clingan_, ‘marcere’ (Ælfric).
=clip,= to embrace. Wint. Tale, v. 2. 59; Coriolanus, i. 6. 29; iv. 5.
115. Still in use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME. _clippen_
(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. lii. 1344). OE. _clyppan_.
=clip,= to go fast, to run swiftly. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 86. A Suffolk
use; see EDD. (s.v. Clip, vb.^{2} 11).
=clipped,= uttered aloud; ‘Thy clipped name’, Middleton, The Witch, ii.
2 (near the end). See =clepe.=
=clips, clyps,= ‘eclipse’. Berners, tr. of Froissart, ch. 130. Common in
the north (EDD.). ME. _Clypps_ of þe son or þe mone, ‘eclipsis’
(Prompt.).
=clitch,= to bend, clench (the fist). Hellowes, Guevara’s Fam. Ep. 145
(NED.); _clighte_, pp., Bossewell, Armorie, ii. 119^{b}. Cp. the west
country _clitch_, to grasp tightly (EDD.). OE. _clycchan_, pp.
_geclyht_.
=clogdogdo,= a term of contempt. B. Jonson, Silent Woman, iv. 1 (Otter).
A nonce-word.
=close fight,= a sea term; a kind of screen used in a naval engagement.
Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). See =fights.=
=closh, clash,= the name of an old game, played with a ball or bowl.
Spelt _claisshe_, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 27, § 8. See
Cowell’s Interpreter and Strutt’s Sports. _Closh_ was orig. the name of
the bowl. Du. _klos_, a wooden Boule (Hexham).
=closure,= bound, limit, circuit. Richard III, iii. 3. 11; an
entrenchment, fortress, Greene, Looking Glasse (ed. 1861, p. 123);
Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii. 296. OF. _closure_, confine, limits (Dialoge
Greg., 74); Late L. _clausura_, a castle, fort (Justinian).
=clote,= the yellow water-lily; _Nuphar lutea_. Fletcher, Faithful
Shepherdess, ii. 2. 12. Still in use in the south-west of England, see
EDD. (s.v. Clote, (1)). OE. _clāte_, which was the name of various
plants resembling the burdock, see NED.
=clottered,= clotted. Mirror for Mag., Buckingham, st. 14; _‘Congrée_,
congealed, clottered’, Cotgrave. Du. _kloteren_, or _klonteren_, ‘to
curdle or growe thick as milke doth’ (Hexham). See =cluttered.=
=clout,= a piece of cloth or linen, a rag. Hamlet, ii. 2. 537; Richard
III, i. 3. 177; hence, _clouted_, patched, BIBLE, Joshua ix. 5. In prov.
use, esp. in the north, see EDD. (s.v. Clout, sb.^{1} 3).
=clout,= a square piece of canvas, which formed the mark to be aimed at,
at the archery butts, L. L. L. iv. 1. 138; 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 52.
=clout,= to cuff heavily, BIBLE, 2 Sam. xxii. 39; _clouted_, pp. hit,
Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, iii. 7. 1. In gen. vulgar use, see
EDD. (s.v. Clout, vb.^{2} 1).
=clouted;= of cream: clotted, by scalding milk. Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
Nov., 99; Borde, Dyetarie, 267. A Devon word (EDD.).
=clowre,= grassy surface, turf. In pl. _clowres_; Golding, Metam. iv.
301. (L. _cespite_); viii. 756 (L. _terram_). ME. _clowre_, grassy
ground (Lydgate).
=cloy,= to prick a horse with a nail in shoeing; ‘I cloye a horse, I
drive a nayle in to the quycke of his foote, _jencloue_’, Palsgrave; to
pierce as with a nail, to gore, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 48; to spike a
gun, Beaumont and Fl., The False One, v. 4 (Photinus). OF. _cloyer_ (F.
_clouer_), to nail, deriv. of OF. _clo_ (F. _clou_), a nail.
=cloyer,= a pick-pocket’s accomplice. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl,
v. 1 (Moll). See Nares.
=cloyne,= a clown, rustic. Mirror for Mag., Rivers, st. 44. The word
_clown_ (_cloyne_) was a late introduction from some Low German source,
originally meaning ‘clod, lump’, see NED.
=cloyne, cloine,= to act deceitfully or fraudulently. Bale, Sel. Wks.
(ed. 1849, p. 170 (NED.)); to take furtively, to steal away, Phaer, tr.
Aeneid, vi. 524; vii. 364. Probably the same word as OF. _cluigner_,
_clugner_, _cluyner_ (F. _cligner_), to wink, often as the expression of
secret understanding, cunning, or hypocrisy. See NED.
=club,= a country fellow; ‘Homely and playn clubbes of the countrey’,
Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 14; ‘Hertfordshire clubs and clouted
shoon’, Ray, Eng. Proverbs, 310. Cp. ME. _clubbyd_, ‘rudis’ (Prompt.).
=clubfist,= a thick-fisted ruffian. Mirror for Magistrates, Sabrine, st.
10.
=clubs!= A popular cry to call out the London apprentices, who had clubs
for their weapons; also, a cry to call out citizens; as in Romeo, i. 1.
80. There are frequent allusions to this cry; ‘Cry _clubs_ for
prentices’, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 2 (All).
=clunch,= a clodhopper; ‘_Casois_, a countrey clown, boore, clunch,
hinde’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Cumberland, Lancashire, and E. Yorks.
(EDD.). See NED.
=clunch,= to clench; ‘His fist is clunched’, Earle, Microcosmographie, §
20; ed. Arber, p. 41.
=clunged,= drawn together by the action of cold; ‘By the Northern winds
. . . clunged and congealed withall’, Holland, Pliny, i. 513; ‘The Earth
made clunged with the cold of winter’, B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb.
(NED.).
=cluttered,= clotted. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, i. 2 (Alberto);
‘_Engrommelé_, clotted, cluttered, curded thick’, Cotgrave. In prov. use
in Cheshire and Shropshire (EDD.). See =clottered.=
=cly= (thieves’ cant), to seize, take; to steal (NED.). Phr. _to cly the
Jerk_, to be whipped, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman);
Harman, Caveat, p. 84. In Lower Rhenish dialect _klauen_ (_kläuen_,
_kleuen_) is used in the sense of ‘steal’. See NED.
=coals:= phr. _to carry coals_, to be very servile, to submit to
insults. Romeo, i. 1. 2. See =colcarrier.=
=coal-sleck,= coal-dust. Drayton, Pol. iii. 280. Cp. prov. E. _sleck_,
slack, small coal.
=coart,= to confine, restrain; ‘Streatly coarted’, Skelton, Why come ye
not, 438; Sir T. Elyot, Governour, i. 138. L. _co-arctare_, to compress,
from _arctus_, close.
=coast, cost=(=e,= the side. Spenser, M. Hubberd, 294; the border,
frontier of a country, BIBLE, Mark vii. 31; Judges i. 18; phr. _on even
coast_, on even terms, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 17. OF. _coste_ (F.
_côte_).
=coast,= to keep by the side of a person moving. Fletcher and Rowley,
Maid Mill, i. 1; to march on the flank of, Berners, Froissart, i. 40.
55; to move in a roundabout course, _fig._ Hen. VIII, iii. 2. 38; to
skirt, Milton, P. L. iv. 782; spelt _cost_, to approach, Spenser,
Daphnaida, st. 6; Venus and Adonis, 870.
=coat;= see =cote.=
=coat-card,= a playing card bearing a ‘coated’ figure (king, queen, or
knave). In regular use till the Revolution, 1688; afterwards perverted
into _Court-card_. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Madrigal). Also,
_coat_, Massinger, Old Law, iii. 1 (Cook); B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1.
=coath,= to faint, to swoon away. Skinner, 1671 (a Lincoln word); ‘To
coath (swoon away), _Animo linqui, deficere_’, Coles, 1679. ‘Coath’ is
still used in this sense in E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _cothe_, or swownyng,
‘sincopa’ (Prompt.). OE. _coðu_, disease; cp. _coe_, a word for a
disease of sheep, cattle in W. Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Coe, sb.^{1} 1).
See =quoth.=
=cob,= the head of a red herring. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II. (Wks.,
1873, ii. 147); ‘A herring cob, _la teste d’un harang sor_’, Sherwood.
=cob, cobbe,= a wealthy man; a miser; ‘Ryche cobbes’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Diogenes, § 149; Stubbes, Anat. Abuses, ii. 27 (NED.).
=cobbe,= a male swan; ‘The hee swanne is called the cobbe, and the
she-swanne the penne’, Best, Farm. Bks. (ed. 1856, p. 122). Hence
_cob-swan_, B. Jonson, Catiline, ii. 1 (Fulvia). ‘Cob’ is still in use
in Norfolk (EDD.).
=cockal=(=l,= a knucklebone of a sheep, with which boys played
‘knucklebones’. Herrick, The Temple, 59; the game played, Cotgrave (s.v.
_Tales_). See Nares.
=cockall,= a paragon, a pattern, of supreme excellence; ‘He was the very
cockall of a husband’, Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2. 6.
=cockatrice,= a name for the basilisk, a serpent supposed to kill by its
mere glance, and to be hatched from a cock’s egg. BIBLE, Isaiah lix. 5;
Romeo, iii. 2. 47; applied to a woman of loose life, B. Jonson,
Cynthia’s Rev. iv. 1; Killigrew’s Pandora (Nares). Orig. a name for the
crocodile. OF. _caucatris_ (_cocatris_), crocodile; Med. L.
_caucatrices_, ‘crocodili’ (Ducange); cp. O. Prov. _calcatris_,
crocodile (Levy). See NED.
=cock-a-two,= cock of two, a cock that has conquered two, a conqueror of
two. Little French Lawyer, ii. 3 (La Writ). See Nares.
=cockers,= leggings, gaiters. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. iv; Ballad of
Dowsabel, l. 59. In prov. use from the north country to the W. Midlands
and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _cokeres_ (P. Plowman, C. Text, ix. 59).
Probably the same word as OE. _cocor_, a quiver.
=cocket,= a ship’s certificate that goods for export had paid duty.
Gascoigne, Steel Glas, ll. 258, 1058. Anglo-F. _cokette_, app. the seal
with which the certificate was assured (Rough List).
=cocket,= pert, saucy, stuck up. Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, ii. 5 (song);
Coles Dict. 1677. In prov. use from north country to the W. Midlands,
meaning ‘pert, saucy’, also, ‘brisk, merry, lively’ (EDD.).
=cockledemois,= pl. (perhaps) a natural product of some kind
representing money. Chapman, Mask of the Middle Temple, § 2. (Not found
elsewhere, except as Cockledemoy, the name of a knave in Marston’s Dutch
Courtezan). Dr. H. Bradley suggests that this word may represent Port.
_coquílho de moeda_; _coquílho_, fruit of an Indian palm; _moeda_,
money.
=cockloche,= a term of reproach or contempt, a mean fellow, a silly
coxcomb. Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 2 (Clare); spelt _cocoloch_,
Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Triumph of Honour, sc. 1
(Nicodemus). F. _coqueluche_, a hood, also a person who is all the
vogue. See Dict. de l’Acad. (1762).
=Cock Lorel,= the name of the owner and captain of the boat containing
jovial reprobates of all trades in a sarcastic poem, Cocke Lorelles
Bote, printed _c._ 1515; used also allusively with the sense of ‘rogue’;
‘Here is fyrst, Cocke Lorell the Knyght’ (ed. 1843, p. 4); ‘Cock-Lorrell
would needs have the Devill his guest’, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metam.
(Song). See =Lorel.=
=cockney,= (1) a cockered child, a child tenderly brought up, hence (2)
a squeamish, foppish, effeminate fellow. (1) Tusser, Husbandry, 183;
Baret, Alvearie, C. 729; (2) Twelfth Nt. iv. 1. 15; a squeamish woman,
King Lear, ii. 4. 123. ME. _cokenay_, an effeminate person (Chaucer, C.
T. A. 4208); _coknay_, ‘delicius’ (Prompt.).
=cockqueene;= the same as =cuckquean.=
=cockshut time,= twilight. Richard III, v. 3. 70. The twilight, or dim
light in which woodcocks could most easily be caught in _cockshuts_. A
_cockshut_, or _cockshoot_, was a broadway or glade in a wood, through
which woodcocks might dart or _shoot_, and in which they might be caught
with nets; see EDD. ‘A fine _cock-shoot_ evening’, Middleton, The Widow,
iii. 1. 6; cp. Arden of Feversham, iii. 2. 47.
=cocksure,= absolutely secure. Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Court, 279;
Conflict of Conscience, iii. 3. 1 (in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 67); with
absolute security, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 94.
=cocoloch;= see =cockloche.=
=cocted,= boiled. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 15. L. _coctus_, pp.
of _coquere_, to cook.
=cod,= a bag, Lyly, Mydas, iv. 2 (Corin); a civet-bag, musk-bag, B.
Jonson, Epigrams, xix; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 2 (Livia). OE.
_codd_, a bag.
=coddle,= to parboil, to stew; ‘To codle, _coctillo_’, Coles, Dict.
1679; ‘I’ll have you coddled’ (alluding to ‘Prince Pippin’), Beaumont
and Fl., Philaster, v. 4. 31. See Dict. In prov. use in various parts of
England, see EDD. (s.v. Coddle, vb.^{3} 1).
=codes!, coads-nigs!, cuds me!,= ejaculations of surprise, no doubt
orig. profane. _Codes! Codes!_, Beaumont and Fl., Maid’s Tragedy, i. 2
(Diagoras). _Coads-nigs!,_ Middleton, Trick to Catch, ii. 1 (Freedom);
_Cuds me_, ib. (Lucre).
=cod’s-head,= a stupid fellow, a blockhead. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II,
v. 2 (Cat. Bountinall). In prov. use in Derbysh. (EDD.).
=coffin,= pie-crust, raised crust of a pie. B. Jonson, Staple of News,
ii. 1 (Pennyboy sen.); Titus And. v. 2. 189. So in prov. use in
Lincolnsh. and Hertfordsh., see EDD. (s.v. Coffin, 5).
=coft=(=e,= _pp._ bought. Mirror for Magistrates, Clarence, st. 49;
Dalrymple, Leslie’s Hist. Scotland (NED.). M. Dutch _coft_(_e_, pret.,
and _gecoft_ (mod. _gecocht_), pp. of _copen_, to buy (Verdam); cp. G.
_kaufen_.
=cog,= to cheat, deceive, Much Ado, v. 1. 95; to employ feigned
flattery, to fawn. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 76; Richard III, i. 3. 48. Still
in use in Sussex, see EDD. (s.v. Cog, vb.^{4} 2).
=cogge,= a kind of ship; chiefly, a ship for transport. Morte Arthur,
leaf 82, back, 30; bk. v, c. 3; _cogg_, a cock-boat, Fairfax, tr. of
Tasso, xiv. 58. OF. _cogue_ (Godefroy).
=coggle,= _to coggle in_, to flatter continually. Jacob and Esau, ii. 3
(Mido). See =cog.=
=cohobation,= a process in alchemy; a repeated distillation. B. Jonson,
Alchem. ii. 1 (Face). See NED.
=coil, coyle,= to beat, thrash; ‘I shall coil them’, Jacob and Esau, v.
4 (near the end); Roister Doister, iii. 3, l. 7 from end; ‘I coyle ones
kote, I beate hym, _je bastonne_,’ Palsgrave. Hence _coiling_, a
beating, Udall, tr. Apoph., Socrates, § 15. ‘Coil’ has still this
meaning in Northumberland, see EDD. (s.v. Coil, vb.^{3}).
=Cointree,= Coventry. _Cointree blue_, Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. 4;
Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 63.
†=coistered;= ‘There were those at that time who, to try the strength of
a man’s back and his arm, would be coister’d’, Marston, Malcontent, v.
1. 10. Meaning unknown.
=coistril,= used as a term of contempt, a low varlet; spelt _coystrill_
Twelfth Nt. i. 3. 43; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2. 137
(Downright). Cp. _coistrel_, in use in the north country in the sense of
a raw, inexperienced lad (EDD.); ‘A coistrel, _adolescentulus_’, Coles
Dict. 1679.
=cokes,= a simpleton, dupe. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous);
Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Pug); spelt _cox_, Beaumont and Fl., Wit at sev.
Weapons, iii. 1 (Oldcraft).
=cokes,= to coax. Puttenham, E. Poesie, bk. i, c. 8; p. 36.
=colberteen,= a kind of open lace, like network. Congreve, Way of the
World, v. 1 (Lady Wishfort); Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa, 418. Named from
‘Colbert, Superintendent of the French King’s Manufactures’ (Fop’s Dict.
1690). See NED.
=colcarrier, colecarier,= a coal-carrier, a low dependant, cringing
sycophant; lit. one who will carry coals for another. Golding, tr. of
Ovid, The Epistle, p. 2, l. 86. See =coals.=
=Cold-harbour, Cole-arbour,= an old building in Dowgate Ward. Westward
Ho, iv. 2 (Justinians); B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, ii. 3 (Morose);
Middleton, A Trick to Catch, ii. 1 (Lucre). For an account of the great
house called Cold Harbrough, see Stow’s Survey, Dowgate Ward (ed. Thoms,
88. 89).
=cole, coal,= money. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1
(Shamwell). _To post the cole_, to pay the money. See NED. (s.v. Cole,
sb.^{3}).
=coleharth,= a coal-hearth, or place where a fire has been made; ‘An
Harte passeth by some _coleharthes_ . . . the hote sent of the fire
smoothreth the houndes’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 40; pp. 114-15.
=coleprophet;= see =col-prophet.=
=coles:= in phr. _precious coles_, a kind of minced oath. Gascoigne,
Steel Glas (ed. Arber, 80); Return from Parnassus (ed. Arber, 50). See
NED. (s.v. Precious).
=colestaff;= see =cowl-staff.=
=colice,= a strong broth, a ‘cullis’. Lyly, Campaspe, iii. 5 (Apelles).
F. ‘_coulis_, a cullis or broth of boyled meat strained’ (Cotgr.).
=coll,= to embrace. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate); Spenser, F. Q.
iii. 2. 34; an embrace, Middleton, The Witch, i. 2. Still in use in
Dorset and Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Coll, vb.^{1}). OF. _coler_ (La
Curne), deriv. of _col_ (F. _cou_), neck.
=colle-pixie,= a goblin, mischievous sprite. Udall, tr. of Apoph.,
Diogenes, § 99. For _colt-pixy_, a sprite in the form of a colt, which
neighs and misleads horses in bogs, a word known in Hants. and Dorset,
the Dorset form is _cole-pexy_, see EDD. (s.v. Colt-pixy).
=collet,= the part of a ring in which the stone is set. C. Tourneur,
Revengers’ Tragedy, i. 1 (Duchess); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 18. Cp. F.
_collet_, a collar (Cotgr.).
=collocavit,= used grotesquely to denote some kitchen utensil. Udall,
Roister Doister, iv. 7 (Merygreek). There seems to be an allusion to
=collock,= q.v.
=collock,= a large pail; ‘Collock, an old word for a Pail’, Phillips,
Coles, 1677. A north-country word (EDD.). ME. _colok_, ‘canterus’ (Voc.
771. 30).
=collogue,= to deal flatteringly with any one; ‘_Trainer sa parole_, to
collogue, to flatter, fawn on’, Cotgrave; to feign agreement, Marston
and Webster, Malcontent, v. 2; to have a private understanding with,
‘They collogued together’, Wood, Life (ed. 1772, p. 172). In prov. use
in many parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland in three senses: (1) to
talk confidentially, (2) to flatter, to wheedle, (3) to plot together
for mischief (EDD.). Cp. L. _colloq-_ in _colloquium_, with change to
_collogue_ under the influence of _dialogue_, _duologue_, &c.
=collow,= to make black or dirty with coal-dust or soot; Middleton,
Family of Love, iii. 3. 2; ‘_Poisler_, to collow, smut, begryme’,
Cotgrave; ‘I colowe, I make blake with a cole’, Palsgrave. A Cheshire
word, see EDD. (s.v. Colley, vb. 6). ME. _colwen_, cp. _colwyd_,
‘carbonatus’ (Prompt. EETS. 91). Cp. =colly.=
=colly,= to blacken. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3; Mids. Night’s D. i. 1.
145; ‘to colly, _denigro_’, Coles, Dict. 1679. In prov. use in various
parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Colley, vb. 6). See =collow.=
=colon,= the largest human intestine. _To satisfy colon_, to satisfy
one’s hunger, Massinger, Unnat. Combat, i. 1 (Belgarde); _to pacify
colon_, id., Picture, ii. 1 (Hilario).
=colour,= a pretence, appearance of right. Two Gent. iv. 2. 3; Wint.
Tale, iv. 4. 566; _colours_, ensigns, standards, 1 Hen. VI, iii. 3. 31;
_to fear no colours_, to fear no flags, no enemy, Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 6.
=colour de roy,= bright tawny. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, i. 2 (Balurdo).
F. ‘_couleur de roy_, was in old time, Purple; but now is the bright
Tawny, which we also tearm Colour de Roy’ (Cotgr.).
=colpheg,= to buffet or cuff, Edwards, Damon and Pithias, Anc. Eng.
Drama, i. 85, col. 1; in Dodsley (ed. 1780, i. 209). See NED. (s.v.
Colaphize).
=colprophet,= a sorcerer, fortune-teller. Mirror for Magistrates,
Glendour, st. 31 and st. 34; spelt _coleprophet_, J. Heywood, Prov. and
Epigr. (ed. 1867, p. 17).
=colstaff, colestaff;= see =cowl-staff.=
=colt,= to befool, to ‘take in’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 39; Beaumont and Fl.,
Wit without Money, iii. 2. From _colt_ (a young horse), used humorously
for a young or inexperienced person, one easily taken in. Cp. the prov.
use of ‘to colt’, meaning to make a newcomer pay his footing, see EDD.
(s.v. Colt, vb.^{1} 12).
=comand,= coming. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.). A northern form.
=come off,= to pay money, pay a debt. Massinger, Unnat. Combat, iv. 2 (1
Court.); B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 1 (end); Merry Wives, iv. 3. 12.
=com’esta,= how is it? how goes it with you? Massinger, Virgin Martyr,
ii. 3 (Spungius). Span. _cómo está?_, how is it?
=commandador,= a lieutenant; compared to a common sergeant. B. Jonson,
Volpone, iv. 1 (Sir Pol.). Span. _comendador_, ‘a commander, lieutenant’
(Minsheu). The Span. vb. _comendar_ orig. meant ‘to commend’.
=commandments, ten,= ten fingers, or two fists; jocularly. 2 Hen. VI, i.
3. 145; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 63. [‘Be busy with the ten
commandments’, Longfellow, Span. Student, iii. 2 (Cruzado).] Cp. Span.
_los diez mandamiéntos_, the ten commandments; ironically, the ten
fingers (Stevens).
=commedle,= to commix, mingle. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed.
Dyce, p. 25.
=commence,= to take the full degree of Master or Doctor in any faculty
at a University; _to commence doctor_, to take a doctor’s degree,
Massinger, Emp. of the East, ii. 1 (Chrysapius); Duke of Milan, iv. 1
(Graccho).
=commencement,= the great public ceremony, esp. at Cambridge, when
degrees are conferred at the end of the academical year. Brewer, Lingua,
iv. 2 (Common Sense); ‘In Oxford this solemnitie is called an Act, but
in Cambridge they use the French word Commensement’, Harrison, Descr.
England, bk. ii, ch. 3 (ed. Furnivall, 75).
=commodity,= wares, merchandise; esp. a parcel of goods sold on credit
by a usurer to a needy person, who immediately raised some cash by
reselling them at a lower price, often to the usurer himself; ‘He’s in
for a commodity of brown paper and old ginger’, Measure for M. iv. 3. 5;
advantage, profit, ‘I will turn diseases to commodity’, 2 Hen. IV, i. 2
(end); Bacon, Essay 41, § 1.
=communicate,= to share in, partake of; ‘Thousands that communicate our
loss’, B. Jonson, Sejanus, iii. 1 (Tib.).
=communication,= conversation, talk. BIBLE, Luke xxiv. 17; Eph. iv. 29;
this rendering of the Gk. λόγος is due to Tyndal, ‘communicacion’;
‘(Cardinal Morton), gentill in communication’, More, Utopia (ed. Arber,
36).
=companiable,= sociable, companionable. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p.
217. ME. _companyable_, ‘socialis’ (Prompt.). A deriv. of OF. _compain_,
orig. nom. of _compagnon_; Anglo-F. _cumpainz_ (Ch. Rol. 285).
=companion,= used as term of contempt, a fellow. Com. of Errors, iv. 4.
64; 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 102. Cp. the use of _kumpân_ (OF. _compain_) in
the MLG. poem Reinke de Vos, 1984 (ed. Bartsch, p. 293).
=compass,= to obtain, win (an object). Two Gent. ii. 4. 214; Pericles,
i. 2. 24; Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 28.
=compass,= range, arc described by an arrow. Ford, Witch of Edmonton,
ii. 2 (Somerton); Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 145).
=complement,= that which goes to ‘complete’ the character of a gentleman
in regard to external appearance or demeanour. Hen. V, ii. 2. 134; B.
Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, i. 1 (Carlo).
=complimentary,= a master of defence, who published works upon the
compliments and ceremonies of duelling. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v.
2 (Crites).
=compromit,= to submit, esp. to submit to a compromise. Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. iii, c. 4, § 2. F. _compromettre_, to put unto compromise
(Cotgr.).
=compter,= a ‘counter’, for children to play with. Conflict of
Conscience, iv. 5 (Conscience); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 108.
=comptible,= liable to give an ‘account’ of, sensitive to. Twelfth Nt.
i. 5. 186.
=comrogue,= a fellow-rogue. Massinger, City Madam, iv. 1. 10; B. Jonson,
Masque of Augurs (Groom). A jocular word; for _comrade_. Also
_comrague_, Webster, Appius, iv. 2 (1 Soldier); Heywood and Brome,
Lancashire Witches, 1634 (sig. K., Dyce).
=con:= phr. _to con thanks_, to acknowledge thanks, to be grateful.
All’s Well, iv. 3. 174; Timon, iv. 3. 428. See NED. (s.v. Con, vb.^{1}
4).
=con.,= short for _contra_, against; ‘Now for the con’, Beaumont and
Fl., Nice Valour, iii. 2 (Lapet). Cp. the phrase _pro_ and _con_.
=concavite,= concave or hollow sphere of the sky; ‘Where is become that
azure _concavite_?’ (riming with _infinite_), Mirror for Mag., Robert of
Normandy, st. 113.
=conceit,= what is conceived in the mind, conception, idea. Othello,
iii. 3. 115; Merch. Venice, iii. 4. 2; faculty of conceiving, mental
capacity, As You Like It, v. 2. 60; imagination, fancy, 2 Hen. IV, ii.
4. 263; used of articles of fanciful design, Mids. Night’s D. i. 1. 33.
=conceited,= full of imagination or fancy; ‘The conceited painter’,
Lucrece, 1371; disposed to playful fancy, Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii.
3 (Ariosto); B. Jonson, Every Man in Humour, iii. 2. 29; curiously
designed, Chapman, Homer, Iliad ix, 85; _conceitedly_, ingeniously,
Middleton, Mayor of Queenboro’, iii. 3 (Vortigern).
=conceive,= to understand, to take the meaning of (a person); ‘Nay,
conceive me, conceive me, sweet Coz’, Merry Wives, i. 1. 250; Spenser,
State Ireland (Works, Globe ed. 666).
=concent,= harmony, concord. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 5; (_consent_),
Hen. V, i. 2. 181. L. _concentus_, a singing together.
=concinnitie,= harmony, congruity, propriety. Sir T. Elyot, Governour,
bk. i, c. 20, § last but one. L. _concinnitas_.
=conclusions, to try,= to try experiments, or an experiment. Hamlet,
iii. 4. 195; Massinger, Duke of Milan, iv. 1 (near end).
=concrew,= to grow together. Only in Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 40. Cp. F.
_concrû_, pp. of _concroítre_.
=cond,= taught. Only in Drayton, Pol. xii. 206. See NED. (s.v. Con,
vb.^{1} 5).
=condiscend,= for _condescent_, acquiescence, agreement, consent; lit.
condescension. Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 14. 17.
=condition,= provision, stipulation; = on condition that, Tr. and Cr. i.
2. 78; Massinger, Old Law, ii. 1 (Simonides); Shirley, Young Admiral,
iii. 2 (Fabio); mental disposition, temper, character, Merch. Ven. i. 2.
143; Hen. V, v. 1. 83.
=condog,= to concur, ‘_Concurre_? _condogge_?’, Lyly, Gallathea, i. 1
(Raffe); ‘To agree, _concurre_, _cohere_, _condog_’; Cockeram’s Dict.
(1642), second part. A whimsical alteration of _concur_, made by
substituting _dog_ for _cur_. The usual tale about this word is wholly
without foundation; see NED.
=conduct,= conductor. Richard II, iv. 157; Romeo, iii. 1. 129; v. 3.
116.
=conduction,= guidance, leadership. North, tr. of Plutarch, Coriolanus,
§ 21 (in Shak. Plut., p. 40, n. 7); Robinson, tr. of Utopia, bk. ii; ed.
Arber, p. 138. L. _conductio_; from _conducere_, to conduct.
=coney,= a rabbit. In compounds: _Cony-burrow_, a rabbit-warren, Dekker,
Honest Wh., Pt. II, iii. 1 (Orlando), spelt _coney borough_, B. Jonson,
Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Medlay); _coney-catch_, to cheat, dupe, Merry
Wives, i. 1. 128; Humour out of Breath, iv. 3 (Hortensio);
_conie-catcher_, a cheat, Sir Thos. More, i. 4. 205; _coney-garth_, a
rabbit-warren, Palsgrave; spelt _cony gat_, Peele, Works (ed. Dyce, p.
579); _conyger_, Horman, Vulgaria (NED.); _conygree_, Turbervile,
Venerie, 184. For etymology of these ‘coney’ words see NED.
=confine,= to send beyond the confines, to banish. Webster, Appius, v. 3
(Virginius). Dyce gives five more examples, all from Heywood. And see
Dyce’s Webster, p. 375.
=confins,= inhabitants of adjacent regions. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk.
i, c. 20, § 12. L. _confines_, pl., neighbours.
=confluent,= affluent, abounding in. Chapman, tr. of Homer, Iliad ix,
157. In this sense found only here.
=congee,= a bow; orig. at taking one’s leave. Dryden, Prol. to The Loyal
Brother, 25; Marlowe, Edward II, v. 4; to take ceremonious leave, ‘I
have congied with the Duke’, All’s Well, iv. 3. 103. OF. _congie_, leave
of absence, dismission. See Dict.
=conglobate,= gathered as into a globe, compressed. Dryden, Death of
Lord Hastings, 35.
=congrue,= fitting, suitable; ‘Congrue Latine’, Latin that can be
parsed, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 15, § 1. F. _congru_
(Littré); L. _congruus_, agreeing, suitable.
=congrue,= to agree, accord. Hen. V, i. 2. 182 (Qu.); Hamlet, iv. 3. 66
(Qq.). L. _congruere_.
=conjure,= to call upon solemnly, to adjure. Two Gent. ii. 7. 2; Hamlet,
iv. 3. 67; to influence by incantation, or the adjuring of spirits,
Timon, i. 1. 7; to swear together, to conspire, Milton, P. L. ii. 693;
Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 26.
=consilliadory,= pl. councillors. City Nightcap, i. 1 (Abstemia); iii. 1
(Lorenzo). Ital. _consigliatori_, pl.; from _consiglio_, council.
=consort,= a ‘concert’ of musical instruments. Webster, Devil’s
Law-case, 1. 23 from the end; Northward Ho, ii. 1; Beaumont and Fl.,
King and No King, v. 2 (Lygones).
=conster,= to construe; a common spelling in old editions of
Shakespeare, &c.
=consumedly,= excessively; ‘I believe they talked of me; for they
laughed consumedly’, Farquhar, Beaux Stratagem, iii. 1 (Scrub);
consumedly in love’, id., iii. 2 (Scrub).
=conteck,= strife, discord. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 64; Shep. Kal., May,
163; Sept., 86. ME. _contek_, strife (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2003, B. 4122).
Anglo-F. _contec_, ‘débat, querelle’ (Moisy); contention (Gower, Mirour,
4647). See Dict. M. and S.
=continent,= one of the concentric ‘spheres’ in the Ptolemaic system of
astronomy; each hollow crystal sphere carried with it one of the seven
planets that revolved round the earth, each planet being attached to the
concave surface of its own sphere. ‘As true . . . as doth that orbed
continent [that spherical solar shell retain] the fire That severs day
from night’ [i.e. the sun], Twelfth Nt. v. 1. 278; ‘Nor doth the moon no
nourishment exhale From her moist continent to higher orbs’ (i.e. from
her own sphere to the spheres beyond), Milton, P. L. v. 422; ‘All
subject under Luna’s continent’, Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 2 (1148);
scene 9. 62 (W.); p. 167, col. 2 (D); ‘Luna, . . . trembling upon her
concave continent’, iv. 1 (1543); scene 11. 15 (W.); p. 172, col. 1
(D.). Cp. ‘Judging the concave circle of the sun To hold the rest in his
circumference’, Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 3 (1122); scene 9. 36 (W.); p.
167, col. 1 (D.).
=contrive,= to wear out, to spend; ‘Three ages, such as mortall men
contrive’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 48; Tam. Shrew, i. 2. L. _contrivi_,
pt. t. of _conterere_, to wear away; cp. ‘totum hunc contrivi diem’,
Terence, Hec. 5. 3. 17. Not the same word as mod. E. _contrive_. See
Nares.
=conundrum,= a whim, crotchet, conceit. B. Jonson, The Fox, v. 7
(Volpone).
=convent,= to convene, summon together, summon. Coriolanus, ii. 2. 59;
Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 17.
=convert,= to cause to return, to bring back; ‘Or if I stray he doth
convert, And bring my minde in frame’, Herbert, Temple, Ps. xxiii; to
turn aside from (intrans.), ‘When thou from youth convertest’, Sh. Sonn.
xi.
=convertite,= a professed convert to a religious faith, Marlowe, Jew of
Malta, i. 2 (Barabas); a person converted to a better course of action,
King John, v. 1. 19.
=convey,= a cant term for to steal. Merry Wives, i. 3. 52; Richard II,
v. 317. Hence _conveyance_, trickery, artifice, 3 Hen. VI, iii. 3. 160.
=convince,= to overcome, overpower; ‘I will with wine and wassal so
convince’, Macbeth, i. 7. 64; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 21; to prove a
person to be guilty, ‘Which of you convinceth mee of sinne?’ BIBLE, John
viii. 46; Tr. and Cr. ii. 2. 129; Webster, Appius and Virg. v. 3; Mirror
for Mag., Glocester. st. 43; to refute in argument, ‘It sufficeth to
convince atheism, but not to inform religion’, Bacon, Adv. Learning, ii.
681.
=convive,= one who feasts with others, a table-companion. Beaumont,
Psyche, x. 211; to feast together, Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 272. F. _convive_,
a guest; L. _conviva_, one who lives or feasts with others.
=cony;= see =coney.=
=cooling card,= a winning card in a card-game, that dashes the hopes of
the adversary. 1 Hen. VI, v. 3. 84; Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends,
ii. 2 (Flavia).
=copartiment,= a compartment, panel. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2
(last line). Ital. _compartimento_, a partition.
=copatain hat,= a high-crowned hat (?). Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 69; ‘A
copetain hatte made on a Flemmishe blocke’, Gascoigne, Works, i. 375.
Prob. the same as _copintank_, _copentank_, a high-crowned hat in the
form of a sugar-loaf; ‘A high cop-tank hat,’ North, tr. of Plutarch, M.
Antonius, § 30. See NED. (s.v. Copintank).
=cope,= a purchase, bargain. Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 3 (351); scene 3. 5
(W.); p. 157, col. 1 (D.). Cp. ‘cope’, a prov. word meaning to exchange,
barter, heard in the north country and E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Cope,
vb.^{2} 1). Dutch _koop_, a sale, a buying. See Dict. (s.v. Cope, 3).
=copel,= a small pot made of bone-ash, used for melting gold or silver.
Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, ch. iii, § 18. Spelt _coppell_, Bacon, Sylva,
§ 799. F. _coupelle_, ‘a Coppell, the little Ashen pot or vessel wherein
Goldsmiths melt or fine their Metals’ (Cotgr.); see Estienne,
Précellence, 142 (Lexique-Index, 400). _Coupelle_ is a deriv. of
_coupe_, a cup. Med. L. _cuppa_ (Ducange). See NED. (s.v. Cupel).
=copeman,= a chapman. B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 5 (Vol.). See =cope.=
=copemate, copesmate,= a person with whom one ‘copes’ or contends, an
adversary. Golding, Metam. xii (ed. 1593, 279); Chapman, All Fools, ii
(Valerio); a companion, comrade, Greene, Upstart Courtier (ed. 1871, 4),
used _fig._ Lucrece, 925; _female copesmate_, mistress, paramour, B.
Jonson, Every Man, iv. 10 (Knowell).
=coppe,= the top, summit. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 202. 18; lf. 232,
back, 26. Hence _copped_, peaked, Pericles, i. 1. 101; ‘High-copt hats’,
Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1163. ME. cop: ‘the cop of the hill’ (Wyclif,
Luke iv. 29). OE _copp_.
=copy,= abundance, copiousness. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, ii. 1
Carlo); Magn. Lady, ii. 1 (Placentia). L. _copia_.
=copy,= copyhold, tenure of land ‘by copy’, i.e. according to the ‘copy’
of the manorial court-roll, used _fig._ Macbeth, iii. 2. 38.
=coracine,= a kind of fish like a perch, found in the Nile. Middleton,
Game at Chess, v. 3. 10. L. _coracinus_, Gk. κορακῖνος, from κόραξ, a
raven, from its black colour.
=corant;= see =courant.=
=coranto,= a quick dance. Hen. V, iii. 5. 33; Shirley, Lady of Pleasure,
iii. 2 (Kickshaw). Ital. _coranto_, ‘a kinde of French dance’ (Florio);
cp. F. _courante_, ‘a curranto’ (Cotgr.). See =courant.=
=corasive,= a sharp remedy, severe reproach. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber,
p. 154). See =corsive.=
=corbe,= short for =corbel.= Only in Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 6.
=corbe, courbe,= bent, crooked. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 56. ME.
_courbe_ (Gower, C. A. i. 1687). F. _courbe_, L. _curvus_.
=corbed up,= (prob.) controlled, as by a curb, curbed. Marston, Antonio,
Pt. II, ii. 1 (Pandulfo).
=cordwain,= Spanish leather, orig. made at Cordova. Spenser, F. Q. vi.
2. 6; Drayton, Eclogues, iv. 177. Spelt _cordevan_, Fletcher, Faith.
Shepherdess, i. 1. 21. Span. _cordován_, Spanish leather (Stevens).
=coresie,= vexation, a corroding, gnawing annoyance. Tusser, Husbandry,
§ 19. 24. In prov. use in Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. Corrosy). F.
_corrosif_ (Cotgr.); for the change of suffix, cp. _hasty_, the E.
representative of F. _hastif_. See =corsive.=
=corned,= horned, peaked, pointed; said of shoes. Skelton, Maner of the
World, 26; Greene, Description of Chaucer, 13; ed. Dyce, p. 320. Cp. F.
_corné_, horned (Cotgr.).
=cornel,= a little grain, granule; ‘Bread is of many _cornels_
compounded’, Conflict of Conscience, iv. 1 (Philologus); in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, vi. 83.
=cornel,= a javelin made of cornel-wood. Used to translate L. _cornus_,
Dryden, tr. Aeneid, xii. 406.
=cornelian,= the fruit of the cornel-tree. Bacon, Essay 46, § 1.
=cornes,= pl. kinds of corn; corn. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 8, back, 4;
lf. 88. 14.
=cornet,= a troop of horse; so called from its standard, which was a
long horn-shapen pennon. 1 Hen. VI, iv. 3. 25; Kyd, Span. Tragedy, i. 2.
41. F. _cornette_, ‘a Cornet of Horse; the Ensign of a horse-company’
(Cotgr.).
=cornet,= a head-dress formerly worn by ladies; ‘Her cornet blacke’,
Surrey, Complaint that his Ladie kept her face hidden, 2; in Tottel’s
Misc., p. 12. F. _cornette_, a horned head-dress; dim. of _corne_, a
horn.
=cornet,= some kind of ornament (?); ‘With cornets at their footmen’s
breeches’, Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 872.
=cornuto,= a cuckold. Merry Wives, iii. 5. 71. Ital. _cornuto_, a
cuckold; lit. ‘furnished with horns’ (Florio).
=coronal,= a wreath of flowers, a garland. Fletcher, Faith. Shepherdess,
i. 1. 11; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 53.
=coronel,= a ‘colonel’. Spenser, View of Ireland, Globe ed., p. 656, l.
9; _lieutenant-coronel_, B. Jonson, Every Man, iii. 5 (Knowell). Span.
_coronel_, Ital. _colonello_, ‘a Colonel of a Regiment’ (Florio); a
deriv. of _colonna_, cp. F. _colonne_ de troupes, a column, a formation
of troops narrow laterally and deep from front to rear; see Hatzfeld.
=correption,= reproof, rebuke. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 30:
Augustus, § 12. L. _correptio_; deriv. of _corripere_, to reprove.
=corrigidor, corregidor,= a Spanish magistrate. Machin, Dumb Knight, v.
1 (Cyprus); Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 13. 58. See Stanford.
=corrol,= to crimson, to make like ‘coral’; ‘The . . . sunne _corrols_
his cheeke’, Herrick, A Nuptial Verse to Mistress E. Lee, 4.
=corser,= a dealer, esp. a horse-dealer. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 119.
15; spelt _courser_, Beaumont and Fl., The Captain, v. 1 (Father). ME.
_corser_, Wyclif, Works (ed. 1880, p. 172); _corsowre of horse_, ‘mange’
(Prompt. 94), Anglo-F. _cossour_, A.D. 1310, see Riley’s Memorials of
London, Pref., p. xxii, Med. L. _cociatorem_, a broker, factor, dealer,
cp. _cocio_ (Ducange). The Ital. _cozzone_, a horse-courser (Florio), is
from _coctionem_, a later form of _cocionem_, see Diez, 112.
=corsive,= for _corrosive_; anything that corrodes, grief, distress. B.
Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, i. 1. 7; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 14;
Drayton, Barons’ Wars, iv. 14. See =coresie.=
=cortine,= a curtain (military term); a plain wall in a fortification;
the wall between two bastions, &c. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (P.
Can.). F. _courtine_ (_cortine_), a curtain; and (in fortification) the
plainness of the wall between bulwark and bulwark (Cotgr.); in the same
sense Ital. _cortina_ (Florio).
=coscinomancy,= divination by means of a sieve. From Gk. κόσκινον, a
sieve; and suffix _-mancy_, as in _necro-mancy_, &c. Hence the compound
_necro-puro-geo-hydro-cheiro-coscino-mancy_. Tomkis, Albumazar, ii. 3
(Alb.), where _puro-_ should be _pyro-_. Sometimes the sieve was
suspended by a thread; otherwise, it was used in conjunction with a pair
of shears, as described in Brand, Popular Antiq. iii. 351; cp. Butler,
Hudibras, ii, 3. 569.
=coshering,= the right claimed by Irish chiefs of quartering themselves
upon their dependants. Davies, Why Ireland (ed. 1747, 169); feasting,
Shirley, St. Patrick, v. 1 (2 Soldier); also, _coshery_, feasting,
Stanyhurst tr. Virgil, Aeneid i, 707. Spenser in his State of Ireland
mentions _cosshirh_ as one of the customary services claimed by the
Irish Lord (ed. Morris. 623). Ir. _cóisir_, feasting, entertainment
(Dinneen). ‘In modern times coshering means simply a friendly visit to a
neighbour’s house to have a quiet talk’, Joyce, English as we speak it
in Ireland, 240.
=cosier;= see =cozier.=
=cosset,= a pet lamb. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 42; also _fig._ B.
Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Mrs. Litt.). In prov. use in Glouc., E.
Anglia, and Kent, meaning a lamb or colt brought up by hand, also, an
indulged child, a pet animal (EDD.).
=cost,= the rib of a ship. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (Cymbal).
L. _costa_ (navium) (Pliny).
=cost;= see =coast.=
=costard,= the head. Applied jocularly to the head, as being like a very
large apple. ME. _costard_, an apple; lit. a ‘ribbed’ apple; from OF.
_coste_, L. _costa_, a rib. Hence _costard-monger_ or _coster-monger_,
orig. a seller of apples. See EDD.
=coste,= to move beside; to keep up with a hunted animal. Morte Arthur,
leaf 382, back, 19; bk. xviii, c. 19. See =coast.=
=cot, cott,= a little boat. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 9. Many places in
Ireland derive their names from this ‘cot’; see Joyce. Irish Names of
Places, i. 226. Still in use in the north of Ireland, see EDD. (s.v.
Cot, sb.^{4}). Irish _coit_, _coite_, a small boat, a skiff (Dinneen),
Gael. _coit_, a kind of canoe used on rivers (Macleod).
=cote, coat= (in coursing), of one of two dogs running together: to pass
by its fellow so as to give the hare a turn (NED.); _fig._ to pass by,
to outstrip. Hamlet, ii. 2. 330; L. L. L. iv. 3. 87; Chapman, Iliad,
xxiii. 324; _coat_, the action of coting, Drayton, Pol. xxiii (ed. 1748,
p. 356).
=cote,= to quote. Udall, Paraph. N.T., Pref. (NED.); Middleton, A Mad
World, i.2 (Cour.).
=cothurnal,= tragic; ‘Cothurnal buskins’, B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1
(Tucca). L. _cothurnus_; Gk. κόθορνος, a high boot. The _cothurnus_ was
worn by actors of tragedy.
=cot-quean,= the housewife of a labourer’s hut. Nashe, Almond for
Parrat, 5; a coarse, vulgar, scolding woman, B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3
(Jupiter addressing Juno); used contemptuously of a man who acts the
housewife, and busies himself unduly in household matters, Romeo, iv. 4.
9; Addison, Spect. (1712) No. 482; spelt _quot-quean_, Beaumont and Fl.,
Love’s Cure, ii. 2. 6; _to play the cotqueane_, Heywood, Gunaik. iv. 180
(NED.). Cp. use of _cot_ and _molly-cot_ in Cheshire and Yorkshire, see
EDD. (s.v. Cot, sb.^{1} 1).
=Cotswold,= pronounced _Cotsal_ in Shaks., Fol. 1, Merry Wives, i. 1.
93; _a Cotsal man_, an athletic man, such as lived in the Cotswold
Hills, a district famous for athletic sports, 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 23; _a
Cotsold lion_, a humorous expression for a sheep of that country, Udall,
Roister Doister (ed. Arber, 70), iv. 6 (Merygreek). ‘As fierce as a lion
of Cotswold, i.e. a sheep’, Fuller’s Worthies (Bohn’s Proverbs, 204).
=cotton:= in phr. _this geer_ (or _gear_) _will cotton_, this stuff will
come to a good nap, this thing will succeed. Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iv.
8 (Thomas); Middleton, Inner Temple Masque (Second Antimasque).
=couch,= to place, arrange, order. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c.
7, § 6; to cause to cower, Lucrece, 507; to place a lance in rest, 1
Hen. VI, iii. 2. 134.
=couch:= in phr. _to couch a hogshead_, to lie down and sleep. (Cant.)
Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); Harman, Caveat, p. 84.
=couchee,= an evening court-reception. Dryden, Hind and Panther, i. 516;
‘The King’s Couchée’, Etherege, Man of Mode, iv. 1; the equivalent of
_Le Coucher du Roi_, or simply _Le Coucher_, the reception which
preceded the king’s going to bed. Cp. Dict. Acad. Fr. 1786 (s.v.
Coucher, s.m.), ‘Il se trouve au lever et au coucher du Roi.’ For the E.
form of the word compare our _levee_ for F. _lever_, ‘réception dans la
chambre d’un roi au moment où il se lève’ (Hatzfeld).
=couch-quail, to play.= The same as _to couch as a quail_; to cower,
crouch down; see Thersytes, 20; Skelton, Speke Parrot, 420. Cp.
Chaucer’s ‘Thou shalt make him couche as dooth a quaille’ (C. T. E.
1206).
=coul,= to trim the feather of an arrow along the top. Ascham,
Toxophilus, pp. 128, 129, 131, 133. Cp. _cowl_, to gather, collect,
scrape together, a north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Cowl, vb.^{2} 1).
=could, coud, couth,= _pt. t._, knew, knew how to. Spenser, F. Q. v. 7.
5; Shep. Kal., Jan., 10. (Common). See =can.=
=couleuvre,= a snake. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 92. 21; spelt
_couleure_, id., lf. 91, back, 19. F. _couleuvre_.
=countant,= accountant; liable to be called upon to give account.
Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, i. 1 (Tarquin).
=countenance,= bearing, demeanour, behaviour; authority, favour, credit;
show of politeness. As You Like It, i. 1. 19; Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 234; 1
Hen. IV, i. 2. 33; Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3 (end). The senses are
variable and elusive.
=counter,= an encounter. Spenser, Tears of the Muses, 207.
=counter,= a counter-tenor voice. Witch of Edmonton, ii. 1 (3 Clown).
See the context.
=counter, compter,= a prison, chiefly for debtors, attached to a city
court; ‘One o’ your city pounds, the counters’, B. Jonson, Every Man,
ii. 1 (Downright). The sheriffs of London had each his compter; one was
in the Poultry, the other in Wood Street, Cheapside. There were three
degrees of rooms for the prisoners: those on the Master’s side (the
best), the Twopenny Ward, and the Hole (for the poorest), Middleton,
Roaring Girl, iii. 3 (Sir Alexander). Those in the Hole were fed from
‘the basket’; see =basket.= Note that, according to Gascoigne, there
were _three_ Counters, the third being in Bread Street. ‘In Woodstreat,
Bredstreat, and in Pultery’, Steel Glas, 791. In Stow’s Survey of London
‘the Compter in the Poultrie’ is mentioned (ed. Thoms, p. 99), and ‘the
Compter in Bread Street’ (ib., p. 131).
=counterfeit,= a likeness, portrait, Merch. Ven. iii. 2. 115; Timon, v.
1. 83. Phr. _a pair of counterfeits_, used in the sense of vamps, or
fore-parts of the upper leather of a shoe, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday,
iv. 2 (Firk).
=counterfesaunce,= counterfeiting, dissimulation. Spencer, F. Q. i. 8.
49; iv. 4. 27. OF. _contrefaisance_, counterfeiting (Godefroy).
=countermure,= to wall round, to fence in. Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 7.
16. F. _contremurer_, Ital. ‘_contramurare_, to countermure’ (Florio).
=counterpoint,= a counterpane for a bed. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 353. F.
‘_contrepoinct_, a quilt, counterpoint’ (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.v.
Counterpane).
=counterscarf,= a ‘counterscarp’, or outer wall or slope of the ditch,
which supports the covered way of a fort. Heywood, Four Prentises
(Godfrey); vol. ii, p. 242; id. London’s Mirror, fourth Show. F.
_contrescarpe_ (Rabelais), Ital. _contrascarpa_; see Estienne, Préc.
351; _scarpa_, slope of a wall.
=county,= a count, as a title, Romeo, i. 3. 105; Merch. Venice, i. 2.
48. (Frequent.)
=couped,= cut, cut clean off, with a smooth edge (in heraldry). Butler,
Hudibras, iii. 3. 214. F. _couper_, to cut.
=coupee,= a dance step; the dancer rests on one foot, and passes the
other forward or backward, with a sort of salutation. Wycherley, Gent.
Dancing-master, iii. 1; Steele, Tender Husband, iii. 1 (Mrs. Clerimont).
F. _coupé_, ‘mouvement par lequel on coupe un espace; (Danse) Pas
composé d’un plié avec changement de pied suivi d’un glissé’ (Hatzfeld).
=cour,= to cover; _Pt. t._, _courd_; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 9. See NED.
(s.v. Cover).
=courant,= a dance with a running or gliding step; a coranto. Etherege,
Man of Mode, iv. 1 (Sir Fopling); Steele, Tender Husband, i. 2 (Tipkin).
See =coranto.=
=courant, corant,= an express message; a newspaper. B. Jonson, Magn.
Lady, i. 1 (Sir Moth); Underwoods, lxi. 81. F. _courant_, running, a
runner; from _courir_, to run.
=coursing,= succession in due ‘course’. Only in the following passage:
‘My Ladye Mary and my Ladye Elizabeth . . . by succession and course are
inheritours to the crowne. Who yf they shulde mary with straungers, what
should ensue God knoweth. But God graunt they never come vnto _coursyng_
nor succedynge.’ Latimer, 1 Sermon bef. King (ed. Arber, p. 30).
=courteau;= see =curtal.=
=court holy-water,= a proverbial phrase for flattery, and fine words
without deeds; ‘Court holy-water in a dry house is better than this
rainwater out o’ door’, King Lear, iii. 2. 10; ‘Her unperformed promise
was the first court holy-water which she sprinkled amongst the people’,
Fuller, Ch. Hist. viii. 1. 6; ‘Court-holy-water, _Promissa rei expertia,
fumus aulicus_’, Coles, 1699; ‘_Eau beniste de cour_, court holy-water,
fair words, flattering speeches’, Cotgrave. See Nares.
Also, =court holy bread;= ‘He feeds thee with nothing but court
holy bread, good words’, Dekker and Webster, Westward Ho, ii. 3
(M. Honeysuckle).
=courtnoll, courtnold,= a contemptuous term for a courtier. Peele, Sir
Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 516; Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 51 From
_court_, and _noll_, the head, hence, a person (_nowl_ in Shakespeare).
=court-passage,= a game at dice. Middleton, Women beware, ii. 2
(Guardiano). See =passage.=
=coustreling,= a lad, knave, groom. Only in Udall, Roister Doister, i. 4
(Merygreek). See =coistril.=
=covenable,= fit, suitable, becoming, of becoming appearance; ‘A sonne
called Philip, a right covenable and gracious man’, Berners, Froissart,
ccclxxix. 635; Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, ch. 11, § 6. OF. and
Prov. _convenable_ (_cov-_). ME. _covenable_, fit, proper, suitable,
agreeable (Chaucer).
=covent,= a ‘convent’. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 849; Meas. for M. iv. 3.
133. ME. _covent_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1827). The old form remains in
‘Covent Garden’. Anglo-F. _cuvent_ (Rough List).
=cover:= phr. _be covered_, put on your hat. As You Like It, v. 1. 18;
Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 3 (Sir O. Twi.). (There are endless
compliments about wearing a hat in old plays.)
=covert:= phr. _under covert-baron_, in the condition of a woman who is
protected by her husband. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, v. 2 (Miss N.);
_under covert-barn_, under protection, Phoenix, iii. 1 (Falso). Anglo-F.
_feme couverte baroun_, for _couverte de baroun_, a woman protected by
her husband (Rough List). See Cowell, Interp. (s.v. Coverture).
=covetise,= covetousness. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle); Kyd,
Cornelia, i. l. 26. ME. _covetyse_, ‘avaricia’ (Prompt.), Anglo-F.
_coveitise_, cp. Ital. _cupidigia_ (Dante).
=cowardry,= cowardice. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 511; _cowardree_,
Spenser, Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 986.
=cowith,= the commonest form of Welsh bardic verse, Drayton, Pol. iv.
183 (notes 59 and 67). Wel. _cywydd_.
=cowl-staff, coul-staff, cole-staff,= a stout pole orig. used for
carrying a ‘cowl’ or tub, esp. a water-tub; ‘Cudgels, colestaves’,
Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 1 (Tranio); Merry Wives, iii. 3. 156; Select
Records Oxford, 92. _Cowl_, for a large tub or barrel, is in prov. use
in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Cowl, sb.^{2} 1 and 2). ME.
_cowle_ (Prompt., in Harl. MS.).
=cowshard,= a piece of cowdung. Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 19; ‘_Bouse
de vache_, the dung of a cow, a cow-shard’, Cotgrave. In use in Yorks.,
Lanc., Derby., and Wilts. (EDD.).
=coxcomb,= a fool’s cap; lit. _cock’s comb_. King Lear, i. 4. 105; also
jocularly, the head, ib. ii. 4. 125.
=coy,= to render quiet, appease. Palsgrave; to stroke soothingly, to
caress, Mids. Night’s D. iv. 1. 2; _to coy it_, to behave coyly, to
affect shyness, Massinger, New Way, iii. 2. OF. _coi_, still, quiet, O.
Prov. _quet_, ‘coi, tranquille’ (Levy), Romanic type _quetu-_, L.
_quiētum_. See =quoying.=
=coystrel.= In Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 1119, a corrupt form of
‘kestrel’ (a base kind of hawk).
=coystril;= see =coistril.=
=cozier, cosier,= a cobbler. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 97; ‘A cosier or cobler,
_remendón_’, Minsheu, Span. Dict. 1599. OF. _cousere_, a seamster, one
who sews (Godefroy), _couseör_, acc., O. Prov. _cozedor_, ‘couturier’
(Levy); deriv. from _cosere_, to sew, Romanic type representing L.
_consuere_, to sew together; see Hatzfeld.
=craboun,= corrupt form of ‘carbine’. ‘Discharge thy craboun’, Return
from Parnassus, iv. 2 (Ingenioso).
=craccus,= a kind of tobacco. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1
(Trimtram); Beaumont and Fl., Woman’s Prize, i. 2 (Livia); where ed.
1625 has _cracus_ (mod. ed. _crocus_). NED. suggests that the word means
tobacco of Caraccas, in Venezuela.
=crack,= a pert, forward boy. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, Induct. (3
Child); Massinger, Unnat. Combat, i. 1 (Usher). Hence _your crackship_,
address to a page, Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1 (Hippolito).
_Crack-halter_, playfully ‘a rogue’, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 30;
Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 4 (Song). Also _crack-hempe_, Tam. Shrew, v.
1. 46; and _crack-rope_, ‘_Baboin_, a crack-rope, wag-halter, unhappie
rogue, retchlesse villaine’, Cotgrave; Edwards, Damon and Pithias, in
Anc. Eng. Drama, i. 88 (Hazlitt, iv. 68).
=crack,= to talk big, boast, brag. L. L. L. iv. 3. 268; spelt _crake_,
Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 50; Sir Thos. More, i. 2. 29. Hence _cracker_,
boaster, King John, ii. 1. 147. The vb. _crack_ in this sense is in
prov. use in Scotland and in England in the north country, Midlands, and
E. Anglia. ME. _crakyn_, to boast; ‘_crakere_, bost-maker’ (Prompt.
EETS. 393).
=crack,= to damage, impair. Phr. _cracked within the ring_, said of a
coin cracked at the rim; but constantly used with reference to impaired
virginity. Hamlet, ii. 2. 448; Beaumont and Fl., Captain, ii. 1
(Jacomo). The _ring_ was the inmost circle around the inscription; a
piece cracked _within_ that ring could be legally refused, and was no
longer current.
=crackmans,= a hedge. (Cant.) ‘At the crackmans’, beside the hedge, B.
Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman). See NED.
=crag,= the neck. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 82, Sept., 45. A
north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Crag, sb.^{3}).
=craggue,= a lean, scraggy person. Only in Udall, tr. of Apoph.,
Diogenes, § 150.
=crake;= see =crack.=
=crambe,= cabbage, in literary use only _fig._, and gen. in reference to
the L. phrase _crambe repetita_, cabbage served up again, applied by
Juvenal (Sat. vii. 154) to any tedious repetition. ‘Our Prayers . . .
the same Crambe of words’, Milton, Animadv. ii.; Sir T. Browne, Rel.
Medici, last §. Gk. κράμβη, a kind of cabbage.
=crambe, crambo,= a game in which one player gives a word or a line of a
poem to which each of the others has to find a rime; if any one repeated
a previous suggestion he had to pay a forfeit; ‘Crambe, another of the
Divells games’, B. Jonson, Devill an Ass, v. 5; ‘Playing at Crambo in
the waggon’, Pepys, Diary (May 20, 1660).
†=cramocke,= a crooked stick. Mirror for Mag., Madan, st. 6. Corrupt
form of =cammock.=
=cramp-ring,= a ring supposed to be a remedy against cramp, falling
sickness, and the like; esp. one of those which the Kings of England
used to hallow on Good Friday for this purpose. Boorde, Introd. (ed.
Furnivall, p. 121); Berners, Letter in Brand Pop. Antiq. (ed. 1813, l.
129); Middleton, Roaring Girl, iv. 2 (Mis. O.); Cartwright, The
Ordinary, iii. 1 (Moth).
=cramp-stone,= the stone in a ‘cramp-ring’. Massinger, The Picture, v.
1.
=cranewes,= pl., embrasures between battlements; crannies, apertures.
‘Cranewes of the walls of the city’; North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Brutus,
§ 23 (in Shak. Plut., p. 131); id., M. Antonius, § 42 (in Shak. Plut.,
p. 222). OF. _creneaux_, pl. of _crenel_, a battlement, an embrasure,
see Estienne, Préc. 358.
=Cranion,= a proper name given to a fly, the charioteer of Queen Mab;
‘Fly Cranion, her charioteer, Upon her coach-box getting’, Drayton,
Nymphidia, st. 17. _Sir Cranion-legs_, thin legs, like a fly or spider;
B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous).
=crank,= lively, brisk, merry; also as _adv._; ‘_Joyeux_, as crank as a
cock-sparrow’, Cotgrave; Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 46; Middleton,
Trick to Catch the Old One, i. 3 (end); Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several
Weapons, iii. 1 (Gregory); Sea-Voyage, iv. 3. 2. _Crank_ is used in this
sense in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Crank, adj.^{2}).
_Crankly_, briskly, Peele, Tale of Troy (ed. Dyce, p. 552).
=crank,= a beggar who shams illness. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 4.
See Harman, Caveat, p. 51. Du. _krank_, ill, sick.
=crank,= to run in a winding course, to twist and turn about. Venus and
Ad. 682; 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 98; a winding path, Coriolanus, i. 1. 143;
_cranks_, pl. bends, turnings, Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 28; Spenser, F.
Q. vii. 7. 52.
=crankle,= to twist and turn about. Drayton, Pol. vii. 198; xii. 572;
‘_Serpenter_, to wriggle, wagle, crankle’, Cotgrave. A Leicestersh.
word, see EDD. (s.v. Crankling).
†=crapish= (meaning unknown); ‘Scandalous and crapish’, Otway, Soldier’s
Fortune, i. 1 (3 W.). Only in this place.
=crash,= a merry bout, a revel. Heywood, A Woman killed, i. 2. 5. See
EDD. (s.v. Crash, sb.^{1} 4).
=cratch,= a crib, manger; ‘The Coffin of our Christmas Pies in shape
long is in imitation of the Cratch’, Selden, Table-talk (ed. Arber, 33);
‘Cratche for hors or oxen, _creche_’, Palsgrave; ‘_Presepio_, a cratch,
a rack, a manger, a crib or a critch’, Florio. In prov. use in various
parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Cratch sb.^{1} 1 and 2). ME. _cracche_
(_cratche_), so Wyclif, Is. i. 3, and Luke ii. 7. OF. _creche_, O. Prov.
_crepia_, _crepcha_ (Levy).
=cratch,= to scratch; ‘I cratche with my nayles’, Palsgrave. ME.
_cracche_, to scratch (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2834.).
=craze,= to break, crack, burst. Richard III, iv. 4. 17; ‘Craze bars’,
Heywood, The Fair Maid, iii. 4 (Bess); ‘God will craze their chariot
wheels’, Milton, P. L. xii. 210. Still in use in the west country in the
sense of to ‘crack’, said of glass, china, or church bells (EDD.).
=creak;= see =cry creak.=
=creancer, creauncer,= one to whom is entrusted the charge of another; a
guardian; a tutor. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 129, l. 102; id. Garl. of
Laurell, 1226. Deriv. of OF. _creance_, belief, trust, Med. L.
_credentia_, ‘fides data’ (Ducange).
=creeking;= see =kreking.=
=creeple,= a cripple. BIBLE, Acts xiv. 8 (1611). ME. _crepel_, _crepul_
(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. 1458). OE. _crēopel_, a cripple (B. T., Suppl.
s.v. _crypel_).
=creme,= chrism, the sacred oil used for anointing kings at coronation;
‘A kynge enoynted with creme’, Morte Arthur, leaf 202. 36; bk. ix, c.
39. ME. _creme_, chrism, OF. _creme_, _cresme_ (mod. _chrême_). L.
_chrisma_, Gk. χρῖσμα, anointing oil.
=cres’,= a crest. Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 351.
A peculiar form, to rime with _grease_. See Dict. (s.v. Crease).
=crescive,= growing. Hen. V, i. 1. 66.
=crevis,= a crayfish. Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv.
118. ‘Crevisse’ is a north-country word (EDD.). OF. _crevice_,
_crevisse_, see Hatzfeld (s.v. Écrevisse).
=crib= (Cant); ‘To fill up the crib and to comfort the quarron’, Brome,
Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song). Meaning doubtful. Perhaps the same word as
_crib_, a manger; used _fig._ for the stomach as a place for provender.
=crimp,= an obsolete card-game. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, ii. 1 (Lady L.).
See NED.
=crinet,= a hair. Gascoigne, Works, i. 101. Dimin. of F. _crin_, hair;
L. _crinis_.
=cringle-crangle,= _adj._, winding, curled; ‘Cringle-crangle horns’
(i.e. bugles), Chapman, Gent. Usher, i. 1 (Vincentio).
=crippin,= part of a hood for ladies. Spelt _crepine_, _crespine_. Lyly,
Mydas, i. 2 (Licio). F. _crespine_, ‘the Crepine of a French hood’
(Cotgr.).
=crisled, crizzled,= roughened, shrivelled with cold. Ford, Sun’s
Darling, v. 1 (Winter). In Northampton, water that is slightly frozen is
‘just _crizzled_ over’, see EDD. (s.v. Crizzle).
=crispie,= rippled, rippling; ‘Thy crispie tides’, Kyd, Cornelia, iv. 2.
15.
=croach,= to grasp, seek after; ‘My life and th’ empire he did croach
and crasse’, Mirror for Mag., Geta, st. 10. Hence, _croacher_, a seeker
after. In compound _crowne-croachers_, Mirror for Mag., Rudacke, Lennoy,
st. 2. OF. _crocher_, to catch with a hook.
=croches,= the ‘buds’ or knobs at the top of a stag’s horn; ‘These
little buddes or broches which are about the toppe are called Croches’,
Turbervile, Hunting, 54; Stanyhurst, Aeneid i, 194.
=crocheteur,= a porter. Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, iii. 2
(Longueville). F. _crocheteur_, ‘a porter or common burthen-bearer’;
_crochet_, ‘a hook; _le crochet d’un crocheteur_, the forke or crooked
staffe, used by a porter’ (Cotgr.).
=crock,= to put by in a crock or pot. Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 2. 2.
=crockling,= a croaking noise; used of the noise made by cranes. Phaer,
tr. of Aeneid, x. 265.
=crofte,= a crypt; ‘A crofte under the mynster’, Morte Arthur, leaf
258*, back, 18; bk. xvii, c. 18. Du. _krocht_, _krochte_. Med. L.
_crupta_ (Ducange), L. _crypta_; Gk. κρυπτή, a crypt, a place of hiding.
=croisado,= a crusade; ‘Your great croisado general’ (i.e. the general
of your great crusade), Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 1200.
=crome,= a long stick with a hook at the end of it; ‘Long cromes’,
Paston Letters, no. 77; vol. i, p. 106 (1872); Tusser, Husbandry, § 17.
19. In prov. use in E. Anglia (EDD.). Cp. Du. _kramme_, ‘a hooke, or a
grapple’ (Hexham).
=crone,= an old ewe. Tusser, Husbandry, § 12, st. 4; Gascoigne, Fruites
of Warre, st. 63. An E. Anglian and Essex word, see EDD. (s.v. Crone,
sb.^{1} 1).
=cronet,= a coronet. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. ix, ch. 48, l. 51.
Also, a part of the armour of a horse; Shirley, Triumph of Peace (Works,
ed. Dyce, vi. 261).
=croshabell,= a courtesan. Peele, Works, ed. Dyce, p. 616, last line;
and in a title, p. 615, col. 1. A Kentish word (EDD.).
=croslet, crosslet,= a crucible. Lyly, Gallathea, ii. 3; B. Jonson,
Alchem., i. 1 (Face). ME. _croslet_ (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1147). Dimin. of
OF. _crosel_, O. Prov. _cruzol_, crucible (Levy).
=cross,= a piece of money; many coins had a cross on one side. As You
Like It, ii. 4. 12; 2 Hen. IV, i. 2. 257.
=cross and pile,= the obverse and reverse side of a coin, head and (or)
tail; hence, sometimes, a coin, money; ‘He had neither cross nor pile’,
Sidney, Disc. Govt. (ed. 1704, p. 362); head or tail, i.e. ‘tossing up’,
to decide anything doubtful; Wycherley, Love in a Wood, iii. 2 (Ranger);
Return from Parnassus, ii. 1. 768; A Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 8 (Clare).
Anglo-F. ‘jewer (jouer) _a cros a Pil_,’ A.D. 1327, see NED. ‘Les pièces
de monnaie portaient une croix sur leur face, d’où l’expression: n’avoir
_ni croix ni pile_’ (to have neither cross nor pile), see Jannet,
Glossaire, Rabelais (s.v. Croix).
=cross-bite,= to bite in return, to cheat. Marston, What you Will, iii.
2. 279; iii. 3. 129. Hence, _cross-biter_, a swindler, Middleton, Your
Five Gallants, ii. 3 (Goldstone).
=cross-lay,= a cheating wager. Middleton, The Black Book, ed. Dyce, v.
542.
=cross-point,= a particular step in dancing. Marston, Insatiate
Countess, i. 1 (Rogers); Greene, King James IV, iv. 3 (Slipper, l.
1638).
=cross-row,= the alphabet; ‘And from the Crosse-row pluckes the letter
G’, Richard III, i. 1. 55. Short for _Christ-cross-row_, so called from
the figure of the cross (✠) formerly prefixed to it. Still in use in
Essex, acc. to EDD. (s.v. Cross, II. (45)). See =Christ-cross.=
=cross-tree,= the gallows; ‘A cross-tree that never grows’ [because made
of dead wood], Ford, Fancies Chaste, i. 2 (Spadone); the cross, Herrick,
Noble Numbers, His Anthem to Christ, l. 14.
=crotch,= the fork of the human body, where the legs join the trunk.
Greene, Verses against the Gentlewomen of Sicilia, l. 12; ed. Dyce, p.
316. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Crotch, sb.^{1}). OF. (Picard)
_croche_, ‘entaillure’ (La Curne).
=croteys,= the dung of hares and rabbits; ‘Of Hares and Coneys, they are
called _Croteys_’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 37, p. 97. F. _crottes_, ‘the
dung, excrements or ordure of Sheep, Conies, Hares, etc.’ (Cotgr.).
=crouse, crowse,= brisk, lively, merry, Drayton, Eclogue vii, 73; Brome,
Jovial Crew, i. 1 (1 Beggar). In common prov. use in Scotland and in the
north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Crouse, adj.^{1} 4).
=crow,= the well-known bird. In alchemy, at a certain stage of the work,
there would sometimes be an appearance like a crow; it was considered a
very favourable sign; see B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle).
=crowchmas,= the day of the Invention of the Holy Cross, May 3. Tusser,
§ 50. 36; _Crowchemesse Day_; Paston Letters, no. 472, end (ii. 132,
1872). ‘At Crowchmesse, _a la saincte Croyx_’, Palsgrave. ME. _cruche_,
the cross of Christ; ‘Crepe to cruche on lange fridai’, Trin. Coll. Hem.
95 (NED.); ‘And meny crouche on hus cloke’, P. Plowman, C. viii. 167;
_cruche_, id., B. v. 529; _cros_, id., A. vi. 13. We may perhaps compare
OF. _croche_, the Picard form of OF. _croce_, a crosier; Ch. Rol. 1670;
Med. L. _crocia_, _crochia_, ‘baculus pastoralis’ (Ducange).
=crown of the sun,= a French gold coin. Massinger, Unnat. Combat, i. 1
(Mont.); ‘_Escu sol_, a crown of the sun; the best kind of crown that is
now made’, Cotgrave.
=crowner,= a coroner. Hamlet, v. 1. 4. In gen. prov. use (EDD.).
=crow-trodden,= abused, humiliated. Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the
Country, iv. 4 (Rutilio). See NED. (s.v. Crow-tread).
=cruddes,= curds; ‘A messe of cruddes’, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 18;
‘Cruddes, _coagulum_’, Levins, Manip.; Baret, Alvearie. In prov. use in
Scotland, Ireland, and in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Crud). _Crud_ is related to _crowd_, to press close, see EDD. (s.v.
Crowd, vb.^{1} 3).
=crudded,= reduced to a curd-like mass, Heywood, Silver Age
(Cerberus). ME. _cruddyd_, ‘coagulatus’ (Prompt.).
=cruddle, crudle,= to curdle; ‘Cruddled me like cheese’, BIBLE, Job x.
10 (1611); Beaumont and Fl., The False One, iii. 2. 2; King and No King,
i. 1; Marston, Antonia, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). In prov. use in Scotland,
Ireland, and in various parts of England (EDD.).
=crumenall;= ‘The fat oxe that wont ligge in the stall, Is now fast
stalled in her (=their) crumenall’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 119.
Apparently in sense ‘purse’ or ‘pouch’ (NED.).
=crusoile,= a crucible. Marston, Insatiate Countess, i. 1 (Rogers). OF.
_croisuel_. See Hatzfeld (s.v. Creuset).
=cruzado, crusado,= the name of a Portuguese gold coin, of variable
value. Othello, iii. 4. 26; White Devil (Vittoria), ed. Dyce, p. 23. So
called from the cross on one side of it.
=cry:= phr. _a cry of hounds_, a pack of hounds. Webster, Devil’s
Law-case, ii. 1 (Sanitonella). Hence _cry_, a pack (of hounds), Mids.
Night’s D. iv. 1. 128; _cry of curs_, pack of curs, Cor. iii. 3. 120.
_Without all cry_, beyond all description, Chapman, Blind Beggar, p. 4.
=cry creak,= to confess oneself beaten or in error; to give up the
contest, to give in. Thersites, 100 (ed. Pollard, Misc. Plays); Tusser,
Husbandry, § 47. 2; T. Watson, Centuries of Love, i (ed. Arber, 37);
Damon and Pithias, Anc. Eng. Drama, i. 88; ‘_Palinodiam canere_, to
turne taile, to cry creake’, Withal, Dict. (ed. 1634).
=cucking-stool,= an engine for the punishment of scolds, by ducking them
in the water. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Quarlous); Butler,
Hudibras, ii. 2. 740. See Cowell, Interpreter, 1637; Brand, Pop. Antiq.
(ed. 1877, p. 641).
=cuckquean,= a female cuckold. Golding, tr. of Ovid, Met. vi. 606 (Latin
text); ed. 1603. Spelt _cockqueene_; Warner, Albion’s England, bk. i,
ch. 4, st. 1.
=cuck-stool,= an old punishment for scolds; the offender was fastened in
a kind of chair, and exposed to be jeered at, or was ducked in water.
Also called a =cucking-stool,= q.v. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 1
(Petronius), Middleton, Fam. of Love, v. 1 (Glister).
=cucurbite,= a kind of retort used in alchemy. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1
(Face). Shaped like a gourd, L. _cucurbita_.
=cudden,= a born fool, dolt. Dryden, Cymon, 179; Sir Martin Mar-all, v.
3. Wycherley, Gentl. Dancing-master, iv. 1.
=cue,= a small portion. ‘A cue of bread and a cue of beer’, Middleton,
The Black Book (near the end). ‘_Cue_, halfe a farthing, so called
because they set down in the Battling or Butterie Books the letter _q_
for half a farthing,’ Minsheu; ‘Not worthe a cue’, Skelton,
Magnyfycence, 36; ‘Worth ii. kues,’ id., Why Come ye Nat to Courte, 232.
_Q._ for L. _quadrans_, the smallest coin. See =cee.=
=cuerpo, in,= in hose and doublet, without a cloak; stripped of the
upper garment so as to display the body. Ben Jonson, New Inn, ii. 2
(Tipto); Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1. 26. Span. _en cuerpo_,
having nothing on but the shirt; _cuerpo_, body. See Stanford.
=cullisen, cullison,= ignorant pronunciations of cognisance. B. Jonson.
Ev. Man out of Humour, i. 1 (Sogliardo); a badge, id., Case is altered,
iv. 4 (Onion). See NED. (s.v. Cullisance).
=cully,= a dupe, a simpleton. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 2. 781; Otway,
Cheats of Scapin, i. 1 (Scapin). [To make a fool of, to take in, Pope,
Wife of Bath, 161.]
=culm,= summit; ‘On giddy top and culm’, Misfortunes of Arthur, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 313. G. _kulm_, a mountain-top; L. _culmen_.
=culme,= soot, smut. Golding, Metam. ii. 232; fol. 18, bk. (1603); as
adj. sooty, black, id. vii. 529; fol. 86, bk. The same word as _coom_,
coal-dust, soot, dirt,’ in prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and various
parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Coom, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _culme_
(_colme_), ‘fuligo’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 477).
=culver-down,= dove’s down. Machin, Dumb Knight, iii. 1 (Epire). OE.
_culfre_, a dove.
=curats,= a piece of armour for the body, a cuirass; ‘He casts away his
curats and his shield’, Harington, Orl. Fur.; spelt _curets_, Chapman,
Iliad iii, 343. Treated as pl., with a sing. _curat_, Spenser, F. Q. v.
8. 34. Cp. Ital. _corazza_, a cuirass (Florio). See Dict.
=curber,= a thief who hooks things through a window; an angler.
Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll). From _curb_, a cant word for a
hook, see NED.
=curiosity,= nicety, fastidiousness, excessive, scrupulousness.
Massinger, City Madam, i. 1 (Tradewell); ‘Concerning the enterring of
her . . . I pray you let the same be performed without all curiositie
and superstition’, Holland’s Plutarch, Morals, 533 (Bible Word-Book).
=curiousness,= punctilious scrupulousness. Massinger, Parl. of Love, i.
4 (Chamont); Unnat. Combat, iii. 4 (Beauf. Junior).
=curry,= a ‘quarry’, i.e. slaughtered game. Chapman, tr. Iliad, xvi.
145, 693. OF. _cuiree_, intestines of a slain animal; the part given to
the hounds, so called because wrapped in the skin (_cuir_); O. Prov.
_corada_, ‘entrailles’ (Levy). See NED. (s.v. Quarry, sb.^{1}).
=curry-favell,= one who solicits favour by flattery. Puttenham, _Eng.
Poesie_, iii. 24 (ed. Arber, 299); ‘Curryfavell, a flatterer, _estrille
faveau_’, Palsgrave; altered to _curry-favour_, ‘A number of prodigal
currie favours’, Holinshed, Chron. ii. 144 (NED.); _Curriedow_, a
curry-favour or flatterer, Phillips. In earlier English ‘Favel’ occurs
as the proper name of a fallow-coloured horse. The fallow horse was
proverbial as the type of hypocrisy and duplicity, with reference to the
‘equus pallidus’ of Apoc. vi. 8, which was explained as representing the
hypocrites who gain a reputation for sanctity by the ascetic pallor of
their faces (see Rom. Rose, 7391-8). With the phrase ‘to curry favel’
cp. OF. _estriller_, _torcher Fauvel_, adopted in German: _den fahlen
Hengst streichen_. See NED. (s.v. Favel) for origin, and see =Favell.=
=cursen,= Christian; ‘As I am a cursen man’, Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, iv. 6
(Carter); ‘By my Cursen soule’, Brome, Sparagus Gard. iii. 7; ‘We be
Cursenfolke’, id. iv. 5; _cursen name_, Christian name, Mrs. Behn,
Feign’d Curtizan, i. 2; to christen, baptize; _cursen’d_, pp.
christened, Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 3 (Nan). For the
pronunciation, see EDD. (s.v. Christen).
=curst,= cross, ill-tempered. Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 185; Beaumont and Fl.,
Philaster, ii. 3 (Arethusa). In prov. use in the north and in the W.
Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Curst, 2).
=curtal,= having a docked tail; ‘Curtal dog’, Merry Wives, ii. 1. 114;
said of a horse, All’s Well, ii. 3. 65. ‘Docke your horse tayle, and
make hym a courtault’, Palsgrave; in form _courteau_, a horse with a
docked tail, used as a term of derision, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v.
2 (Anaides). OF. _courtaut_, ‘écourté’ (Hatzfeld); _courtault_, ‘cheval
ou chien de courte taille. On appelait aussi _courtault_ le chien ou le
cheval qui avait la queue coupée’ (Jannet, Glossaire, Rabelais).
=curtana,= the sword of mercy, a pointless sword, carried before our
kings at a coronation. Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 419. See Ducange,
s.v. The name of the legendary sword of ‘Ogier le Danois’ was
_Courtain_.
=cushes,= ‘cuisses’, pieces, of armour protecting the thighs. 1 Hen. IV,
iv. 1. 105 (1596); Heywood, Iron Age, Part II, v. 1. 15.
=cushion:= phr. _to miss the cushion_, to make a mistake. Lit. to sit
down amiss. ‘Whan he weneth to syt, Yet may he mysse the quysshon’,
Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 998; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, § 24.
=cushion-cloth,= a cushion-case or cover. Middleton, Women beware Women,
iii. 1 (Bianca); _cusshencloth_, Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 475.
=custard-politic,= a large custard prepared for the Lord Mayor’s feast.
B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (Lick.).
=customer,= a custom-house officer, ‘publicanus’. Udall, Erasmus’s
Paraph. on Mark, ii. 22; Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 1 (Erostrato). In use
in this sense in Scotland (EDD.).
=cut,= a lot; he who drew the shortest (or rarely, the longest) of some
pieces of stick or paper drew the lot. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels,
Induction (2 Child, and 3 Child). ME. _cut_, lot (Chaucer, C. T. A.
845). Probably unconnected with the vb. ‘to cut’, see NED.
=cut,= a dog or horse with a cut or docked tail; hence, a term of abuse
applied to a man. ‘Call me cut’, Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 203 (cp. ‘call me
horse’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 215); London Prodigal, ii. 4. 41. _Cut_, a
common horse, Merry Devil, i. 3. 141; Dauncaster _cuttys_, Doncaster
nags, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 296. See =cut and longtail.=
=cut:= phr. _to keep cut_, to be coy, to be on one’s best behaviour;
‘Phyllyp, kepe youre cut’, Skelton, P. Sparowe, 119; ‘To keep cut with
his mother’, i.e. to be coy like her, to follow her example, Middleton,
More Dissemblers, i. 4 (Dondolo). See NED. (s.v. Cut, sb.^{2} 34).
=cut and longtail,= dogs or horses (or men) of every kind; i.e. those
that are docked and those whose tails are allowed to grow. Merry Wives,
iii. 4. 44; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 2. 68.
=cut bene whids,= to speak good words, speak fair. (Cant.) Fletcher,
Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). See Harman, Caveat, p. 84.
=cut over,= to pass straight across; ‘Caligula lying in Fraunce . . .
intended to cutte over, and invade Englande’, Gosson, School of Abuse,
p. 16.
=cutchy,= a ‘coach-y’; a driver of a coach; ‘Make thee [a] poor Cutchy’
(cp. _coach_ in the preceding line), Return from Parnassus, iii. 4
(Furor).
=cute,= a cur; ‘Some yelping Cute’, Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 340; explained
by ‘a cur’ in the margin. It is probably merely a variant of _cut_, a
short-tailed dog; see =cut and longtail.=
=cutted,= abrupt, snappish, sharp in reply. Middleton, Women beware,
iii. 1. 4. Used in this sense in Devon and Cornwall (EDD.).
=cutter,= a cut-throat, bully, bravo. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at Several
Weapons, iii. 1 (Gregory). Hence, title of the play by Cowley, The
Cutter of Coleman Street. With a quibble upon _cutting_, Middleton,
Mayor of Queenborough, ii. 3 (Simon).
=cutting,= swaggering. Greene, Friar Bacon, ii. 2 (516); scene 5. 19
(W.); p. 159, col. 1 (D.).
=cutting,= cheating. Marston, Dutch Courtesan, ii. 3 (end).
=cutwork,= open work in linen, cut out by hand. Gascoigne, Steel Glas,
777 (ed. Arber, p. 71); Fletcher, Span. Curate, iii. 2 (Lopez).
=cymar,= a loose light garment for women. Dryden, Virgil, Aeneid iv,
196; Cymon, 100. See =symarr.=
=cynarctomachy,= a word invented by Butler (Hudibras, i. 1. 752) to
signify a battle between a bear and dogs. Gk. κύων, a dog, ἄρκτος, a
bear, μάχη, a fight.
=cypers grass,= the sweet cyperus or galingale. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey
iv. 802. GK. κύπειρον, a sweet-smelling marsh-plant (Od. iv. 603).
=cypress,= a textile fabric, esp. a light transparent material
resembling cobweb lawn or crape; when black much used for mourning.
Twelfth Nt. iii. 1. 131; _cypress lawn_, Milton, Penseroso, 35. Probably
fr. OF. _Cipre_, the island of Cyprus.
D
=dabbing down,= hanging down like wet clothes, in a dabbled state.
Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vi. 359.
=dade,= to walk with tottering steps, to toddle, like an infant learning
to walk. Drayton, Pol. i. 295; xiv. 289. Still in use in Leicestersh.
and Warwicksh. (EDD.).
=dædale,= ingenious, skilful. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 2; also, variously
adorned (cp. daedala tellus, Lucret. i. 7), id., iv. 10. 45. L.
_daedalus_, Gk. δαίδαλος, skilful.
=daff,= to put off, put aside. A variant of _doff_, to do off, put off.
1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 96; and elsewhere in Shakespeare.
=daff,= a simpleton; a coward; ‘(The Bishop of Llandaff) answers, The
_daffe_ is here, but the _land_ is gone’, Harrison, Descr. England, bk.
ii, ch. ii (ed. Furnivall, 58). In prov. use in both senses in Yorks.
(EDD.). ME. _daf_: ‘I sal been halde a daf, a cokenay’ (Chaucer, C. T.
A. 4208).
=daffysh,= foolish. Morte Arthur, leaf 205. 10; bk. ix, c. 13. In prov.
use in Derbysh., Warwicksh., and W. Midlands in the sense of sheepish
(EDD.).
=dag,= a small pistol; ‘This gun? a dag?’, Beaumont and Fl., Love’s
Cure, ii. 2 (Lucio); Arden of Fev. iii. 6. 9; ‘_Pistolet_, a pistolet, a
dag, or little pistol’, Cotgrave.
=Dagonet,= a foolish young knight. Davenant, The Wits, ii. 1 (Ginet).
Sir Dagonet was a foolish knight in the court of Arthur; see 2 Hen. IV,
iii. 2. 300: ‘Sir Dagonet in Arthur’s show’.
=dagswain, daggeswane,= a rough coverlet. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2195.
ME. _daggeswayn_, ‘lodex’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 528).
=dain,= disdain; hence, ignominy; ‘A deepe daine’, Lyly, Sappho, v. 1;
‘dennes of daine’, Mirror for Mag., Cordila, st. 31. Cp. F. _dain_,
dainty, fine, curious (Cotgr.). (The word in England seems to have
developed a subst. meaning of ‘squeamishness’, ‘stand-offishness’.)
=dain,= to disdain. Greene, Alphonsus, i. Prol. (Venus); iii. (Medea).
=dalliance,= hesitation, delay. 1 Hen. VI, v. 2. 5; Virgin-Martyr, iv. 1
(Sapritius). See Dict. (s.v. Dally).
=damassin,= damson. Bacon, Essay 46. F. _damaisine_, ‘a Damascene, or
damson plumb’ (Cotgr.).
=damnify,= to injure. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 52; ii. 6. 3. Common in this
sense in East Anglia and America (EDD.).
=damps,= dumps, fits of melancholy. Rowley, All’s Lost, iii. 1. 118.
=dandiprat,= a small coin worth 3 halfpence, first coined by Henry VII
(of unknown origin). Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1 (Hippolito).
Also, a dwarf, page; applied to Cupid (!) in Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid,
i. p. 41 (ed. Arber); as also in Shirley, Arcadia, i. 3 (Dametas).
=danger:= phr. _to be in_ (or _within_) _one’s danger_, to be in one’s
debt, or under an obligation, or in one’s power, Massinger, Fatal Dowry,
i. 2 (Charalois); cp. Merch. Venice, iv. 1. 180; King John, iv. 8. 84.
In ME. _in daunger_, within a person’s jurisdiction, under his control,
at his disposal (Chaucer). OF. _dangier_, the absolute authority of a
feudal lord (Godefroy), Romanic type _domniarium_, deriv. of L.
_dominus_ (Hatzfeld). See Trench, Select Glossary.
=Dansk,= Danish. Webster, White Devil (Giovanni), ed. Dyce, p. 13. Also
used to mean Denmark, Drayton, Polyolb. bk. xi. Dan. _Dansk_, Danish.
=dant,= a worthless, talkative woman. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 515. Du.
_dante_, or _dantelorie_, ‘a base babling woman’; _danten_, ‘to bable’
(Hexham).
=dappard,= dapper. Triumphs of Love and Fortune, iv. 1 (Lentulo); in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 198.
=daps,= pl. habits, ways, peculiarities. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv.
447. See EDD. (s.v. Dap, sb. 11).
=darby,= money. (Cant.) ‘The ready, the darby’, Shadwell, Squire of
Alsatia, i. 1 (Shamwell). Prob. with reference to _Darby_, a
money-lender; see below.
=Darby’s bands,= supposed to have orig. meant a very strict bond exacted
by some usurer of that name; see NED. (Later it meant fetters.) ‘If all
be too little, both goods and lands, I know not what will please you,
except Darby’s bands’, Marriage of Wit and Science (licensed in
1569-70), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 362; Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 787 (ed.
1576).
=dare,= to terrify, paralyse with fear. Beaumont and Fl., Maid’s
Tragedy, iv. 1 (Evadne); _to dare larks_, to daze them in order to catch
them, Hen. VIII, iii. 2. 282; ‘Never hobby so dared a lark’, Burton,
Anat. Mel. (ed. 1896, iii. 390). In prov. use in various parts of
England, see EDD. (s.v. Dare, vb.^{2} 3).
=dare,= to injure, hurt. Chapman, tr. Iliad, xi. 406; Tusser, Husbandry,
8. In prov. use in the north of England and E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v.
Dare, vb.^{3}). OE. _derian_, to hurt, deriv. of _daru_, hurt.
=darkling,= in the dark. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 2. 86; King Lear, i. 4.
237.
=darkmans,= a cant term for night. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Trapdoor); Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).
=darnex carpet,= a Dornick carpet. Fletcher, Noble Gentleman, v. 1
(Jaques). ‘Dornick’ is the Flemish name of Tournay.
=darraigne battle,= to set the battle in array. Heywood, Sallust’s
Jugurtha, 20; Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 40; 3 Hen. VI, ii. 2. 72; ‘To
darraine a triple warre’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 26. ME. _darreyne the
bataille_, to fight out the battle, to bring it to a decisive issue
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 1631). ‘Darraigne’ is really a law-term, Anglo-F.
_darreiner_, _dereiner_, to answer an accusation, to exculpate oneself
(Rough List); Med. L. _disrationare_ (Ducange).
=darreine,= brazen; ‘The Darreine Tower’, Heywood, Golden Age, A. iv
(Neptune); vol. iii, p. 55; (4 Beldam), p. 61; also called ‘the tower of
Darreine’ (4 lines higher). The reference is to the brazen tower in
which Danae was enclosed. F. _d’arain_, of brass (Cotgr.). (‘Darrain’
occurs nine times in Caxton, Hist. of Troye, with reference to the same
story; the phrase _tour of darrain_ is on leaf 62.)
=dart, Irish,= a dart frequently carried by an Irish running footman.
Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Chough).
=daunt,= to bring into subjection, subdue, tame; ‘It daunts whole
kingdoms and cities’, Burton, Anat. Mel. i. 2 (NED.); to daze, stupefy,
Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 18. In prov. use in the sense of ‘to tame’, also,
in E. Anglia, ‘to stun, knock down’ (EDD.). ME. _daunten_, to tame (P.
Plowman, B. xv. 393. Anglo-F. _daunter_ (Bozon). See Dict.
=daunted down,= beaten down, subdued. Gascoigne, Grief of Joy, Third
Song, st. 18.
=daw,= a (supposed) foolish bird; _fig._ a foolish person. 1 Hen. VI,
ii. 4. 18; Coriolanus, iv. 5. 48. So used in Lincoln, see EDD. (s.v.
Daw, sb.^{1} 2).
=daw,= to frighten, subdue. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, iv. 1 (Wit.). See
=adaw.=
=daw,= to arouse, awaken. Drayton, Pol. vi. 112. So used in the north
country, see EDD. (s.v. Daw, vb. 2); a trans. use of ME. _dawen_,
_dawyn_, ‘auroro’ (Prompt.), OE. _dagian_, to become day.
=daw up,= to cheer up, revive. Greene, James IV, v. 1 (Lady A.). See
above.
=day-bed,= a couch, sofa. Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 54; Fletcher, Rule a Wife,
i. 6 (Estifania); iii. 1 (Margarita).
=dayesman, daysman,= a judge, an umpire. BIBLE, Job ix. 33; Spenser, F.
Q. ii. 8. 28; ‘Daysman, _arbitre_’, Palsgrave; New Custom, i. 2, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 14.
=dead pay,= pay continued to a dead soldier, taken by dishonest officers
for themselves. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 1 (Knavesby).
=deane,= ‘din’, noise. Golding, Metam. xii. 316 (L. _fremitu_); fol. 147
(1603). ‘Dean’ is an E. Anglian word (EDD.). ME. _dene_, noise (P.
Plowman), a dialect form of _dyne_ (ib.), OE. _dyne_.
=deane,= a strong, offensive smell; ‘The breath of Lions hath a very
strong deane and stinking smell’, Holland, Pliny, bk. xi, ch. 53. In
prov. use in Wilts., see EDD. (s.v. Dain). OE. *_déan_, corresponding to
Icel. _daunn_, a smell, esp. a bad smell.
=deare,= harm; see =dere.=
=dearne, dearnful, dearnly;= see =dern, dernful, dernly.=
=debate,= to combat, fight. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 6; Lucrece, 1421. F.
_debatre_, ‘to debate, contend’, (Cotgr.).
=debel,= to conquer in war, defeat. Milton, P. R. iv. 605; Warner,
Albion’s England, bk. ii, ch. 8, st. 53. L. _delellare_ (Virgil).
=debenter,= a voucher given in the Exchequer certifying to the recipient
the sum due to him, a ‘debenture’. Edwards, Damon and Pithias, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 77. See Dict.
=deboshed,= debased, corrupted, ‘debauched’. Temp. iii. 2. 29; King
Lear, i. 4. 263; vilified, All’s Well, v. 3. 208; deboshtly,
licentiously, Heywood, Dialogue 4 (Works, vi. 173); ‘_Desbaucher_, to
debosh’, Cotgrave. In use in Scotland (EDD.).
=decard,= to ‘discard’, throw away a card, in a card-game; ‘Can you
decard?’, Machin, Dumb Knight, iv (Phylocles).
=decimo sexto,= a term applied to a small book, in which each leaf is
one-sixteenth of the whole sheet of paper; hence, _fig._, a diminutive
person or thing; ‘My dancing braggart in decimo sexto’, B. Jonson,
Cynthia’s Revels, i. 1. (Mercury); ‘One bound up in decimo sexto’,
Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 2 (Sylli). See Stanford.
=deck,= a pack of cards. 3 Hen. VI, v. i. 44; Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce,
p. 339); ‘Pride deales the Deck, whilst Chance doth choose the Card’,
Barnfield, Sheph. Content, viii (NED.). See Nares. In prov. use in
various parts of England, also in Ireland and America (EDD.).
=decline,= to turn aside, to swerve. BIBLE, Ps. cxix. 157; to turn a
person aside from, to divert, Beaumont and Fl., Valentinian, iii. 1;
Massinger, Maid of Honour, i. 1 (Roberto); to undervalue, disparage,
depreciate, Shirley, Cardinal, ii. 1 (Alphonso); id., Brothers, i. 1; to
subdue, ‘How to decline their wives and curb their manners’, Beaumont
and Fl., Rule a Wife, ii. 4 (Estifania).
=decrew,= to decrease. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 18. OF. _decreu_, F.
_décrû_, pp. of _decrestre_ (_décroître_), to decrease.
=decus,= a crown-piece. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, ii. 1 (Belfond
Senior). A slang term; from the L. words _decus et tutamen_, engraved
upon the rim.
=deduce,= to deduct. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, ii. 1 (Sir Moth). L.
_deducere_, to lead away, withdraw.
=deduct,= to reduce. Massinger, Old Law, iii. 1 (Gnotho). See NED.
=deduction,= a leading forth of a colony. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, vi.
455; used as a synonym for ‘dismission’ (i.e. dismissal), id., xix. 423,
427. L. _deductio_, a leading forth of a colony, deriv. of _deducere_,
to lead forth, conduct a colony to a place.
=deduit,= diversion, enjoyment, pleasure. _Deduytes_, pleasures, Caxton,
Hist. Troye, leaf 27. 18. ME. _deduit_, pleasure (Chaucer, C. T. A.
2177), OF. _deduit_ (Bartsch), _deduyt_ (Rabelais), Med. L. _deductus_,
‘animi oblectatio’ (Ducange).
=defail,= to defeat, cause to fail. Machin, Dumb Knight, i (Epire); in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 128. Only found here in this sense.
=defalcate,= curtailed. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 10, § 1.
Med. L. _defalcare_, ‘deducere, subtrahere’ (Ducange).
=defalk,= to cut off, deduct; ‘I defalke, I demynysshe, I cutte awaye’,
Palsgrave. See above.
=defame,= dishonour. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 316); Fletcher,
Prophetess, i. 1 (Aurelia).
=defeature,= defeat, ruin. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 17; disfigurement, Com.
Errors, ii. 1. 98; ii. 5. 299.
=defend,= to forbid. Much Ado, ii. 1. 98; Marl., Massacre at Paris ii. 5
(Navarre); Milton, P. L. xi. 86; Spenser, F. Q. v. 8. 19. F. _défendre_,
to forbid.
=define,= to decide, settle. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 3.
=deform,= unsightly, ugly. Milton, P. L. ii. 706. Lat. _deformis_,
unsightly.
=defoul, defoil,= to dishonour. Morte Arthur, leaf 39. 1; bk. ii, c. 1;
lf. 71. 28; bk. iv, c. 18. F. _defouler_, to tread or trample on
(Cotgr.); associated in meaning with the E. adj. _foul_.
=defy,= to reject, disdain, despise. Merch. Ven. iii. 5. 75; Hamlet, v.
2. 230. OF. _desfier_, O. Prov. _desfiar_, _desfizar_ ‘désavouer,
répudier’ (Levy). Med. L. _diffidare_ (Ducange). See NED. (s.v. Defy,
vb.^{1} 5).
=de gambo,= a ‘viol-de-gambo’. Beaumont and Fl., The Chances, iv. 2
(Antonio). See =viol-de-gamboys.=
=degender,= to degenerate. Spenser, F. Q. v. 1. 2; Hymn of Heavenly
Love, 94.
=degree,= a step, stair; round of a ladder. Jul. Caesar, ii. 1. 26;
Massinger, Roman Actor, iii. 2. 21. F. _degré_, ‘a stair, step, greese’
(Cotgr.).
=dehort,= to dissuade. Lyly, Euphues, ed. Arber, p. 106; Davenant, The
Wits, iv. 1 (Thwack). L. _dehortari_.
=delate,= to accuse. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 3 (Mosca). _Delated_, fully
or expressly stated (or conveyed), Hamlet, i. 2. 38. Med. L. _delatare_,
to indict, accuse (Ducange).
=delay,= to temper, assuage, quench. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 30; iii. 12.
42; Prothalamion, 3; to dilute, ‘She can drink a cup of wine not delayed
with water’, Davenport, City Nightcap, 1 (Dorothea); in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, xiii. 114. OF. (Norm.) _desleier_, to unbind, soften by
steeping, Romanic type _disligare_, to unbend; see NED.
=delewine, deal-wine,= an unidentified wine; supposed to have been a
Rhenish wine. B. Jonson, Mercury Vindicated (Mercury’s second speech);
Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, v. 1; where Sir T. Bornwell says—‘Where
_deal_ and _backrag_ [Bacharach] and what _strange wine else_’, &c.
=delibate,= to taste, to taste a little of. Marmion, The Antiquary, iii.
1 (Duke). L. _delibare_, to taste slightly.
=delice,= delight, pleasure. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 28; iv. 10. 6. F.
_délices_, pl, L. _deliciae_, delights.
=delirement,= a crazy fancy, delusion. Heywood, Silver Age, A. ii
(Amphitrio); vol. iii, p. 107; id., Dialogue 4; vol. vi, p. 179. F.
_délirement_; L. _deliramentum_, madness.
=deliver,= active, nimble, agile. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 12,
§ last; ‘Delyver of ones Gunnes as they that prove mastryes, _souple_.
Delyver redy quicke to do anythyng, _agile_, _delivré_’, Palsgrave. ME.
_deliver_, quick, active (Chaucer, C. T. A. 84). OF. _delivre_,
_deslivre_, prompt, alert, O. Prov. _deliure_, ‘libre, délivré; alerte;
non chargé; en parlant d’une bête’; see Levy. Med. L. _deliberare_,
‘liberare, redimere’ (Ducange).
=dell,= a virgin, a wench. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1
(Prigg). See Harman, Caveat, p. 75.
=deluvye,= the deluge. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 273, back, 30. L.
_diluvium_, the deluge (Vulgate).
=demain,= demesne, domain. Dryden, On Mrs. A. Killigrew, 103;
_demeanes_, pl., Romeo, iii. 5. 182 (1592). ME. _demayn_, a possession
(Trevisa), see NED. (s.v. Demesne, 3); OF. _demeine_, Med. L.
‘_dominicum_ quod ad dominum spectat’ (Ducange). See =payne mayne.=
=demean=(=e,= behaviour, demeanour; ‘Another Damsell . . . modest of
demayne’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 40; treatment (of others), id. vi. 6.
18. See Dict. (s.v. Demean (1)).
=demeans,= means of subsistence. Massinger, Picture, i. 1. 22.
=demerit,= merit; in a good sense. Coriolanus, i. 1. 276; Othello, i. 2.
2; Shirley, Humorous Courtier, ii. 2 (Duchess).
=demi-culverin,= a kind of cannon, with a bore of about 4 inches. B.
Jonson, Every Man in Hum., iii. 1 (Bobadil).
=demi-footcloth,= a demi-housing, or short housing; see =footcloth.=
Webster, White Devil (Brachiano), ed. Dyce, p. 22.
=demiss,= humble, abject. Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love, 135. L.
_demissus_.
=democcuana,= not explained; perhaps, a kind of mixed drink; see
=stiponie.= Etherege, Love in a Tub, v. 4 (Sir Frederick).
=Demogorgon,= the name of one of the Spirits of the Abyss. Milton, P. L.
ii. 965; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 47; co-ruler with Beelzebub, in Marlowe
Faustus, iii. 18; the patron of alchemists, Howell, Instructions for
Forraine Travell (Arber’s ed., p. 81). Demogorgon is an important
character in Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound. Late L. _Demogorgon_, (1) the
name of a terrible deity invoked in magic rites, (2) the primordial God
of ancient mythology. Probably a corruption of Gk. δημιουργός, the Maker
of the World, the Fabricator, in the Neo-Platonic philosophy opp. to
κτίστης, the Creator. By popular etymology this δημιουργός was
associated with the Greek words δαίμων, a demon, and Γοργώ, the Gorgon,
i.e. the Grim One (γοργός). See Stanford, and NED.
=dempt,= _pt. t._ ‘deemed’, adjudged. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 55; Shep.
Kal., Aug., 137.
=demulce,= to mollify. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, § 1. L.
_demulcere_, to stroke down.
=denay,= to deny. Greene, Alphonsus, iii (Medea); ed. Dyce, 237; denial,
Twelfth Nt. ii. 4. 127. Norm. F. _deneier_, ‘refuser, rejeter’ (Moisy),
L. _denegare_.
=denier,= a French coin, the twelfth of a sou. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 3. 91;
Richard III, i. 2. 252. OF. _denier_, L. _denarius_. The _denarius_ was
a Roman silver coin of the value of ten ‘asses’ (about eightpence of
modern English money). When our accounts were kept in Latin, the term
_denarius_ was used for our ‘penny’, and abbreviated _d._; hence the _d_
in our _£. s. d._
=depaint,= to depict. Sackville, Induction, st. 58; B. Googe, Popish
Kingdom, bk. i, fol. 10, l. 5. ME. _depeynten_ (NED.).
=depart,= to separate; formerly in the Marriage Service, but altered at
the Savoy Conference into ‘till death us do part’, Spenser, F. Q. ii.
10. 14. ME. _departe_, to separate (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1134).
=depart,= departure. Two Gent. v. 4. 96; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 20. F.
_départ_, departure.
=dependence,= a quarrel or affair of honour ‘depending’, or awaiting
settlement, according to the laws of the duello. B. Jonson, Devil an
Ass, iv. 1 (Fitz.); Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, v. 5 (Sanchio).
_Masters of Dependencies_, needy bravoes, who undertook to regulate
duels between the inexperienced, Massinger, Maid of Honour, i. 1
(Bertoldo); Fletcher, Elder Brother, v. 1.
=deprave,= erroneously used for _deprive_. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce,
pp. 499, 511; Burton, Anat. Mel. i. 2. See NED.
=deprehend,= to detect, perceive. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 10,
§ last but 4; Bacon, Sylva, § 98. L. _deprehendere_, to seize.
=Derby’s bands;= see =Darby’s bands.=
=dere,= to harm. Barclay, Mirror Good Manners (NED.); Palsgrave; spelt
_deare_, Phaer, tr. Aeneid, iii. 139; to annoy, trouble, grieve. Caxton,
Reynard (ed. Arber, 106); harm, hurt, Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 48. ME.
_deren_, to harm, injure (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 651); to grieve
(Cursor M. 7377); OE. _derian_, to injure, annoy (Sweet). See =dare.=
=dern,= dark, solitary, wild. Pericles, iii, Prol. 15; King Lear, iii.
7. 63; dark, dire; ‘Queene Elizabeth died, a dearne day to England’,
Leigh, Drumme Devot. 35 (NED.); ‘Dearne, _dirus_’, Levins, Manipulus. In
prov. use in the north country in the sense of dark, obscure, secret;
also, dreary, solitary, see EDD. (s.v. Dern, adj.^{1} 1 and 2). OE.
(Anglian) _derne_, (WS.) _dyrne_, _dierne_, secret, dark (BT. Suppl.
s.v. Dirne).
=dernful,= dreary, Spenser, Mourning Muse, 90.
=dernly, dearnly,= mournfully, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 85;
sternly, id., iii. 1. 14; iii. 12. 34.
=derrick,= a hangman; hanging; the gallows; ‘Derrick must be his host’,
Puritan Widow, iv. 1. 11; ‘Deric . . . is with us abusively used for a
Hangman because one of that name was not long since a famed executioner
at Tiburn’, Blount, Glossogr.; ‘I would there were a Derick to hang up
him’, Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins (ed. Arber, 17). Du. _Dierryk_,
_Diederik_, Theoderic.
=derring do,= daring action or feats, desperate courage; ‘A derring
doe’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 65, and Dec, 43; F. Q. ii. 4. 42. [In
imitation of Spenser, Sir. W. Scott has the phrase ‘a deed of
derring-do’ (Ivanhoe, ch. 29).] Hence, _derring-doer_, F. Q. iv. 2. 38.
Spenser’s ‘derring doe’ is due to a misunderstanding of a construction
in Chaucer’s Tr. and Cr. v. 837, where ‘in dorryng don’ means ‘in daring
to do’ (what belongeth to a Knight). See NED.
=descovenable,= unbefitting. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 15, back, 12.
Spelt _discouenable_, Game of the Chesse, bk. ii, c. 5 (p. 70 of Axon’s
reprint). OF. _descovenable_.
=descrive,= to describe. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 25; vi. 12. 21. OF.
_descrivre_. L. _describere_.
=dese,= a ‘dais’, a raised table in a hall at which distinguished
persons sat at feasts; ‘The hye dese’, Skelton, El. Rummyng, 175. ME.
_dese_ (Will. Palerne, 4564), _dees_ (Chaucer, Hous Fame, 1360, 1658).
Norm. F. _deis_ (Moisy), Med. L. _discus_, a table (cp. G. _Tisch_).
=design,= to indicate, show. Richard II, i. 1. 203; Spenser, F. Q. v. 7.
8.
=despoiled,= partially stripped; as in playing at the palm-play. Surrey,
Prisoned in Windsor, 13; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 13.
=desroy,= to ‘disarray’, disorder. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 33. 26;
_desray_, id., lf. 188. 15.
=detort,= to twist aside, to wrest. Dryden, Pref. to Religio Laici, § 4.
L. _detort-us_, pp. of _de-torquere_, to twist aside.
=detract,= to draw apart, pull asunder. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p.
515; to hold back, keep oneself in the background, Greene, James IV, i.
1 (Ateukin).
=Deu guin!,= a Welsh exclamation; app. for _Duw gwyn!_, lit. ‘Blessed
God’. See =Du cat-a whee.= Beaumont and Fl., Mons. Thomas, iv. 2
(Launcelot).
=deuse a vyle,= the country. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Song); ‘_dewse a vyle_, the countrey’, Harman, Caveat, p. 84. See
=Rom-vile.=
=devant,= front of the dress; ‘Perfume my devant’, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s
Revels, v. 2 (Mercury). F. _devant_, before.
=dever,= to ‘endeavour’; ‘_I dever_, I applye my mynde to do a thing’,
Palsgrave.
=deviceful,= full of devices, ingenious, curious. Spenser, F. Q. v. 3.
3; Teares of the Muses, 385.
=devoir,= duty. Spelt _devoyre_; Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 227;
_deuoyr_, endeavour; Greene, Alphonsus, Prol. (near the end); _dever_,
Sternhold and Hopkins, Ps. xxii. 26. F. _devoir_.
=devolve,= to overturn, overthrow. Webster, Appius, i. 3 (Virginius);
Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, v. 4.
=devotion,= an offering made as an act of worship; a gift given in
charity, alms; ‘Then shal the Churche wardens . . . gather the devocion
of the people’, Bk. Com. Pr., Communion, 1552 (‘the alms for the poor,
and other devotions of the people’, 1662); Middleton, No Wit like a
Woman’s, ii. 2 (L. Twilight); _devotions_, objects of religious worship;
‘I beheld your devotions’, BIBLE, Acts xvii. 23 (‘the objects of your
worship’, R. V.); ‘Dametas . . . swearing by no meane devotions’,
Sidney, Arcadia (ed. 1598, p. 282). See Wright’s Bible Word-Book.
=devow,= to devote. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Practice); Holland’s
Ammianus Marcellinus (Nares). F. _dévouer_, to devote.
=dewle;= See =dole= (2).
=dewtry,= ‘datura’; hence, a drug made from the datura or thornapple, a
powerful narcotic. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 1. 321; spelt _deutroa_, Sir
T. Herbert, Travels (ed. 1677, p. 337). Marathi, _dhutrā_; Skt.
_dhattūra_. See Stanford (s.v. Datura).
=diacodion,= an opiate syrup prepared from poppy-heads. Bulleyn, Dial.
against Pestilence (EETS.), p. 51, l. 20; Congreve, Love for Love, iii.
4 (Scandal.). L. _diacodion_ (Pliny). _Dia_ is a prefix set before
medicinal confections that were devised by the Greeks. Gk. διὰ κωδειῶν
(a preparation) made from poppy-heads.
=diametral,= diametrically opposite. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1. 7.
=diapasm,= a scented powder for sprinkling over the person. B. Jonson,
Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer). Gk. διάπασμα, from διαπάσσειν, to
sprinkle.
=diapred,= adorned with a ‘diaper’ pattern; ‘And diapred lyke the
discolored mead’, Spenser, Epithalamion, 51.
=dicacity,= raillery, sarcasm. Heywood, Dialogue 4, vol. vi, p. 185.
Deriv. of L. _dicax_, sarcastic.
=dich:= in phr. ‘Much good dich thy good heart’, Timon, i. 2. 73; ‘Much
good do’t thy good heart’, Dekker, Satiro-mastix (Works, i. 204); ‘Much
good do’t yee’ (riming with ‘sit yee’), ib., i. 214; ‘Much good do it
you’ (vulgarly pronounced and phonetically spelt _mychgoditio_
(Salesbury in 1550), quoted by Ellis in his Early English Pronunciation,
p. 744, note 2. So it is clear that _dich you_ stands for _d’it you_ =
_do it you_. See further in Notes on Eng. Etym., pp. 67-9. Cp. phrase in
use in Cheshire and Lancashire, ‘Much good deet you’, see EDD. (s.v. Do,
subj. mood, § 3).
=dicion,= a dominion, kingdom. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Alexander, § 40;
Augustus, § 6. L. _dicio_, dominion, sovereignty.
=dickens, the,= (in exclamations) the deuce! the devil! Merry Wives,
iii. 2. 20; Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs); vol. 1, p. 40.
=dicker,= half a score; esp. of hides or skins; ‘A dicker of cow-hides’,
Heywood; First Part of King Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 39; The Marriage
Night, ii. 1 (Latchet); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xv. 131. ME. _diker_
(NED.), L. _decuria_, a set of ten; from _decem_, ten. This Latin word
was adopted by the German tribes from ancient times. They had to pay
tribute to the Romans partly in skins, reckoned in _decuriae_ (NED.).
See Schade (s.v. Decher).
=didapper,= a diving bird; humorously, a mistress. Shirley, Gent. of
Venice, iii 4. 8. See =divedopper.=
=Diego,= a common name for a Spaniard. B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 3
(Face); iv. 4 (Subtle). Allusions are often made to a Spaniard so named
who committed an indecency in St. Paul’s Cathedral, as in Middleton,
Blurt, Mr. Constable, iv. 3 (Blurt). Span. _Diégo_, the proper name
_James_, gradually corrupted from _Jacobus_, whence _Yágo_, then
_Diágo_, and at last _Diégo_ (Stevens). James was the patron saint of
Spain. See =Dondego.=
=diery,= harmful; ‘With dreadful _diery_ dent Of wrathful warre’, Mirror
for Mag., Guidericus, st. 12; Carassus, st. 26. See =dere.=
=difficile,= difficult. Butler, Hudibras, i. 1. 53; spelt _dyfficyle_,
Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 311, back, 14. F. _difficile_.
=diffide in,= distrust. Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid, xi. 636;
Congreve, Old Bachelor, v. 1 (Bellmour). L. _diffidere_.
=diffused,= dispersed, scattered. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 4; v. 11. 47;
confused, disordered, distracted, Merry Wives, iv. 4. 54; Hen. V, v. 2.
61.
=diggon,= enough. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 2 (Jenkin); iii. 5 (Jenkin).
In both places the word is used by a Welshman; and in Shirley’s Wedding,
iii. 2, Lodam gives, as a specimen of Welsh—_diggon a camrag_ (for
_digon o Cymraig_), i.e. ‘enough of Welsh.’ Welsh _digon_, enough.
=dight,= to prepare. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 24; as _pp._, arrayed,
decked, Shep. Kal., April, 29; prepared, Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce,
p. 522); framed, Sackville, Induction, st. 55. ‘To dight’ is in prov.
use in Scotland and the north of England in the sense of ‘to prepare’,
also, ‘to adorn, deck oneself’ (EDD.). ME. _dihten_, to prepare, array,
equip (Chaucer), OE. _dihtan_, to appoint, order.
=digladiation,= a fencing contest, hand-to-hand fight; _fig._
disputation, wrangling. Pattenham, E. Poesie, bk. i, c. 17 (ed. Arber,
p. 52). B. Jonson, Discoveries, cxl. Deriv. of L. _digladiari_, to fight
for life and death (Cicero).
=dildo,= ‘a word of obscure origin, occurring in the refrains of
ballads,’ NED. In Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 195.
=dill,= a sweetheart; a cant term; the same as =dell.= Middleton, Span.
Gipsy, iv. 1 (Sancho).
=dilling,= a darling, a well-beloved; ‘Vespasian the dilling of his
time’, Burton, Anat. Mel. (ed. 1896) iii. 27; the youngest, and
therefore the best-beloved child, Drayton, Pol. ii. 115. The word is in
common prov. use for the youngest child, also, the least and weakest of
a brood or litter (EDD.).
=dimble,= a dingle, a deep dell. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 2 (Alken);
Drayton, Pol. ii. 190. Allied to _dimple_, _dingle_. Still in use in the
Midlands, see EDD.
=dint,= to strike. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 31; a stroke, blow, id. i. 7.
47.
=dipsas,= a snake whose bite was said to produce extreme thirst. Milton,
P. L. x. 526; Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2. 1. Gk. δίψας, causing thirst;
from δίφα, thirst.
=dirige,= a ‘dirge’. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 5). ME. _dirige_
(_dyryge_) ‘offyce for dedeman’ (Prompt.). L. _dirige_: this word begins
the antiphon, ‘Dirige, Dominus meus, in conspectu tuo vitam meam’, used
in the first nocturn at mattins in the Office for the Dead; see Way’s
note in Prompt., and Notes to Piers Plowman, C. iv. 467.
=dirk,= to darken, to obscure; ‘Thy wast bignes . . . dirks the beauty
of my blossomes rownd’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 134. See EDD. (s.v.
Dark, 8). ME. _derhyn_, or make _derk_, ‘obscuro, obtenebro’ (Prompt.
EETS., 137).
=disable,= to disparage. As You Like It, iv. 1. 34; Heywood, Eng.
Traveller, iv. 1 (Reignald); Fletcher, Island Princess, iv. 3 (Armusia);
spelt _dishable_, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 21.
=disadventure,= misfortune. _Dissaventures_, pl. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10.
45. ME. _disaventure_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 415).
=disappointed,= unequipped, unprepared. Hamlet, i. 5. 77.
=disceptation,= a discussion, debate. Spelt _desceptations_, pl.;
Heywood, Dialogue 18; vol. vi. p. 248. L. _disceptatio_ (Cicero).
=discide,= to cut or cleave in twain. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 1. 27. L.
_discidere_, to cut in twain.
=disclose,= to hatch. Hamlet, v. 1. 310; Massinger, Maid of Honour, i. 2
(Camiòla); the act of disclosing, the incubation, Hamlet, iii. 1. 175.
=discoloured,= of various colours, variegated. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s
Revels, v. 2 (Crites); v. 3 (Cupid); Beaumont, Masque of the Inner
Temple, l. 10; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 160. L. _discolor_, of
different colours.
=discommodity,= a disadvantage. Bacon, Essay 33.
=discourse,= faculty of reasoning, logical power; ‘discourse and reason’
(i.e. logic and reason), Massinger, Unnat. Combat, ii. 1 (Malef. jun.);
‘Discourse of reason’, reasoning faculty, Hamlet, i. 2. 150.
=discourse,= course of combat, mode of fighting. Beaumont and Fl., King
and No King, ii. 1 (Gob.); Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 14. L. _discursus_, a
running to and fro.
=discretion,= disjunction, separation of parts, dissolution. Butler,
Hudibras, ii. 1. 204. L. _discretio_ (Vulgate, Heb. v. 14 = διάκρισις).
=discure,= to discover. Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 18. ME. _discure_, to
discover (Chaucer, Bk. Duch. 549).
=discuss,= to shake off. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 48; to disperse,
scatter; Lyly, Woman in the Moon, ii. 1. 21. ME. _discusse_, to drive
away (Chaucer, Boethius); see NED. L. _discutere_ (pp. _discussus_), to
drive away.
=disease,= discomfort, inconvenience. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 19; v. 7.
26. ME. _disese_, inconvenience, distress (Chaucer); ‘A greet diseese’
(Wyclif, Luke xxi. 23). Anglo-F. _desaise_, trouble (Gower).
=disease,= to trouble, inconvenience; ‘Why diseasest thou the master’,
Tyndal, Mark v. 35; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 32; Middleton, The Witch, iv.
2 (Isabella); to disturb, Chapman tr. Iliad, x. 45. See Trench, Sel. Gl.
=disembogue,= _trans._, to empty out. Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 562;
to drive out, eject; Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 2 (Page). Also in
form _disimboque_, Hakluyt, Voyages, i. 104. Span. _desembocar_, to come
out of the mouth of a river.
=disentrail,= to draw forth from the entrails or inward parts. Spenser,
F. Q. iv. 3. 28; iv. 6. 18.
=disgest,= to digest. Coriolanus, i. 1. 154; Ant. and Cl. ii. 2. 179 (in
old edd.). In general prov. use in the British Isles (EDD.).
=dishable;= see =disable.=
=disheir,= to deprive of an heir. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 705.
=disinteressed,= disinterested. Dryden, Religio Laici, 335. See
=interessed.=
=disleal,= disloyal. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 5. See Dict. (s.v. Leal).
=dislike= (only in the 3rd pers.), to displease, annoy; ‘Ile do’t, but
it dislikes me’, Othello, ii. 3. 49; Middleton, Women beware, iii. 1
(Leantio).
=disloignd,= distant, remote. Spencer, F. Q. iv. 10. 24. OF.
_desloignier_, to remove to a distance. O. Prov. _deslonhar_, ‘éloigner,
écarter’ (Levy).
=dismay,= to terrify; ‘I dismaye, I put a person in fere or drede, _je
desmaye_ and _je esmaye_’, Palsgrave; Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 4; to defeat
by a sudden onslaught, id. v. 2. 8; vi. 10. 13. See Dict.
=dismayd,= _dis-made_, mis-made, ill-formed. F. Q. ii. 11. 11.
=disme,= a dime, a tithe, tenth. Tr. and Cr. ii. 2. 19. OF. _disme_, a
tenth; see Ducange (s.v. Decimae). L. _decima_, a tenth part.
=dispace,= to range, to move or walk about. Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 295;
Muiopotmos, 250. Cp. Ital. _spaziare_, to walk about (Fanfani).
=disparage,= inequality of rank in marriage; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 50.
ME. _disparage_ (Chaucer, C. T. E. 908). Norm. F. _desparager_,
mésallier; _desparagement_, mésalliance, union inégale (Moisy).
=disparent,= unequal, odd; with reference to the number five. ‘A
disparent pentacle’, i.e. a pentacle with an odd number of angles, Hero
and Leander, iii. 123; ‘The odd disparent number’, i.e. the odd number
of five, id. v. 323.
=disparkle,= to scatter abroad, disperse (_trans._ and _intr._);
‘_Esparpiller_, to scatter, disperse, disparkle’, Cotgrave; ‘It
disparcleth the mist’, Holland, Pliny, ii. 45; ‘Not suffering his
radiations to disparcle abrode’ Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed. Furnivall,
78); see Nares. An altered form of the earlier _disparple_, see NED. See
=sparkle.=
=disparple, disperple,= to scatter abroad, disperse. Chapman, tr.
Odyssey, x. 473; _dispurple_, Heywood, Silver Age, iii (Wks. iii. 144).
ME. _disparple_ (Wyclif, Mark xiv. 27); see Dict. M. and S. OF.
_desparpelier_; for etym. from *_parpalio_, a Romanic form of L.
_papilio_, a butterfly (as in Ital. _parpaglione_, O. Prov. _parpalho_);
see NED.
=dispense,= liberal expenditure. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 42; v. 11. 45.
=dispergement,= ‘disparagement’, indignity. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk.
ii, c. 12, § 6.
=display,= to discover, get sight of, descry. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 76;
Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 74; xvii. 90; xxii. 280. See NED. (s.v.
Display, vb. 9).
=disple,= to subject to the ‘discipline’ of the scourge, to scourge;
‘Bitter Penance with an yron whip Was wont him once to disple every
day’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 27. In monastic Latin _disciplina_ = (1) a
penitential whipping, (2) the instrument of punishment itself; see
Ducange (s.v.).
=dispose,= disposal; disposition. Two Gent. ii. 7. 86; Tr. and Cr. ii.
3. 174; Othello, i. 3. 403.
=disposed,= inclined to merriment; in a merry mood. L. L. L. ii. 1. 250;
Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, v. 4 (Lady H.); Custom of the
Country, i. 1. 9.
=dispunct,= impolite, discourteous, the reverse of punctilious; ‘Let’s
be retrograde. _Amorphus._ Stay. That were dispunct to the ladies’, B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2.
=disqueat,= to disquiet, trouble. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. i, c. 5,
st. 39. See =queat.=
=disseat,= to unseat. Macbeth, v. 3. 21; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 85.
=disseise,= to dispossess. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 20; vii. 7. 48.
Anglo-F. _disseisir_ (Rough List). A compound of OF. _seisir_
(_saisir_), to put into possession, Frankish L. _sacire_; of Germanic
origin—_satjan_ (OHG. _sazjan_), to set, place; see NED. (s.v. Seize).
Cp. Ital. _sagire_, to put in full and quiet possession, namely of lands
(Florio).
=dissident,= differing, different. Robinson, tr. of More’s Utopia, pp.
66, 130. L. _dissidens_, differing, disagreeing.
=dissite,= situated apart, remote. Chapman, tr. Odyssey, vii. 270. L.
_dissitus_, situated part.
=dissolve,= to solve; ‘Dissolve this doubtful riddle’, Massinger, Duke
of Milan, iv. 3 (Sforza); BIBLE, Daniel v. 16. [‘Thou hadst not between
death and birth Dissolved the riddle of the earth’, Tennyson, Two
Voices, 170.]
=distance,= disagreement, estrangement. Macbeth, iii. 1. 115; ‘Distances
between his lady and him’, Pepys, Diary, Sept. 11, 1666. ME. _destance_,
difference (Gower, C. A. iii. 611). Anglo-F. _destance_, dispute,
disagreement (Gower, Mirour, 4957). See =staunce.=
=distaste,= to have no taste for, to dislike, King Lear, i. 3. 14; to
offend the taste, Othello, iii. 3. 327.
=distempered,= not temperate. Drayton, Pol. i. 4; disturbed in temper,
humour, King John, iv. 3. 21; disordered physically, Sonnet, 153;
mentally disordered, Milton, P. L. iv. 807; Massinger, Duke of Milan, i.
1. 18.
=distract,= torn or drawn asunder; torn to pieces. Sh., Lover’s
Complaint, 231; perplexed by having the thoughts drawn in different
directions, Milton, Samson Ag. 1556; deranged in mind, Julius C., iv. 3.
155; Butler, Hudibras, i. 1. 212. L. _distractus_, drawn asunder,
distracted.
=distreyn,= to vex, distress. Sackville, Induction, st. 14; Surrey, The
Lover comforteth himself, 2; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 14. F. _destreindre_,
‘to straine, presse, vexe extremely’ (Cotgr.); L. _distringere_, to draw
asunder.
=disyellow,= to free from jaundice. Warner, Albion’s England; bk. ii,
ch. 10, st. 13.
=dit, ditt,= a poetical composition, a ditty. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 13.
See NED.
=ditch-constable,= a term of contempt. Middleton, A Mad World, v. 2
(Follywit).
=dite,= to winnow corn. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, v. 498. Hence _diter_,
one who ‘dites’, id., v. 499. In common use in this sense in Scotland
and the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Dight, 6).
=diurnal,= a journal, newspaper. Butler, Hudibras, i. 2. 268; Tatler,
no. 204, § 4. L. _diurnalis_, daily; from _dies_, day.
=divedopper,= a small diving water-fowl. Drayton, Man in the Moon, 188.
See =didapper.=
=diverse,= to turn aside; ‘The Redcrosse Knight diverst’, Spenser, F. Q.
ii. 3. 62. Only found here in this sense.
=diversivolent,= of variable will, changeable. Webster, White Devil
(Lawyer), ed. Dyce, p. 20; (Flamineo), p. 25. A word coined by Webster.
=diversory,= a place to which one turns in by the way. Chapman, tr.
Odyssey, xiv. 538. L. _diversorium_, an inn, freq. in Vulgate, cp. Luke
ii. 7; xxii. 11.
=divine,= to render divine, to canonize. Spenser, Daphn., 214; Ruins of
Time, 611; Drayton, Pol. xxiv. 191.
=divulst,= torn apart. Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1. 4. L. _diuulsus_,
pp. of _diuellere_, to pluck asunder.
=dizen,= to put flax on a distaff; ‘I dysyn a dystaffe, I put the flaxe
upon it to spynne’, Palsgrave; to dress, attire, ‘bedizen’; ‘Come, Doll,
Doll, dizen me’, Beaumont and Fl., M. Thomas, iv. 6. 3. In common use in
the north country in the sense of ‘to dress showily’ (EDD.). See Dict.
(s.v. Distaff).
=dizling,= (perhaps) making dizzy, confusing; ‘His torch with dizling
smoke Was dim’, Golding, Metam. x. 6 (L. ‘Fax . . . lacrymoso stridula
fumo’).
=dizzard, dizard,= a blockhead, foolish fellow. Brewer, Lingua, iii. 1
(end). A Yorkshire word; cp. ‘dizzy’, used in the north country in the
sense of ‘foolish, stupid, half-witted’; OE. _dysig_ (Matt. vi. 26,
‘stultus’).
=do,= to cause; ‘The villany . . . Which some hath put to shame, and
many done be dead’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 4. 29; phr. _I cannot do withal_,
I cannot help it, Middleton, A Chaste Maid, ii. 1 (Sir Oliver); ‘I could
not do withal’ Merch. Ven. iii. 4. 72. ME. _doon_, _do_, to cause
(Chaucer, freq.).
=do way!= forbear! Surrey, A Song, 21; in Tottel’s Misc., p.
219.
=dob-chick,= a dab-chick, a small diving bird, _Podiceps minor_.
Drayton, Pol. xxv. 80; spelt _dop-chick_, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xv.
686. ‘Dob-chick’ is in common prov. use in many parts of England (EDD.).
=docket,= the fleshy part of an animal’s tail. Greene, James IV, i. 2
(Slip). Dimin. of _dock_, in the same sense. See NED. (s.v. Dock,
sb.^{2} 1).
=doctor,= a false die; loaded so as to fall only in two or three ways. A
slang term; a ‘doctored die’, Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1
(Hackum); Cibber, Woman’s Wit, i (NED.).
=dodder,= to tremble or shake from frailty; ‘Dodder grasses . . . so
called because with the least puff or blast of wind it doth as it were
dodder and tremble’, Minsheu, Ductor.
=doddered:= phr. _doddered oak_, decayed with age; ‘Dodder’d oak’,
Dryden, tr. Persius, Sat. v. 80; Virgil, Past. ix. 9; ‘Doddered oaks’,
Palamon and Arc., iii. 905; Pope, Odyssey, xx. 200. ‘Doddered’ is in
prov. use in the north country in the sense of old, decayed, trembling:
‘A _doddered_ old man’, see EDD. s.v. Dother, vb.^{1} 1 (1)).
=dodkin,= a little doit; a coin of very small value. Lyly, Mother
Bombie, ii. 2 (end). Du. _duytken_, dimin. of _duyt_, a doit (Hexham).
See NED.
=doff,= a repulse, a ‘put off’. Wily Beguiled, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ix.
276.
=dog,= to follow after; ‘To dog the fashion’, B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of
Humour, iv. 6 (Macilente).
=dogbolt,= a contemptible fellow, mean wretch. Fletcher, Span. Curate,
ii. 2 (Lopez); Wit without Money, iii. 1. 32. As adj., worthless, base,
Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 40. The orig. sense was (probably) a crossbow-bolt,
only fit for shooting at a dog; see NED.
=dog-leach,= a dog-doctor; a term of reproach. Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii.
2 (Memnon).
=doily,= the name of a cheap stuff. Dryden, Kind Keeper, iv. 1; ‘doily
stuff’, Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, iv. 4 (Lady Fanciful). See Dict.
=dole,= portion in life; ‘Happy man be his dole’ (i.e. may happiness be
his portion), Merry Wives, iii. 4. 68; Butler, Hud., pt. i, c. 3. 638.
=dole, dool,= grief, mourning, lamentation. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb.,
155; F. Q. iv. 8. 3. Spelt _dewle_, Sackville, Induction, st. 14. In
prov. use in Scotland and the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Dole,
sb.^{2}). OF. _dol_, _deul_, sorrow; see Bartsch (s.v. Duel). See
=duill.=
=dole= (landmark); see =dool.=
=dolent,= a sorrowing one, a sufferer. Calisto and Melibaea, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 82. L. _dolens_, grieving.
=doly,= doleful, sad; ‘In doly season’, Wounds of Civil War, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 170; ‘This dolye chaunce’, Stanyhurst, tr. of
Aeneid, bk. ii (ed. Arber, p. 57). See =dole= (grief).
=domineer,= to revel, feast; to live like a lord. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2.
226; B. Jonson, Every Man, ii. 1. 76 (Downright).
=dommerar, dummerer,= a begging vagabond who feigns to be dumb.
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 9. See Harman, Caveat, p. 57;
‘Dummerers, Abraham men’, Burton, Anat. Mel. (ed. 1896), i. 409.
=Dondego,= a Spaniard; short for ‘Don Diego’. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt
(Brett), ed. Dyce, p. 198. See =Diego.=
=done, donne,= to do. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 28; vi. 10. 32. ME. _doon_,
_don_, to do; _done_, _doon_, ger. (Chaucer). OE. _dōn_, to do.
=donny,= somewhat ‘dun’, or brownish. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 400. See
NED. (s.v. Dunny, adj.^{1}).
=donzel, donsel,= a squire, a page, youth. B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 4.
20; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain). Ital. _donzello_, ‘a
damosell, page, squire, serving-man’ (Florio). Med. L. _domicellus_,
_domnicellus_ (Ducange); dimin. of L. _dominus_, lord. See Dict. (s.v.
Damsel).
=dool, dole, dowle,= a boundary-mark; ‘With dowles and ditches’,
Golding, Metam. i. 136; fol. 3 (1603); ‘They pullid uppe the doolis’,
Paston Letters, i. 58. Low G. _dōle_, _dōl_, a boundary-mark (Koolman).
‘Dool’ is in common prov. use in this sense in the north country, see
EDD. (s.v. Dool, sb.^{2} 1).
=dool;= see =dole= (grief).
=door:= phr. _to keep the door_, to be a pandar. Middleton, A Fair
Quarrel, iv. 4 (Trimtram). _Door-keeper_, a bawd; id., The Black Book,
ed. Dyce, vol. iv, p. 525.
=dop,= a dip, duck, low bow. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Crites);
to dip, duck, dive, bob; Dryden, Epilogue to the Unhappy Favourite, 2.
=dop,= to baptize. God’s Promises, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 318. Du.
_doopen_, to dip, baptize (Sewel).
=dopper, doper,= a (Dutch) Anabaptist; ‘This is a _dopper_ (old ed.
_doper_), a she Anabaptist’, B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1
(Register); News from the New World (Factor). Du. _dooper_, a dipper,
baptizer (Sewel).
=dor,= scoff, mockery. Phr. _to give the dor_, to make game of, B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2; _to receive the dor_, to be marked,
Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, i. 1. 29. Icel. _dār_, scoff.
=dor,= to make game of, Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, iv. 1. 15.
Icel. _dāra_ to mock, make sport of.
=dorado,= name of a species of fish; ‘The _Dorado_, which the English
confound with the Dolphin, is much like a Salmon’, J. Davies, tr.
Mandelslo (ed. 1669, iii. 196); a wealthy person, ‘A troop of these
ignorant Doradoes’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., pt. ii, § 1. Span.
_dorado_, ‘a fish called a Dory, or Gilt head, an enemy to the Flying
Fish’ (Stevens); _dorar_, to gild; L. _deaurare_. See Stanford.
=dorp,= a village. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 238, 298; Dryden, Hind and
Panther, iii. 6. 11. Du. _dorp_, a village. See Dict. (s.v. Thorp).
=dorre,= applied to species of bees or flies; a bumble-bee; a drone-bee;
_fig._ a drone, a lazy idler; ‘Gentlemen which cannot be content to live
idle themselfes, lyke dorres’, Robynson, More’s Utopia (ed. Arber, 38).
OE. _dora_, ‘atticus’ (Epinal Gl., 119); cp. ‘Adticus, feld beo, dora’
in Cleopatra Glosses (Voc. 351. 22). See NED. (s.v. Dor, sb.^{1}).
=dorser;= see =dosser.=
=dortour,= a sleeping room, bedchamber. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 24. ME.
_dortour_ (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1855). Norm. F. _dortur_ (Moisy), OF.
_dortoir_, Monastic L. _dormitorium_ (Ducange).
=dosser,= a basket, pannier. Merry Devil, i. 3. 142; Jonson, Staple of
News, ii. [4.] (Almanac); spelt _dorser_, Beaumont and Fl.,
Night-Walker, i. 1 (Lurcher). An E. Anglian word for a pannier slung
over a horse’s back (EDD). ME. _dosser_, a basket to carry on the back
(Chaucer, Hous F. 1940). F. _dossier_, ‘partie d’une hotte qui s’appuie
sur le dos de celui qui la porte’ (Hatzfeld).
=dotes,= endowments, good qualities. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, ii. 2
(Cler.); Underwoods, c. 25. L. _dotes_, pl. of _dos_, an endowment.
=dottrel, dotterel,= a pollarded tree; also used attrib.; ‘Old dotterel
trees’, Ascham, Scholemaster, bk. ii (ed. Arber, p. 137); ‘A long-set
dottrel’, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 465. ‘Dotterel’ is used in this
sense near Oxford, and in the south Midlands (EDD).
=double reader,= a lawyer who is going through a second course of
reading; ‘I am a bencher, and now double reader’, B. Jonson, Magnetic
Lady, iv. 1 (Practice); ‘Men came to be _single readers_ at 15 or 16
years standing in the House [Inn of Court] and _read double_ about 7
years afterwards’, Sir W. Dugdale, Orig. Jur., 209 (Glossary to Jonson).
=doubt,= i.e. _’doubt_, a shortened form of _redoubt_, a fortification.
Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xii. 286.
=doucepere,= an illustrious knight or paladin. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10.
31; orig. only used in the pl.: ME. _dozepers_ (_douzepers_), the twelve
peers or paladins of Charlemagne. Anglo-F. _li duze per_ (Ch. Rol.
3187). See NED. (s.v. Douzepers).
=dough;= see =dow.=
=dought,= to make afraid, Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 2 (Suctonius). See
=dout.=
=douse,= to strike violently; ‘To death with daggers _doust_’ (also
wrongly, _dounst_, in ed. 1587), Mirror for Magistrates, Henry VI, st.
4. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.).
=douse,= a sweetheart. Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 7. F. _douce_, fem. of
_doux_, sweet; L. _dulcis_.
=dout,= fear; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 37. OF. _doute_, fear.
=dow,= to thrive; ‘He’ll never dow’ (i.e. he’ll never do well), Ray,
North C. Words, 13; spelt _dough_, to be in health, Heywood, The Fair
Maid, ii. 1 (Clem). ‘Dow’ is in prov. use in the north, meaning to
thrive, prosper, also, to recover from sickness (EDD.). ME. _dowe_, pr.
s. 1 p., am able to do (Wars Alex. 4058). OE. _dugan_, to be able, to be
vigorous (see Wright, OE. Gram. § 541).
=dowcets,= the testicles of a deer. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2
(1 Woodman); B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., i. 6. In old cookery books _dowset_
was the name of a sweet dish. F. _doucet_, dimin. of _doux_, sweet. See
NED. (s.v. Doucet), and cp. =dulcet.=
=dowe,= ‘dough’. Lyly, Endimion, i. 2 (Tellus); ‘A lytell leven doth
leven the whole lompe of dowe’, Tyndale, Gal. v. 9.
=dowl=(=e,= soft fine feathers. Tempest, iii. 3. 65 (see W. A. Wright’s
note). In prov. use in the S. Midlands for down or fluff (EDD.). ME.
_doule_, a down-feather (Plowman’s Tale, st. 14). See Notes on Eng.
Etym.
=dowle,= see =dool.=
=dowsabell,= a sweetheart. A name, used as a term for a sweetheart. Com.
of Errors, iv. 1. 110; London Prodigal, iv. 2. 73. F. _douce-belle_, L.
_dulcibella_, sweet and fair.
=doxy,= a vagabond’s mistress. (Cant.) Winter’s Tale, iv. 2. 2;
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Prigg). See Harman, Caveat, p. 73; where
the sing. form is _doxe_.
=drabler, drabbler,= an additional piece of canvas, laced to the bottom
of a bonnet of a sail. Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 1 (1328); p. 134,
col. 2; Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, iv. 1 (Y. Forrest); vol. vi,
p. 416. From _drabble_, to wet; from its position. Cp. E. Fris.
_drabbeln_, to stamp about in the water (Koolman). See EDD. (s.v.
Drabble).
=dragon,= the name of a stage in the fermentation for producing the
elixir. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly).
=drake,= a dragon. Peele, An Eclogue Gratulatory, ed. Dyce, p. 563.
‘_Drake_, dragon’, Levins, Manipulus. OE. _draca_, L. _draco_, Gk.
δράκων.
=drane,= a drone. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 3; Skelton,
Against the Scottes, 172. ME. _drane_, ‘fucus’ (Prompt.). The pronunc.
of drone in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall (EDD.). OE. _drān_ (_drǣn_).
=drapet,= a cloth, a covering. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 27. Cp. Ital.
_drappetto_, dimin. of _drappe_, cloth.
=drasty,= worthless, rubbishy; ‘Drasty sluttish geere’, Hall, Sat. v. 2.
49; ‘Drasty ballats’, Return from Parnassus, i. 2 (Judicioso). In
several places the _s_ has been misprinted as _f_; the error originated
with Thynne, who, in 1532, twice substituted _drafty_ for _drasty_ in
the Prologue to Melibeus: ‘Thy drasty spectre’ (C. T. B. 2113); ‘Thy
drasty ryming’ (id. 2120); see NED. OE. _dræstig_, ‘feculentus’ (Voc.
238. 20).
=draw-cut,= done by drawing _cuts_ or lots. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil,
Aeneid i, 515. See =cut= (1).
=drawer,= a waiter at a tavern. Merry Wives, ii. 2. 165; Romeo, iii. 1.
9. One who _draws_ liquor for guests.
=drawer-on,= an incitement to appetite. Massinger, Guardian, ii. 3
(Cario).
=drawlatch,= lit. one who lifts a latch; a sneaking thief. Jacob and
Esau, ii. 3 (Esau).
=dray,= a squirrel’s nest. Drayton, Quest of Cynthia, st. 51; [The
squirrel] ‘Gets to the wood, and hides him in his dray’, W. Browne,
Brit. Pastorals, bk. i, song 5. A prov. word in general use (EDD.).
=drazel,= a slattern, slut. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 987. The word is in use
in the south of England, in Sussex and Hampshire, see EDD. (s.v.
Drazil).
=dread,= an object of reverence or awe. Milton, Samson, 1473; ‘Una, his
deare dreed’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 2.
=drent,= drowned. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 49; v. 7. 39. ME. _dreint_
(_dreynt_), pp. of _drenchen_, to drown (Chaucer, Bk. Duchess, 148).
=drere,= grief, sorrow, gloom. Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 40; ii. 12. 36.
Hence, _drerihed_, sadness, id., Muiopotmos, 347; _dreriment_, Shep.
Kal., Nov., 36.
=dresser.= The signal for the servants to take in the dinner was the
cook’s knocking on the dresser, thence called the cook’s drum (Nares);
‘When the dresser, the cook’s drum, thunders’, Massinger, Unnat. Combat,
iii. 1 (Steward); ‘The dresser calls in (_Knock within, as at
dresser_)’, Heywood, Witches of Lancs., iii. 1 (Seely); vol. iv, p. 206;
‘Hark! they knock to the dresser’, Brome, Jovial Crew, iv. 1 (end).
=dretched,= _pp._, vexed or disturbed by dreams. Morte Arthur, leaf 402.
31; bk. xx, c. 5. OE. _dreccan_, to vex.
=dretchyng of swevens,= vexation by dreams. Morte Arthur, leaf
430*. 7; bk. xxi, c. 12.
=drib,= to let fall in drops or driblets, to dribble out. Dryden,
Prologue to The Loyal Brother, 22. Cp. prov. ‘drib’, a drop, a small
quantity of liquid (EDD.).
=dricksie,= decayed; as timber; ‘A drie and dricksie oak’, Puttenham,
Eng. Poesie, bk. iii, c. 19; p. 252. See _Droxy_ in EDD.; and _Drix_ in
NED.
=drink,= to smoke tobacco. Middleton, Roaring Girl, ii. 1 (Laxton). A
common expression. See Nares.
=drivel,= a drudge, a servant doing menial work; ‘A Drudge, or driuell’,
Baret (1580); Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2, 3; ‘A dyshwasher, a dryvyll’,
Skelton, Against Garnesche, 26. Spelt _drevil_, Tusser, Husbandry, §
113. 12. ME. _drivil_, a drudge, a menial (see Prompt. EETS., note no.
588); cp. Du. _drevel_, ‘a scullion, or a turnspit’ (Hexham). See NED.
=droil,= a drudge, a menial. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons,
ii. 1. 19; Brome, New Acad. ii, p. 40 (Nares). See Prompt. EETS. (note
no. 588).
=droil,= to drudge. Spelt _droyle_, Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 157. Hence
_droil_, drudgery, Shirley, Gentlemen of Venice, i. 2.
=drollery,= a puppet-show; a puppet; a caricature. Tempest, iii. 3. 21;
Fletcher, Valentinian, ii. 2 (Claudia); Wildgoose Chase, i. 2. 21; 2
Hen. IV, ii. 1. 156. F. _drôlerie_, ‘waggery; a merry prank’; _dróle_,
‘a good fellow, boon companion, merry grig, pleasant wag; one that cares
not which end goes forward or how the world goes’ (Cotgr.).
=dromound,= a large ship, propelled by many oars. Morte Arthur, leaf 82,
back, 30; bk. v, c. 3 (end). Anglo-F. _dromund_ (Rough List), OF.
_dromon_, Med. L. _dromō_ (Ducange), Byzant. Gk. δρόμων, a large ship;
cogn. with Gk. δρόμος, a racing, a course.
=drone,= to smoke (a pipe); ‘Droning a tobacco-pipe’, B. Jonson, Sil.
Woman, iv. 1; Ev. Man out of Humour, iv. 3.
=dronel, dronet,= a drone; ‘That dronel’, Appius and Virginia, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 151; ‘Like vnto dronets’, Stubbes, Anat. Abuses,
To Reader (ed. Furnivall, p. xi).
=dropshot:= phr. _at dropshot_; ‘I’ll do no more at dropshot’ (i.e. I’ll
do no more in the character of an eaves-dropper, or where one can be
_shot_ with _drops_), Beaumont and Fl., Mad Lover, iii. 6 (end).
=drossel,= a slattern, a slut. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. ix, ch. 47,
st. 12. A north Yorkshire word (EDD.). See =drazel.=
=drouson;= ‘Boiling oatemeale . . . with barme or the dregges and hinder
ends of your beere barrels makes an excellent pottage . . . of great vse
in all the parts of the West Countrie . . . called by the name of
drouson potage’, Markham, Farewell, 133 (EDD.); ‘Drowsen broath’, London
Prodigal, ii. 1. 42. OE. _drōsna_, lees, dregs.
=droye,= a servant, a drudge. Spelt _droie_; Tusser, Husbandry, § 81. 3;
Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 78).
=droye,= to drudge, Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 664.
=druggerman,= a ‘dragoman’, interpreter. Dryden, Don Sebastian, ii. 1
(Emperor); [Pope, Donne’s Sat. iv. 83]. See Dict. (s.v. Dragoman); also
Stanford.
=drum:= phr. _Jack Drum’s entertainment_, ill-treatment, esp. by turning
a man out of doors, Heywood, ii. 2 (Sencer). _To sell by the drum_, to
sell by auction; in North’s Plutarch, Octavius, § 11 (in Shak. Plut., p.
255, n. 3); hence, _by the dromme_ (by the drum), in public, Warner,
Albion’s England, bk. ix, c. 53, st. 31.
=drumble,= to be sluggish, Merry Wives, iii. 3. 156; a sluggish, stupid
person, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 118. A dull,
inactive person is called a ‘drummil’ in Warwickshire. A person moving
lazily about is said to ‘drumble’ in Cornwall (EDD.). Norw. _drumla_, to
be drowsy; Swed. _drummel_, a blockhead.
=drumslade, dromslade,= a drum; ‘Dromslade, suche as Almayns use in
warre, _bedon_’, Palsgrave. Also spelt _drumslet_; Golding, Metam. xii.
481; fol. 149, bk. (1603). Du. _trommelslag_ (G. _trommelschlag_), the
beat of a drum.
=drumsler,= a drummer. Kyd, Soliman, ii. 1. 224, 241. A form corrupted
from _drumslager_, once in use to mean ‘drummer’. Du. _trommelslager_, a
drummer (Sewel). See above.
=dry-fat,= a cask, case, or box for holding dry things, not liquids; ‘A
dry-fat of new books’, Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, i. 2 (Brisae);
_dry-vat_, Dekker, Shoemakers’ H., v. 2 (Firk). See Dict. (s.v. Vat).
=dry-foot:= phr. _to draw_ or _hunt dry-foot_, to track game by the mere
scent of the foot. Com. Errors, iv. 2. 39; B. Jonson, Every Man, ii. 2
(Brainworm).
=Du cat-a whee,= God preserve you! Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the
Country, i. 2 (Rutilio); Monsieur Thomas, i. 2. 8; _Dugat a whee_,
Middleton, A Chaste Maid, i. 1 (Welshwoman). Welsh _Duw cadw chwi_, God
preserve you!
=dub,= a stroke, blow; _Lydian dubs_, soft taps, like soft Lydian music;
_Phrygian dubs_, hard blows, like loud Phrygian music. Butler, Hudibras,
ii. 1. 850.
=ducdame,= a word in the burden of a song. In As You Like It, ii. 5. 56.
Doubtless a coined word, and admirably defined by Shakespeare as ‘a
Greek invocation to call fools into a circle’; which I accept as it
stands.
=duce.= Used in interjectional and imprecatory phrases; ‘I wonder where
a duce the third is fled’, Roger Boyle, Guzman, i; ‘Who a duce are those
two fellows?’ id., ii; ‘Who a duce is here by our door?’ (Socia),
Echard, Plautus (ed. 1694, 13); Centlivre, Busie Body (ed. 1732, 41).
=duce= is the same word as _deuce_, an E. form of F. _deux_,
two. The orig. sense of ‘a duce’ was exclamatory, signifying,
‘Oh! ill-luck, the _deuce_!’—two being a losing throw at dice.
The form _duce_ came to us immediately from a Low G.
dialect—_dûs_, found in MHG.; cp. G. ‘was der Daus!’ (what the
deuce!). See Dict. (s.v. Deuce).
=dudder,= to tremble, quake, shake. Ford, Witch of Edmonton, ii. 1
(Cuddy). ‘Dudder’ is a prov. word in various parts of Scotland and
England, see EDD. (s.v. Duther). See =dodder.=
=dudgeon,= the hilt of a dagger made of a kind of wood called dudgin
(dudgeon). Macbeth, ii. 1. 46. ME. _dojoun_, or masere (Prompt., ed.
Way, 436).
=dudgeon,= the same word as the one above, used attrib. in the sense of
plain, homely; since a _dudgeon_ was regarded as a common sort of haft;
‘I am plain and dudgeon’, Fletcher, Captain, ii. 1 (Jacomo); ‘I use old
dudgeon’, phrase, id., Queen of Corinth, ii. 4 (Conon).
=dudgeon-dagger,= a dagger with a hilt made of ‘dudgeon’. Beaumont and
Fl., Coxcomb, v. 1 (Curio); _dudgin dagger_, Kyd, Soliman, i. 3. 160.
Shortened to _dudgeon_, Butler, Hudibras, i. 1. 379.
=Dugat a whee;= see =Du cat-a whee.=
=duill,= to grieve, sadden, make sorrowful; ‘It duills me’, B. Jonson,
Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maudlin). Cp. F. _deuil_, grief. See =dole.=
=duke,= a name for the castle or rook, at chess; ‘Dukes? They’re called
Rooks by some’, Middleton, A Game at Chess, Induct. 54; Women beware,
ii. 2 (Livia).
=Duke Humphrey, to dine with,= to go without dinner; ‘He may chaunce
dine with duke Homphrye tomorrow’, Sir Thos. More, iv. 2. 361. One who
had no prospect of a dinner would walk in St. Paul’s, under the pretence
of going to see Duke Humphrey’s monument there; on the chance that he
might meet there some acquaintance who would invite him. But Duke
Humphrey was actually buried at St. Albans (see Stowe’s Survey, ed.
Thoms, 125). Cp. Mayne, City Match, iii. 3 (Plotwell and Timothy). See
Nares.
=dulcet,= the dowcet of a stag. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 219. A
latinized form; see =dowcets.=
=dumbfounding,= a stupefying; said to mean a rough amusement in which
one person struck another hard and stealthily upon the back; ‘That witty
recreation, called dumbfounding’, Dryden, Prologue to the Prophetess,
47. See EDD. (s.v. Dumbfounder).
=dummerer;= see =dommerar.=
=dump,= a fit of abstraction or musing; ‘I dumpe, I fall in a dumpe or
musyng upon thynges’, Palsgrave; ‘Lethargic dump’, Butler, Hudibras, i.
2. 973; a fit of melancholy, ‘In doleful dump’, id., ii. 1. 85; a
plaintive melody or song, Two Gent. iii. 2. 85; used of a kind of dance,
‘The devil’s dump had been danced then’, Fletcher, Pilgrim, v. 4
(Roderigo).
=dunny,= somewhat ‘dun’, or dusky brown. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 400. A
north-country word (EDD.). See =donny.=
=Dun’s in the mire= (the horse is stuck in the mire), the name of a
rustic game in which the players had to extricate a wooden ‘dun’ (a
horse) from an imaginary slough. ‘Dun is in the mire’ became a
proverbial phrase, so in Chaucer, Manciple’s Prologue, 5. ‘Dun’s i’ th’
mire’, Fletcher, “Woman-hater, iv. 2 (Pandar). The game is alluded to in
Romeo, i. 4. 41. ‘If thou art Dun we’ll draw thee from the mire’, and in
Hudibras, iii. 3. 110, ‘Your trusty squire, Who has dragg’d your dunship
out o’ th’ mire’. See Brand’s Pop. Antiq. (under ‘Games’), and Gifford’s
Ben Jonson, vii. 283 (Nares).
=dun’s the mouse,= the mouse is brown. A jocose phrase of small meaning;
sometimes used after another has used the word _done_; Romeo, i. 4. 40;
London Prodigal, iv. 1. 16.
=Dunstable, plain= (a proverbial phrase), plain speaking. Witch of
Edmonton, i. 2 (Old Carter). Cp. the proverb, ‘As plain as Dunstable
highway’, Heywood’s Eng. Proverbs, 69, 136; ‘As plain as Dunstable
road’, Fuller, Worthies, i. 114 (NED.). See Nares.
=durance,= confinement. L. L. L. iii. 1. 135; 2 Hen. IV, v. 5. 37;
durableness, 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 49. Cp. ‘As the tailor, that out of seven
yards stole one and a half of durance’, i.e. durable cloth, Three Ladies
of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 344.
=Durandell,= a trusty sword. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 123. OF.
_Durendal_, the name of the sword of Roland (Ch. Rol. 926). See
=Durindana.=
=duret,= some kind of dance; ‘Galliards, durets, corantoes’, Beaumont,
Masque at Gray’s Inn, stage direction (near the end).
=duretta,= a coarse stuff of a durable quality. Mayne, City Match, i. 5
(Timothy). Also _duretto_ (NED.). Ital. _duretto_, ‘somewhat hard’
(Florio).
=Durindana,= the name of Orlando’s sword. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum.
iii. 1 (Bobadil); Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, iii. 3 (Malfort);
_Durindan_, Faithful Friends, ii. 3 (Calveskin). Ital. _Durindana_
(Ariosto); see Fanfani. The Italian name for _Durendal_, by which the
famous sword of Roland is known in the old French _Chansons de Geste_.
See Gautier’s note on ‘Durendal’ in his ‘Chanson de Roland’, l. 926, p.
90.
=dust,= to hurl, fling, cast with force. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi.
544; xxi. 377. See EDD.
=dust-point,= a boys’ game in which ‘points’ were laid in a heap of
dust, and thrown at with a stone; ‘Our boyes, laying their points in a
heape of dust, and throwing at them with a stone, call that play of
theirs Dust-point’, Cotgrave (s.v. _Darde_). Fletcher, Captain, iii. 3
(Clora); Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymph, vi. (Melanthus).
=Dutch widow,= a cant term for a prostitute. Middleton, A Trick to
Catch, iii. 3 (Drawer).
=dutt,= to dote; ‘Dutting Duttrell’ (i.e. doting dotterel), Edwards,
Damon and Pithias; altered to _doating dottrel_ in Hazlitt’s Dodsley,
iv. 68; but see Anc. Eng. Drama, i. 88, l. 1.
=dwine,= to pine away; ‘He . . . dwyned awaye’, Morte Arthur, leaf 429*,
back, 8; bk. xxi, c. 12; _dwynd_, withered, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid,
ii. 567 (ed. Arber, p. 61). In common prov. use in Scotland and the
north of England (EDD.). ME. _dwynyn awey_, ‘evanesco’ (Prompt.). OE.
_dwīnan_.
=dybell,= (probably) trouble, difficulty; ‘My son’s in Dybell here, in
Caperdochy, i’ tha gaol’, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 72. Perhaps the
same word as ‘dibles’ (or daibles), an E. Anglian word for difficulties,
embarrassments (EDD.).
E
=e-,= prefix, for the more usual _y-_ (AS. _ge-_), prefixed to past
participles. Exx. _emixt_, mixed, Mirror for Mag., Bladud, st. 9;
_etride_, tried, id., Sabrine, st. 26.
=eager,= keen, sharp, severe. Hamlet, i. 4. 2; Chapman, tr. of Iliad,
xi. 231.
=eagre,= a ‘bore’ in a river; an incoming tidal wave of unusual height.
Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis, 132; spelt _agar_, Lyly, Galathea, i. 1
(Tyterus). In prov. use in many forms: _aiger_, _ager_, _eager_,
_eygre_, _hygre_, &c., in Yorks., Nottingham, Lincoln, and E. Anglia
(EDD.). See =higre.=
=eame;= see =eme.=
=ean.= Of ewes: to lamb, bring forth young, to ‘yean’, 3 Hen. VI, ii. 5.
36. Hence, _Eaning-time_, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Robin). ‘To
ean’ is in prov. use in various spellings in many parts of England from
the north country to Devon (EDD.). ME. _enyn_, ‘feto’ (Prompt. EETS.
150); OE. _ēanian_, to yean. See Brugmann, § 671.
=ear,= to plough. BIBLE, Deut. xxi. 4; 1 Sam. viii. 12; Is. xxx. 24. In
prov. use (EDD.). ME. _ere_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 886), OE. _erian_. See
Wright’s Bible Word-Book.
=earn, erne,= to grieve, to be afflicted with poignant sorrow and
compassion. Hen. V, ii. 3. 3 (mod. edd. _yearn_); Julius C., ii. 2. 129;
_it earns me_, Hen. V, iv. 3. 26; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 6
(Overdo); _earne_, to yearn, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 3; i. 6. 25; i. 9. 18;
_erne_, ii. 3. 46. ME. _ȝernen_, to yearn (P. Plowman), OE. _geornan_;
see Dict. M. and S., p. 267.
=earth,= a ploughing. Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 50. In prov. use in
Suffolk, Hants., Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Earth, sb.^{2}). OE. _erð_ for
WS. _ierđ_, a ploughing (Sweet), deriv. of _erian_, to plough, ‘to ear’;
not the same word as OE. _eorðe_, earth.
=easing,= the eaves of the thatch of a house; ‘Under the easing of the
house’, North, tr. of Plutarch, J. Caesar, § 16 (end); ‘_Severonde_, the
eave, eaving or easing of a house’, Cotgrave. In gen. prov. use in
various spellings, in Scotland and Ireland, and in England, in the north
and Midlands to Shropsh. (EDD.). ME. _esynge_, ‘tectum’ (Cath. Angl.).
See =evesing.=
=eater,= a servant. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, iii. 2 (Morose).
=eath,= easy. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 40; Shep. Kal., Sept., 17; spelt
_ethe_, id., July, 90. A north-country word, once much used in poetry
(EDD.). ME. _ethe_, easy (Cursor M. 597), OE. _ēaðe_, easy, _ēað_
(common in compounds).
=eathly,= easily. Peele, Order of the Garter, ed. Dyce, p. 587. Common
in Scottish poetry (EDD.).
=eaths,= easily. Kyd, Cornelia, iii. 1. 130. The _s_ has an adverbial
force.
=eccentric,= not concentric with; hence, disagreeing with. Bacon, Essay
23; an orbit not having the earth precisely in the centre (a contrivance
in the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, for explaining the phenomena), id.
17.
=eche,= to ‘eke’, to make up a deficiency; ‘To eche it and to draw it
out in length’, Merch. Ven. iii. 2. 23 (Qq 3, 4, _eech_). Cp.
Northampton dialect, ‘My gown’s too short, I must eche it a bit’, see
EDD. (s.v. Eke, vb. 3). ME. _echen_, to increase (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr.
i. 887), OE. (Mercian) _ēcan_, WS. _īecan_, to increase.
=edder,= an adder. Morte Arthur, leaf 290. 11; bk. xi, c. 5; Skelton,
Philip Sparowe, 78. ME. _eddyr_, an adder (Prompt. EETS. 142).
=edder,= fence-wood, osiers or rods of hazel, used for interlacing the
stakes of a hedge at the top; ‘Edder and stake’, Tusser, Husbandry, §
33. 13; _eddered_, bound with edders, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 126. 7;
_edderynge_, id. In gen. prov. use in Scotland and England; for various
spellings see EDD.
