The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Glossary of Stuart and Tudor Words

A GLOSSARY

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

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1914

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK

TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY

HUMPHREY MILFORD M.A.

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY

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.

Alphita, a Medico-Botanical Glossary, ed. J. L. G. Mowat (Anecdota Oxoniensia, 1887).

Anglo-Saxon Gospels, ed. W. W. Skeat. The Gospels in West-Saxon, Northumbrian and Mercian Versions, 1871-87.

Awdeley, John; Fraternitye of Vacabondes, 1565, ed. E. Viles and F. J. Furnivall (EETS., extra series, 1869).

Aydelotte, F.; Elizabethan Rogues and Vagabonds (Oxford Historical and Literary Studies, vol. 1, 1913).

Bacon, Francis; Essays, 1597, ed. W. Aldis Wright, 1871. Life of Henry VII, 1621, ed. J. R. Lumby, 1876.

Baldwyne, William; chief editor of the Mirrour for Magistrates, first issued in 1559.

Ballads. English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. from the Collection of F. J. Child by H. C. Sargent and G. L. Kittredge, 1904.

Barclay, Alexander; Ship of Fools, 1508, a translation of Sebastian Brandt’s Narrenschiff, c. 1494 (Navis Stultifera, 1488); ed. Jamieson, 1874.

Barnfield, Richard; The Affectionate Shepherd, 1594; ed. J. O. Halliwell (Percy Soc., 1845).

Bartsch, K., et A. Horning; La Langue et la Littérature françaises depuis le ix^e siècle jusqu’au xiv^e siècle. Textes et Glossaire, 1887.

Beaumont and Fletcher; Works, ed. G. Darley, 1859; also, ed. W. Gifford with a Biographical Memoir (reprint, Routledge, 1860). [Francis Beaumont born 1586, died 1615.]

Berners, Lord (John Bourchier); tr. of the Chronicles of Froissart (Pynson, 1523). [Born 1467, died 1533.]

Bibbesworth, Walter de; The Treatise, c. ann. 1325; printed in Wright’s Vocabularies (ed. 2, 1882). This is probably the correct spelling, not ‘Biblesworth’. See Wright, Thomas.

Bible, English. Authorised Version, 1611 (exact reprint. Clarendon Press, 1911).

Boke of St. Albans, printed in 1486; facsimile reprint, 1881. Contains a Book on Hawking, a Book on Hunting (by Dame Juliana Barnes), and a Book on Coat-Armour.

Bosworth and Toller (B. T.). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary begun by J. Bosworth, and completed by T. N. Toller, 1882-98.

Boyle, Roger (Earl of Orrery); Parthenissa, 1676; Guzman, c. 1679; Mr. Anthony, 1689.

Bozon, Nicole; Les Contes Moralisés, c. 1350; ed. L. Toulmin Smith and Paul Moyer, 1889.

Brand, John; Observations on Popular Antiquities, 1813; Arranged and revised by H. Ellis; reprint, 1887 (Chatto and Windus).

Brathwaite (or Braithwait), Richard; Barnabae Itinerarium (Drunken Barnaby’s Four Journeys), Latin and English, ed. 1, 1648; reprint, 1822.

Brewer, Antony; Dramatist, fl. 1655. [To him was formerly ascribed ‘Lingua, or the Combat of the Five Senses for Superiority, 1607’; see DNB.]

Brome, Alexander; Poet, Satirist, and Dramatist; Wks. ed. 1873. [Born 1620, died 1666.]

—— Religio Medici and Christian Morals, ed. by W. A. Greenhill; 1881. [Born 1640, died 1680.]

Browne, William; Britannia Pastorals, see English Poets. [Born 1590, died c. 1645.]

Brunne, Robert of; Handlyng Synne, c. 1303; ed. F. J. Furnivall (Roxburghe Club, 1862).

Butler, Samuel; Poems, ed. R. Bell, 1855; Hudibras, ed. H. G. Bohn, 1871. [Born 1612, died 1680.]

Calisch, J. M.; Nederlandsch-Engelsch en Engelsch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, 1875.

