Dictionary of Early English

DICTIONARY OF EARLY ENGLISH

MIDCENTURY REFERENCE LIBRARY DAGOBERT

D.

RUNES,

Ph.D., General Editor

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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. Latin pick,

pluck;

excerpt (picked from) . Hence discernible, discerptible; the soul, said the CONTEMPO-

with

the

is

discerptible,

and

body.

an alternate view: His principle was, that the human soul, discerped from the soul of the universe, after death was re-fused was defined by Johnson (1775) be destroyed by disunion

of parts/ Also discerption, the action of pulling to pieces, of tearing off; a portion thus severed, discerptive, tending to pull to

pieces,

promoting division

("in

the

.

Ungirt; loosely clad.

Hence

dis-

a knight was disgraced, he suffered discincture, 'the depriving of the belt/ The

unloose; flammable, inflammable; ravel, unravel.

Latin

hearts

cincture, ungirding; Latin dis, away 4cingere, cinctum, to gird; see cinct. When

loose,

discalceate.

their sweets

discinct.

connect, disconnect, etc.) intensifies the meaning are embowel, disembowel; sever,

Also

The

ranks," or in a party)

same meanings. Other instances where the

Barefoot.

also:

as 'liableness to

opposite course was taken in the case of shevel, sheveled, which have been supplanted by dishevel, disheveled, with the

dissever;

but

I gave their wishes, do discandie, melt

divisibility,

the 17th century has been largely supplanted by the simple form annul. The

prefix

,

Shakespeare

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

into the parent-substance, discerp tibility,

Princes,

but since

,

uses discander in (1606)

from a candied or

dissolve

Also discander.

state.

East Apthorp, however, in his LETTERS ON THE PREVALENCE OF CHRISTIANITY (1778) presented

was used by Shakespeare (THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, 1590:

To

discandy. solid

RARY REVIEW in 1867,

See diral.

disannul.

their hats.

perishes

century. dirity.

the

action of taking off the shoes in reverence. In the West men more usually take off

borrowed the

Furies: Eumenides, daughters of kindness. There is also an infrequent (16th-18th

century)

more is

Dis-

or nuns

whose order was barefoot, then in more

word was also used figuratively; Trapp in his COMMENTARIES (1647: LUKE) declared: A loose, discinct, and diffluent mind is unfit to serve God. Landor in his WORKS (1846) tells: In the country I walk and wander about discinct.

217

dishonest

discomfish

See scomfit.

discomfish.

discount.

Literally, to

count

to leave out of account, to

to

subtract,

detract

deduct,

separate, scatter, go apart,

disintegrate.

The

From Latin

dis~,

lect;

mean

disregard;

whence was also

off,

the current financial sense. It

used to

To

disgregate.

+

gregare, to col-

In a sermon of 1631,

flock.

gregem,

Donne

opposite of congregate. apart

The beams

said:

their

of .

from.

Thus

Butler in HUDIBRAS

(1664)

:

For the more languages a man can speak, His talent has but sprung the greater leak; And for the industry he has spent upon't Must full as much some other way Yet he that is but able to discount .

.

.

express No sense at

all in several languages Will pass for learneder than he that's known To speak the strongest reason in

his own.

disembogue.

To come

out of land-waters

This of

is

might be scattered (rendered divergent)

that without concord a gregation be, but no congregation.

The con

An

alteration of a fashion or

a new,

ostentatious or distinctive

disguise.

stated

as a suffix: in this wise; lengthwise, cross-

Baskerville talked with

such as hee hearde intended to quit com-

panie before they were disembogued. De Quincey in a letter of 1823, on education,

The

presses of Europe are still disemboguing into the ocean of literature.

Pope in THE ODYSSEY (1725) mentions the deep roar of disemboguing Nile (a sound should like to hear!) ; three years later THE DUNCIAD he moves in more familiar

waters:

.

.

.

by Bridewell all descend (As

morning-pray' r and flagellation end) To \where Fleet-Ditch with disemboguing streams, Rolls the large tribute of dead

dogs to Thames,

The King

of dykes!

sluice of mud sable blots the silver flood. us turn to AN ADDRESS TO

whom no

down upon

Also as a verb; the

sense (from

form.

The

intent of concealment also de-

it became dominant by the 17th. Whetstone in AN HEPTAMERON OF CIVILL DISCOURSES (1582) said: In this cittie there was an old custome that what man so ever committed adulterie should lose his head, and

veloped in the 14th century;

.

the

.

.

woman

offender should ever after be

infamously noted by the wearing of some disguised apparrell. disheveled.

With deeper

dishonest.

into the

the stage, to

first

the 14th century) was to alter the style or appearance, to make different, to trans-

See disannul.

Than

this let

THE HOPEFUL YOUNG GENTRY OF ENGLAND, which in 1669 declared that wit does not need to call a deity

.

wise)

From

way open and disembogued.

+ Romanic

+

.

in

may

gone;

guisa from Old High German wisa, manwhence English ner, mode, appearance wise (the noun, surviving in phrases and

a river or strait) Via the Spanish: dis en, in + boca, mouth. Maynarde in his

I

it

is

a disgregation rather:

fashion. Latin dis, de, apart

said:

,

confusing or obscuring the sight. Bishop Andrews in a sermon of 1626 said thus

hence, to pour forth, to empty out. The disembogue, disembogure, the mouth (of

Thomas

.

based on the then current theory which held that visual rays

style;

that Sir

.

vision,

into the sea; to flow out, to flow into;

account of DRAKE'S VOYAGE (1595)

eyes

so that were scattered and disgregated they could not confidently discern him.

make

its

Used

as

a verb from the 14th

17th century, meaning: to

dis-

honor, bring disgrace upon; to defame, calumniate; to violate, defile; to deform, render ugly or repellent. Whetstone in

AN

HEPTAMERON

OF

CIVILL

DISCOURSES

(1582) pictured Andrugio, to save his

18

life,

dislimn

distrain

beseeching his

sister

Cassandra to give shalt be de-

efface the outlines of, erase,

become effaced, to vanish. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA Shakespeare Sometimes we see a clowd (1606) says: in

A

that's dragonish,

beare or lyon, . pendent rock .

vapour sometime

A

towered

That which

.

is

now

a

a a

An

form of the com-

early

the 14th to the 17th century, especially the tithe or the share for the

man

slain, as

tithe*

in Shake-

Old

French

A

story-teller,

gestes; a jester.

Latin, dis,

away from

having lands, and

insult;

treat like

a dog.

To

distrain.

+

persona

(origi-

press,

fiscate;

to tear off, tear asunder.

him

speaks

despetously, dispersons

Shakespeare

JULIET sense

literal

its

(1592)

of

in

(1381) of

;

sense,

hence

word in ROMEO AND

first

THE PARLEMENT OF

The

it

gentyl faucoun that with his

The

kyngis hand. Spenser

says in

developed the

(plantations; Spenser speaks in 1596 of countries planted with English

Chaucer FOULES

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) That same net so cunningly was wound That neither guile nor force might it distraine.

took this

removing persons from their

settlements

squeeze; confine, reseize, con-

compel; to

person; dignity. ALEXANDER spittis in his

For spyte he

feet distraynyth

out of

beauteous

restraine the one, dis-

constrain,

foule.

displant.

blest with

They would

wives,

strain;

,

said:

face, Dispises

him

Latin

a reciter of

taine the other.

disperson.

mask)

dirty;

:

See dizzard.

To

(1400)

from

discolor,

OF LUCRECE (1594) The silver-shining her twinkling he would distain; queen handmaids too; and in RICHARD m: You

been as dear as Helen.

tell.

to

stain;

from Latin dis, away 4- tingere, tinctum, whence tinge, tint, tincture. In the first sense, Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) says: / found her golden girdle cast astray Distaynd with durt and blood. In the second, Shakespeare has, in THE RAPE

*

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606): Let Helen go. Since the first sward was drawn about this question, Every tithe soul, mongst many thousand dismes, Hath

Via

a

hence, to defile, dishonor. Via Old French

speare's

dicere, to

reverse

See semble. AN ASYLUM FOR

To

distain.

From

of war, every tenth

town,

right to dissemble your love, But why did you kick me downstairs?

to dime, disme (15th to 17th century) to take a tenth of; to divide into tenths.

church or the government. Also a

a

Displant

dissemble.

dime; Old French disme,, Latin decima, a tenth part, decem, ten. Also,

nally,

Juliet,

FUGITIVE PIECES, in 1785, printed anonymously the now noted lines: Perhaps it was

mon

disour.

THE LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW of

love in the religious stoicism of the day.

in water.

Tenth.

Hence

doom, It helps not, it prevails not; talk no more!' But Dante, in the same Verona, found not merely an adequate but an apt substitute for his lost

horse, even with a thoght The racke dislimes and makes it indistinct As water is

disme.

.

prince's

like

citadel,

lost)

June 1847 quoted Shakespeare: 'Hang up philosophy! Unless philosophy can make

to

a

and

root up; to supplant; Shakespeare in OTHELLO speaks of the displanting of Cassio.

To

blot out;

shortly displanted

.

also, to

flowred, but not dishonested.

dislimn.

.

.

Lord Prornos: Thou

herself to

:

n (1583) cries: fathers goods are all distraynd, and

Shakespeare in RICHARD

My

sold.

219

The word was

very

common from

dole

divirginate the 13th to the 17th century, being used in law: distrain,, to hold as a forfeit to

piece cut off, dvita, to cut) a Dutch coin worth half an English farthing. Shake-

ensure the fulfilment of an obligation;

speare in

to sell

later

chattels

(18th century) satisfy a debt, especially arrears of rent; to distrain upon a person, to enforce

such a

claimed:

See devirginate.

divirginate.

A

fool.

a

Perhaps but soon linked q.v.,

More than one man

LITERATURE.

whence

that

field)

man

doddard.

A

has lost

top branches (by decay)

tree (especially,

to

an oak) that

dod meant

clipped, polled, hornless

to

.

The

blunt

charity,

food doled out.

dolium,

grief,

dolorific,

doloriferous,

indolency,

dodling his head; or to toddle or waddle, as when THE SPECTATOR of 6 December, ,

.

.

with a

front of her. Doddy-pate and doddypoll are 15th through 18th century terms for blockhead, fool; they are related to the

verb dote, to be foolish, which is related to dod a 'dodded poll' being a sign of a simpleton, it seems. form of doddard.

And

dotard

is

another

doit.

A

nally

(perhaps via Norwegian dveit, a

trifling

sum; a very

litde. Origi-

causing

A

head, or walk feebly about, as in Urqutranslation of Rabelais: (1653)

pigs doddling about in

in

dole tree (19th century, piteous thing. e.g., Stevenson, dule tree), a gallows, a hanging-tree. From this dole also came

hart's

little

made

Late Latin whence French deuil; Latin (2)

dole, to lament; dolent, mournful; clothes, weeds of dole, mourning garments. Also pain; also, that which rouses sorrow, a

are the

A

1884, speaks of a pretty girl

di-

pain, suffering grief. Grief, mental distress; mourning; lamentation. To make

and by exten-

The doddings

dal, dael,

being

one's portion or lot in life: Happy ; be his dole. From this meaning came

Hence

cuttings (e.g., the wool cut near the tails doddle is a pollard; also, an of sheep) . infirm person. To doddle is to shake the

quantity of

state of

dolere, to grieve, to suffer; dolor, grief, pain, anguish; also in English, dolor.

the top of a thing; hence, to clip a person's hair or an animal's horns dodded,

behead.

The

the current uses of dole, a gift

See indocible.

Old English verb

Old English

(1)

also deal.

vided; division. Hence, a portion (16th to 18th century, a portion of a common

See dolk.

to

anybody out of the family about W. Penn!

many meanings.

prides himself on being a wizard is by his friends esteemed a very dizzard.

sion,

if

This common form came into the language from three sources; it has had

cendizzy. A frequent 16th and 17th the into 19th used of term tury contempt, century, as in D' Israeli's CURIOSITIES OF

its

As

dole.

with

docible.

They

says:

See do Ik.

doke. originally

variant of disour,

doak.

(1610)

of Friends cared a doit

sale.

dizzard.

THE TEMPEST

will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar; Mrs. Carlyle in a letter of 1849 ex-

to

indolence,

freedom from pain,

first

meant

insensibility

or in-

which

difference to pain; thus, also,

an indolent

ulcer, one causing no pain. From this came the current meaning of indolent, lazy; Addison in verses of 1719 wrote: While lull'd by sound, and undisturbed by wit, Calm and serene you indolently sit.

An

indolent man, however,

himself in need of a dole.

(3)

may

Greek

find

dolos,

deceit. Guile, deceit; deliberate mischief;

in Scotch law, dole means the malicious or evil intent that makes a misdeed a

crime.

220

Thus Chambers

in his CYCLOPAEDIA

dolk

dop

Under and

errors of the will,

domitare, whence English domitable, a rare form, surviving in the negative, in-

which are immediately productive of the

domitable, untamable. Bailey's DICTIONARY

stated:

(1753)

hended the criminal

vices

act.

Hence

ally deceitful;

also dolose, intention-

maliciously intended; do-

hidden malice;

losity,

dole are compre-

deceitfulness.

Lord

Cranford in THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN (31 July, 1861) wrote: Without accusing learned friend of being dolose, he did accuse him of having misled their his

.

.

.

The word dole took many among them dool, dule, deol, del,

lordships.

forms,

doylle, dol} doale, doel, dowle, duyl, duill, dulle. In hunting, said Turberville in his

VENERIE (1576), the houndes must be rewarded with the bowels, the bloud and the feete

.

.

.

it is

not called a reward but

a dole. Milton used the word figuratively

APOLOGY FOR SMECTYMNUS (1642) : the busy almoner to deal about this dole of laughter and reprehension? A dole-window was a window from which doles were distributed, as to a in his

Who made you

A

dimple, a dint or tiny hollow. Also doke, doak. THE SPECTATOR of 20 January, 1866, mentions a little doke in the

end of the dolose.

nose.

See dole.

dolphin. An early variant of dauphin; used by Shakespeare. The French dauphin

domation and domature, which the O.EJX

(1933) ignores.

A medieval

dondaine. stones.

engine for hurling it dondine,

Lydgate (1430) spells but rhymes it with attayne.

A

grammar; hence, a primer in From Aelius Donaa 4th century scholar whose elemen-

donet.

any tusy

Also donat.

field.

tary

Latin grammar

(ARS

GRAMMATICA)

became the standard. doniferous.

Bearing

a

as

gift,

Santa

come Christmastide. The word, found in 17th and 18th century dictionGlaus

aries,

may be

Book

II of the

trust

traced to Virgil's lines in AENEHX "Men of Troy,

not the horse! Whatever

it is,

the Greeks even bearing gifts"

Danaos

breadline. dolk.

(1751) also gives

both meaning taming

et

ferentes.

Early form of dungeon. The old usually retained for the mean-

donjon. spelling

dona

I fear

Timeo

is

ing 'the great tower or innermost keep of a castle.' The word is from Late Latin

domnionem, castle, from domnus, dominus, lord, whence also dominion. A 1678 translation of Gaya's THE ART OF WAR ex-

was derived from delphinus (the name of the fish), the proper name of the lords

plains donjon as a place of retreat in a town or place, to capitulate in with greater a definition security in case of extremity

the Viennois, whose province was thence called Dauphine. The last lord of

of realism, but hardly of romance. Scott was fond (as in MARMION, 1808) of the

Dauphind, Humbert

battled towers, the donjon keep.

of

to

III,

on ceding the

of Valois,

in

1349, province Philip stipulated that the title dauphin should thereafter be borne by the heir to the

throne of Naples.

Tamable. From Late Latin domabilis, tamable, from domare, to tame. The frequentative form of domare was

domable.

dool.

doom.

See dole. See deemster.

dop.

An

verb.

Hence,

old form of dip, as noun and a bow, a quick curtsey.

Jonson in CYNTHIA'S REVELS (1599) marks: The Venetian dop, 221

this.

re-

dor

dossal

As a noun:

dor.

An

(1)

insect that flies

sound. Also dorr, dore^ doar. Probably echoic in origin. Also dorbee, dor-fly; dumble-dor, the dung-beetle. Also, a drone bee; hence, an idler, a lazy

with a

humming

drone, a dor-head.

An old

dare. (3) ery,

An

(2)

form for

making game

(of)

;

old form for

Mock-

deer. (4) to give

one the

dor, to put the dor upon. Milton in

(1642) WTOte the dorre upon him-

home

A

(5) simpleton, a fool. Jonson in CYNTHIA'S REVELS (1599) uses give him

self.

the dor, also: This night's sport, Which our court-dors so heartily intend. As a verb: dull

dor, dorr, durr, to

(a)

(color)

Pliny

;

(1601)

to deaden.

make dim or

Holland in his

says of colors:

The

light-

nesse or sadnesse of the one doth quicken and raise, or eh dorr and take downe the

colour of the other,

make game

(b)

dor, dorre, to

mock, confound. 'Smectymnus' in his ANSWER (1641) said: This is but a blind, wherewith the Bishop would dorre his reader. To dor the dotterel, to of,

hoax a simpleton. The form

dotterel

is

related to dote; cp. doddard. Also dottrel,

and more. It meant a silly person; especially, one whose intellect is decayed. It was also applied to a kind of plover, dotrill,

because the bird

(like

a fool)

allows

it-

and to a doddered tree. Thy words, said Bauldwin in his TREATISE OF MORALL PHILOSOPHIE (1547) savour of old idle dottrels tales. This should suggest some new answers to the self to

be

easily taken;

,

old riddle:

dorbeL

A

pretender Dorbellus

When

is

a door not a door?

,

(whose

name gave us dunce) Hence

dorbelish,

licall

and lumpish.

.

dorbellical,

stupid,

also

clumsy.

.

.

When

(1592) spoke uglye, dorbel-

.

the dorbel rings,

Dunce has remained.

the dunce enters.

See hastlet.

dorrye.

See dossal.

dorse.

A

dorter.

sleeping-room; sleeping quarin a monastery. Cp. dossal.

ters; especially

Also

dortour,

dortore,

dortoire;

Old

French dortour, dortoir; Latin dormitorium, dormitory; dormitare to be sleepy, t

A

dormire, dormitum, to sleep. word from the 13th to the 17th

fall asleep;

common

Nashe in PIERCE PENNILESS (1592) make them jolly long winded to trot up and downe the dorter staires. Bishop Andrewes in a sermon of 1626 century;

said: It will

spoke of a cemetery as a great dortor; Heywood in PROVERBS (1562) said: The

mouth Silence

is

assynde to be the tounges dorter.

is

golden.

dossal. (1) An ornamental cloth for the back of a seat, especially a throne, or for the back of an altar. Bulwer-Lytton in HAROLD (1848) pictures a hawk perched on the dossal of the Earl's chair. Cp. anti-

A

(2) pannier, a basket carried the back, or two such hanging over the

macassar.

on

back of a beast of burden, as Chaucer mentions (1384: dosser) in THE HOUS OF FAME. Also dossel, dosel, dosser, dorse, dorsel. Old French dossel, from dos (Latin dorsum) back. From the general sense "back" various other forms have come. A dorter (dortour) q.v., is a sleeping-room, ,

dormitory. dull-witted pedant; a foolish to learning. From Nicholas

(Nicholas de Orbellis, died a professor of Scholastic Philosophy at Poitiers, a follower of Duns Scotus 1455)

of sheepish discourse

THE

APOLOGY FOR SMECTYMNUS that he brings

Nashe in PIERCE PENNILESS

To

dorse was 18th

and 19th

century boxing slang for to knock down (flat on the back) ; Wilson in NOCTES AM(1826) wisely remarked that the straight hitting soon dorsers your

BROSIANAE

.

.

.

roundabout hand-over-head

hitters.

(perhaps, however, another word)

Dorty

meant

sulky, then saucy, haughty; dort, dortiness,

222

dotant

dowlas

dortiship, all meant ill-humor, the sulks. dosser is one who sleeps at a cheap

we

A

read: Heer's dousets

lodging-house; a happy dosser (19th century) was one find a place.

who slept wherever he

To

doze,

which of course

doundrins.

One cannot

eyes fixed

on the

today they are ubiquitous.

always keep one's

tury. Cp. dup. Rastell in A HUNDRED MERRY TALES (1526) said Dout the candell and dout the fyre. Shakespeare in HAMLET

that dotes, a simpleton. see doddard. Shake-

notes that the dram of base Doth the noble substance often dout To his own scandal. (1603)

speare has, in CORIOLANUS (1607) : Such a decay'd dotant as you seem to be.

doddard.

See

Also

dotehead,

See dor.

dotterel.

put out, extinguish. From do

Also dout, douter, an extinguisher. Used from the 16th into the 18th cen4- out.

dossal!

blockhead; doter.

To

dout.

variant of dotard;

dotard.

Afternoon drinkings. Bailey these as in Derbyshire, but

literary English

A

One

dotant.

lists

(1751)

before the 17th century, but the practice dates at least as far back as schools and churches.

See douth.

dought.

could

does not require one to lie on the back, is apparently from the Scandinavian. The

word does not appear in

and flappjacks,

and I ken not what.

all

douth. Virtue, power; good deed; manhood. Early English, from a common Teutonic form. Early dugan, to be good. Later

appears as dought (18th century) perhaps a back-formation from doughty, also related to dugan. Doughty is now archaic or humorous. ,

A

douce-ame.

sweetly savory dish, recipe

THE FORME OF cuRY (1390) Take gode cowe mylkf and do it in a pot. Take parsel, sawge, ysope, savray, and oother gode herbes, hewe hem, and do hem in the mylke, and seeth hem. Take capons half yrosted, and smyte hem on pecys, and do in

:

thereto pynes

and color

it

and hony

clarified. Salt it,

with safron, and serve

it

forth.

A

sweet thing; applied to various fruits (apple, grape) , then to dishes.

doucet.

Also dowcet, dulcet.

A

15th century recipe

called for pork, honey, pepper, and flowr, baked "in a cofyn." In the plural, a special delicacy, the testicles of a deer; Sir Walter Scott in WOODSTOCK speaks of (1826) broiling the . . . dowsets of the deer upon

dowlas.

A

doulas;

(in Scotland, late

douglas.

The word

coarse

linen.

is

Also

dowlace, 15th century) from the town of

Doulas in Brittany. A similar linen cloth, apparently finer, was called lockram or lockeram, from the nearby town of Locronan, 'cell of St. Roman/ Lockram was used for the cloth, and for articles made from it, from the 15th into the 18th cen-

word (lockeram) THE ABBOT (1820) Shakespeare in HENRY rv, PART ONE (1596) says: doulas, tury; Scott revived the

in

filthy

.

doulas

.

.

.

they have

made

boulters

the glowing embers with their own royal There was also a sweet-sounding

Dowlas was a very common cloth (linen, made of flax) in the 16th and 17th centuries; then the word began to

Chaucer's THE HOUS

be used of a strong calico substitute for

hands..

sort of flute

(as in

OF FAME, 1384) called the doucet. From French doucet, diminutive of douce, Latin dulcis, sweet In a poem of 1640

of them.

the linen.

The

shift in

meaning

is

in a trial recorded in PROCEEDINGS SESSIONS

223

shown AT THE

OF THE PEACE, April 1733; Goody

down

draught

Baker and Goody Trumper are arguing over the theft of a linen cap, of 'an

In

ordinary coarse cloth/ Tr. Coarse, but what sort I say? B. Why, it was of flax. Tr.

the arm.

Flax; very well!

Now my

palmistry, the dragon's tail is discriminal line between the hand

pecially, the refuse or grains of

was made of dowlas, and

this cap here is oath on't; and pray Goody Baker, do you call dowlas flax?

take

I'll

down.

See adown.

doxy.

(1) Mistress;

century

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR,

wench. From the 14th

swine eats

as slang: the mistress of a

(first

As

beggar or a vagabond) , prostitute; then wench; later, sweetheart. Shakespeare has a refrain in THE WINTER'S TALE (1611) :

With hey, the doxy over the

dale.

1598) , Still the draffe; Ferguson (1598) , fills the draff sours. Also in

all

the sow

combinations: Thanks phrase.

A

:

Chaucer's THE LEGEND OF GOOD

(1385) wryte the draff of stories, forgo the corn.

dragon's

draomian.

dragon-water.

Severe, harsh; character-

to

have established a severe

much admired, said Gifford (in Smiles' j. MURRAY) in 1819, the vaunt of draconianism, 'And all this I dare do, because I dare! Also draconism, code of laws. / never

draught.

(2)

course of one

of

these

dracontan per-

the mummer's tail came off. formances Other forms with the same meanings are draconic, draconical; dracontic used of .

the

.

See draconian.

tail.

A

medicinal

drink,

fre-

See drazel.

dratchell.

Relating to a dragon; Greek drakon, dragon. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (10 November, 1880) recorded that, in the

severity.

and

quently prescribed in the 17th century. The Water Poet (WORKS; 1630) spoke of dragon-water in most high request.

of Draco, archon of Athens in 621 said

WOMEN

To

:

Greek doxa, opinion.

B.C.,

but a draff-cheap paunch; a lazy

I lye as a draf-sak in my bed. The word was also used figuratively, as in (1386)

countless others, remarked: Orthodoxy is my doxy; heterodoxy is the other man's.

(1)

is

draffsack, a big

Chaucer in THE REEVE'S TALE

glutton;

(2)

Opinion, especially in regard to religion. Since the 18th century. Warburton, followed by John Quincy Adams (1778) and

istic

es-

malt after

brewing. Hence draffish, worthless. The word appears in various proverbs: Heywood (1546), Draffe is your errand, but drinke ye woulde; Shakespeare (THE

my

dowlas,

Dregs, refuse; swill for swine;

draff.

brother's cap

the

and

.

A

ing

From

(dragging)

the general sense of drawor pulling, other mean-

ings arose. These include: (1) drawing of breath. (2) a team of horses. (3) a take, quantity of fish in one draught of

the net; Ibs.

of

(19th century) , 20 the distance a bow can

specifically

eels.

shoot. (5) a

(4)

move

at chess or other

game;

found in the

the draught of a pawne, Beale noted in CHESS (1656) is only one house at a time.

dragon's brain was the (four syllabled) draconites (dracontites, dracondite) . In astronomy, dracontic, relating to the

bed of a stream; a ravine. (7) The entrails of an animal when drawn out; the

dragon

also

only; precious stone supposedly

dracontine.

Cp. drautt.

moon's nodes: the ascending node of the moon's orbit is known as the dragon's head; the descending, the dragon's

tail.

(6)

a current, flow. Also, the

A

pluck, q.v. (8) cesspool, sewer. Shakespeare in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606) CXclaims: Sweet draught: sweet quoth-a?

224

dretch

drautt

sweet sinke, sweet sure. Hence, a privy draught-house) Shakespeare in (also

dree.

To

dure,

suffer

TIMON OF ATHENS cries: Hang them, or stab them, drowne them in a draught. Hence also, a voiding of the bowels.

weird, to endure one's fate; the three fates are the weird sisters} ; to endure, to

;

last.

A

10th

A

ing gloves]

known only from

game

(draw-gloves; draw-

word was unexpectedly

addition to his

poem Draw-Gloves: At play

And

let it

be

prethee

Who

this:

twenty shall come. Shall have for his winning a kiss.

A

drazel.

slut.

So in 17th century use;

and 19th centuries used the forms dratchell and drotchell, as George Eliot in

the 18th

ADAM BEDE

(1859)

:

She's not a

flaunting dratchell, I can see

common

that.

These

See dririmancy.

dreche.

A variant

drede.

An

old form of dread.

bring up from the

in the 16th century; probably a variant of drag.}

water, occurs is

two dredge-boxes of golde*

to dredge, to first

an old form for

is

die.]

drepee. A dish, described in THE FORME OF CURY (1S90) Take blanched almandes, grynde hem, and temper hem up with :

gode broth; take oynouns a grete quantite, hem, and frye hem, and do

perboyle thereto.

Take smalle bryddes

[birds], per-

boyle hem, and do thereto pellydore, and

A mid-Victorian term for named because

it

amply

bum-

Lustier times called this article the

Hence, dredge-box, tragemata, spices. drageoir, dragenall, a box to hold sweets; Lord Berners in his translation (1525) of lists

beware! deye

.

especially,

came roundabout from the Greek

[The verb

The first year of wedlock is called pleye, the second dreye, and the third year deye. Lucky those that reach day so soon! [But

(though probably the ladies figured that while it dimmed the outline it accentuated the appeal)

medicine in the center. The candy dredge (drage, dragie, dregge; at first, two syl-

Froissart

.

covered the posterior

one containing a grain of spice. In the form dragee (19th century) one that has

lables)

.

dress-improver. the bustle; so

of dretch, q.v.

A comfit, a sweetmeat;

dredge.

.

a lytel grece.

are all variants of drossel, q.v. dreary.

was dree-

shrinketh her face of dree [trouble]. Lydgate in a poem of 1430 says:

draw-gloves we'll

A

though

half-moon

little

wager, and lay first to the sum Of

let's

Very common,

century; thereafter revived by Sir Walter

ing penance for some undiscovered sin at a family party) and others. Robert Bridges uses the noun in a poem of 1890: The

literary

spoken, could first draw off his (or her) gloves. Herri ck in HESPERIDES (1648) refers to it twice, in

adjective, heavy;

Scott (as in a letter of 1810: /

references; played 15th to 18th century. It seems to have been a race to see who,

certain

And an

16th

through

archaic,

draw-glove.

when a

Also a noun.

one's

dree

to

(especially,

long-suffering; long-lasting.

variant form of draught, q.v. For an instance of its use, see brynnyng. drautt.

commit; to en-

do, perform,

it

rowl, q.v. dretch.

To

trouble in sleep; to torment.

As a noun,

From

dretch, dretching, trouble. the 9th century. Also, from the 13th

century, to dretch, to delay, linger; protract.

Also dreche, dracche, drecche; not in other languages. Malory in

known

MORTE D'ARTHUR

(1485)

soo dretched that

of oure beddes naked. word in both senses.

225

We alle

:

somme

of

its

,

.

.

were

lepte oute

Chaucer uses the

drumble

dreynt dreynt. Drenched. An early form of the past tense and past participle of drench.

and mynce horn, and do and parsel, sauge, ysope, savery, and hewe horn smale, and do hit in the pot, and coloure hit with saffron, and do thereto powder of pepur, and of clowes, and of maces and alaye it wyth yolkes of rawe eggus and verjus; but let it not sethe after, and serve hit forthe.

and

A lord; hence, the Lord, God. Also drighton, drighten; sometimes shortdrightin.

ened to dright. Dright was English word

ing

army;

also

to the 13th century

Gothic go-draughts,,

Hence

take onyons,

thereto,

an Old mean-

f

soldier.

warrior,

drightfare, drightman, march, procession, throng, drightin was used from BEOWULF to the 15th century.

drosomely.

Hence

drightness, drihtnesse, majesty, godhead, drightful, drightlike, noble. In SIR

accent

GAWAYNE AND THE GRENE KNIGHT (1360) we are assured: Ful wel con Drightin

ignores

shape His servauntes for

in

The form

ant of dreary, which dror;

Old Norse then

bloody;

driry

first

dreyri, gore)

horrid,

dire,

is

.

(Old Saxon cruel

then

it.

A

drotchell.

drumble.

'A great vessel of the class of long ships'; one of the largest of medieval vessels, used in commerce and war. Also

dromon, dromoun, dromund, dromonde. Greek dromon, large vessel; dromos, running, course, as also in dromedary, 'ship of the desert/ a fleet breed of camel. The

:

of a dromond brought up the river from

Take

said: glasse.

An

inert or sluggish fellow, a

in

the

names of

insects,

clumsy

insect;

hence,

a heavy,

Hence,

sluggish,

drumble,

stupid person. drone, mumble;

to

sluggishly. In this sense, used

to

to

move

by Shake-

speare (MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR; -1598) ; revived by Scott (THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL; :

Why, how she drumbles

I war-

rant she stops to take a sip on the road. There are two other verbs, to drumble: to sound like a drum (the drumbling tabor; 17th century) (2) to trouble, disturb; to make drumly or turbid. Drumly, (1)

.

Dundee. 15th century dish:

a

dore,

1822)

1500

except historically, as by Scott in THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828) I have got the sternpost

A

War-

drumble-, drummel-, dumble-: a drumblebee, a humble-bee, bumble-bee; drumble-

dromond.

drore.

century.

See drazel.

Also

'drone/

:

after

Also drosell, drossell; cp.

See drury.

druery.

and finally the current dismal, gloomy, BEOWULF shows the first meaning, as does Spenser in THE FAERIE With their drery wounds. OJCJEENE (1590)

sad, melancholy,

word was not used

slut.

scum, recrement, or extraneous material thrown off ...

a vari-

gory,

pleasant word, although the O.E.D.

(1751),

Origin unknown; probably not related to dross, though the O.E.D. defines this as

.

meant

A

ner in Albion's England (1602) Now dwels each drossell in her

.

.

manna. Greek Four syllables,

Used from the 16th

drazel.

.

the second.

Bailey

drossel.

I dririmancy, scatomancy, pathology The reference here is to diagnosis rather

than divination.

on

to save.

dririmancy. See aeromancy. Reade in THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH (1861) has: / studied at Montpelier There learned .

Honey-dew;

drosos, dew; meli, honey.

vele or

motun, and smyte it on gobettes, and put it in a pot with watur, and let it sethe;

cloudy

(of the

sky), turbid

(of water)

was used from the 16th into the 18th century. And from Dutch drommelerf a

226

duke

drumly boat, a heavy-set man, English in the 1 6th centuries used drumbler, drum-

A

dub (noun).

and 17th

a

ler, for a small but fast boat, especially used as a privateer or by pirates.

muddy

road; stream.

pool of water, especially, on a dirt

pool, as of rain water

also,

a

deep pool in a shallow

Used from the 16th century;

in Scotland. Burns uses

See drumble.

drumly.

it

in

TAM

still

O'SHAN-

(1790): Stevenson in KIDNAPPED (1886) has: 'Here's a dub for ye to jump.'

TER

It is amusing to think that the two great (licenced) theatres of England for two centuries, drew their names from

drary.

the same mood. Covent Garden was convent garden; Drury Lane was modesty (sobriety) lane. So at least Bailey (1751), defining drury as modesty. The O.E.D., however, will have none of this. It lists

drury as one of many different spellings of druery, which means love, especially illicit love; a love token or gift; a sweet-

A

chair on the end of a duckingstool. for plank, plunging scolds, dishonest

tradesmen, and other offenders, into water and public obloquy. One on wheels, so that the offender might be more widely exhibited, was called a ducking-tumbrel

See cuckingstool.

dudgeon.

(1)

A

kind of wood used for

heart.

handles, as of knives; probably boxwood. Hence, a hilt made of this wood; Shake-

traut,

speare has in Macbeth 1605 I see ... on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood.

Old Druery (ultimately from French dru, drut, lover, akin to German beloved,

whence

lish drut, darling)

was

also

Old Eng-

common from

the 13th through the 15th century; Chaucer in SIR THOPAS (1386) says: Of ladies love

and druerie Anon I wol you tele. In SIR GAWAYNE AND THE GRENE KNIGHT (1360) the Green Knight's lady tempted Sir Gawain: The lady loutes adoun And comlyly kisses his face;

Much

speche thay ther

expoun Of druries greme and drat.

Hence, from dudgeon-dagger, shortened to dudgeon, a dagger. (2) Perhaps the same word, from "looking daggers'* (?),

came to mean resentment, anger. Scott in THE ANTIQUARY (1816) says They often but usually the high no one has

parted in deep dudgeon is

preceding adjective ever been seen in low dudgeon. See couth;

clapperdudgeon.

grace.

(1) As a verb, to behave like a duke (with an implication of ostentation); Shakespeare in MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1603) says: Lord Angelo Dukes it well in

duke.

See drury.

A

wood nymph, a spirit that indryad. habits trees. Greek dry as, plural dryades; drys, dryos, tree. Hence also dryadic. By transference, a sylvan maiden, a denizen of the woods. Health, said Warton

Young

in BATHING (1790) , a dryad-maid in vesture green. In bathing, one is more

his absence.

(2)

The

castle in chess.

A

17th century term, explained by Middleton in A GAME AT CHESS (1624) E, :

There's the full

number

of the game;

likely

Kings, and their pawns, queen, bishops,

poem; a canto of a long poem. Gaelic word, first used in English by Macpherson in OSSIAN (1765) . Burns and

keeper of the forts. (3) In phrases. To dine with Duke Humphrey, to go dinner-

to

meet a neread,

duan.

q.v.

A

A

Byron followed him.

knights, and dukes. J. Dukesf they're called rooks by some. E. Corruptively. Le roch, the word, custodi& de la roch, The

less.

227

Supposed

to

have arisen in the 17th

dulcarnon

dungeonable

Humphrey's Walk in. London, where persons in hopes of an invitation

substance

they received none, they dined with Duke Humphrey. Also 17th

dulcimer.

century, the Duke of Exeter's daughter, a rack-like instrument of torture, used in

dule.

century,

from

old

Paul's,

St.

would to

loiter

dinner;

Sir

rejoices in intenerating

flesh of

so mild

.

.

.

young

and dulcifying a and dulcet as the

pigs.

if

See dulcet.

See dole.

used

in

Roman

the

the Tower of London, supposedly invented by the Duke. Similarly, Scavenger's daughter, invented by Sir W. Skevington,

Catholic religion of the minor type ot veneration, of saints and angels, as con-

The gunner's daughter, cannon to which a seaman was

servitude;

Lieutenant of the Tower.

be flogged. There was also

to

lashed,

Madame

Guillotine.

A

dulcaraon.

perphrase at dulcarnon, at one's

plexed. The end. Chaucer

am,

til

(1374),

god me

AND

TROYLUS

in

"Crisseide" remarks:

my

/

minde sende, At

bettre

dulcarnon, right at

adjective,

meaning

wittes ende.

sound, or

clude dulce

sweet,

taste.

agreeable

adjective)

to

;

dul-

cean; dulceous; dulcid, sweet; dulcifluous,

sweetly flowing; dulciloquent, with honeyed words; and of course the dulcimer,

on which the damsel played in Coleridge's KUBLA KHAN. The dulcimer occurs earlier, in Pepys* DIARY (23 May, 1662) and Milton's PARADISE LOST (1667), and is the earliest prototype of the piano. dulcify.

To

sweeten (in

taste

And

or disposi-

dulcoamare, bitter-sweet.

Dulcify was also used, in the 19th century, to mean to speak sweetly or in bland tones.

In alchemy,

it

Greek douleia,

q.v.

Hence,

rarely, dulically

and

though

dulian.

In phrases. A.

Dun

is

in the mire:

(1) "Everything (2) A Christmas game. A log is brought into the room, and the cry is raised that Dun (the cart-horse; dun was from the 14th century is

a

common name

at a standstill."

for a horse

stuck in the mire.

from the

Two

more join them in the play, there are "sundry arch contrivances to let the ends of it fall on one another's toes" and out;

other sources of merriment. Finally, Dun is drawn out of the mire, and put on the

Dun

is

done." This

is

fire.

B.

the mouse:

"The

task

is

a jesting way of saying settled, or completed, by a

something is nonsense pun on the color of a mouse.

Shakespeare alludes to both these phrases, ROMEO AND JULIET (1592) Romeo, before the masked ball at

in the verbal play of .

tion) ; to mollify, to appease. Cp. dulcet; edulcorate. Hence also dulcity, dulcitude,

sweetness.

latria,

doulos, slave.

color) persons pretend to be trying vainly to pull Dun

Earlier forms in-

(noun and

with

is

See doucet. Dulcet survives as an

dulcet.

sight,

a person

dilemma;

Servitude;

trasted

dun.

wit's

CRISEYDE

dulia.

was used of washing

the Capulets',

nere

so*

faire,

dun's

is aweary: The game was and I am done. Mercutio:

the

mouse, the constable's thou art dun, weele draw thee from the mire Of this sirreverence love wherein thou stick'st Up to the ears. Tut,

owne word.

If

dungeonable.

Shrewd,

"deep." In the From the figura-

soluble acids out of a substance; Subtle

17th and 18th centuries.

Jonson's THE ALCHEMIST (1610) Can you sublime, and dulcefie? Lamb's famous essay on roast pig in ELIA (1822)

tive use of the noun, as applied to a person of profound learning. Boswell in his JOURNAL OF A TOUR TO THE HEBRIDES

asks, in

:

228

dwale

dup (1773) tells us: Lady Lochbury said 'He was a dungeon of wit.'

To open (as a gate or door). So the O.E.D.; Edward's WORDS, FACTS, AND

dup.

PHRASES (1912) as plausibly says, to fasten. The word dup is a contraction of do up, Shakespeare has, in HAMLET (1602) Then up he rose, and don'd his clothes, and

durgen. An undersized creature; a dwarf. Also durgan. Fielding in THE TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES; OR TOM THUMB (1730) has a character cry: And can my princess such a durgen wed!

See piepowder.

dustyfoot.

:

dupt the chamber door. The slang meant either to open or to fasten; it corrupt form of dup, which

dub is

a

have had either meaning. Formed in the same way were don, do on; doff, do off; dout,

may

also

q.v.

durance.

noun

Continuation,

duration.

The

superseded by endurance. Hence, a stout, durable cloth (16th to 18th century) , used

by Cornwallyes in his ESSAYS / refuse to wear buffe for the lasting, and shall I be content to apparrell my braine in durancef The word is dimly

figuratively

(1601)

:

remembered, from

historical romances, in

the sense of imprisonment, especially in durance vile. In this sense it is akin to

duress

which

(also first

from Latin durus, hard) , meant hardness, roughness,

violence; then firmness; then forcible restraint,

is

imprisonment.

Shakespeare

in

PART TWO (1597) says that Doll in base durancef and contagious [pesti-

HENRY

rv,

lential] prison.

dure.

(1)

An

is due. That which one Late Latin debutus, from from ought deb ere, debitus, whence also debt, that which one owes. Due respect, as in Chaucer's THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) That ,

good Arcite Departed is with duetee and honour Out of this foule prison of .

this life.

ob

of the verb dure, q.v. Also durancy;

That which

duty.

-f

form of endure, used

from the 13th through the 17th century. The form during, now used as a preposition, was originally a participle of dure. French durer, to last; Latin durare, to harden, be hardened, last; durus, hard. Hence also, as an adjective (2) hard. Related to dour. Even in the 19th century,

.

slave has obligations (Latin to bind) ; a free man has

ligare,

As Henry Fielding

duties.

When

said in 1730:

I'm thanked enough; I've done my duty, and I've done no more. Thomas Jefferson, whom many I'm not thanked at

all,

profess to admire, said in 1789:

wish

go on in a

My

great

but silent performance of my duty; to avoid attracting notice, and to keep my name out of newsis

papers.

to

The

satiric

strict

use of the

word was

emphasized by W. S. Gilbert, who in RUDDYGORE (1887) playfully remarks that duty must be done and Painful though that duty be, To shirk the task were fiddlefirst

more condescendingly, is what one expects from others and Bernard Shaw: de-dee. After him,

Oscar Wilde remarked: Duty

When early

A

.

is

a stupid

ashamed

of,

man

is doing something he he always declares that it

In the wake of these cynical customs duty is always hated) moral duty has been increasingly disregarded. The word, if used today, it

his duty.

remarks

(while

often arouses a surprised distaste.

O

tem-

poral

Bulwer-Lytton (in HAROLD; 1848) wrote: In reply to so dure a request. Marlowe and Nashe in DIDO (1594) had: / may not

dwale. (1) Delusion; deceit; a deceiver, a transgressor; a heretic. Used in these senses from the 10th through the 13th

dure

century. (2)

this

female drudgery.

229

A

soporific drink;

a stupefy-

dwell

dyspathy

ing dose

(as of the juice

belladonna).

Chaucer

or an infusion of

dwell.

See dwale.

THE REEVE'S needed no dwale.

dwole.

See dwale.

in

TALE (1386) says: Hem Thus, 14th-18th century. The verb dwale had as alternate forms dwole, dwell. It first

meant

to confuse, to lead into error;

to stun, stupefy.

Thence, to remain for a

time, in a condition or a place. Hence the meaning in which the form dwell has sur-

vived.

Chaucer

also used

dwale to

mean

dya.

See dia.

Expressing dispraise. The opof eulogistic. THE SPECTATOR of 2 posite 1887, speaks of the dyslogistic names July, dyslogistic.

by which it pleases each side to denominate its opponents.

plant from deadly nightshade, which belladonna and atropine are extracted, the most sinister of all the witches'

dyspathy. Aversion. The opposite of sympathy. Hence, dyspathetic. Also dispathy. Lowell in a letter of 1886 remarks: What

brew.

you say of Carlyle

the

the

230

is

.

.

.

not dyspathetic.

A

vived by Scott in THE MONASTERY (1820) (3) Advantage, comfort, enjoyment. Also revived by Scott, in THE HEART OF MID-

tidal wave; especially, the high eagre. crest of the tide's rushing up a narrowing

eger,

Humber, Trent, and

as in the

estuary

Severn

rivers.

egre;

Also

agar,

.

eager,

q.v.;

higra,

aegir,

eygre,

more. Sir Francis Palgrave (1851)

(1818). (4) The right to use something not one's own, as a roadway

LOTHIAN

hyger,

and

through a neighbor's ground, or water

wrote

from

eau-guerre, as though 'warring waters/ Drayton in POLYOLBION (1612) wrote: it

with whose tumultuous waves Shut

up

still

as a legal term, this

his spring

is

current.

in eath.

in

smooth; gentle, ready, susat ease. Also eith, comfortable, ceptible; eth, eethy and the like. Hence ethi modes,

bring forth lambs, to yean. Also enen, enye, eyne. Thus eaned, born (used of a lamb) ; eanling, a young

came edmod, humble, meek; also edmede, athmod, admod, edmodi. Into the 13th century, edmede was also used as a noun, meaning gentleness, humility; so edmod-

lamb. Shakespeare in THE MERCHANT OF

ness. Eathly, easy;

narrower bounds, the higre wildly raves. Dryden in a THRENODY of 1685 wrote that like an eagre rode His manly heart triumph oer the tide. .

.

.

Easy,

gentle of mood, from which

gentle,

ean.

To

eanian,

VENICE

(1596) tells of all the eanelings which were streakt and pied. Dire as a

smiting haile f said Daniel in an ECLOGUE f (1648) , to new-ean d lambs. ear.

See unear*d. Also earer, a plowman,

in Wyclif's BIBLE (1382; ISAIAH) ear-bussing.

See

earik.

earling.

easement.

.

hence,

trifling,

of short

mean

low

nature, duration; station, worth. Eaths, easily; also, uneaths,

little

with

difficulty.

THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE

A foole is eith to old Scotch proverb, with less general truth, declares: God's bairns are eath to lear pear n= teach]. (1400)

well observes:

An

bigyle [beguile].

See buss.

commonly

See aiding. (1)

Relief from pain or an-

:

Hence, stool of easement, toilet; dogs of easement, a second string to relieve tired dogs on a hunt. (2) Refreshment, comfortable board and lodging. So re-

One

that fishes below bridge, ebbing water. From ebb + er, one who + man. Also hebberrnan, Used in the 18th century, along the lower Thames.

ebberman.

eric.

noyance. Chaucer has, in THE REEVE'S TALE Some esement has lawe yshapen (1386) us.

of

Drunkenness.

ebriety.

enness

at

Habitual drunk-

ebriosity. Ebrious, tipsy; copiebriose. Latin ebrius, drunk. drunk, ously Note that inebriety and inebrious are not is

negatives;

231

the

in-

is

intensifying.

Cp.

eckle

ebuccinate couth. See comessation. Ebriety from wine for the pleasure of the journey; from

is

whisky, for the relaxing after the trip. From beer? That must have a reason, too. ebuccinate.

To

e buccinator;

as

trumpet forth. Hence Becon declared in NEWS :

Elderberry wine.

From the name

of the (dwarf) elderberry tree. An English recipe of 171 3 suggests making a white

ebulum with pale malt and white

Eche and eke are very common words, Old English ecan, Old Teutonic form auk jan, related to Latin

eche.

English

OUT OF HEAVEN (1541) The ebuccinator, shewer, and declarer of these news, I have made Gabriel. See abuccinate. ebulum.

See abarcy.

ecdysiast.

elder-

Apparently a countryside favorite in the 18th century; red ebulum is still common, home-made, in the United

berries.

augere,

auxum (whence

and

Greek auxanein,

to

English auxiliary) to increase. As a

verb, eche (ich, eke, ayke, eak, etc.) meant to increase, to add, to prolong, to supple-

ment

(eke out) , as Shakespeare in the Prologue to HENRY v (1599) asks the audience to still be kind And eech out our

performance with your mind. As a noun, eche (eke) meant something added, especially, an extra piece on a bell rope. To eken meant to the bargain, in addition, as did also on eke and eke (as an in addition, moreover, also; as adverb) Sterne said in TRISTRAM SHANDY (1759) Supposing the wax good, and eke the :

States.

:

An

aid to the coming of Greek ekkaleo bion, I evoke life.

eccaleobion. life.

six syllables, accent on the applied in 1839 to an egg-hatch-

Pronounced in by.

Thus,

ing apparatus invented by O.W. Bucknell. Also used figuratively, as in HARPER'S MAGAZINE (1880) Willies HOME JOURNAL was at one time a very eccaleobion for young :

meant

thimble. As an adjective eche also everlasting; in eche, forever.

was an added name shouldered;

Oedipus,

(like

An

eke-name Plato, Broad-

Swell-foot)

folk-

;

etymology transferred the n, making it a neke-name, whence nickname. Cp. napron.

The

act of enlarging or

adding

writers.

was eking,

Behold. Latin, used in phrases, especially Ecce Homo (THE BIBLE: JOHN 19) ; hence, a representation of Christ

THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR

with the crown of thorns. Ecce signum, behold the sign; Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART ONE (1596) has Falstaff (after

to eke out, as by D'Israeli in QUARRELS OF AUTHORS (1814) Suppressed invectives and eking rhymes could but ill appease so

ecce.

his rout at the misfired robbery at shill,

when he

'lards the

Gad-

lean earth as he

walks along') telling of his fierce battle and his miraculous escape, declare: I am

when Spenser laments

as

(1579)

:

in

But

such eeking hath made my heart sore but eking is also used as that which serves :

fierce a mastiff.

Enough of this eking! By of reverse English, note that an eker, water-sprite, is a 14th century mistake for way

a nikerf a water-sprite, mermaid, a comTeutonic form related to Sanskrit

times thrust through the doublet, four through the hose; my buckler cut

mon

through and through; my sword hacked like a handsaw ecce signum! Hence also

mermaid, are nix, nixie. Kingsley in HYPATIA (1853) elucidates: 'What is a nicor, Agilmund?' 'A sea-devil who eats

eight

ecceity, the quality of being present (used mainly in the 16th century) . eccle.

See

ettle.

nij-,

to wash.

Other forms, for

sailors.'

eckle.

232

See

ettle.

water-elf,

edipol

egest

A

mild oath;

edipol. severation.

Latin edepol, ex, out lux;

By

an inkhorn asan oath:

-f

deus,

Pollux! Dekker in

CRAFT (1600) draws

humorous

use:

it

Away

from obscurity for with your piskery

The feminine form

usually applied in scorn, as

editor,

by THE LONDON

(September, 1847), novels of George Sand, obscoenus, and claiming that the

discussing

semivir

and an attempt an by English editrix will help bring on that new religion which is to recognize virtue and vice as developments of human nature equally respectable that moral code of which adultery these works

is

now

if

translated,

made

being

forecastle;

ruption of deft; used in

.

the

little

To

haste

whence

also

dulcify q.v., to make sweet, as coffee or one's disposition. In THE CHARACTER OF ITALY (1660) we read: We will allay

the

bitterness

of

potion with

this

the

edulcorating ingredients of their virtues. Hence edulcorator, one who or that which sweetens. Swines dung, farmers were told

by Worlige in

1669,

is

supposed

to

be a

effable*

That can be

(or lawfully

may

put into words. Used in the 17th century; later (as by Longfellow in THE

be)

DIVINE TRAGEDY,

1871)

with ineffable. effervency.

.

See deferve.

only in contrast

earlier (EUPHUES, 1580)

e,

To

out

4-

thaw; to render liquid. gelidus, frozen. Davies, in

THE HOLY ROODE

(1609) : teares egelidate his gore.

egest.

mud

.

.

egelidate.

Latin

.

Great

See eft. In Spenser's PROTHALA(1596) Eftsoons the nymphs, which had flowers their fill, ran all in

To

expel;

Then should my

especially

from

the

body, by perspiration, bowel-evacuation, etc.

Hence

tion.

carry.

Latin

The

egestion,

out

which follows

diges-

gerere, gestum, to waste materials are the egesta.

T. Adams in

great edulcorator of fruit

the alligator of

warned: All things that breed in the are not efts.

sweeten; to soften. Latin

dulcor, sweetness,

-f

ewet,

But Lyly

Britain.

now

out

manner only

:

MION

e,

this

by Dogberry in Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1599) Yea, marry, that's the eftest way. Dogberry is an ancestor of Mrs. Malaprop. (3) An ewt, or a newt. CELIA'S ARBOUR (1878) by Besant and Rice . says: We used to hunt as boys for

eftsoons.

Also edmod. See eath.

(in

THE

archaic use, as in Coleridge's

MARINER, 1798) immediately. Shakespeare, in PERICLES (1608) : Eftsoons I'll tell thee why. (2) Perhaps as a cor-

precepts of the Gospel.

edulcorate.

to time; eftsoon, eftersoon, eft-

ANCIENT

and incest are to be the cardinal virtues, and marriage the unpardonable sin when that glorious consummation is reached, we shall have something to substitute for the anile dogmas and outworn

edmede.

once more,

eftsithes,

eftsith,

from time

soons, a second time, afterwards, or

REVIEW

QUARTERLY

second time, again; after, A the 9th to the 16th

century. Used also in combinations: eftcastle, the after-part of a ship, opposite of

modern of

A

(1)

common word from

god 4- PolTHE GENTLE

pashery, your pols and your edipols! editrix.

eft.

itself

Originally

e,

4-

his EXPOSITION (1633) of the

SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER queries: What rich apparel, which man takes up [is the] in pride, but that the worm hath egested in scorn? Note, however, that egestuose,

egestuous means needy, extremely poor; egestuosity (Latin egestas) , poverty. THE BRITISH APOLLO of 1709 (No. 64) spoke

233

elatrate

egestuosity

your matter

of clothing the egestuosity of

with

pompous

tury dictionaries, might well find place in current speech.

See egesL

egestuosity.

A

eirack.

eggment. Instigation, inciting, egging on. The verb to egg, to incite, urge on, was used from the 13th century; another form

from the same Teuton root is edge; to edge on was used in the I6th and 17th centuries in the same sense. In his CHRONIacCLES (1577), Holinshed stated: He cused the moonks of manie things, and

is

that through

eggement Mankind was damned aye to die.

egredouce. ally, is

in

(1)

sharp-sweet.

A

wommanlorn

and

(2)

dish; the recipe

THE FORME OF CURY

(1390)

:

Take

conynges [rabbits] or kydde, and smyte hem on pecys rawe, and frye hem in white grece. Take raysons or coraunce, and fry

hem, take oynouns, parboile hem, and hewe hem smalle, and fry hem. Take rede wyne, sugar, with powdor of pepor, of gynger, of canel; salt, and cast thereto; and let it seeth with a good quantite of white grece, and serve it forth. egritude.

Sickness. Also aegritude; Latin

aeger; aegrotust sick; cp. egrote. R. Baron in THE CYPRIAN ACADEMY (1647) wrote: Now, now we symbolize in egritude And

simpathize in Cupid's malady. An aegrotant was a sick person. Also aeger, a note certifying that a student is sick, used in the 19th century at English universities;

he

aegrotat (literally, that a student is too

is ill

sick)

,

a

A

eirenicon.

proposal intended to

make

first

an attempt to clear away differences. Greek eirene, peace, whence the name Irene. Hence also eirenic, irenic, pertaining, or tending, to peace. An eirenarch was an ancient officer correspond-

We

wait with

THE PALL MALL GAZETTE of 19 June, 1886, to see Mr. Chamberlain's response to the new eirenicon. In the suspicious atmosphere of today, an eirenicon

certificate

to go to class or

called a 'peace offensive/

eirmonger.

An

lish eiren, eggs.

egg-dealer. Middle EngUsed in the 13th and 14th

centuries.

Vinegar. acetillum,

vinegar. Also

French

from Late

diminutive

of acetum,

Via

eisel.

Latin

eisell,

aisille,

and more. Used

aysell,

ascill,

eysell,

in HAMLET;

see

woot. eke.

See eche; cp. eyas.

elaboratory. A 17th and 18th century form of laboratory* Every great person, said Evelyn in ST. FRANCE (1652) pretends ,

to his elaboratory

elamp.

To

and

library.

shine forth. Giles Fletcher in

us The tells (1610) cheerful sun, clamping wide, Glads all the

CHRIST'S

VICTORY

world with his uprising

ray.

To

disentangle. From Latin elaqueare, e, out 4- laqueus, snare, noose. Found in dictionaries from the 17th cen-

elaqueate.

examination.

tury.

To feign sickness. From Latin aegrotus, sick. Accented on the second

From Latin

egrote.

Also

the

peace;

is

piquant sauce. Liter-

A

year.

of

interest, said

Chaucer in THE MAN OF LAWES TALE (1386) nes

hen

earack, erock.

ing to justice of the peace.

did therewith so edge the king against them. Also egger, egger on, an instigator. declared: Sothe

word, found in 18th cen-

this

syllable,

epithets.

elatrate.

234

To

call out, to e,

out

+

speak violently.

latrare,

to bark;

emball

elder-gun

A

hence to rant, roar, bluster. tury dictionary word.

17th cen-

A serpent. In ancient times

ellops.

A

elder-gun. pop-gun; a toy gun made of the hollow shoot of an elder, the young

(1667) includes it in a catalogue of horrid snakes: Dreadful was the din Of hissing

branches of which are pithy. Shakespeare in HENRY v (1599) That's a perilous shot

the hall, thick swarming now With complicated monsters, head and tail, Scorpion and asp and amphisbaena dire, Cerastes horned, hydrus, and ellops drear

through

:

out of an elder gunne. Note also, in his THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, heart of elder, faint heart, in humorous contrasting

And

allusion to heart of oak, stout heart.

dipsas

.

.

.

eldritch.

elsewhen.

See anywhen.

And

elucidate.

See crepuscular.

Weird, ghostly; frightful, hideous. Also elphrish, probably derived from

eldritch, elraige, eldrich, and the like. James I in his ESSAY ON POESIE (1585) elf.

spoke of the King of Fary elrage incubus rydant. Elf

.

Greek

was applied to either a fish or a serpent. Milton in PARADISE LOST ellops, elops

.

is

.

with a

elucubration.

many

common

Teuton form, used by extension

of

Studying or composing by

candle-light or burning the midnight oil; the product of such activity, a literary

a

work (with emphasis on the work; cp. Also elucubrate, to compose in ergasy)

child or other diminutive creature. Shake-

.

speare in KING LEAR uses lie

.

.

.

elfe all

my

it

as a verb

haires in knots

the to

ONE)

,

to

tangle, as

at night;

Pertaining to freedom; noun, a deliverer. Greek eleutheros,

as a

mentes, by the

free.

eleutherism of sentiment. When excessive, eleutheromania. Carlyle in

twnal, that

FRENCH

REVOLUTION (1837) says: Eleutheromaniac philosophedom grows ever more clamorous nothing but in.

first

may be purchased

A

emball.

See alange.

of trash

and

refuse.

To wrap up; to make a bundle Thus Hakluyt in his VOYAGES (1599) The marchandize they emball it well with oxe hides. More literally, to put :

of.

.

ellingness.

a

:

common emptory

there's a

See eldritch.

but o

open to a price. emptory; as in

market place was an The flower-market, Ray's FLORA (1665) the

elf.

authors and elucubra-

person, emptitious, venal,

subordination, eleutheromania, confused, unlimited opposition in their heads. "If

government," as the Irish rebel roared, "I'm agin it!"

Note that lucubrate and

An itch to be buying. Latin emere, to buy; Caveat emptorf Let the buyer be ware! Everyman's wife, in America, is noted for her emacity. Also emp-

this is called

.

work

lux, lucem,

emacity.

for

.

fire;

tors.

freedom; W. Taylor in 1802 spoke of a Miltonic swell of diction and

THE

elucu-

lucubrare, to

Painter in THE PALACE OF PLEASURE (1566) spoke of Histories, chronicles, and monu-

Eleutherian Jove, Jove (Zeus) as the protector of freedom. Hence eleutherism, a zeal

+

lucubration were also used in English; the ex did not change the meaning.

See alange.

eleutherian.

elucubrationary;

lucubrum, signal

light: Fiat lux!

a small thin fellow.

elenge.

hours;

brator. Latin ex, out

might a mischievous elf; hence, elf-locks (ROMEO AND JULIET), tangled hair. Also elf-skin (HENRY iv, PART twist,

late

.

.

inside a ball or sphere; but in this sense

235

emmew

embarquement used

as

figuratively,

emb ailed

its

by

own

embracer. Bashful at first, said Sir. W. Jones in a song of 1794, she smiles at length on her embracer. This meaning is

Browning in As lark

by

ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY

(1875)

:

crystal song. Shake-

speare uses emballing in

HENRY vin

of royalty/ explains the

context makes

is

punning on

fire,

The

'assault.'

and from the 15th through the 18th century an embracer was one who sought corto influence a jury. Henry VII

clear that, while a Vic-

it

torian might call

as

indelicate, Shakespeare the scepter and sex. it

ruptly

An

passed laws in

old lady of the court is speaking to Anne Bullen, who says she does not wish to be

The

.

.

.

.

.

attempt to influence a verdict. Cp. bracery.

embrew.

England You'd venture an em-

Would

1887) .

lady says: //

I swear again I would not be a queen For all the world. Lady: In faith, little

March

(31

mentioned a case in which the plaintiff was charged with the offence of embracery. THE TIMES was referring to an

talk!

for

1487 against embracery;

400 years later THE TIMES

your back cannot vouchsafe this burden, 'tis too weak Ever to get a boy. Anne: How you do a queen.

is from French embraser, to set on hence to entice, of Teutonic origin;

bracer

Commentator G.B. Harrison meaning

comes via French em-

it

(bras, arm) from Latin in, in 4bracchium, arm. The forgotten word em-

brasser

delicate sense; explained by commentators as 'investing with the ball as the emblem "

common;

quite

(1613),

the O.E.D. states "Probably used in in-

See imbrue.

An

erne.

uncle;

a

originally,

mother's

for Carnarvon-

more loosely, an elderly friend. From BEOWULF to the mid-1 8th century;

embarquement. The act of placing under embargo (Italian imbargo; Latin in + barra, bar) Also imbargement, embargemenL Shakespeare in CORIOLANUS (1607)

Dray ton in POLYOLBION (1612) mentions Henry Hotspur and his eame the Earl of Rochester. Scott revived the word in THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818) Erne is also a variant form of ant, emmet.

balling. I myself

brother;

shire.

.

uses the

word in the sense

Nor

prohibitions:

The

of hindrances,

sleep nor sanctuary

prayers of priests

nor times of

.

.

,

sacri-

Embarquements all of fury, shall lift up Their rotten privilege and custom

fice,

'gainst

hate to Marcius.

My

emblaze.

To

banner, or other heraldic devices.

Thus

vi, PART TWO (1590): as a herald's coat, To

Shakespeare in HENRY

Thou

shalt

weare

it

emblaze the honor that thy master

got.

Also emblazon, to portray conspicuously; to celebrate,

make

illustrious.

Hence, em-

embellishment; emMilton preferred the form im~

(sometimes verbal)

blazonry; for quotation, see horrent.

A riot or

uprising of the people.

Directly from the French; from dmouvoir, to agitate, rouse. Gilbert in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (1880) pictures the police-

threatened with emeutes.

emicadon.

A

shining forth, as the glory of the Lord, Also, the sparkling out of carbonaceous and certain other liquors. From Latin e, out -f micare, to vibrate;

The verb emicate used in the sense of to spring forth,

to gleam, flash, shine. is

blazonry, heraldic devices, symbolic ornament; gorgeous colorful display; colorful blazure.

emeute.

men

forth by coat-of-arms,

set

.

also

to appear, as

when Motteux

in his trans-

of Rabelais heavily speaks of the studious cupidity, that so demon-

lation

(1708)

stratively emicates at

emmew. 236

See enew.

your external organs.

Emmew

is

also a vari-

enacture

emollient

ant of immeW) to put into a mew; see

greedy for praise or power. Shakespeare in TROILUS AND CRESSiDA (1606) says: He is

mews.

not emulous, as Achilles is. Also emulatory; of the nature of fond imitation;

emollient.

Something that softens or soothes. Latin e, with intensive force + mollire, to soften; mollis, soft. Also an

emulable, worthy of being used as a model, Shakespeare in HAMLET: Pricked on by a most emulate pride. Hence emu-

emollitive; emollition, the act of soften-

emolliment, softening, assuaging, soothing. The forms are not to be confused with emolument, benefit, reward, ing;

Latin emolimentum,

salary;

profit;

an emulator: one that brooks no rival. Feminine forms were emulatress, emulatrix. An early meaning of the verb was to vie with, rival; Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR has: / see how thine eye would emulate the diamond.

prob-

ably from emoliri, to bring out by effort; e, out 4- moliri, to strive, to toil. Gilbert in

the

THE PIRATES OF

in

apostrophe

PENZANCE

addresses

(1880)

Poetry

a rival; a zealous imitator; used in Douay BIBLE (1609)) of God God is

lator,

the

as

Divine emollient!

This prefix several uses. (1) en-.

emphyteusis.

A

hereditary lease; perpet-

most common, with

is

To

place in or on, as

ual right in property belonging to another. Medieval (from Roman) law; the

enambush; encouch; Shakespeare in RICHARD ii (1593: Within my mouth you have

from Greek emphyteusis, implanttenant on such land was called

engaol'd my tongue); enlabyrinth; enstage; enzone, to engirdle. (2) To put on or cover with, as endiadem; Drummond of

word

is

The

ing.

emphyteuta, emphyteuciary, emphyteuticary. For quotation, see stillicide. What a

man

do when a place is his keeps* may be judged from Blount's is

likely to

Hawthornden the

in a

encharioted

poem

sun

of 1630 pictures

making gold the

of an emphyteuticary:

world: Phoebus in his chair Ensaffroning the sea and air. enspell, to cast a spell

he that maketh a thing better than it was when he received it. May your life so

upon; enstomach, to give courage to; enwood, to cover with trees. (3) To make,

render you!

or bring to a condition or state: encalm, becalm; endrudge, to enslave (oneself); enfamous; Shakespeare has in LOVE'S

'for

definition

(1656)

empiricutic.

A

piric, empirical,

one-time variation of em-

based on

trial

only;

the

in

by

LABOUR'S LOST

(1588)

enfreedoming thy

emperickqutique; empericktic; hence some

person; engarboil, to throw into confusion or commotion; enwoman. (4) As an in-

editors print empirictic. Shakespeare, in

intensive, for

CORIOLANUS (1607) , The most soveraigne prescription in Galen is but empiricutic;

the added idea of in)

extension,

and

quack.

Also,

to this preservative, of

no

Folios,

better re-

port then a horse-drench. emptitious.

emulous. envious; Also,

with the

closely resembling. spirit

:

enwed; enwisen, to

Behavior; act; performance. Shakespeare in HAMLET (1604) has The violence of either grief or joy Their own

Desirous of imitating; jealous,

filled

to variegate, dapple; make wise.

enacture.

See emacity*

(of things)

emphasis (sometimes with en dazzle; endiaperf

of rivalry;

enactures with themselves destroy,

Where

joy most revels, grief doth most lament; Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident.

237

enascent

energumen

enascent.

Just

Darwin in

his

coming

into

being.

E.

(1791)

new annals

devil.

A

devils

is

something

dialogue of a diabologue.

to drive

(or

away the

talk

The

about) doctrine of

of enascent time.

the devil, or devil lore,

Escape by swimming; swim-

formally diabolology. In several of these forms, the o after b may be omitted;

enatation.

out. Also enatant,

ming

is

abolifuge

poem THE BOTANIC GARDEN of enascent leaves; also, The spoke

coming to the Rare words, of the 17th and 18th

is

diabology,

more

enaunter.

thus diablifuge, diablogue. These words were used in the 17th, 18th, or 19th century, when diablodoxy, if not diabolocracy, was more prevalent. As that diab-

to

olish on the ab) authority (accent Baudelaire remarked: "The cleverest ruse

surface.

centuries.

Lest by chance. A variant of on aunter, French en aventure. Similar

peradventure. Cp. aunters. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1597; FEBRUif

ARY)

him

of the devil

Anger nould [would

not] let speake to the tree, Enaunter his rage says:

mought cooled

endore.

See anchesoun.

A handbook, a concise Greek en, in -f- cheir, hand + guide. a diminutive

suffix.

Coverdale in

that

and sum of

See hastlet.

term indeed

fits

and

en-

mainly 17th century by inimical. Sterne in

dtial,

inimicous,

forms

replaced

.

.

ous passions which belong to them. More THE HISTORIE OF KYNG RYCHARDE THE THIRDE (1513) spoke of an action as no in

the

the pocket-size books of

warning, but an enemious scorne.

To put the devil into, to poswith Satan. Via French diable, devil,

endiablee.

energumen.

sess

sessed

from Greek diabolos, devil

+

enmious;

.

today.

slanderer)

Also

the gall from the gall-bladder of his Majesty's subjects, with all the mimiciti-

the acts of his time. Bailey in his 1751 DICTIONARY defines enchiridion all

as 'a small portable pocket book,'

Hostile.

TRISTRAM SHANDY (1761) spoke of driving

(1541) of THE OLD FAITH., Moses made an enchiridion

his translation states

he doesn't

emiable, with the feelings of an enemy. Thus enemicitious, inimicitious, inimi-

enchiridion.

-idion,

to persuade us

be.

enemious.

encheason.

is

exist/'

;

hallo, to

diabole,

slander;

(the dia,

chief across

throw: to throw across, to

accuse, to slander. Also endiablement, possession by the devil. North in THE EX-

AMINER of 1734 spoke of such an one as might best endiablee the rabble, and set them abawling against Popery. More directly from the Greek come the too currently diabolic things, and such less familiar forms as diablotin, a little devil, imp of Satan; diabolarch, diabolarchy (accents on the ab) , chief of the devils, rule

of the devil, diabolify, diabolize.

A

di-

by a

One wrought upon

or pos-

devil; hence, a fanatical dev-

Latin

energumenus; Greek energoumenos, past participle of energeein, to work upon; en, in + ergon, work. Accent on the gyu. Used in the 17th and early 18th centuries; renewed by Scott and others in the 19th. Morley in MACotee.

MAGAZINE of February 1885, spoke of the seeming peril to which priceless moral elements of human character MILLAN'S

were

exposed

the

energumens of one possessed by devils; Gaule in SELECT CASES OF CONSCIENCE, CONCERNING WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT (1646) sought to discriminate: The by

progress. Also energumenist,

238

enew

ensconce

meerly passive be simply but not energumenists.

deemoniacks,

To plunge into the water. Also, to drive into the water, as a bird of prey would enew.

another bird. French en, in + eau, water; Provencal aigua; Latin aqua, as in aquatics.

Used from

the

15th into the 17th

in Shakespeare (MEASURE FOR MEASURE; 1603) it has been misprinted emmew and enmew, explained by some commentators as 'keep in the coop* the

century;

bird fears to come out. Shakespeare says: This outward-sainted deputie Whose settled

youth

visage and deliberate word Nips } i the head,, and follies doth enmew

As falcon doth the fowle, is yet a devil, The BOOK OF ST. ALBANS (1486) made the sense clear: Yowre hawke hath ennewed

was used occasionally in the 19th century, but by then had been largely supplanted by ventriloquist, from Latin ventri, of the

+ loquor, to speak whence also eloquent and a flood of words,

belly

engraff.

engraft. ingraff.

CALYDON; 1864) meaning to beget. Shakespeare used it in the passive voice, meaning to be closely attached: HENRY iv, PART

TWO and

(1597) : You have beene so lewde, so much ingraffed to Falstaff.

first square of an odd 17th century. Three syllables. Greek enneas, enneados, nine. Hence, a set of nine persons or things; Porphyry,

of a

who

studied under Plotinus in

put a person in possession land and*other property held

under a feudal a

lord. Also, to give

over as

hence, to surrender, to give up (something) Also enfeffe, enfief, infeoff, fief;

.

and the senses;

in

Used

figuratively in both the second, when Henry IV

like.

Rome

(262

divided the works of his teacher

To

fief,

"The

ennead.

number'*

the fowle in to the ryver. enfeoff.

To graft in; an early form of Used since the 15th century. Also Used by Swinburne (ATALANTA IN

A.D.) into six enneads. Also enneatic, occurring once in nine days, months, throws of

The

dice, etc.

year of

enneatical year, every ninth was, in many periods

Nine

life.

(especially as

deemed

three contained in

itself),

the perfect number.

See annoyous.

Shakespeare's play; 1596) warns his son, Prince Hal, against the dangers of too great familiarity with the people; by

ennoyous.

The skipdown and he ambled up ping King,

English plural of enough; thus one might have sugar or coal enough; but men, ships, slips enow. Today the two are in-

(in

instancing his

own

predecessor:

.

his royalty with

,

.

Mingled Grew a companion to the common streets, Enfeoff d himself to popularitie. .

.

capering fools

.

A

From

ventriloquist Greek engastrimythos; en, in + gastri, of

engastrimyth. the belly

-f

mythos, speech. Also, in 17th

century dictionaries, engastromich. Sylvester in his translation (1598) of Du Bartas

Al

incenst, the pale engastromith . . . speakes in his wombe. Urquhart, in his translation (1693) of Rabelais, speaks of

has:

the engastrimythian prophetess.

The word

enow.

A variant of enough. Also ynoghe,

anowe, ynowe,

etc.

Enow was

the Middle

terchangeable, save that enow is archaic or poetic, as in Ah, wilderness were paradise

enow.

ensconce.

To

furnish with sconces, to to get into a

fortify; to shelter; to hide;

place for security or concealment. From en, into + sconce, small fortification,

earthwork; Old French esconse, shelter, hiding-place. Shakespeare in

OF ERRORS sconce for

239

(1590)

says:

my head and

THE COMEDY

/ must get a insconce it too;

ensear

Ephesian

in THE

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: / Will mee behinde the arras. Butler in

exclaimed: in HUDIBRAS (1678) that I could enucleate And solve the

Butler

ensconce

Oh!

HUDIBRAS (1678) described A fort of error to ensconce Absurdity and ignorance.

problem of my

To dry up. The en is intensive f sear, sere, dry. Shakespeare in TIMON OF ATHENS (1607) has: Ensear thy fertile

Greek

from the eoan wave.

and conceptions wombe.

eotand.

ensear.

enseygnedL

See admonish.

ensiferous.

Bearing a sword.

ensis,

aries

says:

to the breast-bone),

recipe

THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT (1855) a SOTceress ensorcelled, and used by both Payne in their trans(1883) and Burton (1886) lations Of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, that prime

calendar year.

to

spot;

imbue with (good or

stain,

(2)

The

calendar, as the ancient Egyptian, which had twelve months of thirty days and five epacts. From Greek epaktos; epagein to intercalate, from epi, on -f agein, to bring. There were special gods to be worshiped and rites to be performed on

defile;

to

Used by Old French

evil quality).

Chaucer. Also entech, entatch; en, in 4- tache spot, trait of character;

these epagom'.nic days.

Latin tangere, tacturn, to touch (related

Ephesian.

t

integer,

whence

tactless;

not

also tangent, contactf entire (Latin

integrity,

touched,

extra, intercalated

day in Leap Year; the extra days in any

f

collection of ensorcellings.

to attach]

given in

The number of days from epact. (1) the new moon at the beginning of the

:

intact,

is

forth.

To

To

the

sawray, and fennel, and when they buth soden, presse hem wel smale, cast hem in gode broth, and seeth hem, and serve hem

enchant. Used by Wyatt in 1541; revived by Meredith in the amusing

entach.

dish;

tongue] persel, betes, orage, avance, violet,

and antennae. ensorcelL

A

variant of eten, q.v.

:

quent in use is ensiform f sword-shaped, which is used scientifically of leaves, (appended

A

morning-star Beckons the sun

THE FORME OF CURY (1390) Eowtes of flessh. Take borage, cool, langdebef [beef

From Latin

sword 4- ferre, to carry. In dictionfrom the 17th century. More fre-

cartilage

eos,

The

eowte.

fate.

Pertaining to the dawn; eastern. dawn. Shelley in LIBERTY (1822)

eoan.

whole).

Skelton

(WORKS; 1489) declared: Of elephantis tethe were the palace gatis, Enlosenged

A

boon companion, a

royster-

Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) has: It is thine host, er.

thine Ephesian, calls. Brewer in THE DICTIONARY OF PHRASE AND FABLE Suggests that this contains a

pun on

pheeze, to

flatter: a-pheeze-ian; cp. feeze (5).

explanation, of the matter.

Ephesian magic characters; many of the people of Ephesus, at the admonition of Paul, burnt their books of magic so many books that (BIBLE; ACTS, 19) "they counted

Latin enudeare, enucleatum; e, out + nucleus, kernel whence the nucleus of

the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." And there was a

with

many goodly platis Of golde, tachid with many a precyous stone.

enucleation.

en-

letters are

Clarification,

getting out the

an atom or an ing some one

'kernel'

idea.

The

converse of giva nutshell/

'the story, in

Also enucleate, to

make

clear,

explain.

great riot at the theatre and the temple of Diana, on whose fair statue Ephesian letters

240

were wrought.

ephestian

epicrisis

Domestic, not foreign. Greek

ephestian.

Rejoicing at, or taking joy misfortunes of others. From Greek

epicaricacy.

the

of

in, die

family; epi, upon ^ rare word, used in hestia, the hearth.

epi,

the 17th century.

Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751)

spells it epi-

the

on the tcL

ephestios,

A

ephialtes.

Nightmare;

a

charikaky;

demon

that

The O.E.D.

leaps upon people and causes nightmare. 17th century term, probably from Greek

upon +

allesthai, to leap.

A demon

a succubus; from Latin sub, under + cub-, root of cumberef to lie. In the feminine

and

accent

(1933) ignores the word, but

both

sexes.

common

suc-

mar

of

Greek

'woman' turns out

readers:

vents,

.

The

the nightmare. Barham LEGENDS (1838) cries: Oh! happy the slip from his succubine grip That saved the

carnal intercourse with

wrote

Jonson or,

The

a

Silent

play

(1609),

Woman

the

to

speare took advantage of all conditions of the theatre of his day; of this 'epicenism*, in the frequency with which his women

that

women

Spoke

(1661)

and hermaphrodite conwherein monks and nuns lived to-

be a man. Referring to the fact that male actors performed the female parts, ERASER'S MAGAZINE in 1850 said: Even Shakespeare sometimes slides into the temptation which this epicenism presents to unlicensed wit. Shake-

only a species of in THE INGOLDSBY

Lord Abbott. The demon

WORTHIES OF ENGLAND

of those epicoene

succubus called Hermeline. This, despite the fact that in 1797 the ENCYCLOPEDIA its

koinos,

(without change of

kept up an amatory commerce with a

is

-f

either sex. Fuller in

Epicoene;

the succubus

upon

may denote

gether.

is,

epi,

nouns that

C.K. Sharpe in the Preface to Law's MEMORIALS (1818) tells us that Benedict of Berne for forty years had

gender)

century.

truth

set aside.

used in Latin and Greek gram-

his

BRITANNICA had assured

not so easily

is

Jonson in THE ALCHEMIST (1610) has: / walked naked between my succubae. The forms were quite common from the 14th

.

falls

evil.

kakon,

a noun, one that has characteristics of

(two syllables) cuba, the word also meant a strumpet;

.

+

epicene. Partaking of the characteristics of both sexes; adapted to, used by, both sexes; by extension, effeminate. Also as

in female form, supposedly having carnal intercourse with men in their sleep, was

forms succube

chara, joy

the feeling

alas!

A

epi,

-f

upon

sought in their

by males) disguise themselves men; Rosalind plays on the condition

(played

was the incubus; Latin in, upon -f cumbere, to lie. There were civil and

as

sleep

in the Epilogue to AS

laws concerning incubit in the Middle Ages. The incubus also con-

YOU LIKE

IT.

ecclesiastical

sorted with witches,

who had

epicrisis.

ature.

a pet term

Critical

appreciation of

The O.E.D. (Supplement)

liter-

gives

incuby. In the 17th century, incubus began also to be used of any great burden,

only the specific meaning: an appendix to each book of the OLD TESTAMENT, giving

hanging on one like a nightmare. A miser, brooding over his wealth, was called (17th century) an incubo. From the same Latin

for that book the number of letters, verses, and chapters, and the middle sentence. Hence also epicritic, a learned critic of literature. As an adjective, epicritic was suggested by H. Head (in BRAIN, 1905) to

for

it,

source

come

the brooding terms relating

One possessed by an ephiwas sometimes said to have gone

to incubation. altes

witch-riding.

designate recently developed, finer sensations of touch opposed to the earlier

241

eremite

epideictic

century, as in Vicars' translation (1632) of THE AENEID: King Latines throne this

Many, however, have ques-

protopathic.

tioned such a distinction.

Adapted

epideictic.

show

day Tie ruinate

for display; used to

especially, among the ancients, of orations to display one's ability. Also

houses tops to th

3

ground aequiparate.

off;

epideiktic,

epideictical;

Greek

epideikti-

their bidding.

Reasonableness,

epiky.

to

posed

law,

rigid

Greek

See arain.

erayne.

A dish of herbs and eggs; recipe THE FORME OF CURY (1590) Take parsel, myntes, saverey, and sauge, tansey, erbolat.

upon; deiknunai, to show. Farrar in THE LIFE OF CHRIST (1874) said: He would not work any epideictic miracle at kos; epif

equity as opstrict the to

according to 4- eikos, Also epicay, epicheia. reasonable. likely, La timer in a Sermon of 1549 declared: letter.

And

epi,

in

:

vervayn, clarry, rewe} ditayn, fenel, south-

renwode; hewe hem, and grinde hem smale; medle hem up with ayren. Do butter in a trape, and do the fars thereto,

and bake, and messe

A dessert

erbowle.

it

forth.

or compote; recipe in

THE FORME OF CURY (1390) Take bolas [bullace: a wild plum] and scald hem with wyne, and drawe hem with a styomor. Do hem in a pot. Clarity hony, and do thereto, with powdor fort, and floer of rys. Salt it, and florish with white aneys, and serve it forth. :

For avoydyng disturbance in the communewealth, such an epiky and moderation

may be

used.

epithalamic. Related to a wedding, or to a nuptial song. Also epithalamial From

epithalamium, epithalamy, epithalmie, a song or poem in praise of the bride and

groom, with a prayer for their well-being.

erding.

Greek epithalamion;

ing.

mos, bridal chamber.

epi, upon 4- thalaHence epithalamize,

compose a nuptial song; the composer is an epithalamiast. Spenser in 1595 wrote an epithalamion. Stockton in his noted story THE LADY OR THE TIGER (1884 and still no one knows which!) pictured dancing maidens treading an epithalamic

equiparate. to

erding-stow, dwelling-place. to the 14th century.

From

erd (earth), land where one dwells,

one's country, erd-folk, people of the land. Used from BEOWULF to the 14th century.

Old English eard, land; Old Saxon ard Old High German art, ploughing; Old Norse orth, harvest. Also a verb, }

dwelling;

erde, to live, to inhabit; to exist in a place is also an old form

or condition. Erde

level, raze.

tumf

abode, a dwelling. Also eard-

Used from the 10th

to

measure.

An

Thus

To

reduce

to

a

level;

to

of earth.

Latin aequiparare} aequipara-

put on an equality;

aequus, equal

+

par, like.

compare;

Hence equipar-

erede.

Lacking counsel. Also

erege.

A

French erege;

rance, equivalence; equiparation, the act of placing on an equal footing; the act

erege

comparing; a comparison. All save equiparable and equiparation accent on quip; all were used mainly in the 18th of

is

eremite.

Spanish herege; Old Latin haereticus; Greek

heretic.

able, equiparant; equiparate (adjective),, equivalent, of equal importance. Equtpa-

hairesis,

etrede.

a sect. Also erite (12th century; a I4th century form).

An

early

form of hermit,

linger-

ing in poetry and for archaic effect. Greek eremites; eremia, a desert; eremos, unin-

242

erendrake

eric

The eremite (from the 3d cenwas a Christian solitary, distinguished from the coenobite, cenobite

habited.

erf.

tury)

animals;

Hence, erfe-bloodf blood of

Cattle.

As

cattle.

of

race

the

erf-kin,

animals,

meant

cattle originally

capital,

(Greek koinos, common -f bios, life), who was withdrawn from the world but lived in

goods, so erf originally

mean

Old Norse

related to

a religious community. The two types are included in the anchoret (anchorite, an-

orphanos, English orphan', Latin orbus, bereft.

Thus words

anachorete)', Greek ana, back -f chore ein, to withdraw), one that has with-

Erf was

drawn from the world. In a SONNET (1616) Drummond of Hawthornden has: Framed

the

corite,

for mishap, th* anachorit of love. Milton in PARADISE LOST (1671) used eremite with suggestion of its literal sense: Thou spirit

who

ledst this glorious eremite Into the

Bulwer-Lytton in EUGENE

desert]

ARAM

used

is

tell

Dutch

also

plot,

ergotize.

ree)

,

pertaining to the

meaning

in-

A

miteship, eremitism; eremital, eremitary, eremitic, eremitical, eremitish; and eremic the

from

ergasy. literary production, an elucubration. Greek ergasia; ergon, work* R. Humphrey in his translation (1637) of St. Ambrose spoke of ending the whole

ergasie or tractate with

on

erf,

in

speaks of the twilight eremites of books and closets. Also eremitage, ere-

(accent

form

originally

(1832)

desert.

us of early ways. 14th century.

South Africa for a usually of about half an acre.]

used

heritance

Greek

the

until

a 19th century

is

[There

garden

it

arfr;

inheritance;

To

quibble;

it.

to wrangle. Also

From Latin

ergot, ergoteer. ergo, thereused in English to introduce the con-

fore,

clusion of a syllogism. The combinations, this frequent use in argument, came to be applied to those that liked to dis-

from erendrake.

A

messenger;

Used from the 9th

ambassador.

to the 13th century.

pute,

or

disputed

sophistically.

Thus

Also aerendwreca, erndraca, aerndrache,

ergoteer, ergoteerer, ergoteur, a wrangler,

herindrak, and more. Old English aerende,

a disputatious fellow; ergotism, arguing,

errand

quibbling; ergotic, sophistical, jumping to conclusions; ergotisty a quibbler, a pedantic reasoner. Urquhart in his translation

-f-

wrecan, to

tell.

To snatch away, to carry off. ereption. Latin eripere, ereptum; out -f rapere, to snatch. Bishop Joseph

crept.

Hence e,

Hall in A PLAINE AND FAMILIAR EXPLICA-

(1653) of Rabelais said: After they had well ergoted pro and con, they concluded

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (September, 1881) stated that Mr. Gladstone and this

.

TION (BY WAY OF PARAPHRASE) OF ALL THE HARD TEXTS OF THE WHOLE DIVINE SCRIP-

TURE (1633) noted The suddaine and inexpected ereption of Isaac from his imminent and intended death. THE ATHENAEUM of 1865 (No. 1951) went to

pagan mythology

to observe: Pluto erepts

Former; before. Also aerra, earre,

Used from the erur, earar, 9th into the 15th century; as an adverb, erer was replaced by ere. and the

famous ergoteur are the only -people

who have boundless faith in More today render it at least eric.

A pecuniary

tion for

payment,

as

living

reasoning. lip-service.

compensa-

murder or other violent

crime,

accepted in Ireland into the 17th century. Also eriach, earike, erycke, earik; Irish

Proserpine. erer.

.

.

like.

Spenser noted it, in THE STATE OF IRELAND (1596) In the case of murder

eiric.

:

the malefactor shall give unto them [the friends] or to the child, or wife of

.

24B

.

.

ermgo

esemplastic

him

that

call

an

recompence, which they R. Bagwell commented on it, in IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS (1885): This blood-fine, called an eric, was an utter abomination to the English of the is

slain a

eriach.

sixteenth century.

(1656)

also

is

,

embraces

said

Colchester,

Mistress

famous for

Amusement,

esbatement.

diversion.

+

Apand Old

battere, to

Used in the 15th and 16th

beat.

cen-

turies,

See arrant.

errant.

and

oysters

eringo root.

French from Latin ex, out See erege.

erite.

Ford.

Evelyn in his MEMOIRS

parently applied originally to boxing esbatement comes via wrestling;

See eryngo.

eringo.

then he

here

A

To

Old French

shake.

medicine (not snuff) that causes sneezing. Greek errhinon; en, in rhin, nostril, whence also rhinosceros. Cp.

esbrandill.

+

brandeler (modern ebranler) from a Teutonic stem brant, to quiver (like fire) , to

sternutation. Also, a plug of lint put into the nose, steeped in such a medicine.

burn. Hence the brand in the burning. Queen Elizabeth, in a letter of 1588, de-

errhine.

Formerly. Also erest; arst, earst, earest, and more. The superlative of ere, before: the most before, i.e., the first, erst*

earliest, soonest, erst,

at

in the

first

the earliest.

not

ersty

VI,

PART TWO, 1590; AS YOU LIKE

+

Blushing.

rubescere, to

impudence

From Latin

e,

out

to be

grow red; rub ere,

erubescent confounded of the

young

the

aphrodisiac

properties.

let

it

Fit

to

From Latin

eat;

to

pertaining

esca, food;

whence

food.

also escu-

Escal

good to eat, as the esculent snail. is found only in 17th and 18th cen-

tury

dictionaries;

lent,

esculency

is

slightly

A

necklace of several rows of

named from

its resemblance gold links, to the chains of a slave. French esclavage, slavery. By extension, any similar adorn-

ment, as triple rows of beads or jewels. Colman and Garrick in THE CLANDESTINE

How

A

Also

Falstaff exclaims:

sky rain potatoes,

escal.

d'ye like the style of this esclavage? time nearer to our own affected the slave anklet, which

for a while

the

thunder

transferred the

application

from the physical resemblance to the and was worn as a sign that one's tions were in bondage.

Latin form eryngium; and eringo, ringo. In Shakespeare's THE MERRY WIVES OF

WINDSOR (1598)

esbrandill the seat that so well

MARRIAGE (1766) inquire:

folks.

eryngo. The root of the sea holly, candied, eaten as a sweetmeat, supposed to

have

may

settled.

esclavage.

red; ruber, red. In 18th century dictionaries. Thackeray in PENDENNIS (1849) says:

The Major

that is

dread of

shall

me doo aught

more common.

IT),

but lingering in poetry. erubescent.

Never

any mans behavior cause

not before, on

place, then at erst, then Spenser uses at erst, to

mean at once, right now. A very common word, beginning to grow old in Shakespeare's time (it occurs in his early plays, HENRY

clared emphatically:

es-

idea, affec-

Let the to

esculent.

the

tune of 'Green Sleeves,' hail kissing-comand snow eryngoes; let there come a

fits,

tempest of provocation, I will shelter

me

See

esemplastic.

escal.

Unifying;

molding into a on the em)

unity. Also esemplasy (accent

,

the unifying power of the imagination.

244

estovers

eslargish

+

used by Coleridge

OLD MORTALITY (1816) and IVANHOE (1819: This same springal, who conceals his name hath already gained one prize) revived

ARIA;

the word; Byron

Greek

est into

en,

eis,

one

4- plastikos;

The words were

to mold.

plassein,

first

(BIOGRAPHIA UTTERprobably a transmutation

1817), into Greek forms of Schilling's German term ineinsbildung, forming into one. The

words are almost always used in conscious echo of Coleridge. eslargish. of; to set

To

extend the range or scope at large, free.

(oneself)

A

15th

.

.

.

and others followed.

Well rounded in the

essexed.

calf of the

leg. Originally, Essex calf, a calf grown in Essex county; then used contemptu-

ously of a native of the country. By punning practice, Essex-growth, development of the calf of the leg; You would wish, in the play LADY ALIMONY (1659),

century word; replaced by enlarge. Caxton in his translation (1483) of GEOFFROI DE LA TOUR I/ANDRI WTOte that God

puny baker-legs had more Essex in them. A good legge, said the growth

moveth him

Water Poet (WORKS; 1630)

self to

pyte and eslargyssheth

his misericorde.

An

that his

earlier

this

Old French 4-

Gower I

am

said, in CONFESSIO

.

.

.

so distempred

esne.

An Old

eznie.

From

AMANTIS (1393):

(1820)

:

Revived by Scott Esne art thou no

may be

submitted.

An

essoin

might be

and the like. The word was common from the 14th century, also essoyne, assoine, essonyie; via Old French essoignie*:

See acroamatic.

esoteric.

espadon.

A

long

two-handed

sword.

Spanish espadon, augmentative form of espada, sword. Used 15th, 1 6th, and 17th centuries. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE (May, 1881) recorded the horseman's

huge espadon of

six feet long.

A

medieval catapult, for hurlAlso spnngald; esSome lighter ones shot winged pringold. arrows of brass. Springal, sprynhold, esprlngal,

ing heavy missiles.

etc., also were very commonly uesd from 1450 to 1650, to mean an up-

springold,

(1613)

bless us,

is

Medieval Latin ex, out + sonia, sunnis, lawful excuse; Gothic sunja, truth. Hence essoiner, one that presents the excuse for the absentee; essoinee, one excused; es~

soinment Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) has: From everie worke he chalenged essoyne, For contemplation sake. In THE UNIVERSAL REVIEW (November, 1889) read: In the high court of night Be thou essoiner for us unto death. Death

we

no long

grants

estovers.

exclaim: Sure the devil, in this springald. Scott in

French it

245

is

essoining.

See aestivate.

estive.

standing youth. Thus Beaumont and Fletcher in THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING

God

ing of an excuse. Day of essoin, essoinday, first day of court term, when excuses for illness, king's service, holy pilgrimage,

longer.

PESTLE

was a man's; now, rather a woman's,

concern.

To offer excuse for non-appearance in court; to accept an excuse, to let off. Also, as a noun, an excuse; the offer-

English slave. Pronounced a Tetuonic root, asnjo-, har-

IVANHOE

a great grace

essoin.

and esmaied.

vester; asano-, harvest.

in

is

be discreetly essex'd in the calfe, and not too much spindled in the small Then if it

form of dismay. From esmaier, to trouble; ex, out a Teutonic root; magan, to be able.

esmay.

we read

Necessaries allowed

by law. Old

estovotr, est a avoir, it is to have,

needed. Specifically

(13th to 18th

etna

estre

century)

:

wood a tenant may

take from

eth.

his landlord's estate for essential repairs;

things. aistre;

Condition, way of life; state of Also eastre, ester, hester, esture, Old French estre, to be. Hence, a

to the 16th

ethnos, nation (whence ethnic)

A

giant Also

like.

province

century

mon

ettin, eont,

although

it's

that

Fletcher remark in

THE KNIGHT :

.

.

agogos, archos,

in

Roman

the

Empire, .

The

portrayal of characby mimicry. Only in 17th and 18th century dictionaries. (2) The science of ethics.

since, tion.

we glimpse

OF THE BURNING PESTLE (1611) They say the King of Portugal cannot sit at his the ettins will come and meate but snatch it from him. The opposite of an eten was a droich, a dwarf. Also droigh; perhaps altered from duerch, duergh, variant forms of dwarf. Used especially in Scotland, 16th and 17th centuries. Also droichy, dwarfish. The BANNATYNE MANU.

+

(Greek

(1)

ter

giants were comthe in 1549, in

the taiyl of the reyde eythyn witht the three heydis into the 17th century. Beau-

mont and

(as

ethology.

eotand,

when

COMPLAYNT OF scoTLANDE,

ethnarch

where a province held a people)

eotend, eatand, yhoten, etayne, eitin, and the like. Hence etenish, gigantic. From the 13th century,

Also

ruler), ruler of a people, also used in ancient times for the governor of a

(Lydgate; Gower; Chaucer). eten.

with

of the

leader.

place, a region where one is; an estate. In the plural, dwellings; quarters; inner

Used from the 13th

leader of a nation

same implication of charlaor self-seeking as in demagogue, tanry leader of the people. Greek a literally,

some

rooms; paths in a garden, and the

SHEPHERD'S

ethe. See eath.

A

ethnagogue.

felon. Cp. hereyeld.

THE

(Spenser,

CALENDAR, 1579)

alimony; maintenance for an imprisoned

estre.

Also

(3)

Used by

J. S.

Mill (1843) and

as the science of character-forma-

From Greek

a talker.

ethos, character

A mimic,

thus,

is

an

+

logos,

ethologist.

or ethopoetlc. Representing character manners. Greek ethos, character -\-poieti-

make, represent. Hence delineation of character; moral eihopoeia, in THE JEWEL (1652) portraiture. Urquhart kos; poieein, to

spoke of a of

man

pranking, with a flourish

mimick and ethopoetick

etiolation.

The

gestures.

action or process of be-

coming, or the state of being, pale or colorless. The verb is etiolate or etiolize;

SCRIPT

from Norman

begins: Hiry, hary, hubbilschow. In

Latin stipula, straw. Used in the 18th and 19th century; by scientists to refer to

(1568) contains Ane little Interlud, of the droichis part of the play. This it

the

dwarf

(representing Plenty) complains that for eild [age] he has dwindled from the size of his ancestors, the giants Her-

cules,

Fin

Ma

Cowl,

Gog Magog

such a one as wold apoun his tais up stand And tak the starnis [stars] with his hand

And

sett

each

plants; but Charlotte Bronte EYRE (1848) has: I ... left a one of his poor etiolated arms, NORTH BRITISH REVIEW of 1844

in

JANE

bullet in

and THE said that

himself into a state of absolute etiolation.

down

etna.

garland Aboif his wyvis hair. Similarly, the dwarf that teased Gulliver in Brobtall.

ultimately from

Newton smoked [toes]

thame in a gold

dingnag was only thirty feet

etieuler,

A like

one especially, an inverted cone on a saucer,

spirit-lamp;

shaped used in the 19th century for heating a small amount of liquid. Also aetna.

246

euonymous

ettercap

Named from

the volcano, Mt. Etna.

eucrasy. A sound mixture of qualities; health, well-being. Greek eukrasia, good

THE

ENGLISH MECHANIC of 18 March, 1870, announced an etna with which I can pro-

temperature; eukratos, well-tempered; euy -f kra-, kerannunai, to mix. Hence

duce a pint of boiling water in eight

good

minutes.

of a drink or eucratic, happily blended a person's characteristics. Used in the 17th and 18th centuries.

See

ettercap.

To

ettle.

alter.

intend, to purpose; to ordain,

to arrange, set in order, prepare. Also to guess, conjecture.

A common

happiness; en, good

in

ettlement, intention; endeavor was also used (18th century) to

spirit.

ettle

century) eni et-

lunge, without any guessing, unquestionably. Ettler, a schemer; an aspirant. Scott in

THE MONASTERY

(1820), reviving the that ettle at the top of

word, said: They a ladder will at least get up some rounds.

A prayer-book. Greek euche,

euchologion.

+

prayer

log',

legein, to say. Also eucho-

logue, euchology. Used in the 17th and 18th centuries; the first form, mainly in

reference to the Greek Church. Lingard in his study (1844) of THE ANGLO-SAXON

CHURCH logical

refers to the liturgical

and eucho-

forms of her worship. Hence also

euctical, relating to prayer; supplicatory. euciliast.

euclionism.

Miseijiness; stinginess.

From

Euclio, the miser, in Plautus* AULULARIA,

THE POT OF GOLD. Nashe, in LENTEN STUFFE (1599), declared: Those grey beard hud-

daimon, guardian,

Conway in DEMONOLOGY (1879) observed: The Japanese are careful to distinguish this serpent from a dragon, with them an agathodemon. Also agatho demonic. The

notion 'composed of good and

evil'

is

term agathokakological (Greek kakos, bad) Sou they in THE DOCTOR (1843) says that indeed upon the in

caught

the

;

agathokakological globe there are opposite qualities always to be found. In the same

work he a

tail

The simple appendage of cacodemonize the eudaemon.

says:

will

Hence eudemony

(accent on the dem) , happiness, prosperity; Martineau in TYPES OF ETHICAL THEORY (1885) observes that the best defence of the invariable eudaemony of virtue proceeds from Shaftesbury.

May you

bury the shafts of misfortune in

spreading eudemony!

Eumenides.

See abarcy.

4-

Hence eudemon, eudaemon, a good

angel which strictly should be called an agathodemon; Greek agathos, good. M.

ettling,

mean opportunity; ettling (13th to mean conjecture; withouten

happiness;

manic; Greek eudaimonikos; eudaimonia,

THE PRICKE OF CONSCIENCE (1340) mentioned a daughter the whilk he luved specialy and eghtild to mak hir qwene of worshepe. Hence ettle,

Hampole

to

eudemonics, devices or appliances that increase comfort or happiness. Also eudae-

atlien, attle, ahtil3 atthill, eitle, attile,

ettelle.

Conducive

eudemordc.

word from

the 12th century; after the 14th mainly in northern dialects. Among its forms

were

See euchologion.

euctical.

destine; to aim, direct; direct one's course;

eumorphous.

eunomy.

See diraL

Well-shaped.

Good government; good

laws

well-administered.

stinging remorse of their miserable eucli-

anonymous. Well named; appropriately named. To call the plant spindletree

onisme and snudgery.

(prickwood)

dleduddles

.

.

.

were strooke with such

247

euonymus,

as

the

ancients

eviternal

euripe

figuratively by Waterhouse in A SHORT NARRATIVE OF THE LATE DREADFUL FIRE IN LONDON (1667) when he said that

was probably a euphemism, for Pliny its flowering was a presage of THE pestilence. Cp. diral (Eumenides) SATURDAY REVIEW in 1864 grew facetious

used

over The Peace Society and

humors be sweetened, and

did,

notes that

.

Mr. Pease.

president,

umnist used

its

euonymous

An American

col-

euonyms, under the

to print

label aptronymics.

variant of euripus, a channel euripe. of violent and uncertain currents. Originally a proper name, of the channel between Negropont and the mainland. Used,

often figuratively, in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries; thus Drummond of Haw-

thornden asked, in 1649: What euripe

.

.

.

doth change as often as man? And THE PALL MALL GAZETTE of 16 February, 1884, remarked: Although all nations are nowadays more or less unquiet, Paris seems to lie in a very euripus of change. Plus ga .

.

.

evagation. Wandering of one's thoughts: listed in the 15th century as a 'branch' of accidia, one of the seven deadly sins. See accidie. In the 17th century, evagation

was used of a more

literal

wandering,

of clouds or (they feared)

as

of planets. It

also then applied to a digression (in speech or writing) and to a (pleasant) departure from propriety, as when Walton

was

remarked: You married

(1638)

London must be borne with

ness be reduced is

men

its

till

eventrique-

then to no purpose

.

Rose water. Also everrose. Used and cookery; for an instance

in cosmetics

of the latter, see bardolf.

See exenteration.

evisceration. evitable.

BEAUTY

IN

See couth; evite. A. Walker, in WOMEN (1836) pronounces the

obiter dictum:

The

scarcely evitable conwill ever be

sequence of great fortune

.

.

.

the ruin of the rich.

See evite.

evitate.

Evite.

A woman

wearing

little

clothing.

Humorously derived from Eve. Our bathing beaches had antecedents; Addison in THE GUARDIAN (1713) remarked (No. 134) on there being so many in all public places, who show so great an inclination to be Evites; and again (No. 142) said that the Evites daily increase, and that fig-leaves are shortly evite.

To

vitare,

to

are

deprived of these evagations.

.

.

its

waste of rage.

this

everose.

A

change

,

if

avoid.

shun.

coming into fashion.

From Latin

Common

in

e,

out

16th

-f

and

17th centuries; thereafter used mainly in Scotland.

A

less

common form was

evitate

eventration.

(used by Florio in his translation, 1603, of the ESSAYS of Montaigne; by Shake-

+

speare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, 1598: She doth evitate and shun A thou-

The act of cutting open the abdomen. Via French from Latin ex, out ventrem, belly. Also used more generally; in FALSE BEASTS (1875) Frances

Cobbe refers

to the

camel and the animal's

provision of water, which his master could always reach . . by the simple process of

sand irreligious cursed hours)

noun

evitation

with the

and the

adjective evitable (surviving in the negative, inevitable).

.

eventration.

To

eventrate',

to

draw

when one was hanged, drawn, and tered) ness,

;

cp.

great

eviternal.

The

early

form of eternal;

eventric-

Latin aeviternus, from aevum, age, was shortened to aeternus. Johnson in 1755

corpulence;

defined eviternal as "of duration not in-

exenteration. Also

eventriqueness,

(as

quar-

248

excrement

evoe

but indefinitely long"; but the use

finitely

of the

word does not

justify his limitation.

He was seeking a distinction where there was no difference. The basic form of the word

is

carnifex undertaking the high-born folks.) Evelyn in SYLVA (1664) advises sowing black cherry stones in beds immediately after they are excarnated. See carnation.

aeviternal, q.v.

Putting out the eyes; blinding literally and figuratively. Hall in his CHRONICLES of 1540 said that the people

excecation.

The

evoe.

exclamation of the orgiac Bac-

From Greek evoi. PROMETHEUS UNBOUND (1819) Like maenads who cry loud Evoe!

chanalian celebrants. in

Shelley says:

Evoe! Carlyle wrote in his MISCELLANIES (1830)

The

:

earth

is

giddy with

their

clangour, their evohes.

ewry.

from

Fetched

O

:

ote

as

spirit

a

planeticose

and

from Greek

exallotri-

ex,

out

4-

allotrios, foreign; allos, other.

or stone; hence, writing. Also, a written work. From Latin ex, out + arare, to

applied figuratively to digging (characters) into wax. W. H. Morley said (1840) in his discussion of THE ARABIAN

is

The

story in the Persian

MS

.

.

,

written in three different hands. The has been apparently added part

first

.

.

To render unhallow, exaugurate. (1) cancel the inauguration. (2) To augur fortune. (1)

The

separation of the

from the body; opposite of incarna-

tion off

(Latin carnis, flesh). (2) Stripping the fleshy parts; growing lean. The verb

the

agnomen

(died 230) patron saint of music, celebrated in Dryden's Ode for St. Cecilia's

excerebrate.

To

(1)

mind. From Latin ex brain.

S.

asks

(1621)

out

whether it

4-

cerebrum,

faith

beat out die brains

and 18th century

hath

not

to excerebrate all

cares, expectorate all fears

To

out of the

clear }

Ward, in THE LIFE OF FAITH

soveraigne virtue in

of.

and griefs'? (2) Thus in 17th

dictionaries.

Hence,

ex-

That which grows out, By extension, an as when Warner outgrowth,

ex-

cerebrated, brainless, witless.

excrement.

hair, nails, feathers.

cessive

is

as

in

wisedomes excrement. Shakespeare uses

the word in THE is

Time

it

is

LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588)

to

with

(Latin

carnifex was used

carnifex, as

executioner;

an English word in

and 17th centuries, and revived THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 1823.

COMEDY OF ERRORS: Why

such a niggard of hair, being as so plentiful an excrement? and in

his grace

the 16th

builder of the

Caecus? blind; whence (diminutive) Cecil, feminine Cecile, Cecilia as in St. Cecila

excarnate; excarnous, without flesh. Excarnificate is to butcher, to torture, to cut is

pieces

A fre-

ALBION'S ENGLAND (1606) says that wit so

excaraation. soul

utterly excecated.

.

since the exaration of the other two.

ill

is

cecation in wilful wickedness. Latin caecus, light; blind. Appius Claudius

plough,

NIGHTS:

.

Day.

Tracing characters upon wax

exaration.

.

(Roman consul, 307 B.C., Appian Way) was given

foreign land. Coined by Bulwer-Lytton (THE CAX-

TONS; 1849)

.

quent word in 17th century sermons, as (1588) of Pharoah's obduration and exwithout

See chaundrye.

exallotriote.

of Scotland

my

to

dallie

mustachio.

with

:

It will please

my

excrement,

The word

is

from

Latin excrementum*, ex, out 4- crescere, to grow; it has been replaced by ex-

The excrement that survives from Latin ex 4- cernere, cretum, to

by

Scott in

crescence.

J.

Martineau, 1882, mentions the chief

is

249

excubant sift,

exhibition

whence

also secrete, secret, secretary,

and the

concern, discern,

secretion;

fre-

quent indiscretion.

Keeping watch. From Latin cubare, to lie down; cumbere,

excubant. ex, out

+

to

cp. succubus.

lie;

An

excubitor

sentinel; G.

White observed, in

the swallow

is

martins

.

.

.

is

a

1775, that

the excubitor to the house-

announcing the approach of

birds of prey.

To

exculcate.

From Latin

trample out, to eradicate. out 4- calcare, to stamp;

The

heel.

calc-,

ex,

of

opposite

inculcate;

what many 'modern* parents do with good manners in their offspring. excuss.

(1)

To

shake

get rid of (as

off,

To undesired qualities) (2) the contents; hence, to investigate; to probe the truth from someone. (3) In 18th century law, to shake or

dust,

shake

a groan, is a faint bodily image of this dilaceration of the spirit, and exenteration of the inmost mind, which Calantha,

with a holy violence against her nature, keeps closely covered till the last duties

A

of a wife and queen are fulfilled. slightly familiar word is evisceration (Latin

more
out

literally

organs)

and

tively, as to eviscerate one's brains;

.

figura-

in the

17th century it was frequently applied in an image of the spider, which 'eviscerates itself

to

weave

TABLE-TALK, if

27

its

web.

October,

Coleridge 1831,

in

wonders

a certain latitude in examining witis ... a necessary mean towards the

nesses

evisceration of truth. Back in 1636, W. Ambrose was suggesting that writers might

.

out

out one's property,

i.e.,

to take a man's

From Latin

goods for debt. cussus; ex, out

excutere, ex-

+

quatere, to shake. (In Latin the verb also meant to search by

thrive if they exenterate old stories; his advice has been well taken.

exhibition. cially,

Maintenance, support; espe-

an allowance of money for one's

a gift; a prize-sum or scholarship at a university. Used from the 15th century. The verb to exhibit had the same

support;

shaking one's robe.) The word was often in religious mouths, especially in the 17th (1620) century, as when Bishop Hall

range

spoke of the just excussion of that servile

in

of

meaning;

to

grant;

provide,

furnish; defray (expenses) . Latin ex, out 4- habere, to have, to hold. Shakespeare

OTHELLO

speaking of being has Desdemona ask: husband, Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the (1604),

false to one's

yoke. exenteration.

The

act of

removing the Exenterate

is disemboweling. from Latin ex, out + a Late Latin verb

entrails,

from Greek enteron,

man

viscera, the internal

H-

This was used both

intestine.

When

a

was condemned to be hanged, drawn,

and quartered, the drawing was exenteration. Cp. eventration. The word was also used figuratively, as in Lamb's praise (1808) of Ford's play THE BROKEN HEART: I do not know where to find, in any play, a catastrophe so grand, so solemn, prising, as in this

till

who

.

.

The

so>

sur-

fortitude of

let

for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition; but for the whole world

why, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture Purgatory foft. In

GENTLEMEN OF VERONA he

declares:

TWO What

maintenance he from his friends receives, Like exhibition thou shalt have from me.

King Lear complained that his daughters put him on a set allowance: he was con250

a beast gnaw out he died, without expressing

the Spartan boy his bowels

.

world? and her servant Emilia reply: Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor

exornation

exilient fin'd to exhibition.

The

word developed in

the

tive.

From Latin

exilire; ex,

(like the

to leap

alert,

Exulting; bounding;

exilient.

on a bench

inane. The BIBLE (PHILIPPIANS, 2; in the form 1582) said that Jesus, being d of God, exinanite himself; the King

whence

current sense of the 17th century.

out

saltimbancos

to sell their wares;

+

who

ac-

satire,

leapt

saltimbanco

has been used since the 17th century for a quack) Hence exilience, rapture, exultation; exiliency has this meaning, but .

also any outburst; Heylin in CYPRIANUS ANGLICUS (1662) speaks of some exiliency

human

of

James Version (1611) says "made himselfe of no reputation." Also, in the 17th excentury, exinanitiate, and the noun inanition. Donne in an Essay of 1631 the

spoke of the Lord's replenishing world after that great exinanition by the the word generall deluge; he also used referring to emptying oneself of pride thus meaning abasement, humiliation

frailty.

Sermon

in a

ourselves

is

of 1627: This exinanition of

acceptable in the sight of God.

Thinness, meagreness; poverty. Also fineness of texture; hence, subtlety.

exion.

from the adjective exile was used 15th into the 19th century to mean

in Shakespeare's Quickly, in a legal matter, HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) : I pray ye,

exility.

The

meagre, shrunken, thin, as when Bacon in SYLVA (1626) speaks of a voice made extreme sharp and exile, like the voice of

An

puppets. subtle.

The

thin, scanty; <2g-,

ex

theory is fine-spun, words are from Latin exilis, ex.,

out

from the root banish, is from

-f agilis

weigh. (To exile, to

Choice,

excellent,

ex,

out

has been mainly humorous as in Carlyle's FREDERICK THE

GREAT (1865)

.

.

:

Oh

ye wigs, and eximious

.

let

him be

exit;

That from Latin to go. Other

out -I- ire, 16th-18th centuries, are exitiused forms, Other forms for exitious. exitiose, able,

were

exitus, exition, exiture (the last

also used in medicine, of

or abscess)

it

one's

exire, exitus; ex,

his ACETARIA,

satiric,

entered

Destructive, ruinous, fatal.

resulting in

+

or influence, etc.) In the 16th and 17th centuries, eximious was frequently used; or

exitial. is,

From Latin

since then,

is

brought in to his answer.

exit distin-

eximere, exempts; emere, to take (whence also exempt, which first meant taken out, removed, then removed out of obligation,

guished.

exion

my

blunder of Mistress

exile

4- satire, to leap; cp. exilient.)

eximious.

since

A

Action.

.

a running sore said Evelyn in

Mushrooms, OR A DISCOURSE OF SALLETS

are malignant, (1699) deleterious.

exitial,

mortal,

and

action of putting out blinding often as part of a

exoculation.

the eyes;

The

sentence. torturing or (an early) judicial THE in RODERICK, abacinate. Southey Cp. LAST OF THE GOTHS (1814) has a note:

right-honourable! (A like wig-block was a block of wood shaped a head, on which a wig rested when not in use; its like may be seen in many shops

the dark history of Europe during exoculawith abounds of examples ages tion. There are instances of it in the Elizabethan drama, including the exoculation of

and, in the Carlylean sense, parlors

old Gloucester in Shakespeare's KING LEAR.

wig-blocks,

called

The

of today.)

exoneration.

To

void, deprive of force; to reduce to emptiness, to humble. Accent

exinanite.

on

the in. Latin ex, out

+

inanis, empty,

exomation.

See oner.

Adornment, Used mainly by T.

16th and 17th century rhetoricians, as

251

exosculation

exprobration

Both experience and experiment are from Latin experiri, expertum, to try. Experience first (14th century) meant putting

Wilson in THE ARTE OF RHETORIQUE (155B): Exornacion is a gorgiousse beautifiynge of the tongue with borowed wordes. From Latin ex (with intensive effect) to embellish. Exorn, exourn,

+

to

ornare,

were verbs, largely supplanted after the 17th century by adorn.

A

exosculation.

'smack,'

a hearty

kiss.

Latin ex

(with intensive force) 4- osculari, to kiss; osculum, a little mouth, os, mouth. Cp. bass; osculation. Used in the

16th and 17th centuries. late,

to kiss heartily,

dictionaries,

is

The

verb exoscu-

hopefully in the

but found no

the

make

exornate

literary use.

to

test;

trial

of.

make experience of, to Once one is experienced,

however, the trial (experiment) is over; one has become expert. Thus Bacon, in the most compact of all English essays (1598) says that expert men can execute, ,

and perhaps judge

of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the

plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. Caxton in POLYCRONICON (1482) recommends history to yong men and to old men, to .

.

exoteric.

See acroamatic.

whome

expeccadon. Removal of sin or of guilt. Latin ex, away -f peccare, to sin.

long

(only) 1631: It is .

by Donne in a Sermon of

this this expeccation taking away of sins formerly committed, .

.

.

.

.

that restores me.

which noun was used in THE MECHANIC'S MAGAZINE of 1823, of an early alarm clock: The newly invented

expergefacient. Rousing; causes one to awake. The

that

hydraulic expergefactor rings a bell at the time when a person wishes to rise.

From arouse

Latin expergefacere; expergere, to + facere, to make. Ex is used as

intensive; so

haste,

or

of being aroused, is expergefaction. Used since the 17th century; Howell in THE PARLEY OF BEASTS one,

(1660)

the

says

noctivagation

Desirable.

that he, .

.

.

after such

returned to

Used

Latin

ex,

a long

perfect in his LIVES

no sense of drowsiness. Experience; practical knowledge. Also, practical proof; a specimen.

+

and

expiscation.

Investigation; "fishing out." ex,

piscis,

fish.

out

Chapman

+

piscari,

to

fish;

uses the verb

ex-

piscate in his translation (1611) of THE ILIAD; his own poem (1605) on Jonson's SEJANUS speaks of the Castalian head: In

Our

nets

be clogd with heavy lead. An hence, an exptscator, investigator is, though this form is rare. But indeed those

must

still

that can expiscate the truth

walk not on

every highway,

exprobration.

my

out

in 16th, 17th,

From Latin

state

expergefaction. R. North, (1734) coined a new form: / should perceive a plain expergiscence though I had

experiment.

expetible.

petere, to seek. 18th centuries.

expiscation of whose mysteries

is per in pergere, to make continue; regere, to lead straight, to guide. The action of awakening some-

an

.

hath mynystred expery-

mentes of dyverse thynges.

From Used

lyf

Speaking reproachfully; a

scolding. Also, to exprobrate, exprobate, to reproach; to make clear (to one's

Latin ex, out of 4- probrum, shame) shameful action. The second form of the .

verb came by association with to reprobate. Reprobation, reprove are from Latin reprobare, reprobatum, to reject; re, back -h probare, to esteem, approve; probus, good, honest, whence probity. Reproach

(French proche, near)

252

is

via French

from

exustion

exsibilate

Latin

Late

repropiare,

to

bring

near

to

the current extravagance, a spending be-

yond proper bounds. Also extravage, go beyond the sphere of duty; to talk

deeds, because the rehearsail in particu-

cannot

have some

but

To

off the stage.

lare,

to

hiss.

and 18th

reject scornfully;

PRELUDE (1805) speaks of schemes In which his youth did first extravagate.

to hiss

From Latin ex, out 4- sibiThus Bishop Barlow de-

can audiences are quite restrained, and before

plays

deserve

that

in

See aeromancy. Urquhart extispice. his translation (1693) of Rabelais, uses

of his extravasated powers

the form extispicine; Bailey (1751) has the most frequent form is extispice; One that inspected the entrails extispex,

To make

remove. strain.

Four

syllables,

accent

i.e.,

exturb. ex,

to

To

on the

vines;

.

.

hustle

H.

off,

turbare,

get rid of. Latin

to

agitate;

turba,

Whence

also

exturbation, removal, hustling away

(of

someone)

extraneize the blasting

and whirlwinds upon our

out

To +

tumult; whence

Urquhart, in his translation (165S)

of Rabelais: mists

extraneous,

.

hammer.

from Latin exta (used also in English), entrails -f specere, spex-, to look at. extraneize.

proper

extund. To drive out or away. Not used in English in the literal sense, to hammer out, from Latin ex, out + tundere, to

extispicy.

an

its

and physiology; but De Foe in his HISTORY OF THE DEVIL (1726) said: // he be not in the inside ... 1 have so mean an opinion

swift exsibilation.

of the sacrificial victims was

force out of

container; to escape. Accent on the trav. Used from the 17th century (Latin extra, out -t- vas, vessel), mainly in chemistry

since exibilated this rash illation. Ameri-

suffering

To

extravasate.

clared, in 1601: Cardinal Allen hath long

sit

to off

the subject, to ramble; used in the 17th centuries, Wordsworth in THE

affinitie

with exprobration. exsibilate.

figuratively:

beyond proper

bounds. Latin extra, beyond, outside -f whence vagrant. Also vagari, to wander,

Norton in his preface Grafton's CHRONICLE AT LARGE (1569) says he will refrain from listing Grafton's good laritie

wander,

into; at will;

away from;

prope, near; applied again to bringing a fault back to

figuratively one's attention.

To

extravagate.

+

again; re,

extil.

also disturb.

.

An

early

form of

exile, used, e.g.,

Clarke, in SCHOOL CANDIDATES (1788) : To extraneize the blasting mists and whirl-

in Spenser's COLIN CLOUTS COME HOME AGAIN (1595) . An exulant is one living in

upon the minds of one Omit e, and extranize has youth. also extranate (Latin Thus values. present

exile.

wind

of immorality

originating from outside, outopposed to innate. Originating from of first extraneous, the side was meaning natus, born)

which

is

as

,

current in the sense of outside,

irrelevant;

earlier

forms are

extraneal,

extranean, extranear. I desist (said T. Gainsford in 1618; few since have fol-

lowed him!) from fluous discourses.

all

extraneal

and super-

Cp.

exility.

exungulation. Paring the nails. Latin ex, out +ungula, diminutive of unguis, claw. hoofs Exungulated (of animals) with the ,

(in

To

exungulate is also or medicinal preparing food, perfume, to cut off the white part of

pulled or cut

off.

prescriptions)

rose petals.

Burning up. S. Parker, speakSodom and ing (1720) of the burning of

exustion.

Gomorrah, 253

said:

The

frightful

effects

exuviae

which ing.

eyren

this

exustion

are

left

still

Some think the wrathful

remain-

Sj

ustion has begun again. The verb exust, to burn up, was used into the 19th cen-

form exust was also used as an adjective, burnt or dried up. From Latin ex> out -f- urere, ustum, to burn; whence

consumed by

exuviae.

Cast skins, shells and other cov-

of

erings

HAMLET (1602) : An ayrie of children, little yases, that crye out on the top of question in allusion to the boy actors of the Blackfriars, for a time

animals;

fire.

serious rivals of Shakespeare's

Thus

cast-off

figuratively,

of apparel.

Of

The young crayfish

1880:

a lively youngster Shakespeare inquires

hawk; the word is a diminutive of Romanic mosca, Latin musca, fly; Latin

exuvi-

muscus, musk.

from the

year. Ah, youth, youth!

A

young hawk, taken for training; a nestling. This is an altered form of nyas (a nyas became an yas, from oral misunderstanding, as a nadder became an adder, nickname shows the converse French niais (which is error; cp. eke) eyas.

;

used to

mean

childish,

foolish)

;

Latin

inexperi-

:

ate two or three times in the course of the first

company.

How now, (MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR) my eyas-musket, what newes with you? [A musket was the male of a sparrow-

and breeches under which he staggers. FRASER'S MAGAZINE in 1855: Crabs of mature age and full size cease to exuviate. Huxley in

ey as-thoughtsj unfledged,

enced thoughts; eyas wings, untried wings.

Thackeray in CATHERINE (1840) looks at the old-clothes man and wonders at the load of exuvial coats articles

spelling eyas as influ-

in Shakespeare's

Also exustible, capable

of being

The

.

tury; the

also combustion.

nest.

enced by Middle English ey, egg, and also by eyry (aery, airie; a hawk's nest) The word was used figuratively, usually in scorn, of young men. Thus Rosencrantz

divine ex-

The gun

took

its

name

bird, as did the falcon, etc.]

eymery. An old form of ember, ashes. Also eymbre, eymbery.

A

small island. eyot. eyoty, like an island. eyren.

An

ait.

Hence

old plural of egg: eggs. Also

eyrone, eyroun; ayren.

254

Also

Like

fabaceous.

a

bean. Used in the

Latin

faba,

century. Figura-

'skinny/

lanky,

tively,

bean. 1 8th

See cunctation. Propertius used the phrase licens Fabius of the Fabian priests of Pan, who had the privilege of fablan.

conduct

licentious

at

the

Lupercalia;

hence

late 16th century references (Florio; Nashe) to a flaunting fabian, a roisterer.

Fond

fabulose.

of fables

Moritz Jagendorf.

modern

folklorists

and myths,

like

A

17th century term could use.

A

also as an evil deed, a was the most common meaning in the 16th and 17th centuries;

survives in feat) crime. The last

it

One

that

does,

acts,

performs.

Latin

fadentem, present participle of facerej to do, to make. Bishop Hacket in his MEMORIAL TO ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS OF YORK (1670) inquired: Is sin in the fact,

word

or in the mind of the facientf fills a gap in current speech.

facinerious.

The

A variant of fadnorous,

variation

The

survives in the phrases accessory after the fact. In the very factf in the act.

very

facinorous.

Extremely wicked, infamous; grossly criminal. The word, naturally, is accented on the sin. From Latin fadnoro-

bad deeds; fadnus, a (bad) deed; facere, to do. Also fadnerose (in the dictionaries) , fadnerious, fadnorious,

suSj full of

WELL

(1601)

:

current sense, of a thing that

from

(1632) said: Great Julius would that his wife was free

satisfied

fact,

only for suspidon of a

but,

crime, sued a divorce. also a noun, eloLatin facundus. Hence quence; facundity.

facund.

Eloquent;

facundious,

fluent,

glib,

facundate,

to

(a 17th century term; not

be confused with fecundate; Latin fecundus, fruitful) The words are from to

q.v.

norem or fadnerem.

spirit.

The

developed in the 17th century. Fact was also, more rarely, used to mean guilt, as when Massinger in THE EMPEROR OF is so,

make eloquent

occurred in Latin; fad-

as in Shakespeare's ALL'S

;

(before)

not rest faclent.

See fegs.

fact. deed, a thing done. Latin facere, factum, to do. Hence, used of a noble deed or exploit (earlier fait; this sense

THE EAST

See inficete.

facete.

fackins.

WELL THAT ENDS

He's of a most fadnerious

.

a form of Latin /or, fari, faturn, to speak; whence also the forum and one's fate: that (Sir

which has been spoken. Lord Beraers John Bourchier) in his early 16th

century translations used simple terms, apologizing for not using fresshe ornate

polysshed Englysshe on the ground that he was unequipped with the facondyoiis arte of rethoryke.

Warner in ALBION'S ENG-

LAND (1606) knew how often eloquence displays but facundious fooles*

255

fagot

faddity faddity. An oddity that is the fad. late 19th century word.

moment's

Its

A

is

plural, fasces,

A

fadge. very common verb, from the late 16th century. (1) To fit, be suitable, to fit in with; to get along well with. (2)

To

agree; to

(fadge up)

fit

.