=eddish, edish,= the aftermath or second crop of grass, clover, &c.;
‘Eddish, eadish, etch, ersh, the latter pasture or grass that comes
after mowing or reaping’, Worlidge, Dict. Rust. (A.D. 1681); Tusser,
Husbandry, § 18. 4; stubble, ‘Eddish . . . more properly the stubble or
gratten in cornfields’, Bp. Kennett (NED.). In gen. prov. use in England
(EDD.). OE. _edisc_, ‘pascua’ (Ps. xcix. 3).
=edge,= to urge, encourage, stimulate. Bacon, Essay 41, § 5. The
pronunc. of _egg_ (to incite) in use in various parts of England from
Lancash. to Cornwall (EDD.). ME. _eggen_, to incite (Chaucer, Rom. Rose,
182), Icel. _eggja_.
=edify,= to build; ‘There was an holy chappell edifyde’, Spenser, F. Q.
i. 1. 34; Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 660. F. _edifier_, to edifie, build
(Cotgr.), L. _aedificare_.
=effaut,= for _F fa ut_, the full name of the musical note _F_, which
was sung to _fa_ or to _ut_ according as it occurred in one or other of
the hexachords (imperfect scales) to which it belonged (NED.).
Buckingham, The Rehearsal, ii. 5 (Bayes). The first hexachord contained
G (the lowest note), A, B, C, D, E (but not F); the second contained C,
D, E, F, G, A, sung to _ut_, _re_, _mi_, _fa_, _sol_, _la_, F being sung
to _fa_; the third began with F, sung to _ut_; so that F was sung to
_fa_ or _ut_, and was called F _fa ut_.
=efficace,= effectiveness, efficacy. Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 602. F.
_efficace_, efficacy (Cotgr.), L. _efficacia_ (Pliny).
=efficient,= creative or productive cause. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici,
pt. 1, § 14; id., Vulgar Errors, bk. vii, c. 4, § 2.
=egal,= equal. Merch. Ven. iii. 4. 13 (F.); _egally_, equally, Richard
III, iii. 7. 213; _egalness_, equality, Ferrex and Porrex, i. 2
(Philander). F. _égal_.
=eggs:= phr. _to have eggs on the spit_, to be busy; with reference to
the old mode of roasting eggs; ‘I have eggs on the spit’, B. Jonson, Ev.
Man in Hum. iii. 6. 47; see Wheatley’s note.
=eggs:= phr. _to take eggs for money_, to accept an offer which one
would rather refuse. Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 161. (Fully explained by me in
Phil. Soc. Trans., 1903, p. 146). Farmers’ daughters would go to market,
taking with them a basket of eggs. If one bought something worth
(suppose) 3_s._ 4_d._, she would pay the 3_s._ and say—‘will you take
eggs for money?’ If the shopman weakly consented, he received the value
of the 4_d._ in eggs; usually (16th cent.) at the rate of 4 or 5 a
penny. But the strong-minded shopman would refuse. Eggs were even used
to pay interest for money. Thus Rowley has: ‘By Easter next you should
have the principal, and eggs for the use [interest], indeed, sir.
_Bloodhound._ Oh rogue, rogue, I shall have eggs for my money! I must
hang myself’, A Match at Midnight, v. 1. See Nares (s.v. Eggs for
Money).
=eisel,= vinegar; ‘I will drink potions of eisel’, Sh. Sonnets, cxi;
spelt _eysel_. Skelton, Now Synge We, 40. ME. _esyle_, ‘acetum’ (Prompt.
EETS. 147, see note no. 661); _aysel_ (Hampole, Ps. lxviii. 26). OF.
_aisil_, vinegar (Oxford Ps. lxviii. 26).
=ejaculation,= a darting forth. Bacon, Essay 9, § 1.
=E-la,= the highest note in the old musical scale, sung to the syllable
_la_ in the old gamut; which began with G (_ut_) on the lowest line of
the base clef, and ended with E in the highest space of the treble clef.
Whoever sang a higher note than this was said to sing ‘above E-_la_’.
Hence anything extreme was said ‘to be above E-_la_’. ‘Why, this is
above E-_la_!’ Beaumont and Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 4 (Leontius;
near the end). N.B. The old gamut was really founded on hexachords or
major sixths; each hexachord contained six notes and comprised four full
tones and a semitone, the semitone being in the middle, between the
third and fourth note. The hexachords began (in ascending succession)
upon the lower G, C, F, G (above F), C (still higher), F (above the last
C), and G (above the last F). There were twenty notes in all; viz. G A B
C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E; and each of the hexachords was sung
to the same syllables, _ut_, _re_, _mi_, _fa_, _sol_, _la_. The highest
hexachord contained the G A B C D E at the top of the scale; and as E
was thus sung to _la_, it was called E-_la_. It had no other name,
because it only occurred in the highest hexachord. In hexachords
beginning with F the B was flat.
=eld,= to ail; ‘What thing eldeth thee?’ Thersites, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, i. 414. Cp. _aild_, prov. pronunc. of _ail_ (vb.): ‘He’s allus
aildin’ (Worcestersh.); _aildy_, ailing, poorly, ‘I be very aildy
to-day’ (Northampton); so in Beds., _teste_ J. W. Burgon, see EDD. (s.v.
Ail and Aildy). In Shropsh. they say _elded_ for _ailed_.
=elder,= an elder-tree. It was an old belief that Judas Iscariot hung
himself upon an elder. See L. L. L. v. 2. 610; B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of
Humour, iv. 4 (Carlo). See P. Plowman, C. ii. 64 (Notes, p. 31).
=elegant,= for =alicant,= q.v. A Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 1. 18.
=element,= the sky. Julius Caes. i. 3. 128; Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb.,
116; Milton, Comus, 299. In common prov. use in the west country. A
Somerset man describing a thunderstorm would say, ‘Th’ element was all
to a flicker’ (EDD.).
=elenche, elench,= a logical refutation, a syllogism in refutation of an
argument. Massinger, Emperor of the East, ii. 1 (Theodosius). Also, a
sophistical argument, a fallacy; Bacon, Adv. of Learning, bk. ii, § xiv.
5. L. _elenchus_, Gk. ἔλεγχος, cross-examination.
=elk,= the wild swan, or hooper. ‘The Elk’, in the margin of Golding’s
tr. of Ovid, Metam. xiv. 509; ‘In hard winters elks, a kind of wild
swan, are seen’, Sir T. Browne (Wks. ed. 1893, iii. 313); ‘_Swanne_,
some take thys to be the elke or wild swanne’, Huloet. See =ilke.=
=ellops,= a kind of serpent. Milton, P. L. x. 525. Gk. ἔλλοψ, ἔλοψ, lit.
‘mute’, an epithet of fish (so Prellwitz); name for a certain sea-fish,
probably the sword-fish or sturgeon, later, a serpent.
=embase,= to debase, lower. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 6. 20; Sonnet 82.
=embassade,= a mission as ambassador. 3 Hen. VI, iv. 3. 32; also,
quasi-adv., on an embassy, Spenser, Hymn in Honour of Beauty, 251. F.
_embassade_, an embassage; also an embassador accompanied with his
ordinary train (Cotgr.).
=embay,= to bathe, drench, wet, steep. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 27; ii. 12.
60. Metaph., to bathe (oneself in sunshine); Muiopotmos, 200; to
pervade, suffuse, F. Q. i. 9. 13.
=embayed, imbayed,= enclosed as in a bay; enveloped, engirt. Spelt
_imbayed_, enclosed; Capt. Smith, Works, ed. Arber, p. 333, l. 3;
_embayed_, engirt, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 230.
=embayle,= to enclose, encompass. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 27.
=embezzle,= to waste, squander; ‘His bills embezzled’, Dekker,
Shoemakers’ Holiday, i. 1 (Lincoln); Sir T. Browne, Hydriotaphia, c.
iii, § 7. See NED.
=emboss,= to ornament with bosses or studs, to decorate. Spenser, F. Q.
iv. 4. 15; Shep. Kal., Feb., 67.
=embost= (of a hunted animal). A stag was said to be _embossed_
(_embost_) when blown and fatigued with being chased—foaming, panting,
unable to hold out any longer; ‘The boar of Thessaly Was never so
emboss’d’, Ant. and Cl. iv. 11. 3; ‘The salvage beast embost in wearie
chace’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 22. Metaph., ‘Our feeble harts Embost
with bale’, i. 9. 29; Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 4. 7. ME.
_embose_, to plunge deeply into a wood or thicket (Chaucer, Dethe
Blaunche, 353). OF. _bos_ (_bois_), a wood. See =imbost.=
=embost,= encased, enclosed (as in armour); ‘A knight . . . in mighty
armes embost’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 24.
=embowd,= arched over. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 19.
=embraid,= to upbraid, taunt, mock. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c.
7, § 2; Tusser, Husbandry, § 112, st. 7. Cp. ME. _breydyn_ or
_upbraydyn_, ‘Impropereo’ (Prompt. EETS. 64). OE. _bregdan_, to bring a
charge (B. T. Suppl.), Icel. _bregða_, to upbraid, blame.
=embrave,= to embellish, decorate. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 60.
=embrew,= to ‘imbrue’, cover with blood; ‘With wyde wounds embrewed’,
Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 17; Hymn of Love, 13.
=embrocata,= a thrust in fencing. Marston, Scourge of Villany, Sat. xi.
57. See =imbroccato.=
=eme,= uncle. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 47; spelt _eame_, Drayton, Pol.
xxii. 427. 848. A north-country word (EDD.). ME. _eme_, fadiris brodyr,
‘patruus’ (Prompt.), OE. _ēam_.
=emeril,= emery. Drayton, Pol. i. 53. F. _emeril_, emery (Cotgr.); OF.
_esmeril_; Ital. _smeriglio_, deriv. of Gk. σμύρις, emery-powder.
=emmarble,= to convert into marble. Spenser, Hymn to Love, 139.
=emmew,= or =enmew;= errors for =enew,= q.v.
=empair,= to harm, injure. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 48; to become less, to
be diminished, id., v. 4. 8. See Dict. (s.v. Impair).
=empale,= to surround, enclose. Sackville. Induction, st. 67.
=emparlance,= parley, talk. Spenser, F. Q. v. 4. 50. Cp. Norm. F.
_emparler_, ‘parler, entretenir’, also ‘entretien’ (Moisy), O. Prov.
_emparlat_, ‘éloquent’ (Levy).
=empeach,= to hinder. Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 34; ii. 7. 15; ‘I empesshe,
or let one of his purpose’, Palsgrave. F. _empescher_, ‘to hinder’
(Cotgr.); O. Prov. _empedegar_, ‘empêcher’ (Levy), Med. L. _impedicare_,
‘implicare’ (Ducange). See =impeach.=
=empery,= dominion, rank of an emperor. Titus And. i. 1. 201; Hen. V, i.
2. 226. Norm. F. _emperie_ (Moisy), L. _imperium_, empire.
=empesshement,= hindrance. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 131. 29. See
=impechement.=
=emprese,= ‘emprise’, enterprise, undertaking. Chapman, tr. of Iliad,
xi. 257. See NED. (s.v. Emprise).
=emprise,= an undertaking, an enterprise. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept.,
83; chivalric enterprise, martial prowess, Milton, P. L. xi. 642; ‘In
brave poursuit of chevalrous emprize’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 1. Norm. F.
_emprise_, ‘entreprise’ (Moisy).
=enaunter,= lest by chance. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 200; May, 78;
Sept., 161. ‘Anaunters’ is a north-country word, in the sense of ‘lest,
in case that’ (EDD.). ME. _enantyr_; _an aunter_, in case that (P.
Plowman, C. iv. 437); also, _an aventure_ (id., B. iii. 279), see Dict.
M. and S. (s.v. Aventure); Anglo-F. _en_ + _aventure_, chance (Gower).
=enbassement,= dread, terror, ‘abashment’. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf
159. 25; _enbaysshement_, lf. 91. 31. Cp. ME. _enbasshinge_,
bewilderment (Chaucer, Boethius 4, p. 1. 43).
=enbolned,= swollen, puffed up. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 207, l. 7 from
bottom. Cp. ME. _bolnyd_, swollen (Wyclif, 1 Cor. v. 2).
=enchase,= to set (a jewel) in gold or other setting; used _fig._
Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 23; to engrave figures on a surface, Shep. Kal.,
August, 27; to shut in, enclose, M. Hubberd’s Tale, 626; Chapman, tr.
Iliad, xii. 56; xix. 346.
=encheason,= occasion, reason. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 147. ME.
_encheson_, ‘occasio’ (Prompt. EETS. 312), Anglo-F. _enchesoun_,
occasion (Gower), Norm. F. _acheisun_, ‘raison, cause, motif’ (Moisy);
L. _occasio_.
=endlong,= from end to end of, through the length of; ‘Endlong many
yeeres and ages’, Holland, Livy, 921; right along, straight on, Dryden,
Palamon, iii. 691. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). ME.
_endelong_, through the length of (Chaucer, C. T. F. 992).
=endosse,= to inscribe. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 53; Colin Clout, 634;
Palsgrave. Anglo-F. _endosser_, to endorse (Rough List); to write on the
back of a document, deriv. of F. _dos_, L. _dorsum_, back.
=endue,= to endow; ‘God hath endued me with a good dowry’ (Vulg.
_Dotavit me Deus dote bona_), BIBLE, Gen. xxx. 20; spelt _endew_,
Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 51; ‘The King hath . . . endewed (the house) with
parkes orchardes’, Act 31 Hen. VIII, c. 5. See =indue.=
=endurance,= also written =indurance,= patience; ‘Past the endurance of
a block’, Much Ado, ii. 1. 248; imprisonment, durance, ‘I should have
tane some paines to have heard you Without endurance further’, Hen.
VIII, v. 1. 122 (the phrase is taken from Foxe’s account of Cranmer’s
trial); ‘The indurance of their Generall’, Knolles, Hist. Turks, 1256
(NED.).
=endure,= to indurate, harden. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 27. Norm. F.
_s’endurer_, to harden oneself (Moisy).
=eneled,= anointed, as one who has received extreme unction. Morte
Arthur, leaf 429*, back, 25; bk. xxi, c. 12; Caxton, Golden Legend, 337,
see NED. (s.v. Anele).
=enew= (t. t. in hawking), to drive a fowl into the water; ‘Let her enew
the fowl so long till she bring it to the plunge’, Markham, Countr.
Content. (ed. 1668, i. 5. 32); ‘Follies doth enew (misprinted _emmew_,
Ff.) As Falcon doth the Fowle’, Meas. for M. iii. 1. 91. Spelt _ineawe_,
to plunge into the water, Drayton, Pol. xx. 284. Anglo-F. _eneauer_, to
wet (Gower), Norm. F. _ewe_ (F. _eau_), water. See =inmew.=
=enewed;= see =ennewe.=
=enfeloned,= made fell or fierce. Spenser, F. Q. v. 8. 48.
=enfired,= kindled, set on fire. Spenser, Hymn to Love, 169.
=enform,= to mould, fashion. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 3.
=enfouldred,= hurled out like thunder and lightning. Spenser, F. Q. i.
11. 40. OF. _fouldre_ (F. _foudre_), Romanic type _folgere_, L.
_fulgur_, a thunderbolt.
=enfounder,= to drive in, to batter in. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 216,
back, 30; lf. 295, back, 25; to stumble, as a horse, to ‘founder’; ‘His
horse enfoundred under hym’, Berners, Arth., 87 (NED.). F. _enfondrer_
(un harnois), to make a great dint in an armour; also, to plunge into
the bottom of a puddle or mire (Cotgr.).
=enginous,= ingenious. Hero and Leander, iii. 312; Chapman, tr. of
Odyssey, i. 452. Cp. Scot, _engine_ (_ingine_), intellect, mental
capacity (EDD.). F. _engin_, understanding reach of wit (Cotgr.). L.
_ingenium_, natural capacity. See =ingine.=
=engle;= see =ingle.=
=englin,= the name of a Welsh metre. Drayton, Pol. iv. 181. W. _englyn_.
The Note has: _Englyns_ are couplets interchanged of sixteen and
fourteen feet.
=engore,= to ‘gore’, wound deeply. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 42.
=engraile,= to give a serrated appearance to; ‘I (the river Wear) indent
the earth, and then I it engraile With many a turn’, Drayton, Pol. xxix.
380; _engrail’d_, variegated, ‘A caldron new engrail’d with twenty
hues’, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xxiii. 761.
=engrain,= to dye ‘in grain’, or of a fast colour. Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
Feb., 131. See Dict. (s.v. Grain).
=engrave,= to bury. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 42; ii. 1. 60.
=enhalse,= to greet, salute. Mirror for Mag., Rivers, st. 58. See
=halse.=
=ennewe,= to tint, shade; ‘With rose-colour ennewed’, Calisto and
Meliba, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 62; ‘The one shylde was enewed with
whyte’, Morte Arthur, leaf 55. back, 24; bk. iii, ch. 9 (end). Perhaps
fr. F. _nuer_, to shade, tint (Godefroy), see NED.
=enow,= pl. form of ‘enough’; ‘Foes enow’, Milton, P. L. ii. 504;
‘Christians enow’, Merch. Ven. iii. 5. 24; ‘French quarrels enow’, Hen.
V, iv. 1. 222. ME. _ynowe_: ‘Wommen y-nowe’ (Chaucer, Parl. Foules,
233), OE. _genōge_, pl. of _genōg_, enough.
=enpesshe,= to hinder. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 238. 6; 329. 19. See
=empeach.=
=enrace,= to introduce into a race of living beings. Spenser, F. Q. iii.
5. 52; vi. 10. 25; Hymn of Beauty, 114.
=ens,= being, entity. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, Induct. (Asper).
Med. L. (in philosophy) _ens_, entity, a neuter pres. pt. formed fr. L.
_esse_, to be.
=enseam,= to cleanse (a hawk) of superfluous fat; ‘_Ensemer_, to inseam,
unfatten’, Cotgrave; ‘Clene ensaymed’, Skelton, Ware the Hauke, 79. OF.
_esseimer_, ‘retirer le _saim_ (la graisse)’, see Moisy (s.v. Ensaimer),
deriv. of _saim_ fat, Med. L. _sagīmen_, ‘adeps’ (Ducange).
=enseam,= to contain together, include. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 35; to
introduce to company, Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, i. 1 (Monsieur). See NED.
(s.v. Enseam, vb.^{4}).
=enseamed,= marked with grease; ‘In the ranke sweat of an enseamed bed’,
Hamlet, iii. 4. 92. F. _enseimer_ (now _ensimer_), to grease (Hatzfeld).
[Schmidt connects this word with ‘enseam’, to cleanse a hawk; see
above.]
=enseignement,= teaching, showing. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2,
§ last. F. _enseignement_ (Cotgr.).
=ensigns,= insignia, marks of honour. Bacon, Essay 29, § 12.
=ensnarl,= to entangle. Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 9. A north Yorks. word
(EDD.). ME. _snarlyn_, ‘illaqueo’ (Prompt. EETS. 460).
=entail, entayl,= to carve, cut into. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 27; ii. 6.
29; _entayle_, ornamental work cut on gold, id., ii. 7. 4.
=enterdeal,= negotiation. Spenser, F. Q. v. 8. 21; Mother Hubberd’s
Tale, 785.
=entermete,= to concern oneself, occupy oneself, meddle with. Caxton,
Hist. Troye, leaf 154, back, 13. ME. _entremeten_, refl. to meddle with
(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 1026). Anglo-F. _s’entremettre_, to occupy
oneself (Gower).
=enterprize,= to receive, entertain as a host. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 14;
In this sense peculiar to Spenser.
=entertain,= to take into one’s service; Gent. Ver. ii. 4. 105; Richard
III, i. 2. 258; to keep in one’s service, Fuller, Pisgah, iii. 2; to
give reception to, Com. Errors, iii. 1. 120; the reception of a guest,
Spenser, Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 1085; F. Q. v. 9. 37; Pericles, i. 1.
119.
=entertake,= to receive, entertain. Only in Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 35.
=entire.= Used of friends _wholly_ devoted to one another; ‘My most
sincere and entire friend’, Coryat, Crudities, Ep. Ded.; ‘Your entire
loving brother’, Bacon, Essays, Ep. Ded. [cp. F. _ami entier_]. From the
notion of intimacy was developed the sense: inward, internal, ‘Their
hearts and parts entire’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 23 and 48; iii. 1. 47;
iii. 7. 16.
=entradas,= receipts, revenues. Massinger, Guardian, v. 4 (Severino).
Span. _entrada_, revenue.
=entraile,= to twist, entwine, interlace. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 27; iii.
6. 44; Shep. Kal., Aug. 30; Prothalamion, 25; a coil, F. Q. i. 1. 16.
Cp. F. _traille_ (_treille_), lattice-work (Cotgr.).
=entreat,= to treat, use. Richard II, iii. 1. 37; Fletcher, Rule a Wife,
iii. 4 (Perez); Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 7; ‘He entreated Abram well’,
BIBLE, Gen. xii. 16; ‘Despytfully entreated’, Tyndale, Luke xviii. 32.
OF. _entraiter_, to treat, use (Godefroy).
=entreglancing,= interchange of glances. Gascoigne, Flowers, ed.
Hazlitt, i. 46.
=entries,= places through which deer have recently passed. B. Jonson,
Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (John).
=entwite,= to rebuke, reproach, reprove, to ‘twit’. Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Augustus, § 1; Roister Doister, ii. 3 (song); p. 36. Altered
form of ME. _atwiten_, to reproach, twit, OE. _æt-witan_.
=enure,= to put into operation, to ‘inure’, carry out, practise.
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 29; v. 9. 39.
=envy,= to feel a grudge against; to begrudge; to treat grudgingly; to
have grudging feelings. Milton, P. L. iv. 317; King John, iii. 4. 73;
Peele, Tale of Troy, ed. Dyce, p. 551. The stress is often on the latter
syllable.
=envy,= to injure, disgrace, calumniate. Fletcher, Pilgrim, ii. 1
(Juletta); Shirley, Traitor, iii. 3 (Duke).
=envỳ,= to emulate, ‘vie’ with. Spenser, F. Q. i. 2. 17; iii. 1. 13. F.
_envier_ (au jeu), to vie (Cotgr.), L. _invitare_, to invite, challenge.
=ephemerides,= properly, tables showing the positions of the heavenly
bodies (or some of them) for every day of a period, esp. at noon. But
used vaguely for an almanac or calendar that noted some of these things.
B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 4 (Surly); Bp. Hall, Sat. ii. 7. 6; Bacon, Adv.
of Learning, i. 1, § 3. Gk. ἐφημερίς, a diary.
=Ephesian,= a boon companion. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 164. A cant term; used
like ‘Corinthian’ in 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 13.
=epiky,= reasonableness, equity; ‘Such an epiky and moderacion’,
Latimer, 5 Sermon bef. King (ed. Arber, p. 143). Gk. ἐπιείκεια,
reasonableness; from ἐπιείκής, fitting, equitable.
=epiphoneme,= an exclamatory sentence, used to sum up a discourse.
Puttenham, Art of Eng. Poesie, bk. ii, c. 12 (ed. Arber, p. 125);
Heywood, Dialogue 2 (Mary), vol. vi, p. 123. Gk. ἐπιφώνημα.
=epitasis,= the part of a play wherein the plot thickens. B. Jonson, Ev.
Man out of Humour, iii. 2 (end). Gk. ἐπίτασις.
=epitrite,= in prosody, a foot consisting of three long syllables and a
short one. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (P. Can.). Gk. ἐπίτριτος.
=equal=(=l,= fair, equitable, just, impartial. BIBLE, 1539, Psalm xvii.
2; Fletcher, Span. Curate, iii. 3 (Bartolus); iv. 4. 15; _equally_,
justly, id., iv. 5 (Diego).
=equipage,= equipment; retinue. Sh., Sonnet 32; Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
Oct., 114. F. _equipage_, ‘equipage, good armour; store of necessaries;
_Equipage d’un navire_, her Marriners and Souldiers’ (Cotgr.). See NED.
(s.v. Equip). See =esquip.=
=erased,= in heraldry; said of an animal’s head, with a jagged edge
below, as if torn violently from the body. Also used humorously of an
ear, Butler, Hud. iii. 3. 214.
=eremite,= one dwelling in the desert; ‘This glorious eremite’, Milton,
P. R. i. 8 (used with allusion to the original meaning of the Greek
word). Eccles. Gk. ἐρημίτης, one who has retired into the desert from
religious motives, a hermit, deriv. of ἔρημος, wilderness (Matt. iii.
1).
=erie, ery,= every. Tusser, Husbandry, § 18. 17; § 57. 11. Also several
times in Turbervile’s Poems. A contracted form, like _e’er_ for _ever_.
=eringo, eryngo,= the candied root of the sea-holly, used as a
sweetmeat, and regarded as an aphrodisiac. Merry Wives, v. 5. 23. Ital.
_eringio_, sea-holly (Florio), L. _eryngion_, Gk. ἠρύγγιον, dimin. of
ἤρυγγος, sea-holly.
=erne,= an eagle. Golding, Metam. vi. 517; fol. 74 (1603). A Scottish
literary word (EDD.). OE. _earn_ (Matt. xxiv. 28).
=errant:= phr. _an errant knight_, a knight-errant. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4.
38; i. 10. 10. Anglo-F. _errer_, to travel, to march (Ch. Rol. 3340), O.
Prov. _edrar_ (_errar_), Med. L. _iterare_, ‘iter facere’ (Ducange).
=errant,= ‘arrant’. Chapman, Byron’s Tragedy, v. 1 (Byron); ‘Sir Kenelm
Digby was an errant mountebank’, Evelyn, Diary (Nov. 7, 1651). See NED.
(s.v. Errant, 7).
=errour,= wandering, roving. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 7.
=erst,= once upon a time, formerly. Hen. V, v. ii. 48; Ferrex and
Porrex, i. 2. 5; previously, Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 18. ME. _erst_
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 776), OE. _ǣrest_, superl. of _ǣr_, soon.
=esbatement,= amusement. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 160. 15; Sir T.
Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 3, § 10. Anglo-F. _esbatement_, diversion
(Gower). F. _esbatement_, ‘divertissement’ (Rabelais), OF. _esbatre_,
‘se divertir’ (Bartsch).
=escape,= a wilful error; a great fault. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p.
150); Othello, i. 3. 197.
=escot,= to pay a reckoning for, to maintain; ‘How are they escoted’,
Hamlet, ii. 2. 362. OF. _escoter_, ‘payer l’écot’ (Didot), Anglo-F.
_escot_, payment, reckoning at a tavern (Gower); _escot_ (payment)
occurs in the Statutes of the Realm, i. 221 (13th cent.), see Rough
List. See Ducange (s.v. Scot, Scottum). _Escot_ (payment) is the same
word as ‘scot’ or ‘shot’, in prov. use for payment of a tavern reckoning
(EDD.).
=escuage,= lit. shield-service; personal service in the field for 40
days in the year; later, a money payment in lieu of it, also called
‘scutage’. Bacon, Hen. VII, ed. Lumby, p. 148. Anglo-F. _escuage_, Med.
L. _scutagium_, deriv. of L. _scutum_, a shield (Ducange).
=escudero,= a squire. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, iv. 1 (Wit.). Span.
_escudéro_, an esquire, a servant that waits on a lady (Stevens), deriv.
of _escúdo_, a shield, L. _scutum_.
=esguard,= a tribunal existing among the Knights of St. John, to settle
differences between members of the order. Beaumont and Fl., Knight of
Malta, v. 2 (Valetta). OF. _esgard_, ‘tribunal des chevaliers de Malte’.
Med. L. _esgardium_: ‘De vassallo delinquente in Dominum, Dominus potest
de ce quod tenet ab ipso, ipsum per Exguardium dissaisire (Id est,
judicio parium suerum interveniente)’, quotation from Statutes
(Ducange). O. Prov. _esgart_, ‘regard, décision, jugement; condamnation
pécuniaire; égard, considération’; _esgardar_, ‘regarder, considérer;
décider, juger’ (Levy).
=esloin, esloyne,= to remove to a distance. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 20. F.
_esloigner_ (Cotgr.).
=esmayed,= dismayed. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 308. 6; 329, back, 9.
Anglo-F. _s’esmaier_, to be dismayed (Gower).
=esmayle,= enamel. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. iii, c. 19; p. 242. F.
_esmail_ ‘enammel’ (Cotgr.).
=espial,= the action of espying or spying. Bp. Hall, Contempl. O. T.
xix. 9 (NED.); a company of spies, Elyot, Governour, iii. 6. 236;
_espials_, spies, Bacon, Essay, 48; 1 Hen. VI, iv. 3. 6; Hamlet, iii. 1.
32. See NED.
=esquip,= to equip. _Esquippe_, Baret, Alvearie; _esquipping_,
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 577. F. _esquiper_ (_equiper_), to equip,
arm, store with necessary furniture (Cotgr.). See =equipage.=
=essoyne,= excuse, Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 20. ME. _essoyne_, excuse for
non-appearance in a law-court (Chaucer, C. T. I. 164). Anglo-F.
_essoigne_ (_essoyne_), excuse, a legal term (Rough List), see Ducange
(s.v. Sunnis). Med. L. _essoniare_, ‘excusationem proponere’ (Ducange),
of Teutonic origin, cp. Goth. _sunjôn_, ‘excusare’ (2 Cor. xii. 19).
=estate,= rank, dignity; ‘He poisons him in the garden for his estate’,
Hamlet, iii. 2. 273; Macbeth, i. 4. 37; _estates_, men of rank, nobles,
Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, i. 1 (Tarquin). F. _estat_, office, dignity,
rank, degree which a man hath (Cotgr.). See Bible Word-Book.
=estivation:= phr. _place of estivation_, a summer-house. Bacon, Essay
45, § 5. Deriv. of L. _aestivus_, pertaining to summer.
=estres,= apartments, dwellings, quarters; the inner rooms in a house,
divisions in a garden, &c.; spelt _estures_ [printed by Caxton
_eftures_]. Morte Arthur, leaf 392, back, 3; bk. xix, ch. 8. ME.
_estres_ (Chaucer), Anglo-F. _estre_, habitation, dwelling (Gower);
_estres_, inward parts of a house (Rough List); OF. _estre_, ‘domuncula,
aedificium’, see Ducange (s.v. _Estra_).
=estridge,= an ostrich, 1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 98; Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 197;
spelt _estrich_, Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, ii. 2 (Incubo); Lyly,
Euphues (ed. Arber, 124). ME. _estrich_ (Voc. 585, 22). O. Prov.
_estrutz_, ‘autruche’ (Levy).
=eten, ettin,= a giant; ‘Giants and ettins’, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of
the B. Pestle, i. 2 (_or_ 3) (Wife). ME. _ȝeten_ (Gen. and Ex. 545), OE.
_eoten_, a giant, cp. Icel. _jötunn_.
=Etesian,= (properly) the epithet of certain winds, blowing from the NE.
for about forty days annually in summer; ‘Etesian winds’, Holland, tr.
of Pliny, bk. xvi, c. 25 (end); ‘Etesian gales’, Dryden, Albion, Act i
(Iris). L. _etesius_; Gk. ἐτήσιος, annual, from ἔτος, year.
=ethe;= see =eath.=
=eugh,= yew; ‘The Eugh, obedient to the bender’s will’, Spenser, F. Q.
i. 1. 9; Bacon, Essay 46. ME. _ew_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2923), OE. _īw_.
=eure,= destiny, fate, luck. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 235, back, 8;
spelt _ure_, Skelton, Colin Clout, 1003; _to be ured_, to be invested
with, as by the decree of fate, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 6; _ewre_, to
render happy, Palsgrave. Hence _eurous_, _ewrous_, lucky, Caxton, Hist.
Troye, leaf 227. 30; lf. 228. 19. ME. _ure_, fate, good luck (Barbour’s
Bruce). OF. _eür_, ‘sort, bonheur’ (Bartsch), O. Prov. _aür_, _agur_,
destiny, Romanic type _agurium_, L. _augurium_, augury, omen. See =ure,
male-uryd, misured.=
=evelong,= oblong. Golding, Metam. viii. 551, fol. 101 (1603). ME.
_evelong_, ‘oblongus’ (Trevisa, tr. Higden, i. 405). Cp. Icel.
_aflangr_, oblong, Dan. _aflang_; L. _oblongus_.
=event,= to cool, by exposing to the air; ‘To event the heat’, Mirror
for Mag., Clyfford, st. 8; to find vent, ‘Whence that scalding sigh
evented’, B. Jonson, Case is Altered, v. 3 (Angelo). F. _esventer_, to
fan or winnow; _s’esventer_, to take vent or wind (Cotgr.).
=ever among,= continually, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec, 12.
=evertuate,= _reflex._, to endeavour. Howell, Foreign Travell, sect.
xvi, p. 72; ‘I have evirtuated myself’, Howell, Famil. Letters, vol. ii,
let. 61 (end). Anglo-F. _s’esvertuer_, to exert oneself, endeavour
(Gower).
=evesing,= the eaves of the thatch of a house; ‘A dropping evesing’,
Schole-house of Women, 912; in Hazlitt, Early Pop. Poetry, iv. 140. ME.
_evesynge_ (P. Plowman, C. xx. 193), deriv. of _evese_, the edge of the
roof of a building, the ‘eaves’, OE. _efes_ (Ps. ci. 8). See =easing.=
=evet,= an eft, a newt. Lyly, Euphues, p. 315. See EDD. for prov. forms.
OE. _efeta_. See =ewftes.=
=evicke,= a wild goat. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 122 (rendering of αἲξ
ἄγριος). See NED. (s.v. Eveck).
=ewftes,= efts. Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 23. See =evet.=
=exacuate,= to sharpen, whet, provoke. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, iii. 3
(Compass).
=Exaltation of the Holy Cross,= the Feast observed on Sept. 14.
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 37. 16.
=exampless,= for _example-less_, without an example, unparalleled. B.
Jonson, Sejanus, ii. 4 (Silius).
=Excalibur,= the name of King Arthur’s sword. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum.
iii. 1 (Bobadil); ‘The try’d Excalibour’, Drayton, Pol. iv (Nares).
=excheat,= ‘escheat’, profit, lit. that which is fallen to one. Spenser,
F. Q. i. 5. 25; iii. 8. 16. Anglo-F. _eschete_, _eschaëte_ (Rough List),
Med. L. _escaeta_, deriv. from Romanic type _escadére_ (F. _echoir_),
Med. L. _excadere_, ‘jure haereditario obvenire; in aliquem cadere, ei
obvenire’ (Ducange).
=exercise,= an act of preaching, discourse; a discussion of a passage of
Scripture. Richard III, iii. 2. 112; iii. 7. 64; Middleton, Mayor of
Queenborough, v. 1 (Oliver).
=exhale,= to hale forth, drag out. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1
(Crispinus); cp. Hen. V, ii. 1. 66.
=exhibition,= allowance, fixed payment. King Lear, i. 2. 25; Othello, i.
3. 238; London Prodigal, i. 1. 10. Med. L. _exhibitio_, ‘praebitio’;
_exhibere_, ‘praebere alimenta et ad vitam necessaria’ (Ducange). See
Prompt. EETS. 161, and Rönsch, Vulgata, 312. Hence the term ‘exhibition’
in the University of Oxford for annual payments made by a College to
deserving students.
=exigent,= state of pressing need, emergency, decisive moment. Julius
Caesar, v. 1. 19; Ant. and Cl. iv. 12. 63; extremity, end, 1 Hen. VI,
ii. 5. 9; phr. _to take an exigent_, to come to an end, A Merry Knack to
know a Knave, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 546; _exigents_, straits,
Marlowe, Edw. II, ii. 5 (Warwick).
=exigent,= an urgent command; _a writ of exigent_ was one commanding the
sheriff to summon the defendant to appear, and to deliver himself up on
pain of outlawry. Butler, Hud. i. 1. 370; iii. 1. 1036. Anglo-F.
_exigende_, L. _exigenda_, from _exigere_, to exact. See Cowell,
Interpreter (s.v.).
=exoster,= a hanging-bridge, used by men besieging a city; ‘Exosters,
Sambukes, Catapults’, Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 9. L. _exostra_, Gk.
ἐξώστρα, a bridge _thrust out_ from the besiegers’ tower against the
walls of the besieged place; deriv. of ὠθέειν, to thrust.
=expend,= to weigh, examine, consider. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii,
c. 9, § 1; c. 29, § 3. L. _expendere_, to weigh out.
=expert,= to experience. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 186.
=expire,= to breathe out. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 45; iv. 1. 54; to fulfil
a term, i. 7. 9; to fly forth from a cannon, Dryden, Annus Mirabilis,
st. 188.
=expiscate,= to ‘fish out’, i.e. to find out by inquiry. Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, x. 181. L. _expiscari_, to fish out; deriv. of _piscis_, a fish.
=explete,= to complete, to satisfy; ‘To explete the act’, Speed, Hist.
ix. 21, § 71; ‘Nothing under an Infinite can expleat the immortall minde
of man’, Fuller, Pisgah, iv. 7. 123. L. _explere_, to fill out.
=exploit,= success; ‘His ambassadours hadde made no better exployte’,
Berners, tr. Froissart, ii. 91. 272. ME. _espleit_, success (Gower, C.
A. V. 3924), Anglo-F. _exploit_, _espleit_, _esplait_, speed, success
(Rough List).
=exploit,= to accomplish, achieve; ‘I _exployt_, I applye or avaunce
myself to forther a busynesse’, Palsgrave; ‘They departed without
_exploytinge_ their message’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, ch. 26, §
8; ‘To exploit some warlike service’, Holland, tr. Ammianus (Nares).
=express,= to press out, squeeze out. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 42.
=expulse,= to expel. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 5, § 5; Bacon,
Adv. of Learning, bk. ii, c. 17, § 9. L. _expulsare_, freq. of
_expellere_, to expel.
=extend= (a legal t. t.), to seize upon lands, in execution of a writ.
Massinger, New Way to Pay, v. 1 (Overreach); to seize upon land, Ant.
and Cl. i. 2. 105. See Cowell, Interpreter (s.v.).
=extent= (a legal t. t.); ‘A writ or commission to the Sheriff for the
valuing of lands or tenements; also, the Act of the Sheriff or other
Commissioner upon this writ’, Cowell, Interpreter; Butler, Hud. iii. 1.
1035; Massinger, City Madam, v. 2 (Luke); As You Like It, iii. 1. 17.
=extinct,= to extinguish. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 2 (end);
hence _extincted_, pp., Othello, ii. 1. 81.
=extirp,= to extirpate. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 25. L. _extirpare_,
_exstirpare_, deriv. of _stirps_, the stem of a tree.
=extort,= extorted. Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 5; v. 10. 25.
=extraught,= extracted. 3 Hen. VI, ii. 2. 142. Cp. _distraught_ for
_distract_, _distracted_.
=extreate,= extraction, origin. Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 1. ME. _estrete_,
extraction, origin (Gower, C. A. i. 1344), OF. _estraite_, birth, origin
(Assizes de Jer., ch. 134); see Bartsch (Glossary).
=extree,= axle-tree. Golding, Metam. ii. 297; fol. 19, back (1603). In
prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Ax, sb.^{1}), ME. _ex-tre_ (Prompt. EETS.
145).
=eyas,= a young hawk taken from the nest for the purpose of training;
_eyas hauke_, a young untrained hawk, Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 34;
_eyas-musket_ (used jocularly of a sprightly child), Merry Wives, iii.
3. 22; ‘An aerie of children little eyases’, Hamlet, ii. 2. 355. F.
_niais_ (Fauconnerie), ‘qui n’a pas encore quitté le nid’ (Hatzfeld), L.
_nidacem_, deriv. of _nidus_, a nest, cp. Ital. _nidiace_, ‘taken out of
the nest, a simpleton’ (Florio). See =niaise.=
=eye,= a brood; esp. of pheasants; ‘An Eye of Pheasaunts’, Spenser,
Shep. Kal., April, 118 (E. K. Gloss.); ‘An Eye of tame pheasants Or
partridges’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Prigg); Worlidge, Dict.
Rust. 252; Coles, Lat. Dict. (1677). In prov. use in various parts of
England, see EDD. (s.v. Eye, sb.^{2}); also in the form _nye_ (_nie_,
_ni_), see EDD. OF. _ni_, ‘nid’ (La Curne).
=eyre,= to ‘ear’, to plough. Drayton, Robert Duke of Normandy, st. 5.
See =earth.=
=eysel;= see =eisel.=
F
=faces about,= the same as ‘right-about face’, i.e. turn round the other
way. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum. iii. 1. 14; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of
the B. Pestle, v. 2 (Ralph); Scornful Lady, v. 2 (Y. Loveless).
=fackins.= The forms here given are distortions of _fay_ (faith),
frequent in trivial quasi-oaths. _By my fackins_, B. Jonson, Every Man,
i. 3; _By my feckins_, Heywood, 1 Edw. I, iii. 1; _By my facks_,
Middleton, Quiet Life, ii. 2; _By my feck_, Webster, Cure for Cuckold,
iv. 3. Cp. _I’ faikins_, in truth, verily, used in Scotland, Lakeland,
and Lancashire (EDD.). See =fay= (1).
=fact,= evil deed, crime. Meas. for M. iv. 2. 141; v. 439; Wint. Tale,
iii. 2. 86; Macb. iii. 6. 10; _in the fact_, in the act, 2 Hen. VI, ii.
1. 173.
=fadge,= to fit, suit, agree; ‘Let men avoid what fadgeth not with their
stomachs’, Robertson, Phras. 708; ‘How ill his shape with inward forme
doth fadge’, Marston, Scourge of Villanie, i. 1. 172; to succeed, to
turn out well, ‘How will this fadge?’, Twelfth Nt. ii. 2. 34; to get on
well, to thrive, ‘Let him that cannot fadge in one course fall to
another’, Cotgrave (s.v. Mouldre). In prov. use in various parts of
England, meaning to fit, suit; to make things fit; to succeed, thrive,
see EDD. (s.v. Fadge, vb.^{3}).
=fading,= the name of a dance; ‘Fading is a fine jig’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Knight B. Pestle, iv. 5 (end). ‘With a fading’ was the refrain of a
popular song of an indecent character, Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 195.
=fagary,= a vagary, freak. Middleton, Roaring Girl, iv. 2 (Goshawk);
Lady Alimony, ii. 1 (1 Boy). See =fegary.=
=fagioli,= French beans. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury).
Ital. _fagioli_, ‘french peason, kidney beanes’ (Florio), Late L.
_phaseolus_ (Pliny), earlier L. _phaselus_ (Virgil), Gk. φάσηλος, a
kidney-bean.
=fail, fayl,= to deceive. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 11; iii. 11. 46. F.
_faillir_, to deceive (Cotgr.).
=fain,= to rejoice. Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 36. Hence _fayning_, gladsome,
wistful, Hymn of Love, 216. OE. _fægnian_, to rejoice.
=fair,= fairness, beauty. Greene, Looking Glasse, i. 1. 81 (Rasni);
Death of E. of Huntingdon, ii. 1 (Salisbury); iii. 4 (Leicester); in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 255, 282.
=fairy money,= money given by fairies, which turned to dry leaves if
talked about; ‘Such borrowed wealth, like Fairy-money . . . will be but
Leaves and Dust when it comes to use’, Locke, Human Und. I, iv. (NED.);
Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, v. 1 (Montague). See Davies.
=faitour,= an impostor, cheat, a lying vagabond. Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
May, 39; _faytor_, F. Q. i. 12. 35; 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 173. See Notes to
Piers Plowman, p. 166. The word means a sham, a maker-up of a character.
OF. _faitour_, _faiteör_, Romanic type _factitorem_.
=fa la,= a snatch of song; ‘The fiddle, and the _fa las_’, Fletcher,
Mons. Thomas, iv. 2 (Launcelot). From the notes in the upper part of the
gamut—_fa_-sol-_la_-si. Hence, _fa la la_, as a refrain of a song.
=fall,= the blast blown on a horn at the death of the deer. Gascoigne,
Art of Venerie, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 315. See =mort.=
=fall,= a collar falling flat round the neck. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1
(Surly); _falls_, pl., Middleton, Your Five Gallants, i. 1 (2 Fellow).
=fall,= autumn; ‘The hole yere is deuided into iiii. partes,
spring-time, somer, faule of the leafe, and winter’, Ascham, Toxophilus,
p. 48; Dryden, tr. Juvenal, Sat. x. In prov. use in various parts of
England, very common in America (EDD.).
=fall,= to let fall, Temp. ii. 1. 296; Richard III, v. 3. 135; to
happen, Mids. Night’s D. v. 1. 188.
=falling bands;= see =band.=
=false:= phr. _to false a blow_, to make a feint, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9.
46; ii. 5. 9. Cp. Cymbeline, ii. 3. 74.
=falser,= a deceiver. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec.; Epilogue, 6.
=falx,= a term in wrestling; a grip round the small of the back.
Drayton, Pol. i. 244; Carew, Cornwall, 76. F. _faux du corps_ (Sherwood,
s.v. Wast). See NED. (s.v. Faulx).
=famble,= hand. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen); Harman,
Caveat, p. 87. Icel. _fálma_, the hand; cp. Swed. _famle_, to grope;
cognate with OE. _folm_, a hand.
=famble,= a ring. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, ii. 1 (Belfond
Senior). So called because worn on the hand. See above.
=famelic,= exciting hunger, appetizing. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iii. 1
(Busy). L. _famelicus_, hungry; from _fames_, hunger.
=Familist,= one of the sect called the Family of Love. Middleton,
Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 1 (Knavesby). See Dyce’s introduction to
the Family of Love, by the same dramatist.
=fang,= to take, seize, seize upon. Timon, iv. 3. 23; spelt _vang_
(Southern), London Prodigal, iii. 3. 5; _fanged_, pp., Northward Ho, i.
2. 6. OE. _fōn_, to take; pp. _gefangen_.
=fanterie,= infantry; ‘Cavallery [cavalry] and Fanterie’, Holland, tr.
of Pliny, bk. vi, c. 20; vol. i, p. 128 g; _Fanteries_, foot-soldiers,
Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 152. OF. _fanterie_ (Roquefort); Ital.
‘_fantería_, infantry; _fante_, a boy, a foot soldier’ (Florio); short
for _infante_, an infant. Cp. ME. _faunt_, child (P. Plowman, B. xvi.
101), whence surname ‘Fauntleroy’.
=fap,= drunk. Merry Wives, i. 1. 183.
=farandine,= a kind of cloth, made partly of silk and partly of wool.
Spelt _farrendon_, Wycherley, Love in a Wood, iii. 1 (Lucy);
_ferrandine_, a gown of this material, id. v. 2 (Mrs. Joyner). Said to
be from F. _Ferrand_, the name of the inventor (_c._ 1630). See NED.
=farce,= to stuff, fill out; ‘Farce thy lean ribs’, B. Jonson, Ev. Man
out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo); ‘The farced title’ (i.e. stuffed, tumid),
Hen. V, iv. 1. 280; ‘Wit larded with malice, and malice farced with
wit’, Tr. and Cr. v. 1. 64. See Dict. (s.v. Farce).
=farcion, farcyon,= the farcy, a disease in horses, akin to glanders.
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 93. F. _farcin_; see Hatzfeld. See =fashions.=
=fardle,= to furl a sail. Golding, Metam. xi. 483; fol. 138 (1603). F.
_fardeler_, to truss or pack up (Cotgr.). See NED. (s.v. Fardel).
=fare,= course; track of a hare. Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 16; Fletcher,
Faithful Shepherdess, iv. 2. 18. OE. _fær_, course; from _faran_, to go.
=far-fet,= fetched from afar. Milton, P. R. ii. 401. Things ‘far-fet’
were proverbially said to be good (or fit) for ladies; ‘Farre fet and
deere bought is good for Ladyes’, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 93). See The
Malcontent, v. 2 (Mendoza); B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, 1 Prologue; Cynthia’s
Revels, iv. 1 (Argurion).
=farlies,= strange things, wonders. Drayton, Pol. x. 170. ‘Ferlies’ (or
‘fairlies’) is in common use in Scotland for ‘sights, show things to be
seen, lions’, see EDD. (sv. Ferly, 4). ME. _ferly_, strange, wonderful;
also, a wonder (Barbour’s Bruce), OE. _fǣrlic_, sudden, unexpected.
=fashions,= or =fashion,= the ‘farcy’, a disease of the skin in horses,
Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 53; Dekker, O. Fortunatus, ii. 2 (Andelocia). See
=farcion.=
=fast and loose,= a cheating game with a leather strap, which is made up
in intricate folds and laid edgewise on a table; the novice thrusts a
skewer into it, thinking to hold it fast thereby, but the trickster
takes hold of both ends and draws it away. Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii.
1 (Theodore); City Nightcap, iv. 1 (Dorothea).
=faste,= faced, having faces; ‘Some faste Like loathly toades’, Spenser,
F. Q. ii. 11. 12.
=fastidious,= distasteful, displeasing. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i,
c. 9, § 1; disdainful, B. Jonson, New Inn, Ode (at the end), l. 7.
=fatch,= a ‘vetch’; ‘A fatch for Love!’, Turbervile, The Penitent Lover,
last stanza; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, § 1 (note on the word
_Cicero_). See EDD. (s.v. Fatch).
=fault,= a misfortune. Pericles, iv. 2. 79; Massinger, Bondman, v. 1
(Leosthenes).
=faun,= for =fawn,= an act of fawning upon; a cringing. Phineas
Fletcher, An Apology for the Premises, st. 4; B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv.
4 (Tucca).
=fausen,= a kind of eel (?). Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxi. 190. In Kent
_fazen-eel_ is in use for a large brown eel; see EDD. (s.v. Fazen).
=fautie,= ‘faulty’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 99. 2. The ordinary
pronunciation in Scotland, and many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Faulty). F. _fautif_.
=fautor,= an adherent, partisan; spelt _faultor_, Mirror for Mag.,
Worcester, xx; a protector, patron, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i. 441; xi.
325. F. _fauteur_, ‘a fauter, favourer, protector’ (Cotgr.); L.
_fautor_, a favourer, patron.
=fautress,= a patroness. Chapman, tr. Iliad, xxiii. 670.
=Favell,= a personification of flattery; ‘The fyrste was Favell, full of
flatery, Wyth fables false that well coude fayne a tale’, Skelton, Bowge
of Courte, 134; ‘Favell hath a goodly grace In eloquence’, Wyatt, The
Courtier’s Life (ed. Bell, 216). ME. _Fauel_: ‘Bothe Fals and Fauel and
fykeltonge Lyere’ (P. Plowman, C. iii. 6); see Notes, pp. 42, 43.
Hoccleve, in his De Regimine Principum (ed. Wright, pp. 106, 111), fully
describes _favelle_ or flattery, and says, ‘In wrong praising is all his
craft and arte’. See =curry-favell.=
=fawting,= favourable. Mirror for Mag., Irenglas, st. 21 (ed. 1575). See
=fautor.=
=fay,= faith. Spenser, F. Q. v. S. 19; phr. _by my fay_, by my faith,
Romeo, i. 5. 128. ME. _fey_, faith (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1126); Anglo-F.
_fei_ (F. _foi_). See =fackins.=
=fay,= to clear away filth, to clean out a ditch or pond. Burton, Anat.
Mel. i. 2. 4: Holland, tr. Livy, xxi. 37 (ed. 1609, 414); spelt _fie_,
Tusser, Husbandry, § 20. 21. In common prov. use in the north country
and in E. Anglia: in the former ‘fey’ is the usual form, in the latter
‘fie’, see EDD. (s.v. Fay, vb.^{1}). Icel. _fǣgja_, to cleanse, polish.
=fayles,= a variety of backgammon, played with three dice. B. Jonson,
Every Man in Hum. iii. 8. 104. Described in Gifford’s note; so called
because a particular throw caused the adversary _to fail_. See NED.
(where there is cited from Ludus Anglicorum (_c._ A.D. 1330) ‘Est et
alius ludus qui vocatur Faylys’). See Nares.
=feague,= to settle one’s business, to take one in hand, to dispose of.
Etherege, She Would if she Could, iii. 3 (Sir Oliver); also (Sir
Joslin’s Song); iv. 2 (Sir Oliver). Spelt _fegue_, Wycherley, Love in a
Wood, i. 1 (end). Cp. G. _fegen_, to sweep, to clean, to furbish; also,
to chastise, rebuke; Du. _vegen_. See NED.
=feague,= to whip. Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 5 (Beaugard). Probably
the same word as above. See EDD. (s.v. Feag).
=feak,= a dangling curl of hair. Marston, Sat. i. 38. See NED.
=feants,= for _fiants_ or _fyaunts_; see =fiants.= Turbervile, Hunting,
c. 37; p. 98.
=fear,= an object of terror. Hamlet, iii. 3. 25; Milton, P. L. ix. 285;
to terrify, Tam. Shrew, i. 2. 221; 1 Hen. VI, v. 2. 2. ‘To fear’ is used
in this sense in Scotland and in various parts of England (EDD.).
=feat,= made, fashioned. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iii. 2 (Sir N.
Treadle); clever, dexterous, Cymb. v. 5. 88; graceful, ‘She speaks feat
English’, Fletcher, Night-walker, iii. 6; neat, becoming, Temp. ii. 1.
273; to make a person elegant, Cymb. i. 1. 49. ‘Feat’ is in gen. prov.
use in the sense of suitable, also, dexterous, adroit, smart (EDD.). F.
_fait_, made; _fait pour_, made for, suitable for.
=featuously,= elegantly, Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. iv, Ballad of
Dowsabel, 24; _feateously_, dexterously, nimbly, Spenser, Prothal. 27.
ME. _fetysly_, exquisitely; _fetys_, well-made, handsome, graceful
(Chaucer). OF. _fetis_, _feitis_; L. _facticius_.
=feature,= fashion, make, form. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 44; ‘The grim
Feature’ (used of Satan), Milton, P. L. x. 279.
=feaze;= see =feeze.=
=feeze.= The threat ‘I’ll feeze you’ seems to have given rise to the
sense. To ‘do for’, ‘settle the business of’, also, to beat, flog.
Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, i. 6 (Ricardo); _veeze_, Massinger, Emperor
East, iv. 2 (Countryman); _pheese_, Tam. Shrew, Induct, i. 1. ‘To fease’
is in prov. use in Scotland and in various parts of England—Midlands,
E. Anglia, and South Coast, in the sense of to drive away, to put to
flight (EDD.). OE. _fēsan_, to drive away; cp. Norw. dialect _föysa_
(Aasen).
=fegary, figary,= ‘vagary’, freak, whimsical trick. Spelt _figuary_,
Beaumont and Fl., Fair Maid of the Inn, ii. 2 (Clown); _fegary_,
Middleton, Span. Gipsy, i. 5 (Diego). See =fagary.=
=fegue;= see =feague.=
=felfare,= a field-fare. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, i. 1 (L.
Beaufort). So in Nottingham and Warwick (EDD.).
=fell,= a marsh, a fen. Drayton, Pol. iii. 113; see NED. (s.v. Fell,
sb.^{2} 2 b).
=fell,= gall, rancour. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 2. L. _fel_, gall.
=fell’ff,= the ‘felloe’ of a wheel, part of the wheel-rim. Chapman, tr.
Iliad, iv. 525. A Yorks. pron. of ‘felloe’ (EDD.). OE. _felg_.
=fellowly,= companionable, sympathetic. Temp. v. 1. 64; _fellowlie_,
Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 55.
=felly,= cruelly, fiercely. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 50.
=felness,= fierceness, spite, anger. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 37.
=feltred,= with wool matted close together; ‘Feltred ram’, Chapman, tr.
Iliad, iii. 219; ‘His felter’d locks’, Fairfax, Tasso, iv. 7. See EDD.
(s.v. Felter).
=feme, feeme,= a woman; ‘Take time therefore, thou foolish Feeme’,
Turbervile, On the divers Passions of his Love, st. 3 from end. OF.
_feme_ (F. _femme_).
=feminitee,= womanhood. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 51.
=fennel,= supposed to be an emblem of flattery; ‘How this smells of
fennel’, B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 2 (Count F.). See Nares.
=fenny,= spoiled with damp, mouldy. Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 44;
‘_Fenny_, mouldy as fenny cheese’, Worlidge, Ray’s English Words, 1691.
In prov. use (EDD.). OE. _fynig_. See =finewed.=
=fensive,= ‘defensive’, capable of defence. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid,
ii. 301; Warner, Albion’s England, bk. i, c. 4 (st. 4 from end).
=fere, feere,= a companion, mate, spouse. Titus Andron. iv. 1. 89. Often
spelt _pheer_, _pheere_, as in Spenser, Muse of Thestylis, 100. ME.
_fere_ (Chaucer). OE. _ge-fēra_, a companion.
=ferk;= See =firk= (2).
=ferle,= a ‘ferule’; a rod, sceptre; ‘The one of knight-hoode bare the
ferle’, Mirror for Mag., Mortimer, st. 9.
=ferme,= a lodging; ‘His sinfull sowle with desperate disdaine Out of
her fleshly ferme fled to the place of paine’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5.
23.
=ferrandine;= see =farandine.=
=ferrary,= farriery, the art of working in iron. Chapman, tr. of Iliad,
xiv. 141.
=ferrour,= ‘farrier’. Skelton (ed. Dyce, i. 24). OF. _ferrier_
(Godefroy).
=ferse,= the piece now known as the ‘queen’ in chess. Surrey, To the
Lady that scorned, 12, in Tottel’s Misc., p. 21; ‘_Fers_, The Queen at
Chess-play’, Bullokar. ME. _fers_ (Chaucer, Book Duch., 654). OF.
_fierce_, also, _fierge_ (Roman Rose), Med. L. _fercia_ (Ducange). Of
Persian origin, _ferzên_, prop. ‘wise man’, ‘counsellor’, cp. Arab,
_firzân_, queen in chess.
=ferula,= a flat wooden bat, used by schoolmasters for inflicting pats
on the palm of a boy’s hand. North, tr. of Plutarch, J. Caesar, § 41 (in
Shak. Plut., p. 96, n. 1); Englished as _ferule_, Hall, Satires, iv. 1.
169. L. _ferula_.
=fescue,= a little stick or pin, for pointing out the letters to
children learning to read. Hall, Satires, iv. 2. 100; Dryden, Prologue
to Cleomenes, 38. Hence, the gnomon of a dial; Puritan Widow, iv. 2. 84.
OF. _festu_ (F. _fétu_), a straw, O. Prov. _festuc_, for L. _festūca_, a
straw (cp. O. Prov. _festuga_).
=festinately,= hastily. L. L. L. iii. 1. 6. Deriv. of L. _festinus_,
hasty.
=fet,= _pt. t._ and _pp._ fetched; ‘David sent, and fet her to his
house’, BIBLE, 2 Sam. xi. 27, Acts xxviii. 13 (ed. 1611); ‘This
conclusion is far fet’, Jewel (Wks., ed. Parker Soc. i. 146); ‘Deep-fet
groans’, 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 33; B. Jonson, Silent Woman, Prol. ‘To fet’
is in gen. prov. use for ‘fetch’ in Lancashire and Midland counties
(EDD.) ME. _fette_, pt. s. of _fecchen_, and _fet_ pp. (Chaucer). OE.
_fette_, pt. s., and _fetod_, pp. of _fetian_, to fetch (B. T.).
=fetch,= a trick, stratagem. Tusser, Husbandry, § 64. 2; Hamlet, ii. 1.
38; King Lear, ii. 4. 90. In gen. prov. use in various parts of England,
see EDD. (s.v. Fetch, sb.^{2} 14).
=fetch in,= to seize upon, apprehend. Ant. and Cl. iv. 1. 14, Massinger,
Roman Actor, iv. 1 (Parthenius).
=fetuous,= well-formed, well-made. Herrick, The Temple, 68; _featous_
(NED.). See =featuously.=
=feutred,= featured, fashioned. J. Heywood, The Four Plays, Anc. Brit.
Drama, i. 19, col. 1; Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 376. The strange spelling
_feautered_ also occurs (NED.).
†=fewmand.= Only in B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Earnie): ‘They [a young
badger and a ferret] fewmand all the claithes’. ‘Fewmand’ belongs to the
imaginary dialect of the piece; it apparently means ‘to foul’, ‘to
soil’.
=fewmets,= the excrement of a deer. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., i. 2 (John);
Gascoigne, Art of Venerie, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 306; ‘_Fumées_, the dung or
excrements of Deer, called by woodmen, fewmets, or fewmishing’,
Cotgrave. Cp. F. _fumier_, dung, manure, cogn. w. L. _fimus_, dung,
excrement. See NED. (s.v. Fumet).
=fewterer,= a term of the chase, one who looks after the dogs in the
kennel, and lets them loose at the proper time. Beaumont and Fl., Tamer
Tamed, ii. 2; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 2. See =yeoman-fewterer.= ME.
_vewter_, a keeper of greyhounds (Bk. Curtasye 631, in Babee’s Bk., ed.
1868, p. 320). Anglo-F. _veutrier_, Med. L. _veltrarius_ (Ducange),
deriv. of Romanic type _veltrus_, a greyhound. Cp. O. Prov. _veltre_,
It. _veltro_, for older L. _vertragus_, a greyhound, a Gaulish word.
=feyster,= to fester, as a wound. Morte Arthur, leaf 394, back, 31; bk.
xix, c. 10.
=fiant, fiaunt,= a warrant. Spenser, Mother Hub. 1144. L. _fiant_, in
phr. _fiant literae patentes_, let letters patent be made out; used of a
warrant addressed to the Irish Chancery for a grant under the Great Seal
(NED.).
=fiants,= the excrements of certain animals, esp. of the fox or badger,
Turbervile, Hunting, c. 76, p. 216; _fyaunts_, id., c. 66, p. 184. F.
_fiente_, the excrement of certain animals (Cotgr.).
=fico,= a fig. Gascoigne, Herbes (Wks., ed. 1587, 153); as a type of
anything valueless or contemptible, ‘A fico for the phrase’, Merry
Wives, i. 3. 33. Ital. _fico_. See Stanford.
=fidge,= to keep in continual movement. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1
(Cokes); Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 4 (Hodge); ‘_Remuer_, to move, stir,
fidge’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Scotland and in various parts of
England (EDD.).
=fie;= see =fay= (to clean).
=fig of Spain,= a contemptuous gesture, consisting in thrusting the
thumb between two of the closed fingers. Hen. V, iii. 6. 62; phr. _to
give the fig_, to insult thus, 2 Hen. IV, v. 3. 123. See Nares.
=figent,= fidgeting restless. Beaumont and Fl., Little French Lawyer,
iii. 2 (Vertaigne); Coxcomb, iv. 3 (Nan); Chapman and others, Eastward
Ho, iii. 2 (Quicksilver). Deriv. of =fidge.= See Nares.
=fig-frail,= a basket for holding figs. Middleton, Your Five Gallants,
iv. 5 (Bungler). See =frail.=
=figging-law,= the art of cutting purses and picking pockets. Dekker,
Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll). See NED.
=figgum,= (perhaps) a juggler’s trick. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, v. 5
(Sir P. E.).
=fights,= screens of cloth used during a naval engagement, to conceal
and protect a crew. Merry Wives, ii. 2. 142; ‘Bear my fights out
bravely’, Fletcher, Valentinian, ii. 2 (Claudia); Dryden, Amboyne, iii.
3 (Song); Heywood, Fair Maid of West, iv (Wks., ed. 1874, ii. 316);
Phillips, Dict. 1706.
=figo,= a fig. Hen. V, iii. 6. 60; iv. 1. 60. Span. _figo_; L. _ficus_.
See =fico.=
=filch,= a hooked staff, used by thieves. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1
(Higgen); also called a _filchman_, Awdeley, Vagabonds, p. 4.
=file,= the thread, course, or tenor of a story or argument. Spenser, F.
Q. vii. 6. 37. F. _fil_, a thread, L. _filum_.
=file,= to render foul, filthy, or dirty; ‘To file my hands in villain’s
blood’, Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, iii (Scarborow); Macbeth,
iii. 1. 65. In prov. use in Scotland and the north of England (EDD.).
OE. _fȳlan_ (in compounds), deriv. of _fūl_, foul.
=filed,= polished with the ‘file’; neatly sculptured; also _fig._ of
literary work. Tale of Pygmalion, 4; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 131;
‘True-filed lines’, B. Jonson, Pref. Verses to Shakespeare (1623), 68.
=fill;= _fills_, pl., the ‘thills’ or shafts of a cart. Tr. and Cr. iii.
2. 48; hence _fill-horse_, a shaft-horse, Herrick, The Hock-cart, 21;
spelt _phil-horse_, Merch. Ven. ii. 2. 100. ‘Fill’ and ‘fill-horse’ are
both in prov. use (EDD.). See =thiller.=
=filograin,= ‘filigree’. Butler, On P. Nye’s Thanksgiving Beard, l. 13
from end. Ital. _filigrana_ (Fanfani). See Dict. (s.v. Filigree).
=fincture,= a feint, in fencing. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. xi.
54. Ital. _finctura_, _fintura_ (NED.); deriv. of L. _fingere_, to
feign.
=fine,= end. Much Ado, i. 1. 247; Hamlet, v. 1. 113.
=fineness,= ingenuity. Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 209; Massinger, Renegado, iv. 1
(Master).
=finewed,= musty, mouldy. Mirr. for Mag., Lord Hastings, st. 28; spelt
_fenowed_, ‘The Scripture . . . is a Panary of holesome foode against
fenowed traditions’, BIBLE, 1611, The Translators to the Reader;
_vinewed_, Baret, Alvearie (s.vv. Mouldie _and_ Hoarie); Tr. and Cr. ii.
1. 15 (in the Folios _whinid_). ‘Vinnewed’ (or ‘Vinnied’), mouldy, is in
common prov. use in the south-west of England, see EDD. (s.v. Vinny).
See =fenny.=
=fingle-fangle,= a trifle. Butler, Hud. iii. 3. 454.
=fire-drake,= a fiery dragon; hence, a meteor. Hen. VIII, v. 4. 45;
Beaumont and Fl., Knight of the B. Pestle, ii. 2 (_or_ 5), near the end.
OE. _fȳr-draca_; _fȳr_, fire, and _draca_, L. _draco_, Gk. δράκων, a
dragon; cp. E. _dragon_.
=fireship,= a prostitute. (Cant.) Wycherley, Love in a Wood, ii. 1 (Sir
Simon). [Smollett, Roderick Random, 1. xxiii.]
=firk,= to beat, trounce. Hen. V, iv. 4. 29. See EDD. (s.v. Firk, 4).
=firk,= to cheat, rob. Dekker, Honest Wh. (NED.); spelt _ferk_,
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 1. See NED. (s.v. Firk, 2, c).
=firk,= to move about briskly, to frisk, gallop. Shirley, Hyde Park, iv.
3 (Song). See NED. (s.v. Firk, 3 b).
=firk,= a frisk; (humorously), a dance. Shirley, Hyde Park, ii. 2
(Lacy).
=firk up,= to trim up. Shirley, Constant Maid, ii. 1 (Playfair).
=fisgig,= a light, worthless female, fond of gadding about. Tusser,
Husbandry, § 77. 8; ‘_Trotiere_, a fisgig, fisking huswife, gadding
flirt’, Cotgrave. See NED. (s.v. Fizgig).
=fisk,= to scamper about, frisk, move briskly; ‘Then he fyskes abrode’,
Latimer, Fourth Sermon (ed. Arber, p. 104); ‘Tome Tannkard’s Cow . . .
fysking with her taile’, Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 2; _fysking_,
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 45. 2; ‘Fisking about the house’, Otway,
Venice Preserved, ii. 1 (Pierre). A Shropshire word (EDD.).
=fist,= a contemptuous expression; ‘Fist o’ your kindness!’, Eastward
Ho, iv. 1 [_or_ 2] (Gertrude). Also spelt _fiste_, _fyste_, _foist_; the
orig. sense is a breaking wind, a disagreeable smell. See NED. (s.v.
Fist, sb.^{2}).
=fisting-hound,= a spaniel; a contemptuous term. Fleming, tr. of Caius’
Dogs; in Arber, Eng. Garner, iii. 287. See above.
=fitches,= ‘vetches’. BIBLE, Isaiah xxviii. 25; _fytches_, Fitzherbert,
Husbandry, § 20. 40, § 70. 8. ‘_Vesce_, . . . fitch or vitch’, Cotgrave.
‘Fitches’ in gen. prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and England (EDD.).
=fitchock, fichok,= a polecat. Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 2 (Petillius);
Scornful Lady, v. 1 (end). ‘Fitch’ is a common prov. word for the
polecat; see EDD. (s.v. Fitch, also, Fitchock).
=fitten, fitton,= an untruth, an invention. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels,
i. 1 (Amorphus); Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 54. ‘Fitten’ is in
prov. use for ‘an idle fancy’, ‘a pretence’, in Hants., Wilts., and
Somerset (EDD.). ME. _fyton_ or lesynge, ‘mendacium’ (Prompt. EETS., see
note no. 729).
=fitters,= fragments, rags, pieces. Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the
Country, iii. 3. 4; Pilgrim, i. 1. 22. In prov. use in the north (EDD.).
=five-and-fifty,= the highest number to stand on, at the game of
primero. But it could be beaten by a flush, i.e. when the cards were all
of one colour. ‘As big as _five-and-fifty and flush_’; as confident as
one who held five-and-fifty in number, and also held a flush; so that he
could not be beaten; B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face).
=five eggs:= in phr. _to come in with one’s five eggs_, to break in or
interrupt fussily with an idle story; ‘Persones coming in with their
five egges, how that Sylla had geuen ouer his office’, Udall, tr. of
Erasmus’s Apoph., p. 272; ‘Another commeth in with his fiue egges’,
Robinson, tr. More’s Utopia (ed. Arber, p. 56). The orig. phrase had
reference to the offering of _five eggs for a penny_, which was a
trivial offer, and not very advantageous to the purchaser in the
sixteenth century; See =eggs= (2).
=fiveleaf,= cinquefoil, _Potentilla reptans_. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 229;
‘Of Cinquefoyle, or Five-finger grasse’, Lyte, tr. of Dodoens, bk. i, c.
56.
=fives,= a disease of horses. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 54; ‘Vyves, a disease
that an horse hath, _avives_’, Palsgrave; so Cotgrave; ‘_Adivas_, the
disease in Horses and other Beasts call’d the Vives’, Stevens, Span.
Dict., 1706. Of Arabic origin, _ad-dhîba_, ‘morbi species qua affici
solet guttur jumenti’ (Freytag); see Dozy, Glossaire, p. 45.
=fixation,= in alchemy; the process that rendered the elixir fixed. B.
Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle).
=flacket,= a flask, bottle, or vessel; ‘A flacket of wyne’, Great Bible
(1539), 1 Sam. xvi. 20; ‘A flacket, _Uter formam habens doliarem_’,
Coles, Dict., 1679. In prov. use in Yorkshire for a small cask-shaped
vessel for holding beer (EDD.). ME. _flaket_, ‘obba, uter’ (Cath.
Angl.); _flakette_, ‘flasca’ (Prompt.). Anglo-F. _flaket_ (Gower).
=flag,= used as a sign or signal; ‘A flag and sign of love’, Othello, i.
1. 157; ‘His flag hangs out’ (i.e. as an advertisement), Middleton, The
Widow, iv. 1 (Valeria); ‘’Tis Lent, the flag’s down’ (i.e. there is no
flag flying above the theatre, because it is Lent, and the performances
are suspended), Middleton, A Mad World, i. 1 (Follywit).
=flaighted, fleighted,= terrified. Golding, Metam. iv. 597; fol. 52
(1603); id., xi. 677. See NED. (s.v. Flaite, also, Flight). ‘To flight’
means properly ‘to put to flight’, hence, ‘to frighten’, ‘to scare’. Cp.
EDD. (s.v. Flaite).
=flanker,= a fortification protecting men against a ‘flank’ or side
attack; ‘Flankers . . . cannon-proof’, Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1
(Rossaline).
†=flantado,= flaunting display. Only occurs in Stanyhurst (tr. Aeneid,
i. 44).
=flapdragon,= a combustible put in liquor, to be swallowed flaming; e.g.
a raisin set on fire. L. L. L. v. 1. 45; Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iv. 1
(Clause). Hence, as vb., to swallow quickly, Winter’s Tale, iii. 3. 100.
=flapjack,= a pancake; also, an apple turnover. Pericles, ii. 1. 87;
Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Vincent); see Nares. In prov. use in E.
Anglia, Sussex, and Somerset (EDD.).
=flappet,= a little flap; ‘A flappet of wood’, Beaumont and Fl., Knight
of the B. Pestle, i. 2 (_or_ 3), Ralph. The sense of _flap_ is here
uncertain; perhaps a fly-flapper, to keep off flies.
=flash,= a pool, a marshy place. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 60; Fitzherbert,
Husbandry, § 70. In common prov. use in the north country, also in
Lincoln and Shropshire; occurring frequently in place-names, see EDD.
(s.v. Flash, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _flasch_, ‘lacuna’ (Prompt.), OF. _flache_,
‘locus aquis stagnantibus oppletus’ (Didot), Med. L. _flachia_
(Ducange).
=flask,= to flap; also, to cause to flutter; ‘To flask his wings’,
Golding, Metam. vi. 703 (fol. 77); ‘The weather flaskt . . . her
garments’, id., ii. last line.
=flasky,= (perhaps) belonging to a ‘flask’ or ‘flash’, a muddy pool;
‘The flasky fiends of Limbo lake’, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, iv. 149. See NED.
=flat-cap,= a London citizen; esp. a London apprentice; ‘Flat-caps thou
call’st us. We scorne not the name’, Heywood, 1 Edw. IV, sc. 1 (NED.);
Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, iii. 1 (Song, st. 4). See Nares.
=flatchet,= a sword. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 92; _flachet_, iii.
241. 529. Cp. MHG. _flatsche_, _flasche_, a sword with a broad blade
(Weigand).
=flatted,= laid flat, levelled, made smooth. Dryden, Ceyx and Alcyone,
131; tr. of Virgil, Aeneid x, 158. See EDD. (s.v. Flat, v. 21).
=flaunt-a-flaunt,= flauntingly displayed. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1163.
=flaw,= a gust of wind. Arden of Fev. iv. 4. 44; 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 354;
Hamlet, v. 1. 239. Metaphorically, a quarrel; Webster, White Devil
(Camillo), ed. Dyce, p. 7. In prov. use in Scotland, also, in Devon and
Cornwall (EDD.). Norw. dial, _flaga_, a gust of wind (Aasen).
=flaw,= to ‘flay’. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 1 (Subtle). In prov. use in
Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, see EDD. (s.v. Flaw, vb. 7).
=fleck,= to spot, stain; hence _fleckt_, spotted in the cheek, flushed
with wine; ‘And drinke, till they be fleckt’, Mirror for Mag., Norfolk,
st. 25. In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England, see EDD.
(s.v. Fleck, vb.^{1} 5). Cp. Norw. dial. _flekk_, a spot (Aasen).
=fledge,= fully fledged, ready to fly. Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal
ii. 147; ‘Fledge souls’, Herbert, Temple, Death. OE. _flycge_, fledged;
cp. G. _flügge_. See Dict. (s.v. Fledge). See =flidge.=
=fleet,= to be afloat. Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 171; to be overflowed, to
be covered with water; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 33; to pass or while away
(time), As You Like It, i. 1. 124. OE. _flēotan_, to float.
=fleet,= to skim cream off milk; ‘I shall fleet their cream-bowls’, Grim
the Collier, iv. 1 (Robin), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 443; Lyly,
Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 336). In prov. use in the north country, E.
Anglia, and Kent and Sussex, see EDD. (s.v. Fleet, vb.^{2}). OE. _flēt_,
cream. Cp. Bremen dial. _flöten_, ‘die Sahne von der Milch abnehmen’
(Wtb.).
=fleeten,= pale, of the colour of skimmed milk; ‘You fleeten
face!’, Fletcher, Queen of Corinth, iii. 1 (Conon).
=fleet,= a creek, inlet, run of water. Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 191; xxv.
51. 129. In prov. use in various parts of England; esp. in E. Anglia and
Kent; hence the name of Northfleet, see EDD. (s.v. Fleet, sb.^{1} 9).
OE. _flēot_, estuary.
=fleme,= to put to flight. Morte Arthur, leaf 318. 8; bk. xiii, c. 16;
lf. 414, back, 16; bk. xx, c. 17. OE. _flēman_ (Anglian), to put to
flight; deriv. of _flēam_, flight.
=flert;= see =flirt.=
=flesh,= to feed with flesh, to satiate, All’s Well, iv. 3. 19; 2 Hen.
IV, iv. 5. 133; to feed the sword with flesh for the first time, 1 Hen.
IV, v. 4. 133; to make fierce and eager for combat, King John, v. 1. 71.
Hence _fleshed_, eager for battle, inured to bloodshed, Richard III, iv.
3. 6; ‘A flesh’d ruffian’, Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, iv.
2 (Zabulon).
=fletcher,= a maker or seller of arrows. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 110;
‘Jack Fletcher and his bolt’, Damon and Pithias (Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv.
19). Anglo-F. _fleccher_, arrow-maker (Rough List); F. _flèche_, arrow.
=flete,= to float. Surrey, Description of Spring, 8; in Tottel’s Misc.,
p. 4. _Fletyng_, floating, swimming, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 259. See
=fleet.=
=flew,= the large chaps of a deep-mouthed hound; as of a bloodhound.
Hence _flews_, with the sense of flaps, or flapping skirts, Dekker,
Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 4 (Eyre). Hence also _flew’d_, having flews (of
a particular quality), Mids. Night’s D. iv. 1. 125.
=flew,= a tube, pipe; see =flue.=
=flibote, fly-boat,= a fast-sailing vessel. Heywood, King Edw. IV
(Spicing), vol. i, p. 38; If you know not me (Medina), vol. i, p. 336.
Dutch _Vlie-boot_, boat on the river _Vlie_, the channel leading out of
the Zuyder Zee. See NED. (s.v. Fly-boat).
=flicker,= to flutter. Fletcher, Pilgrim, i. 1 (Alphonso); Dryden,
Palamon, 1399. Metaph. to make fond movements, as with wings: Palsgrave
has, ‘_I flycker_, I kysse together.’
=flicker-mouse,= a bat, a ‘flittermouse’. B. Jonson, New Inn, iii. 1;
‘_Ratepenade_, a bat, rearmouse or flickermouse’, Cotgrave. A Sussex
word (EDD.).
=flidge,= fledged, furnished with feathers. Warner, Albion’s England.
bk. ii, ch. 10, st. 48; Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 4, p. 33; _flig_,
Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce, p. 408). OE. _flyege_, fledged. See =fledge.=
=flight,= an arrow for long distances, light and well-feathered. B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 3 (2 Masque: Cupid); _flight-shot_, the
distance to which a flight-arrow is shot, about 600 yards; ‘A flite shot
over, as much as the Tamise is above the Bridge’, Leland, Itin. (ed.
1744, iv. 41); ‘It being from the park about two flight-shots in
length’, Desc. of Royal Entertainment, 1613 (Works of T. Campion, ed.
Bullen, p. 179); ‘Two flight-shot off’, Heywood, A Woman Killed, iv. 5.
2.
=flip-flap,= a fly-flapper, for driving away flies. Dekker, O.
Fortunatus, i. 2 (Andelocia); _flyp-flap_, a lap of a garment, Skelton,
Elynour Rummyng, 508.
=flirt, flert,= to throw with a jerk, to jerk, fillip. Stanyhurst, tr.
of Aeneid, iii (ed. Arber, 84); Drayton, Pol. vi. 50; to move with a
jerk, to dart, to take short quick flights, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i
(ed. Arber, 31).
=flirt-gill, flurt-gill, flurt-gillian,= a woman of light behaviour, a
flirt. Romeo, ii. 4. 162; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, iv. 1
(Wife); _flurt-Gillian_, The Chances, iii. 1 (Landlady). ‘Gill’ and
‘Gillian’ are forms of the Christian-name ‘Juliana’.
=flitter-mouse,= a bat. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Alken); Alchemist,
v. 2 (Subtle). In common prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
=flix,= fur of the hare. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 132. Also applied to other
animals; ‘the flix of goat’, Dyer, The Fleece, bk. iv, l. 104. In prov.
use for the fur of a hare, rabbit, or cat, see EDD. (s.v. Flick,
sb.^{3}).
=float,= flow, flood of the tide. Ford, Love’s Sacr. ii. 3; _in float_,
at high water, ‘Hee being now in Float for Treasure’, Bacon, Henry VII
(ed. Lumby, 128); Middleton, Span. Gipsy, i. 5 (Rod). See =flote=
(wave).
=flocket,= a loose garment with long sleeves. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 53.
=Florentine,= a kind of pie; meat baked in a dish, with a cover of
paste. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, v. 1 (Lazarillo); ‘I went to
Florence, from whence we have the art of making custards, which are
therefore called Florentines’, Wit’s Interpreter (Nares).
=flote,= a fleet. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 142, back, 31; 216, back, 1;
Hakluyt, Voy. i. 296, l. 2; spelt _floate_, Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre,
st. 135. OE. _flota_, a ship, fleet (BT.).
=flote,= a wave, billow; also, the sea; ‘The Mediterranean Flote’,
Tempest, i. 2. 234; ‘The flotes of the see’, Caxton, Jason, 114 (NED.).
OF. _flot_, a wave (Hatzfeld); cp. OE. _flot_, the sea (Sweet).
=flote,= to skim milk, to take off the cream. Tusser, Husbandry, § 49.
1. See EDD. (s.v. Float, vb. 16).
=flower-de-luce,= the ‘fleur-de-lis’, a plant of the genus Iris. Tusser,
Husbandry, § 43. 11; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 16; Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 127;
also, the heraldic lily, the armorial emblem of France, 1 Hen. VI, i. 1.
80.
=flown:= ‘The Sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine’, Milton, P.
L. i. 502; ‘Flowen with wine’, Ussher, Ann, vi. 250 (NED.). ‘Flown’ was
orig. used of a stream in full flow, ‘in flood’; ‘Cedron . . . in wynter
. . . is mervaylously flowen with rage of water’, Guilford’s Pilgrimage
(ed. Camden Soc. 31). See NED. (s.v. Flow, vb. 11 b).
†=fluce,= to flounce, plunge; ‘They [cattle] backward fluce and fling’,
Drayton, The Moon-calf, 1352. Not found elsewhere.
=flue, flew,= an air-passage, a tube or pipe. In NED. (s.v. Flue,
sb.^{3}) is this note:—‘The following passage is usually quoted as the
earliest example of the word, which is supposed to mean here the spiral
cavity of a shell. But _flue_ is probably a misprint for _flute_. [The
quotation follows]: 1562, Phaer, _Aeneid_ x [l. 209 of Lat. text] With
whelkid shell Whoes wrinckly wreathed _flue_, did fearful shril in seas
outyell.’ But this suggestion cannot be right; for the word occurs again
in a parallel passage, where the spelling is _flew_, occurring at the
end of a line, and riming with _blew_; viz. ‘Dolphins blew, And Tritons
blowe their Trumpes, y^{t} sounds in seas w^{t} dropping _flew_,’ Phaer,
tr. of Aeneid, v. 824.
=fluence,= a flowing stream. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 224; also,
fluency, Heywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange (Works, vol. ii, p. 86).
=flundering,= ‘floundering’, plunging and tossing; ‘Th’ unruly flundring
steeds’, H. More, Song of Soul, i. 1. 17; Chapman, Gent. Usher, i. 1
(Vincentio); the word makes no sense here, for the passage is
intentional nonsense. But it’s a loud-sounding and impressive word.
†=flundge,= fly out, are flung out. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 59. An
onomatopoeic word, not found elsewhere.
=flurt at,= to sneer at, to scoff at. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 19;
Beaumont and Fl., Rule a Wife, iii. 2; id., Pilgrim, i. 1; iii. 1; Wild
Goose Chase, ii. 1. See NED. (s.v. Flirt, vb. 4 a).
=flush,= a term at primero; when a player held four cards of the same
colour. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face). See =five-and-fifty.=
=fluxure,= fluidity; also, moisture; ‘Moisture and fluxure’, B. Jonson,
Induct. to Ev. Man out of Humour (Asper); Mirror for Mag., Cromwell (by
Drayton), st. 117. Late L. _fluxura_ (Tertullian).
=fly,= a domestic parasite, a familiar. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, ii. 2
(Theoph.). Also, a familiar spirit; ‘I have my flies abroad’, B. Jonson,
Alchem. iii. 2 (Face). See NED. (s.v. Fly, sb.^{1} 5, a, b.).
=fly-boat;= see =flibote.=
=fob;= See =fub= (2).
=fobus,= a cheat; for _fob-us_, i.e. cheat us; from _fob_, to cheat.
‘You old fobus’, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii (Jerry).
=fode,= a creature, person, man. Squire of Low Degree, l. 364; in
Hazlitt, Early Pop. Poetry, ii. 37; The World and the Child, l. 4; in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 243. Also, a companion, id. 247. ME. _fode_, a
person, creature (Prov. Hendyng, 63); see Dict. M. and S.
=fode, foad,= to beguile with show of kindness or fair words, to soothe
in fancied security. Golding translates ‘Favet huic Aurora timori’, in
Ovid, Met. vii. 721, by ‘The morning foading this my feare’, ed. 1587,
99^{b}. Skelton has _fode_, Magnyfycence, 1719. ME. _foden_, to beguile
(Will. Palerne, 1646).
=fog,= rank, coarse grass. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 399; ‘Fogg in some places
signifies long grass remaining in pasture till winter’, Worlidge, Dict.
Rust.; ‘Fogge, _postfaenium_’, Levins, Manipulus. Hence _foggy_,
abounding in coarse grass, Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 115; moist, Golding,
Metam. xv. 203. ‘Fog’ is in prov. use in various parts of England for
the aftermath; the long grass left standing in the fields during winter
(EDD.). ME. _fogge_ (Cleanness, 1683, in Allit. Poems, 85). Norm. dial.
_fogge_, long grass (Ross).
=fog,= to traffic in a servile way, hunt after, cheat. _Fogging_ rascal,
Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iv. 2 (Ariosto). A back-formation from
_fogger_; cp. ‘pettyfogger’; see Dict. (s.v. Petty).
=foggy,= flabby, puffy, corpulent; ‘Fat and foggy’, Contention betw.
Liberality and Prodigality, v. 4 (Lib.); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii.
377; ‘_Un enbonpoint de nourrice_, a plump, fat, or foggy constitution
of body’, Cotgrave; ‘Foggy, to [too] ful of waste flesshe’, Palsgrave.
Also _fog_, bloated, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 672. ‘Foggy’ is in
prov. use in the north country for fat, corpulent.
=fogue,= fury. Dryden, Astraea Redux, 203. Ital. _foga_, fury, violent
force (Florio).
=foil, foyle,= to tread under foot, trample down; ‘That Idoll . . . he
did foyle In filthy durt’, Spenser. F. Q. v. 11. 33; the tread or track
of a hunted animal, ‘What? hunt a wife on the dull foil!’, Otway, Venice
Preserved, iii. 2 (Pierre); _foyling_, ‘_Foulée_, the slot of a stag,
the fuse of a buck (the view or footing of either) upon hard ground,
grass, leaves, or dust; we call it (most properly) his foyling’,
Cotgrave. See NED. (s.v. Foil, vb.^{1} 2).
=foil, foyle,= repulse, defeat, disgrace. Mirror for Mag., Cordila, st.
18; 1 Hen. VI, v. 3. 23. See above.
=foin,= a thrust, in fencing. King Lear, iv. 6. 251; ‘Keep at the foin’
(i.e. do not close in fight), Marriage of Wit and Science, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, ii. 389.
=foist,= a light galley; ‘The Lord Mayor’s foist,’ B. Jonson, Epig.
cxxxiii; Voyage, 100; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 6. 17. F. _fuste_, ‘a
foist, a light galley’ (Cotgr.). Ital. _fusta_, ‘a foist, a fly-boat, a
light galley’ (Florio); O. Prov. _fusta_, ‘poutre, bois, vaisseau,
navire’ (Levy); Med. L. _fusta_, a galley, orig. a piece of timber
(Ducange). See =galley-foist.=
=foist= (a term in dice-play), to ‘palm’ or conceal in the fist, to
manage the dice so as to fall as required, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed.
Arber, 54); to cheat, play tricks, Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1
(Alvarez); a cheat, a pickpocket, B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 4 (Cob);
Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1; a trick, B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 6
(Vol.); _foister_, a cheat, a sharper, Mirror for Mag., Burdet, st. 32.
Du. _vuisten_, to keep in the fist; _vuist_, the fist. See NED.
=folk-mote,= an assembly of the people. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 4. 6. OE.
_folc-mōt_; _folc_, folk, people, and _mōt_, a moot or meeting.
=folt,= a foolish person. Disobedient Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii.
304; _foult_, Drant, tr. of Horace, Sat. i. 1. ME. _folett_, ‘stolidus’
(Prompt.). OF. _folet_, ‘a pretty fool, a little fop, a young coxe, none
of the wisest’ (Cotgr.).
=folter.= Of the limbs: to give way; ‘His [the horse’s] legges hath
foltred’, Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, bk. 1, ch. 17; of one’s speech:
to stumble, to stammer, Golding, Metam. iii. 277. See NED. (s.v. Falter,
vb.^{1}).
=fon,= a fool. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 59. ME. _fon_ (Wars Alex.
2944); _fonne_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 4089).
=fond,= to play the fool, become foolish; to dote; ‘I fonde, or dote
upon’, Palsgrave. Hence _fonded_, befooled, full of folly, Surrey, tr.
of Aeneid, iv, l. 489 (L. _demens_, l. 374); ‘A fonded louer’ (an
infatuated lover), Turbervile, The Lover, seing himselfe abusde,
renounceth love, l. 11.
†=fond,= to found. Misspelt, for the sake of a quibble upon _fond_,
foolish; Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 3 (Hammon).
=fone,= foes. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 10; Visions of Bellay, v. 10. OE.
_ge-fān_, foes; pl. of _ge-fā_, a foe.
=foody,= abounding in food, supplying food. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi.
104; ‘Their foody fall,’ their settlement in a food-supplying place,
id., xv. 638. ‘Foody’ is in prov. use in the north of England for rich,
fertile, full of grass (EDD.).
=footcloth,= a large richly-ornamented cloth laid over the back of a
horse and hanging down to the ground on each side; considered as a mark
of dignity and state (NED.). 2 Hen. VI, iv. 7. 51; Fletcher, Noble
Gentleman, ii. 1 (Marine); Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, v. 2 (Thierry);
‘My foot-cloth horse’, Richard III, iii. 4. 80; hence _foot-cloth_, a
horse provided with this adornment, Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, v. 1. 10.
=foot-pace,= a raised platform for supporting a chair of state. Bacon,
Essay 56, § 4; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, x. 466. F. _pas_, a step.
†=foot-saunt,= a game at cards; also called _cent-foot_, and apparently
the same as _cent_. Only in Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 35. See =cent.=
=fopdoodle,= a simpleton. Massinger, Gt. Duke of Florence, ii. 1
(Calaminta); Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 998.
=for-,= intensive prefix, as distinct from _fore-_, beforehand. OE.
_for-_. Examples are given below: as _for-do_, _-hale_, _-slack_,
_-slow_, _-speak_, _-spent_, _-swatt_, _-swonck_, _-weary_, _-wounded_.
=for,= against, in order to prevent; chiefly with a sb. of verbal
origin. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, iv. 2; Two Gent. of Verona, i. 2. 136;
_for going_, i.e. to prevent going, to save from going, Pericles, i. 1.
40. (Common; and, if the meaning be not caught, the sense of the
sentence is altered.)
=forby, foreby,= hard by, near. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 39; v. 2. 54; by,
id., v. 11. 17. ME. _forby_ (Barbour’s Bruce, x. 345).
=force.= _Of force_, of necessity, Bacon, Adv. Learning, ii. 5. 2; _on
force_, Heywood and Rowley, Fortune by Land, &c., ii. 1 (John); Works,
vi. 381; _force perforce_, by violent constraint, King John, iii. 1.
142; 2 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 116; _to hunt at force_, to run the game down
with dogs instead of slaying with weapons, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2
(Robin).
=force.= _It is force_, it is of consequence or importance; usually
negative, _it is no force_, it does not matter, _no force_, no matter,
_what force_? what matter?; ‘No force for that, for it is ordered so’,
Wyatt, The Courtier’s Life (Works, ed. Bell, 217). ME. _no force_, _no
fors_, no matter, no consequence; _what fors_, what matter (Chaucer).
Cp. Anglo-F. _force ne fe_t, it makes no force, it matters not (Bozon).
=force,= to trouble oneself, care; ‘I force it not’, I reck not of it, I
care not for it, Mucedorus, Induction, 68; _it forceth not_, it matters
not, it is not material, Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 52). See
NED. (s.v. Force, vb.^{1} 14 b).
=fordo,= to destroy, overcome. Hamlet, ii. 1. 103. OE. _fordōn_, to
destroy.
=fore-,= prefix; often miswritten for the prefix _for-_, as in
_forespent_ for _forspent_. See under =for-.=
=forehand:= in phr. _forehand_ (_shaft_), an arrow used for shooting
straight before one. Ascham, Toxoph. p. 126; 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 52;
former, previous, Much Ado, iv. 1. 51; foremost, leading, Butler, Hud.
ii. 2. 618; in the front, the mainstay, Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 143.
=forelay,= to lie in wait for. Dryden, Palamon, i. 493; also, to hinder,
Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid xi, 781.
=forepoynted,= appointed beforehand. Gascoigne, Hermit’s Tale, § 2; ed.
Hazlitt, ii. 141.
=fore-right,= right on, straight ahead. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta,
ii. 3. 8; said of a favourable wind, Massinger, Renegado, v. 8 (Aga). In
prov. use in Devon and Cornwall in the sense of straight forward (EDD.).
=foreset.= _Of foreset_, of set purpose, purposely. Ferrex and Porrex,
ii. 2, chorus, 13. See NED.
=forespeak,= to predict; especially, to foretell evil about one.
Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 792; xvii. 32; Witch of Edmonton, ii. 1
(Mother Sawyer).
=forfaint,= very faint, extremely languid. Sackville, Induction, § 15;
Mirror for Mag., Buckingham, st. 73.
=forfare,= to perish, decay; ‘Thonge Castell . . . is now forfaryn’,
Fabyan, Chron., Pt. V, c. 83 (side-note); ed. Ellis, 61. ME. _forfaren_
(Gen. and Ex. 3018).
=forgetive,= inventive. 2 Hen. IV, iv. 3. 107. A word of uncertain
formation, commonly taken to be a deriv. of the vb. ‘to forge’.
=forgrown,= grown out of use. Gascoigne, Prol., to Hermit’s Tale, ed.
Hazlitt, i. 139.
=forhaile,= to distract. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 243. See NED. (s.v.
For-, prefix^{1} 5 b).
=for-hent,= seized beforehand. Better _fore-hent_, Spenser, F. Q. iii.
4. 49. From _fore_, before, and _hent_, caught, from OE. _hentan_, to
seize.
=forhewed,= much hacked, severely cut. Sackville, Induction, st. 57.
=forjust,= to tire out in ‘justing’, beat in a tilting-match. Morte
Arthur, leaf 162. 35; bk. viii, c. 33.
=forkhead,= the head of an arrow, with two barbs pointing forward,
instead of backward, as in the _swallow-tail_. Ascham, Toxophilus, p.
135.
=forks,= a forked stake used as a (Roman) whipping-post. Fletcher,
Bonduca, i. 2 (Petillius); ii. 4 (Decius). L. _furcae_, pl., forks;
hence, a yoke under which defeated enemies passed; also, a
whipping-post.
=forlore,= utterly wasted. Sackville, Induction, st. 48; _forlorne_,
made bare, id. st. 8. OE. _forloren_, pp. of _forlēosan_, to lose, also,
to destroy.
=formerly,= first of all, beforehand. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 38; vi. 3.
38. Also, just now, even now; id., ii. 12. 67; Merch. Venice, iv. 1.
362.
=forpine,= to waste away. Gascoigne, Complaint of Philomene, 15;
_forpined_, wasted, Hall, Sat. v. 2. 91.
=forsane,= _pp._ ‘forsaken’, avoided, Twyne, tr. Aeneid, x. 720; xi.
412. I can find no third example of the form _forsaken_ being thus
contracted. (Not in NED.).
=forslack, foreslack,= to delay, to spoil by delay. Spenser, F. Q. vi.
12. 12; vii. 7. 45.
=forslow,= to delay. Marlowe, Edw. II, ii 4. 39. Ill spelt _foreslow_, 3
Hen. VI, ii. 3. 56; B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 5 (Macilense).
=forsonke,= deeply sunk. Sackville, Induction, st. 20.
=forspeak,= to speak against. Ant. and Cl. iii. 7. 3.
=forspeak,= to bewitch. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iii. 1 (Asotus);
Middleton, Witch of Edmonton, ii. 1. 12; ‘They [the witches] saie they
have . . . forespoken hir neighbour’, R. Scot, Discov. Witchcraft, iii.
2. 45 (NED.); ‘_Fasciner_, to charm, bewitch, forspeak; _fasciné_,
forspoken’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Scotland for ‘to bewitch’, ‘to
cause ill-luck by immoderate praise’ (EDD.). ME. _forspekyn_, or
charmyn, ‘fascino’ (Prompt.).
=forspent,= exhausted. 2 Hen. IV, i. 1. 37; misspelt _forespent_,
Sackville, Induction, st. 12.
=forswatt,= covered with ‘sweat’. Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 99.
=forswonck,= spent with toil. Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 99. See
=swink.=
=forth dayes,= late in the day. Morte Arthur, leaf 402, back, 19; bk.
xx, c. 5. ME. ‘Whanne it was forth daies hise disciplis camen’, Wyclif,
Mark vi. 35.
=forthink,= to regret, to be sorry for. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 32; ‘I
forthynke, I repent me, _Je me repens_’, Palsgrave. A north-country word
(EDD.), ME. _forthynke_, ‘penitere’ (Cath. Angl.); OE. for _forþencan_,
to despise.
=forthright,= straight forward. Dryden, tr. Aeneid, xii. 1076; id.,
Palamon, ii. 237; used as sb., a straight course, Tr. and Cr. iii. 3.
158. In use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Forth). ME. _forth right_
(Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 295).
=forthy,= therefore, on that account. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 14; Shep.
Kal., March, 37. ME. _for-thy_, therefore (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1841); OE.
_for-ðȳ_.
=forwaste,= wasted utterly. Sackville, Induction, st. 11. (Better
_forwast_, where _wast_ is contracted from _wasted_.) _Forwasted_, laid
waste, Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 1.
=forwearied,= extremely wearied. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 13; Davies,
Orchestra, 58 (Arber’s Garland, v. 37).
=forwhy,= because. Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, p. 412, col. 1; Richard II,
v. 1. 46. ME. _for-why_ (Chaucer, Bk. Duch. 461); see Dict. M. and S.,
and Wright’s Bible Word-Book.
=forwithered,= utterly withered. Sackville, Induction, st. 12.
=forworn,= worn out, exhausted. Gascoigne, Jocasta, iv. 1 (Antigone).
=forwounded,= badly wounded. Morte Arthur, leaf 175, back, 26; bk. ix,
c. 9.
=foster,= a ‘forester’. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 17; iii. 4. 50. Hence the
surname ‘Foster’.
=fougade,= a small powder-mine; applied to the gunpowder plot of Guy
Fawkes; ‘The fougade or powder plot’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici, pt. i,
§ 17. F. _fougade_, a mine (Cotgr.).
=foulder,= a thunder-bolt. Mirror for Mag., Clarence, st. 47; hence as
vb., to drive out, as with a thunder-bolt, id., Mortimer, st. 4.
Anglo-F. _fouldre_ (Gower).
=fouldring,= thunderous. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 20.
=foumerd,= a ‘foumart’, polecat. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 52. For numerous
forms of this very general prov. name for the polecat see EDD. (s.v.
Foumart). See =fulmart.=
=fourraye,= to fall upon, attack, raid; lit. to foray, plunder, act as
forayers. Caxton, Hist. of Troye, leaf 203. 8; _foureyed and threstid_,
charged and thrust, id., leaf 299. 29. See NED. (s.v. Foray).
=foutra, footra,= an expression of contempt; _a foutra for_, a fig for.
2 Hen. IV, v. 3. 103; Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iv. 2 (Launcelot). For the
origin, see NED.
=fowe, fow,= to clean out, cleanse; ‘I fowe a gonge’, Palsgrave. In
prov. use in some parts of England for the more usual ‘fey’ or ‘fie’,
see EDD. (s.v. Fay, vb.^{2}). ME. _fowyn_, or make clean, ‘mundo,
emundo’ (Prompt. EETS. 184, see note no. 833); Icel. _fāga_, to clean.
=fowl,= a bird; pronounced like _fool_, and quibbled upon. 3 Hen. VI, v.
6. 18-20.
=fox,= a kind of sword. Hen. V, iv. 4. 9; ‘A right [genuine] fox’, Two
Angry Women, ii. 4 (Coomes). The wolf on some makes of sword-blade is
supposed to have been mistaken for a fox.
=foxed,= drunk. (Cant.) Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, ii. 3 (Clown);
_fox_, to make drunk, Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iii. 1 (near the end);
Pepys, Diary, Oct. 26, 1660.
=fox-in-the-hole,= a game in which boys hopped on one leg, and beat each
other with pieces of leather (Boas). Kyd, Soliman and Persida, i. 3
(end); Herrick, The Country Life, 57.
=foy,= fidelity, homage. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 41. F. _foi_, faith.
=fraight,= _pp._ fraught, loaded. Peele, Poems, ed. Dyce, p. 601, col.
1; Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 35.
=frail,= a basket made of rushes. B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 2 (Peregrine);
‘A frail of figges’, Lyly, Mother Bombie, iv. 2 (Silena); ‘_Cabas_, a
frail for raisins or figs’, Cotgrave; so Palsgrave. In common prov. use
in various parts of England—the Midlands, E. Anglia, and south-west
counties—for a soft flexible basket used by workmen and tradesmen
(EDD.). ME. _ffrayl_ of _ffrute_, ‘carica’ (Prompt.), _fraiel_ (Wyclif,
Jer. xxiv. 2); OF. _frayel_, ‘cabas à figues’ (La Curne). See Thomas,
Phil. Fr. 366.
=fraischeur,= freshness, coolness. Dryden, Poem on the Coronation, 102.
F. _fraischeur_ (mod. _fraîcheur_), coolness (Cotgr.).
=franion,= an idle, loose, licentious person. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 37;
v. 3. 22; Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs); Works, i. 44. See Nares.
=frank,= a sty, a place to feed pigs in. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 160;
‘_Franc_, a franke, or stie, to feed or fatten hogs in’, Cotgrave; as
vb., to fatten, confine in a sty, Richard III, i. 3. 314; Middleton,
Game at Chess, v. 3. 14. ME. _frank_, a place for fattening animals,
‘saginarium’ (Prompt.), see Way’s note; OF. _franc_ (Didot), see Ducange
(s.v. Francum).
=frapler,= a blusterer, quarrelsome person. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels,
iv. 1 (Amorphus); see NED. (s.v. Fraple). Cp. _frap_, to quarrel,
_frappish_, quarrelsome, in EDD.
=frappet,= an endearing term addressed to a girl; ‘My little frappet’,
Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, v. 1 (Ilford).
=fraught,= freight, cargo. Edw. III, v. 1. 79; Tempest, v. 1. 61; _fig._
of news brought by a new-comer. Milton, Samson, 1075; as vb., to lade,
load, form a cargo, Tempest, 1. 2. 13. See Dict.
=fraunch,= to devour; ‘Fraunching the fysh . . . with teath of brasse’,
Mirror for Mag., Rivers, st. 69; _fraunshe_, Turbervile, Hunting (ed.
1575, 358); see NED.
=fraunchise,= freedom. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 15, § last;
Fabyan, Chron. an. 1247-8, ed. Ellis, p. 336. ME. _franchyse_, privilege
(Chaucer), _fraunchyse_, ‘libertas’ (Prompt.); Anglo-F. _fraunchise_,
freedom, privileged liberty (Gower).
=fraying,= the coating rubbed off the horns of a deer, when she rubs it
against a tree. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (John).
=fraying-stock,= a tree-stem against which a hart frays (or rubs) his
horns. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 27, p. 69.
=fream,= to roar, rage. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, ii. 234; iv. 169. L.
_fremere_.
=freat,= a weak place or blemish in a bow. Ascham, Toxophilus, pp. 114,
120; as vb., to injure, damage, Surrey, Praise of Mean Estate, 4; in
Tottel’s Misc., p. 27. A Yorkshire word (EDD.). OF. _frete_ (_fraite_),
a breach, injury, see La Curne (s.v. Fraicte), and Didot (s.v. Fraite).
=freke,= a warrior, fighting-man. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 68; Grimald,
Epitaph on Sir J. Wilford, 13; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 112. ME. _freke_, a
warrior, a man (Dict. M. and S.), OE. _freca_ (Beowulf).
=fremman,= a stranger. Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 210.
For _fremd man_; ‘Fremd’ is in common prov. use for strange, foreign, in
Scotland and the north of England down to Northampton (EDD.). ME.
_fremede_, foreign (Chaucer). OE. _fremede_.
=frenne,= a stranger, Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 28. ‘Fren’ is given as
a Caithness word in EDD. ME. _frend_, foreign (Plowman’s Tale, 626). See
above.
=frequent,= crowded, well-attended. B. Jonson, Sejanus, v. 3. 1; Dryden,
Hind and Panther, iii. 25; _f. to_, addicted to, Wint. Tale, iv. 2. 36;
_frequent with_, familiar with, Shak. Sonnet 117. L. _frequens_, crowded
(Cicero).
=freshet,= a stream or brook of fresh water. Hakluyt, Voy. i. 113, l. 4
from bottom; Milton, P. R. ii. 345.
=fret,= to wear away; to chafe, rub; ‘Frets like a gummed velvet’, 2
Hen. IV, ii. 2. 2. (Velvet, when stiffened with gum, quickly rubbed and
fretted itself out.)
=friar’s lantern,= _Ignis fatuus_, will-of-the-wisp. Milton, L’Allegro,
104. [Scott in Marmion, iv. i, following Milton, has taken the ‘friar’
to be Friar Rush, who had nothing to do with the _Ignis fatuus_, but was
the hero of a popular story—a demon disguised as a friar.]
=frim,= vigorous; ‘My frim and lusty flank’, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 397;
abundant in sap, juicy, id., Owle, 5; Worlidge, Syst. Agric, 224. In
gen. prov. use in England in the sense of vigorous, healthy, thriving,
in good condition, luxuriant in growth; also, juicy, succulent (EDD.).
OE. *_frym_, cogn. w. _freme_, good, strenuous (BT.).
=frisle,= to ‘frizzle’, to curl the hair in small crisp curls.
Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1145; Twyne, tr. Aeneid, xii. 100. See EDD. (s.v.
Frizzle, vb.^{2}).
=frith,= wooded country, wood; often used vaguely; ‘In fryth or fell’,
Gascoigne, Art of Venerie (ed. Hazlitt, ii. 306); Phaer, tr. of Aeneid,
ix. 85 (L. _silva_). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
ME. _frith_, ‘frith and fell’ (Cursor M. 7697). OE. _fyrhð_, a wood
(Earle, Charters, 158).
=fro, froe;= see =frow.=
=fro,= to go frowardly or amiss, to be unsuccessful. Mirror for Mag.,
Yorke, st. 23.
=frolic,= _s._, (prob.) a set of humorous verses sent round at a feast.
B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 3 (Meer.).
=froligozene,= _interj._, rejoice!, be happy! Two Angry Women, ii. 2
(end); Heywood, Witches of Lancs., i. 1 (Whetstone); vol. iv, p. 173.
Du. _vrolijk zijn_, to be cheerful.
=fronted,= confronted. Bacon, Essay 15, § 16.
=frontisterion;= in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xi. 310. See =phrontisterion.=
=frontless,= shameless. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i. 159; Odyssey, i. 425;
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 1040. 1187.
=frore,= intensely cold, frosty; ‘The parching Air Burns frore’, Milton,
P. L. ii. 595. Now only in poetical diction after Milton’s use. OE.
_froren_ pp. of _frēosan_, to freeze. ‘Frore’ is still in prov. use in
various parts of England for ‘frozen’, see EDD. (s.v. Freeze, 3 (11)).
=frorn,= frozen. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 243. In use in E. Anglia.
See above.
=frory,= frosty. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 35. A Suffolk word (EDD.).
=frosling,= a ‘frostling’, a gosling nipped or injured by frost.
Skelton, El. Rummyng, 460. ‘Froslin(g’ is a Suffolk word for
anything—plant or animal—injured by the frost (EDD.).
=frote, froat,= to rub, chafe; to rub a garment with perfumes. B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer); Middleton, A Trick to Catch,
iv. 3 (1 Creditor). In prov. use in the north country and Shropshire
(EDD.). ME. _frote_, to rub (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 1115, OF.
_froter_ (F. _frotter_).
=frounce,= to frizz or curl the hair; ‘An ouerstaring frounced hed’,
Ascham, Scholemaster, bk. i (ed. Arber, p. 54); Milton, Il Penseroso,
123. F. _froncer_, to wrinkle the brow, to frown. See Dict. (s.v.
Flounce, 2).
=frow, frowe, fro,= a Dutchwoman; a woman. London Prodigall, v. 1. 164;
Bacchus’ _froes_, Beaumont and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, v. 1
(Wittypate). Du. _vrouw_; cp. G. _Frau_. See Stanford.
=frowy,= musty, sour, stale; ‘They like not of the frowie fede’,
Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 111. In use in E. Anglia and America, see
EDD. (s.v. Frowy), and NED. (s.v. Froughy). Probably a deriv. of OE.
_þrōh_, rancid (Napier’s OE. Glosses, vii. 193 and 210).
=froy,= brave, handsome, gallant; ‘And then my froy Hans Buz, A
Dutchman’, B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1 (Thomas). Du. _fraai_,
‘brave, handsome, gallant, neat’ (Sewel). Cp. F. _frais_, ‘fresh, young,
lusty’ (Cotgr.).
=frubber,= a furbisher, burnisher, or polisher. Said to a maid-servant,
Chapman, Widow’s Tears, v. 3 (Tharsalio).
=frubbish,= to polish by rubbing; ‘To frubbish, _fricando polire_’,
Levins, Manip.; hence, _frubisher_, a polisher, Skelton, Magnyfycence,
1076. F. _fourbir_, ‘to furbish, polish’ (Cotgr.).
=frump,= to mock or snub. Fletcher, Maid in a Mill, iii. 2 (Franio);
‘_Sorner_, to jest, boord, frump, gull’, Cotgrave; ‘Hee frumpeth those
his mistresse frownes on’, Man in the Moone (Nares); a scoffer,
Gascoigne (ed. Hazlitt, i. 24); a taunt, a biting sarcasm, Harington,
Epigrams (Nares); Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 3. ‘To frump’ is
in prov. use in many parts of England, meaning to flout, jeer; to scold,
speak sharply or rudely to, see EDD. (s.v. Frump, vb.^{2}).
=frush,= to bruise, batter. Tr. and Cr. v. 6. 29; _frusshid_, dashed in
pieces, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 78. 28. OF. _fruissier_, _froissier_,
to break to pieces.
=frush,= fragments, remnants. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 39. A
Scottish word, see EDD. (s.v. Frush, sb.^{1} 4).
=fub,= a cheat, a fool. Marston, Malcontent, ii. 3 (Malevole).
=fub= (_gen._ with _off_), to put off deceitfully. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 37;
_to fob off_, Coriolanus, i. 1. 97. Cp. Low G. _foppen_, ‘Einen zum
Narren haben’ (Berghaus). See EDD. (s.v. Fob, vb.^{4}).
=fubbed,= fobbed, cheated. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 1 (Subtle).
=fucate,= artificially painted over, disguised. Sir T. Elyot, Governour,
bk. iii, c. 4, § last but one. L. _fucatus_, pp. of _fucare_, to paint
the face; from _fucus_; see below.
=fucus,= paint for the complexion, a cosmetic. B. Jonson, Sejanus, ii. 1
(Eudemus); Beaumont and Fl., Laws of Candy, ii. 1 (Gonzalo). L. _fucus_,
red dye. Gk. φῦκος, _rouge_, prepared from seaweed so called.
=fuge,= to flee, flee away; ‘I to fuge and away’, Gascoigne, Works, i.
231. (The construction seems to be—_I_ (_gan_) _to fuge._) L. _fugere_.
†=fulker,= a pawn-broker. Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 4 (Dulipo). Cp. Du.
_focker_, ‘an engrosser of wares’ (Hexham). See Fog (to traffic).
=fullam,= a loaded dice. Merry Wives, i. 3. 94. Spelt _fulham_. Butler,
Hudibras, ii. 1. 642.
=fulmart,= a ‘foumart’, pole-cat. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 4 (Lady
Tub); also _fullymart_, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 146. 31. ME.
_fulmard_, _fulmerde_, a polecat, OE. _fūl_, foul, and _mearð_, marten,
see Dict. M. and S. See =foumerd.=
=fum,= to play or thrum (on a guitar) with the fingers. Westward Ho, v.
2; Dryden, Assignation, ii. 3.
=fumado, fumatho,= a smoked pilchard; ‘Cornish pilchards, otherwise
called _Fumados_’, Nash, Lenten Stuff (1871), p. 61 (NED.); _fumatho_,
Marston, The Fawn, iv. 1 (Page); ‘Their pilchards . . . by the name of
Fumadoes, with oyle and a lemon, are meat for the mightiest Don in
Spain’, Fuller, Worthies, Cornwall, 1. 194. Span. _fumado_, pp. of
_fumar_, to smoke; L. _fumus_, smoke. See EDD. (s.v. Fair-maid).
=fumbling,= rambling in speech, hesitating. North, tr. of Plutarch, J.
Caesar, § 43 (in Shak. Plut., p. 98, n. 2); ‘Thy fumbling throat’,
Marston, Antonio’s Revenge, i. 1 (Piero).
=fumer,= a perfumer. Beaumont and Fl., Triumph of Time, sc. 1 (Desire).
=fumish,= angry, fractious. See EDD. and Nares. _Fumishly_, with
indignation, ‘Toke highly or fumishly’; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, §
14.
=fumishing,= variant of _fewmishing_, the dung of a hart or deer.
Turbervile, Hunting, c. 23; p. 65. See =fewmets.=
=funambulous,= narrow, as if one were walking on a tight-rope; ‘This
funambulous path’, Sir T. Browne, Letter to a Friend, § 31.
=furacane, furicane,= a hurricane; ‘These tempestes of the ayer . . .
they caule Furacanes’, R. Eden, First three E. Books on America (ed.
Arber, p. 81). _Furicanes_, Heywood, Iron Age, Part II, vol. iii, p.
405. O. Span. _furacan_ (Sp. _huracan_), Pg. _furacão_, from the Carib
word given by Peter Martyr as _furacan_. See NED. (s.v. Hurricane).
=furbery,= a trick, imposture. Howell, Foreign Travell, sect. viii, p.
43. F. _fourberie_, a trick.
=fur-fare,= to cause to perish, destroy. Morte Arthur, leaf 95, back,
30; bk. vi, c. 6. See =forfare.=
=furniment,= furniture, array. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 38. F.
_fourniment_, provision, furniture; _fournir_, to furnish (Cotgr.).
=furniture,= equipment. Tam. Shrew, iv. 3. 182; trappings, All’s Well,
ii. 3. 65.
†=furny;= ‘I have a furny card in a place’, Lusty Juventus, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, ii. 78. Meaning doubtful; perhaps = F. _fourni_, provided.
=fustick,= the name of a kind of wood. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 123; Dyer,
The Fleece, bk. iii. 189. The name was given to _two_ kinds of wood:
(_a_) that of the Venetian sumach (_Rhus Cotinus_); (_b_) of the
_Cladrastis tinctoria_ of the W. Indies. F. and Span. _fustoc_, Arab.
_fustuq_; from Gk. πιστάκη, pistachio.
=futile,= unable to hold one’s tongue, loquacious. Bacon, Essay 20, § 4.
L. _futilis_, that easily pours out, ‘leaky’.
=fyaunts;= see =fiants.=
G
=gabel,= tribute, tax. Massinger, Emp. of the East, i. 2 (Pulcheria).
OF. _gabelle_, Late L. _gabella_; cp. Med. L. _gabulum_, tribute
(Ducange). A word of Arabic origin, see Dozy, Glossaire, pp. 74, 75, and
Modern Language Review, July, 1912 (note by A. L. Mayhew on
‘Gavelkind’).
=gable,= a ‘cable’, rope. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, v. 333; ix. 211; x.
165; xii. 47, 577. See NED.
=gaffle,= a steel lever for bonding the cross-bow. Drayton, Muses’
Elysium, Nymphal vi, 67; Complete Gunner, iii. 15. 12 (NED.). Du.
_gaffel_, a fork.
=gage,= a quart-pot. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen);
Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); ‘_A gage of bowse_, whiche is a
quart-pot of drinke’, Harman, Caveat, p. 34. For _gauge_, i.e. a
measure.
=gag-tooth,= a projecting or prominent tooth. Return from Parnassus, l.
2 (Ingenieso); hence, _gag-toothed_, Chapman, Gent. Usher, i. 1
(Vincentio); _gagge-toothed_, Lyly, Euphues, p. 116.
=gain,= near, straight, direct; said of a way; ‘They told me it was a
_gayner_ way, and a fayrer way’, Latimer, 3 Sermon before King, ed.
Arber, p. 101 (top). In gen. prov. use in Scotland, and in England in
the north country, Midlands, and E. Anglia, EDD. (s.v. Gain, adj. 1).
ME. _geyn_, ryȝht forth, ‘directus’ (Prompt.); Icel. _gegn_.
=gaingiving,= a misgiving. Hamlet, v. 2. 226. The prefix _gain-_ has the
sense of opposition. OE. _gegn_, see NED.
†=gain-legged= (?); ‘I’ll short that gain-legg’d Longshank by the top’,
Peele, Edward I (ed. Dyce, i. 103). Possibly, nimble, active-legged. Cp.
EDD. (sv. Gain, adj. 5).
=galage,= a wooden shoe, or shoe with a wooden sole; ‘A Galage, a shoe:
_solea_, _sandalium_’, Levins, Manip.; ‘Galage, a startuppe or clownish
shoe’, Glosse to Spenser’s Shep. Kal., Feb., 244; ‘Shoe called a gallage
or patten whyche hath nothynge but lachettes’, Hulcet. ME. _galegge_ or
_galoch_, ‘crepita’ (Prompt. EETS., see note no. 837); Anglo-F.
_galoche_. See Dict. (s.v. Galoche).
=gald,= to gall; pt. t. _galded_, Gascoigne, Works, i. 422; pp.
_galded_, Eden, First three Books on America, p. 386. A false form; from
the pp.
=galley-foist,= a state barge, esp. of the Lord Mayor of London.
Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, v. 2 (end); B. Jonson, Silent
Woman, iv. 2. See =foist.=
=galliard,= lively, brisk, gay. Shadwell, Humorist, ii (Works, ed. 1720,
i. 172); _galyarde_, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, ch. 3, § 1. ME.
_gaillard_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 4367); F. _gaillard_, gay.
=galliard,= a quick and lively dance in triple time. Twelfth Nt.
i. 3. 137; Bacon, Essay 32.
=galliardise,= gaiety. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., Pt. II, § 11. F.
_gaillardise_ (Cotgr.).
=gallimaufry,= a medley. Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 335; used as a term of
contempt, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3 (Eyre); spelt
_gallymalfreye_, Robinson, tr. of More’s Utopia, p. 64. F. _galimafrée_,
a dish made by hashing up remnants of food; a hodge-podge; OF.
_calimafree_ (Hatzfeld).
=galyarde;= see =galliard.=
=gamashes,= leggings or gaiters to protect from mud and wet. Middleton,
Father Hubberd’s Tales (Dedication); Marston, What you will, ii. 1
(Laverdure). In common prov. use in the north country (EDD.). Norm. F.
_gamaches_, ‘grandes guêtres en toile, montant jusqu’au dessus du genou’
(Moisy); Prov. _garramacho_ (_garamacho_), ‘houseau’ (Mistral);
Languedoc dial. _garamachos_, _galamachos_, _gamachos_, ‘guêtres de
pêcheurs’ (Boucoiran).
=gambawd,= a gambol, a frisk. Skelton, Ware the Hauke, 65. _To fett
gambaudes_, to fetch gambols, to gambol, frisk about, Udall, tr. of
Apophthegmes, Aristippus, § 45. F. ‘_gambade_, a gambol, tumbling trick’
(Cotgr.).
=gambone,= a gammon of bacon; ‘a gambone of bakon’, Skelton, El.
Rummyng, 327. ME. _gambon_, a ham (Boke St. Albans, fol. f2, back); OF.
(Picard) _gambon_ (F. _jambon_), leg; for related words see Moisy (s.v.
Gambe).
=gambrel,= a stick placed by butchers between the shoulders of a newly
killed sheep, to keep the carcass open. Chapman. Mons. d’Olive, iii
(near the end). In gen. prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Gambrel, sb.^{1} 1).
=gambrill,= the hock of an animal. Holland, Pliny, i. 225. Cp.
_gammerel_, ‘a hock’, a Devon and Somerset word, see EDD. (s.v. Gambrel,
sb.^{1} 2).
=gamning,= gaming. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 51. So also _gamnes_, games,
id., p. 52. From OE. _gamen_, a game.
=gan,= the mouth. (Cant.) Harman, Caveat, p. 82; Brome, Jovial Crew, ii
(Mort’s song).
=ganch, gaunch,= to let one fall on sharp stakes (orig. on a sharp
hook), there to remain till death. Dryden, Don Sebastian, iii. 2
(Mufti). Hence _gaunshing_, this kind of punishment; Howell, Foreign
Travell, Appendix, p. 85. F. _gancher_: ‘_Ganché_, (a person) let fall
(as in a strappado) on sharp stakes pointed with iron, and thereon
languishing until he die’ (Cotgr.); Ital. ‘_ganciare_, to sharpen at the
point’ (Florio).
=gandermooner,= one who practised gallantry during the gander-moon, or
month when his wife was lying in. Middleton, Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Meg’s
song). ‘Gander-moon’ is still used in Cheshire, meaning the month of the
wife’s confinement, see EDD. (s.v. Gander, (6)).
=ganza,= a goose. In The Man in the Moon, by Bp. Godwin, a man is said
to have been drawn to the moon by _Ganza’s_. The name was borrowed from
Holland’s Pliny, bk. x, c. 22 (vol. i. 281a), where Holland has: ‘The
Geese there . . . be called _Ganzæ_.’ But the L. text has _Gantæ_. Hence
the pl. _ganzas_, Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 782.
=gar,= to cause, to make; ‘I’ll gar take’, I will make you take, B.
Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); ‘_Ays gar_’ (for _I’s’gar_), I shall
make, Greene, James IV, Induction (Bohan). In gen. prov. use in Scotland
and the north of England (EDD.). ME. _gar_ (Cursor M. 4870); Icel.
_ger_(_v_)_a_.
=garb,= a wheat-sheaf. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 370. Norm. F. _garbe_ (F.
_gerbe_), see Moisy, p. 533.
=garboil,= a tumult, disturbance, brawl. Ant. and Cl. i. 3. 61; ii. 2.
67; Shirley, Young Admiral, iii. 2. 1. F. _garbouil_, ‘a garboil,
hurliburly’ (Cotgr.). Ital. _garbuglio_, a garboile; _garbugliare_, to
garboile, to turmoile (Florio).
=gardage, guardage,= keeping, guardianship. Othello, i. 2. 70; Fletcher,
Thierry, v. 1 (Vitry).
=garded, guarded,= trimmed, provided with an ornamental border or
trimming. Merch. of Venice, ii. 2. 164; Hen. VIII, Prol. 16.
=garden-bull,= a bull baited at Paris Garden, on the Bankside, London.
Middleton, The Changeling, ii. 1 (De F.).
=gardes,= the dew-claws of a deer or boar; ‘Gardes [of a boar], which
are his hinder clawes or dewclawes’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 52; p. 154;
_gards_ [of a deer], id., c. 37; p. 100. F. _gardes_: ‘les gardes d’un
sanglier, the deaw-claws, or hinder claws of a wild Boar’ (Cotgr.).
=gardeviance,= orig. a safe or cupboard for viands, usually, a
travelling trunk or wallet; ‘Bagge or gardeviaunce to put meat in,
_reticulum_’, Huloet; ‘a gardeviance of usquebagh’, Sir B. Boyle, Diary
(NED.); a little casket, Udall, tr. Apoph., Alexander, § 52. F.
_garde-r_, to keep, + _viande_(_s_, viands.
=garet,= a watch-tower. Morte Arthur, leaf 100, back, 6; bk. vi, c. 11.
ME. _garyt_, ‘specula’ (Prompt. EETS. 187). OF. _garite_ (F. _guérite_);
see Cotgrave on both forms, and Estienne, Précellence, 358. See Dict.
(s.v. Garret).
=gargarism,= a gargle; humorously, a physician. Webster, White Devil
(Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 16. Gk. γαργαρίζειν, to gargle.
=gargell-face,= a face like a ‘gargoyle’, or grotesquely carved spout;
‘Before that entry grim, with gargell-face’, Phaer, Aeneid vi, 556
(without any Latin equivalent). See Dict. (s.v. Gargoyle).
=garing,= staring, horrid; ‘With fifty garing heads’, Phaer, tr. of
Virgil, bk. vi, l. 576 (Latin text). See =gaure.=
=garnysshe,= to supply (a castle) with defensive force and provisions.
Morte Arthur, leaf 18. 32, bk. i, c. 1; lf. 26. 8, bk. i, c. 11. F.
‘_garnir_, to garnish, provide, supply’ (Cotgr.).
=garran, garron,= a small Irish or Scotch horse. Spenser, View of
Ireland, Globe ed., p. 619, col. 2. Irish _gearran_, a horse, a gelding
(Dinneen).
=gaskins,= a kind of hose or breeches. Dekker, Gentle Craft (Wks., ed.
1873, i. 18); Beaumont and Fl., Knt. Burning Pestle, ii. 2 (Wife);
‘_Gascoigne breeches_, or Venetian hosen, _greguéscos_’, Minsheu, Span.
Dict.; ‘_Gascoyne bride_, one who wears breeches’, Middleton, Roaring
Girl, v. 2 (Sir Guy). ‘Gaskins’ is a Lincolnsh. word for gaiters (EDD.).
=gast,= to frighten. King Lear, ii. 2. 57; ‘I gasted hym, _Je lui
baillay belle paour_’, Palsgrave. ME. _gasten_: ‘To gaste crowen from
his corn’ (P. Plowman, A. vii. 129).
=gaster,= to frighten, Giffard, Dial. Witches (Nares); Beaumont and Fl.,
Wit at Several Weapons, ii. 4 (near end). A north-country and Essex word
(EDD.).
=gate,= a way, path, road. Gascoigne, Voyage to Holland (ed. Hazlitt),
i. 385; Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 13. In common use in the north country down
to Lincolnsh., see EDD. (s.v. Gate, sb.^{2} 1); cp. ‘Irongate’, the name
of the busiest thoroughfare in Derby. ME. _gate_, or way, ‘via’ (Prompt.
EETS. 188). Icel. _gata_.
=gate,= to walk; ‘Three stages . . . Neere the seacost gating’,
Stanyhurst, Aeneid i, 191. Cp. Worcestersh. phr. _to go gaiting_, to go
about for pleasure, see EDD. (s.v. Gate, vb.^{2} 21).
=gate-vein,= the principal vein; applied metaphorically to the chief
course of trade. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 146; Bacon, Essay 19.
See =vena porta.=
=gather-bag;= ‘_Gather-bag_, the bag or skinne, inclosing a young red
Deere in the Hyndes belly’, Bullokar (1616); ‘The _Gather-bagge_ or
mugwet of a yong Harte when it is in the Hyndes bellie’, Turbervile,
Hunting, c. 15; p. 39.
=gauderie,= finery. Hall, Satires, iii. 1. 64; Bacon, Essay 29, § 12.
=gauding,= festivity; hence, jesting, foolery. Udall, Roister Doister,
iii. 4. 1.
=gaunt,= a gannet; ‘The gaglynge gaunte’, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 447.
‘Gaunt’ is the Lincolnsh. word for the great crested grebe (EDD.). ME.
_gante_ (Prompt. EETS.); OE. _ganot_.
=gaunt,= thin, slender; ‘She was gaunte agayne’ [after childbirth],
Latimer, 5 Sermon before King (ed. Arber, p. 154); ‘They who . . .
desire to be gant and slender . . . ought to forbear drinking at
meales’, Holland, tr. Pliny, ii. 152. ‘Gant’ is in prov. use for slim,
slender; in Suffolk they speak of horses looking ‘gant’; so in Kent, of
a greyhound that is thin in the flanks (EDD.). ME. _gawnt_, or lene
(Prompt.).
=gaure,= to stare, gaze. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2275. ME. _gauren_
(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1108 (1157).
=gaurish,= staring, showy, garish. Ascham, Scholemaster, p. 54.
=gavel,= a quantity of corn, cut and ready to be made into a sheaf.
_Gavel-heap_, said of wheat that is reaped but not bound, Chapman, tr.
of Iliad, xxi. 328. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Gavel, sb.^{2}).
Norm. F. _gavelle_, ‘javelle’ (Moisy), Med. L. _gavella_ (Ducange).
=gaw;= see =gow.=
=gawring-stock,= a gazing-stock, a spectacle. Mirror for Mag., Yorke,
st. 21. See =gaure.=
=gazet, gazette,= a Venetian coin of small value. B. Jonson, Volpone,
ii. 2 (Peregrine); Massinger, Maid of Honour iii. 1 (Jacomo). Ital.
‘_gazzetta_, a kind of small coyn in Venice, not worth a farthing of
ours’ (Florio). See Dict.
†=geances.= Only in B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 4 (Hilts). A rustic
pronunciation of _chances_? Nares supposes that _geances_ = _jaunces_.
See =jaunce.=
=gear, geer, gere,= dress, apparel. L. L. L. v. 2. 304. (ME. _gere_,
equipment, Chaucer, C. T. A. 4016). Also, wealth, property, B. Jonson,
Sad Sheph. ii. 1; talk, in depreciatory sense, ‘stuff’, Selden, Table
Talk (ed. Arber, 20); an affair, business, Tr. and Cr. i. 1. 6; Romeo,
ii. 4. 107; Middleton, A Chaste Maid, i. 1 (Yellow). ‘Gear’ is very
common in prov. use in various senses; see EDD. (s.v.): 1, apparel; 9
and 10, goods, property; 15, trash, rubbish; 16, affair, business. See
Dict.
=geason,= scantily produced; rare, scarce, uncommon; ‘Ixine is a rare
herb and geason to be seen’, Holland, Pliny, ii. 98; Spenser, F. Q. vi.
4. 37. ME. _gesen_ (P. Plowman, B. xiii. 271). OE. _gǣsne_, barren,
unproductive. An Essex word (EDD.).
=geats;= ‘The female, which are called Geats, and the buckes Goates’,
Turbervile, Hunting, ch. 47; p. 146. ME. _geet_, pl. she-goats
(Trevisa’s Higden, i. 311). OE. _gǣt_, nom. pl. of _gāt_, a she-goat.
=gee and ree;= ‘He expostulates with his Oxen very understandingly, and
speaks Gee and Ree better than English’, Earle, Microcosm, (ed. Arber,
49). Cp. EDD. (s.v. Gee, _int._): ‘Some or other of the crook horses
invariably crossed him on the road . . . owing to two words of the
driver, namely “gee” and “ree”,’ Bray’s Desc., Tamar and Tavy. Two words
of command to an animal driven; _Gee_, directs it to go forward, to move
faster, _Ree_, to turn to the right.
=gelt,= a lunatic; ‘Like a ghastly Gelt whose wits are reaved’, Spenser,
F. Q. iv. 7. 21. Irish _gealt_ (_geilt_), a madman (Dinneen).
=gelu,= ‘jelly’. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 265.
=gemonies,= steps on the Aventine Hill (Rome) whence the bodies of state
criminals were flung down, and afterwards dragged into the Tiber
(_scalae Gemoniae_). Massinger, Roman Actor, i. 1 (Lamia); B. Jonson,
Sejanus, iv. 5 (Lepidus).
=genethliac,= relating to nativities; hence, one who calculates
nativities, an astrologer. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 689. Gk.
γενεθλιακός, belonging to birth; from γενέθλη, birth.
=Geneva print.= In the Merry Devil, ii. 1. 64, the Host says to the
half-drunken smith, ‘I see by thy eyes thou hast been reading little
Geneva print’, i.e. literally, type such as is in the Geneva Bible; but,
allusively, it means, ‘you have been drinking _geneva’_, i.e. _gin_.
=geniture,= horoscope, the plan of a nativity, Burton, Anat. Mel. i. 1;
that which is generated, offspring, Holland, Plutarch’s Morals, 1345. L.
_genitura_, a begetting; seed of generation (Pliny); that which is
generated (Tertullian).
=gennet-moyl,= a kind of apple that ripens early; ‘Trees grafted on a
gennet-moyl or cider-stock’, Worlidge, Dict. Rust., 1681. p. 121;
_genet-moyle_, Butler, Elephant in the Moon, 116. See EDD. (s.v.
jennet).
=gent,= noble, high-born; valiant and courteous. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11.
17; (of women) graceful, elegant, F. Q. i. 9. 27; (of the body) shapely,
slender, Greene, Desc. of the Shepherd, 62 (ed. Dyce, p. 305). OF.
_gent_, well-born.
=gentee,= genteel, elegant. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 1. 747. F. _gentil_
(_l_ silent).
=gentry-cove,= a nobleman or gentleman. (Cant.) B. Jonson, Gipsies
Metamorphosed (Patrico); ‘A gentry cofes ken, a gentleman’s house’,
Harman, Caveat, p. 83.
=George,= a half-crown, bearing the image of St. George. Shadwell,
Squire of Alsatia, ii. 1 (Belfond Senior).
=gere;= see =gear.=
=gere, gear, geer,= a sudden fit of passion, transient fancy. North,
Plutarch (ed. 1676, p. 140); Holland, Am. Marcell. xxxi. 12. 421. ME.
_gere_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1531).
=gery,= capricious, fitful; ‘His seconde hawke waxid gery’,
Skelton, Ware the Hawke, 66. ME. _gery_ (Chaucer, C. T. A.
1536).
=german,= a brother. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 13; ii. 8. 46; cp. Othello, i.
1. 114. L. _germanus_, having the same father and mother.
=gern,= a snarl, a ‘grin’. Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2 (Balurdo);
_gerne_, to grin, id., The Fawn, iv. 1 (Zuccone); Spenser, F. Q. v. 12.
15. ‘Girn’ is in gen. prov. use in Scotland and in various parts of
England (EDD.). ME. _gyrn_, to grin (Barbour’s Bruce, iv. 322; xiii.
157).
†=gernative,= grinning (?). Middleton, A Trick to Catch, iv. 5 (Dampit).
=gerr,= to jar, to be discordant. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 17.
=gesse,= pl. guests. Lyly, Euphues, 305; spelt _guesse_, Gage, West
Indies, xiv. 90; _guess_, Middleton, Phoenix, i. 4. 6. See NED. (s.v.
Guest).
=gesseron,= a ‘jazerant’, a light coat of armour. Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. i, ch. 17, § 7. OF. _jazeran_ (_jesseran_), a light coat
of armour, see Didot (s.v. Jaseran); orig. an adj., as in _osberc
jazerenc_ (Ch. Rol. 1604), O. Prov. _jazeren_, ‘de mailles’ (Levy). Dozy
(s.v. Jacerina) says that the supposition that the word means ‘Algerian’
is unfounded.
=gest,= pl. _gests_, the various stages of a journey, esp. of a royal
progress; ‘In Jacob’s gests Succoth succeeds . . . to Peniel’, Fuller,
Pisgah, v. 3. 147; ‘The King’s gests’, L’Estrange, Charles I, 126.
_Gest_, the time allotted for a halt, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 41. A later
form of =gist,= q.v.
=gest=(=e,= story, narrative. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 15; exploit, Mother
Hubberd’s Tale, 978. ME. _geste_, romance, tale; pl. histories,
occurrences (Chaucer). Anglo-F. _geste_, L. (res) _gesta_, a thing
performed.
=gets,= pl. the jesses of a hawk; ‘Her gets, her jesses and her bells’,
Heywood, A Woman killed, i. 3 (Sir Charles). Both _gets_ and _jess_ are
plural forms of OF. and Prov. _get_ (F. _jet_), ‘a cast, a throw’, cp.
F. _jeter_, to throw. The form _jesses_ is a double plural.
=giambeux,= armour for the legs. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29. ME. _jambeux_
(Chaucer, C. T. B. 2065). Deriv. of F. _jambe_, the leg (Cotgr.).
=gib,= a familiar name for a cat. Hamlet, iii. 4. 190. Also, _Gib-cat_,
‘I am as melancholy as a gib-cat’, 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 83. Hence, _Your
Gibship_, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 1. ‘Gib’ and ‘Gib-cat’ are
in prov. use in the north, and down to Hereford, in the sense of a male
cat, gen. one that has been castrated (EDD.).
=gibbed cat,= gen. taken to mean a castrated cat. Rowley, A Match at
Midnight, ii. 1 (Jarvis).
=gibbridge,= unintelligible talk, idle talk. Drayton, Pol. xii. 227;
‘_Bagois_, gibridge, strange talk, idle tattle’, Cotgrave. A Yorksh.
pronunciation of _gibberish_ (EDD.).
=Giberalter,= ? a Gibraltar monkey, an ape, Merry Devil, i. 2. 14. See
NED.
=gig= (with hard _g_), to produce another like itself, but smaller. Only
used metaphorically, and derived from ME. _gigge_, a whipping-top. See
NED., which has: ‘The verb seems to denote the action of some kind of
_gig_, or whipping-top of peculiar construction, having inside it a
smaller _gig_ of the same shape, which was thrown out by the effect of
rapid rotation.’ Hence, ‘The first [lampoon] produces, still, a second
jig [i.e. lampoon]; You whip them out, like schoolboys [i.e. as
schoolboys do], till they gig’; Dryden, Prologue to Amphitryon, 20, 21.
=giggots,= slices, small pieces. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i. 452; ii. 372;
spelt _giggets_, Fletcher, Double Marriage, iii. 2 (Boatswain). F.
_gigot_, a leg of mutton. See NED.
=giglet, giglot,= a wanton. Meas. for M. v. 352; B. Jonson, Sejanus, v.
4 (Sej.), where it is applied to Fortune; Middleton, Family of Love, i.
2 (Gudgeon). In prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland
(EDD.). ME. _gygelot_, ‘agagula’ (Prompt. EETS. 191). Cp. F.
_gigolette_, ‘grisette, faubourienne courant les bals publics’
(Delesalle).
=gilder,= a ‘guilder’, an old Dutch coin. Comedy of Errors, i. 1. 8. Du.
_gulden_, ‘a guilder’ (Sewel); with _n_ not pronounced, it sounds like
_gilder_ to an English ear. See Dict. (s.v. Guilder).
=gill,= a wench, servant-maid. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 2. 709; ‘A gill or
gill-flirt, _gaultiere_, _ricalde_’, Sherwood. A pet name for Gillian or
Juliana.
=gilt,= a jocose term for money. Middleton, A Mad World, ii. 2
(Follywit); Family of Love, v. 3 (Dryfat).
=gilt-head,= a name given to various fishes. Webster, Devil’s Law-case,
i. 1 (Romelio); Hakluyt, Voy. iii. 520, l. 7. Applied to fishes marked
on the head with golden spots or lines; such as the bonito, the dorado
or dolphin, and the golden wrasse.
=gim,= smart, spruce. Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, i. 3 (Mrs. Amlet). In
prov. use in Lancashire and E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Jim, adj.).
=gimcrack,= an affected or worthless person, a fop. Fletcher, Loyal
Subject, iv. 2 (Theodore). Also, a fanciful notion, Massinger, Duke of
Milan, iv. 3 (Graccho).
=gimmal,= in pl. _gimmals_, _gimols_, joints, links, connecting parts of
machinery, Gosson, Trump. War, F 5 (NED.). Hence _gimmaled_, made with
gimmals or joints, ‘The jymold (gimmaled) bitt’, Hen. V, iv. 2. 49;
spelt _gymould_, made with links (applied to mailed armour), K. Edw.
III, i. 2. 29. ME. _gymew_, _gymowe_, ‘gemella’ (Prompt. EETS. 191, see
note no. 877). OF. _gemel_ (F. _gemeau_), L. _gemellus_, twin. See
=jimmal-ring.=
=gimmors,= links in machinery, esp. for transmitting motion as in
clockwork. 1 Hen. VI, i. 2. 41. ‘Gimmer’ (‘jimmer’) is a name for a
hinge in the north country and in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Jimmer,
sb.^{1}).
=gin,= to begin. Macbeth, i. 2. 25; Peele, Tale of Troy (ed. Dyce, p.
556); _gan sort to this_, began to grow to this, grew to this; Peele (as
above).
=gin,= a contrivance, ‘engine’. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid ii, 1. 298. See
Dict. (s.v. Gin, 2).
=ging,= a company of people. Merry Wives, iv. 2. 3; B. Jonson,
Alchemist, v. 1 (Lovewit); New Inn, i. 1 (Lovel). In prov. use, cp. the
Leicester saying, ‘The wull ging on ’em’ (i.e. the whole lot of them),
see EDD. (s.v. Gang, 12). ME. _ging_(_e_, a company, a following,
retinue (Wars Alex., freq., see Glossarial Index); OE. _genge_, a
following (Chron. A.D. 1070).
=ginglymus,= a joint. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 2 (Surgeon). L.
_ginglymus_; Gk. γίγγλυμος, a joint (as of the elbow).
†=ginimony.= Only in following passage, ‘Here is ginimony likewise
burned and pulverised, to be mingled with the juice of lemons, &c.’,
Westward Ho, i. 1 (Birdlime). Something used as a cosmetic.
=ginniting,= a ‘jenneting’, an early apple. Bacon, Essay 46, § 1. See
Dict. (s.v. Jenneting).
=gird,= to strike, smite, pierce; ‘When some sodain stitch girds me in
the side’, Bp. Hall, Medit. i, § 92; Palsgrave; _girt_, pp. smitten,
‘Through girt’, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iv. 4. 112; _to gird forward_, to
rush forward, Gosson, School of Abuse (ed. Arber, 58). ME. _gird_, to
strike, pierce (Wars Alex. 1219); to rush (id. 1243); see Glossarial
Index. See NED. (s.v. Gird, vb.^{2}).
=girdle;= ‘Would my girdle may break if I do’, Match at Midnight, i. 1
(Tim); ‘I pray God my girdle break’, 1 Hen. IV, iii. 3. 171. The girdle
was used to keep up the breeches; see _breechgirdle_ in NED. It also
usually had the wearer’s purse hung at it, which would be lost if the
girdle broke.
=girdle-stead,= place for the girdle, i.e. the waist. Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, v. 538; Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iii. 2 (Flavia).
=girl,= a roebuck in its second year. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 45; p.
143. ME. _gerle_, Book of St. Albans, fol. E 4, back.
=girn,= a ‘grin’, a grim smile. Davenant, The Wits, iv (near the end).
See =gern.=
=girt,= to gird, surround with a girdle. 1 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 171; 2 Hen.
VI, i. 1. 65.
=girt,= _pp._ of =gird,= q.v.
=gist,= pl. _gists_, the stopping-places or stages in a monarch’s
progress; ‘Gists or Gests of the Queen’s Progress, i.e. a Bill or
Writing that contains the Names of the Towns or Houses where she intends
to lie upon the Way’, Phillips, Dict. (ed. 1706). OF. _giste_ (F.
_gîte_), resting- or stopping-place. See =gest.=
=gite,= used by Peele for splendour, magnificence, Tale of Troy (ed.
Dyce, p. 558, col. 1); David and Bathsheba (p. 473, col. 2). Fairfax
uses the word _gite_ for some kind of apparel, ‘Phœbus . . . dond a gite
in deepest purple dide’, tr. of Tasso, xiii. 54. 245. ME. _gyte_, a
shirt or mantle (?) (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3954); OF. _guite_ (Godefroy).
=giusts,= ‘justs’, tournaments. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 39.
=give on,= to advance; ‘And eager flames give on’, Dryden, Annus
Mirabilis, st. 280; ‘The enemy gives on, by fury led’, Dryden, Indian
Emperor, ii. 3; ‘Where he gives on’, Waller, Instructions to a Painter,
213.
=given,= _pp._ with an adverb, affected, disposed, inclined; ‘cardinally
given’, Meas. for M. ii. 1. 81; ‘lewdly given’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 469;
virtuously given’, id., iii. 3. 16; ‘well given’, 3 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 72;
‘cannibally given’, Coriolanus, iv. 5. 200.
=glade:= phr. _to go to glade_, to set; said of the sun. Puttenham, Eng.
Poesie, bk. ii, c. 11, p. 116; ‘The sunne was gone to glade’, Udall, tr.
of Erasmus, Paraphr. on Matt. viii. 18. The phrase is cited as in use in
Ireland; see EDD. (s.v. Glade). ME. ‘þe sonne ȝede to glade’ (Trevisa,
tr. Higden, v. 189). Cp. Norw. dial. _glada_, to go down, to set (of the
sun); see Aasen.
=glaire, glayre,= the white of an egg; any viscid or slimy substance.
Skelton, El. Rummyng, 25. Hence _glaired_, smeared, Marston, Sat. iii.
32. ME. _gleyre_, ‘glarea’ (Prompt. EETS. 193); OF. _glaire_, the white
of an egg (Hatzfeld). See =glere.=
=glaster,= to bawl. Douglas, Aeneis, viii, Prol. 47. ‘To glaister’
occurs in Scottish poetry, meaning to bawl or bark, also, to babble, to
talk indistinctly (EDD.).
=glastynge,= barking like a dog, howling. Morte Arthur, leaf 251. 24;
bk. x, c. 53. For _glatising_, cp. OF. _glatisant_, pres. pt. of
_glatir_, to cry aloud, howl (Ch. Rol. 3527).
=glaver,= to flatter, wheedle. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1 (Tucca);
Drayton, Pol. xxviii. 198. ‘To glaver’ is in prov. use in the north
country down to Shropsh. and Bedfordsh., meaning ‘to flatter, wheedle,
talk endearingly to’, see EDD. (s.v. Glaver, vb.^{1} 2). ME. _glavir_,
chattering (Wars Alex. 5504).
=glaymy,= sticky, slimy. Skelton, Ag. Garnesche, iii. 168. ME. _gleymy_
(Trevisa), see NED. (s.v. Gleimy); _gleyme_, ‘gluten’, _gleymows_,
‘limosus’ (Prompt. 192, 193).
=glaze,= to make to shine like glass. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iii.
2. Hence, _Glaze-worm_, a glow-worm, Lyly, Euphues, 91. An E. Anglian
word (EDD.). ME. _glasyn_, ‘vitrio’ (Prompt. EETS).
=glaze,= to stare, gaze intently. Jul. Caes. i. 3. 21. Still in use in
Devon and Cornwall (EDD.). Cp. G. dial. (Alsace) _gläse_, ‘stieren,
scharf u. feurig sehen, sauer sehen’ (Martin-Lienhart).
=glaziers,= eyes; a cant term. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor),
Harman, Caveat, p. 82; ‘Toure out [look out] with your glaziers’, Brome,
Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).
=glee:= in phr. _gold and glee_; ‘Not for gold nor glee will I abyde By
you’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 32. Perhaps _glee_ in this phr. refers to the
bright colour of gold; see NED.
=gleeke,= a game at cards, played by three persons. B. Jonson, Devil an
Ass, v. 2; a set of three court cards of the same rank in one hand
(NED.); hence, a set of three, B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Mirth).
OF. _glic_ (_ghelicque_). Probably adopted fr. Du. _gelyk_, ‘like’
(Sewel); cp. G. _gleich_.
=gleering,= casting sly, cunning glances; ‘That glering Foxe’, Tyndale,
on Matt. vi. 19 (Works, ed. 1572, p. 231); ‘Such a gleering eye’, Return
from Parnassus, iv. 2 (Furor).
=glent,= glowing, bright; ‘Her eyen glent’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 993.
=glent,= a slip, a fall. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1687.
=glere,= the white of an egg; a similar slimy substance; ‘This slimy
glere’, Mirror for Mag., Morindus, st. 1 and st. 15. See =glaire.=
=glib,= to geld. Winter’s Tale, ii. 1. 149; Shirley, St. Patrick, v. 1
(2 Soldier). See =lib.=
=glibbery,= slippery, smooth, soft. B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1
(Crispinus); Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, ii. 4 (Aneleutherus). A
Suffolk word, see EDD. (s.v. Glib, adj. 1 (4)), Du. _glibberig_,
slippery (Sewel).
=glidder,= to cover with a smooth glaze. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, iv. 1
(Wit). In use in Devon and Cornwall (EDD.).
=glimpse, glimse,= to shine faintly, to glimmer. Surrey, The Forsaken
Lover, 5, in Tottel’s Misc., p. 23; to appear faintly, Drayton, Barons’
Wars, bk. v, st. 45; to dawn; P. Fletcher, Purple Island, bk. xii, st.
46. Cp. the Devon expression for twilight, ‘The dimmet or glimpse of the
evening’ (EDD.).
=glint,= slippery; ‘The stones be full glint’, Skelton, Garl. of
Laurell, 572. Cp. Swed. dial. _glinta_, to slip on ice (Rietz).
=gloat, glote,= to look askance, to look furtively. Gascoigne, Complaint
of Philomene (ed. Arber, p. 96); Beaumont and Fl., Mad Lover, ii. 2
(Chilax); Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xii. 150. See NED.
=glode,= _pt. t._, glided. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 4. 23. ME. _glood_,
glided, went quickly (Chaucer, C. T. B. 2094); OE. _glād_, pt. t. of
_glīdan_.
=glomming,= ‘glumming’, sullenness. Udall, Roister Doister, i. 1 (end);
‘I glome, I loke under the browes or make a louryng countenance’,
Palsgrave.
=glooming,= gloomy, dark, dismal. Romeo, v. 3. 305.
=glore,= to glow, to shine; ‘The gloring light’, Return from Parnassus,
i. 1 (p. 8). Norw. dial. _glora_, to shine, to sparkle (Aasen); also
Swed. dial. (Rietz).
=glorious,= vainglorious, boastful. Bacon, Essay 34 (near end); Beaumont
and Fl., Thierry, ii. 1 (Thierry). L. _gloriosus_, vainglorious.
=glory,= to glorify, to honour, to adorn, Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 16;
‘The troop that gloried Venus at her wedding-day’, Greene and Lodge,
Looking Glasse, i. 1. 108.
=glote;= see =gloat.=
=gnarl,= to snarl. 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 192; to grumble, complain,
‘Gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite’, Richard II, i. 3. 292. Cp.
north Lincoln dialect, ‘She’s alust a gnarlin’ at me aboot sumthing’
(EDD.).
=gnarre,= to snarl, growl. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 34. In prov. use (EDD.).
_Gnarren_ is found in many Low German dialects, see Dähnert and the
Bremen Wtb. (EDD.).
=gnast,= to gnash the teeth. Morte Arthur, leaf 103, back, 16; bk. vi,
c. 15; ‘I gnaste with the tethe’, Palsgrave. ME. _gnastyn_, ‘fremo,
strideo’ (Prompt. EETS. 207, see note, no. 946).
=gnathonical,= resembling Gnatho, a parasite or sycophant in Terence.
Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 317 (Orgalio, p. 93, col. 1).
=gnoff, gnuff,= a churl, boor, lout; ‘The chubbyshe gnof’, Drant, tr. of
Horace, Sat. i. 1; _gnuffe_, Turbervile, A Mirror of the Fall of Pride,
st. 5. ME. _gnof_, a churl (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3188). Cp. Low G.
_gnuffig_, _knuffig_, rough, coarse, unmannerly (Koolman). So NED.
=go to pot;= see =pot.=
=goawle,= gullet; ‘Their throtes haue puffed goawles’ (riming with
_joawles_, jowls); Golding, Metam. vi. 377 (L. inflataque colla
tumescunt). Norm. F. _goule_ (F. _gueule_), L. _gula_, the gullet.
=gob,= a gobbet, piece, morsel. Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 79, l. 1. In
prov. use (EDD.).
=go bet,= go quickly, hurry up. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 332. _Go bet_,
lit. go better, i.e. go quicker; hence, used like the modern ‘look
sharp’ or ‘hurry up’. Prob. orig. a hunting cry, as in Chaucer, Leg.
Good Women, Dido, 288. Once common. ME. _bet_, better (Chaucer, Tr. and
Cr. iii. 714), OE. _bet_.
=go by, Jeronimo,= or =go by,= i.e. pass on, wait a little. A very
common quotation, used in ridicule, from Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy, iii. 12.
31. In the original used by Hieronimo, or Jeronimo, to himself. Finding
his application to the king improper at the moment, he says: ‘Hieronimo,
beware! _go by, go by_.’ See Tam. Shrew, Induction, i. 9.
=go less,= to stake less, in a card game. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii.
6; iv. 4; ‘We’ll have no going less’, Little French Lawyer, iii. 2 (La
Writ).
=God before,= God going before, with God’s assistance. Hen. V, i. 2.
370. See =God to fore.=
=god den,= good evening; _God you god den_, God (give) you good e’en,
Puritan Widow, iii. 4. 163; _God dig-you-den_, L. L. L. iv. 1. 42; _God
gi’ god-den_, Romeo, i. 2. 58; _god den_, Yorksh. Tragedy, ii. 120.
Still in use in Scotland and in many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Good-den).
=God to fore,= God going before, with God’s assistance. Kyd, Cornelia,
iii. 2. 69. ME. _God to-forn_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 1049). See =God
before.=
=god-phere,= a godfather. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iv. 2 (Clench). Cp.
the Devon ‘godfer’ (= godfather), see EDD. (s.v. Gatfer).
=gofe,= the quantity of corn or hay laid up in one bay or division of a
barn; a ‘goaf’, Tusser, Husbandry, § 56. 20; ‘Goulfe of corne, so moche
as may lye bytwene two postes, otherwyse a baye’, Palsgrave. In E.
Anglia _goaf_ (_gofe_, _goff_) is used for the bay of a barn, and for
the corn or hay laid up in the bay, see EDD. (s.v. Goaf, sb.^{1} 1 and
4). ME. _golf_ of corne, ‘archonium’ (Prompt. EETS. 195, see note, no.
893); Icel. _gōlf_, a floor, apartment, cp. Dan. _gulv_, a bay of a
barn. See =gove, gulfe.=
=goggle, gogle,= to roll one’s eyes; ‘He gogled his eyesight’,
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 459; to stare, Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 120.
=gold,= marigold; corn marigold; _golds_, pl., corn marigold,
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 20. 25; _gouldes_, id. § 20. 25; _gooldes_,
Spenser, Colin Clout, 341. ME. _golde_, marigold (Chaucer, C. T. A.
1929; _goolde_, ‘solsequium, elitropium’ (Prompt. EETS. see note, no.
892); _golde_, the sunflower (Gower, C. A. v. 6780). See Napier’s Old
English Glosses, 26. 36 (note). OE. _golde_, ‘solsequia’ (Voc. 301. 6).
=gold-end man,= a man who buys odds and ends of gold and silver. B.
Jonson, ii. 1 (Dol); Eastward Ho, v. 1 (Gertrude).
=goldfinch,= a piece of gold, piece of money. (Cant.) Middleton, Blurt,
Mr. Constable, iv. 1. 9. [Ainsworth, Rookwood, II, ii (EDD.).]
=gold-finder,= a jocular term for a cleanser of cesspools. Middleton,
Span. Gipsy, ii. 2 (Soto). Cp. _gold-digger_, a ‘jakesman’, and
_gold-dust_, ordure, Warwickshire words, see EDD. (s.v. Gold, 1 (1 and
2)).
=gold-weights,= small weights, for weighing small portions of gold.
Hence, _to the gold-weights_ (weighed even down to grains, even in small
particulars), B. Jonson, New Inn, ii. 2 (Tipto). See =caract.=
=golilla,= a kind of starched collar. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-master,
iv. 1 (Monsieur); see Stanford. Span. _golilla_, ‘a little Band worn in
Spain, starch’d stiff, and sticking out under the Chin like a Ruff’
(Stevens); _gola_, the gullet, L. _gula_.
=golls,= hands. (Cant.) Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, i. 6 (Uberto);
Woman-hater, v. 5 (2nd Lady); Tourneur, Revengers’ Tragedy, v. 1
(Vindici). Still in use in Essex (EDD.).
=golpol,= prob. for _gold-poll_ (cp. _goldilocks_); a term of endearment
for a child. Jacob and Esau, v. 10 (Esau).
=gomme,= a god-mother; ‘_Commere_ . . . a gomme’, Cotgrave; ‘A scornful
Gom’, Middleton, The Widow, i. 2 (Ricardo). ME. _gome_, ‘a godmoder’
(Cath. Angl. 161).
=gong,= ‘latrina’. Gascoigne, Grief of Joy, 2nd Song, st. 7; ‘Gonge, a
draught, _ortrait_’, Palsgrave; ‘Gonge, _forica_’, Levins, Manipulus.
ME. _gonge_ (Chaucer, C. T. I. 885); OE. _gong_ (_gang_), ‘secessus’
(Ælfric Gl.).
=good cheap,= cheap. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), (ed. Dyce, p. 42);
Ascham, Scholemaster, p. 125. ME. _good chep_(_e_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr.
iii. 641). Cp. F. _à bon marché_. See Dict. (s.v. Cheap).
=good fellow,= a thief. (Cant.) Massinger, Guardian, v. 4 (2 Bandit);
Middleton, A Trick to catch, ii. 1 (Lucre, Host).
=good year=(=s,= used as a meaningless expletive in the exclamation,
‘What the good-yere’ (good-year). Merry Wives, i. 4. 129; Much Ado, i.
3. 1; 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 64 and 191. Cp. the Northampton expression,
‘What the goodgers be that?’, and the Devon sentence, ‘Our vokes wonder
what the goodgers a come o’ me’, see EDD. Low G. (Pomeranian dialect)
‘_Wat to ’m goden Jaar?_, sagt man, wenn man sich über schlechte
Handlungen wundert’ (Dähnert).
=goom,= a man. Grimald, Prayse of measurekepyng, 17, in Tottel’s Misc.,
p. 109. ME. _gome_, a man (Wars Alex., see Glossarial Index); OE.
_guma_.
=gords;= see =gourdes.=
=gorebelly,= a fat paunch; a man having a fat paunch. North, tr. of
Plutarch, Coriolanus, § 7 (in Shak. Plut., p. 11, n. 4); hence
_gorbellied_, fat, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 93.
=gorreau,= the yoke of draught animals. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 246.
1. OF. _goherel_, _gorel_, _gorreau_, a yoke (Godefroy); _gorriau_,
‘collier de cheval’ (Didot); see Ducange (s.v. Gorgia, 2).
=Gospel-tree.= ‘The boundaries of the township of Wolverhampton are in
many points marked out by what are called Gospel-trees, from the custom
of having the Gospel read under or near them by the clergyman attending
the parochial perambulations’, Shaw, Staffordsh., II, i. 165; ‘Dearest
bury me Under that Holy oke or Gospel-tree’, Herrick, Hesperides, To
Anthea. See Brand’s Pop. Antiq. (ed. 1877, p. 109).
=gossampine,= a cotton-like substance, made from the _Bombax
pentandrum_. Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 1 (1377); p. 135, col. 1;
Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xii, ch. 11. L. _gossympinus_, a cotton-tree
(Pliny).
=gossander,= the ‘goosander’, _Mergus merganser_. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 65.
With the suffix _-ander_ cp. _bergander_, an old name for the sheldrake,
and the ON. _önd_, pl. _ander_, a duck (NED.).
=gossip,= a godparent. Two Gent. iii. 1. 269; Wint. Tale, ii. 3. 41. In
prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). See Dict.
=gouland, gowland,= a yellow flower; a name given to various kinds of
_Ranunculus_, _Caltha_, and _Trollius_. B. Jonson, Pan’s Anniversary
(Shepherd, 1. 6). ‘As yalla as a gollan’ is a common Northumberland
expression; see EDD. (s.v. Gowlan(d).
=gourdes,= false dice, for gaming; ‘What false dise vse they? as dise
. . . of a vauntage, flattes, gourdes to chop and change whan they
lyste’, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 54); spelt _gords_, Beaumont and
Fl., Scornful Lady, iv. 1 (E. Loveless). OF. _gourd_, ‘fourberie’
(Godefroy).
=gove,= to ‘goave’; to lay up corn in a ‘goaf’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 57.
10, 23. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Goave). ME. _golvyn_,
‘arconiso’ (Prompt. EETS. 207). Cp. Dan. _gulve_, to stack in the bay of
a barn. See =gofe.=
=gow,= for _go we_, let us go; ‘Gow, wife, gow’, Three Lords and Three
Ladies, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 440; _gaw_, let’s be gone, Triumphs of
Love and Fortune, in the same, vi. 183. ‘Gow’ (‘let us go’) is still
common in the Lakeland, and in E. Anglia as an invitation to accompany
the speaker, see EDD. (s.v. Go, 2 (b)). ME. _gowe_ (P. Plowman, B, Prol.
226).
=gowked,= stupefied. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iii. 4 (Keep). Cp.
‘gowk’, the north-country word for the cuckoo; applied _fig._ to a fool,
simpleton, a clumsy, awkward fellow (EDD.). ME. _goke_, ‘cuculus’ (Cath.
Angl.), Icel. _gaukr_, cp. G. _gauch_.
=gowles,= ‘gules’, red. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 286. 17. OF. _goules_
(F. _gueules_). See Dict. (s.v. Gules).