Caxton, William; The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, c. 1474; reprint by H. O. Sommer, 1894.

—— Game of the Chesse, printed in 1474; facsimile of the 2nd ed., V. Figgins, 1860.

Chapman, George; Dramatic Works, ed. 1873. The Iliad of Homer, 1611; Odyssey, 1614; Chapman’s Homer, ed. R. Hooper, 1857; R. H. Shepherd, 1875.

Chaucer, Geoffrey; Complete Works; ed. W. W. Skeat, 1894. [Born 1328, died 1400.]

Cocke Lorell’s Bote, a humorous and sarcastic poem, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, c. 1515; ed. 1843.

Cotgrave, Randle; A French and English Dictionary. First edition 1611. The edition of 1673 is the one usually cited.

Court of Love, a late poem first printed with Chaucer’s Works, 1561; reprinted in Chaucerian and Other Poems, ed. by W. W. Skeat, 1897.

Cowell, John; The Interpreter of Words and Terms, 1607; ed. 1637; also ed. augmented and improved, 1701.

Davenant, Sir William; Dramatist and Poet-Laureate, see English Poets. [Born 1605, died 1668.]

Dekker, Thomas; Dramatic Works; ed. by E. Rhys, 1873. [Born c. 1570, died c. 1637.]

Destruction of Troy, c. 1390; ed. G. A. Panton and D. Donaldson (EETS. 1869 and 1874).

Dict.: Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by W. W. Skeat, ed. 4, 1910.

Dict. M. & S.: A Concise Dictionary of Middle English, by A. L. Mayhew and W. W. Skeat, 1888.

Didot: Glossaire Français de Ducange, dans l’édition du Glossarium publiée par M. Ambroise Firmin Didot, 1887.

Dodsley, Robert; A Select Collection of Old English Plays, originally published 1780; ed. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1876.

Dozy, R.; Glossaire des Mots espagnols et portugais dérivés de l’Arabe; ed. W. H. Engelmann, Leyde, 1869.

Ducange: Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis, conditum a Carolo du Fresne, Domino Du Cange; ed. Henschel, 1883-7.

Dunbar, W.; Poems, ed. Small and Gregor (Scottish Text Soc., 1883-93). [floruit 1500.]

Earle, John; A Hand-book to the Land-Charters and other Saxonic Documents, 1888.

EDD.: English Dialect Dictionary, with English Dialect Grammar, edited by Dr. Joseph Wright, 1905.

Elyot, Sir Thomas; The Boke named The Governour, 1531; ed. H. H. S. Croft, 1883.

Fabyan, Robert; Chronicles of England and France; ed. Henry Ellis, 1811. [Died 1512.]

Fairfax, Edward; Godfrey of Bulloigno or the Recoverie of Hierusalem, 1600, a translation of Tasso’s poem.

Fitzhorbert, John F.; Book of Husbandry, 1534; ed. W. W. Skeat (Eng. Dialect Soc., 1882).

—— Italian and English Dictionary, and English and Italian Dictionary, by G. Torriano, ed. 1688. This is the edition usually cited.

Gascoigne, George; Poet and Dramatist. Works, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1869. [Born c. 1536, died 1577.]

Godefroy, F.; Dictionnaire de l’Ancienne Langue Française et de tous ses Dialectes du ix^e au xv^e siècle, 1881-1902.

Godwin, Francis, Bishop of Hereford; Man in the Moone, ed. 1638. [Born 1561, died 1633.]

Googe, Barnaby; The Zodiac of Life, 1560-5; The Popish Kingdome, 1570; Four Bokes of Husbandrie, tr. from Heresbach.

Gorbodue, The Tragedy of, by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton, produced 1561, printed 1565; authorized ed. 1571, under the name of Ferrex and Porrex.

Greene, Robert; The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Rob. Greene and Geo. Peele; ed. A. Dyce, 1883. [Born 1560, died 1592.]

Grimald, Nicholas; Poet; translator of ‘Tully’s Offices’. [Born c. 1519, died 1562.]