(3)

before the highest magistrate as a symbol of his authority, the revival of which in modern Italy gave name to the Fascist

together; to piece together To fit in with; hence, to

There

is

also a

Party. In

England faggot is the preferred other forms were faggat, faget, spelling; fag(g)ald. Forgotten meanings include:

noun fadge,

An

embroidered figure of a bundle of which recanted heretics had to wear on their sleeve, as a sign of what

with the basic sense of something flat: a a fiat bundle (of pieces of leather, etc.)

firewood,

;

person. Hence fadgy, unwieldy; corpulent. Fuller in THE flat

large

a

loaf;

dumpy

they

The

:

study

of

stake,

did not

the law

shall

pathy,

to

.

.

.

be made, spight of

new

fadges the

anti-

:

Well}

sir,

The word

is

possibly

after

To coax, to flatter. Common in Hth and 15th centuries. Also faging,

fage.

flattery; fager, flatterer.

(1751)

A

defined

fage, a deceit; as 'a merry

tale/

fagtoli.

Italian. says:

Beans; kidney beans. From the Jonson in CYNTHIA'S REVELS (1600)

He

doth

learn

to

make

strange

sauces, to eat anchovies, macaroni, bovoli, fagioli,

caviare.

faggot, the

have renounced heresy.

stuffed

into

a

filbert is better

than a faggot,

it

the

color

and comparatively low

height of the hazel tree.) In the 17th cen-

See fegs.

Bailey

and

bear a faggot, to

be an Athenian she handfull. (Filbert, a term rather of endearment,

except

to country, a sort of morris, q.v.

in

A

tells us:

Irish feadan, pipe, whistle; but in Cornish fade meant to dance from town

the

to

sausage-skin (19th century) . From the 16th into the 19th century, a term of abuse for a woman; Lodge in CATHAROS (1591)

from

faex.

alive;

burning

mixed with gravy and

how

design?

See dildo.

fading.

(1675)

Similarly, to fry a fag-

alive; fire

Fagot was also used of bundles of other things, in general. Also (from the shape) a rolled cake of chopped liver and lights,

fadge together; Wycherley in

THE COUNTRY WIFE

be burnt

carry a faggot, to

fadge well with him; Milton, in the Preface (1643) to his treatise on DIVORCE:

They

had deserved.

got, to

HISTORY OF THE WORTHIES OF ENGLAND (1661)

was applied to the bundle

of rods with an axe in the middle, carried

get along, thrive. It won't fadge, it won't succeed. Fadging, well matched, well suited, fitting.

origin is unknown, though its meaning similar to Latin fasds, which in the

tury, fagot came to be used of a man quickly hired to answer "Here!" in a shortage of soldiers at mustertime; hence,

one used

to

fill

dummy. From

a

deficiency;

also,

a

came the 19th century use faggot, faggot-vote, one manufactured to help carry an election, as by temporarily transferring qualified to vote.

this

to

persons

enough

Thus

not

otherwise

them NEWS of 16

property to entitle

in the DAILY

April, 1879, a candidate averred that he had not the slightest doubt he would win,

Bovoli are periwinkles,

snails.

unless he were to be

fagot.

Still

a bundle of

occasionally in use, sticks, tied

meaning

together for

swamped by faggots. Bishop Montagu, in one of his DIATRIBES

fire-

(1621)

wood, fagot had various other meanings.

fagot!

256

cried out:

You deserved

to fry a

fain

fanger Glad, well-pleased. Also fagen, fein,

fain.

fayen, feene, vein, vayn, fyene, feign and more. Full fain, glad and fain. In the

phrase fain

glad

to,

two

as the lesser of

then, content

to;

to,

that

Ascham, indeed, was fain

to apologise in written for having English. Also apt, wont; favorable, well-disposed; Spenser, in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) : Whose

hand was -fain his steed to guyde; Rossetti, in DANTE AND HIS CIRCLE (1850): / saw Love coming towards me, fair and fain. I would (had) fain, I would

steadie

.

.

.

Fain was also a verb, to be to make glad, hence to ; welcome; to rejoice in. There was an old .

gladly

glad

.

(of,

proverb

.

on)

(echoed by Scott)

maketh

fools fain.

faintise.

Deceit,

Fair promys

pretence.

Also

feeble-

faint, feint

Also

first

sense,

(1400) has: Ere he fain any faintes; in the second, Harding's CHRONICLE (1470)

They fought without

A

fallbullow; furbelow. (Origin unknown; not from a fur trimming, fur below.) In the plural, furbelows, it came to be used

18th century) of overdecorative, or ornaments; hence

(in the

trimming

showy

Monmouth and the

present on the occasion of a

Also, to go afairing, to go for a time to the fair. day after the fair

fair.

A

6th century) (1 one's fairing, deserts.

,

Deloney

(1597) has the

To give (get) give (get) one's just in JACK OF NEWBERIE

widow watching her

servant

whom

she hoped to marry, John (Jack) till at last it was her lucke upon a Barthol,

Street:

The

rags of peasants,

Mix'd with hoopHere on one petticoats and falbeloes hook I oftentimes have seen The warrior's .

.

.

and the footman's green; And near a broken gamester's old roqu'laure The tatter' d pawn of some ill-fated whore;

See pedlers French.

(1751).

A

omew

day (having a fayre in the towne) her man John give a pair of gloves to a proper maide for a fayring, which

domestic servant. So Bailey

Hence famulary,

relating to serv-

ants; famulate, to serve; famulative, suit-

able

for

service;

serving.

The

Latin

famulus, servant (plural, famuli) is used in English of the helper of a scholar or a

too late.

to

NEW

furbelows.

spoils of beaus,

fambles.

hence, any complimentary gift; especially, fairings, sweets or cakes sold at

good

rhetorical

figuratively,

CRAZY TALES (1783) lists things to be found in London's second-hand shops, on

feyntise.

fair;

a

trimming for petticoats and

other garments; a flounce. Also falbeloe,

famular. fairing.

thus plentifully in.

woe, Beavroys and riding-hoods make up the show.

THE DESTRUCTION OF

TROY

states:

depart,

Hats, bonnets, scarves, sad arguments of

feintise, feyntise, fayntes, fantise, fayntise*

In the

we

scarlet

From

cowardice.

ness,

:

A

falbala.

AMENITIES OF LITERATURE (1841) remarks

come

LOST

LABOUR'S

shall be rich ere

See fact; cp. fay tour.

fait.

hence, necesDisraeli in THE

We

:

If fairings

evils;

when

sitated, obliged, as

(1588)

LOVE'S

in

Shakespeare,

thus

magician;

REVOLUTION

Carlyle

in

states

(1837)

THE FRENCH that

the

ma-

gician's famulus got hold of the forbidden

book, and

summoned

a goblin; Thackeray (1852) notes that faithful little famuli see all and say nothing. Such, a century later, are hard to find. in

HENRY ESMOND

to spie

maiden with a bashfull modesty kindly accepted, and requited it with a kisse, which kindled in her an inward jealousie. the

fanger,

(1)

A

guardian.

One who

takes

(hold) care of another. The first meaning of to fang was to lay hold of. (2) One

who

257

captures.

(3)

That with which one

farrago

fangle captures

(e.g.,

figurative)

a claw, a tooth; but often

Dekker in

.

IF IT

BE NOT GOOD,

THE DEVIL

said: All the is IN IT (1612) head in that craft of yours cannot great

out of

it

get

new

my

always contemptuous. By extension, a silly piece of foppery or fuss; a fantastic contrivance. Lyly in EUPHUES fangle,

new fangle was applied a person, meaning eager for novelty.

permit

pedlers packe of

fangles. Originally

Hence in

new

fangle, to dress fashion; to -jangle, to fashion, to

the verbs: to

new

of

(1816)

me

divine

Nor

:

was called fardry. Fardry today protested to Ophelia)

a fardel of myths)

Be

not, as is our fangled world, a than that it covers. Nobler garment fantastic.

A

person

fancies, whimsies.

full

of absurdities,

(1597) speaks of antique affecting fantasticoes.

limping

Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) has Bar-

Drunk,

lap.

'tight/

dolph exclaim: I my the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five sentences Evans corrects him: It is his five senses. Fie, what the ignorance is! Bardolph goes blithely on: And being fap, they say, casheered.

farandman.

sir,

was, as

faring-man; a traveler. From farand, an old participle of fare + man. In many cases, the stranger (vaga-

bond or

pedlar)

had

law, but in Scotland

little

help from the

(15th- 18th century)

Law

of Farandman provided that a could pedlar bring a townsman to trial for theft or felony 'within the third flow-

the

ing and ebbing of the farce*

fanL

sea.*

conscience

(1)

Hamlet

(as

common

practice.

bundle; a collection ;

and Spanish

(as

a burden. Also, some-

Via Old French

in.

(fardo) possibly from Arabic fardah. Hence also fardellage, a package

(I5th-16th

,

centuries)

a

fardlet,

;

little

bundle (15th- 17th centuries) There are two other words spelled fardel. (2) A .

fourth part of anything.

From

fourth

-f-

deal.

Hence, plural, quarters, pieces, fragments. (3) Profit. A form of fore-deal. of Carew, in his translation (1594) Huarte's EXAMINATION OF MEN'S WITS, says:

I have always held

many

lessons

carry them

One

A

A

is

thing to wrap things

Shakespeare in ROMEO

AND JULIET

my

or the effect thereof

painting the face

scorn). Shakespeare in CYMBELINE (1611) says:

will

fard or daub over the causes wrath. In the 15th century,

fardel.

out.

mark

to

Also fanglement, the act of (usually in fashioning; a contrivance

trick

conceal the

uratively: the fard of eloquence. Also, to fard, to paint the face; hence, to embellish, to gloss over, as in Scott's OLD MOR-

TALITY

A

to

of Time's finger; Sir G. Mackenzie in THE RELIGIOUS STOIC (1663) used the word fig-

new

speaks of

(1579) to

and fards employed

fangers.

A fashion, especially in the phrase

fangle.

18th century. (2) Paint for the face, especially a white paint. F. Barrett in UNDER STRANGE MASK (1889) spoke of the enamels

it

an errour, to hear

and

of divers matters,

all

home

fardied

fardel at a time!

up

But there

to

together. is

always Shakespeare: (1602) Hamlet, in his greatest

Who

soliloquy, asks and in THE WINTER'S

bear?

would

fardels

TALE (1611) we

find: There lies such secrets in this farthel and box, which none must know but the

King.

A confused agglomeration, a hodgepodge. Latin farrago, mixed fodder

farrago.

for cattle;

See fastuous.

(1) Motion, impetus; hence, a violent onset. Related to fare; used 16th-

farrem, grain, corn. By the 16th century, the form farrage was used for fodder. Canning in his POETICAL WORKS (1827)

258

said:

No

longer

we want This

fathom

farthingale

farrago of cowardice, cunning, and cant. Hence farraginary (16th century) and,

fastrede.

more frequently since 1600, farraginous. Southey in THE DOCTOR (1845) spoke of farraginous notes; Reade in ALL THE YEAR ROUND for 3 October, 1863, declared that Bailey was one of the farraginous fools

pose. From the 8th into the 14th century, as in THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE

A

framework of hoops, usufarthingale. ally of whalebone, worn under ladies' dresses

to spread

them wide; the pettiOld French

coat under a hoop-skirt. Via

from Spanish verdugato, a from verdugo, rod. Bailey's

vertugalle farthingale,

DICTIONARY (1751), however, suggests the is a corruption of French "vertu

word

i.e.,

gard,

the

Guard

of Virtue, because

young women, by hiding lies,

the

preserve

their great belof their

He

:

(1250)

fastuous. tious.

of the unscientific science.

Firm in purpose; steadfast Old

nu

is

raed, counsel, pur-

ripe

and

-fastrede.

Haughty; pretentious, ostenta-

From Latin

fastus (farstus),

fastuosus, full of pride, arrogance, haughty con-

This

is probably (meaning with "puffed up" pride) akin to Latin

tempt.

fartus,

farcire,

farce,

which

to

first

stuff,

meant

whence English stuffing. [Then

the word -farce was applied to the extra words "stuffed in'* between kyrie and eleison in church singing; later to inter-

polated 'gags* and buffoonery.] Collier in 1707 attacked a pompous display of a fastuous learning;

reputation

The farthingale was worn from the mid- 15th well into the 19th century.

+

faest, fast

English

tury objected

to

many

in the 17th cen-

fastuosity.

chastity."

Dekker in WESTWARD HOE (1607) tells that women must learn how to wear a Scotch farthingale. Evidently the women learned; J. G. Strutt in SYLVA BRITANNICA (1830)

informs

us

that

the

maids of

honour had

just stripped off their farthingales. Others preferred to die in them; Rhoda Broughton in NANCY (1873) recalls the faithful, ruffed

and farthingaled

fastigiate.

pointed at the top; form into or with

to taper to a point; to

gables. Rarely, fastigate. Latin fastigare, to sharpen. Hence fastigium, a gable

upper ridge of a roof; a peak or summit. Also, as an adjective, fastigiate,

point; the

tapered

up

to a point, fastigious, gabled;

figuratively, pompous, pretentious; G. H. in his translation (1670) of G. Leti's HISTORY OF THE CARDINALS wrote: They

thought the

title

too

fathom.

The embracing arms

(in

the

Hence, plural; in the singular, bosom) one to be embraced, the 'wife of thy bosom'; Dekker in SATIROMASTIX (1602) .

speaks of thy bride

fadom. Also, to

.

.

.

She that

make a fathom,

the arms to their full extent

come

the it

now thy to stretch

is

From

this

meanings of measurement, be physical (Shakespeare, THE

WINTER'S TALE, 1611): the profound seas hides In unknowne fadomes or the stretch

See thirdendeal.

To make

See fatuate.

whether

wife on the fifteenth century tomb. farthingdeal.

fate.

eminent and too

of one's comprehension (Shakespeare, OTHELLO) : Another of his fadome, they have none. Fathom was so used from the

8th century, the meaning of fathoms deep coming toward the end of the I5th. In the same range of meanings, from the 15th century, fathom has been used as a verb,

to encircle with

extended arms

trees, wrote Scott in his JOURNAL for 1828, so thick that a man could not fathom

them; to embrace, also to fathom together

fastigious for them.

lascivious Delilahs, said

259

Thomas Adams

favel

faticane

him

(WORKS; 1629), {adorned

(17th century, and

understand

book Fauna Suecica

rent)

A

especially one in fatum, fatif fate 4- canere, to

prophet;

verse. Latin

A

lish

rare 17th century word, used by in THE MAGASTROMANCER

dic,

prophetic

a

dicere, to speak: fati-

power;

fatidicate,

NOTES AND QUERIES

for

1864

those -fatidical women, who the destinies of the nation.

fatigate.

fatuate.

.

ruled

Fauntleroy faust.

act foolishly, to

be

silly.

A

may

fatuated,

not be your faunic.

fate. If

you

silly;

these

ate

a

lucky. Faustus (as in Maris Latin for favored,

Emperor

.

.

.

ascending the

luck.

good

Hence

also

The color, fallow, of a horse; hence, a fallow horse. Also favell. Then the favel (horse) was taken as a symbol of

deceit and cunning; R. Edwards in the PARADISE OF DAINTY DEVICES (1576) CX-

Oh

claims

favell false!

Hence,

favel, flat-

tery; to curry favel, to use insincere flattery

the

countryside

.

favel.

you look silly, but that need

goddess,

Fauna

sister

win

terer

woodland; rude;

relating to a faun. Also faunaL

was

the King-child)

,

to

of

fauntelte,

from Old French

fauterer, fautor, a favorer, abettor, parfavorable. tisan; fautive (of, to)

fate!

Wild;

Hence

infant.

1588)

faustitude,

ity,

fatum, to speak, fatum, spoken, hence the utterance of an oracle, hence destiny fat

THE

Capitol amidst faust acclamations in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin tongues. Faust-

fari,

be the

an

Happy;

the

tures

have been replaced by fatuous; the form survives in infatuated. The forms are ultimately from Latin fatuus, speaking by inspiration, hence insane, simple, silly;

whence English

in

from favere, faustus, to favor. E. Johnson THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM (1890) pic-

forms were fatuant, behaving foolishly; fatuate (as an adjective, in Jonson's THE

it

Hawthorne

in

verb in the 17th and 18th centuries. Other

,

a

.

(literally,

lowe's play,

See couth.

1601)

faun,

fatum, to speak; cp. fatuate. The English forms were used in the 1 4th century, but may have faint echo in Little Lord

mortal.

See faticane.

POETASTER,

a

enfaunt; French enfant; English infant; Latin in, not + fantem, speaking; fari,

See faticane.

To

by (1860)

childishness. Shortened

fatifer-

.

Hence

.

child. Also fauntekin, fauntelet,

a little child,

mentions .

A

faunt.

to

.

pound with Latin ferre, to bring: ous, bringing on one's fate, deadly,

fatiferous.

used

faun;

MARBLE FAUN

prophesy; fatidicency, divination (accents on the tid) There is also the rare com-

fatidical.

foot)

.

concerning prophecy; fatidical, gifted

with

podiatry,

his bits of mischief, see areed; feminine,

:

.

;

fauness. But a faunist is a student of the fauna of a region, faunship, state of being

What fatuous thing is fate, then, (1651) that is so obvious . as for the faticanes to foretell? More frequent were the compounds with Latin

(1745)

demigod of the countryside; for one of

Gaule

John

for his

sequel to his hence the current

(1746)

meaning, the animal life of a region. Faunus was the Greek Pan (Greek-Roman p became Teutonic /, as pod, Eng-

.

faticane.

sing.

Flora Suecica

cur-

still

name

Faunus. Linnaeus used her

in the arms

of lust; to measure (17th century) ; to get to the bottom of, see through, thoroughly

of

favor.

to

etymology favor.

260

Hence, a curry-favel, a

win favor (as

Wyatt

corrupted

early as

(OF THE

1500)

by

flat-

folk

to curry

COURTIERS LIFE;

feat

favonian a vice with the 1536) speaks of cloaking nearest virtue, As dronkenes, good fel-

often,

And say that favell lowshippe to call hath a goodly grace In eloquence; and

ing at

.

name

crueltie to

.

.

Zele of justice.

favonian.

Favorable, propitious, gentle. Latin Favonius, the west wind. From 1650. Keats (1821) Softly tell her not to fear :

Such calm favonian

The

fax.

burial.

hair of the

human

head. Also

feax, facts, faix, vaex, vax. From BEOWULF to 1600; survives in names, as Halifax,

A faxed star is a comet, its tail to hair. Holland in THE likened being

Fairfax.

COURT OF VENUS (1560) has: With countinance and facts virginall. See fegs. Fay, as short for faith, was 1300 to 1600; used by

fay.

common from

Chaucer and Spenser. Fay, as short for from 1350 to 1750, fairy, was common used by Gower, 1393; Collins, 1746, and is still used for archaic flavor. fayned.

A

variant form of feigned. Pro-

nounced in two

syllables.

One

of Wyatt's

begins: Unstable (1540) to the place Be steadfast ons, or else at leist be true: By tasted sweetenes make me not to rue The sud-

sonnets

best

dreme according

den

losse of thy false

fayring.

faytour.

grant

fayned grace.

An

who

a vaimpostor; especially, be ill or to tell to pretends

Old French from facere, faitor, doer; Latin factor, factum, to do. (A thing done is a fact, was also a 14th and 15th cenq.v.) There

:

A

17th century To whip. feague. (1) word; the 16th century has the term bum-

SHE WOULD Let us even go

feage, to spank. Etheredge in IE

SHE COULD (1668)

says:

an arbour, and then feague Mr. Rakehell (2,) To finish off, 'do for'; Wycherley in LOVE IN A WOOD (1672) plans a sly intrigue That must at length the into

fegue. To feague a horse Grose's DICTIONARY) "to put (1785, ginger up a horse's fundament, to make

widow

jilting

was

his tail well." (3)

To

feague away, to set in brisk motion violins) ; to stir in one's thoughts.

To

him

and carry

lively

away, to work at

it

feague

Villiers in

THE REHEARSAL

full

(as

power, as

(1672)

:

When

lay my head close f and then 1 fegue it away i

a knotty point comesf 1 to

it

.

.

.

Feague was used of a faith.

feak.

A

(also feak, q.v.) as slattern, a sluttish

a noun,

woman.

dangling curl of hair. Marston,

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PIGMALIONS IMAGE (1598) speaks of a man that Can in

dally

And

with

his

mistress

dangling feake,

it. Feak is also form of feague, q.v. Also, in feak, to wipe the beak after feed-

wish that he were

a variant falconry, ing.

See fairing.

in THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH Yonder stands the faitour, rejoicthe mischief he has done. as

(1828)

Also

(16th

into

19th century)

twitch, to pull (as one's vest) busy oneself with trifles. fease.

fortunes. Also faitor, fayter;

feat.

;

to

to fidget,

See feeze.

As an

adjective,

common from

the

14th to the 18th century. Fit; apt; dexterous; becoming; neat (sometimes exag-

geratedly; hence, affected, over-fastidious). Via Old French fait from Latin factum t lead astray. the word as made; facere, to make. Shakespeare in THE Spenser (the gloss explains TEMPEST (1610) says: Looke how well my CALENDAR SHEPHERD'S THE in Vagabonds') little garments sit upon me, Much feater than (1579; MAY) says: Those faytours Also before. Hence feateous, featous, q.v. re garden their charge. Scott uses the word 261

or speak falsely, to tury verb fait, to act

beg on

false

pretence;

to

feeze

feateous featish

19th century), elegant; in

(rare,

good condition or health, inept,

foolish

(16th

Virgil said:

century)

An

.

the fedifragous.

an-

onymous epigram (SONGES AND SONETTES; 1557) Of a new marled student runs: A student at his boke so plast That welth he might have wonne, From boke

From wealth

flete in hast,

Now, who hath

to wife

wo

to

did

ATHEOMASTIX

to runne.

Spenser's

The nymphs

PROTHALAMION (1596) with

The

fingers cropi full feateously stalks on high.

great Jove heare thus, Do truces tie, fright

We

could use Jove today.

Foulness, loathsomeness, material

fedity.

delicacies

plated a feater cast Since

See featous.

let

or spiritual. Also feditee, foedity; Latin foeditatem, from foedus, foul. Fotherby in

.

.

states:

(1619) .

when

they

All

come

these

into the

belly, they are wrapped up together in one and the same foedity. The word was

jugling first begonnef In knitting of himself so fast Him selfe he hath undonne. feateous.

And

whose thunders great

featless, clumsy,

common

in

and 17th century

in 16th

ser-

mons.

fine

Land held by the owner and fee-simple. his heirs forever, without restriction as to

tender

the heirs. In fee-simple, in absolute posses-

Well formed;

featous.

artistically

fash-

ioned; elegant. In the Prologue to

THE

Chaucer

says

CANTERBURY TALES

(1386)

Fee (Old Teutonic fehu; Old Aryan peku; Latin pecunia, money) meant property, wealth, hence cattle (wild fee, deer) ; sion.

Full fetise was her cloak. Featous is via Old French fetis from Late Latin facticius,

then

It was understood in and 17th centuries, how-

made, well made. the 15th, 16th,

(by 900 A.D.)

money. Fee-simple as opposed

meant pure, absolute property,

to fee-tail, property entailed, restricted to a specific class of heirs (Old French tail-

from

feat (Old French fait, Latin well made) plus an admade, factum, jective ending, hence various adjective

Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART TWO (1593) says: Heere's the Lord of the soile come to

forms developed:

seize

ever, as

Cp.

featuous.

Her, to cut, to

featly, feateous, featish,

Featly,

fitly,

cal.

as

Preferably faeces. Also faecal, faeci-

Hence

fecula, less often faecula, sedi-

ment; plural feculae. See fecula.

fegs.

From Latin

Faithless;

treaty-breaking. whence also

foedus, compact,

federation, -f frag-, frangere, fractum, to whence also fragile, fraction, frac-

and the

like. Fedifragous (accent on a 17th if) century word, as also the rarer noun, fedifraction, breach of faith or

the

is

covenant. Vicars*

.

by Burton

(1621);

Cowper

(1781);

also Shakespeare, in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: will sell the fee-simple of his

He

salvation, also in

THE MERRY WIVES OF

him not

in

fee-simple.

break, ture,

tailor)

me

WINDSOR: // the devil have

See feces.

fedifragous.

whence

nently or absolutely, also used figuratively,

has not wholly lapsed from use. feces.

to limit;

for a stray, for entering his feewithout leave. The word was exsimple tended to apply to anything held perma-

nimbly, deftly, precisely Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S TALE (1611) has She dances featly feat.

fit,

translation

(1632)

of

feeze. As a noun: a rush, a swift impetus; a violent impact. Thus Chaucer (THE KNIGHT'S TALE, 1386) In a feeze, in a state .

of alarm

or perturbation. Also pheese; fese, fesyn, veeze, fease, feaze. Lowell in

THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY (December, 1855) said:

/

am

the literal

262

in a feeze half the time.

From

meaning come two phrases:

to

feng

fegary fetch (take) one's

to take a short

-feeze,

run before leaping;

to take one's full feeze,

to start at top speed.

As a verb:

(1)

to

turn as a screw.

twist, to

An

fegary. figary,

See felicide.

the

and

fell); sometimes, the flesh just beneath the skin. Also, a fleece; thick, mat(a fell of hair)

AS YOU LIKE IT (1600)

Shakespeare in

.

has:

handling our ewes and their

early variant of vagary. Also Richardson in CLARISSA

We

are

still

fels you know

A

are greasie. common Teuton word, related to film; also to Greek pella, English

(1748) says: The world must stand still for their figaries. The word was also used to mean gewgaws, trifling fineries of dress, as in Tennant's drama CARDINAL BEATON (1823) As braw a hizzie,

HARLOWE

A

pelt, skin. (2) high hill; a stony stretch of high land; a field atop a hill. From the Scandinavian; used from the 14th to the

18th century. In the 16th and I7th cenused of marshy land, as in Drayton's

:

turies

with her fardingales and her fleegaries, as

POLYOLBION

ony.

Latin

A corruption of fay, faith, used in exclamations and as a mild form of swear-

fegs.

(1612).

fell, fel, gall,

(1590)

Sometimes in forms with -kin, a diminutive (as in odds bodkins, a corrupt euphemism for God's bodyMany variants have been used, eskin)

vile fear or bitter fell

by the playwrights: Jonson (1598, IN HIS HUMOUR) By my fackinsl (1610, THE ALCHEMIST) How! Swear by your facf Heywood (1600, EDWARD i, PART ONE) No, by my feckins! Middle-

femicide.

fegs, q.v.

Rarely, from was used in the

(3)

fell

sense of bitterness, rancor, as in Spenser's

THE FAERIE QUEENE

9

i

:

(1) The skin or hide of an animal; human skin (as in the phrase flesh

ted hah-

be obsequious.

fleegary.

ing. Also

KING LEAR (1605)

alone felicitate In your deere High-

felicitate.

to insinuate

(5)

flatter,

am

fell.

beat, to finish off; Shakespeare in the Induction to THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1596) says Tl pheeze you infaith. (4) to

into good graces, to

/

ness e love.

put to flight. (2) to (3) in threats, to 'fix/ to

drive, drive away,

impel, urge on.

jective in Shakespeare's

:

Gp.

Untroubled of firth.

femetary. An early variant of fumitory, q.v. Also femetorie.

.

pecially

EVERY

MAN

:

:

fencible.

fend.

Vanbrugh: No, by good feggings. Also faiks, faix, fecks, fags. These forms led to confusion with faex, fex, dregs, excrement (Latin faex, faecem;

By my

facks, sir!

also

See

terest.

Latin

MAN feles, felis,

(as

a verb, to ,

at

interest.

Hence, generation, lending money

(1598)

declared that true love hath

respect only to his friends necessitie, with-

Note that Latin felix, felicem means happy, which gives us many English forms, happy; to congratulate)

money

fenerator, a money-lender, usurer. Barckley in his DISCOURSE OF THE FELICTTIE OF

cat.

including felicitate

lend

at interest; usury. Also feneratitious, given to usury; feneratorial, pertaining to usury;

have been in the minds of

stillicide.

To

Latin faenerare, faeneratum; faenus, in-

the playwrights. felicide.

See defensum.

See forfend*

fenerate.

the plural of which, faeces, is the form that has survived in English), faeces, feces,

which may

stillicide.

fenage. Hay crop. Via French from Latin faenum, hay. Used in the 17th century.

:

ton:

See

out merchandize or generation.

make

used as an ad-

An early (12th and 13th century) form of fang. See fanger.

feng.

263

fennel

fere

A

fennel.

animals that have reverted to a wild

with fragrant yellow a sauce was made, eaten

plant,

From

flowers.

it

Hence

BURGH charm which converts the

especially with salmon or eel; in earlier times, as a cure for overweight. Henry

one

human

reason for Prince Henry's liking Poins: he eats conger with fennel. The word

ferblet.

VIII used

Falstaff refers to it as

to

from Latin foenum, hay: hayFennel was also a symbol of

is

fennel

it;

scented.

to

mad Ophelia gave a sprig of it who had flattered his way to throne. The seed was taken for the

the

hiccough;

word only;

was used, boiled in wine, for as effectively as most other

it

snakebite,

remedies of the time. In ancient Greece,

thin;

and Browning in PHEIDIPPIDES

(1880)

sets

the battle of Marathon on the

Fennel was

fennel-field.

also

its

feracious.

Prolific, bearing abundantly. Latin ferax, feracis; ferre, to bear. the 1 7th century; Carlyle in PAST

From From

AND PRESENT

(1843) wonders at the world so f gracious, teeming with endless results. is

(This

Hence, sons)

,

not a misprint for ferocious.)

feracity, fruitfulness; also

(of per-

:

He

(1) Deadly, dead; funereal, gloomy. Latin feralis, perferal sign in taining to funeral rites.

A

astrology

portended doom.

The

EIKON

BASILIKON (1648) spoke of such a degree of splendour, as those ferall birds shall be grieved to behold. (2) Wild, uncultivated applied often to domesticated plants or

cp. eric.) use, in the 14th

and

Hence

also

(2)

for ferde lost hys wyt.

As a noun. A companion (one that with fares another) as a meatfere, playfere, suckingf ere. Hence, to choose, have, take, unto (one's) fere. Hence, a spouse, a mate; an equal. Thus without fere, without equal; in fere, yfere, together; al in fere, all together, altogether.

By

extension,

companionship; a company, a party; ability,

journey, place, fit.

(3)

As an

health.

(able to fare)

pertaining to the

noun

fere.

whole and fatal;

to civilians;

dreadful; afraid, wary. Chaucer pictures a state of panic in THE HOUS OF FAME

profit.

feral.

By

ferdlac, ferdlayk, terror; ferdful, fearful,

(1384)

use, see panary.

related to fare, journey.

15th centuries, of ferd, feared.

may.

instance of

is

A

thought good

variant of finew, q.v. For an

military expedition. The this sense in Old English

mitted in the army. (The Irish extended

corpulent might try it as a sauce; if the fennel doesn't reduce their weight, the

A

it

this privilege Fear, terror.

for the eyesight; we are told that serpents it on, to clear their vision. The

fenow.

A

used in

(10th to 14th century) ; ferdwit, payment (in lieu of punishment) for murder com-

rubbed

fish diet

centuries.

(1) is

Old English forblete, Used in the 13th

soft; blete, soft.

extension, an army; a host; a great number; a troop, a band. Hence ferdfare, payment for exemption from military service

fennel was also used to take off weight; the Greeks called it marathon, that which

makes

Effeminate.

make

ferd.

Claudius

feral into the

being.

and 14th

flattery;

state.

brutal, savage; BLACKWOOD'S EDINMAGAZINE in 1838 spoke of a potent

,

adjective,

also,

healthy

strong; often in the phrase As a verb. (1) fare, to

To

fere.

proceed,

go

on;

behave;

take

To

be proper, to be happen. (2) To be a companion to, accompany;

to join, unite; to join together, provide with a consort. Fere was also a variant

form of far, fear, feer (fierce), ferry, and Other forms of the word were vere,

fire.

fer, feare,

264

phere, phear. Venus,

Chapman

festinate

ferial

reminds us in his translation (1611) of the ILIAD, which kept Keats awake Venus was the nuptial fere Of famous

sudden, unexpected; frightful, terstrange, wonderful; wonderfully great. The same, as an adverb. As a noun, a marvel, a wonder; wonder, astonishment. What ferly, what wonder! As a tury)

,

rible;

Vulcan. Coleridge took up the word for THE ANCIENT MARINER (1798) Are these That woman and her fleshless two all

verb, to wonder; to amaze.

pheeref Southwell

using

the verb do

mean companion, punned: my pheares.

whence fear

:

.

the

.

.

form

to

now

Feares

(POEMS,

1595)

This word has had odd

ferial.

century. Ferly

are

opposed

(as

called

for

certain

to

the Sabbath)

observances,

Thus ferial, pertaining to a festival.

as

to a

is

from Old English

lie,

like, -ly.

faer,

Also ferlich,

Cp. forferly. Chaucer in THE REEVE'S TALE (1386) asks: Who heard ever swilke a ferlie thing? SIR GA WAYNE AND THE GRENE KNIGHT (1360) said that Mo ferlies on this folde han

as

that

Ash

fallen here oft

Wednesday. Hence, a weekday; then, a weekday on which no holy day or holiday falls.

+

ferrely, farley, fearely, ferley. shifts of

sense. Latin feria, holiday, was originally applied, in ecclesiastical English, to week-

days

The noun and

not occur before the 13th

Then

in

any other that I

wot. Longland's VISION OF PIERS PLOWMAN (1377) opens invitingly: In a somer seson

weekday,

whan

But there

also opposed continued in use the sense of a weekday to be especially observed; hence ferial, pertaining to a holiday; from the 15th

soft

was the sonne I shope me in

shroudes as I a shepe were, In habite as a heremite unholy of workes, Went wyde in this world wondres to here. Ac on a May

mornynge on Malverne

through the 17th century, a ferial day, ferial time meant that the law courts were closed; Mrs. Byrne in UNDERCURRENTS

ferly

.

fescue.

.

hulles

Me

byfel a

.

A

twig, a small piece of straw

OVERLOOKED

sometimes used in allusion to the Biblical

Mackan

mote

said that Admiral (1860) ordered that all works in the

in one's neighbor's eys. Hence, a small stick or pointer used to help children learn. Common 14th through 17th

navy should be suspended on ferial days.

Hence

feriate,

vacation, holiday;

feriot,

century. Also as a verb, fescue, to guide in reading, with a stick (which may be

THRE LA WES (15S8) Bale spoke of Sondayes and other feryes. And the rare verb ferie, fery, to keep holiday; also ferie; in his

a pointer or used to rap one over the Milton in ANIMADVERSIONS knuckles) ;

To

abuse the sabbothe, cried Hooper in A DECLARATION OF THE TEN HOLY COM-

MAUNDEMENTES

(1548)

,

zs

as

mouche

. SMECTYMNUS (1641) speaks of a child fescu'd to a formal injunction of his rote.

as to

lesson.

unto god, and work to the devill. Also feriation, cessation of work, holiday

fery

taking.

Sir

Thomas Browne

festinate.

in PSEUDO-

Duke where you

in nature!

See

From Latin

festinare,

are going,

to a most

festinate preparation. Festinate is also a verb, to hasten mainly of the 17th cen-

firk.

but used by Shelley in a letter of 1812. Shakespeare also uses the adverb, in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) : Bring tury,

Here is one word, four parts of speech. As an adjective (from the 9th cen-

ferly.

Hasty.

to hurry; festinus, in haste, quick. Shakespeare in KING LEAR (1605) has Admse the

DOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646) exclaimed scornfully: As though there were any feriation

ferk.

.

265

fidious

fet

the

To

we owe make haste rendered The more haste, the

him festinatly

hither.

Festina

caution

slowly, also

Suetonius

lente,

Noun

forms are festinance, festinancy, Destination, haste as when one proceeds with festination towards one's

less

speed.

A

feuillantine.

small

filled

tart,

with

sweetmeats; an 18th century delicacy. The Feuillantines were French nuns, in the

convent of whose order the pastry was concocted.

first

probably

See filemot.

feuillemort.

destination* fet.

An

replaced by fetch.

Also in phrases: to fet again, to bring restore to consciousness.

To

to,

fet in, to take

short for fettle, q.v. Used from Beowulf; in the 15th and 16th centuries, mainly

in the past forms. Chaucer, in THE SQMPNER'S TALE (1386) Forth he goth . . and fat his felaw. Udall, in RALPH ROYSTER .

:

DOYSTER (1553)

:

Shall I go fet our goosef

As a verb. To gird up, make ready, put in order; to get ready, to busy oneself; to fuss. Old English fetel, root fettle.

hold.

As a noun, a basket-handle;

girdle, a bandage.

and

the idea of being by the 18th century

surviving because of the alfine fettle. No one, how-

in

literation

ever, seems to

be in foul

Late Latin febrifugal Latin febris, fever

+

fugitive.

although Holmes in THE PROFESSOR AT THE BREAKfettle,

Henry

culated that half of England's working class never reached maturity, cut down in the

main by

fevers, in spite of feverfew.

fever-lurden.

imitation of other disease-names; see lur-

dan. Also feverlurgan, feverlurgy, fever lordeyn. Jamieson

fex.

feud.

See

A

plicit faith.

feu de joie. bonfire; especially, one for a celebration or merrymaking. Direct

speaks o

from the French;

satisfied

fire

fig.

The

Italian

form

is

fico;

fig.

fidimplicitary. Putting full trust in another. Church Latin fides implicita, im-

Also feudum. See allodium.

literally,

to

See faintise.

feymise.

fidge.

Used from the 16th

and none

See fegs.

is fine!

See focage.

explains fever-

to eat,

work.

See

feuage.

(1808)

two stomachs

largie:

ficus, fig.

hope

The disease commonly The name is coined in

called laziness.

Latin

yours

also

lence',

fico.

that

whence

VIII's Medyicine for the pestibut in the year of America's first blow for independence Adam Smith cal-

in

man John

in frustrate fettle. I

away,

Feverfew was the main ingredient

FAST-TABLE (1859) remarks that the young is

drive

to

fugare,

a

From

readied, fettle came to mean condition, state, trim, especially in the phrases in good fettle3 in high fettle

also called feverfoylie;

featherfew, featherfoy, featherfoil (the leaves are a little like feathers). It was supposed to allay fever; the name is

fettertoe;

in a supply of. To fet off, to pick off (as a marksman does) , to kill. In fine fet,

fat, to

A plant,

feverfew. early form,

of joy.

Urquhart in THE JEWEL (1652)

fidimplicitary gown-men . . with their predecessors' contri.

vances. For another instance of

century. Also

(19th century) , a military salute, consisting of guns fixed in quick succession down one

rank and up the next, so as to make a long continuous sound.

its

use,

see quisquilious. fidious.

Short for perfidious.

Thus used

in Shirley's ARCADIA (1640) : Oh! fidious rascal! I thought there was some roguery.

266

filbert

fig

In addition to the delicious

fig.

fruit

and often fico, has had

the north,

(in

usually dried

pressed), fig, figge, fygge, several other meanings. (1)

A

get rid of a person; also Spanish fig, Italian fig; thus Gascoigne in HERBES

warned

(1577) in

To

thy dish.

thou suppe sometimes have a fico foysted

lest

And fig,

sance Italy: Pope Sixtus Quintus 1590)

.

(2)

(died or

contemptible; also a figs end, a dried

Never a

not the

fig,

tiniest

bit.

A

And

fig.

(3)

figo.

(There

in

fingers, or

fig,

For the insulting

To

uses, fig, figo,

(16th to 18th century), to jog about. This is

fig

briskly,

CHEAPE-SIDE little

Urquhart in

(1620) wrote: Their short shittlecock [shuttlecock] feet; translation

his

Rabelais: their

.

.

.

up. Also to

In full ation

figure),

Quincey (1839)

of

(19th century) or spirited, to

fig out, to dress smartly.

fig (possibly

of

(1693)

figging itch, wrigling

mordicancy. (5) To fig to feague, to make lively fig

:

here all

fig is

an abbrevi-

dressed

All belted

up;

De

and plumed,

in full military fig. (6) To fig (16th to 18th century) , to pick pockets. Figboy, a pickpocket Figging law, the art of pick-

and

figure-caster,

an

astrolo-

Archbishop Abbot UPON THE PROPHET

. . , to judge of nativities a lying vanity. Figure-flinger is a term of contempt for one who indulges in such .

(1600)

is

was used from the 16th into

dicted to astrology, he gave over his trade

to insult with this

a variant of fike, fidge, and the surviving fidget. Middleton in A CHAST MAYD IN

figging

figs.

18th century. Hearne in his REMINISCENCES (1723) stated: Being much ad-

were the preferred forms. There were other uses of fig, not derived from the (4)

confused with

in the 15th cen-

the

fico

move

A

EXPOSITION

his

JONAH

practices; it

an obscene allusion in

is

To

Italian fica.)

fruit.

fig,

and

ger. Figure-casting, said

into the mouth. Hence, to give the figf to make this gesture; to hold in con-

to

eaten

fig.

figure-flinger.

a contemptuous gesture: putting the

gesture.

fish,

in

thumb between the next two

tempt.

See

Shake-

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: for the phrase. This moves toward

fico

figg,

The name was soon

curdle.

other forms of cooked

speare in OTHELLO (1604) says: Virtue? A figge; 'tis in ourselves that we are thus, or thus.

French

and

century. Also fygey; Old a dish of curds; figer, to

tury figee (now also ffygey, fygee, figge) was described as figs boiled in wine, or

mean,

small,

Anything

dish of sour milk

14th

the

that of the fruit

away, to get rid of as in early Renais-

fig

with a poisoned

A

figee.

in

window

See fegary.

figary.

poisoned

fig to

with a magnified,

pocketry. Figger, a boy lifted to a to filch the display.

and set up the trade of figure-flinging and publishing of almanacs. Both terms were also applied (figure-casting by Swinburne in his STUDIES OF SHAKESPEARE, 1880) to persons that took a literal view of the world, 'casting/ calculating, with numerical figures only. fike.

See

(1) fig.

A

To move restlessly, to fidget. very common word from the

13th century,

still

The move briskly,

used in the 19th.

Scandinavian forms meant to

and

fike with this implication is of our most frequently the source probably

eagerly;

unprinted four-letter word. (2) To flatter, to fawn; to deceive. Also fyke. Old English gefic, deceit,

probably related to faken,

(perhaps) fake. Hence fikeling, flattery, in the CHRONICLE of Robert of Gloucester (1 3th century) ; deceit,

whence

also

fikenung, deceit filbert.

267

(I2th century)

See fagot

.

findal

fildor

filemot.

The

word

a

Gold thread. Directly from French

fildor.

+

Also fildore,

color of a dead leaf.

The

fyldor.

Used into the 14th century, as in GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT: Folden in

century corruption of French feuille morte, dead leaf. Also in the forms feuillemort, fillemort, foHomort,

wyth fildore about the fayre grene.

philemort, philamot.

thread

fil,

d'or, of gold.

is

17th

in

Browning

SOR-

DELLO (1840) says: Let Vidal change His murrey-coloured robe for philamot, .

file.

As a

senses, to

with a

verb. In addition to the usual

march in

line;

to

rub smooth

(by extension, to polish, to perfect; Shakespeare in SONNET 85, 1600: Precious phrase by all the Muses fil'd) , sense related

this

from the 14th as

.

crop his hair.

file

in

file

And

.

to

foul

A

filoselle.

defile.

Shakespeare in MACBETH has: For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind. As a

noun. (1) A girl; especially, a concubine, a whore. Used in the 14th century. Old French file; Latin filia, daughter. (2) A

See

filoplume.

was

to the 17th century (later,

used as an early form of

'file)

films ante patrem.

See coltsfoot.

filoselle.

kind of

floss silk,

used in the

17th century; a cloth made of silk and wool. Also filosella, philizella, philosella;

influenced by Latin filum,

more

directly via Italian

follicellus,

English

some

worthless person of either sex. 14th and 15th centuries; related to foul. (3) File,

is

cocoon;

a

called

but

The

long thin feather of with an almost invisible stem,

follicle.

birds,

follis,

thread;

from Late Latin bag, whence also

filoplume,

literally,

thread-

feather.

a pickpocket (17th In the Motteux trans-

foyl, foyl-cloy, file-cloy,

and 18th century) lation

(1708)

.

of Rabelais:

divers, buttocking-foiles: the last

word

fimble.

is

explained in Bailey's DICTIONARY (1721) file is, when one jostles you :

while another picks your pocket. (4) word fie, meaning a line or rank, nally

meant

a thread; French

ftl,

The origi-

Latin

early ripe"; so Bailey, corruption of French femelle, in popular terminology, the fe-

(l)"Hemp

A

1751.

Bulk and

See furnishing.

fimashmg.

Pickpockets,

female;

male hemp. Actually, what is called the fimble is the male plant of hemp, which yields a shorter and weaker fibre than the or female plant. Popularly, the were called female, fimble; the stronger, carl, male. (2) ring for carl

hemp

filum,

thread; filare, to spin, draw out threads. Hence, the thread of life; Sidney's

weaker

(N. Baxter, 1606): The fatall sisters would not cut her file. Also, the

fastening a gate. (3)

OURANIA

thread or tenor of a story; a catalogue, list. To accept the files, to open one's

ranks for a charging enemy to enter, so as then to close upon him. The common file,

'common herd'; Shakespeare in CORIThe common file a plague! Tribunes for them! The mouse ne'er

the

OLANUS:

shunn'd the

budge From Tourneur in THE

cat as they did

worse then they. REVENGER'S TRAGEDY (1607) spoke A word that I abhorre to file my lips with. rascals

fibres

A

and

lightly

the

(As a verb) to touch frequently with the tips of as

fingers,

a

woman may

fimble a

her breast; to move over or through without harming, as a scythe may fimble (i.e., not cut) the grass.

jewel

at

fimetic. findal.

trove. lights

See furnishing.

That which

By

is

found,

treasure-

(what the mind an invention. From 10th to

transference

upon)

,

17th century. Used in the plural, findals, of goods from wrecked ships. The law does

268

firrnitude

fine

not quite concur in the olden claim Find-

her own center; Fletcher, RULE

ers keepers.

AND HAVE A WIFE

A

To

a verb.

Among

(settlement)

grow

.

Henry V (1599) Boy: He says his name Monsieur Per. Pistol: Monsieur Per, I'll fer him, and firke him, and ferret him. The word was often used with sexual im:

plications. In the 17th century, firk was also used as a noun, meaning a sudden

from Latin finem, end

To make

clear; to

From

is

make

pure, to refine; to

blow (with a whip or a sword)

beautiful, to fine up.

the adjective, which

is

A WIFE

five years

is

or running for, an office. Pepys in his DIARY for 1 December, 1663, noted that Mr. Crow hath fined for alderman. From the noun, which

These

she has firkt a pretty living; Shakespeare,

lapsed uses are: pay for the privilege of not holding,

fine.

:

(1624)

a prank,

;

caprice; a trick, subterfuge.

from Latin

firman.

finire, finitum, finish (whence also infinite) , in the sense of putting a finish or polish on a thing. Mukaster in THE EL-

Passport, license, permit. Originally an order issued by the Sultan of Turkey or other near-Eastern potentate;

EMENTARIE (First Part; 1582) spoke of use and custom having the help of so long time and continuance wherein to fine our

Persian ferman, Sanskrit pramana, command. Used literally in 17th and 18th centuries, more widely in the 19th, as in

tung.

Barham's INGOLDSBY LEGENDS (1840) a German Paid his court to her father, :

finew.

Mouldiness;

mould.

.

Also

a

as

grow mouldy,

.

conceiving his firman her bend.

make mouldy. Finewy, finewed, mouldy. The last form existed (16th-18th century) in many variverb, to

.

to

firmance.

fenowed, finnowed, vynued, vinewed; vinnowed, vinnied, whinid; Shakespeare in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606) has:

firmitude.

Speake then you whinid'st leaven, speake!

at least

Would soon make

See firmitude.

ations:

Horizon.

finitor.

horizon;

bound,

Latin

finis,

A

translation of

finitor

from

Greek to

finire t

boundary, end. Used in 16th

and 17th century astronomy.

firmity

Steadfastness of purpose; the

being firm. Also firmity though once (in Audelay's POEMS; 1426)

state of

was used

as a short

in-

succour ham, in here fyremete. firmity: Other forgotten forms from firm include: firmation, the action of

making

also ratification, confirmation.

This was a very common word from the 10th into the 19th century. Also ferk; in some senses related to fare; a variant

form of

To

make

firm; to

become

firm,

To

but

firmify,

would be

firk.

to

of fike, q.v.

a surprise to behold 'Casper Milquetoast* firmify. Also firmance, the holding firm; confinement; especially to keep (put) in

(1)

To

the meanings were: help on the way, to

Among

bring,

to

urge along; (2) to drive, to drive away; (3) to rouse (firk up) ; (4) to speed along, to move quickly or suddenly; to draw (a sword)

whip;

hastily (firk out) ; (5) to beat, raise (money) , to cheat, to (6) to

Used in many 17th century plays: Jonson, THE ALCHEMIST (1610) He rob.

:

.

.

.

puffs his coals Till he firke nature up, in

firmance, but to

firm; it

make firmance

to

was

to pledge loyalty to; thus Bellenden in his translation of Boece's HISTORY (1536)

AND CHRONICLES OF SCOTLAND: Als SOOne as Gillus was maid kyng to stabil the realme to him with sickir [surer] firmancef .

.

.

he tuk the aithis [oaths] of his pepiL Robert Copland in his translation (1542) Of the FOURTH BOKE OF THE TERAPEUTYKE

269

firth

fizgig

[Therapeutic] OR METHODE CURATYFE OF CLAUDE GALYEN remarked: They do use these names, dyspathies, metasyncrises, imbecyllitees, fyrmytudes, and sondry other such names. Here dyspathy, q.v., the opposite of sympathy, is used to mean an-

nothing of a fine or cleanly artist

means

brained, shittle-witted. It is another form of shuttle, as in shuttlecock; cp. batler.] The Rules of Civility (1675) in THE are but

plained later by Copland as "mutacyon of the state of pores and smal conduites."

fitchet-pie.

firmitude.

A

firth.

q.v. Firth,

-frith,

in

the sense of grove, was the preferred form the frequent phrases, in alliterative

in

verse, firth

and

and

fell, firth

and

field, firth

A

apples,

North of England

favorite.

A

polecat.

Also

fitcher, fitchole, fitchock.

fitch,

The

fitchet,

and

first

last

forms were applied to persons, in conShakespeare in tempt ("the skunkl") OTHELLO (1604) when Bianca, the prosti;

Cassio exclaims:

enters,

'Tis such

another fitchew! Marry, a perfumed one.

Bustling,

frisking,

scampering.

From the verb, to fisk. Usually scornful, as when the DICTIONARY OF THE CANTING CREW (1700) defines gadding-gossips: waygoing women, fidging and fisking everywhere. Even more so, in Harvey's PIERCES SUPEREROGATION hath little

and prailing

made with

pie

and bacon.

onions,

tute,

He

A

Fisking

to please.

ways

,

fold.

fisking.

ill

fitchew.

variant of

stated:

ANTIQUARY

tagonism (lack of susceptibility) to a disease; metasyncrisis is a medical term, ex-

Further discussion must be dismissed with

[Shittle

unstable; also shittle-

fickle, flighty,

(1593) witt,

,

less

against

Nashe:

learning,

lest

(In the mating season, the polecat

ceedingly demonstrative fitment.

A

making

fit,

is

ex-

and odorous.) preparation; that

one's duty. Used only in Shakespeare before the 19th century; then (often in the plural, fitments, fittings) , in

which

is

fit;

furniture, furnishings. In CYMBELINE 'Twas Shakespeare's (1611) a fitment for The purpose I then followed; in PERICLES the Bawd complains of the consistently virtuous Marina: We must

the

sense

of

:

judgement, no discretion, vanity enough, stomacke at will, superabundance of selfe-

outward liking of fewe, inward none ... no reverence to his patrons, no respect to his superiors, no regard to any but in contemptuous or conceit,

affection to

censorious sort, hatred or disdaine to the

continuall quarrels with one or other (not such an other mutterer or murmurer, rest,

even against his familiarest acquaintance),

an evergrudging and repining mind, a ravenous throte, a gluttonous mawe, a dronken head, a blasphemous tongue, a

either get her ravished or get rid of her.

When

she should do for clients her fitthe kindness of our pro-

ment and do me fession, she has

me

her quirks, her reasons,

her master reasons, her prayers, her knees; that she would make a puritan of the devil, if he should cheapen [bargain for] a kiss of her.

An emphatic form of gig, which Chaucer meant a frivolous person; to

fizgig.

fisking will, a shittle nature, a revolting

to

and rennegate

Shakespeare, a whipping-top.

Hence

disposition, a broking and huckstering penne, store of rascall phrases,

gig

little of a brabling scholar, more of a raving scould, most of a roisterly serving-

about woman; a top or whirligig; especially, one that makes a whizzing sound as

man, nothing of a gentleman,

it

some

lesse

then

270

(also fisgfg, fisguigge, fizzgig)

spins. Also, a hissing

,

fiz-

a gad-

kind of firework,

flabel

flam

sometimes called a serpent. Also possibly another word, from Spanish fisga, harpoon, gar, spear fizgig, a harpoon; this was corrupted into fishgig. From the sound of the word, fizgig was later (19th century)

first (16th of actors; the playhouse flag was lowered where there was no performance. Rowley in the appropri-

used in the sense of a gim-crack, a piece

included foure or five flag-falne platers, poore harmlesse merrie knaves, that were neither lords nor ladies, but honestly wore their

meant also a THE PLOWMAN'S TALE

From

estly.

flagitation,

fancy, joke, whim; (from the 18th) fun, glee; in high gig, on the (high) gig, having lots of fun. Rogers in NAAMAN (1642)

itare,

is

A

or gigge of a geer-

flagitious,

fan.

The

demand hence,

a

flag-

flagitium,

earnestly;

extremely

shame. Riches, said the

and

passionate

deed,

a

wicked,

villainous;

.

.

burning Keeper in 1598, are

is

also used as

the north

winds, flabbell'd by says Urquhart in his translation (1653) of Rabelais. Hence flabellation, fanning. The

and

zoologists ring the changes,

with flabelliform, flabellifoliate, and the like. In music, wind-instruments were in the 18th century referred to as ftabile. bottle

BIBLE

or

vessel.

Isai

The

from beneath a

17th centuries)

.

lady's

cap (16th and

wine

is stopped . with a stoppel, but the flaggon with a vice. Also, a large bottle for use at table, usually with a handle, a spout, and a lid. Scott, in THE FAIR .

MAID OF PERTH (1828) on the table, and

,

flagon

good

He

set the

down.

A right

says:

sat

start!

Possibly a shortened form of flim-

flam or flamfew.

A

redupli(1) Flim-flam. cation expressing contempt, common from the 16th century: idle talk; a cheap trick

toke an asse

(SAMSON) laden with breed, and a flacket of wyne. Also (possibly from the shape) a puff or bunch of hair, such as might hang on each says:

large bottle for holding

bottle

flam.

1539

A

a screw top. Urquhart in his translation (1653) of Rabelais points out that the

blow, whence an

a verb

infamous offspring of covetousness, guilty even of the same flagition.

flagon.

.

of wind; flare, flatum, to inflated tire or ego. Flabel

J.

or inferior liquors; especially a metal one (carried by pilgrims before scoffiaws) with

out of use like the flabellum. Flabellum is the diminutive of flabrum, a gust

side

earn-

Hence,

flagition, flagitiousness, villainy,

procedure; The bishop's pastoral staff, William Maskell notes, in IVORIES ANCIENT AND MEDIAEVAL (1875), has not dropped

A

demand

to

century.

burning shame, an outrage. This shift in meaning was carried over into English.

carried in religious ceremonies or courtly

fladtet.

to

eagerness;

Latin flabellum, fan, used as an English word for a fan

botanists

17th

used in error for flagellation.) Latin

ing, gibing wit. flabel.

the

clothes.

an earnest or passionate request. (Occasionally flagitation has been

(1395) said: Some spend their good upon their gigges, And finden them of greet a aray. Also (from the 16th century)

tale,

owne

To importune,

flagitate.

(also giglot, gixy, q,v.)

spoke of any idle

THE SEARCH FOR MONEY

(1609)

VIEW of 1822 spoke of the banderoles, the humgigs, and fizzgigs of superstition, A giddy, frivolous girl;

centuries)

entitled

ately

of tawdry finery, a silly notion, an absurdity, as Southey in THE QUARTERLY RE-

gig

Unemployed. Used

lag-fallen.

and 17th

or petty attempt to deceive; nonsense. Probably from the Scandinavian; Old Norse ftim, a lampoon; ftimska, mockery. Hence ftambuginous, sham, nonsensical,

271

flamfew

fiawn

MAGAZINE of 1813: The

flambuginous sea-monster, known by the name of the Non-Descript. (2) Flamfew.

centuries) flatlong. THE MIROUR OF SALVACIOUN (1450) said: The knyghtes upon the grounde laide then the crosse

A

flailing.

as in the SPORTING

a

trifle,

a gaudily

gew-gaw;

and 17th

dressed

woman. Also flamefew, is

HOE

flamfoo. This word a corruption of French fanfelue; Medi-

eval

Latin famfaluca, a bubble, a

lie. :

a deception, a cheap

Common,

tery.

in

trick;

these

humbug,

flat-

in

the

senses,

dramatists, as in Fletcher's

(1820)

His sword

:

(1868).

See

flaun.

flawn.

Stubbes

ATOMIE OF ABUSES (1583) custardes, some cracknels, some flaunes, some tartes

THE HUMOUR-

.

OUS LIEUTENANT

(1625)

:

Presently, with . she takes her

some new flam or other chamber. There are three other words with the form flam, (a) Flam (from the sound) a signal on a drum: a quick beat, .

.

flaw.

(b)

(blue

flag,

grows,

iris)

(c)

A

worth a

Flam is also a verb, to mock, to deceive; as when Ford in THE WITCH OF EDMONTON (1658) COmtorch; short for flambeau.

And then flam plains: old witch.

off

A

flampoint.

uses

with an

Also

flampett, ftampoynte. flampoint is given in THE

flattings.

tally,

Flat

on the ground;

(of a

blow)

motion) horizonon level ground. Also flailing; (16th flat side;

(of

and

A

Thus

flaw.

also,

a broken piece;

figuratively in

ANTHONY AND CLEO-

snow and wild wind)

.

Hence, a sudden

onset, a burst of passion; a

Thus Shakespeare in MACBETH: would well O, these flawes and starts .

in

.

.

A

woman's story. From its stirring the wind was named the flaw-flower,

become

:

hit forthe.

in flagstone,

tumult.

pork

FORME OF CURY (1390) Take gode enturlarded porke, and sethe hit, and hewe hit, and grinde it smalle; and do therto gode fat chese grated, and sugur, and gode ponder; then take and make coffyns of thre ynche depe, and do al this therin; and make a thynne foyle of paste, and cut oute thereof smale pointeSj and frie horn in grese, and stike horn in the farse, and bake hit, and serve

with the

it

sudden

flaumpeyn>

recipe for

detached piece. Old Norse

:

pie with pointed pieces of

A

.

PATRA (1606) Observe how Anthony becomes his flaw. 2) A sudden gust or burst of wind; a short spell of bad weather (rain or

ornaments.

as

.

a break, a faulty place whence the still current meaning, a fault. Shakespeare

See flam.

flamfew.

pastry

me

listed

fragment; especially, the point of a horseshoe nail broken off by the smith after it has gone through the hoof. Hence, not

rapid succession, watery, rushy place, where the

flambe

A

THE ANsome some cakes, in

Thus: a snowflake; a spark.

to flake.

stick just once, in

A

(1)

flaga, related to flag as

,

each

in IVAN-

turned in his

hand, so that the blade struck me flattings; so also Morris in THE EARTHLY PARADISE

Hence flam (from the 17th century) a fanciful notion, a whim; a sham story, (3)

word

Scott revived the

a delicate plant also called the anemone (Greek anemos, the wind) Most piteously we read, in Shakespeare's KING LEAR: This .

heart shall break into a hundred thousand flawes.

flawn.

made

A

sort of custard or cheese-cake,

Old High German flado, flat West German form flap on; English flapjack. Perhaps related to Greek pla~ thanon, cake-mold; platys, broad whence the platypus and the philosopher Plato. flat.

cake;

Common,

272

14th to 18th century, as in the

fleshment

flayflint

are from Latin flebilis, deplorable, to be

saying flat as a flawn. Also flaun. Scott revived the word, wisely remarking in THE

wept over; flere, to weep, to lament. By way of Old French fleible, fieble, this gave us the still common English word feeble,

ABBOTT (1820) He that is hanged in May will eat no flaunes in Midsummer. Dekker, :

in SATIROMASTIX (1602) applies the word to a flat hat: Cast off that blue coat,

away with

so

mean

that

a

flint

if

A

(1)

14th- 16th

river.

century,

to

an

speare in OTHELLO (1604) has: Mark the fteeres, the gybes and notable scornes

That dwell in every region of

.

use, a blood-letting instrument, a lancet.

Via French and Latin from Greek phlebotomon; phleb-, vein + temnein, to cut.

A plant the seeds of which were

fleawort.

used to inspire prophecy.

from

its

fleas;

the

named

supposed

it

ancients,

virtue

more

Its

name comes

in

destroying

literal-minded,

Latin pulicaria (puttcem,

flea)

,

Greek pyllion, because the seeds resembled fleas. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was used for ulcers, and (Lloyd, THE TREASURIE OF HEALTH; 1550) a bath made of the decoction of flewort taketh away

In Henry VIII's herb garden, fleawort and fennel (q.v.) were favorite all goutes.

plants. flebile.

Mournful

(especially of literary

or oratorical style) . Used in the 17th and 18th centuries. The verb fieble (14th century)

meant

to

grow weak. The two forms

his face.

Carlyle in his REMINISCENCES (1866) gives us the one use of the word in a pleasant

an innocent

sense,

artificial

fleam, to flow; thus R. Buchanan wrote in 1863: As the vapours fleam' d away, behold! I saw . . a nymph. (2) In medical

.

verb, to laugh in a coarse or impudent manner, to sneer; to smile fawningly. Common from the 17th century; Shake-

Especially applied, the Jordan: the

channel, such as a mill-stream; in this sense the word survives in dialects. Also as a verb,

flem Jordan. Also,

mocking look or speech; "a de(Johnson) As a

ceitful grin of civility"

flint!

fleam.

A

fleer.

he would

he could, to profit by it. An earlier form of skinflint (which dates from 1700). Flay was often spelled flea, as tea and tay were interchanged, all with the long a sound; Shadwell in THE MISER (1672) cried: A pox on this damn'd fleaflay

See fegary.

fleegary.

that flawne!

One

flayflint.

weak.

pitiable,

,

law;

Exile,

to

merriment.

See fleme.

flemaflare.

fleme.

fleer of

flight;

to

put

a fugitive, an outchase, outlaw,

flight,

Common

from the 9th to the 16th noun form from the century; verb to flee-, replaced by flight, from to infly. Hence several Old English words, banish.

the early

cluding

flemaflare., the right to forfeit

(1)

an outlaw's property

(in Bailey's DICTION-

ftemensfirth, the enter1751) (2) taining of a banished person; hence, a

ARY,

;

penalty exacted by the king for such entertainment. Old English flymena entertainment of fugitives. Old fyrmth, charters

this

give

in

many

as

forms,

flemenfremith, flemenejerd, flemenefenda. flemensfirth.

See fleme.

Excitement from a

fleshment.

suc-

first

From

the verb to flesh, which in the 16th and 17th centuries meant to give a hawk (falcon, hound) some of the flesh cess.

of the

first

game

killed,

to excite

it

to

further hunting. Hence, to initiate or harden to warfare; to harden (as in a

course of

273

evil);

to incite; to inflame

by

flet

floccify

extension, to gratify (rage or lust) ; Shakespeare has, in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

was ftibbergib;

(1601) : This night he fleshes his will in the spoyle of her honour. Swift wrote, in

DECLARATION POSTURES (1603)

A TALE OF A TUB (1704) Fleshed at these smaller sports, like young wolves, they grew up in time to be nimble. In Shakespeare's KING LEAR Oswald complains that Kent beat him And in the fleshment of this dread exploit Drew on me here again.

Fliberdigibbet, Hoberdidance, Tocobatto were four devils of the round, or Morrice; hence Shakespeare took the foule FlibberScott in tigibbet of KING LEAR (1605)

:

flet.

The

feet.

A common

ground beneath one's Teutonic form; flato,

floor or

Hence, a place, a hall, the inner part of a house; a storey of a house, a suite of rooms on one floor, an apartment in this fiat

sense Scotch until the mid- 19th century; now a flat Especially in the phrase fire

and

and housewills, as one of 1533: mete and drink, wife

(sometimes room, often used in to

flet

fynd the said

fyer

and

fletcher.

fleet)

.

.

fire

,

.

flet.

maker

of arrows; a dealer in

common word survives as a

until the 19th century;

it

name,

A puff of pastry,

for garnishing.

So Bailey's DICTIONARY (1751)

.

Also,

from

the shape (French fleur, flower) a flowershaped ornament in architecture, print,

ing, numismatics.

Sexammous.

Persuasive,

affecting;

ing power to bend the mind. ftectere, flexus, to

hav-

From Latin

bend (whence

genuflect,

animus, mind. Used in the 37th century, mainly in religious reflect^

-f-

flexible)

when T. Adams (1633) speaks of that flexanimous Preacher whose pulpit is in heaven. contexts, as

iibbeitigibbet.

woman; a

A

devil.

gossipy

The

first

or

frivolous

form

1549 sermon of Latimer; in the

first

(in a

sense)

then flebergebet, ftiberHarsnet, in his OF EGREGIOUS POPISH IM-

many more.

Prateretto,

that

said

.

KENILWORTH

(1821) called the

boy Dickie

Sludge flibbertigibbet; hence, a mischievous, impish-looking urchin; a restless

and grotesque person. Also

flibberty gib-

ber ty, flighty, frivolous. See fraight.

See flam.

flim-flam.

To burn

ffiimmer.

unsteadily, as

though

near to dying out. An echoic word, suggesting quiet, or slight continuing or lessening action; thus simmer, shimmer, glimmer, dimmer. Per contra, rapid and

movement

violent

A

bows and arrows. By extension (rarely), an archer. From French fteche, arrow. A

fieuron.

degibek, and

words

as

bash,

is

suggested by such

dash, gash, hash,

clash,

splash, slash, mash, smash, gnash, crash, thrash. And as horror tends to constrict the throat, so ghost, lash,

plash,

flash,

ghoul, ghastly, aghast. The to the sense.

sound may

be an echo

A

flirt-gill.

flirt-gillian;

Jack and

light or loose Gill gill-flirt.

woman. Also

(Remember

a pet form of Juliana. in print before Shakespeare, who in Jill)

is

Not ROMEO AND JULIET knave, I

(1592) cries: Scurvy of his fturt-gils; BeauFletcher, in THE KNIGHT OF THE

am none

mont and

BURNING PESTLE take

me up

(1613)

:

like a flirt gill,

You heard him and sing bawdy

songs upon me. Bite.

See

Also

flitte, flight, flyt,

flyte,

fleyte.

fly ting.

floccify.

To

consider worthless.

From

the

Latin floccus, a lock (of hair) + facere, to make, especially in the negative; nee

274

floccinaucinihilipilification

tamen

flyting

do not care a straw. and 18th century dic-

flocci facio, 1

Floccify

is

a 17th

florilegium. flos,

floris,

A

An anthology. From Latin flower + legere, to choose, translation into Latin of the

tionary word; floccipend, to regard as of

gather.

no account (pendere, to weigh, esteem) was somewhat more frequently used, as by W. Thomson, who observed in 1882 that the Bacon-Shakespeare field was one prone to floccipend odd locks of thought

Greek anthologion; the Greeks had a word for

it

that survived.

fluctuous.

Full of, or resembling, waves.

Latin fluctus, wave. Used

literally

figuratively, since the 16th century.

from woolly-headed thinkers. Floccinaucical means inconsequential; floccinancity, a matter of little consequence. These forms are shortened from floccinaucini-

and

Leigh

Hunt in his AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1850) suggests a classification: waves, wavelets, billows, fluctuosities, etc.

the habit of estimating things as worthless. This is a humorous combination of words linked in a rule of

flummery. A food: from this small oatmeal, by oft steeping it in water and cleansing it, and then boiling it to a thicke

the widely used Eton Latin Grammar; Southey (1816) and Scott (1829) bor-

and stiffe jelly, of meat which

hilipilification,

rowed

it

from Shenstone, who in a

of 1741 said: I loved

much

letter

him for nothing

so

as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication

of money.

parts of this

florentine.

A

See

pie; especially, a

made

so esteemed in the

that excellent dish

Kingdome, which they

West call

wash-brew, and in

Chesheire and Lan-

kasheire they call So Markham in

flamerie or ftumerie.

it

THE ENGLISH HUSWIFE The word is from Welsh llymru,

(1615) the ft being the English attempt to capture the sound of Welsh double /. Goldsmith .

floccinaucinihilipilification.

is

is

floccify.

meat pie

baking apples, sugar, and lemon, under a crust. One of 1700 calls for minced meats, currans, spice, eggs, etc.,

florentine:

A

of supping

THE WORLD (1760) speaks on wild ducks and flummery.

A common

London

in

with crust on top only. Various florentine recipes have survived. One is for apple

CITIZEN OF

street cry in the 18th

century was Flummery! Buy flurch.

my

flummery!

A multitude, a great many; spoken

baked. THE QUEEN'S ROYAL COOKERY of 1713 gives more detailed directions: Take

of things, not of persons, as a flurch of strawberries. So Bailey, 1751, listing it as

a leg of mutton or veal, shave it into thin and mingle it with some sweet

"North Country." It is not in the O.EJD. (1933), though anyone that will ignore a flurch of strawberries will turn from Izaak Walton and hunt red herrings in the wood.

slices,

herbs, as sweet marjoram, thyme, savory,

and rosemary, being minced very a clove of garlick, some beaten nutsmall, meg, pepper, a minced onion, some grated parsley,

manchet, and three or four yolks of raw eggs, mix all together, with a little salt,

and meat round the dish on a sheet of paste, bake it, and being baked, stick bay leaves round the

some some

dish.

thin slices of interlarded bacon,

oister-liquor, lay the

Wrangling, contention; scolding; a reproach; abusive speech. Also fitting; a flyte, flite; these two also were used as flyting.

verb, to wrangle; strive; scold. Used from the 10th century. Since the 1 5th century,

a scolding-match; especially, in Scotch poetry, an invective in whidi each of two persons alternately abuses the also,

275

fnast

foison

other

in

Hence

tirades

fli ting-free,

of vituperative verse. unrestrained in rebuke

or abusive speech. Also that disputes; a scold.

filter, flyter,

one

novels of Scott

(OLD MORTALITY,

1816; THE ANTIQUARY). THE PARLEMENT OF THE THREE AGES (1350) remarked: Pole that with foles delys [deals with fools]. Flyte we no lengare! Cp. rouncival.

To

snort.

pant,

Used from

breath.

Also

century.

Also

a

the 10th to the 14th related

fnest;

in

the front of the

Hearth-money, a tax (12-pence) hearth-fire, exacted at times

focage.

upon every

in medieval England. Latin focus, hearth. Also feuage, fuage, from French feu, fire. While there is no call for a revival of this,

the

modern

fireplace

might restore

use the word focary, one

who

to

tends the

hearth-fire.

noun, See refocillate.

focillate.

Greek

to

breath. Also fnese, to sneeze; to snort; Chaucer, in THE MANCIPLE'S PRO-

pneuma,

(fob)

trousers.

is

fnast.

from the

by the wearer)

(usually,

small pocket

The words were

rarely used, except in dialect, after the 16th century, until revived in the historical

lifted

See fedity.

foedity.

air,

and

(1) The beech-marten, or the fur of this animal. Via French fouine from

fneseth faste. Wyclif in his translation of the BIBLE (JEREMIAH; 1382) wrote: Fro

Latin fagum, beech-tree; the animal feeds on beech-mast. Also foyn. A foins-bachelor

Dan

was one that (16th and 17th century) wore a gown trimmed with joins in the

LOGUE (1386)

To

Hence or

to

put

since the late 16th

German foppen,

deceive.

to

also fop; cp. cudden. Also, to bring

palm off

stitute.

TWO

Used

cheat.

century;

in,

in his nose

herd the f nesting of his hors.

is

fob.

He speketh

:

by trickery. To fob off, trick or with a cheap sub-

off,

by a

Shakespeare, in HENRY

(1597)

from

fub'd-off,

iv,

I have been fub'd

:

this

day

to

off

PART

and

day; must not think tale.

A

common

word, to the late 19th cenTHE TIMES of 25 July, 1895, retury; novel cannot be marked that if a . .

fobbed .

.

,

it

off is

.

people of London rusticated. Hence jobbery, a

upon

the

.

.

to

(German fuppen, pocket stealthily) comes the verb to fob, to pocket, with implication of thievery or deceit; Lover in (1842) notes that

The gentle-

men

in black silk stockings . . . have been watch fobbing fees for three weeks.

A

fob

is

civic

processions.

(2)

A

thrust

or push with a pointed weapon. To cast a foin at, to make a thrust at. This sense

came via Old French fouine, fouisne, from Latin fuscina, a fish-spear. It was more common as a verb, to thrust, from the

by

14th

to

the

Scott, as in

17th

century;

revived

WOODSTOCK (1826)

fellow foins well.

:

The

Shakespeare uses foin

twice in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) with sexual significance, as when Doll Tearsheet asks Falstaff: When wilt thou leave r

fighting o

days

and foining

o' nights?

.

sham, deceit. From fob, a small pocket

HANDY ANDY

London

that

CORIOLANUS (1607) : You To fobbe off our disgrace with a very

foin.

a ribbon, with metal or other such

ornament, by which the watch can be

foison.

Abundance;

nourishment;

hence,

plentiful vigor,

harvest;

vitality;

in

the plural, resources. Also foyson, fusioun, fuzzen, fizon, fizzen, and the like. Old

French fuison, Latin fusionem; fundere, fusum, to pour. Hence foisonable, productive; foisonous, full of energy, fruitful; foisonless, weak, lacking

nourishing prop-

Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST (1610) hails Earths increase, foison plenty, Barns erties.

276

foliomancy

fontange

and garners never empty. Thomas Walkington, in THE OPTICK GLASS OF HUMORS (1607) used the word figuratively: The foison of our best phantasies. Lamb, in his FAREWELL TO TOBACCO (1810) cried: Africa, that brags her foison, breeds no such prodigious poison. Perhaps that ful

rhyme explains why

the

fate-

word foison

passed from favor; tobacco grows more tardily obsolete.

foliomancy.

a silly. Also fonly, fonnish. As verb, to lose savour, become insipid. In

jective,

this

make

fondle, to toy with. From this sense came the verb, to fun, to cheat, to hoax, to make fun of, which lapsed in the 15th

Life

follery was an old form for foolery; folliness, foolishness. Via Old

Latin

Thus

fol,

follis,

fool

(also

folt,

from

q.v.)

bellows, puffed cheeks, pos-

from the idea of being blown about by every wind or whimsy. Gilbert in THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD (1888) WTOte: sibly

Here's a

man

of

jollity, Jibe, joke, jollify!

Give us of your quality;

Come,

fool,

follify! folt.

A

fool.

Also

folet,

to

to

century, but left the current noun, as in

See aeromancy.

to play the fool. Also follify. jest, in ENDYMION; 1818) to jolly* to act (Keats

French

is

springs the current fond. Also, a fool of; then more mildly,

foult.

Hence

folthead, foltry, folly. Cp follify. In the 14th and 15th centuries; also as a verb,

be fun.

Also fondnes, foolishness. Wilson

fond. in

still

may

To

foolishly.

word

found only in the past participle, fond. By extension, to be foolish or infatuated, to be silly. From this sense, the

THE ARTE OF RHETORiQUE

(1553) declared that the occasion of laughter, and the meane that maketh us merie is . .

.

the fondnes, the filthines, the deformitee, and all suche evill behavior, as we see to bee in other.

fonnell.

The hunched

banana

slipped-on

A

peel.

back; the See fon.

14th century dish; recipe in

THE FORME OF CURY (1390): Take al~ mandes unblanched, grynde hem and drawe hem up with a gode broth. Take a lombe, or a kidde, and half rost hym, or

.

to folt, to act like a fool; folted, foltish,

foolish.

Drant in

his translation (1566) of

Horace's SATIRES wrote of

the foolishe

frantycke foultes* foltron.

An

herb mixture, steeped; and

the liquid strained therefrom, drunk in the 18th century. Wesley (WORKS; 1748) advised: Try foltron, a mixture of herbs to be had at many grocers, far healthier,

Most awesome of such mixtures are blended by the as well as cheaper, than tea.

Chinese. fon. As a noun, a fool. Spenser in COLIN CLOUT'S COME HOME AGAIN (1595) has: Ah! Cuddy (then quoth Colin) thous

the thridde part. Smyte hym in gobbettes, cast hym to the mylke. Take smale

and

yfested and ystyned, and do thereto sugar, powder of canell, and salt; take yolkes of ayren harde ysode, and

briddes

cleeve atwo,

and

canell,

and ypanced with

florish the

floer of

seme above. Take

alkenet fryed and yfondred, and droppe above with a feather, and messe it forth.

fontange.

A

tall

head-dress;

a knot of

Worn in the Named from a

ribbon on a lady's head-dress. 17th and 18th centuries. mistress of Louis

XIV

of France. Addi-

son in THE SPECTATOR (1711; No. 98) ob-

These old-fashioned fontanges rose above the head; they were pointed

served:

an

ell

like steeples,

and had long

loose pieces

a fon. From the 13th century. As an ad- of crape, which were fringed, and hung 277

foolometer

down

forficulate

backs.

their

(1685) spoke of fontanges of seven

stories.

Cp. commode.

A

foolometer.

To forbid, prohibit; to avert, prevent. Shakespeare cried, of Joan of Arc, in HENRY vi, PART ONE (1591: Now heaven forfend, the holy maid with childf

THE CUCKOLDS

Tate's

HAVEN

forfend.

standard for measuring

In KING LEAR, Regan asks the double-

(Accent on the om.) The term was coined by Sydney Smith in a letter of folly.

dealing Edmund, who has been making advances to her sister: But have you never

1837; the device to be used as a test of

The foolometer

court jester:

fendid appul. Forfend

jesters.

.

to strive. Hence, to fend

.

Our

age has

its

ward

off; to

after.

The

in

clif

lighthouse without any light on top.

KINGS)

,

or moral). Shakespeare first used the expression as a play on a name, in HENRY

forferly.

;

Shallow

a recruit: Let that Feeble.

the

suffice,

The term came

q.v.

as

most forcible

19th century, as in Disraeli's CON:

foredeal.

An

last resort of

To

pass away, decay, perish; to

The

past participle, forfare, for-

meant worn out (as with labor, Gower in CONFESSIO AMANTIS travel, age) As it were a man forfare wrote: (139B) Unto the woode 1 gan to fare. Thong

fard,

;

Castle,

said is

the

now

2

(1382;

eny more takyn

of the peeple.

To

astonish greatly.

To

inclose the lock.

shaped

like

From

Note

a pair of

ferly,

centuries,

also for-

scissors,

and

a small pair (1) shaped of scissors; (2) as a verb, to feel a creeping sensation, as though a forficula (earlike

were crawling over one's skin; Bulwer-Lytton said in THE CAXTONS (1849) There is not a part of me that has not wig)

:

.

crept, crawled,

and

forficulate.

278

.

.

forficulated ever since.

CHRONICLE of Fabyan

forfaryn.

to

peer now spreads the glittering forfex ficate,

destroy.

(1494)

translation

forficulate:

forfare.

.

Used in the 13th and 14th

wide,

advantage. See afterdeal.

.

forfex. A pair of scissors. The Late Latin word, used humorously in English, as in Pope's THE RAPE OF THE LOCK (1714) , The

into wider use in

INGSBY (1844) Italics, that the forcible feebles.

look

only in the past participle; CURSOR MUNDI (1300) has: Ful forfarled then war thai.

calls:

him

BIBLE

his

monee

(1597)

for,

:

ben forfendid

forcible feeble. A weak person who makes great show of strength (physical

TWO

back), to

(off,

provide

fend and prove

to

phrase

.

There's Bardus, a six-foot column of fop,

PART

for, to

to quarrel, wrangle; Vanbrugh THE FALSE FRIEND (1702) Instead of fending and proving with his mistress, he should come to parrying and thrusting with you. The prestis, said Wy-

fop. See cudden. Hood in MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER SILVER LEG (1845) announced:

iv,

fend

said, in

Francis Feeblel but Falstaff rejects

with

for,

meant

various systems

of opinion polls.

A

from

is

the sense of prohibition or opposition (to forsay is to renounce) + fend, to defend,

Anxiety to hear the truth, coupled with a wish to represent it as a folly, is the real causation of court .

forfended said Wyclif

in a sermon of 1380, by etyng of the for-

of a Euro-

the middle ages was emto mark the temperature of the ployed public mind in an age of hypocrisy and

terrorism

way To the

place? Adam and Eve syne den,

in

pean king

brother's

found my

public opinion. THE LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW (June, 1847) remarked, of the

See forfex.

of Henry's reign refers to a proclamation be . that . . . every such author . . . row to there the committed into galleys,

corrode, devour. Hence wasted away, destroyed, as in forfretten,

Gnaw,

forfret.

the

translation

(1440)

of Palladius

.

.

ON

in chains, as a slave or forsary. Also forsar,

HUSBANDRIE^ when he declares there is no help can save the long endurid, old, for-

and forsado, from the Spanish galleys, which doubtless for some years held many

freton vine. Inventive, creative.

forgetive.

English forsaries.

Coined by

Shakespeare, in HENRY rv, PART TWO (1597), . of the brain: A good sherris-sack .

makes full

it

of

apprehensive, nimble, fierie,

Not

shapes.

from forge

meaning

See sooth. Very common, sooth, 9th through 16th century; also in phrases truth.

forsooth and forsooth; forsooth and God; forsooth to say. From the 17th century,

probably

Old Trench from Latin make; whence fabrications)

(via

used almost always as a mark of irony or derision, as in Pepy's DIARY for 25 March,

,

good at forging. Writers after have used the word, as Gary

By and by comes Mr. Lowther and and mine, and into a box forsooth, neither of them being dressed.

Shakespeare

forhele.

O

1667:

his wife

quick and forgetive power!

To

hide.

Old English

Also humorously or disdainfully: a

helan, to

were

crawling

ceremony,

in

also

sooth, a title of respect and submission used by a servant to a mistress, etc."

though ants skin.

(mock)

in 1751, inPepy's DIARY, 1661. Bailey, ~ address: of dicates a current style "/or

not.

feeling as over one's

with

treat

THE BABEES BOOKS (1430) : Schewe and forhile thou [show] it to thy freendis,

as in

A

for-

sooth, an affected speaker (Jonson, 1604: a forsooth of the city); to forsooth, to

hide. Past participle, forholen. Used by King Alfred, and into the 1 5th century,

formication.

+

In truth. Old English for

forsooth.

in his translation (1814) of Dante's PUR-

GATORY:

See forfend.

forsay.

.

quick, forgetive, and delectable

related to forget;

fabricare, to

it

forswat

____________

forfret

Latin

"Please close the window/' "Forsooth,"

Hence formicate, to crawl like ants; by extension, to swarm with living beings; Lowell, in his JOURNAL of an (1854) of his trip to Italy, speaks

forspend. To spend completely, haust; hence, to wear out. Since AngloSaxon times rarely used except in the past

which formicated with 'modern* In city households of peasantry.

TION

formica, ant.

open

space,

the 1940's, a formicary (ant-hill enclosed in glass) was almost as common as an of tropical fish. Zeus, noted for

aquarium amorous transformations, turned into a swarm of ants to woo the nymph Kly-

his

toris,

A

galley-slave.

participle.

Thus

Sackville in

THE INDUC-

tO

THE MIRROR

FOR. MAGIS-

(1563)

TRATE:

Her body

forspent.

ex-

Lamb

in

small so withered and

Ms

essay

on VALENTINE'S

speaks of the weary and all BALLAD forspent postman. Lanier, in A OF TREES AND THE MASTER (1884) fondles

DAY

(1821)

Into the woods my Master went, Clean forspent, forspent. Into the woods my Master came, Forspent with the word:

a formidable formicatory approach.

forsary.

to

Via Old French

from forsaire from Latin forcia, fortia, strong (by force). King Henry VIII freed some forsares in 1546; but Strype

love

and shame.

fortis,

in his ECCLESIASTICAL MEMORIALS

(1721)

Covered with sweat Very common, I4th-16th century; even the King, forswat.

279

forthink

foutre

Barbour in his BRUCE

said

(1375), was

with oakum, etc., to stuff a leak; also, to stop a leak in this way. A NAVAL CHRONI-

wery forswat. Sidney in his ARCADIA (1580) speaks of a couple of forswat metiers. forthink.

(1)

off

away,

4-

excellent

From Old English for, thyncan, to seem. To dis-

please, cause regret to;

Thus Chaucer

to

in TROYLUS

be sorry

AND CRISEYDE

To

despise; to be reluctant; to change one's mind. One of Heywood's PROVERBS (1562) is Better foresee

has:

thunder

Also notforthy, nought for thy,

Barbour in his BRUCE (1375): Undir the mantill nochtforthi He suld

polecat, skunk.

Old Eng-

A

line of fourteen syllables; later often printed in two lines of four and three iambic feet respectively; two such broken lines constituted the standard

fourteener.

weary oneself with wan-

ballad form. See himpnes.

over-in-

pamper, spoil by Hence, forweaned, insolent. word is from the 14th century, the

dulgence.

perennial. perennial.

A

load, a cart-load; hence, a lot, a great quantity. Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) speaks of something That fother.

The

great worshipful lady, as myself!

weary wight forwandring by the way.

is

fouldring.

:

dering; to wander far and wide. Spenser pictures, in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) a

The

fouldering,

Jonson in A TALE OF A TUB (1633) Was ever such a fulmart for an huisher To a

childer

in the fyre, forthi that they held the right beleve.

act

foudre.

mearth, martin. Also folmarde, fulmerde, foulmart, and the like. Applied to a man as a term of contempt;

forthy that, because; Maundeville relates, in 1400: Thare also great King

To

Also,

lish ful, foul 4*

the,

forwean.

forth;

foumart.

be armyt prevaly [privily, secretly]. Also what forthy, what of that? And forthy

To

thunderbolt.

breast.

Chaucer in THE HOUS OF FAME (1384) speaks of That thing that men call foudre That smoot sometime a tower to powdre.

nevertheless;

Nabugodonosor putte the three

my

Old French fouldre; Latin fulgur, lightning flash. Hence to foulder, to flash or

for the. Thus Henryson in his MORALL FABILLJS OF ESOPE (1480) Said: The morning mild, my mirth was more

forwander.

A

fouldre. therefore. Also

forthi,

forthy.

heart like the furch of a hart in

My

rut do the beat within

than forthink. this reason,

fork of the legs; especially,

Old French fourche, fork. Other English forms were forche, fourche, fowche. Urquhart in his translation (1693) of Rabelais

regret; to

For

said:

the hind quarters of a deer. To fouch, to cut (a deer) into quarters. Also furch.

(1374) a thing that might thee forthenke. to (2) From Old English for + thencan,

forthy.

The

fouch.

for.

:

think.

By foddering, and those we pumps, kept her above water.

CLE of 1800

"A word

foutre. to

f

A

fig

Used in the phrases A foutre for; I care not a foutre. Old French foutre, Latin futuere, to have intercourse. Also foutra, fouter, fowtre, foutree, foutir. Used in English since the 16th century; some-

coste largely of gold a fother. To fall as a f other was used of a crushing blow. In the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a

cries

verb to fother, meaning to cover a

lings base.

sail

of contempt, equivalent " So Toone, in 1834.

for you!'

times contemptuously applied to a person. Shakespeare, in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597)

280

A

footra for the world, and worldMarryat has, in PETER SIMPLE

foxship

frape

O'Brien declared that he was a

:

(1833)

and a cowardly

liar

The

foxship. ness,

as

a

foutre.

(1)

Faith, allegiance;

A

(2) gift.

Tender twigs are bent with doe

breaks

desires

make

Growth

doth

with

little

prease

make

ease,

bending; [pres-

them

past

See froise.

fraise.

a frampold. Cross, disagreeable; (of Also mettlesome, frampard, horse) fiery.

faith.

parting drink, entertainment, or

frampull, frampled, frompered (Bunyan, 1688) . Shakespeare, in THE MERRY WIVES

wedding and the says, in PAMELA

OF WINDSOR (1598) remarks: She leads a very frampold life with him.

a

tip.

Richardson

Under the notion of my foy, 1 a couple of guineas into the good woman's hand. (3) (As a verb) to bring provision to ships; to assist ships in dis:

(1741)

havior;

poem

goes to assist those in distress. Not to confused with foyer in a theatre,

be where those in

of

1810,

speaks

of

Fine

merry

Wanton companions. Also spelled

franions,

The old play KING EBWARD iv PART ONE said: He's a frank franion, a merry companion, and loves fronion, frannion, frannian.

distress go.

See foin.

foyn*

person of free or loose beto a man; but

usually applied

Spenser (THE FAERIE QUEENED 1596) speaks of a woman as a fair franion. Lamb, in a

hence also foy-boat and foyer, one

tress;

A

franion.

slid

who

.

.

French voie, way, "on your way."

Also, a party before a like;

.

amending.

also used as foi,

waight,

trees

sure],

(1607) queries: Had'st thou foxship To banish him that struck more blows for home Than thou hast spoken words?

an exclamation. From French

Many make

little

Aged Young

cunning. Sometimes used mockingly title. Shakespeare in CORIOLANUS

foy.

will

have

fraight.

character of a fox; astute-

Single sands a drowning

grow against thy

a wench well.

hoary and putrefied. So Bailey, 1751. From Latin fraddus; frax, fracis, lees of oil. It was once thought that (as in a letter of 1655) insects were fracid.

Rotten

ripe,

frannian. frape.

See franion.

A mob,

the rabble. Also frapaille,

camp-followers, rabble. Used mainly in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 16th

Natures recreation, which she out of the fracid ferment of putrifying bodies doth

and 17th centuries

form.

to fraple, to wrangle,

bluster; frapler, blusterer, bully. fraight.

den.

A

Used

variant form of freight, burin the 1 6th century; also

fraught Originally (15th century) freight meant the hire of a vessel to carry goods; also,

passage-money. take passage, as in

To Be

take freight, to Foe's ROBINSON

CRUSOE (1719). Southwell in LOSSE IN BELA YES (1593) advised; Crush the serpent in the head, Break ill egges ere they be

century,

and

thereafter in dialects.

non-Catholics,

meant a

libertine

confection, a frappg, was borrowed more recently from the French.

Other forms from the same source are (17th century) frappish, peevish, and (19th century)

In Jonson's CYNTHIA'S REVELS

Least

monk.

The whipped

catched. In the rising

ill,

A friar

frapart, originally a flagellant Mar, in the 15th and 16th centuries, especially among

hatched. Kill bad chickens in the tread; Fligge [fledged], they hardly can be stifle

The verb

frap (French frapper) to strike, to whip, was common from the 14 th to the 18th

it

281

frappant,

striking,

impressive.

(1599)

is

fream

fret

the accusation:

and

Thou

art

... a

15th century; Chaucer in THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN (1385) has: into a prysoun cast is he Tyl he should fretyne be. The word grew milder, and is still used

frapier,

base.

fream.

To

rage,

to roar.

.

We

are told

16th and 17th centuries) especially at rutting time, an hart

(through the that,

bellows, a buck groyns ... a boar freams.

embroidery, as of silver or gold; to decoTo form a pattern on;

roaring; fremescence, a rising sound; Carlyle in THE FRENCH REVO-

rate elaborately. to variegate.

LUTION (1837) says: Fremescent clangour comes from the armed Nationals Confused tremor and fremescence, waxing into thunderpeals, of fury stirred

.

(1599) the

.

on by

Gnashing

the

teeth.

Latin

via

a steed milk white

TALE (1616) wrote of His frendent horse of manie colors pied f

More

commonly, a an enemy. Used in the 16th century. Also fren; altered from frend, correctly fremd, a common Teuton hostile, strange, related to from. Child's collection of BALLADS has one that sings: / is

:

So

now

his

friend

is

chaunged for a frenne with a gloss explaining that the form of the word was

his

froidir;

benumb; from a lengthened Old French freider (French froid, cold) and (B) a variant of

fret, to

adorn, used especially in architec-

(A)

to chill,

form

term meaning foreigner, enemy; also as

THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR

upon

were also (16th and 17th centuries) two verbs of the same forms, fretish, fretize,

an adjective, foreign, wild,

wish I had died on some frem isle, And never had come home! Spenser uses

but that

scattered into a dish of creame. Delicious sense of imagery in those Arcadians! There

stranger, a foreigner,

APRIL)

frictare, fric-

shoulder and withers he was fretned with red staines as when a -few strawberies are

SQUIRE'S

frenne, foe, in

Old French

avow that the apples, me thought, fell downe from the trees to do homage to the apples of her breast; and he pictures

rub, earlier ghri, related to grind, grist. Lane in the CONTINUATION OF CHAUCER'S

unusual. It

That

frictum, to rub, whence much friction. Sidney in the ARCADIA (1580) has the lover, seeing his mistress in the orchard,

See fream.

Strange.

lines

grey

tatum, to rub, frequentative of fricere,

See frenne.

frendent.

of

of the capitals of columns. Urquharfs translation of Rabelais (1693) ture,

speaks of frettized and

embowed

seelings,

In the 13th century, from the first verb, fretewil was used, to mean voracious. And in the 17th century, a fretchard was an easily irritated, peevish person; the angry

William Fenner (WORKS; and meeknesse and yet sets downe without it. (There was also a verb to fratch, used in the 15th cenfretchard, said

influenced by forenne, foreign.

praies for patience

1640)

As a verb. (1) To devour. A comTeutonic compound: for + etan to eat; German fressen. Hence, to consume, to destroy. Used from BEOWULF to the

fret.

mon

Yon

a third, (3) to rub, chafe

frendentem, present participle of frender e, to gnash the teeth. From the root fri, to

(1579;

that

clouds, are

messengers of day. This sense seems to overlap the first, and

fret

from Late Latin frectatum;

fremescence.

frenne.

Shakespeare in JULIUS CAESAR

states

fear.

fremd.

.

in the senses of to gnaw; to irritate, annoy; to worry. (2) To adorn with interlaced

Hence frement,

.

.

t

tury to noise,

282

mean

to squeak, to make a strident 18th, to scold, to quarrel.

and in the

fricandeau

fritiniency

Hence

greene.

fricandeau.

counter, or frolic; a frisking. It was the custome of some lascivious queans, said

fratcheous, patchy, frachety, quarrelsome; fratcher, a scold.)

The word

French,

is

the

with bacon and

Also fricandel,

stuffed.

An

fricadelle, fricando.

18th century deli-

apparently spoiled by the English, for Bulwer-Lytton in DEVEREAUX (1829) observed: I think her very like a fri-

frith.

white,

frigerate.

geratum,

To to

soft,

cool.

cool;

and

ate,

lated to friend.

in

are

frigeration, frigeratory

en-

fri-,

(In this

(2)

From a comto love; re-

and the

fol-

firth,

A stretch of wooded land; land q.v.) covered with underbrush only, or a space between woods; hence brushwood, and (by extension) a hedge, especially one of

fri-

(adjective), cold. Friger-

,

Teutonic root

lowing sense, interchangeable with

Latin frigerare, frigidus

action,

Peace; freedom from molesta-

(1)

mon Old

insipid.

cold; frigus, frigoris (noun)

lively

tion; hence, a game-preserve.

cacy,

candeau

a brisk

Burton in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621), to dance friskin in that fashion. ^

Scotch: thin slices of veal, rolled

is

recipe

Also,

17th

hence

a

century dictionaries; only the noun seems to have been used, and all three were

brushwood; brushwood.

overlooked in the 20th century wave of refrigeration. Other forms forgotten in-

unknown; it may arm of the sea. Used

clude frigidal, frigidious, very cold; friglferous, frigorific, producing cold (Shelley,

reaching England by 1600; related to Scandinavian fjorthr, fjord. These are all

1810: A frigorific torpidity of despair chilled every sense) ; frtgitate, frigorify, to cool, to freeze; frigidize was also used

very common, the first two meanings from the 9th century. Frith, peace, was used

when Lady Gower tried to frown her down and frigidize her, Through the 17th and 18th centuries (still

frigoric was be an imponderable sub-

debated in the 19th)

supposed

to

stance that

made

things cold;

Rumford

(Tyndall said in his study of HEAT, 1863) maintained with great tenacity the existence

of 'frigorific rays' 19th century use a frigot

frigid

And is

a rare

a person of

also,

fish-weir

of

origin of this word is be related to fir. (3) An first

in Scotland,

only historically after the 14th century; the other two are still to be found, as in

as

figuratively,

The

Tennyson's IN MEMORIAM (1850) : The friths that branch and spread Their sleep9

ing silver thro the hills. In the Middle Ages, the frith-stool was a (stone) seat near the altar in a church, which gave

supposedly inviolable protection to one seeking sanctuary. frith-stool.

See

frith.

temperament.

frim.

plump,

Vigorous; abundant in sap, juicy;

From BEOWULF into Thus Drayton in POLYMy frim and lusty flank

full-fleshed.

the 19th century.

OLBION (1613) : Her bravery then displays.

One

that likes to frisk, a gay, Nashe in HAVE WITH YOU TO lively person.

friskin.

SAFFRON-WALDKN (1596) or friskin was footing

His wench aloft on the

fritiniency. Twittering; the noise of insects. Sir Thomas Browne in PSEUDOBOXIA

EPIDEMICA (1646) says of the cicado that its note or fritiniancy is far more shrill then that of the locust. Linklater in POET'S

PUB (1929) records a conversation: 'The most significant noise of earth is the singing of birds/ said the professor with de'Fritinancy/ declared the fire.

said:

termination.

it

young man beside

283

the

frustraneous

froise

A pancake

froise.

with bacon in

it.

From

frumenty. Hulled wheat boiled in milk, seasoned with sugar, cinnamon and other

the 14th century. Ultimately from Latin raisef pays, frigere, frictum, to fry. Also f etc. tells

condiments. Also, a variety of wheat;

Gower in CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1390) of a man who brustleth as a monkes

When

froise

we

Served,

is

Other forms of

throwe into the panne.

are told, with a sweet sauce

.

.

fruit,

frugi-,

produce.

BONDUCA

Fletcher, in

threw the froize out of the

.

this

enty, formety, frummetry, frumentary. Latin frumentum, corn; from the root

is

though

es-

for

brewing. word, common since the 14th century, include furmety, from-

pecially,

maple syrup. Good, too, even (MONTHLY MAGAZINE, 1819) the

the best

general

it

mashed

wheat

Beaumont

(1614)

and

have: He'll

you out a food that needs no

window.

find

fronion.

nor stomack; a strange formity will feed ye up as fat as hens i* the forehead. Mas-

See franion.

ser

THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR

in

man

and cold performs

frowze* frizzed

A

(1579;

To

trash.

person in a dilemma

was said to be in a

(19th century) menty sweat.

th' effect of fire.

strike; to

fru-

dash down; to crush.

Also, to rush violently, to rub violently; to break, to be crushed. Also used techni-

wig, probably with Also frowes, fruz, frouze. in the 16th and 17th centuries. lady's

hair.

Worn When Lady Jane Grey was on

A

a furmenty pot.

FEBRUARY) uses frorne; Milton in PARADISE LOST (1667) : The parching air Burns frore,

THE BONDMAN

(1623) pictures a his Like a spaniel o'er lips licking

singer in

Frozen; bitterly cold. Also froren, frorne; frory. The old past participle of freeze. Used since the 13th century; SpenjErore.

teeth

cally:

(1)

an arrow;

the scaffold,

to

rub straight the feathers of

(2)

to dress a chub;

(3)

to

Old French fruissier from a popular Latin form frustiare, to carve a chicken. Via

Foxe told in ACTES AND MONUMENTS (1563), she untyed her gowne, and the

shiver into pieces;

hangman pressed upon her to helpe her off with it, but she desiring him to let her

ment. Hence also frushy, brittle, liable to break. Also frust, a fragment, as in Sterne's

alone, turned towardes her two gentle-

TRISTRAM SHANDY

as

women, who helped her of also with her frowes, past,

therwith^

and

Latin frustum, frag-

(1765):

Such a story

more pabulum to the brain than the jrusts, and crusts, and rusts of

affords

and necker-

all

chefe, geving her a fayre handkerchefe to knit about her eyes, [past (paste, payst)

antiquity, which travellers can cook up for it. Hence also frustulum, a small frag-

was an ornamental headdress, probably with a pasteboard foundation; Greene in

ment; frustulent, frustulose, consisting

his VISION

of,

frast.

See frush.

little

cappe, and a fair

paste.]

frastraneous.

See infructuous. Also fructuate, to bear fruit, literally or figuratively, as plans or ideas fluctuate; fructuation,

Latin

fractuous.

fructuosity.

of,

small pieces.

(1592) spoke of the bride very

dizond in a

finelie

or full

the use or enjoy(of a tree or an ac-

Fracture,

ment

of the fruits

tivity)

.

Vain,

useless,

ineffectual.

frustrari, to disappoint; frustra, in

The

15th and 16th century verb, has been superseded by frustrate. fruster, Hence also frustrable, that can be rendered ineffectual; frustrative, frustratory, vain.

tending to balk. Frmtratory was used in

284

fumatory

fucatory

and into the 18th century; frus18th and 19th. Milton in his EIKONOKLASTES (1649) scorned a most insufficient and frustraneous means. the

1 5th

trative, in the

Latin fucus (Greek fucos) rock-lichen, used in English of a genus of seaweed. The lichen was a source of red dye, used as a cosmetic. Hence also figuratively, a ,

false coloring,

pretense, as

when Young

in NIGHT THOUGHTS (1742) : Of fortune's fucus strip them, yet alive. Hence fucation, painting the face, dissembling; infucation. Adjectives are fucal, fucate, cries,

cp.

painted, fairseeming, falsified, deceitful. All especially in the 17th century, which gives us also

fucatious,

fucose,

fucous,

the statement: Frequent are fuco'd cheeks, H. Hutton in FOLLIES ANATOMIE (1619) wrote: Joves constant Daphne, timorous,

doth perplext, His fucall arguments

still

See fulgurate.

Latin fulgurate. To flash like lightning. words to lighten. Many English fulgere, have come from this source: fulgor, ful* a

a noted haunt

brightness,

is

it

(1822)

had

very likely that

gambling should have flourished in so quiet a village." A high fulham ensured a cast of 4, 5, or 6; a low fulham of 1, 2, or B. Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598)

cries:

Let vultures gripe

and fulham holds: And high and low beguiles the rich and thy guts: for gourd,

builds a poor. Butler in HUDIBRAS (1664) to pass figure with the word: One cut out

your

tricks

on With fulhams of poetick

fiction.

See foumart.

fulmart.

To

fulminate.

thunder and lighten; to

burst forth into violent or explode; condemnatory speech; to denounce vehemently. The Latin fulmen, a thunderbolt, to

that starts a conflagration, especially one is also used as an English word. Other

confute. fulgor.

may be from Fulham, "once brushed aside: "nor

A cosmetic, a coloring for the face.

fucus,

Probably originally a fullan, a

tra.

one: loaded at the corner; though the O.E.D. also offers the conjecture that it of gamesters," an idea Nares

See infucation.

fucatory.

cater full

splendor;

dazzling gour, the fulgural fulgur, lightning (noun); science means divination by lightning, and the priest that interprets the lightning was called the fulgurator. Cp. fulminate.

English forms are fulminancy; fulminatory; fulmineous, fulminous. Cp. fulgurate. Poets are less likely to use the verb

which fulminate than the form fulmine, Milton and (folSpenser used literally, lowed by Tennyson and echoed by Lowell) used of speaking fiercely: fulmined over Greece.

Fond

of smoking,

Fulgure and fulgurity were other 17th century words for lightning. Figurations were lightning flashes, but in "chymistry" is an operation (Bailey, 1751) fulguration

fumacious.

and silver, by which all metals, except gold are reduced into vapours. Carlyle in his that Diderot essay on Diderot (1833) said

maid. Spanish jumado, smoked.

could talk with a fulgorous impetuosity almost beyond human.

fumade.

A

smoked herring

Recommended by

(pilchard). Fuller (1661) with oil

and lemon. Also fumatho, fumado,

fumage.

"Smoke

farthings";

hearth-

money; a tax paid in Anglo-Saxon for every chimney in the house.

A

fair

times,

for smoking. fumatory. place set apart cheating for automobiles, lubritoria of In these days at dice. Also fulham; cp. langret; bar'd 285

fullam.

A

kind of

false die, for

furfuration

fumets

and the like, it is surprising that our motion-picture palaces do not have fumatories for the fumacious, q.v. See furnishing.

fumets.

The state of being vaporous or fuming. Latin fumidus, English fumid; Latin fumus, fume. Over many factory on the hottest recorded cities (I write the heat,

it isn't

That should deracinate such

See fon.

fun.

A

funambulant.

fumidity.

August 31)

coulter rusts savagery.

it's

the fumi-

rope-walker. Also funambulator, funambule, funambulist (cur-

funambulo. A funambulus (plural funambuli) was a rope-dancer, as indeed they all were, in the measure of their rent)

,

Hence also funambulic, funambufunambulatory. Latin funem, rope ambulare, ambulatum, to walk, whence

ability.

lous,

dity.

+

furnishing. The excrement of wild animals (as the deer) ; also fumet (usually

amble, preamble, ambulance (originally a "traveling hospital') To funambule,

plural) . From to dung; fimus, dung.

French fumer, Latin fimare,

Hence

also spelled

fimashing. Also (15th through 17th century) fime, dung. Fimicolous, inhabiting dung, is a scientific term applied to half a

hundred fungi. Also fimetarious, fimetic. Ruskin, in THE NINETEENTH CENTURY for 1880, speaks of the necessary obscurities of deer that's fimetic Providence famishing will yield little furnishing.

... A

Fumet (Latin fumus, smoke, fume) was also used of the smell of game when high, of game flavor, as in Swift's STELLA AT

WOOD PARK (1728) A haunch of venison made her sweat, Unless it had the right :

.

funambulate, to walk on a stretched rope, tight or slack. The same words may be applied even though the 'rope' is wire. Sir

Thomas Browne

softly

and circumspectly in this funambuand narrow path of goodness.

furacity.

Thievishness.

writers;

as fumyterre water, it was recfor leprosy, choler, the itch,

ommended scurf,

and

tetters.

Also femetary; fume-

fumiter, and more; Latin fumus terrae, smoke of the earth, from the way the green-gray herb terre,

fumitery,

femiter,

covered the earth. Chaucer in

THE NUN'S

lauriol,

lists

TALE

the herb

(1386)

:

Of

centaure, and fumeterre; Shake-

speare in leas

PRIEST'S

The

HENRY v darnel,

femetary Doth root

(1599)

:

Her

fallow

hemlock, and ranke upon while that the

furacious,

thievish. The word was used in the and 18th centuries, then became pedantic, then became rare. The attitude

acem

f

17th

it

denominates has not grown

less

com-

mon.

A

furca.

plant (Fumaria) often menmedieval and Renaissance

Also

thievish. Latin furari, to steal; furax, fur-

furbelow.

A

MORALS

latory track

See falbala.

fumette. fumitory. tioned by

in CHRISTIAN

(1682) used the word figuratively: Tread

gallows.

pronged

fork

forked)

hence,

;

Latin furca,

a

two-

(whence English furcate, a fork-shaped prop, a

triangular brace; hence,

from that sup-

port, a gallows. Bailey (1751) speaks of a

13th century law, furca and fossa (Latin fossa,

ditch)

whereby male felons were

hanged; female, drowned. A furca for youl was a fighting curse; though see fig. furch.

See fouch.

furfuration.

The shedding

of the skin

in small particles like bran (Latin furfur, bran); the falling of dandruff when the hair is combed,

furibund

fustilugs

furibund.

Raging with

fury. Also fury-

See

furmenty.

frumenty.

Spelled

Tennyson wrote

that

bound, furebund. Jonson in THE POETASTER (1601) includes furibund in a list of inkhorn words; Carlyle in THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1837) speaks of a waste energy as of Hercules not yet furibund.

teen.

A

at the age of four-

character, finding the Devil dis-

guised as a

woman,

haunches

fuscous

What jejune, To quilt thy

exclaims:

is

undigested joke

this,

with

the

flounced

Frilled, finical delicacy of female dressf Hast thou dared to girdle thy brown sides

fur-

And prop

menty by Mrs. Gaskell and others in the

thy monstrous vertebrae with In technical terms fusco is a com-

staysf

19th century.

furnage. Baking; the price paid for permission to bake. Also fornage; via French

bining form meaning dull, dusky: fuscoferruginous, dull rust-colored; fusco-piceous, dull reddish-black; fusco-testaceous,

from Latin furnus, oven, whence

dull reddish-brown.

In

feudal

also

tenants

days, paid furnage to use the lord's oven, or not to use it (for permission to have an oven

furnace.

of their own)

:

rouler, to roll, French.

and

"of feu,

fire,

A

blaze of

little

He

place to place:

is

it

and

victor.)

Other names for

furole are corposant, q.v.,

and

St.

Elmo's

fire.

us,

stale-smelling.

says

knobbed

to

stick.

cudgel.

Latin

fustigare,

beat to death; fustis, a Used from the 17th to the

mid-1 9th century; now only for humorous effect. The Earl of Bristol exclaimed, in 1667: Heaven send him a light hand, to

thought to forebode

shiped as gods, was tangled in the Trojan that brought disaster on both van-

To

fustigatum,

shipwreck." (Helen, sister of the luckier twins Castor and Pollux, who were wor-

War

made

fustigate.

sometimes the fore-

If there

is

become mouldy,

to

that

unusd.

be two, it is called Castor and Pollux, and is supposed to portend safety, but if but one, it is

runner of a storm.

whom my

fustigation shall belong!

Hence

also fustigator, whipper.

A

term of contempt. Perhaps from compounded fustilugs (q.v.) , with the ending -arian implying old (as in centenarian, etc.) For an instance of its fustilarian.

.

Dusky, swarthy, of sombre hue. Latin fuscus, dusky. Used since the 17th

fuscous.

De Quincey

July, 1855, wrote: brance I had that

in a letter of 31

Some confused rememwe were or ought to be

in a relation of hostility, though why, I

could ground upon none but fuscous and cloudy reasons. Ivor Brown in i GIVE YOU

MY WORD from a

by exbarrel"

Shakespeare in HAMLET (1604), gave us not That capabilitie and god-like reason To fust in us

-

appearing by night on the tops of soldiers' lances; or at sea on sailyards, which whirls and leaps in a moment from

century.

;

(Johnson, 1755); cp. fustilugs. Hence, to

fire

quished and

mouldy

.

(Bailey, 1751)

called Helena,

wine-cask (15th century)

tension, a smell "as of a

fust,

furole.

A

fust.

adduces an amusing instance

play,

THE DEVIL AND THE LADY,

use in Shakespeare, see catastrophe. fustilugs.

A

fat,

frowzy

+

woman

(fttsty,

Burton mouldy lugs, implying heavy) in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621) states that every lover

.

admires his mistress,

though she be ... a vast virago, or ... a fat fustylugs. Fusty (from fust, a wine cask, q.v.) was used to mean stale (wine too long in the cask) ; then mouldy bread; then anything no longer fresh; seedy, dull.

287

fusty

fylfot

in

Shakespeare (1606) says Achilles .

,

At .

TROULUS

justy -rusty,

ioned;

ill-humored.

fusty.

See fustilugs. See

CRESSIDA

The

large

laughs out a lowd applause.

Hence

fyke.

AND

this fusty stuff

out-of-date,

old-fash-

a

gammadion. The American

the

In-

god of the wind, north, east, south, The figure was often used in series

as a decoration;

hence

fylfot,

to

fill

the

foot of a stained glass or painted window.

But

fike.

A cross cramponee, a swastika. This symbol, sometimes turning clockwise, sometimes counter-clockwise, is found in many lands at many times. The Greeks formed it by a combination of the letter (p) four times at right angles,

it

west.

fylfot.

gamma

called

dians had a cross representing the four directions; on the end of each limb stood

and

288

from prehistoric times, was or magic symbol; hence swastika, from Sanskrit svastika, well; su, good -f as, to be. Recent use it

taken

also,

as

a mystical

has belied the ancient meaning.

(pronounced fill'-fot) cross of Thor.

was

A

fylfot

also called the

A

tax. Used in the 15th and gabelle. 16th centuries as gab elf gable; related to

gavel> q.v. The word was then forgotten; revived as a foreign word (French gabelle), referring to Italy and France; especially,

the

on

tax

France before the

in

salt

French Revolution. Dickens, in A TALE OF

TWO eral

CITIES

calls

(1859)

M.

(tax collector)

gaberdine. coarse

A

loose

material,

as

the farmer-genGabelle.

upper garment of worn by pilgrims,

hence, by beggars; after Shakespeare in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1596) , applied to Jews. In THE TEMPEST Shakespeare has

Trinculo, come upon Caliban for

storm,

protection gaberdine, whence the

creep

word

in

under

is

gadfly.

it

his reckless

foot. gaffer.

An

old

Sometimes used dress, to a

when

man,

a

"grandfather/* form of ad-

as a title or

man below

the rank of Master,

THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828) says: You have marred my ramble. Gaffer Glover. Gaffer was probably a conas

Scott in

with

the

vowel

changing

They have crawled the

gadling. Originally, a companion, from the Old English gaed, fellowship + ling (diminutive personal suffix, as in darling,

Then

in the summertide,

Adder with

grandfather. So, for the female, with gam-

See garabee.

.

finds the

his

See garabee.

duckling)

That

to a because of association with

See garabee; cp. gadling.

gadbee.

The wandring gadling,

of

gabardine of the Whigs. gad.

through the 17th century, as in a poem by Wyatt in TotteFs MISCELLANY (1542) :

traction

sometimes

Commons under

more frequent gadabout Gadling apfrom BEOWULF (10th century)

the

used to mean protection, as when Lord Bentinck in the CROKER PAPERS for 8 September, 1847, said: into the House of

the

pears

was applied to a com-

mer, as

q.v.

godfather,

Occasionally used humorously,

when Randolph

in

HEY FOR HONESTY

This same gaffer Phoebus

(1651) says: a good mountebank

and an

is

excellent

musician.

An adjective. Used first (10th cenof roads: straight, direct; the gainest tury) way, the shortest way. Old Norse gegn,

gain.

straight, favorable, helpful.

Hence, ready,

well-disposed, kindly; available, convenient, useful. Also geyn, gane, gayne. The early form gegn (Modern German gegen) meant both directly towards and (as a

consequence) against.

Hence

opposite to, contrary to, as a prefix, gain- meant

against, or in return (as a counter-stroke); panion on a trip; hence, to a traveler, and finally to a vagabond. From the sense it survives in gainsay; it was used in gainof wanderer, by back-formation came the saw, a contradiction; gainspeaker, an opverb to gad., whence also a gadabroad and ponent; gainbuy, to redeem, also gain289

galentine

gain-

of miniature figures are thrown on a wall or screen. Also gallantee, gallanty; accent

buying. Also gaincall, to revoke, withdraw. gainchare, a way of returning, means of escape, gainshire, the barb of a fishing-

usually on the ant. Performed in the early 19th century, by 1860 Mayhew declared

hook; a barb on the tang of a knife, to prevent its coming free of the handle (the term

is

used in cutlery)

still

.

The

gain-

magic lanterns are so cheap in the shops.

stand, opposition, gainstrive, to oppose. gainturn, a turning back, evasion. From

It

coming;

(ganely)

gainly,

,

proper,

The

ungainly.

original sense of gain

be-

galder.

is

preserved in the Midland proverb: Round-

about

sometimes gainest:

is

way round

the sweetest

is

The

gainsay.

way home.

OF FLATTERY (1807) says: Gale from the bog shall yield Arabian balm. (2) The current sense of a very strong wind was long softened, in poetry and figurative disto a gentle breeze. Addison, in THE SPECTATOR (No. 56, 1711) He felt a

See againsay; gain.

course,

gaipand. A variant form of gaping. The ending -and was frequent for -ing in early Northern and Scottish words. In a lyric

:

of perfumes breathing upon him; Massinger, in THE DUKE OF MILAN (1623): One gale of your sweet breath will easily

gale

D unbar (1508) we are reminded that Deth followis lyfe with gaipand mowth.

of

gair.

An

form

early

(in Chaucer; in

Spenser's THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR, 1579) of galosh. Also golosh, galoge, galache,

The

galage was a wooden shoe or sandal with leather thongs; later

galoshoes, etc.

(17th

Disperse these clouds; Marvell in a letter of 1669 hopes for some unexpected gaile

See gore.

galage.

century)

,

A

(1) plant, the bog-myrtle, also called sweet gale, from the twigs of which gale-beer is made. Crabbe in THE BIRTH

See chare; cp. gain.

gainchar.

See sigalder.

gale.

longest

See gain.

gain-.

however, survived in children's

I

play;

graceful, gracious; helpful, the opposite of the still current

shapely

has,

saw a lively production of a galantee show in a children's camp last summer.

the adjective gain was formed a second adjective,

LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR): galantee show don't answer, because

(in

an overshoe. Spenser's

A

of opportunity. (3) periodical payment of rent, or the rent thus paid. Hanginggale, rent in arrears. Used from the 17th

into the 19th century; perhaps a contraction of gavel, q.v. (4) Singing, a song; merriment. This sense is related to Old

English galen, to sing; Italian (and thence but this sense died in the

gloss explains galage as 'a start-uppe or

clownish shoe/ clownish meaning peasant's.

English) gala 14th century;

KYNG ALYSAUNDER in the

13th century said:

The nyghtyngale In

galantine. See galentine. Chaucer in TO RQSEMOUNDE (1400) Nas never pyk wal~

woode, makith mery

gale.

wed in galauntyne As I in love am walwed and ywounde. The spelling galantine grew

galentine.

from galant

folk

association

with

(French)

(cp. gallant), agreeable, pleasing.

galanty show.

A

shadow show; shadows

galantine.

A sauce. Also galyntyne; cp. A recipe is given in THE FORME

OF CURY

(1390)

and

:

grynde hem

Take

crustes of bred,

smalle.

Do

thereto

powdor of galyngale, of canel, gyngyves, and salt it. Tempre it with vynegar, and

290

gallimaufry

galingale

up thrugh a straynor, and messe it Hence, a dish of sopped bread and Later used of other dishes, as veal, spices. draw

it

See

galley.

forth.

and served cold

in

high spirits, lively, gay; spruce, gay in looks. Also gaillard, galyeard, gagliard,

its jelly.

and more. Chaucer in THE COOK'S TALE (1386) says: Gaillard he was as goldfinch in the shawe. As a noun: (1) A man of

and in cookery. Bailey in 1736 listed as tasty condiments cardamums, cloves, cubebs, galangal, India, used in medicines

liang-kiang,

mild ginger from

Ko

Put in

ended; dredge you a

of plovers, there's the art on't; or in a galingale, a little does it. Tennyson pictured the land of the Lotus-Eaters (1833)

3

:

Border d with

palm and many a winding vale, And meadow, set with slender galingale.

(verb; accented on the second syllable) . play the gallant; to flirt with; to escort. To gallant a fan was to

gallant

by accident) , so as to win permission to present a better one. Thus Addison in THE SPECTATOR, No. 102 (1711): I teach

.

plural; also gaskins; gallybreeches; gaily-

the whole art of gala NJB. I have several little fan. lanting made this use, to avoid exfor plain fans

Gallant

is

related

to

gala;

Old

galer, to make merry. Other forms are gallantise, courtliness, gallantry; gallantize, to play the gallant, to court (Urqu-

French

hart in his translation, 1693, of Rabelais has to gallantrize it) ; to be gallantified was used humorously (17th century)

meaning galleon*

to be

whipped.

garragascoyne,

gallygaskins,

gali-

gascon, and more. Also, from its appearance, the flower the cowslip. Used figuratively in

THE POETICAL REGISTER

of 1794:

While in rhyme's galligaskins I enclose The broad posteriors of thy brawny prose. Sterne says, in TRISTRAM SHANDY (1761): were taken up His whole thoughts with a transaction which was going for.

wards

young gentlemen

pense.

See galliot.

A kind of tight-buttocked wide hose or breeches worn in the 16th and 17th centuries; later, it became a term of ridicule for breeches wide at the knee. French garguesque, from Italian grechesco, Greek style (alia grechesca) Usually

To

break a fan (intentionally, but as though

galliardise, gaiety, revelry;

galligaskin.

slops;

See galliot.

galiot.

dost

a merry prank. galliass.

dish

Why

:

to

come home pavan. Hence

(in

(1616) : matter's

(1601)

church in a galliard, and in a carranto? Cp. coranto;

thou not goe

Also applied to the English sedge. Especially, a dish seasoned with galingale, as in Beaumont and

THE BLOODY BROTHER some of this [poison], the

TWELFTH NIGHT

asks, in

.

Fletcher's

a gay fellow, a man of fashion. (2) in triple time. Shakespeare

spirit;

A lively dance,

ginger, mace, and nutmegs. The word is via French and Arabic from Chinese Ko-

Canton province)

adjective: valiant, sturdy;

full of

A mildly aromatic root of East

galingale.

As an

galliard.

chicken, or other white meat, boned, tied, boiled,

galliot.

.

.

.

.

.

within the precincts of his

own

galligaskins.

A

dish, hashed out of odds gallimaufry. and ends; hence, a confused or ridiculous

mixture; a foolish medley. Also, a haphazardly mixed assemblage, or collection of persons; Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) says: He wooes . he loves the both high and low gaily.

.

mawfry. Occasionally applied in scorn to a a person, a Jadk-of-all-accomplisliments, fellow of

See galliot

291

many

parts.

Thus

gallinwufrical,

gambade

galliot

mixed up; miscellaneous. As a

century, however, galleon was used mainly for the large merchantmen with which the Spanish carried on trade with their

verb, to

make mincea gallimaufrier, one who

gallimaufry, to confuse, to

meat

also,

of;

messes or mixes things up. Nashe, attacking Gabriel Harvey in STRANGE NEWES

in

possessions

America.

Also

gallon,

galeoon, galloon. For a while, because of the British privateers raids on Spanish shipping, galleon was used to mean a fine 1

(1593; for Harvey's thrust, see

cluded:

From

ever, ever,

bum) con,

time forth for ever,

this

catch, a prize, as in Farquhar's THE BEAUX STRATAGEM (1706) This prize will be a galleon ... 7 warrant you we shall bring

evermore moist thou be canon-

ized as the nunparreille of impious epistles, the short shredder out of Sunday

without

sentences

tearmed Seneca all

lime,

all

as

:

off three

Quintillian

lime and no sande;

galp.

matter and no circumstance; the factor

home

and night

changelings in their steade, the gal-

limafrier of all stiles in one standish, as imitating everie one, and having no seper-

forme of thy owne; and to conclude, the onely feather-driver of phrases, and

word

to it

Chroniclers heare

my

praiers.

This one

has heard. galliot. sails

A

and

small swift boat, propelled by especially, one used in

oars;

(15th

century)

a pirate. Also

,

Via galyete, galyote, galleot. French, and Italian galeotta, diminutive

galiote,

of Latin galea, galley*

The

galley was a

low, one-deck sea-going vessel, propelled by sails and oars; the rowers were usually slaves or liass

condemned

criminals.

galleass, galliace, galeaze

The

gal-

was larger

than a galley and used mainly in war.

The

gallivat

gallevat was was used in the

galleywat,

larger than a galliot;

it

Eastern seas, and had a triangular sail. The galleon was a ship of war, higher but shorter than the galley; after the 15th

to

gape

after

in desire,

as

in the

AENEIS of Stanyhurst (1583), which pictures Chary bdis with broad jaws greedelye galping. Chaucer in THE SQUIRE'S TALE (1386) has: With a galpyng mouth them alle

Mediterranean waters. Hence, a sailor or rower on a galley (slave or free) ; by extension

also

when thou

hast once got it, that is betwixt this and the Alpes. So bee it worlde without ende.

yelp. Caxton's translation

Of THE HISTORYE OF REYNART

By association with gape, however, galp more frequently (14th to 17th century) meant to yawn, to gape; to vomit forth;

ate

putter of a good

To

THE FOXE stated: He mawede and galped so lowde that martynet sprang up. Old Saxon galpon, to boast; Dutch galpen, to bark, yelp; yelp is another form of this word. (1481)

urchins, in supand the true chilaside setting planting dren -of the English, and suborning inke-

for the fairies

(1)

or four thousand pound.

he

keste.

gambade. One of the forms of gambol; also gambad, gambado, gambawd, gambauld, gambol, gamboil, gambole. Via French from Italian gambatay leap; gamba, leg English slang speaks of a French jambe. The word girl's gams;

meant

first the leap or curvet of a horse; then, a leap in dancing or play; then, a frolic. Gambado (frequent in the 19th

century, after Scott's use in THE MONASTERY, 1820) had the same meanings, but from the 17th century was also used of leather leggings or, especially, of a boot attached to a saddle, to protect the rider's

from wet and cold. Gambol is used both noun and verb; gambade was revived by Scott as a noun only as a leap: QUENTIN DURWARD, 1823, Each fresh gamleg as

292

gammadion

garabee

bade of his unmanageable horse placed

him tude

in a

new and more precarious

of a prank:

Sout hey I wrote innocence as to

JOURNAL,

1825,

To

.

gammer. mother."

Gammer StilL

See

An

fylfot.

gammer,

to

idle,

tury thieves* slang,

to

Morris

go

flitch

patter (also meanin the stock any field) and ing phrases from what was often served with smoked

ham, gammon and spinach. Gammon is from Old Norman French gambon, ham, gambef leg; modern French jambon; cp. gambade. What a world of COPPERFIELD.

gammon and

says Miss Moucher in DAVID Heigh ho! says Anthony

gangling,

a

wooden four-legged wine-casks. Also

and

.

As

.

.

hostler wives should

MORTALITY (1816) shows the negation of this practice: The houseis neither so young nor so keeper . .

handsome

.

tempt a her to the gaun trees. gar.