=gowndy,= (of the eyes) full of sore matter. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 34;
_gunny_, Meriton, Praise Ale, 263; Skinner, Etym. ME. _gownde_ off þe
eye, ‘albugo’ (Prompt. EETS. 197, see note, no. 905). OE. _gund_, matter
of a sore.
=gownest,= for _gownist_, one who is entitled to wear a gown, a lawyer.
Warner, Albion’s England, bk. v, ch. 27, st. 53.
=grabble,= to grope after, to grapple with, to handle roughly. Dryden,
Prol. to Disappointment, 60; ‘He . . . keeps a-grabling and a-fumbling’
(i.e. feeling with his hands), Selden, Table-talk (ed. Arber, 99). In
prov. use in many parts of England (EDD.). Du. _grabbelen_, to scramble,
or to catch that catch may (Hexham).
=Gracious Street,= Gracechurch Street. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii.
4 (Hodge); Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 1 (Y. Chartley); Fair Maid
of the Exchange, i. 1 (Shaks. Soc. 29). Originally _Grass Church_,
‘Higher in Grasse Street is the Parish Church of St. Bennet, called
Grasse Church, of the herb market there kept’, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms,
80).
=grail, grayle,= the ‘gradual’, an antiphon sung between the Epistle and
Gospel; when the deacon was ascending the step of the ambo or
reading-desk; ‘He shall syng the grayle’, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 441.
ME. _grayle_, ‘gradale’ (Prompt.). OF. _graël_, Eccles. L. _gradale_,
_graduale_. See Dict. Christ. Antiq. (s.v. Gradual).
=grain,= the dye made from the Scarlet Grain (Kermes); ‘The Scarlet
grain which commeth of the Ilex’, Holland, Pliny, i. 461; _to dye in
grain_, to dye in scarlet grain, also, in any fast or permanent colour,
hence, _in grain_, in permanent colour, Com. Errors, iii. 2. 108;
Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 255; _grain_, permanent colour, ‘All in a robe of
darkest grain’, Milton, Il Pens. 33. F. _graine_, ‘grain wherewith cloth
is died in grain’ (Cotgr.). Med. L. _grana_, ‘bacca cujusdam arboris’
(Ducange).
=grained,= ingrained, dyed in ‘grain’, Hamlet, iii. 4. 90.
=grain,= a bough or branch. Bp. Hall, Sat. Defiance to Envie, 5;
_grains_, the prongs of a forked stick, fork, or fish-spear, ‘With three
graines like an ele speare’, Holland, Suetonius, 147; the lower limbs,
Drayton, Pol. i. 495. ‘Grain’ is in gen. prov. use in various parts of
England and Scotland in many senses, esp. a branch or bough of a tree,
and the prong or tine of a fork, see EDD. (s.v. Grain, sb.^{1} 1 and 5).
Icel. _grein_, a branch of a tree, an arm of the sea.
=grained staff,= a staff forked at the top, Fitzherbert,
Husbandry, § 41. 9.
=graithe,= to prepare, array. Morte Arthur, leaf 86. 34; bk. v, c. 7. In
common prov. use in Scotland and in the north of England (EDD.). ME.
_graythe_, to prepare, get ready (Wars Alex., see Gloss. Index). Icel.
_greiða_.
=grammates,= rudiments, first principles. Ford, Broken Heart, i. 3
(Orgilus). Gk. γράμματα, the letters of the alphabet.
=grandguard,= a piece of plate armour, covering the breast and left
shoulder, affixed to the breastplate by screws, and hooked on to the
helmet. Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 6. 72.
=graner,= a ‘garner’, granary. Drayton, Pol. iii. 258.
=grange,= a country-house; a lonely dwelling. Meas. iii. 1. 279;
Heywood, Eng. Traveller, iii. 1 (Delavil). In various parts of England
the term ‘grange’ is used for a small mansion or farm-house, esp. one
standing by itself remote from other dwellings (EDD.). See Dict.
†=gratuling,= congratulating; ‘His gratuling speech’, Fletcher, Beggar’s
Bush, ii. 1 (Prigg). Only in this passage. OF. _gratuler_, L.
_gratulari_, to congratulate.
=Grave,= a Count; a title. Used of Prince Maurice of Nassau; Fletcher,
Love’s Cure, i. 2 (Bobadilla); Ford, Lady’s Trial, iv. 2. Du. _Grave_,
an Earle or a Count (Hexham); cp. G. _Graf_.
†=graved.= ‘O, that these gravèd hairs of mine were covered in the
clay!’, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 143. Perhaps a
misprint for _grayed_, become grey; see =graye.=
=gravelled,= stranded; hence, brought to a stand, perplexed. As You Like
It, iv. 1. 74; North, tr. of Plutarch, Antonius, § 14 (in Shak. Plut.,
p. 177, n. 1).
=gray,= a badger; _grice of a gray_, lit. pig of a badger, cub of a
badger. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 1 (Lorel). Formerly in prov. use in
the north country, and in Wilts., Devon, and Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v.
Grey, sb.^{1} 6). ME. _grey_, ‘taxus’ (Prompt. 209, see Way’s note).
=graye,= to become grey; ‘In learning Socrates lives, grayes and dyes’
(Sylvester); see NED. (s.v. Grey, vb.).
=grease;= see =greece.=
=greave,= a thicket. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 42; vi. 2. 43; Drayton,
Pol. xiii. 116; ‘Greave or busshe, _boscaige_’, Palsgrave. ‘Greave’
occurs in local names near Sheffield, and appears as a Lancashire word
in EDD. ME. _greve_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1507), OE. _grǣfa_, a bush
(Chron. 852).
=grece,= a flight of stairs or steps; ‘The greece of the quire’, Bacon,
Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, 162); _greese_, a single step or stair in a flight,
Latimer, 2nd Serm. bef. Edw. VI (ed. Arber, 67); _greise_, Two Noble
Kinsmen, ii. 1. 34; greese (grice), Twelfth Nt. iii. 1. 138; Timon, iv.
3. 16; Othello, i. 3. 200; ‘_Eschelette_, a small step or greece’,
Cotgrave. See EDD. (s.v. Grees). ME. _grees_, steps, stairs (Wyclif,
Acts xxi. 35). OF. _grés_, pl. of _gré_, ‘marche d’un escalier’ (La
Curne), L. _gradus_, a step. See =gressinges.=
=gredaline;= see =gridelin.=
=gree,= a step or degree in honour or rank. Spenser, Shep. Kal., July,
215; Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 175 (Orlando). _To win the gree_, to win
the highest degree, superiority, mastery, victory, Morte Arthur, bk. x,
ch. 21. See EDD. (s.v. Gree, sb.^{1}). ME. _gree_ (Rom. Rose, 2116), OF.
_gré_, ‘degré, rang’ (La Curne).
=gree,= favour, goodwill. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 5; _in gree_, with
goodwill or favour, kindly, in good part: _to take in gree_, F. Q. v. 6.
21; _to receive in gree_, Gascoigne, Jocasta, iii. 1 (Manto). Cp. F. _en
gré_, in good part (Cotgr., s.v. Gré), L. _gratum_, a pleasant thing.
=gree,= short for _agree_. Greene, Friar Bungay, ii. 3 (744), scene 6.
130 (W.); p. 162, col. 1 (D.); Daniel, Philotas, p. 195 (Nares); Sh.
Sonn. cxiv.
=greece, herte of,= a hart of grease, a good fat hart, in prime
condition. Morte Arthur, leaf 283, back, 22; bk. x, c. 86. See =hart of
grease.=
=green,= youthful, of tender age; ‘Green virginity’, Timon, iv. 1. 7;
raw, inexperienced, simple, ‘A green girl’, Hamlet, i. 3. 101; ‘green
minds’, Othello, ii. 1. 250; silly, ‘green songs’, Two Noble Kinsmen,
iv. 3. 61.
=green gown;= to give a lass a green gown, to throw her down upon the
grass, so that the gown was stained. Greene, George-a-Greene, ii. 3
(Jenkin); Middleton, Fair Quarrel, ii. 2 (Chough).
=green lion,= a stage in the process of transmutation of metals. B.
Jonson, ii. 1 (Face).
=Greensleeves, Lady Greensleeves,= the names of a once well-known ballad
and tune. Merry Wives, ii. 1. 64; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iii. 4
(Petruchio). See Roxburgh Ballads, vi. 398.
=greete,= to weep, cry, lament, grieve, Spenser, Sheph. Kal., April, 1;
weeping and complaint, ib., August. In common prov. use in Scotland,
Ireland, and north of England including Derbyshire, see EDD. (s.v.
Greet, vb.^{1}). ME. _greten_, to weep (Wars Alex. 4370). OE. _grǣtan_
(Anglian, _grētan_), to weep.
=grement,= ‘agreement’. Mirror for Mag., Cade, st. 1.
=gresco,= an old game at cards. Eastward Ho, iv. 1 [_or_ 2]
(Touchstone); see Nares; ‘Hazard or Gresco’ (Florio, s.v. Massáre).
=gresle,= slender. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 270, back, 27. OF. _gresle_
(F. _grêle_); L. _gracilis_, slender.
=gressinges,= steps, stairs; ‘There is another way to go doune, by
gressinges’, Latimer, 6 Sermon before King (ed. Arber, p. 170). Cp. EDD.
(s.v. Grissens). See =grece.=
=grewnde,= a greyhound. Golding, Metam. i. 533; fol. 9, back (1603);
Harington, Ariosto, xxiv. 52; _grewhound_, Bellenden, Boece, I. xxxi
(NED.). ME. _gre-hownde_ (Prompt. Harl. MS.). Icel. _greyhundr_, also,
_grey_, a greyhound. See NED. (s.v. Greund).
=grice,= a pig, esp. a young pig; ‘_Marcassin_, a young wild boar . . .
or grice’, Cotgrave; ‘Bring the Head of the Sow to the Tail of the
Grice’ (i.e. balance your Loss with your Gain), Kelly, Scot. Prov. 62.
Also, the young of a badger, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 1 (Lorel) (see
=gray=). Still in use in Scotland and the north of England (EDD.). ME.
_gryse_, pygge, ‘porcellus’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 916). Icel.
_grīss_, a young pig; so Norw. dial. _gris_ (Aasen).
=grice;= see =grece.=
=gride,= for _grided_, pp. of _gride_, to pierce. Drayton, Pol. xxii.
1491.
=gridelin,= of a pale purple or violet colour; Dryden seems to say it
was a colour between white and green. Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 343.
Spelt _gredaline_, The Parson’s Wedding, ii. 3 (Wanton). F. _gridelin_,
for _gris de lin_ (i.e. of the grey colour of flax), see Hatzfeld.
=grill, gryll,= fierce. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 6. ME. _gril_, fierce
(Cursor M. 719); Low G. _grel_(_l_, angry (Koolman).
†=grindle-tail,= a kind of dog. Only in Fletcher, Island Princess, v. 3
(2 Townsman). Perhaps a misprint for _trindle-tail_ (_trundle-tail_).
See NED.
=gripe,= a griffin; ‘Grypes make their nests of gold’, Lyly, Galathea,
ii. 3; a vulture, Lucrece, 543. OF. _grip_, griffin. See =gryphon.=
=gripe’s egg,= a large egg supposed to be that of a ‘gripe’, hence, an
oval-shaped cup. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle). Cp. ME. _gripes
ey_ (Gower, C. A. i. 2545).
=gripple,= greedy, grasping. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 31; vi. 4. 6; Drayton,
Pol. i. 106; xiii. 22. A Yorkshire word (EDD.). OE. _gripel_.
=gris-amber,= ambergris or grey amber. Milton, P. R. ii. 344. See Dict.
(s.v. Amber).
=grisping,= twilight; either morning or evening. Lyly, Euphues (ed.
Arber, 233). Cp. the phr. _in the gropsing of the evening_, in the dusk,
Records Quarter Sessions (ann. 1606); see EDD.
=grissel, gristle,= a tender or delicate person; ‘She is but a gristle’,
Udall, Roister Doister, i 4. 24; ‘I love no grissels’, Lyly, Endimion,
v. 2 (Sir Tophas). See NED. (s.v. Gristle, 3).
=groin,= the snout; hence, a contemptuous term for the face. Golding,
Metam. xiv. 292 (fol. 170); Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, x. 34. ME. _groyn_, a
pig’s snout (Chaucer, C. T. I. 158). O. Prov. _gronh_, ‘groin, museau’
(Levy). See =Groyne.=
=groin,= to growl; ‘Beares that groynd’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 27;
_groyning_, murmuring, Turnbull, Expos. James, 202 (NED). ME. _groynen_,
to murmur (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2460). OF. _grogner_, to grunt, L.
_grunnire_.
=groom-porter,= an officer of the royal household (till the time of
George III); he was privileged to provide gaming-tables, cards, and
dice. B. Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2 (Face); Dryden, Prol. to Don
Sebastian, l. 24.
=grought,= growth, increase. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, x. 101; xxiii.
289.
=ground,= the plain-song or melody on which a descant is raised; also,
the ground-bass. Richard III, iii. 7. 49; Edw. III, ii. 1. 122; ‘The
tenor-part, the treble, and the ground’, B. Jonson, Love’s Welcome at
Welbeck, 2 Chorus.
=grout,= coarse porridge, made with whole meal. Warner, Albion’s
England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 28. Icel. _grautr_, porridge.
=grout-head, growthead,= a blockhead, thickhead. Tusser, Husbandry (ed.
1878, 115); ‘Those Turbanto grout-heads’, Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 39; ‘_Il
a une grosse teste_, he is a verie blockhead, grouthead, joulthead’,
Cotgrave; Urquhart’s Rabelais, I, xxv (Davies). ‘Grout-headed’
(thick-headed) is known in Sussex (EDD.).
=groutnoll,= a blockhead, thickhead, Beaumont and Fl., Knt. Burning
Pestle, ii. 3 (Wife).
=growt,= great. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 1 (Sancho’s song). Du.
_groot_, great.
=groyle,= to move, move forward; ‘He groyleth’ (L. _graditur_),
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 678. Hence, _groyl_, one who is ever on
the move, id., iv 179. F. _grouiller_, ‘to move, stir’ (Cotgr.).
=Groyne, the,= name given by sailors to Corunna, the sea-port in Spain.
De Foe, Rob. Crusoe, I. xix. The name appears in the 14th cent.,
‘Vocatur _Le Groyne_; est in mare ut rostrum porci’, Pol. Poems (Rolls
Ser. i. 112). See =groin.=
=grubble,= to grope, feel; ‘Now, let me roll and grubble thee’ (spoken
of a lot which he has taken in his hand, before drawing it out), Dryden,
Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Antonio).
=grudgins,= coarse meal; ‘_Annone_, meslin or grudgins, the corne
whereof browne bread is made for the meynie’, Cotgrave; Fletcher and
Rowley, Maid of Mill, iii. 3. 17. Formerly in prov. use in the Midlands
(EDD.). Cp. F. _grugeons_, lumps of crystalline sugar in brown sugar; in
Cotgrave ‘the smallest fruit on a tree’. See =gurgeons.=
=grum,= surly, cross, ‘glum’. Etherege, Man of Mode, ii. 1 (Old
Bellair); Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. 1 (Novel). In prov. use in many
parts of England, also in America (Franklin’s Autobiography, 51), see
Century Dict. and EDD. Norw. dial. _grum_, proud, haughty (Aasen), Dan.
_grum_, fierce, angry.
†=grumbledory,= a grumbler, B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4
(Carlo).
=grunter,= a pig. Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song). In common prov. use
in the north country (EDD.).
=grunting-cheat,= a pig; lit. ‘a thing that grunts’; from _cheat_, a
cant word used in the general sense of ‘thing’. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush,
v. 1 (Ferret); Harman, Caveat, p. 83; also _gruntling-cheat_, Middleton,
Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor). See =cheat.=
=grutch,= to ‘grudge’, repine, murmur. Udall, Paraph. Erasmus, fo.
cccxlv; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 34; ‘I grutche, I repyne agaynst a thyng,
_Je grommelle_’, Palsgrave. A Lancashire and E. Anglian word (EDD.). ME.
_grucche_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3863). OF. (Picard) _groucher_ (OF.
_grocer_), ‘murmurer’ (La Curne). See Moisy (s.v. Groucher).
=gryphon,= a fabulous monster, a kind of lion with an eagle’s head; a
griffin. Milton, P. L. ii. 943; spelt _gryfon_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 8.
F. ‘_griffon_, a gripe or griffon’ (Cotgr.).
=G-sol-re-ut,= in old music, the octave of the lower G or lowest note in
the old scale. It was denoted by the letter G, and sung to the syllable
_sol_ when it occurred in the second hexachord, which began with C; to
the syllable _re_ in the third hexachord, which began with F; and to the
syllable _ut_ when it began the fourth hexachord. Peacham, Comp.
Gentleman, c. 11, p. 104.
=guard,= an ornamental border or trimming on a garment. Much Ado, i. 1.
289. ‘The orig. meaning may have been that of a binding to keep the edge
of the cloth from fraying’, NED.
=guarish,= to cure, heal. Spenser. F. Q. iii. 5. 41; iv. 3. 29. OF.
_guarir_, _garir_ (Gower, Mirour, 2278). O. Prov. _garir_, ‘guérir,
préserver, sauver’ (Levy).
=gubbe,= a lump, quantity; ‘Some good gubbe of money’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Socrates, § 31; _gubs_, pl., ‘gubs of blood’, Phaer, tr. of
Aeneid, iii. 632 (Lat. _saniem_).
=gudgeon,= a small fish, often used as bait for a larger one; phr. _to
swallow_ _a gudgeon_, to be caught, to be befooled, alluded to in
Chapman, Mons. d’Olive, iv (Mugeron). See EDD.
=gue,= a rogue; also, a term of endearment. Given by Nares and NED. as
used by Richard Brathwaite in his _Honest Ghost_, in two passages,
first, of a sharper who had taken a purse, secondly, as a term of
familiar endearment, ‘I was her ingle, gue, her sparrow bill’, p. 139.
The word occurs in some copies of Webster, White Devil: ‘Pretious gue’,
iii. 3. 99 (Lodovico); ed. Dyce, p. 26. Nares supposes it to be the same
word as F. _gueux_, a beggar, a rogue, which conjecture NED. accepts.
=guerie, guierie,= sudden passion; ‘Euery sodain guerie or pangue’,
Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, § 6; ‘This pangue or guierie of loue’,
id., Diogenes, § 112. Only occurs in Udall. See =gere= (2) and =gery.=
=guerison,= cure, healing. Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 453, l. 13; i.
466. F. _guérison_; OF. _guarison_, _garison_ (Bartsch), Anglo-F.
_gariscun_ (Gower, Mirour, 420). See =guarish.=
=guess;= see =gesse.=
=guidon,= a flag or pennant, broad near the staff and forked or pointed
at the other end. Drayton, Pol. xviii. 251; Barons’ Wars, bk. ii, st.
24. F. _guidon_, ‘a standard, ensign, or banner under which a troop of
men at arms do serve; also he that bears it’ (Cotgr.); _guydon_
(Rabelais). O. Prov. _guidon_, _guizon_, étendard (Levy); Ital.
‘_guidóne_, a guidon, a banner or cornet’ (Florio).
=guie, guy,= to guide, lead; also _gye_, Palsgrave; ‘He guies’, Fairfax,
tr. of Tasso, i. 49; _guide_ (for _guyed_), pt. t., id., i. 63. ME.
_gye_, to guide (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1950); Anglo-F. _guïer_ (Ch. Rol.).
=guisarme,= a kind of battle-axe or halberd. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf
202, back, 23, 29. Norm. F. _guisarme_, ‘sorte d’arme, hache ou
demi-pique’ (Didot). See NED. (s.v. Gisarme).
=guitonen,= a lazy beggar. Middleton, Game at Chess, i. 1 (B. Knight).
Span. _guiton_, ‘a lazy Beggar, that goes about in the Habit of a
Pilgrim, only to live idle’ (Stevens).
=guives,= fetters, ‘gyves’. Lord Cromwell, ii. 2. 3. Anglo-F. _guives_,
_gyves_ (French Chron., London, ed. Camden, 89).
=gulch,= to swallow or devour greedily; ‘_Ingorgare_, to engurgle, . . .
to gulch’ (Florio); _gulch_, a glutton or drunkard, B. Jonson,
Poetaster, iii. 4; Brewer, Lingua, v. 16; ‘Engorgeur, a glutton, gulch’,
Cotgrave. The verb ‘to gulch’ is in prov. use in various parts of
England from Yorkshire to Cornwall (EDD.). ME. _gulchen_ (Ancren Riwle,
240).
=gule,= to redden, to dye red. Heywood, Iron Age, Pt. II, vol. iii, p.
357. See Dict. (s.v. Gules).
=gulfe,= a ‘goaf’, a quantity of hay or corn laid up in a barn. Golding,
Metam. vi. 456 (ed. 1603, fol. 73); ‘Goulfe of corne, so moche as may
lye bytwene two postes, otherwise a baye’, Palsgrave. See =gofe.=
=gull,= to swallow, guzzle; ‘I gulle in drinke, as great drinkers do,
_je engoule_’, Palsgrave; Middleton, Game at Chess, iv. 2. 19; Chapman,
tr. of Iliad, xxi. 132. Du. _gullen_, ‘to swallow or devoure’ (Hexham).
=gull,= a breach made by the force of a torrent, a fissure, chasm.
Golding, Metam. ix. 106; to sweep away by force of running water, ‘And
hilles by force of gulling oft have into sea been worne’, id., xv. 267.
An E. Anglian word (EDD.).
=gummed;= see =fret.=
=gundolet,= for _gondolet_, a small gondola. Marston, Antonio, Pt. I,
iii. 2 (Piero). It occurs twice in this scene.
=gunny;= see =gowndy.=
=gun-hole groat,= some kind of groat or coin, that seems to have been
prized. The meaning of the epithet is unknown. ‘For gunne-hole grotes
the countrie clowne doth care’, Mirror for Mag., Carassus, st. 27;
Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 66.
=gunstone,= a stone used for the shot of a cannon or gun. Tusser,
Husbandry, § 10. 19; Hen. V, i. 2. 282; B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 5. 2.
=gup, guep,= an exclamation of impatience; get along!; ‘Gup! morell,
gup!’, Skelton (ed. Dyce, i. 24). See =marry gip.=
=gurgeons,= coarse refuse from flour; ‘The bran usuallie called gurgeons
or pollard’, Harrison, Descr. England, ii. 6 (ed. Furnivall, 154);
‘Gurgions of meal, _cibarium secundarium_’, Coles, Dict., 1679. In prov.
use in the S. Midlands and south-west counties (EDD.). See =grudgins.=
=gutter,= of a stag’s horn; see =antlier.=
=Guttide,= Shrovetide, also, Shrove Tuesday. Middleton, Family of Love,
iv. 1 (Mis. P.). ‘Guttit’ is in common prov. use in Cheshire for
Shrovetide; _goodit_ in Staffordshire. Orig. _good tide_, see EDD. (s.v.
Gooddit).
=guzzle,= a gutter, drain; ‘a narow ditch’, Marston, Scourge of
Villainy, Sat. vii. 39; ‘A filthy stinking guzzle or ditch’, Whately,
Bride Bush, 114 (Cent. Dict.). In prov. use in the Midlands, also in
Sussex and Wilts., see EDD. (s.v. Guzzle, sb.^{1} 1).
=gymnosophist,= one of a sect of Hindu philosophers of ascetic habits.
B. Jonson, Fortunate Isles (Merefool); Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 5
(Borachia); Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 196. Gk. Γυμνοσοφισταί, the naked
philosophers of India (Aristotle).
H
=ha and ree,= words of command to a horse to direct it. Heywood, 1 Edw.
IV (Hobs) (vol. i. 44); _hey and ree_, Micro-Cynicon, Halliwell (s.v.
Ree). In prov. use, ree is an exclamation made by the carter to bid the
leading horse of a team to turn or bear to the right, see EDD. (s.v.
Rec, int., also, Hay-ree). In the north country the carters use the
phrase _neither heck nor ree_, neither left nor right: ‘He’ll neither
heck nor ree’, i.e. he’ll not obey the word of command, he’s quite
unmanageable, see EDD. (s.v. Heck, int.). See =hay-ree= and =hayte and
ree,= also =gee and ree.=
=hab,= to have; _nab_, not to have; hence, phr. _by habs and by nabs_,
at random; Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iii. 2 (Soto). In Somerset and Devon
_hab or nab_, by hook or by crook: ‘I’ll ab’m—hab or nab’, I’ll have
them anyhow (EDD.). See =hab-nab.=
=haberdash,= small wares. Spelt _haburdashe_, Skelton, Magnyfycence,
1295. ‘Ther haberdashe, Ther pylde pedlarye’, Papist. Exhort. (Nares).
Still in use in Aberdeen (EDD.). Anglo-F. _hapertas_, the name of a
fabric (Rough List). See Dict. (s.v. Haberdasher).
=habiliment,= outfit, accoutrement, attire. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 30;
Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1 (Rosalura). See =abiliments.=
=habilitate,= legally qualified. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 15).
Med. Lat. _habilitare_, ‘idoneum, habilem reddere; informare,
instituere’ (Ducange).
=habilitation,= endowment with ability or fitness; qualification,
training. Bacon, Essay 29, § 8.
=habilitie,= ability. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 2.
=hable, habile,= ‘able’. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 19. See Dict. (s.v.
Able).
=hab-nab,= have or not have, hit or miss; a phrase signifying the taking
one’s chance; ‘Hab-nab’s good’, I take my chance, Ford, Lady’s Trial,
ii. 1 (Fulgoso); at random, Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 990. See EDD. (s.v.
Hab, adv., 1). See =hab.=
=hache,= axe, hatchet. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 18, § 2. F.
_hache_, an axe, O. Prov. _apcha_ (Levy); of Germ. origin, cp. OHG.
_heppa_ (for *_happi̯a_), a sickle; see Schade (s.v. Happâ).
=hackle,= to hack about, to mangle. _Hackled_, pp.; North, tr. of
Plutarch, J. Caesar, § 44 (in Shak. Plut., p. 101, n. 1).
=hackster, haxter,= a hacker, one who hacks; hence, a cut-throat, bravo,
bully. Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, iii (Monsieur); Hall, Satires, iv. 4.
60; _haxter_, Lady Alimony, i. 2 (Messenger).
=hacqueton;= see =haqueton.=
=had I wist,= if I had but known. A common exclamation of one who
repents too late. Spenser, Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 893; London Prodigal,
iii. 1. 49; Two Angry Women, iv. 3 (Nicholas). ME. _hadde I wist_: ‘Upon
his fortune and his grace Comth “Hadde I wist” ful ofte a place’, Gower
(C. A. i. 1888).
=hade,= a strip of land left unploughed as a boundary line and means of
access between two ploughed portions of a field. Fitzherbert, Husbandry,
§ 6; Drayton, Pol. xiii. 222 and 400. In Corpus Coll., Oxford, there is
a Map (date 1615) in which there is a description of certain arable
lands having ‘hades’ of meadow and grass ground lying in the south field
of Eynsham. See EDD. (s.v. Hade, sb.^{1}).
=hæmeræ,= for =hemeræ,= pl., ephemera, ephemeral flies, day-flies.
Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 3 (1482); scene 10. 124 (W.); p. 171, col. 2
(D.). For _ephemera_, Med. L. _ephemera_, Gk. ἐφήμερα, neut. pl. of
ἐφήμερος, lasting or living but a day.
=hæmony.= Name given by Milton to an imaginary plant having supernatural
virtues. Milton, Comus, 638. Gk. αἱμώνιος, blood-red (probably with a
theological allusion).
=haft,= to use shifts, haggle. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1698; to cheat,
id., Bowge of Courte, 521; hence _hafter_, a cheat, thief; id., Bowge of
Courte, 138. Cp. Yorkshire word ‘heft’ in the sense of deceit,
dissimulation, see EDD. (s.v. Heft, sb.^{3}).
=hafter,= a wrangler; ‘_Vitilitigator_, an hafter, a wrangler, a
quarreller’, Gouldman, Dict., 1678; so Baret, 1580.
=hag,= to trouble as the nightmare. Drayton, Heroic Ep. (Wks. ed. 1748,
p. 108); spelt _haggue_, to vex, worry. Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, §
95.
=haggard,= a wild female hawk, caught when in her adult plumage. Much
Ado, iii. 1. 36; wild, intractable, inexperienced, B. Jonson, Magn.
Lady, iii. 3 (Compass); Othello, iii. 3. 260; ‘I teach my haggard and
unreclaimed Reason to stoop unto the lure of Faith’, Sir T. Browne, Rel.
Med. (ed. Greenhill, 19). F. _hagard_, ‘hagard, wild, unsociable’
(Cotgr.).
=hailse,= to salute, greet; ‘I haylse or greete’, Palsgrave; ‘Wee hadde
haylsed eche other’, Robinson, tr. of Utopia (ed. Arber, p. 30). Icel.
_heilsa_, to salute.
=haine, hayne,= a miser, a penurious person, a mean wretch. Skelton,
Bowge of Courte, 327; Udall, tr. Apoph., Aristippus, § 22, Diogenes, §
106; Levins, Manipulus, 200; hence, _haynyarde_, a mean wretch, Skelton,
Magnyfycence, 1748. ME. _heyne_, a wretch (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1319).
=hair:= in phr. _against the hair_, against the grain, contrary to
nature. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 1 (end); Mayor of
Queenborough, iii. 2 (1 Lady); Merry Wives, ii. 3. 42.
=hala;= see =heloe.=
=hale, hall,= a place roofed over, a pavilion, tent, booth; ‘Hall, a
long tent in a felde, _tente_’, Palsgrave; ‘He would set up his hals and
tentes’, North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 5 (in Shak. Plut., p.
161, n. 8). ME. _hale_, ‘papilio’ (Prompt. EETS. 211, see note, no.
961). OF. _hale_ (F. _halle_), a covered market-place.
=hale and ho,= pull and cry ho!, a cry of sailors at work. Morte Arthur,
leaf 118, back, 13; bk. vii, c. 15. ME. _halyn_ or drawyn, ‘traho’
(Prompt. EETS. 230).
=half-acre,= a small piece of ground, without reference to the exact
size of the field; ‘Tom Tankard’s cow . . . flinging about his
halfe-aker’, Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 2 (see note on P. Plowman, C.
ix. 2, p. 156). At Yarnton, near Oxford, a ‘half-acre’, pronounced
_habaker_, is a term employed for half a lot of an allotment, see EDD.
(s.v. Half, 6 (1)).
=halfendeale,= half, half-part. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 53. A Somerset
word (EDD.). ME. _halvendel_, the half part of a thing (Chaucer, Tr. and
Cr. v. 335). OE. _healfan dǣl_, the half ‘deal’ or part.
=half-pace;= see =halpace.=
=halidom:= orig. the holy relics upon which oaths were sworn; the
ancient formula being ‘as helpe me God and halidome’; altered later to
‘by my halidome’, which was subsequently used by itself as a weak
asseveration. Taming Shrew, v. 2. 100; Hen. VIII, v. 1. 117. In old
edds. of Shaks. we find _holydam_(_e_ due to association with _dame_,
the phrase being popularly taken as equivalent to ‘By our Lady’; see
NED. OE. _hāligdōm_, holiness, a holy place, a holy relic.
=Hallowmas,= the feast of All Hallows, or All Saints, Nov. 1. Spelt
_Hallomas_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 23. 1 (_Hallontide_, id., § 21. 1);
Meas. for Meas. ii. 1. 128; Richard II, v. 1. 80. In prov. use in
Scotland; also in Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Hallow (7)).
=halpace,= a high step or raised floor. Hall, Chron. (ed. 1809, p. 606);
‘On the altar an halpas . . . and on the halpas stood twelve images’,
Holinshed, Chron. iii. 857; also, through popular etymology _half-pace_,
the uppermost step before the choir of a church, Bacon, Henry VII (ed.
Lumby, 98). F. (16th cent.) _hault pas_ (_haut pas_), high step.
=halse, haulse,= to embrace. Pt. t. _haulst_, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 49;
‘I halse one, I take hym aboute the necke, _je accolle_’, Palsgrave. See
EDD. (s.v. Halse, vb. 9). ME. _halsyn_, ‘amplector’ (Prompt.), deriv. of
_hals_, the neck, OE. _heals_ (_hals_). See =hause.=
=haltersack,= a gallows-bird, rascal. Beaumont and Fl., King and No
King, ii. 2 (1 Cit. Wife); Knt. of B. Pestle, i. 3 (Citizen). Gascoigne,
Supposes, iii. 1 (Dalio). See Nares.
=hame,= a haulm, stalk; straw. Golding, Metam. i. 492; fol. 9 (1603);
also _hawme_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 57. 15. In gen. prov. use in numerous
forms, see EDD. (s.v. Haulm). ME. _halme_, or stobyl, ‘stipula’ (Prompt.
EETS. 212). OE. _healm_ (Anglian _halm_).
=hamper up,= to fasten up, make fast. Greene, Friar Bacon, ii. 3 (750);
scene 6. 136 (W.); p. 162, col. 2 (D.).
=han,= _pres. pl._ have. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 168. This plural form
is still in prov. use from Yorkshire to Shropshire, see EDD. (s.v.
Have). ME. _han_: ‘Thei han Moyses and the prophetis’ (Wyclif, Luke xvi.
29); _hafen_ (Lamb. Hom. 59). OE. _habben_ (_hæbben_), pres. pl. subj.
(Wright, OE. Gram., § 538).
=hand:= phr. _to hand with_, to go hand in hand with, to concur; ‘Let
but my power and means hand with my will’, Massinger, Renegado, iv. 1
(Grimaldi).
=hand over head,= inconsiderately, recklessly, hastily,
indiscriminately; ‘They ran in amongst them hand over head’, North, tr.
of Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 28 (in Shak. Plut., p. 141, n. 3); cp. Warner,
Albion’s England, bk. ix, ch. 51, st. 22. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v.
Hand, 2 (8)).
=hands:= phr. _to shake hands with_, to bid farewell to, to say good-bye
to; ‘I have shaken hands with delight’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med. (ed.
Greenhill, 66); ‘To shake hands with labour for ever’, Harrison in
Holinshed (ed. 1807, i. 314). [Cp. Charles Lamb in Elia, Early Rising,
‘He has shaken hands with the world’s business, has done with it.’]
=handsel, hansel,= a gift or present, as an omen of good luck or an
expression of good wishes. Dunbar, New Year’s Gift, iii. As _vb._, to
use for the first time, ‘My lady . . . is so ravished with desire to
hansel her new coach’, Eastward Ho, ii. 1 (Touchstone). The verb ‘to
hansel’, meaning ‘to use a thing for the first time’ is very common in
prov. use in Scotland, and in various parts of England fr.
Northumberland to Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. Handsel, vb. 12).
=handwolf,= a tame wolf, wolf brought up by hand. Beaumont and Fl.,
Maid’s Tragedy, iv. 1 (Amintor).
=handydandy,= a children’s game, in which one child conceals something
between the hands, and the other guesses in which hand it is. ‘Handy
dandy, prickly prandy, which hand will you have?’ Chapman, Blind Beggar,
p. 6. See EDD. (s.v. Handy).
=hane,= a ‘_khan_’, an Eastern inn (unfurnished); a caravanserai;
‘_Hanes_ to entertain travellers’; Howell, Foreign Travell, Appendix, p.
84; ‘_Hanes_ for the relief of Travellers’, Sandys, Travels, p. 57
(Nares). See =cane.=
=hang-by,= a hanger-on, a dependant. Gosson, School of Abuse, ed. Arber,
p. 40; Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, iv. 2 (Orleans). In prov.
use in W. Yorks.; see EDD. (s.v. Hang, vb. 1 (5)).
=hanger,= a loop or strap or a sword-belt from which the sword was hung.
Hamlet, i. 2. 157; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. i. 5 (Matthew).
=hank,= a hold, a power of check or restraint; ‘I have a hank upon you’,
Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 5 (Beaugard). In prov. use in various parts
of England, see EDD. (s.v. Hank, sb.^{1} 7).
=Hans-in-kelder,= a familiar term for an unborn infant. Dryden, Wild
Gallant, v. 2; Wycherley, Love in a Wood, v. 6 (Sir Simon); Marvell, The
Character of Holland, 66. See Stanford. Dutch _Hans in Kelder_, lit.
‘Jack in Cellar’, an unborn child; cp. the Swabian toast _Hänschen im
Keller soll leben_, ‘dies sagt man bei dem Gesundheit-trinken auf eine
schwangere Frau’ (Birlinger); Bremen dial. _Hänsken im Keller_ (Wtb.).
=happily,= perhaps, possibly. Titus Andron. iv. 3. 8; Hamlet, i. 1. 134;
ii. 2. 402.
=haqueton, hacqueton,= a stuffed jacket worn under armour. Spenser, F.
Q. ii. 8. 38. ME. _aketoun_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 2050); OF. _auqueton_,
_alquetun_, O. Prov. _alcoton_, ‘hoqueton, casaque rembourrée,
originairement en coton’ (Levy); Span. _algodon_, Port. _algodão_,
cotton, Arab, _al-qotun_, see Dozy, Glossaire, 127.
=haras, harres,= a stud of horses; troop, collection. Skelton, Against
Garnesche, ed. Dyce, i. 128; l. 77. OF. _haras_, a stud of horses
(Hatzfeld); Med. L. _haracium_, ‘armentum equorum et jumentorum’
(Ducange). Arab. _faras_, horse; cp. O. Span. _alfaras_, ‘cavallo
generoso’; see Dozy, 108.
=harass,= harassment, devastation. Milton, Samson, 257.
=harborough,= ‘harbour’, shelter. Spenser, Shep. Kal., June, 19; Tanered
and Gismunda, v. 2 (Gismunda); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 85. See
=herberow.=
=harborowe,= to lodge; to track a stag to his harbour or covert. A
hunting term. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 18, § 6; _harbord_, pp.
lodged, Gascoigne, Art of Venerie, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 311, l. 6. See Dict.
(s.v. Harbour).
=hardel,= a hurdle; ‘Hardels made of stickes’, Golding, Metam. i. 122;
fol. 2, bk. (1603); a kind of frame or sledge on which traitors used to
be drawn through the streets to execution, ‘Upon an hardle or sled’,
Harrison, Desc. England, ii. 11 (ed. Furnivall, 222).
=hardocks,= some kind of wild flowers. In King Lear, iv. 4. 4 (ed.
1623), Lear is ‘Crown’d . . . with Hardokes, Hemlocke, Nettles, Cuckoo
flowres, Darnell, and all the idle weedes that grow In our sustaining
Corne.’ As _Hardokes_ are not known, I suggest that the right word is
_Hawdods_; indeed, the quartos have _hordocks_. The _hawdod_ (described
by Fitzherbert, Husbandry, 1534) is the beautiful blue cornflower, the
most showy and attractive of all the flowers that grow in the corn; see
EDD. The prefix _haw_ means ‘blue’, see NED.; from OE. _hǣwe_, blue.
=hare:= phr. _there goeth the hare_, ‘That’s the direction in which the
hare goes, that is the way to follow up’, New Custom, ii. 3 (Perverse
Doctrine); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 39; ‘_Hic labor, hoc opus est_,
there goeth the hare away’, Stubbes, School of Abuse (ed. Arber, p. 70).
=hare,= to frighten, scare. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (Dame
Turfe). In prov. use in Oxfordshire and the south country, see EDD.
(s.v. Hare, vb.).
†=harlock,= an unknown flower; perhaps for _hawdod_, the blue
cornflower. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. iv; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 34.
_Harlocks_ is a conjectural emendation for _hardokes_ in King Lear, iv.
4. 4. See =hardocks.=
=harlot,= a vagabond, rascal. Tusser, Husbandry, § 74. 4; Coriol. iii.
2. 112. ME. _harlot_, a person of low birth, a ribald, rogue, rascal
(Chaucer), see Dict. M. and S.; OF. _herlot_, _arlot_, ribaud
(Godefroy); O. Prov. _arlot_, ‘gueux, ribaud’ (Levy). See Dict.
=harman-beck,= a constable. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3
(Higgen); Harman, Caveat, p. 84. See =hartmans.=
=harness,= the defensive or body armour of a man-at-arms; the defensive
equipment of a horseman. Macbeth, v. 5. 52; BIBLE, 1 Kings xx. 11; xxii.
34; ‘I can remember that I buckled his [the King’s] harness when he went
into Blackheath field’, Latimer, Sermon, p. 101; see Bible Word-Book.
ME. _harneys_, armour (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1006). See Dict.
=harnest,= harnessed, armed. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 70.
=harpè,= a falchion, scimitar. Heywood, Silver Age, A. i (Perseus); vol.
iii, p. 92. From Ovid, Met. v. 69, 176. L. _harpē_; Gk. ἅρπη, a sickle,
a scimitar.
=harper, harp-shilling,= a coin having on the reverse an Irish harp, and
worth only 9_d._ in English money; ‘Your shilling proved but a harper’,
Heywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange (Cripple), vol. i, p. 26; ‘A plain
harp-shilling’, Greene, King James IV, iii. 2 (Andrew). And see Webster,
Sir T. Wyatt, ed. Dyce, p. 197, col. 1 (bottom).
=harre,= a hinge, of a door or gate; ‘Chardonnerau, a harre of a doore’,
Cotgrave; _out of harre_, off its hinge, out of joint, Skelton.
Magnyfycence, 921. In prov. use in Scotland and Ireland, see EDD. (s.v.
Harr, 3). ME. _Harre_ of a dore, ‘carde’ (Cath. Angl.); OE. _heorr_.
=harres;= see =haras.=
=Harrington,= a farthing; as coined by Harrington (1613); ‘I will not
bate a Harrington of the sum’, B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Meer).
See Nares.
=harriot,= a heriot; a payment to the lord of a manor, due on the death
of a tenant. Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, iv. 3 (Nimis); ‘A heriot or
homage’, Howell, Famil. Letters, vol. i, letter 38, § 2 (1621). OE.
_heregeatwe_, lit. military equipments. See Dict. (s.v. Heriot).
†=harrolize,= to ‘heraldise’, act as a herald, emblazon arms; ‘He
harrolized well’, Warner, Albion’s England, bk. vii, ch. 35, st. 4.
=harrot,= a ‘herald’. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iii. 1
(Sogliardo); Case is altered, iv. 4 (near the end). OF. _heraut_,
_herault_. See NED.
=harrow,= _interj._, a cry of distress. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 43. ME. ‘I
wol crye out harrow and alas’, Chaucer (C. T. A. 3286); Norm. F.
_harou_, ‘Le cri ou la clameur de _haro_ ou de _harou_ était un appel
public à la justice et à la protection’ (Moisy); see Didot.
=harrow,= to subdue, despoil. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 40. Used with
reference to Christ’s ‘Harrowing of Hell’, or despoiling it by the
rescue thence of the patriarchs, &c., as described in the pseudo-gospel
of Nicodemus. See the passage from Legenda Aurea, cap. liv, quoted in
Notes to P. Plowman, C. xxi. 261 (pp. 410, 411).
=Harry-groat,= a groat of Henry VIII. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady,
i. 2 (Young Loveless); Woman’s Prize, iii. 2 (Jaques); Mayne, City
Match, ii. 3 (Aurelia).
=hart of grece,= a fat hart; ‘Eche of them slewe a harte of grece’, Adam
Bell, 105 (Child’s Ballads, p. 251); Ballad of Robin Hood and the Curtal
Fryar (Child’s Ballads, p. 299). See Nares (s.v. Greece).
=hart-of-ten,= a hart having as many as ten points on each horn, and
therefore full-grown; ‘The total number of points, counting all the
tines, is ten’, Cent. Dict. (s.v. Antler); ‘Whan an hart hath fourched,
and then auntlere ryall and surryall, and forched on the one syde, and
troched on that other syde, than is he an hert of .X. and the more’,
Venery de Twety, in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 151; ‘An Hart of tenne’,
Gascoigne, Art of Venerie, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 311.
=hartmans, harmans,= the stocks. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Song); ‘The harmans, the stockes’, Harman, Caveat, p. 84. See
=harman-beck.=
=haskard,= a base, vulgar fellow. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 606; id.,
Dethe of Erle of Northumberland, 24. See NED.
=haske,= a rush or wicker basket. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 16
(explained as ‘a wicker ped, wherein they use to carrie fish’);
‘_Cavagna_, a fishers basket, or haske’, Florio. See NED. (s.v. Hask).
=hatch,= a half-door, wicket with an open space above; ‘Ore [o’er] the
hatch’, King John, i. 1. 171; ‘Take the hatch’ (jump over it), King
Lear, iii. 6. 76; ‘As hound at hatch’ (i.e. like a dog set to watch the
door’), Turbervile, The Lover to Cupid, st. 12 from end.
=hatched,= inlaid, or ornamented on the surface with gold or silver
work; ‘My sword well hatch’d’, Fletcher, Bonduca, ii. 2 (Junius); iii.
5; ‘hatched hilts’, Valentinian, ii. 2. 7; deeply marked, Beaumont and
Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, i. 1 (Antigonus); Custom of the Country, v. 5
(Guiomar); marked with lines like a thing engraved, marked with lines of
white hair, Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 65; ‘hatched in silver’, Shirley, Love in
a Maze, ii. 2 (Simple).
=hatchel,= to comb flax or hemp with a ‘hatchel’. Heywood, Rape of
Lucrece, ii. 3 (Song); ‘_Serancer_, to hatchel flax, &c., to comb, or
dress it on an iron comb’, Cotgrave. A Cheshire word (EDD.).
=hate,= for _ha’ it_, have it. Puritan Widow, iii. 3. 141. Spelt _ha
’t_, riming with _gate_; Parliament of Bees, character 3.
=hatter,= to bruise, batter; _hatter out_, to wear out, exhaust with
fatigue. Dryden, Hind and Panther, i. 371. In prov. use in Scotland and
various parts of England (EDD.).
=haught,= lofty, haughty. Richard III, ii. 3. 28; Marlowe, Edw. II, iii.
2 (Baldock); _haulte_, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, ch. 2, § 1; ch.
5, § 2; _haut_, high-sounding, ‘The haut Castilian tongue’, Middleton,
Span. Gipsy, ii. 2 (Pedro). OF. _haut_, _halt_, high.
=haulse;= see =halse.=
=haulte;= see =haught.=
=haunt,= to practise habitually. Tusser, Husbandry, § 67 (ed. 1878, p.
155). In ME. ‘to haunt’, reflex., was used in the sense of ‘to accustom’
or ‘exercise oneself’, ‘Haunte thi silf to pitee’ (Wyclif, 1 Tim. iv.
7). Norm. F. _hanter_, ‘aller habituellement en un lieu’ (Moisy). Icel.
_heimta_, to bring home the sheep in autumn from the summer pastures;
see Icel. Dict. (s.v. ii. 3). Cp. the use of the verb ‘to haunt’ in the
New Forest, to accustom cattle to repair to a certain spot, see EDD.
(s.v. Haunt, 4).
=hause,= to embrace; ‘I will say nothing of hausing and kissing’,
Bernard, tr. of Terence, Heauton, v. 1 (NED.). A north-country
pronunciation; see EDD. (s.v. Halse, 9). See =halse.=
†=hauster,= gullet (?); ‘Crack in thy throat and hauster too’, Grim the
Collier, iv. 1 (Grim).
=haut;= see =haught.=
=hauzen,= to embrace. Peele, Hon. Order of the Garter, l. 5, ed. Dyce,
p. 585. See =hause.=
=havell,= a low fellow; a term of reproach. Skelton, Why Come ye nat to
Courte, 94, 604. Also spelt _hawvel_ (NED.). Origin of the word unknown.
=having,= possession, property. Merry Wives, iii. 2. 73; Twelfth Nt.
iii. 4. 379. _Havings_, pl. wealth; Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, ii.
4 (Asotus). ‘Havings’, possessions, still in use in Yorks. (EDD.).
=haviour,= possession, wealth; _havoir_, Holland, Livy, xxiii. 41;
_havour_, Warner, Albion’s England, xvi. 164; ‘_Havoire_, possession.’
ME. _havure_, or havynge of catel or oþer goodys, ‘averium’ (Prompt.).
Anglo-F. _aveir_, property (Moisy); _avoir_, property, goods (Gower).
=haviour,= ‘behaviour’; ‘Her heavenly haveour’, Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
April, 66; Merry Wives, i. 3. 86; Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 226. See Dict.
(s.v. Behaviour).
=havok:= phr. _to cry havok_, to give the signal for the pillage of a
captured town; ‘They . . . did do crye hauok upon all the tresours of
Troyes’, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 175. 7; Jul. Caesar, iii. 1. 273.
Anglo-F. _crier havok_ (A.D. 1385), OF. _crier havo_ (A.D. 1150), see
NED. (s.v. Havoc).
=hawdod,= the corn bluebottle, _Centaurea cyanus_. Fitzherbert,
Husbandry, § 20. 28; _haudoddes_, pl., id., § 20. 4. Cp. OE. _hǣwe_,
blue (in Erfurt Gl. _hāwi_), see Oldest Eng. Texts, 596. See =hardocks.=
=hawker,= to act as a hawker, to haggle. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 620.
=hay:= phr. _to carry hay on one’s horn_, to be mad or dangerous; from
an ox apt to gore whose horns were bound about with hay; cp. Horace,
Sat. i. 4. Herrick, Hesper. Oberon’s Pal., 176.
=hay, hey,= a hedge. Thersites, ed. Pollard, 1. 155; ‘A hay (implieth) a
dead fence that may be made one yeere and pulled downe another’, Norden,
Survey in Harrison’s England (NED.). In E. Anglia a ‘hey’ is the term
used for a clipped quickset hedge. ME. _hay_, a hedge (Chaucer, Rom.
Rose, 54). OE. _hege_, ‘sepes’ (Ælfric); cp. OF. _haie_, hedge (Rom.
Rose, 50).
=hay, hey,= a country-dance, of the nature of a reel; ‘The antic hay’,
Marlowe, Edw. II, i. 1 (Gaveston); Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, i (Henry);
‘Rounds and winding Heyes’, Davies, Orchestra, lxiv (Arber, Garner, v.
39).
=hay,= _interj._, a term in fencing. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 7
(Bobadil); a home-thrust, Romeo, ii. 4. 27. Ital. _hai_, thou hast
(Florio); cp. L. _habet_; exclaimed when a gladiator was wounded.
=hay-de-guy= (=-guise=)=,= a kind of ‘hay’ or dance. _Heydeguyes_, pl.,
Spenser, Shep. Kal., June, 27; ‘We nightly dance our hey-day-guise’,
Robin Goodfellow, 102, in Percy’s Reliques (ed. 1887, iii. 204). In
Somerset and Dorset the word is used for merriment, high spirits, rough
play, see EDD. (s.v. Haydigees).
=haye,= a net for catching rabbits. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Surly);
Two Angry Women, iv. 1. 14. _Hay-net_ is still in use in Kent and E.
Anglia (EDD.). ME. _hay_, nete to take conyys, ‘cassis’ (Prompt. EETS.
211).
=hay-ree,= a carter’s cry in urging on his horses. Nash, Summer’s Last
Will (Harvest), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 52. In prov. use in
Derbyshire (EDD.). See =ha and ree.=
=hayte and ree,= words used by a carter in urging on or directing his
horses. Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, ii. 1 (Clown) (vol. ii, 384).
In Yorkshire the carters say ‘hite’ and ‘ree’, as calls to the horse to
turn to left or right, see EDD. (s.v. Hait). ‘Hait’ is in gen. prov. use
in Scotland and England, as a call to urge horses or other animals to go
on (id.). ME. _hayt_: ‘_Hayt_, Brok!, _hayt_, Scot!’ (Chaucer, C. T. D.
1543). Cp. Swed. dial. _häjt_, a cry to the ox or horse to turn to the
left. Rietz (s.v. Hit).
=haytye,= defiance. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 301, 17 (rendering of
_ahatine_ in the F. text). F. _aatie_, _ahatie_, ‘haine, querelle,
provocation, engagement, lutte’ (Partonop. de Blois, 9585), also
_aatine_, _ahatine_, from _ahatir_ (_aatir_), ‘se hâter, s’engager à un
combat, accepter une provocation’ (Chron. des ducs de Normandie); see
Ducange. Cp. _s’ahastir_, ‘se hâter’ (Moisy).
=haze,= for _ha ’s_ = have us. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 4. 7; iv. 3
(Roister).
=hazelwood.= ‘Yea, hazelwood!’ (meaning, ‘why, of course!’), Gascoigne,
in Hazlitt’s ed., ii. 23, 285. The exclamation implies that the
information given is of a very simple description, and that the hearer
knows a great deal more of the matter than the informant. In Chaucer’s
Tr. and Cr. iii. 890, there occurs the fuller form, ‘Ye, haselwodes
shaken’, i.e. Yea, hazelwoods shake (when the wind blows); in the same
poem, v. 505, ‘Ye, haselwode!’.
=head,= intellect, person, a favourite word with Sir T. Browne, ‘Every
Age has its Lucian, whereof common Heads must not hear’, Rel. Med. (ed.
Greenhill, 36).
=headless hood.= In Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 96, we find: ‘So vainely
t’aduance thy headless hood.’ Here _hood_, i.e. state, condition, is the
usual suffix _-hood_, used as if it could be detached. ‘Explained in the
Globe ed., followed by recent Dicts., as = _heedlesshood_’, but Spenser
elsewhere always distinguishes between _headless_ and _heedless_, NED.
=heal,= to cover; ‘Heal, to cover, to heal a house’, ‘to heal the fire’,
‘to heal a person in bed’, Ray, S. and E. Country Words (1674). See EDD.
(s.v. Heal, vb.^{2}). ME. _helen_, to hide, conceal (Chaucer, C. T. B.
2279). OE. _helian_, to hide. See =unhele.=
=heale,= health. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3 (ed. Arber, 46);
well-being, prosperity, Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Courte, 768. In
prov. use in Scotland and Ireland, see EDD. (s.v. Heal, sb.^{1}). ME.
_hele_, health, recovery, safety (Wars Alex., see Gloss. Index). OE.
_hǣlo_.
=hear ill,= to be ill spoken of. B. Jonson, Catiline, iv. 6 (end);
Dedication of Volpone. A Greek idiom, cp. κακῶς ἀκούειν, to be ill
spoken of.
=heardgroom, herdgroom,= a shepherd-lad. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 35.
Copied from Chaucer, Hous of Fame, 1225 (‘Thise litel herdegromes’).
=hearse,= a structure of wood used in noble funerals, decorated with
banners, heraldic devices, and lighted candles, on which it was
customary for friends to pin short poems or epitaphs; ‘Underneath this
sable hearse’, B. Jonson, Epit. on the Countess of Pembroke; Middleton,
Women beware, iii. 2 (Livia); a coffin on a bier, Richard III, i. 2. 2.
See Dict.
=heart at grass:= phr. _to take heart at grasse_; ‘Rise, therefore,
Euphues, and take heart at grasse, younger thou shalt never bee, plucke
up thy stomacke’, Lyly, Euphues (Nares); Tarlton’s Newes out of
Purgatorie, 24. See Nares (s.v. Heart of grace).
=heart of grace:= phr. _to take heart of grace_; ‘His absence gave him
so much heart of grace’, Harington, Ariosto, xxii. 37; ‘Take heart of
grace, man’, Ordinary (Nares). See Nares (s.v. Grace, 3).
=heart-breaker,= a lovelock, a curl; jocosely. Butler, Hudibras, pt. i,
c. 1, 253.
=heautarit,= quicksilver. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). Arab.
_ʿuṭârid_, the planet Mercury; also, quicksilver (Steingass).
=heave a bough,= rob a booth or shop. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl,
v. 1 (Trapdoor); ‘_To heve a bough_, to robbe or rifle a boeweth
[booth]’, Harman, Caveat, p. 84.
=heave and ho,= a cry of sailors in heaving the anchor, &c.; hence, with
might and main; ‘With heaue and hoaw on Bacchus name they shout’, Phaer,
Aeneid vii, 389; ‘Heue and how’, Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 252.
=heben,= ebony; ‘_Hebene_, Heben or Ebony, the black and hard wood of a
certain tree growing in Aethiopia and the East Indies’, Cotgrave; _heben
wood_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 37. L. _hebenus_, Gk. ἔβενος, the ebony
tree; cp. Heb. _hobnîm_, billets of ebony (Ezek. xxvii. 15).
=hebenon,= name given to some substance having a poisonous juice,
Hamlet, i. 5. 62; _hebon_, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iii. 4 (Barabas). Cp.
Gower, C. A. iv. 3017, ‘Bordes Of hebenus that slepi Tree’, borrowed
from Ovid, Metam. xi. 610 ff., ‘Torus est ebeno sublimis . . . Quo cubat
ipse deus membris languore solutis.’
=hecco,= the woodpecker; ‘The laughing hecco’, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 80;
‘The sharp-neb’d hecco’, The Owl, 206. Cp. Glouc. _heckwall_, see EDD.
(s.v. Hickwall).
=heckfer,= a heifer. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, xi. 811; ‘Heckfare,
_bucula_’, Levins, Manip. ME. _hekfere_, ‘juvenca’ (Prompt.); ‘buccula,
juvenca’ (Voc. 758. 3). Formerly in prov. use in the north country and
in E. Anglia, but now obsolete, see EDD. (s.v. Heifer).
=heedling,= headlong. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 58; ‘To tumble a man
heedlinge down the hyll’, Cranmer, Pref. to Bible; precipitately, ‘His
armie flying headling back againe’, Knolles, Hist. Turks (ed. 1621,
170).
=heft,= weight. Mirror for Mag., Salisbury, st. 15. Hence, stress, need,
_emergency_; ‘Forsooke each other at the greatest heft’, Ferrex, st. 5.
In common prov. use in the midland and southern counties: it means
weight, esp. the weight of a thing as ascertained by lifting it in the
hand, see EDD. (s.v. Heft, sb.^{1} 1).
=heggue,= a hag, malicious female sprite; ‘Heggues that are seen in the
feldes by night like Fierbrandes’, Arber, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 23;
‘The ayery heggs’, Mirror for Mag., Cobham, st. 31.
=heir,= to be heir to, to inherit. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 714;
Chapman, tr. of Iliad, v. 161.
=hell,= the ‘den’ for prisoners in the games of Barley-break and
Prison-bars; ‘Here’s the last couple in hell’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Scornful Lady, v. 4 (Elder Loveless). See =barley-break.=
=hell-waine,= a phantom wagon, seen in the sky at night. Middleton, The
Witch, i. 2 (Hecate); R. Scott, Disc. Witchcraft, vii. 15 (ed. 1886,
122). In the Netherlands the Great Bear is called _Hellewagen_, see
Grimm, Teut. Myth. 802.
=helm,= the helmet or head of a still. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1
(Subtle).
=helm,= a handle. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, v. 312. See Dict.
=helmster,= the tiller of a helm. A Knack to know a Knave, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, vi. 571.
=helo=(=e, healo,= bashful; ‘_Il est né tout coiffé_, hee is verie
maidenlie, shamfaced, heloe’, Cotgrave (ed. 1611); ‘_Honteux_,
shamefast, bashful, helo, modest’, id.; ‘_Heloe_ or _helaw_, bashful, a
word of common use’, Ray, North Country Words, 25; _hala_, Shadwell,
Squire of Alsatia, iii. 1 (Lolpool). In common prov. use in the north
country as far south as Cheshire and Derbysh. (EDD.).
=helops,= a savoury sea-fish. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 13. L.
_helops_, _ellops_; Gk. ἔλλοψ. See =ellops.=
=hempstring,= a worthless fellow; a term of reproach, with reference to
a halter. Gascoigne, Supposes, iv. 2 (Psiteria); ‘A perfect young
hemp-string’, Chapman, Mons. D’Olive, v. 1 (Vaumont). In Scotland
(Forfarsh.) a hangman’s halter is called a hempstring (EDD.).
†=hemule, hemuse,= a roebuck in its third year. _Hemule_, Book of St.
Albans, fol. E4, back; _hemuse_, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 45, p. 143. See
NED.
=hench-boy,= a page. Middleton, Roaring Girl, ii. 1 (Mis. T.); Randolph,
Muses’ Looking Glass, i. 4 (Mrs. Flowerdew); _hinch-boy_, B. Jonson,
Gipsies Metamorphosed (Song). Cp. _henchman_, a page, Mids. Nt. D. ii.
1. 121; ‘A henchman or henchboy, _page d’honneur, qui marche devant
quelque Seigneur de grand authorité_ (Sherwood).’ See Prompt. EETS.
(note, no. 999).
=hend,= to hold, grasp. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 27; to cast, hurl, Mirror
for Mag., Brennus, st. 83. OE. _ge-hendan_, to hold in the hand.
=hent,= to seize, lay hold of. Winter’s Tale, iv. 2. 133; pt. t. _hent_,
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 1; pp. _hent_, occupied, Meas. for Measure, iv. 6.
14; caught, taken, Peele, Tale of Troy, ed. Dyce, p. 553. ME. _hente_,
to seize (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3347); OE. _hentan_.
=her,= their. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 160; Sept., 39. ME. _here_
(_her_) of them, their (Chaucer); OE. _hira_; see Dict. M. and S.
=herber,= a green plot, flower-garden. Lusty Juventus, Song after
Prologue, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 46. ME. _herber_, a garden (Chaucer,
Tr. and Cr. ii. 1705); an arbour (Leg. G. W. 203). See Dict. (s.v.
Arbour).
=herberow,= a lodging, shelter. Morte Arthur, leaf 77. 11; bk. iv, c.
25; _herborowe_, v., to lodge, provide shelter for, id., lf. 90, back,
19; bk. v, c. 11. ME. _herberwe_, a lodging, shelter; an inn; a harbour
(Chaucer). Icel. _herbergi_, lit. army-shelter. See =harborough.=
=herden,= made of hards or fibres of flax. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 118.
In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Harden, sb.).
=heriot;= see =harriot.=
=herneshaw,= a young heron. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 9; ‘_Heronceau_, an
hernshawe’, Palsgrave; _hernesewe_, Golding, Metam. xiv. 580;
_heronsew_, Disobedient Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 282. For
numerous prov. pronunciations of the word, which is in common use from
the north country to Kent, see EDD. (s.v. Heronsew). ME. _heronsewe_
(Chaucer, C. T. F. 68); Anglo-F. _herouncel_ (Rough List).
=herring-bones,= stitches arranged in a zigzag pattern. Marston, Scourge
of Villainy, Sat. vii. 20.
=hersall,= rehearsal. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 18.
=herse,= a harrow triangular in form; ‘The archers ther (at the battle
of Creçy) stode in maner of a herse’ (i.e. drawn up in a triangular
formation), Berners, tr. of Froissart, c. cxxx. F. _herce_, a harrow
(Cotgr.); Ital. _erpice_; L. _hirpex_ (_irpex_). See Dict. (s.v.
Hearse).
=hery, herry,= to praise, honour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 13; Shep. Kal.,
Feb., 62; Nov., 10; _herried_, pret., Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii.
347. ME. _herie_, to praise (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 1672); OE.
_herian_.
=Hesperides,= the garden of the Hesperides; ‘Trees in the Hesperides’,
L. L. L. iv. 3. 341; ‘the plot Hesperides’, Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 56;
p. 90, col. 1; ‘The garden called Hesperides’, Greene, Friar Bacon, iii.
2 (1168); scene 9. 82 (W.); p. 167, col. 2 (D.).
=hew,= a hewing, hacking, slaughter. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 49.
=hewte,= a copse. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 29, p. 75; ‘Small groues or
hewts’, id., c. 31; p. 81; Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, ii. 731. OE.
_hiewet_, a hewing (Gregory’s Past, xxxvi); cp. _copse_, from OF.
_coper_, to cut.
=hey;= see =hay.=
=heydeguyes;= see =hay-de-guy.=
=heyward,= an officer of a township who had charge of hedges and
enclosures. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 11, p. 41. In prov. use in
many parts of England (EDD.). ME. _heyward_, ‘agellarius’ (Prompt.). See
=hay= (hedge).
=hiccius doctius,= a similar word to ‘hocus-pocus’, used in imitation of
Latin by conjurers who performed tricks; hence, a conjurer’s trick, a
cheat. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 580.
=hidder and shidder,= male and female animals. Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
Sept., 211. _Hidder_ = _he-der_, he ‘deer’, i.e. male animal; _shidder_
= _she-der_, she ‘deer’, i.e. female animal. In Yorks. and Lincoln the
sheep-farmers speak of a flock of ‘he-ders’ and ‘she-ders’, see EDD.
(s.v. He, 10 (6)).
=high-copt,= high-topped. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1163. See =coppe.=
=high-lone,= entirely alone; said of a child learning to walk. Romeo, i.
3. 36 (1 quarto); Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, iv. 2. 9. [‘The Mares . . .
were scarce able to go high-lone’, G. Washington, Diary, March 13, 1760
(NED.).]
=highmen,= loaded dice that produced high throws. Middleton, Your Five
Gallants, v. 1 (Fitsgrave); ‘Two bayle of false dyce, _videlicet_, high
men and loe men’, London Prodigal, i. 1. 218.
=hight,= to promise; ‘And vowes men shal him hight’, Phaer, Aeneid, i.
290. In Chaucer we find _highte_, pt. t. of _hote_, to promise (Tr. and
Cr. v. 1636; C. T. E. 496); OE. _hēht_ (_hēt_), pt. t. of _hātan_ to
promise, to bid, command. See =hot= (=hote=).
=hight,= _pr._ and _pt. t._, is or was called; ‘_I hight_’, I am named,
Peele, Araynement of Paris, i. 1 (Venus); was called, was named, ‘She
Queene of Faeries hight’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 14; ‘The citie of the
great king hight it well.’ This is a Chaucerian spelling and usage, the
form being due to ME. _hight_ (promised, commanded), see above. In
Chaucer we find _hight_, ‘is called’, and ‘was called’ (Leg. G. W. 417,
and 725). But we also find the regular form _hatte_ for both pres. and
pt. t. (Tr. and Cr. iii. 797; H. Fame, 1303). OE. _hātte_, is or was
called, pr. and pt. t. of _hātan_. This is the only trace of the old
passive voice preserved in English, cp. Goth. _haitada_, I am called.
=higre,= the ‘bore’ in a river. Drayton, Pol. vii. 10; xxviii. 482. Med.
L. _Higra_ in William of Malmesbury, De Pontific.: ‘Anglis dictus quidam
quotidianus aquarum Sabrinae fluvii furor quem vel voraginem vel
vertiginem undarum dicam nescio’ (Ducange). See EDD. (s.v. Eagre).
=hild,= to heel over, to lean over; ‘_I hylde_, I leane on the one syde,
as a bote or shyp’, Palsgrave. An E. Anglian form, see EDD. (s.v. Heald,
vb.^{1} 1). ME. _hilde_, to incline; _heldyn_, ‘inclino’ (Prompt.). OE.
_hieldan_ (late WS. _hyldan_, Kentish _heldan_), to incline. See NED.
(s.v. Hield).
=hilding,= a good-for-nothing person of either sex. Applied to a man,
All’s Well, iii. 6. 4; applied to a woman; a jade, a baggage, Romeo,
iii. 5. 169; Dryden, Spanish Fryar, ii. 3; a worthless horse, Holland’s
Livy, xxi. 40, p. 415. See Nares.
=hill,= to cover; to cover from sight, to hide. Warner, Albion’s
England, bk. iv, ch. 21, st. 27; _hild_, pp. Phaer, tr. Aeneid, ii. 472.
In prov. use in various parts of England from the north to Wilts., see
EDD. (s.v. Hill, vb.^{2}). ME. _hyllyn_, ‘operio’ (Prompt.); _hile_
(Wyclif, Mark 14. 65). Icel. _hylja_, to cover.
=himp,= to hobble, to limp; ‘Lame of one leg, and himping’, Udall, tr.
of Apoph., Philip, § 35; ‘Hymping on the one legge’, id., Alexander, §
57. An E. Anglian word (EDD.). Cp. Du. dial. _himp-_, in _himphamp_,
‘een hinkend persoon’ (Boekenoogen).
=hinch-boy;= see =hench-boy.=
=hine,= a farm-labourer, a ‘hind’. Phaer, tr. Aeneid, vii. 504; Waller,
Suckling’s Verses, 33. This form is in prov. use in Lakeland, Yorks. and
in Devon and Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. Hind, sb.^{1}). ME. _hyne_
(Wyclif, John x. 12). OE. _hī_(_w_)_na man_, a man of the household, of
the servants; _hī_(_w_)_na_, gen. pl. of _hīwan_, domestics.
=hing,= to hang. Machin, The Dumb Knight, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 128.
In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and in England in the north and
midland counties as far as Warwick. ME. _hinge_, to hang, to be hung
(Wars Alex. 4565). Icel. _hengja_ (causal vb.).
=hinny,= to neigh as a horse; ‘I hynnye as a horse’, Palsgrave; ‘He
neigheth and hinnieth, all is hinnying sophistry’, B. Jonson, Barthol.
Fair, v. 3 (Busy).
=hippocras,= a cordial drink made of wine flavoured with spices.
Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, i. 1 (Lady); _Hypocrace_, ‘vinum
myrrhatum’, Levins, Manipulus; _ipocras_, Heywood, 1 Pt. Edw. IV. (Wks.
ed. 1874, i. 10). ME. _ipocras_ (Chaucer, C. T. E. 1807); see note in
Wks., v. 361. OF. _ipocras_, _ypocras_, forms of the Greek proper name
Hippocrates, a famous physician, died B.C. 357. The cordial was so
called because it was run through a strainer or ‘Ipocras’ bag, see NED.
(s.v. Hippocras bag). See Stanford.
=hippodame,= a name given by Spenser to a fabulous sea-monster, F. Q.
ii. 9. 50; iii. 11. 40. The allusion is probably to the ‘hippocamp’, or
sea-horse, a monster with a horse’s body and a fish’s tail, used by the
sea-gods, cp. W. Browne, Brit. Past. ii. 1: ‘Fair silver-footed Thetis
. . . Guiding from rockes her chariot’s hyppocamps.’ In the form
_hippodame_, Spenser was probably thinking of _hippotame_, ME.
_ypotame_, hippopotamus (K. Alis. 5184); see NED. (s.v. Hippopotamus).
=hippogrif,= a fabulous creature like a griffin, but with the body and
hindquarters of a horse, Milton, P. L. iv. 542. Ital. _ippogrifo_
(Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, iv. 4 and follg.), rendered ‘griffin-horse’
in Hoole’s Ariosto, iv. 125.
=Hiren,= a seductive female; ‘Haue wee not Hiren here?’, 2 Hen. IV, ii.
4. 173 (1597). An allusion to a female character in Peele’s play of ‘The
Turkish Mahamet and Hyrin the fair Greek’ (ab. 1594); see NED. The
initial _H_ is superfluous, as the allusion is to the name Irene (F.
_Irène_), Gk. εἰρήνη, peace. See Greene and Peele’s Works, ed. Dyce, p.
341. This play by Peele is lost.
=his,= after a sb., used instead of the genitive inflexion, chiefly with
proper names; ‘For Jesus Christ his sake’, Book Com. Prayer;
‘Secretaries to the kyng his moste excellente majestie’, Robinson, tr.
More’s Utopia, Ep. (ed. Lumby, 2); ‘Edward the Second of England, his
Queen’, Bacon, Essay 19. See NED. (s.v. His, 4), and Notes to P.
Plowman, C. xix. 236, p. 381. See Nares.
=histriomastix,= a severe critic of playwrights. Lady Alimony, i. 2
(Trills), where the epithet of ‘crop-eared’ is prefixed. The allusion is
to the book entitled ‘Histriomastix, The Players’ Scourge’, by W.
Prynne, published in 1633; for which he lost both ears, and was
pilloried. L. _histrio_, an actor + Gk. μάστιξ, a scourge.
=hizz,= to hiss. King Lear, iii. 6. 17; Earle, Microcosmographie, § 25
(ed. Arber, p. 46).
=ho,= a cry calling on one to stop; cessation, intermission, limit. Phr.
_out of all ho_, out of all limit, beyond all moderate bounds, Greene,
Friar Bacon, iv. 2 (1733); scene 11. 73 (W.); p. 174, col. 2 (D.). In
Yorkshire they say, ‘There is no ho with him’, i.e. there is no
moderation, he is not to be restrained. ‘Out of all ho’ in the sense of
‘immoderately’ is a common phrase in the west Midlands. See EDD. (s.v.
Ho, sb.^{1} 5). ME. _ho_, cessation, in phr. _withouten ho_ (Chaucer,
Tr. and Cr. ii. 1083). See Nares.
=hob,= a sprite, hobgoblin. Mirror for Mag., Glendour, st. 8; ‘From
elves, hobs, and fairies . . . From fire-drakes and fiends . . . Defend
us, good heaven!’, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iv. 6. For the folk-lore
connected with the sprite called _Hob_, see EDD. _Hob_ is a familiar or
rustic abbreviation of the name Robert or Robin, cp. Coriolanus, ii. 3.
123, ‘To beg of Hob and Dick’. See Nares.
=hoball,= a term of abuse. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3 (Merygreek);
‘An hobbel, cobbel, dullard, _haebes_, _barbus_’, Levins, Manipulus. In
prov. use in the north, meaning a fool, a dull, stupid person, a
blockhead, see EDD. (s.v. Hobbil, sb.^{1}).
=hobby,= a small kind of hawk; ‘_Hobreau_, the hawke tearmed a hobby’,
Cotgrave; Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 195; _hobies_, pl., Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, cap. xviii. ME. _hoby_, ‘alaudarius’ (Cath. Angl.); OF.
_hobe_, see Hatzfeld (s.v. Hobereau).
=hobby,= a small or middle-sized horse; ‘_Hobin_, a hobbie, a little
ambling horse’, Cotgrave; _hobby-headed_, shaggy-headed like a hobby or
small pony, Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 3 (Maria). ‘Hobby’ is in
prov. use in many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Hobby, sb.^{1} 1),
also in Ireland, see Joyce, English as we speak it in Ireland, 274.
=hobby-horse.= In the morris-dance and on the stage, a figure of a
horse, made of light material, and fastened about the waist of the
performer, who imitated the antics of a skittish horse; also, the
performer. L. L. L. iii. 1. 30; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle,
iv. 5 (Ralph).
=hobler,= for =hobbler,= a child’s top that wobbles, or spins
unsteadily. Hence, a useless toy, Lyly, Mother Bombie, v. 3 (Bedunenus).
=hob-man-blind,= a name for the game of blind-man’s-buff. Two Angry
Women, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 364; Heywood, Wise Wom. Hogsdon, iii.
(Works, v. 310). ‘Hobman’ in Yorkshire is a name for a sprite,
hobgoblin, see EDD. (s.v. Hob, sb.^{1} 4 (2)).
=hock-cart,= the last cart at harvest-home. Herrick has a short poem,
entitled ‘The Hock-Cart, or Harvest Home’, where he says, ‘The harvest
swains and wenches bound For joy, to see the Hock-Cart crown’d’ (Nares);
see Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 301. Cp. the Hertfordsh. term ‘the Hockey Cart’,
the cart that brings in the last corn of the harvest, see EDD. (s.v.
Hockey, sb.^{1} 2 (2)). Prob. conn. with Low G. _hokk_ (pl. _hokken_), a
heap of sheaves (Berghaus). See =hooky.=
=Hock-day,= the second Tuesday after Easter Sunday (NED.). _Hock
Monday_, the Monday in ‘Hock-tide’; ‘Rec^{d} of the women upon Hoc
Monday 5_s._ 2_d._’, Churchwardens’ Accounts, Kingston-upon-Thames, ann.
1578, see Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 104; spelt _Hough-munday_, Arden of
Feversham, iv. 3. 43. See NED. (s.v. Hock-day) and EDD. (s.v. Hock,
sb.^{2} 1 (2)).
=hoddydoddy,= a short and dumpy person; a simpleton, dupe. Udall,
Roister Doister, i. 1. 25; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 10. 65. See
EDD. (s.v. Hoddydoddy, 3).
=hoddypeke,= a simpleton. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, iii. 3 (Chat);
Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1176; _huddypeke_, The Four Elements, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 42; Skelton, Why Come ye Nat to Courte, 326.
=hodermoder, in,= in secret, secretly. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 69; _in
huddermother_, Ascham, Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 36; spelt
_huddermudder_, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 74; _hudther-mudther_,
Golding, Metam. xiii. 15.
=hodmandod,= a shell-snail. Webster, Appius, iii. 4 (Corbulo); Bacon,
Sylva, § 732. An E. Anglian word (Ray, 1691); also in prov. use in
various parts of England, meaning (1) a snail, (2) a clumsy ill-shaped
person, (3) a simpleton, (4) a mean stingy person, (5) a scarecrow
(EDD.).
=hogrel, hoggerel,= a young sheep of the second year; ‘Hoggerell, a yong
shepe’, Palsgrave; Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv, l. 72. ‘Hoggrel’ is in
common prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England for a young
sheep, before it has been shorn (EDD.).
=hog-rubber,= a clown; a term of reproach. Middleton, Roaring Girl, ii.
2 (Moll).
=hoiden,= a rude, ignorant, ill-bred man. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii.
1 (Hilts); ‘Shall I argue of conversation with this hoyden?’, Milton,
Colasterion (Works, ed. 1851, p. 364); ‘_Badault_, a fool, dolt, sot,
fop, ass, coxcomb, gaping hoydon’, Cotgrave. Du. _heyden_, ‘homo
agrestis et incultus’ (Kilian).
=hoigh, on the,= in a state of excitement, riotously disposed, jolly.
Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 2 (NED.); Heywood, A Woman Killed, i. 1
(Sir Francis). _Hoigh_ = _hoy_, an interjectional cry denoting
excitement.
=hoit,= to be noisy; to indulge in noisy mirth. Beaumont and Fl., Knt.
of Burning Pestle, i. 3 (Mrs. M.); Etherege, Man of Mode, v. 2
(Dorimant); Fuller, Pisgah, ii. 4. 6. ‘To hoit’, to play the fool;
‘hoyting’, riotous and noisy mirth, are in prov. use in the north
country, see EDD. (s.v. Hoit, vb.^{1} 4).
=hokos pokos,= a juggler. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (Mirth). Cp.
G. _hokuspokus_, jugglery; see Weigand and H. Paul.
=Hole, the;= See =counter= (3). In Cook’s play of Green’s Tu Quoque
(printed in Ancient E. Drama, ii. 563) Spendall is represented as in
prison ‘on the Master’s side’, or the best part of the prison. But he
runs through his money, and is advised to remove ‘into some cheaper
ward’. He asks ‘What ward should I remove in?’ Holdfast replies, ‘Why,
to the Twopenny Ward; . . . or, if you will, you may go into the Hole,
and there you may feed for nothing.’ See =basket.=
=Hollantide,= the season of All Saints, the first week in November, All
Hallows’-tide. Middleton, Family of Love, iv. 1 (Mis. P.);
_All-holland-tide_, Your Five Gallants, iv. 2 (Servant). See EDD. (s.v.
Hallantide). OE. _Hālgena tīd_, the Saints’ Season.
=holt,= a small wood or grove. Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 3
(Sul. Shepherd). ME. _holt_, a plantation (Chaucer, C. T. A. 6). OE.
_holt_, a wood (Beowulf).
=Holyrood, Holyrode-day,= the Festival of the Invention of the Holy
Cross, May 3; ‘Any time between Martilmas and holy-rode day’,
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 134. 21; the Festival of the Exaltation of the
Holy Cross, Holy Cross Day, September 14, 1 Hen. IV, i. 1. 52.
=honest,= chaste. Merry Wives, ii. 1. 247; iii. 3. 236; iv. 2. 107;
‘Like as an whore envyeth an honest woman’, Coverdale, 2 Esdras xvi. 49.
=honniken,= a term of contempt; a despised fellow. Dekker, Shoemakers’
Holiday, iv. 5 (Lord Mayor); here _honniken_ is equated to needy knave.
Evidently connected with MHG. _hone_, a despised person, one who lives
in shame and contempt; cp. G. _hohn_, scorn, derision.
=honorificabilitudinitatibus.= Given as a specimen of a long word, L. L.
L. v. 1. 41; Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1 (Fool).
=hooch,= a ‘hutch’, a chest. Gascoigne, Flowers (ed. Hazlitt, i. 67).
‘Hutch’ is in common prov. use in Suffolk for one of those oaken chests
still to be seen in cottages (EDD.). ME. _huche_, ‘cista, archa’
(Prompt.); see note, no. 1031 (EETS., p. 622). See =hutch.=
=hoodman-blind,= the game now called blind-man’s-buff. Hamlet, iii. 4.
77; _hudman-blind_, Merry Devil, i. 3. 52. From the _hood_ used to blind
the _man_. Cp. _hoodman_, blinded man, All’s Well, iv. 3. 136. [This old
word ‘hoodman-blind’ appears in Tennyson’s In Memoriam, lxxviii.]
=hooky, hooky,= a cry at harvest-home. Nash, Summer’s Last Will
(Harvest), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 54. See EDD. (s.v. Hockey,
sb.^{1}). See =hock-cart.=
=hoop,= to shout with wonder. Hen. V, ii. 2. 108; to shout at with
insult, Cor. iv. 5. 84. (Usually altered to _whoop_.) Hence, _Hooping_,
a cry of surprise, exclamation of wonder, As You Like It, iii. 2. 203.
ME. _howpe_, to utter a hoop (Chaucer, C.T. B. 4590), OF. _huper_ (later
_houper_).
=hoove;= see =hove.=
=hope,= expectation unaccompanied by desire. 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 235;
Othello, i. 3. 203; to expect, Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, ii. 4 (Fernando);
iv. 2 (Roseilli); Antony and Cl. ii. 1. 38.
=hopper,= the hopper of a mill; _hopper-hipped_, shaped about the hips
like a ‘hopper’. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, ii. 1 (Sir Simon);
_hopper-rumped_, Middleton, Women beware Women, ii. 2 (Sordido).
=hopper-crow,= a crow that follows a seed-hopper during sowing. Greene,
James IV, v. 2. 10. See NED. ‘Hopper’, a seed-basket used in sowing corn
by hand, is in prov. use from the north of England to Shropshire (EDD.).
=hopshakles,= ‘hap-shackles’, bands for confining a horse or cow at
pasture. Ascham, Scholemaster, p. 128. ‘Hapshackle’ still in use in
Scotland (NED.).
=horion,= a severe blow. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 177. 19. F. _horion_,
‘a dust, cuff, rap, knock, thump’ (Cotgr.).
=horn,= a horn-thimble; ‘A horn on your thumb’, Cambyses, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, iv. 235. See =horn-thumb.=
=hornbook,= a paper containing the alphabet, &c., protected by a
transparent plate of horn, and mounted on a wooden tablet with a handle.
Used for teaching the very young. L. L. L. v. 1. 49; Two Noble Kinsmen,
ii. 3. 46.
=horn-keck,= the gar-fish. Used _fig._, ‘Suche an horne-keke’ (as a term
of abuse), Skelton, ed. Dyce, ii. 77; l. 304.
=horn-thumb,= a thimble of horn worn on the thumb by cut-purses, for
resisting the edge of the knife in cutting; ‘I mean a child of the
horn-thumb, a babe of booty, a cut-purse’, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1
(Overdo). Cp. Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 5 (1661); p. 138, col. 2.
=horrent,= bristling. Milton, P. L. ii. 513. L. _horrens_, rough,
bristled.
=horse,= pl. horses. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iii. 280 (and very often).
OE. _hors_, horses, pl. of _hors_.
=horsecorser,= a dealer in horses. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, l. 1084. ‘A
Horse Courser, or Horse scourser, _mango equorum_’, Minsheu (1627);
_horse-courser_, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, Induction; Marlowe, Faustus,
iv. 6. See =corser.=
=hose,= clothing for the legs and loins, breeches. As You Like It, ii.
7. 160; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 185, 239. ‘Doublet and hose’, the typical male
attire (i.e. without a cloak), Much Ado, i. 203; Merry Wives, iii. 1.
47.
=hospitage,= hospitality. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 6. Med. L.
_hospitagium_ (Ducange).
=hospitale,= a place of rest, a building for receiving guests, a
‘hostel’. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 10. Med. L. _hospitale_ (Ducange).
=host,= a victim to be sacrificed. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid ii, l. 196. L.
_hostia_, an animal sacrificed, victim.
=host,= to receive as a guest, to entertain. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 27;
_hosted with_, lodged with, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 12, § 2.
=hostless,= inhospitable. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 3.
=hostry,= a hostelry, an inn, lodging; ‘There was no roume for them in
the hostrey’, Tyndale, Luke ii. 7; Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 23; Marlowe,
Faustus, iv. 6 (near the end). OF. _hosterie_, _hostrie_, an inn. Cp.
Ital. _osteria_.
=hot,= _pt. t._ of _hit_. Porter, Two Angry Women, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley,
vii. 276; Beard, Theatre, God’s Judgem. i. 21 (ed. 1631, 122); pp., R.
Scott, Discov. Witcher. xii. 15 (ed. 1886, 206). In prov. use in
Warwicksh., Bedfordsh., and Suffolk, see EDD. (s.v. Hit, 2 and 3).
=hot, hote,= was named, was called; ‘It rightly hot The well of life’,
Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 29; ‘Another Knight that hote Sir Brianor’, ib.,
iv. 4. 40. OE. _hātte_ (Matt. xiii. 55), pres. and pt. t. of _hātan_, to
be called. See =hight.=
=hote,= _pt. t._, named; ‘A shepheard trewe yet not so true As he that
earst I hote’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 164. A mistaken form, from
confusion with the above. The usual late ME. form is _hight_ (_hiȝt_),
_hehte_ (in Layamon); OE. _hēht_ (_hēt_), pt. t. of _hātan_, to call,
name.
=hot-house,= a bagnio, house for hot baths; a house of ill-fame. Measure
for M. ii. 1. 66; Westward Ho (near the beginning).
=Hough-munday;= see =Hock-day.=
=hounces,= housings, trappings of a horse; ‘Gemmes That stood upon the
Collars, Trace, and Hounces in their Hemmes’, Golding, Metam. ii. 109
(not in Latin text). The explanation in NED., ‘an ornament on the collar
of a horse’, applies only to other passages; in this case, the gems
ornamented the collars, traces, and housings. ‘Hounce’ is an E. Anglian
word for the red and yellow worsted ornament spread over the collar of a
cart-horse (EDD.). It is a nasalized form of F. _housse_, a foot-cloth
for a horse (Cotgr.).
=housel= (_fig._ used), to give repentance to; ‘May zealous smiths so
housel all our hacknies, that they may feel compunction in their feet’,
Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iii. 1, (Shorthose). See below.
=housling;= ‘The housling fire’, i.e. the sacramental fire, Spenser, F.
Q. i. 12. 37. The Roman marriage was solemnized _sacramento ignis et
aquae_. ME. _houselen_, to administer the Eucharist (P. Plowman, B. xix.
3); _housele_, the Eucharist (ib., C. xxii. 394). OE. _hūsel_. See Dict.
(s.v. Housel).
=hout,= a ‘hoot’, an outcry, clamour. Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iv. 1
(Andrugio). See Dict. (s.v. Hoot).
=hove,= to tarry, stay, dwell. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 20; Colin Clout,
666; ‘(At Bosworth) some stode hovynge a-ferre of’, Fabyan (cited by
Way). A north-country word, now obsolete (EDD.). ME. _hovyn_, as hors,
and abydyn, ‘sirocino’, Prompt. EETS. 236. See Dict. M. and S., and
Way’s note in Prompt., p. 252.
=Howleglas;= see =Owlglass.=
=howres,= hours, i.e. the prayers said at the canonical hours or stated
times for prayer; ‘The Hermite . . . Was wont his howres and holy things
to bed’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 5. 35. See Dict. Christ. Antiq. (s.v. Hours
of Prayer).
=hoyle,= a mark made use of by archers when shooting at rovers (NED.).
Drayton, Pol. xxvi. 334. See =rove.=
=hoyn,= to grumble, grunt. Skelton, Against Ven. Tongues, 4. A Lincoln
word, see EDD. (s.v. Hone, vb.^{2} 1). Norm. F. _hoigner_, ‘hogner,
geindre, pleurnicher, se lamenter’ (Moisy).
=hoyst, brock!,= a cry of encouragement to a horse. Warner, Albion’s
England, bk. ii, ch. 10.
=huck-bone,= the hip-bone. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 57. 4. ‘Huck’ is a
Lincoln word, see EDD. (s.v. Hock, sb.^{1} 1), so, in Tennyson’s
Northern Cobbler, ‘I slither’d an’ hurted my huck.’ See NED.
=hucke,= to higgle, chaffer, bargain. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. v,
ch. 26, st. 45; ‘I love not to sell my ware to you, you hucke so sore’,
Palsgrave. A west-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Huck, vb.^{2}). ME.
_hukke_, ‘auccionor’ (Voc. 566. 36). Cp. MHG. _hucke_, ‘Kleinhändler’
(Lexer).
=huckle,= the hip, haunch. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 45; Butler, Hud. i. 2.
925. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
=huckle-bone,= the hip-bone, Hobbes, Iliad, 67 (NED.); the astragalus,
‘Ἀστράγαλος is in Latin _talus_ and it is the little square hucclebone
in the ancle place of the hinder legge in all beastes saving man’,
Udall, Apoph., 185; ‘_Bibelots_, hucklebones or the play at
hucklebones’, Cotgrave. This name for the game is in prov. use in the
north, in Lincoln, Surrey, and Sussex (EDD.).
=huckson,= lit. the hough-sinew; also, the hough or hock; corresponding
to the heel in man. Herrick, The Beggar to Mab, 11. A Devon word, see
EDD. (s.v. Hock, sb.^{1}). OE. _hōhsinu_. See NED. (s.v. Hockshin, also,
Huxen).
=hudder-mudder;= see =hodermoder.=
=huddle,= to hurry; ‘The huddling brook’, Milton, Comus, 495; ‘Country
vicars when the sermon’s done, Run huddling to the benediction’, Dryden,
Epil. to Sir Martin Mar-all, 2; to hurry over in a slovenly way, Dryden,
tr. of Virgil, Georgics, i. 353.
=huddle, old,= a term of contempt for a decrepit old man. Lyly, Euphues,
p. 133; Webster, Malcontent, i. 1 (Malevole).
=huddypeke;= see =hoddypeke.=
=hudman-blind;= see =hoodman-blind.=
=huff,= to brag, talk big, bluster; freq. _to huff it_. B. Jonson, Every
Man in Hum. i. 2. 35 (Knowell); Peele, Battle of Alcazar, ii. 2 (end);
_huff_, a specimen of brag, Butler, Hudibras, ii. 2. 391; hence
_huff-cap_, a swaggerer, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 3 (King);
_attrib._ blustering, swaggering, ‘Half-cap terms’, Bp. Hall, Sat. i. 3.
17.
=huffecap,= a heady ale; ‘Such headie ale and beere as for the
mightinesse thereof . . . is commonlie called huffecap’, Harrison, Desc.
England, bk. ii, ch. 18; ‘This Huf-cap (as they call it) and _nectar_ of
lyfe’, Stubbes, Anatomy of Abuses (Church-ales); Greene, Looking Glasse,
ii. 3.
=hugger-mugger,= secretly. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 392; _in
hugger-mugger_, Hamlet, iv. 5. 84; Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 123;
Spenser, Mother Hub. 139. Etymology unknown. It has been suggested that
_hugger-mugger_ may be connected with the Anglo-Irish _cugger-mugger_,
which means whispering, gossiping in a low voice, see Joyce, English as
we speak it in Ireland, p. 243, and Modern Language Review, July, 1912
(On some Etymologies).
=hugy,= huge, vast. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 503; Dryden, tr. of
Virgil, Aeneid v, 113.
=huisher,= an ‘usher’, door-keeper of a court, servant of an official,
B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 3. 11; ‘His sergeants or huishers
(_lictores_)’, Holland, Livy, xxiv. 44; _husher_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 4.
13; _hushier_, Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Induction. F.
_huissier_, deriv. of (_h_)_uis_, door. See Dict. (s.v. Usher).
=huke,= a cape or cloak, with a hood. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 56; Bacon,
New Atlantis, 1639, p. 24. OF. _huque_. Med. L. _huca_, ‘ricinium quo
scilicet mulieres olim caput operiebant et velabant’ (Ducange).
=hulched up,= cramped up; ‘I hate to be hulched up in a coach’,
Etherege, Man of Mode, iii. 3 (Belinda).
=hulder,= the name of a kind of wood for arrows; ‘Hulder, black thorne
. . . make holow, starting, studding, gaddynge shaftes’, Ascham,
Toxophilus, p. 124. The MHG. _holder_ (G. _holunder_) means ‘elder’; it
is objected that Ascham mentions ‘elder’ in the same sentence, and this
suggests some difference. The difference may be only in name, according
as the wood is foreign or native. Some say _hulver_ (= holly) is meant;
but I think _holly_ would be praised.
=hulk,= to disembowel; ‘Hulke hir (which is to open hir and take out hyr
garbage)’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 62; p. 175; Beaumont and Fl.,
Philaster, v. 4. 36. In prov. use in E. Anglia for taking out the
entrails of a rabbit, see EDD. (s.v. Hulk, vb.^{3} 1).
=hull,= to float, to drift, or move on the sea as a ship with the sails
furled, by the action of winds and waves upon the hull. Richard III, iv.
4. 488; Twelfth Night, i. 5. 217; Milton, P. L. xi. 840; Sir T. Browne,
Christian Morals, i. 1 (ed. Greenhill, 161).
=hum,= a kind of liquor; strong or double ale. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass,
i. 1 (Satan); Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, ii. 3 (Belleur). Hence,
_Hum-glass_, a glass for ‘hum’. Shirley, The Wedding, ii. 3 (Lodam). See
Nares.
=humblesse,= humility. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 26; i. 12. 8. Anglo-F.
_humblesse_ (Gower).
=humbling,= rumbling (of wind blasts); Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid (ed.
Arber, 19); buzzing as a bee (ed. Arber, 31).
=humdrum,= a commonplace fellow; ‘Stand still humdrum’, Butler,
Hudibras, i. 3. 112; ‘A consort for every humdrum’, B. Jonson, Every Man
in Hum. i. 1 (Stephen).
=humect,= to moisten. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 11 (end). L.
_humectare_, _humectus_, wet; _humere_, _umere_, to be wet.
=humorous,= moist, humid, damp; ‘Every lofty top, which late the
humorous night Bespangled had with pearle’, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 214;
‘The humorous night’, Romeo, ii. 1. 31; with play on sense of fanciful,
whimsical, humoursome, L. L. L. iii. 1. 177; moody, ill-humoured, As You
Like It, i. 2. 278.
=humour;= in ancient and mediaeval physiology, one of the four chief
fluids (blood, phlegm, choler, melancholy) by the relative proportions
of which a man’s physical and mental qualities were supposed to be
determined; hence, mental disposition, temperament, mood. L. L. L. v. 1.
10; Merry Wives, ii. 3. 80. See Schmidt’s Shakespeare-Lexicon (s.v.);
also, B. Jonson’s Every Man in Humour (H. B. Wheatley’s account of the
word in Introduction, pp. xxx-xxxiv).
=Humphrey;= see =Duke Humphrey.=
=hunte, hunt,= a hunter, huntsman. Golding, Metam. viii. 359; Gascoigne,
Art of Venerie, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 313; Drant, tr. of Horace, Sat. i. 1
(NED.). OE. _hunta_, a huntsman (Chron., ann. 1127); hence Hunt as a
proper name.
=hunt’s-up,= the hunt is up; a tune played to awaken huntsmen. Romeo,
iii. 5. 34; _the hunt is up_, Titus Andron. ii. 2. 1; Fletcher, Bonduca,
ii. 4 (near the end).
=hurle,= strife, commotion. Mirror for Mag., Glocester, st. 27. ME.
_hurl_, or debate, ‘sedicio’ (Prompt.). See below.
=hurlwind,= a tempestuous wind. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 8. Cp. the
Cumberland word ‘hurl’ for a tempest, see EDD. (s.v. Hurl, sb.^{3} 11).
ME. _hurle_, rush, noise (of the sea); _hurling_, roaring (Wars Alex.).
=hurricano,= a hurricane. Massinger, Unnat. Combat, v. 2 (Malefort); a
water-spout, ‘The dreadful spout which shipmen do the hurricano call’,
Tr. and Cr. v. 2. 172. See Dict. (s.v. Hurricane), and Stanford.
=hurring,= reverberation. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 253.
=hurry-durry,= boisterous, as rough weather; hence, impatient,
irritable; ‘’Tis a hurry-durry blade’, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, i. 1 (2
Sailor).
=huswife, housewife,= a hussy, a pert girl. North, tr. of Plutarch, M.
Antonius, § 3 (in Shak. Plut., p. 161); ‘Impudent housewife!’ Vanbrugh,
The Confederacy, v. 2 (Gripe).
=hutch,= to hoard, as in a _hutch_ or chest. Milton, Comus, 719. See
=hooch.=
=hyaline;= ‘The clear Hyaline, the glassy sea’, Milton, P. L. vii. 619.
Cp. Apoc. iv. 6: θάλασσα ὑαλίνη, ‘a sea of glass like unto crystal.’
=hyce, hyse,= to ‘hoist’ up; ‘I hyce up an ancre; I hyse up the sayle’,
Palsgrave. Dutch _hyssen_, ‘to hoise’ (Sewel). See Dict. (s.v. Hoist).
=hydegy,= a rustic dance. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 264; _hydagy_, id., xxvi.
206. See =hay-de-guy.=
=hydromancy,= divination by water. Greene, Friar Bacon, scene 2. 16
(W.); p. 155, col. 1 (D). Gk. ὑδρομαντεία.
=hydroptic,= dropsical; ‘His hydroptic thoughts’, Lady Alimony, i. 3
(Timon). [‘Soul-hydroptic with a sacred thirst’, Browning, Grammarian’s
Funeral, 95.] Deriv. of Gk. ὕδρωψ, the dropsy.
=hydrus,= a water-snake. Milton, P. L. x. 525. L. _hydrus_; Gk. ὕδρος, a
water-snake. Cp. _hydra_.
=hyke,= a cry to hounds, to encourage them to the chase; ‘Hyke a Talbot,
Hyke a Bewmont, Hyke, Hyke, to him, to him’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 40;
p. 112; ‘Hike, hallow, hike’, id., c. 62, p. 175. [Cp. Scott, Quentin
Durward, c. 33.]
=hyleg= or =hylech;= ‘A Term apply’d by Astrologers to a Planet, or part
of Heaven which in a Man’s Nativity becomes the Moderator and
Significator of his Life’, Phillips, Dict. (1706); Fletcher, Bloody
Brother, iv. 2 (Norbret); Tomkis, Albumazar, ii. 3, 7; B. Jonson, Staple
of News, iv. 1 (P. Canter). Pers. (and Turkish) _hailāj_, a calculation
of astrologers, a ‘nativity’. See NED.
=hypodidascal,= an usher. Shirley, Love Tricks, iii. 5 (Gorgon). Gk.
ὑποδιδάσκαλος, under-master or subordinate teacher.
=hypostasis,= a sediment, esp. of urine. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, v. 3
(Physician); Nabbes, Microcosmus, iv (Phlegm). Gk. ὑπόστασις, lit. that
which stands under; hence, sediment.
I
=iambographer,= a writer of iambic verses. Shirley, Maid’s Revenge, i. 2
(Montenegro). Gk. ἰαμβογράφος.
=idlesse, ydlesse,= idleness. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 2. 31; Greene,
Alphonsus, Prol. 11.
=idol,= a phantom. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxiii. 94; Od. iv. 1074; an
image, Bussy D’Ambois, iv. 1 (Bussy); _idole_, image, reflection,
likeness, Spenser. F. Q. ii. 2. 41. Gk. εἴδωλον, an image, a phantom
(Homer).
=igniferent,= fire-producing, flaming. Birth of Merlin, iv. 5. 95. L.
_igniferens_.
=ilke,= an ‘elk’, a wild swan. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 86, where it is
remarked that it is ‘of Hollanders so term’d’. See =elk.=
=illecebrous,= enticing. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 7, § 2; W.
Webbe. Eng. Poetry (ed. Arber, p. 45). From L. _illecebra_, enticement;
_illicere_, to entice.
=illect,= to entice, allure. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 7, § 4.
From the pp. stem of _illicere_, to allure.
=ill-mewed,= kept in confinement without proper attention. Beaumont and
Fl., Custom of the Country, iii. 3 (Jaques). See =mew= (2).
=ill-part,= playing an evil part; ‘King John, that ill part personage’,
Death of E. of Huntington, i. 3 (Friar); see NED. (s.v. Ill, iv. 8. B).
=illustrate,= to render illustrious; ‘Matter to me of glory, whom their
hate Illustrates’, Milton, P. L. v. 739; ‘Good men are the stars, the
planets of the ages wherein they live, and illustrate the times’, B.
Jonson, Discoveries, lxxxvi (p. 751). L. _illustrare_, to make famous.
=imbibition,= treatment with a liquid, which was absorbed. B. Jonson,
Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle).
=imboss,= to take refuge. Butler, Elephant in the Moon, 130. See below.
=imbost,= driven to an extremity, like a hunted animal. Beaumont and
Fl., Mons. Thomas, iv. 2 (Launcelot); exhausted, Drayton, Pol. xiii.
135. See =embost.=
=imbosture,= embossed ornament, raised work; ‘There nor wants Imbosture
nor embroidery’, Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iv. 3 (Rufinus).
See =emboss.=
=imbrangle,= to confuse, mix up, entangle. Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 19. A
Cheshire word: ‘An imbrangled affair’ (EDD.); cp. ‘brangled’, in prov.
use: ‘His accounts are so brangled I could make nothing of ’em’
(Northampton); see EDD. (s.v. Brangle, vb. 2). OF. _branler_, to shake,
brandish (a lance) (Ch. Rol. 3327).
=imbrayde,= to upbraid. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 12, § 3. See
=embraid.=
=imbroccato,= a pass or thrust in fencing. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 7
(_or_ 4) (Bobadil); _imbrocatas_, pl., Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2
(Amorphus). Ital. _imbroccata_, ‘a thrust at fence, or a venie giuen
ouer the dagger’ (Florio); _imbroccare_, to thrust. See =embrocata.=
=immane,= huge, great in size. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxi. 296; Odyssey,
ix. 268. L. _immanis_.
=immoment,= of no moment, Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 166.
=imp,= offspring, child. 2 Hen. IV, v. 5. 47; Hen. V, iv. 1. 45; ‘Thou
most dreaded impe of highest Jove’, Spenser, F. Q., Introd. 3; i. 9. 6;
i. 10. 60; i. 11. 5; ‘The King preferred eighty noble imps to the order
of knighthood’, Stow Annals, 1592 (Trench, Sel. Gl.). The orig. mg. of
_imp_ was a graft, scion, or young shoot. ME. _impe_: ‘of feble trees
ther comen wrecched impes’ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 3146); OE. _impe_, a
shoot, graft; _impian_, to graft. Med. L. _impotus_, a graft (Lex
Salica); Gk. ἔμφυτος, engrafted (N.T. James i. 21).
=imp,= to engraft new feathers on to a hawk’s wing; to supply it with
new feathers. Richard II, ii. 1. 292; Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the
Country, v. 5 (Guiomar); Rule a Wife, ii. 1. 6.
=impacable,= unappeasable. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 22; Ruines of Time,
395. L. _pacare_, to appease.
=impale,= to encircle, as with a pale, to surround. 3 Hen. VI, iii. 3;
Rowley, All’s Lost, ii. 2. 7; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, v. 308.
=impassible,= incapable of suffering. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii,
c. 24, § 2; Dryden, Hind and Panther, i. 95. Patristic L. _impassibilis_
(Tertullian).
=impeach,= to hinder. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 28; Spenser,
Virgil’s Gnat, 576. See =empeach.=
=impechement,= hindrance. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 15 (end).
See =empesshement.=
=imperance,= commanding quality, command. Hero and Leander, iii. 392. L.
_imperare_, to command.
=impertinent,= not pertinent, irrelevant. Bacon, Essay 26; Tempest i. 2.
138.
=impeticos,= to pocket. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 27; a burlesque word coined
by the fool; it seems to suggest _petticoat_.
=implore,= entreaty. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 37.
=imply,= to enfold. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 31; i. 6. 6; to involve as a
necessary consequence, Pericles, iv. 1. 82.
=importable,= not to be borne, unendurable. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 35;
Chaucer, C. T. B. 3792. L. _importabilis_, unbearable.
=importance,= import, meaning. Winter’s Tale, v. 2. 20; a matter that
concerns, Cymb. i. 4. 45; urgent request, ‘At our importance hither is
he come’, King John, ii. 7; Twelfth Nt. v. 371. F. _importance_,
‘importance, moment, value’ (Cotgr.).
=important,= urgent. Much Ado, ii. 1. 74; Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s
Fortune, iv. 1 (Veramour).
=importune,= grievous, severe. Spenser, F. Q, i. 12. 16; ii. 6. 29;
importunate, Bacon, Essay 9. L. _importunus_, troublesome.
=imposterous, impostorous,= deceitful, like an impostor. Beaumont and
Fl., Woman-hater, iii. 2 (Duke); Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, ii. 3
(Horsus).
=impostumation,= a tumour. Bacon, Essay 15, § 14. From _impostume_
(_imposthume_).
=impotence,= want of self-restraint, ungovernable passion. Massinger, A
Very Woman, ii. 1 (Antonio).
=impotent,= unable to restrain oneself, unrestrained. Spenser, F. Q. v.
12. 1; Massinger, Unnatural Combat, iii. 2. 37. L. _impotens_,
powerless. See Trench, Select Glossary (s.v.).
=imprest,= advance-pay of soldiers or sailors. Dekker, Shoemakers’
Holiday, i. 1 (L. Mayor); _imprest money_, money advanced, a loan, B.
Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iv. 1 (Compass). Ital. _impresto_, a loan;
_imprestare_, to lend (Florio).
=improperation,= a reproach, a taunt. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici, pt. i,
§ 3. Deriv. of Late L. _improperare_, to reproach (Vulgate, Rom. xv. 3).
=improve,= to use for advantage, to turn to account. Jul. Caesar, ii. 1.
159.
=improved,= approved. Middleton, The Widow, i. 1 (Brandino).
=impuissance,= want of power, weakness. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p.
92).
=in;= _in-and-in_, a gambling game for three persons, with four dice;
_in-and-in_ was when there were two doublets, or all four dice alike,
which swept all the stakes. B. Jonson, New Inn, Bat Burst, an
_in-and-in_ man, i.e. a professed gambler. See Halliwell. _In by the
week_, (?) prepared to go on for a week, Udall, Roister Doister, i. 2.
4. _In dock, out nettle_, a popular charm, said when rubbing a dock-leaf
on the skin, to remove the effects of a sting by a nettle. Hence applied
to a change from pain to joy, or to any exhibition of inconstancy or
unsteadiness (Nares). Udall, Roister Doister, ii. 3. 8; Heywood, English
Proverbs, 54, 133. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Nettle). ME. _Netle in,
dokke out_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iv. 461). See Skeat, Early English
Proverbs, § 187.
=incarnadine,= to dye red. Macbeth, ii. 2. 62. _Incarnadine_ = F.
_incarnadin_; Ital. _incarnadino_, carnation colour (Florio); lit.
flesh-colour, deriv. of _carne_, flesh.
†=incartata,= an (assumed) term in fencing. Pl. _incartata’s_, Nabbes,
Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler). Nabbes explains it as being one of the
‘terms in our dialect to puzzle desperate ignorance’.
=incend,= to heat; to inflame, incite. _Incended_, heated, Sir T. Elyot,
Castel of Helth, bk. iii, c. 3; Governour, bk. i, c. 23, § last but one.
L. _incendere_, to set on fire.
=incense,= to ‘insense’, to make to understand. Hen. VIII, v. 1. 43. ‘To
insense’ (also written ‘incense’) is in gen. prov. use in the sense of
‘to cause to understand, to explain’ in Scotland and Ireland, also in
England, from the north to Somerset and Cornwall; see EDD. Anglo-F.
_ensenser_, to inspire, persuade (Gower).
=incentive,= enkindling; ‘Incentive reed . . . pernicious with one touch
to fire’ (i.e. the gunner’s match), Milton, P. L. vi. 519.
=inceration,= a bringing to the consistency of wax. B. Jonson,
Alchemist, ii. 1 (Face). Deriv. of L. _cera_, wax. Cp. =ceration.=
=inchoation,= beginning. Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, pp. 62, 92). L.
_inchoatio_, beginning (Vulgate, Heb. vi. 1); deriv. of _inchoare_, to
begin.
=inchpin,= a name among huntsmen for the sweetbread of a deer; by some
explained as ‘the lower gut’, so Cotgrave (s.v. _Boyau_); Stanyhurst,
tr. of Aeneid, i. 219; ‘The sweete gut which some call the Inchpinne’,
Turbervile, Hunting, 134; B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. i. 2 (Robin).
=incision,= blood-letting. _To make incision_, to let blood, in order to
cure, As You Like It, iii. 2. 75; gallants were in the habit of stabbing
their arms, to prove their love for a mistress, Merchant of Venice, ii.
1. 6.
=incomber,= an ‘encumber’, an encumbrance on an estate, a mortgage;
‘Raves hee for bonds and incombers’, Dekker, If this be not a good Play
(Lurchall’s last speech), Works, iii. 358.
=income,= an entrance-fee. Latimer, Seven Sermons before Edw. VI (ed.
Arber, p. 50); Chapman, Mons. d’Olive, iii. 1 (Mugeron); a coming in,
arrival, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvii. 482.
=incompared,= incomparable, matchless. Spenser, Verses to Sir F.
Walsingham, l. 1.
=incontinent,= immediately. Richard II, v. 6. 48; Othello, iv. 3. 12. F.
_incontinent_, ‘incontinently, immediately’ (Cotgr.). Late L. _in
continenti_ (_tempore_), in continuous time, without interval
(Tertullian); see Rönsch.
=incontinently,= immediately. Othello, i. 3. 306.
=incony,= fine, delicate, pretty; ‘My sweet ounce of man’s flesh, my
in-conie Jew’, L. L. L. iii. 1. 136; iv. 1. 144; ‘Thy incony lap’,
Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5 (_or_ 6). A cant word, prevalent about
1600, of doubtful meaning and of unascertained origin.
=increable,= incredible. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 140. 9; lf. 150,
back, 6. OF. _increable_ (F. _incroyable_), incredible.
=indagation,= investigation. B. Jonson, Discoveries, lxxiv. L.
_indagatio_ (Cicero).
=inde,= blue; see =ynde.=
=indeniz’d into,= made to dwell in another body, metamorphosed into;
‘The perverse and peevish Are next indeniz’d into wrinkled apes’,
Fisher, True Trojans, ii. 3. 23; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 172. Short
for _endenizen’d_.
=indent,= to bargain. 1 Hen. IV, i. 3. 87. Lit. to make an indenture or
covenant; an indenture being so called because duplicate deeds were cut
with notched edges to fit one another. Med. L. _indentare_, ‘dente
infringere, occare’ (Ducange); Law L. _indentare_, to indent.
=indifferent,= impartial. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 1; v. 9. 36.
=indigne,= unworthy, undeserving. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 1. 30. F.
_indigne_.
=indignify,= to treat with indignity, to scorn. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1.
30; Colin Clout, 583.
=induction,= a bringing in; ‘The solemne induction of the Arke into the
oracle’, BIBLE, 2 Chron. v (contents); initial step in an undertaking, 1
Hen. IV, iii. 1. 2. L. _inductio_, an introduction, leading into
(Cicero).
=indue,= to clothe, used _fig._: ‘Untill ye be indued with power from on
high’ (quoadusque induamini virtutem ex alto), BIBLE, Luke xxiv. 49. L.
_induo_, to put on an article of dress.
=indue,= to endow. Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 105; Two Gent. v. 4. 153; _indued
unto_, endowed with qualities suited to, Hamlet, iv. 7. 180; _indues
to_, brings to, Othello, iii. 4. 146. See =endue.=
=indurance;= see =endurance.=
=inew;= see =enew.=
=infame,= to accuse as being infamous. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii,
c. 7, § 10. _Infamed_, branded with infamy, Bacon, Essay 19, § 6. Med.
L. _infamare_, ‘accusare, criminari’ (Ducange).
=infamous,= ill-spoken of, of ill report. Milton, Comus, 424; deserving
of infamy, Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 27.
=infant,= a youth of noble or gentle birth. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 25
(used of ‘a young knight’ of Prince Arthur); vi. 8. 25 (used of Prince
Arthur). OF. _enfant_, a young aspirant to knightly honours (Ch. Rol.
3196). Cp. the use of ‘Childe’ for a youth trained to arms, in Spenser,
F. Q. ii. 8. 7 (see Glossary, ed. C. P.).
=infarce,= to stuff, cram full. Sir T. Elyot, Castle of Helth, bk. iii,
c. 1; id., Governour, bk. i, c. 3 (end). L. _infarcire_, to stuff.
=infausting,= a bringing of ill-luck. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p.
179). From L. _infaustus_, unlucky.
=infer,= to bring upon, inflict. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 31; to bring
about, Richard III, iv. 4. 343. L. _inferre_, to bring upon.
=infude,= to infuse. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 23, § 2; see
Croft’s note, ii. 351.
=infuse,= infusion. Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love, 47.
=ingate,= entrance, ingress. Spenser, View of Ireland, Globe ed., p.
650, l. 22; Ruines of Time, 47. In prov. use in the north country
(EDD.). See =gate.=
=ingenerate,= begotten; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, bk. xviii. 323;
implanted, Sir T. Elyet, Governour, bk. i, ch. 20, § 1. L.
_ingeneratus_, inborn, implanted.
=ingenious,= ingenuous. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, i. 1 (Duchess).
Conversely, _ingenuously_ = ingeniously, id., Devil’s Law-case, i. 1
(Contarino).
=ingine, ingene,= ingenuity, quickness of intellect. B. Jonson, Tale of
a Tub, v. 2 (Tub); Every Man, v. 3 (_or_ 1) (Clement). ‘Ingine’ is the
usual Scottish form (EDD.). See =enginous.=
=ingle,= a favourite boy, an intimate associate, darling. B. Jonson,
Sil. Woman, i. 1 (Truewit); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2 (Viola). A
Gloucestershire word, see EDD. (s.v. Ingle, sb.^{2} 1).
=ingle,= to wheedle, coax. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 2
(Imperia).
=ingram,= ignorant. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, v. 1
(Shorthose); Three Lords and Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, i. 397; Bullein’s Dialogue, 5 (Halliwell); ‘An ingrame,
_ignarus_’, Levins, Manipulus. A Northumberland word (EDD.).
=ingurgitation,= a gluttonous swallowing. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk.
i, c. 11, § last; id., bk. iii, c. 22, § 2. Late L. _ingurgitatio_,
immoderate eating and drinking; L. _gurges_, an abyss, used _fig._ of an
insatiable craving (Cicero).
=inhabitable,= uninhabitable. Richard II, i. 1. 65; Puttenham, Eng.
Poesie, bk. iii, c. 22; p. 266. F. _inhabitable_, ‘unhabitable’
(Cotgr.). L. _inhabitabilis_, not habitable (Cicero).
=inhabited,= not dwelt in, uninhabited. Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, iii.
1 (Thierry). F. _inhabité_, uninhabited (Cotgr.).
=inholder,= a tenant. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 17. Not found elsewhere.
=iniquity;= see =vice.=
=injury,= to injure. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 1 (near the end);
Middleton, Your Five Gallants, iii. 2 (Tailby); to abuse with words, ‘We
freely give our souldiers libertie to . . . injurie him with all manner
of reproaches’, Florio, Montaigne, I. xlvii. F. _injurier_ (Montaigne).
=inkle,= a kind of tape. Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 208; also _incle_, Shirley,
Gamester, iv. 1 (Page). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Inkle, sb.^{1}) .
=inlawed,= brought under the protection of the law. Bacon, Henry VII
(ed. Lumby, p. 16).
=inleck,= a leak in a ship, letting water in. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid,
i. 560. OE. _hlec_, leaky. Not found elsewhere.
=inly,= inward. Two Gent. ii. 7. 18; _inly_, inwardly, Temp. v. 200;
intimately, deeply. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 38.
=inmew;= in Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, ii. 2 (Miranda): ‘As if a
Falcon . . . at his pitch inmew the Town below him.’ Probably a misprint
for _innew_, a spelling of =enew,= q.v.
=inn,= a dwelling-place, abode, lodging. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 33; iii. 3
30; vi. iii. 29. ME. _in_, dwelling (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3622). OE. _inn_,
‘domus’ (Matt. xiii. 36).
=innocent,= a fool, idiot. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 98); Fletcher,
Rule a Wife, iii. 1. 14. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.).
=inquest,= a quest, search. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 4.
=inquisition,= inquiry, search. Temp. i. 2. 35; ‘Inquisycion for
bloode’, Great Bible, 1539, Ps. ix. 12. L. _inquisitio_, a judicial
inquiry (Vulgate, Acts xii. 19).
=in-same,= together, in company, in late use, a mere expletive; ‘Lo! my
top I drive in-same’, World and Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 245; ‘I
am seemly-shapen in-same’; id. 247. ME. _samen_, together (Ormulum,
377); _in same_, together (used as an expletive), see Wars Alex. 2646.
=insecution,= close pursuit. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 524; xxiii. 448.
Late L. _insecutio_, ‘persecutio’ (Ducange).
=insense;= see =incense.=
=insignement,= teaching, showing. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c.
12, § 5. See =enseignement.=
=insolence,= originality of genius (of a poet); ‘Being filled with
furious insolence’, Spenser, Colin Clout, 619. See Trench, Sel. Gl. 150.
=insolent,= unusual, original; ‘Most loftie, insolent, and passionate’,
Puttenham. Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 31; p. 77. L. _insolens_, unusual.
=instance,= urgency; ‘With all instance and supplicacion’ (= Vulgate,
_in omni instantia et obsecratione_), Tyndale, Eph. vi. 18). F.
_instance_, urgency (Cotgr.).
=instance,= something which urges or impels, a motive, cause. Richard
III, iii. 2. 25; All’s Well, iv. 1. 44. Late L. _instantia_, urgency.
=instant,= urgent, persevering. BIBLE, Rom. xii. 12 (AV.); _instantly_,
urgently, earnestly, Luke vii. 4 (Tyndale and AV.). L. _instans_,
persevering (Vulgate, Acts vi. 4).
=instate,= to endow. Measure for M. v. 1. 429; _instate to_, make over
to, Dekker and Middleton, Witch of Edmonton, i. 2 (O. Thorney).
=instaure,= to renew, repair. Marston, What you Will, i. 1 (Jacomo). L.
_instaurare_, to renew (Vulgate, Eph. i. 10).
=instinction,= instigation, inspiration. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i,
ch. 13, § 4; natural impulse, instinct, id., bk. iii, ch. 3, § 5. Deriv.
of L. _instinctus_, instigated, pp. of _instinguere_.
=instop,= to stop up or fill up the seams of a ship. Dryden, Annus
Mirabilis, st. 147. Du. _instoppen_, to cram in (Sewel).
=intend,= to stretch or shoot out (of a dragon’s sting). Spenser, F. Q.
i. 11. 38. L. _intendere_.
=intend,= to attend to; ‘(When Augustus was at the games) he did nothing
else but intend the same’, Holland, tr. Suetonius. 60 (Trench, Sel. Gl.
151); ‘Every man profiteth in that he most intendeth’, Bacon, Essay 29;
Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 2 (Luce); Massinger, Emperor of the
East, i. 2 (Pulcheria).
=intendiment,= understanding. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 32; Teares of the
Muses, 144. Med. L. _intendimentum_, ‘mens, intelligentia’, _intendere_,
‘intelligere’ (Ducange).
=interesse,= the being concerned or having part in the possession of
anything; ‘interest’, title, or claim; ‘The right title and interesse
that they have’, Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 2, § 5; Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 33;
interest on money, Hen. VIII, Instruct. Orator (NED.). Anglo-F.
_interesse_, A.D. 1388 (NED.); Med. L. _interesse_, ‘usura, foenus, quod
ultra sortem solvitur, vel quod quanti alicujus interest’ (Ducange);
subst. use of L. _interesse_, to be between, to be of importance.
=interessed,= _pp._, interested; ‘(They) were commonly interessed
therein themselves for their own ends’, Bacon, Essay 3 (end); ‘The
heathens . . . were nothing interessed in that dispute’, Dryden, Pref.
Religio Laici (ed. Christie, Clar. Press, p. 123); Massinger, Duke of
Milan, i. 1; spelt _interest_, invested with a right or share, King
Lear, i. 1. 87.
=interest,= to invest a person with a share in, or title to something;
‘Aurora ravish’d him . . . And interested him amongst the Gods’,
Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xv. 326.
=interlunar,= between two moons; with reference to the period between
the waning of the old and the waxing of the new moon; ‘Silent as the
moon . . . Hid in her vacant interlunar cave’, Milton, Samson, 89. L.
_lunaris_, relating to the moon.
=intrince,= intricate, entangled. King Lear, ii. 2. 81; short for
_intrinsicate_, Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 307. Deriv. of L. _intrinsecus_,
inwardly.
=intuse,= a bruise. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 33. L. _intusus_, pp. of
_intundere_, to bruise.
=inundant,= inundating, overflowing. Heywood, Witches of Lancs. v
(Generous), vol. iv, p. 252, l. 4. L. _inundare_, to inundate.
=invect,= to inveigh. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iii. 3 (M.
Tullius). Cp. L. _invectio_, an attacking with words, deriv. of
_invehere_, to inveigh against.
=invent,= to find. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 10; v. 11. 50.
=invest,= to enwrap, to enfold; ‘While night Invests the sea’, Milton,
P. L. i. 208; iii. 10; vii. 372; to put on, to don, Spenser, F. Q. iv.
5. 18. L _investire_, to clothe.
=investion,= investiture. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2 (near the end).
=invinced,= unconquered; never before conquered. Heywood, Silver Age, A
iii (Hercules), vol. iii, p. 131. L. _vincere_, to conquer. Only found
in Heywood’s writings.
=invious,= pathless, trackless. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 386. Cp. L. _invius_;
from _via_, a way.
=inward,= intimate, confidential; ‘Inward Counsellours’, Bacon, Essays,
20, § 4; Marston, Malcontent, iv. 1 (Mendoza); an intimate acquaintance,
‘I was an inward of his’, Measure for M. iii. 2. 138.
†=iper,= a kind of fish, of small value; ‘Amongst fishes, a poor iper’,
Webster, Appius, iii. 4 (Corbulo). Only in this passage.
=Irish,= an old game resembling backgammon. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful
Lady, v. 4 (Lady); the Irish game, Shirley, St. Patrick (Epilogue). See
Cotton’s Compleat Gamester, 1680, p. 109.
=irous,= wrathful. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 9, § 1. Anglo-F.
_irous_ (Gower); from L. _ira_, anger.
†=irpes= (?). ‘From Spanish shrugs, French faces, smirks, irpes, and all
affected humours, Good Mercury defend us’, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels,
v. 3 (_Palinode_).
=Isgrim,= the name of the wolf in the story of Reynard the Fox.
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Hubert). _Isegrim_ in Caxton’s version;
_Isengrijn_ in Willem’s Low German poem; _Ysegrim_ in Leeu’s Low German
prose version; see Caxton’s Reynard (ed. Arber, p. ix).
=island,= a shock-dog, rough dog; lit. ‘Iceland dog’, Shirley, Hyde
Park, i. 2 (Mis. Car.); ‘Her Iceland cur’, Massinger, The Picture, v. 1
(Ubaldo).
†=iulan,= of the first growth of the beard; ‘Iulan down’, Middleton, The
Changeling, i. 1 (Vermandero). Gk. ἴουλος, the first growth of the
beard. Not found elsewhere.
=ivybush,= the bush of ivy hung out as a vintner’s sign. Earle,
Microcosmographie, § 12; ed. Arber, p. 33. The same as _bush_ in As You
Like It (Epilogue).
=iwis, ywis,= (often written _I wis_), certainly, assuredly. Tam. Shrew,
i. 1. 62; Richard III, i. 3. 102; _ywis_, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 19;
_i-wusse_, B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1 (Tucca); _wusse_, id., Devil an
Ass, i. 3 (Fitz). ME. _iwis_, certainly, truly (Chaucer, Compleint, 48);
OE. _gewiss_, certain.
J
=Jack,= a lad, fellow, chap, a young knave. Taming Shrew, ii. 1. 290;
Middleton, Women beware, i. 2 (Ward); Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, v.
1 (Sir Harry); a Knave in Cards, Cotton, Complete Gamester, ix; figure
of a man striking the bell on the outside of a clock, Richard III, iv.
2. 117; also, _Jack o’ the clock_, Richard II, v. 5. 60; _Jack i’ the
clock-house_, Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, i. 5. 3; _jack_, the piece of
wood with a quill for plucking the strings of the ‘virginal’, Shaks.,
Sonnet 128; _Jack o’ Bethleem_, see =bedlam;= _Jack in box_, one who
deceived tradesmen by substituting empty boxes for boxes full of money,
Middleton, Spanish Gipsy, iv. 1 (Sancho’s song), see Dyce, iv. 164;
_Jack-a-Lent_, a small stuffed puppet thrown at during Lent; a butt,
Merry Wives, iii. 3. 27; v. 5. 134; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iv. 4
(Rowland).
=jack,= a coat of quilted or plated leather, a coat of defence. Drayton,
Pol. xxii. 166; ‘His golden-plated Iacke’, Twyne, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid
x, 314.
=jack,= a drinking-measure, pot; said to contain half a pint. Taming
Shrew, iv. 1. 51; Tusser, Husbandry, § 85. 10.
=jackman;= see =jarkman.=
=jack merlin,= a male merlin or hawk. Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s
Fortune, v. 1. 13.
=Jacob’s staff;= ‘A pilgrim’s staff, so called from those who go on
pilgrimage to the city of St. Iago, or St. James Compostella in Spain’,
Blount, Glossographia; with reference to Gen. xxxii. 10, Spenser, F. Q.
i. 6. 35; a cross-staff, an instrument for measuring heights and
distances, Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, iii. 3 (Techelles); Beaumont and Fl.,
Elder Brother, ii. 1 (Brisac); Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 786; used by
astrologers and astronomers, Marmyon’s Fine Companion (Nares).
=jaculation,= a hurling. Milton, P. L. vi. 665. L. _jaculatio_.
=jade,= to over-drive, to pursue to weariness; ‘It is a dull thing to
tire, and, as we say, to _Iade_ anything too farre’, Bacon, Essay 32;
‘The ne’er-yet beaten horse of Parthia We have jaded out o’ th’ field’,
Ant. and Cl. iii. 1. 34. From ‘jade’, a contemptuous term for a horse;
Scot. _jaud_; Norm. F. *_jaude_, Icel. _jalda_, a mare; cp. Scot.
_yaud_, an old worn-out horse, see EDD. (s.v. Jade).
=jambeux,= leggings, armour for the legs. Dryden, Palamon and Arc., iii.
35; spelt _giambeux_, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29. ME. _jambeux_ (Chaucer,
C. T. B. 2065). See Dict. (s.v. Jamb).
=Jane,= a small silver coin of Genoa, introduced into England in
Chaucer’s time. Phr. _many a Jane_ (i.e. much money), Spenser, F. Q.
iii. 7. 58 (borrowed from Chaucer, C. T. B. 1925). OF. _Janne_(_s_,
Genoa.
=jane,= a twilled cotton cloth, a kind of fustian, ‘jean’; ‘Jane
judgments’, coarse, common judgments, Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 5. 8.
Named from Genoa.
=jant,= to over-tire a horse. Tusser, Husbandry, § 87. 3; _jaunt_,
Cotgrave (s.v. Jancer). See =jaunce.=
=jant,= smart, showy; ‘To Smeton . . . Where were dainty ducks, and jant
ones’, Brathwaite, Drunken Barnaby, 119.
=janty, jaunty,= genteel, elegant, stylish; _janty_, Parson’s Wedding,
i. 3 (Sad); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xiv. 401 (but spelt _ganty_ in ed.
1663); _jantee_, Shadwell, Timon (epilogue). Anglicized phonetic
representation of F. _gentil_, see NED. (s.v. Jaunty).
=jape,= to jest, joke. Berners, Froissart, I, ccxxxiii. 324; ‘I dyd but
jape with hym’, Palsgrave; a merry tale, a jest, Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. iii, ch. 29, § 2; Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 31. ME. _jape_,
vb. (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 1699; sb. C. T. A. 4201). Cp. O. Prov. _gap_,
‘plaisanterie, raillerie’ (Levy).
=jar,= to grate; hence, to quarrel, dispute; ‘We will not jar’, Marlowe,
Jew of Malta, ii. 2 (Barabas); _jarre_, Gascoigne, Works, i. 105; l. 16.
=jar,= a grating noise; the tick of a clock; also, a quarrel, dispute;
‘A jar of the clock’, Wint. Tale, i. 2. 43; ‘fallen at jars’, 2 Hen. VI,
i. 1. 253.
=jarkman,= an educated beggar. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1.4;
‘A Ia[r]ckeman is he that can write and reade, and somtime speake latin;
he vseth to make counterfaite licences which they call Gybes, and sets
to Seales, in their language called Iarkes’, Awdeley, Vagabonds, p. 5.
Spelt _Jackman_, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (first stage
direction).
=jasp,= a jasper. Spenser, Visions of Bellay, ii. 11. ME. _jasp_
(Wyclif, Isaiah liv. 12), OF. _jaspe_. L. _iaspis_. Gk. ἴασπις.
=jaum,= to ‘jam’, press, squeeze; to be hard upon, to jeer at. Heywood,
Witches of Lancs., A. i (near the end); vol. iv, p. 186. In prov. use in
Yorks. and Lincoln, meaning ‘to squeeze’; see EDD. (s.v. Jam).
=jaunce,= to stir a horse, to make him prance, used _fig._ Richard II,
v. 5. 94; a weary journey, Rom. and Jul. ii. 5. 53; _geances_,
troublesome journeys, B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (Hilts). ‘Jaunce’
is in use in Sussex for a weary or tiring journey, see EDD. (s.v.
Jance). F. _jancer un cheval_, ‘to stirre a horse in the stable till he
sweat with-all, or as our _jaunt_’ (Cotgr.). See NED.
=jaunt;= see =jant.=
=jaunts= (?); ‘You lead me fair jaunts, sir’, Middleton, Mich. Term,
iii. 5 (Shortyard). Perhaps the same word as _jaunce_, taken as a
plural; from _jaunts_ thus evolved would come our _jaunt_. If this
explanation be correct, Middleton’s word would mean ‘troublesome
journeys’.
=javel,= a low fellow; ‘He called the fellow ribbalde, villaine, javel’,
Robynson, tr. More’s Utopia, 46; Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 309; Appius
and Virginia, Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 150; _javill_, Roper’s Life of Sir
Thos. More (in Robynson’s Utopia, p. lv). ME. _javel_, ‘joppus, joppa’
(Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 1097).
=jawme,= a ‘jamb’, side post of a door-way. Spelt _jame_, Golding,
Metam. xii. 281; fol. 146, bk. (1603); _jawme_, id. (1593). ‘Jawm’
(‘Jaum’) is still the prov. form in the north country, see EDD. (s.v.
Jamb). F. _jambe_, ‘the leg, the jaumbe or side-post of a door’
(Cotgr.).
=jawn,= a chine, fissure, chasm. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, ii. 1
(Pandulfo). See =chawne.=
=jerk,= to scourge, whip, lash; ‘_Fouetter_, to scourge, yerke, or
jerke’, Cotgrave; a sharp stroke with a whip, Randolph, Muses’
Looking-glass, i. 4 (Satire). Hence _jerker_, one who lashes severely;
Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iv. 3. 3. See =yerk.=
=jernie,= to utter a profane oath; ‘Although he jernie and blaspheme’,
Butler, On our Imitation of the French (near the end); Remains (ed.
1759, i. 84); see NED. F. _jerni_ (_jarni_), for _jarnidieu_, i.e. _je
renie Dieu_, I renounce God. See Cotgrave (s.v. _Jarnigoy_).
=jert,= to use a whip. Nash, Summer’s Last Will (Harvest), in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, viii. 52. See EDD.
=jest,= a deed, action; ‘A worthy jest’, Wounds of Civil War, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 186; ‘in this jest’, in this action, Downfall of
E. of Huntingdon, i. 3 (Robin); in Hazlitt, viii. 114. See =gest=(=e==.=
=jet,= to fling about the body, to strut about, Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 36;
‘I jette, _Je me jamboye_’, Palsgrave. ‘Jet’ in this sense is a
Warwicksh. word, see EDD. (s.v. Jet, 4). F. _jetter_ (_jecter_), to
throw (Cotgr.).
=jet upon,= to encroach upon, Richard III, ii. 4. 51; Titus Andron. ii.
1. 64.
=jetty,= to move about briskly. Tusser, Husbandry, § 68. 1.
=Jew’s ear,= an edible cup-shaped fungus, growing on roots and trunks of
trees, _Hirneola_ or _Exidia Auricula-Judæ_. Heywood, Witches of Lancs,
iii (Joan), in Wks. iv. 207; ‘Jew’s eares . . . an excrescence about the
roots of Elder, and concerneth not the Nation of the Jews, but Judas
Iscariot, upon a conceit, he hanged on this tree’, Sir T. Browne, Vulgar
Errors, ii. 7. 8 (Pseud. Ep. ii. 6. 101, NED.). See Nares.
=jib-crack,= a ‘gimcrack’. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iv. 1. 7.
=jiggumbob,= a trifle, toy, knick-knack, thing of slight value.
_Jiggembobs_, Middleton, Women beware Women, ii. 2 (Fabricio);
_jigambob_, Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 1. 14; _jiggumbobs_, Butler, Hud.
iii. 1. 108.
=jigmaker,= a ballad-writer. Hamlet, iii. 2. 131. Dekker, Honest Wh.,
Pt. I, i. 1 (end).
=jimmal-ring,= a double ring (sometimes a treble ring), the rings being
linked by a hinge. The _jimmall-ring_, or True-love-knot, Herrick. See
=gimmal.=
=job,= to stab slightly, to peck. Tusser, Husbandry, § 37. 12. In prov.
use in the British Isles (EDD.). ME. _jobbyn_: ‘byllen or iobbyn as
bryddys, iobbyn with the byl’ (Prompt.).
=jobbernowl,= a jocular term for the head, usually connoting stupidity.
Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 815; Marston, Scourge of Villanie, ii. 6. 200; a
stupid person, a blockhead, ‘_Teste de bœuf_, a joult-head, jobbernoll,
cod’s-head, logger-head, one whose wit is as little as his head is
great’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in both senses in the north country and
E. Anglia (EDD.).
=job-nut,= the name of a childish game, in which hazel-nuts are
perforated and strung through, in order to be knocked against each
other. Lady Alimony, ii. 5 (Fricase). See NED. (s.v. _Job_, sb. (3)).
=John Dory.= The name of a popular song, ab. 1609; ‘I’ll have John
Dorrie! For to that warlike tune I will be open’d’, Fletcher, The
Chances, iii. 2 (Antonio). The legend is, that he was a commander of a
French privateer, who undertook to take English prisoners to Paris, but
was himself captured in the attempt; ‘Would I had gone to Paris with
John Dory’ (ironical), Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, ii. 2
(Humphrey). See Nares.
=jointer,= joint-possessor. Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 3 (1366); scene
10. 8 (W.); p. 170, col. 1.
=jollyhead,= jollity, mirth. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 32.
=jouissance,= pleasure, merriment, mirth. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 25;
Nov., 2. F. _jouissance_, an enjoying (Cotgr.).
=journall,= daily. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 31; Cymb. iv. 2. 10. F.
_journal_, ‘journal, daily’ (Cotgr.). L. _diurnalis_ (Ducange).
=jovy,= ‘jovial’, merry. Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, iii 1
(Mirabel); B. Jonson, Alchem. v. 3 (Kastril).
=jowl, joll,= to strike, knock, esp. the head. As You Like It, i. 3. 59;
Hamlet, v. 1. 84; ‘_I jolle_ one aboute the eares’, Palsgrave. Beaumont
and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 1. In prov. use in many parts of England
from Lakeland to E. Anglia (EDD.). Deriv. of ME. ‘_jolle_ or heed,
_caput_’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 1112).
=judge,= the name of the rook or castle in the game of chess. Only in
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, Prol. 20. Fitzherbert’s rendering of
_justitiarius_, the name applied to the rook in a Latin treatise on
chess (_c._ 1400 A.D.). See NED.
=judgement,= a competent critic, a judge. Tr. and Cr. i. 2. 208; Dryden,
Prol. to Secret Love, 45; Epil. to Evening Love, 3.
=Jug,= a familiar substitution for the female name of Joan; ‘_Clown_ [to
_Joan_], Bring him away, _Jug_! Enter _Joan_, with a fish’, Rowley, A
Woman never vext, i. 1; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 115. In Espinasse’s
Lancashire Worthies Joan, the daughter of the celebrated Dr. Byrom, is
familiarly called ‘Jugg’. See Bardsley’s English Surnames, p. 49 (note).
This familiar name was applied to a homely woman, a maid-servant, the
sweetheart of a peasant, King Lear, i. 4. 247; ‘A soldier and his jug’,
A Knack to know a Knave (Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 511); Preston, K.
Cambises (Davies, Gl.).
=jugal,= conjugal, matrimonial; ‘The jugal knot’, Middleton, A Fair
Quarrel, ii. 2 (Jane). Cp. L. _vinclum jugale_ (Virgil).
=julio,= an Italian coin worth about sixpence. Webster, White Devil
(Monticelso), ed. Dyce, p. 23; Shirley, Sisters, iii. 1 (Frapolo). Ital.
_giulio_, named after Pope Julius II (1503-13); a coin by Julius the
Pope worth sixpence sterling (Florio).
=jument,= a beast; properly a beast of burden. Cartwright, The Ordinary,
ii. 1 (Slicer). OF. _jument_, a beast of burden; a mare (Cotgr.). L.
_jumentum_, a yoke-beast.
=jump,= a kind of short coat for men; ‘Your velvet jumps’, Wycherley,
Gent. Dancing-master, Epilogue, 33. In prov. use in various parts of
England meaning a loose jacket, a child’s frock, also, a kind of stays,
open in front (EDD.).
=jump,= to hazard, risk, Macbeth, i. 7. 7; Cymbeline, v. 4. 187; hence
_jump_, hazard, venture, Ant. and Cl. iii. 8. 6.
=jump with,= to agree, tally, coincide with, Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 32;
Taming Shrew, i. 1. 194; 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 78; hence, _jump_, exactly,
precisely, Hamlet, i. 1. 65; Othello, ii. 3. 392. In prov. use both as
vb. and adv. (EDD.).
=juppon,= a close-fitting doublet worn under a hauberk. Dryden, Palamon,
iii. 28. F. _jupon_, a short cassock (Cotgr.).
=justle,= to ‘jostle’. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 129.
=jut, jutt,= to jolt, bump, knock, push. Earle, Microcosmographie, no.
39, Plausible Man; _jutte_, a bump, push, Udall, Roister Doister, iii.
3. 8. In use in Yorks, Notts, and Linc. (EDD.).
=jutty,= to project beyond, to overhang. Hen. V, iii. 1. 13; ‘Let their
eie-browes juttie over’, Kyd, Spanish Tragedy, iii. 12 a (Appendix, D.
138); ed. Schick, p. 121; the projecting part of a wall or building,
Macbeth, i. 6. 6. Compare the Glouc. word ‘jetty’, to protrude (EDD.).
K
=ka,= for _quo’_ (_quoth_, _quotha_); ‘Enamoured ka? mary sir say that
againe’, Udall, Roister Doister, i. 2 (Merygreek); Peele, Old Wives Tale
(ed. Dyce, 455); Penry, Mar-Prelate’s Epitome, 21 (EDD.). In prov. use
in Durham, Cumberland, Suffolk (EDD.). Also, _ko_, ‘I feare him not, Ko
she’, Roister Doister, iii. 3.
=kaa me, kaa thee,= i.e. do me a good turn, and I will do thee the same.
Eastward Ho, ii. 1 (_or_ 3) (Quicksilver); Massinger, City Madam, ii. 1
(Goldwire). So in Scotland they say ‘Kae me and I’ll kae thee’, in
Northumberland ‘Kaa me, kaa thee’, or, ‘Kaa mee an aa’ll kaa thee’; ‘Ka
me and I’ll ka thee, _Serva me, servabo te_’, Coles, Dict. (1679). See
Nares. Cp. the phr. ‘Claw me, claw thee’ used in the same sense.
=kad,= to caw. Chapman, All Fools, iii. 1 (Valerio).
=kails, keils,= nine-pins; ‘A game called nine-pins, or keils’, B.
Jonson, Chloridia (Antimasque). Du. _kegel_, a pin, kail.
=kam,= crooked, awry. Coriolanus, iii. 1. 304. Welsh _cam_, crooked;
Irish _cam_ (Dinneen). See =kim-kam.=
=karl hemp,= the male hemp. Tusser, Husbandry, § 15. 24; also called
_churl hemp_, Fitzherbert, Husb., § 146. 28. See =carl.=
=karne,= a ‘kern’, a foot-soldier. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid ii,
8. Irish _ceatharnach_, a foot-soldier, deriv. of _ceatharn_, a band of
fighting men (Dinneen). See =keteryng.=
=katexoken,= for _kat’exochēn_, super-eminently. Massinger, Guardian,
iii. 1. 7. Gk. κατ’ ἐξοχήν, by way of eminence.
=keak, keke,= to cackle as a goose; ‘The silver Gander keaking cried’,
Phaer, Aeneid viii, 655; ‘Theves . . . had stolne Jupiter, had a gouse
not a kekede’, Ascham, Toxoph. (ed. Arber, 130). Cp. _Kek, kek!_, the
cry of the goose and duck, in Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 499.
=kecksies,= hemlocks, ‘kexes’. Hen. V, v. 2. 52 (printed _kecksyes_).
See Dict. (s.v. Kex).
=keech,= a lump of congealed fat. Hen. VIII, i. 1. 55. In _fig._ use, ‘I
wonder that such a Keech can . . . Take up the Rayes o’ th’ beneficiall
Sun’, Hen. VIII, i. 1. 55; ‘Did not goodwife Keech the Butcher’s wife
come in?’, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 101. ‘Keech’ for a lump of chandler’s fat
is in common prov. use in Warwickshire, the west Midlands, and Somerset
(EDD.).
=keel,= to cool, to cool by skimming or otherwise. L. L. L. v. 2. 930;
spelt _kele_, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 246, back; _keele_, Palsgrave.
In prov. use in Scotland and in the north of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Keel, vb.^{3} 1). ME. _kelyn_, to make cold, to wax cold (Prompt. EETS.
252, see note, no. 1184); OE. _cēlan_, deriv. of _cōl_, cool.
=keep cut;= See =cut= (3).
=keep,= heed, care. Phr. _take thou no keep_, Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl.
iv; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 85; Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 40. ME. _tak keep_,
take heed (Chaucer, C. T. D. 431).
=keight,= caught. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 30; v. 6. 39.
=keiser,= emperor. Fletcher, Mad Lover, ii. 1 (Memnon); _kesar_,
Spenser, Tears of the Muses, 570; _keysar_, Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed.
Dyce, p. 498. Du. _keyser_ (Hexham); cp. G. _Kaiser_; L. _Caesar_.
=keke;= see =keak.=
=kell,= the fatty membrane investing the intestines, the caul. Beaumont
and Fl., Philaster, v. 4. 35; a cocoon, an enveloping web, B. Jonson,
Sad Shepherd, ii. 2 (Alken); Drayton, Pol. iii. 120; the film formed by
gossamer-threads on the grass, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 54; Turbervile
Hunting, 76. Cp. ‘kell’ in prov. use, meaning the caul, a cap of
network, a film on the eye, &c. (EDD.). ME. _kelle_, ‘reticulum’
(Prompt. EETS. 246, see note, no. 1149).
=kell,= a kiln. Tusser, Husbandry, § 57. 51. A Suffolk form, see EDD.
(s.v. Kiln, sb.^{1}). Cp. =kill.=
=kemb,= to comb. B. Jonson, Catiline, Act i, chorus, 31; Marlowe, tr. of
Ovid’s Elegies, i. 7 (last line). In prov. use in Scotland, and in
Yorks. and Lanc. (EDD.). ME. _kembe_, to comb (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2142);
OE. _cemban_; _camb_, a comb.
=kemlin,= a large tub used in bread-making, salting meat, &c. Coles,
Dict. (s.v. Kimnel); _kemelin_, Levins, Manip. A north-country word
(EDD.). ME. _kymlyn_, ‘or kelare’ (Prompt. EETS.), also, _kemelyn_
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 3548). See =kimnel.=
=kempe, kemp,= a warrior, champion. Morte Arthur, leaf 112. 31; bk. vii,
c. 8. OE. _cempa_; Med. L. _campio_ (Ducange), from _campus_, field of
battle; ME. _kemp_(_e_, a warrior, soldier (Wars Alex. 2216, 5499); OE.
_cempa_, ‘miles’ (Matt. viii. 9, Rushworth MS.). See Schade (s.v.
Camphjo).
=ken,= a house (Cant); ‘A boor’s ken’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1
(Ferret). Hence also _libkin_ or _lib ken_, _stalling ken_. See
=bouzing-ken.=
=ken=(=n,= to discern. Milton, P. L. i. 59; v. 265; xi. 396; 2 Hen. VI,
iii. 2. 101; range of vision, P. L. xi. 379; power or exercise of
vision, Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 111; hence, _kenning_, range of
sight, the distance visible at sea, Chapman, Caesar and Pompey, v. 1
(Septimius); Kyd, Soliman, v. 2. 69.
=kennet,= a small dog for hunting. Pl. _kenettys_, Boke of St. Albans,
fol. F iv, back; _kennets_, Return from Parnassus, ii. 5 (Amoretts; the
whole passage is copied from the former). Anglo-F. _kenette_ (Bozon),
dimin. of _kien_ (= F. _chien_).
=Kent:= phr. _Kent or Christendom_. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1
(Turfe); ‘Sith the Saxon King, Never was Woolfe seene, many nor some,
Nor in all Kent, nor in Christendome’ (i.e. nowhere), Spenser, Shep.
Kal., Sept., 153; the Glosse has: ‘It was wont to be an olde proverbe
and common phrase. The original whereof was, for that most part of
England in the reigne of King Ethelbert was christened, Kent onely
except, which remayned long after in mysbeliefe and unchristened: so
that Kent was counted no part of Christendome.’ Ray in his English
Proverbs accepts this explanation (ed. Bohn, p. 206). According to
Fuller’s opinion, ‘Neither in Kent nor Christendom’ meant, neither in
Kent, which was first converted to Christendom, nor in any other part of
our English Christendom (i.e. nowhere in England). Also, _in Kent and
Christendom_ (i.e. everywhere); ‘I am here in Kent and Christendom,
Among the Muses, where I read and rhyme’, Wyatt, The Courtier’s Life
(ed. Bell, 218).
=Kentish long-tails,= a nickname applied to the natives of Kent. Ray’s
English Proverbs (ed. Bohn, p. 207). The story of the origin of the
nickname is told by Fuller in his Worthies, Kent, under _Kentish
Long-tailes_. See NED. (s.v. Long-tail, 2). Not only Kentish men but
Englishmen in general were called ‘_caudati_ per contumeliam’ by their
French neighbours, see Ducange (s.v. Caudatus); cp. ‘ces Engloys
_couez_’ (Chans. Norm.) in Moisy (s.v. Cue, p. 250).
=kersen;= see =cursen.=
=kerve,= to carve as a sculptor; ‘Enstructed in painting or kervinge’,
Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 1. ME. _kerve_ (Chaucer, Tr. and
Cr. ii. 325). OE. _ceorfan_.
=kest,= _pt. t._ cast. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 15; Phaer, tr. of Aeneid,
i. 45; plotted, considered, id. i. 30. In gen. prov. use in the north
country, see EDD. (s.v. Cast, 2 (7)).
=keteryng,= a ‘cateran’, a Highland or Irish marauder; ‘A Scottishe
keteryng’, Skelton, ed. Dyce, ii. 75; l. 218; ‘Irish keterynges’, ib.,
Against the Scottes, 83. See NED. (s.v. Cateran). See =karne.=
=ketler,= an inexperienced gamester, a novice at gambling; Bunglers and
ketlers’ [at gambling], Middleton, Black Book (ed. Dyce, v. 543).
=ketling,= inexperienced; ‘Like an old cunning bowler to fetch in a
young _ketling_ gamester’, Middleton, Father Hubberd’s Tales (ed. Dyce,
v. 589). See NED. (s.v. Kitling, B).
=key,= a quay. Dryden, Annus Mirab. st. 231; Middleton, Women beware, i.
3. 17.
=kibbo,= a cudgel. Otway, Cheats of Scapin, iii. 1 (Scapin, in a Lancs.
dialect). In Ray (ed. 1691. MS. Add.) ‘kibbo’ is given as a Cheshire
word (EDD.).
=kid,= a faggot, small bundle of sticks; ‘Kydde, a fagotte’, Palsgrave;
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 5. 29. In prov. use in various parts of
England from the north country to Essex, see EDD. (s.v. Kid, sb.^{2} 1).
ME. _kydd_, ‘fascis’ (Prompt. EETS. 247).
=kid,= a roebuck in its first year. Spelt _kyde_, Book of St. Albans,
fol. E 4; Turbervile, Hunting, c. 45; p. 143.
=kid,= notorious; ‘The colonel was a cuckold, or a kid pirate’,
Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, i. 1 (Fireball). ME. _kid_, renowned,
famous, illustrious (Wars Alex., see Gl. Index); _kyd_, known (Chaucer,
C. T. E. 1943), pp. of _kythe_, to make known (C. T. F. 748). OE.
_cȳðan_.
=kie, kye,= cows. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Lorel). In gen. prov. use
in the north for the plural of ‘cow’ (EDD.). OE. _cȳ_, pl. of _cū_, cow.
=kiff,= for _kith_, relationship, standing in relationship, Middleton, A
Chaste Maid, iv. 1 (Tim); Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 30.
=kill,= a kiln. BIBLE, Jer. xliii. 9; Nahum, iii. 14 (ed. 1611). A
common prov. form in many parts of England—the north country, Essex,
and Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Kiln, sb.^{1}). Hence _kill-hole_, Merry
Wives, iv. 2. 59 (ed. 1623). Cp. =kell= (2).
=kill-cow,= a murderous fellow, butcher; a great fighter. Fletcher,
Lover’s Progress, iii. 3 (Malfort); perhaps with reference to the story
of Guy of Warwick. See Nares.
=kimbo,= resembling arms set a-kimbo, Dryden, tr. of Virgil; Pastorals,
iii. 67; _on kimbow_, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii (Novel).
=kim-kam,= crooked, perverse. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid ii, 44.
Cp. the Shropshire saying, ‘Let’s a none o’ your kim-kam ways’ (EDD.).
See =kam.=
=kimnel,= a tub used for brewing, kneading, or salting meat. Beaumont
and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 7 (Alexander); ‘A _kimnel_, cadus salsamentarius’,
Coles, Dict., 1679; ‘kymnell, _quevette_’, Palsgrave. ME. _kymnelle_,
‘amula’ (Cath. Angl.).
=kinchin mort,= a very young female child (Cant). Middleton, Roaring
Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor). _Kinchin_ is perhaps a corrupt form of G.
_kindchen_, little child. See =mort= (2).
=kinderkind,= kilderkin, small barrel. Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce, p. 383).
Du. _kindekin_, ‘the eighth part of a vat’ (Kilian). See NED. (s.v.
Kilderkin), and Dict.
=kindle,= to give birth to young, bring forth. As You Like It, iii. 2.
358; ‘I kyndyll, as a she-hare or cony dothe’, Palsgrave. Very common in
prov. use (EDD.). ME. _hyndlyn_, or brynge forthe yonge kyndelyngys,
‘feto’ (Prompt.).
=kindless,= unnatural. Hamlet, ii. 2. 609; Poole, David (ed. Dyce, p.
466).
=Kirsome,= Christian; ‘As I’m true Kirsome woman’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Coxcomb, iv. 7. 5. See =cursen.=
=kite,= a term of detestation. Fletcher, Wit without Money, i. 1. 16;
iii. 4. 16; Hen. V, ii. 1. 80; King Lear, i. 4. 284; Ant. and Cl. iii.
13. 89; Udall, Roister Doister (ed. Arber, 83).
=kiss the post,= to be shut out of a house in consequence of arriving
too late (there being nothing else to kiss but the doorpost); ‘Make
haste, thou art best, for fear thou kiss the post’, Heywood, 1 Edw. IV
(Hobs), vol. i, p. 47.
=kix,= a ‘kex’, dried-up stalk; a term of abuse. Beaumont and Fl.,
Coxcomb, i. 2 (Mercury).
=knacker,= a harness-maker. Tusser, Husbandry, § 58. 5. In Lancashire
_knacker_ is a term for a tanner (EDD.).
=knap,= a knave, a rogue. Spelt _knappe_, Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 1
(Dulipo); Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 80. ‘A regular knap’, ‘a deead
knap’ are Yorkshire expressions for a cunning knave, see EDD. (s.v.
Knap, sb.^{2} 1).
=knap,= a small hill, a mound, knoll. Bacon, Essay 45; a hill-top,
Golding, Metam. xi. 339 (L. ‘vertice’). In prov. use in Scotland, and in
various parts of England (EDD.). OE. _cnæpp_, top, hill-top (Luke iv.
29).
=knap,= to knock, rap, strike smartly; to sound or toll a bell. Udall,
Roister Doister, iii. 3. 80; also, to knock together, Bacon, Sylva, §
133.
=knare, knar,= a knot or protuberance on a tree; ‘Woods with knots and
knares deformed’, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 536; spelt _gnarre_, Cockeram’s
Dict. (1623). See EDD. (s.v. Gnarr, sb.^{1} 1). Cp. ME. _knarry_,
gnarled (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1977). Low G. _knarre_; Du. _knar_; see NED.
=kned,= _pp._ kneaded. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 1
(Savourwit). In prov. use in the north, and in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v.
Knead, 3).
=knee-timber,= crooked timber, used in shipbuilding. Bacon, Essay 13.
=knight of the post,= a notorious perjurer; one who gets his living by
giving false evidence. Brome, Joviall Crew (Works, 1873, iii. 366);
Marlowe, tr. of Ovid’s Elegies, i. 10. 37; Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, i.
1 (Courtine). [Cp. Pope, Prologue to the Satires of Horace, 365, ‘Knight
of the post corrupt, or of the Shire.’] See Nares.
=Knight’s Ward,= one of the four prison-divisions or ‘sides’. There were
usually but three such divisions, the Master’s side, the Twopenny Ward,
and the Hole; See =counter= (3). When there were four, the Knight’s Ward
came second. In Eastward Ho, v. 1 (_or_ 2), Wolf says ‘the knight will
i’ the Knight’s Ward’, meaning that he was too humble to go into the
Master’s side. Also _Knight-side_, ‘Neither lie on the Knight-side, nor
in the Twopenny Ward’, Webster, Appius, iii. 4 (Corbulo). And see
Westward Ho, iii. 2 (Monopoly).
=knill, knyll,= to sound as a bell, ring. Morte Arthur, leaf 428*, back,
6; bk. xxi, c. 10; OE. _cnyllan_, to strike, ring a bell (B. T. Suppl.).
=knitting-cup,= a cup of wine drunk by the company immediately after a
wedding. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, iv. 1 (Compass).
=knokylbonyarde,= a contemptible fellow. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 485.
Dyce’s note gives two other examples. Deriv. of _knucklebone_.
=knot,= a flower-bed. Lyly, Euphues, p. 37; Campaspe, iii. 4 (Apelles);
Tusser. Husb. § 22. 22. In prov. use in Somerset, Dorset, and Devon,
also in the west Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Knot, sb.^{1} 13).
=knot,= the red-breasted sandpiper; ‘The knot that called was Canutus’
bird of old’, Drayton, Pol. xxv. 341; ‘Knotts, i, _Canuti aves_, ut
opinor’, Camden, Brit. (ed. 1607, 408). Dan. _knot_, sandpiper (Larsen).
In the north of Ireland the name for the ringed plover, see EDD. (s.v.
Knot, sb.^{2}).
=knot-grass,= a plant with small pale-pink flowers, _Polygonum
aviculare_. An infusion of it was supposed to stunt one’s growth. Mids.
Night’s D. iii. 2. 329; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, ii. 2
(Wife).
=knowledge,= to acknowledge; ‘I knowlege my folly’, Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. i, c. 12, § 3; ‘My flight from prison I knowledge’,
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 150.
=knub,= a small bump. Golding, Metam. viii. 808; fol. 105 (1603);
‘knubbe, _callum_’, Levins, Manip. Low G. _knubbe_, a knob, lump; see
NED.
=knurre,= a round knotty projection on a tree; ‘A knurre, _bruscum,
gibbus_’, Levins, Manip.; hence, _knurred_ (_knurd_), knotted, rugged,
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 302. ‘Knurr’ is in common prov. use in the
north country (EDD.).
=ko;= see =ka.=
=korke,= to adorn, render illustrious; ‘Duke Lionell, that all this lyne
[family of the White Rose] doth korke’, Mirror for Mag., Clarence, st.
6. From _corke_, the name of a purple dye, mentioned in Statutes of the
Realm, Act 1 Richard III. c. 8, § 3, as a dye-stuff; see NED. (s.v.
Cork, sb.^{2}).
=kost,= _pt. t._ kissed. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 256. Cp. OE. _coss_, a
kiss.
=kreking,= early dawn; ‘In the first krekyng of the day’ (F. _au point
du jour_), Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 18. 1. Du. ‘_het kriecken ofte
aenbreken van den dagh_, the creeke or the breaking of the day’
(Hexham). Cp. the Scottish phrase ‘creek of day’, day-break (EDD.).
Norm. F. _crique du jour_ (Moisy).
=kursin,= to christen. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 2. 2.
‘Kursin’,’Kirsen’ are common forms of ‘christen’ in the north, see EDD.
(s.v. Christen).
=kydst,= in Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec, 92, written incorrectly in the
sense of ‘knewest’. ME. _kithen_ (pt. s. _kidde_), means ‘to make
known’. See =kid= (notorious).
=kyrie,= short for ‘kyrie eleison’ (κύριε ἐλέησον), _Lord, have mercy
upon us_; the earliest and simplest form of Litany. Used humorously for
a scolding, causing an outcry; ‘But he should have such a kyrie ere he
went to bed’, Jack Juggler, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 138; ‘This kyrie
sad solfing’ (translating _Talia iactanti_, Aeneid i, 102), Stanyhurst
(ed. Arber, p. 21); _kyry_, Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 755.
=kyrsin,= Christian. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii (Clay). See =cursen.=
L
=laced mutton,= a strumpet. Two Gent. i. 1. 102; B. Jonson, Neptune’s
Triumph (Boy). See NED. See =mutton.=
=lachesse,= negligence. Caxton, Hist. of Troye, leaf 74, back, 18. ME.
_lachesse_ (Chaucer, C. T. I. 720), OF. _lachesse_, _laschesse_, deriv.
of _lasche_, slack. L. _laxus_, lax.
=lack,= to want. _What do y’ lack?_ what will you buy; the constant cry
of the shopkeepers. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, Induction, l. 1; Barth.
Fair, ii. 1 (Leatherhead).
=lackey,= to accompany, like a lackey or foot-boy. Massinger, Virgin
Martyr, i. 1 (Harpax). Used _fig._ ‘A thousand liveried angels lackey
her’, Milton, Comus, 455. See Dict.
=lad,= led; _pt. t._ of _lead_. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 4; iv. 8. 2. A
Lanc. form, see EDD. (s.v. Lead, 1 (1)).
=ladron,= a thief, robber. Shirley, The Brothers, v. 3 (Pedro). Span.
_ladron_, a thief; L. _latro_, a robber.
=lady,= the calcareous substance in the stomach of a lobster, serving
for the trituration of its food; fancifully supposed to resemble the
outline of a seated female figure; ‘What lady? the lady in the lobster?’
Shirley, Witty Fair One, iii. 4 (Aimwell).
=Lady of the Lake,= a personage in Arthurian romance; hence, a fairy,
nymph; ‘This bevie of Ladies bright . . . all Ladyes of the lake
behight’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 120. Humorously, a woman of light
behaviour. Massinger, New Way to Pay, ii. 1 (Marrall).
=lag,= slow, tardy, habitually late. Richard III, ii. 1. 91; a laggard,
Dryden, To Mr. Lee, 43; _lag-end_, latter part, fag-end, 1 Hen. IV, v.
1. 24. See EDD. (s.v. Lag, adj., 1).
=lag-goose,= a personification of laziness, Tusser, Husbandry, §
85. 4. In Norfolk ‘lag-goose’ is in prov. use for the wild grey
goose, see EDD. (s.v. Lag, sb.^{9}).
=lag:= in phr. _lag of duds_, ‘buck’ or ‘wash’ of clothes, Fletcher,
Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Higgen).
=lag,= to carry off, to steal. Tusser, Husbandry, § 20. 15.
=laire;= see =leer.=
=lam,= to beat soundly, to thrash, flog. _Lamming_, a thrashing,
Beaumont and Fl., King and no King, v. 3 (Bacurius); Honest Man’s
Fortune, v. 2 (Laverdine); ‘_Gaulée_, a cudgelling, basting, lamming’,
Cotgrave; _lambed_, pp. beaten, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 2
(Firk). In gen. prov. and colloq. use (EDD.). Cp. Icel. _lemja_ (pret.
_lamði_), lit. to lame.
=lamback,= to beat severely. Rare Triumphs of Love, iv. 1 (Lentulo), in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 204; Munday, Death E. Huntington, v. 1 (Brand),
in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 305.
=Lamia,= a fabulous monster supposed to have the body of a woman, and to
suck the blood of children. Burton, Anat. Mel. iii. 2; a witch,
sorceress, ‘Where’s the lamia That tears my entrails?’, Massinger,
Virgin Martyr, iv. 1. L. _lamia_, a witch supposed to suck children’s
blood. In the Vulgate, Isaiah xxxiv. 14, the Heb. _Lîlîth_, ‘the
night-hag’, is rendered _lamia_. Gk. Λάμια, a fabulous monster.