Grose, Francis; A Provincial Glossary with a Collection of Local Proverbs and Popular Superstitions, ed. 2, 1790.

Halliwell, J. O.; A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words; Fifth edition, 1865.

Hampole, Richard Rolle of; The Psalms of David, c. 1330; ed. H. R. Bramley, 1884.

Harington, Sir John; Orlando Furioso in English Heroical Verse, 1591; in English Poets.

Harman, Thomas; A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursetors, vulgarly called Vagabones, 1566, ed. E. Viles and F. J. Furnivall (EETS., extra series, 1869).

Harrison, William; A Description of England, edited from the first two editions of Holinshed’s Chronicle, 1577, 1587, by F. J. Furnivall (New Shakspere Society, 1878).

Hatzfeld: Dictionnaire de la Langue Française, par MM. A. Hatzfeld, A. Darmesteter, et A. Thomas, 1890-6.

Hawes, Stephen; Passetyme of Pleasure, c. 1506; reprinted for the Percy Soc., 1846.

Hearne, Thomas; Reliquiae Hearnianae (ed. P. Bliss, 1857). [Born 1678, died 1735.]

Hero and Leander, a paraphrase of the poem ascribed to Musaeus by Marlowe, completed by Chapman, 1598; see NED. (s.v. Imperance).

Herrick, Robert; Poetical Works; ed. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1869. [Born 1591, died 1674.]

Hoccleve (or Occleve), Thomas; De Regimine Principum, 14th cent.; ed. by T. Wright (Roxburghe Club, 1860).

—— Instructions for Foreign Travel, 1642 (ed. Arber, 1868). [Born c. 1594, died 1666.]

Koolman, J.; Wörterbuch der Ostfriesischen Sprache, 1884. [The dialect is not E. Frisian; it is a variety of Low German.]

La Curne de Sainte-Palaye; Dictionnaire historique de l’ancien langage françois, 10 vols., 1882.

Latimer, Hugh; Seven Sermons before Edward VI, 1549; ed. Arber, 1869. [Died Oct. 16, 1555.]

—— Temple of Glas; ed. Dr. J. Schick (EETS., extra series, 1891). [Born c. 1370, died c. 1460.]

Machin, Lewis; Play-writer. The Dumbe Knight, 1608 (in collaboration with Gervase Markham); see NED. (s.v. Mountcent).

Malory, Sir Thomas; Le Morte Arthur, 1485; printed by Caxton; exact reprint, ed. H. O. Sommer, 1889-91.

Manchester, Earl of (Sir Henry Montagu); Manchester Al Mondo, 1633; reprinted from the fourth impression (1638-9), Frowde, 1902.

Marlowe, Christopher; Works, ed. F. Cunningham, 1870; ed. C. F. Tucker Brooke, 1910. [Born 1564, died 1593.]

Marston, John; Works; ed. J. O. Halliwell, 1856. His first work, Scourge of Villanie, printed in 1598.

Mayne, Jasper (Archdeacon); Play-writer, The City Match, printed 1639, and The Amorous War, printed 1648.

Merlin, a Prose Romance, c. 1440; ed. H. B. Wheatley (EETS., 1869); Pt. iv, ed. W. E. Mead (EETS., 1899).

Milton, John; Paradise Lost, 1665; Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes, 1671. [Born 1608, died 1674.]

Mirrour for Magistrates, a collection of poems to which T. Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, contributed ‘The Induction’, and ‘The Complaint’, 1559-63; ed. Jos. Hazlewood, 1815. See Baldwyne; Sackville.

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.

Nares, Robert; A Glossary to the Works of English Authors, particularly Shakespeare and his contemporaries, 1822; a new ed. by J. O. Halliwell and Thomas Wright, 1859, reprinted 1876. [Born 1753, died 1829.]

NED.; The New English Dictionary. Editors, Sir James Murray, Dr. Henry Bradley, and Dr. William Craigie. The Clarendon Press, Oxford.

—— 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.

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.

Phaer, Thomas; The Nyne First Books of the Æneid of Virgil, 1562; the translation was finished by Twyne. [Born c. 1510, died 1560.]