Also in

gammon and

large barrels

a gantree do; Scott in OLD

:

the sense of nonsense, phrases were used

A for

upon

while a confederate

his Lordship.

with

gauntry. THE TEA-TABLE MISCELLANY (1724) edited by A. Ramsey, says: / paid him

used as an exclamation, as in Thackeray's THE ROSE AND THE RING (1855) "Gam-

spinnach

High

awkward person.

stand,

was used to mean to

man

(1870, association

gantry.

gammon, idle talk, chatter; nonsense, humbug. In this sense, the word is often

it isl

(Middle

THE JOLLY GUY MANNERING), (1815, THE EARTHLY PARADISE) .

by

lanky,

picks his pocket. By extension, to distract the victim's attention in any way; hence

such as

vagabond.

BEGGARS), Scott Also,

ham; the bottom of a

mon!" exclaimed

The noun

16th century; by Burns (1785,

of bacon, with the hind leg; a smoked ham. From pressing one's ham against the victim, to give gammon, in 18th cenpress against a

for

Spanish

gangeln, to walk about ~f the ending with depreciative connotations, as in mongrel, wastrel, etc.) Used from the

woman, a "grandold lusty English comedy is Gurton's Needle (1575) by J.

A

died.

German

gossiping about. See gaffer.

gammon.

A

gangrel.

old

to

he

execution.

A

Hence,

man might hang

before

ganch named the apparatus used for such

.

have given offence.

gammadion.

ganched days

gancho, Italian gancio, hook.

touching on ... his those gambades that may .

A

tusks.

several

atti-

To

as to

man

to follow

make What garres

do, to make; to cause, to

(someone) do (something) as

(##.) in Spenser's THE CALENDAR (1579; APRIL), A common word from the 13th century; later mainly Scotch and dialectal. Burns has: He in TAM o' SHANTER (1790)

thee

greetef

SHEPHERD'S

screw'd the pipes and gart them skirl; Scott in THE ANTIQUARY (1816) : Ye like to gar folk look like fools.

garabee.

A

17th century variant of gad-

which was a stronger term for gadfly, horse fly, that bites horses and cattle and makes them gad about. To have a gadin one's cap) is not the same as fly ( bee,

Rowley. ganch. To execute by impaling on stakes or hooks. The victim was raised by a pulNear ^ley, then let fall. Women in the

men were ganched. furca. The word was

East were drowned;

Also gaunch. Cp. also applied to a boar's gashing with

its

having a bee in one's bonnet, or a flea in one's ear; it means to be fond of gadding about. Thus Lyly in SAPPHO (1591)

293

:

My

mistresse,

I thinke, hath got a

gasconade

garboil

overwhelming cataract of her questions, which burst forth with the sublimity of a grand gardyloo. City boys on roof tops and drop fill bags with various liquids them streetward without the caveat of a

home, and yet none can where abroade. Gadfly is also used

gadfly; never at tell

figuratively

(1)

of

a person that gads

one that worries or torments when Irving says in THE SAL-

about; (2) of another, as

MAGUNDI PAPERS

(1808)

It

:

is

our mis-

fortune to be frequently pestered certain

critical

noisome

lust

that,

.

Browning

gad-flies.

ARTEMIS PROLOGIZES

.

.

gardyloo.

by

(1842) speaks of A as the gadbee stings,

The throat. Also gargaz, garget. gargarise, gargarism, a gargle; to echoic gargarize, gargrise, to gargle.

gargat.

Hence

An

Confusion, tumult; a brawl, a

hurlyburly. Also a verb, to agitate, disturb. The word is via Italian garbuglio; Latin bullire,

to boil.

common

A common

word

word, from the Greek. Hence also the

Also

for a

garboyle,

garbroyl, and the like. Stanyhurst began his translation (1582) of Virgil's AENEID (Arms and the man I sing) : Now manhod and

garbroyls I chaunt; Hood mocks this in his sixth SATIRE (1597) : Manhood and garboiles shall be chaunt with chaunged feete . . . // Jove speake English in a

thundring cloud, Thwick thwack, and rif raf, rores he out aloud. Fie on the forged mint that did create New coyne of words never articulate. Stanyhurst had said: Of ruffe raffe roaring,

agrysing.

mens

herts with terror

With peale meale ramping, with

thwick thwack sturdilye thundring. gardyloo.

Edinburgh,

A 1

warning cry 8th and

1 9th

(especially in be-

centuries)

fore throwing slops out of the window. From French gare de l'eaul>y error; the

would be gare I'eau, watch out for the water. Also garde loo, jordeloo. To make the gardyloo is to throw out the slops. Sterne used the word in A SENTIcorrect French

MENTAL JOURNEY (1768) Smollett, in HUMPHREY CLINKER (1771); Scott both literally (She had made the gardyloo out of the wrong window) in THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818) and figuratively: The ;

name

of Rabelais' large-gulleted voracious giant, Gargantua, used in various forms: gar-

condition in the 16th and 17th

centuries.

See carcan.

garganet.

Possessed his stepdame. garboil.

See gere; gore.

gare.

in

gantuan, enormous (in

size

and

especially

a gargantuism, an outlandish Chaucer in THE NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE

in appetite) idea.

;

(1386) tells that The fox stert up at oones, by the gargat hente Chaunteclere.

And

A

garlic.

lively jig;

danced in the 17th

century. This sense and the surviving sense are combined in the word-play of

R. Tailor's THE HOG HATH LOST HIS PEARLE Player: That shows your more (1614) :

sir. But, I pray you, is that small matter done I entrusted you for? Haddit: A small matter! You'll find it worth Meg

learning,

of Westminster, although it be but a bare lord! Sir, I wish it had but jig. Player:

O

half the taste of garlick. Haddit: Garlick stinks to this; if it prove that you have not

than e'er garlick had, say I am my own works; disgrace me on the open stage, and bob me off with

more

.

.

.

a boaster of

ne'er a penny. Garlic

Old English

(the vegetable)

gar, spear

+

leac, leek;

is

cp.

gere.

garnison.

See warison.

Extravagant boasting; a boastAlso gasconado, gasconnade. Gasconade was also used as a verb, to

gasconade. ful

tale.

boast,

294

to

tell

tall

tales

with oneself as

gavel

gast

A Gascon, from Gascony in southwestern France, was proverbially a boaster specimens of the species are exhibited hero.

spelling lasted into the 19th century in

in Rostand's CYRANO DE BERGERAC (1898; Cyrano lived 1619-1655) Smollett in a

with an intelligent air; She were a poor, friendless wench, says Mrs. Gaskell in SYLVIA'S LOVERS (186S) , but honest and gaumlike. (b) Gome, also

compounds:

.

song of 1771 wrote: A peacock in pride , in grimace a baboon, In courage a hind, in conceit a Gascoon. Hence gasconader, a braggart, boaster.

To

gast.

for fear.

was

also

terrified.

gastly, gastful;

rynnynge engyns

to

make

horribill

sownes

to gasten thyn enemys. Shakespeare in KING LEAR (1605) has: Or whether gasted by the noyse I made, Full sodainely he fled. In the second sense of the verb, we

read

in Wright's specimens of early LYRICAL POETRY: Whet helpeth the, my

lemmon, my lyf thus forte gaste? [What good does it do you, my sweet

suete

my

life

gastronome.

thus for to ruin?]

See

es-

(a) (Verb) pecially, to fondle or mishandle a female. R. Fletcher, translating (1656) the EPI-

CRAMS of Martial, said: Each lad took his lass by the fist and squeezed her and .

gaumed

.

.

To

smear

goam. (b) with a sticky substance. Also gome. Hence gaumy, daubed, smeary; sticky, (c) To stare vacantly, to gawk, to look like a fool. All these were alect (2)

use,

(Noun)

common, shading

17th (a)

gauntry.

See gantry.

gavel.

The word hammer

gavel, meaning first for leveling, then a

a mason's

presiding officer's mallet, was first used in the United States in the 19th century; its origin is unknown. Two earlier words had the same form. (1) From Early English

(Anglo-Saxon) until the 1 6th century, gavel meant first tribute, then rent To set to gavel was to rent out. This word was

Old English

An

on the to handle;

her. Also

See ganch.

gafol, related to giefan, to

especial kind of rent

(in Kent,

in Wales; from the 16th century, more widely) gave tenure in gavelkind; namely,

digastric.

(1)

gaunch.

give.

See aeromancy.

gastromancy.

gaum.

bridegome, wedding man, later corruped into bridegroom.

this sense also agast, surviving

gastness. As a noun, gast was also an early form of ghost. The translation (1422) of SECRETA SECRETORUM said: Thou shalte have many

mistress,

survived in poetic use into the 1 6th century, and was the original ending of

For gast, Also ghost, gaast. The form gast a noun, fright, and an adjective, In

lacking

stupid,

guma, gom, etc., a man. This was a common Teuton word, its root ghomon being related to Latin homo, hominis, man. It

terrify; also, to ruin.

as aghast;

gaumless,

sense; gaumlike,

into di-

tenant's death the land did not

to the eldest son,

among FACTS,

his

sons.

[Edwards,

AND PHRASES

gavelkind

is

hynd, give to kin,

go but was divided equally

and

(1912)

in

composed of Saxon all children.

Kynd

kindred*, also, via the

kindergarten.

Edwards

was

WORDS,

stated

that

grf ael

gives us

German, probably

wrong.] In Ireland, on an occupant's death, the land went back to the tribe and was redivided among the (sept)

19th century.

tribesmen; hence, gavel, a partition of

heed, attention, notice;

land amongst the sept In these various uses, gavel was also a verb. A legal action

into

the

understanding. More commonly gome (13th to 16th century); but the other

against a tenant for

295

Qn-payment of gavel

geek

gavelkind

probably from gafol

was called

gavelet, laetan, to let (hinder). (2)

From

+

zed-bo, the word

the 15th

into the 19th century, gavel was a pile of corn cut and lying, waiting to be bound

To lie on the unbound. The O.E.D.

into a sheaf. Also javelle.

gavel was to lie (1931) says the early

was heap; but note

may be a humorously formed imaginary Latin future "I shall see/' from gaze, but its earliest uses have Oriental allusions (1752: the elevation of a Chinese tower or gazebo) and it be a corruption of an eastern word.

Old French meaning

also English gavelock,

may The

term belvedere, with the same meaning as is from Italian belvedere, a beauti-

gazebo,

+

gavelot, javelot (French javelot) , a spear for casting, a javelin. The word gavelkind

ful sight; bel, bello, beautiful to see. Webster in THE DEVIL'S

has been used figuratively by many writers, since Donne's Sermon of 1627: For God shall impart to us all a mysterious gavel-

(1623) wrote: They build their palaces and belvederes With musical water-works; Harvey in a DIALOGUE (1755) in Sou they 's COMMONPLACE BOOK observed: Over this

kind, a mysterious equality of fulness of Carew (1639) and Fuller

glory to us all: (1661) , of God;

arose an open and airy belvidere. I miss the view from the gazebo friends of mine used to recess, so pleasingly horrid

(1838) and Lowell that is worth having books: All of (1869) in them, said the last, is the common

Hallam

See gavel.

Another delightful dish of 15th TWO COOKERY-BOOKES (1430) tells how: Take almaunde mylke and flowre of rys, and do therto sugre or hony f and powder gyngere; then take figys, and kerve them atof or roysonys [raisins] yhole, or harde wastel [q.v.] ydicyd and coloure

and

sette

England.

it it

with saunderys [sandalwood]

and

dresse

hem

yn. Sawnderys,

and enough more to its prove popularity: sandalwood was a frequent ingredient of dishes, listed from the early 14th century. We find mention in THE PILGRIMAGE OF PERFECTION (1526) sanders, saundres,

of a precyous tree: whereof the stock is the barke synamon, and the

saundres,

nutmygges or maces. dream!

fruit

A

A

true chefs

turret or lantern on a housegazebo* a raised room overlooking or hence, top; in a garden; a belvedere. Pronounced ga~

.

uncommon;

produced) rare, scarce, hence rare, unusual, ex-

traordinary.

A common

(scantily

word

(gesne,

gayson, gesen, etc.), 10th into the 17th century. Cp. peason. Also used as a noun a rarity. Udall in his (16th century)

gaylede.

century

.

Barren, unproductive; by trans-

geason. ference

See gavel.

gavelock.

.

enjoy in Hillcrest Park.

property of the soul an estate in gavelkind for all the sons of Adam. gavelkind.

vedere, CASE

LAW

:

paraphrase of Erasmus (1548) spoke of precious stones that are gayson to be found. That charming song of 1584, Fain would I have a pretie thing To give unto

Some goe here wheare gazes be not geason, And I goe gaping everywhere But still come out of season. A legended shield was described, in a verse to Bossewell's ARMORIE The siege of (1572)

my

ladie, has

and some go

a stanza:

there,

:

Thebes, the golde, full

fall of

Troy, in beaten massie set out at large,

dan Vulcan hath

geazon

to beholde.

A

geek. simpleton, a dupe; an expression or gesture of derision or contempt. To get a geek, to be tricked; to give one

the geek, to mock or to trick one; to geek to mock or scoff at. The verb geek

at,

means

296

to

mock;

to

trick,

to

cheat,

but

gemini

gelasin

head as in up the head. Shakespeare also to toss the

(gecke)

in CYMBELINE, also in

noun TWELFTH

when Malvolio

protests:

NIGHT

(1601),

Why

have you

prison' d

scorn; to geek

.

.

suffered

And made

.

me

to

A

the

with

bole,

gimble,

gimbald; gimmall,

or

smiling.

other

two-part

fastening, as a

joint

hook and

or device

two

rings;

also gemel-ring, gemowe-ring,

gimmal-ring. Greene in MENAPHON (1589) declared: Twas a good world when a .

ring of rush would

gether as a

friendly pill, he said (WORKS; causes all complexions to laugh or

My

.

all discovered

"A whyte

gelatia.

John de of

by myself.

RERUM, "shapen

and

it is

as

.

.

much

of gold

love to-

each lover

set like

clocks, still to strike on, Else ne'er

precyous stone," said

DE PROPRIETATIBUS an heyll [hail] stone:

so calde that

it

gimmick. gemelHparous. Bearing twins. Accent on the lip. Latin gemellus, twin 4- parere,

never hetith wyth

fyre." Also gelacia. Probably from a fusion of Latin gelare, to freeze and chalazias,

Greek chalassa, hail. The gelatia mired into the 17th century; no samples of it seem to be in rings or necklaces

could

they hold out so as they do. Gimmors, in this use, is close to the mid-20th century

Trevisa, in his translation (1398)

Bartholomeus'

glmmon

as

gimmors or device Their arms are

See gelasin.

gelastic.

tie

wore one circlet Shakespeare uses the word of a two-part driving mechanism in clockwork, when the French Reignier describes the fighting English in HENRY vi, PART ONE (1591): I think by some odd

which it effects by dilating and expanding the gelastic muscles, first of .

especially

eye;

15th and the 16th century) a fingerring that could be divided and worn as

laughter. Both, naturally, are pronounced with a soft g. T. Brown had a prescrip-

.

for

(late

in the middle the pleasant gelasin. Also gelastic, risible, causing or related to

1704) smile

girnal,

double door; a two-part harmony; a hinge

that

translation (1612) of Charron's WISDOMS, spoke of the cheeks somewhat rising, and

tion:

had other

gymell, gemoll, gymmal, gimmel all with the same variations of meaning. These included: a pair of anything, such as a

Greek gelasinos; gelan, to laugh. Sampson Lennard in his

comes

(Old French also

gemow; gewmew, gymmeWj jemowe, and more; likewise gimball, gim-

be im-

cheek

Gemew

forms:

the most notorious

in

dimple

gemini.

gemeau; French jumeau)

gecke and gull That ere invention played onf gelasin.

see

lish;

uses the

to bring forth. Cp.

gemeL

was ad-

today.

geloscopy.

gemeL twins.

See gemeL

gemini. In addition to the constellation Castor and Pollux (Latin gemini, twins;

form also gemyni, this cp. gemel) gemony, jeminy, geminies, jimminy, and

See aeromancy.

Twin; in the plural, gemels, Used from the 14th to the 18th

century, in various forms: gemell} gemmal, also

gemew.

gemew, gimbal, gemoll, gemmell; gimmal, gimmer. Via French from Latin gemellus, diminutive of geminus, twin the plural of which was also used in Eng~

more

has meant a couple or pair; esa pair of eyes. Shakespeare in

pecially,

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) says: Else you had look'd through the grate, like a geminy of baboones; Quarles in (1635) : He that daily spies babies in his mistress* geminis* To

EMBLEMES

Twin

297

genethliacs

gerfalcon

play the gemini, to behave like Castor and Pollux, who could never both be in the

same place; i.e., to never be where the one looking for you is. Also By Gemini!, Oh jiminy!, a mild exclamation o surprise

or displeasure this is perhaps a for Jesu domine, Jesus our

euphemism Lord.

The

geniculation.

act of kneeling; genibend at, or like, the

culate, to kneel, to

Latin geniculum, diminutive of knee. Used in the 17th century; genu, genuflection, genuflexion, introduced a knee.

century earlier, proved a hardier term, but implies a bending in worship.

having the qualities ex-

Noble;

gent.

of

pected

of high birth,

those

courteous,

(of

ladies)

gentle,

graceful.

From

Latin gentium, past participle of gignere, to beget. From meaning born, the Latin gentutn came to mean born of Roman blood; then well-born; hence, noble in conduct. Villiers, in THE REHEARSAL (1672) of

speaks Spenser,

man

a

modest, so gent. uses the word 14 times in

who

so

THE FAERIE QUEENE example,

(1590) there says, for loved, as was his lot, a lady

He

The form

gent was supplanted by from French gentil, and by genteel, gentle, re-adopted from gen til in the late 16th

gent.

century.

A

variant form of gentleness, gentylnes. which in the 16th century was used to

mean

kindness,

generosity.

HUNDRED MERRY TALES (1526) of the

went

man who

married a

to great pains to

Among IS

the

the StOiy

dumb

a play of

it.

There

woman who was

tries

borrow one from her neighbors, but is (rather naturally) rebuffed; thereupon she determines to arrange to have one of her own, from her husband. The story has a moral: It is more wysdome for a man to trust more to his owne store than neyghbours gentylnes.

geomancy. Also gemensye. See aeromancy. In China, geomancy flourished under the

Liang Dynasty (502-566 A.D.) along with the introduction of kites and fire,

crackers.

A sudden fit of passion, a (1) whim; a wild, changeful mood. By 1600 gere was replaced by gare, with the same

gere.

meaning; gare lasted a century. Garebrained, heedless, with swift-changing moods. Chaucer used gere several times, as in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) Into a :

study he

fell

suddenly,

as

doon

these

lovers in their queynte geres. Also gery, gerful, capricious, in the same tale: Right as the Friday, soothly for to telle, now it shyneth, now it rayneth faste, Right so can gery Venus overcaste The hertes of her folk; right as her day Is gerful, right

so changeth she array. (Friday is the day of Venus; Freya for whom Friday is named is the Scandinavian goddess of love.) Love indeed is gery! (2) gere, gaer, more commonly gare, earlier gar, a spear, a javelin; used from BEOWULF into the

13th century

in the 14th century misused

for a sword. Surviving in the garfish the pungent garlick, the spear leek.

and

wife,

A

have her cured,

then found her so unendingly talkative that he had himself made deaf. Rabelais refers to this story;

her pigs could be charmed away

to

to his

See aeromancy.

genethliacs.

afflicting

with the use of a cuckold's hat. She

gerfalcon. large falcon, such as was used to hunt herons. Cp. tercel. Various

Anatole France made

suggestions have been made as to the source of the first syllable; in 1188

also the story of a that the disease

Giraldus Cambrensis suggested that it was from gyrare, to gyrate, from the circling

is

told

298

german

gerocomy

Greek hieros, sacred, been suggested; most likely source

of the bird in air.

has also

cried: Out,

(1608) you gernative queane! Girn also meant to ensnare, to catch in a girn, a noose or trap; it was so used in

is Old High German gir, vulture; gin, greedy. The word has been used in English since the 14th century, with many

the 14th century (replaced in England by but girn survived in Scotland into

gin;

mentions of a milk white gerfauk. Norton his

in

translation

(1891)

of

the 19th century) . Gin was short for Old French engin, engine, used in English

Dante's

INFERNO spoke of Caesar in armor, with

since the 12th century.

his gerfalcon eyes.

meant

skill,

trick,

was

At

first

an

then,

gin

(q.v.)

artifice,

a product of cleverness; a device, an instrument. Then

instance

german. Full; closely akin. Said of children of brothers and sisters, as sistergerman, first cousin; loosely used of other kinship, as in Shakespeare's TIMON OF ATHENS (1607) Wert thou a leopard,

artifice;

or

specifically

applied

to

various

an a it

in-

struments: a snare, a trap, for game; a device for torture, as the rack; a crane,

:

for lifting weights; a weapon, for casting stones; a bolt or bar to fasten a door.

thou wert germane to the lion. Also germain, germeyn, germayne, germane, jarman, jermaine, and the like. Latin ger-

manus

f

minem,

Hence,

in the same sense; germen, gersprig, sprout, bud; also used in

English to

to

know

the gin, to

know how

to

open something, or how to get in. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) says Typhoeus joynts were stretched on a gin. Typhoeus may well have been gerning.

mean germ; by Shakespeare

in MACBETH, and in KING LEAR: And thou all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thicke rotundity o' th' world, Crack

first,

natures moulds, all germaines spill at once

That makes

german in HAMLET The phrase would be more germaine to the matter, If we could carry cannon by our sides uses

in the sense of closely connected, pertinent, relevant; this sense has continued, usually with the spelling germane.

gerning.

A variant form of girning:

grin-

In Marston's THE grumbling. SCOURGE OF VTLLAINEE (SATIRE TEN; 1599) ning;

we

read:

But roome

for Tuscus, that jest-

Who

nere did ope his monging youth, to retails and But mouth apish gerning broke anothers wit Broke is to trade in it; it survives in the noun broker. Note that girn means to grin; but also, to show the teeth (as in anger)

,

Hence

to snarl; to com-

gernative, relatplain constantly. to to or addicted complaining; Miding dleton in A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE

The

of the aged.

A word already existing when

science of the treatment

gerontology (not in the 1931 O.E.D. nor the 1953 WEBSTER) was coined for the

man. Shakespeare

ingratefull

gerocomy.

same purpose. Greek geras, old -f komia, tending. It would be flattery to suggest that the new word was devised because the old had an unfortunate adjective gerocomical: It is my earnest desire, said J. Smith in his 1666 treatise on OLD AGE,

would study the gerocomimore than they do. The form gerocomian would serve just as well. Bailey in 1751 gives the form gerontocomy (accent on the toe) for the noun; he also lists gerontocomium, an old-folks* home. Note also gerontarchy, gerontocthat physicians

cal part of physick

government by the old. Plants (and sometimes persons) native to "the old world" (the eastern hemisphere) have racy,

been called gerontogenous (accent on the third syllable, todj). May your years be gerocomical!

299

gerontology

gibbet

four-handled cup in the Museum at Salisbury (England) that bears the date 1692

See gero corny.

gerontology. gery.

See gere.

gest.

This word, very

and the

common from

the

14th century into the 19th, occurred in

inscription: Here is the gest of the barly korne, Glad ham I the did is born.

Middle English mainly in the plural, meaning deeds, gests, gestes, from Latin

gesture.

gesta, exploits, gerere,

gestum, to perform. Spenser in MOTHER HUBBERD'S TALE (1591)

gib.

speaks of the fond ape

a pet name of Gilbert. To play fy gib, to look or speak threateningly (as To play though scolding Fie! a cat)

.

.

.

Gib

into whose

Never crept thought

of honor, nor Hence, a story or romance; the English gest, the French gest, metrical

brest

brave

gest.

chronicles of England, of France; hence, in gest, in verse, like the metrical ro-

movement

when Garth

of one's limbs,

in his translation

METAMORPHOSES

Ovid's

says:

as

of

(1717)

The

bold

. Their motion mimics, but buffoon with gests obscene. In this sense, the word .

.

has been supplanted (gradually, 16th and 17th centuries) by gesture. There is another gest (earlier gist,

git,

lie;

see

gist,

gist)

male

especially a

cat,

cat.

is

.

be quarrelsome; hence gib was used as a term of reproach for an old woman; Drayton in HEROIC the gib (of a

woman)

,

to

A

was supplanted in the 16th century by the form jest. By another path, from the same Latin gerere, gestum, to act, to perform, gest was used to mean one's carit

the

A

(1)

gest.

EPISTLES (1598) piles it on: Beldam, gib, witch, nightmare, trot. Also your gibship, in scorn of a woman. gib-cat, gib bed-

mances. Later, gest came to mean an idle tale; then a satirical remark; in this sense,

riage,

See

from Old French which meant a

stopping place, a lodging; then especially the stops or stages of a journey, of a royal

cat,

also

a gelded male

(2) The form gib meant hump used

cat.

(Latin gibba)

from the 15th century; hence gibbous, protruberant; gibbose; gibbousness, gibAlso (16th century) gib, a (3) bosity.

hook; gib by or gib by-stick, gib-stick, gibbey, a stick with a hooked or curved handle; also a candy in that shape, like a peppermint cane. 'Sblood, says Falstaff in

Shakespeare's

(1597)

,

am

I

as

HENRY

iv,

PART

ONE

melancholy as a gib-cat.

In HAMLET, the Prince, bitterly taunting his mother, alludes to the King in several ways: For who that's but a Queen, fair, sober, wise,

Would from

a paddock,

from

a stop progress; then the time allotted for on the journey. In the last sense we see

a bat, a gib, Such dear concernings hidef

word in Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S I'll give him my commission To let him there a month behind the gest

gibbet. hanging-post, gallows. In later use the two were distinguished, the gal-

Prefixed for*s parting. Gest is also a verb. In the expression gested and done it

crosspiece; the gibbet, of

means performed;

hanging.

the

TALE (1611)

sing

or

gester)

.

:

tell

Thus

there

its

usual sense

is

is

to

a

professional the protest in THE

(like

lows consisting of two uprights and a

an upright post with projecting arm. Hence, gibbetation, to

hang

tempt;

To

gibbet, to kill by hanging;so as to hold up to public con-

to

hold in infamous notoriety.

letter.

The

Thus Goldsmith in A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD (1762) tells of a man that un-

of drinking are quite evident

on a

knowingly gibbeted himself into infamy,

PARSON'S TALE

not geeste, effects

tales

A

(1586)

of Chaucer: 7

Rum, Ram, Ruf

by

kan

300

gibbose

gilder

when he might have into

tired

otherwise quietly reWickedness, says

member

Burke in THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1790) walks abroad;

continues

it

its

narrow-minded, conventional class. This was not

of the middle

a nobleman, said Carlyle (MISCELLANY, 1830), or gentleman, or gigman, but simply a man! Carlyle, who coined the

ravages,

you are gibbeting the carcass, or demolishing the tomb.

whilst

word, explained (of Thurtell)

See gib.

gibbose.

A

gigman.

oblivion.

'respectable?"

See

gig.

it

by quoting from a

trial

"What do you mean by "He always kept a gig."

:

[This gig is not *a romping girl/ but 'a light two-wheeled one-horse carriage. ]

fizgig.

1

gigant. The early form of giant, 10th into the 17th century. Via Latin gigantem, from Greek gigas, giganto-. This form of

Greek word survives in

Hence, the gigmania of the times; gigmanism, the typical middle-class attitude; gigmanity, the group that manifests this attitude. Mrs. Grundy was a gigwoman.

which was preceded in English by gigantean and gigantal; thus Urquhart in his translathe

gigantic,

drew himself

the

against

veal)

The war

gods.

Also

of

HIS

gigas,

Grumbledories

the giants

said

gigantomachia;

See gigot.

giglot.

A

dissolute

influence of the

word

the forms giglet, gigglet,

giggle developed

and softened the

meaning (18th and 19th centuries) to a laughing, romping girl. Cp fizgig. Thus Shakespeare cries, in MEASURE FOR MEASURE

leg-of-mutton also

gigget,

it,

roast

baste

it,

it

well, dish

up your

gigour.

A

meant

(15th

lascivious.

through

17th

century)

jigget.

M.

with butter, and save

gigget,

musician.

and pour on

Among

the

many

The word gigour occurs in the 13th century GESTE OF KING HORN: Hi sede hi

ment.

weren harpurs,

And sume

mals and birds. Also

but gigly

the

meanings of gig, gige, was a noise; also, apparently, a high-pitched musical instru-

gilder.

to giggle,

jigotte,

From

your sauce.

ATURE for 1885 we

Hence giggly means prone

sleeve.

THE CRUISE OF THE MIDGE (1834) that a good practical sermon should

(1603) : Away with those giglets, whereas in Chambers* JOURNAL OF POPULAR LITER-

teens?

mutton or

the gravy, and put thereto some claret wine, with a handful of capers; season it with ginger and sugar? when it is boiled

.

find the query: Why should female clerks in the postal service consist of pert giglets hardly out of their

(of

your gigget with cloves and rosemary, lard

wanton woman; rarely, also, a man. Shakespeare in HENRY iv,

PART ONE says: Young Talbot was not born To be the pillage of a giglot wench. The

haunch

a minced meat or sausage.

be like a jigot o' mutton, short in the shank and pithy and nutritious. A 1676 recipe for roast gigget of mutton: Take

the goggle-eyed (1599): would ha' gigantomackiz'd.

gigget.

leg or

slice;

Scott in

giganto-,

HUMOUR

a

French;

giant + mache, battle. Gigantomachize, to rebel as did the giants; thus Jonson in EVERY MAN OUT OF

Greek

a

;

Also,

to the place of the flaggons*

gigantomachy.

A

gigot.

tion (1653) of Rabelais says: This gigantal victory being ended, Pantagruel with-

A

were gigours.

snare, especially for small anigildire, gylder, giller,

Hampole, in the PSALTER said: Godis luv and Godis word kepe him fra the gildire of the

gildard, gtldert.

of 1340, .

.

.

sail

A 19th century gtldert, for catching birds on snow, was a slip noose of devele.

301

girandola

gilenyer

horsehair tied to a line. Bread tempted the birds through the loops, which en-

tangled their legs as they rose to fly off. Gilder was also a verb, to ensnare, as in

CURSOR MUNDI (1300)

:

Now

is

man

gildred

His awn sin has made him

in ivels all; thrall.

the

gillofers,

and

gimble.

See gemel.

gillofers,

Aphrican

See gemel Other early editions

giramor. of

turkie

also the sops-in-wine, q.v.

HENRY

vi

have gimmals, gimmers, gim-

malls.

A cheat,

a swindler. Old French

Gilain,

a

gilenyer.

Ghillain,

pseudo-name for a

gin.

Skill,

ingenuity;

cunning;

artifice.

Quaint of gin, clever in planning; deftly

swindler, related to guile, wile, wily. Also

contrived.

gileynour, golinger. Used in the 18th century, mainly in Scotland, Also gilenyie, a

clever device or stratagem; especially, a spring or other trap for catching game.

device, a trick.

There

a Scotch proverb

is

(mid-1 8th century) : The greedy man and the gielainger are well met. Robert of Gloucester's CHRONICLE (13th century) has

,

gillofers,

gileyspeke ( guilty or guily talk?) ing a cunning trick. gileyspeke*

See gilenyer.

our current use of words

,

mean-

of

gilliflower.

A flower scented like

a clove,

Old French

girofle,

gilofre, clove; via

Latin from Greek karyo-

phyllon; karyon, nut clove-tree. It

+

phyllon,

leaf,

was a most popular

know how to do something, usually and 17th centuries) with dishonest purpose. Gin is shortened from French engin, engine. Cp. gerning; for an instance its use,

gipon.

gillyflower, gelofer, gyllofyr, gilliver

f

jil-

liver, geraftoure, Julyflower, gillowflower,

References to

MENAPHON

jillyflowers

smell

abound in the poetry of and 17th centuries. Greene

it

the 15th, 16th,

in

(1589) said:

upon

The word

He

that grafteth

the nettle, marreth the was also applied to a

woman: (1797) *g*7/n;er,alight-heerddame'; (1855) 'A jilliver, a wanton woman in the last stage

or the

A

See smotherlich.

A

A

of her good looks. July flower, rose in summer/ There were

last

several sorts of gillofer distinguished by Lyte in Ms translation (1578) of Dodoens'

NIEWE HERBALL, among them the feathered

pouch or

girdle.

gipser al of silk

Planche*'s

(1834)

judging by the multiplicity of forms of the name, which include gilver, gillifloure,

see woodcock.

purse, usually hung Also gypcyere, gypsire, gipdere and the like. Chaucer, in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386):

the

flower,

the

(1 6th

from the

especially the pink.

To know

gin, to

gileyspeke.

See jill

a

A

gipser.

gill.

instance of ingenuity,

device for torture; a fetter.

of

Too much is

An

HISTORY

lists

A

Heeng

at his girdel

OF BRITISH COSTUME

gypsire of purple velvet

garnished with gold.

A

girandola. revolving wheel from which rockets are fired for holiday, or jets of

water spurt; a series of jets in an ornamental fountain. Via Italian, from Greek gyros, circle, whence gyrate. Also gyron-

Used from the 17th century. By way came the alternate form girandole (girondel, gironell) which later dedola.

of French

veloped two other meanings: (1) (From the 18th century) a branched candlestick, especially as a bracket on a wall; (2)

an earring or pendant; one with a large stone sur-

(19th century) especially,

rounded by smaller

ones.

THE MORNING

STAR (29 June, 1868) reported a fireworks 502

gM

givale

wound up with a

show: The whole

O.ED.

giran-

dole of two thousand rockets.

had many

See gride.

gird.

place for the girdle, i.e., from the 14th century;

And

smalish

the

in

A A

gist.

gathering of

it

laugh-

girleen

girls, girls collec-

matter,

girl

had become

to whirl, girl, to thrill, is

to

gesir en, to lie in, to desense of a place to stop

The

ment. Another sense (short for

agist, q.v.)

meant

is

pasturing, or the right to pasture cattle; to gist was to take in or put out

to

be giddy. Girlie

a term of endearment for a

from

refreshing) was applied to the halting-places of migratory birds. By extension gist was used to mean refresh-

restricted to the

feminine kind. The origin of the word unknown, but there is a Scotch verb,

from

is

pend upon.) (for rest and

(Irish),

was used for a child of either then knave girl was used to mean boy;

by 1550

gist, git,

Latin jacere, iacere, to lie. (The current sense, as in the gist of the

tury, girl

sex;

See gest. Gist had several meanings;

comes from Old French

gesir, to lie;

a young girl. Note that from the 13th to the 15th centively.

guisarme, gyssarn,

with a hard g, not

gisarines.

:

girlery.

e.g.,

(all

; Kingsley in THE WATER BABIES (1863), by whose time it was an antique, speaks of a whole cutler's shop of lances, halberts,

girdilstede.

Which

The word

j)

Swinburne extends it to the lap, in TRISTRAM OF LYONESSE (1882) There fell a flower into her girdlestead ing she shook out.

long straight

sides.

from the 13th into

spellings,

giserne, gysyryne

Chaucer in THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE has: Hise shuldris of a large (1366) brede,

says it has a

the 16th century,

The

girdlestead. the waist. Used

(1931)

blade sharpened on both

cattle to pasture (at

little girl,

the gist of

but a girling is a young fish (salmon) Meredith says of a character in ONE OF

a price)

.

And

that

is

it.

.

OUR CONQUERORS

(1891)

:

The

sugary crudity has given way to suavity. Yet

it's

pleasant to

silly

girly

womanly

gis.

in

mad

Ophelia's song in Shakespeare's By gis and by Saint :

Charity, Alack, and fie for men will do'tf if they come to't;

shame! Young

they are to blame. is

By

cock,

Note that By cock here

another euphemism, replacing By God with one of the bard's bawdy puns.

A

guiterne;

git-

terner.

A euphemism; also jysse, jis, Used in mild exclamations, as

(1602)

guthorne,

TALITY (1816). Hence, to gittem; a

givale.

Jesus.

HAMLET

gyterne,

guiterre,

See girandola.

gisse, gys.

getron,

whence guitar. Also cithern, q.v. Used from the 14th to the 17th century; revived (the word) by Scott in OLD MOR-

watch the ways

See gerning.

girondel.

A

musical instrument, like the guitar, strung with wire. Also ghittern,

of growing girlery. girn.

gittern.

weapon, a spear, says Bailey gisarme. two points or pikes; the with (1751)

An

annual

feast,

free,

given in

certain parishes (especially in Kent, up to the 17th century) with money be-

queathed for the purpose. Also gifeale, yevall, yeovale, gevall

A

gzw-flfe,

will re-

corded in the 16th century makes fair provision: Alsoe I will that specially my feoffees

of St. James the wedding ale.

SOS

see that the yeovale be kept for ever. Note that feast, the bridal, is bride -f

and executors

glaze

givel givel.

To

heap. Related to gavel,

viscid, slimy.

q.v.

HAVELOK THE DANE (1300) had: He cast a panier on his bac, With fish giveled as

MAN'S TALE

and

chalk,

a stac. glaive.

A wench;

gixy. gig,

as

q.v.,

a lively

trick,

lass.

tricksy;

Coined

Chaucer in THE CANON YEO-

(1386) lists unslakked lime, the gleyre of an ey [egg].

A

sword.

after

bill;

sword.

then,

gleve, glayve, glave.

into a very

(A

profound suspition that his new-married gixy was unfaithful to him. In a dream the devil came to Hans and gave him a ring: as long as he wore this, he would know when his wife was unfaithful. "Hans woke, and his hand was ruefully

And

(French

bill

Also

gleyve,

gleave,

a swordsman.

Also,

was a blade fastened

to

a long

handle.) Also, a lance set up as the finishpost in a race, taken as a prize by the winner; hence, a prize. Coverdale in CER-

TAIN MOST GODLY LETTERS ford (1555)

ye runne

then Hans

knew His dream was

Latin

and English) meaning was lance; then,

Nan, Nancy,

etc Urquhart in his translation (1693) of Rabelais noted that Hans Carvel entred

pressed In passion's nest

from

Perhaps

gladius, sword; but the earliest

:

at,

.

.

.

quotes Brad-

Cast your eies on the gleve or els ye wil loose the game.

Naturally Scott revived the word, in IVANHOE (1820) Lowell in a poem of 1869

true."

.

Originally a flash of light, that dazzled; hence, a deception (usually in the plural); to give one the glaiks, to

Of memoried

glaik.

the glaived tyrant

speaks

glamoury.

swindle; to get the glaiks, to be cheated. The verb, to glaik, meant to dazzle; to

and

long-

priest.

See gramarye.

wanton or giddy

glaucous. Of a pale green passing into greyish blue. Greek glaukos, sea-color. Shelley in PROMETHEUS UNBOUND (1820)

(from Henryson, 1450, through Burns, as in TO THE UNCO

has Panthea say Ere-while I slept Under the glaucous caverns of old Ocean. Also

gaze wantonly or idly; to deceive, trick; to

Glaikery,

pervert.

In Scotland

conduct.

GUH>, 1786)

glaikit

meant

glaucy, mainly in poetry, as in Barnes' madrigal in PARTHENOPHIL (1593) : Sleep Phoebus still, in glaucy Thetis9 lap. The

foolish, flighty,

of

different

Although probably was used (both as noun and verb) in almost the same senses as glaik: a jibe; to give one the gleek, to mock,

giddy.

origin, gleek

color of olive-tree foliage,

from the

16th into

Shakespeare,

DREAM

gleeke Qibe] is

in

(1590) has

used to

the

century. NIGHT'S

A MIDSUMMER Bottom say: Nay, I can

occasion. Rarely, gleek a coquettish glance, as in

upon

mean

Jonson's CYNTHIA'S REVELS glances,

19th

glickes,

cringes,

(1599)

and

all

:

to

flatter.

Also

glavir;

cp.

To

glaver on was to lavish blandishments on. Hence glavery, flattery. Jon-

son in THE POETASTER (1601) says: Give him warning, admonition, to forsake his saucy glavering grace. glaze.

To

stare.

So

first

used by Shake-

speare, in JULIUS CAESAR (1601) : Against the Capitoll I met a lyon Who glaz'd upon

simpering humours.

The white (of an egg) ; hence, any similar substance. Hence, glaireous, glairy, glair.

deceitfully,

glother.

Coy such

eyes.

glaver. Used in the 14th century as a noun, meaning chatter; then and into the 18th century as a verb, meaning to talk

make

sport of, play a trick upon. (Gleek was also a game at cards 3 persons dealt 12 cards each, with 8 held as a 'stock*

and keen

me, and went surly

by.

Jesperson in his

searching study of LANGUAGE (1922)

504

sug-

glebe

glee

gests that glaze is here a blending of gaze and glare. Lewis Carroll's "portmanteau

gledy, glowing hot, as in the Prologue to

Chaucer's THE LEGEND OF GOOD

words" in ALICE are well known; Jesperson lists such telescoping as a regular

(1385)

lunch.

-f

fast

other words, such as flush, flash

in 4-

glee.

+

(slim) glide; twirl, twist is

tender;

+

whirl.

slide,

The

many

modern

glass.

all

Despite

+

i.e.,

looked

The

glebe.

soil;

glassily,

(1755) notes: "It is not used, except in ludicrous writing, or with some mixture of irony and con-

word

upon him.

cultivated land;

espe-

land assigned to a clergyman as part of his benefice. A very common word, 14th to 18th century; thereafter mainly

cially,

used poetically. Sometimes used to mean a clod, or a small lump (this was the Latin also

figura-

Iscariot, for

a gleib

sense:

gleba, glaeba, clod)

tively

(1583)

Judas

:

his

;

but even

now

makes it possible that Shakespeare meant the word in the original sense: the lyon glazed,

from the 8th

current sense of de-

his DICTIONARY

the context

which,

senses,

word died out during the 16th and 17th centuries. Johnson in

was used again in the 19th century (as by Peter Pindar) and is preserved in dialect.

its

in this sense the

other glaze

Shakespeare's

many

light, lively joy, as early as 1250,

a variant of Middle English glasen,

glas,

in

century. It took

blush',

slip

WOMEN

with so gledy

As a noun. This word has been

common,

good-bye, good-night + godbye (God be by ye) ; knoll, knell + toll; slender, slight

me

desire.

process in the development of language. It is obvious in slang, brunch for breakIt has occurred

Constreyned

:

tempt." In the 18th century, the sense of lively joy

tinued.

was revived, and

The

it

has con-

earliest uses of the

word, in

Old and Middle

English, were mainly obsolete uses of glee in-

poetic. The now clude: (1) Entertainment, sport;

making

sport of one, mockery. To have glee, to make sport; to make one's glee on (of) , to make sport of. (2) Musical entertain-

ment, playing; music; a musical instrument; especially, a musical composition for three or more voices, (strictly, without accompaniment). (3) Mirth, rejoic(originally, a stronger feeling than

ing

in present use)

Master.

.

There glads him no

glee,

Glebose, glebulent, glebous, abounding in clods; clod-like. Gleby soil, however, is rich,

pleasure. To make a nothing gives person good glee, to welcome him heartily. Hence glee, a state of exaltation or pros-

fertile soil.

perity; a person who brings one joy (1610): Thou art my glee. Hence also, bright

of

geir,

glede.

betrayed

The

bird

the

kite.

him

From Old

Teutonic glid, to glide. Also gled, glead, gleed. Note that gleed, however (also spelled glede), lated to glow)

is

a different word

meaning a

live coal,

(re-

an

ember; sometimes a fire; hence also, a beam of light This word was often used in the Profiguratively, as by Chaucer TALE REEVE'S THE to (1386): Four logue gleedes

han we which I

shall

Avaunting, liyng, anger, covetise ing,

lying.

.

.

,

coveting)

.

devise:

(boastHence also

color, beauty; a frequent 1 6th century phrase was gold and glee; Spenser's THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) has: Not for gold nor glee will I abide by you. Glee-beam, a harp (poetical) ; glee-craft, minstrelsy;

professional entertainer, a glee-dream, the pleasure of minstrelsy. Scott in THE LADY OF THE LAKE

gleeman,

a

minstrel;

(1810)

has:

Thou

hast

now glee-maiden

and harp. As a verb. There to

305

make merry,

is

a verb

glee,

to gladden; but the proper

glyptic

gleed

form of the verb

glew, which was very

Is

school was the Master

the

of'Glomery

common, 9th Into Mill century, meaning to make merry; to play musk; to enter-

a pupil was (Latin Magister Glotneriae); a glomereL The words are (like glamour)

From a different source, to glee, also to gledg^, to glegj to squint, to look at with one eye (as when taking aim) ; to

corruptions of grammar; see gramarye.

tain.

have a cast in one eye.

Which

is

no cause

See glede.

gleek.

See glaik. In Gower's words to

Pistol, in

/

Shakespeare's HENRY v (1599)

you gleeking and galling

have

th

there

gentleman

is

at

a forward-look-

ing pun, because the gentleman, Fluellen, soon force Pistol to taste of the leek

will

he was leering

at,

the card

of

Gteek was also used, in to mean a set o

three court cards of the same rank held

one hand; by extension, any trio, set of three. Cp* mournivaL Thus THE BRITISH APOLLO (1710) Irreverently alluded to the three fairest Greek goddesses, come to Mount Ida and the Trojan prince, conin

testing the golden apple, prize of beauty: with his of wagtails on Ida.

Like

See glee.

To or rounded

:

a heaping together; a cluster the has supplanted

and (more widely used) De Quincey in CASUISTRY

by

An early

gloterie.

scornfully of the

To flatter; to cajole. Cp. gUver, with the same meaning. Gloze also meant glother.

and

iattery

to

flatter;

Greek

glossa,

tongue; also gloss. Both gloss and gloze tongue; (following the Greek senses:

came

foreign tongue; explanation) to

mean

to

make a marginal

note,

also ex-

current) to gloss over. Glother was used until the 16th cen-

planation;

when

also

(still

came into use, supplantto some extent gloze, and ing glother which was first used in the 14th. What tury;

today

is

gloss

called 'double-talk'

the use of

incomprehensible polysyllables, or meaningless combinations of apparently meaningful sound was in the 19th century

gloze.

See glother.

gluteaL

Relating to the buttocks. Also

glutacal,

glutean.

The

buttock

is

(Latin) the early to l&th cemtory}

school, universi.

The

of

(glutaeus)

m&ximn$f medius^ and minimus. glyptic.

Relating to engraving, especially

on precious

Greek glyphein, to whence hieroglyphics,

stones.

engrave,

A

glyptidan

(19th cen-

was a lapidary; The famous Kohimoor* aid THK TIMES OF 20 July, 1883, recut by a great Dutch glyptidan after it came into the possession of the tury)

The

Greek gloutos> rump. composed of three power-

ful glutei muscles: the glutens

sacred carvings.

{Kth

(13th century) variant

of gluttony.

carve,

of

ties

(he assures

called glossolalia, *the gift of tongues/

gather Into a ball a ball, Latin a ball (as of

of

friend Harry

is

glossolalipop.

roll or

yarn), used figuratively in Browne's REThere is thenf or^ a (1645) or bottom of our Gfom* is

My

knows a woman who

me) a

gleecL

See glother.

glossolalia.

Starr

for glee.

See prick.

gloosing.

M6.

gnathonical

Queen. Sir Of

S.

gobbet

AND MERLIN (1330) we read: Herbes he And gnidded them.

Ferguson in his study (1887) Said One HlUSt

THE OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS

sought and fond

be prepared to recognize familiar forms, gnoff.

though in glyptical masquerade. gnathonical. parasite in the play THE EUNUCH, by Terence, Is

The country

A

Hob, Dick, and Hick, with clubs, and clouted shoon.

and into the 18th century gnathoes and was a fairly frequent phrase. Urquhart In THE DISCOVERY OF A MOST EXQUISITE JEWEL (1652) thinks no better of

gnome.

gnooffes

A member

(1)

of

one of the

four groups of spirits that (supposedly) inhabited the four elements: sylphs (air),

parasites

gnomes

adulatory assentations than of a gnatonick sycophantizing, or parasitical cogging.

(earth)

salamanders

,

nymphs

(fire)

.

(water)

A gnome

and moves

through earth unobstructed, as a fish through water, a bird through air. Paracelsus, who first used the word, may have

Hence

also gnathonism, sycophancy, used Coleridge (1838) : gnathonize, to flat-

play the lickspittle. Cp. thrasonical, gnathic, of course, means relating to the ter, to

invented

it,

genomus,

jaw; the gnathopods are the jaw-footed Crustacea, like the lobster and the crab. earlier forms

ther was dwellings at Oxenstory of 1575 speaks of

Whylom

gins;

,

the coy words in

.

ford a rich gnof.

named Gnatho (Greek gnathos, jaw) Terence's play was imitated by Udall in RALPH ROISTER DOisTER (1554) ; in the 16th

The

churl, boor. (East Frisian gnuf-

Also knuff* ill-mannered) Chaucer's THE MILLER'S TALE (1386) be-

Sycophantic The

by

A

coarse,

fig,

order, law.

may have shaped it from Greek geo, earth 4* nomos, female gnome is a gnomide.

or

for

A

A

short pithy statement of a general a Idea, proverb, maxim. Greek gnome, (2)

apply to humans, as Greene's HISTORY OF

Hence gnomic, gnomical, gnomology, a collection of maxims, the sententious element In discourse. There was

thought.

ORLANDO FURIOSO (1590) Knowing him to be a thrasonicall madcap, they have sent me a gnathonicall companion, to give him lettice fit for his lips. ;

also

(3)

gnomon, an

Indicator;

Greek

gnomon, Indicator, gno- (English recoggignoskein, to perceive, judge, nize) ,

gnavity. Activity, quickness. Latin gna17th and vus, navus, diligent, active.

know. Especially: the post or plate on a sundial; the nose; the teeth of a horse

A

18th century dictionary word.

its age) , etc. Hence gnomonic, to the sundial, or the measurepertaining ment of time thereby. Gnomon was also

(indicating

gnede.

Niggardly, miserly; scarce, scanty,

Thus gnede of (gifts), sparing with. To make the gates gnede, to go straight to one's destination. Used from BEOWULF small.

Into the 15th century. Ask me thy will, we read in CURSOR MUNDI (1500), for am

I noght of givetes gnide. bruise,

used for a carpenter's square; hence, in the 17th century, a rule, a canon of beor action, a gnome. Symonds in his essays on THE GREEK POETS (1873) ob-

lief

many of the sublimer flights of meditation in Sophocles are expansions of earlier gnomes.

served that [gifts]

gnede.

To

rub between the hands; to crush; to nib out. Also, to crumble

away (as though nibbed). Also gnodde, gnudden. Used from the 9th to the 14th In ARTHUR century. Also tognide; see to-.

gnomon.

See gnome.

A

piece of anything cut or gobbet. broken; especially, a piece of raw flesh,

307

goliard

gobbet-royal

frequent in the phrase to cut (chop s hack) lump or mass; a

Into gobbets. Hence, a

mouthful. Old French gobe, a mouthful, gnbcr, to swallow. Whence also English gob, the mouth; to give gob, to scold, abuse; gift of the gob, fluency of speech

Langland said, In So hope Ich tO PIERS PLOWMAN (1393) of the gab.

-later, gift

*.

Htm

have of

Hus

that

is

A

al-myghty

gobet of

A

gobbet-royal.

Hth

sweetmeat of the

century; literally, a mouthful for a king. A Durham account book of 1562 listed

cofyns of anys comfyt and gobstcs rcale. A coffin of anise confection was a case

heal, with

fortune, successfully. Also

and

godder-kaile,

Used Into the 15th century.

like.

Pious, devoted; God-fearing. Also gvdfyrht, g&dfurht* godfruct, god-

godfrlgjht.

friht.

tury.

From

the 10th Into the 13th cen-

Hence, godfrighlihcad,

piety, devo-

tion.

A

godivoe. in

French

A

The words were

still

employed,

as

by C.

S.

Lewis in his

ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE 16TH CENTURY (1954)

,

reminding us that many believers

King James in his DEMONOLOGY, 1597) felt that even good magic (magia,

(like

high magic, white magic) was

all

a snare

meat or fish pie, the 1 7th and 18th centuries. probably from ve&u,

pie, said

in 1706 "fflled

of veal and

a delicious farce

of meat; or else of

other for the

the

fish,

for days of

Chopped eel was also used Not only the word but

abstinence.**

Is

into the goetic sort in the end. Lewis pointed out that the

of Marlowe, Chapman, and Shakespeare believed in such a magician: 'He to his studie goes'; books are opened, words pronounced, souls imterrible

audiences

Of Prospero and Dr. Faustus, Lewis continues: Nor could anyone at that date hear the soft and timely Til

perilled.

of pastry, such as a pie-crust

fortune. Also goderheaL Prosperity, as an exclamation, Good luck! To goder-

the

sorcerer.

occasionally spelled geoty, geotic, by confusion with geo-> earth. They are rarely

and would lead you

grace*

made

was a

go stlc)

drown my book' without remembering the earlier magician who had screamed too late Til burn

Thus Bacon thought aim of the magicians noble; like him, they sought knowledge for the sake of over us by goetia. the

power, "as a spouse for fruit*, not a 'curtesan for pleasure'. Also, Lewis pointed out that white magic presumed power in

man* whereas the widespread (and

still

spread) belief in astrology reduced to a puppet: the little creatures

man

evil

spirits.

Greek

stars'

the e

A

is

.

*

Hence

sum-

goetic,

Cp. also &

syllable.

Thus A MIDSUMMER DREAM Is Shakespeare's play of THE TEMPEST, his play of magia;

tennis-balls.

MACBETH,

g@@t-

to wall, cry (as in

the evil

who

dreamed of controlling the winds and raising the dead were in reality only the

faerie;

witchcraft by use of

books'. All the dif-

added, allowed the use of evil spirits when enslaved by magia and not given dominion

NIGHT'S

too greatly neglected.

my

ference between fire and water is there. Many thinkers of the Renaissance, Lewis

goliard.

his play of goety.

A

wandering scholar or ribald

clerk, often the

author of

satirical

Latin

an educated jester, of France, Germany, and England, especially in the 12th verse;

gore

golilla 1 3th centuries. The goliards claimed to be followers of a Bishop Golias but goliart was the Old French word for

and

thus, to turn every

Sound politics)

woman

from

Langland

PIERS

in

PLOWMAN

speaks of a goliardeys, a glutton words. Chaucer in the Prologue to

THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386)

thumb

Miller with the a jangler

and a

A

golilla.

person

worn

starched collar,

golillio.

i.e.,

throat. is

A

Spanish

fox and

(Latin gula, whence

(now gullible) will swallow anything,

gullable

one who

believe any tale. Cp. gull Wycherley

game of goose; Byron DON JUAN (1825) made play with this idea: For good society is but a game, The

in

royal

(1350; in the old 4-beat alliterative verse) : I was ah everrous [eager] in armes as outher of

youre-selven, And as styffe in a stourre on my stede bake, And as gaye in my gere

with ladyes and (I)

A

hiss,

And

a

lelly

game

more vulgar sound meant today by the expression gw* him the bird. Also, sibilation in general; Tennyson in his MEMOIRS (1897) says that to write good blank verse requires a fine ear for vowel-sounds^ and the kicking of the geese out of the boat. When an audience disliked a performance,

MACBETH

(1606),

(5)

A

opening the gate of

extends the invitation:

(1)

may

Dung;

8th century.

rost

filth;

Come

in,

your goose.

slime.

From

the

extension (from the 16th century) clotted blood, blood shed in battle; this sense lingers. In the 1 6th and 1 7th

By

centuries gore-blood was used to blood. What! cried Wesley

mean dotted

(WORKS; 1774) petty offence,

To whip them till

for every they are all in gore

blood% Hence also to gore, to besmear lie soaking In blood; They

with blood, to

the actors used to say (18th and early 19th centuries) : The goose is in the house. (3) In special combinations: All

He always exaggerates;

say.

smoothing-iron; the shape of a goose's neck. Shakespeare plays on this meeting when the porter in

gore.

foolish person. See widgeon. not the as in the theatre

may

the handle had

taylor; here you

byluffede

*

of goose, as I

tailor's

hell,

may dens.

his geese are swans,

to

refers to the royal

PARLEMENT OF THE THREE AGES

ells

from the 16th

move of a player landing thereon. Goldsmith in THE DESERTED VILLAGE (1770)

See gaum. Also gomenlich, manly, gome-graith, armor. We read in THE

gome

geese, played

the

gome.

A

the

the 19th century; on a squared board with counters (17, in 1801) ; every fourth and fifth square pictured a goose, and doubled

pillory than this Spanish golilia.

(2)

snowing.

To shoe

A

golille,

golilla,

THE GENTLEMAN DANCING-MASTER (1673) said: I had rather put on the English

goose.

old

Bob coyly in CRADOCK NOWELL (1866) could never say 'Bo' to a gosling of the feminine gender. (4) game, also called

in

in

as any

It is

:

stiff

golila,

,

is

To

blood.

golierdis.

diminutive of gola gullet)

(in U.S.

The

side.

say bo to a goose (boe, boh, to booh), speak; usually this expression is used in the negative; Blackmore put it

SajS of the of gold: He was

Spain in the 17th century. Also golilia,

on the right

,

goose, to spend one's time in unnecessary labor. Goose without gravy (in the British navy) : a flogging that does not draw

(1377)

of

goose into a swan.

picking her geese, Also see Winchester goose.

(French gueule, gullet) glutton Latin gul&> the gullet, hence, appetite, gluttony.

(a)

on the goose

(all right)

them goaring in their blood, said Stanyhurst in his DESCRIPTION OF IRELAND

left

(1577) ghosts.

309

,

and gasping up their flitting and Sullivan entitled a

Gilbert

graffito

Gothamist

comic operetta (1887) Ruddygore, then more mildly Ruddigore. The word is from Old High German gor; Old Norse gorf the cud in animals, slimy matter. (2) From

Old English

gar, spear (also gare,

and

Is

'To make a noise, as water does iron is placed in it.' So Herbert Coleridge in his DICTIONARY OF THE OLDEST WORDS (1863) Accented on the first syllable of its two; but three syllables in godelen, godeley. The O.E.D. calls it echoic, and defines it as *to make a low gothele.

via

f

.

angular promontory, then (from the 13th a triangular strip of land,

wedge-shaped fields.

By

a

rumbling

between two larger

strip

extension, a triangular piece of

borborygmite.

gowpen.

in the breast of a waist or

century,

in at

my Of my

And

sp&yre

gown;

Skeltoo.

wont

to

crepe in at

,

*

My

go

sian countess yesternight sat playing gow-

.

this

that there developed the gore, current verb, to gore, to pierce*

still

lean.

Slender,

Latin

slender. Also gracillj gradient

gracilem, (18th cen-

, gracilious (17th century) . gracilescent9 growing slender; narrowing, gracilleanness. Not to be conity, slenderness,

tury)

A young man; a serving-man, Maria Edgeworth In IRISH BULLS

go0too
lackey.

pansful of gold pieces every stake. graclle.

See 516.

gossip.

See yepsen. Used from the 14th in Scotland. Hence

especially

gore

may be from

before. It

Hence, to slander. Used

gowpenful, a double handful; Carlyle in a letter of 1852 wrote that An old Rus-

My

wrote:

(1529)

is

into the 15th century.

lap of a gown; loosely, a skirt. Under gorey under one's clothes. Also, the opening

PHIUP SPAROWE so That

bubbles rising through heard in the bowels/ Cp.

noise, as

water, or as

cloth, as the front section of a skirt, the

in

a simpleton; a Gothamite

is

Yorker.

when a hot

French gron English gyron) the of the spear-head came in the word shape an to mean (9th century) gore 9 century)

New

a

that

and

the

(as it sometimes is) with graceful, from Latin gratia thanks, attractiveness;

fused

,

figure. Cos-

in Is

of garsoon, from

a boy.

An

jug, Ibig-lbellled,

Hence

swollen.

Also

corpulent; gotch-bellied. and 1 7th centuries.

in the

A

the

Inhabitants of

for their folly. A is a fool. Used since

arc of

the

by Washington to New York a

City.

whence also grateful poets and fictioneers of the 19th century, the sound of the word affected

Among Its

01 a

of

the

A

was used

as

meaning

grace-

MAGAZINE

1888): Girls . . , beautiful with the beauty of ruddy bronze, gracile as the palmettoes that sway above them.

(April,

A drawing,

graffito.

on a

or writing, scratched on a wall. Italian

wall; scribbling

graffito;

meant that

the two

a

sense; it

fully slender; e.g., in HARPER'S

train-

Ing

pleasing,

gratus,

graffio,

a scratch; Greek grapho

to grave (engrave) , scratch; to write in stone; hence to write

first

is,

all

the

English

consequences:

photograph (Greek photos, light), drawing with light; on to the recently renewed study of graphology, retrieved

S10

gralm

from

grangerize

palmistry

and graphomancy;

of enchanting beauty ticement.

cp.

acromancy. Although used mainly of such scrawlings left on ancient walls (Pompeii; Rome) the word has been elsewhere

grame.

may be found in word

shame! all

we hear that Hobie

has graithd his body weel. Chaucer uses

Mercy on

us!

the

you. Also as an exgratefulness, or surprise:

No

thanks.

.

gramercy,

connie.

(cp. pedlers

French)

:

for this trick*," saith domineers with this

sir,

"lie

amongst my neighbors." Gramercy Park, New York is from Dutch Krummersee, crooked (arm of the) sea, which, there bent into Manhattan Island.

A

Originally a granary, a repository for grain; Toone (1834) said it was

grange.

In the

14th

and 15th

the centheir

gramarye meant grammar (being

occult

necromancy. Scott in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTSEL (1805) brought this use back into currency. Another form was glamoury, which

meant magic;

deposited

Medieval

grange of salt. Later, grange was used of a farm with its various outbuilding; then, a country house. There, at the moated

learning,

as a spell: to cast the

glamour over one; Scott (in the same poem) used this form also; but it has

place where monasteries rents (paid in grain.)

Latin granagium; Latin granum* grain. Toone's notions must be taken with a

ing in general. In the 15th century learning fell under suspicion, and was associated with magic; hence gramarye came

come

Thank of

.

an early form of that word, ultimately from Greek gramma, letter) ; then learn-

also

and grame.

gramercy. clamation

"Now

romance of KYNG ALYSAUNDER.

mean

grief

said to the verser

13th century variant of graying, early dawn. Also griking. Used in the

to

save thee -from the blame Of

.

of graithing. Graithness (not used since the 15th century) meant readiness.

turies

To

.

SYLVESTRA (1881) by Annie Ellis says The lass was . willing^ but sadly in want

gramarye.

my

great

preparation, hence also furniture, attire;

graking

poem THE

Old French grant merd, gramercy, no special merit; also What gramercy. ?, what reason. ? In Greene's A NOTABLE DISCOVERY OF COOSENAGE (1591) the coney

THE REEVE'S TALE (1386). The word is from Old Teutonic; the Old English form was geraede, the prefix ge + raidh, whence English ready. To graith in the grave was to bury. Graithing meant

graith in

.

is re-

LOVER'S APPEAL (1557) Inquires And wilt thou leave me thus? Say nay! Say nay! for

To make ready, to prepare; hence graith. to equip, to array. In HOBIE NOBLE (in Child's BALLADS, 1775)

word

lated to grim.

See grame.

gralm.

(in

the phrase It grames me. The Wyatt in his

copy-books. Surely the has use, of walls today.

school-girls'

the

12th century, devils). Also gmim, greme. Grame also was an adjective, sorrowful; and a verb, as in

Dowden's LIFE OF SHELLEY She sang pleasantly; and could

applied, as in

(1886) ; scribble such graffiti as

en-

grief. Also, in the plural,

Anger;

troubles

and charming

grange, says Shakespeare In MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1604), resides the dejected

Mariana.

The word was

figuratively,

often applied

as in Spenser's

QUEENE (1596)

:

Ne ham

THE FAERIE

the watry foules

a certain grange Wherein to

rest.

To illustrate a book by adding prints and other clippings. A frequent 311

into current use as the white magic

grangerize.

greave

grangousier ISth and 19th century practice, especially In

From James

histories.

contemporary

of

binations

gravel

Gravelly means abounding

Granger, whose BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY or ENGLAND (1769) left blank pages for the

bling gravel; gravely

purpose. Hence grangerism; grangerizing, gmngcrimtion; a grangerizer^ grangerite.

been used

THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE

of

IS January,

announced: The portraits of actors

1889*

separately^ with blank backs,

be

for the benefit of grangerizers.

One

grangousier.

that will swallow any-

physically or mentally. Also grandgoner; used from the 1 6th century, the name of the father of Gargantua in

thing

Rabelais: French gtrandj great 4- gosier, throat. Meredith in THE ADVENTURES OF

HARRY RICHMOND

(1871)

Speaks of OUT

public.

A

grassator.

rioter, bully, footpad.

Latin

from

grojuzri, grassatus, to riot, to lie in wait, to attack. Hence grasmtion^

Bonne

assault;

speaks of violent verb grauatc, to rage,

(1610)

The

riously,

malefactors^

(two syllables) dignity. Gravel-stone

blind*

see

whistling

wind

labor

(1570) if

a

man

Ms

advise,

(1600)

first

first, and when you were gravel'd for lacke of matter, you might take occasion to kiss. Very good oratorsf when they are out, they will spit, and for lovers

speake

lacking

God warn

E.

graveolent.

heavy

Foul-smelling, fetid. + oleref to smell.

second syllable, 19th century;

lo

if

we

not

firff

w

The e.

accent

is

Latin

Hence on the

Used 17th into the

applied to rancid butter, Bul-

wer-Lyt ton's ENGLAND AND THE ENGLISH

and

eggs, hell; also figuratively as in

(1833) : He strives to buoy himself the graveolent abyss of his infamy. (1)

Brushwood; a

branches.

from

thicket. Plural,

Old English

mean

graefa, related to grove. (2) The sandy shore of a stream; French greve; related to gravel. (3) In plural only, greaves, the skin over

jtone.

animal

ouna,ws (1887) There be 0.

In

of

to

matter, the clean-

to

and used

Hood)

us!

liest shift is to kisse.

bad

Revived by or MIDLOTHIAN (1818;

use

To

giving Orlando advice on how to make love; Orlando says / would kiss before I spoke. Rosalind: Nay, you were better

greave. in

flight.

Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE IT has Rosalind, disguised as a boy,

puzzle;

of on other

See

steddy

be

will not be

to kearc,

their

choke with gravel; to confuse, perplex,

SCMOtEMASTER

in

se-

has

gravely to run aground (of a ship) ; hence, to be stuck in the mud; to smother or

and

gravel-

,

WELL

figuratively, as in JACOB'S

also graveolence.

of

used.

or resem-

reminds us that Bees bear gravel-stones, whose poising weight Steers thro* the

gravis,

A

in,

(1440) : Thise gravelstonys, that is, covey tons thoutys [thoughts]; Dryden in his rendering (1697) of the GEORGICS of Virgil

the adjective passant, raging, were mainly of though North In 1734 of

with

been

have

coming, Other com-

twigs;

fat

is

fat, cooked for crackling. If the melted for tallow, the greaves

forms a sediment which, removed, was pressed into cakes for dogs, fish-bait, etc. German Griebe* (4) Armor for the leg

31*

green

gree

century, gree was used to mean weeping, mourning: Chatterton revived this in a

below the knee (usually in the plural); hence, the skin. Chaucer and Spenser were those

among

which was

that used

the

first

poem

sense,

common from

the 10th century through the 16th: Spenser in THE FAERIE that ye do QUEENE (1590) : It is best . .

in

.

.

.

ground from jeopardy. The most frequent use was as the armor: Milton (1671, SAMSON AGONISTES) Pope, B)Ton; Tennyson in THE LADY OF SHALOTT (1832) : The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves and

The form gre was also used, in every sense. God grant you (as they said in the 15th century) gree and grith!

green (in various combinations) greenbag, a lawyer; originally, the green cloth bag in which barristers carried their papers. Wycherley in THE PLAIN DEALER .

flamed upon the brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot.

mon

(1677) : You green bag carrier, you murderer of unfortunate causes, the clerks ink

Several words joined In this comform, very frequent in the 1 4th, 15th

and 16th 19th.

(1)

centuries,

but lingering into the

is

gree, a step (Old French gre

from Latin gradum,

step)

a degree,

me? green

liter-

or as a stage in a process, a degree in rank, etc. Cp. congree; grise. In law (e.g.,

table,

forbidden

degree

(of

relationship).

the highest degree, pre-eminence, victory; the prize for a victory: to

take,

(get,

win)

the gree.

Thus What's

in

baize,

table, a gaming an upper box at a

green

box,

green

greencoat,

All

which supplanted gree; thus Chaucer says in THE MERCHANT'S TALE (1386) quoting Seneca: There is no thing in gree superlative. As saith Senek, above an humble wyf. (2) From Old French gre (modern French de bon gre, with good will) from latin gratus, pleasing, came English gree, good will. To take

fingers.

cheese with streaks of green from sage. a scholar in certain charity

also,

bear

your

theatre, green cheese; see cheese; the O.E.D. suggests the variegated surface of the moon may have suggested a round

of matrimony) greis defendant was

Hence

scarce off

the green bagf What's the charge against

ally

a

his holy

greeing.

,

gree.

Round

As a verb, gree was an early

form (15th into the 18th century) of agree, in all its meanings; thus Shakespeare in SONNET 114 (1600) has: Mine eye well knows what with his gust is

.

Your treasure Either fast closed some hollow greave, Or buried in the

leave

of 1768, as a verb:

corse to gre.

schools;

senses of degree,

Westminster had black-coat, blue-

and greencoat

coat,

a simpleton.

To

to roll a girl grass;

have

hence,

schools, green goose,

give a girl a green gown,

(in amorous sport) on the to wear a green gown, to

lost one's virginity.

Green was,

in-

1

(accept, receive)

part.

in gree f to take in good this sense also; like-

Chaucer uses

wise Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): Which she accepts with thanks and goodly gree.

To do

faction

(for

gree, to give satisinjury); unto gree, as an

(make)

an

indemnity; by his gree, of

Ms own

ac-

deed, associated not only with country

and country freshand vigor or unripeness, callowness, but with amorous activity, as in the simplicity (greenhorn) ness,

ballad of greensleeves (Lady Greensleeves) and in such references as in Jonson's

BARTHOLOMEW'S FAIR loose

take

them

cord; of the gree, voluntarily; out of gree, against one's will; amiss. (3) In the 16th

313

women them to

(1614),

when two

are being readied:

Ursula,

open thy wardrobe, and fit Green gowns, their calling.

in,

crimson petticoats; green women, mayor's green

women!

my

lord

guests o* the game,

Gregorian

greet true

greenhead, an immature

bred,

untrained

intellect;

greenheaded,

the

or

perienced, greenkin, a person (a little one) clad in green, greenman, a savage; to especially, a man dressed in greenery,

play

a wild

man

of

To

weep, lament; beseech out in supplication or anger. This word (also as a noun, lamentation) was common from the 8th cen(2)

with

masque or outdoor show, greenroom, a theatre lounge for the performers; to talk green-room, to gossip of the theatre, Jerome K. Jerome in ON THE STAGE in

tury,

Where a green-room was

1885 remarked:

5th century), to attack. KYNG ALY-

gratulations (unto) ; so used by Spenser, several times in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596).

woods in a

the

1

SAUNDER (13th century) had: With his launce he him grette. Also, to offer con-

inex-

greet,

tears;

continuing in Scots through the when Stevenson wrote, in CATRI-

19th, as

(1893) : I sat down and grat like a bairn. There were many variants: Present

ONA

originally provided, it has been taken by the star or the manager, as his or her

private room, green rushes, fresh rushes spread on the floor of a house for an

tense, gret, grate, griet, greit; past, grett,

gretid, grete, grat; past participle, graten,

honored guest that is a stranger; hence, an exclamation of surprise at seeing one long absent; N. Breton in WONDERS WORTH HEARING (1602) Greene rushes* M. Frandsco! It is a wonder to see you heere in this country, greenwax? a seal on documents delivered to sheriffs by the Exchequer; hence, a fine, an amercement (as ordered by such a document) ; GOD SPEED THE PLOUGH (1500) laments: Then comthe grfmewex which greueth us sore.

igroten,

greten,

greeter,

one that

unsaluted,

CALENDAR (1579; AUGUST), Spenser has: Well decked in a frocke of gray. Hey, ho, grey is greeter with the gloss: 'weeping and complaint/ A very rare use only in Greene's JAMES iv (1591) and It greets Shakespeare's PERICLES (1608) :

me

as

an enterprise of kindness

the broaci road, the primrose path; Milton in a Sonnet of 1874 wrote: Lady? that in

to gratify.

tke

Gregorian. ory I (in

the

as

to strait

verdant; vigorous;

Queen

beyond the age of

(an girls

still

in

at

T0

come,

to

in this form. to

still

Its

current,

to hail, to wel-

now lost

In

puberty),

green.

Two |i)

Eliza-

forgotten

during the

to approach, (surviving into

(1)

the

is

greet,

Relating to Pope GregHoly See 590-600), as

Gregorian water, holy water; Gregorian (2) The Gregorian calendar was

narrow),

(rendering BoetMus; 1593) spoke she was then sixty,

of far

grem

unwelcome; greety, inTHE SHEPHERD'S

clined to shed tears. In

the pleasant road,

youth Wisely hast

grutten* Hence gret, salutes or one that cries.

Greetingful, sorrowful, tearful; greetingless?

:

of the

to

cry

chant.

established 1582; hence

by Pope Gregory XIII, in Gregorian

Gregorian epoch.

(3)

A

style,

new

style;

wig worn in the

16th and 17th centuries, supposedly intraduced by one Gregory, a barber on the Strand. Braithwait in THE HONEST

GHOST (1658) speaks of one who pulling little downe his gregorian, which was a little di$phc*t by hastie taking off his

a

bever, sharpening his

M$

peake and erecting

distended mouchatos, proceeded in this amwere. (4) A member of an 18th

$14

_

greking

century society (often mentioned along referred to by with die Freemasons) ;

The greg(5) the in the 17th cenorian-tree, gallows; a from a gregory, hangman Gregory tury: Pope, Smollett, Crabbe.

gride

many compounds: grade; gradation, retrograde^ gradual, graduation, degree; congress, disgression, and all the avenues of aggression. P. T. Barnum, whenever the crowd at his circus sideshow grew large,

Brandon, common hangman of London under James I, succeeded by his son,

had a

"Young Gregory," who died in

behold a feminine marvel or monster went through the (such as an ogress) door and found themselves outside . Terrestrial creatures may be classified as

(6)

gregory (gregory-powder),

1649. Also

compound

powder of rhubarb; named after the Scotch Doctor James Gregory (17581822) Being ill-tasting, it was often mixed with honey or other pleasant comestibles, hence used figuratively, as in THE PALL .

MALL GAZETTE ever

(28 August, 1886)

:

How-

the gregory-powder of apparelled in the currant jelly

sign put up reading: This way to the Egress; many spectators, expecting to

,

.

walking,

of story

is .

gressile,

A 13th century form for in the 77ra PSALM. Used hopper.

gressop.

grass-

.

.

Daybreak; dawn. Akin to grey,

and early the grey king of the misty

Used

14th, 15th

lish letters.

greme.

gressorial.

As a noun, in various applications from the color: a badger, the fur of a

Also graking,

1 6th

centuries,

morn

of Eng-

q.v*

See grame. Gremeful, sorrowful;

An

badger.

A

from grew, Greek,

gremiaL Also gremious. Relating to the lap or bosom; hence, protecting, intimate. (Latin gremium, lap, bosom, therefore shelter.) Hence also, dwelling within the

by

A

members of a

university or society. 1669 harangue against prostitutes called for a repentance that will snatch you out of their gremial gressible.

Able

gressum, to walk,

to

walk.

play TIMON (1600) living

feathered:

Latin

gradi,

whence human

creature ,

progress. speaks of a two gressible,

un-

the standard definition of a

man

(in

Chaucer, 1386).

to grew, to hunt with greyhounds, was used in Scotland into the 19th century;

Grecian.

"bosom" of an alma mater; gremials (16th into the 19th century) were resident, ac-

old

greyhound', also a grew, a grew hound;

greming, angry.

legd

See gressible.

grey.

greking.

The

crawling:

volatile, or reptile.

beautifully

morality

tive

or

flying,

.

as

though the dog were

A

pair of greys, two grey horses; extension from this, in 19th century

slang, a grey, a coin with two heads or two tails, for cheating gamblers.

A

variant form of gfrd not the gride* gird, to encircle, that gives us girdle, but

an early (12th century) verb meaning

to

to pierce, to thrust; surviving in the figurative sense, to gird at, to make

strike,

thrusts at, to mock. The form gride, used by Lydgate, Spenser, then later writers, meant to pierce with a weapon, to wound,

then to cut or scrape, with a rasping sound. Spenser used

it first

in

THE SHEP-

HERD'S CALENDAR (1579," FEBRUARY) : The kene cold blowes through my beaten

also gressile, gressive; gresadapted for walking. The simple

hydef All as I were through the body gryde to which the gloss gives 'percecT

forms from the Latin hardly survive in but we still use English (cp. couth)

and several times in THE FARJE QUHENJR. Note that gryde, gryed was also the past

man. Hence sorial,

grobian

grldelin

also, a kind of grey fur (14th to Grisamber was an early 16th century) form of ambergris. In the 14th and 15th

tense form of grye, to shudder, an in14 th frequent verb that occurs In the

grey;

,

century GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT: So agreved for grcme he grycd within.

A

gridelin.

color:

flaxgrey. Used from ligrew in THE PARSON'S

And

WEDDING

Lord help

his love,

my

tempt

An

(1663)

us, fades I

more troublesome than

(19th (17th

century*)

century)

a 1633 Exposition of

in

[cp.

(1)

See

A

The

plural (French greis) greece, grecc,

as a

singular, light

of

developed as

with

new

grec$es* (2)

frith,

battle,

the

plural,

q.v*

Hence

also, quarter in without (en) grith,

to give grith;

without

mercy.

Also,

in

Scotland,

the

closing of criminal courts at Christmas and other times when the King's peace

medio

variant of grccc, from grcc,

home;

under the King's hand. extension, grith came to mean peace, in which sense it was often associated

,

gripuloHsncss

in

grith,

By

PETER (THE

is

Old Norse

the

safe conduct.

grith, protection

avaricious,

,

;

within the precincts of the church; hand-

also,

greed;

(under

laws of King Cnut, 1000)

truce, pardon, sanctuary. To take grith, to take sanctuary. Church-grith, sanctuary

be so gnpple-minded wife*$ bounty! Tlience

niggardliness*

Guaranteed security

grlth.

gnash t his teeth to of gold with griple

Ms

says:

No> not a grize, for 'tis a vulgar That proof very oft we pity enemies.

Middleton in ANYTHING FOR A QUIET LIFE (1626) exclaimed that a man at

TWELFTH NIGHT when Viola

in

Viola:

all

He

of

one

/ pity you. Olivia: That's a degree to love.

pal (Scott, 1814, WAVEHLEY). Used from the I0th century; by Spenser in THE FAERIE :

fear;

:

and

Gripping, tenacious; griping, niggardly. Also gripcl, gripul, griple; grip-

Tlicwc

shudder with

be, so are they all, for every grise of fortune Is smoothed by that below;

If

gripple.

$ee

me

makes

it

afraid. Shakespeare uses grise, step,

Who

three.

QUXENE (1590)

am

in

peeked; I am not grimalkined; I have no Mrs. Freeman with her Italian airs; but a wife

(from the 12th Also (4) the

OTHELLO; in TIMON OF ATHENS (1605) dares, In purity of manhood stand upright And say "This man's a flatterer"?

old she-cat; a term of conwoman; a witch.

for a bossy old

See merkin. Swift (1745) speaks of grimalkin eyes; Lord Chesterield, in THE WORLD, No. 185 (1756) declared: I am not hen-

I

an adjec-

verb to grise, to shudder at with terror or

gredaline petticoat.

grimalkin.

fearful.

as

abhorrence; to tremble in great fear; to agrise. It grises me (13th and 14th centuries)

like

terrible,

century*), gris-de-liri)

the 17th century. Kil-

averred:

a variant of grisly

tive,

white and red; pale

purple or red. Literally (French

was used

centuries, grise (3)

was granted to criminals. Grithman, one

who

has taken sanctuary; the place of sanctuary might be a grith-stool, grithgrith-town. Grith and its compounds were common from the 10th to

place,

the 15th century.

grobian.

A slovenly

person, a boor. Also,

grobianum. From an imaginary medieval Gmbianus, taken by writers in 15th and

greycc, the color

ISth century

S16

Germany

as

the supreme

gryde

grog boor. This tree of gulls, says Dekker in his Preface to THE GULL'S HORN-BOOK

cultivated

(1609), hath a relish of grobianism. Bur-

word

ton

The Anatomy

in

makes a remark

(1621)

of Melancholy that should give

hope to despairing mothers of adolescents: Let them be never so clownish, . grobians and sluts, if once they be in love, they will be most neat and spruce. .

A

grog. water.

drink,

originally

of

rum and

Hence, seven-water grog, a very weak mixture. Admiral Vernon, of the British Navy, was called Old Grog because of his grogram cloak [from French

gros grain, coarse grain (cloth)]; in August 1740, the Admiral ordered half rum, half water,

to

be served to the

sailors

instead of their regular allowance of neat

The nickname grog was

spirits.

trans-

from the Admiral to the drink. The word groggy, tipsy (sometimes, punchferred

drunk), survives. Hence various combinations: grog-blossom, the red nose of the drunkard; grog-fight, a drinking party I saw three men (last New Year's Eve lying

in

verted,

Times Square, and

after such

a 'party')

;

traffic

di-

grog-shop

or groggery; groggified, tipsy.

A

small particle, fragment Regrot. (1) lated to grit, grout, groats, grain. Chaucer in THE FRIAR'S PROLOGUE (1386) has: I

him quiten every grot. (2) Weeping, lamentation; to grote was to bewail.

shall

the stage. Hence, a rude person of untaste, Shakespeare used the

famous passage of HAMLET

a

in

O

offends mee to the soule, to (1602) see a robustious perywigpated fellow teare it

a passion to tatters, to verie ragges, to the ears of the groundlings and

split

most instances since are reverberations of IN

Lamb, however, in REFLECTIONS THE PILLORY (1825) spoke of the stocks

as

that domicile for groundling rogues

that use.

and base

earth-kissing varlets.

growtnoll. A blockhead; a 'great noddle.' Also groutnoll, grouthead, growthed, and more. Used from the 16th century; Urqutranslation

hart's

revels

in

the

of

(1653)

forms:

Rabelais

Noddle meacocks,

blockish grutnols, doddi-p ol-jolt-heads.

A grain, a tiny bit. Old (1) French gru, grain, meal, related to gruel. Mainly in the negative; no grue, not a grue, not a bit. (2) A crane (the bird) hence, to grue, to call like a crane. Latin gruem, crane; French grue. (3) Shivering, shuddering. Grueful, horror-struck. As a grae.

;

verb, to grue, to shiver, shudder; to feel horror or terror; to shrink from something; later, to thrill, as when H. Coleridge in a poem of 1849 wrote: His every member grueing with delight Since

the 13th century the main use was as the to be troubled in heart, to feel

verb,

terror, to

Both of these senses are found from the

survived.

9th to the 15th century. (3) Beginning in the 16th century, grot was also used, especially in poetry, as a form of grotto;

gronde* ference,

shudder

The

whence gruesome has

snout of a pig; by trans-

disrespectfully,

a

person's face.

Johnson in THE RAMBLER, No. 108 (1753) mentioned a natural grot shaded with

gront. Other forms were Hence, to grunkle gruntill; (Scotch) gruntle, to make a sound like a swine;

myrtles.

to

groundling. One that frequented the pit or 'ground* of a theatre in Elizabethan days,

he stood on the bare ground before

Also,

a

little

.

grumble,

complain.

Disgruntled

is,

obviously, with one's nose out of joint. Cp. couth.

gryde.

317

See gride.

gull

guarish

one where gold may be found, a gulch is a heavy fall, as in wrestling; to come down gulch. As a glutton or drunkard, Jonson uses the word in THE POETASTER

See wansk. Used often by GaxFAERIE ; also by Spenser in THE

guarish.

ton (1480)

QUEENE (1590)

:

All

Ms wounds, and

all

his b ruses guarisht.

Carew

garye. called

his

in

CORNWALL

gulch you heavily Clare

(1602)

some scripture history, that grosscnes which accompanied

in Cornish out of

with

Romanes Old Comedy.

the

reward or requital. Roundguerdon. about via Old French from Old English

of her dies.

Hence

This word has had many meanings.

soldiers;

(1)

The

let).

Hence

fly-bit

throat, gullet (Latin gula, gulto gull, to eat voraciously; to

to fool, cheat, trick,

make a

gull

The common is

bird the gull, though the of different origin, has become

also gale, gool, yellow. From this, probnot fully grown; a bird not ably, a yet ledged, as in Shakespeare's HENRY iv,

Mi

says:

PART ONE (1596)

also guerd^ner; guerd&nabk; also guerdoun.

the

cuckoo's

From

guidon. A pennant* forked or pointed at one end, borne at the head of a company of

of

associated with these senses, as in greedy Gull, gulls; gull-catcher, a cheater. (2)

Death in guerdon Gives her fame which never

NOTHING (1599)

will,

gull.

word

(German wicder), again 4- lean, payment. Used from Chaucer to Tennyson, as both noun and verb; Shakespeare in MUCH A&O ABOUT

you

then,

In the sense of plunging

(1821) speaks gulshing in the brook.

of.

wither

us

see

cattle

cram

A

witherlean;

will?

,

a klnde of enterlude, compiled

it

You'll

(1601):

guary. The Cornisli name (15th and 1 6th centuries) of the miracle play. Also

:

As

that ungentle gull

Useth

bird

these senses (3) gull

the

sparrow.

came

to

mean

an easy mark; so Shakespeare (1594), Milton (1645), Dickens (1838), Stevenson (1885). Dekker in a

the officer that carries this

company that ights under a troop, French; related to guide. In the 17th century the forms guydhome*

simpleton,

standard; the

1600 wrote a

it,

London, called The Gull's Horn-Book.

notion that the (1599)

I

;

Hence

show the the word was from guidfor men. Shakespeare has In HENRY v of France but for my guidon. Take

comas a Jew's-harp. Pronounced

a

g; accent

To

tion,

:

think this a gull,

a

In

11 tli

on

the gim.

of a

ravine, especially

it.

gullet, gull

the sense of

gull)?,

By

(4)

enlarge-

was also used in

a channel

made by a down or

swollen stream; to gull, to wear

sweep away, make ruts

commented on

a little glutton 18th century dictionaries). to this mad its current

but that the white-

bearded fellow speaks

is

greedily (from the a glutton; golch-

.

(la

also gullage, cajolery into decep-

By

ment from of what

guide for gallants in

extension, a gull meant a decepa false report, as in Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1599) I should tion.

the

The

satiric

in.

Poe in 1849

the pertinacity of the effort

but Washington Irving twentyyears earlier remarked: Nothing is

to gull., five

so easy as to gull the public. The public Is indeed gullable the later forms gul~

and around.

SIS

gullibility

are

still

widely

word

See pedlers French.

gybe.

See smotkerlich.

gypon.

See aeromancy. Walking In a circle (divided into zones) until falling

gyromancy.

from

upon

the prophecy dependent the zone in which one fell. It's

dizziness,

simpler to play roulette. gyve.

A

Usually

fetter,

in

guyves; the

the

givesf

leg.

guives,

word was probably once pro-

nounced with the g hard, as in give; now the g is soft, as in gem. A common

since

the

13th

The word was

often used figuratively. Shakespeare in THE LOVER'S COMPLAINT (1597) speaks of Playing patient sports in unconstrained gives; Disraeli, in CONINGSBY (1844), of the gyves and tram-

mels of

Gyve was also used as a as by Shakespeare in fetter;

office.

to

verb,

a shackle for the plural:

(and instrument)

century.

OTHELLO: / will give thee in thine own courtship. CIRCUMCISION (15th century) declared:

nesf

And

gyved.

319

My

wittis be so dull with rude-

in

the cheynes of ignoraunce

H nail or a slip of metal is inserted to raise

hab nab* Hit or miss; at a venture; at random; anyhow. Probably from Old English

Also

day/' used in leave-taking.

later,

hob and TWELFTH NIGHT

nob;

word;

(I6CII)

haha.

hob f nob is Used from the

says

give't or take't.

it

was

(also aha,

ah ah, ha! ha!,

for a

sunken fence, a

hahah, haw-haw) trench, ditch, or other boundary to a garden that does not obstruct the view and is

cp.

Apart from the sound of laughter,

17th century

today.

habergeon. Also haberjoun; See smotherlich.

"Ha good

but perhaps arising as an exclamation of surprise, haha has been used since the

used when glasses were lifted to drink: Hob or nob, come what may. Hence, to drink hob or nobf to drink together in companionship whence the current use

hobnob

r

to,

in

Shakespeare

16th century; in the 18th century

Probably

havegooday.

hob a nob, hob or

Also hub or nab;

of

latch.

from, or altered to relate

nob,

his

the

habbe, to have; nabbe, not to have.

R.

acton.

not visible until one S.

is

nigh into

Surtees in SPONGE'S SPANISH

it.

TOUR

of a hound that ran a black and made him leap the hawhaw. The word was also used figuratively; Mason in his EPISTLE TO SIR w. CHAMBERS (1852)

tells

cart-colt,

Vain

hadlwlst.

regret;

the heedlessness

that results In this. Also had-I-wist, ally, if I

liter-

had known. Used from the 13th

to the 17th century.

Gower

(1773)

In CONFESSIO

AMANTIS (1390) wrote: Upon his fortune

Ms

century fashion, as De Foe noted in his TOUR OF GREAT BRITAIN (1769) tO be

Cometh hadiwist full ofte & pl&ce. The BABEES BOOK (1460) warned: Kepe thee will from hadde-y-wyste. There was a

grace

common

16th century proverb: had I wist.

throwing

this

A

half.

with only one side of the halfhed, hoffat. See

door

latch; especially,

half-bull,

seal,

the side

representing the apostles, half-cap, a slight and almost discourteous salute; Shake-

With speare in TIMON OF ATHENS (1607) certainc halfe-caps, and cold moving nods,

on a

:

a ktch on the inside with a

In various combinations,

a pontifical letter of a new pope before his coronation the bulla being stamped

and nothing else. Pronounced hike" Haec Is Latin far this. See thisness.

Aim

Is

the walls of the garden,

walls.

Thisness; the quality of being

A

down

and making, instead of them, hawhaw

saith noty

hacccelty.

wrote: Leap each ha-ha of truth sense. It became an 18th

and common

projecting oe the outside; there slit in the door, into which a

They

froze

me

into silence, half-dike, a

sunken fence, a haha. half-lab or, a way of 320

halfendeal

Iiamiform

paying rent: half the crops or other product of the tenant's toil, that went to the landlord. halfheaded, stupid, halflang, halfling, a stripling, one not fully grown.

as

iv,

swinged,

I'll

Dryden death;

and 18th centuries, the practice many; in the early 1950's there was a flood of haliographic volumes. The word Is from Greek hals, hali-, the sea 4graphia, writing; but note that hals also 17th

(16th

century).

toward

a goal; half-seas over to the sense of half-drunk came in

midway

half-seas-over,

1700: I

in

am

means

salt (the sea Is salt)

halitus.

Latin

be allowed In England, In criminal prosecution of a foreigner, half-word, an in-

halare, to breathe,

sinuation; so used

and

by Chaucer.

See thirdendeal.

halidom.

exclamation,

e.g.,

In Shakespeare's

TWO

GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (1591) By my hallidome, I was fast asleep. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the word was often spelled halidam, holidam, holydame, as though English halig

dom,

(German

Is

from Old

heilig),

holy

4-

state.

halieutics*

The

art or craft of fishing,

or a treatise thereon. Halieutic, relating to

fishing.

Greek halieutikosi halieutes,

fisher; halieuein,

to

Thomas Browne

In his treatise

ERRORS

(1646)

fish; hals,

the sea. Sir

dog

+

hegetes, leader. Presi-

dent Eisenhower

is

an expert In halleutics

kyn-,

breath;

nature

halomancy. haltersack.

See aeromancy. Gallows-bird;

*a

bundle

fit

for the rope/ Used in the late 16th and the 17th century, especially by the dramatists. Beaumont and Fletcher, in THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE (1609) said: If he were my son, I would hang

him up by the heels, and flea him, and salt him, whoreson haltersack! and in FOUR PLAYS IN ONE declared: Thy beginning was knapsack and thy ending will be haltersack [born bastard, to die hanged]. ixaluwen.

See imene.

A variant of hallow,

which, as a noun, meant a saint.

on VULGAR

mentions four books of

cynegeticks or venation, five of halieuticks or piscation. Cynegetics^ hunting, the chase, Is also a 1 7th century word, from

Greek

halitus,

whence inhale, exhale our living. Hence halituous, of

halitosist literally, full of breath.

:

referring to *Our Lady.' It

all

Vapor.

treatise

of vapor, accompanied by vapor, as the halituous heat of these late summer days. Hence, also, the too current

the

a holy place, a Holiness; a relic chapel; holy by which one might take an oath; hence, since the 1 6th century, By my halidom, often used as a mere

as In halogen,

and haligraphy is a or writing on the nature of salts.

salt-forming,

the 18th century, half-tongue, of a jury half of whom were foreigners, as used to

halfendeal.

Washington

lures

forswear half-kirtles* hatfner,

one that shares 50-50

after

halleutics.

hallography. Writing about the sea. Although the word was used mainly In the

you be not

if

presidents

have taken up

PART TWO: You

filthy famish'd correctioner!

much

why many

courtesans; hence, a courtesan;

Shakespeare in HENRY

two hours In the Hudson withas a nibble which may be

fished

out so

halfman, a eunuch, halfkirtle, a shortskirted, loose bodied gown, commonly

worn by

compared with President Washington,

who

hamesockeii.

Assaulting a person in his

own home; a serious crime In Old England. The word Is still used In Scotland. Also hamesoken, homsokne; hamfare.

hamiform. hook; the a

321

Hookshaped. is

long.

Latin

hamus,

handsel

band This

hand.

common Teutonic word

veloped numerous

offshoots. Less

de-

remem-

bered ones Include: hand-adventure , single combat; hand-bolt, a handcuff, hand-can* ter9 hand-gallop^ easy paces,

we!!

under

with the horse

control, handfast? a firm grip;

Shakespeare In THE WINTER'S TALE (161 1) // that shepheard be not in handfast, wedded let ftye; also, manacled; also,

Mm

by joining hands; Malory In the MORTE Anon he made them D ARTHUR (1485) and married them; thus, to handf

:

contract in marriage, hand-friend, hand in need, handgrith (10th

fast, to

a friend at

century) protection given by the king's hand, hand-habend, with the (stolen) gcKxls an Old English law term, hands

loose, free

Wth

to

makerf

from

restraint,

hand

century) , one that

handlings (10th to hand, hand-

profits

hand

fraudulently.

a 13th century verb, hand-sale^ a bargain bound by a to

over;

handshake; hand-sale weight, weight (far a sale) judged by poising the article In the hand, handsmooth, level as though

smoothed by the hand; hence, downright, without qualification, handsome originally to handle, to deal with or use; meant hence

as

is

handsome

does.

mild, gentle; handtamed, suba short span of time; in his translation (1646), YOUTH'S OE DECENCY IN CONVERSATION

MEN, advised: C&ntradtct not @t which others $ay.

very nice in de shmoke of juniper wood. Such a charm was buried with precious metals, to make them double overnight.

handsaw. The obvious meaning, a saw used with one hand, occurs in ShakeMy speare's HENRY vi, PART ONE (1596) :

through and through, my sword hackt like a handsaw. There is less immediate point to the noted remark in buckler

cut

Hamlet: /

am

but

mad

north north-west:

when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. It is plausibly suggested that handsaw here is changed from dialectal harnsa, for hernsew. This is itself a variant of hernshew, hernshaw,

heronsaw, heronshew, heronshaw, more, from Old French heronceau, a

Thus know the

heron. I

and little

the expression would mean: bird of prey from the bird

it preys on, I know my nose from ray eyebrow. Early lexicographers (Cotgrave, 1611, followed by Johnson, 1755) took the

ending shaw (q&*) to mean wood, and explained hernshaw, heronshaw, as a wood where herons breed. A menu of 1440 called for pygge rosted

.

.

.

and

The

young heronshowes are some accounted a very (1620) by

hernesewes.

dainty dish. handsel.

A

token of good luck;

specifi-

a gift as a token of good wishes for the New Year or a new occupation, a cally,

sale of the day, and the in Probably origin 'a giving of the hands,' a handshake, or a gift in the

marriage, the

first

like.

of glory.

A

rct is

of Frendx main de

a is

in

charm. Originally, a like a hand. The

a popular corruption of mandrake. Scott

ANTIQUAXY (1816) ,

tells

De .

.

,

A*

w

oil

og jot

n

of what the

of glory

m&n,

at

hand.

Abo

hancel, hansel.

By

extension,

received (on a new day, or as a first instalment) ; hence, the first trial or experience or specimen of a thing the

first

sum

usually with hope or sense of good luck. a six-penny bottle of ale3

Bring

Mm

Jonson has in BARTHOLOMEW'S FAIR (1614); they

jy

a fool's handsell

is

lucky.

hare-finder

handy-dandy handy-dandy.

A

game played

since the

hap, (1) Chance, fortune; hence, good fortune (whence the present meanings of

century, in which an object is shaken in the two hands held together; the hands are suddenly closed, and one

14th

happily and happiness; haply

must guess which holds the object. Usually the question was asked in a verse e.g., Handy-pandy, Sugar-candy, which hand will you have? Hence, used of two things when it doesn't matter which is chosen; also, a shifting, as from hand to hand; an

hardy

THE SHREW

Hap what hap may, her. (2) To cover; about roundly go Hogg, in THE QUEEN'S WAKE (18 IB) pic-

says,

Change is

places,

tures

and

tury to (3)

to present

my

duty

Who

prime beauty, few months elder)

To pregnant well I deem

Witt take out (ere hans from pretty kelder. Cleveland, the next year, used kelder figuratively: The sun wears midnight; day is beetle-brow* d,

And

lightning

is

A

company, or merchants* guild; especially one engaged in foreign trade. Also, the initiation fee of such a guild; hanse.

the privileges the guild possessed. Specifi(from the 15th century) a political

cally

and

league of Germanic towns, the Hanseatic League. It had a

commercial

house in London;

it

and monopolies.

had many

See handset

.

A

turn to the left Hence 1 9th

to

the

wynd, to 18th and

century expression neither to hap nor

wynd, meaning without turning, on a

straight course.

See hap.

bap-harlot.

family.

See Hymen's torch.

See acton.

haqueton.

Thus harden, a made from hards. Also herden, hurden. Hence Brome in THE hards.

See

coarse

fabric

CITY wrr

suckeny.

Fo hurden smocked Hards were in use at least

(1652)

:

sweaty sluttery! from the 8th century.

privileges hare-finder.

A man

The

that spies the hare

point, said a 1616 country guide, for the killing of the hare,

in hansel.

coarse or ragged coverlet. (Dutch happen, to snatch) In

as a call to a horse; opposite of

happy

in kelder of a cloud.

mean a

To seize

16th and 17th century legal writings. (4) To turn to the right. Scotch term, used

;

sister in

wt' flowerets gay.

his clothes all the year after. This was perhaps slantwise reference to the word hap-harlot, used in the 16th and 17th cen-

frequent nickname of Johannes; the In Jack. phrase hans en kelder (Dutch, in the cellar) , an unborn child. Used Jack

beg I

Her bosom happed

keep warm; Nashe in A WONDERFULL, STRANGE, AND MIRACULOUS ASTROLOGICALL PROGNOSTICATION (1591) says that he shall hop a harlot in

the justice, which

by Dryden in THE WILD GALLANT (1663) Lovelace in a poem (1649) says: Next

:

Especially, to cover to

A

hans.

(1596)

I'll

You cannot play handy dandy with a kings crown. Also handidandy; handybandy; handy-spandy. Shakespeare in KING (1605)

alday. Milton, in PARADISE LOST said the serpent wish'd his hap

might find Eve separate. Hap was also a verb; Shakespeare says, in THE TAMING OF

proffered bribe. To play handy-dandy, to juggle or toy with as though of no value; Carlyle, in FREDERICK THE GREAT (1862) :

LEAR

means

man

(1667),

object held in the closed hand, a covertly

handy-dandy,, which is the theefef

still

by chance). Chaucer, in THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN (1385) says: Hap hdpeth

323

form.

first

hastelet

harengiform consistetk in finding out her forme.

form was the

The

in which the hare

lair

a wery hare in a fourme, said Chaucer Benedick in crouching. (1386) lurks

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Shakespeare's

(1599) wonders whether Claudio is jestto ing; Doe you play the flowting jacke, tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder and Vulcan a mre carpenter? Come, in what

man

[Cupid, of a blackwas Vulcan was course, blind;

key shall a

hsunengiform. Shaped good for dragging across a

a

herring;

trail.

See aeromamcy* Verb forms, were (1 6th

hariolation.

to soothsay, to divine,

meaning

(17th and 18th cen-

hariolizc;

century)

hanolate

also used to

practice ventriloquism; 19th century) hariole*

and

mean

to

(once, in the

A vagabond, rogue, rascal, knave. Medieval Latin arlotus, glutton. Also, a

male servant Sometimes,

15th,

16th

to

speak) might spare us

now

A common

loosely, equiva-

current fellow, good felsince the 1 2th cen-

word

not applied to a woman until the common in such application in

but

Biblical

century

references.

The

word was also used to mean the pointed boots worn in the 14th century, Chaucer the word often, as of the Somonour in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES a gentle harlot and a (13&6): Me

A

.

A

fans, speaking;

of

spell

much

harrish.

An

harsnet.

See haslet.

harpocracy

hypocrisy.

old variant of harsh.

See aeromancy; cp. aruspicy.

bettrt

A man of low

haskard.

degree; a base or

vulgar fellow. Also haskerd. Hence haskardy f such persons collectively; also, baseness.

Caxton in

his LIVES

OF THE FATHERS

(1491) wrote: As ... he came out of the hous of a comyn woman, he met with a

lewd haskarde, whyche for

A

haslet.

harlot.

lent to the

+

(Latin in, not

infant fari,

sayd synne of lechery went

See heriot.

harlot.

tury;

(Horus, the sun) represented as a child with finger to lips. Dawn, the day's birth, was shown as a child without speech, an

haruspicy. like

low.

was derived (by error) dawn-god Harchrot

take you?

smith.]

turies)

people. The god from the Egyptian

men noght

to to

doo the the hous,

piece of meat for roasting;

pecially, the entrails or fry of

es-

a hog or

other animal. Also hastelet; harslet; hassdet,

harsnet,

harcelet,

French

and more. Old

hastelette, roasted meat; diminu-

tive of haste,

a

spit;

Latin hasta, spear.

Cp. hastlet. Used from the 14th century. Frere in his translation (1872) of Aristophanes* THE FROGS says:

Keep

quiet

and

watch for a chance of a piece of the haslets*

hastary.

from

A

hasta,

spearman. spear.

Latin

Hence

hastarius,

hastal,

spear-

shaped (in natural histories of the 17th the scientific term today is century; hastate.)

hupooatic.

Observing,

or relating

to,

The on

placed a figure of of with finger silence, god mouth, at the entrance to their as

a

that the mysteries of not to be revealed to the

faasteler.

The

roasting-cook;

the

turn-

Latin hasta, spear; hastelaria (Late Latin), place where broaches were kept.

spit.

Alw

hastier; cp. haslet; hastlet.

hmstelet.

See haslet

And

cp. hastlet.

hastlet

haveour

A preparation of fruit. The word

hastlet.

diminutive haustellum of Latin haustrum,

a form of haslet, q.v. f and so listed in the O.E.D. THE FORME OF CURY (IS90)

in

the recipe: Take fyges iquarterid; raysons hool, dates and almandes hool:

the

is

gives

and ryne hem on a spyt [from which the delicacy takes its name], and roost hem; and endore hem as pome dorryes, and serve hem forth. Endore has no relation to the witch as

also

means means

but (en, in

+

d*or, of gold;

pome

dorryes, golden apples) to gild. As a term in cookery, it to make shiny, as pie-crust with

the yolk of egg.

An

hatchment.

escutcheon; especially, a

square or diamond-shaped background on which are the armorial bearings of a dead person, often placed on his former home. The word is a shortened variant form of achievement, which also once had this

Shakespeare in HAMLET trophee, sword, or hatch(1602) ment a' re his bones. It was also used sense.

special

has

No

figuratively, as in

IAN

(1614):

John

mud

of corruption.

An

haut.

early

Cp. haulte.

form

of haught, haughty. in the late

The gh was added

16th century, under the influence of Saxon words with gh. The h was added in Old French, under the influence of German hoch, high. The word is from Latin altum, high. In English haut was a noun (ORDER OF CRYSTEN MEN, 1502: the soverayne hautes of heven) , a verb (ARTHUR, 1400: He daunted the proude

and hawted the poure) and an adjective, as in Skelton's COLYN CLOUTE (WORKES; Thus eche of other Mother [gab1529) tone against the tother; Alas, The ble] they make me shoder. For in hoder moder The church is put in faulte, The prelates ben so haut ,

:

sword Stands

An early form of haughtyi see haut Also hautein f hawteyne, hauten, and

To

the like. Hautainesse, hautainety 9 hauty-

Fletcher's VAI-ENTIN-

naked

My

machine for drawing water. T, Adams A SERMON ON LUKE (1650) spoke of men with an avarous hausture to lick up

a

but a hatchment by me, only held shew I was a soldier.

hautain.

nete* haughtiness, arrogance. Hautain was (15th century) used to mean cour-

also

hauberk.

See smotherlich.

An

early variant of haughty. Cp* haut Elyot in THE BOKE NAMED THE GOVERNOUR (1531) said: Yet is not majestie

haulte.

alwaye in haulte or fierce countenaunce, nor in speche outragious or arrogant^ but . in honourable and sobre demeanure . .

hausture.

The

action of sucking in* Latin

draw up, drink in; whence also, exhausted- Hence also (16th and 17th centuries) to haust, to draw in, haurire, haustum, to

drink up. A hamt, a draught. W. Watson, in QUODLIBETS (100) : To drinhe up the

Thames

at a

hamt

(haustel-

whan I

preche, I peyne

hauteyn speche. Also

me

to

han an

literally high, high-

Chaucer in THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN says: Ne gentil hawtein faucoun flying;

heroner. havel.

See javeL

iiavelon.

Double-dealing; guile; doubling fox. Used in the 14th

on one's tracks, as a and 15th centuries;

also havyloune,

ham-

Langland in PIERS PLOWMAN (1B77) denounced those that useth these havelounes to blende [confuse] mennes wittes. Ion.

adapted for sucking, haveour. used in entomology; It is from the 525

lous, haustellated) is

haustellate

ageous; also loud. Chaucer in THE PARBONER'S TALE (1586) says: In churches

,

See hamour.

hebe

haviour

The

haviour* property; nally

fact of having, possession;

behaviour. Origi-

deportment, then (15th century) avoir, from the French. Association

aver,

directly

with English have added the h f and the forms haviour, havour, haveour (which Spenser used five times) developed by 1500. Then the word was associated with behave, and by 1600 haviour had come

mean

to

the

one's bearing, deportment. Then of possessing grew obsolete;

sense

then (by the 18th century) haviour was THE replaced by behaviour. Caxton In

GAME AND FLAY OF THE GHESSE (1474) dl Ms havior and he put

He

Says: it

on

a ship.

See lock.

heartbreaker.

The kingdom of heaven; heaven as the abode of the blessed. AngloSaxon heofona rice, kingdom of the heavens. (German Reich, kingdom.) Also

heavenric.

hcavenrick, heovenryke. Used 15th century. In THE LAND OF (13th century) heavenriche

is

into

the

COCKAYNE

used for the

sky.

The number seven; a group Greek hebdomas, hebdomad-, seven. Hence: a week; also, the seven superhuman beings of some gnostic syshebdomad. of

seven.

tems. Thus hebdomadal, consisting of, relating to, or lasting seven days; by ex-

fences. Also heybote;

changing every week, fickle, hebdomary, ebdomary, hebdomadary, heb~ domaiical, hebdomadic, weekly; pertaining to the days of the week. [The first three

see heydeguyes.

of these forms, in the

hay.

tension,

See heydeguyes*

haybote.

Wood

or brush for repairing

from hay, a hedge; Aim, the right to take

wood from the landlord's estate or from the common. In legal writing, espesuch

16th century, the allowance called hedge-bote* Such wood was included among a tenant's estovers, cially after the

wood

of

is

q#.

haywaxd.

An

officer

of a manor, town-

ship, or parish, in enclosures, to keep cattle

through

(from

the

Hay have

to

clif

-f

common)

into en-

ward, guardian. Also The post seems

into the 19th century, Wywrote; The . . . makede

km Is

of fences and from breaking

of

the

world.

however, that the hay herelntended not the for fodder but the hedge;

see fceaL

See hele.

of a

The secondary

tit, says G. ColBROAD GRINS (1802), From London jogs hebdomadally down And rusticates in London out of town. Southey in THE DOCTOR (18S7) referred to the hebdomadj which profound philosophers have

offices,]

man

In

pronounced

to

be

...

a motherless as

well as a virgin mother.

"The

hebe.

first

the genital parts;

hair appearing about also the parts them-

but more especially the time of at which it first appears." So Bailey, youth, 1751. From Hebe (two syllables), Greek selves;

goddess of youth and spring. Since she is pictured as the cup-bearer on Olympus, kebe came also to mean a barmaid, a waitress.

violet

See

Catholic

member

chapter, In a monastery or convent, who takes weekly turn in performing the sacred

woman of dder.

Roman

Church, are applied to a

and

Likewise,

an

attractive

young

(whether waitress or no) eyes,

fill

Tennyson admired

.

Her

(1842),

her hebe bloom. Beauty being

hele

hebenon by

no means allied with sluggishness, is no relation between Greek Hebe

there

and Latin hebes,

blunt, dull; cp. hebeta-

may be used

tion;

note that hebetic

mean

relating to puberty.

to

hebenon. A substance with a poisonous Gower (hebenm), juice, mentioned by Marlowe (in THE JEW OF MALTA, 1592),

and Shakespeare, as in HAMLET (1602), where the late King's ghost explains: Upon my secure bower thy Uncle stole With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial.

The Quartos

spell

it

hebona; also hebon.

Various conjectures German eibenbaum, the yew; ebon, ebony; henbane have failed to fix the substance.

The

hebetation.

act of making, or the

fact of being, dull or blunt. latin hebes, hebetis, dull; hebere, to be dull, slu^ish.

Cp.

hebetate, to or to be dull or blunt; used in the

hebe.

make

Hence English

16th and into the 19th century. In the 16th century hebete was also used as a verb, to

make

dull;

hebescate, to

grow

dull or blunt Also hebetant,

making dull. Both hebetate and hebete were also used as adjectives

meaning

(translator

gerald

dull, sluggish; Fitz-

the RUBAIYAT

of

of

Omar Khayyam) wrote In a letter of 1840: / am becoming more hebete every hour. The 19th century chose more elaborate forms; hebetize, to

make

dull; hebe-

tude, used in the 17th century for dullness, slu^ishness, lethargy, became in the

19th hebetudinosity; Leigh Hunt, in THE INDICATOR (No. 37, 1820) used the adjective:

dull,

hebetude. heder.

uninformed, hebetudinous. See hebetation.

A male sheep;

especially

female was called the sheder. Spenser has, THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; SEPTEMBER) He would have devoured both in

:

hidder and shidder, explaining in the gloss lie and she, male and female/

one from

general term for animal; Anglo-Saxon dear, wild animal; German Tier. The

The ivy

(Latin

hedera) was sacred to Bacchus, and often worn in garlands or wreaths. Several English words are from the Latin root*

hederaceous, hederal, hederiferons, hederiform (accent on the first syllable) are

botanical

mainly

terms;

hederated

are ivy) and hederigerant in THOUGHTS IN poetic. Thus M. Collins MY GARDEN (1876) says: Nymphs hederi-

(crowned with

These are gerant, Wine thafs refrigerant, the joy of poets and gods. See hay bate.

hedge-bote. hedgepiiest.

An

illiterate priest.

A

con-

temptuous term of the 16th and 17th turies; Green in his SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1874) harked back to the whole

cen-

body of the clergy, from Pope priest But cp. patrico.

to hedge-

A

sweetening for medicine. hedysmata; the word is from Greek hedys> sweet It is in Bailey's wo* TIONARY (1751) . Although ignored by the O.E.D. (1933) it would have tempted the

hedysma.

The

plural

knew

is

talent

rhyming

of

W.

S.

Gilbert,

who

that one must always gild the phil-

osophic pilL heerdis.

heete. hegira. hele.

about eight months to the first shearing. From he -f- deer, which originally was the

Ivy-bearing.

hederigerant.

See suckeny. See hight. See anno.

To

hide,

keep

secret;

to

cover,

cover in; to keep silent The Aryan root is kel, as in Latin celaref to hide; conceal;

occult Also heal; kelian, heh hell Hence the abode of the dead, hell* the coverer

up. Gaxton in his translation

(1483)

of

hempseed

hell

THE GOLDEN LEGEND: But the prcest alwey heled his synne* BOLD BURNET'S DAUGHTER, a 17th century ballad, has the lines: Although I would heal it never so well, OUT

God above

does see.

Hence

also he.lt, con-

cealment; heler, healer, heeler* a person or thing that hides or covers up; figura-

The eyelids are of the eyes; proverbially, of a

tively In the 14th century:

the

helm

The

receiver of ill-gotten goods: as bad as the stealer*

hellebore.

Alsatia, a sanctuary or hideout for criminals; an Alsatian, a criminal in sanctuary helo fellow blushes when or hiding.] he says Hello.

A

helobious.

Palustrine,

dwelling in

marshes. Greek helos, marsh -f bios, living. From the 18th century helodes has

The bullfrog Is helobious, Its habithe marsh. To feel it wakens phobias; often Its love notes, rudely harsh.

fever.

A

plant

also, the

;

From

precinct of the White Friars in London, sanctuary for debtors and criminals; hence

been an adjective meaning swampy; also, as a noun, a medical term for swamp

See barleybreak; hele.

hell.

rose)

helefs

was in 17th and 18th century slang the

ancient

(e.g.,

the Christmas

drug extracted therefrom. days its medicinal and

poisonous properties were known; in medieval and Eliza!>ethan times it was

tat,

We

wonder how

frog,

You

fascinate the cow-

frog.

derivative terms, such as kelleborate, pre-

hemerology. A day-book, a calendar. Greek hemera, day + logos, word, account. Used In the 17th century. Also hemerologe,

pared with hellebore; hdleboric, relating

hemerologium. Hence ephemeral

highly esteemed as a cure for madness. So popular was it that the O.E.D. lists 15

to

it;

helleborose, helleborons, full of, or

related to, Sit

it,

J

am

W. Hamilton

who would be

represented, protested

as late as 1856, as

took

etebre,

madman The name

helleborised as a

for harbouring the absurdity. itself

one

many

forms*

hcllcbarus,

cltvrc,

among them helleboraster,

hempseed.

The

seed of the

hempseed with my

for hlleb@T than for theological conin 18S0 Scott (BEMONOLOGY) viction;

mow. From the

:

Who

shall

fit

preference beta.

is

for Insulin.

shamefaced. Also helcaot

Bashful;

Used

IE the 17th century, lingIn dialect. SfaadweE In THE SQUIRE

or ALSAHA

has a character urge: to my, get the response: 1 am I am mh&med. [Alsatia, in addi-

her, 1 jfo

to

no-nun's land, debatable France and Germany,

plant,

and for magic brews, folk used it in other ways to reveal the future as pictured in This Gay's THE SHEPHERD'S WEEK (1714)

helleboiy. Bishop Hall In THE INVISIBLE WORLD (1652) said: These errors are more

of wretches fitter for a course of for the stake. Today the

hemp

used for prophecy. Besides employing it for fumigation (smoke whirls, within which the powers of darkness appeared)

hemp

my

-virgin

hand I sow,

true-love be, the crop shall fact that the fibres of

are used to

make

rope,

pressions developed. Thus a graceless boy, an 18th

many

ex-

young hemp,

century juvenile delinquent. In the 16th century, hempstring,

stretchhempf a gallows-bird; hemp-

seed, a fellow

fit for hanging. Southey in 1843 used hernpstretch of a person hanged. Cp. honeysuckle. Thus hemp-sick, arrested for a capital crime; then one dies of a hempen fever. Shakespeare in HENRY

iv,

PART TWO (1597) has: Do, do, thou

rogue; do, thou hempseed.

henbane

here

A

1579: His harmful hatchet he hent in hand) and by Shakespeare (THE WINTER'S

henbane. plant, with dull yellow flowers streaked with purple. Its narcotic and poisonous properties are acknowl-

TALE, 1611: Jog on, jog on, the footpath way, And merrily hent the stile-a) . The

edged in the O.E.D.; the poison is hyoscyamine. Mixed with like sinister herbs

and the blood of

bats,

word was very common from the 10th to the 17th century, and developed further meanings: to lay hold of and take away; to seize; to strike; to meet with, to ex-

henbane was long

used to make a murky incense for summoning the powers of darkness. It was also called hennebone and, more pleasantly, henbelL The Water Poet in his PRAISE OF

courage)

HEMPSEED (q.v.; 16BO) limits its power; ATo cockle, darnel, henbane, tare or nettle

hand, to undertake; to hent one's way, to go. Also as nouns, hent, henting, the

Neere where

act of seizing; grasp, apprehension. A henter (Chaucer) one who grasps. Chaucer also uses the verb of a man who took

it is

can prosper, spring, or

settle.

hend.

At hand; handy;

skilful

with the

by the Hth hend was applied con-

an adverb,

also as a verb,

meaning

to

hold in the hand, to grasp, as in Spenser's THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) As if that it !

she would in pieces rend, Or reave out of the hand that did it hend. The word is related, in origin as well as

hand.

It

meaning, to

developed other forms: henden,

near; hendly, hendily, courteously, gently; hendness, hendiness, hendship, courtesy, gentleness; hendy, with the various mean-

ings of hend, from handy to polite. Note that hend, hende are also old forms for the plural of hand. For a more active form of the verb hend, see hent.

To

Old English han, stone, whence also hone. Used from the I Oth to the Hth century; THE LEGEND OF THE ROOD (1300) tells of a man they ladde without the toun, and henede him with hene.

stone.

tohene

stones, Cp.

hent.

(heart,

in

(upon)

to perceive.

for good purpose; in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) we read: ,

All that he mighte of his friendes hente,

On bookes and his lernynge he it spente* For another quotation, see gargat

ventionally, as a term of courtesy, to persons of quality. The same form was used as

up

To hent

;

,

hands; clever; gentle, courteous, comely. A very common word from the I Oth century,

perience; to arrive at; to pluck

To

(to-).

lay hold of, to catch, to grasp.

In this basic sense the word

by Spenser

is

used both

heptachord.

See scolion*

An armed host;

here.

hence, a multitude.

A common

Teuton word, with root har, war, whence also to harry; harbor (originally,

army shelter) harbinger (also army shelter, then an official ;

originally,

going ahead of the king to arrange lodgings) Also haere, her, heere. In the more .

general sense,

we read

in the 14th cen-

tury KYNG ALYSAUNDER that tygres, olyfaunz [elephants] and beres Comen flynge with grete heres. Many compounds were formed from here, used in Old and Middle English; among them: hereburne, a coat of mail; heredring a warrior; here-

fengr booty; heregang, an invasion, also herefare (used by 17th century antiquaries) ; heregeld, army tax, especially, the

paid to the Danish host, also herey eld; herekempe, a warrior; heretribute

heret&ga, an army here(German Herzog, duke) weeds, armor. Oddly enough, here was

marke, leader

(THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR, 329

a standard;

;

hership

heredipety

an adjective (BEOWULF

also

meaning mild,

century)

to the

1

Legacy-hunting. latin here-

heredipety.

Hence heredipetous. Accent on

dium, legacy adjective,

5th

gentle, pleasant.

petere, to seek.

-f-

TIANITY

the

legacy hunting

is

read: Heredipety or inveighed again $t, in the

clergy specially. Today it may mark the man that marries a millionaire's daughter. lexicographer's sons-in-law are seldom

A

heredipetous. There

but coincidental

is

similarity to serendipity, q.v.

Word of praise;

hereword.

renown, glory.

English herian, to praise -f word. Used until the 14th century. Like-

hereworthf

Hence

mirable. in

common

worthy of

Hence

ad-

praise*

the verb hery, to praise,

from

use (Chaucer,, Spenser)

heriotage; heriotable, subject

The word was

to heriot.

applied to

to present a slave by

way

of heriot to the

king. (1)

A

corner, nook, hiding-place.

Old English hyrne,

corner,

angle;

Old

Teutonic form hurnjon, whence horn. Hence hirmtone, cornerstone. Also him, hyrne, heorne, heryn, and more. (2) An old or poetic form of heron; also herne.

An

(3)

old or dialect form of hers (corWyclif in his

rect in the 14th century)

7S5 into the 17th century.

later

payments in other places; for example, in Guinea (18th century) the eldest son was sole heir, but was obliged similar

hern.

From Old wise

q.v. like.

we

(1855)

similar payment was the herey eld, Also harlot, haryotte, heriet, and the

the

the

Milman's HISTORY OF LATIN CHRIS-

dip. In

lord of the best living beast of the dead sum of money usually was given instead of the beast. In Scotland vassal; later, a fixed

BIBLE

(1388;

KINGS,

;

BOOK TWO)

WTOte:

'The yield to the here. Also

Restore thou to hir alle thingis that ben hern. Hern, a corner, lasted from the 9th

herield, herezeld, hyrald, herrezeld; actually, a variant of heregeld; see here.

to the 19th century; Chaucer in the Prologue tO THE CANON YEOMAN'S TALE (1386)

In

hercyeld.

Scotland,

equivalent

to

1

heriot, q.v.

hereyesterday. The day before yesterday. Probably a corruption of ereyesterday. Used in the 17th century.

See

feerklde.

stillicide.

speaks of lurkynge in hernes

hemshaw. hexship.

Hence horigaut.

men

An upper garment, worn by women in the 13th and

14th centuries. Also herlle*

Pertaining

kerygoud. to

a

master.

Latin

properly erus, master of the house,

lord.

Hentity, In

Old

English, heriot meant equlpinent, from here, army -f In times it came

to etc.}

of

Ms

in lanes

See handsaw. Harrying, plundering; a raid. the result of harry-

ruin, distress

ing; also, booty, plunder, especially cattle

Old English here, q.v., army; Old Norse herskapr, harrying (sk was pronounced sh, as in ski) Used from the 14th through the 17th cendriven

off.

kerja, to harry;

.

tury;

mastery, mastership.

and

blynde.

too common, especially along the

Scotch border. It was revived by Scott in WAVERLEY (1814): the committing of divers thefts, reifo,

men

oj the

and herships upon the honest

Low

Country. In a note in

military equipment (hone, to a lord on the death

THE HEART OF MmtoTHiAN four years later, Scott states that her'ship may be said to

then, the yielding to the

be now obsolete; because, fortunately, the

,

hery

heydeguyes

armed force/

practice of 'plundering by

which is its meaning, does not require to be commonly spoken of. On a larger scale, under other names, die practice continues.

do

hest) , the word was used by Garlyle others. Hest comes from Old Teutonic

my

and

See herein ord.

hery.

your hest to say so. Revived by Scott (THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN, 1818: Christian or heathen* you shall swear to

/ have broke

upon by name, whence

haitan, to call

also

Hesperian. Relating to the west (the ancient Greeks meant Italy; the Romans

developed the transposed meaning of vow, promise (close to modern

meant Spain)

behest) ; also, by a misunderstanding of the first sense, hest was used to mean will,

to the place where the sun ; the land of the evening star. Greek Hesperia, the land of the west; Hesperus, sets,

the evening the nymphs tale)

,

star. (3, 4,

daughters

Hesperides were

purpose, determination, as in Dunbar's POEMS (1520) He handled her as he had

or

according to the

hest

7,

of Hesperus.

With

a

the Blest, beyond the Pillars of Hercules at the western edge of the world. Ruskin

MODERN PAINTERS

names four

(I860)

Hesperides: Aegle, Brightness; Erytheia, Blushing; Hestia, Spirit of the hearth;

Arethusa, Ministering. ans,

It

q.v.

The

never-sleeping dragon, they guarded the tree of the golden apples in the Isles of

in

hight,

Hesperides came

From

the guardito be used for the

:

and in

Swallowing

Hence

Carlyle's CROMWELL (1845) : in silence as his hest was,

as a verb, to hest, to

command;

to

promise. text. kexist.

When est.

variant form of highest. Also in the medieval proverb:

Found

hext, boot is next; a little bale is highestf boot is nighSackville differs, in lament at the fall

later:

of

A

bale

is

When in

Troy

O

A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES is no boot

Troy, Troy, there

garden, the Isles of the Blest, the Fortunate Islands; hence, a golden land of

(1 563):

promise, of beauty and happiness, in the unreached west. Go west, young man! Shakespeare in PERICLES (1608) used the

heydeguyes. A 16th and 1 7th century country dance, a variation of the hay. Perhaps the hay of Guy or Guise; there

word

as singular, referring to Antiochus"

See where she come$> appareled like the spring! Before thee stands this

but bale.

was also a 15th century French dance

daughter

known

fair Hesperides, With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch* d. Hence hesperian,

forms that

the German hay, haye d*clAlso lemaigne. haydeguy* heyday guise, hydegy, hydaygies, and a number of other

hesperidian, hesperidean, relating to the fortunate islands, idyllic, wonderful. Ref-

in

erences to the story were very common in the 1 6th and 17th centuries; Milton uses

traces.

it

several

times,

e.g.,

in

COMUS

(1654)

warningly: Beauty like the fair hesperian tree Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard best.

word, in

attest its popularity.

Spenser

THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) goes With heydeguyes, and trimly trodden In addition to the

meaning

of

mown

grass,

still

current

hey (hay) meant

other (1) a net for catching rabbits and small game; (2) a hedge; especially one

A common

erected, not grown, sometimes ailed dead hey as opposed to the quick hej, a hedge of living bushes or trees; (3) a serpentine

into 17th century. Shakespeare,

country dance. Hogarth in THE ANALYSIS

Of dragon-watch.

Bidding, I Oth

as

command.

THE TEMPEST (1610),

has:

O my father.

OF BEAUTY (1753)

said:

One

of the most

hickock

hierapicra

pleasing movements in country dancing is

what they

it,

altogether,

call 'the hay': the figure of is

a cypher of S*$f or a

num-

ber of serpentine lines interlacing or intcruolving each other. Hay was also an

paid in lieu of a English hide, skin + geld, gyld, money. Also hidegeld, hydegild. See hide for another use of the word. hidels.

opponent; in Latin the cry was habet, he has it, when a gladiator was struck. Hence

secret.

