Dictionary of Early English

DICTIONARY OF EARLY ENGLISH

MIDCENTURY REFERENCE LIBRARY DAGOBERT

D.

RUNES,

Ph.D., General Editor

AVAILABLE Beethoven Encyclopedia Dictionary of American

Grammar

and Usage Dictionary of American Maxims Dictionary of American Proverbs Dictionary of Ancient History Dictionary of Arts and Crafts Dictionary of the Arts Dictionary of Civics and Government Dictionary of European History Dictionary of Etiquette Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases Dictionary of Early English Dictionary of Last Words Dictionary of Latin Literature Dictionary of Linguistics Dictionary of Mysticism Dictionary of Mythology Dictionary of Pastoral Psychology Dictionary of Philosophy Dictionary of Psychoanalysis Dictionary of Science and Technology

Dictionary of Sociology Dictionary of Word Origins Dictionary of World Literature Encyclopedia of Aberrations Encyclopedia of the Arts

Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Encyclopedia

of of of of of of

Atomic Energy Criminology Literature

Psychology Religion Substitutes and

Synthetics

Encyclopedia of Vocational Guidance Illustrated Technical Dictionary Labor Dictionary Liberal Arts Dictionary Military and Naval Dictionary New Dictionary of American History New Dictionary of Psychology Protestant Dictionary Slavonic Encyclopedia Theatre Dictionary Tobacco Dictionary

FORTHCOMING Buddhist Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary

of American Folklore of the American Indian of the American Language

of of of of of of of of of of of of of

American Literature American Men and Places American Names American Superstitions American Synonyms Anthropology Astronomy Dietetics

Discoveries and Inventions Earth Sciences Explorations French Literature

Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary

of

of of of of of of of of of of of

German Hebrew

Literature Literature

Law Magic Mechanics New Words

Poetics the Renaissance Russian Literature Science Social Science Spanish Literature Encyclopedia of Morals Personnel Dictionary Teachers* Dictionary Writers* Dictionary

Geography

PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY, INC. Publishers

15 E. 40th Street

New York

16,

N. Y.

DICTIONARY OF

EARLY ENGLISH JOSEPH

'ith

T.

SHIPLEY

a Preface oy

MARK VAN DOREN

PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY IN

e\\r

York

Copyright, 1955, by

PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY, INC. 15 East 40th Street, New York, N. Y. All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

To

BURKE NICOLE

_,

and

THORNE LINDA

PREFACE Mr. Shipley's Dictionary has been a delight to me, and

I

can imagine no

reader, erudite or otherwise, to whom it will be anything less than that, I claim no erudition in my own case;*I am not a student of the English language

of its history, at any rate nor am I, to tell the truth, a scholar of any sort. But this does not prevent me from taking a lively and perpetual interest in the words men use and have used. There is a sense in which man lives by words more than he does by bread; neither is enough for life alone, but whereas all animals must eat in order to keep on being themselves, only man must talk to this same end. And Mr. Shipley shows him, in so far as he talks English, as having pleased himself, generation after generation, by more words than we might suppose would ever be remembered, let alone written or spoken in their time.

and honorwhich amuse us rather than enlighten us concerning the way our forebears thought. Mr. Shipley is rightly more interested in a host of terms, gathered by him out of a thousand years, from which we can learn

Among

these there are monsters like floccinaucinihilipilification

ificabilitudinitatibus

things about the folklore, the medicine, the psychology, the philosophy, the art, the cookery, the morals, and the entertainments of ages that long since went to sleep and for the most part have ceased even to dream. fascinating

Yet some of them do dream, and to the extent that we can participate in the experience we may find ourselves edified; for it is not alone in our generation that men have been sensible, acute, and wise. Mr. Shipley is nowhere more interesting than he is in those unobtrusive notes or side-remarks which span

between dead and living days, and make certain words for which we still have the things. "Everyman's wife, in America, is noted for her emacity." Absalonism., he suggests, might still "serve the psychoanalysts." Accidie has been a genuine loss for something we shall have always with us; so has atonement in its original meaning; and so perhaps has glother I should love to be able to say to someone, "Don't glother me," and be sure that he understood. But every reader will find his own examples in this copious work which will so richly repay the investment of long evenings devoted to it; and these evenings need not be merely winter ones; they could be aestival as well. like

an

electrician's arc the distance

us wish that

we had not thrown away

Mark Van Doren vii

INTRODUCTION "Forgotten" Words If a word were completely forgotten, I could not oblivion, moreover, may be another's crowded store.

list it

here.

One man's

Gathered in this DICTIONARY are, in the main, words that have dropped from general use. Many of them are Anglo-Saxon words that have been replaced by other terms, or that describe ways of living that have passed. Others are learned introductions into our tongue, fashioned from Latin or Greek forms, that failed to take long root. In many cases, words came into the language in various forms, only some of which not always the simplest; see

couth

may have won

survival.

in a constant process of change, of growth here and decay Language there; although, since recorded writing, no word has wholly died. Some words, is

indeed, have been so transformed as to

In

this

DICTIONARY

are a few

still

mean

their

own

opposite (see avaunt). current words, included because of their

old associations, or because of older meanings lapsed from use.

The Basis of Selection From the vast number

of words used in the English past, selection has been the guided by following principles. There have been included: Words that are likely to be met in literary reading. Chaucer, Spenser, (1) Shakespeare, the Tudor pamphlets and translations, are richly represented

in words

and illustrative quotations. The late 18th and early 19th century been culled: Chatterton, Ossian; Percy's Reliques and Child's

revival has

Ballads; Scott, in his efforts to bring picturesque words back into use. In addition, anthologies, for the general reader or the student, have been ex-

amined, and works they include combed for forgotten words. illumi(2) Words that belong to the history of early England, describing or nating social conditions, political (e.g., feudal) divisions or distinctions, and all the ways of living, of thinking and feeling, in earlier times. Anxiety, for example, is indicated, not in the 99 phobias listed in a psychiatric glossary of the 1950*5 but in the 120

methods

(see

aeromancy) of discovering

if

not influencing

the future. Incidentally, research for this

a time

(as

all

good

volume has made

stories start!)

it quite clear that once upon the English were superb cooks. Cardinal

Introduction

in his private kitchen. Some of the early dishes, Wolsey had 22 specialists the anticipant mouth. Judgare given in this volume, water recipes of which from their exile in Paris returned Stuarts the when was ing by the dates, it so that gradually the native that French menus became the London fashion, flashes the In such forgotten words send fell into desuetude. ways,

cooking

the olden culture. backin various ways have special interest, as in meaning, that (3) various are this in Included imaginary group ground, or associated folklore. of magic or medicinal plants. number a and beings, Words that are not in the general vocabulary today, but might be of light

upon Words

(4)

pleasantly

and

usefully revived.

The Times' Emphases Among the many contributions

our English speech, a few tendencies currents in the two main rivers, Germanic and to

seem notable for our purpose, Romanic-Greek, that have fed the English ocean. From the Norman Conquest there was a continuous process of commixion of (1066) to the 16th century, the Norman French, with a seeping in of Latin and the Anglo-Saxon tongue Latin and Greek from the church. The best and law court, terms from the the jester this of known example amalgamation is in Scott's Ivanhoe, where to be have animals domestic when the that, and the swineherd point present cared for and tended, they are the defeated but stalwart Saxon pig, bull, calf, or sheep, but when they are dressed and served to be eaten, they are the

or mutton. triumphant but tender Norman pork, beef, veal, the jester's; it manifests than This observation, however, was rather Scott's a consciousness largely lacking in the language growth of those five hundred that a conscious concern with words years. It was in the late i6th century in his Chronicles (1577) developed widely, never to slacken since. Holinshed said that Anglo-Saxon was "an hard and rough kind of speech, Godwotte,

when our nation was brought

first

into acquaintance withall."

The many

were attacked, and monosyllables in the current speech, mainly Anglo-Saxon, a wide-ranging quest of variety was begun, that produced the Elizabethan profusion.

Reaction against newfangled words, inkhorn terms, against phrases borlike fashions in dress from Italy, France, and Spain, set in with the

rowed

surge of national spirit that hailed the defeat (1588) of the Invincible Armada. For the first sixty years of the 17th century, there was a remarkable interest in Anglo-Saxon. An Anglo-Saxon lectureship was established at Cambridge University; a dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon tongue was compiled. Enthusiasts went so far as to declare that the parent of Anglo-Saxon, German, was

the oldest

and best of

all

tongues

the original language, indeed, of the Bible.

Introduction

As the Germans (Cambrians) were not among the builders of the Tower of Babel, their speech in its purity had survived. This boast of preeminence of tongue, in Richard Hawkins* A Discourse of the Natural Excellences of England (1685), was expanded to a more general claim: "The English descend from those people of Germany which are called Saxons. These by good authors were esteemed the strongest and valiantest of its nations ... In a word, they were dreaded for their arms, and commended for their extraordinary chastity: so that the English derive from a most noble and pure fountain, being the offspring of so valiant and so chaste a people." The courtiers and writers exiled with the Stuarts had other thoughts. Back across the Channel in 1660 came more than Parisian cooking, came also a scorn for the rough though chaste "German" speech of the Puritans, and a taste for the fluent French. James Howell in 1662 declared, of the English tongue, that the French "hath not only enriched but civilized and smoothed her with many thousands of words derived from the Latin." Some scholars emphasized the idea that in truth all the modern tongues were mutable, were ephemeral, that permanence was to be found only in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. This was no new notion; while Chaucer in the 14th century was shaping modern English, Gower, to ensure survival, wrote three long poems each in a different tongue. In the i7th century not only church ritual but international correspondence was still carried on in Latin. About 1650, Edmund Waller wrote:

But who can hope

his lines should

long

Last in a daily changing tongue? While they are new, envy prevails,

And

as that dies,

our language

fails.

Poets that lasting marble seek Must carve in Latin or in Greek. loose a flood of works in the classical languages Milton wrote Latin poems, but his major works speak to his countrymen in for a century there were many borrowings from Greek their own tongue and Latin, the classical words being given English forms. Writers sprinkled Latinisms in their works, as offering alms to oblivion. Macaulay's schoolboy knows how Johnson corrected his lapse into Anglo-Saxon: "It has not wit

While such opinions did not

Hrmph ... It has not vitality sufficient to enough to keep it sweet it from putrefaction." preserve Hence it is that many words of Anglo-Saxon origin lapsed from use in the 16th and 17th centuries; while many from Latin and Greek, in those .

.

.

used, lapsed in the 18th or early 19th century. Not within the scope of this volume, of course, are the many more, along either stream of

centuries

first

xi

Introduction

a vital part of our living speech and that, in the joining history, that remain turbulent flow, make English the richest language of all time. of their

*

The Period Covered The centuries covered by this DICTIONARY are, roughly, the 8th 18th. Where a word's use was limited, the period is usually indicated

to the

in the

books quoted are, in some cases, approximate; the purpose to indicate the period during which the word was used.

discussion. Dates of is

The

Spelling

variations of spelling developed; early, more flexible times, many dule appear in the general listing; Thus included. are ones dool, dole, major under the main entry, dole, thirteen variants are given. In the illustrative the reader's convenience: the old spelling has been shaped to

In the

quotations,

form of the word under discussion has been retained; with other words, the old spelling is usually retained if the sense is clear. The aim has been to focus attention

on the word in hand.

A

indicates the beginning of a capital within a quotation usually line of verse.

new

A cknow ledgments The indebtedness of a lexicographer extends to all his predecessors. In addition to the literary works of the authors named above, I have had recourse to the more technical volumes listed below, and my thanks go to the many that have lighted and lightened my way. "Forgotten" words have cropped up, also, in many an odd corner of my reading, and friends have frequently asked

me whether one

whom

of their favorites

is

in.

Beyond

all

such aid must be

cannot and would not forget, bully in word-play, but ever concerned, the golden thread in the pattern of my days.

listed hers

I

WORKS An

IN

MY LIBRARY

Universal Etymological English Dictionary, by N. Bailey. London. First Edition, 1721; my copy, 1751.

A

Glossary and Etymological Dictionary, by W. Toone. London, 1834. English Etymologies, by H. Fox Talbot London, 1847. A Dictionary of the First, or Oldest Words in the English Language, by the late Herbert Coleridge. London, 1863.

Dictionary of Obsolete 1869.

and Provincial

English, by Thos. Wright. London,

xii

(2 vols.)

Introduction

A

Dictionary of the Old English Language, by Francis

Henry Stratmann.

Krefeld,

1878.

A

Glossary ... in the works of English authors, particularly Shakespeare and his contemporaries, by Robert Nares, with additions by Halliwell and Wright. London (2 vols.), 1882.

Renaissance Dictionaries, by

De Witt T.

Starnes. Austin, 1954.

A

Shakespeare Glossary, by C. T. Onions. Oxford, 1941. Shakespeare's Bawdy, by Eric Partridge. New York, 1948.

Two

dozen dictionaries and

glossaries of cant, slang,

and specialized vocabularies. An and Unconventional English,

excellent general volume is the Dictionary of Slang by Eric Partridge. New York, 1908.

The Oxford English

Dictionary (13

vols.).

Referred to in the text as the O, E. D.

New

English Dictionary on Historical Principles. The most comprehensive dictionary of the kind in any language, especially rich in illustrative quotations; to it, all succeeding lexicographers, myself included, owe an inestimable debt.

being a revision of the

OTHER WORKS FOUND USEFUL Dictionary of Thomas Eliot knyght. 1538. Alvearie or triple dictionarie ... by John Baret. 1573.

The

An

John Rider. 1589. Worlde of Wordes, by John Florio. 1598 (enlarged 1611). Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, by Cotgrave.

Bibliotheca Scholastica, by

A A

Glossographia, by Thos. Blount. 1656. A Collection of English Words Not Generally Used, by Dictionary ... by E. Coles. 1676.

1611.

John Ray.

1674.

Canting Crew. 1700. Vocabularium Anglo-Saxonicum, by Thos. Benson. 1701. Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. 1785. Welsh and English Dictionary, by W. Owen. 1793.

B.E.'s Dictionary of the

A A

Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language, by J. Bosworth. 1838. Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, by J. O. Halliwell. 1850.

Slang and Its Analogues, by Farmer and Henley

(7 vols.). 1904. J.

xin

T.

S.

An

aadom.

afternoon repast; afternoon.

Also aandorn; arndern to the ISth century. aande.

Breath.

is

Used

evening.

Not uncommon

in

the

15th century, as in Hampole: Hys mynde es schort when he oght thynkes, Hys nese [nose] oft droppes, hys

An

aas.

aande stynkes.

early form of

what they

did. S.

Clark in his LIVES (1683)

Neither difference of opinion, nor distance of place, nor seldomness of constates:

nor any worldly

verse,

the

least

respect, did cause

Note that one

ab alienation.

of alienation (from 1450 on) is also loss of mental faculties; Lord Brou-

meaning

gham on THE

BRITISH CONSTITUTION (1862) of a state of mental alienation. speaks

ace, aces,

To blind by holding red hot metal close to the eyes. Latin ab, off 4bacinus, basin. Hence abadnation; a mild medieval torture. abacinate.

abarcy. A state of always desiring more. In the 1731 edition of his ETYMOLOGICAL DICTONARY, N. Bailey traces this to a medieval Latin word abartia, insatiable-

The word, in both languages, seems be the lexicographer's invention. The

ness.

abactor.

One who

From Latin Hence,

mond

ab,

steals cattle in herds.

away

+

agere, to drive.

abaction, cattle-stealing. Hamin his commentary ON PSALMS

(1659) speaks of abactors, whose breaking in . . is attended with the catties passing .

through or going out Lamb, in a of 1829, refers to an abactofs wife.

letter

There

no English verb to abaci, but N. Bailey's ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY of 1751 includes ab acted, drawn away by stealth is

or violence. abafelled.

form (and

Treated scornfully; an early sense) of baffled.

abalienate.

From Latin

To

estrange; to

ab~,

away

4-

make mad.

alienare, to es-

to

present lexicographer, in a 1953 letter to THEATRE ARTS, invented the word euciliast, a deliberately pompous term (eu,

good

-f

cilia,

hairs H- -ast,

word ecdysiast as an elevated term for the burlesque 'strip- teaser/ This has, however, counterpart in other creatures; ecdysis (from Greek ec-f ex-, out, fered the

off + dyein, to put) is the scientific term for the shedding of its shell by the crayfish, and for other such slough.

abarnare. crime.

To

report or disclose a secret another inven-

The word seems

tion of the fertile N. Bailey in his ETY-

trange, to give to another; alienus, belonging to another. John Gaule in PYSMANTIA

MOLOGICAL DICTIONARY

THE MAG-ASTRO-MANGER

abastardize.

(1651)

says:

Ex-

prophets did not so abalienate their minds as that they apprehended not tastes of

an eager one)

for a person interested in hirsute adornment. In similar vein, H. L. Mencken of-

To

Daniel in

(1751).

render

THE

illegitimate

or

QUEEN'S ARCADIA (1605) wrote: Being ourselves Corrupted

base.

abigail

abastick

and abastardized

thus,

Thinke

all lookes

it

abastard,

abate.

In the 13th century (Robert of

Gloucester's CHRONICLE) abate meant not to lessen, but to put an end to, to cease.

abawe.

To

astonish,

confound.

spoke in

stone, I presume?",

THE DARK

CONTINENT (1878) of a native surrounded by fat wives and abdominous brats. Several members of the New York sophisticates* Three-hours-for-lunch Club were, as might be expected, abdominous.

Also

abaue; abave. Also, to bow, cp. abow. Chaucer, in THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE (1366) has: For soche another, as I gesse, Aforne ne was, ne more vermaile; I was

abawed for

related to abdere, to put away,

the Trojan Horse says: If s so abdominous, was not so fully lined. H. M. Stanley, whose most famous words are "Dr. Living-

Insatiable. Cp. abarcy.

abastick.

may be

or to adipem, adipomem, fat. Cleveland in the DIALOGUE OF Two ZEALOTS (1651)

that doth not looke like us. Also to

ill,

ABC;

abece.

the

alphabet,

or

an

alphabet-book. In Robert of Gloucester's CHRONICLE,, 13th century: He was more than ten yer old ar he couthe ys abece.

merveile.

The woof or weft in something woven. Also aw ebb, oweb; Old English awefan; a, up + wefan, to weave.

abb.

Cp. abecedary; absey-book.

An

abecedary.

A

abbey-lubber. lazy monk; a fat slugterm used in gard, a porridge-belly.

alphabet book; a primer. to the 18th century;

Used from the 15th

A

also

scorn by the anti-Catholics of the 16th and 17th centuries. Thus Cotgrave in 1611

abscedary,

on the

absedary.

ABCDary;

ac-

Also used as an adjective, relating to the alphabet; needing the alphabet, illiterate. Also abecedarie; abececent

defined archimarmitonerastique: an abbeylubber, or arch-frequenter of the cloyster

see.

beefe-pot.

dario (plural abecedarii) , a teacher, or a learner, of the ABC's. Cp. abece; absey-

proverb e to call him an abbey-lubber, that was idle, wel fed, a long lewd lither

Montaigne

THE BURNYNGE OF PAULES CHURCH (1563) said it was a commen

loiterer, that

abbord.

book. Florio in his translation (1603) of said: There is a kind of abece-

darie

might worke and would not.

See abord.

abditoriumu

abeche.

A secret place,

abequitate.

abditive, remote, hidden.

away

of.

The

origin of

abdomen

feed;

to satisfy.

a, to,

with

+

From Old bee, beak:

for the tyme wel refreched.

by Dr. Robinson in to say: In the center of the kernel of grain, as the safest abditory, is the source of germination. Hence also also,

abdominous. Paunch-bellied; This is, of course, abdomen

an-

the early references were to birds. Gower in CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1393) has: Yit schulde I sum delle been abeched, And

Latin abdere, abditum, from ab, away 4- dare, to put. The word is used of a chest in which religious relics are kept,

money but EUDOXA (1658)

To

French abeschier;

especially for hiding things. Also abditory. From the

or

ignorance preceding science;

other, doctorall, following science.

Become bold. In the romance KYNG ALYSAUNDER, 13th century. abelde.

+

of

To ride away. Latin ab, equus, horse. In 17th century

dictionaries.

unwieldy.

+

is

abie.

ous, full

unknown; ^ _

See abye.

abigail.

9

A

waiting-woman. In the BIBLE

abluted

abject (FIRST gail

BOOK OF SAMUEL, XXV.

meant (Bailey's DICTIONARY, 1751) to lay bare "the bottom of the trunks and roots of trees, that so being exposed to

24-31) Abiherself at the feet

Carmel throws

o

it

of King David, calling herself "thine handmaid ... I pray thee, forgive the thine trespass of thine handmaid handmaid" until he marries her. In Beaumont and Fletcher's play THE SCORNFUL LADY (1610) the "waiting gentle.

woman"

.

the sun and

ablegate. off,

(1693)

she often played: abigail abject. cast off, off;

ab,

we have

art

some forsaken

+

blepso,

(1818):

The

subject

ablactation.

the

+

fate!

abligate. so as to

from

a b,

lac, lactis,

in which the "mother" tree

+

as

in

bind away from; to tie up keep away. Latin ab f from +

whence ligature. word (Bailey;

18th century dictionary

ishly, 4-

stock that they

is

This

so

may be

is

to

eat

lingere,

to

lick;

ab,

away

to

enjoy lingua, the

delicately,

ing in belly-cheer.

Washed away; washed clean. Latin ab, away + lucre, lutum, to wash. Abluvion, that which is washed away. Ablution, the act or process of washing abluted.

a term

drawn from Roman husbandry: Latin ab, from + laqueatum, entangled, from laqueus, a noose. It meant at first loosenaround the roots of

ligurire,

tongue. Some 17th century dictionaries give the form abligury, abligurie, spend-

weaned. ablaqueate, ablaqueation.

Squandering, spending lav-

on food and drink. Latin

dainties;

at first joined, then gradually separated. Hence ablactate, to wean; ablacted,

soil

not

To

abligurition.

from milk

the galactic universe is the Milky Way. is also used of a type of grafting

ing hard

a,

figuratively,

ligare, ligatum, to bind,

An

a child from

Weaning From the Latin

new

Also

ablepsie of an implicite zealf

Ablaction trees

see.

Johnson). Also abligation.

lactare, to suckle,

close to the

I

Urquhart's THE JEWEL (1652) : Who doubteth, that is not blinded with the

of a tyrant's will the abject of his

of

mother.

Greek

Blindness.

ablepsy.

pounds iectum, whence also conjecture and many an object). Shakespeare in RICHARD III (1592) speaks of the Queen's objects; Shelley in PROMETHEUS UNBOUND Became, worse own.

blind. In Robert of

Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century.

iactum (in com-

iacere,

send abroad; to send far be done with a son in dis-

To make

ablende.

dallied with heretofore.

As a noun, a servile person; one an outcast. Latin abicere, to cast away

To

as used to

tury.

indicates another role

Thou

bear fruit

that brings his insignia to a newly appointed cardinal. Hence ablegation, despatch, dismissal. Used in the 17th cen-

(1771) speaks of an antiquated abigail, dressed in her lady's cast clothes, Congreve in THE OLD

BACHELOR

may

An

HUMPHREY CLINKER

in

they

grace. Latin db, away 4- legare, legatum, to send on a message, whence legate. ablegate is (still) a messenger of the pope,

named

Abigail; from the poputhe of larity play, the name became the common term for a maid-servant. Smollett is

air, etc.

the better."

.

in alchemy first, the purification of bodies with suitable liquids; Chaucer in THE CANON'S YEOMAN'S PROLOGUE clean:

oyles ablucioun, and (1386) speaks o metal fusible. Then, washing the body

trees,

so that their fibres might spread. Later, 3

abraid

abodement as a religious rite (16th century); thence the washing of one's

(mid-18th century)

person. When George Gissing, Street writer (18574903) found

the

Grub

it

neces-

Museum

sary to use the British

to

foreboding, especially of abode, to presage, to be

HENRY

.

.

grow, whence

.

4*

was sometimes spelled abron. But Shakespeare, who uses the term in CORIOLANUS

Our heads are some brown, some some abram, some bald, in THE black, MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR tells us Slender has a Cain colored beard; and many (1607):

the root ob,

also origin; abortive;

COME YE NOT To COURTE?

WirV

In the old was red; Cain's, yellow; Abraham's, brown. The 1685 edition of CORIOLANUS altered abram to au-

writers speak of Judas-hair.

(1522) spoke

of those that dare use this experiens To practyse such abolete sciens. I wonder sciens will

seem

abolete.

ing of the monasteries, as in

spoke of a good swerde, what wolde byte abone.

(1565), that

approach; enter, take footing

abraid.

of Genoa: I never saw a

more

(1670), stately

abord

to

any

city

then to

4

said

walketh bare armed and bare

and fayneth him

To wrench

sword)

;

to start,

startle,

arouse;

sudden

cry.

selfe

mad.

or pull out, to draw as out of sleep; to

to burst into speech

Chaucer in

or

THE SQUIRE'S TALE

(1386) says she gan of swoun Lydgate uses the word in these is from Old English a, back + to twist), but he adds another

VOYAGE TO

ITALY

Lassels'

(a

Amdelay

THE FRATERNITYE OF VACABONDES

legged,

upon; to accost; to challenge. Also abourd, abb or d, abb oar d; later aboard; French ab order, from a bord, to the side of. It was also used as a noun, manner or avenue as in

hair

burn. An Abraham man, Abram man, was a vagabond, especially after the clos-

or seasonable; to ripen. (2) an early form of above. (3) well. The 14th century SIR GAWAYNE

of approach,

Judas'

tapestries

To make good

To

A

tawny or brown color; aphair. Also abram. Perhuman to plied a haps corruption of auburn, which abraham.

affright us.

adolescent; proletarian. Skelton in

abord.

Cp.

forms,

See abrase.

abrade.

Obsolete. Latin abolere, abole-

(1)

tense

Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century.

13th century form of bought.

tum, to abolish; ab, away

abone.

bow.

to

Patron saints. French avoues, sworn ones, devotes. Used in Robert of

VI, PART THREE

aboadments must not now

when our

for

abowes.

noun and verb in (1590): The owle shrieked at thy birth, an evill signe, The night-crow cryde, Tush man, aboding lucklesse time

or, to

of nature

to

abuyde, abouynde. In Robert of Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century.

ominous; an abode was also (17th cena prediction. Shakespeare has both

abolete.

worthy

To make bend; He abueth; past

abow. abawe.

tury)

A

less

A

abodement.

aboht.

SIR

Sidney born in

abbord, either with question, familiarity, or scorn. the

inablutible.

Also

calls

too strong a fortification

Library

not to have been used in English, that which cannot be washed clean, or washed

ill.

RENOWNED

LIFE OF THE

PHILIP SIDNEY (1652)

washroom, he came one morning to discover the sign, For casual ablutions form seems only. Although the positive

is

THE

ville in

as his

away,

abordage, an attack on a ship by it. abordering, neighboring. Gre-

this,

boarding

abreyde. senses

(it

bregdan,

meaning,

abraxas

absist

to consort with,

translation

To

PRINCES:

to

o

(1430)

frequent, as in his Bochas' FALL OF

thy flatterers I never

did

me

wished

thus! Cressida:

Wisht

my Lord?

gods grant O my Lord, Troilus: What should they grant? What makes this

the

abrayde. See abray.

pretty abruption?

abraxas. This meaningless word was used in cabalistic writings as a charm. It was

absalonism. The practice of rebellion against a father, from the ways of the son of David, in the BIBLE. Listed in Bailey's

also

engraved on rings and gems worn hence Warburton in 1738

DICTIONARY (1751), this word never came into use, but might well serve the psy-

as a talisman;

speaks of

called abraxas.

gems

An

choanalysts.

error

by Spenser for abraid, v. Spenser took the form abraid, q. abrayde, as though it were the past tense abray.

THE

He

form

of his

To

Shakespeare

HENRY

VI,

PART

(1719)

-face.

abrase.

To

rub or wear

abrade, Latin ab, off

+

off.

Two

Also

to

abruption.

breaking

(1596):

off,

as

And

refers to

something is

absent.

then comes answer like an

absey-book.

See

absinthe.

therefore called

+

etc., it

absey-book. An a-b~c~book, a hornbook. See abece. Shakespeare has in KING JOHN

To

absist.

from

A

sit

instantaneous,

Simplicity.

utterance. Latin ab, off

pleased with the thought that he abscond and see them. Also

is

done in absence, or while one

radere, rasum, to

is

hidden;

TO PURGE MELANCHOLY

This word, which never is found in 18th century dictionaries. Fashioned by analogy with

fourth, in white, is Apheleia, a nymph as pure and simple as the soul, or

and

17th

grew into use,

The

table,

early

the

absentaneous.

blank, clear, Jonson in CYNTHIA'S REVELS (1600) remembers the Latin tabula rasa:

an abrase

in

absconce was a dark lantern.

smooth, scrape, shave. Also abraded, abrased, abrase, with all marks rubbed off;

as

which

con, to-

an

abscondence, abscondment, concealment, seclusion. In monasteries and churches, an

(1590) says: Sweet Nell, ill can thy noble mind abrooke the abject people, gazing

on thy

+ is

absconded,

abscond,

should

endure; replaced by brook. in

abscond,

D'Urfey in PILLS

use has been found.

abrook.

absconditus;

away

dare, to put. This

of

Hence

century dictionaries, from the Greek abrodiaitos, as meaning eating daintily, or a person of delicate ways. No instance of its

Used in the 16th

abscondere,

century meant to hide; then, to hide oneself (as when one seeks to elude the law).

This word appears in 17th

abrodietical.

+

gether

:

maid would not for courtesy Out quiet slumber him abrade.

hide.

Latin

absconsus, to hide; ab,

uses the verb four times, e.g. FAERIE QUEENE (1596) the brave

of abray.

To

absconce. century.

in one's

+

wormwood.

desist,

withdraw.

sistere, to stand,

stare, statum, to

be

Latin

ab,

reduplicative of

erect,

whence

status,

destiny, obstinate. The agent-verb was statuere t to make stand, to set up, whence

rumpere, rup-

tum, to break; whence abrupt, corruption, eruption, rupture. Thus Shake-

statue, statute,

speare, in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606): Troilus: O Cressida, how often have I

obstinate,

obstacle,

resti-

tution, destitute; resistance; assist, desist.

The 5

first

meaning of

to assist

was

to

be

abye

absoil

law or

still means in present at, which assister HISTORY OF THE French. Raleigh in WORLD (1614) wrote: They promised to

A

See

THE assoil.

congruity. sonus, sound

+

abuyde.

adjective

To

Latin

deter.

NEWE NOSEGAY

ab(s),

Becon in

from

un-

and and

.

.

To

to abuccinate

they

licity serves

cinate.

the

Latin

can,

to

sound,

to

sing;

the mouth.

but note also as the wall of

violation

.

Cherokees aby

abye came also to mean to suffer, to endure; and in the sense of endure it

mean to last in which was confused with abide. meaning abye Thus Spenser, who uses the word twenty came

trumpeter. deceit;

.

century) able, abigge; past tense aboughte. In the early uses, from paying the penalty the word

The mouth-piece

Misuse;

.

(1876): Dearly did the their rising. Also (13th

of a helmet, in Latin, was buccula; and bucca itself is used, as a figure of speech, for a

abusion.

:

it!

same purpose. See ebucbucina may be from

means the cheek,

Then

By Heaven they shall abye and used by others since, as Bancroft in his HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1815)

Modern pub-

from bos, bovis, bull (from the horn used as a trumpet) + the root

that bucca

this

bang.

bovicina, bull's

DIC-

fond reproach; thy body will I the word was revived by Sir Walter Scott, in the LORD OF THE ISLES aby

and recount what

have sacked*

their

his

it came to be used, figuratively, to pay the penalty for. It died out of the language about 1600; the latest recorded use was in Beaumont and Fletcher's THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE (1613): Foolhardy knight, -full soon thou shalt

trumpet abroad, to profrom Latin bucina, a trumpet, occurs only once in the language, in T. Newton's essay (1569) on CICERO: But all men cannot be Scipiones or Cities

Bailey

tongues,

in

for,

claim. This word,

Maximij

inhabi-

.

elation of mind.

abuccinate.

the

abye. This was an early alternate form of buy; having the prefix a, it meant to buy from or buy back. In the sense of pay

+

that

wrote

(1542) .

that

Stating

Abydos were known for

TIONARY (1751) defines the abydocomist as a sycophant who boasts of his successes achieved by flattery and falsehood. Do you know such a fellow?

A PLEASANTE

also absterreth feigned humility frayeth us from all arrogancy, pride,

of

slanderous

century, though even the still current absonant was employed in the same sense. (All have the accent on the first syllable.)

terrere, to frighten.

Foolish de-

See abow.

abydocomist. tants

absonous, incongruous, unreasonable, was more frequently used through the 17th

abster.

:

See abye.

aby.

was used only by Thomas Nashe, in STRANGE NEWS (1592): Everie third line hath some of

The

FAERIE QUEENE (1596)

+

ism, this term

this over-rackt absonisme.

A

and fond abusions, Which do that sense besiege with fond illusions.

The practice o being discordant in the use of language, incongruous, absurd or an instance of such inthe Latin ab, away

old (14th through 16th of the verb abuse, from

lights

absonism.

From

The

noun

Latin ab, away + uti, usus, use. very common word, often used by Chaucer, Caxton, Occlere, Penn, Spenser, e.g., in

absist from their purpose of making a war. absoil.

right.

century)

of

also

times in

6

to

THE

FAERIE QUEENE (1596) ob-

ac

accidie

nought that wanteth

serves that

rest

can

But.

ac.

from

the 10th to the

He

found

his wife stricken,

man, Ac no man him help no

For another instance of

its

asked conseil can.

use, see ferly.

Used in the expression to sink Acadina was a fountain in wherein a false oath written on a Sicily tablet would sink. The lie lay heavy on the board. The word is listed in Bailey's

be

used

accensed

(1751).

his

treatise

on

The

verb

may

as

in

ire.

In this use,

Twyne's The valiant brothers band

figuratively,

been

has

supplanted

by

in-

censed.

meant purchasing, It is from Nor-

achater (French acheter, to buy). In plural, acates, things purchased, it used of all provisions not baked and

accepti lationem, accounting (a thing) as received. Hence, to acceptilate, to dis-

home; hence, delicacies. In was shortened (about 1450)

charge a debt in this fashion. Used also as a religious term (16th and 17th centuries)

Originally this

was brewed

at

this sense it cates.

The

and preparer

purchaser, then provider of cates, delicacies, was an

acater, later caterer. Variant forms

is

butler

were

and

comes

Jeremy Taylor in

his

by

justi-

said

ANSWER TO THE

BISHOP OF ROCHESTER (1656), tation

and

acceptilation,

is by impuby grace and

favour.

This

accidie.

that plenty

my wardrobe man, my

which

fication

can send in: bread, wine, acates, fowl, feather, fish or fin. In THE DEVIL is AN Ass (1637), Jonson has: choice

Our

Christ,

applied to Christ's forgiveness.

achate (used by Chaucer and Spenser); hence achater, achatour, achatry (acatery), the room of the achatour. Ben Jonson in THE SAD SHEPHERD (1637) speaks of all

He

in

JENEID (1573): with grief accensed in

then a thing purchased.

to

light,

acceptation. A term in Roman law: canceling a debt by a receipt from the creditor who has not been paid. Latin

acate.

the

Shelvocke

accension of the salpeter.

in Acadina.

man

From

to

to

candere,

cension;

Acadina.

DICTIONARY

fire.

cendere,

ARTILLERY (1729) speaks of the great quantity of windy exhalation, produced by the

See deme.

academe.

+

glow whence also candid and candidate, one (originally) garbed in white as a sign he was seeking office. Trevisa about 1440 speaks of a stone called asbestos, "which accended once is never extinct." The noun is ac-

15th century. Also ok, oc, ok, ah, ach, and the like. When Orfeo (cp. levedi) at ech

on

kindle, to set

Latin ad, to

the

Common from

To

accend.

long aby.

is

the English form of the the fourth cardinal

Latin acedia, sloth sin,

from Greek

not 4- kedos, care: the Also acyde, accydye, century), torpor. It was a,

state of not caring.

acater, cook,

acedy

steward.

(17th

of, by the ecclesiastics, especially an indisposition to devotion. The word was quite common, from the ANCREN RIWLE (1230) used by Chaucer, Gower, Caxton to the middle of the 16th century. Bailey in his 1731 DICTIONARY lists accidious, slothful; he omits it from the 1751 edition, presumably because he

thought

acatharsy. ing.

Greek

kathairein,

Filth, impurity; lack of purga,

to

not

+

as

katharsios, purging; hence also the

cleanse;

by Aristotle as which tragedy,

tragic catharsis (described

the

of

consequence through the arousal of pity and horror effects

their purging)

and the physical

found no instance of

cathartics.

7

its use.

Neither has

acersecomic

accite

word

aceldama.

anyone else. The origin of the was forgotten for several centuries, durto be derived ing which it was supposed from acid, sour, hence repulsive, or from an accidere, to happen as by a spell, Chaucer,

access.

een

times

just

calls

(1386),

and warns

it

that

who this

word

eight-

PARSON'S

TALE

uses the

THE

in

accidie

roten-herted sinne,

gushed out." Young in NIGHT THOUGHTS spoke of earth's aceldama; De (1742) Quincey said that THE CAESARS (1859) all

To summon, to quote; an early form of cite. Also to arouse, an alternate form of excite. Used by Chapman, Donne, accite.

Shakespeare uses

both

it

in TITUS ANDRONICUS:

by the Senate

is

accite d

brought their tributes of beauty or deformity to these vast aceldamas of Rome. Gilbert in PATIENCE (1881) has the poem "Heart Foam": Oh to be wafted away

in

He

From Where

the

acele.

To

black aceldama of sorrow, the dust of an earthy today Is the earth of a dusty tomorrow.

home from weary

HENRY IV, PART Two (1597): And what accites your most -worshipful

wars; In

thought to think so?

acephalist.

accoutre. To dress, equip. Also acoutre, accoustre; French a to + coustre, the church vestry keeper, one of whose func-

of

and

dress.

Shakespeare

in

THE

to

soothe;

acedy.

.

.

I received was,

And

And

The food

acerophobia.

that to

him now is lushim shortly

be to

See aeromancy.

One whose

hair has never an adjective; Greek akersekomes, with unshorn hair. In 17th

acersecomic.

oft im-

been

with kind words accoy d.

See accidie.

_

Bitter.

acerb as coloquintida.

Old French d to -f coif calm; Latin quietum, whence also quietude. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE tells:

no

kephalef head.

heads, as the cynocephali heads like those of dogs.

cious as locusts shall

coax; tame, daunt.

(1596) brast .

+

taste,

(1604):

appease;

acknowledges

Latin acerbus, harsh to surviving in acerbity. Shakespeare has, in the First Folio OTHELLO acerb.

the

it.

calm,

a,

not

out a head.

accustrementj complement, and ceremony

To

that

akephalisis (accent on the phal), headlessness; refusal to recognize a head or leader; applied (17th century) to the condition of a country with-

onely in the simple office of love, but in all the

accoy.

In Robert

Also acephalisis,

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: Not

of

men without men with

were

was, I plunged in. Hence accoutrement (mainly in the plural), apparel, equipment; especially of a soldier, except his

arms

asele.

Hence acephal, acephalan, acephalousf recognizing no head; headless; a headless animal or man. The acephali were a race

the word, accoutred as I

Upon

One

superior. Greek

tion was to robe the clergyman. Used mainly in the participial form; Shakehas Casspeare in JULIUS CAESAR (1601) sius boast:

Also

seal.

of Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century.

See acoup.

accoup.

of bloodshed; a scene

the field of blood; the field near Jerusa-

against accidie.

senses:

field

lem bought with the blood money given to Judas Iscariot, and in which (THE BIBLE: Acts 1) "falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels

one needs great corage

Jonson, Milton;

A

of slaughter. Pronounced with a k sound, accent on the dah; Aramaic okel damo >

cut.

Also

century dictionaries. 8

achape

acrisy

See chap e.

achape.

See

achate.

aries

French

(Modern

period of

bloom

An early form (in the METRICAL CHRONICLE of Robert of Gloucester;

full

the

growth,

And

life.

keepe your acme in

the

state

A

acolaust.

+

riotous

liver.

kolastos, chastened.

Greek

me

The

acquist.

of

be

which

act of acquiring; that

has been acquired. Used by Milton at the end of SAMSON AGONISTES (1671): His

new

servants he with

a,

to the

Applied

also

acqueynt.

truth.

not

Gower

used acqueynt for quenched: so that never thurst shall thynketh, my

1297) of acqueynt, acquainted.

So used especially in the 17 tli century. Jonson in the Prologue to THE STAPLE OF NEWS (1624) says: He must be one that can instruct your youth of

accouped

acoynte.

See anchesoun.

The

acme. full

(1731) in their diction-

this as his conscience

quote

him.

acheter, to buy.)

achesoun.

and Bailey

(1717)

acate.

true ex-

Of

acquist

perience from this great event With peace and consolation hath dismist. Also ac-

prodigal, in the Biblical parable, by T. in his EXPOSITION (1633) of THE

Adams

which

quest,

SECOND GENERAL EPISTLE OF PETER. Hence

commonly used

is

for the

acquist being used for

thing acquired, the action of acquiring.

acolaustic, preferably acolastic, unbridled, licentious, lascivious.

Intemperance. Used nine times by Spenser who in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) personifies Acrasy as the Enchantacrasia.

Enervated with cold. In the

acomelyd.

PROMPTORIUM PARVULORUM

(1440).

A

plant, wolf's-bane; an extract this plant, used as a poison; hence,

ress of

a deadly poison, Shakespeare uses aconitum in HENRY IV PART Two (1597);

akrasia

aconite.

from

Ingenious,

(1606):

fluent,

(second

acratism.

Nash, from whose abundant pen hony

A

and

state

cordial,

a

power.

drink

meals, as an appetizer. Accent

ftow'd to thy friends, and mortall aconite to thy enemies. Hence (Urquhart, 1642)

Greek

syllable.

Greek

confuses

long), meaning in a akrasia (second a

a

short), incontinence, lack of

T.

facetious

and

fuses

badly mixed

HELL

Dekker, in a note to NEWES FROM

intemperance. Late Latin acrasia

probably

akratos,

on

before the

neat

first

(wine);

akratisma, breakfast.

aconital, poisonous.

acopede.

A

variant

tense of aculp, q.v. Gloucester's CHRONICLE, acore.

To make

acrilogy.

form of the past Used in Robert of

sharp Latin

13th century.

sorry; to grieve.

To

accuse.

By way

Hence acrisy.

blame

whence

English

+

acer,

speaking; the use of in reproof or scorn.

acris,

sharp;

Greek

logos,

Lack of judgment. Also, acrisia,

from

a state of disease

"in which no right judgment can be made it, or of the patient, whether he will

of

recover or no." So Bailey's DICTIONARY (1731) ; the few known uses of the word

culpare,

culpable,

words,

medieval Latin

of the French

acoulper, from Latin ad, to

as

word. Used in the 17th century.

acorye, chastened, punished. In Robert of Gloucester's CHRONICLE, 13th century.

acoup.

Bitter

etc.

Langland in PIERS PLOWMAN (1377) uses till conscience acouped him; Blount

employ the Latin form. a,

9

i--"~

not

+

crisis,

It is

from Greek

a judging, a quarrel, re-

acupunctuate

actity

lated to antes, a judge, criterion, and critikos, critic. Many a reputed critic

from

suffers

acrisy.

Keenness, sharpness. Latin acris> keen; also alacrity. But acritude (acridity as well) is limited to sharpness of taste,

romance of KYNG ALYSAUNDER; Chaucer in THE RIME OF SIR THOPAS (1386) states: And next his schert an aketoun, And

over that an haberjoun.

acrity.

From Relating to hearing; hence to Aristotle's acroama,

acroamatic.

his

for his private lectures, esoteric doctrines exothe to opposed

initiate disciples, as

of

doctrines

his

public

communicated

privately

lectures),

word

by

of

mouth; esoteric; secret Also acroamatical, acroatic. An acroasis (plural acroases) a discourse or

cul.

(THE LIFE OF ST.

MARGARET).

poem

spoken or read aloud.

To

aculp.

accuse.

A

13th century form.

Cp. acopede. Literally, to put guilt upon; Latin culpa, fault, guilt, whence culpable, culprit.

To

acuminate.

point. Also as

an

Crooked, awry. Used by Chaucer.

The

or

first

sprout acrospire. curling shoot of a plant in spring. Greek akros,

peak 4- speira, curling shoot; speirein, to sow. Also acrospyre, ackerspyre, akertip,

spire; ackersprit.

Used

also of corn,

barley germinating before

and

malted; gathered potatoes that sprout prematurely are ackerspritted. Used from the 17th it

is

century. Also as a verb, to acrospire, to shoot up the first sprout. active citizen.

A

A

louse.

late 18th

and

early 19th century phrase, listed in LEXI-

CON BALATRONICUM: A DICTIONARY OF BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT, AND PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE (1811).

A quilted

cotton

(later,

a leather)

sharpened; concentrated

the cotton.

The French

a

keen in

in

dis-

attention.

cernment, Hence, acumination; also acuminous, marked by acumen, as in Bolton's Address to the Reader in FLORUS (1618); whose writings are altogether as luminous as acuminous. Used both literally: Whewell, HISTORY OF THE INDUCTIVE SCIENCES (1837)

:

Truncation, acuation, and acumin-

ation, or replacement by a plane,

a

point,

and

respectively

an edge,

figuratively:

CORNHILL MAGAZINE

(December 1879); consisting mainly in a

The acumination

more frequent and sarcastic repetition of the unfortunate Mr. Disraeli's titles and distinctions. The diminutive form has also been used: acuminulate, tapering; somewhat pointed. acupunctuate.

worn under a suit of mail. In later use, a plated jacket worn instead of heavy armor. Used from the 12th to the 16th century. Roundabout from Arabic al qutn,

jacket

to

bring

sharpen,

adjective, pointed. Also,

intellectually

acroke.

acton.

au

French,

rump.

the 13th century

relation

(with

teric

On

acue.

pungency.

See acuminate.

acuation.

pin;

also

To

prick with a needle or

The noun was

acupuncture.

represented

(17th

acupunctuation,

to

19th

century)

acupunchuration,

by acu-

it was applied, specifically, to the thrusting of needles into the body for remedial purposes, as for gout in 17th

punchure;

form, in the 15th

century, developed an h (hocqueton), whence English hequeton, haketon, hacton. The word occurs in the 13th century

century England though M. Collins observed (1875) that the bees were stinging 10

adaw

acydenandys

him be clapped on

with unusual sharpness of acupuncture. The verb was also used figuratively, as

when MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE of January, 1865, commented on that exquisite sweet malice wherewith French ladies so much delight to acupunctuate their English

See

VULORUM

form

PROMPTORIUM PAR-

material,

use

Incorrect

+

not

a,

of

kyros, authority

+

logos,

.

the 'logics'

.

ad, to, for

a condensation of all and all the 'ologys'; but, un-

ad.

fire;

Greek

thoroughly exemplified.

a funeral pyre or Also od. Gothic root aids;

especially,

blazing pile. aithos,

to

burning heat. Used from

to

Driving in violently or by Also adact, to drive or force (to a course of action). Latin ad, to + agere, to

drive,

act.

Fotherby

in

said:

The

Adam;

first

man; hence, the

Hence

THE TRAGICALL LEGEND

.

.

.

(1596)

My lookes so powerfull adamants conlove. Lyly in EUPHUES (1579)

dearly.

adaw.

of his divine Majestie; not vouchsafing to adact them by any other of his creatures.

(1)

To wake

up;

recover

con-

Old English a, to 4daw; dayian, to dawn, become day. Used by Chaucer, as in TROILUS AND GRISEYDE sciousness; to rouse.

basic or

He

in a person: the old Shakespeare in HENRY V (1599)

unregenerate

to love.

17th

you hardhearted adamant, But yet you draw not iron, for my heart Is true as steele. THE GUIDE INTO Minsheu's TONGUES (1617) lists adamate, to love

God himselfe (1622) once compelled the wicked Egyptians, by flyes, and frogs . . . to confesse the power

Adam.

the

the two senses in one image; Shakespeare does likewise in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1590): You draw me,

force.

to

present participle

amatum,

founds

adaction.

ATHEOMASTIX

Greek

from

wrote:

the 9th to the 13th century.

actum,

a

of surpassing

century adamant was often used to mean a magnet. Thus Drey-

up

ton in

A

sense,

+ amantem,

of amo, amare,

tautology and acryology were

fortunately, the only ones

first

stone,

diamas came English diamond. The word was mistaken, in Medieval Latin, as coming from adamantem, having a liking for;

...

be

its

mean

used to

still

is

adamas, adamanta, invincible; a, not + damao, I tame. By way of Late Latin

Lytton in CHEVELY; OR, THE MAN OF HONOUR (1839) wrote: His work . was to

This

especially

hardness,

language.

speech. Hence acyrological. Used from the 17th century. Lady Rosina Bulwer-

meant

editions

adamant.

(1440).

acyrology.

Greek

This

asiden.

called

the beggar maid; the have Abraham Cupid, which has not been explained. early

occurs in the lexicon

and

Cophetua loved

sis-

ters.

acydenandys.

the shoulder

Adam Adam, expert, from the famous archer, Adam Bell. Hence the emendation in ROMEO AND JULIET: Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim When King

gan his breeth to drawe, And (1374): his swoun soone aftir that adawe. (2) of

traits

has the offending Adam. Also (buff was used for the bare skin; the bailiff's officer

adawe, out of

life.

dayum, from

days,

of Elizabethan times wore buff) in THE ERRORS, the Old Adam, the

13th to the 16th century, usually in the expression to bring (do) adawe, to put out of life, to kill. The expression they did him adawe led some in the 16th

Old English o dawe, of from life. Used from

the

COMEDY OF

office. In MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: Hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me, and he that hits me, let

bailiff's

century to assume that adawe was a verb, 11

adible

addle

formed from awe; hence (in Tottel's MISCELLANY; 1557, and into the 17th cento adaw, to daunt, to subdue. as in Spenser uses this form several times, Therewith THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596):

tury). (3)

her wrathful courage

haughty

This

addle.

is

common from

gan appell, to

meekly

spirits

two

and

adaw.

words,

(1)

one

quite the 10th to the 19th cen-

northern England since Addle akin to German adel,

mire, originally meant stinking urine, or other miry filth. As late as Burns (1789) we find Then lug out your ladle Deal

brimstone like adle. This early became an to adjective in addle egg, corresponding Latin

ovum urinum,

a rotten egg. Since

would not hatch, many wordlinked addle and idle; Thus Shakeplays speare in TROILUS AND GRESSIDA (1606): // you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle head, you would eat chickens f i the shell. Thus addle came to mean idle, vain, or muddled, and developed that egg

such compounds as addle-brain, addlehead, addle-pate. Then the adjective (in the 17th century) appeared as addled, from which by back-formation came the verb to addle (like to sour, to wet, etc.). Charles Dickens complains, in a letter of 1841: /

have addled

my head

+

el,

with writing

all

day. (2) From the Old Norse othla, to acquire, comes a form addle meaning to

A

earn or (of crops) to produce. 1680 the words: He trial at York records would give me more than I could addle

the

-f

Common

ante, fore.

in

century pamphleteers and playwrights: Nashe; Jonson; Massinger and Dekker in THE VIRGIN MARTIR (1622): 17th

Invincible adelantado over the

pimpled

armado

of

faces.

To

adhibit.

tury, the other in

1200.

to

early

let in; to apply; to

employ. from ad, to -h hold; whence, with different

From Latin

adhibere,

habere, to the prefixes,

more familiar spirituous and the psychic inhibition. This word was used from the 16th into the 19th century; thus an advertisement

prohibition

in Scott's

OLD MORTALITY,

in 1862, said:

The

subscribers to the Shilling Edition will receive of the Waverley Novels a set of adhesive labels, which may be .

.

.

adhibited to the back of the volumes.

noun adhibition was various

fields,

as

used,

The

literally,

in

with (1838) the adhibi-

tion of the Seal of the

or as in Leigh Hunt's

body corporate;

LONDON JOURNAL

(1835): An apple pie was improved by the adhibition of a quince. (Good cooks take notice!) See assation.

adiaphory. Indifference. Accent on the aff. Also adiaphoricy; Greek a, not + diaphoros, differing; dia, apart to bear.

+ p here in,

The form adiaphorism was used

indifferentism. of religious adiaphorist, adiaphorite, one that indifferent (as of religious matters, or

especially

Hence is

among

the creeds)

;

also adiaphoral, adia-

phorous, adiaphoristic. An adiaphoron is a matter of indifference; specifically, a practice or belief for

which there

is

no

in seven years. Tusser, in his HUSBANDRY (1580) wisely warns: Where ivy embraces

to the will of the individual. J.

the tree very sore, kill ivy, or tree will addle no more. Addlings are wages, but

(SELECTED DISCOURSES; 1652) said: These we may safely reckon, I think, amongst

addling

is

muddling of the

adelantado.

A Spanish

church decision, which

our adiaphora

wits.

grandee; a gover-

in

is

therefore left

Smith

morality, as being in

themselves neither good nor

evil.

nor of a province; a commander. Span-

adible.

ish adelantar, to promote,

century; Latin adire, aditum, to go to; ad,

advance; ad,

~ 12

Accessible.

Used from the 16th

adown

adipate to

+

ate,

ire,

itum, to go;; whence also reiterand (from the 17th cen-

said that Those thynges whiche our progenytours by the taste of bytternes and

an approach, entrance. Tenny-

experyment of grete jeopardyes have enseygned, admonested, and enformed us excluded fro such peryllys, to know what is prouffytable to oure lyf. Enseygned means given a sign of, pointed out.

itinerary,

tury) adit,

THE

son in Yourself

PRINCESS

and yours

To

adipate.

(1847) promises: shall have free adit.

eat fat; to eat so as to

grow

A

17th century dictionary word that describes the procedure of one that should fat.

fat;

whence

and the

current

diet.

Latin adeps, adipem,

also

adipal,

adipous,

adipose (Latin -osus, full

of).

Also adi-

posity, adiposeness.

Lack of

adipsy.

thirst.

dipsa,

(17th century)

is

See agnate.

adnitchil. Occurring only in 17th century dictionaries, this is derived from an old French adnichiller, modern

adnichil,

annihiler,

thirst.

Also

adnate.

Greek

adipsia.

not

a,

An

+

annul,

adipson

a drink that allays

whence

annihilate.

It

make

meaning The word seems

void.

have been adnichiled before

thirst,

sometimes prescribed for a fever, more often imbibed in a bar. Adipsic, adipsous,

quenching thirst. The converse of adipsy produces the dipsomaniac. Delight. From Latin ad, lubes care, to be pleasing; libet or lubet, it is pleasing; libido, pleasure, de-

noun (adnomen, adname: which adjective used with a noun).

.

"adjective"

The good

from it. Samuel Johnson copies from 1731 DICTIONARY the form allu-

Bailey's

bescency,

content;

willingness,

only in the lexicographers'

it

To adorn (of a man) to make an Adonis of. The word (accent on the ad) is from Adonis, the young man whose beauty attracted Venus; hence, an Adonis,

exists

listings.

Impregnation by external without intromission. Latin ad, contact,

adosculation.

.

mirari, to wonder. The phrase note of admiration was also used to mean the

to

The changes

I perceived in

is

of admiration.

See

Also

osculum, orem, mouth. Divers

fishes, said

the

CHAM-

implied in that also!

adown. comminate.

os,

BERS CYCLOPEDIA (1753) are also impregnated by adosculation. One wonders what

King and Camilla, were very notes

admonish.

osculari, osculatum, to kiss;

kinds of birds and

by Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S

(1611):

+

diminutive of

exclamation point, by Swift (1719) and

the

;

a dandy.

Relating to or characterized by wonder. Hence, an early term for the Latin ad, at + exclamation point (1)

TALE

employed as a substantive, as: are outnumbered. Cp. ad-

adonize.

admirative.

earlier

an

nomination.

that he could scarce refrain

kissing

is

adnoun. An adjective "added to" a noun. Occasionally adnoun is used for an

whence the Freudian libido. Andrew Marvell, in THE REHEARSAL TRANSPOSED (1673), speaks of Such an expansion of heart, such an adlubescence of mind sire

.

to to

adnomination. An early form of agnomination, q.v. Note however that adnominal is also a grammatical term, meaning attached to a noun, relating to an ad-

to

4-

de-

was used.

it

adlubescence.

.

is

scribed as an old law term,

Down. The

earlier form,

adown

(adun, adoun, adown, etc.) is from Old English of dune, off the hill. As early as

ad-

monest; Caxton in POLYCRONICON (1482) 13

adure

adreint to down, which never but quite supplanted supplemented the earlier form, still used by poets. Chaucer, in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1586):

1200

On

adown was shortened

their bare knees adoun they falle;

MARMION

His gorgeous collar hung adown; Hawthorn, in AMERICAN NOTE-BOOKS (1868): There is a Scott, in

(1808):

beautiful view from the mansion, adown the Kennebec; Morris, in THE EARTHLY

PARADISE

(1870)

wretch

the

Till

adown with whirling

brain.

falls

CHAUCER'S

DREAM

(1500) shows the transition: There were a few wells Came running fro the

cliffs

adowne, That made a deadly sleep-

ing soune, And runnen downe right by a cave That was under a rocky grave. Also drury. Cp. bove, which has added, instead of losing, the a.

to ask, whence also which now means to take without asking. Adopt is from Latin ad, to +

rogatum,

rogare,

arrogate,

to wish. optare, to choose; opere,

meaning added supplementary, this word

adscititious.

Originally

from outside, was used in the 18th century

(Bailey's

DICTIONARY, 1751) to signify counterfeit, false. Also ascititious. It is from Latin ad, to

to acknowledge, the incepscire, to know. It is still oc-

4- sciscere,

tive

form of

employed in the original sense, which Bacon exemplifies in the NOVUM casionally

ORGANUM

to "perpetual (1620), referring

and proper" motions on the one hand, and on tie other motions that are adscititious.

see

Drowned.

adreint.

Past

participle

adure. To scorch; to burn up; to calcine. Latin ad, to + were, ustum, to burn, whence also combustion. Adure was used from the 15th century. In the 16th and

of

adrenchen, to drown; past tense, he adrente. Also adrench; past participle adraynt, adreynt The verb was an alternative

form

(in

all

17th the less used,

of adrink, to drink; as in

senses)

meaning also to give the AYENBITE OF INWIT (1340): And hire adraynkth and maketh dronke of holy love. The ANCREN RIWLE (1230) said: Ther adreinte Pharao. Lydgate's PYLGRYMAGE or THE SowLE (1413) pictures one adrenchyng hym wordly vanyte. adrench. adrink.

that

is,

self,

as

it

were,

in

to

much

swallow too

as

a

member

up

with,

.

especially of the four

tively;

water;

heat;

.

.

humours in the

(see

Nabbe

in his

MICROCOSM

(1637)

me no more; I am Note that adust may also

exclaimed: Provoke

drown. Let that be a warning

Taking,

to dry

humour), resulting in a state that alarmed Medieval and Renaissance physicians. The word was also used figura-

adust with rage.

to youl Past forms are adranc, adronke, adrunken. See adreint.

adrogation.

verb to adust was

common

scorch,

Milton in PARADISE LOST (1667) has SulConphurous and nitrous foame cocted and adusted they reduced To blackest grain. More common was the adust (adusted), burnt up, adjective sunburnt; dried out browned, parched;

body

See adreint. Earlier adrenchen.

To

to

be an alternate form for dusty; George Eliot in ROMOLA (1863) says: He was tired

and adust with long

of

one's family, of a person of legal majority, of one that is his own master. Espe-

burning, burnt.

Roman law; adoption means the taking into one's family of a minor. Hence adrogator; to adrogate. Latin ad, to -f

John Bale in

A RANKE PAPYST

cially in

riding. Also adustion,

fiery; adustible,

his

capable of being

APOLOGY AGAINST

(1550) declares:

What

your adusted conscience thynketh of I can not telL 14

it

aeromancy

adust

vowter, advowterer; advowteress, advou-

See adure.

adust.

advowterie, advowtry, avowtry. Cp.

tress;

Notice,

advertence.

+

consider-

spousebreach.

Via the French, from Latin ad, Chaucer in TROYLUS

ation. to

attention,

(1370) has the query:

AND CRISEYDE

Used THE NIGHTINGALE).

What

in the 13th century

experience Hath fro me reft, alas, thine advertence'? (The accent, nonethe-

fel

to all disorderly appehabit or quality of being attenadvertency; thus Bryden in THE

The

tive is

PLUTARCH (1683) states that want of advertency he has been through often guilty of that error. We still must was infrequently admit that an act LIFE

OWL

AND

In words from Latin and Greek, an original ae has frequently been shortened to e. As late as March 1847, we could read in THE LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW, of Johnson's edition of ShakeHis great general powers speare's plays: enabled him to paraphrase into perspiand aenigmatical cuity many an involved to stamp with a more legible imline worn or press many a noble specimen of

on

most certain curb tites.

(THE

ae-.

the second syllable.) THE LADY'S CALLING of 1673 admonishes that a serious advertence to -the divine presence is the less, is

Mistaken, in error. Cp. dwale.

adwole.

vertere, to turn.

OF

corroded coinage.

advertent.

The

advertisement.

mind toward,

heed. Also, the

noticing;

Greek this

thence (from the 18th century) the current use. Accent always on the second to -f vertere, versum, syllable. Latin ad, verse, obverse, reverse,

diversions. Shakespeare uses

it

cry

HENRY

evening:

From Latin

advesperascere,

and more

in the sense

in

vesper,

An

(as

be wind. Hence

See equiparate.

Divination

foretelling by appear-

The

depths of the desire coming, or what is the best course to pursue to bring about a to

air.

know what

is

wished-for end, are indicated by the great number of types of divination practiced in times not long gone by. These include:

aichomancy, variant

things to

(1704): The the original

long-winded.

ances in the

early variant of adulter-

early

all

maintain

events, predicting the future

ess; cp. advowtrie.

advowtrie.

aeolists

aeromancy.

advesperatum,

See avision.

An

cap-

a

aequiparate.

+

I-ip'-athy,

TALE OF A TUB

cause of aeolistic,

draw toward evening;

advoutress.

the

learned

to

advision.

pronounced

IV,

ad, to

pathos, feeling,

A

this word means grow toward night. It exists in 17th and 18th century dictionaries.

to

always

4-

aeolist. pretender to inspiration; the god of wind-bag. From Latin Molus, the winds. One use is recorded, by Swift

lowder than advertisement.

advesperate.

word,

From

passion.

long-felt

aiei, aei,

tures the lovelorn.

PART ONE PART ONE, in (1597); in other senses in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, and in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: My griefs of information, in

A

aeipathy.

act of calling attention to; hence, a notice, a public notice, as by the town-crier;

whence

See egritude.

aegritude.

act of turning the

by

sharp

points,

alectro-

mancy, by a cock's picking up grains. aleuromancy, by dough, alphitomancy,

in

Chaucer), of adultery. Also advouter, ad~ 15

aeromancy

aeromancy antkobarley meal, amathomancy, dust, she loves loves flowers me, (She mancy,

me

not!)

anthropomancy human ,

observation

anthroposcopy,

of

entrails;

personal

haruspicy, appearance of things being sacrificed; heiromancy, entrails of sacrificed animals; excharacteristics;

auspicy,

entrails

tispice,

from

plucked

a

fowl.

lampadomancy, candles; what burns (and

how

it

burns or the wick

floats

about)

in a lamp; libanomancy, burning of incense (so the Fates are not incensed); lecanomancy, a bowl of water reflecting

a practice still current in Slavic lands, especially at Christmas-

candle flames

some

THE PSYCHOANALYTIC REVIEW

tide.

in

armomancy, shoulders of beasts, austromancy, winds, axinomancy, a balanced

1913 reported that testing with free association shows *'the divinations are merely

hatchet, belomancy, arrows, bibliomancy, the Bible; sortes Virgilianae, opening at

the

random

to

a

page

of

Virgil's

mancy,

brontomancy, thunder, capnosmoke, catotromancy, mirrors.

altar

ceromancy, melted

mancy,

wax on

clouds, chiromancy,

cleromancy,

dice,

coscinomancy, a

water, chao-

palm reading.

conchomancy,

shells.

ing

mancy, cake dough, barley, cryptomancy, by unrevealed means, dactyliomancy, a fingei suspended ring; dactylomancy, rings, daphnomancy , a laurel tree, or branch therefrom, demonomancy, with

digging,

halomancy,

salt,

(in

the

graphomancy,

odontomancy, oinomancy,

the

wine.

navel,

fire.

See omphalomancyi by

oneiromancy,

a

sun. ooscopy, inspection of eggs, ophio-

hariolation, sooth-

mancy, serpents, orniscopy, birds; ornithomancy, the flight of birds, oryctomancy, things dug up. ossomancy, bones.

ways),

keraunoscopy,

kidneys,

dreams, onomancy, onomatechny, the letters of one's name, onychomancy, nails reflecting the

of laugh-

hydromancy,

many

also

negromancy, nycromancy, nephronecromonseys.

oenomancy,

placed on a

ydromancy, water hyomancy, the tongue bone; as the tongue wags, ichthyomancy, the next fish caught, iconomancy, images. saying,

nigrem,

omoplatoscopy, scapulimancy, the cracks in a shoulder-blade when the bone is

of water.

handwriting, gyromancy, spinning in circle,

corpse;

divination, black magic;

mancyf the teeth,

Rabelais (1533), long practiced in Ferrara (2) ventriloquism (3) a child looking into

geomancy,

illicit

nygromauncy, necromancy,

dririmancy, spirits, dripping blood, gastromancy (1) rumbles of the said belly a sort of "fatiloquency,"

ing,

nekros,

communicating with the dead;

for

damned

manner

Latin

(Greek black),

sciomancy, shadows, or the shades of the dead, necromancy is also the general term

the help of demons; necyomancy, necyomanty, calling up the devil or other

geloscopy, observing the

stars,

molybdomancy, motions and forms in molten lead, myomancy, mice, necromancy

images in a crystal ball; spheromancy, a crystal sphere, critho-

of a glass bottle

stones;

meteoroscopy, meteoromancy, shootmineramancy, found minerals.

pies,

sieve, cristallomancy, crys-

tallomancy,

the "belly"

(precious)

psephomancy, heaped pebbles; pessomancy, tossed pebbles, logomancy, words. macromancy, the largest thing near; micromancyj the smallest thing near. maculomancy, spots, mathemancy , quana suckling babe, mecotity, mazomancy , nomancy, sleep, induced by drugs; pop-

stlchomancy, a verse, a passage in a book; foliomancy, leaves (of a book; later, tea leaves),

medium's own com-

lithomancy,

plexes."

works;

of the

results

thunder

and

ouranomancy, uranomancy, the heavens. pegomancy, fountains, physio gnomancy,

phyznomancy,

lightning.

16

fiznomancy,

the

coun-

aetites

aeromancy

prefix ae-, aer-

a festival cake. ing out of candles on as pseudomancy, with intent to deceive,

Macbeth hell when be safe till Birnam Wood shall come to Dunsinane which would leave more than a dunce inane, psychomancy, spirits.

casting

sortilegy,

seeds

in

dung, sycomancy,

aestus

is

terrain,

tyromancy,

coagulation

of

theo-

other

Astrology

many

terms,

season

the

tides,

we

aestuate,

to

bath;

including

cp. apotelesm.

Not only less

gullible

ing.

as

It is

and soothsayers and manless

hopeful of

foretell-

to

by

aetites.

heave,

to

vapor

surge

like

says that the seas retain their outrageous aesture there. calmer seas that city folk delight

Boiling;

rage.

See

aestivate.

Pronounced in three

syllables,

the English form of a Greek word that means of the eagle, aetites is the

this is

from

so-called

many, the

eagle-stone,

zoophobia,

found (according

to

the

its

fable)

being in

the

in EUPHUES (1579) called eagle's nest. Lyly it the precious stone aetites; Bacon in SYLVA (1626) mentions the peculiarity

animals. While it lists ponoof work, it does not list dread phobia, The topic is logophobia, dread of words. fear

suggesting

boiling

find aestuary, a

Chapman

aesture.

FORD PSYCHIATRIC DICTIONARY lists 264 words for specific dreads, from acero(to

hot;

estive,

to aestivate.

in ing the future, they are more manifold their fears of what is to come. The OX-

phobia, fear of sourness world has turned sour)

sus-

the tide, to boil; aestuous, agitated, heavin his translation of the

ODYSSEY (1615)

may be

of

sense

the

turbulent

the position of the stars; at birth, alchocoden, genethliacs, the stars the planet that reigns over a nativity;

Persons today

hibernate,

torpor or

in

aestive,

meanings:

sion,

astromancy,

to the prophets tics in general;

of

converse

the

as

aestuant, heaving with heat. By exten-

cheese.

urine,

has

used

the summer. Latin

hence English aestival, summer. In zoology, aestivate heat;

Often used figurapended the PALL MALL GAZETTE of tively, as in December 11, 1870: With -what we are Calcutta pleased to call the cold weather rouses herself pom her aestivation of seven long months. There are other forms than the verb and the noun with

trochomancy, wheel tracks. the

For etymology, see

animation.

xenomancy, the first that stranger appears, zygomancy, weights. urimancy,

To spend

spending

on magic, theomancy, oracles, or calling the god. theriomancy, by the movements of wild animals, topomancy, the shape of the

(1205).

means

relating to

terato-

figs,

Used in Laya-

Witless, foolish.

aestivate.

spasmato-

natural marvels,

scopy, prodigies,

used

old

aerwene.

stercomancy,

twitchings.

bodily

hope

-less.

aerwitte.

scatomancy, feces, dung, selenomancy, the moon, sideromancy, hot metal, sorti-

mancy,

word

for

suffix

mon's BRUT

pyromancy, flames; ceneromancy, ashes; retrotephramancy, tracings in ashes, over one's seen looking mancy, things shoulder, rhabdomancy, a rod or wand.

lege,

An

wen. Layamon, in BRUT (1205) aerwene to mean without hope.

rent is

the witches promise

lots,

Desperate, The Old English is a privative, like the cur-

aerwene.

tenance; metoscopy, the face, pneumancy, blowing; a vestigium of this is the blow-

of

divinacapped with moromancy, foolish covers that term 17th a tion, century

that gave it distinction: the aetites or hath a little stone eagle's stone, which

them

within

all.

17

it.

This

effect

is

produced,

ac-

aeviternal

affeer

do

cording to CHAMBERS' CYCLOPEDIA (1753)

cere, to

through the fact that it "consists of several crusts, which have in them a cavity

to

and moveable." it, Such a stone naturally had powers attributed to it; as late as 1862 the London READER (July 8) said that the aetites

oneself to, to

with matter in

The

word, detecting theft. plural form, is also singular. aeviternal;

(and

the reflexive form, se facere ad, to apply

loose

possessed the singular property

aeviternity.

forms

original)

.

despite

The of

.

.

aspire affection

of

tend.

to do (wear, go) often; liking for; to put on, to preShakespeare, in HENRY IV, PART

its

Two

(1593):

Gods placed

in

This

Old French

is

and

to

purpose; to

we

and hounds), Also

afaytye,

affaite;

is

afear.

folies ful

It afaiteth

slight;

who

a

ever loved, that loved not

The vehemence of passion; More common (15th to

affectuosity.

great affection.

17th century)

were the adjective forms,

afaite.

affections,

afaitement,

(1362) wrote:

From

affect

at first sight?

training; proper behavior; breeding. Robert of Gloucester's CHRONICLE (1297) said: To Yolond he gan wende Var to afayty that lond, and to wynne ech ende. Langland in PIERS PLOW-

MAN

espedallie do

Of two gold ingots like in each respect. The reason no man knows; let it suffice What we behold is censured by our eies. Where both deliberat, the love

out, dress; to train (hawks hence, to tame; to subdue.

affayte,

Hence

adapt to

(finished

states that life (fate)

And one

chooses for us:

the highest regions

mould,

saucy roughnes. Also, to prefer.

by Chapman; 1598)

an early form of affect, via from Latin affectare,

shape,

I affected wealth, or

Marlowe in HERO AND LEANDER

afaiter

fit

A

affect

frequentative of afficere, affectum; ad, to 4- facere, to make, to do. It meant to influence;

Have

honour? (TWELFTH NIGHT): Maria told me once, she did affect me. (LEAR): Who having beene prais'd for bluntnesse, doth

of aether, aeviternal. afait.

for;

show a

to

adeternity, from Latin aevum, age 4- the jective suffix. Thus T. Stanley in the HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY (1660) mentions

the

at. Hence:) To aim at, be drawn toward, to have

aim

to

to;

emphatic

eternal

to attach to; ad, to 4- facere,

to,

make, to do. Other senses came from

affectuous,

affectual,

earnest,

eager; tender, loving affectionate; rousing

the emotions; successful

(more rarely) influential, perhaps by error for affectu-

In NERO (1607) we read: Therefore my deare, deare wife, and dearest sonnes, Let me ingirt you with my last embrace: ous.

the flesh

manye.

And

See affeer. Also ofere, afered, afeir.

kisse,

in your cheekes impress a fare-well Kisse of true kindness and affec-

tious love.

afeng. To take up, receive. The past tense was afong. Used in the 13th century

affeer.

(Robert of Gloucester's CHRONICLE)*

affeir, affure.

To

a price. Also affear, affere, In law courts, to settle the amount of an amercement; to reduce to a fair price. From Old French afeurer,

aferd, Busied, charged with a matter to be executed. A variant form of affaired, used in the 13th century (the romance of

set

from Late Latin

afforare,

from ad, to

4-

KYNG ALYSAUNDER).

forum, market. The word was a legal term from about 1450; Blackstone's COMMEN-

affect.

TARIES (1768) says that the precise

sum

of

an amercement

set

by

ence,

(The surviving sense, to influcame from the simple Latin affi18

(q.v.)

is

usually

affy

affie

sworn to

affeerors, or jurors

tax

is

ment

Since ing. Latin afflatus serpentis, hissing.

affeere, that

moderate., the general amerceaccording to the particular circum-

and

agent of supernatural communication the pythoness of Greek oracle, the serother pent of the Garden of Eden, and

stances of the offence and the offender. From the meaning, to settle, affeer was used figuratively in the sense of to conas

firm,

is

by

Shakespeare

Wear thou

(160S):

in

worms

MACBETH

ing of supernatural

thy wrongs, the title

creative impulse:

England and in

In the north of land, from about 1350 (in Barbour's BRUCE, 1375) to about 1600, quite another word, from Old French affeirir, to

from Latin

+

ad, to

Scot-

ferire,

affeir. Thus Lyndesay in wrote Some swift, some

DREME

slow,, as to

They

affeirs (pertains).

honour, said MERLIN

his

did

to

an

See

The

affrication.

Latin verb

rub,

had two forms

and

frictum.

affine.

loosely, affinal,

common affy,

Also

affa-

a species of narcissus.

dil,

is

variant of

is like

to the dille, affodell, and more. Applied to the and or daffoasphodel, king's spear,

of Stratford.

A

Thack-

a writer

daffadowndilly.

was elected in 1559 one of the affeerors

affie.

(17th century),

when

afflated style

affodill.

be confused

afere to do amiss. Shakespeare, father of William,

John

afflated

(19th century), inspired.

afflatitious

or less Afflataking of sweet life as more tion of eternal bliss pervades them.

great

with afear, meaning in fear, of ere, afered, in Chaucer's MONK'S TALE as

Ever he

the divine

afflatus.

is

afeir,

(1386):

inspiration,

Also

a pythoness? Gary in his translation (1814) of Dante's PARADISO wrote: Diversely Par-

so high a

to

(first

style of

(1450) as affiered to

man. These words are not

also

the impartknowledge, or of a

PAPERS

(1552) their

him

came

mean

(1862) eray in THE ROUNDABOUT remarks: We spake anon of the inflated some writers. What also if there

took the form affere,

strike, to affect, also

kind

afflation, afflatus

in the Latin forms) to

affeard.

pertain,

an peoples the snake was

among many

q.v.

to,

A

relation by marriage; more a relative. Affined related; also in relation to, derived from the

upon

affricate.

and

From

fricare,

to

for the past: fricatum

the second comes the

English word friction; from ad> -f-

fricatum come affrication and exist mainly in late 17th

Both

early

18th

dictionaries

century

(Blount 1656; Bailey 1751)

,

but Francis

border. In a letter of

Hauksbee, in his PHYSICO-MECHANICAL EXPERIMENTS (1709) speaks of the affrica-

we

tion of a glass tube.

same source. Latin ad, read:

to -f finem, end,

Henry VII (1509) His cousyn and affyne the king

of Spayne.

Hence, also

affined, related;

love the afflate.

and

(1596):

And upon. Latin ad, to

flare, flatum, to blow,

flatulence.

whence

Hence

+

afflatus,

A

variant

of

She saw that cruell war so ended,

deadly foes so faithfully affrended.

affy.

To

to assure,

also inflated

to

breath-

19

trust; to entrust; to confide in;

to secure

by solemn promise;

16th century) to affiance, (since the also (though by a whence betroth,

hence

afflation, a blow-

ing or breathing upon;

reconcile.

in the past, affriend. Apparently used only as by Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE

Moor.

To blow

To

aflxend.

bound by some tie. Thus Shakespeare in OTHELLO (1604) bids: Be judge yourself, Whether I in any just terme am afin'd To

agamy

afgod second trip from France) fiancee. Early forms were affie, afye, afyghe. Via Old French after; Latin ad, to -f- fidare; fidus, trusty, fides, faith.

PART Two wedded be thou

VI,

offspring. Goldafterspring. Posterity; translation in his (1583) of Calvin on ing '

Shakespeare in HENRY (1593) exclaims: And

the hags of hell For daring to affye a mighty lord Unto the daughter of a worthlesse king.

DEUTERONOMY

He

has: //

should destroy

and leave no afterspring upon Him.

the whole world to call

to

afterwending. 13th century

Used

Following.

(romance

the

in

KYNG % ALY-

of

SAUNDER).

An

afgod.

idol; a false god.

Old English

+ God. THE GENTLEMEN'S MAGA-

af, off

ZINE in 1793 stated:

The

figure

on the

was not intended to represent a was an griffen, but an afgod. The afgod stone

like a

image

dragon placed

at the feet of

Woden. afoled.

Made

century

(THE OWL

GALE)

-h

Used in the 13th AND THE NIGHTIN-

of.

devour. Old English of, away fretan, to gnaw. Also afretie, afretye. political song of the 13th century ex-

presses the pious hope:

The

Whitney

(1586):

Afterwits

call

I'esprit

d'escalier,

By

(4)

former

one's

Hence

senses/

too late.

devel them

afterblismed.

againchar.

See chare.

Anglo-Saxon Pregnant. blosma, a bud, blossom. In a 13th century translation of the 77TH PSALM. unexpected blow after one

on guard, a further seems life can bring no

has ceased to be it

more, a misfortune that 'caps the climax/ Used from the 15th century. Butler in

To

againsay. dict)

when

;

to

refuse;

contradict.

to

What plaguy mischiefs and mishaps Do dog him still with afterclaps.

drive:

A

disadvantage.

Caxton's

REYNART THE FOXE (1481) Isegryn was woe begon, and

translation of stated:

thought he was at an after dele. Malory, in

THE HISTORY OF KING ARTHUR

(1634),

reported: The battle was great, and oftentimes that one party was at a fordele, and

anon

at

an

afterdele,

ver-

speak

contradiction.

tury; later shortened to gainsay.

agambo.

An

early

variant

agamy.

Non-recognition,

not

-f

on the

akimbo.

of

or

non-exist-

From Greek

a,

gamos, marriage. (The accent

is

ence, of the marriage

first

syllable.)

tie.

The word had some

popularity around the beginning of the 19th century, when rebellious romantics preferred agamy to bigamy, to tainly monogamy. The

and

agamous was more frequent,

and has

as

a

biological

without (distinguishable)

20

(a

to

Hence againsaw, againsaying, Used since the 13th cen-

against.

survived

which endured long.

reverse

Literally,

HUDIBRAS (1663) knows the unrelenting

afterdeal.

the

wit,

on the way

afterwitted, lacking fore-

when

thought; wise

of

recognition of 'coming to one's

See agenbite.

disaster

a

like

extension, follies,

again-bite.

An

are

staircase

remark one thinks

afretye!

afterclap.

in

at

shower of rayne Which moistes the soile when witherd is the graine. The French

home.

To

Knowledge arrived

(1)

Second thought, reconsideration. Both of these were 17th century uses. (3) Wisdom that comes too late. G.

clever

.

afrete.

A

a fool

afterwit.

later years. (2)

cer-

adjective

term meaning sexual

organs.

aganippe

An

agelast is

agamist

one opposed

to the institu-

tion of matrimony.

Aganippe

power.

Mount

of inspiration; poetic was a fountain on

THE

Helicon, sacred to the Muses.

LIFE OF ANTONY A WOOD (1695) said: Such towering ebullitions do not exuberate in

my

aganippe.

In two

agape.

means on

this

syllables,

the gape, in a state of wonder. Milton in PARADISE LOST 1667) mentions a rich

retinue that Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape; Tennyson in MAUD (1855) pictures a rabbit mouth that is ever agape. In three syllables, from Greek agape,

brotherly love, the word was used of a love-feast of the early Christians, at first in connection with the Lord's Supper. In the primitive days, as Chambers obin

serves

his

were

agapes

CYCLOPEDIA held

That they

offence.

licentious

is

without later

after

scandal

or

became more

man

that hunts

women.

agar.

A

sea-monster.

dictionaries,

times:

and

in

So-called

so felt to be in

early

Tudor

later identified with the eager, a

tidal bore, also eagre, q.v. The bores (unusually high tidal waves) were found

especially in the estuaries of the

Humber,

Trent and Severn. Lyly in GALLATHEA (1592) said of Neptune: He sendeth a monster called the agar, against whose

coming the waters roare, the fowles flie away, and the cattel in the field for terrow shunne the bankes. Sprigge in 1647 neatly defined eager, a sudden surprisal of the

From

Greek

Dioscoribes said was

agaricon,

named from

which

Agaria, place in Sarmatia, comes this word agaric, the tree fungus used for tinder, a

fungus, the "male agarick," was used as a styptic to coagulate blood. The Fairy Agaric was frequently found in the circles of grass called Fairy associations, the word

Rings.

From such

moved

into poetry.

Note that Shelley accents the second sylin THE SENSITIVE PLANT (1820): And agarics and fungi, with mildew and lable,

mould; while Tennyson accents the first, GARTH (1859): As one That smells a

in

1

foul-flesh 'd agaric in the holt.

agast.

To

terrify.

From

the 13th through

the 16th century; by 1700 the participle agasted, struck with terror, had been

The

h came in under word (and the idea) Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE

replaced by aghast.

the influence of the ghost.

(1596) has:

him

Or

other griesly thing, that

aghast. Cp. gast.

A

agate. tiny person in reference to the small figures cut in the precious stone, agate, set in rings and used as seals.

Shakespeare has Falstaff say to his

new

page (HENRY IV, PART Two; 1598): Thou whoreson mandrake, thou are fitter to be worn in my cap than to wait at my heels. I was never manned with an agate till now. Note the verb to man, to equip with a serving-man.

agathodemon.

See eudemonic.

agathokakological. agathopoietic.

See eudemonic.

Tending, or intended, to

do good. Greek agathos, good to

tide.

agaric.

as a cathartic;

the

(1727),

a botanical term for a genus

the "female agarick" was widely another type of tree

ceutics,

used

evident from Bailey's defini-

tion (1736) of agapet: a

still

mushroom. In Renaissance pharma-

of

A source

aganippe.

It is

+

poiein,

make, do.

This three-syllable word is from not -f- gelastes, a laugher: one never laughs. George Meredith in

agelast.

Greek

who the

a,

London TIMES

of February

5,

1877,

aglet

agemate

men whom Rabelais would have The form agelastic is also

wrote of

called agelasts.

found (in Bailey's DICTIONARY, 1731) with the same meaning; or, as an adjective,

A

person of the same age. Stanyhurst in the AENEIS (1583) has: Whilst I beheld Priamus thus gasping, my

sire

his agemate.

Even the

staid O.E.D.

ventures the opinion: "This word

is

worth

reviving." That is especially true in this era of increased longevity.

science, is a translation (about 1340)

See agast.

aghast.

An early spelling (also agulte, aguylt, agelte) of the verb aguilt, q.v. agilt.

A

aginator.

A

agio.

by

of Northgate, Canterbury, of

19th

century to

stock-jobbing.

From Greek a, not H- geras, old H. Grindon, on LIFE; ITS NALeo age. TURE, VARIETIES AND PHENOMENA (1856)

agiotage,

cogently remarks: Agerasia belongs only

agist.

(1880) says:

agerasy.

expect.

To

aggerate.

ENDYMION

they mean by peace is at a premium, and

To take cattle in, for pasture, at To agist cattle; also, to agist the pasture cattle in the forest. Per-

haps from French a giste, for pasture, perhaps from adgistare (a Late Latin form after the French); Latin jacitare,

intensive,

of

Hence

drive in westernesse.

frequentative

To heap

agistage, agistation, agistment, the process of agisting, of pasturing or of opening

aggeratum, to

up. Latin aggerare,

pile; agger, a

heap, whence

the

of heaps. To aggerate a tree, to heap earth or dung about it. The term aggeration is used in archaeology to mean the making

mound,

as

to

lie.

King's

officer

The agistor was who kept charge of

cattle agisted in the royal forests, or kept the accounts of the agistment.

aggerating and exaggerating the fault to the uttermost. Hence aggeration, raising a heap; aggerose, formed in heaps; full

aglet.

The

point)

of

metal a

lace,

tip

(earlier

called

intended for easier

threading through the eyelets, but later in various shapes as an ornament

made

a method of raising the

menhir, the giant standing stone of

iacere,

the forest for pasturage.

exaggerate. Foxe plays on the two words in THE BOOK OF MARTYRS (1587): also

of a

speculation,

in

a price.

the verb (hard g) became guess. The 13th century KING HORN has: He sede he wolde agesse

What

shares

forest, to

agesse.

mean

Disraeli

bubble companies.

to the soul. is

a

which was extended in

ing; also agiotage,

the

a

aginate, to

percentage charged for exchang-

agerasia. Eternal youth; a green old age; aging without the signs of years. Also

The

To

Latin aginare, agina-

ing currency. Italian agio, aggio, ease, convenience. By extension, money-chang-

a French moral treatise.

To

retail dealer.

retail small wares, }

here meaning back, ally again-bite, again on oneself, against See commorant. The AYENBITE OF INWIT, Remorse of Con-

Dan Michel

means than by the

rude process of aggeration.

tum to trade; agina, the tongue of balance. In 17th century dictionaries.

Remorse. Also ayenbite; actu-

agenbite.

as at Stonehenge,

though many agree with what in a letter of 1832: / think wrote Southey the stones are more likely to have been

England

raised by mechanical

never laughing; sullen, sad.

agemate.

tain ancient peoples,

on the

lace-ends.

Hence, an ornament

attached to a lace or fringe, a metallic

cer-

22

agnate

agnail

stud or spangle

on a

dress.

By extension,

a fragment of flesh hanging by the skin; hence, a scrap, a shred. In current use,

or

the

ai guile He,

over

cord

aigulet,

via

French

aiguilette,

diminutive of aiguille, needle; Late Latin acicula, diminutive of acus, needle, acuere, acutus, to sharpen, whence also acute. At the Progress of Queen Elizabeth I in 1564,

when Lord

Leicester was

made a

Knight of the Garter, the robe of the Garter King at Arms had on the sleeves 38 paire of gold aglets. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) mentions a silken .

the hanging shreds of flesh, but h was just the cockney

A

agname. formal

sound of the word.

name

in addition to

appellation,

a

nickname.

one's

Latin

agnomen, ag, ad, to -f- nomen, name, whence also agnomen. In Roman use,

agnomen referred to a third or fourth name added because of some special event, as Publius Cornelius Scipio was called Africanus, as we learn in the first act of Shakespeare's play that Gaius Marcius, victor at Corioli (493 B.C.) was called

Coriolanus. In English, Scott in WAVERLY (1814) speaks of small pale features, from which he derived his agnomen of Bean;

camus Which all above besprinckled was throughout With golden aygulets that glistred bright, Like twinckling starres. An aglet-baby was either a tag shaped like a baby, or a doll or baby adorned with aglets; Shakespeare in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1596) says: Give him gold .

to

the

point shoulder in certain uniforms. Also aiglet,

aglotte,

ate

originally the addition to the

.

Urquhart in

THE JEWEL

Colonel

tioned

(1652)

Alexander

men-

Hamilton,

agnamed dear Sandy.

A

wholly on the Agnation is relationship through the male line, through male links alone, as in the Salic law. The Salic law agnate.

male

enough, and marry him to a puppet or an aglet-babie, or an old trot with ne'er

descendant

side.

900 to 1700^agnaz7 meant a corn on the

was established by Clovis (died 511); Edward III of England claimed the French throne by virtue of the Salic law (referred to in Shakespeare's Henry V) and thus started the Hundred Years War. When Victoria became Queen of England in 1837, the Salic law kept her from the throne of Hanover. The Justinian Code

from ang, compressed, painful (Gothic aggurus, whence anguish) + nail.

tions, so

The word

to include descendants in the

a tooth in her head.

This word was corrupted to hanghas supplanted it. The change which nail, was established in Bailey's DICTIONARY (1742), where agnail is defined as "a sore agnail.

slip of skin at the

root of a nail."

From

foot. It is

nail at

first

(529-565)

did not refer to a

fingernail or toenail, but to a nail

even

one

,

however, modified the regula-

that agnation

and agnate came male line

though female links have interis also used as an adjecalthough both words have now

hammered; by extension, the word was applied to a round-headed excrescence in

vened. Agnate

wart (originally a wernail, wer meaning man, as in werwolf: a wernail or warnel was a wart). Thus

purely historical associations. Agnate and agnation are from Latin adgnatum, from

the

flesh,

tive,

like a

agnail meant

first

-Jgnasci, to be born, of the stem to gen-, beget, generate. From the same

ad, to

a corn, then a whitlow

(from white + flaw?; a pus-producing inflammation near or under the nail) , then a hangnail. The term hang seems appropri-

come the forms adnate and adnawhich are still used in botany and physics; but adnate was used in the 17th source tion,

23

agrise

agnification

century in the sense of acquired, as opposed to native, thus in Theophilus Gales'

and the Welsh delighted much in licking the letter and clapping together agnomi-

THE COURT

nations.

There

OF

THE GENTILES

(1677):

an adnate or acquired hardness

is

by custom in agnification.

to as

persons

Representing

agnus, lamb + ficaof making, from facere, to

From Latin

sheep. tion, the act

When

make.

God's minister

pastor (shepherd)

it

is

called a

natural that his

is

The image literchurch medieval appears throughout "flock" be pictured as sheep.

and

ature as

painting. Also, of course, Jesus

agnus Dei, the lamb of God.

An early form of recognize, from the 16th through the 18th century. Also agnize, agnition. Motteux, in his translaof

Rabelais

(1708),

silence of the Egyptians

says

was agnited as an

welFs succession as Protector of the

on the

agonel.

Shortened

agonalis,

book

from

Latin

liber

of agonies.

one that refuses

to

bow

to authority.

Adrip with clotting blood. North translation mentions the floods and rivers by reason of the

all agore-blood,

great slaughter.