=lampas,= a disease incident to horses, consisting in a swelling of the
fleshy lining of the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth. Described
in Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 81; Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 52. F. _lampas_
(Cotgr.).
=lamping,= shining brightly. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 1. Cp. Ital.
_lampante_, bright, shining (Florio).
=lance-knight,= a mercenary foot-soldier, esp. one armed with a lance or
pike. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum., ii. 4 (Brainworm). Palsgrave has:
‘_Lansknyght_, lancequenet.’ G. _lanz-knecht_, lance-knight, a perverted
form of _lands-knecht_ = land’s knight (see Weigand, s.v. Land). See
Dict. (s.v. Lansquenet).
=lancepesade,= a non-commissioned officer of the lowest grade, a
lance-corporal. Massinger, Maid of Honour, iii. 1; _lance-presade_,
Cleaveland, Poems (Nares); _lanceprisado_, Fletcher, Thierry, ii. 2
(Martell). The term was orig. applied to a trooper who having broken his
lance (_lancia spezzata_) on the enemy was entertained as a volunteer
assistant to a captain of foot, receiving his pay as a trooper until he
could remount himself (Grose). See Estienne, Précellence (ed. 1896, p.
353) for account of _Lance-spessade_. See Stanford, and Nares.
=lanch, launch,= to cut, lance, pierce. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 37;
Heywood, Eng. Traveller, ii. 1 (Clown). OF. (Picard) _lancher_ (F.
_lancier_). In W. Somerset they will ask for ‘a lanch to lanch the cow’,
see EDD. (s.v. Lance, sb.^{1} 1). See Dict. (s.v. Launch).
†=land-damn,= to rate severely (?). Winter’s Tale, ii. 1. 143. The word
in Shakespeare is of doubtful authenticity. The alleged survival of the
word in dialects, with the sense ‘to abuse with rancour’, appears to be
imperfectly authenticated. For ingenious conjectures see Nares.
=landlouper,= a runner about the land, a vagabond. Bacon, Henry VII, p.
105; spelt _land-loper_; Howell, Forraine Travell, p. 67 (Arber). Du.
_landt-looper_, ‘a vagabond, or a rogue that runnes up and downe the
countrie’ (Hexham).
=langdebiefe,= wild bugloss. Tusser, Husbandry, § 39. 16; _langdebeef_,
Lyte, tr. of Dodoens, bk. v, c. 15. OF. _lange de beof_, ‘ox tunge’,
‘lingua bovis’, ‘buglossa’ (Alphita, 24).
=langer,= to loiter about; ‘Wandryng and langerynge’, Morte Arthur, leaf
185. 20; bk. ix, c. 20. See Dict. (s.v. Linger).
=langued,= lit. tongued; in heraldry, represented with a tongue of a
specified tincture or colour. Butler, Hud. i. 2. 259. Cp. F. _langué_,
‘langued, a term of Blazon’ (Cotgr.).
=lannard,= a ‘lanner’, a species of falcon. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv.
3 (Fernando); ‘Lanarde, a hauke, lanier’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in
Cornwall for the peregrine falcon (EDD.). See Dict. (s.v. Lanner).
†=lansket,= a shutter, a panel of a door, or a lattice; ‘I peep’d in At
a loose lansket’, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 6 (Jaques). Only found
here (NED.).
=lantedo, lanteero;= ‘Your lantedoes nor your lanteeroes’, Middleton,
Blurt, Mr. Constable, iv. 3 (Blurt). See =adelantado.=
=lanterloo,= the old name of the card game now called _loo_. Etherege,
She Would if She Could, v. 1 (Sentry). Spelt _Lanterlu_, and used as a
name, Wycherley, Country Wife, v. 3 (near the end). See Stanford.
=lap,= a cant term for non-intoxicating drink. Middleton, Roaring Girl,
v. 1 (Song); ‘_lap_, butter-milke or whey’, Harman, Caveat, p. 83.
=lapise, lappise,= to yelp. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 29, p. 76; id., c.
33, p. 86; ‘lappyse or whymper’, id., c. 39, p. 108. F. _glappir_,
_glappissement_, (Cotgr.).
=lapwing,= said to cry out at a distance from her nest, in order to draw
the searchers away from it. B. Jonson, Sejanus, v. 10 (Arruntius); and
see Massinger, Old Law, iv. 2 (Simonides); Lyly, Alexander, ii. 2
(Alexander). Very common.
=lare,= a pasture. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 29. A pseudo-archaic use of
_lair_, the place where cattle lie, see EDD. (s.v. Lair, sb.^{1} 2, §
3).
=lare,= to fatten. So explained by Dyce, Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose
Chase, iii. 1 (Rosalura).
=Lares,= the household gods in Roman religion. _Lars_, Milton, Christ’s
Nativity, Hymn, st. 21; B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 2 (Lupus).
=lash:= phr. _in the lash_, in the lurch; ‘To run in the lash’, Tusser,
Husbandry, § 10. 15; ‘Leave in the lash’, id., § 63. 20; ‘lie in the
lash’, Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 254; ‘Gave age
the whippe, and left me in the lash’, Mirror for Mag., Shore’s Wife, s.
14; Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 446. See NED. (s.v. Lash, sb.^{1} 4).
=lash,= to move violently; ‘Lashing up his heels’ [of a horse], Dryden,
tr. of Ovid, Met. xii. 472; ‘’Gainst a rock was lashed in pieces’,
Congreve, Mourning Bride, i. 1 (Almeria).
=lash out,= to squander, waste. Tusser, Husbandry, § 23. 18; More,
Richard III (ed. Lumby, p. 67).
=latch,= to catch. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 93; Macbeth, iv. 3. 195;
Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 36. An E. Anglian word (EDD.). ME. _lacchen_
(P. Plowman). OE. _læccan_, to seize, catch.
=lato,= a mixed metal; ‘latten’. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly);
_laton_, Morte Arthur, leaf 44, back, 25; bk. ii, c. 11. ME. _latoun_
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 699). Norm. F. _laton_, ‘laiton, alliage de cuivre et
de zinc’ (Moisy), Med. L. _lato_ (Ducange). See Dict. (s.v. Latten).
=launce,= a balance. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 4. L. _lanx_, a scale.
=laund,= a ‘lawn’, a glade. 3 Hen. VI, iii. i. 2; Drayton, Pol. xxvi.
69. ME. _launde_, a grassy clearing, a glade surrounded by trees
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 1691). Anglo-F. _launde_, OF. _lande_; probably of
Celtic origin, see W. Stokes, Celtic Dict., p. 239.
=launder,= one who washes linen. Tusser, Husbandry, § 83. 2. Hence
_laundered_ (landered), thoroughly washed, Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 171. ME.
_lawndere_ (Prompt. EETS. 257). See Dict. (s.v. Laundress).
=laundring,= washing gold in aqua regia to extract metal from it. B.
Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face).
=lautitious,= sumptuous, excellent. Herrick, The Invitation, 3. L.
_lautitia_, magnificence.
=lave,= used of ears: drooping, hanging down; ‘His lave eares’, Wily
Beguiled, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ix. 304; _lave-eared_, having long
drooping ears, Hall, Satires, ii. 29 (Nares); ‘Lave eared, plaudus’,
Levins, Manip. Still in use in the north country (EDD.). ME. _lave eres_
(Wars Alex. 4748).
=lave,= to droop, said of ears, ‘His ears hang laving’, Hall, Sat. iv.
1. 72. Icel. _lafa_, to droop.
=lavender:= phr. _to lay in lavender_, to pawn; Coles, Dict., 1699;
‘Rather than thou shouldst pawn a rag more, I’ll lay my ladyship in
lavender, if I knew where’, Eastward Ho, iv. 279 (Nares); _to lie in
lavender_, to be in pawn, ‘a black suit . . . now lies in lavender’, B.
Jonson, Ev. Man out of his Humour, iii. 3. In R. Brathwaite’s Strappado
for the Devil is an epigram, ‘Upon a Poet’s Palfrey lying in Lavender
for the discharge of his Provender’, p. 154 (Nares). _Lavendered_, pp.
‘Your lavendered robes’, Massinger, New Way to Pay, v. 1 (Overreach).
=laver,= drooping, hanging down; ‘this laver lip’, Marston, Sat. v. 97.
See =lave.=
=lavolta,= the name of a lively dance, orig. for two people. Hen. V,
iii. 3. 33. Ital. _la volta_, the turn, ‘a French dance so called’
(Florio).
†=lavoltetere,= one who dances (and teaches) the _lavolta_. Fletcher,
Fair Maid of the Inn, iii. 1 (Host).
=law, to give,= to allow so much start, about twelve-score yards, to a
hunted animal. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (near the end); Drayton, Pol.
xxiii. 337; ‘She shall have law’, Heywood, Witches of Lancs. ii
(Shakstone); vol. iv, p. 199.
=lay,= law. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 42; esp. religious law, hence, a
religion, creed, a faith; ‘’Tis Churchmans laie and veritie To live in
love and charitie’, Peele, Chron. Edw. I, B 3 (NED.). ME. _lay_,
religion, faith (Chaucer, C. T. B. 376). Anglo-F. _lei_, ‘loi, loi
religieuse, religion’ (Chans. Rol. 85).
=lay,= a ‘lea’, meadow. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 15; adj. fallow,
unploughed, ‘Let . . . land lie lay till I return’, Fletcher, Love’s
Pilgrimage, iii. 3 (Sanchio). ME. _lay_, ‘lond not tyllyd’ (Prompt.
EETS.); _laie_, fallow (Gamelyn, 161). See NED. (s.v. Lea, adj.).
=lay,= a wager. 2 Hen. VI, v. 2. 27; Othello, ii. 3. 330; Cymb. i. 4.
159. In prov. use in Yorks., Midlands, and E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v.
Lay, sb.^{1} 20).
=lay,= to beset with traps; ‘All the country is laid for me’, 2 Hen. VI,
iv. 1. 4; Middleton, A Chaste Maid, iv. 1 (near end); iv. 2 (Tim); A
Trick to Catch, i. 2. 3.
=lay:= phr. _to lay in_ (or _a_) _water_, to make nugatory, to bring to
a standstill, Lyly, Euphues, p. 34; Mydas, iv. 4 (Martius); Gosson,
School of Abuse, p. 21. See NED. (s.v. Lay, vb.^{1} 25).
=lay,= to lie; ‘Nature will lay buried a great Time, and yet revive’,
Bacon, Essay 38. For exx. of this intrans. use see NED. (s.v. Lie,
vb.^{1} 43), and EDD. (s.v. Lie, 16).
=layne,= to conceal. Morte Arthur, leaf 399, back, 13; bk. xx, c. 1. In
prov. use in Scotland and the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Lane).
ME. _laynen_, to conceal (P. Plowman, C. iii. 18). Icel. _leyna_,
cognate with G. _leugnen_, to deny. See NED. (s.v. Lain).
=laystall,= a place where refuse is thrown aside. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5.
53; _leystall_, Drayton, Moses, bk. i. 115. See Nares. A Kentish word,
see EDD. (s.v. Lay, vb. 2 (9a)).
=laystow,= a ‘laystall’. Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, iii. 628; ‘In
comparison of this present, the ancient gardens were but dunghils and
laistowes’, Harrison, Desc. Engl., bk. ii, ch. 20 (ed. Furnivall, 325);
‘Smythfeelde was . . . a layestowe of all order of fylth’, Fabyan Chron.
vii. 226 (NED.). A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Lay, 2 (12)).
=layte,= lightning. Morte Arthur, leaf 353, back, 30; bk. xvii, c. 11.
ME. _leit_, ‘fulgor’ (Wyclif, Matt. xxiv. 27). OE. _lēget_, also _līgyt_
(Matt. xxiv. 27).
=laze,= to be lazy, to be listless. Greene, Alphonsus, i. Prol.
(Melpomene); Never too Late (ed. Dyce, 301). In prov. use (EDD.).
=leach,= a dish consisting of sliced meat, eggs, fruit, and spices in
jelly; ‘Leche made of flesshe, gelee’, Palsgrave; ‘Caudels, Iellies,
leach’, Dekker, If this be not a good Play (Shackle-soul), Works, iii.
285. F. _lèche_, ‘tranche très mince’ (Hatzfeld). See NED.
=lead:= phr. _to lead apes in hell_, the fancied consequence of dying an
old maid, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 87); Taming Shrew, ii. 1. 34; Much
Ado, ii. 1. 42; ‘_Mammola_, an old wench . . . one that will lead apes
in Hell’, Florio.
=lead,= a pot, cauldron, kettle. Tusser, Husbandry, § 56. 14; ‘Brewyng
ledys’, pl., Bury Wills (ed. Camden Soc., p. 101). See EDD. (s.v. Lead,
sb.^{1} 6 and 7). In Lanc. ‘lead’ is used for a dyeing-vat; in the north
country furnace-vessels, of whatever metal made, are so called, from
having been usually made of that metal.
=leaden dart.= Cupid’s _leaden_ dart caused dislike; his _golden_ one
incited to love, Massinger, Virgin-Martyr, i. 1 (Antoninus); Roman
Actor, iii. 2 (Iphis). From Ovid, Met. i. 470.
=leading-staff,= a staff or truncheon borne by a commanding officer.
Farquhar, Constant Couple, i. 1 (Smuggler); i. 2 (Parly).
=leak,= leaky. Spelt _leke_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 35; _leake_, id., vi.
8. 24. OE. _hlece_.
=leally,= truly, verily. Spelt _lelely_, Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 1
(Sylvia); loyally, ‘He sall leallie and trewlie use and exerce his
office’, Skene, Difficil Words (1681). Anglo-F. _leal_, loyal (Rough
List), O. Prov. _leal_ (Levy).
=lear;= see =lere.=
=leare,= a cheek; _learys_, cheeks, Morte Arthur, leaf 186. 4; bk. ix,
ch. 21; spelt _lyers_, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i. 471. OE. _hlēor_,
cheek, face. See =leer.=
=lease,= a pasture. Tusser, Husbandry, § 33. 49; _lees_, Fitzherbert,
Husb., § 148. 18; ‘In pastures and leases’, Lyte, tr. of Dodoens, bk. i,
ch. 63 (The Place).
=leasues,= ‘leasowes’, pastures, Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, §
103. OE. _lǣs_, a pasture (dat. _lǣswe_). See EDD. (s.v.
Leasowe).
=lease;= _Lease-parol_, a lease by word of mouth, instead of in writing.
Greene, Looking Glasse, iii. 3 (1298); p. 134, col. 1.
=lease, lese,= to lie, tell lies. A Knack to know a Knave (Honesty), in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 511. ME. _lesen_, OE. _lēasian_, to tell lies;
_lēas_, false.
=leasing,= lying, falsehood, a lie. Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 105; Spenser, F.
Q. i. 6. 48; BIBLE, Ps. iv. 2; v. 6; _lesynge_, Coverdale, 2 Esdras xiv.
18. ME. _leesyng_ (Wyclif, Ps. v. 7). OE. _lēasung_.
=leathe-weake,= having the joints flexible, hence, pliant, soft. Ascham,
Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 129). A north-country word, written _leathwake_,
_lithwake_, _leathweak_ (EDD.). ME. _lithwayke_, ‘flexibilis’ (Cath.
Angl.). OE. _leoðuwāc_, _liðewāc_ (BT.).
=leatica,= a red muscatel wine made in Tuscany. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt.
II, iv. 3 (1 Vintner). Ital. _liatico_ (Florio); _aleatico_, an
exquisite grape, a wine made therefrom (Fanfani). See NED. (s.v.
Liatico).
=leave,= to levy, raise an army. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 31. F. _lever_,
‘to raise, to levy’ (Cotgr.).
=leavy,= leafy, full of foliage. Much Ado, ii. 3. 75; Dryden, Flower and
Leaf, 316, 512.
=leden, ledden,= language. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 19; Colin Clout, 744;
Drayton, Pol. xii. 303. ME. _leden_ (Chaucer, C. T. F. 435); OE. _leden_
(_lyden_), language, prop. the Latin language, L. _Latinus_; cp. O.
Prov. _latin_, ‘langage’ (Levy), OF. _latin_, language, also, the
warbling of birds (Bartsch, 581. 34); Ital. _latino_, language (Dante).
=ledger,= resident; esp. in capacity of ambassador; ‘His Ambassadour
that was ledger at Rome’, Daus, tr. Sleidane, 113 (NED.); _lieger_,
Webster, White Devil (Francisco), ed. Dyce, 18; _legier_, resting in a
place, Fairfax, Tasso, i. 70. 15; _leiger_, Shirley, Lady of Pleasure,
iv. 2 (Littleworth). See =lieger.=
=Lee.= ‘His corps was carried downe along the Lee’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 2.
19; ‘I looked . . . adowne the Lee’, Ruines of Time (Globe ed. 496).
Probably the reference is to the name of a river.
=leefky,= for _leefkyn_, a bodice. _Leefekyes_, pl., Lyly, Euphues (ed.
Arber, 116). Du. _lijfken_: ‘_een vrouwen Lijfken_, A womans Bodies
[bodice]’ (Hexham); dimin. of _lijf_, a body.
=leefsom,= pleasant. Surrey, Complaint of absence, 23, in Tottel’s
Misc., p. 19. Cp. Scottish _leesome_, pleasant, loveable (EDD.). OE.
_lēofsum_ (Juliana, 17).
=leek,= like. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate); riming with _cheek_.
=leer,= complexion. As You Like It, iv. 1. 67; Titus, iv. 2. 119; spelt
_laire_, Drayton, Harmony Church, Song Sol., ch. i, l. 12; _lere_,
Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 1034; El. Rummyng, 12; _leyre_, Magnyfycence,
1573. For the sense, see EDD. (s.v. Leer, sb.^{3} 3, and Lire, sb.^{3}).
OE. _hlēor_, face, countenance. See =leare.=
=leer,= tape. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 79). In Kentish glossaries, see
EDD. (s.v. Leer, sb.^{2}). See NED. (s.v. Lear, sb.^{2}).
=leer,= empty. _A leer horse_, a horse without a rider (see Nares); _a
leer drunkard_, a drunkard void of self-control, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair,
Induction; New Inn, iv. 3 (Lovel). ME. _lere_, empty (Rob. Glouc., p.
81); see Stratmann (s.v. lǣre). OE. _lǣre_; cp. G. _leer_. Very common
in prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Lear, adj.^{1}).
=leer;= _Leer side_, in B. Jonson, Tale of Tub, i. 2 (Turfe), and ii. 2,
‘Hat turn’d up o’ the leer side.’ Supposed by Nares to be used for the
left side. Probably due to the form _leereboard_ (for _lar-board_), see
Hakluyt’s Voyages, i. 4.
=leere,= lore. See =lere.=
=leese,= to lose. BIBLE, 1 Kings xviii. 5 (ed. 1611); Shak., Sonnet 5;
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, iv. 1. 4. ME. _lesen_ (Chaucer, C. T. A.
1290); OE. _lēosan_.
=lefull,= permissible. Tyndale, Matt. xii. 12; Ascham, Toxophilus, 45.
ME. _leveful_ (Chaucer, C. T. D. 37); _leve_, permission (id., C. T. B.
1637). See NED. (s.v. Leeful).
=leg:= in phr. _to make a leg_, to make an obeisance by drawing one leg
backward. Tempest, ii. 2. 62; Merry Wives, v. 5. 58; ‘Give him a plum,
he makes his leg’, Selden, Table Talk (Thanksgiving). See Nares.
=legacy,= an embassy, message delivered by a legate. Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, vii. 349; ix. 220.
=Lege de moy,= supposed to be the name of a dance; ‘Parys of Troy
Daunced a Lege de moy’, Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 953; El. Rummyng, 587.
=legem pone,= a cant term for ready money; ‘There are so manie Danaes
now a dayes . . . If _legem pone_ comes he is receav’d, When _Vix haud
habeo_ is of hope bereav’d’, The Affectionate Shepheard (Halliwell);
‘They were all at our service for the _legem pone_’, Ozell’s Rabelais,
iv. 12; ‘Use _legem pone_ to pay at thy day, But use not _Oremus_ for
often delay’, Tusser, Husbandry, 29. The origin of the use of this Latin
phrase for money is doubtless this: The first great pay-day of the year
was March 25, on which day of the month the _Legem pone_ is the first
portion of the 119th Psalm read at Mattins, so that these words were
easily associated with the idea of payment and ready money. See Nares.
=leger,= light; ‘A hundred leger wafers’, The London Chanticleers, scene
5 (Welcome). F. _léger_.
=legiaunce,= faithful service. Bacon, Henry VII, p. 142. OF. _ligeance_,
_legiance_, deriv. of _lige_, _liege_, entitled to feudal service, also,
bound to render feudal service, see Didot (s.v. Lige, Ligence). Cp. O.
Prov. _litge_, ‘liege’; of Germanic origin, OHG. _ledig_, free;
_legiaunce_ was the feudal service of a free man. See NED.
=legier;= see =ledger.=
=legier-booke,= a ‘ledger-book’, i.e. a book containing records, a
cartulary, register. Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 6, p. 51. See Dict.
(s.v. Ledger).
=legierte,= lightness, agility. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 230. 20;
thoughtlessness, id., lf. 311, back, 23. F. _légèreté_, lightness.
=leiger;= see =ledger.=
=leke;= see =leak.=
=lelacke,= lilac. Bacon, Essay 46. Cp. the Lincoln pronunciation
_lealock_, see EDD. (s.v. Laylock).
=lelely;= see =leally.=
=lembic,= an ‘alembic’, B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Subtle); _limbeck_,
Macbeth, i. 7. 67.
=leme,= a flame, light, ray, beam. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, bk. i,
c. 1, § 2; Calisto and Melibæa, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 64; _leames_,
lights, Sackville, Induction to Mirror, st. 9. A north-country word, see
EDD. (s.v. Leam, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _leme_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 4120). OE.
_lēoma_, light.
=Lemures,= in early Roman religion, the spirits of the departed. Milton,
Christ’s Nativity, Hymn, st. 21.
=l’envoy,= the sending forth a poem, hence, the conclusion of a poetical
or prose composition; the author’s parting words; _fig._ a conclusion,
catastrophe, ‘Long since I look’d for this l’envoy’, Massinger, Bashful
Lover, iv. 1 (Martino); v. 1 (Alonzo). OF. _envoye_ (F. _envoi_), a
sending.
=lere,= lore, teaching. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 261; Drayton, Pol.
xxiv. 803; _leare_, Spenser, F. Q. iii, 11. 16; iv. 3. 40; _leares_,
lessons, F. Q. iii. 7. 21; _leere_, Lyly, Mother Bombie, ii. 5
(Sperantus). Also, the meaning, sense (as of a Latin phrase), Heywood,
Witches of Lancs. iv (Lawrence). In prov. use in Scotland and north of
England, see EDD. (s.v. Lear, sb.^{1} 5). ME. _lere_ (Sir Gowther, 231);
fr. _leren_, to teach (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iv. 441). See =leyre.=
=lere;= see =leer.=
=lerrepoop;= see =liripoop.=
=lerrie,= something said by rote, a set speech, ‘patter’; ‘Man can teach
us our lerrie’, Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, iii. 3 (Third Lady). In
Kent ‘lerry’ is the part which has to be learnt by a mummer (EDD.). See
NED. (s.v. Lurry).
=lesses,= the dung of a ‘ravenous’ animal. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 37;
p. 97; Maister of Game, c. 25. F. _laisses_, ‘the lesses (or dung) of a
wild Boar, Wolf, or Bear’ (Cotgr.).
=lest,= to listen. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 17. See EDD. (s.v. List,
vb.^{3}).
=lest;= see =list.=
=lesynge;= see =leasing.=
=let,= hindrance. Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 13; vi. 2. 17. ME. _lett_ (Cursor
M. 7395).
=Lethe,= a river in Hades, the water of which produced forgetfulness of
the past; ‘Lethe the River of Oblivion’, Milton, P. L. ii. 583; ‘Lethe
Wharfe’, Hamlet, i. 5. 33. Hence _Lethean_, ‘They ferry over this
Lethean Sound’, Milton, P. L. ii. 604 (cp. the ‘Lethaeus amnis’ of
Virgil, Aeneid vi. 705). Gk. λήθη, forgetfulness, oblivion; personified
in Hesiod; no river is called Λήθη by the ancient Greeks.
=Lethe,= Death, Jul. Caesar, iii. 1. 206. Hence _Lethean_, deadly,
mortal. Blount, Glossogr., 1670. F. _Lethe_, ‘masc. Death; _Lethean_,
deadly, mortal, death-inflicting’ (Cotgr.). L. _letum_ (on acc. of
association with Gk. λήθη, Lethe, sometimes printed _lethum_, an
orthography which is not supported by MSS. or Inscriptions), Death.
=lettice,= a kind of whitish grey fur; ‘A robe of Scarlet . . . bordered
with Lettice’, Hall, Chron., 25 Hen. VIII (ed. 1809, 803); _a lettice
cap_, ‘Bring in the Lettice cap . . . And then how suddenly we’ll make
you sleep’, Fletcher, M. Thomas, iii. 1. 9; id., Thierry and Theod. v.
2. 8. F. _letice_, ‘a beast of a whitish gray colour’ (Cotgr.). OF.
_letice_, _lettice_, _lettiche_, ‘fourrure ou pelisse grise’ (Didot),
see Ducange (s.v. Lactenus). OHG. _illitiso_, the polecat (12th cent.),
MHG. _iltis_, _iltisse_, see Weigand and Kluge (s.v. Iltis). See Nares.
=lettuce,= in proverbial sayings: _Like lips, like lettuce_, i.e. things
happen to a man according to his deserts, Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 318
(Orgalio, p. 93, col. 1); _Like lettuce, like lips_, New Custom, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 23; _Such lips, such lettuce_, Heywood’s
Proverbs, 80. Cp. the Latin Proverb, ‘Similes habent labra lactucas’,
see Ray’s English Proverbs (ed. Bohn, 111). See NED.
=level-coil,= a rough game, in which each player is in turn driven from
his seat and supplanted by another, hence, riotous sport. B. Jonson,
Tale of a Tub, iii. 2 (Dame Turfe); ‘_Jouër à cul-leve_, to play at
level-coyl’, (Cotgrave). Also used as adv. for turn and turn about,
alternately, ‘The mother’s smile Brought forth the daughter’s blush, and
levell coyle, They smil’d and blusht’, Quarles, Argalus (ed. 1629, 18).
F. _lève-cul_, see Littré (s.v. Lever). See Halliwell.
=lever,= rather, more gladly. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 32; _me lever were_,
it would be more agreeable to me, id., iii. 2. 6. In gen. prov. use in
the British Isles. ME. ‘me were lever’ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 1034).
OE. _lēofre_, comp. of _lēof_, dear, ‘lief’.
=leveret,= a mistress, a courtesan. Shirley, Gent. of Venice, i. 1
(Malipiero); Gamester, i. 1; Honoria. i. 1 (Alamode). F. _levrette_, ‘A
Greyhound bitch, also, a most lascivious and incontinent wench’
(Cotgr.).
=levet,= a trumpet-call, to awaken soldiers, &c., in a morning;
‘Trumpets sound a levet’ (stage-direction), Fletcher, Double Marriage,
ii. 1; Butler, Hud. ii. 2. 611. Ital. _levata_, a march upon a drum and
trumpet (Florio); orig. pp. fem. of _levare_, to raise.
=levigate,= lightened, made easier. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c.
3, § 1. Late L. _levigare_, to lighten; _levigatio_, a lightening
(Rönsch, 81).
=leyre,= lore. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. 4; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 11.
See =lere.=
=leystall;= see =laystall.=
=liam, lyam,= a leash for hounds. Spelt _liom_, Sir Thos. More, i. 4.
143; Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, ch. 13, § 5; Drayton, Muses’
Elysium, Nymphal 6, 65. O. Prov. _liam_ (Levy), Béarnais Dial., _liam_
(Lespy), Norm.-F. _lian_, ‘lien’ (Moisy), L. _ligamen_, a band, anything
to tie with, fr. _ligare_, to tie. See NED. (s.v. Lyam), and EDD. (s.v.
Leam, sb.^{2}). See =lym.=
=lib,= to sleep. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song). Hence,
_libkin_, a house to sleep in, a lodging, B. Jonson, Gipsies
Metamorphosed (Jackman); _lib ken_, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Tearcat); ‘A _lypken_, a house to lye in’, Harman, Caveat, 83.
=lib;= see =glib.=
=libbard,= leopard. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 29; Milton, P. L. vii. 467.
[The form ‘libbard’ occurs in modern poets: ‘The lion, and the libbard,
and the bear’, Cowper, Task, vi. 773; ‘On libbard’s paws’, Keats, Lamia,
ii. 185.] ME. _libarde_ (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 894). OF. _lebard_
(Godefroy); see NED.
=libbat,= a short thick stick, chiefly for throwing at cocks, &c.; a
billet of wood. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, st. 21, st. 12; id., prose
add. to bk. ii, § 22. In prov. use in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Dorset,
see EDD. (s.v. Libbet, sb.^{1}).
=libecchio,= a south-west wind. Milton, P. L. x. 706. An erroneous form
for Ital. _libeccio_ (Florio), deriv. of L. _Libs_, S.W. wind; Gk. Λίψ.
=libel, libell,= a little book, a short treatise. Gascoigne, Works, i.
42; a written statement. North’s Plutarch, Life of Octavius, § 25 (in
Shaks. Plut., p. 277, note 1).
=liberal,= licentious, gross. Much Ado, iv. 1. 93; Merch. Ven. ii. 2.
194; Othello, ii. 1. 165. _Liberally_, licentiously; City Gallant, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xi. 194.
=libration,= oscillation, swaying to and fro; ‘The bounds of thy
libration’, Dryden, Conq. of Granada, ii. 3. 1 (Almanzor). L. _librare_,
to balance.
=licket.= Meaning doubtful; perhaps a flap of some kind; ‘Wear your coif
with a London licket’, Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Gertrude). In the west country
‘licket’ is in use for ‘a shred, rag’ (EDD.).
=lidderon,= a rascal. Skelton, Against Ven. Tongues, 29; Garl. of
Laurell, 188. A Sc. prov. word, see Jamieson, Suppl. ME. _lyderon_ or
_lydron_, ‘lydorus’ (Prompt. EETS. 262), (_lydorus_ = Gk. λοίδορος).
=lieger,= an ordinary or resident Ambassador; ‘A Lieger (differed) from
an extraordinary Ambassador’, Fuller, Ch. Hist. iii. 5. 22; Fletcher,
Love’s Cure, ii. 2 (Alvarez); a commissioner, an agent, spelt _leiger_,
Meas. for M. iii. 1. 59; Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 140. See =ledger.=
=lie-pot,= a vessel to hold ‘lye’ for use as a hair-wash. Middleton,
Five Gallants, i. 1. 12 (_or_ 14).
=lifter,= a thief, cheat. Tr. and Cr. i. 2. 129; Greene, James IV, iii.
1 (near the end).
=lig, ligge,= to lie, lie down. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 40; Shep. Kal.,
May, 217; Oct., 12. In common prov. use in the north country and E.
Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Lie, vb.^{2} 1 (4)). OE. _licgean_ (_liggan_).
=lightly,= usually, commonly. Richard III, iii. 1. 91; Massinger,
Bondman, iii. 3 (Gracculo); ‘There’s lightning lightly before thunder’,
Ray’s English Proverbs (ed. Bohn, 110); given as a Kentish saying
(EDD.).
=lightmans,= a cant term for day. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song);
Harman, Caveat, p. 84. See =darkmans.=
=like,= to please; ‘The music likes you not’, Two Gent. iv. 2. 56; esp.
in the phrase of courtesy, _an’t like your Grace_, if it please your
Grace, Hen. VIII, i. 1. 100 (for exx. see Schmidt). ME. _lyke_, to
please; _it lyketh yow_, it pleases you (Chaucer); OE. _līcian_, to
please.
†=lilburne,= heavy stupid fellow; a term of abuse. Udall, Roister
Doister, iii. 3 (Merygreek).
=lill,= to let the tongue loll out, to thrust forth the tongue. Spenser,
F. Q. i. 5. 34; ‘I lylle out the tonge’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in
Berks. and Wilts., see EDD. (s.v. Lill, vb.^{2}).
=limbeck;= see =lembic.=
=limiter,= a friar licensed to beg within certain limits. Spenser,
Mother Hubberd, 85. ME. _limitour_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 209). See Nares.
=limmer,= a ‘limber’; the shaft of a cart or carriage. North, tr. of
Plutarch, Coriolanus, § 14 (in Shak. Plut., p. 26); ‘_Timone_, the
limmer or beam or pole of a wagon’, Torriano, Ital. Dict. (1688).
‘Limmer’ is in prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Limber).
=limmer,= a scoundrel, rascal, rogue. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1
(Earine); Dalrymple, tr. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. ix. 219; _lymmer_,
Holinshed Hist. Irel. (Nares). In common prov. use in the north country
(EDD.).
=limp,= a ‘limpet’. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 189. A Cumberland word (EDD.).
=lin,= a pool. Drayton, Pol. v. 118; vi. 22. In Scotland and the Border
country _linn_ is used for the pool at the base of a waterfall, see EDD.
(s.v. Linn, sb.^{1} 2). Gael _linne_; Irish _linn_; Welsh _llyn_, a
pool.
=lin,= to cease. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 35; Puritan Widow, iii. 5. 110; B.
Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Tat.); Mirror for Mag. 77 (Nares). In
prov. use in the north country (EDD.). ME. _linne_ (King Horn, 1004);
OE. _linnan_.
=line,= the lime or linden. Holland, Pliny, i. 541; _line-grove_, grove
of lime-trees, Tempest, v. 1. 10. OE. _lind_ and _linde_. See NED. (s.v.
Lind).
=lingel,= a shoemaker’s waxed thread. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B.
Pestle, v.3 (Ralph); Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 142; ‘Lyngell that
souters sowe with, _chefgros_’, Palsgrave. ‘Lingel’ (or ‘lingle’) is the
ordinary word for shoemaker’s thread in Scotland (EDD.). F. _ligneul_
(Cotgr.).
=linsel, lynsel,= a sheet, a winding-sheet. Kyd, Cornelia, iii. 1. 83.
F. _linceul_, a sheet; L. _linteolum_, dimin. of _linteum_, a linen
cloth.
=lint,= flax, flaxen cloth; ‘Robes that brooke no lint’, admit of no
flax; being of costly material, Warner, Albion’s England, bk. ii, ch. 9,
st. 68. In prov. use in Scotland and north of Ireland (EDD.).
=lint-staff,= a lint-stock or linstock, a staff with a forked head to
hold a lighted match. Heywood, Challenge for Beauty, iii. 1
(Valladaura); vol. v, p. 35. See Dict. (s.v. Linstock).
=lion-drunk,= drunk as a lion. Massinger, Bondman, iii. 3 (Gracculo).
The four degrees of drunkenness were to be drunk as a sheep
(good-humoured); as a lion (noisy); as an ape (foolish); and as a swine
(bestial). See note to Chaucer (C. T. H. 44), in Complete Works.
=liquor,= to lubricate; to anoint with grease. Bacon, Nat. History, §
117; Butler, Hud. i. 3. 106.
=liripoop,= chiefly in phrases _to know_ or _have_ (one’s) _liripoop_,
_to teach_ (a person) _his liripoop_. It means something to be learned
and acted or spoken; _lyrypoope_, Newton, Lemnie’s Complex. vii. 58
(NED.); ‘I will teach thee thy lyrripups’, Stanyhurst, Desc. Irel. in
Holinshed, ii. 35; _lerripoope_, Lyly, Mother Bombie, i. 3 (Prisius);
_leerypoope_, Sapho, i. 3 (Cryticus). Used in the sense of a trick,
_lerrepoop_, Beaumont and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, i. 1 (Sir
Gregory); London Prodigal, iv. 1. 2. Cp. ‘lerry’, Linc. word for a trick
(EDD.). See =lerry.=
=lirrypoope,= a silly person, Fletcher, Pilgrim, ii. 1. See Nares (s.v.
Liripoop). A Devon word, see EDD. (s.v. Lirripoop).
=list,= a stripe of colour. Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 306; Sir T. Browne,
Vulgar Errors, bk. vi, c. 11. Hence _listed_, striped, Milton, P. L. xi.
866. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. List, sb.^{1} 3). F. _liste_, a list
or selvedge (Cotgr.).
=listeth, list,= _impers._ it is pleasing to; ‘Ys yt not lawfull for me
to do as me listeth with myne awne’, Tyndale, Matt. xx. 15; ‘Me list
. . . This idle task to undertake’, Peele, Arraignm. Paris, i. 2; ‘When
me lest’, World and Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 247.
=litch-owl,= the ‘lich-owl’, screech-owl, whose cry portended death;
‘The shrieking Litch-owl that doth never cry But boding death’, Drayton,
The Owl, 302; _like-owle_, Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. x, c. 23 (i.
283c). See EDD. (s.v. Lich). ME. _liche_, a body, a dead body (Chaucer).
OE. _līc_.
=lithe, lythe,= a joint; _out of lythe_, out of joint, Morte Arthur,
leaf 58, back, 10; bk. iii, c. 13. ME. _lyth_, a limb (Prompt.). OE.
_lið_.
=lither,= pliant, supple, yielding; ‘The lither skie’, 1 Hen. VI, iv. 7.
21; see NED. ‘Lither’ is used in this sense in Kent and Sussex, see EDD.
(s.v. Lither, adj.^{2}). Probably the same word as ‘lither’, lazy,
sluggish. OE. _lȳðre_, bad (morally and physically).
=little-ease,= pillory, stocks; a very small compartment in a prison.
Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 1. 9. Also called _small-ease_. See
Nares.
=little-son,= a grandson. North, tr. of Plutarch, Octavius, § 22 (in
Shak. Plut., p. 271).
=liver.= Supposed to be the seat of love; to which idea allusions are
common. Temp. iv. 56; Merry Wives, ii. 1. 121. Also, the seat of
courage; Twelfth Nt. iii. 2. 22. To be _lily-livered_, or
_milk-livered_, or _pigeon-livered_, or _white-livered_, is to lack
courage, to be cowardly.
=livery,= a suit of clothes bestowed on retainers or servants, 2 Hen.
IV, v. 5. 11; _instance of livery_, badge of service; Ford, Broken
Heart, iv. 1 (Nearchus). Hence _liveried_, ‘A thousand liveried angels
lackey her’, Milton, Comus, 455. F. _livrée_, ‘a delivery of a thing
that’s given, the thing so given, hence, a livery; ones cloth, colours,
or device worn by servants or others’ (Cotgr.); Med. L. _liberata_
(Ducange). See Dict.
=loave ears,= drooping ears. Lady Alimony, ii. 6 (Morisco).
=lob,= a lubber, a clown. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 10; Westward Ho, ii. 3
(Birdlime). Cp. Du. _lobben_, ‘a lubbard, a clowne’ (Hexham). A
Lancashire word, see EDD. (s.v. Lob, sb.^{2}).
=lobcock,= a lubber; a term of abuse. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3
(Merygreek); Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 3 (end). In prov. use in the north
country and in E. Anglia (EDD.).
=Lob’s pound,= prison; also _fig._ a state of great difficulty or
entanglement; a fix. Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 2 (Officer); Digby,
Elvira, ii. 1 (Chichon); Butler, Hud. i. 3. 910. Also _Hob’s pound_. See
Nares.
=lodam,= the name of a game of cards; ‘_Carica l’asino_, the play at
cards that we call, Load him’ (Florio); in one form, called _losing
loadum_, the loser won the game, ‘_Coquimbert qui gaigne pert_, a game
at cards, like our losing Lodam’, Cotgrave; Shirley, The Wedding, ii. 3
(Lodam).
=lodesman,= a pilot, guide; ‘Lodesman of a shippe, Pilotte’, Palsgrave;
‘A lodes-man’, Song in Tottel’s Misc., p. 184. ME. _lodesman_, pilot
(Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 1488). OE. _lādmann_.
=lodesmate,= (?) a travelling companion. Only in Gascoigne, Glasse Govt.
v. 3 (Phylocalus), in Poems (ed. 1870, ii. 77).
=loffe,= to laugh. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 55. In EDD. _loff_ (_lough_)
is given as the infin. of ‘laugh’ in many parts of England (western from
Lanc. to Cornwall). In Lanc. they say ‘he lough’ for ‘he laughed’. ME.
_lough_, pret. of _laughe_ (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 248); OE. _hlōh_,
laughed.
=loft,= uplifted, elated; ‘In neyther fortune loft, nor yet represt’,
Surrey, Of the death of Sir T. W., ii. 27, in Tottel’s Misc., p. 29; and
see the same Misc., p. 235, l. 11.
=loggats,= a game in which thick sticks are thrown to lie as near as
possible to a stake fixed in the ground or a block of wood on a floor.
Hamlet, v. 1. 99. See EDD.
=lol,= that which lolls; the tongue. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii.
442. See EDD. (s.v. Loll, vb.^{2}: Loller, ‘the tongue’).
=lollard,= lazy, idle, sluggish; ‘The lolearde Asse’, Turbervile, That
all things have release, st. 3. The word ‘lollard’ for a lazy person is
used in Cumberland (EDD.).
=Lombard,= a native of Lombardy; ‘A Lumbarde, _longobardus_’, Levins,
Manip. 30; a Lombard engaged as a money-changer or pawnbroker, Greene,
Mourn. Garm. 44 (NED.); also, a money-lender’s office, a pawnshop,
Northward Ho, v. 1 (Kate). Norm. F. _lombard_, _lumbart_, ‘usurier,
prêteur sur gages’ (Moisy). See =lumber.=
=lome,= a bucket. Mirror for Mag., Godwin, st. 55. ‘Loom’ is in use in
many parts of Scotland for a vessel of any kind, see EDD. (s.v. 4).
=long,= to belong. World and Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 254. ME.
_longen_, to belong (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2278); OE. _langian_.
=longee,= a ‘lunge’, a complimental bow to a lady. Butler, Hud. iii. 1.
159. See Dict. (s.v. Lunge).
=longtails;= see =Kentish long-tails.=
=loos,= praise, fame. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 12. ME. _los_, praise
(Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 1514); OF. _los_, _loos_; O. Prov. _laus_, praise;
L. _laudes_, pl. of _laus_, praise.
=loose,= the act of discharging an arrow. Middleton, Family of Love,
iii. 2. 5; Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 146).
=lope,= to run. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 1 (Sancho’s Song); Greene,
James IV, Induction (Bohan); Gascoigne, Fruites Warre, lii (NED.). They
say in Essex, ‘He went lopin’ along’, see EDD. (s.v. Loup, vb.^{1} 8).
Du. _loopen_, ‘to runne or to trot’ (Hexham).
=lopeman,= a runner. Fletcher, Noble Gentleman, iii. 4. 8.
=lorel,= a worthless person, rogue, blackguard; ‘I am laureate, I am no
lorelle’, Skelton, Against Garnesche. See NED. ME. _lorel_, ‘Lewede
lorel!’ (P. Plowman, A. viii. 123). See =Cock Lorel.=
=loring,= instruction. Spenser, F. Q. v. 7. 42. (A rime-word; formed fr.
_lore_.)
=lote,= in Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, iv. 802, represents Gk. λωτός, some
kind of clover or trefoil, see NED. (s.v. Lote, sb.^{1} 2).
=lought,= loath. Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, i. 1 (Old Forrest);
vol. vi, p. 364. ‘Loft’ is in prov. use in Oxfordsh. and Kent as a
pronunc. of ‘loath’ (EDD.).
=loup-garou,= a werwolf, a man changed into the form of a wolf. North,
tr. of Plutarch, Alcibiades (Story of Timon). F. _loup-garou_; F.
_loup_, wolf + _garou_, a werwolf, cp. MHG. _werwolf_, man-wolf; OE.
_werewulf_, so that in _loup-garou_ there is a tautological repetition
of two words for ‘wolf’—one of Latin and the other of Teutonic origin.
See Hatzfeld.
=lour, lowre,= money (Cant); ‘Lour to bouze with’, Fletcher, Beggar’s
Bush, ii. 1 (Prigg); Harman, Caveat, p. 85.
=lourdain,= a general term of opprobrium, a sluggard, vagabond.
Puttenham, English Poesie, bk. i, ch. 13; Drayton, Sheph. Garl. (ed.
1593, K 2), see Nares; ‘Let alone makes mony lurdon’, Ray’s English
Proverbs (ed. 1678, p. 383). See EDD. (s.v. Lurdane). ME. _lordayne_
(_lurdayn_), ‘lurco’ (Prompt. EETS. 269 and 272); OF. _lourdein_, ‘sot,
stupide’ (Roquefort), deriv. of _lourd_, heavy, dull.
=loute,= to bend, bow, make obeisance. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 30; v. 8.
50. In prov. use in Scotland and in various parts of England, see EDD.
(s.v. Lout, vb.^{2} 1). ME. _loute_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 683); OE.
_lūtan_, to stoop.
=louver,= an aperture with a shutter or flap; ‘He put abrode the louvres
of the tente’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Antigonus, § 10; spelt _lover_,
Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 42. A north-country word still in use (EDD.). ME.
_lovere_, ‘lodium’ (Prompt. EETS. 271, see note, no. 1294); OF. _lover_,
_lovier_ (Godefroy).
=lover-hole,= an opening in a ‘louver’, Shirley, Honoria, iii. 4
(Alamode).
=love,= to praise, to appraise; ‘I love, as a chapman loveth his ware
that he wyll sell’, Palsgrave. ME. _loven_: ‘_lovon_ and bedyn as
chapmen’ (Prompt. EETS. 277); OE. _lofian_, to praise, to value; cp. G.
_loben_.
=lovery,= a ‘louver’. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. v. 72.
=loves.= The phrases _for all loves_, _of all loves_ (or _love_), _upon
all love_, _for love’s sake_, are all phrases indicating strong
entreaty, like our _for my sake_, _for his sake_. ‘Speake of all loves’,
Mids. Night’s D. ii. 2. 153. ‘Of all loves’ is a Derb. form of entreaty,
see EDD. (s.v. Love, sb.^{1} 3).
=low-bell,= a hand-bell used in fowling, to make the birds lie close;
‘Take a low-bell which must have a deep and hollow sound’, Gentleman’s
Recreation, Fowling, 39 (Nares); ‘As timorous larks amazed are With
light and with a low-bell’, St. George for England, st. 5 (written in
1688), in Percy’s Reliques (ed. Bohn, ii. 329). It is probably this kind
of bell which Petruchio means when he says to Maria: ‘Peace, gentle
low-bell!’, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 3.
=low-men,= loaded dice that produced low throws. London Prodigal, i. 1.
218.
=lubric, lubrick,= incontinent, wanton. Ford, Witch of Edmonton, iii. 2
(Win.); Dryden, Ode to Mrs. Killigrew, 63; B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1
(Crispinus). Med. L. _lubricus_, ‘impudicus, salax’ (Ducange).
=lubrican,= the ‘leprechaun’; in Irish folk-lore, a pigmy sprite who
always carries a purse containing a shilling (NED.); ‘Your Irish
lubrican’, Dekker, Honest Wh., 2nd Pt. iii. 1 (Hippolito); Drayton,
Agincourt. For full particulars of this tricky little sprite, see Joyce,
English as we speak it in Ireland, 284. Irish _lupracán_ (also,
_lughracán_, _lugharcán_) a ‘leprechaun’ (Dinneen, p. 450). See EDD.
(s.v. Leprechaun).
=lucern,= a lynx. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Hubert); _lucerns_ (=
θῶες), Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 417; id., Bussy D’Ambois, iii (Bussy);
_luzern_, Peele, Device of a Pageant. Cp. early mod. G. _lüchsern_,
pertaining to the lynx, deriv. of _luchs_, a lynx (NED.).
=lug,= the ear. B. Jonson, Staple of News, v. 1 (P. Canter); Return from
Parnassus (last scene); hence, _lugg’d_, furnished with ‘lugs’ or flaps,
Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. xi. 174. ‘Lug’ is very common in the
north country and E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Lug, sb.^{2} 1).
=lug,= a measure of land. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 11. In prov. use in the
Midlands and south-west counties from Warwicksh. to Somerset, see EDD.
(s.v. Lug, sb.^{3} 5).
=lug,= to pull, drag about. Hamlet, iii. 4. 212; 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 83;
‘Head-lugged bear’, King Lear, iv. 2. 42. In common colloq. use (EDD.).
=lugge,= a stiff bow. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 28; ‘_Vastus arcus_, a
lugge or mighty bigge bowe’, Cooper.
=lull,= pleasant soothing drink; ‘A Cup of blessed lull’, The London
Chanticleers, scene 9 (Heath). Not found elsewhere.
=lumber,= a pawnbroking establishment; ‘_Mónte de piedád_, a lumber or
bancke to lend money for a yeare, for those that need, without
interest’, Minsheu, Span. Dict. Phr. _to put to lumber_, to put in pawn,
‘To put one’s Clothes to Lumbar, _pignori dare_’, Skinner. See
=Lombard.=
=Luna,= an alchemist’s name for silver. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1
(Subtle). ME. ‘Sol gold is, and Luna silver we threpe’ (Chaucer, C. T.
G. 826).
=lunary,= moonwort, the fern called _Botrychium Lunaria_. Drayton,
Nymphidia, st. 50; Lyly, Endimion, ii. 3 (End.); iv. 3 (Gyptes); Sapho,
iii. 3 (Ismena); B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). ME. _lunarie_
(Chaucer).
=lune,= a ‘loyn’ or thong for a hawk. Morte Arthur, leaf 104, back, 12;
bk. vi, c. 16. ME. _loigne_ (Rom. Rose, 3882). OF. _loigne_, a cord.
Med. L. _longia_, ‘lorum’ (Ducange). See NED. (s.v. Loyn).
=lunes,= fits of frenzy, mad freaks. Winter’s Tale, ii. 2. 30. F.
_lune_, humour, whim; ‘_Il y a de la lune_, he is a foolish, humorous,
hare-brain’d, giddy-headed fellow’ (Cotgr.); cp. G. _laune_, whim,
humour; fr. L. _luna_, the moon.
=lungis,= a long, slim fellow; one who is long in doing anything.
Beaumont and Fl., Knight B. Pestle, ii. 3. 4; ‘_Longis or a long
slymme_, _lungurio_’, Huloet; ‘_Lungis_, a slim slow-back, a drowsy or
dreaming Fellow’, Phillips (ed. 1706). F. ‘_Longis_, nom propre d’un
personnage légendaire, qui aurait percé de sa lance le flanc de Jésus
Christ; le sens est dû à l’influence de _long_: Celui qui est long à
faire qqch.’ (Hatzfeld). Longinus was said to have been the soldier who
pierced the Lord’s side with his lance (λόγχη); his martyrdom at
Caesarea in Cappadocia was commemorated March 15; see Dict. Christ
Antiq. (s.v.).
=lupus est in fabula,= there is a wolf coming to interrupt our talk. A
proverb used on the occasion of a sudden silence; from the idea that a
man becomes dumb if a wolf happens to see him before the man sees the
wolf. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 322 (p. 93, col. 1); see Sir T. Browne,
Vulgar Errors, bk. iii, ch. 8. The superstition is referred to by
Virgil, Ecl. ix. 54. The proverb occurs in Terence, Adelphi, iv. 1. 21.
See Büchmann, Geflügelte Worte (ed. 1905, p. 441).
=lurch,= to remain in or about a place secretly, esp. with an evil
design. Merry Wives, ii. 2. 26; to be beforehand in getting something,
to get hold of by stealth, Middleton, Chaste Maid, iii. 2; to deprive,
rob, Coriolanus, ii. 2. 106. A north-country word (EDD.).
=lurden,= a term of reproach, Greene, Friar Bacon, ii. 4. See
=lourdain.=
=lush,= luxuriant, succulent. Temp. ii. 1. 52. In prov. use in Lakeland
and Glouc., see EDD. (s.v. Lush, adj.^{1}). ME. _lusch_ or slak, ‘laxus’
(Prompt.).
=lusk,= to lie idle, to indulge in laziness. Warner, Alb. England, bk.
vi, ch. 30, st. 15. Cp. ‘lusk’, a Linc. word for an idle worthless
fellow (EDD.). Hence _luskye_, lazy; ‘Thy luskye nest’, Drayton, The
Owl, 111; _luskishness_, sluggishness, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 35.
=lustick, lustique,= merry, jolly. All’s Well, ii. 3. 47; ‘Rusticke and
lusticke’, Dekker, Sir T. Wyatt (Clown), ed. Dyce, p. 193. Du.
_lustigh_, pleasant (Hexham); deriv. of _lust_, pleasure. See NED.
=lustihead,= jollity. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 51.
=lustless,= listless, feeble. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 20; Gascoigne,
Jocasta, iii. 4. 2. ME. _lustles_ (Gower, C. A. ii. 2024; iv. 3455).
=luxur,= an incontinent man. C. Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, i. 1. 9.
=luxury,= lasciviousness. Middleton, A Game at Chess, ii; A Mad World,
iii. 2 (Mis. H.); Hamlet, i. 5. 83. ME. _luxurie_ (Chaucer, C. T. B.
925). Late L. _luxuria_ (in Vulgate = ἀσωτία, Eph. v. 18).
=luzern;= see =lucern.=
=lyam;= see =liam.=
=lycanthropi,= persons suffering from _lycanthropia_, or wolf-madness.
Middleton, The Changeling, iii. 3 (Franciscus); Ford, Lover’s
Melancholy, iii. 3 (Corax). Gk. λυκάνθρωπος, a wer-wolf, a man who
thought he was changed into a wolf, or who was thought by others to be
so changed.
=lyers;= see =leare.=
=lylse-wulse,= linsey-woolsey. Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Courte, 128.
_Lylsey_ is an older form of Linsey (Suffolk), where cloth was once
made. _Wulse_ furnishes a pun on the name of Wolsey.
=lym,= a lyam-hound, or one held by a leash. King Lear, iii. 6. 72.
Short for _lyam-hound_. See =liam.=
=lymiter;= see =limiter.=
=lythe;= see =lithe.=
M
=M,= abbreviation for Master as a conventional title. Phr. _to have_ (or
_carry_) _an M under one’s girdle_, to use a respectful prefix (Mr. or
Mrs.) when addressing or mentioning a person; ‘You might carry an M
under your girdle to Mr. Deputy’s worship’, B. Jonson, &c., Eastward Ho,
iv. 1 (Constable); ‘Have you nere an M under your girdle’, Great Britons
Honycombe (Nares); ‘You might have an M under your Girdle, Miss’, Swift,
Polite Conversation; Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 133. [‘Ye might hae
had an M under your belt for Mistress Wilson of Milnwood’, Scott, Old
Mortality, xxix.]
=mace-proof,= proof against fear of bailiffs or mace-carrying serjeants.
Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (Bonamico); Gamester, iii. 1 (Lord F.).
=mackrel gale,= a fresh gale, when mackerel are more easily caught.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 456.
=maculate,= to stain, defile. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 26, §
8; _maculated_, spotted, Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v, c. 29, §
9. L. _maculare_, to spot; from _macula_, a spot.
=mad=(=de,= a maggot or grub, esp. the larva which causes a disease in
sheep. Tusser, Husbandry, § 50; Best, Farming Books (Surtees Soc., 6);
Worlidge, Syst. Agric. 273; an earthworm, ‘Mooles take mads’, Warner,
Alb. England, ii. 9, st. 52; Holland, Pliny, ii. 361. See =mathe.=
=maddle-coddle,= foolish. Three Lords and Three Ladies, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, vi. 391. See EDD. (s.v. Maddle).
=Madrill,= Madrid. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, i. 1 (Pedro); ii. 1
(Alvarez); Marvell, Appleton House. Cp. Span. _Madrileño_, a native or
inhabitant of Madrid.
†=magar,= some kind of ship. Only in Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 86; p. 90,
col. 2.
=mage,= a magician. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 14. L. _magus_, pl. _magi_,
‘the Wise Men’ (Vulgate, Matt. ii. 1).
=maggot-pate,= a light-headed whimsical person. Beaumont and Fl., Span.
Curate, iv. 5 (Milanes).
=maggot-pye,= a magpie. Macbeth, iii. 4. 125; ‘_Gazzotto_, a
maggot-a-pie’, Florio. ‘Magot’ was a pet name for Margaret, see
Bardsley, English Surnames, 76. F. _Margot_, ‘diminutif très familier de
Marguerite, nom vulgaire de la pie’ (Littré). ‘Maggotty-pie’ is in prov.
use in Wilts., Somerset, and Cornwall for the magpie, see EDD. (s.v.
Maggot, sb.^{2}).
=magisterium,= lit. mastery; a name for the ‘philosopher’s stone’. B.
Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle). See Ducange.
=magnificate,= to magnify; ‘A church reformed state, The which the
female tongues magnificate’, Marston, Sat. ii. 42; ridiculed by Jonson,
Poetaster, v. 1 (Tucca); p. 130.
=magnificence,= liberality of expenditure combined with good taste.
Massinger, Renegado, ii. 4 (Vitelli); Duke of Milan, iii. 1 (Charles).
Cp. Chaucer, C. T. I. 736.
=magnificent,= munificent, liberal. Massinger, Emp. of the East, ii. 1
(Theodosius); Parl. of Love, iv. 1 (Dinant).
=maid,= a name given to the thornback and skate, when young. A Woman
never vexed, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 112; Drayton, Pol. xxv. 104;
Gay, Trivia, ii. 292. In prov. use in Ireland and various parts of
England, see EDD.
=mail,= in hawking, to tie or wrap up a hawk with a girdle or kerchief,
to secure her. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain); Fletcher and
Rowley, Maid in the Mill, iii. 3 (Gerasto). See NED. (s.v. Mail, vb.^{3}
2).
=main,= in the game of hazard, a number (from five to nine inclusive)
called by the caster before the dice are thrown; 1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 47;
_mains_, throws at dice; Marston, What you Will, iv. 1 (Quadratus). See
NED. (s.v. Main, sb.^{3} 1).
=mainprize,= suretyship, acceptance of suretyship. Butler, Hud. iii. 1.
60; Heywood, Eng. Traveller, iv. 1 (Reignald); ‘_Mainprise_, the
receiving a man into friendly custody, that otherwise is or might be
committed to prison, upon security given for his forthcoming at a day
assigned’, Cowell, Interpreter (ed. 1637). Anglo-F. _maynprys_ (Rough
List).
=maiordomo,= ‘major-domo’, the chief officer or servant of a princely or
wealthy household. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. iii, c. 4 (ed. Arber,
158). Span. _mayordomo_, a steward (Stevens).
=maistry,= a competitive feat of strength or skill. Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. i, c. 17, § 4; _masteries_, Bacon, Essay 19, § 3.
=make,= a companion, husband, wife. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 7; iii. 11. 2.
Hence _makeless_, widowed, Shak., Sonnet 9. ME. _make_, a mate, equal,
match; a wedded companion, husband or wife (Chaucer). Still in use in
these senses in Scotland, also in England in many parts from the north
to Glouc. OE. _gemaca_.
=makeless,= matchless, incomparable, Mirror for Mag, Buckingham,
st. 13.
=make-bate,= a mischief-maker, promoter of quarrels. Stanyhurst, tr. of
Aeneid, ii. 573 (ed. Arber, 62); BIBLE, 2 Tim. iii. 3 (margin); Titus
ii. 3 (margin); ‘Satan the author and sower of discord stirred up his
instruments, certain Frenchmen, tittivillers and makebaits about the
King’, Foxe, Bk. Martyrs (ed. Cattley, ii. 648); Heywood, A Woman
Killed, iii. 2 (Nicholas). In prov. use in Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Make,
vb.^{1} 3).
=making,= a match-making, matching. Middleton, A Trick to catch, iii. 3
(Witgood).
=malakatoon,= a quince, a peach grafted on a quince. Webster, Devil’s
Law-case, i. 2 (Romelio); _malicatoon_, Rowley, All’s Lost, i. 3. 15.
See =melocotone.=
=malander, mallander,= a dry scabby eruption behind the knee in horses.
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 94; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Knockem).
F. _malandre_; Late L. _malandria_, pl. pustules on the neck, esp. in
horses (Vegetius).
=male,= a bag, wallet, pack. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 142. 2; ‘Male or
wallet, to putte geare in’, Palsgrave; Tusser, Husbandry, § 102. 4. ME.
_male_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3115). See Dict. (s.v. Mail, 2).
=male-ease,= indisposition, illness. Morte Arthur, leaf 169, back, 2;
bk. viii, c. 41. F. _malaise_.
=malefice,= an evil deed. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 1154. L.
_maleficium_, evil deed.
=malengin, malengine,= evil contrivance, ill intent, deceit. Spenser, F.
Q. iii. 1. 53; v. 9. 5. ME. _malengin_: ‘The florin Was moder ferst of
malengin’ (Gower, C. A. v. 345). Anglo-F. _malengin_, evil device
(Gower, Mirour, 6544); cp. _engin_, device, trickery, id., 2102.
=maleur,= misfortune. Spelt _maleheure_, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 169.
1; _maleure_, id., lf. 244, back, 22. OF. _maleur_; L. _malum augurium_,
evil destiny.
=maleurous,= unlucky. Spelt _malewreus_, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 82.
26. OF. _maleuros_ (F. _malheureux_).
=maleurtee,= misfortune. Spelt _maleheurte_, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf
338. 15. See NED.
=male-uryd,= ill-omened, unlucky. Skelton, Against the Scottes, 111. See
=ure= (destiny).
=malgrado,= ‘maugre’, in despite of, to the loss of; ‘Malgrado of his
honour’, Greene, Orl. Fur. v. 2 (Orlando); Marlowe, Edw. II, ii. 5. 5.
Ital. _malgrado_, ‘in despight of’ (Florio). Cp. =maugre.=
=malice,= to regard with malice, seek to injure. Surrey. Complaint of a
Lover that defied Love, 34 (in Tottell’s Misc., p. 8); North, tr. of
Plutarch, Coriolanus, § 13 (in Shak. Plut., p. 23). See Nares.
=malkin,= an untidy female servant, a slut, slattern. Coriolanus, ii. 1.
227; Pericles, iv. 3. 34; used as a term of abuse, a lewd woman, spelt
_maukin_, Beaumont and Fl., The Chances, iii. 1 (Landlady); Death of E.
Huntington, ii. 1 (Hubert), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 258. ‘Malkin’
(‘Mawkin’) is in gen. prov. use in England and Scotland for a slattern,
and as a term of abuse, see EDD. (s.v. Mawkin, 2). It is prop. a dimin.
of the Christian name _Maud_ (ME. _Malde_), a F. equivalent of
_Matilda_.
=mall,= a club. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 51; an iron club, id., iv. 5. 42.
As vb., to beat down, id., v. 11. 8.
=malleation,= the test of hammering. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Face).
From L. _malleus_, a hammer.
=malleted,= infixed as if by a ‘mallet’. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii.
649.
=maltalent,= ill-will. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 61. ME. _maltalent_,
ill-will, ill-humour (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 273 and 330); Anglo-F.
_maltalant_, ill-humour (Ch. Rol. 271).
=mammer,= to waver, to be undecided. Othello, iii. 3. 70; Drant, tr.
Horace, 2 Sat. 3. A north-country word (EDD.). ME. _mamere_, ‘mutulare’
(Voc. 668. 26). See Nares.
=mammet,= a puppet, an odd figure, freq. used as a term of abuse. Romeo,
iii. 5. 186; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 3. 95; spelt _maumet_, Machin, The Dumb
Knight, iii. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Mommet). ME. _maumet_, an
idol, a false god (Chaucer, C. T. I. 860); OF. _mahumet_, an idol, orig.
Mahomet, who was supposed to be one of the false gods of the Saracens
(Ch. Rol. 2590).
=mammock,= a scrap, shred. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 654; to tear into
shreds, Coriolanus, i. 3. 71. ‘Mammock’, a broken piece, scrap, slice of
food; to cut into pieces—in prov. use (EDD.).
=mammothrept,= a spoiled child, weakling. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels,
iv. 1 (Amorphus). Gk. μαμμόθρεπτος, brought up by one’s grandmother.
=man,= to ‘squire’, or accompany a lady, to escort. Lyly, Euphues (ed.
Arber, 291); Fletcher, Span. Curate, iv. 7 (Amaranta).
=manable,= used of a girl of marriageable age. Middleton, Family of
Love, iv. 4 (Gudgeon); ‘She’s manable’, Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, ii.
1 (Otrante).
=manage,= management, control. Richard II, iii. 3. 179; Edw. III, iii.
3. 224.
=manchet,= a small loaf of white bread. Drayton, Pol., Song, xvi. 229;
Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Roger). In prov. use in Yorks., Lanc.,
and in the west country (EDD.). Norm. F. _manchette_, ‘pain à croûte
dure, inégale, fait en forme de couronne’ (Moisy). Prob. the same word
as F. _manchette_, a cuff (Hatzfeld).
=manderer;= see =maunder.=
=mandilion,= a soldier’s cloak. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, x. 120;
Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, iv. 3 (Lazarillo). See Nares. Ital.
_mandiglione_, a jacket (Florio), deriv. of Med. L. _mantile_, cp. Span.
_mantilla_. See Dozy, Glossaire, 299.
=mandragora,= mandrake. Othello, iii. 3. 330; Ant. and Cl. i. 5. 4. Gk.
μανδραγόρας.
=mandrake,= the plant _Atropa mandragora_; of a strong narcotic quality.
Its root was thought to resemble the human figure, and to cause madness
by its shriek or groan when torn from the ground. 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2.
310; Romeo, iv. 3. 47; a term of abuse, 2 Hen. IV, i. 2. 16; iii. 2.
342.
=mandritta, mandrita,= in fencing, a cut from right to left. Nabbes,
Microcosmos, i. 2 (Choler); Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. xi. 56.
Ital. _mandritto_, _manritto_, ‘a right handed blow’ (Florio).
=maner, manner:= in phr. _to be taken with the maner_, to be taken in
the act. BIBLE, Num. v. 13 (ed. 1611); also, in the Geneva Bible (1562);
1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 350; Winter’s Tale, iv. 3 (or 4), 755. ‘If the
Defendant were taken with the mainour (or manour)’, Cowell, Interpreter
(s.v. Mainour); ‘He is taken with the maynure’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour,
bk. ii. c. 7, § 6. Compare the Anglo-F. legal phrase _pris ov mainoure_,
and the L. _cum manuopere captus_, i.e. taken with the thing stolen in
one’s possession (Ducange, s.v. Manopera); _mainoure_, lit. hand-work,
acquired the legal sense of ‘thing stolen’. Later, to be taken _in the_
(_i’th_) _manner_, Fletcher, Rule a Wife, v. 4. 8. See Dict. (s.v.
Mainour).
=mangonize,= to sell men or boys for slaves. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii.
1 (Tucca). L. _mangonizare_, to trim up an article for sale (Pliny);
_mango_, a dealer in slaves and wares.
=manicon,= the name of a narcotic, obtained from a kind of night-shade,
so called from its supposed power of causing madness; ‘(Who) Bewitch
hermetic men to run Stark staring mad with manicon’, Butler, Hud. iii.
1. 324. See Alphita, 176 (under Strignus manicon, and Solatrum mortale).
Cp. Gk. στρύχνος μανικός (Dioscorides).
=maniple,= a handful, bundle. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Sir Dia.); a
band of men, Milton, Areopagitica (ed. Hales, 48). See Dict.
=manner;= see =maner.=
=manred,= the men whom the lord could call upon in time of war; hence, a
supply of fighting men; ‘Manred and retinew’, Holland, Camden’s Brit.,
Scot. ii. 17 (NED.); Phaer, Aeneid vii, 644 and 710 (L. orig. ‘cohors’).
OE. _mannrǣden_, homage, service due from tenants.
=manticore,= a fabulous animal, compounded of a lion, porcupine, and
scorpion, with a human head. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 118 and 124;
‘Mantichoras, monstrous beasts’, Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage,
v (Butler). Gk. μαντιχώρας, a corrupt reading for μαρτιχόρας in
Aristotle; from a Persian word meaning ‘man-eater’. See NED.
=manto,= a cloak. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 700. Ital. _manto_.
=mantoon,= a mantle. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Romelio). Ital.
_mantone_, _manto_, a cloak (Florio).
=manurage,= cultivation of land. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iii, c. 14,
st. 1.
=map,= a mop. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 2 (Soto); ‘Map’ is a Yorks.
pronunc. of ‘mop’ (EDD.).
=maquerelle,= a bawd, a procuress. Westward Ho, v. 3; Shirley, Triumph
of Peace (Second Antimasque). F. _maquerelle_, ‘a (woman) bawd, the
solicitrix of Lechery’ (Cotgr.).
=marablane,= an Oriental aromatic. Ford, Sun’s Darling, ii. 1
(Spaniard). See =myrobalane.=
=marasmus,= a wasting away of the body. Milton, P. L. xi. 487. Gk.
μαρασμός.
=marchesite;= ‘marcasite’; a kind of iron pyrites. B. Jonson, Alchem.
ii. 1 (Surly). Ital. _marchesita_, _marcasita_, ‘a marquesit, or
fire-stone, good to make mill-stones’ (Florio).
=marcussotte,= to cut the beard in a particular way; ‘And with a sythe
doth marcussotte his bristled berd’, Golding, Metam. xiii. 766; fol. 163
(1603). F. _Barbe faicte à la marquisotte_, ‘Cut after the Turkish
fashion; all being shaven away but the mustachoes’ (Cotgr.).
=mare,= the nightmare. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 83. ME. _mare_ or nyȝhte mare,
‘epialtes’ (Prompt.). OE. _mare_, Icel. _mara_.
=mare:= in phr. _to ride the wild mare_, to play at see-saw. 2 Hen. IV,
ii. 4. 268; _the two-legged mare_, the gallows, Like Will to Like, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 335, 345.
=mare;= ‘the blues’, melancholy; ‘Away the mare’, Skelton, Elynour
Rummyng, 110; ‘Let pass away the mare’, Calisto and Melibæa, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 57.
=mare,= a term in wrestling; a particular kind of grip. Drayton, Pol. i.
244. Also called _the flying mare_; see NED.
=mareyse,= a marsh. Morte Arthur, leaf 113. 5; bk. vi, c. 14; lf. 217.
17; bk. x, c. 1. OF. _mareis_; Med. L. _mariscus_ (Ducange).
=margaret, margarite,= a pearl. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 76; p. 90, col.
1; A Looking-Glasse, i. 1. 100 (Rasni). F. _Marguerite_, ‘Margaret (a
woman’s name); also a (Margarite) pearl’ (Cotgr.). L _margarita_, Gk.
μαργαρίτης, a pearl.
=marge,= margin, brink, border. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 6. Drayton, Pol.
ii. 25. F. _marge_.
=margery-prater,= a hen (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Higgen);
Harman, Caveat, p. 83. _Prater_ = cackler.
=marginal finger,= an index-hand in the margin of a book (☞); used to
direct attention to a striking passage. Massinger, Fatal Dowry (Romont;
towards the end).
=mark,= a coin worth 13_s._ 4_d._, or 2/3 of the £ sterling. Measure for
M. iv. 3. 7; King John, ii. 530.
=mark-white,= white mark, centre. Phr. _at the marke white_, at the
white mark in the centre of a target, Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 35; cp. _the
white_, Tam. Shrew, v. 2. 186. And see =rove.=
=marle,= to marvel, wonder. Eastward Ho, iii. 2 (Gertrude); B. Jonson,
Ev. Man out of Humour, Induct. (Carlo); a marvel, B. Jonson, Silent
Woman, iii. 1 (Mrs. Otter). A Devon and Somerset pronunc., see EDD.
(s.v. Marl, vb.^{3}).
=marlian,= a merlin, small hawk. Song in Tottel’s Misc., p. 132, l. 1. A
Cornish pronunc., see EDD. (s.v. Marlin).
=marling,= a ‘marline’, a small tarred cord used for binding ropes.
Dryden, Annus Mirab. 148. See Dict. (s.v. Marline).
=marmaritin,= a plant. Middleton, The Witch, iii. 3 (Hecate). L.
_marmaritis_; Gk. μαρμαρῖτις, a plant that grows in marble quarries
(Pliny).
=marmoll,= an enflamed sore, esp. on the leg. Skelton, Magnyfycence,
1932. See =mortmal.=
=marrow,= a companion, partner, mate. Tusser, Husbandry, § 57, st. 40;
Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, 195. In common prov. use in the
north to Cheshire and Derbyshire, see EDD. (s.v. Marrow, sb.^{2} 1). ME.
_marwe_, ‘socius, sodalis, compar’ (Prompt.).
=marry gip= (an exclamation); ‘Marry gip, thought I, with a wanion!’,
Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Waspe);
cp. the oath, _By Mary Gipcy_ (i.e. by S. Mary of Egypt), Skelton, Garl.
of Laurell, 1455.
=marry gup= (an exclamation); _marie gup!_, Lyly, Midas, v. 2 (Licio)
See NED. (s.v. Marry, int., c).
=marry muff,= some kind of cheap textile fabric; ‘A sute of Marrymuffe’,
Meeting of Gallants (NED.). Used as a derisive exclamation, Dekker,
Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Bellafront).
=Mars,= an alchemist’s name for iron. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Face).
=mart:= phr. _letters of mart_, _letters of marque_, Fletcher, Beggar’s
Bush, i. 3 (Goswin); Wife for a Month, ii. 1 (Tony). See Dict. (s.v.
Marque).
=martagan,= martagon, Turk’s-cap lily; _Lilium martagon_. B. Jonson, Sad
Sheph. ii. 2 (Aiken). F. ‘_martagon de Constantinople_, the Byzantine
Lilly’ (Cotgr.); Ital. _martagone_; Turk. _martagān_, a kind of turban,
a martagon-lily.
=martel,= to hammer. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 42. OF. _marteler_, deriv.
of OF. _martel_, a hammer.
=martern,= the ‘marten’, an animal of the weasel kind. Fletcher,
Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Hubert); Harrison, Descript. England, ii. 19 (ed.
Furnivall, 310). See Dict. (s.v. Marten).
=martialist,= a military man. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 17.
=Martlemas,= Martinmas. St. Martin’s day, Nov. 11. Meat was often killed
at this time to be salted for use at Christmas, Greene, George-a-Greene
(ll. 439, 1001), ed. Dyce, p. 260, col. 1; p. 266, col. 1; _Martilmas_,
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 134. 21; Tusser, § 12. 3. An E. Anglian form
of Martinmas (EDD.).
=mary, maree,= marrow. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 66; _maree_, Golding,
tr. of Met. ix. 172. ME. _mary_ (Chaucer, C. T. C. 542); _mary-bones_,
marrow-bones (id., C. T. A. 380).
=maryhinchco, maryhinchcho,= a disease to which horses are subject; ‘She
has had a string-halt, the maryhinchco’, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iii. 1
(Knockem). Markham explains it thus: ‘The string-halt, of some called
the mary-hinchcho, is a sodaine twitching up of the horses hinder
legges’ (NED.).
=mash,= to become enmeshed or entangled. Warner, Albion’s England, vi.
29, st. 27. See NED. (s.v. Mesh, vb.).
=maship,= a shorter form of _mastership_, as a term of respect. Udall,
Roister Doister, i. 2 (Merygreek).
=mask,= the ‘mesh’ of a net. Brewer, Lingua, ii. 6 (Mendacio). A
Cheshire pronunc., see EDD. (s.v. Maske). ME. _maske_, ‘macula’
(Prompt.); OE. _max_, cp. Dan. _maske_. See NED. (s.v. Mask, sb.^{1}).
=masticot, masticote,= ‘massicot’, yellow protoxide of lead, used as a
pigment. Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 13; pp. 130, 132. F. _massicot_,
‘oaker [ochre] made of Ceruse, or white lead’ (Cotgr.).
=mastlin,= mixed corn, esp. a mixture of wheat and rye. Tusser,
Husbandry, § 63. 23; ‘_Metail_, Messling or Masslin, Wheat and Rie
mingled, sowed and used together’, Cotgrave. ME. _mestlyon_ or mongorne,
‘mixtilio’ (Prompt. EETS. 286). ‘Meslin’ is in gen. prov. use in England
and Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Maslin, sb.^{1}).
=mastlin, maslin,= a kind of brass. Brewer, Lingua, iv. 1 (Heuresis). In
prov. use as an attrib.: maslin kettles, pans, pots, spoons, see EDD.
(s.v. Maslin, sb.^{2}). ME. _maslin_, also, _mestling_ (NED.); OE.
_mæs_(_t_)_ling_ (B. T.).
=masty,= a mastiff. Middleton, A Trick to catch, i. 4 (Witgood); used
_fig._ of a cannon (from its noise). Shirley, Maid’s Revenge, iv. 1
(near the end). In prov. use in the north (EDD.). F. _mastin_, a mastive
(Cotgr.); with change of suffix, cp. _haughty_ (F. _hautain_).
=matachin,= a kind of sword-dancer in a fantastic costume; ‘They looked
upon one another as if they had been Matachines’, Luna’s Pursuit (NED.);
see Douce, Illustrations of Shakespeare, ii. 435, quotation in Nares.
Also, the dance performed by ‘matachins’, Webster, White Devil
(Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 48; Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, v. 1
(Miramont); spelt _mattacina_, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 38).
Span. _matachin_, ‘a sword-dancer; as _dança de matachines_, a dance
with swords, in which they fence and strike at one another, as if they
were in earnest; receiving the blows on their bucklers, and keeping
time’ (Stevens). Of Arab. origin, see Dozy, 309.
=matador,= the slayer of the bull in a Spanish bull-fight. Dryden, Span.
Friar, i. 2 (Elvira). Also, in the card-games of ombre and quadrille, a
‘killing’ or principal card, Pope, Rape of the Lock, 321, 335; Etherege,
Man of Mode, ii. 1 (Medley). Span. _matador_, a killer; ‘At the game of
Hombre on the cards, there are four _Matadores_; that is, four murdering
cards; so called because they win all others’ (Stevens).
=matchecold,= machicolated; i.e. furnished with machicolations, which
are openings between the corbels that support a projecting parapet of a
tower; Morte Arthur, leaf 113, back; bk. vii, c. 10 (beginning). F.
_maschecoulis_, ‘the stones over a gate resembling a grate through which
offensive things are thrown upon Pioneers and other assailants’
(Cotgr.).
=matchless,= of things that are not a match, or pair. Spenser, F. Q. iv.
1. 28.
=mathe,= a maggot. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 18. 8, § 45; Caxton,
Reynard, xxviii (ed. Arber, 69). OE. _maða_ (Voc. 205. 8). See
=mad=(=de==.=
=matted,= dulled, deprived of lustre or gloss; ‘Oile colours matted’,
Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 12a (Appendix D. 116). See NED. (s.v. Mat, vb.
2).
=maugre,= to act in spite of, to defy. Webster, Appius, ii. 3 (App.
Claudius). F. _maugréer_, ‘to curse, ban, blaspheme, revile extreamly’
(Cotgr.). See =malgrado.=
=maukin;= see =malkin.=
=maule,= a heavy hammer. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 70. See =mall.=
=maumet;= see =mammet.=
=maund,= to beg (Cant). ‘One that maunds Upon the pad’ [highway], B.
Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (Pennyboy Canter); ‘_Maunde_, aske . . .
_hygh pad_, hygh waye’, Harman, Caveat, p. 86; ‘Maund on your own pads’,
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). Hence, _maunder_, a beggar,
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). See EDD. (s.v. Maund, vb.). OF.
_mandier_ (F. _mendier_), to beg (Bartsch), L. _mendicare_.
=maunder,= to beg. Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, v. 1 (De Vitry); hence
_maunderer_: ‘a maunderer upon the pad’, a beggar on the road, Dekker
and Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Teareat).
=maunder,= to grumble, Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iii. 1 (Margarite). In
gen. prov. use in England and Scotland (EDD.).
=maundie,= a maundy-dole; hence, almsgiving. Herrick, Noble Numbers (The
Widow’s Teares), st. 3. ME. _maundee_, ‘maundy’, the washing of the
disciples’ feet (P. Plowman, B. xvi. 140, see note, p. 239); OF.
_mandé_,’ lavement des pieds’ (Didot); Eccles. L. _mandatum_,
commandment (Vulgate, John xiii. 34); ‘ablutio pedum’ (Ducange).
=mauther,= a young girl. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 4 (Kastril). Spelt
_moether_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 17, st. 13. An E. Anglian word (EDD.).
=maw,= a game at cards. Rowley, All’s Lost, ii. 1. 16; Chapman, Mayday,
Act v (Lodovico). See Nares.
=may,= a maiden. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 39; Greene, Description of
the Shepherd, l. 57; ed. Dyce, p. 305. Of frequent occurrence in
Scottish Ballads, see EDD. (s.v. May, sb.^{2}). ME. _mai_ (Cursor M.
3238); OE. _mǣg_, a kinswoman, a maiden.
=May-game,= a mirthful spectacle (metaphorically). Ford, Lover’s
Melancholy, i. 2. 10. ‘May games’ were the dancings and merry-makings
round the May-pole, after the gathering of the May. See Stubbes, Anatomy
of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, pp. 149, 305); Herrick’s Hesperides (Corinna’s
going a-Maying), &c.
=May-lord,= a young man chosen to preside over May-day festivities.
Beaumont and Fl., Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Soto); Knight of the B. Pestle,
iv. 5.
=mayneal;= see =menial.=
=maynure;= see =maner.=
=mazard, mazzard,= the head. Hamlet, v. 1. 97; Othello, ii. 3. 155.
Spelt _mazer_, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iv. 2 (Fustigo). A _fig._ use
of _mazer_, a bowl. See Dict., and Notes on Eng. Etym., p. 183.
=mazard,= to knock on the head, kill; ‘If I had not been a
spirit, I had been mazarded’, B. Jonson, Love Restored (Robin
Goodfellow).
=meach;= see =mich.=
=meacock,= an effeminate person, a coward; ‘A meacock wretch’, Tam.
Shrew, ii. 1. 315; spelt _mecocke_, ‘As stout as a stockefish, as meeke
as a mecocke’, Appius and Virginia (NED.).
=mean,= in music, the tenor or middle part, Two Gent. i. 2. 95. In use
in Warwicksh. as late as 1850, see EDD. (s.v. Mean, sb.^{1} 1). Cp. It.
_mezzano_, ‘a mean or countertenor in musick’, Florio. ME. _mene_, of
songe, ‘Introcentus’ (Prompt. EETS.), also, ‘A _Meyne_, intercentus’
(Cath. Angl.).
=mean,= to lament, ‘moan’. Mids. Night’s D. v. 1. 331. A north-country
word for uttering a moaning sound, see EDD. (s.v. Mean, vb.^{2} 1). ME.
_mene_, to bemoan (Cursor M. 18255). OE. _mǣnan_, to lament.
=meane,= mien, look. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 11. Probably an aphetic form
of _demean_, see NED. (s.v. Mien).
=mease,= a mess, portion of food. Greene, Looking Glasse, ii. 2 (570);
p. 124, col. 2; a group of four, ‘A mease of men, _quatuor_’, Levins,
Manip. _Mease_ is a Yorks. form of _mess_, see EDD. (s.v. Mess,
sb.^{1}). ME. _mese_, ‘ferculum’ (Cath. Angl.); _mees_ of mete,
‘ferculum’ (Prompt. EETS. 286). F. _més_, ‘a messe or service of meat’
(Cotgr.). See =mess.=
=meath,= ‘mead’; a sweet drink made with honey. Drayton, Pol. iv. 112;
B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 1 (Sat.); Milton, P. L. v. 345. ‘Meath’, a
drink made with honey, is in prov. use in Cheshire, Pembroke, Somerset,
and Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Mead, sb.^{2}).
=meaze,= the ‘form’ of a hare. Return from Parnassus, ii. 5 (Amoretto).
See =muse.=
=mechal,= adulterous. Only in Heywood, Eng. Traveller, iii. 1 (O. Ger.);
Rape of Lucrece, iv. 3 (Sextus). Gk. μοιχός, an adulterer.
=mecocke;= see =meacock.=
=meddle, medle,= to mingle, mix. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 61; Shep. Kal.,
April, 68. OF. _medler_, _mesler_ (F. _mêler_), to mix.
=meech;= see =mich.=
†=meered;= ‘He being the meered question’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 10.
Formation and sense doubtful; Schmidt explains: he being the only cause
and subject of the war.
=meet,= to be even with; ‘I have heard of your tricks . . . I may live
To meet thee’, Fletcher, Hon. Man’s Fortune, iii. 3 (Montague); id.,
Rule a Wife, v. 3 (Leon). Also, _to meet with_; ‘I’ll meet with you anon
for interrupting me so’, Marlowe, Faust, x; ‘I shall find time to meet
with them’, Englishmen for any Money, iii. 2 (Pisaro), in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, x. 513. See Nares.
=meg,= a guinea. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Hackum). See
NED.
=meg-holly, by the,= a mild oath. Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs); vol. i, p.
40.
=meint, meynt,= mingled. Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 81; _ment_, F. Q. v.
5. 12; vi. 6. 25. ‘Ment’ is obsolescent in the north country, see EDD.
(s.v. Ment, pp.). ME. _meynt_, pp. of _mengen_ (Lydgate, Storie of
Thebes, 1260). OE. _mengan_, to mix. See Dict. M. and S.
=meiny, meinie,= a body of retainers. King Lear, ii. 4. 35; the common
herd, Coriolanus, iii. 1. 65. Of freq. occurrence in north-country
ballad literature for a company of followers, also, a crowd, throng,
multitude, see EDD. (s.v. Menyie). ME. _meynè_, a household, family
(Wyclif, Acts iii. 25). OF. _maisnée_, ‘famille’ (La Curne), see Ducange
(s.v. Maisnada). A deriv. of L. _mansio_ (an abode). See =menial.=
=mell,= to meddle, to have to do with. All’s Well, iv. 3. 257; Spenser,
F. Q. v. 9. 1; v. 12. 35. In common prov. use in Scotland, also in
Yorks. and Lanc., see EDD. (s.v. Mell, vb.^{2} 1. to mingle, 2. to
meddle). ME. _melle_, to mix (Hampole, Ps. ix. 9). OF. _meller_,
_mesler_ (F. _mêler_).
=mell,= honey. Gascoigne, Works, i. 102; Herrick, Hesperides, Pray and
Prosper, 4. L. _mel_.
=melocotone,= a peach grafted on a quince. Bacon, Essay 46; melicotton,
B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Winwife). Span. _melocoton_, Med. L.
_melum cotoneum_, Gk. μῆλον Κυδώνιον, ‘Cydonian apple’ (NED.). See
=malakatoon.=
=melotte,= a garment of skins, worn by monks. Skelton, Colyn Cloute,
866. L. _melota_ (Vulgate); Gk. μηλωτή, a sheepskin; also, a skin of any
animal (Heb. xi. 37). See Prompt. EETS. 191 (and Latin Glossary, p.
819).
=menial,= a servant of the household; ‘The great Housekeeper of the
World . . . will never leave any of his menials without the bread of
sufficiency’, Bp. Hall, Balm Gilead, xii. § 4; _mayneal_, Morte Arthur,
leaf 215, back, 35; bk. x, c. 11. See =meiny.=
=ment;= see =meint.=
=merce,= to ‘amerce’, to fine. Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, i
(Sir Wil. Scarborow; l. 12 from end).
=merchant,= a fellow, a chap. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 3. 57; Romeo, ii. 4. 153;
Latimer, Serm., 115 (Nares). Phr. _to play the merchant with_, to get
the better of, to cheat, Rowley, Woman never Vext, iv. 1. 51.
=mercify,= to pity. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 32.
=mercurial finger,= the little finger. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle).
In chiromancy the little finger was assigned to Mercury.
=merds,= fæces, excrement. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). L. _merda_.
=mere, mear,= a boundary, limit; spelt _meare_. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9.
46; Drayton, Pol. xix. 405. Hence, _meer-stone_, Bacon, Essay 56, § 1.
In gen. prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Mear). ME. _mere_ (Prompt, EETS. 286).
OE. _ge_)_mǣre_, boundary.
=mere, mear,= to mark out by means of ‘meres’; ‘The Latine name Which
mear’d her rule with Africa’, Spenser, Ruines Rome, xxii; _to mear on_,
to abut upon, border upon, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, iii. 520.
=mere,= absolute, complete, unqualified, Merry Wives, iv. 5. 64; wholly,
completely, All’s Well, iii. 5. 58; Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 4. 9;
_merely_, absolutely, entirely, Temp. i. 1. 21; Hamlet, i. 2. 137.
=meridian,= a period of repose at noon; ‘Ye, a meridian to lul him by
daylight’, Mirror for Mag., Cobham, st. 30. Monastic L. _meridiana_,
‘somnus meridianus’ (Ducange). Cp. Ital. _meriggiána_, ‘midday; a
pleasant shady place to feed, to rest, or sleep, and recreate in at
noon, or in the heat of the day’ (Florio).
=mermaid,= a cant term for a courtesan. Massinger, Old Law, iv. 1
(Agatha).
=merrygall, merrygald,= a gall or sore produced by chafing; ‘Heales a
merrygald’, Turbervile, Hunting, p. 139; ‘Merry-gals and raw places’,
Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xxi, c. 18; vol. ii. 101.
=mesel,= a foul person; used as a term of abuse; spelt _messel_, London
Prodigal, ii. 4. 74; iv. 1. 78. In Devon and Somerset, _meazle_ is used
as a term of abuse, meaning a filthy creature. ME. _mesel_, a leper
(Wyclif, Matt. x. 8). OF. _mesel_ ‘lépreux’ (Didot); O. Prov. _mezel_,
‘lépreux’, _mezelia_, ‘lèpre’ (Levy).
=mesprise,= contempt, scorn. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 39. F. _mespris_,
‘contempt, neglect’ (Cotgr.), deriv. of _mespriser_, to fail to
appreciate. F. _mépris_.
=mesprize,= mistake. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 19. Anglo-F. _mesprise_,
error, offence (Gower, Mirour, 1548). F. _méprise_, cp. _mesprendre_, to
mistake (Cotgr.).
=mess,= a group of four persons or things; ‘Where are your mess of sons
to back you now?’, 3 Hen. VI, i. 4. 73; L. L. L. iv. 3. 207; ‘There
lacks a fourth thing to make up the mess’, Latimer, Serm. v; ‘A mess of
most eminent men, Nicolaus Lyra . . . Hieronymus de Sanctâ Fide . . .
Ludovicus Carettus . . . Emmanuel Tremellius’, Fuller, A Pisgah Sight,
Pt. ii, bk. 5; Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce, 393); Heywood, Witches of Lanc.
i. 1 (Shakstone), in Wks. iv. 173. A ‘mess’ at the Inns of Court still
consists of four. See Trench, Select Glossary. See EDD. (s.v. Mess,
sb.^{1} 4). F. _més_, ‘a messe or service of meat’ (Cotgr ). Med. L.
_missus_ (Ducange). See =mease.=
=messe:= phr. _by the messe_, by the mass, used in oaths and
asseverations. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2201; ‘By the Mes’, Hen. V, iii.
2. 122; also, _mess_ by itself, ‘Mess! I’d rather kiss these
Gentlewomen’, Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 3 (Ben). This asseveration
is still in prov. use in various forms in the north country: _By th’
mass_ (Lanc.); _By th’ mess_ (Westm.); _Amess, Mess_ (Cumb.), see EDD.
(s.v. Mass, sb.^{1} 3). F. _messe_, the mass, the Eucharist.
=messling;= see =mastlin.=
=met,= measure. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 333. A north-country word for a
measure, gen. a bushel, see EDD. (s.v. Mete). ME. _mette_, ‘mensura’
(Cath. Angl.). OE. _ge_)_met_, ‘mensura, modius, satum’ (B. T.).
=mete,= to measure; _met_, pt. t., Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iii. 327;
_mete_, pp. Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, ii. 1. ME. _meten_ (Wyclif,
Matt. vii. 2). OE. _metan_.
=metely,= moderately; ‘Metely good’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii,
c. 16. OE. _ge_)_met ice_.
=metereza,= mistress. Middleton, More Dissemblers, v. 1 (Sinquapace);
_metreza_, Marston, Malcontent, i. 1 (Malevole). Neither French nor
Italian, but a mixture of the two (Nares). An alteration of F.
_maîtresse_, with an Italian termination.
=metoposcopy,= divination by observing the forehead. B. Jonson, Alchem.
i. 1 (Subtle). Gk. μέτωπο-ν, forehead; σκοπεῖν, to observe.
=meuse;= see =muse.=
=meve,= to move; ‘I meve or styrre from a place, _je meuve_’, Palsgrave;
Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 7; _meeve_, Damon and Pithias
(Nares); _mieve_, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 12. 26. ‘Meve’ is an E. Anglian
form (EDD.). ME. _mevyn_, ‘amoveo’ (Prompt.). OF. _moev-_ (_meuv-_),
stressed stem of _movoir_, to move.
=mew,= to moult. Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, ii. 2 (Martell); Wildgoose
Chase, i. 1 (La Castre). F. _muer_; L. _mutare_, to change.
=mew,= a coop for hawks; ‘Mewe for haukes, _meue_’, Palsgrave; a place
of confinement, Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 20; ii. 5. 27 and 7. 19. F. _mue_,
a hawk’s mue or coop; _mue_, a change, the mewing of a hawk (Cotgr.),
fr. _muer_, ‘to change, to mew’ (ib.); L. _mutare_. Our word ‘mews’, for
a range of stabling, is derived from the _Mews_ by Charing Cross, the
name of the place for the King’s horses, orig. the place for the king’s
falcons and the royal falconer. See Stow’s Survey of London (ed. Thoms,
167).
=mew:= in phr. _knights of the mew_, knights of the cat-call; the least
select among an audience at a theatre. Marston, What you Will, Induction
(Doricus).
=mich,= to skulk, to lurk stealthily. Heywood, A Woman Killed (ed. 1874,
ii. 113), spelt _meach_, Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, v. 2.
11; hence _micher_, a truant, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 450; a skulker, Beaumont
and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 2 (Yo. Loveless); spelt _meecher_, Bonduca,
i. 2 (Petillius). ‘Mitch’ and ‘meech’ are in common prov. use (EDD.).
ME. _mychyn_, or stelyn prively smale thyngys, ‘surripio, furtulo’
(Prompt. EETS. 301). Of Ger. origin, see Schade, Altdeutsches Wörterbuch
(s.v. mûhhan). See NED. (s.v. Miche).
†=miching malicho= (meaning quite uncertain), Hamlet, iii. 2. 148.
Textual variants are: _myching Mallico_, _munching Mallico_, _miching
mallecho_.
=migniard,= tender, delicate. B. Jonson. Devil an Ass, i. 2 (Fitz.). F.
_mignard_, ‘migniard, pretty, quaint; dainty, delicate’ (Cotgr.).
=migniardise,= delicate attention. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1
(Picklock). F. _mignardise_, ‘quaintnesse . . . smooth or fair speech,
kind usage’ (Cotgr.).
=mill,= to steal or rob (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song);
see Harman, Caveat, p. 67.
=mime,= a mimic, jester, pantomimist. B. Jonson, Epigrams, bk. i, cxxix;
Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, i. 4 (Satire). Gk. μῖμος.
=mince,= to walk affectedly or primly. Merry Wives, v. 1. 9; _mincing_,
BIBLE, Isa. iii. 16; _minsen_, pres. pl., Drayton, Pastorals, vii. 14.
Also, to perform mincingly, to parade, King Lear, iv. 6. 122. F.
_mincer_, to mince, to cut into small pieces (Cotgr.).
=minchen,= a nun. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 18, § 3.
‘_Mincheon lane_, so called of . . . the _Minchuns_, or nuns of St.
Helen’s’, Stow, Survey of London (ed. Thoms, p. 50). OE. _mynecenu_, f.
of _munuc_, a monk.
=mind,= to mean, intend. Mids. Night’s D. v. 113; 3 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 8,
64, 106, 140; Evelyn, Diary (May 21, 1645). In common prov. use, see
EDD. (s.v. Mind, vb. 7).
=ming,= to mingle, mix. Surrey, Description of Spring, 11; in Tottel’s
Misc., p. 4. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Ming, vb.^{2}). ME. _mynge_,
to mix (Wyclif, Rev. xviii. 6); OE. _mengan_.
=minge,= to mention. Hall. Satires, IV. ii. 80 (Davies). In prov. use,
see EDD. (s.v. Ming, vb.^{1}). ME. _mynge_ (Pearl, 855); OE.
_myn_(_e_)_gian_.
=minikin,= a playful or endearing term for a female. Glapthorne,
Hollander, ii (NED.). A Shropshire word for a delicate affected girl,
see EDD. (sv. Minikin, 3). Du. _minneken_ (Hexham).
=minikin,= small, delicate; ‘One blast of thy minikin mouth’, King Lear,
iii. 6. 45. Cp. the Somerset phr. ‘Her was a poor little minnikin thing’
(EDD.).
=minikin string,= the thin string of gut used for the treble of the lute
or viol, Ascham, Tox. 28. Hence, phr. _to tickle the minikin_, to play
on the treble string, Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3 (Gerardine); a
_minikin-tickler_, a fiddler, Marston, What you Will, v. 1 (Albano).
=minim,= a note, a part of a song or lay. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 28.
=miniments,= ‘muniments’, valuable belongings. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 6.
=minion,= a darling, a favourite, esp. in a contemptuous sense, a
mistress, a paramour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 37; ‘A minion wyfe’, a neat,
pretty wife, Roister Doister (ed. Arber, 86); the name of a small kind
of ordnance, Whitelocke, Memorials (ed. 1853, i. 273); Marlowe, 2
Tamburlaine, iii. 3. 6. F. _mignon_, ‘a minion, favourite, wanton,
darling; also, minion, dainty, neat’ (Cotgr.).
=minth,= the plant called mint. Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1 (Flora). Gk.
μίνθα.
=mint-man,= one skilled in coinage. Bacon, Essay 20, § 7.
=minx,= a pert girl, hussy. Congreve, Love for L., ii. 1; a wanton
woman, Dryden, Limberham, i. 1; ‘_Magalda_, a trull or minxe’, Florio;
_Mistress Minx_, Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, ii. 2 (Faustus).
=minx,= a pet dog. Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, § 140.
=mirador,= gallery to gaze from, balcony. Dryden, Conquest of Granada,
I. i. 1 (Abdelmelech). Span. _mirador_, a balcony (Stevens). See
Stanford.
=mischief,= misfortune, disaster. Merry Wives, iv. 2. 76; Much Ado, i.
3. 13.
=misconster,= to misconstrue. Shirley, Love in a Maze, ii. 1. 8. See
=conster.=
=miscreaunce,= misbelief, false belief. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 51; Shep.
Kal., May, 91. F. _mescreance_ (Cotgr.).
=misdeem,= to judge amiss of, to think evil of. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 49;
iii. 10. 29; Milton, P. R. i. 424; to judge amiss, id., P. L. ix. 301.
=misken,= a ‘mixen’, a manure-heap. Fletcher, Nightwalker, iii. 1
(Toby). A west-midland pronunc. of _mixen_ (EDD.).
=miskin,= a little bagpipe. Drayton, Pastorals, ii. 5. A dimin. (through
Dutch?) of OF. _muse_, a bagpipe, cp. F. _musette_, a little bagpipe
(Cotgr.).
=misprise,= to mistake; ‘Misprise me not’, B. Jonson, Case is Altered,
iii. 3 (Maximilian). See =mesprize.=
=mister:= in phr. _what mister wight_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 23; iii. 7.
14, i.e. a man of what ‘mister’ (occupation), or, a man of what class,
what kind of a man. The idiom occurs as an archaism in Spenser, borrowed
from Chaucer, ‘But telleth me what mister men ye been’ (C. T. A. 1710).
So we find, _what mister thing_, what kind of thing, Beaumont and Fl.,
Little French Lawyer, ii. 3. 19; _such myster saying_, such a kind of
saying, Shep. Kal., Sept., 103. _Mister_ (or _mester_) is very common in
ME. in the sense of office, employment, business. OF. _mestier_ (F.
_métier_); Med. L. _misterium_, for _ministerium_ (Ducange).
=mister,= to be necessary or needful; ‘As for my name, it mistreth not
to tell’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 51. From _mister_, need, necessity,
want; cp. Scottish proverb, ‘Mister maks man o’ craft’, Ray’s Proverbs
(ed. Bohn, 250); Ferguson, Proverbs (ed. 1641, p. 24). See EDD. (s.v.
Mister, vb. 1 and 3). ME. _mistere_, need (Cursor M. 3247); OF. (Norman)
_mestier_, ‘besoin, nécessité’ (Moisy). The same word as =mister,=
above.
=mistery,= occupation, profession. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 221. ME.
_misterye_ (Chaucer, C. T. I. 890); Med. L. _misterium_, ‘officium’
(Ducange). See =mister.=
=mistress,= the small bowl, or jack, in the game of bowls. Middleton, No
Wit like a Woman’s, ii. 3 (Mis. Low.); cp. ‘His bias was towards my
mistress’, Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 2 (Brains); cp. A Woman never
vext, iv. 1 (Lambskin).
=misured,= ill-omened, fatal; ‘O foule mysuryd ground, Whereon he gat
his finall dedely wounde’, Skelton, Dethe of Erle of Northumberland,
118. Cp. OF. _meseur_, ‘malheur’ (Godefroy); _meseurus_, ‘malheureux’
(Chron. des ducs de Normandie, in Didot). See =eure.=
=mite,= a small coin of very small value; used in negative phrases for a
thing of little worth; ‘The price falleth not one mite’, More’s Utopia
(ed. Arber, 42). Hence _miting_: ‘Nat worthe a mytyng’, not worth a
mite, Skelton, Poems against Garnesche, iii. 115. ME. _myte_: ‘Noght
worth a myte’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1558). See Dict.
=mithridate,= a compound regarded as an antidote against all poisons.
Fletcher, Valentinian, v. 2 (Val.); Massinger, Maid of Honour, iv. 4
(Adorni). Named from Mithridates, king of Pontus, who was said to have
been proof against poison owing to his constant use of antidotes. See
Stanford.
=miting,= a diminutive creature; freq. used as a term of endearment or
contempt, Skelton, El. Rummyng, 224. ME. _mytyng_ (Towneley Myst. xii.
477).
=mixt,= to mix; ‘_I myxte_, or myngell’, Palsgrave; pres. pt.,
_mixting_, Elyot, Governour, bk. i, ch. 13, § 4. Hence _mixt_, a
mixture; ‘A mixt of both’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. ii, ch. 9 (ed.
Arber, 97). From the L. pp. _mixtus_.
=mo, moe,= orig. used as adv.; ‘Gent’lest fair, mourne, mourne no moe’
(mourn no more), Fletcher, Q. Corinth, iii. 2 (Song); _the moe_, the
majority, the greater part, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, i. 15 (ed. Arber,
48); _mo_, more in number, ‘mo tymes’, Caxton, Reynard (ed. Arber, 7);
‘Infinite moe . . . He there beheld’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 63. ME.
_mo_, adj., more in number, adv., any longer (Chaucer); OE. _mā_; Goth.
_mais_, more (adv.). See Wright’s OE. Gram. § 252.
=mobble, moble,= to muffle up one’s head or face; also, with _up_;
‘_Mobled_ queen’, Hamlet, ii. 2. 524; _mobble up_, Shirley, Gent. of
Venice, v. 3 (Florelli). A Warw. and Shropsh. word, see EDD. (s.v.
Moble).
=mobile,= mob; ‘The mobile’, Dryden, Pref. to Don Sebastian, § 2; id.,
i. 1 (near the end); iv. 2 (end). Common from ab. 1676 to 1700;
shortened to _mobb_, _c._ 1688. It represents the L. _mobile vulgus_,
the inconstant crowd. See Dict. (s.v. Mob), and Stanford.
=mockado,= a kind of cloth much used for clothing; ‘Who would not thinke
it a ridiculous thing to see a Lady in her milke-house with a velvet
gowne, and at a bridall in her cassock of mockado’, Puttenham, Eng.
Poesie (ed. Arber, 290); Ford, Lady’s Trial, ii. 1 (Guzman); Lodge,
Wit’s Miserie, 14. A quasi-Spanish form from F. _moucade_, ‘the stuffe
moccadoe’ (Cotgr.). Of Arab. origin, see NED. (s.v. Mohair), and Thomas,
_Essais_ (s.v. Camoiard).
=moder, modere,= to moderate, restrain. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 6,
back, 18; Sir T. More, Works, p. 882, col. 2. OF. _moderer_.
=modern,= ordinary, commonplace, common; in a depreciatory sense. As You
Like It, ii. 7. 156; Macbeth, iv. 3. 170. The only Shakespearian sense;
peculiarly Elizabethan.
=moe;= see =mo.=
=moil, moyle,= a ‘mule’. Ford, Fancies, ii. 2; More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby,
51); Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 1 (Welford). Common in Devon
and Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. Moyle).
=moil, moyle,= a kind of slipper or shoe; ‘Moyles of velvet to save thy
shooes of lether’, J. Heywood, Prov. and Epigr. (ed. 1867, 214);
‘_Moiles_, a kind of high-soled shoes, worn in ancient times by Kings
and great Persons’, Phillips; spelt _mule_, ‘He had ane pair of mules on
his feit’, Spalding, Troubles of Charles I (NED.). F. _mules_, ‘moyles,
pantofles, high slippers’ (Cotgr.). Cp. Du. _muylen_, pantoffles
(Hexham). Med. L. _mula_, ‘crepida’ (Ducange).
=moil, moyle,= to wet; to soil, make dirty. Turbervile, Hunting, 33; to
defile, Spenser, Hymn Heavenly Love, 220; to toil, work hard, drudge,
Bacon, Essay, Plantations; to weary, fatigue, harass, Stanyhurst, tr.
Aeneid, i (ed. Arber, 27). In common prov. use in many senses, to
plaster with mud, to soil, defile, to work hard, to worry, see EDD.
(s.v. Moil, vb.). F. _mouiller_ (Cotgr.).
=mold,= a ‘mole’, spot, blemish. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 7. See =mould.=
=mollipuff;= see =mullipuff.=
=mome,= a blockhead. Com. Errors, iii. 1. 32; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 49;
Levins, Manipulus; Drayton, Skeltoniad, p. 1373; Mirror for Mag. 466;
Dekker, Gull’s Horne-bk. 5; Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, i. 2. 5. Dialect
of Geneva _mome_, ‘sot, nigaud’; cp. F. (argot) _mome_, ‘garçon’
(Sainéan, p. 206).
†=Momtanish= (?); ‘And this your momtanish inhumanytye’, Sir T. More,
ii. 4. 162. Dr. H. Bradley conjectures _Moritanish_ (i.e. Moorish).
=moniment,= memorial, anything by which a thing may be remembered.
Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 38; ii. 10. 56; used of dints on a shield, F. Q.
ii. 12. 80; of an inscription stamped on coin, F. Q. ii. 7. 5. L.
_monimentum_, deriv. of _monere_, to remind.
=Monmouth cap,= a flat round cap formerly worn by soldiers and sailors,
Hen. V, iv. 7. 104; Eastward Ho, iv. 1 (_or_ 2) (Touchstone). Also,
_monmouth_, Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, iii. 5 (last Song).
=monomachy,= single combat. Heywood, Golden Age, A. iii (Enceladus);
vol. iii, p. 50. Gk. μονομαχία; deriv. of μονομάχος, fighting alone.
=monster,= a prodigy, wonder, divine omen. Phaer, Aeneid ii, 680 (L.
_mirabile monstrum_); id., iii. 26.
=montant= (a fencing term), an upright blow or thrust. Merry Wives, ii.
3. 27; _montanto_, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 7 (Bobadil). F.
_montant_ (Cotgr.).
=month:= phr. _to have a month’s mind_, to have an inclination, a fancy,
a liking. Lyly, Euphues (Arber, 464); ‘_Tu es bien engrand de trotter_,
Thou hast a moneths mind to be gone’, Cotgrave; Pepys, Diary, May 20,
1660. In prov. use in many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Month,
sb.^{1} 3 (b)).
=monthly,= madly; after the manner of a lunatic. Only in Middleton,
Roaring Girl, v. 2 (Moll).
=moodeles, modeless,= unmeasured, vast, huge; Mirror for Mag., Morindus,
st. 17. Frequent in Greene (NED.). From _mode_, measure, size, manner,
&c.
=moon,= a fit of frenzy; ‘I know ’twas but some peevish Moone in him’,
C. Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, ii (Duke).
=mooncalf,= a false conception, imperfect foetus; hence, monstrosity.
Tempest, ii. 2. 111; Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, iv. 1 (Bussy); Drayton,
The Mooncalf. Cp. G. _mondkalb_, ‘ungestalte Missgeburt’ (Weigand).
=moonling,= a mooncalf, silly fellow. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 3
(Wit.).
=mooting-night,= a night at the Inns of Court, when imaginary cases at
law are discussed by the students. Cartwright, The Ordinary, iii. 5
(Song, verse 2). See Dict. (s.v. Moot).
=mooting-time,= the moulting season. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 120. In prov.
use, see EDD. (s.v. Mout). ME. _mowtyn_, as fowlys, ‘deplumeo’
(Prompt.); cp. Du. _muyten_, ‘to mue as hawkes doe’ (Hexham); Low G.
_muten_ (G. _mausen_), to moult (Berghaus); L. _mutare_.
=mop,= a grimace, Temp. iv. 1. 47; to make grimaces, King Lear, iv. 1.
64; ‘To moppe, maw, _movere labia_’, Levins, Manip.
=moppe= (see quot.); ‘I called her (the young lady) Moppe . . .
Understanding by this word, a litle prety Lady, or tender young thing.
For so we call litle fishes that be not come to full growth, as whiting
moppes, gurnard moppes’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber, 229). Cp.
ME. _moppe_, ‘pupa’ (Prompt. EETS. 292).
=moppet,= a term of endearment applied to a child or a young girl,
Massinger, Guardian, iv. 2 (end); The Spectator, no. 277. See above.
=more,= the root of a tree or plant; a plant. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 10.
A west-country word from Worc. to Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. More). ME.
_more_, root (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 25). OE. _more_, _moru_, an edible
root, a carrot, parsnip (B. T.), cp. G. _möhre_, a carrot.
=morelle,= a dark-coloured horse. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 15, l. 11; i.
24, l. 17. ME. _morel_, hors (Prompt. EETS. 293). Norm. F. _morel_,
_cheval morel_, ‘cheval noir’ (Moisy). F. _morel_, _moreau_, _cheval
moreau,_ a black horse (Cotgr.).
=morfound,= a disease in horses, sheep, &c., due to taking a chill.
Spelt _morfounde_, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 100. Palsgrave has: ‘I
morfonde, as a horse dothe that waxeth styffe by taking of a sodayne
colde.’ F. _se morfondre_, to take cold (Cotgr.).
=Morglay,= the name of the sword belonging to Sir Bevis, Drayton,
Polyolbion, ii. 332; used allusively for a sword, Beaumont and Fl.,
Honest Man’s Fortune, i. 1 (Longueville); Stanyhurst, Aeneid, ii (Arber,
60); Cleaveland’s Poems (Nares). We may perhaps compare _claymore_
(_glaymore_), see NED.
=Morian,= of the Moorish race, pertaining to the Moors; a Moor; _the
Moryans land_, Great Bible, 1539, Ps. lxviii. 31 (rendering of
‘Aethiopia’ in Vulgate); _the Morians londe_, Coverdale (1535), ib.; cp.
Luther’s rendering, _Mohrenland_, land of the Moors. See Bible
Word-Book. OF. _Morien_ (NED.). See =Murrian.=
=morigeration,= deference, obsequiousness. Bacon, Adv. of Learning, i.
3. 10; Howell, Foreign Travell, sect. V, p. 29. L. _morigeratio_,
compliance.
=morisco,= a morris-dance. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, v. 2. 7. Also, a
morris-dancer, 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 365. Properly, a Moorish dance; see
Stanford. Span. _morisco_, a man descended from Moors or converted from
them (Stevens). See =morris-pike.=
=mornifle;= ‘Mornyfle, a maner of play, _mornifle_’, Palsgrave. F.
_mornifle_, a trick at cards (Cotgr.); ‘réunion de quatre cartes
semblables’ (Hatzfeld). _Mornifle_ also meant a cuff, a blow: ‘_donner
mornifle_, c’est-à-dire un soufflet’ (Oudin, 1640); see Sainéan, L’Argot
ancien, p. 206. See =mournival.=
=morphew,= a disease of the skin; ‘_Morféa_, the morphew in some womens
faces’, Florio; ‘Morfewe, a sickenesse’, Palsgrave. Hence, _morphewed_,
afflicted with the disease, Webster, Duchess of Malfi, ii. 1 (Bosola).
ME. _morfu_, ‘morphea’ (Prompt.). Med. L. _morfea_, ‘cutis foedacio
maculosa’ (Sin. Bart.).
=morpion,= a kind of louse. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 437. F. _morpion_, a
crab-louse (Cotgr.); cp. Rabelais, II. xxvii; deriv. of _mordre_ +
_pion_, ‘ce pou ayant infesté surtout les anciens corps d’infanterie’
(Hatzfeld).
=morris-pike,= a form of pike supposed to be of Moorish origin, Com.
Errors, iv. 3. 28; _morispike_, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 67). See
=morisco.=
=mort= (a hunting term). The note sounded on a horn at the death of the
deer, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 118; ‘He that bloweth the Mort before the
fall of the Buck’, Greene, Card of Fancie (Nares).
=mort= (Cant), a girl or woman. B. Jonson, Gypsies Met. 65; a female
vagabond, harlot, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). Later,
written _mott_ (_mot_), London slang for a woman of the town, see NED.
=mortar:= in phr. _to fly to Rome with a mortar on one’s head_, app. a
legendary achievement of some wizard; Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 2
(Soto); Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2 (Clown); Kemp, Nine Daies
Wonder, Ep. Ded. (NED.). F. _mortier_, ‘a morter to bray things in’
(Cotgr.).
=mortmal, mormal,= an inflamed sore, esp. on the leg; ‘The old mortmal
on his shin’, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 2 (Maudlin); ‘Mormall, a
sore, _loup_’, Palsgrave. ME. _mormale_, ‘malum mortuum’ (Prompt.). OF.
_mortmal_; cp. Med. L. _malum mortuum_, ‘morbi genus pedum et tibiarum’
(Ducange). See =marmoll.=
=mort-pays,= the taking of the King’s pay by a captain in service for
men who were dead or discharged; ‘The severe punishing of mort-pays’,
Bacon, Hist. Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 93). See =dead pay.=
=most an end,= generally, usually; continually. Massinger, A Very Woman,
iii. 1 (Merchant). _Honest_ (addressing _Greatheart_): ‘Knew him! I was
a great companion of his; I was with him most an end’; Bunyan, Pilgrim’s
Progress, Pt. II. In common prov. use from Yorks. to E. Anglia, see EDD.
(s.v. Most, 7, 2a).
=mot, motte,= a word, saying, motto, proverb. Rape of Lucrece, 830; ‘To
gull him with a motte’, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2 (E. Knowell).
F. _mot_, a word.
=mote,= a note of a horn or bugle. Morte Arthur, leaf 112. 20 (bk. vii,
ch. 8); ‘Mote, blaste of a horne’, Palsgrave; _mot_, Chevy Chace, 16;
_mott_, Turbervile, Hunting, 86. ME. _moote_ of an horne, blowyng
(Prompt. EETS. 294, see note, no. 1431). F. _mot_, ‘the note winded by
an huntsman on his horn’ (Cotgr.).
=mote,= a pleading in a law-court. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c.
14, § 7. OE. _mōtian_, to address a meeting, to discuss, ‘moot a
question’ (B. T.). See Dict. (s.v. Moot).
=mote,= may, must; ‘I mote dye’, Morte Arthur, leaf 34. 9; bk. i, c. 20;
‘Now _mote_ ye understand’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 46. ME. _mot_, _moot_,
pres. (I or he) may, must; _moten_, _mote_, pl.; _moste_, pt. t. OE.
_mōt_, (I, he) may; _mōst_, 2 sing.; _mōton_, pl.; _mōste_, pt. t.
=mother,= a young girl. Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, iii. 2 (Franio). See
=mauther.=
=mother, the,= hysteria. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Bellafront);
King Lear, ii. 4. 56.
=mothering,= the custom of visiting one’s mother, and giving and
receiving of presents of food, &c., on Mid-Lent Sunday; ‘Thou go’st
a-mothering’, Herrick, To Dianeme, A Ceremonie in Gloucester. See EDD.
(s.v. Mothering) for accounts of the customs connected with ‘Mothering
Sunday’ (Mid-Lent Sunday) in various parts of England from Yorks. to
Devon.
=moting,= mooting; i.e. discussion, debate. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1075.
ME. _motyng_, or pletynge, ‘placitatio’ (Prompt. EETS. 294). See =mote=
(a pleading).
=motion,= a puppet-show. Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 103; a puppet, Two Gent.
ii. 1. 100; B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, v. 3. 3.
=mott,= measured; pt. t. of =mete= (q.v.). Spenser, Colin Clout, 365.
See NED. (s.v. Mete, vb.^{1}).
=motte;= see =mot.=
=mouch,= to act by stealth; to idle and loaf about, Webster, Sir T.
Wyatt (Clown), ed. Dyce, p. 193. See _Mooch_ in NED. and EDD. The word
is in gen. prov. use in the British Isles and in Australia.
=mouchatoes,= moustaches. Lady Alimony, ii. 5 (Juliffe). See =mutchado.=
=mought,= a moth; ‘Mought that eates clothes, _ver de drap_’, Palsgrave.
Hence _moughte-eaten_, ‘Olde and moughte-eaten lawes’, More’s Utopia
(ed. Lumby, 53). ME. _mouȝte_ (Wyclif, Matt. vi. 19); _moghte_, ‘tinea’
(Cath. Angl.); OE. _mohða_.
=mought,= _pt. t._ might. Bacon, Essays (very common, see Abbott’s ed.,
Index); Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 42. ME. _maht_, 2 pr. s.; _mahte_, pt. t.
of _mæi_, (I, he) may; OE. _meaht_, 2 pr. s.; _meahte_, pt. t. of _mæg_,
(I, he) may, can.
=mould,= a ‘_mole_’, a spot on the skin, birthmark. Gascoigne, Supposes,
v. 5 (Cleander); _mold_, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 7. See Dict. (s.v.
Mould, 3).
=mouldwarp,= the mole, ‘talpa’; _moldwarp_, 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 148;
Spenser, Colin Clout, 763. In gen. prov. use in the north country,
Midlands, and Suffolk, see EDD. (s.v. Mouldywarp). ME. _moldewarpe_,
‘talpa’ (Cath. Angl.); cp. Dan. _muldvarp_, Norw. dial. _moldvarp_
(Aasen), G. _maulwurf_.
=mount cent, mount saint,= a game at cards resembling piquet; probably
the same as =cent= (q.v.), Machin, Dumb Knight, iv (Queen). Prob. from
_mount_, i.e. amount, and _cent_, one hundred. See NED.
=mountenance,= amount of space, distance. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 18;
iii. 11. 20; v. 6. 36. ME. _mowntenawnce_ (Prompt.); _montenance_,
amount (Cursor M. 29166).
=mournival,= a set of four aces, kings, queens, or knaves in one hand.
Cotton Gamester, 68; hence, a set of four (things or persons), B.
Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Mirth); _murnival_, Greene’s Tu Quoque,
in Ancient Eng. Drama, ii. 551. See =mornifle.=
=mouse,= a term of endearment. Hamlet, iii. 4. 183; Middleton, Roaring
Girl, ii. 1 (Openwork).
=mouse-hunt,= a woman hunter. Romeo iv. 4. 11. This is prob. a _fig._
use of _mouse-hunt_, a weasel, ‘The Ferrets and Moushunts of an Index’,
Milton (Wks., ed. 1851, iii. 81); spelt _musehont_, Caxton, Reynard (ed.
Arber, 79). ‘Mouse-hunt’ (‘Mouse-hound’) is in prov. use in E. Anglia
for the smallest animal of the weasel tribe. See EDD. (s.v. Mouse, 1,
(7) and (8)). M. Du. _muyshont_, or _muushont_, a weasel, lit. ‘a
mouse-hound’.
=mowe,= to be able; ‘They shalle not mowe helpe, they shall not be able
to help’, Morte Arthur, leaf 61, back, 26; bk. iv, c. 3. ME.
_mow_(_e_)_n_, ‘posse’ (Prompt. EETS. 302); see Chaucer (Tr. and Cr. ii.
1594). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Mæi).
=mowe,= to make grimaces; ‘I mow with the mouth, I mock one, _Je fays la
moue_’, Palsgrave; ‘Apes that moe and chatter’, Tempest, ii. 2. 9;
_mowing_, making grimaces, Ascham, Scholemaster (ed. Arber, 54).
=mowes,= grimaces, ‘Making mowes at me’, BIBLE (1539), Ps. xxxv. 15;
Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 49; Cymbeline, i. 6. 41. ME. _mow_, or scorne,
‘valgia’ (Prompt. EETS. 294). F. _moue_, a moe, ‘an ill-favoured
extension or thrusting out of the lips’ (Cotgr.).
=mowles,= broken chilblains in the heels. Dunbar, Poems (ed. Small, ii.
128). See EDD. (s.v. Mool), and Jamieson (s.v. Mules). ME. _mowle_,
‘pernio’ (Cath. Angl.); _mowle_, sore, ‘pustula, pernio’ (Prompt. EETS.
295, see note, no. 1439). F. _mule_, ‘a kibe; _aller sur mule_: Il va
sur mule aussi bien que le Pape (an equivocation, applicable to one that
hath kibed heels)’; see Cotgrave. Cp. Du. _muyle_, a kibe (Hexham).
=moy,= an imaginary name of coin, evolved by Pistol out of his
prisoner’s speech; ‘Ayez pitié de _moi_! Moy shall not serve; I will
have forty moys’, &c., Hen. V, iv. 4. 14.
=moyle,= a variety of apple; ‘Of Moyle, or Mum, or Treacle’s viscous
juice’, J. Philips, Cider, bk. i. (Perhaps the word means a hybrid; cp.
_moyle_, a mule.) See =genet-moyl.=
=moyle;= see =moil.=
=muccinigo,= a small coin formerly current in Venice, worth about 9_d._
B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1; iv. 1; Shirley, Gent. Venice, i. 1 (Cornari).
Ital. ‘_mocenigo_, a coyn in Venice; also the name of a considerable
family there’ (Florio). The coin was named from Tommaso Mocenigo, doge
of Venice, 1413-23. See NED. (s.v. Moccenigo).
=much!,= a contemptuous exclamation of denial. _Much_ = _much of that!_,
ironically; i.e. far from it, by no means. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 143;
Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (Celso), _Much wench!_ i.e. no wench at all,
B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum., iv. 6 (Brain-worm).
=muck;= in Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 1188. _To run amuck_, to run
about in a frenzy, is a phrase due to the Malay _āmuq_, ‘rushing in a
state of frenzy to the commission of indiscriminate murder’ (Marsden).
Dryden took the _a_ in _amuck_ to be the E. indef. article; and
reproduced the phrase in the curious form—_runs an Indian muck_. See
Stanford (s.v. Amuck).
=muckinder,= a handkerchief. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Turfe);
Fletcher, Captain, iii. 5 (Fabricio); ‘Mockendar for chyldre,
_mouchouer_’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in many parts of England from the
north country to Kent and Dorset in various forms; _muckinder_,
_muckender_, _muckinger_, _muckenger_ (EDD.). ME. _mokedore_, ‘sudarium’
(Voc. 614. 25), O. Prov. _mocadour_ (mod. _moucadour_), a handkerchief,
Span. _mocador_, F. _mouchoir_; deriv. of _moucher_, ‘débarrasser des
mucosités que sécrète la muqueuse nasale’ (Hatzfeld).
=muffler,= (1) a wrapper worn by women and covering the face; (2) a
cloth for blindfolding a person. Merry Wives, iv. 2. 73; Fletcher,
Night-walker, ii. 2 (near the end); 2 Hen. V, iii. 6. 32.
=mugwet,= the intestines of an animal; ‘The gatherbagge or Mugwet of a
yong harte’, Turbervile, Hunting, 39. ‘Mugget’ is in prov. use in
Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall for sheep or calf’s intestines; see EDD.
See NED. (s.v. Mugget).
=mule:= phr. _to ride upon a mule_, to be a great lawyer. B. Jonson, Ev.
Man out of Humour, ii. 1 (Carlo); _to shoe one’s mule_, to help oneself
out of the funds trusted to one’s management, History of Francion
(Nares).
=mule;= see =moil= (a slipper).
=mullar,= a ‘muller’, a stone with a flat base, held in the hand and
used, in conjunction with a grinding-stone or slab, in grinding
painters’ colours. Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, p. 136. F. _moulleur_, a
grinder (Cotgr.); deriv. of OF. _moldre_, L. _molere_, to grind.
=mullet,= the rowel of a spur; a mullet, in heraldry. Shirley, Love in a
Maze, i. 1 (Simple). F. _molette d’esperon_, the rowel of a spur
(Cotgr.).
=mullets,= pincers or tweezers. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2
(Amorphus). F. _mollette_, ‘a mullet, a nipper, a pincer’ (Cotgr.).
=mullipuff, mollipuff,= the puff-ball, or fuzz-ball. Shirley, St.
Patrick, v. 1 (2 Soldier). See NED. (s.v. Mullipuff), and EDD. (s.v.
Mully-puff). ‘Mully’ in Norfolk is used for mouldy, powdery, see EDD.
(s.v. Mull, sb.^{1} 1). Norw. dial. _moll_, mould (Aasen), Swed. _mull_
(Widegren).
=mullwine,= mulled wine. Middleton, Phœnix, iv. 3. 9. See Dict. (s.v.
Mulled).
=mumbudget,= a word used to insist upon silence; ‘I cry . . . _mum_; she
cries _budget_’, Merry Wives, v. 2. 6; ‘Quoth she, _Mum budget_’,
Butler, Hud. i. 3. 208; ‘_Mumbudget_, not a word!’, Look about You, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 420.
=mumchance,= the name of a game, both at dice and at cards. Westward Ho,
ii. 2 (with allusion to _bones_, i.e. dice); B. Jonson, Alchemist, v. 2
(Subtle); Barth. Fair, iv. 1 (Cokes). Played in silence; whence the
name.
=mumchance,= one who has nothing to say, a ‘dummy’. Plautus made English
(Nares). In prov. use in many parts of England, esp. in the west
country, for a stupid, silent, stolid person.
=mummia, mummy,= a preparation used in medicine, chiefly from the
substance with which Egyptian mummies were preserved. Webster, White
Devil (beginning, Gasparo), ed. Dyce, p. 5; id. (Isabella), p. 15;
Beaumont and Fl., iii. 1 (Galoshio). See Dict. (s.v. Mummy), and
Stanford (s.v. Mummia).
=mump,= to overreach, to cheat; ‘Mump your proud players’, Buckingham,
The Rehearsal, ii. 2 (Bayes); ‘Mump’d of his snip’ (i.e. cheated of his
portion), Wycherley, Love in a Wood, i. 2 (Ranger); Gent.
Dancing-master, iv. 1 (Mrs. Caution). In prov. use in the west country,
see EDD. (s.v. Mump, vb.^{1} 10). Du. _mompen_, ‘to mump, cheat’
(Sewel).
=mump,= to make grimaces, to screw up the mouth. Otway, Venice
Preserved, ii. 1 (Pierre); D’Urfey, Pills, vi. 198; a grimace, ‘_Monnoye
de singe_, moes, mumps’, Cotgrave. ‘To mump’ is used in Northamptonsh.
in the sense of drawing in the lips, screwing up the mouth with a smile:
‘She mumps up her mouth, she knows something’, see EDD. (s.v. Mump,
vb.^{1} 4).
=mumpsimus.= [In allusion to the story of an illiterate English priest,
who when corrected for reading ‘quod in ore _mumpsimus_’ in the Mass,
replied ‘I will not change my old _mumpsimus_ for your new _sumpsimus_’
(NED.).] One who obstinately adheres to old ways in spite of the
clearest evidence that they are wrong, an old fogey, Underhill in Narr.
Reform. (Camden Soc., 141); Gascoigne, Supposes, i. 3 (Dulipo). See
Nares.
=mundungo,= bad-smelling tobacco; ‘A mundungo monopolist’, Lady Alimony,
ii. 2 (1 Boy); _snuff-mundungus_, Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 1006. A jocular
use of Span. _mondongo_, ‘hogs puddings’ (Stevens).
=munify,= to fortify. Drayton, Barons’ Wars, ii. 34; hence,
_munificence_, defence, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 15 (ed. 1596).
=munite,= to fortify. Florio, tr. Montaigne, bk. i, c. 47; Bacon, Essay
3 (ed. Abbott, p. 10).
=munpins,= mouth-pegs, the teeth; a ludicrous form. _Munpynnys_,
Skelton, The Douty Duke of Albany, 292. ‘Mun’ for mouth is in prov. use
in the north, and in slang use generally, see EDD. (s.v. Mun, sb.^{1}
1). Norw. dial. _munn_, the mouth (Aasen).
=muraill,= a wall; walls of a city. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 201, back,
14. F. _muraille_.
=murderer, murdering-piece,= a cannon or mortar, discharging stones or
grape-shot. Hamlet, iv. 5. 95; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 3 (Jaques);
Double Marriage, iv. 2. 6.
=mure,= a wall. 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 119; Heywood, If you know not Me
(Queen), vol. i, p. 338; to shut up, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 119; _mured up_,
Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 34. L. _murus_, a wall.
=murleon,= a merlin, a small hawk; ‘A cast [couple] of murleons’, Damon
and Pithias, Ancient Brit. Drama, i. 88, col. 2. ME. _merlioun_, Chaucer
(Parl. Foules, 339). F. _esmerillon_ (Cotgr.).
=murnival;= see =mournival.=
=murr,= a violent catarrh, a severe cold in the head. Chapman, Mons.
d’Olive, ii. 1 (Philip); _murres_, pl., Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helthe,
fol. 3, back; ‘Murre, _gravedo_’, Levins, Manipulus. See Nares.
=Murrian,= a Mauritanian, a Moor. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 315). See
=Morian.=
=murrion,= a ‘morion’, a steel cap. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4
(Captain). Also jocularly, a nightcap; spelt _murrain_, id., Scornful
Lady, iv. 1 (Abigail). Span. _morrion_ (Stevens). See Stanford (s.v.
Morrion), and Dict. (s.v. Morion).
=muscadine,= a kind of wine with a musk-like perfume. Massinger, City
Madam, ii. 1. 12. See Dict. (s.v. Muscadel).
=Muscovy glass,= a kind of talc. B. Jonson, Prol. to Devil is an Ass,
17; Marston (Malcontent), i. 3 (Passarello).
=muse,= to wonder, marvel. Coriolanus, iii. 2. 7; Macbeth, iii. 4. 85;
hence, _muses_, musings, thoughts, cogitations, Lyly, Euphues (ed.
Arber, 94); Englishman for my Money, iii. 2 (Harvey); in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, x. 509. OF. _muser_, ‘regarder comme un sot’ (Bartsch), cp.
Ital. _musare_, ‘to muse, to gape, to hould ones muzle or snout in the
aire’ (Florio); Prov. _muzar_, ‘regarder bouche béante’; _mus_, ‘figure,
visage’ (Levy).
=muse,= a gap in a thicket or fence through which a hare or other beast
of sport is wont to pass; ‘Take a hare without a muse, and a knave
without an excuse’, Howell, Eng. Prov. 12; ‘The wild muse of a bore’
(boar), Chapman, tr. Iliad, xi. 368; Heywood, Witches of Lancs. i. 1
(Bantam). The word is in prov. use in many parts of England from the
north country to Sussex, written _muse_, _meuse_, _moose_, _muce_, see
EDD. (s.v. Meuse). F. dial. (Bas-Maine) _mus_, ‘muce, passage étroit à
travers des broussailles pour les lièvres, les lapins, &c.’ (Dottin);
see Littré (s.v. Musse). See =meaze.=
=muske-million,= the musk-melon. Drayton, Pol. xx. 54; Tusser,
Husbandry, § 40. 8.
=musquet,= a hawk of a very small size. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii.
119; ‘Musket, a lytell hauke, _mouchet_’, Palsgrave. Ital. _mosquetto_,
‘a musket-hawke’ (Florio).
=muss,= a scramble among boys, for trivial objects. Ant. and Cl. iii.
13. 91; B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, iv. 1 (Cokes). ‘Muss’ means a
confusion, scramble, in Warwickshire, see EDD. (s.v. Muss, sb.^{1} 1 and
2).
=mutchado,= a moustache; ‘On his upper lippe A mutchado’, Arden of Fev.
ii. 1. 56; _mutchato_, Higgins, Induction to Mirror for Mag. (Nares);
_muschatoes_, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4 (Ithamore). For numerous
spellings of the word ‘moustache’ see NED. See =mouchatoes.=
=mutton,= a strumpet. Middleton, Roaring Girl, iii. 2 (Mis. O.); Dekker,
Honest Wh., Pt. II, iii. 8 (Bots). See =laced mutton.=
=myrobalane,= a kind of dried Indian plum. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 1
(Subtle). F. _myrobalan_, L. _myrobalanum_, Gk. μυροβάλανος, probably
the ben-nut; μύpov, unguent, and βάλανος, acorn.
N
=nab,= the head. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); Harman,
Caveat, p. 82; Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); _nabb_, a hat,
Shadwell, Squire Alsatia, ii. 1. Swed. dial, _nabb_, the head (Rietz).
=nab-cheat,= a hat or cap. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1; Harman,
Caveat, p. 82. See =cheat= (Thieves’ Cant).
=nache,= the rump; ‘The nache by the tayle’, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, §
57. 3. A west Yorks. word, see EDD. (s.v. Aitch-bone). OF. _nache_, a
buttock (Godefroy); Ital. _natica_. See Dict. (s.v. Aitch-bone).
=nads,= an ‘adze’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 9.
=næve,= a spot, blemish; ‘Spots, like næves’, Dryden, Death of Lord
Hastings, 55. L. _naevus_, a mole, or mark on the body.
=nake,= to bare, unsheathe a sword; ‘Nake your swords’, Tourneur,
Revenger’s Tragedy, v. 1 (Lussurioso). ME. _naken_, to make naked
(Chaucer, Boethius, bk. iv, met. 7).
=naked,= unarmed. Othello, v. 2. 258. Phr. _naked bed_, in reference to
the once common custom of sleeping undressed, no night-linen being worn;
‘In her naked bed’, Venus and Ad. 397. See Nares; and EDD. (s.v. Naked,
1 (1)).
=nale, at,= for _atten ale_, at the ale-house. Hickscorner, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, i. 166. Cp. Glouc. phrase, ‘He’s gone to nale’ (EDD.). ME.
_atte nale_, at the ale-house (P. Plowman, C. viii. 19).
=nall,= an ‘awl’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 4; ‘A _naule_, idem quod
_aule_’, Levins, Manip.; ‘Nall for a souter, _alesne_’, Palsgrave.
‘Nawl’ is in common prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
=namecouth,= known by name, famous. Spelt _naamkouth_, Grimalde,
Concerning Virgil, 14; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 102.
=namely,= especially. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 14; vii. 7. 48.
=nape,= to strike upon the nape or back of the head just above the neck.
‘Naped in the head’, Latimer, 3 Sermon (ed. Arber, 76); ‘_I nawpe_ one
in the necke’, Palsgrave.
=Napier’s bones,= ivory rods marked with numbers, for facilitating
calculation; invented by Lord Napier of Merchiston (d. 1617). Butler,
Hud. ii. 3. 1095; iii. 2. 409.
=nappy,= having a head, foaming; heady, strong. Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. iii.
16; Gay, Shepherd’s Week, ii. 56. In common prov. use (EDD.).
=nares,= nostrils. Butler, Hud. i. 1. 742; ‘Nares (of a hawk)’, Book of
St. Albans, fol. a 5; L. _nares_, pl. nostrils.
=narre,= nearer. Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 97; Ruines of Rome, xvi. 3.
Icel. _nærre_, nearer (adj.); _nærr_ (adv.).
=nas,= for _ne has_, has not. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 61.
=nase,= nose. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., ii. 1 (Lorel). ME. _nase_, nose
(Wars Alex. 4519).
=natch,= a ‘notch’; ‘Cut all the natches of his tales’ (i.e. cut, in
order to destroy, all the notches off his accounts or tallies), Arden of
Fev. v. 1. 24; ‘A natche, _incisura_; to natch, _incidere_’, Levins,
Manip. In prov. use in various parts of the British Isles (EDD.).
=nathe,= ‘nave’ of a wheel. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 5. 9. In common
prov. use in the north and the Midlands (EDD.).
=nathemore,= never the more. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 25; iv. 8. 14. For the
earlier _nathemo_. See NED.
=native,= in astrology; the subject of a horoscope, the person whose
nativity is being cast. Massinger, City Madam, ii. 2 (Stargaze); Butler,
Hud. i. 1. 608.
=nawl;= see =nall.=
=nay:= phr. _say nay, and take it_, refuse, but accept; a proverbial
expression as to a maid’s part. Richard III, iii. 7. 50; Peele, Sir
Clyomon, p. 494, col. 1.
=ne,= nor. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 25; All’s Well, ii. 1. 176. ME. _ne_,
nor (Chaucer, C. T. A. 179). OE. _ne_.
=neafe,= a clenched hand, a fist. Mids. Night’s D. iv. 1. 15; _neuf_, B.
Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1 (Tucca); Ford, Witch of Edmonton, iii. 1
(Cuddy). In common prov. use in various parts of the British Isles, see
EDD. (s.v. Neive). ME. _neefe_, a fist (Barbour’s Bruce, xvi. 129); also
in forms _nave_, _new_, in pl. _nevis_, _newys_, _newffys_ (id., see
Glossary). Icel. _hnefi_.
=neal,= to anneal. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Meer).
=neat-house.= The Neat House (lit. house for cattle) was a celebrated
market-garden, near Chelsea Bridge (Gifford); Massinger, City Madam,
iii. 1. 14.
=neatresse,= a female neatherd. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20,
st. 48.
=neck,= in chess; a move to cover check. Surrey, To the Lady that
scorned her Lover, 3, in Tottel’s Misc. (ed. Arber, 21). See NED.
=neck-verse,= the Latin verse read by a malefactor, to entitle him to
benefit of clergy, so as to save his neck; usually Psalm li. 1,
_Miserere mei_, &c. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4 (Pilia); Fletcher, Mad
Lover, v. 3 (Chilax).
=needle,= to penetrate like a needle; to make their way into; ‘Mice made
holes to needle in their buttocks’ (of fat hogs), Middleton, Game at
Chess, v. 3 (B. Knight).
=needly,= of necessity, necessarily. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p.
517, col. 2; id., Tale of Troy, p. 552. A Yorks. word (EDD.).
=neeld,= a ‘needle’. Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, xx. 95; Stanyhurst, tr. of
Aeneid, i. 715; Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 204. A common prov. form, see
EDD. (s.v. Needle).
=neele,= a ‘needle’. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 3 (Tyb). The word spelt
without the _d_ is common in prov. E. in many spellings, as _neele_,
_neel_, _neal_, _nill_, _nail_ (EDD.).
=neesing,= a sneezing, a sneeze. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xvii. 732;
BIBLE, Job xli. 18. ‘Neese’ is in prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and
various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Neeze). ME. _nesen_ (Prompt.).
Du. _niesen_, to sneeze (Hexham). See Dict. (s.v. Neese).
=neif,= one born on a feudal manor in a state of serfdom; ‘It signifieth
in our common law a bondwoman, the reason is, because women become bound
rather _nativitate_ than by any other means’, Cowell. Spelt _nyefe_,
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 342. Anglo-F. _neif_, ‘serf de naissance
ou d’origine’ (Didot); Med. L. _nativus_ (Ducange).
=neis,= to scent, smell; ‘The hart . . . nere fra’ hence sall neis her
i’ the wind’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.). See NED. (s.v. Nese).
=nephew,= a grandson. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 22; ii. 10. 45; ‘_Grandsires
and nephews_’, B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 3 (Curius); spelt _nevew_;
Phaer, Aeneid ii, 702 (= L. _nepotem_). See Trench, Select Glossary. ME.
_nevewe_, a grandson (Chaucer, Hous Fame, ii. 109). OF. _neveu_. O.
Prov. _nep_, _nebot_. L. _nepotem_, nephew, grandson.
=nere,= nearer; ‘The nere to the churche, the ferther from God’,
Heywood, Prov. (ed. 1867, 17). ME. ‘þe nere þe cherche, þe fyrþer fro
God’, R. Brunne, Handlyng Synne. OE. _nēar_, compar. of _nēah_, nigh.
=nesh,= soft, tender, delicate; ‘Like a nesh nag’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Bonduca, iv. 1 (Petillius); ‘_Tendre_, tender, nice, nesh, delicate’,
Cotgrave. In gen. prov. use in Scotland and England (EDD.). ME.
_nesche_, ‘mollis’ (Cath. Angl.). OE. _hnesce_, soft (B. T.).
=nest of goblets,= a set of them, of different sizes, fitting one inside
another. Northward Ho, iii. 2 (Bellamont); _neast of goblets_, Marston,
Dutch Courtezan, i. 1. 7. So also _a nest of boxes_; Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Socrates, § 12.
=net, nett,= clear, clean, bare. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 20; vi. 8. 45.
F. _net_, neat, clean, clear; bare, empty.
=nettie,= neat, ‘natty’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 68. 1.
=neuf;= see =neafe.=
=neuft,= a newt, evet, or eft. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 1 (Tucca); cp.
_newt_ in Bartholomew Fair, Act ii, where Knockem says, ‘What! thou’lt
poison me with a _newt_’, &c.; where ed. 1614 has _neuft_ (NED.).
=Never a barrel the better herring,= proverbial saying, meaning never
one better than another, nothing to choose between them, referring to
the notion that you will not find a better herring by searching in a new
barrel. Gascoigne, Supposes, iv. 6 (Litio); Martiniere’s Voyage, 127
(NED. (s.v. Herring)); [Fielding, T. Jones, x. v.]. Also, _In neither
barrel better herring_, Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, p. 102); Udall,
tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 11; ‘The Devil a barrel the better herring’,
Bailey’s Colleq., Erasmus, 373; cp. Gosson, School of Abuse, 32: ‘Of
both barrelles [i.e. as containing poets on the one side and cooks and
painters on the other] I judge Cookes and Painters the better herring.’
See Davies (s.v. Herring).
=new-eared,= newly ploughed. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xviii. 492. See
=ear= (to plough).
=newel,= a novelty, rarity. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 276. Explained as
‘a newe thing’. Formed from _new_, with the suffix of _novel_.
=new-fangle,= fond of new things; ‘The peple were soo newfangle’, Morte
Arthur, leaf 421; bk. xxi, c. 1 (end). See Dict. (s.v. _Newfangled_).
=new-year’s-gift,= a present to a great man on new-year’s day, usually
given in hope of a reward or by way of bribe. Webster, Devil’s Law-case,
ii. 1 (Julio); Ascham, Scholemaster, p. 21.
=neysshe,= soft. Morte Arthur, leaf 311. 8; bk. xiii, c. 30. See =nesh.=
=niaise,= a young hawk taken out of the nest, applied allusively to a
simple, witless person. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 3 (Fitz.); ‘_Niard_,
a nias faulcon’, Cotgrave. ‘Nias’ is a north Yorks. word for a young
hawk (EDD.). OF. _niais_, ‘qui n’est pas encore sorti du nid, qu’on a
pris au nid’ (La Curne). See =eyas.=
=nice;= in various senses. It means fine, elegant, Much Ado, v. 1. 75;
tender, delicate, Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 180; precise, Macbeth, iv. 3.
174; scrupulous, Merch. Ven. ii. 1. 14; subtle, L. L. L. v. 2. 232; coy,
prudish, L. L. L. iii. 1. 24; squeamish, Tam. Shrew, iii. 1. 80;
trifling, Romeo, iii. 1. 159. _To make it nice_, to seem reluctant,
North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 14 (in Shak. Plut., p. 177).
=niceness,= coyness, scrupulousness. Cymb. iii. 4. 158; Middleton, A
Fair Quarrel, i. 1 (Colonel).
=nick,= to cut in nicks or notches, Com. of Errors, v. 175; to clip,
curtail, Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 8. _In the nick_, at the right moment,
Othello, v. 2. 317; _out of all nick_, beyond all reckoning,
excessively, Two Gent. iv. 2. 76. See EDD. (s.v. Nick, sb.^{4} 1).
Hence, _nick_, to hit off, to find out with precision; ‘You’ve nicked
the channel’ (i.e. the right course), Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 4
(Ben); _nicked_, luckily saved, Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 1304. See EDD.
(s.v. Nick, vb.^{2} 2).
=nidget, nideot,= an ‘idiot’, simpleton. Spelt _nigget_, Middleton, The
Changeling, iii. 3 (Lollio). In prov. use (EDD.).
=niding;= see =nithing.=
=niece,= a grand-daughter, Richard III, iv. 1. 1; a relative, cousin
(vaguely used). Greene, Alphonsus, ii, prol. 12; id., iii (Fausta, l.
939). Down to the beginning of the 17th cent. the sense of
grand-daughter appears to have been common; see Trench, Select Glossary.
=nifles,= trifles, things of little or no value; trifling tales; ‘The
fables and the nyfyls’, Heywood, A Mery Play, 434 (NED). ME. _nyfles_:
‘He served hem with nyfles and with fablis’ (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1760).
OF. _nifles_ (Godefroy). See EDD. (s.v. Nifle).
=nifling,= trifling, worthless, Lady Alimony, ii. 6. 10.
=niggers, niggers-noggers,= meaningless forms, used as minced oaths.
Rowley, A Match at Midnight, i. 1 (Tim.); also _sniggers_, id.
=niggish,= niggardly, miserly; ‘Niggish slovenrie’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Diogenes, § 11; ‘Nigeshe penny fathers’, More’s Utopia (ed.
Lumby, 102). See Nares.
=niggle,= to do anything in a trifling, fiddling, ineffective way; ‘Take
heed, daughter, you niggle not with your conscience’, Massinger, Emperor
of the East, v. 3 (Theodosius). In prov. use with numerous variations of
sense, see EDD. Norw. dial. _nigla_ (Aasen).
=night-cap,= a nocturnal bully, a notorious roisterer. Webster, Duch. of
Malfi, ii. 1; Devil’s Law-case, ii, 1. See =Roaring Boys.=
=night-rail,= a night-dress. Middleton, Mayor of Queenboro’, iii. 2 (1
Lady); Massinger, City Madam, iii. 2 (end); iv. 4 (Luke). In prov. use,
see EDD. (s.v. Night, 1 (29)). OE. _hrægl_, dress. See Nares (s.v.
Night-rail), and Dict. (s.v. Rail, 4).
=night-snap,= a thief (Cant). Beaumont and Fl., Chances, ii. 1 (John).
=nil=(=l,= to be unwilling, often denoting simple futurity; ‘I nill live
in sorrowe’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 151; ‘I nill relate’, Pericles,
iii, prel. 55; _will he nill he_, Hamlet, v. 1. 18; _to will and nill_,
B. Jonson, Epigrams, xlii. 16; _nild_, pt. t. would not, ‘Unto the
founts Diana nild repair’, Greene, Radagon’s Sonnet, 17 (ed. Dyce, p.
301). ‘Nill ye, will ye’, whether you wish or not, is in use in
Scotland; ‘Nildy wildy’, whether one would or not, is heard is E. Anglia
(EDD.). ME. _nil_, pr. s.; _nolde_, pt. t. (Chaucer).
=nim,= to steal. Puritan Widow, i. 4. 167; Butler, Hud. i. 1. 598;
hence, _nimmer_, a thief, id., ii. 3. 1094; Tomkis, Albumazar, iii. 7
(end); _nimming_, stealing, Massinger, Guardian, v. 2 (Durazzo). ‘Nim’
and ‘Nimmer’ are in prov. use (EDD.). ME. _nimen_, to take, to seize (P.
Plowman), see Dict. M. and S.; OE. _niman_, to take; cp. G. _nehmen_.
=nine-holes,= a game in which the players endeavoured to roll small
balls into nine holes in the ground, all separately numbered. Drayton,
Pol. xiv. 22; Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal vi (Melanthus). See EDD. (s.v.
Nine, 1 (9)), and NED. (s.v. Nine-holes).
=nine men’s morris,= a rural game, called also Merrils, described in
Brand’s Pop. Antiq. (ed. 1877, p. 542), Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 98.
Called ‘Morris’ by popular etymology, as if with reference to the
movement (or dance) of the men (or pieces). But the right name was
‘Merelles’ (i.e. counters or pieces used in the game). Cp. Cotgrave:
‘_Merelles, Le jeu des merelles_, The boyish game called Merils or
five-penny Morris, played here most commonly with stones, but in France
with pawns or men made of purpose, and termed Merelles.’ See Ducange
(s.v. Merallus), EDD. (s.v. Nine, 1 (12)), and Nares (s.v.).
=ningle,= ‘ingle’; _mine ingle_ became _my ningle_, my favourite.
Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 3 (Roderigo); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I,
iii. 1 (Fustigo). See =ingle.=
=nip,= a taunt, sarcasm, reproof. Puttenham, E. Poesie, bk. i, c. 27
(ed. Arber, p. 68). ‘Nip’ in prov. use means a pinch or squeeze; a bite
or sting, see EDD. (s.v. Nip, sb.^{1} 15, 16).
=nip a bung,= to steal a purse (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Trapdoor); ‘A pickpocket, as good as ever _nipped_ the judge’s _bung_
while he was condemning him’, The London Chanticleers, scene 1 (Heath);
Cleveland (Nares); _nip_, a cutpurse, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Moll). Hence _nipper_, ‘A nypper is termed a pickpurse or a cutpurse’,
Fletewood (in Aydelotte, p. 95).
=nip a jan,= to steal a purse (Cant). B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed
(Jackman). See _Jan_ in NED.
=nipitato,= strong liquor; ‘A drink In England found, and Nipitato
call’d, Which driveth all the sorrow from your hearts’, Beaumont and
Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, iv. 2 (Pompiona). Hence, _nippitate_, strong
(said of wine), Chapman, Alphonsus, iii. 1 (Collen). See Nares.
=nis,= is not. Spenser, Shep. Kal., June, 19. ME. _nis_ (Chaucer). OE.
_nis_, for _ne is_, is not.
=niste, nist,= knew not. Spelt _nyst_, Morte Arthur, leaf 339. 4; bk.
xvi, c. 9. ME. _niste_ (Chaucer, C. T. F. 502). OE. _nyste_, for _ne
wyste_; _wiste_, pt. t. of _witan_, to know.
=nithing,= a vile coward; a term of severe reproach. _Nithing_, Blount’s
Gloss.; spelt _niding_, Howell, Foreign Travell, sect. xviii (end); p.
79. Icel. _nīðingr_, legally the strongest term of abuse for a traitor,
coward, or the like (Vigfusson).
=no,= used ironically; ‘No rich idolatry’ (i.e. great idolatry),
Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iv. 3 (Learchus); ‘No villainy’
(i.e. great villainy), Mad Lover, iii. 6 (Chilax).
=noble,= a coin worth 6_s._ 8_d._ Richard II, i. 1. 88.
=noblesse,= noble birth or condition. Kyd, Cornelia, ii. 297; the
nobility, persons of noble rank, ‘There is in every state . . . two
portions of subjects; the Noblesse and the Commonaltie’, Bacon, Essay
15, § 13; Richard II, iv. 1. 119 (1st quarto only). ME. _noblesse_,
nobleness, noble rank (Chaucer). F. _noblesse_, ‘nobility, gentry;
gentlemanliness’ (Cotgr.).
=nobley,= great display, splendour. Morte Arthur, leaf 158, back, 8; bk.
viii, c. 29; lf. 211, back, 32; bk. 10, c. 6. ME. _nobley_, nobility,
dignity, splendour, noble rank; assembly of nobles (Chaucer). OF.
_noblei_(_e_, nobility of rank or estate; Anglo-F. _noblei_, nobleness
(Rough List).
=nocent,= harmful. Milton, P. L. ix. 186; guilty, Greene, James IV, v. 6
(Sir Cuthbert). L. _nocens_, hurtful, culpable.
=nock,= a notch at the end of a bow, or in the head of an arrow; ‘The
nocke of the shafte’, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 127). Also, the
cleft of the buttocks, Butler, Hud. i. 1. 285. Du. _nock_, ‘a notch in
the head of an arrowe’ (Hexham). See Nares.
=nock,= (perhaps) a notch. The phr. _much in my nock_ seems to mean
‘much in my line’, ‘very suitable for me’, Triumphs of Love and Fortune
(last speech but one of Lentulo), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 242. So also
_beyond the nock_, above or beyond measure, ‘He commendeth hym by yonde
the nocke, _Il le prise oultre bort_, or _oultre mesure_’, Palsgrave.
=noddy,= a simpleton. Two Gent. i. 1. In gen. prov. use (EDD.).
=noddy,= a card-game. Heywood, Woman killed with Kindness (Wendell); B.
Jonson, Love Restored (Plutus); Westward Ho, iv. 1 (Birdlime); Northward
Ho, ii. 1 (Liverpool). See Nares.
=nog,= a kind of strong beer, brewed in East Anglia, esp. in Norfolk;
‘Walpole laid a quart of nog on’t’, Swift, Upon the Horrid Plot, &c.,
31; ‘Here’s a Norfolk nog’, Vanbrugh, A Journey to London, i. 1 (John
Moody). See EDD. (s.v. Nog(g)).
=noise,= a company of musicians, a band. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 13; Beaumont
and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, iii. 1. 4. Common. The phrase _Sneak’s
noise_ (2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 13) is copied by Heywood, Iron Age
(Thersites), vol. iii, p. 312.
=nones:= phr. _for the nones_ = _for then ones_, for the once, for the
occasion. Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1. 9; B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. i
(Nano). See Dict. (s.v. Nonce).
=nook-shotten,= provided with capes and necks of land; ‘That
nook-shotten isle of Albion’, Hen. V, iii. 5. 14. See the quotations in
NED.
=noonstead,= the sun’s place at noon; the meridian. Spelt _noonestede_,
Sackville, Induction, st. 7; ‘Now it nigh’d the noonstead of the day’,
Drayton, Mooncalf (Nares). ‘Noonstead’ for the point of noon is known in
north Yorks. (EDD).
=nope,= a bull-finch. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 74; ‘A Nope (bird),
_rubicilla_’, Coles, 1679; ‘_Chochepierre_, a kind of nowpe or bullfinch
that feeds on the kernels of cherri-stones’, Cotgrave. In prov. use. in
various parts of England (EDD.). See =awbe.=
=noppe,= nap of cloth. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 453. Du. _noppe_, nap
(Hexham). See Dict. (s.v. Nap.^{2}).
=noppy,= ‘nappy’ (as ale), having a head, strong. Skelton, El. Rummyng,
102. ‘Nappy’ is in gen. prov. use in England and Scotland (EDD.). See
above.
=nosel;= see =nuzzle.=
=nose-thrilles,= nostrils. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 75. 3; § 84. 2. OE.
_nosþyrel_, nostril.
=n’ot,= know not. _I not_, I know not, Gascoigne, Complaint of
Philomene, 114. ME. _noot_ (_not_), 1 and 3 pr. s., I know not, he knows
not (Chaucer); OE. _nāt_ (for _ne wāt_).
=notted,= without horns; ‘A lamb . . . it is notted’ (footnote, without
horns), Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, 87. In prov. use we find
‘notted’ (‘knotted’, ‘natted’) meaning hornless, gen. of sheep; also
‘not’, hornless, of sheep or cattle, see EDD. (s.v. Not, adj.).
=nott-headed,= having head with hair cropped short. Chapman, Widow’s
Tears, i (Tharsalio); B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 3 (Preamble). ME.
_not-heed_, a head with hair cropped short (Chaucer, C. T. A. 109); see
Skeat’s Notes in Complete Edition. OE. _hnot_, bald-headed, close-cut
(Sweet).
=noulde,= would not. Spenser, Shep. Kal., February, 192. ME. _nolde_
(Chaucer); OE. _nolde_ (for _ne wolde_).
=noule;= see =nowl.=
=nourry,= a foster-child. Sir E. Wingfield, Letter to Wolsey (NED.);
_nourie_, Turbervile, The Lover wisheth, &c., st. 4; _noorie_, id.,
Epit., &c., 60; id., Ovid’s Epistle, x (NED.) F. _nourri_, nourished,
nurtured.
=nousle up;= See =nuzzle= (2).
=novel,= news; ‘The novell’, Heywood, Golden Age, A. iv (Jupiter); vol.
iii, p. 55; Iron Age, Part II, A. ii (Soldier); p. 373. See Nares.
=novum,= an old game at dice, played by five or six persons, the
principal throws being nine and five. L. L. L. v. 2. 547; ‘Change your
game for dice; We are full number for _Novum_’, Cook, Greene’s Tu
Quoque; in Ancient E. Drama, ii. 551, col. 1; spelt _novem_, A Woman
never vexed, ii. 1. 5. The ‘full number’ in this company was _six_; the
two principal throws were _nine_ and _five_. The game was properly
called _novem quinque_ (Douce); see Nares.
=nowl,= the crown of the head; the head. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 17;
_noule_, Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 39. In prov. use (EDD.). OE. _hnoll_,
the top, summit, crown of the head. See Dict. (s.v. Noule).
=nowl,= a blockhead. Jack Juggler, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 113.
=nowle,= a mole-hill. Tusser, Husbandry, § 36. 17.
=nown,= own. _Mine own_ became _my nown_; hence _his nowne_ = his own;
Udall, Roister Doister, i. 1. 49. See Nares.
=noy,= annoyance, vexation. Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, pp. 522, 532);
_noy_, to annoy, Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 45; _noyance_, annoyance, id., i.
1. 23; _noyous_, troublesome (NED.). See Nares.
=noyfull,= harmful, disagreeable. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 24,
§ 2.
=nuddle,= to beat, to pummel. Rawlins, The Rebellion, iv. 1 (Trotter).
=nuddock,= the nape of the neck. Phaer, Aeneid vii, 742. ‘Nuddick’ is
the Cornish word for the back of the neck, see EDD. (s.v. Niddick).
=nullifidian,= a man of no faith, a sceptic in matters of religion. B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer).
=numbles,= certain inward parts of a deer; part of the back and loins of
a hart; ‘Noumbles of a dere or beest, _entrailles_’, Palsgrave; Sir T.
Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 7; _nomblis_, Boke of St. Albans, fol. e 7
b. F. _nombles d’un cerf_, ‘the numbles of a stag’ (Cotgr.); OF.
_nomble_ (Godefroy). See Dict. And see =umbles.=
=numerical,= particular, individual; ‘Not only of the specifical, but
numerical forms’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., pt. i, § 33. Also (with
_same_ or _very_) identical, ‘That very numerical lady’, Dryden,
Marriage à la Mode, ii. 1 (Palamede); also in form _numerick_, ‘The same
numerick crew’, Butler, Hud. i. 3. 461.
=nup,= a simpleton; ‘The vilest nup’, Brewer, Lingua, ii. 1 (end).
=nupson,= a simpleton. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum., iv. 6 (Brainworm);
id., Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Pug).
=nursle,= to nurse; ‘To have a Bastard . . . nursled i’ th’ Countrey’,
Brome; Eng. Moor, iii. 3 (NED.); _noursle up_, to train up, Spenser, F.
Q. vi. 4. 35. See =nuzzle.=
=nurt, nort,= to push with the horns. Tusser, Husbandry, § 20. 28;
_nort_, to push toward, Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. viii, ch. 21. _Nurt_,
possibly related to OF. _hurter_ (F. _heurter_), to push.
=nuzzle,= to poke or push with the nose; ‘I nosyll as a swyne dothe, _je
fouille du museau_’, Palsgrave spelt _nousle_, Venus and Ad. 1115; to
nestle close to a person, Heywood, Pleas. Dial. (Wks., ed. 1874, vi.
201); Marston, What you will, iii. 2 (Albano). Cp. Du. _neuselen_, to
poke with the nose (Kilian).
=nuzzle,= to train, educate, nurture (freq. with _up_). Marston,
Antonio’s Revenge, Prol. 16; Drayton, Pol. xi. 180; _nosel_, Nice
Wanton, Prol. 9, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 163; _nousle up_, Spenser, F.
Q. i. 6. 23; _noursle up_, F. Q. vi. 4. 35; _nuzled in_, pp. trained in,
Holinshed, Chron. iii. 1225 (NED.); _nusled in_, New Customs, iii. 1;
Light of Gospel (in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 44). See NED. See =nursle.=
=nycibecetour,= a dainty dame, a fashionable girl; ‘Nycibecetours, or
denty dames’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 120; _nicibecetur_,
Roister Doister, i. 4. 12.
=nye,= to draw nigh, approach. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 316; ‘We shall
nyghe the towne’, Palsgrave, 644.
=nyefe;= see =neif.=
†=nysot,= a wanton girl. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1244. Not found
elsewhere.
O
=O,= a round spot; a circle; ‘This wooden O’ (i.e. circular space), Hen.
V, Prol. 13; Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 81. See =oes.=
=oade,= woad. B. Jonson, Poetaster, ii. 1 (Albius).
=oatmeals,= a set of riotous and profligate young men (Cant); ‘Roaring
boys and oatmeals’, Ford, Sun’s Darling, i. 1 (Folly’s song).
=Ob and Soller,= a dabbler in scholastic logic; one who deals with _obs_
(objections) and _sols_ (solutions) in disputations; ‘To pass for deep
and learned Scholars, although but paltry Ob and Sollers’, Butler, Hud.
iii. 2. 1242.
=obarni,= in full _Mead obarni_, i.e. ‘scalded mead’, a drink used in
Russia; ‘Hum, Meath and Obarni’, B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 1 (Sat.).
Russ. _obvarnyi_, scalded.