(in fencing)

on

home- thrust; Shakespeare in ROMEO AND JULIET (1592) cries: Ah the immortal! passado f the punto revcrso, the hay. hay, a

An

hlckock.

early variant of hiccough 9

hiccup. Also hicket, hitchcock,

Donne

in

POLYDOROX (1631)

and more.

said;

Laugh-

A

in hidel

owne

tatke.

See heder*

bidder.

A

hidduous* 1

variant

form of hideous;

besay in THE MOSARCHE (155S) told that fore the Flood The waiter was so strong

fyne They wold nocht lauboui to wyne, and recorded that when God struck the workers

on

the tower of Babel

with confusion of tongues* the schaddow

was already

of long.

[Query:

How

long

is

six

the

shadow of a foot-high bush at break of day?] Note the apparent sound of the word a pronunciation still on lips.

The

rich nasal clangor

secretly; hideling, a

To

hield.

into the 12th century: the adequate for a free family

dependents; roughly, as much as be tilled with one plough in a year

Its

(by

measures, 120 acres of arable

Hence, a tax

hidejpld* hidMge, land. But see

on a hide of

person given to secrecy

bend; to slope; to

bow

to, to

bend one's course; to turn aside; also, to bend toward, to incline to, to favor. Used literally or submit; to sink, decline, fall; to

from the 9th to the

century. Also used transitively:

to

16th

bend

something; to pour out (by tilting the container) this too was used figuratively, ;

as to hield his wrath.

The word

hield was

likewise used as a noun,

meaning a slope, on held? in a bent-over posture. Hence, figuratively, an inclination; also, a decline, as in Nashe's LENTEN STUFFE (1599) His purse is on the heild. Among an

incline;

:

other spellings of this common word were heald, heeldf helde, hulde, heel (in nautical use,

as

when

over) As the twig ,

is lost,

of land, used in Saxon

being

or concealment.

a ship inclines, is hielt

.

.

heels

.

A

bitter purgative. Greek pikra, bitter. Also hickerypickery, higry-pigry, and the like. Hierapicra has the accent on the first syllable,

hierapicra.

A

hide.

use, hidels

Also hudles, hydels, hydeles, and the like; the same without s. Also hidel-like,

figuratively,

6th century, Northern and Scotch. Lynd-

came into

erroneously taken as a plural. The phrase but hidel meant without hiding, openly.

ter is the hichock of a foolish spleen, but

he notes himself e judicious, or stupid, that changeth not his countenance upon his

hiding-place. In hidels, in from 10th to I5th cen-

Common

In the 14th century the forms hidel

tury.

and

fine

From Old

ging.

hitting an

exclamation

A

hidegild.

hiera, sacred

-f-

pronounced high.

It

was used from the

14th into the 18th century; used figuratively also, as in a sermon (1639) by Bishop Ward: There is too much of this bitter zeal, of this hierapicra in all books of controversies.

our

hierde

himpnes

An

hierde.

But the of them was to a damsel hight sad steel seiz'd not, where it was hight. As a noun, hight had the same meanings

old form for herdsman. Also

.

hierde ssf shepherdess. hieroinancy.

See aeromancy.

command; a promise, a vow. But hight (from hie) meant exertion, haste; and (from Old Teutonic hycgan, to hope) meant hope, glad expectation, also

In the phrase sworn at Highput through a ludicrous rituaL Highgate was a spot on a hill, on the north road to London, where about 1600 a gate

Highgate.

These two forms (haste; joy) were common, lasting from the 10th scarcely beyond the mid- 1 3th century. Hight was also an early \ arlant spelling of height. With these nouns were verbal meanings: joy. less

was erected, for the collection of a toll for the Bishop of London. Taverns naturally were opened nearby; at these, it beto require

f

an oath of

that stopped there before London. The traveler was sworn

all

of horns fastened to a stick

hight, to hope, to rejoice, to exult; by transference, to adorn, beautify, set off. Hence highter> an embellisher. Also

entering on a pair

that

is,

on

pain of cuckoldry never to kiss the maid when he could kiss the mistress; never to eat

(14th

higktle

brown bread when he could get white; when he could

journey.

get strong. [Cp. small beer.] Then he was fit to be trusted in the big city.

higra.

named.

Called,

Thus

15th

centuries)

to

,

See eagre; agar.

higry-plgry.

See hierapicra.

hilasmic.

Greek hilasmos, Used In the 19th century.

Sidney

Even he, the King of glory hight. This form has survived, poetic or archaic, (1580)

and

adorn; hightly (llth to 13 century) , hopeful, joyous; delightful. We had a hightly

never to drink small beer

hight.

.

as hest: a

gate,

came the custom

.

:

SALMAGUNDI PAPERS (1808): A little pest> hight Tommy Moore. From Old English haitan (cp. hest) f this was one of the commonest verbs from the 8th

Propitiatory.

propitiation.

as in Irving's

less;

Something or someone worthapplied to a beast (as a horse) a

man

or

hilding.

,

commonly) a woman. Perto bend is from hield (q*v>} haps hilding down, to turn waywardly. Shakespeare uses the word In ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1601) In CYMBEUNE: A base slave, (less

,

to the 15th century; forms still survive in dialects. It

meant

to

command,

bid; call,

(by name), name. It was also used in the phrase I hicht, I assure

summon;

call

had many forms. In the present Chaucer in THE MAN OF LAW'S TALE (I $86) To I In God heete. the tense, heht, grete past you. It

tense, hat, hot> hihtf hightf hete;

:

heycht, hight,

hahte, keet, heitte;

,

a hilding for a liveryf a squire's cloth; in ROMEO AND JUOET: Out on herf hilding;

and

TWO had

an adjective In HENRY rv, PART (1597) : Some Melding fellow, that stolne The horse he rode on. as

hole

(by error; Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR, 1579) i A shepheard trewe, yet not 50 true as he that earst I hote. Spenser also uses the word (archaic by his time) in senses not elsewhere found: THE SHEP-

HERD'S CALENDAR, Say it out, Diggon, whatever it hight; THE FAERIE QUEENED Charge

himpnes,

A variant

of hymns. Gascoigne

In CERTAIN NOTES OF INSTRUCTION

(1575)

wrote that the most frequent verse form . alof his day, the ponlter*$ measure . *

though yet in

it

be nowadays used in

333

theames,

it would serve best and himpnes. Poultefs meas-

my judgement

for psalmes

all

hind

hippocras

was a rhymed couplet, an Alexandrine (12 syllables) followed by a fourteener. Its name was drawn from the practice of the poulter (poultryman) of giving two re

extra eggs with the second dozen. Cp. bak^fs dozen. For an example of poultefs measure, sec appere. The fourteener

was coined in the 18th century, modeled on helpmeet, a spouse. Helpmeet, however, is the result of a misreading, a running together, of two words in THE BIBLE, GENESIS: an help meet (suitable) for him,

meaning

Eve.]

harmful

tive,

Thus hindersome,

obstruc-

(from the 16th century)

;

rhymed couplet, broken into lines of four and three feet (thus with the rhyme in the second and fourth lines) became the

hinderyeap, cunning, deceitful (llth and 12th centuries) ; hinderjul, impious, evil (13th to 16th century) . A hinderling, a

common

mean

"short meter" of the metrical

renewed OF THE RIME ANCIENT in Coleridge's (1798)

psalms and the popular

ballads,

MARINER. Sternliold's metrical version of

or degenerate person; also

19 of tht Bible PSALMS

(1547; all the popularized the form, but

PSALMS, 1562) his

by

monotonous iambics with many

monosyllables And with my myce upon the lorde I do both cal and crye, And he

out of Ms holy hyl Doth heare me by and by contributed to the later quest of more varied diction,

hippocampus. feet

In addition to

its still

current uses

(noun: the female of the deer; adjective, posterior, as the kind quarters), hind, earlier

Mne meant f

a servant, especially

a farm servant; hence, a rustic, a boor. of the noun. Shakespeare uses all In AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) Touchstone proves he can ring the rhymes on Rosalind

For c

Let

taste: If a h&rt

do lack & hind*

out Rosalind; servant in the

WIVES OF WINDSOR;

play

rustic in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST ivf

FART ONE. The use as

In Milton

m

rustic also occurs

and Jensen* who in

(1645)

MAN OUT OF

and HENRY

HIS

HUMOUR

(1599) pro-

a prick-car* d hine

Why

speaks of a

spouse

who

is

a

Ai-

In his COMMONPLACE BOOK (1845)

Thm me in

a$

[Helpmate

tail,

two fore

such as drew

'stately'

Cheapside pageant

representing Neptune on a hippocampus, with his Tritons and Nereids. Greek hip4-

kampos, sea-monster. Also in MISS KILMANSEGG

hippocamp. Hood, AND HER SILVER LEG

(1840) finds the creature jovial: hearty as hippocampus.

The burning of a horse in The word is used in 19th cen-

hippocaust. sacrifice.

tury discussions of

"(east)

Indian practice.

A

cordial, of spiced wine. This hippooras. was a very popular drink, 14th to 17th century. The word is a corruption of

Hippocrates,

name

of "the father of medi-

Greek physician of the 5th-4th century B.C., whose ethical code is the basis

cine,"

of the Hippocratic oath taken by doctors today. Chaucer uses hippocras of the doctor

himself,

saying in THE DETHE OF that no physician can

(1S69)

Noght ypocras, ne Galyen. The for this drink was strained through a

heal,

A

seahorse, with

the chariots of the sea-gods. In a letter of 1606, Drummond of Hawthornden

BLAUNCHE

Be

A

and a dolphin's

pos, horse

hind.

(llth

century) on hinderling, hindforth, backwards; (19th century) hinderlings, buttocks, as in Scott's ROB ROY (1818).

wine

doth

oiled hippocras bag or hippocras sleeve. Chaucer in THE MERCHANT'S TALE (1386) says; He drynketh ypocras clarree and

hiren

hippocrene uernagv corage; :

(1600)

Of spices hote tencreesen his Heywood In EDWARD iv, PART ONE WJle take the tankards from the

conduit-cocks

To

with

fill

ipocras

and

drinke carouse. There seems no reason why the drink should not be popular:

Take of cinamon 2 oz., of ginger oz., of them grosse, grains J oz. Punne [pound] and put them into a pottle [2 quarts] of claret or white wine, with

good

Relating to the urine of horses.

hippuric.

Greek hippos, horse -f ouron, urine. For an illustration of its use, see hircine. See

Mrcicide. hircine*

some when

hircine,

of sugar; in night at the least, close covered bottle of glasse, pewter, or stone; and

See peridrome.

hippodrome.

half a a

let all steep together,

pound

hippotame, an early form of hippopotamus.

stillicide.

Latin

Goat-like.

hircnsy

Also hirdc, relating to a goat. hircinous,

are

hircose

goat.

The forms used

es-

a thinne linen

the goat-smell, pecially in connection with rank; by extension, lewd, lustful. Hence

cloath or a piece of a boulter over the mouth of the bottle, and let so much run

lustfulness. rankness; They hircosity, stinken as a goat, says Chaucer in THE

through as you will drink at that time, keeping the rest close, for so it will keep

YEOMAN'S TALE (1S86); Wanton

you would occupy

both the

spirit,

wine and

spices.

it,

cast

odor, and virtue of the Next rainy day would be

a good time to occupy

hippocrene. The fountain of inspiration; the draught that poets drink. Hippocrene it lowed (Greek, fountain of the horse; from a rock on Mt. Helicon where the

hoof of Pegasus struck) was the name of a fountain sacred to the Muses. O for a beaker^ cried Keats in the ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE (1820)

,

Full of the true, the

blushful hippocrene. to, or shaped a horseshoe. Greek hippos, horse +

Relating

Mppocrepian. like,

Also kippocrcpiform, still used in zoology. On many a field, in the season, men can be seen tossing krepis,

shoe.

balmy

horseshoes for the Mppocrepian

cham-

pionship.

hippodame.

A

horse-tamer

(1854)

described the bear as

or

trainer,

.

hagsf cent&urs, feendes, hippowith hippodames), confused the word with or perhaps camp (see hippocampus)

.

.

One day he

.

and bearable; another hippuric, and damnable.

quite beefy

A

hircocervus.

is

hircine,

creature out of medieval

natural history, supposedly half goat, half stag.

K.

Latin hircus, goat

W.

-f

cewus,

stag.

in CONFUSED CHARACTERS OF CON-

CEXTEJD COXCOMBS (1661; THE INFORMER) wrote: He's a dubfooted . . large-luggd caglc-ey'd hirc-ocervus, a me&rs chimera, .

one of the devils hiren.

A

siren

best boys.

to

woman; a prostitute.

hire:

A

a

transfer

seductive

from the

in Peele's lost play, The Turkish Mohamet and Hyrin the Fir GrarA (1594) ; Hyrin being a corruption seductive

woman

Irene, Greek Birene* In HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597): Shakespeare's down y dogs! Damn, faitors! H@t/e Down, we not Mren here?, the word may be a

of

Also Mppodamist (19th century) Spenser, however (THE FAERIE QUEENB, 1590: Infernall

EXPEDITION

most capricious meat

it.

as youth-

ful goats, says Shakespeare in HENRY rv, FART ONE (1597) . Kane in THE GRINNELL

the

name

name, parodying next words parody the "pampered jades of Asia" in Marlowe's

direct use of the proper

Peek, for

Pistol's

hogmanay

hispid

A

pudding made with

ingredients.

Shakespeare uses the

TAMBURLAINE (1587). T. Adam in THE SPIRITUAL NAVIGATOR (1615) said: There

hodgepudding.

be sirens in the sea of this world. Sirens? What Hirem, a$ they are now called .

word

figuratively, of the big-bellied Fal-

Staff,

in

.

a

number

atrices

.

of these sirens, hircns, cockin plaine English harlots,

...

swimme amongst

many

(1598)

bag of

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR Ford: What, a hodgepudding? a

:

hodge-razor.

Rough,

hispid.

Latin hispis,

bristly.

hairs.

figuratively, as

(1848)

in the

See kab nab. See peagoose.

hoddypeak.

hodermoder.

Confusion. See hody-moke.

A

mischievous

hobgoblin. hodgepokcr. Hodge was often used as a typical name for the English rustic; poker, one that annoys, hence the devil. Also hodgepocher. Florio (3598) lists, as the meaning of fistolor a hobgoblin, a hag, a sprite, a Cp. robingoodfellow, a hodgepocher.

hody-moke. Secrecy, concealment; hence intrigue; hence muddle, confusion, trouble.

one who keeps things secret; hence, This is one of a group of terms with the same meaning, from the

Also,

a hoarder, a miser.

secretly.

Speaking of Polonius, in Shake-

speare's

HAMLET

A

vegetables.

Also

stew of various meats and hotchpot*

hotch-potch,

form was hotchto mix -f pot. It was shale, hatch* pot, changed to hodge probably because of the wide use of the name Hodge to mean a earliest

,

the

King

says

have done but greenly In huggermugger to inter him. Hugger-mugger and hugger are also verbs, meaning to keep secret, to act or meet in a clandestine

manner, to act in a muddled way. (Hugger also,

in the 18th

pecially

in

and 19th centuries, esmeant a stocking Mary Charlton in THE

Scotland, foot.)

WIFE AND THE MISTRESS (1803) Spoke of someone who had saved a mort of money and behold, it was all hugger-muggered .

The

(1602)

We

without a

hodgepot*

hodgepot.

See hodgepot.

15th century: hudder-mudder, huckermoker, hokermoker; the form that has survived is hugger-mugger, sometimes shortened to hugger-mug. In hugger-mugger,

harsh and hispid law.

hobnob.

puft man?

his-

Used from the also 1 7th hispidity. Hence hispicentury; dulate, hispidulous, somewhat hispid. Used still in zoology and botany, the word has

pidem, with rough

been used

A

flax? Mistress Page:

us/

.

away.

hogmanay. also,

The

a gift given

day of the year; that day. Especially northern England, since last

on

farmer or couotryfellow in general. Hodge a nickname for Roger. Hence, hodgerx0r, a razor to sell to a greenhorn; hence

the 17th century. The children go from house to house, singing carols and crying

Cariyle used the term to mean something only to sell, a sham in his MISCOEL-

Hogmanay! hogmynae

is

ESSAYS

H&dge~mz@r$t in

all

DR.

PRANCIA) : conceivable kinds,

(1843; e

to oilier

marketed, which were never but only to be $oldF The

meanings of hodge-podge are

used. Cp. olio.

still

in Scotland

and

hagman heigh; hanganay; in

hope of a present.

A similar

custom had developed earlier in France, to the cry of Aguillanneuf! Note, however, that hogmoney was the name given, to the early 17th century coinage of the

Seiners

(now Bermudas) Isles: copper with a hog on the obverse.

pieces, silvered,

homager

iiogoo

Perhaps children there got hogmoney for hogmanay.

A high or piquant flavor;

hogoo.

be Hannibals; Greeks were not Trojans. The passage is a parody of well-known

a relish;

lines in Marlowe's TAMBURLAINE, FART n, where the conqueror Tamburlaine's chariot is drawn by captive kings: Holla, ye pampered jades of Asia. What! Can ye draw but twenty miles a dayf

a highly flavored dish. Also, a 'high* or putrescent flavor, an offensive taste or

a stench. Also hogo, hough goc,

smell,

how

go, huggo> and the like; corruptions French haut gout, high taste. Walton in THE COMPLEAT ANGLER (1653) favors garlic: of

holo.

See holethnos.

holor.

A

To

give the sawce a hogoe, let the dish be (into which you let the pike fal!)

rubbed with

Hogoo is also used figurain his play SIR Crowne, tively, by COURTLY NICE (1685) Lock up the women till they're musty; better they should have it.

:

served

its

racial

entire

whole,

Hence

integrity.

+

ethnos,

also ho! ethnic.

Greek

still

holoury, fornication.

race.

;

holp.

those with the key. holograph

own (ac-

on the

cent

He

Some

An

editions

Hence

holorie,

Chaucer in the WIFE

old past tense of help: helped.

rides well,

in

MACBETH

(1606)

:

And

holt.

A

copse, a grove.

Used from the

,

thetic languages.

holldam.

Old

as Latin

before us.

the expression of a whole phrase or complex idea by one word; also holophrastic, as in polysynoff)

I

his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him To his home

(adjective

hand; also holography, holophrasis

An

Used by Shakespeare

holocryptic, thoroughly secret, e.g., of a code or cipher that can be read only by

or noun), written entirely in one's

English via

became

OF BATH'S PROLOGUE (1386) has: Thou seyst that every holour wol her have.

Other compounds

current holocaust (kaustosf burnt)

r

lish pilgrim; cp. peregrine.

holes,

nation,

first

peregrinus became French pelegrin, Eng-

that has pre-

formed from holos include, in addition to the

form came into

this

French, and the

Also hokir. See bismer.

A primitive race,

The word is from MidGerman huorer, whorer; but High

the 15th century.

dle

a hogo, than their reputations.

holethnos.

a debauchee. Also

fornicator,

hulour, hullw, holour, holer, holyer (not to be confused with holier) , houlloure, and more. A common term, 13th through

as

hoker.

Cannibals should

pretentious ignorance:

8th

century

(BEOWULF),

the 16th

form of halidom,

of Shakespeare

use

q.v.

this

form.

in

the to

and 17th century use of holt

to

mean a wooded

early

often

which may have led

phrase holtis hie,

hill.

Scott differentiates,

THE WILD HUNTSMAN (17%) The timorous prey Scours moss and moor, and holt and hill Hence holtfclster, holtfeller, a in

:

woodcutter.

Used by grandiloquous Pistol, in HENRY rv, PAUT TWO (1598): Shall pack horses, and hoUmpampered jades of Asia, Which cannot go

hollowpampemL

but

Feeble.

miles a day, Compare with and with Cannibals, and Trojan Greeks? Shakespeare is playing on Pistol's thirty

Caesars,

homager. One that owes homage to a king or overlord; hence, an humble servant. Used figuratively, as by Shakespeare in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606): Thou blmkest Anthony, and that blood of thine Is Caesar's homag&r.

337

homuncle

horologe

A

homunclc.

diminutive man. Latin ho-

European

homo, man. From the 17th century; also humuncto, homuncule; komuncular, tiny. Max Beerdiminutive

munculus,

qar-;

Latin

Old

cams, dear;

Irish cara, friend; Lettish kars, lascivious.

of

wh became current in the century. The pronunciation hoor was common from the 17th century into

The

spelling

16th

bohra, with pedantic Inaccuracy, used the form homoncule to designate a jockey.

the 19th, persisting in dialects;

it

seems

a milder sound than the scornful hoar.

honeysuckle. In Shakespeare's day, honeysuckle was a name of the red clover;

hence

honeystalks

iv,

with hooris. Sometimes used as a general epithet of scorn or anger, as in GAMMER

Note that in HENRY

PART TWO, the Hostess uses honeysuckle

and honeyseed

for homicidal cide. Falstaff

GORTON'S NEEDLE (1575) the milk-pan she spied .

homo-

for

Throw the quean Throw me in

has said;

the channel!

throw thee in the chan-

I'll

Thou

Wilt

hornbook.

hoplite.

A

.

.

shape was called a battledore. Dekker uses the

The on

gxpedi-

Weapon 1751)

:

the

-f

of the

Greek chrism, anointing. Most

compounds with armed

literary

forgotten)

a

armed

one

force;

hopl&m&chy

forces; hence,

who armor.

The

form

the

horologe.

A

heavily

(10th

to

16th

see koTGwe* Indo-

horn on his head?

device for telling the time.

horometer;

horologium;

horology;

orloge^ orlegge, orlyge, horlege, horrelage,

and many more; common from the 14th

more

syllable; ch like k),

or in

of

Jaws;

are h@plarchyf

of heavily

ward with

Also

are zoological,

of arms,, by on the

Horn-Book; Shakespeare plays the cuckold's horn in LOVE'S LABOUR'S

Bailey,

as

satirically in his title (1609):

(1588) : Yes, yes, he teaches boyes the home-book: What is Ab spelled back-

arms.

of

anointing

word

Gull's

LOST

only with disappointment. Hey and the bent pia!

lor the piece of string

salve

A sheet of paper covered with

A

MAGAZINE (1851) said that the heavyarmed hoplitic angler^ as he m&y be

Ms

cat, in

'Ah, hore! out^

later, simpler form, as absey-book, q.v. a piece of varnished cardboard, from its

heavy-armed foot-soldier of

ancient Greece, Greek hoplon f piece of armor, heavy shield; weapon. FRASER'S

from

.

often the Lord's Prayer. Hence, an elementary presentation of a subject, an

Thou hempseed!

called,

Gyb, our

a thin strip of horn, mounted on wood with a projecting handle. On the paper were the alphabet, the ten digits, and

the King's! Ah, thou honeyseed rogue! Thou art a honeyseed, a man-quetteTf a .

.

See horowe.

horecop.

bastardly rogue!

Murder! Murder! Ah, thou honeysuckle villain! Wilt thou kill God's officers and

woman-queUer

:

thefe!' she cryed aloud.

in the channel; she retorts:

nel.

BIBLE (LUKE) of 1382 speaks of this which devouride his substaunce

thi son,

ANDRONICXJS;

(TITUS

1592) stalks of clover.

The

to the 17th century. Also applied to chanticleer, the cock, horloge of the dawn. Shakespeare in OTHELLO (1604) says: He'll

w&tch the horologe a double set stay awaie twice around the dock. The word is via Old French (without the h) and latin from Greek hora, time + logos, telling. Hence also horologer, horologist, clockmaker; announcer of the hours.

ssa

horowe

hortus

And more

horography, horologiography, the art of dials; a record of the hours; a

horrid,

description of timepieces. J. Smith in SELECTED DISCOURSES (1652) said: This

the hair

tury.

world indeed

and

is

age.

A

of the

a great horologe to itself, continually numbering out its own .

slanderous.

foul;

Chaucer in THE COMPLAINT OF MARS envyous

with

folke

horowe departen them

Thus

rere,

The more

alas.

Note

hoar,

oar,

hour,

horsebread.

whore.

DISE

horcop (meaning from whore + cop) was a com15th and 16th century term of abuse. Bristling.

LOST

imblazonrie,

Thus Milton

in PARA-

with

bright

and horrent arms;

figura-

(1667)

:

Inclosed

tively,

Carlyle in his MISCELLANY

TAIRE,

1829)

A

:

.

life

.

.

(VOL-

and chasms. Also, shuddering, horrified. A number of English words have come from Latin horrere, to bristle, to stand on end; to tremble; to shudder at; to

scorns to

A

"bread" of beans, bran, as a delicacy or a

supplementary food for horses. Like horsenow, horsebread was sometimes palmed off on humans; an English Guild

meat

regulation of 1467 required that non baker that shalle bake eny horsbrede, kepe any hostre [inn]. Jonson in EVERY MAN HIS HUMOUR (1599) cried: You threadbare, horsebread-eating rascals!

OUT OF

horrent with

asperities

(1593)

and other fodder, used

also that horecop,

horrent.

Cp. horrent. Latin horon end.

the hair stand

veterate antiquitie.

bastard;

mon

make

an old spelling of

q.v., is also

words:

syllable.

to

teach Gabriel Harvey (cp. bum; gallimaufry) the true use of words, as also how more inclinable verse is than prose, to dance after the horrizonant pipe of in-

,

several

fear.

See horrent

Nashe in STRANGE NEWES

(1374):

tongues

usual spellings were hory, horry, hooryf as the word is from Old English hore (hor, hoore) meaning filth, defilement.

But hore,

and

homsonant. Making a horrid sound. Also horrizonant; horrisonous; accents on the

of course, a viewing

is,

(of one's birth)

Filthy,

Somtyme

on end through

horripilation.

second

horowe.

horrible

is

horoscope

hour

are

that

including horrisonant, q.v., and horripilation, 'gooseflesh*; the standing of

making

horse-marine.

See hortus.

hortensian. hortulaii.

See marinorama.

See hortus.

most commonly, abhor. Also

dread

horre, to hate (15th

and 16th

centuries;

horrend, horrendous, terrible, frightening: E. Hooker in

supplanted by abhor)

hortus.

17th

;

editing (1683) John Pordage's THEOLOGICA MYSTICA exclaims upon damnings most

Latin, a garden. Hence (in the 18th centuries), a woman's

and

privy parts. Hortus siccus, an arranged collection of dried plants; also used figura-

blasphemies stupendous. Also horrescent,

tively, as by Gray in a letter (176S) to Wharton, speaking of Cambridge, where no events grow, though we preserve those

shuddering; horriferous, inducing horror; horrific, causing horror: Urquhart in his

of former days by way of hortus siccus in our libraries. In the 16th and 17th

dreadful

Rabelais

.

.

.

(169$)

execrations

has:

Now

horrendous,

you

have

centuries, the

word orchard was sometimes

heard a beginning of the horrifick history. Also honing, abhorrence; horrious, caus-

(pedantically) altered to hortyard. Other English words from hortus are hortal, cul-

ing horror; both used in the 16th cen-

tivated

339

(of flowers, as

opposed to wild;

hullur

hortyard also figuratively)

horticolous,

;

ortolan

the

growing in

the

Italian)

garden; hortulan, hortensial, hortensian, relating or belonging to a garden. This makes conhorticulture!

siderable

God Almighty

first

planted

,

because

Perhaps

human

the purest of

still

(via

a garden

pleasures.

16th and 17th century spellhortyard. as though from Latin of orchard, ing hortus. See kortus. Orchard was Old Engortyeard, later orceard; by 1200 orchard. North (1580) in his Plutarch spoke of pety larceny, as robbing mens lish

horteyardes and gardens of fruite. Hospitaiy.

hostelity.

hostel,

except for hikers, has replaced by hotel, Hostelity hostel,

mistaken

sometimes

(as

it

been is

an inn; largely

not to be

might)

for

hostility.

hotchpotch. hothouse,

See hodgepot. Originally

WELL MEN

(151!) spoke of bordelles, tauernes, sellers^ and hotc houses dissolutef there as

is commytted so many korryblc As this synnes. quotation shows, the word soon came to mean a brothel, as in Shakespeare's MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1603) wherein Mistress Overdone professes a

hot homet which I think too.

a very ill house hothouse, for strawberries*

The

flowers,

and the

is

came

like,

into use in

As a noun: a

secrated

or

Gothic

form was

Sanskrit cwanta? tranquil.

was borrowed from Old Engfor the Christian use. Earlier as a

noun, 10

the con-

Communion; the Old English husl; the prc-Teutonic

Hie lish

sacrifice;

of the Eucharist.

it

[Lustra-

tion, a cleansing; Latin lustrare, lustratum, to purify, from luere, lustrum, to wash, whence also English lustrum; see lustre.]

In the ballad of

says

'A

'Me

Aldingar,

ALDINGAR, (1650) in priest, a priest/

SIR

collection,

to houzle and THE HISTORIE OF

for

In

shrive!'

TopselFs FQURE-FOOTED BEASTS

we read: (1607) they houseled their with hogs, sheep, or buls

The Athenians, when

did it army and at last slew and offered them to Mars. Hence unhouseled, not sanctified .

.

.

.

.

.

by the Eucharist, as Shakespeare says in HAMLET (1602) Cut off even in the :

blossomes of my sinne, Unhouzzled, appointedy unnaneld. houseleek.

A

dis-

succulent plant, with pink

of houses. It guarded the house against the thunder-god, but was effective only

on

his day, thunder-day,

Thursday (Thor,

Norse god of thunder) hence it has been widely supplanted by the lightning-rod. The houseleek was also pressed for its juice, which was drunk in the 17th cen,

tury.

hubristk.

Insolent.

Greek

hubris

(hy-

that overweening pride which leads to a fall; often, in ancient drama, a charbris),

acter's tragic flaw.

Also hybristic. Used in

the 19th century.

the I8th century. house!.

purify by cere-

lustration.

lowers, and leaves forming a rosette close to the root. It grows on walls and roofs

(15th century) a bath house with hot baths. The CHURCHE

OF

to

hence,

monial expiation or

Child's

A

From

Communion;

more frequent as a verb, to administer, or to receive, the

hugger-mugger. grew out of it. huisher.

husher,

An

See hody-moke.

early

huissier,

HAMLET

form of usher. Also Old French

huskier.

popular Latin ustium, latin ostium, door; os, mouth. For an instance of the use of huisher , see foumart huisler; huis, door;

hullur.

See holor.

humour

hydra

humour.

humid. In medieval physiology, the word

the hustings-weight set the standard precious metals. The word husting (usually plural) was later used of the

humours was applied

highest

Originally, fluid, moisture. Latin moisture, whence also

35) for

humorem, umorem,

to

the four chief

court of London;

of

also,

the

body, supposedly determined a person's complexion and

temporary platform from which nominations for Parliament were made; hence,

temperament. These cardinal humours were the blood, the phlegm, the choler,

Commenting on Macaulay's words

which

the

of

fluids

the

parliamentary

election

proceedings. against

and the black choler or melancholy, also called the black humor, and, from the

THE LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW (Septem-

Latin, atrabile; Shakespeare has, in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) : Besieged with sable

ber, 1847) said: The principle, then, which is to receive its final triumph and com-

coloured melancholic I did blacke

commend

humour

oppressing

the

plete development in a Judaizing parliament, is that the end of government has

the

the most

to

to do with religion or morality; that 'an essentially Christian government* is a phrase meaning just as much as

wholesome physicke of thy health-giving ayre.

From

the sense of

humour

tion (good

humor, bad humor)

to

its

whom

blood was the dominant

was

of

other

senses.

,

the

word

A man

'essentially Protestant cookery' or 'essenti-

in

humour

complexion:

sanguine

nothing

as disposi-

scaled

"Jewish disabilities" in Parliament,

ally Christian

horsemanship*; that govern-

ment exists solely for purposes of police an d that therefore ( to quote the words of Lord J. Russell himself the other day on the London hustings) 'a man's re-

ruddy,

courageous, confident, amorous, though with the loom of apoplectic seizures in older age. The choleric was originally active, ever busy. The phlegmatic and the melancholic need no further word. Jon-

ligious opinions

two plays Every Man In His Humour and Every Man Out of His Humour use

proposition involved in this great principle is both philosophically unten-

civil privileges'.

word

in

physiological sense. Shakeuses the word often, was

speare, more fluid in his application, as in

v (1599)

:

I have an well

indifferently

humor hurr.

A

.

humor to knocke you and that's the .

.

variant of horef q*v For an in-

stance of

its use,

hurricano.

see preostend*

An

:

Rage, blow, you cataractsf

and hyrricanos spout. In

Saxon

is

that

historically false.

A

variant of housewife as in used for the less

respectable senses of the term:

a

light,

pert or gadabout woman; an undependable wife. Shakespeare applied the term

huswife to Nature and to Fortune.

A

fierce

monster

destructive,

multiplex,

(or

person),

and almost im-

possible to destroy. Originally the manyheaded snake of the marshes of Lerna, near Argos, in Greek mythology; its heads grew again as fast they were cut off; Hercules in

times

(hus4hing: house-assembly) a special council called by the king. In King Cnut's reign (1016-

busting.

affect his

hussy, and, like hussy f

hydra.

early variant of hurricane. followed by Drayton, used Shakespeare, the word for a waterspout, as in KING

LEAR (1605)

and

huswife.

HENRY

it.

of

able

its

who

to

the

son's

the

ought not

But the misfortune

monster.

Ms

second labour' destroyed the

Greek hydra, with the same

meaning; in English, also ydref hyder, idray hidray hydre. Chaucer (1374) spoke

341

hyper-

hydromancy

many and

of doubts as

as recurrent as

(1590), of springheaded hydres; Milton (1667) , of Gorgons

hydra heads; Spenser

and hydras and chimeras dire. Shakespeare in OTHELLO (1604) declares: Had I as

many mouthes as hydra* such an answer would stop them all. The word was often used figuratively, as in Daniel's SONNETS TO DELIA (1592) : And yet the hydra of newborn sorrows my cares renews of her fresh disdain; and Hannah More in COELEBS IN SEARCH OF A WIFE (1808) de-

clared that selfishness

is

the hydra

we

are

The flower the yellow cro-

hymen's torch.

Named

cus.

Greek Hymen, god of

after

marriage. Cullers of flower lore may trace an entire amatory train in the folk names of flowers: (1) lad's love; (2) none-so-pretty; (3)

kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate;

lovers* knot;

true-

(4)

courtship-and-marriage;

(5)

(6) brides-laces; (7) babes-in-the-cradle; (8)

southernwood, (2) (1) wild pansy, (4) herb pans, sweet, (6) dodder, (7) lords wall pepper. You can (8)

happy family: saxifrage, (5)

(3)

meadow

and

ladies,

also follow a course to maid's ruin (south-

ernwood) or mournful widow (field scabious) faithful wearer of hymen's band.

perpetually combating.

,

See aewmancy.

hydromancy.

An

hyne.

A

drink, supposedly a favorite of the ancient Greeks, of honey and water

hydromel.

Greek hydros, water -f- melt, was used in 15th and 16th cen-

mixed.

It

honey. tury

as a medicine.

England

mented,

it

was

called

When

mead

fer-

though

Howell in a letter of 1645 identiEes the two drinks: In Russia, Moscovy* and T&rthis is that which use undents called hydromeL Probably the Greeks enjoyed it fermented, too. .

tary 3

,

hycbnoptic

insatiable thirst.

(thirsty

or

Is

as

a

man

The with

hydropic; hydrop-

ic is favored by the poets. Thus Donne in A NOCTURNAL UPON ST. LUCY'S DAY (1649)

The

th* kydmptic earth Browning in A GRAM-

FUNERAL

MAJUAN'S

a

faycfanns*

A

by Milton in but f ,V.

See

and the

next. Hyneforth,

hyneforward, hyneward; henceforth, hence. Rolland in THE COURT OF VENUS (1560) said God ordanit Iwue to be baith heir and hine.

See aeromancy.

hyomancy.

.

the

With an

old form of hence, away from

departed. Thus gone hyne, is no more. Also heir and hyne, in this world here,

has (1855) thirst

$oul~hy~

watersnake. Greek hywetness. Usecl

LOST (1667); see another form of

hyomandibular.

Pertaining to the hyoid

(tongue) bone and the lower jaw; hence

used

in

pedantic

talker, as a

humor

of

a

tireless

person of persistent hyomandi-

bular performance. Hyomandibular feminine sport.

ex-

ercise is a favorite

A

hyper-.

combining

form

from

the

Greek, as a prefix meaning over, beyond, above, in excess, extreme. Thus hyperanarchy, hyperaphic, extremely sensitive to touch, kyperaspist (Greek aspis, shield), a defender, champion, hyperborean (&o-

raw, north wind) habitant

of,

the

f

relating to, or

extreme

an

north

of

in-

a

country or of the planet; also, stronger than the North wind; Thackeray in THE VIRGINIANS (1859) said: He blew a hyperwhistle, as if to blow his wrath ;

accent on the bore, as

if to

bore

hyssop

hypo-

your ear-drum, kyperbyssal, of extreme profundity, as a sea-hole or (in ponderous humor) a mind, hypercarnal. hyperdeify, to exalt

above God. hyperdisyllable, word

more than two

taining to the belly, especially if it hangs low. hypogcalf hypogean, hypogeus (long or short i sound; accent on the gee) , un-

growing underground;

derground;

also

hyperhypocrisy.

hypogene; in the great hypogenic laboratory of nature f said the LIBRARY OF UNI-

Thomas Browne,

VERSAL KNOWLEDGE in 1880, rocks have been softened and fused, hypogeum^ hypogaeum, an underground chamber, hy-

of

syllables; polysyllable.

hyperideation, extreme mental activity or restlessness, hyperlaticalled Sir nistic; so Coleridge (1819)

hypermagical, Southey

(1826) spoke of hypermiraculous miracles, hypermodest hypernephdist, one that

goes above the clouds; also, a dealer in

day-dreams and extravagant fancies, hypernomian, beyond the scope or the reach of the law. hyperochality, eminence of rank or position, hyperpathetic (too deep for

tears)

.

hyperplagiarism.

hyperpro-

pothecatef to give as a pledge, to pawn,

mortgage; cp. impignorate. hypothec was the legal term for an item (piece of land, goods,

given as security; hence hy-

etc.)

pothecal, hypothecary, hypothe carious, relating to a security; a pawnbroker's side door, we read in 1856, admits the hypothecative philosopher.

phetical. hypertheticaly superlative, hyper-

from hypothetical!

beyond the earth; hyperurabeyond the heavens; hypercosmicf beyond the ordered universe. Spacemen

hyssop.

disembark.

Its twigs

Which

is,

alas,

far

terrestrial,

nian>

hypo-.

The Greek

under, too

little,

hypo* down, has not, like its become a readily

prefix

less,

antonym hyper, q.v., combined English form. It remains, however, In some current words, a hypochondriac, hypocrisy. Less remembered words include hypocorism (Greek hows, child), a pet-name; hypocoristic; applied also to euphemistic terms, as when Farrar in his CHAPTERS ON LANGUAGE (1865) asked his readers to Imagine the power and

danger of

when

this

hypocoristic process

in

was fashionable to fling a delicate covering over the naked hideoustimes

it

ness of wee. hypocrify, to play the hypocrite;

also

hypocrise.

hypogastrian,

per-

An

aromatic herb, often used in

medicinal decoctions, such as hysso-p-wine.

were used, in Jewish

rites,

for

sprinkling; hence, a hyssop, a sprinkler for holy-water, an aspergillum. In the

BIBLE

(i

KINGS; 4)

we hear

that

Solomon

the cedar tree even

spake of trees, from unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; whereafter the hyssop has been taken 1878)

John

(as

by Gowley,

1663;

Browning, St

as the type of a lowly plant. states that the

sponge with vinegar

offered to Jesus on the Cross was put upon hyssop. Several allusions in the

BIBLE imply what

is

made

explicit in the

PSALM: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Therefore Paracelsus Fifty-First

called chemistry

(alchemy)

the hyssopic

artf the art of purifying metals.

Relating to medicine; medical; medicinal. Greek iatros, healer, iasthai, to

icasra.

heal. Also iatrical.

depict;

iatric.

Is long). (The first Hence iatrology, the science of medicine. THE ENGLISHMAN'S MAGAZINE of February

1865

mentioned,

i

of

Aesculapius,

iatnc powers with which he

is

figurative.

io.tr

like, to

whence English Hence icastic, Henry More in the MYSTERY stated:

The is

difficulty

in a

man-

ner no greater, when once a man has taken notice of the settled meaning of the

omathematical pro

spoke of

Greek

make

of understanding prophecies

Burton in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY

meaning persons that applied

expression.

eikon, likeness,

OF INIQUITY (1664)

credited.

(162!)

figurative

iconoclast, image-smasher.

The

fessors,

A

eikasma, simile; eikazein, to

peculiar icasms

as-

trology in their medical practice; but in 17th century Italy a school of iatromathe*

therein.

A

rare,

but a

good, word, icasm.

To

Icche.

maticians arose, whose system of physi-

move,

to

stir.

In

Orniin*s

icchedd ORMULUM (1200) we read: He himm a litell up. Also icchen. The word .

ology and medicine was based on mechanics and mathematics.

.

.

was used into the 14th century, whereafter Icaiian.

It

Over-ambitious or presump-

(I)

own ruin. From Icarus, son of Daedalus (cp. daedal), who In escaping from Crete, despite his father's warning lew so high that the sun melted the wax that held his wings* and tuous; leaping high to one's

he

fell

Thus

into the

appeared

icelet.

An

(Icarian)

Disraeli has, in CONINCSBY

Your Imri&m

melts

existence.

(2)

into

a

Also,

prettily,

an

ice-

See aeromancy.

idithyomancy.

Sea.

(1844)

icicle.

candle.

iconoclast.

Aegean

as hitch or itch.

See mythistory; icasm.

:

See aeromancy.

iconomancy.

wry

Relating to an

kteritious.

Jaundiced.

Greek

ikteros,

ideal republic* as described in Voyage en Icane by Eticnne Cabet, who later

jaundice; also, a yellowish-green bird the sight of which supposedly cured persons

founded (and named Jeans) several communistic settlements In the United States.

afflicted

Nordfioff* In his history of COMMUNISTIC IN THE u.s. (1875) used the word

of parsons:

The

(which had

them).

Icarians reject its

communism

Christi-

before

with the disease. In the 17th cen-

word was used figuratively, as when Bishop William Barlow wrote, in his ANSWER TO A NAMELESS CATHOLIC'S CENSURE (1609) His gall overflowed, and tury,

the

:

he must void

it

ous pamphlet.

S44

by his pen in his

icteriti-

icunde

ignoscency

iomde. Nature; kind; Inheritance; native land. Used until the mid- 1 3th century. Old English gecynd; cynd, nature, kind. Hence, as an adjective, icunde, natural, native; icundelich, naturally, as in THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE (1250) :

.

.

.

faleth icundeliche.

To

Icusse.

kiss

('mutually/

adds

the

The

past participle was icust, which must not be confused. The word is

O.E.D.)

.

an early form of san; cyssan)

kiss

(Old English gecys-

playwrights. Also

sonal, private, peculiar) see idiopathy.

idiopathy. An individual or personal state of feeling. Greek idios, one's own,

+

pathos, feeling. The personal, private accent falls on the op. Among the many

forms compounded from idios, mention might be made will be made of idioreidiocrasy,

self-repelling;

a

17th

century short form of idiosyncrasy; idioglottic, using words of one's own invention,

like

worship ;

James Joyce; idiolatry, selfnonce-word but a widespread idiorrhythmic, living in one s own

way (especially, of monasteries that allowed freedom to the individual; opposed to coenobitic) ; idiotiony q.v. a dictionary of words of one dialect or region.

idioticon.

A

dialect

dictionary.

Greek

Fielding

:

dear Cocky, don't cry; I was but in jest, I was not ifeck. Also (Wycherley, 1672) f i fads. Those playwrights swore a lot, i'

fegs!

See ugsome,

igly.

An

ignoramus.

(Italian

ignaro,

Used in the 17th century as a common noun, probably from Spenser's use of it as a name, in THE FAERIE QUEENE His name Ignaro did his nature (1590) ignorant.)

:

right are ad.

ignavy. Sluggishness, sloth. (Accent on the first syllable.) From Latin ignavus, idle, sluggish; in, not + gnavus, busy, industrious. Carlyle, in a pamphlet of 1850, exclaimed: Nations, sunk in blind ignawa,

demand

a universal-suffrage Parliament to It seems to take

heal their wretchedness.

more than a century

for the cure.

Vomiting

fire.

(From Latin

vomere, to vomit.) The accent falls on the ni (short z) . Obviously of volcanoes, but frequent, figuratively, ignis, fire 4-

and pamphlets, A DECLARATION OF EGREGIWhat a OUS POPISH IMPOSTURES (1603) in 17th century sermons

faith.

favorite oath of

1 7th

priests

ignoscency.

know, nize.

aptitude*

By my

coil

would keep in

six or seven ignihell!

Forgiveness; forgiving spirit

faith.

To

of; the

See fegs.

A

and 18th century .

in, not -\-gnosc-ere, to take notice of; root gno, to as also in ignore, ignorant; recog-

notum f

idoneous. Apt, suitable. Latin idoneus. Also idoneaL Hence idoneity, idoneoussuitability,

monstrous

Accent on the no. Latin

ferent social pathway.

In

ignivomous.

:

idiom, French tdiotisme; the idiotish, idiotic branch of the word came by a dif-

i'fegs.

i'fackins.

and others omit the apostrophe: ifags; ifacks; Congreve uses it as a statement, in THE OLD BACHELOR (1687) Nay, (1742)

as in Harsnet's

idiotikos; idiotes, a private person; idios, private, peculiar, one's own. Related to

ness,

fac;

(a

f

status)

**

(Wycherley, 1673)

(Steele, 1709)

y' jacks;

ignaro.

beginning with this form (from Greek idios, one's own, per-

pulsive,

(Jonson, 1610) fex;

.

words

For

?

(Fletcher, 1625)

was

345

first

'to

meant to be ignorant pay no attention to'

applied In the 19th century. in his COMMENTARY (1647; i CORIN-

first

Trapp

ignore

meaning

immane

illaqueate

THIANS) speaks of innocency and ignoscency. Note, however, that ignote means a person unknown, or (as an adjective) ignotion, an ignorant and

unknown;

er-

roneous notion; ignotism, a mistake due to ignorance.

To

illaqueate.

ensnare, entangle, as in

+ laqueare, to snare; laqueus, noose, net; remembered in the goodly Dr. Laqueur. See laqueat. Hence also

a noose; Latin in

illaqueate, ensnared; illaqueation; illaqueable, Coleridge (in his LITERARY REMAINS,

1834), says: Let not

collected scholastic

retiary

versatility

laqueate your good

.

of

.

his

.

il-

logic

sense.

act of inferring, drawing a from premisses. From Latin

conclusion

inferre, illatum, to infer; in, in

+

ferre,

AND QUERIES permissible to smile at

to carry. Cp. exsibilate. NOTES said: It

(1886)

is

in in

+

bibere, to drink.

Shakespeare's

There

having

is

burlesque

Pistol

cry,

in

HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) What? shall wee have incision? Shall wee embrew? There is sound advice in the BABEES BOOK of 1430: With mouth embrowide the cuppe thou not take. There is more poetic use in Spenser's THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): Some bathed kisses, and did soft embrew :

The sugured

licour through his melting

ode TO AUTUMN

lips; likewise, in Keats*

(1819)

And

:

imbrued

of crimson wine

little rills

His plump

white

arms

and

shoulders, enough white For Venus' pearly

The

illation.

Also, to soak or steep in any moisture. The word is via French from Latin, in,

such an illation.

bite.

Shared or owned in common. Old

imene.

English gemaene; Latin communis. Hence imennesse, communion, fellowship. / bilevef said the COTTON HOMILIES of 1175,

on holi chirckc, imennesse of haluwen.

To

illect.

charm.

entice, allure,

were

It

therefore better, said Elyot in THE covERNOUR (1531), that no music be taught to a noble

man, than

.

,

he should

.

,

.

be illected to wantonness. From

by Latin

in

illicere;

entice*

4-

the root lacere* to

laqueus, a snare, a allect The form

to

related

See illect

.

complicated forms:

developed attractive;

illectation,

but (accent

on the

used by Elyot:

alluring,

entice-

ailwemeiit, lef short e),

The

tike-

of Fenus. Note that, the prefix de, down, the common delicious, delectable, are

the

source.

Thus we

are

all

[haluwen, hallowed folk,

saints.]

immane.

Monstrous; huge, enormous; inhumanly cruel or savage. Latin in, not ~f manus, hand: not to be contained in or measured by the hand. Chapman in his translation (1615) of THE ODYSSEY, speaks of a man in shape immane. Hence monstrousness, immunity, monstrosity. Immunity, however, came to be regarded (16th and 17th centuries) as the opposite of humanity, more monstrously cruel than

inhumanity, as in John Foxe's THE BOOK OF MARTYRS (1587) : Not to be accounted inhumanity but rather immanity and beastly cruelty; Bentley, in UPON THE EPISTLES

TION

(1699):

Ms

DISSERTA-

OF PHALARIS Phalaris the Tyrant Came to that

degree of crudty and immanity, that he devoured mcMng children. Shakespeare

See

uses immunity in HENRY vi, PART ONE. Hence, to Evelyn in SYLVA (1679) inquires: What hand, sword) with blood (daughter). difference then is there between S46

To

defile.

immarcessible the

Impeticos

twenty-fourth

and

of February

Also (rarely) to imp, to clip; the O.E.D. suggests that this developed through a mis-

the

commencement of March? immarcessible.

understanding of the use in falconry, but

See marcescible.

probably by transfer in the process:

it is

immew.

See

immorigerous.

on the

before a thing is grafted on, it must be cut off. Bishop H. King (POEMS; 1657)

emmew. See morigerous.

imp. I. As a noun. A shoot of a plant, a sapling; hence, a young person, a scion.

came the softening

see

posing

may

piece added to anything, as an extra line to a bell-rope so that more than one can

impavid.

To To

NIS

plant or trans-

so

.

that

it

many

(1596)

mynd. large;

,

.

Mm

in

my

Put into petticoats; The Clown's word speare's TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) turns away with nonsense Sir

impeticos.

a

the wings of thy high flying add on, to lengthen, enin MIDAS Lyly (1592) draws the

dreadful image of a woman's tongue ympt with a barbafs no ear would have rest!

See impone.

.

is

Also, to

remarked that Calverley and

severant thing loves

Gathering plumes of perfect speculation,

To impe

(1849)

used (once?) in the 16th century. Shakeas speare says: The lines of my body are this imperwell drawne as Ms yet

and

flyes

HYMN TO HEAVENLY BEAUTY

t

A form in Shakespeare's CYMBEXINE (1611) for imperceiverant, not perceiving, imperceptive, undiscernwas ing. The positive form percewerant

feathers into every talc, with all speeds into every corner of the realme* Thus Spenser in his

ympes

important

of high import, watch out

imperseverant.

such an .

im-

See apair.

impawn.

hence, to increase one's powers* to enable higher flights; Nashe punned in THE RE,

first

pavidity, or lack of just fear.

ment. In falconry, to imp, to engraft feathers on a bird, to improve its flight;

:

at

used, in the sense of foolhardiness: im-

ing is more dangerous than to be imped in a wicked family; this relation too often draws in a share both of sinne and punish-

(1589)

is

Coldstream would have looked on impavidly. These forms appeared only in the 19th century; in the 17th, irnpavidity was

in his CONTEMPLATIONS (1615) said: Noth-

eccho as multiplies every word

What

itself as less

not Fearless. From Latin in +pavidus, fearful. Thackeray in PENDEN-

plant shoots; to graft. engraft, as into a family by marriage; Bishop Joseph Hall

TURN OF ... PASQUIIX

1750:

for the imp.

to the sense,

impair.

As a verb.

betray

But in matters

a mischief-maker; now, mischievous child. the sense of a grafted slip, also: a

(2)

in verses of

light-heartedly,

pinion imps an owl.

From

pull.

shall

Thereabouts there lurk'd A wicked imp they call a poet. Peter Pindar remarked (1792) that often Fortune with an eagle's

by the 1 6th century used in such phrases as an imp of serpents, imp of Satan, Hence an imp, a little or minor devil; especially, an attendant or paramour of a witch. this

God

them

noun

Thence, a shoot or slip used for grafting. As applied to persons, a child, at first of a noble family (14th to 18th century) but

From

said:

imp their pride, and let but fools in a sublime are They degree. Finally, to imp, to mock, to poke fun at, as would an imp. Gray used the

(Accent

ridge.)

woman

(?)

.

despight. invest in

in Shake-

when he Andrew's

thee sixpence for tipsy question: / sent itf thy lemon peman: sweetheart], Hadst I did impeticos thy gratillity [gratuity],

347

implete

impetre is no whipstock. My lady has a white hand, and the myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses. Sir Andrew: Ex-

for Maluolio's nose

Why, this is the best fooling when done. Now, a song. Sir Toby: Come

cellent! all is

on, there

sixpence for you There's a

is

a song. Sir Andrew:

me

A

The Clown

too.

testorn f

and more)

French

teston,

first

sings

was a variant of

testril

,

O

let's

have

testril of

mistress mine.

tester (testourn,

originally teston (Old

French

tete,

head) applied

{20 pence) of Henry English coin to have a true

to the shilling

VII, the

first

then to other coins.

portrait;

Many

of

these sank in value; by Shakespeare's day,

meant sixpence.

testril,

tester,

entreaty; to bring about; also, to entreat,

beseech.

The words

are

from Latin

impetrare, to procure, im (with intensive -f petrare, to bring to pass, perhaps influenced by petcref to beseech, enforce)

treat.

Roman

Even in

times the

word had

religious applications, Latin patratus was the priest who ratified (performed the

an agreement; In English impetration was used especially of the pre-

rites

at)

obtaining of church benefices (in Catholic times) which were within the grant of King. Hence also

the

imperative,

im-

petratory f related to obtaining by request,

HOLY DYING (1651) Alms are preparatory to, and impetratory

as in Taylor's .

,

of

.

^e way

:

of repentance. back to the imp.)

obtains; impetrable, that

as

mankind!

Impetrant,

may be

ob-

of obtaining or effecting, it in his LBNTBH

Nashe

(1599)

in

(The accent

:

the

How

impetrable he was

tjrannj of

to pledge.

Latin

+

pignor-, from pignus, a security, a pledge, a pawn. Cp. hypo- (hypothecate). in

Used in English from the 16th century; also impignoration, as in Hakluyt's VOY-

AGES

(1598)

all

:

arrestments,

reprisals,

and impignorations of whatsoever goods and marchandises in England and Prussia are from henceforth quiet, free, and .

.

.

From the 17th century the simple forms were also used: pignorate, to give or

released.

to take as a pledge; pignoration; pignorapawning; pignoratitious, relating to

tive,

pawning or things pawned, Diligence, quickness, alertness.

impigrity.

From Latin

In translation his impetre. Chaucer (1574) of BOETHIUS, uses this form, for the verb impetrate, to obtain by request or to

To pawn,

impignorate.

in,

not

4-

piger, pigris, slug-

In 17th and 18th century dictionaries. Also impigrous (accent on the

gish, slow.

imp)

,

diligent, quick, ready.

To

impinguate. pinguis,

fatten. Latin in, in

Thus Gideon Harvey,

fat.

4-

in

states that MORBUS ANGLICUS (1666) Rhenish wines do accidentally impingu-

Many a person today keeps close watch on calories for fear of impinguaate.

tion,

To

impleach.

Shakespeare's

the

skainsmatc)

Tennyson grance of

interweave, entwine. After

use

(1597; quoted under word was renewed by

(TIMBUCTOO, its

1829:

The

fra-

complicated glooms and cool

impleachcd twilights) and by Swinburne (TWO DREAMS, 1865: Where the green shadow thickliest impleached Soft fruit

and writhen spray and

blossom).

implete. Replenished; filled Latin in, in 4- plere, pletumr to fill; whence also

complement, complete; implement; plethora is from the Greek form pie them, to fill. Implete is listed by Puttenham in THE ARTE OJP ENGLISH FOESIE (1589) as a word "not so well to be allowed by us"; it

inamissible

impoak was used through the 17th century, then dropped, (19th century America used implete as a verb, to fill.) Other words on Tottenham's compatible

list

audacious, egregious, have, in spite of his dis-

approval, lingered.

impoak.

Also, impoke. See insachel; poke.

iinpone.

To

place or set upon, to im-

upon; to lay* upon, to on + ponere, positus, Latin im, in, wager. to place; whence imposition. Shakespeare pose; to impose

is

the only writer that has used the

word

in the sense of to wager (HAMLET, 1623 edition; the Quartos have impound, im-

The King sir has wagd with pawn' d] him six Barbary horses, against the which he impon'd as I take it sixe French rapiers and poniards and as the effeminate Osric is speaking, the spelling may be intended to indicate an affected pronunciation of :

impawn,

to pledge; to put in hazard.

imposterous. Relating to an impostor or imposture. Latin im, in, on + ponere, to set, place; cp. impone. A number of forms were used in the 16th and 17th centuries:

impostorious, impostor ous, impostrate (the impostrate quagmires of this abortive age),

impostrous, imposturious. For the noun imposture (which was also a 17th century verb:

The

devil's a witch,

and has

impostur'd them), there were also the forms impostry, impostery, impostory, imimpostorism, imposturage. Apparently the impostor (imposter, impos-

postury,

and the impostress tour) flourished in those years.

(impostrix)

cause an impostume in, was used, also in figures, as in a 1592 letter of Nashe: To

corrupt the air and impostumate mens ears with their pan-pudding prose. Shakespeare in

breaks,

without

the

17th century the verb impostumate, to

Why

man

and shows no cause dies.

Medieval Latin

impotionate.

Poisoned.

impotionare,

impotionatum,

im, in

to

poison;

potionem, draught, especially a poisoned draught. Also a verb, to poison. Used in the 16th century. Also used -f

figuratively; Stubbes in

THE ANATOMIE OF

ABUSES (1583) is speaking of pride when he says: / am sure there is not any people under the face of heaven, how savage and . that hath drunke so brutish soever ,

deep of

this

.

impotionate cup as England

hath.

impresa. An emblem with a motto; also, the motto. Used figuratively by Greene in

MENAPHON (1589) There was banding of such lookes, as every one imported [signified] as much as an impreso. Also im-

Drummond of Hawthornden (1649) distinguished between an emblem and an impresa in that the words

pressa, impreza.

of the former merely explain the design, whereas the words of the latter comple-

ment

the figure,

inablntible. inamlssible. to,

be

lost.

See

Muted.

That cannot, or is not liable As this is irremediable and ir-

recoverable, said

Jeremy Taylor in 1649,

the other inamissible. Divines (17th into the 19th century) used to say that

so

Imposthume. An inner swelling; a purulent cyst; an abscess. Also impostume, emposteme, imposthim, and more. Roundabout from Greek apostema. Used from the 14th century, often figuratively. In the

HAMLET (1601) says: This is the of much wealth and peace,

imposthume That inward

is

is inamissible in heaven (do not confuse this with inadmissible) , and Catholics speak of the continual appearance

virtue

of saints in the world as the inamissibiUty of justice (or of righteousness)

,

incremation

inaniloquent inaniloquent. Talking foolishly, babbling.

Inane (Latin inanis + loquent, talking). In 17th and 18th century dictionaries. Also maniloquence, an instance of which is an inanilocution. Page the wise men of Gotham.

See insense.

incense.

To

inclip.

enclose;

in

embrace. Used first ANTHONY AND CLEO-

by Shakespeare, PATRA (1608) What ere the ocean pales, or skie inclippes, Is thine, if thou wilt :

ha't.

See incarnate.

incardinate.

Originally this was an ad-

Incarnadine.

flesh-

meaning

century),

(16th

jective

There was a

slightly earlier verb, to incarn, to cover with flesh, make flesh

colored.

as in

in flesh

embody

grow,

ROR FOR MAGISTRATES (1563) of

Glocestre

incarned

that

:

THE MIR-

The duke devyll.

Cp*

incarnate. Since Shakespeare's use in MAC-

BETH (1605) however, incarnadine has meant colored blood-red or, as a verb, to redden. After the murder of the King, Macbeth exclaims; Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather

inconvenytys. An old variant of inconveniences. Gaxton in POLYCRONICON (1482) praised history, because through it a man

can be reformed by other and straunge

mennes hurtes and scathes, and by the same to knowe what is requysyte and prouffytable for his lyf, and eschewe suche errours and inconvenytys by whiche other men have been hurte and lost theyr felycyte,

,

MakLady Macbeth re-

The multitudinous

incarnadine*

ing the green, one red* sponds: A little water clears us of this deed, not knowing that she will later

hands ne'er be lament: What, will . . Here's the smell of the blood

Delicate,

incony.

pretty,

word was popular,

especially

choice.

among

The play-

Middleton, Jonson) around 1600. Shakespeare used it twice

(Marlowe,

wrights

My sweet . ounce of man's flesh, my income Jew most sweet jests, most income vulgar wit in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588)

:

.

.

There are several guesses as to its origin; it may be a corruption of French inconnu,

unknown, hence

rare,

hence choice.

.

stilL

All the perfumes of Arabia will not

mcamate. This not wholly unrememword was used by Shakespeare

bered

v,

1599; TITUS ANDRQNICUS)

in reference to the devil in

He

also used* in the

human

sense, the

only shape.

forms

in carnal, incarnation,

To

Hammond's

(1659) : Their understandwere so gross within them, being fatned and incrassate with magical phantasms. Also incrassant, thickening; incras-

mtwe

t

able to thicken; incrassation, in-

Used from the 17th century;

current as scientific terms.

enchain; to link together.

+ c&tcmatum* with chains; catena, chain. GoldOF WORLD (1762)

of

in the in-

of

thicken, to condense; to Latin crassus, thick, crass. Also as an adjective, as in a sermon of

crassion.

to

From Latin m,

To

Incrassate,

dull, stupefy.

k&nd*

this

in

or the

of n

ley;

A 1 9th century form (HuxThackeray in KENBENNIS^ 1849) of From Latin

to

consume by

fire.

Note

in, in -f

cremare,

that in the earlier

(17th century) adjective the in means not; that cannot be burnt; thus g

indentured

increpate Sir

Thomas Browne

in PSEUDODOXIA EP-

IDEMICA (VULGAR ERRORS, 1646)

says:

from, do.

They

conceive that from the skin of the sala-

is

Beauty

Greeks,

their

dressing the

posed.

To

rebuke. Latin in, crepare, to make a noise, creak.

increpate.

scold,

against

+

Hence

increpative, increpatory, chiding,

rebuking; increpation, reproof, rebuke. Used in the I6th and 17th centuries, especially

from Latin Supposed

as

in,

to

one was, to behold

not

-f

indefeasible investiture.

Bound by an indenture, as an apprentice or servant, especially, for

indentured.

of the voyage

Carlyle in SARTOR RESARTUS Wert thou not, (1831) asks mockingly: at one period of life, a buck, or blood, incredible!

or macaroni, or incroyable, or dandy, or by whatever name . . . such phenomenon distinguished^

indagate.

See ephialtes*

To

search

into,

indagare, to investigate,

for,

Hence

explore.

The word was

occasionally spelled as though

(in the 17th century) confused with indicate; thus in 165S we find mention of the soul, the indigatrix of all things.

That cannot be defeated, done away with, removed, forfeited, wiped out. Used since the 16th century; the word is via Italian indefessibile from the Latin* The noun defeasance, annulment, is via French desfaire, to undo> from Latin de, indefeasible.

in-

his keep.

An

The word

in, into

+

is

den-

indenture was originally a

gether

Sometimes a signature or other matter was written between the copies and the cut made through it. Hence, an agreement; especially, that of an apprentice with a master or of a man binding hima colony. To take up one's indentures, to receive the other copy at the expiration of the apprenticeship or self to serve in

indagator, indagation;

gate; indagative, characterized by seeking; indagatory, relating to or of the nature of

would

deed or contract written in duplicate on one piece of parchment, which was then cut between the copies in a wavy or indented line; putting the two pieces towould identify the documents.

hunt

indagadous, inclined or eager to investi-

investigation.

tern, tooth.

investigate.

From Latin

and

from indent, from Latin

have been borrowed from or

time: C'est vraiment incroyable, It's really

A man

denture himself for a number of years' service in the New World, in exchange for which his master paid the expenses

credere, to believe.

influenced by a favorite phrase of the

incubus.

indefeasible domain. Adseason in A CORYMBUS TO

service in the colonies.

A

unbelievable

the true province of the

AUTUMN (1888), Francis Thompson says: Thou hold'st of God, by title sure, Thine

in sermons.

dandy, a fop; first used in incroyable. 1795 of the French. Via French, literally,

is

to facere, factum, to make, in THE GREEK POETS (1873)

Symonds

said:

these incremable pieces are com-

mander3

down +

Also indenture English, extravaAscham in THE gant legal phraseology; As if a wise wrote: SCHOLEMASTOR

service.

man would

(1568) take ffalles Gronide, where

much good matter indenture strange

is

Englishe,

quite

and

marde with first

change

and inkharne tearmes into proper

and comrnonlie used wordes. W. Taylor in THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE of 1808 noted that indentured bond-slaves are shipped

from Liverpool and Glasgow, for Canada, and independent North America, in considerable numbers; THE DAILY NEWS on 7 voiced misgivings as to the January, 1878,

351

indocible

indigate

were often inscribed to rivers; as name of Minerva, to the river

expediency of extending the indentureship system, which in other colonies has

Belisama, a

notoriously provoked grave scandals.

Rible.

(1658)

See ind&gate.

indigate.

Also, calculating or conversing by means of the fingers; also, interlocking the fingers of two hands, as children used to sit in

school or sweethearts walk. Also digitj

genital) , to bear, to be born. Indigenity, the state of being native. Note that indeficient;

poor

name,

to

indi-

voke a god; hence, to call upon, to proclaim, to declare. Cp. indigitament. The

digerere, to set in order,

Indigent, undigested, crude, was in use from the confused, shapeless, Hth century; Shakespeare used it as a

sense, to point out, to point to,

is

of course

sprung from the association with digitus. Sir Thomas Browne in PSEUDODOXIA EP-

noun, a shapeless mass, in KING JOHN (1595) : You are born To set a forme upon that indigstf Which he hath left so shape-

and

in-

also the ten digits) but probably different in origin and originally meaning to in-

digest.

less

to

indigitate^ to proclaim, to call by to point out, to point to; to inter-

lock fingers. Latin indigitare, indigitatum, associated with digitus, finger (whence

gency, indigence are from Latin indu -f egere, to want. And that indigerablc, that cannot be digested, is from dis9 apart

f gerere, gestm;

act of pointing out;

indication; demonstration; a declaration.

digcnal, indigent taL An indigene, indigena, a native. Latin indu, an early form of in -f gen-f gignere, gentium (whence

lacking,

The

jfodigitation.

indigenate. Of native origin; an early form of indigenous; also, indigenary, in-

digent,

,

IDEMIGA

declared

(1646)

that Juvenall

and Perseus were no prophets, although their lines did seeme to indigitate our

so rude.

times.

See indigenate.

indigesti

indigete. deity of

A Ms

hero

city or country.

patron

A common

among the ancient Egyptians, Greeks* and Romans; of their rulers, it practice

routine.

LANDE

(1549)

The COMPIAYNT OF scormentioned Amams the the last kyng

sycondy

and

in-

of the Egiptiens, explaining: In-

war of Egipt quhilkis ked verteouse princes quhen that lyvit.

A

local or special name of indigitament. a as Pluvius (of the rain) far Jupiter.

The

Latin

(associated with cp.

listing the

their rituals.

of old deities,

0M

W.

Unworthy. Used from the 15th century; Latin in, not -f dignus, worthy; whence also dignity. Indignation first meant the act of treating a person as un-

indign.

regarded as the

were of the gods and

The Burton in A CJOMHIS

ITINERARY

worthy of attention or regard; dignancy, indignance; FAERIE QUEENE (1590)

earlier, in-

:

THE

in

Spenser

With great

in-

dignaunce he that sight forsooke.

To

in-

dign (from the 15th century)

be

in-

to resent;

,

to

to treat with in-

dignant

at,

dignity.

Shakespeare in OTHELLO

has; All indign

head against indexible.

From Latin teach

and base

my

adversities

(1604)

make

estimation,

Incapable of being taught. in, not 4- docere, doctus, to

whence

also doctor, doctrine,

and

more. Note that doccre also gives English both docible, apt to be taught (16th

through 18th century), and the 52

still

cur-

xnfibulation

Indoles

rent docile, easily taught; hence, submissive to training.

Hence

also indocile, un-

But

tractable; indocility, unruliness.

(17th into the 19th century) incapability of being taught;

this:

Jeremy Tay-

devil

1666

of

disposition.

As

and

in-

early

as

comment on the English humor. Some pupils likewise

we

find

indocible

Innate

Indoles.

+

root

appears in

many

Latin zndu, grow. This root

character.

ol, or, to

words, including abolish,

adolescent, adult, origin, order, abortive, In English, indoles (three

proletariat.

accent

syllables,

on the

in)

has been used

from the 17th century. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW of July 1882 said: Every language has

own

its

indoles.

indubltate.

doubt;

an

As

Latin in, not

persuade us he doesn't exist."

to

is

See ebriety.

inebriety.

To entice,

inescate.

to allure.

4-

certain.

adjective:

dubitare, dubitatum, to

moving two ways, duo,

dubius,

whence also dubious, doubt, duplifrom the 15th (twice folded) . Used the into 17th; by Shakecentury (Caxton) two;

city

LOST speare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S

(1594)

From Latin

Prynne, in HIScries out upon all

in, in 4- csca, bait, food.

(1633) the inescating lust-inflaming solicitations . that either human pravity or Satan's .

.

also inescation. policie can invent Hence in the Inescatory was used, more literally,

19th century: inescatory traps, and others From Latin esca also came in-

with snares.

esculent, not edible; Peacock in CROTCHET CASTLE (1831) says: I care not a rush (or

any other aquatic and inesculent vegesucks up either the table) who or what water or the infection. See

See domable.

indomitable.

years later Baudelaire phrased "The cleverest ruse of the

TRIOMASTIX

seem indocible.

within

or indubitate his existency.

to conceale

Over 200

indotibility,

lor in 1647 speaks of pevishness

docibleness

also

and contriveth accordingly many ways

See fatuate.

infatuated.

Unlucky, ill-omened. See faust. common word, 17th into 19th century. MotLowell)

infaust.

A

escal.

fairly

(Bulwer-Lytton; in

teux, belais,

his

(1708) of Ramost infaust who

translation

exclaimed

O

:

The magnanimous and most illustrate King Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon;

opiates there to live! infibulation.

or

Fitting with a buckle the fastening of the

especially,

clasp;

was that might rightly say, eni> vidiy vici; which to annotkanize [anato-

sexual organs, the application of a chastity lock. From Latin in, in 4- fibula^ a fasten-

the

from figere, ing, shortened from figibula to to Infibulation (the fasten, fix. fixus,

and he

it

mize, analyze] in the vulgar

.

.

.

affected letter by Don Adriano de Armando which Boyet is reading, in Shakespeare's play, tells how King Cophetua

married the beggar-maid

(whose

was English, 17th into the 19th was applied century; the sexual practice the Romans, male to singers by

word)

name

young

Penelophon) As a verb, indubitate, to render doubtful; to call

in the legend in

question;

is

Sir

.

Thomas Browne

PSEUD0BOXIA EPIDEMICA the devil: there

is

He

(1646)

believe

no such creature as himself

.

.

.

is

listed in

dictionaries,

on

Sir

late'

353

to primitive peoples, the medieval Crusaders. The

among many

women by verb

in

WTOtC Of

would make men

to girls

17th

and 18th century

but 3>eQuincey in his essay

W. Hamilton

(1847)

says 'Infibu-

cannot be a plagiarism, because I

infuscation

inficete

never saw the word before; and, in fact, this moment invented it. John

I have

(1650)

,

ANTHROPOMETAMORPHOSIS

in

Bulwer,

describes masculine infibulation as

*

'buttoning up the prepuce with a brass or silver button.'*

Not

Inficete.

form of CASTLE Sir,

you

witty.

facetious.

Facets

is

an older

Peacock in CROTCHET

Mr. E:

uses three forms:

(1831) are very facetious at

my

expense.

Dr. F: Sir, you have been very unfacetiouSj. very inficete, at mine. The forms are

from Latin

painted,

fucatory

The O.E.D.

skill.

the

frills,

infucation,

childishness,

the

were of his

infude.

periphery

own

Given

to

denying

inficious

relating to or characterized also inficiation, inficiative,

by in-

found only in 17th and 18th

ficiatory are

century dictionaries.

infula.

A

religious head ornament of Rome. A twisted woolen fillet, red and white, worn by priests

The

usually

also

put upon

infund.

Latin in

To -f

pour

in;

to

infuse,

fundere, fudi, fusum.

action of rubbing in.

wrote of the great grace that

infructuous.

and

Barren, unfruitful;

fruitless.

form was more common, from the 14th into the 19th century; T. Adams in THE DEVIL'S BANQUET (1614) wrote: It was as populous as fructuaffirmative

with pregn&ncie

of fruits for the people

for the fruits. infhznite*

Hence

Senseless,

and

of people

infructuosity. silly.

A

and

17th

painting of the face.

found

first

pearance ie 17th century dictionaries. practice,

in,

oa

4

infundible, a funnel; infundibular, funnel-shaped.

To bury, entomb. Giles Fletcher wrote in GHRISTS VICTORIE (1610) : Disconsolat (as though her flesh did but in-

inftmeral.

Her

men and

.

To infurcation. ap-

The

civilized

that by centuries, Latin to paint, rouge; fucus*

giveth

acion after the lawes of matrimony. To some extent these forms have been supplanted by the current infuse. Hence, an

arbour sat

to color the face*

God

infowndeth in right gener-

secretly

funerall

18 tli century word.

The

steep.

A primer

By infunding thy precious oil of comfort into my wounds. Also infude, infoundf the latter usually in figurative use, as when More in RICHARD ni (1513)

Also infraction,

at

sacrificial

victims. Also infule.

of 1559 said:

See in fund.

infrication.

^ms;

of

providing.

See infund.

and suppliants,

The

infucation

ered the word, saying of the great Nappleby of Scotland Yard: This time the

century. Inficiate, to deny (Latin infitiac, denial; in, not -f fateri, to confess) . in-

infound.

lists

never used; but Marion Mainwaring in MURDER IN PASTICHE (1954) rediscov-

ancient

denial*

dis-

as

adversaries; a rare word, used in the 17th

ficial,

hence,

colored;

artificially

guised, counterfeit. Also fucation, paintfair-seeming, counterfeiting, fucatious, true have few women Yet deceitful. ing,

facetus, polite, urbane; hence,

merry, witty, jocose. inBcious.

cosmetic paint. In the 16th century, fucate was used as a verb; also, an adjective,

.

buried ghost) she in an weeping her cursed state.

.

A

spreading of the

jective,

e.g.,

a

legs.

The act of darkening; the being dark. Infuscate was an addarkened; or a verb, to render

Infuscation. state of

forked expansion,

inquiline

ingraff

dark. In the translation

(1650)

of Cans-

ANGEL OF PEACE, we read that the was infuscated with the eternall City

sin's

.

.

,

sooty vapours of a brutish warre.

ingravescent. Growing more severe; growing worse. Latin in (with intensive force) 4-

become heavy; grams; Hence heavy. ingravescence. Also to

gravescere,

gravidus,

ingravidate, to load, weigh; render gravid; impregnate; Fuller in THE HOLY AND THE

PROFANE STATE (1642) speaks of persons ingravi dated with lustfull thoughts. Hence ingravidation, the act of rendering gravid;

pregnancy. Inhearse.

Used by Shakespeare (SONNET

86;

to

1598)

mean entomb: Was

it

the

full sail of his great verse, Bound for the prize of all too precious you, That

proud did

my

hearse,

thoughts in

ripe

their

Making

my

brain in-

tomb the

womb

wherein they grew? See enemious.

inimlcitlous.

inldhom.

A

originally

made of

small

portable container, horn, for writing-ink. Used from the 14th century. Also inke-

horne;

ynkehorne. Ink-horn mate, ink-

horn varletf a

scribbler.

The word was

widely used, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, in such phrases as inkhom term* inkhorn word, inkhorn language, to mean a pedantic or bookish weed (usually of Latin or Greek derivation). Hence,

inkhomism; inkhornisL Puttenham IB Ms discourse on ENGLISH POESJE (1589) Hsts irrevocable, irradiation, depopulation and such

long time despised for inkehorne terms. For another instance, see like

lightskirts.

.

.

.

Many

of

this.

(1)

A

this

told

tape

in

is

made. Autolycus, we

Shakespeare's

THE WINTER'S

(1611), hath ribbons of f colours i the rainbow, points . .

TALE

pretends to

sell

inkle-eloquence.,

all ,

the

inklesf

tape,

cheap,

as today pencils; tawdry flow of

Words THE WESTMINSTER MAGAZINE of 1774 remarked: / have seen a powdered

coxcomb

of this

himself with the

gawzy make

power

.

.

.

flatter

of his inkle-do-

quence. Thick (great) as inkle-weavers, intimate "the inkle-looms being so nar-

row and (2) As a

close together.'* Cp. nonesopretty, verb, inkle, to hint, to let some-

thing be known. Hence, to guess at, surmise, get an inkling of; Blackmore has, in LORNA DOONE (1869) She inkled what :

6th century, inklcth meant a hint or surmise; this has survived in the it

was. In the

form inkling.

1

Inkless,

of course*

without ink; inknot, to tie (the k is silent, as in knot)

means ensnare

in, to

Long's trans-

(1879) of the AENEID speaks of a smitten snake: The rest, Retarded by the

lation

wound, delays it there Inknotting knots and twisting round itself. My fountain pen, a moment ago, was inkless. inknot.

See inkle.

inly. Inwardly; in the heart or spirit; in a way that goes to the heart or essence, hence, Intimately, fully. Used from the 9th century; also innlice* Miche; (15th

century)

endly*

Used by King

Chaucer; Emerson (POEMS; 1847)

:

Alfred;

Friends

year by year more inly known; Spenser explains It as 'entirely' In a gloss to THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; May) : Their inly I pitie*

persons even today too

often inkhornize. inkle.

are

caddysses [see caddis]^ cambrickes, lawnes. In combinations: inkle-beggar, one that

See engraff.

ingraff.

which

Innate,

See extmneize.

kind of linen tape; a piece inquflme. A lodger; a sojourner. Accent inklef the yarn from on the in; Latin in + colere, to dwelL In 355

Unwrought

intempestive

mquinate a zoology, still used o nest. another's in lodges

creature

that

To pollute; to corrupt. Also inquination. Used from the 15th century, popular in the 17th. Sir Thomas Browne

mquinate.

used the word more than once; in 1646:

An the

old opinion ibis

was of that nation,

it

upon

feeding

serpents, food so inquinated their

venomous

that that .

.

.

eggs within their bodies f that they some-

time came forth in serpentine shapes and in 1682: The soul may be foully inquinated at a very low rate, and a man may be cheaply vitiom, to the perdition of himself.

As a

cance.

Shakespeare in HENRY vm (1613) have incenst the Lords

pack, put into a satchel Urquhart, in his translation (1693) o Rabelais, spoke of papers impoaked, in-

sacked, and put up in bags, Impoaked means put into a poke or pocket. See poke. French en&acher, to put into a sack.

Councell, that he

insapory.

Ill-tasting.

A

rare word, neatly

applied to coho or coffee by Sir Thomas Herbert in his RELATION OF SOME YEARS

TRAVAItE

.

.

.

INTO

GREATEE ASIA (1638) insapory

:

AFRIQUE AND THE

However

at firstf

it

is

heretic, a pestilence

... A most

That doth

arch-

infect the

land. [G. B. Harrison's edition, 1948, 1952,

has a footnote explaining incensed: 'made angry, with the accusation that.* Shakespeare's spelling led Harrison to the other

word incense (meaning both to perfume and to anger, by divergent paths) from Latin incenderef to set on fire*] Thickened. Also a verb, to

thicken; Latin in thicken;

spissus,

+

spissare, spissatum, to

thick.

Cp

.

crassitude.

Hence

inspissant, something that thickens; inspiration, the action (or an act) of

thickening; BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAG-

AZINE of 1839 said:

He

could imbibe

six-

teen tumblers of whisky punch, without any other external indication than a slight

See sloth,

insacyatly.

says: o* the

/ thinks I

inspissate.

To

insachel.

Used from

verb, to inform.

the 14th century; from the 17th, mainly in dialects. Also insence, incense, incence.

it

ingrate or

becomes grate

enough by custom. Once, would seem* coffee was caviar to the

inspissation of speech. Noted is Johnson's remark, quoted by Boswell, 16 October, 1769: In the description of night in Mac-

beth 9 the beetle

and the

bat detract

the general idea of darkness

from

inspissated

gloom.

delicious

it

general

To

iosculpt.

1

on and

carve, engrave, sculpture

something. Used

in the 15th,

16th,

7th centuries. Also to inscuip; to inInsculpture, a (1 8th century)

Untimely, unseasonable; inopportune. Latin in, not 4- tempestivus, seasonable; tempus, time, [Note that our intempestive.

tempest (Latin tempestas) season, then weather, then

A

number

scale

of English words indicating a

have tipped:

or inscription carved upon was used in the 17th century, something,

meant one's

by Shakespeare in TIMON OF ATHENS

Hence

figure, design,

(1607):

On

his

With wax

tki$ insculptmte

I brought

may.

As a noun (16th and 17th turies), the Inner

essential signifi-

humor

disposition;

once

(q.v!)

temper usually

today implies a bad (uncontrolled)

tem-

per.] internpestivity, untimeliness. Also intempestuouSy altered from intern-

pestk/ous, cen-

first meant bad weather.

which took no root in English.

Vernier in THE BATHS OF BATHE sliows

that

the

distrust

of

(1621)

tobacco

is

Irremeable

intenebrate

nothing our day has newly found, as he

of

went reproving the too too licentious^ liberally and intempestive taking of it.

reasons.

such

To make

intenerate.

tender, soften, mol-

inveigle.

(though intrinsirecorded earlier) Shakespeare uses both forms. In KING LEAR (1605) : Such

-f

angry, and dispatch. As a verb, to probe, to enter intimately.

[Both forms are by confusion with Italian forms.

The

timate, familiar.

adjective joins intricate, inthe form of intrinsicato,

with

The

verb

intrinsicare, to

is

a development from

become

familiar with, to

understand, a reflexive form of intricarsi, to become familiar or friendly with some

one else.] H. Cross in VERTUES COMMONWEALTH (1603) wondered to he are how some such clouting beetles rowle in their loblogicke, and intrinsicate into the major

likeness; in, in

Used

in

Conscience; inner awareness. See

in wit.

ANTONY AND CLEO-

Be

make a

vultus, countenance, likeness.

.

agenbite.

PATRA

foole,

of an effigy or

the 19th century (not by those that employed the waxen figure)

smiling rogues as these. Like rats, oft bite the holy cords a twainet Which are t'

venomous

The making

are, invultare, to

.

once untye: poore

modi-

See aveugle.

invultuation.

intrince, intrinse

life at

is

likeness; especially, of a waxen image of a person for witchcraft to work through. Also invultation. Medieval Latin invultu-

As an adjective, entangled. variant of intricate; perhaps developed

Of

dogma

neology.

intrinsicate.

intrinsicate

+

sub,

up;

fied by desuetude, by intussusception, by

intenebration, darkening, obscuring.

(1606; the serpent of the Nile talking to the asp) : Come thou mortal wretch? With thy sharpe teeth this knot

within

take

served that like language,

verb intenebratef

darkness. Hence, inteneration, softening;

intrince f unloose. In

intus,

to

view of the gradual formation of language by agglutination, as opposed to intussusception. THE MONTH for June 1898 ob-

means to darken, to obscure. Latin tener, tender; tenebrae, the shades,

is

Latin

susceptum,

captum, to take, whence Muller in his study of THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE (1861) took the

of course,

cate

ideas.

Max

Johnson probably knew.) D. Gray in his WORKS (1861) wrote: The teeming South Breathes life and warm

from

hidebound

-Icapere, also captive.

well-read

A

such

under

Johnson prayed, according to Bos(23 April, 1753): J hope they intenerate my heart. (Daniel used the same expression in a Sonnet of 1595, as the

well

The

as

suscipere,

lify.

intenerating balm.

with

matter,

intussusception. Absorbing within oneself; the taking in of immaterial things,

See intenerate.

intenebrate.

the

irenic.

See eirenicon.

irremeable. turn. Latin

Without ir,

in,

not

possibility -f re,

back

-f

of

re-

meare,

to go, pass. This word, used from the 16th

century, was sometimes taken as meaning irremediable, without possibility of cure,

Dryden's AENEID (1697) said: The chief without delay Pass*d on, and took th' ir-

remeable way. Pope in the ILIAD

(1720)

brave brothers, in one mournful day, All trod the dark irremeable way. Johnson (widely read but here with different application) wrote in a said:

My

three

letter to Mrs. Thrale (3 October, 1767) : I perhaps shall not be easily persuaded . to venture . myself on the irremeable

357

.

ide

Irrorate

road Today we think

less

undeviatingly

irrorate.

Latin in

dew.

To 4-

bedew, to sprinkle. From rorare, to bedew; ros, rorem,

They are

to

be fried and

ir-

NATURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL OF LIFE AND DEATH says that to the inoration of the body,

much use

irrumpent.

of

swet

things

i$ profit'

many women have known. Bursting

Although irrumpent occurs only in 17th

is

a useful word,

and 18th century

it

dic-

(1661) pleasantly

rorated with the juice of oranges. Rawley in his edition (1638) of Bacon's HISTORY

able. This,

rumpere, ruptus, to break

also rupture; irruption; interrupt.

tionaries.

A recipe of Lovell

suggests:

+

in

in,

whence

of matrimony.

in.

Latin irrumpere;

Iswonk. cer,

to

Fast tense form, used by Chau-

of swink, q.v. In earlier times 10th IBth century) iswink, iswinch were

also used,

meaning

iwls.

See wit.

He.

Hoarfrost.

variant of

S5B

icicle.

to toil.

Also

Cp.

y-.

izebelle,

an

old

jack. senses

a

A pet form of John, used in many and combinations. Especially, ]acky

name

for a representative of the com-

man

mon

Jack, every people. Every a low-bred or Ill-manone. Hence, single nered fellow; Shakespeare uses it several

times in this sense (MERCHANT OF VENICE, 1597, bragging Jacks; RICHARD HI;

AND

To

JULIET: ANTONY AND play the jack, to play

THE TEMPEST: Your

fairy

,

ROMEO

CLEOPATRA).

mean .

tricks;

has done

.

better than plaid the Jacke with us, Also, the figure of a man that strikes the little

bell

n)

.

on a In

clock; Jack o' the clock (RICHARD musical instruments (virginal,

spinet, harpsichord)

,

an upright piece of

wood on

the back of the key-lever: press the key, the jack rises and an attached quill plucks the string. Shakespeare uses it as though it were the key: How oft,

he says in SONNET 128, Do I en-vie those jackes that nimble leape To kisse the

A

tender inward of thy hand, measure of drink, half a pint (1787, Yorkshire); a quarter of a pint (1877, Lincolnshire),

apparently as

thirsts shrank.

In

this sense,

half the northern Gill (associated in many references to Jack and Jill, in various senses) Shakespeare in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1593) puns on jacks and jills, boys and girls, and measures for drinks .

(jugs) in Gramltt's ordering tike household preparations: Be the jacks fair within, the jilh fair without, the carpets laid,

and everything

in order? IB the old

game of bowls (somewhat

like the Scotch

S5

curling) , a jack was a smaller bowl for the players to hit; Shakespeare says in

GYMBELINE: Was there ever

When

luckef

man had

I Mst the jacke

such

upon an

be hit away? This was also upcast, called the jack-bowl. Other uses, in comto

bination, include: Jack among the maids, a gallant, a ladies* man. Jack at a pinch,

one always ready, a handy person. Jack in office, a pompous, self-important petty office-holder. Jack in the low cellar, an unborn babe. Jacks o' both sides, "clawbacks and pickthanks," fellows that smile

on both of two

rivals

or rival parties.

Jack-o'-the-green, a figure of the gaiety,

May-pole decked with ribands and flowers,

carrying a garlanded staff. Jack's alive, a 19th century game: a burning piece of paper or match is passed around; whoever

is

offered

it

must accept

it;

the one

in whose

hand

was also a

jack, short for jacket^ used

burns up or goes out must pay a forfeit. Until then, each one receiving it cries "Jack's alive!" There it

the 14th century for a sleeveless, leather jacket worn by soldiers fencing.

the

To

It

is

from

padded and in

probably from this that

waxed the

leather jug was called a jack. buttery-hatch, said MUCEDOEUS

Thomas the butler for a jack of beer. jack-@~dandyy a conceited* affected (1598), to

fellow, a fop; ja

jack-a-lantern,

man. Also

a>

OrigiRally, a night watchmll<**~tlie*ifisp Mar's lao*

jar

jack-a-Lent

hence,

tern;

something

or

misleading

elusive. Also jackalentern, jack-o'-lantern,

jack-a-lanthorn. Sheridan in THE RIVALS (1775) has: / have followed Cupid's jacka-lantern,

and find myself

in a quagmire.

Rarely used as a verb: Meredith in ONE OF OUR CONQUERORS (1891) pictured: His puckish fancy jack-o* -lanterning over

A

jack-a-Lent. set up to be

Lent;

shaped

figure

man,

thrown at, originally during at amusement parks. Also

later,

]ack~o*-Lent.

jack-a-lent;

like a

it.

Hence, a butt;

a puppet; a contemptible person. Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WIND-

also,

now how wit may (1598) be made a jackc-a-Lent when 'tis upon ill You little jack-a-Lent imployment has: See

SOR

.

.

.

f

have you bin true

to us?

From

Latin

.jactare,

frequentative

of

Even in Roman times the verb developed the sense of tossing words iacere, to throw.

about; that

of boasting; hence in Engostentatious dis-

is,

lish jactation, boasting,

play. Jactator (17th and 18th centuries) , a boaster. Hence also jactance (from the

15th century)

,

boastfulness,

vainglory.

jactancy

(from the 17th)

The Latin

de-

another form, jactitare, to veloped throw out publicly, often with implicastill

tion of a false statement to

harm some-

one; hence also in English jactitation, a boastful public declaration: especially jactitation of marriage, false declaration

one

that

married to a person, for the may ensue. There were

is

advantages that

laws covering this in England for four centuries; the DAILY NEWS recorded a case in 1892.

The hangman. Jack Ketch Kitch) was the common execu-

Jack Ketch.

(Catch, tioner from about 1665 to 1686; he seemed

so bloodthirsty when the Duke of Monmouth and other political offenders were

name was

executed that his

hangman newly

in the

given to the

Punch and Judy show,

introduced

Italy; thereafter, it

from (Punchinello) became the common

term for an executioner, especially in the late

and

17th

18th centuries.

early

jadtpticlctlng.

A

buffoon;

especially,

a

nonsense.

j&ckpudding

Used

1

COVENT GARDEN JOURNAL (1752) protested are not lo be considered ,

,

.

who$e bminc&s

as

it is

to excite laughter.

jactation.

A

,

word

is

house;

.

the wall of a jakes with of these rogues and

None

.

but

Ajax

is

their

fool.

The

short for Jacques' house (Jack's Jack being a common term for

man. Today we make similar reference to the John) A jakes-farmer, cleaner of This was

meaning

7th century. Also jackpnddingCp, bagpuddimg. Fielding in THE

since the

.

cowards

jar.

clown serving a mountebank. Also as an adjective*

and daub

tar,

him

the fakes.

See pedlers French.

jackman.

A

privy. See ajax. In Shakespeare's KING LEAR (1605) we find both forms: I will tread this unbolted villain into mor-

jakes.

tewing of the body.

to

originally

make

an echoic word,

a harsh sound. Similar

are charref gorret churr, chirr, chirk., chark. Jar was also used of a clock's ticking; Shakespeare in RICHARD n (1593) has: My thoughts are minutes and with sighs they jane Their watches on unto mine eyes.

By

extension, lo jar, to wrangle, to disMarlowe in HERO AND LEANDER (fin-

pute; ished

by Chapman; 1598) says that Hero's lookes yeeldedj but her words made warre; Women are won when they begin to jarre. Thus having swallow'd Cupid's golden

jemmy

jarke

The more she

hooke,

striv'd the

to put it off, sayenge that he that should have it was but a javilL "What, Master Lieutenantj" quoth he, "shall I accompte

deeper

was she strooke. See pedlers French.

jarke.

him a

jaunce. Listed in the Sussex dialect GLOSSARY of 1875 as meaning a weary journey.

That was the

original

now means

(which

pleasure trip)

a

doe

me

this

day so

singuler a benefitf Javel was also, In the 15th and 16th centuries, a northern

meaning of jaunt light and easy

word of

However, the verb jaunce

.

javill that shall

for jail; javeler, jailer.

1483 reads;

a

javelle,

A

wordbook

gaola,

ubi a

presone.

meant to make a horse and down, to cavort; and prance up (16th century)

javelot.

See gavel.

jaunce in the second Quarto of Shakespeare's

ROMEO AND JULIET

an error for jaunte; the

(1592) first

jejune. It is not this word, but its meaning, that is frequently forgotten. It has

may be

Folio has

no connection with juvenile, being from Latin jejunum, fasting, abstinent; hence,

jaunt: Lord how my bones ake; fie what a jaunce have I had! Carlyle in REMINISCENCES (1866) said of a honeymooner,

He was on

A

javaris. its

navel

TIONARY

barren, feeble; spiritless, dry; insignificant, trifling. It developed these meanings in

his marriage jaunt.

upon

its

(1751)

make something of

Thus J. Beale

back. So Bailey's DIC-

our

;

folklorists

people,

this back-bellied crit-

most as weak as water.

A rascal.

that these

two javels Should

render up a reckning of their travels* Roper reported (THE LIFE OF SYR THOMAS

MORE; 1557) that when More was preparing himself for his execution (the executioner by custom receiving the dothes as one that had bine some solempne feastey chaunged himself into his best apparell? which

the victim wore)

,

f

The

it is

usually found

empty in autop-

sies.

Also jawvell, jevdf javilL

1 4th

had the Urme3

(rare) ; jejuneness, je'seconde subtyll gutte (1398) of the intestine is called the jejunum be-

cause

century. Spenser in MOTHER HUBBERDS TALE (1591) noted that Expired

since the

frequent

Hence jejunery junlty.

find,

Likewise havel, cavel, a worthless fellow; possibly from cavel, a stick of wood. Used

The most

application of the word is to speech or writing that seems dull, insipid, flat.

can come is to list the javalina (havalena), a piglike animal of the Southwest Page

javel.

all into English. in the PHILOSOPHICAL TRANS-

ACTIONS of 1670 wrote of poor and jejune who are accustomed to drinks al-

might

ter, which the O.E.D. ignores. The nearest the DICTIONARY OF AMERICANISMS (1951)

Moritz Jagendorf; he'll have (or or invent) a tale of the javaris.

and carried them

Latin,

swine in America, which has

jemmy.

(1)

A dandy,

a fop. Also, in the

Jemmy Jessamy (Jessamine) an effeminate or great fop. In the 18th century, a scale of eight degrees o sophisticate was listed; a greenhorn, jemmyt fessamy, phrase

bright3 flash, puzz, pizzf and a. smart. (2) a riding-boot. (3) a light cane. A London street cry of the 18th century was: Come

my pret-pret-pretty leetle jem-cm^em* emmy sticks! (4) a great-coat (5) a burglar's crowbar. See jessamy. Jemmy is a buy

invited to

pet-form of the name James. In all these meanings, the form jimmy was sometimes

Master Lieutenant espiengef advised him

used; for the 5th,

S6I

jimmy has

survived.

jentacular

jill

Relating to breakfast. Latin breakfast. Amherest, in his TERRAE FILIUS: OR THE SECRET HISTORY OF

jentacular.

to

ientare,

A genealogical tree of Jesus, from the root of Jesse (ISAIAH, xi) . Often used on church wall or window, or formalized

jesse.

THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (1721) declared: Nothing more can be expected

in a candlestick.

from these jentacular confabulations. Alexander Knox in a letter to Jebb (1811)

jest.

wrote: I therefore wish to close at this ante-jentacular hour. Hence jentation,

jetto.

.

.

.

breakfasting, breakfast Jeremy Bentham (died 1832) used to speak of his exercises in his garden as his antejentacular

and

postprandial circumgyrations. The O.E.D. gives only 1 9th century references for

prandial (Latin prandium, luncheon), dinner and postprandial, the latter mainly postprandial potations, postprandial oratory. In Latin prandium (prac, before 4- dies, day) originally was

jocular:

breakfast; then, a late breakfast, usually

of bread with ish or cold meats, eaten near noon; in England noon was at first

the dinner hour. HARPER'S MAGAZINE for

July 1S8S spoke of expenses legal, medical,

funereal and

Jess*

A

tached.

The

spurt of water, or an opening f a fountain. French jet d eau; in therefor,

throw

jeter, to

+

d'eau, of water. Evelyn

recorded in his DIARY for 22 October, 1644: The garden has fountaines, es.

pecially

one of

jetton.

A

.

.

five jettos.

counter; an early form of the

chips for calculating the score in cardgames. It was a piece of metal, ivory, etc.,

with an inscription or design; hence, a token, a medal. From French jeter, to cast; to cast

came a

The

up, calculate.

jetton be-

collectors' item; Snelling in

1769

wrote a book entitled View of the Origin, Nature, and Use of Jettons or Counters,

Known

by the

Money and Abbey

Pieces.

especially

Black

Those

Name

of

prandial.

one

short strap, fastened

to each

leg of a hunting hawk; on its free end was a ring to which the leash was at-

gest.

See gest.

Also ges

(plural

gesses),

chess,

Also used figuratively as in Shake-

speare's OTHELLO Braithwait's THE

(III

and GENTLEMAN

iii;

1604)

ENGLISH

the light chesses

:

jill.

Jill,

a

common name

for a girl:

every Jack shall have his Jill whether or not she come tumbling after. It is a variant of Gill, short for Gillian, Juliana,

common Middle

a very

By

deterioration,

came

to

mean

English name.

jill (also gill; fillet, jelot,

and gillwer from

gillot;

jilt;

of vanity,

As

gilliflower,

a giddy or flighty

then, a loose

woman. The

q.v.)

girl,

a

original

was a non-virgin; a strumpet; jilt a kept woman; the current sense in to to raise hopes in love then cast off, jilt, sense of

A

form of jessamine* jasmine.

Hence, a yellow color; a perfume of jasmine. By extension (one that perfumes himself, or wears a sprig of jessamine)

,

a

clandy, fop. See

jemmy. Another list than given there names the eight degrees of sophisticate

(1755)

:

jesmmyf smart, honest oiu

spirit,

t

greenhorn, fellow, jo

may be Poet

(WORKS; 1630)

ra&c&ll,

The Water But the mad

of another origin.

when

tells:

hee*s five parts drunhe, Gals

Ms drab, his queane, his jill, or punke, And in his fury 'gins to royle and rove, Then with -full mouth, he truely her

c&lh ker whore.

jockteleg

jouissance

A large clasp knife. This word was used mainly in Scotland and northern England, from the 17th into the 19th

jockteleg.

century. It took various forms: jactaleg, jackyl&gs, jockylegs, and the like. There

an unverified suggestion that such is knives were imported, and first made by Jacques de Liege, whence by corruption is more likely that the large worn at the side of the leg, jack word commonly applied to many

jockteleg. It

knife was

being a tools. For quotation, see kediwne.

Jonathan.

also hooks, so that

o

came

into the

word by

The

Hence

also the rare

English forms jucund, jucundtty (16th, 17th, 18th centuries) . Jocund was used by

(ROMEO AND JULIET, 1592: Jocond day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountains' tops) , by Milton (L* ALLEGRO, 1632: And the jocond rebecks sound) by Scott and more. Also jocundary; and the Shakespeare

,

nouns jocundity^ jocundness, jocundry. With Milton let us call the Muses to

land; or a representative citizen. Said to

contrasted

the

Jordan. A pot or bottle used by alchemists and medieval doctors. Often used to

hold

stool with the parts joined together, as made by a skilled

hand. In 16th to 18th century expressions, (possibly with reference to the new-style privy or dose stool) used to ridicule or

you mercy> I took you for a used by Lyly (1594), Shakejoint-stool; OF THE speare, allusively in THE TAMING insult: J cry

in full in KING LEAR,

for

analysis;

hence,

a

1596; II i).

By

extension, as a term of

abuse, a dolt, a foolish fellow.

jorum. A large drinking-bowl, a punchbowl; the contents thereof; especially, a

bowl of punch. From the 18th century (Fielding; Goldsmith in SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER, I77B: Then come put the jorum And let us be merry and clever)

when

A

urine

chamber-pot. So used by Chaucer (1886) and Shakespeare (HENRY iv, PART ONE;

jocundly.

SHREW (1596) and and more.

English and

the

To move John you must make

your fulcrum of solid beef and pudding; an abstract idea will do for Jonathan. Now Brother Jonathan has given way to Uncle Sam.

aboutf

(fitted)

a

be Washington's appellation (recalling the BIBLE: SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL, i) for Jonathan Tnimbuli, Governor of Connecticut. Lowell in THE BIGLOW PAPERS

favour our close jocondrie or if we must, say with Byron We'll wear our fetters

joint-stool.

may be hung on

it

association with

Latin jocus, joke, jest; the word is from Latin jucundus, pleasant, from juvare, to help, to please.

light-

grate. () Brother Jonathan* the United States collectively, as John Bull for Eng-

(1848)

:

with ye ben so mery and so jocunde.

instrument for .

American: jocund. Cheerful, merry, gay. A common word, especially favored by poets, since Chaucer's TO ROSEMOUNDE (1380) There-

An

(1)

ing pipes (19th century) (2) A stand for holding toast and the like, with legs, but

Also used to ST.

mean a

large quantity, as

JAMES'S MAGAZINE of December

1872 speaks of someone's being treated to a

jorum of

Joseph.

See benjamin.

puissance.

good)

,

gossip.

(1)

Possession (of something

enjoyment

(of)

;

pleasure, delight

French janismnce; jauirf to enjoy; Latin reg&udere, to rejoice. All owe joy and

come from the same source. The English wonl was also spelled jowsance,

joicing

justaucorps

jovial

joysaunce, jouysaunce, and the like, Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579)

To

those folkes make such 17th century misread the jouysaunce. old M u being often used for v and spelled the word jovisaunce (as in jovial, is

glad

see

The

which, however came from Jove, Jupiter, and meant the disposition of one born

under the influence of the planet Jupiter) in editions of Spenser and elsewhere, as in GOD'S PLEA (1657) by Reeve; We can-

See joutssance.

To

jugulate.

slit

to

of eggs; put

the paste a

the throat

of,

to slay.

See souse.

The supreme god of the Romans. From Zeus (the highest Greek god) or Jove + pater, father. Hence, the largest of the planets. Also cp. Diana. Also in names of plants: Jupiter's beard, nut,

(1945) suggests that thinking of Elizabethan

Thackeray was songs "Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta\voo" when he spoke of the jugulation of a

pseudosongstress. (She probably served the word in its basic sense!)

jumbal.

made

de-

since the

17th century. Also jumble. Often baked in the form of rolls or rings; Holmes in

VENNER (1860) speaks of hearts and rounds, and jumbles* which playful youth

ELSIE

slip

their

over the forefinger before spoiling annular oulline with a bite. A

recipe

from

THE

of

of cream, and so mould it all well together with a little rosewater. Shape them into forms, and bake them in a gentle oven.

Jupitefs eye, the houseleek,

YOUR EAR

sweet cake,

pound

blanched almonds well beaten, and, half a pound of sweet butter; add half a pint

A WORD

A

sugar,

them into a paste with the beaten whites

Latin jugulum, collar-bone, throat, neck. Also jugulatorf cut-throat. Ivor Brown in IN

wheat mix

fine

Jupiter.

See jocund.

jucund.

',

jump.

not abdicate wonted jovisances. jovial.

Take a pound of and as much white

(1706):

flower

CLOSET

OF

RARETIES

the walnut,

lived in the

q,v. Jupiter's

upon which

the gods

Golden Age; Jupiter's

staff,

the mullein.

A

tight-fitting garment; esjustaucorps. pecially, a woman's outer garment of the

17th

century.

Also

justacor,

justycoat;

and more. From the French right 4- au corps, to the body.

chesticore, juste,

Pepys in his DIARY for 26 April, 1667, has the entry: With her velvet cap . and .

.

black just-au-corps. THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE of 28 July, 1896, observed that

a

in the Pyrenees the in red justaucorps.

women

look gorgeous

K

Awry, crooked. From the

kam.

Shakespeare: HENRY rv, PART TWO: Did not goodwife Keech the butchers wife come in

Celtic;

Welsh cam, crooked; hence

(also in Engobstinate. Shake-

cam,

lish)

then? In HENRY vni (referring to Cardinal

perverse, (in his translation, 1708,

k form, which

Wolsey, son of a butcher) J wonder That such a keech can with his very bulke Take

Johnson gives in his DICTIONARY (1755). Clean kam, also kim kamf quite crooked,

the rayes o' th bcneficiall sun And keeps it from the earth. Some commen-

perverse, contrary to the purpose; Shakespeare has, in CORIOLANUS (1607): This is

low catch

speare,

of

Motteux

Rabelais)

the

:

f

up

tators

kamme. The 17th century might

clean say:

used

Everything went

Mm

kamf

or

less violent

Aubrey in 1692: This year all my and affairs ran kim-kam.

said:

See cankedort.

(Current slang, from German, for defeated, wholly out of it) , See capot.

with

split pulse, onions,

and condiments. The English variety usually added cold fish, but served it hot. In the 17th century it was simpler: kitsery, pounded beans and rice eggs, butter,

boiled together. Also cutchery, ketchery* quicharee. Often served as part of the

English breakfast. keech. tered

A lump of fat,

the fat of a slaugh-

animal rolled into a

lump.

In

The marchandys

care began to kele*

Shakespeare's song in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) runs While greasie Joane doth

kaput.

turies: rice boiled

or ardent, to mitigate, lessen;

down, to lessen, grow less; HOW A MERCHANDE DYD HYS WYFE BETRAY (1460) to cool

businesses

kedgeree. An Indian dish much favored by the English in the 18th and Ith cen-

tal-

Hence, to cool a hot liquid by stirring; by extension, to cool the passions, make

it ill

kankedort.

PART ONE explain

As a verb, to cool. From the 9th century; Old English coelan; a common Teutonic form, koljan, whence also cool.

for a wife to come up with kemboed arm. May you not have to cry, as

iv,

as tallow keech.

keeL

all

this chim-cham stuff. Hence also the verb kimbo, to set awry; crooked like an arm akimbo. Richardson in CLARISSA (1748)

thinks

on HENRY

keele the

poL The HAH MEIDENHAD

urges the

man

to

kele thi lust,

(12^0)

and a

PENITENTIAL PSALM of 1508 SOUght tO kele the hete of unlawful desyre. Thus in Merlin (1450), The kynge yet was not keled of the love of the stiwardes wif.

A

wooden pencil. Also heelie vine; keclimne pen, a pencil. Keel was a reddish iron-ore used (15th to 19th cenkeelivine.

marking sheep, Vine referred to (cedar) into which the keel (and later, lead) was put The word was used in the 18th and 19th centuries; it also took the form killow, which in the 17th tury) for

the

365

wood

keraunoscopy

keep

amid wool.

century (Johnson, 1755, also gives cullow; callow meant soot) was used to mean graphite. ERASER'S MAGAZINE of October 1833 has; In a hole he had jocktolegs,

keelavine-pens could purloin.

...

A

contest, especially of

who can

finish first. Hence, kemp, to fight, to contend with. Also kemper, kemperyman, a contender.

to

or whatever else he See kilderkin.

kempkin.

As a noun. Care, attention;

keep.

(4)

reapers to see

ntm

(take, give) keep, to take notice; hence, care in watching. Hence, a place for keeping something, a cupboard, a

(to keep flies from flesh summer: 17th century), a reservoir

Vainglory; the empty desire of praise or repute. Greek kenos, empty -f dam, glory, opinion; dokein, to seem.

kenodoxy.

In

meat-safe

See compt; kemb.

kempt.

to

A

for

a clasp, button, or lock. Especially (translating Italian tenazza f hold) , the

word

that has

fit

application

today,

though found only In 17th and 18th cen-

fish;

tury dictionaries.

innermost, strongest, central tower of a castle, which served as the last defence;

kephalotomy.

a stronghold. Thus Burke In a letter of 1796: Like the proud keep of Windsor

to cut, as In

atom, uncuttable, Indivisible portion, appendectomy, and many more.

rising in majesty of proportion, and girt with the double belt of its kindred and

The more

coeval towers. Scott gave the

word

fresh

placed

An It

form of comb, which

kemm) by the 17th compt. The form kemb

(also

See

tury.

early

re-

cen-

make

to smooth,

elegant, as in Chaucer,

TALE (1586) So peyntcd he kembde at point dft/is As wel hise

SQUIRE'S

:

m hu countenannce. Whence comber

kemp.

(1)

A

(of wool)

tury.

and

(2)

A

,

originally

From

the 8th cen-

cask or small barrel

15th centuries)

.

(3)

this

is

word

cepIs

humor, of

in as

15 Feb-

ruary, 1890, referred to the violent kephalotomic method for the abatement of

party spirit proposed by Swift.

(14th

A coarse hair,

An

early 19th century French milwith a flat top sloping toward itary cap, the front, and a horizontal peak. Now used historically. In OF WHALES AND MEN, R. B. Robertson (1954) remembers: A

kepi.

our

champion, a strong and

brave warrior or athlete.

usual form in English

but either form of

deliberate quest of pedantic

kepis

male being kember. Gp* kemp.

female,, the

of beheading. tomos; temnein,

century ago, in the days of corsets and

also

combed, surviving In unkempt, kefnpster, a

-f

de-

veloped several meanings: to beat; to lacerate with a rake or comb; figuratively,

TWE

halo-;

act

when THE SATURDAY REVIEW

life for historical stories.

kemb.

The

Greek kephale, head

as

of the eyebrows. Chaucer In THE KNIGHT'S TALE (ISBi) says: Lik a grifphon looked

ke abeutet With kempe keens on hue Later, a hair of this kind

and before steel and plastics pushed and the flesh of our women in

flesh

ways God never intended it to go, whalebone was the most valuable part of the baleen whale.

keraunoscopy. See aeromancy. Accent on the nos (short o) . Greek keraunos, thunder and lightning; the thunderbolt.

(Thunder alone was bronte, as with CharHence Greek keraunoscopia, the lotte.) observation of thunder and lightning; divination

366

therefrom.

kem

kinchin

See cateran.

kern.

keyn.

See ky; cp. sake.

kibe.

A

chapped

to

chilblain, especially

Which should

(1602) toe of the pesant comes so neere the heeles of our courtier, hee galls his

June 1883 this

on

follows

spectre

kilderkin.

the

closely

kibes

An

kichine.

kickshaw.

of

A

the

kilderkin of butter, 112 pounds. The word figuratively, as by Peele in ED-

WARD i (1593) Pluck out and draw us a fresh pot from :

but one of those

French

frivolous

con-

thing; hence kick-chosesf kickshaws; this later treated as a plural, whence 17th

(1682) writ,

century kickshaw. Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) calls for a joint of

mutton, and any pretty gant

but

(1601)

we

in PLAINE PERCEVALL THE PEACE-MAKER OF ENGLAND (1590) exclaimed: What neede all this stir? this banding of kilcowes to fight with a shadow? Nashe in return (cp.

hear Sir Andrew Aguecheek: I delight in masks and revels sometimes altogether,

and

Sir

Toby

Belch: Art thou good at

these kickshawses, knight? Milton, in his essay

on EDUCATION

word

to persons:

The Monsieurs

to take our hopeful youth and send them over back again transformed into mimickSj, apes, and kickshoes. As early as .

1658

we

.

.

find protest against the kickshaw these chameleon times

language, which love to feede on

a pattern of speech and never since wholly set aside. writing kicksie-wiclusae.

bum; gallimaufry)

applies the of Paris

(1644)

A

whim or

erratic fancy.

Also kickie-wickie; Mcksey-winsey,

kicki&y

wincy, kickshiwinches; probably humorous variants of kickshaw* q&. Shakespeare uses the first two forms (according to the

man in thy large bulk is thou'rt but a kilderkin of

tun of

A swashbuckler, braggadocio; person (that thinks he is) of importance. From kill -f cow, the cow being the most unwarlike of creatures. Richard Harvey

By

TWELFTH NIGHT

A

kiUcow.

extension, anything elein trifling or unsubstantial;

Shakespeare's

;

But sure

wit.

tiny kick-

little

thy spigot, the kinder-

kin of thy knowledge. And the cask grew smaller; thus Dryden says in MACFLECKNOE

chose, some-

was

(2)

size.

1531, the beer kilderkin contained 18 galthat for ale, 16. There was also a

fancy dish; not a sub-

From French quelque

shawes.

a barrel ia

was used

stantial English recipe,

'somethings'

cask, half

lons;

old form of kitchen.

(1)

A

bound and high

fiery steed,

Also kempkin, kinkin> via Dutch, perhaps from Latin quintal^ fifth. By a statute of

and extravagance.

pleasure

coct.

How

said of suicide:

sustain the

curve t Of Mars's

CONTEMPORARY REVIEW of

the

his

hugs

The

And

He

,

kicky-wicky hmre at home* Spending his manly marrow in her armsf

on

one's kibe,

upon annoy. Shakespeare in HAMLET

kibe.

WELL THAT ENDS WELL

as a jocular term for a wife: weares his honor in a boxe unseene That

(1601)

the heel. Hence, to tread

says:

in ALL'S

edition)

calls

Gabriel Harvey

the kilcow champion.

An insatiable brat, presumed be a changeling substituted for the genuine child. Near unto Halberst&d* we read in Henry Bell's translation (1652) of Luther's COLLOQUIA MENSALIA, 2005 a man that aim had a Mllcropf who sncked the mother and five oth&r momen dry, and besides detmurffd itety much. kilkrop. to

kimlbo.

See ketm.

See pedlars Fmtcfk This word was from the German: khtdehen^ a

Idradun.

67

kithe

kinkin In English

child.

it

appeared also as

kinchyn, kynchin, and sometimes

kitchin,

maiden's ruin. Also try

called boy's love kissing.

kitchen.

See kilderkin.

kinkin.

A

kissing-comfit.

kissing,

small

sweet

confection for perfuming the breath. For a quotation from Shakespeare, see eryngo.

A small wicker-basket. Perhaps a diminutive of kipe, basket; kipe has been common since the year 1000, though now only in dialects. Also kibsey, kybzey.

This of course invited a kiss, and was sometimes called a kissing cause, as in SWETNAM ARRAIGNED (1620) Their very

kipsey.

i

breath

sophisticated with amber-pellets,

is

A kissing gate, one

Gervase Markham, in COUNTRY CONTENT-

and

(1615) advises: With a gathering hook, gather those which be full ripey and

opened in a U-shaped enclosure, so that but one person could go through at a time; a kiss was the accepted fare. THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE of 7 November,

MENTS

put them into your cherry-pot, or kybzey, hanging by your side or upon any bough

you

An

earlier

form of

carat,

of the hissing-gates

"the

kissing-strings, strings of a bonnet tied under the chin, the ends hanging. Scott in THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818) remarks that the old-fashioned terms of

weight of 3 grains." Arabian qirat; Greek keration f little horn; fruit of carob tree (locust

Turner

hence, a small measure.

;

A NEW HERBALL (1568)

says

manteaus, saques,

one kirat of it be given in wine, maketh a man wonderfully dronken.

that it

bean) in

if

Mm* Used

in

various

phrases,

cnp f

forth y

even

to drink, to kiss the post, to and be shut out. to kiss the

rod, to accept punishment submissively. to kiss the stocks, to be placed in the

the

cow

is

one that

"kisses

the

cow

kiss-

for the

stoops to indignities for a consideration; also used as an adjective, as

milk,*

THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE in 1840; We hm/c no such ki$s~cow totes. A kissme-quick was (19th century) a small boanct set far back on the head; also, a curl of hair in front of the ear. As names

Love-io-ft-mist

I

rise.

also ki&$~me~twice-bef&reSouthernwood is called km-m&o*

Is

perhaps fxxmise

it

is

also

so

present day.

kiss.

See

Hymen's

(1)

A northern form of chest, used from

13th century. Applied especially to Noah's ark, (2) the basket into which

the infant Moses was put, (3) a coffin. Also (in Scotland, from the 1 7th cena verb, to put into a chest or tury) coffin,

that

IE

of Ysriotts lowers. The heartsease has been oiled ki$$~mef Mss-m&^t-thc-garden-gate.

to the milliners of the

and

information

torch. ki&t.

A

little

kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate.

arrive too late

stocks; similarly, to kiss the clink,

kissing-strings,

would convey but

Also try

among

which might be mentioned: to kiss the book f to swear by kissing the Bible, to kiss the

that

1896, noted the disappearance of the last on Parliament Hill.

please.

kirat.

kissing causes.

I

wad

fain see thee kistedf I wish

you were dead.

kith.

See kithe.

Id the.

nounce,

To make known: tell;

dicate; to

by

make

acts, to

by words, to anshow, prove, in-

manifest, to exhibit, dis-

appear; to show oneself; to acknowledge, admit, recognize. Kithe (also kytke, kyth f kith, kuthe; and in the past cover;

to

forms kydde, kithed* kudde, ikidj icudf

$68

kittle

kyriolexy

kyde, etc.) 9th to the as in the

/ shall

she

THE

1

was very common from the 6th century. Chaucer used it,

LEGEND OF GOOD

anon

it

kythe

.

.

.

WOMEN

(1385)

A

knar.

rugged rock; a knot in wood,

pecially a

She kytheth what

has:

thikke knarre.

would have kythed Cellini mad, had he never done ony thing else. The noun form, kith, went through more of prove: It

knotgrass.

female roles in the

country one knows, one's native land; then, persons known and familiar. Kith

century it had become a loose merely phrase for kinsfolk. Sometimes it was corrupted to kiff and kin,

mid-18th

IN

CHEAPSIDE (1620) : A mayd that's neither kiffe nor kin to me. In his BUIK OF THE CRONICLIES OF SCOTLAND

spoke of the tha kid. kittle.

No To

grit

'tickle'

(1535) Stewart miraclis that

wonder and

tickle;

the fiddle

is still

curiosity)

and the

;

like.

also,

This was

,

delicate.

TRUTH

for

kittle,

London

some French ter to lose.

theatre, unless played by

actress

who

has

no

A

keyn is used some ten poem.

lines later in the

situa-

September,

1890, said: Cleopatra is a kittle character

for a

See crame,

variant plural of cow: kine. For an ky. instance of its use, see sigalder. The form

ticklish,

'ticklish* I 1

kramer.

to

the 10th century, used in Scotland. Also kickle.

Hence, as an adjective, hard to handle, risky (a tion)

Fine, fit for a king. German Kdnig, king. In 1 8th century dictionaries. Kony is also a variant of coney, q.v,

hence, to excite, rouse ; to puzzle with a rid-

common word from

and

theatre. Shake-

Stony.

kidding!

(usually pleasantly) dle one's (tickle

a

Tudor

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1590) cries: You dwarfe! you minimus, of hindring knotgrasse made. Beaumont and Fletcher in THE COXCOMB (1 6 1 2) declare: We want a boy extremely for this function. Kept under for a year with milk and knotgrass; In my time I have seen a boy do wonders. Which is better treatment than accorded boys whose voices were to be kept soprano.

originally meant country and kinsfolk; later, friends and relatives; by

A CHASTE MAID

and

in

speare

and kin

Middleton's

plant, of interbranched

the variety called male knotgrass to stunt growth, especially of the boys that played

ance; especially, knowledge of proper behavior; (as early as the 9th century) the

in

A

knotted creeping stems, with tiny pink and crimson flowers. It was used particularly

changes of meaning: knowledge, acquaint-

as

By

es-

exten-

Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) He was short scholdred, brood, a

Scott sought to revive the word in FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822) in the sense

is.

the

tree-trunk.

a thick-set fellow. Chaucer in the

sion,

:

knob on a

charac-

kyriolexy.

The

pressions. In

habit of using literal ex19th century dictionaries;

Greek

kyrios,

lexia,

speaking;

authoritative, lexis,

speech,

proper -f word, as

also in lexicographer, a harmless drudge.

369

lac.

See lake.

To

lace.

catch In

a net or snare;

to

lachrymental, weeping, lachrymation, mournful. (All these, instead of chry, may be spelled cri or naturally cry) Caxton .

sireak with color

variegate,

from gold and

silver

lace)

(originally,

hence, to

;

(leaving streaks of the lash) ; to cut lines along the breast of a bird, lash,

whip

laced fowl. Lace

for cooking

French from Late Latin laqueare, to

ensnare.

to

lace cojee,

Cp.

from about 1675

add sugar; Addison, in

for

A

CITIZEN'S DIARY

is

via

laciare,

Old

Latin

laqueat.

To

to 1725,

was

his satiric notes

(SPECTATOR;

dash of brandy has been added. Laced mutton (sometimes just mutton), a strumpet, prostitute perhaps from wearIng a bodice; or, with the waist drawn tight In Shakespeare's THE TWO GENTU:MJEN OF VERONA (1591) , Speed says of Julia: Aye, sir. 1, a lost mutton f gave your letter to hir, a, laced mutton y and she, a

me, a

my

nothing for

lost

labour. Lost

course, suggests the

which would

mutton,

mutton , of

more serious lost sheep,

also Include the laced mut-

ton,

drank. Archaeologists have guessed that the tiny phials found in ancient Roman call

to hold tears, and them lachrymatories (accent on the

which refers to evidence) Carlyle in MEMOIRS OF LORD TENNYSON (1842) declared: There is in me what would fill whole lachrymatories, as I read. The word was humorously applied to a lady's handkerchief, as in THE NEW MONTHLY MAGA-

lack,

.

his

ZINE in 1825:

Latin for

tears;

used by Beau-

Fletcher; see sippet Lacrima

(l&chiyma, l&chrymae) Christi, a strong, sweet red Italian wine; sometimes just (f&crim&e)

Aim

:

literally,

lachrynmble,

the tears of tear-worthy;

with tears ready to

fall;

Women

will

be stationed in

the pit with white cambric lachrymatories, to exchange for those that have become

saturated with the tender tears of sympathy. And that was before women went to enjoy a

good

cry at the movies. Sunt

lacrimae rerum. lack.

See lack-Latin.

A

lackland.

lmdiryn* mont and

QirisL

(1490) Of THE BOOK. OF ENEYDOS: Thenne she began somewhat for to lachryme and sighe upon the bed. Fielding in THE AUTHOR'S FARCE (1731) boasted: Tokay I have drank, and lacrimae I have tion

tombs were intended

1711) wrote: Mr, Nisby of opinion that laced coffee is bad for the head. In most instances, a laced beverage is one to which a

heed muttony

has a rare use of the verb, in his transla-

hence,

Vaughan

a in

person that owns no land; Cardinal person.

common

THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE of

29 August, 1899, declared that the transference of the great commons of England to the rich created a lackland and beg-

gared poor. King John of England, the Plantagenet, who ruled 1199-1216, was 70

lack-Latin called tion

lag

John Lackland, a common appellayounger sons, said the PENNY

with tiny gaps or hollows. And lacunosity. terms are still used in science

The

of

CYCLOPAEDIA of 1839, whose age prevented them from holding fiefs.

One

lack-Latin.

that

knows

little

botany, medicine, astronomy' less often In general reference. W. Taylor in MEMOIRS (Robberd; 1814) said: He could

or no

trust to his extempore eloquence for supplying the lacunes of his text. Lacuna is the Latin diminutive of lacus, a larger

Latin. Especially (16th century) Sir John Lack-Latin f a representative name for an

ignorant priest It was with a sigh for a vanishing generation that Brander Matthews (1914) remarked: **A gentleman

know

needs not

have

least

lack

lack-love

forgotten

it."

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM); the (AS YOU LIKE IT; 1600)

the prehistoric age (in Europe) dwellings in lakes (on high poles) were common, as the lacustrine habitations of Switzerland (accent lacustrine

eye,

on the

cuss).

looking on

it

with

lacks-

lac virginis.

Says very wisely^ "It

(Byron, Dickens)

ten

is

have

A

PIERCE PENNILESSE

THE DIVELL

cosmetic; used in the

HIS

TO

SUPPLICATION

(1592) said: She should have

noynted your face over night with virginis.

alas!

tion

of

The

sweating-room of a bath. from the Laconians (Spartans),

lac

A

wine; perhaps a translaGerman Licbfraumilch. BLACK(2)

WOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE

See breviloquence; chilonian.

poem

of 1820:

misty

On good

in

said,

a

The parsons should grow lac virginis or lachryma

Christi.

used such a room. See Hymen's torch.

lad's love.

See lachrymae,

There are

lag.

laomate.

(1)

16th and 17th centuries. Literally (Latin), milk of the Virgin. Nashe in 15th,

an interjection of sorrow,

laconioim.

See lacunate*

lacustrine.

used lack-lustre after Shakespeare. Once, in CYMBELINE, Shakespeare uses lack as an abbreviation for good lack or alack,

lacrima.

is

period

when

,

o'clock." Several

Named who first

filled

lacustrial,

A

(A

And

laconic.

Hence

a lake.

lacustrian, lacustrine, pertaining to a lake; lacmcular, of a small lake, a pond, pool. lacustrian was a lake-dweller; the

Shakespeare

melancholy Jacques is describing Touchstone: And then he drew a dial! from Ms lustre

is

to

lack-lustre

poake:

with water and

Latin, but he should at

form several compounds: lack-beard (MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING); lack-brain (HENRY rv, PART ONE) ; lacklinen^ shirtless (HENRY iv, PART TWO);

used

which naturally becomes

hollow

To make

holes;

dig ditches.

first,

several

words of

as verbs. (1) to lag^ to

this

form;

be bedraggled;

English lacuna, lacune* is used of a gap, a blank space; a missing portion, as in a

make wet or muddy; Bunyan THE HOLY WAR (1682) warns, of new garments: Let them not fag with dust and

manuscript or an argument. Hie plural is lacunae. Several adjective forms have been

hind,

used: lacunal, lacunar, l&cunary, relating to lacunae; lacunose^ lacnnom, character-

carry

off;

port;

to

ized by, full of, lacunae. Also lacunulose,

(1847)

Latin lacuna* hole,

pit;

locus,

lake.