ComRustic, rude.

agrest. tis,

Latin agres-

the

(1480) uses it as a noun, the agrests that enjoy the countryside. Agresty appears in

18th century dictionaries,

More

frequent

meaning rusfrom the 17th

through the 19th century is agrestic; Disraeli mentions in ENDYMION (1880) a de-

ramble

lightful

A word-play,

to

some spot

of agrestic

charm.

pun; allusion of one word to another. On hearing that in THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY a stolen cradle

From

open country, from agrum, Caxton in Ovid's METAMORPHOSES

of

field.

agnomination. (1) The giving of a surname; also adnomination, q.v.; annomi-

the

syllable.

book of martyrs, or of stories agonal. of heroes that sacrificed their lives. Also

ticity.

in

first

A

(1580)

firm.

hidden

.

running

consent of the people represented in this assembly." Neither the succession nor the

was

gno-,

agoreblood.

recognizing to agnizing, "that so his right might appear to be founded upon the

lamb

4-

Plutarch's LIVES in the

monwealth of England was established more firmly, it was thought, by changing

(2)

not

a,

gnaw: "Chew upon a common word:

to

Agnostic is in the O.E.D., has the accent not agnosy, this")

sion,

INFERNO, has: I was agnized of one, who by the skirt Caught me. Richard Crom-

nation.

(akin

that the

expressive manner of Divine adoration. Gary, in his translation (1814) of Dante's

word proved

know

agonyclite. From Greek a, not -f gony, knee + clitos, bending, this word marks one of the 7th century heretics that would not kneel but prayed standing. By exten-

agnit.

tion

Ignorance. Greek

agnosy.

sin.

To annoy. Used in the 13th (THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE) and the 14th

agrill.

that

centuries.

awaited

the

schoolboy

about-to-be-born

not knowing

Jesus,

how many

a

layers

agrise.

To

shudder, to be full of terror;

of thought were in the agnomination

to dread, abhor;

to terrify.

commented: "Mary had a

intensive

4-

litle

agnification. (B) Alliteration. MAINS,,

1605)

lamb." Cp.

Camden

prefix

See grise. in the Laws of

(RE-

grisly.

remarked that the English 24

gris,

From

a-,

an

horror,

as

in

A common Cnut

word, found

(1000)

and up

to

agrodolce

airling

1650, in many spellings. Thus Chaucer in THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN (1385) And in his heart he suddenly agroos, and

which runs from Chaucer and the villains of melodrama, a combination of the two interjections Ah! and Ha!

pale he waxed; Spenser uses the word several times in THE FAERIE QUEENE

aheave.

(1596)

whom when

e.g.,

she saw

.

.

,

rear,

Like

An

ahof.

See aigredoux.

To

cram, to cloy. This verb, of origin, is found from about 1350

ahte.

(1)

ought.

(3)

ahwene.

to

aheve, ahebban.

1205

recorded:

Cador

his

old past tense of aheave, q.v. Possessions,

aught.

aiel.

WOMEN

(2)

See aeromancy.

A grandfather;

Old French

(1385): / am agrotyed here beforn to write of them that been on love forsworn. This also appears in the

property.

(4) eight.

See awhene.

aichomancy.

to 1450, only in the past participle form, agroted, surfeited, as in Chaucer's LEGEND

OF GOOD

Also

sweard ahof.

agros, agras, agroos; agresyd, agryzd. For another instance of its use, see garb oil.

agrote.

(heave); hence,

up

the 10th to the 14th century;

in

Layamon

clude

unknown

lift

educate.

Used from

ghost late risen from his grave agryz'd, She knew him not. Past tense forms in-

agrodolce.

To

to

forefather, ancestor.

aiel, aieul;

Late Latin aviolus,

diminutive of avus, grandfather, Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) has: / am

form agroten: agroten (agrotonyd) with meat or drink.

thyn

aiel,

redy at thy wille.

Hence

aigredoux. Sweet and sour. Also aigredouce, agerdows. Skelton in A GARLAND OF LAUREL (1523) said He wrote an epi-

agrypnode, sleep preventing; agrypnotic, something administered to keep one

taph for his grave stone With wordes devoute and sentence agerdows. The 19th

awake. [The form, from Greek agrypnetishould be agrypnetic; the word was

century used an Italian form; Ford in HANDBOOK FOR SPAIN (1845) said: In

agrypnia.

Sleeplessness.

drowsiness,

grypnia,

Greek

a,

sleeping.

not

-f

koSj

fashioned, in the

mid 9th

From

an Spain, as Sappho says, love is alternation of the agrodolce. The term is also applied to food, as described in Bad-

force

ham's HALIEUTICS (1854)

century, after

.

hypnotic.]

To

aguilt.

Old

+

offend, to sin against. with intensive a-,

English

gyltan, to sin; gieldan, to

pay Sometimes used with against, sometimes directly as in Chaucer's PAR-

TALE

God and

(1386):

He

almonds,

hath agultid his

defoulid his soule.

raisins,

vinegar,

One

that indicates the mark.

extension, an encourager, applauder; one that helps with words alone. Mark-

By

ham

in ENGLAND'S ARCADIA (1638) said: creatures, like aimcriers, beheld

Her own

(1596): Sometimes her head she fondly would aguize With gaudy girlonds.

A

pine-kernels,

aimcrier.

adorn; to dress. Used several aguise. times by Spenser, as in MOTHER HUBBERD'S TALE and in THE FAERIE QUEENE

aha.

a blending of

and wine.

To

confused

.

sweets and sours, and is made by stewing in a rich gravy prunes, Corinth currants,

for, to

requite. SON'S

.

her mischance with nothing but

variant of haha, q.v. Not to be with the exclamation Aha!,

airling.

A

young, thoughtless person; a earling. Jonson in CATI-

coxcomb. Also 25

lip-pity.

alamort airstone

LINE

says:

(1611)

will slight airlings,

cloascientific term), cloacaline, cloacean,

Some more there be, be won With dogs and

cinal,

A

meteorite.

A

1608

letter of

as said: They of divers prodigies, well in these parts as in Holland, but talk

especially airstones.

Shameful

aischrology.

aischros, disgracing,

(opposed thenics,

discourse,

shameful;

to kalos, beautiful,

illlustration of its use, see

ugly

morology.

a

privy;

The word

a is

room a

pun

word took on meaning from Old Teutonic alilandisc, foreign, out-

val Latin the

landish.

To speed up; brighten; to alacriate. with alacrity. Also alacrify. Latin alacris,

fill

lively. Hence alacrative, pertainor tending, to alacrity; speeding up; ing, also alacrious. Warner in AL-

brisk,

in disgrace. Gamden (1625) told that one

him

REMAINS

sprightly; BION'S ENGLAND (1602) spoke of his alacri-

ous intertainments, and upright government.

Solomon, a Jew, -fell into a jakes at Tewkesbury on a Saturday. Shakespeare used the word earlier, in LOVE'S LABOUR'S

said:

work was

A

A form of the French

alamort. to

it

the

death;

Common

a rub

mortally

from 1550

sick,

to

1800.

a la mort, dispirited.

Also

all

Thus Shakespeare in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1596): What amort, amort.

subtitle of Harington's

CLOACINEAN SATIRE; Cloacina

all-amort?; Dryden in THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE (1700): Mirth

was the goddess of disposal; Latin cloaca, sewer; cluere, to purge. In English, cloaca

sweeting,

there was none, the

has been used for a privy; figuratively, for a receptacle of moral filth. Adjectives

Keats

formed from

She sighs

it

if at

magic lamp, described in the ARABIAN NIGHTS.

not, of Inquire, if Cloacina's chaplains., or such as are well

The

transform as

of Aladdin's

(French for an anal expulsion of wind)

you know

To

aladdinize.

Your lion that holds his pollax sitting on a close stoole, will be given to Ajax. Camden, speaking of pet (1588):

read in Ajax.

stupid.

Pliny (who died A.D. 79 through an eruption too closely to observe trying of Vesuvius) speaks of Alabanda, a city in Caria, as a barbarous place. In Medie-

credited with the invention of

Elizabeth I kept

LOST

sottish,

good word though hitherto found only in dictionaries of the 17th and 18th cen-

his

his

Barbarous,

alabandical.

punning discussion of it, THE METAMORPHOSIS OF AJAX (1596), Queen in

See acrospire.

A

overhead water closet for flushing;

the for

muse had

My

sakes

eterniz'd

their

akerspire.

on the name of the ancient hero, which in Tudor times was pronounced a jokes. A jakes (q.v.) was a toilet. Sir John Haris

Greek heroes, Ajax.

the

turies.

ajax. An outhouse; for a close-stool, q.v.

ington

all

callis-

See chare.

ajar.

of

in his poem ON Jonson shows the rhyme 1 could wish And THE FAMOUS VOYAGE:

ploughed with his that sung Ajax.

See eyot.

ait.

sorry bravest

for

callipygian). not in O.E.D., but for an

is

EGOIST

see

calligraphy;

Aischrology

Greek

also,

whence

THE

dedicate genius to (1879) says: We, sir, cloaca makes a The the cloacaline floods. end for next to Achilles the

horses.

airstone.

doacinean; Meredith in

were cloacal (current as a 26

in.

THE EVE .

.

.

all

man was

OF

ST.

amort.

a-la-mort;

AGNES

(1820):

alan

alcahest

A large hunting dog,

alan.

a wolf-hound.

Greek

not

a,

+

last-;

lathein, to forget.

Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) says: Aboute his chaar ther wenten white alauntz. Used

Taylor in THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE in 1810 wrote of Imps, alastors, and every other class of cacodemons. Shelley's first

into the 18th century; Bailey in his DICcalls the dog aland; revived by

important

Also

alaunt.

alant,

TIONARY

THE TALISMAN

in

Scott

(1825)

as

The

poem (1816) Spirit of Solitude.

was Alastor, or

the

Three words have used this form. A of 4- late. Greene in a

alate.

wolf-greyhound.

(1) alate,, lately.

Wearisome, dreary; lonely and by confusion with elelende (see alabandistrange, foreign. Also alenge. In cal), ARTHUR AND MERLIN (1330) we read In time of winter alange it is. The same work alange.

word

uses the

as a verb:

the country; this

The

adjective

is

Chaucer. It also

is

Rain alange th

which Chaucer accents to rhyme with challenge. As late as 1858 MURRAY'S HANDBOOK TO KENT claimed that the .

fairies

.

.

may

still

.

is

used of leaves, insects and the

allatrate;

ad, at

OF THE ROSE (1400): She

+

ANATOMY OF ABUSES

scrippe of faint distresse, that of elengenesse; in a letter of

Henry VIII wrote

To

strike.

to his

Queen

Medieval Latin

albification.

ala-

The

Let

process or art of mak-

Sidney's OURANIA (1606): by waters albified. The

wand

to alapat and strike them. in Old French, was a clown alapite, that took a beating to amuse the public,

a slapstick

said:

ing white. The verb, to albify is used by Nicholas Breton in his lines for Sir Philip

chiefly

as a

As a red brick noun was used

term in alchemy; Chaucer

THE CANON YEOMAN'S TALE speaks of watres albificacioun. To

in

An

call

(1583)

Cerberus, the dog of hel, alatrate what he list to the H contrary.

pare, alapatum; alapa, a slap. Melton in SIXE-FOLD POLITICIAN (1609) warned not

what we might

like, as

To bark, bark at. More properly Latin allatrare, allatratum, from latrare, to bark. Stubbes in THE

.

1536 King

with a

winged. This meaning demands on the first syllable; the word

the accent

alatrate.

of the hour, of the great ellingness that I find here since your departure. alapat.

+

to give milk to; ad, to lacturn, whence also the galactic universe.

so plentiful as the apterous.

A

.

fire.

in the observation of G. Buckton (1876) of the aphis: The alate females are never

noun places of the Downs. meaning loneliness was also formed; in had a full was

chilling frost

be heard in the more

elenge

THE ROMANCE

tare,

(3) alate,

found in Occleve and takes the form elenge,

Where

There flasheth now a

Mrs. Browning used the word in a poem of 1842. (2) alate, to suckle. Latin adlacmilk,

the only such use.

of 1590 wrote:

poem

alate did nip,

might well be used

artist.

figuratively,

(1386)

albify as now

to whitewash.

To

Via Old French a + laskier (modern French Idcher); Late Latin lascare; Latin laxare, whence also relax; laxative; Latin laxus, loose. Layaalaski.

mon

release, free.

(1250) wrote Ich wole

.

.

.

alaski

ill

death, albricias

An

avenging

spirit,

(still

current in Spanish)

meant a reward given one good news.

him

of care. alastor.

In the days when the bearer of tidings might be whipped or put to

albricias.

a nemesis,

alcahest.

27

A variant

that brought

of alkahest, q.v.

aleconner

alcatote

A

said Alea jacta est, The Urquhart, in his translation (1693) of Rabelais,

die

Ford

simpleton, silly fellow. in his FANCIES (1638) confessed: Z am ... an oaf, a simple alcatote, an innocent.

alcatote.

A

alchemusy.

speaks of the aleatory way of deciding law debates.

reflector to catch the sun's

the rays, for prophesying; forecasting by use of this. Cp. aeromancy. Golding in

RELIGION

THE ward he (who

wrote:

Old English to

After-

form

prefers this alder-.

a variant

alecize,

of aller, the old genitive plural of all. Thus alderbest means best of all. Chaucer uses this prefix with

many

words,

leader

the

of

family

(as

in

a horse,

respect to

die,

upon uncertain

to the

such

a

An

inspector of ale also of sold within his juris-

etc.

nually by the common-hall of the city; and whatever might be their use formerly, their places are now regarded only as sinecures for decayed citizens." The ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA nevertheless re-

a

con-

corded in 1876: In London four aleconners are still chosen annually by the liverymen in common hall assembled on

Caesar crossed the Rubicon

him

dress with

From the 13th century; also alekonner, alecunner. Johnson in 1755 observed: "Four of them are chosen an-

tingencies. From Latin aleatorius, from aleator, dice player, from alea, die. As

mitted

to

diction.

mine

Dependent on the throw of

hence, hanging

and 16th cen-

folk-fancy,

lunasie, or alecie.

is flat

bread, beere,

alderliefest sovereign.

aleatory.

halecize,

aleconner.

aldermanikin, a petty office-holder. Shakespeare in HENRY VI, PART Two (1590)

Queen Margaret pay

similar

he had arrested a mare instead of a horse, it had beene a slight oversight, but to arrest a man, that hath no likenesse of

China until 1948) or of the clan. The alderman is the political successor of the aldor. Humorous words have sprung from this: aldermanity, behavior proper to an alderman (coined after humanity];

has

By a

fluence of luna, the moon). Also alecy. Lyly in MOTHER BOMBIE (1594) said: //

alderliefest (best loved of

alderworst. Alderman is all), alderwisest, from a different source: the aldor or elder was oldest and therefore most respected,

therefore

folk-

was a popular

alecie. Intoxication; wandering of wits, under the influence of ale (as lunacy means the state of being under the in-

among

them: alderfairest, alderfastest, alderfirst,

all),

shifted

sauce.

alderlast, alderleast, aldermost, aldernext

(nearest of

this

and then by

A herring; also, a sauce of or with small herrings, anchovies and the like. Used from the 16th century. Hence,

to the later all day. this is

and

alec.

the day. Chaucer

Jn combinations,

briw, pottage;

alebre,

turies.

See aeromancy. all

spice

bread brewed in hot water and spiced or sweetened was called breadberry.

into a mirror., which they call alchemusic, made according to the rules of catop trick.

Every day;

with

alebrey, etymology to aleberry. It concoction of the 15th

would prophecy) must beames of the skie the gather together

alday.

boiled

alesugar and sops of bread. Also albry, brue, alemeat. The word is from ale H-

WOORKE CONCERNING THE TREWNESSE OF CHRISTIAN

Ale

aleberry.

de Mornay's

his translation (1587) of P.

alchocoden.

is cast.

which commarch on Rome he

Midsummer Day 28

(cp.

midsummer men).

alectorian

The

alexicacon

British Information Office tells

me

the long a; the second, with short accented on the ledge.)

they serve today. alectorian.

A stone

John de Trevisa

(said

DE

PROPRIETATIBUS RERUM) that

in

the

mawes

dymme

of

cristall.

is

story is

A

is founde and is capons lyke to It had the valuable

property of rendering one invisible.

word

Relating to physical training. 17th century word that somehow our modern educators have missed. From

aleiptic.

Bartholomews'

in his translation (1398) o

from Greek cock and bull.

cock;

alector,

Greek

aleiptikos,

The

A

ale-knight. tippler (used Guilpin, in SKIALETHEIA, OR

the

alembic.

An

used for

distilling,

chemists.

From

baiting; the Chinese wagered large sums

pletely supplanted

A

cricket fights.

alectryon, cock

accent

falls

The word

is

from Greek

limbec,

A

good fighting worth over $1000 in Spanishspeaking countries, where alectryomachy

cock

The word

bull-fighting.

ale dry-

that

and 18th century

trifle.

aleger.

dictionaries.

See alecie. (1)

Ale-vinegar; alegar

what vinegar

is

to

wine (1881

sharp,

sour.

century; Carlyle in

LUTION

(1837)

to ale

Used

alembroth.

A

sought by

the

sal

this

a

Long

self-con-

was often hailed but could hold

it?

Thus

See alance.

Old French from Latin alacrem, whence also alacrity; Italian allegro. Bacon in SYLVA (1626) noted that the root, and leafe befell; the leafe tobacco; doe all conand the teare of poppy dense the spirits, and make them strong, and aleger. (Both words are pronounced

alexicacon.

remedy

See

for,

A

aeromancy.

preservative

evil.

A

against,

or

panacea sought in

and 18th centuries. The word from Greek alexein, to keep off kakon, evil. We need an alexicacon

the 17th is

+

.

first is

solvent.

alchemists,

What

aleuromancy.

Via

in three syllables; the

universal

of

small alenge.

.

out

alembicked

alembroth was the double chloride

transparent wholesome-looking as small ale, could by no chance -ferment into virulent alegar? (2) lively, cheerful.

soul,

.

by the shorter form full form reap-

of mercury and ammonium, also called the salt of wisdom.

THE FRENCH REVOWhose

been

never held.

eager; French from the 16th

inquires:

apparatus,

especially by the al1500 to 1700 almost com-

tradictory substance

glossary).

+

Also aleager, alegre; ale aigre,

is

of

then the

q.v.;

have

omachy, however, seems confined to 17th

alecy.

type

early

cool and procrastinating alembic of Dyer's Weekly Letter, or Walpole in a letter of 1749, the important mysteries

is still

rivals

scorn).

peared, often in figurative use, as when Scott in WAVERLY (1814) speaks of the

machia, fighting; the

4-

on the om.

in

A SHADOWE

his fat-grown score.

common Cock-fighting. for in various centuries, parts of sport, the world. The English also enjoyed bear-

on

gymnastic

OF TRUTH IN CERTAINE EPIGRAMS (1598) said: There brauls an aleknight for

toromancy and alectryomancy. alectryomachy.

a

aleiptes,

trainer, a rubber; aleiphein, to anoint.

See aeromancy. Also alec-

alectromancy.

a, is

for

current

waves.

accented on

A

cacophony

via

an alexipharmic; something 29

the

air

dose against poison was called to

ward

off

algorism

alexipharmac contagion was an alexiteric or alexitery.

his

PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY for 1671 declare that the heart or liver of a viper is one

Arabic,

The

of the greatest alexitery's in the world. The name Alexander, by the way, means protector of men.

alexipharmac. An antidote to poison. Also alexipharmic; see alexicacon. Greek

pharmakon, poison; hence pharmacy, where remedies against poison were available. For an illustration of its use, see

theriac.

alfavourite.

A

17th

century

hairdress,

probably from France. THE LAMES DICTIONARY (1694) listed: alfavourites, a sort of modish locks hang for ladies;

dangling on the temples. alfin.

A

15th

and

the bishop, in the

16 century word for game of chess. Also

extention,

alfin,

that syche

person

of

ways, and it was a very common word into the 17th century. Also algates. It still survives, meaning everywhere, in north-

ern dialects, along with the forms any gate, na-gate, sumgate. Among the ings are: (1) Always, continually.

meanUsed

by Wyclif; Staynhurst (AENEIS; 1583); Holinshed in the CHRONICLES (1587): These strangers in Ireland would algate now be also called and accompted Nor-

In any way, by any means. LydHarvey in THREE WITTY

mans.

(2)

gate;

Gabriel

LETTERS (1580): Seeing you gentlewomen will allgates have it so. (3) At all events, in any case. Chaucer; Lydgate; Douglas 1513): Since algatis I

is

must

die.

(THE .SQUIRE'S

unknown

algates

unto me; Spenser. Cold;

algor.

some name alphins} some and some name them princes; other fooles, some call them archers. The second book on the first English printing press, translated (1475) by the printer, Caxton, THE GAME AND PLAY OF THE CHESSE, Said that the alphyns ought to be made and formed in manner of judges, sitting in a chair, with a book open before their eyes. By powers, a fool; (1440) exclaimed:

the

In Old English, this was alle algate. in many gate, every way; its meaning grew

Altogether. (4) TALE; 1386): Which

Rowbotham The said:

From

fariydah, a fixed part.

Chaucer

bishoppes

a

+

Cp. almuten.

(AENEIS;

alphin, alphyne, alfyn, aufyn, awfyn. Via the Romance tongues from Arabic al-fil (Sanskrit pilu), the elephant. in his ARCHAEOLOGY (1562)

the

al,

seven years.

for

destiny

specifically,

the

chill

that

marks the onset of fever. Latin algor; algere, to be cold. Also algidity, algidness, in

17th

and 18th century

More frequent medicine,

dictionaries.

(especially in science

and

17th century) were the adjec-

tives: algid, cold; algific, algifical,

cold,

making one

Burton in

chill; algose,

his picture of

causing very cold.

DAHOME

(1864)

spoke of the algid breath of the desert wind.

limited

The MORTE D'ARTHUR Myche wondyre have I,

algorism.

an alfyne as thow dare speke

ing;

sych wordez! Wright (1869) defines this as a lubberly fellow and suggests it is a form of elfin, elvish.

The Arabic

hence,

arithmetic.

system of number-

Hence

algorism-

stones, counters; cypher in algorism, the

dummy, a nobody. An was one skilful in figuring. From the Arabic surname of Abu Ja' far Mofigure 0; hence, a algorist

a According to astrology, temporary power the planets have over the life of a person, each presiding over alfridary.

hammed Ben Musa, the translation of whoe early 9th century treatise on algebra 30

alkermes

alicant

brought Arabic numerals into wide use in Europe. A native of Khwarazm, he was called al-Khowarazmi; this gave his figures,

in

names

such

English,

as

augrim,

The

alkahest.

universal

by the alchemists. Also alembroth;

cp.

solvent sought

alcakest, alchahest;

The word

alexicacon.

alkahest was created by Paracelsus (cp. bombast], as though from an Arabic form;

awgrym, digram, agrim, agrum, algrim, algarisme, algorithm, algarosme. Chaucer in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386) says: His

Arabic

al, the.

augrym stoones leyen

cal. It

has also been suggested, however,

A

alicant.

Alicante,

faire apart.

wine of mulberries, made

at

allegant, alycaunt, alligaunte, aligant, and the like. Fletcher, in THE CHANCES (1620) said:

You brats, got [begotten] out of TIMON (1585) depicts a wondrous Thirtie rivers more With aligaunte;

alicant.

land:

Ale flowed from the wine from the trees Which we call muscadine. Alicant was a popular drink; its deep red color was attractive; many a courtier wore a doublet of allicant. thirtie hills of sugar;

rockes,

may have had

this

in

number

of English words begin with Hence alkahestic, alkahesti-

is (1705) from the German word Al-gehest, which signifies all spirit. There remains the old query: if the universal solvent be found, what container will hold it? The word has also been used

that alkahest

Also alegant, aligaunt,

Spain.

a

mind

figuratively,

as of love;

Carlyle

(MISCEL-

LANEOUS ESSAYS; 1832) said Quite another alcahest is needed. Alger in THE SOLITUDES OF NATURE AND OF MAN (1866) Spoke neatly of an intellectual alkahest, melting the universe into an idea.

A

alkanet.

plant,

whose root

yields a

when Mistress Quickly tells Falstaff (in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR; 1598) that

bright red dye. Also alcanna and, in the East, henna; orco.net, orchanet; a kind of bugloss, q.v.; also used in cookery, and

he has brought Mistress Ford into such a

esteemed as a cordial.

wonderful, when knights and lords wooing her have failed, despite

alker.

Shakespeare

canaries as

after

gift

'tis

gift;

smelling so

sweetly

all

musk and so rushling, I warrant you, in silk and gold; and in such alligant terms; and in such wine and sugar of the best and the fairest, that would have won any woman's heart Mistress Quickly uses elegant, if not alicant, terms.

alienation. alife.

sion

See ab alienate.

Dearly. Especially in the expresto love alife; Shakespeare in THE

WINTER'S TALE (1610) has: / love a ballad in print alife. o' life, as

but lief,

it is

it

editions print this as one's life;

meant

probably an adverbial form from

dear,

which survives in the expres-

sion I'd just as aligaunt.

Some

though

lief.

See alicant.

1381

A

kind of custard.

might

still

make

A

prove good

recipe of to follow:

Take figys, and and do awey the kernelis, and a god party of apply s, and do awey the paryng of the applis and the kernelis, and bray hem wel in a morter; and temper hem up with almande mylk, and menge For

to

rys alker.

raysons,

hem

with flowr of rys, that yt be wel and strew therupon powder

chariaunt,

of galyngale,

alkermes.

A

and

serve yt forth.

confection or cordial,

made

with the kermes 'berry/ Arabic al, the 4girmiz, kermes only the 'berry* turned out to be an insect, the scarlet grain (female of coccus ilicis). Alkermes was also used to mean the 'berry* of which the concoctions were made. Accent kur. Captain

John Smith,

on

the

in his account

alkin

allograph

VOYAGE TO VIRGINIA (1624) stated that the fruits are of many sorts and kinds, Bacon as alkermes, currans, mulberries

of his

.

.

.

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

in THE

(1605)

Venice treacle, mithridate, diascordium, the connection of alkermes.

lists

A

Of every kind, all kinds of. 12th to 16th century form; also alra cynna, alle kunnes, alkyns, alken. Wors than

alkin.

Lyndesay in a COMPLAYNT of

they, said

1552, in alkin thyng.

To

allect.

allure. After the

Latin

allec-

frequentative form of allicere, from to H- lacere, to entice, laqueus, a noose, ad, a snare. Sir Thomas More in HERESYES tare,

To

(1528):

Allectation,

allect the

people by preaching.

found only in old dictionaries, (1640) allection were

and the once-used formed from allect, enticement.

to

noun, was more

mean an

American

the large

and 17th centuries; Elyot in THE COVERNOUR (1531): There is no better alective

saurians. Allegation

alienator (one that alleges or asserts) are via Norman alegier from Latin exliti-

gare,

clear at law,

to

modified by con-

fusion with Latin allegare, from ad, to

+ legare, to designate. There is another obsolete allege, to lighten a burden, to Latin allay, via Old French aleger from from ad, THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE (1400) says: / would this thought would come ageyne, For it alleggith well my peyne. These words should not be alleviare

+

(whence

levis,

also alleviate),

light.

confusedly alligated. Altogether,

ailing.

deed.

Also

allings;

allynge, allyng.

the

wholly;

quite;

allunga,

in-

allinge,

Used from the 9th into

15th century. Maundeville wrote in is not allynges of suche savour.

1366: It allision.

or

The

striking

action of dashing against

upon. Latin

ad,

al,

to

4-

laedere, laesum, to dash, strike violently,

whence the frequent collision. Thus also, to allide. Donne, in a sermon of 1631,

Her beautiful (1592): allective style as ingenious as elegant.

held the old view that the allision of those clouds have brought forth a thunder.

Harvey

SUPEREROGATION

and THE REMEDY OF LOVE (1532) Speaks of most allective bait, which has its place and allective power in our time. The same meaning appears with the forms alliciate and allicit. See illect.

allodium.

An

estate

See

erty, estate.

allect.

alligate.

ad, to

+

To

tie

the

From Latin More common

or bind.

ligare, to

bind.

was the noun, alligation, the act of attachor the state of being attached or

bound. Phillips (1706) and Bailey (1781) in their dictionaries

list alligator,

of vines to the stakes

a binder

up which they

full

and

From

+

od, prop-

early Teutonic term; the ium are Latinized, and in

DOMESDAY BOOK

allograph.

all

An

forms ending See allision.

allide.

held in

ownership, without any service or recognition of an overlord; as opposed to feudum, feud. Also alodium, allody, free

alody, allod, alod. alliciate, allicit.

(as

from

in PIERCES

to noble wits; Gabriel

ing,

is

applied to

lizard,

alluring,

adjective and frequent in the 16th as

Allective,

reptile alligator

and

to

See alatrate.

allatrate.

The

are to grow).

Spanish al lazardo, the

A

(1086).

writing (as a signature) of allos, other

one person for another. Greek

-f graph, writing. The opposite of autograph; Greek auto, self. Among words in English formed with allos may be men-

tioned: allogeneity, difference in nature;

allogeneous, the opposite of

homogene-

almoner

allophyle

an assumed name; a book

ous. allonym,

name

bearing a the

of

author;

as the author's,

allonymous,

not that

falsely

at-

tributed, allo theism, worship of other or

strange gods, allotropy (accent on the lot; current in scientific use), the variation

of

of

change

without physical properties substance first noticed (by

Berzelius) of charcoal

This

allophyle.

is

and diamond.

measure from Greek

alien; hence, sometimes, with a

allos,

a

other

19th

+

is

A dance; also, the music thereReferences in the 17th century and later speak of a slow tempo, and grave or almain.

a livelier dance,

ment,

Misused for mallycholly, a corrupt form of melancholy (Greek melan, black -f choler, bile). Dame Quickly in THE MERRY WIVES OF Shakespeare's WINDSOR (1598) says: She is given too much

why

is

replaced an

Who

is

type

of

Germany. I,

in combina-

r.

alma

in

(as

Used

mater)

+

in the 15th cen-

tury.

almoner.

An

official,

in a monastery, or

the household of a noble, whose function

pray

it

was

to distribute alms.

it?

Julia responds: Marry, mine host, because I cannot be merry. To cheer her, he has sung the charming song

you,

in-

the

Benovolent, bounteous. Latin

kindly

fluentem, flowing.

Now, my young

allycholly. I

in

An

See ambry.

tions, often

almus,

flexible

worn

almariole.

almifluent.

to allicholy and musing; in his THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA the Host Says tO

a

almain-rivets,

light armor, first

See adlubescence.

methinks you're

called

The word litermeant German (French aleman, allemand); Almany, Germany, and an Aleman was a German, almain-quarrel, a dispute over nothing, an unnecessary argu-

allycholly.

guest,

also

ally

loquial style, used in talking with others; conversational.

Julia (disguised as a boy):

adds the

almane, aleman, almond.

thus contrasted with the col-

allubescency.

it

al, the, to

leap into a custard. Also almaun, alman,

+

loquor, to talk, alloquial refers to the style of speech used in talking to addressing is

of the Arabic

almain-leap. Thus Jonson in THE DEVIL is AN ASS pictures a man take his almain-

of the allophylian nations.

others. It

title

Greek megiste, greatest. Scott revived the word in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805): on cross, and character, and talisman, And almagest, and altar, nothing bright. We have had many almagests, but only the stars remain Arabic

dicate

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE of 1844, speaks

ad, to

the

solemn measures, but many references

phyle, tribe. It is mainly term. J. Pritchard, in

From Latin

is

for.

century

alloquial

The word

translation of Ptolemy's work;

bright.

a formal term for an

of scorn, a Philistine. It

smale.

naturally popular;

it

took

The word was many forms, in-

almner, aumoner, almoseir, cluding almousser, almaser; almosner, almoisner,

Silvia?

almosyner; almener, almonar, almoigner, aumere, amonerer. These are all round-

the great astroOriginally, nomical treatise of Ptolemy, of Alexan-

almagest.

about from Latin eleemosynarius,

dria, 2d century; later applied to any important book of astrology or alchemy. Thus Chaucer in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386) has: His almageste and bokes gret and

ing to

alms;

Greek

relat-

eleos,

compassion. Almoner was also the purse such a person carried; by extension, a bag, a purse.

Other forms for alms were almose, almus, 33

alow

almuten

in PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646) an inquiry into common errors, remarks that the error and alogy in this opinion

Browne

The almonry (see ambry) was the the alms were distributed; where place also almosery. Cavendish in THE LYFFE AND DEATH OF CARDYNAL WOOLSEY (1557) wrote: Now let us retorne agayn unto the

almous.

last.

An

allogism,

an instance of alogy, being an

is

alogism

statement. The poet alogical or illogical Swinburne uses the Greek form as a suffix,

almosyner, whose hed was full of subtyll wytt and

worse than in the

is

pollecy.

title of his parodies: Heptalogia, or Seven Against Sense.

in the

The

almuten.

planet

prevailing

in

a

the horoscope. Cp. alfridary. Originally, the of the ecliptic point horoscope meant

a

a person's birth; just rising at the time of hence, the "house" then at that position;

their

the

hence, one's future as forecast by the stars. The heavens were divided into 12 houses

or

sections

each:

30

of

etes, destroyer).

The

apheta

is

the giver of

which must counteract the anareta; stems from Greek aphetes; aph, off +

on

one that

his life's journey.

starts

The

a

to quarters; used also by heralds finished fighters at a tournament.

"

Where were you married, Bernhardt?" Knowing his intent, the actress mischievously replied: Natu-

Madame

human

twelve signs

altar

alow.

Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagit-

Used

tiger,

hare,

The

word

has

(aster)

almuten

is

means

that

To

lower, lessen. Also allow.

.

.

Used in the 13th cenby Scott in THE HEART OF

Ablate, in flame. tury; revived

MIDLOTHIAN

the star

about that

not been shining. While the usual form, almute, with

From was a

.

a, in,

lawe, lou;

plural almutesj also occurs. alod.

(1)

in the 16th century, as in Wyatt's .

dragon, serpent, horse,

disaster

hotel). Cp. hostelity.

PSALMS (1541): Whereby he gynneth to alowe his payne and penitence. (2)

rat,

sheep, monkey, hen, dog, pig. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars ... but

the

altar,

sound as

twelve houses, are Aries, Taurus, Gemini,

ox,

a Vautell (Naturally, at the in French, having the same

rellement,

of the zodiac (Greek zodion, diminutive of zoon, animal; so called from their various names), which successively occupy the

tarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. Chinese named them more humbly:

a I'ostel (whence Eng-

inquire:

hienai, to send, the starter in the chariot race, hence, the

a

departe. Old ostelt hostel, became hotel, and gave Sarah Bernhardt her one pun. When she became famous, the public wished to know whether she was married to the man she was living with. No one dared ask, but one reporter ventured to

called the

life,

it

for

homes, or soldiers to

your quarters. The Kyng, said Hall's CHRONICLES (1548) caused the heraides to cry a lostell, and every man to

Greek anair-

is

to their

From Old French

brethren, parents, children, health, marfriends, riage, death, religion, dignities, enemies. The planet in the eighth house one's birth) (at the time of anareta (accent on the nar;

A command

Disperse!

lish hostel), to

riches,

life,

lostell.

crowd to go

To speak to him wad be to set the kiln alow. on + low, flame. Low (logh, (1818):

.

.

Aryan root

common word

lauk, akin to light) for flame or blaze

into the 16th century, much later in ScotBurns in his VISION (1785) says: By

See allodium.

land.

Absurdity.

alogy.

from

a,

not

+

From Greek

logos, reason. Sir

a tight, outmy ingle lowe I saw landish hizzie. Kipling used the word in

alogia,

.

Thomas 34

.

.

amarant

alp

BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS on fire. To take a low,

(1892). In a low, to catch fire, liter-

ally or figuratively.

In addition to the mountains (which probably from Latin albiiSj white, whence also perfidious Albion: the white alp.

are

cliffs

o

meant tury;

Dover) alp (alpe, awbe, olph) a bullfinch; 15th to 17th cen-

(1)

an elephant;

(2)

Hence

elp.

13th century;

bone, ivory;

alpes-

a bogie,

(B)

nightmare; BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE of 1836 mentioned those alps and goblins,

those nixies

alphin.

See

and wood-nymphs.

alfin.

alphitomancy.

used the word alveary of an interlingual dictionary (English, Latin, French, and Greek), which, for the apt similitude between the good scholars and diligent bees in gathering

Without

The CHRONICLE

fail.

For another quotation from Baret,

all

Literally,

where wax accumulates, the

send away, dismiss. Latin

a,,

.

.

THE PRAGMATICAL JESUIT NEW-LEVEN*D .

.

on an errand. amanse.

To

Old English to

to

curse,

-f

excommunicate.

mansum,

away put out of

a,

familiar;

Cp. manse. Used until the 14th century (Bede, 9th century; THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINliterally,

altiloquence. Pompous discourse. In the 18th century dictionaries. criticism of

A

familiarity.

amanse d, amansumod, excommunicated; amansexcommunication.

GALE, 13th). Hence,

anathematized,

1808 spoke of elegant archaisms . containing an altisonant altiloquence. Altiloquent and altisonant are synonyms; altilo.

.

amandation., dismissal; the act of sending

hym

variant form of autem (mort),

.

ing) curse,

amarant.

quious means talking much and loud. There is more merit in altitonant speech;

The amaranthus

from Greek

a,

not

+

(as

mar, mortal

though

+

an-

was a legendary flower that never faded; then the word was used thos, flower)

the word is applied to the gods "thundering from on high/' Thus Cowley in THE

figuratively.

GUARDIAN (1641): Hear, thou altitonant

Muses

To

some

q.v.

]ove, and

alveary.

See amober.

thee to (1665) wrote: I will amand vast and horrid desert. Hence

safe.

See ob.

A

see

prick (11). By an equal similitude, anatomists call the hollow of the ear,

amand.

of Robert of Gloucester .

altam.

into

their alvearie.

ob, off -h mandare, to order. R. Carpenter

bed (1297) recorded: The kyng alsauf to hym to Gloucestre wende. als ob.

wax and honey

their

their hive, I called then

in alsauf.

womb; hence

English alvary, womb, lap, as in Barnfield's CASSANDRA, 1595: From his soft bosom, th' alvary of bliss.) Baret, in 1580,

amabyr.

See aeromancy.

See bonaroba.

Alsatia.

a beehive. Also Latin alvus,

Drummond

of

Hawthornden

speaks (1630) of th' immortal amaranthus; Milton uses this form in LYCIDAS (1637),

three.

of busy workers; a

but in PARADISE LOST (1667) he exclaims: Immortal amaranth! a flower which once In Paradise, fast by the tree of life Began

as an encyclo(From Latin alvearium, a range of beehives; alveus, a hollow vessel, hence

to bloom. Southey in the QUARTERLY REVIEW of 1815 says: His laurels are entwined with the amaranths of righteousness.

altitonant. alveary.

A

See altiloquence.

company

moriumental work, such pedia.

35

ambidextrous

amaritude

Amaranth flower;

used in botany, of a purple color. See

still

is

of

also,

There

asphodel.

an

also

is

Cowper

Plucks

hope

bowers of

bliss.

amaritude.

HOPE

in

(1781) declares that

amaranthine joys from May yours be likewise!

Bitterness.

from amarus,

tude,

From Latin

bitter.

amari-

Used from

TORY OF GREAT BRITAIN

(1611):

much more bleeding amaritude of spirit. The adjective amarous (accented

though

Ambage was used about discourse.

hard to be

this state often

to

vived flow'ret

by which cold

to match,

in

+

mater; mat, downcast. ReKeats (1821): A half-blown

a, to

blasts

equal, be a

THE FAERIE QUEENE

amate.

mate

(2)

to.

(1596) has

amate,

paramoure, The which them did

jolly

speak

ambaginous, ambagious, roundabout; winding; cir-

cumlocutory.

Thus

13th

to

love

also used to

mean

women's

affections,

eral lover/ Also

a love-potion.

man that trifled a Don Juan, a

the

aces,

lowest

throw

aas,

Also

ambsace,

ambezas;

aumsase,

almsace,

I had rather be in this choice than throw

Thus amatorian, amatorious, tude). older forms of amatory, loving, pertaining to love. In the 17th century, amatory amatorculist was a

ambagiosity. Scott in

amsace, ame's ace, and the like. Shakespeare in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1601) has:

fortui-

(only tously related to amare, bitter, cp. amari-

was

Two

century.

ambes

Latin amor, love;

love.

Hence

lies.

ambo, q.v. Hence, to cast an ambesas, to have bad luck. Used 10th to 14th century, as in THE LIFE OF BEKET,

in

17th century dictionaries as

meaning wanton amare, amatum,

more plainly

at dice. Latin

modest wise amate. Note that while amatlisted in

CUt

ambagitory,

ambesas.

a

ing meant dismaying, daunting, amation is

(1857)

WAVERLEY (1814) wrote: Partaking of what scholars call the periphrastic and ambagitory, and the vulgar the circumbendibus.

Spenser

Many

diets,

ambagious obscurity: He commenced by a few politic ambages, or ambagical,

French

literally,

the

through

dismay, dishearten, daunt. in the 16th century; from Old

Common

may be used

NORMANDY AND OF ENGLAND

To

(1)

It

bathings, anointings, etc., prolong life. Sir Francis Palgrave, in THE HISTORY OF

leads to the other.

amate.

in the Renaissance as

a term in rhetoric, periphrasis, or round-

gave the formula: by ambages of

appeased, though found only in dictionaries, is a useful word; it must not be confused with amorous, in love, from

Latin amor, love

equivocation.

Usually used in the plural, ambages, from Latin amb~, about + agere, to drive.

winding paths; or figuratively of indirect ways and delaying practices. Bacon in THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING (1605)

with

syllable), bitter,

Circumlocution,

ambage.

of

about 1450 to 1700, as in Speed's HIS-

on the second

See amate.

amatorculist.

adjective

amarant(h)ine, meaning immortal, unfading.

See aeromancy.

amathomancy.

its

my life. Lowell in AMONG BOOKS (1870) speaks of a lucky throw of words which may come up the sices of hardy metaphor or the ambsace of con-

ames-ace for

MY

An

with

ceit.

'gen-

amorevolous (17th cen-

ambidextrous.

loving tender, affectionate. Thomas Heywood in THE HIERARCHIE OF THE

The

an adjective and son) is ambidexter as

tury),

,

BLESSED ANGELLS (1635) listed magicke vanities, exorcisms, incantations, amatories.

usually

both 36

+

earlier as a

form,

noun

both

(the per-

(in the 17th

century

ambo dexter) from Latin ambo, dexter,

right-hand.

And

those

amel

ambient that know the meaning "able to use both hands alike" may be surprised that the

ambones. Note that Latin ambo (as in the quotation Arcades ambo, Arcadians

English use of the word (1532) signi-

both) meaning both, is a frequent prefix in English (ambosexous, hermaphrodite)

first

fied double-dealing; or, in the

law

courts,

a juror that took bribes from both sides. in 1731 spoke of those

ambodexters in religion, who can any-

in the form ambi-, as in ambiguous; ambiloquent; ambidextrous and its opposite ambilevous, doubly lefthanded,

thing dispute, yet anything can do.

also ambisinistrous,

Thus De Foe

As a noun. The atmosphere; an encompassing circle or sphere; by extension, a 'hanger around/ a suitor or aspirant. Bishop Hall in CONFIRMATION

ambient.

What

asked:

(1649)

confluences

fair-like

have we there seen of zealous ambientsf Latin amb-, on both sides, around + lent em, present participle of ire, to go. is a special use of the adjec-

The noun tive,

ambient, turning round; surround-

ing.

An

ambigu.

where

entertainment

the

various courses are served together, the viands and the desserts at the same time.

The term was

used during the 17th and 18th centuries; the practice continues at

parties

and

picnics.

ambilevous.

See ambo. Accented on the

lee.

ambiloquent.

compeDouble-tongued, From Latin ambi-,

tent in "double talk."

both + loquor, to talk. The great number of those that can and do take either side of an argument makes this a good word to revive. the second syllable.

ambo.

It is

accented on

pulpit or reading desk in Christian churches; usually a raised early oblong enclosure with steps at both ends.

Also

ambon;

syllables)

plural

ambos

or

(three

ambones. Greek ambon, a

ris-

ing; anaba-, go up. Milton in 1641 exclaimed: The admirers of antiquity have

been

beating

A place for keeping things; a cupboard; especially, a place for keeping food. Thus an ambry of hair was a meatambry.

safe lined with haircloth. Also aumbry; from Latin armarium, a place for keeping arms and armor, then clothing, etc. (The sound b frequently slips into words, e.g.,

Latin

Ambry was

their

brains

about

their

numerus, English

number.}

common

English word, with a dozen spellings, from the 14th to the mid- 19th century. Through the 17th and a

18th century, ambry was sometimes used a short form of almonry, the place in a

as

church or palace from which alms were Cp. almoner. Stanyhurst in his AENEIS (1583) uses ambry of the Trojan horse into which the Greeks "rammed a distributed.

number of hardy tough knights/' The word was also used figuratively; Earl Rivers in THE DICTES OF THE PHILOSOPHERS (1477) says The tongue is the door of the almerye of sapience. Langland in PIERS (1393) points out that avarice

PLOWMAN hath

bound] as

co fres.

almary; a

amel.

from

and yre-bounden

almaries

ambsace.

The

ambilaevous; hence,

uncommonly awkward.

An the

[iron-

The ambry appeared

little closet

also

was an almariole.

See ambesas. early

form

14th

century;

of

enamel. Used also

ammel,

aumayl, amall; anmaile and esmayle were also used in the 16th century, before

were superseded by enamel. The forms are via Old French esmail from a they

Teutonic root smalti, to smelt. The word

amiss

amerce

was often applied figuratively; Phineas Fletcher in THE PURPLE ISLAND (1633) men-

thing thrown around; amicere, amictus, to throw or wrap around; amb, about

tioned Heav'ns richest diamonds, set in

+

ammel

meaning, from the Latin, was a

white.

iacere

The

throw.

to

(iaciere),

first

a

scarf,

or other loose wrap; then, in church use, an oblong of white linen for kerchief,

To

amerce.

fine.

fine.

penalty, merci, at the

Also

From

amercement,

a

the French phrase a

mercy of. To be amerced was to be at some one's mercy as to the to penalty one must pay; to amerce was set an arbitrary penalty. (Often this was lighter than could have been exacted.) Chaucer uses various forms, as in THE

the head

and neck,

tion';

although

that

Christ was it

and

if

he missed her for

A

rational

amice was used of the fur with which the was lined (marten or gray

garment

squirrel).

person that follows no

procedure;

distinction

Since

the

17th century,

applied often to a

with pilgrim steps in amice gray. For a use by Francis Thompson, see thurifer. amicitial.

order.

friendly. Also amicous.

amice.

words fused in

this

These forms were superseded by amical and amicable; the latter, however, is a

one

also took other forms: amess, amict,

late variation

ammas, ames, amysse, ammesse, and more. One form came, perhaps, from al,

the

other came

+ German

friendship;

Used in the 17th

cus,

amit,

Arabic

to

Relating

century. Latin amicitia, friendship; amifriend; amare, amatum, to love.

See anfractuous.

Two

a

is

that these empirical amethodists should understand the order of art, or the art of

which

if

drawn, the fur-lined article is called a gray amice. This was used figuratively by Milton in PARADISE REGAINED (1671): Morning fair Came forth

quack doctor. Used in the 17th century; Whitlock in ZOOTOMIA, OR OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT MANNERS OF THE ENGLISH (1654) observed: It cannot be lookt for,

amfractuous.

and hath prohim in darkness.

blinded,

(1868) tries to keep the two apart: similar Of origin is the amess, often confused with the amice. Sometimes the word

See ambesas.

amethodist.

.

.

that

TIANUM

See amice.

amess.

is

.

cape with a hood. Marriott in his study of church costume, VESTIARIUM CHRIS-

a kiss? See also affeer.

ames-ace.

(1530) said: the kerchief

am ice was a part of the religious costume (originally a cap) lined with gray fur; later, a hood or a

the

miss amerce a mister

on

ANSWER TO

blindfolded with well signify that he

fessed to lead us after From the other source,

amercement of the Carthaginians. The words are now mainly legal or historical, though it has been asked, in recent humorous verse: May a humiliation,

may it

putteth

by

disputed

in his

THOMAS MORE'S DIALOGUE The amice on the head is

now

reasonably be cleped extortions than amerciments. Grote, in his HISTORY OF GREECE (1849) speaks of the defeat, the

who

SIR

bondman amerciament which might

more

was

this

protestant Tindale,

PARSON'S TALE (1386): Else take they of their

neck and

later the

shoulders. In religious costume symbolism this was taken as the 'helmet of salva-

mutse, cap.

of amiable; similarly,

ap-

pliable existed before applicable.

The

amiss.

from Latin amictus, some-

As

a

noun.

deed. Shakespeare in 38

An

error;

HAMLET

an

evil

(1602) says:

amoret

amit

Each toy seemes prologue to some great amisse. For another instance, see can-

Johnson's DICTIONARY from Bailey's (1731). It is a good but apparently unused word. Also amnicolist, one that dwells by a

tharides.

river.

Both are accented on the second

See amice.

amit.

syllable.

The

amiture.

O.E.D.

defines

this

as

The maiden-fee, formerly payable to a lord (in Wales) on the marriage of a maid of his manor. From Welsh am ainober.

from Latin amicire, amictum, to cover, from amb-, about Hiacere, to throw, whence also English clothing,

as

dress;

+

amict, also amice, q.v.; amit, a kerchief, a cloth for enveloping the head, or cov-

wobr, gwobr, reward.

right primae

when

and shoulders. Thus in KYNG ALYSAUNDER (13th century) we find: Yursturday thow come in amiture. Herering the neck

as friendship

fee, is

ammove.

To move

back. pilers

away. Supplanted by

literally

meant

to

move

was not found by the comof the O.E.D. It occurs in a muni-

and plays and pageants. And

of

This word has a number of from French amourette, diminutive of amour, love; Latin amorem. senses,

lovely

person and connyng, to the honour of the the said crafts, to city, and worship of admit; and all other insufficient persons,

(1)

A

sweetheart,

a

girl

in love.

A

paramour, a mistress. (3) other amorous decoration.

either in connyng, voice or person to disammove and avoid. Connyng was

song or sonnet.

charge,

sometimes an old form of cunning, which then meant skilful, but here it is the

(5)

(2)

(4)

A

Loving glance or

ance; allurement, love-play.

A

love-knot or

The

lovedalli-

Italian

form (masculine) amoretto, similarly has several meanings as an English word: (1)

the verb to con, to learn (by

A

repetition).

amnicolist.

answering;

amoret.

such as they shall find sufficient in

noun from

Alternately

amoibaios, interchanging; amoibe, change,

Ammove

the players

amabyr.

whence the volatile amoeba. THE SATURDAY REVIEW of 25 May, 1861, spoke of that amoebean exchange of witticisms between the Bench and the Bar. THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE of January 1883 said that Spring and Winter sing an amoebean ode.

cipal order in York (1476), calling four players in the mystery cycle to examen all all

the

night,

verse in which two speak alternately. Also amoebean, accent on the be. Greek

English.

remove, which

had

first

virgins of his household were marhusband wished to have that

amoebaean.

(as

from Latin amicus, friend, whence also amity. Both meanings fit the use of the

word in

lord

privilege, he had to buy his bride's virginity with the amober. Another spelling of the word for this practice, or for the

OLDEST WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

amiture

The

of the

ried; if the

bert Coleridge, however, referring to the same passage in his DICTIONARY OF THE (1863), defines

noctis,

lover. (2)

A

love song. Spenser entitled

A

his sonnets (1596) AMORETTI. (3) game or play of love. (4) Cupid, in statue or

See amnigenous.

A

From Latin amnis, river this word signifying born born, genus, like a Moses, Shakespeare and river, by me, or born on a river, was copied in

painting. For this, the word amorino was also used. Other forgotten words drawn

amnigenous.

+

from Latin amorem, both of the 17th century,

39

are

arnQrevolous

(via

Italian

amorevolus

anacampserote

from amorem + volo, I want), loving; and amoring, love-making. Also amorist, a

in love-making, like jolly who's determined to know a lass of

specialist

Dan

every land. Sidney, in a Sonnet of 1581, exclaims: Faint amorist! What, dost thou think

To

honey and not drink Like all Gaul, the

taste love's

One dram

of gall?

realm of the amorist

is

divided into three

parts: anticipation, exploration, disillusion. Amoret was spelled amorit in Lodge's

ROSALYNDE

(1590),

drew the plot

from which Shakespeare

of AS

YOU LIKE

IT.

Thus

Rosalynde's eyes were sparkling favour and disdaine, courteous and yet coy, as if

in

them Venus had placed all her and Diana all her chastity.

Pope, in THE DUNCIAD (1728): amphisbaena (I have read) At either end assails: None knows which leads, or which is led, For both heads ellops);

Thus

are but

traitor

breed

The

Tennyson more seriously in (1878): For heretic and are all one: Two vipers of one an amphisbaena, Each end a sting. tails;

MARY

QUEEN

figurative use

still

has

its uses.

amphiscii. The dwellers in the torrid zone, whose shadows fall northward or

southward according

and

the season

to

From Greek

the sun. Also amphiscians.

amphi, on both sides + skia, shadow. One of them is an amphiscius, amphiscian.

amorits,

amorevolus.

amoroso.

See amate; amoret.

A

This

lover.

the

is

amygdaline. Italian

word, used in English in the 17th and early 18th centuries. (In the 15th century,

amorous was used as a noun, a lover.) A RICH CABINET FURNISHED WITH VARIETIE OF EXCELLENT DISCRETIONS (1616) recounted that Nobody many times maketh

man cuckold, for though his amoroso have beene at home all day, yet if hee aske who hath beene there, she answer eth suddenly, nobody, who should be here, I say againe, sweete hart, nobody. In opposite vein Polyphemus the the good

a

his

as

a noun,

of

almond-milk,

amygdalicious,

the

to

relating

of almonds, Amygdalitis, however, sillitis.

It

late

would be pleasant

is

ton-

to rest, of a

Spring twilight, within an amygda-

line grove.

had dropped out

when asked

shape)

almond. Amygdaliferous, almond-bearing; amygdaloid, almond-shaped, also a rock with mineral nodes (agate, etc.) the shape

stimulant.

the picture:

its

which, heated, makes a delicious dessertbroth in China. Amygdaliceous, amygda-

anabiotic.

of

also

almonds;

matter of

the gods

ever

Hence amygdalate, made

tonsil.

Cyclops was misunderstood, when his fellow Cyclopes asked who had blinded him; they took his answer, 'No-man/ to imply that it was one of the gods. (As a fact,

but

pleasant

amygdale, almond; also (from

laceous,

wife's

This

word means relating to the almond, which from the 10th to the 13th century was also called an amygdaL Greek neglected

name

A

a

restorative;

Greek ana, again

tonic,

+

a

biotikos,

Odys, which means no man.)

pertaining to life. Anabiosis, recovery; return to life after death (as Lazarus) or seeming death. Greek anabioein, to come

amort.

to life again.

Odysseus

the

sloughed

Zeus,

replying

See alamort

A

amphisbaena. serpent with a head at each end. From Greek amphis, both

ways

+

bainein,

to

go.

Poets

anacampserote.

departed

love.

An

herb

that

From Greek

restores

ana,

again camptein, to bend 4- erot-, love. Motteux says, in his translation of

have

-f

favored the ancient creature: Milton (see

(1708)

40

anareta

anacamptic Rabelais: Let's taste some of these anacampserotes that hang over our heads. He

Also analeptical. Used since the 17th century, mainly in medicine. In sundialling

was not referring to the mistletoe. Anacampserotes now are harder to find than

and astronomical calculation, the form analemma was used; first it meant the

four-leaf clovers.

pedestal of the

sundial, then the dial; an astrolabe. Greek analemma, a

also,

Producing or undergoing sound from a wall, and light from a surface. From Greek ana, back + camptein, to bend. Echoes, anacamptic.

support; analeptikos, restorative; ana, up,

reflection, as a ball or

said

the

18th

century

+ lambanein, to take. THE EDINBURGH REVIEW in 1805 noted that sage is

back

analeptic.

are

physicists,

From Naples; originally (15th century) of cloth, fustian a napes, fustian

anapes.

produced anacamptically. Anais the branch of acoustics or deals with reflection, anathat optics campsts. I once saw a deer, on a frozen turn and advance toward the lake, hunter because the far-off anacamptic forest echoed the shot. sounds

camp tics

o' (of)

plained: afire

work.

literary

anadem. ana,

of

A

wreath, for

together,

up

4-

.

set

Hav-

usefulness.

"de-

anaphroditic,

The making up

Hence

makes up a

anaplerotic,

of

a

de-

that which

deficiency (current in medi-

with an Greek ana, again anaplerotical.

cine, of deficiencies in tissue, as

ulcer)

+

;

pleroun,

to

make

full,

full,

pleres,

whence English pleroma, plenitude, used a

the

garland, hair.

deein,

to

a

in religion to

Greek

mean

the spiritual universe

with the totality of the divine and emanations. Thus Lightfoot powers in his COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS (II, 9: as

bind;

Greek diadeein, to bind around, gave us English diadem. Used from the 17th cenShelley in ADONAIS (1821) has: tury. Another dipt her profuse locks, and threw The wreath upon him, like an anadem. In the 17th century the form anadesm was used for a surgeon's

filled

1875) observed:

since

The

ideal church

the

Christ,

APOCALYPSIS APOCALYPSEOS

(1680)

WTOtC

respecting the voices of the three angels,

and anapleroses of them. Strengthening,

is

and the militant church to become the pleroma. Used the 17th century; Henry More in

pleroma of must strive

bandage. analeptic.

.

breeches.

it lost its

Hence

anaplerosis. ficiency.

See anachorism. Also (17th

flowers

meaning,

.

anaphrodisiac, antaphrodisiac, something that lessens or removes sexual desire.

century) anachronicism.

circlet

neighbors

and apes

com-

1627)

veloped without concourse of sexes," as the O.E.D. phrases it; and the current

BIGLOW PAPERS (1862) spoke of opinions that were anachronisms and anachorisms, foreign both to the age and to the country. Anachronism, Greek chronos, time: as a wrist watch on Julius Caesar. anachronism.

its

-became cor-

(WORKS;

my

of

fustian

love.

ditos,

ana, back + Lowell in THE

Greek place.

One

later

anaphroditous. Without sexual desire; accent on the die. Greek an, not 4- Aphro-

a reference to a land, as lions in Bo-

chorion, country,

my

ing lost

hemia, or a seaport in Switzerland; also, the fact of such a misplaced reference, in a

The term

rupted; Middleton

Something out of place in

anachorism.

Naples.

restorative,

anareta.

41

See almuten.

ancile

anagrif all skin and 'walking skeleton/ a person bone. In these senses, often atomy, q.v.

According to the laws of the unused word Longobards, this otherwise

anagrif.

rape. Also anagriph. Bailey (1751) defines it as the lying with an unmarried

meant

Shakespeare senses.

Recollection;

memory. From

. pictures Incarnate April, warning Frost the anatomy Into his summer grave. .

upon

anchesoun.

ancheysoun forms were used in the ANCREN RIWLE (1230) and the AYENBITE OF INWIT (REMORSE OF CONSCIENCE; 1340).

soul (from Plato) that the

had an earlier existence in a purer state, where its basic ideas came to it. Anamnesis is not to be confused with amnesia, back, away

+

name

written

An

anchor.

variant of anchoret,

early

anchoress; used from the

10th century.

Hence anchorhouse, anchorage, anchor-

mna-.

idge,

A

en-

commonly

cheason; also ancheisun, ancheysone, and the like. Earlier achesoun; via Old French from Latin occasionem, occasion. The

symptoms, remembered, and recurring phenomena is clariby which the present condition or are medicines, Anamnetics fied (1879). In the aid to religion, exercises, memory.

a-,

and more

.

motive,

reason,

Occasion,

Later

cause.

nesis (1876); (2) in anamnestic

memory:

figuratively, as So like

conscience. Shelley in EPIPSYCHIDION (1821)

sorrows. past joys or the the In medicine: (1) patient tells story of his illness, as in diagnosis from anam-

the doctrine

several

might

Greek ana, back + mna-, call to mind, from menos, mind: anamimenokein, to remember. In rhetoric, a figure of speech: the dwelling

in

(1589) the verie anatomie of mischiefe, that one see through all the ribbes of his

woman.

loss of

WITH A HATCHET

in PAPPE

anamnesis.

word

the

uses

was also used

It

backward:

an anchoret's

The

cell,

word took

a monastery or

many

forms, in-

ananyin. Revel; Serutan. Etymologically the form should be anonym, from Greek ana-, back

nunnery.

+

onoma, name; but anonym is used with quite other meaning. A man may, however, use an ananym seeking to remain

RIWLE, Rule of Nuns.

anonymous.

superseded anchor after Shakespeare, who has the Player Queen in HAMLET (1602) exclaim: To desperation turn my trust and

is cluding ancra, anker, ankyr; the plural well known from the book (1230) ANCREN

Term

hope,

used in the 17th and 18th centuries for the "y earty revenue of usury, and taking

scope.

anatocism.

Compound

usury for usury/' again

+

tokos,

interest.

From Greek interest.

this

ancile.

meant something produced, from tiktein, tektein, whence all our technologies and techniques, not to mention

second

skeleton;

the

a withered lifeless form;

anchorite,

The

sacred shield of the

Romans.

hung the power of the city. The Trojans had, similarly dropped from heaven, an image of the goddess Pallas, called the palladium, on which their

From the 16th century: a a skeleton with the skin on;

mummy;

Also

possession

syllable.)

anatomy. a

on

eremite.

Like the Stone of Scone, it was said to have fallen from heaven, and upon its

our pyrotechnics. Or

consult any bank. (The accent falls

See

my

anachorete.

tokos

(puro-, pyro-, fire)

longer forms

anchor's cheer in prison be

anchoret.

ana-, back,

(Literally

An

The

safety

hung.

borne

(like

It is

reputed to have been

Anchises)

doomed by more potent

a

42

from signs,

the

city

and

ulti-

anele

ancilla

mately brought to Rome. Gower in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1390) reports that the

Hath suffered Anthenor priest Thoas to come And the palladion to steal. Thence the word palladium has been used of anything on which the safety of a nation or whatnot may be said to de.

.

.

pend. Thus, for England: Hume in 1761 remarked: This stone was care-fully preserved at Scone as the true palladium of their monarchy; Blackstone in 1769 stated that the liberties of England cannot but subsist, so long as this palladium [trial

by jury] remains sacred and inviolate;

and McCulloch in 1845 declared that the Habeas Corpus act (is) denominated the palladium of an Englishman's liberty. It's good to have one! The element palladium was named in 1803, from the goddess, but via the newly discovered asteroid named Pallas; likewise named from gods via stars

are

A

maidservant

M.

From Latin

Doubtful.

A

hesitant over one's birth, whether

hung

toward evil or toward good. The form ancipitate is used literally of twoheaded things; the form ancipital means having two sharp edges, like certain to tip

blades of steel or grass. anconal.

Relating to the ancon, the

ancren.

See anchor.

Sometimes used to mean if; in this more often an. For an illustration

down

Obviously, one who anecdotes. The word, used

but once, by F. Spence in 1686, belongs to our era of the gossip-columnist. Anec-

The

dotes, by the way, originally meant secret and unpublished details of history. The word is from Greek an, not 4- ekdotos, published, from ek (ex)- out 4- didonai, to

in PROSE

Procopius called by the term Anecdota his "unpublished memoirs" of the private life of the court of Emperor give.

than

Justinian; from this use, the term applied to brief personal episodes, tidbits of the anecdotographer.

.

smashing wenches

Much

to

.

.

.

.

.

words had legitimate use. In CHAUCER'S ABC (1365) we find: From his ancille he made the mistress of heaven and earth; and ancelle to the lord was a frequent phrase, in both lay and religious reference. The

Sevres teacups.

earlier, these

licence.

The word

was the

To anoint; to administer the last anointing, the 'supreme unction/ to the

anele.

dying [Unction; Latin ungere, unctum, to whence also unctuous, unguent. Anele (also aneyle, anneal, aneal, aneil, anoint;

adjective is still used, in the sense of subservient or subordinate, as a teacher's ancillary

el-

bow. Also anconeal, anconeous. Hence anconoid, elbow-like. Greek ankon, a nook, a bend; the elbow.

HALIEUTICS (1854): Ancillary reformation has not yet begun to be thought of; cats are no more detrimental to mice these

an,

(as in ambiguous, ambi17th century dextrous) + capit-, head. term, used in astrology when a planet

anecdotographer.

by Thackeray and

Badham

to

am, ambi, both

writes

pert ancilla flutters foolish feet. Similarly affected in the 19th century was the adjective, ancillary, as used others, e.g. Charles D.

Moses

ANCILLA

of this use, see the Shakespeare quotation

THE

Collins in

INN OF STRANGE MEETINGS (1871) says:

volume,

for very.

Latin ancilla, diminutive of early Latin anca, servant. A word in the 19th century world of fashion;

learned

ancipitous.

sense,

from

Directly

revivified (1954) as the title of

CLASSICAL READING.

and.

plutonium and cerium. Cp. Palladian.

ancilla.

been

Hadas'

enele)

has recently

is

English

43

"\

from an, on ele,

oele,

+

elien, to oil;

oil;

Latin

Old

oleum,

anend

angelica

whence

also

petroleum (rock

oil).

See

unaneled.

At the end;

anend.

to the end, straight

through; on end, upright. Shakespeare uses the word in the first and the third

HENRY

senses; the third in

(1593)

Mine

PART

vi,

TWO

hair be fixed anend, like one shows the second

Richardson

distract.

who would

(1748) of a man ride a hundred miles anend

to enjoy

The

sense in CLARISSA

it.

and well

The can-can exposed upper reaches of her nether extremities. anfractuous. cuitous.

use lasted to Coleridge,

Latin anfractus, a breaking

round, a bending, from

an-,

amb-, about

frangere, fractus, to break, led to several English forms. Anfractuosity, cir-h

cuitousness,

HARLOWE

into the 19th century.

cir-

involved,

Winding,

The

plural,

was

used

usually

mean winding

to

A

the

in

crevices

or

winding route

(as in Coryat's passages. CRUDITIES, 1611) was an anfract, or an anfracture. Sometimes the forms are spelled

against, towards. Also anempst, aneynst; these are variants, in form and meaning of anent, q.v.

with an m, amfractuous, as in Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751). Urquhart in THE DIS-

BRITANICA

revels in the sweet labryinth and mellifluent anfractuosities of a lascivious de-

Over

anenst.

against,

Thomas Keyword

in

TROIA

times the brazen horse, (1609) wrote: Foure ruin'd entring, stuck fast Anenst the guirdle of the towne.

anent.

Originally

this

meant on even

ground with (Old English on efen, on emn); by 1200 it had acquired the final t. the original sense it came to mean in company with, in the sight of; then it was applied to position beside or facing something therefore (its latest sense) "re-

From

garding," in respect

MARK

WyclifFs BIBLE,

to.

Cp. anenst. In we read that

(1382)

things ben possible anemptis God. Scott in THE ABBOTT (1820) writes: Nor is

all

it

worth while

to

vex oneself anent what

A

magic lantern

lectation. Henry More, in DIVINE DIALOGUES (1667) prefers to ponder: So intricate, so anfractuous, so unsearchable are

the ways of Providence. Boswell (1780) us that Johnson once remarked: Sir,

tells

among the anfractuosities of the human mind I know not if it may not be one, that there

is a superstitious reluctance to for a picture. In anatomy, scientists still speak of the anfractuous cavities of

sit

and call by the term anfractuosithe sinuous depressions separating the convolutions of the brain. T. S. Eliot,

the ear, ties

in

Sweeney Erect

(1920) cries Paint

bold

anfractuous rocks snarled and yelping seas.

cannot be mended. anerithmoscope.

COVERY OF A MOST EXQUISITE JEWEL (1652)

to dis-

number of successively shown advertisements, changed electripictorial

Faced It is a

me by

the the

good, an-

fractuous word.

play any

cally.

not

+

Greek anerithmos, countless; arithmos,

number

-f

an,

skopos, obother words

serving (whence also many with scope). A primitive (19th century) anticipatory form of television.

anether. still

To

lower; humiliate. Nether

is

used, in the literal sense of neath, low

(whence underneath); nether, lower,

as:

_ 44

Proud,

angard.

arrogance. There

boastful;

may be

boastfulness,

a relation to

Norse agjarn, insolence; there

is

no

Old rela-

some confusion) with Used in the 14th and 15th cenangered. turies, as in THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY tion

(1400):

(though

Angers me

full evyll

desyre.

angelica.

See angel-water.

your angard

angelot angelot. a lute,

anlace (1) A musical instrument, like used in the 17th century and in

Browning's Sordello

(1863).

a

(2)

gold

coin of France, minted by Louis IX; also by the English King Henry VI in Paris.

bore a representation of St. Michael subduing a dragon. From French angelot, diminutive of Latin angelus, angel; Greek aggelos, messenger (the angels were the It

messengers of God). first

made

in

a small cheese,

(3)

Normandy, stamped with

the coin, the angelot. Various recipes exist for the making of angelots, angellet .

and within a quarter be ready

.

.

of a year they will

to eat.

Old French from Latin ambi, on both sides,

doubtfully

breathe,

the

beautify

angelica-water.

The

skin."

aromatic

Short for angelica

(Medieval Latin herba angelica) was cultivated in England, after 1568, for cookit was used as an antiing, for medicine dote to poison and pestilence

candy made from

its

and for a

Harvey used the Con-

root.

term figuratively in a

letter of 1592:

verting the wormwood of just offence into the angelica of pure atonement. Sedley

developed as early as 1425, in Wyntoun's THE ORYGYNALE CRONYKIL OF SCOTLAND: Constantynys sonnys three That anelyd to that ryawte [royalty]; the reference is to the story of the three princes that desired, and divided, their father's kingdom, with

the legend of the three rings, superbly NATHAN THE WISE.

anility.

than

Dotage;

a

more

senility. Senility is

editrix.

A

As I was musing

swarm

of gnats

was the worst scent about

.

term

senilis,

senile, from senex, old man; anility is from Latin anilis, from anus (which if feminine meant old woman; if masculine, what she sat on). Hence, anilar, anile, anicular, like an old woman; over-fussy; imbecilic. BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE in 1841 scoffed at the fopperies and anilities of fashion. Another instance of its use is at

wrote:

.

scornful

from Latin

her gloves right marshal, her petticoat of the new rich Indian stuffs angel-water

cule.

Howell

tiny creature,

(in

an animal-

FAMILIAR LETTERS; 1650)

thus, I spyed a waving up and down the ayr about me, which I knew to be part of

.

her.

I, and methought was a strange opinion of our Aristotle hold that the least of those small in*

the univers as well as

To

recognize; in several

Appeared anndgaeten century. It

out with

anhelose, anhelous, panting, out of breath. To anhele, to puff; to pant for; eagerly desire. The figurative use

animalillio.

word

to

effort;

BELLAMIRA (1687) exclaimed: I met the prettiest creature in new Spring Garden! in

anget.

halatus,

breathed

anheled,

breathing;

A

to

halare,

retold in Schiller's

angel-water. perfume, fashionable in the 17th century. Also used as "a curious

wash

4-

whence exhale. Thus anhelant,

is

is still

to

acknowledge. forms ongetan;

from the 10th

it

to

14th

to the

sected ephemerans should be more noble than the sun, because it had a sensitive

the opposite of forget, which

quite necessary.

soul in

A

it,

I fell to think that the same

10th to 14th century form of anhang. hang. Chaucer uses it frequently, as in

proportion which those animalillios bore with me in point of bignes, the same 1

The Monk's Tale

held

(1386):

Croesus, the

proud Kyng.

anhelation.

Shortness

of

with those glorious spirits which are near the throne of the Almighty.

Anhanged was

breath;

anlace.

pant-

ing; hence, (panting after) aspiration.

Via

ger,

45

A

short two-edged knife or dagMatthew Paris

tapering to a point.

anon

annes (1259)

Latinized

it

anelacius.

as

with intensifying force in odiosus from odium, hatred, aversion.

Latin

Also

anelas, analasse. Used into the 15th century. Blount in his 1656 GLOSSOGRAPHIA (retranslating anelate. The

.

THE CHANOUNS YEMANNES TALE (1386)

annuent. (as

annes.

Unity; concord, agreement; being by oneself, solitude. Also annesse, anes. Common until about 1300; revived in the

Used

the

abbreviations,

to

indicate various dates.

year

of.

encountered

are:

to;

to.

to direct

by

Thus signs.

centuries.

anomphalous. Without a navel. From Greek an-, without + omphalos, navel. Medieval pictures show an anomphalous

Adam and an

equally smooth-bellied Eve, the arguments as to

and many were

anno

whether they were thus correctly depicted, "not wanting nourishment in the womb

year, A.H. anno the the of in hegira (Arabic year hegirae,

Hebrew

hebraico, in the

nod

Latin an-

.

nod

Used in the 17th and 18th

Quite current is anno Domini, in the year of our Lord the Christian era, A.D. Less

commonly

to

annuatum,

annuate, to

in

in

Nodding; adapted to nodding

the muscles of the neck)

nuare,

17th century in the form oneness. Latin,

SaVS

In Londoun was a prest, an annuellere.

.

dared the deed of war.

anno.

annipriest that celebrates

Chaucer in versary masses for the dead.

and Byron (CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, the anlace 1812): The Spanish maid hath espoused, Sung the loud song, and .

A

annueler.

Matthew Paris) spelled it word was revived by Scott

+

that way."

separation, flight; the reference to the forced journey of Mohammed

hijrah, is

conditi,

the year

in

of

creation,

city (the

set at 753 B.C.),

A.u.a

tion

also

may

be read

Roman

The as

from the founding of the the date

is

last

calendar, abbrevia-

immediately, at once; soon anon, quickly. Thus from the 10th into the 15th century. Man, however, is a tardy creature; presently used to mean in the present

either way,

the same.

instant, at once;

annothanize.

See indubitate.

form, anatomize, 4-

torn-,

to cut.

cannot be

The

correct

from Greek ana, apart is that which the indivisible remnant

An atom

anon, here, at that

according to physics before the electron

and

the atom-bomb.

THE PARSON'S TALE is

time (opposed to

in

LOVE'S

'at

or

understood); LABOUR'S LOST

Who

now hangeth like a Jewell (1588) has: in the eare of Celo the skie . . and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra. .

Ever and anon, every now and then; in the same play ever and anon they made a

(1386) of anoyouse

and noyous. ultimately from inodiosus,

veniale synnes. Also ennoyous

The word

this

mentioned

time/

Shakespeare

annoyous. Vexatious. Supplanted in the 16th century by annoying. Chaucer speaks, in

anon followed the same

course so that by the 16th century anon meant, in a little while, in a while. Also

is

cut, i.e.

sense.

Then, in one course, straight ahead. Anon to, even to, as far as. Anon so, anon as, as soon as ever; anon after, anon right,

a.o.c.

ab urbe condita, city;

its

Originally Old English on an, into one; on ane, in one, it first meant in one company, all together; in accord, in unity.

anno urbis conditae, in the year of the founding of the

This word has shifted

anon.

from Mecca to Medina, 622 A.D.), A.H. anno mundi, in the year of the world (dated from 4004 B.C.), A.M. anno orbis

doubt.

46

anonymuncle

antepast

An anonymous writer of no account. Combining anonymous (From Greek an-, without 4- onyma, name) and the Latin diminutive ending from homunculus, a little man, from homo, man. Charles Reade in his ESSAYS AND anonymuncle.

STUDIES (1869) sneers at the anonymuncles that go scribbling about. Today, with less

modesty, they sign their columns, and

might be called scribuncles please, a

pun on

(with, if

their material)

.

A

We

to anorexy,

the article

The

truth on't

anred. single

having

liminary. cedere to

is,

+

the

9th

into

the

13th

century.

officer

the

in

in-

I

the:

was misunderstood

(1751)

I'ancespessade.

gives

as

Cole-

in

his

Bailey's

(1800).

lanspessade

as

Happening before; preFrom Latin ante, before 4go. The ending -aneous is

formed as in contemporaneous, simultaneous, coetaneous Cp. absentaneous.

antejentacular.

a

An

anteloquy.

See jentacular. actor's

a

cue;

preface.

From Latin ante, before + loquium, speech. Found only in the dictionaries,

aim or purpose. Old English an, raed, counsel, purpose. Used from

one

petty

antecedaneous.

.

constant;

le,

DICTIONARY

morsel than old Bromia.

Steadfast,

refer-

anserine skin

well.

Butler in HUDIBRAS (1664): When Hudibras about to enter Upon anothergates . adventure .

A

DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN

have had anothergaines husband. Dryden (1690):

word with

No

ridge uses the term, anspessate,

Sidney in ARCADIA (1580): // my father had not played the hasty fool ... 7 might

AMPHITRYON

(1845) uses the

ence to "goose-flesh":

lancespessade, after Italian lancia spezzata,

.

in

THE FORGE

broken lance; the

(1864), rejoiced:

anothergates. Of a different sort (a different "gate," or way) Also anothergaines, anotherguess, anotherguise, anotherkins.

she's anotherghess

Pertaining to a goose; by extension, stupid, foolish, silly. Also anserous. Latin anser, goose. Hood in his poem

and 18th century); originally a cavalier whose horse was killed under him he being then given minor rank on foot. The word was originally French

Richard Burton, in A MISSION TO bade farewell

use.

its

anserine.

anspessade.

anorexy. Lack of appetitie. From Greek without + oregein, to reach for, de-

DAHOME

seemed chary of

writers have

fantry (17th

an-,

sire.

lists ansated (ansate), having handles, or something in the form of handles, but

would rise thereat, It's the cold that makes him shiver. Sydney Smith in a letter of 1842 declared: He is anserous and asinine.

you

anophysial. Supernatural; metaphysical. rare form from Greek ano, above + physis, nature.

GELELE, KING OF

son

but even there sometimes

Also

(as

in Cock-

anrednesse, anraednesse, onredness, stead-

eram's of 1623) misspelled antiloquy. See

fastness;

antiloquist.

ansal.

unanimity.

Two-edged;

cutting

both

antepast. to whet

ways.

and figuratively, from the 16th century, but not often. Latin ansa, handle (handles come in pairs).

Used both

literally

taste; -h

Something taken before a meal, appetite. Hence, a fore-

the

a forerunner. Latin ante, before

pascere, pastum, to feed;

whence

also

In English ansa, anse (plural arises, ansae) is used for the handle-like projects of

repast, pasture [pastry, pasty, patty, paste,

the ring around the planet Saturn. John-

ridge; pastos, sprinkled; passein, to strew].

pastel, are

47

from Greek

paste, barley por-

antiloquist

antesupper

The word

survives in Italian restaurants

in the Italian form, antepasto.

Cannibals.

anthropophagi.

The Eng-

man +

anthropos,

From Greek

phagein, to

eat.

Shake-

(1604) speaks of The Canibals that each other eat, the Antro-

OTHELLO

word was frequently applied to things other than food, as when THE LONDON

speare in

QUARTERLY REVIEW (June, 1847)

is rarely used in the by Carlyle in SARTOR RESARTUS That same hair-mantled, flint(1831): hurling aboriginal anthropophagus. In THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, Shakespeare speaks of an anthropophaginian.

lish

said:

It

singular, as

Fools and

other outbreaks of popular which popes and priests were ridiculed ad libitum; for the watchful guardians of the Spotless Hind were thus enabled to attend the antepasts of undeveloped heresies, which were not

humor,

in

anthropurgic. Wrought by man; acted upon by man. From Greek anthropos, man 4- ergon, work. Used only once, in

to be very dangerous so long as be represented as the outpourcould they

likely

1838, but

ings of drunkenness or idiocy.

antic.

antesupper. A display of viands before the eating of them. Osborn describes this

tainment,

quorum

that brought in

the vanity

have the board covered at the

choicest

and dearest viands

land could afford: and

all this

us

first

sea

or

An

the antic

ex-

antilibration.

anthomania, whence anthomaniac. THE LONDON TIMES of June 8, 1882 offered a

against

is

as

real

lates to

and

libra,

See aeromancy. anthroposcopy; accent on the pos.

anthropomancy.

.

+

lapsus,

Latin

q.v., slip, fall.

+

librare, libratum, to balance;

The word rhymes with De Quincey in WHIGGISM (1858)

a balance.

vibration.

Concerned with what man. See apandry.

.

Counterpoising, weighing one thing against another. Latin anti,

potent as bibliomania. anthropinistic.

.

adjective, antilapsarian heresies.

anti, against

travagant passion for flowers was called

proof that anthomania

sits

One that disbelieves in antilapsarian. the doctrine of the Fall of man; also as an

See aeromancy.

(1871) uses anticize, to

temples of a king Keeps Death his court,

hot.

anthomancy.

Browning

and there

was

it

all.

often represented as a grinning skull; hence, in Shakespeare's RICHARD 11: Within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal

once seen,

advantage of the other, that

make

is

and having feasted the eyes of the invited, was in a manner thrown away, and fresh set on to the same height, having only this

grotesque or burlesque enteror entertainer. Also antique on the first syllable) ; survives

perform antics. Shakespeare has HAMLET (1601) put an antic disposition on. Death

entrance of the ghests with dishes as high as a tall man could well reach, filled with the

A

grotesque; to perform antics. Shakespeare in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606) says: The wilde disguise hath almost antickt

of antesuppers, not heard of in our forefathers' time. The manner of which was to

worth reviving.

(accent in plural, antics. Hence, to antic, to

17th century practice in his KING JAMES one of (1658): The Earl of Carlisle was the

The word

pophague.

was, indeed, a part of the policy of the Romish church to encourage the Feast of

of: His artful antithesis, antilibration of cadences.

spoke

re-

Also

antiloquist.

One who

and solemn

contradicts;

an

opponent; one who speaks against some48

antre

antimacassar thing. Also antiloquy, contradiction. From -f loquor, to speak.

Latin anti-f against See anteloquy.

antipharmic.

A

antimacassar. covering, often handknitted by Victorian maidens, placed over the back of a sofa or chair, to protect this

from the

of the Victorian

hair-oil

gentleman. This popular hair-grease, macassar oil, was named from the district (native name Manghasara) of the island of Celebes, from which the manufacturers

(Rowland & Son) averred that the ingredients were obtained. The antimacassar remains as an ornament; in 1875 G. R. Sims freed the Victorian housewife from the need of such protection by concocting a stainless hair-balm. Sims also concocted as THE LIGHTS OF LONand TWO LITTLE VAGABONDS

melodramas, such

DON

(1881)

antimacassars are

Overcoming poison. Greek

pharmacon, poison; see alexipharmac. antiphlebotomical. as

Relating to one that,

of medical treatment im-

knowledge

proved, was opposed to phlebotomy or to bleeding. blood-letting; opposed Phlebotomy is from Greek phleb-, vein

+

temnein, to cut.

antiphlogistian.

One

scientific

as

that,

opposed the phlogisknowledge ton theory, the idea that there exists an increased,

element,

fire,

word was

Also

also

antiphlogiston.

used

an

as

The

adjective, this term,

equivalent to antiphlogistic; however, was earlier, and developed two other senses: conteracting burns and in-

None more needs

a Matthew to and antiphlogistic preach cooling speech. Phlogiston is from Greek phlogissaid:

museum

diction-

flammation; allaying excitement. Hood in MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER SILVER LEG (1840)

(1896); along with Dickens in the novel, he was an apostle of the "gospel of rags."

Some

and 18th century

occurs in 17th aries.

pieces.

A

antimnemonic.

Something that weakens memory. Also as an adjective, antimnemonic unconcern. The first m is Greek anti, against; unpronounced. the

Mnemosyne^ Memory, daughter of Goelus and Terra (Heaven and Earth), was mother of the Muses. Coleridge (BIO-

tos,

burning; phlegein f to burn, phlogistic,

inflammatory, phlogisticate, to render flammable, as in arson. Note that Phlegethon> the fiery river in Hades, (from the

same

root), gave us the 17th century ad-

phlegethontal,

jectives

The

phlegetheonticf

habit of perusing periodical works may be properly added to Averrhoes' cata-

blazing. Byron in DON JUAN (1821) spoke of Cogniac, sweet naiad of the drink that made the phlegethontic rill!

logue of antimnemonics. As an evil age

throat cry for an antiphlogiston!

GRAPHICA

LITTERARLA;

so

passes

many laws,

many

periodicals.

antipelargy.

A

1817)

said:

an ignorant age

fiery,

A

issues

antipodize.

The

antipelargic,

word, with the ad-

mutually

4-

The pous,

were formerly pronounced with three syllables, thus developed a singular form, an antipod, antipode; Taylor, in MAD FASHIONS (1642) declared: This shewes mens witts are monstrously dis-

an aged parent. Greek antipelargia, mutual love; pelargos, a stork (supposedly a most affectionate bird which is probably a reason why it was selected to jective

turn upside down.

antipodes (Greek anil, opposite

return of love or of a

kindness; specifically, a child's caring for

bring the baby).

To

podis,

foot)

guis'd,

Or

antre.

(1)

that

our country

Old English

49

antipodis'd.

(into

century) for adventure, risk.

loving,

is

(2)

the

13th

A cavern,

antur

apandry

a cave. Also (especially of

body

cavities),

antrum. Via French from Greek antron, cave.

OTHELLO

in

Shakespeare

speaks of antars vast, and Keats in ENDYMION (1818): .

.

antre;

She

.

.

Outshooting

Through a

a meteor-star

like

.

(1604) desarts idle.

vast

Meredith in THE EGOIST (1879): shunned his house as the antre .

of an ogre.

A

antur.

book

short

form of adventure.

A

year 1400 was called the Anturs of Arther. Cp. antre. the

of

anxiferous.

a child's

anxiety, as often or a nation's behavior. The

Causing

word has been repeated from 17th century

One

anythingarian.

that embraces

any

attitude that presents itself as timely or

Hence,

advantageous.

Thomas Brown make

anythingarianism. (WORKS, 1704) spoke of

anythingarians,

that

always

their interest the standard of their

religion.

Swift,

in his POLITE CONVERSA-

TIONS (1738) picked

when

the term;

up

thingarian. This

is

not a protestant

to

be

written

separately;

before

pair.

appere,

the form in

still

em-

appayr,

current, im-

THE MILLER'S TALE (1386)

one

should apeyren

laments

that

man, or

him defame.

any

Originally, provision made for the maintenance of younger sons of great

for as elsewhen; indeed

-stated

that the

diplomatic service

.

.

.

by Swinburne in his ESSAYS AND STUDIES

appanage, as by John Yeats in THE GROWTH OF COMMERCE (1872), referring to the period when a 'New World' 'was the

Robert A. Hein-

appanage of a European peninsula.

apandry. Male impotence. O.E.D. Greek ap-, away, off

the title of a story to ELSEWHEN. Often one would rather it were elsewhen than now.

Not

+

in

andros,

anthropos, man. O.E.D. does list apanthropy, love of solitude, desire to be away

A proof of something by showits

to an appropriated possession; in the LONDON REVIEW of July 26, 1862, it was

Latin ad, to -f panare, to supply, from bread. It is sometimes spelled

republication in 1953, changed

ing the absurdity of

families. Thus Richard Carew in THE SURVEY OF CORNWALL (1602) mentions that Belinus had for his appanage Loegria, Wales, and Cornwall Later, it was applied

panis,

wishing that you were anywhen, straightto be then! Similarly, elsewhere calls

apagoge.

amp ay r,

and Chaucer

tite for applause, the proper apanage of small poets. Apanage (accented on the first syllable) comes via French from

way

its

English: pair, etc.

as

its

on

damage; to deteriorate. From

Latin em, en, into + peior-are, to make worse. This word has had many forms in

of 1875: This fretful and petulant appe-

forms were owhere, oughwhere, aywhere.) Carlisle in SARTOR RESARTUS (1831) wished you were able, simply by

lein,

To

apair.

also applied to a quality or attribute that seems to go naturally with something else,

faith.

anywhen. At any time. We still say somewhere and anywhere, but have lost the convenient and pleasant somewhen, anywhither, and anywhen. (Anywhere 1450,

theorems may be demonstrated by the apagogick way. Also apogogic, apogogical.

must always remain the apanage of the wealthy. Then, figuratively, apanage was

Lady Spark inquires as to a man's religion, Lord Spark answers: He is an Any-

used

accent on the go. Also apogogy. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS of 1671 said that

apanage.

dictionaries.

Bifarious

type of argument called reductio ad absurdum. Pronounced in four syllables,

from men, and apanthropinization, with-

not being; the

50

apogean

apanthropinization

God

Author of sin. Many words source have struggled to find place in the language: apert ement, openly

drawal from concern with things relating to man. G. Allen in the quarterly MIND declared:

(1880)

The

human

primitive

must have been

the

is

from

this

subse-

(14th century); apertion, opening, an opening (16th and 17th century) aper-

quent history must be that of an apanthropinisation ... a gradual regression or concentric widening of aesthetic feeling

manifest (17th century); apertly, tive, openly, plainly (13th to 18th century); apertness, frankness, plainness of speech

conception of beauty purely anthropinistic

around

.

.

this fixed point,

apanthropinization.

.

All

.

.

its

man.

To

please.

See apandry.

in TROYLUS fickle

AND CRISEYDE

+

Chaucer

Sir Humphrey Davy, in which a glowing platinum wire consumes the fuel. Most modern illumination is aphlogistic,

woman!): She elleswhere hath now

though a

in the sense of repay, requite, and it was revived by William Morris (1870) in the

A

sense; but it never quite died out in the past tense, as an adjective, apayede,

apocrisiary. person appointed (especially by the Pope) to give and receive

answers. -h

but

apaid.

Open, manifest;

spoken,

in

manner. The

out-

apotheosis, last

gods, to as

Via French from Latin apertum, open, aperire, to open. Confused, in some early uses, with Old French espert from Latin expertus, expert; malapert, from this form (Latin malus, bad + appert, espert, ex-

saucy,

impudent.

an

intensifier,

+

theoein, to

make

a

theos, god. By analogy, in the god 19th century was coined the word apodiaof,

lower to the rank of Accent on the bol Thus in THE

bolosis, to devilify, to

devil.

REALM

perienced) shifted its meaning by association with apert, and came to mean imfrank,

The word common meaning to rank among the deify, is from Greek apo-, used

apodiabolosis.

bold;

sense survives in the shortened form, pert.

properly

crisis,

clear to the un-

straightforward,

forward

From Greek

apo-f away, back from .the 15th Used, judgment. through the 18th century, of a papal nuncio.

apaid, apaied, appayd, satisfied, pleased; repaid, rewarded, as in Thomson's THE

derstanding;

fireplace retains its charm. Cp.

antiphlogistic.

first

apert.

a-,

by

(1374) wrote (ah,

toils

From Greek

+

phlogiston, flame. Applied in science to the aphlogistic lamp, invented

pacare, to ap-

CASTLE OF INDOLENCE (1748): Thy

Flameless.

aphlogistic.

her herte apeyde. Spenser used the word,

ill

See almuten.

without

pease, satisfy; pax, pacem, peace.

one succeeded:

19th century)

apheta.

Via French from Late

Latin adpacare; ad, to

to

(17th

aperture.

See apparage.

aparage. apay.

.

tion:

of

May

25,

1864,

is

the descrip-

With one base imbecile smugness,

which

The

is

the very apodiabolosis of art.