Phillips, Edward; The New World of Words, or Universal English Dictionary, 1706.

Plowman’s Tale, The, c. 1400; printed in The Works of Jeffrey Chaucer, ed. Th. Speght, 1687; reprinted in Political Poems and Songs; see below.

Prompt.: Promptorium Parvulorun, c. 1440; ed. A. Way (Camden Soc., 1843-65); also, A. L. Mayhew (EETS., extra series, CII, 1908).

Proverbs. A Handbook of Proverbs, collected by H. G. Bohn, containing Ray’s Collection, with Large Additions, 1870.

Proverbs of Hendyng, 1272-1307; printed in Reliquiae Antiquae (ed. Wright and Halliwell), and in J. M. Kemble’s Appendix to ‘The Dialogues of Salomon and Saturn’ (Ælfric Society, 1848).

Psalter (Anglo-Norman), 12th cent.; ed. by F. Michel from a Bodleian MS., Oxford, 1850.

—— A Collection of English Words, 2nd ed. 1691; rearranged and edited by W. W. Skeat (EDS., 1874).

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. Arber, 1878.

Richard the Redeles, printed with the C text of Piers the Plowman; ed. W. W. Skeat, 1886.

Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, c. 1298; ed. T. Hearne, 1724; reprinted, 1810; ed. W. Aldis Wright (Rolls Series, 1887).

Robynson, Raphe; tr. of More’s Utopia, 2nd ed. 1556; ed. J. R. Lumby, 1879; ed. Arber. See More, Sir T.

Romaunt of the Rose. A translation of the French Roman de la Rose; Part A by Chaucer; Part B in Northern (Lincoln) dialect; Part C of unknown origin; ed. Skeat (Student’s Chaucer).

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, Mirrour for Magistrates. Works ed. by R. W. Sackville-West, 1859.

Sewel, W.; Dictionary, English and Dutch, Dutch and English, 1727; ed. 5, 1754; augmented and improved by Egbert Buys, 1766.

Shakespeare. The Globe Edition; ed. by W. G. Clark and W. Aldis Wright, 1864. References generally as in Schmidt’s Lexicon. His Dramas and Poems are referred to by the name of the Play or Poem alone.

Sherwood, Robert (‘Londoner’); A Dictionary. English and French, 1672 (serves as an English index to Cotgrave, ed. 1673).

Sidney, Sir Philip; Arcadia, 1581, published 1590; Apology for Poetrie, 1595; ed. Arber, 1868.

Sin. Barth.: Sinonyma Bartholomei, ed. J. L. G. Mowat (Anecdota Oxoniensia, 1887).

Spenser: The Complete Works of Edmund Spenser. The Globe edition, ed. by R. Morris. Shepherds’ Calendar [Shep. Kal.], 1579; Faery Queen [F. Q.], 1590-6.

Stanford: The Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words and Phrases; ed. C. A. M. Fennell, 1892.

Strutt, Joseph; The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, 1801; ed. W. Horne, 1834.

Stubbes, Philip; Anatomy of the Abuses in England, 1583; ed. F. J. Furnivall, 1877-9.

Student’s Pastime, A; Selections of Articles reprinted from ‘Notes and Queries’, by W. W. Skeat, 1896.

Tarlton, Richard; Satirist; Tarlton’s Newes out of Purgatorie, publ. 1590. [Died 1588.]

Thersites, An Interlude, first performed in August, 1537; 1st ed. c. 1560; reprinted 1820, included in Hazlitt’s ed. of Dodsley’s Old English Plays; extracts printed in English Miracle Plays, ed. A. W. Pollard, 1890.

Tottel, Richard; Printer of Tottel’s Miscellany, a collection of verses, known in society, but never before published, by the Earl of Surrey, Sir Thomas Wyatt, and others, 1557; ed. Arber, 1870.

Tourneur, Cyril; Plays and Poems; ed. J. Churton Collins, 1878. [Born c. 1575, died 1626.]

Towneley Mysteries, c. 1450; printed for Surtees Soc., 1836; also ed. G. England and A. W. Pollard (EETS., extra series, 1897).