=oblatrant,= railing, reviling. One of the words ridiculed by B. Jonson,
Poetaster, v. 1 (Crispinus). L. _oblatrare_, to bark at.
=obley,= a little cake of bread, prepared for consecration in the
celebration of the Eucharist, the sacramental wafer; ‘The kyng shall
offre an obbley of brede . . . with the whiche obleye after consecrate
the king shall be howseld’, Devyse, Coron. Hen. VIII (NED.); spelt
_ubblye_, Morte Arthur, leaf 360. 6; bk. xvii, ch. 20. ME. _obly_ or
_ubly_. ‘nebula’ (Prompt. EETS. 312, see note, no. 1528); _obeley_
‘oblata’ (Voc. 598. 24). OF. _oublee_, ‘hostie’ (Didot), Med. L.
_oblata_, ‘panis ad sacrificium oblatus, hostia nondum consecrata’
(Ducange).
†=obliquid,= directed obliquely. Only in Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 54.
=obnoxious,= exposed to; ‘The having them obnoxious to ruin’, Bacon,
Essay 36, § 3; submissive, ‘In consort, men are more obnoxious to
others’ humours’, id., Essay 20, § 6; ‘They that are envious towards all
are obnoxious and officious towards one’, id., Essay 44, § last; Dryden,
ii. 1 (Emperor). L. _obnoxius_, lit. exposed to harm, also, exposed to
the power of another, hence, submissive.
=obsequies,= funeral rites, a funeral. 3 Hen. VI, i. 4. 147. Anglo-F.
_obsequies_ (Rough List), Med. L. _obsequiae_, ‘exequiae funebres’
(Ducange).
=obsequious,= dutiful in performing funeral obsequies, or in manifesting
regard for the dead; ‘To shed obsequious teares upon this Trunke’, Titus
And. v. 3. 152; ‘To do obsequious Sorrow’, Hamlet, i. 2. 92;
_obsequiously_, in the manner of a mourner, ‘I obsequiously lament’,
Richard III, i. 2. 3.
=obtrect,= to disparage. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1 (Usher). L.
_obtrectare_.
=occupy,= to make use of; ‘Sondrie wares, . . . that men did commonly
occupy’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 67; to trade, Luke xix. 13;
‘They dyd dwell amonges them . . . occupying with them verye
familiarly’, More’s Utopia (ed. Arber, 31). See Bible Word-Book. But
often used in an indecent sense, till the word became odious, as Shak.
notes, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 161.
=occurrent,= occurrence, event. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 68 and
181); BIBLE, 1 Kings v. 4.
=odible,= hateful. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 12, § last;
Fabyan, Chron., bk. i, c. 8. L. _odibilis_.
=œillade,= an amorous glance. Merry Wives, i. 3. 68. F. _œillade_
(Cotgr.), deriv. of _œil_, an eye.
=o’er-hill’d,= covered over. B. Jonson, Masque of Beauty (January). See
=hill.=
=oes,= bright round spots. Bacon, Essay 36; stars, Mids. Night’s D. iii.
2. 188; _O’s_, small metallic spangles, as in ‘embroidered with _O’s_’,
B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen, prose description at the end, § 3.
=oil:= _oil of angels_, oil of gold coins (i.e. coin employed in
bribes). Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 2 (Officer). _Oil of ben_ (or
_been_), oil from the _ben-nut_, or winged seed of the horse-radish tree
(_Moringa pterygosperma_). Middleton, The Widow, ii. 1 (Ricardo). Arab,
_bân_, the horseradish tree, or ben-nut. See Stanford (s.v. Ben). _Oil
of devil_, a ‘momentous preparation’ of unknown ingredients. Beaumont
and Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, iii. 3 (Leontius). _Oil of height_, the
red elixir, a red oil, fabled to transmute other metals into gold. B.
Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). _Oil of luna_, the white elixir, for
transmuting other metals into silver. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle).
_Oil of mace_, oil from the spice called _mace_; but with a punning
reference to the mace borne by a serjeant who arrested a prisoner.
Middleton, A Mad World, iii. 2 (Sir B.). _Oil of talc_, a cosmetic, said
to have been obtained from talc. B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Subtle);
Massinger, City Madam, iv. 2 (Shave ’em).
=old,= great, plentiful, abundant; ‘Old utis’, high merriment, 2 Hen.
IV, iv. 2. 22; ‘Ould filching’, abundant stealing, Arden of Fev. ii. 2.
53. ‘Old’ is used as an intensitive in many parts of England and
Scotland, e.g. in Cheshire ‘old doings’ signify great sport, great
merriment, an uncommon display of hospitality, see EDD. (s.v. Old, 11).
ME. ‘gode olde fyghtyng’, Bone Florence, 681 (NED.).
=old,= a country pronunc. of ‘wold’, plain open country. King Lear, iii.
4. 125; also _ould_, Drayton, Pol. xxvi. 38.
=oilet-hole,= an ‘eyelet-hole’, a small round hole worked in cloth.
Shirley, Opportunity, ii. 1 (Pimponio); Gent. of Venice, iii. 1. 7. F.
_œillet_, a little eye, an eilet-hole (Cotgr.). From F. _œil_, an eye.
See NED. (s.v. Oillet).
=olfact,= to smell; a pedantic form. Butler, Hud. i. 1. 742. L.
_olfactus_, pp. of _olfacere_, to smell.
=oliphant,= elephant. Heywood, Brazen Age (Meleager), vol. iii, p. 187.
ME. _oliphant_ (Kingis Quair, 156); Anglo-F. _olifant_ (Ch. Rol. 3119),
_oliphant_ (Bozon, 19).
=olla podrida,= a medley. Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, i. 4 (Roscius
solus). Span. _olla podrida_ (lit. rotten pot), a dish composed of many
kinds of meats and vegetables stewed or boiled together; for detailed
account of ingredients, see Stevens.
=on cai me on;= ‘Bid _on cai me on_, farewell’, Marlowe, Faustus, 40
(ed. Tucker Brooke). Gk. ὂν καὶ μὴ ὄν, existence and non-existence
(Aristotle). The meaning is, Bid farewell to Aristotle and philosophy.
=on-end:= phr. _still on-end_, continually. Mirror for Mag.,
Northumberland, st. 17. See =an-end.=
=on gog,= ‘a-gog’, in eagerness, full of eagerness. Gascoigne, Grief of
Joy, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 288; _to set on gog_, to excite, make eager,
Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, x (NED.).
=on hight,= aloud, in a high voice. Spenser, F. Q. v. 4. 45. ME. _on
highte_: ‘And spak thise same wordes al on highte’ (Chaucer, C. T. A.
1784).
=one,= alone, _solus_; ‘I one of all other’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby,
170); _his one_, his own, ‘Then was she judged Triamond his one’,
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 5. 21.
†=oneyers;= ‘Burgomasters and great oneyers’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 84.
Meaning doubtful; perhaps persons who converse with great ones
(Schmidt).
=only,= alone; ‘Th’ only breath him daunts’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 13;
especial, ‘Mine onely foe, mine onely deadly dread’, id., i. 7. 50; ‘His
onely hart-sore and his onely foe’, id., ii. 1. 2.
=onsay,= a saying of ‘On!’, the word to advance, the signal to start.
New Custom, ii. 2, l. 10 from end; see NED.
=ontwight;= see =untwight.=
=operance,= operation, action. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 3. 73.
=operant,= operative, active. Hamlet, iii. 2. 184; Webster, Appius, v. 3
(Virginius); Heywood, The Royal King, i. 1 (King); vol. vi, p. 6.
†=ophic,= (?) relating to serpents; ‘Resolve To ophic powder’, Lady
Alimony, ii. 3 (Morisco). The sense is doubtful.
=oppignorate,= to pawn, to pledge. Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, 91). L.
_oppignerare_, to pledge; from _pignus_, a pledge.
=optic,= a magnifying glass, lens. Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, i. 1
(Theodoret); _optic glass_, a telescope, Milton, P. L. i. 288.
=optimate,= a noble or aristocrat. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, i. 381; xi.
706. L. _optimates_, prop. members of the ‘Nobilitas’ in Rome, fr.
_optimus_, best.
=opunctly,= according to appointment; at the time appointed. In Cook,
Green’s Tu Quoque; Ancient E. Drama, ii. 565, col. 2. For _appunctly_.
Cp. Med. L. _appunct_(_u_)_are_, ‘pacisci, convenire’ (Ducange).
=orangeado-pie,= a pie with candied orange-peel. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt.
I, iv. 2 (Crambo). See =oringado.=
=orbity,= bereavement, childlessness. Heywood, Dialogue 2 (Pamphilus);
vol. vi, p. 127. L. _orbitas_, orphanage, childlessness.
=ordinary,= a public dinner, where each one pays his share. ‘Crown
ordinary’, a five-shilling dinner, Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, iv.
2 (Norbret); ‘He kept a daily Ordinary (thanks being the only shot his
guests were to pay)’, Fuller, Pisgah, iii. 6. 328. F. _ordinaire_, ‘ce
qu’on a accoutumé de servir pour le repas. _Il tient un bon ordinaire_’
(Dict. Acad. 1762).
=ordinately,= regularly, in an orderly way, righteously; ‘To walke
ordinatly, and in a plain way’, Latimer, 1 Sermon bef. King (ed. Arber,
27). Cp. L. _ordinate_, in an orderly manner (Vulgate, 1 Mac. vi. 40).
=ore,= the name of a fine kind of wool, esp. from Leominster; ‘To whom
did never sound the name of Lemster ore?’, Drayton, Polyolbion, song
vii, 1. 152; xiv. 237; ‘But then the ore of Lempster’, B. Jonson, The
Honour of Wales, 2 Song; ‘The finest Lemster ore’, Herrick, Oberon’s
Palace; Fuller, Worthies, 33. See EDD., NED., and Notes and Queries, 6th
S. i. 260.
=ore,= seaweed. Drayton, Pol. iv. 74. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.vv. Ore
and Ware). OE. _wār_, ‘alga’ (Napier, OE. Glosses, 23. 2).
=orgule,= pride. State Papers, Hen. VIII, i. 88 (NED.). OF. _orguel_ (F.
_orgueil_), pride.
=orguillous,= proud, haughty; ‘Proud and orgulllous’, Caxton,
Reynard (ed. Arber, 36); _orgillous_, Tr. and Cr., Prol. 2.
Anglo-F. _orguillous_ (Gower, Mirour, 1612). F. _orgueilleux_,
proud.
=oricalche,= a very precious metal. Spenser, Muiopotmos, 78. L.
_orichalcum_, yellow copper ore, brass, highly prized by the ancients;
Gk. ὀρείχαλκος, mountain-copper (hence F. _archal_, in _fil d’archal_,
brass-wire).
=orient,= applied to pearls and precious stones of superior quality and
brilliancy, as coming from the East. B. Jonson, Volpone, i. 1 (Mosca).
Hence lustrous, brilliant, bright; ‘Now Morn . . . sowed the earth with
orient pearl’, Milton, P. L. v. 2; ‘Ten thousand banners rise into the
air with orient colours waving’, id., i. 516. Cp. F. _perles d’Orient_
(Dict. Acad. 1762).
=oringado,= candied orange-peel. Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, i. 1
(Steward). Cp. Span. _naranjada_, ‘a conserve made with oranges’;
_naranja_, orange (Stevens). See =orangeado-pie.=
=ork, orc,= a sea-monster. Drayton, Pol. ii. 95; vii. 51. L. _orca_.
=orkyn,= a small coin, a quarter of a stiver; ‘Bye an yearthen potte
. . . for an orkyn’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 28. Du.
_oortken_, ‘an _orkey_, or the fourth part of a stiver, or two doits’
(Hexham); dimin. of _oort_, a small coin; see Franck.
=orped,= stout, active, bold. Spelt _orpid_, Golding, Metam. vii. 440;
fol. 85 (1603); (of a boar) fierce, furious, id., viii. 395; fol. 99.
ME. _orped_, stout, brave (Gower, C. A. i. 2590); see Dict. M. and S.
OE. _orped_, gloss of _adultus_, syn. _snell_ (Napier, OE. Glosses,
3361).
=orpharion,= a large kind of lute with from six to nine pairs of
strings, played with a plectrum; ‘The orpharion to the lute’, Drayton,
Pastorals, iii. 111. Composed of the names of Orpheus and Arion,
mythical musicians of Greek poetry.
=orphelin,= an orphan. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 171. 11. Anglo-F.
_orphelin_, destitute, _orphanin_, an orphan (Gower); Late L. type
*_orphaninus_, deriv. of _orphanus_, Gk. ὀρφανός, bereft of parents or
children.
=orpin,= orpiment, yellow arsenic. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 713.
F. _orpin_, ‘orpine, orpiment or arsenick’ (Cotgr.).
=ortyard,= orchard. Golding, Metam. xiv. 624; fol. 175, back (1603). OE.
_ortgeard_. The first element _ort_ = L. _hortus_ (in Med. L. _ortus_),
a garden; cp. Norm. F. _ort_, ‘jardin, verger’ (Moisy 558), Anglo-F.
_ort_ (Gower, Mirour, 12868).
=ospringer,= an osprey. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xviii. 557; ‘Ospringe, a
byrde’, Palsgrave.
=ossifrage,= the Lammergeyer or Geir Eagle, identified with the
‘ossifraga’ of Pliny; ‘_Ossifrage_, a kind of Eagle, having so strong a
Beak that therewith she breaks bones and is therefore called a
bone-breaker’, Blount; in BIBLE, Lev. xi. 13, ossifrage (RV. gier
eagle). Identified with the ‘osprey’ or fish-hawk. Chapman, tr. of
Odyssey, iii. 505.
=ostend,= to show. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt (Q. Mary), ed. Dyce, p. 194;
Heywood, Silver Age (Jupiter), vol. iii, p. 163. L. _ostendere_.
=ostent,= a prodigy, manifestation. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, v. 748; show,
Hen. V, v, chorus, 21; ostentation, Heywood, Iron Age, Part I (Ulysses);
vol. iii, p. 329. Also, to display, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c.
14, § 6. L. _ostentum_, a prodigy (Vulg., Exod. vii. 3); _ostentare_, to
display (Vulg., Heb. vi. 11).
=osteria,= a hostelry, inn. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 3 (Mosca); Beaumont
and Fl., Fair Maid of the Inn, ii. 2. 1. Ital. _osteria_ (Florio), Med.
L. _hostellaria_, ‘diversorium’ (Ducange).
=ostry,= a hostelry. Marlowe, Faustus, ii. 3 (Robin). Hence
_ostry-faggot_, a faggot in a hostelry, Greene, Looking Glasse, iii. 3
(1242); p. 133, col. 1. See =hostry.=
=otacousticon,= an ear-trumpet, an instrument used to assist hearing.
Tomkis, Albumazar, i. 3 (Ronca). Gk. ὠτ- (ὠτός, gen. of οὖς an ear) +
ἀκουστικός, acoustic.
=other,= left; _other leg_, left leg, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 23; _other
eye_, left eye, id., iii. 9. 5; _other hand_, left hand, id., v. 12. 36.
=other-gates,= of another kind. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1
(Truepenny); ‘Works . . . requiring other-gates workmen’, Gauden, Tears
of the Church, Pref. (Davies); in another way, Twelfth Nt. v. 1. 199.
Still survives in the north country and in Warwicksh. (EDD.).
=ouch,= the socket of a precious stone, an ornament, jewel. Fletcher,
Woman’s Prize, iv. 1 (Moroso); ‘Thou shalt make them (the stones) to be
set in ouches of gold’, BIBLE, Exod. xxviii. 11; 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 52.
ME. _nowch_, ‘monile, scutuler’ (Prompt. EETS. 309). Anglo-F. _nouche_,
a brooch (Gower, Balades, xxxiii. 2); _nusche_ (Rough List). See =owch.=
=ought,= _pt. t._ owned, possessed. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iii. 1
(Leonora). Also, owed; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 608; Spenser, F. Q. i.
4. 39; ii. 8. 40. ME. _oght_ (Dest. Troy, 12404), _ouhte_, owned,
possessed (P. Plowman, C. iv. 72). OE. _āhte_, pt. t. of _āgan_, to
possess, own. See =owe.=
=oultrage,= ‘outrage’, violence. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 182, back,
31. Anglo-F. _oultrage_, _oltrage_, _outrage_, extravagant conduct
(Gower). Med. L. _ultragium_, ‘immoderatio’, ‘injuria’ (Ducange), deriv.
of L. _ultra_, beyond.
=oultrance:= phr. _put to oultrance_, put to the extremity, put to
death; Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 67, back, 10. Anglo-F. _oultrance_: ‘la
guerre jusques al oultrance’ (Gower, Mirour, 8040); see NED. (s.v.
Outrance). See =utterance.=
=ouphe,= a fairy, an ‘elf’, ‘oaf’, goblin, Merry Wives, iv. 4. 49. Icel.
_ālfr_, an elf. See =aulf.=
=out,= proverbial saying, _out of God’s blessing into the warm sun_,
from better to worse, Heywood’s Proverbs, bk. ii, ch. 5 (ed. Farmer, pp.
67 and 148); Harrison, Desc. Britain, in Holinshed (ed. 1577, i. fol.
11a). Cp. Lyly’s Euphues (ed. Arber, 320), ‘Thou forsakest God’s
blessing to sit in a warme Sunne’; and, ‘If thou wilt follow my advice
. . . thou shalt come out of a warme Sunne into God’s blessing’ (id.
196), where the proverb is reversed; ‘Thou must approve the common saw,
Thou out of heaven’s benediction comest To the warm sun!’ King Lear, ii.
2. 157, 158 (see W. A. Wright’s note in C. P. Series). The original
meaning of this proverbial expression is not clear.
=out,= to put out, extinguish, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 735;
‘Witness that Taper whose prophetick snuff Was outed and revived with
one puff’, Quarles, Argalus and Parthenia (ed. 1678, 77).
=outbrast,= _pt. t._ burst out. Sackville, Induction, st. 11. Pt. t. of
ME. _outbresten_; ‘The blode outbrast’ (Dest. Troy, 8045); see NED.
(s.v. Outburst).
=out-brayed,= _pt. t._ brayed out, uttered aloud. Sackville, Induction,
st. 18. Doubtless confused with =abraid.=
=out-breast,= to outvoice, surpass in singing. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 3.
145.
=outcept,= except. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 2 (Pan); ii. 1 (Hilts).
=out-cry,= an auction; because such a sale was proclaimed by the common
crier. B. Jonson, Catiline, ii. 1 (Fulvia); New Inn, i. 1 (Host);
Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, v. 1 (Bellides). See Nares.
=outrecuidance,= arrogance. Chapman, Mons. d’Olive, iv. (Dique);
Eastward Ho, iv. 1 (_or_ 2) (Golding). F. _oultrecuidance_, an
overweening presumption, pride, arrogancy (Cotgr.); F. _outrecuidance_;
O. Prov. _oltracuidar_, _oltra_, L. _ultra_, beyond + _cuidar_, to
think, L. _cogitare_.
=outrider,= a highwayman. Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 43.
=outsquat,= to throw out (as from a sling), to scatter; ‘The greatest
sort with slings their plummet-lompes of lead outsquats’, Phaer, tr. of
Aeneid, vii. 687.
=overcraw,= to triumph over, lit. to crow over. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 50.
See Nares.
=overdight,= _pp._ covered over. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 53; iv. 8. 34.
_Dight_, pp., appears in later poetic language to be often taken as an
archaic form of _decked_, see NED. (s.v. Dight, vb. 10).
=overflown,= flushed with wine. Middleton, Phœnix, iv. 2 (Ph.). Cp.
Milton, P. L., i. 502, ‘Then wander forth the sons of Belial, flown with
insolence and wine.’
=overgrast,= overgrown with grass. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 130.
=overhaile,= to draw over. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 75. See =hale and
ho.=
=overlashing,= extravagant. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 105);
extravagance, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 39.
=overlive,= to survive. Bacon, Essay 27, § 4.
=overlook,= to look down upon, despise. Hen. V, iii. 5. 9; B. Jonson,
Alchem. iv. 1 (Subtle).
=overlop,= the planking of a deck; the ‘orlop’; ‘His bed was not laid
upon the overlop’, North, tr. of Plutarch, Alcibiades (Shak. Plutarch,
p. 295, § 3). Du. _overloop_, ‘the covert or deck of anything; the
hatches of a ship’ (Hexham).
=overseen,= betrayed into error, deluded. Chapman, Argument 2 to Iliad,
bk. xiv; intoxicated, Earle, Microcosmographie, § 16; ed. Arber, p. 37.
‘Overseen’ is still in prov. use in both senses: (1) cheated, deluded;
(2) overcome with drink, intoxicated; see EDD. (s.v. Overseen, 3 and 4).
=over-shot,= i.e. an _over-shot mill_, a mill worked by water pouring
over the top of the wheel. Fletcher, Mad Lover, iv. 2 (Chilax).
=overthwart,= across, transversely. Morte Arthur, leaf 262, back, 15;
bk. x, c. 64; cross, malicious, id., lf. 180. 25; bk. ix, c. 15; an
adverse circumstance, Surrey, Praise of Mean Estate, 12; in Tottel’s
Misc. p. 27. ‘Overthwart’ (meaning across) is in prov. use in many parts
of England (EDD.). ME. _overthwarte_: ‘_ovyr wharte_, transversus’
(Prompt. EETS. 321).
=overture,= an open space. Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 28. The gloss has:
‘_Overture_, an open place; the word is borrowed of the French, and used
in good writers.’ Anglo-F. _overture_, an opening (Gower).
=overture,= used to mean _overthrow_. Middleton, Family of Love, i. 1
(Glister). See NED. for other examples.
=overwent,= oppressed, subdued. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 2. The gloss
has: ‘overwent, overgone.’
=owch,= a clasp, esp. a jewelled clasp, jewel. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 31.
See =ouch.=
=owdell,= a kind of poem. Drayton, Pol. iv. 184. Welsh _awdl_, a rime or
assonance.
=owe,= to possess. Tempest, i. 2. 407; Meas. for M. i. 4. 83; ii. 4.
123. ME. _owen_, to possess (Chaucer, C. T. C. 361); OE. _āgan_. See
=ought.=
=ower,= a form of _oar_; ‘And there row’d off with owers of my hands’,
Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xii. 628; cp. ‘my hands for oars’, id., x. 482.
=Owlglass,= a jester, buffoon. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1 (Tucca to
Histrio). The word is an English equivalent of German _Eulenspiegel_;
see below. ‘A merye jeste of a Man that was called Howleglas’, Title of
an old German jest-book translated into English in 1560.
=owl-spiegle,= an English part-rendering of German _Eulenspiegel_
(_Eule_, owl + _spiegel_, glass mirror), the name of a German jester of
mediaeval times, the hero of a jest-book. Used as a term of abuse: ‘Out,
thou houlet! . . . owl-spiegle!’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.);
‘Ulen Spiegel!’, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle). Hence F. _espiègle_
(Hatzfeld). See above.
=ox:= Proverbial saying—_The black ox has trod on his foot_, i.e. he
has fallen into decay or adversity; it often implies old age: ‘She was a
pretty wench . . now . . the black oxe hath trod on her foote’, Lyly,
Sapho and Phao, iv. 2 (Venus); ‘When . . the blacke Oxe (shall) treade
on their foote—who wil like of them in their age who loved none in
their youth’, id., Euphues (ed. Arber, 55); ‘The black ox had not trod
on his nor her foot’, Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, p. 17); ‘The black
ox never trod on his foot, i.e. he never knew what sorrow or adversity
meant’, Ray, Prov. Phrases (ed. Bohn, 173). Cp. Gascoigne, Glasse of
Governement, v. 6 (Gnomaticus). The saying is still in prov. use, see
EDD. (s.v. Black, 5 (11)).
P
=paciens,= ‘patience’, a name given in the north and north-west of
England to the bistort; ‘The herbe [Tobacco] is . . . garnished with
great long leaves like the paciens’, Harrison, Descr. of England,
Chronology, 1573 (ed. Furnivall, p. lv). See NED. (s.v. Passions).
=pack,= to practise deceitful collusion, to plot. Titus And. iv. 2. 155;
_packed_, confederate, Com. Errors, v. 1. 219; contrived, Fletcher,
Span. Curate, iv. 5 (Bartolus).
=packing,= confederacy, conspiracy, collusion. Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 121;
Massinger, Gt. Duke of Florence, iii. 1 (Giovanni).
=pad,= a toad, proverbial saying, _a pad in the straw_, a lurking
danger; ‘In straw thear lurcketh soom pad’, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid,
i. 656; Gosson, School of Abuse, 63; Gammer Gurton’s Needle, v. 2
(Chat). In Yorks. ‘pad’ is used for a frog (EDD.); Icel. _padda_, a
toad; Flem. _padde_, ‘crapauld’ (Plantin).
=paddock,= a toad. Hamlet, iii. 4. 190; a frog, ‘Padockes,
_grenouilles_’, Palsgrave, 502. In gen. prov. use for a frog or
toad (EDD.).
=pad,= a path, track. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (P. Can.); _horse
pad_, a horse-path, Bunyan, Grace Abounding (NED.); _high pad_, the
highway, Harman, Caveat, 84; also, a highwayman, ‘The High-Pad or Knight
of the Road’, R. Head, Canting Acad. 88. _Pad_, a road-horse, a pad-nag,
Shirley, Witty Fair One, i. 1. 5. Hence _padder_, a foot-pad, Massinger,
New Way to pay, &c., ii. 1 (Marrall); _padding_, robbing on the highway,
‘Ride out a-padding’, Dryden, Princess of Cleves, Prol. 29. ‘Pad’ is in
gen. prov. use for a path in various parts of the British Isles (EDD.).
Low G. _pad_, path; _padden_, to go on foot (Koolman).
=pad,= a wicker pannier; ‘A haske is a wicker pad’, Glosse by E. K. to
Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 16. In prov. use in the eastern counties, see
EDD. (s.v. Pad, sb.^{5}), and NED. (Pad, sb.^{4}).
=pagador,= pay-master. Spenser, State of Ireland (Wks., Globe ed., 657).
Span. _pagador_, a paymaster (Stevens).
=pagan,= a cant term of reproach. A paramour, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 168; a
bastard, Fletcher, Captain, iv. 2 (Host).
=paggle,= to hang loosely down, like a bag. Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 3
(1421); scene 10. 63 (W.); p. 171, l. 1 (D.).
=paigle,= a cowslip. B. Jonson, Pan’s Anniversary (Shepherd, l. 7);
spelt _paggles_, pl., Tusser, Husbandry, § 43. 25. In gen. prov. use
(EDD.).
=painful,= painstaking, laborious. L. L. L. ii. 23; Tam. Shrew, v. 2.
147; ‘Such servants are oftenest painfull and good’, Tusser, Husbandry,
170. Still in use in the north country (EDD.).
=painted,= adorned with bright colouring; ‘A peinted sheathe’, a
handsome exterior, Udall, tr. of Apoth., Diogenes, § 190; pride,
vainglory, id., Socrates, § 56; ‘Peinted termes’, grandiloquence, id.,
Antigonus, § 14.
=painted cloth,= cloth or canvas painted in oils and used for hangings
in rooms. L. L. L. v. 2. 579; As You Like It, iii. 2. 290; 1 Hen. IV,
iv. 2. 28. It often showed moral pictures. See NED.
=pair of cards,= a pack of cards; ‘A payre of cardes’, Ascham,
Toxophilus, p. 49; Fletcher, Sea-voyage, i. 1 (Tibalt). See Nares.
=pair of organs,= an organ. Middleton, A Mad World, ii. 1 (Sir B.);
‘_Unes orgues_, a payre of organs, an instrument of musyke’, Palsgrave,
183. See NED. (s.v. Organ, 2 c).
=pair-royal,= in cribbage and other card games, three cards of the same
denomination; a throw of three dice all turning up the same number of
points, as three twos, &c. Hence, a set of three persons or things,
Ford, Broken Heart, v. 3; ‘That great pair-royal of adamantine sisters’,
Quarles, Emblems, v; Howell, Lex. Tetraglotton, Dedication; Butler,
Ballad upon the Parliament (last line; _pair-royal_, riming with
_trial_); ‘That paroyall of armies’, Fuller, Pisgah, iv. 2. 22. See
Nares and NED. ‘Prial’ is in prov. use in various parts of England in
the sense of (1) a ‘pair-royal’ in cards, (2) three of a sort, (3) a
gathering of persons of a similar disposition (EDD.). See =parreal.=
=paise;= see =peise.=
=pall,= to become faint, to fail in strength. Hamlet, v. 2. 9; Phaer,
Aeneid ix (NED.); to enfeeble, weaken; to daunt, appal, King James I,
Kingis Quair, st. 18; Fletcher, Bloody Brother, ii. 1 (Latorch); Peele,
Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, 532).
=palliard,= a lewd person, a thorough rascal. Dryden, Hind and Panther,
ii. 563; Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song). _Palliards_, one of the
twenty-four orders of Vagabonds; beggars who excited compassion by means
of artificial sores, made by binding some corrosive to the flesh; see
Harman, Caveat, p. 44, and Aydelotte, p. 27. F. _paillard_, ‘a knave,
rascall’, &c. (Cotgr.); lit. one who lies on straw; F. _paille_, L.
_palea_, straw.
=palm,= the flat expanded part of a deer’s horn, whence the points
project. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 124.
=palmplay,= a game resembling tennis, but played with the hand instead
of a bat. Surrey, Prisoned in Windsor, 13; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 13. Cp.
F. _jeu de paume_ (Dict. de l’Acad., s.v. Paume).
=palped,= that can be felt, palpable. Webster, Appius, iii. 1 (Icilius);
Heywood, Brazen Age (Hercules), vol. iii, p. 206. L. _palpare_, to feel.
=palt,= to trudge; ‘Palting to school’, Nice Wanton, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, ii. 165.
=palter,= to shift, shuffle, equivocate. Macbeth, v. 8. 20; Ant. and Cl.
iii. 11. 63.
=paltock,= a short coat, sleeved doublet. Morte Arthur, leaf 89, 27; bk.
v, c. 10; OF. _paletocque_; ‘Paltocke, a garment, _halcret_’
(Palsgrave). ME. _paltok_ (P. Plowman, B. xviii. 25); _paltoke_ (Prompt.
EETS., see note, no. 1569). F. _palletoc_, ‘a long and thick pelt or
cassock, a garment like a short cloak with sleeves’ (Cotgr.). See Dict.
(s.v. Paletot).
=Paltock’s inn,= a mean or inhospitable place; Paltock is probably here
a proper name, but the allusion is unknown. Gosson, School of Abuse, p.
52; Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii, l. 65 (a rendering of the Lat.
‘pollutum hospitium’, l. 61).
=pampestry,= a corrupt form of _palmistry_. Mirror for Mag., Bladud, st.
25. ME. _pawmestry_ (Lydgate, Assembly of Gods, 870).
=pamphysic,= concerning all nature. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle).
Gk. παμ- + φυσικός.
=panada, panado,= bread boiled to a pulp, and flavoured with currants,
sugar, &c. _Panada_, Massinger, A New Way, i. 2 (Furnace); _panado_,
Middleton, The Witch, ii. 1 (Gasparo). In Eastward Ho, ii (Quicksilver),
the word is spelt _poynado_. Span. _panada_. See Stanford (s.v. Panade).
=panarchic,= all-ruling. A nonce-word. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1
(Subtle). Gk. πάναρχος, all-ruling + _-ic_.
=panax,= all-heal; a healing plant, whence opopanax is made. Middleton,
The Witch, iii. 3 (Firestone). L. _panax_; Gk. πάναξ, πανακής,
all-healing.
=pandora,= a ‘bandore’, a musical instrument, a kind of lute. Rowley,
All’s Lost, ii. 1. 4; _pandore_, Drayton, Pol. iv. 63. Gk. πανδοῦρα. See
Stanford.
=paned hose,= breeches made of strips of different coloured cloth joined
together; or of cloth cut into strips, between which ribs or stripes of
another material or colour were inserted or drawn through. Beaumont and
Fl., Woman-hater, i. 2 (Lazarillo); Wit at several Weapons, iv. 1
(Cunningham). From _pane_, a patch of cloth. OF. _pan_, L. _pannus_.
=panel;= see =pannel.=
=pannam,= bread (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); Harman,
Caveat, p. 83.
=pannel,= a panel; a piece of cloth placed under the saddle to protect
the horse’s back; also, a rough saddle. Butler, Hud. i. 1. 447; ‘A
straw-stufft pannel’, Hall, Sat. iv. 2. 26; _panel_, Tusser, Husbandry,
§ 17. 5. OF. _panel_, a piece of cloth for a saddle, F. ‘_paneau_
(_panneau_), a pannel of a saddle’ (Cotgr.).
=pannikell,= the brain-pan, skull. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 23. L.
_panniculus_, the membranous structure of the brain, see NED. (s.v.
Pannicle).
=pantler,= the officer of a household in charge of the pantry. 2 Hen.
IV, ii. 4. 258; Brome, Jovial Crew, i. 1 (Springlove); ‘A pantler,
_panis custos_, _promus_’, Gouldman. ME. _pantelere_, ‘panitarius’
(Prompt. EETS. 326, see note, no. 1571).
=pantofle,= a slipper, Massinger, Bashful Lover, v. 1; Unnat. Combat,
iii. 2 (Page); Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, ii. 2 (Servant); Spanish
Curate, iv. 1 (Ascanio); ‘_Baseæ_ . . . a kynde of slippers or
pantofles’, Cooper, Thesaurus. F. _pantoufle_ (1489 in Hatzfeld). The
usual English stress on the first syllable facilitated the corruptions:
_pantapple_ (Baret), _pantable_ (Sydney, Arcadia), _pantocle_ (Ascham,
Scholemaster, ed. Arber, 84), assimilated to words in _-ple_, _-ble_,
_-cle_. See NED.
=pap:= phr. _pap with a hatchet_, infant’s food administered with a
hatchet instead of a spoon; an ironical phrase for a form of reproof or
chastisement; ‘They give us pap with a spoon before we can speak; and
when wee speake for that wee love [like], _pap with a hatchet_’, Lyly,
Mother Bombie, i. 3 (Livia); the name of a controversial tract
attributed to Lyly.
=parage,= lineage; esp. noble lineage, high birth. Morte Arthur, leaf
110, back, 5; bk. vii, c.5; ‘Of high and noble parages’, Udall, Roister
Doister, Act i, sc. 2; ed. Arber, p. 17. OF. _parage_, ‘parente,
affinité; noblesse, naissance illustre’ (Didot); see Moisy. O. Prov.
_paratge_, ‘naissance noble, noblesse’ (Levy); Med. L. _paraticum_, see
Ducange (s.v. Paragium).
=paramento,= an article of apparel. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1
(Incubo). Span. _paramento_, ornament; Med. L. _paramentum_, ornament;
_parare_, ‘ornare’ (Ducange). See =pare.=
=paranymph,= friend of the bridegroom. Milton, Samson, 1020. F.
_paranymphe_, ‘. . . an assistant in the . . . ordering of bridall
businesses’ (Cotgr.). Gk. παράνυμφος, friend of the bridegroom (John
iii. 29); Gk. παρά, beside; νύμφη, bride.
=parator;= see =paritor.=
=paravaunt,= beforehand, first of all. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 16; vi.
10. 15. F. _par avant_.
=parboil,= to boil thoroughly. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 1
(Downright). See Dict.
=parbreak, parbrake,= to vomit. Skelton, Duke of Albany, 322; Hall,
Satires, i. 5. 9; Palsgrave. 478; Horman, Vulg. 39 (NED.); also, as sb.,
vomit, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 20. ME. _parbrakynge_, ‘vomitus’ (Prompt.);
the usual form in Prompt. is _brakyn_, ‘vomo’ (see ed. EETS., Index, p.
749).
=parcel,= a portion, part, share; ‘A parcel of ground’, BIBLE, John iv.
5; Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 68. 63; Merry Wives, i. 1. 237; item,
particular, All’s Well, iv. 3. 104; small party, L. L. L. v. 2. 160.
=parcel,= partly; _parcel-gilt_, partly gilded, esp. of silver ware. 2
Hen. IV, ii. 1. 94. _Parcel_, used for _parcel-gilt_, Beaumont and Fl.,
Coxcomb, iv. 3 (Mother). So also _parcel-bawd_; Meas. for M. ii. 1. 63;
Fletcher, Captain, i. 1 (Lodovico). _Parcel-popish_, Fuller, Worthies,
Somerset. See NED. (s.v. Parcel, B. 1).
=parclose, perclose,= close, conclusion, esp. of literary matter.
Warner, Alb. Eng. Epit. (ed. 1612, 377); Quarles, Sol. Recant. vii. 97.
Norm. F. _parclose_, conclusion (Moisy); see also Didot.
=parcloos, parclose,= an enclosed space in a building, small chamber.
Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 9, back, 25. Anglo-F. _parclose_, an enclosure
(Gower); OF. _parclouse_, ‘clos, lieu cultivé et fermé de murs ou de
haies’ (Didot).
=pardalis,= a panther. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 667; _pardale_,
Spenser, F. Q. i. 626. Gk. πάρδαλις, fem., a panther.
=pare,= to adorn. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 245, back, 26; Knight of la
Tour (EETS.), p. 67, l. 2. Hence _parement_, an ornament, id., leaf 236.
27. See =paramento.=
=paregal,= fully equal. Skelton, Dethe of E. of Northumberland, 134;
_peregall_, id., Speke Parrot, 430. Norm. F. _paregal_, ‘parfaitement
égal’; see Moisy (s.v. Parigal). See =peregall.=
=parel,= ‘apparel’, clothing, attire; ‘A shining parel . . . of Tirian
purple’, Surrey, Aeneid iv, 337. Hence, _parrelments_, clothes, Heywood,
Witches of Lancs., i (near end), Wks. iv. 186. ME. _paraille_, clothing
(P. Plowman, B. xi. 228). Norm. F. _apareiller_, ‘parer, orner’ (Moisy).
=parerga,= unimportant matters, secondary business. B. Jonson, Magnetic
Lady, i. 1 (Compass). Gk. πάρεργα, pl. of πάρεργον, by-work.
=parget,= ornamental work in plaster. Spenser, Visions of Bellay, ii. 9.
Anglo-F. _pargeter_, projeter, jeter et répandre en avant (Ch. Rol.
2634); see Moisy (s.v. Parjeter). See Dict., and see =pergit.=
=parish-top,= a large top kept for public exercise in a parish. Twelfth
Nt. i. 3. 44. See =town-top.=
=paritor, parator,= ‘apparitor’, a summoning officer of an
ecclesiastical court. Fletcher, Span. Curato, v. 2 (Bartolus);
_parator_, Heywood, 2 Edw. IV (1 Apparitor), vol. i, p. 161. L.
_apparitor_, a public servant, such as a lictor (Cicero).
=parket,= a ‘parakeet’. Marston, The Fawn, ii. 1 (Nymphadore).
=parlance,= speaking, speech; parleying. Speed, Hist. Gt. Britain, ix.
12. 575 (NED.). Norm. F. _parlance_, ‘entretien’ (Moisy).
=parlant,= one who parleys, or takes part in a conference. Warner, Alb.
England, bk. iii, ch. 19, st. 32.
=parle,= a parley, conference. Tam. Shrew i. 1. 117; Hamlet, i. 1. 62;
to parley. L. L. L. v. 2. 122.
=parlous,= alarming, mischievous, ‘perilous’, shrewd. Mids. Night’s D.
iii. 1. 14; Richard III, ii. 4. 35.
=parmesant,= cheese made in the duchy of Parma. Middleton, The
Changeling, i. 2 (3 Madman); _parmesent_, Ford, ’Tis pity, i. 4
(Poggio). F. _parmesan_, Ital. _parmegiano_, belonging to Parma. See
Stanford (s.v. Parmesan).
=parnel,= a wanton young woman. Phillips, Dict., 1678; Becon, Popish
Mass (Works, iii. 41), see NED. ME. _pernelle_ (P. Plowman, B. iv. 116);
F. _peronnelle_, ‘une femme de peu’ (Dict. Acad., ed. 1762). ‘Parnel’
orig. a feminine Christian name, ME. _Peronelle_ (Gower, C. A. i. 3396);
OF. _Peronelle_, a Christian name from St. _Petronilla_. Hence the
surname Parnell (Bardsley, 582).
=paroli,= at faro or basset, the leaving of the money staked and the
money won as a new stake; a doubling of the stakes. Farquhar, Sir Harry
Wildair, ii. 1 (Banter); id., ii. 2 (Wildair). Ital. _paroli_, ‘a grand
part, set, or cast at dice’; _parolare_, ‘to play at a grand part at
dice’ (Florio). See Stanford.
=paronomasia,= a pun, play upon words; ‘The jingle of a more poor
paranomasia’, Dryden, Account of Annus Mirabilis. Gk. παρονομσία. See
Stanford.
=parreal,= ‘pair-royal’; meaning three of a sort. ‘The _we’s_, which is
a distinct _parreal_ of wit bound by itself’, &c., Parson’s Wedding, ii.
3 (Wanton). The allusion is probably to the public-house sign, ‘We Three
Loggerheads be’, a jocular painting of _two_ silly-looking faces, the
unsuspecting spectator being of course the third. See History of
Signboards (1866), p. 458. See =pair-royal.=
=parrelments;= see =parel.=
=parsee,= the trail of blood left by a wounded animal; ‘A . . . dogge
that hunts my heart By _parsee_ each-wheare found’ (i.e. found
everywhere by means of the blood-trail), Warner, Albion’s England, bk.
vii, ch. 36, st. 90; ‘Ascanius and his company, drawing by _parsie_ [by
the trail] after the stagge’, id., prose addition to bk. ii, § 22. F.
_percé_, lit. pierced; hence, a wounded animal. Finally, confused with
_pursue_. See =persue.=
=parson,= a prov. pronunciation of ‘person’. Middleton, No Wit like a
Woman’s, iii. 1 (Sir G. Lamb.); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iv. 1
(Servant).
=part,= a party, a body of adherents or partisans; ‘The part of
Chalengers’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 4. 25.
=partage,= a share. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, iii. 2 (Mariana).
Anglo-F. _partage_, sharing (Gower, Mirour, 1654).
=parted,= gifted with good parts. Tr. and Cr. iii. 3. 96; Massinger, Gt.
Duke of Florence, iv. 2 (Sanazzaro).
=Partlet,= a word used as the proper name of any hen; also applied to a
woman. Winter’s Tale, ii. 3. 75; 1 Hen. IV, iii. 3. 60. ME. _Pertelote_,
the name of the hen in Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale (C. T. B. 4075,
4295, 4552).
=partlette,= a neckerchief or handkerchief. Tyndale, Acts xix. 12,
_partlettes_ = ‘semicinctia’ (Vulgate), σιμικίνθια, aprons;
_partelettes_, Cranmer’s Bible, 1539; ‘_Un collet ou gorgias de quoi les
femmes couvrent leurs poictrines_, a partlet’, Hollyband, 1580 (NED.).
=pash,= the head; usually in a depreciatory sense. Wint. Tale, i. 2.
128. In prov. use in Scotland (EDD.).
=pash,= to dash into pieces. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, ii. 2 (Harpax);
Tr. and Cr. ii. 3. 213; v. 2. 10; to hurl, Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 2 (414)
(Orlando). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
=pashe:= in phr. _for the pashe of God_, Roister Doister, iv. 3; _for
the pashe of our sweete Lord Jesus Christ_, id., v. 5; _for the passion
of God_, id., iv. 3.
=pass,= to go beyond, exceed, surpass. Merry Wives, i. 1. 310. Hence
_passing_, surpassing; ‘Passing the love of women’, BIBLE, 2 Sam. i. 26;
Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 24; extremely, Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. See EDD.
(s.v. Pass, vb. 8).
=pass,= to care, reck; ‘I do not pass a pin’, Greene (Alphonsus), i. 1;
_to pass of_, to care for, regard, ‘I pass not of his frivolous
speeches’, id., Friar Bacon, i. 2. 271; _to pass for_, to care for,
Marlowe, Edw. II, i. 4 (Edward).
=passado,= a motion forwards and thrust in fencing. L. L. L. i. 2. 184;
Romeo, ii. 4. 26; iii. 1. 88. Cp. F. _passade_, Sp. _pasada_, It.
_passata_.
=passage,= a game at dice; ‘Passage is a game at dice to be played at
but by two, and it is performed with 3 dice. The caster throws
continually till he hath thrown dubblets under ten, and then he is out
or loseth, or dubblets above ten, and then he _passeth_, and wins’,
Compleat Gamester, 1680, p. 119 (Nares); ‘_Passe-dix_, such a game as
our Passage’, Cotgrave; ‘Learn to play at primero and passage’, B.
Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum. i. 1 (Carlo); Rowley, A Woman never vexed,
ii. 1. 3. See =court-passage.=
=passant= (in heraldry), walking and looking toward the dexter side,
with three paws down, and the dexter forepaw raised; said of an animal.
Merry Wives, i. 1. 20. F. _passant_, passing.
=passata,= the same as =passado.= Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler).
=passe-measure, passameasure= (Florio, 1598, s.v. Passamezzo), a slow
dance of Italian origin, a variety of the ‘pavan’; _a passy measures
Pavyn_, Twelfth Nt. v. 1. 205; _passa-measures galliard_, Middleton,
More Dissemblers, v. 1 (Page). Ital. _passamezzo_, for _passo e mezzo_,
i.e. a step and a half; see NED.
=passement,= gold or silver lace, braid of silk or other material.
Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, iii. 1 (Arber, 150). F. _passement_; Span.
_passamano_, ‘lace of gold, silver or silk for cloaths’ (Stevens).
=passion,= sorrow, grief. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 3 (Dutch
Merchant); iii. 1 (Weatherwise); a pathetic speech, Massinger, The Old
Law, i. 1 (Simonides).
=passionate,= sorrowful; compassionate, loving, pitiful. King John, ii.
1. 554; Richard III, i. 4. 121; Shirley, Changes, i. 2; Spenser, Colin
Clout, 427.
=pastance,= pastime; ‘For my pastance, hunt, syng, and daunce’, Song by
Henry VIII; The Four Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 23 (l. 5). F.
_passe-temps_; see Montaigne, Essais, III. xiii (ed. 1870, p. 584), on
‘cette phrase ordinaire de “Passe-temps”’.
=pastillo,= a small roll of aromatic paste prepared to be burnt as a
perfume. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, iv. 1 (Wit.). L. _pastillus_, an
aromatic lozenge (Horace).
=pastler,= a maker of pastry, confectioner. Udall, tr. of Apoph.,
Alexander, § 9; ‘Cooks or Pastelars’, Stow, Survey of London (ed. Thoms,
115). ME. _pastelere_, ‘pastillarius’ (Prompt. EETS. 329, see note, no.
1582). OF. _pastellier_ (Godefroy).
=patache,= a tender, a vessel attending a squadron of ships; ‘Ships,
pynaces, pataches’, Dekker, Wh. of Babylon; Works, ii. 256. Span.
_patache_ (Stevens). Probably a Dalmatian word, cp. Med. L. _bastasia_,
‘naviculae apud Dalmatas species’ (Ducange). See Stanford.
=patch,= a clown, a paltry fellow. Macbeth, v. 3. 15; Massinger, Virgin
Martyr, ii. 1 (Hireius).
†=pathaires,= explosive outbursts (?). Arden of Fev. iii. 5. 51. Not
found elsewhere.
=patish,= to agree upon, bargain for; ‘The money, which the pirates
patished for his raunsome’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Julius, § 1; ‘To
pattish, patise, covenant, _pacisci_’, Levins, Manip. ‘Pattish’ is given
as an obsolete Yorks. word in the sense of ‘to plot or contrive
together’ (EDD.). Cp. OF. _patis_, ‘pacte, traité’ (Didot); _patiser_,
to agree upon; deriv. of L. _pactum_, an agreement.
=patoun,= the meaning is uncertain. In B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum.
iv. 4, ‘the making of the patoun’ may refer to the moulding of the
tobacco into some shape for the pipe; cp. F. _pâton_, lump or pellet of
paste (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762).
=patrico,= a hedge-priest among the gipsies, who performed marriages.
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 4; B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, ii (Waspe),
near the end. See Aydelotte, p. 19.
=patrone,= a ‘pattern’, copy, sampler, exemplar; ‘Make all thynges
accordynge to the patrone’ (κατὰ τὸν τύπον), Tyndale, Heb. viii. 5. The
Gk. τύπος is so rendered in Cranmer’s Bible (1539), and in the Geneva
Bible (1557); Coverdale, 2 Kings xvi. 10. F. _patron_, ‘modèle, exemple’
(Gloss. to Rabelais). O. Prov. _patron_, ‘modèle’ (Levy).
=patten,= a form of _pattern_. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 5 (_or_
2) (E. Knowell); ‘A Patten, _prototypon_’, Levins, Manip.
=paunce, pawnce,= the ‘pansy’, or heart’s-ease. Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
April, 142; Warner, Alb. England, bk. v, c. 28, st. 43; _panse_,
Holland, Pliny, xxi. 10. 92. OF. _panse_, _pense_, thought, O. Prov.
_pensa_, ‘pensée’ (Levy).
=pauncie,= the pansy. Tusser, Husbandry, § 43. 24; F. _pensée_, ‘a
thought, also the flower Paunsie’ (Cotgr.).
=pautener, pawtener,= a wallet, scrip. Skelton, Ware the Hauke, 44;
‘Pautner, _malette_’, Palsgrave. ME. _pawtenere_, _pawytnere_,
‘cassidile’ (Prompt. EETS. 330, see note, no. 1592). F. _pautonniere_,
‘a shepherd’s scrip’ (Cotgr.).
=pavan,= a stately dance in which the dancers were elaborately dressed.
Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, i. 23 (Arber, 61); _pavin_, Twelfth N. v. 1.
207; _paven_, Fletcher, Mad Lover, ii. 2 (near end); _pavion_, Sir T.
Elyot, Governour, i. 19. 12. F. _pavane_, Ital. _pavana_, Span. _pavana_
(_pabana_). See Stanford.
=pavis,= a convex shield large enough to cover the whole body, used esp.
in sieges; ‘The shotte . . . they defended with Pavishes’, Hall, Chron.
Hen. VIII, 42; ‘A pavis coveris thair left sydis’, Douglas, Aeneid vii,
13. 67; as used on board a ship, ranged along the sides as a defence
against archery, Lydgate, Siege Harfleur (Arber’s Garner, viii. 16).
Span. _paves_ (Stevens); Ital. _pavese_, _palvese_ (Florio); Med. L.
_pavenses_, pl. (Ducange); perhaps from Pavia, see Hatzfeld (s.v.
Pavois).
=paw,= improper, nasty, obscene; ‘Paw words’, Wycherley, Country Wife,
v. 2 (Horner); ‘Marrying is a paw thing’, Congreve, Love for Love, v. 2
(Tattle). From _paw_, or _pah!_ interj., expressive of disgust.
=Pawn,= ‘the Pawn’; a corridor, which formed a kind of bazaar, in
Gresham’s Royal Exchange. Westward Ho, ii. 1 (Justiniano); ‘Little lawn
then served the Pawn’, T. Campion (ed. Bullen, 114). See Nares. F. _pan_
(de muraille), used in the Low Countries in the sense of ‘une gallerie
ou cloistre, lieu ou on vend quelque marchandise, ou où on se pourmeine,
_ambulacrum_’ (Kilian, 1599, s.v. Pandt). Cp. Du. _pandt_, ‘a
Covert-walking place, or a gallerie where things are sould’ (Hexham).
=pax,= a tablet bearing a representation of a sacred object, kissed by
the celebrating priest at mass, and passed round to be kissed by others.
Hen. V, iii. 6. 42. Eccles. L. _pax_, ‘instrumentum quod inter Missarum
solemnia populo osculandum praebetur’ (Ducange); also called
_osculatorium_, see Dict. Ch. Antiq. (s.v. Kiss, 903).
=payne mayne,= white bread of the finest quality; ‘Payne mayne, _payn de
bouche_’, Palsgrave. ME. _payndemayn_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1915);
_payman_, ‘placencia’ (Voc. 788. 32). Anglo-F. _pain demeine_, Med. L.
_panis dominicus_, lord’s bread, bread eaten by the master of the house;
cp. L. _vinum dominicum_, Petronius, Sat. § 30. See =demain.=
=payre,= to impair, make worse, spoil. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 4. 26;
§ 97. 3. See =appair.=
=paytrelle,= ‘poitrel’, breastplate for a horse. Morte Arthur, leaf 119,
back, 2; bk. vii, c. 17. Anglo-F. _peitral_ (Moisy). See Dict. (s.v.
Poitrel).
=peace,= to keep silence; ‘Peace, foolish woman. _Duchess._ I will not
peace’, Richard II, v. 2. 80; ‘He peaste and couched while that we
passed by’, Sackville, Mirror Mag., Induction, lxxii.
=peak,= to make a mean figure, to play a contemptible part. Hamlet, ii.
2. 594; _peaking_, sneaking, mean-spirited, Merry Wives, iii. 5. 71.
=peak,= to droop, to be sickly, Macbeth, i. 3. 23; Tusser, Husbandry, §
67. 27. The word ‘peaking’ is used in the sense of sickly, wasted away,
in many parts of England and Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Peak, vb.^{2} 1
(2)). See =pick.=
=peak-goose,= a dolt, a simpleton. Ascham, Scholemaster (ed. Arber, 54);
Prophetess, iv. 3 (1 Guard); spelt _pea-goose_, Beaumont and Fl., Little
French Lawyer, ii. 3 (Dinant); Cotgrave (s.v. Benet); Chapman, Mons.
d’Olive, iii. 1 (Rhoderique).
=peakish,= remote, solitary; ‘Did house him in a peakish grange Within a
forest great’, Warner, Alb. England, bk. viii, ch. 42, st. 2; ‘Snow on
Peakish Hull’ (hill), Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. 4 (Ballad of Dowsabel,
st. 5); ‘A pelting grange that peakishly did stand’, Golding, tr. of
Ovid, Met. vi. 521 (L. _obscura_). See NED., where ‘Peakish’ is shown to
refer (probably) to the ‘Peak’ in Derbyshire.
=pearl,= a disease of the eye. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Costanza).
In Scottish use (EDD.). ME. _perle_ of þe eye, ‘glaucoma’ (Prompt.).
=pease, pese,= a pea. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 69; ‘A pese above a
perle’, Surrey, The Lover excuseth himself, in Tottel’s Misc., p. 25;
‘Not worth two peason’, Surrey, Frailty of Beauty, id., p. 10; _Peason_,
peas, Tusser, Husbandry, § 53, st. 9. ME. _pese_, ‘pisa’ (Prompt.); OE.
_pisa_, _piosa_, a pea (Sweet).
=pease, peaze,= to pacify, satisfy, ‘appease’. Ferrex and Porrex, iii. 1
(Gorboduc); iv. 1 (Videna); Surrey, tr. of Aeneid ii, l. 147. ME.
_pese_, to appease (Chaucer, C. T. H. 98; so Lansdowne MS.; Ellesmere,
_apese_). OF. _apaisier_ (Didot).
=peat,= used as a term of endearment to a girl, with various shades of
meaning; ‘A pretty peat’, Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 78; ‘Lettice and Parnell
prety lovely peates’, Drayton, Man in Moon, ix; used as a term of
obloquy, ‘Proud peat’, Fletcher, Wife for Month, i. 1 (Sorano);
Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 2. See Nares. In prov. use in Scotland
for a girl, gen. as a term of obloquy, ‘a proud peat’, see EDD. (s.v.
Peat, sb.^{2}).
=peaze;= see =peise.=
=peccadillo,= a collar. _Wooden peccadillo_, wooden collar (i.e. the
pillory); Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 1454. See =pickadil.=
=peck,= meat (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); ‘Bene pecke,
good meate’, Harman, Caveat, p. 86; ‘Let’s cly off our peck’, Brome,
Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song).
=peculiar,= private, belonging to one person only; ‘The single and
peculiar life’, Hamlet, iii. 3. 11.
=ped,= a wicker pannier; ‘Dorsers are Peds or Panniers’, Fuller,
Worthies, Dorset, 1; Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 5. In common prov. use in
E. Anglia and E. Midlands, also in Somerset and Devon (EDD.). ME.
_pedde_, ‘idem quod _paner_’ (Prompt.). See =pad= (3).
=pedee;= see =peedee.=
=pedescript,= that which is written by the foot (not the hand); said
humorously by one who had been kicked; with _pede-_ substituted for
_manu-_. Shirley, Honoria, iv. 1 (Dash).
=pedlar’s French,= unintelligible jargon. Middleton, Family of Love, v.
3 (Club).
=pee,= a coat of coarse cloth; also, of velvet; ‘A velvet pee’,
Fletcher, Love’s Cure, ii. 1 (Lazarillo). Du. _pije_, ‘a pie-gowne, or a
rough-gowne, as souldiers and sea-men weare’ (Hexham); whence
_pea-jacket_.
=peeble,= pebble; ‘The chaste stream, that ’mong loose peebles fell’,
Cowley, Davideis, i. 677 (NED.); _peeble-stone_, Golding, Metam. i. 575.
The usual Scottish pronunc. (EDD.).
=peedee,= a foot-boy, serving-lad, drudge. Lady Alimony, ii. 1 (1 Boy);
_pedee_, J. Jones, tr. of Ovid’s Ibis, 160, note (NED.); Phillips,
Dict., 1706.
=peek, peke,= to peep. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 667; ‘I peke or prie’,
Palsgrave. In common prov. use (EDD.).
=peel-crow;= see =pilcrow.=
=peeled,= bald, shorn, with tonsured head. 1 Hen. VI, i. 3. 30.
=peep,= an eye or spot on a die. Middleton, Father Hubberd’s Tales, ed.
Dyce, v. 581. Also, a pip on a card; Herrick, Oberon’s Palace, l. 49;
‘_Pinta_, among Gamesters a peep in a card’ (Stevens). ‘Peep’ is the
usual word for ‘pip’ of a card, die, or domino in NE. Derbyshire and S.
Yorkshire (H. Bradley). Cp. ‘peep’ in prov. use in the sense of a single
blossom of flowers growing in a cluster, see EDD. (s.v. Pip, sb.^{2} 1).
See =pip.=
=peepin, pepin,= a pippin. Dekker, O. Fortunatus, v. 2. See Dict. (s.v.
Pippin).
=peevish,= self-willed, obstinate. Two Gent. iii. 1. 68; Merry Wives, i.
4. 14; Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iii. 3 (Harpax); ‘_Pertinax hominum
genus_, a peevish generation of men’, Burton, Anat. Mel., Pt. iii, § 4.
Hence _peevishness_, obstinacy, ‘An inbred peevishness and engraffed
pertinacity’, Holland, Livy, 1152. See Trench, Select Glossary; also
Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, Pref. to 8th ed., p. xxi.
=pegma, pegme,= a kind of framework or stage used in theatrical displays
or pageants, sometimes bearing an inscription; also, the inscription
itself; ‘In the centre . . . of the pegme there was an aback or square,
wherein this eulogy was written’, B. Jonson, Jas. I’s Coronation
Entertainment (Wks., Routledge, p. 529, after inscription ‘_His
Vincas_’; ‘We shall heare . . . who penned the Pegmas’, Chapman, Widow’s
Tears, ii. 3 (Ianthe). L. _pegma_, Gk. πῆγμα, framework fixed together.
=peise, paise,= weight, heaviness; ‘A stone of such a paise’, Chapman,
tr. Iliad, xii. 167; _peaze_, a heavy blow, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 20;
to weigh, ‘To weigh and peise the mountains’, Holland, Amm. Marcell. 28
(NED.); to estimate the weight of a thing, Dekker, Old Fortunatus, ii. 1
(Soldan); to poise, ‘The workeman . . . Did peise his bodie on his
wings’, Golding, tr. Metam. viii. 188; ‘Ne was it (the island) paysd
Amid the ocean waves’, Spenser, F. Q., ii. 10. 5; to weigh down, Richard
III, v. 3. 100; Middleton, Family of Love, ii. 4 (Maria); to put a
weight upon, so as to retard, ‘’Tis to peize the time’, Merch. Ven. iii.
2. 22. ME. _peisen_, to weigh: ‘I wolde that my synnes . . . weren
peisid, in a balaunce’ (Wyclif, Job vi. 2); Anglo-F. _peise_, pres. s.
of _peser_; to weigh, to ponder, think (Ch. Rol. 1279); L. _pensare_, to
weigh, ponder.
=pelamis,= a young tunny-fish. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 11. L.
_pelamys_; Gk. πηλαμύς.
=peld,= ‘peeled’, stripped; ‘Of all thing bare and _peld_’, Phaer,
Aeneid i, 599 (L. _egenos_). See =peeled.=
=pelican,= a retort with a fine end, like a bird’s beak. B. Jonson,
Alchem. ii. 1 (Face); iii. 2 (Subtle); iv. 3 (Face).
=pelowre,= a plunderer, Morte Arthur, leaf 245, back, 31; bk. x, c. 48.
ME. _pelowre_, thiefe, ‘appellator’ (Prompt. EETS. 331).
=pelt,= a light shield. Fisher, True Trojans, ii. 5 (Belinus). L.
_pelta_, Gk. πέλτη, a leathern shield.
=pelt,= to strike a bargain; ‘I found the people nothing prest [not at
all ready] to _pelt_’, Mirror for Mag., Severus, st. 16. Perhaps the
same word as _pelt_, to strike. See NED.
=pelting,= petty, trashy, contemptible. Richard III, ii. 1. 60; Meas.
for M. ii. 2. 112; Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 2. 328.
=peltish,= irritable, ill-tempered; ‘Peltish wasps’, Herrick, Oberon’s
Palace, 17. Cp. ‘pelt’, in prov. use for a fit of ill-temper, see EDD.
(s.v. Pelt, sb.^{5} 8).
=penner,= a pen-case, case for holding pens. Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 5.
139. A Scottish word for a tin cylinder used for holding pens, pencils,
&c. (EDD.). ME. _pennere_, ‘calamarium’ (Prompt.).
=penny-father,= a miser, skinflint. Two Angry Women, ii. 1 (Philip);
‘Nigeshe penny fathers’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 102). Hence the
surname Pennyfather; see Bardsley’s English Surnames, 482.
=pensel,= a pennon, little banner. Morte Arthur, leaf 244, back, 12; bk.
x, c. 43; ‘Pensell, a lytell baner, _banerolle_’, Palsgrave. Anglo-F.
_pencel_ (Didot); OF. _penoncel_ (La Curne). Med. L. _penuncellus_
(Ducange).
=pentagoron,= a pentagram, a mysterious cabalistic figure supposed to
have great magical power. Rowley, Birth of Merlin, v. 1. 49;
_pentageron_, Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 2. 222. Properly _pentagonon_. Gk.
πεντάγωνος, pentagonal, having five angles.
†=pentweezle,= a term of abuse. Massinger, The Old Law, iii. 2.
(Lysander).
=pepper:= phr. _to take pepper in the nose_, to take offence, to be
vexed. Middleton and Rowley, Spanish Gipsy, iv. 3. 10; Lyly, Euphues,
pp. 118, 375. See Nares.
†=peppernel,= a bump or swelling. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B.
Pestle, ii. 2 (Wife). Not found elsewhere.
=percase,= perchance. Bacon, Colours of Good and Evil, § 3. See Nares.
=perceiverance,= mental perception. Middleton, The Widow, iii. 2
(Violetta). See Nares.
=perche,= to pierce. Ascham, Toxophilus, 137, 138. In prov. use in the
north, esp. in Yorks., also in Lincoln, see EDD. (s.v. Pearch). ME.
_perchyn_, ‘perforare’ (Prompt. EETS. 44, see note, no. 208); _perche_,
‘to Thirle’ (Cath. Angl.). Norm. F. _percher_, ‘percer’ (Moisy).
=perchmentier,= a maker or seller of parchment. Gascoigne, Steel Glas,
1095.
=perdie,= a form of oath = By God!; used often merely as an
asseveration. Hen. V, ii. 1. 52; Hamlet, iii. 2. 305; King Lear, ii. 4.
86; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 22. ME. _pardee_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 563,
3084). OF. _pardee_ (F. _par Dieu_) Norm. F. _Dé_ = _Dieu_ (Moisy).
=perditly,= desperately. Heywood, Dialogue 3 (Mary); vol. vi, p. 118.
Cp. L. _perdite amare_, to love desperately.
=perdu, perdue,= a soldier sent on a forlorn hope; one who is in a
perilous position or in desperate case. King Lear, iv. 7. 35; Beaumont
and Fl., Mad Lover, i. 1 (Cleanthe); Little French Lawyer, ii. 3. 3;
Chapman, Widow’s Tears, ii. 1 (Lysander). F. _perdu_, lost.
=peregall,= fully equal. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Aug., 8; Skelton, Speke
Parrot, 430; _no peregal_, without an equal; Marston, Antonio, Pt. I,
iii. 2 (Catzo). See =paregal.=
=perge,= go on, proceed. Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, ii
(Ilford); L. L. L. iv. 2. 54. L. _perge_, imper.
=pergit,= a pargetting; ‘Painting’s pergit’, the plastering (of a
woman’s face) with paint, Drayton, Pastorals, iv. 78. See =parget.=
=periapt,= an amulet. 1 Hen. VI, v. 3. 2. F. ‘_periapte_, a medicine
hanged about any part of the body’ (Cotgr.). Gk. περίαπτον, a thing
fastened round one, an amulet (Plato).
=periment,= a ‘pediment’ (NED.). A workman’s term. L. _operimentum_, a
covering (Vulgate, Ezek. xxviii. 13). See Dict. (s.v. Pediment).
=perish,= to destroy. 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 100; Bacon, Essay 27, § 5. Cp.
the Yorks. use: ‘If thou goes out to-night it will perish thee’ (EDD.),
and the Irish, ‘Ah, shut that door; there’s a breeze in throught it that
would perish the Danes’, Joyce, 168.
=perk,= saucy, pert, brisk, smart. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 8. In gen.
prov. use in the North and in the Midlands (EDD.). As vb., _to perk it_,
to thrust oneself forward, to behave presumptuously; ‘Miriam began to
perk it before Moses’, Bunyan, Case Consc. Resolved (ed. 1861, ii. 673);
_to be perked up_, to be made smart, Hen. VIII, ii. 3. 21; _to perk up_,
to stick up, ‘(Hattes) pearking up’, Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed.
Furnivall, 50).
=perpetuana,= a very durable woollen stuff, sometimes called
_everlasting_. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iii. 2 (Hedon); Marston,
What you Will, ii. 1. 8. From L, _perpetuus_, perpetual.
=perron, peron,= a large block of stone, used as a platform, or a
funeral monument, or other purpose. Morte Arthur, leaf 207, back, 28;
bk. x, c. 2. F. ‘_Perron_, an open lodge, passage, or walk of stone
raised; some quantity of staires, directly before the foredoore of a
great house; also, a square base of stone or metal, some five or six
foot high, whereon in old time Knights errant placed some discourse,
challenge, or proofe of an adventure,’ Cotgrave. Anglo-F. _perrun_, a
block of stone (Ch. Rol. 12).
=perry;= see =pirrie.=
=persant,= piercing. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 20. F. _perçant_, pres. pt.
of _percer_, to pierce.
=perséver,= to persevere, continue in. Hamlet, i. 2. 92; King Lear, iii.
5. 23.
=perspective,= an optical instrument for looking through or viewing
objects with; a telescope; ‘The heavens . . . whereof perspectives begin
to tell tales’, Sir T. Browne, Hydriotaphia; ‘Whose eyes shall easily
. . . behold without a perspective the extreamest distances’, id., Rel.
Med., Pt. 1, § 49; Webster, Duchess Malfi, iv. 2 (1 Madman); id.
(Bosola), near end; a microscope, ‘A tiny mite which we can scarcely see
Without a perspective’, Oldham, 8th Sat. of Boileau, 7 (ed. Bell, p.
203); a picture contrived to produce a fantastic effect; e.g. appearing
confused or distorted except from one particular point of view, or
presenting different aspects from different points. Rich. II, ii. 2. 18.
=perspicil,= a telescope, optic glass. B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1
(P. jun.); New Inn, ii. 2 (Frank); Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends,
v. 2. 2. See Nares. L. (16th cent.) _perspicilia_, spectacles (Ducange).
=perstand,= to understand. Gascoigne, Works, i. 78; Peele, Sir Clyomon,
ed. Dyce, p. 492, col. 1, p. 499. A blend of two words—_per_ceive and
under_stand_.
=perstringe,= to censure. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, end of ii. 1 (Damplay).
L. _perstringere_.
=persue,= the trail of blood left by a wounded animal, the ‘parsee’.
Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 28. Cp. ‘Now he has drawn _pursuit_ [old ed.
_pursue_, i.e. the trail] on me, He hunts me like the devil’; Fletcher,
Bonduca, v. 2 (Petillius). See =parsee.=
†=persway,= to assuage, alleviate. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1
(Overdo). Not found elsewhere.
=pert,= lively, brisk, sprightly; in good spirits; ‘Trip the pert
Fairies’, Milton, Comus, 118; Mids. Night’s D. i. 1. 13. In gen. prov.
use in England, see EDD. (s.v. Pert, also Peart).
=pert,= open, easily perceived. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 162. Short
for _apert_, open. F. _apert_; L. _apertus_.
=peruse,= to inspect, examine. Com. Errors, i. 2. 15; Hen. VIII, ii. 3.
75; peruse over, to read over, King John, v. 2. 5.
=pester’d, pestred,= crowded together; ‘Pestred in gallies’, Gosson,
School of Abuse, p. 32 (end); ‘Confin’d and pester’d in this pinfold
here’, Milton, Comus, 7; North’s Plutarch (in Shak. Plutarch, ed. Skeat,
175). For _impestered_; ‘_Empestré_, impestered, intricated, intangled,
incumbered’, Cotgrave. See Dict. (s.v. Pester).
=pesterous,= cumbersome, troublesome. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p.
196).
=pestle,= the leg and leg-bone of an animal, most freq. a pig in the
phr. _a pestle of pork_; ‘Pestelles of porke’, Boke of Kervynge
(Furnivall, 164). In prov. use in many parts of England (EDD.). _The
pestle of a lark_, used _fig._ for a trifle, something very small, Hall,
Satires, iv. 4. 29; ‘Rutlandshire is but the Pestel of a Lark’, Fuller,
Worthies, Rutland, ii. 346. _A pestle of a portigue_, used jocosely in
speaking of a gold coin (a _portigue_), as eatable meat, to starving
sailors, Fletcher, Sea Voyage, i. 3 (Tibalt).
=petar,= a petard, bomb, a case filled with explosive materials. Hamlet,
iii. 4. 207; Beaumont and Fl., Double Marriage, iii. 2 (Gunner);
_petarre_, Shirley, Gamester, iv. 1 (Young B.).
=peterman,= a fisherman. Eastward Ho, ii. 1 (_or_ 3) (Quicksilver). In
reference to _St. Peter_.
=Peter-see-me,= a kind of Spanish wine. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iii. 1
(near end); Brathwait, Law of Drinking, 80; Philecothonista (1635), 48
(Nares). Sometimes only _Peeter_, Beaumont and Fl., Chances, v. 3
(Song). _Pedro Ximenes_ was the name of a celebrated Spanish grape, so
called after its introducer, see NED. Cp. the spelling _Peter-sameene_
in Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 3 (1st Vintner).
=pettegrye,= ‘pedigree’. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 386. See Dict.
=petternel,= a ‘petronel’, horse-pistol. Return from Parnassus, i. 2
(Judicio). Hence, _petronellier_, a soldier armed with a petrenel;
Gascoigne, Weeds, ed. Hazlitt, i. 408. See Dict. (s.v. Petronel).
=petun,= tobacco. Taylor’s Works, 1630 (Nares). F. _petun_, a native
South American name of tobacco (a Guarani word); see NED.; ‘_Petum
femelle_, English Tobacco; _Petum masle_, French Tobacco’ (Cotgr.). See
Stanford.
=pewl,= to cry as a babe; ‘Here pewled the babes’, Sackville, Induction,
st. 74. See Dict. (s.v. Pule).
=pex,= for _pax_. Warner, Alb. England, bk. vi, ch. 31, st 16. See
=pax.=
=pheare,= a common spelling of =fere,= q.v. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 2.
122; _pheer_, Marmion, The Antiquary, i. 1 (Gasparo).
=pheeze;= see =feeze.=
=phenicopter,= a flamingo. Nabbes, Microcosmus, iii. 1 (Sensuality). Gk.
φοινικ- (from φοῖνιξ), crimson, and πτερόν, feather. Spelt
_phœnicopterus_, Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. iii, c. 12 (near the
end).
=philander,= a lover, one given to making love to a lady, a male flirt.
Congreve, Way of the World, v. 1 (Lady Wishfort); Tatler, no. 13, § 1.
This word for a lover became fashionable through the popularity of a
Ballad of 1682 about ‘the Fair Phillis’ and her ‘Philander’; see NED.
The Greek word ‘Philander’ was misunderstood as meaning a loving man,
but φίλανδρος was used originally of a woman, one loving her husband.
=Philip,= a familiar name for a sparrow. King John, i. 231; Middleton,
The Widow, iii. 2 (Violetta). See Nares. Still in use in Cheshire and
Northants (EDD.). See =Phip.=
=Philip and Cheiny,= an expression for two or more men of the common
people taken at random; Udall, Erasmus, Apoph., Pompey, 1. Also,
_Philip, Hob and Cheanie_, Tusser, Husbandry, 8. Also, name for a kind
of worsted or woollen stuff of common quality; ‘Thirteene pound . . .
T’will put a Lady scarce in Philip and Cheyney’, Fletcher, Wit at
several Weapons, ii. 1 (Lady Ruinous). See NED. (s.v. Philip, 4) and
Davies, Eng. Glossary.
=philomath,= a lover of learning, esp. a mathematician. Congreve, Love
for Love, ii. 1 (Sir Sampson). Gk. φιλομαθής.
=Phip,= a familiar name for a sparrow, a contraction for =Philip=, q.v.;
Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophel, Sonnet 83; Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 4
(Song).
=Phitonesse,= the witch of Endor; ‘Heavenly breath, of Phitonessa’s
power, That raised the dead corpse of her friend to life’, Middleton,
Family of Love, iii. 7. 5; ‘I call In the name of Kyng Saul . . . He bad
the Phitonesse To wytchcraft her to dresse’, Skelton, Phylyp Sparowe,
1359. ME. _Phitonesse_, the witch of Endor (Gower, C. A. iv. 1937);
_Phitones_, Barbour’s Bruce, iv. 753 (see Notes, p. 563); _phitonesses_,
witches (Chaucer, Hous F. iii. 1261). Med. L. _phitonissa_ for
_pythonissa_, a woman inspired by Python (Ducange). Cp. Vulgate, in the
story of the witch of Endor, 1 Sam. xxviii. 7 (‘mulierem habentem
pythonem’). Gk. πνεῦμα πύθωνα, a spirit of Python, Acts xvi. 16. See
note, no. 729 in Prompt. EETS., p. 600, and =fitten.=
=phonascus,= a singing-master; ‘Why have you not, like Nero, a
_phonascus_?’, Lee, Theodosius, iv. 2 (Marcian). Misprinted _phenascus_
in The Modern British Drama, i. 329. L. _phonascus_ (Suetonius); Gk.
φωνασκός, one who exercises the voice; from φωνή, voice.
=phrenitis,= a kind of frenzy or madness. Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, iii.
3 (Corax). Gk. φρενῖτις, delirium.
=phrontisterion,= a place for thinking or studying, an academy or
college. Tomkis, Albumazar, i. 3. 10; _phrontisterium_; Randolph, Muses’
Looking-glass, iii. 1 (Banausus). Gk. φροντιστήριον, a place for
meditation, a thinking-shop (Aristophanes).
=physnomy, fisnomy,= face, ‘physiognomy’. Shirley, Gamester, iii. 3
(Hazard); _fisnomy_, All’s Well, iv. 5. 42.
=picardil;= see =pickadil.=
=picaro,= a rogue, knave. Shirley, The Brothers, v. 3 (Pedro); Pickaro,
Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Alvarez). Span. _picaro_, ‘a rogue, a
scoundrel, a base fellow’ (Stevens).
=picaroon, pickaroon,= a rogue. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii (Manly);
‘Are you there indeed, my little Picaroon?’, Otway, Atheist, ii. 1; a
pirate, ‘A French Piccaroune’, Capt. Smith, Virginia, v. 184 (NED.); a
small pirate ship, Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, v. 5 (Brazen).
=pick,= to waste away, to droop. Middleton, Chaste Maid, i. 1. In prov.
use in Lincoln, S. Midlands, and south-west counties, see EDD. (s.v.
Peak, vb.^{2}). See =peak= (2).
=pick,= to throw, Coriolanus, i. 1. 204; ‘I pycke with an arrow, _Je
darde_’, Palsgrave.
=pick:= in phr. _to pick mood_, to pick a quarrel; ‘Whoso therat pyketh
mood’, Skelton, Against the Scottes, Epilogue, 21.
=pick:= _picked_, refined, exquisite, fastidious, King John, i. 1. 193;
_picking_, dainty, fastidious, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 198.
=pick,= the spike in the middle of a buckler, Porter, Two Angry Women,
in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 318. Also, a toothpick, Fletcher, Mons.
Thomas, i. 2 (Sebastian).
=pickadil, pickadel,= the expansive collar fashionable in the early part
of the 17th cent. Blount, Glossogr., 1656; Beaumont and Fl., Pilgrim,
ii. 2 (1 Outlaw). Spelt _picardill_, B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 1
(Pug); Underwood (NED.). See =peccadillo.=
=pickaroon;= see =picaroon.=
=picke-devant, pickadevant,= a short beard trimmed to a point. Heywood,
The Royal King, vol. vi, p. 70. Also, a man with a picke-devant,
Heywood, Challenge, v. 1; vol. v, p. 68. F. _pique-devant_, an
expression only found in English. See Nares (s.v. Pike-devant).
=pickeer,= to pillage, plunder; to practise piracy, Fuller, Worthies,
Hants (1662, ii. 10); to skirmish, reconnoitre, spelt _pickear_,
Lovelace, Lucasta (Poems, 1864, ii. 203); to wrangle, spelt _pickere_,
Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 448. See NED.
=pickle,= to deal with in a minute way, lit. to pick in a small way.
Ascham, Scholemaster (Arber, 158). Hence _pickling_, trifling, paltry,
Gascoigne, Supposes, i. 2 (Pasiphilo). [R. L. Stevenson uses the word
‘to _pickle_’ in the sense of ‘to trifle’; see Letters (Sept. 6, 1888).]
=pick-packe,= pick-a-back; ‘He gets him up on pick-packe’, B. Jonson,
Barth. Fair, ii. 6 (Stage-direction); Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 2 (260);
scene 2. 89 (W.); p. 156, col. 1 (D.). ‘Pick-pack’ (or ‘a pick-pack’) is
still in use in Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Pick-a-back). The German word for
‘pick-pack’ is _Huckepack_. For numerous forms of this word see NED.
=pickthank,= a flatterer, a mischief-maker. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 25;
Beaumont and Fl., Maid’s Tragedy, iii. 1 (Evadne); _pickthank tales_,
tales told to curry favour, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, i. 1 (Lacy). In
prov. use in the British Isles (EDD.).
=pick-tooth,= a toothpick. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iv. 1
(Fallace). In use in Glouc. (EDD.).
=piddle,= to work or act in a trifling, paltry way. Ascham, Toxoph. (ed.
Arber, 117); Fletcher, Wit without M. i. 2; to trifle or toy with one’s
food, J. Dyke, Sel. Serm. (1640, p. 292); Pope, Horace’s Satires, ii. 2.
137. In common use in this sense in various parts of England, see EDD.
(s.v. Piddle, vb.^{1} 1).
=pie, pye,= a magpie. 3 Hen. VI, v. 6. 48. In common prov. use (EDD.).
=piece,= a piece of money of the value of 22 shillings. Pepys, Diary,
March 14, 1660 (N. S.). _A piece of eight_, the Spanish dollar of the
value of 8 reals, or about 4_s._ 6_d._, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. ii.
1. 6 (see Wheatley’s note); Alchemist, ii. 3 (Face).
=piece,= a painting, a picture, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 4); Pepys,
Diary, Feb. 27, 1663 (N. S.).
=pied,= variegated, parti-coloured. Spelt _pyed_, B. Jonson, Every Man
in Hum. i. 5 (Matthew); spelt _pide_, Milton, L’Allegro, 75 (ed. 1632).
=pieton,= a foot-soldier; hence, a pawn at chess; ‘_Pietons_, or
fotemen’, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 87, back, 6; ‘They [the pawns] be
all named _pietons_’, id., Game of Chesse, bk. iii, c. 1 (beginning). F.
‘_pieton_, a footman, also, a Pawn at Chess’ (Cotgr.).
=pig,= sixpence (Cant); ‘Fill till’t be sixpence, And there’s my pig’,
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 1 (1 Boor).
=pigeaneau,= a dupe, a gull. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, iv. 1
(Marquis). F. _pigeonneau_, a young pigeon, a dupe; dimin. of _pigeon_.
=pigeon-holes,= the name of a game; the same as =troll-my-dames,= q. v.;
‘Dice, cards, pigeon-holes’, Rowley, A Woman never vext, i. 1 (Old
Foster); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 101; ii. 1. 3; in Hazlitt, xii. 120.
=pigeon-livered,= applied to one incapable of anger; ‘I am
pigeon-livered and lack gall’, Hamlet, ii. 2. 605. A pigeon was supposed
to have no gall, and so to lack capacity for anger or resentment. ‘Sure
he’s a pigeon, for he has no gall’, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 5
(Castruchio).
=pight,= _pt. t._ pitched; ‘Under Pomfret his proud Tents he pight’,
Drayton, Agincourt, 97; _ypight_, pp., ‘Underneath a craggy cliff
ypight’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 33; _pight_, Tr. and Cr. v. 10. 24. ME.
_pighte_, pt. t. of _picchen_; _y_)_pight_, pp., see Dict. M. and S.
(s.v. Picchen).
=pigsnye,= a darling, a pet, commonly used as an endearing form of
address to a girl. Dryden, Tempest, iv. 3; Farquhar, Love and Bottle, i.
1. Spelt _pigges-nye_, Lyly, Euphues, 114. In Butler, Hud. (ii. 1. 560),
_Pigsneye_ occurs in the sense of a ‘dear little eye’.
=pike:= in phr. _sold at a pike_, Kyd, Cornelia, v. 444 (not far from
end). Here Kyd translates from F. _vendre sous une pique_, which refers
to the L. phrase _venalis sub hasta_, ‘that can be sold by auction’. It
looks as if Kyd did not understand the allusion.
=pike:= in phr. _on the pike_, ‘a-peak’; used of an anchor, when the
cable has been hove in so as to bring the ship just over it. Greene,
Looking Glasse, iii. 1. F. _à pic_, ‘perpendiculairement’ (Dict. de
l’Acad., 1762).
=pilch,= to pilfer, to filch. Tusser, Husbandry, § 15. 39; ‘Pilche,
miche, _suffurari_’, Levins, Manip. In prov. use in Worc. and Glouc.
(EDD.).
=pilcher,= a term of abuse, prob. meaning one who ‘pilches’; it is
sometimes punningly connected with the word _pilchard_ (see below). B.
Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 4; Fletcher, Wit without Money, iii. 4.
=pilcher,= a pilchard. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iii. 4. 1;
Beggar’s Bush, iv. 1 (Clause).
=pilcher,= a scabbard. Romeo, iii. 1. 84. Not found elsewhere.
=pilcrow,= a name for the paragraph-mark, printed as ¶. Tusser,
Husbandry, p. 2; spelt _peel-crow_, Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, v. 1
(Lapet); ‘Pilcrow, paragraphus’, Coles, Lat. Dict.; ‘_Paragraphe_,
Pillcrow’, Cotgrave. Cp. ME. _pylcraft_ in a boke, ‘Asteriscus,
Paragraphus’ (Prompt.); _pargrafte_, paragraphus (Ortus Voc.). See Notes
on Eng. Etym., s.v.
=pile,= the metal head of an arrow. Drayton, Pol. xxvii. 337; head of a
dart, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 139; a Roman javelin, Dryden, Hind and
Panther, bk. ii, 161. L. _pilum_, the heavy javelin of the Roman
foot-soldier.
=pile,= a small castle; ‘A little pretie pile or castle’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Antigonus, § 27; ‘Certayne pylys and other strengthis’, Fabyan,
Chron., Pt. VII, fol. cxxxvii; repr. (1811), p. 512, l. 16. ME. _pile_,
a stronghold (P. Plowman, C. xxii. 366). See NED. (s.v. Pile, sb.^{2}).
=pill,= to plunder, spoil, to commit depredation. Richard II, ii. 1.
246; Richard III, i. 3. 159; _to pill and poll_, Mirror for Mag. 467
(Nares).
=pilling,= plunder, spoliation. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 445.
_Pilling and polling_, J. Harrington, Prerog. Pop. Govt., ii. 2
(ed. 1700, p. 332). See =poll.=
=pill,= to strip. Merch. Ven. i. 3. 85; Lucrece, 1167. In common prov.
use in the sense of peeling, stripping off the outer skin, the rind or
bark, see EDD. (s.v. Pill, vb.^{1} 1).
=pillowbeer,= a pillow-case. Locrine, iv. 4. 6; Middleton, Women beware
Women, iv. 2 (Sordido). ME. _pilwe-beer_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 694);
_bere_, a pillow-case (Boke Duchesse, 254).
=pimp-whiskin,= a pimp. Ford, Fancies Chaste and Noble, i. 2 (Spadone).
See =whiskin.=
=pin,= a small knot in wood. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 121.
=pin,= a peg fixed in the very centre of a target. Hence, _to cleave the
pin_, to hit and split this peg, to make the best possible hit. L. L. L.
iv. 1. 138; Romeo, ii. 4. 15.
=pinax,= a tablet, picture. Sir T. Browne, Letter to a Friend, § 32. Gk.
πίναξ, board.
=pin-bouk,= some kind of bucket for liquids. Drayton, Moses, bk. iii,
165. OE. _būc_, pail. See Dict. (s.v. Bucket).
=pindy-pandy,= a formula used as equivalent to _handy-dandy_, in the
game of choosing which hand a thing is hidden in. Dekker, Shoemakers’
Holiday, iv. 5 (Firk).
=piner, pyner,= a pioneer; ‘My piners eke were prest with showle and
spade’, Mirror for Mag., Aurel. Anton. Caracalla, st. 40; ‘He pyners set
to trenche’, id., Burdet, st. 70. See Dict. (s.v. Pioneer). See =pion.=
=ping,= to urge, push. Mirror for Mag., Fulgentius, st. 9. Still in use
in the west country, see EDD. (s.v. Ping, vb.^{2} 1). OE. _pyngan_, to
prick, L. _pungere_.
=pingle,= to work in an ineffectual way, to trifle, to ‘piddle’. Women’s
Rights, 152 (NED). Hence, _pingler_, a trifler, Two Angry Women, ii. 2
(Coomes); Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 109). ‘Pingle’ is in prov. use in
this sense in Scotland and the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Pingle,
vb.^{1} 2). Cp. Swed. dial. _pyngla_, to be busy about small matters
(Rietz).
=pinion,= the name of an obsolete game at cards. Interlude of Youth,
(ed. 1849, p. 38). See NED.
=pink,= to stab with any pointed weapon. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum.
iv. 2; a stab with a rapier or dagger, Ford, Lady’s Trial, iii. 1
(Fulgoso). Low G. _pinken_, to strike (Schambach).
=pink,= a sailing vessel. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 6. 17. See Nares
and NED. Du. _pinck_, ‘a pinke or a fishers boate; a sounding barke’
(Hexham).
=pink,= to contract, make small (the eyes). Heywood, Spider and Fly
(Nares); contracted small (said of the eyes), ‘Plumpie Bacchus with
pinke eyne’, Ant. and Cl. ii. 7. 121. Du. _pincken_, to shut the eyes
(Hexham).
=pinkany,= a small, narrow, blinking eye; a tiny or dear little
eye; ‘Those Pinkanies of thine’, Field, Woman a Weathercock, iv.
2 (Wagtail). Applied to a girl, usually as a term of endearment,
Porter, Angry Women, iii. 2 (Philip).
=pink-eyed,= having small, narrow, or half-closed eyes; ‘Maids
. . . that were pinke-eied and had verie small eies they termed
_Ocellæ_’, Holland, Pliny, xi. 335; spelt _pinky-eyed_, Kyd,
Soliman, v. 3. 7 (Hazlitt’s Dodsley, v. 359). A Lanc. word, see
EDD. (s.v. Pink, adj.^{1} 4).
=pinnace,= a go-between, in love affairs. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1
(Overdo). A _fig._ sense of ‘pinnace’, a small attendant vessel.
=pinner,= a ‘pinder’, one who impounds stray cattle. Greene,
George-a-Greene, i (Bettris, 1. 236); ed. Dyce, p. 256, col. 1. ‘Pinder’
(or ‘pinner’) is in prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD.
(s.v. Pind, vb. 1 (1)). ME. _pyndare_ of beestys, ‘inclusor’ (Prompt.
EETS. 336, see note, no. 1638). See Dict. (s.v. Pinder).
=pinson,= a thin-soled shoe of some kind, Withal (ed. 1608, p. 211);
‘Pynson, sho, _caffignon_’, Palsgrave. ME. _pynson_, sok (Prompt. EETS.,
see note, no. 1642).
=pintas, las,= the Spanish name for the card-game called basset; ‘_A las
Pintas_, (playing) at basset’, Adventures of Five Hours, iv. 1 (Diego);
in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xv. 265. Span. _pintas_, basset; pl. of _pinta_,
‘among Gamesters a peep in a card’ (Stevens).
=pion,= to dig, trench, excavate. Hence _pyonings_, Spenser, F. Q. ii.
10. 63. _Pioned_, trenched, Tempest, iv. 1. 64. OF. _pioner_, to dig
(Godefroy). See =piner.=
=pip,= a spot on a card; hence, a unit; ‘Thirty-two years old, which is
a pip out’, Massinger, Fatal Dowry, ii. 2 (Bellapert). The allusion is
to a game called _One-and-thirty_, which differs from 32 by 1. So also
in Shirley, Love’s Cruelty, i. 2 (Hippolito). See =peep.=
=pipple,= to blow with a gentle sound (of the wind). Skelton, A
Replycacion, ed. Dyce, i. 207; id., Garl. of Laurell, 676. Hence
‘pippler’, a name for the aspen in Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Pipple).
=pique,= a depraved or diseased appetite. Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 809. L.
_pica_, a depraved appetite; a F. form (not found).
=pirrie, pirry,= a blast of wind, a squall. Elyot, Governour, i. 17, §
5; spelt _perry_, Look about You, sc. 29 (Richard), in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, vii. 482. ME. _pyry_, a storm of wind (Prompt. EETS., see note,
no. 1643).
=pishery-pashery,= trifling talk. Dekker, Shoem. Holiday, iii. 5 (Eyre);
finery, fallals, id., v. 4 (Eyre).
=pist!,= hist!, an interjection, to draw attention. Middleton, No Wit
like a Woman’s, i. 3 (Sir O. Twi.).
=pistolet,= a name given to certain foreign gold coins, ranging in value
from 5_s._ 10_d._ to 6_s._ 8_d._ Proclamation, May 4, 1553 (NED.); in
later times = pistole, worth about 16_s._ 6_d._ ‘Each Pistolet exchang’d
at sixteen shillings six pence’, Heylin, Examen Hist. i. 268 (NED.); B.
Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2 (Face); also called _a double pistolet_,
Fletcher, Span. Curate, i. 1 (Jamie).
=pitch,= a vertex, head; also, a projecting part of the body, the
shoulder, the hip; ‘His manly pitch’ (used for both shoulders,
collectively), Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, ii. 1. 11.
=pitch and pay,= to pay down money at once, pay ready money. Hen. V, ii.
3. 51; Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable; i. 2 (Blurt); Mirror for Mag.,
Warwicke, st. 14; Tusser, Husbandry, § 113. 24.
=plaça,= a square, parade, public walk. Shirley, The Brothers, i. 1
(Carlos). Span. _plaça_ (_plaza_).
=plackerd,= the forepart of a woman’s petticoat; ‘For fear of the
cut-purse, on a sudden she’ll swap thee into her plackerd’, Greene,
Friar Bacon, i. 3. See NED. (s.v. Placard).
=placket,= an apron or petticoat: hence _transf._ the wearer of a
petticoat, a woman, Tr. and Cr. ii. 3. 22; the opening or slit at the
top of a skirt or petticoat, King Lear, iii. 4. 100; a pocket in a
woman’s skirt, ‘Which instrument . . . was found in my Lady Lambert’s
placket’, Hist. Cromwell (NED.).
=plage,= a region, country. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iv. 4 (Tamb.); 2
Tamb. i. 1 (Orcanes). F. _plage_, region (Cotgr.). L. _plaga_, a region.
=plaice-mouth,= a mouth drawn on one side. Spelt _plaise-mouth_, B.
Jonson, Silent Woman, iii. 2 (Epicene).
=plaie,= wound. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 2. F. _plaie_; L. _plaga_.
=plain,= to complain. King Lear, iii. 1. 39; ‘_Plaindre_, to plaine,’
Cotgrave.
=plain,= to plane. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, v. 322. Hence, _Plainer_, a
carpenter’s plane, id., v. 314.
=plain-song,= a simple melody. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 41; hence, ‘the
plain-song cuckoo’, Mids. Night’s D. iii. 1.
=planch,= to board. _Planched_, covered with boards, Meas. for M. iv. 1.
30; _to plaunche on_, to clap on (something broad and flat), Gammer
Gurton’s Needle, i. 2. 12. F. _planche_, a plank.
=plancher,= a wooden floor, a flooring of planks; used in pl. Arden of
Fev. i. 1. 42; also boards (of a ship); Drayton, Pol. iii. 272. F.
_plancher_, ‘a boorded floor’ (Cotgr.).
=plange,= to lament, grieve. Warner, Alb. England, bk. v, p. 25, st. 31.
L. _plangere_.
=planipedes,= pantomimes or entertainments with dancing; ‘The common
players of interludes called _Planipedes_, played barefoote vpon the
floore’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 15; p. 49. L. _planipedes_
(Juvenal).
=plant,= the sole of the foot; ‘Knotty legs, and plants of clay’, B.
Jonson, Masque of Oberon, song 5. F. _plante_, the sole. L. _planta_.
=plasma,= a form, mould, shape; ‘There is a Plasma, or deepe pit’,
Heywood, Iron Age, Part II (Orestes, in a mad speech); vol. iii, p. 424.
Gk. πλάσμα, anything formed or moulded.
=platic,= an astrological term used of an ‘aspect’ of a planet (NED.).
B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (P. Can.). Spelt _platique_, Fletcher,
Bloody Brother, iv. 2. Med. L. _platicus_, late Gk. πλατυκός, -ικός,
broad, diffuse.
=plaudite, plaudity,= shout of applause, approval; ‘Cristall
plaudities’, Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, ii. 1. L. _plaudite_, applaud
ye.
=play-pheer,= playfellow. Two Noble Kinsmen, iv. 3. 103. See =fere.=
=pleasant,= to render pleasant; ‘Some pleasant their lives’, Manchester
Al Mondo (ed. 1639, p. 51); ‘This tedious mortality, pleasant it how man
can’, id., p. 62.
=plight,= to fold, pleat, to intertwine into one combined texture.
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 7; _plighted_, folded, Milton, Comus, 301;
_pleated_, King Lear, i. 1. 283 (Quarto edd.); Greene, Description of
the Shepherd, 21 (Dyce, 304). ME. _plyte_, to fold (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr.
ii. 1204). Anglo-F. _plit_ (Gower) = Norm. F. _pleit_ (Burguy), whence
E. _plait_. See Dict. (s.v. Plait).
=plompe,= a cluster, clump, mass; ‘A plompe of wood’, Morte Arthur, leaf
30, back, 19; bk. i, c. 16 (end); _plompes_, troops, bands; Gascoigne,
Fruites of Warre, st. 129. See =plump.=
=plotform,= a scheme, design, plan, contrivance. Grim the Collier, ii. 1
(Clinton); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 423; a level place constructed
for mounting guns, Gascoigne, Art of Venerie, Works (ed. 1870, ii. 304).
See Dict. (s.v. Plot), and Notes on Eng. Etym., p. 219.
=plough.= The parts of a plough are enumerated in Gervase Markham’s
Complete Husbandman (1614), quoted in Notes to Fitzherbert’s Husbandry,
p. 128, where they are fully explained. I merely enumerate them here.
(1) _Plough-beam_, a large and long piece of timber, forming an arch for
the other parts; (2) _The skeath_ (_sheath_), a piece of wood 2½ feet
long, mortised into the beam; (3) _Principal hale_, the left-handle;
also called _plough-tail_ or _plough-start_; (4) _Plough-head_ or
_share-beam_, about 3 feet in length; (5) _Plough-spindles_ or
_rough-staves_, two round pieces of wood that joined the handles
together; (6) _Righthand-hale_, or _plough-stilt_, smaller and weaker
than the other; (7) _Plough-rest_, a small piece of wood, fixed to the
plough-head and righthand-hale; (8) _Shelboard_, i.e. shield-board, a
strong board on the right side of the plough; (9) _Coulter_, a long
piece of iron in the front, to cut the soil; (10) _Share_; (11)
_Plough-foot_, or _plough-shoe_, before the coulter, to regulate the
depth of the furrow. The ploughman also had with him a _plough-mall_ or
small mallet; and, originally, a _plough-staff_ or _aker-staff_, for
clearing the mould-board when required.
=plough-staff,= an instrument like a paddle for cleaning a plough, or
clearing it of weeds. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 21. In use in Scotland
and the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Plough, II (49)).
=Plowden.= Proverb: _The case is altered, quoth Plowden._ For various
explanations see Grose, Local Proverbs (ed. 1790), Shropshire, and Ray,
Proverbial Phrases (under A), ed. Bohn, 147.
=ployden;= ‘A stub-bearded John-a-Stile with a ployden’s face’, Marston,
Dutch Courtezan, iii. 1 (Crispinella). Not explained.
=pluck:= in phr. _to pluck down a side_, in card-playing, to cause the
loss or hazard of the side or party with which a person plays. Beaumont
and Fl., Maid’s Tragedy, ii. 1 (Dula). See Nares.
=plumb,= perpendicularly; ‘Plumb down he drops’, Milton, P. L. ii. 933.
In prov. use in various parts of England, also in U.S.A., see EDD. (s.v.
Plum, adj.^{1}). F. ‘_à-plomb_, perpendicularly, downright’ (Cotgr.).
See Dict. (s.v. Plump).
=plume,= said of a hawk, to pluck feathers from a bird; also, to pluck,
despoil. Davenant, The Wits, ii. 1 (Ample); Dryden, Absalom, 920.
=plummet,= a leaden bullet, hurled from a sling. North, tr. of Plutarch,
M. Antonius, § 23 (in Shak. Plut., p. 190); a sounding-lead, used _fig._
a criterion of truth, ‘Lay all to the Line and Plummet of the written
word’, Gilpin, Demonology, iii. 17. 140 (NED.).
=plump,= a troop, flock; ‘A whole plump of rogues’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Double Marriage, iii. 2 (Guard); ‘A plump of fowl’, Dryden, tr. of
Aeneid, xii. 374; Theodore and Honoria, 316. See Nares. See =plompe.=
=plunge,= to overwhelm (with trouble or difficulty); ‘(He) was so
plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca’, Sir T. Browne, Rel.
Med. i. 21.
=plunge,= a critical situation, crisis, a dilemma. Greene, Looking
Glasse, iii. 2. Phr.: _to put to a plunge_, Middleton, Roaring Girl, iv.
1 (Sir Alexander). ‘_Il est au bout de son breviaire_, he is at a plunge
or nonplus’, Cotgrave (s.v. Breviaire). Cp. the Northants phrase, ‘I was
put to a plunge’, see EDD. (s.v. Plunge, sb.^{1}).
=Plymouth cloak,= a cudgel or staff, carried by one who walked _in
cuerpo_, and thus facetiously assumed to take the place of a cloak;
‘Shall I walke in a Plimouth Cloake (that’s to say) like a rogue, in my
hose and doublet, and a crabtree cudgell in my hand?’, Dekker, Honest
Wh., Pt. II, iii. 2 (Matheo); ‘A Plymouth cloak, that is, a cane or
staff’, Ray’s Proverbs out of Fuller’s Worthies (ed. Bohn, 201); Grose,
Local Proverbs in Glossary, 1790. See Nares.
=pocas palabras,= the Spanish for ‘few words’. Wonderfull Yeare 1603
(ed. 1732, p. 46); _paucas pallabris_, Tam. Shrew, Induct. i. 5. Span.
_palabra_, Med. L. _parabola_, ‘verbum, sermo’ (Ducange); a parable,
similitude (Vulgate, in N. T.) See Stanford.
=poinado,= a poniard. Heywood, The Royal King, vol. vi, p. 70; Return
from Parnassus, i. 2 (Judicio); ‘_Poinard_, or _Poinado_’, Phillips,
1658.
=poinet, poynet,= an ornament for the wrist, a wristlet or bracelet. J.
Heywood, The Four P’s, in Anc. Brit. Drama, i. 10, col. 2; Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, i. 351 (altered to _poignet_). F. _poignet_, wrist; _poing_,
the fist. See NED.
=point,= a tagged lace for attaching hose to the doublet, and for
fastening various parts where buttons are now used. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2.
49. Very common, and the perpetual subject of jokes and quibbles; 1 Hen.
IV, ii. 4. 238; Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 25.
=point:= in phr. _point of war_, a short strain sounded as a signal by a
trumpeter. 2 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 52; Greene, Orl. Fur., ed. Dyce, p. 94;
Peele, Edw. I, i (Longshanks); ed. Dyce, p. 378. See NED. (s.v. Point,
sb.^{1} 9).
=point:= in phr. _to point_ [F. _à point_], to the smallest detail,
completely; ‘Armed to point’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 16; Tempest, i. 2.
194; ‘Are ye all fit?’ 1 _Gent._ ‘To point, sir’, Fletcher, Chances, i.
4. 2.
=point-device= (=-devyse=)=,= completely, perfectly, in every point.
Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 176; extremely precise, scrupulous to the point of
perfection, As You Like It, iii. 2. 401. ME. _poynt devys_: ‘Her nose
was wrought at poynt devys’ (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1215); Anglo F. _à
point devis_, or _devis à point_, arranged to a proper point or degree.
See NED.
=pointed,= _pp._ appointed. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 12.
=poise,= a weight (for exercise), a dumb-bell; ‘_Poyses_ made of
leadde’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 16, § 1; _poyse_, heavy
fall; Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 54. See =peise.=
=poisure,= poise, balance, effect. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money,
i. 1 (Valentine).
=poking-stick, poker,= a stick or iron for setting the plaits of ruffs.
Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 228; Beaumont and Fl., Mons. Thomas, iii. 2. 2.
_Poker_, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Bellafront).
=poldavy, polldavy,= a sort of coarse canvas; ‘_Poldavy_, or buckram’,
Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 6, p. 54; Howell, Letters, vol. i, sect. 2,
let. 10 (1621). See Nares, and NED. Named from _Poldavide_, dep.
Finisterre, France; near Daoulas, whence E. _dowlas_ (Phil. Soc. Trans.,
May, 1904). The name is Breton, meaning ‘David’s pool’.
=poldron;= see =pouldron.=
=pole-ax;= see =pollax.=
=polehead,= a ‘poll-head’, a tadpole. Marston, What you Will, ii. 1
(Quadratus); ‘_Cavesot_, a polehead, black vermine wherof frogs do
come’, Cotgrave. Still in common use in the North; in Banffsh. the form
is _powet_ (or _powit_); see EDD. (s.v. Powhead). ME. _polhevede_ (Gen.
and Ex., 2977).
=polepennery,= extortion of pence; ‘To scrape for more rent is
polepennery’, Wily Beguiled, sc. ii (1st quarto, 1606).
=politien,= a politician. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. iii, c. 4, pp.
158, 159; _politians_, pl., Lyly, Sappho, i. 3. OF. _policien_, a
citizen, a politician (Godefroy).
=poll,= to cut off the head of an animal, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi.
112; to cut short the hair, Greene, Upst. Courtier, D. iij. b. (NED.);
to plunder by excessive rent-raising, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 29); _to
poll and pill_, Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, 148); Spenser, F. Q. v. 2.
6.
=pollard,= an animal without horns, either one that has lost its horns,
or one of a hornless variety, used jocosely of a man who is not a
cuckold. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain). See Nares.
=pollax, pole-ax,= a battle-axe; ‘At hande strokes they use not swordes
but pollaxes’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 141); a halbert carried by the
body-guard of a king or great personage, ‘_Bec de faulcon_, a fashion of
Pollax borne by the Peeres of France, and by the French King’s
Pensioners’, Cotgrave; ‘_Mazzière_, a halberdier or poleaxe man, such as
the Queene of England’s gentlemen pencioners are’, Florio.
=pollenger,= a pollard tree. Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 13.
=poller,= one who exacts fees, an extortioner. Spelt _poler_, Bacon,
Essay 56, 4.
=poll-hatchet,= a poll-axe; hence, one who wields a poll-hatchet; a term
of abuse or contempt. Spelt _powle-hatchett_, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell,
613; and see Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 23, l. 29.
=polony,= a sausage made at Bologna, Italy. In Lord Cromwell, iii. 2.
131, Hodge, writing from Bologna, says that he is ‘among the Polonyan
Sasiges’. See Dict.
=pomeroy,= a variety of apple. Spelt _pom-roy_, Peacham, Comp.
Gentleman, c. 1, § 2. See NED.
=pomewater,= a large juicy kind of apple. L. L. L. iv. 2. 4; Dekker, Old
Fortunatus, iv. 2 (Shadow); ‘When a pome-water, bestucke with a few
rotten cloves shall be more worth than the honesty of a hypocrite’, Vox
Græculi (in Brand’s Pop. Antiq., ed. 1848, i. 17). A Hampshire word
(EDD.).
=pommado,= an exercise of vaulting on a horse with one hand on the
pommel of the saddle. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury),
where we find ‘the whole, or half the pommado’. Marston has _pommado
reverso_, said to mean the vaulting _off_ the horse again. If so, ‘the
whole pommado’ may refer to both actions, and ‘the half pommado’ to one
of them. F. _pommade_, ‘the pommada, a trick in vaulting’ (Cotgr.).
=pompillion,= an ointment made of the buds of the black poplar;
‘_Populeon_, Popilion or Pompillion’, Cotgrave. OF. _populeon_
(Godefroy, Compl.). See NED.
=pompillion,= a term applied in contempt to a man. Fletcher, Women
Pleased, iii. 4 (Bartello). Not found elsewhere. See below.
=pompion,= a pumpkin. Tusser, Husbandry, § 41; B. Jonson, Time
Vindicated (Fame); ‘_Pompon_, a pumpion or melon’, Cotgrave. A Lanc.
word for a pumpkin, see EDD. (s.v. Pumpion). Du. _pompoen_, ‘a pompion,
pumpkin’ (Sewel).
=pon,= a pan, hollow, basin. Drayton, Pol. xxviii. 169. The pronunc. of
‘pan’ in the north-west of England (EDD.).
=ponder,= weight. Heywood, Silver Age, A. ii (Alcmena); vol. iii, p.
102; a heavy blow, id. (Hercules), p. 142.
=pontifical,= bridge-making. Milton, P. L. x. 313. L. _pons_ (bridge) +
_facere_ (to make). It may be noted that L. _pontifex_ (a pontiff) has
probably nothing to do with bridge-making. See NED.
=pooke;= see =pouke.=
=poop-noddie, pup-noddie,= cony-catching, the art of befooling the
simpleton; ‘I saw them close together at Poop-noddie, in her closet’,
Wily Beguiled, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ix. 242; see NED.
=poor-john,= a coarse fish (usually hake), salted and dried. Temp. ii.
2. 28; Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, i. 1. 15. See EDD. (s.v.
Poor).
=pooter,= the same as =poting-stick,= q.v. Warner, Alb. England, bk. ix,
ch. 47, st. 8.
=pope-holy,= sanctimonious, hypocritical. Foxe, Martyrs (ed. 2, 205 b,
2); _pop-holy_, Skelton, Replycacion, 247; Garland of Laurell, 612. ME.
_pope-holy_ (P. Plowman, B. xiii. 284). In Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 415,
_Pope-Holy_ is used in the sense of ‘Hypocrisy’, being the translation
of the _papelardie_ of the French original.
=popering,= a kind of pear, brought from Poperinghe in W. Flanders.
Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, iii. 2 (Y. Chartley); _a poprin pear_,
Romeo, ii. 1. 38.
=popler,= porridge (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song);
_Poppelars_, porrage, Harman, Caveat, p. 83; _popplar of yarum_, mylke
porrage, id., p. 86; _poplars of yarrum_, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1
(Song).
=popping,= chattering; said of one whose talk is mere popping sound;
foolish; ‘A poppynge fole’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 234; ‘Pratynge
poppynge dawes’, id., Replycacion, 39.
=popular,= populous; ‘How doth the popular City sit solitary!’, Jackson,
True Evang., T. iii. 184; ‘The most popular part of Scotland’, Kirkton,
Church History, 215 (EDD.). See NED., and Davies, Suppl. Gl.
=porcpisce,= a ‘porpoise’. Dryden, All for Love, iv. 1 (Ventidius);
_porpice_, Drayton, Polyolb. v. 235. See Dict.
=porpentine,= a porcupine. Hamlet, i. 5. 20; 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 363;
used by Shaks. seven times, in four of these as the sign of an inn;
Ascham, Toxophilus (Arber, 31). See NED.
=porret, poret,= a young leek or onion. Tusser, Husbandry, § 39. 31;
‘_Porret_, yong lekes’, Palsgrave. F. _porrette_, ‘maiden leek, bladed
leek, unset leek’ (Cotgr.). Norm. F. _poret_, see Moisy (s.v. Porrette).
=port,= to carry. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Compass); ‘Ported
spears’, Milton, P. L. iv. 980.
=port,= deferential attendance. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i. 517; state,
splendid manner of living, Merch. of Ven. i. 1. 124.
=port,= the gate of a city. Coriolanus, i. 7. 1; v. 6. 6; Great Bible of
1539, Ps. ix. 14 (Prayer-book); Beaumont and Fl., Maid in the Mill, i.
1. 2; Massinger, Virgin Martyr, i. 1 (Sapritius). F. _porte_, a gate.
=portague,= a Portuguese gold coin, worth varying according to time
between £3 5_s._ and £4 10_s._ B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 3. Spelt
_portigue_, Fletcher, Rule a Wife, v. 5. 5; _portegue_, Phillips, Dict.,
1658; pl. _portagues_, Strype, Eccl. Mem. (ed. 1721, i. 18. 138); also,
_porteguez_, Davenant, News fr. Plymouth (NED.). The _s_ (_z_) of Span.
_Portugues_, Pg. _Portuguez_, ‘Portuguese’, was taken as a plural, hence
the English forms _portegue_, &c.
=portance,= carriage, bearing, deportment. Coriolanus, ii. 3. 232;
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 5; ii. 3. 21.
=portcannons,= ornamental rolls or ‘canions’ round the legs of breeches;
see =canion.= Butler, Hud. i. 3. 926.
=portcullis,= an Elizabethan coin, stamped with a portcullis. B. Jonson,
Ev. Man out of Humour, iii. 1 (Shift).
=porter’s lodge,= the place where great men used to exercise summary
punishment upon their servants; ‘To the porter’s lodge with him!’,
Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, v. 2 (Don Philippo); Massinger, Duke of
Milan, iii. 2 (Graccho).
=portesse,= a portable breviary which can be taken out of doors. BIBLE,
Translators’ Preface, 9; Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed. 1882, 77). ME.
_portos_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1321); _portos_, ‘portiforium’ (Prompt.
EETS. 342, see note, no. 1662). OF. _portehors_ (Godefroy), Church L.
_portiforium_ (Ducange). See Dict.
=portmantua,= a ‘portmanteau’. Middleton, A Mad World, ii. 2 (Mawworm).
=port-sale,= public sale to the highest bidder; ‘The soldiers making
portsale of their service to him that would give most’, North, tr. of
Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 18 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 124); ‘Persons were sold
out-right in port-sale under the guirland’ (_sub corona veniere)_,
Holland, Livy, xli. 1103; see NED. (s.v. Port, sb.^{2}).
=possede,= to possess. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 3, § 2.
=possess,= to put one in possession of a fact. Meas. for M. iv. 1. 44;
Merch. of Ven. i. 3. 65; King John, iv. 2. 41.
=post,= as set up before the door of a sheriff or magistrate. Posts were
used to fix proclamations on; and were sometimes painted anew when a new
magistrate came into office; ‘A sheriff’s post’, Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 157;
‘Worship, . . . for so much the posts at his door should signifie’,
Puritan Widow, iii. 4. 12.
=post,= a messenger, Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 100; v. 1. 46. Also, a
post-horse, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 3. 40. Hence, _to post_, to go with speed,
hasten, Richard II, i. 1. 56; iii. 4. 90; v. 5. 59; ‘Thousands . . .
post o’er land and ocean without rest’, Milton, Sonnet xix; _post over_,
to hurry over, treat with negligence, 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 255.
=post and pair,= a card-game, played with three cards each, wherein much
depended on _vying_, or betting on the goodness of the cards in your own
hand. The best hand was three aces; then three kings, queens, &c. If
there were no threes, the highest pairs won; or the highest game in the
three cards. B. Jonson, Love Restored (Plutus); ‘The thrifty and right
worshipful game of Post and Pair’, id., Masque of Christmas (Offering).
See Nares.
=postil,= an explanatory note or comment on a word or passage in the
Bible. Earle, Microcosmographie, § 2 (ed. Arber, 23); _postill_, to
annotate, Bacon, Henry VIII (ed. Lumby, 193). ME. _postille_ (Wyclif,
Prol. 1 Cor.); see NED. Mod. L. _postilla_, a gloss on the Bible
(Ducange).
=post-knight,= a knight of the post, a notorious perjurer. A Knack to
know a Knave, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 538. See =knight of the post.=
=posy,= a short motto, orig. a line or verse of ‘poesy’, inscribed
within a ring, on a knife, &c. Hamlet, iii. 2. 162; Middleton, Widow, i.
1 (Francisco); a bunch of flowers, Marlowe, Passionate Sheph. iii. See
Dict.
=pot.= In the expressions _to the pot_, or _to go to pot_, or _to go to
the pot_, the reference is to the cooking-pot; ‘Your poor sparrows . . .
go to the pot for’t’, Webster, White Devil (ed. Dyce, p. 37); _to the
pot_, to destruction, Coriolanus, i. 4. 47; Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce, p.
389).
=potargo,= ‘botargo’, cake made of the roe of the sea-mullet. Fletcher,
Sea-Voyage, iv. 3 (Master). Prov. _poutargo_, ‘caviar’ (Mistral,
Calendal). See Dict. (s.v. Botargo); also Stanford.
=potch,= to poach an egg. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (P. jun.).
=potch,= to thrust. Coriolanus, i. 10. 15. Still in use in Warw. in this
sense. See EDD. (s.v. Poach.)
=potestate,= chief magistrate. Morte Arthur, bk. v, c. 8; p. 174, l. 30;
pl., Gascoigne, Supposes, iii. 3 (Damon).
=pot-gun,= used contemptuously for a small fire-arm; ‘How! fright me
with your pot-gun?’, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, iv. 4
(Norandine).
=poting-stick,= a piece of wood, bone, or iron, for adjusting the pleats
of a ruff. Marston, Malcontent, v. 3 (Maquerelle); Yorkshire Tragedy, i.
74. OE. _potian_, to push, thrust.
=potshare,= a potsherd. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 37. In use in Lonsdale,
Lancashire, see EDD. (s.v. Pot, 17 (65)).
=pottle,= half a gallon, or two quarts. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1
(Roger); _a pottell oyle_ (i.e. of oil); Naval Accounts of Henry VII, p.
16. ‘Pottle’ (a measure of two quarts) is still in use in Cheshire
(EDD.).
=pouke, pooke,= a ‘puck’, demon, goblin; ‘Chymæra, that same pooke’,
Golding, Metam. vi. 646; ‘Nor let the Pouke nor other evill sprights
. . . Fray us’, Spenser, Epithalamion, 341. ‘Pouk’ (‘pook’), a
mischievous fiend, still in use in Sussex and Shropshire, see EDD. (s.v.
Puck, sb.^{1}). ME. _pouke_: ‘I wene that knyght was a pouke’ (Coer de
Leon, 566); OE. _pūca_ (Napier’s OE. Glosses, 23. 2).
=pouke-bug,= for =puck-bug,= a malicious spectre. Stanyhurst, tr. of
Aeneid, iii. 594. See =bug.=
=pould,= bald-headed, or with lost hair. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 91.
=pouldre,= to beat into powder or dust. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 12; to
spot, id., iii. 2. 25. OF. _pouldre_ (F. _poudre_).
=pouldron, poldron,= a shoulder-plate; a piece of armour covering the
shoulder. Warner, Alb. England, bk. xii, c. 70, st. 13; Drayton, David
and Goliath. OF. espauleron, a shoulder-plate; _espaule_ (F. _épaule_),
shoulder. See NED.
=poulter,= a dealer in poultry. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed.
Dyce, p. 19; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. From _poult_, a chicken.
=poulter’s measure,= poulterer’s measure; a fanciful name for a metre
consisting of lines of 12 and 14 syllables alternately, common in Surrey
and Gascoigne. See Gascoigne’s Steel Glas (ed. Arber, 39).
=poult-foot, powlt-foot,= a club-foot, Lyly, Euphues (Arber, 97); B.
Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 7. See NED. (s.v. Polt-foot).
=Poultry,= the Counter prison in the Poultry, London. Middleton, Phœnix,
iv. 3 (1 Officer); ‘Some four houses west from this parish church of St.
Mildred is a prison-house pertaining to one of the sheriffs of London,
and is called the Compter in the Poultrie’, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, p.
99).
=pounce,= to ornament (cloth, &c.) by punching small holes or figures;
also, to cut the edges into points and scallops, to jag. ‘A . . . cote,
garded and _pounced_’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 3, § 1;
Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 508. Cognate with Norm. F. _ponçon_, ‘poinçon,
instrument de fer ou d’acier servant à percer’ (Moisy).
=pouncet-box,= 1 Hen. IV, i. 3. 38; a Shaks. term for a small box for
perfumes, with a perforated lid. It may be for _pounced box_, from
_pounce_, to perforate. See above.
=pouncing,= the action of powdering the face with a cosmetic, ‘Pouncings
and paintings’, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iii. 1 (Valentine);
Knight of Malta, ii. 1 (Norandine). See NED. (s.v. Pounce, vb.^{3} 3).
=pouned,= impounded, shut up (as horses) in a pound; ‘Married once, a
man is . . . _poun’d_’, Massinger, Fatal Dowry, iv. 1 (Novall jun.). Cp.
_pounded_; ‘fairly pounded’ (i.e. married), Colman, Jealous Wife, ii. 1
(Sir H. Beagle).
=powder,= to sprinkle with salt, to salt. 1 Hen. IV, v. 4. 112. Hence
_Powder-beef_, salted beef, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3. 4. Also,
to sweat in a hot tub, to cure disease; Meas. for M. iii. 2. 62;
_powdering-tub_, Hen. V, ii. 1. 79.
=practice,= scheming or planning, treachery. King Lear, ii. 4. 116; B.
Jonson, Catiline, iii. 5 (Catulus). See Nares.
=practive,= practical, active, expert; ‘Most hardy practive knights’,
Phaer, Aeneid viii, 518. See NED.
†=prage,= a spear or similar weapon; ‘Their blades they brandisht, and
keene _prages_ goared in entrayls Of stags’, &c., Stanyhurst, tr. of
Aeneid, i. 197. Is _prage_ a misreading of _prāge_ = _prange_ = _prong_
(see NED.)?
=praise,= to appraise, value. Puritan Widow, ii. 2. 14. In prov. use in
Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Prize, v.^{2} 1).
=prancome,= a prank, trick. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 2 (Hodge). Not
found elsewhere.
=prank,= showily dressed; ‘Pretie pranck parnel’, Appius and Virginia,
in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 120. See Dict. (s.v. Prank, 1).
=prankie-cote,= pranky coat; a jocose term for a fellow full of pranks.
Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 117. Not found elsewhere.
=prats,= buttocks (Cant); ‘_Prat_, a buttocke’, Harman, Caveat, p. 82;
‘Set me down here on both my prats’, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Mort).
=prease,= to press. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 19; to throng, F. Q. ii. 7.
44; a press, crowd, throng, F. Q. ii. 10. 25; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i.
226. Gk. ὄχλος in Luke viii. 19 is rendered by _prease_ in Tyndale and
in Cranmer’s Bible, also in the Geneva and AV. versions. See Nares. This
is still the pronunc. of ‘press’ in Lanc. (EDD.).
=precisian,= one who is very punctilious, Merry Wives, ii. 1. 5;
synonymous with ‘Puritan’, ‘He’s no precisian, that I’m certain of, Nor
rigid Roman Catholic’, 13. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 3. 102;
Massinger, New Way to Pay, i. 1. 6. See Nares.
=pree,= short for _pree thee_, _prithee_, i.e. I pray thee. Marston,
What you Will, iii. 2 (Holofernes).
=pregnant,= pressing, compelling, cogent, convincing; hence, clear,
obvious. Meas. for M. ii. 1. 23; Othello, ii. 1. 241. OF. _preignant_,
pressing, pp. of _preindre_, L. _premere_, to press; cp. _preignantes
raisons_ (Godefroy, Compl.).
=pregnant,= receptive, fertile, imaginative. Twelfth Nt. iii. 1. 101;
ready, ‘The pregnant Hinges of the knee’, Hamlet, iii. 2. 66; phr. _a
pregnant wit_, Heywood, Maidenhead Lost, i. F. _prégnant_ (Rabelais), L.
_praegnans_.
=prepense,= to consider beforehand, to premeditate. Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. i, c. 25, § 2; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 14. See
=purpense.=
=presence:= phr. _in presence_, present; often, in reference to
ceremonial attendance upon a person of superior, esp. royal, rank,
Barclay, Cyt. and Uplondyshman (Percy Soc. 13); Richard II, iv. 1. 62; a
place prepared for ceremonial presence or attendance, a
presence-chamber, ‘The two great Cardinals Wait in the presence’, Hen.
VIII, iii. 1. 17; _chamber of presence_, Bacon, Essay 45. Evelyn, Diary,
Dec. 5, 1643.
=presently,= immediately. Temp. iv. 42; v. 101; Two Gent. ii. 1. 30; ii.
4. 86; BIBLE, 1 Sam. ii. 16; Matt. xxvi. 53. See Bible Word-Book. Cp. F.
‘_presentement_, presently, quickly, anon, at an instant, speedily,
suddenly’ (Cotgr.).
=president,= a precedent. Bacon, Essay, Of Great Place; Of Innovations;
Of Judicature.
=press,= press-money, i.e. prest-money, as paid to an impressed soldier.
Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, i. 2 (Marcellius).
=prest,= ready. Merch. Ven. i. 1. 160; Marl., 2 Tamburlaine, i. 1
(Orcanes); Dido, iii. 2. 22. An E. Anglian word (EDD.). ME. _prest_
(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 917). F. ‘_prest_, prest, ready, full-dight;
prompt; quick’ (Cotgr.); now written _prêt_.
=Prester John,= the name given in the Middle Ages to an alleged
Christian priest and king originally supposed to reign in the extreme
East, beyond Persia and Armenia; but from the 15th cent. generally
identified with the King of Ethiopia or Abyssinia (NED.). ‘I will fetch
you a tooth-picker now from the farthest inch of Asia; bring you the
length of Prester John’s foot’, Much Ado, ii. 1. 276; Dekker, Old
Fortunatus, ii. 1 (near end); ‘The great Christian of Æthiopia, vulgarly
called Prester, Precious or Priest-John’, Sir T. Herbert, Travels, 130.
For the history of the subject see Col. Yule’s article in Encycl. Brit.
xix. 715. See Stanford.
=prestigiatory,= relating to ‘prestigiation’, juggling, deceptive,
delusive; ‘The art prestigiatory’, Tomkis, Albumazar, i. 7; ii. 3.
=prestigious,= practising juggling or legerdemain, deceptive, illusory;
‘That inchantresse . . . by prestigious trickes in sorcerie’, Dekker,
Whore of Babylon (Wks. 173, ii. 195); ‘Prestigious guiles’, Heywood,
Dial. 18 (Minerva), vi. 250. Late L. _praestigiosus_, full of deceitful
tricks; _praestigium_, an illusion, _praestigiae_, juggler’s tricks; cp.
F. _prestiges_, ‘deceits, impostures, juggling tricks’ (Cotgr.). See
Dict. (s.v. Prestige).
=pretence, pretense,= an assertion of a right; a claim; ‘Spirits that in
our just pretenses arm’d Fell with us’, Milton, P. L. ii. 825; an
expressed aim, intention, purpose or design, Two Gent. iii. 1. 47;
Winter’s Tale, iii. 2. 18.
=pretenced, pretensed,= intended, purposed, designed. More’s Utopia (ed.
Lumby, 8). Late L. _praetensus_, for _praetentus_, pp. of _praetendere_.
=pretend,= to stretch something over a person for defence; ‘Who . . .
his target alwayes over her pretended’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 19; to
put forward, set forth, ‘To that wench I pretend honest love’,
Middleton, Changeling, iv. 2. 91. L. _praetendere_, to stretch forth.
=pretor,= one holding high civil office, a name for the Lord Mayor of
London. Westward Ho, i. 1 (Justiniano); Webster, Monuments of Honour, §
1. Med. L. _praetor_, ‘urbis praefectus’ (Ducange); ‘Meyr, _maior_,
_pretor_’ (Prompt. EETS. 284); cp. Cath. Angl. 225.
=prevent,= to anticipate. Merch. Ven. i. 1. 61; Twelfth Nt. iii. 1. 94;
BIBLE, Ps. xviii. 5; cxix. 148; 1 Thess. iv. 15, &c. See Bible
Word-Book.
=preving, preeving,= proving, trial. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 1366. See
=prieve.=
=prick,= to spur; hence, to ride. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 1; _prickant_,
riding along, Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, ii. 2 (Ralph).
=prick,= the pin, or peg originally fixed in the very centre of the
_white_, or circular mark upon the butt shot at by archers. Also called
the _pin_, or _clout_. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 99; _at the prickes_,
beside the butts, id., p. 98.
=prick,= the highest point, apex, acme; ‘To pricke of highest praise’,
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 1; ‘The hygh prycke of vertue’, Udall, Erasmus,
Paraph. Matt. iii. 30; phr. _prick and praise_, very high praise,
Middleton, Family of Love, ii. 4 (Mrs. G.); ‘She had the prick and
praise for a prettie wench’, London Prodigal, iv. 1. 15.
=prick-eared,= having sharply pointed, erect ears; _prycke-eared_,
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 77; Hen. V, ii. 1. 44.
=pricket,= a buck in his second year, having straight unbranched horns.
L. L. L. iv. 2. 12; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, iv. 5
(Ralph). ME. _pryket_, ‘capriolus’ (Prompt. EETS. 316; see notes, no.
1681).
=prickle,= a wicker basket, for fruit or flowers. B. Jonson, Pan’s
Anniversary (Shepherd, l. 3). In Kent used for a basket of a certain
measure (EDD.). See NED.
=prick-me-dainty,= finical in language and behaviour. Udall, Roister
Doister, ii. 3 (Trupeny). Still in use in Scotland (EDD.).
=prick-song,= music written down or sung from notes. Romeo, ii. 4. 21;
Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 41. ‘The nightingale’s song, being more regularly
musical than any other, was called _pricksong_’ (Nares). ‘Prick-song’
used to mean counterpoint as distinguished from ‘plain-song’, mere
melody.
=priefe, preife,= proof, trial. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 48; Mother
Hubberd, 408. _Priefe_ = F. _preuve_, as _people_ (pron. _peeple_) = F.
_peuple_.
=prieve,= to prove. Spenser, F. Q. v. 4. 33; vi. 12. 18. _Prieve_ = OF.
_prueve_ (_preuve_); L. _próbat_, with the stress on the stem-syllable,
whereas _prove_ = F. _prouver_ (OF. _prover_) = L. _probáre_.
=prig a prancer,= to steal a horse (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 2
(Higgen); Audeley, Vagabonds, p. 4; Harman, Caveat, pp. 42, 43, 84. See
Dict. (s.v. Prig, 1).
=prima-vista,= an old game at cards, resembling primero, and sometimes
identified with it. _Primviste_, Earle, Microcosmographie, § 13 (ed.
Arber, p. 33); ‘_Prima_ . . . a game at cardes, called Prime, Primero,
or Primavista’ (Florio). Ital. _prima vista_, ‘first seen, because he
that can first show such an order of cards wins the game’ (Minsheu).
=primum mobile,= the ‘First Movement’, in the Ptolemaic system of
astronomy, the outer sphere (of a system of spheres), which turns round
from east to west once in 24 hours, carrying all the inner spheres with
it. Bacon, Essay 15, § 4; Essay 51 (end). In Dante the Primum Mobile is
called the Crystalline Heaven (‘Cielo Cristallino’), see Paget Toynbee’s
Dante Dictionary.
=princox,= a pert saucy boy or youth, a conceited young fellow, Romeo,
i. 588. A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Princock).
=prink,= to set off, show off, trim; ‘To prink and prank, _exorno_’,
Coles, 1699. _Prinke it_, to show off, Gascoigne, Complaint of
Philomene, st. 21, p. 93.
=print:= phr. _in print_, to the letter, exactly. L. L. L. iii. 173;
‘Gallant in print’ (i.e. a complete gallant), B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of
Humour, ii. 2 (Fallace). In prov. use in E. Anglia, Oxf., Sussex, see
EDD. (s.v. Print, 3).
=prise, pryse,= the note blown at the death of a hunted beast; ‘Thenne
kynge Arthur blewe the pryse’, Morte Arthur, leaf 63. 25; bk. iv, c. 6.
F. ‘_prise_, the death or fall of a hunted beast’ (Cotgr.).
=privado,= a favourite, intimate friend. Bacon, Essay 27, § 3. Span.
_privado_, a favourite (Stevens); Port. _privado_, ‘favori, homme en
faveur auprès d’un prince’ (Roquette). Med. L. _privatus_, ‘familiaris,
amicus’ (Ducange).
=private,= private interest. B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 2 (last speech).
=prize,= a contest, a match, a public athletic contest. Merch. Ven. iii.
2. 142; a fencing contest, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, ii. 2
(Prentices); a turn in a match, ib., v. 2 (Infelice); phr. _to play a
prize_, to engage in a public contest, to play one’s part, Beaumont and
Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, v. 2 (Lieutenant); Massinger, New Way to Pay, iv.
2 (end); Titus Andron. i. 1. 399; B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 1. Hence
_Prizer_, one who fights in a ‘prize’ or match, As You Like It, ii. 3.
8. F. ‘_prise_, a hold in wrestling; _estre aux prises_, to wrestle or
strive with one another’ (Cotgr.).
=prize,= to offer as the price; to risk, stake venture. Greene, Friar
Bacon, iv. 3 (1784); scene 13. 41 (W.); p. 175, col. 1 (D.); to pay a
price for, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 5.
=proake,= to ask. Mirror for Mag., Claudius T. Nero, st. 4; ‘To proke,
_procare_’, Levins, Manip.
=proceed,= to advance, in one’s University course, from graduation as
B.A. to some higher degree; ‘He proceaded Bachelour of Divinitye in the
sayde Universitye of Cambridge’, Foxe, Bk. of Martyrs, 1297; Middleton,
A Chaste Maid, iv. 1 (Tim).
=prochinge,= approaching. Sackville, Induction, line 1. Cp. Sc.
_prochy-madame_ (_Prush-madam!_), a call to cows, Ramsey, Remin. = F.
_approchez, Madame!_, see EDD. (s.v. Proochy).
=procinct,= readiness, preparation; ‘Procinct of war’, Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, xii. 89. L. _procintus_, readiness for action.
=prodigious,= portentous, horrible. Mids. Night’s D. v. 419; King John,
iii. 1. 46.
=proface,= much good may it do you. 2 Hen. IV, v. 3. 30; Chapman,
Widow’s Tears, iv. 2 (Lysander). OF. _prouface_, ‘souhait qui veut dire,
bien vous fasse’ (Roquefort); _prou_, advantage + _fasse_ (L. _faciat_),
may it do. See Nares.
=profligate,= routed. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 728. L. _profligare_, to strike
down, overthrow.
=profound,= to fathom, to get to the bottom of. Sir T. Browne, Rel.
Med., pt. 1, § 13.
=prog,= to search about, esp. for food; ‘Man digs . . . He never rests
. . . He mines and progs, though in the fangs of death’, Quarles, Job
xiv. 60; ‘Each in his way doth incessantly prog for joy’, Barrow,
Sermon, Rejoice evermore; ‘We need not cark or prog’, id. In prov. use
in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Prog, vb. 2).
=progress,= the travel of the sovereign and court to visit different
parts of his dominions. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 9;
Massinger, Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo). _Progress-block_, a block for a new
fashion of hats, to be used on a progress, Beaumont and Fl., Wit at
several Weapons, iv. 1.
=proin, proyne= (of a bird), to preen, prune, to trim or dress the
feathers with the beak. B. Jonson, Underwood, Celebr. Charis, v;
Gascoigne, Complaint of Philomene, st. 59, p. 98. Spelt _prune_,
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 36; Cymb. v. 4. 118; 1 Hen. IV, i. 1. 98. ME.
_proynen_ (Chaucer, C. T. E. 2011). OF. _poroign-_, pres. pt. stem of
_poroindre_, to trim feathers (Godefroy), L. _pro_ + _ungere_, to
anoint.
=proine, proyne,= to prune trees. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, l. 458; Bacon,
Essay 50; Drayton, Pol. iii. 358; Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 6. 292;
Homilies 1, Falling fr. God (NED.); Machin, Dumb Knight, iii. 1. Norm.
F. _progner_ (Moisy), OF. _proignier_, to prune (Godefroy), Romanic
type, _protundiare_, deriv. of L. _rotundus_, round. Cp. F. _rogner des
branches, des racines_, ‘couper tout autour’ (Hatzfeld). See =royne.=
=project,= to set forth, exhibit. Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 121; to presage,
‘When the south projects a stormy day’, Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Georg. i.
622.
=projection,= the application of ‘the elixir’ to the metal which is to
be transmuted into gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Mammon).
=proller,= a prowler, wandering beggar. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xi.
490.
=promont,= a headland. Middleton, The Changeling, i. 1 (Vermandero);
Drayton, Pol. iv. 7. 1.
=promoter,= a professional accuser, a common informer; ‘Enter two
promoters’, Middleton, A Chaste Girl, ii. 2; Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I,
v. 2 (1 Madman); Tusser, Husbandry, § 64. 11. See Cowell’s Interpreter.
=prompture,= prompting, instigation. Meas. for M. ii. 4. 178.
=prone,= a sermon delivered in commemoration of a founder or benefactor;
‘The founder . . . used to be commemorated in some Prone’, T. Hearne,
Remains (ed. Bliss, 655); ‘All founders and benefactors were duly and
constantly commemorated in their Prones’, id., 754. F. ‘_prone_, notice
given by a Priest unto his Parishioners . . . of the holy days, of Banes
of Matrimony, of such as desire to be relieved or prayed for, &c.’
(Cotgr.).
=proof,= proof-armour, strong defensive armour. Beaumont and Fl.,
Chances, i. 10 (Fred.). _Proof-arm_, to put on armour of proof, Hum.
Lieutenant, ii. 3 (Leucippe).
=proper,= handsome, fine. Tam. Shrew, i. 2. 144; Much Ado, i. 3. 54; 1
Hen. VI, v. 3. 37; ‘He was a proper childe’, BIBLE, Heb. xi. 23 (=
‘elegantem infantem’, Vulgate). Very common in prov. use, see EDD. (s.v.
Proper, 5).
=proper,= belonging exclusively to one, peculiar to one, Meas. for M. i.
1. 30; v. 1. 111; Shirley, Arcadia, iii. 1 (3 Rebel).
=properties,= rude paintings for scenery, or stage appliances. Shirley,
Bird in a Cage, iii. 2 (Carlo); dresses for the actors, id., iv. 2
(Donella).
=property,= an implement, tool for a purpose. Merry Wives, iii. 4. 10;
Jul. Caesar, iv. 1. 40; to use as a tool, King John, v. 2. 72.
=propice,= propitious, favourable. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Augustus, § 31;
_propise_, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 4. F. _propice_; L.
_propitius_.
=propriety,= peculiarity, special nature. Bacon, Essay 3, § 2; property,
Dryden, Marriage a la Mode, v. 1 (Rhodophil). F. ‘_proprieté_, a
property speciality in; the nature, quality, inclination of’ (Cotgr.).
=prospective,= a magic glass or crystal in which it was supposed that
distant or future events could be seen, Bacon, Essay 26; _glasse
prospective_, Greene, Friar Bacon, v. 110. The word also means a
telescope, J. Taylor (Water Poet), Fennor’s Defence (NED.). Also, a
scene, a view, Porter, Angry Women, i. 1. 12. F. _prospective_, ‘the
prospective or optick art; also, a bounded prospect, a limited view’
(Cotgr.).
=prostrate,= one who is prostrate as a suppliant or a vanquished foe,
Otway, Don Carlos, i. 1.
=protense,= extension, a story long drawn out. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 4.
L. _protensus_, drawn out; pp. of _protendere_, to draw forth.
=protract,= delay, procrastination. Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2 (Porrex).
=provand,= food, provisions. Coriolanus, ii. 1. 267; Caxton, Reynard
(Arber, p. 60). Flemish, _provande_, Fr. _provende_, Romanic type
_provenda_ for eccles. L. _praebenda_, a daily allowance (Dict. Christ.
Antiq.).
=provant,= provender, food. Fletcher, Love’s Cure, ii. 1. Also, one who
deals in provisions, a sutler. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, i. 1
(Nicodemus). Hence, _Provant_, of or belonging to the ‘provant’ or
soldier’s allowance, and therefore, of common or inferior quality,
Webster, Appius and Virg. i. 4; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 1
(Bobadil).
=provecte,= advanced; ‘Provecte in yeres’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk.
i, c. 4, § 3. L. _provectus_, pp.
=providence,= foresight, timely care. Massinger, New Way to Pay, iii. 2
(Overreach); Shirley, Hyde Park, iii. 1. 5.
=provincial garland,= a garland given to one who had added a _province_
to the Roman Empire. Ford, Broken Heart, i. 2 (Calanthia).
=prowest,= most valiant. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 41; ii. 8. 18. OF. _prou_,
valiant (Bartsch). See Dict. (s.v. Prowess).
=prune,= the fruit. _Stewed prunes_, often referred to as being a
favourite dish in brothels. Meas. for M. ii. 1. 93; 1 Hen. IV, iii. 3.
128; cp. Fletcher, Mad Lover, iv. 5 (Eumenes). Spelt _proin_, in
_proin-stone_, Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, p. 500).
=prune;= see =proin.=
=pry, prie,= a local name of the small-leaved lime (_Tilia parvifolia_).
Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 15. An Essex word, see EDD. (sv. Pry, sb.^{1}
4).
=ptrow,= _interj._, tut! an exclamation of contempt. Heywood, Jupiter
and Io, vol. vi, p. 267, l. 3.
=Pucelle.= _Joan la Pucelle_, Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, 1 Hen.
VI, i. 4. 101; i. 6. 3. F. _pucelle_, a maid, virgin.
=puckfist, puckfoist,= the fungus usually called a puff-ball. Beaumont
and Fl., Custom of the Country, i. 2 (Rutilio); B. Jonson, Poetaster,
iv. 5 (Tucca). Named after ‘Puck’. See =pouke.= A common prov. word
(EDD.). The ‘puff-ball’ was also called Bull-fist, Puff-fist, and
Wolf’s-fist, see Cotgrave (s.v. Vesse de loup); see NED. (s.v. Fist).
=puckle,= a kind of bugbear or goblin. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2
(Hecate). OE. _pūcel_, a goblin (NED.), dimin. of _pūca_; see =pouke.=
=puckling,= little goblin; used as a term of endearment by a witch.
Heywood, Witches of Lancs. ii. 1 (Mawd.); vol. iv, p. 187. See above.
=pudder,= pother, confusion, turmoil. King Lear, iii. 2. 50 (1623);
Ford, Fancies Chaste, iii. 3 (Romanello). A common prov. word (EDD.).
=pudding-time, in,= in good time, lit. in time for dinner, as dinner
often began with pudding. Like will to Like, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii.
219; Butler, Hud. i. 2. 865. Still in use; see EDD.
=pudding tobacco,= tobacco compressed into sausage-like rolls. B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury); Middleton, Roaring Girl, iii.
2 (Laxton).
=pudency,= modesty. Cymbeline, ii. 5. 11. L. _pudentia_, modesty.
=pug,= to pull, to tug; ‘What pugging by the ear!’, Appius and Virginia,
in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 120. In prov. use from Warw. to Dorset, see
EDD. (s.v. Pug, vb.^{2}).
=pug,= a bargeman; ‘In a Westerne barge, when with a good winde and
lustie pugges one may go ten miles in two daies’, Lyly, Endymion, iv. 2;
_Westerne pugs_, men who navigated barges down the Thames to London;
‘The Westerne pugs receiving money there [in plague time] have tyed it
in a bag at the end of their barge, and trailed it through the Thames’,
Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare (NED.).
=puggard,= a thief (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll).
=pugging tooth,= Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 7. Meaning uncertain. Usually
taken as = thieving, cp. =puggard.= In Devon ‘pug-tooth’ means eye-tooth
(EDD.). Possibly there may be a play of words here: Autolycus’s hungry
eye-tooth (_pug_-tooth) set on edge tempts him to thieve (_pug_) ‘the
white sheet bleaching on the hedge’.
=puke,= a superior kind of woollen cloth, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 78. M. Du.
_puuc_, _puyck_, name of the best sort of woollen cloth (A.D. 1420). Du.
_puyck_, woollen cloth (Hexham); _puik_, choice, excellent (Sewel).
=puke,= the name of the colour formerly used for the cloth named ‘puke’.
‘_Pauonaccio cupo_, a deep darke purple or puke colour’ (Florio, ed.
1598); ‘Pewke, a colour, _pers_’, Palsgrave. See NED.
=pull:= in phr. _to pull down a side_, ‘to cause the loss or hazard of
the side or party with which a person plays’ (Nares); ‘If I hold your
card, I shall pull down the side’, Massinger, Duke of Florence, iv. 2
(Cozimo); id., Unnatural Combat, ii. 1 (Belgarde).
=pullen,= poultry, chickens. Tusser, Husbandry, 87. 5; Beaumont and Fl.,
Scornful Lady, v. 2 (Elder Loveless); _poleyn_, Fitzherbert, Husbandry,
146. 21. In common prov. use in the north country and in E. Anglia
(EDD.). OF. _poulain_, young of any animal (Hatzfeld). Med. L.
_pullanus_, see Ducange (s.v. Pullani).
=pulpamenta,= delicacies. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 7
(Macilente). A word used by Plautus for tit-bits, delicacies.
=pulpatoon,= a dish made of rabbits, fowls, &c., in a crust of forced
meat. Nabbes, Microcosmus, iii. 1 (Tasting). Span. _pulpelón_, a large
slice of stuffed meat.
=pulvilio,= fine scented powder, cosmetic powder. Etherege, Man of Mode,
iii. 3 (Sir Fopling); _Pulvilio-box_, a scent-box, Wycherley, Plain
Dealer, ii (Manly). Hence _pulvil_, to perfume with scented powder,
Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 1 (beginning). Ital. _polviglio_, fine
powder. See Stanford.
=pumey,= ‘pumice’. Peele, Anglorum Feriae, 26 (ed. Dyce, p. 595);
_pumie-stone_, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 39; Shep. Kal., March, 89.
=pun,= to pound, to beat, pummel. Tr. and Cr. ii. 1. 42; _pund_, pt. t.,
Heywood, King Edw. IV, First Part (Spicing); vol. i, p. 19. In common
prov. use from the north country down to Glouc., see EDD. (s.v. Pound,
vb.^{3}). OE. _punian_, to pound, beat, bray in mortar.
=puncheon,= a kind of dagger. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vii. 664 (L.
_dolones_). O. Prov. _ponchon_, ‘poinçon’ (Levy).
=puncto;= see =punto.=
=punctual,= no bigger than a point, very small; ‘This opacous Earth,
this punctual spot’, Milton, P. L. viii. 23.
=punese,= a bug. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 437. F. _punaise_.
†=pung,= a ‘punk’, courtesan. Middleton, Mich. Term, iii. 1 (Lethe). Not
found elsewhere.
=punkateero,= a purveyor of punks, a pander. Middleton, Blurt, Mr.
Constable, iv. 1 (Curvetto). A jocose formation from _punk_, a strumpet,
in imitation of Span. _mulatero_, muleteer, from _mulo_, mule. Not found
elsewhere.
=punto,= a small point; _in a punto_, in a moment, B. Jonson, Every Man
in Hum. iv. 7 (Bobadil); a nice point of behaviour, a ‘punctilio’,
‘Puntos and Complementes’, Bacon. Adv. L., bk. ii, c. 23, § 3; a stroke
or thrust with the point of the sword or foil, Merry Wives, ii. 3. 26;
_punto riverso_, a back-handed thrust, Romeo, ii. 4. 27; _punto beard_,
a pointed beard, Shirley, Honoria, i. 2 (Alamode). Ital. and Span.
_punto_, L. _punctum_, a point.
=purchase,= to acquire, obtain, gain. Tempest, iv. 1. 14; Richard II, i.
3. 282. Hence, _purchase_, acquired property, wealth, Webster, Duch.
Malfi, iii. 1 (Antonio); spoil, booty, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 101; Hen. V,
iii. 2. 45; Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 16; Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, ii. 5
(Theridamas). See Dict.
=purfle,= to embroider along an edge, to border, to ornament. Spenser,
F. Q. i. 2. 13; ii. 3. 26; Milton, Comus, 995; ‘_Pourfiler_, to purfle,
tinsell or overcast with gold thread’, Cotgrave.
=purfle,= the contour or outline of anything, the profile. Chapman,
Byron’s Conspiracy, iii. 1 (Breton).
=puritan,= used ironically for a courtesan (Cant). Marston, What you
Will, iii. 3 (Slip).
=purlieu,= ground near a forest, which having been made forest, was by
perambulation (OF. _puralee_) separated from the same, see Manwood,
Forest Laws, cap. 20; ‘In the purlieus of this forest’, As You Like It,
iv. 3. 77. The form _purlieu_ (for an older _purley_) is probably due to
popular etymology, i.e. to association with F. _pur lieu_, L. _purus
locus_, a free open space; _purley_, Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, iv.
3 (Nimis); _purley-man_, one who has lands within the ‘purlieu’ (NED.);
_Pourlie man_, Cowell’s Interpreter (s.v. Purlue). Anglo-F. _puralé_
(_-lée_), a going though, ‘perambulatio’ (Rough List, s.v. Purlieu). See
NED.
=purpense,= to determine beforehand; ‘James Grame . . . wilfully
assented and purpensed the murdre, &c.’, Act 12 Hen. VII, c. 7; ‘A
purpensed malice’, Udall, Erasmus’s Paraph. Mark iii. 30. Anglo-F.
_purpenser_: _agwait purpensé_, ‘insidiis praecogitatis’ (Laws of
William I, § 1, 2); see Moisy. See =prepense.=
=purpose,= conversation, discourse. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 45; ii. 6. 6;
ii. 8. 56; Much Ado, iii. 1. 12; to converse, discourse, F. Q. ii. 12.
16. OF. _pourpos_ (_purpos_), a purpose (Godefroy), cp. F. _propos_, a
purpose, design, also, speech, discourse (Cotgr.).
=purprise,= an enclosure, enclosed area. Bacon, Essay 56 (Judicature).
Norm. F. _purprise_, _pourprise_, ‘pourpris, enceinte, enelos, demeure’
(Moisy); _porprise_ (Didot); _porprendre_, ‘investir, entourer’ (Didot).
Med. L. _porprisa_, _porprisum_, ‘possessio vel locus sepibus, muris,
ant vallis conclusus’; see Ducange (s.v. Porprendere).
=purse,= to steal purses. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 1 (Yo.
Loveless).
=purse-net,= a net, the mouth of which could be drawn together by a
string. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iv. 2 (Ariosto); Appius, iv. 1
(Advocate).
=purveyance,= providence. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv, l. 58; provision,
equipment, Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 13. ME. _purveyaunce_, providence,
also, provision (Chaucer). See Dict. (s.v. Purvey).
=push,= a pustule, pimple; ‘Black poushes or boyles’, Sir T. Elyot,
Castel of Helthe, bk. iii, c. 7; ‘Pimples or pushes’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Diogenes, § 6. Still in use in many parts of England, see EDD.
(s.v. Push, sb.^{3}).
=push,= _interj._, pish! Massinger, The Old Law, ii. 1 (Simonides);
Middleton, Mich. Term, ii. 3 (Shortyard). Very common in Middleton.
=push-pin,= a childish game noticed by Strutt, Sports, v. 4. 14. In L.
L. L. iv. 3. 169; Herrick, Hesper., Love’s Play at Push-pin. Also called
_put-pin_.
=pussle,= a maid, girl, drab. Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 78);
‘A puzell verie beautifull’, Holinshed (ed. 1587, iii. 545); Laneham’s
Letter (ed. Furnivall, 23); ‘The Fayre Pusell’, W. de Worde, Treatyse of
a Galaunt (see title of the play). F. _pucelle_, a maid.
=put,= a silly fellow, a ‘duffer’ (Cant). Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia,
i. 1 (Shamwell). See Slang Dict., 1874.
=put case,= suppose. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, ii. 1 (end).
=put forth,= to lend out (money). B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour ii. 1
(Puntarvolo). Cp. Temp. iii. 3. 48; Sonnet cxxxiv. 10.
=put on,= to put on a hat. This was the occasion of much empty
compliment. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Ariosto). _Putting off his
hat_, taking it off, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 7.
=put up,= to sheathe a sword, to replace it in the scabbard. Temp. i. 2.
469; Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 343; _put up_ (without a following sb.),
Middleton, The Widow, i. 2 (Martino).
=puther,= pother, trouble, disturbance. Buckingham, The Rehearsal, ii. 4
(Bayes); _pudder_, K. Lear, iii. 2. 50 (1623); _poother_, Coriolanus,
ii. 1. 234.
=put-pin,= ‘Playing at put-pin’, Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat.
viii. 205. See =push-pin.=
=puttock,= a bird of prey of the kite kind. 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 191;
Cymb. i. 1. 140; Puritan Widow, iii. 3. 110; ‘Puttocke, _escoufle_’,
Palsgrave. In common prov. use for a kite or buzzard, see EDD. (s.v.
Puttock, sb.^{1} 1 and 2). ME. _puttocke_, ‘milvus’ (Prompt. EETS. 339,
see note, no. 1647). _Puttock_ is a not uncommon surname, see Bardsley,
493. An older form for this surname was _Putthawke_, see Chronicles of
Theberton (Suffolk), by H. M. Doughty, 1910, p. 177, ‘That year [1748]
John Puttock or Putthawke was churchwarden.’ Can _puttock_, the name of
the bird, stand for _pout-hawk,_ from the pouts, i.e. small birds, on
which it feeds? [For _pout_, see NED. (s.v. _Poult_).]
=puzell;= see =pussle.=
=pylery hole,= the hole through which the head of the offender was
thrust in the pillory. Skelton, Magnyf. 361. OF. _pillorie_ (Ducange,
s.v. Pilorium), O. Prov. _espilori_, _espitlori_ (Levy); Med. L.
*_spect’lorium_ < *_spectaculorium_, a place for a ‘spectacle’ (L.
_spectaculum_).
=pyonyng;= see =pion.=
=pyromancy,= divination by fire. Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 2 (186); scene
2. 15 (W.); p. 155, col. 1 (D.). Gk. πυρομαντεία, divination by fire.
=Pythonissa,= the witch of Endor; ‘Saith the Pythonissa to Saul’, Bacon,
Essay 35. L. _pythonissa_, applied to the witch of Endor (1 Sam.
xxviii), see Vulgate, Lib. 1 Regum xxviii, Argument (‘Saul pythonissam
consulit’); properly, a woman possessed with Python, the spirit of
divination, cp. Vulgate, Lib. 1 Regum xxviii. 7 (‘Mulier pythonem habens
in Endor’). See =Phitonessa.=
Q
=Q,= a cue, as the signal for an actor to begin his part; ‘And took I
not my _Q_?’ Barry, Ram-Alley, ii. 1 (W. Smallshanks); ‘And old men know
their _Q’s_, id., iii. 1 (O. Small.). Some say it stood for L. _quando_,
when; i.e. the time when.
=quab,= a crude or shapeless thing. Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, iii. 3. 5.
Low G. _quabbe_, a piece of fat flesh, _quabbeln_, to be flabby, quiver
like a piece of fat or soft flesh; Du. _quabbe_, ‘the dewlap of a
Rudder-beast hanging down under his necke’ (Hexham).
=quacking cheat,= a cant term for a duck. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Trapdoor). See =cheat= (2).
=quadlin,= a kind of apple, a ‘codling’, mentioned among the July fruits
in Bacon’s Essay 46, Of Gardens; _quodling_, B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1
(Dol Common). Perhaps a corruption of ME. _querdlyng_, appul,
‘duracenum’ (Prompt.).
=quadrate,= a troop in a square formation; ‘The Powers Militant . . . in
mighty Quadrate joyn’d’, Milton, P. L. vi. 62. L. _quadratus_, squared;
_quadratum_, a square.
=quail,= the name of the bird, applied to a courtesan. Tr. and Cr. v. 1.
57; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 3 (Ursula). See Nares. Cp. F. _cailte
coiffée_, ‘une femme galante’ (Moisy, s.v. Quaille); _cailles coyphées_,
women (Rabelais, iv. 23); _caille coiffée_, ‘a woman’ (Cotgr.).
=quail,= to curdle, coagulate; ‘I quayle as mylke dothe, _je
quaillebotte_’, Palsgrave; ‘This mylke is quayled’, id.; Phillips,
Dict., 1706. In prov. use in E. Anglia and adjacent counties, see EDD.
(s.v. Quail, vb.^{2}). ME. _quaylyn_ as mylk or odyrlyk lykowre,
‘coagulo’ (Prompt. EETS. 363). F. _cailler_, to curdle, to coagulate
(Cotgr.), OF. _coailler_ (Oxf. Ps. cxviii. 70); L. _coagulare_; cp.
Ital. _quagliare_ (_coagulare_, to curd or curdle (Torriano)). See
=quarle.=
=quail,= to lose courage; ‘My heart drops blood, and my false spirits
Quaile’, Cymbeline, v. 5. 149; ‘Their hearts began to quaile’, Holland,
Livy, xxxvi. 9. 924. A _fig._ sense of _quail_ (to curdle), see above.
Cp. Ital. _quagliare_ (_cagliare_), ‘aggrumare’; _per met._ ‘mancar
d’animo, venir meno’ (Fanfani, s.v. Cagliare).
=quail= (a trans. use of above), to cause to quail, to depress the heart
with fear or dejection; ‘He meant to quail and shake the orb’, Ant. and
Cl. v. 2. 85; Mids. Night’s D. v. 292 (Pyramus); Spenser, F. Q. i. 9.
49; Beaumont and Fl., Laws of Candy, i. 2 (Cassilane); Kyd, Cornelia,
iv. 1. 243.
=quail-pipe boot,= a boot having a wrinkled appearance. Middleton,
Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1 (Truepenny); with reference to the E.
version of the Romaunt of the Rose, 7261: ‘Highe shoes . . . That
frouncen [are wrinkled] lyke a quaile-pipe.’
=quaint,= skilled, clever; ‘The quaint Musician’, Tam. Shrew, iii. 2.
149; skilfully designed, ‘A quaint salad’, Shirley, Traitor, iv. 2;
beautiful, elegant, Milton, Samson Ag. 1303; Much Ado, iii. 4. 22;
dainty, fastidious, prim, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 10. OF. _cointe_,
‘instruit’ (Bartsch), Med. L. _cognitus_, ‘sciens’ (Ducange). Cp. O.
Prov. _coinde_, _cointe_, ‘joli, gracieux, aimable’ (Levy).
=quaisy;= see =queazy.=
=quality,= profession, occupation. Merry Wives, v. 5. 44; Hamlet, ii. 2.
363; Fletcher, Love’s Cure, ii. 1 (Metaldi).
=quar,= a ‘quarry’, a heap of dead men. Phaer, Aeneid ix, 526. See Dict.
(s.v. Quarry, 2).
=quarelet,= a small square; ‘The quarelets of pearl’ (referring to a
girl’s teeth), Herrick, The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarrie of Pearls,
32. See =quarrel.=
=quarle,= a ‘quarrel’, cross-bow bolt. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 33. See
Dict. (s.v. Quarrel, 2).
=quarle,= to curdle, coagulate. Tourneur, Rev. Trag. iv. 4. 8. See
=quar=(=r= (2).
=quar=(=r,= a stone-quarry. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Sir Moth);
Drayton, Pol. i. 119. In prov. use (EDD.). See Dict. (s.v. Quarry, 1).
=quar=(=r,= to coagulate; ‘It keepeth the mylke from quarring and
crudding in the brest’, Lyte, Dodoens, ii. 74. 246 (NED.). In prov. use
in Worc., Hants., Somerset, Devon (EDD.). See =quarle.=
=quarrel,= a square, or diamond-shaped piece of glass, in a window; ‘A
quarrell of glasse’, Puttenham, Arte of Poesie, bk. ii, ch. 11, ed.
Arber, p. 106; Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, iii. 1 (Galoshio).
‘Quarrel’ is in prov. use in various parts of England for a pane of
glass, esp. a diamond-shaped pane, see EDD. (s.v. Quarrel, sb.^{1}), and
NED. (s.v. Quarrel, sb.^{1} 3).
=quarron,= the body; the belly (Cant); ‘To comfort the quarron’, Brome,
Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song); _Quaromes_, a body, Harman, Caveat, p. 82.
The same word as _carrion_, a carcass; ‘Old feeble carrions’, Jul.
Caesar, ii. 1. 130. See NED.
=quart,= quarter, fourth part. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10.14. L. _quartus_,
fourth.
=quart d’écu;= see =cardecu.=
=quartile,= a quartile aspect, a quadrature, denoting the position of
two planets which are 90 degrees apart. Hawes, Pastime of Pleasure,
chap. xxxvi, st. 12; Dryden, Palamon, i. 500.
=quass,= to drink copiously. Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 87. Low G.
_quasen_, _quassen_, to devour, swallow (Lübben).
=quat,= a pimple; _fig._ applied contemptuously to a young person.
Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Ariosto); Othello, v. 1. 11. ‘Quat’,
meaning a pimple, is in prov. use in the Midlands, also in Hants.
(EDD.).
=quat,= to oppress. Lyly, Euphues, p. 44. In prov. use in Wilts. and
Somerset, meaning to squeeze, crush, see EDD. (s.v. Quat, vb. 3).
=quat,= the act or state of squatting. A hunted leveret is ‘put to the
dead quat’, Webster, White Devil (ed. Dyce, p. 31).
=quaternion,= a set of four. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 3 (Cupid);
Milton, P. L. v. 181; BIBLE, Acts xii. 4. L. _quaternio_ (Vulgate).
=quayd,= quieted, appeased; ‘Therewith his sturdie courage soone was
quayd’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 14. See =accoy.=
=queach,= a dense growth of bushes, a thicket. Golding, Ovid’s Metam. i.
4; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xix. 610; id., Hymn to Pan; Coote’s English
Schoolemaster; Howell, Londinop. 382; _queachie_, bushy, Golding,
Metam., To Reader. See Nares. An E. Anglian word for a small plantation
of trees or bushes, a ‘spinney’ (EDD.). ME. _queche_, a dense growth of
bushes (Merlin, ed. Wheatley, iii. 540).
=queachy,= swampy, boggy; ‘Queachy fens’, Drayton, Pol. ii. 396; iv. 65;
xvii. 384; _quechy_, Heywood, Brazen Age, ii. 2 (Wks. iii. 190).
‘Queechy’ is in prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Queachy, adj.^{1} 1).
=queam;= see =queme.=
=queat,= ‘quiet’; ‘Be _queat_’, Warner, Alb. England, bk. i, c. 6, st.
73; bk. iii, ch. 14, st. last but one. Not uncommon. See =unqueat.=
=queave,= to palpitate; ‘I left him _queaving_ and quick’ (i.e.
palpitating and alive), Puttenham, Arte of E. Poesie, bk. iii, c. 19
(ed. Arber, p. 223); ‘Quycke and queaving’, life and palpitation,
Gascoigne, Grief of Joy (ed. Hazlitt, ii. 289). See NED. (s.v. Quave).
=queazy,= squeamish, fastidious, nice. Dryden, Epil. to Don Sebastian,
16; spelt _quaisie_, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, p. 40); _queasie_,
unsettling the stomach, causing nausea, Lyly, Euphues (Arber, 44);
‘Quaisy as meate or drinke is, _dangereux_’, Palsgrave.
†=quebas,= the name of an obsolete card-game. Etherege, She Would if she
Could, iii. 3 (Lady Cockwood). Not found elsewhere.
=queching;= see =quetch.=
†=quecke,= a knock, a whack; ‘If I fall, I catch a _quecke_, I may
fortune to break my neck’, Interlude of Youth, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii.
8. Not found elsewhere.
=queest;= see =woodquist.=
=queint,= _pp._ quenched. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 11; ‘The coals . . .
that be quent’, Sir T. Wyatt (Wks., ed. Bell, p. 200). ME. _queynt_
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 2321), pp. of _quenche_, to quench (id., Tr. and Cr.
iii. 846). See Dict.