(1366) Speaks of Falsnesse that apert is. Henry Hickman, in his ANIMADVERSIONS ON DOCTOR HEYLIN's

apogean. Proceeding from the earth. Also apogeal; apogaeic, apogaic. Accent

on the

jee; except the last,

QUINQU ARTICULAR HISTORY

accent

on the

ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE

There are in Zuinglius sentences from which it

.

is

(1674) .

which has the Greek apo, away; gala, ge, the earth. Baroness Rosina BulwerLytton in CHEVELEY; OR, THE MAN OF

states:

most apert gathered that .

51

gay.

apostolicon

apolaustic

HONOUR

(1839) wrote:

When

this

enter-

prising and apogaeic old lady had gone up so high, she went still -further, even to the moon. We still speak of planets (or

a

person's

being

fancies)

at

their

apogee.

on the second

syllable) is a smil-

knowing when to take leave). It from Greek apo-, away -f pherein, for

is

to

carry.

Self-indulgent, seeking pleas-

apolaustic. ure. Used

in

the Victorian

age,

when

pleasure was seldom mentioned directly. Thus the SATURDAY REVIEW in 1880 spoke of the lordly, apolaustic, and haughty undergraduate. Sir William Hamilton, in his

(accent

ing word for a present a hostess gives her guest (as at a wedding or a party, or

LECTURES ON METAPHYSICS (1836) SUg-

A

aposiopesis.

device

rhetorical

more

used than named, in which the speaker comes to a sudden stop, as if often

(or stating that) he is unable or unwilling to speak further. The accent is on the pee.

Pope in THE ART OF SINKING IN POETRY (1727) calls

it

"an excellent figure for the

what Baumgarten but in the world of

ignorant/' Goldsmith uses the term, in A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD (1762) to laugh

metaphysics the German term prevailed. In its basic meaning, however, the word is

at the tragedies of his day: Observe the art of the poet . . . the Queen can

gested apolaustics for

was calling ^Esthetics;

still

widely applicable;

we

are

When

say no more, she

an apo-

fit.

aposta. Bailey, in 1751, defines this as "a creature in America, so great a lover

of

many

men

that it follows them, and delights on them." Obviously an 18th cenword for woman.

to gaze

tury

length + metria, measuring, it means the art or science of measuring distance. (The six syllables are too

supported

what horrors

We feel it in every take word nerve; for it, that fits are my the true aposiopesis of modern tragedy.

smooth-sounding apomecometry. This word, scarcely used since the 16th century, should be renewed in our space-probing age. From Greek apo-, away + mecos,

on the com; but perhaps

(q.v.),

While thus

is

do we not fancy!

H. Coleridge in his ESSAYS (1849) wrote: Sing 'Songs of Reason' to the grinding of a steam apollonicon.

is

arms of Abigail

in the

apollonicon. A powerful chamber organ, with keys and barrels, invented in 1817.

accent

falls in a

her eyes are shut, while she

laustic world.

See apo tactical.

apostasy.

This word of uncertain origin (perhaps from Latin ad, to + postum,

apostil.

the

for our speedy

positum, placed) means to write a note in the margin, or the note thus made.

days.)

Greek

Motley, in THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC (1858) says that, in the opinion of

(1815) says

record of 1637 protocols and apostilles. notes, of Charles I: apostiled with his

Relating to farewell.

apopemptic.

From

+ apopemptikos, apo-. away pempein, to send. Used in the 18th and 19th centuries. ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA ing them

Philip,

world

was

to

move upon

A

They dismissed them, to

the

followthe altars with apopemptic

own hand.

hymns. apostolicon.

apophoret. Though found only in 17th and 18th century dictionaries, apophoret

wounds. ointment)

52

A

cure

Named it

is

for

because

all

(like

kinds

of

apostle's

a mixture of twelve in-

applejohn

apotactical gradients, thus enforced with the apostles' power of healing. In the Wyclif (1382)

and the King James is

were

originally

apostolos,

+

twelve apostles

persons

messenger;

apo,

Greek

sent;

away

forth,

stellein, to send.

apparance, than

bid

to

adieu,

abandon. Apostasy (Greek

means standing

ing) of one's

or

faith

apostate; apostatic, Hall in his tractate (1627) cried out

(accent

The

on the

final

whence causes.

A

Greek apo,

pot).

teleos,

teleology,

Literally

off

which every human soul is an apThe court officer might be used on questionable errands, as Landor implies in IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS (1829): The in

apotelesm meant

judges will hear reason, of the apparitor

OWN

more

See apanage.

(1537)

measure

CONTENT WITH HIS

IS

uses

(cp.

this,

in

the

himpnes): Layd in

thoughtes appere:

And

shew so

myne

lively in

every thought did eyes That now 1

and then I smilde, thought dyd rise.

sighed,

applejohn.

THE

its

EXAMPLE OF VIRTUE (1503) says: She is comen of royall apparage, and later speaks

gown

ESTATE

quiet bed, in study as I were, I saw within my troubled head a heape of

apparage. An early form of peerage, noble rank. It is from Latin ad, to 4- par,

of a

wand

my

your opiates, juleps,

in

the

variant form of appear. Sur-

HOW NO AGE

poulter's

See apair.

equal, peer.

A

appere. rey's

when

tipped with gold.

is

See pease.

appease.

apozen. A decoction, an infusion. Also apozume, apozeme; Greek apo, off + zeein, to boil. Hence apozemical. Jonson

Thus Stephen Hawes

also

one that puts

paritor.

(accent on the mat), relating to the casting of horoscopes.

appanage.

this sense,

rarely,

Carlyle in PAST AND PRESENT (1843) spoke of that Higher Court

cal

appair.

More

in an appearance;

+

outcome. Also apotelesmatic, apotelesmati-

all

Also a herald, an

officer.

an announcer; in

figuratively.

complete; telos the doctrine of

in SEJANUS (1603) speaks of physic

servant or attendant, espemagistrates; hence,

Roman

a minor court

mis-

casting of a horoscope

Than

experiment).

apparitor. cially, of the

men

(17th century) the result, the sum and substance; one's horoscope settled one's

comforting apozems.

e.g.,

usher,

teleein, to finish;

end,

tific

Bishop

apostaticall

to rear

instruments for an action (such as a scien-

hence

NO PEACE WITH ROME

and

.

apotelesm.

apostatical.

end were

the things involved in the prepara1767: the gaudy apparatus of female vanity then the prerequisite tion

the renouncing

allegiance;

his

mean

stand-

stasis,

if

a kitchen. Originally apparatus meant the work of preparing; then it came to

renounce,

upon monsters of

. apotacticall creants. .

off,

ad,

up

recreant. apotactical. Renouncing; Greek apo, away, apart; tasso, to arrange;

apotassomai,

From Latin

Preparation.

+

parantem, preparing, parare, to arrange. Richard Hooker, in his ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY (1594) complains of one who would go about the building of an house to the God of heaven with no other

(1611) BIBLE, Jesus

The

called the Apostle.

apparance. for

best

An

when

as cause

of

apple supposed to be at

shriveled,

keeping good for

years. Also johnapple; thus named because ripening on St. John's day. Sir John

two

of silver for great aparage.

Falstaff (in Shakespeare's

53

HENRY

iv,

PART

arbalest

applemose

TWO; 1597) cannot endure an applejohn, because the Prince once set a dish of appleJohns before him, and told him there

were

more

five

Sir

Johns and,

praecoctum, like

original

al

birquq.

See

apricide.

aprike.

the

The male

servant of a proapplesquire. curess or prostitute. Frequent in the late 16th and early 17th century, as in the

The term was

syllable.

nouns spelled race means

Under French bask in the sun; to expose

they

said

Sir

Thomas. Over

aprication.)

and Key West,

Fire Island,

New

(ginger)

the

root.

word was

arace.

See orifex.

arain. A spider. Also erayne. Via French from Latin aranea; Greek arachne, spider. For the story of Arachne, see orifex.

it

A medieval weapon, a crossbow: a steel bow fitted to a wooden shaft, with a mechanism for drawing the bowstring taut and letting it slip. Arrows and bolts were the usual missiles; occasionally

went "Now go down and fetch it up again." Tom o' Bedlam went down; Tom More locked the door, and continued his

gonne

aradmean.

Bedlam climbed up

throw Sir Thomas over the battlements. "Let's throw the dog first,"

influence,

spelled arache. Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRiSEYDE (1374) has him soon out of your heart arace; in THE CLERK'S TALE (1386): The children from her arm

house at Chelsea; once, while Sir Thomas More was apricating there with his dog,

over

of

sometimes

Aubrey in 1697 wrote: His lordship was wont to recreate himself in this place,, to apricate and contemplate. (This place' was the top of the old gate-

to

essence

Uproot; snatch away; tear. From Latin ab, away + radicem, root, whence also radish. One of the seven English

the costermongers, dealers in apples, were often intermediaries in intrigues.

and wished

the

(13th

arace.

coined with thought of Eve's proffering, but it has been suggested that

o'

The accent is on With accent on the

See apricate.

first

aqueity. Wateriness; water. Cp. terreity.

possibly

Tom

the

stillicide.

second syllable, aprick is a rare century) verb meaning to spur on.

play WHAT YOU WILL: Of pages, some be court pages, others ordinary gallants^ and

a wandering

of

in winter.

stondyng.

To

name

early

aprike places. See beek. Hence aprication, basking in the sun; apricity, the sun's warmth, as on an August afternoon, but also applied to the warmth of a sunny day

Take apples and seethe hem in water. Drawe hem thurgh a stynnor. Take almande mlyke, and hony, and floer of rys, safron and powdor-fort, and salt; and

apricate. to the sun.

The

in his MEDICINAL DISPENSATORY (1657) avers that the sanlal-tree fruticates best in

centuries. Old English mos, pap, pottage. Also applemoise, appulmoy, appulmoce, and the like. A recipe o 1390 suggests:

third apple squires.

which sounded

ripe,

Arabic

European name was Armenian apple. Aprique is a rare word for sunny; Richard Tomlinson

applemose. A dessert made with the pulp of stewed apples, in the 14th and 15th

the

early

the

fruit,

withered knights."

it

apricot, some-

times explained as from in aprico coctus, ripened in a sunny place, is via Latin

putting off his hat, said, "I will now take my leave of these six dry, round, old,

seeth

Note that the

to apricate.

arbalest.

York,

Florida, are popular places

54

arbor

aread

The word had many forms

stones.

arcubalist,

arbalust, al-

arblast,

arbalist,

blast, alablaste, aroblast; it is

bow +

arcus,

similar

Arbalester,

weapon).

alblaster, a soldier

the missile

also,

from Latin

a larger but

ballista (q.v.,

arblaster,

armed with an arbalest; shot from the weapon.

Arbalestry, the art or practice of cross-

bow

See arbust.

A

arbust.

Latin

arbuscula, tree.

Also

arbust,

to

tury)

diminutive as

a verb

plant with

of

arbos,

(17th

cen-

Also

trees.

Among

A long lute, with two sets of one open, one stopped. Used for playing a thorough bass. Also arcileuto, archilute.

arbor, tree,

and come many

arctation.

in

relating to trees, arboricole, dwelling

or

among

trees,

arborescent,

like

God whose

unity

varieties

is

of

a

beauty

and

with

word

many

trees.

arbor,

now

There

power. 1796),

quite a distinct used in the sense of a is

bower, shady retreat, covered walk. This was originally herber, Old French herbier,

arcticize.

erber;

clerk

is

to-

To make

frigid;

to accustom

to arctic conditions. Cp. cynarctomachy.

a place covered with grass, a garden of herbs; Latin herba, grass, herb. This be-

came

of the huddling

an old English verb art, to cramp, restrict, press, used by Wyclif in his BIBLE (1382); Chaucer uses it in the sense of to press, to urge, in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374): What for to speke, and what to holden inne, And what to arten.

arborescent with end-

Arborous (Milton, 1667; Coleridge,

Used in medicine, but

gether of children in fear. From Latin arctare, artare; artus, confined. There is

flourishing tree; with many branches; E. Burr in ECCE COELUM (1867) speaks of less

Constriction; the act of draw-

ing close together. also figurative, as

forms: arboreal, arborean, arboral, arborical,

Noah's arche).

strings,

thick wov'n arborets

From Latin

centuries,

archlute.

or sapling are arbuscle, arboret, the latter favored by poets (Spenser, 1596; Sou they, 1805; Milton in PARADISE LOST, 1667:

and 14th

the grand arcanum.

arbustal, arbustive, relating to shrubs or young trees. Other words for a dwarf tree

flours.)

(13th

eye, secret. Boorde in THE BREVIARY OF HEALTHE (1547) wrote of the eximiouse and archane science of physicke. Scott in KENILWORTH (1821) noted the pursuit of

shrub; a dwarf tree. Medieval

arbor,

arcere, to shut up; area, chest, ark, arche

Also arcanal, of a secret nature, mysterious, dim; arcane, hidden from the common

shooting.

arbor.

arcanum. A mystery; a deep secret. Hence, one of the great secrets of nature the alchemists sought to discover; therefore, a universal remedy, elixir of life. The word was often used in the plural, arcana, the dark mysteries. Latin arcanus;

areach.

See arecche.

aread. To decree; to declare by supernatural counsel, to prophesy; to declare; to guess; to advise. Old English a, out

was pronounced arbor (as pronounced dark), then spelled as pronounced. In the 14th century this arbor (arbour) meant a garden of herbs, a grassy lawn; then, since fruit trees were planted on grass plots, an orchard; then (15th century) trees or vines trained on a framework or trellis whence the current it

+

redan, read. Also spelled arede, areed. of King Alfred, about

Used from the time

875, to about 1650,

by Gower, Tindale, Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374): What it is, 1 leye I kanne arede. Later used, as a revival, by Spenser, by Milton

uses.

55

arfname

arecche

on DIVORCE

in his tract

(1643):

Let

me

areed him, not to be the foreman of any ill-judgd opinion. The word is also used a

in

as

noun, advice, by Lodge EUPHUES' GOLDEN LEGACIE (1590): Follow mine arreede. In Spenser's THE FAERIE as

on the op. From Areopagus, Greek Areios pagos, the hill of Ares (Mars), where the highest judicial court of Athens its hearings; hence, a high tribunal. areopagite, a member of the tribunal.

held

An

Faun has bribed one of Diana's nymphs to tell him where the goddess bathes; when he beholds her, he (1596) the

QUEENE

areopagy. A conclave; a secret tribunal. Also areopagus, a high tribunal. Accent

Also areopagitic, areopagitical. Sir Thomas Browne in CHRISTIAN MORALS (1682) said

laughs aloud in joy: A foolish faune indeed, That couldst not hold thy selfe so hidden blest, But wouldest needs thine

sits in the areopagy and dark tribunal of our hearts.

that conscience

aret.

owne

conceit areed. Babblers unworthy been of so divine a meed.

To

reckon to

to

hence,

reckon;

someone's account, to credit or blame. From Old French areter; a, to 4- reter,

To explain, state the meaning to speak. Also areche, areccan. Past included tense forms araht, arehte, arecche.

Latin reputare, to reckon, from

of;

puto, to think. This word was very frequent in the 14th and 15th centuries;

An

emphatic form of recchef tell, say; to go (by mistake for arreche was similarly confused

arought.

Chaucer used

reche, to

reach;

with areach), to get

at,

to obtain; to de-

to strike.

it

many

when he

times, as

asks the reader,

if

he find an error in his

work, to aret

to

Adam

ser

Used (both recche and Gower in CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1393) says: Christ wroughte first and after taught, So that the deed his word drought. liver;

back

re-,

4-

it

Scrivener. Spen-

others have followed) misunder-

(whom

stood aret as meaning to commit a charge to someone, to entrust; hence in THE

arecche} into the 15th century;

FAERIE QUEENE (1596): The charge, which God doth unto me arrett When the .

.

.

From Latin

English learned Latin, they associated this word with Latin rectum, meaning right;

arere, to dry (aridus, arid) 4- facere, to

hence during the 15th and 16th centuries

make. Bacon in SYLVA SYLVARUM (1626) says that the heat which is in lime and ashes . doth neither liquefy nor arefy.

we

To

arefy.

.

A

dry up, parch.

for arefied

is

arefacted, with-

ered.

word often spelled is

aretaics.

The

syllables;

Greek

MORAL

To

From Latin

arect,

incorrect.

cover or mix with

dictionaries,

sand.

arena,

but arenation

is

arete,

of

virtue.

Four

Grote in

virtue.

IDEAS

.

science

of

happiness,

eudaemonics.

17th century dictionaries

an 18th cen-

we

In

find areta-

loger (Blount, 1656): one that braggs or boasts of vertue in himself; a Iyer.

tury medical term for a sand-bath. Many a person, on a sunny summer day at the seashore, indulges in

science

(1865) said that in moral philosophy there are two sciences . . . the science of virtue, aretaics . the .

harena, sand, especially the sand-covered battle-'ring' of an amphitheatre. The verb exists only in

an arenation. Hence

arfname.

also arenous, arenose, sandy, full of sand, like one's shoes when one comes home

from the

Which

.

synonym

arenate.

the

find

arrect.

heritance;

An

heir.

Old

Old Norse

arfr,

in-

English numa, taker; niman, to take; see nim. Used from the 10th to the 13th century.

seashore.

56

ariolation

argal

A

Therefore.

argal.

ergo;

a

noun,

clumsy

piece

HAMLET

in

Shakespeare gravedigger reason: Argal, he

selfe, life.

THE TIMES

Mr.

Buckle's

argal as

perversion of Latin extension, as a

.

.

.

the

By

ergotize.

cp.

He

reasoning. (1602) has the

drownes not him-

Cowardly,

timid;

reluctant;

base,

inert,

orbs

.

assert

A

argosy.

middle

Ragusa in in

Italy.

16th

Arragosa.

century

Other

especially in details. Thus the QUARTERLY REVIEW of 1818 speaks of argute emendations of texts. Browning, in ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY (1875): Thou, the argute and tricksy. There is also an adverb, as in Sterne's TRISTRAM SHANDY (1762): "You

he.

are wrong," said

also called

England, Aragouse, forms for argosy in-

Ariachne. arietation.

cluded arguze, argosea, ragusye, argozee.

their

The

act

of

butting,

from

all arietations; Fuller in THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY WAR (1639) says that Before ordinance was found out, ships were both gunnes and bullets themselves, and furiously ranne one against another. They began with this arietation. The word was also used figuratively, as in THE MONTHLY

over-peer e the pettie traffiquers That curtsie to them, do them reverence. As

them with

father argutely.

the battering-ram. Bacon observed in his ESSAYS (1625) that ordnance doe exceed

Do

they flye by

my

See orifex.

Latin arietatum, arietare, to butt, from aries, ram. Used in the Middle Ages of

Shakespeare uses the word in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1596) and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: Argosies with portly saile Like signiors and rich burgers on the flood

woven wings.

have been some thought, in connection with an argosy, of the Argo (Greek argos, swift) the ship in which Jason sailed in quest of the golden fleece, with his argonauts (Greek nautes, sailor). From a different story, but related in

There may

Argute sounds are shrill

to Barry Cornwall in but too argute guitar; argute persons are sharp, subtle, shrewd,

a Ragusee, a ship from

Ragusa was

to

Landor wrote

merchant ship of the

large

ages. Also

Latin clear,

1864 of a rich

arrow. Also arghship,

man wes

From

clear.

from arguere, to make whence English argue.

tastes are sharp; argute

arghhood, cowardice, timidity. William Stewart in THE BUIK OF THE CRONICLIS OF SCOTLAND (1535) WTOte:

ane

says:

.

.

argutus,

arghness,

so arch

Sharp;

argute.

be disheartened, frightened; to frighten. Me arghes, I am afraid. Other forms included arg, ergh, arwe, arewe, arwhe,

King Duncane

Argus-

See argosy.

Argus-eyed.

sluggish,

to

erf,

the

the

full of Argus eyes Fayre pecocks Their tayles dispredden wide.

good-for-nothing. the 9th to the 15th century, later in northern dialects. Also, as a verb, argh,

arghth,

in

called

Argus died, Hera set his peacock's tail, wherefore

Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596)

From

arowe, arch, ergh,

When

queller.

or gravedigger.

loath,

his

thence

(Mercury),

owne

of 23 August 1861 called argument as absurd an ever was invented by philosopher

argh.

who had 100 eyes body. The jealous

all-eyes),

over

Hera set him to watch lo, whom Zeus was courting; he was killed by Hermes

of

shortens not his

swift

sprinkled

later

REVIEW in 1797: props of our old

consti-

tution against the arietations of democ-

Now

it racy. be arietated.

comes Argus, a watchful guardian. Hence Argus-eyed, on the qui vive. This is from Greek Argos-Panoptes (literally, origin,

ariolation.

57

seems democracy's turn to

Soothsaying.

From

Latin

arnement

arista

from

hariolus,

Thomas Browne

in PSEUDO-

hariolatum,

ariolatum,

soothsayer. Sir

DOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646) speaks of persons deluding their apprehensions -with ariolatlon, sooth-saying, and such oblique idolatries. John Gaule in THE MAGASTRO-

MANCER

(1652), in addition to ariolation, and ariolater for soothsayer,

uses ariolist

and ariolate are other There victory. forms, e.g., Cassandra was a foredoomed ariole. For methods of ariolation, see also the verb:

his

OF WINDSOR (1598) speaks of A who writes himself Gentleman born AUTOBIOGRAPHY his In (1840) Armigero. Thomes De Quincey uses the word in the second sense, and defines it. Blackmore in his rousing romance LORNA DOONE (1869) says of a wealthy man: He WIVES

.

.

to vaticinate

armil. rectly

set

severe critic.

of

Homer

aristarchs,

used aristarchy to body.

as

aristarchi.

Used from the

spurious.

is

applied to an astronomical instrument, consisting of one or two circular loops

meaning of best) was gov-

so arranged that

citizens;

listed

aristarchy, O.E.D. as a

cated

by spurious word. Samuel Johnson has by many been deemed an aristarch. Make your own choice among

and

shadows on them indi-

the recurrence

solstices.

of

The word

the

equinoxes

armillated, wear-

ing bracelets, aptly describes one whose arms are thus burdened.

today's.

arming. A wretched creature. Old English earm, poor. In the play THE LONDON PRODIGAL (1605), formerly attributed to

The art of dining. Greek aristology. aristonf luncheon logia, talk. Used in the 19th century; also aristological.

+

An

Shakespeare, occurs the exlamation: O here Godf so young an armine! The word

1864 cookbook was listed as by an Australian aristologist.

More

ology. The Latin armus meant shoulder. The word armil, or armilla was also

first

aristocracy (Greek aristos,

in that sense,

Plural

(1612) severe critics as a

mean

at the coronation.

meant the royal bracelet. In the sense of bracelet the word is still used in archae-

Harington

Note that the

ernment by the best

with stones" that the Cardinal placed

frequently, however, perhaps from the association of its first three letters, armilla

17th century; from Aristarchos (P220-150 B.C.), librarian at Alexandria, who rejected

much

.

The word armilla was taken difrom the Latin in the description

upon the King

See muticous.

A

.

(1485) of the coronation of King Henry VII, for the "stole woven with gold and

aeromancy.

aristarch.

.

could buy up half the county armigers.

Persian

arista.

.

The Romans,

said

M.

was more frequent in the

Collins in PEN SKETCHES (1879) defied all the rules of aristology "by their abomi-

nable excesses; for a contrary thought, see

armomancy.

vomitorium.

armozeen.

aimiger. This word comes directly from a Latin form meaning a bearer of arms;

arndern.

hence, a squire. Originally it meant a soldier who carried a knight's shield and

in the light.

and

See aeromancy.

See ormuzine.

See aadorn. Drayton's THE OWLE (1604) spoke of the sad arndern shutting

spear. Later it was applied to a person entitled to bear heraldic arms (that is, a

coat of arms). Shakespeare in

llth, 12th,

13th centuries.

arnement.

Ink, or

its

components. Via

Old French arrement from Latin atramen-

THE MERRY

tum, ink; atrum, black. 58

From

the 13th

aroint

arras

16th

the

through

THE SEVEN

century.

In the 17th century, a dealer in spices might be called an aromatary. Barroughs in THE METHOD OF PHYSICK (1624) WTOte: Let it be boiled upon the coales without

SAGES (1320) neatly says: He let him make a garnement As black as any arnement.

Thomas Lupton

in

A THOUSAND NOTABLE

THINGS OF SUNDRIE SORTS (1586) offers a recipe: Take arnement, hony, and the white of eggs. (Some books are to be

peece

digested.)

aromatizate

aroint.

This

is

a

commentators, Shakespeare, to

word much

apparently

discussed by

coined

mean Begonel He

MACBETH

any smoake long time together, wringing the reubarbe strongly, being bound in a cloth,

clarifie

and

it,

it.

Originally a variant of errant, present participle of Latin

arrant.

by

linnen

of

wandering,

uses it

errare, to stray.

The

original

form

is still

(1605): Aroynt the rump-fed ronyon cries, and also in KING LEAR. The nearest to an earlier use

used in knight errant. In such expres-

seems to be an old Cheshire exclamation:

man; hence, a

in

thee, Witch,

witch.

Rynt you, used by writers Walter

The word

sions

has been

hence,

works it appears seven times; both Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning used it. In Cheshire, the milkmaids may say to a cow: Roint thee!, whereupon it moves off "the cow being in this instance," Nares remarks in his 1882 GLOSSARY, "more learned than the commentators on ShakeScott's

thief,

the

professed, manifest thief; anything manifest, downright;

quite

about

and

1850,

is

still

used,

as

by

Chaucer, Langland, Shakespeare, Fuller, Richardson, Fielding TOM JONES (1749): The arrantest villain that ever walked upon two legs Washington Irving, a half-dozen times, occasionally without opprobrious implications, as in THE SKETCH BOOK. (1820): a tight brisk little man, with the air of an arrant old bachelor. More

speare."

an alternate spelling for Ronyon runnion, which Samuel Johnson defines as a mangy creature, from French rogne, is

it

arrant

errant,

thief

thorough (thoroughly bad). The word is common from the 14th century to

after Shakespeare; in Sir

the itch. Shakespeare uses

as

term meant a roving robber or highway-

often there

an implication of evil which sometimes becomes

is

arrant coward

a part of the meaning of the word, as in are not so You of Pope: (1708)

not only in

MACBETH but also in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: Out of my door, you Witch,

letter

you Rag, you Baggage, you Polecat, you Runnion. No one seems to have followed Shakespeare in using runnion as a scornful term for a woman; in the only other

out a hearing. That would be a sign of an arrant ass!

arrant a critic

arras.

spice,

to

render

.

as to

damn them

tapestry fabric, usually

with-

woven

made

of this material, often far enough from the wall to conceal a person, as

the male organ.

To

.

with colored figures and scenes; a hanging

recorded use (1655), the word refers to

aromatizate.

A

.

Hamlet

fra-

stabs Polonius through the arras. occurs in several spellings

grant.

Used in the 16th and 17th centuries. The more familiar aromatize (from the

The word

15th century) was also used figuratively,

Arras, a French

as when Sir Thomas Browne (1646) spoke of Jews aromatized by their conversion.

was made. Common since 1400, the word is most frequent in literature: Bacon,

ares, arays, aresse, arrace

59

but

it is

town where the

from fabric

artolater

arrect

Cowper, Byron,

Scott; Carlyle in

There

See aret.

also

is

arrectary*

verb jective

As

an

adjective,

occurs,

arrect

set upright, pricked up (as a dog's hence, on the alert. Bailey's DICwithout any origin or TIONARY ears);

arrectate,

suspected

An

upright

post,

applauses

Master of

GREGORY

and songe

arret. Scott in IVAN-

advance on sums to be paid; a pledge. Latin arrha,

earnest-money;

Greek arrabon. Used from the

Greek arren, male

H-

Hence arrenotokous

-tokos,

be-

(accent

on

smile

4-

(1300)

in

lawe,

And

THE LEGEND OF said:

And

Gregorii wele rad

understode wel

his ars.

Ars longa, vita brevis.

arson.

A

to feel.

The word

To

art.

saddle, as the tyro has reason is

thus used in

KYNG

press; to urge. See or elation.

artolater.

A

worshipper of bread. Used

in the 17th century against the Catholics, as by Lewis Owen in SPECULUM JESUITICUM

please. From ridere> to laugh,

to

at;

logic.

(whence ardent), arsum, to burn.

the not).

Latin arridere, ad, at

was

a Bachelor,

arts,

from Late Latin arsionem; Latin ardere

arrhenotoky. Production of males only. See thelyphthoric (thelytoky). Also arreno-

To

a

arson of his sadel brake, and so he fiewe over his hors tayle. The current arson is

15th into the 18th century. Also arrhal, relating to, or given as, a pledge.

arride.

is

of the two curved pieces of wood or metal, knobs, at the front and the back of the saddle, to give the rider greater security. Thus we read in KING ARTHUR (1557): The

of love,

getting.

arrident

ALYSAUNDER, 13th century. More strictly, a saddle-bow; Via Old French from Late Latin arcionem; Latin arcus, bow. One

an ex(1820) uses it figuratively, of in all matters concerning the arrets pert

toky.

with

to death.

couthe not well his pars,

HOE

arrato;

or

Arts,

mar, rhetoric, and

writer, or a collector

by the French form

An

i)

metic, geometry, music, astronomy, gram-

and publisher, of arrets. An arret (also decree; arrest] was a judgment, decision, court. French the of supreme especially, The form arrest, used from the 15th through the 17th century, was supplanted

arrha.

that

Art; one of the seven arts. This

POPE

A

long

which, until the advent of finer distinctions, were: arith-

See arrect.

arrestographer.

the

smiling, pleaswrote, in 1616, of a

man

learned in the seven

regere, to straighten.

arrectate.

rarely,

tickles a

A

especially

the upright post of the cross. From Latin to arrect-, past participle of arrigere; ad> -f rigere,

.

direct borrowing of Latin ars, artem which also included what we call science.

accused of a crime. arrectary.

.

meaning

murderer,

ars.

or

on

(accent

pleasing

(1751),

gives

arrident

but

Thomas Adams

ant;

means

instance,

ESSAYS

in

.

a

exceed-

OF ELIA (1823): and still That conceit arrided us most The adremember. to our tickles midriff

arrect, to set upright; to set right, direct.

See

Lamb

ingly.

picture of these University years. arrect.

me

Heavens, his humour arrides

SARTOR

RESARTUS (1831) speaks of our dim arras-

(1629):

of

Dare you

bread,

for

(artolaters)

the

living

adore a piece God? Also

bread worship, from Greek bread 4- latreia, worship. Used figuratively of one that gives preeminence

whence also risible. Mainly in the 17th and 18th century, Jonson in EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR (1599) has: 'Fore

artolatry,

artos,

60

aspector

artotyrite to his "daily bread/' to the material aspect of living.

history,

a follower of

an

Mon-

aruspicy.

prophecy by inspecting See aeromancy. arval.

(1)

A

arvel, arvill. 4-

ol, ale,

of

variant

funeral

A

of

A

haruspicy;

a wake. Also

arfr, inheritance feast (to celebrate

To

away.

frighten

home

went

forth

was

used

Swedish

combat.

aske,

There was

also

form

a

an

idle

and

lazy person.

Old English

is

prob-

aslopen, slipped

both away; cp. adown. It was used ally

and

figuratively,

instance, in (1599): laid

My to

is

asleep;

the

liter-

latter,

for

A WARNING TO FAIRE WOMEN hope is aslope, and my joy sleepe.

Also

aslopen,

fallen

Middle ton in BLURT MASTER CON-

STABLE (1604) said

Good

night,

we

are

all aslopen.

Rarely

asmatographer.

+

especially

thou scurvyalso spelled asi-

thee, is

Slantwise. In origin this

ably from

A

writer of songs. This

pompous word which might be revived in humor or scorn is from Greek asma,

scarecrow. Sidney uses ARCADIA (1590). THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE (1250) has a figure hanging: There I aschwele pie and crow. The shewel (also sewell)

to

century.

aslope.

schewel, a shew el in his

a-

(1606),

coward; especially, one that by the fire while his fellows

dirty with ashes;

to ensure propriate prayer and sacrifice, the fertility of the soil.

used; from Old English

In Shake-

CRESSIDA

axwaddle, defined by Nares: One, who by the fire, becomes constantly sitting near

described as "funeral loaves, spiced with

sewel,

stayed

16th

cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and raisins." to ploughed land, from Latin (2) Related arvolis, from arvum, arable land. The Arval Brethren were twelve priests of pagan Rome, whose task it was, by ap-

aschewele.

may tutor The word

A

references to the arvil-supper,

to arval-bread, in 1875 (averill-bread)

From Spanish ass.

wind. Also fisa, to blow, to pass askebathe. Used from the 13th to the

would provide the banquet; in his will of 1459 John Alanson left an ox for his friends and relatives, for my arvell. There

many

all asid-

ashes 4-

the inheritance?) follows the funeral in many lands. Sometimes the late lamented

and

acy-

Ray's

(in

nico, assinego. askefise.

are

AND

TROILUS

an asinego valiant ass!

Old Norse

banquet.

asyden;

Cp.

Thersites cries to Ajax: Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows;

sacrificed animals.

feast,

saying

little ass; a fool. asinego. asnicOj diminutive of asno,

artillery.

A

old

aside.

ing as hogs fighting.

speare's

contraction

century

of

denandys. PROVERBS; 1691) spoke of things

flourish today. religion, artotyrites

15th

Also

aslant.

Sideways, early variant

An

most distinguished convert was Tertullian; the sect was finally suppressed under 565. With wine instead of Justinian, by

A

acele.

asiden.

tanus (of the 2d century), who celebrated the Eucharist with bread and cheese. His

artry.

See

asele.

An eater of bread and cheese. artotyrite. Greek artos, bread + tyros, cheese. In ecclesiastic

See adscititious.

ascititious.

+ graphos, writing. It in 17th and 18th century dicfound only asmat-,

song

is

tionaries.

to

frighten away deer.

aspector.

61

Beholder. Also aspectionf the

asphodel

asper action of looking at, of watching; this was the first meaning also of aspect; Bacon in

Latin

the basilisk killeth by aspect. As a verb, to aspect (accent on the pect) f to look for, to look

astrology,

one planet looking upon another. Hence, aspectable, visible, within sight;

the like

That

the term in

in

.

OF

water for sprinkling;

brush

The KALENDER

sprinkled.

declared that (1503) . . . aviricious as a dog, and aspre as the hart. There was also a small silver Turkish coin called an asper

Sprinkle

erty;

aspersion.

See

put

conspersion; aspersionat-

In warm weather, a cold aspersion may be quite welcome.

meaning

of asperse

was

.

Disbelief in private prop-

communism. Greek

a,

not

+

sphe-

in

1794,

our

aspheterismg

in

A

like

amaranth (q.v.), growing in the ElyMilton in COMUS (1634) thinks

sian fields.

original

to besprinkle,

it

common flower; the earlier asphodel. form of the word, affodil, gave us daffodil. Poets turned it into an immortal flower,

Casting slurs upon, unjustly defaming. There is no verb aspersionate; the noun aspersion has the (less

The

.

Wales.

aspersionating.

asperse.

.

(Coleridge; Southey) in their consideration of communal living. As Coleridge

ing.

verb

is

own; spheterismos, appropriation. Accent on the sfet. Also aspheterist. Hence also aspheterize, to be a communist, to practice communism. This is the name used by the English Romantics

the highway.

common)

water

teros, one's

See aspersionating.

asperge.

holy

asperges, for the

begins with the Asperges me, Domine:

me O Lord

aspheterism.

aspers were "but two pence English." Scott uses this word in IVANHOE (1819): / relieve not with one asper those who beg

upon

names

The Mass

words

Latin

is

(from Greek aspros, white; probably the same word as the Latin); in 1589 five

for alms

asperge,

aspergillum, with which the

aspergill,

makest fortune wrothe and

man

early sense of shower, aspersion shall the

sweet

from aspersionating tongues. Other words are retained for the ritual: aspersorium, the vessel to hold the holy

SHEPHERDES

Naturally a

its

No

frosty nips

prose and poetry, as in BOETHIUS (1374): .

may

CIPLINE (1635) makes the only use of the participle above, speaking of private and

This word, directly from Latin asper, rough, harsh, wild whence also asperity was frequent in the 16th and 17th centuries; it was used by Caxton and Bacon. Chaucer earlier used it in both

.

religious

sprinkled

let fall. Fielding in TOM JONES the other use: I defy all the shows (1749) world to cast a just aspersion on my character. William Barriffe, in MILITARY DIS-

asper.

Thou

with

is

heavens

asp ec tors harts doe terror strike.

aspere by thine inpacience.

Since that which

spray:

ful, of favorable aspect, benignant. J. Davies in EXTASIE (1618) spoke of Lyons,

and

to

damaging charge or insinuation. Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST (1610) still uses

look upon. Also aspectabund, expressive of countenance; aspectant, facing (each other); aspected, looked at; aspect*

fair to

th'

spersum,

become spotted, muddy, soiled, to asperse came to mean to bespatter with false, injurious charges; an aspersion, a false and

of

dragons, panthers,

spergere,

connection

in

sprinkle, ritual.

upon with

upon; was also used in

+

There is also an English verb which kept the meaning beasperge,

SYLVA (1626) spoke of the tradition that

expect; to look favor. The verb

at

ad,

sprinkle.

from

it

62

pleasant to embathe In nectared lavers

assuefaction

aspic

strewed with asphodel; Tennyson tells us, THE LOTUS-EATERS (1842): Others in

said,

in

Whom God

Elysian valleys dwell. Resting weary limbs at last on beds of asphodel.

obligations); to acquit, to clear. clear up, solve (soil, soyle; 16th to Also, century); to refute; to clear one self of,

A form of asp, the small poisonous

aspic.

when mentioning a dead assoil!

Hence,

to

person, set

free

(from

serpent found in Egypt and Libya; from

to atone for,

Greek

Also spelled aspycke, aspike,

Spenser thus in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596):

chiefly in

Till that

you come where ye your vowes

assoyle.

Also

etc.

aspis.

Found

as Shake-

Antony and Cleopatra an aspickes trail. Used

speare's

This

poetry,

is

(1606): also by

assoilzie; in

Forest land converted into arable

a clearing in a forest; also, the action of grubbing up trees and bushes to make land arable. Also assartment. Via ex,

out

+

finite."

might avail

sartare,

me.

variant of essoin, q.v. Both noun and verb. Also asoyne, asunien, assoygne; assonzie (Scotch verb form).

Used from the 13th assubtile.

To

assart

century.

subtilize;

Latin

assubtiliate.

ad,

to

to

refine. -f

Also

subtilis,

woven fine; sub, under -f tela, web. Puttenham in THE ARTE OF ENGLISH

rents.

subtle,

assation.

From Latin assare, Thomas Love Peacock in

Roasting.

assat-, to roast.

HALL

HEADLONG

(1815)

speaks

of

(See assate, to tionaries

assature,

diabolical tion.

POESIE (1589) speaks of much abstinence as assub tiling and refining their spirits.

the

and all its processes of elixion and assaadhibit.) There is also a rare roast, and only in the dic-

malignant adhibition of

In his list of many more like usurped Latine and French words, Puttenham in-

fire

a roast.

crimination, see semiustulate.

For a

cludes methodicall, placation, compendious, assub tiling, prolixe, figurative, inveigle.

dis-

The word

absolve, pardon, forgive:

his

list,

assub tiling alone

The process of growing accustomed, or of making (someone) accustomed, to a thing. Thus also assuete,

accustomed, practiced. Latin as, ad, to + suescere, suetum, to accustom, to grow used to; Old Latin suere, to make one's

See asinego.

To

all

assuefaction.

the table!) a rare assation. assinego.

Of

has not survived.

might well be employed figuratively, as when a wife gives her husband (not at

assoil.

to assoil

A

assoine.

peared in the 16th century. It was illegal to assart without permission of the king

and usually paying

Oxford, said De Quincey in his SKETCHES in 1840,

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL

frequentative of sarrire, saritum, sartum, to hoe, weed. From the 13th century, to assart, to clear forest land; the noun ap-

or overlord,

asoylle,

ANTIQUARY (1816) has: "God assoilzie her!" ejaculated old Elspeth. "His mercy is in-

land;

Old French from Latin

asoyli,

Scotch law the term for to

A later form was absoil; and around 1500, directly from the Latin, was fashioned the form absolve, which supplanted assoil. Hence THE Scott in absolution. assoilment,

aspine.

See asper.

asoylen,

get rid of;

solvere, to loosen, dissolve.

Stung with the aspicke of invading fear. The adjective, snaky, is not aspic, but

assart.

discharge,

acquit is still to assoilzie. The forms are via Old French from Latin ab, from +

Jeremy Taylor, Addison, Lamb, Tennyson; in a figurative sense by George Daniel in TRINARCHODIA: HENRY v (1649):

aspre.

to

one 63

atheticize

assyth

own; suus, one's own (whence also suisaid that cide). Bacon in SYLVA (1626) assuetude of things hurtful, doth make them lose their force to hurt (Pope expressed the idea otherwise, in his quatrain Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated., needs but to be seen; But seen too first

The

oft,

familiar with her face,

We

nocuous desuetude. satisfy;

York Mystery

make

to compensate. Also

astart.

To

1450 said:

of

up;

to

istence),

happen,

(into

politicaster especially pointing to disaster.

ex-

SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579): there the shephard can astert.

With no tendency

No

statos, stable; sta-, stand.

atel.

An

is

vited to a feast of the gods, she tossed in a golden apple with the message Tor the to

kill,

10th

To

a,

astatic

die; especially, of

destroy, starve out.

century,

not

variant

More

+ athanasy.

needle

Greek

the

by

athanasia,

from

Also

athanasia;

a-,

(1871) queries: Is not a scholiastic athanasy better than none? He seems to have

achieved

hunger; to

replaced

Immortality.

without Hthanatos, death. Bryant's poem THANATOPSIS is (Greek opsis, sight) "a view of death." Lowell in MY STUDY WINDOWS

of

Used from

gradually

incitements to mischief; Shake-

speare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1594): Ates, more Ates! Stir them on!

astart, q.v.

asterve.

Trojan War. Hence Ates (two

the

danger

or ability to

old

the contest to win the apple led

fairest';

be unaffected by the earth's magnetism; an astatic youngster is unaffected by other things.

An

Hateful; hideous, foul. Also atelich,

Mapes THE BODY AND THE SOUL (1275): The bodi ther hit lay on bere, An atelich thing. Old Norse atall, fierce, dire; but Ate was the Greek goddess of discord: when not in-

set as to

escape.

See aeromancy.

atel.

syllables),

remain in one position. Greek

To

last

into the 13th century, as in

Spenser uses the word several times, as in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596): Out of her bed she did astart; in THE

astert.

See

ate.

asterte.

one so

a,

to

probably a variation of the earlier atstert. Chaucer in THE FRANKLIN'S TALE (1386) says that no man may from his death

is

the

poetaster,

astromancy. start

Greek

debility.

strength.

astrologers that believed in the of the stars' telling.) The Latin

caster,

To hym

centuries; in the third sense above, it

astatic.

sthenos,

ending aster originally meant somewhat hence, not genuine. In English it is used to mean a pretender, as in grammati-

asith agayne. start

+

Also astheny. Used in the 19th century; still a medical term. Hence, asthenic, asthenical, weak.

not

like;

happen to; to start off, to escape. The word existed in many forms in the 14th, 15th and 16th to

Weakness,

asthenia.

truth

sythzng, giving satisfaction for an offence. Mainly in Scotland, 14th to 17th century. will I

clerk,

dark.)

course,

a noun, asyth, assithe, asith; cp. syth. As asalso satisfaction; assythment; assyth,

A

starve.

foolish lying astrologer; astrologaster. a 'phony' fortune-teller. (There were, of

.

To

(Sterve

A

endure, then pity, then embrace) term assuetude has fallen into in-

assyth.

the early form of q.v., was pronounced starve as

sterve,

it.

atheticize.

To

Greek athetos, 64

set

aside,

invalid; a, not

invalidate.

+

thetikos,

atter

athlothete

Also

positive.

condemn

to

athetise,

as

to

THE PRAISE

in spurious; athe tests. Beverley

The

athlon,

test,

or

judge,

From Greek

prizes, at games.

4-

prize

a

laric,

athlos, con-

atrabilous.

atrabilary,

(1)

An

writer's

anatomical preparation, a an emaciated person, a

HENRY You starved

a

.

.

Thou atomy,

.

shortening

word being understood

thou!

of

ater,

as

is

atter.

Shakespeare, Drawne with

tiny;

teeme of

a

AND

JULIET:

little

atomies

error.

common word to

1650;

for

almost as

poisonous, alter-

Our language

is

Other old forms include

occurrence of the sur-

venomous;

in the

King viving sense, expiation, James BIBLE (1611). More in RICHARD

m

men

a

cap. Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751), quoting Cumberland, gives "attercob, spider's web"; both spelling and meaning are in

There was an earlier the same sense. Also attonement, attonment. The word was in use in the 16th

(1513) spoke of

(1751):

to mean cop (cop, cup, round head) came also applied to a was word the spider; venomous person. Also ettercap; ether-

harmony; one with others. word, onement, with

is

Atter was

belief that spiders are

Reconciliation;

first

In Bailey's DICTIONARY

was used of pus or other exudation from abscess or wound. From an olden

of being at

century; the

atrabiliarious,

it

atomy.

the state

also

figuratively to mean later bitterness; (again in a physical sense)

Over mens noses; Kingsley in THE WATER BABIES (1863): / suppose you have come here to laugh at me, you spiteful little

atonement.

Hence affected

1000 poison, from early, it was used

a mite, a pigmy.

ROMEO

Full of ink, like a poor Also atramental,

inky.

"one whose fundament, or privy parts, are not perforated." From Greek atretos, a-, not + tresis, perforation. The noun atresia is used in pathology.

as easie to count atomies

in

black.

atretus.

as to resolve the propositions of a lover.

Hence, anything

and

by black bile one of the four medieval humours better known from the Greek, melancholy. See humour.

(2)

IT tells us: It

fingers;

atrabilious,

At atom, a mote. A use as though it were singular, of atomi, plural of atomus, a 16th century learned form of atom via Latin from Greek a, not + tomos, cut. Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE

word.

the 17th

as ink; of or pertaining to ink; hence, written or printed. Atrament, ink; blackto blacken, ing. Latin atramentum; atrare,

anatomy, the an atomy; also by misunderstanding (a) the forms natomy and nathomy developed. Cp. anatomy. Gay in THE BEGGAR'S OPERA (1728), Smollett (1755) and Cooper (1823) used the is

atrabi-

atrabilious,

atramentarious, atramentary, atramentous, atramentitious, all meaning inky; black

'walking skeleton/ Shakespeare in

blood-hound!

atrabiliary,

Used mainly in

a noun,

18th centuries.

one who

skeleton; hence,

PART TWO (1597) has:

as

(also,

atrabilarious,

hypochondriac),

atramentaceous.

atomy.

This

atrabilarian

atrabilar,

places.

iv,

See airamentaceous. Also

atrabiliarious.

awarder of

thetes,

newe

attonement.

OF THE GLORY OF GRACE (1701) asked: Might he not even atheticize and disannul sin, and bring it even to nothing? athlothete.

their olde variaunce then their

atterling, a

a tangled web. a-tterlich, bitter,

malignant person;

atterlothe (Old English lath, hostile), antidote for poison.

having more regarde 65

an

autem

ittercop

To

aucupate.

win by

for; to

in wait for;

lie

hunt

to

craft. Literally, to

go bird-

catching; Latin auceps, aviceps; avis, bird 4- cap ere, cepi, cap turn, to catch. Hence

aucupation; aucupable, fit for hunting, desirable. In the Water-Poet Taylor's

WORKS

(1630)

throats

ake

we cry

read:

Some

alowd and

their

till

hollo,

To

audaculous.

Timidly

Latin

daring,

slightly

diminutive

audaculus,

of

audax, audacem, bold, whence audacious.

augrym.

See algorism.

auntre

it, by adventurous.

from a college) at an English Greek aule, court, hall; cp. Used from the 17th century.

(as distinct

able

university.

Greek Sj

A

Hence

The

auletic.

flute-player. auletes; auleein, to play the flute;

Quarles

.

.

,

is

best cordial

auspicy.

in

JUDGMENT the

AND

potion:

a sickness very catching. is

aurum

potabile.

See aeromancy.

flute.

Courtly; relating to a court.

Wat-

and rural Greek

aule, hall,

court;

This word, apparently the N. Bailey (I found it in hiy 1751 DICTIONARY), might have more frequent use. It means one who is his own messenger. In Greek auto- means self; aggelos, messenger. Double g in Greek was given a nasal sound; an angel was a

cp.

T. Adams in his COMMENTARIES (1633; 2 PETER) said: God affects not auli-

aulary.

and

courtly

terms.

Aulicism,

a

courtly phrase. De Quincey (WORKS, 1853) spoke of investing the homeliness of &sop with aulic graces and satiric

messenger of the Lord.

brilliancy.

aumbry.

See aeromancy.

autangelist. creation of

son, in 1602, contrasted aulicall, martial,

cisms

Hence auntrous,

puns upon

(1644)

austromancy. aulic.

fay.

potabile.

gold.

MERCY Poverty

aulete.

my

A potion of minute of in an oil, to be drunk as gold particles a cordial. Directly from the Latin: drinkaurum

Relating to a hall. Also aularian. As a noun, aularian, a member of a hall aulary.

aulic.

thrush

adventure, perhaps. Cp. enaunter. Also auntre, aventurs, awnturs, anters. Chaucer uses auntre as a verb, to venture, i.e. in THE REEVE'S TALE (1386): / wol arise and

See alfin.

See orgyan.

With heigh! With heigh! the and the jay, Are summer songs for me and my aunts While we lie tumbling lyra chants.

At a venture, in any case. A 14th and 15th century form from of aventure, by adventure. Later used for per-

See ouph.

Augean.

songs in Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE tirra(1610) has a stanza: The lark, that

aunters.

jarre in this audaculous dispute.

aufyn.

17th century as a light woman; a proor prostitute. One of Autolycus'

curess

wisest aunt telling the saddest tale.

Sir Christopher Heydon in A DEFENCE OF JUDICIALL ASTROLOGIE (1603) wrote: The ignorance hereof hath carried him too

auf.

sense,

in the hay. In this sense (and others) sometimes naunt, by improper shifting of mine aunt to my naunt. Shakespeare also uses aunt to mean an old gossip; in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM he has the

aucupate great favors from Apollo.

bold.

In addition to its still current aunt was commonly used in the

aunt.

See atter.

attercop.

autem.

See ambry.

altham.

66

See pedlers French. Also altam,

avent

autophoros

A

in early times a polarity (a wide scale of

person "caught with the Greek from auto-, self + phoreo, goods/' phero, to bear. Found only in the dictionaries, but (with accent on the second autophoros.

syllable)

temper (or temperature) become specific. Thus, in ancient Egyptian, keu meant wise strong and weak; in Hebrew, sechel, and foolish; kieless, to mock, to pray;

not a bad word for "a thief with

upon him."

the thing he stole

A

avage.

as meaning) was designated by one word, or be still humor and good may temper bad; but in humorous and He has quite a

payment made by tenants

(es-

pecially of the manor of Writtel, Essex) for the privilege of feeding pigs in the manor woods. Also, avisage.

boruch, blessed, cursed; in Latin, sacer,

hawere, avyoure and more; the 14th to the 17th cento have. English aver tury); Latin hob ere,

PAUPER

we

In

.

.

a

of the stable in charge of the provender accent on the second syl-

to boast, to praise,

was the avener

Chaucer (1386) used it so. As was also an early form of advance, French avant; Latin ab, from + ante, before. It meant (as in Spenser, THE

ment

ing in great bravery) to come forward. it was widely used as a command: the verb came to go:

So

its

own

to

to

to

any pay-

+

venire, come; to be becoming. Used in the expression at your

a noun

avenant, at your convenience.

come and avener.

See avenage.

opposite.

many words have meant

opposite that

as

hence Begone! Thus

mean both

for

in goods instead of labor.

avenant. Convenient, agreeable, handsome. Via French avenir from Latin ad,

avaunt-

Then

Avaunt! Move on!

Might well be used

lable.

it

To whom

avena, oats; the accented on the first syl-

From Latin

English word is is a term of feudal times, meana payment in oats, instead of service, ing to a landlord or feudal chief. The officer

to vaunt.

FAERIE QUEENE; 1596:

There

lable. It

Latin vanitare, to boast (frequentative of vanare) from vanus, empty, vain, it meant

a verb,

allow,

let ball

avenage.

This word has had several meanit came to be its own ings; among them, French avanter from Old Via antonym.

avaunt.

of,

apart,

meaning: sever, dissever; ravel, unravel; flammable, inflammable. More of both sorts can easily be gathered.

Crist.

speak proudly

withstand,

cleave, to

are also pairs of words that look like in antonyms, yet are almost identical

TALE (1386) says: The avarous man hath more hope in his catel than in Jhesu

to

for,

stickler (stightle); to-; trip, couth.

read:

.

withhold,

deep;

In Engbut in com-

seeds put in; similarly dusted. Cp. dup;

AND

Unryghtfull aver in this worlde, occupyenge of ony is called theeft. Chaucer in THE PERSONES (1496)

together,

high,

secretly.

permit, also to hinder, in tennis. Seeded raisins have the seeds removed; seeded bread has the to

let,

as

plural,

DIVES

as

altus,

dam,

hold tight together, against. to cut clean apart. A fast horse runs runs not at all. To rapidly, a fast color

common from

farm-stock.

with,

So

havour;

possessions;

to shout,

pounds

with French avare, miser; Latin avarus, aver (also greedy. It is, however, from

meant wealth, property; in the

accursed;

damare, lish,

Avaricious, Originally averous. word was changed by association

avarous.

The

sacred,

it

their

own

has been suggested that 67

avent.

To

to

the aventayle for this purpose;

open

refresh with fresh air; hence,

by

avision

aver

by shears worked from below by wire, for pruning high branches, is still called an averruncator. In its basic sense Butler in HUDIBRAS (1663) has: Sure some mis-

come out into the open air, from confinement. Old French

extension, to to escape

+

esventer; Latin ex, out

Used

ventum, wind.

especially in the 14th

turies.

An

and 15th

cen-

chief will

aventayle (aventail, avantaill,

adventayle, aventaille) was the mouthpiece of a helmet, usually kept raised to

admit fresh

air.

AND CRISEYDE by

Chaucer

(1374),

th' avantaille.

Scott brought the

He

tells,

drough a kynge

OF THE LAST MINSTREL

in

(1805):

force

A

avetrol.

it

bastard.

on the

accent

THE LAY

And

of

Or

Unless by provi-

we averruncate

last.)

(Three

syllables,

Roundabout,

whence

lifted

also adultery.

Used in the 13th

century romance of KYNG ALYSAUNDER: Whar artow, horesone! wharf Thou and the thou wrechel into avetrol, foule .

See avarous. Accent on the long a; not to be confused with the verb aver aver.

be

+

.

To blind; to hoodwink. Via French aveugle from Latin ab, away + oculus, eye. Sharington is quoted (1547) in Froude's HISTORY OF ENGLAND as being so seduced and aveugled by the lord adaveugle.

Infernal, hellish. Also avernian.

avernal.

Avern (Latin Avernus; Greek a, without -f ornis, bird) was a lake in Campania, which supposedly gave off a poisonous

The still current inveigle is from the same source, although it is suggested that Medieval Latin aboculus is a shortmiral.

effluvium that killed all birds flying over it. By extension, the infernal regions, as in the famous words of the JEneid: Facilis

ening of albus oculus, blind white eye).

des census Averno, Easy is the road to hell. Both forms in English may be nouns,

meaning

a devil. In

(1550)

the

at

courts

gentlemen

to

come

the devylls testament

averrancate. a, off 4-

To

to

Although this word, meaning somewhat greedy, occurs only in dic-

avernall,

the ready nge

and

avert,

tionaries,

off.

the

frequency of the quality

produced a variety of words. Avid is from Latin avidus, from avere, to crave. John Bale, in THE IMAGE OF BOTH CHURCHES

of

last wyll.

ward

(literally,

avidulous.

THE WYLL OF THE

Pamachios, we read, doth cause all his avernals, forked types and annointed

Latin

.

15th century.

verus, true), to declare to

true.

DEVILL

Old

French awotron, from Latin adulterum,

his barred aventayle.

(Latin ad, to

it.

See verty.

averty.

in TROYLUS

After the 15th century,

word back

come

dential wit

(1550) states: Nothing is more avidiously be desired. Avidulous contains the

From

to

verruncare, to turn, often

diminifying root -ul-. Avidous is a stronger word, the -ous, from Latin -osus, meaning

used in prayer: bene verruncare, to turn out well. The 17th century misinterpreted

full of:

word as from ab, off + eruncare, to weed off; whence it was used to mean to weed, to prune, to cut off what hurts. Thus De Quincey in THE CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER (1821) speaks of His the

courageous, full of courage; pious,

full of piety.

avisage.

See avage.

avision.

A

dream, a vision; a warning

in a dream. Also a visyon, avysioun, and more; in the 16th century, often advision.

decree of utter averruncation to the simple decoration overhead. long pole topped

A

Chaucer in THE NONNE PREESTES TALE 68

aviso

ayword

(1386) states that

A

was mordred sioun he say

His mordre in

.

.

.

litil

or [before] he his avy-

occurs

[saw].

a

patch;

but

aviso,

in

spelled adviso,

16th

the as

dis-

century

avitus,

pertaining

father.

Pronounced

avitall,

vit).

The

a-vy-tal

or

to see,

action

ask.

Forgotten

pulling

not, until someone explained that by eggys he meant eyren.

hym

Hence away,

axwaddle.

See askefise.

eyes came avulsion.

away kindly, with no (Edipean ayenbite.

See agenbite.

awhene.

To

off;

vex,

trouble.

An early form of against; also ayen. Sometimes used to mean in anticipation of, as when Cavendish in THE

Earlier

ayenst.

ginning wh (e.g., when, whither, while) were originally forms in hw and are still to be pronounced with the breath before

Awhene was used from

LYFFE AND DEATHE OF CARDYNALL WOOLSEY

the 10th

to call as

To an omen

of

the

coming of the

layed charged

many cham-

At whos landyng they ware all shot whiche made suche a romble in the

bers. off,

ayer that

handed, perverse, clumsy. To ring awk, the wrong way: used of bells warning of fire.

told

commyng was

awk. Originally, with or from the left hand: hence, the wrong way, back-

as a

(1557)

King: He came by water to the Watergate without any noyse, where ayenst his

to the 14th century.

evil,

See aeromancy.

axinomancy.

ahwene; Old High German hwennen, to shake. Most of the English words be-

the w.

standard

mete, and specyally he axyd after eggys. Incidentally, the good wyf understode

forcible separation; also, a off. Lamb in a letter of 1822 torn portion rejected the literal sense, saying that the

plucking

in

form occurs in the earliest speech, books. In Caxton's ENEYDOS (THE printed AENEID; 1490), for example, we read that a mercer came in to a hows and axed for

revulsion.

of

To

this

pluck off, tear away. Latin a, vellere, vulsum, to pluck, pull, the

fling

axe.

See advowtrie.

avulsion,

also

way.

avitous

from + whence also convulsion,

was

av-i-tal.

To

avulse.

us dexterity, while sinister, sinister in English. Awk used as a noun, untoward-

remains

Bulwer in CHIRONOMIA (1644) wrote: words at his auditors out of the auke of utterance. The word survives in the form awkward, which originally meant upside down, turned the wrong

customs.

avowtry.

words

in

perversity,

same development from Latin; dexter,

gives

left,

To

(accents on 17th century spoke of avital avitic,

The

ness;

Ancestral, of long standing. Latin to the avus, grand-

avital.

the

often

though more directly

from Latin ad, to + videre, visum, whence English advise, advice.

Also

right,

Information; notification, a formal notice. From Spanish

aviso.

clumsiness,

awkness,

awkly;

wrongness.

ayren.

sing awk (of a bird), of evil. Hence, awky,

ayword.

69

it

An

was lyke thonder. early plural of egg: eggs.

See nay word.

B

babes-in-the-cradle.

An

babion.

From

early

the French; also babian, babioun.

the tide carries the corpse of

more bones but sprang after him, and so resigned up her priesthood, and left worke for Musaeus and Kit Marlowe.

PARLIAMENT OF LOVE (1624) says Farewell, babions! Also bavian, in which form the word appeared in Dutch. The bavian was a frequent comic figure in the old morris dance, where his long tail and tumbling

baccivorous.

me

like

Berry-eating;

to the jollity.

berry.

The

accent

is

on the

siv.

Also bac-

ciferous, berry-bearing; bacciform,

See bacchatwn.

bacchanal.

Revelry; drunkenness. From the Bacchantes, revelers at the festival of Bacchus, Roman god of wine (and father

Hymenaeus, god of marriage)

.

There

translation

acreon:

Thus Thomas Moore (1800)

Many

of the

is

later called prisoners' bars, prisoners' base. By act of Parliament during the reign of

Edward

in his

in

ODES of An-

they

bacchanal,

(bacchanalia)

was

still

all as

bacharach.

they

had been

at bace,

They

See backrag.

Stand backl The origin is un"Back therel"? At times spelt bacare, baccare and pronounced in three

used of the

earlier

playing bace was prohibited avenues of Westminster palace III,

being chased that did the others chase.

the o'erflowing cup. Many a new baccalaureate has celebrated with a baccha-

The word

the

while Parliament was in session. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) says: So ran

a roselipped bacchant maid

culling clusters in their shade; and Byron in DON JUAN (1821) : Over his shoulder, with a bacchant air, Presented

tion.

blow, a drubbing. In the 16th

century. So O. E. D. Bace was also a variant of base, as the name of an old game,

Is

revel

A

bace.

also a verb, to bacchanalize (accent on the first syllable), as well as the adjective

bacchant.

shaped

like a berry.

bacchation.

of

in

old-fashioned strawberry shortcake time; living mainly on berries. Latin bacca,

See backare.

baccare.

A.D.)

Leander away: At that Hero became a franticke bacchanal outright, and made no

as a contemptuous term for a person. Massinger in THE

added much

when

ends,

Used in the 17th century

antics

had more

(1598)

baboon.

of

variant

and Marlowe seriously told. Nashe

which Musaeus (500

See Hymen's torch.

backare.

used of

known;

the reveling person; by extension, one whose emotions are out of control. Thus Nashe in NASHES LENTEN STUFFE, OR THE PRAYSE OF THE RED HERRING (1599) tells jestingly the story of Hero and Leander,

syllables, like a yokel pretending to Latin, Shakespeare, in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Bacare, you are mervaylous for(1596) :

ward. 70

The word appeared

in a proverbial

badeen

backberend saying,

Backare, quoth Mortimer to his

sow.

A

Carrying on the back. 15th century term for a thief

backberend. 10th to

caught carrying off stolen property, especially venison in the forests. Sir Walter Scott revived the word, in

OF PERTH (1828)

.

THE FAIR MAID

The term

is

sometimes

modernized, to backb earing, whence the verb, to backb ear., used in 16th and 17th century English forest laws, of carrying illegally killed deer.

backfriend.

A

pretended, a

false, friend;

an enemy masked as a friend. From the 15th century. / have had backfriends, said Sou they (LIFE; 1827) as well as enemies. By a few in the 16th century, and Scott in

bake. Thus in Wyatt's poem of THE MEANE AND SURE ESTATE (1536) the country mouse envies her sister, the town mouse: She fedeth on boyled, bacon meet, and roost .

.

baculine.

A

wine from Bacharach, a town backrag. on the Rhine; the flavor was much appreciated in the 17th century. Hence also bacharach, backrak, bachrag, bachrach. Fletcher and Massinger's THE BEGGAR'S

BUSH (1620) has: My fireworks and dragons and good backrack. bacon.

A

flap-

rustic,

was swine's flesh. Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART ONE (1596) has Falstaff cry, when waylaying the travelers: On, bacons, on! What, ye knaves! Young men must live,

the licor of the till that her

The

line of the flagellant. Re-

punishment by Thackeray in THE VIRGINIANS

flogging.

states

(1858)

that the baculine

method

was a common mode of argument. Bacul was used in the 15th century for a religious or crosier. From Latin baculus, a rod, the symbol of power, also used in English.

staff

Hence

baculiferous, bearing a cane, like dandy of yore. The common bacillus

the

was named from little

its shape: Latin bacillus, rod; diminutive of baculus. Baculo-

Bailey

says

in

his

DICTIONARY

(1751), is the art of measuring accessible or inaccessible distances or lines, by one

or is

more staves. The baculine schoolmaster a fading phenomenon.

bad.

See badling.

badeen. badine,

a clown. Perhaps a shortening of chaw-bacon. In early England, the meat most eaten in the country (1)

list,

lating to the rod, or to

metry,

friend standing firmly at one's back.

she

belly swell.

,

QUENTIN DURWARD (1823) backfriend was used in the opposite sense, of a backer, a

And when

.

grape Doeth glad her hert

jesting. Via French from Late Latin badare, to

Frivolous, silly,

gape. Its only literary use is in F. Spence's translation (1685) of THE SECRET HISTORY

OF THE HOUSE OF MEDicis: a dialog completely bouffon, waggish, and badeen, between the head and the cap. The noun from the same source remains in use, as in Disraeli's ENDYMION (1880), which

Men

bacon-brains, a 'fathead', a fool, bacon-

warns:

picker, a glutton, baconer, a pig that will make good bacon, baconize; to make into

should beware of badinage. We have used other forms: the verb to badiner a char-

when Burritt in A WALK FROM LONDON TO LAND'S END

wishes that Loveless were here to badiner

bacon; also figurative, as (1865) .

.

.

said that magnipotent chimneys

puff their black breathings into the

.

.

.

sky above, baconising its countenance. (2) variant form of baked, past tense of to

A

_ 71

destined to the highest places

acter in Vanbrugh's

a

little;

badinerie

WORKS AND LETTERS the

THE RELAPSE

(1697)

Shenstone, in his (1712) laments that

fund of sensible discourse is limited; that of jest and badinerie is infinite; badi-

baffle

badger

chamber,

1734:

as large a

badger.

wholly

from origins unknown, ended in

this

form.

the 16th through the 18th cenwas a peddler of victuals, tury, a badger

(2)

The common

fight-

his wife

.

.

it

familiar, (a) ing.

now

two by-products

rose

put a badger

(usually a barrel) and set the better 'sports' to it out draw dogs set one dog at a time against the doomed

came

to

mean

persecute

one

to

to

who cannot

escape.

SATURDAY REVIEW of February

8,

Thomas

1862,

sacred.

Fuller, in

ject

of

baffle.

stone, either because

it

was

awe and adoration.

To

disgrace;

especially,

of a re-

creant knight, to disgrace publicly;

the

punishment usually included hanging by

of dogs and their masters, (b) The badger-game. In the 1920's there came to public attention a practice that goes at

back

Such a

seen falling from another world, or because its structure is manifestly different from local terrene rocks, became the ob-

verb, however, refers to the actions

least as far

See bailer.

baetyl. Directly from Greek baitylos, this rare word means a meteoric stone held

THE HOLY AND THE PROFANE STATE (1642) anticipates this sense when he observes: Erasmus was a badger in his jeers; where he did bite he would make his teeth meet.

The

badger

the

badminton.

and THE

speaks of The coarse expedients by which the Old Bailey advocate badgers and confuses a nervous witness.

the

century.

badger

constantly pester

badger game.

badling was consequently misunderstood. Bad, Old English badde (two syllables) originally meant homosexual; the change to its present meaning came in the 13th

into a hole

but valiant creature. Hence,

the

-work

to

Mary

persons

century; it dropped out of use because the word bad had come to mean evil, and

less

badger-drawing, badger-baita fierce fighter. It to

Chicago

first

An effeminate man. The word was used from the 10th through the 17th

The badger was

became a game in England

are said to have been the

battling.

a bear. ing animal, between a weasel and This use is of course still common; but

from

can be extorted. Herbert

GEM OF THE John Hill and

from Latin bladium f blade (of wheat) the two senses of the word approach one another in this game that may be played on a sower of wild oats.

laws regulating (and trying to tax) There is also a verb, to badge, for sale.

as

though sometimes, decoy was also called the badger. The whole game arose from living loosely. If the peddler badger is derived

their trade.

hawk

sum

PRAIRIE (1941)

loosely,

the farmers to sell at the market towns. In the 16th and 17th century there were

to

her

states that

man,

butter and buying especially corn and cheese, later other provisions as well, from

many

to

accomplice

(The spirit of the pioneer!) The woman the partner was called the badger-worker;

From

(1)

man

Asbury in THE .

words,

different

a

her

whereupon

breaks in, plays the role of an outraged husband, then spares the man's life for

in

Two

woman's luring

sisting of a

Pope wrote to Swift, on December Rebuke him for it ... as a 19, badineur, if you think that more effectual Many a badeen badger (q.v.) has built a reputation on a caustic tongue, as in the play THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER; the more insulting he is, the more his sycophants and the audience laugh.

neur

the heels. venc,al

clamation

as Elizabethan days, con-

A common

bafar, to

of

Romance

mock, from

disdain

term; Pro-

baf,

an

(English

Spenser in THE FAERIE QJQEENE (1596 72

ex-

bah!) tells;

^^

bagge

And the

after all for greater infamie He by heels him hung upon a tree, And

baignoire

ROBIN said in 1709: True love

not like

is

which passed by The

bag-pudding; a bag-pudding hath two ends, but true love hath never an end.

picture of his punishment might see. Also to cheat, hoodwink, and then (17th cen-

was made with flour, with suet and plums, and was popular from Jack Hor-

bafful'd so, that all

the current sense,

tury)

ONE

foil.

villain,

and

bagge.

To

baffle leer;

glance aside.

It

con-

bewilder,

Shakespeare in HENRY (1597) cries: An I do not,

found,

ner's days at least to the Christmastides

PART

iv,

call

of

me

(Bailey in

1751

gives

pregnant.)

A

the

baignoire. level of the

(1369)

faire.

.

bath.

ban-yo.

Twyne

THE AENEID

in,

(1873)

queries:

,

in his says:

1573 translation of

The launce

.

uses the

Also

word metaphorically:

banio, bagno, bannia, banniard, bagnard. In the 17th century also, the word was used of an oriental prison or slave-pen.

From

into the 19th century was used to

There

Turkish bath proper;

A

pudding boiled

that

mean

word bane, a common Teuton word, first meant murderer, then, as in Chaucer and in Henry More's PLATONICAL SONG OF THE SOUL (1647) Brimstone thick and clouds of fiery bain, meant anything deadly, and now is used to mean poison or any great harm but (poetically) in the names of plants, as chiefly survives dogbane, henbane, wolfs bane and the :

with her. (1)

straight, direct)

which

opened in the baths were suppressed for immorality, the place became a hotel. Hoadley in THE SUSPICIOUS HUSBAND (1747) bids: Carry her to a bagnio, and there you may lodge

bagpudding.

another bain, of different origin

the

coal.

bag; in early use, with two ends.

is

tears

To seek your old mother make you bane. This in turn must not be confused with

or hammaum) Arabic hammam,

The Hummums Coven t Garden in 1631; when

hummum,

in

in ready, willing, supple, handy. Douglas his 1513 translation of THE AENEID says:

ness; as early as 1624 bagnio was used to mean brothel. The same fate overcame the

hot bath,

.

breast.

(Old Norse beinn,

the beginning, however, the bagnios were places of assignation and licentious-

(hammam,

.

Salt

do bayne my

hummum

from

virgins blood doth bayne. Surrey (1557)

bath. Italian bagno; Latin balneum, bath;

pronounced

seats (English a French word mean-

from the 13th through the 17th century, as a noun, bath, or as a verb, to bathe. It comes via the French from Latin balneum,

practice continues.

was

is

Should one display One's robe a trifle o'er the baignoire edge. Bain was also used

bagnio. Originally, a bath-house for hot and cold baths, sweating, and cupping; the 17th century equivalent of the Turkish

bagnio

at the theatre at the

orchestra

TON NIGHT-CAP COUNTRY

traiteresse false and full of That baggeth joule and looketh

The

clown, a merry-

baigner, to bathe. Browning, in RED COT-

The

:

.

.

A

Baignoire 'stalls') ing a place or a vessel to bathe

origin of bagge, but the word was

used in that sense by Wyclif (1380) and by Chaucer in THE BOKE OF THE DUCHESSE guile

box

.

The

not known,

to leer, is

(2)

Cp. fackpudding.

to

and bagged was used meaning from the 15th through the 17th century

mean

childhood.

perhaps from the inflated bladder that was his characteristic equipment.

to swell,

to

my

andrew

me! to look at sidewise;

a

to

in a

POOR

like.

73

balaam bain

and pay

for twelve, the

bain.

thirteen batches

accompanied also balneum.

extra batch (baking) providing his profit on resale. Nares (GLOSSARY; 1882) confuses the term: It was originally called a devil's

See baignoire. Barnaby Googe tells, in his EGLOGS (1563): Princely nymphs Diana in her baynes. See

dozen,

of Pauper. A variant spelling but D. E. O. the in not bare man; (1933) often in the early law courts. Defined by

bairman.

insolvent debtor, Bailey (1751) as a poor who was obliged to left bare and naked, swear in court that he was not worth more

than

five shillings

and

five

pence.

A

Also kissing of the hands. kiss to main, French baiser, baisemain;

baisement.

+

hand. In the plural, baisemains, respects. uses Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) the Italian

15th

form basciomani; and in the (Caxton) baisier, a kiss. THE BEAUX' STRATAGEM

century

Farquhar (1707)

in

Do my

has:

baisemains

him I

gentleman, and on him immediately. tell

bajardour. bajulate.

will

.

to .

.

To

carry

number

of witches at table together in

Hence number who was a

their great meetings or sabbaths. to

the

the superstition relating thirteen at table. The baker,

in former times, very unpopular character seems to have been substituted on this account for the devil. Nares has found a

mare's nest with this explanation. The to unlucky thirteen is of course traceable the Last Supper of Christ and the twelve but it goes farther back. In Norse apostles,

and made mythology, Loki once intruded was Balder in feast at a Valhalla; thirteen slain.

The

mercial,

wait

memory

baker's dozen

was entirely com-

there being a time within when the local baker gave

my an

(a

burden). From but see badger. THE WORTHIES OF

wash gave children come for the family's their first taste of lichee nuts. Cp. himpnes.

This word draws its meanings from the story of Balaam in the BIBLE: NUMBERS, 22-24. Balak, the King of Moab, summons Balaam to curse the children of Israel, new-come from Egypt. Balaam approaches on his ass; three times, when the ass holds back, Balaam beats it, until the ass finds words, and reproaches Balaam. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing

balaam.

ENGLAND (1662) speaks of bajulating provisions to London. Bailey in his DICTIONARY (1751) lists bajardour, a carrier of burdens.

bakemeat. A pastry, a pie. Also baken meat, baked meat. Used by Chaucer

HAMLET (1602) (1386) , by Shakespeare in and in THE WHITE DEVIL (1700) As if a man Should know what fowl is coffin' d in a bak'd meat Afore it is cut up. It might be four and twenty blackbirds. ,

:

dozen.

the

down

extra roll or bun with every dozen, much as the neighborhood Chinese laundryman

bajulus, porter; Fuller, in his HISTORY OF

baker's

to sit

supposed

the

See bajulate.

Latin

and was

Thirteen.

In

the

in the way.

And

instead of the curse Balak

Lord gave Balaam blessings to pour forth upon the children of Israel. Hence (1) directly, as in Milton's OBSERVATIONS ON THE ARTICLES OF PEACE (1648) God has so disposed the mouth -of these desired, the

16th

century, when there were special pillories for cheating bakers (Heywood in his

:

PROVERBS, 1562, includes: / feare we parte not yeet, Quoth the baker to the pylorie) , a huckster was entitled by law to receive

Balaams, that comming to curse, they have stumbled into a kind of blessing. (2)

74

bale

balas

BOROUGH

Balaamite, one that follows religion for the sake of gain; hence balaamitical. At

(1621) exclaims: a spiny baldrib.

each of the three places to which Balak brought him, Balaam demanded seven altars, seven bullocks and seven rams.

An

balaam.

nomenon

article,

of the talking

ass.

art such

baldric.

A

mented,

worn over one shoulder and

belt,

richly

usually

under the opposite arm,

or news items, of freak events, saved to fill odd spaces in a newspaper or magazine. From the phe(8)

Thou

to

orna-

support a

sword, a bugle, or the like. The origin of the word is unknown, though it comes

from Medieval Latin baldringus, perhaps related to Latin balteus, Old High Ger-

Hence balaam-

box, balaam-basket; a receptacle for such

man

A

balas.

belt. very frequent references to swords, it is also used figuratively, as in Frederic W. Far-

the

rar's LIFE

material.

bah, English

word in

A delicate rose colored ruby. Via French from Marco Polo's Latin balascusj from the Arabic balakhsh, from

Badakhshan, a

district

near Samarcand,

whence come the choice

ones. Holinshed's

CHRONICALES

AND WORK OF ST. PAUL (1879) Let spiritual truth be their baldric. The word is found in many spellings, as baudrick, bawdrik. It has been used, loosely, to mean a necklace, and meta-

a great bauderike about his necke of great THE balasses. The word, revived by Scott FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822) a carcanet is now used (q.v.) of large balas rubies (see

(1577)

:

the phorically of the gem-studded belt in THE FAERIE in the as zodiac Spenser's sky,

baldric)

:

A

babbler;

jester;

QUEENE

(1596)

nightly

we do

:

Those twelve signes which see

baudricke

The heavens

bright-

enchace. Spenser shining liked the image; his PROTHALAMION speaks of the twins of Jove Which deck the bald-

by jewelers in the combination balas ruby. balatron.

:

buffoon;

booby. Also balatroon. Latin balatro, with

ric of the

the same meaning; b laterare, blateratum, to babble; whence also to blate, blaterate, to babble, talk vainly; blateration; blat-

to

heavens bright.

balductum.

Curdled

milk,

buttermilk.

Also, hot milk curdled with ale or wine.

eroon all in the 17th century. Aphra Behn in SIR PETER FANCY (1678) wrote: The affront this balatroon has offered me.

Used in the 15th century;

THE

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS of 10 November, 1883 mentioned an interleaved

rago of words; a paltry, affected writer. Harington in 1596 speaks of a balductum

copy of the Slang Dictionary for students of the balatronic dialect.

play.

balbutiate.

To

stammer,

stutter.

POLIMANTEIA (1595) stated: Because every balductum makes divine poetry to be but base rime, I leave thee (sacred

Latin

eloquence) to be defended by the Muses ornaments, and such (despised) to live tormented with endless povertte.

balbutire; hence also balbutient, stammering, stuttering. The noun balbuties (four is still

syllables)

baldachin. baldrib.

also balducta,

balducktum, balduckstome. By extension, in the 16th century, trashy writing, a far-

used in medicine.

This form belongs to three words, one obsolete, one poetic, and one practical

bale.

See baudekin.

A

and

thin person. Originally, a cut of pork nearer the rump than the sparerib. Middleton, in THE MAYOR OF QUIN-

bale, a great conflagra(1) hence, specifically, a funeral pyre. Old English bael, a blazing fire, cognate tion;

75

current.

ballock

baleu

hence

beam

a

of

wood (from

with Sanskrit bhalas, lustre. Used through the 16th century, and briefly revived by Scott in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL

bar;

On Penchryst glows a ba of fire, (1805) And three are kindling on Priesthaughs-

SIONATE SHEPHERD (1604) inquired: Who can live in heart so glad As the merrie

1

:

wire.

(1596:

He

and hide

THE

in

Spenser

FAERIE

QUEENE

strove to cloak his inward bale,

smoke

the

that did his fire dis-

fire of wrath, and play) uses it to mean thus fuses it with the second use. (2) bale,

also,

the 13th century) This is the same word as baulk in billiards. Breton in THE PAS.

Who upon

countrie lad?

balke

May

at pleasure sit

a faire greene

and walke

.

.

.

sub till foxe, How the villaine the N. McClure, in a note box plies in 16TH CENTURY ENGLISH POETRY (1954)

Or

to see the

.

.

.

explains plies the box as 'plays a trick'; seems rather to mean 'strikes the blow'

active evil; great torment. This is common Teuton, Old English bealu, Old Norse bol. The word was often paired, as its with bote, relief, q.v. It was

it

that knocks out the victim, as

in

opposite, obsolete in 17th century dictionaries, but was revived, as a vague but

when Green

SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH

his

marked

PEOPLE (1874) tells us that Queen Elizabeth I met the insolence of Essex with

powerful word for destructive forces of evil, by 19th century poets. Thus Southey

a box on the ear.

.

calls up Homer's ODYSSEY

of bale she

(1870)

brought.

(3)

says:

bale,

.

.

who

a large

unnecessary. ballard.

meaning (15th through 17th of a set of dice for a game in

.

(1625)

:

.

.

an early

A

variant form of balas,

lais,

speaks of a perfect baleu.

A

ridge,

as

fields.

From

the 9th century. Also, a

balk.

or

Their ballards are a foot above

.

.

with balls fastned on the end. Evidently

other. Cp. hext.

Ruby.

:

ground, hollow under, with some seventeen keyes on the top, on which the player *with two strikes a foot long, strikes

OF NIGEL (1822) The Captain, taking a bale of dice from the sleeve of his coat This kind of bale has often brought the

Urquhart, in his translation of Rabe-

A bald-headed person. Used

strument, described in Purchas' PILGRIMES

century) those days, usually three. Scott tried to revive this meaning also in THE FORTUNES

q.v.

(1)

by Wyclif (1382) in the BIBLE: KINGS 2 and Caxton (1485) A musical in(2)

"an obsolete

baleu.

a high point ashore,

fish.

bundle or package, as a bale of hay. This word is from Old High German balla, palla, or Greek palla, meaning a ball, then a round bundle. This sense, too, has

.

on

signals to fishing-boats the direction

taken by the schools of herring or other From the 17th through the 19th century; 20th century devices make him

Tidings

.

A man

balker.

(1834) says: Death a soul from bale and Bryant in

THE DOCTOR

in

sort of xylophone.

ballista.

An

a large

bow

ancient weapon, shaped like stretched with thongs, for hurling stones. Also balista. The usual plural was the Latin form, ballistae; the

between two furrows

word is from Greek ballein, to throw. The word was sometimes used for arbalest, q.v.

piece of ground carelessly unploughed; hence, a balk, a disappointment; to make a balk, to waste, to miss an

ballock.

Once

(politely)

used in various

compounds. Also bealluc, ballok, balluk, balok, and the like. Thus bollock-cod, the

opportunity.

Also baulk, bale, bawk; in Old English it meant a division, either a ridge or a

scrotum;

76

cp.

cod.

ballock-hafted, with a

balneum

bandog working with fire; baunos, forge. George Grote, in FRAGMENTS ON ETHICAL SUBJECTS

handle shaped like a ball, ballock-knife, a knife worn hanging from the girdle, ballock-broth seems unrelated, being thus described in THE

Take

FORME OF CURY

(1390)

music

to pecys,

it

be a

litel over-stepid.

controversy: that as a manual art

teaching banausic and degrading.

and hilde hem, and kerve hem and do hem to seeth in water and

eelys,

wyne, so that

joined a

(1871)

:

Equipment, such as covers and and chairs. Bank, bane, is a common Teutonic word for bench whence mountebank and bankbancalia.

Do

cushions, for benches

sage an oothir erbis, with -few oynons yminced. Whan the eelis buth so den ynough, do hem in a vessel; take a thereto

Cp. bankrout. Bancalia, however, seems to occur only in the 17th and 18th

pyke, and kerve it to gobettes, and seeth hym in the same broth; do thereto powdor

rupt.

gynger, galyngale, canel, and peper; salt it, and cast the eelys thereto, and messe

century dictionaries

it

forth.

Hence

also

ballop, ballup,

the

bath; bathing. This

word

This word, in a dozen

banderol. ings,

A

Bailey (1751)

if

not

Barnum.

front or flap of smallclothes.

balneum.

the

was

spell-

came through the French from the

Italian banderuola, a diminutive of bandi-

is

era,

taken directly from the Latin; several other forms were also used, mainly from

banner.

It

meant the long narrow

flag a ship flies from the mast-head, a streamer on a lance, or the like. Shortly

the 15th through the 18th century: balne; bawne; balneo. The usual implication was

warm

after Spenser's use in

THE FAERIE QUEENE

word was

forgotten, until re-

the

(1596)

bath; balneary was used for a medicinal spring. Balneal and balneatory

vived by Sir Walter Scott in

adjectives; compounds include balneography, a treatise on baths; balneology,

(1808) pennon, pensil, bandrol there O'er the pavilions flew. After Scott, Washington Irving and others used the

of a

:

are

of balneabaths; (medicinal) therapy, treatment by baths. Hence bal-

study

word. Pensil (spelled as though related to hanging, pendent, from Latin

The balneum Mariae

pensile,

neation, bathing. or bain-Marie is a chemical or culinary dishwarmer: a pan of hot (not boiling)

water into which saucepans,

etc.

pendere, pens-, to hang, as in suspense) is a variant of pencel, a streamer. Pencel is a shortening of penoncel, a French diminutive of penon, English pennon.

were put

keep them warm (supposedly so from the mildness of the bath) to

called .

Pencel was frequently used from the 13th to the end of the 16th century, then it

Cp.

baignoire.

To

bam.

hoax,

deceive,

bamboozle, of which

lapsed until revived by Scott, first in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805) Pensils and pennons wide were flung. Chaucer and Malory also used the word pencel to mean a lady's token borne by her knight, Chaucer, TROYLUS AND CRYSEYDE e.g., She made him wear a pencel of (1374)

impose upon,

:

either the origin words arose in the

it is

or a shortening. Both early 18th century. Also a noun, a bam, a story or device intended as a hoax. Swift in his POLITE CONVERSATION served:

Her

banausic. scorn)

.

(1738)

ob-

:

ladyship was plaguily bamb'd.

her sleeve.

Mechanical

From Greek

MARMION

Scroll,

(with implied banausos, mechanical,

bandog. cause

77

A dog tied up,

it is fierce;

as a

guard or be-

hence, generally, a fierce

bandon

bantling

dog; a mastiff, a bloodhound. Also bondedogge, bandogge, and more. Etheredge in

Divinitie (1645)

:

A Body

An early form of bankrupt, the idea of putting to rout. with perhaps

bankrout.

After Tarquin's violation, in Shakespeare's THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (1594) the pOCt

of

,

declares: Feeble Desire all recreant, poor,

Letting loose Satan, his molest the godly. Scott,

and meek, Like

bandog, to revived the word in the 19th century, used it sixteen times. .

,

.

who

bandon.

wails his case.

Jurisdiction; authority; control.

plural, bandons, orders, commands. In (at) one's bandon, under one's control,

one's

pleasure. a form of

edict,

The

edict

to interdict;

mean

to

bannum might mean

(under one's

either); hence, ban-

words

this

form.

have (1)

been corThe Greek

Whafs her

hairf

bannerol.

It has

Thomas

See banderol.

A

brat; a young child. Drayton bantling. in his ECLOGUES (1593) pictures lovely Venus Smiling to see her wanton .

D'Urfey, in

.

.

bantlings game. More often the word is a term of scorn; originally it meant

TO PURGE MELANCHOLY (1719) picbuxom widow, with bandore and ,

tures the

bastard, probably a corruption of

The

musical bandore had three, four, or six wire strings.

peak.

rank of baronet was created.

after the

two

Faith

the forms mandoline

a widow's head-dress. PILLS

lower than baron,

:

been further corand French and From bandeau, banjo. (2) with the same meaning, came bandore,

rupted, into

title,

the suggestion in Sir William Segar's / HONOR, MILITARY AND CIVIL (1602) suppose the Scots do call a knight of this creation a Bannerent, for having his banner rent. The official English heralds have not allowed the title since 1612, the year

.

bandora wires.

old

presence. Sometimes, when this occurred, the knight's pennon was cut to the shape of a banner (square) whence

. shawm and bandore. The England word easily became figurative, as in HeyWOOd's THE FAYRE MAYDE OF THE EXCHANGE :

An

king's

century wire-stringed instrument, used as a bass to the cittern, q.v. Shadwell, in BURY-FAIR (1689) hails the best music in

(1607)

(later

and knight: a knight entitled to bring a company of vassals into the field under his own banner. From Old French baneret, bannered; cp. bandon. Later the title was awarded on

musical instrument, pandoura, q.v. The name was given to a 16th, 17th, and 18th

.

money-changers

the battlefield, for valiant deeds in the

Two

rupted, into

via

is

superior to bachelor

ner.

bandore.

bankrout beggar

See bandon.

banneret.

forbid;

for the symbol of authority

original

banner.

might often

hence to ban came to hence banish, bandit. Latin bannum, authority, was also used

work

a

bankers) worked in the open, on a bench. Cp. scaldabanco; bancalia.

Late Latin bandum, bannum, whence the

An

banns.

marriage

to

The word bankrupt

French banqueroute from Italian banca the end being later rotta, broken bench refashioned after Latin ruptus, broken.

The at

See baignoire.

bane.

LOVE IN A TUB (1669) wrote: As fierce as a bandog that has newly broke his chain. To speak bandog and bedlam, to talk furiously and madly. The word was also used figuratively, as in Ussher's

See banderol.

bandrol.

German

bankling, begotten on a bench. Thus, in Father KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OF NEW

78

barbican

baragouin

YORK a

(1809)

tender

LEAR (1605) has: You whoreson cullyenly barber-monger, draw! barber's music, discordant music in scornful reference to the music made by waiting customers in a barber-shop, where a cittern was com-

Washington Irving mentions accidentally and un-

virgin,

accountably enriched with a bantling. The is also used figuratively, as when

word

Byron wrote, in a letter of 1808: The interest you have taken in me and my poetical bantlings

.

.

.

These,

who

and 17th centuries, Thus Pepys in his DIARY (5 June, 1660) records: My Lord called -for the lieutenant's cittern, and with two candlesticks with money in them for symbols, we made barber's music. Dekker in THE HONEST WHORE (1604) has monly

has

in the 16th

left,

for such entertainment.

not had? baragouin.

Unintelligible speech; jargon; double-talk. Breton bara, bread + gwenn,

because of the astonishment of Breton soldiers at seeing white bread. The word baragouin was French, taken diwhite

a

woman

called a barber's citterne,

every serving

rectly into English in the 17th century. Overbury in his CHARACTERS (1613; THE

man

to

-for

play upon; thus, a

strumpet. Cp. cithern. Also, barber's chair, one in which all comers sit. Shakespeare

LAWYER) declared: He thinks no language worth knowing but his barragouin. From

in ALL'S

the Welsh bara pyglyd, pitchy bread, came a 17th century term for dark bread, bara-

hence

pickle t, barrapyclid, which did not into figurative use, like baragouin.

bonarobaes, barbers chairs, hedge-whores.

barathrum.

A

pit; especially, a

at Athens, whereinto

nals

condemned

A

barber's shop; the art of the barbery. barber, shaving. French barberie, from

deep pit

were hurled crimi-

Latin barb a, beard. About 1690 laws were

to die. In early English

passed in England, seeking to separate the barber from the doctor: Neither shall any

chirurgeon there use barbery. See barbigerous. A bar bet is a small beard; the word is also applied to "bearded" crea-

tortioner or glutton. Massinger in A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS (1633) exclaims: of the shambles!

as

tures,

barato.

A

small

amount

given to the luck. From the Spanish.

winnings,

translation

(1622) DE ALFARACHE said

Mabbe

a sort of poodle; (2) a on the aphis; (3)

that feeds

hairy a bird with tufts of bristles at the base

in his

of the

bill.

GUZMAN

An

barbican.

And, though I were no

outer

fortification

to

a

or city wall; especially, a double tower over a gate or bridge. It was often made high enough to serve as a watchcastle

gamester, yet I might receive barato as a stander by. pleasant practice, recently

A

foregone.