In

to be or to in

dirt.

m

To

(2)

the

drag after one; to

still

current sense.

fall

(3)

be-

To

to send to penal servitude, transcatch;

Be Quincey

observed

that Aladdin himself only escaped

lampad

laic

being lagged for a rogue and a conjurer by a flying

jump

after his palace,

(4)

Technically: to cover with lags (staves, a strips of felt, etc., to cover a barrel,

There were nouns and corresponding PART in HENRY iv, compounds. Shakespeare ONE (1596) has: / could be well content and the

boiler,

like)

To

entertaine the lagge-end of my life With quiet hours. From lag, the hindmost

what's left

lags,

emptied from a

when

vessel, dregs,

liquor

Is

came the use

class, the meanest sort of by Shakespeare in TIMON OF

of lag, the lowest persons, as

ATHENS: The Senators of Athens, together with the common lag of people. laic.

play.

A A

(1)

(2)

variant of lake, q.v. f meaning variant of lay, pertaining to

the laity, not of the church. Also used as meaning a layman, one not of the

a noun, clergy.

Lamb

in

IMPERFECT SYMPATHIES

OF EUA;

1833) points out that oath-taking creates a sort of double standard of truth: A great deal of incorrectness (ESSAYS

and

inadvertency, short of falsehood, creeps into ordinary conversation; and a

hind of secondary or laic truth is tolerated* where clergy truth oath truth by the nature of the circumstance,

is

not

re-

(I)

An

offerings sacrifice;

a

gift.

To

receive something to lake> as a gift Related to Old English lician, to please, to like; used from BEOWULF into the 13th

century. (2) play, sport, fun; a contest. In the plural, games, goings on. Old High

German

leich, song;

Gothic

laiks,

dance;

Teutonic laikan, to play. Cp. Me. (3) a fine linen, used few shirts. First used in Chaucer's WME OF SIR THQPAS (1586) Old

lac; it

nient, or the color is

(4)

shellac.

is

sticklac;

a small stream,

(5)

the

or a

:

waters in a fen, in a

drowned

when

year; to

a hard frost sets in, which the wild fowl

Old English leccan, to moisten; related to letch, lick, leak. This sense combined with Latin lacus, basin,

resort for food/'

tub,

pond, to produce the

still

current

den

(as of lions) ; a pit, (6) an grave; underground dungeon; a winevat. These are extensions of the sense of

a

sense.

a

they all developed in the 14th century. Thornley in his translation of the charming DAPHNIS AND (1657)

Latin lacus;

CHLOE

Daphnis out of the wine into the butts.

said that

tunn'd

the

PRYMER

of

word

1400 uses the

(in

lake,

The the

sense of pit or dungeon) figuratively: He ladde me out of the laake of wretchednesse. Also the verb, to lake, to color red;

to

make an

offering or sacrifice to; to play,

sport This sense was extended: to sport

make sport of, mock; to leap, quickly, to fight; to play amorously; to take holiday from work; to be out of

with, to

a job. Let the (1599)

:

T. Cutwode in

lasses^ said

CALTHA POETARUM:

OR THE BUMBLEBEE

give over leaking in the greene.

lamfoitive.

A

medicine to be taken by

licking, often given (in the 17th and 18th centuries) on the end of a licorice stick.

Latin lambere, lambitus, to lick, whence lambent flames. Also lambative, lambetive; Steele in

Upon

a reddish pig-

produced thereby. This

a variant (17th century) of the earlier (Hindustani lakh; Sanskrit lahsha).

lac

called

channel for water; specifically (Wright; "an open part of the river, or the 1869)

:

Saxon lakanf mantle.

are

twigs

broken off the twigs is called seedmelted and formed into thin plates,

move

quired. lake.

incrusted resin

.

to these various verbs,

person;

is a dark red resinous crust on trees, produced by the prick of an insect. The

Lac

THE TATLER

(1710,

the mantle tree

.

.

No. 266) has: stood a pot

.

of lambetive electuary.

Almost always in the plural: l&mpads, in the BIBLE: REVELATIONS, the

lampad.

372

lampadomancy

langret

"seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of

have been used as figurative terms for woman. In Elizabethan days, a land-frigate

God." Greek lampas, lampad-, lamp, has

was a woman, usually a strumpet; lago makes the same implication when he

given English a

an

number

of forms: lamp-

of the Eastern church,

speaks of Othello's secret marriage: Faith,

in charge of the lighting, (2) a cluster of lampadephore lamps, a candelabrum.

he tonight hath boarded a land-carrack.

adary

(I)

officer

A

was a torch-bearer,

lampadist) a competitor in a torch-race, in a

lampadrome,

lampadedromy,

A

phoria.

is

1751)

especially,

See carrack.

(a

lampade-

lampadias (Bailey's DICTIONARY, a shooting-star resembling the

To make

land-damn.

You That

For lampadomancy see aeromancy. The adjective lampyrine means shining; it has been applied in zoology to the genus of

the villaine,

See aeromancy; cp. lam-

lampadomancy. pad.

(megalamprophone. An instrument phone, or electrical device) for Increasing the intensity of sound. Greek lampros, bright, shining; cp. lampad. Also (19th

will be

To

langle. cially,

to

voice

is

called lamprophony.

To

lancinate.

Latin pieces,

was

thrust

pierce,

lancinare,

lancinatus,

changed

in

to

through. tear

meaning

to (in

Cooper's THESAURUS, 1565) by association with lance. In the Near East, lancinated

chunks of meat are cooked before an open fire. Donne, in a Sermon of I6$Q, declared that Every sin is an incision of the soul,

for.

f

with a thong; espetogether the legs of an

fasten

tie

animal to prevent its straying. Also, as a noun, a thong for such binding; a hobble. Probably from Latin lingula, thong, diminutive of lingua, tongue; but no Intermediate French word has been found, In his commentary (1647) on the ROMANS wrote of this carcase of sin which I am tied and langold.

Trapp BIBLE: to

A

century, for the deaf), lamprophoner. clear, sonorous quality or state of the

on earth

df and by some putter on y damn'd for't; would I knew I would land-damns him.

are abus

flame of a torch; I saw one in August 1953.

glowworms.

a hell

Shakespeare thus uses it (unless the text be corrupt) in THE WINTER'S TALE (1611):

A

kind of shot for cannon, langrage. 17th Into the 19th century, of bolts, bars, and other Irregular pieces of Iron, used especially against the rigging

enemy

vessels.

Also

and

sails

of

langridgef langrel, 1796 declared: It is

langrilL Nelson in well known that English ships of war are furnished with no such ammunition as

langrage. langret. the 16th

A

false die,

and 17th

used by sharpers of

with disrespect-

WalkA MANIFEST DETECTION OF THE MOST VYLE AND DETESTABLE USE OF DICE-PLAY (1550; echoed by Dekker's THE BELMAN OF

speaking of his envied master (Shakespeare, OTHELLO; 1604) . Woman Is a Vessel': Honour unto

1608) explained It as a well die that seemeth good and square: favored yet is the forhead longer on the cater and

a landnation.

An

acute, piercing pain Is

er's

a lancinating pain. land-carrack.

A woman

ful implications;

lago

the wife, as unto the

the BIBLE

(i

PETER)

centuries. Gilbert

:

LONDON,

is

weaker

vessel, says

hence, various vessels

tray

than any other way, and therefore

holdeih the

373

name

of a langret.

The

lapidity

langridge

length keeps the four or the three on the bottom; hence such a die is also called a

bafd

pronounced

Cp. fullam.

cater-tra, q.v.

also

laodicean liberal.

See anspessade.

lanspessade.

Hence

middle-of-the-way man was scorned as (FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW, December 1877) a

See language.

langridge.

lay-odd-i-see"-an.)

laodiceanism, lukewarmness, indifference. Not only in ours but in many times the

See lapidable.

lap.

lant.

Urine; especially, stale urine, gathered for various industrial uses. The word

See

lapiclde.

Old English, used from the 10th century. Hence to font, to lantify, to moisten or mix with urine. Cp. lotium. A. Wilson's THE INCONSTANT LADY mentioned a goodly

stillicide.

is

lapidable. Worthy of being stoned. In 17th and 18th century dictionaries. Phillips (1706)

on

peece of puff paste, A little lantified, to hold the gilding. Among the cosmetic and

century references to (1630)

:

for a husband. Originally lap fold in a garment; especially a fold of the toga over the breast, serving as

a pocket or pouch; the use of this, in such phrases as the lap and bosom of the Church, led to the current sense. Latin

in THE TINKER drunke double-

and $ingle-lanted, but never down such Hypocrenian liquor in gulped lanted ale,

all

my

The

lapis,

forms, life.

highest card. Cp.

loo.

pam;

The name

stone, has given us many English e.g., lapidify, to turn to stone;

cp. lapidity. lapidescence, turning to stone, as was the lot of those that looked Medusa

A

card game, later called loo. knave of clubs, called pam* was the

lanterioo.

in the eye; petrifaction (Latin peter, rock,

on which the Catholic church

is

from a meaningless refrain to a French lapidity.

song, l&nturelu; akin to the earlier laturelure, t&or loom as the Irish might sing.

lapidem, stone. Note that a lapicide a stonecutter; also a lapidary, a lapicidary. To pelt with stones, to stone to death, is

SHE CXXJLD (1668) has playing at lanterloo with my old L&dy Loveyouth and her daughter; Crowne in SIR COURTLY NICE

laodkean. litics,

as the very

Lukewarm;

pam

up

*

indifferent in pomessage to the

was "Because

by Mrs. Humphry jff

of tokranet.

tion)

all this

(The word

is

man

hence lapidation; a lapidapresumably without sin.

abounding in stone;

lapidouSf

(also figuratively, of one's disposi.

The diminutive

lapillus;

thou art lukewarm, and neither cold Bor out of my mouth." In (1888)

a

lapidos&j

at

hot, I will

Ward, we read: Fan

is

stony

all

religion, etc. Christ's

chiirch of the Laodiceans

to lapidate;

tor

IF

that picks

stands).

essence of stoniness. Latin

is

century, and was mentioned frequently by the dramatists. Etheredge in SHE WOULD

man

The

lapis,

Lanterloo was very popular in the 17th

(1685) refers to a lantereloOj the

lassie

fit

able,

this, as

I have

however, perhaps with a

meant a

gustatory uses of lant was the practice of putting it into ale; there are several 17th

OF TURVEY

,

his lap, defined lapidable as marriage-

of lapis was (Latin)

whence English

lapilliform, peb-

ble-shaped; fapilli, pebbles, especially tiny stones belched from a volcano; a mass or

heap of such pebbles is

is lapillo. Lapis itself used in the name of various stones:

lapis

calaminaris,

lapis

causticus,

lapis

divinus, lapis infemalis, lapis lazuli, and more. Permit the thought to lapse. Rather, torn to the 19th century, which, seeking essences,

_ S74

spoke of the lapidity of stone,

laron

lapsus

centuries)

the aureity of gold, Earlier (16th and 17th anreation referred to the gild-

laqueary, laquearian, related to a noose, or armed with a noose (as a gladiator; so

ing of one's speech; gilded speech, the use of aureate terms, especially polysyl-

A

labic

coinages from Latin.

Also aur&al

(Latin, aureus} golden. Thus Lydgate In the Prologue to his CHRONICLES OF TROY

(1430) said: And of my pen the traces to corrects Which barrayne is of aureat lycoure.

greeted,

examples might be not with lapidation, at least

Further if

with lapidity. lapsus.

A

slip,

an

error. Familiar in the

Latin expression lapsus linguae, a slip of the tongue; not so well remembered,

though with frequent occasion, in lapsus calami, a slip of the

pen (calamus,

;

laputan. Chimerical, visionary, absurd. Also Laputian. Aristophanes in his play THE CLOUDS kept Socrates suspended above earth in a basket, to show that the philosopher is always up in the air. Swift in

lost

in

schemes; 'flappers* to tap the thinkers with iniated egos, to bring them back to awareness of their

a sanctuary) the gods of the hearth, and home. In English, both were used figuratively for one's home. Occasionally (1 6th and 17th centuries) lar was used in more ,

as

fashion,

a domestic sprite;

MAZZARUGLQ (1598) spoke of a

Florio in

lar in the chimney. The part of a Roman house where the lares were kept was the lararium. Walpole in a letter of 1775 said;

am

my own

returned to

atffs

to

was,

said

1889,

my

dogs and

lares

cats.

and pen-

Thomas

Pitt

THE ATHENAEUM of 20 July, through Ms sons and daughters, the

great lar of not fewer than five families in the English peerage.

A

withered or worn-out person.

A

piece of bacon or pork, inmeat in the process of larding, Also lardoon, lardun^, lardet "to put into rostemeate," said Florio in 15%; "drawn serted into

Swiffs idea of

extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which he attributes to Ms Laputan phi" losophers, may not be so very absurd. Foe

mean

refer-

the house. They were usually linked with the penates (three syllables; penus, the inner shrine in the temple of Vesta; hence,

lardon.

surroundings. Yet Herschel in his FAM IUAR LECTURES ON SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS (1866)

used laputically, to

Roman

household god. In

ences, plural lares, the guardian gods of

:

chimerical

had

all,

A

luif.

Used 15th to 1 7th century. Also as an adjective; THE BOOK OF ST. ALBANS (1486) He u meegr* larbrey and

with inflated bladders

(1849)

lar.

larbar.

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS (1726) set Laputa, an island in the air, for his philosophers.

manner

pictured one laqueat with lust of

I

merely lapsus calami.

suggested that After

laced with network. Also see illaqucate. Holland in THE COURT OF VENUS (1560)

familiar

reed).

Chaucer blamed any lapsus calami in his writings on Adam Scrivener (John Doe, his scribe) Rabelais proclaimed that any passage in his works found heretical was

They went about

used by Byron in CHILD HAROLD,, 1818). laquear, in architecture, is a ceiling

through with a large larding-pin," said Eliza Acton (MODERN COOKB&Y) in 1845.

Urquhart

tells,

of Rabelais:

in the

in

The

Ms

translation

bacont wherewith I was stuck, kept

of the Laputans*

(1653)

lardons. or little slices of off the

blow.

laqueat. Ensnared. Latin laqueare, laqueatusy to ensnare; laquem, noose. Hence

laron. larrone.

375

A

robber. Also laroun, la-roone,

Old French

laron; Latin lalro-

latten

last In hell

nem;

The

latrant. to bark.

on the

eron; accented

English

first

syllable)

was

(mainly Scotch) term of reproach: scoundrel, blackguard. Shakespeare in THE

a

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR Diablef Diable: vat La-roone:

lanie,

Barking, snarling. Latin latrare,

form

(ladren, laydron, latherin, lath-

latrociny.

cp.

ladrone

Cries

(1598)

in

my clossetf Rugby, my rapier! is

barleybreak.

Owning, or one who owns, a

latifundian. large estate.

Latin latusf broad

+

fundus,

Hence also latifunds, latifundia, large estates. Used from the 17th century, as by Roger North in EXAMEN (1734)

estate.

We

the visitants

Tartarus to startle

have no

his

by

The word may be

latrations.

trilinguar

used physically as by M. Green in SPLEEN, 1737: Whose la.trant stomachs oft

The

deep-laid plans their dreams or figuratively, as of a latrant suggest critic, who rather snarls in ink than passes

molest Also, last couple in hell. See

last in hell.

also latration.

three-headed dog, said the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE in 1824, chained at the gate of

O

Vil-

Hence

judgment. latrla.

The

deepest worship, due to

God

alone. Via Latin church terms

from Greek

to

serve with

latreia,

service;

latreyein,

:

Although the interest of a very latifundian faction was concerned.

prayer. The adjective forms are latreutic, lesser form of worship is latreuticaL

A

dulia, q.v,

An

latimer.

interpreter.

Old

,

French

latimmier* transformed from latinier, one that

a

knows Latin. Milton was Cromwell's

company

(or a

government) of thieves.

was

Latin latro, latronem, a mercenary soldier; hence, a freebooter, highwayman, brigand.

place to an-

Cp. laron. In the 17th century latron, was used in English; Meredith revived it in THE EGOIST (1879) Other forms

latimer. Also latymerf latynier, latynere.

Layamon's BRUT (1205) declared: the bszste fa timer that aer

Highway-robbery, brigandage;

latrociny.

com

He

her.

thief,

Movement from one From Latin

lation.

motion.

other;

latus,

past participle of ferre, to carry. Frequent in 17th century scientific writings, reaching

into poetry

as

in

Herrick's

HESPERIDES

latitate.

To

lie hid, to lurk.

From Latin

latitare, latitatus, to lurk, frequentative of

laterff, to hide,

whence English latent The to have occurred only

verb latitate to the 17th

makers, but

and 18th century dictionary

lying concealed, and latitency* especially in the sense of hiding away for the winter, hibernation, latitation,

The

latitancy of the ovum the spermatozoon is their lying in

been used.

and

latten.

wait for one another (so it was though^ into the 19th century) after imemination.

A

something

mixed metal, yellow; brass or like

thin sheets or

Make me

the straight and oblique (1648) nd the signes. lines, the motions, lations, :

.

are latrocination, latronagef thievery.

it,

often

drawn

laton, latin, latun;

hammered

into

into wire. Also laten, lattinne, latton,

and

Chaucer in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) says He hadde the

like.

a croys of laton ful of stones. Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR has Pistol call

Slender a latten bilbo (see bilbo) be-

cause he

is

tall,

thin,

and blond

(brass-

color) . Later in the scene, there is a pun on latten and the Latin language; such

puns were perpetrated fairly often in the 17th century, as by Sir N. L'Estrange in 1655, fathering the phrase on Shakespeare, who was supposed to be godfather to one of Jonson's children, and after the chris-

-$76

lavender tening said: /' faith, Ben y He e'en give him a douzen good Lattin spoones, and thou shall

translate

tale,

said

them.

Nares in

The

truth of this

1882,

"has latterly

An Old English name for the Also laverk, leverock (Izaak Walton, 1653), lavroc, lavercok, and more. Chau-

lark.

THE ROM AUNT OF THE ROSE (1366) Ther says mighte men see many flokkes turtles and laverokkes; Coleridge In Of THE ANCIENT MARINER (1798) has: Somecer in

A

rarely also

washerwoman; early and a washerman. Old French lav-

andier, lavandiere; -Latin lavanda, things to be washed; lavare, to wash, cp. lover,

times adropping from the sky I heard the lavrock sing. For the blithesome bird that heralds the dawn, laverock is a pretty

plant probably derived its name from being used (at least as early as the 16th

The

century) for perfuming baths or for laying in newly washed linen; it may, however,

be from livid,

lividual,

tion with the use.

form by

A

lavendry

hence (15th and 16th centuries) to pawn; to put where one can do no harm, as in prison. References to such pawning are frequent; Chapman in EASTWARD HOE (1605) says: Good faith, rather then thou

pawne a rag more lie lay my ladyship in lavender,, if I knew where. Greene in THE UPSTART COURTIER (1592) pictured a persistent evil: The poore

shouldest

gentleman paies so deere for the lavender it is laid up in, that if it lie long at a broker's housey he seems to buy his p~ parell twice.

A

basin or water-jug for washing the hands; later, a larger basin or cistern; applied especially to the basin for the ablutions of priests. Latin lavare, to wash,

whence the

still

used lave and lavatory.

Also, the basin of a fountain; Evelyn in his DIARY for 18 January, 1645, wrote of

casting water many stately fountaines into antiq lavors. Pepys has it in his DIARY ,

.

.

too (14 June, 1664) . By extension, from the religious use, a spiritual cleansing or cleansing agency; baptism was

(1 6th

and

A

lively

dance for two persons, active bounds/' For

many "high and

with

(14th to

was a laundry. To lay in store away carefully for future

use;

laver.

lavolta.

associa-

16th century) lavender, to

name.

diminutive of lividus,

bluish, shifted in

birth.

laverock.

been questioned." lavender.

often called the lover of

17th centuries)

new

quotation, see coranto.

THE THANE OF FIFE spark from dance.

fire

See low.

law.

W. Tennant

(1822)

lavolting

says:

through

The meaning

in

Like the

hill persists

in Scotland. Wilson in NOCTES AMBRQSI-

ANAE

wrote: Ilk forest shaw

(1825)

and

lofty law Frae grief and gloom arouse ye. In addition to this and to the still current

law (lagh, lauch) in the 1 5th and 16th centuries was used to mean legal fee, share of expense. senses,

An

lawiicL

old form of lawn. Also laund.

In both senses, line linen, and a grassy glade, Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART THREE (1593) says: Under this thick grown brake we'll shroud ourselves, For through Ms lannd anon the deere mill come.

As a noun.

lay.

to the

(1)

A

15th century.

law; faith. Cp. laic, (S) be sung; a tune. (4)

law; religious short poem, to bill, a reckoning.

A

A

A

lake, pool; 10th

(2)

Even

wager, lay, an even (5) chance; also fair lay, good lay, or the reverse. Shakespeare uses the word in this sense

bet.

several

current.

377

(6)

times:

the

verb

is

still

Short for allay, alloy; lay

lease

laystall

A

metal, a kind of pewter. (7) prostitute. Influenced by the verb, also the erotic sense of the noun, a good lay;

but In

origin a false singular from layes, a loose woman, taken as a plural, from Lais the

Greek courtesan* Hence

A

THE FAERIE

a dunghill, as In Spenser's

used figuratively by

QUEENE 1590) the Water Poet (WORKS; 1630) These are the right patterns of an industrious bawd, :

picks her living out of the laystall

for

or dunghill of our See

laystall.

A

lea.

vices.

stretch of

A variant form

both of which (the from Latin legalis; lei,

open ground; meadow,

learn.

(1)

mon

(19th century: worsted, 80 and silk, 120 yards). The

may

also

meaning unpioughed, Is

common

and

in English place-names, as

meadow.

f

lying

adjective, fallow, also in the

to lie ley* to lie in grass;

expression It

be an

on

fea

So .

might

I,

.

In addition to the current senses

leach. (to wet,

pour a liquid through,

to

as a

noun had

several uses.

etc.)

(1)

A

A light;

a gleam or flash.

Comto

shine, gleam, light up. Also leem, leme,

lym f

and the

like. Hail, my Lord, of light, says one of the York

lyrne,

Mystery plays (1440). (2) The husk (not the shell) of a nut; a brown learner, a nut with a brown husk, i.e., a ripe nut.

lemys.

a hank

and more. Hence

since BEOWULF, also as a verb,

two other words with the form lea: a scythe (since the 15th century) and (since the Hth) a measure of yarn, seventh part of

legem, law. Also

lex,

lealty, loyalty.

To learn The first

yards; cotton lea for land

of loyal and legal via French) are

first

leale,

lele,

leyll,

grassland. Common leak, leef from the 9th century. There are laye, ley

fallow,

leash,

the 15th century, a leche-frye was made calves' feet. Also a verb; cp. leche.

learner

lay,

Dry

with leal.

novelty, I thought them laycsians; but it or $eem*d I erred. laystall was a dump,

;

spices in jelly or gelatine.

laycsian, a prosti-

Herbert In his TRAVELS (1638) said: Till by inquiry I saw it came from greedy

tute.

(I v;

and

a sort of gingerbread with dates, etc.; white leach, with almonds in gelatine. In

remove the husks of nuts, Is the more common, as In Dunbar's THE THISTLE AND THE ROSE (1503)

is

to

sense

All the houss illumynit of hir

:

leaping-house. Shakespeare, in

A

brothel.

HENRY

A

coinage of

PART ONE (1596): What & dwell hast thou to do with the time of the day? unlesse hours were cups iv,

of sacke, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawdes, and dialls the signes of leaping-houses, and the blessed

hot wench in flamealso, in CYM-

sun himselfe a

faire

colored

Shakespeare

taffeta,

BEUNE, uses leaping'time

A

to

mean

youth.

few realtors will

perforated vessel for pouring water over a substance; especially to make lye from

lease.

wood

century to the 15th. [Lease, in the current sense of a contract conveying land

This is the same word* In 0i%ia as lctck a ditch, a pool (2) A a physician. (3) variant ol (
s

A

t

variant of

especially, the leather tbofig attached to the jess (q.v.) of a slice 0r strip of meat. E(4)

A

a

of

meat,

fruits

admit,

(1) is

a He

lease, as

or was a

lie,

from the 9th

or buildings, etc., was first used in the 15th century; It is related to French busscr, to let, leave.

In

this sense,

a lease-

parole , in the 16th and 17th centuries, was a verbal agreement] The early lease

BIS

leden

leash also is

used as an adjective,

and

related to lose

as a suffix senseless.

false,

loose,

-less,

as In

Withouten

lease,

meaning without, Cp.

leesing.

was a common phrase dle English poetry; Chaucer LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN (1385) Thus seyt the book withoutyn

acquired

lying survives

and

THE

In

ony Us.

(1595)

No

says:

gran dams fable

leasing new,

chaste

ing.

.

Hence a

leaser,

.

.

and prompts thee

also to

liar;

lease, to

a

also

To

dealer in

lies.

pecially,

to glean;

(2)

tell

lies;

leasing-monger,

lease, to gather; es-

used in llth and in

Edwards (WORDS, FACTS, AND PHRASES* 1912) relates this word to lea, q.v., a field; but there was Old English lesan, to gather. It's better to hold your lease, This use,

common

from the 14th into the 18th century, and used occasionally later Tennyson in GARETH AND LYNETTE (1859) USCS it ES a vague plural: Then were I wealthier than a leash of kings rose from the original and still current use of the word, as a

ledbe. An early form of leach, q.v. Also an early variant of leech, lick, like. As a verb, to leche, to slice, was frequent in cookery directions, and in names of dishes, as lechefryes, lechelardis. In the plural, leches,

To

lechne.

ONE (1596)

says: Sirra,

then to things

HENEY

iv,

PART

I am sworn brother

Tom, Dicke, and THE SILENT WOMAN kept my chamber a leash of days

to a leash of drawers Francis. Jonson, in

whence

(1609) : for the anguish

of

Baron Munchhausen

The TRAVELS

at

also

leech;

cp.

leech craft.

Also

Used into the

15th century; Langland in PIERS PLOWMAN Lame men he lechede.

(1393) says:

A

lectistem.

lifted

upon

feast

(among the ancient

which the statues of the gods from their pedestals and laid

at

Romans)

couches, with fine food set before lecti,

couch

+

spread Used by Addison

sternere, to

(170?)

in the

Latin form, lectisternium* lectual.

Pertaining to bed; confined or bed. Lectual

proper to be confined in activity

is

not necessarily unrelated to

in-

tellectual.

of

leden.

(1792) boast: I have

then),

it.

recipe

administer medicine; hence, An old Teutonic term,

lecnian f lacnian, lechnien.

.

.

the

cure.

heal,

them. Latin

like,

See

monamy.

together, hence a leash of hounds meant three. This was extended, first to deer,

and the

cakes.

slices,

were

in general. Shakespeare In

Venus and

there's

of a most lascivious

See aeromancy.

lecanomancy.

strap for holding in dogs. In hunting, commonly three hounds were strapped

hares, foxes,

mo dell

leatcher.

to set of three.

lecher.

Lucrece far a teacher:

read lust

list

Adonis, True

a

ing.

A

of

AND A GREAT

to leas-

14th century tellings of the Biblical story of Ruth and Boaz. Hence leasing, glean-

leash.

there's

life,

Who

stale.

:

within you

in RUBBE,

CAST (1614; cp. sute) addressed Shakespeare, the many-sided: Verities or vices theame to thee all one is; Who loves

nor

Shakespeare used the word in TWELFTH NIGHT; Scott revived it in THE TALISMAN (1825) Satan is strong

form

variant

Thomas Freeman

Also leasing, lesing, falsehood, lying; a lie. Spenser in COLIN CLOUT'S COME HOME

AGAIN

A

leatcher.

It:

puts

See lease.

leasing.

in Mid-

truthfully,

and

hundred

nine

precisely

ninety-nine leash of languages. Quite a lease (q.v.) of words!

879

Latin (to the 15th century only; the language of a people. Also

leechcraft

leesing

book language. The word

leed; boc-leden,

was an early north European mispronunciation of Latin Latinum, confused with Celtic leden, leaden, language. Other forms were lede, lyden f ledone, lidene, the leaden., and THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596)

lidden,

ledyn,

Spenser in

like.

has:

He

was expert in prophecies, And could the ledden of the gods unfold. From the 14th into the 17th century, poets used leden also of the language' of birds, as

Dray ton in POLYOLBION (1612) The ledden of the birds most perfectly shee knew. :

was a

lorel, cocklorel,

jolly

but thorough

rogue; Gascoigne in 1577 spoke of a piece . such as I might of cocklorels musicke .

.

be ashamed to publish in this company. This form came from the name of the captain of the boat containing a varied assortment of rogues, of all trades, in the

poem Cocke Lorelles Bote (printed, by Wynkyn de Worde) From another past tense form of leese, losen came a form losel, also meaning a (lost) lost one, a scoundrel; later, with weakened force, a ragamuffin, a ne'er-do-well. This satiric

1515,

,

form, from the 14th century, lasted longer,

The

leechcraft. craft.,

art of healing. At leechmedical care. From leech, to

under

used from the

2th century into the 17th, as by Fletcher in THE LOYALL SUBJECT (1618) Have ye any crack maidheal;

1

:

enhead

new

to

leach or mend?; revived

by Scott in IVANHOE leech

Ms wounds

being used by Carlyle (1832) and Browning in A BLOT IN THE 'SCUTCHEON (1843) tied By wild illicit . Wretched women ,

!

.

to

tics

losels vile.

rascality,

loselry,

leeser,

The blood-sucking worm was probably named because it served as a leech, a physician.

and User mine.

leeches.

The

senses.

earlier

form of

A common

lose, in

Old English

word, continuing through the 16th cen-

To

(3) a deliverer: Wyclif (in the second sense) speaks in 1380 of lesars of mennys soulis; a PSALTER of 1300 (in the

speaks of

third sense)

its

The

into the 1 7th century, as by Middleton In YOUR FIVE GALLANTS (1608) Keep thine own heart . / leese you

solvere, to loosen,

loren, lost'

.

to

solve ,

root

came

-less.

Cp.

came the noun

lose

came

soul,

meaning a

a worthless fellow,

a black-

guard, used by Chaucer (1374) and rather frequent (Spenser, THE SHEPHERD'S GAL1579: ,

Thou

lyke a lewd*

often in contrast to lord.

A

cock

Greek

dissolute,

now. From the past forms lorn, lorel9

helper

root was Gothic leus, laus, los, lyein, Latin (so) luere,

tury.

.

my

is

akin

:

as

own

loose, to relax, to unfasten;

(2)

God

an old word that meant opposite. It was very common, as a verb, to leese, q.v., from the 9th cenThis

letting.

hence, to set free, release. This also was

tury.

lose-

from the two verbal meanings, developed several senses, two contradictory; (1) a loser; hence (2) a

Note that

destroyer;

(1)

lorelly,

whose sake he en-

for

give medicine, to heal. Also, 19th century, to leech, to bleed by applying

Its

lewdness;

ling, losdly, loselled, rascally, lewd; lazy.

:

q.v., to

all

Both these nouns de-

veloped further forms: lorelship, loselism,

Let those

(1820)

countered them. Also leche, lichc, leach; from the 9th to the 14th century, Icchne

leese.

.

whence etc.

lose, loss, loose,

lease.

the

also solve, dis-

From

the Gothic and the ending

In the train of the sense

meaning

to be lost, to

come

to ruin; hence, leesing, destruction, perdition. In the train of the sense loosen came

the

meaning

hence,

The

to unfasten, open, release;

leesing,

verb

deliverance, redemption.

had many forms, including

leesome

legion

In phrases

three

leosen, lyese, lesse, leze; in the past, ylore, losen, lor in, lorne, lorn. Spenser uses lore

leet,

and lorn to mean THE FAERIE QUEENS

October, 1865, speaking of a vacant proThe patrons are the fessorship, said:

Una

to forsake, forsaken; (1590)

:

After he had

lorne,

ing of her

loialtie.

instance of lege.

of cair; earlier the PSALTER (Ham1 are lesyd of syn. 340) said: pole's, Wherewith we may leese these thoughts

yow

two-way-led,

THE READER of 21

Faculty of Advocates and the Curators, the former having the right of presenting to the latter a leet of two, from which the appointment must be made. For a further

Through light misdeemLangland In PIERS PLOWMAN (1362) said: Of his leosinge 1 lauhwe [laugh] Ac for his wynnynge I wepe. Rolland in THE COURT OF VENUS cried: Peraduenture thay wold (1560)

faire

two-leet,

a orossway.

etc,,

lets

An

its

use, see waive.

old form of league^ ledges liege.

These are

listed in O.E.D. Shakespeare, however, uses lege for allege in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1595) when Grranio

We

,

of leesing.

Nay,

protests: (1) Lovable; pleasant. Middle English leofsum; lief -f- some. Used since the 1 2th century. Burns in his song IN

sighs for

The tender

heart

o*

MAWN

lege de moy. Skelton in

sir,

what he

A lively

16th century dance.

THE TUNNYNG OF ELYNOUR RUMMYXG (1529) said: She made it as

(1792)

leesome love,

koy as a lege de moy.

canna buy. The form leesome lane, however, is a variant of lee-

The gowd and

no matter,

leges in Latin.

leesome.

SIMMER WHEN THE HAY WAS

'tis

siller

legem pone. Cash down; ready payment. These are the first two (Latin) words of the fifth section of PSALM 1 19, which opens the Matins service on the 25th of the month; March 25 was quarter day, when

lanef all by one's lone. (2) Lawful; permissible; right. This sense is from Middle

+ English lefsum, leave (permission) some. In the same sense leeful (leveful, was used from the

13th century to Burns (FOR A' THAT AN' A* THAT, 1814) The form leesome (lesume,

payments were due. Hence, in the 16th and 17th centuries, legem pone was used to mean payment, as when Motteux in his

leisom, leifsome, etc.), lawful, was used from the 14th century into the I8th;

were

laifull,

lyefullf

etc.)

.

translation (1694) of Rabelais said: They all at our service, for the legem pone* Harvey in his NEW LETTER (1592) said

Douglas in his AENEIS (1513) said: So that lesum be Dido ramane In spousage bound. Blind brutal boy, said Montgom-

bluntly: Without legem

it

ery in 1600, in a sonnet on Cupid, that bow abuses Leill poyal] leesome

with thy

legion-

love by lechery

the

leet.

(1)

A

and

lust.

court which lords of some

manors were privileged

to hold,

once or

twice a year; the jurisdiction of such a court; hence, a district in general. (2) list of persons eligible for certain offices;

A

hence, to be in

Short

feet,

leet,

a select

list

on the leeU,

etc.

of candidates. (3)

poncy wordes

are

winde.

A

word

This roundabout use of drawn from the devil chal-

devil. is

lenged by Jesus in the BIBLE (MARK, 5) : And he asked him, What is thy name? And

he answered t saying, My name is legion: for we are many. Thus, in general, their name is legion (often with capital L) means they are innumerable. But Shakespeare in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) says: If all the dtvels of hell be dr&wne in little,

381

letch

Leguleian

and Legion himselfe possest him. The word legion is via French from Latin legionem;

(whence first

select, elect)

to levy. It

,

legion of at

first

was used

lear.

S,000 men, later 6,000

vulgar) as early as 1200 learn meant teach; Shakespeare uses it In THE TEMPEST (1610) i The red-plague rid to

you For learning me your language. Hence leredy learned; Chaucer says in THE DOCTOR'S TALE (1386) For be he lewed man

with the legion family clothed from the odds and ends of her rich sister's cast-offs.

befogged lawyer,

:

or

syllable,

lee;

ellis

a

Latin

EXPLANATION OF THE GRAND MYSTERY OF

by

GODLINESS

true.

(1660)

A

leighton. leac, leek

decried the leguleious pettifoggers.

From Old

garden.

From Middle

lief

ferred to as 1275 illicit

it

English

-f man. Sometimes re(f.v.) husband or wife, but as early had taken on the implication of

lover or mistress. love.

A

Hence lemanry,

got kersilf another therefore shff acknowledged The word was often ap-

kf

metaphorically,

Coleridge ist

as

(1833)

hu

in :

wife.

a

poem Hope

tari, 1

to

Joyful. Latin laetabundus; lae(rarely) in the

be joyful. Used

6th century,

letating. rejoice,

translation

ith'

not

most

See lease.

letabund.

leaf-

(1671) of Erasmus* COLLOQUIES spells the word oddly be his wife (though perhaps fitly) : It illicit

to be

a game: a "kibitzer," a spoilsport.

person beloved by one of the

opposite

know

i

See leal

A

experience

t. See avaunt. "Without let or hinder/' Hamlet cries, when Horatio would stop him from following the Ghost: By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me! Hence, let-game (Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRXSEYDE; 1374), one that interferes with

English

-f

gardener was called a lelghtonward,

lonan.

common

lesing*

tun, enclosure. Used from the 10th into the 18th century. Also lahtoun, lectun, leyton. Up to the 1 4th century, a

Me.

meaning of

earliest

the 16th century; Thi$ lewde and learned, Ascham in THE SCHOLEMASTER (1568),

said

some pragmatical

[The

lay, not in holy orders; hence, unlearned, artless, vulgar; belonging to the lower orders.] The expression lered and lewed was common from the 12th to

leguleius, a little dealer in law; lex, legem, law. Also leguleious: Henry More in AN

cavils of

lered.

lewd was

pettifogger; also as an adjective, pertaining to petty or verbal questions of the law.

Accent on the third

Teutonic word; whence Note that (although this sense

now

is

petty

A common

also lore.

Hence, any large body; any The poor curate's wife, number. great said Charles T. C. James in THE ROMANTIC RIGMAROLE OF A TIME OUT OF TOWN (1891),

A

teach; to guide; to learn. Also

learen, later learn; laren, ler, leryn, leir,

footmen.

leguleian.

To

lere.

Rome, the

of the levied forces of

variant form of learn, q.v.

choose

to

lectum,

legeve,

A

leme.

Making glad. Latin laetare, to make glad; laetus, cheerful. Mot-

teux in his translation (1694) of Rabelais said that pleasant notes wake your soul with their letating sound. rare but

A

pleasant word,

A stream flowing through (1) a land; muddy ditch; a bog. variboggy ant form of leach, q.v. Also lache, latch.

letch.

A

of

Used from the 12th 382

century.

(2)

A

crav-

levant

letelorye Ing; inordinate desire. Perhaps a variant of latch; used from the 18th century.

Grose (1796) defines

it as *a

whim

to loath,

of the

amorous kind, out of the common way/ Something like a yen, of more recent slang; but it has other applications, as

Greek

A

dish.

Also letkelory. separate

seeth

loke that

forth.

it

The word,

calls

FORME OF CURY

Have

weL Leshe

it

[lash:

a white mel-

joy or pleasure, yet

is

a good easy sort

of state.

As a noun, the East, the countries Pronounced with the first (PARADISE syllable accented by Milton LOST, 1667: Forth rush the levant and the

levant.

of the

beat].

be stonding, and serve some scrambled eggs! it

is

ancholy, or rather leucocholy f for the most part; which, though it seldom laughs or dances, nor ever amounts to what one

thurgh a stynnor, and do thereto cowe mylke, with butter, and safron, and salt,

and

a combining form, from used mainly in

white,

leukos,

May, 1742, wrote: Mine

(1390) gives a simple but inviting recipe for letelorye: Take ayren, and wryng hem

And

used

flowered, leucocholy, coined after melancholy, melan, black; Gray in a letter of 27

or for avenging the wrongs Recent others. of slang has used letch as a short form of lecher.

gives lete as a 'meaning obscure*. THE

is

the

to

is still

chemistry and medicine; also in a few words of other import, leucanthous, white-

impostors,

O.E.D.

This

leuco-.

when De Quincey (BENTLEY, 18SO) stated: Some people have a letch for unmasking

letelorye.

was used from the 9th

15th century. The lethal dose in detective stories.

East.

ponent winds) usually, with the accent on the second. Via French from Latin

it

;

levare,

letMed.

Forgetful; pertaining to or causing forgetfulness or oblivion. Also lethean, lethaean, which are still used; lethy, leatky.

raise,

to to

lift

rise

(whence here,

levitation)

,

to

of the rising sun.

Shakespeare in AN-

Hence, an easterly Mediterranean wind, a levanter. Also, a kind of leather, mainly from Morocco. Hence, to levant, to make (other leather) look like levant morocco. Also (from the verb) a bet made with

TONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606) speaks of a lethied dulnesse; some editors reshape this to letke'd; from the river Lethe, one

the intention of absconding if it is lost used in the phrases to come the levant, to run (throw) a levant; among 18th cen-

of the rivers that flowed in Tartarus, of

tury playwrights (Vanbrugh; Gibber) novelists (Fielding). As a verb, to

Marston in THE INSATIATE COUNTESS (1613) spoke of a devil that drown'd thy soule in

lea thy

faculties.

which the dead drank;

,

gave them forgetfulness of all they had seen, heard, or done. Latin letum* lethum, meant death; in the 17th century lethean was occasionally

it

used as meaning deadly; lethed, dead.

and rum

away; especially of a bookmaker or bettor, to abscond. From Latin levarc, but probably via Spanish Icvantar la casa, to break

up housekeeping;

levantar cl campo, to

Also,

from the 17th century, lethiferous, letiferous, and (19th century) lethiferal,

break camp. Also levant me!, a mild imor a precation, usually followed by butt

causing death, deadly, fatal. Lowell uses this figuratively in THE BIGLOW PAPERS

I negative (18th century) : Levant me, if don't turn the tables on tonight! Thackery in BRIGHTON (1847) observed

(1848) : / have noted two hundred and three several interpretations, each lethiferal to all the resL Leth, hatred, related

Mm

that Guttlebury House was shut up by the lamented levanting of the noble

383

levin

levedi

A variant form of lady, which is from Old English hlaft loaf 4- dig, to knead. SIR ORFEO (1320; cp. urn; rud) pictured a quen of priis That was yclepect

levedi.

Dame Herodh, The

fairest levedi, for the

nones, That might gon on bodi and bones, Ful of love and of godenisse. level-coil.

A

game formerly played each player in turn must which another takes. seat, noisy

of levde, a

(king's,

queen's, or noble's)

morning reception. Wyatt in his sonnet FAREWELL LOVE (1535) says to the

rising or

blind

Thy

god:

pricketh ay so sore in tryfels no store, libertie

is

sherpe

And

that

repulce

Hath taught me

to sett

scape fourth, syne

lever.

See laverock.

leverock.

at Christmas:

leave

his

Played in the 16th and 17th centuries; later called Going to Jerusalem (the route was crowded; Mary had to seek shelter in a stall) From French (Jaire) lever le cult .

to

make (someone)

lift

his buttock. Later,

in the interest of decent speech, the game was called level-sice, levell-suse; French assise, seat; as Sylvester

of

(1608) hearts

came

Du

at

Ambitious

level sice.

The word

used generally: to keep

engage in noisy sport or noisy acor riot. Also, as an adverb, alternately, each in turn, Nashe, in THE UNtivity

FORTUNATE TRAVELER (1594) The next date they had solcmpne disputations, where Luther and C&rolostadius scolded levell-cayle. Ben Jonsoo, in A TALE OF A TUB (I6SS) : Young Justice Bramble has kept Iffvel-coyl Here in our quarters, stole our daughter. :

(1)

A

short form of eleven.

(2)

An

old form of leaven, as in leavened bread. (3) A variant of levin, q.v. As a

verb,

Hence

to iash brightly.

levening,

lightning.

This

the comparative form; also liever; the simple survives in lever-

Preferable.

the expression

Fd

is

as lief

.

.

.

Thus

liefer

me, 1 had rather. As a (were) noun, lever was used in the 14th century to

(in God); and, in the 18th century lever was a variant form

as short for believer

(French

A bower of leaves,

From Old English

salle)

,

hall,

leaf -f sele

room. Also

lefsale,

Chaucer, in THE REEVE'S TALE (1386) has the clerk's horse standing behind the mill, under a lefsel. leefsel, etc.

A

levet.

Italian raise*

call for awakening. Latin levare, levatus, to word was used in the 17th and

trumpet

levata,

The

18th centuries, then supplanted by the

French word

reveille.

level-

coil, to

levee.

a canopy.

in his translation

Bartas wrote:

do play to be

levesel (two syllables).

To smooth, polish; to reduce levigate. to a paste or smooth powder. From Latin to smooth; levis, levigare, levigatus, smooth. Hence also levigation; levigable: (I) able to be smoothed: Evelyn in PO-

MONA for

its

(1664) : Useful is the pear-tree excellent coloured timber, hard

levigable;

(2)

able

to

be

.

.

.

and

powdered;

Browning in CHRISTMAS EVE: Dust and ashes levigable. levin.

Used from noun and as verb,

Lightning.

century, as

the

13th

especially

by poets: Gower, Chaucer, Dunbar, Spenser, Scott, Poe, Longfellow, Swinburne. Other forms were lev en, leyven, levyn, leaven. Hence levining. Also combined, as in levin-brand (earlier brond) , levin-fire, levin-darting. Spenser in THE FAERIE

QJJEENE (1596) speaks of

when

the flash-

ing levin haps to light Upon two stubborne oakes. For a use of levin-brond, see

quooke*

levisomnous

libbard

levisomnous.

Latin

levis,

ieye.

on

somnus, sleep. In

4-

and 18th century

17th

watchful,

Light-sleeping; light

dictionaries. I

Warm,

wind

am

like.

;

tepid,

lewdster.

A low

lewd

fellow. See penster.

A word-book; a list of words or names. Hence, the range of items, or of knowledge, in a field; Swift in THE USE OF

lexicon.

IRISH

MANUFACTURES

silks,

velvets,

scorned

(1724)

callicoes,

all

and the whole

lexicon of female fopperies. Greek lexikon (biblion) , (book) of words; lexis, word, diction;

read)

leg-,

to speak

(Latin legere, to

The word

.

dictionary, was

lexicon, referring to a long limited to those of

Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, or Arabic. It best

is

known

leyc,

a leye,

Common

from BEOWULF.

co.

lukewarm. As a verb, to make or to

later

On

lieg,

liatico.

lew-warm,

be warm; to shelter. In the Wyclif BIBLE (1382; REVELATIONS) we read: For thou art lew, and nether coold, nether hoot.

fire.

A red Tuscany wine; from AleatiAlso leaticke, leathick. Drunk in the 17th century.

sunny; sheltered from the

(related to lee)

Old English

related to light. Also ley, hi, lye, leyhe, lyghe, and the

a levisomnous soul. lew.

Flame, blaze,

fire.

This was a common form, with various meanings. (1) From the 8th century; a charm. (2) As a verb. From the 14th

lib.

century, to castrate; also, figuratively, to cut off, as when Fulke wrote in TWO

TREATISES AGAINST THE PAPISTS (1577) latter end, where he libbeth

:

the

In off

conclusion of Origens wordes In the 17th century, to suckle, to suck per(also sistently. From the 15th century the

.

.

.

lyp) , to sleep; defined in a CANT DICTIONARY of 1700 as lib, to tumble or lye together. Middle ton and Dekker wrote in THE ROARING GIRL (1611): Oh I Wild lib all the darkemam. [Lightmans, the day;

darkmans, the night; thieves' cant of the

today in the phrase usually from misquoted Bulwer-Lytton's RICHELIEU In lexicon of youth, which the (1839)

16th

fate reserves

For a bright manhood, there no such word as Fail. [From the same play comes the always half-quoted observation: Beneath the rule of men entirely

libanomancy.

is

anos, incense. [Latin lib are, libatum, to taste, to pour out, gave English libation,

18th

to

century.]

Hence

libbege,

16th to 18th century cant for a bed.

:

great,

The pen

is

mightier

than

the

swordJ\

lexiphanes.

A

user

of Lucian (2d century

of

polysyllabic

AJX)

phan-, phainein, to show.

phanic; excessive

whence libant (long

lib*

lightly.]

tasting, touching i) Also libaniferous, libanopkowus,

(accents

on

,

the third syllable)

,

libanoto-

phorous, producing or bearing incense. or

bombastic phraseology. Greek LEXIPHANES, phrasemonger, was the title of a DIALOGUE

+

See aeromancy. Greek

lexiphanicism;

:

lexis,

Hence

word lexi-

lexiphanaticism,

and long-continuing bombast. THE AMENITIES OF LITERATURE

D'Israeli in

(1841) spoke of the encumbering lexiphanicisms of the ponderous numerosity of Johnson.

libbard.

An

early

variant

of

leopard,

used by Shakespeare In LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1594). Boyet is interrupting the

show presented by "the pedant, the braghedge priest, the fool, and the

gart, the

boy."

The

fool, Costard, says '7

Pompey

am

Boyet: You lie, you are not he. " Costard: *7 Pompey am Boyet: With lib bard's head on knee. Some editors sugcoat of gest that this refers to Poxapey'*

385

lick-

libetticlde

arms; Sherwood in 1682 said old-fashioned

on which a corpse has been borne

garments had such a head on elbows or

burial

knees.

See

llberticide.

The

libido.

as establishing a right of way. lich-wake, stillicide.

post-Freudian spread of this

word may deserve the reminder earlier use. In the BIBLE

(i

of

its

JOHN) appear

the warnings against the lust of the flesh lust of the eyes (curiositas), (voluptas)

and pride of

life

(mna

gloria)

.

Marlowe

day was accused of these enormities; Beard's THEATRE OF GODS JUDGMENTS in his

example, described him as have the full raines".

for

(1597)

"suffering his lust to

Augustine (died 430 A.D.) in his CONFESSIONS stressed this triple danger. In St.

his

commentary on the

saint,

AUGUSTINUS

Cornelius

Jansenius listed the (1641), urges as libido sentiendi, libido sdendi, libido excellendi: lust to experience, to

know, to surpass. Pascal (died 1662) in his pENsiEs stressed not pride but the will (the flesh, the mind, the will) and therefore made the third urge libido domi-

nandi, lust to dominate. These desires mark the main Igures of Marlowe's plays,

Form, shape; hence, body; also, the trunk or torso; especially, the dead body,

llch*

corpse. This was the common word from early times. Also Kche, lych, litch, like, fyke,

leach.

leech,

ALISAUNDER OF MAC-

EBOINE (1370) has; Liliwkite was hur liche. Hence* lickamly, pertaining to the body, bodily; in the iesh; carnal. Many com-

pounds were formed from lick (lych, lyk) lichbell, a handbell rung before a corpse. :

lichfawl, lick-owl, the screech owl; its cry

held an

omen a

to

covered the

is

an

the

set

to

(we are all born to burial) ; in some regions, such a procession was taken

of death. lick-lay, a tax

churchyard, lich-gate, a to the churchyard, where

down

until the minister

a stone at the lich-gate, rests, lick-way, a path

lychwake, lyke-wake, the night watch over a dead body; Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386) has: Ne how that lych wake

was yholde Al

thilke night

to seye. Also licham

.

(lich,

.

.

kepe I nat

body

Old

-f

English hama, shape, covering), the fleshly garment of the soul, the living body; especially, the body as the seat of desire and appetite. Audelay in a poem of 1426 wrote: To sle [slay] the lust of her lycam

and her

lykyng.

licious.

Short for delicious; possibly,

the origin o luscious. Also lidus* from the 15th to the 17th century.

To

ilcitate.

lidtari;

Also

bid

liceri,

licit ation f

for, set

ltd turn,

also,

Used

a price on. Latin to

make a

bidding; putting

up

bid.

the

price; offering for sale at auction, licitator, a bidder at an auction. Ecclesiastical per-

pamphlet of 1601, are not to murder princes, nor to licitate kingdoms. That would indeed be illicit! The form licit, lawful, is from Latin liceref licitum, to be permitted.

sons, said a

study

how

to

lick-. Several compounds of the common word lick (verb since the 10th century, noun only from the 17th) have been used

in

derogatory senses.

lick-box,

one that

lick-fingers,

pot, all

Among

likes sweets;

lick-ladle,

lick-sauce,

these

lick-platter,

lick-spigot,

are

lick-dish, lick-

lick-trencher,

used for either a glutton or a parasite.

A lick-boots, lick-foot,

lick-spit, lick-spittle,

Uck-twat, a sycophant, a parasite. Lickpenny is a spendthrift, or a money-con-

suming nies.

diversion, that licks up* the penthe lickpot, the first finger.

Also,

Lickster

Among

that licks. (feminine) , one old proverbs with the verb lick

lickerish

ligate

Wele wotith the cat whos berde she and He is an evyll cooke that can not lycke his owne fyngers.

lief and liefly (in many forms, such as leof, lef, leef, lefe, leave, liff, lyve) have

times

are:

likkith

both been used as adjective and as adverb. Liefis me, leeze me, dear is to me, I'd

Pleasant to the palate, hence delightful; skilful in preparing dainties; fond of delicious fare, having a

Hckerisli.

like to; liefer were, I'd rather.

sweet,

keen relish for pleasant food and love. Hence,

Pd in

things, especially lustful,

the

more

lykerowse, likerose, and many of them variants of lecherous.

From Old

High German leccon (French

lecher), to

as

when one

licks the

lips.

all

TALE,

1386)

Ukerous (1420)

And

:

Bacon, said Wilson in THE HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN ( JAMES i; 1652), was one of those that smoothed his way to a full ripeness by liquorish and pleasing passages. Note the warning, however, In THE BOOK

OF THE KNIGHT OF LA TOUR (1450) No shulde ete no lycorous morcdles in the absens ... of her husbond* :

woman

licour.

An

old form of liquor. Chaucer Here biginneth the Boke of

wrote in 1386:

Tales of Caunterbury. Aprille with his shoures sole the

Whan

that

The droghte

Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertue engendred is the flour . . . of

Than longen lief.

folk to

Beloved,

sirous,

goon on pilgrimages.

precious,

glad, willing.

agreeable;

From Old

de-

English

loath,

as

a superior; sometimes

paired with

by Peek

it

was used to mean

:

my

life.

Other forms were leefkyn, darling

(16th century)

demand, century)

THE MILLER'S she hadde a

sikerly eye; Hoccleve called adultery this Ukerous dampnable errour.

she thus be-

beloved, as by Spenser in COLIN CLOUT'S COME HOME AGAIN (1595) Colin my liefe,

ye; these be liquorish lads. (in

sense: my lifest lord The word was often

times lief was used (10th to 15th century) as a substitute for Sire!, when addressing

Shake-

,

tell

Cp. lever.

used. Spenser (1590) uses it in

still

in THE opposite, ARRAIGNMENT OF PARIS (1584): Well, Juno, whether we be lief or loth, Venus hath got the apple from us both. Some-

man, said Southey in THE REVIEW of 1828, had a licorish QUARTERLY tooth. Go to, Nell, warned Heywood in EDWARD rv, PART ONE (1600) ye may be Chaucer pictures a lady

sometimes

its

holy

caught, I

first

guiled.

speare in TIMON OF ATHENS (1607) has licourish draughts and morsels unctions.

The

is

THE FAERIE QUEENS

wanton.

Also liquorish (q.v.) , liccorish, licorish; in another form, lickerous, liquorous,

lick,

as lief

;

leef tail, desirable,

much

in

(17th into 19th liefhebber (17th and 18th cen-

selling quickly ;

tury), lover, amateur. liflode.

Sustenance in living. Also

lifelod.

Early forms of livelihood.

The

lift.

sky; the

heavens (in

this sense,

sometimes plural) ; the air, the atmosphere. Related to loft, aloft; German Luft, air.

Also in combinations:

lifttike, like

the

Used

heavens; lift-fowl, high-lying birds.

from BEOWULF to the 15th century; later in Scotland, as in RURAL LOVE (1759) The dearest lass beneath the lift, and in :

Burns' WILLIE BREWEJ> A PECK o* (1780)

:

MAOT

Ifs the moon, I ken her horn,

That's blinkin* in the

lift

saw

hie.

To

lift

meant, originally, to move up into the air; hence a modem airlift doubles the idea.

%-

Bound, From Latin lig&re, Found as an adjective in 17th century dictionaries; more frequent from the 16th century as a verb, to tic;

ligate.

turn, to bind.

887

lime

ligby

A

word on

the lips of

to tie up, especially In surgery. prescription of 1599 advised: Open a blacke henne

speare puts the

on her backe, applye and also ligate her on his head. Hence ligation, a binding; also used figuratively, as by Sir Thomas

murder of the King: His two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince That memory, the warder of the brain Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only [a still in which the

Browne

In RELIGIO MEDICI

(1643)

The

:

slumber of the body seems to be but the waking of the souL It is the ligation of sense*

but

also in the

the 1

ligby.

of reason.

say obligatory.

a variant of

lie

17th century.

+

From

Ztg,

by, beside; used in the

Lacy in SAUNY THE SCOT

(1687; a prose rewriting of Shakespeare's

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW) Said: He means to make one of your lasses his wench that is, his love and his ligby. lightmans. French.

lightskirts.

See

Daytime.

lib;

of

pedlers

virtue

easy

(whose skirts are not hard to lift) Bishop Hall in his eighth SATIRE (1597) complains that Solomon is become a newfound .

Singing his love* the holy spouse of Christ f Like as she were some lightskirts of the rest, In mightiest inkhornismes he can thither wrest. sonetist.

limbec A favorite poetic form (both as noun and as verb) of alembic? q.v. Also limbeck* lembyck, lymbique, and the like. Used from the 16th Into the 19th century; thus Hood In MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER SILVER LEG (1840)

speaks of the limbeck

of pride and vanity. As a verb, to distill or extract the essence, limbeck was often

used figuratively to

mean

husband

Lady

to

the

to rack one's

See limmeL

limbmeal.

As a noun.

A

(1)

viscous sticky

substance prepared from holly bark, used to catch small birds. Used from the 7th century. Latin limus, mud; the West Aryan root, li> appears in Latin linere, to smear.

Often used in

figuratively, as

by Shakespeare

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

:

By

(1591) lay lime to tangle her desires walefull sonnets. (2) Limit, end; used

in

the

You must

15th century. Also the current the fruit and the cement. As a

senses,

A woman

her

thoughts will whirl].

lime.

bedfellow; a mistress.

urging

And,

7th century, ligatory was used

where we now

A

liberty

Macbeth,

verb.

To

(I)

smear with birdlime; to

ensnare. Also figuratively, as when Shelley in his DEFENSE OF POETRY (1822) declares that Lucretius had limed the wings of his swift spirit in the dregs of the sensible

world. (2)

BURGHE France

To

foul, defile. (3)

To

copu-

to be coupled (to) ; THE ROXdeclare: BALLADS But (1682)

late (with)

is

,

for thy lust too kind a clime, In

Africk with some wolf or tyger lime. (4) To dress with lime; put lime into. Shakespeare plays on this use when he says, in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) : Let me see thee froth, and lyme. Hence, limed, smeared, sticky; said of hands ready for pilfering; also, lime-fingered. Limefingers, a thief; thievish inclinations. Pur-

chas*

PILGRIMAGE (1613)

They are

brains (to extract ideas or sense) Donne in A WCXOTRNAL 0PGN ST. LUCY'S BAY

footed

(about ISIS) says: I, by love's limbec, am tie Of all tkafs nothing. That's

Shakespeare cried, in HAMLET (1602) : Oli limed soul, that strugling to be free,

.

quite i distillation, even lot Cupldl Shake-

and

Art more ingagd. 88

:

lime-fingred.

Cp.

light-

limerod.

Hmerod

linguosity

Another name for lime-twig, a with lime, q.v., for catching smeared twig birds. Chaucer in THE MONK'S TALE (1386)

iimerod.

pictures

The

feeld of snow, thegle [the Caught with the

eagle] of black therinne

The

used figuratively lime-twig lymerod. Milton Dekker (1634) , Smol(1607) by is

,

lett

(1771,

HUMPHREY

by Landor in IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS He allowed his mind to be lime(1829) :

twigged and ruffled and discomposed by words. His fingers are lime-twigs was said (17th century) of a thievish person. friar licensed to

protests, in his treatise should never lin

We

our own hearts^ ,

,

:

Greek trophos, supporting; supplied

was in 1826 that an

Englishman wrote: Russia has already absorbed,

within

its

empire,

that

great

limitrophe nation which might have been a barrier against further progress.

limmel.

A representation

limb, piecemeal. Also limmeal, limb-mull. Shake-

that : speare cries, in CYMBELINE (1611) I had her here, to tear her limb-meale. Butler (REMAINS, 1680) speaks of a man who tears cards limbmeal without regard sex* or quality, and breaks the

of age,

bones of

dice.

of the phallus,

god

as-

Siva. Also linga, lingum,

(1843)

spoke of the

Unganism. The

corresponding female the Sansorgan is the yoni (directly from krit; akin to Latin gcni, whence the cult,

genitals)

.

mean

also yonic, as in yonic

RESEARCHES (1799) of Vishnu, by which they the os incae, is worshipped as one

symbolism. said:

Hence

ASIATICS

The navel

and the same with the sacred incae,

or

[The found and regularly in some

interparietal

man

yoni.

bone,

other mammals, is a sort of 'third eye* or (AN 'navel of the skull/] R. Tomas AMERICAN IN JAPAN; 1857) observed several stones, of four feet in height

.

.

.

which appeared to be lingams.

A

15th to 19th century variation llngot. of ingot, a mould for casting metal, or the metal in the shape thus cast.

Limb from

limbmeal,

:

hammering out of were out of a flint,

it.

sometimes in border limitrophe. On the border; also, a land. Latin limes, limttiss a cross-path, a that

(1643)

used the word in 1710, in an old proverb: When the year with M.D. 'gins, Without M.D, it never lins and then he explained

os

twenty cheeses.

frontier troops. It

it

lingham. Macaulay

beg within

THE WIFE OF BATH'S

originally used of lands

as

on DIVORCE

,

pect of the

chart tee (1386) praises The grete and prayeres Of lymytours and othere hooly freres. Also Spenser (1591) and J. Heywood in THE SPIDER AND THE FOX There never was fryer limiter that (1556) duckt so low, where beggyng won him

-f

from

worshipped among the Hindus as an

TALE

boundary

Common

oursparkles of new misery to selves. Also linn (q*v.), Knnan, leen; in the

lingam.

specified limits. Also limiter, friar limiter,

lymitour. Chaucer, in

cease.

off,

into the 18th century, Milton

to

Christmas), Byron (1821) and, as a verb,

A

leave

BEOWULF

the past tense, lann, lind, lynned. Related Old Norse linr, soft, yielding. Swift

CLINKER: There are

so many lime-twigs laid in his way that Til bet a cool hundred he swings before

liinitour.

To

lin.

in languages. Used in IlnguishecL Skilled the Water Poet when as the 17th century,

in his ELEGY ON PRINCE HENRY (1650) says of his Muse: Mean time she *mongst the she Kngui&'d poets throngs, Although

want

the helpe of forraigne tongs.

Latin limguasiMngnosity. Talkativeness. talkative; lingua, tongue, tatem; lingnasus,

389

list

linn

A

4- -osus, full of.

dictionary linn.

word

The

(1)

wood

17th and 18th century

linden

Used

of that tree.

century,

now mainly

also,

tree;

the

since the 15th

in dialects.

(2)

A

a rapids; a pool into which a cataract flows; a deep, narrow ravine. Also

cascade;

Common

lynne, lin.

the sweet candy (once a the plant root. The

etc.,

lickerish,

medicine) made from

for a perennial quality.

since the 10th cen-

though since the 17th century mainly Used by Scott in MARMION (1808) and THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818)

candy

is

via French glykys,

glykyrriza;

+

glucose, etc.)

and Latin from Greek (whence also

sweet

rhiza, root.

There

also

is

touched with liquorish, fond of liquor, not that of as a eye liquorish liquor, Chaucer's lady. Release; mitigation, abatement; ces-

tury,

liss.

Scotch.

sation, end; hence, comfort; tranquillity,

I

you come here

I'll

pitch you again, the linn like a football. The form survives in English names, as Brooklyn.

If

down

A

lipogram.

word letters.

to

work written without any

that contains

Greek

lip-

a specific letter or

from leipdn,

to leave,

be lacking

a

4-

letter.

gramma f

Pindar

different

one

of

the

five

vowels. Tryphiodorus wrote an ODYSSEY the 24 books of which each in order omit-

ted a letter of the Greek alphabet. Addison in THE SPECTATOR (1711, No. 62) lists as

wit"

"false

matic*

and

anagrams,

chronograms,

acro$tick$.

Hence lipogr&m-

lipagrammatism*

lipogrammatist.

lipograms,

of the tempest lysse. Also

Note that lipography, however,

is

used

for the unintentional omission of a letter.

lippen. To trust to, in, or with; to rely on. To lippen for, to expect confidently; to lippen in (upon) , to expect from. The

other meanings as well:

century; until the mid-1 6th, it appeared also as (to), to trust in, and litten, to rely on. Since the 17th century it has survived mainly in Scottish and dialects.

Tims Stevenson

in

1

to Eli's word.

CATMONA

(1893) says:

,

several items in the technique of weavof the loom; or rings ing: the cylinders of small cord fastened to the threads of

the front cloth. ly$f

to

lysse),

See lickerish. Although some coincide, there is no relation

tills

word and Uquorict,

licorice,

As a verb, mitigate,

to lisse (les, Us,

pain;

to

be relieved

of.

lessen

comfort; to abate, cease; to

Chaucer in TROVLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374) other speche* says; Lat us lyssen wo with

A 19th century variation of lithelissome. Mary Mitford in OUR Also some.

lissom.

VILLAGE (1824) wrote: They are

much more

athletic,

and

yet so

.

.

.

much

so Its-

Hampshire phrase, which to be good English. Tennyson, Jefferies, and others made it so.

somer

to use a

at

least

Saintsbury in his CORRECTED IMPRESSIONS (1895) speaks of a marvellous lissomeness

... a/ thought life,

(1)

Short for

listen.

(2)

To

be

An

impersonal verb form, pleasing common Teutonic; also leste, lyste, lust, and more. Me list, I like, I desire. Bishop to.

liquorish* of the

A kind of silk Stowe in UNCLE

gauze (19th century) TOM'S CABIN (1852) mentions a snowy lisse crape cap. Also (a variant of lease)

deserves

word was used from the llth

The

lisse9 lithe.

meaning of lithe was soft, gentle; comfortable, warm. The form lisse had

first

;

wrote an ode without the letter sigma; Lope de Vega wrote five novels, each omitting

Thus Chaucer in THE HOUS OF FAME (1384) wrote: Ther sawe I Joves Venus kysse And graunted was peace; joy, delight.

Hall, in the Prologue to his SATIRES

(VIR-

Htation

lither

GIDEMIARUM; 1597)

me who

follow

English

said: / first adventure:

Rutherford's in a letter of 1637:

And be the second The word lingered In

list,

satyrist.

off

wing or

least

A

of sweet sweet truth. (2) slope. Early times (BEOWULF) to the 14th century; later in dialect; preserved in

poetry; Lowell in THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL (1848) tells that the musing organist

wander as they list builds a bridge from dreamland for

First lets his fingers

And

To hold

an erroneous conclusion in the lith

place names. The same root verb to lean and in ladder. (3)

in the

is

A body of

his lay.

men; by extension, help. (13th

litation.

century.) Also, in alliterative references to land and lith, people, vassals. In the

A

sacrifice; the act of sacrificing.

Latin litationem;

litare, to offer

Thomas

sacrifice.

ful)

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY that the terrestrial gods

banquets,

a (successin THE

.

.

.

I gif Sir Galerone

declared

...

lithes

delight in

(5)

and mournings, and funeral

As a

is

(Greek used mainly on biological

(1) A short form of delite, which was an early form of delight, both noun

and pathological

and verb. Used in the ISth and 14th

-lite,

(2) An early variant of light. early variant of little (9th to 15th century) . a lite, allte, a little, a few. A (or

See

lithe.

also

monolith., is

litholatry, stone-worship.

liss.

Bad, wicked; ill-tempered; worthwithered, impotent; foul, pestilential; (from the 15th century)

lither.

and lite, little by little; Chaucer by) has, in THE SOMPNER'S TALE (1386) Ever it wasteth lyte and lyte awey. Also, as a

less;

lite

:

(of the body)

lazy, spiritless, sluggish.

(Pronounced with

a short L) Lither lurden, lazy lout; the lither lurden f the 'disease* of laziness. For

lite

(litte, lytyn, lyte, light) , to expect, wait, delay; to trust to, rely (on) . So used, 13th to 16th centuries, later in

an instance of a noun,

The English suffix -lite is a variant through the French of Greek lithos, stone (as in lithography) , as in chrysolite, dialects.

this use, see abbey-lubber.

evil; evil

As

men, Also, a

sling. [This related to a very early leihro, leather.] Hence, as a verb, to lither (I) to shoot from a sling, to let fly. (2) To act

form

Chaucer in THE ROMAUNT OF

is

1

THE ROSE

wickedly,

small:

slothful

(1366) uses lite in the sense of Upon this dore I gan to smite,

That was so fetys and so lyte; and in THE HOUS OF FAME: Me thougt she was so lyte That the lengthe of a cubit Was lengere than she, lith.

Thus

q.v.

An

coprolite.

terms;

though in mineralogy the usual ending

centuries.

verb,

.

prefix or a suffix, lith

Ethos, stone) lite.

.

early variant of light. early verbal form, he lith for he

An

lieth.

.

An

(4)

litations,

(3)

15th

ANTURS OF ARTHUR (1400) WC read: Here Al the londes and

Stanley (1661)

to

to

do harm.

A

lithffrbackt

lithcrhead,

person;

These were all used from the 6th century, and developed many forms, including lethre,

luthury

luthery

liddyry ledyr.

ly their,

licthw,

In the 16th century the ad-

jective Hiker developed the sense

A

a

wickedness.

(from

limb. Lith from litk, limb from limb. Used from the 8th century.

of pliant and (of sky or air) yielding; thus Shakespeare in

Also, a joint. Out of lith f out of joint. Frequent in the phrase lith and limb. In

HENRY

(1)

carving, neat (joint);

work

hence

the meaning, weak)

FART ONE (1591) oiCS Tfc0tt D^&th Two Talbots winged antique through the lither skic In thy VI,

.

cuts right at the lith figurative uses, such as

shall sc&

S91

.

.

lobsterize

lithomancy See aeromancy.

lithomancy.

tale of (1613) : There's a pretty a witch . . . that had a giant to her sonne,

PESTLE

A man who makes his living by Used by Chaucer, and into the dyeing. litster.

18th century.

living

Before

it

a lifetime; the

manner

name

hi

of one's

m

elf.

13th century), livelihood (from the 10th to the 15th century) meant the course of life,

was

cal'd Lob~lie-by-the-fire.

a rough kind of brownie or house The sort of modern Puck that ar-

life;

See lobscouse.

loblolly.

lobscouse.

when Shakespeare in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1601) observes: The tirrany of her sorrowes takes all livelihood her cheeke.

a

(I)

sausage.

a

sailor,

Chapman

in his

translation

read;

Ther was

lob.

In addition to

and

we

a

rustic.

Also loplollyf

(I)

senses.

Cp, lobscouse,

lob, also lop, a spider

century)

.

Chaucer

webbe of a lappe.

(9th to

14th

speaks of a lump, a heavy,

(1591) (2)

A

unwieldy piece; also a nugget (of gold) large

amount

(of

money)

.

By

,

a

extension,

a pendulous lump or object, the wattles of a cock, ornament

on

spurs, scabbard,

and

tlit like.

Also* a

kin, lout

Hence, as an adjective, clownish,

lumpy

person, a

laplolly;

bumpkin,

Mrs. Piozzi

Samuel Johnson what some place was and received for answer that it was

related

had various other

which thence

for a ship-doctor's lob (q.v.) was a

ship's surgeon; loblolly lamb, a

lyvereyng.

mining, cricket, tennis* and thieves* slang (a till; lab-crawler# robber of tills) , lob

loblolly,

porridge. Hence also loblolly, a bumpkin, a boor. Thus loblolly boy f a helper to a

current uses in

its

thick gruel served to sick

,

romance

(13th century)

fair ho$tell>

A

dialectal

spoke of lywrings (whiteskinnd as ladies). Short for delivering; delivery; pro(2) of KYNG ALYSAUNDER

tar.

lob's course,

term, meaning to bubble (as porridge in boiling) also, to eat or drink noisily; lolly was dialectal for broth, or

of Homer's

vision of entertainment. In the

a

was called

became a general term medicines. The form

into

BATRACHOMYOMACHIA (BATTLE OF THE FROGS AND THE MICE)

(1624)

meat and vege-

Hence, lobscouser}

lap's course, lobskous.

from

pudding made

A sailor's dish:

tables stewed. Also scouse;

sailors

livering.

J.

is

as

liver

Taking

her book, Mrs.

ranges the magic in Barrie's DEAR BRUTUS (1918) is Mr. Lob.

hence, conduct. Also, from the 16th century, it was used as a variant of liveliness,

A

as title of

(1873) explained: Lob-lie-bythe lubber-fiend, as Milton calls

the-fire

meant a means of (which has been current since the

livelihood.

that

that

H. Ewing

See cynarctomachy.

Little-endian.

THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING

in

record,

called

that

(1786)

an

asked

officer

where the loplolly man kept his loplolly. Smyth's SAILOR'S WORD BOOK in 1867 called "lap's course' one of the oldest and most savoury of the regular forecastle dishes;

perhaps he was being respectful to age,

Ward

for E.

in

THE WOODEN WORLD

DIS-

SECTED (1706) said: He has sent the fellow to the Devil, that first invented .

.

.

lobscouse.

bump-

clumsy, stupid; the 17th century spoke of loblogfc. By transference from the

bumpkin, the word moved mildly Into the fairy world. Beaumont and Fletcher

To

move backwards. Cp. palinal. Sylvester in his translation (1605) of

lobsterize.

Du

Bartas wrote:

most deafly deep

Thou makest rivers the To lobstarize (back to

their source to creep)

392

.

Nares (1882)

,

com-

locofoco

lock

meriting that this motion is of a crab rather than of a lobster, adds, of the word:

The author did well to explain himself in a parenthesis; but he would have done better had he left it out. Yet many a man might ponder the term when he reflects that a word once spoken goes not back Into the mouth. Short for lovelock, so called because

lock.

secured a loved one: a long strand of hair, hanging at the left ear, often plaited it

and

with

tied

among men turies;

1646.

a

Fashionable

riband.

cen-

The Unlovelyness

of Lovelocks, objecting also in his HISTRIOMASTIX (16S2; for this aspersion on the king, he was Im5,000,

in

:

unshorne,

long,

womanish,

love-provoking haire, and love-

frizled,

lockes,

London Tower, was fined ears sliced) More es-

and had Ms

pecially

growne now

too

much

in fashion

comly pages, youthes, and lewd, effeminate, ruffianly persons. Dogberry, in his usual confusion (Shakespeare, MUCH with

ADO ABOUT NOTHING; terms:

And

also

mixes his 1599) the watch heard them

talk of one deformed; they say he wears a key in his ear, and a lock hanging by it*

Locks were

also

worn by women

artificial.

as well;

They were Pepys In Ms

DIARY for 29 October, 1666, records: My wife (who is mighty fine and with a new pair of locks). of the lovelock,

From it

the supposed effect was sometimes called a

heartbreaker; Butler In HUDIBRAS said: Like Samson's heart-breakers

In time,

to

the other was a self-lighting cigar, with a match composition on the end. These he called locofoco cigars. The coined word may have been borrowed from the loco of the then new locomotive, Imagining the syllable to mean self-moving 4- foco as

an echoic addition, possibly with thought fire. A Democrat (2)

of Italian fuoco,

a (1845-1900) (1835-1845) especially of the 'Equal Rights' section of the Democratic Party. The locofoco cigar ;

and 17th

the 16th

in

King Charles I wore one until William Prynne wrote a treatise

prisoned in

John March opened a store in Park Row, York, and drew public attention to two novelties. One was champagne wine drawn like soda-water from a fountain;

New

make a nation

(1664) it

grew

rue.

member

was patented 16 April, 1834. The match was earlier. In 1835, at a Democratic Party meeting in Tammany Hall, New York, the gaslights were suddenly turned out by the conservatives, to black out the

more

radical 'Equal Rights* faction which, warned of the trick, pulled out

locofocos and candles, by the light of which the meeting proceeded. The antimonopolists who used the matches were dubbed Locofocos. In England, the match made of a splinter of wood with Inflammable substance Igni table by friction, was called after the legendary creatures that first brought fire to mankind. [Note that, In both Greek pagan and

Christian story, the bearer of fire to men treated as evil, as giving man tiybris,

Is

pride,

the aspiration to equal the god:

Prometheus

is perpetually gnawed by a Lucifer (Latin lucem, light + was the rebel archangel bearer)

vulture; fer,

Lucifer was the name (BIBLE, ISAIAH 14) of Satan before his fall.] The speech of :

the plaintiff's counsel, in Jones vs. Watts,

lucifer; also,

was published In JOHN BULL fee 28 November, 1831: Mr, Jones kad some time ago, invented a match to produce an i~ stantaneom light . . and he had given hu

GLOSSARY

ingenious invention

lockram.

See dowlas*

locofoco.

self-lighting match, a a self-lighting cigar. Bartletfs of 1859 explained: In (1)

A

.

393

the

nmme

of

pro-

loggat

lodemale

methean Subsequently the plaintiff invented another description of match* which he designated with the frightful .

.

,

of lucifer. For the lucifers he had . secured his not right as the patentee . . The defendant made an exact imita-

name

.

.

.

tion of the lucifcr match.

luciferous

may have meant

The

adjective

1 9th (1 7th to

or century) bringing or emitting light; luciferous'r

devilish,

of

lucifrian, luciferan, luciferian

with

often

satanic,

thought

Thus Marston in From haughty Spayne,

the sin of pride.

PYGMALION (1598) what brought thou els beside. But lofty lookes, and their ludfrian pride? The word Promethean, on the other hand :

(save

when

art

it

bore allusion to the punish-

meant resembling Prometheus in or skill. The name Prometheus means

ment)

,

forethought; Pr->metheus Is supposed to man out of clay, and to have

have made

man many

taught

arts.

In revenge, Zeus

Pandora to Prometheus, who foresaw the trouble she would bring, but his

sent

brother

Epimetheus

(afterthought)

ac-

when opened,

cepted her, and her box,

and distempers that have afflicted mankind. Hope alone remained, at the bottom of the box. Pandora, the first woman, was fashioned

released all the troubles

out of clay by Hephaestus (Vulcan) , the ire-god, as Prometheus was the fire-Titan;

and

it was Hephaestus that chained Prometheus to the rock, for the vulture etern-

ally

to

LOVE'S

gnaw

his vitals.

LABOUR'S

Women's

bmke^

,

Shakespeare in

LOST .

the academs.

says:

thean matches, which I ignited by biting. The lucifer was a friction match, such as is still used; the promethean was described

by Tidy in THE STORY OF THE TINDER BOX (1889): In the year 1828, prometheans were invented. They consisted of a small quantity of chlorate of potash and sugar, up tightly in a piece of paper. Inside the paper-roll is placed a small rolled

sealed glass-bubble containing sulphuric acid. On breaking the bulb, the mixture

The simplest the locofoox

fired, igniting the paper-roll.

lighting device

lodemale,

A

is still

From BEOWULF

trunk.

to

the 15th century, lode meant a journey, a way; then a watercourse; then a channel;

hence, leading, guidance, and . leading or vein of metal ore in a mine, the current sense. Originally lode and load were the same word; the two forms took different senses.

The 14th hym

LION said: Geve

.

.

.

century GOER DE loode males . . .

ful off ryche preciouse stones. Praise. As early as BEOWULF, and into the 16th century, lof (loob, loff, loif, love; related to love) was used meaning

lofword.

praise, then price, value (13th century) ; A. Scott in his POEMS (1560) wrote: For loif and not for lufe [love]. lofsong was a song of praise; but lofsom, lofsum are early variants of lovesome. By the

A

low

century there was confusion with indeed, and lofword, meaning praise,

was

spelled

14th

luffeword,

luveword,

love-

word.

From whence dolk

the tr\* Promethean

THE

(1588)

are the ground* the

me some prome-

corded: I carried with

fire.

Milton in

OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT wrote: With a kind of Promethean (1641) to and fashion this outward into the of a b&dly. Darwin in M$ JOURNAL OF B0EING VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE (IMS) reREASON

,

.

.

loggat.

A

stick,

a stake; especially in the

of loggats (also logged logat, locket): Sticks are tossed at a stake; the nearest (or the one that knocks it down) wins. This

game

was a country game, played since the 16th century at sheep-shearing feasts and the like; somewhat like pitching horseshoes.

loo

logodaedalus

Did

Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) reflects: these bones cost no more the breed-

much

ing but to play at loggets with 'em? mine ake to thinke on't.

logomancy.

See aeromancy.

logodaedalus. One who Is cunning in, or clever with, words. Greek logos, word

logophobla.

See aeromancy.

f

HUMORS ORDINARIE

daidalos, cunning; see daedal Also lo-

godaedale, logodaedalist. Hence logodaedaly, skill in adorning with words. CQRYAT'S CRUDITIES (1611)

has:

He

is

a great and

bold carpenter of words, or (to express in one like his own) a logodaedale, In his COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF

logomachy. This, Indeed,

Short

long.

the essence of

is

philosophical disputation.

for

(1607)

go sleepe; I scorne

know my

selfe as

Rowlands, in

belong. it

cried:

with

good a

my man

Bid me heeles, I

as thee:

Let goe mine arms I s&y} lead him that reeles,

I

am

a right

good fellow f doe^t

him

thou see? I know what longes to drinking, and I can Abuse myself as well as any

SOLOMON (1650) Trapp, on the other hand, scorns those logodaedali, learned

man.

asses, that

prophanely disdain the

stately

Forbearance, long-suffering. especially In religious use (the longanimity of God} from the 15th to the

longanimity.

plainness of God's blessed book. As might be expected, logos has given English many words. Among those 'forgotten*

Common,

may be resuscitated: logocr&cy, government by words, as In Washington Their Irving's SALMAGUNDI PAPERS (1808)

ton exclaims:

there

:

a pure unadulterated logocracy; logodiarrhe, logodiarrhcea, an uncontrolled Sow of words; logofascinated

government

is

(used by Urquhart) , fascinated by words; logolatry, worship of words, undue regard for words, or for the literal truth. logo-

A

18th century. In a TRACT of 1724, WarburConstancy is a word too

weak to express so extraordinary a behtnnor, 'twas patience* 'twas longanimity. Even more of a lay application appeared In

THE SPECTATOR

of 11 January,

1890:

His longanimity under the foolishness of the young woman is really marvellous, Lowell misused the word, as though it meant long-drawn, In THE BIGLOW PAPERS (1861) and In CAMBRIDGE THIRTY YEARS AGO (1854) : He is expected to ask a bless-

(Greek griphos^ fishing basket, riddle) is a riddle In verse, giving synonyms of a word to be guessed or of Its

ing and return thanks &t the dinner^ a function which he performs with cen-

anagrams. Jonson ponders (1637) : Had ... wemfd fifty tomes of lagogriphes*

tmanan longanimity. It that needs longanimity.

griph

I

or curious palindromes. Walpole in a can send your

letter of 1765 wrote: All I is

ladyship

a very pretty logogriphe, made Deffand. Several

Madame du

Is

the listener

long-purple. One of the Bowers Ophelia culled. See stone. (1) A mask, usually velvet, worn by 17th century ladies "to protect the complexioa." Often a half-mask, or with

by forms have been used in English based on logomachy, a battle of words: a logomach,

loo.

logomachist, one who fights over words, or verbal subtleties; to logonmchfae. In

the lower part of lace. Also Imp (pronotinced loo) i the word Is from French, loup> wolf (Latin lnpm} 9 used in th*

.

.

.

his POLITICAL

to defend

Ms

ECONOMY

(1848)

field against

Mill

had

the reprmch of

same

sense* (2)

A game

stt

carj% popular

losel

lora 1 7th and Into the 19th century. The was an early form of whist (3-card game

in the

loo; also 5-card loo)

specified loo also

being

sum

who

a player

;

not take a trick is looed; into the

does

The word

meant the fact of thus losing, and also the forfeit, the amount

loo,

paid in. In 3-card loo, the cards are counted as in whist; in 5 -card loo, the highest card

the Jack of Clubs, called

is

Pam; thus Pope In THE RAPE OF THE LOCK halls Ev'n mighty Pam, that Kings and Queens overthrew And mow'd down armies in

the

An

lu.

of

fights

earlier

form of the game (from which this name was shortened) was called lanterloo y q.v. See metheglin.

lora.

Note

tocracy.

an order of Our Lady of Loretto.

To

put a protective coating on; or clay on a chemical armor, e.g., military retort (18th century) "before it is set loricate.

over a naked

fire."

or

cuirass

(vlorum)

corselet

+

lord

A traitor. Old English klajord, into the

straps

.

Ther

of

a

horse's

har-

studded with metal.

lorenier, loremier)

the

to

,

from

19th

century, English of mountings for horses'

maker

and other small iron ware; a worker of wrought iron. Hence lorica-

Hth

tion

(by error, occasionally, lorification) covering with a protective coat.

:

.

12th

lorimer,

the 1325 CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND (reprinted In Rltson's METRICAL ROMANCES) For he was laucrdsuykc, Heo .

strip.

Hence

bridles, of bits

century, as In

ladden him to Warewyke

lorum

thongs;

(Browning, 1855) a cuirass, more often lorica; lorum, lore, a thong, a rein. By way of Late Latin and old French, lorain caine into English

the

Used

lori-

also in English, loric

ness, often jewelled or

swica, deceiver.

of

a leather strap or

,

Hence (French lordswike.

Latin loricare>

catus, to clothe in mail; lorica, a leather

See lurdan.

lordane.

brilliant

for even lorettism has its aristhat a lorettine is a nun of

lorettes

meaning the

See loricate.

loraln.

of the

ball given by the aristocracy of the Parisian

he must put a

'kitty.'

1865, spoke

September,

his

,

See loricate.

lorimer.

hcved wc$ of smyte [Because he was a traitor, they led

his

him

to

head was smitten See

loreL

Warwick

.

*

,

there

A

hobbler; figuratively, a perloripede. son of weak will or scant endurance. From

leese,

A lesson,

a sermon.

loricate.

Hth

century. Hence also faring, teaching; Spenser in THE FAtWE QUEENE (1596) says:

They

.

.

hearkned

Her wisdom did to

her faring.

A

lor,

We

now

saken,

in

he

Thus

the PALL

.

See

leese.

Borrowed

1

MALL GAZETTE

lonely,

Lorn

bereft,

in the sense of forfirst

appeared in

the 16th century, perhaps as a result of the incorrect use of leese, as by Spenser

from

Paris,

in a

17th century.

lora.

9th century, when many such frequented the environs of the Qmrch of Notre Dame de Lvrettc, in

prostitute.

French; used in the

Used

admire,

treasure folklore, loxecte.

+ pedem, foot. Cp sermon by Jeremy Tay-

Latin lorurn, strap

A loresman

was a teacher. Used from the 10th through the

See lorespell.

loriag.

off].

of 9

THE FAERIE QUEENE had faire Una

Through losel.

596

light

See

(1590)

lorne

:

After that [deserted],

misdeeming of her

leese.

loyaltie.

louk

losenger

A

losenger.

flatterer;

a deceiver; a lying

Also loseniour, losengeour, loosinger, and many more; the word and its other forms were common from the 14th

rascal.

through the 16th century. Thus losengery, losengry, losangerie, flattery, deceit; losen-

geous

(this

17th century form was rare),

flattering, lying; to losenge, to flatter, to

praise fulsomely. Provengal lauzenga;

Old

French loenge (French louange, praise) ultimately from Latin laudem, praise,

1426, says:

bought

.

.

He would here sell that he had .And takys to him a loteby.

lotium.

Stale urine, used by barbers (15th to 18th century) as a hair wash, etc, Latin lavare, lautum, lotum, to wash,

whence

also the current form, lotion.

;

whence

also things laudatory. There is no relation between this word and lozenge,

which originally referred to the 'diamond' shape, in heraldry. Chaucer in THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN (1385) said; In youre court is manye a losenger; of what society is this not true today? lossom.

An

old

variant

of

lovesomef

worthy of love, lovely. Also lossumy lossome, lufsum, lussom, and more. In the 18th century, lonesome was also used to

mean amorous,

loving.

head (14th century)

Hence lonesome-

lovesomeness (from the 10th century). Also, from the 10th to the 13th century, the pleasant love,

wende, beloved, loving, lostell.

lovely.

See a lostelL

A

lostling,

Raymond

sponge for bread; Truewit adds: drink lotium to it.

And

hence,

day-

his

lotophagous.

WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

(1870) river* which bursts

(Greek

lotos, lotus -f

eat.

On

near Carthage, dangers to navigation; hence syrtts, a dangerous region of the a quicksand. See

sea,

syr.]

dwelled the

lotophagi, who cultivated the lotos not the Egyptian flower, the water lily, but a tree of hard black wood of which statues were carved, perhaps the nettle tree or the date-plum and invited visitors to eat

of its fruit. Those that ate forgot their home, and lived in a dreamy idleness. Pidgeon, in AN ENGINEER'S HOLIDAY (1882)

Thus lotophagously

landed one morning on a

sailing,

we

beautifully

wooded point

look.

a lostling drops in Xanadu, as described in Coleridge's IUJBLA KHAN

words,

is

phagcin to

the coast of Africa near the Syrtes parge shifting sandbanks, one near Leptis, one

spoke of the great 'lost out of the vertical side of the canon of the Snake a torrent from the solid rock; a foundling rather than a lostling. A river that

Lotus-eating;

dreaming, idly drifting. Also lotopkagist, the lotophagi lotus-eater, day-dreamer;

recorded:

person or thing lost in his STATISTICS OF MINES . . . little

Cp.

Jonson's THE SILENT WOMAN (1609), heaping execrations upon a barber, Morose says: Let him be glad to eat

In

lant.

lough.

See low, <1)

up or

pull

louker,

An

old form of lock.

out;

one that

(2)

To

weed (corn). Also weeds. These were early to

common through the 15th cendeveloping various forms, including luken, lowke, luke, look* luk y loc. As a tury,

A

lover; a paramour. From lote, loteby. to lie concealed. Chaucer, in THE SECOND

NUN'S TALE (1386) speaks of a man found Among the saintes buriek lotynge. Both

words were used from the 13th into the 15th century; Audelay, in a poem of

noun, used by Chaucer to mean a boon companion, In THE COOK'S TALE 15S6) :

Ther

is

a,

lowke, Th&t

hjm to wasten and to smoke Of he brybe @n or borowe may.

helpeth that

no theef with-oute

lown

lout lout.

As a verb:

make

obeisance;

To

(I)

bend, stoop;

bow, submit. Used from the 9th Into the 19th century. In MERLIN (1450), we read: The archebisskop lowted to the sword* and sawgh letters of to

golde in the steel

WHITE COMPANY

In Conan Doyle's THE uncovered and

9 ,

(1891): I

loutcd as I passed. Also luten, lowte. (2) lurk, He hid; sneak. Used 9th to 16th

To

Gower

century;

in

AMANTIS

CONFESSIO

(1390) said that love luteth in a

mannes

herte. (3) To mock, treat with contempt; also, to lout someone out of something,

fore milk-white ,

and laughed

louted

is

the

dolt

veriest

that

For was borne;

to skorne,

ever

Shakespeare In HENRY VL PART ONE (1591): / am lowted by a traitor mllaine, And

cannot hclpc the noble chevalier. Hence louter, a worshipper; lonting, bowing, cringing; Keats in a letter to J. Taylor (23 August, 1819)

Is this

:

worth louting

or playing the hypocrite for? love-drury. Love-making; courtship. Also, a love-token. Havelock (1300) said: Til

that she were tuelf winter old, And of speche were bold; And that she couthe

of courteysye

Gon, and speken

drurye. This

a longer form of drury,

is

of luv&~ q.v.

See lock.

lovelock*

Fond

lovertine.

tury

term.

GRANWSGN

that

is

loved;

Richardson In (1754)

said:

an 18th cenSIR

The

CHARLES

and

lover

generally the happiest couple; is both.

he should have added, when each

The wild pansy, Its amawere celebrated in its various tory powers heartxax; come-and-km-me; callme-to-you; and most appealingly herbconstancy. Drop but its juice upon the 10Ye-in-!dleiie.

arrant eye

as

Oberon with Titania

NIGHT'S BREAM;

If fell

1594):

1 where the bolt of Cupid * little western flower

(A Jet

fell:

Be-

of

making

love.

A

17th

century coinage, after libertine. Dekker in THE PATIENT GRissiLL (1603) : These

gentlemen lovertine, and my of love.

(The

lovewende. low.

selfe a hater

early libertine sought po-

not amatory, freedom.)

litical,

(1)

See lossom.

A

flame. See alow.

(2)

A

hill,

one round or conical. Old EngMaw; Teutonic root klei, to slope;

especially lish

related to English lean; Latin clivus, hill,

English declivity; Greek klinein, to

make

lean; Kline, bed; English clinic. In this sense, also law. By extension, a burial

A

mound.

variant form of lough, (3) Scotch loch, a lake; river; water. (4) Short form of allow; as a noun, permission. Also in dialect from the verb, as / low, I allow, I

admit.

As an

lown.

adjective.

Calm

(of

person

or weather; gentle, quiet, mild. Sheltered, cozy, snug. As a noun. Calm, tranquility; shelter.

One

love's

call it love-in-idle-

ness.

Udall In RALPH ROYSTER DOYSTER (1553):

He

now purple with

And maidens

wound,

shelter.

Also a verb, to calm, to lull; to Used in the north and Scotland

from the 14th century. Note that lown also an early variant of loon, a stupid

was

fellow, a boor; also, a

an

To

idler.

rascal.

Lord

rogue (a false loon); the loon, to act like a play and loon, of high birth and

low.

Of a woman, a

bine.

The

there

is

strumpet, a concuorigin of the word is unknown;

no connection with slang

loon,

loony, from lunatic, moonstruck; Latin lima, the moon. lago's song in Shakespeare's OTHELLO (1604] rhymes the word

with crown: With that he lawn.

call'd

the tailor

lune

lowte

A

lowte.

variant of lout, q.v. f especially make obeisance.

factual, luctuous.

Hence

luctisonous, lucti-

in the sense of to bend; to

sonant, mournful sounding.

Spenser used lowted in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; JULY) with the gloss

was

'did

honour and

FAERIE

QUEENE:

reverence*; also in

He

saluted, touting low,

faire

the

knight

lowte d lowly to the noble maid. After him, Drayton used lowting lowe in POLYOLBION (1612); Scott, louted low In

ROKEBY (1813).

TANCE (1824) mentioned an equipage and attendants of of of the most luctiferous description.

lucubrate. Incident. lucid.

ioxotic.

rection

Oblique; awry, distorted in dior position. Also loxic; Greek

loxos, oblique. Still used in science (botany, medicine, mathematics; loxodromic chart, Mercator's projection; loxodro-

mics, the art of oblique sailing).

A thin pastry-cake.

See elucubration* Full of light, shining; brilliant; in THE SEASONS:

Thus Thomson

WINTER (1746) Luculent along the purer rivers flow. Jonson in EVERY MAN OUT OF :

HUMOUR (1599) speaks of a most debonaire, most luculent ladie. Also lucid; lucent^ shining, luminous, but also trans-

HIS

lucent,

dear,

as

in

Keats'

EVE OF

14th

AGNES (1820) : lucent sywps, cinnamon. Latin lux, lucem,

wine.

crepuscular.

lozen.

Enjoyed in the

and 15th centuries, with cheese and From Old French loseingne, a variant of losange whence English lozenge. Hence lozen was later (17th century) used

for a lozenge-shaped

pane of

glass,

etc.

FountainhalFs JOURNAL of 1665 noted: One of his sewantes brook a lossen. In,

A

lucripetous,

crum, gain 4-

luminatlon. lunatic.

See luculenL

Eager for gain. Latin

lu-

(whence the current lucre)

petere, to seek.

Used in the 17th cen-

lucriferous,

bringing

lucrous, gainful, covetous (J. G. Cooper, in THE TOMB OF SHAKESPEARE, 1755: Free

from the muck-worm

luctus,

English,

Latin luctific,

loyn,

a leash.

a length

(of

cord);

Anything shaped like a crescent or half-moon. French lune; Latin luna, the moon. From the (2)

moon brings on lunacy came fanes (S) (plural), fits of frenzy, mad streaks, tantrums; spells of whimsy. Shakespeare uses lunes In T*m MUCKY WTVBS OF idea that the

miser's lucrous rage).

Mournful; gloomy. sorrow + fer, bearing. Also

lactiferous.

See breviloquent; lawn,

(1) A leash for a hawk. Also leame; a variant form of loyn. This Is via Old French loigne from Latin longus, long;

hence,

gain;

See relume.

lime.

In

tury. Also lucrify, to put to gainful use; lucrific,

the daytime.

A variant form of loud.

See locofoco.

lucigenous*

Cp.

producing light; lucifugaus (accent on the si/), shunning the light; lucigenous, begotten or born in Lucific,

century, and by clerks and lawyers In court. (2) In the plural (and Scotland) , the buttocks. Also, luddock, buttock. (3)

See crepuscular.

lucifer.

light.

ST.

with

(1) A euphemistic form of Lord, used especially in mild oaths of the 18th

See luculenL

lucid.

tinct

lud,

variant of loo, q.v.

lucent.

luctuate

mournful

or gloomy, as with bad news or black drapes. Susan E. Ferrier in THE INHERI-

THE

and again: Thrise

To

to render

(18th century)

m

lurdan

lungis

WINDSOR and THE WINTER'S TALE (1611): These dangerous, unsafe lunes i* th* king beshrew them! Symonds in THE RENAIS-

SANCE IN ITALY (188S) states that Their tales for the most part are the lunes of

wanton

love.

lungis.

A long, lank, ludicrous lout;

also,

turion that pierced Jesus with a spear, but linked with Latin longusf long. Minsheu in THE GUIDE INTO TONGUES (1617) lungis:

slimme

a

slowback,

a

dreaming gangrill, a tall and dull slangam, that hath no making to his height^ nor wit to his making. Beaumont and Fletcher in THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE (1611)

cry:

How

dost thou,

Ralph? Art

thou not shrewdly hurt? The foul great lungies laid unmercifully

A

Iiint.

on

slow match; a torch.

Ta

set lunt

lonstock, matchstick, gave us English lin(limstock, linestoke^ lyntstock) , a three-foot staff, pointed to stick in the ground or a ship's deck, with a forked

stock

head to hold a lighted match; used from the 16th century, for firearms, rather than tobacco. To lunt, to kindle; to smoke (a (of

;

Hence eyes)

smoke)

to rise up,

to curl,

lunting, smoking, glowing; (of the There was also a Danish

flashing.

lunttt lazy, used of a horse, spiritless, tame. HISTORY OF JAMES vi (1588) mentioned

A

a

man

that

had a

loose

lunt,

quhilk

negligently fell out of Ms hand the great quantity of pouldcr.

amang

luponar.

lmpanul

f

A

brothel.

lupanarian.

Also,

lupanars and

adjectives,

From latin

lupa,

which was used figuratively (by Cicero, Uvy, Juvenal) of a cheap prostitute (as equipped with wolfs teeth) Cp. she-wolf,

.

its

sewers.

stillicide.

used of the constellation the wolf, and in the 16th century was used of the animal: the lupus in a lamb skyn lappit. Latin lupinus, adjective of lupus, wolf.

Not

be confused with vulpine (Latin

to

vulpes, fox), fox-like; crafty, tricky. Jonson calls one of his plays (1606; via the Italian) Volpone; or The Fox. Certain humans were supposed transformed, or

capable of transforming themselves, into volves; cp. were: Emma Phipson in ANIIN SHAKESPEARE'S

spoke of ravages imagined

to, to light Also smoke* especially from a pipe; hot vapor. Dutch lont, match;

pipe)

See

its

lupine. Relating to a wolf; wolf-like; savage, fierce. Also lupous; lupus is still

MAL LORE

thee.

Buchanan in THE PALL MALL

determined by lupicide.

a laggard, a slowpoke. Also lungeis, longis, lundgis; Latin Longinus, the Roman cen-

defines

lupine. R,

GAZETTE (20 September, 1886) wrote, in not very good English: It is a very phenomenal city whose existence can only be

TIME to

mitted by them in their lupine

A loafer,

lurdan.

a vagabond.

(1883)

be comstate.

Used from

8th century as a term of scorn or abuse; revived (in THE ABBOT, the 13th to the

1

1820) by Scott. John Rastell, in THE PASTYME OF PEOPLE (1529) suggested that the word came from Lord Dane, because the conquering Danes kept the husbandmen as serfs and made these dependents call them Lord Dane, until the word became a term of abuse. This idea affected

the spelling: lordane, lordan> Lord-Dane. Bailey, in his 1751 DICTIONARY, varied the story: because the Danes "injoined the better sort of people to maintain a

Dane

in their houses as a spy and a curb

upon

The word

lurdan actually came into the language (Bailey admits this is

them/* "full

as

likely")

from French lourdinj

sluggish fellow; lourd, heavy. The word is also used as an adjective, worthless, lazy,

ill-bred; Tennyson in PELLEAS ANI> ETTARRE (1870) speaks of lurdane knights. 400

lustre

luscous

One-eyed. Latin luscus; hence luscitwn y dimness of sight. A 17th cen-

The

year of

luscous.

censors, after the census.

tury term.

the lustrum, during which the census was taken, was the lustran (Latin lustrum . Lustral is also an adjective, reto the lustrum or to publication lating Thus lustran t lustrical day, sacrifice. by

annum)

A

sluggard, a lazy or idle fellow. Also lush. There was also a verb, to lusk,

luskin.

to lie hid; to skulk; to lie idly or lazily;

Christening day.

used from the 14th Into the 17th cen-

tive, lustratory.

Hence lushing, skulking; idling; luskishj lusk, sluggish, lazy. It does seem a bit like old-time slander for Sir Thomas tury.

have

to

said, in

bright,

THE CONFUTACYON

OF TYNDALES ANSWERS (1532) ther

and

Gate

Calais

Ltl

nonnc

hys

and play the

idle

of beasts; hence

belonging

to

a

player;

ludere, lusus, to play; delusive,

crous,

to

humor-

(in

Latin)

a house of

;

by reflected

player; also ludi-

whence and all the

upon

lucem, light (luc-strare) hence, in addition to the still current sense of shining

lusor,

allude,

lusions that play

(1711)

said

God

that

f

as

set

.

(1823) observed: a refined species of comic poetry,

woman sister

See housel. lustir, luster. (1)

Occasionally

writer of note)

in

a

letter to

her

September, 1716) described the magnificence of the apartments in Vienna: All this is made gay by pictures and vast

See list

Also

to increase the bright-

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (a bluestocking and perhaps the first English

lusory yet elegant.

lustration.

lights

prism of glass hanging from a vase or a chandelier; often pendants of these tinkled with wafted air. a chandelier.

OF LITERATURE is

among

ness, a

his childish frowardness. Disraeli In CURI-

OSITIES

lust-

woollen weft, highly lustrous, a glass ball

a

bear with kind tutor, was pleased to . his anger, and in a lusory manner expose *

(lustnom,

lustrle, a glossy silk fabric) , other meanings developed: lustre, a lustrous wool, a thin dress material, of cotton warp and

century, lusory was also used for delusory, deceptive. Shaftesbury In CHARAC-

TERISTICS

sheen

fication; lustrify. lustring, lutestring, q.v.;

il-

In the 17th

us.

light,

rant, lustry, lustreful; lustrcment; lustri~

illusory.,

five

is

fame; debauchery. (3) Latin lustrare* to make bright, is associated with lux*

Relating to or used for sport or as a pastime. Of speech or writing; in a playful style. Also lusory; Latin lusorius,

lustre.

lustrate,

ill

lusorious.

lust.

to

Lustratory

cave (17th century), From Latin lustrum (from lucre) a bog; a wilderness, a haunt

luskes.

There

by propitiatory

purify

English

ously applied to washing, as in lustratory applications of the brush. (2) A den; a

lye

luskynge togythcr in lechery. Well may they bee cowards, said Holland in his version (1600) of Llvy,

to

hence

lustration.

lustre;

PTT

:

lustrific, purifying; lustralustmble, that which may

be purged, Latin lustrare, lustratum, to

make

sacrifice;

More

first

A period of

used

years. references. years, as in college

for

jars of

four

Japan

rock crystal

and large lustres of at table the variety and

china,,

And

richness of their wines is what appears the most surprising; the constant may is to

Also lustral

and (directly from latin) lustrum; probThe ably from lucre, laveref to wash. lustrum was originally the purificatory sacrifice made for the people by the

(8

lay a

plates

401

list

of

of their many mimes upon the the gwestr along with their

rmpMms, and I have counted several times

lye-pot

lustring

number

to the

ous enjoyment. Chaucer in THE MAN OF LAW'S TALE (1386) cries O foule lust of

of eighteen different sorts,

all exquisite in their kinds.

in Thersites luxurie! Shakespeare's TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1602) considering Cressida and Diomedes, exclaims: How

Also lustrine. See lutestring.

lustring.

,

Pertaining to mud; muddy. Latin lutum, mud. There was also a yellow weed the Romans called lutum,

luteous*

whence in English

the devil luxury, with his fat rump and potato-finger, tickles these together! Fry,

lechery y fry!

works since

scientific

the mid-17th century, luteous might be used for a color, deep orange yellow.

Hence

(I9th century)

ing toward

yellow,

as

A

leash for hounds; hence, a dog. lyam. Also lyme, lyalme, lyemme, lym, leame, /eon. Ultimately from Latin ligamen,

lutescent, inclin-

tan

or a

shoes

binding; ligare, to tie. Shakespeare, in KING LEAR (1605) lists: mastiff, greyhound,

jaundiced complexion.

A glossy silk fabric;

lutestring.

or ribbon

made

AURORA LEIGH

ing, in

mongrill, grim, Hound or spaniell, brache, or lym. lyam-hound, a bloodhound.

a garment

A

Brown-

thereof. Elizabeth

As

The word was used throughout

you had held your trailing lutestring up yourself. Walpole in his MEMOIRS OF GEORGE in (1797) used the word figura.

.

(1856)

:

if

.

;

Stout Conrade, cold * by a woodman's lyme-dog found. The term was applied to a person in Beaumont and Fletcher's PHILASTER

MINSTREL (1805)

summer wean Hence, use

to

to

speak in

lute-

(1611):

silken,

polished phrases. The word is probably a corruption of lustring, with the same meaning, from

lustrine,

named

French; the

which

fabric.

means a

of

course,

lutestring

and lye.

.

fabulous beast, hybrid of wolf

are together: castorides, dogges ingendred by a fox and a bever; lydscus, of a wolfe

lit her.

CHRONICLE (13th century)

lich.

and dog. Greek lykos, wolf. In Guillim's book on HERALDRY (1610) two hybrids

[This was not a mock the Also lutherhood, lutherby Catholics.] ne$$y wickedness; used in Robert of Glou-

cester's

See

A

lycisk.

string for a lute.

See

lutber.

Oh, hee's a pernitious limhound, the pursue of any lady.

lychwake.

English and because of the lustre of

Also,

.

him upon

turne

both

is

.

:

Wfl$

tively, of a very pretty lutestring administration which would do very well for

string,

the 17th

century, and revived by Scott (WAVERLEY, also, in THE LAY OF THE LAST 1819)

a

mas tiffe.

As a

verb, in cookery: to thicken . Used in the 14th and

(sauces, soups, etc.)

lutulent.

See maculate. Hence lutulence,

muddiness; mud. Also see luteous.

Take vele (1430) and lye gobettys

.

:

.

luxury.

The

early

meaning of

this

word

was lasciviousness, lechery* lust Also (16th and 1 7th centuries) luxunty. Used from the

13th century, luxury developed its in the 17th century* In

current

Latin faxuria meant

lust;

luxus was the

word for abundance,

for

sumptu-

TWO COOKERY-BOOKS

15th centuries. Thus,

lye-pot. lye

.

An

.

it

.

and hakke

ornamented

(a cosmetic)

it

with ftowre of vessel

to

to

rys.

hold

for use as a hair-wash.

In Nashe's LENTEN STUFFE (1599) we read that the fabulous queen Semiramis ranne out with her lie-pot in her hand, and her black dangling tresses about her shoulders.

402

lyfkie

lynne

A

Also leefekey. Dutch lijfken s diminutive of lijf, body. In Lyly's EUPHUES (1579), we read: Their spots,

There may also be allusion to Lynceus, one of the Argonauts, noted for his sharp

their lawnes, their leefekyes, their ruffes^ their rings Shew them rather cardinally

to

lyfkie.

bodice.

curtisam then modest matrons. lymytour.

sight.

He

see

lynceous. Used from the 16th into the 19th century, as in the HYPXERQTQMACHIA (1592): to

See limitour.

left

lyncean. Keen of vision, like the lynx. Latin lynceus, Greek lygkeios; lygx, lynx.

403

was reputed to have the power through stone walls. Hence also

Yet with a lincious eye, I never

examine

of the excellent lynne.

See

.

.

.

the extreme beauty

nymph.

lin, linn.

M male nor female, a thing of the neuter

Early forms for make,

Also maa.

ma.

gender, lately started up amongst us. It is called a macaroni. It talks without

may, me, more, my.

mab.

See mob.

The

macarism.

ing, another's happiness;

in

others'

Greek

Hence

happy.

happy or in his

(in

joy;

beatitude.

meaning, it smiles without pleasantry, it eats without appetite, it rides without ex-

sharing, or state of shar-

Whately makes

COMMONPLACE BOOK

also,

makar,

(1864)

it :

ronic.

deem

to

macarize,

clear

macaronic.

A man

which

admired for what he is, macarized for what he has, praised for what he does The words 'felicitate" and 'congratulate' is

.

.

the

tongue. Bailey (1751) defines macaronics which the native words of a

as verses in

To admiration, contempt seems to be direct contrary; censure, to commenda-

tion; pity, to macarism.

macaroni. late

1

8th

fashions

A

dandy, an exquisite of the

century,

and

the

affected

tastes of continental society.

The word grew Macaroni Club

name from

who

fashionable (1760),

from

the

which took

the Italian food, then

its

little

eaten in England, hence highly esteemed by these young blades. For a somewhat different use, see circum-

ous). Horace

Walpok

Earl of Hertford

Macc&roni Club nil

(circum forane-

in a letter to the

(1764)

(which

spoke is

of:

The

composed of

young men who wear and spying glasses). The OX-

the travelled

I0ng curls

Verse, usually burlesque, in mingled words of various

are

languages; originally, Latin and the native

.

are used only in application to events, which are one branch only of 'macarism*

...

wenches without passion. Hence macaronism, macaronyish. See maca-

ercise, it

reference)

markarismos;

also

blessed.

taking pleasure

religious

FORD MAGAZINE of June 1770 elaborated: There is indeed a kind of animal, neither

language are termination.

made to end The word was

in

a Latin

first

used in

by Teofilo Folengo ("Merlinus Cocaius") for his BOOK OF MACARONICS, published in 1517. In the second edition, this sense

Folengo

he took the name from

says

macaroni, "a sort of powdered wheaten paste with cheese, coarse, rude, and

Hence

rustic."

ronic,

From

also, as

an

jumbled, mixed

adjective,

maca-

a medley. the desire of the dandy, the ex-

quisite, the fashionable

of the 1750's

and

as

in

young gentleman what he

I760's to enjoy

considered the superior tastes of Europe, came the macaroni (q.v.) Those that re.

member

the zoot-suit watch chains of the

!94G*s will smile at the follies of It is the

custom, you know,

macaronies, said

WARY

for 9

watches.

404

As

Madame as

the

D'Arbley in her

December, 1783, late

1780;

among

1825,

to

at

wear two the horse

macro races,

maculate

macaroni stakes were those ridden

by gentlemen, not professional jockeys. Even earlier, however, the term had come to be used in mockery; THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE (III, 1797) spoke of this -fanciful aera, when macaroni philosophers hold flirtation with science; and most dwellers to the west of the North Atlantic recall (though they may have forgotten the

meaning of the word) the Revolution-

ary song Yankee Doodle came to town, Riding on a pony; Stuck a feather in Ms

hat and called

it

macaroni

.

.

.

therm

, relating to cold regions, or dwelling growing on mountains or in the polar zones; as a noun, a person that

thermometer)

enjoys the cold, a "polar bear."

macromancy.

See aeromancy.

macropkide.

See

cent

Long-lived. by)

is

A macrobiote (ac-

one that

lives long.

micrChf short, small, are used in

Some of

the

many

more general

but presently overlooked words formed from them are: macrognathic, with large or protruding jaws; macrologyf speaking at great length. macro$ci@n> one having a

long shadow; hence used of persons when the sun (or a light) is low behind them; also as a noun, a person in the arctic regions, macrosmatic (Greek osme, smell), capable of smelling from afar. Also mi-

crocosmetor

(accent

on the

coz;

Greek

cosmein, to set in order; cosmos* order, the

ordered

universe;

hence

cosmetics

that put order upon the fair sex), the "essence" or principle of life used bj Dolaeus. micrological* minute or detailed

in

discussion;

micrology,

discussion

of

petty matters, hair-splitting. micronymyf the use of shortened words for naming

(TNT)' or in

politics

(SPQR; UNESCO), microphily, a

friend-

things, as in science

ship between persons of different rank or standing,

a

pod

The action of killing; espeof ritual sacrifice. Latin mactare,

mactatum,

Greek makros, long, large -f bios, life. Also macrobiotic. Macro- and its converse scientific terms.

-f

mactation.

See macrobian.

on the

Greek mak~

pous, foot.

cially,

macrobian.

stillicide.

rapous, kangaroo; makros, long

Yankee

Doodle dandy. macro-.

(17th century), timiclness, also micropseuchy. micro(Greek therme, heat, whence

micropsychy

pusillanimity;

"small*

man

with a great.

to slay;

hence also to mactate;

a mactatorj, a killer; one that officiates at a ritual killing. In the HISTORY OF EGYPT (1838)

M.

before

whom

Russell referred to the deity the mactation is about to

be performed. maculate.

Spotted,

stained;

polluted.

Often used in opposition to immaculate, as in Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST

(1594),

where Armado

protests:

My

love

most immaculate white and red, and his page, Moth, retorts: Most maculate is

thoughts^ master, are masked under suck colors.

Latin macula, spot, is used as a term in English; also macule.

scientific

maculary relating

to maculae? spots.

From

the 15th century there were verb forms, macule, maculate* to spot, to pollute.

Bradshaw in THE LIFE OF SAINT WERBURGE OF CHESTER (15 IS) wrote that a senswiU purposed to m&culat this vyrgyn glaryous. In the 17th and 18th centuries, maculature was in the dictionaries, prynctf

.

.

.

as blotting paper, or a waste sheet of printed paper. T. Adams wrote, in THE DEVIL'S BANQUET (16H) , of the lutulent,

spumyf maculatone waters of sinne: nwcnapt to defile; lutulent (Latin lutum, mud), muddy; see ittte
latory

405

main

maculomancy

with all our main of CRESSIDA (1606) power; frequent in the phrase used in the

TROILUS AND CRESSiDA (1606) I will throw my glove to death himselfe, That there's

:

:

nursery rhyme of the man who had "scratched out both his eyes": "With all his might and main, he jumped into another bush And scratched them in again."

no maculation in thy heart.

maculomancy.

A

madrean.

See aeromancy. spice;

centuries in

1 5th

used in the 14th and conserves.

making

Also, the chief part,

Ap-

main body (MERCHANT

HAMLET: against the main of Poland) The main point, chief concern (HAMLET II. ii. 56) The main-

OF VENICE V.

parently a sort of ginger.

97;

i.

.

Mae

West.

See nun-buoy.

(Not

she!)

.

magia. White magic; the employment of benevolent supernatural powers for good ends. The opposite of black magic, or goety, q.v.

followed by long

i;

cooking. (Soft g jy.) Also magirologi-

Greek mageiros, cook. Hence also

cal.

magirist, magirologist^ expert at cooking; magirology, the art of cookery. PUNCH (21

May, 1892) spoke of immortal contributions to mageiristic lore. Since Greek mageia is magic, we may admit the relationship; as THE SCHOOL OF GOOD LIVING the very first appearance of magirology in Greece, it pro-

(1814) observed,

duced

pom

effects absolutely

magical For cur-

rent evidence, consult LES AMIS D'ESCOFFIER.

nsagnific.

Eminent; glorious; munificent

Imposing, exalted; highly eulogistic. In later

use,

occasionally

suggesting

the

pompous, grandiloquent. Latin magnus, great 4- fie; facersf to make. Also magntficul Milton in PARADISE LOST (1667) speaks of Thrones, Dominations, Princed&mss Vertue$, Powers, If these magnific yet remain Not meerly titular, Gax-

ton

(KING LEAR III.

(KING

JOHN

OTHELLO

II.

II. i.

(ENBYBOS; 1490) : This ... of name magnyfyqm.

maid** min.

As a

gentylman

See Hymen's torch.

noun.

Physical

force* power. Shakespeare in

strength;

moiuis AND

i.

6)

The ocean

.

RICHARD III. iv. 20; A broad expanse 39)

26;

i.

3,

.

(SONNET 60: Nativity once in the

maine

The

object

of light Crawles

Relating to

magiric.

land

to maturity)

.

aimed at, goal; Webster in THE DUCHESS OF MALFI (1623) Bosola: You say you would fain be taken for an eminent courtier? Castruccio: "Tis the very main of :

ambition. In the 19th century, to turn on the main, to begin to weep copiously; from the main, the chief pipe, drain, or

my

other duct for water.

THE PICKWICK PAPERS

Thus Dickens (1837)

:

Blessed

in if

I don't think he's got a main in his head as is always turned on. Also main, short form of domain; mains (from the 16th century), a farm attached to a mansion house. In dice (the game of hazard) , main, maine, mayne: a number (from 5

by the caster before he he 'throws in* or 'nicks that number, he wins; if he 'throws out aces, or deuce and ace ('crabs*) he loses. If any other number, he keeps throwing until that number (his 'chance') comes again, when he wins, or his main comes, when he loses. This was a very common use of to

9)

called

1

throws;

if

1

main, 15th to 19th century; it was extended to apply to a match at bowling, boxing, shooting, and to a main at cocks, cock-fight. A Welsh main (1770) starts with say, 16 pair of cocks; the 16 winners are matched, then the 8 winners, and so till one triumphs as in a tourna-

406

mamour ment

malapert

MON

tennis. Shakespeare uses main gaming sense, in HENRY vi, PART TWO and in HENRY iv, PART ONE: Were

at

SENSE (1776) said of America: her dependence on Britain she is

In the

the make-weight in the scale of British of 1793 politics. Anna Seward in a letter

good To

set the exact wealth of all OUT states All at one castf To set so rich a it

main

On

said: It is no custom of Shakespeare's to give us merely makeweight epithets. Hallam in hiS INTRODUCTION TO THE LITER-

the nice hazard of one doubtful

hour?

%

mainour.

Stolen

goods found

ATURE OF EUROPE (1839) derided an

on

the

when he is apprehended. From Old French maneuvre, hand work* Also manor, (especially with the

makeweight of a plot, to ckc out a fifth In the 19th century, an extra slice of

act.

manner, in

bread sometimes used to make up the of legal weight of a loaf. It was a moment LAMPTHE in LITTLE GERTY, deep pathos

the manner, in the act), meinor. Shakespeare puns, in HENRY rv PART TWO (1597):

O villain, thou stalest a cup of sack eighteen years ago, and were taken with the manner. The 161 1 version of the

when the LIGHTER'S DAUGHTER (1876) hungry child confesses she has eaten the ,

makeweight

BIBLE (NUMBERS) gives directions that include: // a man lie with her . . carnally

A

.

makeless.

(1)

benesf

.

of the water,

Without a husband. Shake-

the year 1000,

sceth

make as a noun meant

match, mate, equal; the make, the

Chaucer in THE COMPIAYNT OF

and

1 7th

1 3th

the

15th,

16th,

and 17th

sold,

to

being

make a pound. Hence, an

significant person or thing,

gap or the

like.

in

and sewe

it

forth.

Cp. apart

The

O.E.D. says

its

have been used to mean clumsy. However, Shakespeare in TWELFTH NIGHT (1 60 1) says

a

I must have &n ounce or two of this malapcrt blood from youf and Scott in THE

Ms COM-

continues this meaa-

used to

Thus Paine

they be al bron;

til

chtamps as the opposite of appert, espert (English expffrt), clever; hence it should

a

centuries, is

in oile,

French malapert, used by Eustache Bes-

A

small candle added to whatever

hem

meaning shows that it was understood as though from mal + apert, bold, hence improperly bold but that it is from Old

small quantity added to a certain weight; especially, in

make up

THE drawen

in

hem wd. Take hem up cast hem in a mortar;

ftorissh the disshes,

ready.

century, later in dialects.

THE MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES (Buckingham; 1563) wrote of a makdes pry nee in ryches and in myght makeweight.

Takts

malapert. Saucy, impudent; a presumptuous person. Bailey (1751) suggests that the word is from Latin mate, ill 4- partmf gotten, bred; or else from male -f apert,

MARS

(1574) says: gif every wyghte joy of his make! Hence (2) makeless, matchless,

without equal. So used from the

(1390)

:

like.

God

into the

given

recipe

grynde hem al to dousi, til thei be white as sny mylk. Chawf [heat] a litell rede there among in the gryndyng, wyne, do thereto salt, leshe it in dishes. Thanng take oynomSj and my nee hem $malle t an $

speare in SONNET 9 (1598) says The world will waile thee, like a makelesse wife.

From

dish,

FORME OF CURY

and there be no witness agaimt her, neither she be taken with the manner . The word was used from the 13th into the 1 7th century; Scott revived it in THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828). .

in-

cestuous passion brought forward
thief

manner

By

in-

fill

BETROTHED (1825) 407

malkin

male you are too malapert for a young

Ing:

male. sex,

In

addition

the

to

Old French mal, evil + engin, device. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) speaks of such malengin and fine forgery.

fecundating

male had other meanings.

(I)

An

Milton

apple, apple-tree. Also male-apple; Latin malum, apple. THE SONG OF SONGS (1400

and malengin was malheur.

Is

A poem

thus.

The male

nyng may prevayl wytt. Also, to

harm

.

.

.

the

That no kun-

Ay ens a

Misfortune. Direct from French -f

eur,

Latin

augurium, fortune, augury. Also maleheure, maluret mallure, etc. Used from

of Lydgate (1430)

so wryes,

to lose his life.

malheur, earlier maleur; mal, evil fortune; eur is shortened from

and 16th century phrases. The male wryes, the male wrings, something is wrong, the evil case

Protector

the

that

said

(1641)

Cromwell's brother through private malice

BIBLE) said: As the male is plentivouse of apples ... 50 is my derlyng among sones. (2) The human essence; so used in 15th

reads:

Evil machination; fraud; guile.

malengin.

maiden.

the

15th into

18th century,

as

in

CHAUCER'S DREAM (1500) 7 wofull wight worse than dead. full of malure,

wommans

:

Am

wring one on the males, to

one, trouble one.

maliclio.

malebolge, A pool of filth; in the 19th century used figuratively. Hence also

malism.

See miche.

The

doctrine that

life

on earth

essentially or predominantly evil, and so the world. Latin malum, evil. Hence is

malebolgian, very filthy. THE PALL MALL GAZETTE (16 October, 1883) spoke of This malebolgic pool of London's misery,

also malist,

one that holds

malistic.

The word

coinage,

used

is

a

this doctrine;

19th

century

Occasionally malebolgia; the middle e is pronounced; the word Is Italian, the name

pessimism, as in

Dante gave to the eighth circle In Hell, which contained ten concentric circular pits, of filth, burning pitch, etc. THE SCOTSMAN of 12 July, 1894, said: The

on JOWETT: Jowett's optimism verges on pessimism, or, let us say f his bonism verges on malism. Latin bonus, good; and may you have a good bonus!

channels that feed this devouring malebolge are the newspapers and the

malison.

tele-

We

The voice personified. From

is

,

in

called Wikkid-Tonge. Also

male boush.

Used by Cower (1390), Lydgate, Churchyard (159-4) and more. male journey.

Used

in the I5th century

for a severe defeat in battle.

jommeef

evil day.

Old French

stronger

than

Tollemache's book (1896)

curse.

The word

is

a shorten-

to speak. Cp. benison. The word was also a verb, as in A. King's translation (1588) of Canlsius' CATECHISM: To malesone any,

of evil; evil-speak-

LE ROMAN DE LA which It is the name of an allegorical person. French malebouche, evil mouth; at one point in the poem he

ing EOSE (1230)

as

ing of the more common malediction, from Latin malum, evil -f dicere, dictum,

graph offices. might add the radio, not to more than mention television. xnaJeboudh*

A

often

by giving thame to the devil, in wisching sicknes, deathe or any evill. Also

thame

malysun, malescun, malysoun, malicoun, mallison, and more. The CURSOR MUNDI (1300) said bluntly: His malison malisun,

on tkam he laid; Klngsley in HEREWARD THE WAKE (1865) did little more: Farewell, and my malison abide with theel malkin.

4m

See merkin.

mallecho

mancation See miche.

mallecho.

POLYCHRONICON;

(Higden,

malmeny. A very popular dish of the 14th and 15th centuries. The name de-

many forms, including mawmawmenef mameny* momene, menny, A number of recipes survive, some with wine, so that the name may be related to malmsey, q.v. Here is one from THE FORME OF CURY (1S90) For to make mawmenny; Take the chese, and of ftess of capons or of henries^ and hakke smale. Take mylk

Thanne

1387)

wrote:

as the grete flye folwcth the tras

mahchavc, so after other the pestilence of the Ismaelites.

of the

wo com

veloped

:

of almandes, with the broth of freish beef, other freish ftessh, and put the flessh in

the mylke, other in the broth f hem to the fyre, and alye hem

and

set

up with

[to

and with yolkes of ayren an safron for to make it yellow. And when it is dresst in dishes with blank desire, styr above domes de gilofre, and strew powdor of goiyngalc above, and serve it forth,

A

malmsey.

sweet

strong

wine.

Also

malvoisie; both forms are corruptions of Monemvasia, the place in Greece where

the Malmsey grapes were first pressed, Malmsey is now also made in Spain, Madeira, and the Canary isles. A pleasant

malvesin,

See malheur.

mammet.

See maumet.

mammock. ments or

To

break or tear into frags

shreds. Also, a scrap or shred.

Shakespeare has,, in GORIOLANUS (1607): Hee did so set Ms teeth, and tcare it. Oh,

how he mammockt

it. Milton ENGLAND (1641) declared: The obscene and surfeted priest scruples not to paw and mammock the

I warrant

OF REFORMATION

IN

mcrament&ll bread as familiarly as

Ms

tavern biscuit.

man.

See agate.