=quellio,= a Spanish collar or neck-band. Ford, Lady’s Trial, ii. 1
(Guzman); _quellio ruff_, a Spanish ruff, Massinger, City Madam, iv. 4
(Luke). Span. _cuello_, neck, collar, ruff (Stevens); L. _collum_, neck.
=quelquechose,= a delicacy; the same word as _kickshaws_. Marston,
Malcontent, i. 1. 161 (Malevole); ‘_Fricandeaux_, short, skinless, and
dainty puddings, or Quelkchoses, made of good flesh and herbs chopped
together, then rolled up into the form of Liverings, &c., and so
boiled’, Cotgrave. F. _quelque chose_, something. See Dict. (s.v.
Kickshaws).
=queme,= to please. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 15; _queam_, pleasure,
Warner, Alb. England, bk. xii, ch. 60, st. 32. ME. _queme_, to please
(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 695); _queme_, pleasure, satisfaction (Cursor
M. 1064); see Dict. M. and S. OE. _cwēman_, _gecwēman_, to please.
=quent;= see =queint.=
=quere,= the ‘choir’ of a church. Morte Arthur, leaf 430*, back, 22; bk.
xxi, c. 12; Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 396. ‘Queer’ is in prov. use for
choir in the north country (EDD.). ME. _quere_, _queer_ (Wyclif, Ps.
lii. 1; cl. 4). Norm. F. _quers_, nom.; _cuer_, acc., ‘chœur’ (Moisy).
See Dict. (s.v. Choir).
†=querke:= phr. _to have the querke of the sea_ (?), Harrison, Desc. of
England, bk. ii, ch. 19 (ed. Furnivall, p. 310).
=querpo:= phr. _in querpo_, in a close-fitting dress or doublet, without
a cloak; ‘To walk the streets in querpo’, Fletcher, Love’s Cure, ii. 1.
2; cp. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 201. Span. _en cuerpo_, lit. ‘in the
body’; hence, half dressed. See Stanford (s.v. Cuerpo). See =cuerpo.=
=querre, at the,= (probably) on the cross, at a cross-stroke; ‘_Sir
Francis._ My hawk killed too. _Sir Charles._ Ay, but ’twas at the
querre, Not at the mount, like mine’, Heywood, A Woman killed, i. 3. Cp.
Low G. _vor queer_, across. See Dict. (s.v. Queer).
=querry,= an ‘equerry’. Beaumont and Fl., Noble Gentleman, v. 1
(Marine); ‘_Querries_, Persons that are conversant in the Queen’s
Stables; and have charge of her Horses’, Phillips, Dict., 1706. See
Dict. (s.v. Equerry).
=quest,= to seek after, search about, like a dog after game. Otway,
Soldier’s Fortune, iv. 3. 2. Also, to give tongue, like a hound at the
sight of game, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Townshead). ‘To quest’
is in prov. use in various parts of England, of dogs in the sense of
seeking for game, and of breaking out into a bark at the sight of the
quarry; see EDD. F. _quester_, ‘to quest, hunt; to open, as a dog that
seeth, or findeth of his game’ (Cotgr.).
=quest,= an inquiry; a body of men summoned to hold an inquiry.
Gascoigne, Works, i. 37; ‘Crowner’s quest law’, Hamlet, v. 1. 24. See
Dict. (s.v. Inquest).
=quest-house,= the house at which the inquests in a ward or parish were
commonly held, the chief watch-house in a parish. Middleton, Anything
for a Quiet Life, i. 1 (W. Camlet).
=questmongers,= men who made a business of conducting inquiries, Bacon,
Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 192). ME. _questmongeres_ (P. Plowman, B. xix.
367).
=questuary,= profitable, money-making. Middleton, Family of Love, v. 1
(Glister); Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. iii, c. 13, § 4. L.
_quaestuarius_, relating to gain; _quaestus_, gain.
=quetch, quitch,= to move, stir, wince; ‘He dare nat quytche’,
Palsgrave; ‘The Lads of Sparta of Ancient Time were wont to be Scourged
upon the Altar of Diana, without so much as Queching’, Bacon, Essay 39;
‘He could not move, nor quich at all’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 38; ‘They
dare not queatche’, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 35. ME. _quytchyn_,
‘moveo’ (Prompt.); OE. _cweccan_, ‘movere’ (Matt. xxvii. 39).
=quibible,= (perhaps) a pipe or whistle; ‘Time . . . to pype in a
quibyble’, Skelton, The Douty Duke of Albany, 389.
=quiblin,= a trick. Eastward Ho, iii. (1 _or_ 2) (Security); B. Jonson,
Tale of a Tub, iv. 1 (end); ‘A quirk or a quiblin’, id., Barth. Fair, i.
1 (Littlewit); id., Alchemist, iv. 4. 728 (Face). See Dict. (s.v.
Quibble).
=quich;= see =quetch.=
=quiddit,= a subtle shift, law-trick. Hamlet, v. 1. 107 (fol.); Heywood,
The Fair Maid, v. 2. 3.
=quiddle,= to trifle, to discourse in a trifling way; ‘Set out your
bussing base, and we will quiddle upon it’, Damon and Pithias; in
Hazlitt, iv. 81. In common prov. use from Worc. to Cornwall in the sense
of acting in a fussy manner about trifles; see EDD. (s.v. Quiddle,
vb.^{1}).
=quight;= see =quite.=
=quile;= see =quoil=(=e==.=
=quillet,= a sly trick, cavil. L. L. L. iv. 3. 288; Fletcher, Woman’s
Prize, iv. 1. 16.
=quillity,= a quibble, cavil. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 75. Cp.
Ital. _quilità_, _quillità_, ‘a quillity’ (Florio).
=quinch,= to stir, to wince, flinch, start. Spenser, View of the State
of Ireland, p. 670, col. 1 (Globe edition). _Not a quinch_, not a start,
not a jot, ‘I care not a quinche’, Damon and Pithias, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, iv. 28.
=quintell;= ‘A Quintaine or Quintell, a game in request at marriages,
when Jac and Tom, Dic, Hob and Will, strive for the gay garland’,
Minsheu, Ductor; Herrick, A Pastorall Sung to the King, 4; _quintil_,
Quarles, Sheph. Orac. vi (NED.).
=quip,= to taunt. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 44; to assail with sarcasm,
Greene, Verses from Cicero, 5, ed. Dyce, p. 311; to be sarcastic, Lyly,
Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 206).
=quire,= a throng, company. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 48. See =quere.=
†=quirily,= quiveringly (?). Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 220. Not
found elsewhere.
=quit,= to requite. Webster, White Devil (ed. Dyce, p. 5); Beaumont and
Fl., v. 1 (Antinous). See =quite.=
=quitch;= see =quetch.=
=quite, quight,= to free, release. Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 10; to repay,
requite, id., i. 10. 67; _quite_, id., i. 1. 30; i. 8. 26, 27; i. 10.
15, 37. ME. _quyte_, to requite, repay (Chaucer); see Dict. M. and S.
Med. L. _quietare_, _quitare_, ‘pacificare, dimittere’; _quietus_,
_quitus_, ‘absolutus, liber’ (Ducange).
=quite-claim,= to acquit, free. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 2. 14.
=quittance,= to requite, repay. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 1. 14; Greene, Orl. Fur.
ii. 1 (499); Sacripant (p. 95, col. 2).
=quitter-bone,= an ulcer on the coronet of a horse’s foot. B. Jonson,
Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Knockem); ‘_Sete_, the quitter-bone; a round and
hard swelling upon the cornet (between the heel and quarter) of a
horse’s foot’, (Cotgrave).
=quitture,= a purulent discharge from a wound or sore. Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, xiv. 7; xxiv. 374. ME. _quytere_ (Wyclif, Job ii. 8); _whytowre_
(Prompt.). Anglo-F. _quyture_ (Bozon), OF. _cuiture_, smarting, matter
from a boil; _cuire_, to smart, lit. to cook, roast, &c.; L. _coquere_.
=quiver,= active, quick, rapid. 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 301; Turbervile, The
Lover to Cupid, st. 18; _quiverly_, actively, Gillespie, Eng. Pop.
Cerem. (NED.). OE. _cwiferlīce_, actively.
=quoil=(=e,= a noisy disturbance, a ‘coil’. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (ed.
1860, p. 30); Culpepper, Eng. Physic, 255; _quile_, Lord Cromwell, i. 1.
7. See NED. (s.v. Coil, sb.^{2}).
=quondam,= once upon a time; hence, one who has formerly held an office,
one who has ceased to perform duties; ‘He wyll haue euerye man a quondam
as he is; as for my quondamshyp’, &c, Latimer, 4 Sermon bef. King, ed.
Arber, p. 108. L. _quondam_, formerly.
=quook,= quaked; _pt. t._ of _quake_. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 6. 30. ME.
_quok_, quaked (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1576); but the regular pt. t. is
_quaked_(_e_ (P. Plowman, B. xviii. 246); OE. _cwacode_, pt. t. of
_cwacian_.
=quote,= to note, set down in writing. L. L. L. ii. 246; Fletcher,
Woman’s Prize, iv. 1 (Petronius).
=quoth, quoathe,= to faint; ‘He, quothing as he stood’, Golding, Metam.
v. 71; fol. 56 (1603); vii. 859; fol. 92. See =coath.=
=quot-quean,= see =cot-quean.=
=quoying,= ‘coying’, blandishing; ‘Were they living to heare our newe
quoyings . . . they would tearme it (the old wooing) foolish’ (Lyly,
Euphues, ed. Arber, 277). See =coy.=
R
=rabate, rabbate,= to rebate, remit, take away; ‘I rabate a porcyon’,
Palsgrave, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. iii, ch. 25 (ed. Arber, p. 310);
_rabbate_, diminution, Puttenham, iii. ch. 11; p. 173. F. ‘_rabatre_, to
abate, remit, give back’ (Cotgr.). See =rebate= (2).
=rabbit-sucker,= a very young rabbit; one that still sucks. 1 Hen. IV,
ii. 4. 480; Lyly, Endimion, v. 2 (Sir Tophas).
=rabbling,= disorderly; ‘Rabbling wretch!’, Appius and Virginia, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 143. See NED.
=rablement,= a rabble, noisy crowd. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 8.
=race,= to rase, scrape. Ascham, Toxophilus, pp. 108, 118; Chapman, tr.
of Iliad, iv. 158; to tear, to tear away, Morte Arthur, leaf 36, back,
1; bk. i, c. 23; to slash, tear violently, id., leaf 119, back, 22; bk.
vii, c. 17; to erase, to alter a writing by erasure, ‘This indenture is
raced’, Palsgrave. See NED. (s.v. Race, vb.^{3}).
=rache;= see =ratch.=
=rack,= a neck of mutton. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Host); Lyly, Mother
Bombie, iii. 4 (Dromio); How a Man may choose, iii. 3 (Aminadab). In
prov. use in various parts of the British Isles (EDD.).
=rack,= a mass of driving clouds. Hamlet, ii. 3. 506. Also, as vb., to
drift, to move as a driving cloud; 3 Hen. VI, ii. 1. 27; Edw. III, ii.
1. 4; Dryden, Three Political Prologues, ii. 33.
=rack,= to move quickly; said of deer and horses; ‘His rain-deer,
racking with proud and stately pace’, Peele, An Eclogue Gratulatory (ed.
Dyce, p. 562). Cp. Swed. dial. _rakka_, to go quickly, to run hither and
thither (Rietz).
=rack and manger, at,= with plenty of food, in the midst of abundance,
in luxury; ‘Kept at rack and manger’, Warner, Alb. England, bk. viii,
ch. 41, st. 46. The phrase, ‘To live at rack and manger’ (i.e. to live
with heedless extravagance), is in common prov. use, see EDD. (s.v.
Rack, sb.^{5} 16 (2)).
=rad,= agreed upon after consultation; ‘Which judgement strayt was rad’,
Mirror for Mag., Northfolke, st. 21. Pp. of _rede_, to take counsel
together. See NED. (s.v. Rede, vb.^{1} 5). See =rede.=
=raft,= reft, bereft. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Aug., 14. See NED. (s.v.
Reave, vb.^{1}).
=ragman-roll,= a list, catalogue; ‘I did what I cowde Apollo to rase out
of her ragman rollis’, Skelton, Garl. Laurell, 1490. ME. _rolle of
ragman_, a catalogue, Towneley Myst. xxx. 224; _rageman_, the name of a
game of chance played with a written roll having strings attached to the
various items contained in it, one of which the player selected or
‘drew’ at random; see Gower, C. A. viii. 2379, and the interesting note
by G. C. Macaulay; _rageman_, the name given to a statute (4 Edward I),
appointing justices to hear and determine complaints of injuries done
within 25 years previous; see NED. (s.v. Ragman, 2).
=ragmans rew,= a rhapsody, rigmarole; ‘A ragmans rewe . . . So do we
call a long jeste that railleth on any persone by name’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., 245; a list, ‘Ragmanrew, _series_’, Levins, Manip.
=rahate,= ‘to rate’, scold. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, §§ 22, 34.
=raile, rayle,= to roll, flow, trickle. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 43; ii. 8.
37; Visions of Bellay, 155; Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, iv. 74.
=railed,= fastened in a row; ‘Railed in ropes, like a team of horses in
a cart’, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 130); Ford, Perkin Warbeck,
iii. 1 (Oxford). OF. _reiller_; L. _regulare_, to put in order.
=rain, rean,= a furrow between the ridges in a field. Spelt _raine_,
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 13. 7; _rayne_, id., 7. 20; _reane_, id., 21.
15. In general prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Rean). Icel. _rein_, a narrow
strip of land, esp. one left unploughed between fields.
=raine, rayne,= realm, dominion; also region. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 28;
id., iii. 4. 49; vi. 2. 9. See Dict. (s.v. Reign).
=rakehell,= a thorough scoundrel; a debauchee or rake; ‘The King of
rake-hells’, Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, p. 165); ‘_Vaultneant_,
_pendart_, _pendereau_, a rakehel, a rascal that wil be hangd’,
Nomenclator, 1585 (Nares); ‘_Pendard_, a rake-hell, crack-rope,
gallow-clapper’, Cotgrave.
=rakel,= impetuous, headstrong; ‘Rakyl, _insolens_’, Levins, Manip.;
‘Rackle’ (or ‘Rakel’) is in common prov. use in the north country in the
sense of rash, violent, headstrong (EDD.). ME. _rakel_, rash, hasty
(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 1067; iii. 1437).
=ramage,= said of hawks: having left the nest and begun to fly from
branch to branch; hence, wild, untamed, shy; said also of animals and
persons; ‘Take a sperhauke ramage’, Caxton, G. de la Tour, A viii
(NED.); Turbervile, The Lover to a Gentlewoman, st. 10. Norm. F.
_ramage_, ‘sauvage, farouche’ (Moisy); Rom. type, _ramaticum_, deriv. of
L. _ramus_, a branch.
=ramp,= a bold vulgar girl. Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, iii. 3
(Trapdoor); Cymbeline, i. 6. 134; Lyly, Sapho, iii. 2 (Song).
=ramp,= to creep or crawl on the ground; see NED. ME. _rampe_: ‘A litel
Serpent . . . Which rampeth’ (Gower, C. A. vi. 2230). F. _ramper_, ‘to
creep, crawl’ (Cotgr.).
=ramp,= to raise the forepaws in the air (usually said of lions); ‘A
rampynge and roarynge lyon’, Great Bible, 1539, Ps. xxii. 13 (so in
Prayer Book); ‘The ramping lion’, 3 Hen. VI, v. 2. 13. ME. _rampe_; ‘He
goth rampende as a leoun’ (Gower, C. A. vii. 2573). Anglo-F. _ramper_;
‘lioun rampant’ (Gower, Mirour, 2267). See =raump.=
=rampallian,= a ruffian, scoundrel; a term of abuse. Beaumont and Fl.,
Honest Man’s Fortune, ii. 2 (Orleans); City Gallant, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, xi. 197; applied to a woman, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 65; S. Rowlands,
Greenes Ghost (NED.).
=rampier,= a ‘rampart’, protecting bank of earth. Bacon, Henry VII (ed.
Lumby, p. 165). Hence, _rampired_, fortified, Timon, v. 4. 47. See Dict.
=rampion,= a species of bell-flower, _Campanula Rapunculus_. Tusser,
Husbandry, § 40. 12; Drayton, Pol. xx. 60. F. _raiponce_, ‘rampions’
(Cotgr.). The _s_ of _rampions_ has been taken for the plural _s_, and
accordingly dropped.
=ranch,= to tear, to cut. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, v. 856; Drayton, tr. of
Aeneid, xi. 1184. ‘Ranch’ in E. Anglia means to scratch deeply and
severely (EDD.).
=rand,= a strip or slice of meat; ‘Rands and sirloins’, Fletcher,
Wildgoose Chase, v. 2 (Belleur); ‘_Giste de bœuf_, a rand of beef, a
longe and fleeshy peece, cut out from between the flanke and buttock’
(Cotgrave). Still in use in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Rand, sb.^{1} 6).
=randon:= in phr. _at randon_, with rushing force. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4.
7; Shep. Kal., May, 46. OF. _randon_, force, impetuosity, the swiftness
of a violent stream; hence F. _aller à grand randon_, ‘to go very fast’
(Cotgr.). See =raundon.=
=randon,= to go about at will. Ferrex and Porrex, i. 2 (Arostus); ii.
chorus, 2. F. ‘_randonner_, to run swiftly, violently’ (Cotgr.); see H.
Estienne, Précellence, 187.
=rangle,= to rove, to wander. Mirror for Mag., Burdet, st. 36;
Turbervile, The Lover to a Gentlewoman, st. 2. Cp. the Somerset phrase
‘a rangle common’, see EDD. (s.v. Rangle, vb.^{2} 2).
=rank,= strongly, furiously. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 6; iv. 5. 33. In
Cheshire a wasp’s nest is said to be ‘rank’, where the wasps are
numerous and angry (EDD.). ME. _rank_, froward (Havelok, 2561). OE.
_ranc_, renders the Vulgate ‘protervum’ (Ælfric, Deut. xxi. 18).
=ranpick,= partially decayed, bare of leaves. Drayton, Pol. ii. 205;
Barnfield, Affect. Sheph. 27 (NED.). In Cheshire ‘rampick’ (in Warw.
‘ranpike’) means a tree beginning to decay at the top; a young tree
stripped of boughs and bark (EDD.).
=rap,= to affect with rapture, to transport, ravish with joy. Cymbeline,
i. 6. 51; B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, i. 1. A back-formation
from =rapt= (1).
=rap and rend,= to snatch up and seize, to take by force, acquire.
Dryden, Prol. to Disappointment, 54; Butler, Hud. ii. 2. 789; _rappe and
rende_, Roy, Rede Me (ed. Arber, 74). ME. _rape and renne_ (Chaucer, C.
T. G. 1422). See EDD. (s.v. Rap, vb.^{3} (1) and (5)), and Dict. (s.v.
Rap, 2).
=rapt,= caught up (like Elijah). Milton, P. L. iii. 522; vii. 23;
affected with ecstasy, Macbeth, i. 3. 57 (and 142); Spenser, F. Q. iv.
9. 6. L. _raptus_, seized, snatched.
=rapt,= to carry away, to transport, enrapture. Daniel, Civil War, vii.
96; Drayton, Pol. xiii. 411; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xii. 84;
Sylvester, Du Bartas, ii. 4. 1. The verb is formed from the pp., see
above.
=rapture,= the act of carrying off as prey or plunder; ‘Spite of all the
rapture of the sea’, Pericles, ii. 1. 161; the condition of being
carried onward, ‘Our Ship . . . ’gainst a Rocke . . . her keele did dash
With headlong rapture’, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xiv. 428; the act of
carrying off a woman, Dekker, Fortunatus (Wks., ed. 1873, i. 151).
=rare,= early. ‘Rare and late’, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, vi. 422. Still
in prov. use in the south and south-west counties, see EDD. adj.^{2}.
See =rear.=
=rascal,= a lean deer not fit to hunt. As You like It, iii. 3. 58;
Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, iv. 5 (Ralph); Turbervile,
Hunting, c. 28; p. 73. See Nares.
=rash,= to strike like a boar, with a glancing stroke, to tear with
violence. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iv. 4 (Fastidious Brisk);
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 17. See NED. (s.v. Rash, vb.^{2} 1).
=rash,= to tear, pull, drag. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv, l. 826; Dryden,
tr. of Aeneid, ix. 1094. See NED. (s.v. Rash, vb.^{3}).
=ratch,= a dog that hunts by scent. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 592. Still in
use in the north country, see EDD. sb.^{4}. ME. _ratche_, hownde,
odorinsecus’ (Prompt.). OE. _ræce_ (B. T.); related to Icel. _rakki_, a
dog.
=ratches,= a mass of scudding clouds; ‘From all the heauen the ratches
flies’, Phaer, Aeneid v, 821 (L. _nimbi_).
=rathe,= early; ‘The rathe morning’, Drayton, Robert, Duke of Normandy,
8; Milton, Lycidas, 142; ‘The rather lambs’ (i.e. the lambs born in the
earlier part of the year), Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 83; _rathe_, soon,
id., Dec, 98; ‘All to rathe’ (all too soon). Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover
waileth (Wks., ed. Bell, 98). Still in use in various parts of the
British Isles (EDD.). ME. _rathe_, early, soon; _rather_, sooner, more
willingly (Chaucer). OE. _hræð_, quick, _hraðe_, quickly.
=raught,= reached; _pt. t._ and _pp._ of _to reach_. L. L. L. iv. 2. 41;
Hen. V, iv. 6. 21; 2 Hen. VI, ii. 3. 43. Still in prov. use, see EDD.
(s.v. Reach, vb.^{1} 3).
=raump,= to ramp, rear up; said of a lion. Morte Arthur, leaf 170. 30;
bk. ix, c. 1. See =ramp= (3).
=raundon,= force, violence, impetuosity, great haste. Morte Arthur, leaf
55. 37; bk. iii, c. 9; id., leaf 338. 15; bk. xvi, c. 8. See =randon.=
=raven:= in phr. _raven’s bone_, the gristle on the ‘spoon’ of the
brisket of a deer; given to the crows. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2
(Robin). Also called _raven’s morsel_, Turbervile, Hunting, 42. 129.
=ravin,= to snatch with violence, to devour greedily; Meas. for M. i. 2.
133; Cymbeline, i. 6. 49; BIBLE, Gen. xlix. 27; Ps. xvii. 12, margin;
‘_Rapinare_, to ravin, to rob, to snatch’ (Florio); _raven_, to have a
ravenous appetite for, Dryden, Hind and P., iii. 964; id., Wild Gallant,
iv. 2; _ravine_, prey, booty, ‘The Lion . . . filled his holes with
pray, and his dens with ravine’, Nahum ii. 12 (Vulgate, _rapina_);
ravenous, ‘I met the ravin lion’, All’s Well, iii. 2. 120. See Dict.
(s.v. Raven, 2).
=ray,= ‘array’, due order. Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 50; v. 11, 34; an array,
line, rank, ‘Thirteen rayes of horsemen’, Udall, tr. of Apoph.,
Alexander, § 5. See Dict. (s.v. Array).
=ray,= to defile. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 40; vi. 4. 23; Tam. Shrew, iii.
2. 54. For _araye_; ‘I araye or fyle with myer, _j’emboue_’, Palsgrave.
‘Ray’ is still in use in Lanc. and Yorks. in this sense, cp. the
proverb, ‘It’s an ill bird that rays its own nest.’
=ray, cloth of,= a kind of striped cloth. Peele, Edw. I. (ed. Dyce, p.
390, col. 2). Cp. F. _raie_, a streak, stripe; O. Prov. _rega_, ‘sillon’
(Levy); Med. L. _riga_, a stripe, _rigatus_, striped (Ducange). See
=rockray.=
=rayon,= a ray, beam. Spenser, Visions of Bellay, Pt. II, st. 2, 1. 7.
F. _rayon_, a ray.
=raze,= to slash, slit. Hamlet, iii. 2. 288; Turbervile, Trag. T., 279
(NED.).
=read;= see =rede.=
=reading,= advice. Field, Woman a Weathercock, i. 1 (Nevill). See
=rede.=
=ready:= in phr. _to make ready_, to dress oneself; ‘You made yourself
half ready in a dream’, Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Sanitonella);
‘She must do nothing of herself, not eat . . . make her ready, unready,
Unless he bid her’, Beaumont and Fl., Woman’s Prize, i. 1 (Tranio). See
=unready.=
=reaks, reeks,= pranks, riotous practices. Gascoigne, Looks of a Lover
forsaken, 13 (Works, i. 49); Heywood, Eng. Traveller, ii. 1 (Clown);
Urquhart’s Rabelais, iii. 2; ‘_Faire le Diable de Vauvert_, to play
monstrous reaks’, Cotgrave (s.v. Diable); ‘The heart of man in prayer is
most bent to play reakes in wandering from God’, Boyd, Last Battel, 731
(Jamieson). ‘Reak’ (or ‘reik’) is an old Scottish word for a trick or
prank. See =rex.=
=re-allie,= to form (plans) again. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 23.
=realm,= region; pron. like _ream_ (of paper), and quibbled upon. B.
Jonson, Every Man in Hum. v (Clement); Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4
(Ithamore).
=reame,= a kingdom, realm. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 53; iv. 8. 45; Daniel,
Civil Wars, i. 82; _reme_, Skelton, Against the Scottes, 156. ME.
_reame_ (P. Plowman, A. v. 146); _reme_ (Chaucer), Anglo-F. _realme_
(Rough List); see Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Rewme).
=reaming,= stretching out in threads; ‘Reaming wooll’, Herrick, Widdowes
Teares, st. 5. Cp. ‘reamy’, stringy, used of bread, in the west country,
see EDD. (s.v. Ream, vb.^{2} 6 (2)).
=rear,= early. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Lolpoop). A Kentish
pronunciation of _rare_. See EDD. (s.v. Rare, adj. 2). See =rare.=
=rear,= insufficiently cooked. Middleton, Game at Chess, iv. 2. 21. In
gen. prov. use in England and America (EDD.). OE. _hrēr_, half-cooked,
underdone (Sweet).
=reare,= to lift; hence, to carry off, take away. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6.
6. Also, to direct upwards, Milton, P. R. ii. 285.
=reasty,= rancid, esp. used of bacon which has become yellow and
strong-tasting through bad curing. _Reastie_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 20.
2. OF. _resté_, that which is left over, hence, stale, cp. Bibbesworth,
in T. Wright’s Vocab., 155: _chars restez_ = E. _resty flees_ (i.e.
reasty flesh). _Reasty_ is still in general prov. use in England (EDD.).
=rebate,= to beat back. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 87; iii. 2 (884); p. 90,
col. 2; p. 101, col. 1. F. _rabatre_ (Cotgr.).
=rebate,= to blunt. Meas. for M. i. 4. 60; Otway, Don Carlos, iii. 1
(King); Chapman, tr. Iliad, xxiv. 585; Dryden, Pal. and Arc. iii. 502.
See =rabate.=
=rebato, rabato,= a collar-band, or ruff, which turned back upon the
shoulders. Much Ado, iii. 4. 6; Dekker, Satiromastix (Works, 1873, i.
186); B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iv. 1 (Phantaste); ‘_Porte-fraise_, a
Rebato or supporter for a Ruffe’, Cotgrave (ed. 1611). _Rebato-wire_, a
wire for stiffening a ‘rebato’, Yorkshire Tragedy, i. 32; Heywood, A
Woman killed, v. 2. 8. F. _rabat_, ‘a Rabatoe for a woman’s ruff, also,
a falling band’ (Cotgr.).
=rebeck,= an early form of the fiddle. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i,
c. 20, § 11; Milton, L’Allegro, 94. O. Prov. _rebec_, also _rebeb_
(Levy). See Dict.
=rebeck,= to beckon back, recall, reclaim; said of a hawk. Heywood, A
Woman killed, i. 3 (Sir Charles).
=rebelling,= a ‘ravelin’ (in a quibble). Heywood, Eng. Traveller, ii. 1
(Clown). Span. _rebellin_, a ‘ravelin’ in fortification (Stevens). See
Dict.
=reboil,= to bubble up again. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 7, §
10; _reboyled_, made to boil again; Skelton (ed. Dyce, vol. i, p. 209).
F. ‘_rebouiller_, to boil once more; _rebouillonner_, to bubble’
(Cotgr.). Cp. Med. L. _rebullire_, ‘recandescere’ (Ducange).
=receit,= a place of refuge, alcove. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, iv. 413;
recess, haven, id., x. 122; a recess, place of ambush; Bacon, Hen. VII
(ed. Lumby, p. 154). Anglo-F. _recet_, place of resort (Rough List); O.
Prov. _recet_, ‘lieu où l’on se retire, retraite’ (Levy); Med. L.
_receptum_ (Ducange). See =recheat.=
=rechate,= the calling together of the hounds in hunting. Malory,
Arthur, x. 52. As vb., to blow a ‘rechate’, to call together the hounds.
Drayton, Pol. xiii. 122; Turbervile, Hunting, xl. 114 (NED.). OF.
_rachater_ (_racheter_); L. _re_ + Med. L. _accaptare_ (Ducange); see
NED. (s.v. Achate, vb.).
=recheat,= the series of notes sounded on the horn for calling the
hounds together, Much Ado, i. 1. 251; Davenant, Gondibert, ii. 37.
Anglo-F. and OF. (Picard), _rechet_, a retreat, hence, a note of
retreat; O. Prov. _recet_, ‘retraite’ (Levy). See =receit.=
=recheles,= reckless, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, 7. 8. OE. _reccelēas_. See
=retchless.=
=rechlessness,= carelessness, recklessness, B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, iv.
1; Article of Religion, 17 (in modern Prayer Books misspelt
_wretchlessness_). ME. _recchelesnesse_ (Chaucer, C. T. I. 611).
=reclaim,= to call back; _reclayme_, Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 9; a term in
falconry, ‘I reclayme a hauke of her wyldnesse’, Palsgrave; to tame,
Romeo, iv. 2. 47. Cp. F. ‘_reclame_, a Sohoe or Heylaw; a loud calling,
whooting or whooping, to make a Hawk stoop unto the Lure’ (Cotgr.).
=record,= to sing, to warble; applied esp. to the singing of birds. Two
Gent. v. 4. 6; Pericles, iv, Gower; Beaumont and Fl., Valentinian, ii.
1; Browne, Brit. Past. ii. 4. As sb. = =recorder= (see below),
Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber, p. 79); Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 142.
=recorder,= a kind of flageolet or small flute, so named because birds
were taught to ‘record’ by it. Hamlet, iii. 2. 303. See Nares.
=recoure,= to regain, win again. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 25; ‘I recure, I
get agayne’, Palsgrave.
=recoyle;= see =recule.=
=recrayed,= recreant; ‘He was a recrayd knyght’, Skelton, Against the
Scottes, Epilogue, 26; A Replicacion, 45. Norm. F. _recreire_, ‘se
dédire’ (Moisy); O. Prov. _se recreire_, ‘s’avouer vaincu’ (Levy); Med.
L. _recredere_, to surrender oneself, as being defeated (Ducange).
=recreance,= _Letters of Recreance_, Letter from the Earl of Sunderland
to Robert Harley, Dec. 31, 1705, see N. and Q. 11 S. vii. 505. F.
‘_Lettres de récréance_, qui se dit, soit des lettres qu’un Prince
envoie à son Ambassadeur, pour les présenter au Prince d’auprès duquel
il le rappelle; soit des lettres que ce Prince donne à un Ambassadeur,
afin qu’il les rende à son retour au Prince qui le rappelle’, Dict. de
l’Acad., 1762; ‘_Recreance_, a restoral, restitution; also, a delivery
of possession’ (Cotgr.). Cp. O. Prov. _recrezensa_, ‘désistement’
(Levy).
=recule,= to retire, go back. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 68; ‘I recule, I go
back, _je recule_’, Palsgrave; Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 47; Gascoigne,
Fruites of Warre, st. 108; _recoyle_, to retreat. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10.
17; _recuile_, id., vi. 1. 20. See Dict. (s.v. Recoil).
†=recullisance,= a corrupt form of _recognisance_. Middleton, Mich.
Term, iii. 4 (Shortyard). See =cullisen.=
=recure,= to restore to health and vigour. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 44; 9.
2; 10. 24; as sb., recovery, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i. 436; xviii. 60;
Sackville, Induction, st. 49. Hence, _recureless_, without recovery, not
to be recovered from, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 446; irrecoverable;
Greene, James IV, ii. 2 (987; Nano).
=recuyell,= a collection; ‘The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye’ (the
title of Caxton’s book); spelt _recule_, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell,
1187. Also, a reception, welcome, ‘The grete recuel that I have doon’,
Caxton, Eneydos, xviii. 66. F. ‘_recueil_, a collection, also, a
reception, welcome’ (Cotgr.); ‘_recueil_, accueil’ (Estienne).
=red.= _Red lattice_, a lattice-window painted red, to distinguish an
ale-house. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 86; cp. Merry Wives, ii. 2. 28.
=rede, read,= to advise. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 17; id., Mother Hub. 114;
to discern, estimate, to take for something, Spenser, Ruins of Time,
633; id., F. Q. ii. 12. 70; vi. 2. 30. As sb. _rede_, counsel, advice.
Hamlet, i. 3. 51. ME. _rede_, to advise; _reed_, _rede_, advice
(Chaucer); OE. _rǣdan_; _rǣd_ (Sweet). See =rad.=
=redintegrate,= restored to a perfect state. Bacon, Henry VII (ed.
Lumby, p. 42). L. _redintegratus_.
=Red-shanks,= a name applied to the Gaelic inhabitants of the Scottish
Highlands and of Ireland, in allusion to the colour of the bare legs
reddened by exposure; ‘Scottes and Reddshankes’, Spenser, State Ireland
(Globe ed., 658, col. 2). [‘The red-shanks of Ireland’, Smollett, Humph.
Clinker (Davies).]
=redub, redoub,= to repair, amend, requite. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk.
i, c. 7, § 2; ‘O gods, redub them vengeaunce just’, Phaer, tr. of
Virgil, bk. vi; Udall, tr. of Apoph., p. xvi, line 27; Socrates, § 47.
Anglo-F. _redubber_, F. ‘_radouber_, to peece, mend’ (Cotgr.).
=reduce,= to bring back, recover. Shirley, Hyde Park, v. 1 (Mis. Carol);
Court Secret, i. 1 (Manuel); Sackville, Induction, st. 9; Hen. V, v. 2.
63; Rich. III, v. 3. 36. L. _reducere_.
=reek,= a rick, stack. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate); Dryden,
Meleager (from Ovid), l. 35. ‘Reek’ is the prov. pronunc. of rick in
many parts of England, as well as in Ireland (EDD.). OE. _hrēac_, a
hayrick.
=reeke,= seaweed. Golding, Metam. xiv. 38 (L. _algae_). ME. _wreke_, of
the sea, ‘alga’ (Prompt.). Icel. _reki_ (_vreki_), seaweed drifted
ashore.
=reere,= a loud noise, a shout. Golding, Metam. xiii. 876; fol. 165, l.
1 (1603); ‘Such a reare of thunder fell’, Hudson, Du Bartas, Judith, ii
(NED. s.v. Rear). ME. _rere_, noise (R. Brunne, Chron. Wace, 10207). See
NED. (s.v. Reere).
=reez’d,= rancid, as bacon. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. iii. 112.
ME. _reest_, as flesche, ‘rancidus’ (Prompt.). See NED. (s.v. Reesed).
=refel, refell,= to refute. Meas. for M. v. 1. 94; Lyly, Alexander, ii.
2 (Alex.). L. _refellere_.
=reflect,= to turn back. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, ix. 190. L. _reflectere_
(Cicero).
=refocillation,= a restorative. Middleton, A Mad World, iii. 2 (Pen.
B.). L. _refocillare_, to warm into life again; often used in the
Vulgate for the reviving of the spirit: ‘Reversus est spiritus ejus, et
refocillatus est’, 1 Reg. xxx. 12 (1 Sam. xxx. 12).
=reformado,= a disbanded soldier; an officer left without a command
(owing to the ‘reforming’ or disbanding of his company), but retaining
his rank and receiving full or half pay; ‘A reformado saint’, Butler,
Hud. ii. 2. 116; ‘The reformado soldier’, id., ii. 2. 648; B. Jonson,
Every Man in Hum. iii. 5. Span. _reformado_, an officer on half-pay;
from _reformar_, to reduce in number; hence of troops, to discharge,
disband (cp. Calderon, El Alcalde de Zalamea, ii. 33). See Stanford.
=refuse me,= may God reject me; once a very fashionable oath; ‘These
wicked elder brothers, that swear refuse them’, Rowley, a Match at
Midnight, i. 1 (Tim); ‘God refuse me’, Webster, White Devil, ed. Dyce,
p. 7, col. 2 (Flamineo).
=regals,= _pl._, a small portable organ with one or two sets of
reed-pipes played with one hand, while the other worked a small bellows.
Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber, p. 79); Bacon, Sylva, § 172. Norm. F.
_regales_, ‘espèce de petit orgue portatif’ (Moisy).
=regalo,= a dainty, a choice bit; ‘Servants laden with regalos and
delicate choice Dainties’, Mabbe, tr. Life of Guzman, i. 1. 2; ‘Their
markets are well furnish’d with all Provisions; witness their _Salsicce_
only, which are a _Regalo_ for a Prince’, R. Lassels, Voy. Italy (ed.
1698, p. 101); spelt (wrongly) _regalio_, Dryden, Wild Gallant, Epil.,
12. Span. ‘_regálo_, a dainty; also, loving and kind entertainment;
_regalar_, to make much of, to treat daintily’ (Stevens). See Stanford.
=regiment,= rule, sway, dominion. Ant. and Cl. iii. 6. 95; Marlowe, 1
Tamburlaine, ii. 7. 19. ME. _regiment_ (Gower, C. A. vii. 915, 1245,
1702). Anglo-F. _regiment_ (Gower, Mirour, 2615).
=regorge,= to swallow back again. Dryden, Sigismonda, 186.
=regrater, regrator,= a retailer, retail dealer. _Regrators_, pl.,
North, tr. of Plutarch, Octavius, § 15 (in Shak. Plut., p. 261);
_regrators_ of bread-corn, Tatler, no. 118, § 10 (1709-10). ME.
_regratere_ (P. Plowman, C. iv. 82; see Notes, p. 61); Anglo-F.
_regratier_ and _regratour_ (Rough List). Med. L. _regratarius_ and
_regratator_ (Ducange).
=reguerdon,= requital, reward. 1 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 170; to reward, 1 Hen.
VI, iii. 4. 23. ME. _reguerdoun_ (Gower, C. A. v. 2368, as vb., iii.
2716). Anglo-F. _reguerdon_, reward, _reguerdoner_, to reward (Gower,
Balades, xii. 2; xxiii. 3).
=relate,= to bring back again. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 51.
=relent,= to slacken; ‘He would relent his pace’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11.
27; iii. 4. 49; iii. 7. 2; slackening, v. 7. 24; vi. 5. 20. F.
‘_ralentir_, to slacken’ (Cotgr.).
=relent,= to melt, to dissolve into water; ‘Se howe this snowe begynneth
to relent agaynst the sonne’, Palsgrave; to become soft, Tusser,
Husbandry, 63; to cause to melt, ‘Phebus dothe the snowe relente’,
Hawes, Conv. Swearers, xl; hence, _relentment_, dissolution, Sir T.
Browne, Urn Burial, i. § 7. Anglo-F. _se relenter_, to dissolve, melt
(Gower, Mirour, 6603).
=relide;= see =rely.=
=relief, releef,= a term in hunting, when the dogs follow a new and
unknown prey; ‘You must sound the releefe . . . your reliefe is your
sweetest note . . . when your hounds hunt after a game unknowne’, Return
from Parnassus, ii. 5 (Amoretto). See Nares, and NED. (s.v. Relief,
sb.^{2} 7c).
=reliv’d,= recalled to life, reanimated. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 52; iii.
8. 3; _relyv’d_, id., iii. 4. 35.
=reluce, reluse,= to shine brightly. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 185. 12;
_reluysing_, brightness, id., leaf 225, back, 9. F. ‘_reluire_, to shine
. . . _reluisant_, shining, radiant’ (Cotgr.).
=rely,= to assemble, gather (soldiers) together, to rally; ‘He gathered
his troopes, . . . he relieth the rankes’, Heywood, tr. Sal. Jug. War,
50 (NED.); ‘He caused them to stay and relie themselves’, Holinshed,
Scot. Chron. (NED.); to join oneself, ‘And Blandamour to Claribell
relide’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 26. ME. _rely_, to assemble, rally
soldiers (Barbour, Bruce, iii. 34). F. _relier_, to bind; L. _religare_.
=reme,= to tear open; ‘Which seeme (as women use) to reme my hart,
Before I come to open all my smart’, Mirror for Mag., Irenglas, st. 25.
‘Ream’ is in prov. use in the west country; EDD. (s.v. Ream, vb.^{2} 2),
cites from Exmoor Scolding, 1746, ‘Chell ream my Heart to tha’ (i.e.
I’ll open my heart to thee). ME. _ryme_, to stretch (Wars Alex. 4931);
OE. _rȳman_, to make clear space, enlarge; _rūm_, space.
=reme;= see =reame.=
=remember,= to remind. Temp. i. 2. 243; Richard II, i. 3. 269;
_reflex._, to remember, ‘Now I remember me’, Twelfth Nt. v. 1. 286;
Great Bible, 1539, Ps. xxii. 27.
=remembrance,= memento, love-token; ‘This was her first remembrance from
the Moor’, Othello, iii. 3. 291; iii. 4. 186; _to put in remembrance_,
to remind, BIBLE, Isaiah xliii. 26; 2 Peter i. 12.
=remerce,= to ransom by paying the fine; ‘From Owen’s jayle our cosin we
remerst’, Mirror for Mag., Northumberland, st. 11. Cp. _amerce_, to
fine.
=remercy,= to thank. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 16. F. _remercier_, to
thank.
=remonstrance,= a representation, resemblance; ‘A remonstrance of this
battle, Where flowers shall seem to fight’, Shirley, Imposture, i. 2
(Flaviano). F. ‘_remonstrer_, to shew unto, or set before the eyes’,
(Cotgr.); O. Prov. _remostrar_, ‘montrer, démontrer’ (Levy).
=remora,= the sucking-fish, _Echeneis remora_. Spenser, Vis. of World’s
Vanity, ix. 10; B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, ii. 1 (Polish). L. _remora_,
delay; the ancients believed that this fish could stay a ship’s course
by cleaving to it.
=remord,= to bite in return, to feel remorse; ‘His conscience remording
agayne the destruction of so noble a prince’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour,
bk. ii, c. 5, § 11; to blame, rebuke, Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 983. ME.
_remorde_, to afflict with remorse (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iv. 1491).
Anglo-F. _remordre_, to bite, devour, move to repentance (Gower, Mirour,
386, 6679, 10397).
=remorse,= sorrow, pity, compassion. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 6; Merch.
Ven. iv. 1. 20; Middleton, Mayor of Queenboro’, i. 1 (Constantius);
Milton, P. L. v. 566; regretful or remorseful remembrance of a thing,
Skelton, Knowledge, 29; _without remorse_, without intermission,
Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 131; ‘Without any mitigation or remorse of
voice’, Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 98.
=rendy,= a ‘rendezvous’; a place of meeting; ‘Th’ appointed rendy’,
Drayton, Pierce Gaveston. For F. _rendez-vous_, a subst. use of
_rendez-vous_, the 2nd pers. plur. imperative of _se rendre_, to present
oneself (at a certain place).
=reneague,= to deny, renounce. Udall, Paraph. Luke, Pref. 12; to make
denial, King Lear, ii. 2. 84; to refuse, decline, Stanyhurst, tr. of
Aeneid, iii. 650. In common prov. use in Ireland and in England in the
west country (EDD.).
=renfierst,= made more fierce. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 45.
=renforst,= _pt. t._ reinforced himself, gathered his strength together.
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 14. As pp., forced again; id., ii. 10. 48.
=renge,= a rank. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 177. 13; lf. 230, back, 29;
‘Renge, _ranc_’, Palsgrave.
=renge,= to range, arrange. Caxton, Hist. Troye, fol. 98. 26; ‘I renge,
or set in array, _je arrengie_’, Palsgrave.
=renowme,= ‘renown’. BIBLE, Gen. vi. 4, ed. 1611; ‘A man of great
renowme, _Illustris vir_’, Baret, Alvearie; Chapman, Iliad xxii, 186;
_renowmed_, ‘renowned’, BIBLE, Isaiah, xiv. 20; Ezek. xxiii. 23; Richard
III, i. 4. 49 (Qq.); ‘_Renommé_, renowmed, famous, of much note’,
Cotgrave.
=rense,= to ‘rinse’. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 224. This is the
pronunc. of ‘_rinse_’ in many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Rench).
See Dict.
=rent,= to rend, tear. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 215; Macb. iv. 3. 168;
‘_I rent_, I teare a thyng asonder’, Palsgrave.
=renverst,= turned upside down. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 41; v. 3. 37. F.
_renverser_, to reverse.
=reny,= to deny, refuse. _Renide_ (for _renied_), Mirror for Mag.,
Guidericus, st. 22. See NED. (s.v. Renay, vb. 3). F. _renier_, to deny.
=repeat,= to seek again. Dryden, Annus Mirab., st. 257; Tyrannic Love,
iii (Berenice); Waller, Summer Islands, iii. 64. L. _repetere_, to seek
again.
=repent,= penance. Greene, Friar Bacon, v. 1 (1867); scene 14. 15 (W.);
p. 176, col. 1 (D.). Also, repentance, Greene, The Palmer’s Ode, 34 (ed.
Dyce, p. 295).
=reprie, reprive,= to send back to prison, to remand; ‘They repryede me
to prison’, Heywood, Spider and Fly, lxxviii. 158; to reprieve, to
respite or rescue a person from impending punishment; esp. to delay the
execution of a condemned person, ‘I humbly crave your Majestie to . . .
my sonne reprive’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 12. 31. First used in pp.,
_repryed_, cp. Anglo-F. _repris_, pp. of _reprendre_, to take back.
=repriefe,= reproof. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 29; iii. 8. 1. ME. _repreve_,
reproof (Chaucer, C. T. B. 2413). See =priefe.=
=reprieve,= to blame, find fault with. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 21; ‘I
repreve one, _je reprouve_’, Palsgrave. ME. _repreve_ (Chaucer, C. T. H.
70); _reprevyn_, ‘reprehendo’ (Prompt.).
=reprise, reprize,= reprisal, the act of taking something by way of
retaliation, Dryden, Hind and P. iii. 862. As vb., to take again,
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 44. F. _reprise_, a getting something back again.
=requile,= to ‘recoil’. Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xi. 671.
=require,= to seek after. Dryden, Annus Mirab., st. 236; to ask, to ask
as a favour, Ant. and Cl. iii. 12. 12; Watson, Poems (ed. Arber, 159);
The Great Bible, 1539, Ps. xxxviii. 16; BIBLE, 2 Sam. xii. 20. L.
_requirere_. See Bible Word-Book.
=rescous,= rescue, assistance, aid. Hall, Chron. Hen. IV, 23 (NED.);
Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 78. 31; Spelt _rescousse_, Caxton, Jason, 39 b
(NED.). ME. _rescous_, rescue, help (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2643); OF.
_rescousse_, ‘l’action de délivrer un prisonnier que l’ennemi emmène’)
(Didot). See Dict. M. and S.
=rescussing,= a rescuing. Bacon, Adv. of Learning, xxiii. 32 (end).
=resent,= to give off a scent, exhale an odour. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 221.
See NED. (s.v. Resent, vb. 10).
=resiance,= a residence. Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, pp. 119, 188);
Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 455, l. 7. See below.
=resiant;= ‘resident’, lodged, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 28; ‘Here
_resiant_ in Rome’, B. Jonson, Catiline, iv. 3 (Lentulus); _resyants_,
pl., Oxford Records, Dec., 1534 (ed. Turner, 123). Norm. F. _reseant_,
‘habitant’ (Moisy), L. _residentem_, pres. pt. of _residere_, to sit
down, to reside.
=residence,= that which settles as a deposit, a residuum. B. Jonson,
Magnetic Lady, iii. 4 (Rut).
=resipiscency,= a return to a better mind, repentance. Sir T. Browne,
Letter to a Friend, § 41. L. _resipiscentia_.
=resolute,= decided, positive, final; ‘I expect now your resolute
answer’, Massinger, Picture, iv. 1.
=resolution,= certainty, positive knowledge. King Lear, i. 2. 108; a
fixed determination, Ford, Broken Heart, i. 1.
=resolve,= to dissolve, melt; ‘O! that this too too solid flesh would
melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew’, Hamlet, i. 2. 130; to free
from uncertainty, Meas. for M. iii. 1. 193; iv. 2. 226; to satisfy,
Beaumont and Fl., Laws of Candy, iv. 1 (Antinous).
=respasses,= raspberries. Herrick, To the most fair Mistris A. Soame,
20. For _resp-es-es_, _rasp-es-es_, a double plural. ‘Rasp’ is in prov.
use in various parts of the British Isles (EDD.). See Nares.
=respective,= careful; ‘You should have been respective’, Merch. Ven. v.
1. 156; worthy of respect, Two Gent. iv. 4. 200; _respectively_,
respectfully, with due respect, Timon, iii. 1. 8; Middleton, Five
Gallants, ii. 1.
=resplendish,= to shine. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 2, § 3.
OF. _resplendir_. See Croft’s note.
=rest,= a musket-rest; ‘His rest? why, has he a forked head?’, B.
Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iv. 4 (Puntarvolo); because the
musket-rest was semicircular; ‘Like a musket on a rest’, Middleton,
Roaring Girl, iv. 2 (Mis. O.).
=rest,= ‘in primero, the stakes kept in reserve, which were agreed upon
at the beginning of the game, and upon the loss of which the game
terminated; the venture of such stakes’ (NED.); ‘The money he had duly
won upon a rest’, Cotton, Espernon, i. 4. 156; _fig._, ‘When I cannot
live any longer, I will do as I may: That is my rest’, Hen. V, ii. 1. 17
(Corporal Nym means, this is what I stand to win or lose). Phr. _to set
up one’s rest_, ‘to venture one’s final stake or reserve’ (NED.); hence,
_fig._, to take a decisive resolution, to be determined, ‘I have set up
my rest to run away’, Merch. Ven. ii. 2. 110; ‘He that sets up his rest
to do more exploits’, Com. Errors, iv. 3. 27; Middleton, Span. Gipsy,
iv. 3 (Alvarez); to place one’s fixed aim in something, ‘He seems to set
up his rest in this plenty, and the neatness of his house’, Pepys,
Diary, Jan. 19, 1663. See Nares.
=rest,= to ‘arrest’. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 11. 4 (Brainworm);
‘I reste as a sergente dothe a prisoner or his goodes, _je arreste_’,
Palsgrave. In common Scottish use, see EDD. (s.v. Rest, vb.^{2} 3).
=rest,= a ‘wrest’, a pin for winding up the strings of a harp, &c.
Skelton, Magnyfycence, 137; _wrest_, to wind up, id., Colyn Cloute, 492.
=rest-balk,= a ridge of land left unploughed between two furrows.
Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 4. 4.
=resty,= inert, loath to move, sluggish, Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 263;
Cymbeline, iii. 6. 34; _resty stiff_, Edward III, iii. 3. 161. The same
word as ‘restive’ (‘restiff’). Anglo-F. _restif_ (Ch. Rol., 1256). See
Trench, Select Glossary; and Dict. (s.v. Restive).
=retchless,= reckless, careless. Drayton, Pol. vi. 270; Sackville,
Induction, st. 46. See =recheles.=
=retire,= a retreat in war. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 3. 54; Tr. and Cr. v. 4. 21;
withdrawal from the world, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 27.
=retrait, retrate,= picture, portrait; look, expression. Spenser, F. Q.
ii. 9. 4; ii. 3. 25. Cp. Span. and Port. _retrato_, a portrait, Ital.
_ritratto_.
=retray,= _reflex_, to draw back; ‘He retrayed him’, Morte Arthur, leaf
115, back, 29; bk. vii, c. 12. F. _retraire_, ‘to withdraw, draw back’
(Cotgr.); L. _retrahere_.
=retrieve:= phr. _to bring to the retrieve_, to make the hawk return to
the lure. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (Picklock).
=revault;= see =revolt.=
=reverb,= to resound, re-echo. King Lear, i. 1. 156. Cp. L.
_reverberare_, to reverberate.
=reverberate,= to burn in a furnace in which the heat was continually
driven back upon the substance operated upon. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1
(Subtle).
=reverence:= in phr. _save reverence_, used apologetically in
introducing some remark that might offend the hearer. Romeo, i. 4. 42;
‘Be it spoken with save the reverence of all women’, Harington, Metam.
Ajax (NED.). Also, _saving reverence_, ‘Who, saving your reverence, is
the divell himselfe’, Merch. Ven. ii. 2. 27. See Nares (s.v.
Save-reverence).
=revoke,= to recall, give up. Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, p. 517).
=revolt,= to turn back. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 25; spelt _revault_, to
withdraw (words), Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, iii. 4 (Philip);
_revolt_, pp. withdrawn, Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 1; as sb. a rebel,
deserter, King John, v. 2. 151. See NED.
=rew,= a row. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 17, 35; Fairfax, Tasso, xvii. 75.
The pronunc. of ‘row’ in the south and south-west of England (EDD.). ME.
_rewe_ (Chaucer), OE. _rǣw_ (Sweet).
=rex:= phr. _to play rex_, to play pranks; understood in the sense of,
to play the lord, to domineer (as if from L. _rex_, king; due to a
popular etymology); ‘To play such _Rex_’, (i.e. such pranks); Spenser,
State of Ireland (Globe ed., p. 659, col. 2); ‘With those did Hercules
play _rex_’ (i.e. played the master), Warner, Alb. England, bk. i, ch.
6, st. 47. See =reaks.=
=rheumatic,= suffering from catarrh or rheum, characterized by rheum.
Venus and Adonis, 135; Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 105; also, Fletcher, Nice
Valour, ii. 1 (Lady).
=rhino,= money (Cant). Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Shamwell).
=rhinocerical,= resembling a rhinoceros; huge, large; as a slang term,
of large means, wealthy, rich, Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1
(Shamwell). See NED.
=riband.= A riband was sometimes worn in the ear, as a favour; ‘He that
bought the halfpenny riband, wearing it in his ear, swearing it was the
Duchess of Milan’s favour’, Marston, What you Will, iv. 1 (Meletza).
_Ribanded ears_, id., Scourge of Villainy, 167.
=ribaudrie,= ribaldry. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 76; hence,
_ribaudred_, profligate, Ant. and Cl. iii. 10. 10. ME. _ribaudrie_ (P.
Plowman, C. i. 45). Anglo-F. _ribaudrie_ (Rough List).
=ribibe,= an opprobrious term for an old woman, ‘vetula’, prop. a kind
of fiddle, ‘vitula’. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 1 (Pug); _rybybe_,
Skelton, El. Rummyng, 492. It is probable that both Skelton and Jonson
took this use of the word from Chaucer (C. T. D. 1377).
=ribskin,= a leathern apron worn during the process of _ribbing_ or
scraping flax. Spelt _rybskyn_, Skelton, El. Rummyng, 299.
=rid,= to remove with violence, ‘I shall sone ryd his soule out of his
body’, Ld. Berners, Huen, xlix. 165; to destroy, Tempest, i. 2. 365; to
clear off work, dispatch, ‘Slaves did rid those Manufactures’, Bacon,
Essay 29 (ed. Arber, 483); _to rid way_, to get over the ground, move
ahead, ‘Willingness rids way’, 3 Hen. VI, v. 3. 21. ‘Rid’ is in prov.
use in various parts of England for clearing land, grubbing up
underwood, &c., see EDD. (s.v. Rid, vb.^{2} 1). Of Scand. origin, cp.
Icel. _ryðja_, to clear land, Dan. _rydde_. See Dict. (s.v. Rid, 2).
=rid,= to set free, deliver, save. BIBLE, Gen. xxxvii. 22; Ex. vi. 6;
Ps. lxxi (Pr. Bk.); 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 234; to acquit, ‘A judge riddeth
a persone’, Udall, Apoph., 236. OE. _hreddan_, to deliver, cp. Dan.
_redde_, G. _retten_. See Dict. (s.v. Rid, 1).
=rid,= to advise; ‘I rid thee, away’ (i.e. I advise thee to depart),
Greene, James IV, Induction (Bohan). A Scottish form, see NED. (s.v.
Rede, vb.^{1}). See =rede.=
=ridduck,= a gold coin; ‘Run for a ridduck’ (i.e. to gain a reward),
Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 134. See =ruddock= (2).
=ride,= to be drawn through the streets in a cart, subject to popular
derision; a form of punishment. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Dol).
=rider,= a gold coin, orig. Dutch, having a horseman on the obverse,
worth about 27_s._ Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 2 (Livia). Du. _een
goude_ _ryder_, ‘a golden coin having on one side the stamp of a man on
horseback’ (Sewel).
=ridgel,= a half-castrated animal, a male animal with imperfectly
developed organs. In common prov. use. Only found as a literary word in
Fletcher, Women Pleased, ii. 6 (Penurio), where it appears as a term of
abuse, ‘Yonder old Rigell, the Captaine’.
=ridstall-man,= a man whose business is to clear out or clean
cattle-stalls. Greene, James IV, first stage-direction.
=rifely,= abundantly. Hall, Sat. iv. 3. 74; frequently, Stanyhurst, tr.
of Aeneid, i. 101. ‘Rife’ in the sense of ‘abundant’, also of ‘frequent’
is still in use in Scotland, and in many parts of England. Cp. Du.
‘_rijf_, rife, or abundant; _rijfelick_, rifely, or abundantly’
(Hexham).
=riffle,= to ‘rifle’, plunder. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 681. See
Dict.
=rifle,= to play at dice, to gamble or raffle for a stake. B. Jonson,
Alchem. i. 1; Dryden, Amboyna, v. 1. Hence _rifling_, Northward Ho, v. 1
(Bellamont); Minsheu. Still in use in west Yorkshire (Dr. Joseph
Wright). Du. ‘_rijffelen_, to riffle, or who shall cast most upon the
Dice’ (Hexham).
=rig,= to search into, ransack; ‘And in the bowels of the earth
unsaciably to rig’, Golding, Metam. i. 138; ‘To . . . rig every corner’,
Gosson, Schoole of Abuse (ed. Arber, p. 54).
=rigell;= see =ridgel.=
=rin,= to run. Ascham, Scholemaster, bk. i (ed. Arber, p. 54); ‘They
ryde and rinne’, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 196. A north-country form
(EDD.). ME. _ryn_, to run (Wars Alex. 1352); _rynnand_, running
(Barbour’s Bruce, iii. 684).
=rine,= ‘rind’, the outside peel or bark; ‘Bark and rine’, Middleton,
Family of Love, iii. 3. 11; Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 111. So in Dorset
(Barnes’ Poems), see EDD.
=ring:= in phr. _cracked within the ring_; See =crack= (3).
=ring.= _Running at the ring_, a sport in which a tilter, riding at full
speed, endeavoured to thrust the point of his lance through, and to bear
away, a suspended ring. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, i. 1 (Ferdinand). Also
_riding at the ring_, Marston, Malcontent, i. 1 (Malevole).
=ringled,= provided with rings, ringed. Marlowe, Hero and Leander, ii.
143.
=ringman,= the ring finger, fourth finger. Ascham, Toxophilus (ed.
Arber, p. 109). Still in use in Cumberland, see EDD. ME. _ryngeman
fyngur_, ‘anularis’ (Cath. Angl.). In B. Jonson’s Alchemist, i. 1 (p.
243), Subtle says, ‘In chiromancy we give the fore-finger to Jove. The
ring (i.e. the ring-finger) to Sol.’ See Halliwell (s.v. Ring-finger).
=ringo-root,= an eater of eringo-root; a term of contempt. Marston,
Scourge of Villainy, Sat. vii. 112.
=ringtail,= the female of the hen-harrier. Used _fig._ Beaumont and Fl.,
Philaster, v. 4 (Captain). See NED.
=rippier, ripper,= an itinerant seller of fish; ‘Like a rippier’s legs
rolled up In boots of hay-ropes’, Chapman, Bussy d’Ambois, iii (Bussy);
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Higgen). Still in use in E. Anglia, Kent,
and Sussex, see EDD. (s.v. Ripp). See NED.
=rish,= a rush. Spelt _rishe_, Ascham, Scholemaster, pt. i (ed. Arber,
p. 54); pl. _rishes_, Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xix, c. 2; vol. ii, p.
7A. ‘Rish’ is in common use in Ireland and in many parts of England—in
Yorks., Cheshire, also in Kent and the south-west, see EDD. (s.v. Rush,
sb.^{1} (10)). OE. _risc_ (see Oldest English Texts, p. 503).
=risp,= a twig; esp. a limed twig for catching birds. Golding, Metam.
xv. 473; fol. 185, bk. (1603); ‘_Boschetto_, a grove . . . a rispe, a
lushe or lime-twigge to catch birds’, Florio (1598). See NED. and EDD.
=risse,= _pt. t._ and _pp._ of the vb. to rise. As pt. t. pl. (OE.
_rison_), B. Jonson, Catiline, iv. 2 (Cicero). As pp. (OE. _risen_),
id., iii. 2 (Cicero). The use of _risse_ for the pt. s. occurs in
Shirley, Duke’s Mistress, v. 4 (Horatio), and occasionally elsewhere.
‘Riss’ (‘ris’) is found as a prov. form for the pt. t. and pp. of ‘rise’
in Yorks., Linc., and Northants, see EDD.
=ritter,= a horse-soldier. Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracy, ii. 1 (Savoy).
G. _Ritter_, a knight, lit. a ‘rider’.
=rittlerattle,= a child’s rattle. Golding, Metam. ix. 692; fol. 118
(1603); Latin text, _Sistraque_. See NED.
=rivage,= shore, bank. Hen. V, iii, chorus; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 20. F.
_rivage_.
=rive,= to fire a cannon, so as almost to burst it. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 2.
29; to be split, Tr. and Cr. i. 1. 35. See Dict.
=rive= [riv], for _riven_, pp. of _rive_, to tear. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11.
5 (riming with ‘give’). ‘Riv’, pp., is in prov. use in Linc. and E.
Anglia (EDD.).
=rivelled,= wrinkled; spelt _ryvilde_, More, Chron. Richard III (ed.
1883, 54), ‘Rivelled fruits’, Dryden, All for Love, Prol. 40; pleated,
gathered in small folds, ‘Capes pleated and ryveled’, Stubbes, Anat.
Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 74); twisted, Marlowe and Nashe, Dido, iii. 1
(Dido). In prov. use in Shropshire, Heref., and Dorset (EDD.). ME.
_riveled_, wrinkled (Gower, C. A. viii. 2829). OE. _rifelede_, ‘rugosus’
(Napier’s Glosses, 187. 78).
=rivo!,= an exclamation used at drinking-bouts. ‘_Rivo_, sayes the
drunkard’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 124; Massinger. Renegado, ii. 6 (Gazet). In
Portuguese ships they use the cry _Arriba! Arriba!_, ‘Up! Up!’, for
summoning sailors to their work. See Stanford.
=road,= a ‘raid’, inroad, incursion. Hen. V, i. 2. 138; Beaumont and
Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, i. 1 (1 Ambassador).
=roarer;= the same as =roaring boy,= q. v. Massinger, Renegado, i. 3
(Gazet); A Woman never vext, i. 1 (Brewen); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii.
102.
=roaring,= the language of ‘roarers’, or bullies. Ford, Lover’s
Melancholy, iii. 1 (Cuculus); their behaviour, Heywood, The Fair Maid,
i. 3 (Spencer).
=roaring boys,= a cant term for the insolent bloods and vapourers whose
delight was to annoy well-behaved citizens. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii.
1 (Castruccio). There was but one _roaring girl_, viz. Mary Frith, or
Moll Cutpurse, the heroine of Middleton’s play entitled The Roaring
Girl.
=Roaring-Meg.= ‘In this (Edinburgh) Castle is one of the largest Canons
in Great Britain, called Roaring-Megg’, Brome, Trav. (ed. 1707, p. 195);
Churchyard, Siege of Ed. Castle (NED.). Hence, a huge cannon, Middleton,
Blurt, Mr. Constable.
=roat;= See =rote= (2).
=rochet,= a fish; the red gurnard. B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 6 (Corvino);
Drayton, Pol. xxv. 104.
=rochet,= the blunt iron head of a tilting weapon. Caxton, Hist. Troye,
lf. 124, back, 17. F. ‘_rochet_, the blunt iron head of a tilting-staff’
(Cotgr.). OF. _rochet_, ‘fer de la lance’ (Didot).
=rock,= a distaff. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 1 (l. 5 from end);
Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, vi. 77. Still in use in the north country,
Midlands, and E. Anglia (EDD.). Icel. _rokkr_.
=rocket,= a ‘rochet’, an outer garment, a kind of cloak or mantle.
Skelton, El. Rummyng, 54; a vestment of linen, usually worn by bishops
and abbots, chiefly Scottish (NED). [‘With mitre sheen and rocquet
white’, Sir W. Scott, Marmion, vi. 11.] O. Prov. _roquet_, ‘rochet,
surplis’ (Levy); Norm. F. _roquet_, manteau court (Moisy).
=rocket,= a blunt-headed lance. Ld. Berners, Froissart, II. clxii. See
=rochet= (2).
=rockray,= a line or reef of rocks. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii, l.
20 from end. _Ray_ = F. _raie_, Med. L. _riga_ (Ducange).
=Roger,= a goose (Cant). Harman, Caveat, p. 83; Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush,
v. 1 (Higgen). In both passages, _Tib of the buttery_ is given as
another cant name for the goose. See Halliwell.
=roile, royle,= an inferior or spiritless horse. Skelton, ed. Dyce, ii.
76; ‘That horse which tyreth like a roile’, Gascoigne, Complaint of
Philomene (ed. Arber, 117); ‘A timorouse royle’, Sir T. Elyot, bk. i,
ch. 17 (ed. Croft, i. 178); a draught-horse of Flemish breed, ‘The
Flemish roile’, Harrison, Desc. England, iii. 1 (NED.).
=roile,= to wander, to roam about. Udall, Roister Doister, ii. 3
(Tibet); Golding, tr. Metam. iii. 55; ‘To royle abroad, _divagari_’,
Levins, Manip.; Turbervile, Hunting (ed. 1575, p. 141). ME. _roile_, to
roam about (Chaucer, C.T. D. 653, Lansd. MS.); _roylyn_ or gone ydyl
abowte, ‘vagor, discurro’ (Prompt. 436). See Notes to Piers Plowman, B.
x. 297, p. 94.
=roister, royster,= a bully, a noisy reveller; ‘Dissolute swordmen and
suburb roysters’, Milton, Eikonoklastes, iv; ‘_Rustre_, a royster,
swaggerer’, Cotgrave. Still in use in Scotland and Yorks. (EDD.). See
Dict. (s.v. Roistering).
=roisting,= the conduct of roisterers, blustering. Disobedient Child, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 300; boisterous, uproarious, Tr. and Cr. ii. 2.
208.
=roke,= to search, rummage; ‘Roking in the ashes’, Gammer Gurton’s
Needle, i. 4 (Gammer). See EDD. (s.v. Rauk, 3).
=rom,= good, phr. _rom bouse_, good wine (Cant). Middleton, Roaring
Girl, v. 1 (Song). See =Rom-vile.=
=romage,= bustle, commotion. Hamlet, i. 1. 107. Still in use in
Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Rummage, 6).
=rombelow=(=e,= a cry used by sailors when rowing; ‘Heve and how
rombelow, row the bote, Norman, rowe!’, Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 252;
‘Some songe heve and howe rombelowe’, Cocke Lorell’s Bote. ME.
_rumbeloo_ (Coer de Lion, 2522). See NED. (s.v. Rumbelow).
=romekin,= some kind of drinking-vessel; ‘Large Saxon Romekins’,
Davenant, The Wits, iv. 1 (Thwack). Cp. Du. _roemer_, a wine-glass
(Sewel). See NED. (s.v. Rumkin^{1}).
=Rom-vile,= a cant term for London. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Song). _Rom_, i.e. good, refers to _Rommany_, gipsy; _vile_ = F.
_ville_, town. See =rom.=
=rondure, roundure,= a circle, circular or rounded form. Dekker, O.
Fortunatus, i. 1 (Fortune); King John, ii. 259; Shak. Sonnets, xxi. 8.
F. _rondeur_, roundness (Cotgr.).
=ront,= a runt, an ox or cow of a small size. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb.,
5. Du. _rund_, ‘a runt, a bullock or an oxe’ (Hexham).
=ronyon;= see =runnion.=
=roodes.= In Mirror for Mag., Harold, st. 23, apparently used in the
sense of ‘crosses’, vexations.
=rook,= _reflex_, to crouch, squat; ‘The raven rook’d her on the
chimney’s top’, 3 Hen. VI, v. 6. 47. Still in use in various parts of
England; see EDD. (s.v. Rook, vb.^{3}). ME. _rouken_ (Chaucer). See
=rucke.=
=room,= widely. _Roomer_, more widely, farther away, Sir J. Harington on
Bishops (Nares). OE. _rūme_, widely. See NED. (s.v. Room, adv.).
=roome mort, rome mort,= a great lady, lady of high rank (Cant). B.
Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Patrico); ‘_Rome mort_, the quene’,
Harman, Caveat, p. 84. _Rome_, excellent (in Rommany); See =mort= (2).
=rope:= in phr. _to run upon the ropes_, to act the part of a
rope-dancer, Puritan Widow, iv. 3. 41.
=roperipe,= ripe for the rope, fit for being hanged. Tusser, Husbandry,
§ 92. 3; Chapman, May Day, iii; Wilson, Arte of Rhetorique; Minsheu; see
Nares.
=ropery,= knavery. Romeo, ii. 4. 154; Fletcher, The Chances, iii. 1
(Landlady); cp. _roper_, ‘one who deserves the rope’ (NED.);
rope-tricks, knave’s tricks, Taming Shrew, i. 2. 112.
=rosa solis,= i.e. ‘Rose of the Sun’, an alcoholic cordial variously
flavoured with spices; ‘Run for some _Rosa-solis_’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Scornful Lady, iv. 1 (Martha); T. Cogan, Haven of Health, 226;
Middleton, Blurt, iii. 3; name of a herb, ‘The herb called _Rosa-Solis_,
whereof they make Strong Waters’, Bacon, Nat. Hist., Cent. v, § 495. See
Stanford.
=rosaker,= alteration of _rosalger_, realgar, disulphide of arsenic; ‘A
tabacco-pipe . . . little better than ratsbane or rosaker’, B. Jonson,
Every Man in Hum. iii. 5 (Cob). Port. _rosalgár_, ‘réalgar, sulfure
d’arsenic’ (Roquette); Span. _rejalgar_; ‘le terme signifie propremont
_poudre de caverne_, et je suppose qu’on a donné ce nom à l’arsenic,
parce qu’on le tirait des mines d’argent’, Dozy, Glossaire des Mots
dérivés de l’Arabe, p. 332.
=rose.= The three-farthing pieces of Queen Elizabeth were very thin, and
had the profile of the sovereign with a rose at the back of the head;
see King John, i. 143. ‘Yes, ’tis three-pence, I smell the rose’,
Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, Pt. I, iii. 4 (Firk).
=rose,= a rosette; a knot of ribands, worn on the front of a shoe.
Webster, White Devil (Brachiano), ed. Dyce, p. 41; Devil’s Law-case, ii.
1 (Ariosto); B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, i. 2 (Pug).
=rose-noble,= a variety of the noble, stamped with a rose, of varying
value; sometimes worth 16_s_. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4
(Captain).
=roset,= roseate, rosy. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 591 (L. _purpureum_);
vii. 26 (L. _roseis_).
=rosiall,= rosy. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 12, § 2 (first ed.
1531). [I suggest that the name ‘Rosiall’, occurring thrice in the poem
called the Courte of Love, was suggested by this passage; and that the
Courte of Love was later than 1581, and later than Thynne’s Chaucer, ed.
1532.]
=rosiere,= a rose-bush. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 19. F. _rosier_ (Cotgr.);
L. _rosarium_; from _rosa_, a rose.
=ros-marine,= rosemary; ‘Wholesome dew, called ros-marine’, B. Jonson,
Masque of Blackness (Æthiopia). L. _rosmarinum_, rosemary, lit. marine
dew (Pliny). F. _rosmarin_, rosemarie (Cotgr.). See Alphita, p. 155
(s.v. Ros marinus).
=rost:= in phr. _to rule the rost_, to be absolute in authority, to
domineer. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 813; Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 429. See
=rule the roast.=
=rote,= a musical instrument, a lyre. Spenser, ii. 10. 3; iv. 9. 6. ME.
_rote_, a kind of fiddle (Chaucer), OF. _rote_ (Didot), O. Prov. _rota_,
‘rote, instrument à cordes’ (Levy), also OHG. _rota_ (Schade); probably
of Celtic origin, cp. O. Irish _crot_, a harp, lyre; Mod. Irish _cruit_
(Dinneen), whence ME. _croude_ (Wyclif, Luke xv. 25). See Dict.
=rote, roat,= to repeat, as an echo does; to repeat a tune or song.
Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymph, vi (Melanthus, 8); ‘The echoes . . .
each to other diligently rotes’, id., David and Goliath.
=rother,= a ‘rudder’; hence, controlling power. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid,
vi. 859; Mirror for Mag., Clarence, st. 12. ME. _rother_ (Gower, C. A.
ii. 2494); OE. _rōðer_, a steering-paddle.
=rouke,= to squat, crouch, used _fig._; ‘Bookes that happlye rouke in
studentes mewes’, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, Ded. (ed. Arber, 7). See
=rucke.=
=rouncival, rownseval,= huge, gigantic, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii.
690 (with reference to the Cyclopean monsters); spelt _rounceval_, a
woman of large build and boisterous manners, Heywood, Golden Age, A. ii
(Jupiter); Nashe, Saffron Walden (Grosart, iii. 52). See =runcival
pease.=
=round,= to whisper. King John, ii. 1. 566. In prov. use in England and
Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Roun). ME. _rownen_ (Chaucer, C. T. D. 241);
OE. _rūnian_.
=round,= a dance in which the performers move in a ring; a song by two
or more persons in turn. Macbeth, iv. 1. 130; Fletcher, Faithful
Shepherdess, i. 2 (Thenot).
=round:= phr. _gentlemen of the round_, soldiers whose business it was
to go round and inspect the sentinels and watches. B. Jonson, Every Man
in Hum. iii. 5 (E. Knowell); ‘The round? an excellent way to train up
soldiers’, Middleton, The Witch, i. 1 (near the end).
=round,= plain-spoken, direct. Middleton, A Mad World, i. 2 (Harebrain);
Twelfth Night, ii. 3. 104; Hamlet, iii. 1. 192.
=roundly,= readily, without hesitation or preface. Taming Shrew, iii. 2.
216; iv. 4. 108; v. 2. 21; Richard II, ii. 1. 122; ‘Will come off
roundly’ (i.e. will pay handsomely), Middleton, The Widow, iv. 2
(Latrocinio); in a plain outspoken manner, Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby,
59). Still in prov. use (EDD.).
=rous,= with a bounce, bang! Buckingham, The Rehearsal, iii. 2 (Bayes).
‘Rouse’ (pronounced with voiceless _s_), meaning ‘noisily’, ‘with a
crash’, is in prov. use in Devon and Somerset (EDD.).
=rouse,= a bumper, a full draught of liquor; ‘I have took a rouse or two
too much’, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, iii. 4. 10; a drinking
bout, Hamlet, i. 2. 126; Marlowe, Faustus, iii. 4. 20. Norw. dial.
_ruus_, a headache from drinking (Aasen); Dan. _rus_, intoxication:
_sove rusen ud_, to sleep out one’s drunken fit; see Larsen; cp. Du.
_roes_: ‘_eenen roes drinken_, to drink till one is fuddled; _hy heeft
eenen roes weg_, he is fuddled’ (Sewel).
=rout,= a number of animals going together; ‘Of fallow beasts the
company is called an _heard_, and of blacke beasts it is called a rout,
or a sounder’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 37; p. 100. Norm. F. _route_,
‘troupe’ (Moisy). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Route).
=rout,= to assemble together. Roister Doister, iv. 7. 2; Bacon, Life of
Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 66). See Dict. M. and S.
=rove,= to shoot with arrows at a mark selected at pleasure or at
random, and not of any fixed distance. Drayton, Pol. xxvi. 122; Warner,
Albion’s England, ii. 9. 39; Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 35; ‘She rovde at me
with glauncing eye’, Shep. Kal., Aug., 79; to shoot an arrow without
fixed aim, ‘Manie bowlts were roved after him’, Harington in Nugae Ant.
(NED.); _a rovynge marke_, a mark placed at an uncertain distance,
Ascham, Toxophilus, 145; _rovers_, arrows used for this kind of
shooting, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, Masque 2 (Cupid); _to shoot at
rovers_, to shoot at random, ‘Love’s arrows are but shot at rovers’,
Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 941; ‘Cato talked at rovers’ (i.e. at random),
Udall, tr. Apoph., Pompey, § 14.
=rowel,= to insert a circular piece of leather, with a hole in the
centre, into a wound, to cause a discharge of humours; to insert a kind
of seton; ‘He has been ten times rowelled’, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful
Lady, iii. 2 (Young Loveless).
=rowen,= the second growth of grass in a season, the aftermath, eddish;
the second crop of hay. Tusser, Husbandry, § 57. 25; Worlidge, Syst.
Agric.; Blount, Glossogr. (s.v. Edish); _rowen grass_, Holland, Pliny,
xviii. 28; _rowen hay_, id., _rowen partridge_, a partridge frequenting
a field of ‘rowen’, id., Plutarch’s Morals, 570 (NED.); also _rowen_,
‘As for the partridges . . . the old rowens full subtilly seeme to
wait’, id., 219. The word ‘rowen’ in various forms is in prov. use from
Linc. and Worc. to Kent and Hants. (EDD.). ME. _raweyne hey_, ‘fenum
serotinum’ (Prompt.); _rewayn_ (in Bp. Hatfield’s Survey, ann. 1382,
Surtees, 170). Norm.F. *_rewain_ (mod. Picard _rouain_) = F. _regain_;
_gaïn_ = Romanic type _guadīmen_, _wadīmen_, of Germ. origin, cp. OHG.
_weida_, pasture (Schade). See Thomas, Essais Phil. Fr. (s.v. Regain),
p. 371.
=royal,= a gold coin of the value of ten shillings, in Shaks., not
expressly mentioned, but alluded to by way of punning, Richard II, v. 5.
67; 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 157; 2 Hen. IV, i. 2. 28.
=royne,= to grumble, to murmur discontentedly; ‘Yet did he murmure with
rebellious sound and softly royne’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 33. A
north-country word (EDD.). See NED.
=royne,= to pare away, curtail, alter. Phaer, Aeneid x, 35 (L. _Flectere
iussa_). OF. _roignier_, to cut so as to round off. See =proine= (to
prune).
=roynish,= scurvy, poor. As You Like It, ii. 2. 8; rough, coarse,
Tusser, Husbandry, § 102. Cp. F. ‘_rongneux_, scurvie, mangy’;
‘_rongne_, the mange’ (Cotgr.); mod. F. _rogne_, _rogneux_.
=rub,= in a card-game, to take all the cards in a suit. Heywood, A Woman
killed, iii. 2 (Wendoll); with a quibbling reference to _rob_;
‘_Piller_, to rub, or rob, at cards’, Cotgrave.
=ruck,= a huge fabulous bird, supposed to be bred in Madagascar.
Drayton, Noah’s Flood (footnote—the mighty Indian bird); Burton, Anat.
Mel. ii. 2. 2; Herrick, Misc. Poems, 7 (NED.). Arab. _rukhkh_. See
Stanford (s.v. Roc).
=ruck,= to belch forth, utter. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 488. L.
_ructare_. See NED.
=rucke,= to couch, squat; ‘On the house did rucke A cursed owle’,
Golding, Metam. xv. 400; Warner, Albion’s England, vii. 37. 121. Still
in use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Ruck, vb.^{5}). ME.
_rukkyn_ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 1851). See =rook, rouke.=
=ruddock,= the redbreast or robin. Spenser, Epithal. 82; Cymbeline, iv.
2. 224. In common prov. use in Scotland, and in many parts of England
(EDD.). ME. _ruddok_ (Prompt), OE. _rudduc_.
=ruddock,= a gold coin. Sir John Oldcastle, i. 2. 158; London Prodigal,
ii. 1. 36; Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1. See Nares.
=rudesby,= an unmannerly or boorish person. Golding, Metam. v. 583; fol.
64, back (1603).
=ruelle,= the space in a bedroom between the bed and the wall. Etherege,
Man of Mode, iv. 2 (Sir Fopling); Farquhar, Constant Couple, i. 1
(Wildair). ME. _ruel_ (P. Plowman, C. x. 79); F. ‘_ruelle: la ruelle du
lict_, the space between the bed and the wall’ (Cotgr.).
=ruffe,= ‘the Card-game called Ruffe or Trump’, so Cotgrave (s.v.
Triomphe); Peele, Old Wives’ Tale (Clunch); the trump card, ‘the Ruff at
Cards, _Charta dominatrix_’, Coles, Eng.-Lat. Dict., 1699. Ital.
_ronfa_, a card-game (Florio), perhaps a popular corruption of
_trionfo_; F. ‘_triomphe_, a Trump at cards’ (Cotgr.).
=ruffe,= the highest pitch of some exalted or excited condition; ‘Wher
is all the ruffe of thy gloriousnes become?’, Latimer, 2nd Serm. bef.
Edw. VI (ed. Arber, 49); excitement, passion, fury, Golding, Metam.
xiii. 296 (NED.); Gascoigne (ed. Arber, ii. 94).
=ruffin,= the name of a fiend, Chester Plays, v. 166; the Devil,
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); ‘I sweare by the Ruffin’,
Brome, Jovial Crew, ii (Wks., ed. 1873, iii. 389).
=ruffin,= a ruffian, a man of brutal character, Plot, Staffordshire.
291; as adj., appropriate to a ruffian, ‘His ruffin raiment’, Spenser,
F. Q. i. 4. 34.
=ruffler,= one of a class of vagabonds prevalent in the 16th century.
Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll). See Nares.
=ruffmans,= a cant term for a hedge. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Trapdoor). See =darkmans.=
=ruffpeck,= bacon (Cant). ‘_Ruff peck_, bacon’, Harman, Caveat, p. 83;
‘Here’s ruffpeck and casson’ (i.e. bacon and cheese), Brome, Jovial
Crew, ii. 1 (Song).
=rug-gown,= a gown made of rug or coarse frieze; worn by watchmen;
hence, allusively, a watchman; ‘There a whole stand of rug-gowns routed
manly’, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iv. 2 (Launcelot); also, worn by
astrologers, ‘You sky-staring coxcombs . . . you are good for nothing
but to . . . make rug-gowns dear’, B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum. iii.
2 (Sordido); Marston, What you Will, iv. 1 (Lampatho).
=rule,= course of proceeding, line of conduct. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 132.
ME. _rule_, conduct (York Myst. xxvi. 34).
=rule,= disorder, stir, riot; ‘What a rule is there! _Quid turbae
est!_’, W. Walker, Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 381; ‘Such rule and ruffle make
the rowte that cum to see our geare’, Drant, Horace, Ep. ii. 1; ‘What a
reul’s here. You make a nice reul’, Thorseby, Letter to Ray (EDD.).
‘Reul’ (or ‘Rule’) appears in EDD. as a north-country word, meaning to
behave in a rude, disorderly manner. It is identical with the prov. word
‘roil’, to be noisy, boisterous, turbulent, see EDD. (s.v. Roil, vb.^{2}
1).
=rule the roast,= to be absolute master; ‘I am my lady’s cook, and king
of the kitchen; where I rule the roast, command imperiously, and am a
very tyrant in my office’, Nabbes, Microcosmus, iii. 1 (Tasting). The
origin of the phrase is obscure; but it may easily have arisen, as here
suggested, from the sway exercised by a master-cook; the same phrase is
used of a cook by Earle, Microcosmographie, § 25 (ed. Arber, p. 46).
=ruless,= rule-less, unruly. Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 431.
=ruly,= orderly, law-abiding, amenable to law. Warner, Alb. England, bk.
ix, ch. 40, st. 20.
=rumbelo,= rumbling, resounding; ‘Great bouncing rumbelo thund’ring
Ratleth’, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 101. See =rombelow=(=e==.=
†=rumming= (?); ‘Much like a rumming streame’, Twyne, Aeneid x, 603 (L.
_torrentis aquae_).
=run at the ring;= See =ring= (2).
=runcival pease,= runcival peas, peas of a large size, Tusser,
Husbandry, § 41. 9. See =rouncival.=
=rundle,= applied to the spherical surface of the earth. Lyly, Woman in
the Moon, i. 1. 11. Hence _rundled_, circular, Chapman, tr. of Iliad,
vii. 239.
=runnion= (=ronyon=), an abusive term applied to a woman. Macbeth, i. 3.
6; Merry Wives, iv. 2. 195.
=rush-buckler,= a swash-buckler, noisy ruffian; ‘Stoute bragging
russhe-bucklers’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 82).
=rushes,= with which floors were strewed, before the introduction of
carpets. 2 Hen. IV, v. 5. 1.
=russeting,= a kind of ruddy apple. Chapman, The Ball, ii. 1 (Barker).
See Dict. (s.v. Russet).
=russet-pated;= ‘Russet-pated choughs’, with heads of a reddish-brown
colour, Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 21.
=rutter,= a cavalry soldier, esp. a German one; ‘You are a Rutter, borne
in Germanie’, Kyd, Sol. and Pers. i. 3; ‘Almain rutters’, Marlowe,
Faustus, i. 1 (Valdes); ‘Regiment of rutters’, Beaumont and Fl., Woman’s
Prize, i. 4 (Sophocles). Du. _ruiter_, a trooper, horseman (Sewel); cp.
O. Prov. _rotier_, a trooper, half soldier, half robber; _rota_, a band
of men, a troop (Appel); Med. L. _rupta_ ‘cohors’ (Ducange, s.v.
Rumpere, p. 237, col. 3).
=ruttock,= a staff, stick. Only in Udall, tr. of Apoph., Antigonus, §
10; _rottocke_, id., Diogenes, § 116.
=rutty,= full of ‘roots’ of trees. Spenser, Prothalamion, 12.
=rye-strew,= a straw of rye; applied derisively to a heavy weapon.
Heywood. Four Prentises (Eustace), vol. ii, p. 203.
S
=sack,= a loose kind of gown worn by ladies. Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed.
Dyce, p. 516).
=sackage, saccage,= the act of sacking (a city, &c.); ‘The saccage of
Carthage’, Holland, tr. Pliny, I. xv. 18. 443; _to saccage_, to sack or
plunder, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, i. 24, p. 63. Fr. _saccager_, to sack,
ransack, pillage (Cotgr.).
=sackful,= given to plundering; ‘Sackful troops’, Mirror for Mag.,
Robert, D. of Normandy, st. 40; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, ii. 601.
=sackless,= guiltless, innocent, Greene, Isabel’s Sonnet, l. 9 (ed.
Dyce, p. 299); _sakeles_, Gascoigne, Works, i. 379. In common prov. use
in the north country (EDD.). ME. _sakless_, innocent (Barbour’s Bruce,
xx. 175). OE. _saclēas_, free from charge, guiltless (Matt. xxviii. 14,
Lind.).
=sacrament,= an oath. B. Jonson, Catiline, i. 1 (Cat.). L.
_sacramentum_, the military oath of allegiance; also, an oath, a solemn
engagement.
=sacring-bell,= the small bell rung at the elevation of the host. Hen.
VIII, iii. 2. 295. Deriv. of the vb. _sacre_, to consecrate the elements
in the Eucharist, ‘I sacre, I halowe, _Je sacre_’, Palsgrave. ME.
_sacryn_ or halwyn, ‘consecro’ (Prompt.).
=sad,= settled, steadfast, constant. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 45;
‘Settled in his face I see Sad resolution and secure’, Milton, P. L. vi.
541; grave, serious, Bacon, Adv. Learning, ii. 23. 5; grave, sober (of
attire), F. Q. i. 10. 7. ME. _sad_ or sobyr, ‘maturatus, agelastes’
(Prompt.).
=sadness,= seriousness, gravity. 3 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 77. ME. _sadnesse_
in poorte and chere, ‘soliditas, maturitas’ (Prompt.).
=safe,= to make safe, to secure. Ant. and Cl. i. 3. 55; _saft_, pt. t.,
Chapman, tr. of Iliad, viii. 291; pp., id., 444.
=safeguard,= an outer skirt worn by women to protect their dress when
riding; ‘Enter _Moll_, in a frieze jerkin and a black safeguard’,
Middleton, Roaring Girl, ii. 1; Fletcher, Noble Gentleman, ii. 1
(Marine). Formerly in prov. use in the west country in Devon, pronounced
‘seggard’; see (EDD.) (s.v. Safeguard). See Nares.
=saffo,= a serjeant, catchpole. B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 5 (Vol.); v. 8
(1 Avoc). Ital. ‘_zaffo_ (_saffo_), a common serjeant or base
catch-pole, specially in Venice’ (Florio).
=sag=(=g,= to sink or subside gradually; ‘The Elme and the Ash are
tough, howbeit they will soone settle downward and sag, being charged
with any weight’, Holland, Pliny, i. 492; _fig._ (of the mind), ‘The
minde I sway by . . . shall never sagge with doubt’, Macbeth, v. 3. 10;
_sagge_, hanging or sagging down, Herrick, Oberon’s Feast, 27. In gen.
prov. use in England and Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Sag, vb.^{2}). ME.
_saggyn_ (Prompt.).
=sagg,= to drag oneself along wearily or feebly. Drayton, Pol. xvi. 219;
Twyne, tr. Aeneid, x. 283. Norw. dial. _sagga_, to walk heavily and
slowly from weariness (Ross).
=saine,= _pr. pl._, they say. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 55. ME. _seien_,
pr. pl. P. Plowman).
=saint,= a card-game; see =cent.=
=Saint Nicholas’ clerk,= a highwayman. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 67; Rowley, A
Match at Midnight, i. 1 (Randall). See Nares (s.v. Nicholas).
=Saint Thomas à Waterings,= a place anciently used for executions for
the county of Surrey, as Tyburn for Middlesex. It was situated at the
second milestone on the Kent road, near a brook, a place for watering
horses, whence its name; dedicated to St. Thomas Beket, being the first
place of any note on the road to Canterbury: ‘And forth we riden . . .
Unto the watering of seint Thomas, And there our host bigin his hors
areste’, Chaucer, C. T. A. 826. The allusions to this spot as a place of
execution are numerous; ‘He may perhaps take a degree at Tyburn . . .
come to read a lecture Upon Aquinas, at St. Thomas à Watering’s, And so
go forth a laureat in hemp circle’, B. Jonson, New Inn, i (Host). See
Nares (s.v. Waterings).
=saker,= a kind of falcon. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xv. 696; Middleton,
Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Alvarez); also, a kind of ordnance or cannon,
Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 3 (Bots); Butler, Hud. i. 2. 355. This
word for a falcon is common to all the Latin nations; of Arabic origin,
see Dozy, Glossaire, 338.
=sale,= a willow; used by Spenser to signify a wicker basket made of
willow-twigs for catching fish. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec., 81. See EDD.
(s.v. Seal, sb.^{3}). OE. _sealh_, a willow.
=sale,= a hall, large chamber. Morte Arthur, bk. xvii, ch. 16 (p. 713);
The World and the Child, l. 12, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 243. F. _salle_
(_sale_), a hall (Cotgr.).
=saliant,= sportive, lively. Fletcher, The Chances, iv. 3 (Petruccio).
From the heraldic use, as ‘lion _saliant_’. Anglo-F. _saillant_, pres.
pt. of _sailler_, to leap (Ch. Rol. 2469).
=saliaunce,= assault, onslaught, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 29. Anglo-F.
_assaillir_, to attack (Ch. Rol. 2564); _saillir_ (Wace, Rom. de Rou,
2595).
=sallet,= a light head-piece. 2 Hen. VI, iv. 10. 13; Thersites, 55 (ed.
Pollard). Often used with a quibble referring to _sallet_, a form of
_salad_; as in Tusser, Husbandry, § 40. 1. O. Prov. _salada_, sorte de
casque (Levy), F. _salade_, ‘a salade, helmet, head-piece’ (Cotgr.),
Ital. _celata_, ‘a morion, a casket, an helmet’ (Florio). See Nares.
=Salmon, Salomon,= the sacrament or oath of the beggars; ‘Salomon, a
alter or masse’, Harman, Caveat, 83; ‘A part too of our salmon’, B.
Jonson, Gipsies Metam. (2 Gipsy); ‘By the Salomon’, Middleton, Roaring
Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor); ‘By Salmon’, Brome, Jovial Crew (NED.).
=salpa,= a kind of stock-fish. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 11. L.
_salpa_ (Pliny).
=salt.= A salt-cellar was usually placed near the middle of a long
table, to divide the company according to their social rank; those of
inferior distinction being placed _below the salt_. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s
Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury). _Above the salt_, Massinger, Unnat. Combat,
iii. 1 (Steward).
=salt,= a leap, esp. one made by a horse. Webster, White Devil
(Lodovico), ed. Dyce, p. 34; B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 2 (Wittipol).
L. _saltus_, a leap.
=saltimbanco,= a mountebank, a quack. Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk.
i, c. 3, § 11; _saltinbancho_, Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 1007. Ital.
_saltimbanco_, a mountebank; from _saltare in banco_, to mount upon a
bench; ‘_Salta in banco_, as _Monta in banco_; _montáre in bánco_, to
play the mountebank’ (Florio). Span. ‘_Sálta en banco_, a mountebank’
(Stevens). See Stanford.
=salue,= to salute. Holland, Pliny II, 297; Udall, Apoph. 122; _salew_,
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 25. ME. _salue_, _salewe_ (Chaucer); F. _saluer_;
L. _salutare_.
=saluë, salvee,= some kind of boat; ‘Twentie Caruiles, and Saluees ten’,
Dekker, Wh. of Babylon, Works, ii. 257. NED. (s.v. Salve, 3) gives a
quotation of a passage which Dekker evidently copied, ‘There are 20
Carauels for the service of the above named Armie [the Armada], and
likewise 10 Saluës with sixe Oares a-peece’, Archdeacon, tr. True Disc.
Army, K. Spain, 38 (1588).
=salvage,= savage. Fletcher, Love’s Cure, iii. 2 (Picrato). Spenser, F.
Q. ii. 6. 39; ii. 8. 42. O. Prov. _salvatge_, ‘qui vit dans les bois,
sauvage, farouche’ (Levy); Med. L. _salvaticus_ (Ducange); cp. Ital.
_salvático_; L. _silvaticus_ (Pliny).
=salvatory,= a box for holding ointments. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, iv. 2
(Bosola); ‘The Surgeon’s Salvator or Salvatory or his Box of Unguents’,
Holme, Armoury, iii. 438; ‘_Salvatory_, a Surgeon’s Box, to hold Salves,
Ointments, and Balsams’, Phillips, Dict., 1706. In Med. L. _salvalorium_
is given in Ducange only with the meanings (1) _vivarium piscium_, (2)
_monasterium_, ‘ubi quis a mundi periculis tutus _salvatur_ seu
servatur’.
=salvee;= see =saluë.=
=sam,= together. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 168. ME. _sum_, together
(Cursor M. 9750); see NED. (s.v. Samen, adv.), and Dict. M. and S.
=sambuke,= a triangular stringed-instrument of a very sharp shrill tone.
Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 39). ME. _sambuke_ (Wyclif, Dan. iii. 5),
L. _sambuca_ (Vulgate), Gk. σαμβύκη (LXX).
=sambuke,= a military engine for storming walls. Peacham, Comp.
Gentleman, ix. 73. L. _sambuca_ (Vegetius).
=samite,= a rich silk stuff. Morte Arthur, leaf 344. 30; bk. xvi, c. 17;
leaf 380, back, 30; bk. xviii, c. 19 [Tennyson, Morte d’Arthur, 31 and
144]. O. Prov. _samit_, ‘étoffe de soie’ (Levy); Med. L. _examitum_;
Byz. Gk. ἑξάμιτον, lit. woven with six different kinds of thread; see
Ducange (s.v. Exametum); cp. Span. _xaméte_ (Stevens).
=sampire,= ‘samphire’. Drayton, Pol. xviii. 763; King Lear, iv. 6. 15;
_sampier_, Baret, Alvearie. F. ‘_herbe de S. Pierre_, sampire’ (Cotgr.).
=sampsuchine,= oil of marjoram. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2
(Amorphus). Gk. σαμψύχινον, of marjoram; σάμψυχον, marjoram.
=sanbenito.= Under the Spanish Inquisition a penitential garment of
yellow cloth, ornamented with a red St. Andrew’s cross before and
behind, worn by a confessed and penitent heretic; ‘The Inquisitors . . .
bringing with them certaine fooles coats . . . called . . . _S.
Benitos_’, M. Phillips in Hakluyt’s Voyages, iii. 480; a garment of a
black colour ornamented with flames, devils, and other devices worn by
an impenitent heretic at an auto-da-fé, ‘Sambenitas, painted with all
the flames and devils in hell’, Marvell, Reh. Transp. i. 276. In
Butler’s Hud. iii. 2. 1574, ‘Sambenites’ are referred to vaguely. The
garment was so called from _San Benito_, St. Benedict, from its
resemblance to the scapular introduced by St. Benedict. See NED. and
Stanford.
=sance-bell, saunce-bell,= corruptly =saint’s-bell,= the Sanctus-bell,
the bell orig. rung at the _Sanctus_ at Mass. The _Sanctus_ or
_Ter-sanctus_ refers to the word _sanctus_ (thrice repeated) in the
conclusion to the Eucharistic preface; in the English Liturgy ‘Holy,
holy, holy’. _Sance-bells_, pl., Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1 (Fool). Spelt
_saint’s bell_, Hall, Satires, bk. v, Sat. 1, l. 119; _saunce-bell_,
Fletcher, Nightwalker, iii. 3 (Toby). See NED. (s.v. Sanctus Bell).
=sanctus:= phr. _a black sanctus_, a burlesque hymn, accompanied by
discordant noises; a great discord. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 3
(Mirabel); Mad Lover, iv. 1 (Fool); _black Saunce_, Lyly, Endimion, iv.
2. 33. See Nares (s.v. Sanctus), and =tintamar.=
=sanglier,= a full-grown wild boar. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 37; p. 100;
Manwood, Lawes Forest, iv, § 5 (ed. 1615, 43). F. _sanglier_, Med. L.
_singularis_ (Vulg., Ps. lxxix. 14) = the μονιός of the LXX, meaning a
boar separated from the herd. See =singler.=
=sanjak.= In the Turkish Empire one of the administrative districts of a
‘vilayet’; _sangiacque_, Dacres, tr. Machiavelli’s Prince, 25 (NED.);
_sanzacke_, a governor of a sanjak, Massinger, Renegado, iii. 4
(Carazie); _sanziack_, Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 1677, 277);
_sandiack_, Shirley, Imposture, v. 1 (Volterino). Ital. _sangiacco_
(Florio), Turk. _sanjāq_, lit. a banner (NED.); _sanjac_, a province, T.
Herbert, Gram. Turk. Lang., 1709, p. 90. See Stanford.
=sanna,= a gesture of scorn. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2
(Amorphus). L. _sanna_, a grimace made in mockery (Juvenal). Gk. σάννας,
a buffoon; one who makes grimaces. See =stork’s bill.=
=sans,= without (a French word), As You Like It, ii. 7. 166; Temp. i. 2.
97.
=sapa,= new wine boiled thick. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 15. L.
_sapa_ (Pliny).
=sapor.= _Sapor Pontic_, _Sapor Styptic_: particular ‘Sapors’, savours
frequently mentioned by the alchemists as indicative of the nature or
condition of substances under examination. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1
(Subtle). L. _sapor_, taste.
=sarcocolla,= an Eastern gum-resin. Altered to _sacrocolla_, Middleton,
A Fair Quarrel, iv. 2 (Surgeon). Gk. σαρκοκόλλα; the name derived from
its power of healing or agglutinating wounds.
=sarell,= a seraglio. Marlowe, Tamburlaine, iii. 3 (Bajazet). F.
_sérail_, a seraglio; Pers. _serāi_, a palace (Hatzfeld). See Stanford
(s.v. Seraglio).
=sarza,= sarsaparilla. Bacon, Essay 27, § 2. See Dict.
=sasarara,= a corruption of _certiorari_, the name of a certain writ at
law. Revenger’s Tragedy, iv. 2 (Vindici); _sesarara_, Puritan Widow,
iii. 2. 81. See EDD. (s.v. Siserary), where the word is said to be in
prov. use in the sense of a violent scolding; in Devon the phr. _with a
siserary_ means ‘with a vengeance’ [‘I fell in love all at once with a
sisserara’, Sterne, T. Shandy, vi. 47 (Davies).]
=sattle,= to quiet, reduce to order. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xviii.
345; to become calm, ‘I sattyl or sober or appayse my-selfe’, Palsgrave.
Cp. ‘sattle’, the north-country word, meaning to put an end to a
quarrel, see EDD. (s.v. Sattle, vb.^{1}). ME. _sahtlen_, to bring to a
peaceful agreement, to reconcile (_sahhtlenn_ in Ormulum, 351); see
Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Sahtlien). OE. _sahtlian_ (Chron. ann. 1066).
Etym. doubtful; see NED.
=sattle,= to sink down gradually. Ascham, Toxophilus, 131. In prov. use
in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Sattle, vb.^{2} 3). ME. _sattle_
(York Plays, 328); _satlynge_, a sagging, ‘bassacio’ (Prompt.). See NED.
(s.v. Settle, vb., 13).
=saturity,= repletion. Herrick, Noble Numbers; Lasciviousness, 2;
_saturitie_, Udall, tr. Erasmus, on Matt. v. 6; Warner, Alb. England,
bk. v, ch. 24, st. 48. L. _saturitas_ (Pliny).
=satyrion,= the orchis. Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 5 (Sir Jolly). Gk.
σατύριον (Dioscorides). See Alphita, p. 158.
=saugh,= a ‘sough’, a channel, a trench. Drayton, Pol. iv. 168. ‘Sough’
in various forms is in common prov. use in England from the north
country to Bedfordshire, see EDD. (s.v. Sough, sb.^{2}).
=saulf,= ‘safe’. Sir T. Elyot, Governour (ed. Croft, see Glossary). F.
_saulf_, safe (Rabelais). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Sauf).
=saunce-bell;= see =sance-bell.=
=sawtry,= a ‘psaltery’, a kind of harp. Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 358.
ME. _sautrye_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 296).
=say,= to ‘assay’, to test the fitness of, to try on (clothes); ‘He
sayes his sute’, B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1 (Fashioner); to set
oneself to do something, Peele, Order of the Garter (ed. Dyce, 588);
‘Who sayd to wound faire Venus in the hand’, Heywood, 2nd Pt., Iron Age
(NED.). See Dict.
=say,= ‘assay’, temper of metal, proof; ‘A sword of better say’,
Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 47; a subject for testing, proving, ‘Still living
to be wretched To be a say to Fortune in her changes’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Knt. of the B. Pestle, iv. 4. 11. ‘To say’ for to assay, to test, prove,
is in prov. use in Scotland and many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Say, vb.^{2} 1).
=say:= phr. _to take the say_, to draw the knife along the belly of a
slain deer, to find how fat he is. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2.
10. For _assay_, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Marian). See Nares (s.v.
Say).
=scalado,= an escalade, attempt to scale a wall. Bacon, Henry VII (ed.
Lumby, p. 165). Span. _escalada_, ‘an escalade or taking a place with
scaling Ladders’ (Stevens). L. _scala_, a ladder.
=scale,= to attack with scaling ladders; ‘The citty had bene scaled and
sacked’, Greene, Euphues (Wks., ed. Grosart, vi. 220); ‘The hugy heaps
of cares . . . are scalèd from their nestling-place’, Peele, Sir Clyomon
(Wks., ed. Dyce, iii. 78). Ital. ‘_scalare_, to ascend by ladder’
(Florio); Span. _escalar_ (Stevens).
=scaledrake,= ‘a sheldrake’. Lady Alimony, ii. 2 (2 Boy). In prov. use
in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England (EDD.).
=scall,= a scab, blister, an eruption of skin on the head. BIBLE, Lev.
xiii. 30 (printed _skall_, ed. 1611); ‘Scurfe and dandruffe, running
ulcers and scals’, Holland, Pliny, xxiii. 1. In prov. use in Scotland
and north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Scall, sb.^{1}). ME. _scalle_
(Chaucer, Minor Poems, viii. 7).
=scald,= afflicted with the ‘scall’, scurfy; an epithet of
contempt, Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 215; Beaumont and Fl., Bloody
Brothers, i (Grandpree); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1
(Fluello). ME. _scalled_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 627).
=scamble,= to scramble, to struggle. Much Ado, v. 1. 94; Tusser,
Husbandry, § 51. 7. Hence, _scambling_, shambling, shuffling, Ford,
Love’s Sacrifice, v. 1 (Bianca); filching, id., Fancies Chaste, i. 3
(Livio). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
=scand,= _pp._, ascended, climbed up to. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 8. L.
_scandere_, to climb.
=scantle,= to scant, to limit; ‘Her scantled banks’, Drayton, Pol. xxiv.
12; The Owl, 1294; to shorten sail, Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 1
(1327); p. 134, col. 1.
=scantling,= limited measure. Bacon, Essay 55; a pattern, sample, Tr.
and Cr. i. 3. 341; ‘How Ovid’s scantlings with the whole true patterne
doo agree’, Golding, Ovid’s Metam., Epist. 379. ‘_Eschantillon_, a
scantling, sample, pattern, proof of any sort of Merchandise’, Cotgrave.
Anglo-F. _escauntiloun_ (Rough List).
=scar,= a steep bare bank, a cliff. Drayton, Pol. xxvii. 326. In prov.
use, see EDD. (s.v. Scar, sb.^{1}). Icel. _sker_, an isolated rock in
the sea.
=scarab,= a beetle, dung-beetle; a term of reproach. B. Jonson, Alchem.
i. 1. 59 (Subtle); Beaumont and Fl., Mad Lover, ii. 2 (Chilax). Gk.
σκάραβος, a beetle.
=Scarborough warning,= very short notice, or no notice at all; a
surprise. Heywood, Proverbs (ed. Farmer, 43); Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid,
iii. 345. See Nares, EDD. and NED.
=scarlet,= a scarlet gown, worn as a mark of dignity; He will be . . .
next spring call’d to the scarlet, B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle).
=scarmoge,= an irregular fight, a ‘skirmish’. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 34.
ME. _scarmuch_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 934), F. _escarmouche_, a
skirmish (Cotgr.); Ital. _scaramuccia_ (Florio).
=scartoccio,= a roll of paper. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1 (Vol.). Ital.
_scartoccio_, ‘a coffin of paper for spice, as apothecaries use’
(Florio). Cp. _cartoccio_, a piece of waste paper to put anything in. F.
_cartouche_, E. _cartridge_.
=scath,= harm, hurt, damage. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 18; iii. 4. 24. ME.
_scathe_, harm (Chaucer, C. T. A. 446); Icel. _skaði_.
=scatterling,= one of a wandering band of outlaws or robbers. Spenser,
F. Q. ii. 10. 63.
=scaure;= see =scour.=
=scerne,= to ‘discern’, perceive. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 22.
=schellum,= a rogue, scoundrel; ‘Where’s the Dutch _schellum_?’, Dekker,
If this be not a good Play (Pluto), Works, iii. 352; _skellum_, id.,
Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 1 (Firk). ‘Skellum’ is a north-country word
(EDD.). Du. _schelm_, a rogue (Hexham).
=sciatherical,= concerned with the recording of shadows, esp. on a
sundial. _Scioferical_, Tomkis, Albumazar, i. 7 (Alb.); _scioterical_,
Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v, c. 18, § 3. From Gk. σκιαθηρικός,
from σκαθήρας, a shadow-catcher, sun-dial; from σκιά, shadow, θηρᾶν, to
catch.
=scole,= a scale or dish of a balance. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 606;
xxii. 180. Icel. _skāl_, a bowl, the scale of a balance; Dan. _skaal_, a
bowl.
=scolopendra,= a milliped; one of the numerous nicknames for a
courtesan. Shirley, Gamester, ii. 2 (Hazard). L. _scolopendra_; Gk.
σκολόπενδρα, a milliped.
=scombre,= to void excrements. Maister of Game, c. 13; _skommer_,
Turbervile, Hunting, c. 12; p. 27. See =scumber.=
=scope,= a mark to aim at. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 155. Gk. σκοπός, a
mark.
=scorse, scourse,= to exchange, barter. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 16; B.
Jonson, Barth. Fair, iii. 1 (Waspe); Drayton, Pol. (ed. 1613. p. 196);
‘_Barater_, to scourse, barter’, Cotgrave; hence _skoser_, a
horse-corser, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 10 (ed. Croft, i. 63).
‘Scorse’ is in prov. use along the south coast (EDD.). See Notes on Eng.
Etym., p. 136.
=scot and lot,= a tax levied by a municipal corporation in proportionate
shares for the defraying of municipal expenses; phr. _to pay scot and
lot_, to pay out thoroughly; ‘Twas time to counterfet, or that hotte
Termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot’, 1 Hen. IV, v. 4. 115; B.
Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 7 (Cob). The word _scot_ = Anglo-F.
_escot_, a payment (Rough List). See =shot.=
=scot-free,= free from payment of one’s tavern score. B. Jonson, Every
Man in Hum. iii. 7 (Cob).
=scotomy,= dimness of sight, caused by dizziness. B. Jonson, Volpone, i.
1 (Mosca); Massinger, Old Law, iii. 2 (Simonides). Gk. σκότωμα, dimness;
from σκοτοῦν, to make dim. Gk. σκότος, darkness.
=scour,= to be purged, to have diarrhoea; ‘He continually scowred’,
Repentance of Robert Greene (NED.); ‘Poor young man, how he was bound to
scaure for it’, Vanbrugh, The Relapse, v. 3 (Nurse). ‘Scour’ (or ‘Scaur’
in Norfolk) is in prov. use for being afflicted with diarrhoea, see EDD.
(s.v. Scour, vb.^{1} 4).
=scour the queer cramp-ring,= to wear the prison fetters (Cant).
Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); ‘_skower the cramp-rings_, weare
fetters’, Harman, Caveat, p. 84; ‘_quyerkyn_ (= queer ken), a
pryson-house’, ib.
=’scourse,= for _discourse_; with a quibbling reference to _scourse_ or
_scorse_, to barter. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 2 (Pan).
=scout,= a slang term for a watch, or pocket time-piece; because a
_scout_ is a _watchman_. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, ii. 1 (Belfond
senior).
=scrag,= a scraggy creature, lean man. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii.
606.
=scrat,= to scratch. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, st. 115; ‘I scratte as a
beest dothe that hath sharp nayles, _Je gratigne_’, Palsgrave. In gen.
prov. use in the British Isles (EDD.). ME. _scrattyn_, or scracchyn
(Prompt.); to _scratte_, ‘scalpere’ (Cath. Angl.).
=scratches, the,= a disease of horses, in which the pasterns appear as
if scratched. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Knockem); ‘_Arestin_, the
scratches in a horses pasterne’, Minsheu, Span. Dict. (1623).
=scrawl, scraul,= to ‘crawl’. Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune, i. 1.
15; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 146; _scraul_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 49. 9.
See Nares (s.v. Scrall). In gen. prov. use in England (EDD.).
=screwed gun,= a gun furnished with a screwed barrel, i.e. having a
helically grooved bore. Dryden, Marriage a la Mode, v. 1 (Rhodophil).
First known in 1646.
=scrike,= to ‘shriek’. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 18. Swed. _skrika_, to
shriek. In prov. use in various parts of England. See EDD. (s.v.
Skrike).
=scrimer,= a fencer. Hamlet, iv. 7. 101. Cp. ‘scrim’ in prov. use for
striking vigorously, ‘scrimmish,’ a skirmish (EDD.). F. _escrimeur_, ‘a
fencer’; _escrimer_, ‘to fence, or play at fence, also, to lay hard
about him’ (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.v. Skirmish).
=scroyle,= a scoundrel; a term of contempt. King John, ii. 1. 373; B.
Jonson, Every Man in Hum. i. 1 (Stephen). Of obscure origin (NED.). See
Notes on Eng. Etym., 263.
=scruze,= to press out. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 56. A Glouc. word, see
EDD. (s.v. Scruse).
=scry,= to descry, perceive. Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 38; Stanyhurst, tr.
of Aeneid, i. 190. In prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v.
Scry, vb.^{2} 2). Norm. F. _escrier_, ‘explorer, chercher à découvrir’
(Moisy).
=scryne,= chest, ark. Spenser, Introd. to F. Q., st. 2. L. _scrinium_, a
box for keeping books, letters, &c.
=scull, skull,= a ‘school’ of fish, a ‘shoal’. Mirror for Mag., Shore’s
Wife, st. 29; Tr. and Cr. v. 5. 22 (ed. 1623); Milton, P. L. vii. 402; a
covey of pheasants, Lyly, Mydas, iv. 3 (Petulus); a troop, company,
Warner, Albion’s England, bk. i, ch. 6, st. 57. ‘Scull’ is in prov. use
in Hants. for a great number of people, see EDD. (s.v. School, sb.^{2}
2).
=scum, skumme,= to scour, with respect to land or sea; ‘There were sent
forth rydars to skumme the country’, Morte Arthur, leaf 26, back, 30;
bk. i, c. 13. F. ‘_escumer_; _escumer la mer_, to scowr, as a fleet, the
sea’ (Cotgr.); _escumeur_, ‘corsaire qui fait des courses sur mer,
pirate’ (Didot).
=scumber,= to void excrement, as a dog or fox. ‘_Fienter_, to dung,
scumber’, Cotgrave; ‘When they (hounds) are led out of their kennels to
scumber’, Massinger, Picture, v. 1 (Ricardo). Used in Cornwall of a bird
(EDD.). OF. _escombrer_, to clean out (Godefroy). See =bescumber,
scombre.=
=scur;= see =skirr.=
=scurer,= a scout, one sent forward to reconnoitre. Mirror for Mag.,
Guidericus, st. 36; ‘Out was our scurer sent agayn . . . to shew wher
aboute the place was’, More, Comfort ag. Tribulation (Wks., p. 1181).
OF. _descouvreur_, ‘espion, qui va à la découverte’ (Didot); Med. L.
_disco-operator_ (Ducange).
=scurrile,= scurrilous, vulgarly witty. Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 148; Two Noble
Kinsmen, v. 1. 153. L. _scurrilis_, buffoon-like; from _scurra_, a
buffoon.
=scut,= a hare. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 632. ME. _scut_, a hare
(Prompt.).
=scute,= a coin of small value. Chapman, All Fools, v. 1 (Valerio). In
prov. use from Dorset to Cornwall for a sum of money, see EDD. (s.v.
Scute, sb.^{1}). Properly an E. name for the French coin called _ėcu_,
OF. _escut_, L. _scutum_, a shield.
=sdayn,= to disdain. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 44.
=sea-card,= the card on which the points of the compass were marked.
Fletcher, The Chances, i. 10 (near the end). See =card.=
=sea-holm,= sea-holly. Drayton, Pol. i. 125. Cp. _holm-oak_; and see
=eringo.=
=seam,= fat, grease. Tr. and Cr. ii. 3. 195; Dryden, tr. Aeneid, vii.
867. In gen. prov. use in the British Isles, see EDD. (s.v. Saim). ME.
_seim_, grease (Ancr. R. 412). Anglo-F. _saim_, ‘adeps’ (Ps. lxii. 6),
cp. Ital. _saime_, O. Prov. _sagin_ (_saīn_), ‘graisse’ (Levy), Med. L.
_sagimen_, ‘adeps, sagina’ (Ducange).
=searce, searse,= to sift through a sieve. Webster, Devil’s Law-case,
ii. 1 (Ariosto). ‘Searce’ was formerly a widely spread prov. word for a
fine sieve; as a vb. ‘to sift’ it still appears in Northumbrian and
Kentish Glosses (EDD.). ME. _sarce_, a sieve (Prompt.); _sarcyn_, to
sift (id., EETS. 450; see notes, no. 1875 and no. 2204). OF. _saas_ (F.
_sas_), a sieve. Span. _cedazo_, Med. L. _setatium_ (Ducange), der. of
L. _seta_, _saeta_, a bristle.
=sear-cloth,= to cover with ‘cere-cloth’ or waxed cloth. Dryden, Annus
Mirab. 148. See =cere-cloth.=
=season upon= (or =on=), to seize upon. Mirror for Mag., Northumberland,
st. 15; ‘I season upon a thynge as a hauke doth, _je assaysonne_. She
saysouned upon the fesante at the first flyght’, Palsgrave; ‘It is mete
for any lyon . . . to season his pawes upon his pray’, Acolastus, ii. 3.
See NED. (s.v. Season, vb. 5).
=sect,= a class or kind of persons, used with reference to sex, 2 Hen.
IV, ii. 4. 41; Fletcher, Valentinian, i. 1 (Chilax); Middleton, Mad
World, ii. 6. In prov. use in various parts of England; also in
illiterate use in London; see EDD. and NED. Cp. Chaucer, ‘(The wife of
Bath) and al hire secte’ (C. T. E. 1171). L. _secta_, a following, a
school or sect of philosophy.
=sectary,= one who belongs to a sect, a dissenter. Hen. VIII, v. 3. 70;
Puritan Widow, i. 2. 5. F. _sectaire_, ‘a sectary, follower of a sect’
(Cotgr.).
=sectour,= executor. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 62; ‘Sectour,
_executeur_’, Palsgrave. ME. _sectour_, ‘exequitour’ (Cath. Angl.);
_seketowre_, ‘executor’ (Prompt., Harl. MS.).
=Sedgeley curse,= an imprecation recorded by Ray among the proverbs of
Staffordshire. It is given by Beaumont and Fl. in this form: ‘A Sedgly
curse light on him, which is, Pedro, The fiend ride through him booted
and spurred, With a scythe at his back!’, Tamer Tamed, v. 2; Massinger,
City Madam, ii. 2 (Plenty). See Nares.
=see,= a seat of dignity or authority, a throne; ‘Jove laught on Venus
from his soveraigne see’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 2; the dwelling-place
of a monarch, F. Q. iv. 10. 30.
=see,= _pret. s._ (I) saw, (he) saw, Greene, Sonnet, l. 4 (ed. Dyce,
292). Still in prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. See, 1 (6)). OE. _seah_, pt. t.
of _sēon_, to see.
=seek:= phr. _to blow a seek_, to sound notes on a horn, summoning
hounds to the chase of a deer. Gascoigne, Art of Venerie (ed. Hazlitt,
i. 314).
=seek:= phr. _to seek_, at a loss, badly off; ‘The Merchant will be to
seeke for Money’, Bacon, Essay 41, § 4; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 2.
Cp. Porson’s famous epigram in Museum Criticum, i. 332, ‘The Germans in
Greek, Are sadly to seek’, &c. See NED. (s.v. Seek, vb. 20 b).
=seel,= to close up a bird’s eyelids, by means of a thread passed
through them. _A seeled dove_, ‘She brought them to a seeled dove, who
the blinder she was, the higher she strave’, Sidney, Arcadia (ed.
Sommer, 65); Bacon, Essay 36. It was believed that a seeled dove would
mount always higher aloft, till it sank from exhaustion; see Ford,
Broken Heart, ii. 2. 3. Palsgrave has: ‘I cele a hauke, _Ie cile_.’ F.
_ciller_, ‘to seele, or sow up the eyelids’ (Cotgr.); _cil_, an eyelash,
L. _cilium_, an eyelid, eyelash.
=seeld,= seldom, Mirror for Mag., Salisbury, st. 20. See =seld.=
=seeling,= a wainscot, wainscoting. Bacon, Essay 54; ceiling, North, tr.
of Plutarch, Octavius, § 4 (in Shak. Plut. p. 238).
=seemless,= unseemly. Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 25; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey,
xx. 397.
=seemlyhed,= comeliness. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 14.
=seen,= equipped, furnished; versed, practised; ‘Seen in many things’,
Heywood, A Woman killed, ii. 1 (Frankford); _well seen_, Tam. Shrew, i.
2. 136; Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 8 (p. 37). In prov. use
(EDD.).
=sege,= a seat. Morte Arthur, leaf 220. 7; bk. x, c. 16. ME. _sege_: ‘He
schal sitte on the sege of his maieste’ (Wyclif, Matt. xxv. 31).
Anglo-F. _sege_, seat (Ps. lxxxviii. 14), O. Prov. _setge_, ‘siège,
banc, séance, siège d’une ville’ (Levy). See =siege.=
=seggs,= sedges. Kyd, Cornelia, iii. 3. 15. A Northern form (EDD.).
=Seisactheia,= an ordinance of Solon by which all debts were lowered.
Massinger, Old Law, i. 1 (2 Lawyer). Gk. σεισάχθεια, a shaking off of
burdens.
=selago,= a plant. Middleton, The Witch, iii. 3 (Hecate). L. _selago_, a
plant resembling the savin-tree.
=selar,= a canopy of a bed; ‘The selar of the bedde’, Morte Arthur, leaf
349, back, 24; bk. xvii, c. 6. ‘Cellar for a bed, _ciel de lit_’,
Palsgrave. See NED. (s.v. Celure).
=selcouth,= strange, uncommon. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 14. A Scottish
poetical word (EDD.). ME. _selcouth_, strange, wonderful (P. Plowman, C.
i. 5); OE. _seldcūð_, strange, lit. seldom known.
=seld,= seldom. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 150; hence _seld-shown_, seldom
shown, Coriolanus, ii. 1. 229; _seld-seen_, Humour out of Breath, i. 1
(Octavio); as adj. rare, scarce, Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, iv. 4.
ME. _seld_ (_selde_), seldom (Chaucer, C. T. B. 2343). See =seeld.=
=sellary,= a male prostitute. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 5 (Arruntius). L.
_sellarius_ (Tacitus).
=sely,= harmless; ‘A selye innocente hare murdered of a dogge’, More’s
Utopia (ed. Lumby, p. 111). Also, poor, helpless, Tusser, Husbandry, §
51. 18. ME. _sely_, simple, innocent, also, poor, pitiable (Chaucer);
but Chaucer uses the word also in other senses: good, holy, happy. See
Trench, Select Glossary (s.v. Silly). See =silly.=
=semblably,= similarly. 1 Hen. IV, v. 3. 21. F. _semblable_, like. F.
_sembler_, to seem, resemble.
=semblant,= demeanour. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 31; Morte Arthur, bk. ii,
c. 17; _to make semblant_ (= F. _faire semblant_), to make a show,
appearance, or pretence (of doing something), id., bk. vii, c. 8.
=seminary,= an Englishman educated as a Popish priest in a foreign
seminary. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Overdo).
=semitary,= a form of scimetar. B. Jonson, Case is altered, v. 2
(Juniper); _semitarie_, Peele, Battle of Alcazar, i. 2 (Moor). See
=cemitare.=
=sempster,= a sempstress; also a spinster, as applied to the three
Fates, Dekker, O. Fortunatus, ii. 2 (Shadow). In prov. use in Yorks. and
Derbyshire, see EDD. (s.v. Seamster). ME. _semster_ (Dest. Troy, 1585),
OE. _sēamestre_, a sempstress (B. T.).
=sennet,= a signal-call played on a trumpet, the signal for entrance or
exit. Common in the stage-directions in the Tudor drama. It occurs in
various forms, such as _synnet_, _sinet_, _cynet_, _signate_. Hen. VIII,
ii. 4; J. Caesar, i. 2; Ant. and Cl. ii. 7; Coriol. ii. 1; 2 Hen. VI,
iii. 1. O. Prov. _senhet_ (_signet_), ‘signe’ (Levy), OF. _sinet_
(Littré). See Notes on Eng. Etym., p. 264.
=sensing,= ‘incensing’, use of incense. Latimer, Sermon on the Ploughers
(ed. Arber, p. 30). ME. _censynge_, ‘turificacio’ (Prompt.).
=sent,= perception. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 43. The old spelling of
_scent_; so in Cotgrave, ‘_Odeur_, sent, smell’.
=sere,= separate, distinct, each in particular. Ascham, Toxophilus (ed.
Arber, 107). ME. _ser_, distinct, each in particular (Ormin, 18653).
Icel. _sér_, orig. dat. of refl. pron. ‘for oneself’, hence as adv.
separately.
=sere,= the claw or talon of a bird or beast of prey. Usually in the pl.
_seres_; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, viii. 212; xii. 213; Odyssey, ii. 238;
Revenge of Bussy, iii. 1 (Clermont); Byron’s Tragedy, iii. 1. 16. F.
_serre_, a hawk’s talon (Cotgr.).
=sere,= the catch in a gun-lock which is released by the trigger.
Hamlet, ii. 2. 337 (see note by W. Aldis Wright). It was like a claw.
See above.
=serene,= a chill evening air; ‘Some serene blast me’, B. Jonson,
Volpone, iii. 5 (Celia); Epigrams, xxxii (last line). F. _serein_, ‘the
mildew, or harmful dew of some summer evenings’ (Cotgr.). Ital.
‘_sereno_, the night calm; _serenata_, music played in a clear evening’
(Florio).
=sericon,= the name of some chemical substance. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1
(Subtle). See NED.
=serpentin,= a kind of cannon. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 124; l. 159;
‘_Serpentine_, the artillery called a Serpentine or Basiliskoe’,
Cotgrave.
=serpigo,= a general term for creeping or spreading skin diseases, esp.
ringworm, Meas. for M. iii. 1. 31 (variously spelt in the edd.). Medical
L. _serpigo_, ‘teter’ (Alphita, 167), deriv. of _serpere_, to creep.
=servant,= a professed lover, one who is devoted to the service of a
lady. Two Gent. of Verona, ii. 1. 106, 114, 140. Very common. Cp. Ital.
_cavaliere servente_; see Fanfani.
=servulate,= to serve obsequiously. Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, i.
2 (Egremont). From L. _servulus_, dimin. of servus, a slave.
=sesama,= oil from the seeds of a plant, sesame, one of the ingredients
of a perfume. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer). Gk. σησάμη.
=sesarara;= see =sasarara.=
=sess, seiss,= to assess. Pt. t. _sessyd_, Fabyan, Chron., p. vii, ann.
1257-8 (ed. Ellis, p. 344); pp. _seissed_, North, tr. of Plutarch,
Antonius, § 33 (in Shak. Plut., p. 204). In prov. use (EDD.).
=set out the throat,= to set up a noise, cry out. B. Jonson, Alchem. v.
2 (Face); Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1 (Hippolito).
=setter,= a confederate of sharpers or swindlers, employed as a decoy
(Cant). Nashe, Strange Newes, 1592; see Aydelotte, p. 86; Butler, Hud.,
Lady’s Answer, 153. One who marks down travellers to be robbed by
thieves, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 53.
=settle,= a long bench, with a very high back. Albumazar, i. 1 (Ronca).
In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Settle, sb.^{2}).
=setwall,= the East Indian plant zedoary, Palsgrave; the plant valerian,
‘Drink-quickning Setwale’, Spenser, Muiopotmos, 196; spelt cetywall,
Drayton, Ballad of Dowsabell, 33 (in later editions _setywall_). ME.
_setwale_ or _sedwale_, ‘zedoarium’ (Prompt.); _cetewale_ (Chaucer, C.
T. A. 3207). O. Span. _cetoal_, _sitoval_, _cedoaria_; of Arabic origin,
see Dozy, Glossaire, 251.
=sew,= to follow; ‘Seven kings sewen me’, World and Child, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, i. 248; to sue, to plead, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 12. 29; to woo,
id., iii. 5. 47. See Dict. (s.v. Sue).
=sew,= to drain dry; ‘To drain and sew’, North, tr. of Plutarch, Jul.
Caesar, § 39 (in Shak. Plut., p. 93); Tusser, Husbandry, 32. In prov.
use in E. Anglia, Kent, Sussex, and Dorset, see EDD. (s.v. Sew,
vb.^{2}). OF. _esuer_ (Burguy); F. _essuier_, to dry up (Cotgr.);
_essuier_, ‘évier, conduit par lequel s’écoulent les eaux sales d’une
cuisine’ (Didot). See Hatzfeld (s.v. Essuyer).
=sewell;= see =shewelle.=
=sewer,= an attendant at a meal who superintended the seating of the
guests, and the tasting and serving of the dishes. Macbeth, i. 7, Stage
Direction. ME. _sewer_ at the mete, ‘depositor, discoforus’ (Cath.
Angl.); _seware_ at mete, ‘dapifer’ (Prompt.). OF. _asseour_, ‘en
parlant du service de la table, _qui fait asseoir_’ (Godefroy), Pop. L.
_assedatorem_ (acc.), one who sets, places, deriv. of _assedare_, to
set, place, cp. Norm. F. _aseer_, to place; see Moisy.
=sextile,= denoting the aspect or relative position of two planets, when
distant from each other by sixty degrees; a sextile aspect. Fletcher,
Bloody Brother, iv. 2 (Norbret); Randolph, Jealous Lovers, v. 2; Milton,
P. L. x. 659.
=seymy,= greasy. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 124; l. 169. See =seam.=
=sforzato,= a galley-slave. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1 (Vol.). Ital.
‘_sforzati_, galley-slaves, as forced to do anything’ (Florio), cp. F.
‘_forçat_, galley-slave’ (Cotgr.).
=shack,= the shaken grain which remains on the fields after harvesting;
hence _shack-time_, the time during which this grain remains on the
ground, Tusser, Husbandry, § 16. 30; _to shack_, to turn pigs or poultry
into the stubble fields. In prov. use in various parts of England, see
EDD. (s.v. Shake, 9, 20, 21).
†=shackatory,= apparently, a huntsman’s underling. Dekker, Honest Wh.,
Pt. II, iii. 1 (Orlando). See NED.
=shadow,= a reflection in water; ‘Aesop had a foolish dog that let go
the flesh to catch the shadow’, Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed.
Dyce, p. 37; a disguise, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Hempskirke); a
friend of an invited guest (L. _umbra_), Massinger, Unnat. Combat, iii.
1. 11.
=shaft,= a May-pole, esp. the May-pole in Aldgate ward, London, which
‘shaft’, when it was set on end and fixed to the ground, was higher than
the steeple of the church, which was hence called St. Andrew Undershaft.
This ‘shaft’ was not raised after May-day, 1517, on account of a
disturbance of the apprentices. Thirty-two years after it was sawn in
pieces and burned as an idol. Stow, Survey (ed. Thoms, 54); Pennant’s
London, 587. See Nares (s.v. Shaft), and Chambers, Book of Days, p. 574.
=shaftman,= a measure of about six inches, being the length from the top
of the extended thumb to the wrist-side of the palm. Harington, tr.
Ariosto, xxxvi. 56; _shaftmon_, Morte Arthur, leaf 124, back, 8; bk.
vii, c. 22; _shaftmont_, ‘His leg was scarce a shaftmont lang’, Child’s
Pop. Ballads, ii. 330; _shaftement_, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 112.
‘Shaftment’ is in prov. use in the north country (EDD.). ME.
_schaftmonde_ (Death of Arthur, 2546, 3843, 4232); OE. _sceaftmund_, a
palm’s length (B. T.). See NED. (s.v. Shaftment).
=shag-rag,= ragged, vagabond-like; ‘A shag-rag knave’, Marlowe, Jew of
Malta, iv. 5 (Barabas). The word ‘shag-rag’ is in prov. use in the north
country to denote an idle, ragged vagabond, see EDD. (s.v. Shag, vb.^{3}
2 (2)). See =shake-rag.=
†=shailes,= scarecrows. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 23, § 2; see
Croft’s note. Perhaps cognate with ME. _schey_, shy, timid (Prompt.).
See =shewelle.=
=shake-rag,= a ragged disreputable person, Brome, Jovial Crew, iii.
(NED.). [‘He was a shake-rag like fellow’, Scott, Guy Man., xxvi.] Also
_shake_, Middleton, The Widow, ii. 1 (1 Suitor).
=shake the elbow,= to throw dice, to gamble. Webster, Devil’s Law-case,
ii. 1 (Ariosto).
=shaking of the sheets,= the name of an old dance, usually mentioned
with an indecent suggestion. Westward Ho, v. 3.
=shale,= a shell, husk. Hen. V, iv. 2. 18; Parliament of Bees, character
5 (end). ME. _shale_ (Chaucer), OE. _scealu_, a husk.
=shale,= to shell, take of the husk; ‘I shale peasen’, Palsgrave; ‘A
little lad set on a bancke to shale the ripen’d nuts’, W. Browne, Brit.
Pastorals, bk. ii, song 4. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Shale, vb.^{1}
14). ME. _shale_, notys or odyr frute, ‘enucleo’ (Prompt. EETS. 451).
Cp. F. _eschaller_: ‘_eschalleur de noys_, qui écale des noix’
(Glossaire, Rabelais, ii. 160).
=shale,= to shamble with the feet; ‘_Esgrailler_, to shale or straddle
with the legs’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in various parts of England, see
EDD. (s.v. Shale, vb.^{2}). See =shayle.=
=shalla,= for _shall he_; ‘Shalla go In deede? and shalla flowte me
thus?,’ Phaer, Aeneid iv, 590, 591. _A_ for _he_ is common in prov. use
when unemphatic, see EDD. (s.v. He, 1 (1)).
=sham,= to take in, to hoax; ‘You shammed me all night long . . .
_Freeman_. Shamming is telling you an insipid, dull lye, with a dull
face, which the sly wag the author only laughs at himself; and, making
himself believe ’tis a good jest, puts the sham only upon himself,
Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. Cp. Sc. _sham_, to cheat, trick, deceive,
see EDD. (s.v. Sham, vb.^{1} 1).
=shamois,= shoes made of the wild goat’s skin. Webster, White Devil
(Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 19.
=shape,= the costume suited to a particular part in a play. Massinger,
Bondman, v. 3 (Pisander).
=shard,= a fragment, a piece of broken pottery, a potsherd; ‘Shards,
flints and pebbles should be thrown on her’, Hamlet, v. 1. 254. In prov.
use in the sense of a broken piece in Scotland and in the various parts
of England (EDD.). ME. _scherde_, ‘testula’ (Prompt. EETS.), OE.
_sceard_, ‘testa’ (B. T.).
=shard,= a patch of cow-dung; ‘They are his shards, and he their
beetle’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 2. 19; ‘Such souls as shards produce, such
beetle things As only buz to heaven with ev’ning wings’, Dryden, Hind
and P. i. 321; ‘The shard-borne beetle’ (the beetle born in dung),
Macbeth, iii. 2. 42. ‘Shard,’ meaning a patch of cow-dung, is in prov.
use in Yorks. and Wilts. (EDD.). Probably related to ‘sharn’ in prov.
use for dung of cattle; OE. _scearn_ (Leechdoms); see EDD.
=shard.= In Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 38, ‘When late he far’d In Phaedrias
flitt barke over that perlous shard.’ Spenser appears to use ‘shard’
here in the sense of ‘a channel’. It is probably the same word as
‘shard’ in prov. use for an incision, a gap, a narrow passage, see EDD.
(s.v. Shard, sb.^{2} 1, 2, 3). OE. _sceard_, a gap, notch; the word is
used for bays and creeks in Boethius, 18. 1.
=shark,= to prowl about to pick up a living. Beaumont and Fl., Honest
Man’s Fortune, iii. 3 (Mallicorn); Earle, Micro-Cosmographie, no. 77
(ed. Arber, 35); _shark on_, to prey upon, Sir Thos. More, ii. 4. 106;
_shark up_, to pick up by prowling about, Hamlet, i. 1. 98. Hence
_shark-gull_, a cheat who preys upon simpletons, Middleton, The Black
Book (ed. Dyce, v. 524).
=sharp.= _To fight at sharp_, to fight with sharp weapons, not with
foils, Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, v. 3 (Galoshio).
=shayle,= to shamble, to walk crookedly or awkwardly. Skelton, ed. Dyce,
i. 20, l. 19; p. 214, l. 172. Palsgrave has: ‘I shayle, as a man or
horse dothe that gothe croked with his legges, _Ie vas eschays_.’ ME.
_schaylyn_, ‘disgredior’ (Prompt. EETS. 451). See =shale= and =shoyle.=
=sheal,= to take off the outer covering of peas, King Lear, i. 4. 219.
In prov. use in Scotland and in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Sheal, vb.^{2} 1).
=sheath;= see =painted.=
=sheene,= fair, beautiful to behold. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 10; ii. 2.
40; ii. 10. 8; ‘Haill May, haill Flora, haill Aurora schene!’, Dunbar,
Thrissill, 9; as sb., fairness, splendour, Hamlet, iii. 2. 167. ME.
_shene_, fair, beautiful (Chaucer, C. T. A. 972). OE. _scēne_, _scȳne_,
_scīene_, fair, identical with G. _schön_, beautiful, Goth. _skauns_.
=sheerly,= entirely. Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 4 (Memnon). A Scotch word,
used by Burns, Ep. to Major Logan (EDD.).
=sheeve,= a slice; ‘A sheeve of bread’, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv,
ch. 20, st. 29. In prov. use in Scotland and Lanc., see EDD. (s.v.
Sheave). See =shive.=
=shelf,= a sandbank. B. Jonson, The Forest, iii (l. 12 from end);
_shelves_, pl., 3 Hen. VI, v. 4. 23; ‘On the tawny sands and shelves
Trip the pert faeries’, Milton, Comus, 117. For Scotch exx. see EDD.
(s.v. Shelf, sb.^{2}).
=shell,= a cockle-shell worn in the hat by pilgrims to Compostella.
Heywood, Four Prentises (Godfrey), vol. ii, p. 213.
=shells,= a cant term for money. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (2
Cutpurse); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iii. 2 (Matheo).
=shend,= to put to shame, blame, reproach. Spenser, Prothalamion, 121;
_shent_, pp., F. Q. ii. 5. 5; vi. 6. 18. In prov. use in Scotland and in
Kent (EDD.). ME. _shende_, to render contemptible (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr.
v. 893); _schende_, to blame, reproach (Wyclif, Ps. cxviii. 31). OE.
_scendan_.
=sherif,= a title of the descendants of Mohammed, a title of the chief
magistrate of Mecca, and of Morocco; ‘The Sheriffe of Mecca’, Purchas,
Pilgrims, iii. 257. Arab. _sharîf_, noble, of noble lineage,
particularly, descending from Mohammed (Steingass). See =xeriff.=
=sherris,= ‘sherry’, a Spanish wine, so called from the town Xeres. 2
Hen. IV, iv. 3. 111, 114, 122, 131. The Arabic form of the place-name
Xeres was _Sherêysh_ (Dozy, Glossaire, p. 18). The Roman name was
_Caesaris Asidona_. By the loss of the first syllable, _Caesaris_ became
on the lips of the Moors _sherêysh_. For a similar decapitation of the
word _Caesar_, compare the name of the Spanish city _Zaragoça_, the
_Caesaraugusta_ of the Romans.
=shewelle, sewell;= ‘A _sewell_, a thing to keep out the deer’, Howell,
Lexicon Tetraglotton; ‘Anything that is hung up is called a Sewel; and
those are used most commonly to amaze a Deare, and to make him refuse to
passe wher they are hanged up’, Turbervile, Hunting (ed. 1575, p. 98);
used _fig._, ‘Bugbeares of opinions brought, to serve as shewelles to
keep them from those faults’, Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia (ed. 1605, p. 267);
‘Shewell’ in the sense of a scarecrow is still in use in Oxfordsh. and
Berks. (EDD.). Cp. ME. _scheawle_, a scarecrow (Owl and N. 1648);
_a-schewelen_, to scare away (Stratmann, pp. 32, 528); deriv. of OE.
_scēoh_, timid, shy.
=shift herself,= change her dress. Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, iii.
1. 8. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Shift, 2).
=shine,= bright. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 3; ‘Girt my shine browe with
sea-banke Myrtle sprays’, Marlowe, tr. of Ovid’s Elegies, bk. i, 1. 34
(Wks., ed. Tucker Brooke, 560). See =sheene.=
=shirwood= = L. _lucus_. Phaer, Aeneid viii, 342.
=shittle,= unstable, inconstant; ‘Their shittle hate’, Mirror for Mag.,
Collingbourne, st. 3; ‘Shyttell, nat constant, _variable_’, Palsgrave.
ME. _schytyl_, ‘preceps’ (Prompt. EETS. 398), cogn. w. OE. _scēotan_, to
run hastily (Acts vii. 57); see Cook, Biblical Quotations, p. 234.
=shittle-cock,= a shuttlecock. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, iii. 2
(Allwit). ‘Shyttel cocke, _volant_’, Palsgrave. ME. _schytyl_, a shuttle
(in a child’s game), see Prompt. EETS. 398.
=shive,= a slice, Titus Andron. ii. 1. 87. In gen. prov. use in
Scotland, Ireland, England, and America, see EDD. (s.v. Shive, sb.^{1}
1). ME. _schyve_ of bred or oþer lyke, ‘lesca, scinda’ (Prompt. EETS.
399). Cp. Icel. _skifa_, a slice, and G. _scheibe_.
=shock-dog,= a rough-coated dog; a poodle. Wycherley, Gent.
Dancing-master, ii. 2 (Hippolyta); Tatler, no. 245.
=shoe-the-mare,= a Christmas sport. Middleton, Inner-Temple Masque
(Plumporridge). ‘Shoe the old mare’ is the name of a kind of sport in
Galloway, see EDD. (s.v. Shoe, vb. 10).
=shog,= to move off, go away. Henry V, ii. 1. 47, ii. 3. 47; _shog on_,
Massinger, Parl. of Love, iv. 5 (near the end); _shogd_, shook, pushed;
Phaer, Aeneid ii, 465; _shog_, a jog, a shake. Dryden, Epil. to The Man
of Mode, 28. In gen. prov. use (EDD.). ME. _schoggen_, to shake (Wars
Alex. 5018).
=shold,= a shoal, sandbank. Phaer, Aeneid i, 112; Hakluyt, Voyages, iii.
547. ‘Shald’ in various spellings is in prov. use in the north country,
meaning (1) shallow, (2) a shoal (EDD.). ME. ‘_schold_ or schalowe,
noȝte depe’ (Prompt.). OE. _sceald_, shallow (found in place-names); see
Dict. (s.v. Shallow).
=shoot-anker,= sheet-anchor; hence, a means of security. Udall, Roister
Doister, i. 1. 28; ‘This saying they make their shoot-anker’, Cranmer
(cited in Dict., s.v. Sheet).
=shope,= shaped, framed; pt. t. of _shape_. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 39. ME.
_shoop_, planned, devised (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 207), pt. s. of
_shapen_; OE. _scōp_, pt. s. of _sceppan_.
=shoppini,= high-heeled shoes; ‘Those high corked shoes, which now they
call in Spaine and Italy _Shoppini_’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c.
15; p. 49. See =cioppino= and =choppine.= See Stanford (s.v. Chopine).
=shore,= a sewer. Shirley, Love Tricks, i. 1; ‘The common shore’, A
Woman never vext (Mrs. Foster), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 104; ‘Our
sailing ships like common shores we use’, Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii.
558. ‘Shore’, once a common word for a sewer, is still preserved in
Shoreditch in London; also named Sewers Ditch; see Stow’s Survey, p.
158. It is in gen. prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and England, see EDD.
(s.v. Shore, sb.^{3} 1).
=shoringness,= inclination to tilt to one side; ‘A table, of the which
the thirde foot was A little shorter then the rest. A tyle-sherd made it
even And tooke away the shoringness,’ Golding, Metam. viii. 662; fol.
103 (1603). ‘Shoring’ is in prov. use in E. Anglia, in the sense of
slanting, sloping, awry, see EDD. (s.v. Shore, vb.^{2} 4).
=shot,= a payment, reckoning; esp. a contribution to the payment of a
tavern score; ‘_Escotter_, every one to pay his shot or to contribute
somewhat towards it’, Cotgrave; Two Gent. ii. 5. 9; _shot-free_, without
having to pay, 1 Hen. IV, v. 3. 30. In gen. prov. and colloquial use in
Scotland, England, and America, see EDD. (s.v. Shot, sb.^{1} 1). ME.
_schot_, a payment (Stratmann). OE. _scot_, a contribution (in
compounds), see B. T. The Anglo-F. form is _escot_ (mod. _écot_), whence
E. _scot_, in _scot-free_, and _scot and lot_. See =escot, scot and
lot.=
=shot-clog,= a dupe; one who was a _clog_ upon a company, but
was tolerated because he paid the _shot_ or reckoning. Eastward
Ho, i. 1 (Golding); B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Shun.); ‘A
_shot-clog_, to make suppers, and be laughed at’, B. Jonson,
Poetaster, i. 1 (Ovid senior). Spelt _shot-log_, Field, Amends
for Ladies, iii (end).
=shot-shark,= a tavern waiter; because he sharks for (or hunts
after) the reckoning or shot. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour,
v. 4. 1.
=shotten,= lean. Fletcher, Women Pleased, ii. 4. 9. From the phr.
_shotten herring_, a herring that has spent the roe, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4.
143. ‘As lean as a shot-herring’ is given in EDD. as a Derbyshire
saying. ‘Shotten’ is used in Kent of the herring that has spent its roe,
see EDD. (s.v. Shot, pp. 5).
=shotten-souled,= deprived of a soul; soulless. Fletcher, Wit
without Money, iii. 4. 2.
=shotterell, shotrell,= a pike in his first year; ‘An harlotrie [i.e.
worthless] _shotterell_’, Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 4 (Carion); ‘The
Shotrell, 1 year, Pickerel, 2 year, Pike, 3 year, Luce, 4 year, are
one’, W. Lauson, Comments on the Secrets of Angling; in Arber’s Eng.
Garner, i. 197.
=shough,= a rough dog with shaggy hair. Macbeth, iii. 1. 94; Ford,
Lover’s Melancholy, iii. 3 (Grilla). Also in forms _shog_ and _shock_,
‘Nor mungrell nor shog’, Taylor’s Works, 1630 (Nares); ‘Their little
shocks or Bononia dogs’, Erminia, 1661 (Nares).
=shough, shoo,= _interj._, away! used to scare away fowls. Fletcher,
Maid in the Mill, v. 1 (end).
=shoule,= a ‘shovel’. Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, iv. 1 (Jack);
vol. vi, p. 424. For various forms of ‘shool’, a word which is in gen.
prov. use in the British Isles and America, see EDD.
=shouler,= a bird; the ‘shoveller’ or spoonbill. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 353.
Skelton has _shouelar_ (= _shovelar_), Phylyp Sparowe, 408.
=shovelboard,= the name of a game. The game was to _shuffle_ or drive by
a blow of the hand a counter or coin along a smooth _board_, so as to
pass beyond a line drawn across the board near the far end, but so as
not to fall off the board; ‘Plaieing at slide-groat or shoofleboard’,
Stanyhurst, Desc. of Ireland, ann. 1528; _Edward shovel-board_, a
shilling coined in the reign of Edward VI commonly used in the game of
shovel-board, Merry Wives, i. 1. 159. A similar game was called
_shove-groat_, hence _shove-groat shilling_, the coin used at the game,
2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 206; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 5. 17 (see
Wheatley’s note). See Nares.
=shoyle,= to lean outwards on the foot in walking. Turbervile, Hunting,
c. 55 (p. 155), says that wild swine never ‘shoyle or leane outwards’,
as tame hogs do. See =shayle.=
=shraming,= making a great noise, screaming; ‘Shraming shalms’, Golding,
Metam. iv. 392; fol. 48, back (1603); ‘She shraming cryed’, id., viii.
108; fol. 94.
=shrewd,= malicious, mischievous, ill-natured, All’s Well, iii. 5. 68;
Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 33; bad, nasty, grievous, Merch. Ven. iii. 2.
244; Ant. and Cl. iv. 9. 5. The word is used in Shropshire in the sense
of ‘vicious’ (EDD.). ME. _schrewyd_, ‘pravus, pravatus, depravatus’
(Prompt. EETS. 401).
=shrich,= to ‘shriek’. Gascoigne, Philomene, ll. 22, 52. ME.
_schrichen_, variants _schriken_, _skriken_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 4590).
=shrieve,= a ‘sheriff’. All’s Well, iv. 3. 213; 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 99.
ME. _shirreve_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 359). OE. _scīr-gerēfa_. See Dict.
=shright,= _pt. t._ shrieked; ‘Out! alas! she shryght’, Sackville,
Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 18; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 32. ME.
_shrighte_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2817), pt. t. of _schrychen_ (_schriken_)
to shriek. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Schrychen).
=shright,= a shriek. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 57; vi. 4. 2.
=shrill,= thin, poor; ‘Age . . . all balde or ouer-cast With shril, thin
haire as white as snow’, Golding, Metam. xv. 213. ‘Shrill’ (also
‘shill’) is in prov. use in Bedf. and Northants for thin, poor; also
clear, transparent, applied to book-muslin (EDD.).
=shrill,= to sound shrilly, to resound. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 20; v. 7.
27.
=shrimp,= a shrunken, wizened man. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 600.
=Shrove-Tuesday bird,= a cock tied down, at which cudgels were thrown,
on a Shrove Tuesday. Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, iii. 3 (Lapet; near
the end). See Brand’s Pop. Ant. (ed. 1877, p. 37).
=shroving,= joining in the ceremonies and sports of Shrove Tuesday.
Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 5 (Eyre); Fletcher, Noble Gent. iii. 2
(Lady). See EDD. (s.v. Shrove, vb.), where it is said that the custom of
‘shroving’, i.e. going round singing for money, &c., on Shrove Tuesday,
is known from Oxf. to Dorset.
=shrow,= a ‘shrew’, a vixen, a scold. A frequent spelling of _shrew_ in
old editions of Shakespeare; and always pronounced so, cp. the rimes in
Tam. Shrew, iv. 1. 213; v. 2. 28; v. 2. 188; _shroe_, Peele, Arraignment
of Paris, iv. 1 (Bacchus).
=shug,= to slip, to wriggle. Ford, Witch of Edmonton, v. 1 (Dog). See
EDD. (s.v. Shuck, vb.^{1} 2).
=shuter,= a suitor. A common pronunciation of _suitor_; puns on
_shooter_ and _suitor_ occur often. London Prodigal, i. 2. 42; cp. L. L.
L. iv. 1. 110; Puritan Widow, il. 1. 97.
=shuttle-brained,= thoughtless, flighty. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, §
6. From the movements of the _shuttle_.
=sidanen,= a fine woman; an epithet. Northward Ho, ii. 1 (Capt. Jenkin).
Welsh _sidanen_, silken, made of silk; also, an epithet for a fine woman
(Owen). Applied sometimes to Queen Elizabeth; so Nares.
=siddon,= soft, tender, mellow. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, iv. 1 (Piero).
Current in west midland counties, chiefly of peas or other vegetables
which become soft in boiling, see EDD. (s.v. Sidder). Cp. OE. _syde_, a
decoction, the water in which anything has been seethed or boiled (B.
T.). Cognate with _seethe_, pp. _sodden_; see Dict. (s.v. Seethe).
=side,= long, hanging down a long way; ‘Side sleeves’, Much Ado, iii. 4.
21; Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 440; B. Jonson, New Inn, v. 1 (Fly). In
prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.). ME. _syde_,
as a gowne, ‘defluxus, talaris’ (Cath. Angl.); ‘syde sleeves’ (Hoccleve,
Reg. P. 535). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Syde). OE. _sīd_, ample, wide,
large, extensive.
=side, to set up a,= to be partners in a game. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman,
iii. 2 (Cent.).
=sie, sye,= to strain milk. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 146. 10. ‘I sye
mylke, or clense’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in Scotland, England down to
Glouc. (EDD.). OE. _sēon_ (_sīan_), to strain; cp. _asiende_,
‘excolantes’ (Matt. xxiii. 24, Mercian Gloss); see B. T. (s.v. _āsēon_).
=siege,= a seat, esp. one used by a person of rank or distinction,
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 39; hence, rank, Othello, i. 2. 22; the station of
a heron on the watch for prey, Massinger, Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo); a
privy, Phaer, Pestilence (NED.); evacuation, B. Jonson, Sejanus, i. 2;
excrement, Tempest, ii. 2. 110. ME. _sege_, ‘sedes, secessus’ (Prompt.
EETS. 404, see notes). See =sege.=
=sieve and shears,= a mode of divination; used for the recovery of
things lost. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face); Butler, Hud. i. 2. 848. See
EDD. (s.v. Riddle, sb.^{1} 1 (1)).
=sifflement,= a whistling, chirping. Brewer, Lingua, i. 1 (Auditus). F.
_siffler_, to whistle, L. _sifilare_, a dialect form of _sibilare_.
=sight,= _pt. t._ sighed. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 20; vi. 10. 40. ME.
_sighte_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1035), pt. s. of _syke_, to sigh.
=signatures,= marks. The medicinal virtues of some plants were supposed
to be indicated by their forms or by marks upon them. Butler, Hud. iii.
1. 329.
=sikerly,= certainly, surely. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, last scene
(Gammer). Still in prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v.
Sickerly). ME. _sikerly_ (Chaucer); _sikerliche_ (P. Plowman). OE.
_sicor_, sure, safe; certain (B. T.).
=silder,= less frequently. Tancred and Gismunda, ii. 3 (Lucrece); in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 46. See =seld.=
=silly,= simple, rustic; innocent. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 35; iii. 8. 27;
poor, wretched, weak, Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, pp. 491, 533. See
=sely.=
=silverling,= a piece of silver; ‘Fifty thousande silverlynges’,
Tyndale, Acts xix. 9; so the Cranmer version, 1539, and the Geneva,
1557; BIBLE, Isaiah vii. 23; here Luther has _Silberlinge_. In Marlowe,
Jew of Malta, i. 1. 6, _silverling_ = the Jewish coin, the shekel.
†=simming,= simmering. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 6. 27.
=simper,= to twinkle, glimmer. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, iii.
1. 8; ‘I mark how starres above Simper and shine’, G. Herbert, The
Church, The Search, l. 14.
=simper,= to simmer; ‘I symper, as lycour dothe on the fyre before it
begynneth to boyle’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in north Ireland, west
Yorks., and east Anglia (EDD.).
=simper-the-cocket,= an affected coquettish air; a woman so
characterised, a flirt. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Patrico);
Skelton, El. Rummyng, 55; _simper de cocket_, ‘_Coquine_, a
beggar-woman; also a simper de cockit, nice thing’, Cotgrave; Heywood’s
Proverbs, Pt. ii, ch. 1 (ed. Farmer, 52). See Nares.
=simple,= a simple remedy, as a plant used medicinally without
admixture; ‘Where a sycknesse may be cured with symples’, Sir T. Elyot,
Castel of Helthe, bk. ii, c. 28; to gather simples or medicinal herbs,
Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 823.
=simulty,= a grudge. B. Jonson, Discoveries, cxxii, § 2. F. _simulté_, a
grudge (Cotgr.). L. _simultas_, a hostile encounter, animosity.
=sin,= since. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 44. In gen. prov. use (EDD.). ME.
_sithen_, since (Wars Alex.); see Dict. M. and S. OE. _sīððan_.
=single:= _single money_, small change; ‘The ale-wives’ single money’,
B. Jonson, Alchem. v. 2 (Subtle); Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iv. 5
(Pedro).
=single,= in hunting, the tail of a deer; ‘The tayle of Harte, Bucke,
Rowe or any other Deare is to be called the Syngle’, Turbervile,
Hunting, 243 (NED.); Howell, Parley of Beasts, 63; used of Pan’s tail,
‘That single wagging at thy butt’, Cotton, Burlesque, 277 (Davies).
Hence, ‘a boy leasht on the single’, is explained by ‘beaten on the
taile’, Lyly, Midas, iv. 3 (Pet.). Still in prov. use in Northants. and
west Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Single, sb.^{1} 9).
=singler,= a full-grown wild boar. Manwood, Lawes Forest, iv, § 5. See
=sanglier.=
=singles,= the claws of a hawk. The middle claws were called the _long
singles_, and the outer the _petty singles_. Heywood, A Woman killed, i.
3 (Sir Francis). The _single_ was orig. the middle or outer claw on the
foot of the hawk (NED.).
†=singles,= the entrails; ‘The singles (Lat. _prosecta_) also of a
wolfe’, Golding, Metam. vii. 271; fol. 82 (1603). Not found elsewhere.
=sink and sise,= five and six; at dice; ‘All at sink and sise’, i.e. I
have lost all my effects at dice-playing, Like will to Like, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 346.
=sinkanter,= a term of contempt; ‘One Volanerius, an old sinkanter or
gamester and scurrilous companion by profession’, Jackson, Creed, x. 19;
‘_Rocard_, an overworn sincaunter, one that can neither whinny nor wag
the tail’, Cotgrave.
=si quis,= an advertisement; also called a bill. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out
of Humour, ii. 2 (end). From L. _si quis_, lit. if any one; from the
first two words; the advertisement begins: ‘_If there be any_ lady or
gentlewoman’, id., iii. 1 (Puntarvolo). Cp. Hall, Sat. ii. 5. 1.
=Sir John,= a familiar appellation for a priest, because _John_ was a
common name, and it was usual to prefix _sir_ to a priest’s name.
Richard III, iii. 2. 111; Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 2 (Luce).
Cp. Chaucer (C. T. B. 4000), ‘Com neer thou preest, com hider thou sir
John.’ See NED. (s.v. Sir, 4).
=sirts of sand,= quicksands. Mirror for Mag., Madan, st. 7. For
_syrtes_, pl. of L. _Syrtis_, Gk. Σύρτις, the name of two large
sandbanks (Major and Minor) on the coast of Libya. Cp. ‘A boggy Syrtis’,
Milton, P. L. ii. 939.
=sit,= to be fitting, to befit, suit; ‘It sits not’ (i.e. it is
unbecoming), Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 30; ‘With them it sits’, Shep. Kal.,
May, 77; id., Nov., 26. In the north country ‘It sits him weel indeed’
is often said ironically of a person who arrogates to himself more than
is thought proper, see EDD. (s.v. Sit, 16). _Sitting_, suitable, fit,
becoming; ‘To the [thee] it is sittynge’, Fabyan, Chron., Part vii, c.
232; ed. Ellis, p. 265; Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 149.
=sith,= time; also _pl._ times. Spenser has ‘a thousand sith’, a
thousand times, F. Q. iii. 10. 33; also, ‘a thousand sithes’, Shep.
Kal., Jan., 49. OE. _sīð_, a journey, time.
=sith,= since. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 95. ME. _sith_, since (Chaucer, C. T.
A. 930).
=sithence,= since. Coriolanus, iii. 1. 47. ME. _sithenes_, since (P.
Plowman, B. x. 257; xix. 15).
=six,= small beer; sold at 6_s._ a barrel; ‘A cup of six’, Rowley, A
Match at Midnight, i. 1 (Tim).
=six and seven, to set all on,= ‘to risk all one’s property on the
hazard of the dice; _Omnem iacere aleam_, to cast all dice, . . . to set
al on sixe and seuen, and at al auentures to ieoperd’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Julius, § 7; ‘Or wager laid at six and seven’, Butler, Hud. iii.
1. 588.
=skails,= a game like ninepins; the same as ‘kails’. ‘_Aliossi_, a play
called Nine pins or keeles, or skailes’, Florio (1598); North, tr. of
Plutarch, Alcibiades, § 1. See NED. (s.v. Skayles).
†=skainsmate.= Only occurs as spoken by the Nurse in Romeo, ii. 4. 163,
‘Scurvy Knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am none of his
skainsmates’. The nurse was no very correct speaker, and in the heat of
her anger she has in this case become wholly unintelligible. The guesses
of the commentators and glossarists are devoid of probability.
=skeen,= a knife. Merry Devil, ii. 2. 54; _skeane_, Spenser, State of
Ireland (Globe ed., p. 631); _skene_, Brewer, Lingua, i. 1 (first
stage-direction). Also _skaine_, Drayton, Pol. iv. 384. In prov. use in
Scotland and Ireland, see EDD. (s.v. Skean). Sc. and Ir. Gaelic,
_sgian_, a knife.
=skelder,= to beg impudently by false representations, to swindle
(Cant). B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Luscus); ib. (Tucca); iii. 1
(Tucca); Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll).
=skellet,= a ‘skillet’, a small pot or pan; a small kettle. Skelton, El.
Rummyng, 250; _skillet_, Othello, i. 3. 273. ‘Skellet’ (also ‘skillet’),
a small metal pan or saucepan, is in gen. prov. use in the British Isles
and America, see EDD. (s.v. Skillet).
=skellum;= see =schellum.=
=skelp,= to strike with the hand, to smack; ‘I shall skelp thee on the
skalpe’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2207. In gen. prov. use in the British
Isles; in England in the north and Midland counties, see EDD. (s.v.
Skelp, vb.^{1}). ME. _skelpe_, to smite with a scourge (Wars Alex.
1924).
=skew at,= to look askance at, to slight. Beaumont and Fl., Loyal
Subject, ii. 1 (Putskie); ‘To skewe, _limis oculis spectare_’, Levins,
Manip. ‘To skew’ is in prov. use in the north of England in the sense of
to look askance at any one, see EDD. (s.v. Skew, vb.^{1} 18).
=skew rom-bouse,= to quaff good drink (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl,
v. 1 (Song); _a skew_, a cuppe; Harman, Caveat, p. 83.
†=skibbered= (?).
‘What slimie bold presumptuous groome is he,
Dares with his rude audacious hardy chat,
Thus sever me from skibbered contemplation?’
Return from Parnassus, i. 6 (Furor).
The Halliwell-Phillipps MS. of the play reads _skybredd_ (communicated
by Mr. Percy Simpson). Dr. H. Bradley suggests _skyward_.