Also barbycon, berbikan, barb akane, barbygan, and the like. Hence barbicanage, a tax paid for the building and maintenance of a barbican. In the 16th tower.

Used

figuratively for one that cuts things short, a curtailer. Jonson in THE SILENT WOMAN (1609) speaks of an ex-

barber.

(1)

worm

of a gambler's bystanders, for

of Aleman's

(1601) has:

fits all

buttocks; a strumpet. Motteux in his (1708) of Rabelais spoke of

also,

translation

grow

use, the pit of hell. By extension (a pit that cannot be filled) an insatiable ex-

You barathrum

WELL THAT ENDS WELL

Like a barber's chair that

and 17th

cellent barber of prayers. Also in combinations: barber-monger, a frequenter of the barber, a fop. Shakespeare in KING

centuries, barbican

was

also

one might 79

fire

missiles.

used

which Spenser in THE

for a loophole in a wall, through

barleybreak

barbigerous

FAERIE QUEENE (1596) has: Within the barbican a porter sate. After the 17th cen-

stopt

renewed the word in KENILand figuratively in THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828): Dawn seemed tury,

Scott

WORTH

it.

Such dice

make

(in a pair)

it

very hard to cast a five or a nine; they were used in the game of dice called

novum (novem),

(1821),

which a

in

toss of

nine

won. Cp. fullam, langret.

to abstain longer than usual from occupying her eastern barbican. In all, Scott used barbican 31 times.

bardlet.

A

petty

poet,

a

tyro

at

the

barbigerous.

bardling. Both are versifying 19th century coinages; Bailey in THE AGE (1858) cried: So woe to you young bard-

cates

lings scant of brains!

Bearded. The word indipomposity or a most imposing beard. From Latin barba, beard + ger-,

A

musical

A

small

beard;

lation

monkhawks whom you

from

directly

cloak,

ing a cowled cloak. Motteux in his trans(1694) of Rabelais scorns these

stringed, a sort of large lyre. Also barbitos. For a use of the word, see sambuca.

barbula.

crude woollen

with a hood, worn by peasants (in France) and monks. Hence bardocucullated, wear-

many

instrument,

A

bardocucullus.

bearing. See abarcy.

barbiton.

Also

art.

see bardocucullated

with a bag.

the Latin, barbula being the diminutive Randle Holme, in THE

One

made when Take

of barba, beard.

bardolf.

ACADEMY OF ARMORY (1688) sets it in its place: The barbula or pick-a-divant, or

the English joyed to cook: Bardolf.

almond mylk, and draw

of hair just under the middle the lower of lip. Pick-a-divant is French pic a devant, point in front. The last

the

little tuft

Republican alderman of

(in the lingo of his native

insisted

tana)

New York

that

my

barbula

is

vernage let

A

kerchief

Mon-

twilled

commonly worn about the neck

an

come on

and the three very seldom

barfd quatre

trois.

everose

(1580) : allotted

False dice, so constructed

of cast

capons therto

[rose

water],

Then there,

couples three be straight They of both ends the

middle two do flie; The two that in mid Hell called, were Must strive with

top. Also bard eater-tray, bar'd

cater trea,

and

barleybreak. game originally played by three couples, something like prisoners' base. Sidney described the game in ARCADIA

See bur dash.

that the four

braune

therto;

A

also as goodly a couple as recent have brought to our shores.

vicissitudes

bar'd cater-tra.

and

boyle,

and put

and make the potage hanginge [clinging, i.e., thick] and serve hit forthe. And if you do, invite me. of

in the

early 19th century. Usually of bright color. the Catalan city of Barcelona,

bardash.

thik with

with pouder of ginger, and a lytel water silk,

From

whence

up

chopped, and pul of the skyn, and boyle al ensemble, and in the settynge doune from the fire put therto a lytel vynegur alaied

a sonofabitch;

of

[a

hit

strong, sweet white wine] and

sugre, cloves, maces, pynes, and ginger, mynced; and take chekyns parboyled, and

imperial.

barcelona.

hit

braied,

City

politer persons today prefer to call it

of the dishes

place.

Dekker in

waiting foot and watching eye To catch of them, and them to Hell to beare That they, as well as they, Hell may supply.

THE HONEST WHORE

(1604) says: / have suffered your tongue, like a bar'd cater tra, to run all this while and have not

There you may 80

see that, as the

middle

barth

barleyhood

Do

Milton's dough

coupled towards either couple make, They, -false and fearful, do their hands undo. The game went on; when

two

Barmecide.

replaced the chasers; the last couple in Hell (supposedly staying there) ended the game. It was named because first played in a

a

couple

was

caught,

the work (1608) describes of the barnard, also Greene in A DISCOVERY OF COZENAGE (1591) , which lists the usual team: the taker up, the verser, the barnard,

and the

A

barleyhood.

spell

of

and

barrat.

be

and

a tippler. tipsy; a barleycap,

still,

barm.

lap.

meaning

as

(1386)

:

A

in the barnard

.

.

distress;

quarreling.

A

word, accent on the of doubtful origin, the first

of which was commerce, trade.

Also baret (THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE, 13th century) , barette. One can see what

A

the middle ages thought of business! barrator was a cheater; in the 15th and

16th centuries,

especially

an

ecclesiastic

preferment, or a disthe 16th to the 18th From hqnest judge. used mainly of was word the century, rowdies, brawlers; hence barratress, a fe-

who

Thus,

Used 9th through

buys or

sells

male brawler, virago; amazon. In law, it meant one who incites to discord or to law-suits; and barratry means such incite-

15th centuries, from a Teutonic form related (berm) to beran, to bear. Also in combination, as in Chaucer's THE MILLER'S

TALE

Fraud;

first syllable,

in-

John Barleycorn.

Bosom,

Comes

common Romanic

duced by drink. Barley is used to mean malt liquor, which is made therefrom. Skelton said in THE TUNNYNG OF ELYNOUR RUMMYNG (1529) And as she was drynkynge, she fyll in a wynkynge With a barlyhood. Also, to wear a barleycap, to

.

end.

first.

bad temper

.

.

kissing be of plagues the worst, We'll last

.

your company, like some and is the countrey of farmer aged so carelesse of his money, that out he throweth some fortie angels on the boards

the couple that was the forfeit on being

we had been

rutter

stumbling into

tormented or kept prisoners here? Alas, wish in hell

the decoy

lurking sharper;

MAN OF LONDON

and showed caught in an epigram of 1648: We two are last in hell: what may we feare To be if

stillicide.

berner, during a hunt, waited with extra hounds along the way the animal was expected to take. Dekker in THE BEL-

Scotland into the 19th century, naturally many variations. Herrick, developed others, among played on the name o the "it"

See

it.

The

.

of

never the lighter

the hounds; bran originally the feeder of -h ard, a derogatory suffix as in coward.

Master parsun entry d into helle, and ther ded at the barlebrayke with alle wyffe of the sam parryche. The game, played in

station,

is

of the 16th century sharpers' gang. Also bernard; probably a variant of berner,

Also barlebreyke, barlibreak f barleybrake. Mackyn in his DIARY (1557) noted that

central

A

barnard.

and the chased couple, if in danger, could break separate amid the barley.

.

.

it

field,

.

.

.

barm he kneeds up with

for the

ment. Barratry is also used, in law, of fraud at sea, especially of the captain or against the owners such as sinking

barmcloth eek as white

morning milk. There is also a barm means the froth on poured beer or

that

running away with the ship or

fermenting malt liquors; yeast sometimes used figuratively, as when Landor, in

barth.

IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS (1828) declares:

calves,

81

A

its

cargo.

warm, sheltered pasture for lambs, and the like. Possibly from

barton

bartholomew-pig

Old English beorgan, to protect. From this source come also the verb bergh, to shelter,

bergh as a noun,

protect, save;

protection; berghless, unprotected; bergher, a protector, saviour. All these are

words of the 10th through the 13th cenused of tury. Bergher was in those years the Lord.

mew-gentleman, a

man

not to be trusted;

a pickpocket (as often at the Fair).

A

battlemented parapet; a turoverhanging the top of a tower. Scott

bartizan. ret

THE EVE OF ST. JOHN (1801) has He mounted the narrow stair, To the barbizan seat. Scott uses the word also in MARMION and WAVERLEY, and in THE HEART OF in

MIDLOTHIAN (1818) he speaks of a bartholomew-pig. roasted pigs were tions at

Prominently displayed

among

Bartholomew

the chief attrac-

Fair, held annually

on St. Bartholomew's Day (24 August) from 1133 to 1855 at West Smithfield, London. As Jonson pictures in his BAR-

THOLOMEW

FAIR (1614)

were most fond of the

pregnant

flesh

women

or pretended

a yearning to get to the fair. Davenant mentions the Bartlemew pig That gaping lies on every stall Till female with great belly call Perhaps because on St. Bar-

tholomew's

Day

(1572)

Protestants were

massacred in France and (1662) the English Uniformity Act (Bartholomew Act) was passed, the Protestants resented the

day. They certainly resented the revelry of the Fair; there Is little excess of satire

in Jonson's Puritan's cry: For the very calling it a Bartholomew pig, and to eat it

in

SO; is

PART TWO (1597) applies the Thou whorson little Bartholmew bore-pigge. Also Bar-

HENRY

term to tydie

a spice of idolatry. Shakespeare iv,

Falstaff:

tholomew-baby, a gawdy doll; a puppet. POOR ROBIN (1740) speaks of telling farmers what manner of wife they should chuse, not one trickt up with ribband and knots, like a Bartholomew-baby; for such a one will prove a holiday wife, all play and no work. Also Bartholomew ware, cheap and showy goods; used figuratively, as in a 1645 letter of Ho well:

Freighted with mere Bartholomew ware, with trite and trivial phrases. Bartholo-

circular

turret,

battlemented

or,

the appropriate phrase, bartizan' d

half-

to

use

on

the

The

"appropriate phrase/' however, rose from an error; the word was created top.

by

The

Scott.

and

in 1395

early term used by Wyclif into the 17th century, was

bretticing, bratticing, a

temporary wooden

parapet. Bratticing or brattice-work is still used, of supports of wood in a mine. But later historians accepted Scott's word as

genuine.

A

bartolist.

skilled

attorney.

From

a

noted Italian lawyer, Bartolo, of the 14th century. Samuel Daniel, in a letter of 1602, wrote of these great Italian Bartolists Called in of purpose to explain the law. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, volunteered for the task. Portia, in

barton. floor,

Originally, this

Old English

Then

was a threshing

bere~tun,

barley en-

was used of a farm yard; especially, of the farm a lord kept for his own use. It was also applied to a chicken coop or larger pen, but the lord closure.

kept claim bartons of

it

(1783) to the his demesne.

eggs of

A

the

book

on HUSBANDRY by George Winter (1787) declares that stale urine and barton draining are greatly preferable to dung. In contrast,

and

And

we

are told of a fine grove of Scotch on the barton of Bridestow.

silver fir

Southey in THE POET'S PILGRIMAGE TO

WATERLOO

(1816) speaks of Spacious bartons clean, well-wall'd around, Where all the wealth of rural life was found.

basilicon

barytone

A

word was also spelled bassa, bassi, and the like. Fielding has, in He addressed JONATHAN WILD (1743) tury the basha,

.

:

me

in which spelling it is still applied to a singer between tenor and bass; barritone, bariton, baryton. In tone was used of a

was of high rank, with three

with his

.

basiate.

To

.

(The O.E.D. defines this though Gargantua were a dog. Cp. Mono-.) as

ba-, to

A

kiss.

A

variant of bass, q.v. Also

ing;

by extension, to

dusty

:

A

dagger, usually

worn

Fleeing

basifugal.

from

fly

.

its

base.

its base; tending to Accent on the sif. It

See basilicon.

at the basilicon.

Used from the 14th through the 18th century, as in THE NEW LONDON MAGAZINE

belt.

tue,

An

ointment of 'sovereign' virbasilicos, royal. The herb

from Greek

basil,

The Mayor, drawing his baselard, grievously wounded Wat (Tyler) in the

its

neck.

(q.v.)

of 1788:

used in royal bath or unguent, drew this source; but the basilisk

name from was

drawn into the

basilica, originally

basery.

.

might be said that psychoanalysis attempts to basify the basifugal. But see basiate.

and

basil.

baselard.

>,

chal-

/ shall not intend this hot season

you the base through the wide champaine of the Councels.

noun basery dishonorable dealThomas Brian in THE PISSE PROPHET

which drives away kisses, as a two day's growth of beard, or bad taste.

Used by Shakespeare (VENUS AND ADONIS) and by Milton in ANIMADVERSIONS (1641)

adjective base (Latin developed in the 17th cen-

.

lenge.

to bid

basial;

seems to the scoffing spoke of love that world to go slinking into basiation' s obscurity. A basifuge is one who or that

CYMBELINE (1611) speaks of lads more like to run the country base, then to commit such slaughter. Hence, to bid base, to challenge someone to chase one ;

also

(1637) wrote: They will hardly acknowledge their errours, and relinquish this Meredith in THE EGOIST (1879) basery.

Short for prisoner's base, the game. Cp. barleybreak. Spenser uses it in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) ; Shakespeare in base.

the game)

17th century.

The

tury the

cp. basiate.

(as in

the

whence

kiss;

walk, go.

bassus, low)

bas.

in

kiss

horse-tails

Note also a kiss; from basifugal (q.v.), turning away but also, tending away from the base: Latin and Greek basis, a stepping, a pedestal; something to step or stand on; Greek

tail.

word-play

his standard.

basiation; see bass; deosculate.

monoand barytonising .

hung on

Latin basium,

Urquhart's translation (1653) of Rabelais, in which we are told Gargantua would loll in the cradle

all

A

Greek grammar, baryword not having the

cordising with his fingers

with

the insolence of a basha to a bashaw of three tails Circassian slave.

acute accent on the last syllable. Hence bary ionize, to make a deep sound, as in

and rock himself

ty-

ranny; whence bashawism, imperiousness. From Turkist bash, head. In the 16th cen-

be blamed for the saxophone) Greek barys, deep + tonos, pitch. Also baritone, to

form of the Turkish

early

pasha, associated with haughty

title

century, to a bass saxhorn (invented by the Belgian C. J. Sax, died 1865; his son is

An

bashaw.

barytone. deep-sounding musical instrument. Applied to a bass viol invented by Joachim Fielke in 1687; in the 19th

hall of justice granted

See basiate.

83

notion.

A

a royal palace, then a

by Roman emperors

bass

basilisk

for

religious use,

an

pecially

now

is

early church,

a church,

e.g.,

es-

one of the

seven principal churches of Constantine.

There

an adjective

is

basilic vein

is

the

basilic, royal;

the large vein from elbow

to armpit.

A

basilisk.

fabulous serpent, whose very

was marked by a crown-like spot on its head, hence the glance was mortal.

name

basilisk

It

(little

king; see basilicon.)

was hatched by a serpent from a cock's egg, hence also called basilicock (as in Chaucer's THE PARSON'S TALE, 1386) and

It

cockatrice

1382,

(in Wyclif's BIBLE,,

and

King James', 1611; in Spenser's SONNETS 1595 and Shakespeare's ROMEO AND

ered by the great helm, which rested on the shoulders. Such a stroke, Lord Berners

admires

A

bass.

eyes

May

I

kill

all

in

TIMON

With my I see. J.

OF

basiliscan

Wilson in

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE of 1828 speaks of the fascinating

and

basiliskian

glare

of

and rhetorical embellishment. Kingsley in WESTWARD HO (1855) uses a

gorgeous

third form, speaking of Our fair Oriana, the slaughter which her basiliscine

and

Common

kiss.

on

wood's PROVERBS basse her. Still (1)

He must needs (1562) uses of bass include: :

known

a fish of the perch species, earlier (2) the inner bark of the lime or tree, earlier bast;

cannon, comes via French couleuvre from Latin coluber, snake. There is also a

cannon called battard (from French bitard, bastard) contracted from shorter

rhymed

it

with

in one sense

The word

ass.

meant

common

bass,

kiss,

16th

century,

See basnet.

A small, light helmet; smaller than a basin. Medieval Latin basinetum, diminutive of bacin, English basin. Also

basnet.

basinet,

more.

When

aventayle

basynet, bassenet, and worn in battle without an

bacinet,

(q.v.),

the basnet was often cov-

which

form

ship, a fly-boat; is also a corrupt

especially as a hearty

word

of

the

since

a

for

Shakespeare also used the verb figuratively, as in TROILUS AND CRES-

smacking

kiss.

(1606) : Yond towers, whose wanton tops do busse the clouds Tennyson refrains, in THE PRINCESS (1847) : Nor burnt the grange, nor buss'd the milking-

SIDA

maid.

Meredith,

in

.

.

VITTORIA

(1866)

,

urges: Up with your red lips, and buss me a Napoleon salute. Children in their

word-conscious

teens,

play

a

game

blunderbus, basin.

buss,

a two- or three-masted

and

,

culverin battard or battard-falcon.

the deepest

(3)

male voice; Greek basis, base. This deeptoned bass is pronounced base, but Pope

.

eyes have caused. Basilisk was also used, beginning in the 16th century, as the name of a large cannon. Culverin, another

Roman

all

tongues; Latin basium, kiss; cp. basiate. Also used as a verb, thus one of J. Hey-

linden

cries:

of

(1523)

were cloven.

basnet six times, brought it back into the vocabulary in the 19th century.

JULIET of 1592: the death-darting eye of cockatrice) and cokadrill. The word, especially in adjective forms, is also used

Shakespeare

translation

PAUPER (1496) spoke figuratively of the basynet of helthe, that is hope of the lyfe that is to come. Scott, using

barse;

figuratively.

his

DIVES ET

of

ATHENS (1600)

in

Froissart, that their basenettes

omnibus, to

with

to

kiss

this

coy,

used

variation

the

wrong

kiss all the girls in the

to

e.g.,

party;

room.

When

Shakespeare in CYMBELINE (1609) says that Imogen must Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek, exposing it . . to .

the greedy touch Of common-kissing titan, he meant the sun, which 'kisses' all alike,

the good

and the bad, the

fair

and the

bast

bathykolpian

young and the old, the ascetic Quite an omnibuster!

foul, the

and the

In addition

bast.

baggage of military

To

to

its

scientific

use,

inner bark of certain trees

as the

which linden) has meant (1) ,

is

(lime, sold for matting; bast

the

fish,

the

bass.

bastardy. (3) a bastard. This sense Old French bast, a pack-saddle

(2)

from which

is

such

To thrash with a stick. The stick was also a baston, other forms for were batten, batoon, and the current

Hence

bastinade, bastonate (17th cento beat. Also to baste; occasionally

contending.

and purchase me another

basto. is

or fowl.

In

century (translating

staff,

(1)

nations, as

Deep-bosomed. Also bathyGreek bathos, deep 4- kolpos, Both forms have been used spelled

bathykolpian. kolpic; breast.

with uk, yc, uc. The word bathos, descent from the sublime to the ridiculous, springs

a baston

was a stanza of poetry. bat.

name

bate-breeding spy.

in the 14th

stave)

in

Hence

ADONIS speaks of This sour informer, this

(club, to beat with) was called Spanish, the whole suit of clubs

And

frequent

senses.

quarrelsome, batement, lessening, abatement, bate-breeding, quarrel making, inciting to strife; Shakespeare in VENUS AND

gives the bastinado

basto; the ace, el basto.

various

bate, at odds,

is

(1593) has: Haply chaste of unhappily set This bateless edge on his keen appetite, bateful, that

with his tongue: our ears are cudgell'd. In cards, since the 17th century, the ace of clubs

mood,

THE RAPE OF LUCRECE

tonade, as every schoolboy used to know. Shakespeare, in KING JOHN (1595) uses

He

latter

Shakespeare, bated breath, subdued breathing, bateless, that cannot be blunted; Shakespeare in

in contradistinction to the

this figuratively:

At

The word in

a bastinado, bastinade, bas-

also

contend with

to

blood, bayting in my cheekes. (2) beat or flutter down; to end. In R.

a shortening of abate.

To

drie basting)

fight,

Brunne's CHRONICLE (1330) we read: Bated was the strife. Also, to cast down; hence, to humble, depress; to be dejected; to lower, reduce, lessen. In these senses,

See baston.

'wet* basting given roasting flesh

To

mann'd

To

See bast

chollericke,

(1)

away from the perch. Hence, to be restless or impatient. Shakespeare in ROMEO AND JULIET (1592) bids night Hood my un-

referred to as a dry basting (Shakespeare, THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, 1590: Lest it make

you

Scandinavian

in

blaka,

where bats might be in any

replaced by debate. Also, to beat the wings (as a falcon or hawk) and flutter

baston.

,

bakke,

blows or arguments. In the

itself

tury)

(2)

belfry.

bate.

(1596) says: Anon, anon sir, Score a pint of bastard in the Halfe Moone.

baton.

as

countries,

;

this

bast.

the former, perhaps associated through French battre with Latin batuere, to beat; the latter, replacing older forms

;

bastinado.

Cp.

flutter, as

English;

muleteers used for a bed; originally there was a phrase fils de bast, son of a packsaddle. (4) to boast. Note that bastard was applied to many things of mixed genesis: a kind of cannon (16th century) a kind of cloth (15th and 16th centuries) a kind of galley used as a war-ship; a sweet wine Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART ONE

bastard.

officers.

the wings of a hawk, or the an eye; a variant of bate, bat to phrase stick the bird are both Old The and q.v.

erotic.

from Pope's satire BATHOS, SINKING IN RHETORIC (1728)

A

pack-saddle; used in combibat-horse, one that carries the

of Longinus' essay

85

THE ART OF ,

a travesty

ON THE SUBLIME. Hence

batler

battologist

fashioned

bathetic,

bathotic.

after

also

pathetic;

While a plain and direct road

See batler.

batlet.

is

See battle.

balling.

to their hypsos, or sublime, said no track has been yet chalked out Pope, to arrive at our bathos, or profund. Other

paved

See cynarctomachy.

Batrachomyomachia. See

battalia (pie).

words formed with

bathy-, deep, include: bathyal, of the deeper regions of the sea; bathybic, dwelling in the deeps, also

See basilisk.

battard.

bathypelagic. bathylimnetic, living at the bottom of a marsh or lake, like the

battle.

In addition

to the too well

known

activity

named by

this

to

battle

meant

ondines.

beatilles.

word,

furnish with battlements,

to

and

batler.

quite apart to nourish, supply with rich pasture or food; also, to make soil

for

fertile;

also

YOU

A flat-sided stick with a handle, beating clothes. Shakespeare in AS LIKE IT (1600) has: / remember the

hence, to grow fat, to thrive. In the word was also spelled batle, battel, and is related to batten. The ad-

this sense

kissing of her batler. Later editions say batlet, as though a diminutive of bat. The

jective

meant nourishing;

battle

fruitful.

usually flat. Hence, other instruments of that shape: a paddle, a wood for putting loaves into an oven; especially, a small

grene suardis. Hence

bat for hitting the shuttlecock in the also called battledore.

spoke of (battling,

this

been

(short for

sugar,

and soda-water.

and

boy.

See batler. Also: a battledore battledore-book)

was a horn

wood with a handle. wood gave it the name.

to a flat piece of

The shape

of the

Hence a b

The

battledore boy, one learning his Thus the old saying He doesn't a bee from a battledore (sometimes

c's.

know

He

doesn't

battologist.

know A B

One

.

.

.)

that endlessly

and

use-

repeats the same thing. Greek battalogos; Battos -h logos, speaking. The

lessly

used frequently (literally by poets and playwrights of the 16th and 17th centuries who, as

and

plump

re-

shuttlecock (also shittlecock, shoottlecock, and more) was a piece of cork tufted with feathers, used as far back as the 15th century,

,

book, a single sheet, with the alphabet thereon, covered with horn and fastened

Beaufort, was also in the 19th century the name of a drink, a 'grateful compound* claret,

fat;

battledore.

placed by tennis, ping-pong (table tennis) and, especially badminton. Badminton, from the country seat of the Duke of

of

nourishing, fertilizFuller in A PISGAH-SIGHT

batteling)

battling of the

figuratively, as by Lowell in 1879: So they two played at wordy battledore. The game,

has

(1513) fresche erbis and also bailing pastures

gras,

growing OF PALESTINE (1650) exclaimed: A jolly dame, no doubt, as appears by the well-

word, common from the 15th century, were batylledore, batyndore, batteldoor, and the like. The word was also used

once vigorously enjoyed,

battill

ing;

game

Other forms of

fertile,

Douglas in his AENEIS

battledore was originally a batler or beetle, sometimes cylindrical for mangling, but

form battos may be echoic of the sound of stuttering, but is supposedly derived from a Lacedaemonian named Battus, who in 630 B.C. founded the city of Gyrene, and is mentioned in Herodotus as the stutter-

is

figuratively)

Sears said later (1858) in ATHANASIA, were only playing at shuttlecock with

words.

ing king. Hence battological; battology;

86

baude

bawdreaminy

A

battologize. Southey in the QUARTERLY REVIEW of 1818 cried: Away then with

bauson.

the battology of statistics.

faced, with a white

.

.

Joyous; forward; gay. Old French. baud, gay; Old Low German bald, bold, lively. The adjective was used in THE

baudery

There to

(q.v.), jollity,

is

make

(1400)

the

;

noun

clumsy

was more frequent.

to

English,

compounded with bawd,

bawd

mark on

its face, like

qualities of the animal, applied in scorn to (1) a stupidly persistent man, (2) a fat

man. Chatterton

several times, to

bawsyn LINGUA (1607)

also a verb bawdefy, to bedeck, gay. Somehow, in the transfer

from French

b aw son;

Also

q.v.

the badger, bausond, spotted; with white spots on a black or bay ground. From the

baude.

ROMANCE OF THE ROSE

badger,

bawsym, baucyne, boreson. Hence bauson-

.

we

(1765)

mean

used

large.

In

you

fat

read: Peace,

b aw son, peace!

perhaps Gay, jolly talk; teasing exchange; chatter. The word has softened: French bavarder, to prate, chatter; bavard, talkative; bave, saliva. Used in the 19th

bavardage.

earlier bad, a cat,

a pussy, a rabbit, used in slang senses came to be applied to a pander. Shake-

ROMEO AND JULIET (1592) CTICS baud, a baud! meaning a hare; but in AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) he has Touchstone speare in

century; now both the are neglected.

A

word and the

art

Audrey We must be married, or we must live in baudrey. The earliest form of bawd in the sense of pander (male or female) is bawdstrot; this became bawstrop and, especially in the plays of Middleton, bronstrops, as in A FAIR QUARREL

with one withe or band; a fagot is tied with two. The word was used figuratively,

I say thy sister is a bronstrops. better to be baude.

of slight things, as in Chapman's EASTWARD HOE (1605) : // he outlast not a hundred

tell

(1617)

Much

:

baudekin.

An

cloth,

the

especially, a

bundle

(as for bakers' ovens)

tied

HENRY iv, PART ONE (1596) jesters, and rash bavin wits, Soon kindled and soon burnt.

and more. Bulwer-Lytton in THE LAST OF THE BARONS (1843) says: The baudekin stripes (blue and gold) of her tunic attested her royalty.

A

variant of bawdry.

a

happy

trainl

Fine fellow.

bawdreaminy. Bawdy misbehavior. Used by Dampit, in Middleton's A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE (1608) Like Urquhart

(2)

.

Gaiety, mirth. Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) speaks of Beautee and youthe, richesse

:

A jocular term of from French beau coq, fine endearment, cock, used in the same way. Shakespeare uses the word in TWELFTH NIGHT, and twice in HENRY v (1599) e.g.: The King's a bawcock, and a heart of gold. bawcock.

,

in

his

translation

(1653)

of Rabelais,

Middleton liked to invent resounding words. Dampit, an unscrupulous: usurer

See

baude. baudrick.

wood

Shallow

iky n, bodkin,

bauderie,

Brushwood;

Shakespeare's

Bagdad, has many spellings: baldachin (which was also applied to a canopy made of such cloth) baldaquin, baudkin, bawd-

(1)

bavin. of light

such crackling bavins as thou art; and

embroidered

warp of gold thread, the woof of silk; later, any rich brocade or heavy silk. The word, from Baldacco, the Italian name for

baudery.

See babion.

bavian.

and a drunkard, when well, wench Audrey

See baldric. 87

his serving maid tries to get

Mm

bawdrik

from

be-

iny!

From some now

his cups to his bed, favors her with

Thou quean

fine examples: .

.

of

Out, you gernative quean! the

.

cupiscencyl

.

.

spinner of conOut, you babliaminy, you

villainy, the

mullipood of

.

unfeathered cremitoried quean, you

forgotten story with a

leap before you look/ Bayard became a type or symbol of blind recklessness. Also, bayard's bun, a kind of cake for horses.

bawdream-

To

ride the bayard of ten toes, to walk;

go on shanks' mare. Hence, blind self-confidence; bay-

similarly,

to

lisance of scabiosity!

bayardly,

in

bawdrik.

ardism, ignorant presumption. According to some versions of the story, Bayard was

cul-

See baldric.

from one

given not to Rinaldo alone but to him and his three brothers, sons of Agmon.

with an inviting walk. Also baudetrot,

horse changed size according to how many of the brothers mounted him. He

bawdstrot.

baude

See

(q.v.)

baldestrot,

In

strops.

,

baude.

lively

+

Probably strutt, strut:

baldystrot,

bawstrop,

Langland's

PIERS

The

bron-

be heard neighing, we are told, Ardennes on Midsummer Day. There was also a man, Bayard, Pierre du

PLOWMAN

may in

one manuscript has bawdstrot; (1362) another, bawd.

still

the

Terrail, Chevalier de

Bayard (1475-1524) distinguished under three kings, and called le chevalier sans peur et sans

See baude.

bawdy.

A

bawn.

fortified enclosure.

From

Irish

babhun, of unknown origin. Spenser, in A VIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF IRELAND

reproche.'

(1596) speaks of the square bawns which you see so strongly trenched and thrown up. The word is still used in Ireland, but

be-.

now

referring to the

or to

q.v.,

to blast completely,

A

frequent variant of bauson., as applied to a person.

in

One

in appearance a baxter,

lad,

handed her out of her

i.e.

bebleed, to beblot

beblister;

prison; beclout, to dress up ( as in a loincloth; usually a term of scorn) ; becudgel;

16th

THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818)

force,

embroider; beclip, embrace; be close, im-

century, a new feminine form was fashioned: backstress. Sir Walter Scott used the

word

add

many Old

(Chaucer, TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE, 1374: Biblotte it with thy tears); bebroyde,

Baker. Originally feminine; from 10th through 15th century used of both thereafter masculine. In the

wither;

make bloody; beblind;

baxter.

sexes;

prefix, be- is used to active verb, in

make an

English words. Chaucer is fond of the form. Among these may be listed: bebay, to bay about, hem in, surround; beblast,

yard where the cows

are milked, the cattlefold.

bawson.

As a

make a

becurl; bedaff, to

be daggle,

:

to

trail

in

fool of; bedog,

the mire,

befoul;

be daggle, to deceive;

a baker's

bedight, to equip, DORADO, 1849: Gaily

(Poe, EL a bedight, gallant knight)

bedeck

chair. After

; bedilt, hidden; bedoubt, bedoute, to dread; bedove, be-

about 1400, however, baxter was rarely used save in Scotland.

doven, plunged, immersed; bedwynge, to bayard.

One that is self-confident through

restrain;

ignorance; one firmly equipped with blind assurance. Originally, bayard, a bay horse.

befong

(Old

English

grasp), to seize; begab, to fool

fon,

to

with words,

impose upon; beghost, to make a ghost of; begin (pronounced bejin: gin, a trap,

Then, the name of the magic (bay-colored) steed King Charlemagne gave to Rinaldo.

13th

88

and

14th

centuries),

to

ensnare;

beadle

be-

be go, to go about, to encompass, to oversurvives in the participle

run, to beset

begone, as in woe-begone; begod, to deify; begrede, to weep for; behest, to promise (land of behest was a common term for

land of promise; then the noun took on the sense

to warrant;

used

(archaically, to mean to

improperly) by Spenser

command,

to

liver,

at

his

behight, to promise, to hold out

behest}',

hope,

command:

of bidding,

SHEPHERD'S

to

CALENDAR:

Love they him

called

and

.

.

But

de-

better

rope around a

besprent meadows); besprink, besprinkle; bespurt, bespurtle, to sully, to smear with abuse; bestead, to assist, relieve, be of

MER

NIGHT'S DREAM, 1590: Rain, which I could well Beteeme them, from the tem-

to

mine eyes; betine (from tine, a form of tind, tinder) to set on fire;

pest of

survives in the nautical sense, to

waylay set a

forestall,

and

to

vain Philosophy! Little hast thou bestead, Save to perplex the head; beswink, to work hard for; beteem, to think proper, to grant, to allow (Shakespeare, A MIDSUM-

striped;

belack, to find fault with; belate, to detain,

around, to besiege, to

humours, foam,

to (Arthur H. Clough, in MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE of August, 1862: Thou

delay survives in belated; belaud, to load with praise; belay, to set things around, as ornamentation, to set armed

men

:

with

time

service

bekend, known; bekiss, to cover with kisses; belace, to adorn with lace, to is

some persons when they talk, also figuratively, as in Jonson's THE POETASTER (1602) Bespawls The consaliva, as

bespreng, sprinkle (Wordsworth, AT VALLOMBROSA, 1837: The flower-

trick;

beat until one's back

bespaul, bespawl, to

bespall,

;

spatter with

brawls;

might they have behote him Hate; beh ounce, to adorn, deck out; bejape, to

stripe, to

dry lips!)

scious

name, as in THE DECEMBER (1579) .

Marry beshrew my hand, if it should give your age such cause of fear; Sir Walter Scott, THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH, 1828: Beshrew me if thou passe st this door with

late

,

so as to

bewhapped, utterly amazed, confounded;

securely, hence, in sailor's slang, there! stop! (Tie youself up!); belirt, to deceive, to cheat; belive, to re-

pecially to reveal bad things, or what one wanted to keep hidden) as in Shake-

main, also (confused with beleave) to go; belouke, to shut, to shut in or out, to

And

fasten

cleat,

etc.

it

bewray, to speak evil

belay

speare's CORIOLANUS

encompass; bemark, to make the sign of the cross; bemete, to measure, measure out (Shakespeare, THE TAMING OF THE

state of bodies

life

We have

are

many more

of,

(1607)

to expose

:

(es-

Our raiment

would bewray what

led since thy exile. And there that buzzed in the Middle

Ages.

SHREW, 1596: I shall so bemete thee with thy yard);

neap

tide,

beadle.

beneaped, left ashore by the hence beyond reach of ordinary

high water; benight, to darken, literally or figuratively, as of those whom error

bedell;

or wish

mainly

speare,

evil,

to invoke evil

still

also by del, beadel, bedel at Oxford and Cam-

bridge Universities.

deliberate; beseem, to appear, to suit in appearance, befit, be fitting; beshrew, to

later,

herald; a town-crier; a mace-

from the 10th century;

doth benight; beray, to dirty, befoul, cover with abuse; berede, to advise, to plan, to

make

A

bearer before authority; one that delivers or carries out the orders of officials. Used

figuratively,

The word was

especially with allusion

used to the

beadle as bringing punishment; thus in Shakespeare's KING JOHN (1595) Her in-

upon

:

jurie the beadle to her sinne. The dignity of a beadle was beadlehood; his jurisdic-

an exclamation (ShakeMUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, 1599: 89

bel-

beatilles

beadlery; his

tion,

office,

TALE (1611) has Leontes say of Hermione: She's a bed-swerver, even as bad as those

beadleship; his

i.e., stupid officiousqualities as a class as in Dickens* Oliver Twist (1838) ness

or

beadleism,

Cousin

beadledom.

That vulgars give

to

Guilpin in SKIALETHEIA of Truth"; 1598) prefers the ("Shadow satire to the amorous ode; even the strict-

fire.

begarred. See rochet. Scotch begary (accent on the gare) was also a noun, used in the 16th century to facings on a dress.

beatilla. Originally

applied to pieces of needlework by nuns, pincushions, samplers with pious mottos, and

Useful; expedient; fit; necesAlso behooveful; byhooful, behofuly and more. Very common from 1380 to the 18th century. Shakespeare in ROMEO

AND JULIET (1595) has: We have culled such necessaries As are behooveful for our state tomorrow.

a dish tasty indeed; Disraeli in VENETIA (1837) speaks of that masterpiece

See bever.

bebled.

The

battalia pie.

past of bebleed, to cover or

See dight; (1)

The

(2)

a

hence,

The

cries in

bellify, to beautify, also hellish,

straw, covered

Chaucer

many

embellish; bellitude.

by a

The word

short for belle

was

once good English, meaning pretty, and was employed in various phrases, as in

bed-

lesser sleep-

knew

English

THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR, 1579, uses this form and its reverse, bonibel) ;

THE

Chaucer's

straw within a mattress;

mattress.

danger; he

entered into

This prefix, from Latin

both

be-.

sheet, that formerly constituted the

spots.

has

Some

in

be-.

ding of a second-best bed and

bellus,

words.

bell-.

beautiful,

bel,

ful foods, desserts; bellaview, a fair prospect; bellibone, a fair maiden (Spenser,

(CaXtOn, CHARLES THE GREAT, 1485.* place was alle by bled) and revived

bedstraw

French

of those that have slipped out of common use are: bellaria, delight-

stain with blood, used almost always in the past tense. Used through the 15th cen-

bedight.

Also bell-; but see

bel-.

via

in the 19th by Kingsley. Cp.

variegated

sary; due.

make such

beaver,

mean

behoveful.

trifles,

odds and ends finally, odds and ends baked in a pie: cocks' combs, sweetbreads, giblets in merry mixture. A good cook can

grand

See bottle.

beetle.

Literally little blessed things/ a diminutive of Latin beatus, blessed.

of the culinary art, a

See besom.

beesom.

beatilles.

other knick-knacks. Hence, trinkets,

to genial

(1623) defines aprication (q.v.) as a beaking in the Sunne.

night-cap's overawde As a beadle's better statesman than a bawde.

Also beatilia,

Hence beehing, exposure

bake.

he avers, Will of the two affoord the satyr e grace, Before the whyning lovesong shall have place: And by so much his

The

To bask in the sun, or before a The word is probably a mild form of

warmth. Cockeram

est Plato,

tury

titles.

beelc.

Tweedledum.

from

bold'st

(1386)

the

:

He

[my pretty thing]

THE MERCHANT'S TALE

OF BATH'S TALE han my bele chose

WIFE

that wolde .

.

.

Congreve in the

THE WAY OF THE WORLD of Whole belles as(1698) speaks semblees of coquettes and beaux; Lady to

O perilous fyr that in the bed(1386) straw bredeth!

Epilogue

A person unfaithful to the marriage bed. Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S

Montague in a

:

bedswerver.

belles passions.

90

letter of

1716 refers to the

But spare

me

a bellicose

beme

belaccoil belle!

Note that the bellarmine, a drink-

ing-mug of capacious belly and narrow neck, took its name (and shape) as a Netherlands Protestant satire on Cardinal Bellarmine (1542-1621; beatified 1924). D'Urfey in PILLS TO PURGE MELANCHOLY

and

(1719) listed jugs, mugs,

pitchers,

Friendly greeting. accoyle. Cp. bel-. Spenser, in

Also

belive

ately)

to

mean

bel-

bilive.

Later

by

(in the 17th century)

came

by-and-by.

This

bell-.

THE FAERIE

come

the same process of human procrastination as altered presently (which first meant at the present moment, immedi-

and

bellarmines of state. belaccoil.

Pluto's house are

prefix,

from Latin bellum,

war, has given us a number of English words. Bellacity, a spirit of warlikeness, is

only in the 18th century dictionaries; bellatrice, a female warrior, a

QUEENE (1596) her salewed with seemly belaccoil,, Joyous to see her safe after long

likewise

toil

and the common belligerent developed a dictionary form belli gerate, to wage war. Belligerous, full of warlike spirit, is also

A

belamour.

virago. Belliferous, bringing war, is rare;

loved one, a sweetheart; a

lover, a mistress. Cp. bel-. Spenser, in

THE

same

to

Good

French

bel, fair

as a

+

amys, bellamy. Cp.

Thus

in a

is

Ionian^ warlike,

man

Towne-

goddess

bellarmine.

Mystery (1460) we read: Welcom be thou, belamy!

from Bellona, the Roan imposing and

of war;

woman might

strong-willed Bellona.

ami, friend. Also bele bel-.

dropped out of

bellipotent, mighty in war, is now used only to create a pompous effect. Bel-

Often used (13th form of address.

friend.

18th century)

more common in the

is

sense; bellatory has

use;

belamour, the partner of his sheet.

belamy.

bellicose

rare;

FAERIE QUEENE (1596), said: But as he nearer drew, he easily Might scerne that it was not his sweetheart sweet, Ne yet his

See

be called a

bel-.

ley

A

See aeromancy.

A

belswagger. lant; a pimp.

HYMNE

HONOUR OF BEAUTIE

bel-.

belomancy.

kind look, a loving look. belgard. Italian bel guardo. Spenser uses the word in THE FAERIE QUEENE and in his

IN

See

belle.

swaggering bully or galbel may be from the

The

French, but the form bellyswagger also appeared. Used from the 16th into the

(1596):

Sometimes within her eyelids they unfold Ten thousand sweet belgards, which to their sight Doe seem like twinckling

18th century. (1678)

starres in frostie night.

think

cried:

I'll sell

Dryden in THE KIND KEEPER Fifty

my selff

guineas! Dost thou .

.

.

thou impudent

belswagger.

Speedily, eagerly; at once. As blive^ as quickly as possible. Middle Eng-

belive.

lish bi life, be live,

The

with

life

(liveliness)

belvedere.

beme.

.

HOOD AND GUY OF GISBORNE has: Fast Robin he hied to Little John, He thought to loose him blive. ballad of ROBIN

the

A

See gazebo.

trumpet. Used from the 8th to

15th

century. Figuratively, parade, trumpeting; ARTHUR in 1400 spoke of a Pater Noster wythout any beeme. Hence,

Surrey (THE AENEID, 1547) To bring the horse to Pallas' temple blive; Spenser (THE And down to FAERIE QUEENE, 1596)

as a verb, to trumpet; to trumpet (loudly proclaim) a thing; to summon with trum-

:

:

pet-call.

91

benthal

beneme beneme.

See benim.

benizon of heaven. Scott in THE FAIR MAID / have slept sound PERTH (1828)

OF

beneurte.

Happiness. Beneurous, happy,

a 15th century borrowing. French bienheureuK. Used by Caxton, in the GOLDEN LEGEND and other 15th century works, as

:

under such a benison. Back in 1755 Samuel

is

the translation

of Ovid's META-

(1480)

MORPHOSES: Benewrte and honour

laste

her not longe. benevolence.

Johnson in

now

"not the

word

his DICTIONARY said of benison:

still

and in poetry. Cp. malison.

A

worn by men in and early 19th century. Brewer derives it from the name of a tailor, but it is more probably a Biblical benjamin.

Used

the

since

15th cen-

tury for a gift of money, a contribution to help the poor. Used by various kings in 1473 of a forced first, Edward IV,

contribution imposed There were, of course,

upon

their subjects.

many protests. Lord so preposterous a name as benevolence, for that which is a

unless luricrously," but survives in historical fiction

used,

the

late

short coat

18th

transference,

Benjamin being the youngest

brother of Joseph. An 18th century ladies' riding cloak was called a Joseph, from the colors" in the Bible.

Thus

Digby in 1644:

"coat of

of a

Goldsmith in THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD

malevolence indeed. Pepys in his DIARY, 31 August, 1661: The benevolence proves an occasion of so much discontent .

.

.

everywhere, that

been

set

up.

it

had

And

better

it

had never

Chatham Parliament: The spirit in

1775

pointed out in which now resists your taxation in America

same which formerly opposed loans, benevolences, and shipmoney in England.

is

the

benim. To take away; to rob; to deprive. Also beneme; after 1500 usually benum, benumb. (Benum, to deprive, added a b

by analogy with dumb, limb, meaning was gradually limited

etc.

The

to depriv-

ing (a part of the body) for feeling.

Numb

of its capacity a shortening from

is

many

(1766) pictures Olivia dressed in a green Joseph, richly laced with gold, and a whip in her hand. Peacock in NIGHTMARE ABBEY gives us the is

jamin.

bennet.

(1)

.

(often identified as the avens) which the middle ages believed drove the devil away;

hence called (herb) bennet, Old French beneite; Latin benedicta, blessed. The ORIUS SANITATIS (1486) quotes Platearius:

'Where the root is in the house the devil can do nothing, and flies from it; wherefore it is blessed above all other herbs/

bynymeth from man

plants, herbs,

.

May

.

.

ours

old stalk of grass, left ,

Urquhart in

his witte.

An

winter and early spring; eaten then by cattle, or the seeds by birds. An early form of bent (grass) (2) An herb in late

benumb. Benim was a common word from the 10th to the 16th century; Chaucer uses it several times twice in THE PARSON'S TALE (1386) the likeness of the devil, and bynymeth man from God :

younger brother: His heart

seen to beat through his upper ben-

translation

his

Rabelais, ascribes to

Fervency of lust

is

it

(1653)

abated by certain drugs,

and

roots

.

.

.

be spared!

Rennet, keckbuglosse. [There

benison.

opinion regarding mandrake;

A

shortening of the Latin benediction, which is now the usual English word. Shakespeare, in KING LEAR (1605),

Blessing.

refers

to

the

bountie and

the

92

of

another quality:

is

mandrake, a different cp.

man-

dragora.] benthal.

Relating to (ocean)

over 1000 fathoms.

depths of benthos,

From Greek

benumb

bested

deep of the

sea; related to bathos,

as

tively,

whence

be used figurawhen one reveals his benthal

May

bathysphere.

also

surviving in place-names as bere f be ere, bear, ber.

tury;

beshrew.

See shrew;

be-.

ignorance.

benumb.

besmotered.

See benim.

bergamask. A rustic dance. Italian bergamasco, of Bergamo, a province of Venice; the dance supposedly mocked its country

From

ways.

the same

besom.

its fruit; also,

or purify.

fragrant oil prepared from the fruit rind. is also a bergamot, an excellent

variety

.

with

bessume (1493) of peacock's feathers; to a beasome (1697) of laurel; to (1756) a birchen beesom. Lyly in EUPHUES (1580)

pear

prince pear) MER NIGHT'S

A common Teutonic word,

variant spellings: besme, besum, beesom, bissome, etc. There are references to a

the

There

of

A bundle of rods used for punish-

ment; a similar bundle used for sweeping, a broom; hence, anything used to cleanse

town came the berg-

amot, a citrus tree and

See smotherlich.

(Turkish beg-armudi, Shakespeare in A MIDSUMDREAM (1590) says Will it

says:

There

is

no more difference between

to have a bergomask dance you Come, your burgomask. Thackeray in PENDENNIS (1850) says: A delightful odour of musk and bergamot was shaken through the house. Among the CRYS OF LONDON

them, than between a broome and a beesome. Carlyle in THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Do

swept the mountains. From its shape, a comet has been called (1566) the fyrie

.

please .

.

.

.

.

(BAGFORD BALLADS; 1680) resounded:

(1837)

steel-besom, Rascality

boosome, (1639) a firie bissome. Which is sweeping enough! However, a besom-head

See barth. See byrlakin.

berlaken.

With

:

you want any damsons or bergume paref bergh.

says:

brushed back; Tyndall in MOUNTAINEERING (1862) Grandly the cloud-besom is

is

a stupid or foolish person.

And

bee-

some (though not so listed in O.E.D., which gives that form in the quotation from Shakespeare here under conspectuity) is one form as also bisene, bysome, bisme,

Before 1400, a warrior; later, a poetic word for a man. Sometimes used interchangeably with baron. The correberne.

sponding feminine word was burd, lady;

beasom,

of

blind;

part

maiden. Frequent in ballads.

blind; blinding, as in Shakespeare's

HAM-

burd-alone was used, of

LET

in

all

poetical

alone.

use,

The

usually

young

lady,

The term either sex, to mean

(1602)

Roland King Henrie

besonio. bestad.

See barnard.

berner.

ciple bersatrix. sitter.

A

From French

berceau, cradle

+

trix,

of

See bezonian.

An

old form of the past parti-

beset.

Also bestadds. Used by

sides

bested, q.v.

years later.

A

mobled queen'

FAERIE QUEENE: But both attonce on both him bestad. This is a variant of

feminine

berwe.

'the

Spenser in the AUGUST ECLOGUE, THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) and in THE

rocker of cradles; a baby-

ending. Found in Bailey's DICTIONARY of 1751, but applicable 200

a

with

bisson,

threatening the flame With bisson rheume.

ballads have Sir

riding burd-alane, whereas lay burd-alane.

bysone

shady place, a grove. Also be-

bested.

rowe. Used from the
Placed,

situated;

settled;

ar-

ranged; set with, ornamented. Also, placed 93

bever bestented in

certain

a

situation,

troubled, beset by

hard

bested;

supplanted TIS

bested with)

(earlier,

second syllable;

on the

bested, accent

first

says:

(1393)

Go

past to overcome, to worst. of best, participle is Bested, also bestead, bestad, bestadde, in Gower beset. of the old past participle Whan they CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1393) syllable,

cors

is

this)

bet

,

A

betony.

and axe redily what means quickly.

plant,

flowers, helpful to

the house, but

ben glad I shall be glad, And sorry whan in HENRY vi, they ben bestad. Shakespeare saw a fellow / never PART TWO (1593) says: worse bestead. There was also a verb

from be whence also

-f-

stead,

steady.

At

covery

Barbour in

support,

bevel.

And

which

sur-

The

sag

:

distend] well bestented bees sweet bag.

bestiate.

To make

says:

beastly. Latin bestia,

.

.

amphitheatre; (2) a moralizing using animals to point lessons, as

may be

bever.

A

and a

bite

(figura-

straight

though they them-

drink; time for drinking; a sip between meals, especially in

[Bever was also a bavour, baviere, beavoir of beaver, originally (in French) a child's bib; Old French bave> saliva; but used in variant

A

dialects.

from

English for the lower part of a visor, the movable face-guard of a helmet. Sometimes beaver was used for the visor. An early movable beaver is pictured on the

vivisectionist.

Old form

/

used in north

written in the Middle Ages. bestiarian, however, is a friend of the animals, especially, in the 19th century, an anti-

bet.

hence

away from a

Marlowe in DOCTOR FAUSTUS and (1590) speaks of thirty meals a day ten bevers. The word bever was also used as a verb, to take a snack; but there was another verb of the same form bever, from Old English beofian, to tremble, meaning to tremble, to quake, and still

sometimes Anglicized to beastiate. Bestiary (1) a fighter of wild beasts in the treatise,

sloping;

Slanty,

in beverage.

means

Roman

Of

copy;

the afternoon. In the first sense (from Latin bib ere, to drink) the word survives

Used in the 17th century especially of liquor, as by Owen Feltham in REbestiates SOLVES (1628) Drunkenness even the bravest spirits. The verb was .

Cp.

selves be bevel.

beast.

:

copy.

gret

said:

straight line or course tively) of behavior. Shakespeare in SONNET 121,

Distended. In Herrick's HES-

stent, stend,

is

(1375)

of spycery,

coltsfoot.

PERIDES (1648), the poem OBERON'S FEAST gives the one literary use of this form (an

and

Spanish BAPTISTA ST.

thare

betone

,

emphatic form of

from

efficacious as a

more

Quhare mene makis drink

stead.

vives in extend

purple

betonica; Pliny (HISTORIA NATURALIS; 70 it vettonica, ascribing its disA.D.) called to a tribe, the Vettones.

thought in ST. TERESA (1669) of our mantles of thick cloth which many times besteaded us. We still say stood us in good

bestented.

still

spiked

evil spirits

Hence frequently used in foods. Betony is from the Late Latin betonia,

Woodhead

nights,

with

keep

healer.

to bestead, to (from the 16th century) to take the place help, to be of service to; of,

AMAN-

jousteth well, an-

he,

quod

bet,

:

to prop,

in CONFESSIO

other bet. In the frequent expression Go bet (Chaucer, THE PARDONER'S TALE, 1386:

Accent on the not to be confused with

difficulties.

fears, dangers,

Gower One

bet.

of better, comparative of

For several hundred years both forms were used, but by 1600 better had good.

effigy of

94

Thomas, Duke of Clarence, who

bib

bevue

wild goat of Persia, the bezoar-goat. Edward Topsell, in THE HISTORIE OF SERPENTS

was killed in 1421. Shakespeare in HAMLET has Hamlet inquire about the (1602) saw you not his face? and Then ghost: Horatio answer: Oh yes, my lord, he

(1608) advises: The juice of apples being drunk, and endive, are the proper bezoar The against the venom of a phalangie.

wore his beaver up. Hence beaver-sight,

The word

eye-hole of a helmet.

beaver

Earl

is

:

Why

now that The animal beaver

anecdote

beaver

his is

A

Aryan form bhebhou, brown. vizor,

vesoure, vysour, the upper part of

vysere,

originally

is

endure a

upf

related to the

Old

18th

adjective,

bezoardie,

was sometimes used as a noun

And

in 1693 Sir

Thomas

the

face

Blount in his NATURAL HISTORY remarked that everything good against poysons commonly term'd bezoardical. (Bezoar

pronounced in two accent on the first.)

syllables,

is is

with the

A raw recruit. Later, a beggar, a rascal. Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART TWO remarks that Great men oft dye by vile bezonians. And Massinger, in THE bezonian.

through in a beaver. Also visiere, mainly in other senses: a a mask to conceal the face; countenance; hence, a false outward show. Spenser in to see

these

MAID OF HONOUR (1632) , speaks of the slut for half a mouldy biscuit, sell a to herself poor bisognion. The word was It is from the Italian besonio. originally

who would,

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) speaks of the cunning traine By which deceipt

An

venom. In the 17th and

the

instead of bezoar.

with videre, visum, to see (vision), visor has been used to mean a hole the visures

bevue.

translation

was

French vis, face, as in vis-a-vis, face to face; but occasionally, as though connected

doth maske in visour

tyrant's

century,

bezoar tic,

visor

more frequently, the whole front so that in use the term was interpart, changeable with beaver. This word is from

crafty

his

etc.

guard;

vizard;

in

ROMULUS AND TAR-

(1637) is QUIN, uses the word figuratively: Valor a kind of besar, which comforts the hearts the better of subjects, that they may

query in POPULAR EDUCATION (1845) should the author suppress this

ton's

Monmouth,

of

of Malvezzi's

sometimes used to imply concealed (down) or exposed, revealed (up) as in Hamil-

to bisogno, need, want, applied in derision from to came the raw soldiers who Italy

faire.]

error of inadvertence. French

Spain, in the

+

15th and 16th centuries,

in his MEMOIRS

proper equipment or means. Robert Johnson, in his translation (1601) of Botero's THE WORLD, AN HISTORICALL

He

DESCRIPTION,

vue, view. Also bevew. Used in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Scott bes3

bad

without

said: (Lockhart, 1839) content himself with avoiding such bevues in future. Ah, sweet content!

speaks of a base besonio, the fitter for spade than the sword. Both forms, after a lapse of two centuries, were

will

An

bezoar.

Through from

antidote,

French,

Persian

a

counterpoison.

Spanish,

pad-zahr,

revived in historical novels: Scott in THE

and Arabic

Base and pilfering MONASTERY (1820) and marauders', Bulwer-Lytton besognios Out in THE LAST OF THE BARONS (1843) on ye, cullions and bezonians! :

counterpoison,

zahr, poison. The word had many spellings in English, as besert, bezahar, beazer,

bazar, bezoard. It

:

was applied particularly

to a 'stone' (the bezoar-stone)

,

believed to

bib.

To

drink; to tipple.

The word may

be imitative in origin, or from Latin

be an antidote, found in the digestive organs of ruminant animals, especially the

bib ere,

95

to

drink

probably imitative in

bifarious

biblioorigin.

Also

beb.

Chaucer

says,

in

production of books; biblioklept, a book thief; bibliopegy, the art of book-binding, hence bibliopegist; bibliophagist, a devourer of books, an ardent reader; biblio-

THE

This Miller has so (1386) wisely bebbed ale That as an horse he snorteth in his sleep. The word was

REEVE'S TALE

:

naturally very common, and developed many forms: bibitory, relating to drink;

pyrate, a burner of books; bibliopoly, bib-

fond of drink: a writer in BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE (1834) calls the

'buries*

liopolery, bookselling; bibliotaph,

bibatious,

middle

away. The still current bibliophile was contrasted with the bibliophobe but had

bibacious more than health

class

requires; bibacity, bibbery, bibation, bibition; a bibber, bibbler, or a biberon; bib-

its

its sense from the secmeans and long empty talk. part, Bibesy means a too great desire to drink;

bibble-babble takes

the form imbibe. formed from it:

Two

a

membrane

in

of persons who bibulate gin with the housekeeper. ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE of April 12, 1882, speaks (1828)

and

ith

current nouns were

word bibulous was more frequently used; it meant both fond of drinking and (tech-

bib, a fish that distends

head

as

though

filling

nically) able to absorb moisture; in his translation (1790) of the

with liquid; and bib, the cloth tucked under a child's chin when it drinks. This it

is

also a rare

anatomical use, as of a muscle ( the biceps) but applicable also to a committee ,

with co-chairmen or a party with two leaders, or Siamese twins.

form biberage

(influenced perhaps by beverage; see bever) meaning a drink given in payment. See bibulate.

bidale. all

biblio-.

See aeromancy.

from Greek biblion^ book, dein the literary field. Often they veloped were used for humorous effect. Among tic terms,

are:

bibliodasm,

destruction

party (ale-drinking)

neighbors

were

bid,

to

which

when,

as

of friends at a feast." Bidales were forbidden in Wales by a law (1534) of King Henry VIII, and later in England by the

A

bookseller. During the 18th bibliopole. and 19th centuries many formal or pedan-

these

A

the

Blount explained in 1656, "an honest man decayed in his estate is set up again by the liberal benevolence and contribution

See bibliopole.

bibliomancy.

Having two heads. In current

bicipital.

times as adornment. Hence, one's best bib and tucker means one's best attire. See

There

Cowper ODYSSEY

speaks of bibulous sponges.

bib was also applied to a neck cloth for adults, sometimes for protection, some-

tucker.

tells

water

of the extraordinary capacity for bibulation displayed by the regular soldier. The

bib, to drink, survives in

its

book-shelves) pause.

tipple; a humorous diminufrom Latin bib ere, to drink, whence also imbibe; see bib. Used in the 18th and 19th centuries. BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE

ond

afflicted

I

tive

bemartyred believer in the Tory faith. To is to keep on drinking though

today are

my

At which

To

bibulate.

bibble

many even bibesy. The verb

excess in the bibliomane.

(looking at

bing, also as a compound: ERASER'S MAGAZINE (1833) speaks of a port-bibbing, gout-

too

one who

books by keeping them locked

Puritans.

The

not the word

of

bifarious.

practice,

nevertheless

if

survives.

Ambiguous, capable of being interpreted in two ways; taking a dual stand, so as to be accepted according to

books; bibliodastj destroyer of books; bibliognost, an expert on books; bibliogony,

96

bigama

billingsgate

the liking of each listener. The even more plural multifarious has survived. E. Ward in HUDIBRAS REDIVIVUS (1707) spoke of Some strange, mysterious verity In old

Tudor

Roger de Coverley frequently observed: "There is much to be said on both sides."

MERRY latin

See cynarctomachy.

at

recover weight and strength

Henry

looks

upon

early

as

1557.

From

came the expression

biliment. bill.

the

comforting night head-

PART TWO (1598)

as

least

bilbo,

bilbo-lord,

a swaggerer, a bully.

after illness; especially, one's strength after pregnancy; to grow big; to make big. Shakespeare uses the word as a noun, in

iv,

Armada

,

sword,

HENRY

in Spain, a center bars were sup-

The

to fetter the English prisoners; (1588) but the word, and the instrument, appear

wrote of a bigenerous beast of unkindly

at night, as a

in

sense

this

sword-making. posedly shipped on the Spanish

procreation.

Prince

bilboe.

of

Hybrid; with characteristics two genera. Nature has been generous. Guillim in his book on HERALDRY (1610)

dress, in

THE

/ combat challenge of this (2) A long iron bar, with

:

English called Bilboa)

of

wound round

wears

HAMLET. Both words are supposed to come from the city Bilbao (which the

bigenerous.

head

WIVES)

ground. Shakespeare uses

A

the sense of a cloth

man who

shackles for the ankles of prisoners, and a lock to fasten one end to the floor or

A woman living in bigamy. Also bigame, applied to a bigamous man or 15th and 16th century term, woman. no longer needed. apparently

To

My

a sword, as by Shakespeare (again in

bigama.

biggen.

Walter

Sir

by

tough (1826) : were at drawn bilbo.

old knight and you Also transferred to the

bifarious prophesy. Sir

Big-endian.

revived

writers;

in WOODSTOCK.

Scott,

See billyment.

See glaive. Scurrilous

billingsgate.

and violent abuse.

the 16th century Billings Gate, London, brought inevitably to mind the foul-

as

By

his father asleep

mouthed workers (women as well as men) and by the mid-

with his crown on his pillow: Sleep with it now! Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet As he whose brow with homely

in the fish-market there,

biggen bound Snores out the watch of night. (Quite a phenomenon, a snoring

nth century the name of the gate was being used for the language there spoken. The Third Earl of Shaf tesbury, in CHARAC-

brow!)

TERISTICKS

and

bigote. The moustache. In Mabbe's translation (1623) of Aleman's GUZMAN DE ALFARACHE we read: It seeming perhaps

unto them that

.

.

bigotes high, turn'd

write in

up

bearing their with hot yrons

.

.

is

(1671) stated: // you would please a Russian with musick, get

a

parently unconnected with bigot.

consort

of

billingsgate

nightingales,

which, joyn'd with a flight of screech owls, a nest of jackdaws, a pack of hungry

A

sword, of fine temper and Used by Shakespeare (THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, 1598) and other (1)

.

"a scolding impudent slut." THE PRESENT

.

bilbo.

.

STATE OF RUSSIA

should be their salvation and bring them to heaven. The word is Spanish, ap-

.

speaks of philosophers

who can be contented to learned billingsgate. The word

quiescent, but the practice still is loud. Bailey (1751) defines a billingsgate as

the

.

(1710)

divines

and

wolves, seven hogs in a windy day, as many cats with their corrivals . .

elastic blade.

.

97

bissextile

billyment

A

variant form of biliment, billyment. itself short for habiliment , garment. Via

French

habiller, to clothe,

make

from

fit,

Latin habilis, fit, able, suitable, from the root hab, to have. Usually in the plural, garments,

billyments,

and

and

puns on

clothing.

(1597)

"hi-,

two

+

manus, hand.

One

me

biscoter, this is

pay

PART ONE

used in Ur-

(1653) of Rabelais: they should biscot and thrum

Wheresoever

Biscuit. Also,

(3)

From

one, bis co tin.

a small

the 16th to the 18th

century the preferred spelling was bisket; then in imitation of modern French the

referring to the highest order of mammalia, of which man is the only known

was changed to biscuit but the sound was kept the same. The Latin form would be biscoctum panem, twice-cooked spelling

species.

My

to

translation

their wenches.

birdsnie.

iv,

,

Shakespeare

that hot termagant Scot had scot and lot too. (2) To caress.

quhart's

tury pedantic way (used first by Buffon and Cuvier, in their natural histories) of

lot)

with;

HENRY

in

this

bimane. This

is

and

settle

Or

:

of the bimanous

(or bimanal) tribe is a a late 18th and 19th cen-

the whole shoot, some-

(shot

to

From French

Two-handed animals; men.

From Latin

lot

thoroughly,

paid

bimana.

(slang)

times expanded, in mistake of its origin, to the whole shooting-match. Also, to pay scot

See blin.

bilynne.

shot

sweet one; a term of en-

bread.

dearment. Used in

17th century plays. nie (also birdsnye) means eye; old eye became my nye. R. Davenport in

The

myn

Shame; mockery, scorn. Old High bismer, ridicule, from bi, by +

bismer.

German

smier, smile. Also bismer e, bysmer, bismor, busmar, busmeyr, and the like. Bismer is

THE CITY NIGHT-CAP (1661) cried Oh, my sweet birds-nie! What a wench have I of

mock; and from 1300 to

thee!

also a verb, to

birthdom.

1550 was applied to a person worthy of scorn. From the time of King Alfred

Inheritance, birthright. So in

the O.E.D. In his notes to Shakespeare's MACBETH (1605), however, G. B. Harri-

son defines the

(about 890) to the mid-1 6th century, the used, e.g. Chaucer, THE REEVE'S TALE (1386) As ful of hokir and of bis-

land.

semare. (Hokir, contempt, abuse.)

word was

word as meaning native Macduff is speaking, fled to England from Scotland and Macbeth's savagery: Let us rather Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men Bestride our

bismotered.

Leap year, the year containthe bissext. Also bisext, bisex, bysext. ing Latin bis, twice + sextus, sixth. The cal-

downfall'n birthdome. biscot.

Three words have taken

A

fine exacted in the 16th

See smotherlich.

bissextile.

centuries,

endar as improved under Julius Caesar created 'leap year/ by adding a day in February. This was inserted after Feb-

repair ditches,

ruary 24, the sixth day before the calends

(1)

syllable

this

form.

and 17th

from landowners who failed to marsh banks, etc. The first may be Old English by, borough,

of

which survives in by-law and such names as

Derby,

The second

is

Old English

scot,

jective

contribution, payment, which survives in the expression scot free. The sc was also

pronounced

like sh,

whence

to

March

making

which day was counted twice, (in English, both adand noun) Tomlinson (1854) it bissextile

.

pointed out a refinement of the Julian calendar: Thus 1600 was bissextile, 1700

and 1800 were not

pay one's 98

so.

Mrs. Somerville

bisson

blaze

had observed, a

pale yellow ("as blake as butter") , whence also blakes came to mean cow dung dried

score of years earlier, that

in addition to

a bissextile be suppressed every 4000 years, the length of the if

this,

for fuel.

year will be nearly equal to that given by

bias.

That is one act of suppression we must remember and be ready to observation.

perform. bisson.

See

seonde;

bi,

besom.

from

A

(1)

A common

breath.

blast,

Teuton term; Old Norse blasa, to blow. Used 10th through 14th centuries. (2) The supposed twofold motion of the stars,

seeing.

producing changes in terrestrial weather. The term bias was invented for this by Van Helmont (about 1640) he also in-

black acre.

vented the longer-lived word

Perhaps

by, near at

hand

4-

bi-

seonde,

;

A name

used in court, to

dis-

tinguish one plot of ground from another: black acre; white acre; green acre some-

what

like "party of the first part" etc.

colors

blate.

(1)

gas.

Used

Pale; bashful; backward.

from Old English through the 17th cen-

The

tury,

were perhaps originally chosen from

revive

various crops. After a time, to black-acre meant to litigate over land; in Wycherley's

surviving in dialect. Scott tried to the word in QUENTIN DURWARD

(1823)

You

:

are

not

blate

will

you

litigious

never lose fair lady for faint heart. (2) To babble, to prate. Pepys in his DIARY

Mrs. Blackacre; her son Jerry Blackacre is so well trained by her in court

has passed between other people and him.

procedure that he wins

Loud

THE PLAIN DEALER

widow

(1677)

the

is

bladarius.

A dealer in

in the dictionaries

of her land.

grain.

.

Blaed

bletherskate;

opposed to

blatherskite, a noisy talker

of nonsense. This

though influenced by Latin bladum, Old French bled> corn, wheat. By the llth century blade was transferred from plants to the broad flat part of an oar, a spade and the like; and by the 14th, to the blade of a knife and a sword.

word became common

in the United States from the lines Jog on your gaitj ye bletherskate in MAGGIE

LAUDER (1650) which was a favorite song American Revolution. Burns, in TAM o' SHANTER (1790) speaks of A bletherin, blusterinj drunken blellum. Even Coleridge (1834) was annoyed by blethering, though he did not go so far (Ameri,

in the

blake. Pale. As a verb, to make or to become pale. This is from a common Teuton word blikan, shine, but in Old English it lost the sense of white from shining light, and came to mean white from lack of color pale. Hence it was often confused, in form then in meaning, with that other word for absence of color,

1751)

me what

and empty chatter being what

talk

leaf)

black.

blates to

are,

common Teuton

(of grass, as

He

other words developed: blaterthey ate t to babble; blateration; blateroon, a foolish talker. Also blather; blether;

Found only

(Bailey, 1751)

was Old English, from a form, for blade

all

entered:

(1666)

can-wise)

ering blaze.

A

lish

THE

variant form of blazon, to pub-

forth.

Queen

Figuratively (as listed by Bailey, blake also meant skin-white, i.e.,

as to call the offender a bleth-

idiot!

Spenser begins his song to

Elizabeth, in the April Eclogue of

SHEPHERD'S

CALENDAR that

in

Ye (1579) blessed :

this

dayntye nymphes, brooke Do bathe your brest, Forsake your watry bowresj and hether looke, At my

naked. In various parts of England, the word took different hues, as ash-colored,

99

blonk

bleb

And

on

in English in the senses to stop, to stay,

Parnasse dwell, Whence floweth Helicon the learned well, Helpe me to blaze Her

to stay silent. Used by Chaucer and Spenser, who in THE FAERIE QUEENE says Did th f other two their Nathemore

request:

eke you

virgins

that

worthy praise, Which in her sexe doth

and

all

.

A

bleb. glass.

bubble of

Also blebb.

An

as

air,

bilynne, etc. It was a frequent word from to about 1600, and would make

in water or

imitative word,

about 950

mak-

lips, like bubble, blob, blubber, blobber, etc. Also used as

out!" Blin!

a verb, as in Clare's THE VILLAGE MINSTREL

blissom.

(1821)

:

While big drops

.

.

.

bleb

ablissoming.

Color, hue; complexion. Also blio, bleo, bio, ble, bleye. (Note that this word

blee.

(1850)

With

his eyes so grey of blee.

bleat.

From

the

10th to the 14th century. blethe.

lacking in spirit. Also the 10th to the 14th cen-

See blate.

bletonism. sation"

the

Divining; indicating "by senlocation of subterraneous

springs. Derived

happy

See blue

A

(blueman)

black man, Negro. See blue Wright's DICTIONARY OF OB-

(blueman) SOLETE ENGLISH .

from a Mr. Bleton who,

CULINARIAE

the recipe for a bioa pound of rys, les manger of fish: hem wel and wasch, and seth tyl they (1791)

Tak

hem

versal attention

perche, or the lopuster,

his possessing the

above

A

bletonist, bletonite, a pracfaculty." titioner with the divining-rod whose most

instrument was

(naturally)

From

the prefix

common Teutonic

be,

off

breste;

and the

linnam, to cease; used

and

of to

kest sugur yt

let

pound and

kele;

and do thereto

of almandys;

salt also

nym

the

and boyle yt, and thereto, and serve

forth.

of

witch-hazel. blin.

bloman: a

use.

mylk

effective

lists

(1849)

according to the MONTHLY MAGAZINE of 1821 "for some years past has excited uni-

by

.

blomanger. An early English dish. It can be made with capon, or other fowl. Let us note, from Warner's ANTIQUITATES

tury.

blether.

the United

father hands out cigars.

trumpeter. There are no instances of this

Timid,

From

bleath.

new moon. In

See belive.

blive.

Woman.

Naked, bare. Also

blete.

States, the

bio.

See blee.

bleo.

held at the next

Barrett

Browning The captain, young Lord Leigh,

:

A

term of blithe, merry. 17th and 18th centuries, blithemeat lingers in Scotland. In China, the feast is the

poetically in

Elizabeth

party or feast at the birth

From

of a child.

Middle English; obsolete before Shakespeare, but frequent in early ballads and metrical romances, whence it was revived by 19th centuryas

A

blithemeat.

not related to Anglo Saxon blae, blue.)

poets,

it

In heat. As a verb, to couple; used 16th through 18th century of a ram and a ewe. Hence, to be lustful, to go

the

withering hay with pearly gems.

Used only

"Cut

a better exclamation than, say,

ing a bubble with the

is

.

.

cruel vengeance blin. It also appeared as

excell.

blonk.

A steed,

a war-horse. Also blanka,

blank, blonke; Old High German blanch, white. Used from Beowulf to the 16th century; a poetic term.

100

blue

blore blore.

A

favorite

word

tion

blowing or blast. A Chapman's; in his transla-

violent of

THE

of

(1598)

and the north

The

ILIAD:

west wind

join in a sudden blore. Sometimes used to mean the air: Chap.

.

.

man's THE ODYSSEY (1614) into the

DICTIONARY "an expressive word, but

blore. Johnson's

open

calls it

(1775)

not used"; poetry.

Vanish* d again

:

it

There

however, lingered in

has, is

also a verb blore, surviv-

ing in dialects, meaning to

Both are probably

a

wench;

prostitute.

Also

blowing. The O.E.D. gives all its examples in the 19th century; but Shad well in THE

SQUIRE

OF ALSATIA

remark

to

has

(1688)

Cheatly

booby country fellow he

the

trying to gull: be between thee

is

What

ogling there will

and the blowings! Old staring at thy equipage! And every buttock shall fall down before thee!

A variant of

blowess.

Hall in his

first

wanton

blowze, q.v. Bishop SATIRE (1597) wrote: Nor

nor wandring knight, Legend I out in rymes all richly dight Nor list I sonnet of my mistresse face, To ladies

paint some

blowesse

with

a

.

for

my

borrowed

best availe.

Or

Such hunger-staruen let

it

never

live,

or

timely die.

A

beggar's wench, a trull. Bur-

THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621) says: / had rather marry a fair one, and put it to the hazard, than be ton

in

troubled with a blowze. Bailey (1751) defines a blowze as "a fat, red-fac'd, bio ted

wench, or one whose head

is

dressed like

a slattern." Shakespeare declares, in TITUS ANDRONICUS (1588) : Sweet blowse, you are a

beautious

blowze d,

Thus

blue

tradesman; hence, blue-apron apron, statesman, a tradesman who interferes in politics, blue beans, bullets (of lead) ;

blue-beat, to beat black

blanket, the sky.

and

blue, blue

blue blood,

(one

of)

from the Spanish idea aristocratic families show

that the veins of

through the skin a 'truer blue' than those of commoners, blue bonnet, also blue cap, a Scotsman. To burn blue, of a candle, to

burn without red or yellow

light:

an omen

of death, or sign of the presence of ghosts or the Devil. Shakespeare in RICHARD

m

(1594) says: The lights burne blew! blue bottle, a beadle; also a policeman. Shake-

speare in HENRY iv, PART TWO says to a beadle: / will have you as soundly swindg'd for this, as

coat,

you blue-bottle rogue. Also blue in the American boy's taunt:

Brass button, blue coat, Couldn't catch a nanny-goat! But blue coat likewise (Shakebeing then the garb of speare, Dekker) ,

.

trencher-poetry,

blowze.

phrases.

a

.

Nor can I crouch, and writhe grace my fauning tayle To some great patron, .

compounds and

love,

.

.

This color word was very popular

blue.

in

aristocratic heritage,

A

blowen.

cry, to bellow. imitative o sounds.

the word has a pleasant savour, as when Tennyson in THE PRINCESS (1847) speaks of Huge women blowzed with health and wind and rain And labour.

blossome sure. Hence also

blowzing,

blowzy. Occasionally 101

lower servants and charity to

mean

a

folk, was used an almsman, blueor most unlikely thing.

beggar,

dahlia, a rarity

blue devil, an evil demon; in the plural, blue devils, despondency, also the blues.

Byron

DON JUAN

in

(1823)

declares:

days smoothly run, The seventh will bring blue devils or a dun. Also,

Though

the

blue

six

horrid fire,

hence

sights

in

delirium

tremens.

a stage light for eerie

effects;

sensational, as; century) blue-fire melodrama, blue funk, a spell of fright, nervous dread, blue gown; in Scot-

(19th

land, a licensed beggar; in

England (17th century) a harlot; especially one in prison (where a blue gown marked her shame) .

bobance

blushet

blueman,

From was

also

was prophesied and fulfilled of Nebuchadnezzar in the BOOK OF DANIEL in the as when a man BIBLE. Also as

bloman, blamon, a Negro. 17th century, bio bluish black, lead

the 13th to the

used

for

blue,

figuratively,

becomes obstinate,

colored, blue hen, in the expression Your mother must have been a blue hen, a

from the sayreproof given to a braggart, its mother unless is cock game ing, No

an old

conte bleu

meant hair drawn into a bunch in the back, or with a bunched or tassel-like

is

A

bob-wig, in the chorus; song: to bear the bob, join To bed, FABLES in his (1692) Lestrange

shy maiden;

Band would

speak, or

be ne'er so

easy,

word

little

blushet

:

A

bed, will be the bob of the song. trick, befoolment; to give the bob, to fool, to

Wax

mock, impose upon.

Jonson, who likes the not?) seems to be the

(and why only one that has used

a man's wig so made. Thus, bob-peruke. The refrain of a

also,

curl;

a modest girl little blusher). Jonson in THE (literally, STAPLE OF NEWS (1625) Though mistress

blushet.

foist

:

conte gras.] Other blue compounds, like bluebeard, blue stocking, blue ribbon, remain well known. Cp. red. scene story

we can

Among the forgotten meanings of bob are: a bunch of flowers; an ornamental pendant; an ear-drop; Goldsmith in SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER (1773) My cousin Con's necklaces, bobs and all. In the 17th century, bobbed hair, a bob,

story, [In French, wives' tale; a lascivious or ob-

pornographic

stupid, or de-

bob.

was a blue hen. To shout blue murder, to cry out more from fear than because of actual danger, blue ruin, a bad quality of gin; gin. blue story, an obscene or is

stolid,

velops other unpleasant ways upon the patient ox.

A

blow with the

fist;

a sharp rap; hence, a rap with the tongue, a rebuke this sense combined with the

it.

one before, to develop the meaning, a

Likeness; aspect; character. bly. vives in dialects: I see a bly of your father

taunt, scoff, bitter jibe; thus Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) : He that a foole

about you.

doth very wisely hit, Doth very foolishly, although he smart, Seeme senselesse of the bob. Hence also the verb, as in Shake-

Sur-

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. "Simon he surnamed Peter"; James and John, he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder. As they became preachers, the word boanerges (four syllables; used as a singular noun) was applied to a loud or fiery preacher. It was also used figuratively;

boanerges.

MARK

R.

S.

has:

tells

us that

that speare's OTHELLO: Gold, and Jewels, I bob'd from him. To bob off, to get rid of fraudulently. Also blind-bob, an early

name

the listening surges

.

.

call

boanergy, for loud vehement denunciation. ergism,

oratory

of blind-man's buff.

A

HUMOUR (1598) Hence also bobadibobadilish; bobadilism. Carlyle in FRENCH REVOLUTION (1837) Speaks of

IN HIS

.

them Boanerges From the thunder of their wave. Hence also boan-

You might

game

blustering braggart, a swaggering pretender to prowess. From the character Bobadil, in Jonson's EVERY MAN bobadil.

Hawker, in CORNISH BALLADS (1869)

Loud laughed

for the

lian,

THE

.

that bobadilian

or

bobance. boanthropy. "Man into ox": a madness in which a man imagines himself an ox,

Pride;

method

pomp;

of contest.

boasting.

Also

boban, bobanh In the plural, bobances,

"pomps and

102

vanities."

Chaucer in THE

bonabace

bodement WIFE OF BATH'S PROLOGUE (1386) has: Certeinly I sey -for no bobance Yet was

tize,

I never e withouten purueiance Of manage.

meaning command;

century)

(1809)

pronounced

:

To

AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS

be misled

By

Jeffrey's heart,

or Lambe's boeotian head.

boggard.

A

jakes, privy. Also

boghouse,

From bog

(never in literary use), bogshop. 'to exonerate the bowels,' says the O.E.D.; to defile with excrement. "Martinus Scrib-

was But

lerus" in 1714 said:

a bog-house near

a tarrying, waiting, delay. But bode, without delay. The first sense of the verb to to

boeotic.

fool;

used as an adjective, Bee-ocean. Lock-

boeotian indeed had I neglected. Byron,

then message, tidings. note also bide, abode; in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, bode was used to mean

bode was

a

like

also

in ENGLISH BARDS

English bod, related to bid; the earliest (10th

it is

stupid;

An omen; a presentiment; an announcement; from the 16th century. From the 14th century bode was used in the same sense; Chaucer in THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES (1374) mentions The owl eke, that of death the bode bringeth. Old bode

is

hart in VALERIUS (1821) spoke of an ophave been a portunity which I should

bodement.

of

behave

to

Boeotian

He

St.

cast

them

all into

James'.

A

box, especially for ointment; a to boist, to cup. Via cupping-glass. Hence,

boist.

announce, to teach; then, to

beproclaim; to command; to announce to to foretell, forehand; portend. In

Old French boiste, box (modern boite) from Greek pyxis, box. Also, later (like the French word) used in slang to mean a

Shakespeare's MACBETH (1605) when Macis told that he is safe until Birnam

,

beth

rude hut, a "joint."

come to Dunsinane, he exclaims: Sweet boadments, good! forest

bodkin. ger.

So

Originally, a short pointed dagin Chaucer, and in Hamlet's

A

bodkinbeard

into boisterous.

Hence

also boistousness,

and

boistness, (a rare 17th century form) boisture. Surrey in a song of 1538 said:

is

one dagger-shaped. A bodkin is also a withperson squeezed between two others

/ call to minde the navie great That the

Grekes brought to Troye town: And how the boysteous windes did beate Their

out proper room; hence, to ride bodkin, to sit bodkin; Thackeray in VANITY FAIR to travel (1848) protests: He's too big bodkin between you and me. The verb

ships,

and rent

Agammemnons

their sayles

adown, Till

daughters blood Appeasde

the goddes that them withstood. Euripides the story of the daughter's sacrifice in IPHIGENIA AT AULIS.

bodkin thence meant to squeeze in. The exclamation Ods bodkins!, however, is a little body. corruption of God's bodikin,

tells

A stupid fellow, blockhead, Gothamite. See Gotham. Boeotia was a region of ancient Greece proverbial for the stupidity of the natives. Hence boeoboeotian.

coarse; vigorous;

ous, bustwys, boisteous, boystuous, which by the 16th century were mainly gathered

similarly shaped instruments, for piercing holes in cloth, for fastening up or frizzling ladies' hair, etc.

Rough, rude;

forms, such as boysteous, buystaus, buste-

He

himself might his quietus bodkin. Then used of a bare with

soliloquy:

make

boistous.

roughly violent. From the 13th century; a common word, appearing in many

bombace. Raw cotton; cotton wadding; hence stuffing, padding. Also bombage,

103

bombase, bumbasie, bombasie, bombasine, bombazeen, bombazine. The verb bombase^ to stuff with cotton-wool, to pad

bonaroba

bombard

To hum, to buzz. Derived by error from Latin bombitatio, bombila-

Gascoigne in A VOYAGE TO HOLLAND (1572); They march bumbast with buttered beer

bombilate.

(originally accented on the second syllable; so in Byron; later, on the first)

developed in the still

tion.

16th century the

late

current sense of the

noun bombast,

fined subtleties of the Schoolmen, posed "the most subtle question, whether a

language. It has been (erroneously) suggested that this later use of the word sprang from the name and manner inflated

of

Paracelsus

name

was

is

chimaera bombinating in a vacuum could up second intentions.")

eat

whose full TheoHohenheim.

Philippus

von

bombyx, silk-worm.

bombastic enough!

The

bombard.

bomination.

earliest type of

,

name

not prove effective. It was usually loaded with a stone, weighing sometimes 200

A

twenty fists about his eares more then his owne (whereby I meant in deede that manye would write against him by reason

bombard-

a pot-boy, bartender; a bombarda loud-sounding utterance, inwas phrase flated language. Shakespeare mentions the

of his bomination learning, which otherwise never ment to take pen hand) that

drinking jug in THE TEMPEST and in HENRY

PART ONE (1596)

of sacke.

that

:

I threatned him with blowes and to deale

huge bombard

Thomas Heywood

by Stafford law. [Stafford law is a play on English place names; law of the staff, i.e., the use of force; as they might say / am

in PHILOCO-

THONISTA, OR THE DRUNKARD OPENED, DISSECTED AND ANATOMIZED (1635) Spoke of

going to Bedfordshire, meaning to bed.]

and bombards at the Court, which, when the Frenchmen first the great black jacks

men

in

.

.

.

from

(Champagne Jonson

his

milady's slipper?) translation of (1640)

Horace's THE ART OF POETRY said: They . must throw by Their bombard phrase, .

Buzzing, humming. Greek bombylios, a buzzing insect. Cp. bombilate.

bombylious.

that the Englishused to drink out of their bootes.

saw, they reported

.

and foot and

half-foot

words. Also cp.

sesquipedalian.

bombast.

See bombace.

bonaroba.

A showy wanton. From Italian

buona, good

+

speare has, in

HENRY

roba, gown,

See bombace.

PART

iv,

We knew

stuff.

TWO

Shake(1597)

:

where the bonarobas were, and had the best of them all at commandment. Scott revived the word, in THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822) Your lordship is for a There are bonafrolic into Alsatia? robas to be found there. [Alsatia was the :

.

bombazine.

Win-

so groshead as to gather, because my reverence telleth Dean John that he shall have

man was

iv,

of

whom

he was attacking in the Martin Marprelate controversy, protests that he was misunderstood: Non would be

.

bombardo.

Thomas Cooper, Bishop

of

chester,

pounds. Also, from the shape, a leather jug for liquor; hence, a heavy drinker Also, from the sound, a (1 7th century) deep-toned wooden musical instrument, a bassoon;

Short for abomination; used

an adjective, execrable, abominable. Nashe in HAY [Have Ye] ANY WORK FOR COOPER (1589) the title playing on the as

cannon.

Also bumbard, boumbard. It was introduced in the late 14th century, but did

like

Greek

Silken; pale yellow.

bombycinous.

Aureolus

Bombastus

phrastus

Which

(1493-1541),

Also bombinate, bombination, as in

Rabelais' riddle of the bombinating chimaera. (Rabelais, ridiculing the over-re-

104

.

.

bongrace

borborygmite

name

London under White Friars; hence, a sanctuary for debtors and law-breakers; thence, a haunt of prostitutes and criminals.] cant

Johnson (1755), who ought known. Hence, sophisticate.

of the section of

the

bonne,,

+

good

large leather bottle for wine, especially as used in Spain. From Spanish

borracha, wine bag; borracho, drunkard. Also used in English for a man who is a 'wine bag'; in Shakespeare's MUCH ADO

grace, grace. Specifically,

a shade hanging from a woman's bonnet to protect her face from the sun and,

ABOUT NOTHING

named

a broad-brimmed hat for the same

later,

(1599) there

A commentator of now

by Thomas Heywood in TROIA BRITANA grove through which the (1609) lake doth run, Making his boughs a bon-

TURES, MARK:

"And no man

grace from the sun. Sir Walter Scott revived the word in GUY MANNERING (1815) .

doth burst the

bottles."

bottles

:

we

warned against in the

are

the sea, a frame of old rope etc. hung over a ship to protect it "from damage of

boraginaceous.

"A strange plant in Scythia, a lamb, which consumes the grass round about it." So says Bailey's DICTIONborametz.

like

bongrace. bonibel.

See

bonism.

See malism. This

bel-.

(1751) When all the grass is gone, the plant dies. There are many barren stretches in Scythia.

ARY 'best

of

all

possible' worlds.

bookholder. A prompter in Used in the 16th and 17th like the current

a

borasco.

bookkeeper or

intensive of bora, a severe north

See bote.

See pattens-and-clogs.

A

bo-peep.

to play

tively: tors,

mask. Behind

Bo-peep

with

is

often

it,

one plays

used

in

Adriatic,

borborygmite.

figura-

bo-peep with one's credifancies, with the Al-

one's

filthy fellow, especially

A borborite (Greek borbowas a nickname of some early

medical term. ros, filth)

heretics;

See borasco.

A

in talk. Borborygm, from Greek borborygmos, rumbling in the bowels, is still a

mighty. bora.

Upper

the 19th.

See bouse.

bopeeper.

wind

from Latin Boreas, of the bora and borasco winds. Both god (also borasque, burrasca) were taken into English in the 17th century and used into the

boots-and-shoes.

.

A violent squall. Via French from Catalan borrasca, Italian burasca, the

theatre.

centuries.

bookmaker.

booze.

See bu gloss. Borage was

used in cookery; see eowte.

great flakes of ice" (Bailey, 1751) and other encounterings was also called a

boot.

SCRIP-

putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine

On

Nothing

a character

Borachio.

LAND (1594) uses the word figuratively: a borachio of kisses. Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751) reminds us that borachios are the

as

ICA

is

Greene's MAMILLIA, A LOOKING GLASSE FOR THE LADIES OF ENG-

1617 speaks of out bonegraces, of use with altogether us. The word was also used figuratively,

purpose.

have

A

borachio.

A protection. From the French:

bongrace.

to

used in the 16th and 17th cen-

(physically

meaning one who holds filthy or immoral doctrines (applied, e.g., to the

Listed by

Mennonites)

turies

borable.

That may be bored

or mentally)

.

Also

boreable.

105

.

Borborology

is

filthy talk;

bordar

botargo

haunten bordels; Carlyle, in LATTERPAMPHLETS (1850) said that this was a cookery-shop and universe

borborology and filthy John Trapp in a COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES (1649)

Shun

that

obscene

DAY

said

speeches,

(villein)

of the lowest

rank in the feudal system. He held a tage, for which he did menial work b ordiode]

at

his

lord's

(see

(q.v.) by the feudal lord: carrying timber out of the lord's wood to the

a person

might include, besides drawing wood, drawing water, threshing, grinding corn

bordel

out of repute by being made common alehouses and harbours for lewd women,"

name

to the

meant a good-

for-nothing, a wretch, then a prostitute; a brothel's house was shortened to brothel;

confused with bordel, wretch,

and came

bordel.

Brothel

brethel, wretch; to

ruin.

They

to

is

it lost its

meaning

of

earlier

the verb, brethe, to go are from Old English

brerthan, to go to ruin, brothen, ruined. Sometimes the Italian form bordello was used (Jonson, 1598; Milton, 1642). Also bordeler,

bordel\

SONES TALE

(1386)

es-

a

.

Hence

word

wooded, as when Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST (1610) speaks of

My

bosky,

bosky acres, and

my

un-

shrubd downe. In the 18th and early 19th century, bosky was also a common term for tipsy ('overshadowed') as when BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE in 1824 re,

that a gentleman

may be

bosky, cut, or anything but drunk. a man's grown bosky in the boscage. boswellize.

To

tipsy,

Many

note a person's actions in the style of Bos-

to write

minutely; well's LIFE OF JOHNSON (1791) . Macaulay, in an essay of 1825, first spoke of Boswellism.

a keeper or frequenter of a Chaucer, in THE PER-

bordelry.

.

in English used the

1734)

boscaresque.

marked

be used instead of

a variant of

pecially,

LIVES,

morning. But bordel in Saxon and Old French meant a cottage, "which growing

gave their

a

.

GULL'S HORNBOOK. (1609) suggests that the gallant take a house along the Thames, to ship his cockatrice away betimes in the

admits,

Woodland; sylvan scenery; picture of wooded land;

boscage.

and banqueuing rooms landskips and boscage and such wild works in open terraces; and a poem, THE CONFINEMENT, of 1679 states that Boscage within each chamber must be shown, Or the mean pile no architect will own. Rousseau in French, and North (in

place for such a house, witness "the stews at the bankside," and Dekker in THE

brothel. Brothel originally

See burel

borreL

chearful paintings in feasting

may be from

French bord, edge + d'eau, of the water, as the river shore was the most convenient

Toone

lord's house.