Small or supplementary items, odds and ends; especially as added bits to eat Used in the 19th century. From It,

Hiaitavtins.

to pilfer to man&rvd (accent on the ar) small stores; sailor slang. Also malhavelinsf manablins, manarolins^ mennvelings, ,

manavalins. He'd a stool and table loo,

R. Boldrewood in ROBBERY UNBER ARMS (1889), this Robinson Crusoe cove. No end of manavalins either. said

drink since the 14th century. Also mammessy, mamulsye, mawlmsey; malmsia, mavasie,

malure.

in

floer of rysr or gaftbon^ or amydon, as chargeant as the blank desire taste],

See malmsey.

malvoisie.

mamesyn, mawissie?

A

ine paid to an overlord, in

and more.

manbote.

malominous.

the feudal system, for the loss of a man. Used from the 10th to the 13th century;

1

Of

evil

omen. Used In the

7th century, as in a translation (1658) of

Cyrano de Bergerac's SATYRICAL CHARACTERS: I saw it en compass t by a million of male-ominous creatures. malshave.

A

caterpillar.

Used from the

4th century; also malshrag; surviving in some 19th century dialects: of Wight, mallishag; Hampshire, 10th to the

1

after that, historically. See bote.

Mutilation; maiming. An 8th century term; Latin iwantare, manto malm; mancus, one-handed, c@tu$*

mancation. 1

maimed. The root is man-, mm-, meaning whence also membrane; member; less, mean. Latin manuf, hand, whence man-

Me

ual,

maleshag; Gloucester, moleshag. Trevisa

(note manuduce, to direct, point the way;

409

manuscript?

mmnure?

manufacture

man diet

mandragora

manuducent, guiding; manumise, manumits} manumit, to excuse or release from an obligation, to free; manumissable,

was ther of a temple Of which achatours myghte take example For to be wise in

of

hand;

THE ENGLISH ROGUE ering

see

for

The

best

kind

Used from the 15th also

manchette, mengyd, mange d, and more. century;

the

to

18th

mayngote,

The

might be related to main, hand or main, chief. There was a 19th century manchette, a trimming on the bottom of the sleeve of a woman's dress, a cuff; diminutive of

manche, used in both English and French sleeve, from Latin manus, hand. Also, a bread in Rouen, France, called manchette from its shape. Manchet, howfor a

ever, refers to the quality; also, to a loaf

we

Of bread mads

of wheat have sundry sortes, said Harrison, in

England (in Holinshed's CHRONICLES; 1577} wherof the first and most excellent is the manche tf which we commonly e

Latin mantellum, cloak; mantelum, towel, napkin, mistaken as a diminutive of the later

mantum from which also have come

mantilla, mantle, and mantua (an alteration of French manteau by connection

with the

city of

Mantua), manteau, manto,

mantlet, mantelet, all meaning various types of cloak or gown. Also manteel

and, possibly by error from this, mantevil, mandevil, with the same meaning as mandilion.

mandola.

A large sort of mandolin.

Also

inandora, mandore. Cp. bandore.

mandoin.

The world

of man. Created by

Elizabeth Barrett Browning in A DRAMA OF EXILE (1844): Without this rule of

,

call

loose coat, later sleeveless.

mandill, a loose overcoat, sometimes worn by knights over their armor. The word is ultimately from Arabic mandil, a sash, a turban-cloth which in turn may be from

origin is obscure; French paindemaine had the same meaning; hence the English word

of that quality.

A

In the 16th century (mandilyon, mandillian) worn by servants and soldiers. Also

wheaten

of

up

mandilion.

measurement: a handful; the height of

bread.

In

spoke of gathgeese, hens, pigs, or any such (1680)

mandible thing we met with.

a horse.

manchet.

Head

See manducate. R.

mandible.

manuduction.) manus is from the root ma-, man-, to measure, whence also administer, month, moon. The hand was often used as a base

strength

vitaille.

byynge of

manumotor, a vehicle propelled by mechanism worked by hand; manuporter, one that carries by capable of being freed;

mandom, ye would

white bread, in Latin primarius pants.

perish

beast by beast

Devouring.

An officer In charge of purdiasing provisions, as at a monastery or college. Latin mancipium meant a bond-

manciple.

slave,

which sense also came to English

manciple; Latin manus,

hand

4-

capere

(dpi, cepi), captum, to take; whence a host of words: concept, inception, captor, captive, emancipation,, etc Chaucer, In the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES

(1S86) praises

Ms man: A

gentil

maundple

mandorla. decorative

mond.

Any almond-shaped space.

Italian

object, or

mandorla,

al-

A

19th century term; C. C. Perkins in ITALIAN SCULPTURE (1883) mentioned Christ seated within a mandorla.

mandragora. A plant used (especially in poetry) as a narcotic. Also mandragores, mandragon, mandrage, mondrake, mandrake. Shakespeare has Cleopatra cry:

410

manducate

mangonel

me

drink mandragora; more OTHELLO (1604) lago says: Not poppy, nor mandragora* Nor all the

upper part of the beak of birds. Hence also manducable, manducatory fit for eat-

drowsy syrups of the world Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou owedst yesterday. Sometimes the word

17th century to mean the act of chewing, has been used especially of the partaking

was used as a term of abuse, as in HENRY Thou horson mandrake. iv, PART TWO: The root of the mandragora was often forked, and vaguely resembled a man, hence legends grew around it. It was

ELIA (1821)

Give

to

notably, in

,

f

ing.

Manducation, though used since the

of the Eucharist, as by

prescribed

The

:

these

Lamb

in ESSAYS OF

received ritual having forms to the solitary

GENESIS

ceremony of manducation. The manger from which horses and cattle eat (and which was bed for the new-born Jesus) is via French from Latin manducare. From the Jesus story, manger has also been used to mean a crib; and to stand symbolically

One And

for the Nativity: the blissful mystery of the Manger and the Cross, Manger also,

MacchiaveUi made an amusing play on . A mandrake root theme shaped

from the 14th to the 17th century (as in Chapman's EASTWARD HO; 1605) meant a banquet Hence also the rare (15th century, ROWLAND AND OLIVER) gramaung7 9

supposed to produce fecundity in women; it

was by virtue of Rachel's desire for

Leah's son's mandrakes

(BIBLE,

30) that Jacob's fifth son was born. name of Venus was Mandragoritis. this

.

like a

.

human hand was

a charm;

it

greatly valued as

was called hand of glory,

translating French, main de gloire, a hopeful transformation of mandragoire? man-

dragora ...

To

pluck a mandrake root

the accepted method was to which tie a dog to it and chase the dog then died instead of the master. As it was

was

fatal;

a great meal.

manger, man-ess.

mandragora

mandrake apple, the fruit of the mandragora; mandrake wine. Burton in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621) says: A friend's counsel is a charmf like mandrake wine. The effect depends upon the dose: a little is an aphrodisiac; more makes one unduly vain; still more makes one an idiot; another sip makes one a earth. Also

now

the 16th

called blanc

14th

and 15th

centuries)

a ceremonial feast; a festivity; luxurious gourmandizing. Not by the dog in the

screamed:

the

Is

mange. Thus mangery (mawng&ry, m&ynerjy mangrie;

Shakespeare in ROMEO AND JULIET tells of Shrieks like mandrakes* torn out of the

uprooted,

Manger bl&nc was

century term for what

A 16th and 17th century feminine of man. As in the Bible (1594) The man mid, This m@wg is bone of my bonesf :

and

flesh of

my

ft$h: $he shall be called

mannes, or mannish, because she taken out of man. It was such a school of etymology that says woman was formed because she brought woe to man. Yet some things feminine may still be called mannish.

corpse.

See manduc&te.

manducate. manducare,

To

chew, to eat. Late Latin Latin mandere, to chew,

whence English rmndible, capable of being eaten, and the mandible, still current for the lower jaw of fishes, the upper jaw of insects, and either the lower or the

mangoneL for

casting

A

medieYa! engine of war* stones.

Greek

[whence also mangle* machine for pressing clothes after washing.

was a wooden chest

The

earliest

filled

mangle

with stones.

manred

mangonize which by straps round a

roller

was worked

to exercise the pressure of the weight on the cloth spread over a table underneath.]

revived

writers

Historical

the

word:

Southey in JOAN OF ARC, 1795; Scott in IVANHOE (1819) You may win the wall :

bow and mangonel.

in spite both of

To

mangonlze. for

to

also,

sale;

dress

up

man go f mangonem,

Latin

a furbisher; a monger,

a siavedealer; from the root mac-, mag-, big; to magnify. Its

The

English

monger and

compounds stem from mango. Hence

mangony, mangonism, the

art,

(1625) said: There are a set of gamesters within, in travell [travail] of a thing call'd a play . and they have intreated me to .

.

be their man-midwtfe, the Prologue.

man -milliner. Used

(inferior wares)

deal in slaves.

speaks of that old doting man-midwife Time. Jonson in THE STAPLE OF NEWS

craft,

or

1

8th century, to

fond of

trivial

Hence,

figuratively,

man-millinery,

trivially

in or

occupations or adornments. apparel

on which attention

tivity)

from the

mean one engaged

or beyond

its

(or

ac-

lavished

is

desert. Hazlitt in

POLITICAL ESSAYS (1814) said: The 'Morn-ing Herald' sheds tears of joy over the

practice of furbishing things for sale; also (17th and 18th centuries), the treatment

fashionable virtues of the rising genera-

and

better lacqueys, courtiers than ever. Scott in a letter of 22

of plants so as to produce changes

new

A mangonist, one that wares for sale. Used by the up

varieties,

dresses

17th century dramatists

(Marston; Jon-

herb, a variety of night-

supposed to induce from Greek mania, madness; mainesth&i, to be insane. Thus Butler In HUBIBRAS (1678) Bewitch her* metick-mem to run Stark staring mad with manicon. (cp.

madness.

dwale)

mankind.

As an

woman)

mankeen,

is

adjective.

Human;

virago-like,

Infuriated, fierce,

fierce.

male; Also

mad. Wright

mankeen as marriagea man. Udal! in RALPH

(1869) also defines able, eager for

ROYSTEE

DOYSTER

(1553)

cries:

Come

away! By the matte, she is mankine. I adventure the losse of my right

dyd not dee Mr other husbande. Shakespeare In THE WINTER'S TALE

handff, If shee

(161!) witch!

1819,

August, as

much

manner.

,

The name

:

a

finds that

we

shall

make

better

better

man-milliners,

remarked that there goes

to the

manmillinery of a young

an heiress

on her bridal day.

An

(of

and

officer of hussars as to that of

son).

shade

tion.,

equally roused: Out! A mankind Hence with herf out o* doors.

See mainour.

Plague, pestilence. Herbert Coleridge in his DICTIONARY OF THE OLDEST WORDS (1863) lists It, in Robert of

manqualm.

Gloucester's CHRONICLE (13th century), as meaning slaughter of men: so great man-

qualm

that

buried

lay.

monimon [many men]

al un-

Murderer; executioner. Also manquelle. As a verb, manquell, to murder. Also manquelling, manslaughter, homicide. the Shakespeare plays on manqueller.

softened Idea of to quell, to subdue, in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) Thou art a konyseed, a manqueller, and a -woman:

queller.

Is

rnanred. those

man-midwife.

In the

1

7th century used

figuratively. Suckling In

AGLAUKA (IBS)

supply of the

men

Homage. Hence,

(I)

whom

a lord

men

may

call to

to fight. (2)

The

vassals,

arms; a leader of

called to fight; also, the control

manse

mantlet

or government of the armed forces. (3) Carnal intercourse. This sense occurs only in Layamon's BRUT (1205): He wolde monradene habben with than maidene. Also

manratten, manradc, manryd, manredyn, and more. The Scotch (15th to 18th century) used the form manrent; bond (band) of manrent, a pledge to be friend to all the other's friends, and foe to all his foes.

Thus

the Earl of Somerville, in the family To be oblddged and MEMOIRS (1679) :

bound

mandred

in

another in

manse.

.

.

.

to

be with one

all actiones.

shortened form of amanse, q.v. Also mance, mouse. Used into the 1 5th century. Langland in PIERS PLOWMAN (1377), wrote: And now worth this Mede ymaried all to a mansed schrewe. Hence

mansing, cursing; a curse. Manse is also a shortened form of mansion, as in Hawthorne's tales and sketches (1846), Mosses

From an Old Manse. Gentleness, meekness. Also

mansuete, gentle, tame; mansuefy, to tame (in 17th century dictionaries); thus mansuefactiori; taming.

The many ways

of seeking to plumb the future have given rise to a host of words ending the adjective, with mantic; the

noun, with mancy. For some of

Latin mansuesceret to

tame; manus, hand + suescere, to grow accustomed; see consuetude. Chaucer In . TROYLUS AND CRiSEYDE (1374) says: she stod forth mewet, mylde and mansuete; in THE PARSON'S TALE: The remedy e agayns ire is a vertu that men clepen mansuetudey that is debonairetee. .

.

manticore.

mantic. ecy.

Used

See mandilion.

Relating to divination or prophalso, but rarely, as a noun, the

A

'kind of serpent/ described in various ways; the O.E.D/S favorite picture gives it the body of a lioni the head of a

is

man, the tail

(sting)

from

quills of a porcupine,

of a scorpion.

and

The word

mantichoras f but the

Aristotle's

better manuscripts have martichorasf probably 'man-eater' in Old Persian, from

man -f the root xar, to eat. Other and descriptions include manti-

martiya,

forms

(with double rows of teeth in its mouth), mon scoref mantisscra, mar ti cora,

chora

(of a red color, a man's head lancing out sharp prickles from behind*). The creature flourished in writings from the 13th to

17th century; but Kingsley's WATER mentions unicorns, fire(1863) drakes, manticoras. Two of the forms of the the

BABIES

word became quite

distinct: (1)

mantegar.

Arbuthnot in 1714 (MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS) spoke of the glaring cat-a-mountain

.

.

.

and the man-mimicking manteger. The word came to be used of a kind of baboon. be a changeling (2) mantiger. This might the form (lycanthrope) that can assume of a tiger; it was also used (1 7th to 1 9th century)

manteviL

these, see

aeromancy.

the

A

mansuetude.

ticularly the praying mantis, which in characteristic pose has its forelegs crossed so as to suggest hands folded in prayer,

of a

man

as fierce as a tiger;

Tylor in PRIMITIVE CULTURE (1 871): The Lavas of Birmaf supposed to be the broken-down remains of a cultured race, and dreaded as man tigers. Skelton cursf

Greek mantisf prophet, diviner; the root is man, as in mania here referring to *the divine madness/ inart of divination,

spiration.

Hence

also mantical, manticism,

A

the practice of divination. type of locust is called the mantis* diviner, par-

ing (1529) the killer of Philip Sparrow, his little friend's bird, prayed that the

manticon in the mountaynes Myghte fede them on thy brayne*!

mmdet.

See mandifwn.

marigold

manubiary manubiary. Relating to the spoils of war. Latin manubiae; manus, hand. Also manubial A manubiary column was a column

wide-wasting pestilence, Dropsies, asthmas, and joint-racking rheums. than a marantic rantingl

tree,

manubrium, a handle,

haft; manubrial; manubriated, with a handle. Other words formed from Latin manus, in addition to

Bailey

to

wither or fade.

marcessibility, marces(applied to a plant,

withering but not falling off) was more common. Latin marcescere, to fade, the inceptive of wither. Use

marcere,

to be faint, droop,

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER made the negative immarcescible (usually erroneously changed to immarces-

sur-

viving in manuscript; manustupration, a

19th century form based on an etymological idea of masturbation; manutergium, I.e.,

(1751)

lists

and

More

sibleness; marcescent

manuduct, manuduce, to lead by hand, to guide, manuduction, manuductory; manumotor, an engine or device worked by

a hand-wiper,

Liable

marcescible.

manure, originally work by hand, and to the large, still current group around manufacture, to make by hand, include

hand; manuscribe, to write by hand,

Demoniac phrenzy,

pangs,

melancholy And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy, Marasmus, and

on which trophies war were hung. Hence

branched like a and the spoils o

colic

ulcer,

moping

sible)

eral

the

more common still; there are sevand 17th century references

16th

(1542, 1548)

a towel.

in

of glory

crowne was subIn 1640

to the immarcessible

(in 1543 uncorruptible

matmduction. Guidance, direction; means

stituted; In 1662, never-fading)

of guidance; a guide. Also manuduce,

manuduct, to guide; manuducent, manuductive, guiding, leading by the hand; manu-

we find it more strongly: Palms of victory and immarcessible ghirlands of glory and triumph to all eternity. Hence immarces-

ductor, a guide, director, orchestra conductor; manuductory. Latin manu, by the

cibleness, immarcessibleness, imperishableness.

hand

-f

ducere, ductum, to lead. These

forms were used mainly In the 17th cen-

H. L'Estrange In GOD'S SABBATH Adam and the succeeding were manuducted and an unerring spirit Sir Edward guided by In A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES IN Bering MATTERS OF RELIGION (1642) shook Ms head wander to think that young students want manuduction. of for Today It Is often for want of heeding It. tury.

(1641) said that Patriarchs . .

.

.

otarantic.

.

.

Relating to or characterized by

wasting away. Greek marantikos, from m&r&incin, to wither, mara$m&$, wasting away. Hence also marasmus; marasme, a wasting away; mamsmic, marasmous. Milton has a sonorous Homeric catalogue in PAJLAIHSE LOST ff,

.

Convulsions, epifierce catarrhs* Intestine stone (1663)

:

Weak; exhausted; withered, deAlso marcidiousi marcidity. Latin cayed. martidus, withered; marcere, to wither;

inarcid.

cp. marcescible.

tion

(1822)

T. Taylor in his

transla-

of Apulelus, wrote: She

dis-

missed her marcid eyes to sleep. marigold. A plant, with bright yellow flowers. Also marrygold; marygolde. It was used in medicine (with herbs and

thyme,

It

might be made into an unguent

that enables a mortal to see the fairies). Its flowers were made into a conserve,

and used

for flavoring soup or giving a brighter color to cheese. The flower opens when the sun shines, and turns to follow

the sun;

hence

it

was called in Latin

$ole$equium (sun-follower) and through the countryside husbandman's dyalL Lyte

414

mannorama In

marrow

translation

his

NIEWE HERBALL

(1578)

said:

The

of

Dodoens*

conserve that

made

of the floures of marygoldes the trembling of the heart. Thomas Overbury in A WIFE NOW is

cureth

.

.

.

Sir

THE

WIDDOW OF His

SIR T. OVERBURY (1613) said: wit, like the marigold, openeth with

the sun.

marinism,

is

comparable

to

Spanish gongorism and English euphuism. In the 18th century, horse-marine was used for a seahorse; in the

1

9th,

it

was

used humorously (Scott, 1824, in ST. RONAN'S WELL; O. W. Holmes, 1860) for an

imaginary company of mounted marines men out of their element, unfit for

hence,

their work, fish out of water.

A

wide seascape; a panorama of the sea. Various words have been used in English, roundabout from Latin marinorama.

mare,

labeled

sea.

In science,

maricolous,

sea-

dwelling; marigenous, produced by or in the sea both with accent on the second syllable. To marill was a 17th century term for to pickle in brine marilled trout also to marinade, marionate; now, to marinate. A marina (19th century; Washington Irving used marino) is a boardwalk

William H.

Lingard used the term in nonsense lyrics: I'm Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, / feed my horse on pork and beansf And often live beyond my means: Vm a Cap-

Army. Brought from London York in 1868, this song was a

tain in the to

New

sensational success; in 1901 Clyde Fitch wrote a play Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, which gave Ethel Barrymore her ?

first

star role. Note*

1870's

and

however, that in the were cavalry-

SO's there actually

or other promenade along the seashore.

men,

horse-marines,, used in British mari-

marinage (16th century) mannary

time

or

,

(17th),

seacoast

action.

They

are,

of

seamanship, marinal

(17th century), relating to the sea; nautical; salty from the 14th to the 17th century, marinalf a

the regular troops of the Swiss Navy. Also, along canals in pre-motor days, the boy leading the horse that towed

mariner; whence also marinaller, maryneller, a sailor. A marine was earlier (17th

the barge was humorously called a horsemarine. Tell that to the marines!

century) a marine soldier; as a noun the 17th centuries) to (1 4th

marine.

word was used

course,

See marinorama.

mean

the country along the coast; also (16th and 1 7th centuries) a sailor; then it became restricted to its current use of

a soldier stationed on a ship, Tell that to the marines the sailors won't "believe it! occurs in Scotfs RETCAUNTLET (1824), but Byron the year before referred to it as

"an old saying", manned is still used in heraldry for an animal the lower part of whose body is like a fish, as mermaids

and

certain monsters.

[Drama critic John Chapman has one of the rare mounted specimens of a furred trout,] Note that a marinist Italian

1625)

is

a dimple or imitator of the

Giovanni Battista Marini (1569whose elaborate literary style,

A companion, partner, mate (husband or wife); one's equal, one's match in a contest; one of a pair, as glove, shoe, pistol; Colvil in THE WHIGS SUPPLICATION

marrow.

Some h@4 bows but Some h&d pistols without mafrm&$*

(1681) wrote;

arrows;

(This example is given in the O.EJX, but possibly marrows is here used in the current sense of the pith and essence of a thing: i.e. ammunition, as the bows lacked arrows,) Marrow, mate, wa$ used still

s

from the 15th century. Tkff tonne, Leslie's

Dalrymple, translating HISTORY OF SCOTLAND,

(1596)

plcisand a place, that

hex nn marrow.

415

it

standes

in

m

masqmn

Mars

The Roman god

Mars.

of war

Earlier Mavors; hence

(Greek

a chain of imitation gold, martin dry, a

6th and

pear that ripens about Martinmas. St. Martin's evil, inebriety. St. Martin's rings,

Ares) 17th centuries) mavortial, mavortian, war.

a mavortian, a warrior.

like;

(1

Hence Mars,

-stuffy

counterfeit.

imitation,

-ware,

St.

war; a great warrior. Also, the fourth planet from the sun, between the Earth

Martin's summer, what in

and Jupiter. Cp. Diana. Red is the color of martial ceremony or deed. The field

ring about Martinmas) ; Shakespeare uses this figuratively in HENRY vi, PART ONE:

the

This night the siege assuredly lie rayse: Expect St. Martins summer, halcyons

(camp)

Mars,

of

Rome. The

hill of

States

Martius,

Campus

Mars, the Areopagus,

is

called Indian

Athens.

dayes.

A hammer. Also martews, (1) marteaulx, marteaux. AJter the 15th century, the word was used especially of a

martinet.

martel.

was to

grandfather of Charlemagne was Charles (the Hammer; 689P-741). (2) marcalls

martre;

An

tin,

A

Martinmas (mainly Scotch). Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) uses martel as a verb: Her dread-full weapon Which on his helmet martelled so tilman,

.

.

.

hard

.

.

nmrtileys,

.

Hence a

martelaise, marteleise,

fighting

with hammers;

a

(1)

A

fool,

a dupe. So used in

6th and 17th centuries, perhaps from the bird (the bird martin, of the swallow

the

summon

(and to dismiss) assemblies

witches.

engine, for hurling large stones. (4) system of military drill, devised by General Martinet, of the army of the French King Louis XIV. Hence, the current sense,

a

strict

disciplinarian,

a stickler

for form.

martingale.

To

bet 'double or nothing';

continue doubling one's stake after losing, in the hope of eventual recovery, to

if

one's funds can endure the strain.

A

19th century gambling term.

sound hammering. martin.

for the bird,

A

(Rabelais

Ronsard, martes) , 'fiveold form of marten, mar(3) the animal. (4) short form of Marit

stones/

name

Noted by Jonson in THE OF QUEENS (1609). (3) A military MASQUE of

Martd

game

early

(as occur-

martin, q.v., being its diminutive form. (2) The demon whose function it

hammer used as a weapon in war. Thus martd~de~fery iron hammer. The

a medieval French

An

summer

United

the

large

tels,

(1)

the

maship. used in

A shortened form of mastership; salutation

and

direct

address.

1

and the animal, martin, marten, Fletcher in THE ISLAND ;

family,

marten, survive) PRINCESS

(1621)

meere martins.

name

given

remarked:

We

are

Also mashippe. THE DEFENCE OF CONNYCATCHING (1592) inquires: Is not this

coosenage

and

conny catching,

Maister

R[obert] G[reene] and more daily practised in England, and more hurtful, then our poore shifting at cardes, and yet your f

all

A

(2) monkey. From the the monkey in the story of

REYNARD THE FOX. Also, martin-drunk; Nash in MERGE PENNILESSE (1592) lists various kinds of drunkard, including liondrunk; the sixt is martin dmnke, when a man u drunke and drinke$ himsdfe sober ere he stirre. (3) From St. Martin;

Martinmas, 11 November, martin chain,

mashippe can winke at the cause? Public he presses the point, are more to be attacked than private peccadills. Times have little changed. abuses,

A masquerade; a costume for masquerade. Also masken, masquine.

masqura. a

The form

416

is

possibly

a

corruption of

mastlgophoric

raaugre

masking. R. Franck in NORTHERN MEMOIRS .

collects

masquins,

translated

into

See aeromancy.

mathemancy.

. (1658) spoke of the Church of Rome where matins are metamorphosed into .

In or relating to the early morning; early. Accent on the ma I. Also matutine.

colla-

(accent on the tyoot) matutinarj and the occasional matutinal. Latin matuti-

tions.

still

mastigophoric. Carrying a scourge or whip. Also mastigophorous. Used for pedantic humor, in the 1 9th century, as by

nus; Matuta, goddess of

and maturity. Thackeray in

also maternal

Peacock in HEADLONG HALL (1816); Sydney Smith (WORKS; 1826) wondered what this medium boy can do while his masti-

his

PARIS

SKETCH-BOOK

(1839) pictured the matutinal dews twinkling on the grass. Dunbar in his POEMS (1500) looked at the

gophorous superior is frowning over him. The first form is accented on the for; the second, on the goff. They are from Greek mastix, masiig-, scourge, + phorosf

dawn; from the whence

root ma, to shape, produce, grow

Up

star:

morning

sprang

the

goldyn

candill matutyne.

whip, ahead of a procession or an im-

(1) 111 will, displeasure. Often in the phrase to can (con) maugre. Used from the 14th into the 16th century, Malory in the MORTE D" ARTHUR (1485)

portant person, to clear a way through a crowd. As a combination, -mastix appears at the end of special words, such as in-

has: J have heard moche of your maugre ageynst me. Also bongre maugre^ willynllly. From the phrase in (the) maugre

fantomastix, scourge of children, and in as Prynne's Histriomastix (1632; titles,

off despite the ill-will of, came the separate use of maugre as an adverb meaning in

Latin histrio, actor, whence histrionics) and Dekker's Satiromastix (1602, attack-

spite of, notwithstanding. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) bids; Tell what thou saw'st, maulgre whoso it heares. This

maugre.

bearing. In the 17th century, mastigophore was used of an usher that walked with a

ing Jonson). Useless or unprofitable discourse. Greek mataios, vain 4- logiaf dis-

mataeology.

Hence mataeologue, mataeologian,

course.

an empty

Also mataeological, vain, empty, mataeotechny, a profitless science. (All the forms may simplify the ae to e.) his

translation

(1653)

of

Rabelais spoke of the doting mateologians of old time.

A mowing; the crop that is mowed. Used from the I0th into the 17th century; Bishop Hall in HARD TEXTS (1683;

math.

AMOS) noted the reservation of the

first

Kings use (which mowing is wont to be sooner then the common thereof for the

pound

The word

aftermath.

survives in the com-

common from

the 12th cen-

tury, lasting into the 19th. Spenser also (in the same poem) uses the word to

mean

A

talker.

Urquhart in

mathe).

use was very

farewell

curse upon!: Yett, maulgre them, my sweetest sweet! The phrase

maugre Ms (my) head (cheek, teeth, eye$f meant In spite of all he (I) could do; Chaucer In THE OETHB OF BLAUNCHE (1569) has: Maugre myn heedf

heart* etc.)

I muste have tolde her or be deed. Motley IE Ms HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHEE-

LANDS

stated:

(1860)

He

Highness enjoy your blessed

see your estefe,

the beards of all confederated (2)

As a

show ill-will to; to opThus Webster, In AFPIDS ere of WhtKe (1609)

verb, to

pose, to defy.

AND

VIIUSINIA

marble, deeply

417

:

ftxt

To m&nger

all

meacock

maumet In Shake-

and impending stormes. Also speare's KING LEAR (V

maumet.

A false god;

a corruption

medieval

ill

131).

an

This word, (due to the

idol.

Mahomet

of

notion

Mohammed

that

worshipped as a god)

was

took

Chaucer in THE PARSON'S TALE (1386): florin in his coffer is his

Every (2)

An

Image of Christ or the

mawmet, saints.

So

applied by Protestants, especially In the An image; 1 6th and 17th centuries. (3) a doll, puppet; a person of grotesque appearance; thus Shakespeare In HENRY

PART ONE (1596)

this is

:

iv,

no world To play

(4) A person who Is the 'puppet or tool o another; then, a general term of contempt, as in Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET: A wretched puling

with mammets. 1

A

Hence, whining mammet . maumeter, an Idolater; maumetraus, Idol-

foole,

atrous;

.

a

maumetrjj

Idolatry*

xnaund*

A

heathenism,

(1)

times

early

(7th

A common word from century);

also

mondf

m&nd, mawnd, moame, maun, mawn, mound. Shakespeare in A LOVER'S COMPLAINT

from

a

(1597)

says:

A

thousand favors

maund she drew Of amber,

and of beaded jet

(2)

A

crystal^

basketful;

a

measure of capacity (varying with place and commodity) : 8 bales of unbound books; a gallon of small fish, etc Also in India and Western Asia, a maund (a different word, from Hindi man) was 100

pounds troy weight. the verb to

m&undt

(3)

Begging; from

to beg. In the 18th

century* various begging Impostures were described: footman's m@nndf a sore (made with,

meant

unpacked lime, soap, and iron

rust)

,

to grumble, complain, mutter;

(1)

Swift In his JOURNAL TO STELLA (28 April, 1711) : I hate to buy for her; I am sure she will

maunder.

Idle fashion,

(2)

To move

in a dreamy,

maunder

walk in a dreamy

along; to talk or fashion (as from dotage

or imbecility) ; this sense may have been Influenced by meander. Also maunderer, a grumbler; a beggar; similarly maunder-

maunding. Carlyle in SARTOR RESARTUS (1831) objects to folks' mumbling and maundering the merest commoning,

places.

See Mars.

mavortian.

mawmenny. mawmet.

inally,

See malmeny.

See maumet.

A

mazard.

wicker or other woven

basket, with handle.

(noun)

beg;

fall from maunder (verb), to a beggar. Maunder also

Also

scaffold.

.

idolatrous beliefs; Idols collectively.

though bitten

broken arm as by a

a

f

through various shades of meaning: (1) anything one worships as a god; thus

as

mason's maund, pretense

the left arm; of

many forms, mawmet them mawmot, maummet, among mawment* mamet, mommet. It ranged ,

on the back of the hand,

or kicked by a horse; tum-maund, preand make-up of an imbecile; tense soldier's maund 3 pretense of a wound in

bowl, a drinking cup; orig-

one made of hard wood. Also,

mazzard; mazer. Old High German masar, an excrescence of hardwood; a large knob or knot) on a tree; later, a maple tree, a drinking cup of such wood. Both forms were used, by extension (from the shape) to

mean

OTHELLO

the head;

by Shakespeare in and In HAMLET (1602), Chapless, and knockt about

(II Hi)

of the skull:

the mazard with a sextons spade. Jonson one of his court masques (1620) said,

In

If I

had not been a

spirit,

I had been

mazarded.

mazomancy. also the

Greek mazos,

breast,

whence

amazon. See aeromancy.

A weakling; a coward; an effeminate man. Perhaps from French mi-

meacock.

418

mead

medlar

coq, half-rooster. Also maycocke, meicocke, mecock. Shakespeare has, in THE TAMING ; How tame, when are alone, a meacock the curstest shrew!

driform,

a winding or labyrinthine

of

shape; meandrom, meandry.

OF THE SHREW (1594)

men and women wretch can

mead.

make

A

fermented (alcoholic) mixture of honey and water. This is a very old Aryan word; Sanskrit medu, honey, sweet drink. Priscus in 448 AJX remarked that the Huns used medos Instead of wine.

Chaucer in THE MILLER'S TALE (H86) says sent her piment meeth and spyced ale. Addison in THE SPECTATOR (No. 383,

He

1712) remarked: if

A masque

.

.

.

asked

Mm

he would drink a bottle of mead with Milton uses the word (meathes) of

her.

a drink from a berry. Also see hydromel; metheglin, mulse. Mead, of course, is also short for

meadow.

Adulterous. Also michall; Greek moichos, adulterer. Used several times by

medial.

Heywood, as In THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (1608): That done, straight murder One of thy basest grooms, and lay you both Grasp'd arm in arm in thy adulterate bed,

Men

your mechall

call in witness of

sin.

Greek mekon, poppy. Sec

meconomancy.

aeromancy; cp. mecop.

The poppy. Flemish men, German mohn, poppy 4- hop, head. Note, raecop.

Greek mekan, poppy, whence meconium* opium. meconology f mcconologia, a treatise on opium, meconophagism (accent on the however,

several English terms,

off),

as

opium-eating; hence meconophagist,

De

Quincey.

Soft-spoken; applied to excessive delicacy of speech, prudery, or to hypocrisy, sycophancy; to one that does

medicaster.

not venture to speak his mind. Hence, mealy-mouthedness. The word Is usually related to meal, flour; but E. Edwards (in

(1602) declared that another medicastm, a ratling gossip . . commended a drench. Duffield In Ms

mealy-mouthed.

WORDS, FACTS, AND PHRASES, 1881) points out that Shakespeare uses honey-mouthed

and

suggests that mealy-mouthed

may have

come from Latin mel, English mell? honey. Bekker in THE GENTLE CRAFT (1600) says This wench with the mealy mouth, is my wife, I can tell you. The word mealy alone sometimes has the same meaning, as In (1697; Leslie, SNAKE IN THE GRASS) thy

An

incompetent physician;

The feminine Hering In his ANATOMY a quack.

is

medicastra. F.

.

version

Don

of

(1881)

Quixote

said:

A

queen may be leman to a medicaster. The ending aster Is used of an Incompetent or a pretender, as also In poetaster,

do not add

ter (cp. criticMn)

;

schoolmaster, or

disaster!

medlar.

medlar

The tree:

tree,

criticas-

forecaster?

or the fruit of the

brown apple,

like a small

more

with a large aip-shaped 'eye*; good only If eaten when decayed until It is soft and

BIAS:

word is given pulpy. By transference, the a sexual slgniicance, in several plays of

mealy modesty.

The term was

also used,

generally, to mean over-scrupulous, as in Malkin's translation (1809) of GIL

You

receiving a

meandrian. 16th

are not mealy-mouthed about commoner into your pedigree.

Winding. This

century

variation

is

a pleasant

of meandering,

MEASShakespeare. Lucio in MEASURE FOE

URE (1604) married

me

says:

to

They would dse the

ROMEO AND JULIET we

rotten

medlar.

In

Now will he And wish his

read;

from Meander* a liver in Phrygia noted sit und^r a medl&r^tr^c for its winding course. Hence also meanmistress were that kind of 419

fruit

As nmids

mell

meer call

when

medlars

they laugh alone.

Oh

observed:

f

oh that she were An open et cetera, thou a poperin pearl There is a pun here on medlar and meddler, one that would meddle with her. that she were,

Romeo,

What

'maids call medlars'

is

his

wife

No weddid man oweth to leve and children and meyne unadvice

governed

that

has

not lost

its

value in 600 years. God's meinie: (1) the angels, (2) the poor, as the Lord's es-

hidden in the

concern. As a multitude,

pecial

Barrie

phrase open et cetera, which is a euphemism for openarse, the old name of the

used the word in MARGARET OGILVY (1896):

medlar, from the shape of the disk between its calyx-lobes. Chaucer uses openers in the Prologue to THE REEVE'S TALE (1386); Killigrew in THE PARSON'S WEDDING

is

You

no common beef

get

at clubs; there

a manzy of different things up to be unlike themselves. mell.

To

(1)

all

sauced

speak, to say. Also mele;

rin;

maelenn, meile; melle, meddle, medle, and more. Old English maethel, discourse. Used from the 9th to the 15th century.

used to refer to the male organs. Further

associate,

pursuit of this would lay one open to what my father used to call a waylay-for-

mingle

(166$)

the figure: as useless as

employs

openarses gathered green. A poperin

(pop-

not in O.E.D.) pear is one from Poperinghe, a town in West Flanders, but here

meddlersf such

as

once almost cost

me

A

horse;

(2)

variant for

(I)

(with);

to

in

together, combine; hence, to have intercourse with; to to concern oneself This was a common 13th century, used by

combat;

to meddle.

word from the Gower (1390), Chaucer,

a

finger's end.

meer.

To mix

(2)

mare; female

Spenser (THE FAERIE QUEENE, 1590: With holy father sits not with such things to mell) Dying .

q.v.

Also

more;

(3)

mayor;

(4)

mere,

me ere.

meiBie.

A

body of

retainers,

suite, train.

family, household.

By

Hence: a

attendants; a retinue,

extension, a

company

of

persons employed together, an army, ship's crew, congregation, etc. Also, the men of thus in MERLIN (1450) we The pownes, and all the other meyne were golde and yvory freshly en~ tailled, From the 14th century, by con-

out in the 17th century, mell was revived

by Burns (1786) and Scott (IVANHOE, 1819; QUENTIN DURWARD, 1823: Draw in within the courtyard they are too many to mell with in the open field) , and was fairly (3)

from the noun mell

(1) a heavy used also in phrases: dead as a quite dead; to keep mell in shaft, to things going: Mrs. Carlyle wrote,

a chess set;

is

read:

mer

fusion with

used to

mean

the many, meinie was also a large number, a multitude;

(of persons), the common herd, the masses. This was a very common word

hence

from the 18th into the 17th century; it developed many forms, among them maynee, mgimgne* m&ine, meine, meyny, mency, mainy} menj. Via Old French

from Latin mansionem, house, household, whence also meyne, mesnie,

it

is

English mansion. Wyclif

(WORKS,

1380)

frequent through the 19th century. severely. This verbal meaning

To beat

hammell,

keep in a

6 October, 1831: Carlyle is reading today with a view to writing an article to keep mall in shaft. Mell, as a noun,

letter of

was used to mean: (2) honey Greek meli; whence many compounds, also

such as melHsonant, sweet-sounding; (3) a tail (of a horse; a rare 18th century use) ; (4) the last sheaf of corn in a season's harvest. This was usually cause for

or celebration; hence, mell-day r mell-supper; a mell-doll was an ear from gaiety

420

men timuta tion

melliloquent the

m ell-sheaf

dressed like a baby

girl,

on a pole by a woman, amid the romping reapers. carried

melliloquent.

Speaking

sweetly.

md, honey. More common were

Latin melli-

fluent, mellifluous, sweet as

honey (mainly but also literally sweetened with or as with honey. Shake-

of the voice or speech)

TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) A mellifluous voice, as I am true knight; Francis Meres in PALLADIS TAMIA (1598) and hony-tongued hailed mellifluous See mesnalty.

raendaciloquence. telling

of

lies.

The

gracious

word

LONDON CLUBS in 1710 refers to a witty and famous gentleman in the art of mendatiloquence. Hence mendacity. Cp. mendicity.

The

condition of a beggar; the practice of begging. Latin mendicus; mendicare, to beg. [Mendacity, the quality of being mendacious; the practice of

from Latin mendacemf prone to mendax from the form mentnax; mentiri, to lie. Cp. mendadloquence*] Other forms for begging are menlying,

Ms

translation

(1608)

of

Du

Bartas,

Their country-gods with the true God they ming. Hence menged* mixed, confused; mengingy a mixture; disturbance has:

(of

mind). See mesnalty.

Humanity; courtesy; reverence;

honor; an honor; an ornament.

A

com-

mon word

from the 13th into the 16th from Old Norse menmka* hucentury, related to English man. As a verb manity,

mensk meant

to reverence; to dignify; to

adorn. Hence menskful, honorable, stately, gracious; mensklessf ungracious; mensking (14th century), honor, courtesy. The Scotch form of the word* still In use In the

19th century, was mense; Scott in ROB ROY (1818) says:

We

hae mense and discretion? of our mouths.

and are moderate

is

lying, false;

dicanting (1 7th century); mendication (17th into the 1 9th century, mainly of begging religious orders); and the earlier (15th century)

mendience. Through the 15th

century a beggar, mendicant, was called a mendivaunL

mene. Fellowship, friendly intercourse. Old English gemaene. Used in the 13th century. Also mene was a variant form of (1)

In

men&k.

Ease and fluency in

mendaciloquent occurs only in 17th and 18 century dictionaries, but a HISTORY OF

mendicity.

many forms, among them myng^ mengde, mengid, menkit, meynt, imengdf imenget, ymcint. Cower, in CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1390) says: Warm milk she put also thereto With honey meynd. Sylvester

menial ty.

Shakespeare.

the

t

had

;

speare has, in

menalty.

also Old English ge-mang modern among. Meng, in its various tenses*

whence

men,

(2)

meanf

(3)

meinief

q.v.

meng. This Is an early form of mingle, used from the 8th into the 17th century. It is from a common Old Teuton root,

Relating to the chin. See menmentonierre was a piece of armour, attached either to the helmet or to the breastplate, to protect the neck and

mental. tulate.

chin.

may

A

A

thinker prizefighter as well as a receive a mental shock.

Relating to thought-transference, telepathic. Suggested about 1880, f as a label for the *ether throu^bt which 'thought-waves* were supposed to travel. mentiferoiis.

A

word

for the ESP-men.

Change of mind. Latin mind -f muter*,

mentimntation* rnens* mentis,

to change; frequentative of *, moturn, to move, whence motion* motive.

Used in

the

17th century;

the

mere

mentulate "B," of DISCOLLIMINIUM (1650) claimed: / shall be allowed the full benefit of all the mentiextrications .

.

.

.

illaqueations,

mutations, rementimutations

.

,

.

.

that I

can devise.

Largely equipped with the outward manifestation of masculine po-

mentulate.

Also mentulated; Latin mentula, to project. Latin penis, from the root men, one menturn, chin; meaning of the English word mental is, relating to the chin. tency.

The ending

ul

is

planet nearest the sun. Cp. Diana. And used as an emblem of liveliness, wittiness, or inconstancy; wit. Congreve in THE OLD BACHELOR (1693) said he was as able as yourself and as nimble too, though I mayn't have so much mercury in my limbs

(probably with reference also to the

ment mercury,

(1797) said: He had too much mercury and too little ill-nature to continue a periodical war.

a diminutive; mentula,

little projection. The relation of this to the mental processes has never, despite

merd.

Freud, been fully analyzed.

merdaiile.

dealer

in

dealer in textile fabrics; a

small

merchandise.

Latin

wares.

Common

mercem,

from the 12th cen-

mercership (rare), mercery, the business or wares or shop of a mercer. The Mercery, the Mercer's Company (in tury. Also

London process

since

the

14th

century).

The

preparing cotton goods for

of

dyeing, to mercerize* is named from the discoverer of the process (1844), John Mercer. The original word survives also in

Mercer

Street, just west of

Broadway

New York.

in the business section of

mercury.

See merdaille.

The rabble. Used The ending means

century.

A

The Roman god

group;

meant

mes) of traders and thieves, of eloquence feats of skill; presider over roads;

ordure. Burton in

THE ANATOMY OF MEL-

ANCHOLY

(1621) said that to dispute of . to . discusse gentry without wealth, is the originall of a mard. Cleveland in THE .

RAMPANT

(1658) wrote: This merthrong before the

daille, these stinkards,

mere.

Pictured as a young man with winged sandals and hat, holding the caduceus.

a marsh or fen. Old Saxon

a signpost; also, a news-

go-between,

especially,

stances (Shakespeare,

in

amatory

In-

THE MERRY WIVES OF

WINDSOR* II ii). Also a nimble live-by-Msa dexterous thief (Jonson, EVER*

wits;

MAM our OF

HIS

HUMOUR,

I

ii;

1599).

The

rabble,

forms merd, merde, mard. Hence merdiferous, carrying or farming dung; merdivorous, feeding on dung; merdous, merdose, full of or covered with dung or

guide of the dead to their new abode; messenger of the gods, and mischiefmaker.

a messenger, a bearer of news (Shakespeare, RICHARD ra, II i; 1594); a

a heap, a the

a pack of dogs (Latin Latin merda, excrements, canis, dog). dung (French merde) was used in English from the 15th to the 18th century in the

gates.

paper;

in the 14th

literally

RUSTICK

(Greek Her-

canaille,

similarly

and

Hence mercury,

ele-

after

Walpole in GEORGE n

the volatile god).

a

inercer.

quicksilver,

named

(1)

This form embraces several words.

The

sea; in poetry, a lake; in dialect,

men,

sea, pool;

A

boundary; a landmark. Related to Latin murus, wall. Also used figuratively, as by Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): So huge a mind could not Latin mare.

(2)

ne in small meares contain A short form of meror mermaid. As: an adjective: (a)

in lesser rest,

his glory great. (B)

m&n

from Old English maere, came mere, famous, illustrious, noble, (b) mere, from

422

rnerkin

merel

A surveyor; specifically, a man appointed to determine the boundaries

Latin merus, undiluted, pure, has had a not mixed with long development: (wine) the in water; pure (as phrase mere Irish, common in the 17th and 18th centuries,

meresman.

of a parish. See mere

distinction not disparageabsolute, entire, all that it hence, ment); is said and supposed to be (Shakespeare

and a term of

in OTHELLO, 1604, speaks of the mere perdition of the Turkish fleet). This sense lasted until 1800, but about 1600 the pres-

ent sense also came into use: no more than it is said to be, barely that and of little

A

counter or piece used in the game of merels. It

(15th to 17th century)

draughts or a also called marl, merprimitive checkers; morals, miracles, and more frerills, in his HISTTORIA quently morris, q.v. Hyde NERDILUDII (1694) mentioned three men's

was a game something

like

,

morals, nine men's morals, and nine penny miracle according to the number of

The name was pieces used in the game. also applied to various out-of-doors games, such as "fox and geese** and "hop scotch"; also to a place where the game was played, as in Shakespeare;

see quotation

under

merenda.

light

meal,

what

James

Mabbe, in his translation (1622) of Aleman's THE ROGUE called an "inter-mealary word. repast." A 1 7th and 18th century meresauce.

Brine

for

pickling.

From

mere (1); also mersaus, miresauce; Latin muria salsa, salt pickle; mare, the sea, whence marinated and the ones you "tell it to." See marinorama. Occasionally used in butchery, as recorded of the

man

that

the (Fabyan, hacked sayde servauntes of hu brother, and theym in small pecys, and cast them after

CHRONICLES;

meresa-mce.

1494):

Marinated

slews

herring

pickled in what the Hth I$th, 16th, 17th centuries called meremnce.

is

and

(2).

stone erected

From mere

A

porpoise;

From mere

as

a land-

(2).

a

sometimes,

Used from the

dolphin. (I). 8th century; Carlyle in a letter of 1822 says:

Waugh

fixed his eye

on an enormous

mereswine. Dr. Daniel Tuke, in his CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF THE INSANE IN

THE BRITISH

ISLES (1882) says that in earlier times a skin of mereswine was made into a whip to drive the devil out of a person

possessed.

meretriculate. lot.

To

deceive as does a har-

A

(MAY

rare word, in a play by Chapman DAY; 1611): I haw not been matricu-

lated tn the University, to be meretricul&ted by htm. Other forms were more fre-

Latin

quent:

meretrix,

harlot

(from

merer, meritus, to deserve, to be entitled to; to earn; to work for hire, whence also merit and meritorious service) was used in English in the 16th and 17th centuries; the

first

meaning of meretricious was,

meretricf meretridal, mereother forms of meretricious; mcr-

also

trician,

etricate*

to

lasciviously.

(1626)

re-

or characteristic of a harlot,

to

Hence

A

guide.

mereswine.

lating

morris*

in

mark or

importance.

merel.

A

merestone.

play the whore, to behave Bacon in THE NEW ATLANTIS

observed:

The

delight

in

mere-

embracements (wher sinm is turned into art) makeih m&rri&ge a dull thing. T. Brown carried the idea along; his DECLAMATION IN DEFENCE OF GAMING (1704) declared: Take from hwmn commerce merctridan amours, and you witt tricious

find a horrid confusion of att things, incestuous lusts disturb every family.

merkln.

This

is

a variant of malkin, a

diminutive of M&ud*

Malkm became

general term

o contempt, meaning a

tern; then

was applied to a

428

it

nd

mop

a

slat-

or (In

mesnalty

merocracy the navy)

to

a sponge on a

stick,

which from

for

legal Latin, to sink

one cause

cleaning cannon; also to a scarecrow or grotesque effigy. It was also used as a

within another, gives us merge, merger. Mersion, used in the 17th century, was

name

replaced by immersion.

for a witch

(in Shakespeare's

MAC-

BETH,

1605, Grimalkin, gray malkiri), hence, for a cat. In the form merkin, a pussy, it was used for the female "puden-

dum/' and

ended by Napoleon's coup 18 Brumaire 9 November was a 1799). The fine lady of the time merveilleuse. (These are the French forms for marvellous.) About the same time

(1795-99; d'e*tat of

also

in the 18th century, servants

that,

were sought that had already recovered from the disease, hence could not contract

and

it

infect

their

masters)

dis-

merveilleuse,

the

words, as meropia, dull-

meropic.

Able

speaking.

A

to speak.

Greek merops,

century

word;

also

in PROSE HALIEUTICS felt

mute creatures are as capable of jealousy and resentment as loud-tongued merapic man! Not to be confused with that

mcropia (Greek meros, part cp. merocracy. There was

+

ops, eye);

a form

also

meropic

(16th century), meraps (1 7th), bee-eater, the name of a bird, taken directly

Lamentation;

sorrow.

Latin

m&eror; maerere, to mourn. In the MIROUR

OF SALVACIOUN (1450) we read: In whas cure sho contynuyd in weping

absence

and

.

.

.

in meroure.

dipping

Elys6es.

An

form of marvellous,

early

used by Shakespeare in HENRY v (1599).

meschanL

Wicked;

wretch, a villain.

wretched;

Common

a

also,

from the 15th

Dipping; especially, the act of water for baptism. Latin

in

mrsum

f

mechant, and more. Old French mescheant; mescheoire, to be unlucky; Latin mis, wrong + cadere, to fall. Pepys

hant,

in his DIARY for 6 September, 1664, wrote: Cromwell, notwithstanding the meschants of

Ms

Also

time, which were the Cavaliers

ness; meschantery,

an

to dip,

to

plunge

evil

.

.

.

wicked-

meschantnessf meschancie, deed.

meschyne.

A

DOS; 1490)

wrote of a meschyne

bad woman. Caxton (ENEY-

joyeth her to recite

from the Greek.

meroure.

NEWS naked in

the DAILY

to the 18th century; also mischaunt, mis-

19th

merop. Badham

Champs

mervilous.

ness of sight, partial vision; merorganize (19th century), to bring to a partially state.

commented

of 19 October, 1892, walked half

merocracy. Government by a part. Used in the 17th century. Greek meros, part. rnero- is used as a combining form in

organized

(incon-

and minced the incroyable

(unbelievable). The merveilleux tried to revive the costumes of classical Greece; the ceivable)

might mercifully mask.

scientific

inconcevable

the

there strutted

figured the face, so the great pox often left traces farther down, which a merkin

many

extravagantly bedecked

fop of the "Directory" period in France

(15th to 18th century) for a wig or counterfeit hair for a woman's privy parts. Just as the small-pox (so com-

mon

An

merveilleux.

.

.

.

.

.

.

that

more lesying than

trouth. The word is a variant of mesquine, feminine of French mesquin, mean, sordid. Mesquin was used as an English

adjective in the 18th and 19th centuries; Kingsley in AT LAST (1871) spoke of the

mesquin and scrofulous crowd our alleys.

visages,

which

meanalty. The estate of a mesne lord; the condition of being a mesne lord. Via

424

metewand

meso thesis French

from

middle; the

Latin

s is silent,

medianum, mean, long e. The mcsne

lord was one who, though below the king, was above other lords, who held their estates

the

from and owed

feudal

system

mesnalty (mesnality)

lapsed, ,

As word

fealty to him.

the

shifting to menalty,

was applied to the middle class. It should not be confused with menially, persons of menial rank, the condition of being a menial, which is from meinie, q.v. f household. Hall in his CHRONICLES (1548; Henry

The evil parliament for the worse for for the menaltie, the nobilitie, but worste of all for the commonaltee.

IV)

noted:

Something put in the middle, two the etc. Accent on opposed principles, soth. Also mesothet. Greek mesos, middle 4- thesis, putting, theton, placed. These

mesothesis.

ower with eight daughters, preparing to marry a widow with children of her own,

on July

17, 1550,

Snitterfield

made a

Including

property,

suage in the tenure of

settlement of his

a

mes-

one Richard Shake-

speare. Later Richard's son John married Robert's daughter Mary; to them was bora

named William

a son

Shakespeare,

who

has not been forgotten. mestive.

Sad, mournful. Latin maerere,

maes-, to be sad;

maestitic, melancholy,

sorrow. Also mestful (the 16th century . most meat full uses this mestfull verse .

bird

am

I).

Hence

.

mestiftcal,

rendering

sad.

See metecorn.

mete.

serving as a balance, or to reconcile

also mesothetic, mesothetical

century terms.

are 19th

Froude in THE NEMESIS OF

FAITH (1849) spoke of the final mesothesis for the reconciling of the two great rivals, Science and Revelation. Kingsley in ALTON

LOCKE

(1850)

was

more

sprightly:

A

curious pair of 'poles' the two made; the

mesothet whereof, by no means a *puncturn indifferens,' but a true connecting spiritual idea, stood on the table

in the

whisky bottle. Mr, Carlyle, said FRASER*S

MAGAZINE in 1837, avoids the synthetical, as well as the analytical, and looks down

upon both from mesquin.

the mesothetical.

See meschyne.

messuage. mess-swaje.)

(Pronounced in two syllables: of land ia the

A

portion

English countryside, usually that rented for a dwelling and its attendant buildings

and grounds. Tennyson, in EDWIN MORRIS to sixty says They wedded her (1842)

metecom.

An

inally, corn)

mates,

mon

allowance of food

(orig-

to servants, to hospital in-

and the

like.

The

verb mete, com-

and still curmeans to measure, to mete (15th supply. There was a noun century into the 19th) meaning goal, since the 9th century

rent (to mete out)

,

boundary, frequent in the phrase metes and bounds. There were also two other verbs: mete, to paint, design (10th into the 13th century) and mete, to dream, es-

pecially in the phrase

me

rnetie (sweven) t

dreamed (a dream). Chaucer has, in THE PARLIAMENT OF FOULES (1381): The lovere met he hath ht$ lady wonne* Hence I

meting, a measuring; or a dreaming, a

dream; Joseph, said Chaucer in THE BETHI OF BLAUNCHE (15G9) f fed SO Th m&tynge*

meteoromancy, meteoroscopy.

See aero-

mancy.

stick,

A

measuring rod. Also metemetepale; Shakespeare in THE TAM-

metewand.

ING OF THE SHREW (also the 161!

has met^yard. Cp. m&tec&m. Used from thousand pounds, To lands in Kent and the 16th century; often iguratively, as by wida Robert York. in Arden, messuages 425

mews

methe in

Ascham,

THE SCHOLEMASTER

(1568);

yond

+

-oikos, dwelling; oikein, to dwell.

Coleridge (1810), Lowell, in his essay on

The

and Lessing (1866) : He continually trips classical metewand his over of falls flat

SPEAKER of 23 January,

propriety.

Measure, proportion; hence, mod-

methe. eration;

modesty,

tion, kindness.

mon Teuton

root

is

mae-,

mid-1 5th

the

century;

Mystery of 1450 has:

to

spare.

Thus

early catechism

The British imperialists . have found that the rich metics are their masters. .

See metecorn.

measure,

a

Amos

Coventry spak with

metheful,

methely,

(1357) said that The is me the or methe-

lesinge

[see

metheglin. A spiced or medicated variety of mead, q.v. Methe was an early form of the word mead> but metheglin, the Welsh term, is also related to Welsh

meddygj healing (Latin medicus)

+

llyn,

liquor. Pepys in his DIARY for 25 July, 1666, said I drinking no wine, had methe-

Kings own drinking. Said

C. Butler in THE FEMININE MONARCHIC,

OR A TREATISE CONCERNING BEES! Methaeglen is the more generous or stronger hydromel, being unto mede as vinum to lora. (Winum is wine of the first pressing; loraf wine of the last pressing, or from the skins of the grapes.)

A

resident alien; especially, one in an ancient Greek city, where resident

aliens were allowed certain privileges of dttaen*, From Greek metoikos; met, foe-

lease],

or elles that

it

were

meetinge.

metoscopy.

See aeromancy.

A

variant form of muleteer, mewlyter. one that tended mules. Of Cardinal Wolsey we read in Cavendish's LYFFE (1557): In the stabyll he hade a mayster of his horsses; a clarke of the stable, a the same; a sadler, a farrier, a his charyot, a

kepyng

metic.

translation

to

fulnesse (temperance): Give us to drink in meth!

the

The

(1430) Of

horses], a

-for

.

See sollicitudinous.

metlcuiosity.

seventh virtue and last

glin

THE

declared:

THE PILGRIMAGE OF THE LYF OF THE MANHODE said: / wolde weene al were

moderate, gentle; metheless, immoderate. Less often metheful, methful (from Old English methe, weary) meant weary, worn.

An

syllable.

1904,

meting.

mylde methe. Note that methe was also an old spelling of mead, q.v. The verb methe meant to moderate; hence, to have mercy on,

first

from a com-

whence also mete, meter, see metecorn. Methe was used in English from the 10th to

on the

falls

considera-

gentleness,

The word

accent

sompter

man

yoman yoman

[driver of

of of

pack

of his stirrope; a mewlyter; xvi gromes of his stable, every of them

yoman

iiii

great geldyngs.

A group of stables around a yard or alley. Originally, the royal stables at Charing Cross, London; so called because

mews.

on that site the royal hawks were formerly mewed. The word is either singular or plural.

To mew also

is

used

to moult, or

change

as by Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374) and Fletcher and Massinger's THE LITTLE FRENCH LAWYER (1620): 'Tis true, I was a lawyer, But I have mewd that coat, I hate a lawyer. Milton used the verb as meaning feathers;

figuratively,

to mature. The word is via Old French from Latin mutare, to change. A mew was a cage for hawks, especially while

moving; by extension, a coop for birds, when fattening. Chaucer in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) has: Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in

as

muwe. The phrase

in

mew, cooped up,

midden

meyne was quite common. Hence mew was used of any place of confinement, as by Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): Cdptw'd eternally in yron mewes. Sometimes the mews was applied to the alley around which the stables were grouped; it sur-

17th centuries) a pander, a go-between. Also michery, pilfering, cheating. Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) has the cry:

vives as a street

lecho;

New

Mews,

name, York City.

as in

Washington

Mingled.

HERD'S CALENDAR

THE

Spenser's

SHEP-

(1579; NOVEMBER).

The

past participle of meng, qw.

mication.

A

as in the

game

move one.

the

popping up of the

mickle.

several English words. Also michel, muchel* mekelf and more; in Scotland,

muckle. Mickle-mouthed, largeoften mouthed; micklewame, the stomach (of an ox, ready to cook). Mickledom, micklenesSj, micklekead,

micklemotc

the

game is an ancient played in two ways: (1) one

suddenly is

a

number

of fingers, the

person snaps up other simultaneously calls a number (or cries 'Odd* or 'Even') , trying to guess

root, mikilo-;

whence

fingers,

Mora

A comGreek meglo~f

Great, big, large; much.

mon Teuton

of mora. Latin mlcare, to quickly, to flash; to stretch out the

fingers

is often printed malphrase means some sort of

malhecho, misdeed, furtive evil.

meyne. An old form of meinie, q.v. Also meyn, meynee. Meyne was also a variant of (1) many, (2) mean, (3) mien. meynt.

Marry? this is michmg malicho! The last word, associated by a guess with Spanish

magnitude, greatness. or micklegcmotc was

Anglo-Saxon great council, called king. erb:

There

Many

a

plckl

a

[little]

mickle. micro-.

See macrobian,

microbicide.

See

of fingers, the other instantaneously shows the number of fingers (or calls the number) that added to the first

micromancy.

See aeromancy.

(2)

the

by the

an old (now Scotch) prov-

is

one person snaps up a

correctly;

The

stittiride.

number

man's fingers makes

ten.

The

loser pays a

forfeit.

miche.

(1)

A

loaf of bread.

From Old

French, possibly related to Latin

crumb. Hence michekin, a

mica,

roll,

a cake.

Used from the I3th into the 17th

century.

A

to support a lowered mast; as the shaft of a pump; as the sight, (2)

forked

stick;

aiming a cannon. Used in the 15th and 16th centuries. Much more common for

was the verb miche (from the ISth into the

1 9th

hidden;

century), to pilfer; to skulk, lurk to play tratint. Thus Lyly in

EUPHUES (1590) asks What made the gods so often to trewant from hea&en, and myck here on earth* bnt beauty? A micher was a petty

thief;

a sneak;

(16th

and

midden.

A

dungheap. From the Scandi-

navian; Danish mydding, from mygdynge; myg, muck -f dynge, heap. Used in proverbs, as

Any cock can crow on

his

own

means a prehistoric refuse-heap, of sheEs and bones whereamong are often found stone implements and other relics of early man. middffn. Note that kitchen-midden

This is also used figuratively, as in a ment&l kitchen-midden, KiEgsley used the simple word figuratively when he spoke which (1859) of that everlasting midden men call the w&rid* Thus may have been, however, a far echo of middenerd (also middle-erd? Norse miciganl), used from the 8th to the 14th century to mean the midway between thought of

earth,

heaven and hdOL

427

meant the

mince

midovernoon place where a dunghill is formed; figuratively, Swinburne in his STUDY OF BEN

and one for him. Now if his had died away, we should never have come together, A Midsummer Night's

for myself,

JONSON (1889) speaks of a very middenstead of falsehood and of filth. By a different road, Old High German mist,

Dream

dung, but influenced by mix, the form mixen also came to mean dungheap. This

mike.

wed over

came into proverbs: Better the mixen than over the moor, Better wed a neighbor than a man from far away. Thomas Hardy in THE TRUMPETtoo

MAJOR will let

it

We

uses

it figuratively: be buried in eternal mixens of

(1880)

forgetfulness.

HYMN

At undren to scale I At mydday I was dub bid At high noon I was crowned knyght At midovernoon I droupid faste. king Mi lust and liking went away. [Undernf undren, originally the third hour of the day, 9 A.M. Then, a meal eaten at that hour. Gradually, as folk came to eat later, undern came to mean a later hour, until in a

sett

.

.

*

.

.

of 1430:

,

.

of

play

faery

fantasy.

Mercy, forbearance. Old English

whence

milds,

milts,

also

mild.

Other

forms were mildce, milge, mulce, mylse, milche; also milth, milthness. Used from the 6th to the 14th century, often in

phrases with grace or mercy. Hence, as a mercy on; be kind, comor gracious to. Milcer, one that passionate

verb, to have

ful, milce-wiiter, merciful, gracious.

of

ert

had:

Gloucester's

He

.

.

Rob-

CHRONICLE

(1297) hopede for to finde of hir

.

and

betere mulce

grace.

.

.

by the 16th century (when it dropped from the tongue, save in dialects) it had passed through noon 15th century and meant the afternoon or early evening.]

men, A plant (sedum telewhich maidens picked on Midphium) summer Eve (June 23, MIDSUMMER BAY

minacious.

being June 24) to

test their lovers* faith-

meaning menace. Minaciousness, the

was a time of

festival.

moon being thought

The midsummer

especially conducive

midsummer madness (ShakeTWELFTH NIGHT, III iv; 1601) meant

to lunacy,

the height of madness; hence, to have but mile to midsummer (used from the 15th

state

of being threatening; minacity, threatening, denunciation.

These words were used

mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries, but lingered into the 19th. The adjective has been replaced by minatory, which in the 16th and 17th centuries was occasionally

used as a noun; Evelyn in his DIARY

for 22 September, 1686, spoke of the Emperor sending his minatories to the King

of

fulness, according as the leaves bent to the right or to the left. Midsummer Day

Threatening, menacing. Latin

minacem; minari, to threaten. (From the same Latin words, via the French, comes menace.) Minacy was a 16th century term

mldsiMitraer

speare,

Shakespeare's

shows mercy; also milceful, mildful, mil-

midovernoon. Midafternoon, 3 P.M. Also used figuratively, of the passing years, as

was

is

Denmark.

The

mince.

original use of mince, to cut

pieces, has survived, delightfully in winter mince-meat for pie. The word

into

little

from Latin minutia; miBut other senses have come and gone. By extension, mince came is

via French

nutust to

minute.

mean

to diminish,

to

make

little of;

century), to be somewhat mad. THE CONNOISSEUR (No. 56; 1755) related: I like-

then, especially in the phrase to mince the matter, to make light of. In Shakespeare's

up too midsummer men, one

OTHELLO (1604): lago, thy honesty and

$tuck

minchen

minimifidlan

A

love doth mince this matter. This sense

minibus.

the negative phrase, not to mince matters. Hence, to speak so as not

few passengers. Latin minimus, the fewest; coined in the 19th century after omnibus

survives in

to

to

shock,

limit

oneself

within

the

bounds of propriety and decorum, as to mince an oath, to substitute a euphemism for the crude oath.

Hence, to speak with affected elegance; and by extension, to walk with affected delicacy, with short steps

and

over-preciseness.

The daughters

of Zion are hautie, says the KING JAMES BIBLE: ISAIAH (1611), and walk with stretched forth necks, and wanton eyes*

walking and mincing as they go> and making a tinkling with their feet. Shakespeare uses the word in several senses; thus in

KING LEAR (1605)

dame

.

.

i

that

.

Behold yond simpring minces virtue. Hence

minceative, minsitive, affected, given to

mincing.

minchen. A nun. Old English mynecenu s feminine of munuc, monL Also mtnching,

monchyn, meridian, mention. Used from the 10th to the 17th century, minchen survives in names, such as Minchen Lane. In the 18th and 19th century, some (archaistic) writers referred to a

nunnery

or conventual building as a minchery. mineral.

Among

the

uses of this

word

buried; thus

Donne

remembered

less

are: recondite; deeply

in an essay of 1615:

Nothing was too minerall, nor centrick, for the search and reach of Ms wit. Material; the third of the Martin Martracts

prelate entitled:

(1589)

Certaine

was a broadside and Meta-

Minerall

phisicall Schoolpoints to be

defended

.

.

gendered metals.

mineramancy. ming.

See aeromancy.

See meng.

conveyance, carrying

(Latin, for everybody). bus covers all sizes.

minikin.

A

little

The

woman

abbreviated

a term of en-

dearment. Although often balanced with manikin , which is a diminutive form of

man, minikin, menyking, minnekin is from minnef love (as in the medieval Minnesinger)

From

-f

the

diminutive

kin.

use for love songs, the gut for the treble string of the lute or viol was its

called the minikin, or minikin string. To tickle the minikin meant to play the lute

or fiddle, but was often used by 17th century dramatists with a play on the first

meaning. From the application to the treble string, minikin was also used of a high-pitched voice; Marston in ANTONIO

AND MELUDA (1602)

asks:

What

treble

minikin squeaks there? The word is also used as an adjective, meaning tiny, delior (disparagingly) affected, a of voice, shrill. Minikin name, mincing; a pet name, Thackeray in the ENGLISH cate, dainty,

HUMOURISTS OF THE 18TH CENTURY (1851) says that pastorals are to poetry what charming little Dresden figures arc to sculpture; graceful, minikin* fantastic. Surely, said Glapthorae in THE HOLLANDER (1640), surely the minikin

is

enamoured

on me! mioiinifidiaii.

One

inclined to pat the

least possible faith in sametMttg, such as tales of flying saucers. Sometimes con-

tracted

.

Also mineral virtue^ the special power (according to the alchemists) that en-

small

also

to

minifidian.

be used

Both forms may Also minimift-

as adjectives,

dianism x coined by Coleridge in AIM TO

REFLECTION

(1825),

Lady

Bloamfield'*

supernatural stories, reported THE SPECTATOR (2 December, 1882) are not of & to ch&llemgg the $cmtiny of a minimifidmn in pneumatology. Pneummtolojy (Greek

mmsitive

minimus pneuma, breath,

air, spirit)

(as in the Minnesinger) or min, small. Among its orthographic forms are minyon, mynion, mignyon ? minnion. Minion was also an ad-

was the science

rmnna, love

or theory of spirits. In the 1 7th century it was in the division of Special Metaphysics, which dealt with God, angels,

and the human soul

demons,

in

to

its

study of the last of these, it was the early term for psychology. Hence also pneuma-

pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order the

of spirits.

A

minimus.

or insignificant creature. Cp. minikin. Latin minimus > least; minim was used as an English adjective, tiny

small. In calligraphy, a single down-stroke, especially the short stroke at the beginning of some letters

meaning extremely

(m, n, u, w, etc)

;

Dekker and Webster in

WESTWARD HOE

(1607)

her

suddenly, and

letters -very

her minoms.

mean

wrote: She took

Minim was

is

also

now

dainty,

jective,

treat as a (1)

to

elegant;

minion, to

and a verb,

play the wanton,

to

Also minionize

caress.

(2)

to raise to

the position of a favorite, to minionship. It is no wonder, exclaimed Bryce in THE

Cp. pneumo-, Jonson in his comments (1765) on Shakespeare's HAMLET observed: According to pneumatologist.

tological,

Celtic

in

AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH (1888), if he helps himself from the city treasury and allows his minions to do so. [Note that minion is also the Hebrew word for a ten males over 13

Thus you can guess what happened when Principal Edward Kelly, in years old.

an elementary school in a Jewish neighborhood, rang his bell and with pedantic

humor said to the responding monitor, Abraham Cohen: "Boy, fetch me a minion!"]

An

iniiiish.

used to (2)

a contemptible person, or a tiny Browning in a poem of 187$

for prayer:

quorum

mince.

lessen;

early

form of

From Late Latin

diminish, minutiare> to

(1)

minutum, minute.

creature;

A

used as lining

said:

This insect on my parapet, Look the marvel of a minim crawls! Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S BREAM

miniver.

how

and trimming

(1590) cries Get

had a smaller pattern than vairt q.v. the word miniver being from French menu, Latin minutus, minute 4-

you gone you dwarfe,

you minimus.

A

beloved, darling, favorite; a favorite child, servant or animal; a royal favorite. Shakespeare, in HENRY iv, PART

minion.

ONE

(1596)

:

A

sonne

.

.

.

Who

is

sweet

Fortune's minion, and her pride. In each of these senses the tone deteriorated, so

minion came to mean a mistress; a spoiled pet; one raised beyond desert by favor. The word was also used figuratively, that

as

when John Bay

in

FEREGRINATXO

d&rKngs of the spring. to

Old

Higfa.

for ceremonial

may have been

squirrel;

the

The word may be German rninnja,

costumes.

white

Siberian

it

Also meniver, menevayrf menevoir, miniferf menyvere, and the like. Pured miniver, miniver pure, has been taken to

vair.

mean pure white; it really is French menwer pure, powdered miniver; i.e., spotted with tiny strips of miniver. Nathaniel Ward in THE SIMPLE COBBLER OF

AGGAWAM

(1647) attacking the fancified fashions of the American gentlemen, said:

I* seems in fashion for you t o dapple your speeches with new quodled words. Ermins in minifer is every man's coat. .

SCHOLASTIC* (1640) smiled upon Violets, iwes, and tillies, and like mineons and related

It

fur; especially

minsitive.

4m

See mince.

.

.

misoreance

minuity mlnuity. A trifle. Via Old French from Latin minutus, minute. Shelton in his

working wonders; accent on the

translation (1612) of JDON QUIXOTE averred: my soule suffer in the

century; BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE (1853) pointed to the mirific dtmim-

other world for such a minuity as

ishment of the contents of the brandy-

/ would not have

is

Used

mirifical; mirificence.

thy

if.

And

since the 15th

bottle.

wages.

To warble softly. Touraeur In THE TRANSFORMED METAMORPHOSIS (1600) wrote: The thrush,, the lark, and nightsjoy nightingale There minulize their

minullze.

pleasing laies anew.

mis-.

Prefixed

to

verbs,

mw- adds

to the

Speaking marvelous things. Latin mirus, wonderful -f diceref to speak. In Bailey's DICTIONARY, 1751. Also listed in 17th century dictionaries in the form miridical.

A

words,

mainly

meaning the idea

of error, of doing wrongly, badly, permistakenly, as in Shakespeare,

versely,

KING JOHN, 1595:

miradical.

many

Thou

has mispoke, mis-

Be

well advi$*dt tdl oer thy tale again. In words of ill or sinister import, mis- intensifies the meaning, as in Shake-

heard;

speare, PERICLES (1608) : The passions of the minds That have their first conception

by misdread. Among many others, we may note misgraffedf badly matched, in Shake-

turret atop a house (espein Spain; Spanish mirar, to look) cially

speare's

commanding

a view. Originally, a watchtower. Also miradore. Dryden in THE CON-

course of true love never did run smooth. But either it was different in

QUEST OF GRANADA (1670) WTOtC: Your who had before Gain'd fame, rode round to eifry mirador.

blood ... Or else misgraffed, in respect of years. Also rniskcn, to be ignorant of; miskissing, improper kissing, or kissing

Wonderful. Latin mirandus, of wonder, the gerundive form of worthy

learned;

mirador.

valiant son,

(1590):

the

mirandous. mirari, to

wonder

at;

whence

also miracle.

The feminine is

of the gerundive, miranda, used as the name of the heroine in

Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST (1611).

To

mird.

Mainly tury.

A

to sport amorously. in Scotland, since the 16th cen-

venture;

song of 1768 has the

there wi'

Meg was

line:

He

mirdin' seen* As a

noun, mird is a variant of merd; cp. merdaille. Gokaine in his translation (1669) of OVID spoke of oyntments made of the spawn of snakes, spittle of Jews, and

mird of

infants.

miridical. mirific.

See mimdicaL

Working wonders; rousing

tonishment,

marvelous.

as-

Also minficcmt,

A

MIDSUMMER

NIGHT'S

DREAM

The

wrong

party; mislit crate* ignorant^ unmisqueam, misqucme, to dis-

please, offend; misseeming, false appearance, as in Spenser's THE FASIIE QUEENE

(1590):

With her witchcraft and

mmeem*

tng sweet; mistime? mistide, to happen amiss, to come to grief, as in Chaucer's

TALE OF MEIIBEUS (1386) : He that katk last he sk&tl misaver-hard a heart,

happe and

mistydts; mtilrow, to mistrust,

disbelieve;

muwomanf

manliaswile,

also

a noun, one unworthy to be called a

woman. False belief; misbelief. Used from Gower (CONFESSIO AMANTB, 1390) to Rwskin (PORS CIAYIGEIA, 1876). Spenser, for the form mucre&nnce in THE HERB'S CALENDAR (1579; MAY) supplies the gloss, 'despair, or misbdiefe/ Tic faro

miscreaiice*

miscreant, as a

431

noun

3

heretic, unbeliever,

mistake

miscreate

HENRY

PART THREE (1593) has: Im-

still

in

torical

pairing Henry, strengthening misproud Yorke, After the 17th century, Scott took

appears as an imprecation in hisShakeafter novels probably exclaims: speare, who in RICHARD n (1593)

Thou

art a traitor,

and

a miscreant!

miscreate. Ill-shaped, abortive, misformed. Also miscreated. Spenser in THE FAERIE (1590) says: For nothing might abash the villein bold Ne mortall steele

QUEENE

mould. Henley emperce in THE SPECTATOR (No. 396, 1712) wrote of that mongrel miscreated (to speak in Miltonic) kind of wit, vulgarly termed the pun. Shakespeare (HENRY v; 1599), Brownmiscreated

his

ing (THE RING AND THE BOOK; 1868)

and

,

Swinburne (SONGS BEFORE SUNRISE; 1871) use mtscreate; Swinburne: Fancies and passions miser eate passionate.

But

By man

in things

dis-

also to miser'eate , to create

amiss, used since the 17th century;

Mere-

THE TRAGIC COMEDIANS (1880) has: thick-featured sodden satyr of her

dith in

The

missel.

tury)

axe:

misobasilist,

hater of kings, mtsocapnist,

a

a hater of

smoking, misogrammatist, a hater of learning;

also

paffdist,

a

misomusist. child-hater,

misopedef

rnuo-

misapog&nist,

a

hater of beards, misosophist (accent on the second syllable) a hater of wisdom; ,

misosopky. misoxeny, hatred of strangers. Also misolagy, hatred of reason, also

of learning; misologist. misoneism (accent on the nee) hatred of what is new, of ,

novelty; misoneisti misoneistic.

mupcwid.

Arrogant; proud without basis

for pride. Robert

Manning

HAHBLYMG sYNNi (1903) for

ftrenktke

wrdy$

of

said:

Brunne in Gyf thou

mysproute And hast and lowd . . Shakespeare be

.

clan.

An old form (8th to 16th cenof mistletoe. Note that the proper

berry be plucked from the mistletoe sprig, and when there are no more berries the kissing privilege

To

mistake.

This sense

is

is

over.

misjudge,

misunderstand.

current; mistaken, however,

has taken a curious course.

Some words

avaunt) have two meanings that are antonyms; others have a forgotten mean(cp.

ing (see prevent) that is the opposite of the present one. Such a word is mistaken. Since to mistake meant to misunderstand,

am

stood.

than those of love)

THE LADY OF THE LAKE

Christmas use of the mistletoe requires that, each time a girl is kissed under it, a

I

opposite of phil-t q.v. Among the forgotten forms with this preix (less numerous

in

Thy misproud ambitious

(1810):

miscreating fancy.

A combining form (also mis-) from Greek misosf hatred; misein, to hate. The

word

the

up

vi,

mistaken meant I am misunderThus Ascham in THE SCHOLEMASTER

(1568) observed that Erasmus is mistaken of many f to the great hurt of studie* This sense survives in the phrase mistaken

century, howwas transferred from object to subject, and mistaken began to mean not misunderstood but misunder-

By the mid- 16th

identity. ever,

the

standing.

error

Thus Shakespeare

in

TWELFTH

NIGHT (1601) says: And she (mistaken) seemes to dote on me. I am mistaken

now means take.

the

A

I

am

participle

surprise

in error, I

made a

mis-

similar shift has occurred with

may

surprised.

still

mean

The verb

to

to catch in the act,

but surprised currently means not caught but astonished. It was in the early 19th century that the lexicographer when his wife caught him kissing the maid-servant

and exclaimed "Why, Husband, I am surprised!" drew himself up and said: **No,

432

Madame. You are

astonished; I

am

mob

mlstihede surprised." That, of the situation.

course,

cleared

mithridatic constitution than ginger-beer. defeated by Pompey, com-

up

Mithridates,

mitted suicide in 63 B.C. mlstihede.

Obscurity;

mystery; mystical significance. Chaucer in THE COMPLEYNT

OF MARS (1374) asks: What meneth what is this mistihedef

mitten.

See mittent.

this?

Sending. Latin mittentem# presparticiple of mittere, missum* to send, whence also missive, missile f mission,

mittent.

ent

To

mithe.

conceal; to dissemble; to lie

concealed, escape notice. 8th through the 13th

A common word, century.

intermittent.

Thus

CURSOR MUNDI (1300) rules: Qhen yee fast, then shall yee show gladnes with your sembland blith, and so your fasting shall

that covered the

King of Pontus, who

make himself immune

mixen.

to poison

we

by constantly taking antidotes. Also mithmithridatium^

mithridaturn; mithrydate, metrtdate, medndate, and the host of 16th and 17th century like. ridaticonj

s

.

.

.

1 9th

century)

mix-

maxuL

mo

the mer-

rier.

moanworthy. Worthy

of laments pitiful,

her moanworthy story. The word was used (once) in the 16th century. as

D'Urfey in THE COMMONWEALTH

WOMEN

may

(16th to

caught the old proverb the

DEFENSE AGAINST THE PLAGUE

Take a great onyon, make a hole in the middle of him, then fill the place with mitridat or triacle, and some leaves of rue

maxhill;

An early form of more. Also ma, moo, moe, Gascolgiie in his POSIES (1575)

in 1593:

OF

the fingers.

mo.

prescriptions call for mithrid&te, as in S. f

arm but not

See midden. In the same sense

also find

hill,

A

Kellwaye

the

(though the words fit to a f); note that In the 1 8th century, a mitten was a glove

antidote to poison; a universal medicine or preservative. Named

sought to

in

t

An

after Mithridates VI,

was used

of the body part (part mittent) that sent vicious humours to the part recipient There is no connection with mitten

yee myth. mithridate.

Mitient

17th century; particularly, In the physiology of the four humours (see humour)

(1686), scorns the notion: Fools talk of mythridate* cordials, elixers.

mob.

This word, used for a tumultuous short for Latin mobile, easily

D Urfey

crowd,

The

moved, fickle. This was used in the phrase mobile wlgus, the fickle crowd, the ex-

f

puts the accent on the myth. word was often extended to refer to

any preservative, as by Lyly in MIDAS (1592): That which maketk me most both to sorrow and to wonder, is that music should make (a methridat for melancholy) him mad. Lodge in PHILUS (1593) cried:

Oh pleasing thoughts, apprenthes of lave* Forerunners of desire, sweet methridates The poison of my sorrowes to remwe* With

whom my

hopes and fear

debates. Hence, mithiidatic,

(like

Helps in REAOIAH (1868) Poison has no more effect on my

Mithridates) said:

full oft

immune

;

citable

is

common

people.

In

this

mobile (three syllables) has also become an English word; Lord Chief Justice

Ms Charge given at the City of Bristol, 21 September, 1685, exclaimed; Up starts a poppet prince, who sednces

Jeffries, in

the mobile into rebellion! {Cp poppet) D. Defoe in TOT TRUE-BORN

He 4 Jubilee* (1701) huzzas from hu warn Mobilce. Fran the 17th century there have been a verb and

4m

moliminous

moble

noun mo b

(also mab) The verb meant up the head; hence, to go in disguise, hence to frequent low company; also, to dress untidily. Gay, in an ECLOGUE

mochell.

of 1720 speaks of a woman at the theatre: in the gallery mob'd, she sits secure; De-

moff.

a

.

to muffle

foe in 1727 speaks of those that go amobbing. As a noun, mob meant (1) a strum-

pet R. Head

We

(1665):

THE ENGLISH ROGUE and parted; I sighed, she

has, in

kist

did sob; she for her lusty lad, I for my mob. (2) neglige" attire, a mob-dress;

JOURNAL TO STELLA (1710) mobs undrest. (3) a mob-cap, a cap worn indoors by women in the 18th and 19th centuries; Dickens in DAVID CQPPERFIELD describes one "with side-pieces fastening under the chin." Moore in his MEMOIRS (1828) says of a

Swift in the

speaks of ladies all in

woman, after the fashion for mob-caps had faded: Her beauty was gone; her dress was a/en prematurely old and mobcappish. In the 18th century, a mobbedhead was a harlot; also, by way of a play the idea of a night-cap, a

upon

mo b

was

fashionable slang (as in the plays) for a drink. Note, however, that mabbie, mo-

bee

from the Carib mabi, meaning a

is

West Indian fermented drink made of sweet potatoes, with ginger and snakeroot; also applied to peach and apple brandy.

This is a variant of mob, q.v. As an adjective moble was an early form of mobile. As a noun, mobleS; movable goods, personal property. As a verb, to muffle; moble.

also

mobble.

(1605) inquires:

queene? [This mob-led?

AESOP nine

led

(1668) in

HAMLET Shakespeare Who had seen the mobled in

Is

not to be interpreted as

by the mob.] Ogilby in spoke of being mobbled

my conddenng^ap. How

today will spend nine minutes thus?

A

ser used the

variant of mickle, q.v. Spenform mochell in THE SHEP-

HERD'S CALENDAR (1579; FEBRUARY).

See moph.

This

moidore.

which

word,

rolls

on

pirate tongues in many a rousing tale, names a gold Portuguese coin; Portuguese

moeda

d'ouro, money of gold. Also moedore, moydor, moider. Accepted in

England in the early 18th century, at an evaluation of about 27 shillings, the coin gave its name to such a sum, as a general term. Thus Leslie Stephen, in HOURS IN A LIBRARY (1874) speaks of tangible subjects which he can weigh and measure and

reduce to moidores and has

desperado moidores.

A

moiety.

pistoles.

half,

Many

a

murders for

committed

a half-portion. Hence, and 19th centuries

jestingly, in the 18th

(Charles

Lamb, 1829), one's

better halt

Also mediety; moiety is via Old French from Latin medietatem, middle point; medium, middle. By extension, one of two one's

parts;

share;

a small portion or

amount Shakespeare HENRY

uses

the

word in

PART ONE, HAMLET, KING LEAR,

IV,

SONNET 46, and the dedication to THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (1593) The love I dedicate to your Lordship is without end: wherof this pamphlet without beginning :

is

but a superfluous moity*

molesdous. (all

in

Troublesome, molesting. Also

the

16th

century)

molestous,

molestuous. Laborious, marked by great Latin molimen, effort; moliri, to

moliminoiis. effort,

strive,

to

molimen

In

medicine,

(plural molimina) is

used of the

exert

oneself.

effort the human system makes to perform a natural function. Molition, an effort;

434

moll also,

monetary a device or contrivance by

something

which

done.

is

lick";

was described as having a white root, a fact played later writers, as Lyly in EUPHUES upon by

and a black

flower

moll.

This

a shortening of Molly, a

is

pet-name for Mary. Since the 17th century, it has been used to mean a prostitute, or especially, the unmarried female com-

panion of a vagrant or

thief.

This sense

survives in the phrase gangstefs moll. It

probably was first applied from Moll Cutpursef nickname of a notorious wench of the 17th century, made a character In several plays (e.g., Middleton and Dekker's THE ROARING GIRL, 1611). Moll

Thompson's mark was a slang phrase of the 18th century; Take away this bottle, it has Moll Thompson's mark on it: Moll mark, her Initials, MT, the seven letters one speaks (Thus, empty.

Thompson's

on pouring the

OICURMT.)

last drops from a bottle: In the same years, Moll

Blood meant the gallows; Scott in THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818) has: Three words of your mouth would give the girl the chance to nick Moll Blood. mollescent.

has been identified with other

it

flowers. It

See muldble.

To make soft, smooth, or easy. Latin molUre> to soften. Also molliable, mollifiable, that can be softened or

molliate.

soothed, mollicine, mollicinous} softening; in Latin used of mollicinum emplastrum,

soothing plaster, mollifaction, mollifica-

nouns of action surviving in the verb, to mollify, mollificativc, something that soothes or softens; also, as an adjection;

(1580). Tennyson uses the word literally when he pictures his Lotos- Eaters propped on beds of amaranth and moly. (See

uses

Lodge

amarant)

PHILLIS (159S)

He

it

had

figuratively in

love's

moly growing on my pappes, To charm a hell of sorrow and mishappes. :

See aeromancy.

molybdomancy.

mommet.

See

monamy.

my

thick

A dish. From French mow ami A 15th century recipe: Take f

friend.

creme of cow mylke, and boyle fire,

.

.

.

seaven leches in a dissh f

and

floures of violet,

A

moncfcelet.

(The form munch* but this dish A recipe is in THE Tak other m@ton f

dish,

is

an early variant

is

more

inviting.)

OF CURY (1390)

with

serve hit forthe*

:

of

vd

that causes softening or soothing. These are mainly 1 7th and 18th century

and $mit

terms.

wyne> and a quantitie of oy nouns powdor fort* and mfroun; and &lje

tive,

mollltious.

See muldble.

broth.

it

Cast

A

to

Bailey, 1751, calls

it

to gobett^s. Seeth

thereto

it

in

herbes yhewf if

with

ayren md verjous; but fat not seeth

magic herb, given by Hermes Odysseus (in Homer's ODYSSEY) to pre* serve him from the enchantments of Circe.

moly.

hit

and then take hit up and set hit on the side; and thane take swete cowe cruddes and press out the qw&y [curds whey], and bray horn in a crcmc^ morter, and cast horn into the and boyle al togedur; and put thereto sugre, and saffron, and May buttur; and take yolkes of ayren straynedj and beteny and in the settyngc downe of the pot bete in the yolkes thereto^ and sterc hit welf and make the potage stondynge [standing by itself: let it harden]; and dress fjue or over the

An Also monester.

"a sort of wild gar-

435

-

See

ok! form far monastery.

mono-

mongcorn

A

grain (usually wheat and rye) sown together. It made an excellent bread, the

chord, a musical instrument of one string over a sound-board; used in the llth century to teach the intervals in plain song;

usual type in religious houses before their suppression in England; hence also monk-

hart's translation

mougcorn.

corn.

mixture of two kinds of

The word

is

from mong, a mingling

there

is

an obscene implication in Urqu-

would nod

He

(1653) of Rabelais: his head, monochordizing with

f corn, Mong, a mingling; hence also inthen commerce, was common from the 12th to the 15th century, and survived in dialect into the 1 9th. It was

racy;

also applied to mixtures of various kinds of meal, such as ground mongcorn. The

one-eyed creature, as a cyclops (plural also monoculist, monoculite, Cyclopes')

verb

person; monoculus, one-eyed being, monodynamism, the doctrine that all natural activity is the manifestation

tercourse,

(9th to 16th century) meant (with) , to barter. From the same

mong

to traffic

common word among, mixed with, often shortened to mong. In 19th century England, a muncorn team meant a team of horses and oxen mixed. source comes the

trafficker,

traffic;

hard, as in

see

a

Mongol From

From The g is

dealer.

mongcorn.

the 16th cen-

tury (both alone and in compounds) monger has implied a petty or disreputable traffic, A character in Ford's THE LADIES TRIALL (1639) protests that he is no mo-

nopolist of forged corantos, gazettes.

[See

coranto

(2).]

monger of Hence also

mongenng, mongery. Among compounded with this

mongingj

terms of scorn

form arc fashion-monger, mass-monger, news-monger, pardon-monger, salvationmonger^ scandal-monger, whoremonger, word-monger. monitory.

cp. barytone, monochromic, having, or showing, only one color, monocracy, government by one person, autoc-

See

monocrat; monocratic. monocule, a

;

one-eyed

of a single force, such as Shaw's life force* note that Be Quincey, however, (1823), talent:

speaking only one language, written in one language; a person that kno\v s but one language, monogyny, the practice of marrying only one wife (at a time) ; a woman might similarly practice monandry. r

tnonology, the monopolizing of the conversation,

A combining form from Greek monos, alone* only, one, used in many

mono-.

terms. Also

single combat, ac-

mono-

hemerousy lasting but a day, accent on the he; monemerous. mononeirist, a person that has never dreamed but once, or that cherishes a single dream; Walpole says that Locke was a mononeirisL monon-

gahela (only spelling puts this here; it is an Indian name, of a river in Pennsyl-

where there were many 'moonhence), American rye whiskey; Dicey in six MONTHS IN THE FEDERAL

vania,

commmate*

and technical

monomachy,

cent on the om; also monomachist.

shine"

scientific

mean having only monodynamic men. monoglot,

used monodynamic to

one

A

monger. mong, to

his fingers;

mono-

diabolism, belief in a single devil, or spirit of evil; usually as opposed to the God of

good, monogoneutic (Greek goneuein, to beget), having one brood a year, mono-

cephalam, a monster of one head and two bodies, like a fairy-tale ogre, mono-

stills;

STATES (1863) wrote:

Where the

cigar-case

was always ready, and the flask of monongahcla was always full, monophagous, eating one sort of food only; Ruth Draper has a sketch of four ladies at luncheon,

on four monophagous diets; monophagy, the eating of one sort of food only, also, eating alone, monopode, a

man

(fabled

mooch

monoepic by Pliny, mentioned by Lowell) having foot, yet under which umbrellalike he might shade himself from the sun,

but one

also called a sciapod (Greek skia, shadow),

plural sciapodes; four syllables, accent on the ap; these sciapodous folk lived so in Lybia. monopoler^

they say

monopmonopo-

monopoly early forms for list; also rnonopolite. monopoly logue, an entertainment in which one performer olian,

represents various characters; great artists in the field, monopolylogists supreme (ac-

cent on the

Ruth Draper and Hood puns on the TO A LADY ON HER DEPARTURE FOR are

lill)

/ see hee*l be starke monthly our next meeting. .

With little projections or Latin montem* mountain. In 17th and 18th century dictionaries. In the 19th

century monticulose f covered with elevations; also montiform,

mondgenoro. Born on the hills, born amid mountains. So in Bailey (1751). From Latin montem* mountain -f gignere,

the adjective

monorchid (the flower

is

of

the

is

volume, as a monotome edition of Shakespeare; monotomous, let us hope not

monotonous, monotroch, a vehicle with one wheel; Scott (1828) applied the word humorously to a wheelbarrow (Greek trochos, wheel) monoxylon^ a canoe or other craft hewn from one piece of timber .

the adjective

is

monoxylous, as in reference (19th cento the monoxylous artificers of tury) Britain's prehistoric times.

monoepic.

See poly (poly epic).

monongahela. montance. monthly.

Madly; as inluenced by the

moon. An English development like lunatic; Latin lunaf the moon. Also moonling, a fool. (Jonson, THE DEVIL is AN ASS; 1616). Middleton and Bekker in THE SOARdeclare:

The man

to

mark the spot where one

them, dying en route,

of

buried. Urquhart, in his translation (1653) of Rabelais, it

lies

another application: Finally they

found a mamfjoy or heap of ordure and the more common memento of filth travelers.

This verb has moved through

mooch.

various meanings;

it

is

related to miche,

munch. Also, with the same q.v. pronunciation, mouch; but other sounds came with other forms: mowchef m0acf$ef modge, and the like. There was also a fref

and

to

mM

quent noun, moocher^ movcher. The meanings of the verb were: (!) to pretend to be poor, so as to be or to escape borrowers. (2) to play truant (from tlie 17th century); in the 19th century, to play truant in order to pick blackberries;

See mono-,

See mountance.

ING GIRL (1611)

English words, from

montjoy. A commemorative cairn. From the French mont, hill -f joic, joy. A heap of stones piled by travelers, often with a

gives

monotome, bound or included in one

;

many

cross atop, to

its

tuber) . shape monota, a one-handled jar; especially, an ancient Greek vase with one handle.

(Greek chylon, wood)

(The root gen has given and and generalissimo.) generous

genittiSf to beget.

genital

named from

shaped

little

like a

mountain.

word

:

at

hills.

us

in

m@d

moBticulous.

Cornelia Otis Skinner;

INDIA (1845) Go where with human notes the parrot dealeth In mono-polly-logue* monorchis, a person with but one testicle;

.

talks

hence, to go picking. (5) to loaf, loiter. Jerome K. Jerome in THRBI MSN IN A BOAT (1889) said: All the inhabitants come otrf and monck round the lock wntk their dogsf and ftirt^ &nd smoke. (4) to .

pilfer.

pay

437

(5)

.

to sponge, to permit others to TMs sense is current

for the party.

mordacity

moonling slang.

In this sense usually

(6)

mouch

and James PATRIMONY

:

THOMAS WYAT

O

(1607)

poore shrimpe,

art thou falne

away

for want of mouching!

A 19th century name for an instrument consisting of a pair of compasses, one leg of which is made like the leg of

simpleton. In Jonson's THE ASS (1616) : I have a husband

is AN But such a moonling, as no wit of man Or roses can redeeme from being an asse. In spite of this scorn, moonling is a soft word for a witless one. Note that a moon-man (Shakespeare, HENRY iv, PART ONE, 1597) is one that works by night;

DEVIL .

.

.

a pair of calipers.

A

moph

one that forms a

We still play the we've game, though forgotten the name.

and

early English days

gemot> witenagemot, burg-mote, hall-mote, hundred-mote., and more. Hence moott an

an argument, dispuAt Gray's Inn (and the English

Inns of Court since the 16th century) , the discussion of a hypothetical case, by students, for practice; a case for such discussion. Hence, as an adjective, a moot

moot problem, debatable, doubtnot decided. This was a very common

case* a ful,

word from the 9th

to the

The

related to meet.

1

7th century;

argue a doubtful

A

verb to moot meant

or an imaginary mooter was a speaker,

case,

especially one who argued in court or in a moot hall in the Inns of Court. Earlier,

a moot hall was a place where the moot (council of court) meetings were held; also in the hill*

moot-house or on the moot-

mote MIL The moot

en were

cases

and moot-

often satirized; thus Skelton in

GBLYM CLOUTE

(1529)

:

Stand sure, and

good fofymg, And let be all your Four ga$ymg @md yomr totyng;

dere,

to bite, to break into frag-

morsum,

cially

Of land.

THE PALL MALL GAZETTE

of 3 July, 1889 (prior to any Soviet action) noted: In the South peasant proprietors

own most

morccllement

From

is

in

and the

of the land,

many

cases excessive.

century, morceau was used in English to mean a short piece, a musi-

the

1 8th

cal or literary composition.

Williams ('An-

THE CHILDREN

OF thony Pasquin*) THESPIS (1788) wrote: She purloined the stool on which Kemble had writ The in

to converse, then to argue, especially, to case for practice.

To break (something) into small portions. Via French morcel, morceau, whence English morsel; Latin mor-

ments; cp. mordacity. Morcellement, division into small portions; used espe-

action at law, a plea; tation.

See mication.

morcellate.

legis-

or judicial court. In Anglo-Saxon there were the

lative

this 'cross-breed'

it

or moff.

mora.

meeting, encounter. Hence, an

assembly, especially

From

was given the name of hermaphrodite, shortened to mophrodite, then to structure

robber. especially, a nightpad,

moot.

THE INTELLECTUAL

:

moph.

A

rnoonling.

(1817)

writing about more than a big school-boy or mooting babbler.

the clown exclaims:

,

how

Gilcrist in

Probably neither the one nor the other understands what he is

(French mouche, mouth) to eat greedily, gobble up. In Dekker and Webster's SIR

choicest

morceaus of his Jesuit

wit.

mordacity. Propensity to biting; a biting or stinging quality, physically or in speech; mordancy. Mordant is directly from the present participle of French mordre, to bite;

Latin mordere; mordacem, biting;

cp. mordicancy. Hence also mordatious, biting, prone to bite. Barrow in a Sermon

of 1677 said:

(none of

its

mordacity).

438

He hath

little

of the Serpent

rancorous venom, of

its

keen

moria

mordell

The

mordelL

share of her late husband's

property to which a widow was entitled (16th century) as representing her 'morn,

influenced

ing gift/ Possibly

by Latin

but contracted from morrow + dael, deal. This morn, morgen, is related to Medieval Latin matrimonium ad moTganaticam, marriage with morningrnors, mortis, death,

See moryeve. A morganatic marriage between a man of high rank and a (as woman of lower) is one in which she and gift.

her issue have no claim to succeed to the possessions or dignities of the father, being entitled only to the customary "morning

on the day after the wedding-night. In the morganatic marriage, the man takes the woman with his left hand. She was not a concubine, but a wife. Sometimes it

gift"

was the

woman who had

the higher rank,

in a morganatic marriage; sometimes (esin Germany), although the pecially

woman was

own

linquished their

was

sometimes called a morning star, which is a literal translation of (German)

Conan Doyle,

Morgenstern. morgenstiern,,

and

morglay. A sword. Originally, the name of the sword of Sir Bevis, one of King Arthur's knights. From the Gaelic; Welsh

mawr, great

cleddyf, sword. Reversing

-f

the order of these words gives us claymore* the two-edged broadsword of the ancient Scottish Highlanders. This word has been in historical account^ poems,

common

and novels

(Johnson, Boswell, Burns, Campbell, Scott) since the mid- 18th century. Stanyhur&t in

widow

to

Ms

The

quality of being biting

or pungent. Also mordicant* mordicative, Latin mordificative, biting, pungent;

mordicatum, from mordere, morsum, to bite, whence morsel (a goodly bite) and mordacity, q.v. In the 17th cenmordicare,

with a

bit-

ing pain. For a use of mordicancyf see

fig.

tury, mordicate, to sting, strike

morena.

A

brunette.

The word

prob-

A

DIARY of 18 December, 1661, says that

lie

/ spent most went To church, where , of my time looking on my new morentu .

.

See mordelL In some recent

instances, rather

ish. it

sydes he belted linkable*

than face the problems men have re-

Folly.

Greek moria; moms,

fool-

Used

was

in the 17th century; in the 19th used, in medicine, for a monomania

the victim of which believed himself to

be brilliant and distinguished. In 1510 Erasmus wrote Ms FRAKE OF FOLLY, with the

Latin

punning

ENCOMIUM

title,

M0RIAE* while a guest of Sk Thomas More, [More himself in 1516 used the punning title

is

dark cloth ably related to More, Moor. was called morella, a dark, bitter cherry, morello, in the 17th century. Pepys in his

morganatic.

Ms translation (1582) And bootless morglay

received the mordell.

moria.

mordlcancy.

MJCAH

halbert.

of the AENEK, said;

his

in

CLARKE (1889) speaks of pike or half-pike,

not raised to her husband's

first,

rights

morgenstern. A club the head of which is studded with spikes. The word has been used since the 17th century. The weapon

rank, the children were allowed rights of succession. In all such cases, if the man

died

and

dignities

of succession.

UTOPIA,

(topos) that

morology one that

is

the beautiful

no

(f-^.)

talks

y

(en-)

(ou-) place.]

foolish talk; foolishly;

place

Hence

also

morologu^

a student of

talk. A morosoph* morosophist (Greek sophos, wise) is a foolish pretender to wisdom; a foolish pedant (the word

foolish

occurs in

Urquhart*s translation*

1693,

of Ral>elais) ; reverse the situation for the quite current $ph@mm"e. Hence

of morganatic marriage,

439

y^ morosopkisiyy*

R,

Ornr

in

mort

morient translating (1607) Estienne's WORLD OF said that the old preaching de-

WONDERS

make one part another anagogical, and a

veloped a sermon so as to allegorical,

third

tropological: whereas

Greek moros,

also morologist, morological] foolish; cp. moria.

Moron

the

is

name of

the fool in Moliere's LA PRINCESSE D'ELIDE (1664);

they should

moron was adopted

a

as

classifica-

by the American Associa-

in 1910,

tion,

have made one part morological, another mythological, and a third pseudological.

tion for the Study of the Feeble-Minded; the O.EJD. captures this in its Supple-

Dying. Latin morientem, dying;

variety of salamander. J. Melville's DIARY

ment, the main volume listing moron, a morient.

mori, to die. Used in the 17th century.

Somewhat more common the point o

is

die.

Hence, moribundity.

Carlyle in THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (183 7) bade us take heed of the wail of a moriit

seems to some louder now.

The greeting of the gladiators to Roman Emperor, when they entered arena: Mori fun te salutamus, We who

the the

(plural

TIMON (1600) we hear: Timon, thou hast a wife morigerous; She is the only

play

age. Also morigerate, obedi-

morigeration, obedience, deference, obsequiousness. Hence the negative form

ent;

the

(used in

17th

and 18th

morris.

of

A

(1)

morris dance, or a group

The word

morris dancers.

from

is

(16th and 17th was a native form. Persons in

Moorish, but the dance centuries)

costume

of

usually

the

Maid Marian,

Hood

Robin

Friar Tuck,

and

engaged in grotesque and fantastic movements, sometimes dancing from town to town. Southey in WAT TYLER (1817) has: Since we were boys together, and played at barley-brake, and danced the morris. Latimer in a Sermon of 1552 said: Such fellows are more meet to daunce the morrice daunce, than to be admitted to preache. Hence also morris-

more

to carry; the phrase morem gerere meant to comply with a person's wishes. In the

my

See aeromancy.

raoromancy.

stories,

Obedient, submissive. Latin custom -I- gerere, mores)

morigerous*

comfort of

morologie, aeschrologie.

are

about to die salute thee.

mos

tion,

death or extinction. Also, a

person about to

bund world;

communica-

(1596) warns against corrupt

moribund, at

centuries)

immorigerauSy disobedient, obstinate, rebellious; uncivil, rude, Immorigerousness,

rebellious obstinacy; Jeremy Taylor (1649) declared that All degrees of delay are

degrees of immorigerottsnesse.

morris-mate. Cp. fading. variant form of merels; see merel. (2) Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S bell, morris-feast,

A

DREAM

(1590) avers:

ris is filled

mort.

up

There are a half dozen words with

this form,

A

The nine mens mor-

with mud.

all

but the

of

first

unknown

helmet, worn without visor, 16th and 17th centuries. Also

Death; especially, the kill, of a hunted animal. Also, as in to blow a

murren, moriounef murrian, moriam, murreownef and the like; possibly from Span-

mort, the note on a horn at the death of the deer (Scott, Browning). This was a

morion. in

the

ish inorra,

stance of

crown of the head. For an

its

in-

origin.

common word (Latin

use, see stour.

(1)

more,

mortuum, xnovoiogy. Foolish discourse; humorously, the fdeoee that deals with fools* Hence

ally

440

to die)

used to

candle,

since

the

mortem, ;

mean

later

13th

death, it

was occasion-

a corpse.

or a set of

wax

century morior,

(2)

A

candles.

wax 14th

mortifer

jnoul

through 16th century, (3) A 5-year-old salmon. Since the 1 6th century. (4) Lard,

it, and do therein powder of gyngcr, sugar, safroun, and salt, and loke that it be stoncling [hardened], and floer it with powdor of gynger. cookery-book

fort; boils

pig's grease. Since the 17th century, prob-

ably of Celtic origin.

(5)

A

A

great deal, a

large quantity. Used by Sheridan In THE RIVALS (1775) and Dickens in DAVID COP-

PERFIELD

(1850)

hody-moke. cially,

(6)

among

;

a

for

quotation,

tnortrewes of fysshe therto sugre and sail, and serve as other mortrewys.

see

girl or woman; espeand 18th century playwoman. Also mot, mott.

in his translation (1708) ol r Rabelais, speaks of Those whom P enus is said . to rule, as . marts, doxies.

Motteux,

Rogueries of the 16th and 17th centuries several varieties of mart: the walking

list

mort was a vagabond wench; the kinching mort (German Kindchen, little child) was a teen-ager, already old in sin, or a babe carried by a beggar to win sympathy and alms; cp. pedlers French.

tern ,

death

A +

bringer of death. Latin marferre, to bear, bring. Hence

mortiferous, mortific, death-dealing, deathproducing. Used from the 1 6th into the

19th century (mortifer only once* in the Whenever you sin } counselled S. 17th) .

R. Maitland in THE DARK AGES (1844), do not wait in mortiferous security until

(1377),

has

,

forth

Chaucer (1386) and Bacon

won admittance

.

made

4-

yifu f

gift

gi/M-,

the

on the morning after gift the marriage was consummated. As this gift

as

to the wife

was sometimes specified in advance, of

part

the

marriage

arrangements*

moryeve was sometimes used as meaning dowry. Moryeve was superseded, about 1400,

by morning-gift. The practice

ling-

a sign of true love.

ers, as

See simneL

mothering.

A

motion.

puppet show, or a puppet Hence, contemptuously, a person. Used by the pamphleteers and playtherefor.

wrights of the 16th

and 17th

centuries:

Nashe, Jonson, Shakespeare ( TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA; 1591; OJi excellent mo;

TEMPLE

Swift in the

ODE TO

SIR

WILLIAM

used the igure: As in a theatre the ignorant fry, Bec&nss the cords

(1626),

(1689)

their eye?

to

mortreux, mortrews, mortcsse, and more. It seems to have been popular. A recipe is given in THE FORME OF CURY (1390) Mortrews. Take hennes and pork, and seeth hem togydre. Take the lyvere of kennes and of the pork, and hewe it smalle, and grinds it alle to doust. Take brede ygrated, and do thereto, and temper it with the self broth, and alye it with yolkes of ayren } and cast thereon powder

Old English motryen>

being from morgen^ morrow eve,

tion!)

A dish. Mentioned by Langland

the O.E.D., which is not overhospitable to good old English cooking. Also mortrelf morterel", it

.

it

Morning-gift (Scotch, morwyn16th century) See mordelL Moryev has purely a sentimental association with

your wounds putrefy. mortress.

.

moryeve. gift;

.

mortifer.

lists

A

17th

wrights, a loose

of 1430

Wonder

to see the

mo-

tions

to

to

Motion as a verb used fly. propose, to recommend, to

petition;

to

be tempted,

uieiich.

See mooch

mean,

.

:

moul.

An

senses:

to

form of

in both form into a shape. Also muwlen 3 moule^ mowL Chaula the cer uses it in the former Prologue to THE MAN OF LAW'S TAUI

441

earlier

grow mouldy;

(1386): Lat us nat nesse. In a poem of 1789

to

in idei-

D. SIHar

mulcible

moimtance spending your

"siller"

Your pickle cask Will

while ly

it's

fresh:

an moul,

like

ither useless trash.

mountance.

Amount,

value.

Old French

montance; monter, to rise. Chaucer has, in THE MANCIPLE'S TALE (1B86) : Noght

comparison The montance of a gnat. Sometimes also (from the Hth into the 17th century) mountenance, mowntenawnce, mountenesse. Josselyn in AN ACCOUNT OF TWO VOYAGES TO NEW ENGworth

to thee in

LAND (1674)

said:

They

satisfy

themselves

with a small quantity of mealj . which taken to the mountenance of a bean .

would

satisfy

both

thirst

.

and hunger.

Quite a meal!

A

out on*t, will appear

See Hymen's

paste.

a bib.

From

the 15th century. Also mokedore, muckettery mocketer, muckinger. Related to

French mouchoir, handkerchief.

A

Cov-

entry mystery play of 1450 says: Goo horn, . And put a mukador aforn lytyle babe, .

thi brest.

scornful

The Earl of Dorset wrote, In a poem TO HOWARD ON HIS PLAYS

For thy dull fancy a muckinder

To wipe

is

the slabberings of thy snotty

wit.

four aces, kings, or held in one hand (in jacks, queens, the game o glcck, q.v.} . Also mornyfle,

mournaval, mournifal, murnivalf mournevall. The term is from French mornifte,

which originally meant a slap in the face. By extension from its use in the card game, mournwal came to mean a

set of

four, a quartet, as gleek came to mean a set of three. In Jonson's A STAPLE OF NEWS

and the answer: Let a

protest go<e out against Mm. A mournmatt of protests; or a gleeke at least!

A woman-chaser, a "wolf." So Lady Capulet calls her lord Aye, you have been a mousehunt in your time in ROMEO AND JULIET (1595). Shakespeare refers to a woman as a mouse in LOVE'S

mousAuBt.

An

mues.

old form of mews, q.v.

Lowing, bellowing. Latin mu-

mugient.

gientem, present participle of mugire, to bellow. A 17th century word; Sir Thomas

Browne

uses the noun, mugiency.

(1646)

Like Vulcan. Mulciber was

Mulciberian. a

Roman

epithet of Vulcan, the blacksmith, from mulcere, to stroke. Thacke-

THE CURATES' WALK (1847) exclaims: What powerful Mulciberian fellows they

ray, in

must

be, those goldbeaters!

That may be soothed or appeased. Latin mulcere, to stroke, to soothe. Whence also mulcify, to soothe. Used in mulcible.

the 17th century, mollify, to render soft or tender, has been used since the 15th

LABOUR'S LOST, TWELFTH NIGHT, and HAM-

century.

LIT.

whence

moyle.

mydmorn

of

set

(1625) are the cry

til

A handkerchief;

muckender.

fit

torch.

muchquat

melT\ of

(1706):

mournful widow. mouraival.

and the world muchwhat the same thing. Earlier, muchwhat was used as a noun, meaning many matters; in GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (Hth Century), we read: Thus thay meled [spoke; see that the world in a dream,

It

is

from Latin

also the

less?

mollis,

common

soft,

mollition y

softening; mollity, gentleness; mollescent,

See rochet.

growing

mudiwhat. Nearly, almost, "pretty much.*' Used from the 15th to the 17th

soft,

mild; softening, mollitude,

effeminacy, hence wantonness. mollitiouSf effeminate, luxurious, sensu-

softness,

ous; Browning in SORDELLO (1840) speaks especially frequent 1625-1705. Colter (MARCUS AUREUUS; 1701) observed of mollitious alcoves gilt Superb as By440 X AAt

century*

*""""" ,

mumchance

mulier zant-domes the devils

built.

By such

things,

Sanders said in 165$, our earthly sorrows are somewhat mulcified. as R.

drinks were very popular in ancient times, and for several centuries in England, often

being used

to

the

offset

of

bitterness

medicines.

Legitimate (used of a child). Latin mulier, woman, was used in English in the CURSOR MUNDI (1375) to mean

mulier.

wife: Isaac his son of mulier was. In the

and 17th

century, there was frequent opposition, in wills and other documents, of bastard aine (eldest) and mulier puisne

16th

Hence mulierlyy

(youngest).

legitimate offspring, mulierty, legitimacy. In the original Latin sense of

we had English muliebral, perto women; muliebrious, effemi-

the word,

taining

ebrity,

muliebriousness, effeminacy;

muli-

womanliness, womanhood. Hence

mulier ous, mulierme

(four syllables,

ac-

on the mu) fond of women; Reade in THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH (1860) cent

asks: Prithee tell

Used

as

as a

toothless person; a begor nickname in plays f

name

Madge Mumblecrust

ROYSTER 00YSTER

tale-bearer

Shakespeare LOST (1588) has; Some caryy-tale

me; how did you ever

detect the noodle's mulierosityf

.

.

Told our

con-

(in

LABOUR'S

LOVE'S

in

mumble-newes

RALPH

in Udall's

(1553).

A

mumble-news. tempt).

legitimately,

muliery,

nate;

A

mumblecnist. gar.

.

.

,

Some

intents be-

fore.

Silence!

mraisbudget. to

keep

for

a

still

Mum! A command

Perhaps originally the

children's

that

game

silence, as in the crossing signals of

for

Shake-

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

speare's (1598):

name

called

We have

a nayword, how to to her in white,

one another. 1 come

Mum;

cry

she cries Budge tf by another, Butler in HUDIBRAS

we know one

A

mulligrubs.

state of depression or

low

In his mulligrubs; sick of the mulligrubs,, sometimes used of the stomachache. The word seems to have been a spirits.

grotesque invention, but some spellings try to shape it toward meaningful forms:

mouldygrubs,

male-gmbbles,

mulli-

The word was

grumphs, and the like. used by Nashe (1599), Fletcher

(1619),

and Dryden

(1678); Scott in his JOURNAL for 19 September, 1827, said: Surely these

mulligrubs belong to the mind more than the body. Medical opinion tends, a century later, to strike a middle way.

mulse.

water

A or

liquor of honej mixed with wine; boiled together, says

Bailey (1751). Latin mulcere, muhum, 1 6th and 17th century word; to sweeten. see mead. In the same centuries a similar

A

drink was called melicratf meliorate, from Greek meli, honey -f kra-f to mix. Such

shows the

(166S)

use:

full

Have

bones rattled, and this head So often in thy quarrel bledf Nor did / ever winch &r

grudge

it,

For thy dear sake. (Quoth $he:)

Mumbudget. mumchance* (2)

A

(1)

A kind

of

at dice,

masquerade. In the DIURNAL OF RE-

MARKABLE OCCUSO.ENTS THAT HAVE PASSED WITHIN THE COUNTRY OF 5TLAN0 . 1575* we read: At [evening] our .

$werani$

the the QtteniV

chance, in the

and

all

.

Mr Maries

were

all

ckd

in men's apperrelL As the masquerade often a mumming (silent pantomime) to to mean to premmmch&ncff serve silence. Hence, as a verb, to

a noun (3) an adjective, doggedly silent Flatman in to

be

silent;

as

silence, a silent person;

as

cperade; silent,

ACLTHJS WBEKS

(1681): Conscience,

murklins

mumpsimus was so clamorous before,

and

is

mumchance,

says nothing to the matter.

mumpsimus.

An

old fogey; an obstinate

adherent to old and erroneous ways; also, an old notion or tradition pigheadedly retained after it has been proved untenable.

The term became popular

in the

16th century after the story in Pace's DE FRUCTU (1517) of an illiterate priest who

always

said

ore

in

quod

mumpsimus

we now

take into our mouth') ('which in the Mass, and when corrected said: "I will not

change my old mumpsimus for new your stnnpsimus." The priest perthe Old English word to knew haps to to move the jaws as munch; mump,

though chewing; also, to mumble, mutter; to grimace with the lips. The Water-Poet Taylor in URANIA (1615) spoke of a man with Not a tooth left to mumpe on beanes and pease. A mump was a 'mouth* (as made when sounding the word mump) a ,

grimace. In THE LADY MOTHER (1635; Bullen's OLD PLAYS) we are told: Gallants now court their mistress with mumps and

mows as apes and monkes do. Gascoigne in THE SUPPOSES (1575) exclaims: // this olde

mumpsimus then may I my .

.

.

.

.

.

should win herf

farewel the sight of

my Polynesta. Old mumpsimus would put aside young sumpsimus indeed! nmndicide.

Stt

stillicide.

Hence

also

mundiddious, as when Nathaniel Ward in THE SIMPLE COBLER OF AGGAWAM (1647) roundly declared: A vacuum and an exorbifancy are mundicidious evils. Ward had not heard of the H bomb.

To cleanse, purify; to make oneself spruce. Latin mundusf clean. Used from the 16th century; Richardson in

mundify.

CLARISSA

BARLOWE

(1748) has: mundified

from my past iniquities. Hence also mnndtfirf mundificmt; mnndification. .

.

.

mundificative. A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S VADE-MECUM of 1699 recommends a beau new-come to the city to steer to the next barber's shopf to new rig and mundifie.

a poor

larly,

smelling.

then particu-

Offal, refuse;

munduBgus.

of

quality

The word

foul

tobacco,

a humorous twist

is

from Spanish mondongo,

tripe

also

used

in English for a dish of tripe. (Tripe has likewise been turned to disparaging uses.)

The word was sometimes

shortened

to

mundung (17th and

18th centuries), doubtless with a play on the second syllable. Shad well in THE HUMORISTS (1670) pic-

a reveler with a glass of windyin one hand, and a pipe of

tures

bottle-ale

mundungus

in the other.

An officer (into the 17th cenin charge of keeping the city walls

inurenger. tury)

in repair. Also murager, muringer, marmurenger. Latin murus, wall; inger,

Medieval English murager. [There is a tendency to add an n before a g; Greek gg

became ng in Latin

(aggelos, angelus; passage and message the agent-forms similarly developed read in a passenger and messenger.] MUNICIPAL CORPORATION REPORT of 1506:

angel)

English

;

We

The the

charter of

mayor and

Henry VII provides

that

Chester

may

citizens

of

yearly choose . . . two citizens to be overseers of the walls . . called muragers. .

muricide.

See

stillicide.

The word

muri-

form (found only in dictionaries) is given as meaning like a mulberry, from French mure, mulberry, or like a mouse, from Latin musf murem, mouse. The word murine has been used to mean like a mouse, as when Topsell in THE HISTORY OF FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS (1607) Speaks of the murin wantonnesse of Xenophon. murklins. (myrce,

In

merck,

the

dark.

mark,

Murk,

myrk)

,

mirk

darkness.

murlimews

muticous

Common

man

a cabbage ... aw odd fish, an unaccountable mnshin, should never into company without an interpreter.

from the 10th century; ShakeALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL Ere twice in murke and occi(1 601) says: dental dampe Moist Hesperus hath d quench' her sleepy lampe. Also a verb

speare

in

With sum myst

darling, sweetheart. It was also (17th century) a variant form of misken, a tit-

murk.

mouse.

an adjective, as well as murky, murkful, murkish, murksome, mirksome; Spenser In THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) Through mirksome aire

gotten,

by

her ready way she makes,

man chou

murlimews. Foolish antics. A coined word, used in the 16th and 17th century,

mutch.

(1450):

his wittys to

:

frequently in attacks on the Catholics, as (1593) spoke of the

tell

said:

white mutch*

.

m u tch less,

.

.

Mulberry

A liquid measure, about threequarters of an Imperial pint (1 5th cenonetury) or what would you expect? fourth of the old Scots pint. In THANES OF CAWDOR (1591) we find: Item three

color; a mulberry-

morum f mulberry; cp muricide. Such a cloth, from Its popubecame a term larity, then its cheapness, of contempt for a woman, as in Middlecolored cloth. Latin

ton's

MICHAELMAS TERME

no notice of her Jonson, In EVERY

musMngis aquauitye. (1814) has;

.

.

hat.

scurvy murrey kersey. HIS HUMOUR

mutlcous.

MAN OUT OF

A

15th century dish, before the English lost the art of cooking: Take molberjSy and wryng a gode hepe of them

through a cloth;

muskln.

nym ttele

Johnson,

(No. 138; 1756)

:

WAVERLEY

Scott in

whistled the "Bob of Dumbthe influence of half a

of brandy,

(1602) Pit take

had on a gold cable hatband which I wore about a murrey French with (2) A stew of veal, prepared

mulberries.

He

under

lain/

mutchMn

arista.

on

(1599) says: I .

a few

.

the room. Cp. coif. Hence* bare-headed.

miitchkln.

or not. (1)

.

(1884) in her

wund

stood

Good mas-

plainly 3 whether Gemulo win the love of the fair shepherdess,

murrey.

In the 15th, 16th, and 17th cen-

a night bonnet; later, a (linen) for an infant or an elderly lady.

murlemewesf and

Mopso

shall

In French: way, has with which Johnson started.)

Queen Victoria, In MORE LEAVES says; The old mother, Mrs. Brown,

he wrote THE MAIDES

ter wizard, leave these

the

cap

crossings which the papistical priests do use in their holy water, to make a mead"

METAMORPHOSIS (1600),

for-

is

turies,

when Hollyband

If

(A titmouse, in case you've

a tiny bird of several species, including the chickadee hence itself has been used as a term of endearment. So,

also used as

lew muse. Lyly,

In

16th century, howe\er, was used to mean a pretty face; hence, one's the

murk, murken, to grow dark; murk, to darken, obscure; blacken; also used figuratively, as In a Coventry Mystery play

Murk was

failed to provide one.

Johnson himself

.

.

.

in THE Those who

a

grass.

Beardless; awnless* lacking an awn is the beard

Also mutic. [The

head of

The

barley,

arista is the

and other grain or same;

amsta, from the Latin root arhta f most, best. ary society o

school*]

The

the

Arista

New

Hie Bumber

it

was

earlier

ac* is

sharp -tthe honor-

York City high

of maticcms tutors

our leading colleges always They may be mutic, but they are not in

.

.

.

rail

a

mute.

445

mutton

myst

A

mutton.

woman;

loose

tributed to all things. Later, each stream, each tree, each thunderclap, each emo-

see lace. Shake-

speare in MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1604) uses it in this and the literal sense, as Lucio abuses the Duke, accusing him in

tion

its

specific

deity.

Gradually various of these attributes and powers were clustered about a single god, so that his potency was judged by the

one phrase of lechery and impiety (eating meat of a Friday): The Duke, 1 say to thee again, would eat mutton on Fridays. He's not past it yet,, and 1 say to thee he would

number

names. Early Egyptian Isis the ten-thousandof writings speak named, of Isis myrionyma; and in the

mouth with a beggar though she smelt brown bread and garlic* The word was frequent in 16th and 17th century pamphlets and plays; also muttanmonger; and

of

his

KORAN Allah's majesty and might pression in his hundred names. myrtite. used in

in the 17th century there were muttonluggers at Oxford. They are still to be

found

and quality had

Myrtle wine.

find ex-

The drink was

ancient Greece;

the

word has

been English since 1400. In the 17th century, myrtite was advised as an antidote

at universities.

A gibe, a sneering comment. Greek mykterismos; mykter, nose. Used

mycterism.

to snake-bite.

occasionally since the 16th century; listed by Saintsbury, in THE HISTORY OF CRITICISM

myse. Louse. Used (15th century) in reference to the third plague of Egypt in the days of Moses. A York Mystery play

(1900) among the figures of rhetoric: sarcasm^ asteism mycterism, a kind of derision which is dissembled* but not altogether concealed. .

A

mylate.

.

dish.

.

THE FORME OF CURY

(1390) gives a recipe for mylates of pork.

Hewe pork ayren

powder salt

al to pecys,

and

chese

and medle

igrated.

Do

it

with

thereto

sajron^ and pyneres, with a crust in a trape, bake it wel

fort,

Make Cy

and serve

it

forth.

Also mynchen. See minchen.

mynekin.

(1440)

cried:

Lorde, great myses bothe

morn and none [noon] bytis us tirlye* Hence mysely f lousy. myssemetrynge.

A

full bit-

variant form of mis-

metering, spoiling the meter. Hawes in THE PASSE TYME OF PLEASURE (EXCUSACYON

OF THE AUCTORE; 1509) said: Go, lytell boke, I pray god thee save Frome myssemetrynge by wronge impressyon. (In the early days of printing, the script was read aloud to the typesetter.) The prayer

may

still

stand authors in good stead.

aeromancy. Chambers* CYCLOPEDIA of 1727 remarks: Some authors

myst.

A

cian;

one

hold myomancy to be one of the most

inally mystes (Greek mystes; myein, to close the lips or eyes; one vowed to keep silence) . Mystes was mistaken for a plural;

myomancy.

See

ancient kinds of divination; and think it is on this account that Isaiah ( Ixvi, 17)

reckons

mice

among

the

abominable

form myst. Riveley in his (1677) for the Bishop of Norwich said There are few kinds of literature but he was a mystes in them. Mystery is of two sources: (1) as above,

hence

the

Funeral Sermon

things of the idolater.

Having many names. From Greek myrios, countless + onym-f name. In earliest religion, there seems to have been a vague, undifferentiated power at-

mymmjm&m.

priest of the mysteries; a magiinitiated into mysteries. Orig-

meaning in ancient Greece a secret religious ceremony. It was usually used in

446

myst

mythistory

the plural. The most famous mysteries were those of Demeter at Eleusis, the

in stratagem can bring this instrument of honour again into Ms native quarter . *

Eleusinian mysteries. A teacher of candidates for Initiation Into the mysteries was

Our modern

a mystagogne.

From

this

word come the

religious uses, the mysteries of the Passion and the like; also, the meaning, something

hidden or secret (2) Via Medieval Latin misterium from Latin ministerium, service, occupation; used in this sense in English too, as in Chaucer's THE PARSON'S TALE (1B86).

Hence

handicraft,

craft;

guild.

The

.

magicians, however, cannot match the olden breed; let them try as

they may, they'll none of

them be myst.