=skice, skise,= to frisk about, move nimbly, make off quickly; ‘Skise
out this way, and skise out that way’, Brome, Jovial Crew, iv. 1
(Randal). In prov. use—Sussex, Hampshire, &c. (EDD.).
=skill,= to make a difference; ‘It skills not much’, it makes little
difference, Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 134; ‘It skills not’, it makes no
difference, Nero, v. 2; ‘It skilleth not’, Lyly, Euphues (ed Arber,
245). Extremely common from 1550 to 1650, see NED.
=skillet,= see =skellet.=
=skimble-skamble,= rambling, incoherent. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 154. See
=scamble.=
=skimmington,= a ceremony practised on unpopular persons in various
parts of England; fully described in EDD. See Heywood, Witches of Lancs.
iv. 230; Oldham, Satires upon the Jesuits, iv (ed. R. Bell, p. 125). See
Brand’s Pop. Antiq., Cornutes (ed. 1877, p. 414), for an account of
‘Riding Skimmington’, where it is described as a ludicrous cavalcade
intended to ridicule a man beaten by his wife.
=skink,= to draw or pour out liquor. B. Jonson, New Inn, i (Lovel);
Phaer, Aeneid vii, 133. Hence, _Under-skinker_, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 26.
ME. _skinke_, to pour out (Chaucer, C. T. E. 1722). For full account of
this verb see Dict. (s.v. Nunchion).
=skipjack,= a pert fellow, a whipper-snapper. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 1
(Alph.); also, a horse-dealer’s boy, Dekker, Lanthorne, x; see Nares.
‘Skipjack’ is in prov. use in north of England in sense of a pert,
conceited fellow, see EDD. (s.v. Skip, vb.^{1} 1 (2 a)).
=skipper,= a barn (Cant). ‘_A skypper_, a barne’, Harman, Caveat, p. 83;
B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman). Possibly Cornish _sciber_,
Welsh _ysgubor_, a barn (NED.), Med. L. _scopar_, ‘scuria, stabulum’
(Ducange).
=skirr,= to pass rapidly over a stretch of land; ‘Skirre the country
round’, Macbeth, v. 3. 35. Of doubtful origin (NED.). In prov. use in
the sense of to scurry, rush, fly quickly (EDD.).
=skit,= skittish, restive. Spelt _skyt_, Skelton, Against the Scottes,
101. See EDD. (s.v. Skit, vb.^{2} 1).
=skoase,= to chaffer, barter, exchange. Warner, Albion’s England, bk.
vi, ch. 31, st. 64. See =scorse.=
=skope, skoope,= _pt. t._ of _scape_, scaped, escaped, got away. Phaer,
Aeneid ii, 458 (L. _evado_); _skoope_ = escaped to, id., vi. 425;
_skoope_, escaped, id., ix. 545 (L. _elapsi_).
=skoser;= see =scorse.=
=skull,= a skull-cap, helmet. Beaumont and Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, iv.
4. 5.
=skull;= see =scull.=
=skyrgaliard,= a wild or dissipated fellow, Skelton, Against the
Scottes, 101; id., Speke, Parrot, 427. See =galliard.=
=slab up,= to sup up greedily and dirtily; ‘Ye never saw hungry dog so
slab (printed _stab_) potage up’, Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley,
ii. 215. See NED. (s.v. Slab, vb.^{2}).
=slake,= a shallow dell, a glade, a pass between hills. Morte Arthur,
leaf 95. 6; bk. vi, c. 5. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and in
various parts of England, in the north down to Lincoln, see EDD. (s.v.
Slack, sb.^{3} 1). Icel. _slakki_, a small shallow dell.
=slam,= an ungainly person; ‘He is but a slam’, Vanbrugh, The Relapse,
v. 5 (Nurse); ‘A slam or slim Fellow is a skragged, tall, rawboned
Fellow’, Ray, N. C. Words (ed. 1691, 137), see NED. (s.v. Slam, adj.).
=slampant:= in phr. _to give one the_ (or _a_) _slampant_, to play a
trick on; ‘Polyperchon . . . meaning to give Cassander a slampant . . .
sent letters Pattents’, North, Plutarch (ed. 1595, 805); ‘_Trousse_, a
cousening tricke, blurt, slampant’, Cotgrave; also in form _slampaine_,
‘The townesmen being pinched at the heart that one rascal . . . should
give them the slampaine’, Stanyhurst, Desc. of Ireland (ed. 1808, vi.
30); also spelt _slampam_, ‘Shal a stranger geve me the slampam?’,
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 633.
=slat,= to dash, strike violently. Marston, Malcontent, iv. 1
(Malevole). In prov. use in various parts of England, meaning to throw
violently, to dash down water or other liquid, also, to strike, beat,
see EDD. (s.v. Slat, vb.^{3} 1).
=slate,= a cant term for a sheet. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Trapdoor); Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); Harman, Caveat, p.
61.
=slaty,= muddy, rainy. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 258. ‘Slatty’ is a Warw.
word for muddy, see EDD. (s.v. Slat, sb.^{4} 1).
=sled,= a sledge or sleigh used as a vehicle in travelling or for
recreation; ‘With milke-white Hartes upon an Ivorie sled Thou shalt be
drawen’, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2. In common prov. use for a low
cart without wheels, see EDD. (s.v. Sled, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _slede_, a
dray without wheels, a harrow, ‘traha’ (Prompt. EETS. 415).
=sledded,= (perhaps) riding in ‘sleds’ or sledges; ‘He smote the sledded
Pollax on the ice’, Hamlet, i. 1. 63 (a _Polack_ is a Pole, an
inhabitant of Poland). So NED.
=sledge,= a sledge-hammer; ‘To throw the sledge’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Scornful Lady, v. 2 (Elder Loveless). A Devon word, see EDD. (s.v.
Sledge, sb.^{2}).
=sleek,= plausible, specious. Hen. VIII, iii. 2. 241; Chapman, Eastward
Ho, ii. 2. Later variant form of ME. _slĭke_; see =slick.=
=sleided silk,= sleaved silk, silk ravelled out, divided into filaments.
Pericles, iv, Prol. 21.
=sleight,= a cunning trick, an artifice. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 81;
Massinger, New Way to pay, v. 1; 3 Hen. VI, iv. 2. 20; spelt _slight_,
Middleton, More Dissemblers, iv. 1; Butler, Hud. i. 2. 747. See Dict.
=slent,= to slip or glide obliquely; ‘The stroke slented doune to the
erthe’, Morte Arthur, leaf 345. 24; bk. xvii, c. 1; to make sly hits or
gibes, ‘One Proteas, a pleasaunt conceited man, and that could slent
finely’, North, Plutarch (NED.); hence, _slent_, a sly hit or sarcasm,
‘Cleopatra found Antonius jeasts and slents to be but grosse’, ib., M.
Antonius, § 13 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 175). See EDD. (s.v. Slent,
vb.^{1}).
=slibber-sauce,= a nauseous concoction, used esp. for medicinal
purposes, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 116); _slibber sawces_, buttery,
oily, made-up sauces, Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 105).
=slick,= smooth, plausible. Rawlins, Rebellion, iv. 1. 4. Cp. prov.
_slick-tongued_, smooth-tongued, plausible in speech, see EDD. (s.v.
Slick, adj.^{1} 6 (2)). ME. _slyke_, or smothe, ‘lenis’ (Prompt.). See
=sleek.=
=slick,= to make smooth. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, l. 1144; Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, xxiii. 249. In prov. use in England and America (EDD.). ME.
_slyken_, to make smooth (P. Plowman, B. ii. 98).
=slidder,= slippery. The Pardoner and the Frere, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley,
i. 213; ‘My tongue is grown sae slip and slidder’, Stuart, Joco-serious
Discourse (ed. 1686, 20); see EDD. ME. _slydyr_, ‘lubricus’ (Prompt.
EETS. 416); ‘A slidir mouth worchith fallyngis’, Wyclif, Prov. xxvi. 28.
OE. _slidor_.
=slidder,= to slip, to slide. Dryden, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 749. In prov.
use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.). OE.
_slid_(_e_)_rian_, to slip.
=slifter,= a cleft or crack; ‘_Fente_, a cleft, rift, slifter, chinke’,
Cotgrave. A north-country word (EDD.). Hence _sliftered_, cleft, rifted,
Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). Cp. G. (dial.) _Schlifter_,
gully, watercourse.
=slight;= see =sleight.=
=slighten,= to slight, depreciate. B. Jonson, Sejanus (end).
=slip,= a counterfeit coin. Often quibbled upon; as in Romeo, ii. 4. 51;
Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, iii. 1 (Pickadill). See NED. (s.v.
Slip, sb.^{4}).
=slipper,= slippery. Othello, ii. 1. 246. A west-country word, see EDD.
(s.v. Slipper, adj. 1). OE. _slipor_.
=slipstring,= a knave; one who has eluded the halter. Gascoigne,
Supposes, iii. 1 (Dalio); ‘_Goinfre_, a wag, slipstring, knavish lad’,
Cotgrave. In prov. use the word means an idle, worthless, slovenly
person, so in Northants and Warw., see EDD. (s.v. Slip, 3, (22)).
=slive,= to slice, cleave; to strip off (a bough) by tearing it
downward; ‘I slyue a floure from his braunche’, Palsgrave; ‘The boughes
whereof . . . he cutting and sliving downe’, Warner, Alb. England, prose
addition on Aeneid ii, § 1. In prov. use in various parts of England,
see EDD. (s.v. Slive, vb.^{1} 1). ME. _slyvyn_, a-sundyr, ‘findo’
(Prompt. EETS. 459). OE. (_to_)_-slīfan_, to split.
=sliver,= a small branch split off from the tree. Hamlet, iv. 7. 174. In
gen. prov. use for a slice, a splinter of wood (EDD.). ME. _slivere_, a
piece cut or split off (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 1013).
=sliver,= to slice off. Macbeth, iv. 1. 28. In prov. use: ‘If you sliver
away at the meat like that there’ll be none left for to-morrow’
(Cambridge); see EDD.
=sloape,= deceitful; ‘For hope is sloape’, Mirror for Mag., Ferrex, st.
18. ‘Slope’ (or ‘sloap’) is in prov. use in Yorks., meaning to trick,
cheat (EDD.).
=slot,= the track of a stag or deer upon the ground. B. Jonson, Sad
Shepherd, i. 2 (John); to follow a track, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i.
191. OF. _esclot_, hoof-print of a horse, &c. (Godefroy), probably of
Scand. origin, cp. Icel. _slōð_, a track; so NED.
†=sloy,= a term of abuse for a woman. Warner, Alb. England, bk. xi, ch.
58, st. 26. Not found elsewhere.
=slubber,= to sully, Othello, i. 3. 227; to obscure, 1 Part of Jeronimo,
ii. 4. 67; see Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 374. In prov. use for obscuring
with dirt (EDD.).
=slubberdegullion,= a slubbering rascal (Burlesque). Beaumont and Fl.,
Custom of the Country, i. 2. 18; Butler, Hud. i. 3. 886.
=sludge,= to turn into a soft mass, ‘The flame had sludgd the pitche,
the waxe and wood And other things that nourish fire’, Golding, Metam.
xiv. 532.
=slug,= to be lazy, inactive. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 23; _slogge_,
Palsgrave; ‘Another sleeps and slugs both night and day’, Quarles,
Emblems (bk. i. 8, Luke vi. 25). ME. _sluggyn_, ‘desidio’ (Prompt.).
=slug,= a slow, inactive person; ‘Fie, what a slug is Hastings, that he
comes not’, Richard III, iii. 1. 22; _slugge_, a hindrance, ‘Money would
be stirring, if it were not for this slugge’, Bacon, Essay 41, § 2.
‘_Slug_’ is in prov. use in the north country for a slow inactive person
or animal; in Somerset, esp. of a slow-going horse; ‘to slug’ in Yorks.
means to hinder, to retard progress (EDD.). ME. _slugge_, ‘deses,
segnis’ (Prompt.).
=slur,= a method of cheating at dice; ‘Without some fingering trick or
slur’, Butler, Misc. Thoughts (ed. Bell, iii. 176). Also, a term in
card-playing, ‘’Gainst high and low, and slur, and knap’, Butler, Upon
Gaming. See NED. (s.v. Slur, sb.^{2} 2).
=slurg,= to lie in a sleepy state, to lie sluggishly. Phaer, Aeneid vi,
424; id., ix. 190. G. (Swabian dial.) _schlurgen_, to go about in a
slovenly manner (J. C. Schmid).
=smack,= to savour of, to taste of; ‘This veneson smacketh to moche of
the pepper’, Palsgrave; _fig._, ‘All sects, all ages smack of this
vice’, Meas. for M. ii. 2. 5. ME. _smakkyn_, ‘odoro’ (Prompt.). See
=smatch.=
=smalach,= ‘smallage’, wild celery or water parsley, Tusser, Husbandry,
§ 45. 20. ME. _smale ache_, ‘apium’ (Sin. Barth. 11), E. _small_ + F.
_ache_, wild celery, O. Prov. _ache_, _api_, Pop. L. *_apia_, L.
_apium_.
=smatch,= a ‘smack’, taste, flavour. Jul. Caesar, v. 4. 46; Middleton,
The Widow, i. 1 (Martino). In prov. use in various parts of England
(EDD.). ME. _smach_, taste, flavour (NED.). OE. _smæc_(_c_. See =smack.=
=smeath,= a small diving-bird; the ‘smee’ or ‘smew’, _Mergellus
albellus_. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 67.
=Smeck,= short for Smectymnuus, a fictitious name compounded of the
initials of the five men who wrote under that name, viz. Stephen
Marshall, Edward Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William
Spurstow. They are said to have worn particular cravats, which Butler
calls _cravat of Smeck_, Hud. i. 3. 1166.
=smelt,= a name applied to various small fishes, used (like _gudgeon_)
with the sense of simpleton. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1
(Mercury); Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, v. 2 (end).
=smelt,= a half-guinea (Cant). Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1
(Hackum).
=smicker,= elegant, handsome; ‘A smicker Swaine’, Lodge, Euphues (NED.);
smirking, gay, Peele, Eclogue Gratulatory, 4 (ed. Dyce, 561). Cp. the
obsolete Scotch _smicker_, to smile affectedly, to smirk (EDD.). OE.
_smicer_, elegant.
=smickly,= fine, elegant, smart; or it may be used adverbially. Ford,
Sun’s Darling, ii. 1 (Raybright). Cp. Dan. _smykke_, to adorn, G.
_schmücken_.
=smock:= _He was wrapt up in the tail of his mother’s smock_; said of
any one remarkable for his success with the ladies (Grose). See Marston,
What you Will, v. 1 (Bidet). ‘_Il est né tout coiffé_, Born rich,
honourable, fortunate; born with his mother’s kercher about his head;
wrapt in his mother’s smock, say we; also, he is very maidenly,
shame-faced, heloe’, Cotgrave.
=smoke,= to get an inkling of, to smell or suspect (a plot), to detect.
Middleton, Roaring Girl (2 Cutpurse); ‘Sir John, I fear, smokes your
design’, Dryden, Sir M. Mar-all, 1; see NED. (s.v. 8).
=smoky,= quick to suspect, suspicious, Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iv.
1 (Belfond senior).
=smolder,= smoky vapour, a suffocating smoke the result of slow
combustion; ‘The smolder of smoke’, Bp. Andrewes, Serm. (ed. 1661, 472);
_to be smoldered_, to be suffocated, Caxton, Reynard (ed. Arber, 98).
ME. _smolder_, smoky vapour (P. Plowman, B. xvii. 321).
=smoor,= to smother. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 44;
‘She smoored him in the slepe’, Coverdale, 1 Kings iii. 19. In prov. use
in the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Smoor, vb.^{1}).
=smouch,= to kiss. Heywood, 1 King Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 40;
Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, p. 155). In prov. use in
various parts of England (EDD.). Cp. G. (Swabian dial.) _schmutz_,
‘derber Kuss’ (Schmid).
=smug,= to smarten up, to make trim or gay; freq. with _up_, Chapman,
tr. of Odyssey, x. 568; Drayton, Pol. x. 69; xxi. 73; Dekker,
Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 3 (Firk). ‘Smug’ is in prov. use in various
parts of England for smart, tidily dressed: also, as vb., to dress up
neatly (EDD.).
=smuggle,= to hug violently, to smother with caresses, Otway, Ven.
Preserved, last scene; line 13 from end. In prov. use in Somerset and
Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Smuggle, vb.^{2}).
=smug-skinnde,= sleek, smooth-skinned. Gascoigne, Herbs, ed. Hazlitt, i.
393.
=snache;= see =snatch.=
=’snails,= a profane oath, for ‘God’s nails’, i.e. ‘Christ’s nails’ on
the Cross. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, v. 1 (Pompey);
London Prodigal, v. 1. 222. Cp. Chaucer, ‘By goddes precious herte, and
by his nayles’ (C. T. C. 651).
=snakes:= To _eat snakes_ was a recipe for enabling one to grow younger.
Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, i. 2 (Orlando); Beaumont and Fl., Elder
Brother, iv. 4 (Andrew).
=snaphance,= a flint-lock used in muskets and pistols, Lyly, Mother
Bombie, ii. 1 (Dromio); a musket or gun fitted with a flint-lock, Capt.
Smith, Virginia, iii. 12. 93 (NED.). Du. _snaphaan_, ‘a firelock, fusee,
snaphaunce’ (Sewel).
=snaphance,= an armed robber, a highwayman. Holinshed, Chron. ii. 684.
Du. ‘_snaphaan_, a Fuselier carrying a _snaphaan_’ (Sewel), also a
mounted highwayman. Cp. G. _schnapphahn_ in 1494, _schnapphan_, a
highwayman (Brant, Narrenschiff); _schnapphahn_ in prov. Germ. has also
the meaning of constable, thief-catcher. See Weigand and H. Paul (s.v.).
Cp. F. _chenapan_, ‘mot tiré de l’Allemand, où il désigne un brigand des
Montagnes noires; en François, il signifie un vaurien, un bandit’, Dict.
de l’Acad., 1762.
=snapper,= to trip, to stumble. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 15, l. 4; id.,
Ware the Hauke, 142; ‘I snapper as a horse dothe that tryppeth, _Je
trippette_’, Palsgrave. A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Snapper,
vb.^{1} 1). ME. _snapere_, to stumble: ‘Thi foot schal not snapere’
(Wyclif, Prov. iii. 23); _snapir_ (Wars Alex. 847).
=snar,= to snarl; ‘Tygres that did seeme to gren And snar at all’,
Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 27. Cp. Du. _snarren_, to snarl (Hexham).
=snarl,= to ensnare, entangle. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 17; J. Beaumont,
Psyche, ix. 275; Palsgrave. A north-country word for snaring hares or
rabbits, see EDD. (s.v. Snarl, vb.^{2} 2). ME. _snarlyn_, ‘illaqueo’
(Prompt.).
=snatch,= a trap, snare, entanglement; ‘The Chevalier . . . being taken
in a Gin like unto a Snatch’, Shelton, Quixote, iii. 1; spelt _snache_,
‘A new-founde snache which did my feet ensnare’. Mirror for Mag.,
Carassus, st. 43. ME. _snacche_, a trap, snare (K. Alis. 6559).
=sneaker,= a sneaking fellow; ‘Clarke is a pitifull proud sneaker’,
Reliq. Hearnianae (ed. Bliss, 483); ‘_Origlione_, an eavesdropper, a
listener, . . . a sneaker, a lurking knave’ (Florio).
=sneap,= to nip or pinch with cold; ‘An envious sneaping Frost’ L. L. L.
i. 1. 100; ‘The sneaped birds’, Lucrece, 333. In prov. use in the north
of England: ‘They’n do well if they dunna get sneaped wi’ the frost’
(Cheshire), see EDD. (s.v. Snape, vb. 2). Also, to check, repress,
reprove, chide, snub, Brome, Antipodes, iv. 9 (NED.); ‘A man quickly
sneapt’, Maiden’s Tragedy, iii. 1 (Servant), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x.
428. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. _snaip_, to rebuke sharply (Cursor M.
13027), Icel. _sneypa_, to chide (NED. s.v. Snape, vb.^{1}).
=sneb,= to reprimand sharply, Sidney, Arcadia, xxxiii. 22; _snebbe_,
Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 126. In prov. use in Lancashire (EDD.). In
Chaucer, C. T. A. 525, some MSS. have _snebbe_. Swed. dial. _snebba_
(Rietz). See =snib.=
=sneck up;= see =snick.=
=snetched,= slaughtered; ‘A snetched Oxe’, Golding, Metam. v. 122 (Lat.
_mactati iuuenci_). Not found elsewhere.
=snib,= to reprimand, rebuke sharply; ‘Christian snibbeth his fellow for
unadvised speaking’, Bunyan, Pilgr. Pr. i. 169; Middleton, Five
Gallants, ii. 3 (Tailor); Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 372; to snip off, as
with snuffers, Marston, Malcontent, iii. 1 (Malevole). In prov. use, in
the sense of rebuking sharply, in Scotland and north of England down to
Bedford (EDD.). ME. _snibben_, to rebuke (Chaucer, C. T. A. 523). Dan.
_snibbe_. See =sneb.=
=snick:= _snick up_ (used imperatively), be hanged! London Prodigal, v.
1; Middleton, Blurt, Master Constable, iv. 1; _Snecke up!_, Twelfth Nt.
ii. 3. 101; also used with _go_, ‘Let him go snick up’, Beaumont and
Fl., Knt. Burning Pestle, ii. 2 (Mrs. Merrythought); Davenant,
Play-House (Works, ed. 1673, 116). ‘Snick up!’, in the sense of ‘Begone,
go and be hanged’, is said to be in use in west Yorks., see EDD. (s.v.
Snickup, int. 4).
†=snickfail;= ‘Whereas the snickfail grows, and hyacinth’, Webster, The
Thracian Wonder, i. 2. A misprint for _sinckfoil_ = _cinquefoil_; cp.
Greene, Menaphon (ed. Arber, 36); see NED. (s.v. Cinquefoil).
Communicated by Mr. Percy Simpson.
=snickle,= a running noose. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5 (Ithamar). In
prov. use in the north and east, esp. in Yorks. and Linc. (EDD.). Here,
for ‘snicle hand too fast’ we should probably read ‘two hands
snickle-fast’, see various conjectures in Tucker Brooke’s ed. of
Marlowe.
=snig,= a young eel. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 96. In prov. use in various
parts of England (EDD.). ME. _snygge_, an eel (Cath. Angl.).
=sniggle,= to fish for eels by means of a baited hook or needle thrust
into their holes or haunts. I. Walton, Angler, ch. x. [In the passage
cited by Todd and later Dicts. from Fletcher’s Thierry, ii. 2, ‘I have
snigled him’, the correct reading is doubtless ‘singled’, so NED.]
=snob,= to sob. Puritan Widow, i. 1. 90; Middleton, Mad World, iii. 2.
In prov. use in Worc. and Glouc. (EDD.). ME. _snobbe_, to sob; ‘My
sobbyng (v.r. snobbyng) and cries’ (Wyclif, Lam. iii. 56).
=snudge,= a miser, a mean person; ‘A covetous snudge’, Ascham,
Toxophilus (ed. Arber, p. 28); Dekker, O. Fortunatus, i. 2 (Shadow);
‘Snudge, _parcus_’, Levins, Manipulus. See EDD.
=snudge,= to remain snug and quiet; ‘Now he will . . . eat his bread in
peace, And snudge in quiet’, G. Herbert, Temple, Giddinesse, 11. In
prov. use in the north country and in E. Anglia (EDD.).
=snuff:= in phr. _to take_ (_a thing_) _in snuff_, to take (a matter)
amiss, to take offence at; ‘Mr. Mills . . . should take it in snuffe
that my wife did not come to his child’s christening’, Pepys, Diary,
1661, Oct. 6; ‘Who therewith angry . . . Took it in snuff’, 1 Hen. IV,
i. 3. 41; _to take snuff at_, to take offence at a thing, Fuller,
Joseph’s Coat (ed. 1867, 51). ‘Snuff’ in these phrases refers probably
to the act of ‘snuffing’ as an expression of contempt or disdain, see
NED. (s.v. sb.^{2} 1), and EDD. (s.v. sb.^{1} 1).
=soader,= to ‘solder’, cement together. Rowley, All’s Lost, iii. 1. 34;
_sodder_, Chapman, Byron’s Tragedy, iii. 1 (Janir).
=soar-falcon,= a falcon or hawk of the first year that has not moulted
and still has its red plumage; ‘Of the soare faulcon so I learne to
fly’, Spenser, Hymn Heav. Beauty, 26; Latham, Falconry, 37; see Nares
(s.v. Sore-Hawk). F. _Faulcon sor_, a soar Hawk; _Harenc sor_, a red
Herring (Cotgr., s.v. Sor). Anglo-F. _sor_, reddish brown (Rough List).
O. Prov. _sor_, _saur_, Ital. _sauro_. See =sore= (a buck).
=sod,= boiled; _pret._ of ‘seethe’; ‘Sod Euphrates . . . sod Orontes’,
Golding, Metam. ii. 248. The reference is to the boiling of rivers
during the mad career of Phaethon; Ovid has ‘Arsit et Euphrates’, &c.
=sodder;= see =soader.=
=soggy,= soaked with moisture, soppy; hence, heavy (like damp and green
hay). B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iii. 2 (Mitis). In prov. use in
various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Sog, sb.^{2} 3).
=soil,= a miry or muddy place used by a wild boar for wallowing in;
‘_Sueil_, the soyle of a wild Bore, the mire wherein hee commonly
walloweth; _se souiller_ (of a swine), to take soyle, or wallow in the
mire’, Cotgrave. The phr. ‘to take soil’ corresponds to F. _prendre
souille_. _Souille_ is a deriv. from _souiller_, to soil with mud,
Romanic type *_soc’lare_, deriv. of L. _sŭcula_, a little sow.
=soil,= a pool or stretch of water, used as a refuge by a hunted deer or
other animal, Turbervile, Hunting, 241; _to take soil_, to take to the
water, as a hunted deer, id., 148; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarl);
Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 4. 6. See above.
=soil,= to expound, explain, to resolve a doubt; ‘I have not learned to
soyle no riedles’, Udall, tr. Apoph. 309 (NED.); ‘_Souldre_, to cleere
or soile a doubt’, Cotgrave. Anglo-F. _soiler_, OF. _soldre_, L.
_solvere_, to loosen, to explain.
=soil,= to absolve from sin, ‘I soyle from synne, _je assouls_’,
Palsgrave. For _assoil_, Anglo-F. _assoiler_, to absolve, pardon (Rough
List); OF. _assoldre_, L. _absolvere_; see Moisy.
=sokingly,= slowly, gently, gradually; ‘Sokingly, one pece after an
other’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Julius, § 32. ME. _sokingly_, ‘sensim,
paulatim’ (Prompt. EETS. 147); ‘By good leyser sokingly, and nat over
hastily’ (Chaucer. C. T. B. 2767).
=Sol,= the sun. Peele, Poems (ed. Routledge, p. 601); an alchemist’s
term for gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Dol).
=sol,= a small coin, B. Jonson, Volpone, iv. 2 (Bonario); Marmion, The
Antiquary, iii. 1 (Ant.). OF. _sol_; L. _solidus_ (sc. _nummus_), a gold
coin (in the time of the emperors).
=solayne,= sullen, melancholy. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 16, 1. 51;
_soleyne_, id., Bowge of Courte, 187; _solein_, Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
May, 213. ME. _soleyn_, of maners or he þat lovyth no company,
‘solitarius, Acheronicus’. (Prompt. EETS. 421); ‘The soleyn fenix of
Arabye’ (Chaucer, Boke Duch. 982).
=sold,= pay, remuneration, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 6. Med. L. _soldum_,
pay, related to L. _solidus_, a piece of money; see =sol.=
=soldado,= a soldier. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2 (_or_ 1)
(Downright). Span. _soldado_, one who is paid; a soldier; deriv. of Med.
L. _soldum_, pay. See above. See Stanford.
=soldan,= the supreme ruler of a Mohammedan country, Marlowe, 1
Tamburlaine, iii. 2. 31; Milton, P. L. i. 764. ME. _soldan_ (Gower, C.
A. i. 245); Ital. _soldano_; Arab, _sulṭân_.
=sole;= see =sowl.=
=solein;= see =solayne.=
=solf,= to sing the notes of the _sol-fa_, or gamut; to sing. Calisto
and Melibaea, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 71; _solfe_, Skelton, Phyllyp
Sparowe, 415. ME. _solfe_ (P. Plowman, B. v. 423).
†=solidare,= a small piece of money. Timon, iii. 1. 46. Not found
elsewhere.
=sollar,= an upper room. Udall, tr. Erasmus, Acts xx. 8 (= ὑπερῷον,
_cenaculum_); a loft, ‘Sollars full of wheat’, Marlowe, Jew of Malta,
iv. 1 (Barabas). The word is still in prov. use in various parts of
England with many meanings: esp. an upper room, a first-floor apartment;
loft or garret (EDD.). The Gk. word ὑπερῷον (Vulg. _cenaculumm_) in Acts
xx. 8 is rendered by _soler_ in Wyclif’s tr. (Luther has _söller_). In
the Heliand and in Tatian _soleri_ = ‘cenaculum’. ME. _solere_ or lofte,
‘solarium’ (Prompt.); ‘Soler-halle at Cantebregge’ (Chaucer, C. T. A.
3990, see Notes); OE. _solor_ (_soler_-); L. _solarium_, a part of the
house exposed to the sun, esp. a flat house-top (Vulgate, 2 Sam. xi. 2).
=somedele,= somewhat, in some measure, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec, 40. In
prov. use in Scotland, Yorks., Northants, see EDD. (s.v. Some, 1 (3)).
ME. _somdel_, in some measure (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3911).
=somer,= a ‘summer’, a supporting beam, a support. Fitzherbert,
Husbandry, § 5. 22. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Summer, sb.^{2}). F.
_sommier_, ‘the piece of timber called a Summer’ (Cotgr.); OF. _somier_,
a pack-horse (Burguy); Med. L. _saumarius_, _sagmarius_, ‘equus
clitellarius’ (Ducange); deriv. of _sagma_, a pack, burden; Gk. σάγμα.
See Dict. (s.v. Sumpter). For the development of meaning from ‘a kind of
horse’ to a ‘timber-beam’, cp. F. _poutre_, (1) a filly, (2) a
supporting beam.
=somner,= an official summoner. Middleton, A Trick to catch, ii. 1
(Lucre). ME. _somner_ (P. Plowman, C. iii. 59); _somnour_, summoner,
apparitor, an officer who summoned delinquents before the ecclesiastical
courts (Chaucer, C. T. A. 543).
=sonde,= a sending, a messenger. Morte Arthur, leaf 420, back, 13; bk.
xxi, c. 1. OE. _sand_ (_sond_), a sending, message.
=sonties:= in phr. _by God’s sonties_, an oath used by old Gobbo in
Merch. Ven. ii. 1. 17. The same as _God’s santy_, Dekker, Honest Wh.,
Pt. I, v. 2 (Bellafront). Adapted from OF. _saintée_, _sancteit_,
sanctity, holiness (Godefroy).
=soop,= to sweep; ‘A sooping traine’, Return from Parnassus, i. 2
(Judicio); _sooping it_, sweeping alone; id., v. 1 (Studioso). Icel.
_sōpa_, to sweep.
=sooreyn,= jaded feeling, exhaustion; ‘Abundance breedes the sooreyn of
excesse’, Gascoigne, Grief of Joy, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 286. A
back-formation from the verb _to surrein_, to overtire. See =surreined.=
=soote,= sweetly, Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 111; also sweet, Surrey,
Description of Spring, 1. ME. _sote_, sweetly (Chaucer, Leg. G. W.
2612), OE. _swōte_, sweetly. Chaucer has also _sote_ as adj. sweet (C.
T. A. 1), but the OE. adj. is _swēte_.
=sooterkin,= an imaginary kind of afterbirth formerly attributed to
Dutch women; ‘There goes a report of the Holland Women that together
with their children they are delivered of a Sooterkin, not unlike a Rat,
which some imagine to be the Offspring of the Stoves’, Cleveland (NED.);
Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 146. [Swift to Delany (Works, ed. 1755, III. ii.
232); Pope, Dunciad, i. 126; ‘Sooterkin, _maankalf_’, Calisch.] See
=mooncalf.=
=sooth,= to declare a statement to be true, to corroborate it. Udall,
Roister Doister, i. 1. 47; to support a person in a statement, ‘Sooth me
in all I say’, Massinger, Duke Milan, v. 2; _to sooth up_, ‘Sooth me in
all I say’, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 10. 19. The same word as _soothe_,
OE. _sōðian_, to show to be true. The pronunciation of the verb is due
to the sb. _sooth_, OE. _sōð_.
=sophie,= wisdom; ‘The seuenfold sophie of Minerue’, Grimald, Death of
Zoroas, 67; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 121. Gk. σοφία.
=sops-in-wine,= a name given to some kind of gilliflower or pink.
Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 138; B. Jonson, Pan’s Anniversary (Shepherd,
l. 6). See Nares.
=sord,= ‘sward’, turf. Milton, P. L. xi. 433; _greene-sord_, green
sward, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 157 (so Fol. 1).
=sore,= a buck of the fourth year. Phaer, Aeneid x. 725 (L. _cervum_).
‘The bucke . . . the iij. yere a sowrell, A _sowre_ at the iiij. yere’,
Book of St. Albans, fol. e, iiij.
=sorel,= a buck of the third year; ‘Sorell jumps from thicket’,
L. L. L. iv. 2. 60; ‘Sorell, a yonge bucke’, Palsgrave; see NED.
(s.v. Sorrel, sb.^{2} 2). Anglo-F. _sorel_, a reddish-brown
horse (Ch. Rol. 1379), deriv. of _sor_ (id., 1943). See
=soar-falcon.=
=sore.= Of the hare: to traverse open ground, ‘I might see [the hare]
sore and resore’, i.e. dart off, first in one direction and then in
another, Return from Parnassus, ii. 5 (end). ‘When he gooth the howndys
before, He sorth and resorth’, Boke of St. Albans, fol. e 8, back.
=sore,= to make sore, to hurt. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 38.
=sort,= a company, assemblage of people: Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 13;
Richard II, iv. 1. 246; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 5; Ps. lxii. 3 (Great
Bible, 1539); rank, degree, ‘A gentleman of great sort’, Hen. V, iv. 7.
143; _of sorts_, of various kinds, ‘They have a king and officers of
sorts’ (id., i. 2. 190). Anglo-F. _sort_, company, assemblage (Gower,
Mirour, 16800).
=sortilege,= a drawing of lots. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., pt. 1, § 18.
F. _sortilège_, L. _sortilegium_.
=soss,= to make oneself wet and dirty, to dabble; ‘Sossing and possing,
dabbling in mire’, Gammer Gurton’s Needle; i. 4 (Hodge); _sost_, pp.
made wet and dirty, Tusser, Husbandry, § 48. 20. In prov. use in various
parts of the British Isles, see EDD. (s.v. Soss, vb.^{2} and vb.^{3}).
†=sothbind.= ‘But late medcynes can help no sothbynde sore’, Mirror for
Mag., Richard, st. 10 (ed. 1578 has: ‘no _festered_ sore’). Not found
elsewhere. See Nares.
†=sothery.= The devils are described as having—‘Theyr taylles wel
kempt, and, as I wene, With sothery butter theyr bodyes anoynted’,
Heywood, The Four Plays, v. 87, Anc. Brit. Drama, i. 18, col. 2;
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 376. Does it mean ‘Surrey butter’? Surrey is spelt
_Sothery_ in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 269; and _Sothray_ in Skelton, El.
Rummyng, 96.
=souce;= see =souse.=
=soud,= to consolidate, make whole. Pp. _souded_, Morte Arthur, leaf
359. 20; bk. xvii, c. 19. F. _souder_, to consolidate; L. _solidare_.
=souder,= to be soldered together, to become whole; ‘The pecys . . .
soudered as fayr as euer they were to-fore’, Morte Arthur, leaf 348. 12;
bk. xvii, c. 4.
=soul,= a part of the viscera of a cooked fowl. Heywood, Eng. Traveller,
ii. 1 (Clown). See EDD. (s.v. Soul, sb.^{1} 8). ‘_Âme_, the soule of a
capon or gose’, Palsgrave; ‘_Mazzacáre_, the tender part of any bird or
fowl, in a Goose it is called the Soul’ (Florio). See EDD. (s.v. Soul,
sb.^{1} 8) and Notes and Queries (8th S. ii. 169).
=souling,= relishing, affording a relish; _souling well_, affording a
good relish, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 32. Cp. the north
country prov. word _sowl_(_e_, a relish, dainty, anything eaten with
bread (EDD.). OE. _sufl_.
=sound,= to swoon, Two Angry Women, iii. 2 (Francis); Heywood, Four
Prentises (Guy), vol. ii, p. 181; a swoon, ‘a deadly sound’, id., Fair
Maid of the Exchange (Anthony), vol. ii, p. 15; Udall, Roister Doister,
iii. 3. 94; ‘She fell into a traunce or sownde’, Stubbes, A Christall
Glasse (ed. Furnivall, 202). In common prov. use in Scotland, also in
England in various parts, esp. in Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Sound,
vb.^{2}). See =sowne= (2).
=sounder,= a herd of wild swine. Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, iv. 163;
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Hubert); ‘That men calleth a trip of a
tame swyn is called of wylde swyn a soundre, that is to say ȝif ther be
passyd v or vi togedres’ (Halliwell). OE. _sunor_: ‘sunor bergana’ (Luke
viii. 32, Lind.) = ‘grex porcorum’ (Vulg.).
=sourd,= to arise. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 7; Fabyan’s
Chron., ed. 1811, p. 436; p. 499, l. 23. ME. _sourde_, to arise
(Chaucer, C. T. I. 475); F. _sourdre_; L. _surgere_.
=sous, souse,= a ‘sou’, a small coin. Farquhar, The Inconstant, i. 2
(Old Mirabel); Prior, Down Hall, st. 33. [‘Those most heav’nly pictures
. . . For which the nation paid down every souse’, Peter Pindar, Works
(ed. 1816, p. 397).] An obsolete Scotch word (EDD.).
=souse,= to swoop down like a hawk. Heywood, Dialogue, 181 (Mercury),
vol. vi, p. 247; to deal a heavy downward blow, Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 6;
Heywood, Brazen Age (Hercules); the downward swoop of a bird of prey,
the sudden blow given by a ‘sousing’ hawk, Drayton, Pol. xx. 241;
Heywood, A Woman Killed, i. 3. 2; Ford, Lady’s Trial, iv. 2 (Futelli).
The word as applied in falconry meant originally the upward spring or
swoop of a bird of prey; an older form was _sours_; OF. _sorse_ (mod.
_source_), lit. the ‘rise’ of the hawk; cp. Chaucer, C. T. D. 1938, and
Hous Fame, ii. 36. See Dict. (s.v. Souse), and Notes on Eng. Etym. 275.
=souse,= brine for pickle. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, ii. 1
(Normandine); ears and feet of a pig in pickle, Tusser, Husbandry, § 12;
Butler, Hud. i. 2. 120; hence _souse-wife_ (_sowce-wife_), a woman who
sold ‘souse’, Greene, George-a-Greene (ed. Dyce. 257); Dekker,
Shoemakers’ Hol. ii. 3 (Firk). ME. _sowce_, ‘succidium’ (Prompt. EETS.
424, see note, no. 2063); OF. _sous_ (_souz_), see Godefroy (s.v. Soult,
2); cp. OHG. _sulza_ (Schade), O. Prov. _soltz_, ‘viande à la
vinaigrette’ (Levy); Ital. _solcio_, a seasoning of meat (Florio). Cp.
also OF. _solcier_, ‘confire de la viande dans du vinaigre et des
épices’ (Raschi). See note on ‘Solz’, in Romania, 1910, p. 176.
=sovenance,= remembrance. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 8; Shep. Kal., May, 82,
Nov., 5. Anglo-F. _sovenance_ (Gower, Mirour, 8244); F. _souvenance_,
‘memorie, remembrance’ (Cotgr.).
=sovereign,= a gold coin, a ten-shilling piece. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out
of Humour, v. 7 (Fallace).
=sow,= a large lump of metal; ‘Sowes of gold’, Mirror for Mag., King
Chirinnus, Lenvoy, st. 1; ‘_Pano di metallo_, a mass, a sow or ingot of
metal’ (Florio).
=sowce-wife;= See =souse= (2).
=sow-gard,= a protecting shield or shelter (= L. _testudo_). Stanyhurst,
tr. of Aeneid, ii. 451. A sow was a military engine consisting of a
movable roof arranged to protect men handling a battering-ram or
advancing to scale walls.
=sowl,= to pull by the ears. Coriolanus, iv. 5. 213 (old edd. _sole_);
spelt _sole_, Heywood, Love’s Mistress, iv. 1 (Vulcan); vol. v, p. 137.
‘Sowl’ is in prov. use in many spellings (_soul_, _sool_, _sole_,
_soal_, _saul_), meaning to pull by the ears, also to hit on the head,
see EDD. (s.v. Sowl, vb.^{1}).
=sowne, soune,= a sound, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 2; c.
13, § 4; to sound, ‘Sowning through the sky’, Tottel’s Misc., p. 202.
ME. _sowne_ (_soune_), to sound (Chaucer). F. _son_, sound; _sonner_, to
sound.
=sowne,= to swoon, Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 483; a swoon, Puritan Widow, i.
3. 42. In prov. use for swoon, see EDD. (s.v. Sound, vb.^{2} 1). ME.
_sownyn_, ‘sincopo’ (Prompt. EETS. 324). See =sound.=
=sowse;= see =souse.=
=sowter, souter,= a cobbler. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 3
(Rosalura); Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Soto); Mad Lover, ii. 1. 22. In prov.
use in the north country (EDD.). ME. _souter_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3904);
OE. _sūtere_; L. _sutor_.
=soyle,= the watery place in which a hunted animal takes refuge.
Turbervile, Hunting, c. 40; p. 115. Used to signify the hunted animal;
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 16. See =soil= (pool).
=space,= to walk or roam about. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 44. Cp. Ital.
_spaziare_, to walk about (_spatiare_ in Florio). L. _spatiari_, whence
also O. Prov. _espasiar_, reflex, ‘se promener’ (Levy), and G.
_spazieren_. Cp. Med. L. ‘_Spatiamentum_, ambulatio, deambulatio, animi
relaxatio’ (Ducange).
=spade,= to make a female animal barren, to ‘spay’. Chapman. Widow’s
Tears, v (Governor). Med. L. _spadare_, ‘spadonem facere’ (Ducange),
deriv. of L. _spado_, Gk. σπάδων, one who has no generative power,
eunuch. See =spay.=
=spade-bone,= blade-bone, shoulder-bone. Drayton, Pol. v. 266; Skinner
(ann. 1671). In prov. use (EDD.). _Spade_ = Norm. F. _espalde_, ‘épaule’
(Moisy). For the phonology cp. jade = Icel. _jalda_, a mare, through OF.
*_jaude_, *_jalde_. See below.
=spalle,= a shoulder. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29. ‘Spawl’ (‘spaul’) is in
prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Spaul). OF. _espalle_, _espalde_
(F. _épaule_), Med. L. _spatula_, a shoulder-blade, L. _spatula_, a
broad-bladed knife. See =spade-bone.=
=span-counter,= a boys’ game. One boy throws down a counter, which
another wins, if he can throw another so as to hit it or lie within a
span of it. 2 Hen. VI, iv. 3; Northward Ho, i. 2 (Philip). See Nares.
=spang,= a spangle. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1162; Bacon, Essay 37. Hence
_spang’d_, spangled, Three Lords and Three Ladies (Shealty), in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 467.
=Spanish fig,= a poisoned fig. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed.
Dyce, p. 30.
=Spanish needle,= a needle of the best quality. Middleton, Blurt, Mr.
Constable, ii. 1. 6.
=Spanish pike,= a needle; jocosely. Ford, Sun’s Darling, ii. 1 (Folly).
=spare, spaire, spayre,= an opening or slit in a gown or petticoat.
_Spayre_, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 345; ‘_Sparre_ of a gowne, _fente de
la robe_’, Palsgrave; Skene, Difficill Scottish Words (ann. 1681). ME.
_speyre_ of garment, ‘cluniculum’ (Prompt. EETS. 427, see note, no.
2083); _spayre_, ‘manubium, cluniculum’ (Cath. Angl.).
=Spargirica,= a name for Alchemy; ‘Ars Spagyrica’ (misspelt), B. Jonson,
Alchemist, ii. 5 (ed. 1616). Ital. _Spargirica_, a name given to Alchemy
from its separating and analysing chemical substances (Fanfani).
Cotgrave has ‘_Spargirie_, Alchymie’, and ‘_Spargirique_, an Alchemist’.
Florio has ‘_Spargirio_, Alchymy or the Extraction of Quintessences’.
=spark,= a diamond. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (Rolliardo).
=sparkle,= to scatter, disperse. Beaumont and Fl., Loyal Subject, i. 5.
4; Humorous Lieutenant, i. 1 (Demetrius); _sparkling_, scattering,
Bonduca, iii. 2 (near the end). See Nares, and Trench’s Select Glossary
(ed. 1890). In prov. use in Yorks. (EDD.). See =disparkle.=
=sparse,= to scatter. Fairfax, Tasso, xii. 46; Chapman, tr. of Iliad,
xi. 268. L. _spars-us_, pp. of _spargere_, to scatter. See =sperse.=
=spaw,= a spa, place with mineral waters; ‘Your Tunbridge, or the Spaw
itself’, B. Jonson, News from the New World (1 Herald); _The Spawe_,
Gascoigne, Works, i. 376 (1572). So named from _Spa_, in Belgium.
=spay,= to render female animals barren; ‘Geld your loose wits, and let
your Muse be spay’d’, Cleveland (Johnson’s Dict.). Anglo-F. *_espayer_
(OF. _espeër_) < Med. L. _spadare_, to deprive of generative power
(Ducange). See =spade.=
=speed,= to dispatch, destroy, kill; ‘With a speeding thrust his heart
he found’, Dryden (Johnson); _sped_, pp. done for, Romeo, iii. 1. 94;
Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 72; _speeding-place_, the place where a wound is
fatal, and the man is sped. Marston, What you Will, i. 1 (Quadratus);
Chapman, Widow’s Tears, i (Tharsalio).
=spence,= expense; ‘Spence, cost, _despence_’, Palsgrave; Ascham,
Toxophilus, 122. ME. _spense_, spendynge, ‘dispensa’, Voc. 578. 45;
_spence_, or expence (Prompt. EETS. 427).
=spence,= a buttery, a larder; ‘Spens, a buttrye, _despencier_’,
Palgrave; _spence_, The Four Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 35
(Taverner). In prov. use in Scotland and the north country, meaning a
larder, pantry, store-cupboard, see EDD. (s.v. Spense). ME. _spence_,
botery, ‘promptuarium’ (Prompt. EETS. 427).
=sperage,= ‘the herb asparagus; it is so called by Gerard, and all the
old botanists, as its English name’ (Nares). North, tr. Plutarch, Jul.
Caesar, § 16 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 58); Sylv. Du Bartas, Furies (Nares);
Haven of Health, c. xxiii, p. 45 (id.). A Glouc. form (EDD.). ME.
_sperage_, asparagus (Palladius, Husbandry, 112).
=spere,= used in the sense of a youth, a stripling; ‘A lusty spere’,
Skelton, Magnyfycence, 947; Poems ag. Garnesche, iii. 41. Prob. a _fig._
use of ‘spere’, a young shoot or sprout, still in prov. use, see EDD.
(s.v. Spear, sb.^{1} 7).
=spere, speer,= to shoot, sprout, a term in malting, Tusser, Husbandry,
§ 84. 5. See =spire.=
=sperhauk,= sparrowhawk. Morte Arthur, leaf 301. 34; bk. xii, c. 7. Cp.
OE. _spearhafoc_ (Voc. 132. 26); _spearwa_, sparrow + _hafoc_, hawk.
=sperre,= to shut, fasten, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 224; Tr. and Cr.,
Prol. 19 (Theobald’s emendation); ‘I sperre, _Je ferme_. This verbe is
of the northyrne langaige and nat commynly in use’, Palsgrave. _Spear_,
‘to bar or fasten a door’, is a Northumbrian word, see EDD. (s.v. Speer,
vb. 6. 2); ‘To _sper_, to shut, to fasten a door with a bar of wood’
(Jamieson). ME. _sperre_, ‘claudere’ (Cath. Angl.); _sperred_, barred
(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 521). Cp. G. _sperren_, to shut (in or out).
=sperse,= to scatter, ‘disperse’. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 39; v. 3. 37.
=spertle,= to sprinkle with fluid, Drayton, Pol. ii. 283. In prov. use
in the Midland counties, see EDD. (s.v. Spirtle).
=spheres.= Peacham, Compl. Gentleman, c. 7, gives the old eleven
spheres: ‘The eleventh heaven is the habitation of God and his angels.
The tenth, the first moover [_primum mobile_]. The ninth, the
Christalline heaven. The eighth, the starry firmament. Then the seven
planets in their order’ [viz. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus,
Mercury, Moon]. In the Ptolemaic astronomy, the sun went round the
earth, which was the immovable centre of the universe.
=spial,= a spy. Bacon, Essay 44. In some edd. for _espial_ in 1 Hen. VI,
i. 4. 8; _spials_, spies, Marl. 1 Tamburlaine, ii. 2. 35. See =espial.=
=spice,= a species, kind, sort. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 1,
§§ 1, 3; ‘Spyce, a kynde, _espece_’, Palsgrave. ME. _spice_, species,
kind: ‘Absteyne you fro yvel spice’ (Wyclif, 1 Thess. v. 22); ‘The
spices (v.r. speces) of envye ben these’ (Chaucer, C. T. I. 490). OF.
_espice_, a species, L. _species_, a kind, sort (Vulgate, 1 Thess. v.
22).
=spiced,= scrupulous, over-nice, too particular; ‘Out of a scruple he
took . . . in spiced conscience’, B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, i. 1
(Quarlous); Sejanus, v. 4 (Sej.); Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 1
(Cleanthe). See note on Chaucer, C. T. A. 526. See =spice.=
=spick,= lard. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 335. In Scotland the fat of
animals, the blubber of whales (EDD.). ME. _spyke_ or fette flesch,
‘popa’ (Prompt. EETS. 428). Icel. _spik_, the fat of seals or whales,
cp. OE. _spic_, fat bacon; G. _speck_, bacon, lard.
=spilt,= (perhaps) inlaid with thin slips. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 5. See
EDD. (s.v. Spill, sb.^{2} 1).
=spilth,= a spilling, pouring out. Used of wine, Timon, ii. 2. 169. A
Scottish word; also in use in Suffolk (EDD.).
=spinet,= a spinny, a copse, thicket. B. Jonson, The Satyr, first
stage-direction. L. _spinetum_, a thicket of thorns; from _spina_,
thorn.
=spinner,= a spider. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous); Mids.
Night’s D. ii. 2. 21; Romeo, i. 4. 59; ‘Spynner or spyder, _herigne_’,
Palsgrave; ‘_Araigne_, a spider or spinner’, Cotgrave. In prov. use
(EDD.). ME. _spynner_, ‘arania’ (Prompt.).
=spintry,= a male prostitute. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 5 (Arruntius). L.
_spintria_.
=spiny,= slender. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, iii. 2 (1 Puritan); A Mad
World, iii. 2. 7. Cp. prov. words _spindly_, _spindling_, _spindle_,
meaning slender, see EDD. (s.v. Spindle).
=spire,= to sprout, shoot forth. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 52. In prov.
use, see EDD. (s.v. Spire, vb.^{1} 8). ME. _spyryn_, as corn or odyre
lyk, ‘spico’; _spyre_ of corne (Prompt. EETS. 429 and 463). OE. _spīr_
(Leechdoms), cp. Dan. _spire_, a germ, sprout. See =spere.=
=spirget,= a wooden peg on which to hang things; ‘There hung a Bowle of
Beech upon a _spirget_ by a ring’, Golding, Metam. viii. 653. ‘Spurget’
is in prov. use in the north country, E. Anglia, and Sussex for an iron
hook, see EDD. (s.v. Sperket).
=spirt,= to shoot up (as a plant), to sprout. Hen. V, iii. 5. 8;
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 558. In prov. use in the Midlands and
Dorset (EDD.). OE. _sprytian_, to sprout, germinate.
=spital, spittle,= a hospital. Formerly _hospital_; whence _’spital_.
Hen. V, ii. 1. 78; v. 1. 86; Puritan Widow, i. 1. 151; _spittle_, Sir
Thos. More, i. 3. 81; ‘_Ladrerie_, a Spittle for lepers’, Cotgrave.
Hence, _spital-house_, Timon, iv. 3. 39. ME. _spytyl hows_,
‘leprosorium’ (Prompt. EETS. 429).
=spitchcock’d.= _A spitchcock’d eel_, a broiled eel spread on a skewer,
‘Spitchcock’d like a salted eel’, Cotton, Burlesque (Poems, p. 222);
Cartwright, The Ordinary, ii. 1, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 239. Hence
_spitchcock_, a spitchcocked eel, Northward Ho, i. 1 (Chamberlain). See
Dict. (s.v. Spitch-cock).
=spitter,= ‘Among Hunters, a red Male Deer near two Years old, whose
Horns begin to grow up sharp, and spit-wise; it is also call’d a Brocket
or Pricket’, Phillips, Dict., ed. 1706; ‘_Subulo_, an hart havyng hornes
without tynes, called (as I suppose) a spittare’, Elyot, 1559. Applied
to a full-grown stag by Golding, Metam. x. 117; fol. 121 (1603). Cp. G.
_spiesser_, a brocket, a buck of the second year (Grieb-Schröer).
=spittle;= see =spital.=
=splay,= to display, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 93. 13; ‘Hys banners
splaide’, and ‘Our ensignes splayde’, Gascoigne (Nares). Cp. E.
_splay-foot_, see Dict. (s.v. Splay).
=splay,= to castrate, Meas. for M. ii. 1. 249 (mod. edd. _spay_). In
Shropshire heifers are _splayed_ to make them barren (EDD.).
=spleen.= The organ of the body viewed as the seat of emotions and
passions; impetuosity, eagerness, ‘The spleen of fiery dragons’, Richard
III, v. 3. 350; malice, hatred, ‘I have no spleen against you’, Hen.
VIII, ii. 4. 89; a fit of passion,’ A hair-brained Hotspur, governed by
a spleen’, 1 Hen. IV, v. 2. 19; any sudden impulse or fit beyond the
control of reason, esp. a fit of laughter, ‘Thy silly thought enforces
my spleen’, L. L. L. iii. 77; a caprice, ‘A thousand spleens bear her a
thousand ways’, Ven. and Ad. 907. See Schmidt.
=splent,= a lath, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 122. 10; ‘Splent for an
house, _laite_’, Palsgrave. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Splint,
sb.^{1} 2). ME. _splente_ (Prompt. EETS. 429).
=splent,= ‘a kind of hard swelling, without Pain, that grows on the Bone
of a Horse’s Leg’, Phillips, Dict., 1706; Greene, Looking Glasse, i (p.
120).
=sploach,= a ‘splotch’, a blot. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-master, v. 1
(Don Diego). ‘Splotch’ is in common prov. use (EDD.).
=spondil,= one of the vertebrae of the spine; ‘The spondils of his
back’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Tuck). Gk. (Ionic) σπόνδυλος,
(Attic) σφόνδυλος, a vertebra.
=spooks-make,= interpreter; ‘Of Gods the spooks-make’ (= L. _interpres
Divum_), Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 373. _Spooks-make_ =
_spokes-make_. ‘Spoke’ is in prov. use for talk, conversation (EDD.);
‘make’ is still in prov. use, meaning a companion. See =make.=
=spoom,= to sail before the wind. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 96;
Beaumont and Fl., Double Marriage, ii. 1 (Master).
=spoon-meat,= broth. Middleton, The Witch, iv. 1 (Almachildes).
=spoorn,= some kind of hobgoblin. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate);
Denham Tracts (ed. 1895, ii. 77); _the spoorne_, Scot, Disc. Witches,
153.
=spousayles,= a marriage, wedding. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c.
12, § 2 (ed. Croft, ii. 142); _spousals_, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv.
407. OF. _espousailles_; L. _sponsalia_, pl.
=sprag,= quick, alert. Merry Wives, iv. 1. 84. In prov. use in the north
country, Worc. and the west (EDD.). ‘Sprag’ is a later form of ‘sprack’,
in common prov. use in various parts of England. Cp. Norw. dial.
_spræk_, fresh, lively (Aasen).
=spraints,= the dung of the otter, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 73, p. 201;
_sprayntes_, id., c. 37, p. 98; Maister of Game, c. 11; Howell, Parl. of
Beasts, 8 (Davies, 162). In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). [C.
Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xviii.] F. ‘_esprainctes_, _espreinctes_, dung
of the otter’ (Cotgr.); _épreintes_ de la loutre (Hatzfeld). OF.
_espreindre_, to press out, L. _exprimere_.
=sprent,= _pp._ sprinkled. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 45. In prov. use in
Scotland and the north country (EDD.). ME. _spreynd_, also _spreynt_,
sprinkled (Wyclif, Heb. ix. 13; Rev. xix. 13), pp. of _sprengen_, to
sprinkle, OE. _sprengan_.
=spring.= _A spring garden_, a garden in which a concealed spring was
made to spout jets of water over a visitor, when he trod upon a
particular spot. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Pt. I, sc. 1
(Sophocles).
=spring,= a dance-tune. Fletcher, Prophetess, v. 3 (3 Shepherd). In
prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Spring, 9). ME. _spring_, a merry
dance (Chaucer, Hous Fame, 1235).
=spring-halt,= a lameness in which a horse twitches up his leg.
Hen. VIII, i. 3. 13.
=spring:= _a spring of pork_, the lower part of the fore-quarter,
divided from the neck. Fletcher, The Prophetess, i. 3. 7. In prov. use
in Northants (EDD.). See Nares.
=spring,= the young growth in a wood, a copse, a grove; ‘The nightingale
among the thick-leav’d spring’, Fletcher, Faithful Sheph. v. 1; Fairfax,
Tasso, xiii. 35; ‘In yonder spring of roses’, Milton, P. L. ix. 218; a
young shoot of a tree, Lucrece, 950; _fig._ a youth, lad, ‘Being yong
and yet a very spring’, Mirrour for Mag., Northumberland, st. 4;
Spenser, Muiopotmos, 292. ‘Spring’ is in prov. use for young growth, the
undergrowth of wood; a copse, a grove (EDD.).
=springal,= a youth. Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 6; Beaumont and Fl., Laws of
Candy, iii. 2 (Cassilane); _springald_, id., Knt. of B. Pestle, ii. 2;
‘Springald, _adolescens_’, Levins, Manip. See EDD. (s.v. Springald).
=spruntly,= smartly, sprucely. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, iv. 1 (Lady T.).
The adj. is in prov. use (EDD.).
=spurblind,= ‘purblind’, nearly blind. Lyly, Sapho, ii. 2 (Phao).
Halliwell says that the word was used by Latimer.
=spurling,= a smelt. Tusser, Husbandry, § 12, st. 5; Gascoigne,
Supposes, ii. 4 (Carion). ME. _sperlynge_, ‘sperlingus’ (Cath. Angl.);
F. _esperlan_, a smelt (Cotgr.).
=spur-ryal, spur-royal,= a gold coin, worth about fifteen shillings;
also called a _royal_ or _ryal_. It had a star on the reverse resembling
a rowel of a spur (Nares). Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, i. 1 (Young
Loveless); Mayne, City Match, ii. 3 (Aurelia).
=spyon, spion,= a scout, in an army; ‘Captain of the Spyons’, Heywood,
Four Prentises (Guy), vol. ii, p. 242. F. ‘_espion_, a spy, scout;
_espier_, to spy’ (Cotgr.).
=spyrre,= to ask, inquire. Morte Arthur, leaf 416, back, 36; bk. xxi, c.
8. Cp. ‘spur’ in use in the north country for publishing or _asking_ the
banns of matrimony in church, see EDD. (s.v. Spur, vb.^{2}). ME.
_speren_, to ask (Barbour’s Bruce, see Gloss.). OE. _spyrian_, to
inquire into.
=squall,= a term of endearment; ‘The rich gull gallant calls her deare
and love, Ducke, lambe, squall, sweet-heart, cony, and his dove’,
Taylor, 1630 (Nares); Middleton, Mich. Term, iii. 1 (Hellgill); Five
Gallants, iv. 2. 3; used as a term of reproach, ‘_Obereau_, a young minx
or little proud squal’, Cotgrave; also, applied to a man as a term of
contempt, Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune (in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi.
199). See Halliwell.
=squander,= to scatter, disperse, Merch. Ven. i. 3. 32; Dryden, Annus
Mirab., st. 67. In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England
(EDD.).
=square,= rule, exact conduct; ‘I have not kept my square’, Ant. and Cl.
ii. 3. 6; ‘Never breaks square’ (i.e. never gives offence), Middleton,
The Widow, ii (end).
=square,= to quarrel. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 30; Titus And. ii. 1. 100;
Ant. and Cl. ii. 1. 45; Harington, Ariosto, xiv. 72; id., Ep. i. 37; a
quarrel, Promos and Cass. ii. 4 (Nares). Hence _squarer_, a quarreller,
Much Ado, i. 1. 82. Also, a squadron, ‘Our squares of battle’, Hen. V,
iv. 2. 28; ‘Squares of war’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 11. 40. Cp. O. Prov.
_esqueira_, ‘corps de bataille’ (Levy). Med. L. _squadra_, ‘caterva,
turba, cohors; acies, copiae militares’ (Ducange); cp. Ital. _squadra_,
‘a squadron or troop of men’ (Florio); F. _escadre_ (Cotgr.). See Dict.
(s.vv. Square, Squadron).
=squares.= _How go the squares?_ how goes the game? The reference is to
the chessboard; Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3 (Purge); May, The Old
Couple, iv. 1 (Sir Argent).
=squash,= the shell or pod of peas or beans; an unripe pea-pod. Twelfth
Nt. i. 5. 166; Wint. Tale, i. 2. 161. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v.
Squash, vb.^{1} 3).
=squat,= to squeeze, crush, bruise. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i.
3 (Savourwit). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). OF.
_esquatir_, ‘aplatir, briser’ (Didot). See Dict.
=squelch,= to crush, bruise, strike with a heavy blow. Fletcher, Nice
Valour, v. 1 (Galoshio); a heavy blow, Butler, Hud. i. 2. 836, 933. In
prov. use (EDD.).
=squelter,= to ‘welter’, wallow, roll about; ‘The slaughter’d Trojans
squeltring in their blood’, Locrine, ii. 6. 4.
=squib,= a paltry fellow. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 371. In prov. use in
west Yorks. in the sense of a small dwarfish person, see EDD. (s.v.
Squib, sb.^{2}).
=squib,= used _fig._ for a flashy, futile project or design, Bacon,
Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 195).
=squich,= to move quickly. Marriage of Wit and Science, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley. ii. 387; to wince, to flinch, Soliman and Perseda, iv.
(Basilisco), id., v. 343. Probably identical with prov. E. _switch_, to
move quickly, see EDD. (s.v. Switch, vb.^{1} 9).
=squince,= the quinsy. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 22, § 3;
‘_Squinantia_, the Squince or Squinancie’, Florio; also _squincy_,
‘_Esquinance_, the Squincy’, Cotgrave; ‘Shall we not be suspected for
the murder, And choke with a hempen squincy’, Randolph, The Jealous
Lovers (ed. 1634, p. 54). ME. _squynesy_, ‘squinancia’ (Prompt. EETS.
431). Sec Dict. (s.v. Quinsy).
=squinny, squiny,= to look asquint. King Lear, iv. 6. 140; ‘How
scornfully she squinnies’, Shirley, Sisters, ii. 2 (Antonio). In prov.
use in various parts of England (EDD.).
=squire, squier,= a ‘square’, a rule for measuring, Wint. Tale, iv. 4.
348; _by the squire_, by exact rule, B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iv. 2
(Pan). ME. _squire_, a carpenter’s instrument (Chaucer, C. T. D. 2090).
F. ‘_esquierre_, a rule or square’ (Cotgr.).
=staddle,= a prop, support. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 14; a young growing
tree left standing in a wood after the underwood has been cut away,
Bacon, Essay 29, § 5; id., Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 72). See EDD. OE.
_staþol_, a foundation, firm support.
=staffe,= a stave, a stanza; ‘_Staffe_ . . . The Italian called it
_Stanza_’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. ii, c. 2 (Of proportion in
Staffe).
=staffier,= a lacquey, a footman. Butler, Hud. ii. 2. 651. F.
‘_estaffier_, a lackey or footboy, that runs by the stirrup; a
servingman that waits afoot, while his master rides; _estaphe_, a
stirrup’ (Cotgr.); Ital. _staffiere_, ‘a lacquey, that runs by a man’s
stirrup’; _staffa_, ‘a kind of stirrup for a saddle’ (Florio). Of Germ.
origin, cp. G. _stapfe_, a foot-step.
=staggers,= a sudden fit of giddiness, vertigo. Beaumont and Fl., Mad
Lover, i. 1 (Calis); Cymbeline, v. 5. 234; All’s Well, ii. 3. 170; a
disease in horses indicated by staggering and falling down, Taming
Shrew, iii. 2. 55.
=stakker,= to stagger. Morte Arthur, leaf 232, back, 6; bk. x, c. 30;
and in Palsgrave. ME. _stakeren_, to stagger (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 2687).
Norw. dial. _stakra_, to stagger (Aasen).
=stale,= a station where one lies in wait for birds; ‘Stale for foules
takynge’, Palsgrave; _to lie in stale_, to lie in wait or ambush, ‘As I
lay in stale To fight with the duke Richard’s eldest son, I was
destroy’d’, Mirror for Mag., 366 (Nares); Stanyhurst, Desc. Ireland
(Halliwell). ME. _staal_, of fowlynge or of byrdys takynge ‘stacionaria’
(Prompt. EETS. 432). OF. _estal_, place, séjour, arrêt; _prendre son
estal_, prendre position (Didot), Anglo-F. _estal_ (Ch. Rol. 1108,
2319).
=stale,= a decoy; a bird or something in the form of a bird set up to
allure a bird of prey; ‘The fowler’s stale the appearance of which
brings but others to the net’, Cap of Gray Hairs (ed. 1688, p. 96); see
Halliwell; Mirrour for Mag. (Nares); Sidney, Arcadia, ii, p. 169
(Nares); an object of allurement, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 3; Tempest, iv.
1. 187; a device, trick, F. Q. ii. 1. 4; a laughing-stock, Titus And. i.
2. 241. In prov. use in Lincolnsh., see EDD. (s.v. Stale, sb.^{1}).
Anglo-F. _estale_, ‘appeau, oiseau qui sert à attirer les autres’
(Vocab. to Bozon).
=stale,= the shaft of an arrow, Chapman, tr. Iliad, iv. 173; the shaft
of a javelin, Nomenclator (Nares). In prov. use in the sense of a shaft,
a long slender handle, see EDD. (s.v. Stale, sb.^{2} 1). See =stele.=
=stale,= the urine of horses and cattle, Ant. and Cl. i. 4. 62 to
urinate, Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 152; ‘_Escloy_, urine, stale’, Cotgrave.
In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Stale, vb.^{3}). OF. _estaler_, to stale
(of horses), see Godefroy. Of Germ, origin, cp. Dan. _stalle_, Swed.
_stalla_, to urinate; cp. G. _stallen_ (used of horses); _stall_, urine.
=stale,= stalemate, at chess; ‘Like a stale at chess, where it is no
mate, but yet the game cannot stir’, Bacon, Essay 12.
=stale,= to render stale, to make common and worthless. Coriol. i. 1.
95; Ant. and Cl. ii. 2. 240; Jul. Caesar, i. 2. 73; _a stale_, a
prostitute, harlot, Much Ado, ii. 2. 26; iv. 1. 66.
=stall,= to forestall. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iii. 1 (Tiberius); Massinger,
Bashful Lover, iv. 3.
=stall,= to install set in authority, Richard III, i. 3. 206; ‘And
stawled gods doe condiscend’, Turbervile, The Lover excuseth himself.
_Stalled to the rogue_ (Cant Phrase), admitted as a recognized thief,
Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll); Harman, Caveat, p. 34. The
master-thief admitted a rogue with the ceremony of pouring a quart of
beer over his head, and using a formula of words.
=stall,= to stick fast; ‘When his cart was stalled (he) lay flat on his
back and cried aloud, Help, Hercules!’, Burton, Anat. Mel., p. 222
(Nares). In prov. use in the north country and Midlands, see EDD. (s.v.
Stall, vb. 20).
=stalled,= _pp._; ‘Dole perpetuall, From whence he never should be quit,
nor stal’d’ (rimes with _cal’d_), Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 1245. Meaning
doubtful.
=stalling ken,= a house for receiving stolen goods (Cant). Middleton,
Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Tearcat); _stauling ken_, Harman, Caveat, p. 83; B.
Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman).
=stammel, stamel,= a kind of woollen cloth, of a red colour. Beaumont
and Fl., Little French Lawyer, i. 1 (Cleremont); Chapman, Mons. D’Olive,
ii. 1 (D’Ol.). See Nares and Halliwell.
=stamp,= a stamped coin, a coin. Merry Wives, iii. 4. 16; Macbeth, iv.
3. 153.
=stand.= _It stands me upon_, it is incumbent on me, it is important to
me, I ought. _It standeth thee upon_, Lyly, Euphues, p. 271.
=standard,= a standing-bowl. Greene, Looking Glasse, v. 1 (1858); p.
141, col. 2.
=stander-grass, standard-grass, stander-wort, standle-wort,= _Orchis
mascula_, and other allied plants. _Standelwort_, or _Standergrass_,
Lyte’s Dodoens, bk. ii, ch. 56; _Royal Standergrass_, or Palma Christi,
id., ch. 59; ‘_Foul standergrass_’, Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii.
2 (Clorin).
=staniel,= a kind of hawk, considered as of inferior value, Twelfth Nt.
ii. 5. 124; hence, a coward, Lady Alimony, i. 3 (Haxter); hence
_stanielry_, cowardice, id., v. 2. 17. In prov. use in the north country
for the kestrel or windhover, see EDD. (s.v. Stannel). OE. _stangella_,
used to translate L. _pellicanus_ in Ps. ci. 7 (Vesp. Psalter). See
notes on Eng. Etym.
=stank,= weary. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 47. Ital. _stanco_, weary.
=stare,= a starling. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 541; Middleton, Game at
Chess, iv. 2 (B. Knight). In prov. use in Ireland and in various parts
of England (EDD.). ME. _stare_, a starling (Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 348);
OE. _stær_: ‘tuoege staras’ (Lind. Gosp., Matt. x. 29, rendering of
Vulgate _duo passeres_).
=stare,= to bristle up; said of hair. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 56. 11;
§ 98. 4; Jul. Caesar, iv. 3. 280. In prov. use: they say in Herts, ‘It
will make her (a cow’s) hair to stare’, see EDD. (s.v. Stare, vb. 4).
Cp. G. _starren_, to bristle.
=stark,= stout, sturdy. Sir T. Wyatt (Nares); stiff (used in speaking of
a dead body), 1 Hen. IV, v. 3. 42; Romeo, iv. 1. 103; Cymbeline, iv. 2.
209; _starkly_, stiffly (as in a dead body), Meas. for M. iv. 2. 70. In
common prov. use in the north country in the two meanings (1) stout,
sturdy, and (2) stiff, esp. through rheumatism (EDD.). OE. _stearc_,
stiff, rigid; rough, strong (B. T.); Icel. _sterkr_, strong. See
=storken.=
=startups,= rustic shoes with high tops, or half-gaiters; ‘_Guestres_
[gaiters], startups, high shooes, or gamashes for countrey folks’,
Cotgrave; Hall, Satires, book vi; Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 4
(Cloe). See Nares. In prov. use in the Midlands (EDD.).
=state,= high rank, dignity. 3 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 93; _chair of state_, a
canopied chair, dais, or throne for a king, 3 Hen. VI, i. 1. 51; Hen.
VIII, iv. 1. 67; _state_ = _chair of state_, Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 51;
Coriol. v. 24; Macbeth, iii. 4. 5; _states_, persons of high rank, Cymb.
iii. 4. 39; _state_, an estate, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, i.
1. 7; Rule a Wife, iii. 5 (Leon).
=statist,= a statesman, politician. Hamlet, v. 2. 33; Beaumont and Fl.,
Laws of Candy, ii. 1 (Gonzalo); Webster, Appius, i. 3 (Virginius). Ital.
_statista_ (Florio).
=statua,= a statue. Jul. Caesar, iii. 2. Bacon, Essay 27, § 6, and 45, §
3; a picture, Massinger, City Madam, v. 3 (Sir John, 15th speech). L.
_statua_, an image, statue (commonly made of metal).
=statuminate,= to prop up. B. Jonson, New Inn, ii. 2 (Tipto). L.
_statumino_ (Pliny).
=statute-caps,= woollen caps, which, by a statute of 1571, citizens were
enjoined to wear on holydays. L. L. L. v. 2. 281. Also, the wearers of
such caps, citizens, Middleton, Family of Love, v. 3 (Dryfat). See
Nares.
=statute-lace,= lace made according to a law that regulated its width
and material. Massinger, Parl. of Love, iv. 5 (Perigot).
=statute-merchant,= or =statute-staple,= a bond acknowledged before one
of the clerks of the _statute-merchant_, and mayor of the _staple_, or
chief warden of the City of London, or other sufficient men; see
quotation from Blount, in Nares. ‘His lands be engaged in twenty
statutes staple’, Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3 (Glister); cp.
Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. iii. 110.
=stauling ken;= see =stalling ken.=
=staunce,= disagreement. Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 4 (Dulipo). See
=distance.=
=stead,= to stand in good stead; ‘Necessaries which since have steaded
much’, Temp. i. 2. 165; to be of use to, benefit, help, Gent. Ver. ii.
1. 124; Othello, i. 3. 344; _stead up_, to take a person’s place (in an
arrangement), Meas. for M. iii. 1. 261.
=steaming;= see =steming.=
=sted,= a bedstead. Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Georgies, ii. 726.
=stedy,= an anvil. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 149, back, 30. This form
for ‘stithy’ is in prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v.
Stiddy). Icel. _steði_. See =stithy.=
=steenkirk,= a loose cravat of fine lace. Vanbrugh, The Relapse, i. 3
(Sempstress); Congreve, Love for Love, i. 2 (Scandal). Named with
reference to the battle of Steenkerke (1692). See Stanford.
=stele,= the shaft of an arrow, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 123; the handle
of a rake, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 24. 19; ‘Steale or handell of a
staffe, _manche_’, Palsgrave. This word in many spellings is in common
prov. use in Scotland and England for a shaft or handle, esp. a long
straight handle, see EDD. (s.v. Steal, sb.^{2}). ME. _stele_, or sterte
of a vessel, ‘ansa’ (Prompt. EETS. 434). OE. _stela_, a stalk. See
=stale= (3).
=stelled,= fixed; ‘A face where all distress is stell’d’, Lucrece, 1444;
_stelled fires_, fixed stars, King Lear, iii. 7. 61. ‘To stell’ is in
prov. use in Scotland in the sense of to place, set, fix, see EDD. (s.v.
Stell, vb. 7). OE. _stellan_, to place.
=stellionate,= fraudulent dealing. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 62.
L. _stellionatus_, trickery; from _stellio_, a knave.
=stem,= to keep in, enclose. Spelt _stemme_, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 12.
Icel. _stemma_, to stop, dam up.
=steming,= shining, bright; ‘Two stemyng eyes’, Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i.
53; ‘With skouling steaming eyes’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vi. 300 (L.
_stant lumina flamma_). ME. _steeme_, or lowe of fyre, ‘flamma’ (Prompt.
EETS. 434); _stem_: ‘A stem Als it were a sunnebem’ (Havelok, 591).
=stench,= ‘staunch’, firm; hence, continent. Lady Alimony, iii. 3
(Sea-song, st. 5). See EDD. (s.v. Staunch, adj. 10 and 11).
=stene, steane,= a stone jar or pitcher. Spelt _stene_, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Aristippus, § 17; _steane_, Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 42. ‘Stean’
is in prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. 3). ME.
_steene_, a pitcher, earthenware vessel, Trevisa, tr. Higden, bk. i, c.
41; OE. _stǣna_, an earthenware jug (Sweet).
=stent,= to leave off, to cause to cease. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 12; to
cease, pt. t., Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 32. In common
prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Stent, vb.^{1} 2). ME. _stenten_,
to cease, to cause to cease (Chaucer). See =stint.=
=stepony;= see =stiponie.=
=stept in age,= advanced in years. Ascham, Scholemaster, p. 152. OE.
_stæppan_, _steppan_, to proceed, advance (B. T.).
=stern,= the hinder part of an object; used of the tail of a dragon.
Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 18; i. 11. 28. The same word as _stern_, the hinder
part of a ship. Hence _sternage_, steerage, Hen. V, iii, Prol. 18. Icel.
_stjōrn_, a steering, hence, the steering-place.
=sterve,= to die. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 34; Fairfax, Tasso, ii. 17. ME.
_sterve_, to die, esp. to die of famine (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1249; C. T.
C. 451). OE. _steorfan_, to die; cp. G. _sterben_.
=stethva,= a congress of Welsh bards. Drayton, Pol. iv. 177. Welsh
_eisteddfod_.
=steven,= voice, outcry. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 224; _steuyn_,
Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 130, l. 144. In common prov. use in the north
country, see EDD. (s.v. Steven, sb.^{1} 1 and 2). ME. _stevene_, voice
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 2562). OE. _stefn_.
=stick-free,= sword-proof, invulnerable to a sword-thrust. Burton, Anat.
Mel., Of Witches and Magicians (ed. Shilleto, 1. 233); Shirley, Young
Admiral, iv. 1 (ed. 1637). See Mod. Lang. Notes, June, 1912. G.
_stichfrei_, sword-proof.
=stickle,= to interpose between combatants, and separate them when they
had sufficiently satisfied the laws of honour, to act as umpire between
combatants; ‘I styckyll betwene wrastellers . . . to se that none do
other wronge, or I parte folkes that be redy to fyght’, Palsgrave; ‘(The
angel) stickles betwixt the remainders of God’s hosts and the race of
fiends’, Dryden, Ded. Trans. Juvenal; _to be stickled_, to be settled by
a ‘stickler’, Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymph. 6. Hence _stickler_, Tr.
and Cr. v. 8. 18; Florio, Montaigne, ii. 27; Dryden, Oliver Cromwell,
41. ME. _stihtlen_, to order, arrange, as a steward or a master of the
ceremonies (P. Plowman, C. xvi. 40). See Nares, Trench, Select Glossary
(ed. 1890), and Dict.
=sticklebag,= a ‘stickleback’, a small fish. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at
several Weapons, v. 1 (Pompey).
=stigmatic,= one branded with infamy, Webster, White Devil (Flamineo),
ed. Dyce, p. 26; one branded by nature with deformity, 2 Hen. VI, v. 1.
215; 3 Hen. VI, ii. 2. 136; also, _stigmatical_, Com. Errors, iv. 2. 22.
Gk. στιγματικός, branded with a mark (στίγμα).
=stike,= a ‘stich’, a verse. Sackville, Induction, st. 21. Gk. στίχος, a
row, a line.
=still,= to ‘distil’, to fall in drops. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 35.
=stillatory,= a still-room, for keeping distilled waters. Beaumont and
Fl., Faithful Friends, iv. 3 (near end). Late L. _stillatorium_, from
_stillare_, to fall in drops.
=Stilliard,= the Steelyard; the place of business used by the German
merchants in London. Westward Ho, ii. 1 (Justiniano); _Stilyard
merchants_, merchants of the Steelyard, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, p.
88). See Notes and Queries, 10 S. vi. 413, and Dict. (s.v. Steelyard,
1).
=stint,= to cause to cease. Timon, v. 4. 83; to cease, Pericles, iv. 4.
42; Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 29; Mother Hubberd, 1092. ME. _stinte_, to
cease, to cause to cease (Chaucer). See M. and S. (s.v. Stynten). OE.
_styntan_, to make dull, ‘_hebetare_’ (B. T.). See =stent.=
=stint,= some kind of bird. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 339. In prov. use for
various kinds of birds, the dunlin, the sandpiper, and the linnet
(EDD.).
=stiponie.= ‘_Stipone_, a kind of sweet compound liquor drunk in some
ill places in London in the summer-time’, Blount, Glossographia, p. 612.
‘Do you not understand the mystery of stiponie, Jenny? _Maid._ I know
how to make democuana, sir’, Etherege, Love in a Tub, v. 4 (Sir
Frederick); also spelt _stepony_, see Dict. Rusticum, Urbanicum et
Botanicum, ed. 3, 1726, where the receipt for brewing this sweet liquor
is given; see Notes and Queries, 6 S. iv. 155.
=stire, styre,= to guide, direct. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 7; ii. 5. 2. OE.
_stȳran_, to direct, steer. See Dict. (s.v. Steer).
=stirp,= a stem, stock, family. Bacon, Essay 14, § 1. L. _stirps_, a
stem.
=stitch,= a space between two double furrows in ploughed land; a ridge.
Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xviii. 495; Odyssey, viii. 171. In the latter
passage, a _stitch’s_ length may mean a furrow’s length or furlong. This
word is in prov. use in various parts of England for a narrow ridge of
land, as much land as lies between two furrows; a balk or portion of
grass-land in an arable field; see EDD. (s.v. Stitch, sb.^{1} 8 and 9).
=stitch,= a sudden cramp; hence, a contortion, a grimace. Beaumont and
Fl., Captain, ii. 2 (Frederick).
=stitchel,= a troublesome fellow; a term of reproach. Lady Alimony, v.
3. 13 (Wife). A Linc. word for a troublesome child, see EDD. (s.v.
Stetchel).
=stithy,= an anvil, Hamlet, iii. 2. 80 (some edd. have _stith_); to
forge, ‘The forge that stithied Mars his helm’, Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 255.
In prov. use (EDD.). ME. _stith_, an anvil (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2026).
Icel. _steði_. See =stedy.=
=stoccata,= a thrust, in fencing. Romeo, iii. i. 77; _stoccado_, Merry
Wives, ii. 1. 234; _stockado_, Marston, Sat. i. 132. Ital. _stoccata_, a
thrust, a stoccado given with a _stócco_ (a tuck or short-arming sword);
see Florio; Span. _estocáda_, a thrust with a weapon, a stab (Stevens).
=stock,= to hit with the point of a sword; ‘A chevalier would stock a
needle’s point Three times together’, Fletcher, Love’s Cure, iii. 4
(Alvarez); a thrust in fencing, Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (Malevole);
Antonio, Pt. II, i. 2 (Matzagente). F. _estoc_, ‘a rapier or tuck, also,
a thrust; _coup d’estoc_, a thrust, stockado, stab’ (Cotgr.). See
=stuck.=
=stock,= nether-stock or stocking. Greene, Description of Chaucer, 3
(ed. Dyce, p. 320). In prov. use in Yorks. and Norfolk (see EDD., s.v.
Stock, 18).
=stock-fish,= dried haddock or cod; ‘Haddockes or hakes indurate and
dryed with coulde, and beaten with clubbes or _stockes_, by reason
whereof the Germayns caule them _stockefyshe_’, R. Eden, Works (ed.
Arber, p. 303); Temp. iii. 2. 79; Meas. iii. 2. 116. The reason for the
name is uncertain; Koolman gives the Low G. form as _stok-fisk_, and
thinks they were so called because dried upon _stocks_ or poles in the
sun.
=stoin,= to be astonished or astounded; ‘I stoinid’, Phaer, Aeneid ii,
774; iii. 48 (L. _obstupui_). See =astonied.=
=stomach,= courage, Udall, Roister Doister, iv. 7. 8, 15; 2 Hen. IV, i.
1. 129; Hamlet, i. 1. 100; proud or arrogant spirit, Hen. VIII, iv. 2.
34; resentment, angry temper, King Lear, v. 3. 75; to resent, to be
angry, Ant. and Cl. iii. 4. 12; Marlowe, Edw. II, i. 2. 26. In prov. use
for courage, pride, anger, bad temper (EDD.). Cp. Span. and Port.
_estomago_, courage, valour, resolution; L. _stomachus_, displeasure,
irritation, _stomachari_, to be irritated, out of humour.
=stond,= a stop, impediment, hindrance. Bacon, Essays 40 and 50. ‘To
stand’, to bring to a stop, in prov. use in Surrey and Sussex: ‘I’ve
seen a wagon stood in the snow’; see EDD. (s.v. Stand, 7).
=stone-bow,= a cross-bow from which stones could be shot. Twelfth Night,
ii. 5. 51; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2. 9.
=stool-ball,= a game formerly popular among young women. Middleton,
Women beware, iii. 3 (Isabella); Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 2. 101; Chapman,
tr. of Odyssey, vi. 139. The idea of the game was much like that of
cricket. A stool was the wicket; the hand was used as a bat, to defend
it from the ball. See Strutt’s Sports. The game is still played in many
parts of England, and in almost every village in Sussex (EDD.).
=stoop,= a post, pillar. Tancred and Gismunda, iv. 2 (Tancred), in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 66; ‘You glorious martyrs, you illustrious
stoops’, Quarles, Emblems, v. 10; ‘Stoulpe before a doore, _souche_’,
Palsgrave; _stulpe_, Stow, Survey, Bridge Ward Within (ed. Thoms, 79).
The word is in gen. prov. use in Scotland and England in various forms:
_stoup_, _stowp_, _stolpe_, _stulp_(_e_, see EDD. (s.v. Stoop, sb.^{1}).
ME. _stulp_, or stake, ‘paxillus’ (Prompt. EETS. 444, see note, no.
2171). Icel. _stōlpi_, a post, pillar, cp. _Stōlpa-sund_, the Pillar
Sound, the Sound of the Pillars of Hercules, the Straits of Gibraltar.
=stoop,= to swoop downwards as a bird of prey on its quarry; ‘The bird
of Jove, stooped from his aery tour, Two birds . . . before him drove’,
Milton, P. L. xi. 185; used _fig._, B. Jonson, Alchemist, v. 3
(Lovewit); used trans., to pounce upon, seize, ‘The hawk that stooped my
pheasant’, Webster, Northward Ho, v. 1 (Mayberry); ‘Teach it (my spirit)
to stoop whole kingdoms’, Fletcher, Hum. Lieutenant, i. 1 (Demetrius).
=stoor,= strong, robust, sturdy, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 129. In prov.
use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Stour). ME. _stoore_, or herd, or
boystows, ‘austerus, rigidus’ (Prompt. EETS. 439). Icel. _stōrr_, rough,
great. See =stowre.=
=stooved,= kept in a warm chamber; ‘Myrtles, if they be stooved’, Bacon,
Essay 46. From _stoove_ = _stove_.
=storken,= to stiffen, to congeal, coagulate; ‘Storken, _congelari_’,
Levins, Manip. In common use in the north country (EDD.). Icel.
_storkna_, to coagulate. See =stark.=
=stork’s bill,= a gesture of scorn; ‘This sanna, or stork’s bill’, B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Amorphus). Cp. L. _ciconia_, (1) a
stork; (2) a derisory bending of the fingers in form of a stork’s bill
(Persius).
=stound, stownd,= time, occasion, moment. Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 38; Shep.
Kal., Oct., 49. The ‘Glosse’ to Shep. Kal., May, 257, has ‘_stounds_,
fittes’, i.e. attacks of illness. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. _stounde_,
hour, time (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1212), OE. _stund_. See =stowne.=
=stoup,= a stoop, a low bow, a condescending movement. B. Jonson,
Alchem. iv. 2 (Face); ‘Now observe the stoops, The bendings, and the
falls’, id., Sejanus, i. 1 (Silius).
=stour, stowre,= a conflict, battle, contest; trouble, confusion,
disturbance; danger, peril. The word is used in all these meanings by
Spenser: F. Q. i. 2. 7; i. 3. 30; i. 4. 46; iii. 1. 34; iii. 2. 6; iii.
3. 50; Shep. Kal., Jan., 27. ME. _stour_, battle, contest (Chaucer, Rom.
Rose, 1270). Anglo-F. _estour_, combat, battle (Gower, Mirour, 1927), O.
Prov. _estor_, _estorn_, ‘combat, mêlée’; _estornir_, _estormir_,
‘assaillir, attaquer’ (Levy); Ital. _stormo_, a conflict, combat
(Fanfani); of Germ. origin, MHG. _sturm_, disturbance, combat (Schade).
=stover,= provisions, fodder for cattle; ‘Our low medowes . . . not so
profitable for stover and forrage as the higher meads be’, Harrison,
Desc. Brit. 110 (Halliwell); Tusser, Husbandry, November; Tempest, iv.
1. 63; Drayton, Pol. xxv, p. 1158 (Nares). In prov. use in many parts of
England for winter fodder or litter for cattle, hence stubble (EDD.).
Anglo-F. _estover_, maintenance, necessary sustenance; allowances of
wood to be taken out of another man’s woods (Cowell’s Interpreter); OF.
_estovoir_, to be necessary. Romanic type _stopere_, a verb formed from
L. _est opus_, it is necessary, so W. Forster, see Gautier’s Ch. Roland,
Glossary (s.v. Estoet). See Ducange (s.v. Estoverium).
=stover up,= to bristle up. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, ii. 1. 2. ‘To
stover’ is entered in EDD. as an obsolete west-country word for ‘to
bristle up’, probably from ‘stover’, meaning stubble. See above.
=stownd,= to amaze, ‘astound’, to beat down, Heywood, Golden Age, A. iii
(Enceladus), vol. iii, p. 48; to strike senseless, id., Iron Age, A. v
(Ajax); p. 343; _stound_, pp., Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 19.
=stowne,= an hour, a short time; ‘Whoso love Endureth but a stowne’,
Turbervile, The Lover finding his Love flitted, st. 16. See =stound.=
=stowre,= strong, hardy; ‘Constancie knits the bones and makes us
stowre’, G. Herbert, Temple, Church-porch, st. 20; ‘Stowre of
conversacyon, _estourdy_’, Palsgrave; Skelton, Against the Scottes, 12;
_stower_, hard, strong, ‘The stower nayles’, Latimer, 7 Sermon bef. King
(ed. Arber, 185). In prov. use in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Stour). See
=stoor.=
=strage,= slaughter, heap of slain men. Heywood, Dialogue 2, l. 16;
Dial. 3 (Hellen); vol. vi, pp. 111, 143; Webster, Appius, v. 3 (Appius).
L. _strages_, slaughter.
=strain,= race, descent, breed; ‘The noblest of thy strain’, Jul. Caes.
v. 1. 59; Hen. V, ii. 4. 51. A dialect form of =strene,= q.v.
=strain:= phr. _to strain courtesy_, to stand upon ceremony, to refuse
to go first, Venus and Ad. 888.
=strain,= to distrain, Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1104. In prov. use, see
EDD. (s.v. Strain, vb.^{3}).
=strain,= to restrain, repress; ‘These stormy windes to straine, or make
to blow’, Phaer, Aeneid i, 80.
=strake,= a particular note blown by a hunter; apparently after the game
is killed; ‘To the flyghte, to the dethe, and to strake, and many other
blastes and termes’, Morte Arthur, leaf 250, back, 11; bk. x, c. 52;
‘Then [after the death of the game] should the most master blow a mote
and stroke’, The Master of Game, ch. 35. Cp. ME. _strake_, to sound a
note, to sound a blast on a trumpet (Wars Alex. 1386).
=strake,= the hoop of a cart-wheel or chariot-wheel. Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, xx. 247; BIBLE, Ezek. i. 18 (margin). In prov. use for a section
or strip of the iron tire or rim of a cart-wheel, see EDD. (s.v. Strake,
sb.^{1} 2).
=stramazoun,= a downright blow. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, iv.
4 (Fast. Brisk); _stramison_, Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler). Ital.
_stramazzone_, ‘a downright blow’; deriv. of _stramazzare_, ‘to kill
throughly’ (Florio); cp. F. _estramaçon_, a stroke given with the edge
of the sword (Hatzfeld).
=strange,= belonging to another country, foreign; ‘Joseph . . . made
himselfe strange unto them’, BIBLE, Gen. xlii. 7 (i.e. acted as a
stranger towards them); ‘Strange children’, foreigners, Psalm xviii. 45,
46 (P.B.V.); ‘A strange tongue’, Cymbeline, i. 6. 54; _to make it
strange_, to seem to be surprised or shocked, Two Gent. i. 2. 102; Titus
And. ii. 1. 81; B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1 (Subtle). OF. _estrange_,
foreign; L. _extraneus_.
=strangeness,= shyness, like that of a stranger. Middleton, The Witch,
iii. 2 (Isabella).
=strappado,= a kind of torture. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 262. The torture
consisted in drawing a person up by his arms (fastened together behind
his back), and then letting him drop suddenly with a jerk, which
inflicted severe pain. The word has been turned into a Spanish-looking
form, but it appears to be rather of Italian origin. Ital. _strappata_,
a pulling-up (Florio). Cp. F. _strapade_ (16th cent., Godefroy);
_estrapade_ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762). See Stanford.
=strapple,= to fasten, bind, Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, iii (Bussy); to
impede; id., tr. of Iliad xvi, 438. In W. Yorks. ‘to strapple’ means to
bind, make fast with a cord, &c. (EDD.). Cp. ME. _strapeles_, fastenings
of breeches; _strapils_, Cath. Angl.; see Dict. M. and S.
=streak,= to stretch. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. viii. 36, 57.
In prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Streak, vb.^{1} 1).
ME. _streken_ (Hampole, Ps. lxxix. 12); _strekis_, stretches (Wars Alex.
1953).
=strene,= generation, breed, race, lineage; ‘Dame Nature’s strene’, The
Four Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 55; Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 32; vi.
6. 9. ME. _streen_, race, progeny (Chaucer, C. T. E. 157); OE. (Anglian)
_strēnan_ (WS. _strīenan_), to beget, generate. See =strain= (race).
=strength,= a fortress, a strong defence, Massinger, Renegado, iv. 2
(Donusa); v. 6. (end); ‘Sin (or Pelusium) the strength of Egypt’, BIBLE,
Ezek. xxx. 15.
=streperous,= noisy. Heywood, Dialogue I, The Shipwrack (Adolphus); vol.
vi, p. 101; Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, ii. 6. 6. Cp. L.
_obstreperus_, noisy, clamorous (Apuleius, Florida, 126); deriv. of
_strepere_, to make a noise.
=strich,= the screech-owl. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 36. L. _strix_, Gk.
στρίγξ.
=strike:= phr. _strike me luck_, used in striking a bargain, and giving
earnest upon it; said by the recipient of the money. Beaumont and Fl.,
Scornful Lady, ii. 3 (Young Loveless); Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 540.
=strike,= to steal (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); to
pick a purse, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (1 Cutpurse). See Halliwell.
=striker,= a libertine (Cant). Massinger, Unnat. Combat, iv. 2 (1
Court.); Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 1 (end).
=stringer,= a wencher (Cant). Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle,
i. 1 (Wife).
=strip,= to outstrip. Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1. 4; to go very rapidly,
‘The swiftest hound, when he is hallowed, strippes forth’, Gosson,
School of Abuse (Halliwell).
†=strives= (=?=)=.= ‘They [ants] startle forth in troupes of striues’,
Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, bk. xiii. [1583]; fol. U 5, back.
=stroke,= to flatter, soothe, B. Jonson, Masque of the Barriers
(Opinion); _stroker_, a flatterer, id., Magnetic Lady, iv. 1 (Keep). OE.
_strācian_, to stroke, caress, cp. OHG. _streichōn_, ‘demulcere’.
=strommel;= see =strummel.=
=strong,= _pp._ strung, furnished with strings; ‘Playing on yvorie harp
with silver strong’, Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 16.
=stroot, strout,= to swell out, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 402; Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, i. 464; to be filled full, id., xxi, line 4 from end. ME.
_strowtyn_, ‘turgeo’ (Prompt. EETS. 468). Cp. G. _strotzen_, to swell.
See =strut.=
=strossers,= tight drawers. Hen. V, iii. 7. 57; ‘The Italian close
strosser’, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook (Nares). See Dyce’s Glossary to Shaks.
See Dict. (s.v. Trousers).
=strout;= see =stroot.=
=stroy,= to destroy. Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 15. ME. _stroyen_, to destroy
(P. Plowman, B. xv. 387).
=strummel,= straw (Cant); ‘The doxy’s in the strummel’, Broome, Jovial
Crew, ii. 1 (Randal); _strommel_, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3
(Higgen); Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor). Hence
_strummel-patched_, ‘Strummel-patch’d, goggle-eyed grumbledories’, B.
Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo). Perhaps the same word as
_strummel_, E. Anglian for an untidy rough head of hair (EDD.).
=strut,= to swell out. Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Pastoral, iv. 25. See
=stroot.=
=stryfull,= strife-full, contentious. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 12.
=stuck,= in Hamlet, iv. 7. 161, ‘Your venom’d stuck’, usually explained
as = _stoccado_, a thrust with a rapier, but it may mean the rapier
itself. Cp. Cotgrave: ‘_Estoc_, a rapier or tuck, also a thrust.’ See
=stock.=
=studde,= stock or stem of a tree. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 13.
‘Stud’ is in prov. use for an upright post, an upright piece of wood to
which laths are nailed, hence ‘stud and mud’ buildings (Nottingham), the
same as ‘wattle and dab’. ME. _stode_, or stake, ‘palus’ (Voc. 600. 4),
OE. _studu_, a post (Ælfred, Beda, iii. 10); cp. Icel. _stoð_, a post.
See Dict. (s.v. Stud).
=stulpe;= see =stoop= (a post).
=stum,= unfermented wine, must. B. Jonson, Leges Conviviales, st. 5;
Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 569; Dryden, The Medal, 270. Hence _stummed wine_,
wine made from unfermented or partly fermented grape-juice, new strong
wine, Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 3 (L. Dunce); Prior, Scaligeriana, 2.
_Stum_, to make lively as with new wine, Etherege, Man of Mode, iii. 2
(Dorimant). Du. _stom_, stum, ‘the flower of fermenting wine’; _gestomde
wyn_, ‘stummed, sophisticated wine’ (Sewel).
=stupe,= a piece of tow or flannel dipped in warm liquor, and applied to
a wound. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, i. 2 (Dorilaus). L.
_stuppa_, tow.
=stutte,= to stutter. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3 (Tibullus); ‘I stutte,
_Je besgue_’, Palsgrave. A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Stutt).
ME. _stotyn_, ‘balbucio’ (Prompt. EETS. 468); _stutte_, ‘balbutire’
(Cath. Angl.).
=sty, stie,= to ascend, mount up, rise. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 25; ii. 7.
46; iv. 9. 33; Muiopotmos, 42. ME. _stien_, to ascend (Wyclif, John xx.
17). OE. _stīgan_.
=styfemoder,= stepmother. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 41. 21. Du.
_stiefmoeder_ (Hexham).
=subact,= to subdue. Mirror for Mag., Claudius T. Nero, st. 8. L.
_subactus_, pp. of _subigere_, to subdue, reduce.
=subeth.= ‘You are subject to subeth, unkindly sleeps’, Middleton,
Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 4 (Sweetball). F. _subet_, ‘a lethargy’
(Cotgr.). Med. L. _subitus_ = L. _sopitus_, deriv. of _sopire_, to
deprive of consciousness, to lull to sleep; see Ducange.
=sublime,= to cause to pass off in a state of vapour. B. Jonson, Alchem.
i. 1 (Mammon).
=submit,= to let down, lower, allow to subside. Dryden, To Lord
Chancellor Clarendon, 139; _submitted_, lowered, Astrae Redux, 249.
=succeed,= to follow after. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 8. L. _succedere_.
=success,= issue, result (good or bad); ‘What is the success?’, Ant. and
Cl. iii. 5. 6; ‘Such vile success’, Othello, iii. 3. 222; descent from
parents, succession, ‘Our parents’ noble names, In whose success we are
gentle’, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 394.
=successive,= successful. Lady Alimony, iii. 1 (2 Citizen).
=succussation,= trotting. Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. iv, c. 6, §
1; Butler, Hud. i. 2. 48. L. _succussare_, to jolt.
=sucket,= a dried sweetmeat, sugar-plum. Beaumont and Fl., Sea Voyage,
v. 2. 31; Tourneur, Atheist’s Tragedy, ii. 5 (Levidulcia); Levins,
Manipulus. In prov. use in Leic., Shropsh., and Devon (EDD.). OF.
_succade_, also _sucrade_, ‘chose sucrée, dragée, sucrerie’ (Godefroy);
O. Prov. _sucrada_, ‘sucrée’.
=sufferance,= pain; Meas. for M. ii. 4. 167; loss, Othello, ii. 1. 23.
F. _souffrance_, ‘sufferance, forbearance, also, need, poverty, penury’
(Cotgr.).
=suffragate,= to support by a vote, to be subsidiary to, to aid. Dryden,
Prol. to the Univ. of Oxford, 31. L. _suffragare_, to vote for.
=sugar-loaf,= a high-crowned hat. Westward Ho, v. 3.
=sugerchest,= the name of a kind of wood; ‘To flesh and blood this Tree
but wormewood seemes, How ere the name may be of Sugerchest’, Davies,
Holy Roode, Dedication (Davies, Suppl. Eng. Gloss.); Ascham, Toxophilus,
pp. 123, 125.
=suggill,= to beat black and blue; to cudgel. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 1039.
L. _sugillare_.
=suitor,= pronounced so as to resemble _shooter_; ‘A Lady . . . hadde
three _sutors_, and yet never a good archer’, Lyly, Euphues, p. 293.
=sulk,= to furrow, plough, cleave. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 118;
ii. 218. L. _sulcus_, a furrow.
=sultanin,= an Arabic coin; ‘A thousand golden sultanins’, Dryden, Don
Sebastian, i. 1 (Mustapha). Arab, _sulṭânîy_, belonging to a sovereign;
a sultanine (a gold coin about nine shillings), Richardson. Arab,
_sulṭân_, a sultan.
=summed,= a term in falconry, having all the feathers complete; ‘The
muse from Cambria comes with pinions summ’d and sound’, Drayton, Pol.
xi, p. 859 (Nares); ‘My prompted song . . . with prosperous wing full
summ’d’, Milton, P. R. i. 14; ‘(The birds) feathered soon and fledge
. . . summed their pens’, id., P. L. vii. 421; used _fig._ of clothes,
‘Till you be summ’d again—velvets and scarlets’, Beaumont and Fl., Wit
without Money, iii. 4 (Lance).
=sumpter,= a driver of a pack-horse, King Lear, ii. 4. 219; Sir Thos.
More, iii. 2. 43. ME. _sumpter_ (King Alisaunder, 6023), OF.
_sommetier_, a pack-horse driver (Roquefort), O. Prov. _saumatier_,
‘conducteur de bêtes de somme’ (Levy), Med. L. _saumaterius_ (Ducange,
s.v. Sagma), deriv. of _saumarius_, _sagmarius_, a pack-horse. See
=somer.=
=supply,= to supplicate, beseech. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 49. F.
_supplier_, L. _supplicare_.
=suppose,= a supposition, conjecture. Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 120; Tr. and Cr.
i. 3. 11.
=surantler;= see =antlier.=
=surbate,= to tire out the feet with walking. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 34;
Turbervile, Hunting, c. 6 (end), p. 15; A Cure for a Cuckold, ii. 4
(Woodroff); _surbet_, pp., ‘A traveiler with feet surbet’, Spenser, F.
Q. ii. 2. 22. Hence _surbater_, one who wearies another out, B. Jonson,
Tale of a Tub, iv. 3 (Metaphor). Cp. Cotgrave, ‘_Surbature_, a
surbating’; also, ‘_Soubatture_, a surbating, or surbate’.
=surcease,= prop. a law-term, a delay allowed or ordered by authority;
arrest, stop, cessation. Macbeth, i. 7. 8; to delay, to desist, Prayer
Book, Ordin. Deacons; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 13; Coriolanus, iii. 2. 121;
Lucrece, 1766; Chapman, tr. Iliad, vii. 45. OF. _sursis_, delay, stop
(Littré), Anglo-F. _sursise_ (Laws of William); _sursis_, pp. of Norm.
F. _surseër_ (F. _surseoir_), to pause, intermit (Moisy), Mod. L.
_supersedere_, to delay (Ducange). In Law L. a writ of _supersedeas_ is
issued to stay proceedings, L. _supersedere_, to desist from. _Surcease_
owes its form to association with _cease_ (F. _cesser_). Tho original
pronunciation of the _i_ in _sursis_ is preserved as in _caprice_,
_police_, _machine_, _marine_.
=surcingle,= a girth, a girdle. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4
(Captain). OF. _sourcengle_ (Godefroy). L. _super_, above; _cingulum_, a
belt, girdle, from _cingere_, to gird.
=sure,= indissolubly joined, firmly united. Merry Wives, v. 5. 249; L.
L. L. v. 2. 286; affianced, betrothed, ‘A woman he was sure unto’,
Records of Oxford, A.D. 1530, p. 75.
=surfle, surfell, surphle,= to wash with sulphur-water or other
cosmetic. Marston, Malcontent, ii. 3 (Maquerelle); Ford, Love’s
Sacrifice, ii. 1 (Mauruccio). OF. _soufrer_, to impregnate with sulphur
or with sulphur-vapour (Godefroy, Supp.).
=surquedry,= presumption, pride, arrogance. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 31;
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1 (Rosalaura); Drayton, Owl, p. 1301
(Nares); _surcuidrie_, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xvii. 20. ME. _surquidrie_,
presumption (Chaucer, C. T. I. 403), arrogance (id., Tr. and Cr. i.
213). Anglo-F. _surquiderie_ (Gower, Mirour, 1443), OF. _surcuiderie_,
arrogance; cp. _cuider_, _quider_ (Ch. Rol.), L. _cogitare_, to think.
=surreined,= overridden, that has felt the ‘rein’ too much. Hen. V, iii.
5. 19. See =sooreyn.=
=surround,= to overflow; ‘Surround, or overflow, _oultre couler_’,
Sherwood, so also Cotgrave; ‘By thencrease of waters dyvers londes . . .
ben surrounded and destroyed’, Statutes, 4 Hen. VII, c. 7 (A.D. 1489).
OF. _soronder_, to overflow, see Burguy and Roquefort, Norm. F.
_surunder_, _soronder_ (Moisy); Med. L. _superundare_ ‘abonder’
(Ducange). See Notes on Eng. Etym.
=sursurrara,= a writ of _certiorari_. Middleton, Phoenix, i. 4 (Tangle).
See Stanford (s.v. Certiorari), Nares (s.v. Sasarara), and EDD. (s.v.
Siserary).
=suscitate,= to stir up, Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 26, § 4;
_suscitability_, aptness to move, B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Face). L.
_suscitare_, to arouse.
=suspect,= suspicion. Comedy of Errors, iii. 1. 87; Rich. III, i. 3. 89;
B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 4. Very common in authors of this period.
Med. L. _suspectus_, ‘suspicio’ (Ducange); cp. O. Prov. _sospet_,
‘soupçon’ (Levy).
=suspire,= to draw a breath; used of a new-born child, King John, iii.
4. 80; used of a dying man, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 5. 32; a deep breath, a sigh,
Massinger, Old Law, v. 1 (Cleanthes); Heywood, Brazen Age (Hercules), in
Wks., iii. 249. L. _suspirare_, to draw a deep breath.
=swad,= a clown, a rustic. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (Hilts);
Lyly, Midas, iv. 3 (Petulus). A north-country word for a stupid fellow,
see EDD. (s.v. Swad, sb.^{3}). Prob. identical with _swad_, a sod, a
clod, see EDD. (s.v. Sward, sb.^{2} 1).
=swaddle,= to beat, cudgel. Fletcher, Captain, ii. 2 (Frederick);
Butler, Hud. i. 1. 24; Cotgrave (s.v. Chaperon); ‘To swaddle or cudgel,
_bastonner_’, Sherwood. _To swaddle a person’s sides_, ‘to beat him
soundly’, is a Kentish phrase, Kennett, Par. Antiq. (ann. 1695). See
EDD. (s.v. Swaddle, vb.^{1} 2). See Halliwell, and Nares.
=swag,= to sway aside; ‘To swag on one side, _pencher tout d’un costé_’,
Sherwood; Middleton, A Mad World, iii. 1 (Harebrain). See EDD.
=swage,= to ‘assuage’. Milton, Samson, 184; P. L. i. 556; Gascoigne,
Fruites of Warre, st. 120. In common prov. use in this sense (EDD.). ME.
_swagyn_, ‘mitigo’ (Prompt.).
=swale,= a cool shade; ‘Trees which gave a pleasant swale’, Golding,
Metam. v. 336 (L. _umbra_); fol. 60, back (1603). An E. Anglian word,
see EDD. (s.v. Swale, sb.^{1}). ME. _swale_, ‘umbra, umbraculum’
(Prompt. EETS. 444). Icel. _sval_, a cool breeze; Norw. dial. _svala_
(Aasen).
=sward,= the hard outer rind of bacon; ‘(He) liveth harde with baken
swarde’, Kendall, Flowers of Epigrammes (Nares); ‘The sward of bacon,
_la peau de lard ou d’un jambon_,’ Sherwood. In prov. use in various
parts of England (EDD.). ME. _sward_ of flesh, ‘coriana’ (Prompt. EETS.
445). OE. _sweard_, rind of bacon, cp. G. _schwarte_, skin, rind.
=swarth,= a track, pathway; ‘There is a hardway, and at Binsey the said
way is called in one or two places _the king’s swarth_ . . . the king’s
way’, Hearne, Reliquiae, Feb. 10 and 11, 1728; ‘The king’s swarth
(formerly called also Port street), beyond New Parks by Oxford, went
over by a bridge the river Charwell’, id., April 23, 1720. OE. _swaðu_,
a track. See =swath.=
=swarth,= in Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 162, ‘By great swarths’, apparently ‘in
great quantities’. In Cheshire they speak of a heavy hay-crop being ‘a
good swarth’, see EDD. (s.v. Swarth, sb.^{1}). Probably the same word as
=swath,= q.v.
=swarth,= black, dark, swarthy. Titus And. ii. 3. 72; Two Noble Kinsmen,
iv. 2. 27; Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xix. 343. A Kentish form (EDD.).
=swarty,= dark, ‘swarthy’. Fletcher, Bonduca, iii. 1 (Caratach); Titus
And. ii. 3. 72 (in the quarto editions). See Dict. (s.v. Swart).
=swash,= to strike violently. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 53, 125. In
prov. use (EDD.).
=swash,= a swaggering bully. Three Ladies of London (Fraud), in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 254; Britannia Triumphans, 1637 (Nares). Also
_swasher_, Hen. V, iii. 2. 30; _swashing_, blustering, As You Like It,
i. 3. 122; tremendous, crushing, Romeo, i. 1. 70. In prov. use ‘to
swash’ means to swagger, to walk with a boastful air; ‘a swasher’ is a
swaggerer, see EDD. (s.v. Swash, 5).
=swash-buckler,= one who ‘swashes’ or beats his buckler, Beaumont and
Fl., Bloody Brother, v. 2 (Latorch); Faithful Friends, i. 2. 7;
‘_Mangia-ferro_, _Mangia-cadenacci_, a devourer of iron-bolts, a
swash-buckler, a bragging toss-blade, a swaggerer’, Florio; ‘_Bravache_,
swaggerer, swash-buckler’, Cotgrave. See Halliwell.
=swash-ruter,= a swaggaring soldier, a swaggerer. Stanyhurst, tr. of
Aeneid, i. 544. See =rutter.=
=swath,= a row of grass mown; ‘The Greeks fall down before him like the
mower’s swath’, Tr. and Cr. v. 5. 25; ‘Grass lately in swaths is meat
for an ox’, Tusser, Husbandry. In prov. use in various parts of England
(EDD.). ME. _swath_ of mowing, ‘falcidium’ (Prompt. EETS. 445);
_swathe_, ‘orbita falcatoris’ (Cath. Angl.). OE. _swæð_, a track, the
track of a plough, ‘somita’ (B. T.). See =swarth= (a track).
=swathling-clothes,= swaddling-clothes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 112 (Q.
edd.). ME. _swathlen_, to swaddle; _swaþeling-bonde_, a swaddling-band
(Cursor Mundi, 1343). See Dict. (s.v. Swaddle).
†=swatley.= ‘Ay mun cut off the lugs and naes [ears and nose] on ’em [of
him]; he’ll be a pretty swatley fellow, bawt [without] lugs and naes’,
Otway, Cheats of Scapin, iii (Scapin, in a Lancs. dialect). Meaning
unexplained.
=sweam,= faintness, attack of dizziness; ‘The slothfull sweames of
sluggardye’, Mirror for Mag., Iago, Lenvoy, st. 1; ‘Sweam or swaim,
_subita aegrotatio_’, Gouldman. ‘Sweem’ is a Somerset word for a state
of giddiness or faintness, see EDD. (s.v. Swim, sb.^{2}). Cognate with
OE. _swīma_, dizziness, giddiness (B. T.). See =sweme.=
=sweet-breasted,= sweet-voiced, having a sweet voice. Beaumont and Fl.,
Love’s Cure, iii. 1 (Alguazier).
=swelt,= to faint, swoon; ‘In weary woes to swelt’, Gascoigne (Nares);
_swelt_, pt. t., Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 9; vi. 12. 21. Still in use in
the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Swelt, vb.^{1} 2). ME. _swelten_, to
faint, languish (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1356); to die (id., Tr. and Cr. iii.
347). OE. _sweltan_, to die.
=swelter,= to exude; ‘Toad . . . that has . . . swelter’d venom’,
Macbeth, iv. 1. 8. In prov. use in the sense of a profuse perspiration,
see EDD. (s.v. Swelter, 7).
=swelth,= a whirlpool; ‘A deadly gulfe . . . With foule black swelth’,
Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 31; ‘Rude Acheron . . . with swelth as
black as hell’, id., 69, see Nares. ME. _swelth_ of a water, ‘vorago’
(Prompt. EETS. 445, see note, no. 2179).
=sweme,= grief; ‘His hert began to melt For veray sweme of this swemeful
tale’, Lydgate (Halliwell). ME. _sweem_, grief (Prompt., Harl. MS.);
_swem_ (Gen. and Ex. 1961). Cp. OE. _ā-swǣman_, to be grieved,
‘tabescere’ (Ps. cxviii. 158 (Lambeth)). See =sweam.=
=sweven,= a dream. Morte Arthur, leaf 27. 1; bk. i, c. 13; Ordinary, Old
Play, x. 236 (Nares). ME. _sweven_ (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 28). OE.
_swefn_.
=swill-bowl,= a heavy drinker; spelt _swiel bolle_. Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Cicero, § 65.
=swinge,= to beat, thrash, lash, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money,
iv. 5 (Valentine); Two Gent. ii. 1. 91; King John, ii. 1. 288; 2 Hen.
IV, v. 4. 21; to lash, as with a long tail, Milton, Nativ. 172; sway,
tyranny, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 26. In prov. use in Scotland
and England in the sense of to beat, thrash (EDD.). ME. _swyngyn_, also,
_swengyn_, to shake (Prompt.). OE. _swengan_.
=swinge,= to singe. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 26. In common prov. use in
Ireland, and in various parts of England (EDD.).
=swinge-buckler,= a swash-buckler. 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 24.
=swink,= to toil, labour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 8, 36, 58 _swinkt_, pp.,
wearied with toil, ‘The swinkt hedger’, Milton, Comus, 293; labour,
toil, ‘How great sport they gaynen with little swincke’, Spenser, Shep.
Kal., May, 36; Sidney, Arcadia, p. 398 (Nares). ‘To swink’, to toil,
work hard, is in use in Galloway, ‘Lord, but he swankit it that day!’
(EDD.). ME. _swinken_, to toil, _swink_, toil (Chaucer). OE. _swincan_.
=swithe,= quickly. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, ii. 47 (Nares); _swithe and
tite_, quickly and at once, id., i. 4. 13. In common use in Scotland,
see EDD. (s.v. Swith). ME. _swythe_, quickly, immediately (Chaucer, C.
T. C. 796, and B. 637). OE. _swīðe_, strongly. See =tit.=
=Switzer,= one of a Swiss mercenary guard. Webster, White Devil
(Brachiano), ed. Dyce, p. 12; Hamlet, iv. 5. 97; _Switzers_, inhabitants
of Switzerland, Bacon, Essay 14.
=swoop,= a sweeping movement, rush. Macbeth, iv. 3. 219; Webster, White
Devil (beginning); ed. Dyce, p. 5. _Swoopstake_ (old edd. _soopstake_),
drawing the whole stake at once, indiscriminately, Hamlet, iv. 5. 141.
=swough,= a heavy murmuring sound. Morte Arthur, leaf 83. 20; bk. v, c.
4. Cp. the prov. words, ‘swow’ and ‘sough’ in EDD. ME. _swowyn_, to make
a murmuring sound (Prompt.). OE. _swōgan_, to make a noise like the
wind.
=swound,= to ‘swoon’. Fletcher, Night-Walker, i. 4. 8; Middleton, Mayor
of Queenb. v. 1 (Oliver); a swoon, Dryden, Palamon, i. 537; iii. 982. In
gen. prov. use in England and Scotland (EDD.). See =sowne= (2).
=syke,= such. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.). A north-country form,
see EDD. (s.v. Such). ME. _sike_ (Wars Alex. 126) OE. _swilc_ (_swylc_).
See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Swyche).
=symarr,= a loose robe for a lady: Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 341. See
=cymar.=
=synnet;= see =sennet.=
=synteresis,= a word said to have been invented by John Damascene, and
used by Aquinas and the schoolmen in the sense of ‘observation’ of the
laws of right and wrong as exercised by the conscience, self-reproach.
Nabbes, Microcosmus, v (Conscience); Manchester Al Mondo (ed. 1902, 39).
Gk. συντήρησις, observation, fr. συντηρέω, to observe strictly (a N. T.
word, cp. Mark vi. 20). See C. Bigg’s Introd. to Imitatio Christi, p. 2
on the L. _sinderesis_, iv. 11 (Magd. MS.). The word _sindérèse_ is used
by French theological writers, Bossuet for example.
=sypers,= a thin textile material, J. Heywood, The Four P’s (Anc. Brit.
Drama, p. 10). See =cypress.=
=syse,= an allowance or settled ration; _to keepe the syse_, to exercise
moderation, Mirror for Mag., Tresilian, st. 10. See Dict. (s.v. Size,
1).
T
=T= for _to_, freq. profixed to verbs; as in _tabandon_, to abandon,
_tescape_, to escape; so in Chaucer, _tabyde_, _tacoye_, _tamende_, &c.
=tabid,= liable to waste away. Sir T. Browne, Letter to a Friend, § 19;
_tabidly inclined_, id., § 4. L. _tabidus_, wasting away.
=tabine,= ‘tabby’, a stuff orig. striped, later waved or watered.
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 2. 6. Ital. _tabino_, ‘tabine’
(Florio). See NED. (s.v. Tabby).
=table,= the tablet or panel on which a picture is painted; ‘I beheld
myself drawn in the flattering table of her eye’, King John, ii. 504;
‘To sit and draw his arched brows . . . in our heart’s table’, All’s
Well, i. 1. 106; a picture, ‘The figure of a hangman In a table of the
Passion’, Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, iv. 2. 5; Sir T.
Elyot, Governour (ed. Croft, ii. 422). L. _tabula_, a painted tablet or
panel of a picture.
=table,= a writing-tablet. BIBLE, Hab. ii. 2; Luke i. 63; 2 Cor. iii. 3;
_tables_, a set of tablets, a note-book, Hamlet, i. 5. 107; also,
_table-book_, id., ii. 2. 136; hence, _tabled_, noted, set down,
Cymbeline, i. 4. 6. ME. _table_: ‘a peyre of tables all of yvory’
(Chaucer, C. T. D. 1741). L. _tabula_, a writing-tablet.
=tables,= the ordinary name for backgammon, L. L. L. v. 2. 326. See
Nares. ME. _tables_ (Chaucer, C. T. F. 900), Anglo-F. _juer as tables_
(Ch. Rol. l. 111).
=tabourine,= a small drum. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 275. F. _tabourin_ (Dict.
de l’Acad., 1694), see Hatzfeld (s.v. Tambourin).
=tabride,= a ‘tabard’; a surcoat worn over armour and emblazoned with
armorial bearings. Warner, Alb. England, bk. v, ch. 27. See Dict.
=tache,= a fault or vice. Warner, Alb. England, xiii. 77. 318 (NED.); to
find fault with, id., bk. x, ch. 58. ME. _tache_ (_tacche_), a stain,
blemish, fault (P. Plowman, B. ix. 146). Anglo-F. _tache_, a stain,
blemish (Gower, Mirour, 1231).
=tack,= that which fastens. Phr. _to hold tack with_, to hold one’s
ground with; to be even with; ‘A thousande pounde with Lyberte may holde
no tacke’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2084; to be a match for, to hold at
bay, Drayton, Pol. xi. 48; _to hold tack_, to hold out, to endure,
Butler, Hud. i. 3. 277.
=tack,= a smack, taste or flavour which lasts, holds out. Drayton, Pol.
xix. 130; ‘_Le poisson pique_, begins to have a tacke or ill taste’,
Cotgrave. The same word as above.
=tackle,= a mistress, a trull (Cant). Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iv. 1
(Belfond Senior).
=tag,= a rabble, mob. Coriolanus, iii. 1. 248; _tag-rag people_, the
mob, Julius C. i. 2. 260; ‘_Tagge and ragge_, cutte and longe tayle’
(i.e. a mixed mob), Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 45.
=taillee,= to ‘tally’, to keep account, at the game of basset. Farquhar,
Sir H. Wildair, i. 1 (Parly); ‘You used to taillee with success’, id.,
ii. 2 (Lurewell).
=taint,= a successful hit. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iii. 374; vii. 222.
ME. _taynte_, a ‘hit’ in tilting (NED., s.v. Taint, sb. 1). Short for
_attaint_, F. ‘_attainte_, a reach, hit, home touch’ (Cotgr.), OF.
_atainte_ (_ateinte_), deriv. of _ataindre_, to attain unto, to touch.
=taint,= to ‘hit’ in tilting. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum. ii. 1
(Carlo); Massinger, Parl. of Love, iv. 3 (near end); Marlowe, 2
Tamburlaine, i. 3; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, viii. 259.
=taint,= to ‘tent’, to search a wound. Lyly, Euphues, pp. 65, 314.
=tainture,= an imputation of dishonour. Fletcher, Thierry, i. 1. 1;
Sandys, tr. of Ovid’s Metam. i. 20. See NED. (s.v. Attainture).
=take me with you,= let me understand you clearly, i.e. do not go faster
than I can follow you; be explicit; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 506. _Take us with
you_, understand us clearly, A Cure for a Cuckold (near the end).
=take order,= to take measures, to make arrangements. North, tr. of
Plutarch, Julius Caes., § 9 (in Shak. Plut., p. 52); Octavius, § 8 (p.
246); Bacon, Essay 36; BIBLE, 2 Macc. iv. 27.
=take up,= to check oneself, stop short. Pepys, Diary, Nov. 13, 1661;
Massinger, Picture, v. 3 (Mathias); to settle, arrange amicably a
quarrel, As You Like It, v. 4. 104; to take up one’s quarters, B.
Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 2; Pepys, Diary, Oct. 14, 1662.
=taken with the maner;= see =maner.=
=taking,= a disturbed state of mind, state of agitation. Merry Wives,
iii. 3. 191; also, malignant influence, King Lear, iii. 4. 61. Very
common in prov. use in the sense of a state of agitation. See EDD. (s.v.
Taking, 2).
=taking,= infectious. King Lear, ii. 4. 166; Fletcher, The False One,
iv. 3 (Septimius). Still in use in Cumberland in this sense, ‘It’s a
varra takkan disease’, see EDD. (s.v. Taking, 1 (2)).
=tale,= a specified number, that which is counted. BIBLE, Exod. v. 8.
18; 1 Sam. xviii. 27; 1 Chron. ix. 28; ‘Every shepherd tells his tale’
(i.e. counts his sheep), Milton, L’Allegro, 67 (but meaning in this
passage disputed).
=talent,= the talon of a bird of prey. For _talon_. L. L. L. iv. 2. 65;
Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 44; ‘Talant of an hauk’, Levins, Manip. Hence
_talenter_, a bird of prey with talons, as a hawk, Middleton and Rowley,
World Tost at Tennis (Denmark House).
=tall,= valiant, brave. Ant. and Cl. ii. 6. 7; often used ironically, as
in Merry Wives, ii. 2. 11; &c.
=tallage,= a tax, impost, levy, rate, toll; ‘Tallages and taxations’,
North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 12 (in Shak. Plut., p. 171).
Anglo-F. _tallage_, ‘taille, taxe’ (Moisy). See Dict. (s.v. Tally).
†=tallow-catch,= 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 256 (so Quartos and Folios). The form
and meaning doubtful. Supposed by some to = _tallow-ketch_, i.e. a tub
filled with tallow; by others = _tallow keech_, a round lump of fat. See
=keech.=
=talwood,= wood cut into billets for burning; firewood. Skelton, Why
Come ye nat to Courte, 79; Tasser, Husbandry, § 53. 12. A Sussex word
(EDD.). A rendering of OF. _bois de tail_, ‘bois en coupe’ (Godefroy).
=tamin,= a kind of thin woollen stuff; ‘In an old tamin gown’,
Massinger, New Way to Pay, iii. 2 (Overreach). F. _étamine_, stamin;
‘_estamine_, the stuff Tamine’ (Cotgr.).
=tancrete,= transcribed, copied. Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Courte,
417. OF. _tanscrit_, for _transcrit_, transcribed (Godefroy, s.v.
_transcrit_), L. _transcriptum_.
=tanling,= one that is tanned by the heat of the sun. Cymbeline, iv. 4.
29.
=tannikin, tannakin, tanakin,= a dimin. pet-form of the name Anna, used
especially for a German or Dutch girl. Marston, Dutch Courtezan, i. 1
(Freevil); Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 1 (Eyre).
=tanti,= so much for (you); an exclamation of depreciation and contempt.
Marlowe, Edw. II, i. 1. 22; Fuimus Troes, iii. 7 (Eulinus). L. _tanti_,
of so much value.
=Tantony,= for _St. Anthony_; often with reference to the attributes
with which the saint was accompanied; as a crutch, a pouch, or a pig;
‘His tantonie pouch’, Lyly, Mother Bombie, ii. 1 (Riscio); ‘Like a
tantony pig’, Bickerstaff, Love in a Village, i. 5. 3. See EDD. (s.v.
Saint Anthony).
=tapet,= a cloth on which tapestry is worked. Spenser, Muiopotmos, 276;
_tapets_, pl. tapestries; met. foliage of trees, Mirror for Mag.,
Induction, st. 1. OE. _tæppet_, Late L. _tapetum_.
=tappish,= to lurk, lie, hid. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxii. 158;
_tappis_, Lady Alimony, ii. 6 (Tillyvally); _tappes’d_, hidden,
Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, v. 1 (Cheatly). F. _tapir_, to hide; _se
tapir_, to crouch, lie close, lurk (Cotgr.); pres. part, _tapissant_.
See =untappice.=
=taratantara,= the blast of a trumpet; ‘Christ . . . in the clowdes of
heaven with his Taratantara sounding’, Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed.
Furnivall, 24); ‘The noise of tarantara’s clang’, Grimald, Death of
Zoroas, 2. Onomatopoetic, cp. L. _taratantara_ (Ennius).
=targe,= shield. Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 57; Milton, P. L. ix.
1111. Anglo-F. _targe_, a buckler (Ch. Rol. 3569).
=target,= a light round buckler. Hall, Chron. Henry VIII, 2; North, tr.
of Plutarch, Julius Caesar, § 11 (in Shak. Plut., 54). See Dict.
=tarmagon,= a termagant, a virago, vixen. Lady Alimony, i. 4. 1. See
Dict. (s.v. Termagant).
=tarpawlin,= a sailor, jack-tar. Otway, Cheats of Scapin, ii. 1
(Scapin). The same as _tarpaulin_, a tarred canvas covering. See Trench,
Select Glossary.
=tarras, tarrass,= a terrace. Bacon, Essay 45, § 5; Chapman, May-day,
Act v (Lodovico). Hence, _tarrest_, terraced, provided with terraces;
Heywood, London’s Jus Honorarium; Works, iv. 276.
=tarre on,= to set on a dog, to incite him to bite, King John, iv. 1.
117; Hamlet, ii. 2. 370; ‘To tarr on’, meaning to excite to anger, is in
common use in Cheshire (EDD.). ME. _terre_, to provoke: ‘Nyle ye terre
youre sones to wraththe’ (Wyclif, Eph. vi. 4). OE. _tergan_, to vex, see
B. T. (s.v. Tirgan).
=tarsell,= a tercel, male hawk. Skelton, Philip Sparowe, 558. See
=tassel.=
=Tartarian,= a Tartar; a cant word for a thief. Merry Devil, i. 1. 13;
Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, ii. 5 (end).
=task,= to tax. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 3. 92. Norm. F. _tasque_, taxe, règlement
imposé par l’autorité pour le prix de certaines marchandises (Moisy),
Med. L. _tasca_ (Ducange), L. _taxare_, to rate, estimate the value of a
thing.
†=tassaker,= a cup or goblet; ‘This Dutch tassaker’, Heywood, Rape of
Lucrece, iii. 3 (Valerius). Not found elsewhere.
=tassel,= the male of any kind of hawk; ‘_Tiercelet_, the Tassel, so
termed because he is commonly a third part less than the female’,
Cotgrave; _tassel-gentle_, the male of the falcon, Romeo, ii. 2. 160;
_tassel gent_, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 49; _tiercel gentle_, Massinger,
Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo). See =tercel.=
=taste,= to put to the proof, try, prove to be, Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 267;
to try the use of, to use (in affected speech), Twelfth Nt. iii. 1. 87;
to experience, to feel, Tempest, v. 1. 123.
=tat, tatt,= a false die; _tatts_, pl. false dice (Cant). Shadwell,
Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Hackum). _Tatmonger_, a sharper who uses false
dice (in the same scene).
=tatler,= for _tattler_, a slang term for a repeater, or a striking
watch; because it _tattles_ or utters sounds. Shadwell, Squire of
Alsatia, ii. 1 (Belfond Senior).
=tatterdemallion, tatterdimallian,= a man in tattered clothing; a ragged
fellow. Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, v. 1 (Simon); Howell, Foreign
Travell, sect. vi, p. 37. See NED.
=taumpin,= a ‘tampion’, a plug. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 642; ‘Tampyon
for a gon, _tampon_’, Palsgrave. See Dict. (s.v. Tampion).
=taunt pour taunte,= tit for tat. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 68.
F. _tant pour tant_, one for another (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.v. Taunt).
=Taurus:= ‘Taurus? that’s sides and heart. No, sir, it is legs and
thighs’, Twelfth Nt. i. 3. 147. In astrology, the signs of the zodiac
were severally supposed to govern various parts of the body; and Taurus
governed the neck and throat; hence, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby were both
wrong (intentionally so); see Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, ii. 1.
=tavell,= the bobbin on which silk is wound for use in the shuttle.
Skelton, Garland of Laurell, 791; Against Comely Coystrowne, 34. Cp.
mod. F. _tavelle_, the bobbin on which the silk is wound off the
cocoons; see NED.
=taw,= to beat, thrash, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 3 (Ursula); _tawed_,
treated like hides in making them into leather, ‘Greedy care . . . With
tawed handes, and hard ytanned skyn’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag.,
Induction, st. 39. See Nares and Dict.
=taw,= to draw along. Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, l. 14 from
end. See Nares (s.v. Tawe).
=tawdry,= pl. _tawdries_, defined as ‘a kind of necklace worn by country
wenches’; Drayton, Pol. ii. 46; iv. 50. _Tawdry-lace_, St. Awdry’s lace,
i.e. lace bought at St. Awdry’s fair at Ely, Fletcher, Faith.
Shepherdess, iv. 1 (Amarillis). See Dict.
=tax,= to take to task, criticize, censure, reprove. Rowley, All’s Lost,
v. 5. 74; Hamlet, i. 4. 18; also, to task, Much Ado, ii. 3. 46. See
=task.=
=teade,= a torch. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 37; id., Muiopotmos, 293;
Heywood, Iron Age, Part II (Orestes); vol. iii, p. 424. L. _taeda_, a
torch.
=teemed,= arranged in a ‘team’; said of horses. Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat,
314.
=teen,= harm, injury, hurt, Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 18; vexation,
annoyance, id., ii. 1. 15; grief, id., ii. 1. 21; ii. 1. 58. In prov.
use in the north country in the sense of anger, vexation, in Scotland
also in the sense of sorrow, grief. ME. _tene_, vexation, grief
(Chaucer). See Dict. M. and S. OE. _tēona_, damage, harm, insult,
calumny.
†=teen,= keen; ‘The teenest Rasor’, Lyly, Euphues, pp. 34, 249. Not
found elsewhere.
=teend,= to kindle a fire. Herrick, Hesp., Candlemas Day, id.,
Ceremonies for Christmas, st. 2. A Lancashire pronunciation, see EDD.
(s.v. Tend, vb.^{2}). ME. _teend_ (Wyclif, Isaiah l. 11); OE. _tendan_,
in compounds, as _ontendan_ (Exod. xxii. 6). See =tind.=
=tegge,= a female deer in the second year; ‘Tegge, or pricket,
_saillant_’, Palsgrave; Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 193.
Skelton has _tegges_, women (used in contempt), Elynour Rummyng, l. 131.
‘Teg’ is in gen. prov. use in the midland and southern counties in the
sense of a yearling sheep before it is shorn (EDD.).
=teil-tree,= a lime-tree or linden. BIBLE, Isaiah vi. 13; _teyle_,
Golding, Metam. viii. 620; fol. 102, back (1603). OF. _teil_; L.
_tilia_.
=teint,= tint, colour. Dryden, To Sir G. Kneller, 178. F. _teint_,
colour, complexion.
=teld,= _pt. t._, told. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 44. In common use in
Yorkshire, see EDD. (s.v. Tell, 2). ME. _telde_, told; ‘And thei . . .
telden alle these thingis’ (Wyclif, Luke xxiv. 9). OE. _tealde_, also
_telede_ (Leechdoms); see B. T. (s.v. Tellan).
=temper,= to govern, rule, control. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 1294. L.
_temperare_, to regulate, control. In prov. use in Scotland (EDD.).
=tempt,= to try, essay. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 496; Milton, P.
L. ii. 404. In prov. use (EDD.). L. _temptare_ (gen. written _tentare_),
to attempt, essay.
=ten bones,= the ten fingers. 2 Hen. VI, i. 3. 193; Fletcher, Woman’s
Prize, i. 3 (Petruchio); ‘I swear by these ten’ (i.e. ten bones), B.
Jonson, Masque of M. Gipsies (3 Gipsy).
=tender,= to treat with kindness, to take care of. Two Gent. iv. 4. 145;
Taming Shrew, Induction, i. 16; Hamlet, i. 3. 107; regard, care, King
Lear, i. 4. 230. See Schmidt.
=tenent,= a tenet, an opinion; ‘There are other assertions and common
Tenents drawn from Scripture’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med. i. 22; Earle,
Microcosm., § 11 (ed. Arber, 34). See NED.
=teniente,= a lieutenant. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Alvarez). Span.
_teniente de una compañia_, lieutenant of a company (Neuman);
_lugarteniente_, lieutenant (Stevens).
=tent,= to apply a ‘tent’, or plug of linen, to a wound. Webster, White
Devil (Flamineo); Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, iv. 3 (Colax). ME.
_tent_ of a wound (Prompt. EETS. 476). F. _tente_ (Cotgr.). See Dict.
(s.v. Tent, 2).
=tercel,= the male of any kind of hawk. Bk. St. Albans (NED.);
_tiercel_, Phillips, Dict., 1706. ME. _tercel_ (Chaucer, Parl. Foules,
405 (v.rr. _tersel_, _tarsell_); _tarcel_, ‘tardarius’ (Voc. 615. 24).
OF. _tercel_ (Godefroy), O. Prov. _tersol_ (Levy), Span. _terzuelo_,
Ital. _terzuolo_, Med. L. _tertiolus_ (Ducange), F. _tiercelet_
(dimin.), ‘a tassel’ (Cotgr.). See =tassel.=
=terlerie-whiskie,= a twirling about; a phrase of little meaning, in the
refrain of a song. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, v. iii
(Merrythought). See NED. (s.v. Terlerie).
=termer= (applied to both sexes), one who resorts to London in term-time
only, for the sake of gain or for intrigue; a frequenter of the
law-courts. Middleton, Roaring Girl (Preface); id., The Witch, i. 1
(Gasparo); Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, i. 1 (Oldcraft).
=termless,= unlimited, infinite, Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love, 75;
incapable of being expressed by terms, inexpressible, indescribable,
Lover’s Complaint, 94.
=terre,= to throw upon the ground; ‘He terr’d his glove’, Warner, Alb.
England, bk. iii, ch. 16, st. 44. A nonce-word.
†=terrial.= ‘The terrials of her legs were stained with blood’ (said of
a hawk), Heywood, A Woman killed, i. 3 (Sir Francis). Perhaps an error
for _terret_, one of the two rings by which the leash is attached to the
jesses of a hawk (NED.).
=tertia,= a regiment of infantry. B. Jonson, New Inn, iii. 1. 6; Dryden,
Conq. of Granada, II. i. 1 (K. Ferdinand). Span. _tercio_, a regiment, a
third part (Stevens).
=testate,= a witness. Heywood, Witches of Lancs., v (Generous); vol. iv,
p. 251; Iron Age, Part II (Orestes); vol. iii, p. 422.
=testy,= witness; ‘Gives testies of their Maisters amorous hart’, Faire
Em, ii. 1. 100. Cp. L. _teste_, the word which began the last clause of
a writ, and signifying ‘witness’; being the abl. of L. _testis_, a
witness. See NED. (s.v. Teste, sb.^{2} 2 c).
=tetchy, teachy,= quick to take offence, short-tempered, testy. Spelt
_teachy_, Earle, Microcosm., § 34 (ed. Arber, 56); _teachie_, Romeo, i.
3. 32 (1592). See NED.
=tetragrammaton,= the Greek name of the Hebrew ‘four-lettered’ word,
written Y H W H, vocalized Y a H W e H by modern scholars; in the BIBLE
written JEHOVAH (Exod. vi. 3), but gen. rendered by ‘the LORD’; ‘Our
English tongue as well as the Hebrew hath a Tetragrammaton, whereby God
may be named; to wit, Good’, Wither, Lord’s Prayer, 17 (NED.); Greene,
Friar Bacon, iv. 3. Gk. τετραγράμματον (Philo, 2. 152).
=tettish, teatish,= peevish, fretful. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without
Money, v. 2 (Valentine); Woman’s Prize, v. 1 (Bianca).
=tew,= a set of fishing-nets, nets. Warner, Alb. England, bk. vi, ch.
29, st. 27; spelt _tewgh_, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, i. 3 (NED.). ME.
_tewe_, fishing tackle (Prompt. EETS. 477), OE. (_ge_)_tǣwe_, _getāwe_,
tackle, equipment.
=tew,= to convert hide into leather; ‘I tewe leather, _je souple_’,
Palsgrave; to prepare for some purpose, ‘The toiling fisher here is
tewing of his net’, Drayton, Pol. xxv. 139; to beat, thrash, Fletcher,
Beggar’s Bush, iii. 2 (Clause); _to tew hemp_, Ray’s Country Words, A.D.
1691. In prov. use for dressing leather and beating hemp, see EDD. (s.v.
Tew, vb.^{1} 1 and 2). ME. _tewyn lethyr_, ‘frunio, corrodio’ (Prompt.).
=tewly,= scarlet. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 798. Silk of this colour is
often referred to by earlier writers, as in Richard Coer de Lion, 67,
1516, Syr Gawayne, Beves of Hamtoun (Halliwell, s.v. Tuly); _tuly_,
colowre, ‘puniceus’ (Prompt. EETS. 494). OF. _tieulé_, of the colour of
a tile, i.e. red (Godefroy), deriv. of _tieule_ (F. _tuile_), a tile, L.
_tegula_.
=teyle;= see =teil-tree.=
=teyned.= ‘In shape of teyned gold’, Golding, Metam. v. 11. ME. _teyne_,
a slender rod of metal (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1225, 1229, 1240). Icel.
_teinn_, rod, _gull-teinn_, a rod of gold.
=than,= then. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 38 (Common).
=tharborough,= a form of =thirdborough,= q.v. L. L. L. i. 1. 185.
=thatch’d head,= a term of abuse for an Irishman; one with thick matted
hair. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 3 (Maria).
=thee,= to thrive, prosper. Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 8; Spenser, F. Q.
ii. 1. 33; ii. 11. 17. ME. _thee_ (Chaucer), OE. _þēon_. See Dict. M.
and S. (s.v. Theen).
=thembatel,= for _the embatel_, the battlement; ‘Griped for hold
thembatel of the wall’, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 581. Not found
elsewhere.
=therm, tharm,= an intestine. Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 100). Still
in use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Tharm). OE. (Anglian)
_þarm_, a bowel.
=thewes,= good qualities or habits. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 3; i. 10. 4;
ii. 1. 33; ii. 10. 59; Heywood, Britain’s Troy, i. 61 (Nares). Hence
_thewed_, having qualities of a certain kind, F. Q. ii. 6. 26. OE.
_þēaw_, usage, custom, habit.
=thewes,= the bodily powers of a man, in Shaks. the bodily proportions
as indicating physical strength, 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 276; Jul. Caes. i.
3. 81; Hamlet, i. 3. 12.
=thick,= a thicket. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 39; ii. 3. 21; Shep. Kal.,
March, 73; Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, v. 5 (Cloe; near the end). In
Suffolk groves and woods with close underwood are called ‘thicks’, see
EDD. (s.v. Thick, 14).
=thiller,= the shaft-horse in a team. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 4. In
gen. prov. use in the Midlands and south of England, see EDD. Deriv. of
ME. _thylle_ of a cart, ‘temo’ (Prompt.).
=thill-horse,= the shaft-horse; ‘The Thill-horse in Charles’s Wain’,
Derham (NED.). In common use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Thill, sb.^{1} 2 4). See =fill.=
=thirdborough,= the petty constable of a township or manor. L. L. L. i.
1. 185; cp. Taming Shrew, Induct, i. 12; B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 1
(Hugh). Probably a corruption of an earlier _frithborh_; OE. _friðborh_,
peace-surety, frankpledge. See NED.
=thirdendale:= phr. _thirdendale gallant_, the third part of a gallant,
Dekker, If this be not a good Play (Scumbroath); Works, iii. 329. See
=halfendeale.=
=this,= thus. Skelton, Death of Edw. IV, 38; Philip Sparowe, 366; and
often.
=tho,= then. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 18; ii. 8. 47. ME. _tho_, then
(Chaucer). see M. and S.; OE. _þā_.
=thole,= the dome of a temple, within which votive offerings were
suspended; ‘Let Altars smoake and Tholes expect our spoiles’, Fisher,
True Trojans, iii. 2 (Nennius). Gk. θόλος, a round building with a
cupola; at Athens, the Rotunda in which the Prytanes, the committee of
50, dined at the public cost.
=thorow-lights,= lights or windows on both sides of a room. Bacon, Essay
45, § 3. From _thorow_ = through.
=thrall,= _v._, to enthral, enslave. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 29; vi. 11.
44.
=threap,= to rebuke; to maintain obstinately. Greene, James IV,
Induction (Bohan); _threpped_, pp., Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 354.
In gen. prov. use in both senses in Scotland, Ireland, and in England,
north country and Midlands. See EDD. (s.v. Threap, 5); ME. _threpe_, to
assert to be (Chaucer). OE. _þrēapian_, to rebuke, argue.
=threave,= a large number, a multitude, a swarm of insects; ‘Threaves of
busy flies’, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, ii. 401 (in later ed. ‘swarms of
flies’); a bundle or handful tied up like a small sheaf, Chapman, Gent.
Usher, ii. 1 (Bassiolo). The word is used in many parts of Scotland and
England in the sense of a considerable number or quantity, see EDD.
(s.v. Thrave, sb. 3). Icel. _þrefi_, a number of sheaves.
=three-farthings.= King John, i. 143. Alluding to the very thin
three-farthing (silver) pieces of Qu. Elizabeth, which bore her profile,
with a rose at the back of her head.
=three-pile,= three-piled velvet. The richest kind of velvet was called
_three-pile_ or _three-piled velvet_, presumably because it had a triple
(or a very close) pile or nap; Wint. Tale, iv. 3. 14. _Three-piled
piece_, referring to velvet, i. 2. 33. Metaphorically, _three-piled_ =
exaggerated, L. L. L. v. 2. 407; cp. C. Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, i.
1. From _three_ and _pile_ (4).
=threne,= a lament. Phoenix and Turtle, 49. Hence, _threning_ (spelt
_threnning_); ‘What needs these threnning words and wasted wind?’, Sir
T. Wyatt, To his Love (Wks., ed. Bell, 198). Gk. θρῆνος, a funeral
lament.
=thrill,= to pierce. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 32. Hence, _thrillant_,
piercing. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 46. ME. _thirte_, to pierce (Chaucer, C.
T. A. 2709). OE. _þyrlian_. See =thrull.=
=thrill,= to hurl a weapon. Webster, Appius, iv. 2 (Virginius); Heywood,
Iron Age, Part I, 1632, sig. F (Dyce); Quarles, Sion’s Elegies, ii. 4.
=thring,= to press forward. Mirror for Mag., Caracalla, st. 1. Still in
use in the north country (EDD.). ME. _thringe_, to press, to force one’s
way (Chaucer). OE. _þringan_, to press.
=thrist,= thirst. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 17. _Thristy_, thirsty, id., i.
5. 15. In prov. use in the north country, also in Heref. and Shropshire
(EDD.). ME. _thrist_, thirst; _thriste_, to thirst (Wars Alex. 4683,
3848).
=throat-brisk,= (?) part of the brisket near the throat; spelt
_throte-briske_, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, iii. 620. Cp.
_throat-sweetbread_ (also _neck-sweetbread_), butcher’s name for the
thymus gland, see NED. (s.v. Throat, 8 d).
=throng,= pressed closely together; ‘Hidden in straw throng’ (i.e. in
straw pressed closely together), B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, v. 5 (The
fourth Motion). OE. _þrungen_, pp. of _þringan_, to press. See =thring.=
=throw,= a short space, a little while. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 53. ME.
_throw_, a little while (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 2336). OE.
_þrāge_, ‘for a time’, _þrāh_, a space of time, a course, running. See
M. and S. (s.v. Throwe).
=throwster,= a twister of silk thread for a weaver. Middleton, World
Tost at Tennis (Scholar). In the north country ‘to throw’ is in common
use in the sense of to twist, see EDD. (s.v. Throw, 16). OE. _þrāwan_,
to twist.
=thrull,= to pierce. Morte Arthur, leaf 172. 28; bk. ix, c. 4. See
=thrill.=
=thrum,= a weaving term: the waste end of a warp; _thrumm’d_, furnished
with tufts, Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 319; untidily thatched, Middleton,
Mich. Term, i. 2. 6; _thrum-chinned_, with rough untidy chin, id., A
Trick to Catch, iv. 3. 7; ‘(A) plaine livery-three-pound-thrum’, B.
Jonson, Alchem. i. 1. 16 (applied jocularly to a person). ME. _thrumm_
of a clothe, ‘filamen’ (Prompt.). Cp. Norw. dial. _trumm_, edge, brim
(Aasen); Du. ‘_drom_, a thrum’ (Sewel); G. _trumm_.
=thrum,= to beat, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iii. 1 (George). An old
Suffolk word (EDD.).
=thrust,= thirst; to thirst. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 29; iii. 7. 50. OE.
_þurst_, thirst. See =thrist.=
=tial,= a bond, tie, obligation; ‘Nor to contract with such (a woman)
can be a Tial’, Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, ii. 1 (Mirabel). A Scotch
word (EDD.). See =tyall.=
=Tib-of-the-buttery,= a goose (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1
(Higgen). ‘Tib’ is a pet form of the Christian name Isabel; Tibbie was
once a favourite name with the peasants of the Lowlands. See NED.
=ticket, on the,= on tick, like one who incurs an acknowledged debt.
Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1. 17.
=tickle,= not to be depended upon; uncertain, unreliable, changeable.
Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 5; vii. 8. 1; in unstable equilibrium, easily
upset, easily set in motion; in phr. _tickle of the sear_ (_sere_),
easily made to go off (the ‘sear’ being a portion of a gun-lock), used
_fig._ in Hamlet for yielding easily to any impulse (ii. 2. 327). ME.
_tikel_, unstable, uncertain (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3428).
=tickle-footed,= uncertain, inconstant, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady,
v. 4 (Elder Loveless).
=ticklish,= easily disturbed, Chapman, Widow’s Tears, ii. 2 (Arsace).
=tick-tack,= a complicated kind of backgammon, played both with men and
pegs; for rules, see the Compleat Gamester. Meas. for M. i. 2. 196; B.
Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 3 (Kiteley). Du. _tiktak_. tick-tack;
‘_tiktakbörd_, tick-tack-tables, backgammon tables’ (Sewel); cp. G.
_tricktrack_, backgammon.
=tiddle,= to pet, to spoil; said of parents and children; ‘My parents
did tiddle me’, Nice Wanton, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 173. Hence
_tidlings_, pets, spoilt children, id., 164. In prov. use in Berks.,
meaning to tend carefully; to bring up a young animal by hand (EDD.).
=tie-dog,= a bandog; a fierce dog who has to be tied up. Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Diogenes, § 140. See Nares.
=tiego,= a dizziness in the head. Massinger, A Very Woman, iv. 3
(Borachia). The expression is put into the mouth of an ignorant woman;
it seems to represent _’tigo_, short for Lat. _vertigo_.
=tiffany,= a kind of thin transparent silk; also a gauze muslin.
Fletcher, Noble Gentleman, i. 1 (Marine); Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 1
(Treedle). Apparently the same word as _Tiffany_, a name for the
festival of the Epiphany. OF. _Tiphanie_ (Godefroy), Eccles. L.
_Theophania_, Eccles. Gk. Θεοφάνεια, the Manifestation of God. See
Ducange (s.v. Theophania).
=tight, tite.= Of a ship: water-tight; ‘Twelve tite Gallies’, Tam.
Shrew, ii. 1. 381; competent, capable; vigorous, stout, Ant. and Cl. iv.
4. 16; neat, trim, carefully dressed, ‘But you look so bright, And are
dress’d so tight’, Farquhar, Beaux Strat. i. 1. In prov. use in various
senses in all parts of the English-speaking world: e.g. in good health,
sound, vigorous (E. Anglia); neat, trim (Scotland); see EDD. See =tith.=
=tight,= _pt. t._, tied, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 34.
=tiller,= in archery, the wooden beam which is grooved for reception of
the arrow, or drilled for the bolt; ‘The beanie or tiller (of a
balista)’, Holland, Amm. Marcell. 221 (NED.); ‘_Arbrier_, the tillar of
a crosse-bow’, Cotgrave; a stock or shaft fixed to a long-bow to admit
of its being used as a cross-bow, for greater precision of aim, Beaumont
and Fl., Philaster, ii. 2 (Galatea); a bow fitted with a tiller, id.,
Scornful Lady, v. 1 (Elder Loveless); _tiller-bow_, a cross-bow, see
Roberts, English Bowman (ed. 1801, p. 261), quoted by Croft (Sir T.
Elyot, Governour, i. 297); _tillering_, the putting of a bow upon a
tiller, Ascham, Toxophilus, 114. OF. _telier_ (_tellier_), the wooden
beam of a cross-bow, orig. a weaver’s beam (Godefroy), Mod. L.
_telarium_ (Ducange), L. _tela_, a web.
=tilly-vally,= an exclamation of contempt at what has been said, like
our ‘nonsense!’ Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 83; _Tilly-fally_, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4.
90. _Tille valle, Tille vallee!_, an exclamation used by Mrs. Alice
More, not liking her husband’s question, ‘Is not this house (in the
Tower) as nighe heaven as myne owne (at Chelsea)?’, see Life of Sir T.
More, by W. Roper (More’s Utopia, ed. Lumby, p. xlv).
=tim,= a poor wretch; a term of abuse. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 4
(Kastril).
=timonist,= misanthrope. Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, v. 2
(Astorius). Alluding to Timon of Athens.
=tinct,= to tinge, colour. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle);
_tinct_, pp. dyed, tinged, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 107. L. _tinctus_,
dyed.
=tincture,= a colouring matter, Dryden, Juvenal, Ded. 36; hue, colour,
‘The tincture of a skin’, Addison, Cato, i. 4; a spiritual principle or
immaterial substance whose character or quality may be infused into
material things, which are then said to be tinctured, ‘Nothing can be so
mean, Which with his tincture (“for thy sake”) will not grow bright and
clean’, Herbert, The Elixir.
=tind,= to kindle; ‘As one candle tindeth a thousand’, Sanderson-Serm.
(ed. 1689, p. 56) (NED.); _tind_, pt. t. ‘Stryful Atin in their stub,
borne mind Coles of contention and whot vengeance tind’, Spenser, F. Q.
ii. 8. 11. In Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, viii. 410, we find _tinne_ (to
kindle). ‘Tind’ is in gen. prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
Wyclif has _tend_: ‘No man tendeth a lanterne’ (Luke xi. 33). See NED.
for an account of the earlier form-history of the word. See =teend.=
=tine,= to kindle, inflame; ‘As late the clouds . . . Tine the slant
lightning’, Milton, P. L. x. 1075; ‘The priest . . . was seen to tine
The cloven wood’, Dryden, Iliad, i. 635. A form of _tind_ (to kindle),
in prov. use in various parts of England. See EDD. (s.v. Tind).
=tine,= to perish, to be lost. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 36. In prov. use
in Scotland in this sense, and also, meaning ‘to lose’; see EDD. (s.v.
Tine, vb.^{1}). The original sense of the word was ‘to lose’. ME.
_tine_, to lose (Hampole, Psalter, lxi. 10); Icel. _tȳna_, to lose, to
destroy, put to death.
=tine,= affliction, sorrow. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 15; Tears of the Muses,
3; Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, i. 3 (Cloe); to feel pain, F. Q. ii.
11. 21. OE. _tȳnan_, to give pain, to vex. See =teen.=
=tintamar, tintimar,= a confused noise, hubbub. Spelt _tintamar_,
Howell, Famil. Letters, vol. i, sect. i. 19, § 2; _tintimar_, Vanbrugh,
The Confederacy, v. 2 (Mrs. Amlet). F. _tintamarre_, ‘A clashing or
crashing, a rustling or gingling noise made in the fall of wooden stuff,
or vessels of metal; also a black Santus’ (Cotgr.). See =sanctus.=
=tinternall,= the name of an old tune or burden for a song. Gascoigne,
ed. Hazlitt, i. 430. Cp. F. _tinton_, the burden of a song; from
_tinter_, to ring.
=tip for tap,= tit for tat; one hit in requital for another. Gascoigne,
ed. Hazlitt, i. 463. See NED. (s.v. Tip, sb.^{2}).
=tipe over,= to tilt over, overthrow; ‘I type over, I overthrow, _je
renverse_’, Palsgrave; ‘She tiped the table over and over’, Udall, tr.
of Apoph., Socrates, § 83. In prov. use in north of England, Shropshire,
and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _type_, to tilt over, knock down, see NED.
(s.v. Tip, vb.^{2}).
=tiphon,= a ‘typhoon’, whirlwind; ‘A mental tiphon’, Shirley, Example,
ii. 1 (Vainman). Gk. τυφῶν = τυφώς, a furious whirlwind (Sophocles).
=tippet:= in phr. _to turn one’s tippet_, to change one’s course or
behaviour completely; to act the turncoat. B. Jonson, Case is Altered,
iii. 3 (Aurelia); also, _to change one’s tippet_, Merry Devil of
Edmonton, iii. 2. 139; ‘He changed his typpette, and played the
Apostata’, Foxe, Book of Martyrs, 1049. 2 (NED.).
=tipstaff,= a staff with a tip or cap of metal, carried as a badge by
certain officials. Mercury’s caduceus is called a ‘snaky tipstaff’, B.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, i. 1 (Cupid); an official carrying a tipped
staff, a sheriff’s officer, an officer appointed to wait upon a court in
session; ‘Then their Lordships . . . commissioned Atterbury the Tipstaff
to fetch a smith to force them open’, Magd. Coll. and Jas. II. p. 148
(Oxf. Hist. Soc).
=tire,= a ‘tier’, row, rank. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 35; Milton, P. L. vi.
605; Fletcher, Span. Curate, iv. 7 (near the end); Dryden, Hind. and P.
iii. 317. OF. _tire_, row, rank (Godefroy); ‘_tire à tire_, l’un après
l’autre’ (Didot); O. Prov. _tiera_, _teira_, ‘suite, série’ (Levy).
=tire,= to ‘attire’, L. L. L. iv. 2. 131. Hence _tire-men_, dressers
belonging to the theatre, Middleton, Your Five Gallants, ii. 1
(Fitsgrave). _Tire_, a head-dress, Two Gent. iv. 4. 190; spelt _tier_,
London Prodigal, iv. 3. 32; _tire-valiant_, a fanciful head-dress, Merry
Wives, iii. 3. 60.
=tire,= to prey or feed ravenously upon. 3 Hen. VI, i. 1. 269; Venus and
Ad. 56; Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, ii. 7; Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, iii.
2 (Leocadia). ‘_Tiring_ (in Falconry) is a giving the Hawk a Leg or
Pinion of a Pullet or Pigeon to pluck at’, Phillips, Dict. 1706. ME.
_tyren_, to tear, rend (Chaucer, Boethius, iii. 12. 49). F. _tirer_, to
draw, pull, tug; see NED. (s.v. Tire, vb.^{2} 2).
=tirik,= a mechanical device explaining astronomical phenomena, a
‘theorick’; ‘He turnyd his tirikkis, his volvell ran fast’, Skelton,
Speke Parrot, 139; Garl. of Laurell, 1518. See NED. (s.v. Theoric, sb.
3).
=tirliry-pufkin,= a light and flighty woman. Ford, Lady’s Trial, iii. 1.
=tit,= a small creature, young thing; _a tit of tenpence_, a girl worth
tenpence; a depreciatory epithet. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iv. 2
(Petruchio).
=tite:= phr. _swithe and tite_, quickly and at once, Gammer Gurton’s
Needle, i. 4. 13. Very common in the phr. _as tite_, as soon, as lief,
in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Tite, adv.^{2}). ME. _tite_,
quickly; _as tyte as_, as soon as (Wars Alex. 219, 693). Icel. _tītt_,
at once with all speed; see Icel. Dict. (s.v. Tīðr).
=tith,= a variant of =tight= (q.v.). Of a ship: water-tight, Fletcher,
Woman’s Prize, iii. 5; sound in body, ‘A good stanch wench, that’s
tith’, id., Mons. Thomas, ii. 3 (Thomas). The compar. _tither_ occurs in
The Mad Lover, iii. 3 (Chilax) in a nautical allusion. _Tithly_,
vigorously, Island Princess, i. 1. 20; closely, Women Pleased, iv. 3
(Penurio).
=tithe,= to decimate. Beaumont and Fl., Bonduca, ii. 1 (Penius).
=titillation,= a means of titillating, producing a pleasant sensation,
used of a perfume. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 2 (Face).
=titivil= (=tytyvyllus=), a term of reprobation, a knave, villain, and
esp. a mischievous tale-bearer, Hall, Henry VI (ed. 1542, f. 43);
Skelton, Garl. Laurell, 642; Colyn Cloute, 418; ‘_Coquette_, a pratling
or proud gossip . . . a titifill, a flebergebit’, Cotgrave; _titifil_,
Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, 24). Originally, the name of a devil
said to collect fragments of words dropped, skipped, or mumbled in the
recitation of the daily offices, and to carry them to hell to be
registered against the offender; the name occurs in the mystery plays.
Myrrour of our Ladye, i. 20. 54. See note to P. Plowman, C. xiv. 123.
See NED. for a full and interesting account of this curious creation of
monastic wit.
=titivilitium,= an exclamation of contempt. B. Jonson, Silent Woman, iv.
1 (Otter). L. _titivillitium_, a small trifle (used once by Plautus).
=to,= in comparison with. Temp. i. 2. 480, &c.
=to-,= prefix, in twain, asunder, in pieces. The following examples
occur in Caxton’s Hist. of Troye: _to-breke_ (pt. t. _to-brake_), to
break in pieces; _to-breste_, to burst asunder; _to-bruse_, to bruise in
pieces; _to-drawe_, to draw asunder; _to-frusshe_, to break in pieces;
_to-hewe_, to hew in pieces; _to-rente_, to rend in pieces. Malory’s
Morte Arthur has _to-cratche_, to tear to pieces; _to-ryue_, to rive
asunder; _to-sheuer_, to reduce to shivers. See NED. (s.v. To-,
pref.^{2}).
=toadstone,= a stone fabled to be found in a toad’s head, which could
cure pain instantly. See As You Like It, ii. 1. 13; Fletcher, Woman’s
Prize, v. 1 (Livia); Mons. Thomas, iii. 1 (Thomas).
=toase,= to pluck, to pull, draw. Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 760; ‘It is a
great craft to tose wolle wel’, Palsgrave. ME. _tosyn_ or tose wul or
odyre lyk, ‘carpo’ (Prompt. EETS. 501). See =tooze.=
=toater;= see =toter.=
=to-boil,= to boil thoroughly, boil down. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 5
(Ferdinand).
=to-break,= to break in pieces; ‘So inward force my heart doth all
to-break’, Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover compareth (ed. Bell, p. 200);
_to-brake_, pt. t., ‘And all to brake his scull’, BIBLE, Judges ix. 53.
See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Tobreken). OE. _tobrecan_, pt. t. _tobræc_.