Also boskage. Late Latin boscum, wood. Sylvan paintings were de rigueur in the 17th century. Sir Henry Wotton, in THE ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE Called for

A

suggests

required

foliage.

the like.

1834

service

bordar

decorative design representing leaves or

house of prostitution; also, the act there perpetrated. Toone's GLOSSARY of

the

of

bordlode.

was permitted to till was called bordland; he held it in bordage. The word bordage also meant the services he owed, which

bordel.

A

cot-

pleasure. THE used the Latin

DOMESDAY BOOK (1087) plural form bordarii. Land such

and

.

bordel.

A peasant

bordar.

.

.

.

Hence

botargo. or tunny

speaks of harlottis,

A relish of the roe of the mullet

butarkhah; 106

also Boswellian.

fish.

Via Italian from Arabic

Coptic

outarakhon,

from

bote

bounce-Jane

Coptic ou (the pickle.

article)

+

Greek parixion,

vives in place names, such as Harbottle. (2) a bundle, especially of hay or straw.

Captain John Smith, in the new

world (1616) called it puttargo. Hood, in MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER SILVER LEG (1840)

The remark about a needle in a haystack was originally to look for a needle in a bottle of hay. Chaucer in THE MAUNCIPLE'S PROLOGUE (1386) says: Although it be not worth a botel hey. Several combinations of bottle, container, have lapsed from use: bottle-boot, a leather case for a

,

speaks o that huge repast With its loads and cargoes Of drink and botargoes At the

birth

1598

spawn

the

of

the

recipe

salted."

By

babe in Rabelais. In is

given simply: "fish 1751 it had grown more

complicated; Bailey's DICTIONARY gives it: "a sausage made of eggs and of the blood of a sea mullet." In 1813

it is

Boutaraga, the roes of

fish,

bottle; especially,

described as salted

one to hold the bottle

firm while corking, bottle-coaster, a tray or stand for passing around a decanter;

and

also bottle-slide, bottle-slider, bottle-track,

pressed into rolls like sausages. It might

the path in the ocean of a bottle thrown

be worth

overboard; from such was made a bottlechart, a chart of surface currents, bottle-

trying.

Remedy; advantage; health. The verb bo ten, botne} to heal, lasted through

bote.

jack, a jack for roasting meat, shaped like a bottle, bottle-screw, a corkscrew. To pass

the 14th century; but bote was replaced earlier by boot, which survives in

the bottle of smoke, used by Dickens to to join in a falsehood, to carry on a deceit. Also a three-bottle man, etc., one

much

mean

the phrase to boot, to the good, into the bargain. Often used in contrast to bale,

at a sitting;

May, 1812) spoke of six-bottle miniand plenitudinous aldermen. A bottle-head, a fool, is an alteration of beetlehead. A beetle is a sdrt of hand pile-driver, with a heavy weight for a 'head' and a (11

sters

amends, compensation for injury, as in Stephen's LAW OF ENGLAND (1845) // the :

great toe be struck off, let twenty shillings be paid him as bot. From the phrase to

make boot of (make advantage, profit) the word was confused with booty, plunder; thus Shakespeare in HENRY v (1599)

Make

speaks of bees that, like soldiers, boote upon the Summers velvet

buddes: Which pillage they bring home. To boot may sometimes be used as .

.

is always the fellow, as the punster remarked, who is a scoundrel and a good one to boot. And we hope that one

dition; there

that deserves reward will not go bootless. Cp. hext.

up

A

dwelling, building. Used (1) to the 13th century. This sense sur-

men

used together.

beetle;

beetle-brain;

handle sometimes three

Hence,

dumb

as a

beetle-head, blockhead, bottlehead. bottle-

holder, a backer; a second; in 18th century prizefights, the pugilists' attendants

bottle ready, as they

FREDERICK THE GREAT

.

an intensifies meaning futhermore, in ad-

bottle.

bottles of wine (etc.) Leigh Hunt in THE EXAMINER

that drinks three

Thus Chaucer in THE CANON'S YEOMAN'S PROLOGUE AND TALE (1386) prays: God send every true man boote of his bale. The word was extended to mean q.v.

someone that

had a

do; Carlyle in (1858) referred to

still

as

His Majesty's bottle-holder in

battle

with the finance nightmares

and imbroglios. bounce-Jane.

A

delicious dish,

in 15th

century cookery. Take gode cowe my Ik, and put hit in a pot, and sethe hit, and take sage, parsel, ysope, and savory, and other gode herbes, and sethe horn and hew horn smalle, and do horn in the pot;

107

bourdon

bouch

bouksome was influenced by buxom and

then take henries, or capons, or chekyns; thai byn half rosted, take horn of

bulk.

when

by

the spit, and smyte horn on peces, and do thereto, and put therto pynes and raysynges of corance, and let hit boyle, and serve hit forthe. Minced fowl boiled in milk with currants and herbs would be

bouffage.

To

boun.

The

result

prepare,

of

make

to betake oneself. Also

too

many

a

ready; to dress;

bown, bune, bowen,

bowyn. Used from the 13th to the 17th century; revived by Scott, in MARMION

a delicious dish in the 20th century.

Each ordering that his band (1808) Should bowne them with the rising day. :

An

allowance of food granted by a king or noble to his household or attendants on an expedition. Also bouge,

bouch.

bouche,

bowge,

and

especially

in

bourd.

the

have bouche in court. French phrase bouche, mouth; avoir bouche en cour. Hence, to have bouch of court, to eat and to

drink at the lord's expense.

A

bouchee.

small baked

how a bonde man bourdede wyth

confection;

a

mouth.

gammon. From French boucon, ful

and mouth-

Veal-steak rolled in bacon

boucon.

which

it

a

seems succulently to be. See

gammon.

A

bouffage. bouffage, a

satisfying meal.

meat that

a knyght. burde, borde, boward, bowrde, bourde. Hence bourder, a jester; a buf-

Also

foon; a mocker. Bourdful, sportive. There was another verb, to bourde, to burdis, to joust; bourdis, tilting, fencing with lances; Old French behourt, lance. Caxton in GEOFFROI DE LA TOUR I/ANDRI (1483) said: He is but a bourdour and a deceyver

Old French

of ladyes.

puffs the cheeks.

bourdon. bouge.

(1)

A bag,

a wallet; a skin-bottle;

cudgel;

also bowge, q.v.; bulge, bulch. Latin bulga,

a leather bag; the womb. Also, a bulge, a swelling; hence, bowgework, raised work. Court rations; provisions. A variant (2)

bouillans.

"Little pies of the breast of

seems

to

have

been

an

18th

century

gourmet.

bouksome.

Corpulent.

Bouk was an

old

word

for belly; then for the trunk, then the body, of a man. After the 14th cen-

tury

A pilgrim's

(1)

spear-shaft.

staff;

a club or

Apparently from

(16th century) a light lance, with a holshaft; a similar javelin. Used from ,

low

To have a budge-abe given free food and drink.

roasted capons minced with udders, etc." So in the 1751 DICTIONARY of Bailey, who

a

Latin burdonem, mule; shifted from the pilgrim's mount to his staff. A bourdonasse

of bouche, mouthful. court, to

14th

a game, play. Also as a verb, to make game, to say things in jest; to play. R. Brunne in HANBLYNG SYNNE (1303) tells

French bouchee, mouthful; bouche,

patty.

Mockery. So in the early

century. Soon, however, the sense softened, to jesting, merriment, fun; a merry tale;

the 13th century; Urquhart in THE JEWEL (1652) pictured a man with a palmer's coat upon him, a bourdon in his hand, and some few cockle shels stuck to his hat. (2) A low undersong, while the leading voice sang the melody. Used from the

14th century; Late Latin bur do, drone, perhaps an echoic word. Chaucer used this rather common word, in the Prologue tO THE CANTERBURY TALES This (1386) :

somonour bar

bouk was used only in Scotland;

to

hym

a

stiff

burdoun,

Was

never trompe of half so greet a soun. This 108

bouse

bower-maiden

grew into the form burden; indeed, bourdon is (3) an early variant of bur-

sense

den,

in all

q.v.,

its

Cleveland (POEMS, 1658) boutesel to Cupid's knight.

said

meanings.

A

boutgate. bouse. verb;

equivocation, quibble. gate (gait), going. R. Bruce in a sermon of 1591 said: The boutgates and deceites of the heart of man are infinite.

About +

But before the day comes Still (1648) I be bousing. In nautical parlance of the 19th century, to bowse up the jib was to :

when Colman

says,

A

bouts-rimes.

Dutch

popular game of the

late

17th and the 18th century, in which a set of rhymes is given a person, who must

busen, was usually pronounced buz, whence the still current b ooze. Sometime booze was used to imply drinking for good fellowship, as

going about; by extension,

circumlocution;

Liquor; a drinking-bout. Also a Herrick says, in the HESPERIDES

get drunk. Bouse, related to early

Sounds

,

then compose the verses. Games of the still played. French bouts, ends +

sort are

in his

rhymed. Past, last; roam, home; manifold for an instance.

rimes,

EPILOGUE FOR THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

deal, seal; old,

While good Sir Peter boozes with (1777) the Squire. But, warns BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE (1824) Never boozify a :

have

seen misbehave himself in his cups. Some would cut off the last fifteen words.

boutado.

From French

to put, of

Teutonic

(1702) said: His both their wives

boutefeu. to

citer

first .

.

.

sally.

Also

bonier, to put

Used in the

boutade was

to kick

by beside 4- w/, indicating motion

a in above also

meant down

out of doors.

is

Also beautifew,

A

North in THE EXAMINER

in

which

(in

Spenser,

thought of as a contraction of above.

bovicide.

butcher

incendiary; an inand strife. French

4- feu, fire.

after

See

stillicide.

The term

bovi-

cide has been applied, humorously, to a

boutfeu, boutefeau, botefeu, bowtifeu, and common 17th century word.

more.

The

suffix

Shakespeare THE TEMPEST, 1610; 'Bove the contentious waves and later poets) it

A TALE OF A TUB

A firebrand, dissention

a

ana,

15th century,

a

bouter, to thrust,

origin.

17th century; Swift in

of three forms:

early

from, as in the old adown, q.v., which has permanently lost the a. Used through the

A sudden outburst;

boutade.

pound up + from.

See semibousy.

bousy.

An

form of above. Also beufan, bufan, buven, buve, boven. A com-

:

man whom you

second time with the

bove.

1734 com-

bovoli

whom

it

literally

fits.

See fagioli.

bower-maiden.

A

chambermaid.

Also

in

lady

waiting;

plained of factious boutefews, bawlers for

idealized dwelling, as in Goldsmith's

property and against popery; Richardson in a letter to Mrs. Barbauld, in 1754, spoke of a boutefeu editor.

DESERTED

bouteselle.

A call

to arms: boot

and

sad-

trumpet signal to put saddle on mount horse. French bouter, to put

dle, the

and

+

selle, saddle.

The

sprightly chanticlere,

a

bowermaid, bowerwoman. From bower, a cottage, an abode later used by poets as a vague term for an VILLAGE

(1770)

:

Dear

THE

lovely

bowers of innocence and ease! Also burmaiden, bourmaiden. Wyclif (1380) This gospel tellith not how Marie took a bour:

woman, but went mekeli

in hast to salute

her cosyn. Also in Scott; Tennyson in his play BECKET (1884) says: My best bower-

maiden died

109

of late.

bra

bowge

A variant

was

of bouge, q.v. In sense bowge. treasurer. In (1) also bowger, a purser, sense (2) , used in the title of a satiric

poem by

Skelton,

The Bowge

ing of

The

bill of

bracery

g

and buy-

titles.

A hound that hunts by scent; any kind of bitch hound (always A common medieval form, feminine) brache.

of Court

later,

.

(1498)

entitled:

.

later usually brack

To immerse

(suddenly, in a holy well, especially as a cure for mad-

bowssen.

bratche)

.

(also bracke, brasche,

The word was sometimes

(as in

was

THE ALCHEMIST, 1610) used as a term of abuse, like bitch and her offspring

beuzi

today. For a see lyam.

Also boossen, bousen, bowsen. It

.

ness)

apparently a treatment especially favored in Cornwall; the Cornish-Breton

meant

to

drown. Carew in his THE

SURVEY OF CORNWALL (1602) referred to the practice: There were many bowssening places, -for curing of

appeared small

mad men

.

.

.

if

(The

final e is

to digest.

+

bowyer. One that makes, or deals in bows. Also, a bowman. Cp. ftetcher. Formed as was lawyer, save that archery

bradypus.

box.

Slow

slow pepsis, cooking, digestion. Hence also bradypepsy, bradiopepsy, bradypepsia.

A

now seldom

of dogs in Shakespeare,

Meredith in For we are -facts, (1879) says: bradypeptics to a man, sir. Greek bradys,

bradypeptic.

presumably to emphasize his gain.)

is

list

THE EGOIST

there

amendment he was bows-

sened again and againe.

Jorison's

bradypod, bradypus, a slowfoot.

See bradypeptic. Greek pous, In zoology, used of the family of quadrupeds that includes the sloth.

podis, foot.

brag. As a noun. In the current sense of boastful language, one might remem-

practiced.

See balk.

the words of Johnson's mother which he recorded in THE RAMBLER (1752; No. 197) when he envied a neighbor's finery: Brag was a good dog, but Holdfast was a better. Among less remembered

ber boy. 16th

Be with you. Also boye. Used in and 17th century plays; superseded

by bye, by, especially in good-by, with you.

God

be

uses of brag are: (1) a loud noise, as the blare of a trumpet. (2) Pomp, display;

See boistous.

boysteous.

See prabble. It has been suggested that the word is a corruption of Medieval Latin parabolare, to harangue, brabble.

pompous

portely bragge, after your estate

man

Greek para, beside + ballein, to throw (whence also parabola and parable) ; but

the

is

petty discordant brawl. Shakespeare, in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) has: Heere in the

In private brabble did we apprehend him. streets

.

bracery. q.v.

A

.

.

Corruption. Short for embracery,

law of Henry VIII (Act

32, 1540)

with your head and chin.

YORK MYSTERY

19th

century

card

.

(3)

Up When

.

.

Here are meant by An 18th and early

(1440)

bragges that will not brag a large nail. (4)

more probably echoic, like babble, but stronger, meaning a noisy quarrel, a it

RALPH ROY-

behavior. Udall in

STER I>OYSTER (1553) said: Ye must have a

said:

faile, it

game,

later

called

poker. It was named from the brag or challenge of one player to the others, to

match the value of his cards. As an adjective, from the 14th century, brag meant boastful, also spirited, mettlesome, lively.

Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; 110

branks

bragance

used

FEBRUARY)

how brag yond

an adverb: Seest

as

it

bullock beares

.

.

.

and a 1581 that the

his

pricked eares? Also see bragly.

as bragot. Also braket, brogat,

Bailey,

in

(1608)

like.

is,

omits

the ale, saying the O.E.D. in 1933 spice"; "latterly the honey has been 1751,

that

says

The

.

verb

also

is

more vigorous form br angle,

is

shake

to

a man's

title to a piece of property reminded, brangled with thy debts. Another French form of the same

sweet

and the

,

he

is

word is brandir, brandiss from which comes English brandish. The words

honey and

"of

word

of the same

Her mouth was

says:

A

vehemently, to brandish; to make uncertain; in THE MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON

drink of honey and ale fermented together. Chaucer in THE MILLER'S

TALE (1386)

confusion)

(agitation,

A

bragget.

translation of Tacitus says legion was put in branle

used of onanism.

See bragly.

bragance.

first

root

replaced by sugar and spice." Hardwick in TRADITIONS OF LANCASHIRE (1872) States

,

common Teuton

are related to the

a sword,

brand,

which in turn comes from Teu-

Braggat or Braggot Sunday, from the custom of drinking mulled or spiced ale on

ton bran,, brinnan, to burn. The gleaming or waving of the sword, the flickering or brightness of the flames. Note also the

that day.

rare branskate

bragly.

treasure, tribute) , a ransom a place will not be burned.

that

Mid Lent Sunday

is

likewise called

with pleasant show. the verb to brag, to sound

Briskly;

Formed from

show

loudly; to boast; to

bragance (15th century)

,

off;

whence

gridiron.

braggade (18th

boasting, supplanted by bragging. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; MARCH) has: Seest not thilke same

century)

,

How

hawthorne studde, to buddef brahminicide.

See

bragly

stillicide.

it

opening

branrith,

branlet,

a

hay-rick; a rail a well. Also

of

brandelette, -I-

etc.

Old

reith, carriage.

brandy-cowe. The washings of brandy casks, used in making inferior drinks.

brandy-pawnee.

Brandy and water. Hin-

dustani pani, water. Used by Thackeray in VANITY FAIR (1848) .

See brandle.

An early form of what is called brandy. Also brandwine; Dutch

for

as

around

manicide.

brand.

three-legged fire-grate; a various other

frameworks, the

schatz,

paid so that

extension,

By

Norse brand, burning

begins

Also brah-

A

brandreth.

also

+ German

(brand

brandewine.

now

brandewijn, burnt brandish. brandle.

[distilled] wine.

branks.

To

shake

See brandle.

A

bit

and

bridle for a scold:

an

iron framework to enclose the head, with a metal gag for the mouth. 16th and 17th

See brandle.

(both transitive and

From French branler, with same meaning. Hence also in English,

intransitive)

brangle.

.

centuries, especially in Scotland. castle

The New-

Municipal Accounts of 1595

list:

toss

Paid for carrying a woman through the town for scolding, with branks, 4 d. Per-

about. Pepys in his DIARY for 1662 says: They danced the brantle. The dance, and

haps by humorous extension from this, branks was used in the 18th and 19th cen-

the music for

turies for that mouth-closing disease, the

the

though

rare,

branle,

it,

also

to agitate,

to

appear as branle;

Ill

breech

branle

mumps. T. N.

in

Brushfield

OBSOLETE

make

a brank, the branks, a pair of branks, the

f ro

scold's bridle, gossip's bridle

and

.

brydle for a curste queane.'

brant.

Ascham, against

1544

.

.

says

brede.

slew

song JOHN ANDERSON MY jo Your bonny brow was brent.

bratticing.

finery; ostentatious

upon)

to

mean

tresses

a

person, or gallants as a class; Jonson in THE SILENT WOMAN (1609) says: Hee is one ,of the braveries, though he be none o'

the wits.

Lodge

in

tire

is

cae: Clotho,

held the

.

at-

distaff; life;

Lachesis,

and

the

who .

.

cut the thread) ; Still crooning, as

they weave their endless brede. The form meaning to burn, or heat, is related to

shame-fast

the words breath

and brood. In all senses word was also used as a verb; in THE PARLIAMENT OF DEVILS (1509) one of the the

love.

To beat small; crush to powder. In Coverdale's BIBLE: PROVERBS (1535) we read: Though thou shuldest bray a foole

fiends exclaims:

bray.

with a pestell in a morter like otemeel, yet wil not his foolishnesse go from him. braythe.

To

rush up, to start up. Also

breythe, breathe, breat.

whence

also

Old English

braid.

The

braeg-

earliest

I will

.

.

.

in hell his

soule brede.

breech.

and

A

thighs;

loin-cloth;

dan,

who

the events of our

eldest sister, Atropos, the ancient Three

become immodest braverie; thy

seemelynes is shamelesse impudencie; thy desire of lerning to loitering

or threads or colors intertwined.

who spun

AN ALARUM AGAINST

USURERS (1584) declared: Thy modest

dis-

It

This use lingered with the poets, as in Keats' ODE ON A GRECIAN URN: with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought. Lowell pictures the three fates (the Par-

show, pretense;

flamboyance. Sometimes used

and three

etc.

a half; by 1600 this sense was taken over by the form breadth. In the 17th century brede, as a variant of braid, was used of

a

a bravery, in defiance; in display of reckless daring, as a brag. Also, an adorn-

ment;

many forms

has

meanings. appears about the year 1000 in the sense of roast meat: Swines brade is well sweet which sense lingers in the word sweetbread. About the same time it was used to mean width, or a measure of width; a will of 1554 leaves one pair of fine sheets of two bredes and

See bartizan.

bravery. Swaggering; behaving bravo or reckless swaggerer. For (in,

word

breed, bread, breid,

(1789)

like

This

tinct

See brandle.

brantle.

See aleberry.

breadberry.

applied to a straight, unwrinkled forehead. The Scotch form is brent; Burns in his

How

that

King Jamie even brant Flodden Hill. The word was also .

in to his brayn.

often since!

Steep, sheer, straight. In wrote in TOXOPHILUS,

Hawarde

wine warmed his hert

that

and breythed uppe

See brandle.

branskate.

also broid, broider,

we read

tury)

See brandle.

branle.

hence

embroider; brawde, browde, browder. In EARLY ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE POETRY (14th CCn-

'a

.

.

of braid was to pull quickly, to a jerky movement, move to and

meaning

PUNISHMENTS (1858) gave various names:

garment covering the loins originally a breech-cloth, a later reaching to the knees;

and still current, in and pronounced britches, coming below the knees and used as a dialect, after the 15th century

112

the plural

breme

breviloquence

humorous, or scornful word for

The Geneva

trousers.

BIBLE translation of 1560

is

called the breeches Bible because of Gene-

They sewed

3:

sis

leaves

tree

figge

to-

gether, and made themselves breeches. To wear the breech (later, breeches) , to be boss of the household, usually said of the wife; Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART (1593) has: You might still have

THREE worne

the petticoat, And ne'er have stolne the breech from Lancaster.

breme. in

Also breem, brim,

Old

English, this

etc.

Originally,

word meant famous,

The sense was extended to anything great in its kind: brilliant color; loud sound; violent, raging storm. Hence it was often used by the poets of a fierce glorious.

winter, or a fierce beast. Thus in 1400 we read of beastes breme; in 1526 of the breme light of grace. Lydgate in 1430 and

Spenser in 1579 speak of breme winter; other poets follow them, as Thomson (1748) in

summer

THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE: Glad

or the winter breme. Bremely is manner a song of 1500

also used in this

That brymly beast but the adverb, meaning brightly,

is

usually loudly, or

says

fiercely;

says

Stanyhurst in his AENEIS

At the windoors

.

.

.

brimly did enter.

The original English name for sulphur was bernstone, the burnstone. This was shifted to brenstone; then association with brim, fierce, may have changed it to brimstone. Similarly, in the 1250 and EXODUS, we read

poem of

of

the

An

old form of

burn,

brendice. is

A

used by

cup in which a person's

drunk.

From

mon

16th and

in the

Psalter of 1556 says: the clear doth drink,

17th centuries; a

The good at brink God brinche them

gently so.

See brant.

brent.

To

breviate.

shorten; to abridge, to abcen-

stract.

Used in the 16th and 17th

turies;

Latin brevis, short

the

cp.

motto on

New

England gravestone of Henry Longbottom, age 13: Ars longa, vita

The

brevis.

current form, of course,

is

MAGNYFYCENCE (1526) says: By myschefe to breviate and shorten his dayes. Breviate was also used as an adjective, meaning shortened, and abbreviate.

as a

Skelton,

in

noun, meaning a brief statement, a

How

note, or a lawyer's brief. a poem of 1594 (ZEPHERIA)

(my hearts

solicitor!)

often, says

hath

my pen

Instructed thee in

my easel Hence also breviately; brevibreviation; breviator; breviature. breviat of

A

ger was,

first,

one who

carries briefs;

by

extension, a begging friar.

breviloquence.

Brevity in speech. Latin

brevis, short; whence brief + loquens, loquentem, speaking. Hence breviloquent, as were the Spartans, hence laconic from Laconia, the country of which Sparta (or Lacedaemon) was the capital. Lacedaemon was a son of Jupiter and Taygeta (daughter of Atlas) he married

daughter of Eurotas. [The Spartans never set out on an expedition Sparta

Chaucer. Also brenne.

health

verb brince, or brinch, meaning to

drink or to give to drink, was fairly com-

;

"stinken smoke" of the brinfire. bren.

The

(1583)

moonshyne

GENESIS

begins his AMBOYNA, 1673: / go to fill a brendice to my noble Captain's health.

the Italian brindisi,

but perhaps a corruption of the German Ich bringe dir's zu. A nonce-word: Dryden 113

the

or opened a battle save at the full moon, which shows they were lunatic as well as laconic. In the 15th and 16th centuries lunatic, in addition to meaning from the 13th century moonstruck, crazy, was

used to mean influenced by the

moon

.

.

.

brinfire

breythe borne, said Greene in MAMILLIA (1583) under the influence of Luna, and therefore as firme

.

.

as melting waxe.]

.

in

illustrated

Macedon's

is

of

to

their

Philip reply / enter Laconia, I Lacedaemon to the ground. threat:

new home, a ritual probably symbolizing the earlier actual carrying off of the woman. (We still use the term elope.)

her

//

-will

level

The

Spartans responded: //. Pope in a to Swift (17 August, 1736) said:

letter

bridelope. This is the oldest English word for a wedding, meaning the run (lope] of the man bearing his choice to

The

proverbial brevity of Spartan speech

forgotten, e.g.: bridebush, a bush hung out at the local tavern in honor of the

wedding; bridecake; bridecup, a cup of spicy drink offered the bride-couple before the bridebed; brideknot, bridelace, a wed-

Jeremy Collier (1697) noted that no laconism can match the language of the Cp. chilonian.

ding favor, or the band on the sprigs of rosemary worn at weddings; bridestake, a pole set up to dance around at the wed-

See bray the.

breythe.

Indirectly, on the rebound. Originally the word was applied to a sort of

bricole.

ding, similar to the Maypole; bridelock, a word for wedlock until about 1250;

catapult for hurling stones, and may be derived from a name, as gun, Big Bertha,

bridewain, a

(topped by the spinning wheel adorned with blue ribbons) to the bride's new home. Brideale is a deliberate spelling, used by Cranmer in the Preface to his BIBLE of 1540, and for 300 years after, to remind readers that a bridal is really an

In the 16th century, when tennis was popular, the term was applied to a stroke the rebound)

to

when

a ball was

driven to hit the side wall, then bounce in the opponent's court. In the 19th century, the term was applied to a cushion-

shot in billiards. In

was used

bricole

the

ale-drinking, a party, for the bride. Bridewell, meaning a prison, is from St. Bride's

17th century,

figuratively;

as late

well in London; near this holy well King Henry VIII had a house, which Edward VI donated as a hospital, later a house of correction. The word bride originally meant not a woman on the brink of mar-

as

1798 Walpole speaks of a play's introduc-

ing two courtiers

and by offstage.

were of

to

acquaint one another, with events

bricole the audience,

The

walls of the tennis courts

brick,

riage,

hence by error bricole

sometimes became

brick-wall, as

some today

say net ball for let (hindered) ball. Thus Sidney in ARCADIA (1580) speaks of music .

.

.

wagon bearing the "hope

chest"

etc.

(or

combinations of bride have been

Many

/ grow laconic beyond laconicism; breviloquence changed this to laconism, though

face.

See givale.

bridal.

but a daughter-in-law; the French

word

for daughter-in-law is bru. It is related to the root bru, meaning to brew broth, to cook which in the primitive family was a task of the daughter-in-law.

which tho' Anaxias might conceive his honour, yet indeed he was but

was for

brides-laces.

the brickwall to convey it to the ears of the beloved Philoclea. Schoolboys copying their assignments must be careful lest,

brimstone. brince.

See Hymen's torch. See breme.

See brendice. Also brinch.

as F. Greville said in 1628, they brickwall

errors

from one

to another.

brinfire.

114

See breme.

broom

britzka

A

britzka.

fashionable

carriage

19th century (from Polish bryczka)

the

of ,

brodekin.

with room for reclining. Often mentioned in the current fiction, as Disraeli's CONINGSBY (1844) and Thackeray's VANITY

century historical novels, as Thackeray's PENDENNIS (1850) From their bonnets to

Pertaining to a beggar. From Old Spanish brivion, a wandering beggar.

briviatic.

:

their br ode quins.

art.

sheet of paper printed

on

To

side; usually large. Broadsides were the forerunners of newspapers; they might

contain a decree, but more often a ballad

Wright

(ESSAYS; 1861) broadside ballads.

A

broch.

HENRY

were issued as

structure

prehistoric

MENTS

:

burh,

surviving

in

and

burgh

This

common senses.

veloped many used by Ben Jonson

word

Celtic (1)

de-

a badger. So

and Burns

(1637)

Hence brock-faced, with a face (1786) streaked like a badger's. (2) dirty or So in Shakespeare's fellow. stinking .

A

TWELFTH NIGHT brocke.

(3)

An

(1601) Marry, hang inferior horse; so used

thee,

:

by

(1386). (4) The larva of the frog-hopper, that froths upon leaves, leav-

Chaucer

ing what

A

called "cuckoo-spit." (5) three-year-old deer, a brocket. (6) As a is

verb, to brock

in

broken

is

to talk complainingly, or

again

in

speech Brockish means beastly, dirty.

Chaucer.

(1583)

:

lust soever the

broke.

in

What

broyles of scorching

minde abideth.

See gerning.

A

procuress, bawd; see baude; bronstrops. bawdstrot. Used in the 17th century, especially by Middleton; Webster alludes to Middleton when he remarks, in A CURE

borough. brock.

has

:

FRUITFULL EXPOSITION OF THE COMMAND-

(many remain on the Orkney and Shetland Islands) a round tower with inner and outer stone walls, between which the humans lived, while the central land

English

vi,

a state of great heat (from to broil? current today), as in Badington's A VERY

in Scot-

space was used to keep their cattle secure. Also brough. Old Norse borg, castle; Old

Shakespeare

PART ONE (1591) Prosper this realme, keepe it from civill broyles; in SONNET 55: And broils root out the work of masonry. The senses overlap with broil,

and comic poems,

of the fabliaux

disorder.

sension,

or other verse based on a current happening. In the 18th century, also broadsheet. said

dis-

set in broil, to create

orderly quarrel. a disturbance; broiler, one that takes part in or instigates quarrels; broilery, dis-

one

Many

As a noun; tumult, turmoil, a

broil.

A

broadside.

boot reaching halfway up

15th through the 17th century; Urquhart in his translation of Rabelais (1653) has brodkin blowes for kicks. Revived in 19th

FAIR (1848).

In 1623, references to the briviatick

A

the calves; a buskin. French brodequin, Italian borzacchino, buskin. Used from the

open,

FOR A CUCKOLD (1661) strops: I learned that

brontomancy.

:

A

tweak or bron-

name

in a play.

See aeromancy.

A shrub, with large yellow or white flowers. Old English brom; Middle High German brame, whence also bramble. The petals of the broom were used to broom.

dye hard boiled eggs green, at Eastertide; they were thus doubly symbolic of fertility, so that the eating of them portended large folks use other colors.

families.

Now

Wordsworth in TO JOANNA (1800) says: 'Twas that delightful season when the 115

buccellation

browet broom, Full-flowered

.

.

.

Fletcher in THE SPANISH CURATE

Along the copses

and browet.

juice of boiled meat, other savory substances.

me

(day)

brygge.

Hence brume,

fog, mist. Hail,

glassy globes, said J.

wrote:

MY

in

ally,

there

,

ham

.

Not

shold

It

strangers arryved at his brygge [at the Thames' bank] as ambassitors frome some

forrayn prynce. (Cavendish is telling of the coming of Henry VIII, masked, with

counterfeit coin (especi-

companions dressed

counterfeit groats coined at Birmingin the 17th century) ; a sham, showy

as

shepherds,

to

a

party at the Cardinal's.)

A

variant form of burning. Skelton (WORKES; 1529; cp. shyderyd) declared: Oure days be datyd To be chek

brummagemize, brummagemism, brummagemish. The word is a corruption of Birmingham, a manufacimitation.

.

DEATHE OF CARDYNAL semed to them that be some noble men and :

STUDY

A

.

early variant of bridge.

THE LYFFE AND WOOLSEY (1557)

with

Barlow in THE

brumal verse was that of Horace's.

brummagem.

An

upon

O.E.D. Apparently used in the sense of wharf or pier, by Cavendish in

and brume congealed. WINDOWS (1871) What cheerfulness there was in

COLUMBIAD (1808) Lowell

his

so listed in

days.

.

and

:

so greedily bruited

bruet of deer.

winter; bruma, short for brevima, shortest

its

many medi-

the

century verb to brut, to browse, as in Evelyn's ACETARIA, OR A DISCOURSE OF SALLETS (1699) marking what the goats

Wintry; relating to the time of Latin brumalis, relating to

brumal. short

broght

:

Also

brynnyng.

A

RECREATIONS OF A COUNTRY PARSON (1861)

matyd With drauttys [moves] of deth Stopping cure breth, Oure eyen synkyng, Oure bodys stynkyng, Oure gummys grynnyng,

watched the vulgar dandy , strutting along,

Our

turing town. half-way stage of the formation is quoted at shab. A. K. H. Boyd, in

with his bnisole.

brummagem

jewelry.

soulys brynnyng.

bubble-bow

"Stakes of veal well seasoned,

case

An

18th century fashionable and the like.

for a lady's tweezers

between slices of bacon, and baked between two fires." The DIC-

Used by Pope; explained by Arbuthnot in JOHN BULL (1712) as from to bubble a

TIONARY

beau, to dazzle or fool a gallant. Also

laid in a stewpan

of Bailey the (1751) again gives a revivable recipe.

brustle.

(1)

To make

epicure

spelled

a crackling or rus-

An

form of

bristle, as hair,

mane

or the

beast, or the feathers of a bird;

the

peacock),

to

bubble-boy;

MONTHLY MAGAZINE

tling noise; to move swiftly with such a noise; to rustle, to bustle. (2) early

show

off,

hence

to

of a (as

bluster.

:

foams

descendants in Britain, by Wace, Layamon, etc. There is also a 16th and 17th

blaunche bruet of almayn; a Towneley (1460)

From

chronicle.

eval chronicles of Brutus, Brut,

supplanted by broth. A COOKERY of 1440 gives a recipe for white almond soup,

MYSTERY

A

brut.

Enjoyed in the 14th and 15th centuries. Also brewet, bruet; Medieval Latin brodium; Old High German brod; akin to and

(1622) it

brussels.

Soup of the

thickened with

how

See where the sea comes,

runs in veins of gold.

explained of 1807)

as

(in

THE

probably

a misspelling for bauble-buoy, a support for baubles. They now dangle from jingly bracelets or lie concealed in a purse.

buccellation.

A

116

Division into

tiny pieces.

17th and 18th century dictionary word,

bum

buccinate

from Late Latin

from

morsel,

buccella,

1

buccinate.

To blow

centric perforated

Latin

a trumpet.

buccina, a crooked trumpet; whence also buccinal (pronounced buck'small), shaped like or

835) by Sir Goldsworthy

Gurney of Bude,

Cornwall. Also bude-burner, of three con-

bucca, cheek.

sounding

means

cinator muscle

is

cheek.

plants;

The

of

various

boraginaceous

especially the prickly ox-tongue.

Greek bous, ox -h glossa, tongue; from the shape and roughness of the leaves.

But note

like a trumpet.

that Latin bucca

One

bugloss.

rings.

buc-

Used in cookery and medicine; Jonson in VOLPONE (1605) lists a little muske, dri'd mints, buglosse} and barley-meale. The

the muscle that forms

the wall of the cheek, so called, says the O.E.D. (1933), "because it is the chief muscle employed in the act of blowing." at least as likely, however, that the

boraginaceous plants belong to the genus borage (burrage, burridge; Latin burra,

reverse process is correct: that the trumcharacpet was called buccina from the

a shaggy garment) , used in making claret TATLER cup and as a cordial. Steele in THE

It is

blow buccinate. Sterne in TRISTRAM SHANDY

teristic puffing of it,

to

the bucca, cheek, to

(1709; glass

says:

.

.

A

lent fellow as

is

one agape, "blub-cheeked,"

beholding a succulent morsel.

the speaks of burridge in

man

is

drinking.

used in combinations; see q.v.; bumrowl. Harvey in his attack on Nashe in PIERCES SUPEREROGATION,, OR A NEW bailiff,

A

large ship; a gaily decorated barge. Especially, the ship (Bucenof Venice, on toro] in which the Doge

bucentaur.

31)

a

bum. The buttocks. A very common word from the 14th to the 17th century; a person, in replaced by bottom. Used of for bumshort sometimes bum, contempt;

the

bussinatory Directing to do their . muscles along his cheeks buccuduty, he whistled Lillabullero. (1760)

No.

when

the Adriatic

PRAYSE OF THE OLD ASSE (1593; for Nashe's cried upon value fling, see gallimaufry)

by dropping a ring in it. From Greek bous, ox + centauros, the figure-head of the Doge's galley. Byron in CHILDE HAROLD

Nash, railing Nash, craking Nash, bibbing Nash, baggage Nash, swaddish Nash, bellweather of the rogish Nash, Nash the

Ascension Day, went to

(1818) states: unrestored.

wed

The Bucentaur

A

1658

lies

scribling flock, presse, the

rotting

account of

Queen that Her

shambles

Nashe had buxom. Also buhsum, bocsum, bowsome, and more. The word first meant easily bowed, old

variant

of

of

the

impudency, the the poulkat

beastliness,

[skunk]

entoro most richly adorned, and guilded within and without.

An

swish-swash

of of Fouls-churchyard, the shriekowle of London, the toade-stoole of the realme, the scorning-stocke of the world.

Christina of "Swedland" says a bucMajesty sailed towards Bruxells in

bucksome.

the

bumm

of

earlier (1591) as

Adam

Foule-

weather, Student in Asse-tronomy, parodied a poor astrological prediction of

hence, goodwhence its current

Gabriel Harvey's brother Richard, and returned to the attack the next year in PIERCE PENILESSE HIS SUPPLICATION TO THE DIVELL, in which Nashe boasts: Have I not

light obtained by directing bude-light. a stream of oxy-hydrogen gas over crushed Invented (and named in shells.

an indifferent prittye vayne in spurgalling an asse? Spurgall means to gall, injure, with the spur. It was also used figuratively,

flexible pliant; submissive;

natured, lively, gay

meaning.

A

egg

117

burdash

bumbailiff as

when

thicke

From bum, the buttocks. was frequently combined, especially by 17th century playwrights. Thus bumblade, bum-dagger, a wide one, for strik-

Water Poet (WORKS;

the

Bum

to

and

spurgall sinne. Many that run errand find themselves fallen

on on

that

ing with the flat, bumfodder (Latin anitergium; anus, bum + tergeref to wipe) worthless literature; French torchecul,

their

bum.

,

A

bumbailiff. rests.

bum-barrel.

roll}

1630) a post lie runne through thin To scourge iniquity and

Like

said:

The term

one that makes arone of contempt (bum,

bailiff; is

used in Urquhart's translation (1653) of Rabelais.

buttocks; cp. bumrowl) , implying that the bailiff is close upon the debtor's back. The similar French

word

is

a

pousse-cul. Shake-

Fielding

Chloe, married

a

schoolmaster;

to

the lady (1601) a plain citizen, com-

plains: Nor you nor your house were so much as spoken of, before I disbased my-

A similar word of scorn was The noble bumtrap, observes in TOM JONES (1749) into the .

hands of the

or flogger;

THE POETASTER

son's

orchard like a bum-baylie. The word was used by Washington Irving and Thack-

bumtrap;

flagellant

bumbrusher (18th century)

hence (Peter Pindar, ODE, 1786) bumproof to all the flogging of the schools. In Jon-

speare in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) says: Scout mee for him at the corner of the

eray (1859)

A

self,

from my hood and my farthingal, to bumrowls and your whale-bone

these

bodice.

jailer resolves to deliver his

The next

year,

Warner

in ALBION'S

ENGLAND pictured another woman: Supporters, poolers, fardingales above the loynes to waire, That be she near so

miserable prey. Tucker in THE LIGHT OF NATURE PURSUED (1768) spoke of the two necessary ministers of justice, a bumbailiff

bombe-thin yet she

and Jack Ketch.

cross-like

seems foure-

squaire.

A scavenger's boat for removfrom ships on the Thames. Apparently from bum, buttocks + boat; a bumbay on a farm was a pool formed by draining dung, etc. Bumboats were made requisite for London harbor, by a law

bumboat. ing

burd.

of 1685.

burdash.

often carried robbers to the

They

As they also carried provisions to the word bumboat sell on the ships, the earlier practice ended) came (after

mean

a boat carrying things to sell to ships anchored offshore. This 19th century use, frequent in the nautical novels of Frederick Marryat, Gilbert's H.M.S.

Buttercup btunrowl. part

of

is

a

PINAFORE

kept alive in (1878)

:

Little

stuffed cushions or

skirts;

especially,

padding worn about

the hips. Cp. dress-improver. Also

against the cravat

bum-

adornment

to

a

and berdash. Sometimes and influenced by that

word (meaning catamite, from Arabic bardaj, slave) HUDIBRAS

(1678)

effeminate, .

Butler in

speaks of Raptures of

Platonick lashing And chast contemplative bardashing. There is double play in Centlivre's

effeminate

or other protuberant

feminine

foppish

spelled bardash,

Mrs.

bumboat woman.

A bustle, the

is

A

man's costume, in the reigns of Queen Anne and George I: a fringed sash, or a kind of cravat. Steele in THE GUARDIAN (1713) says: / have prepared a treatise

ships.

to

See berne.

filth

man

words of 1721 with your false

of

an

calves,

burdash, and favorites. The last word meant curls dangling at the temples; but which meaning of burdash had she in mind?

118

burden

by-and-by

The

burden.

bass,

or

century)

an instance of

for

its

made

garment

posed to the comic sock (soccus) or low shoe. Hence, buskin is used to signify

from

coarse

woolen

cloth; a

thereof; hence, plain clothing. Used the 13th into the 17th century. The

meaning belonging Hence, by the 16th century,

said:

My

:

bum.

A

buskin;

see

buskinade brodekin.

a kick with a

is

Many

writers use

buskined, meaning shod with, buskins; thus Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S

DREAM Your

(1590) : The bouncing buskin' d mistresse and

WINDSOR FOREST without

virgins

(1704)

:

Amazon

Pope in Her buskin' d

suggestion

of

tragedy.

Marlowe in HERO AND LEANDER

borrel

Chapman; 1598) pictures artificial birds singing on Hero's legs: Buskins of shels all silvered used she, and brancht

(also

borrell braine is all too

To

mean

buskin.

to the laity.

give a gesse. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) uses borrell to

as in the phrase

put on the buskin. In Spenser; Dryden I (TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, 1679, Preface) doubt to smell a little too strongly of the

(finished

by

b orowe, borou) , unlearned, rude, rough. Gascoigne in A HUNDRETH SUNDRIE FLOWERS (1572)

ancient Greece, as op-

to

never used such coarse cloth) came in the 14th century to be applied as an adjective,

of

tragic style or matter,

original color was probably reddish-brown, from Latin burrus, red. Other forms were borel, barrel, burrell. The French form bureau, from the fact that this coarse cloth (baize) was used for the top of a writingdesk, came to be used for the desk, and gave us the current bureau. The form borrel, borel (because the clergy

blunt

actors

tragic

A

burden (16th-18th

see

use,

whist.

burel.

of

See dildo.

.

buskin. A half-boot, reaching to the calf, sometimes to the knee. Especially, the high, thick-soled cothurnus worn by the

a song or stanza. Figuratively, the main idea or tenor, or chief sentiment. Cp. dildo;

A variant

burthen.

accompaniment,

of a song; see bourdon. By extension and more commonly, the refrain or chorus of

with blushing corall to the knee, Where sparrowes pearcht, of hollow pearle and gold, Such as the world would woonder to

a plain fellow.

behold: Those with sweet water oft her ftls, Which as shee went would

handmaid Besides

the

current

sense

of

a

burn, the result of contact with excessive heat, burn as a noun was (1) a short

cherupe through the buss.

form of burden; since the 14th century. a spring, fountain; a brook. It was (2) also used of water from a well since

(1605)

bils.

See bass. Shakespeare in KING LEAR declares: You have heard of the

I mean the whispered ones, for are they yet but ear-bussing arguments.

news

.

.

.

the 9th century sea.

Hence

and, poetically, of the also burngate, a water course;

buxom.

See bucksome.

now

burnside, burnhead, burnmouth; preserved in place names. Burn, as a brook, is still current in dialects. Note that the idea is related to burning, as a torrent is from Latin torrere, to scorch, whence also the torrid zone.

burridge.

by-and-by.

Immediately. Thus presently

originally meant at the present moment, at once. The dilatory tendency of human

nature drew both terms to their current protraction. Merygreeke says of the title figure in UdalFs RALPH ROISTER DOISTER

See bugloss.

(1558)

119

:

//

any

woman

smyle, or cast on

by-blow

byrlakin

hym an

eye } Up is he to the harde eares in love by-and-by.

A

by-blow.

side

meanings grew: that

man's

fall;

aim,

(1)

main

effect of the

ment

stroke.

Hence

other

a calamity as a side

action, as in the state-

inequality is a by-blow a blow that misses (2)

of its

in Bunyan's PILGRIM'S PROGRESS

as

Now also with their by-blows did they split the very stones in pieces; (1684)

(3)

ticiple of

Old

called.

past par-

bename. Used in THE SHEPHERD'S

CALENDAR (1579; JUNE) by Spenser. byrespect.

Attention paid to something

other than the apparent purpose; a side aim; an ulterior motive. Used 16th to 18th century; Burkitt ON THE NEW TESTA(1703) exclaimed: How natural it

MENT

:

an

illegitimate child

side-effect;

tion

Named;

bynempt.

an unintended

of

Rabelais

remarks

men

See chichevache.

A

contraction of

by our darling lady the Virgin Mary, and used

ends

By Our Lady-

kin,

Also the simpler byrlady

as

referring to a mild oath.

berlady,

bur-

byleddy; bylakin, belakin, berlakin, and more. Shakespeare swears

lady,

a beggar's bye-blow.

to seek Christ for sinister

byrespects!

byrlakin. that

Kind Venus cured her beloved by-blow Aeneas-, and Browning in THE RING AND THE BOOK (1868) refers to A drab's brat,

birlady,

Berlady thirtie yeares in ROMEO AND JULIET

An

18th century term for "the yard or privy member of a horse." byental.

for

thus Motteux in his transla-

(1708)

bycorne.

is

and

120

(1592) and Berlaken, a parlous feare A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

in

French name for the game,

See caboche.

cabbage.

its

Brushwood.

cablish.

Its

disposition was

covered by law. Originally the word meant trees or branches blown down by the

wind.

To cut off the head (of a deer) behind the horns. Via French from Italian capocchia, big head, from capo, head. It is sometimes spelled cabage, caboche.

close

through confusion with the early verb to cabbage, to grow or come to a head

tennis, took

place.

A depraved condition: of a perbody or mind or of a state, as MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE of November 1883 said that Ireland lies fretful and wrathful under a grim social cachexy of distressful centuries. From Greek kakos, bad + cachexy.

son

exia, exis, habit, state, exein, to have, to

be in a condition. Hence

also cachectic,

cachectical, cacexicate, cachexicate*

As the head

Other English words come from Greek

of the vegetable is removed when it has "cabbaged," so was the head of the deer.

kakos, bad. Cack, to void excrement (see cacafuego) ; Cranmer in 1549 tells of a

(like the

cacafuego. logically,

horns of a deer)

.

A

braggart; a spitfire (etymothe second letter of spitfire

should be h: Latin cacare, Spanish cagar, to void excrement -f Spanish fuego, fire) .

The word came

into English as a term of contempt because it was the name of the Spanish galleon Drake captured in 1577.

Bailey explains it, in 1731, as the name of a Spanish fly that by night darts fire from its tail. Fletcher in THE FAIR MAID

OF THE INN

(1625)

cries:

She will be

ravished before our faces by rascals

and

cacafugos, wife, cacafugoes!

cachespeU.

Tennis.

The

16th and 17th

century term, from Flemish caestespeel, from French chasse, chase + speel, play.

ings etc.

ground. There were

cachepule, kaichspell, in the 16th century,

cached out the Devil.

The

cackerel was a small Mediterranean

fish fish,

eaten only by the poor, so-called in scorn; as Johnson records in 1755, say

others,

that eating

it is

laxative,

cacodaemon, an

nightmare; caco demoniac, one possessed; cacodemonic, bringing mis-

evil

spirit,

a

fortune, evil

cacochyme, cacochymic, full of humors, cacodorous. cacodox, hold-

ing evil opinions: cacodoxy. cacoethes (4 syllables)

,

an

evil habit,

an

'itch'

to do,

as the insanabile cacoethes scribendi

curable itch to write)

Addison

(in-

(1713) as epi-

quotes from Juvenal, saying it is demical as the small pox. cacolike was a 16th and 17th century scornful perversion

spell-

Catholic, cacology, ill report; bad speaking, cacomagician, sorcerer. There are others, in medicine and prosody (caco-

cachespale, before the

phonous, cacorhythmic, etc) Jeremy Bentham, countering More's Utopia, sup-

Also the Dutch kaats, place where the ball hits the

man who

many

121

of

.

caddis

cachinnate poses a Cacotopla or worst possible gov-

The O.E.D.

ernment.

current

of

cacographer.

calling Bentham mistaken. Erashe wrote IN PRAISE OF FOLLY, when mus,

Cp. cachexy.

errs in

dal in

beautiful

in

(eu-)

his

title

place

that

The world must be

place. to avoid

Cacotopia.

is

no

(ou-)

M.

ever vigilant,

cacozelia

of

is

Hitler) It

is

cad Before .

cachinnate.

To

From

through Browning BOOK, 1868)

;

15th

imitation

in his

its

es-

19th century term from current meaning of a vulgar

POEMS

Rebellion wants no (1657) is a perfect witchcraft of In the 18th century, it was used for

cad nor itself.

elfe

:

But

an unbooked passenger in a coach, whose was pocketed by the driver; in the 19th, for an assistant or helper; a cheap laborer; an omnibus conductor (Hood; Dickens, PICKWICK PAPERS; Thackeray, THE BOOK OF SNOBS) then as a school term

century,

fare

(THE RING AND THE

the practice extends farther.

GUY MANNERING

(1815) mentions the hideous grimaces which attended this unusual cachinnation. Also cachinnator; cachinnatory. Sometimes in the theatre Scott, in

article for sale,

ensnare the undis-

person, cad grew through several senses. In the 17th century, it meant a goblin, a familiar spirit, as when Bishop King wrote

laugh loud and long, imthe

to

A

criminating.

degenerate into cacozeale, developing a left-handed Cicero.

moderately.

cheap

pecially prepared

term) was used especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, as by Spenser and Puttenlest

A

cadcatcher.

properly, misdirected zeal; whence cacozealous. cacozelia cacozealot; (the

To

See cadcatcher.

is,

more

ham; Bulwer (1644) warns

Collins in PEN SKETCHES (1879) wrote

Luminous books

cad.

quite pervasive, easily caught.

sometimes spelled cacozeal, which

}

Hence cacuminate,

(not voluminous) read under beech-trees cacuminous.

(perverse cough of

like "copying the genius" or the manners and tactics of a

imitation,

Pointed; of a tree, pyramiLatin cacuminem point,

to sharpen, a stake; to the as with at top, especially like also cacumination. a shape pyramid;

the

UTOPIA:

shape.

peak, top.

.

More punned

cacographic;

Used from the 16th century.

cacuminous.

was living with More, and the Latin title is a pun on More's name (as though IN PRAISE OF MORE: ENCOMIUM MORIAE)

Also

English".

probably

(1933)

;

(Eton, Oxford; in Scotland, caddie) for a fellow that did odd jobs, as around the

in MOSSES

one can sympathize with Hawthorne, who FROM AN OLD MANSE (1846) threatened instant death on the slightest

sporting fields, then contemptuously, for a townsman (as opposed to a gownsman)

cachinnatory indulgence.

Hence, the current

caco-.

or

A

evil,

combining form meaning bad from Greek kakos, bad. See

cacography.

garters

uses

See cachexy; eudemon. (1)

Bad handwriting. The

opposite of calligraphy. (2) Bad spelling. The opposite of orthography. Also a bad

system of spelling, such as

abandoning

caddis.

dis

cachexy.

cacodemon.

.

says O.E.D.,

historical perspective

A

use.

yarn; a worsted tape, used for like; hence, short for cad-

and the

ribbon or caddis garter. Shakespeare it in THE WINTER'S TALE He (1610) :

hath ribbons of all the colors i* the rainbow, points more than all the lawyers in Bohemia can learnedly handle, though they

come

to

him by

the gross inkles, and in HENRY

caddises, cambrics, lawns;

"that

IV,

122

PART ONE.

calamist

cade cade.

a barrel, from Latin cadus, a vessel. From the 14th

(1)

18th

through the

especially

century,

of rich

popular in the

silk,

16th century. Also capha.

The Wardrobe

Accounts of King Henry VIII (for 18 May, 1531) list white caffa for the Kinges LYFFE AND DEATHE grace. Cavendish in THE

a

barrel of herrings holding six great hundreds (6 score in a great hundred) ; later

A pet;

A cloth,

caffa.

large earthenware

foal raised

OF CARD YN ALL WOOLSEY (1557) Spoke of Woolsey's habytt, which was other of

veterinarians.

fynne skarlett or elles of crymmosyn satten, taffeta, dammaske, or caffa, the best that he could gett for money.

the cade held 500. (2)

a lamb or a

(

by hand; hence, a spoiled or See cosset. (3) A kind of child. petted bush, yielding cade oil, used by juniper (1)

,

to

To cade may mean, from

put into a keg or,

from

(2)

,

to

Sent by an evil

cagastric.

star;

used by

pamper.

Paracelsus of certain diseases, fevers, or

Falling. Latin cadentem, falling; cadere, to fall. Shakespeare in KING LEAR

the plague. Also, fluence of a star.

cadent.

With (1605) in her cheeks. :

cadent tears fret channels

(?)

cacos-, evil

A

caitiff.

Cadmean. Related to the Phoenician Cadmus, brother of Europa, founder of

who brought

Thebes,

He

the

alphabet

other;

perished save build his. city.

Cadmus

come two

a

Cadmean

edness; wickedness;

II

and

tivity;

imprison.

fall;

cus; cadere, to

reed,

A

which

is

piper.

flag.

From Latin

and

poems

curling leaves of rushes

ne hath glory monOur lyf addayne ne pompe caduque wythoute

ANCHOLY; 1621)

versyte.

.

And

.

.

Biggs in THE

NEW

DISPENSA-

noted that caduce, specious and seductive chameleon, reason.

TION (1651)

123

1860

is

calamus,

rushes, especially the

used of parts that fall naturally when they have served their purpose. Caxton in the translation (1484) of THE CURIAL MADE BY MAYSTRE ALAIN CHARRETIER wrote:

OF

In Whitman's LEAVES OF GRASS,

the section of 45

off

is

in

used in English as the name

of various reeds

sweet

In biology, caducous

fall.

listed

TESTAMENT

Chaucer's

in

caytifued,

calamist.

17th century) caduce, caduke. Latin cadu-

chained,

LOVE (1400).

thereafter.

to Fleeting, transitory; liable Also feeble. infirm, (15th through

Caitisned,

and elsewhere Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751) as used by Chaucer, is a 1560 misprint for

victory, a victory involvlike that of World

caducous.

caitifty, cap-

caitifly;

wretchedness; villainy. Wyclif and Chaucer use the verb caitive, caytifue, to

five, who helped From his legend

ing the winner's ruin

War

many

very common word from the 13th through the 17th century. Also caitifhede, wretch-

in a poem of 1868 speaks of (1) Tennyson Dragon warriors from Cadmean teeth; (2)

poor wretch;

including caytive, chaytif, via French from Latin captivus, captive. A

to

Cadmean, Cadmian:

of

uses

captive; later, a

spellings,

killed a

all

aster, star; cp. cachexy.

a despicable wretch, a villain. In

dragon and sowed its teeth, whereupon armed men sprang from the ground; he threw a stone amongst them and they at once attacked one anGreece.

+

under the baneful incagastrical; from

Thus

first

published in

from the came Latin cal-

called CALAMUS. Possibly

amistrum, curling-iron, whence 17th cenOF MELtury English (Burton, ANATOMY (accent on the hair. Also

calamistrate

the mis) , to curl or in the 17th century: calamize, to pipe or frizzle

sing.

calash

calewise

A

light carriage with low wheels a removable top. Hence also, the folding hood of a carriage, a perambula-

calash.

Mrs.

in

Three or

Gaskell's

CRANFORD

-four ladies in

(1867)

met

calashes

;

at

;

A

THAT ENDS WELL)

The kalender of my past en devours. Also, a record in the sense of a sign; Lodge (EUPHUES GOLDEN LEGEND;

called a caleche.

To trample or stamp upon. From Latin calcare, from calx, heel. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE of 1822 remarks that

:

few supernumerary calcations would have been overlooked. A calcatory was a 15th century term for a winepress, where the grapes are stamped upon. Comsuch

calcar,

Calceate

is

as

also calced

and

excels in gust The calentures of baneful lust Congreve in LOVE FOR LOVE (1695) uses the word to mean the victims of the

shod. Calceolate

means shaped

like a slip-

per, used in botany today, the genus calceolaria. Calcimine, however, calcium

and

many compounds and

its

words,

are

from the Latin

calx,

related colds,

meaning lime. The change of heat-rays from non-luminous to luminous, which Tyndall (1872) called calorescence, was earlier called calcescence, because

pened in the tion of calcey. as old

lime-light.

I

is

the

it

suppose

main process in a Hollywood star.

cescence

hap-

calcium.

See calcate.

Ben

exclaims: / believe all the

calentures of the sea are

come ashore.

A

dictionary, especially a polyglot. Figuratively, a note-book; to bring one to one's calepin, to the limits of one's

calepin.

information, one's wit's end. From Ambrosio Calepino, of Calepio, Italy, an Augustine friar who in 1502 published a Latin

DICTIONARY that was the standard for the century; an edition in eight languages was issued in 1609. Taxations, monopolies,

cal-

the crea-

tolls,

protested Drummond of Hawthorn1649, such impositions as would

den in

trouble

Causeway. Also calcetum. Listed

by Bailey, 1751.

disease, as

Hence

shod and un-

discalced,

some. Pure chastity, Bishop piously observed in 1711,

entures in

a 17th and

barefoot.

afflicting

Thomas Ken

the moderate Carmelites, "of the rule re-

who did not go

disease

it and play. It is also used figuratively, of a burning passion or zeal, as in a poem (1631) of Donne: Knowledge kindles cal-

18th century term for shod, from Latin calceus, shoe. The Fathers Calceate were

laxed,"

tropical

who

in delirium fancy the ocean to be a green field and wish to leap into

sailors,

calcarine, calcariferous, spur-like, bearing spurs, are from Latin calcar, spur, from calx, calcis, heel.

A

calenture.

a

formed with

:

Nor are the dimples in the face 1590) the calendars of truth.

calcate.

binations

Chaucer (LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN;

list, as of canonized saints (17th century) or of prisoners awaiting trial (16th cena record; Shakespeare (ALL'S WELL tury)

kolasa, wheel-carriage, small two-wheeled carriage in Canada, usually without a cover, is

even

current

the

1385); Shakespeare (HAMLET; 1602): He is the card or calendar of gentry. Also, a

from the Slavonic,

still

use since

(in

model

Miss Barker's door. From French caleche, kolo, wheel.

its still

14th century) calendar was used to mean a guide, a

senses

a woman's hood, supported by whalebone or cane hoops, projecting beyond the face, as

In addition to

calendar.

In the 18th and 19th centuries,

etc.

tor,

See chaldese.

caldese.

and

many

calepines

to

give

names

unto. calewise. Warmly. Latin calere, to be warm. In 18th century dictionaries.

124

callipygean

calibogus

A mixture of rum and spruce imbibed by misguided Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries; as L. de Boileau described it in his RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE (1861) "more of (he

general term of abuse, meaning thus used in GAM'a scold'

calibogus.

used

beer,

no more than

MER GURTON'S NEEDLE

An

calicrat.

of the latter."

less

Latin

half-boot,

caliga,

worn

Greek

A coloring for beauty

the

the eye-lids.

blepharon, eye-lid.

.

.

other modes. callidity.

caligi-

Cunning,

Caliginosity, .

sense) turies,

century, but Mrs. Piozzi is not the only one who commented (1794) on the caliginous atmosphere of London', and

and 17th

craftiness.

From Latin

good or bad Used in 16th, 17th and 18th cenbut ERASER'S MAGAZINE in 1833

callidus, skilful,

mistiness.

+

the marrow of (1661) recommends: serveth the right fore legge with soot have for a calliblephary. Modern maids

Used mainly in the 16th

sight.

kallos,

.

by

Obscure; dark. Latin

obscurity,

dimness of

hath beat her husband,

me.

ALS

soldiers, A caligate knight, in the 16th century, was one that fought on foot.

nem,

by Skelton,

Accent on the bleph. Robert Lovell, in A COMPLEAT HISTORY OF ANIMALS AND MINER-

Roman

caliginous.

late

baits

calliblephary.

From

military boots.

Wearing

,

16th century term,

apparently from Calibrates, a Greek artist, mentioned by Pliny, who specialized in of ants sculptures minute ivory carvings and other tiny creatures. caligate.

who

tongue,

and now

A

ant.

(1575)

WINby Stanyhurst, by Shakespeare (THE TER'S TALE, 1611): A callat of boundless

,

former and

as a

crafty

(in

spoke of persons that suspect their own intimate friends of callidity. The formality of the term seems somewhat to lessen the

Bulwer-Lytton in THE CAXTONS (1849) Her lone little room, full of cali-

offence.

has:

ginous corners and nooks.

A

calino.

rascal.

French

callipygean. calin,

*a

as

beg-

that coungarly rogue or lazie vagabond terfeits disease/ Nashe in LENTEN STUFFE

spoke of our English harmonious The word may be corrupted from an Irish song, calino custure me, popular about 1600. Shakespeare in HENRY v (1599)

calinos.

makes

(1599)

Pistol,

when

his prisoner

From Greek

calat,

A

calot,

Shakespeare in beggar in his drink

etc.

OTHELLO (1604) A Could not have laid such terms upon his callet', Burns* THE JOLLY BEGGARS (1785) :

and my

callet.

scold, to rail,

my

wallet,

my

honestum vice.

1646.

-f

pyge,

And

et turpe; the English, virtue

also callipygy,

and

beauty behind. the

Lyly in EUPHUES (1580) tells, ancient artists: Zeuxis having before him faire virgins of Sparta

whereby

to

draw fiftie more fayrer than those coulde not minister sufficient beautie to shewe the godesse of

bottle

As a verb callet means and sometimes the noun

in

of moral values; the Greeks set in opposition to kalon kai to aischron; the Romans,

:

I'm as happy with

it

beauty

one amiable Venus, said, that

lewd woman, a strumpet. Also

kallat,

kalos, kallos,

buttocks. Also callipygian, callipygous; cp. also used aischrology. The word kalos was

fiftie

callet.

"Largely composed behind,"

Thomas Browne put

of

respond in meaningless me. English: Qualtitie calmie custure French,

speaks

Sir

to is

125

beautie, therefore being in dispaire either to by art to shadow hir, or by imagination

comprehend

hir,

he drew in a table a

faire temple, the gates open, and Venus going in, so as nothing coulde be per-

camlet

caltrop

ceived

but her backe, wherein he used

such cunning that Appelles himselfe, seeing this worke, wished that Venus would turn hir face, saying that if it were in all the backe, he

paries agreeable to

become apprentice

to Zeuxis,

and

would

slave to

Venus. It may not be impious to note that another god himself said (BIBLE: EXODUS And it shall come to pass, while my 33) :

glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with

my hand as I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but

my

face shall not be seen.

This takes us on philosophical roundings. As might be expected of the Victorian

THE ATHENAEUM

era,

of 17 October, 1885,

speaks of the callipygian luxuriance he so deplores.

A

snare. Originally a trap to caltrop. catch the feet of men or horses in war,

and

of

hunted

heel

calx,

(Latin

-h

beasts;

probably from Latin

Old High German trapo

trappd)

,

Spelled in

trap.

many

coltetraeppe, calteroope} calthrap, galtrop, etc. In the 16th and 17th cen-

ways:

an iron ball with four prongs so arranged that one always pointed up, flung on the ground to hinder charging cavalry. Also used figuratively as by Dekker in THE WHORE OF BABYLON (1607) // ever I come turies,

:

back

I'll

be a calthrop

tries feet that

cam.

to prick

my

coun-

change; by extension, a manual of meas-

One

A fetid marsh or swamp. From

two "being called gluten and ros." (3) cellular tissue in which the annual growth of wood and bark takes place. By extension from (2) and still used in botany.

in

envenome and

infect

man

pictured a

1641

J.

Jackson

crucified

head

sheep upon the cambrel. Also cambren, perhaps the original form, Welsh cam, crooked (surviving in arms like a

downward,

+

akimbo)

A

camis.

pren, wood.

light loose silk or linen dress;

Via Spanish camisa from Late Latin camisia, tunic, shirt. The French form is the familiar chemise; the English has many: camus; camise (from Arabic gamic, which occurs in the KORAN but is probably borrowed from Latin) ; camisole., a

shirt.

a

negligee

jacket;

also,

a

straitjacket.

Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) tells of a woman who was yclad, for heat of scorching aire} All in a silken camus

lily

the

soule.

The

attackers

armor

wore a white shirt over their be recognized by one an-

so as to

other in the dark.

16th

Originally a beautiful

and

and

costly

made

especially in the 17th centuries of the hair of

fabric,

the angora goat. Also

camelot,

126

A

night attack. The word, frein 16th and 17th centuries, is the quent "shirted"; see camis. liteially (Spanish)

eastern

(1681) CRITICK, speaks of camarines of customs, to

bent piece of wood or iron,

on which butchers hung meat.

camlet.

which use

A

cambrel.

THE

Gracian's

the

of

The

speaks of a man who can wade into the very gulph and camarine of man's apparant wzlfulnesse. Paul Rycant, in his of

also cambistry.

'

'alimentary humours" supposed to nourish the body; in 1708 Kersey's DICTIONARY lists three, the other (2)

camisado.

Camarina, a town in Sicily beside a pestilential marsh. Thomas Newton in 1576

translation

Hence

ures, weights, etc.

white.

tread on me.

See kam.

camarane.

cambium. (1) Exchange; a place of exchange. Late Latin cambium, exchange. A cambist was a dealer in bills of ex-

from

Arabic

(and in French) kernel,

angora

canicular

campes trial

You have brought her

into such a

sometimes confused with camel, though the cloth was never made of camel's hair.

naries; the best courtier of

There was

never have brought her to such a canarie.

a

also a "watered" camlet, with

surface,

wavy came to mean

and to

as a

candicant. ing;

Edmund

Bolton in his translation (1618) Of THE ROMAN HISTORIES OF LUCIUS JULIUS

(something)

garment made of the material. Later made of mohair, then spun of wool and silk, then wool and linen or cotton. By 1815 tents were made of it, of a kind of black blanket, or rather of camlet was

Then

campestrial.

Also campestral. See champ-

candlewaster.

dropped out of use.

A

lively dance, or the

in

(1601)

breath

life into a stone,

and make you LABOUR'S

jig

LOST,

off

a

tune,

at

that 'wastes candles'

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

(1599)

bids

Applied in ancient Greece to a maiden bearing the sacred items for the feasts of Demeter, Bacchus, and Athena. FRASER'S MAGAZINE of 1849 said: To be chosen

to

Quicken a rock, dance canari; in LOVE'S

One

canephor. One that bears a basket on her head. Also canephora, canephorus; Greek caneon, basket + phoros, carrying.

music

Thafs able

Rare

Patch griefe with proverbs, make misfortune drunke With candlew asters.

thereto. Also to canary, to dance. Shakespeare in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

has a medicine

grow

turn

white.

THIA'S REVELS (1599) speaks of a whoreson bookworm, a candle-waster. Shakespeare

be. See champestrial. (1)

white; to

morn-

to

is

by study late at night. Applied in scorn to fruitless elucubration. Jonson in CYN-

campion. An earlier (later, a Scotch) form of champion. The Late Latin was campionem, a fighter on the campus, a field for pugilistic contests as the campus

canary.

white, like the

candicate

tury include canitude, hoariness, whiteness probably in error from this source.

estrial.

still

To

dus, white whence also candidate, because aspirants to office in Rome wore a white toga. Dictionaries of the 18th cen-

of a

coarse camlet.

whitish.

words both, ultimately from Latin candi-

FLORUS speaks of cassocks chambleted with figures of palms. The word was also used

may

Waxing

lines;

ca-

could

all

verb to camlet

mark with wavy

it

them

canephor was as if 'Beautiful* were stamped on the lintel of a woman's door.

the

tongue's end, canary to it with your feet. Other writers of the time usually employed the plural; Nashe (1592) Dekker in THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF LONDON (1606) They would make all the hogges-heads that use to come to the house, to dance the

canescent.

See canons.

;

cannaries

cula,

the diminutive was used to

A

name

to the yellow songster but took it (Latin canaria insula, island o the dogs; cants, dog) from the dogs that used to

roam

there.

a quandary; an (3) malapropism by Mistress

about

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR:

11

used to

the dog-

August. Caniculars has also been doggerel verses. Harvey in

mean

FOURE LETTERS Mother Hubbard his

Also

anticipatory Quickly in THE

name

star; thus usually also in English. The canicular days, the dog-days, around the rising of the dog-star (Sirius or Procyon),

they reeld againe. (2) sweet wine. Both of these come from light the Canary Islands, which also gave their till

Relating to a dog. Latin canidiminutive of canis, dog. In Latin

canicular.

:

.

(1592) .

.

declared:

happen

to tel

//

one

canicular tale, father Elderton and his sonne Greene will counterfeit an hundred

127

canion

dogged

capelclawer fables, libles, calumnies, slaunders,

what not, and most currishly snarle and bite where they should most kindly fawne and licke. lies -for

the whetstone,

blister-fly.)

Also

cantharids,

cantarides.

by Jonson in THE POETASTER (1601) I, you whoreson cantharides! was it If Burke in THE FRENCH cantharides to our REVOLUTION (1790)

Used

as

figuratively,

:

:

Used in the

plural, of rolls of cloth 'laid like sausages" round the bot-

canion.

A

of breeches-legs. style for men in and 17th centuries. Pepys in his

tom

the 16th

Guilpin in SKIALETHEIA ("SHADOW OF TRUTH"; 1598) said of satires and epigrams: They are philosophicke true

love

of

liberty.

cantharides

1660, says: Made myself as fine as I could, with the linning stock-

grame

on and wide canons. (The word was and cannions.) Porof France and his Court show costumes with cannions.

jade a jade.

DIARY of

2,4

May,

ings

also spelled cannons traits of Henry III

See candicant.

canitude.

A

cankedort.

critical situation;

"a woful

case" (Bailey, 1751). Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374) inquires: Was Troylus

in a

nought

kankedortf Also

1500)

dort.

The etymology

:

Melodious; singing; resonant. Latin canorem, song; canere, to sing. De Quincey in his CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH

OPIUM-EATER (1822) breaks into a long, loud, and canorous peal of laughter. Lowell remarks in AMONG MY BOOKS (1870)

An

epi-

And Mounsieur Guulard [Bigwas not much to blame When he for gullet] meat mistook an epigrame, For though it be no cates, sharpe sauce it is To lickerous

We

no longer youths sweet amisse. use amiss (q.v.) as a noun; and, for the most part, we no longer use cantharides vanitie,

as

canorus.

vanities dead flesh.

popish displing [discipline], rebell flesh to tame: A plain dealing lad, that is not afraid To speak the truth, but calls a

(Med-

That were a shrewd crankis unknown.

wall,

To

Is

an aphrodisiac.

A

nook or corner; especially, a projecting corner of land. Hence, a corner sliced off; by extension, a slice of bread, cantle.

a section of anything (especially, a sega separate of a circle or sphere)

ment

,

part or portion. Also the

bump

at

the

back of a horse's saddle, the bar at the back of a earners. Figuratively (Scotch) ,

:

He

chooses his language for its rich canrather than /or intensity of

orousness

the crown of the head, as in

/'//

crack his

cantle for him. Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) For Nature has not taken his beginning Of no par tie ne cantel of :

meaning. canous.

Hoary; grey. Used in the 16th

century; also canois, canus; Latin canus,

hoary. Thus canescent, growing gray; rather hoary; dull white. Also canescence} R, Burton in EL MEDINAH (1855) wrote:

All colour melts away with the canescence from above. The sky is of a dead milkwhite.

cantankerous.

See conteck.

The dried beetle or Spanish formerly used as an aphrodisiac. (Four

cantharides. fly;

syllables;

plural

of

Greek

kantharis,

128

a

thing.

Shakespeare uses the word in

HENRY iv PART ONE (but see in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

scantle); also

(1606)

:

The

With a remark not of an age

greater cantle of the world

is

lost

very ignorance but for our time.

capel. See caple. In alchemy capel, cappell was also the name for a large crucible or furnace.

A groom, a horse-scrubber, Hence, a scurvy fellow. So used in PO-

capelclawer.

LITICAL SONGS of the time of

Henry

III

capul

capha

Edward

and

collected

I,

by

Thomas

See

capha.

ing

women caput}

from capiAnother old The word was is

capistrate.

muzzle.

and 18th

the 17th

A

rare

centuries,

A

from Latin

Hebrew)

,

the like

(not to be cabbala, from the

cauple)

Chaucer in THE FRERES TALE (1386) says: Bothe hey and cart and elk his caples three. Drayton (1603) pictures the course of the sun: Phoebus took his To wash his cauples lab'ring teame in the ocean streame. Scott in IVANHOE cavalier.

(1819)

.

See aeromancy.

Simpleton, blockhead. Italian capocchio, from capo, head. The word in English is a suggestion by Theobald (1726; SHAKESPEARE RESTORED, which CTlticized Pope's edition of Shakespeare, after

which Theobald was made the chief butt in Pope's DUNCIAD) Theobald suggests .

ILUS

AND CRESSIDA

(1606)

wretch: a poor chipochia.

:

TRO

Capriped, goat-foot-

satyr.

capri,

and the

caprem}

goat

taxi: short for

+

pedem, foot. Among from caprem are caprice (still current) in the form capriccio used by Shakespeare (ALL'S WELL THAT taxicabriolet)

formed

,

ENDS WELL; 1601: Will in thee, art suref)

(REDGAUNTLET; cornify, to

A

this caprichio

and revived by

1824)

.

Capricorn,

hold Scott

capri-

equip with horns; to cuckold: Who wily wench there was .

.

.

her husband's head, caprid, caprine, relating to a goat, caprizate, to leap like a goat; used in medicine used

of

capocchia.

capocchia as the correct reading, in

A

Latin

in 1665

my

neighbour 3uthan's good capul.

capnomancy.

capripede.

words

.

revived the word, borrowing

See copataine.

caper, (whence the island

round-

about from Latin caballus, horse, which by French routes gives us chevalier and

.

the head almost like

capotaine.

ed;

and

cap el, capul, capil, capylle

(Drayton uses

fits

the head as an adornment.

horse. Also cab all

confused with cabal3

which

;

word of

capistrum, halter, Latin caput, head. caple.

,

or cloak for men. Capote (Latin head) is also used for a close-

called capuchon (from the French augmentative of capuche, hood; Latin caput, this was sometimes simple as a head) cowl, but often twisted and piled upon

(1705) a capilotade of a story's here!

To

(augmentative form of a long mantle for

capote

fitting hat,

Vanbrugh in THE CONFEDERACY

What

in-

a skull-cap; Scott in KENILWORTH (1821) has this in the form capotaine. There is also a 16th and 17th century head-dress

applied figuratively to "a cooked-up story": has:

of

French cape, cape)

minced, spiced, and laid upon several beds of cheese. Rabelais uses the form cabirotade; perhaps the word rote, hood: a covered dish.

was

troduced into England from France in the 17th century. Capot is also a variant spell-

A

re-trying.

game make

fails to

caffa.

worth

the tricks in the

all

(of piquet) . The player who a single trick is capot. The game

meat dish; in the 17th and capilotade. 18th centuries, usually capirotade: of stewed veal, capon, chicken, or partridge

recipe

To win

capot.

Wright, 1839. Cp. caple.

to

Capricorn

an irregular the

pulse.

The

caprifig

is

the

wild

fig; caprification; to caprijy, to ripen artificially; specifically, to

goat-fig,

ripen

figs

by means of the puncture of small feather. Noted by

insects, or of a

Pliny in ancient times, extensive on the island of Malta, caprification is now considered both unnecessary and injurious.

capuchon.

Alas poore

capul.

129

See capot.

See caple.

caput

mortuum

carline

mortuum.

caput words)

A

(1)

head

death's

(1648), a carkanet of maidenflowers, or

even (1876) a carcanet of smiles.

the literal translation of the Latin

(this is

a skull.

,

In alchemy

(2)

(and

and care. Spenser makes other pattern in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) Downe did cark

:

carke.

1751) piece of fish, flesh, or fowl (says the O.E.D.) scored across and grilled or broiled upon the coals.

on the

The

coals.

(says Bailey,

A

load;

in the city is carking, starving, ing, that his son may drink,

writers

including Shakespeare: many CORIOLANUS (1607) He scotcht him and notcht him like a carbinado; THE WINTER'S

keep

:

TALE

How

(1611):

adders

she

and

heads,

longd

toads

in

slash,

to

to

haires,

carkes.

of the troubles

carline.

of Spain.

carcan,

(1)

An

iron

collar

full of sparkling carcanets,

See sloth. Several words shaped into this

An (always with a short i) (1) olden coin of Naples and Sicily, worth less than a dime. Also carlin; from a ruler

used for

neckline, later called a carcaneL In the

PROGRESS of

hung

form

punishment, in the 13th through 16th centuries. (2) An ornamental collar or

we read

See carcan. Shakespeare said,

Are not the true adornments of a wife though many wives prefer them.

THE ALHAMBRA (1832) speaks of a man so cut up and carbonadoed that he is a

monument

Queen

Elizabeth

that she received

I,

of 1572,

one riche

cheat-

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

:

kind of walking

and

game, and

(1592) : Say that I lingered with you at your shop, To see the making of her carkanet; Massinger, in THE CITY MADAM Curled (1632) :

carbonadoed.

carbonado came to mean to hack as again in Shakespeare, ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1601) Your carbinado' d face. Washington Irving in

Hence

careful

mistresses.

carkanet.

eate

to

of

Cark was also used as a verb, to to burden with trouble; to be

worried, to toil anxiously. Thus Berkeley in ALCIPHRON (1732) wrote: Old Bubalion

idea of "flesh scored across" appealed

to

heavie head, devoid

his

lay

broiled

load,

also carriage-, the

frequent in the alliterative phrase

tury,

observed: His youthful heat and strength -for sin engage; God has the caput mortuum of his age. life,

steak

to

carricare,

same Latin by another route gave Old French cargier, chargier, English charge, which also first meant a load. Used from the 14th cen-

,

A

from Latin

carcare

whence

due. Cp. terra damnata. Bishop Thomas Ken, in his epic poem EDMUND (1700) speaking of a person that turns to re-

carbonado.

load, a burden; hence, trouble,

troubled state of mind. Also carke, kark. Via old French carkier and Late Latin

remains, 'good for nothing' (said Willis in 1681) 'but to be flung away, all vertue being extracted.' Hence (3) worthless resi-

ligion late in

A

cark.

chemistry) the residuum after distillation or sublimation of a substance, the useless

.

Carlo,

perhaps

Carlo

I,

1266.

(2)

A

woman; especially a scornful term for an old woman; Arbuthnot in JOHN BULL

car-

(1712) has

Peg exclaim There's no

living

kanet or collar of golde, having in it two emeralds. AENEIS Stanyhurst's (1583) speaks of a garganet heavy. Carcanet was

with that old carline his mother! Hence, a witch; in Burns' TAM O'SHANTER (1790)

sometimes used for a

Middle English kerling, feminine of karl. (3) A kind of plant, the carline thistle.

it

might

be,

as

circlet for the

head;

in Herrick's HESFERIDES

130

:

The

carlin caught her by the

rump. From

carri wit diet

carlot also Caroline, supposedly

named

after

Carolus Magnus, Charlemagne.

(4)

King

The

yellow ball in carline billiards, played with two white, one red, one blue, and the carline ball, which holed in a center

pocket scores six (Hoyle, 1820) (5) One of the pieces of timber supporting the deck-planks of a ship. Also carling. (6) .

Parched peas. Probably so-called because eaten on Carling Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent. This is, more properly, Care Sunday, with care in

its

early meaning,

sorrow. carlot.

A

carl, churl.

fellow, peasant.

A

Churl has come

tion,

man, a rank of (third) freemen. At this point carl also came into separate use, mainly as a countryman. Then after the Norman Conquest the Saxon ceorlas (churls, carls) came to be serfs. By extension, a boor, a rude illbred fellow. Hence carlish, churlish, the latter of which survives. Wyclif uses churla plain

hood; Chaucer, churldom. Shakespeare, in AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) says: He hath

bought the cottage and the bounds the old carlot once was master o/.

That

carnation.

in 17th century dictionaries, was apparently never used in English. But in Renais-

sance medicine, certain substances were supposed to dilute the gross humours in

for incanta-

Flesh-color.

Latin

carnem

t

Especially, in the plural, the flesh tints in a painting, the parts of a body

drawn naked. Goldsmith in A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD (1760) exclaims: What attitudes, carnations, and draperies! The caris also a variety of cherry. The carnation was originally corona-

SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR

tion, as in Spenser's

(1579)

wine,

:

Bring coronations and sops-in-

Worn

camifex.

of paramours.

See excarnation. Also cp. carna-

tion.

carrack.

A

large ship, such as

was used

by the Portuguese in East Indian trade, also equipped for fighting. Chaucer, in

THE SOMPNER'S TALE

(1386)

says:

Broader

than of a carryk is the sail. (Also in various manuscripts, carrik, carike, caryke.)

Shakespeare has

still

another spelling, in

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (1590) Spain, who sent whole armadoes of carrects. :

carranto.

See coranto.

carriwitchet.

a quibble. MEW FAIR

A pun,

ets

a hoaxing question,

Ben Jonson (1614)

:

Fayre, I mean, all (that's

To

card wool; to expel wind. From Latin carminare, from carmen, a card for wool. This original sense, though carminate.

word

flesh.

nation

period

a rare

is

charm, from Latin carmen, song.

flower

;

band. Then it meant member of the lowest

carmination

variant of

earliest English times; carl at that

that give rise to

fore called carminative-, their purpose was to expel flatulence. Note however that

down from

was used in combinations, as housecarl. Both are common Norse and Teuton, from the same root, and survive in the names Carl and Charles. Both carl and churl went through the same shift of meanings. Churl first meant a male, then a husband (correlative to wife) to churl (10th and llth centuries), to take a hus-

and bowels

the stomach

wind, and to comb them out like the knots in wool. Such medicines were there-

has, in

BARTHOLO-

All the fowle i' the the dirt in Smithfield

one of Master Littlewifs carwitch-

now).

The word

carry-which-it,

etc.)

occurs in

(corwhichet,

Dryden, Butler,

Arbuthnot, and was revived by Scott in THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822) : mortally

wounded with at the

a quibble or a carwitchet

Mermaid.

A

SLANG DICTIONARY of

1874 defines carriwitchet: a hoaxing, puz-

castellan

carrucage

How

as. far is it from zling question the first of July to London Bridge? .

,

.

on each

levied

From medieval

caruage. as

The

size of

the nature of the

and carue

carrucate was as tilled

A plough

in one year.

oxen.

A

could be

Latin

much

with one plough

had a team of eight

a carrucate varied with

The

soil.

terms caruck

see caruage) (in error, carve;

were occasionally used in old law; they are shortened forms of carrucate.

caruage. See carrucage. Caruage was used in the 17th century to mean ploughing.

was sometimes spelled caruage; in early English v was printed as u, and some errors were made when v was first emIt

carus.

defines is

Profound

sleep

or

insensibility,

karos, torpor. Phillips (1678) "a disease in the head which

it as

caused by an overfull stomach and want

Bailey (1751) describes as "a sleep wherein the person affected being pulled, pinched, and called, scarce of concoction"; it

shows any sign of either hearing or

feel-

ing/' The four degrees of insensibility are sopor, coma, lethargy, and carus. Sopor is also used in English, of a deep sleep, especially of a mentally or morally benumbed condition. It is direct from Latin

sopor, deep sleep. Hence also soporate, to put to sleep, to stupefy; soporation; soporiferous; soporose, soporous, still

See

a verb; the is

and the

current soporific.

cashier.

cass.

noun

Cashier, to dismiss, for

is

one who dismisses

cashmarie.

tide.

To

annul; to dismiss. From Latin dash to pieces, which took on

to

quasar e,

the meanings of Latin cassare f to bring to naught, from cassus, empty, void. After

1700 cass was gradually supplanted by quash and cashier. Rarely cass, to dismiss,

was spelled cash. [The original meaning of cash, money, was money-box, French casse from Latin capsa, case, coffer. Only in English did it come, by transfer from the container to the thing contained

noticed also in the expression "He's fond to mean money.] From of the bottle"

came

cass also

cassate, to annul; cassation,

cancellation.

See pedlers French.

cassan.

See caxon.

cassoon.

See caxon.

castellan.

The governor

of a castle. Also

chastelain; chatelain (feminine chatelaine, mistress of a castle; by extension, an orna-

ment worn hanging it

at a lady's waist, as castle usually a

were the keys of the

of loops or short chains attached the girdle, with scissors, thimble-case and other such objects. Later applied to series

to

a

bunch of such

or bracelet.

on a watch-chain FAMILY MAGAZINE

articles

CASSELL'S

of October 1883 reported that chatelaine bags are much worn again) . Other forms

are castellin, castelane, castelyn, castelain;

ultimately from Latin castellum,

Hence

castle.

castellanship, castellany, the of a castle; the district under its lordship control. Also castellated, built like a castle also

with battlements) enclosed as in a as were the 18th century cisterns and fountains of London; shaped like a (e.g.,

;

castle,

cashierer.

who

cass.

cassolette.

ployed.

From Greek

maree,

car-

carrucagium, from carruca, plough. (All these words are also spelled with one r.)

land

+

drive fast

A

tax carrucage. rucate of ground.

Also,

A 16th and 17th century word: Old Northern French cacher, to hurry, to

inland.

A fish-peddler;

brings fish

especially,

from the seacoast

one

to sell

132

castle, as Washington Irving in CHRONICLES OF WOLFERT'S ROOST (1840) described

cata-

casting

dames, with castellated locks and

stately

of

towering plumes.

This word was used as a comA casting-box, pound, in several terms. a box for shaking dice, then throwing them. Castingcounters, counters used in

casting.

an account. Castinga container from bottle, casting-glass, which perfume was sprinkled: an Elizabethan dainty device, mentioned by

of the cataracts of century) the dwellers by the Nile. A catafalque is a platform to hold a coffin, in church or movable, used

in

ay: his civet

helpt

him

and

his casting-glass

to a place

See

castorides.

castrametation.

among

art,

act,

Have

A

cat-, cath-)

used up,

You may grow

.

also

will

.

.

grapes, or grape-

catallactically

grow

catallactics

for "the science of exchange." Catamidiate for to deis a rare (17th century) term

or science

fame, to hold up to open shame. A catamite is not formed from cata-, but is a of corruption of Ganymedes, the name the cup-bearer of Zeus. Cataphor, a coma see cartes) (in 17th century medicine; .

(55

Cataphysical, contrary to nature; DeQuinin his AUTOBIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES cey of Scott (1839) says he has seen portraits steal with a cataphy pile of forehead. or to reCatoptric, relating to a mirror, flection. It is good to pause for reflection.

the Saxon combine to of a sauce.

Then

Greek combining form (also meaning down, reflected back,

etc.

Ruskin in UNTO

warns:

Whately suggested the name

,

cata-.

for

will grapes or grapeshot for you, and you each reap what you have sown; in 1831

B.C. to the 6th century) laid out many camps, as can be seen from such place names as Lancaster, Westchester, Leicester. In Worcestershire the early British,

Roman, and name

he

shot;

camp + metari, to measure. Cp. Chester. Also castral, pertaining to a camp. The

give us the

Cata-

word

in exchange;

(1862)

for your neighbor

of laying out a camp; the pattern or outline of a camp set down. Latin castra,

the

means

lactic

THIS LAST

the rest.

Romans, when they occupied Britain

a scornful dictionary

"a lascivious kiss," a tongue-kiss. Catal-

lycisk.

The

is

ceremonies.

funeral

elaborate

glottism

calculating, in casting

Jonson in CYNTHIA'S REVELS (bottle; 1600) and EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR: Faith,

my knowledge I nourish the crocodile are (17th thy conceit. The Catadupes

tury)

continue: cataskeuastic

,

constructive,

(17th cen-

catasophistry,

quib-

on deception, catasta, a platform which slaves were exhibited for sale; a bling,

In many current words. Also

in some less known: cataballatwe, tending to throw down; Peacock in HEADLONG HALL (1815) mentions a machine con-

torture-bed; the stocks (pedantic) ; Kings: Standing an hour ley in HYPATIA (1853)

taining a peculiar cataballative quality,

foot in

catabaptist, a 16th

for

one

opposed

on the

and 17th century term the

to

sacrament of

chthonf baptism; catachthonian (Greek a catawas Pluto , underground: earth)

catasta to be

the

cutting short, catasterism, a constellation; a collection of legends of the stars; Greek katasterismoi was the

title

of such

a

collection

chthonian Zeus; catadupe (Greek doupos, thud, sound of a heavy fall) , a cataract; used figuraoriginally, of the River Nile,

thleba, a fabulous

WITS MISERIE

tively by Lodge WORLDS MADNESS (1596)

:

AND

In the catadupe 133

of clothing,

to

cata-

staltic, restraining,

Eratosthenes

in

handled from head

minimum

(3d

attributed to

century

B.C.).

cata-

monster of 14th cen-

a fierce and tury England; catawampus, fabulous monster of 19th century United States;

catawampous,

fierce,

destructive.

catercap

catafalque

Bulwer-Lytton in MY NOVEL (1853) did not like to be catawampously chawed up by a mercenary selfish cormorant of a capitalist.

See

catafalque.

whence

fault, chafauld,

fold.

the

The

first

Also

Old French

cata-.

also English scaf-

word

origin of the

part

may

catafalco,

cha-

is

unknown; cata~.

catafalk.

The

forms were used since the 17th century; Landor in his DIARY (1641)

by Evelyn

,

Browning; by Francis Thompson figuratively in A CORYMBUS FOR AUTUMN (1831)

,

(1888) Heaven's death-lights kindle, yellow spark by spark, Beneath the dreadful :

catafalque of the dark.

See

cataglottism.

cata-*

The humour

of

A

(1612)

poultice,

in

plaster

made with herbs and

of bread crumbs, milk,

the

flour,

and a

In the 19th century (1866) , the well known mustard plaster or cata-

little saffron.

plasm. Shakespeare knew it too; in HAMLET (1602) , Laertes puts a poison on his

sword So mortal that but dip a knife in itj Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare. Collected

Under

all

from

simples that have

moon, can save the thing from death That is but scratched

virtue

the

Usually in the plural. See acate.

cate.

A

catekumeling. young catechumen, a convert being instructed before baptism. Thus catechesis (accent on the kee) , oral instruction to a beginner; catechism, an elementary treatise, especially in the form

question and answer. Greek kata, thoroughly 4- echein, to sound, ring; eche, sound; English echo. In Shakespeare's

of

PART ONE (1596)

iv,

,

Falstaff asks

catastrophe.