Legend; history mixed with and tales. Mytho- Is a combining of form, from Greek mythos, myth. the less remembered words in this group

mythistory. fables

are:

mythoclast (Greek klastes* breaker), a destroyer of myths as iconoclast Is a destroyer of images or idols (real or figur-

phrase art and mystery, of cookery, of the trade of woollen draper, etc., was part of the usual indenture of an ap-

ative); mythoclattic.

prentice. Hence also skill, craftsmanship, as in Shakespeare's ALL'S WELL THAT ENOS

mythopoeic, mythopoetic. A Is a maker of myths; a mytkopoet

WELL

poetic

(1601)

:

If

you think your mystcrie

mythoplasm, the crea-

tion of myths; also mytkopoeism, hence

maker of myths.

is

a

N An

nad.

early

had

form o

nadde, nade. Especially

Swimming. Also nay aunt; via Old French noiant, present participle of noire from Latin natare, natatum, to swim; cp. natatile. Used from the 16th

not. Also

common

1300 to

Latin

naevus.

naiant.

1450.

naeve.

A

Dryden

in his ELEGY

spot,

(1649) has: So

our Venus

blemish.

ON LORD HASTINGS

century, especially in heraldry.

soil;

See nowt; yate.

nait.

many spots, like naeves, One Jewell set off with so

To

nake.

strip, to lay bare. First

used in

Also used figuratively, as by Aubrey (LIVES; 1697) : He was a tall, handsome and bold man; but his naeve was

century, 500 years after the adnaked. See nag. Also naken, to jective

damnable proud. Hence

denudes. It occurs in Chaucer and Douglas; Tourneur in THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY

many

a

',

he

that

was

Hth

the

foil.

strip.

naevou$j naevose f maculate.

One

sense of naker, q.v. 3

nag. In addition to the old horse being driven into oblivion by the "tin Lizzie/'

(1607) cries

but once used as a term of abuse for a

naker.

person, as

when Shakespeare

AND CLEOPATRA

(1606)

one that

Gome, be ready; nake your

swords!

ANTHONY Upon Yon

in

CTieS

is

A

kettle-drum.

naqara. Naker meant

denudes; cp. nake.

From

also

(2)

Persian

one that

(1)

nacre.

The drum

ribaudred nagge of Egypt whom leprosy overtake! nag has the still current mean-

occurs only in the Hth and 15th centuries, as in Chaucer's THE KNIGHT'S TALE

Ing, as a verb, to constantly scold, to

(1386): pypes, trompes, nakers,

up a

ounes

keep gnawing pain. The original sense of this word was to gnaw, to strip off

dull

bark or covering;

Its

past participle

was naht, whence probably naked. See nake. The Water Poet (WORKS; 1630) extended the equine nag to naggon: verses

arff

made To

ride every jade,

My But

be ridden, shall not be Nor braved snaffled They nor baffled; Wert thou George with thy they are forbidden

Of jades

to

naggon That jought'st with the draggon, Or were you great Pompey My verse should bethump yey If you, like a jewel, Against me dare cavil.

until revived

A

by

and clariIVANHOE

Scott in

Norman trumpets mingled with the deep and hollow dang of the nakers. (1819):

.

.

flourish of the

.

A state of abnormal deficiency. Greek nanos, stunted. Hence also nanism,

nanity.

the state of being dwarfed. The process of dwarfing trees is nanization. All were used in the 1 9th century. There is no relation with inanity,

from Latin

inanis,

empty.

napron.

The

folk usage, a

448

original form of apron. By napron became an apron.

nar

nayword

Nape

(1

5th century)

Able

naiatile.

napery, napkin (via

,

Old French from Latin mappa,

preserve the n. The opposite transfer occurred (cp. eche) when an eke-name became a nickname. Also see

napkin)

Note that

swim.

to

to swim. Natability

towel,

is

Latin

re-

lated to one's birthday,, one's natal day, from nasci, natus, to be born. And that

means

natal

An early form of near, nearer. Used from the 9th century. Also narre. narrcst,

(Latin), the buttocks.

nath.

nearest.

the nave of a wheel, nathlcss,

An

aromatic ointment, of ancient the plant that yielded It. See spikenard. Wycllfs BIBLE (John, xii; 1382) tells that Marie took a pound of nard.

use;

also,

oynement

or

spikenard }

trewe

float.

natalitial,

valanche. nar.

natare,

the capacity to

A

related

nates

the

to

contraction of hath not nathe,

nevertheless.

(From the 9th Into

the 19th

never

nathemore, nevermore; century.) the more, nather, neither. See nath.

natheless.

nardef See atomy,

precious. Poets like the word, from Skel-

natomy.

Your wordes be more swefcr ton (1526) than ony precyous narde to Browning

navigator. A laborer working on a canal or other earthwork (18th century); shortened to natvy. When Bob, in THE

:

(PARACELSUS, 1835)

Heap

:

cassia, sandal-

buds and stripes Of labdanum y and balls,

nare.

aloe-

TICKET-OF-LEAVE

Smeared with dull nard.

A

from the 14th century, but mainly in 17th century verse,

GRAMS There

and

as

In Jonson's

every nare olfact

EPI-

Butler's HUDIBRAS (1616):

(1616) is a Machiavilian it

plot,

nawight,

.

puts

is

mishappe that nas remedie* (3) never was (ne'er was) Chaucer, in THE MAN OF LAW'S TALE (1386): No where so busy a man there nas And yet he seemed busier than he was. pittied

An

early

they

come

early form of

to

wight,

form of mat. Used in

be churched."

(2)

nayword. use, as IE

An

IB

the

direction

"

*8

of

reject.

nayf in

THE

(1)

Refusal, saying nay.

A late

BLACK WOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGA-

be no a A me. watchword!, from (2) naywofd password. Used Into the 1 9th century; ZINE of April 188: There

not, used by Chaucer, Lang-

as I saw nat these vtt ycre.

hard unto her,

tendency to

land, Lydgate, and (1575) in GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE: JVay, but I saw such a

wonder

see

WINTER'S TALE (1611): He be would belscve my saying^ H0w ere y&v leane to th' nay ward.

the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, espethe wyves to knele on cially of natts "for

when

Mm

naywaxd.

.

(1)

also

Accepting no refusal. Sylvester THE MAIDEN'S BLUSH (1618) said: Like a naylesse wooer7 Holding his cloak^

.

nat.

But

in

.

For

old form of naught Also

nayless.

:

:

An

nawiht.

ihwite.

Chaucer, In (1) was not (ne was) BOETHIUS (1374) I nas not deceived, quod sche (with a double negative) (2) has not (ne has) Spenser, In THE SHEPHERD'S

CALENDAR (1579)

who

detective." See ticket-of-leave.

nawighte.

Though

not.

iias.

(1863) WOndeTS

warning of the burglary plot, the drunken navigator nearby that he will. "Your" "I, Hawkshaw, the

Usually in the plural;

nostril.

MAN

will deliver his

first by THE MERRY WIVES OF WINM0H

apparently

(twice)

in

(1596);

449

needfire

neaks

mumbudget. Shakespeare also seems word in the sense of a laughinga byword, as when Maria in stock, TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) says of Malvolio: // 1 do not gull him into a nayword, and make him a common recreation, do not

common

The

51sT

see

of the

to use the

PSALM begins, in English: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transin his GLOSSARY (1872) gressions. Shipley

mentioned the deputy of the bishop

think I have wit enough to lie straight in my bed. Some editions print this as an

ayword; wherefore THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE (1777) says that nay word meaning a byword 15 probably a crasis [combina-

an ayeword.

tion] of

See sneaks.

neaks*

See nowt.

neat.

also neatherd, a

Hazily confused.

A

19th

apt description. Mac-

donald (MARY MARSTON; 1881) spoke of the altogether nebulochaotic condition of her mind. Note also to nebulate, to be-

come cloudy or vague, nebule, a a

mist,

CRIPPS

cloud, a

mental cloud; Blackmore THE CARRIER (1877) Spoke

not.

An

verse,

old song, reprinted in THE BRITISH

He

(Well prompt) his necknever could fail to escape.

or render indefinite.

By

extension

(Sidney In ARCADIA, 1578; also in Latin), a nebulon, an Idler, a worthless fellow.

neciaL alis;

Like nectar; fragrant. In TO HIS MISTRESSES (HESPERiDES, 1648) Herrick let them smell says: For your breaths too,

Ambrosia-like, or nectarel. Also nectareous, nectarious, nectarous, full of or like nectar; nectarean, nectarian, as verses

of

Funeral, sepulchral. Latin neci-

necem, death.

See aeromancy.

nectarel.

in

nebules of logic, dialectic fogs, and thunderstorms of enthymem. To nebulize, to

become

on WINE

(1708)

:

Gay

A verse

(usually the first verse of the 51sT PSALM, in Latin) the reading

of which saved one's neck.

the

Biblical

anointed, and

By

virtue of

text "Touch not mine do my prophets no harm"

any person in holy orders brought before a secular court (later, any one that could read being thus potentially a cleric) could

plead

privilege

of

clergy.

The

Bishop's commissary, always present, pro-

nounced Legit (he reads) A branding on the hand might then be inflicted, instead ,

in his

Choicest nectarian

juice crown'd largest bowles.

necyomancy.

See aeromancy.

Fire produced by the vigorous

needfire. friction of

dry

wood

(as

when

the

Boy

Scouts imitate the Indians). In the 15th and 1 6th centuries (and later) such a fire

was held to possess magical properties, especially for the healing of cattle.

neckyezse.

.

but rehearse

Hence

of

.

APOLLO (1710) satirically ran: // a monk had been taken For stealing of bacon, For burglary, murder, or rape, If he could

necromancy. century word

.

appointed to give malefactors their neckverses, and judge whether they read or

cowherd. nebulodiaotic.

felon's hanging.

Thus

an extract from the PRESBYTERY BOOK OF STRATHBOGIE

(1644) informs us that It was regraited by Mr. Robert Watsone that ther was neidfire raysed within his par-

ochin

.

.

.

for the curing of

to take needfire, to start to

cattell.

Also,

burn spontane-

ously; Stewart in his translation (1535) of

THE BU3Z OF THE CHRONICLIS OF SCOTLAND wrote: That tyme his stalf, in presens of thame all, it tuik neidfire richt thair into his hand. Scott, in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805) used the word to mean

450

,

nef

nepenthe

The ready page with Awaked the need/ire's slum-

bonfire or beacon

hurried hand

and

bering brand has persisted.

The nave

nef.

to

some extent

that use

of a church. French nef;

Latin navem, ship. Also, an incense-holder shaped like a boat; also called (1 5th and 16th centuries) navet, navette; and (19th century) navicula (Latin, diminutive of

navem, ship) Also, nef, a silver or gold vessel in which napkins, saltcellar, etc., for the lord's table were kept; every officer of the household, said Maria Edgeworth .

In

HELEN

(1834)

,

making

reverential

To name, to call, Common from die 9th to the

nemn.

to

mention.

15th century.

Forms Include nemny, rnempnenf nempe^ nemptf from a Gothic form namn y name, Spenser has, in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590):

Much a

Or

disdeigning to be $o rnisdempt,

nempt. In Brittany, the English storyteller ends his to

war-monger

tale

be

(1320; cp. levedi), the harpers

And nempned

a lay of gode likeing.

after the king: that lay *Qrfe0* is [past tense of hight: called]. God lay,

swete

the

is

note.

Orfeo out of Ms care. alle wele to fare.

is

Thus

it

the Sir

God graunt

ous

obeisance as they passed to the nef.

A

nemophilist*

Abominable, unmentionable. Latin nef not -f fandum, what ought to be spoken, gerundive of for, fan, fatum* to speak. Nefandous was used from the

nefandous.

17th into

the

in the 15th

19th

century

and 16th

(Southey) ; centuries a shorter

as

lover of the woods (such

Wordsworth)

.

From Greek nemos,

glade philoSf loving. [Not to be confused with Latin nemo, nobody, used as a name, Captain Nemo^ by Jules Verne, -f

and

Hence Hence nemoml^ nemopkilouSf nem@phily* in

an

early

comic

strip.]

form was used, nefand* The printer Cax-

related to or frequenting groves or woods;

ton in 1490 cried out against a grete,

nemoTQ&e, nemorons, woody, "shadowed and dark with trees/* Evelyn In SYLVA

horribyle, cry me.

and

nephande,

Note that

ineffable

detestable (cp.

effable)

has developed the opposite connotation, of something good beyond the power of

words to express, as ineffable happiness. Unspeakable usually has unpleasant connotations; unutterable may swing with the emotions, either way.

neghtsom.

Propitious.

form of nighsome,

q.v.

A

13th

century

Used in the

trans-

lation of the PSALMS.

A

17B2), Master of the Horse under George Walpole said in a letter of 4 August,

I.

and

Montagu understood the dialect, ordered a negus. The wine was

usually sherry or port.

planted by

God

nenuphar.

An

himself*

early

name

for the water-

word* though now or yellow varieties, white to the applied is roundabout from Sanskrit m/, blue 4-

lily

still

used.

utpala,

lotus.

HELTH

(15SS)

Qlette$>

mixture of hot water, sugar, negus. and wine, sometimes otherwise flavored. Named after Colonel Francis Negus (died

1753:

(1679) said that Paradise itself was but a

kind of nemowus temple, a sacred

The

Elyot in

THE CAOTEL OF of w-

reconamemis nmipkerf or the

of

pomegrana tes. nepenthe. A drink that brings forgetfulness of woe. Also nep^nthe^ Referred to in Homer's ODYSSEY

makon) and ever since, a

favorite 0! poets,

In TOT Spenser to Shelley. WORLD (1754, No. 92} aid; Cotton* of the Mm. Tke nepenthe wwld be lost

451

nesh

nephromancy

more he

drinks, the duller

he grows. Shel-

ley associates the plant

nepenthe (which yields the drug) with moly and amaranth, in EUPHUES (1580) inquires: q.v. Lyly that herb nepenthes that Where is .

.

.

procure th

all delights? delicious oblivion,

nephromancy.

A

neroly.

perfume; also the essential

oil

made

from, distilled from the flowers of the bitter orange. Developed in the it is

17th

century

jessimine,

1676

sweet bringer of

/

have

and marshal;

and named

after

neroli,

tuberose,

said Shadwell in

an

Italian prin-

cess.

Neronize.

See aeromancy.

nepos. A grandson; a nephew. Also nepote. Directly from Latin nepos, nepotem, which in Latin came also (by

nescient.

See Neroic. Ignorant. Also nescious. Latin

a spendthrift.

be ignorant; ne, not + scire, to know. Hence nescience. Used since the 17th century. Carlyle in SARTOR RESARTUS

Hence

English nepotation, riotousness. Nepotious, over fond of one's nephews.

(1831) speaks of the miserable fraction of science which united mankind, in a wide

Nepotism, now applied generally to favoritism, was first applied to the Popes*

universe of nescience, has acquired.

granting high posts to their nephews "or other relatives/* says the O.E.D., nephew

nescock.

being at times a euphemism for an unacknowledged son. (The Popes, of course, could not marry.) Symonds in his brilliant

home.

natural descent)

to

mean

Study Of THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE (1886) speaks of the most brilliant display of

nescire, to

child)

A

fondling; a bird (then a that has never been away from

Originally nest-cock, also nestlast-hatched bird in a nest.

cockle, the

nesebeck.

A

medieval dish, apparently

duck prepared with flour and ground figs. Please notify me if you experiment

of

nepotistical ambition in a Pope.

successfully.

nepotatioii. Riotous wasting. See nepos.

A

sea-nymph, a mermaid. Three The more usual form of the syllables. word, especially when reference is to neread.

Roman

or Greek mythology, is nereidf from nereides, children of Nereys, an ancient sea-god. Cowper in RETIREMENT

common word (Gothic hnashas qus, soft) gone through many shifts of meaning, from a basic sense of soft in

nesh.

This

texture or consistency. Thence: tender, the nesh tops of the young

succulent

hazel Slack, negligent, lacking in energy or diligence; timid; tender, gentle, mild.

fashion leads, Now in panting on the meads.

(1781) speaks of Nereids or dryads, as the the floods, now

Hence, easily yielding to temptation, inclined to wantonness Wyclif in his version (1382) of the BIBLE. Tender, delicate, weak (George Eliot, THE MILL ON THE

Nerolc Related to Nero; C. Claudius Nero, Emperor of Rome, 54-68 AJX Also Neronian, Neronic. To Neronize (from

I860). The phrase in nesh and hard means under any and all circumstances. Also from the 9th to the 16th

the 17th century) : to label as resembling Nero; to corrupt like Nero; to tyrannize over like Nero. Hence also Neronist, Nero-

century, nesh was used as a verb, to make soft Ripley in 1471 counselled the

num.

FLOSS,

women: Nesh not your wombe by ing ymmoderately.

452

drink-

ness

nidget

A promontory, a cape (of land)* Also naeSy nessef naisse; nase; related to nose, nese. From the 12th century to the ness.

17th, later in Scotland, nese

was used for

nose; in the 15th and 16th centuries, it was also used for a headland. Also nese-

end, tip of the nose; neselong, face downwards (i.e., the length of the nose) ; to 17th century Jonson, THE SAD SHEPHERD, 1637 tO Smell. BEOWULF nese, in the

has naess; Morris in THE EARTHLY PARADISE (1868) says: We stood Somewhat off

shore to fetch about a ness.

neuf.

nouf from Latin nodum, ant of nievej

POETASTER neuft.

A

fist.

q.v.,

cries:

Via French neu,

knot. (2)

A vari-

Jonson in THE

Reach mee

thy neufe!

variant of newt; an ewt;

,

A

novelty, something new; news.

nought he deemed deare for the

less.

See eche. In Kingsiey's HYPATIA

Various other meanings have been attached to this form: a cheater; an 18th break Loncentury hoodlum, who used to don windows by throwing coppers at them; also, usually in the plural, the of marbles knickers) ; also* a

LOST (1588) the King break your eye

Queen

retorts:

you should

The mrtue of the my mth

says:

You nickn&me

ham

virtue: vice

spoke.

See conniciation,

niddering.

Newgate Calendar. in HENRY iv, PART ONE has, Shakespeare Falstaff: Must we all march? Bar(1596):

1

mention by mistake or to assert wrongly, as when in Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S

nictate.

Newgate. The name of a noted London have been recorded prison, whose inmates the

to (Hood, 1845; Ruskin, 1877), related Newgate, with a pun on nugatory, worth-

Jewell.

See fangle.

in

Newgated, confined in Newgate; Newa there; Newgatory prisoner gateer,

1813: The fool Shelley in QUEEN MAS, whom courtiers nickname monarch) or tO

roundabout from Latin nucem, nut, which means the central post of a winding stair, and other such items in carpentry and architecture.] Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; MAY) tells: He was so enamored with the newell That

1773

Newgate knocker* a lock of hair curled back from the temple to the ear. Also

in BI-

15th century variant of novel; later, also newell; newelry, a novelty; neweltry, newness, novelty. [There is also a newel?

since

frill (-fringe),

beard under the chin;

through 19th century; Coleridge OGRAFHIA LITERAWA, 1817; Byron, in DON 1602: JUAN, 1824; Shakespeare in HAMLET, You lisp, and nickname God's creatures;

A

newfangle.

strip of

nidoaame. See eche. As a verb, nickname also is used to mean to misname (16th

FAIR (1614) Thou' It poyson mee with a neuft in a bottle of ale, will't thou? newel.

narrow

(preferably a horse's neigh. person's snicker,

eft.

Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) uses ewftes. What! exclaims Jonson in BARTH-

OLOMEW

a

we End: "What is a nicor^ Agilmundf* "A sea-devil who eats sailors."

A sword-knot.

(1)

gate bird, jailbird; Newgate

(1853)

See anether.

nether.

formed from the term, among them: New*

nicker.

See natk.

netheless.

dolph: Yea, two and too, Newgate fashion wore style). Several compounds

(chain-gang

xudexlrag.

Sec

Sec nithing.

form (16th to 18th cennidget. An old idiot. Sometimes used, later, to tury) of

mean a

45$

triler.

Tooae

(1834)

quoting

nieve

nigon

Camden

(1605) states that the word then 'refused to come

(1) Cramped handwriting. CharM. Yonge in THE DAISY CHAIN (1856)

niggle.

meant coward, one who

lotte

to the royal standard.* He quotes, however, for the sense idiot (an idiot becom-

said that Ethel's best writing .

right disjointed niggle

.

.

a

was an upstill

wilder

MIddleton and

combination of scramble, niggle, scratch,

Rowley's play THE CHANGELING (1621): 3 Tis a gentle nigget; you may play with

about, in a trifling or ineffective way; to

ing

a

him

nidiot,

nidget)

,

as safely as with his bauble.

and crookedness.

Hence

be overly

critical; to cheat.

nidgery> foppery, trifling foolishness; nid-

late with.

getty, trifling.

lascivious

A

nieve.

fist.

A

Common

since

the

13th

ducing work.

trifling

To draw

nehyen,

neigh

farmer)

and the

your neafe, Mounsieur Mustardseed; HENRY iv, PART TWO: Sweet knight, I kisse thy neaffe.

Hence nieueful

(nieffeful, etc.),

a handful. nifle.

A

trifling thing; titious story. The word,

Chaucer

a foolish or

recorded

THE SOMNQUR'S TALE

fic-

first

(1386):

In

He

(as

like.

Nighsome (q.v.) Hence nigh-

someness.

nighsome. Favorable, gracious. Also neghsom, neghtsom. Latin prope, nigh; hence in the 13th and 14th centuries, propitius,

nigher

(therefore favorable), lated nighsome.

See nyghtertale.

together with

nightingale.

See sigalder.

trifle.

Hence, a flimsy gar-

trifling,

of

little

worth.

A

mean or miserly person. Also nigon. Used from the 14th Into the 16th

Big.

century, this form was replaced by niggard. Langland, Chaucer (negarde; in

THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, 1366; A full gret fool is he, ywys, That bothe rich and and Shakespeare passed the nyg&rt is) word on. Hence also niggardess, niggar$

disef niggardness, niggardship,

niggardliness; niggardize.

niggardy?

Caxton in

his

UYES OF THE FATHERS (1491) tells that among the brethem there was one, which &m men/eyllously scarse and nygardouse (niggardovs).

nightshade.

See dwale.

The

was

trans-

berries

of

different varieties of nightshade are narcotic or poisonous. The deadly nightshade Is

also called belladonna (beautiful lady);

It is extracted atropine. The juice of belladonna enlarges the pupil of the

from eye,

enhancing its

its

Wmslow

attractiveness

vision; love

ening was often used in

is

but weak-

The word as when O.

blind.

figuratively,

THE INNER LIFE (1850) de-

dared: Satan has ever sought to engraft the deadly nightshade of error life-giving

Rose

upon the

of Sharon.

See nig. of Sir Bevis says

nigon.

The

15th century tale

Thus men shall teche other . Of mete and drynke no negyn to be. Hence also nigonry, nigonship. .

See nig.

a

handy; favorable, gracious.

mghtertale.

Also nifting;

copu(a)

nigh. Also nighen } in neighbor, near

served them with nyfles and with tryftes was, especially from 1550 to 1650, used

ment

To

or over-detailed or minute

nighm.

me

(3)

therefore

move

one who works

(b)

nieff neve, nive,

MIDSUMMER

or to

(especially in the arts), pro-

nef, neave.

nwf neyf, nave, naive, neuf. Cp. Shakespeare in A NIGHT'S DREAM (1590) : GtV6

is

niggler

person;

ineffectively

century; recently only In dialects. The word appeared in many forms, Including

To work

(2)

454

.

nigromancy

nipperkin Early form of necromancy.

nigromancy.

See aeromancy. nigs.

See sneaks.

mm. To

A

take.

very

nem

form; the root

is

common Teuton related to

Greek

nemein, to possess. Found in English into the

1 7th

century, in the various senses of and to take off,

take, including to steal, to steal away. Gay, for

example, in THE

BEGGAR'S OPERA, has: / expect the gentle-

man about

this snuff-box, that Filch nights ago in the Park. Hence nimmer, a thief, especially a petty one;

nimm'd two

nimming,

pilfering; taking bribes.

The

nimbification.

of process cloud, nimbm,

formation. Latin

however, has shifted

its

sense

cloud

Nimbf

from cloud

to halo; nimbated, provided with a halo.

An

nimfadoro.

effeminate fellow. Prob-

ably a humorous or contemptuous elongation of nymph. Jonson in EVERY MAN

OUT OF HIS HUMOUR (1599) brisk

nimfadoro

is

that

queries: What in the whit

A

blue-and-white young man* Francesca

di Riminij miminy-piminy, je-ne-sais-quoi young man. A bit more coarsely, the form nimpy-pimpy has been used. And Hazlitt remarked (1884) There w&s no

pimininess about Johnton said

nine-worthiness.

ninnvbroth.

Coffee.

A

.

.

group of

coffee

HUDIBRAS RE-

drinkers

DIVIVUS (1705) remarked: Their consciences they With ninnybroth.

nlpcheese. A purser of a ship. In the 18th and 19th centuries. Also, a mean,

niggardly person. Used as an adjective, as when Sala In LADY CHESTERFIELD (I860) to

this

candle-end

nipcheese,

a nlpcheese. So,

in

,

.

Is

principle.

one also

this

A

a skinflint. So is

sense,

mean

a

a

bay may nipper, though a quick lad; a pickpocket one ; of the ?erb. that nips, IB various

helper

nipper. See nipchctse. Nipper^ other things, meant handcuffs and pinceinto nez eyeglasses. To nipper* to custody.

century.

niminy-piminy. Mincing, affected; lacking in spirit or vigor. Found first in THE MONTHLY REVIEW (1801), a smirking

countenance and mimeny pim^ny lisp, A reduplicated imitation of mincing speech. Used by Leigh Hunt, Thackeray, Stevenson,

18th

mer; Urquhart in Ms translation (165S) of Rabelais preferred ninnywhoop. Of a

is

,

and

1 9th century, came ninnyish; mimnyism; ninnyship. From the 16th century, a thorough simpleton was a ninny ham-

From

in his syllable, with long i. Coleridge TABLE TALK for 2 June, 1834, said There u in all Germans. Hence a nimiety nimious, excessive, used since the 1 5th

17th

in the

nimiety.

famous phrase of Terence, nequid nimuy nothing too much. Nimiety is pronounced in four syllables, accent on the second

He

See worthy.

saving, pebble-peeling . pebble-peeler^ of course,

Excess, superfluity, redundancy. Latin nimis, too much, as in the

.

century term. Ninny, a simpleton* is probably a shortening of an innocent. From it,

referred

virgin boot there?

.

.

what h^ thought

and remembered from

PATIENCE (1881)

:

Gilbert's

A Japm&t jwn^ man,

for liquids, A small containing no more than half a pint; also* that amount of liquor.

Bippetiin.

the

1

7th century. Hardy In THE

KILLED

(1914)

me$ By set

says:

Had

old

m

nipperkin.

inn,

10 vff*

m

ke &nd I but

We a

noctivagant

nippitate

A

nippitate.

fine

or

ale,

other

good

of prime liquor; hence, as an adjective, or Italian endquality. Also with Latin

nippitatum; the most frequent, nippitaty. Nashe, in SUMMER'S LAST WILL (1600) complained that never cap ings, nippitato;

of nipitaty in London came near thy niggardly habitation! Urquhart in his translation (1695) of Rabelais, sums up one

Weltanschauung (another nearly forgotword! The world has grown too small): 'Tis all one to me, so we have but good bub and nippitati enough. ten

Brilliance, splendor. Latin nitor, brightness; nitere, to shine. Hence nitid, shining: all her nitid beauties. Also

nitor.

nitidity, brightness, trimness.

A

nix.

nobody. Nix!

In

(I)

Keeping nix, keeping nobody will surprise one. Ainsin ROOKWOOD (1834) coined a phrase which has been copied by Hood, Thackeray, and more: Nix my dolly, pals,

watch worth

a

chuck

which frequents barns

nixie.

Scandinavian

goblin,

friendly

folklore,

and farmhouses. Identified with the Scotch brownie and the German kobold. (2) An early contraction of is not, also none is; cp. nys. Used from the 9th century; by

so

hatred.

Envy,

Also

a verb,

and

oppress.

and

word; tury,

it

later

in

is

related

A

able wretch.

Thus

envious,

base coward, a most despic-

A common

Teuton word.

of the th (Saxon thorn), the form niddering developed, the O.EJD. says in 1596; Bailey in 1751 gives the

By misreading

forms niderling and niding. Scott, reviving the word in IVANHOE (1819) speaks of threatening to stigmatize those &t home as nidering.

who

staid

mean

A

water-nymph. See eche. This

THE PIRATE

in

(1821)

:

She who

sits

Is subject to the nixie's

Cp. couth. Nocent was used from 15th into the 18th century, rather

the

rarely later. Also nocence, nocency. From Latin nocentem, harmful; nocere, to hurt,

whence not only innocent but innocuous. There was no English form nocuous, but harmful was represented by nocible (15th

to

Also nytherian, nithful,

three words

nocent.

century, Caxton), nociferous

is

dialects.)

nidder* nether. malicious.

nitMng.

(This

first

spell

to

perhaps a different was used until the mid-1 6th cen-

nether^ lower,

The

never mind.

by haunted well

envy, to hate. A common Teutonic form, used in English into the 14th century. Also to nither, to thrust down, abase,

humble;

it,

form, a diminutive of nix, q.v., was first used by Scott, in THE ANTIQUARY (1816)

Spenser; by Sidney in ARCADIA (1586): Nothing can endure where order n'is. (The introduction of the apostrophe marked the dying of the form.) withe.

nichts, nothing) nothing, as a signal meant some-

coming.

body's

fake away. nis.

See eche; nixie. Also

water-elf.

German

(from

tury,

Evelyn), and

(18th cen-

nocive, nocivous (16th

and 17th centuries) T. Adams in THE FATAL BANQUET (1620) has: / would iniquity was not bolder than honesty, or that innocence might speed no worse than nocence. Milton in PARADISE LOST (1667) speaks

of

nocent

yet,

Adam

before

the

fall:

Nor

but on the grassy herb Fearless,

unfeared, he

slept.

noctivagant. Wandering by night The accent is on the ti, short i. Also, noctivagou*. Noctivagation was prohibited and punishable by fine where there was a

curfew, as in

456

.

many towns

into the 17th

noie

noil

For a sample of

century.

its

use,

see

are gathered (s.v. Sports Technicalities) in Eric Partridge's useful USAGE AND

expergefadent. noie. noise.

As a noun,

slander,

especially report, scandal. Hence, reputation. Towneley

A

Thou

has an

An

making a

sound.

Thus from Chaucer

Coleridge,

agreeable

(1366)

THE ANCIENT MARINER the sails

It ceased; yet still

pleasant noise till noon, a hidden brook. ($)

A

A

as

noise in the

(2)

(1009):

The

going through the

made on A (of

one

any musicke. The widow answered no, they were merry enough. "Tut" quoth the old man, "let us heare, good fellowcs, what you can doe, and play mee The Beginning of the World" "Alas" quoth the Widow, "you had more need to

ending of the world'* quoth hee, "I tell thee the beginning of the world was the begetthe

"Why, Widow"

ting of children, and if you finde mee faulty in that occupation, tume mee out of

bed for a bungler" Although it is perhaps the most popular in actual use* a noise of musicians is one of the large thy

"nouns of assemblage" originally Ironic in intent, such as a a gaggle of gossips, a frown of critics, a babies, of dampness prowl of proctors, a charm of fairies* a duty of husbands, a series of

humorous or

many

of

to

Ms own ground: he u

.

a noli-

me-tangeretarian. There are f also, women of the sort. Noli me (Latin: Touch

smell of the venison,

questionnaire of wives

Try not

.

fidlers,

to

stands

Touch me

though saying: move me! Landor In his EXAMINATION OF SHAKESPEARE (1864) dedared: // a dean is not on his stilts, he not!

stands on

musitians in tawny coates, who (putting off their caps) asked if they would have

hearken

flatterers

that

rigidly firm, as

noise like of

street, will invite

One

noli-me-tangeretarian.

or other. In Deloney's JACKE OF NEWBERIE (1597): They had not sitten long, but in comes a noise of

noyse of

soon suffer a whole noise of man's levee.

to

musicians). This was a frequent 16th and 17th century use; Jonson in THE SILENT

WOMAN

enough)

(modestly

at a great

(1798):

company

of

lexi-

a covey of partridges. Wycherley in THE PLAIN DEALER (1674) protested: / cou'd

or melodious

world.

and

young people

yll

noys of stelyng of shepe. Occasionally, high, repute, note,

(or a pest)

cographers, but includes a galaxy of milkmaids, a gush of poets* a superiority of

in special senses: (1)

Mystery of 1460 said:

omits a

punsters and an obsolescence of

evil

rumor;

He

ABUSAGE.

Also noy. See noyaus.

wMdi

me not;

used in the BIBLE: JOHN, 20

?

when

the resurrected Christ appears to Mary Magdalene) has had several uses: (I) an eroding ulceration of the face; hence, an

abomination.

Smollett

in

HUMPHREY

(1771) says: She's a noli me in tangere my flesh, which I cannot bcdr to be touched. (2) Someone or something

CLINKER

not to be tampered with. Whitlock In no Z00TOMIA (1654) said: Learning such

me

noli

account ing to

(5)

A

in the Apostles of Christ appearpicture

tangere,

Mary Magdalene.

(4)

A

warning

against meddling or interfering; this sense may still f>e used.

Unwillingness, Used in the 1 7th century as the converse of volition* Latin

nolition.

to

nolle,

be unwilling.

Precisely,

in

A

ABOUT TOE HUMBLE ENDEAVOUR ACTIONS OF MEN (1690) Corbet pointed out that between volition and nolition there is a middle thing, viz. nonjvolition. .

noil.

The

usually

457

in

.

.

top of the head;

good4raxnauFcd

the bead,,

scam;

the

noit

ilooscopy

noddle. Also nowl, noul, knoll, nole. See a double o knoll, totty. Noll is really

summit applied to the head. It was used from the 9th century; later often in the phrase drunken noil; hence, by transference, a nol^ a drunken fellow, a stupid fellow. By the 16th century, it was usually top,

associated with drunkenness, as in Spen-

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) Then came October full of merry glee; For yet his noule was totty of the must. The word

ser's

is

:

also

played

upon

in

and

Who

talked like

A

nolt.

wrote like an angel, poor PolL

variant form of

nowty

from the 15th century; in the

q.v.

Used

19th,

by

Carlyle.

Occasion, purpose. The word occurs only in phrases: for the (very) nonce, for the particular (present) purpose, on

nonce.

purpose; hence, temporarily. In Middle English, and archaically later, often used

a

as

metrical

of

vague meaning, rhyming with stones and bones (banes), Thus, in a ballad of 1400: The lyon hungered for the nanesf Ful fast he etc

raw

fte$$

and

of 1832:

poem

tag,

banes. Leigh Hunt, in a

A

nonplus, the state of being nonplussed, at a loss. Used by Shakespeare for

stitute

in

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

cup of good Corsican

it at once; Or a glass of old Spanish neat for the nonce. The word nonce a transfer (like a newt for an ewt, etc)

tinctively dogberrial.

nonesopretty.

pins and

(that)

;

in the nonce, at that

moment,

at

all sorts,

needles, inkle

A

nonesuch. leled.

YET?

court esie. bids:

Richardson in PAMELA (1741) to bed, purity! you are a none-

Come

such, I suppose. Occasionally the word is used of something unequalled in a bad sense, as in HickeringilFs

OF MAN-CATCHING

(1681):

society.

Abounding in Thus Shakespeare

(1599): A slobbry that nooke-shotten to

nook means

to he dozing at the -very nonce, After a

spent training for the sight! A nonceword, a word created for the nonce, for

nooks, points in HENRY v

and a durtie farme In He of Albion.

The

verb

to hide in a corner; to set

in a corner, conceal. Since in

enemy English

(1855): Fool,

THE HORRID SIN These are the

great plagues, the nonesuch pests of all

ment Thus Browning,

TO THE BARK TOWER CAME

spinnel.

person or thing unparal-

the Constable of France

ROLAND

nonesopret-

and

Thus Rowlands in MORE KNAVES (1613): The very nonesuch of true

once; at the very nonce, at the very moIB CHILDE

is

Also a flower; see Hymen's torch.

of land.

on condition

it

being displayed. There were 1700: webb-cane and leather

hooping, gartering of ties,

feminine

and 18th

still

in

listed,

of 1 7th

article

By some other name,

centuries.

doubtless

nook-shotten.

once. Also with the nones,

An

adornment, worn in the

Does is

We

noncome. The speaker is Constable Dogberry, whose command of words is dis-

Is

from Old English for than anes, for that

(1599):

will spare for no witte I warrant you: heere's that shall drive some of them to a

im-

Garrick's

promptu epitaph for Oliver Goldsmith: Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll,

A standstill. Perhaps a humorous shortening of non compos mentis, not master of one's mind; perhaps a sub-

noncome.

are

on

HENRY v

speaking, while his soil, the editor is

(G. B. Harrison) may have a point when he explains nook-shotten: "pushed in a

corner;

i.e.,

remote and barbarous."

life

that particular occasion.

nooseopy* Examination of the mind. Pronounced with the first o long, the second

458

nona

nother

A sense of superiority on the part

short but receiving the accent. Also noos-

nosism.

copicsf neology. Greek noos, mind; cp. nous. Bentham in 1816 divided nooscopics

of a group, Latin

on the

(accent

into

scop)

ego,

A

of the (1819) said that the other luminaries of the Lake School is at times extravagant enough, and

or buckets that were filled below and emptied when they came to the top. Townsend in his JOURNEY THROUGH SPAIN (1792) said: Every farm has its nona. Knight in his DICTIONARY OF MECHANICS pots

earthen

pitchers

true Spanish

secured

enough

withal. Don't

This

nostoc.

is

you know such

it

appears also as

Bailey in 1751 gives is a genus of unicellular algae, interestingly defined in Charl-

nostock;

nostoch,

nostick. It

but more

two

folks!

the form of the word as

coined by Paracelsus;

nona has

between

employed to name the

ZINE

via Spain from the Arabs. It consisted of a revolving rope or chain of

The

group what The word

BLACKWGOD'S EDINBURGH MAGA-

singular.

came

(1875) said:

the plural of

is

to a

practice of using the "editorial" we, of employing a plural for an ordinary

device for raising water from a well; the device as well as the word

noria.

also

is

we,

is

an individual.

to

is

egotism nosism

plasioscopic

and cocnonesioscopic. These two words should be forgotten.

7205,

thus nostsm

1;

ton's translation (1650) of

Van Helmont's

ropes which pass over a wheel above and cool and refreshare submerged below,

PARADOXJES:

ing drink!

nocturnall pollution of plethoric&ll and wanton ster, or rather excrement

A

An old form (used by Chaucer) of nourice, which is an old form of nurse. Hence also* in the 15th century, norry, to nurse; also as a noun, norry, a foster-

blown

norice.

nostoch

the

the n@$trills of some rheu... in consistence like a

fwm

matick planet gelly, find so

trembling

if

touched. Also

called, until the 19th century,

slough^

or star-shot gelly ... a substance that from the stars.

child, a pupil-

Education. An old form, from Middle English nortour, nurture. Chaucer in THE REEVE'S TALE (1386) has: What for her kynreed and her nortelrye> That she had lemed in the nonnerye*

falls

nortelry.

A

15th century dish of various ingredients, garnished with nuts: Take the smal notys and breke theme;

noteye.

hem whyte

kymellys and therwith thin mete

nosegay. ter to

A

make

sentation of

bunch of

flowers;

what

pleasant, especially to sight, taste, or smell.

nthm

forth*

See

nothdess.

drop in the house of as pretty raspberry as the lost ever was tipt over tongme couples we had here* they mid it was &

'dale

God grant you many sudd

authentic, spurious. Greek Used In the 18th cen-

spurious.

y

nother.

.

Not

nothaL

of the elect; Swift (1738), of a choice flower in the nosegay of wit. Goldsmith in THE GOOD-NATURED MAN (1768) : I hoVC a

perfect nosegay.

,

tury.

T. Hawkins (1626) spoke of the noseg&y

.

.

bet-

the nose gay? Also, a reprethis. By extension, anything

.

*

A

variant form of:

mm

(becoming a notker) ; no neither (earlier variant, nouther). Tinr

other

la

(1531):

love

4m-

Ms

We

Biblical

Bcjwrnofc^

... love y*m

me one more

off

novercal

nothous

poem WARE THE HAUKE

Skelton in his

A or r

(1539):

TOXOPHILUS

yet dronken Bacchus; nother

Olibrius, nor Dionisyus.

English, 1551)

Spurious. Nothous words are not infrequent, in various dictionaries; the supplementary volume of the O.E.D, gives list

causes of still

of them. Nothous seems to be one of

such spurious words; cp. nothaL variant form of nothing. used as an adverb, often was Nothing at all. For an instance, see Often the phrase nothing at all was used; then nothing meant not. Thus, in

meaning not sloth.

Ralph Roister Doister

the letter

needs that pluck.

A

noule.

(in the

play of that name, by Udall; 1553) has sent to the wealthy widow: Sweete mis-

variant form of noil, q.v.

Greek

This

nous.

A

nothynge.

,

mynde the pernitious originall vice and noughtenes. The world

out of hys

nothous.

a

spoke of men's sellMore in UTOPIA (in of my endevour to pluck

(1545)

ing noughtie wares;

word

for

intellect

(nous, noosy mind) was used in English, 17th into the 19th century, for common sense, intelligence. Pope in THE DUNCIAJD

Thine

(1729):

many

a house}

is

genuine head of divinity without

the

And much

a nous. Also Byron in I>ON JUAN (1819). story in THE GRAPHIC of 8 November,

A

am

1884, said: I

glad that

my people had

whereas I love you nothing at all, Regarding your substance and richesse

the nous to show you into a room where there was a fire. In early 19th century

For your personagef beautie, demeanour and wit I commende me unto

head.

tressef

chiefe of all;

you never a whit. Sorie to heare report of your good welfare wherein the misplaced punctuation naturally enrages the deare coneyf birde, sweteheart, and pigany to

whom

the would-be love letter was

addressed.

An early form (used of now. Also now the.

nouthe. cer)

novation.

Whimsical,

full

of

notions;

headstrong, obstinate. So used in the 19th century. More rarely, In the 17th, notionate was a verb

meaning

to

come

at

by

A

notionist (from the 17th century) was one that formed notions (Lamb, in a letter; 1825: such a half-baked notion-

thinking.

ist

as I am), especially

odd or

notionist,

and

rich

in words.

notighteness.

edness

Worthlessness. Hence, wick-

which has

ness. Similarly

lost force in naughti-

noughtief worthless, hence

wicked, has become naughty.

in Scotland

Hence

word

mean a

from

in BUSSY D'AMBOIS

to

revolu-

also novator, novatrix; ]. B.

Rose in his translation (1866) of Ovid's METAMORPHOSES said Nature the novatrix

remoulds the frame. Also novaturient

(17th

desirous

century),

of

novelty

or

change.

crotchety

one that held extravagant religious opinions was a high notionist Sewel In his HISTORY OF THE QUAKERS (1720) CXideas;

dalmed upon a high

common Chapman

(1607) uses the tion.

by Chau-

A simpler form for innovation.

Novation was 1560 to 1650;

notionate.

nous box was the

(university) slang, the

Ascham In

novelant.

Also

novelist,

novelism.

See

novity.

novercal.

Relating to, or resembling, a stepmother. Latin noverca, stepmother (from the root nu, now) . Also novercant, behaving like a stepmother; the Rolls of

Parliament of 1472-3 wished to kepe in . . their noble actes, pryn-

remembrance cipally

4m

in

.

execution

of

justice,

ayenst

novity

nudification

novercant oblivion, cnnemy to mcmoryc, Also (16th century) noverk, a stepmotlier. novity. An Innovation; novelty, newness. Used since the 15th century; especially common In the second sense In the 17th

Latin

novitatem; novus, new. century. Via Late Latin novellum, new, novel,

came a group of English words: novelant, a newsmonger; novelist, an innovator

common

In this sense in the 17th a newsmonger; navelism, novelry, newness, novelty. Steele in THE TATLER (1710) and Goldsmith In his HISTORY (very

century)

,

OF ENGLAND (1764) the

sense

of

still

bearer

used novelist in news.

of

Morgan, in ALGIERS (1728)

word he

mean

to

When

used the writer of a novel (story) first

felt It necessary to explain:

Such op-

portunities of gallantizing their wives, as the French and other novelists, I mean novel-writers,

A

novum.

would

game

insinuate.

of dice in which

the

were nine and five. mentions it in LOVE'S LABOUR'S Shakespeare LOST (1588) Abate throw at novumf and the whole world againe Cannot pricke out

principal

throws

:

five such.

nuial,

In

Sometimes singular, a bullock, an ox. A common Norse term; Old English neat, an animal of the oxkind, used in English from the 8th Into Cattle, oxen.

19th century. Also nolt. Cp. tate. William Morris, In JASON (1867) said The herdsmen drove Full oft to the

When

from Latin nucem f nut. Canning (1797) exclaimed; This

THE ROVERS

cherry-bounce, this loved noyau, forever be.

and noun, noy, noie, trouble. An early form of annoy^ annoyance* though traced via Old French nuire, noire, to Latin nocere, to harm; cp. nocent. Also

ment, noyance, noyant^ noying.

A

nubia.

the head

mean

word

is

neat

(i.e.,

Old There

related to

neut-, to possess.

sheep. The Teutonic naut-f

clean)

is,

from

this,

an

English word

nait (14th to 17th century), to possess, to use, to enjoy. Cp. pestle; vendible.

nowthe.

Now. Used from 1200

Also nouthe.

to 1400.

soft fleecy shawl, or wrap and neck, popular In the

for late

19th century. Latin nubcs, cloud. The CONFESSIONS OF A FRIVOLOUS GIRL, 1881, records:

Emerging therefrom* five my nubia and snowy wrap

later, in

.

.

.

Readiness for marriage, Latin nubtSy c!oud y veil; whence nuberef nvptum, to don the (marriage) veil, whence

nubility.

also English

Nubile means

nuptials.

(a

of marriageable age; the other forms, however, have brought Into English only girl)

the primary sense: nubilation, cloudiness; nubilate, to cloud over, to render obscure

used figuratively)

bringing,

;

In

as

nnbiferons, cloud-

nubilose,

obscuring;

vague

cloudy,

nubilous,

Peacock's

MELIN-

COURT (1817): Pointing out innumerable images of singularly nuMl&us

Many tmgant

(accent

journeying noddle. to press

ner (of

find

airplanes

Cheiron woolly sheep, and neat, he did not

My

See annoyous. Also, as both verb

noyous.

(also

nowt.

A

brandy liqueur flavored with the kernels of fruits, Old French noyaif

noyau.

themselves

on the second

among

nuM-

syllable),

clouds.

To

push or rub with the to the ground In this mananimals); hence (of humans}* to dose

grovel. nullification.

The

nudifiert however,

A

act of laying bare. for i an early

is

nudist, applying mainly to dulges in

1

one that

in-

nuncheon

nudiustertian

Of

niidius tertian.

day. Latin nudius dies

tertius

the day before yestertertius, short for it

(est),

is

now

the

Triviality, trifling. Latin

nugax,

Hence also more often

sense in 19th century English. trifling;

nugatory , nugatorious, worthless; nugament, a trifle, a trifling opinion. Myles Davies in his ATHENAE BRITANNIGAE (1716) scorns the quisquilian

nugaments. (Cp. nugator (17th century), a

quisquilious.)

trifler, a worthless fellow; nugate, to act foolishly or to talk nonsense. There may

remarked Henry More in REMARKS ON TWO LATE INGENIOUS DISCOURSES (1676), but there is no nugality be some

difficulty,

at all

nullifidian.

+

fides,

A

sceptic.

Latin nullus, no

Cp. minimifidian. Used

faith.

in

heaven born and nummicultivated genius.

trivial; nugari, nugatum, to jest, the talk nonsense. The Latin fool, play word nugae, trifles, was used in the same

nugacious,

Marlowe down

third

nugacem,

nugal,

stroke that slew

his

day. Used in the 17th century. The nudiustertian fashions are already old.

nugacity.

The dagger

nunc

the 16th century; Scott in OLD MORTALITY (1816) says In their eyes, a lukewarm Presbyterian -was little better than a Prelatist, an anti-Covenanter, and

twenty-ninth

year,

struck

a

nummary, nummular, nummulary, pertaining to money; nummular-

Hence

also

ian (15th century), a money-changer. Also, in Motteux* translation (1694) of

Rabelais

your

numms

Large heaps of

numm,

largest coffers

nummulary.

See

to

fill

a coin.

nummamorous.

nun-buoy. A buoy (especially one fastened to a ship's anchor) widely circular in the middle and tapering toward each end. Used in the 18th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries, a child's top, also a fisher's cork float, of this shape was Mae West, on the other called a nun.

A

hand or

(20th century),

a life-preserver the center,

is

toward

buoy

tapering the hour-glass shape affected (during the 1890's) by the type of character the actress Mae West represented, es-

named from

"Come up Diamond LiL pecially

'n'

see

me

sometime"

since

turns

A

world without unity, that

upon no

intellectual

or spiritual

Coined in the 19th century; Latin nullus, no, in place of uni-, one -f vertere, versum, to turn. The world, said William MIND (1882) is pure incoherence, James center.

m

a chaos, a nulliverse, to sway I will not truckle.

numb.

whose haphazard

nummamorous. Money-loving. Latin nummus, coin 4- amorous. Also nummiculture; nummicultvwted. Charles Reade in THE EIGHTH

then

COMMANDMENT

it

(1860) Said:

slight

refreshment

of

moved ahead and became

equiva-

luncheon, its own hour being given over to afternoon tea. From Middle English none, noon + shench, draught, cup. See shenk. Also nonsenches, to

nunchings, nuntions (usually with a final the 17th century) ; nuncion, noneshyne, nunching and nunch. Jane Austen in a letter of 1808 wrote: Immediately 5 until

after the arrival,

See benim.

A

liquor, originally taken in the afternoon;

lent

a nullifidian. nulliverse*

nuncheon.

noonshine which succeeded their party set off for Buckwell.

a

Urquhart in his translation (1694) of Rabelais, says there is no dinner like a lawyer's and no nunchion like a vintner's. A monk's nuncheon: "as much as another man eats at a large meal." Defined by

Johnson (1755) 462

as "a piece of victuals

nuncle

nympholepsy

eaten between meals", nuncheon has been

like

used also by Scott (NIGEL; 1822) , Browning (PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN; 1845). Luncheon was first used in 1580. Lunch

formed in

(first

used in 1591, translating Spanish piece of ham) meant a

lonja de tocino hunk, a piece;

f

it

may be

a variant of

lump (note hump and hunch) defined luncheon: "as

was often an

among

ef-

air.

nyggyshe. A variant form of niggardly. More in UTOPIA (1551) said that there

nothynge is distributed after a nyggyshe nother there is anye poore man or

sortj

begger.

Johnson

.

much food

A

variant form of nighternyghtertale. tale, the night-time. Always in a phrase: a, by, of, on, upon, with, (the) nighter-

as one's

hand can hold". These two words replaced nuncheon for the snack between breakfast and dinner. There was for a long time no formal noon meal, though there

diagrams in sand, and figures

afternoon

tale,

by night, during the night. Chaucer THE CANTERBURY TALES

in the Prologue to

(1386) has: By nyghtertale He more than dooth a nightingale.

dinner,

the non-working classes, at three,

and a supper about ten. The Almacks Club in 1829 declared the word luncheon unsuited to "polished society"; Macaulay in 1853 objected to the detested necessity

nym.

A

sleep na-

variant of nim, to take. For an

illustration of its use, see murrey.

nymphlin. A little nymph; a charming lass. Graves in EUPHROSYNE (1773) Wellpleas' d she sees her infant train Of :

of breaking the labours of the day

World War

luncheon. Until

I

by (says Ar-

nold Palmer in MOVABLE FEASTS;

many London

business

men had

1952)

only a

wine and a biscuit between breakfast and dinner. A genuine old-fashioned nuncheon. glass of

nuncle.

A

variant of uncle.

Used

since

the 16th century; by Shakespeare in KING

LEAR (1605)

.

to dedicate (a work to someone). (will) Latin nuncupare, nuncupatum, to call; ;

+

capere, to take. Hence also nuncupation, the act of designating;

Usk says tion.

THE TESTAMENT OF LOVE (1388) that images ben goddes by nuncupain

More

frequently used in the adjecnuncupative (accent on the

tive

form,

nun

or the cue)

,

Jeremy Taylor in (1660)

oral;

his

nympholepsy. This word is forgotten less often than its meaning, as it is often used

when nymphomania

is

intended.

Nymph-

a state of rapture inspired in men by nymphs; hence, an urge toward something unattainable. De Quincey in olepsy

is

OF THE LAKES AND THE LAKE POETS (1839) said: He languished with a sort of despairing nympholepsy

his RECOLLECTION

Also nunky.

nuncupate. To call out, to name; to vow. Hence, to make an oral statement

nomen, name

nymphlins sporting on the plain.

nominal, so-called.

DUCTOR DUBITANTIUM

warns against leaving important

items unwritten: Nuncupative records are

And

after intellectual pleasures.

Bulwer-

Lytton in GODOLPHIN (1833) said that the most common disease to genius is nympholepsy the saddening for a spirit that the world knows not. Hence nympholept; Bulwer-Lytton in RIENZI has:

The

very nympholept of freedom, yet of of knowledge, yet of religion! rell in

OBITER DICTA (1884)

:

power and Bir-

The nymph-

olepts of truth are profoundly interesting . . history. Also nympholeptic. figures in .

Thus

a nymphomaniac is a sessed with sex; a nympholept

and often

463

ascetic

man.

woman is

ob-

a devoted

nystagmus

nys nys.

A

variant of nis, none

is;

is

not

Used from the 10th into the 17th century; Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CAIXNDAR 1579) says: Thou where nys to be found.

(MAY,

findest

fault*

/ spy a nysot gay, That wyll syt ydyll

nystagmus

A

terlude

MAGNYFYCENCE

wanton

tion>

Originally a variant diminutive of nice. Skelton in the ingirl.

(1520) has:

Where

_ 464

.

A

constant

an ina bility to (Sdn used more

drcmsiness;

^

medicine.)

nysot.

all

the day.

drowsy.

Also

Greek

squinting;

a

fix one's atten-

specifically,

nystagmic,

nystagmos,

in

nystallic,

drowsiness;

nystagma, a nap; nystaxo, to nod, to be sleepy.

oaf.

ob.

See ouph.

A

ing a falsehood for the sake of obtaining something, obreption, seeking something

Hebrew obh, a Short for obolus, a Ro(2) coin; used in English of a halfpenny. (1)

wizard.

man Thus

in Shakespeare's

(1596) Pointz reads a

HENRY

iv,

.

.

.

list:

rep ere, to creep.

is

.

decent.] Also obserate, to lock up; obstipate, to block or stop up, to stuff, to pro-

.

but one half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack! (3) In the phrase ob and sol, abbreviated in old books of

and solution; therefore, subtle disputation. Burton in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621) Speaks of divinity: objection

a

converse of this

subreption, seeking something by suppressing the truth. [Obscene is from ob 4- scaena, stage, scene: not to be put on the stage, in-

PART ONE

Item, sack, two 5 s. anchovies and 8d.; Item, gallons sack after supper ...2s. 6d.; Item, bread ob. and Prince Hal cries: O monstrous! .

The

+

from ob

deceit,

by

necromancer.

thousand idle questions, nice distincobs and sols. An ob-and-

tions, subtleties,

soller is a subtle disputant, as in Butler's

HUDIBRAS

(1678) learned scholars

and-sollers.

(4)

died; used in

To

pass for deep and Although but paltry ob-

:

ob. Abbreviation of obiit,

lists

(mental, moral, or obstreperate, to make a loud Sterne in TRISTRAM SHANDY (1765)

constipation

physical)

noise has:

;

thump obstreperated the with the end of her goldheaded

Thump

abbess

.

.

.

cane against the bottom of the calash. Other forms of this word survive, e.g., obstreperous. Obstupefaction is an emphatic

form of stupefaction. Obtemper, ob-

temperate

(since

8th century, some earlier) words, as an intensive, or with the meaning, in the 1

direction.

Thus

(Chaucer)

obombrid, clouded over. Among words thus formed in English are obacerate, to stop one's mouth, 'shut one up'; obambulate, to walk about; obcaecation, blindness (mental or moral) ; obdulcorate, to sweeten thoroughly; obnubilate, to hide or cover as with a cloud, used also of mental obfuscation; obreptitious, contain-

1 5th

the

century),

to

obey, comply. Ob umber, to overshadow, obscure (Chaucer's obombrid) ; but ob-

umbilate

is

to indicate the date of

a person's death. (5) ob-. The Latin preposition, used in many words as a prefix; also in many English (17th and

opposite

duce

obnubilate-,

obv elate,

to

probably a scribe's error for obumbrate, to overshadow; veil

over,

obvele. Obvolve, to

up, disguise. als ob, as

if:

to

conceal,

also

wrap around, muffle

In the German phrase

(6)

the philosophic

and

aesthetic

Hans

Vaihinger, formulated in 1878, the idea that things should be doctrine of

accepted

'as

if they were so.

obeliscolydmy. er.

Greek

A

light-house; light-bearobeliskos, a small spit (whence

also -obelisk) + lychnion, lamp-stand. Accent on the penult, like. Motteux in his translation (1694) of Rabelais says: We

were conducted

465

.

.

.

by those obelisco-

ocivity

obganlate

The

of

with lychnys, military guards of the port,

obstriction.

high-crown* d hats.

Amyraldus' TREATISE CONCERNING RELIGION shows the background of a current Soviet practice: It was never lookt upon as unjust

To annoy

ofoganlate.

with needless rep-

Latin obgannire, oggannire, to

etitions.

or strange, for those

gannio, to bark, snarl. Hence obganning (16th century; plural, obganat;

yelp

nynges)

,

translation

one

who

(1660)

are ob stringed

another by those bonds

to

in the

punishment

to

partake

of their relatives.

needless, seemingly endless, repe-

obsurd.

tition.

To

deafen; to dull the hearing

Used in the 17th century; but absurd argument still obsurds the legislaor the wits.

The

obliterature.

act or fact of

doing

away with, or of so being done. Replaced by obliteration. G. Hickes in TWO TREATISES ON THE CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD (1711)

tors of the world.

Occamism.

The

doctrine of 'the invin-

William of Occam, of the half of the 14th century. Occam's

spoke of a perfect obliterature of all injuries. Comic books may also achieve a

cible doctor/

perfect obliterature.

razor, the principle of parsimony, the advice that the simplest explanation that

To

obnaunce.

first

announce that the omens

nouncing of bad news or the dissolving of the

To obnundate

is

ill

means

Copernicus deduced by applying Occam's razor that the earth revolves about the sun; how much more complex best.

omens; hence,

(Roman) assembly.

the mathematics to explain

defined, in 17th century

dictionaries, to tell

ill

the 15th century, survives. (2) Dutiful in performing funeral services; appropriate

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) ; (2) in TITUS ANDRONICUS (V iii 152) and in HAMLET: The suwiver bound In filiall obligation

.

.

.

To do

dawning

To

bind.

Hence

under

put strict,

+

pleases

The word

is a corruption of alchemy, by was sought to convert base metals into silver and gold.

which

it

ochlochracy. Mob-rule; government by the mob, as for a time in revolutions.

Greek

ochlos, crowd; cp. ocracy. Sloth.

Via French from Latin

ocium, otium, ease; whence also otiose;

to

Cp. otiation. In English, otium is occasionally used; Thackeray in PENDEN-

constrict,

etc.),

obstrictive, obstriction. Mil-

Him

honour chivalry.

obligation. stringere, strictum

ton in SAMSON AGONISTES (1671) God hath full right to exempt it

of conventional

ockamy shield of

obsequious sorrow.

Latin ob, upon, over

(whence also

spirit

the

gilding

ocivity.

obstringe.

the sun

earth!

occamy. An imitation silver; hence, a base metal. Also used figuratively, as when Sir Francis Palgrave in 1857 spoke of the

Submissive, compliant (1) obsequious. to another's will. This sense, in use from

facing -f sequi, to follow. Shakespeare uses the word in both senses; (I) in THE

how

and planets revolve about the

news.

to obsequies. Both words and meanings are via French from Latin ob, towards,

all the points, or the simplest of attaining the desired end, is the

covers

are unfavorable (as might a Roman magistrate, thus preventing or voiding some public action) . Obnunciation, the an-

by choice

From

tells

that

Whomso national

otious

(17th century), leisurely, idle, at

ease.

NIS (1849) says: Mr. Morgan was his otium in a dignified manner,

enjoying

surveying the evening fog, and enjoying a cigar.

466

ocker

oenologist

Scott (THE MONASTERY; 1820) and others have used the Latin phrase otium cum dignitate, dignified ease. The term otiosity

usually puts more emphasis on the idleness, the state of being unemployed. This

form was earlier ociositie; Caxton in POLYCRONICON (1482) spoke of alle thoos men whiche thurgh the infyrmyte of our mortal nature hath ledde the moost parte of theyr lyf in ocyosyte, rebukingly; but Thackeray in VANITY FAIR referred with but mild satire to a life of dignified otiosity such as became a person of his

eminence.

Odd!

lates:

(odsoons),

more

See oker.

ocracy.

Usually a

ment by named in

(the

meaning governparticular group or class

the rest of the word, as trade-

has

ocracy, bureaucracy), ocracy (like ism) been used as a separate form; for instance, in THE SPEAKER of 14 July, 1894:

Erect the great pillar of human brotherhood on the ruins of all the ocracies.

odzooks

and

(hooks')

many

In some cases as in Shakespeare's THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR the od's may be short (1598): od's me

for

God

save.

od, a supposed force

(2)

nature, especially manifest permeating in magnets, heat, light, and mesmerism. Postulated by Baron Von Reichenbach all

(1788-1869) and widely discussed if not accepted in the 19th century, before electricity (as in atomic energy) moved the

Hence suffix,

many

fantastic.

notion ocker.

warm blood about me

I have

Also used in

phrases, mainly as a possessive: od's bodikins, od's wounds

yet.

more

into

channels.

scientific

odic, relating to the force called

od; Reichenbach photographed odic lights. The form was used in compounds to indicate specific aspects of the universal force: biod, the pervasive force in animal life;

chemod; heliod

Elizabeth

LEIGH of

the sun), etc. Browning in AURORA

Barrett

(of

mentioned That od-force still from

(1856)

German Reichenbach Which

female finger-tips burns blue. ocreate.

Wearing boots. Also ocreated. used as an historical term, being

Ocrea is Latin for the greave or legging of the Roman infantryman and countryman. Ocreate is still used in botany and

ornithology, of formations like leggings or boots; the nightingale is an ocreate bird. :

To

eyes on. Latin oculus, eye. In the play EVERY WOMAN IN HER HUMOUR (1609) we hear of Diana bath-

oculate.

set

ing herself, being occulated by Acteon. Oculation also meant the same as inoculation, to

put in

the

'eyes' of

od.

A

(1)

little

eyes or buds

(like

a potato).

euphemistic

shortening

of

God, used in mild imprecations, especially in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Congreve in LOVE FOR LOVE (1695) ejacu-

odam.

A son-in-law. From the

10th to the

13th century. Don't swear!

odontomancy. oeiHade.

A

See aeromancy.

glance; especially, an amor-

ous glance, an ogle. Directly from the French; also oeyliade, aliad, eliad, illiad, and more. Shakespeare uses the word in

KING LEAR and in THE MERRY WIVES OF

WINDSOR (1598) : Pages wife . my parts with most judicious oenologist.

A

.

.

examined

illiads.

connoisseur in wines.

The

forms oeno, oino, from Greek oinos, wine (oine, vine) are used interchangeably in various English words, including: oenogen (gas), the fumes of wine (Peacock in

MEUNCOURT; 1817) oinomania, mad craving for wine, the mellowest form of .

dipsomania, oinophilist, a lover of wine.

467

olive-branch

oenomancy oinopoetic, relating to wine making; inspired by wine. In ancient Greece, an

was a vessel used for dipping the wine from the big bowl oenochoe

and

(inocko-ee)

to

relating

Hence oenanthic,

the cups.

filling

(specifically,

in

chemistry,

having the characteristic odor

With

of)

wine.

varied courses, serve the apt oenan-

thic treasure.

See aeromancy.

oenomancy.

A

oenomeL

drink,

wine

+

wine

meli, honey.

with

Used

by Elizabeth Barrett BrownThose ing (WINE OF CYPRESS; 1844) memories Make a better oenomeL :

.

,

mean abundant,

to

plentiful, as

:

have old turning the key. This sense also appears in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR,

MUCH ADO ABOUT

NOTHING, THE MERCHANT

OF VENICE, and News! old news! THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. In KING LEAR, in Edgar's song on the heath, old is used for

olio.

A

dish,

Portuguese,

figura-

as

atively,

came

wold, forest, wooded downs; open country.

mixed

honey. Favored of the ancient Greeks; oinoSj

old

in the quotation under blowen, and when // Shakespeare has, in MACBETH (1606) a man were porter of hell-gate, he should

.

originally

made with

and meat and

Spanish

pieces of

fowl, bacon,

pumpkin, cabbage, turnips and what more you will, stewed or boiled and highly spiced. Spanish olla, Portuguese olha (both pronounced olya) Latin olla, pot. By extension, any dish of many ,

An

form of anoint. Via from Latin ungueref unctum, to anoint, whence unguent, unc-

oint.

French

early

oint; oindre,

in TANCRED (1847) spoke of an olio of all

tion.

oker.

To

increase by interest (of money); to lend at interest; to take interest. From

the

12th

to

the

15th

usually mentioned as an abomination or a crime. century,

usury. Old English wokor, increase, related to Latin augere,

Also

as

a

noun,

auctum, to grow, increase, whence also augment and auction. Also ocker, okyre, ocur, ockar, okker, and more. Hence okerer, usurer,

one that takes

interest for

lending money. Lyndesay in 1552 links fornicatoris and ockararis; Skene in 1609 recorded: All the gudes

and

geir pertein-

ing to ane ockerer, quhither he deceis testat or untestat, perteins to the King. old.

ingredients; see hodgepot. Thence applied to any heterogeneous mixture; Disraeli

Among

the meanings at one time

acquired by this common old word, from the notion of long practice and experience

came to mean experienced, skilled, as when Defoe said in COLONEL JACK (1722): The Germans were too old for us there.

it

And from

the notion of long continuance

ages and all countries. Especially, a mixture or collection of various artistic or pieces; a musical medley. The Duchess of Newcastle in 1655 wrote a book literary

The Worlds Olio: Nature's Picdrawn by Fancie's Pencil to the Life. THE SATURDAY REVIEW of 7 June, 1884, exentitled:

tures

plained a

new form: The second

minstrel show

is

the

e

olio*

part of a

and

this

is

only a variety entertainment, of banjoplaying, clogdancing, and the like. Current burlesque revivals of melodramas of the 1890's usually add an olio that in-

cludes acrobats olive-branch.

and singing (1)

A

waiters.

token of peace or

good-will, a peace offering. This meaning is drawn from the BIBLE: GENESIS 8, when

the dove returns to

Noah on

his ark,

bearing an olive-branch, a sign that the Lord's wrath was slaked. (2) Usually in the plural; olive-branches, children. This from the BIBLE, PSALM 128 (Coverdale's

is

version, 1535:

468

Thy

children like the olyve

omittance

ongm

braunches rounde aboute thy table). Jane Austen in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1796) re-

The

ported:

about

.

.

.

rest

of

his

letter

his expectation of a

is

only

young

olive-

spirit, soul.

Relating to dreams. Greek oneia dream, has been used for a number of English words. Among these, we may oneiric.

ros,

branch.

A

century. Greek omphalos, navel -f psyche,

:

note: oneirocrisy, oneirocriticism, oneirocritics, the art of interpreting dreams;

Eating raw flesh. Hence Greek omos, raw 4- phagia, omophagist. eating. The omophagia was a feast of

hence, an oneirocritic, onirocritic, such as Joseph in the BIBLE; also oneirocrite, a judge or interpreter of dreams, oneiropompist, a sender of dreams; one that makes another dream (Greek pompos,

omittance. omission.

Shakespearean form,

Used in AS YOU LIKE is no quittance.

IT

for

(1600)

Omittance

omophagous.

Bacchus, whereat the frenzied celebrants tore apart live goats, and ate their steam-

ing

entrails.

THE PALL MALL GAZETTE of

13 December,

1884, recorded

a

woman

that cut from the victim's palm a piece of a literal omophagist. flesh and ate it raw

A

favorite dish of today's omophagists is

Steak Tartare, chopped beef eaten raw with raw onion.

One who

omophore.

shoulders, as Aeneas

from Troy.

Greek

bears things

on

the

his father Anchises,

omos,

oneiroscopy, oneiromancy, see aeromancy. Another term (15th century) for divination by dreams was sompnary.

sending)

shoulder

-f

oner.

.

To

burden. Also onerate. Latin

onerare, oneratum, to load, burden; onus, oneris, a burden. Onus is a current English

word. Also onerous-, earlier forms of

the adjective were onerable, onerarious, onerose. Hence, onerosity. An onerary century) was a ship of burden; oneration (17th century) was the action of loading; especially, of loading the

(18th

phoroSj bearing. Tylor in PRIMITIVE CULTURES (1871) mentions the gigantic omo-

stomach with food. Hobbes in LEVIATHAN

phore of the Manichaean cosmology. Hercules became an omophore for a day, in Atlas' stead. Many mythologies have

onerations of the body. In the sense of onus, burden, fault, developed also the still current exonerate, to unload, to dear

world-bearing creatures; elephants, and other sturdy omophores.

DANDSLL; 1545)

turtles,

(1651)

spoke of

all

onerations and ex-

of fault Joye in his EXPOSITION (BOOK OF exclaimed: Behold with

how few omoplatoscopy.

See aeromancy.

omphalomancy.

Foretelling will have,

children a

woman

how many by the num-

ber of knots in the unbilical cord of her first-born.

Greek omphalos, navel. Also,

the gaining of mystical insight by steadily contemplating one's navel. See aeromancy.

omphalopsychite. lengthy

A

person that induces

(and perhaps hypnotic)

reverie

single pure and easye instituChrist ordened and not onered his cyons churche.

onfang. To receive, accept; to receive in the mind, conceive; to conceive (a child); to undertake.

14th century.

Used from

The EARLY

the 9th to the

ENGLISH PSALTER

(13th century) sang: In wickedness onRanged am I, And in sinnes me onfong mi mothre fortly.

ongin. To begin. Very frequent until the 13th century; the form agin remained Also omphalopsychic. Used in the 19th 469

by

steadily contemplating his umbilicus.

opimian

ongle the

until

14th;

thereafter,

include

replaced by

cp.

begin.

A

ongle. gula,

claw. French ongle; Latin unclaw, talon; diminutive of

open

his ongles

he took the

Used

into the

weep:

readily

rat.

much

volving

in-

hard-working; elaborate

labor,

(as of a

painting or writing). Latin opus, operis, work; the plural is opera, whence

style in

from

watery

full of tears

peeling

oph.

See ouph.

(as

See serpent (3) Hence also ophicleidist, a performer on that instru-

onions).

.

ophicleide.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA Shakespeare (1606) says: Looke they weepe, And 1 an in

am

eggs;

the Metropolitan. to

Ready

weeping; with the eyes

though

Laborious;

operose.

17th century.

onion-eyed.

from

divination

See medlar.

etcetera.

hoof,

unguis, nail. Caxton in his printing (1484) of Aesop's FABLES said of the lion: within

asse,

ooscopy,

aeromancy.

ment;

also,

ophicleidean f relating to

onyon-ey'd.

ophiomancy. onomancy, onomatechny.

See aeromancy.

See aeromancy.

opiate; opium. Also opye, opi.

From Latin opium; Greek

See aeromancy.

onydhomancy.

An

opie.

it.

opion, poppydiminutive of opos, vegetable juice. Chaucer uses the word more than once,

juice,

Ever, aye. So given by Herbert Coleridge in his DICTIONARY OF THE OLDEST WORDS (1863) , with reference to Wright's 00.

SPECIMENS OF LYRIC POETRY (of the 13th century) . The O.E.D. quotes it from

Wyclifs BIBLE (REVELATIONS; 1382) as a word pronounced long o for Greek omega, the last letter of the alphabet: I am alpha and oo the bigynnyng and the endyng. (The Greek alphabet has two forms of the letter o: omicron, little o,

and omega, great o

like

Great Glaus and

Little Glaus in the fairy-tale.) oologist.

A

collector

of birds'

eggs;

a

country boy. Hence oologize, as Lowell in MY STUDY WINDOWS (1870) The red . squirrel, I think oologizes; I know he

e.g.,

THE KNIGHT'S TALE

in

clarree

cotikes

(1386)

maad of a certeyn wyn Of and opie of Thebes fyn.

:

A

ner-

A maker; a workman. (Accent on the pif.) Also opifex. Latin opus, work, and the forms fex, fie, from facere, to make, do. Thus opifice, the making of a work; the thing made, as an edifice (which has survived). The words were opificer.

used mainly in the 17th century, though asf late as 1761 Sterne in TRISTRAM SHANDY said: So many playwrights and opificers of chitchat have ever since been working

upon

.

.

.

my

uncle Toby's pattern.

:

.

Greek oon (long o followed by short o; two syllables), egg. Newton in the 1875 ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA obeats cherries.

The greatest scientific triumph of oologists lies in their having fully appreciated the intimate alliance of the

served:

Limicolae with

Rich;

opime*

.

the

Gaviae.

The many

words with the prefix 00- (two

syllables)

plentiful;

splendid. Also opimous.

sumptuous;

Henry More in

MYSTERY OF INIQUITY

(1664) spoke rebukingly of those great and opime preferments and dignities which thy ambitious and worldly minde so longingly hankers after.

opimian.

Roman 470

A

most

celebrated

ancient

wine, best in the vintage o A.U.C.

orectic

opsigamy

of an

633, when Opimius was consul. Shirley in ERASER'S MAGAZINE for February 1863 said:

retains both the colour

The

perfume; its making was described in THE ACCOMPLISH'D FEMALE INSTRUCTOR

not be silenced, the pour hundred-y eared

cry for light will .

Take two pounds of orange(1719): flowers, as fresh as you can get them, in-

Marriage late in life. Greek gamos, marriage. J. McCul-

opsigamy. opse, late

.

+

THE HIGHLAND AND WESTERN ISLES OF SCOTLAND (1824) said: Nor is there any

loch, in

lable.)

Study late in

quired

late.

learning,

life;

was

whose function

to give the neckverse, q.v., or to pre-

In ordinary

prompter in the

theatre.

a ship)

for repairs.

laid

up

(2)

Anything eaten with bread to In ancient Greece and Rome this usually was fish (as it might today be caviar, smoked salmon, or pickled herring.) Greek opsonion; opson, cooked meat, relish, dainty. Hence also opsophagist, eater of dainties.

See opsony.

A frequenter of

at a fixed price in a tavern, table d'h6te;

hence,

meal.

the

By

persons frequenting such a further extension, a tavern

where such meals are provided; a diningroom. Thence, a gambling game played at a tavern.

A

book

veyors of "delicatessen."

named

the

To choose, especially between two alternatives. Also to opt. Optable, to be chosen, desirable. For an illustration

.

pastry-shops, confectioners,

optate.

of the use of opiate, see infaust,

very

common

word. Here,

of 1502, endeth the booke

Ordynarye of Crysten

Men

emprynted in Flete Strete by Wynken de Worde. For another instance of the .

.

word's use, see whetstone. Characterized by appetite or deUsed in the 18th and 19th centuries mainly in philosophical and medical works. Greek orektos, longed for; oregein, orectic.

A

orangebutter. Another lost delicacy. is in THE CLOSET OF RARITIES (1706):

recipe

gallons [ours

(of

pre-

tomary, regular fixed meal; hence, a fixed allowance of anything. By extension (16th century) , a public meal regularly offered

said a

and true pur-

A

A

custom;

it relish.

Take new cream two

in regular

officers

scribed or customary procedure; a regular cusa church manual. (3)

when he

opsony.

opsophagist.

spirit.

pare the condemned for death. From the 13th century. In the 17th century, a

was forty years old.

give

two quarts of white wine, and it will yield a

a church officer

service;

learning ac-

started his studies

in

of a convent; a staff of syl-

Greek opse, late 4- ma the, whence mathematics. Hence

who

so distil them,

A

opsimath, 'a laggard in learning'; not a dunce, but one like Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph (flayed by the Romans in 132 A.D.),

them

and

church officer ordinary. As a noun. (1) or a civil judge who has authority by right of his position; an officer in charge

being flogged for opsigamy by the Highland nymphs as the Spartans were of old. (Accent on the second

fuse

curious perfuming

danger of Donald's

opsimathy.

used

also for

though we opimian before the shrine of Apollo. .

and scent water was

Orange-flower

orange.

is

a

meager time!], beat it up to a thickness, then add half a pint of orange-flowerwater, and as much red wine, and so being become the thickness of butter, it

sire.

to stretch out, grasp for, desire.

in

THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY

Symonds

(1881) Speaks of that blending of the reason with the orectic soul which we call will.

471

orgyan

ored a

Adorned or covered with ore or

ored.

scurrilities

presents us with in

their gaudiest

delve, dig)

.

.

.

that

the stage

tyre.

Oredelf

(ore (to

A

rare)

.

orgulous. Proud; swelling, violent; splendid. Also orgillous, orgueilous, orguillous, orgullows.

had an

s,

is

orgul,

,

4-

Phrygian. The original form but was taken for a plural, so

From

ties of Greece The princes orgillous, their high blood chafd Have to the port of Athens sent their shippes. The word

came into use. meant Orfray gold embroidery; a richly embroidered stuff, especially an ornamental border on an ecclesiastical garthat the forms without s

then dropped from the language, until revived by Southey

(1808), Scott (1820),

Bulwer-Lytton (in HAROLD, 1848: This our orgulous Earl shall not have his

ment. Thynne in 1599 distinguishes between orefryes 'a weved clothe of golde'

triumph) and subsequent journalists.

and 'goldsmythe woorke/ orfevrerie. Chaucer in THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE (1366) says Of fyn orfrays hadde she eke A chapelet so seemly on. A York Mystery of 1415 lists orfevers, goldbeters, mone-

orgyan.

Relating to or marked by rev-

elry, excessive indulgence, or debauchery.

From

orgy, orgie, originally

(Greek orgia,

the plural, also used in English) rites,

makers.

orgueil, orguilf direct from the

French Old an from (12th century) presumably High German form urguol, renowned. Orgueil has not been used since the 16th century, save as a fresh borrowing from the French. The 15th century also used orgulity, pride. Shakespeare used the adjective in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606):

gold. Orfrays, orfray, orphis, offreis, are variant forms of orphrey, which came

from Latin aurum, gold

From

pride. Orgueil

century; (15th in the 15th century,

popular Latin aurifabrum, a worker in

ultimately

orgeat.

"colas"!

4-

and revived in the 19th, was orfevrerie, the work of a goldsmith. Via French from

Phrygius,

cool

the

goldsmith

More common

thirst-assuaging,

Probably to be preferred to the current

I7th century) for the right a man might claim to the minerals dug in his ground. orfever.

Of

forgot

ofd and spangled

was the early term

Hannah More

(but that was in BAS BLEU, 1786) exclaimed: Nor be the milk-white streams

Feltham In RESOLVES DIVINE, MORALL, AND POLITICAL (1623) Cried OUt

metal.

upon obscene

more

succulent drink.

especially

secret

a nocturnal festival in

honor of Bacchus, god of the vintage;

A

orgeat. syrup, or a cooling drink made therefrom. In the 15th it was

hence, rites or secret observances in general; especially, those marked by licen-

made from

tiousness.

century

barley (French orge, from Latin hordeum, barley) and was apparently no tastier than the oatmeal water I was sometimes allowed to drink, from pails

waiting to refresh the marchers in the Police Parades of my childhood. As late as 1845 Thackeray (MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS)

speaks of pulling a queer face over a glass of orgeat (pronounced orjaw) . Later, the

made from almonds, or from orange-flower water, and presumably made

syrup was

The more usual adjectives are orgiac, orgial, orgiastic, orgic. The state of excitement at orgies, orgiasm, used by Milman (HISTORY OF

CHRISTIANTY; 1840) of the working of a divine influence upon the soul, has been confused with the similar but

more explosive

state of

orgasm,

as orgiastic and orgastic may be confused or fused. One that celebrates orgies is

an

orgiast.

Nor should orgyan be confused

with Augean, which

472

is

applied

(1)

to a

ormuzme

orifex

tremendous, a Herculean,

tremendous gathering of

task;

to a

(2)

Pyrrha,

of corruption; Augean stable. The fifth labor of Hercules was to clean the stables of Augeas

(Augias)

king of

Elis.

Metis, Themis, Eurynome, Ceres, Mnemosyne, Latona, and Juno. But who can defeat a goddess? In despair, Arachne hanged herself; Minerva changed her into a spider, whence arachnean, like a spider's web, gossamer, and the hosts of wives,

In the

Augean stables had been kept an immense number of oxen and goats; Hercules removed the filth from the never-cleaned stables by diverting into them the course of the river

Alpheus (some legends say, the Peneus) Cleansing politics would be an Augean task, but one would have to .

start

with

human

nature.

Old form for orifice, opening. orifex. Used by Marlowe (TAMBURLAINE, PART TWO; 1590) and Shakespeare. Latin os, orem, mouth + -ficium from facere, to make. Hence also orifacture, the act of making with the mouth (17th

Marvell), as of soap-bubbles. Nashe

e.g.,

in

century,

THE UNFORTUNATE TRAVELER

wrote:

O

everlasting

orificiall

mouth with

rethorike,

(1594)

wipe thy

more properly

orifi-

the

mouth; hence, bombastic. Troilus, when he discovers the

making

cal,

loose behavior of Cressida (Shakespeare's TROILUS AND CRESSIDA; 1606) exclaims:

This

is,

and

is

not, Cressidl

Within

my

soul there doth conduce a fight Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate [inseparable,

indivisible]

Divides

more

wider than the sky and earth, And yet the spacious breadth of this division Admits

no orifex for a point as subtle As Ariachne's broken woof to enter. Ariachne

Laodamia, Leda, Maia, Niobe, Semele not to mention his

Klytoris,

filth, figuratively,

the arachnida.

Minos

was also involved with thread; she gave Theseus a ball of thread to unroll as he went into the Labyrinth, so that he could retrace his steps after killing the Minotaur. He carried her away, but at the island of Naxos abandoned her. Arachne telescoped with Ariadne gives Ariachne. Shakespeare than his critics.

orationem, whence also oration. Common English from the 12th to the 19th

in

century. Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) has the Prince say: Soft you now, the fair

Nymph,

Ophelia?

(1)

she

challenged Minerva. Arachne wove work the amours of Jupiter with

into her

Aegina, Alcmene, Antiope, Asteria, GalDanae, Bione, Electra, Europa, listo,

thy orizons

Be

all

terer.

ormete.

immense; excessive, without 4- maete, mean; metan, to measure. Used up to the 14th Boundless,

Old English

or,

century.

orniod.

Spiritless,

16th and

critics call it

in

remembered. Less pious is the my Urquhart translation (1653) of Rabelais: To the same place came his orison-mutsins

Arachne, daughter of a dyer of Colophon, was so skilful with the needle that

Many

often wiser

A

Old English mind, mood. Used

the rhythm.

is

prayer. From Old French orison oreisun, (French oraison) ; Latin orison.

a slip of Shakespeare's. It may, however, represent a telescoping of two Greek legends: fits

Ariadne, daughter of

(2)

II of Crete,

ing.

ormuzine.

despondent; without

or,

despair-

+ mod,

into the 13th century.

A silken fabric popular in 17th centuries.

the

The name

is

from OrmuZy a port near the entrance to the Persian gulf, frequented especially by Portuguese traders. Also ormasi, armosie, armozeen. Hakluyt in his VOYAGES (1599) speaks of armesine of Portugal.

473

The term

oscitate

orniscopy

speaking of the magnitudes and distances

armozeen was applied particularly to a used for plain stout silk, usually black, clerical gowns, mourning scarfs, and the like. The Scotch used the form ormasi. orniscopy, ornithomancy.

childish toys called orreries, the question.

See aeromancy.

Stout, strenuous, valiant; of ani-

orped. mals,

of the planets: As to getting correct notions on the subject by drawing circles on paper or, still worse, from those very

bravely;

orpedly,

orpedness,

Usually in the plural, ortst scraps over from a meal, or fodder left by cattle; refuse leavings; hence as a term

orpedship,

of contempt,

make

to

orts

to

of,

treat

Shakespeare uses the word in THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (1593) , in TROILUS shabbily.

some orped knyht to day this lord. Trevisa in the POLYCHRONIGON HIGDEN (ROLLS),

AND CRESSIDA; and in TIMON OF ATHENS: some slender ort of his remainder; George Their Eliot, in SILAS MARNER (1861)

The Emperour dede

nothing orpedliche.

:

A

feasting caused a multiplication of ort$> which were the heirloom of the poor. Used figuratively in the 17th century, as

large Iute4ike instrument, orpharion. with from six to nine pairs of metal strings,

out of

left

bravery. Used through the 15th century. Gower in CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1390) seeks

translated 1387, said:

is

ort.

Hence orpedlich,

furious.

fierce,

it

played with a plectrum. Invented,

the story goes, by John Rose of London about 1560, the orpharion was popular through the 17th century. Cp. cithern.

Jonson in THE POETASTER (1601) cries: Another Orpheus! an Arion riding on the

when would-be wags

followed the nimble-

orts of wit that fell

tongued for the their mouths. orth.

Breath, breathing.

tonic

word,

from

A common Teu-

for

back of a dolphin; and the name orphis a combination of Orpheus and

breathing out. By extension, wrath. Used 10th to 13th cen-

Arion

tury.

arion

telescoping the two mythical musiDrayton in his ECLOGUES (1593)

cians.

said: Set the cornet

orpharion to the

lute.

flute,

The

Enjoy the musicl

A

ortolan.

mechanism representing the

motions of the planets about the sun. Invented about 1700 by George Graham, made by the instrument-maker J. Rowley, it

was named (by Dean

Swift)

after

in

his

When with

ITALIAN that

is

JOURNAL

said;

once done, events will move

quiet of an orrery. Sir Herschel in his ASTRONOMY (18S3) the

Greek

orthos,

(doxos, opinion).

century.

See hortus.

oryctomancy.

oscitate*

a

orrery* Lowell

(1854)

rectangle.

orthodoxy

Greek

aryktos,

dug up. See

aeromancy.

purchaser, Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery. Young in NIGHT THOUGHTS (1742) said of something belittling, it dwarfs the whole,

and makes an universe an

A

orthangle. right, as in

Used in the 17th

See orfever.

orphery. orrery,

with the

John said,

To yawn

from drowsiness. Latin

osdtatum, to gape; os, mouth + to move, actuate. Hence oscitantf

oscitare, citare,

yawning,

drowsy;

oscitation,

oscltance,

developed the further sense of inattention, hence negligence. All the forms have been in use oscitancy. These, however,

since the 17th century.

THE NATION (New

York, 15 February, 1900) said: That they all went astray owing to a coincidence of

474

osculation

ouph

oscitancy is clearly beyond belief readers rushed for a dictionary.

See exosculation.

osculation.

and

An osculary

was something to be kissed; Latimer in his SERMON BEFORE THE CONVOCATION of 1537 spoke of manuaries for handlers of

A

rcliques . . . oscularies for kyssers. representation of Christ or the Virgin Mary, to be kissed during Mass, was called an oscillatory; this

form

survives as

an adjec-

when Thackeray in PENDENNIS said: The two ladies went through

as

tive,

the ceiling, often with a farther pit below, into which a prisoner might be plunged. (14th century French oubliette, a little for-

gotten place; oublier, to forget.) Occasionally used as a verb, as by Tennyson in his

Could you keep her play BECKET (1884) Indungeon'd from one whisper of the wind. Dark even from a side glance of the :

moon.,

And

Past

ought.

Thus

oublietted in the centre.

owe, in

of

Greville, in

all

its

THE LIFE OF

senses.

SIR PHILIP

SIDNEY

(1849) the oscillatory ceremony* Also osculable, capable of being kissed; worthy of kissing,

(1652) spoke of his understandheart that knew what was due to itself, ing and what it ought to others . . the re-

lovely, osculant, kissing, osculum, a

formal

osculum pacts (Latin) , the peace, osculatrix, a female that

kiss of

spect inferiors ought to their superiors. collection of CONCEITS in 16S9 men-

kiss;

kisses;

the developable surface generated by the tangents of a non-plane curve; osculation is used in mathematics for kissalso,

ing contact of a higher order, touching at three or more points. The mathematicians have a point. See aeromancy.

ossomancy.

A good Shakespearean form,

otherwhere.

which we have substituted elsewhere, some where else. Romeo says of himself: for

This I'll

is

say

not

Romeo;

more

some otherwhere. some otherwhile.

he's

of this

.

A

tioned a gentleman who had ought him money a long time. He ought to have paid.

oundy. Wavy. Also ounded; owndy, ownde. Latin undare3 undatum, to curl, flow in waves; unda, wave. The watersprite via French is Ondine (superbly acted by

Audrey Hepburn in Giraudoux' via German, Undine.

play of that name)

Hence

An

;

also English undulate; inundation.

ounding was an adorning with wavy Chaucer in THE PARSON'S TALE (1386)

lines;

speaks of the cost of embrowdynge the

endentynge barrynge owndynge palynge wyndynge or bendynge and semblable wast of clooth in vanitee. degise

otiation.

Taking

one's ease. Latin otiari,

otiatum; otium, leisure. Hence, otiant, at indolent, doing nothing the

leisure,

usual state of most actors. Cp. ocimty. Puttenham in THE ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE

spoke of those that manage to when they be earnestly occu-

(1589)

seeme

idle

. . and do busily negotiat by coulor of otiation. Negotiation through otiation

pied is

.

a good

otium.

trick.

See ocimty; otiation.

oubliette. A dark and usually secret dungeon, reached only by a trap-door in

ouph. This word probably originated in a typographical error: ouph instead of auph, oph, oaph, variants of

word

first

oaf.

The

occurs in the 1623 edition of

Shakespeare, in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: We'll dress like urchins, ouphes,

and

fairies,

green and white.

was copied by Chatterton:

The form

later writers; naturally

Ouph and

by

your fires, and by Swinburne in TRISTRAM OF LYONESSE (1882) Or how shall I trust :

fairy,

light

ouramc

overblow

more than ouphe or

elf

Thy

beliest thyself? Oaf, which was earlier auf,

an

the child of

first

Pliny has: As if sword-fences were brought into the lists to fight at outterance. The return to outrance may be

truth to me-

of

who

ward,

for

substituted

meant

at

especially, one human child borne

a

a

elf;

away by the elves or fairies, a changeling; hence, a deformed or half-wit child; a fool, a booby. Steele in THE TATLER, No. 248

women and the The plural was also used in form oaves. The expression oaf-rocked

the most accomplished

meant fool-born; or spoiled by from birth, booby start. the from The earlier over-indulgence form, auf,, is related to Old Norman alfr, fairy, whence English elf; but the auf and the oaf are always the fairy's child, ('rocked* in the cradle)

ouranic.

outray'st all cer uses the

BOETHIUS

outrecuidance.

See uranical.

They ne sholden not

Excessive

self-esteem

or

century

beyond -f cogitare, to think. Scott revived the word; in IVANHOE

Originally a name of the blackbird or the thrush; applied to a person of dark hair or complexion. Also ouzel, . wooseL "And how doth your fairest daughter and mine, my god-daughter Ellen?" asks Shallow in Shakespeare's HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597) and Silence .

outwring.

degree or limit, be-

as in to fight (to the)

(at)

outrance, to the death. The word is the as in French (combattre a entrance, 13th century), ultimately from Latin

same

The word was pronounced about 1400, then the present (French) sound oo began to take its place, and (as outmost became utmost) the ultra, beyond.

like out until

spelling frequently

became

uttrance, even

utterance Holland in his version (1601)

full time

.

.

.

that the

To

press or force out, as

by

wringing. Chaucer in THE LEGEND OF GOOD

WOMEN

speaks of tears falsly out-

(1385)

wronge. overblow.

last

is

outrecuidance of these peasants should be restrained. See also surquedry.

.

replies: Alas, a black ouzel!

ultra,

(1819) he has: It

ousel.

yond bounds,

first

self-confidence; arrogance; presumptuousness. Via 12th French outrecuider

See aeromancy.

The

:

the

hyr noble kynrede*

See urn.

entrance.

skies.

sense, in his

(1374)

from Latin ourn.

Chau-

diamonds of the

word in

owtrayen or forlyven from the vertues of

And any babe stupid or obviously a changelingl

ouranomancy.

,

a ray; to excel in radiance. Thus Benlowes in THEOPHILA (1652) has: Thou

the changeling. is

(1)

(literally)

old form of outrage, in its various uses. (5) From the 17th century, to flash out as

either a

deformed

the

To go beyond the bounds or (figuratively) to be excesto put out of bounds, expel. (2) An

outray.

sive;

veriest oafs.

the

from

reborrowing

rect).

speaks of marriages between

(1710)

direct

later

French. Sometimes the French phrase a outrance is used (d I'outrance is incor-

To blow

(a thing) over,

upset

To blow by blowing. To blow excessively.

across the top of something; to blow past. To blow over, pass away; first of a storm,

then of the passions.

To blow up

exces-

sively; to cause to swell (with pride, etc.).

Shakespeare in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1596):

To

smile at scapes

and

perils over-

blowne; Nashe in PIERCE PENILESSE (1592): after

the

broyle

was somewhat

over-

blowne; Kingsley in THE ROMAN AND THE TEUTON (1864) overblown with self-con:

476

overweening

overcrow celt

verbs

Many

may have

over as a pre-

fix or as a following adverb;

originally,

the meanings overlapped; now, usually over as a prefix means excessively, over as a following adverb means again or across as in overact, act over-, overbid; overdo; overeat; overheat; overload. In

meaning is the same either hang over; but notice a overhang, way: some

cases the

hangover. In

still

other cases, there

is

a

in meaning, as with greater difference overlook; overrule; come over; overcome, override; overtake. Cp. overeye.

One must

not overreach.

To

overcrow.

crow

over, exult over; to

in THE triumph over, subdue. Spenser Then gan (1590) wrote:

him

the villein

HAMLET

Shake-

TAMING

OF THE SHREW (1593). overcome, to take by surprise, in Macbeth; to come about, AND CRIhappen, in Chaucer's TROYLUS overglance, to cast the eye LABOUR'S Shakespeare's LOVE'S .

LOST, overest, the uppermost; Chaucer in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES

Ful

was his overest

thredbare

in Shakecourtepy. overlive, to outlive, TWO. PART overscutched, HENRY rv, speare's over-beaten,

when

excessively:

switched

a

lot,

scutched huswife of HENRY

the

over-

PART TWO came ever in

iv,

overplanted

the price was high

(u.s.

REPORT; 1887) overplanting of

overture.

gardens; FISHERIES

oysters.

See overeye.

overscutch.

An

(1)

opening,

orifice, hole.

the 13th to the 18th century; both

and

literal

figurative.

(2)

An

open, ex-

posed place. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) has: The wasteful! hylls

unto his threate

overeye. To observe. Used by to THE speare in the Induction

(1386):

plant

The opening up

to Spenser.

in

In the 19th century, overplant, to

see.

The potent poison

quite overcrowes my spirit. Scott, reviving the word, gives credit for its earlier use

over,

drawun up (LUKE; 1388) wrote: Be thou bi the rote, and be overplauntid in to the

to overcraw. Shakespeare

(1602) has:

SEYDE (1374)

10th overplant. To transplant. So used, to 14th centuries; Wyclif in his BIBLE

From

FAERIE QUEENE in

an overscutched phrase, Worn out by bards of modern days.

is a playne overture. (B) of something; revelation,

Used by Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S TALE, and in KING LEAR (1605): It was he That made the overture of thy disclosure.

The

treasons to us.

still

current sense of

a beginning dates from the 16th century; in music, from the mid-1 7th. In the 16th

and 17th

centuries,

some

writers confused

overture with overturn, overthrow; thus

Nashe in CHRIST'S TEARS (1593) : Conhowe his threats were after verified in Jerusalem* overture. In a troublesome

sider,

passage

grows be

CORIOLANUS

in

When

soft as the parasites silke,

overture for th* wanes overthrower: **When

made an

overture

steele

Let him

may mean

a soldier turns flatterer, he brings dishonor editors improve matters

on war"; some

A probably means a trollop: the the rereward of fashion, and sung

little by changing the word to coverture, which would seem the opposite of an

those tunes to the overscutcht huswives,

overture.

that he heard the car-men whistle. is

There

also the suggestion, however, that over-

scutched means overworked, worn out in service; Scott uses it in this sense in THE

See ween. Richardson in

overweening.

PAMELA

(1742)

understandings

BRIDAL OF TRIERMAIN (1813): For harp's owing to 477

.

.

.

notes that Half the misare

among married people

mere words, and

little

cap-

ozokerit

oxymel tious follies, to overweenings, or unguard-

The word

ed petulances. as

mainly

an

has

survived

adjective, as in Shakespeare's

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

(1591)

base

slave.

intruder,

overweening said:

Aubrey (1697)

No

reason

him but he overweenes, and

I

Go

John

satisfies

cutts

some

sower faces that would turn the milke in f

a fair ladie s breast.

oxymel.

A drink or syrup of vinegar and

honey, used from Saxon times into the 19th century, as a medicine. Greek oxys,

honey. Elyot gives one formula in THE CASTEL OF HELTHE (1533):

sour

-f

meli,

ys, all

manner

men, women, and

of

chil-

dren.

A

oyster-chevit.

A

is in THE Take three (1706) oysters, wash them from

dish.

recipe

CLOSET OF RARITIES quarts of large

:

strain their own liquor through a linnen cloth, and parboil them in it. Then wash them in warm water, dry them in a

grit,

linnen cloth, and mince them very small. Season them very lightly with salt, pepper, and beaten cloves, mace, cinnamon, and

carraway seeds beaten, a raisins of the sun,

and

little

six or

handful of seven dates,

Oximell

strew'd with a few currans, a little sugar, and half a pint of white wine. Put these

is

into small pans with crust,

is, where to one part of vyneger double so moche of honye, foure put

tymes as moche of water. That ought to clear the throat! oyez.

Hearl

A

by the public

call (usually three times) crier or court officer, to

command

silence and attention. The word from Old French oiez, oyez, imperative form of oir, to hear; Latin audiatis. Pronunciation shifted, and the word was sometimes thought to be O ye(z}, O you

is

people; or

O

yes;

Hence

hence

it is

Barham spelled oyes. can say, in his INGOLDSBY LEGENDS (1842): But when the crier cried 'O Yes!' the people cried 'O No!" Lyly in his CAMPASPE

remembered for its song "Cupid and my Campaspe played At cards for kisses; Cupid paid.") has ys, O ys, O (1584,

(1716),

but-

a rival publication

(cp.

orange-

butter) , gave an even more packed recipe, with barberries preserved or pickled,

mace

in blades, for

An

ozokerit*

was

named

(in

ozo,

I

aromatic

oyster-pie.

fossil resin,

first

smell

ozocerite,

making

waxfound in Moldavia, and German) ozokerit, from Greek

like. It

sometimes

the humorist

and well

tered; bake them gently and serve them up on a plate with sugar scraped on the lid. THE ACCOMPLISHED FEMALE INSTRUCTOR

4-

beeswax.

Also

BLACKWOOD'S

EDIN-

keros,

ozokerite.

BURGH MAGAZINE of September 1884 announced: The ozokerite or earth wax of Galicia is found in great abundance. Edwards, in WORDS, FACTS, AND PHRASES (1912) said that ozokerit when properly prepared

makes candles of exquisite beauty.

478

pabulous. Abounding in fodder or food. Also pabular, pabulary, relating to forage or food. Pabulum, directly from the Latin,

'unity of place' in his

properly applied to food of plants and animals; its use for human food is pedantic or humorous. It is, however, apis

plied

figuratively,

TRISTRAM SHANDY

as

when

Sterne

declares:

(1765)

APOLOGY FOR POETRIE

(1580) said: I may speake . . . of Peru, and in speech digresse from that, to the description of Calicut; but in action, I

cannot represent

The

in

pacolet

is

it

without Pacolets horse.

the western equivalent of

the magic carpet.

Such

a story affords more pabulum to the brain than all the frusts, and crusts, and rusts

Done or settled by agreement. pactitious. Latin pactum, agreement (English pact),

of antiquity. The Latin root pa- is also the source of pasture, pastor, and pater

paciscere,

(father, the feeder of the family)

pactum, to come to an agreement, the inceptive form from pacare, to

.

To make peaceful. As a verb, rare; in the 17th century pacate used as an adjective meaning paci-

pacate. this

was fied,

make

peace. Cp. pacate.

The word

found only in 17th and 18th century

is

dic-

tionaries.

is

tranquil:

a

pacate,

humble,

pad.

denying mind. Latin pacare, pacatus, to pacify; pacem, peace. Hence also pacative,

hence, a

calming, sedative; pacation. Coleridge remarked, in his essay ON THE CONSTITUTION

OF THE CHURCH AND STATE (1830) : Reasonable men are easily satisfied; would they were as numerous as they are pacable! pacolet.

A

magic

horse,

which can con-

vey one instantly whithersoever one may desire. Also used of a very swift steed. In the 16th and 17th centuries, usually the phrase Pacoletfs horse was used; later pacolet alone as now a frankenstein is often used for Frankenstein's monster.

Pacolet was the name of a dwarf (in the romance of Valentine and Orson) who

made a magic horse of wood that could transport him instantly to any desired place. Thus Sidney, discussing the drama's

A

toad. Generally pictured in the

Middle Ages (as Shakespeare phrases it in AS YOU LIKE IT) as ugly and venomous;

self-

pad

in the straw, a lurking or

hidden danger. In the 17th century, pad

came into use

as slang for path, the road.

Hence, on the pad, tramping; to stand pad, to beg by the way; gentleman (knight squire) of the pad, highwayman. Also, t

footpad. By the end of the 17th century, pad was used alone, to mean highway robber. Pad, the toad,

by the 14th century

developed a diminutive paddock, which was applied to both the toad and the frog (Wyclifs BIBLE: EXODUS in 1382 uses in 1388 paddokis) , Spenser in

froggis;

THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR

(1579; DECEMtodestoole . . . BER) pictures grieslie And loathed paddocks lording on the

The

same.

The word was

person (or a familiar

479

applied to an evil spirit in the shape

.

pale-maille

paedonymic of a toad)

MACBETH

as in Shakespeare's

,

chafflike

your

liberties

.

sex.]

faire,

Note

See podalic. Also paidonypractice of giving paedonymics

The

is

paedonymy

(accent

on the don)

land, domain, or state of

wende

mind of the pagans; pagandom. Also payeny, paeni, paygne, paynye, and the Old French

via

like;

form,

Thus Dekker

supin

spoke of (1628) pallacious houses. is a scientific term

(1374):

As was

his

wey

to

to paylaysward.

A

knight errant; a renowned champion. Originally one of the twelve

paladin.

paien,

paienie;

century

spacious, and that palaceous

AND CRISEYDE

The

17th

spade-like, spade-shaped; from Latin pala, shovel. Palaceward, toward the palace, is used by Chaucer in TROYLUS

found among some primitive peoples. pagany.

from

meaning

it is

;

A

palacious.

planted by palatial. BRITTANNIA'S HONOR

paedonymic. mic.

extend

paleaceous.

Stand and deliver? What chance has a man against a wizard in a vizard? [Both wizard (now male) and witch (now female) were earlier applied to either

with

:

What, rob us of our without a word? not so much as .

uses

Its

scales.

that

covered

botany to PAEDIA (SUPPLEMENT; 1753) described the Roman receptaculum (waiting-room) Its surface is sometimes naked, and sometimes

I

.

chaffy;

architecture; Chambers' CYCLO-

Hence to pad, to rob, as in SedTHE MULBERRY GARDEN (1668) What, ladiesf come apadding for hearts here, in vizards?

Note

palacious.

paleaceous means

cp. gib. ley's

See

palaceous.

is joule, (1605) Padock calls anon: faire and foule is faire. For another quotation,

peers of Charlemagne's court, of whom the Count Palatine was foremost. Via

whence

English pay en, pagan; Latin paganus, of the country, rustic; pagus, a province, the countryside. Cp. paynim.

French paladin, Italian paladino, from

Lord Berners in THE BOKE OF DUKE HUON or BURDEUX (1533) said: He slew Sorbryn, the moost valyant knyght in all pagany.

whence also English form in English was

Thus

also

rustic

paganalian,

and

feasts

Thanksgiving,

Roman

country

fairs)

and

the

to

French

which in

(1592) others sing of knights

p agus or

called paganalia; Eng-

Made

pregnant; big with child. To paggle, to bulge, swell out. Nashe in LENTEN STUFFE (1599) pictured the gods

deciding

drowned that

she

[made losses

Hero's

fate

after

she

herself for love of Leander:

was

pagled

earlier

and palladins!

paleaceous.

See palaceous.

pale-maille.

A

also,

the

mallet for striking a ball;

game played

therewith. Italian

+

maglio, mallet; Latin balla -f malleus, hammer; whence malleable. Also pallemaile and other forms; those pallaf ball

had For

surviving are pellmell and pall-mall The game, popular in 16th century Italy, France, and Scotland, and 17th century

and

timpanized sustained two

drum-like], and under one, they footebald

An

palaisin. Daniel, turning in DELIA to contemporary love, cried Let

paganals.

pagled.

palatine.

palasin, applied especially to a lady of the court, from Old

(May Day,

times were held in each

rural district lish,

relating

festivals

Latin palatinus, belonging to the palace;

their

England (introduced there by James

I),

heads together [went into a huddle] and turned her into a fish, the herring.

consisted of driving a wooden ball through an arch of iron in the ground (or, as the

Inscrutable are the ways of the gods.

O.E.D. describes 480

it,

through a suspended

Palladian

palestral

end of a long

one won. The game thus seems a simple form of what we call croquet. King Charles II played at the

doing

this in the fewest strokes

pale-maille on the mall in

St.

that

him

maiden on a palfrey white comes

palimpsest. Writing material that can be used over again, the first writing wiped or

rubbed

one."

Greek palm, again

-f psestos,

second time; this sense survives, applied to old manuscripts. Also used figuratively,

palaestra, Greek palaistra (palaiein, was an ancient gymnasium, to wrestle) a place for the teaching and exercise of wrestling and other athletics. Hence, since

as

,

by De Quincey in SUSPIRIA

What

(1845)

:

than a natural and mighty

else

is

palimpsest

the 15th century, the practice of wrestling or athletics; also used figuratively, as when

Thompson

off.

scraped; psao, psen, to rub smooth. Hence, parchment or other material used for a

The

P.

early

in his telling.

James's

Pertaining to wrestling; athpalestral. letic Also palaestral; palestric, palestrical.

Thomas

Went prancing on

pride,

Park where, Gilbert-and-Sullivaniacs will remember, the minx lolanthe was heard to remark she'd "meet him after dark and give

A

palphry proud, prick'd up with the way. This was a word Scott could not miss: A

alley; the

ring)

human

the

brain?

palinaL Moving backward; relating to or characterized by backward motion.

in EXERCISES, PO-

Greek

OTHERS (1840) feared the time when the conduct of criminal justice

whence

also

palindrome. Thus

palinate, to

move

back-

ward, retrogress.

The word

is

but a palaestra or course of exercise, to be turned on occasion against perhaps the

science, as of the lower

LITICAL AND

is

most

deserving

members

of

the

tion;

com-

munity. A palestrian was a wrestler. Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374)

spoke of the feste palfrey.

A

and pleyes

cp.

horse; especially, a small saddle-horse for ladies. Used since the 12th century, lin-

gering in romantic and poetic use. Also

and more. The word via French from Greek para, beside,

but

it

used in

jaw in masticamay well have figurative use;

lobsterize.

A

palinure. pilot. From Palinurus, the of as told in Vergil's AENEID. Aeneas, pilot

palestral.

riding-horse, but not a war-

backward,

palin,

Used in the 17th

century, mainly figuraby Fuller in JOSEPH'S COAT, DAVID'S SIN (1640): The winding shelves do us detain Till God, the palinure, retively,

as

turns again.

palefrai, paulfrey, is

ending -freno developed, under the influence of Latin frenum, bridle; these came into English in paljrenier, a man in charge of horses; Thackeray in his PARIS

SKETCH-BOOK (1840) commented: He calls his palfrenier a groom. Other forms of this word were palfreynyer; polfreyourf palfreur, palfrer,

the PILLS

Palladian.

+

Latin veredus, light horse. In Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian, forms extra

bridle

these three

(frenum)

.

untouched of

D'Urfey,

in

TO PURGE MELANCHOLY (1719)

his tells

(1)

Relating to Pallas Athene,

the goddess of wisdom, called

Minerva.

come from

(a)

Pallas,

Tartarus and Gaea, flaying

whom

The name a

whom

him and using

Romans may

the

Pallas

giant,

Athene his

son of killed

skin

for

Greek patto, brandisher: as (b) goddess of war she was pictured brandishing a spear; (c) Greek polios, virgin. The adjective Palladian was used in English to mean inspiring wisdom; Milton in the AREOPAGUS (1644) all his considerate diligence, all his midnight watchings, and armor;

481

:

palmaster

palladium

expence of Palladian oyl

.

.

.

Relat-

(2)

.

.

.

Eginhard, his secretary.

A straw shows

ing to the style of the Italian architect

which way the wind blows.

Andrea Palladio (1518-1580), who indiscriminately mixed the classical orders. Micklethwaite in MODERN PARISH CHURCHES

palliate.

Europe has never seen a worse the Palladian; Ruskin in THE than style We shall get STONES OF VENICE (1851) (1874) said

:

pagodas, and Indian and Renaissance Palladianisms, temples,

rid

Chinese

of

and Alhambra stucco and

filigree,

in

one

great rubbish heap. It seems the Palladian style is

good

have forgotten; but not

to

Palladian

the

lamp which, however, must be not rubbed but lighted. Note that palladic and palladious refer to the chemical element palladium; and cp. ancile. See ancile.

palladium.

A robe;

palliament.

gown worn by

a

.

.

Roman

Send thee by

me

.

.

.

This palliament

And name

thee

To palliate was

enormity of an offence, to excuse, to tone

down. vagabond, who slept on the From French paille, straw.

straw in barns.

Hence, a dissolute

rascal;

a lecher, a

debauchee. Raleigh in his HISTORY OF THE WORLD (1614) spoke of Sardanapalus; A

most luxurious and effeminate palliard he was and of Jupiter: He gave himself aver wholly to palliardize and adultery.

Thus

palliardize^ pallardry, lechery, fornication. To palliardize, to fornicate; to be

a procurer

of.

T. Milles in 1619 records

that Charlemagne's eldest daughter

found palliardizing

London

The palm

palm.

alley,

(paillardising)

was with

a center of

club activity. tree

is

a transferred use

of Latin palma, palm of the hand, because of the shape of the leaves. As a

highly prized tree, palm was applied to a distinguished person; Shakespeare in

TIMON OF ATHENS (1607) says: You shall see him a palme in Athens againe. Also, a form of tennis, somewhat like the present handball, popular in the 15th and 16th

A

regulation of the English Gilds (1467) read: Item, that no man play at tenys or pame withyn the

white

originally to cover, as with a cloak; then to disguise, conceal; then to conceal the

A

veloped from such an

candidate for the

of white and spotlesse hue, in election for the Empire.

palliard.

See pale-maille. The mallet, the game, the alley along which the game was played then a London street depall-mall.

centuries; also palm-play. especially, the

consulship. Latin pallium, cloak; palla, a long robe. Thus Shakespeare (1588): Titus Andronicus, the people of Rome ,

See palliament.

Windsor

geld halle. Surrey in prison in recalled his

(1537)

The

palme

ball,

and got

there:

happy youth

where, play, dispoyled [stripped] for the game, With dazed eies oft we by gleames of love Have mist the sight of our

dame

.

.

.

palmary. (1) Relating to the palm of the hand. This sense is current in anatomy, etc. (2) Bearing the palm; holding or deserving first place or highest prize; excellent; of prime importance; main, chief. As a noun, palmary, a token of victory. John Quick, in A SERIOUS IN-

WHETHER A MAN MAY LAWQUIRY FULLY MARRY HIS DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER .

(1703)

.

.

declared that the palmary argu-

ment for

these marriages

.

.

.

is this,

their

great expediency.

palmaster. One that reads character or fortune in the palm of the hand. More vaguely, a fortune-teller. Also palmastrer; cp. medicaster. Hoby in his translation

482

palmer

pampination

(1561) of Castiglione's THE COURTYER, declared that, as there can be no circle with-

out a centre, no more can beawty be withAnd therefore is the out goodnesse outwarde beawtie a true signe of the in.

.

.

warde goodnes, and

.

.

.

it is

thought es of menne.

A palm tree. Medieval Latin Latin palma. (2) A ferule, or

(1)

palmarius; a flat stick for striking the palm of the hand in punishment. The word was used

from the 14th through the 17th century; the punishment persisted in the schools of my childhood. (3) One who palms objects (cards and the like) in sleight of hand, or in cheating. (4) One who had

made

the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as a sign of which he carried a palm

branch or leaf hence, often, a begging vagrant. In ROMEO AND JULIET (1592) Shakespeare says that palm to palm

is

holy

kiss; Scott revived the word (out of use 150 years) in MARMION (1808). John Heywood in THE FOUR p's (1569) presents

palmers

a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Pothecary and a Pedlar in a contest the pedlar the judge as to which can tell the biggest lie. (A Pardoner is one licensed to sell papal pardons or indulgences. Also see cp. chichevache.) The Pardoner of a visit to hell, and how glad the

clyster; tells

was to

out the soul of Margery Coorson, so sharp-tongued a shrew that she was beyond even the devil's endevil

durance.

let

Whereupon

the Palmer expresses

his surprise: in all his travels he "never saw or never knew any woman out of

patience"

and

at

once

prize for the biggest the palm. paltripolitan.

An

lie.

is

awarded the

The palmer took

city.

"Martin Marprelate" in HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER (1589) threatened: I will so

thunderthump your paltripolitans

city-dweller.

See loo. French

pam.

.

.

.

pampMle was

the

name

of the card game, also of the knave (Jack) of clubs, the highest card in the

game; hence pam, a winner, a winning trick. Thence the abbreviations, pamphie, pawmie, pam. Also cp. lanterloo. Hood in his

STORM AT HASTINGS

(1845)

cried

A

was Wellington at Waterloo.) R. Estcourt used

Pam, omnipotent

living

at loo!

(It

the word figuratively in THE FAIR EXAMPLE (1706) Let me tell ye, Madam, :

scandal

is

the very

in conversation*

pam

pamphagous. All-devouring; omnivorous. Greek pan, all + phagos, eating. Used in the 18th century.

pamphelet.

A

courtesan.

Old

French

pamphilet, beloved by all; Greek pan, all -fphiletos, to be loved. Used (rarely) in the 16th century. Latin Pamphilus, seu de the

Amore (Old French Pamphilet) was

of a short but very popular 13th century work, which gave its name the Engto any lish form is pamphlet, still current title

Hence also pamphil a memorandum, a note.

brief printed work. (1 6th

century)

,

pampilion. A fur used in the 15th and 16th centuries, for the trimming of gar-

name now unknown

ments. Also the identity

of the animal

its

that bore this fur.

In the 16th century, the word was also used for a rough, coarse woollen fabric Also pampaylyone, pawmpilyon, pampylIon, pamplliouUj pampelyon, and more* pampination.

from

insular

intended of a church-

man; a metropolis was a cathedral

seene that

palmastrers by the visage knowe manye tymes the conditions, and other-while the

palmer.

paltry. Originally

The removing

vines;

of

shoots

Latin

pampinus, pruning. vine-tendril. Hence also pampinary, re-

Coined in scorn from metropolitan and lating 483

to vine-tendrils;

pampinose,

full of

panary

pantwigs and leaves, untrimmecL To pampinate, pampine, to prune; pamping, a tendril, young shoot; hence, a youth. Thomas Heywood in the Prologue to THE FAYRE MAYDE OF THE EXCHANGE (1607) said: Meanewhile shore up your tender pamping twig That yet on humble ground doth lowely lie. To pampinulate, on the other hand, was to adorn with curling threads; in RD.'s translation (1592) of Columna's HYPNEROTOMACHIA; THE STRIFE OF LOVE IN A DREAM, we read of her starrie

forehead pampynulated with

threds

of

gold.

pan-.

Greek

pas, pan,

all.

Cp. pant-. For

these words. Hence, a similar adornment, e.g. a tassel. Also penache, panack, pan-

pinnach. Hence panached, pennached, with varied stripes of colors like

nach,

a plume, as panached tulips. Evelyn in DIARY for 7 September, 1651, noted:

his

He had

in his cap a

panada.

A

pennach of heron.

popular in

dish

17th

the

century, still used in the 19th: bread boiled to a pulp, then served with sugar, currants, nutmeg, and other spices. Also

panado, panade; panatel, panadella, panadina; ponade. Via the Romance languages from Latin panem, bread. Philemon Holland's

translation

(1603)

of

Plutarch's

pan, hread, see panary. For the tin pan, see pancheon. Among the less remembered

PHILOSOPHIE said: They give pappes and panades unto their little babes. John

of the many English forms with pan- are: pananthropism. H. B. Forman in LIVING POETS (1871): I/ Mr. Swinburne's creed is

Phillips, in (1655): It

describable in one word, that

be

word must

made

for the occasion pananthropism . . . he sees the spirit of man (which be it borne in mind he calls 'God') everywhere

animating and informing the universe. panatomf an atom of a supposed primary substance of which

all

elements are com-

posed, an early reaching out toward the electron, panclastic, an explosive that

smashes everything, an early dream of a

super-H

bomb,

pagchrestes,

(Greek

pancrastical

good for everything)

,

like a

A SATYR AGAINST HYPOCRITES was no Christmas-dish with pruens made, Nor white-broath, nor capon-broth, nor sweet ponade. The form panade Old French panart, penard, poniard was also used for a large knife; Chaucer in THE REEVE'S TALE (1386) says:

And by his belt he baar a long panade. The food panada was used figuratively to mean pap, easily-swallowed nonsense, as when BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE in 1822 spoke of persons that swallow, without flinching, all the theological panada with which she may think fit to

cram them.

panacea; cp. panchrest. pandaedalian, all of most skilful workmanship; see daedal.

ding,

pandiabolism} pervasive influence of

panade.

evil.

pannomy, belief in the universal supremacy or supreme importance of reason, a

universal

smattering of too our current state. knowledge, nearly

pansdolism,

panselene, the full moon.

panache.

A

pecially as a

tuft or

plume of feathers, eshead-dress or on a helmet

Via Italian from Latin penna, feather, whence also the pen with which I pen

It's

all

so

much

bread-pud-

See panada.

panarchy. Universal rule; universal realm the converse of anarchy (an, not) Cp. .

pant-. Bailey in FESTUS (1839) the starry panarchy of space,

panaret.

An

all

virtuous

speaks of

one.

Greek

aretos, virtuous. Cp. pant-.

panary. panatry,

484

A

storehouse

for

bread.

Also

whence pantry; Latin panarium;

panbone

pandemic

pan, panem, bread; whence the sop to the masses, of the Roman emperors: pan et circenses, bread and circuses. Cp. pantfication.

Panary was

used

also

noun 1611

(King James)

is

tions; a physician's

of

shop

preservatives

heresies;

a

(as St.

pandect

against of

against rebellious spirits; a

most

costly

tradi-

ment

laws

boxing. Greek pan,

finally,

panbone.

was an pancration) combining wrestling and

(Greek

athletic contest

jewels against beggarly ele-

The

is

Universally accomplished. Also This is a figurative developfrom the original sense. The pan-

cratium

of

a fountain of more pure water, springing up unto everlasting life. ments;

adjective

pancratical.

poysoned

treasury

The

pancratic.

Basil calls

profitable

for

especially

cream separate.

A universal remedy, a panaAlso panchreston, panchrestum; the

plural is panchresta. pancrastical; see pan-.

a panary

wholesome food, against fenowed

it)

cea.

We

BIBLE: It

let the

panchrest.

an ad-

find the relating to bread. in the translators' Preface to the

jective,

of

as

The pancheon was used holding milk, to

strength;

poetry,

+

all

kratos, bodily

pagkrates, all-powerful. Epic said THE EDINBURGH REVIEW in

1808, has been considered by critics a sort

cranium, skullbone. Used

Hence pancratist, pancratiast, contender (or victor) in the of poetical pancratium.

in the 16th century.

pancake bell. A bell rung on Shrove Tuesday about 11 A.M., to call the people to be shriven before Lent, but popularly

The

19th century developed a microscope, one with many

pancratium.

pancratic degrees of power. Hammond in a Sermon of 1660 spoke of a spiritual height, a full

associated with the frying of pancakes. It

was the signal for the holiday to begin, as Dekker notes in THE SHOEMAKER'S HOLIDAY (1599) Upon every Shrove-Tuesday, at the sound of the pancake bell, my fine

pancratick habit and Lowell in the BIGLOW PAPERS (1848) pressed the advantages of a pancratic education.

dapper Assyrian lads shall clap up their shop windows, and away. The eleven

pandect.

:

o'clock ringing, said the

Water Poet

(in

down

in 50 books by order of Emperor Justinian in the 6th century, the Justinian code, basis of modern law. Hence, the

JACKE-A-LENT; 1620) by the helpe of a knavish sexton is commonly before nine. pancarpial.

Consisting of

Greek pan,

all

all

na's HYPNEROTOMACHIA; THE STRIFE OF LOVE IN A DREAM told of nymphs with

pancarpiall garlands of all flowers, upon their heades.

manner

of

pancheon. A large shallow bowl or vessel. Also panshin, panshion, panchin, and the like. Related to pan and pankin (a pan) possibly Latin patina (patna, Medieval Latin panna) ; puncheon, q.v. little

;

By (humorous)

complete body of laws of a country.

kinds of

+

karpos, fruit R.D., in his translation (1592) of Columfruits.

A

treatise covering a subject exhaustively. Especially, the pandects, the compendium of Roman civil law, set

extension,

the paunch.

General;

pandemic. kind. Greek

This sense

p an,

is still

all

through all man+ demos, people.

current, especially in

connection with disease (opposed to epidemic, spread over a limited area) . Also

pandemian, especially in relation to love: sensual love; Greek pandemos eros, com-

mon love,

opposed to ourantousf heavenly.

Thus Peacock

in

RHODODAPHNE (1818)

ex-

plained: Urantan love . . is the deity or genius of pure mental passion for the .

good and

485

the beautiful;

and pandemian

panisk

panderize love, of ordinary sexual attachment.

Thus

Medieval Latin banderius, one enrolled under somebody's banner.

Greek pandemos Aphrodite meant the earthly Venus. The PALL MALL GAZETTE of

pandy. A blow upon the outstretched palm, with a strap, stick, or ferule. From Latin pande palmam!, stretch out your

8 September 1883 said: It is the pandemic not the heavenly goddess whose praises

he chants* panderize.

amorous

To

open handl Hence palmy was used in the same sense, especially in Scottish schools; cp. palmer (2). Kingsley in THE

as a go-between in to work as a pander.

act

affairs;

Hence pandership; panderism; pandaric, panderous.

Bentham

observed

Calvin,

(1863) uses it as a verb: pandied their hands with canes.

WATER-BABIES she

Jeremy

in a TREATISE of 1656, saith that

dancing of men and women together, are nothing else than panderships and provocations to whoredome. From Pan-

.

.

.

These were 19th century terms.

raixt

daros (Boccaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare), procured for Troilus the favors of

who

Ghryseis. Venus, remarked Florio in his translation (1603) of Montaigne, cun-

ningly enhanced the market of her wares, by the brokerage or panderiztng of the lawes.

A stretching and yawnsometimes before or after sleep. ing, Latin pandere, to spread out, -f- a diminu-

pandiculation. as

A

huge, fat-bellied fellow (a panguts. term of contempt) The word is a derisive .

combination of Greek pan, all, and guts. A panguts keeps near to the cooking pans. panification.

See bandore. Also pandora, pandore, pandura, pandola, pandur (q.v.)*

A three-stringed lute. A pandurist,

accord-

ing to Blount (1656) was one that played "on a musical instrument called a rebech, or on a violin/' ,

into bread. Via cp.

18th century was concerned (France, 1781; England, 1779) with panifying potatoes; but ERASER'S MAGAZINE in 1854 fumed to the

blessed

munion degraded

pandoura.

making

panary. Hence paniftable, capable of being made into bread; panifice, the craft of making bread; also, a loaf of bread. The

see

tive ending.

A

French from Latin panem, bread;

idea of Christian cominto a mere act of divine

panification!

A

panion.

16th century shortening of

companion. T. Wilson in his RHETORIQUE (1553) has: Whether he be a gamester, an alehouse haunter, or a panion

among

ruf-

fians.

pandur. A fierce and brutal soldier; originally, a Croatian guardsman. From SerboCroatian pandur , a mounted policeman or guard. Also pandoor, pandour. The name was first applied, in 1741, to private police

organized Croatian

by

Baron

estates,

Trenck

to repel

on

his

robber bands

A

panisk. upon the

little

Pan, a deity attendant

god Pan. Also panisc; the femi-

panisca. Jonson in THE PENATES (1604) spoke of the paniskes, and the silvanes rude; Leitch in his translation

nine

is

(1847) of Miiller's ANCIENT

ART AND

ITS

along the Turkish frontier; later, as part of the Austrian army, the pandurs became

REMAINS describes several works, e.g., A panisca at the music of Apollo opens her

notorious for their rapacity and brutality.

mouth wide; A good natured panisc plucks a thorn from the foot of a satyr.

The word pandur was

earlier

bandur;

486

panjandrum

pan-pudding

A

panjandrum.

pompous In

'high-mucky-muck/

the

Grand Panjandrum, a mock

small metal drinking vessel, pannikin. a cannikin. Used in the 19th century, es-

for a per-

pannican, panakin, panikin. Marryat in JACOB FAITHFUL (1834) pictured men bringing out

title

son of grand airs. From the nonsense passage invented by the playwright Foote to stump the actor Macklin, who boasted he could memorize any passage by reading

over once. Footers

it

test

And

there were present the Picninnies, the Joblillies, the Garyulies, and

Grand Panjandrum himself, with little round button atop, and they all the

to

the fell

playing the

till

the

game of catch-as-catch~can gunpowder ran out at the heels of Macklin

their boots.

also

ran out.

pannage. feeding of swine, cattle, etc., in a forest; the right to such pasturthe

age;

payment acorns,

for such a privilege.

beech-mast,

and

other

woodland fodder. Also pownage, pannadge, paunage, and the like; Old French Latin

pasnage;

pastionem,

feeding;

pascere, pastum, to feed, to pasture.

panomphean. Resounding with horrid or ominous sound. The panomphaean Zeus was the god considered as speaking oracles; Greek pan, all + omphe, voice of a god. Motteux in his translation (1694) of Rabelais continues Rabelais' humorous use:

Trine

the

fibres:

membranes

of the brain. Also panand the like;

from Latin panniculus, dimin-

utive of pannus, cloth. Spenser used the (incorrectly) to mean the panbone,

word

Skull, in

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): He him so rudely on the pannihell

... Smote

That

to the

twaine.

panomphean word,

chin he clefte his head in

that

also panomphic, panomphaic. Peacock in MAID MARIAN (1822) speaks of that very

panomphic

Pantagruelian

saint,

well

known as a female divinity, by the name of La Dive Bouteille [the divine .