Trench, Richard C. (Archbishop); Select Glossary, ed. 7, 1890 (revised by A. L. Mayhew).

Trevisa, John of; Translation of Higden’s Polychronicon, 1387; ed. J. R. Lumby (Rolls Series, 1865-6).

Tuke, Sir Samuel; Dramatist. Adventures of Five Hours, 1663; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley.

Tusser, Thomas; Five hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie; first ed. 1573; ed. Payne and Herrtage (EDS., 1878).

Tyndale, William; The Whole Workes of W. Tyndale, John Frith, and Doctor Barnes, printed by John Daye, 1572. Tyndale’s Translation of the New Testament into English was first printed in 1525.

Udall, Nicholas; Roister Doister, c. 1553; ed. Arber, 1869. Translation of the Apophthegmes of Erasmus, 1532.

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.

Wilkins, George; Miseries of Inforst Marriage, 1607; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ix. 533.

Wycherley, William; Dramatic Works; ed. 1840, with those of Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar. [Born c. 1640, died 1715.]

Wynkyn de Worde (Jan van Wynkyn), native of Worth in Alsace. Printer. Came to England with Caxton from Bruges 1476, died c. 1534.

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.

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.

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.

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.

abode, to forebode, Hen. VIII, i. 1. 93. An announcement, Chapman, Iliad, xiii. 146, 226. Cp. OE. ābēodan, to announce (pp. āboden).

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).

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.

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.

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.

acroche, to grasp, try to acquire. ‘I acroche, as a man dothe that wynneth goodes or landes off another by sleyght, Iaccroche’, Palsgrave.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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).

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 10s. 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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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 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).

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.).

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.

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.

aukly, inauspiciously; said of the flight of birds. Golding, Metam. v. 147; fol. 57, back.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.).

†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 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-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.

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).

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.

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.

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 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.

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.).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

betso, a small Venetian coin; worth about a farthing. Marmion, The Antiquary, iii. 1 (Bravo). Ital. bezzo, a small brass coin in Venice (Florio).

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.).

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.).

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.).

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.

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.

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).

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: 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).

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.).

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 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.

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.

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).

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.).

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.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.).

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).

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.

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).

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.

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).

burdseat, a board-seat, i.e. a stool. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid, iii. 408.

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).

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.

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)).

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).

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.

cacafugo, a spitfire, a braggart, blustering fellow. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, iii. 1. 8. Span. cacafuego.

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.).

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).

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, sb⁴ 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).

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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).]

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).

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.

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).

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).

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.

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-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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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).

cibation, a process in alchemy; lit. ‘a feeding’. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Dol). From L. cibus, food.

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.

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).

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)).

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.).

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.

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.).

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-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.).

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.

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).

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.

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).

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).

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).

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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, 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.

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.

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).

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, 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).

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).

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.).

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).

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).

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.

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).

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.).

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-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.

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).

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.).

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.

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’.)

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.).

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)).

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.

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.

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.).

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.

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).

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

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-, 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.

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.

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.

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.).

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) 3s. 4d., she would pay the 3s. and say—‘will you take eggs for money?’ If the shopman weakly consented, he received the value of the 4d. 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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.).

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.

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.

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).

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).

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.

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.).

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).

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

false: phr. to false a blow, to make a feint, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 46; ii. 5. 9. Cp. Cymbeline, ii. 3. 74.

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’.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

felfare, a field-fare. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, i. 1 (L. Beaufort). So in Nottingham and Warwick (EDD.).

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.).

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.

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.

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.

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 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).

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).

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).

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.).

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.

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.

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).

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.).

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 fet, 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).

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-, prefix¹ 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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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, 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.

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)).

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 (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).

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).

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’.

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.

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).

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.

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).

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).

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).

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.

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, 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).

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).

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.).

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.

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.).

gundolet, for gondolet, a small gondola. Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2 (Piero). It occurs twice in this scene.

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 9d. 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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.).

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.

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.).

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.

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-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).

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 5s. 2d.’, 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.).

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

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).

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 b

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