When

Falstaff, in

HENRY

iv,

TWO (1597) , cries euphemistically to Mistress Quickly: Away, you scullion! you rampallion! you fustilarian! Til tickle

PART

your catastrophe, the meaning of the last word centers in the second syllable: 111

you a drubbing, and

you'll

deem

Honour is a meere and so ends my catechisme. Langland in THE VISION OF PIERS PLOWMAN

honour, concluding: scutcheon,

it

catel.

sell.

little

An

old form of

A

cateran.

troop

or

cattle.

band

of

fighting

men, especially Scotch Highlanders. Irish ceithern (the th became silent, hence English kern, a peasant, a rustic, an Irish foot-soldier)

.

Hence

also,

one of the band, from

value,

Thus Wesley 134

who

some BO times. Lowell in MY STUDY WINDOWS (1870) speaks scornfully of a man with the statecraft of an Ithacan used

it

cateran.

catercap.

The

'mortar board/ the four-

worn by presbyters and academics. Also, the wearer there-

cornered hat once

of.

to lure purchasers;

concocted merely to

baptise barnes that ben

catekumelynges,

now by

a disaster. catchpenny* Designed also, an item or article of

To

has:

(1377)

a fighting man, a marauder. Used the 14th century, renewed by Scott,

withal

give

Hence, a shoddy work.

(and answers) a series of questions about

cataplasm. 17th century or

claptrap, a device to ensnare ap-

theatre)

whose sole plause; potboiler, something function is to earn money to 'keep the pot

HENRY

lovers.

late pretty tale

(WORKS; 1785) said: of her being the Emperor's daughter is doubtless a mere catchpenny. Other terms of the same significance are: (first, in the

aboiling.'

not be the Greek catafalc,

The

Cater, four.

PROTESTACYON

Hence, catercapt. In THE OF MARTIN MARPRELAT

(1589) , in the face of imminent arrest, the author declares that, notwithstanding

cater-cousin

catso

the surprizing of the printer, he maketh known unto the world that he feareth neither proud priest, Antichristian pope, it

tiranous prelate, nor godlesse catercap: but defieth all the race of them by these

city

and the Catholic

faith.

The word

catholicon, in the sense of a universal or

comprehensive treatise, was applied by Johannes de Balbis de Janua in 1286 to

grammar and dictionary, name catholicon has been applied to other dictionaries. The word has been used, figuratively, to mean faith, his noted Latin

whereafter the

presents.

A

cater-cousin.

close

friend.

In

Tudor

times, cousin was used by close friends, without blood relationship; in AS YOU LIKE IT Shakespeare has Rosalind and Celia say, Sweet my coz. Jonson suggests that cater-

cousin meant quarter-cousin, "from the ridiculousness of calling cousin or relation to so remote a degree," but there is

no ridicule intended, in the use of the may be from cater, to care for,

word. It

inspiration, wit and as by Baker in translation (1638) of Balzac's UETTERS:

a

A

good wife is a catholicon, or universal remedy for all the evils that happen in life. More literally Sir Thomas Browne in RELIGIO MEDICI (1642) declared: Death is the cure of all diseases. There is no catholicon ... I

know but

this.

being those that as companions means broken bread together. Shakespeare used the expression in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1596) His

cat-o'-nine-tails. A whip with a short handle and nine lashes; in early use the lashes were knotted for the inflicting of

maister and he (saving your worships reverence) are scarce catercosins; and writers since have followed him.

army and navy; Gilbert uses the shortened form, the cat, in a pun in H.M.S. PINAFORE (1878), when Deadeye Dick reassures the startled sailors by telling them

to

cater-cousins

feed,

have

eaten

together, those that have

:

caterpillar.

See

complice.

greater pain. Until 1881 the use of the cat-o'-nine-tails was allowed in the British

"It

catha.

See queth.

One that admits his superior purity; a puritan. Also catharian, cathare, catharist, catharite. Applied to various catharan.

While O.E. (Matthew SutA BRIEFE REPLIE TO A CERTAINE LIBEL (1600) said: The catharistes do boast much of their merits, Donne in a sermon of 1616 turned the other way and declared: The catharists thought no creature of God pure. The word is from Greek katharizein, to make clean, to purialso fy, purge; katharos, clean, whence cathartic. Hence also catharize, to purify religious sects. cliffe) .

.

in

.

(usually,

by a ceremony)

;

catharm,

a

A

universal remedy.

catholicon, universal,

Relating to a mirror, or to re-

catoptric.

flection. Also, the science of reflection

for an instance of this use, see alchemusy; this sense, now used in the plural,

in

catoptrics.

Also

whence

Greek

also catholi-

_ 135

tricks of reflection;

an ap-

producing such effects. With Dutch patience, said Evelyn in his DIARY (1644) , he shew'd us his per-

paratus

or

device

for

petual motions, catoptrics, magnetical experiments; and Burton declared in THE

ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY

'TlS (1621) ordinarie to see strange uncouth figures by catop tricks. Such tricks of vision still

amuse

at fairgrounds

catoptromancy.

purging, purgation. catholicon.

was the cat" they heard.

catso.

A rogue;

catzo. Also used

and play

:

places.

See aeromancy.

a fraudulent beggar. Also an exclamation

caxon

caudle Italian cazzo, the

male generative organ.

Ben Jonson in EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR (1602) speaks of nimble-spirited Both Urquhart (1653) and Mot-

catsos.

teux (1708) use the word in their versions of Rabelais, as might be expected (Motteux): Catso! Let us drink! The noun

naming the

of a catso,

activity

catzery,

used in Marlowe's THE JEW OF MALTA: Who when he speaks, grunts like a hog,

is

and looks Like one

that

is

employed in

gaveare, kavia, cavery, cavialy, chaviale. Enjoyed in England since the 16th cen-

always as a luxury.

tury,

Thus Hamlet said: For

1601)

(in Shakespeare's play; the play, I remember, pleased not the million; 'twas caviarie to the general. And E. Blount in his OBSERVATIONS (1620) re-

A

marked: sweat,

pasty of venison makes him that the only deli-

and then swear

mushrooms, caveare, or

cacies be

snails.

A

catzerie.

caveat. warning. Latin caveat, let him beware; cavere, cautum, to beware, whence

A warm, soothing drink. From Latin calidum, warm. Bailey (1751) says it is made of ale or wine with sugar and

The

caudle.

earlier

writers

(Woodall, 1612) add the yolk of an egg; the CXE.D. (1933) says these are mixed with a thin gruel.

spices;

All agree the drink was served mainly to women in childbed (and to their visitors) .

Pepys

(1660)

used

drink a

to

caudle

when he went

also

caution; cavus, wary. Cp. cautel. root cav, watch, ware, via cavira, cura,

also

us

gave

ing Caveat emptor,

A

OR

CAVEAT

WARENING

packs of spices, making a caudle of the

other sex that needs

round about From the idea of

mean hanging

used, ironically, to

being made from hemp) speare in shall

HENRY

vi,

;

thus

(rope Shake-

PART TWO (1593)

:

Ye

have a hempen caudle then.

crafty device or trick; trickery; a precaution. Cautela, in Roman law, was

an exception made

as a precaution, from past stem of cavere, to take heed (cp. caveat] ; this also gives us English caution, but the two forms developed caut~,

the

Cautelous means meanings. wary, heedful (cautious) but more comdifferent

,

monly

deceitful, wily, as in Shakespeare's

Your son caught With cautelous baits and practice.

CORIOLANUS (1607)

:

.

.

.

COMMON

Budgell in THE SPECTATOR (1712; said: I design this paper as a

caveat to the fair sex. Perhaps

it

is

the

it.

See javel.

cavel.

An

136

A

cavenard.

villain.

Probably a corrup-

tion of, or error for, caynard, q.v. It occurs in HAVELOCK. THE DANE (1300) : Hede

caxon.

Wat dos thu

(1)

An

here at this pathef

18th century style of wig. verses of 1756,

James Cawthorn, in some has:

son,

that trim artist, barber Jack-

Though

caxon.

hour about your probably drawn from

whole

Spent a

The word

is

someone's name. (2) A chest of ore ready to be refined. From Old Spanish caxon, augmentative of caxa, case, chest. The

French form gives us English

.

early variant of caviar. Shakespeare used caviarie; Swift, caveer. Also

caveary.

(1567)

cavenard!

A

cautel.

FOR

its

was

of hemp-seed

let

CURSETORS, VULGARELY CALLED VAGABONDES

No. 365)

comforting, a caudle

warn-

the buyer beware, which is a principle of common law. It was often used in titles, as in Harman's

to bed. Fuller in THE HOLY AND THE PROFANE STATE (1642) Speaks of a ship that cast out much sugar, and

sea

and endless

secure

cure,

curiosity. It survives in the (Latin)

Italian,

cassoon

17th, casson)

.

A

caisson; the

century; in the cassolette was a small box

(18th

or vessel, usually with a perforated cover, in which perfumes were burned or sav-

celeusma

caynard orous essences allowed to

A

perfume.

larger

box

spread their

broken leg in plaster might be in the 16th and 17th rest) was

stance, a set to

:

superstition.

or

tree

A

sluggard; a scoundrel. French Italian cagna, bitch, feminine of cagnard,

caynard.

Suitable for felling, as a straight battered prizefighter. Latin

ceduous.

a cassole.

centuries

by Disraeli in THE AMENIOF LITERATURE (1841) the cecity of

figuratively, as

TIES

(in which, for in-

a

caeduus; caedere, to

fell.

Used in the 17th

century. Cp. caducous.

cane, dog. Thus the word is tantamount to the current slang bitch, though its use seems to have been milder, as in the Pro-

ceint.

See seynt.

celation.

Concealment. From Latin

celare,

logue to Chaucer's THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE (1386) See, olde caynard, is this

In 19th century English law, especially concealment of pregnancy or

thine array?

birth.

to conceal.

:

See

caytive.

A

ceaze.

celature.

caitiff.

variant form of seize.

in his satire LOOKE TO

YE (1604;

cp. Vulcan's

IT:

Rowlands FOR ILE STABBE

Jeremy Taylor in THE GREAT EXEMPLAR OF SANCTITY (1649) says: They admitted even in the utensils of the Church some celatures and engravings,

brow) attacked the

glutton, that hast a nose to smell out any feast, a brazen face to ceaze on every

That undertakest nothing with it be thy puddinghouse

messe,

to

celebrious.

will Unlesse

good

fill.

hall)

lie stabbe thee.

anchovies, crumbs of bread,

chopped parsand seasoning; make them into balls, with an egg; sprinkle them with fine crumbs, and fry them of a yellow brown.

known

ley,

An

Blindness.

From

Latin

caecus,

cecograph, developed in the 19th century, was a writing-instrument for the blind. tendency to blindness, or partial

no

more than a

celebration

other draws the

is

yet

is

so small

blind, Shakespeare developed gravel blind

rowers.

may

.

.

.

It

it

bow

.

.

.

The instrument

stands on a table,

and

is

also

be used

A

battle-cry

or

watchword; time to

From Greek keleuein, to order. Often the rowers in large vessels propelled by oars would sing hymns and psalms by

,

Cecity

A rare

specifically, the call that gives the

and sandblind. Sandblind, however, is really samblind, sam (related to semi-) blind.

akin.

cecutiency.

celeusma.

+

and forms

called a celestinette.

Degrees of blindness are not exact; from stone blind, blind as a stone, completely

half

cele-

a copulation of a harpsichord and a violin; one hand strikes the keys and the

Sir Thomas cecutiency; that in there is said moles (1646)

cecity,

assembly

is

A

Browne

an

heard a new instrument yesterday

A

blindness,

(of

From Latin

festive.

An 18th century musical incelestinette. strument. Walpole described it in a letter to Sir W. Hamilton, 19 June, 1774: 7

early 19th century savory sort of meat-

cecity.

Crowded

hence,

(humorous) form for 'most noted' (from the Latin superlative) is celeb errimous.

ball.

blind.

;

brem, honored by an assembly. Hence, renowned, famous in this sense also celebrous. From this source we have the well-

A mixture of minced meat, onions,

cecils.

Embossing; an embossed figure. caelare, to emboss, engrave.

From Latin

way

137

of celeusma.

Cerberean

celostomy celostomy. Hollowness of sound; speaking with the mouth hollow. Accent on the

From Greek koilos, hollow mouth. Used in the 16th and stoma, 17th centuries, when actors needed Ham-

second

syllable.

+

Instead of hair,

crept

temples bound. For

advice.

use by Milton,

its

see ellops.

ceratine. let's

Adders and cerastes and their fierce

of Dante's INFERNO:

Sophistical

and

intricate

(of

Greek keratinos, horny, an argument) heras, horn. Given in 17th and 18th cen.

celsitude.

High rank, eminence;

dignity;

exalted character; height. Also used as a title of respect: His Celsitude (Late Latin

and in

English, 17th century) From Latin seen also in excel, excelsior. .

celsus, lofty;

In the sense of height the word may still be used humorously, as by Scott in REDGAUNTLET (1824) Peter Peebles, in his :

usual plenitude of wig and celsitude of hat. The form, celsity, with the same meaning, appears in 17th century dictionaries.

Dining. From Latin cenare, to dine. Latin cena was the mid-day or aftercenation.

noon meal, eaten in the

cenacle. Cenacle,

used especially of the chamber where Christ and his

dining room,

upper

,

you have not cast a have it: but thing away, you you have not cast horns; therefore you have horns."

century

The

"If

:

A.D.)

ceratine

is

perplexity

more comas "Do

monly created by such questions you still beat your wife?"

Covering with wax; softening a substance that will not liquefy. term in alchemy. Via French ceration from ceration.

A

See cenation.

cenacle.

tury dictionaries, taking its meaning from "the fallacy of the horns" (the horns of a dilemma) in Diogenes Laertius (3d

is

disciples ate the Last Supper.

and cenatory

(as

Cenation

in cenatory garments)

are 17th century words, used e.g. by Sir Thomas Browne (1676) . Cp. coenaculous.

ceneromancy.

See aeromancy.

Latin cerare, to smear with wax, from cera, wax. Johnson in THE ALCHEMIST

Name the vexations (1610) martyrizations of metals in the Putrefaction, solution, ablution :

nation, ceration

Greek

and

wax,

keros,

and the work .

.

.

.

.

.

calci-

fixation. Also, from comes ceruse, white

lead, especially as a cosmetic; also a verb ceruse, to paint the face. Used in plays

of Massinger

very

and Jonson

common

(SE JANUS, 1603):

in the 17th

and 18th

cen-

Macaulay in his life of Samuel Johnson (1849) remarked that the old bumbleton's eyesight was too weak to disturies;

cenobite.

centure.

See eremite.

See seynt.

cephalotomy.

tinguish ceruse

See kephalotomy.

Thunderstone.

ceraunite.

Feeding on onions. Latin hence also cepous, like an onion; cepa,

cepivorous.

onion. cerastes.

A

horned serpent. Greek

keras,

horn. Actually a poisonous viper of Africa and Asia, with a projecting scale over each loosely used to suggest a horrid snake. Thus Gary in his translation (1814) eye;

138

nos,

from natural bloom.

thunderbolt. or

iron,

an

A

Greek kerau-

piece of meteoric of prehistoric

arrow-head

times (formerly thought to be a thunderceraunoscope was a machine used

bolt)

.

A

in the Greek theatre to imitate thunder.

Cerberean.

Related to Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog at the entrance to the infernal regions, in Greek and Roman

chad

cerebrosity

mendation you may serve a

had

mythology. According to Hesiod, Cerberus fifty heads. Hence used of the fierce-

the shape,

ness of the beast, or the keenness of his

ment. Also cervalet.

guard, or the noise of his barking. Milton in PARADISE LOST (1669) has: A cry of

cervicide.

f

Hell Hounds never ceasing bark d With wide Cerberean mouths; Coleridge in BIOGRAPHIA LITTERARIA

(1817) Speaks of the Cerberean whelps of feud and slander.

Orpheus quieted Cerberus with his lyre; Hercules fought him; but Aeneas stopped

See

as

See couth. Cessant was used in

cessant.

the 17th and 18th centuries,

waiter, etc.)

cestus.

a

.

meer frog

of

cataracts of his

fore

your

To admit

Helicon

plumbeous

sagacious

to

croak

cerebrosities

of Sidney.

A

.

.

the

cerebrosity be-

The

ingenuities.

plumbeous

.

comes right out

cerebrose person

is

'mad-

in-

girdle,

.

.

who

.

cessantly

winked

(1) A belt; especially a marriage unloosed by the bridegroom on the

wedding

From

night.

Greek

kestos,

In particular, the love-belt of Aphrodite, which made her irresistible. Yet Addison in THE SPECTATOR (1712) stitched.

seems to prefer Venus without any ornament but her own beauties, not so much as her

there

own

cestus.

Also used figuratively;

a pathetic tone, today, in Garlyle's

is

(in FREDERICK THE GREAT, 1865) brightest jewel in the cestus of Polish

words

brained/

The ceromancy.

An

cerule.

meaning

termittently, at intervals; a scientific observer of 1746 recorded: / personally knew

with one eye.

Anthony

cervus,

gravely.

a Gentleman

as

Latin

stillicide.

was the King's deer, the offence Robin Hood knew was regarded

angry person in authority (guardian, head-

euphuistic extravaganzists Wood, in his LIFE (1647) :

From

(2)

stag. If it

each mouth with a cake. Hence a sop to Cerberus is a gift to appease a fierce or

Wilfulness; a state of braincerebrosity. storm. Used by Sidney (1586) and other

lot.

a short reed musical instru-

See aeromancy.

:

liberty is this right of confederating.

early form of cerulean. Also

ceruleal, ceruleous. In early use

(Spenser

and others) as in Latin caeruleus, the word meant the dark blue of the sky or the dark green of the sea, and was occasionally applied to leaves and fields. After the 17th century it was tinted only of the sky. Byron, in DON JUAN (1821) uses the word humorously, to mean a

(2)

An

ancient boxer's glove: a band made of thongs of bull-hide, with strips of iron

and

lead.

Latin

caedere, to strike,

word

as

(1)

,

caestus,

perhaps from the same

more probably

cestus^ girdle,

band. In our

degenerate times the cestus has dwindled to the brass knuckles, and it is no longer the boxer that wears them.

,

blue-stocking:

of all

O

ye

who make

books! Benign

the fortunes ceruleans of the

second sex! ceruse. cervelat.

cold in

(i)

A short thick sausage, "eaten says

I

Many

verbs,

through the 17th century in dialects, were combined with ch. Thus cham, I am; chave, I have; chard, I heard; chill, I will; chold, chud, I would; etc. Many in Sir

See ceration.

slices/'

had. Old English Ich, I + had. especially the auxiliaries,

chad.

Bailey

(1751)

.

He

Thomas More

(1510-1540);

STER DOYSTER

NEEDLE (1575) does not give the recipe, but on his recom139

(1553) ,

and

,'

RALPH ROY-

GAMMER

GURTON's

later plays including

chamfrain

chaeltophorous Shakespeare's KING LEAR (1605) Chill not let go zir and 'chud a bin zw aggerd out of my life.

chamada, chamar, from Latin clamare, to call whence also the current clamor and exclamatory impulse of our time.

hence bearing; in of a need (pedantically humorous) shave. Pronounced kye; accent on the toff.

close.

:

.

.

.

chaetophorous.

Bristle

-

chamber

Greek

chaite, hair

chafe.

To warm,

-f-

to heat.

to in-

Hence,

sense, to

in

the

rub

(so as to

warm) developed

mid 15th century. Also chauffe, and more; via Old French

chaufe, chaff,

from Latin

calefacere; calere, to

(whence the calories) (In

many

safe

au

4-

English words

became

long

though in one. Hey wood in THE GOLDEN chamAGE (1611) You shall no more ber underneath the spreading oaks. (5) To indulge in lewdness, to seek a chamber :

for

be warm make.

chafer

See chamfrain.

To

trick; to play a

(MUTA-

Perhaps from Chaldees, the idea being that astrologers are cheats. Butler in HUDI(1664) : He stole your cloak and

WOODSTOCK and wanton-

(impoverished)

who attended Ox15th century, but

beggars, in the habit of

poor scholars of often committed robberies were banished the kingdom by

who

Oxford,

turn.

.

university; hence chamber-deacon. Bailey, in 1751, defines chamber-dekins as Irish

etc.

mean

poor

ford, especially in the

had chauffed been The sweat did drop.

chaldese.

in

Scott

.

did not belong to any college. Often he acted as a servant for noblemen at the

pictures Spring wearing a his head, from which as he

chaffron.

A

chamberdekin.

1596)

garland on

ends.

scholar from Ireland,

warming-pan; the 18th and 19th centuries revived the forms chauffer, chauffet. BILITY;

wanton :

(chaver, chaufer) from the 14th century, was a chafing-dish., a portable stove or

Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE

.

What chambering (1826) in our very presence! ing

gauge; Ralph;

A

en-

confine,

with a chamber, as the chambered nautilus. To lodge in a chamber, or as (4)

facere, to

a.)

To

(1)

:

phoros, bearing.

flame the feelings, to excite. Used in both senses since the 14th century. The current

verb).

(a

Shakespeare in KING RICHARD n The best blood chamber'd in his (159S) bosom. (2) To restrain. (3) To provide

,

and

Henry

The modern

V.

counterpart

sells

magazines from door to door "to pay way through college."

A

his

BRAS

chamberer.

picked your pocket, Chews'd and caldes*d you like a blockhead. For chews'd, see

concubine. In earlier use, (2) these two forms usually had the feminine

chouse.

chalon.

final

A

blanket or other bed-cover.

Perhaps from Chalons-sur-Marne, a town in France where the material was made.

Chaucer in THE REEVE'S TALE (1386) pictures a bed With schetys and with chalouns fair i-spred. The manufacturer of chalons was a chaloner, quite busy in the 14th and 15th centuries.

(1)

thus

e;

chambryere. (4)

A

parts have.

maid; a cham-

chamberere,

chambriere, chamberlain; a valet.

A

(3)

frequenter of ladies' chambers; a

gallant; a

(1604)

lady's

A

bermaid.

wanton. Shakespeare in OTHELLO / have not those soft

says:

of

.

.

.

conversation

chamfrain.

The

That chamberers

frontlet

of

an armed

horse, for a knight in feudal times. Also

A beat of drums or peal of trumpet, calling to a parley. Portuguese

chamade.

chamfr-on,

chaufrayne;

(15th

and 16th

centuries) cheveronne, chieffront; chafron,

140

champerty chaffron,

chantepleure shaffron,

shaferne;

shamfron,

does

Why

.

.

.

Hamlet

after

murdering

and more. Scott revived the word in IVANHOE (1820; chamfrori) ^fhe frontlet was often ornamented with en-

Polonius die by chancemedley?

graved designs; ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE of 20 June, 1884 mentioned a chamfrein chased with a combat of two horsemen.

chandry. A short form (especially used in the 17th century) of chandlery, a place

shawfron,

.

champerty.

(1)

Division

partnership in power.

of

lordship;

From French cham-

part, originally a division of the field, or a part of the produce going to the over-

Latin campi pars, part of the field. Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) is lord,

ne

Wisdom ne

richesse,

Beautee

sleighte, strength, hardynesse,

Ne may

emphatic: with

Venus holde champartie. Lydgate,

misinterpreting this passage, used the word as though it meant rivalry; a few others,

16th century, followed a combination or partnership

especially in the

him.

(2)

an

evil purpose; especially, in law, a conspiracy to help a litigant in return for a share of the disputed property. Something of this sort, however, is common practice in accident suits.

for

in the

champery. Contending French champier, to fight in

whence

also

champion

lists.

a

Old field;

etc.

A

variant of campestrial, campestral, pertaining to the fields. Also champestre. The ch forms are from the

chanipestrial.

French; fete champetre, a rural festival or party. Many English words, from camp to

champignon, come ultimately from

Latin campus,

field.

chandler.

See chandry,

where candles are kept; candles and other provisions sold by a retail dealer. By the 19th century, chandler, as a retail dealer,

was somewhat contemptuous; Dickens in SKETCHES BY Boz (1836) says: The neighbors stigmatized staff

says

HENRY saved

iv,

me

him

as a chandler. Fal-

Bardolph, in Shakespeare's PART ONE (1596) Thou hast a thousand marks in links and to

:

walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern and tavern; but the sack that thou hast drunk me would have

torches,

bought

me

lights as

good cheap

at the

chandler's in Europe. Chandler also meant the officer who supervised the dearest

candles in a household; also, a support for candles, a chandelier.

changeling. (1) erer; a turncoat. of a child

or stupid child

a wavor thing person

fickle person;

(2)

substituted

secretly ally,

A

A

for another.

particularly, of

supposedly

left

Especi-

an ugly in in-

fancy, by the fairies, in exchange for the real (and of course beautiful and bright) child stolen. Hence, a half-wit (as in

Pepys' DIARY, 28 December, 1667) . Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1590)

has the King of the Fairies say:

/ do but beg a little changeling boy, to be my henchman. [Note that Oberon re-

word usually the child left amongst us hu-

fers to the child taken; the

Inadvertency; largely accidental. Used in law, from the 15th cen-

chancemedley. tury,

especially

in

the

phrase

man-

slaughter by chance-medley, homicide by misadventure. The word is sometimes used to mean pure chance, but more precisely means a mixture of intention and chance. Thus Brimley in an essay of 1855 inquires:

141

refers to

mans.] chantepleure.

Title

of a

13th century

French poem, to those that sing (chanter) in this world but will weep (pleurer) in the next. By extension, a mixture or alternation of joy and sorrow. Chaucer in

chare

chaogenous

ANELIDA AND ARCiTE (1374) has: I fare as doth the song of Ghantepleure, for now I

now

pleyne and

I play.

chaogenous. Born out of chaos. Like the cosmos, and the chaogenous hero-gods of Hesiod. See aeromancy.

chaomancy.

A

chapbook.

pamphlet containing

tales,

the

east"

excelled.

Chap-money

ment

is

made, an old way of allowing a Thomas Freeman in RUBBE, AND

discount.

A GREAT CAST

(1614; cp. sute) puns in his praise of George Chapman, who commeth near'st the ancient commicke vaine, Thou

hast beguilde us all of that sweet grace: to be sold and bought,

ballads, or other examples of the popular literature of the 15th to 18th centuries.

and were Thalia

The name was not

sought. From George to John, in good plays.

created tors,

(in the

contemporary, but

19th century)

from chapman

+

(q.v.)

collec-

by

book.

metal plating, used as a cover chape. or ornament. Especially, the extra covering on the point of a scabbard; by extension, the tip of a fox's

sembles or

also

this

scabbard

which

re-

by extension, the sheath

itself.

cheap. Hence

tail,

Also

schape,

chaip,

as a verb, to chape, to fur-

nish with a chape; Chaucer in the Prologue tO THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) pictures

well-to-do

five

merchants

,

knyves were chaped

[their]

noght with bras But

with silver wroght ful dene and weeL There was also a chape (14th to 16th century) short for achape al

(Old French achaper, eschaper) escape. In Shakespeare's ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS ,

WELL

(1601) a French lord speaks of the prisoner Monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist [military expert]

own phrase of wane in

that

had

that

was his

the whole theoricke

the knot of his scarfe, and the practise in the chape of his dagger.

chapman.

A

dealer.

From Old

English

+

man. Later (16th century an itinerant dealer, a peddler; more on) ceapf barter

rarely, a broker, or

chapman but

were

thyselfe

still

See chare. In addition to

to

be

dealing

cur-

its

rent senses, char was an early form of both chair and car; it meant a cart; by extension, a cart-load. Also, a chariot, as in

Hobbes'

Homer

ing horses

and

(1677)

:

For

all his flam-

his charre.

charactery. Writing; expressing thought by symbols. Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) says that Fairies

use flowers for their characterie.

(An

haberdassher and a carpenter, A webbey a dyeref and a tapicer) each fit to be an

alderman: hir

no

char.

A

(chap-

also used in this sense) , a small surfr returned to the purchaser when payis

manry

a customer. Hence also

marketable; chapmanry; chapmanshipj in which "the children of

chapmanable,

142

charbon.

A

charbon

(French charbon,

charcoal, pustule) is used in English for the disease anthrax (19th century) In Shakespeare's ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL .

however, the Clown refers to Charbon the puritan and old Poyyoung sam the papist, the names are labels and probably from the French chair bon, good flesh, and poisson, fish, alluding to the diet of the two faiths on 'fast* days. (1603)

,

(i) The return of a time, day, or season; hence, time, occasion. Also char,

chare,

cherre, cyrr, chewre, chore.

Hence, a turn-

ing back; againchar, gainchar, repentance. On char, on the turn, in the act of shutting; this survives in the

form

ajar:

"When

a door not a door?" By extension, a turn or stroke of work; this sense survives

is

English charwoman and American chore (s). Also charfolk, chairfolk (17th

in

chaud-mell

charet

Hence temporary servants. century) , (from the sense of turning) a name for a

Lisbon.

narrow lane or wynd, in parts of England,

word)

13th century, chare is also a verb, indicating the actions named above. the

since

(2)

An

old form of chary, careful.

.

of certain fruit, as

chardecoynes, chardeqweyns, chardea quynce (15th and 16th centuries) quince preserve; chare de wardon, a pre-

in:

,

serve of

Warden

of 1425

states:

pears; a COOKERY BOOK Charwardon. Take pere

Wardonys, seethe for

hem

in

wyne

.

.

.

Good

any perel

An

charet.

earlier

form of

chariot, until

the mid- 17th century. Used widely in the King James BIBLE (1611). In France a charette was two-wheeled; a chariot, fourwheeled. Hence chareter, early for charioteer. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE

has She bad her charett to

(1596)

is

be

bring drunken fellows to the

to

stocks.

A species of irony,

a

crevices;

a disagreeable sense in pleasant terms. Later called euphemism, like saying "He stretches the truth" instead of

"He

See

charlet.

and if

all,

in

A

sort of omelet.

The

recipe

is

:

charneco. 16th

A

kind of wine, drunk in the centuries. Also charnico,

and 17th

charnaco. Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART (1593) proffers it: Here's a cuppe of charneco, but we have lost its savour.

TWO It

may be named from

a village near

143

but

hand, Little flower

my

What you

I could understand

and all, and all in what God and man

are, root

I should

all,

know

is.

An early form (also shashes, of sash, a window-frame; especially one fitted with paper or linen (before the widespread use of glass) . Thus Urquchassis.

shasses)

hart in his translation (1693) of Rabelais

speaks of chassis or paper-windows. chatelaine.

See castellan.

A

female

chatterer.

Femi-

nine of chat er ere, which was the early

THE OWL AND THE NIGHTexclaims: Site nu chaterestre! A less pleasant word

form of

chatterer.

INGALE

(13th century)

than chatmate,

THE FORME OF CURY (1390) Take pork, and seeth it wel. Hewe it smale. Cast it in a panne. Breke ayrenn [eggs], and do therto, and swyng it wel togyder. Put therto cowe mylke and safroun, and boile it togyder. Salt it, and messe it forth. in

and Hence

crannies holes.

Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies, I hold you here, root

lies."

jar.

of of

chasmophilous. In botany, a chasmophyte such a plant as Tennyson apostrophized:

stille,

chark.

lover

haunter

is

chaterestre.

couching

A

chasmophile.

brought. charientism.

degenerated, so that in charneco (a cant it:

any kind of strong liquor which

,

like

(3)

In names of dishes from France, flesh, meat (French chair, Latin carnem, flesh) Also the flesh (pulp)

The term

1775 Ash defined

q.v.

chatmate. A companion in conversation. Nashe in LENTEN STUFFE (1599) speaking ,

of the fair Hero, mentions the toothlesse trotte her nurse, who was her onely mate and chambermaide.

chaud-melle.

A

sudden

chat-

flare of fighting,

out of the heat of roused passion; hence, a killing without premeditation. French; chaudliterally, hot broil; melee. Also mella (15th and 16th centuries) ; by some 17th century writers altered to chance-

medley,

q.v.',

thus Blackstone in his COM-

MENTARIES (1769)

:

Chance-medley, or

(as

chauffe

cheese

some rather chuse

write

to

pagne. Soups, said THE LITERARY WORLD

See chafe.

A

As a noun: Bargaining; buying selling. So used from the 8th century. Hence, a market. This sense is preserved

cheap.

and

Wolsey had three servants in his chaundrye. As Cavendish tells, in THE LYFFE AND DEATHE OF CARDYNALL WOOLSEY

in names, such as

(1557) in addition to a score of men in his hall kytchen: In his privy kytchen he

Hence

,

ii

yomen and

ii

ii

bargain

ing; cheapild, a

Wheler, in A JOURNEY INTO GREECE (1682) Here is very good bread and wine,

(ewery, ewry, y ewrie) was the room where table linen, towels, and water ewers

cheer.

and good cheap I

is

wonder

little

.

put on a

A

entrails ally

and

as

chowder;

made with chopped

spices; hence, entrails, especi-

used

chalderne,

sauce,

for

food.

chawdre,

chaldron, ultimately

(by

mouthing) from Latin interesting

to

note

Also

chawdon, akin

in

the

is

early

chowder (from Breton fishermen to New-

angry,

a cheer, to

How tury

to

(pleased,

etc.)

What

the

17th,

lingering

in

poetry.

A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES With ruful chere, and vapored (1563) eyes upcast. Shakespeare, in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1590) All fancy sicke she is, and pale of cheere. Blake, in SONGS Sackville,

in

:

:

OF INNOCENCE (1783)

long popular

calidus, hot. It

that,

to

To make

like.

exprescheer? (with you? make you?) , are you? Used from the 13th cen-

sion.

of the charges in the arrest of Cardinal

chawdron.

and the

chaire,

that one

Wolsey for high treason (1530) was that he sought to be grander than the king.

believe.

Face; countenance; aspect, mien; hence, disposition, mood (as shown in the Also chere, chire, cheyr, cheare, face)

(pitchers with a wide spout, to bring water for washing the hands) were kept. The wafery was the kitchen for biscuits It

buying and sellmarketwoman. 'Sir George

der, cheaping, marketing,

wrote:

.

adjective

(16th century), valuable. To cheapen, to for; a cheapener, cheaper, a bid-

ii

for the monthe. In the chaundrye Hi persons. In the wafery ii. For food and drink alone, 67 servants. The ewrie

cakes)

known

still

which is not often appropriate today. Other forms included: cheapable

man

(flat

cheap, a

cheap,

other pages. In the pantrie

gromes and

Good

terms; this phrase, short-

ened, gave us the

pages, and in the ewrie lykewyse; in the seller Hi yomen, ii gromes and ii pages, besides a gentil-

yomen;

Cheap side, Eastcheap.

price, value.

on advantageous

that place. In the larder there a yoman a grome; in the schaldyng house a yoman and ii gromes. In the scollery there

and

ii

also,

bargain; Chaucer in the Prologue to THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE (1386) says To great cheap is holden at litel price. Dear cheap, high prices, scarcity. Niggard cheap, close economy, niggardliness. (At) good cheap,

had a master cooke who went dayly hi dammaske, fatten, or velvett with a chayne of gold abought his nekke; and ii gromes, with vi laborers and children to serve in

persons. In the buttery

1884), are

purees or bisques, and chowders.

nal

gromes, with

November

(Boston, U.S.A.; 15

divisible into four groups: viz. clear, thick,

variant of chandlery, the place where candles were kept. In Tudor times, this was an important room; Cardi-

chaundrye.

ii

there was

England)

often a goodly dash of cider or cham-

chauffe.

ii

New

foundland to

chaud-

it)

medley.

:

So I piped, with

merry cheer. cheese.

now

144

Used

in

several

combinations

lapsed: cheeseparing, a thing of little

chemise

chevaline

the concern of a niggard. Shake-

value;

HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) says: / doe remember him at Clements Inne, like a man made after supper, of a cheeseparing, cheese and cheese, two ladies kissing, or riding on one horse. To make to spin around cheeses (o school-girls) and suddenly sink, so that petticoats and speare in

,

skirt

spread

resembling

all

around, inflated

a

cheese;

hence,

vaguely a

deep

Used by Thackeray in THE GINIANS, and throughout the 19th tury. Other combinations whet the curtsey.

VIR-

cen-

ap-

petite.

by Chaucer. Sometimes used in the sense of cheerfulness, as though related to cheer, Chertes, says Bailey (1751, attributing the use to Chaucer) , are merry people. [In geology there is a kind of quartz called

whence

also cherty, like hornstone, frequent 14th and 15th century expression was to have (or hold) somechert,

A

chert.}

one in chertee.

A variant form of choose. Wisely THE PARLEMENT OF THE THREE AGES

chese.

in

(1350; in the old 4-beat alliterative verse): chese me to the chesse that chefe is

And

And

of gamnes:

chemise.

cherisaunce. to

cherir,

Comfort, cherish;

Toone's GLOSSARY

support. chere,

(1834)

.

French So

cheer.

Chaucer's

RO

MAUNT OF THE ROSE (1370) has: For I ne know no cherisaunce That fell into my remembrance.

It

is

that

*s

Bailey likely a misprint for cherisaunce. But cherisaunce itself is a mischerisaunie

(#.t/.)

is

print, listed as a 'spurious word' in

O.E.D.

See chevisance.

A

cherisaunie.

this es

life

for to lede

while I shalle lyfe here.

See camis.

diction-

aries, which Bailey (1751) lists as 'old/ and defines as 'comfort/ With glass and book on a wintry night, before a fireside I seek my cherisaunie. But see cheri-

player at chess. Middleton

uses the term in his play, A GAME AT CHESS (1624; for which he was censured because it

satirized court policy in regard to the

Yonder's my game, Spanish marriage) which, like a politic chessner, I must not :

seeme

to see.

My

good friend Motty is an me on the qui

ardent chessner, keeping vive.

Chester.

pleasant word in

A

chessner.

A

city

or

nally, the site of a castra,

camp.

The

walled town;

Roman

Latin word survives in

place names, taking three forms, as in Lancaster, Worcester, WestChester. Used from the 9th to the 13th

English

in

saunce.

century, thereafter historically.

hole into which children cherry-pit, try to throw cherry-stones; the game of

ametation.

A

throwing them. Shakespeare in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) says 'Tis not for gravity to play at cherry-pit with Satan; Randolph in THE JEALOUS LOVERS (1632) has: Jour

cheeks were sunk So low and hollow they might serve the boys For cherripits. chertee. price)

An

.

Fondness, affection; dearness (in Latin caritatem, from carus, dear.

form of charity, which first love. Spelled chiertee, cherte, chierte

early

meant

145

origi-

camp. Latin

chete.

Cp.

cast-

See pedlers French.

chevachance.

Chivalry; the spirit of the true gentleman. Used in the 16th century. See chevisance.

chevachee. chebauchie.

See

chyvachie.

cavalcata,

Old French

riding;

Medieval

Latin caballicare, caballicatum, to ride; caballus, horse.

chevaline.

Pertaining to the horse;

pecially, of its flesh as food.

es-

The LONDON

chichevache

clievance

TIMES of 5 October, 1864, speaks of cold horse pie, and other chevaline delicacies, not

in

appreciated

the

hemi-

western

From implications) chevissant, to finish, see

The

chevance.

chevir,

succeed with, etc.; word chevisance was

widely used (14th and 15th centuries) in

sphere. wealth. Fortune; acquired Hence, achievement in other fields. To make chevance is to raise money, borrow.

these

chevaunce;

chievance,

Old

from

senses. Spenser, in the Gloss SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) mis-

many

chevance.

Also

Old French

.

to the

understood the word, confusing it with chevance and chivalry, as in THE FAERIE

QUEENE (1590) Shameful thing It were abandon noble chevisaunce For show t' of peril, without venturing. This error :

French chever, chef

But

to

finish,

head. (chev-} see chevisance. ,

Kid

cheverel. relle,

to

Hence

leather.

accomplish,

also achieve.

Old French

chev-

diminutive of chevre, she-goat; Latin

whence

caper, capricious, cabriolet] Kid leather cp. capripede. Also cheveriL was noted for its pliancy and capability capra,

whence various figurative Thus Shakespeare, in ROMEO AND

of stretching, uses.

Here's a wit of cheverell, that stretches from an inch to an ell

JULIET (1592) broad] in

:

TWELFTH NIGHT

(1601)

:

A

sen-

but a chev'rill glove to a good how witte, quickly the wrong side may be turn'd outward; in HENRY vni (1613) : the tence

Cheverel conscience was a frequent phrase too widely applicable.

chevese.

Mistress, concubine.

Teuton term. Ghevese-born was euphemistic

for bastard.

chevetaine.

chieftain, until

cheville. Originally a peg, a plug; then, a meaningless or unnecessary word used to complete a verse or round off a sen-

tence. to a head; comfort;

Bringing help; hence an expedient, a device; booty.

shift-

To make

a chevisaunce was to

arrange a loan; hence (in a bad sense) , a shift to get money; to make chevisaunce of was to convert to one's profit (with

bad 146

word

(a rare

a money-lender, usurer. Also chevisance, a flower, possibly the wallflower for)

(not the lorn maiden)

The

chevise. q.v.,

for,

meaning help;

;

cp.

pawnee.

verb form of chevisance, to accomplish;

to raise

money,

to provide

etc.

See ramolade.

chibol.

There was an Old French

bogy, to scare children into good behavior, an imaginary monster called chinceface,

This was changed, in

English, to chichevache, ugly cow, and used of a monster that fed only on patient wives, hence was always starving.

Chaucer, ironically lest

in

THE CLERK'S TALE

warns

(1386) to avoid humility, swallow in her en-

women

chichevache you Lydgate in 1430

wrote

a

poem

Chichevache and Bycorne. Cp. palmer. This bycorne, as the poem tells, is a fabulous monster that fed

ability to shift; provision, supply;

.

a chevisancer was

saically,

trail.

chevisance.

.

magic songs. More pro-

valleys singing

thin-face, ugly-face.

Early form of

the mid-1 7th century.

iness;

.

chichevache.

A common

and 1880

times of trustful chevisaunce,

by Shorthouse in JOHN INGLESANT: When the northern gods rode on their chevisance, they went down into the deep

is

capacity of your soft chiverell conscience. still

was repeated, as late as 1849 by BulwerLytton in KING ARTHUR: Frank were those

on patient husbands,

hence was always fat. The name bicorn, which means two-horned, may be an allusion

to

the

traditional

horns of the the term

cuckold. In the 15th century,

chickweed

chirocracy

was applied to a two-pronged

bicorne

pitchfork.

A

chickweed.

chickenweed.

small plant, earlier called It was formerly used for

feeding caged birds (linnets; goldfinches) . The Elizabethans enjoyed it in salads.

THE SHEPHERDS KALENDER (1503) advised: Take chickweed, clythers, ale, and oatmealy and make pottage there with.

A

chideress.

female

or brawler.

scold

Chilon, one of the seven wise men of ancient Greece, whose utterances were

and

brief

Not

to the point.

See cymar.

A

toll chiminage. paid for passage a forest. through Usually collected in be-

half of the lord

who had had

cleared, sometimes also

by the

Law

THE MERCHANT'S TALE

French chemin; camino real

"A power to take childwit. bondwoman who has been

this

spell

A

chid-

a fine of a

gotten with child without her owner's consent": Bailey, 1751. Paid to the lish law, 10th to

wite;

woman's

lord,

by Eng-

16th century. Also child-

Old English

wite, penalty, satisfac-

(Pronounce the ch as

k.)

A

col-

lection or

group of 1,000 things; the millennium. From Greek chiliados, from chilioi, thousand. In the 17th and 18th centuries, tables of logarithms chiliads.

A

chiliast

is

were called

one that believes

Christ will reign on earth, in person, for a thousand years.

A

chilindre. dial,

cylindrical,

Greek kylindros,

portable

sun-

cylinder;

in Medieval

Latin chilindrus and in Italian cilindro this

kind of

dial.

Chaucer in THE

SHIPMANNES TALE (1386) says: And let us dine as soon as that ye may for by my chilyndre

it

is

pryme

of day. Also chy-

lendre, chilandre, chilyndre, chylawndur. They could not agree on the spelling, but it

gave them the time.

chilonian.

for

road;

Latin is

legal

chiminus,

Spanish for

and the

title of an American play (1953) by Tennessee Williams. Latin caminus, however, means

royal way, highway

furnace;

English chimney.

chinch.

Niggardly. Originally chiche, a

Middle English word meaning parsimonious;

see

thin;

chincherd,

chichevache.

niggard;

Hence

chinchery,

also

chincery

for the bed-bug.) chine.

The

spine, or part of the

along

the

vertebral

echine; Latin spina. (often back

By

column.

To

and chine)

,

back French

b-ow the chine to

pay homage.

extension, of meat: the cut left of a

hog when the

sides are cut for

bacon; a

saddle of mutton; ribs or sirloin of beef.

carried before there were watches.

meant

way Robin

(in Chaucer chyncherie) , miserliness. (In the United States, chinch is still a name

tion.

chiliad.

the

local

Hood. Chimin was a 17th century term

(1386)

abrupt as

laconic, q.v.

chimer.

Also chidester. Manuscripts of Chaucer's chidestere, chidystere, chydester: ester and waster of thy good.

so

Succinct.

In 17th and

century dictionaries; also chilonic.

18th

From 147

By transference (19th century) a crest or ridge of land. Kingsley, in TWO YEARS AGO (1857)

:

Crawling on hands and knees

sharp chines of the rocks. in PIONEERS (1823) served a THE Cooper prodigious chine of roasted bear's meat.

along

the

chipochia.

See capocchia.

Government with a strong hand; by physical force. Greek cheir, hand 4- kratia, rule; accent on the rock. Hence chirocracy.

chirocosmetics, the art of adorning the hands, chiroponal (Greek ponos, toil), also:

chouse

chiromancy to or involving manual labor. chironomy, the art of gesticulation, chiromachy, a fist-fight; a hand-to-hand bat-

relating

chirosopher, one learned as to the hand, chirosophist, one that practices sleight of hand; one that reads palms, a tle,

a chiroscopist. chiroscopy, palmistry, chirotony (accent on the rot) , voting by show of hands; also chirotonia;

chiromancer,

to chirotonize, to vote

by show of hands.

See aeromancy.

chiromancy.

chirurgeon. An early form of surgeon. Also chirurge (in the 16th century) Ulti,

mately from Greek cheiro, /zand working. Hence

+

ergos, also chirurgeonly, chirur-

gery, chirurgical, chirurgy. Cp. chyurgerie.

Fastidious, dainty in eating; choice, exquisite. From the 7th through the 15th

chis.

century. Also chise, chys, chyse.

An

chlamys. A short mantle worn by men in ancient Greece. Used historically and poetically

envelope)

chopin.

(also,

in botany, for the floral

.

A

measure.

liquid

From

the

French chopine, half a chope. It seems to have varied; the French measure was about an English pint. In Scotland, about a half-pint, which was almost a quart by English wine measure. Also choppin, choppyne, schopin but see chopine. The word was used from the 13th into the 19th century; Smollett in HUMPHREY CLINKER call for a chopine of a verb, to tipple; as Hence, two-penny. Urquhart in his translation (1653) of Rabelais speaks of chopining and plying

(1771)

mentions a

the pot.

A

shoe raised above ground by chopine. cork sole. Apparently from Spanish

a

inviting early dish; also chyrecipe runs: Take hole roches

chapa, plate of metal, then a thin cork sole. English writers in the late 16th and

and enchys, or plays [or other fish] but choppe horn on peces, and frie horn in oyle; and take crustes of bredde, and draw horn with wyn and vynegur, and bray fygges, and draw horn therewith; and mynce onyons, and frie horn, and do therto, and blaunched almondes fried, and

17th century associated the word with especially Venice, spelling it cioppino, but it is not in the Italian diction-

chisan.

sanne.

One

raisinges of corances [raisin'd,

i.e.,

dried,

and powder of clowes and of ginger and of canelle, and let hit boile, and then do thi fissh in a faire vesselle, and poure thi sewe above, and serve it currants],

for the colde. chitarrone.

A

17th century musical instrument, used for basso continuo. Like

the cithern or cittern, gittern, zither, it was developed from the Greek cithara,

which was triangular, with from seven to eleven strings. There is one in the York Metropolitan Museum of Art colq.v.,

New

lection.

Italy,

aries.

The

thicker

and

soles;

apparently, were made we hear in 1577 of

thicker;

choppines a foot hygh from the ground. Jonson in CYNTHIA'S REVELS (1599) says: / do wish myself one of my mistresses chopping In Shakespeare's HAMLET (1602) we hear: Your Ladyship is nearer heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of

a

choppine. Also

chopin,

chapiney,

chipeener, cheopine, etc. They were little worn in England, except onstage, but the 19th century historical novelists (Scott,

THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 1822,* Reade, THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH, 1861) WTOte as though the chopine were a normal part of a 17th century English costume.

chouse.

A cheat, a

trick; a

swindler; also,

a gull, a cheat's victim. Johnson 148

(1755)

chromatocracy

chout

man

be cheated." a Turkish mesOriginally choush, chiaus, an agent senger. There is a 1609 story of from Turkey who "chiaused" the Turkish

defines chouse as "a

fit

Chrestomathics

to

.

of

within a baptized. If the child died of baptism, the chrism was used as the shroud; if it lived, the cloth or its

is

one-fourth of the

month

revenue of a province in India, exacted neighboring Mahrattas in payment for

by immunity from plunder.

Also,

value in

payment

at

chowse.

to the

church

is

full

See chouse.

A

money was given mother's

held after a month, at the first moon.) (3) Also chrysom, a child dying before baptism, chrisom child, birth

See chawdron.

chrematist.

the

purification ceremony. mor(Because of the high rate of infant son's a of celebration the in China, tality

to the judge of one-fourth the value of the property in litigation. Abolished by 19th century.

chowder.

legein,

whence also to christen and the Christ. In Romanic, chrisma became cresma, French crime, English cream. (2) A head cloth, to keep the chrism from being rubbed off before the anointed new-born

.

The sum

+

.

Oil and balm, for sacra(1) mental use; hence, any unguent. In these senses, it was a popular pronunciation and for spelling of chrism (as folk say prisum Greek chrisma, anointing, prism, etc.) ;

choused of their remedy? chout.

for the field

chrisom.

Also as a verb, to dupe, to defraud; a Law Report of 1886 queries: Is it to be said that they are to be (see chaldese)

word

anthology (Greek anthos, flower gather)

:

.

a rare

of useful learning. Chrestomathy (accent on the torn) has been largely replaced by

merchants of 4,000. Jonson plays on the two senses in THE ALCHEMIST (1610) D. What do you think of me, that I am a chiausef F. Whaifs that? D. The Turk was here As one would say f Do you think This is the gentleman, I am a Turk? and he is no chiause. Also chowse, chews .

is

christom child, an infant

student of the science of

still

in

its chri-

hence, an innocent babe. The Hostess in Shakespeare's HENRY v (1599)

som;

wealth; a political economist. Chremati-

was suggested by Gladstone (1858) as name than 'political economy/ Greek chrematizein meant to consult (or to respond as) an oracle; thence (from the

A' made a finer end and went away an it had been any christom child. (4) Hence,

main purpose of consulting one) to make money; chrema, chremat-, thing required; the money. From the first meaning came oracuword chrematistical, (rare) English

chroma.

stics

a better

,

The applied or useful arts manufacture, agriculture) (commerce, Greek chreia, use + techne, an art.

chreotechnics.

.

A

collection

of

choice

used to learn a especially as mauseful Greek chrestos, language. theia, learning, as also in mathematics. passages,

in general, an infant, an innocent; later, a fool. especially in dialects,

+

Bailey (1751) gives three mean-

ings for this

word (from Greek chroma,

not in the O.E.D. proper, but appears in the Supplement, as meaning "purity or intensity as a colour color)

lar.

chrestomathy.

in her picture of Falstaff's dying:

says,

;

it

is

quality.'* Bailey: (2)

(1)

"color, gracefulness'*;

"in music, the graceful

way

of sing"in

with quavers and trilloes"; (3) rhetoric, a color [figure], set-off, or ing,

fair

pretence."

149

chromatocracy.

A

ruling class of a par-

ci curate

chronogram ticular color;

government by a group of

a particular color.

chronogram. Writing, certain letters of which form a date. THE ATHENAEUM (No. 2868) related: "Thus, in 1666, when a day of national humiliation was appointed in the expectation of an engagement between the English and Dutch navies, a pamphlet issued in reference to the fast day, instead of bearing the imprint of the year after

the

usual

had

fashion,

this

seasonable

sentence at the bottom of the title-page:

LorD haVe MerCIe Vpon Vs. It will be seen that the total sum of the figures represented by the numeral letters (printed in capitals) gives the requisite date 1666."

Hence chronogrammatic, chronogrammic, chrono grammatical; chronogrammatist. A single line of verse that contains a chronois

gram nos)

a chronostichon

on the

(accent

.

chryselephantine.

Greek

Of

chrysos, gold

gold

+

and

ivory.

elephantinos, of

ivory; elephas, elephant-, elephant, ivory.

The word was 19th century,

especially applied, in the to ancient Greek statues

wood) overlaid with ivory and gold, including the Olympian Zeus and the Athene Parthenos of Phidias. (often of

chrysom.

See chrisom.

chrysostomic.

Go

MONTHLY REVIEW majestic

1

d e n-mouthed.

of

1816 says:

THE

By

the

of his chrysostomic -eloquence.

From Greek

stomat-,

chrysos, gold mouth. Also chrysostomatical. Applied to

various ancient orators,

-f-

it

became the

sur-

name

of (Saint) John Ghrysostom (545?407), priest at Antioch, bishop of Constantinople, banished (404) to Armenia despite (or because of) his popularity with the people. Even the golden-mouthed

control his tongue.

See cuffin.

chuff.

chyurgerie. An early form of surgery usually fatal. Also chiurgery; likewise chirurgeon, q.v. The English word for a

measure of work (energy)

is

erg.

A

horseback expedition; a chyvachie. a campaign. Also chevachee, q.v.;

raid;

and more. Chaucer CANTERBURY TALES (1386) says: He hadde ben somtyme in chyvachie In Flaundres, in Artoys} and chivachee, chyvauche,

in the Prologue to THE

Picardie. cibaries.

Victuals, provisions.

Plural;

Latin cibaria, things used for food; cibus, food. See pote. cicisbeo.

A

cavalier

servente;

a recog-

nized gallant of a married woman. In Italy, 15th through 18th century. Pro-

nounced

chi-chis-bay-o.

Sheridan

in

Mentioned by THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

(1777), but the pious Wesley exclaimed (1782) : English ladies are not attended by their cicisbys yet; nor would any English husband suffer it. The practice was a growth from the troubadour days of medi-

eval southern France.

cidatoun.

Scarlet

cloth;

later,

cloth of

A

precious stuff through the Middle The word was obsolete by 1400; Ages. gold.

Spenser guesses at what Chaucer meant it. Chaucer His (SIR THOPAS, 1386) robe was of Syklatoun That coste many a

by

]aney

:

Cidatoun,

also

towne, shecklaton,

etc.,

sikelatoun, is

sycla-

from Arabic

siqilatun, from Persian saqirlat, sakarlat, also English scarlet.

whence

cicurate.

To

tame;

to

render mild or

harmless. Latin cicur, tame. Sir Thomas Browne in PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646) tells of poisons so refracted, cicurated, and

subdued, as not

to

make good

their

.

.

.

destructive malignities. Cotton Mather, in

150

cid

circumquaque

THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND (1702) Nor did he only try to :

cicurate the Indians.

The verb was someHence

times shortened to cicure. tion,

domestication.

cid.

A

valiant

circura-

a

man,

great captain (Arabic, es Sayd, my lord) given to Ruy Diaz, Count of Bivar, champion of Christianity against (Bailey, 1751).

the

A

title

Moors in Spain, llth

also

(LE CID, 1637)

century. Title

of the greatest play

by Corneille, which Cardinal Richelieu disliked and the newly formed French Academy condemned. cillibub.

the

circumambagious

shining

all

girdled;

surrounded. Latin

cingere, cinctum, to gird. Hence cincture, a belt; an encompassing; an embrace; the environment. The cincture of sword was

the ceremony of girding on a sword when made a duke or an earl. To cincture, to girdle, encircle

when Gray

in

around, circumcellion, a 4th

OF MELANCHOLY

and practiced

(1621)

they preached

suicide; later, a

vagabond,

a type far from extinct.

a tavern hunter

Circumdate, to surround; circumforane -an, -ous, vagrant,

-al,

wandering from market medieval

to market, fair to fair, like the

jugglers and the strolling players: Addison in THE SPECTATOR (1711) says / mean

those circumforaneous wits, whom every calls by the name of that dish of

nation

See sillabub.

Girt,

head of the Indian THE PROGRESS OF POESY as the

speaks of their feather-cinctur'd Shakespeare uses cincture to mean belt in KING JOHN (1595) Now happy he (1757)

it

likes best

maccaronies; and

.

.

.

in Italy,

in Great Britain, Jack

Puddings. Circumgyral, in circling wreaths or whirls, as circumgyral smoke, circumplication, a wrapping or folding around; circumspicwus, seeing all around; circumspicuous, easily seen all around; circum-

terraneous,

circumterrestrial

stratosphere and the moon) neighboring on all sides.

;

(like

the

circumvoisin,

chief.

circumbendibus.

See recumbentibus.

:

whose cloak and cincture can Hold out this tempest.

circumbilivagination.

See circumquaque.

A vagabond monk; origione the of 4th century Donatist nally, fanatics in Africa, who roved from house to house. Latin circum, about + cella, cell. Cotton Mather in MAGNALIA CHRISTI AMERICANA (1702) remarked: There was circumcellion.

Ash-colored.

cinereous. cineritious.

Also

cinereal,

Latin cinerem, ashes. Thus

cinerescent, inclining to ash-color, grayish; cinerulent, full of ashes; of the texture of

Cinereous crows, Morse recorded in AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY (1796) brave the severest winter. Another instance of ashes.

his

the use appears at vinaceous. circum-.

words,

Around. Used in many English some familiar, some forgotten.

Thus

to

heap around; circumaggerate, circumcursation, running around, rambling in discourse; circumambages, ways of getting

f

century fanatic who roamed from monastery to monastery, especially in Africa where Burton reports in THE ANATOMY

meat which cinct.

drcumdolate

sex;

to cut around, to deceive; circumfulgent,

around (someone)

:

women

are

151

the phrensie of the old circumcellions in those Quakers. Hence, in general, a vagabond, a haunter of public houses. Cp. circum-.

circumquaque. Circumlocution; a coined word, like circumbendibus, circumbilivagination, circumbilivigation. To circumbilivaginate, to speak in a roundabout way; to talk in circles. Cp. circum-.

These are

civet

at mainly 17th century pedantically humorous terms. Goldsmith, in SHE STOOPS TO (1773) says With a circumbendiI bus, fairly lodged them in the horsepond. (This is the most lasting of these

CONQUER

Rabelais

gallantly,

without

about and about.

circumbilivaginating Heywood in THE

I will not be put out of countenance. Berowne: Because thou hast no face.

translation

That

is

J.

AND THE FLIE (1556) WTOte.* What this circumquaflte) meaneth quief and in his PROVERBS (1562) said: Ye set circumquaques to make me believe that the moone is made of greene (quoth the

.

.

.

[Note that green, in the expres-

sion green cheese, means unripe hence not golden like a ripe cheese, but pale yellow. In the same way, blackberries are

red cit.

when

they are green.]

Short for citizen. Also

citt.

Feminine

usually with some measure of scorn, for a townsman as opposed to a squire, or a

tradesman

as opposed to a gentleman. Pope in a SATIRE of 1735 asks Why turnpikes rose, and now no cit or clown Can

What

Holofernes: terne head.

is

this?

Boyet:

A

cit-

Sometimes called cither; a Tyrolese form of the instrument is called zither. The cithern had eight strings divided into four pairs (courses) It was .

in barber shops for the use of the waiting customers. Also see

commonly kept orpharion.

A

citole.

stringed instrument, perhaps at

which was

like the ancient cithara

triangular, strings strings,

strings

from seven

with

to

eleven

but probably later with fewer and sometimes box-shaped. The were strummed with the fingers

(the cithern, bandore, and other wirestringed instruments were struck with a plectrum. See cithern.) The citole was

very popular in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries; Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE

The

(1386)

Cowley's THE RUN-

hadde

gratis see the country or the town.

Hannah

:

first

(used by Dry den, 1685) , citess; Johnson (1751) used cit as a feminine. Cit was used in the 17th and 18th centuries,

Prologue to

of the cittern was often

spoke

his

says:

SPIDER

cheese,

The head

strings.

grotesquely carved; hence cittern-head was used as a term of scorn, as in Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) Holof ernes:

Urquhart in

coinages.) (1693) of

states that an Irish harp maketh a more resounding sound than a bandora, orpharion, or cittern, which have likewise wire

says:

A

citole in

her right hand

she.

AWAY

(1776) pictured the Londoner, still seeking the countryside, scorned by the actor: Let cits point out green paddocks to their spouses;

To me, no

prospect like

your crowded houses. citbtara.

An

ancient Greek and

Roman

instrument. It has had medieval and modern variants; see

musical

many citole;

cithern.

cittern.

civet. (1) a carnivorous animal, in appearance between a fox and a weasel. Hence, the musky, oily secretion in the

anal pouch of this animal; especially the civet-cat; used in making perfumes. Thus Shakespeare, in AS YOU LIKE

African

IT (1600) tar,

cithern.

A

guitar-like instrument, strung

with wire. Popular in the 16th and I7th centuries. Latin cithara. Also gittern, cittern; see bandore.

Bacon in SYLVA

(1626)

152

See cithern; also for cittern-head.

the

:

Civet

is

of a baser birth than

very uncleanly

Hence, a perfume.

flux

The term

of

a

civet-cat

cat.

was

applied (in ridicule) to a person highly perfumed. (2) An old word for chive. (3) a way of preparing chicken or hare:

clem

clack-dish first

brown in

it

frying

lard,

then stew-

ing it in broth. Served with bread toasted, soaked for an hour in wine, then strained and spiced. This civet sounds a succulent dish.

A

wooden beggar's cup: cover the beggar would clack

clack-dish.

dish with a

down

a

an appeal. Also clapdish. Shakespeare knew the device; MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1603) and his use was, to put as

:

a ducat in her clack-dish.

on a

last of

her

door-step, pictured in the beggar rattles coins in a

race," sitting

now

1861;

"The is

clavis.

A

clavis.

key; especially, to a cipher.

A

17th and 18th century term, directly from key. Hence also clavicular, a key (also to the clavicle, to pertaining

Latin

clavis,

'little

key," the collar-bone)

.

The

clavi-

cymbal, a 15th to 17th century name for the early harpsichord; clavicytherium, a

an upright spinet, of the same period. daviger, a key-keeper; one that carries a key but also (Latin clava, club) one that carries a club; also sort of harpsichord,

A

daviger ous. Clavis, key, from the sense,

tin cup.

key to a cipher came also to mean a glossary (key to a language)

See clem.

clam.

See

clavichord.

Also,

clavicytherium.

.

Secret; clandestine, underhand. In the 17th and 18th centuries; the commoner form in the 16th century was

clancular.

clanculary. From Latin clanculum, diminutive of clam, secretly.

clapperclaw.

To

and

strike

scratch.

From

two uses of the hand. Figuratively, to The Epistle to the First Quarto of

revile.

Shakespeare's TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1609) it as a new play, never stal'd

recommends

with the stage, never clapperclawd with the

palms of the vulgar.

a rapscallion. clapperdudgeon. The word is probably from the beggar's

rapping on his clapdish (see clack-dish) with the handle of his dudgeon, q.v. The 16th century play GEORGE A GREEN said: It is

but the part of a clappedugeon

man on

claptrap.

darry.

To

the street.

limp, to be lame. Latin

See

cleap.

See clepe. See

cleave.

avaunt.

asunder, to split,

had

Cleave,

to

hew

early English forms

Greek gluf-, to it became fused with cleave, earlier clive, to stick, a common Teuton term related to climb and clay. Wyclif in 1382 said that the husband clufan,

clofen,

akin

to

In the 14th century

carve.

An

cleeves.

old form of

cliffs,

plural of

cliff.

To pinch as with hunger,

clem.

From

to starve.

Teuton form clammy the early English noun clam meant the act of a

clam,

whence the current slang

clam up, to refuse to

claudus, lame. Also figuratively, as claudicant arguments. Rare after 17th century.

clavicymbal.

See clem.

fish

See piment.

To

cleam.

squeezing together, then anything that holds tight (such as a clamp and the shell-

See catchpenny.

claudicate.

See morglay.

should cleave to (not cleave) his wife.

A beggar;

strike a

claymore.

clavis.

153

tight)

.

talk,

But the verb clam,

to

shut the lips

to clutch, hold

meaning in favor of the sense to smear, from Old English clasman, to anoint, daub, smear, whence current clammy. There was also (12th to 19th tight, lost that

clench

clepsydra

a verb cleam, century, now dialectic) cleme, to smear. Thus the original sense of pinching, squeezing, was lost in all the verbs, though surviving in the noun forms.

Jonson in THE POETASTER (1601) exclaims: I cannot eat stones and turfs What, will he clem me and my followers? Ask him an he will clem me. .

.

sipid;

his

mouth

its

that sees

its

image in the

luxurious. Extravagantly After the ways of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, wife of Ptolemy Dionysius, mother cleopatrical.

.

clench (noun). A play on words. Used in the 17th and 18th centuries. Dryden in his ESSAY ON DRAMATIC POESY (1668) Shakespeare: He is many times

in

water.

Says of fiat,

in-

comic wit degenerating into

of a child of Julius Caesar, mistress of Marc Antony. Cleopatra's nose came to

mean the essential element from mark by Blaise Pascal (died 1662)

whole face of the earth would have been changed. Bishop Hall in his SATIRES (1597) exclaimed: Oh, cleopatrical! what wanteth there For curious wondrous choice of cheeref

One poor (1728) clenches makes.

clepe.

word

a

it is

a variant of clinch,

as in a prize fight. It is a causal form of cling; to clinch is to make cling. In a pun

or other play on words, two unconnected ideas are

made

the auditor also

stuck.

(if

A

to stick together. Usually he has paid to listen) is

clincher, in

the sense of

something that settles an argument, comes from the verb to clinch, to bend the point of a nail back into

what

it's

been driven two

through, as in the old story of the

Said the first: "I (cp. palmer) drove a nail through the moon last Thursday night.'* "I can vouch for that," said

boasters

.

the second,

"

cleombrotan.

donment

went around

'cause I

back and clinched

to the

Characterized by the aban-

unknown, perhaps imaginary,

hoped better future. From Cleombrotus, a young man of Ambracia in it is

Epirus,

who

after

reading

in

Plato's

PHAEDO the discourse on the immortality of the soul, leapt into the sea to go at once to that better after-life. Aesop tells a cleombrotan story of a dog with a bone 154

To

summon;

and

of

call; to call

on, appeal to; to

to call to witness; to

speak

to; to

A very common

word with a range meanings, used in many forms from the

name.

18th century: clipian, Especially frequent in the 16th century was the form yclept, named; as in Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S

8th

through the

clep,

cleap,

clip.

LOST (1588) Judas I am, ycliped Machabeus; this has survived as an archaism, as in Byron's DON JUAN (1823) Microcosm :

:

on

yclept the

stilts,

Great World.

The

forms occur throughout early literature, frequent in Chaucer, in Spenser VISIONS, 1591: / saw the fish (if fish I may it cleepe)

.

.

.

the huge leviathan and in HAMLET, 1604: other nations

Shakespeare clepe us drunkards. Hence cleper, one who calls; cleping, a name; a vocation; .

it."

of one's present goods for the

sake of an

but

cost,

hundred

Clench has a major meaning, that which clenches or grasps;

// the

nose of Cleopatra had been shorter, the

clenches, his serious swelling into bombast. Pope says scornfully, in THE DUNCIAD :

the re:

.

.

Wyclif in 1382 urged that ye walk worthily in the cleping in which ye ben clepid. clepsydra.

An

instrument anciently used

by the Egyptians) to measure time by the running of water out of one vessel into another; a water(Bailey, 1751, says

clock. Similarly, the fall

instrument using the tell time was a

of grains of sand to

clepsammia.

Clepsydra

is

from

Greek

clerk

clodpate

kleps,

from kleptein,

+

kleptomaniac)

,

(whence also

Originally in English (10th cenofficer of the church.

clerk.

tury)

to steal

hydor, water.

an ordained

Hence, a person of book learning; one able to read and write; a scholar; a pupil.

Greek kleros meant piece of land, estate, klerikos, relating to an inheritance; by the 2d century this came to be applied to those that carried on the Chris-

heritage;

tian inheritance;

i.e.,

the clergy, the clerics.

Caxton in

his Prologue to ENEYDOS (THE 1490) spoke of that noble poete

AENEID;

and grete clerke Vyrgyle; elsewhere he and his mentioned Plato the sage .

clerke

named

.

.

1666, "when we cannot possibly commit any more." Hence clinic baptism. A clinic convert, one converted when sick or dying: "When the devil was ill, the devil a monk would be; When the devil was well, the devil a monk was hel"

selled;

The

French, clinquant in Fletcher and Rowley in all

latch of a gate or door; any

a click. Also, a latch-key, as in Chaucer's Also, rat(1386) tling

bones

as

coat of

;

a device for

to

music

making

a

sound, carried by beggars in France, as the clack-dish, q.v., in England. Hence, a chattering tongue, a woman clicking

(1611) clinch. cline.

whose

clicket

is

ever wagging.

See clench.

To

some

rich stuff,

The word was figuratively

called

(1613);

IN

THE

petti-

catch the eye.

used as a noun, and glitter) , as in FRASER'S

of clinquant strung together,

gems of beauty.

To embrace. Shakespeare in (I) CORIOLANUS (1607) has: Let me clip ye In armes as sound, as when I woo'd in dip.

heart. (2)

from

To

cut short

(still

used)

;

slang

was the meaning to cheat, to cozen. Many a wanton has dipt a man this

(sense 1) to clip him (sense 2) speare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST

Shake-

.

(1588)

puns: Judas I am, ycliped \ycleped, called] Machabeus. Judas Machabeus dipt, is plaine Judas.

bow, to incline. Used in the

clipse.

Old form of eclipse. Also clips, and the like. Phaer, in his

15th century, perhaps shortened from accline, incline, and in the 16th century,

clypse, clippis,

perhaps from the Greek to slope, recline; Greek

klinein, to cause

that

kline, a bed, kli-

moone

translation (1558)

Coribantes

pom

THE ROSE

Tasso (1594) has: shamefast and downe

bright,

clyned eyes.

cloacinean.

See cline. In early use (17th to mid 19th century) a clinic was a person confined to bed; especially, one who deferred baptism to the death-bed, "a wash

of the AENEUX,

beat

their

tells

brasse

us the

Hence clipsi, ROMAUNT OF we read that love is now

clips to cure.

clipsy, dark, obscure; in the

nikos, pertaining to a bed, whence English clinic. Carew, in his translations from

clipsome.

,

commentator of 155

(1400)

now

clinic.

for all our sins" said a

To

The

of

HENRY vm THE MAIDE

also

(false

silly bits

.

an accompaniment

(usually plural)

clincant,

speaks

MILL (1623) mentioned a clinquant

and

lid, valve, or other catch that shuts with

THE MERCHANT'S TALE

clinkant,

Shakespeare

clinquent.

the

clicket.

Also

showy.

MAGAZINE for 1839: the worst portion of

Aristotle.

See aeromancy.

cleromancy.

Glittering, as with gold; tin-

clinquant.

clipsi of

manere.

See ajax. Fit to be embraced.

some word for a winsome clodpate. clodpole.

A

light-

lass.

A blockhead. Also clodpoll, A 17th century favorite Shake-

coacervate close-stool

TWELFTH NIGHT

speare, in letter

(1601)

:

being so excellently ignorant it comes from a doddepole

.

will find

surviving

in

(as

Browning, 1878)

Thackeray,

1840,

.

This he .

and and

well into the 19th.

water, as into a mill-wheel or a tidal river.

Also

clew,

clowys,

Originally

dough.

mistaken

clowis,

clowes,

(like

pease,

whence pea) in the 15th and 16th centuries for a plural. It is ultimately from Latin clausa, a closed way.

A

covered chamber-pot set in a stool. Used from the 15th century. Cp. in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS ajax. Shakespeare WELL (1601) presents a paper from For-

dose-stool.

tune's dose-stool to give to a nobleman. Milton in THE READ IE AND EASIE WAY TO

ESTABLISH A FREE

COMMONWEALTH

(1659)

ushers, grooms,

girded at chamberlains, even of the dose-stool.

dump, dumper,

scraper.

more crudely call a skyShakespeare in THE RAPE OF

LUCRECE (1594) speaks of cloud-kissing Other such combinations include

Ilion.

cloud-glory,

cloud-gloom,

cloud-world,

The

tury,

with pedantically humorous applito a heavy smoker. Also cloud-

the later

My purse (1590) began with so many purging glisters to waxe not only laxative, but quite emptie. In the interlude of THE FOUR P'S (see

headed, confused.

man

when servation of the clouds.

DEMONOLOGY

A

dough.

(1830)

;

cp.

Used by

by ob-

Scott in

or valley,

with a swift stream coursing through. Sometimes applied to the steep sides, as though it were a form of the

Pronounced duff or

cliff.

mon from

A

a story of

a clyster

is

administered the result

so violent that a stone wall miles

co.

In

Tudor

cant, short for cove.

See

pedlers French. coacervate.

To heap

Also coacerve.

rocky glen.

-f

mill-dam; more often, a sluice that controls the flow of

or floodgate

lie is

dry-shod.

com-

the 14th to the 17th century;

later in dialects, as a

dow.

clau;

the 'pothecary's

with an eight days' constipation;

is

usually

word

:

away knocked down and the stones tumble into a stream so that one can walk over is

aeromancy.

steep-sided ravine

fluid

MOURNING GARMENT

a that foretells

"A

enema, 14th through 17th century. Also used clister, or beginning with g. Also GREENES in Greene as by figuratively,

palmer)

One

The word has been replaced form clumsy.

drench. Sometimes for nutrition, usually the common word for as an enema

cation

cloud-monger.

hence

medicine of different "to be inqualities/' says Bailey (1751), fundament." the bowels the into by jected From Greek klyster, from klyzein, to wash,

cuckoo-

cloud

(Aristophanes, THE BIRDS). cloud-assembler, cloud-compeller was Zeus, but these terms were used in the 19th cen-

cold;

numpskull.'

dyster.

cloud-serpent;

land

with

in dialects,

cloud-cleaver; cloud-coifed, -compacted, -courtiered, -girt. Also various terms for those whose thoughts are 'in the clouds': cloud-castle,

Benumbed

clumse.

'a

most pleasant adjective

to tread heavily, clumsily.

stupid, stolid, awkward; later, customer.' Also clomps, surly, 'an awkward as clumps. Bailey (1751) defines dumps

by

A

cloud-kissing. for what we

A silly fellow, a clown. From

clumperton.

aceruare, to heap.

19th century; items

not commixed.

156

up, to accumulate.

From Latin

co~,

together

Used 14th through

may be

coacerved but

coal

cockatrice

In

coal.

various

(charcoal, as

black

phrases:

opposed

to white coal,

make a black mark)

used to

HUMOR

coal

wood;

that

a mark or

,

and

a

coals, to rage fiercely. cold coals, to strive in vain; a cold coal to blow at, & hopeless task. To

to

perform menial

on

it

Nym

ROMEO AND JULIET (1592) to indicate cowardice in

cock.

tasks;

and plays HENRY v:

coal, coal-kindler,

coax. cob.

one

that

also, stirs

ful cocke,

many meanings,

like a cock's

strife.

and

set

mine

eyes at flow. It

this sense that the

penis developed.

From

the 13th century used, as a

euphemistic perversion of God, in mild oaths. Chaucer speaks of cokkes bones;

corncob) of something stout, or roundish, like a

for another reference, see gis.

head

cockatrice.

(cop, Latin caput, head) . Among the less familiar meanings are: (1) a leading man in a group; (2) a wealthy man,

atrice is

(6)

a pen) In plural (5) tes"small balls or pellets with .

which fowls are usually crammed" 18th century trick to small market. (7)

A

as bread, or coal;

herring:

(8)

fill

them out

See basilisk. Occasionally cock-

used in error for crocodile. In

the 16th, 17th,

especially a miserly one; (3) a big, lumpish man; (4) a male swan (q.v., also cobswan;

ticles;

is

meaning

gock and then cock were

in

is

comb;

to 18th century) it

probably from

many senses, some (as surviving. The general notion is

the female

pro-

was called a cock; Shakespeare in TTMON OF ATHENS (1607) says: / have retyr'd me to a waste-

See cokes.

Used

had a stopper

hence (15th

a blow-

up

This word has had

of a cask

obsolescent

expression to carry coals to Newcastle, to

scientist;

is

Amorwe whan that day gan for to sprynge Up roos owe hoost and was oure aller cok. The spout for letting liquor out

do something absurdly superfluous. Also coal-blower, a scornful term for an alquack

where Thersites

says:

shovel: I knew, by that piece of service, the men would carry coals. This phrase

chemist, a

,

by extension from the Applied to men, it meant a night watchman; especially, one that arouses slumberers. Chaucer in the Prologue tO THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386)

and Bardolph are sworn brothers in and in Calais they stole a fire-

now

(1606)

figuratively or domestic fowl.

filching,

has been obscured by the

A cobloaf is

spincop.

hence, to submit to insults or degradation. Shakespeare uses this phrase in the open-

ing of

clusters.'*

round head

CRESSIDA

blow hot

coals,

.

voking Ajax, who calls him cobloaf! and whoreson cur!, then strikes him. Also see

To blow

carry

.

a bun made with used figuratively as a term of abuse in Shakespeare's TROILUS AND in

saith:

exclamation, for emphasis or surprise. To blow the coals, to rouse the flames of pas-

To

red herring

Eves kitchiw .

Traistre Angloi [Perfidious Albion]. Precious coals! was a 16th. and 17th century

sion.

first

do I fetch my pedigree from his cob was my great-great-mighty-great grandfather. Cob-knights were those "dubbed

sign of censure. In PASQUILS RETURN (1589) we read: He gives the English a dash over

the face with a blacke coale,

broil' d in

The

Adam and

has:

(1598)

was

applied

to

and 18th

men

Bacon

as

centuries, it

was

a term of scorn

this little cockatrice of a (1622) and, especially by the dramatists, to women in the sense of strumpet, whore. :

king

an

Thus Dekker,

for

(1609) advises a gallant to secure a lodging by the waterside, for its convenience

of anything, the head of a red

lump

Jonson in EVERY MAN IN HIS

in THE GULL'S HORN-BOOK

,

to avoid shoulder-clapping

debt)

157

and

to

(summons

for

ship away your cockatrice

codpiece

cocket

betimes in the morning. The glance of cockatrice was fatal it the (serpent)

by looking in a mirror, kill itself eaten everybody save one that had the of word, rue. For another instance

could, to

see coney.

A

document from the customson it, that validates it house that duty has been paid. From certifying 13th to mid 19th century. Also, the cus-

cocket.

raw youth, as when in THE ALCHEMIST arrival of a fine (1610) Jonson hails the Also codlin, querdlyng, quodling. young codlyng, quadling, and more. Shakespeare in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) similifies: As a

or the seal

duty to be paid. Supposedly from Latin quo quietus est, by which he is quit: the words with which the

toms-house;

the receipt ended. There was also (16th and 17th centuries) an adjective cocket,

from

cock, rooster, equivalent to the cur-

rent cocky.

cockshoot.

squash

when

Variant of cuckquean,

q.v.

See cockshuL

is

tis

tis a pescod, or a codling almost an apple. Hot codlings

before

were roasted apples, sold in the London streets from the 17th century. A folk song

A

old -woman, her living hot codlings, hot, hot, By selling hot. By 23 February, 1881, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH lamented: Hot codlings may of 1825 ran:

little

she got,

now ling

cockquean.

A

variety of apple, somewhat that could tapering; especially, a variety still while be cooked unripe. Hence, a

codling.

The word codmay have come from coddle, one

be sought for in vain.

meaning of which was to cook (we still have coddled eggs, cooked gently; but coddled pease were roasted; and hot codlings may also have meant roasted peas) .

cockshut.

time

Perhaps

Twilight.

when poultry

are shut

from

the

for the

up

hownight. It was often spelled cockshoot, of cocka be and ever, shortening may shoot time. A cockshoot was a glade or clearing in a wood, through which the

woodcock and other birds might dart or 'shoot/ to be caught by nets at the edge of the clearing. This was used figuratively his version (1651) of Aesop: loud winds make cockshoots thro'

by Ogilby in

When the

wood} Bending down mighty

oaks, I

firm have stood. Florio (1598) defines cockshut as the time 'when a man cannot discern a

dog from a

wolfe.' Shakespeare

in RICHARD in

(1594) tells that Thomas, the Earl of Surrey, and himself, Much

about cockshut time, from troop

Went through

to troop.

the army, cheering

up

the

a small cod

(fish)

;

the scrotum; cp. codpiece. Sylvester, in his translation (1605) of Du Bartas, also,

wrote of

The

by foes, Tears them throwes.

wise beaver who, pursued off his codlings,

and among

A

codpiece. bagged appendage in the front of the tight-fitting hose or breeches worn by men (15th to 17th century) often ,

ornamented. Herrick in HESPERIDES (1648): // the servants search, they may descry, In his wide codpeece, dinner being done,

Two

napkins cramm'd up, and a silver spoone. Codpiece-point, the lace with which the codpiece was fastened. The word was often used for the organs it covered but did not conceal, as in Shake-

MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1603) what a ruthless thing is this in him, Why, !

for the rebellion of a codpiece to take away the life of a man! In LOVE'S LABOR'S

See codpiece.

codding.

may mean

speare's

souldiers.

cod.

Codling

also

See codpiece.

LOST,

158

Gupid

is

called king of

coemption

coign

God, Old English codd, was a common word for a bag; by extension, the codfish, bag fish; a purse; the belly; and most

commonly 14th through 17th century the scrotum; testicles.

by extension, the

cods, the

Cornering the market; buy-

coemption.

the available supplies. Literally

up

(Latin

co-,

com, together

4-

emere, emp-

tum, to buy: caveat emptor, let the buyer beware; cp. caveat) the word means joint purchasing; Chaucer in his translation (1374)

coif.

A

back,

and

cap,

close-fitting

covering top,

sides of the head, tied

under

worn outdoors by both sexes. a sort of night-cap, but worn in Later, the day by women, indoors or under the the chin,

lecherous.

ing

one's com-

ers.

Cp. bollock. In TITUS ANDRONICUS

That codding spirit they had from their mother plays on two senses: jesting, and

Honoring with

cohonestation.

pany. A word out of the formal 17th and 18th centuries. "I deeply appreciate your cohonestation": any author, to his read-

of Bothius

thus understood the

word: coemptioun that is to seyn comune achat or hying to-gidere. And in ancient

bonnet. Hence,

cap (iron,

a close-fitting skull-

also,

steel, later leather)

worn under

the helmet. Also, the white cap worn by lawyers as a sign of their profession, es-

by a

pecially,

serjeant-at-law; hence, the

position of serjeant-at-law; in these uses from the 14th century. In Scotland, from

the 17th century, the headgear of a marwoman; as Scott explains, in a note

Rome, one type of marriage ceremony

ried

consisted of the husband's buying the wife and the wife's buying the husband; this

to THE LADY OF THE LAKE (1810) The snood was exchanged for the curch, toy,

too was called coemption. Bacon in his ON RICHES) said that monop-

marriage,

ESSAYS (1625,

olies, and coemption of wares for resale, where they are not restrained, are great means to enrich.

Fond of suppers, as one that enjoys a midnight snack. Should pref-

coenaculous.

erably be cenaculous:

Latin cenaculum, room; cp. cenation. supper-room, dining Leigh Hunt in BACCHUS IN TUSCANY (1825) spoke of people grossly coenaculous. coenobite.

the

thought. Accent on slips to the fourth in

Deep in

first syllable; it

form cogitabundous. Used and 18th centuries; later, to a ponderously humorous effect. Also

the alternate

in the 17th give

cogitabundation, cogitabundity, cogibundin his POEMS ity, deep meditation. Carey (1734)

pressed the humor: His cogitative

faculties tation.

immersed In cogibundity of

Cog within

or

when a

coif,

The

cogi-

cogl

159

into

lassie

Scottish lass passed,

the

matron

state.

by

Thus

has lost her silken snood was

mean

used to

she was

no longer a

virgin,

yet not a wife.

A

corner. Also coigne. Older of coin, quoin via French from spelling Latin cuneus, wedge, corner. [The verb coign.

meant

to strike

hard or press in with a

wedge, hence our money, the value, etc., impressed upon the coin.] Shakespeare in

MACBETH

See eremite.

cogitabund.

:

buttrice,

(1605)

says:

No

jutty

frieze,

nor coigne of vantage, but

this

Hath made his pendant bed. Scott in THE HART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818) repeated: As if the traders had occupied with nests every buttress and coign of vantage, bird

.

.

.

as the

marlett did in Macbeth's castle.

Scott used coign of vantage again in MARMION and in QUENTIN DURWARD; thereafter,

Browning, and others took

George

Eliot,

up the

phrase.

colibus

comt This

colnt.

which

is

many

(in

A kind of lace, "resembling network/' open, with a square ground, worn in the 17th and 18th centuries

an old form of quaint, spellings) came from the

colbertine.

Latin cognitum, known, from cognoscere,

The

to find out, as in recognize.

"of the fabric of

English

coint, cwointe, quhaynte, quaint, etc., at first

meant

was then

wise, then skilful. It

Also colverteen.

applied to things skilfully made, so as to look beautiful; then to persons of beautiful dress or refined speech. Gradually

was

to

colcannon.

it

too

those

particularly applied dressed, foppish, and to those that adorned their speech with affectations and con-

an old-fashioned

especially as with

ceits,

Monsieur Colbert, Su-

perintendent of the French King's manufactures," says a FOP'S DICTIONARY of 1690.

By this gradual course, coint in 1225 became quaint in its present sense by 1795, in Southey's JOAN OF ARC: many

Potato and cabbage

pounded

together in a mortar and stewed with butter. An 18th and early 19th century Irish dish.

From

cole,

cabbage

+

cannon, from the slaw) the pounding was done.

(as also

in cole-

ball with

which

elegance.

a merry ballad and quaint

In the

tale.

sense of skilled in speech, Shakespeare in

PART TWO (1590) says Show how queint an Orator you are, and Dryden in his JENEID (1697) says Talk on ye quaint Haranguers of the Crowd.

HENRY

vi,

In origin a variant of

coistreL q.v.,

custrel,

and ranging through the same

senses:

a groom; a lad; a rascal. Also coystrel, coisterel, etc. More emphatic in sound, this form was the more common, especially in chronicles

the

and

18th .century,

as

plays, 16th

in

through

Shakespeare's

TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) He's a coward and a coystrill that will not drink to my :

For another instance,

niece.

A

See coleprophet. Also, of course, the cole (kail, kale) family of vegetables, as in the Scottish kailyard, vegetable gar-

cole.

den. coleprophet. A pretender to knowledge of the future; a false diviner. Also col-

prophet, collprophet, these forms in the 16th century; in the 17th century, also coldprophet. From cole, a conjuring trick;

a deceiver, sharper; used from the 14th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, coal, cole were used to mean money; to post the cole, to pay down the money. General Burgoyne in his play THE LORD OF

THE MANOR

coleron.

see lib.

dove.

A

a simpleton. frequent term in the 16th and 1 7th centuries. Also

cokes,

fool,

coaks, coax, coxe.

The

though the creature

word

origin

is still

is

familiar.

meant to make a cokes Jonson In THE DEVIL is AN ASS

culver-hole,

The

ScOtt in

(1805) to

of,

fool.

(1616)

An

old plural of culver,

culefre, colvyr, and word being very common

to the 14th century.

culver-house,

a

Hence

dove-cote.

THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL Falcon and culver, on each tower,

uses culver for culverin, for which see

Why, we will make a cokes of thee, master; we will, my mistress, an abSamuel Johnson in 1755 low word'*; it has become

soul,

Stood prompt their deadly hail to shower

wrote: wise

Come, my

culfre,

the

from the 9th

which

originally

Doves.

Also

many more,

unknown,

survives in the verb to coax,

(1781) wrote:

post the cole; I must beg or borrow.

basilisk.

"The humming-bird,

which

solute fine cokes.

colibus.

called coax "a

makes a noise like a whirlwind, though it be no bigger than a fly: it feeds on dew,

gentler

If

not more genteel. 160

-

colin

collistrigiated

has an admirable beauty of feathers, a scent as sweet as that of musk or amber-

collice.

grease." So Bailey

colligate.

(1751), following KerO.E.D. (1933) gives the

sey (1715) The name as colibri, from the .

French after the

Carib original; but Browning in SORDELLO (1840) uses colibri as a plural. Kingsley, that's a colibri; in WESTWARD HO! (1855) colibris? heard Frank looked at of you've :

the living gem which hung, loud humming, over some fantastic bloom.

Quail as my friend of that ilk never does. From the Mexican word colin,

colin.

American

quail, a pretty bird unfortunately also tasty; known likewise as

for the

See

To bind together, to connect From Latin col-, or logically) (literally, com-, together + ligare, to bind, as in ligature. From the 16th to the 19th cen.

still

tury;

in

Lang

MYTH,

accole,

hug around

collum.

with

accoll,

from French

the neck. Short for

a,

to

same meaning,

the -f

The word had

col,

neck,

Latin

other meanings:

a dupe, a simpleton. This sense also

(1)

and

gull. (2) ale. This is an 18th century use, especially at Oxford. a cock of hay. (3) a bundle (of wood) There is also a verb coll, to poll, shear; Ascham uses it (coul) for paring an arrowfeather. This is probably from the Scandinavian; Icelandic kollr, shaven crown,

appears as cull

,

polled beast. collabefaction.

.

Hence

wasting away, decay17th and 18th century dictionary word, from Latin collabefacere, to cause ing.

A

to collapse.

collachrymate.

To weep

together.

Also

an

adjective, mingled with tears, accompanied by weeping. Rare; 16th and as

17th centuries. collactaneous.

collation. colliby.

together,

(1685)

speaks of the admirable union or of the Messias

colligation of the Soul with the eternal Logos.

To

at a target;

close

an eye

so as to

aim

to adjust a telescope to the

proper line of

Used in Latin by

sight.

Kepler in 1604, hence into modern languages by error for collmeate, from Latin col-,

+

com-, together

linear e, to

straight line, linea, line.

make

There are

a

also,

in English, the technical terms collinear,

collmeate,

etc.

colliquate. To melt or fuse together. in medieval alchemy and Renais-

Used

sance medicine, but also figuratively, as (1603) of Plu-

in Holland's translation

Who

being severed

apart in body, conjoin and colliquate, as it were perforce, their souls together.

Hence

also colliquative; colliquefaction; colliquescence, readiness to become fluid. Colliquament is the melted substance; in

the 17th century, the thin fluid that is the earliest sign of an embryo in the egg, the white colliquament out of which the

young one

is

formed.

Suckled together, nursed

with the same milk. tionary word:

attachment

colligance,

connection; colligation; H. More in AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL

tarch's PHILOSOPHIE:

A

AND RELIGION

RITUAL,

col. . (1887) says that The explanation ligates it with a familiar set of phenomena.

collimate.

A

Andrew

used in formal writing;

the bob-white. coll.

cullis.

col,

A

17th century diclact-, milk. together

+

See decollation.

collistrigiated.

neck

See collybist.

Pilloried.

-f strig-j strigere, to

English stringent) 161

Also

collistri-

gium, collistridium, pillory. These two are direct from Medieval Latin, from collum, .

bind

(as also

Collistrigiated

is

in

a rare

colour

collop 17th. century word, remaining in 18th century dictionaries.

cakes to the Virgin

Heaven. From Greek

From

bread.