=tod,= a fox. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Tuck); Pan’s Anniversary,
Hymn iv, l. 12. A north-country word; Jamieson says, ‘the fox is
vulgarly known by no other name throughout Scotland’, see EDD. (s.v.
Tod, sb.^{2}).
=tod,= a bushy mass (esp. of ivy). Spenser, Sheph. Kal., March, 67;
Beaumont and Fl., Bonduca, i. 1 (Caratach); id., Rule a Wife, iv. 3
(Juan). In E. Anglia the word is in use for the head of a pollard tree,
see EDD. (s.v. Tod, sb.^{5} 1).
=to-dash,= to dash in pieces. Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st.
18.
=todder,= slime; the spawn of frogs or toads; ‘Where in their todder
loathly paddocks breed’, Drayton, Moses, bk. ii, 116. In prov. use in
Leic. for the spawn of frogs or toads, see EDD. (s.v. Tother, sb. 3).
†=toderer,= a man of loose life. Marston, Malcontent, i. 1 (Malevole).
†=tods;= ‘I wear out my naked legs and my foots and my teds’, Dekker, O.
Fortunatus. iv. 2 (Andelocia). A misreading for ‘toes’.
=tofore,= formerly. Titus And. iii. 1; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 4. 7. ME.
_toforn_, beforehand (Chaucer); _tofore_, prep. before (P. Plowman, B.
v. 457).
=to-frusshed,= _pp._ broken to pieces, crushed, battered. ‘All
to-frusshed’, Warner, Alb. England, bk. ii, ch. 12, st. 33. See =frush.=
=toft,= taut, tightly drawn, Peele, Tale of Troy, ed. Dyce, p. 554. See
NED. (s.v. Taut, adj. 2). See EDD. (s.v. Taut). ME. _toght_, tightly
drawn (Chaucer, C. T. D. 2267).
=token,= a small coin, struck by private individuals to pass for a
farthing. _Tavern-token_, Westward Ho, ii. 3 (Birdlime); ‘Not worth a
tavern-token’, Massinger, New Way to Pay, i. 1 (Tapwell).
=tole,= to entice, draw on. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at sev. Weapons, iv. 2
(near the end); _tole on_, Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, i. 1
(Clorin). In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Toll,
vb.^{2} 1). ME. _tollen_, to attract, entice (Chaucer, Boethius, ii. 7.
15).
=toledo,= a Toledo sword. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo); near the end;
Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, iii. 4 (Bobadilla).
=ton,= a tunny-fish. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3 (B. Knight). F.
_thon_, a tunny-fish (Cotgr.); L. _thunnus_; Gk. θύννος.
=tone:= _the tone_, for _thet one_, i.e. that one, the one. Golding, tr.
of Ovid, Preface, 96; cp. _the tother_, for _thet other_, that other,
the other (in the same line). Just below, l. 105, we find _tone part_,
for _the tone part_, i.e. the one part. See Nares.
=tonnell;= see =tunnel.=
=tony,= a simpleton. In Middleton, The Changeling, i. 2 (Lollio), we
find _Tony_ used as an abbreviation of Antony, and at the same time
signifying a simpleton; ‘Be pointed at for a tony’, Wycherley, Plain
Dealer, iii (Freeman); _tonies_, pl. Dryden, All for Love, Prol., 15.
=toot;= see =tote.=
=toothful,= toothsome, delicious. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, v. 1
(Theoph.).
=too-too,= extremely, very. Hamlet, i. 2. 129; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4.
15 (Common); _toto muche_, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 42.
=tooze,= to tease wool; ‘Toozing wooll’, Golding, Metam. xiv. 265; fol.
170 (1603); ‘I toose wolle or cotton or suche lyke, _Je force de la
laine_, and _je charpis de la laine_’, Palsgrave. See =toase.=
=top-ayle,= highest spike or beard of an ear of corn. Chapman, tr. of
Iliad, xx. 211. ‘Ails’ (‘iles’) is in prov. use in the south of England
for the beards or awns of barley or any other bearded grain, see EDD.
(s.v. Ail, sb.^{2}). OE. _egl_, ‘festuca’ (Luke vi. 41).
=tope,= I pledge you; lit. touch (or strike) my glass with yours.
Shirley, Honoria, v. 1 (2 Soldier). See Dict. (s.v. Toper).
=topsiturne,= to upset, turn upside down; ‘This object . . . Which
topsiturnes my braine’, Heywood, Iron Age (Ajax), vol. iii, p. 341; ‘All
things are topside-turn’d’, id., Dialogue 9, in vol. vi, p. 214.
=tormentour,= a torturer, one deputed to torture and punish offenders,
an executioner. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 49; BIBLE, Matt.
xviii. 34. ME. _tormentour_, executioner (Chaucer, C. T. G. 527).
=tortious,= injurious, wrongful. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 18. See Dict.
(s.v. Tort).
=torved,= stern. Webster, Appius and Virginia, v. 3 (Virginius). For
_torvid_, Med. L. _torvidus_ (Ducange).
†=toss, tosses,= _pl._ (?). Massinger, Picture, ii. 2 (Honoria).
=tote,= to look, gaze; ‘How often dyd I tote Upon her prety fote’,
Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 1146; spelt _toote_, Speke Parrot, 12; _toot_,
Peele, Arraignment of Paris, i. 2 (Oenone). In prov. use in north of
England down to Warw. in the sense of to peep and pry about, see EDD.
(s.v. Toot, vb.^{2}). ME. _toten_ (P. Plowman, B. xv. 22), OE. _tōtian_,
to look, gaze.
=tote,= to project, stick out; ‘Your tail toteth out behind’, The Four
Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 42; ‘A toting huge swelling ruff’,
Howell’s Letters, bk. i, sect. 3, let. 31, § 7. In prov. use in the
north country, also in Warw., see EDD. (s.v. Toot, vb.^{2} 3).
=toter,= a player upon the horn. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 3 (Pan);
_toater_, Fletcher, Maid in a Mill, iii. 1 (end). See EDD. (s.v. Toot,
vb.^{1}).
=tother:= _the tother_, for _thet other_, the other. See =tone.=
=toto,= variant of =too-too,= q.v.
=totters,= tatters, rags. Ford, Sun’s Darling, i. 1 (Folly’s song);
_tottered_, tattered, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5. 6; Edward II, ii. 3.
21; Richard II, iii. 3. 52. Norw. dial. _totra_, a rag, _totror_, pl.
rags, also _taltra_(_r_) (Aasen).
=totty,= unsteady, confused in thought. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 39;
Sheph. Kal., Feb., 55. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
ME. _toty_: ‘Myn heed is toty of my swink to-night’ (Chaucer, C. T. A.
4253).
=touch,= a trait or feature; ‘One touch of nature makes the whole world
kin’, Tr. and Cr. iii. 3. 175; ‘Evill touches’, Ascham, Scholemaster,
48. _Touch_ = _Touchstone_, Richard III, iv. 2. 8; used also _fig._ with
reference to the trial of gold, 1 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 10.
=touch,= often used for any costly marble; properly the _basanites_ of
the Greeks, a very hard black granite. It obtained the name _touch_ from
being used as a test for gold. It was often written _tutch_ or _tuch_;
‘He built this house of tutch and alabaster’, Harington, tr. Ariosto,
xliii. 14; ‘With alabaster, tuch and porphyry adorned’, Drayton, Pol.
xvi. 45; ‘Thou art not, Penshurst, built to envious show of touch or
marble’, B. Jonson, Forest, B. ii. 2. See Nares. F. _pierre de touche_,
‘sorte de pierre, ainsi appelée, parce qu’on s’en sert pour éprouver
l’or et l’argent en les y frottant’ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762).
=touch-box,= a box containing powder for priming a fire-arm; ‘Fire the
touch-box’, Return from Parnassus, iv. 2. 8. See =twitch-box.=
=tour,= a lady’s head-dress or wig. Etherege, Man of Mode, ii. 1
(Medley). F. ‘_Un tour de tête_, _un tour_, sorte de petite perruque de
femme’ (Hatzfeld).
=toure, towre,= to see, to look (Cant). To _towre_, to see, Harman,
Caveat, p. 84; _toure out_, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).
=toward,= in preparation, near at hand. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 1. 81;
Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 68; _towards_, Romeo, i. 5. 124; _towardness_,
docility, Bacon, Essay 19.
=towker,= a ‘tucker’, a fuller of cloth. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i,
c. 14, § 4. ME. _towkere_, ‘fullo’ (Voc. 629. 2), _towker_, P. Plowman,
A. Prol. 100. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Tokker).
=town-top,= Fletcher, Nightwalker, i. 3 (Nurse). See =parish-top.=
=to-wry,= to hide, conceal; ‘Your sighs you fetch from far, And all
to-wry your woe’, Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover’s Case cannot be hidden, 26
(ed. Bell, p. 95). ME. _wrye_, to cover (Chaucer, C. T. E. 887), OE.
_wrēon_, to cover; _wrigen_, pp.
=toy,= a trifle, a trifling ornament. Twelfth Nt. iii. 3. 44; ‘Any toys
for your head’, Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 326; Bacon, Essay 19; a trifling
matter, something of no value, Othello, i. 3. 270; an idle fancy, whim,
King John, i. 1. 232; Richard III, i. 1. 60; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4.
79; Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, i (Beaupré).
=to-year,= this year. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 1 (Duchess);
_to-yere_, id., Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 118. In
gen. prov. use in England and Ireland (EDD.). ME. _to-yere_, this year
(Chaucer, C. T. D. 168).
=trace,= the straps by which a vehicle is drawn, traces. Golding, Metam.
ii. 109; fol. 16, back (1603); ‘Trace, horse harnesse, _trays_’,
Palsgrave. ME. _trayce_, horsys harneys, ‘trahale’ (Prompt.). F.
_traits_, pl. of _trait_, ‘the cord or chain that runs between the
horses’ (Cotgr.). _Traces_ is therefore a double plural. See Dict.
=trace,= to follow up a track; to traverse, to move forward. Sackville,
Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 27; Morte Arthur, leaf 232. 18, bk. x,
ch. 30; Milton, Comus, 427; _trast_, pt. t., Spenser, F. Q. v. 8. 37. In
use in Ireland in the sense of tracking an animal, see EDD. (s.v. Trace,
vb.^{1} 1).
=tract,= to track, follow up, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 3, 17; Greene, Orl.
Fur. i. 1. 101.
=tract:= phr. _tracte of tyme_, duration of time, Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. i, c. 22, § 3; _to tract the time_, to prolong the time,
Mirror for Mag., Gloucester, st. 25. Hence _tracting_, protraction,
prolongation, ‘In the tractynge of tyme’, Latimer, Serm. (ed. Arber,
53). F. ‘_par traict de temps_, in tract of time’ (Cotgr.).
=trade,= track of footsteps, trodden path. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 39; ‘A
common trade to passe through Priam’s house’, Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii.
593. In north Yorks. the word is in prov. use, meaning a constant
passage backwards and forwards, used of men and animals: ‘A lot of
rabbits here, by the trade they make’, see EDD. (s.v. Trade, 1).
=traditive,= traditional. Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 196.
=traduction,= transmission. Dryden, On Mrs. A. Killigrew, 23. _Verbal
traduction_, verbal translation, Cowley, Pref. to Pindaric Odes
(beginning). F. _traduction_, a translation, L. _traductio_, a
transferring, transmission.
=traicte,= to treat. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 15, § 1. F.
_traicter_, to treat (Cotgr.).
=train,= to draw on, allure, entice. Com. Errors, iii. 2. 45; _train
on_, 1 Hen. IV, v. 2. 21. Norm. F. _trainer_, ‘attirer, entrainer,
séduire’ (Moisy).
=trains,= artifices, stratagems. Macbeth, iv. 3. 118; Spenser, F. Q. i.
3. 24; Milton, P. L. xi. 624; Sams. Ag. 533, 932; Comus, 151. ME.
_trayne_, or disseyte, ‘fraus’ (Prompt. EETS. 488). OF. _traine_,
‘trahison’ (Godefroy); cp. F. ‘_traine_, a plot, practice, device’
(Cotgr.).
=tralineate,= to deviate, degenerate. Dryden, Wife of Bath, 396.
Suggested by Ital. _tralignare_, to degenerate (Dante).
=tralucent,= transparent, allowing light to shine through. B. Jonson,
Masque of Hymen, prose description at the end, § 6. The same as
_translucent_, Milton, Comus, 861. L. _tralucere_, _translucere_, to
shine through.
=tramels,= nets for confining the hair, net-work. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2.
15; Greene, Looking Glasse, ii. 1. 426 (Remilia); p. 122, col. 2. F.
_tramail_, a net (Cotgr.); Ital. _tramaglio_, a drag-net (Fanfani), Med.
L. _tremaculum_, _tremaclum_ (Ducange).
=trampler,= a lawyer. Middleton, A Trick to Catch, i. 4 (Witgood).
=trangame,= a thing of no value (Cant); ‘But go, thou trangame, and
carry back those trangames which thou hast stolen’, Wycherley, Plain
Dealer, iii (Widow).
=translate,= to transform. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 1. 122; B. Jonson,
Every Man in Hum. ii. 4 (Brain-worm).
=translater,= a jocose or slang term for a cobbler who made worn boots
wearable by judicious patching, and mending; ‘Jeffrey the translater’, A
Knack to know a Knave (Cobbler), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 566. For many
examples of the use of this word for a ‘cobbler’, see EDD. (s.v.
Translate, 1).
=transmew,= to transmute, change. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 35; ii. 3. 37.
ME. _transmuwen_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iv. 467). F. _transmuër_, to
change (Cotgr.). L. _transmutare_. See EDD.
=transmogrify,= to transform. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iii. 1
(Belfond Senior). A playful variant of _transmodify_, by association
with the termination -(_mo_)_graphy_. In gen. prov. and colloquial use
in all English-speaking countries (EDD.).
=transversaries,= the cross-pieces of a cross-staff, which was an old
instrument for taking altitudes and measuring angles. Dekker, Wh. of
Babylon (1 King); Works, ii. 233.
=trash,= (hunting term), to check (a dog) that is too fast by attaching
a weight to its neck; ‘This poor trash of Venice, whom I trash For his
quick hunting’, Othello, ii. 1. 132; ‘Who t’advance, and who To trash
for over-topping’, Tempest, i. 2. 81; Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 1 Caratach).
See Nares. In Cumberland the word _trash_ means a cord used in checking
dogs, see EDD. (s.v. Trash, sb.^{3} 1).
=trash,= to tramp after, to pace along. Puritan Widow, iv. 1. 37. In
prov. use in Lakeland, see EDD. (s.v. Trash, vb.^{1} 1).
=trattle,= to prattle, tattle. Bale, Kynge Johan (Camd. Soc.), p. 73;
Skelton, Against the Scottes, 2. Hence, _trattler_, a prattler, ‘A
tratler is worse than a thief’, Ray, Proverbs (ed. 1678, 357). A Scotch
word, see EDD. (s.v. Trattle, vb.).
=travant,= a halberdier in attendance on the Emperor in Germany.
Chapman, Alphonsus, iii (Alph.). G. _Trabant_, a satellite, halberdier:
cp. Norw. _drabant_, one of the body-guard of Solomon (1 Kings ix. 22),
Magyar _darabant_. See Kluge’s Etym. Germ. Dict., and NED. (s.v.
Drabant).
=travers=(=e,= a movable screen, a sliding door. Marston’s Masque at
Ashby Castle, MS. (Nares); Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p.
45; spelt _traves_, Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 58. ME. _travers_: ‘We
will that our said son be in his chamber . . . the travers drawn anon
upon eight of the clock’ (Letters and Ordinances, 1473, in Nares); so in
Chaucer: ‘Men drinken and the travers drawe anon’ (C. T. E. 1817); also
_travas_, ‘transversum’ (Prompt. EETS. 489, see note, no. 2387). The
word exists in prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Traverse, 2).
=traverse,= to examine thoroughly. Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, ii. 3
(Tarquin).
=tray-trace, trey-trace,= perhaps (like _tray-trip_) the name of a game
at dice. Trey-trip and _trey-trace_, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, iv. 118.
=tray-trip,= an old game at dice, in which _tray_ (three) was a
successful throw. Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 207; B. Jonson, Alchem. v. 2
(Subtle); spelt _tra-trip_, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 1
(Roger); _tre-trip_, Mayne, City Match, ii. 4 (Aurelia); ‘Lett’s goe to
dice a while, To passage, trei-trippe, hazard, or mum-chance’,
Machivell’s Dogge, 1617, 4to, sign. B; see Nares. See =trey.=
=treachetour,= a traitor, deceiver. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 7. A
contaminated form; due to ME. _trechour_ (a traitor) and ME. _tregetour_
(a juggler). The latter word is found in Chaucer, Hous of Fame, 1277,
and C. T. F. 1143, see also _tregetowre_, ‘mimus, pantomimus,
prestigiator, joculator’ (Prompt. EETS. 489). Anglo-F. _tregettour_,
juggler (Bozon), deriv. of OF. _tresgeter_, Med. L. _transjectare_, to
throw across, to juggle.
=treachour,= a traitor, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 32; ii. 1. 12; ii. 4. 27;
_treacher_, King Lear, i. 2. 133; Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, iii.
1 (Otto); Chapman, Byron’s Tragedy, v. 1 (Byron). ME. _trechour_
(Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 197). OF. _trecheör_ (Bartsch), Romanic type
_trecatórem_, cp. Med. L. _tricator_, ‘deceptor’ (Ducange).
=treague,= a truce. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 33. Ital. and Span. _tregua_,
Mod. L. _tregua_, see Ducange (s.v. Treva); of Germ. origin, cp. OHG.
_triuwa_, truth, a solemn promise (Schade).
=treason,= a surrender. North, tr. Plutarch, Coriolanus, § 17 (in Shaks.
Plut. p. 31). OF. _traïson_, Med. L. _traditio_, ‘cessio, concessio’
(Ducange).
=treen,= pl. of _tree_. Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 1.
ME. _treon_, trees (Laȝamon, 1835, 25978).
=treen,= wooden, made of wood. Spenser, F. Q. i. 2. 39; i. 7. 26;
Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracy, ii (near end); ‘Treene dishes be homely’,
Tusser, Husbandry, 175. In prov. use: _treen-plates_, wooden trenchers,
in E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _treen_, wooden (Prompt. EETS. 495).
=trench,= to cut. Two Gent. iii. 2. 7; Macb. iii. 4. 27. F. ‘_trencher_,
to cut, carve, slice, hew’ (Cotgr.).
=trenchand,= cutting, sharp. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 17. For _trenchant_;
from F. _trencher_, to cut.
=trenchmore,= a lively and boisterous country-dance. Beaumont and Fl.,
Pilgrim, iv. 3 (Master); Island Princess, v. 3 (2 Townsman); London
Prodigal, i. 2. 38; Selden’s Table Talk (s.v. King of England). See
Nares.
=trendle,= a wheel, a hoop. Udall, tr. Apoph., Socrates, § 72; ‘A
cracknel or cake made like a Trendell’, Nomenclator (Nares). In prov.
use, see EDD. (s.v. Trindle, 1, 2). ME. _trendyl_, ‘troclea’ (Prompt.
490). OE. _trendel_, a wheel (Sweet), see =trindill.=
=trendle,= to roll; ‘Like a trendlyng ball’, Gascoigne, Fruites of
Warre, st. 44 (Works, i. 158). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Trindle, 8).
See =trindill.=
=trepidation,= a swaying motion: the libration of the earth. Milton, P.
L. iii. 483.
=trest;= see =trist.=
=tretably,= properly, correctly. Marston, What you Will, iii. 2
(Pedant). OF. _traitable_, tractable.
=trey, tray,= three; at cards or dice. L. L. L. v. 2. 232. Anglo-F.
_treis_, L. _tres_, three.
=treygobet,= the name of a game at dice. Lit. ‘three (and) go better’.
The Interlude of Youth, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 34.
=trick=(=e,= neat, tidy, elegant. Tusser, Husbandry, § 15. 35; Ascham,
Toxophilus, 6 (Nares); Udall, tr. Apoph., Socrates, § 73; neatly,
skilfully, Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1 (Faunus).
=tricker,= a trigger. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 528; Farquhar, Recruiting
Officer, i. 1. Du. _trekker_, a trigger, a puller; _trekken_, to draw,
pull. See Dict.
=trickment,= heraldic emblazonry; ‘Here’s a new tomb, new trickments
too’, Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, iv. 2 (Norandine); ‘No tomb shall
hold thee But these two arms, no trickments but my tears’, Mad Lover, v.
4 (Calis).
=tricotee,= a kind of dance; ‘A monkey dancing his tricotee’, Lady
Alimony, i. 2 (Trillo). OF. _tricotee_, an involuntary dance by one
compelled by blows (Godefroy); cp. _tricote_, a cudgel; _Tricot_, ‘bâton
gros et court. Il n’est d’usage que dans le discours familier: _Il lui
donna du tricot_’ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762). Of Germ. origin, see Schado
(s.v. Stric). See Nares.
=trig,= a term of abuse. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 4 (Kastril).
=trigon.= The zodiacal signs were combined in _triplicities_, or four
sets of three; each of these formed a trigon. There are four such: (1)
the _fiery_ trigon, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius; (2) the _earthy_ trigon,
Taurus, Virgo, Capricornus; (3) the _airy_ trigon, Gemini, Libra,
Aquarius; (4) the _watery_ trigon, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, according to
the four elements, fire, earth, air, water. ‘The fiery trigon’, 2 Hen.
IV, ii. 4. 288; ‘His musics, his trigon’, B. Jonson, Volpone, i. 1
(Nano); Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 905. Gk. τρίγωνον, a triangle.
=trill,= to roll as a ball. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 27, § 7;
to trickle as a tear, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 78; Sir T. Wyatt,
Comparison of Love to a Stream, 2; to twirl, ‘I tryll a whirlygig rounde
aboute, _Je pirouette_’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in sense of to trundle
a hoop, also, to twirl (EDD.). ME. _tryllyn_, ‘volvo’ (Prompt. EETS.
502).
=trillibub,= a trifle, an expression for something trifling. Massinger,
Old Law, iii. 2 (Simonides); Shirley, Hyde Park, iii. 2 (Fairfield); a
cheap food, like tripe, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous). See
Nares. Cp. the prov. words for entrails, tripe, _trollibobs_,
_trullibubs_, _trollibags_, gen. used in phr. _tripe and trollibobs_
(EDD., s.v. Trollibobs). See =trullibub.=
=trim,= neat, elegant, nice, fine; mostly used with irony; ‘The flowers
are sweet, their colours fresh and trim’, Venus and Ad. 1079; ‘Trim
gallants’, L. L. L. v. 2. 363; ‘These trim vanities’, Hen. VIII, i. 3.
37; ornamental dress, Ant. and Cl. iv. 4. 22; ‘Proud-pied April, dressed
in all his trim’, Sonnet 98; phr. _in her trim_, in speaking of ships,
the state of being fully prepared for sailing, ‘Where we in all her trim
freshly beheld our royal ship’, Tempest, v. 236; Com. Errors, iv. 1. 90.
=trim-tram,= a trifle, a worthless speech or thing. Stanyhurst, tr. of
Aeneid, ii. 114. [‘They thought you as great a nincompoop as your
squire—trim-tram, like master, like man’, Smollett, Sir L. Greaves,
xiii.] A reduplicative term used in Scotland, expressive of ridicule or
contempt (EDDA.).
=trindill;= ‘That they take away and destroy all shrines, tables,
candlesticks, trindills, or rolls of wax’, King’s Injunctions, ann.
1547, in Fuller’s Church History.
=trindle-tail.= Fletcher speaks of a cur with ‘a trindle tail’, i.e. a
tail curled round, Love’s Cure, iii. 3. 17; Honest Man’s Fortune, v. 3.
18; spelt _trundle-tail_, a dog with a curled tail, King Lear, iii. 6.
73; _trendle-tail_, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Ursula). See
=trendle.=
=trine,= a combination of three things (viz. youth, wit, and courage),
Mirror for Mag., Cromwell, st. 26.
=trine,= an aspect in which one planet was at an angle of 120 degrees
from another. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 292; ‘A trine aspect’, Beaumont and
Fl., Bloody Brother, iv. 2 (Norbret). Hence, as vb., to conjoin in a
trine, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 389. See =triplicity.=
=trine,= to be hanged (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen);
Harman, Caveat, p. 31; _trine me_, hang me, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v.
1 (Trapdoor).
=trinket= (=trinquet=)=,= the highest sail of a ship. Hakluyt, Voyages,
iii. 411; ‘_Trinquet_ is properly the top or top-gallant on any mast,
the highest sail of a ship’, Blount, Gloss. (ed. 1674). F. _trinquet_
(Cotgr.), Span. and Port. _trinquete_, deriv. of _trinca_, a rope for
lashing fast; of Germ. origin, cp. G. _strick_; see Reinhardstöttner,
Portuguese Gram. (1878), § 31, and Schade (s.v. Strickan).
=trinket,= a porringer; esp. one made with a handle, like a teacup, as
it is to be hung upon a pin. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 3.
=trinket= (=trenket=)=,= a shoemaker’s knife; ‘Trenket, an instrument
for a cordwayner, _batton a torner_ (_soulies_)’, Palsgrave [also spelt
_trynket_]. ME. _trenket_ (Voc. 562. 3); _trenkett_, ‘ansorium’ (Cath.
Angl.); _trenkette_ (Prompt. 490, see note, no. 2395). Cp. F.
_tranchet_: ‘A shoomakers round cutting knife: _tranchet de
cordouanier_’ (Sherwood).
=triplicity,= a combination of three zodiacal signs in the form of an
equilateral triangle; ‘And how the signs in their _triplicities_, By
sympathizing in their trine consents’, &c., Drayton, Man in the Moon,
458. See =trigon.=
=trist, trest,= the station where a hunter was placed to watch the game.
_At the trest_, Morte Arthur, leaf 382, back, 14; bk. xviii, c. 21; _at
the tryst_, Master of Game, ch. 16 (end). ME. _triste_, an appointed
station in hunting (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1534), _tryster_ (Gawain),
_tristre_ (Anc. R.). OF. _triste_, _tristre_ (Godefroy). See Dict. (s.v.
Tryst).
=trisulke,= three-forked, triple. Heywood, Golden Age, A. iii (Saturn);
vol. iii, p. 43; Brazen Age (Hercules), p. 250; a trident, three-forked
spear, Heywood, Dialogue 4 (Timon); vol. vi, p. 160. L. _trisulcus_,
three-forked (Virgil).
=troad, trode,= track of footsteps, beaten path. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10.
5; Shep. Kal., July, 14; Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 325. ‘Trod’,
meaning a beaten track, a foot-path, is a north-country word down to
Lincoln (EDD.).
=troll, troul, trowl,= to roll; ‘To troll the tongue’, Milton, P. L. xi.
620; to circulate or pass round, as a vessel of liquor at a carouse,
‘Troul the bowl’, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of the B. Pestle, ii. 5
(Merrythought); Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 4 (Song); to sing a tune
in succession, ‘Troll the catch’, Tempest, iii. 2. 126; Beaumont and
Fl., Philaster, v. 3 (Dion). In prov. use in various parts of England in
the sense of to roll, to circulate, see EDD. (s.v. Troll, vb.^{1}). ME.
_trollyn_, ‘volvo’ (Prompt.).
=troll-my-dames,= the name of a game; ‘A fellow, sir, that I have known
to go about with troll-my-dames’, Wint. Tale, iv. 3. 92 (Autolycus).
Also called _pigeon-holes_; also _nine-holes_ (described by Strutt). The
game was played with a board, at one end of which were a number of
arches, like pigeon-holes, into which small balls were to be bowled; see
Nares. The word _troll-my-dames_ is a corruption of the French name for
the game _Trou-Madame_; see Cotgrave.
=tromp,= to deceive. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Host). F. _tromper_. Cp.
EDD. (s.v. Trump, vb.^{3}).
=trossers,= tight drawers. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 3 (Maria);
Hen. V, iii. 7. 57 (so most modern edds.). See =strossers.=
=trot,= an old woman. Tam. Shrew, i. 2. 80; used of a man, Meas. for M.
iii. 2. 54; Gammer Gurton, ii. 8; Warner, Albion, ii. p. 47 (Nares). In
prov. use (EDD.). Anglo-F. _trote_: ‘la viele trote’ (Gower, Mirour,
17900).
=trouchman;= see =truchman.=
=troul, trowl;= see =troll.=
=trow,= to think, believe, suppose; ‘I trow not’, BIBLE, Luke xvii. 9; 2
Hen. VI, ii. 4. 38; v. 1. 85. _I trow_, added to questions expressive of
contemptuous or indignant surprise; ‘Who’s there, I trow?’, Merry Wives,
i. 4. 140; ii. 1. 64; also _trow_ alone; ‘What is the matter, trow?’,
Cymbeline, i. 6. 47. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). ME.
_trowen_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 691), OE. _trūwian_, to believe confidently,
to trust in a person or thing (Sweet).
=trowses,= close-fitting drawers; ‘Four wild Irish in trowses’, Ford,
Perkin Warbeck, iii. 1 (Stage-direction); B. Jonson, Staple of News, i.
1 (Pennyboy Junior); hence, _trowzed_, clad in ‘trowses’, ‘Poor trowz’d
Irish’, Drayton, Pol. xxii. 1577. F. _trousses_, the breeches of a page
(Littré); cp. O. Irish _truibhas_, close-fitting breeches and stockings
(O’Curry, Introd., p. 384); Irish _triubhas_ (Dinneen). See Dict. (s.v.
Trousers).
=Troy-novant,= or =New Troy,= London. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 46; Peele,
Descensus Astraeae, l. 18 from end; id., A Farewell, &c., l. 4;
‘Geoffrey of Monmouth . . . reporteth that Brute lineally descended from
the demi-god Aeneas . . . about the year of the world 2855, and 1108
before the nativity of Christ, built this city (London) near unto the
river now called Thames, and named it Troynovant or Trenovant’, Stow’s
Survey (ed. Thoms, 1). London was the capital of the British tribe, the
_Trinobantes_, one of its ancient names being _Augusta Trinobantum_,
whence the Anglo-F. _Troynovant_; but by popular etymology _Troynovant_
was connected with the _Troia nova_ (new Troy) of Geoffrey of Monmouth
and Nennius.
=truage,= tribute. Morte Arthur, leaf 35, back, 4; bk. i, c. 23. ME.
_truage_ (Rob. Glouc.). OF. _truage_, _treuaige_, _treutage_, ‘vectigal,
tributum’, deriv. of _true_, _treü_, _trehu_, ‘tributum’, see Ducange
(s.v. Truagium). OF. _treü_ is the same word as L. _tributum_; cp. O.
Prov. _traüt_, _trabut_, ‘tribut’ (Levy). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v.
Trewage).
=truchman,= an interpreter. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Crites);
tr. of Horace, Art of Poetry, III (= L. _interpete_); Holland. Pliny,
Nat. Hist., bk. vii, ch. 24; Hakluyt, Voyages, ii. 152; Stanyhurst, tr.
of Aeneid (ed. Arber, 82); _trucheman_, Puttenham, Eng. Poes. (ed.
Arber, 278); _trouchman_, Three Lords and Three Ladies; in Hazlitt’s
Dodsley, vi. 463. See Nares. F. _trucheman_ (Cotgr.), O. Prov.
_trocheman_, Span. _trujaman_ (Stevens), Arab. _tarjumân_ (Dozy, 351).
See Stanford (s.v. Dragoman).
=truckle-bed,= a bed which could be wheeled under a larger one, Hall,
Satires, ii, sat. 6; ‘_troccle-bed_’, Statutes Trinity Coll., Oxford
(ann. 1556). An Oxford University word. L. _trochlea_, wheel of a
pulley. Gk. τροχιλία, a pulley. See Dict.
=true,= honest. BIBLE, Gen. xlii. 11; Much Ado, iii. 3. 54; L. L. L. iv.
3. 187; ‘The thieves have bound the true men’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 98;
‘Rich preys make true men thieves’, Venus and Ad. 724. See Wright’s
Bible Word-Book.
=true-penny,= honest fellow; used familiarly. Hamlet, i. 5. 150;
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, i. 3 (Putskie).
=trug,= a trull, concubine. Arden of Fev. i. 500; Middleton, Your Five
Gallants, i. 1 (Primero). See Nares.
=trullibub,= a slut. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3 (Eyre). See
=trillibub.=
=trump,= a game at cards, similar to our whist. Fletcher, Lover’s
Progress, iii. 2 (Lancelot); Peele, Old Wives’ Tale (Clunch).
=truncheon,= the lower part of the shaft of a broken lance. Dryden,
Palamon, iii. 612; ‘Truncheons of shivered lances’, id., tr. of Aeneid,
xi. 16. ME. _tronchoun_, broken shaft of a spear (Chaucer, C. T. A.
2615); Anglo-F. _trunçun_: ‘Sa hanste est fraite, n’en ad que un
trunçun’ (Ch. Rol. 1352).
=trundle-bed,= a low bed for a servant that ran on castors, drawn out at
night from beneath a higher bed; a synonym of =truckle-bed.= Shirley,
Witty Fair One, iii. 1 (Brains). In prov. use (EDD.).
=trundle-tail;= see =trindle-tail.=
=trundling-cheat,= in cant language, a cart. B. Jonson, New Inn, iii. 1
(Pierce). See =cheat= (2).
=trunk,= a tube; a speaking-tube, B. Jonson, Silent Woman, i. 1 (Cler.);
a telescope, News from the New World (Printer); a pea-shooter, ‘Wooden
pellets out of earthen trunks’, Middleton, Fam. of Love, iii. 3 (Purge);
Eastward Ho, ii (Quicksilver); ‘A trunk to shoot in, _syringa_, tubulus
flatu jaculatorius’, Coles, Lat. Dict.; Brome, New Acad. iv. 1. See
Dict. (s.v. Trunk, 2).
=trunks,= trunk-hose, loose hose, often stuffed with hair. B. Jonson,
Alchem. iii. 2 (Face); Shirley, Sisters, iii. 1 (Strozzo).
=truss,= to pack close; to fasten up. 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 350; ‘Help to
truss me’ (i.e. to tie up the points (strings) of my hose), B. Jonson,
Every Man in Hum. i. 3 (Stephen). See Dict.
=trusses, a pair of,= close-fitting leggings; ‘A pair of trusses’ [for
an Irishman], Shirley, Love Tricks, i. 1 (near the end). See =trowses.=
†=trutch sword= (?); ‘For a trutch sword, my naked knife stuck up’,
Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 3 (Lazarillo). See Nares.
=trye,= select, refined; ‘Of silver trye’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 26. F.
_trié_, pp. of _trier_, to try, to refine.
=tuch;= See =touch= (2).
=tucket,= a particular set of notes on the trumpet used as a signal for
a march (Nares). Also, _tucket-sonance_, Hen. V, iv. 2. 85. Ital.
‘_toccata_ d’un musico, a præludium that cunning musicians use to play,
as it were voluntarily before any set lesson’ (Florio).
=tuff-taffeta,= a kind of silk. Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Gertrude); B. Jonson,
Cynthia’s Revels, iv. 1 (Hedon).
=tumbler,= a kind of greyhound used for coursing rabbits; ‘A nimble
tumbler on a burrowed green’, W. Browne, Brit. Pastorals, ii. 4; B.
Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Tucca). A Linc. word, see EDD. (s.v. Tumbler,
3).
=tumbrel,= a farm-cart used for manure. Marston, Epil. to Pygmalion, 26;
Satire iv. 13. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.
Tumbril, 1). ME. _tomerel_, a dung-cart (Prompt. EETS. 485, _tumerel_,
494); F. ‘_tombereau_, a tumbrel or dung-cart’ (Cotgr.).
=tumbrel,= a sort of bumboat, unfit for sailing. Fletcher, Woman’s
Prize, iii. 2 (Jaques); iii. 4 (Petruchio).
=tundish,= a funnel; ‘Filling a bottle with a tundish’, Meas. for M.
iii. 2. 182. A ‘tun-bowl’ or a ‘tun-dish’ was a kind of wooden funnel,
like a small bucket, with hoops round it, and a tube at the bottom, used
for pouring liquids into a cask, in use in Northants, see EDD. (s.v.
Tun, sb.^{1} 3 (2)).
=tunnel,= the shaft of a fire-place, chimney. Webster, Devil’s Law-case,
ii. 1 (Crispiano), where _chimney_ means fire-place; _tonnell_, Spenser,
F. Q. ii. 9. 29; ‘Tonnell of a chymney, _tuyau_’, Palsgrave; see Dict.
(s.v. Tunnel); _tonnels_ used _fig._ for nostrils, B. Jonson, Every Man
in Hum. i. 3 (Cob).
=tup,= to cover as a ram. Othello, i. 1. 89; iii. 3. 396. _Tup with_, to
cohabit with, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 33. ‘Tup’ is in
gen. prov. use for a ram in England and Scotland (EDD.).
=turf.= ‘Turfe of a cap, _rebras_’, Palsgrave (_rebras_ means a turning
up, a tucking upwards or inwards); as vb., to make a turned-up edging
for a hat, ‘The steward would have had the velvet-head (of the stag)
. . . to turf his hat withal’, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2 (1
Woodman). ME. _tyrfe_, the rolling back of a sleeve, ‘revolucio’
(Prompt. EETS. 483, see note, no. 2350); _tirven_, to roll back
(Havelok, 603).
=turgion,= the name of a dance. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, §
12. F. ‘_tourdion_, a turning, or winding about; also, the dance tearmed
a round’ (Cotgr.); O. Prov. _tordion_, ‘sorte de danse’ (Levy). From OF.
_tordre_, to twist. See Croft’s note on the word in the Glossary.
=Turk.= ‘A valiant Turk, though not worth tenpence’, Middleton, A Fair
Quarrel, iii. 1 (1 Friend); _a Turk of tenpence_ (a term of abuse),
Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4 (Ithamore).
=turken,= to wrest, distort; ‘It turkeneth all things at pleasure’,
Gascoigne. Steel Glass (ed. Arber, 37); _turquened_, pp., id., Pref. to
Poesies; ed. Hazlitt, i. 5.
=turkis,= the gem turquoise. Milton, Comus, 894. See Dict.
=turm,= a troop. Milton, P. R. iii. 66. L. _turma_.
=turment,= a warlike engine; ‘Turmentes of warre’, Sir T. Elyot,
Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 3. OF. _torment_, _tourment_ (Godefroy). Med.
L. _tormentum_, a machine for hurling missiles (Ducange).
=turnbroch,= a turnspit. _Turnebroche_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 80. 2. F.
_tourne-broche_, a turn-spit, a dog used for turning a spit.
=Turnbull Street,= a street in Clerkenwell noted for thieves and bad
characters. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, ii. 2 (2 Promoter). See Nares.
=turnpike,= a turnstile that revolved on the top of a post, and was
furnished with pikes. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (Picklock).
Also, a revolving frame of pikes, set in a narrow passage to obstruct an
enemy, Shirley, Honoria, i. 2 (Alamode).
=turquen;= see =turken.=
=turquet,= (perhaps) a puppet dressed as a Turk. Bacon, Essay 37.
=turquois,= a quiver; ‘A _turquoys_ that was full of arowes’, Caxton,
Hist. Troye, leaf 299, back, 3. OF. _turquois_, _turquais_, Med. L.
_turcasia_, ‘pharetra’ (Ducange); also Norm. F. _tarchais_ (Wace), F.
_tarquai_s (15th cent.). Med. Gk. ταρκάσιον, a quiver; Arab, _tarkâsh_,
of Persian origin, see Dozy, Glossaire, 250. The mod. F. form is
_carquois_.
=tusk,= to thrust into or beat bushes, to drive out game; ‘Make them
tuske these woodes’, Lyly, Gallathea, iv. 1 (Telusa).
=tutch;= See =touch= (2).
=tutsan, tutsain,= all-heal; a species of St. John’s wort; _Hypericum
Androsaemum_; ‘The healing tutsan’, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 204; ‘Of tutsan
or parke-leaues’, Lyte, tr. of Dodoens, bk. i, c. 45. It was considered
a panacea for wounds. F. _tutsan_, ‘tutsan, Park-leaves’ (Cotgr.);
_Toute-saine_, ‘Arbrisseau ainsi nommé, parce que ses feuilles, ses
racines, sa semence sont fort utiles en Médecine’ (Dict. de l’Acad.,
1786).
=tutt,= a mark; ‘I toucht no tutt’, Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 94.
‘Tut(t’ is in prov. use in Yorks. for a mark, bound, a stopping place in
the game of rounders, see EDD. (s.v. Tut, sb.^{7} 2).
=tutty,= a nosegay. T. Campion, Bk. of Airs, i. 20 (Wks., ed. Bullen, p.
62); ‘Tutty or Tuzzimuzzy, an old word for a nosegay’, Phillips, 1706.
In common use in the south-west: Hants., Wilts., Dorset, Somerset and
Devon (EDD.). See Prompt. EETS., note, no. 2353 on the word ‘Tytetuste’.
=twagger,= a fat lamb. Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1. 9. A Sussex word for
a lamb (EDD.).
=twankle,= to twangle, to play upon a harp; ‘And twancling makes them
tune’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vi. 646. Cp. _twangling_, Tam. Shrew, ii.
159. ‘Twankle’ is a Warw. word (EDD.).
=tweak,= a prostitute. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Chough).
=tweche:= phr. _to keep tweche_, to keep touch, perform a promise.
Wever, Lusty Juventus, 1. 7; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 47. See EDD.
(s.v. Twitch, vb.^{3}).
=tweer;= see =twire.=
=twelve:= phr. _upon twelve_, near twelve o’clock; near the dinner-hour;
‘My stomacke is now much upon twelve’, Heywood, Witches of Lancs., i. 1
(Whetstone); vol. iv, p. 175.
=twelvepenny-stool gentlemen,= gentlemen who were allowed to sit upon a
stool upon the stage itself on payment of 12_d._ Middleton, Roaring
Girl, ii. 1 (Mis. T.).
=twibill,= a double-bladed battle-axe. Spelt _twibbil_; Stanyhurst. tr.
of Aeneid, ii. 490 (L. _bipenni_, ii. 479). Still in prov. use for a
double-headed axe. see EDD. (s.v. Twybill). OE. _twibill_, a two-edged
axe (Sweet). See =twybill.=
=twig,= to do anything strenuously, to press (forward); ‘And twigging
forth apace . . . the Egle flue’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 247. A
Yorks. expression, see EDD. (s.v. Twig, vb.^{1} 6).
=twigger,= a wanton person, a wencher, Marlowe, Dido, iv. 5. 21;
orig. perhaps applied to a ram, Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 28.
=twiggen,= made of osiers; cased with osiers or wicker-work; ‘A large
basket or twiggen panier’, Holland, tr. of Pliny, b. xvii, c. 10, 5 § 1;
Othello, ii. 3. 152. A Warw. word (EDD.).
=twight,= to ‘twit’, upbraid. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 12. ME. _atwite_, to
reproach (Laȝamon). OE. _ætwītan_.
=twight,= to twitch, to pull suddenly; ‘No bit nor rein his tender jawes
may twight’, Mirror for Mag. (Nares); used as pt. t. of _twitch_,
touched, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 259 (L. _tetigit_). ME. _twykkyn_,
‘tractulo’ (Prompt.). OE. _twiccian_, to pluck, catch hold of.
=twin,= to separate one from the other. The World and the Child, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 244. So in Scotch use: ‘We should never twin
again, except heaven twin’d and sundered us’, Rutherford’s Life (ed.
1761), 234, see EDD. (s.v. Twin, vb.^{2} 2).
=twin,= _to be twinned_, to be closely united like twins; ‘True liberty
. . . which always with right reason dwells twinned’, Milton, P. L. xii.
85; B. Jonson, Hue and Cry after Cupid (Vulcan).
=twink,= a twinkling. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 312; phr. _with a twink_, in a
moment, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2 (Marcella). ‘In a twink’ is in use in
various parts of England and Scotland, meaning in the shortest possible
space of time (EDD.). ME. _twynkyn_ wyth the eye, ‘nicto’ (Prompt.).
=twire,= to peep, to peep at intervals, to take a stolen glance at a
thing; ‘When sparkling stars twire not’, Sonnet xxviii; ‘To see the
common parent of us all, Which maids will twire at ’tween their
fingers’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud); Drayton, Pol. xiii. 169;
spelt _tweer_, ‘The tweering constable’, Middleton, Father Hubberd’s
Tales (ed. Dyce, v. 594). A Wilts. and Berks. word, ‘How he did twire
and twire at she!’ (EDD.). Cp. Germ. dial. (Bavarian) _zwi_(_e_)_ren_,
to take a stolen glance at a thing (Schmeller).
=twire pipe,= a term of abuse; ‘An ass, a twire pipe, a Jeffery John
Bo-peep’, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iii. 1 (Thomas). For _twire_, see
above; _pipe_ may be identified with the Yorks. word _pipe_, to glance
at stealthily, see EDD. (s.v. Pipe, vb.^{2}) = F. _piper_, ‘to peke or
prie’ (Palsgrave). See Dict. (s.v. Peep, 2). So that _twire pipe_ is a
reduplicated word meaning a sly peeper.
=twissell,= the part of a tree where the branches divide from the stock;
‘As from a tree we sundrie times espie A _twissell_ grow by Nature’s
subtile might’, Turbervile, The Lover wisheth to be conjoined, st. 6.
See EDD. (s.v. Twizzle, 8). OE. _twislian_, to fork, branch (Hom. ii.
117); ‘twisil tunge’ (double tongue, Ecclus. v. 14).
=twitch-box,= said to be the same as _touch-box_, a box containing
powder for _priming_; to _prime_ was to put a little gunpowder into the
pan of an old-fashioned fire-arm. ‘Thy flask [powder-flask] and
twitch-box’, Damon and Pithias, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 67. See
=touch-box.=
=twitter-light,= twilight. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, v. 1 (2
Court.); Mere Dissemblers, iii. 1 (Dondolo). Cp. the Yorks. expression,
‘He came about the twitter of day’, see EDD. (s.v. Twitter, sb.^{4} 10).
=twone,= twined; pp. of _twine_. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, ii. 1. 7;
_twon_, id., Sophonisba, iii. 1 (first stage-direction).
=twybill,= a kind of mattock or double axe. Drayton, Pol. xviii. 77. See
=twibill.=
=tyall,= a bell-pull, string, cord; ‘The greate belles clapper was
fallen doune, the _tyal_ was broken’, Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p.
172). See =tial.=
=tydie,= some small bird, a titmouse (?), Drayton, Pol. xiii. 79. ME
_tidif_ (_tydif_), a small bird, perhaps the titmouse (Chaucer, Leg. G.
W. 154).
=tyne;= see =tine.=
=tyran, tyranne,= a tyrant. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 98. Hence,
_tyranning_, acting the part of a tyrant, F. Q. iv. 7. 1. F. _tyran_, L.
_tyrannus_, Gk. τύραννος.
=tysant,= barley-water. Turbervile, Of the divers and contrarie Passions
of his Love, st. 2. ME. _tysane_, ‘ptisana’ (Prompt.). F. ‘_tisanne_,
barly water’ (Cotgr.), L. _ptisana_, pearl-barley, barley-water (Pliny),
Gk. πτισάνη, peeled barley, barley-water (Hippocrates).
U
=ubblye;= see =obley.=
=uberous,= fertile. Middleton, Mayor of Queenb. ii. 3 (Hengist). L.
_ūber_, fertile.
=ugsome,= frightful, horrible. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii, l. 1007. Hence
_ugsomnes_, terror, ‘The horrour and ugsomenes of death’, Latimer,
Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 185). These words are still in common prov. use
with these meanings in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Ug). ME.
_ugsom_, frightful (Dest. Troy, 877).
=ulen-spiegel;= see =owl-spiegle.=
=umbecast,= to consider, ponder. Morte Arthur, leaf 382, back, 25; bk.
xviii, c. 21. ME. _umbecast_; ‘In his hert can umbecast’ (Barbour’s
Bruce, v. 552). The prefix is _umbe_, OE. _ymbe_, around (see Wars
Alex., Glossary).
=umbered,= embrowned with umber. Hen. V, v, Chorus, 9.
=umberere;= see =umbriere.=
=umbles,= the ‘numbles’, the entrails of a deer; ‘The umblis of
venyson’, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1240; Holinshed, i. 204 (Nares);
_fig._ used for a man’s bodily parts, ‘Faith, a good well-set fellow, if
his spirit Be answerable to his umbles’, Middleton, Roaring Girl, iii. 1
(Trapdoor). See =numbles.=
=umbrana,= a delicate fish. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 1 (Duke).
Nares says: ‘The name of a fish, called also _umbra_; in English,
_umber_ or _grayling_; the _Salmo thymullus_ of Linnaeus.’ Ital.
_ombrina_, ‘an ombre or grailing’ (Baretti), cp. F. ‘_umbre_, an ombre,
or grayling’ (Cotgr.). Mod. L. _umbrae_, ‘tymalli, pisces Hibernis
familiares’ (Ducange). Cp. σκίαινα, the name of a sea-fish (Aristotle).
=umbratical,= secluded; applied to teachers who wrote in their own
studies; ‘The umbratical doctors’, B. Jonson, Discoveries, lvii. L.
_umbraticus doctor_, a private tutor (Petronius).
=umbratil,= belonging to the shade; private, secluded. B. Jonson,
Magnetic Lady, iii. 3 (Compass). L. _umbratilis vita_, a retired,
contemplative life (Cicero).
=umbriere,= the movable visor of a helmet. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 42;
iv. 4. 44; spelt _umberere_, Morte Arthur, leaf 169, back, 7; bk. viii,
ch. 41 (end). O. Prov. _ombriera_, that which gives shade, a tree giving
shade (Levy), deriv. of _ombra_, shade, L. _umbra_.
=un-,= negative prefix. Often used where mod. E. has _in-_; as in
_un-constant_, _un-firm_, _un-ordinate_; all in Shakespeare. So also
North has _un-honest_ for _dis-honest_, _un-possible_, _un-satiable_.
=unavoided,= irrefutable. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, v. 1 (Physician).
=unbe,= to cease to be. Nero, iii. 3. 26.
=unbid,= without a prayer. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 54.
=unbolted,= unsifted, coarse. King Lear, ii. 2. 71. Cp. _bolt_, ‘to sift
flour through a sieve or fine cloth’, in prov. use in the north down to
Derbyshire. OF. _buleter_, to sift (Hatzfeld, s.v. Bluter).
=uncandied,= dissolved out of a candied or solid condition, Two Noble
Kinsmen, i. 1. 115. Cp. _discandy_, Ant. and Cl. iv. 12. 22.
=uncape;= ‘I warrant we’ll unkennel the fox. Let me stop this way
first—so now uncape,’ Merry Wives, iii. 3. 176. Meaning doubtful. Here
are three conjectures: (1) to uncouple (hounds) so Schmidt; (2) to dig
out the fox when earthed (Warburton); (3) to turn the fox out of the bag
(Steevens).
=uncase,= to undress. L. L. L. v. 2. 707; Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 212.
=uncharge,= to acquit from a charge. Hamlet, iv. 7. 68. _Uncharged_,
pp., unassailed, Timon, v. 4. 55.
=unchary,= not careful, heedless. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 222.
=unclew,= to unwind from a clew; hence, _fig._ to undo, to ruin. Timon,
i. 1. 168.
=uncoined,= not minted; hence, not used as common coin, unconventional,
simple. Hen. V, v. 2. 161.
=uncouth,= unknown, unusual, strange, Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 20; iii. 4.
51; Shep. Kal., Sept., 60. Still in prov. use in this sense in the north
country (EDD.). ME. _uncouth_, strange, uncommon (Chaucer, C. T. A.
2497). OE. _uncūð_, unknown, strange (John x. 5).
=underfong,= to undertake a work, labour, task; ‘And looser songs of
love to underfong’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 22; id., June, 103; to
receive, to take surreptitiously, F. Q. v. 2. 7; _underfang_, Mirror for
Mag., Morindus, st. 6. ME. _underfongyn_, ‘suscipio’ (Prompt.). OE.
_underfōn_, to receive, to undertake a task (B. T.); pp. _underfangen_.
See Dict. M. and S. (s.vv. Underfon _and_ Underfangen).
=undergo,= to experience; to endure with firmness, Cymbeline, iii. 2. 7;
to suffer, put up with, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 133; to partake of, to enjoy,
Meas. for M. i. 1. 24; to take upon oneself, to undertake, Two Gent. v.
4. 42; to be subject to, ‘Claudio undergoes my challenge’, Much Ado, v.
2. 57.
=undermeal,= a slight afternoon meal. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 1
(Cokes). See EDD. (s.v. Undern). ME. _undermele_, ‘post meridies’
(Prompt. EETS. 508); _undermele tyde_ (Trevisa, tr. Higden, v. 373);
_undermeles_, afternoons (Chaucer, C. T. D. 875); _undern_ + _mele_;
_undern_, the time between noon and sunset. OE. _undern_. See Dict. M.
and S. (s.v. Undern).
=underset,= to support, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 146). ME.
_undersettyn_ or underschoryn, ‘fulcio, suffulcio’ (Prompt. EETS.).
=undertaker,= a contractor; ‘Let not the government of the plantation
depend upon too many . . . undertakers in the country that planteth’,
Bacon, Essay 33; one who takes upon himself a task or business, Twelfth
Nt. iii. 4. 349; Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 78. Cp. Othello, iv. 1. 224.
=undertime,= afternoon, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 13. For _undern-time_.
See =undermeal.=
=underwork,= to work secretly against any one; _underwrought_, pp.,
undermined. King John, ii. 1. 96.
=uneath, unneath,= scarcely, hardly, with difficulty. Spenser, F. Q. i.
9. 38; i. 10. 31; i. 11. 4; 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 8; _unnethes_, Shep. Kal.,
Jan., 6. ME. _uneth_ (_unneth_) scarcely (Wars Alex. 2060, 4801), also
_unethes_ (_unnethes_), id., 4078, 4437; also in Chaucer, see Glossary.
OE. _unēaðe_ (Gen. xxvii. 30). See Dict. M. and S. (s v. Uneaðe).
=unequal,= unjust. B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 1 (Mosca); Massinger, Emp.
of the East, v. 2 (Theodosius); Ant. and Cl. ii. 5. 101; 2 Hen. IV, iv.
1. 102; BIBLE, Ezek. xviii. 25 (_unequal_ = Vulg. _pravus_). See Trench,
Sel. Gl. See =equal.=
=unexpressive,= inexpressible. As You Like it, iii. 2. 10; Milton,
Christ’s Nativity, 116; Lycidas, 176.
=unfolding;= ‘The unfolding star calls up the shepherd’, Meas. for M.
iv. 2. 218. The star that by its rising tells the shepherd that it is
time to release the sheep from the fold. [So Collins in his Ode to
Evening, 72, refers to the evening-star as the _folding-star_, the star
rising at folding time: ‘When thy folding-star arising shows His paly
circlet’; cp. Shelley in Hellas, 221, ‘The powers of earth and air Fled
from the folding star of Bethlehem’.]
=unhappily,= unfortunately, with regret be it said. Meas. for M. i. 2.
160; mischievously, with evil result, Lucrece, 8; evilly, King Lear, i.
2. 157; Sonnet 66.
=unhappy,= mischievous, evil, trickish, All’s Well, iv. 5. 66;
ill-omened, Cymb. v. 5. 153; wicked, Peele, Battle of Alcazar, Prologue;
waggish, Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii. 2 (Olympia); unfortunate, Spenser,
F. Q. i. 2. 22.
=unhatched,= unhacked, not blunted by blows. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 257;
_unhatcht_, unmarked, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, ii. 5 (Oriana).
See =hatched.=
=unhatched,= not hatched, not yet brought to light. Hamlet, i. 3. 65;
Othello, iii. 4. 141.
=unhele, unheale,= to uncover. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 64; iv. 5. 10;
Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (near end). See =heal= (to cover).
=unherse,= to take down (arms) from the ‘hearse’, or temporary stand on
which they were placed; part of the ceremony of _baffling_. Spenser, F.
Q. v. 3. 37. See =hearse.=
=unhouseled,= without having received the last sacrament. Hamlet, i. 5.
77. Deriv. of ME. _housel_ (P. Plowman, B. xix. 390); OE. _hūsl_
(_hūsel_), the consecrated bread in the Eucharist (Ælfric), Goth.
_hunsl_, ‘sacrificium’ (Matt. ix. 13). See Dict. (s.v. Housel).
=unicorn’s horn,= a supposed antidote to poison. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out
of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo). ‘This beast in countenance is cruell and wilde,
and yet notwithstanding mixed with a certaine sweetnes or amiablenes.
His horne is of a merveilous greate force and vertue against Venome and
poyson,’ Blundevile, Exercises; see Bible Word-Book (s.v. Unicorn).
=unimproved,= not yet used for advantage. Hamlet, i. 1. 96. See
=improve.=
=union,= a fine pearl. Hamlet, v. 2. 283; Kyd, Soliman, ii. 1. 231.
Anglo-F. _union_ (Bestiary, 1482); see Rough List; L. _unio_, a single
pearl of a large size.
=unjust,= dishonest. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 2. 30; BIBLE, Luke xvi. 8.
=unkind,= unnatural. Spenser, F. Q., iii. 2. 43; King Lear, iii. 4. 73.
=unlast,= _pp._ of _unlace_, to unfasten. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 39.
=unlefull,= forbidden. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 61. See =lefull.=
=unlived,= deprived of life. Lucrece, 1754.
=unmanned,= unaccustomed to man, untamed, as a hawk. B. Jonson, Sad
Shepherd, iii. 2 (Karol); Romeo, iii. 2. 14.
=unmorris’d,= not dressed like a morris-dancer. Fletcher, Women Pleased,
iv. 1 (Soto).
=un-napt,= not provided with nap, as cloth; hence, unfurnished,
unprovided. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, i. 1. 17.
=unnethes;= see =uneath.=
=unowed,= unowned. King John, iv. 3. 147.
=unperegall,= unequalled. Marston, Dutch Courtezan, iv. 5 (end). See
=peregall.=
=unpregnant,= unapt for business. Meas. for M. iv. 4. 23; _unpregnant
of_, having no intelligent sense of, Hamlet, ii. 2. 595. See =pregnant=
(2).
=unqueat,= unquiet, disquieted. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iii, ch. 16,
st. 65. See =queat.=
=unquestionable,= averse from conversation, uncommunicative. As You Like
It, iii. 2. 393.
=unquod,= unusual, strange; ‘Vnquod manor of crueltee’, Udall, tr. of
Apoph., Augustus, § 59. A contaminated form, see EDD. (s.vv. Uncouth and
Unkid). In _unkid_ the _-kid_ = OE. (_ge_)_cȳdd_, contraction of
_cȳðed_, pp. of _cȳðan_, to make known. See =uncouth.=
=unready,= not fully dressed. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 1. 39; _to make unready_,
to undress, Fletcher, Island Princess, iii. 8. 13. See Nares.
=unrecovered,= irrecoverable. Chapman, Iliad ix, 247.
=unreduct,= unreduced. Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 1 (Gerardine).
=unreproved,= irreproachable. Chapman, Iliad i, 87; ii, 785.
=unrespective,= devoid of consideration, unthinking. Richard III, iv. 2.
29; used at random, without consideration, Tr. and Cr. ii. 2. 71.
=unrude,= rough, violent. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum., iv. 1. Cp.
the obs. Scottish _unrude_ (hideous, horrible, vile), given in Jamieson
(EDD.). ME. _unrüde_ (Stratmann); _unride_ (_unrode_), cruel, rough,
wanton (Wars Alex.). OE. _ungerȳde_, rough, violent, cp. _ungerȳdu_,
‘aspera’ (Luke iii. 5).
=unseeled,= not fastened up, opened; applied to the eyes. B. Jonson,
Catiline, i. 1 (Cethegus). See =seel.=
=unshed,= not carefully parted; said of hair. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 40.
‘To shed’ is in prov. use in the north country for making a parting in
the hair of the head (EDD.). ME. _scheden_, to separate, to part the
hair; _schede_, the parting of a man’s hair (Cath. Angl.); OE. _scēada_,
the top of the head, parting of the hair, _scēadan_, to part, to make a
line of separation between (B. T.). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Scheden).
=unstanched,= (of thirst) insatiable. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 6. 83.
=unsuffered,= insufferable. Chapman, Iliad iii, 6.
=untappice,= to come out of hiding; ‘Now I’ll untappice’, Massinger, A
Very Woman, iii. 5 (Antonio). See =tappish.=
=untempering,= not having a modifying or softening influence. Hen. V, v.
2. 241; _temper_, to fashion, mould, Richard III, i. 1. 65; Titus, iv.
4. 109. L. _temperare_, to temper, moderate, qualify.
=untented,= not to be probed by a ‘tent’; hence, incurable. King Lear,
i. 4. 322. See Dict. (s.v. Tent, 2).
=untermed,= interminable, endless. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, iii. 3
(Duke).
=untewed,= not dressed like hemp; hence, not combed out, said of a
sheep’s fleece. Lyly, Endimion, ii. 2 (Sir Tophas). See =tew= (2).
=unthrift,= prodigal, wasteful. Timon, iv. 3. 311; a prodigal,
good-for-nothing person, Richard II, ii. 3. 122. Cp. the Yorks.
expression, ‘He’s a desperate unthrift’, for a thriftless squanderer, a
good-for-nothing person (EDD.).
=untraded,= not commonly used. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 178. See =trade.=
=untrussed,= partially undressed, with the laces of his hose untied.
Middleton, The Witch, v. 1. 2.
=untwight,= untouched. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 345; spelt _ontwight_
(L. _incolumis_), id., ii. 88. See =twight= (2).
=unvalued,= inestimable, invaluable. Richard III, i. 4. 27; Fletcher,
Valentinian, i. 2. 19.
=unwappered,= not jaded, not worn out. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 10.
‘Wappered’ is a Glouc. word, ‘Thy horse is wappered out’, i.e. tired
out, quite jaded (EDD.).
=unwares,= unawares, unexpectedly. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 18;
undesignedly, 3 Hen. VI, ii. 5. 62; _at unwares_, unexpectedly,
Gascoigne (ed. Hazlitt, i. 434).
=unwary,= unexpected. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 25. The usual ME. form was
_unwar_; as in Chaucer, used as an adj. unexpected, and as an adv.
unexpectedly.
=unwist,= unknown, unsuspected. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 26. ME. _unwist_,
unknown (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1294).
=unwreaken,= unavenged. Tancred and Gismunda, v. 2 (Gismunda); in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 86. ME. _wreken_, pp. avenged; _wreke_, to
avenge (Chaucer), OE. _wrecan_, pp. _ge_)_wrecen_.
=upbraid,= a reproach; ‘He . . . with his mind had known Much better the
upbraids of men’, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, vi. 389. ME. _upbreyd_, a
reproach (Handlyng Synne, 5843). See Dict.
=upbray,= to ‘upbraid’, reproach. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 45. In prov. use
in north Yorks. (EDD.).
=uphild,= _pp._ upheld. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 21.
=uppen,= to ‘open’, reveal, relate. Golding, Metam. xii. 162; fol. 145,
l. 5 (1603). Cp. the E. Anglian expressions, ‘You didn’t uppen it, did
ye? Be sewer don’t uppen it ta nobody’, where ‘uppen’ means to disclose,
reveal (EDD.).
=upright men,= ‘vagabonds who were strong enough to be chiefs or
magistrates among their fellows; one of the twenty-four orders of
beggars’ (Aydelotte, p. 27). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 2; Harman,
Caveat (New Shaks. Soc, p. 34).
=upsey,= in the following combinations: _Upsey-Dutch_, in the Dutch
fashion, B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 4 (Subtle), whence the phr. _to drink
upsey Dutch_, to drink to excess, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii 1. 3;
_Upsey-Freeze_, in the Frisian fashion, The Shrift (Nares); Dekker,
Belman; id., Seven Deadly Sins (Nares); _Upsey-English_, in the English
way, Beaumont and Fl., Beggar’s Bush, iv. 4 (Higgen). [Cp. ‘Drink upsees
out’, in the Soldier’s Song in Scott’s Lady of the Lake, vi. 5.] Du. _op
zyn_: _op zyn Engelsch_, after the English fashion (Sewel, s.v. Op). Du.
_zyn_ (now spelt _zin_) = G. _sinn_, sense, meaning.
=upsitting,= a festival when a woman sits up after her confinement.
Westward Ho, v. 1 (Mist. Tenterhook); Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1
(Oldrents); Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, ii. 1 (Valere); ‘_Relevailles
d’une femme_, the upsitting’, Cotgrave.
=upspring,= the name of a dance. Hamlet, i. 4. 9; ‘An Almain and an
upspring’, Chapman, Alphonsus, iii. 1 (Bohemia).
=ure,= operation, action. Esp. in phr. _to put in ure_, Ferrex and
Porrex, iv. 2 (Porrex); Greene. Alphonsus, Prol. (Venus). OF. _ure_,
_eure_, L. _opera_, work, action. See Dict.
=ure,= destiny; ‘Wherefore he hathe good ure, That can hymselfe assure
Howe fortune wyll endure,’ Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1003. Hence, as vb.
_to be ured_, to be invested with as by a decree of fate, ‘Men nowe a
dayes so unhappely be uryd’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 6. See =eure.=
=usance,= interest paid for money, Merch. Ven. i. 3. 46. A rare meaning
of the word; it gen. means the same as ‘usage’. ME. _usaunce_, custom
(Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 683). Norm. F. _usance_, ‘usage, mise en pratique,
exercice d’un pouvoir’ (Moisy).
=uses,= practical applications of doctrines; a term affected by the
Puritans, and ridiculed by the dramatists. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady,
iii. 1 (Needle); Massinger, Emp. of the East, iii. 2 (Flaccilla).
=utas,= the period of eight days beginning with a festival; hence,
merriment, festivity; ‘Utas of a feest, _octaves_’, Palsgrave; ‘Old
utis’ (i.e. high merriment), 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 22. ‘Utis’ still survives
in prov. use in Worc. in the sense of noise, din: ‘The hounds kicked up
a deuce of a utis’ (EDD.). Anglo-F. _utaves_ (Rough List); L. _octava_
(_dies_), eighth day; for ecclesiastical use see Dict. Christ. Antiq.
(s.v. Octave). See Dict. (s.v. Utas).
=utter,= to put forth, put in circulation, offer for sale, put on the
market. L. L. L. ii. 1. 16; Romeo, v. 1. 67; Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 330;
Fletcher, Captain, ii. 1 (Jacomo); Sir T. Elyot, Governour, iii. 30, §
2; Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i. 448. Hence _utterance_, sale, ‘There is no
such speedie utterance of rabbets’, Harrison, Descr. of England, bk. ii,
ch. 19 (ed. Furnivall, p. 304).
=utterance:= in phr. _to the utterance_, to the last extremity, Macbeth,
iii. 1. 72. F. _à outrance_; _combat à outrance_, a fight to the death;
deriv. of _outre_, L. _ultra_, beyond.
V
=vacabonde,= a wandering beggar, a ‘vagabond’; ‘Fraternitye of
Vacabondes’, Awdeley (title of book, 1565). Norm. F. _vacabond_,
‘vagabond’ (Moisy); F. ‘_vacabonds_, vagabonds, rogues’ (Cotgr.). See
Dict. (s.vv. Vagabond _and_ Vagrant).
=vacate,= to annul, to make void, to make of no authority; ‘That
after-act vacating the authority of the precedent’, King Charles
(Johnson); to render vain, to frustrate, Dryden, Don Sebastian, ii. 1
(Dorax). Med. L. _vac_(_u_)_are_, ‘inane, irritum et vacuum efficere’
(Ducange), see Rönsch, Vulgata, 171.
=vade,= to vanish, pass away; ‘Their vapour vaded’, Spenser, F. Q. iii.
9. 20; ‘How ever gay their blossome or their blade Doe flourish now,
they into dust shall vade’, id., v. 2. 40; Ruines of Rome, xx; Shaks.
Sonnets, liv. 14; to fade, ‘Upon her head a chaplet stood of never
vading greene’, Niccols, Induction, Mirror for Mag. 559 (Nares); Richard
II, i. 2. 20.
=vah,= an interjection; ‘No, vah! Fie, I scorn it’, Dekker, Shoemakers’
Holiday, v. 1 (Eyre).
=vail,= to lower, to let fall; ‘She vailed her eyelids’, Venus and Ad.
956; Hamlet, i. 2. 70; to bow, to stoop, to do homage, Pericles, iv,
Prol. 29. ME. _avale_, to lower (Gower, C. A. viii. 1619). Anglo-F.
_avaler_, to lower (Gower, Mirour, 10306).
=vails,= _pl._, profits or perquisites that arise to servants besides
their salary or wages. Pericles, ii. 1. 163; Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. iii.
311. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Vail, 2). _Vail_ is a shortened form
for _avail_. ME. _avayle_, ‘profectus, proventus, emolumentum’ (Prompt.
EETS. 17).
=valance,= a fringe of drapery; ‘Rich cloth of tissue and vallance of
black silk’, Strype, Eccles. Mem., Funeral Solemnities of Henry VIII; a
part of bed-hangings, ‘_Valenzana del letto_, the valances of a bed’,
Florio (ed. 1598). Hence _valanced_, fringed, used _fig._ of a beard,
Hamlet, ii. 2. 442. See Dict.
=valew,= valour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29; Harington, tr. Ariosto, xiii.
39. F. ‘_valuë_, worth, goodness’ (Cotgr.).
=valiant,= worth, amounting to in value; ‘Four hundred a year valiant,
worth £400 a year’, Middleton, A Trick to catch, i. 1 (Witgood). F.
_vaillant_, ‘a mans whole estate or worth, all his substance, means,
fortunes’ (Cotgr.). Cp. Med. L. _valens_, ‘valor, pretium’ (Ducange).
=vall,= a vale. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 479. F. ‘_val_, a vale’
(Cotgr.).
=vallies,= ‘valise’. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (near the end). See
Dict.
=valure,= value, worth. Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, p. 506); Pembroke,
Arcadia (Nares); Mirror for Mag. 280; hence, _valurous_, valuable,
Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2 (Tamb.). See Dict. (s.v. Valour).
=vannes,= _pl._ wings, Milton, P. L. ii. 927. Cp. Ital. _vanni_, ‘the
whole wings of any bird’ (Florio).
=vance,= to ‘advance’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 113. 7.
=vantbrace,= the ‘vambrace’, armour for the fore-arm, Milton, Samson,
1121; Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 297. F. _avant-bras_, ‘the part of the arm which
extends from the elbow to the wrist; also, a vambrace armour for an arm’
(Cotgr.).
=vantguard,= the ‘vanguard’, front rank. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 266.
ME. _vaunt-gard_ (Holinshed, Chron. Edw. III, ann. 1346; F.
_avant-garde_, ‘the vanguard of an army’ (Cotgr.).
=vapour,= fume, steam; used, like _humour_, to denote a man’s
characteristic quality, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii (passim). See full
account of this use of the word in Nares (s.v.). Cp. the use of the F.
word _vapeurs_. ‘On appelle _Vapeurs_ dans le corps humain, Les
affections hypocondriaques & hystériques, parce qu’on les croyoit
causées par des fumées élevées de l’estemac ou du bas ventre vers le
cerveau’, Dict. de l’Acad. (ed. 1762).
=vardingale,= a ‘farthingale’. Three Lords and Three Ladies, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 434. This is the form in Cotgrave (s.vv.
Vertugalle and Vertugadin). F. _verdugale_ (Rabelais); ‘sorte de
cerceau, panier ou jupon bouffant pour seutenir les jupes’ (Jannet’s
Gloss.). Span. _verdugado_, ‘a Petticoat . . . set out below with a
small Hoop, below with one wider and so wider and wider down to the
Feet, so that it looks exactly like a Funnel’ (Stevens). See =verdugal.=
=vare,= a wand. Dryden, Absalom, 595. Span. _vára_, a wand (Stevens.)
=vastidity,= immensity. Meas. for M. iii. 1. 69.
=vasty,= vast, spacious. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 52.
=vaunt,= the beginning; ‘Our play leaps o’er the vaunt and firstlings of
those broils’, Tr. and Cr., Prel. 27. _Vaunt-courier_, a forerunner,
King Lear, iii. 2. 25; cp. F. _avant-coureur_, ‘a fore-runner,
avant-curror’ (Cotgr.); see =voward.= F. _avant_, before, used of place
and time.
=vaut,= to ‘vault’, to leap. Ascham, Scholemaster, 64; Drayton, Pol. vi.
51; B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); hence _vawter_, a ‘vaulter’,
tumbler, dancer; used of a wanton woman, Gosson, School of Abuse, 36.
=vease,= a rush, impetus, great effort, force; ‘Forth his vease he set
withall’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 962. See EDD. (s.v. Fease, sb. 6).
ME. _vese_: ‘Ther-out cam a rage and such a vese that it made al the
gates for to rese’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1985); see NED. (s.v. Feeze). See
=feeze.=
=vecture,= carrying, conveying, carriage of goods. Bacon, Essay 15, §
11. L. _vectura_, a carrying, conveying, transportation by carriage or
ship (Cicero).
=veget,= lively, bright; ‘A veget spark’, Cartwright, The Ordinary, iv.
3 (Shape). L. _vegetus_, lively.
=vegetive,= a vegetable. Pericles, iii. 2. 36; Massinger, Old Law, i
(Nares); as adj. ‘The tree still panted in th’ unfinish’d part, Not
wholly vegetive, and heav’d her heart’, Dryden, Ovid, Metam. bk. i
(Daphne).
=velure,= velvet. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 62; _vellure_, Beaumont and Fl.,
Noble Gent. v. 1 (Nares). F. _velours_, velvet; cp. O. Prov. _velos_
(Levy), L. _villosus_, shaggy (Virgil); see Hatzfeld.
=velvet-tip,= the down or velvet upon the first sprouting horns of a
young deer. Ford, Fancies Chaste, iii. 3 (Spadone).
=vena porta,= or _gate-vaine_ (gate-vein), a vein conveying chyle from
the stomach to the liver. Bacon, Essay 19, § 11; 41, § 2. L. _vena_,
vein; _porta_, gate. See =gate-vein.=
=venditation,= ostentatious display. B. Jonson, Discoveries, lxxii, Not.
8 (p. 747). L. _venditatio_, an offering for sale, display; _venditare_,
to offer again and again for sale.
=venerie,= hunting. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 22. ME. _venerye_ (Chaucer, C.
T. A. 166). Anglo-F. _venerie_ (Gower, Mirour, 20314).
=Venetians,= Venetian or Venice hose. Three Ladies of London, in
Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 344; _Venetian-hosen_ (described), Stubbes, Anat.
of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, p. 56).
=vengeable,= revengeful, cruel, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 6, §
3; Spenser, ii. 4. 30, 46; terrible, ‘Magdeburg be vengeable fellows’,
Ascham, Letter to Raven, 381 (Nares); excessively great, ‘Paulus . . .
was a vengible fellow in linking matters together’, Holland’s Camden, p.
78 (Davies); excessively, ‘The drink is vengeable bitter’, Gascoigne,
Glasse Gov. v. 1 (ed. 1870). See EDD.
=vent,= a small inn. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1 (Hostess);
Shelton, tr. Don Quixote, Pt. I. ii. Span. _venta_, an inn (Stevens).
Med. L. _venta_, ‘locus ubi merees venum exponuntur’ (Ducange);
_vendita_, see Ducange (s.v. Venda, 1); deriv. of L. _vendere_, to sell.
=vent,= to vend, sell. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iii. 1. 8; a sale,
Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 146); Tusser, Husbandry, § 19. 27. F.
_vente_, sale. See above.
=vent,= to snuff up or take in the air; to perceive by scent. B. Jonson,
Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); Drayton, Pol. xiii. 118; Spenser, Shep. Kal.,
Feb., 75.
=vent,= to let out, emit, Coriolanus, i. 1. 229; to utter, Ant. and Cl.
iii. 4. 8 (common in Shaks.); to give birth to, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xix.
97.
=ventages,= small holes for the passage of air in a flute or flageolet,
to be stopped with a finger. Hamlet, iii. 2. 372.
=ventanna,= a window. Dryden, Conq. of Granada, I. i. 1 (Boabdelin).
Span. _ventana_.
=ventilate,= _pp._ discussed. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 25, §
3. L. _ventilatus_, pp. of _ventilare_, to winnow grain, to toss grain
into the air in order to cleanse it from chaff (Pliny).
=ventoy,= a fan. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 2. 4. F.
‘_ventau_, a fan’ (Cotgr.).
=ver,= spring. Surrey, Complaint of a Lover, 19 (Tottel’s Misc. 8 and
11); spelt _vere_, ‘The rotys take theyr sap in tyme of vere’, Skelton,
On Tyme, 24. O. Prov. _ver_, ‘printemps’ (Levy), L. _ver_.
=verdea wine,= a wine made of a green grape; and sold at Florence.
Beaumont and Fl., ii. 1 (Miramont). Ital. _verdéa_, ‘a kind of white
pleasant dainty Ladies wine in Tuscany’ (Florio).
=verdugal,= a ‘farthingale’; ‘Stiffe bombasted verdugals’, Florio’s
Montaigne (ed. Morley, 1886, p. 273). See =vardingale.=
=verdugo,= a Spanish word for an executioner, a hangman (Stevens);
hence, _his Verdugo-ship_, a contemptuous expression for a Spaniard, B.
Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2 (Face).
=vespillo,= among the Romans, one who carried out the poor for burial; a
corpse-bearer. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., Pt. I, § 38. L. _vespillo_
(Suetonius).
=vex,= to be grieved about anything. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1.
7. In prov. use from Worc. to the Isle of Wight, ‘’Er little girl died,
and ’er vex’d and vex’d so’ (EDD.).
=via!,= away!, move on! Merch. Ven. ii. 2. 11; Fletcher, Mons. Thomas,
ii. 3 (Launcelot). Ital. _via_, ‘an adverbe of encouraging, much used by
riders to their horses, and by commanders; go on, away, go to, on,
forward, quickly’, Florio. See Nares.
=Vice= or =Iniquity,= names for the established buffoon in the old
Moralities; ‘How like you the Vice in the Play?’, B. Jonson, Staple of
News (ed. 1860, p. 388); ‘Thus like the formal Vice, Iniquity, I
moralize’, Richard III, iii. 1. 82. See Schmidt, and Nares (svv.
Iniquity and Vice).
=vice,= an iron press with a screw for holding things fast, 2 Hen. IV,
ii. 1. 24; to hold one fast as in a ‘vice’, Wint. Tale, i. 2. 416. See
Dict.
=vide-ruff,= an old card-game; obsolete. Heywood, A Woman killed, iii. 2
(Cranwell). Prob. _vide_ = _vied_, pp. of _vie_, a term in card-playing;
see =vie.=
=vie,= to hazard or put down a certain sum upon a hand at cards; _to
revie_, to cover that stake with a larger sum; after which, the first
challenger could _revie_ again; and so on. ‘Here’s a trick vied and
revied!’, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 1 (Well-bred); _Vie and
revie_, Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, § last; see Gifford’s note.
See below.
=vie with,= to show in comparison or competition with; ‘So with the dove
of Paphos might the crow vie feathers white’, Pericles, iv, Prol. 33.
ME. _envỳe_, to show in competition (Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 173, MS.
Fairfax). F. _envier_ (au jeu), ‘to vie’ (Cotgr.); Ital. _invitare_ (al
giuoco), to vie at any game (Florio); cp. Span. _envidar_, to invite or
open the game by staking a certain sum (Neuman). See Dict.
=vild,= vile. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 46; v. 11. 18. A very common form in
Tudor English.
=viliaco,= a scoundrel. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum. v. 3
(Sogliardo). Ital. _vigliacco_, ‘a rascal, a scurvy scoundrel’ (Florio).
=vilify,= to hold cheap. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 3
(Forobosco). Late L. _vilificare_ (Tertullian).
=villatic,= belonging to a farm; hence, domestic; ‘Tame villatic fowl’,
Milton, Samson, 1695. L. _villaticus_, belonging to a farm. L. _villa_,
a country-house, farm.
=vine-dee,= a kind of wine. Mayne, City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield).
Supposed to represent F. _vin de Dieu_, or lacrima-Christi.
=viol-de-gamboys,= a bass-viol, Twelfth Nt. i. 3. 27. Ital. _viola di
gamba_, ‘a violl de gamba’ (Florio). So called because placed beside the
leg instead of (like the violin) on the arm. Ital. _gamba_, the leg. See
=de gambo.=
=virelay,= a lay or song with a ‘veering’ arrangement of the rimes.
Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 365. See Nares. F. _virelay_, ‘a virelay,
round, freemans song’; _virer_, ‘to veer, turn round’ (Cotgr.).
=virge, verge,= a wand. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, v. 3 (Seriben). F.
_verge_, a rod, wand (Cotgr.).
=virginals,= an instrument of the spinnet kind, but made rectangular,
like a small pianoforte. Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, i. 1 (2
Citizen); Fair Maid of the Inn, iv. 2 (Clown). Also called _a pair of
virginals_, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, ch. iii. Their name was probably
derived from their being used by young girls. Hence, _virginalling_,
lit. playing on the virginals, ‘Still virginalling upon his palm!’,
Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 125 (a word coined in jealous indignation). See
Nares.
=visage,= to look in the face, gaze on. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, book
ii, c. 2, § 3. ‘_I vysage_, I make contenaunce to one, _Ie visaige_’,
Palsgrave.
=visitate,= to survey, behold. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 161.
=vively,= in a life-like manner. Marston, Sophonisba, iv. 1. 154. F.
_vif_.
=vives;= see =fives.=
=voider,= a basket or tray for carrying out the relics of a dinner or
other meal. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 3 (Lazarillo);
‘_Mésciróbba_, any great dish, platter, charger, voider, tray or pan’,
Florio; ‘Enter . . . serving-men, one with a voider and a wooden knife’,
T. Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (The wooden knife emptied the
remnants of the food into the ‘voider’); ‘Piers Ploughman laid the cloth
and Simplicity brought in the voider’, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, i;
‘Voyder, _lanx_’, Levins, Manip. In prov. use for a butler’s tray, or a
large open basket; in west Yorks. it is the usual word for a
clothes-basket (EDD.).
=volary,= a great cage for birds; ‘(she sits) Like the forsaken turtle,
in the volary Of the Light Heart, the cage’, B. Jonson, New Inn, v. 1
(Prudence). Ital. _voleria_, ‘a volery or great cage for birds’
(Florio).
=voley:= phr. _on the voley, o’ the volèe_, inconsiderately. Massinger,
Picture, iii. 6. 1; B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Prudence). F. _à la
volée_, ‘rashly, inconsiderately, at random, at rovers’; _volée_,
flight, _voler_, to fly (Cotgr.). See Nares (s.v. Volée).
=voluptie,= sensual pleasure. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 11, §
16; bk. iii, c. 20, § 1. F. _volupté_.
=volvell,= an instrument consisting of graduated and figured circles
drawn on the leaf of a book, to the centre of which is attached one
movable circle or more; ‘He turnyd his tirikkis, his volvell ran fast’,
Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1517. Fully described by Dyce, ii. 336. Med.
L. _volvella_, _volvellum_; from L. _volvere_, to revolve.
=vor, vore;= see =che vor.=
=vorloffe,= ‘furlough’. B. Jonson, Staple of News, v. 1 (Picklock). Du.
‘_verlof_, leave, consent or permission’ (Hexham); Dan. _forlov_, leave,
furlough, cp. G. _verlaub_, leave, permission.
=votaress,= a woman that is under a vow. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 123,
163; _votress_, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 225.
=vote,= an ardent wish, a prayer. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress,
iv. 2 (Alcidon); Massinger, Guardian, v. 1 (Severino). L. _votum_, a
desire, an ardent longing (Horace).
=voward,= for _vaward_, _vanward_, vanguard, North’s Plutarch, M.
Brutus, § 29 (in Shak. Plut., p. 142); id., § 31, p. 147. F.
_avant-garde_, vanguard. See =vaunt.=
=vowess,= a widow who made a vow to observe chastity in honour of her
deceased husband; ‘In that church (Oseneie) lieth this ladie (Editha,
wife of Robert d’Oyly) buried with hir image . . . in the habit of a
vowesse’, Harrison, Desc. England, bk. ii, ch. 3 (ed. Furnivall, p. 74);
Leland’s Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith, Pt. I, 83, 112, 124). In the
church of Shalstone in Bucks. there is a monumental brass to the memory
of Susan Kingstone, step-sister of Sir T. Elyot, on which she is
described as a ‘vowess’; she died in the year 1540. For the widow’s vow
of chastity, see Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, 70, footnote); Fosbrooke,
British Monachism, 510.
W
=wae;= see =woe.=
=wafer-woman,= a seller of wafer-cakes, freq. mentioned in the
dramatists as employed in amorous embassies; ‘Am I not able . . . to
deliver a letter handsomely? . . . Why every wafer-woman will undertake
it’, Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, i. 3. 12; Beaumont and Fl.,
Woman-hater, ii. 1 (Valerio); Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Romelio).
Cp. what Chaucer says of _wafereres_ (C. T. C. 479).
=waff,= to wave, waft; ‘He waffes [wafts] an armie out of France’,
Warner, Albion’s England, bk. iii, ch. 18; _waft_, waved, beckoned;
Merch. Ven. v. 1. 11. Still in prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v.
Waff, vb.^{1} 1), and in the north Midlands (Dr. Henry Bradley). See
=waft= (2).
=waft,= a passing smell or taste, a ‘twang’. A Mad World, iv. 3 (near
end); spelt _weft_, ‘Ill malting is theft, Wood-dride hath a weft’ (i.e.
malt wood-dried has a tang), Tusser, Husbandry, § 84. See EDD. (s.v.
Waft, sb.^{1} 3).
=waft,= to wave; ‘Wafts her hand’, Heywood, Love’s Mistress, i. 1
(Admetus); vol. v, p. 100; to convey by water, King John, ii. 1. 73; 2
Hen. VI, iv. 1. 116; to invite by a motion of the hand, ‘Whom Fortune
with her ivory hand wafts to her’, Timon, i. 1. 70; Hamlet, i. 4. 78; to
turn quickly, ‘Wafting his eyes to the contrary’, Wint. Tale, i. 2. 372;
to float, ‘Satan . . . now with ease wafts on the calmer wave’, Milton,
P. L. ii. 1042.
=waftage,= passage by water, Tr. and Cr. iii. 2. 11.
=wafture,= the act of waving; ‘With an angry wafture of your hand’, Jul.
Caes. ii. 1. 246. See =waft= (2).
=wage,= to stake as a wager; ‘The King hath waged with him six Barbary
horses’, Hamlet, v. 2. 154; King Lear, i. 1. 158; to reward with wages,
Coriolanus, v. 6. 40; to barter, exchange, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 18; to
be opposed in combat, to contend, to strive, ‘To wage against the enmity
o’ the air’, King Lear, ii. 4. 212; Webster, Appius, iii. 1 (Valerius);
iii. 2 (Mar. Claudius).
=wag-halter.= Once a common term for a rogue or gallows-bird, one who is
likely to make a halter wag or shake; ‘A wag-halter page’, Ford, The
Fancies, i. 2; ‘_Baboin_, a trifling, busie or crafty knave; a crack
rope, wag-halter, unhappy rogue, wretchless villain’, Cotgrave.
=wagmoire,= a quagmire. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 130. ‘Wagmire’ was
once in prov. use in Glouc. and Devon (EDD.). From _wag_, to shake, see
EDD. (s.v. Wag, 2).
=wagpastie,= a term of contempt; a rogue; ‘A little wagpastie, A
deceiver of folkes’, Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 2.
=wagtail,= a contemptuous term for a profligate woman. Middleton, A
Trick to catch, ii. 1 (Lucre); Shirley, Traitor, ii. 1 (Sciarrha).
=waift, weft,= a ‘waif’, a thing cast adrift; used by Spenser of a
person, ‘She was flying like a weary weft’, F. Q. v. 3. 27; vi. 1. 18,
_wefte_, iii. 10. 36; _waift_, iv. 12. 31.
=wailful,= doleful. Two Gent. iii. 2. 69.
=waistcoat,= a body-dress for a woman, like a man’s waistcoat; sometimes
very costly. When worn without an upper dress, it was considered the
mark of a profligate woman. Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieut. ii. 3
(Leucippe); Woman’s Prize, i. 4 (Livia); Loyal Subject, ii. 4 (Young
Archas). Hence _waistcoateer_, a strumpet, Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieut.
i. 1 (2 Usher); Wit without Money, iv. 4 (Luce).
=wake,= the feast of the dedication of a church, originally the vigil
before the festival; the merry-making in connexion therewith; ‘He haunts
wakes, fairs’, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 109; ‘At wakes and wassails’, L. L.
L. v. 2. 318; _wake-day_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 90. 5. ‘Wake’ is in prov.
use in various parts of England for an annual festival and holiday,
often connected with the dedication of the parish church; the fair held
at such times was also so called, see EDD. (s.v. Wake, sb.^{1} 8). OE.
_wacu_, a watch, a vigil; cp. _wacana_ (‘vigilias’) in Luke ii. 8
(Lind.).
=waker,= wakeful. Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover confesseth him (ed. Bell, p.
66); Golding, Metam. xi. 599; fol. 139, bk. (1603). OE. _wacor_,
wakeful, vigilant.
=wale:= _the wale of cloth_, the ridge or rib in cloth denoting its
quality; ‘Thou’rt rougher far, and of a coarser wale’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Four Plays in One: Triumph of Honour, sc. i (Sophocles); Middleton,
Mich. Term, ii. 3 (Easy). ME. _wale_, a stripe (Prompt.). OE. _walu_, a
weal, mark of a blow (Napier, Glosses).
=wales,= _pl._ springs of water; ‘To cloudes alofte the wales and waters
rise’, Mirror for Mag., Domitius Nero, st. 11; Golding, Metam. ii. 11.
Probably the same word as _wall_, in prov. use for a spring of water in
Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Wall, sb.^{2} 1).
=walk the round,= to be one of the watchmen. Massinger, Guardian, iii. 5
(Severino); to act as a watchman, go the round; B. Jonson, Alchem. iii.
2 (Face).
=walking mort,= a grown-up unmarried whore; often a pretended widow
(Cant). Described in Harman’s Caveat, p. 67 (Aydelotte, p. 27); cp.
Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).
=wallope,= to gallop. Morte Arthur, leaf 90. 33; bk. v, c. 11. In prov.
use in the north country and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _walloppyn_, as an
hors (Prompt. EETS. 538), Anglo-F. _waloper_, to gallop (see Bartsch,
544. 26); _galoper_ (Rough List).
=walm,= a surge, bubbling up of water. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, viii. 87. A
north-country word for ‘a bubbling’ (EDD.). OE. _wælm_, surging water
(Beowulf).
=walter,= to ‘welter’, roll. Peele, Sir Clyomon, l. 1. Hence
_waltering_, a lolling (as snakes’ tongues), Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii,
l. 267 (211 of Latin text); rolling, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 498
(Latin text). In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of
England and E. Anglia. ME. _walteryn_ (Prompt. EETS. 514).
†=waltsome,= disgusting, heinous; ‘O waltsome murder’, Mirror for Mag.,
Hastings, st. 30. Probably an intended improvement of ME. _wlatsom_, in
an imitation of Chaucer: ‘Mordre is so wlatsom and abhominable’ (C. T.
B. 4243). OE. _wlætta_, disgust, nausea (Sweet).
=wamble,= to rumble, to roll, to stir uneasily; used of food in the
stomach. Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1 (Fool); Lyly, Endimion, iv. 2;
‘_Allecter_, to wamble as a queasie stomach doth’, Cotgrave. In prov.
use in Scotland and in various parts of England north and south, see
EDD. (s.v. 1). ME. _wamelyn_ in the stomak, ‘nausio’ (Prompt. EETS.
538). Cp. Dan. _vamle_, to become squeamish, _vammel_, nauseous
(Larsen).
=wamentation,= lamentation. Fair Em. i. 2. 73. See =wayment.=
=wan,= a winnowing-fan. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xi. 163, 164; explained
as ‘a corn-cleanse _fan_’, id., xxiii. 416. L. _vannus_, a
winnowing-fan. See Dict. (s.v. Fan).
=wanhope,= loss of hope, dejection, despair; ‘Wanhope, poor soule on
broken anchor sits Wringing his armes, as robbed of his wits’, Glaucus
(Nares). Still heard in Lancashire (EDD.). ME. _wanhope_, despair
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 1249). Cp. Du. ‘_wanhope_, dispaire’ (Hexham).
=waniand:= phr. _in the waniand_, in the waning (moon), i.e. at an
unlucky time; ‘He would . . . make them wed in the waniand’, Sir T.
More, Wks., p. 306 h. ME. _in the waniand_ (Minot, ed. T. Wright, i.
87); ‘In woo to wonne in the wanyand’ (York Plays, p. 124). OE. _on
wanigendum mōnan_ (Leechdoms, i. 320); _wanian_, to lessen, to wane. See
Dict.
=wanion:= phr. _with a wanion_, with a vengeance, with ill-luck.
Pericles, ii. 1. 17; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of B. Pestle, ii. 2 (Wife);
B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 5; Eastward Ho (Nares). In prov. use in
Scotland and Ireland. See above.
=want,= to be without, to lack. King John, iv. 1. 99; Coriolanus, i. 3.
90. Very common in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England; ‘We
wanted the plague in Scotland, when they had it in England’ (Scoticisms,
105), see EDD. (s.v. Want, vb. 8).
=want,= absence of a person; ‘_His present want_’ (= the present want of
him, i.e. his being absent at present), 1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 44; Shirley,
Witty Fair One, i. 1. 17.
=wanty,= a horse’s belly-band; a girth used for securing a load on a
pack-horse. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 5. Still in prov. use in various
parts of England from Yorks. to the Isle of Wight (EDD.). OE. _wamb_
belly + _tīge_, a band.
=wanze away,= to wane, vanish, disappear; ‘And all the things that liked
him did wanze away’, Golding, Metam. iii. 501; fol. 38, back (1603);
‘Which wanz’d away againe’ (L. _evanuit_), id., vi. 47. ‘Wanze’ is an E.
Anglian word used in the sense of wasting away. ME. _wanson_, ‘or wanyn
as the mone, _decresco_’ (Prompt.); OE. _wansian_, to lessen.
=wappe,= to lap, used of the sound of water against the rocks, Morte
Arthur, leaf 425. 5; bk. xxi, c. 5.
†=wappened,= over-worn (so Schmidt). Timon, iv. 3. 38. Probably a
misprint for _wappered_. ‘Wappered’ is a Glouc. word for tired, fatigued
(EDD.). See =unwappered.=
=wapper-eyed,= having quick restless eyes, sore-eyed, blear-eyed.
Middleton, The Black Book, ed. Dyce, v. 528. Still in use in Devon and
Somerset (EDD.).
=war;= see =warre.=
=ward,= a ‘side’, or compartment of the Counter, or prison. There were
two Counters, one in the Poultry, the other in Wood Street. The Counter
had three ‘wards’ or ‘sides’, the Master’s side, the Two-penny Ward, and
the Hole; and it was not uncommon for the debtors, as their means
decreased, to descend gradually from the first to the last. B. Jonson,
Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo); v. 7 (Macilente).
=ward,= garrison, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 15; the guard at the gate of a
castle, id., iii. 11. 21; custody, prison, ‘To commit one to ward or
prison, In custodiam tradere’, Baret, Alvearie; BIBLE, Gen. xl. 3; 2
Hen. VI, v. 1. 112; the guard in a prison, Acts xii. 10 (AV. and
Wyclif).
=ward,= a guard made in fencing, a posture of defence. Temp. i. 2. 471;
1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 215.
=warden,= a large coarse pear used for baking, Bacon, Essay 46; Wint.
Tale, iv. 3. 48; by pop. etym. a keeping pear; ‘_Poire de garde_, a
warden or winter-pear, a pair which may be kept very long’, Cotgrave;
Beaumont and Fl., Cupid’s Revenge, ii. 3 (Dorialus); spelt _wardon_,
Palsgrave. ME. _wardon_(_e_ (Prompt. and Cath. Angl.). So named from
_Wardon_ (now _Warden_) in Beds. The arms of Wardon Abbey were argent,
three warden-pears, or. See Dict. (s.v. Wardon).
=warder,= a staff or truncheon carried by one who presided at a
tournament or combat. Richard II, i. 3. 118 (when the ‘warder’ was
thrown down, the fight was stopped). ‘They fight; Robert and the
Palatine _cast their warders_ between them and part them’, Heywood, Four
Prentises (stage-direction); vol. ii, p. 204.
=ware,= to spend money. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 122; Heywood, 1 Edw. IV
(Hobs), vol. i, p. 43. Very common in the north country; in Yorks. (N.
Riding) they say, ‘He wares nowt, for he addles nowt’, see EDD. (sv.
Ware, vb.^{1} 9). ME. _waryn_ in chaffare ‘mercor’, (Prompt. EETS. 539,
see note, no. 2636). Icel. _verja_, to clothe, to invest money, to
spend.
=ware,= to bid any one beware; ‘I’ll ware them to mel’ (i.e. I’ll teach
them to beware of meddling), Heywood, Witches of Lancs. iv (Parnell);
vol. iv, p. 234.
=wareless,= unexpected. Spenser, F. Q. v. 1. 22; unwary, heedless, id.,
v. 5. 17.
=warison,= gift, recompense. Morte Arthur, leaf 186, back, 35; bk. ix,
ch. 22. ME. _warisoun_, requital (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1537); _warysone_
(Prompt. EETS. 516). Norm. F. _guarison_ (_garison_), ‘vivres, moyens de
subsistance’ (Moisy, 500).
=warke,= work. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 145; F. Q. ii. 1. 32. A
north-country pronunc., see EDD. (s.v. Work).
†=warling= (?), in the proverb, ‘Better be an old man’s darling, than a
young man’s warling’, Barry, Ram. Alley, ii (Adriana); Heywood’s
Proverbs (ed. Farmer, pp. 80, 130). [In Ray’s Proverbs (ed. Bohn, p.
45), ‘snarling’ is the word used instead of ‘warling’.]
=warp.= ‘A pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind’ (i.e.
working themselves forward—the metaphor is of a ship), Milton, P. L. i.
341. In Scotland used of the flight of a swarm of bees, see EDD. (s.v.
Warp, vb.^{1} 9).
=warray,= to harass with war, Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 48; Fairfax, Tasso,
i. 6. ME. _warray_, to make war (Barbour’s Bruce, see Glossary);
_werray_ (Wars Alex. 2495); _werreyen_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1544).
Anglo-F. _werreier_, to make war (F. _guerroyer_). See Dict. (s.v. War).
=warre:= in phr. _warre old_; ‘But when the world woxe old, it woxe
warre old (whereof it hight)’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 31. The meaning is
that when the world grew old, it grew _worse_, and that from _warre old_
or _war-old_, the word ‘world’ is derived; cp. Shep. Kal., Sept., 108,
‘They sayne the world is much _war_ then it wont’. The word ‘warre’ (or
‘war’) is in prov. use in the north country and in Ireland, see EDD.
(s.v. War, adj.^{1}). ME. _werre_, worse (Ormulum, 4898). Icel. _verr_,
adv., _verri_, adj., worse.
=warrie,= gnarled, knotted. Golding, Metam. viii. 743 (fol. 104; 1603);
also _warryed_, id., xiii. 799. OE. _wearrig_, having callosities,
deriv. of _wearr_, a callosity (Sweet).
=wary,= to curse. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2266. See EDD. (s.v. Wary,
vb.^{2}). ME. _warien_, to curse (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1619), OE.
_wergian_.
=waryish;= see =werish.=
=washical,= ‘what shall I call’; a name for a thing that one does not
take the trouble to mention. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, v. 2 (Hodge).
=wasp,= used metaph. for a petulant or spiteful person. Tam. Shrew, ii.
1. 210; Beaumont and Fl., King and no King, iv. 3 (1 Swordsman). So used
in Scotland (EDD.).
=wassail,= a drinking-bout, a carouse; ‘At wakes and wassails’, L. L. L.
v. 2. 318; Macbeth, i. 7. 64; Hamlet, i. 4. 9; ‘A wassail candle’, 2
Hen. IV, i. 2. 179 (a large candle lighted up at a feast). The word
‘wassail’, well known in Yorks. in connexion with old Christmas
ceremonies and festivities; for ample details, see EDD. It was
originally a phrase used at a banquet. In Laȝamon, Rowena presents a cup
to Vortigern with the words _wæs hail_ (_wassail_), a salutation,
meaning ‘be hale, be in good health’. O. Sax. _wes hēl_, be hale: so in
the salutation of the Virgin, _hēl wis thu_ = Ave! (Vulgate, Luke i.
28); so also in Anglo-Saxon Gospels, _hāl wes ðu!_ See Dict.
=waster,= a cudgel; ‘The youthes of this citie have used on holy dayes
. . . to exercise their wasters and bucklers’, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms,
p. 36); Mad Men of Gotham, 19 (Nares); _to play at wasters_, Beaumont
and Fl., Philaster, iv. 3 (Countryman); Burton, Anat. Mel. (Naros); _to
win at wasters_, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, ii. 3 (Candido);
‘_Bastone_, any kind of cudgel, waster, or club’, Florio.
=Wat,= a name for a hare. Venus and Ad. 697; Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 331;
Levins, Manipulus. In prov. use (EDD.). Properly a pet-name for _Walter_
(_Water_).
=watch,= a time-piece, clock. Richard II, v. 5. 52. Probably, a candle
marked out into sections, each of which was a certain portion of time in
burning, Richard III, v. 3. 63.
=watchet,= pale blue. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 40; Marston, Malcontent,
iii. 1 (Bilioso); Drayton, Pol. v. 13. ME. _wachet_, light blue colour
(Chaucer, C. T. A. 3321). See Dict.
=Water,= a pronunciation of the Christian name Walter, see 2 Hen. VI,
iv. 1. 35. ME. _Wateere_ or _Water_, ‘propyr name of a man, _Walterus_’
(Prompt. EETS. 517, see note, no. 2530). Anglo-F. _Gualtier_ (Ch. Rol.
2039), Norm. F. _Waltier_. Of Teutonic origin, cp. OE. _Wealdhere_
(power + army), see Oldest Eng. Texts, 537.
=water, to lay in;= See =lay= (5).
=water-gall,= a second rainbow seen above the first; a fragment of a
rainbow appearing on the horizon; Lucrece, 1588. A Hampshire word, see
EDD. (s.v. Water, 1 (50)).
=water-rug,= a rough kind of water-dog (?). Macbeth, iii. 1. 94.
=water-work,= painting executed in water-colour; ‘The German hunting in
water-work’, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 158.
=wawes,= waves. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 4. ME. _wawe_, a wave (Chaucer,
C. T. B. 508); ‘a _wawe_ of the see’ (Wyclif, James i. 6). Icel. _vāgr_,
a wave.
=wax:= phr. _a man of wax_, Romeo, i. 3. 76 (as pretty as if he had been
modelled in wax); so, _a prince of wax_, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, i.
1 (Megra). Cp. ‘a lad of wax’, ‘a man of wax’, in prov. use in Durham
and west Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Wax, sb.^{2} 4), where the expressions
are associated with the vb. _wax_ (to grow).
=waxen,= _pr. pl._, they increase. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 56. The ME.
pres. pl. in the Midland dialect. For the geographical area of the pres.
pl. in _n_, _sn_, see Wright’s English Dialect Grammar, § 435.
=way,= to go on one’s way, to journey; ‘As they together wayd’, Spenser,
F. Q. iv. 2. 12.
=way,= to ‘weigh’. Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 46; ‘Full many things so
doubtfull to be wayd’, id., iv. 1. 7; to esteem, ‘All that she so deare
did way’, id., vii. 6. 55.
=wayment,= to lament. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 16. ME. _waymenten_
(Chaucer, C. T. I. 230). Norm. F. _guaimenter_, _waimenter_: ‘Les
virgines d’els ne guaimenterent’ (Ps. lxxvii. 69, ed. Michel, 111); see
Moisy.
=wealth,= welfare, prosperity. Merch. Ven. v. 1. 249; Hamlet, iv. 4. 27;
‘The thinges that shuld have bene for their welth’ (AV. welfare), Ps.
lxix. 23 (A.D. 1539); ‘wealth, peace and godliness’, Prayer Book
(Collect for King). ME. _welthe_, prosperity, well-being (Gower, C. A.
ii. 1207).
=weanell;= see =wennel.=
=wear,= the fashion, that which is worn; ‘It is not the wear’, Meas. for
M. iii. 2. 78.
=wearish;= see =werish.=
=weather:= phr. _To make fair weather_, to conciliate another with fair
words, Much Ado, i. 3. 25; 2 Hen. VI, v. 1. 30. Cp. the proverb, ‘Two
women placed together make foul weather’, Hen. VIII, i. 4. 22.
=weather-fend,= to ‘defend’ from the weather. Tempest, v. 1. 10.
=weave,= to float backwards and forwards; ‘Amidst the billowes beating
of her, Twixt life and death long to and fro she weaved’, Spenser, F. Q.
v. 4. 10. See EDD.
=weaver,= a fish, having sharp spines; the _Trachinus draco_, or _T.
vipera_. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 167. Cp. ME. _wivere_, a serpent (Chaucer,
Tr. and Cr. iii. 1010); Anglo-F. _wivre_, a serpent, viper; esp. in
blazon; L. _vipera_, a viper; see Dict. (s.v. Wyvern).
=web and pin,= a disorder of the eyesight. King Lear, iii. 4. 122; _pin
and web_, i. 2. 291. From _web_, a film; and _pin_, a small spot. In E.
Anglia ‘web’ is used for a film over the eye, see EDD. (s.v. Web, 4).
=weel,= a wicker trap or basket used for catching eels, &c. Heywood,
Anna and Phillis, vol. vi, p. 309; Tusser, Husbandry, § 36, st. 31. In
gen. prov. use in the Midlands (EDD.).
=weeld,= the ‘weald’ of Kent; ‘I was born and lerned myn englissh in
Kente in the weeld’, Caxton, Historyes of Troye, preface. See Dict.
(s.v. Weald).
=ween,= to suppose, think; _wend_, pt. t., Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 11.
ME. _wenen_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1655); OE. _wēnan_.
=Weeping Cross.= Nares notes that there were at least three crosses so
named, near Oxford, Stafford, and Shrewsbury respectively. _To come
home_ (or _return_) _by Weeping Cross_, to repent of an undertaking,
Lyly, Euphues, p. 243.
‘He that goes out with often losse,
At last comes home by Weeping Crosse,’
Howell, Eng. Prov.; Ray’s Proverbs (ed. Bohn, p. 22).
=weerish;= see =werish.=
=weesel,= weasand, windpipe. Peele, David, ed. Dyce. p. 465, col. 2.
Spelt _wizzel_, Mayne, City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield). Cp. Bavarian
dial. _waisel_, the gullet of animals that chew the cud (Schmeller).
=wee’st heart,= woe is the heart (of me)! Congreve, Love for Love, ii. 1
(Nurse). ‘Wae’s t’ heart,’ ‘Wae’s heart of me,’ are Yorks. exclamations;
‘Wae’s my heart’ is of frequent occurrence in Scottish poetry, see EDD.
(s.v. Woe, 2).
=weet,= wet; ‘Till all the world is weet’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 33.
This is a common pronunc. of ‘wet’ in the north country and E. Anglia
(EDD.). ME. _weet_, wet (Chaucer, C. T. A. 4107). OE. _wǣt_.
=weet,= to know, Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 6. Fairfax, Tasso, v. 86. This is
a northern pronunc. of ‘wit’ (to know), see EDD. (s.v. Wit, vb.). ME.
_wetyn_, to know (Prompt. EETS. 545).
=weft,= see =waft= and =waift.=
=wefte,= abandoned, avoided, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 36.
=weird:= in phr. _the weird sisters_, used of the three witches, as
foretelling destiny, Macbeth, iv. 1. 136. The expression is taken from
Holinshed’s Chronicle of Scotland; it was used by Gawin Douglas (Virgil,
80, 48) for the Parcae or Fates; ‘_Cloto, una de tribus parcis quae
finguntur regere vitam hominis, anglice_, one of the thre Weyrde
systers’, Pynson’s Ortus Vocabulorum (ed. 1509). See Grimm, Teut. Myth.
407. See =werd.=
=weld,= to wield, govern. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 32; vi. 8. 11; Shep.
Kal., Oct., 40; to wield, to carry, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, i. 4. 35; _to
weld oneself_, to erect oneself, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 699 (L. _se
tollit_). ME. _welden_, to wield, to control (Chaucer, C. T. D. 271), to
move with ease (C. T. D. 1947).
=welk,= to fade, to grow dim (of the sun in the west). Spenser, F. Q. i.
1. 23; to cause to grow dim, ‘But nowe sadde Winter welked hath the
day’, Shep. Kal., Nov., 13. Cp. prov. use of ‘welk’ in the sense of to
fade, to wither (used of plants, see EDD., s.v. Welk, vb^{1}). ME.
_welke_, to wither (Chaucer, C. T. D. 277). Cp. G. _welken_, to wither.
=welked,= withered, faded; ‘Her wealked face with woful teares
besprent’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 12. ME. _welked_,
withered (Chaucer, C. T. D. 277).
=welked,= curved, twisted, applied to horns; ‘Welked horns’, Golding’s
Ovid, occurring three times, pp. 60, 107, and 122 (ed. 1603); ‘Hornes
welkt and waved like the enraged Sea’, King Lear, iv. 6. 71; ‘And
setting fire upon the welked shrouds’ (i.e. the curved clouds), Drayton,
Barons’ Wars, vi. 39 (Nares).
=welkin,= the sky; ‘Look on me with your welkin eye’ (i.e. heavenly or
sky-blue eye), Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 136. ME. _welken_, the sky (Chaucer,
Hous F. iii. 1601). OE. _wolcen_, a cloud, also _wolcnan_, clouds. Cp.
G. _wolke_, a cloud.
=well-a-near,= alas!, alack-a-day!;
‘The poor lady shrieks, and well-a-near,
Does fall in travail with her fear,’
Pericles, iii, Prol. 51; Look about You, sc. 2, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley,
vii. 397. An obsolete north-country exclamation—written _well-aneer_
and _well-an-ere_ (EDD.).
=well-liking,= in good condition, plump, L. L. L. v. 2. 268; ‘They . . .
shalbe fatt and well lykenge’, Ps. xcii. 13 (Great Bible, 1539).
=well said!,= really meaning ‘well done!’, Westward Ho, ii. 2
(Birdlime). Common.
=Welshman’s hose.= Nares takes this to mean ‘no hose at all’, as
denoting something non-existent or wholly indefinite; but perhaps the
Welshman of the phrase was accused of wearing his ‘hose’ hind part
before; ‘The lawes wee did interprete and statutes of the land, Not
truely by the texte, but newly by a glose: And wordes that were most
playne, when they by us were skand, Wee tourned by construction to a
Welshman’s hose’, Mirror for Mag., Tresilian, st. 15.
=wend;= see =ween.=
=wennel,= a weaned animal. Tusser, Husbandry, § 20, 28; ‘A lamb or a kid
or a weanell wast’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 198 (_weanell wast_
prob. means ‘a stray weanling’). ‘Wennel’ is an E. Anglian word for a
weaned calf (EDD.).
=went,= a path, a way; ‘Tract of living went’ (i.e. trace of living way,
of any way which living men use), Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 47; v. 4. 46; v.
6. 3. ‘Went’ in many applications is in prov. use in many parts of Great
Britain; see EDD. ME. _wente_, a way, passage (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii.
787).
=werd,= fate, destiny; ‘The wofull werd’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag.,
Induction, st. 63. In prov. use in this sense in Scotland, see EDD.
(s.v. Weird, 1). ME. _werd_, fate, destiny (Wars Alex. 3247); _werdis_,
destinies (Barbour’s Bruce, ii. 329). OE. _wyrd_, fate, destiny;
_Wyrde_, the Fates. Parcae, The Weird Sisters (B. T.). Icel. _Urðr_ (in
poetry), one of the Norns, see Grimm, Teut. Myth, 405. See =weird.=
=werish,= tasteless, insipid; ‘Dawcockes, lowtes, cockescombes and
blockhedded fooles were . . . said _betizare_ to be as werishe and as
unsavery as beetes’, Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, § 85; ‘Werysshe as
meate is that is nat well tastye, _mal savouré_’, Palsgrave; _wearish_,
weak, delicate, puny, sickly-looking, ‘A wretched wearish elfe’,
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 5. 34; _weerish_, Drayton, Pol. xxix. 62; _waryish_,
Golding, Metam. ii. 776. See Nares (s.v. Wearish). In prov. use, in many
forms, in various parts of Great Britain, see EDD. (s.v. Wairsh).
=werwolf,= a man changed into a wolf by enchantment; ‘She made hym seuen
yere a werwolf’, Morte Arthur, leaf 397, 17; bk. xix, c. 11; _warwolf_,
Drayton, Man in the Moon, 13. ME. _werwolf_ (Will. of Palerne, 80), MHG.
_werwolf_, a man-wolf; cp. Med. L. _gerulphus_ (Ducange), OF. _garou_,
cp. F. _loup-garou_ (Hatzfeld). See Dict.
=wetewold,= a ‘wittol’, a contented cuckold. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell,
187; Assembly of Gods, 710 (see Notes by Dyce, on Skelton, ii. 305). See
=wittol.=
=wet finger:= phr. _with a wet finger_, easily, readily. Beaumont and
Fl., Cupid’s Revenge, iv. 3 (Citizen); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2.
5; id., Gul’s Hornbook; Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, p. 95; see
Word-List). It prob. means as easy as turning over the leaf of a book,
or rubbing out writing on a slate with a wet finger, or tracing a lady’s
name on the table with spilt wine (Farmer).
=wethering,= weathering, seasoning due to exposure to weather. Latimer,
Sermon on the Ploughers (ed. Arber, p. 24). In prov. use in Norfolk, see
EDD. (s.v. Weather, vb. 8).
=wexing,= waxing (as the moon). Dryden, Annus Mirab., st. 4. ME. _wexe_,
to grow (Wyclif, Matt. xiii. 30).
=wharrow,= a little instrument fixed on a spindle for the string of the
‘turn’ to run in; a small pulley on a spindle. Skelton, El. Rummyng,
298. See passage from Guillim’s Display of Heraldry (ed. 1724, p. 300),
quoted in EDD. (s.v.). Cognate with OE. _hweorfa_, the ‘whorl’ which
helps to turn the spindle (B. T.).
=what,= whatsoever thing; ‘Such homely what as serves the simple
clowne’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 7; ‘Come downe and learne the little what
that Thomalin can sayne’, Shep. Kal., July, 31.
=whelk,= a pimple, blotch. Hen. V, iii. 6. 108. A Derbyshire word, see
EDD. (s.v. Whelk, sb.^{2}). ME. _whelke_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 632).
=when,= (?) an exclamation of impatience. Short for ‘_when_ will you do
what is bidden you?’, Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 1 (Duchess); iv. 2
(Bosola). Common.
=whe’r,= whether. Often spelt _where_. Tempest, v. 1. 111; King John, i.
1. 75.
=where,= whereas; wherever; whence. L. L. L. ii. 1. 103; Mids. Night’s
D. v. 1. 93; Hen. V, iii. 5. 15.
=whereas,= where that, where. 2 Hen. VI, i. 2. 58; Pericles, i. 4. 70.
Not uncommon.
=where-some-ere,= wheresoever. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 2. G.
_Wheresomever_ is heard in Lanc. (EDD.).
=wherrit, whirrit,= a blow, a thump, a smart box on the ear. Fletcher,
Nice Valour, iii. 2 (Lapet); ‘A whirret on the eare’, Kendall, Flowers
of Epigrammes’ (Nares). Still in prov. use in the north (EDD.).
=wherry;= see =whirry.=
=whether,= which of the two. Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 6. 352, ‘Whether of
them twayne’, Tyndale, Matt. xxi. 31.
=whether whether were,= which was which. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 10.
=whether,= whither. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 35.
=whew,= to whirl, to hurry; ‘I whew it away’, Buckingham, The Rehearsal,
ii. 4. 7. So in the Lake country, ‘He whew’d his clog throo t’window’,
see EDD. (s.v. Whew, vb.^{2} 2).
=whiblin,= a trick, device. Marston, Insatiate Countess, ii. 2 (Rogero).
Cp. =quiblin.= Cp. the obsolete Dorset word ‘whibble’, to lie (EDD.).
=whiblin,= an impotent creature; a term of contempt. Dekker, Honest Wh.,
Pt. I, i. 2 (Fustigo). See =whimling.=
=whids,= words; _to cut bene whids_, to speak good words (Cant).
Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). [_A rousing whid_, a great lie,
Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook, st. 1.] The Slang Dict. (1874) says that
_whid_ for a ‘word’ or a ‘falsehood’ is modern slang from the ancient
cant.
=whiff,= a special way of taking tobacco; ‘Capers, healths, and whiffs’,
Marston, What You Will, ii. 1 (Laverdure); _taking the whiff_, B.
Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, Character of Shift (prefixed to the
play).
=whiffler,= an officer who clears the way for a procession. Henry V, v,
chorus, 12; Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 523. ‘Whifflers’ (fifers)
usually went first in a procession; the term was then applied to those
who went forward (without any musical instrument) to clear the way for
the procession of a sovereign or of a city corporation. See Nares; and
EDD. (s.v. Whiffle, vb.^{1} 1 (2)).
=whiffler,= a puffer of tobacco. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1
(Chough).
=whig,= whey, sour milk, buttermilk. Greene, Description of the
Shepherd, l. 29; ed. Dyce, p. 304. Cp. the Linc. expression, ‘As sour as
whig’ (EDD.).
=whigh-hie, wi-hee,= a sound imitative of the neighing of a horse. B.
Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, ii. 1 (Sogliardo); Fletcher, Women
Pleased, iv. 1 (Bomby). Hence, _wyhee_, v., to neigh; Marston, The Fawn,
iv. 1 (Dondolo).
=while,= until. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iv. 4 (Tamb.). Macbeth, iii. 1.
44; Richard II, i. 3. 122; see Schmidt. Very common in the north, also
in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. While, 6).
=whiles,= until; ‘Whyles tomorowe’, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 83; Twelfth
Nt. iv. 3. 29. See EDD. (s.v. Whiles, 4).
=whimling= (a term of contempt), a poor creature. Beaumont and Fl.,
Coxcomb, iv. 7 (Mother). Probably the same word as ‘wimbling’, also
written ‘whimbling’, used in the Midlands of plants that are long, thin,
and of feeble growth, see EDD. See =whiblin= (2).
=whimp,= to whimper; ‘Wil whympe and whine’, Latimer, Sermons (ed.
Arber, p. 77). Cp. the prov. words ‘wimp’ and ‘whimper’ in EDD.
=whip,= to move quickly. Sackville, Induction, st. 5; Much Ado, i. 3.
63; _to whip out_, to draw out quickly, ‘He whips his rapier out’,
Hamlet, iv. 1. 10. See EDD.
=whip-cat,= drunken; ‘_Whip-cat_ bowling’, drunken emptying of bowls,
Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 367. See Halliwell. In Worc. a
‘whip-cat’ means a farmer’s feast after bean-setting, see EDD. (s.v.
Whip, 1 (4)); ‘To whip the cat’, to get tipsy (Halliwell).
=whip-her-ginney,= the name of a game of cards. Mentioned in Taylor’s
Works (Nares). Spelt _whip-her-jenny_, ‘a game at cards, borrowed from
the Welsh’, Halliwell.
=whip-her-jenny,= a term of contempt, Two Angry Women, iv. 3 (Coomes);
Halliwell.
=whip-jack,= a sham sailor who begs. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1
(Moll); used as a term of reproach generally, ‘One Boner, a bare whippe
Jacke for lucre of money toke upon him to be thy father’, Bp. Ponet in
Maitland on Reformation, p. 74. [‘Sir Charles Grandison is none of your
gew-gaw whip-jacks that you know not where to have’, Richardson,
Grandison, vi. 156.] See Davies.
=whipstock,= the handle of a whip. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 28; Two Noble
Kinsmen, i. 2. 95. Also, a carter; as a term of abuse, Tomkis,
Albumazar, iv. 4 (end). The equivalent term _whipstalk_ occurs in the
Spanish Tragedy (Nares).
=whirlbat,= a ‘cestus’, or weighty boxing-glove. Dryden, Pref. to
Fables, § 3 from end. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, viii. 285; written
_whoorlbat_, id., Iliad xxiii, 538. See Davies (s.v. Whirly-bat).
=whirlpit,= a whirlpool. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxi. 223; Sandys,
Paraph. Exod. xv; Marmyon’s Fine Companion; Holland, tr. Ammianus
(Nares).
=whirlpool,= a sea-monster of the whale kind; perhaps the cachalot or
sperm-whale, which is distinguished from other whales by its peculiar
manner of blowing; ‘A whale or a whirlepoole’, BIBLE, Job xli. 1
(marginal rendering of Leviathan); Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 23; ‘_Tinet_,
the Whall tearmed a Horlepoole or Whirlepoole’, Cotgrave; Holland’s
Pliny, bk. ix, ch. 3; spelt _wherlpoole_, Drayton, Pol. xx. 100;
_wherpoole_, id., xxv. 174. See Wright, Bible Word-Book.
=whirry,= to whirl along, to whirl away, to hurry off, Stanyhurst, tr.
Aeneid, iii. 611; _wherry_, Dekker, O. Fortunatus, iv. 2 (Agripyne);
_whurry_, Taylor’s Works (Nares); _whorry_, Herrick, To Bacchus, a
Canticle. See EDD. (s.v. Whirry, vb. 3).
=whisket,= a pandaress, The London Chanticleers, sc. 2 (Jenniting).
=whiskin,= a wanton person, Ford, Fancies Chaste, iv. 1 (Secco); a
pandaress, Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, iv. 2 (Steward). See
=pimp-whiskin.=
=whist,= to keep silence; ‘They whisted all’, Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii. 1;
‘They whusted all’, Phaer, tr. Aeneid, ii. 1; put to silence, ‘So was
the Titanesse put downe and whist’, Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 59; as adj.,
still, silent, ‘Where all is whist and still’, Marlowe, Hero and L.
(Nares); ‘All the companie must be whist’, Holinshed, Desc. of Ireland
(ed. 1808, p. 67); ‘The winds with wonder whist’, Milton, Hymn Nat. 64;
_whistly_, silently, Arden of Feversham, iii. 3. 9. ME. _whist!_
(Wyclif, Judges xviii. 19). See =whust.=
=whister,= a blow; _Whisterpoop_, a smart blow or smack on the ear or
‘chops’, London Prodigal, ii. 1. 68 [A Linc., Somerset, and Devon word
(EDD.)]; _Whistersnefet_, Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, § 72 [Cp.
_whistersniff_, a Hampshire word (EDD.)]. See Davies.
=white,= the central circle on an archery butt. Tam. Shrew, v. 2. 186;
‘_Blanc_, the white or mark of a pair of butts; _Toucher au blanc_, to
strike the white, to hit the nail on the head’, Cotgrave.
=white,= used in expressions of endearment: _white boy_; ‘Such a brave
sparke as you, that is your mother’s white boy’, Two Lancashire Lovers
(Nares); Knight of the Burning Pestle, ii. 2 (Mrs. Merrythought); Ford,
’Tis Pity, i. 3; Yorkshire Tragedy, iv. 120; Two Angry Women, iii. 2
(Mall); ‘I shall be his little rogue and his white villain’, Return from
Parnassus, ii. 6 (end).
=whitemeat,= food made of milk, eggs, bread, and the like. Northward Ho,
i. 2 (Philip); B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, iv. 1 (Fallace); used
attrib. and metaph., ‘Your whitemeat spirit’, Beaumont and Fl., Four
Plays in One, Pt. II, sc. 2. 13.
=white money,= silver coin. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, ii. 2
(Galatea). In use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. White, 1. 160).
=white-pot,= a dish made of milk, eggs, and sugar, &c., boiled in a pot.
Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 4 (Eyre); Butler, Hud. i. 1. 299;
Spectator, No. 109, § 4. ‘Whitpot’ is the name of a favourite dish in
Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. White, 1 (64)). See Nares.
=white powder,= a white kind of gunpowder. It does not appear to have
existed; but there was a theory that a white gunpowder would explode
without noise. Discussed by Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. ii, ch. 5,
sect. 5. Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, ii. 2 (Laverdine). See
Nares.
=whiting-mop,= a young whiting. Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, ii. 2;
metaph. a fair lass, Massinger, Guardian, iv. 2. So _whiting_, Skelton,
El. Rummyng, 223.
=whiting-time,= bleaching-time. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 140.
=whitleather,= white leather, leather dressed with alum, and very tough.
Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 4; ‘In thy whitleather hide’, Beaumont and Fl.,
Scornful Lady, v. 1 (Elder Loveless).
=whitster,= a bleacher of linen. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 15; Pepys, Diary,
Aug. 12, 1667; _whitstarre_. Palsgrave. ‘Whitster’s Arms’ is still a
common alehouse sign in Lanc. (EDD.). ME. _whytestare_, ‘candidarius’
(Prompt. EETS. 526, see note, no. 2565). See Bardsley’s Surnames, 328,
329.
=whittle,= a small clasp-knife. Timon, v. 1. 183; Middleton, The Widow,
iii. 2 (Francisco). In gen. prov. use in this sense, see EDD. (s.v.
Whittle, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _thwitel_, a knife (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3933),
deriv. of _thwiten_, to pare or cut little pieces from a thing; OE.
_þwītan_, to cut out, cognate with Icel. _þveit_, a piece of land,
common in place-names in the north of England, e.g. Seathwaite,
Langthwaite, Postlethwaite.
=whittled,= drunk, intoxicated. Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 2 (Lucio);
_whitled_, Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 498, l. 4. See Nares. Given as an
obsolete prov. word in use in the north of England (EDD.). Cp. the slang
term ‘cut’ for tipsy, somewhat drunk, see EDD. (s.v. Cut, ppl. adj.).
=whome,= home; ‘He wil paye whome’, Latimer, pref. to 2 Sermon bef. King
(ed. Arber, p. 48). So pronounced in Wilts. and Shropshire; in north
Devon ‘whum’, see EDD. (s.v. Home).
=whoobub,= hubbub. Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 629; Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 5. (or
6) 35; _whobub_, Beaumont and Fl., iv. 1 (Soto).
=whoop!,= an exclamation. King Lear, i. 4. 245; Hence, _to whoop_, ‘The
shepheard whoop’d for joy’, Drayton, Shepherd’s Garland; ‘We are
whoop’d’ (i.e. cried ‘whoop’ upon), Fletcher, Maid in a Mill, iii. 2
(Franio).
=whoorlbat;= see =whirlbat.=
=whorry;= see =whirry.=
=who-some-ere,= whosoever. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 1. 15. So also
_where-some-ere_, wheresoever, id., i. 2. 6. A parallel formation to
_whosoever_, with the Icel. conj. _sem_ (Norw. dial., Danish and Swedish
_som_), as, that, sec EDD. (s.v. Howsomever).
=whot, whott,= hot. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 58; ii. 5. 18.
=whule,= to cry plaintively, to whine, howl. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey,
xii. 135; Palsgrave, p. 785. A Suffolk word, see EDD. (s.v. Whewl).
=whurry;= see =whirry.=
=whust,= to keep silence; ‘They whusted all’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii.
1; to leave anything unsaid, ‘The libertie of an hystorie requireth that
all shoulde bee related and nothing whusted’, Holinshed’s Chronicles
(Nares); Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 357. See =whist.=
=wicker,= pliant; ‘Bird! how she flutters with her wicker wings!’, B.
Jonson, Sad Sheph. i. 2 (Æglamour).
=widow,= to endow with a widow’s right, to jointure. Meas. for M. v. 6.
153.
=widowhood,= a widow’s right, a jointure. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 125.
=wigher,= to neigh as a horse. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iii.
2 (Dindimus). Cp. G. _wiehern_, to neigh.
=wight, wyght,= active. Morte Arthur, leaf 172, back, 30; bk. ix, c. 4;
‘Wyght or stronge, _fort_’, Palsgrave; Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 91.
In prov. use in the north of England (EDD.). ME. _wight_, active
(Chaucer, C. T. B. 3457). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Wight).
=Wild:= _the Wild of Kent_, the Weald of Kent, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 60; ‘I
was borne in the wylde of Kent’, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 268). In EDD.
we find that the Weald of Sussex is always spoken of as _The Wild_ by
the people who live in the Downs, and the inhabitants of the Downs call
the dwellers of ‘The Wild’ _the wild people_. ‘The Wild of Surrey’ is
described in Marshall’s Review (1817, v. 355). The same word as the adj.
‘wild’, see Dict. (s.v. Weald).
=wildered,= bewildered. Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 682. In prov. use
in Scotland (EDD.).
=wilding,= a crab-apple. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Maudlin); Warner,
Albion’s England, iv. 20. Still in prov. use in the Midlands and in the
west country (EDD.).
=will,= to desire, signify one’s will to. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt
(Arundel), ed. Dyce, p. 188; Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii, l. 50.
=willow,= worn as an emblem of unhappy love. Much Ado, ii. 1. 194, 225;
‘Wear the willow garland’, 3 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 100; ‘A green willow must
be my garland’, Othello, iv. 3. 50.
=wilsome, wylsome,= wandering, devious; ‘Wylsome wayes’, Morte Arthur,
leaf 124. 11; bk. vii, c. 22. In Scotland ‘wilsome’ is used in the sense
of bewildered, lonely, dreary, desolate; see EDD. (s.v. Will, adj. 1
(3)). ME. _wylsum_: ‘Mony wylsum way he rode’ (Gawayne, 689); _wilsom_
(Wars Alex. 4076, 5565). Icel. _villr_, bewildered, erring, astray.
=wimble,= quick, lively, active. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 91;
Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2 (Feliche). In prov. use in the north of
England and the Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Wimble, adj.).
=winbrow,= an eyebrow. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 270, back, 12. Low G.
_winbrāwe_, an eyebrow (Lübben); cp. OHG. _wintbrāwa_, _wintbrā_,
_winbrā_, an eyebrow (Schade).
=windlace,= a winding or circuitous way; ‘By slie driftes and windlaces
aloofe’, Mirror for Mag., Glocester, st. 46; ‘Fetching a windlesse’,
Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 270); _windlasses_, pl., Hamlet, ii. 1. 65;
spelt _winlas_, Golding, Metam. vii. 784 (= L. _gyrum_).
=windore,= a window. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 59; Diogenes, §
120; Butler, Hud. ii. 2. 369. Still heard in Glouc. (EDD.).
=window-bars,= lattice-work, cross-work of narrow bands across a woman’s
bosom. Timon, iv. 3. 116.
=wind-sucker,= a kestrel; used _fig._ for a covetous person. B. Jonson,
Sil. Woman, i (end). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Wind, sb.^{1} 1 (40)).
See Nares.
=winlas;= see =windlace.=
=winter-ground,= to cover up in the ground so as to protect plants from
the winter; ‘Furr’d moss . . . To winter-ground thy corse’, Cymbeline,
iv. 2. 229.
=wirt,= a smart box on the ear. North, Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 6 (in
Shaks. Plut., p. 112). See =wherrit.=
=wis;= see =iwis.=
=wish,= to commend one to another. Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 113; Match at
Midnight, iv. 1 (Sim).
=wishly,= with eager desire; ‘To putte on his spectacles and pore better
and more wishely with his olde eyen on Saynt Johns ghospell’, Sir T.
More, Works, p. 1134 (Richardson); Palsgrave, p. 613.
=wisket,= a small basket; ‘Wysket, _sportula_’, Levins, Manipulus. In
prov. use in various parts of England; see EDD.
=wistly,= attentively, observingly; ‘She . . . wistly on him gazed’,
Lucrece, 1355; Venus and Ad. 343; Passionate Pilgrim, 82; Richard II, v.
4. 7. Perhaps the same word as _whistly_, silently, and so, with mute
attention. See =whist.=
=wit:= _The five wits_, the five faculties of the mind, common sense,
imagination, fancy, estimation, memory, Much Ado, i. 1. 67; Sonnet cxli,
9. See Nares.
=wit,= to know. Greene, James IV, iv. 2. 3; Pericles, iv. 4. 31; 1 Hen.
VI, ii. 5. 16. ME. _witen_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 1324). OE. _witan_.
See =wist, wot.=
=wite,= to blame. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 16; Shep. Kal., Aug., 136;
_wite_, blame, F. Q. vi. 3. 16. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and
in the north of England (EDD.). ME. _witen_ (_wyten_), to blame,
reproach (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 825), OE. _wītan_.
=with, wyth,= a twisted band of willow; ‘A wyth take him!’ (i.e. hang
him—said of an Irishman), Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iii. 2 (1
Servant); ‘An Irish Rebell condemned, put up a Petition to the Deputie,
that he might be hanged in a With, and not in an Halter, because it had
beene so used with former Rebels’, Bacon, Essay 39. In prov. use; see
EDD. (s.v. With, sb.^{1}). See Dict. (s.v. Withy).
=withal= = with, as placed at the end of the sentence. As You Like It,
iii. 2. 328; used in the sense of likewise, besides, at the same time,
BIBLE, 1 Kings xix. 1; Ps. cxli. 10; Acts xxv. 27; ‘Though he be merry,
yet withal he’s honest’, Taming Shrew, iii. 2. 25; Bacon, Essay 58; phr.
_to do withal_, ‘They fell sick and died: I could not do withal’ (i.e. I
could not help it), Merch. Ven. iii. 4. 72; Northward Ho, iv (Doll);
Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 2 (Urse). See Wright’s Bible Word-Book.
=withdrawing-chamber,= (the modern) drawing-room. Bacon, Henry VII (ed.
Lumby, p. 24).
=witness,= a sponsor in Baptism, a godfather or godmother. B. Jonson,
Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Littlewit); Magn. Lady, iv. 3. 16. So in Devon
(EDD.).
=wittol,= a tame cuckold knowing himself to be so. Merry Wives, ii. 1.
3; B. Jonson, The Fox, v. 1 (Mosca); Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta,
iii. 2 (Gomere); ‘_Jannin_, a wittall, one that knows and bears with or
winks at his wife’s dishonesty’, Cotgrave. Bp. Hall uses the form
_witwal_, which may be the older form, ‘Fond wit-wal, that wouldst load
thy witless head With timely horns before thy bridal bed’ (Sat. i. 7.
17). The word orig. was a name for the green woodpecker, ‘_Godáno_, a
witwall, a woodwall’, Florio. The ‘witwall’, like the cuckoo, was the
subject of ribald jests. In Cheshire and Glouc. ‘witwall’ is a name for
the woodpecker; in Suffolk a contented cuckold is called a ‘wittol’; see
EDD. See =wetewold.=
=wizzel,= weasand, windpipe. The City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield). See
=weesel.=
=woe,= sad, sorrowful. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 53; Temp. v. 1. 139; 2 Hen.
VI, iii. 2. 73. In the north country very common in prov. use,
pronounced _wae_: ‘I would be wae for the wife’s sake’, see EDD. (s.v.
Woe, 3).
=woman-tired,= henpecked; ‘Thou art woman-tired, unroosted by thy dame
Partlet here’, Wint. Tale, ii. 3. 74.
=wondered,= gifted with power to perform miracles; ‘So rare a wonder’d
father’, Temp. iv. 1. 123.
=wone, won,= spellings of one; ‘Let no suche a wone prepare unto himself
manye horsses’; Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 32); ‘Att _won_ houre’,
Tyndale, Rev. xviii. 10 (1526). So also _wons_, once; Qu. Elizabeth, tr.
of Boethius, bk. i, met. 3. See Index to Wright’s English Dialect
Grammar (s.v. One).
=wonne,= to dwell. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 39; iii. 1. 2; _wonned_, pt. t.
Shep. Kal., Sept., 181; _woon_, pr. t. subj. dwell, may dwell; Virgil’s
Gnat, 18. ME. _wone_, to dwell (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1573), OE. _wunian_,
to dwell.
=wonne,= dwelling, habitation. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 20 ME. _wone_, a
dwelling (P. Plowman, C. iv. 141).
=wood,= mad, furious with rage or temper. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 192; 1
Hen. VI, iv. 7. 35. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of
England down to Linc. (EDD.). ME. _wood_, mad (Chaucer, C. T. A. 184).
OE. _wōd_.
=wood-bind,= woodbine. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 2 (Cornelio);
_wood-bind tree_, id., iv. 2 (Felice); Drayton, Pol. xv. 152. ME.
_wodebynde_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1508). OE. _wudebinde_ (Voc. 137. 5).
=woodcock,= a simpleton. Much Ado, v. 1. 158. Because a woodcock was
easily caught in nets set for it at twilight in glades; cp. =cockshut.=
‘Go, like a woodcock, And thrust your neck i’ the noose’, Beaumont and
Fl., Loyal Subject, iv. 4 (Theodore).
=wooden dagger.= Such a dagger was worn not only by the ‘Vice’, or
buffoon in old plays, but also sometimes by the domestic fool; Fletcher,
Noble Gentleman, v. 1 (Longueville). For ‘dagger of _lath_’, see Twelfth
Night, iv. 2. 136. _A wooden dagger_ could also be used as a
crumb-scoop, to clear the table of fragments after a meal; see Beaumont
and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 1 (Mercer).
=woodquist,= a wood-pigeon, ring-dove; ‘A Stock-dove or woodquist’,
Lyly, Sapho, iv. 3. 3. Also _quist_ (_queest_); ‘_Phavier_, a Ringdove,
Queest, Coushot, Woodculver’, Cotgrave. [With _phavier_, cp. O. Prov.
_colom favar_, ‘pigeon ramier’ (Levy)]. ‘Quist’ (‘queest’), a
wood-pigeon, is in prov. use in various parts of the British Isles
(EDD.). See NED. (s.v. Queest).
=woodsere,= the time of year when there is little sap in a tree. Tusser,
Husbandry, § 53. 15, § 51. 6. (The time meant has been said to be
between Midsummer and Michaelmas; it was thought that wood cut at that
season would not grow again.) In E. Anglia the word ‘wood-sere’ is used
for the month or season for felling wood, see EDD. (s.v. Wood, sb. 1 (34
b)).
=woodspeck,= a woodpecker. Golding, Metam. xiv. 314 (L. _picum_); fol.
171 (1603); _Specke_ is a Norfolk word for the woodpecker (EDD.). Cp.
Du. _specht_, a woodpecker (Hexham). G. _specht_.
=Wood Street,= the Compter prison in Wood Street, London. Middleton,
Phœnix, iv. 3 (1 Officer). See Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, p. 111).
=woolfist,= a puff-ball. Wily Beguiled, Prologue. For _wolf-fist_; Gk.
L. _lycoperdon_, which has the same sense; see Weigand, Germ. Dict.
(s.v. Bofist).
=woolward:= in phr. _to go woolward_, i.e. in wool only, without linen,
often enjoined as a penance by the Church of Rome; ‘I have no shirt, I
go woolward for penance’, L. L. L. v. 2. 717; ‘He went woolward and
barefooted to many churches’, Stow’s Annals, H. 7 (Nares); ‘Wolworde,
without any lynnen nexte ones body, _sans chemyse_’, Palsgrave. ME.
_wolleward_ (_wolward_), see Pricke of Conscience, 3514; P. Plowman’s
Crede, 788; P. Plowman, B. xviii. 1 (see note, p. 395). [It is probable
that the ME. form _wolleward_ is due to popular etymology, and that the
word properly represents an OE. *_wullwered_, clothed in wool, cp.
_swegelwered_, clothed with heavenly brightness. The corruption would be
natural, when the sense of _wered_ was lost, as -_ward_ was a common
suffix. The phr. ‘to go woolward’ cannot be genuine: it could only mean
‘to go towards wool’, which is not the sense (Dr. Henry Bradley). See
note on the word ‘woolward’ in Mayor and Lumby’s edition of Beda’s
Eccles. Hist., p. 347.]
=woose,= ‘ooze’, soft mud, Phaer, Aeneid iii, 606; _wose_, id., ii. 135.
Hence _woosy_, full of soft mud, Drayton, Pol. xxv. 205. ME. _wose_, mud
(Wars Alex. 413). OE. _wōs_; see Napier’s Glosses, 1818.
=woose,= to ooze, Golding, tr. Ovid, fol. 127. See Dict.
=word,= a motto; ‘And round about the wreath this word was writ, _Burnt
I doe burne_’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 38; ‘His word which on his ragged
shield was writ, _Salvagesse sans finesse_’, id., iv. 4. 39.
=world;= ‘It is a world’, i.e. it’s wonderful (to see), Much Ado, iii.
5. 38; Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 313. _To go to the world_, to get married,
Much Ado, ii. 1. 331; _a woman of the world_, a married woman, As You
Like It, v. 3. 5.
=worm,= to remove what was called the _worm_ from under a dog’s tongue;
a supposed preventive of his going mad; ‘I should have wormed you, sir,
for [to prevent your] running mad’, Ford, ’Tis pity, i. 2 (Vasque).
=wot,= in use as the present tense of the vb. _wit_, to know; ‘I wot not
what rule ye keep’, Latimer, Serm. (ed. Arber, 255); ‘I wote not’,
BIBLE, Gen. xxi. 26 (in RV. ‘I know not’); ‘God wot’, Richard III, iii.
2. 89. ME. preterite-present _I wot_, _thou wost_, _he wot_, pl. _witen_
(Chaucer); OE. _ic wāt_, _þū wāst_, _he wāt_, pl. _witon_. Tudor and
later English have much false grammar with respect to this verb: Shaks.
has _wotting_ (for _witting_}, _wots_ (for _wot_), _wot’st_ (for
_wost_); and _wotteth_ (for _wot_) is found in the Bible, Gen. xxxix. 8
(in RV. ‘knoweth’).
=wrabbed,= perverse, hard to manage; ‘So crabbed, so wrabbed, so stiff,
so untoward’, Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 211. See Nares.
=wrack,= destruction, loss; ‘The wrack of maidenhood’, All’s Well, iii.
5. 24; ‘The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack’, 2 Hen. VI, i. 3. 127;
destruction by sea, shipwreck, Venus and Ad. 454; to ruin, destroy,
Hamlet, ii. 1. 113; _wracked_ (_wrackt_), shipwrecked, Meas. for M. iii.
1. 225. See Dict. (s.v. Wreck).
=wrall,= to quarrel, to grumble. Tusser, Husbandry, § 101. 4; ‘This my
tongue-wralling’, Webster, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley,
iv. 120.
=wrawl,= to make an inarticulate noise, to caterwaul; ‘Cats that
wrawling still did cry’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 27. Cp. ME. _wrawhre_,
‘traulus’ (Prompt. EETS. 40, see note, no. 181). See NED. (s.v.
Caterwaul).
=wray,= to disclose. Gascoigne, Works, i. 41. ME. _wreye_, to bewray.
reveal (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3503); also, _bewreye_, ‘The conseil is
bewreid’ (Gower, C. A. v. 6785). OE. _wrēgan_, to denounce, accuse. See
Dict. (s.v. Bewray).
=wread,= to wreathe, to twist, twine, curl; ‘The snake about him
wrigling winding wreades’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xi. 753. See EDD. (s.v.
Wreath, sb.^{1} 7).
=wreak,= vengeance. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, ii. 3 (M.
Tullius); Knight of Malta, iv. 1 (Zanthia); ‘wrathful wreakes’, angry
acts of vengeance, Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 43; 12. 16; to avenge, punish,
F. Q. ii. 3. 13. Hence _wreakful_, full of vengeance, Titus And. v. 2.
32. ME. _wreke_, ‘vindicta, ulcio’ (Prompt.); _wreken_, to avenge
(Chaucer, C. T. C. 857). OE. _wrecan_, to punish.
=wreak,= to ‘reck’, to care. As You Like It, ii. 4. 81 (ed. 1623);
Marlowe, tr. Ovid’s Elegies, ii. 11. 22; _wreaked_, recked, Spenser,
Shep. Kal., Dec., 29. Hence _wreakless_, reckless, careless, 3 Hen. VI,
v. 6. 7. Cp. EDD. (s.v. Wreak, vb.). OE. _rēcan_ (pret. _rōhte_), to
rack, care for (Sweet); see Wright, OE. Gram., § 534.
=wrest,= a tuning-key for a harp. Tr. and Cr. iii. 3. 23.
=wretchock,= the smallest pig of a litter; smallest chicken in a hatch;
a diminutive creature. B. Jonson, Gipsies’ Metam. (Jackman); Skelton,
Elynour Rummyng, 465. A Worc. word for the smallest pig of a litter
(EDD.).
=wries;= see =wry.=
=wrig,= to turn aside. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 573 (L.
_contorsit_). In prov. use in the Midlands, meaning to writhe (EDD.).
=writhe,= to turn aside, misdirect. Ferrex and Porrex, i. 2 (Gorboduc).
=writhled,= wrinkled, shrivelled, 1 Hen. VI, ii. 3. 23; Gascoigne, ed.
Hazlitt, i. 42; l. 9.
=wroken,= _pp._, revenged. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 108; Muiopotmos,
99; _wroke_, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 1. ME. _wroken_, revenged (Chaucer,
Tr. and Cr. i. 88); _wroke_ (P. Plowman, B. ii. 194); but Chaucer and P.
Plowman have also the regular _wreken_, pp. of _wreke_, to avenge; OE.
_wrecen_, pp. of _wrecan_. See Wright, OE. Grammar, § 505.
=wrote,= to grub up, as a hog; ‘His earth-wroting snout’, Return from
Parnassus, iii. 4 (Furor). ME. _wrotyn_, as swyne ‘verro’ (Prompt. EETS.
547), OE. _wrōtan_.
=wroth,= sorrow, vexation; ‘I’ll keep my oath, patiently to bear my
wroth’, Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 78.
=wry,= to turn aside, go aside. Cymbeline, v. 1. 5; ‘_Wries_, and
wriggles’, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iii. 1 (Rowland). ME. _wrien_, to
turn aside (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 906), OE. _wrigian_.
=wun,= dwelling, abode. Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 23.
See =wonne= (2).
=wusse;= see =iwis.=
=wych,= wich-elm, witch-elm. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 113.
=wyhee;= see =whigh-hie.=
=wyte,= to blame; see =wite.=
X
=xeriff,= a ‘Sherif’, a title of the descendants of Mohammed. Dryden,
Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Muley-Moluch); id., Conquest of Granada, i. 1.
_Xarife_, the Spanish way of writing =sherif= (q.v.), Port. _xarife_,
‘chérif’ (Roquette).
=xeriff,= a Portuguese coin worth about 300 reis (Portuguese). Dryden,
Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Mustapha), Port. _xarafím_, Arab, _sharîfî_ or
_ashrafî_, a gold coin often mentioned in the Arabian Nights, see Dozy,
Glossaire, 353; cp. Med. L. _seraphus_, in Baumgarten, Peregrinatio, 23;
see Dozy, Glossaire, p. 534. See Stanford (s.v. Xerafin).
Y
=yall;= see =yawl.=
=yarage= (applied to ships), the capability of being managed at sea;
‘Light of yarage’, North, Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 35 (in Shaks. Plut.,
p. 208); ‘heavy of yarage’, id., § 35 (p. 211).
=yare,= quick, ready. A word freq. used by Shaks., often given to
sailors. Temp. v. 1. 224; Meas. for M. v. 2. 61; ‘The lesser ship . . .
is yare, whereas the greater is slow’, Ralegh (Nares); _yarely_,
readily, Temp. i. 1. 4. _Yare_ is in prov. use in the north (EDD.). ME.
_yare_, ready: ‘Terens let make his shippes yare’ (Chaucer, Leg. G. W.
2270;. OE. _gearu_, ready, equipped.
=yark,= to jerk. Drayton, Pol. vi. 51; to pull forcibly as shoemakers do
in securing the stitches of their work; ‘Yark and seam, yark and seam’
(Eyre); ‘For yarking and seaming let me alone’ (Firk), Dekker,
Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 1. See the story of Watt Tinlinn in note to
Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel, iv. 4. In reply to the Englishman’s
taunt, ‘Sutor Watt, ye cannot sew your boots’, Watt retorted,
discharging a shaft which nailed the captain’s thigh to his saddle, ‘If
I cannot sew, I can yerk’. As sb. a jerk; ‘_Tire_, a kick, yark, jerk’,
Cotgrave. See =yerk.=
=yarum, yarrum,= a cant term for milk; see =popler.=
=yate,= gate. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 224. In prov. use in the north
and in the north Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Gate, sb.^{1} 1 (9)). ME.
_ȝate_, a gate (Wyclif, Ps. cxvii. 20). OE. _geat_.
=yaw= (of a ship), to move unsteadily; used _fig._ Hamlet, v. 2. 120; a
devious course, Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 5 (Antonio). Icel. _jaga_,
to move to and fro (as a door on its hinges).
=yaw,= to cut down; _yawde_, for _yawed_, pp., Skelton, Colyn Cloute,
1206. (In the next line we have _sawde_ for _sawn_, pp.) In Hants. and
Devon ‘yaw’ is the prov. pronunc. of ‘hew’, and is used in the sense of
mowing or cutting wheat with one hand and with a reaping-hook, see EDD.
(s.v. Hew, vb.^{1} 4).
=yawd,= a nag, a ‘jade’. Brome, Jovial Crew, iv. 1 (Randal). In prov.
use in the north, see EDD, (s.v. Yad). The same word as ‘jade’. _Yawd_
is derived directly from Icel. _jalda_, a mare, whereas _jade_ comes to
us through northern French: _jalda_ < *_jaude_ < _jade_.
=yawfrow,= a young lady, a mistress. Davenant, The Wits, ii. 1. Du.
_joffrouw_, a gentlewoman, mistress, miss; _jonkvrouw_, a young lady;
_Jonkvrouw A._, Miss A. (Sewel).
=yawl,= to howl, bawl; to scream like an infant; spelt _yall_, Death of
E. of Huntington, i. 3 (Doncaster), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 242;
Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 22; _yawling_, a bawling, Dekker,
Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3 (Margery). In prov. use in various parts of
England, see EDD. (s.v. Yawl, vb.^{1} 1).
=yblent,= obscured; ‘The faithfull light of that faire lampe yblent’,
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 1; blinded, ‘With love yblent’, id., Shep. Kal.,
April, 155. See =blend.=
=ybowne,= ready to depart. Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 140. ME.
_boun_, ready to go (Chaucer, C. T. F. 1503). See Dict. (s.v. Bound, 3).
=y-clept, y-clep’d,= called, named. Milton, L’Allegro, 12. Spelt
_y-clipped_; Ram-Alley, iii. 1 (Puff). See =clepe.=
=y-cond,= taught. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. 4; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 11.
(Misused; _to con_ is to learn.) See =cond.=
=yearn,= to vex, grieve; ‘It would yearn your heart’, Merry Wives, iii.
5. 45; ‘It yearn’d my heart’, Richard II, v. 5. 76 (in quartos _ernd_);
‘It yearns me not’, Hen. V, iv. 3. 26. Hence _yearnful_ (_yernful_),
mournful, Greene, A Maiden’s Dream, st. 7. See =earn= (to grieve).
=yearne,= to give tongue as hounds do, to bay, Turbervile, Hunting (ed.
1575, pp. 181, 186, 240); see =yorning.=
=yearne,= to earn. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 40; vi. 7. 15. OE.
_ge-earnian_, _earnian_, to earn.
=yede, yeed,= improperly used as an infin., to go. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11.
5; ii. 4. 2 _yeade_, pr. pl. (improp. used), Shep. Kal., July, 109;
_yode_, pt. s. went, id., May, 22, 233; _yod_, Golding, Metam. vi. 330.
ME. _yede_, went (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1141); _ȝede_, _ȝeode_ (P. Plowman),
OE. _ge-ēode_ (and _ēode_), went. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Eode).
=yeding,= going. Sackville, Mirror of Mag., Induction, st. 30.
=yelden,= submissive; ‘The fierce lion will hurt no yelden thinges’
(i.e. creatures that have submitted), Sir T. Wyatt, To his ladie cruel
over her Yelden Lover, 4; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 62. See =yold.=
=yellow.= Bands dyed with _yellow starch_, much used by Mrs. Turner,
became unfashionable when that infamous woman was hung (Nov. 15, 1615)
for being concerned in the murder of Sir Thos. Overbury; but not very
long after they were again in use. ‘Hateful As yellow bands’, The Widow,
v. 1 (Martia); ‘Disliked your yellow starch’, Beaumont and Fl., Queen of
Corinth, iv. 1 (Tutor).
=yellow breeches, to wear,= to be jealous. Massinger, Duke of Milan, iv.
2 (Stephano). _Yellow_, as the hue of jealousy, Middleton, A Fair
Quarrel, ii. 2. 14.
=yellow-hammer,= (jocosely) a gold coin. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1
(2 Guard).
=yellowness,= jealousy. Merry Wives, i. 3. 111.
=yellow-pate,= the yellow-hammer, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 75.
=yellows,= jaundice in cattle. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 54. In prov. use, see
EDD. (s.v. Yellow, 4).
=yelt,= a young sow; ‘A youngling yelt of brestled sow’, Twyne, tr. of
Aeneid, xii. 170. In prov. use in the north and in E. Anglia, see EDD.
(s.v. Gilt, sb.^{1}).
=yeoman-fewterer,= the man who, under the huntsman, took care of the
dogs, and let them slip at the right moment. Massinger, Picture, v. 1
(Ricardo); Maid of Honour, ii. 2 (Page); B. Jonson, Every Man out of
Humour, ii. 3. See Nares (s.v.), and =fewterer.=
=yerde,= a rod, a staff. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, § 6. ME.
_yerde_ (Chaucer). OE. _gierd_, a rod.
=yerk, yirk,= to lash with a whip. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 44; Marston,
Sat. i. 3, p. 184 (Nares); _yarke_, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 489. Hence,
_yerking preferment_, a promotion to punishment with a whip, Shirley,
Opportunity, ii. 1 (Pimponio); to kick out strongly, Hen. V, iv. 7. 84;
Tusser, Husbandry, § 64; to thrust smartly, Othello, i. 2. 5. This word
is in prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland, pronounced in
many ways, with the meanings (among others), to jerk, to pull forcibly;
to lash with a switch or whip, to kick as a horse does, see EDD. (s.v.
Yark, vb.^{1} 1, 5, 7). See =yark.=
=yert:= in comb. _yert-point_, lit. ‘jerk-point’; the name of a childish
game; perhaps similar to blow-point. Lady Alimony, ii. 5 (Fricase). It
may have been a name for spelicans. ‘Yert’ belongs to the group of
words: _jerk_, _yerk_, _jert_, see Cotgrave (s.v. Tire).
=yfere,= together. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 1; vi. 6. 31; Shep. Kal., April,
68; Sackville, Induction, st. 74. ME. _yfere_, together (Chaucer, C. T.
B. 394), also _in-fere_ (C. T. B. 328, D. 924); orig. _in fere_, in
company. OE. _on heora gefére_, in their company (Luke ii. 44).
=yfet,= _pp._ fetched. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 647. See =fet.=
=yield,= to reward; ‘The gods yield you for’t’, Ant. and Cl. iv. 2. 23;
spelt _’ild_, ‘How do you pretty lady?—Well, God ’ild you!’, Hamlet,
iv. 5. 41; Macbeth, i. 6. 13. ‘God yield you’ is still in prov. use in
Cheshire (EDD.). ME. _God yelde yow_, God requite you (Chaucer, C. T. D.
1772).
=ying,= young; ‘The lilly . . rysing fresche and ying’, Dunbar, The
Thistle and the Rose, 22. ME. _ȝing_, young (Barbour’s Bruce, xx. 41).
=yirk;= see =yerk.=
=ylike,= alike, all the same; ‘Ylike to me was libertee and lyfe’,
Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec., 36; F. Q. i. 4. 27. ME. _yliche_ (_ylike_),
like, similar; also as adv., alike, in like manner (P. Plowman). OE.
_gelīc_, similar, equal; _gelīce_, equally, in the same way, in a
similar way.
=ynde,= indigo, dark blue. Morte Arthur, leaf 114, back. 27; bk. vii, c.
11. OF. _inde_, ‘de couleur d’azur’ (Didot); Med. L. _indium_, ‘genus
coloris caerulei’ (Ducange), for L. _indicum_, indigo, orig. of India,
Indian.
=yod;= see =yede.=
=yold,= _pt. t._ yielded. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 25. As pp., id., vii.
7. 30. ME. _ȝolden_, pt. pl. and pp. of _ȝelden_, to yield (Wars Alex.
2326, 2378). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. ȝelden).
=yomenne,= ‘yeomen’; the pawns in the game of chess. Fitzherbert,
Husbandry, Prol. 20.
=yond.= This word occurs in the following passages: ‘Then like a lyon
. . . wexeth wood and yond’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 40; ‘As Florimel fled
from that monster yond’, id., iii. 7. 26; ‘Those three brethren,
Lombards fierce and yond’, Fairfax, tr. Tasso, i. 55. It seems to be a
synonym of ‘fierce’.
=yond,= yonder, thither. Tempest, i. 2. 409; Richard II, iii. 3. 91. In
prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland (EDD.). ME. _yond_,
yonder (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1099). OE. _geond_, ‘illuc’ (Matt. xxvi. 86,
Rushworth).
=yorning,= giving tongue as hounds do. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i,
c. 18, § 5; see Croft’s Glossary. See =yearne= (1).
=yote,= to water, soak; ‘Yoted wheat’, Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xix. 760. A
west-country word, ‘The brewer’s grains must be well yoted for the
pigs’, Grose (1790), see EDD. See below.
=yoten,= _pp._ melted. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 5. ME.
_ȝotun_, molten (Wyclif, Job xli. 6, Ps. cv. 19), pp. of _yeten_, to
pour (Chaucer), OE. _gēotan_.
=youl,= to howl, to squall like an infant. All Mistaken, i. 1 (near
end); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xv. 337. Hence _youling_, ib., i. 1
(Philidor); in the same, xv. 332. In gen. prov. use in all
English-speaking countries; see EDD. (s.v. Yowl). ME. _youling_, loud
lamentation (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1278).
=youngth, yongth,= youth. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 20; Muiopotmos, 34.
ME. _ȝongthe_ (Wyclif, Luke xviii. 21).
=ypight,= _pp._ pitched, placed. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 33. See =pight.=
=ysam,= together. Spelt _ysame_ (riming with _ram_ and _swam_). Spenser,
F. Q. vii. 7. 32. See =sam.= ME. _ysamme_, together (P. Plowman, A. x.
193), OE. _samen_, together (Sweet).
=y-vound,= found. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Medlay).
=ywus,= ‘_ywis_’, certainly. Golding, Metam. i. 754 (riming with
_thus_), fol. 13, back (1603). See =iwis.=
Z
=zabra,= a small sailing vessel, in use in the Bay of Biscay; _zabraes_,
pl.; Dekker, Wh. of Babylon, Works, ii. 256. Span. _azábra_, ‘a small
sort of Bark us’d in some parts of Spain’; _Zábra_, ‘a sort of Vessel
once us’d in Biscay from 100 to 200 Tun Burden, and serv’d for Fishing
or Privateering, now laid aside’ (Stevens). Port, _zabra_ (Roquette).
See Stanford (s.v. Azabra).
=zambra,= a Moorish festival, with music and dancing; a festive dance.
Dryden, Conquest of Granada, I, i. 1 (l. 11 from end). Span. _zambra_,
‘a Moorish dance’ (Stevens). ‘A la rigueur _zambra_ signifie musique
d’instruments à vent; on l’a appliqué à la danse parce que l’on danse au
son des larigots et des flûtes’ (Cobarruvias). _Zambra_ is from the
Arabic root _zamara_, to play on a wind instrument, Dozy, Glossaire,
364.
=zany,= a subordinate buffoon, who mimicked the clown. Twelfth Nt. i. 5.
96; cp. L. L. L. v. 2. 463. Ital. ‘_záne_, the name of _John_ in some
parts of Lombardy, but commonly used for a silly John, a simple gull, or
foolish Clown in a Play or Comedy, as a Jack pudding at the dancing of
the ropes’ (Florio). See Stanford.
=zany,= to imitate apishly, to mimic. Fletcher, Queen of Corinth, i. 2
(Crates); Lover’s Progress, i. 1 (Clarinda).
=zecchine,= a gold coin, a ‘sequin’. Shirley, Gent. of Venice, i. 1
(Cornari); Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 79. Ital. _zecchino_, a Venetian
coin, deriv. of _zecca_, ‘a mint or place of coyning’ (Florio), Arab.
_sikka_, coin; _dâr as-sikka-t_, a mint (Steingass).
=zelant,= a zealot. Bacon, Essay 3. Med. L. _zelans_; see Ducange (s.v.
Zelare).
=zelatour,= a zealot, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, ch. 27. Med. L.
_zelator_, ‘aemulator, inimicus’ (Ducange).
=zernick,= orpiment. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). Arab. _zernîkh_,
arsenic (Steingass), Pers. _zernīχ_, orpiment, yellow arsenic; from
_zar_, gold. A word of Indo-European origin. See Academy (May 11, 1895,
p. 427), and Horn’s Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (1893, §
691).
OXFORD: HORACE HART M.A.
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
Transcriber’s Notes
The original spelling has not been modified, with the exception that the
capitalisation of Midlands has been made consistent.
Punctuation is largely reproduced as in the original. End-of-line
hyphens have been removed to rejoin words as appropriate, but other
hyphenation is as in the original. Punctuation has been added silently
is a small number of places where it is obviously missing as a result of
a typesetting or printing error.
The references to EETS. are to the Early English Text Society
publications.
While it is not stated in this book, it is inferred that it follows the
practice of the Oxford English Dictionary in which:
* indicates a word or form not actually found, but of which the
existence is inferred,
† signifies an obsolete word,
[...] in a quotation, it surrounds an editorial insertion,
[...] while around an entire quotation, it indicates a quotation is
relevant to the development of a sense but not directly illustrative of
it.
. . . obtained from the OED web site.
[End of _A Glossary of Stuart and Tudor Words_, by Walter William Skeat,
edited by Anthony Lawson Mayhew]
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