Fried egg on bacon; later called

collop.

collops and eggs, collops being used to the bacon; by transference collop

mean

was used for any piece of

fried

meat.

Bailey (1751) defines it as "a cut or slice of flesh meat." Hence, a piece of flesh on something, as a fold of flesh, that shows

good condition; also, a cut from something; by extension, an offspring, as in Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE (1611) :

To

say

this

boy were

dearest,

my

collop.

like

me ... my

The word was

oc-

casionally used in threats (as to children) : "111 cut you into collops!'* The day before

same meaning into Latin and English

though

Lamb

in his discussion of

1818)

said that Faustus'

indeed an agony and a fearful colluctation. Latin col-, together -f last

scene

is

luctari, to wrestle.

Mutual sorrow. Latin col-, lugere, to mourn. In Urqu-

collugency. 4-

together hart's

translation

(1693)

of

Rabelais:

This ruthful and deplorable collugency. Money-changer; usurer; miser.

collybist.

Also

collibist.

Greek

kollybistes,

money-

changer; kollibos, small coin. From 14th through 17th century; Bishop Hall in his SATIRES

(1598)

has:

Unless some

base

hedge-creeping collybist Scatters his refuse scraps source

on

whom he

list.

From

the same

(possibly influenced by Latin collibere, to please; col-, together libet,

+

it

pleases), colliby

was a 14th and 15th

century word meaning a small present collyridian.

of the 4th

One of a sect called heretical, centuries, who offered

and 5th

~

162

(13th to

lyrium grew more general, to

mean any

application (including cosmetics) for the eyes; in the 18th century (again from the moist pellet) the word was also used for

a suppository. In its application to the eyes, the word was also used figuratively; thus

Emerson

(1847)

in

REPRESENTATIVE

men

Great

says:

in Alsace.

Marlowe (about

as

17th century) collyrie, colorye, colirie, etc.; (16th century) collyre. In the 17th century col-

Wrestling; conflict. Also colRare 17th century

words

of

Queen

the use of a moist pellet of

collyrium. Also

collyriumu

luctance, colluctancy.

as

such bread as a poultice, Greek kollyrion, with the poultice, then eye-salve, came

Shrove Tuesday is still known as Collop Monday, it being traditional then to eat fried bacon and eggs. colluctation.

Mary

kollyra, roll of coarse

MEN

are thus a col-

lyrium to clear our eyes from egotism.

colmar.

See collyridian. (1) (2)

a kind of pear, from a town a kind of fan, popular in

the reign of Queen Anne. Pope, in his MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS PERI BATHOUS, OR THE ART OF SINKING IN POETRY (1757) wrote that the bride with an air divine her colmar ply'd. See cosins. ,

.

colon.

.

.

See commation.

coloquintida. An early form of colocynthj the bitter-apple, a kind of gourd,

from the fruit of which a purgative drug was made. Also coloquint, coloquintid, coloquinto,

coloquinty.

Shakespeare

in

OTHELLO

(1604) speaks of a food as bitter as coloquintida. Cp. acerb.

colour.

from the

Used from the 13th

century, color

15th. Also colure, coulur, collor,

colowre, cooler, collour, culler, and more. its senses, we may note: (1) out-

Among

ward appearance,

show; a pretext or hence, alleged reason, excuse. Used from the 14th century; HamThat under colour pole's PSALTER (1340) cloak over the

false

facts;

:

of goed counsaile bryngis

til

syn. Shake-

commacerate

colpon speare in THE (1591)

says:

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA Under the colour of com-

mending him, I have to

prefer

[advance].

my own

access

love

Nature, kind.

(2)

Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE IT says of the wrestling: Le Beau You have lost much

good

An

(3)

what colour?

sport. Celia: Sport! of

allegory, a parable, a figure of

coustome colubryne With code viperyne, secies serpentyne. Colubrine was also used, in the early 17th century, as a vari-

And ant

name

in their

chambers

comeling.

its

low on the

plant, growing

yellow flowers appear before leaves. It is named from the shape of its

the leaves; though some suggest the reference is to the colt that bore Jesus into

Jerusalem

MATTHEW

(BIBLE;

21).

The

root fibres were dried in the sun, then dipped in saltpeter and used as tinder to

lamps. More

light significantly, the Greeks smoked the plant as a cure for coughs; the Romans used it for the same purpose,

calling

it

tussilago

name) from

(still

its

cough; the

tussis,

scientific

Old English

infused the flowers and drank the liquor

The plant was also called ante pairem (the son before the father) because the flowers appeared beas

a cure.

filius

fore the leaves. Steele in

THE TATLER (No.

Upon

the table lay a

266;

pipe

1710) filled

says:

See compt.

A

newcomer; anyone not a

OF ENGLAND (1587) speaks of the comeling Saxons. comessation.

Coluber is a colubra, snake (feminine) current zoological term for a genus of snakes now, but not formerly, limited .

In zoology, colubrine adjective for snake-like. In

together;

whence

Comessation

komos,

revel,

also

may

English

also

hence

espe-

Latin comederef

to devour, com-, altogether eat,

+

ederey to

comestible.

be related to Greek often linked with

it is

drunkenness; ebriety. The of 1582 speaks of fornication . envies, murders, ebrieties, commessations (which the King James version, see

ebrietaSy

NEW TESTAMENT .

.

1611, renders as revellings) . Comestion, eating, was also used in the 17th century of devouring by fire.

A

comicar.

writer

of

comedies.

Used

(once) by Skelton, 1523: Master Terence, the famous comicar.

with bettony and coltsfoot. Snake-like; wily, crafty. Latin

Eating

riotous feasting.

cially,

To

comitate.

colubrine.

keep out unwholesom

used into the 19th, carrying some measure of scorn, as Harrison in THE DESCRIPTION

See coulter.

A

to

Used, (1694)

native to a place; by extension, a novice. Common in 13th, 14th and 15th centuries,

See culpon.

coltsfoot.

wood.

aires.

guyse in olde antyquyte.

ground;

aromatic

said Dunton's LADIES DICTIONARY

comb.

colter.

An

columbuck.

speech. Hawes in THE PASSE TYME OF PLEASURE (1509) remarked: For under a colour a truthe may aryse, As was the

colpon.

for an early cannon, a culverin.

accompany. Latin comitari,

comes, comitem, companion. Used in the 17th century, as in Vicars' comitatus;

translation (1632) of the AENEID: Achates

kinde Aeneas comitated.

to harmless snakes. is

still

the

comma.

See commation.

To

harass, torment. Latin

earlier

commacerate.

it

com-, altogether 4- macerare, to soften, rare weaken, enervate, hence torment.

(16th through 18th century) use, was applied to persons, as in Skelton's poems (1528) His county pallantyne Have

163

A

comminute

commation

form ment-, to invent, from the inceptive of mentiri, to lie. There is also the rare

16th century word, as in Nashe's HAVE

WITH YOU TO SAFFRON-WALDEN

:

One

(1596) true point whereof well set downe wil more excruciate and commacerate him . . .

liar (which (nonce-word) commentiter, as to commentator, close rather sounds Daniel Featley put it, in THE DIPPERS DIPT,

commation. A short lyrical passage in a drama. From Greek kommation, diminutive of to

komma, comma

Greek writing means

less

which in relation group of words

*a

:

No in

not before in being, as paints to the face; which are only differing from cosmetics, to preserve beauties already in possession." DICTIONARY, 1751: not in Thus

malice Infects one colon

leveled

the

course I hold,

A

a rhythmiclause or a a of sentence, cal division of clauses written as a line, and

(Greek kolon, member, limb)

is

Bailey's usable word, save that every the O.E.D.

A

woman

group

taken as a standard of measure. Commation is a word current critics have overlooked. CommatiC; however, means like a

from koptein,

commensal.

to

vengeance.

cross

strike.

Latin

of a plant or animal that lives attached to or as tenant o another, sharing its

The host may also be called a commensal The commensal is to be diseats tinguished from the parasite, which

food.

to

comminatory or commonitory under some one stone. From

or .

.

.

fall

com + monere,

monit-, to warn,

the second syllable) , to warn; these forms have been supplanted by admonish, admonitory, admonition, etc. Also commoneused in the j"action, warning, reminder;

17th century. Note that monitory

means

to warning; monetary means relating money which is probably from Juno moneta, the warning Juno, in whose was estemple grounds the Roman mint

tablished. is

commentitious.

Feigned, fictitious; lying. Also commentitial A 17th century term,

ON THE EPISTLES

the love of

evil,

money

money

in itself

To pulverize; to break into small portions, as a large estate into buildcomminute.

ing

lots.

the

mm)

164

all

bears a warning.

Latin com-, altogether; comminisci, com-

:

Thus while

the root of

as false and com(1699) mentitious as our Sibylline Oracles. From

OF PHALARIS

(Divine) (with intensive threaten. One of

com-

commonitory means reminding, warning. There was a verb commonish (accent on

host.

as in Bentley's DISSERTATION

threaten with

minari,

-f

cross

A messmate, a boarder. From

its

To Latin

Donne's SERMONS (1625) exclaims: How many without any former preparatory

rist, commented Bishop Hall (1624) makes us commensals of the Lord Jesus, The word commensal is still used in biology,

body of

comminate.

force)

Latin com-, together -f mensalis, pertaineuchaing to the table, mensa, table. The

the

wishes to be thought "in posses-

sion/'

commos, consisting of short measures. A commos is a lament sung in alternate and the chorus in a parts by a character Greek tragedy; it is from Greek kommos, beating (one's head and chest in lamentation),

but impostors; no

"Things which give beauties

commetics.

a sentence, or any short passage or period, as in Shakespeare's TIMON OF ATHENS (1607)

expositors,

nights of radio!)

than a colon*; hence, a short part of

comma

No

1645:

commentators, but commenters, nay rather commentiters. And that was before the

Hence, comminuible (accent on that may be broken into small ,

commode

companage

particles; Sir

Thomas Browne

EPIDEMICA

DOXIA

in PSEUDO-

said

(1646)

that

a

diamond steeped

in goats bloud, rather the best we encreaseth in hardness

commonefaction.

have are comminuible without it. THE SATURDAY REVIEW in 1860 spoke of the comminuted political condition which is

commonitory.

.

now

just

.

commorant.

women

in the 18th

ladies

who lend

out beauty a pro(1)

for hire. Hence, as a noun: curess. This sense was also used figuratively, as when Gibber in the Epilogue to his version of JULIUS CAESAR (1721) spoke

of

making

love.

(2)

the tragic muse commode to small piece of furniture for

A

holding a chamber pot.

(3)

A

tall

on a wire framework, often with

silk or

hanging over the shoulders. commode, however (as Addison

lace streamers

The

pointed out in his essay on LADIES' HEADDRESS IN THE SPECTATOR, 1711, No. 98), never aspired to so great an extravagance as in the 14th century,

when

it

was

built

up in a couple of cones or spires, which stood so exceedingly high on each side of the head, that a

woman who was

but a

pigmy without her headdress appeared like a colossus upon putting it on. This headdress was also called a fontange (from French Fontanges, the of

estate of a mistress

King Louis XIV). The olden

fon-

Addison continued, were pointed steeples, and had long pieces of crape

tanges, like

See

comminate.

See

bass.

Resident.

altogether,

4-

Latin morari,

com-, to

to-

tarry,

mora, delay. Especially a member of the Cambridge Senate resident in the town longer

a

in

until

college)

1856,

when

the requirement of residence was abolished. Also commorance, commorancy,

abiding, residence first

(all

accented on the

Commoration,

dwelling, (17th century) a dwelling-place. Note however that syllable)

.

sojourning; a commoratory

is

commorient (Latin mori, to die) means dying together; commorse (Latin morsus, bite, as also in morsel and remorse; see agenbite) means compassion, pity.

head-

women, worn especially in the 17th and early 18th centuries, built

dress for late

gether,

(no

meaning accommodating, usually with bad implications. Steele in THE CONSCIOUS LOVERS (1722) speaks of one of century,

commode

See comminate. Accent

on the mon.

common-kissing.

commode. As an adjective: convenient, suitable. Used in the 17th century. Via French from Latin com, together + modus,

those

their

.

so noxious to his country.

measure. Applied to

hung down

curiously fringed, and backs like streamers.

fastened to the tops of them, which were 165

commorient. See commorant. Buck in THE HISTORY OF ... RICHARD III (1623) wrote of the same compatient and commorient fates and times. Compatient means either suffering together, or sympathetic;

compatience

century)

,

(14th through 16th

compassion.

commorth. A collection to help someone. Welsh cym- together + porth, support, help. A commorth (comorth) might be made at a wedding, or at the first Mass of a new priest, or to redeem a murderer or felon. Apparently the practice was abused, for laws were passed against taking a commorth, under Henry IV (1402) and again under Henry VIII 3

(1534)

.

cominos.

See commation.

eaten companage. The things (not drunk) along with bread, as butter,

compossibility

compatient

Old French from Latin

cheese, meat. Via

panis, bread whence also companion, originally, one who shares bread, bread-fellow. In use

companagium, com-, with

4-

14th through 17th century. Chaucer, in THE SHIPMAN'S TALE (1386) uses companable, sociable, friendly; this also appeared as compinable, cumpynable, compenable,

compynabil, and the like; these have been supplanted by companionable.

To

(by name), to one compellate a may upon, saint. Hence compellation, a calling upon; a name or form of greeting, an appellation

compellate. call,

call

address

as

(the current term in

this sense)

worst things are varnished over with finest names and compellations. Note that com-

petitive means related to address, to a word used as a title; compellatory means

comp client mean

compelling, constraining; Richard Congreve in ESSAYS (1873) spoke of the compellent contagion of great examples.

campenable.

comperendinate. To put off from day to From legal Latin comperendinare, to

postpone to the third day after; com + perendie, day after tomorrow. A 17th and 18th century dictionary word. Also commiddle)

is

in the

.

compinable.

ii

a

lists

(1595)

The

their complices,

commonwealth.

A

Bushy> Bagot, and caterpillars of the

caterpillar

was one that

preyed upon society, a rapacious devourer. From the 15th to the end of the 17th century, it was usually doubled in force as

a play on words: a caterpillar, as one

one that pillages. A piller, robber, plunwas common English from the 14th

derer,

century.

To

piller, to pillage; also pillery,

pillage.

complosion. Clapping; striking together. From Latin complodere, complosus, com-, 17th and together 4- plaudere, to clap.

A

18th century word, covering sounds from the snapping of the thumb and middle finger to the

complosion of the air that

thunder.

causes

The more

plosion has survived future explosions)

(as

violent

ex-

we may not

.

One's

bearing,

carriage

(implying approval) ; agreement, compliance. Latin comportare, to carry to-

See companage,

(where the end

RICHARD

in

or

his complices. Shakespeare in

comportance.

day.

perendination

and

traitor

a rebel

politics:

a re-

;

proach, reproof, calling to account. Bastwick in THE LETANY (1637) wrote: The

compulsory; compellant,

word was used frequently

that devours the green leaves and young shoots of a healthy state; and a piller, as

See commorient.

compatient.

the

turies,

connection with

gether.

(1590)

:

Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE Goodly comportaunce each to

other beare,

and entertain themselves with

courtsies meet.

compossibility. Possibility of two things at the same time, or together. Also, compossible, able to

See companage.

complice. An assistant to another in a matter; especially, a confederate in crime. From com-t together plic-, folded. By

+

1600 the second sense was dominant; it is the only meaning given by Johnson

Complice has been supplanted by accomplice. In the 15th and 16th cen(1755)

166

be

at the

same time. The

idea plagued 17th century thinkers; Samuel Jackson, in COMMENTARIES UPON THE

APOSTLES CREED (1630) argued the mutual compossibility of actual particular cogitations with virtual continuance of some

main

Ralph Cudworth, in a CONCERNING ETERNAL AND IMMUTABLE MORALITY (1688) cried out that purpose-,

TREATISE

concitate

compotation the

compossibility

of

contradictions de-

(1634)

,

god of

stroys all knowledge.

compotation.

A

conable.

com-, together

+

A

drinking bout; Latin polare, to drink. Usually mild; we hear in 1862 of a stately compotation with the Abbot, which probably was little more than a symposium (which

Greek for drinking together) Compotation may, however, be a humorous

is

.

used mainly

From Latin

venable.

+

conceptions.

Hence

also comptly;

comptness.

to dress the hair, a common Old Teuton word now current as comb: kempt, spruce; more frequently (alas!) unkempt. Both "kemb and com b were used, humorously, to

mean

thrash; thus in Skelton's

works

His wife would divers times in (1566) the week kimbe his head with a three:

footed stool. See kemb.

comrogue.

17th century, often satirically or humorously for comrade. Jonson in THE MASQUE

OF AUGURS (1621) uses it seriously: You and the rest of your comrogues shall sit disguised in the stocks.

comse.

A

13th and 14th centuries.

form of commence, used

Hence

comsing, commencing; comsement, commencement. Langland in PIERS PLOWMAN unknitteth al (1377) says Dyinge hare and comsynge is of reste.

comus.

A

revel;

.

.

a drinking-bout. Greek

komos, whence comedy (komos

+

may

aeidein, to sing) ; kome, village, be the source of homos, merrymak-

ing.

In

after

womb, Let man!

not more bring out ungrate-

it

ful

To

concinnate.

put together neatly; to Concinnate terms are terms of studied elegance. Con-

arrange well; also to concinne.

cinnity

is

skilful

putting together; conIn music, a concin-

gruity; beauty of style.

nous discord a concord.

is

a discord to be resolved to

From

the 16th century; Bishop Reynolds in 1640 speaks of that knitting quality of love to which he elsewhere

nation,

and perfecting

of the Saints.

concion. An assembly; an oration before an assembly, a public harangue. Latin concionem, contionem, shortened from

conventionem, convention, com-, together, These forms re-

Milton's

tained the literal (physical) sense; for the figurative sense, to come together, to agree, see conable. Concion was used in the 16th

and

17th

centuries,

along with

other

forms: concional, concionary, relating to an assembly or a speech; concionate, to

harangue, to preach; concwnator, orator; concionatrix.

aoidos,

singer;

English,

to conceive; prolific.

Ready

Shakespeare in TIMON OF ATHENS (1607) bids: Ensear thy fertile and conceptions

venire, ventum, to come.

in the

.

convenire, to agree,

properly ascribeth the building, concin-

A fellow-rascal. Used since the

short

for the

These com-, together forms, along with an intermediate conveniable, gave way by the mid 18th cen-

rouse.

Replaced by the verb forms from kemb,

name

venire, to come.

tury to convenient.

elegant.

a

Suitable; agreeable; convenient. 14th and 15th century contraction of covenable, itself an early form of con-

euphemism for a gay party; compotate was a 17th century verb meaning to cacompt. Well combed (Latin co-mere, comptus, to comb, to adorn) ; hence, spruce, polished. Also applied to style:

as

revelry.

COMUS 167

conchomancy. concitate.

ward. Also

To

See aeromancy.

provoke, ,

A

stir

up, prick forwas a

QQncitatrix

conduct! tious

conclave

woman who

roused one to an action. These are 15th and 16th century words (Latin com-, together + citare, to move) supplanted by incite and excite; a concitatrix (any woman) can do both. ;

conclave.

meet

A

for the

naming

or place;

the form concupy, there is implication of the word concupiscence, as when Thersites

of a pope. Latin con,

remarks in Shakespeare's TROILUS AND CRES-

es-

clavis, key.

the secret conclave of such a vast sea. Hence, the assembly of cardinals for (1626)

concupy. A variant of concuby, short for concubine. Concubine, a mistress, is from Latin con, together + cub are, to lie. In

cardinals

the

Also used figuraas in Bacon's THE NEW ATLANTIS -f

together tively,

room room where

private

the

pecially,

philosophers into two faculties or apand the concupiscible. petites, the irascible

SIDA (1603)

,

referring overtly to Troilus'

sword: Heele tickle

it

for his concupie.

:

the election of a pope; loosely, the body of cardinals, as in Shakespeare's HENRY

vra (1613) :/ thanke the holy conclave for their loves.

From

these, the current sense

conditaneous.

Appropriate for pickling or preserving. 16th and 17th century word. Over a century earlier was condite, as a noun, a preserve; an adjective,

A

pickled;

a verb, to preserve, to pickle.

of a private assembly. Hence, conclavical. conclavist, one in a conclave (or an at-

Also condituref pickling, seasoning. From Latin condire, conditus, to preserve; earlier

tendant on a cardinal in conclave; each cardinal is allowed two)

gether

.

To

conculcate.

trample

From

upon.

Latin com (with intensive force)

4*

cal-

calcatum, to tread, calx, heel; see calcate. Used in the 16th and 17th cencare,

condere, to put away, preserve, com-, to4- dare, to give, to put. In the 17th

century condite was (rarely) used in the sense of recondite, abstruse. From the 'to

meaning

preserve,

came the

pickle'

current condiment, spice; also used figuratively from 1430 Make it savory with the condiment of thy wisdom, until

still

,

turies,

writers,

mainly by religious

as

Bishop Hooper in CHRIST AND HIS OFFICE the conculcation of His precious (1547)

today.

:

blood.

condog.

concupiscible. sired,

(1)

Ardently to be de-

worthy of rousing lust. Sterne in

TRISTRAM SHANDY (1762) states: Never did thy eyes behold . anything in this world .

.

more

concupiscible. (2) Eagerly desirous. Shakespeare reports, in MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1603) He would not, but by gift of

syllable;

To agree. Accent on the second used since the 16th century. Per-

haps originally a facetious substitution of the more formal dog for cur in the verb concur; Lyly's GALLATHEA (1592) makes that juxtaposition. In Heywood's THE

ROYALL KING (1637) the clown says to the bawd: Speake, shall you and I condogge

:

my

chaste body

To

his concupiscible intemperate lust Release my brother. Con-

cupiscence, concupiscency, concupitive and concupiscible all take the accent on the cue.

The

forms are from Latin con, with

intensive force

+

cupere,

Cupid was the god of tional

to

desire.

nature' was divided

long

Our

for. 'irra-

by Platonic 168

together?

conductitious.

Hired; employed for hire. From the

wages or reward; open to

16th century; also conduction, hiring used especially of a venal person. J. Smith in OLD AGE (1666) spoke of the rubs and petulant endeavours of all conductitious detractors;

Sydney Smith in his WORKS

condul (1818)

conger ,

of the conductitious

penmen

used, humorously, of a conference, shortened at times to confab. In the 15th still

of

government. condul.

An

old variant of candle.

century, the verb was sometimes shortened

Its

to confable.

plural form was condlen.

coney.

A

burrow. Long the usual term

(whence Coney Island, New York) rabbit being the word for the young coney. In many

Pontifex

,

Maximus and

cunning cunny (16th to 18th century), rhyming with honey. The earliest use of the word, however (cunig, cunin, about 1200) was as a rabbit-skin. By the 15th century, it was

farreate,

a term of endearment for a woman, then a nickname for her intimate parts. The

conference.

the

16th

common

century)

cunnie,

,

wise.

confarreated,

Used in English

easy mark, a gull

tion

made

special use,

4-

the victim of the conypopular by Greene's books

on conny-catching (1591) Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) Says There is no remedy: I must coni catch, I must shift; two years earlier, in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, he cries: Take heed

See

this businesse.

you be coni-cacht in

Thus conyhood,

the state

of a dupe. Also, to cony, to act the rabbit, be fearful, seek to hide. The many

to

words

for

conygreene,

a

rabbit

warren

conygree,

cony hole,

conyearth,

cony-

and more

were Massinger and Dekker in THE VIRGIN MARTIR (1622) punningly and cunningly exclaim: A pox on your Christian cockatrices! They cry, like poulterer's wives, 'No money, no coney'.

garth, conyger, cunnery, also

used with sexual implication.

confabulate.

To

chat; Latin

com +

dif-

To

fricare, to

decollation.

rub together. Latin com

Hence

rub.

(14th through (from 1 7th century)

.

signior Baptista, lest

that

16th and

in the

17th centuries; later, historically. See

confricate.

catcher,

married in

farreation.

from the 16th through the 18th century, was cony, an

most

ten witnesses, and

solemnized with a spelt-cake. Latin confarreationem, from com-, with + farreum, a spelt-cake; far, farris, grain, spelt. Con-

spellings: cony, cunin, conynge; (to

A

wed(Five syllables.) the solemn ding. Especially, marriage of the ancient Romans, usually before the

confarreation. rabbit. Latin cuniculus, rabbit,

fab-

catrice,

confrictrice

tribade

Lesbian, tribein,

to rub)

also

confrica-

18th century)

and

conviction. Confria (in Bailey, 1753) ,

(Greek

tribad-,

from

.

See congy.

congee.

congeon. A dwarf; hence, a half-wit; hence a term of derision (especially applied to a child)

.

Also conjon. Probably

from Late Latin cambionem, a changeling,

cambire, to change.

A

changeling

(child of an incubus or demon substituted for a human child) grew up to be a

dwarf, or deformed (that is, so distorted a child manifestly was not naturally born to such fine parents!) Mainly used in the .

12th through the 15th century.

A large salt-water eel, caught for food along the coasts of Britain. It attains a length of ten feet, and may be

conger.

some

ula, a tale, whence fable. Used 15th to 18th century; poets (Cowper, 1785; as the recently as "Browning, 1873) speak of

behind

confabulation of birds. Confabulation

hunger, cunger, congre, coonger, congar.

is

of

the

sea-snake

stories.

Conger-douce, conger-doust (doust, dust) , and powdered for soup. Also

eel dried

169

consentaneous

congree

spouse; from com-, together -f iugo (also iungo) , to bind. Conjugial was intro-

Both conger and conger-head were used as terms of abuse for a man; Shakespeare uses conger in HENRY rv, PART TWO (1597) Dekker in THE HONEST WHORE, PART TWO

duced in 1794, in the

;

(1630)

She nibbled but wud not

says:

18th

century dictionary word, still good use. Nictate and nictitate,

and

+

nictare, to wink.

humorous

noun forms

their

con(1623 edition) speaks of government The close. natural and in a full greeing

cal terms.

together,

suitable,

whence

To strip naked. Latin com-, nudus; bare. A 17th and 18th century dictionary word, connudation is just the term for the practice of 20th

congruere, to

century nudist colonies.

also incongruous.

.

conrey.

(1853)

I have congied with the Duke, done my adieu with his neerest. Armin in A NEST OF

of

like

to see

the

said: I

Also

book things

a consarcination for

consarcinate,

the to

literary

patch

to-

The

HISTRIOMASTIX (1610) aptly remarks that stage plays are consarcinated of sun-

this

dry merry, ludicrous officious artificial

do not

A

consciunde.

Church and Synagogue

A

lies.

conscience most minutely

nonce-word coined by Bishop Racket in 1670, still fit for Burns' unco guid. particular.

kissing and conge eing in awkward postures of an affected civility.

conjugial. Conjugal. From Latin conjugium, connection, marriage, conjugem,

the

calls

gether; used mainly in the 17th century.

of in ESSAYS OF ELIA (IM-

PERFECT SYMPATHIES; 1833)

corrody.

many good

palate.

NINNIES (1608) said: Sir William, with a low congy, saluted him; the good lady, as

Lamb

See

consarcination. Patching together; hence, a heterogeneous gathering; F. Saunders, in the Preface to A SALAD FOR THE SOLITARY

permit to depart; to dismiss; to take ceremonious leave. Shakespeare in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1601) says:

license; to

nobleman.

shaking violently (used of a in travail) ; conquassation.

quassant,

woman

conge. Also congee, conge, coungy; roundabout from Latin commeatus, leave to to pass; com, together + meare, meatum, to a to as Also leave, verb; give pass.

kist

shake violently. Latin

(with intensive force) + quassare, frequentative of quatere, shake. Also con-

com

century; later, felt to be a French word,

custom, was

To

conquassate.

a courtesy on departing (later applied to any bow) Used in English, 15th to 17th

the courtly

See ammove.

connyng.

A

dismissal; formal leave to decongy. a bow, a farewell gift to a beggar; part;

is

in -ion, are mainly medi-

+

together

form may be congrue; Latin conagreeing,

for

connudate.

1600 quarto edition, however, has congrueth with a mutual consent, and Shake-

meet

to-

A 17th and

gether

accord together. Shakespeare in HENRY v

gruus,

Winking. Latin com-,

connictation.

To

join in agreement. French In the 16th century, gree was gre, liking. a common shortening of agree. Agree, ad, to give accord to; congree, com, to give

speare's

of Swedenborg's

LOVE, to distinguish his special concept of marriage, "an union of souls, a conjunction of minds/' Cp. scortatory.

swallow the hooke, because the cungerhead her husband was by. congree.

title

DELIGHTS OF WISDOM CONCERNING CONJUGIAL

derisive

consentaneous.

170

unanimous;

Agreeing; agreeable

also,

happening

at the

(to)

;

same

constult

conskite

conspe etui ties gleane out of

in this sense supplanted by simul-

time

From Latin

taneous.

ing; consentire: com-, together

+

Richardson in CLARISSA HARLOWE

(1748)

speaks of the consentaneousness

and animal

as

one's bowels are loosed with fear.

Urquhart in

his

Andrewes

when Thus

(1649)

(1653) of conskited himself

the sacramental wafer.

A

J.

(1623)

sister's

son, as

Cockeram

meant a

;

daisy.

The word consoude

(also

tury.

conspue.

By

ings, the

consowde,

W. conspurcate, verb and adjective; Sclater in a Biblical exegesis (1619) declared: Never saw the Sun a people more

the 16th century, popular

conspurcate with

com

also used as a verb, as in his HERBAL of 1597 ad-

consoundmg

plaisters

upon

the

consound.

See

consoude.

Power of sight. An irreguform from Latin conspectus, sight

conspectuity. lar

still

+

spit.

Hence

Latin

spuere,

and Used from the found, as when THE also conspue,

current sputum.

16th century;

greeved place.

to despise.

(with intensive force)

sputum, to

the

lust.

To spit upon;

conspute.

word was

vises: Fit

pollution.

(with intensive force) + spurcare, to befoul; spurcus, unclean. Also

confusion with sound, whole, had changed the spelling to consound. In both spell-

when Gerarde

Defilement,

From Latin com

Old French from Latin consolidare, whence also consolidate*, com (with intensive force) + solidare, to make firm, to heal.

See compute.

conspurcation.

and the

via

is

consolde)

used 15th through 17th cen-

to conspissate;

herb of healing virtues. One, for the Romans; the medieval herbalists found three, which they labeled consoude major, media, minor: respecthe bugle,

sprinkling, a shower; then conand aspersion drew to its

Thickening; condensation. Latin com (with intensive force) 4- spisBare, to thicken; spissus, thick, dense. Also

An

the comfrey,

to

conspissation.

a consobrinal lord.

tively,

is

figurative use.

special,

in SINGLETON FONTENOY, R.N. spoke of two avuncular baronets,

consoude.

consperge

spersion faded

Hannay

(1850)

To

besprinkle, to strew all over. For a time, this word was a rival of aspersion, which

a cousin. Latin com, together + soror, sister. Hence consobrinal (accent on the bry) , related as a cousin.

lists it

and Jeremy Taylor the word An-

(1607)

in sermons use

drewes: of that conspersion whereof Christ is our firstfruits to mean the dough for

with meer anguish and perplexity. consobrine.

see

Sprinkling. Latin com-, alspargere, to sprinkle. Lancelot

4-

together

translation

He had

Rabelais said:

this charrac-

(bisson, purblind)

conspersion.

-faculties.

To befoul with ordure,

conskite.

For beesome

besom.

sentire,

to feel.

[accord] of corporal

ter?

consentaneus, agree-

still

SATURDAY REVIEW of 27 September, 1890 vented the statement: The only thing criticism has to do with the Shakespeare-

Bacon

(conspectus was used in the 19th century, mean a comprehensive survey; a sum-

craze

to

constult.

mary but general view). The word was coined by Shakespeare in CORIOLANUS (1607) : What harme can your beesome

come

171

to

is

conspue

it!

Now

the

adherents of Oxford claim the day.

To

play the fool with; to be-

as big a fool as those around. Latin

com, together

-f stultus, foolish;

also to stultify.

The Water

whence

Poet in THE

contentation

constupration

Some

WORLD'S EIGHTH WONDER (1630) English gentlemen with him

said:

And he

constulted.

is

nafrally with them

a platform or

(1550) that constuprated two his time; Burton in

MELANCHOLY

ghostly

+

father

Common

base cullion; Algernon Sidney of Sydney, DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT

describes)

A

Romulus and Remus,

lusty soldier.

consuetude.

The

the sons of

probable, by a world has little changed. is

bloody knife and scharp manace.

more

nere, to despise;

com, together, altosuescere, suetum f to make one's

grow accustomed;

own

suus, one's

own;

In the

Used from the 15th

Greek temnein,

to judge.

16th century the form

to

con-

tempne was used. Hence contemner, a

whence the more

contemnible, despicable. The sense of this verb fused with, or was lost

scorner;

lingering desuetude, occasionally innocuous. Hence consuete (14th to 17th cen-

in, that of to

accustomed; consuetudinal, pertaining to custom; consuetudinary, according to custom. A consuetudinary is a book of tury)

despise.

century; surviving in the noun, contempt. Latin con (with intensive force) 4- tem-

consuescere, consuetum, to accustom, to

+

To

contemn.

consuetitude. (19th century) formally Latin consuetudo, short for conmetitudo;

gether

in English (like the acsince the 13th century.

or slang as cantankerous. Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) has contek with

Custom; habit; the unwrit-

ten law of established custom. Also,

it

contecker is a quarrelsome person; also contakkour, contacker, hence contackerous, which in the 20th century is dialectic

in

:

the

and

Strife; quarrelling; also, to contend, to quarrel, to dispute. From the Old French, perhaps con-, against 4- teche, to

tion

(1683)

also

in the 17th

conteck.

hundred nuns in THE ANATOMY OF Their wives and

a nun, constuprated, as

Used

18th centuries.

touch.

:

Hence

tabula, table, plank.

loveliest daughters constuprated by every

(1621)

centuries;

floor.

verb, to contabulate.

stupration, and the verb constuprate, were favorite words in the 17th century; John

The good

and 18th

Joining of boards to form Latin com-, together

contabulation.

deflowering. Ravishing; Latin com (with intensive force) + stuprare, to ravish; stuprum, violation. Con-

:

in 17th

used in botany to mean atrophy of anthers, so that no pollen is formed.

still

constupration.

Bale

Used

decay.

consulted

condemn.

,

customs; also, a book of the ritual

contentation.

Common

and

ceremonial usages of a religious body.

By

against

whence

+

tabescere, to pine, to melt; inceptive of tabere, to waste away; tabesf a wasting,

to the 17th cen-

+

tendere,

to

stretch,

strain;

also tendency, distend, tentative,

com, together

wasting away, decay.

(with intensive force)

from the 15th

tempt (temptare, to handle, test, intensive of tendere), tendon, tent. Content, contentation are from contineo, contentum;

us.

A

satis-

from Latin contenderef contentum; con,

PRUDENCE) speaks of the sweetness of those affections and consuetudes that grow near

From Latin com

Also,

or one's conscience.

tury. Occasionally misused for contention, Contention is strife, from to contend.

way of Old French contraction to coustume, this Latin word also grew into English custom. Emerson in his ESSAYS (1844;

contabescence.

Contentment.

faction of a claim,

also

tenacious,

+

tenere, to hold,

tenant,

whence

continent.

King

he said in 1603) for the contentation of our subjects.

James

172

I tried to act

(so

convail, convale

con tessera tion contesseration.

Close

bond

and contortuplicated

snarl' d

of friendship.

4- tessera (hospitalis)

Latin com-, together a square tablet: broken in half, between two friends, so that the generations after them might know the friendship. In the 17th century, John Donne (in a Sermon of 1620) and others use contesseration to apply to baptism into the brotherhood

centrist.

To make

The

the

1625

CAMERON:

translation

that

much more widely used was

the

noun

contingence, touching, contact; a happena thing that happens by chance

which by the mid- 19th century was supplanted by the still current contingency,

To approach the borders Latin com, together + tangentem,

contingerate.

tactum, to touch; tangere, also tangent, tactile, intangible,

touching;

whence contact,

tactless.

A

word coined by the learned

Water

Poet (1630) satirizing I with noncoinages, inkpot terms. Yet With could sense catophiscontingerate, coes terragrophicate,

And make my

admifd immediately By such stand no more then /.

selfe

as under-

contortuplicated. Twisted and entangled. Latin contortus, twisted together 4- plicatus, folded. Still used in botany; in the

17th century also figurative

(1648)

:

DE-

spirits

Many works

To pulverize. Latin com to intensive force) 4- tero, tritus, (with rub, to grind whence also English de-

ing,

of.

much

Boccaccio's

contristed

should be chearfully revived. have that purpose today.

The

happen.

of

your

:

together; to

is

shorter verb, centrist,

hart in his translation (1653) of Rabelais; in by Sterne in TRISTRAM SHANDY (1761);

the edifice of France.

To come

contrister;

was used into the 19th century, by Urqu-

Burke (1796), (1630), Evelyn (1641), and other 17th and 18th century writers. Linked by a Also figuratively (Burke)

Latin com-, together 4- tangere, to touch. The verb seems to be in dictionaries only;

French

knowledge there

that in spacious contristation.

com-, together -f tignum, building material, piece of timber. Used by Donne

continge.

sad.

com

and others) with the same meaning. Bacon also noted, in THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING (1605), that Solomon observed

contignation. Joining together (of beams); the manner or state of being joined. Latin

verb is contignate, to join together with, or as with, beams.

the

+ tri(with intensive force) stare, to sadden; tristis, sad. Contristate was used in the 17th century (by Bacon Latin

of the church, or to the Eucharist.

contignation into

affairs of

State.

the

173

contriturate.

tritus, debris.

In

Scott's

THE FORTUNES OF

NIGEL

calls

himself

(1822), King James the very malleus maleficorum, the con-

tunding and contriturating

hammer of all To contund

witches, sorcerers, magicians.

to pound, bruise, pound to pieces (as in a mortar) : Latin com -f tundere, tusus, to beat. The past participle form of this gave us the English verb contuse, to bruise is

instrument (especially as with a blunt that does not break the skin); this has survived in the

contund. contusion.

noun form,

contusion.

See contriturate. See contriturate.

This simple form meanreing to recover strength or health, was 19th the in convalesce century. placed by Convale is from Latin con, altogether + valere, to be strong. From valere came valescere, to grow strong, whence conconvail, convale.

valesce.

convenable

cope See conable.

convenable.

mon

convert.

com-

Especially

and 17th centuries, reand others in the 19th. Shakespeare in KING JOHN (1595) has: But since you are a gentle convertite, My

conyger.

.

first.

.

conynge.

Also to convertise, convertyse,

A

convertist

is

also

A

A

TAMING OF THE SHREW lain,

To

con-

(with in-

+ vitiare, to spoil, corrupt, a fault. Also convitiavitium, faulty; toryi and there is a rare (1 6th- 17th centensive force)

make tury)

noun,

convicy,

reviling,

OF ROME

abuse.

warned against convitiatone arguments, which do but ingender strife. J. C. Hobhouse, in A JOURNEY THROUGH ALBANIA ... (1813), (1611)

fine vil-

wearing such a hat. References to this style of hat are frequent through the 16th century, and the hat may be seen in the

Thomas

James, in A TREATISE OF THE CORRUPTION OF SCRIPTURE BY ... THE CHURCH

Oh

and a copataine hat. Scott KENILWORTH (1821) speaks of a capotaine hat. Perhaps he thought the word related to cap] but its most frequent forms are copintank, copentank, coptank, and the like. There are also forms including mean coptanct, copple-tanked, which

puzzles me. I like

com

:

in

fish -or flesh.

Latin

(1596)

a silken doublet, a velvet hose, a

scarlet cloak,

Jews christianizing

Railing, abusive.

second sense, by

high-crowned hat, shaped copataine. like a sugar-loaf. Shakespeare, in THE

IMPERFECT SYMPATHIES (ESSAYS OF EUA; 1833; cp. congee) : I do not understand

to revile;

coparcener, a co-heir or copartner. the 16th century; replaced in the

copartnership and copartner.

his

is

variant of coney, q.v.

late 19th century, in the

of action, as in KING JOHN. It may also be used in scorn, as when Lamb confesses

conviciatory.

A

From

over to a faith (Marlowe, THE JEW OF MALTA; 1592) or to an opinion or course

these half convertites. Christians judaizing

cony-

partitionem, dividing, whence also English partition. Also coparcenery. Thence

a

professed convert, or a professional convert or converter (used in scorn) convertite may be used of one honestly won .

and

conyhole,

inheritcoparcenary. Joint share in an ance; joint ownership. Com-, together 4Old French par^onerie, partnership; Latin

former was called Hore-Church

convertize, to convert.

conyhold,

See spincop.

cop.

satisfaction for her .

cony-

warren. See coney.

ALL MONUMENTS (1681) said: This church was built by a female convertite, to ex-

and make sinnesj and

Also

warren.

though not until the 17th century

repentant magdalen; so Browning in THE RING AND THE BOOK (1868) ; John Weever in ANCIENT FUNER-

piate

called

also

a

Especially,

rabbit

co~ garth, cony grate, conygree, cony green; and a dozen nynger, cunnerie, conery other forms of this very common word, from the 10th into the 19th century. It was

of 1839 recognized the newly-won's fervor: With all the zeal of a new convertite.

viciate

A

Scott

tongue shall hush againe this storme of warre. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE

at the

See coney.

cony.

in the 16th

newed by

most violent and abusive.

is

tory language

A

convertite.

encountered the Greeks, whose convitia-

art of the period,

slang for head) is

wisely

but (although cop was the origin of the word

unknown. Stranger

styles

have been

seen since.

cope

(as

a noun).

worn outdoors

174

as

Originally a long cloak an outer garment; a

copeman

common

coprolite

word

English,

until the 18th. cen-

tension:

a

(1)

tablecloth.

(2)

In the

(15th to 17th century)

;

sion,

(c)

heaven, Chaucer, Spenser, to Swinburne in this sense sometimes just

cedar. Cp.

the

cope

of

(1593)

a

OTHELLO ,

to

from French couper,

(is

17th

sin's

and 18th century variant

copiez from Late Latin

grown Old French

trees,

(Salic

Law)

col-

pus, blow, stroke; Greek kolaphos, blow. Treated as a plural, coppice (copys) de-

veloped often

it

the forms copy, coppy; more was shortened to cops, surviving

as copse. Milton, in

LYCIDAS (1637) speaks

and the hazel copses green; Goldsmith in THE DESERTED VILLAGE (1770) has: Near yonder copse where once the of the willows

again to

have intercourse to strike, earlier

blow of the fist. colper; Latin colaphus, VOLPONE in (1605) says: He would Jonson have sold his part of Paradise For ready money, had he met a copeman. copener.

Base watch of woes,

A

Cope, to deal satis-

cope; 19th century.)

is

eater of youth, false slave

coppice. grove of small for periodical cutting. Via

18th century, a receiver of stolen goods. Also copesman, copemaster, copesmaster. a Cp. copesmate. (Also, a person wearing in

.

of copyist.

merchant. In late

dealer,

A

copist.

God's cope be wi' ye!

cope with your wife)

.

See copataine.

copintank.

blow

gain cope of, to gain advantage over. Still another cope (related to cheap) was a 16th century word meaning bargain; a large sum was called God's cope. May

with

.

packhorse, virtue's snare.

to

factorily

Mis-shapen Time, copesmate of

to false delight,

Old French cop comes cope, en(Modern coup) counter, shock of combat; by extension,

A

:

ugly Night

source

,

copeman.

Du

:

copeman.

From another

or

female copesmate of my son. Shakespeare in THE RAPE OF LUCRECE

:

:

at cards

this is the

wing under the cope of Hell; Longfellow (1847)

(cheat)

worth are suddenly start up. Jonson, in EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR (1598) O,

hence used to mean height, expanse, firmament, as by Coleridge and Tennyson. A canopy; Milton in PARADISE LOST (3) Bad angels seen Hovering on

EVANGELINE

a confederate

his translation (1625) Bartas: Fooles, idiots, jesters, anticks, and such copesmates as of naught-

of

:

in

one

copeman. Lisle in

the cope: Shakespeare, PERICLES (1608) The cheapest country under the cope;

(1667)

whom

other gaming; more vaguely, often with contempt, a fellow. Also copemate; cp.

of

cope

person with

copes; an adversary. Hence, a love partner, paramour. Hence, a partner or colleague; a partner in marriage, spouse; by exten-

of night phrases (a) cope of Night, pall Gower, Addison, Southey; (b) cope of lead, coffin

A

copesmate.

in this sense, supplanted by cape, another form of the same word. By extury;

Paramour. From copen, Middle

smiled. Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) has: Upon the edge of yonder coppice. Shakespeare does not

garden

have Macbeth's sentry cry, on seeing Birnam Wood move toward Dunsinane: Cheese it, the copse!

A stony round fossil,

from English copnien, to long for. Used 14th the the 9th through century. Also SAGES (1320) , The THE SEVEN In copynere.

coprolite.

The copiner pie saide, Bi God Almight! was here tonight.'

lithography,

f

175

(or thought to be)

kopws, dung eral

+

etc.

originally

animal dung. Greek

whence Kopros has given us

lithos, stone,

also sev-

English words, including coprophi-

corbel

copse lous,

fond of, or feeding on, dung, by exfond of "obscene" literature;

tension,

courante, directly from the French. It was at a lively triple time; hence

danced

is accoprophory, purgation. Coprolite cented on the first syllable; all the others,

coranto was used in general for lively; Middleton in MORE DISSEMBLERS BESIDES

on the second. Swinburne in an essay on Ben Jonson (1889) hopefully chauvinist,

WOMEN (1627) my horse to a

exclaimed: All English readers, I trust, will agree with me that coprology should be left to Frenchmen.

knew

,

has

They bid us Schools,

to

And

See coppice.

copy.

Abundance;

the

teach

swift carrantos.

copse.

Away

I rid, Sir; put

coranto pace. Shakespeare the dance; HENRY v (1599) has:

Dancing and

English

lavoltas

high,

Cp. galliard; pavan;

la-

a news-letter, or early news(2) like the above, by the Modified, paper. Italian, but from French courante, cur-

volta.

resources;

fullness;

power. Latin copia, multitude; whence also cornucopia, horn of plenty. Used from the 14th century. (In Medieval

rent.

Latin, from such phrases as facer e copiam describendi, to give the power of setting

books every day, pamphlets, currantoes, stories, Also currant, curranto.

Used

in the 17th century, as in Bur-

ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY

ton's

The

feigned

betony.

onymous with Amorously

familiar;

flirtatious,

French coquet, diminutive of coq, cock; after the strut of the rooster. As a noun coquet was used of either sex Gay in THE BEGGAR'S OPERA (1728) says: The coquets of both sexes are self-lovers, and that is a love no other whatever can dispossess

until the mid-1 8th century,

when

coquette was adopted for the woman, and the male coquet became obsolete. The

verb coquet, coquette and the noun quetry are

still

so that coranto

stories,

liar.

Thus

the

was syn-

Water Poet

(WORKS; 1630) slily wrote: It was reported a currant that a troope of French horse did take a fleets of Turkish gallies, lately in

in the Adriaticke sea, neere the

Venice.

gulph of to me,

The newes was welcome

though I was in some doubt of the truth it; but after, I heard that the horses were shod with very thicke corke; and I of

am

sure I have heard of many impossiThat's one for the

bilities as true as that.

horse marines

(q.v.}

I

co-

corat.

prevalent

The

Italian word for courage, coraggio. used in English as an exclamation. Shake-

speare in ALL'S (1601), and in

:

currantos came to be noted for their

down, came the meaning of copy, a tranFor an instance of its use, see script.)

coquet.

(1621)

New

WELL THAT ENDS WELL

A dish,

OF CURY (1390) trails]

recipe given in THE FORME Take the noumbles [en:

of calf, swyne, or of shepe; parboile

hem, and skerne hem

to dyce; cast

hem

raggio!

gode broth, and do thereto herbes. Grynde chyballs [chibol: rock onion between onion and leek] smalle y-hewe. Seeth it tendre, and lye it with yolkes of

will

eyrenn

in

THE TEMPEST

(1610): Bully-Monster, Coragio! Also Macaulay, in his DIARY of 1850: But co-

Coragio,

and think of A.D. 2850. Where your Emersons be then?

corance.

See crants*

coranto.

(1)

coranta, "a kind of French dance"; also

176

Do

thereto verjous, safronn, salt, and serve it forth.

powdor-douce, and

A raven. Via Old French corbel from Latin corvellum, diminutive of corvus, raven. The corbel's fee was part of a corbel.

A lively dance. From Italian

[eggs].

corinthian

corcousness

deer (for

left by the hunters for the ravens good luck and propitiation) From .

shape, in profile like a raven's beak, corbel was used by architects in Medieval

pod-, foot -f agra, a catching: a trap for the foot. This is the story of the origin gout. Life insurance statistics further woes for the corsy.

its

of

France and England to mean a projection, jutting out from the face of a wall,

cordovan.

See cordwain.

to act as a support. It

cordwain.

Leather,

unadorned

skins, later of split horsehides.

Spenser

was usually a plain, architectural feature (although

THE FAERIE QUEENE,

in

speaks of a bridge

.

.

1596,

with curious corbes

.

and pendants graven faire) until Scott seized on the term in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805) and gave it decora-

The

corbels were carved grotesque Since then, historical novelists grim.

tions:

and

(and some historians)

have elaborated

the decorations.

Latin corvus, raven, apparently had another diminutive, corvettof from which a

came into English same architectural significance. Chaucer used this in THE HOUS OF FAME (1384) How they hate in masoneryes As corbetz and ymageryes. This passage was misunderstood, and 17th and

variant

of

corbel

corbet, with the

:

18th

century dictionaries define

corbet

and

corbel, erroneously, as "a niche in a wall, for a statue, etc." So even Britton's

DICTIONARY OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE

MIDDLE AGES, in 1838. Corpulency. Listed by Bailey as an old word. The adjectives

Much

goat used

classes in the

Mid-

originally

by the upper

dle Ages. Named from Cordova, Spain, whence the leather came. Used from the

12th through the 16th century; revived by Scott in REDGAUNTLET (1824) but since 1590 largely replaced by the form cordovan, reborrowed directly from the Spanish ,

and

still

used.

coriander.

A

ander-seed;

from the shape), 18th and

plant from the Levant, naturalized in parts of England, the fruit whereof is used for flavoring. Also (coriearly 19th century slang for money. Ozell in his translation (1737) of Rabelais, wrote: Which they told us was neither for

the sake of her piety, parts, or person, but for the fourth comprehensive p, portion; the spankers, spur-royals, rose-nobles, and

other coriander seed with which she was quilted all over. Coriander was also used in the fumigation, part of the incantation

ceremony

corcousness. (1751)

for shoes

of

have

to

summon

spirits,

who

ap-

peared within the wreathing and writhing smoke.

were used from the 15th into the 17th century. From French corse, having body; cors, body, Latin corpus. Corsive was more fre-

(1) Elegant in style. Emerson in his essay on BEHAVIOUR (1860) says: Nothing can be more excellent in kind

quently used

manners.

corcy, corsy, corsive, big-bodied,

as a variant o

corrosive, as

Jonson speaks of corsive waters in THE ALCHEMIST (1610). Topsell, in THE HISr TORIE OF SERPENTS (1608), tells that Podagra went to the house of a certain fat, rich,

sire.

down

than the Corinthian grace of Gertrude's Arnold, on the other hand, speaking of literary style, contrasts it with the

warm

glow,

blithe

movement, and

soft pliancy of life, as in the Attic style, and with the over-heavy richness and en-

quietly at the feet of this corsie

cumbered gait of the Asiatic; the Corinthian style has glitter without warmth,

from Greek pous,

rapidity without ease, effectiveness with-

and well-monied man; and

laid herself

Corinthian.

Podagra (gout)

is

177

cornemuse

cormarye out charm.

In various

(2)

uses,

from the

by the bell-shaped capital adorned with rows of acanthus leaves. Ruskin in THE STONES OF VENICE (1851) Doric and Corinsays that the two orders,

identifiable

and

dissipation reputation for profligacy of the inhabitants of Corinth. When

Shakespeare in TIMON OF ATHENS (1607) could see you at Corinth, says: Would we he means a house of ill fame. When in

HENRY

TV,

PART ONE he has: I

am ...

thian, are the roots of all

the

In 19th century England for a man about town,

a

word was used

'swell';

especially in

also,

the United

an amateur yachtsman, a wealthy

States,

to

act

the

sportsman. Among phrases: Corinthian, to commit fornication; also to corinthianize,

be

to

licentious;

to be a

It falls not to every prostitute. to get to Corinth (not every one can

Another olden dish, from THE FORME OF CURY (1390) Take coliander, cormarye.

:

caraway, smale grounden; powder of peper and garlec y-grounde in rede wyne.

and salt it. [A Take loynes of pork, rawe, and fle of the skyn, and pryk it welle with a knyf, and lay it in the sawse. Roost thereof what thou wilt, and keep that that in the rosting, and seeth fallith therefrom

Medle

alle these together,

goodly

startl]

(costly)

man

the courtesans

afford it), said Plutarch: there, notably Lais, as

Demosthenes com-

mented, spurned

many

enormous

on

prices

suitors

their

and

favors.

set

Lais

might ask 10,000 Attic drachmae (some $3,000) for a night's companionship. Corinthian brass was an alloy (perhaps of gold, silver and copper) highly valued for ornaments;

but

was used to mean ness.

Hence

in his

first

also,

figuratively,

it

effrontery, shameless-

corinthian, brazen,

EPISTLE

St.

archi-

tecture.

a

corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy, the implication is of profligate idling, gay licentiousness.

European

Paul,

TO THE CORINTHIANS

it in a possynet \posnet: small pot, skillet] with faire broth, and serve it forth with the roost anoon.

A feudal rent, calculated by the horned beasts (French corn, corne, horn) one in every ten was set apart for the coinage.

:

overlord. Cornage is interesting because of the misunderstandings of later histori-

ans and lexicographers. Littleton (1574) said that it was land granted because the

tenant engaged himself to blow a horn as warning of a (Scotch or other) enemy raid; this error is repeated in Blackstone's

COMMENTARIES

from other aspects of the

Biblical account

Also, misread as (1767) coruage, coraage, it was explained in the 17th century as an unusual imposition, a

Andrew Lang

the 'old saying*

levy of corn.

(the BIBLE) said: It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you; but refers

to

THE EPICUREAN (1885) There is but one road

.

that Pater in MARIUS

worded

as follows:

that leads to Corinth. is

that the

tracks

way

of evil

The meaning here broad, with many

is

early Protestants might inAll roads lead to Rome) ; but

(the

stance:

there

is

row,

to

only one road, straight and narrighteousness. The Corinthian

(vs. the Doric and the Ionic) is the lightest and most ornate of the three orders

of Grecian architecture,

its

column being 178

cornardy.

Folly.

A

14th century word,

from Old French cornard, a cuckold, a horned person; corn, horn. See cornute.

A

hornpipe; an early form of the bagpipe. Not every loyal Scot approved of it; BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH cornemuse.

MAGAZINE of August 1882

said:

Long

be-

fore the cornamouse (father of the bagpipe) sent its execrable Sclavic notes up

the

Highland

straths.

Chaucer in THE

corsned

cornute

HOUS OF FAME (1384) mentioned the Mrs.

strument;

said that it

1869)

ment It

Palliser

rasus,

the national instru-

is

senses.

Horned; in various

figurative

a retort used in distilling; a forked (2)

(1)

17th and

18th centuries.

pennon; 17th century. (3) a cuckold common 14th through 18th century; in this sense, the Italian form cornuto was

also razor.

The

cor- is also

word, also used (from the past participle) in the form corrase; the noun, scraping

wailed with the builders of

the pyramids.

cornute.

whence

taken as though it were an intensive; in this use corrade means to scrape away, to wear away by scraping, A 17th century

and Southern France.

of Western

may have

in-

BRITTANY;

(in

together,

was corrasion.

corrige.

To

correct;

to

punish.

Latin

com-, altogether + regere, to make straight. Corrigenda are things that must be corrected, as agenda are things to be done.

Corrige was used in the 14th and 15th

often used, as in Shakespeare's THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) the peaking

centuries (by Chaucer in BOETHIUS, 1574) ; corrigendum was taken directly from the

cornuto her husband. Hence also corn-

Latin in the 19th century.

:

ardy, state of being deceived or horned; folly. (4) a dilemma; the "horned argu-

Hence

ment," see ceratine.

by corrivation grow into

also the verb,

popular among playwrights into the 18th give horns, to Jordan, in a poem of 1675, pillories jealousy: He that thinks every man is his wife's suitor Defiles his bed, and proves his own cornutor. to

century, cuckold.

cornute,

to

Thomas

See corrody.

corody.

A

corposant.

glowing

atop the Empire State Building. From Portuguese corpo santo; Latin corpus sanctum, holy body, body of a saint. Since

Elmo

is

the patron saint of sailors,

this

phenomenon

fire

or

St.

Elmo's

corpse-candle.

is

Elmo's

also called St.

light.

(1)

A

rivers.

From

Latin com-, together + rivalis, of the bank; rivus, stream. A rivalf was, originally, a fellow

from the opposite bank of is one of two or

the stream; a corrival

more rivals of equal status. Burton, in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621) misused corrivate and corrivation, reversing the process, as though a large stream

ball of electrical

discharge sometimes seen on a church steeple or a ship's mast; I have seen one

St.

To flow together. Small streams

corrivate.

were dividing,

as for irrigation.

corrody. An allowance for maintenance; a pension. Also corody; corradie, corradye,

and the

like;

Romanic form conredo,

making ready; whence English conrey, equipment, company equipped to fight, used in the 14th century. Accent on the

See furole. thick candle used

core. Originally (in feudal time) the right of free quarters, supplied by the vassal

to the lord

on

his circuit; or

an abbot

to

a flickering light seen in a (2) believed by many to be an churchyard,

the king; later, in the form of an annual payment. The last sense became domi-

omen

of death.

nant,

19th

centuries;

at wakes.

Used

and HAROLD

in 17th, 18th

Tennyson

in

(1876) speaks of Corpse-candles gliding over nameless graves.

corrade. collect.

To Latin

scrape together; hence, to corn-, together 4- radere.

179

hence the word lapsed with the

Reformation. corsned.

The

easiest of the three

major Ordeal of bread: a piece of bread (about an ounce) consecrated by the priest, to be swallowed by medieval

tests for guilt.

cosins

corsy

persons accused of a crime "wishing might be their poison, or last morsel,

it

if

they were guilty." So said Bailey in 1751, by which time the word was purely his-

Gorsned was a Saxon

torical.

corsnaed,

test.

choice,

cor,

Old

trial

burn you, you are innocent. In the ordeal of water, if when bound and thrown in you do not sink, you are guilty. Most ordeals and corsned with them were abolished in the early 13th century; ordeal of water was used as a test for witches

comparatively recent times.

corsy*

Originally,

priest

of

the

Phrygian worship of Cybele, who performed with noisy, turbulent dancing; hence, a reveler. Hence corybantiasm, corybantic frenzy.

The

plural

is

The O.E.D.

defines corybantiate, to act like a corybant; but Bailey in his DIC-

TIONARY (1751) has "corybantiate, to sleep with one's eyes open, or be troubled with -visions that one cannot sleep." In this sense, corybantiating

is

well

known

today. For another instance, see clipse.

Hence

top.

sect,

group,

etc.

short form of coss, q.v.

A fancy paper (originally French, brought to England in the 19th century)

cosaque.

wrapping bon-bons;

for

especially,

the

kind that explodes when pulled open. Named humorously from the unexpected, irregular firing of the Cossacks.

See aeromancy.

To make

oneself cosy. Harriet Parr why should she pick this

('Holme Lee'

homely pseudonym?) in ANNIE WARLEIGH'S FORTUNES (1863) spoke of Rachel's cosing with a delightful new novel in her sofa corner.

To

cosher.

to live free of charge 17th century use, from entertainment. By the 19th

feast;

with kinsmen. Irish

coisir,

A

century, cosher

had come

pamper;

to

(2)

to

mean

with

chat

(1)

to

familiarly.

Goshery, entertainment for himself and

by an Irish chief put it in A TREATISE OF

his followers exacted as

John Bymmok

IRELAND

(1600)

"after

Easter,

Christ-

Whitsuntide, Michaelmas and other times at his pleasure." Hence a

mastide,

corymb, A cluster of ivy-berries or grapes. Before the 19th century used only in botany. Also corjmbus, the Latin form. (1849)

leader of a party,

usually

corybantes; Chaucer (in BOETHIUS, 1374) has coribandes; Drummond of Hawthornden in his poems of 1649 has cory bants.

De Quincey

A

cos.

cose.

a

koryphe, head,

chorus,

also, the

coscinomancy.

See corcousness.

corybant.

the

4-

English snaed, bit, piece, snidan, to cut. In the ordeal of fire, if the red-hot iron does not

until

The chief dancer in a ballet; coryphe'e. by extension, a ballet dancer. In Greek drama the koryphaios was the leader of

in THE ENGLISH MAIL-COACH

speaks of gorgeous corymbi from

Hence corymbiate, corymbiated, with dusters of ivy-berries. The word

all

cosherer,

16th

one who

lives

on

others.

In the

and 17th

century, laws vainly sought to suppress the practice. cosins.

An

18th century style of stays, the maker. Pope in THE ART

vintages.

named from

set

OF POLITICKS (1729) inquired: Think we that modern words eternal aref Toupet, and tompion, cosins and colmar Hereafter will be called by some plain man A

has also been used in the sense of wreath or garland, as by Francis who

Thompson, poems (1888) A Corymbus For Autumn. entitled

one of

his colorful

wigf a watch, a pair of iao

stays,

a fan.

costrel

coss

"Rule of

coss.

term for algebra,

coss," the

until the 16th century.

From

whether your costard or

Italian cosa,

thing, translating Arabic shai, thing, the for the unknown quantity (x) of an is

This is an old form, from the French costoyer, of the verb to coast. The spelling coast did not become usual until about 1600. The Latin costa meant rib or side. Lydgate in THE COMPLAINT OF THE BLACK KNIGHT (1430) says And by a river

(mainly Scottish)

an Old English

also (1)

word

both noun and verb;

for barter, trade

a measure of

(2)

length in India, varying from a little over one mile to a little over two. From Sanskrit kroga, originally a call, calling dis-

There were stentors in those days. old form of kiss, which has continued; more often cosse, q.v.

forth I

A

variant form

of

In

kiss.

GAWAYNE AND THE GRENE KNIGHT

(1360)

,

Green Knight's lady, tempting Sir Gawain, gently reproaches him with the

costard, apple;

taysye,

sum

Bi sum touch of summe

trifle

17th through the 19th century. to

HENRY

tales ende.

A

cossety likes

one that expects and be petted and pampered.

child (or cat)

is

Expensive. A 15th and 16th century word, supplanted by costly. Also (14th through 17th century) costage, ex-

the

poetical

coster-

could ye choose nothing more mongers than this green sour apple? promising and as a term of abuse Shakespeare, so

cosset. lamb (or other quadruped) brought up by hand, a cade lamb. See cade. Also cossart. Hence, a pet, a spoiled child. Not used before the 16th century. To cosset, to fondle, to pamper, was used

a 14th

monger, dealer. Thence,

lected fruits of all

at

A

is

a pushcart salesman; also used figuratively Miss Mitford (1812) From all the se.

suggestion that a true knight couth nat lightly have lenged so long with a lady Bot he had craved a cosse by his cour-

Costeaunt

Originally an apple-seller

costermonger.

SIR

the

costay.

ing, alongside.

An

cosse.

gan

century word (used by Gower) for border-

tance. (3)

ballow be the

costay.

word

equation. Coss

my

harder,

iv,

little

.

.

PART TWO (1597) in

regard

these

Virtue

:

is

of

costermonger

times, (the monger is pronounced mun' fa.) also costermongering, costermon-

Hence

gery, costermongerdom. Also, tout court, coster.

Various other combinations have

been used, such costerwife, a

as costerditty, street song;

woman with

apples and the

like.

a

stall

for selling

Cp. applesquire.

See custile.

costile.

costning.

See costable.

costable.

pense, expenditure, cost; (in the 13th and 14th century) costning. Costal, however,

means related to the from costa, rib. costard.

A

ribs;

Latin

costrel. costalis,

Old French

for holding

wine or

less

waist. Later, a small keg.

Very popular, 14th through 16th century. Chaucer in

coste,

Applied in derision to the head, as in Shakespeare's KING LEAR (1605) , where Edgar in disguise says to Oswald: Ise try

rib.

A bottle

inviting liquid; especially one with an ear by which it could be hung at the

large apple. Originally prob-

ably a ribbed one, from

costming. Temptation. Old English costnian, costian, to tempt. Used 10th into 13th century.

THE

181

LEGEND

OF

GOOD

WOMEN

(1385)

shrewdly says (three manuscripts spell costret;

three,

costrel)

:

And

it

therewithal

count palatine

cothurnus a costrel taketh he

And

cotydyan. An old form of quotidian, Caxton in daily. Also cotidian, cotidial. POLYCRONICON (1482) truly declared: His-

said 'Hereof a

draught, or two, or three' Perhaps in confusion with costard, q.v., costrel was also

used (in the

1 7th

century)

to

mean

the

cothurnus.

thynges that have be doone before this presente tyme, and also a cotydyan

See buskin. Sometimes coth-

wytness of bienfayttes, of malefaytes, grete

shortened to cothurn. Also, meanshod with the cothurnus, hence tragic: ing cothurnal, cothurnate, cothurnic, cothurnian.

urnus

is

and tryumphal maner peple.

actes,

cotquean.

A

housewife.

+ quean, woman;

From

cot,

ciple of couler, to flow,

man

finally

that fusses over

and meddles in

.

states:

a

is

af-

Capulet

(in Shakespeare's

Chrysoroas, that sunny stream,

A

The

front blade in a plough,

the vertical cut in the

which

soil,

then cut horizontally by the share. Old English culter, Latin culter, knife. Also

ROMEO

colter. :

The King James BIBLE: SAMSON To sharpen every man his share

(1611) his coulter; so also in

and

The word

is

Chaucer

(1386).

in Burns' well-known TO

A

MOUSE; whence Hardy's figurative use in THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE (1889) That :

field-mouse fear of the coulter of destiny. For Shakespeare's use, in HENRY v (1599) ,

diversion of ancient Athe-

was a sign the girl would favor Greek kottabos; kottabeion, the metal basin for the game. Cottabus was a popular game, and developed more complicated forms; e.g., a number of little cups might be set floating in the basin, and he whose tossed wine sank the most cups would win a prize. Sometimes the over,

calls it

is

see fumitory.

nian youth, which consisted in the young man's drinking some wine, invoking his mistress' name, and throwing the rest of the wine into a metal basin. If it struck fairly, with a clear sound, and none spilled

count palatine.

A

noble that within his

had

the powers that elsewhere territory belonged to the sovereign alone. Originally, in the later Roman Empire, a count

(comes) of the palace (palatium, palace)

it

him.

.

coulant in gold.

making

der thee in pieces for thy cotqueanity.

A

.

Epiphanio .

.

.

coulter.

AND JULIET, 1592) says: Look to the bakt meats, good Angelica, Spare not for cost, the Nurse replies: Go you cot-queane, to, Get you to bed. Ben Jonson piles it on, in THE POETASTER (1601) : We tell thee thou anger est us, cotquean; and we will thuncottabus.

also cou-

pardy!

should be the housewife's. In this sense, to play the cotquean, to be a (male) busybody in household affairs.

fairs that

When

whence

lee.

became a

(16th to 19th century)

all

Lithgow in THE TOTALL DISCOURSE PAINEFULL PEREGRINATIONS OF OF THE LONG NINETEEN YEARES TRAVAYLES (1632)

house

cuckquean, q.v. Cotquean term of abuse, meaning a vulgar, scolding

woman;

of

Flowing. A pleasant 17th cenFrench coulant, present partiword; tury

not to be confused with later

vyctoryes

coulant.

Also cotidial. See cotydyan.

cotidian.

a perpetuel conservatryce of thoos

is

torye

head.

,

with supreme judicial authority; in the

German Empire and to

in England it came have the meaning above. Also Earl

palatine. Shakespeare in

mistresses floated in the wine.

this

182

THE MERCHANT

OF VENICE (1596) speaks of one with a better bad habite of frowning then the count palatine. His fief was a county, but

word was sometimes used for the

countermate

man; a few

cousin

lines earlier in the

Shakespeare said: countie palentine.

same

Again Spenser (THE FAERIE QUEENED 1596), and Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST

play,

Than is there The terms were

the also

most royall cupplement. courante.

FORTUNATE TRAVELLER (1594) has Jacke Wilton say: There did I (soft, let me drinke before I go anie further)

/ wish you the peace of mind,

:

(1588)

used figuratively, of one with complete authority in any field; Nashe in THE UN-

See coranto. Swift but sliding

Sometimes (as opposed to leaping) corant, currant; in the 18th century cou.

steps

raigne

rante replaced coranto;

sole king of the cans and blacke jackes [leather bottles for liquor], prince of the

plies],

issue of

arms and sup-

to conclude, lord

and,

of rashers of the coles cobs.

is

the

of the dance.

pigmeiS; countie palatine of cleane straw

and provant [army

courante

only word used for the music, the tune

court-cupboard.

A

movable

sideboard,

used to display plate and other

high regent

service. Shakespeare, in

and red herring

silver

ROMEO AND JULIET

(1592) : Remove the court-cubbord, looke the plate. Scott revived the word in

to

countermate.

rival.

Opponent,

Used in

KENILWORTH

the 16th century.

countour.

short coat or tabard of courtepy. coarse material, worn in the 14th and 15th centuries. Dutch korte, short + pie,

accountant; the officer

that assisted in collecting

and auditing

county dues, in the 13th and 14th centuries.

especially in the phrase

(2)

.

A

An

(1)

(1821)

pij,

the

common

countor, a legal pleader, a serjeant-at-law. Countour is an early form of counter, one that counts.

A poem

a coarse woolen coat, a peacoat.

Used

and Chaucer

(see

by Langland

(1362)

overeye for quotation) ; revived by Buiwer-Lytton in THE LAST OF THE BARONS

on Ed-

1325 mentioned contours in

(1843) Going out in that old courtpie and wimple you a knight's grandchild.

benche that standeth at the barre. In the sense, Chaucer in the Prologue of THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) SayS of the

court-hand. The style of handwriting used in the English law-courts, from the

ward

II in

:

first

ffrankeleyn:

A

shirreve [sheriff]

hadde he

been and countour.

16th century until abolished by statute under George II. Commonly referred to; by Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART TWO

See count palatine.

county palatine.

(1593)

A

.

court holy water.

cut-throat (literally, from As a military term (15th17th centuries) a spot in which one must

sincere

surrender or be cut to pieces.

same way.

coup-gorge. the French)

.

,

couplement.

(1)

Joining two things

to-

in SONNET xxi

more

figuratively says:

Mak-

(2)

The

Also

without court-

Shakespeare, in KING LEAR nunkle, court holy-water in a dry house is better than this rainwater out o' do ore. :

O

courtship-and-marriage.

See

Hymen's

torch.

ing a coopelment of proud compare With sun and moon, with earth and seas rich

gems.

Fair words flattery.

water. Gourt-holy-bread was used in the

(1605)

gether. Spenser in PROTHALAMION (1596) speaks of love's couplement] Shakespeare

intention;

As early as the still current sense (1300) was the use of cousin to mean any

cousin.

things joined: a couple.

183

couth

cousoner

more

relative

than

distant

brother

or

Legally, the next of kin, thus in Shakespeare's KING JOHN (1596) it refers sister.

to a grandchild.

A king

call

(15th to 18th cen-

another monarch, or a

tury) might high noble, cousin. Also, a close friend;

thus Celia in Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE / pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz,

is

the past participle of the

IT:

use,

while a

be merry. Coz (q.v.) was a frequent abbreviation of cousin; also cosin, kosin,

still

call

cozyn, c oss en, cosyng, at times

make a cheat;

was linked with cozen,

it

cousin to

and many more

of, to deceive,

q.v.; to

impose upon,

prove a cousin to, to prove a

deceiver. Medieval Latin cosinus, perhaps

from

consanguineus; com, together 4sanguineus, of blood; sanguis, blood. Cp. aunt. While sometimes traced to Latin

Old English

which originally meant to know; it still means know how to, in such expressions as "I can play the violin/' "I can speak Urdu." Couth is one of a number of English words of which the simple form has lapsed from verb cunnan, can (ken)

,

compound remains: we may

an unmannerly person uncouth.

Uncouth (from the 9th century) meant unknown, strange; marvelous; solitary, desolate. Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT uncouth forrest yeeld I either be food for will any thing savage, it, or bring it for foode to thee. Milton in L'ALLEGRO (1632) bids: Hence, loathed (1600)

says: // this

Find out some uncouth Where brooding darkness spreads his

Melancholy! cell,

.

.

.

And

the night raven sings.

consobrinus, cousin of the mother's side, cousin was the term used, from medieval

Applied

times, in translation of a royal writ: di-

familiar, strange; ignorant;

jealous wings

consanguineo nostro: to our wellbeloved cousin. In the 18th century, cousin

uncouth meant unhence (since the 18th century) uncultured, rude. Other compounds of which the simple form is

was used for a strumpet; Motteux in his

forgotten

lecto

translation cousins, pers.

A

(1708)

cullies,

of

stallions,

Rabelais

listed

and bellibum-

Cousin Betty was successively a

strumpet, a beggar, a

madwoman

(usually

to persons,

are

ineffable,

inscrutable,

We

we have

but

forgotten the two families

and

begging) similarly Cousin Tom, a bedlamite beggar. Also cousin brutes, fellow men; to be cousin to, to be akin, related; Chaucer in the Prologue to THE CANTER-

fatigable, fatigate, fatigation

BURY TALES (1386) says: The wordes moote be cosyn to the dede.

nect, regard, as well as their

;

Awdelay in THE FRATERNITYE OF VACABONDES (1565) decousoner.

See

cozen.

a chapter to The Company of Cousoners and Shifters. The author of

voted

THE DEFENSE OF CONNY-CATCHING

(1592)

spoke of such secret villanies as are practised by

couth. for

an

cosoning companions. (1)

A variant

instance,

of could, couldeth;

see cosse.

(2)

Known,

familiar; kind, agreeable, pleasant.

Couth 184

in-

We

resuperable, innocent, incessant. tain both complete and incomplete, etc. still use fatigue and indefatigable,

defatig-

We

still defatigate, defatigation. say avail and prevail, but the veil has

able,

been drawn over but,

while

vail, q.v.

one may

gruntled, gruntle has the 17th century.

at

had

We

use con-

compounds; times be dis-

little

use since

We

have turbulence, disturbed, perturbed, but turb (save as a noun, in the sense of swarm, crowd, troop) scarce even came upon the tongue. We still

ruth

may speak (q.v.)

of a

stands

man

amid

as ruthless,

but

alien corn

and

ruthful long has lapsed. Other simple forms listed in this dictionary are: complice, effable (see

minish,

nefandous), dure, gressile,

pervious,

peccable^

rupt

(see

cowl

cove ruptile)

mersion, sightly,

,

suscitate, vastation

tion (ustion)

(see

sist,

vastity)

spatiate,

ustula-

,

verb erate, vestigate, sperate,

,

suade, tire, lumination (see relume] spectable , tendance, trusion. Also see pease, semble, ligate, paration, sperse. Flam,

mable

coming back into currency, partly inflammable is longer and is more likely to be misunderstood on the is

because

back of gasoline

There

are

Cp. avaunt. words that have

trucks.

also

sur-

vived only in a set phrase. One seldom hears of a person off tenterhooks, or at the beginning of his tether, or, conceiva

as

wrong

ably,

to

give

We

trivet!

always take

be said

trees

may fairly we speak of umbrageous

umbrage, though it;

We

boughs' for an instance, see patulous. are often in a quandary; one humorist

even claims

to

have spent ten years

there,

but rarely has anyone announced that he is, or has come, out of a quandary. Nor, indeed, out of clover. Who has been in low dudgeon, or low jinks, or in coarse

This could go lengthily on,

fettle?

if

one

didn't grow gruntled.

To

cove.

(1)

couve,

couvey,

upon. Also roundabout from Used in the 16th and

hatch, to sit covie;

Latin cubare, to lie. 17th centuries. (2) A small room, a bedchamber, an inner chamber. Common Teutonic; Old Norse this

comes the

sheltered

place

still

kofi, hut,

Possibly

From

current sense of a the

among

woods, or along the shore. chap.

cell.

related

(5)

to

hills

and

A fellow,

Scotch

a

cofe,

also appears as co f coff, cofe, It is Tudor thieves' and beggars' coffin.

pedlar; cant;

it

see pedlers French.

covenable.

See conable.

whence

also convene.

The form

survives

in place-names, notably Covent Garden,

London.

A

cloth over nakedness; a cover over infamy. Also, the shrub savin (Juniperus Sabina) used to produce abor-

covershame.

Gayton in THE ART OF LONGEVITY

tion.

Thou

said:

(1659)

cover-shame, old

fig-

Dryden in THE SPANISH FRIAR (1681) asked: Does he put on holy garments for tree.

a covershame of lewdnessf coverslut.

A

garment hence, an apron.

ness;

to

hide slovenli-

A

decoration, as

in architecture, covering deformity or ugliness.

Also used figuratively, as by Burke

(1795)

:

rags

and

coversluts of infamy.

A confederacy;

covin.

a conspiracy.

From

Old French couvin, couvaine, convine, from Latin convenium, com-, together

+

venire, to come. Also covyne, kouveyne, covene, coven, convyne, and the like. By

extension,

fraudulent action;

secret

de-

A

covin er, a covinous person, is one fraud. Frequent in the 14th cenof guilty vice.

tury (Douglas; Gower uses several forms) and into the 17th; Scott revived the word in THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828) Such :

burghers as have covine [secret agreement] and alliance with the Highland clans.

Among

nations in our time, covins are

not unknown. cowl.

(1)

A

monk's hood; a monk's

ment, hooded but

gar-

covering the head and shoulders. Hence, a monk. Also

used

figuratively,

sleeveless,

as

WATER-BABIES (1863)

in

Kingsley's the smoky

THE town

By murky cowl. Ultimately from Latin cucullus, hood of a cloak, from the root cal, seal, to hide, whence also occult, in

:

its

A

form of convent,

tub squalor, calix, hole, hall, hell. (2) or large vessel for water and other liquids;

from Anglo-French covent, couvent; Latin convenire, conventum, to come together,

especially a large one with two ears, to be carried on the shoulders of two men,

covent.

The

earlier

185

crack-halter

coxcombic

on a

cowl-staff.

The cowl-staff was in every made a handy weapon.

household, and

Shakespeare uses

THE MERRY WIVES

in

it

OF WINDSOR (1598) when Falstaff is carried out and dumped into the water: Go, take up these cloathes he ere, quickly: Wher's the

Also

cowle-staffef

coule,

colt,

coll,

cole, coal + staff. This cowl is possibly from Latin cupella, a small cask, diminutive of cupa, cask, vat, from the root cub, bend, lie, whence also incumbent, suecubus, hump, hoop, heap. To ride on a

or to be carried,

cowl-staff, to carry one,

on a pole mockingly through

the streets,

a medieval popular punishment, as for a man who lets his wife wear the breeches.

In ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM (1592) it was no than the constable they took and

less

carried

him about

May you

staffe.

coxcombic.

on a

the fields

colt-

deserve no such ridel

os-

tentatious. Also coxcombical; coxcomical;

that

THE MONASTERY

singularly

e.g.,

MERRY WIVES

:

ing of the cosin'd thoughts Defiles the pitchy night; and in THE RAPE OF LUCRECE:

Her

rosy cheek lies under, cozening the

pillow of a lawful kiss. Hence cozenage (also in various spellings) , an act of

a

cheating,

of

piece

trickery;

cozener,

cousoner, etc.; cozenry. The "gull-groper" in Dekker's LANTHORNE AND CANDLE-LIGHT (1608)

made

tells

of

the gull that the dice are

w omens

bones,

and

will cozen

any man. crab.

The

wild apple,

Used

crab-apple.

now known

as the

since the 15th century;

also crabbe; scrab. Its sour taste

made

it

the cultivated apple is delicious; thus Shakespeare in KING LEAR as

distasteful

as

(1605) says: She's as like this, as a crabbe's

Relating to or resembling a

coxcomb; foolishly conceited; vainly Scott in

cozen in several plays,

OF WINDSOR (1598) By gar I am cozoned; ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: Sawcie trust-

(1820)

refers to

coxcomical work, called

Euphues and His England. Hence,

cox-

an apple. Browning (1878) figurapoems crabs: weak -fruit of idle hours. Crabs, however, were used for making verjuice, and were tasty roasted or preserved. In SONGES AND SONNETTES like

tively called his

(1557) a poem in praise of "the pore esdeclares: Such as with oten cakes

combalities, actions or things coxcombi-

tate'*

cal.

in poore estate abides, Of care have they no cure [worry], the crab with mirth they

coystriL

A form of coistrel,

Also coystrilL

rost.

q.v.

coz.

Short for cousin,

familiar

to

address,

friends, 16th to the

peare has "sweet

q.v.

A

relatives

form or

of

good

my

9th century. ShakesCoz"; "gentle Coz",

A

most popular word,,

1

in several plays. cozen.

To

16th-18th centuries. Also cosen, cooson, and the like. Two origins are suggested: (1) From cousin, as persons sought to be entertained by claiming cosher. trainer,

especially (2)

From

crafty

See craddon.

crack-halter.

One who halter

A

rife

in

Ireland;

see

Italian cozzone, horse-

knave.

Shakespeare uses 186

a

rogue;

gallows-bird.

some day crack (strain) the by which he is being hanged. A will

term of abuse

cheat.

cousin, cozon,

kinship

crachoun.

(sometimes friendly), esand early 17th cen-

pecially in the 16th

tury playwrights. Also a crackrope, similarly either abusive or playful. in his translation of

mentions

Motteux

Rabelais (1708) about a score of fusty crack-

ropes and gallow clappers. Shirley in LOVE IN A MAZE (1631) cried: You do not know the mystery:

this

lady

is

a boy, a very

cracknel

crassantly

rhymes with; then they act in dumb show one word after another until they hit the

crackrope boy. Dekker in NORTHWARD HOE

one direction these plays didn't hoe you was South) says of a talebearer: Fetherstone's boy, like an honest crackhalter, layd open all to one of my pren(1607; the

which crambo has been used are

tices.

A

cracknel.

rhyming (used contemptuously)

light, crisp cracker, usually

crame.

in his translation (1523) of Frolssart: the plate is hote, they cast of the

Whan

has been replaced by cracker or cookie.

A

craddon.

coward.

Also

craw down;

who

crathon, craton, with the same meaning, may be other forms of the same word.

suggesting

French

crachat,

etita)

See cankedort.

Used as an adjecTO A MOUSE (1785) : The winter's sleety dribble, An' cranreuch Hoarfrost.

tive in Burns'

cauldt

A garland, a chaplet. Old High German kranz. Also corance. Shakespeare, in HAMLET (1602), of the drowned

Grants.

Originally

(16th through 18th century) for a wearying repetition of words or ideas. Crambe, as noun or verb,

was sometimes used for crambo,

Ophelia: Yet here she .

young q.v.

that rhymes with the

first.

and 18th

long ago.

Dumb

(2)

must guess a word guessers

are

set

crambo: one group

by the other group. what the word

crants

girl's

crappit-head.

funeral;

the

practice

The head

of

con-

a haddock

stuffed with the roe, oatmeal, suet,

If

centuries; I used to play as a child, not quite so

it

Later,

tury.

any repeats a rhyme, all cry 'Crambo P and he pays a forfeit. This game was popular in the a variation of

(Some

versions

tinued (in Yorkshire) into the 19th cen-

A

A

allowed her virgin

is

have the word were garlands of rites) white paper hung in the church for a crants

name for two games. (1) player starts with a word or line of verse; each other in succession must give one

crambo.

The

See crome.

;

Hence applied in English

17th

goods at a booth; a peddler.

cranreuch.

spit.

cabbage (Greek used by Jovenal (crambe repto mean a distasteful repetition.

krambe)

(Old High German an awning; in English, a

crankdort.

There is also a form craddant, crassant. Hence craddenly, craddantly, crassantly, cowardly. So many forms seem to indicate that the species was widespread. crambe.

;

Originally

sells

cramp.

Used 14th to 17th century. There is also a form crachoun, which conveys more scorn,

a

15th through 18th century; longer (as krame, kraim) in Scotland. Hence cramer, creamer, crammer, craimer, kramer, one

in the U.S., cracknel

biscuit;

(3)

(4)

chram, cram) booth where goods are sold at a fair. Hence, a pedlar's stock of wares. Used

thyn paste thereon, and so make a little cake in maner of a crackenell, or bysket.

In English

;

fashion of drinking (early 17th century) (5) a variant of crambe, q.v.

curved or hollow. Also crackenelle, crackenal, and the like. As Lord Berners put it,

A

variant of this game, with questioning aloud, called "the game" or charades, Is still played. Other senses in right one.

and

Apparently from Dutch krappen, to cram: a stuffed head. A Scotch 19th century notion of a delicacy, though Edspices.

ward Ramsay in his REMINISCENCES (1861) sets down: Eat crappit heads for supper last night and was the waur o't.

told

187

crassantly.

See craddon.

crassitude

crepuscular Thickness. Latin

crassitude. thick;

whence English

crass,

crass us,

vested in the civil magistrate?

correspond-

is

ing to the slang sense of 'thick/ At first this was simply a measuring term, used

from the 15th century (not

and muck

length, by transference

five feet

less in crassitude)

;

(17th century) , gross extreme dullness

norance,

stupidity,

intellect.

Cp. inspissate. Mortimer

in

then,

The day

crastin.

of

Collins

especially, after

Latin crastinum, adjective form of eras, tomorrow. Hence the rare verb crastinate, to put off till tomorrow, which never

found favor in English, Things seem more lingeringly,

less

malingeringly,

delayed

just procrastinate.

A

simple dish of crayton. Also critone. the 14th century: Tak checonys, and scald hem, and seth hem, and grynd gyngen, other pepyr, and comyn; and temper it up with god mylk; and do the checonys theryn; and boyle hem,

and

Suspenders. Greek kremaster, to hang. Accent on the sec-

Still used in anatomy and a superfine word for a but entomology,

ond

syllable.

super-fashionable haberdashery.

An early form (Spenser) of crimson. Also cremoysin, cremsin, cremysn.

cremosin.

See crespine. Also spelled

pyne, krippin, creppin, and the

a feast-day or holiday. Used in the 16th and 17th century; via Old French from

when we

from krema-,

crepine.

work admirably. after;

cremasters.

ig-

in MARQUIS AND MERCHANT (1871) Said that Amy, not being afflicted with crassitude, soon did her

That power

being widely manipulated today.

serve yt forth.

A

an toy, a rattle. Hence, one who rattles on. Latin crepundia, a rattle, from crepare, crepitum.

crepundian.

talker,

empty to

tinkle;

rattle,

crackle, etc.

(see

whence crepitare, to creve) and English cre-

pitation, crackling;

(17th

crepitate,

to crackle,

and 18th

centuries) to break wind. idle talk continues, crepundian

Although was used mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries. Nashe (Greene's MENAPHON,

1589) speaks of our quadrant crepundios, that spit 'ergo* in the mouth of every one

they meet. crepuscular.

Pertaining to twilight. Also

crepusculine, crepusculous; the

Frequency, Latin creber, frequent. Also crebrous, frequent. Used in the 17th and 18th centuries. crebrity.

craton.

See craddon.

Things to be believed. Plural of credendum, gerundive of credere, to believe. Used in the 17th and 18th cencredenda.

turies of religious matters, items of faith,

and usually opposed

to

agenda, things

be done, "works." In the 19th century, the word was sometimes given a political to

application, as

first

two

favored by poets. I can still remember a lad of sixteen, who wrote, as a classroom

blackboard exercise, a sonnet

To

Certain

Crepuscular Murmurers before he subdued his poet's heart to his biophysicist

See craddon.

crathon.

cris-

like.

by Louis C. Miall in THE

NONCONFORMIST of 1841:

Is the

power

of

selecting the credenda of the nation to be

188

mind. Also crepuscule, crepusculum, twilight. Latin crepusculum is a diminutive, related

dark.

to

creperum,

darkness,

creper,

The Romans opposed

crepusculum, the dusk of evening, to diluculum (lux, lucis light), the dusk of dawn. In the 17th century, however, the forms dilucid, clear,

manifest shine,

be

(Latin clear)

;

dis-,

apart;

lucere,

to

dilucidate, dilucidation,

dilucidity were used later supplanted lucid and elucidate, etc.

by

crocheteur

crespine

A variant of crepe (Old French with some special senses: (1) a

in 'THE HEART century; revived by Scott a beloved child OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818)

net or caul, of gold thread, silk lace, etc., for the hair; worn by ladies of the 14th

sick to the death of the crewels. Scrofula

and (2) a fringe of lace, for a hood; or for a bed, dais, and the

the reign of until that of

crespine. crespe)

:

was called "the king's

15th centuries.

Edward

Queen

evil" because,

from

the Confessor (1042) Anne, it was believed

a veal caul"; also

the disease could be cured by the royal touch. The last person to be thus touched

caul around crepine; French crepine, the Listed the viscera. by gastronome Bailey;

in England was Samuel Johnson, at the age of two and a half, in 1712, by Queen

like;

17th and 18th centuries.

of farce wrapt

still

up in

(B)

"a sort

flavorous.

An iron basket in which a fire was lighted, to be hung on a pole or suspended from a roof, as a beacon; also used in the early theatre. Used from the

Anne.

On

Louis

XIV

cresset.

Used

God

creticism.

See cryne.

cristallomancy.

figuratively, as

A petty

critickin.

cried:

(1843)

See aeromancy. See aeromancy.

crithomancy.

critic;

a

critic.

The

17th and 18th cen-

casterism,

Southey

Critickin, I defy you! Also

criticling, criticule, criticaster.

uplifted.

Lying.

King

saying "The King touches you, may cure you." Apparently, God worked

crine.

,

Twins

of 1686,

on Samuel Johnson.

by Scott in WOODSTOCK. (1826) of the moon's dim dull cresset; by Bryant in CONSTELLATIONS which (1877): The resplendent cressets the

Sunday

of France touched 1600 suf-

ferers,

13th through the 16th century; till apon a wharf. Hence plied to a fire-basket cresset-light.

Easter

criticastry.

Mainly

Hence

criti-

18th

and

form

19th century terms, used by authors sufFRASER'S fering from criticophobia, which has of 1836 MAGAZINE possessed the says

enemies gave it. Creticism should wherever possible be distinguished from

mind of every great author. Swinburne in UNDER THE MICROSCOPE (1872) belabors the rancorous and reptile crew of poeti-

the

dictionaries also give cretism. Also cretize, to play the Cretan, to lie, cheat. From Crete, and the reputa-

tury

tion

its

criticism.

creve.

To

split,

burst.

THE MIROUR OF

SALVACIOUN (1450) has: The roches creved both uppe and doune. Via French crever, to burst, from Latin crepare, .

crepitum, to rattle, to

make resound,

.

to

whence also (see crepundian) crepitation, decrepit, crevice, crevasse.

A

style

of

woman's

who decompose

into criticasters. Cp.

medicaster.

.

crack;

crevecoeur.

cules

hair,

See crayton.

critone.

killing of a Also croy. rank. his to man, according In 1609, statute, cro of an Erie of Scotcro.

Compensation for the

land

is

by

seven tymes twenty kye [cows].

A

porter. Used in centuries. French crochet,

crocheteur.

century: the curl'd lock at the nape of the neck, and generally there are two of them. Literally, heart-

and 17th

breaker.

tinguished by his whip.

worn in the 17th

crewels.

The

elles, scrofula.

king's

Also

evil.

cruels.

French ecrou-

Up

to the 17th

189

the 16th

hook

but the (for lifting bundles; cp. crotchet); diswas crocheteur (crochetor) English

Beaumont and THE HONEST MAN'S FORTUNE exclaim: Rescued? 'Slight I would

Fletcher, in

(1613)

crowd

croisee

hired a crocheteur for two cardeso much with his

Have

To have done

cues,

whip.

Old form

croisee.

o

crusade. Also croi-

sometimes called the badger

ticular cheat

game (see badger) Dekker The whore is then called the

man

said:

(1608) traffick.

The

that is brought in, is the simpler. ruffian that takes him napping is

The

serie.

the crosbiter.

A variant of crull, q.v. A hook; especially, a

crolle.

crome.

with a hook at the end, to pull down boughs of a tree, etc. Also cromb, cromp. In the 14th and 15th centuries, crome was sometimes used to mean the claw of a

From an Old

wild beast.

English form

cromb, cramb, crooked, hooked. So, in the 16th and 17th centuries, cramp, an iron bar with the end bent as a hook; a

cramp word

is

Originally, a small hook (French crochet, diminutive of croche, hook; wo-

crotchet.

long stick

one hard to decipher. The and cramp,

men

crochet with a small hook; cp. crocheteur) By transference, many other still

.

meanings, among them: (1) an ornamental hook, a brooch; Steele in THE TATLER (1710) tells of a crochet of 122 in silver. (2) a hookDiamonds, set .

.

.

for a note in music;

(3) a shaped symbol whimsical fancy; a perverse and peculiar

senses of cramp, hook, crook,

notion. Shakespeare plays on both these senses in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1599):

the hooking or contracting of a muscle, grew confounded.

speaks,

cronyke.

An

early variant of chronicle. (1482) stated

Caxton in POLYGRONIGON that

the

detestable

actes of such

cruel

personnes ben oftymes plantyd and regystred in cronykes, unto theyr perpetuel

obprobrye and dyvulgacion of theyr inNero and suche other.

famie, as thactes of crosbiter.

croshabelL JESTS

See crossbite.

A

(1598)

prostitute. is

headed:

One

of Peele's

How

George

punk otherwise called a croshaword but lately used, he explains,

gulled a a

bell

and

fitting

lovely

with their trade, being of a

and courteous condition.

crossbite.

To

cheat; originally, to outwit

a cheater, to 'bite the biter/ Also, to censure stingingly. Also crosbite; hence

A

frequent word in 16th and 1 7th century plays and pamphlets; thus

cros(s)btter*

Greene in his A Groat's Worth of Wit, Bought with a Million of Repentance (1592) speaks of the legerdemaines of nips, foysts, conicatchers, crosbyters.

In the par190

are

these

Why

very

crotchets

that

he

Note notes forsooth, and nothing. From (3) came (4) a fanciful device or construction. Less literarily and more literally

(5)

[crotchets].

A

a

bracket,

dealer in

perverse deliberately cro tch et-monger.

crowd.

in

odd

typography conceits is

opinions

and a

The common Teutonic noun and

verb, to press; a large press of persons, though used from the 10th century, and (as in HENRY v; 1599) , was in English until the 17th century. In the 14th century, two other words took this form. (1) crowd, an un-

by Shakespeare not

common

derground vault, a crypt. Via French from Late Latin crupta, Latin crypta. A will

of

1501

asked that the

maker be

buried in the crowde of Saint John Baptist in Bristow. (2) Celtic musical instru-

A

ment, at first with three strings; later, with six, four played with a bow and two with the fingers, an early form of the

From Welsh crwth, paunch, bulgbox; croth, belly, womb. By extension, ing a fiddle. A fiddler was also a crowd or a fiddle.

}

cryne

croy

crowder. Butler in HUDIBRAS (1664) spoke men That kept their consciences in

of

cases,

As

From

fidlers

its

do their crowds and

bases.

the figwort

big-bellied flowers,

was called crowdy-kit. See cro. Bailey in his DICTIONARY defines croy: "(Scotch Law) a (1751) satisfaction that a judge, who does not croy.

administer justice as he ought, is to pay to the nearest of kin to the man that is (not to be confused with has his law confused.

killed." Bailey

Old

Bailey)

Old form

croysade.

of

Also

crusade.

croysada, croysado f croyserie.

A

crudy.

variant of curdy:

like

curds

(the coagulated part of soured milk; the

liquid part

is

the

whey }

Miss Muffet

as

knew) Also cruddy; in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, crodde, crudde, crude .

common

were as

as curde, courd, curd.

Chaucer's Prologue

Squier

.

were

and dull and .

.

.

raw, came Latin crudelis, rough, fierce, whence English cruel. Thus crude and cruel are of the same origin. We may note 15th century crudelity, an early form of listed by Caxton (CATO; 1483) as cruelty the third sin. Also crudefactwn, the mak-

.

.

.

As the purse is concerned Used for crumena f money-bag) (Latin humor, as when Coleridge wrote, in a crumenically.

.

1825, / am interested, morally crumenically. Spenser, in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) uses crumenal, a purse. Bailey (1751) lists crumenial, of letter of

and

purse.

crush-room. A hall or lobby of a theatre or opera house, where the audience might

"promenade," says the O.EJX, but the duritself has other implications

word

crastade.

An

"A kind

early 19th century

of dainty pye,"

de-

the servedly popular from the 14th to 17th century. From French croustade,

Latin crusta, a hard surface, a crust

(as of

crustum, pastry. By way of crustarde, custade, the form (and about 1600 the recipe) changed to the current ice,

etc.),

(sometimes currant) custard. The earlier crustade was a dish of minced flesh, eggs, herbs,

milk,

and spices, with a baked in a crust

fruit instead of

ing of something crude, rough, unripe. craels.

their shapes

cruller.

term.

there all the foolish

A Young

were named what Irving in THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW (1818) calls the doughty the crisp and crumbling doughnut

ing intermissions.

me

From

in presse.

laid

of

with locks as crulle as they

.

.

(1607) ; crudy in HENRY iv, PART TWO: A good cherris sack hath a twofold operation in it. It ascends me into the "brain, dries

THE CANTERBURY

(1386), he speaks

Shakespeare has curdled in CORIOLANUS

Some crudy vapors which environ it editors, however, explain crudy here as a form of crude. From the Latin crudus,

to

TALES

meat)

little

(at

broth or

times with

.

Head of hair. Latin crinis, (1) Thomas Chatterton has a roundelay (1778) "My love is dead, Gone to his

cryne.

See crewels.

hair.

cruent. entus,

also,

Bloody;

from

cruentous;

cruel.

Latin era-

cruor, gore. Also cruentate, both rare. The (supposed)

bleeding from

the

wounds

of

a body

when

the murderer comes by was called cruentation.

crull.

A

variant

of

curled,

curly.

In 191

death-bed All under the willow tree/' with the line: Black his cryne as the winter

The

etymological spelling was used by Sylvester in his translation (1614) of Du Bartas: Priests, whose sacred crine felt night.

never razor; also in prosaic reference in

cuckold

cryp tarch

BRISTOL JOURNAL of October

the

shame, was in the shape of a close-stool; hence the name cucking-stool; cuck, to

1768:

hose of goatskin, crinepart outwards. (2) To shrink, shrivel. This verb is probably

from

Gallic crion, to wither.

excrement. Hence also cuck-stool. Used from the 13th century. As this idea

void

Used from

waned, other associations developed the forms coqueen-stool; cuckquean-stool,

the 15th into the 18th century, it was revived by Scott (THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN, 1818) and used in a letter of Jennie Carlyle (1849) : He had grown old

.

putting in the cucking-stool The penalty listed in Blackstone's COMMENTARIES

golden pippin, merely crined, with

like a

the

ducking-stool (from the 16th century) To cuck, in the 17th century, to punish by

bloom upon him.

is

(1769)

A

secret ruler, as would be cryptarch. the head of the modern 'gang* in violent

cuckold.

Greek kryptos, hidden + archos, cryptarchy, secret government or control. Other English forms from

is

Thus

name

onyra, a secret

common from the 1 3th and took many forms,

and THE which latter

Shakespeare in OTHELLO (1604)

code speech; cryptor password,* crypt o-

and a number of words

very

including cukeweld, cowckwold, cockhole, cookcold, cuckot, cuckhold. Hence the verb, to cuckold (cuckoldize) , used by

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR,

in

he also says Hang him, poor cuckoldly knave. Also cuckoldom} cuckoldry, cuckIn oldage (as often old age has been)

dynamic, possessing or relating to hidden force;

lays its eggs in another bird's nest.

to the 18th century,

are not in his scrotum;

cryptology, secret or

that has a faithless wife.

always used in derision. It from the bird, the cuckoo,

The word was

cryptocerous, with concealed horns, like a cuckold; cryptorchis, cryptorchid, a man testicles

derived

which

kryptos include: kryptocephalous (accent on the seph) , with the head concealed;

whose

A man

The word was

fiction.

ruler.

.

specially

.

combined, such as crypto-insolence, veiled insolence. In times of religious persecu-

Jonson, Chapman, and Marston's EAST-

of the persecuted faith outwardly conform to the persecuting faith

you be a cuckold,

WARD HOE

many

tion,

(1604)

Touchstone says: // an argument you

it's

woman

while

have a beautiful

thus

you shall have store of friends, never want money; you shall be eased of much o your wedlock pain; others will take it for you If you be a cuckold and know it not, you are an innocent; if you know it and endure it, a true martyr. This closing point had been

retaining an inward conviction; THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW of April

you

number of Christians professed Islam but remained crypto-

1888 noted the large

who

See aeromancy.

Also cristallomancy. See

crystallomancy.

wife;

then

.

.

developed by Florio, in SECOND (1591), where in Chapter Nine Caesar demonstrates that a cuckold must earlier

aeromancy.

FRUTES

A

chair in which an ofcuddjQgstooL fender (a scold or disorderly woman; a fraudulent tradesman) was fastened, and

exposed to the public jeers or a pond (often a filthy place)

go to heaven: // he knowe it hee must needs be a patient, and therefore a martir. If he knowe it not, hee is an innocent,

m

or stream.

to

of;

.

cryptomancy.

either

much made

f

Christians.

ducked

shall be

The

original chair, for greater

192

and you knowe

that

martires

nocents shall be saved, which

if

and

in-

you grant,

cuckquean it

cuerpo that all

followeth

taine Paradise.

Mee

ly rejoins:

cuckolds shall ob-

To which

Tiberio shrewd-

thinks, then, that

women

gourd, later a cupping-glass. Chaucer in THE CANON YEOMAN^S PROLOGUE (1386) speaks of cucurbites and alambikes eek.

are not greatlie to bee blamed if they seeke their husbands eternall salvation,

cudden.

but are rather to be commended, as causes of a worthie effect. Caesar shrugs his

17th century playwrights. Wycherley, in 1698, says The fools we may divide into

shoulders, but adds:

times called woe-man.

Woman was someHe speaks no more

A

born

fool.

A

term favored by

three classes, viz. the cudden, the cully, fop. The cudden a fool of God

and the

ruffian-like fellowe

favorably, however, of the husband, that that studies nothing

Almighty's making. The cully is one who is cheated or imposed upon. Cullies make,

but bellie-cheere and foolosophie, and that with such diligence putts nothing in prac-

said Carlyle in his MISCELLANIES (1833) : the easy cushion on which knaves and

A

cuckquean. verb.

an

knav esses repose.

but the madmatikes.

tise

meant a female cuckold; also as a

Formed from

cuckold, husband of

wife, and quean, from cwene, woman; Greek gyne, Anglo-Saxon

unfaithful

whence gynecology. Quean and queen are related; queen comes directly from AngloSaxon cwen, lord's wife. Cuckquean was common in the 16th and 17th centuries, as in Brome's THE MAD COUPLE (1652) You can do him no wrong to cuckold :

.

.

.

him, for assure yourself he cuckqueans

Cuckquean, also cockquean, cuequean, is not to be confused with cot-

fool,

A

fop (see fob) also first or to fool, cheat; as in

Shakespeare, OTHELLO (1604)

:

I

.

.

.

begin

myself fopt in it; KING LEAR (1605): Wise men are grown foppish. In the 17th

to find

and 18th

fop developed the

centuries,

a special senses: (1) a conceited person, one or wit to wisdom; (2) pretender a foolishly concerned with his appearance, it developed other these In senses, dandy. forms:

fopdoodle, fopling, foppet, fopmeaning simpleton in regard to manners or dress, and all contemptu-

potee

all

To

was

you.

ous.

quean,

behave like a ridiculous dandy. Dryden knew there's no fool like an old fool, in

q.v.

A

cucupha. it,

worn

cap with spices quilted into

in the

17th century for head on the first syllable;

ailments. Accented

A

spice-cap. The idea of fragrance as well as color in headgear is not unattractive. also

cucufa.

A retort,

originally shaped

like

gourd, Aised in alchemical processes; usually as the lower part of an alembic, a

q.v. glass.

tule,

century) , a cuppingcupping-glass was a cucurbicucurbittel. Other forms are con-

Later

(16th

A small

curbite, cocurbite.

French courde, whence from the same source,

English gourd, is Late Latin curbita; Latin cucurbita, a

_ 193

(18th century)

to

FABLES (1700) he pictures the slavering cudden, propped upon his staff. And there is the old saying: Give a cudden a

his

mink wrap, cuerpo.

cuerpo cucurbit.

fopple

it is still

but a cudden's coat.

Used in the Spanish phrase (literally,

in

the

in

Latin

body;

corpus), without the outer garment, in undress; by extension (often humorously),

naked. Frequently used, however, to mean and stripped to the waist. Used by 17th 18th century playwrights and novelists; Fletcher in LOVE'S CURE (1625) Boy,

e.g.,

:

my cloake and rapier; it fits not a gentleman of my ranch to walk the streets in querpo; Jonson in THE NEW INN (a failure

culpon

cuffin

o

1629)

:

Your Spanish host

never

is

seen in cuerpo, Without his paramentos, cloke, and sword,

A

cuffin.

man, a

fellow,

a cove. Also

cuffen, cuffing. Mainly 16th and 17th century thieves' cant; used by the playwrights.

Note that cuff and chuff were used always in a bad sense: a miserly old fellow; chuff also was applied to a boor, a rude countryman.

A

queer

cuffin,

a churlish

fellow; hence, a justice of the peace. Scott

especially, as

15th

used for the 17th

through

many

So made

sick.

in

Spelled

century.

ways: colys, culys, collesse, collice,

and

coolisse

from

several more; ultimately strain, whence also

Latin colare, to lish colander.

Eng-

In the 18th century, a

cullis

grew into a savoury soup: 'Use for a take cullis, a leg of veal and a ham thicken with cullis, oil, and onions wine/ The word was also used figuraas in Lyly's tively, from its use to nourish EUPHUES (1580) Expecting thy letter, either as a cullis to preserve or as a sword and occasionally in irony (to to destroy .

.

.

.

.

.

:

revived the phrase queer cuffin in THE

HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN

(1818).

cuish.

A

cuisses,

armor for the front of the

thigh-piece.

Plural,

usually thighs.

Also quyssewes, cuissues

(14th century) quysseaux, cusseis, cushes, cuishes, and the ;

like; also cuishard, cuisset, cuissot;

century) cussan. Via

Old

(15th French cuisseaux;

Italian cosciale; Latin coxale; coxa, hip.

Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART ONE (1596) says: I saw young Harry with his I) ever on, his cushes on his thighs. Used by Pope, Dryden; Scott in THE LORD OF THE ISLES :

(1814)

Helm,

cuish,

and

breastplate

mean

a

culleus, a sack

parricide was sewed

(in

which a

up and drowned)

,

a

Greek koleos, kouleos, sheath. Chaucer, in THE PARDONER'S TALE (1386): I would I had thy coillons in myn hand. (For pardoner, see palmer.) Other manutesticle;

read coylons, colyounnys, culyons. extension, cullion, rascal; as in Shake-

scripts

By

speare's

HENRY

Away, base

VI,

cullionsl

PART TWO

A

culllsance.

Hence

cullionly

KING LEAR; revived by Scott),

:

(in

rascally,

base; cullionry, rascally conduct. Cp. cully enly.

cullis.

made

me

e'en to

badge or a

sign,

a

mark

Jonson in EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR and Til give (1599) has: Til keep men .

coats

.

.

.

.

.

but I lack a cullisen.

See cudden.

A

variant form of cullionly. its use, see barber;

For an instance of cp. cullion.

A

piece cut off; hence, a slice, shred. In the 18th century this bestrip, came coupon. Also to culpon, to cut, to

culpon.

slice;

(16th and 17th centuries) to border slices of a

or ornament with strips or different-colored

couper,

Old French from Latin co-

material. to

cut;

laphus, Greek kolaphos, a blow. Chaucer, in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) He hath :

anon commanded to hack and hew The okes old, and laie them all on a rew, In culpons well araied for to brenne.

A

strong broth (as "beef-tea") of flesh or fowl boiled and strained;

194

of

A

colper;

(1593)

has beat

rank. Also cullisen, cullizan. corrupt form of cognizance. See bawdreaminy.

cullyenly.

From Latin

THE NICE

Fletcher's

:

cully.

Testicle. Usually in the plural.

;

He

D'Urfey's PILLS TO PURGE MELANCHOLY a cullise for the back too. Hence (1719) the verb cullis, to beat to a jelly.

See cuish.

cullion.

:

a cullis shows the development toward

streamed -with gore. cuisses.

beating)

VALOUR (1625)

cookbook recommended: culponde and dene wasshen

A

eeles

15th

Take

century

.

.

.

curdcake

culter culter.

culver.

See coulter.

delay, since

A

prospered

pigeon.

From

8th.

century; in

Spenser (SONNET 89} on to Tennyson and Browning. Hence, a term of endearment (mainly in the 13th through 15th cen,

turies).

dove,

Perhaps from the timidity of the Bailey's (1751) DICTIONARY lists

culvenage, faintheartedness. Cp. coleron.

See

culverin. culys.

See

cumber.

basilisk.

See cumber-world.

A

useless person or thing,

encumbers the world. In Chaucer's TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374). The verb cumber, used from the 14th into the 19th century, has been largely replaced by encumber. Note that the original sense was to overwhelm, destroy; then burden.

(body or mind); then hamper, The present disencumber was

preceded by the verb uncumber, to free from a burden, used from the 15th century. There was a saintly woman named Wylgeforte, most beautiful, who prayed for a beard, that she might be uncumbered of suitors and lead a holy life.

Women

changed her name

ber, said Sir

That ever

Maximus Verrucosus, surnamed Cunctator, Delayer; in the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.) the Fabian tactics of Fabius

harassing the

enemy while avoiding

direct

combat broke Carthaginian Hannibal's military strength. Hence the Fabian Society in England (founded 1884) which

member was Bernard Shaw. Hence

that needlessly

harass

of one

believed in the advance of Socialism by gradual degrees, of which the best known

cullis.

cumberworld.

Fabius

we but read

by cunctation. The "one" is Cunctator, the Roman Quintus

Thomas More

to St.

Uncum-

in a DYALOGE

of 1529, because they reken that for a pek of otys she wyll not fayle to uncumber

theym of theyr husbondys.

Michael Woode

explained (1554) that if a wife were weary of a husband, she offered oats at Poules

Uncumber, and More elaborated: For a peck of oats she would provide a horse for an evil housebonde to ride to the deville upon. In the United States, to St.

although the desire is unchanged, saint has been Renovated.

the

also

the adjective forms cunctatious, cunctative,

cunctatory, prone to delay.

"in his cups." cried swilling fool! translation (1693) of

cupshotten.

Drunken,

Cupshotten

and

Urquhart in his Rabelais. More, in a DYALOGE of 1529, remarked: If a maide be suffred to ronne on the brydle, or be cup shotten, or wax too prowde Gup-shotten was in use .

.

.

since the 13th century; in the 16th, the shorter form cupshot (cup-shot, cupshott) also appeared, as in Herrick's HESPERIDES : A young enchantress close by him did stand Tapping his plump thighs with a myrtle wand; She smiled: he kissed: and

(1648)

kissing, culled

shot,

her too; And, being cup-

more he could not

do,

coif. Curch is by error from Old French couvreches, plural of couvrechef, cover head, whence cover-

curch.

See

curches;

chief, kerchief. A square piece of linen, used instead of a cap. Used, mainly in Scotland, from the 1 5th century.

curdcake. As described in THE QUEEN'S ROYAL COOKERY of 1713: Take a pint of eggs: take out two of the in some sugar, a little nutmeg whites, put and a little flour, stir them well together,

curds, four

Delaying; delaying action. 16th into the 19th century. Herrick, HESPERIDES (1648), cried: Break off

cunctation.

From

and drop them

in

little

195

butter.

in,

and

fry

them with a

curtal

curiosity curiosity. osus, full

This word, from Latin

curi-

WORTH

of pains;

care,

ing their hair,

trouble,

cura,

pains, had had many meanings. The O.E.D. lists 18 major senses of the form curious, q.v.,

only two of which are

still

current.

those of curiosity are: carefulness; scrupulousness; accuracy; skill arrived at

Among

by these

qualities;

OSO (1676) arrive

Shadwell in THE VIRTU-

says, of

that curiosity in this watery that not a frog breathing will

exceed you. By extension, excessive tention,

undue

fastidiousness;

an undue

A

gance. Ingeniousness in art or experiment. vanity, an object or matter on which

A

much

concern

is

lavished.

This sense

sur-

the familiar curiosity-shop. Asin THE SCHOLEMASTER (1568) said

vives in

cham

Commentaries are to be read with all curiositie; Barclay, in THE MIRROR OF GOOD MANNERS (1510) Though I forbid thee proude curiositie Yet I do not counsell nor move thee to rudenes; Wythat Caesars

:

1380) spoke of men that traveilen not in holy writt but veyn pleies

clif

and

(WORKS;

curioustees*

of curious meanings Early (Latin curiosus, full of cura, care) include: (I) careful, taking pains, as in

curious.

Chaucer's THE SHIPMAN'S TALE (1386): For to keep our good be curious. (2) anxious, concerned, as in Shakespeare's CYMBELINE (1611): And / am something curious .

To have them ous,

.

cautious,

as

in

Shake-

speare's THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1596): For curious I cannot be with you, Signior

Baptista. (4) careful in observation, particular about details, as in Shakespeare's

ROMEO AND JULIET

(1592):

What

.

.

does a quail.

An

echoic

curkling of quails.

See coranto.

currant.

See favel.

curry favor.

See precurrer.

curse.

curious

eye doth quote deformities? Scott revived (3) and (4) together, in KENIL-

senses

196

See cursorary.

cnrsitor.

A

cursorary.

Shakespearean variant of HENRY v (1599): We have

cursory, used in

but with a cursorary eye Ore-viewed them. cursum f to run, whence

Latin currere, discursive, corsair,

course,

excursion,

discourse,

not related to curse. Note cursor-

relating to or adapted for running.

ial,

Also cursitor (cursetor, cursitour) ; Latin cursor, runner. (1) One of 24 clerks of the Court of Chancery, who made out all i.e. of the usual run or

writs de cursu,

routine; each

had

his

own

shire or shires.

The

post was abolished in 1835. By extension, a secretary. (2) runner, messenger. Fuller in THE WOUNDED CONSCIENCE

A

(1646) uses this figuratively: The spirits, those cursitors betwixt soul and body. (3)

A

wanderer, vagabond, tramp.

in 1567 wrote a

book

titled

A

Harman Caveat or

Warening, for commen cursitors vulgarely called vagabones. curtal.

A

has lost

its tail,

.

in safe stowage. (3) fastidi-

particular,

call as

at-

pursuit to which one gives a hobby. Also, of things: attention; great careful or elaborate workmanship; ele-

subtlety.

To

curkle.

word. Urquhart in his translation (1693) of Rabelais mentions curring of pigeons

will

at

science,

One must not be too curious, though one be not feline.

.

swimming: You

(1821) saying that men, in arrangwere very nice and curious.

Romanic

any animal, that

horse, later

corto,

or had

its tail

French court,

cut short.

short. Also

used as a term of contempt for a rogue or a drab; Cotgrave's DICTIONARY (1611) lists

trull,

a hedge-whore, lazie queane, lowsie filthie

curtail.

A

Toone's

GLOSSARY

(1834) states: dog whose tail had been cut off by the effect of the forest laws, to hinder him from hunting, was called a

curtsey

man

custron

speare in THE has:

COMEDY OF ERRORS (1590) She had transformed me to a curtull

To grow curved; to make curve or bend; to curl. Jordan in DEATH DISSECTED (1649) speaks of Irons to curvifte your flaxen

dogy Cur,

and made me turne i' th' wheel. however (first in the phrase cur-dog),

curtail dog; and by abbreviation, a worthdog is at this day called a cur. Shake-

less

probably related

is

growl, grumble. inally curtal, to

the

its

tail;

with

to

Norse kurra, to

The verb curtail was origmake a curtal of, to dock associa-

ending changed by

(17th century) with French tailler, to cut. Note that cutlass (Old French coutelas, a large knife; coutel, tion

tail

or

couteau, knife), being a short sword, was many forms: curtelace, curtalax;

given

Spenser mistook this and in THE FAERIE

QUEENE (1596) pictures Priamond using spear and curtaxe both, while With curtaxe used

Diamond

to smite,

as

though

curtaxe were a short-handled ax. Curtal

was

also a

man

curtail Friar

curvify.

A

CURY (1390) The word is roundabout from Latin coquus, cocus, cook; coquere, coctum, to cook, to ripen, whence also .

concoction; bis,

biscuit

(French

cuire, cuit, to cook;

whence

also cuisine.) The Latin coquere was used figuratively to mean to think out, to plan, as

modern

in

slang:

What's

Trevisa in the HIGDEN ROLLS

cooking?

(1387)

de-

They conne ete and be mury With-

clared

oute grete kewery. oissan. custard.

See cuish. See crustade.

The

recipe

now

used dates from about 1600. custile.

In the 18th century, was also used for a cutpurse, or petty thief that cut pieces from fabrics H. displayed out of shop windows.

custos.

-our curtal friar?

precocious,

+

twice

Hood ballads, whence Scott rather vaguely revived the phrase (IVANHOE, 1820): Now, sirs, who hath seen our chaplain? Where is

spangled roses that

bookful of delicious cury. Cookery. dishes is bound within THE FORME OF

wearing a short coat; the

was Friar Tuck in the Robin

And

locks,

outshine the skie.

A

A

15th long, two-edged dagger. century weapon, from Old French coustille. Also costile. See custrel.

curtal

Cogan, in his translation (1653) of Pinto's TRAVELS pictured six pages apparelled in his livery mounted on white curtals.

From

Custodian; guardian. keeper; 15th through 17th century regarded

as an English word, plural custoses; revived in the 19th century (e.g., in Thack-

THE NEWCOMES, 1855) as though from the Latin, plural custodes. Also custosship (accent on the first syllaeray's

direct

curtsey

man.

curule.

In

seat legs,

See pedlers French. the

like

phrase curule chair, a a camp-stool with curved

shaped but of costly wood inlaid with ivory,

occupied by the highest magistrates of ancient Rome. Hence, curule, pertaining

high civic office, eminent. The word was used in English in the 17th century; it was revived by Scott in THE HEART OF to

MIDLOTHIAN

ble)

We

that are

the office of custos.

custrel.

An

attendant on a knight. Used

coustillier, soldier

see custile. Later degenerated to mean knave, rascal; in this sense possibly influenced by custron, q.v. In this sense, also,

more frequently

A

custron.

in curule wit.

fellow, a rascal.

197

in the form coistrel,

q.v.

merely mounted higher Than constables -

Old French armed with a coustille;

15th through 17th century;

(1818); Butler shifted its ap-

plication in HUDIBRAS (1663):

,

kitchen-knave. Hence, a base

From Old French

coistron,

czaricide

cutchery

Latin cocistronem, cook's helper, coquere, coctus, to cook. See custrel; cois-

cynarctomachy. Fighting of dogs and bears;

trel

bear

Late

See sark.

cutty.

Cutty

a

or

Scotch

Northern Dialect word.

An

cutwaist.

Latin in

insect.

is

cut; cutwast, cutwaist,

dering. en, in

Thus

sectum,

an English ren-

also the Greek, entomology,

4- tomos, cut Topsail introduced the English form in THE HISTORJE OF SERPENTS (1608) ; it did not survive the pres-

sure of foreign terms in science.

A

cyclamen. plant, with beautiful earlyflowers. Also called sow-bread, blooming the fleshy root bulbs being a favorite food of swine. The name is from Greek

kyklaminos, circular; of

shape

the

root.

In bloudy cynarctomachy. is the region not of the [The polar bear but of the Great Bear constel-

kyklos,

circle

the

The cyclamen was

highly esteemed for a love-philtre; but (HERBALL; 1597) was so afraid

ly

arctic region

The

lation.] -f

arctos,

machia, fighting. Butler in HUDIsome occult (1663) declared That

design doth

is

-f

+

BRAS See kedgeree.

cutchery.

Greek kynos, dog

bear-baiting,

Batrachomyomachia,

battle of the frogs

and the mice,

is

a

the

mock

epic written in ancient Greece in Homeric sometimes used as a symbol of

style; it is

a war over trivial things, like the Big-

endian and Little-endian war (over which end of the shell of a soft-boiled egg to open, to eat it from the shell) in GULThe LIVER'S TRAVELS (1726; LILLIPUT):

books of the Big-endians have long been forbidden. Carlyle (in FRASER'S MAGAZINE; 1832) said: Its dome is but a foolish Big-

endian or Little-endian chip of an eggcompared with that star-fretted

shell

dome.

Gerard of

its

abortive effects that he set a

cross fence of sticks

his garden, lest

criss-

about the plant in

women

stepping over

it

be cursed with a miscarriage. See swan.

cygnet.

cymar. A loose light garment for women; also, a chemise. Also simarre. A favorite

word in

exotic poetry and fiction since the 17th century, usually as the only garment left on, as in Scott's THE TALISMAN (1825)

:

Disrobed of

all

clothing saving a

cymar of white silk. A chimer, from the same source, old French chamarre, was a upper robe; especially, a bishop's, which his lawn sleeves were attached. was of scarlet silk until Queen Eliza-

loose to It

beth's time, it

to

when Bishop Hooper changed

more sober black

ing brought

poem

(1850)

satin. Mrs. Brownform back into use, in a This purple chimar which

this :

we wear.

Licentious, lewd; also, a licen-

cyprian.

tious person;

a prostitute. Literally, of

Cyprus, an island in the eastern Mediterranean, anciently known for the worship of Aphrodite. Used from the 16th century.

THE SATURDAY REVIEW

in 1859 Spoke

of the cyprian patrol which occupies our streets in force every night; but forty years earlier J. H. Vaux in his MEMOIRS told of a very interesting young cyprian

whom cyule.

I

.

A

.

.

attended to her apartments.

boat.

From Late Latin

cyula,

from Old English ciol, whence keel, boat. Holland in his translation (1610) of Camden's BRITAIN wrote: Embarqu'd in forty cyules or pinnaces, and in every sailing about the Picts' coasts which

is

.

ciule thirtie wives. czaricide.

198

See acephalist.

cynocephali.

See

stillicide.

.

.

D The word

Energy; activity; capability. Short-

dacity.

ened from audacity; Latin audax, audacemf spirited. Sampson in THE vow BREAKER (1636) declared: I have plaid a major in

FAERIE QUEENE (1596) i Then doth the daedale earth throw -forth to thee Out of her fruitful lap abundant flowers. Hence

time with as good dacity as ere a

my

hobby-horse on 'em

daedal was also applied to

the earth, as inventive of many forms; variously adorned, as in Spenser's THE

all.

daedalian, skilful, ingenious. Both these forms are also occasionally used in the sense of labyrinthine, mazy as daealso

Things, according to Bailey

dacryopoeos.

"which excite

(1751)

tears

from

their

acrimony, as onions, horseradish, and the like." number of English medical terms

dalian arguments; or as in Keats* ENDYMION: By truth's own tongue^ I have no daedal heart! Hence daedalize, to make

A

have been formed from Greek dacryf tear. Hence, dacryopoetic, producting or causing tears, like a *tear-jerker* screen-play.

intricate. daff.

dactyliomancy,

dactylomancy.

See aero-

(1)

A person

deficient in sense or in

courage; one who is daft. So Chaucer, in THE REEVE'S TALE (1396). Hence to daff, to play the fool; to make sport of. (2) to

mancy. daddock. Rotted wood. Blount (1674), and Bailey after him, call it "the heart or body

remove, to take

of a tree thoroughly rotten," and suggest the word is a corruption of dead oak. Its

do off. Thus Shakespeare in THE LOVER'S COMPLAINT (1597) has There my white

etymology daedal.

is

From Daedalus,

Hence, to thrust HENRY rv, PART

(1596) speaks of Prince Hal that daft world aside; or to put off, as in OTHELLO (1604) : Every day thou dafts

the

Crete. When King Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus (they first devised the Labyrinth, then showed Ariadne how Theseus could escape from it) , Daedalus fashioned wings on which they

me

with some device, lago. Daffing the

world aside was a frequent phrase, after Shakespeare. Johnson, misunderstanding Shakespeare's usage, erroneously taking the past form for the present, put in his

DICTIONARY

the presumptuous Icarus flew too near the sun; his wings melted off, and he fell into what was thereafter known as the Icarian Sea. Daedalus landed safely in Sicily.

variant of doff, to

ONE

the legendary inventor and architect, who built the Labyrinth for the Minotaur in

flew away. Despite his father's warning,

A

stole of chastity I daff'd. aside, as Shakespeare in

unknown.

Skilful, inventive.

off.

(1755)

a non-existent verb,

to daft.

A

and to some daffadowndilly. poetic extent still a popular form of daffodil, which

199

itself is

a variant of

affodill,

which

is

daltonism

dag a corruption of asphodel, which is directly from Greek asphodelos. Strew me the

ground with daffadowndillies, cried Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579);

rhyme appears in

the inevitable

poem DAIPHENIA

Constable's

Henry

(1592)

:

Di-

like the daffadowndilly, White as the sun, fair as the lily, Heigh ho, how I do love theel Fair flower of spring.

aphenia

dag.

A

short and horn of a young Diminutive of dagger, from French

pendant;

anything

pointed, as the straight stag.

dague, dagger. Hence (1) the points of a cloak or dress slashed at the bottom as an

ornament

(Chaucer and the 15th cen-

The

top of a shoelace (I5th to 18th century). (3) A lock of wool about the hinder parts of a sheep, dirty and tury)

.

(2)

A

dainty.

Asra noun. Estimation, honor; de-

By

joy.

light,

extension,

fastidiousness.

Old French

dainte, pleasure, titbit; Latin

dignitatem,

worthiness;

whence

dignus,

worthy,

also dignity, indignation.

(Eliezer

Edwards, in WORDS, FACTS, AND PHRASES, 1881, says that the first

meaning of dainty

was a venison pasty, from French daine, a deer. A pleasant thought, but oh dear!) In the sense of fastidiousness, Shakespeare has, in is

King

HENRY

iv,

PART TWO (1597)

:

make

dainty, to hold back, scruple, refuse.

Shakespeare has, in ROMEO AND JULIET: ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all

now deny

Will

to

dance? She that makes

dainty, she, Til swear, hath corns.

O.E.D. sees no connection between this

daisy.

use of dag and dagger, but the publisher of this volume has in his collection a

and

that

is

at

once a dagger and a gun.

In the 16th and 17th century dag and

dagger was a frequent phrase; Johnson (1751) hence mistakenly defined dag as

an instance of its use, see slop. Note, however, French dague, dagger; and to dag meant to stab (14th century) before it meant to shoot. There is also a word dag of Norse origin, used from the 17th century (and dagger. For

in dialects) to

mean dew,

or a gentle rain

or mist.

A

curse upon! An imprecation, from Old (Merovingian) French possibly

dahet.

Deu

hat, God's hate. Also dathet, dathait,

dait.

In early

in THE

Dahet habbe That fouleth 1

uses,

with the verb have, as

OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE

(1250): that like best [every beast] his owne nest Used to the

5th century.

200

The

ing grievances. As joy, Dunbar in TWA MARYIT WEMEN (1508) Adew, dolour, adew! my daynte now begynis. Also, to

hand-gun or heavy pistol draggling. (4) the 16th to the 18th century). The (of

weapon

:

wearie Of daintie, and such pick-

The

Bellis perennis,

"a familiar

favorite flower/' says the O.E.D. its

Old

white

English daeyes eage, day's eye; petals fold in at night, hiding its central sun until the dawning. In olden times, it

was an emblem of fidelity; knights and ladies wore them at tourneys, and Ophelia gathered them, to be strewn on her grave. There is indeed beauty, as Spenser sees it in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) in the grassye

ground with daintye daysies

dight.

daltonism. ability

to

Color-blindness; especially, in-

discriminate

red

and green.

From John Dalton, English chemist 1844), who developed the atomic and was

afflicted

The word was

(1766-

theory

with color-blindness.

used (1827) by Prof. Pierre Prevost of Geneva; it was objected to by the British, in that it associates a great name with a physical defect (as first

though the crippling from infantile pawere called Rooseveltism); the word is therefore seldom used in English, ralysis

damoclean

darnel

though daltonisme

A

term.

the current French

is

daltonian

is

Relating to Damocles. Also (19th century), damoclesian; the sword o Damocles. Damocles was not the king, but

dapem, food;

Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, an unscrupulous to keep Jupiter warm, he re-

plunderer

A

dariole.

woolen one

impious, savcredulous. He was, howage, suspicious, ever, a shrewd commander; he invented

cp. dapifer.

From

crustade, q.v.

the 14th

had changed and a dariole was a cream tart. In that sense Scott revived the word in but by

century;

and held his throne for 38 dying in 368 B.C. When Damocles

the catapult,

1650

the

recipe

QUENTIN DURWARD (1823) Ordering condarioles, and any other light dainties he could think of. :

fections,

expressed envy of Dionysius' happy state, the king made Damocles ruler for a day.

went merrily until Damocles noticed, over the throne on which he sat, a sword

All

darkhede.

See darkmans.

suspended by a horse hair. Dionysius' symbolism was so obvious and so apt that the sword of Damocles has been often used to refer to the thread by which all

darkmans.

Night.

Originally

16th cen-

crackmans, a tury hedge; lightmans, daytime, etc. See lib; pedlers French. Used by 16th and 17th century playwrights (Dekker, THE ROARthieves'

fortune hangs.

cant;

also

ING GIRL, 1611, e.g.), revived by Scott in

See dandiprat.

GUY MANNERING (1815) Men were men then, and fought other in the open field, and there was nae milling in the darkmans. The regular early English word for :

dandiprat. A small coin (3 halfpence) of the 16th century. A contemptible or in-

a dwarf. Applied in little child. Also

fellow;

and

(value).

placed the golden mantle on the god's

significant

17th

of little dapocaginous. Mean-spirited; worth. A 17th century term (accented on the cadge) from Italian dapoco, of little

a flatterer in the train of Dionysius the

dandeprat.

A

dapinate. To provide or serve dainty meats, as among les amis d'Escoffier. Latin

damoclean.

years,

ferre, to bear.

18th century word.

with color-blindness.

statue with a

4-

dapatical)

a person afflicted

friendly intimacy to a

darkness was darkhede (10th to 14th cen-

dandeprat, dantiprat.

tury)

dapatical.

dap aliens,

Sumptuous; from dap em,

feast.

A

17th and

18th century dictionary word; cp. dapifer.

daphnomancy. See aeromancy. Greek Daphne, a nymph loved by Apollo> fleeing

whom

she

was,

at

her

changed into a bay-tree

own (laurel)

entreaty, .

Hence

winners of "the bays"; hence champions in

the

games

crowned with dapifer.

Apollo sponsored

were

laurel.

One who

serves

at

table;

a

steward; a waiter. Latin dapem, feast (see

A

darnel.

Late Latin

costly.

.

grass; especially (lolium

temu-

lentum) one that grows as a weed in corn, supposed to make dim the eyesight. Joan of Arc (La Pucelle) in Shakespeare's HENRY vi, PART ONE (1597) mocks the ,

English for having corn full of darnel. weeds, tares, evil figuratively, things that grow amidst us; H. Barrow in

Hence,

John Greenwood's COLLECTION OF CERTAINE SCLAUNDEROUS ARTICLES GYVEN OUT BY THE BISSHOPS (1590) spoke of Satan sowing his darnel of errors and tares of discord amongst them.

201

debellish

darraign

An

variant of deraign,

dealbated or thrice concocted. Dealbation,

Also darrain, darrein, darrayne, dar-

the action of bleaching, whitening; but deniable, that which may be dealt, or

darraign. q.u.

early

rein, darreyne.

dealt with.

darrein.

Final.

An

old legal term, from

the 13th century. Via Old French darrain, derrein; Late Latin deretranus; de retro,

behind. Especially in the phrase darrein

But

resort, last resort.

dathet.

also see darraign.

See dahet.

See dealbate. The earliest meanto ing in English was to plaster; hence,

on crudely.

daw.

common

of 1529 has:

They make deambulations

poem

A deambulatory was a place to walk deambulatour)

(also

in for exercise; especially, a cloister.

To dismember.

Latin de, from

+

artus, joint, member; whence also articulate. 17th century word. Hence, deart-

A

See dawkin.

nation.

dawkin.

A

dearworth.

a slattern. Diminutive

fool;

of daw, the bird (jackdaw) ; applied conjingle temptuously, in the same senses.

A

of 1565 says: Then Martiall and Maukin, a dolt with a dawkin, might marry together. Bailey

gives the variant

(1751)

form dawgos. daysman. as a verb,

An

umpire, a mediator. Day,

meant

(1)

to

in this

dawn;

appoint or set a a for decision, time to hence, day; appoint for arbitration. Thus also dayment, day-

sense, also

daw.

(2)

to

ing (15th to 17th century), arbitration. Lupton in 1580 uttered a sound lament: that money and put spende all . . dayment at last. Hervey in his MEDITATIONS (1747) wrote that Death, like some able daysman, has laid his hand on

Honorable,

noble;

costly,

precious; highly esteemed, beloved. Also common word from the dearworthy.

A

9th into the 15th century. Also derworth, direwerthe, dereworth, derwarde, and the like. Hence dearworthily, honorably; dearworthiness. As late as Tot-

deorwurthe,

ters

MISCELLANY (1577) we read of a dear-

worth dame. debacchate.

To

rage like a bacchanal; to

revile like a drunkard. Prynne, in HISTRIOMASTIX (1653) speaks of folk that defile

their holiday with

.

.

most wicked de-

.

bacchations and sacrilegious execrations.

,

to

the contending parties. The public suffers today from reluctance to call upon days-

men. (Three syllables.) To whiten. From Latin de + albare, to whiten; albus, white. The Old French form of this, dauber, gave English daub. T. Whi taker, dealbate.

in

forms. Skelton in a

ostentations.

deartuate.

See dawkin.

to

supplanted by per-

its

dawgos.

it

now

19th century;

ambulate and

With great

daub.

lay

To walk, to walk about. A 16th century word, used into the

deambulate.

THE TREE OF HUMANE LIFE

(1658)

tured the suggestion that Milke

is

,

ven-

blood

To vanquish, to put down by war. Latin debellare, to subdue, de- down -f bellare, to fight; bellum, war. Also debellate.

debel,

debell.

Hence

debellation,

van-

quishing; debellator, debellative, tending to overcome. Note however that debellish (also

used in the 17th and 18th centuries) to dis-ernbellish, to rob of beauty.

meant

How tests

soon are the winners of beauty conIt is the inner

debellished belles!

beauty that lengthily holds the eye. debeUish.

See debellate.

decaudate

debile

Weak,

debile.

feeble.

Latin

We

from

de,

usually think of a decade as a period of ten years, but the French Republican

+

habilis, able; habere, (the opposite of) to have, to be able. Hence also 17th cen-

calendar of 1793 substituted for the seven-

tury debilitude, replaced by debility, debilitated', to debilite (15th and 16th cen-

day week a decade of ten days the last day of which, Decadi, replaced Sunday as

Shake-

a day of rest and decadary means relating to such a ten-day period; decadic, related to counting by tens, as in the metric

to weaken,

turies)

to

debilitate.

speare uses debile in ALL'S WELL WELL and in CORIOLANUS (1607)

THAT ENDS :

For that

I have not washed

my nose that bled, or some debile wretch . You shout foyl'd me -forth In acclamations hyperbolical. As

if

I loved

my

little

praises sauced with

system.

.

.

To

decant.

sing (or say) over

and

over.

Also decantate. Coryat in his CRUDITIES (1611) mentions the very Elysian Fields,

should be dieted In

lies.

so

much decantated and celebrated of poets. From Latin de,

verses

deblateration.

Blabbling overmuch, prating. See quisquilious. Latin deblaterare, deblateratum, to blab out; blaterare, to

The

cantare, to sing.

still

by the off

4-

current use of

stammer. Stevenson in THE BRITISH WEEKLY

decant, to pour out (as into a decanter, from which wine is decanted into the glasses) is from the Latin of the alchemists,

of 27 April, 1893, wrote from the South Those who deblaterate against mis-

decanthare; de, off + canthus, the 'lip' of a jar, by transfer from Greek canthos,

prate,

from the root

bal-,

bar-f to bleat,

Seas:

sions have only one thing to do, to and see them on the spot

An

deboshed.

early

corner of the eye.

come

The word was

form of debauched.

this sense figuratively in

Shakespeare, in KING LEAR (1605) speaks of Men so disordered, so debosh'd, and bold. Revived by Scott, in WOODSTOCK

yourself every few days or weeks.

decarnation. Stripping of the flesh; deliverance from carnality. Latin de, off +

others, with a less specific and milder sense than debauched.

camera,

flesh.

Thus Walter Montague

DEVOUT ESSAYS (1648) decachinnate.

To

scorn. Late Latin de,

+

cachinnare, cachinnatum, to laugh, whence also cachinnation. In 17th

century dictionaries. decadist.

Amid

the

various

decay, decadence, decadescence itial stages)

,

it is

forms

of

(the in-

tion enableth

man

said:

in

God's incarna-

for his decarnation, as

may say, and devesture of carnality, Hence decarnate, unfleshed, not in the flesh; THE READER of 16 December, 1865, remarked: Logic Comte never liked, but it became to him at last a sort of devil I

decarnate.

interesting to note the

appearance of the decadist, a poet (such as Livy)

THE POET AT THE

BREAKFAST-TABLE (1872) considering it unfortunate if you are not decanted off from

(1826): Swashbucklers, deboshed revelers, bloody brawlers. Used by Lowell and

down

especially

applied to pouring off the clear liquid, leaving the sediment or lees. Holmes used

that writes in decades, that

is,

sections subdivided into ten parts. The 'perfect number* of the Pythagoreans, 10,

was called the decad (Latin decem, ten)

.

decaudate.

To

untail,

remove the

tail.

Latin de, off + cauda, tail. NOTES AND QUERIES in 1864 observed that The P was originally

an

R

which has had the mis-

fortune to be decaudated.

203

deemster

decollation

A

decollation.

and course of life. of 16 AugUSt, 1862, said: It is impossible to decorticate people, as the writer now and then does, without

beheading. Latin de, from

THE SUBLIME AND THE BEAUTIFUL

cate his nature, station,

THE LONDON REVIEW

ON

collum, neck. Burke in his ESSAY

4-

(1756)

remarks that a fine piece of a decollated head of St. John the Baptist was shewn to a

Turkish emperor.

used figuratively,

Browne

as

(1646) said:

The word was also when Sir Thomas

He

by a decollation

his mercy. The verb decollate, in the 17th century, was used in the short form decolL Although

of all

hope annihilated

French invented the guillotine expressly for decollation, the French form. decollete'e means merely cut low around

inflicting pain.

decrepitation. The roasting (of a salt or mineral) until it no longer crackles with the heat. Latin de, away H- crepitare, to

frequentative of

crackle,

crepare,

crack. Also decreptitate, the verb.

to

From

have come the applicamankind in decrepitude (16th

this literal sense

the

tions

to

and 17th century,

decrepity, 17th century, 18th century, decrepidity) limp, with all the 'crackling'

the neck, or wearing a dress low-cut. Note also that decollation and collation

decrepitness;

are not opposites. Indeed, they are not related. Collation is from Latin collatum,

vitality

decrepit,

;

burned away.

decussated.

formed by crossan X. There is a rare verb,

Intersected,

past participle of conferre, to bring together as in a conference. About 410

ing

John Cassian wrote COLLATIONES PATRUM.

from Latin decussis (X) probably from decem, ten and as, a Roman coin. The English word is known mainly from John-

.

.

,

which in 540

St.

Benedict ordered to

be read in his monasteries before the

collation

last

word day (Compline) was applied to the reading, and

service of the

;

the

then to the light repast that followed

it;

any light repast. A collatitious work is one produced by conference, by working together as the organs of the hence,

digestive tract, stomach, intestines, bowels, are called the collatitious organs. They

were often subjected to exenteration

To remove

remove

the bark, rind,

or husk; hence, to strip off

what

to expose; to flay (figuratively)

.

conceals,

Latin de,

from; cortex, corticem, bark. Hence decortication. Waterhouse in ARMS AND

ARMOUR

(1660)

wrote:

Arms ought

to

analogic and proportion to the bearer, and in a great measure to decorti-

have

,

ponderously humorous definition (1755) of network: anything reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with in-

son's

between the intersections. Johnmay well be decussed.

terstices

son's definition

dedalian.

deem.

Another form of daedal,

q.v.

See deemster.

deemster.

decorragative. Tending wrinkles, as (many women hope) ointments or (more probably) peace of mind. decorticate.

to decuss, to divide crosswise; to cross out,

(q.v.)

after their owner's decollation.

to

lines, like

A

judge.

Deem

originally

meant opinion, judgment, as in Shakespeare's TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606) where Cressida cries: / truef how nowf what wicked deeme is this? The verb deem also first meant to pronounce judgment; it is closely related to doom. A less frequent form of deemster, though phonetically more regular, is dempster, which also meant judge, but in Scotland until the 1

9th century was used for the officer of the who (after the judge's decision)

court

pronounced sentence, or doom, upon the 204

deer

deferve

prisoner. In current use, deemster refers specifically to one of the two Manx judges,

one presiding over the northern, one over the southern, division of the Isle of deer.

A

beast.

The

as

Man.

animal, a

although

century,

the

an opening for

restricted

Tom

(1605)

,

when he

said,

It plays a part also in theatrical lore.

"food for seven long yeare.

See couth.

defeat (16th Old Frustration. centuries). (2) French desfaiture; desfaire, to undo; Latin

Undoing,

and 17th de,

from

+

rick

factura, making, doing; facere,

had defenestrated

defensum.

factum, to make, do; whence factotum, manufacture, factitious; that's a fact. (3)

An

Indeed, fence

fence; fencible,

mainly copied from Shakespeare, who thus used the word in VENUS AND ADONIS and in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (1590) :

fence,

houres

with

also,

the child.

enclosure; fenced ground. a shortened form of de-

capable of making de-

hence liable for military service; capable of being defended, strong.

Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) deNo fort so fensible . but that

clares:

times

deformed hand Have written strange defeatures on

A

is

Disfigurement, defacement. In this sense,

Care-full

has a

group in an upper room of an 18th century tavern were arguing the value of silence onstage. Garrick took no part in the discussion, but began to walk to and fro, cradling in his arms an imaginary infant. After a minute or two, he walked toward the window, then the others leapt to their feet in an impulse to rush: Gar-

:

(I)

fenestra,

mediate cause of the Thirty Years' War.

of

tury poem SIR BEVES) But mice, and rats, and such small deare Have been Tom's

defeature.

light.

4-

The word

of Imperial commissioners out the wininsurgent Bohemians was im-

the cat (echoing the early 14th cen-

defatigation.

throwing out

from

dow by

Shakespeare used deer in the general sense in KING LEAR

that

place in history, because the defenestration of Prague 21 May, 1618; the hurling

from anima, breath.

is

declaring

act of

of a window. Latin de,

meaning was also in use by 1100. The word is probably from the root dhus, to breathe; as animal

The

defenestration.

quadruped, fishes. This meaning survived into the 16th

(1621)

foggy mists of superstition.

from birds and

distinct

MELANCHOLY

Luther began upon a sudden to defecate, and as another sun to drive away those

original sense of this

common Teuton word was an

by Burton in THE ANATOMY

figuratively, as

OF

.

.

continuall battery will rive. Defensum is in Bailey (1751) ; not in O.E.D. (1933) It .

my

face.

defecate. ties;

To

clear of dregs

and impuri-

to purify; to refine; to purge. Latin

defaecare, defaecatum; de,

from

+

faeces,

dregs, excrement. Laneham in a letter of 1575, said: I am of woont jolly and dry a

mornings; I drink me up a good bol of ale, when in a sweet pot it iz defecated by al nights standing the drink iz the better, take that of me, and a morsel in a morning with a sound draught iz very holsome

and good for the eysight.

It is also

used

helps us, however, to grind teeth at the perhaps unintended paronomasia in Robert Frost's I built

MENDING WALL (1914)

walling in or walling I

was

:

Before

know What I was out, And to whom

a wall I'd ask to

like to give offence.

course,

deferve.

(There

is,

of

no offence intended.)

To

vere, to boil,

boil down. Latin de + ferwhence also fervent Deferve

was used in the 15th century. Later (from the 18th century) but more common was

205

delator

deflorate

defervescence, cooling

+

down; Latin de

deitate.

Made

into a god, deified, as the

feruescere, to begin to boil; English defervesce, to begin to cool; also de ferves-

Pharaohs and the Caesars. Used in the 16th century. Latin deltas, from deus, del,

These terms were used both of liquids and of human emotions; the con-

god.

deivirile.

effervescence has surtrary progression vived. Less remembered are effervescible;

delator.

and

is

cent

.

effervency, the condition of being overheated, of issuing forth in a heated state, as

^mobile.

An

early

form

of

deflower.

cause

Greek deipnos, dinner + man, a master. There are

sophistes, also a few

Hence

dining

also deipnosophistic; de-

,

.

.

.

paradisiacal depart-

of deipnosophism.

delay;

slow,

tardy

as

in

Shake-

:

who are for spinning out the time of courtship. These two forms are from diferre, dilatum, to carry or hold latory tempers,

back or apart; hence, to delay. There is still another word dilator (accented on the second syllable; the other is accented on the first) , early dilater, from the verb to

from

.

ment

formidable

spread wide; this

BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH ipnosophism. MAGAZINE in 1836 exclaimed: Let me . luxuriate in the

a

dilate, to stretch, to

dread of dinner-par-

men

to

from Latin

Deipnosophistai was the title of a widely read work, about 230 A.D., by the Greek Athenaeus, picturing the wide-rangtogether.

refers

words

ties.

ing discussions of a group of

(1776)

a wise

coined for special use: deipno diplomat, one that forwards affairs of state at dinners; deipnophobia,

delate

OTHELLO (1604) Wit depends on dilatory time and Addison's SPECTATOR reference (17 11, No. 89) to women of di-

fellow-member of les amis Accent on the nos;

my

The verb

informer.

speare's

master of the art of

Moritz.

An

army of sycophants and delators. Delator and delatory are also early forms of dilator, a delaying, and dilatory, tending to

:

dining, like

See theandric.

from a Latin frequentative form of the

EMPIRE

HENRY v and CYMBELINE; in THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE (1601) Let the priest in surplice white That defunctive music can, Be the death-divining swan.

d'Escoffier,

dee.

.

defunctive. Pertaining to dying. Defunct has been preserved, as a euphemistic reference to the dead, but the adjective has lapsed. Shakespeare uses both: defunct in

deipnosophlst.

on the

meant the same as in Latin; delate took on the meanings deliver, report, accuse. Hence delatory, pertaining to accusing or informing (of criminal activity) Gibbon in THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN

Used in the 15th century of a woman; in the 19th, of a plant. Hence defloration. Note that deflorator has also been used (17th century) of one that culls the choicest parts of a book -or author.

A

syllables, accent

verb that gives us English defer; Latin delatare from deferre, delatum, to carry down or away. Both verbs in English

occasionally the water in an auto-

deflorate.

Three

latus,

wide.

dilatare,

The

verb

dis-,

apart

dilate, to delay,

is -f-

has

not been used since the 17th century. Men who delate (inform) we still have with us. To confound confusion, there are also the forms deletory and deletorious, relating to the act of deleting or rub-

bing out; Jeremy Taylor in his A DISFROM POPERY, addressed (1647)

SUASIVE

to the people of Ireland, says that conwas most certainly intended as

fession

a deletory of sin, and gout, we are told, is a perfect deletory of folly. The form de-

206

deleniate

deligible

letorious, blotting out (from Latin delere, deletum, to efface) was confused (even in the Latin) with deleterious, harmful, from

town in Holland was Delf, from the delf, the ditch or canal, that runs through it.

Greek

Delian.

noxious;

deleterios,

stroyer.

deleter,

de-

Thus

the word deletery was used and 17th century to mean a

in the 16th

the Delian twins, the sun and moon (17th century) (2) Relating to the oracle at Delos. From the oracle's statement that

noxious drug, a poison, but also in the

mean an

17th century to

.

antidote, that

wipes out poison. In the latter sense it was often used figuratively: deleteries of

a

One can perhaps, now, sympathize with Byron's lament in DON JUAN (1821) : 'Tis pity wine should be so deleterious,

STUFFE (1599) speaks of Hero

much more

soothe.

From Latin

with

taste, sip;

take a

little

of;

cull;

down; lenis, soft, mild, soothSometimes spelled delineate, in orthoconfusion

Leander's

pluck. Fuller in a sermon of 1655 spoke of a soul unacquainted with virgin,

de~

lenire; de,

ing.

To

delibate.

To

as

mistress or Delia.

serious.

deleniate.

when

which was of cubical shape, Apollo's was doubled, the Delian problem, the doubling of the cube, the finding the square root of two. (3) Nashe in LENTEN

schism.

coffee leave us

plague in Athens would end altar,

the sin; Episcopacy, said Jeremy Taylor (1642) 2^ the best deletery in the world for

For tea and

Relating to Delos, an island

(1)

of Greece, birthplace of the divine Apollo and Artemis. Hence, from their realms,

and

delibated,

from

to

H-

clarified

joy.

libatum,

libare,

Latin

de,

take

as a

whence

also

to

delineate, graphical draw, to trace in outline, from Latin de + linea, line. The 17th and 18th century

sample, to taste, sip; pour libation. Also delibation, a

dictionaries also give the form deleniftcal (accented on the third syllable), soothing,

knowledge; a portion culled or extracted. Mede in his Biblical commentary on ACTS

pacifying.

A

'modern' mother does not

tender the delenifical nipple. deleterious.

The

plural in THE

delphs or delves. FAERIE QUEENE (1590)

is delfs,

t

speaks of Mammon in a delve; Shelley in the HYMN TO MERCURY (1820) also uses this form. The verb to delve is from a common Teutonic form. The glazed earthenware originally made at Delft in Holland may be called delft or delf, as Swift

in his

An

old and simpler form of Also delibere, delybre (15th 1 6th centuries), deliver. Latin de-

deliberate.

That which is delved (dug) : a a quarry, a mine, a grave. a hole, pit, Used from the 13th through the 18th century.

(WORKS; 1638) said: Nor can it be understood without some delibation of Jewish

deliber.

delf.

Spenser

a slight

Antiquity.

See delator.

See delator.

deletory.

taste;

poems

worthy of

(to Stella) of 1723:

herself,

plates of delf.

The

A supper

Five nothings in five original name of the

and

lib erare; de,

poise, scales.

from

+

librare, libratum, to

balance, pair of Deliber was also used in the sense

balance;

libra,

of to decide, to resolve, as in

POLYCRONICON

(1482)

when Caxton said:

/ have

delybered too wryte twoo bookes notable. deligible.

Worthy

From down -f

of being chosen.

Latin deligere, to choose; legere, to propose, to

de-,

name;

lex, legis,

a

motion, a proposal of a bill later, by extension, a bill that has passed, a law

whence

207

legal, legislate,

and further com-

deme

delignate plications. If only all that

were

were

eligible

To remove

the wood. Latin wood. Fuller, in THE de, from; lignum, CHURCH-HISTORY OF BRITAIN (1655) gives

delignate.

clared:

Death

is

a preparing deliquium,

or melting us down into a menstruum, fit for the chymistry of the resurrection to

deligible!

work on.

A

delirous.

17th century form of deliri-

ous. Also deliry, delirium.

the only recorded instance of its use; Dilapidating (or rather delignating) his

delitability.

bishoprick.

delitable, delightful.

to delight;

See deleniate.

delineate.

Also

Delightfulness.

delite,

Old French delitier, Latin (de, from 4- legere, lee-

bring together) deligere, deto choose, select; hence delectum, lectum, turn, gather,

A

failure of the vital powers, deliquium. a swoon; a failure of light; a melting away. Two Latin words fused in this

form, and are tangled in other English words. Latin delinquere; de, down 4linquere, liqui, lictum, to leave, forsake; and deliquescere, deliqui, to begin to melt, to pine away, de liquare,

liquatum,

-f liqui, to

to

make

Delinquere came hence to commit a

liquefy. lapse,

to

be

to

mean

to

whence

English delinquency and delinquents; deand the legal (Latin) lict, an offence,

phrase in flagrante delictu, in the very act of committing the crime; also (as in in

the flagrant

Scott's

IVANHOE,

delict.

Other English words from these

1820),

and

delectable

(via

Concealed, latent. Latin de,

delitescent.

away lie

4-

hid,

latescere, inceptive of later e, to

whence

fluid;

fluid,

fault,

therefore

chosen,

delightful. All three English French) forms are from the same Latin word.

century;

also

latent.

Used from the 17th

delitescence,

delitescency.

The

Preface to an 1805 reprint of Brathwait's DRUNKEN BARNABY speaks of republishing this facetious little book after a delitescency of near a hundred years. Sir William Hamilton in his LECTURES ON METHAPHYSICS (1837) declared: The immense proportion of our intellectual possessions consists of our delitescent cognitions. Praise be!

forms include deliquesce, deliquiate, deliquate, to dissolve, melt; delique, a failure

(deliquium); deliquity, guilt. Sydney Smith in a letter to Singleton in 1837 uses dedissolving in liquescent humorously, the stiles to over perspiration: Striding church, with a second-rate wife dusty and as

and four parochial children, and bread and butter. Burton in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY

deliquescent

full of catechism

(1621) speaks of a man who carries bisket, aquavitae, or some strong waters about him, for fear of deliquiums. Carlyle in

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1837) said: The assembly melts, under such pressure, into deliquium; journs.

or, as it is officially called, ad-

WMtlock

in

ZOOTOMIA (1654)

de-

deme.

A

(1) judge, a ruler. tonic form, related to dom,

from the 8th

A

An

old Teudoom. Used

to the mid-13th century. (2) of ancient Attica. Greek

township demos, township;

hence,

the

people

whence the trials and virtues of democracy. The academe or academy, the athletic field and grove near Athens where Plato taught, took its name from the Athenian legendary hero Academus (Akademion; aka, gently; demion, oi the people.) Shake* speare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) says:

Our court shall be a little achademe. Lowell in a poem of 1870 speaks of That best academe, a mother's knee. Academe is

208

reserved for Plato's school, or grove of

demean

dentiscalp

learning, leaving

for the

academy

modern

See demonocracy.

demonifuge.

institution.

deinonocracy.

which he had those two so ill bestad. Cp. bestad. The early form of demeanor. Also a verb, to behave; manage; employ; deal with. The sense of demean, to lower, de-

veloped about the 18th century, probably and by analogy with debase, the earlier natural

English form for this sense

is

bemean, which was superseded by demean.

an estate posland extension, subject to a By which is another form of lord, domain the same word. Spelled in many ways, demesne.

rule.

him

demeane and usage bad, With

All the vile

Possession; then,

ciple.

via French

from

spirit; kratos,

of Sophocles was by called a daimonion, a divine prin-

The daemon

The Jews added

the sense of evil

demon; this was followed (of Socrates and in general use) by the Christion Fathers, whence the current sense. There is also the form demonarchy, rule by a demon (Greek arche, rule) which seems a better word to employ than demonocracy, lest one elide a syllable. One may, if necessary, have recourse to a demonifuge, diabolifuge, a charm against to the idea

,

sessed.

evil spirits.

See aeromancy.

demonomancy.

demean, demeigne, Latin dominicus, of the lord, dominus,

dempster.

demesne is pronounced demean. The word has been in common use since the 13th century, but for the past 150 years has been mainly limited to historical or

den.

etc.,

Government by demons.

Greek daimon, a ministering

demean. Behavior; treatment (of others). has: Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596)

See deemster.

See dene.

lord,

dene.

A

bare sandy tract by the

Bailey's DICTIONARY

(1751)

and dena

small valley/

'a

calls

sea.

dene

'a

hollow place be-

as in Keats' sonnet-reference poetic uses, wide expanse That deepthe to (1816) brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne. used the word smilingly in

but (spelled den, dene, in most uses closer to the still current dune. It was used in the 13th and 14th centuries in

I conjure thee By her fine

the phrase den and strand: den, the privior lege of fishermen to spread and mend dry their nets on the denes at Great

Shakespeare

ROMEO AND JULIET

:

(1595)

by Rosaline's bright eye

.

.

.

And

and quivering thigh foot, straight leg, the demesnes that there adjacent lie.

hills'

or deane]

the

liver

A

silk

Latin demi, half; Old French ceint, Latin cinctum, girdle; cingere, cinctum, to bind; ceint. Also dymysen, dymison, demi-

their herrings

Yarmouth

15th and 16th century records refer to such items as a dymysen with a red crosse harnossid with silver wrought

Many

with golds; my dymyson gyrdylle and my coralle beydes. The word faded, but the fashion survives.

port.

their privilege to defreely at the Great

Dene

is

also used

(1)

as

a separate form by dene, of the adverb bedene, together; (2) to mean ten (Latin dent) ; (3) as a variant spelling of den, din, or dean.

cp.

cent.

word seems

Yarmouth; strande,

belt of gold or silver in material behind; a other or front, work only in front, ornamental with girdle

demiceint.

tween two

dentiscalp.

A

dentem, tooth

Latin dens, toothpick. the dentist and (whence

more) 4~ scalpere, to scratch; scalprum, a knife, a chisel; scalpellum, a little knife, scalpel. The scalp to associate with the Indians is

whence the surgeon's

we used 209

decollate

dequace

OF ABUSE

a form of scallop, a shell-shaped vessel; hence, top of the head. Dentiscalps, comments W. King in 1708, vulgarly called

To deprive of eyes,

Lamb

uses this

word

its

from the

17th, depastion, consumption a wasting depastion and decay of nature.

or of sight.

only recorded

depeach. To send away quickly; to get rid of. So O.E.D. Bailey, however, in 1751

in a letter of 1816 to Wordsworth:

use

Dorothy, I hear, has mounted spectacles; so you have deoculated two of your dearest relations in

which

defined depeach as to acquit, thus linking

that dec dandum, be given to God) A gift to

(Latin to

is

.

expiate the divine wrath; in old English law, a chattel that, having caused the

death of a person, was forfeit to the Crown, to be applied to pious uses. Sometimes the money value was given instead,

when

a jury of 1838 laid a deodand of 1500 upon the boiler or steam engine of

as

the Victoria.

The deodand,

granted since the 13th century, was abolished in 1846.

Latin

down

onerare, to load; onus, oneris, a burden; whence also onerous. Used mainly in the 17th century, of both literal

de-,

and

(in

-f

figurative burdens.

To

deosculate.

kiss

Latin de-f

eagerly.

the sense of 'down to the bottom/

completely)

whence

4-

osculare, osculat-, to

osculation; os,

(defined by Cockeram, sweetly')

is

the practice

kiss,

mouth. The verb 1623,

as

'to

kiss

confined to the dictionaries; is less

The noun

restrained.

17th centuries.

To

embezzle; used of public preying upon public funds. Hence,

depeculate. officials

depeculation. depeditate. To deprive of feet, or the use thereof. Hence, depeditation, the cutting off of a foot or feet.

Unload, relieve of a burden.

deonerate.

by contrast with impeach. Both (with opposed prefixes: de-, down, off; im, in, on) are via French from Latin pedica, snare; ped-, foot. From the same source, with the prefix ex- comes English expedite. Depeach was used in the 15th, 16th and

it

life.

deodand.

wrote of The wicked

In the 19th century, depascent was used as a medical term, meaning eating away;

toothpicks.

decollate.

(1583)

lives of their pastors (or rather depastors),

was used deosculation, though in the 17th and 18th centuries. See bass. also rare,

Johnson is reTOUR TO THE HEBRIDES (1773), to have punned on the depeditation of Foote. (Samuel Foote, player and playwright, 1720-1777, who had a leg amputated in 1766; he was called the

ported,

in

the

English Aristophanes. Johnson was not on punning terms with Richard Head

who

in any event was not decapitated.)

A

variant of depaint, to set depeint. forth or represent, to portray. Also dethe last of which peinct, depinct, depict

frequent

A

verb, to depeint, but more (13th to 16th century) as the

has survived.

past participle; LAUNCELOT

See depeint.

depaint.

depascent. feed,

Eating greedily;

down +

Latin de,

whence pasture, consume by

pasturage, used (1858)

by

HERD'S CALENDAR (1579; APRIL)

consuming.

pascere, pastum, to

pasture, to

(1596)

(1500)

:

with

wordis fair depaynt Spenser in THE SHEP-

pastor.

Hence

de-

grazing, eat out of

by Spenser and

Carlyle. Stubbes in his

ANATOMY

has;

The

redde rose medled with the white yfere, In either cheeke depeincten lively chere. dequace. To crush. Also dequass. Better known in the simple form quash. From Latin de-, down + quassare, frequentative

210

dess

deraigne

it

on the passage: Singular if there be two who can do a deed of such derring-do.

appears in THE TESTAMENT OF LOVE (1400): Thus with sleight shalt thou surmount

Also dorryng do, derring doe; Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) Speaks Of

and dequace the

dreadful derring doers. The form was originally daring to do, in Chaucer's TROYLUS

of

quatere, quass-, to shake; break. The compound form

hence, is

rare;

to

.

evil in their hearts.

deraigne. To vindicate; especially, to vindicate or maintain a claim by single

combat; hence, to

settle

:

by single combat;

up

for battle

.

.

deraign battle, to wage single combat to decide a claim, to engage in battle; generally, to line

(so

Spenser; so Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART THREE, 1953: Darraigne your battell, for

do, this noble worthy wyght. 16th century editions printed this derrynge do. Then Spenser in THE SHEP-

The

dereine, darraign, derene, and more; Old French deraisnier, to render a reason, de-

HERD'S CALENDAR

fend; Latin de,

from

4-

rationem, reckon-

explained

also deraigne, to put into disorder, disarrange (16th to 18th century) ;

'manhood and chevalrie' and the new word was launched. Spenser used it again in the DECEMBER eclogue and twice in THE FAERIE QUEENE, then Scott, BulwerLytton, Burton in his translation (1885) of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS and other historical

Old French desregner,

to put out of rank; replaced by derange. The second deraigne also was used of those discharged from re-

and 17th

hence deraignment (16th discharge from a re-

centuries) ligious order.

dern.

,

sombre,

Dark,

sly,

solitary;

hence, desipience.

deceitful, evil.

been ful deerne as in

this case.

to

novelists gave currency knight of derring-do.

Chaucer in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386) has: Ye must hence

secret;

(1579; OCTOBER) Spoke in derring doe were dreade, derring doe in the gloss as

who

of those

But

ligious orders;

.

dorryng

they are at hand) ; hence, to line up, to array, to order, to arrange. Also dereyne,

ing.

.

AND CRISEYDE (1374) Troylus was nevere in no degre secounde unto no wight In dorynge to do that longeth [that which belongeth, is proper] to a knyght. Other manuscripts had duryng do and dorryng don. Lydgate in his TROY-BOOK (1420) said that Troilus was the equal of any in

to

more

.

the

Folly; idle trifling.

TATOR of 17 September,

The word

to

taste,

have

taste,

to

be wise. Hence

sapid; insipid, tasteless, sapience, wisdom. Thus desipient; used since the 17th cen-

Stevenson in THE TIMES

place of concealment; darkness. The word was common in Old Teutonic; there is

tury;

also a verb dern, to hide, to

spectator, gracefully desipient.

1894)

keep secret

Other early forms are derned, darned, hiddreary;

dernly,

dess.

secretly;

and dernship (darn(1300) in the ANCREN RIWLE, 1225), secrecy. stipe, dernhede

derring-do.

Walter

Desperate courage. So Sir a note to Ivanhoe (1818) ,

Scott, in

SPEC-

spoke of maturity of sweet desipience. Also desipiency. Latin de, from + sapere, to

the dern path. Dern is also used as a noun, in the senses: a secret; secrecy; a

dernful,

THE

1887,

the

appears from BEOWULF (10th century) to Scott who in WAVERLEY (1814) speaks of

den;

goodly

:

in

A

(2

June,

his character of disinterested

table;

early

variant

of

dais.

Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) pictures Shamefastnesse, who ne ever once

did look up from her desse. Hence the verb desse, to pile in layers, used by farmers (17th-19th centuries) of stacking

211

desuete

dey

straw or hay.

Hence

dessably, well

ar-

Out

desuete.

of use, like desuete

will learne to play the whoremaister, the

glutton, drunkard, or incestuous person; if you will learne to become proud, hautie,

ranged. itself,

though revived by Max Beerbohm, from 18th century dictionaries and innocuous

and arrogant, and finally, learne to contemne God and to care neither -for

desuetude,

to

deuterogamy. Second marriage. Greek deutero-, second + gamos, marriage. Gold-

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD (1766) uses both deuterogamy and deutero gamist. THE ECHO of 7 September, 1869, expressed

smith, in

the English law: We do not allow deuterogamy until the primal spouse is disposed of by death or divorce.

commit

you

if

will

all his lawes,

heaven nor

hell,

and

kind of sinne and mischiefe,

all

no other schoole, for good examples you may see painted before your eyes in enterludes and plaies. This is such a detailed indictment as in our day Dr. Fredric Wertham (with

you need all

to

goe

to

these

illustrations to boot) levels against "comic" books for children.

crime

To lynch. As lynch law comes from a practitioner (or place of practice) so to dewitt comes from a victim. Two victims: the brothers John and Cornelius De Witt, Dutch opponents of William III, Stadtholder of the United Provinces, were murdered by a mob in 1672. Their name was used, in connection with mob violence, into the 19th century, as by Macaulay in his HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1855) dewitt.

,

devirginate. To deflower. Also an adjective, ravished. Hence devirgination; de~ virginator.

the

Also

said:

(1600)

Used from

divirginate.

15th century.

Chapman

Fair Hero,

left

in MUSAEUS devirginate,

Weighs, and with fury wails her in

Ellis

(1889)

his

state.

R.

COMMENTARY ON CATULLUS

speaks of Night the devirginator.

Stubbes in THE ANATOMIE OF ABUSES (1583)

Whereas you say there are good examples to be learned in themy truely so there are* if you will learn fals-

rails at the theatre:

you will learn cosonage, if you if you will learne to playe the hypocrit, to cog, to lie and falsify, if you will learne to jest, laugh, and fleare, to grinne, to nodde and mowe; hood,

if

.

dewtry.

you

will learne

to play

the Vice, to

and blaspheme both heaven you will learne to become a baud, uncleane, and to divirginate maides,

sweare, teare,

and

earth,

to defloure

if

honest wives;

if

you

will learne

to murther, flay, kill, picke, steal e, rob, and rove; if you will learne to rebell

against princes, to commit treason, to consume treasures, to practise idlenesse, to sing and talk of bawdie love and venerie; if you will learne to deride, scoffe, mo eke, and floute, to flatter and smooth, if you

potion

name

dhattura, the

will learn to deceive,

if

A

prepared

from

the

thorn-apple, employed to produce stupefaction. Also deutery, doutry, dutra, deutroa, dutry; varied from datura; Sanskrit

Stramonium)

.

Its

of the plant (Datura powers were thought

similar to those of the nightshade. Butler (1678) wrote: Make lechers

in HUDIBRAS

and

their

punks, with

dewtry,

commit

phantastical advowtry. Fryer (1698) pictures the Indian practice of widow-burn-

ing (suttee): They give her dutry; when half mad she throws herself into the fire,

and they ready with great

logs keep her in his funeral pile. On the other hand, said Ken in HYMNOTHEO (1700) : Indian dames, their consorts to abuse, Dewtry by stealth into their cups infuse.

dey.

A

dairy-woman;

Used from

212

early times,

a maid servant Old English daege,

dicacity

deyite

maid; dag, dough. 18th century, a

From

man

the 14th to the

in charge of a dairy

milking, tending cows

might also be A deyhouse

called a dey (deie, dai, dale)

.

An

A

of

(1398)

With

old form of dainty, q.v.

dairy woman, deywife. Cheese, said Trevisa in his

dairymaid.

Bartholomew' DE PROPRIETATI-

manufactures which

newed the use

of this form, after Shake-

LOST (1588) : For speare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S must this damsell I keepe her at the parke, is

silver shrines (BIBLE; ACTS 19) ; by making for her Demetrius made "no small gain":

a source of wealth;

RERUM,

shee

unsullied: snow of Dian purity. reference to Diana of the Ephesians

translation

out bytwene the slydeth the deyewife. Also deywoman. fyngres of Scott (1828, THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH) reBUS

of virginity

jective,

old form of deity.

An

deyntie.

goddess of the moon, patronand of hunting. Latin Diana, corresponding to Greek Artemis; French Diane, whence also English Diane, ess

Dian. Used in various ways. As an ad-

was a dairy. deyite.

The

Diana.

alowd for the day-woman.

(from the color of the moon), gold; Mercury, quicksilver; Venus, copper; Mars, iron; Jupiter, tin; Saturn, lead. Dian's bud, the wormwort was used as an antaphrodisiac, or

chemy

silver:

Sol,

(q.v.)

a cure for love-blindness, to keep maids blossom for a girl to wear virgin.

A

on her

Used now

dia.

as a

in

Bury towne.

diablogue. diabolifuge.

See endiablee. See demonocracy; endiablee.

diamerdes. Consisting of dung. Also diamerdis. Cp. dia. For an illustration of its use, see sinapize. Greek dia was used

word; combined as a prefix in Latin) for medicaments, condi-

often

(as a separate

meaning made up of, conSome of these have been used a English, among them diabotanum,

ments,

etc.,

sisting of.

in

a preparation plaster of herbs; diacaryon, of walnuts; diacopraegia, of goat's dung; of onions; diacydonium, of

diacrommyon,

of popquinces marmalade; diapapaver, of kinds three of pies; diatrionpipereon, of gindiazinztber, peppers; diazingiber, ger.

good

date.

first

pharmaceutical com-

pound, to mean consisting (mainly) of; as a noun, a compound. Also dya; cp. diamerdes. In the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, dia was used as a separate word, dia. Lydgate in a poem e.g., goats' milk of 1430 said: Drugge nor dya was none

our woolen our Diana. In al-

(1681) is

A

diascord.

medicine

made

of

dried

leaves of the plant Teucrium Scordium, with other herbs. Used from the 16th see alkermes. century. Also diascordium; Greek dia, made up of + scordian, the

THE ABplant water-germander. Scott in their and their With BOT wrote: sirups, julaps,

and

and diascordium, and mithridate,

My

Lady What-sha-call'um's powder.

Sovereign remedies,

An

diasper.

early

all.

form of

jasper. Also

said RJX in diasprie. Not of marble, HYPNEROTOMACHIA (1592) but of rare and ,

hard diasper of the East. Jesting speech, banter, raillery.

dicacity.

From Latin dicacem, sarcastic; dicere, to speak. The form dicacious, defined by Wright (1869)

as talkative, is defined in

the O.E.D. as pert of speech, saucy. Rarely mean talkativeness, dicacity was used to

or mere babbling, as the dicacity of a parHeywood in PLEASANT DIALOGUES

rot.

(1637)

says

evermore

be

His quick taunting

dicacitie

my

Would

voracity.

It

dight

dicephalous

would be pleasant if those given to city had equal capacity for sagacity

(1822) has: His Lordship in politics and religion

dica-

and

forth his finger to vinced.

veracity.

dicephalous.

Two-headed. Greek

di,

a Dydimite he must put touch, ere he be conis

.

.

.

two

kephale, head. Also dicephalism; dicephalus, a two-headed creature, like truth 4-

or Mr. Lookingbothways, cousin to old

The

Divorce.

diffarreation.

confarreation, q.v.

On

this

opposite of occasion "the

breaking of bread" also broke the union.

Mr. Turncoat.

As a noun. Ten;

especially as a unit of exchange: a parcel of ten hides

dicker.

or skins. Roundabout (Old English dicof) from Latin decuria, a company or parcel

decem, ten. In trade with the

of ten;

American Indians, dicker became a verb, to deal in skins; hence, to bargain, haggle,

barter,

trade.

By

extension, a dicker, a

a large but vague number or amount, as in Sidney's ARCADIA (1580) Behold,

dictitate. tare, the

To

From Latin

dicti-

dicta-

itself turn, to pronounce, to say often the frequentative form of dicere, dictum, to say. From these forms come dictate and

dictum, predict and more beyond fear of contradiction. In STAFFORD'S HEAVENLY

DOGGE (1615) we are old

man

told:

doubt the

did dictitate things, the knowl-

edge whereof would have

happy

No

beatified

directions

sceptic.

man

the

that was

Thackeray in

tied

THE ROUND-

(1860) says: Tomorrow the diffugient snows will give place to spring.

A

pleasant prospect!

di-, two whence also gastronome, gastr-, belly, one skilled in what goes into the belly. Gastronomy was first used as the title of a poem by Berchoux (French, Gastr"onomie, 1801) the ending was formed after astronomy. While digastric is used in anat-

Double-bellied. Greek

digastric.

;

omy, of certain muscles (as that of the lower jaw) that have twin swellings, in another sense a gastronome must be careful lest

dighel.

didynamy, twinship.

A

dis,

ABOUT PAPERS

man

didymate. Paired, as twins. Greek didymos, twin; see didymist. Also didymated; didymous. The forms survive in scientific

didymist. didimate.

like

to four horses.

he become

digastric.

all

wits.

use. Also

dif,

4-

emphatic form of dictare,

declare.

Latin

fugere, to flee. The form diffugous (accent on the dif) is defined in 18th century dictionaries as flying off in different 4*

apart

lot,

said Pas, a whole dicker of wit.

Dispersing.

diffugient.

Also didymite. Cp.

Greek didymoi, twins; by extension, testicles, in which sense Bailey gives the word in his 1751 DICTIONARY, The meaning sceptic comes from "doubting Thomas," the apostle that wavered in his faith: Thomas* surname was Didymos, twin. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE

Secret,

obscure.

Old High GerUsed until the

tougal, dougal, secret.

14th

century.

Also

dighelness,

secrecy;

dighenliche, secretly. Layain 1205, wrote: Fourth riht faren

dighelliche,

mon, we him

to,

digelliche

and

stille.

This was a most common word, from early times. Its original sense was to dictate, compose a speech, letter, etc. related to German Dichter, poet, and dight.

Latin dictare, dictatum, to dictate; dicere, dictum, to speak. Many other senses de(1) To appoint, ordain. Thus by Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374);

veloped.

214

dildo

digladiation

revived by Scott in MARMION (1808) The golden legend bore aright, 'who checks at me, to death is dight' (2) To keep in :

to

order,

deal

with,

to

use

then,

By

in THE WIFE OF BATHES PROLOGUE (1386) : Al my walkynge out by nyghte Was for tespy wenches that he dighte. (3) To dispose, put, remove. To put into a specific state; e.g., to dight to death. So used by Gower (1393) North in his translation (1580) of Plutarch, from which Shake;

speare drew his classical plots; HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS (1817)

+

to

extension, to deal with sexually, Chaucer uses this sense several times, as

abuse.

Grossing of swords, handto-hand fighting; more often, wrangling, verbal disputation. Latin di> dis, asunder digladiation.

gladiari;

gladius, sword,

ator;

(4)

To

compose; construct, make; perform, Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) Curst the hand which did that vengeance on

also

digladiate, to contend, dispute. since the 16th century. Hales in

to

Used

GOLDEN REMAINS (1656) spoke of mutual pasquils and satyrs against each others lives,

wherein digladiating

like

Eschines

and Demosthenes, they reciprocally lay open each others filthiness to the view and scorn of the world.

Scott in

.

whence

the flower gladiola; gladiator. Also digladi-

A

tearing to pieces. Dilacerate (sometimes delacerate) is an emphatic form of lacerate, from Latin dis-, asunder dilaceration.

I

him

dight.

(5)

To

equip, set in order;

array, arrange; prepare, make ready. Morris in his version (1887) of THE ODYSSEY

This

has:

dights the

Queen of the many wooers wedding for us then. (6) To

To dight naked, to Palsgrave in 1530 set down the say-

array, dress, adorn. strip.

A

foule woman rychly dyght semeth by candell lyght. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR: JANUARY has: Thy ing:

fayre

summer prowde with

daffadillies

dight.

For another instance of dight, adorned, see blow ess. Spenser also gave the word an erroneous meaning, to lift, in THE FAERIE QUEENE: With which his hideous club

To

he

direct; to direct dights. (7) oneself, to go. Chaucer says in THE MONK'S PROLOGUE: And out at dore anon I moot

aloft

me

dighte. to cleanse

(8)

from

To

repair,

put

rust, to polish;

Chaucer

THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE Speaks of arrows shaven wel and dight. Among the forms in which the word appeared are

in

dihtan, dyghte, dyte, dyth. Meanings (5) and (6) are still used occasionally, by poets.

lacerare, to tear; lacer,

annexed dilaceration of those who do not solve them, and empire to those .

.

.

that do. See exenteration; dilaniation*

A ripping or cutting to Latin di-f apart + laniare, lanipieces. atum, to tear; lanius, butcher. Frequent, especially figuratively, in 16th and 17th dilaniation.

century sermons. We read of the dilaniation of Bacchus, and Overbury in a letter to Cromwell (1535) exclaimed There be perverse men, which do dilaniate the flock of Christ. See dilaceration.

many

dilate.

To

(1)

delay.

(2)

To

spread

wide. See delator. dildo.

A

(1)

nonsense word used in

Sing trang dildo lee. ShakeTHE in WINTER'S TALE (1611) plays speare the innocent in the servant's words of

his

Autolycus: He has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without bawdry, which is strange; with such delicate burthens of 9

and 'fadings', 'jump her and thump her ; and where some stretchmouth d rascal would, as it were, mean

'dildos

1

3

gallant knight gaily bedight.

mangled, torn.

riddles of the Sphinx, observed B. Montague in 1805, have two conditions

refrains, as

to rights;

Poe in EL DORADO (1849) has

and

The

215

dipsas

dilligrout

and break a foul jape into the he makes the maid to answer,

See crepuscular.

mischief,

dilucid.

matter,

shady dell, a dingle, q.v. in 16th and 17th century verse. Frequent SHEPHERD (1637) says: THE SAD in Jonson

Within a gloomy dimble she doth dwell, in a pitt, ore-grown with brakes and briars. For another instance, see slade.

was a refrain, carried along/ A fading was a 16th and 17th century lively dance; but Partridge in SHAKESPEARE'S BAWDRY *

Downe

quoted fadthe ings implies the die-away languor at end of love-making. With a dildo was refrain

the

of

dimication.

a

popular risqu< song; for the phallus. Therefore applied contemptuously to a man. Hence, also, to objects of phallic shape,

a sausage-like curl wig; R. Holme in as

on an 18th century THE ACADEMY OF

as

adjective;

Lamb

dis,

di,

asunder

+

also dimidiation.

but

also

in his

dimidiate

POPULAR FAL-

(ESSAYS OF ELIA; 1825) says that the author of TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS

allows his hero a sort of dimidiate preeminence: Bully Dawson kicked by half the town, and half the town kicked by

dildo, writ o* the

wall.

Bully Dawson.

A

mess of pottage, offered to dilligrout. the King of England on his Coronation

manor was

held, the

first

A

dingle.

deep

dell.

Used

since the 13th

century, but appearing in literature only from the 17th. Milton applied the word

Day, by the lord of the manor of Addington in Surrey. It was by this service that the

an

effect.

LACIES

(1610) comments on a familiar in public toilets

Madame, with a

Latin

divide into halves; to re-

Latin

Dimidiated, halved,

THE ALCHEMIST today:

half.

to

medium, middle; hence

with a curled forehead, Jonson in still

To

dimidiate.

duce

(1688) said: A campaign wig hath knots or bobs, or a dildo on each

practice

fighting.

or deliberately ponderous

ARMOURY side,

Contention,

dimicare, dimicatus, to contend. Mainly in the 17th century; used later for humorous

A name

(2)

See disme.

dime.

suggests that in the passage

hence

A deep,

dimble.

Whoop, do me no harm, good man'; puts him off, slights him, with 'Whoop, do me no harm, good man! A burthen, burden {

in COMUS, 1634: /

know

each lane, and

every alley green , Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood to a hollow in a forest;

lord (named

Tezelin, in the

Domesday Book) having been the King's cook. The word is a cor-

use since then has continued the associa-

ruption of the Latin phrase del girunt, possibly "by which it should be held."

dimble.

The

last service

the Coronation

tion.

A

of the dilligrout was at Banquet of George IV,

dipsas. to cause

A

child born

when

the parents

are old. So Bailey, in 1751. The O.E.D. suggests that it may be a corruption of

darling the

word

litter.

dear), applied to the youngIn country dialects (dilling pig),

(little

est child.

is

applied to the weakling of a

see slade; cp.

serpent whose bite was fabled a raging thirst. From Wyclif

(1382) through Milton (PARADISE LOST, 1667: see ellops) and Shelley, who in

1820. dilling,

For a further instance,

PROMETHEUS UNBOUND (1821) SaySt It thirsted As one bit by a dipsas. The plural is dipsades. From Greek dipsa, thirst, whence dipsomaniacs. Sylvester in his translation (1618) of Du Bartas says: Gold bewitches me, and frets accurst My greedy throat with more than dipsian thirst.

216

discinct

dipsian

See dipsas.

dipsian. diral.

Terrible;

general application; discalceation common in the Eastern lands

dire

rare alternate form)

(of

which

it

is

a

pertaining to the

;

Furies. Latin Dirae, the Furies, the dire

The Romans

ones.

Greek

also

euphemistic

of

appellation

noun

the

dirity, dreadfulness, as in

a sermon of Hooker (1586) able

the rigour

is

and

:

So unappeas-

dirity

of his cor-

rective justice.

snatching away; dragging apart (as when a man is tied by the legs to two stallions whipped off in

direption.

Pillaging;

different directions Cp. diffugient)

Latin

di-,

asunder

+

.

From

rapere, rep turn

also rape. Fairly common (as was the sacking of captured towns) 15th-18th

whence

An

emphatic form of annul.

would

Our

laws

may not

they,

.

.

.

Which

disanull)

It

(instead of forming antonyms, as

simulation, dissimulation. Also

dis-,

away, off

calceus,

a

calceate

was

shoe; first

+

calx,

discalced.

calceare, to shoe; calcis,

used of

heel.

friars

.

.

.

to

whom

On

blossoming Caesar.

discerp. To dismember; pull to pieces; to pluck or tear off; sever. Used from the dis, apart + carpere, with other prefix, English

15th century. La