.

.

Cockeram in 1623 mistranslated

panomphean as 'all-hearing/ but he may not have known la Dive Bouteille. panpharmacon. A remedy against all diseases and poisons; a panchrest (#.#.) , a panacea. Greek pan, all + pharmakon, drug. Also pampharmacon. Hence panpharmacal, panacean. William Salmon in said:

It

(1694) is

solutely

of Bates DISPENSA-

used by some as pan-

pharmacon, but what

especially, a layer beneath the skin, or

nikelle, pannycele, panicle,

via French

a

is

a word understood, used, and celebrated by all nations and signifies Drink. Hence

is,

his translation

A membrane;

pannide. of muscular

Also

and tin pannikins, ready for the promised carouse.

TORY

See pedlers French.

pannam.

Australia.

the bottle

bottle].

The

Hence,

in

pecially

words, as

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW (1775), were: So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple pie, and at the same time a great she-bear came running up the street and popped its head into the shop. "What! no soap?" So he died and she very imprudently married quoted in

the barber.

A

pretender, a phrase the

cure I think

diseases it will abis

scarcely

deter-

mined.

A pudding baked in a pan.

pan-pudding.

Explained

(1736) as fritters; (1839) as of flour, with small bits of

'pudding made

was a popular, a common good dish for a grosse stomack/ Hence it was used as a term of scorn, as in one of Nashe's letters, for which use see impostume. In the 17th cenbacon in dish,

tury,

487

it/ It

(1606)

'a

to stand to

one's pan-pudding, to

pantagruelism

panse stand firm, hold one's ground; Motteux' translation (1694) of Rabelais exclaimed:

How

tion

panse. To think, meditate; heed; attend to the sick, dress (a wound) Also pans, .

pance, panch; pense. Via French from

Latin pensare, to weigh, consider; pendere, pensum, to hang, weigh, whence also pendulum. Hence pensative, penseful,

the

18th)

,

old

thoughtful; supplanted by pensive. Pensy

(15th century) sily,

,

century)

suspended;

hanging,

,

but pensile

steeply

of

archy.

Thus pantarchy, a the people; cp. pan-

cp. pan-.

pantarete,

all-virtuousness;

cp. ,

as

among

at

Oneida Creek in the U.S. pantechnicon,

the 19th century Perfectionists

a bazaar for

a building in

all

kinds of

Motcomb

artistic

Street,

work,

Belgrave

Square, London, 1830; the project failed and the building became a warehouse for storing furniture; hence pantechnicon, short for pantechnicon van, a moving van. pantechnic, relating to or including all the arts; Lowell in THE BIGLOW PAPERS

perceived the advantages of a [q.v.] or pantechnic education, pantisocracy, a form of social organiza(1848)

pancratic

less

panurgic and

pantagruelism.

panaret pantagamy (accent on the tag) a system whereunder all the men of a household or community are deemed married to all the women and vice versa,

first,

no

less

encyclopaedic

'A

sort

of

high

spirits

worked up in despite of accidents ready to drink too, if you will'. Thus Rabelais, who drew the word from his character whose name Rabelais also explains: One Friday, when people were all at their prayers, great drops of water exuded from

combining form from Greek all

languages; panto glot-

matters.

of the flesh.

government by

all

knavery) took an evil turn, meaning craftiness, complete guile; meddling in all

urged: Studie not nor (1594) not meikle panse [much] on the feeding

all;

of the sea. pantophile, a universal

a critic than Diderot himself. The noun panurgy (as in the late Greek panourgia,

HYMNS

panto-,

equal; us

tells

tism. panurgic, able or ready to do anything; Morley in his DIDEROT (1878) spoke

pensile woods enclos'd. The pansy, of course (French pense, thought) is the flower of thoughtfulness. A. Hume in

pant-.

being (1887)

a lover of the universe, panto glot,

one that speaks

(17th

overhanging as in Shenstone's THE RUINED ABBEY (1750) : His azure stream, with

A

man

lover,

pensive; pensiness; pen-

pensively, sadly

all

that Southey

puddings!

(14th century into

rank,

in his SHELLEY

and Coleridge dreamed of the banks of the Suson pantisocracy hence, pantopantisocrat. quehanna all-laughable, pantomancer, a gelastic, diviner of universal skill; pantomancy, prophesying by any and all devices; cp. aeromancy. pantomorph, that which takes any and all shapes; pantomorphic, able to assume any shape, like fancy, like the

bravely did they stand to their pan-

pensiful

without

Dowden

the ground like drops of sweat. When, however, they collected and drank this marvelous dew they found it naught but

and salter than seawater. Now came to pass that Pantagruel was born on this very day, his father gave him a corresponding name; for panta in Greek signifieth all, and gruel in Arabic means thirsty wishing to suggest that on his birthday all the world was thirsty, and brine, worse

as

it

seeing, in the spirit of prophecy, that

he

would one day become the Lord of the Thirsty. Thus pantagruelism came to mean (Donaldson, THE THEATRE OF THE GREEKS; 1860) Bacchanalian buffoonery as

488

pantarbe

paraph

a cloak to cover some serious purpose. Hence, pantagruelist, a jolly tippler (17th and 18th centuries) a follower of Panta-

also soft or semi-liquid food

gruel; or a satirist, a follower of Rabelais.

century word.

word

the

being echoic of the sound of an infant's

,

lips

opening and

closing.

A

14th and 15th

Adjectives include pantagruelistic, pantapantagruelical,

gruelian,

man's rope. Kingsley in TWO YEARS AGO (1857) spoke of an immediate external of that famous herb pantaapplication .

.

.

gruelion, cure private woes.

A

pantarbe.

for

all

ills

public

and

See popinjay.

papengay.

pantagrueline.

Also note pantagruelion, a word Rabelais used for hemp, the material of the hang-

by

false reasoning.

para, beyond, beside

precious stone that could magnet does iron; the

Good

to carry in one's

pocket.

Before

the

12th century,

this

meant a baker; Latin panem, bread. In the 13th century it took on the meaning, one that worked in or had charge of, the Also

panterer.

panter, paunter, pantyr, Pantler was used from the 14th

through the has II,

17th century; Shakespeare several times (e.g., in CYMBELJNE

it iii,

129)

.

Its

use lingered;

THE INGOLDSBY LEGENDS with gusto

how

pantomancy.

Barham

(1842)

paralogician, paralogist. To paralogize, to falsely. Most of these terms de-

veloped in the 17th century.

sniffing the

(onion and sage)

.

See pant-; cp. aeromancy.

panurgy.

See pant-.

papelard.

A

parasite,

a

sycophant;

a

hypocrite. Also as an adjective, hypocritical. Italian pappare, to eat + lardo, fat,

lard;

Thus

hence,

a 'sponge/ a 'sucker/

also papelardry, papelardy;

A

parament.

Lydgate

Latin parare,

decoration.

make

ready, fit out, adorn. Also paramento, from the Italian. A chamber of to

parament, a richly decorated room, hung with tapestry; hence, a presence chamber, a state room. Chaucer, in THE LEGEND OF

GOOD WOMEN

(1385)

has:

To daunsynge

This chaumberys full of paramentys also as was is led. The word used, Enyas in THE KNIGHT'S TALE of Chaucer, to mean a richly decorated robe, a robe of state. .

in

related

Pantler and servingman,

henchman and page, Stand duck-stuffing

logosf reason. Also

reason

stone of the sun.

pantry.

4-

paralogy, false reasoning; paralogism, an instance thereof, a faulty syllogism. Also

attract gold as the

pantler.

Unreasonable; characterized Also paralogic. Greek

paralogical.

paranymph.

maid

at a

The

best

man

.

.

or the brides-

wedding. Greek para, beside

-f-

Used from the 17th century (Milton; Southey) THE QUARTERLY REVIEW of 1863 said of Mary Stuart; The paranymphs of the bridal were to be the fiends of war. By extension, one that woos nymphe,

bride.

.

or speaks for another ("Speak for yourJohn!"), an advocate, a spokesman.

self,

Urquhart's translation (1693) of Rabelais advances one to supply the place of a paranymph, braul broker, proxenete or mediator.

(1426) speaks of papyllardie which is a manner of ypocrysie. These are 14th and

paraph.

15th century terms.

A

papelote. Porridge. Also paplot, paplette. Related to pap, the breast giving suck;

a precaution against forgery. Paraph Is a shortening (which occurred in the Medi-

A

A

mark, (1) paragraph. (2) f in the margin, to indicate a break. (3) flourish after a signature, originally as ,

489

parcel

parasynaxis eval

Latin

form)

of

from

paragraph,

a

made

side

originally, a short horizontal stroke to in-

+

paravaunt. Spenser uses the word several times in THE FAERIE QUEENE, also in COLIN

any actual use. Parasynaxis, which indeed sounds conspiratory, is in

CLOUT (1595)

making ready,

A

Latin parare, paratum, to make ready. 17th century form, supplanted by preparation. In the 14th century, pare meant to get ready; to adorn; to put in shape; to trim. (The shifts in meaning took place

synne, said KNIGHT DE LA TOURis

THE BOOK OF THE LANDRY (1450) to have so mani clothes, and to do so moche cost ,

diverse to

pare

[adorn] the foule body.

A

parcel. parcelle, cella,

upon a preacher queried: How doth Mr. Pierce paratragoediatef How doth he tumble in his ugly tropes, and rowle himself in his rayling eloquence?

Also, paratragoedia, mock-tragedy, as in

the comedies of Aristophanes.

paramount

A

The

of

my

to

peyne? Hence, by parcels,

Used

piecemeal.

figuratively,

usually in

mean an

insignificant person; Jonson, in CYNTHIA'S REVELS (1599) : What parcel of man has thou lighted on for a

master?

or a group, or

lot, as

in a parcel

Hence, parcel-guilty, somewhat to blame. Dekker, in THE GULS HORNBOOK (1609): Their parcel-Greek, parcel-Latin of

lies.

gibberish. In other combinations: parcellearned; parcel-jocose, parcel-stupid.

common

tenant paravail

in legal writers since the 16th century, the one that actually worked the

tenant;

From Old French

diminutive

pars, partem, part, whence also is particular. Chaucer in THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE (1368) cries: What nedeth to shewe

A

lowest.

was one who held land from another

land.

or portion. Also Italian parti-

parsyll;

Latin particulum,

unintentionally) in mock-tragic style. The 1659 accent, naturally, is on the gee. attack

small part,

passell,

scorn,

A

old form of peradven-

See per-.

parbreak.

parcel of

opposite of

may her honor

ture, q.v.

To write or speak in bombastic language, or (intentionally or

Below or beneath;

Yet that I

An

paraventure.

paratragedlate.

parayalL

:

paravant, And praise her worth, though far my wit above.

Bailey (1751).

It

lowest

eminently. From Old French par, through 4- avant; Latin ab ante, from before. Also

relation to

in medieval French.)

the

In front; before; hence, pre-

paravant.

dictionary-makers of the 17th and 18th centuries were fond of coining, without

of

or

paravail,

tenant,

side 4- syn, together axis, root ag (Latin agere, to move) . This is one of the words

act

tenant

called

parasynaxis. An unlawful meeting; a secret conventicle. Greek para, on the

The

used in the sense of

,

below the beginning of the line dicate a break in the thought.

paration.

val, to the valley,

down; paramount was par 4- a mont to the hill. Black(Latin ad montem) stone in his legal COMMENTARIES (1766) explains: The king therefore was styled lord paramount; A was both tenant and lord, or was a mesne lord; and B was

+

graphos, witten. In early manuscripts there were no breaks in the writing, but a mark was

Greek para, by the

par, through

4-

repetitive phrase was part and parcel, like without let or hindrance; with

bag and baggage. Spenser in his HYMNE HONOUR OF BEAuxiE (1596) says that

IN

borne, and a Being parcell of the purest

spiritual beauty is heavenly

can not

490

die,

parnel

parciloquy

For of the soule the bodie forme . doth take: For soule is forme, and doth the body make. [Make here has dual sense:

skie

.

.

and match.]

create,

Moderation in words, speakLatin parcus, sparing 4- loqui, to speak. The habit or practice of being laconic. 17th century word. parciloquy.

ing

little.

A

Sparingness, frugality; by exten-

parcity. sion,

scantiness,

Latin parcus,

littleness.

sparing. Largely replaced by paucity, smallness (of quantity or supply) , from

Latin paucus, small. Barclay in THE SHYP OF FOLYS (1509) wrote: As nere as the parcyte of my wyt wyl suffer me.

As a mild oath, By Godl Hence, certainly, verily. Old French par de;

By-work; work other than main or usual employment; in painting, an ornamental adornment or subordinate element. Greek para, beside + ergon, work. Hence par ergal, supplementary, also paregetic. parergastical, done parergon. one's

as a by-work, parergic, relating to by-work.

A parergy is something aside from the busior purpose in hand. Sir Thomas in PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646)

ness

Browne

The Scriptures being serious, and commonly omitting such parergies, it will be unreasonable from hence to condemne

stated:

all laughter.

Greek pareunaios; Coitus. pareunia. beside 4eune, para, lying, bed. The English

word

pardee.

French par dieu, by God. Also pardie, perdie, pardi, perdye, per dieu, pardieu, pardy, and more. A very common exclamation, from the 13th century. Chaucer in THE CANTERBURY TAIJES (I3&6; Prologue) says: And yet he hadde a thombe of gold, pardee',

honest miller has a thumb speare says in like

King like

he

value)

.

HAMLET

(1602)

:

For

if

the

not the comedie, Why then benot perdie.

likes it

pardoner. paregal.

proverb: An of gold. Shake-

this alludes to the

See palmer.

Fully equal (in rank, power, Via Old French from Latin per,

thoroughly

4-

aequilis, equal. Also per-

egal, paringale, peringall, perregal, par-

and more. Used since the 13th century; Watson in A DECACORDON OF TEN uyngal,

QUODLIBETICALL QUESTIONS (1602) Spoke of Our noble Elizabeth, prince peregall,

paramount and paragon. The word was also used asf a noun; thus Langland in RICHARD THE REDELES (the heedless; 1399) lamented the youre powere

is

listed in

O.E.D. shows

it

American not.

The

diction-

adjective

would be pareuniac, which makes the deed sound reprehensible. paiidigitate. Having an equal number of toes or fingers on each foot or hand, like

most humans.

A

shortened form of perilous, parlous. with the same meaning. Used from the 14th century. Being popular, it developed other senses: risky to deal with, ticklish; dangerously cunning; mischievous, wicked. Then, loosely, it was used to mean greatly, excessively, 'terribly/ and even 'preciously* as (1870) She is parlous handsome though this contains an echo of the

original sense. The among many others

word was used by Shakespeare, Milton,

Fielding, and Keats.

pannacety. An early variant of spermaceti. Also parmacete, permacettyf parmasity, and the like. Shakespeare in HENRY rv,

PART ONE

eraign'st thing

for

an inward

(1596) says that the sovon earth was parmacity, bruise.

parnel. A priest's mistress; by extension, through partinge of a wanton young woman. Also peronall, youre paragals. 491

loss

to

aries;

pasquinader

parsel

and the

pernel,

From Old French

like.

Latin Petronilla

Peronel',

(feminine

di-

minutive of Petrus, Peter), a woman's

name (Saint Petronilla) hence, Peter's woman. Used from the 14th century. A ;

ballad

recorded

in

1800

says:

Parnels

march by two and three, Saying Sweetheart, come with me. Parnellism, however, meant the doctrines of the Irish followers of Charles Stewart Parnell, who from 1880 to 1891 led the fight in the House of

Commons

for

Home

Rule in Ireland; THE

SPECTATOR of 28 May, 1887, decried the shameless and persistent obstruction of the Parnellite members.

parsel.

An

early variant of parsley; used

(1)

A

(good or bad)

A

match

in

from

prove a considerable

parti.

matrimony. century French parti, chosen. Byron in a letter to Moore in October 1814 said: It is likely she will

In the phrase parti pris, mind made up, bias. Morely in his essay on Carlyle (2)

(1871)

spoke of that fatal spirit of parti

which has led to the rooting of so much injustice, disorder, immobility and

pris

darkness in English intelligence. (3) parti-, as a prefix, means part in one way, part in another, as parti-colored; parti-named, having various names. Shakespeare, in LOVE'S LABOURS LOST (1588) speaks of the partis-coated presence of loose love. partlet.

(1)

A

hen; hence, a woman.

Old French (cp. parnel), applied by Chaucer and others (Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S

Originally a proper name,

Pertdote

TALE, 1611, as Dame Partlet) to the hen. linen neckerchief or the like, worn (2)

A

from the 16th century into the 1 8th about the neck and shoulders of a woman. Originally patlet; a will of 1522 leaves a to make his childer

man my velvett jacket,

cuyffes,

Sidney in the ARCADIA

his

wounds.

parvanimity. Littleness of spirit. Latin parvus, small -f animus, spirit, mind: small-mindedness; the converse of magnanimity. De Quincey in 1830 wrote of the

meanness and parvanimity of Bonaparte. Several English words have been formed with the prefix parvi, small; some are include

Others

scientific.

paruitude,

parvity, smallness; parvipotent (accent

the

vip)

man

is

of

t

little.

little

power;

The common

on

parviscient,

quality of

parviscience.

pascual. Relating to, or growing in, pastures. Also pascuous. Latin pascuum,

use,

19th

and

(1586) tells of Parthenia's tearing off her linnen sleeves and partlet to serve about

knowing

in recipes. parti.

patlettes

pasture, grazing; pascere, pastus, to feed, also pasture, pastor. Also pascage, pascuage, the grazing of kine.

whence

pash.

A

(1)

head. So Shakespeare, in smash(2)

THE WINTER'S TALE (1611).

A

ing blow; hence, a heavy downpour, a swirling snowstorm. (3) The fragments left

by a smashing blow; hence, debris;

by extension, a great quantity of someshort form of calipash; pee thing. (4)

A

for calipee: Foote in THE PATRON (1764) said: Not the meanest member of my corporation but can distinguish the pash

from the pee; he was probably punning (pash for passion) on the two functions of the privy part. Also as a verb, to pash, strike, smash. An echoic word,

to hurl, like

bash, smash, dash. Shakespeare in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA says: // I go to him,

with

my armed

fist

He pash him

ore the

face.

pasha. pasquil.

See bashaw. See pasquinader.

pasquinader. satires.

492

The

A writer of lampoons, of forms pasquil, pasquin, pas-

past

patch

quinade, were used

both, as

noun and

as

lampoon

MAGAZINE of 1809 reported that the sewing school, the pastry school, were then

(originally,

as

applied by the ancients (Latin Patavinus, of Patavium, now Padua) to the writings of Livy, as containing many local charac-

Pasquin or Pasquil, prob-

teristics of his

ably from a schoolmaster near where it was found. The pasquinade, or satiric attack, was hung on this statue; answers might be hung on the statue of Marforio.

Then

in Tullief in

applied to any writing. Prescott in

anonymous THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

The white

walls

of

barracks were

Also paste. See frowze. See postiche.

To

mean dug, prepared for Hence pastination^ digging.

century to

plant-

In addition to the baked pasties denotes, it used also to mean the place where the pasties are made.

pastry. this (1)

word

ROMEO AND JULIET (1592) makes pleasing sound: They call for dates and quinces in the pastrie. (2) The art of the pastry-cook. Steele in THE SPECTATOR (No. 314; 1712) spoke of the whole art of paistrey and preserving; two years Shakespeare in

earlier,

we

learn:

To

all

young

ladies at

Edw. Kidder*s Pastry School in Little Lincoln's Inn Fields* are taught all sorts

and I know not what patavinitie [Tullie was Marcus Tullius

patch.

(1)

(1553)

said

A

fool; a clown.

this

fool.

is

He

also

roguery. In RESPUBLICA

uses

(1553)

patchery, read:

we

usiree, perjuree, pitcherie, patcherie, pilcatcherie. snatcherie, briberee,

ferie,

Shakespeare uses the word patch often: in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1594) he speaks

ground prepared for planting. From Latin pastinare, pastinatus, with the same meaning. Pastinate was also used in the 15th ing.

his

of Latin style.]

patched

dig; to loosen the ground by digging. Also pastine, to dig; to plant in prepared soil. Pastine, as a noun,

pastinate.

Carew in

T. Wilson from the nickname, Patch, of Cardinal Wolsey's jester, but it may be from the clown's patched garb. Shakespeare makes three references to a

levelled at Cortez.

pastiche.

city.

accepted through the ages as a

Cicero,

covered with epigrams and pasquinades

past.

Lime.

model

(1843) declares:

the

native

translation (1607) of Estienne's WORLD OF WONDERS said one could find soledsmes

the term spread, satirical

fugacesl

patavinity. Provincialism in style; a provincial or dialect term. The word was first

eulogizing verses were affixed to it; later, these grew satiric. The figure was popu-

known

branches of female education.

essential

Eheu

Cardinal Caraffa next his palace by the Piazza Navona. Annually on St. Mark's day this torso was decorated; at first

larly

and cookery. And the SPORTING

of pastry

one posted in a public place) ; to satirize, to lampoon. An ancient statue, mutilated, was unearthed in Rome, 1501, and set up by verb, a

of a patch set on learning; in MACBETH is the angry cry: What soldiers^ patch! The

term survives in the sense of an ill-natured person, especially a child, and in the compound form crosspatch. (2) Old meanings of patch, a piece of cloth: not a patch on, nowhere near, not fit to be compared to;

Reade

(1860)

;

in

THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH on you for looks.

He is not a patch

A

tiny piece of black silk or courtplaster, often cut into an ingenious design, worn as a beauty-spot

and 18th

(especially in the

centuries)

.

17th

Hence, a patch-box:

Pope in THE RAPE OF THE LOCK (1714): Thrice from my trembling hand the patchbox fell. Edmond Gosse in Ms essay THE

493

patten

pathophobe

WHOLE DUTY OF WOMAN on THE

(1895) comments CALLING of the time of

LADIES'

(1660); he quotes: Any one those baubles, the loosest appendage of a fan, a busk, perhaps a the dress, of

Charles II

black patch, bears a price that would the empty bowels of a poor starving

warm

and adds: This was long before

wretch

the days of very elaborate and expensive patches. Yet Fletcher in THE ELDER

had observed: Your black Some cut like stars, some in half moons, some lozenges. Even earlier Marston in FASQUILL AND KATHERINE (1600) had cynically noted: Blacke patches are worne, some for pride, some to stay the rhewme, and some to

BROTHER

(1625)

patches you wear variously,

piquancy

to the

who

Cp. pedlers French. relationship of an uncle. patruus, father's brother; pater, patrem, father. In 17th century diction-

Latin aries

symptoms within himflees them in others. He will run from however interesting a group, if one of its members mancy. Relating to the gallows. Hence, patibulate, to hang. Both terms were mainly in humorous use. Latin

patibulary.

patibulum, a fork-shaped yoke placed on the neck of a criminal; patere, to lie open, to be exposed (as in the stocks) . Hence patible was used in English (15th into the 18th century) to mean the horizontal bar of a cross; a gallows. Also in the 17th century, patible (from Latin

suffering)

whence

was used

suffering, enduring.

to

also patient, long-

mean

capable of

SOCIETY of II June,

1881, spoke of that distinguished burglar, after

he had been duly patibulated.

find patruel,

A kind

nephew.

of shoe or overshoe. Per-

haps from French patte, paw; perhaps related to French patiner, to skate. From the 14th century, the word patten was applied to (1) shoes the feet might be

finds the

pati, to suffer,

we

patten.

aero-

The

patruity.

cheek of beauty.

cp.

cove.

,

the patch that lent

Hence, pathophobia;

pairing

patriarcho,

,

whereas the pathophobe

sneezes.

as

Mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher's THE BEGGAR'S BUSH (1622) Jonson's BARTHOLOMEW FAIR (1614) and other plays. Described in THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE of 1782: stroling priests that marry under a hedge. The couple, standing on each side of a dead beast, were bid to live together till death them does part; and so shaking hands the wedding was ended.

pathophobe. One that dreads disease. be distinguished from a hypochrondriaCj

co,

patriarke

To

self,

hedge-priest,

Touchstone sought (in Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT) . Also paterco, patter co,

hide the scab. Occasionally, even today,

we may look upon

A

patrico.

such a one

slipped into without fastening, like clogs or (2) the thick-soled shoe, chopine (q.v.) f

worn by women of fashion

to

increase

From

the late 16th century, was patten applied to an overshoe that lifted one out of the mud or wet; espetheir height.

cially

wooden

of a (since the 17th century) sole held on the foot by a leather

loop, with an iron oval ring, or something of the sort, underneath. Pepys in his

DIARY (24 January, 1660) spoke of his wife exceedingly troubled with a pair of new pattens, and I vexed to go so slow. Gay in TRIVIA described good housewives that

Safe

thro'

on clinking pattens tongue runs on pattens, it

the wet

tread. If the

keeps up a great clatter; thus in UdaH's RALPH ROYSTER DOYSTER (1553) we read: Your tongue can renne on patins as well as mine. Greene and Lodge, in A LOOKING GLASSE FOR LONDON (1594) build a simile: ,

494

pax

pattens-and-dogs

A womans fit

eyes are like a pair of pattens,

to save shoe-leather in

summer, and

keep away the cold in winter.

A

to

MONASTERY (1820) says: Your leg would make an indifferent good show in a pavin or a galliard.

pretty

patten indeedl

A

shield large enough to protect pavise. the entire body, usually borne by a page in front of his knight, or an attendant in

A

north-country name pattens-and-dogs. for the flower the birdsfoot trefoil. In the south, where leather was more plentiful

and both Henry VIII and Elizabeth, with their courtiers, were often ajaunting, the same flower was called boots~and~shoes.

front of an archer. It was convex

them both, and thus

to shelter

the hands of the active fighter. Also peons, pavais, pavois, pavache, pavice, and the like; ultimately

Open

or

opening widely; spreading, as the boughs of a tree. Latin patere, to be open, whence also patulent, open, expanded. THE BYSTANDER of 1790 pictured the bliss of reclining under the patulous.

pauciloquent. little,

Beaumont in PSYCHE (1648) Fear no discredit by pauciloquie. To to lessen, to

make

few; Cowper paucify in a letter of 26 December, 1792, said:

My

pawtener

of God.

A

variant form of pansy (French pawnee. pensee, thought), the flower of meditation. Induded in the bouquet in Spenser's

April Eclogue of THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579), a beautiful culling: Bring hether the pincke gelliflowres,

in wine,

is

he that twies

bag, wallet, purse. the 16th century.

A

this

hath yow smyten to grounde.

pavi-

More in 1534 speaks of man clipped in on every syde with the pa-vice

A

pantener. MERLIN (1450) has:

A

(pavesade, pavisado) was a screen of pavises set before a fighting line. Hence,

vagabond, rascal. Also pawtener, paytener; sometimes misprinted (1)

since the 17th.

cept historically)

opportunities of writing are paucified.

pautener.

where

sade,

Speaking few words. Latin few + loquentem, speaking;

discourse.

is

Italy,

a protection;

loqui, locutum, to speak; whence also elocution. Hence pauciloquy, brevity in said:

from Pavia in

such shields were originally manufactured. Used since the 14th century, obsolete (ex-

umbrage of a patulous beech.

paucus,

enough left free

(2)

The

dance, from Spain via France, came into England in the 16th century. Also pavion,

paven, pawn, pavane, pamne, pavaun. Some suggest pavan is short for Padovana,

from the dty Padua; others, that It is from Spanish pavo, peacock, the stateliness and elaborate garb of the dancers suggesting the proud bird. Scott in THE

daffadowndillies,

pretie pawnee,

And

lillies:

the chevisaunce

Shall match with the fay re flowre delice.

A small

The The

me And

of paramoures. Strowe

with

and kingcups, and loved

cowslips,

day thus

pavan. A dance, grave and stately. dancers were elaborately dressed.

Worne

the ground

full fell

Used from the 14th into

and purple cullambine, With Bring coronations, and sops

Peace; directly from the Latin pax, pacem, whence pacify and the Pacific Ocean. Cp. peas. Mainly in the drarchly

pax.

(I)

Pax vobiscum, pax vobis, peace be with you. In schoolboy slang Pax! Peace! Keep quiet!, or (in a game) Truce!; also, a friend; to be good pax, to be good greeting

friends.

(2)

to kiss the tory,

A

ceremonial

pax

which

is

kiss; especially,

(3)

an

oscilla-

a tablet representing the Crucifixion

or other religious subject, kissed by the priests and the congregation at Mass. In this sense, pax is sometimes confused with

495

peason

paylaysward

pyx

(pix),

q.v.

Holinshed's

pease. The former singular of pea, which came into being about 1600, because pease

CHRONICLE

records the stealing of a pyx as the one outrage of the English on French soil; it is

was thought to be the plural. The plural of pease was peasen, peason, pesyn, pesen,

HENRY v (1599): Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him, For he hath stoVn a pax, and hangd changed in Shakespeare's

must

and the like, as in Tusser's HUNDREDTH GOOD POINTES OF HUSBANDRIE (1557), adfor February: Sow peason beanes in the wane of the moon;

be.

vising

paylaysward.

See paladous.

and

Who

sowethe them sooner, he soweth too soon. Washington Irving in SALMAGUNDI PAPERS

paynim. The

country or lands of the heathens, pagandom; also, a heathen, especially a Saracen, a Mohammedan. An

(1807) spoke of pease-blossom breeches', one of the fairies in Shakespeare's A MID-

a region, province, country-

(1590) is named the sweet-pease has a beautiful delicate blossom. The word was

Gp. pagany. Paynim is a favorite word with historical novelists. Other forms

often used to represent something trivial; More in A DIALOGUE OF COMFORT AGAINST

pagandom were paynimy, paynimry.

TRIBULATION (1534) said: All our penaunce without Chrisfs passion wer not worth

early variant of pagan, via Old French from Latin paganus, of the countryside, rustic; pagus,

SUMMER

side.

for

NIGHT'S

Pease-blossom.

peagoose. Simpleton, ninny. This form is a shortening of peakgoose. The form

peak, sometimes used alone to mean a fool, is also found in hoddypeak and pekehod-

emphatic forms for the same meanWe also find hoddy-noddy, hoddydoddy, and hoddypoll, all meaning simpleton; the last two were also used to mean

die,

ing.

DREAM

And

a pease;

Thomas

(1598):

He

Bastard in CHRESTOLEROS

learned

logicke

and

arith-

metique, yet neither brawls nor ciphers worth a peaze. Some like it in the pot.

There was also (13th to 17th century) a verb to pease, to pacify, to grow calm, which was peace used as a word of action;

THE MARRIED BEAU

form appease. Sackville A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES (1563) when the goddess leads him into hell, en-

(1694) says I'm a pe-goose with a Lady, but the devil with a chamber-maid.

counters Cereberus, Foredinning the ayer with his horrible yel. Out of the diepe

cuckold. Peakgoose is a favorite word with the playwrights of the 16th and 17th cen-

Crowne

turies;

in

Tm

Harvey in 1586 observed: He that would be thought a man, or seem anything worthy must be a great doer and a great speaker. He is a cipher, and but a peakis neither of both: he that cannot be both, let him be one at least, if he mean to be accounted anybody. Or

goose, that

farewell all

hope of value.

A variant

.

the prince of peas.

survives in the

in

,

darke cave where he did dwell, The goddesse strayt he knewe, and by and by [immediately] He peaste while that we passed by.

peason.

and couched,

Plural of pease, q.v. Surrey in on THE FRAILTIE AND HURTFUL-

his sonnet

NES

OF BEAUTTE

Tickell

form of peace. See p ease one Thus of the poems in Tottel's (verb) MISCELLANY (1557) declares: The came of things 1 will not blame Lest I ofend peas.

it

treasure

Daungerous

(1535)

calls

abhorred

Beauty: reason,

of

to deale with, vaine, of

availe; Costly in keping; past,

none

not worth

two peason; Slipper in sliding as is an Harde to attaine; once gotten, not geason; Jewel of feopardie .

eles taile;

.

496

.

pedisequent

peat peat. An old form of pet, a darling. Also, a spoiled child; Shakespeare in THE TAM-

ING OF

THE SHREW

peate! It

has:

A

peccaduliun, peccadilia, peccadiglio, piccadillo, picadilio, and more.

pretty put finger in the eye, why the remainer of the (1596)

best

is

and she knew

A

ped. A basket, a hamper with a lid. pedlar (the noun occurs in the 14th century, long before the verb to pedle, ped-

passage implying a cry-baby. Being very common from 1570 to 1640, the word de-

veloped other uses: as a term of scorn for a woman, especially, a proud peat. Jonson in EVERY

MAN OUT OF

HIS

HUMOUR

was probably one that traveled dle) around with his wares in a basket.

(1599)

described Deliro's wife and idoll, a proud

pedaile.

mincing peat, and as perverse as he is officious. Also, a lawyer favored by a

however,

they not

is

though

a place where peat (chunks of decomposed and partly carbonized vegetable matter,

used for fuel

the

still

current sense)

wash

sin;

enough to use the word, outnumber the sinners. Cp.

those educated sinless

couth. Also lapsed are peccaminous, full of sins; peccancy (not necessarily associ-

faulty;

sinned,

to

sin;

Also,

by assimilation

to

lave

XIl)

,

1828,

refers to the ritual:

washing of the feet as a After which holy function, go and

prepare for the pediluvials. pedipulate. pes,

pedem,

To work with foot.

the feet. Latin

The word was on

coined in

busy in his pedipulations as an organist.

finite

said J. Clarke in

guilt;

beings,

intelligent

AN ENQUIRY INTO THE

CAUSE AND ORIGIN OF EVIL (1720) sarily

off.

to cry pec-

used as a confession of

bility

The word,

Also peccability, suscepti-

sinning;

Thus peccavi, I have was formerly more often than now incorrect.

cavi, to confess.

a father oft

model of manipulate (Latin manus, hand) . There were comments on pedipulating snowshoes; Oliver Onions in THE COMPLEAT BACHELOR (1900) said: Bassishaw must have been as

with piquancy); peccant,

ated

made

rare, is good.

IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS (LEO

sinning; sinful.

Latin peccare, to sin; the negative impeccable has survived, showing that, among the

ex-

(Latin lavare, to bathe) , pedilave. These are 17th century forms; Landor in his

See nipcheese.

Liable to

peccable.

by

pediluvium. A foot-bath; a washing of the feet. Latin pedem, foot + luere, to

is

dug. pebble-peeler.

foot-soldiers;

foot; pedem, foot. Samuel Collins, in THE DEFENCE OF THE BISHOP OF ELIE (1617) CXclaimed: What pedaneous author have

peatry, peatship, the character or

A peatery,

body of

pedaneous. Of low standing; petty. Latin pedaneus, relating to (or the size of) a

he also used peat (THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN; 1818) as a term of scorn for a man. behavior of a peat.

A

tension, rabble. See putage.

judge, referred to as his peat. Scott revived this use (in REDGAUNTLET; 1824) ;

Hence

sin; cp. peccable. The forms for were many: peccadilian, peccadulian,

amiss, sin

,

neces-

suppose peccability.

the 19th century,

the

A

footman; attendant, folpedisequent. lower. Latin pedem, foot + sequentem, following; sequi, to follow, whence obinconsequential. Also pedissequous (an extra s has crept in) , attendant upon. These are 17th century forms; Topsequious,

A

variant form of peccadillo. peccadill. f diminutive of pecado, pecadillo Spanish sin;

Latin peccare, peccatum, to miss, do

sell

497

in FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS

(1607)

Spoke

pedlers French

peize

of a deer forced to offer

up

his

bloud and

ken, prison; quier cuffin, justice of the peace, bowsing ken, tavern; stauling ken, place that will receive stolen goods. To

observant pedissequants of the hunting goddess Diana. flesh to the rage of all the

cut,

pedlers French. The canting language, the special speech of the beggars, vagabonds, and thieves of Tudor times. It is

to cant, to speak; to ask; to prig, ride;

maunde,

do with a

to nygle, niggle, to have to

woman

some extent, in plays of the period, and especially in the pamphlets and broadsides of the day. Both Harman in A CAVEAT OR WAKENING FOR COMMON CURSETORS, VULGARELY CALLED VAGABONDES (1567) and Dekker in LANTHORNE AND CANDLE-LIGHT (Part TWO of THE BELMAN OF LONDON; 1609) discuss it in detail. Some of its words are from Latin: Togeman, a cloak, from toga; pannam, bread, from panis; cassan, cheese, from caseus. Others of the words follow, lightmans,

used,

cutte, to say;

towre, to see, to

to

carnally.

Chief

among

beggars

was the upright, the master vagabond; his staff was called a filtchman. The jarkeman (jackmari) could read and write; he provided (counterfeit) licenses, called gybes; the

seals

The

he

affixed

were called jarkes.

frater carried a gybe to

hospital (spittlehouse)

.

The

beg for a

curtsey

man

was a polite beggar with a piteous tale. The verser (cp. gramercy) was a thief's steering the victim (verse, into the snare. ruffler was, or

confederate, to turn)

A

claimed to be, a veteran of the wars; a whipjack, an old mariner. These terms

day; darkmans, night; the harmans, the stocks; the harman beck, the constable;

grannam, corn; ruffmans, bushes, woods,

but scratch the surface of the Elizabethan underworld, yet in some measure I have

hedges, chete, thing, in many compounds as smelling-chete, a nose, also an orchard

thee,

or garden;

nab, head;

nab-chete,

if

fambling chete, a

to these bold, beastly,

ring; belly chete, apron; grunting chete, pig. pratt a buttock (we still speak, in the

vayne vacabonds.

a pratfall) ; stampes, legs; stampers, shoes. A cove (cofe, co, cuffin) was a man; a mort was a woman. Hence patri-

peel.

circus, of

girl; especially,

a beggar

the baby girl carried by

woman

of an

doxy until she come

dtham"

(altham)

mort, queen;

wle

autem,

altar,

mort, married

Rome

See aeromancy.

(1817)

of

speaks

opening

the

subject

peirastically.

peize.

honor church; autem to the

Weight; burden; hence, weight of

guilt and the like; a heavy blow or fall, as Spenser says of Ptolemy in THE FAERIE

woman. Rome

bowse, wine;

bawdy beggers and

peirastic. Experimental; as an experiment; in experimental mood or wise. Greek peirastikos; peiran, to try. From the 17th century; Peacock in MELINCOURT

to win pity and elicit pence; "she is brought at her full age to the upright to be broken, and so she is

called a

before

See pel.

pegomancy.

arke co, patrico, priest, especially a hedgepriest; gentry cofe, a nobleman; kinchin coy a boy, also kitchen co. kinchin mort,

a

set

good Reader, the leud lousey lan-

guage of these leutering luskes and laysy lorels ... an unknowen tounge onely but

cap;

prattling chete, tongue; crashing chetes, teeth; gambles, hands;

may quote Harman

I

QUEENE

Rome

(1590)

:

He

with a peaze

The word was very common from

(French wile, city), London, ken, house; quier, queer, quyer, evil; quier

to the

it

brake.

the 14th

17th century; also as a verb, to

weigh; to balance; to weigh In the mind,

498

pekehoddie

pell

ponder; to press with weight, to force, to drive. Also peise, payee, pese, peaze, peyse,

Property pilfered or stolen, booty; property; money, wealth. Thus Shakespeare in the prologue to PERICLES (1608): pelf.

and the like. Old French peis, Latin pensum, something weighed; pendere, pen-

escapende

whence English pensive and the

sider,

money,

peizie,

disparagingly,

peiser,

worth a pell.

A

louse.

See peagoose.

A

stake, used in practicing swordpel. craft in the 14th century. Also, an early

form for

pall, peel, pell. Strutt, discussing

the old use in SPORTS

AND PASTIMES

(1801),

The

practitioner was then to assail the pel, armed with sword and shield, in the same manner as he would an adver-

said:

stake,

peel.

is via French from Latin palus, whence also palisade, pale, pile, The noun peel has had several

Pel

sary.

meanings beside the now current rind of fruit,

often candied.

(1)

A pillow.

(2)

An

W.

Hamilton, in WALLACE In time of peace, he never had a (1722): peel, So courteous he was, and so genteel. (3) A shovel; a baker's shovel. (4) Related to pel: a stake. Hence, a fence of stakes, a palisade (from the 13th to the 16th century) ; a small castle or tower; equal, a peer.

one of the small towers or fortified dwellings built in the 16th later, especially,

century along the English-Scottish border, a peel-house, shortened to peel. Chaucer

THE HOUS OF FAME (1384) has: I gan romen til I fonde The castel gate on Ther mette I cryinge my ryght honde save the lady of God oon many [a one]

in to

.

thys

pel

.

.

a furred

skin or hide; especially,

skin used for a cloak or

pekehoddie.

lucre";

"filthy

WOMEN (1595) decries all this new pelfe now sold in shops, in value true not

heavy;

one who weighs or ponders; peiseless, without (much) weight; Sylvester in his version (1606) of Du Bartas has: Like peizlesse plume born up by Boreas breath.

ought

progres-

then trumpery, trash Gosson in PLEASANT QUIPS FOR UPSTART NEWFANGLED GENTLE-

,

peisy,

This

himselfe.

altered,

forms are peisant (pesant) heavy, burdenoppressed;

but

sion of meanings toward social acceptance and the word came to mean

rare pensitate, to ponder, to cogitate. In the 15th century, peisage (pesage) was a duty charged for weighing goods. Other

some,

Ne

All perish en, of man, of pelfe,

sum, to weigh; also Latin p ensure, to con-

its

lining.

From

the 14th century; a little earlier was pellet, the skin of a sheep, which was replaced in the 15th century by pelt. Also pellure, pelure (from the 14th century) fur; especially for a garment or its lining. Latin ,

pellem, skin. English

fell,

meaning

hide,

a common Teutonic form, related to Latin pellem. Hence, pelured, adorned

skin, is

with

fur;

peltry

(in

the

15th century;

then again in 1701 in connection with the

North American fur lectively;

century

trade),

pelts

col-

undressed skins; peltier (14th Guild of Peltyers) , a furrier.

peltage (17th century)

Hence,

to pelt,

cheat, to fleece.

, pelts collectively. to skin; figuratively, to pell was also (from the

A

a skin, or roll of parchment; specifically, one of the two pells of the Exchequer: pellis receptorum, pell of 15th century)

and pellis exituum, pell of disbursements. Hence Clerk (Master) of the Pells; the Pells, the Office of the Exreceipts,

chequer. The word thus came to be used in general for accounts; loosely (humorously) for one's fortune, as in Canning's

.poem THE GRAND CONSULTATION (1802):

Our

frugal doctor . . . Gives his pills to the public, the pells to his son. pelisse, pelisson, pellycon? was a garment of fur;

499

A

peony

pellucidlty

a long mantle or doak lined Caxton in his LIVES OF THE

especially, with. fur.

FATHERS (1491) pictures a priest with his

Ms

frocke,

With

and

pelycon

am

this picture I

his

sterl

the

'Twere better

pen

such did not

if

make

stir.

The early form of penthouse. The word dropped its prefix, being via pentice.

Gospellis.

impelled to stop.

times

Old French apentis, apendeis from Late Latin appenditium, an appendage, applied to a chapel or other holy building architecturally dependent upon a church;

in 1756 observed that the

Thames River

Latin ad, to -f pendere } to hang. (Independent means not hanging onto or from something else.) The word was early

preserves her purity and pellucidity. Of what river that washes a city can this

applied to a lean-to, a usually open-side shed with a sloping roof, attached to a

The

pellucidity.

Used from

clear.

quality of being very the 17th century, some-

to mean physically transparent (Latin per, through + lux, lucem, light), sometimes of ideas and the mind. C. Lucas

still

be said? Witness the already old jingle "The River Rhone washes the

ending: city of

Cologne

.

.

Who now

.

will

wash

See swan.

pen.

See banderol.

pencel. penis.

An

figuratively:

old plural form of penny;

LOVE'S

LA-

With your hat (1588) oer the of your eyes; shop penthouse-like His Scott, in PEVERIL OF THE PEAK (1822) has:

i

penistone. in the 16th

A

coarse woollen cloth, used

and 17th centuries. From Penttown in Yorkshire. Also pennystone penyston, etc. An Act of Edward VI (1551) required that clothes com-

stone, a ',

called

whites

pennystones

or

forest

. . shall conteyne in lengthe beinge wette betwixt twelve and thirtene .

huge penthouse hat. Tennyson, in VIVIEN (1859): He draggd his eyebrow bushes down, and made A snowy penthouse for his hollow eyes. Nowadays, a penthouse usually means a terraced apartment on the roof or top floor of a large building, such as Peter Sabbatino is neglecting for his Sabine farm.

A

yardes.

peony, plant, with beautiful globular flowers in shades of red and white. The

See panse.

pensative.

See peize.

paasitate.

A

penster. literary hack, a puny wielder of the pen. Used, though rarely, from the

17th century. The ending is disparaging, as in rhymsterf punster, trickster, or (16th lewdster.

RICHMOND (1871)

Meredith in HENRY

cries

Oh! the poor pen-

and

were used as Medieval and Elizabethan soldiers went to war with a sprig of peony beneath their armor. It was the most ancient of healing plants; Pliny (70 A.D.) mentioned 20 diseases roots,

pensiL See banderol. Scott uses pensil in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805) .

century)

in

Shakespeare

BOUR'S LOST

pennies.

monlye

by folk-etymology by the 17th century became penthouse. Dickens (in BARNABY RUDGE, 1840) applies penthouse to a shed with a sloping roof, not attached to another building. The word was also used

Rhone?"

the River

larger building; hence

pentice, pentis

flowers,

medicine,

it

the seeds

seeds, as

spice.

could cure.

Its origin is godly: Paion, physician to the gods, healed Pluto of a sore wound inflicted by Hercules. Aescula-

pius, Paion's master, jealous of this success, slew his rival, whereupon Pluto

500

per-

perfit

changed him into a

flower, the peony. [Apollo took over the patronage of physicians, as Apollo Paian; the hymn to him, beginning lo Paian, gave us the word for

state

refractory,

it

further.

peradventure.

As a prefix per means through or thoroughly (through and thorough were originally the same word) Forgotten words with this prefix, most of them from .

16th century, include: peragrate, to to walk peramble, through; or about since the 17th through (replaced

the

travel

century by perambulate) ; perbreak, to burst through, to break asunder (14th16th century) , but also as a form of parbreak, to spue forth, to vomit; percase (from the 1 4th century), by chance; perto heat or boil thoroughly; figura-

overdone

the overstrained; perduellion, perdueltism, treason, stark rebellion; perempt, to do away with, extinguish, to quash a case in

word

survives in peremptory; to perendinate, put off till the day after tomorrow; especially, to keep putting off

one's departure.

There were

rules against

perendination in the medieval religious houses and in the colleges (even later), to help get rid of persisting guests; hospitality finds this more

ciliar

problem. Also,

domiof a

perflable, that may be to the winds; per-

blown through, open iclitation,

the act of exposing or state of

being exposed to great danger; perissology, redundance, using many more words than are needed (perish the thought!) ; pernoctate, to stay all night* to pass the night in study or prayer.

A

chance.

By

Old French

par aventure, by chance; Latin ad, to + venire, ventum, to come. This word, in various forms paraventor, paraventure, per aunter, paraunter was very common from the 13th century; in the 16th, the form peradventure superseded the earlier forms. The phrase out of (past, beyond) peradventure means without doubt. See pardee.

perdie.

Equal. Also peregal; a variant of paregal, q.v. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S peregall.

CALENDAR

(1579;

AUGUST)

says

peregall

to the best.

Meredith in THE EGOIST

(1879) urges us to abstain from any employment of the obvious, the percoct . . .

court; this

in

survives as a beautiful

per-.

tively,

Richardson

(1748) speaks of one the most of peruicadous young creatures that ever was heard of. Let us persist no

flower.

coct,

pig-headed;

HARLOWE

CLARISSA

an exultant song, a paean.] The peony plane, pyon, pyany, pionee, paeony, and more seems today less efficacious as a cure-all, but

of perpotation calls for Alcoholics

Anonymous. Also pervicacious, extremely

peregrine. Foreign; imported; alien to the matter in hand; on a pilgrimage, traveling abroad. Also as a noun, a person residing in other than his native city or

country; a pilgrim. Also peregrin, perrygryne,

perigrin.

Latin peregrinus; per,

+

through ager, field, country. It was used in English as the name of the peregrine falcon, a favorite bird for hawkfirst

A

ing. wandering swashbuckler who gives his name to a novel (1751) by Smollett is

Peregrine Pickle. Another form of the word peregrin, which indeed has sup

planted it, is pilgrim. Peregrinage, peregrinancy, are variant forms of peregrination.

perfit.

in

An

early variant of perfect,

some of the

first

quarto and

tions of Shakespeare.

an instance of the

501

Also

found

folio edi-

perfitly*

use, see term.

For

perfuncturate perfuncturate.

periegesis

To do

charming spells and periapts! also used (Chambers, 1741) of a kind of medicine which being tied about the neck, is supposed to pre-

half-heartedly, to

help, ye

The word was

perform in a perfunctory way. Also perfunctorize; both in the 19th century. Latin perfunctor (which might well be used in English) , one that acts in order

.

.

vent, or cure diseases. Coleridge in 1816 said scornfully that Superstition goes

be done with a thing; perfungi, perfunctum, to perform, carry through, get to

with

its

pack of amulets, but we hear in 1861 of a spider having been sewn up in a rag and worn as a periapt about the neck to charm away the plague. As Shake-

wandering

rid of; per, through -f fungi, to busy oneself,

.

.

.

.

bead-rolls, periapts

be engaged.

To deem, consider, repute; to hold (someone or something) as ... Latin per, through + habere, habitum, to hold, whence all our habits. Because of perhiblt.

.

.

.

speare said, a charming thought!

perhibited the perpetrator of the trick, and prohibited from further access to the

A short passage in or from a Four syllables, accent on the rick; from Greek peri, around + kope, cutting. In classical literature, pericope meant a

premises.

selection of verse that included strophe

perhiemate. To spend the winter. (Four syllables, accent on the high.) Latin per,

and antistrophe; in church usage, the portion of Scripture appointed for reading at service. The EDINBURGH REVIEW of Jan-

on

the smile

through

-f

his face, the tall

hiems, winter.

Many

from the northern United hiemate in Florida. with hibernation. peri.

A

Do

man

writing.

persons

States

not confuse

superhuman being,

pericope.

was

uary 1884 noted: The pericope of 'the woman taken in adultery' is entirely omitted from this work.

perthis

periculous. Full of danger. Used in the 16th and 17th centuries, as by Sir Thomas

originally in

Persian mythology; at first evil, but later pictured as benevolent and beautiful; hence, a fairy; a beautiful person. Persian peri; Zend Pairika, a female demon

employed by Ahriman

Browne;

later, for

humor. Supplanted by

perilous. Also

(19th century) periculant, in danger. Hogg in a poem of 1835 said: 'Tis really ridiculous To turn into frolic

to cause edipses,

a case so periculous.

crop failures, and other misfortunes. Richardson in his PERSIAN DICdroughts,

peridrome.

Something that

'runs'

around,

TIONARY (1780) said Perfume is the only food of peris. Gilbert and Sullivan, after three great successes the titles of which begin with P, hesitated to risk a change;

course.

they fortified their next play, IOLANTHE (1882), by giving it two Fs in the sub~

(Greek hippos, horse, as in hippopotamus, water horse) for horse races as were in-

title:

The Peer and

the Peri.

A charm,

an amulet Sometimes form periapton was used in from peri,, about + haptos,

periapt. the Greek

English;

fastened; haptein, to fasten. Shakespeare

in HENRY

vi,

PART ONE (1591)

cries:

Now

on the four of a chamber or auditorium. Greek as a gallery or balcony

around

+

dromos, running;

Thus a hippodrome

sides

peri,

a race or is

a place

deed seen (charging steeds of cavalrymen) in the old melodramas of the New York

Hippodrome.

A

periegesis. description of a place or region; a journey through a countryside, a tour. Greek peri, around egesis, lead-

+

502

periwig

pengenesis ing

(as

A rare 17th century term, used by Ralph Cudworth in THE TRUE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE (1678): The

might a guide) The word has with the accent on the gee.

seize.

.

five syllables,

Hence

periegetic, describing places or obJonson called Drayton's

things in the world are not administered merely by spermatick reasons, but by

jects of interest.

POLY-OLBION

of

a

the

picture (1622) beauties of Albion, the white-cliffed isle

but Drayton's

title

is

poly-,

thy admired

bion, blessed],

many

4-

perioecL

periegesis.

The

theory that reproducfrom rhythmical vibrations of

protoplasmic tion."

Edward

FITTEST

claimed:

meat pie flavored with

western France. plied

(also,

The

term was later apto other highly

perigo pie)

seasoned meat pies. perigraph.

(1)

An

inscription around

(east

and

.

tee)

on opposite sides of the but the same meridian, under equator, at the same distance from the equator.

The now

antipodes (formerly three syllables; with a singular antipos) , dwel-

four,

opposite on the globe, so that the soles of their feet (Greek anti, opposite + pous, podes, foot) are as it were lers directly

eled.

A

parallel

are those living

The Dynamic

truffles, prized since the 17th century. The truffles were snouted in P&igord, in south-

but opposite The an toed west)

of latitude,

(pronounced anteesee, accent on the

Theory of reproduction I proposed in 1871, and it has since been adopted by Haeckel under the name of perigenesis. Cope seems to have resented being Haeck-

perfgord pie.

intellec-

Dwellers within the

(Plural)

meridians

molecules; "wave-generaCope in THE ORIGIN OF THE

(1879)

comprehensive

ol-

same perigenesis. tion results

is,

perileptic (that tual) reasons.

[Albion means white land;

of England

planted against one another; also, opposite regions of the earth. The antichthones include the antoeci and the antipodes. Sir Thomas Browne, in CHRISTIAN MORALS (1682), used the terms figuratively: Fools, which are antipodes unto the wise, con-

ceive themselves to be but their perioeci, in the same parallel with them.

and

A

something, as one circling a coin. (2) careless description, one that 'goes around* the subject.

Greek p eri, around

+

graphe,

writing, line. Also perigraphe.

Relating to interpretaAlso (by error) perihermiacal. The

perihermenial. tion.

term

is

derived from the

title

treatise Peri hermeneias,

of Aristotle's

Concerning In-

terpretation. Skelton in his REPLYCACION

(1529)

speaks of persons that surmysed

periscian.

polar

The

word

us.

from

peri,

around

+

lambanein, to take,

accent

is

on the second

syllable; for

figuratively (as

an

adjective) in his

CHRISTIAN MORALS (1682) : In every clime we are in a periscian state, and with our light,

Characterized by or relating perileptic. to comprehension. Greek perileptikos,

within the

around 4- skia, the earth revolves about the peri,

the plural the form periscii (peri'-see-eye) is also used. Sir Thomas Browne used the

thoughts on

that passage?

that dwells

Greek

shadow; as sun (in that pole's summer days), the periscian's shadow revolves about him.

unsurely in their perihermeniall princiWhat are your perihermenial

ples.

One

circle.

our shadow and darkness walk about

periwig. A wig; especially one worn by women, later (of another fashion) by men, as a fashionable adornment French

503

-

peme

periwinkle

looking unusually perfink. Also, on one's on one's good behavior.

perruque, wig (a 15th century word, possibly Spanish peluca from Latin pilus,

perjinks,

became in English perwyke and then, by association with English wig, periwig. Also periwinke; and see periwinkle. The periwig was rather generally worn by men on formal occasions, from hair)

the 17th into the 19th century

Washington wore one

lectern. Hence perlection, the act of reading through. [To perligate is to bind hard.] Burton in his translation

predilection-,

George

at his inaugural;

(1885) Of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS Speaks of perlections of the Koran. The devout in many faiths undertake similar perlections;

English courts of law, the practice lingered, Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) protests to see a robustious periwig-pate d fellow tear a passion to tatters. The word also

used figuratively to

mean any

a good Christian perlegates the tales of the pearly gates. Note that perligenous means causing the formation of pearls; it is a perligenous disease that shifts the

cov-

ering or concealment; also as a verb; thus in 1825: ginger-bread bakers periwig a few

plum-buns with

read through. Latin per,

through 4- legere, tectum, to direct, select; to read whence also election, selection,

in

is

To

perlegate.

value

the oyster from

of

sugar-frost.

esculence

to

opulence. periwinkle. In addition to being the name of some species of shell-fish (molluscs)

and an old form of the word

,

wig, q.v.j periwinkle

is

the

name

wyse this

.

(1400):

pink of perfection lapsed, and the

word was used

playfully of a woman, as in the command to a chambermaid in Shirley's

THE PRETTY FAIR ONE

Quick periwinkle pet-jink.

Precise,

to thy mistress

(1633):

now!

pernicity,

minutely accurate; prim;

The word

is

a 19th cen-

tury coinage, mainly Scotch; Barrie in A IN THRUMS (1889) says: He was

WINDOW

niti,

speed,

Latin per, through, nixus, to strive. Hence

The

swiftness.

current

from Latin per + nex, necem, death; it was represented in English (16th and 17th cenpernicious, ruinous, fatal,

turies)

also

struction;

is

by perniciable, bringing de-

pernicion,

destructiveness.

ruin;

Kirby

perniciosity,

(1835)

speaks of

birds of pernicious wing. perrie.

perry,

Jewellry. pierrye,

Also

and the

perree, like.

perrey,

Via Old

French pierrie; pierre, stone; ultimately from Latin petra, a stone, whence also petrify and the pun on which the Catholic church stands (Saint Peter, the rock of Christ) The word was used from the 14th century (Chaucer) to the 17th; Wyatt in a poem THE FAITHFUL LOVER .

particularly neat. Also prejink, prefinct;

perjinkety, fussy.

+

thoroughly

Courteous lady and

thou art peroenk of pryse. Later

Swift.

pernicious.

by the 14th century the word was applied to a person, meaning the peak (or flower) of perfection, as in THE ROMANCE OF SIR .

variant form of parnel, q.v.

of a

evergreen plant with starry Other forms, from the year 1000, are pervenkef pervink, pervinde; periwinkle became the predominant form by 1600. The Latin form, pervinca, may be from pewincere, to conquer completely. This is what the flower seemed to do, for

.

A

pernel.

peri-

trailing flowers.

HEGREVANT

See perlegate.

perligenous.

GIVETH HIS MISTRESS HIS HEART (1541) wrote: I cannot give broaches nor rings . . Pierrie, nor pearl, orient and clear. .

A

.504

perrier (15th to 18th century)

was a

persand

cannon

pervious for firing stones; Hakluyt in his tells of perriers of brasse,

able woods. Latin per, through 4- via, way. also perviate, to make one's way

Hence

VOYAGES (1524)

that shot a stone of three foote

and a

(or

See barmkin.

persand.

lation

To

perscrate.

examine

Also

perscrutate;

cerne

Latin

OVID'S

perscrutator.

+

to

scrutari, scrutatum, through amine; whence also scrutiny and the

per, exin-

To punch

pertuse.

Latin per, through

hammer,

beat,

(a

hole in)

,

to bore.

+

tundere, tusum, to whence also contusion.

Also as an adjective, pertuse, pertused, full of little holes (as a dying leaf in

autumn)

.

Hence pertusion,

boring or punching (holes)

the action of ;

a hole thus

made. perversiose.

A

15th century variant of

perverse. The morality MANKIND (1450) said Thys perversyose ingratytude I can

not rehers* This and

same

p ewerdonate in the

play, are milder forms of perverted.

In the same century perverser was used for perverter, corrupter. Until the mid19 th century the only meaning of pervert was one that turned from a doctrine ac-

cepted as true; his opposite was a convert.

To

investigate diligently or discover to by research. Latin thoroughly; 4per, through vestigare, vestigatum, to pervestigate.

track, trace.

Hence, pervestigation. Used

in the 17th

and 18th

centuries.

pervial. Easily seen through; clear. Also pervious, q.v. Perviable, capable of being

passed through, as

pervially

(17th century) pervi-

of Homer's ILIAD said:

A

pervially (or as he passeih) disall that is to be understood. In

BANQUET

Chapman

said:

That

to

barbarism.

Some modern

poets have tried to avoid this barbarism by being especially obscure, impervial. well-known twentieth century poet

A

future!

See apert.

(1611)

plain way

Such guessing, visioning, dim perscruta-

momentous

Pervial,

poesie should be as pervial as oratory, and plainness her special ornament, were the

scrutable ways of providence. Carlyle in PAST AND PRESENT (1843) exclaimed at tion of the

through.

man may

investigate thoroughly; to

minutely.

perscrutation;

pert.

a way)

may be used in the sense that "he who runs may read": Chapman in his trans-

halfe.

went into seclusion to create; on coming forth he read his poem to his wife and, if she understood it, he destroyed it. Most of his work is utterly impervial. pervicacy.

on the tury;

was

Obstinacy; wilfulness. (Accent From the 16th cen-

first syllable.)

in the

1 7th,

introduced,

the form pervicacity

also

pervicacious,

pig-

headed, refractory, very stubborn, Latin pervicacem, stubborn; per, completely 4vincere, vie- to prevail against also convince, victory, invincible)

pervicaciously.

Richardson

in

(whence Hence,

,

CLARISSA

(1748) described one of the most pervicacious young creatures that ever was

heard of. The cynic remarks that pervicacy consists in disagreement with me.

That can be passed through, permeable; open to the mind, intelligible; open to influence or argument, that can pervious.

be persuaded. Hence pervioumess; Latin per, through + via, way, whence also the surviving impervious. Stanley in THE HISsaid that every

TORY OF PHILOSOPHY (1659)

country is pervious to a wise man; for the whole world is the country of a wise soul. Emerson in MAY DAY (1867) observed that

The love.

505

solid, solid universe Is

pervious to

pettifactor

pervulgate

To

pervulgate.

make

public,

known. Latin per, thoroughly

+

make

instrument, the

vulgatum, to make known (vulgus, volgus, the people, the mass) ; whence also dia 17th century vulge. Vulgarization was

(as

1 6th

a

centuries

the

noun,

meant

usual,

the

vulgar,

common common common

A

17th and 18th, not belonging to good

with powder and laid against the target; fired by a fuse. Named from the loud

commonplace, ill-bred. Hence pervulgation, the main purpose of American television. In our olde vulgare, said Elyot in THE BOKE NAMED THE GOVcoarsely

ERNOUR

(1531)

,

Three

pesame.

profile

is

syllables.

trifle.

medieval instrument of war petard. to breach a wall or blow in a gate; of bell-shaped metal, later of wood, filled

;

society,

A

pet was (echoic) an expulsion of anal wind; petard, a large pet. The word was later used of noisy rockets and noise.

called weale.

firecrackers.

A

term of con-

dolence, in the phrase to give

also to

The word was occasionally apto other objects of the same shape, plied or used for pounding, such as the policeman's club.

vernacular; the the 16th century vulgar had people) by come to mean uneducated; in the late the

language,

came

pestle

the pestle of a lark, something very small,

a

term for popularizing; vulgar in the 15th

and

word

be applied to the leg; especially to the leg of an animal used for food. Hence,

vulgare,

says:

For

tis

Shakespeare in HAMLET (1604) the sport to have the enginer

Hoist with his

(receive)

own

petar.

The word was

grieves me. pesame. Spanish pesa me, MEMOIRS in her recorded Fanshawe Lady

often used figuratively, as by Butler in HUDIBRAS (1678) Eternal noise and scold-

to give (1676): I waited upon the Queen her Majesty pesame of the Kings death.

ing,

it

:

all

conjugal petard, that tears Down portcullices of ears; and Stevenson in

The

THE INLAND VOYAGE See pease.

pesen.

A

pess. the feet

such a petard of a

one to

word may revert

rest

hassock; especially, to kneel on, in church. In

on or

bad

me

See aeromancy.

Dekker in THE HONEST WHORE (PART TWO; 16SO) called for a pottle of Greeke wine,

In the 18th century, "a large standing pye, which contains a whole gammon, and sometimes a neat's tongue also, together with a couple of fowls, and if a turkey not the worse." The word

a pottle of Peter sa meene. petticoat

from Latin pistillum y from pinsere, to crush. The pistum, pound, pestle and mortar, for pounding and compounding drugs, came to be symbolic of the is

via French

diminutive

apothecary.

of

pistrum,

From

the bone-shape of the

(though here the fundamental sense).

dleton and Rowley, in THE SPANISH GYPSY (1623): Peter-see-me shall wash thy nowle.

pestle-pie.

pestle

to its

brought from Madeira (to the Rhineland, thence to Malaga) by one Pedro Ximenes. Also Peter-sa-meene, Peter-semine. Mid-

See pestle-pie.

pestle.

/ never saw

A

reach thy breches.

pessomancy.

:

peter-see-me. Spanish wine, popular in England in the 17th century, from a grape

GORTON'S NEEDLE (1575) we hear: gammer sat her down on her pesf and

GAMMER

My

(1878)

man

tails.

A sort

of cake

baked with

butter, served

(mainly in Scotland) with tea. Perhaps named from the shape, but more probably a corruption of French petit gastel

(gateau)

,

little

A lawyer that handles small Also petifactor. variant (both first

pettifactor. cases.

506

cake.

A

phil-

pettilashery

used in the late 16th century)

hand) toward an enemy target to be

is petti-

on

extension, a petty practitioner in any field; one that engages in sharp

fogger.

By

and chicanery. Thus

practices

A

Sylvester's translation (1608) tas has: With brakes and

pettifog-

late 16th

and

a ram) ; "wantonly aggressive, offensively forward. Latin

at.

Hence

also petuldty

(accent

A

aim

Sicily

on the

(The

From is pronounced fee.) an island the inhabitants of which were infamous for their luxury. THE SPEAKER of 28 October, 1899: He was a bon vivant, declined into a fat first

syllable

Phaeacia,

phaeacion

.

phaeton.

(1)

.

and

.

latterly

A rash

his rashness 'sets the

did nothing.

one that by

driver;

world on

fire/

From

word means shining) the son of the sun Helios and in Greek mythology who Clymene,

Phaethon (three

syllables; the

,

begged permission to drive the chariot of the sun just once, but could not con-

which plunged down until the earth was almost burned: Zeus saved it by hurling a thunderbolt that destroyed Phaethon. Thomas Watson in A BODY OF trol the horses,

PRACTICAL DIVINITY the

Phaeton that

(2)

A

said:

(1692)

sets the

light four-wheeled

5m

world on

is

fire.

carriage, 19th centuries; Fel-

used in the 18th and ton in his book on CARRIAGES (1794) said:

The are

pitch,

A

javelin

hurled blazing

(by

catapult

or

of

B.C.).

supersadism.

Agrigentum in

He

roasted

his

last

its

its

The term

first

victim;

phalarism has

One that deals in phantasies. also a sect of heretics, of the

OCCULT SCIENCES (1855) there is mention Ben Jonson, who had some experience

of

as a phantasiast.

phantomnation. An illusion; the appearance of a spectre. The word itself was originally a phantomnation;

it

was

first

recorded in the dictionaries by a misreading. The original sense appears in Pope's translation (1725) of the ODYSSEY: The

phantome nations of the dead. See feeze.

From

the root philein, to love, the prefix phil-, philo- is used in many English words to mean dear,

lover, loving, love. Its converse, also fre-

quent,

wrapped in tow and

torture,

Docetae, called phantasiasts, that held that the body of Christ was not material but a phantasm. In Smedley's book on the

words phalaric.

and

means inhumanly inhuman phalarism,

tyrant

(570-554

There was

phfl-.

tion of carriages.

was

phantasiast.

philos,

sizes and constructions of phaetons more various than any other descrip-

slings

their fortresse

been replaced by sadism, from Comte Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade (1740-1814) who caUed himself Marquis de Sade.

pheeze.

open

Bar-

Note, however, that

maker of the bull was

17th cen-

a gourmand.

Du

of

enemies alive inside a brazen bull; the Phalaris,

A glutton,

to slay.

delight in

Phalaris

tury term.

phaeacian.

men

inhuman;

cruelty,

(like

offensive forwardness.

tull),

their

cruel,

petulcus, butting, frisky; petere, to

a

phalarical, phalerical,

pettilasserie^ petulacerie.

Butting

To fire

phalaricks they play,

and early 17th of petty larceny. Also century corruption

petulcous.

set

fala,

platform from which missiles were hurled.

gery; to pettifog, to pettifogulize. pettilashery.

Latin falarica; Etruscan

fire.

is mis-,

thus

q.v.

Among

formed,

are:

the forgotten

philadelphy, brotherly love; what in respect to others is called philanthropy (love of man) , said

507

phthartic

philamot

Barrow in a sermon of to Christians

1677, with respect

.

looked by the psychoanalysts, philocubist (accent on the second syllable), a lover

indulging the appe-

is

men

(accent on the third syllable), a lover of whores. Also philodox, a lover of his own opinion; hence, a dogmatic argufier.

to

philistee, philistian.

A

stone sought by philosopher's stone. the alchemists, capable of changing base

philotimy, love of honor, ambition, philagathus (accent on the sec1751,

between 'town and

townsmen, to all that are not students; hence, an unenlightened person. Also

philosophist.

Bailey,

a quarrel

in

gown/ Hence, applied by students

philosophaster, a shallow philosopher, a pretender to philosophy or wisdom; also

in

in exact unison with their designs.

son! (Philister ilber dir, Simson!) , at the funeral of a student killed by the towns-

a lover of beards, philopolemic, fond of argument or strife, philopornist ,

syllable;

.

This is the German word for borrowed by the English in the 19th century, for an unenlightened, uncultured person, a philistine. This use probably dates from a sermon preached by Pastor Gotze in Jena in 1693, on the text The Philistines be upon thee, Sam-

one especially fond of ham. p hilo genitive, fond of sexual activity. philopogon (accent on the second syl-

ond

.

Philistine,

used by Aristophanes. of false oaths, philofond philoepiorcian,

lable)

his

philister.

of play at dice

a philopyg

Burke in

of oracle; because, with the best intentions in the world, he naturally philippizes

lover of beauty, philocomal, relating to love of the hair, a fetishistical term over-

tite;

desired.

speech on THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1790) said: The caballers set him up as a sort

philadelphy. phicenlauty, self-love, conceit (16th to 18th tury) . philomythy, love of talk, philocalist,

gastric, belly-loving,

Macedon

Philip of

named

is

into precious metals. elixir, thus

not in

Many

identified

it

hospitable to strangers.

endowing it with the power of curing all wounds and dis-

philamot.

See filemot.

Thus Chaucer

philippic.

A

with the

O.E.D.), a lover of the good, philoxenist,

one who

is

thus prolonging

eases,

bitter attack,

an

TALE (1386) invective.

Originally applied to the orations (from 352 B.C.) of Demosthenes against Philip, king of Macedon, in defence of Athenian

Burton (1864) spoke of Lord North, sound asleep during one of Burke's philippics on him. Hence philippicize, to deliver an invective.

life

indefinitely.

THE CANON YEOMAN'S that The philosophres we sechen faste echoon

in

says

stoon, Elixir clept, [we seek earnestly, each one]. For a report of its finding, see whetstone. Cp. stone.

liberty.

phlegethontic. phlogiston. phthartic.

See antiphlogistian.

See antiphlogistian.

Deadly,

destructive.

Greek

pMlippize. To speak or write under bribery or corrupt influence. Also philip-

phthartikos,

century). The word was occasionally used by error for philippicize; see philippic. From the ancient belief

applied (by doctors) to poisons. Also phthora, destruction (earlier; in Bailey,

pizate

(17th

(the charge was made by Demosthenes) that the (Pythian) priestess of

was influenced

to

Apollo prophesy the things

destroy.

1751)

.

A The

destructive;

phtheirein,

19th century word,

early

word

at

for fluorine

to first

was

phthore, because of the corrosive action of hydrofluoric acid. It will burn a hole in your suit, then your skin.

508

physiognomancy

pickle-herring

physiognomancy, phyznomancy. mancy. (Accent on the pie.)

piacle.

expiation;

penance; an offering to wash away transfer,

by

an action that

sycophant, also used as a verb (17th century) as in a 1621 warning against giving

See aero-

credence

to

Pickthank

is

guilt;

rv,

a crime; guilt. Also placulum. Latin piaculum; piare, to appease; plus, devout, conscientious. Hence, piacularity, the noun, in both senses; piacular, pi-

aculous, piaculary, relating to atonement; sinful. Sir Thomas Browne in PSEUDO-

EPIDEMICA

aculous

it

was

their nayles

declared: Pi(1646) unto the Romanes to pare

upon

ONE;

ABBOTT; 1820)

the nundinae [market-

days; held in ancient Rome every ninth the ancient Britains it was . unto day] . .

one's purse, (safe

and Scott (THE should try to keep

1597)

calls for ex-

piation,

DOXJA

PART

pickthanking counsellors. used by Shakespeare (HENRY

One

.

not one's mind, pickfree

if

from plundering)

A

short pointed beard. Very pickedevant, in the late 16th and the early popular

17th century. Also piquedevant, pickerde-

vaunty peakedevantj pickenovant, pickitivant, from French pique devant, peak in front. Hence, a man adorned with such a beard. The fashion grew out of style as the 17th century filled its course;

piaculous to taste a goose. The Septuagint (said G. Hickes in 1711) called the scape-

Poole

goat the piacular goat, because he was offered to be a piacle.

and two mustachoes;

A

number of words, mainly naming types of person, have been formed from the verb pick. In addition to the pick-.

known picklock (which is also the name of the highest grade of wool) and still

pickpocket, there are the less familiar: pickfaultf a petty fault-finder; Thomas Phaer in THE REGIMENT OF LIFE (1550), said: to

I never intended nor yet do entend the mindes of any such pik-

satisfy

one who on the battle armor from the slain, pick-

faults. pickharness, field steals the

mote, one

who

points out petty faults, pickpenny, a miser, a petty but greedy thief, pickpurse is well known, but in

1537 Latimer, and after him for a century other anti-Papists attacked the selling of indulgences and pardons as purgatory pickpurse: Olde in THE ANTICHRIST (1556): That most gainful fornace of the Popes,

.

(PARNASSUS)

gallant:

A man

in

1657 ridiculed a

consisting of a pickedevant to defeat him there

needs but three clippes of a pair of and POOR ROBIN in 1709 could Entreaties upon such an account are say: cizzars,

as ridiculous as pickedevant beards.

pickeer. To maraud, pillage; to skirmish; reconnoitre; by extension, to skirmish

Also pickear, picquerf piquier, picqueer, and more. Hence, a pickeerer, a skirmisher; one that picks a amorously,

fight,

flirt.

a quarrelsome person, pickeering,

skirmishing; wrangling, bickering; wordy or amorous interchange of advances. Used

frequently in the 17th century, with relation to privateering, but roundabout from

Late Latin pecoraref to carry pecora,

cattle

also pecuniary)

(singular .

Crowne

off cattle;

pecus, whence in SIR COURTLY

There was never such an (1685) open and general war made on virtue; young ones at thirteen will pickeere at it. NICE

:

A

buffoon, a merry-an(from the preserved fish)

pikepurse Purgatorie. pickquarrel, a quarrelsome fellow, pickshelf, a pilferer of

pickle-herring.

provisions, pickstraw, one who carps at trifles, pickthank, a stealer of 'thanks/ a

was used in Germany in 1620

drew.

The word

of a character

509

(Pickelhering)

as the

name

in a play;

pilcrow

pickwick

Dutch version used the name (Pekel in the haringh) in 1648; and Addison, first use of the word in English (THE SPECTATOR, No. 47, 1711) follows this: A

piestrum. "An instrument to beat in head in drawing pieces the bones of the

. . whom every nation that dish name the of meat of by which it loves best. In Holland, they are termed Pickled Herrings; in France, Jean

seems to have lapsed from surgical practice, as the word is not in O.E.D. Bailey

a

set of

merry drolls

the child out of the

.

calls

Pottages; in Italy, Maccaronies;

and

Tragedy

.

.

.

in

See impignorate.

pignorate.

A

term pigsney. Darling, sweetheart, pet. of endearment; literally pigs eye, that is,

becomes a pickleat, which is the

a tiny eye. In the same

STUFFE

Also Pickwickian, relating to Mr. Pickwick, in Dickens* POSTHUMOUS PAPERS

tury.

Especially,

Pickwickian language; in a Pickwickian sense: used to explain away an insult or the words used, this phrase

Thus Nashe

of endearment.

A

the United States, 19th century. (2) cheap cigar, in England, mid 19th cen-

.

way pinkeny,

pinkany, meaning literally tiny eye, was used (16th and 17th centuries) as a term

pickwick. (1) An instrument for pullthe wick of an oil lamp; used in ing up

OF THE PICKWICK CLUB (1837)

Bailey,

it with Greek piestron, which means pressing, squeezing, or an instrument for such action.

herring farce to weep worst kind of farce.

liability:

womb." So in

of facilitating delivery

connects

Great Britain, Jack Puddings. Carlyle in SARTOR RESARTUS (1831) has: Their high State

method

1751; this

as-

(1599)

says of

pretty pinckany earlier pigsney

and Venus also

pigseie, pyggesnye,

in LENTEN

Hero: She was a

pygsnye,

pigsny,

and the

The

Priest.

like

was used

from Chaucer's day into the 19th century, though in its later use it was often disparaging. Chaucer in THK MILLER'S TALE (1386) says: She was a prymerole a pig-

sures us, were spoken in a special sense that is completely without offence and

gesnye for any lord to leggen in his bedde.

harmless.

pilch.

piepowder.

with the hair. Chaucer gives as a proverb (1390): After heet comethe colde, No man

a

An

(1)

traveling pedlar.

powder

itinerant; especially, Short for pie(2)

court, a court of

summary justice, and markets (12th to 17th century) to handle vagabonds and administer justice among itinerant dealers and at fairs ,

other non-residents.

poudreux, dusty foot

MEW

(1 5th

foot.

century)

FAIR (1614)

:

From French pied Also called a dusty-

Jonson, in BARTHOLOMany are the yeerely

.

enormities of this fayre, in whose courts of pye-pouldres I have had the honour

during the three dayes sometimes to

sit

caste

An

his

outer garment of skin dressed

pilchche

away.

Old English

pylece, pelisse-, see pell. Also pylche. The verb pilch meant to pick, pluck; hence, to

rob. Hence pilcher was widely used in the 17th century, as a term of abuse, as in Jonson's THE POETASTER pilfer,

(1601): you mungrels, you curres you inhumane pilchers! Pilcher was also used as a variant of pilch, and as meaning" a .

scabbard

this

in

Shakespeare's

.

ROMEO

AND JULIET (1592): Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears?

as judge. Butler in HUDIBRAS (1664) uses it in a disrhyme: Have its

pikrow.

allow' d or Allow'd, at fancy of py-powder.

(peeled) crow> associated with that

proceedings

.

century

510

A

paragraph.

term,

A

apparently

16th and 17th

from

pilled

sound

pilulous

pile

In

common

use,

but corrupted

(via earlier

(1625) plays on the term: But why a peelA scarecrow had been crow here? better. Samuel Sprigge in THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THOMAS WAKLEY (1897) WTOtC: .

The leading

.

.

article

.

.

.

calling attention

to them with interjections sorts of verbal pilcrows. pile.

ings

.

.

.

and

Latin pilum, earlier pislum, javelin,

being used to translate pilum, the heavy javelin of the Roman inAlso,

from the 14th century, a

small castle or tower; also peel, pel; see pel. From the 15th century (Latin pilus, ,

pile was used for hair, especially down still used in referring

soft hair,

to carpets.

Hence piled

(1) heaped up; Milton in his sonnet ON SHAKESPEARE (1630): What needs my Shakspear, for his honoured bones, The labour of an age

in piled stones? (2) Pointed; Chapman in his translation (1611) of THE ODYSSEY: Took to his hand his sharp-piled lance.

Hairy; having a long nap, like velvet; Shakespeare in MEASURE FOR MEASURE (3)

(1603): Thou'rt a three-pild piece I war-

rant thee.

Also

pileous

(pie-lee-ous)

,

hairy; relating to hair.

A

bald head; a bald-headed man. Literally, a pilled (peeled) garlic head. Also pyllyd garlick, pildgarlic, peel* pilgarlic.

home

came

garlick

alone,

and Burns

wrote in a letter (1793) to G. Thompson: A ballad is my hobby-horse . . sure to run poor pilgarlic, the bedlam jockey, .

quite beyond any useful point or post in the common race of men.

A

pilledow. pilled

tonsured priest Literally, a daw; the daw, i.e., bald)

(peeled,

being a black bird, brought to mind the black-garbed priest. Also pilpate, pylpate, short

for pilled

the

tonsured

penis. Pill

and cock

pate

of

priest.

See complice.

piller.

Often, in the 17th century, there was implication that the baldness came

pillicock.

(1)

The

were used separately in this sense; pill also was figurative for testicle. The word cock took this meaning not directly from the barnyard animal, but from the watercock,

supposedly representing

this flesh begot Those pelican daughters, Edgar, disguised as a madman, sings the old song: Pillicock sat on Pillicock Hill,

Halloo, halloo, loo, loot \pelican, ungrate-

turning upon one's parents. The pelican mother supposedly fed her young on her own blood; the young thus gained strength, with which they tore her. Thus his daughters, with Lear.] (2) A term of ful,

endearment or compliment to a boy, like 'my pretty knave'; thus Urquhart in his (1653) of Rabelais cries: By I cannot tell, my pillicock, but faith,

translation

my

disease, such as the pox. Also, in the 17th century, pilgarlic came to be used,

pilpate.

humor

or

mock

pity,

to

mean poor

cock's

the tap of which suggested the penis. When Lear on the heath (Shakespeare, KING LEAR, 1605) says: 'Twas

thou art more worth than gold.

by

a

head and comb

garlic.

in

it

Swift

sense,

fantry.

a hair)

when

in POLITE CONVERSATION (1738) said They all went to the opera; and so poor Pil-

it

was used in English from the 10th century to mean a dart, an arrowhead; a spike; the pointer of a sundial. In the 17th century it was brought back to the Latin

often referred to oneself, as

all

This old word had various meanbeyond those still current. From

In the phrase poor pilgarlic,

fellow.

forms, pilecrafte, pylcraft, parcraft, from paragraph, Fletcher in THE NICE VALOUR

pilulous.

See pilledow.

The

Latin pilula,

_ 511

size

pill.

of

Hence

a

pill;

minute.

also pilular, re-

pinguescent

piment lating to pills; pilulist, a dealer in pills. piluliferous, pill-producing; bearing berries like pills.

round

name; there

The piment. A drink of wine with honey and spices. Latin pigmentum meant pigment, paint;

then the word was applied to a

scented unguent, and in the Middle Ages to a scented and spiced drink. THE SQUIRE

OF LOW DEGREE (1475) lists wyne of Greek and muscadell, Both dare, pyment, and rochelL Chaucer in his BOETHIUS (1374) pictures a sorry state: They cowde make no pyment nor darree. (Clare, darree, darry are early forms of claret.) Chaucer also used piment as an adjective; see mead.

a village called Pinchbeck

is

near Spalding. An advertisement in THE DAILY POST of 27 November, 1732, read: toys

made

of the late ingenious

Pinchbeck's curious metal

.

.

.

Mr.

now

are

and sole executor, Mr. Edward Pinchbeck. Thackeray in THE VIRGINIAN (1859) said what is true of many a young woman this hundred years later: Those golden locks were only pinchbeck. Symonds in THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY sold only by his son

(1877) spoke of a pinchbeck age of poetry.

See pigsney.

pinckany.

To

dam up (as water) a in pound. In a farming put (animals) book of 1641, Henry Best pictured a pind.

enclose; to

;

to

pinch. This common word has been used in several vivid compounds. Thus pinch-

sorry state of lambs: Theire excrement e

back, a niggard (stingy of clothing, leaving the back bare) . pinchbelly, stingy of

parts,

food;

t

pinch-commons, pinchcrust. most miserly; Nashe in PIERCE

PENILESSE

(1592)

penie-father;

also

refers to his pinchfart

pinch fist, pinchplum.

,

berke together their tayles and hinder

and soe stoppe

their

fundament;

the sheapheardes phrase is that such lambs are pinded, and that they must bee sette ait liberty. From the 9th century. Hence

also

pinchfart,

.

pinder (short

whose duty

it

i)

,

was

an to

officer of

impound

the

manor

stray beasts;

discolored with pinchpinchspotted, marks; Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST (1611)

in Nottingham in the 1760's there were two, "one for the fields and the other for

Shorten up their sinewes With aged

the meadows/' Also pinfold, a pound, a place for confining stray cattle, horses,

cries:

cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them then pard, or cat o' mountaine.

Even more common were pinchpenny and pinchgut. In the British Navy,

if

a ship

were long at sea and provisions ran short, the sailors were paid extra; they called this pinchgut pay, pinchgut money. Hence pinchgutted, famished, as may you never be.

pinchbeck. 1

part zinc)

An

alloy (5 parts copper with that looks like gold, hence

used for cheap jewelry; hence, spurious; imitation, sham. From Christopher Pinchbeck (died 1732) a watchmaker of Fleet London, who invented the alloy;

Street,

apparently his family

name

is

sheep, etc. In the ten provinces of Poland, 1899, the Jews are

remarked A. White in

a place-

confined as in a pinfold. pinguescent. Growing fat; causing grow fat, Latin pinguescere, to grow

to fat;

pinguis,

fat.

pinguescence, the process of

growing

fat.

make

fat.

pinguefy, rarely pinguedinize, pinguefaction, the act of fat-

to

tening. Southey in 1797 pictured a very

brown looking man, of most pinguescent and fullmoon cheeks. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE of 1825 more gruesomely pictured

own

512

buttocks pinguefying

steaks.

on

their

planiloquent

pinionade

A

pimonade.

comfit or conserve

made

you dried neat's tongue, you bull's you stockfish! A stockfish is a dried and pressed codfish. Some editors have

skin,

with pine-nuts, enjoyed in the 1 4th and 15th centuries. Latin pinea, pine-nut. A

pizzle,

1390 recipe for pynnonade suggested: Take almandes iblanched and draw them

sumdeal thicke with goode broth

on the

.

.

.

.

.

.

elf skin to eel skin;

set

.

and a

of a bull's pizzle

Chirping like a young bird; hence, young, new-fledged. Collins in a sermon of 1607 spoke of Anacreon's fonde doves,

in

THE

SPIRITUAL!,

NAVIGATOR (1615)

tury)

own

.

strips.

straitjacket.

A

(1)

(2)

In

A

this sense, also placcate, placard,

A

woman's petticoat; hence, plaquet. (3) a woman. Also, a pocket in a woman's

CaSti-

gated hypocrites, a pipient brood, cackling their

prob-

plan or map (16th cenpiece of armour worn over the cuirass, or a leather jacket with steel

placket.

perfect, some pipient, some half hatcht. Thomas Adams

some some

it

Scott in a letter to Southey, of 17 June, 1814, spoke of the wholesome discipline

.

pipient.

hatcht,

but

ably means snakeskin, which, as Oberon remarks in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, is a weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.

and seethe it Take pynes oyle and therto white Powdour

fire

yfryed in

douce

.

changed

skirt;

ripeness.

but especially, the opening in a petmake it easy to take off) , hence

ticoat (to pistle.

Short

for

Also

epistle.

pistol, pystolf pistelle, pystle,

used with sexual implications, as in Shakespeare's KING LEAR (1605) Keep thy foot

pistel,

and the

like.

:

Chaucer uses the word pistel to mean story. As a verb, to write an epistle on, to satirize; in PAPPE WITH A HATCHET (1589) we read: Take heed, he will pistle thee. A pistoler (pystoler) might be a letterwriter, or a church officer assigned to read the Epistle*, Cardinal Wolsey had in his private chapel (said Cavendish in 1557) a deane who was allwayes a great clarke and devyne; a subdeane, a repeter [rehearser] of the quyer; a gospeller; a pystoler;

and

xii

syngyng

out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lender's books, the foul fiend!

plangent.

Making

The

cially that of

19th century) for

flogging.

the breast,

prestes.

bewail.

ter;

peezel, pitell,

Stevenson

(1882) says:

plangency.

to FalstafFs

planiloquent.

You

starveling,

you

in

Her

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS had charm and

voice

Plain-speaking. Also planiloquy, plain speech. 17th and 18th cenafter the Latin planiloquus of tury,

this bed-presser, this

horse-backbreaker, this huge hill of flesh Falstaff retorts with figures of the Princes' leanness:

plangiferous,

Plangency might be either

and the like. In Shakespeare's HENRY iv, PART ONE (1597) f when Prince Hal refers weight

Hence

pleasant or unpleasant: Carlyle in FREDERICK THE GREAT (1858) says: Friedrich Wilhelm's words, in high clangorous metallic plagency . . . fall hotter and hot-

dried and used as a whip pissel,

waves

producing or accompanied by the sound of beating, like a lively plangiferous

penis of an animal; espea bull, which was (15th to

Also

of

hence plangor, loud lamentation; plangorous. Latin plangere, to strike noisily, beat

flagellation.

pizzle.

noise

defy

breaking on the shore; loudsounding, used of a metallic or of a plaintive sound;

See pyx.

pix.

the

and

elf

Plautus.

513

pleach

planiped

A

planiped.

eminent American calls platitudinizing. is most effective as indicatThe word

barefoot person; also as an

Romans adjective, barefoot. Used by the of an actor or gladiator that performed with naked

.

.

.

ing a constant ever-fed supply of pointless words, wrapped up in cotton-woolly sen-

feet.

tences.

This word, combining twodimensional plane with three-dimensional sphere, was used (from the 12th century)

planisphere.

plaudite. An appeal for applause at the end of a performance. (Three syllables: Latin plaudits, imperative of plaudere,

map of half the earth, or a projection of the "celestial sphere" as in one type of astrolabe. It sometimes found its

for a

way

into poetry, as

when Marvell

in

to

THE

for applause.

heaven fall the world should all Be .

And, us to join, cramp d into a planisphere. The 3

fiction writers

who

(1)

To

science-

traverse light-years in

interweave;

of

divine Poesie,

said

thorny places and plashes of the Law. plastrography. Counterfeiting; another's handwriting. Greek

forging plastos,

moulded, forged (whence all the plastics) + graph ein, to write. The word occurs only in aries.

A

and 18th century dictionplastograph is an instance of such 1

7th

forgery.

plauditor,

meaning

original

approving,

plausive,

of

to

applauding:

the

and Deo

see pleach.

Richard Brathwait in 1638, could not like to be removed nor transported to those

this

plausive shouts. In the LETTER-BOOK (1573) of Gabriel Harvey we read: A plaudite

And

(2) A shallow pool; the sound a body makes on striking water, milder than a splash. (Plash and splash are both echoic words, in this sense.) Also as an adjective, a plashed bush or thicket. The fresh

fragrant flowers

A

applaud or the of deserving such approve; quality approval, or an act of such desert. Also

a flash by "a wrinkle in space" should note this anticipation of their desires. plash.

The

plausibility was readiness

.

.

Hence, applause. In

one that applauds. The forms plaudiat and plause were also used (16th century)

DEFINITION OF LOVE (published 1681) pictures himself and his beloved as poles apart, Unless the giddy

applaud.)

sense, shortened to plaudit.

gratias for so happy an event, then to borrowe a nappe I shalbe

contente.

GAMMER

GURTON'S NEEDLE (1575)

shows the conventional ending: For Gammer Gurtons nedle sake, let us have a plaudytie.

A

plaustrary. wagoner. Latin plaustrum, a wagon, cart. The first syllable rhymes with law. Hence, plaustral, pertaining to a cart or wagon. Goldsmith in A CITIZEN

OF THE WORLD (1762) observed: Whether the grand jury, in council assembled, had gloriously combined to encourage plaustral

merit, I cannot take

upon me

to

determine. pleach. To intertwine stems and branches of young trees and bushes, to form a fence; to make a hedge in this wise; hence, to

A dealer in platitudes. Also platitudinizer. THE PALL MALL GAZETTE in 1893 criticized an actor: He

plash,

moves platitudinising and attitudinising through a play. THE STRAND MAGAZINE of

plectere,

August 1897 gave credit for the term overseas: He has a rich gift of what an

whence perplexed and the solar plexus, A pleacher was a bough (as a quick-

platitudinarian.

A variant form was from Old French plaissier, Old French plesse, hedge; Latin

entwine, interlace. q.v.,

plessier;

514

plexus,

to

weave,

to

tangle,

pleonectic

pluck

thorn) woven to form a hedge, or a man making a hedge. Swinburne in AT ELEUSIS (POEMS AND BALLADS, 1865) describes:

volumes which slumber in decorous old

Poppied hair of gold Persephone Sadtressed and pleached low down about her brows. Shakespeare used the word of folded arms, in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

plight.

(1606): Would'st thou

.

,

see

.

libraries.

As a noun. Peril, risk; sin; guilt. Hence, the undertaking of a risk or obligation:

and others

(1822)

Thy master

after

of

pledge

betrothal;

an engagement ring. This is a common Teutonic use; German Pfticht, duty. The form became merged with plight (plait, pleat) via Old French from Latin plicare, to fold (whence also com-

thus with pleacht armes, bending down His corrigible neck? Scott in THE FORTUNES

OF NIGEL

trothplight,

plight-ring,

,

him

plicate,

have

spoken of a pleached alley or pleached fences, probably following Shakespeare, as in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1599): Bid her steale into the pleached bower Where hony-suckles ripened by the sunne Forbid the sunne to enter.

complexion, implication, replica,

and multiplex more). This second plight (14th century) meant a fold, then a state of being, a condition. At first neutral (good or bad condition), this came soon (plyt of peril) to imply danger, as to be in a plight. As a verb, similarly: reply,

Greek pleonektikos; pleonektes, one that

to bring danger upon; also, to pledge. I thee plight, I assure you. Also, to fold

has or claims more than his share; pleon, more (as in pleonasm, use of more words

Hence

than are needed)

ous,

Grasping,

pleonectic.

covetous,

greedy.

Hence pleonexia, covetousness. THE PALL MALL GAZETTE of 15 September, 1882, somewhat pompously expressed a pious hope: The pleonectic spirit which prompted this practice will

4-

no doubt be chastened into

accordance

greater

exein, to have.

with

the

principles

(cloth); to fold in one's arms, embrace.

Tudor

plightless,

writers often used the

word in

its

neutral sense, meaning condition. Thus Vaux in his ballad THE AGED LOVER RE-

NOUNCETH HIS LOVE doth not delight

My

Me

muse (1550) i as she did before;

My

hand and pen are not

they have bene of yore.

of distributive justice.

The

in plight

As

Gravedigger

HAMLET

sings three stanzas of this ballad; Goethe uses two stanzas of it in

in

pleroma.

plightful, dangerblameless. The

(14th century)

sinful;

See anaplerosis.

Vaux also inquires: What foodless beast can live long in good plight?

FAUST. Over-fullness, superabundance; 17th century form of unhealthy excess. plethora (probably fashioned after ple-

plethory.

A

thoric,

as historic

history,

etc.)

;

Greek Other

plethore; plethein, to become full. are plethoretic, plethorical adjectives Into the mid-18th century plethora held the accent

on the

th-or;

since then, the

preferred accent has been on the syllable. Farrar in SEEKERS AFTER

first

pluck. As a noun. The act of plucking; that which is plucked; that with which is plucked, tugged, pulled out in various senses. Cp. draught (7). (1) a

something

fork, two pronged. (2) Rejection or failure at a university. Mrs. Smythies declared: in THE BRIDE ELECT (1852)

dung

(1868) complained like many before and after of a plethora of words. Burton in

a pluck danced before the tutor and pupil. (B) The of weary eyes liver and lights of a fowl, animal, oc-

THE SCOT ABROAD (1864) spoke of plethoric

casionally,

GOD

Visions

515

of

human. In the

late

18th cen-

poculent

plumulaceous pluck in this sense (from the physithe ological allocation of the emotions; BIBLE says: His bowels were loosed with tury,

to

began

fear)

be used,

mean

slang, to

lungs, and heart was forgotten save in the countryside. Slang, however fresh it seeks to be is

phraseology,

tive in source,

went

liver,

tenaciously

conserva-

rooted in folk beliefs; slang

right back to the viscera for

That guy's got

coinage:

its

new

word means century

full of little feathers.

word,

still

effective

A for

humor.

is

a

pneumatogram. For pneumatology,

pneumatomachy (accent battling against the spirit; pneumatomachian (accent on the mayK), on the

torn)

,

an opponent of the Holy Spirit; especially one of a 4th century sect that denied the

Holy In

Spirit;

hence, a lover of the flesh. pneumo- may be short

scientific terms,

for pneumato-, or for

pneumono-, Greek

lung. Thus pneumology means (1) a discourse of spirits or (2) a treatise book of on, or the science of, the lungs.

pneumon,

The Admirable Historic

of the Possession and Conversion of a Penitent Woman, Seduced by a Magician that

Made Her

-^hereunto

is

to Become a Witch annexed a Pneumology, or .

.

.

Discourse of Spirits.

plungy. Rainy; bringing heavy showers. Chaucer in BOETHIUS (1374) speaks of

ploungy clowdes. pluriparous. Bearing two or more at a birth (as Mrs. Dionne) ; (less often) ,

being the mother of two or more children. Latin plus, plures, more + -parus, bear-

From

plures come also plurtfarious, manifold, of divers fashions (17th century) ; plurity r the state of being more, a ing.

,

A

guts!

plumulaceous. Downy like the best pillows before foam rubber. Etymologically 19th

toff)

see minimifidian.

1613 was entitled:

the

the

raphy; spirit writing; an instance thereof

'Courage', 'bravery', 'heroism' are all too

in

on

in pugilistic

By meaning had become the century, most common; THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS of 1 November 1879 said: Yes! The British word 'pluck' is the word to use.

The meaning,

(accent

the late 19th

this

feeble.

pneumatophony

speech by ghosts or other disembodied father, pneumatogspirits, as Hamlet's

first

courage.

phobia, dread or dislike of the spiritual.

larger number, as

EPIGRAMS

when Thynne

in his

declared: Pruritie (1600) . seekes pluritie of men.

pochette. 17th and

pocket

fiddle,

used in the

18th century. Also an d'amore, pochette early viola d'amore. the early

poculent. Fit for drinking; supplying drink, poculari, to frequent the cup; poculum, cup. Hence peculation, drinkof the

ing, poculary, relating to drink;

medieval church, a poculary was a pardon or indulgence for drinking. A translation tells:

of

A

(1537)

of

a

sermon of Latimer's

Some brought

forth canonizations,

Greek

some expectations, some pluralities and unions, some tot-quots and dispensations, some pardons, and these of wonderful variety, some stationaries, some jubilaries, some pocularies for drinkers, some manuaries for handlers of relicks, some

pneuma, breath, wind, spirit. Also pneurnato-. Found la many technical and scien-

oscularies for kissers. Latin pocillum, a little cup, is a diminutive of poculum;

wemmen

.

.

See pluriparous.

plurity.

pneumancy. pneumo-.

tific

but

A combining form from

terms. less

See aeromancy.

well

Among

the

remembered

more general are:

.

hence

poculiform, like a

pneumato- form, shaped 516

cup-shaped; little

cup.

.

pocilli-

A pocillator

podagra

poke was a cupbearer;

(17th century)

pocilla-

also, poet-sucker, one that a babe, suckling at the breast of the muse. As Jonson puts it in THE STAPLE

beginning poet;

waiting upon or serving drinkers; filling the cup. pocill was a small cup;

is

hence, a draught, a potion;

THE HATHJES OF BUCKSTONE (1572) SUggested that one take in the mornings

OF NEWS (1625) What says my poetsucker? He's chewing his muse's cud, I do see by him. Also poetastrical; revived for

fastinge, in pocyll whay, made with ale, to purge choller. Bacon in SYLVA (1626)

IN

tion,

A

Jones in

J.

:

slyly satiric

observed that some of those herbs, which are not esculent, are notwithstanding

The

poculent; as hops, broom. is

poculent

to

po,

root of

whence

drink,

A

Latin bibo and gave us imbibe and bibulous. The art of poculation, said THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE in 1837, classical

and to

use in Mainwaring's (1954) Always in :

MURDER time

Nappleby had managed cut through the poetastrical frills and just in time

expose the truth. Perfectly correct; with extreme nicety. Especially in the phrase at (by, to the) point device. Chaucer in THE

point-device.

HOUS OF FAME (1384) saw in dreme, at poynt devys, Helle and erthe and paradys. Shakespeare

of the highest antiquity.

LIKE IT

the

uses

TWELFTH NIGHT

See corcousness.

podagra.

PASTICHE

also

potion, potation, hippopotami. reduplicated form of this root, pipo, became in

is

still

(1600)

(II :

v)

expression

in

and in AS YOU

You are

rather point

device in your accoutrements. podalic.

Relating to the

feet.

Also podaL

In addition to being the name of one of which the North American Indians smoked like tobacco,

The forms

poke.

etc.,

several plants,

pedal, pedestrian, impediment, are from Latin pes, pedem, foot; see

from Greek p ous, pod-, (accent on the die) is the

pedicle. Podalic foot. Podiatry

is

treating of the feet. Pediatry, pediatrics, earlier paedi-, are from Greek pats, paido-,

boy; pedagogue, a leader of boys; pederast, a lover of boys.

Thus paedocracy

is

gov-

some

families.

A paedonymic is a name given to

a person

ernment by children,

as in

from the name of the person's child, as Althaea Meleagris was named from her son Meleager. [When Meleager was born, the Parcae put a log on the fire, saying the child would live till the log was burned. Althaea took it off and saved it; but when the grown Meleager killed her

burned the log. When was consumed and her son Meleager

brothers, Althaea it

died, Althaea killed herself.]

poetaster. See medicaster. Also poeticule, a petty poet the ending as in animalcule;

cp. critickin. poetling, a

young or

another of which bears the poke-berry, and the name for a push or nudge or blow, a poke in the nose, poke was comfrom the 13th century, meaning a

mon

bag, smaller than a sack. It is probably of Gaelic origin, in various forms (pough,

poque)

being

related

to

pouch

and

pocket. To buy a pig in a poke was to buy blind; too often when one opened to look, one let the cat out of the bag.

Indeed the Scotch say a cat in a poke; the French, chat en poche. The pocket or poke, until the 17th century, was always a separate pouch, often on a belt, not a part of a garment. In the 15th century poke was also used to mean a wide sleeve (in those days the sleeve was a separate garment) ; they grew so extravagant Grete insolence of vesture, we read in 1450: gownes with long pokus, made in the

517

maner

of a bagpype

that ultimately

poly

poking-stick the wearing of pokes was forbidden. In 19th century, poke was used of the

Hence, to despoil, to tax excessively, to plunder, fleece. To poll and

off the horns.

the

stomach of a

hook

fish,

especially

swallowed with

is

when

the

bait

and

the

catches in the stomach; thus Kipling in CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1897) cries: Help

us

Harve.

here,

a

It's

big

his

a tree with trunk cut so as to form a

A

Some were of

bone or wood;

of

steel,

to

is

(1611)

items, pins

the

among

peddling,

Hedged in by THE TEMPEST

poleclipt.

vineyard.

poleclipt

And

as

poles,

(1611):

Shakespeare's

other

of steele.

in

Thy

sea-marge assuming the first

sterile.

thy

Bailey (1751) , part of the word to be a variant of poll, it as q.v., defined clipped in the head.

See poll.

pollard.

A

Greek word meaning much. Its poly. plural is polloi, many, as in hoi polloi, the many; hence, the common people; by extension, the rabble. Poly has been used as a combining form in many English

on

words, including: polycracy the lick)

polyepic,

A

poll.

tury,

head. Used from the 13th cen-

common

still

in

dialects,

and in

terms like poll-tax and to take a poll, to count heads. Also, the part o the head where the hair grows; a head of hair;

Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) has His beard as white as snow, All flaxen was his pole. Other forms were poule, poll, pole,

powle, Scotch pow. Dutch bol, whence

number

of persons head of ascertained (like cattle) by counting; muster as in Shakespeare's CORIO-

English bolster. Also,

LANUS:

We

are the greater pole,

and

in

A

They gave ILS our demands. or poll poll man, at Cambridge, 18th century (short for Greek hoi polloi, the multitrue feare

tude) a student working for or receiving a pass degree, i.e., one without honors.

The verb

to poll

(from the

Hth

century) meant to clip, crop, shear, to cut off not tiie head (though occasionally that too)

but the hair. Of an animal, to cut or cut

growth of

a head) circulated in England, worth about a penny; declared illegal in 1299.

be applied hot.

and poaking-stickes

close

young branches. Also (late 13th century) pollard, a base foreign coin (stamped with

Autolycus in Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S

TALE

and polled and peeled

rounded head, a thick

rod used to stiffen the poking-stick. the 16th and 17th cenin of ruffs, plaits best were

fleeced

Hence

pollard, a beast with its horns cut; beardless wheat, cp. muticous; hitherto.

Poke-

un.

plunder and pillage; Cromwell, in DECLARATION of January 1650: whom

you have

too.

hooked,

turies.

pill,

Bentham

,

government by many

(accent rulers.

consisting of several words; in his treatise on LANGUAGE

(1831) wrote: This proposition will consist of one word only, or of divers words, will be either monoepic or polyepic. polyergic, working in many ways, having various functions, poly ethnic, belonging to

or embracing many races, polyfenestral, having many windows, polylinguist. polyloquent, speaking very much; polylogy. polylychnous, with many lamps or lights. polymicrian (multum in parvo) , contain-

much in little space, polyotical, manyeared, polyparous, giving birth to many, also multiparous; cp. pluriparous. polying

ponous, busied with many tasks, polyposist, a hard drinker (accent on the lip) polytopian, a visitor to many places. .

polytrophic, highly nutritive

(Greek

tre-

phein, to feed) ; Hoggs flesh, said Lovell in his HISTORY OF ANIMALS AND MINERALS (1661)

is

trophic,

518

of easie concoction . . . polyof a thick and viscous juyce.

and

polypragrnatist

polyarchy polytropic, versatile, resourceful, capable of turning to many expedients; in Greek, polytropos might also mean much-traveled,

poly topic;

the

word

was

to

applied

the polyarchy. Government by many; the of converse monarchy. Hence, polyarch, the people (pictured as rulers);

meanings,

much

Many-headed.

Literally, like

Typhoeus, who had

a hundred serpents' heads; or Scylla, whose six heads had each three rows of teeth, and who in later

endowed with

A

a

polycephalist,

however, was a person that bowed to heads or rulers.

many

poly-

that poly-

of

mathy which he transmitted

to the peri-

patetics generally.

To

polylogize.

talk too

much;

unendingly. See poly (polylogy)

polyarchal, polyarchical

descriptions (Virgil) is girdle of dogs' heads.

same

the

exhibited

Aristotle

Ulysses in the ODYSSEY.

polycephalic.

with

Also,

math, polymathist; polymathy; polymathic. Greek manthanein, to learn. Grote in his observed that study of PLATO (1865)

polymite.

Woven

threads. Lydgate in

of different

to prate .

(colored)

THE LIFE OF OUR LADY

Of yonge Josephe the cote polimite Wroughte by the power of all (1410) pictured

the Trinite.

polymyth. stories,

A

like

work that comprises many THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. Also

polymyihy, polymythia. polychete.

One with very much hair.

(pronounced mane.

polychaete chaite,

keet}

;

Also

Greek

A

medicine good for a numpolychrest. ber of ills. Also polychreston, polychrestum. Hence, more generally polychrestic, polychrestical,

for

serving

various

pur-

poses; polychresty, capability of manifold service. Buck's HANDBOOK (1889) observes:

The same word may do ferent connections in

many

ways,

.

.

.

may be

duty in

many

dif-

Such words, useful called polychrestic.

polydipsia. Insatiable thirst. Also figurative, as in Hickeringiirs JAMAICA (1660) ,

speaking of some men's poludipsie after gold.

polygeneous.

Of many kinds, heterogene-

ous. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE in

polyphagous. Eating very much; eating many kinds of food. Also polyphagic, polyphagian. A voracious eater: a polyphagian, polyphage, polyphagist. Hence polyphagia, polyphagy, excessive eating.

polyphonian.

Quarles

Many-voiced.

in

the (1635) pictures the air of suschoir shrill-mouthed Her countryside: tain me with their flesh, And with their

EMBLEMS

polyphonian notes delight me. Also polyphonic, polyphonous, polyphonical Note that polyphonism tion of a sound, as

polypragmatist.

A

means the

by

multiplica-

echoes.

busybody. Also poly-

pragmist, polypragmon. Greek pragma, thing done. Also polypragmatic, poly-

polypragmonic, palypragmeddlesome; officious. Hence

pragmatical,

monetic,

1818 spoke of a patched, pyebald, and

polypragmony, polypragmaty, polypragmatism, officious behavior, meddlesome-

polygeneous

ness.

affair.

and wide polyhlstor. A man of deep and 17th cen16th the in Used learning. turies.

Also

polyhistorian.

Polyhistory,

wide learning; polyhistoric^ widely erudite.

Used mainly in the 16th and 17th but THE SATURDAY REVIEW of

centuries,

22 August, 1885, complained of trouble-

some and polypragmatic

operosity.

addressed a pamphlet, in

519

1597,

Harvey to

the

pomander

popinjay

polypragmaticall . . . puppie, Thomas Nashe; Dekker in the amusing picture of Tudor life, THE GULL'S HORNBOOK (1609) of

spoke

monists.

dish,

is

roasted

pomander*

(1)

A

mixture of aromatic

worn

as

a safeguard

against infection. Earlier

pomamber; Old

+

ambre, amber.

French pome, apple

ball, often shaped like an apple or orange, of gold or other substance. Hence, anything scented or perfumed;

Jonson in EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR (1599) says to a fop: Away, good pomander; go. In the same play he walks

evil)

pomander (as

chains.

See sloth.

pompion. A large melon. The word later became pompeon, pumpion, pumkin, pumpkin. Used in derision, of a corpulent man, as by Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598): We'll use this unwholsome humidity, this grosse-watry

hollow

day hang'd in another extension

and endored (gold coated) with and yolk of egg.

pomped.

case for carrying this pungency, a

all

described.

a touch of flour

substances, carried or

(2)

and 15th century From pome,

14th

+

dry-brained polypragwell to mind one's own

business.

A

variously

apple (the shape) dory (French dore), gilded. It may be a ball of ground beef, or a mince of pork liver in either case

good

It

A

pomedorry.

pumpion. ponophobia.

By

See aeromancy.

A

a safeguard against to a book

pooter. poting-stick, poking-stick (q.v.), a rod used to stiffen the plaits of ruffs; at

pomander was applied

of prayers or of magic prescriptions; a translation of 1650 was entided The

first

plied

Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Thrice master of the Trismegistus:

wood or bone; later of To pote (from the hot)

of

steel

tury)

meant

form

plaits

to

push,

or

folds

(ap-

10th cen-

.

poke; hence, to in cloth with a

pomander of alchemy. More devoutly, knowing that cleanliness is next to godliness, Robert Hill in THE PATHWAY TO PRAYER AND piETiE (1610) said that we,

potingstick. For an instance of pooler, see bumrowl.

God's pomander, smell better by rubbing.

poupelet, little doll. Used by Chaucer in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386):

pome. kind.

for

pomum fruit,

to

Perhaps from Old

darling.

So gay a popelote or swiche a wenche. popeness. The quality of a pope, specifically, the sense of infallibility. As Arch-

at first the general

then restricted

A

French

An apple, or a fruit of the apple Via French pome, now pomme,

from Latin

word

popelot.

of the use

the

apple.

bishop Leighton perceived (and noted in

shape:

Other meanings rose from the the head of a cabbage, etc (1) To pome was (17th century) to form a

THE PRACTICAL COMMENTARY. There is naturally this popeness

head, as cabbage, lettuce, etc. (2) the golden apple, the ball that is a sign of dominion, borne before royalty or set on the top of a flagpole.

(3)

A

man's mind,

.

.

a

.

, 1684), in every

kind of fancied

fallibility in themselves.

in-

Each of us speaks,

fundamentally, ex cathedra.

metal ball

with hot water and placed on the altar in cold weather, to keep the priest's filled

hands warm and thus prevent accident the chalice.

.

to

poperin.

See medlar.

A

popinjay. parrot; then, the representation of a parrot: in tapestry; as an heraldic device; as the sign of an inn The Popin-

520

porrect

poplet

Norwich (1687); on a pole as a In the 14th and 15th centuries,

jay in target.

applied to a person in praise of his beauty; in the 16th century and later, to a person contemptuously, as vain (in allusion to the bird's

plumage

as

gaudy show) or

as

stupid (in allusion to the bird's mechaniAlso pape jay, cal repetition of words) .

papengay, popengiay, etc. Ultimately from Arabic babaghay, imitative of the call of

the bird.

poplet.

A

deterioration,

By

darling.

a

Also poplolly, a light woman, a wench. mistress. Perhaps related to poppet, q.v.;

but Old French poupelette, darling, was the diminutive of poupee; Latin pupa, little girl, a Latin diminutive of which (masculine), whence EngStanyhurst in his DESCRIPTION

was pupillus lish pupil.

wrote: (in Holinshedj 1577) to be prettie poplet his wife began a fresh occupieing giglot at home.

OF IRELAND

The

poppet. This is the early form of puppet, but it was used in several senses that the

form did not carry on. It is via French from Latin pupa, a girl; the end-

later

ing

is

a diminutive.

A small

(1)

occasionally applied to

or dainty a dwarf,

person; but often (17th-19th centuries) as a term of endearment. (2) doll; a tiny human

A

the

-f

poor

canaille).

collective

Used from the

Unwelcomely intrusive; upon and forever breaking off a train of thought. With reference to the "gentleman from Porlock," who called while Coleridge was writing KUBLA KHAN and after whose departure the idea and inspiration for the

Given

pomerastic.

porne,

harlot

.

abroad, so the

pretty poppet harlot at home. For another quotation, see

mob.

porail.

Poor people as a

class.

Rarely,

poverty. Also poraille, poveraille, poral, like. Old French p avre, poorall, and the

to

harlotry. erastes, lover.

Greek

Thus

a

writing originally pornography about prostitutes, perhaps medical; the sense of 'obscene'

came

translation

(1860)

later.

The

pornoc-

by (under the Ebersheim in

racy was government fluence of) harlots;

in-

his

of Kurtz's HISTORY OF

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH speaks of the early and her 10th century, when Theodora .

.

.

filled the equally infamous daughters See of Peter with their paramours, their .

sons,

and grandsons

.

.

.

.

.

(the so-called

pornocracy) They filled the Tyrrhenian Sea with their enemies. Hence, a pornocratf a member of a pornocracy, F. Harri.

son in THE CHOICE OF BOOKS (1870) said that in actual life we hear nothing . .

.

of those pomerastic habits in high places, which are too often thrust before our

porrect.

.

-f

never returned.

poem

was

were a popet in an arm t' embrace For any woman smal and -fair of face. Beard in THE THEATRE OF GOD'S JUDGEMENT (1597) remarked that as one of the three chap.

the

porlockian. breaking in

eyes in fiction*

his wife began to play the

in

(as

to

13th

15th century.

an idol. figure used for witchcraft; hence, THOMAS SIR in Chaucer has, (1386) : This

men was employed

ending

To stretch out; hence, to proffer a petition, a prayer) ; to tender for examination or correction (as in law (a gift,

or ecclesiastical courts). Also porrectate. From Latin por, pro-, forth -f regeref to to stretch. The noun porrection, a stretching out (as of a muscle) , a profin religious references. fering, is still used direct,

In its literal sense, porrect is used mainly of parts of the body; Horatio Smith in THE TOR HILL (1826) speaks of the Doctor again porrecting his forefingers. Fielding

521

postliminy

posnet

THE TRUE PATRIOT (1746) uses the word humorously: Which I no sooner perceived than I porrected him a remembrance In

over the

ate. Also, as

ultimately

boiling* Used Steele in THE

pasticcio,

the

TATLER

14th

(No.

speaks of a silver posnet

to

century.

245,

1710)

butter eggs.

Curdled milk with wine or ale, posset. with sugar and spice (and other things nice), frequent (15th to 18th century) as a delicacy, also taken for colds and

given to bridegrooms. "It was anciently a custom," said Toone in his GLOSSARY of 1834, "to take a potation of this kind

previous to retiring to rest for the night"; this custom is implicit in the remark in

MACBETH The Shakespeare's (1605): surfeted groomes doe mock their charge with snores. I have druggd their possets, That death and nature do contend about them. In Hamlet posset is used as a verb,

woman had to a tavern or bar in the United States, was via the posticum. Note that postify meant (17th century) to nail or otherwise fasten to a post. Latin from ponere, positus, to whence position, imposiexposition and other ways of keep-

postisf post,

is

a pasty or pie; Romanic pasta, a mixture of various ingredients;

made

a work or style various artists ans, etc.)

of selections

(painters, writers,

from

musici-

or periods; a work pieced

to-

gether in imitation of another artist or style. Gosse in his LIFE OF DONNE (1899) said: It

was

left to his

Caroline disciples to

introduce ... a trick of pastiche, an alloy of literary pretence. Ouida in THE WINTER CITY at

averred that Fastidiousness,

(1876)

any

is

rate,

very

good postiche for

modesty. postjudice.

A remaining bias,

resisted removal.

Hence

a bias that

also postjudiced.

Coined, as the opposite of prejudice, in the 19th century.

TERITA;

Used by Ruskin (PRAE-

1886); Chesterton

(R.

BROWNING;

1905) Prejudice is not so much the great intellectual sin as . . postjudice, not the bias before the fair trial, but the bias that :

.

remains

postic.

access a

is

paste)

the hallowed font.

position of the feminine parts in quadrupedes. Hence posticum t a rear entrance, back door. Before prohibition, the only

Via Italian posticcio, from Latin postus, positus,

placed. English pastiche, pasticcio (Italian

meaning to curdle. A SOBER DISCOURSE OF THE HONEST CAVALIER (1680) Speaks of some who prefer the possit basin before

Hinder, posterior. Also posticous (used mainly in botany) . Latin posticus, hinder; post, behind, after. Sir Thomas Browne in his PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646) noted the postick and backward

a noun, an imitation; counter-

feigning.

feiting,

small metal pot, with a handle posnet. and three feet, to stand over heat, for since

In sculp-

used of an ornament superadded to a completed work, especially if inappropriture,

-face.

A

artificial.

Counterfeit;

postiche.

after.

postknight. An arrant perjurer. Also, knight of the post. The Water Poet in his

OF HEMPSEED (1630) Spoke of a postknight, that for five groats game Would sweare, and for foure groats forIN PRAISE

sweare't againe*

postliminy.

The

right

to return

and resume one's former after

banishment

home

civic privileges,

or imprisonment

or

capture. So in ancient Rome; in international law, applied to restoration of

place,

persons and things taken in war. Also

ing posted-, cp, postiche.

postliminium, postliminiage; Latin, post, behind + liminem, threshold. Hence also

put, tion?

set,

522

postprandial

potamophilous postliminiary, postliminito permit to return

postliminary , ous.

postliminiate,

from banishment. Used in the 17th century. From the same source came an-

translation of Boileau's LUTRIN reads: Yet so,

To end in pot, in pitcher! where the pitcher the container of liquor, leading to the the -fancy's richer,

commence is

other set of words, opposed to prelimi-

chamber-pot.

WOODSTOCK (1826) notes: The reresupper was a postliminary ban-

means

Scott in

nary;

quet ten

,

.

which made

.

or eleven.

Thus

its

appearance at

also

postliminous,

subsequent, as an appendix; postliminate, to place behind, to put subsequently.

See jentacular.

postprandial.

A short motto, at first a line or two of verse, to be inscribed in a ring, on a knife, etc. Also posey, posie. The word is a short form of poesy, which was

posy.

often pronounced in two syllables. Poesy is a variant form of poetry. Hence, an

emblem or emblematic device. Also, a bunch of flowers, a bouquet; hence, a bouquet

of

'flowers*

of poetry,

an an-

thology (which is from Greek anthos, flower -h legein, to gather) Hence posywaiscoat, a flowered vest. Thackeray in .

(1859) has: He has bought posey-rings at Tunbridge Fair.

THE VIRGINIAN

pot.

The

through 800

family

of

years.

The

pots

has

grown

origin of pot, the

deep, rounded vessel, is unknown, but it was early linked with the idea in words

from Latin potare, potatum, to drink:

A

little

pot

soon hot

is

men (being sensitive) Among compounds may

that little

anger quickly. be listed: pot-ally, pot-companion, potmate, potpanion, fellow drinker, pot-bird, an imitation of a bird (sound) in the theatre, formerly

made by blowing

a pipe

in a pot of water, potknight, a drinker; there were many compounds relating to drink, of most of which the meaning is as pot-quarrel, potman. Also, potboilery, the practice of writing to keep the pot aboiling. potcarrier, a corrupt

obvious,

form of poticary;

see pottingar. potgallery,

a balcony projecting over a river

(17th century) ; the law (1684) found such a structure an encroachment. pothead,

A A

a stupid fellow; potheaded* pothunter (1) a parasite, a sycophant (16th century); a hunter taking potshots, i.e., interested filling his bag with game; a poor sport; (3) a man that competes for the (2)

only in

sake of the 'pot* (loving-cup, prize; now, prize-money) . potwaller, a would-be voter (before the

Reform Act

of

1832)

sought to qualify as a householder

had

own

who one

by boiling a in the witnesses at an of pot presence in the also fire pot-wabopen borough; that

his

fireplace

potable, potatory, drinkable, pertaining to drink; potability. Also potate, liquid, drinkable; but also drunk (intoxicated),

has been used for a dishwasher and a

as also potulent, potshotten, potshot

ship's cook,

one sense)

;

(in

bler,

loper.

pot-walloner, potwallader, potwalThe last of these kept currency, and

and

as a term of scorn.

a poter, an habitual drinker

of intoxicating liquids. And potorious, relating to drinking, drinking a lot; poto-

mania, inability to stop drinking, potoa candidate for Alcoholics maniac,

Anonymous. Among pot-proverbs: The pot walks* the liquor is passed from hand to hand (at a drinking bout). A 1680

River-loving, as who in the springtide fails to be? potamotogist, a student of rivers; fotamology; potamologi-

potamophilous.

caL Greek potamos, river; whence also hippopotamus, literally, river-horse. Also potamic, relating to rivers. Seeley in THE EXPANSION OF ENGLAND (188S) Spoke of

523

pottle

potato-pie

which clings to rivers, the thalassic which grows up around inland seas,, and lastly

the food is ready to serve. (A glass in which the monarch's health was drunk was at once broken, so that it might not be defiled by meaner purpose.) Used in

the oceanic.

the 14th century.

three stages of civilization determined by the conditions, potamic

geographical

potato-pie.

The

O.E.D. defines this

as

Take

three

:

A

frenzy, or violence,

of rimesters

new when in his third SATIRE With some pot-fury ravisht They sit and muse on some

(1597) he said: from their wit

potato-pye for supper. of boiled and blanched

pound

no-vulgar writ: As frozen dunghils in a winters morne That voyd of vapours

and three nutmegs; and half an ounce of cinamon beaten together, and three ounces of sugar, season your potatoes and put them in your pie, then take

seemed

marrow of three bones rouled in and sliced lemon and large and mace, half a pound of butter, six dates quartered, put this into your pie, and let it stand an hour in the oven, then make

as the raging

potatoes,

the

the base

yolks of eggs,

See pooler. Also used as a noun:

pote.

a stick for stirring or thrusting, a poker. potation being a drink (Latin potare,

A

potatum, to drink) the verb potate (used mainly as a participle: drunken) is sometimes shortened to pote, to drink. Motteux ,

in

his

cibe,

translation

(1694)

of

Rabelais

Our means

states:

and

of life are pote, and vest. Gibe is food; Latin cibare,

cibatum, to feed; cibus, food.

Hence

also

dbation, feeding. Cibation, "feeding the is the seventh process (gate) in

matter/

alchemy, listed among the 'twelve gates' to the Philosopher's Stone in Fuller's

OF ENGLAND (1662). Vest IS Latin vestem, garment, whence clothing;

all

beforne,

A

potews, comestible

which

is

dish

fit

as

the

sun

and the fore-barren brain Soone wine begins to raigne.

potting. Drinking of liquor. From the pot which is refilled, with some idea of

potation; cp. pote. sense from spring

Most

uses

in

Shakespeare's

this

in

OTHELLO (1604) / learn' d it in England; where indeed they are most potent in potting. Note impotant, not drinking. :

pottingar. (1) An apothecary. The form a 15th to 17th century corruption (re-

is

vived by Scott in THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH, 1828) of pothecar, pothecary. Also potingpottinger. Apothecary is via Late Latin from Greek apotheke, storehouse; air,

pithenai, to put. also

another

The form

word,

pottinger was related to pottage

and porringer, meaning

(2)

a vessel for

holding liquid food, a small basin. Used from the 15th century. Also (B) a pottage

maker, a cook. This was,

WORTHIES

also investiture, etc.

Soone

sends out his piercing beames Exhale out filthy smoke and stinking steames; So doth

',

a sharp caudle of butter, sugar, verjuice and white wine, put it in when you take your pie out of the oven.

induced

by strong drink. Cp. pot-valiant. Bishop Hall referred to the wondrous rablements

"a pie made with potatoes, containing meat, onions, etc," The Old English knew better; witness the TRUE GENTLEMAN'S DE-

LIGHT (1676)

A

pot-fury.

earlier,

potager.

A

measure, from the 14th cenpottle. tury to the 17th equal to two quarts, half

A

for a king, i.e., a in an earthen pot,

cooked broken off and thrown away when

a gallon. pottle, potel, is a little pot. Hazlitt in ENGLISH PROVERBS (1869) quotes:

Who'd keep a cow, when he may have a pottle of milk for a

524

pennyf Hence, a con-

pot-valiant

praefiscinal

tainer that holds this quantity (especially, 18th century, of liquor) . Also, a small

pouncet-box, a small perforated perfumebox; Shakespeare has, in HENRY rv, PART

one for straw-

She sent

ONE (1596) 'Twixt his finger and his thumbe he held A pouncet-box: which ever and anon He gave his nose, and

us a pottle of fine strawberries. Disraeli in ENDYMION (1880) laments: One never sees

took't away againe. Scott revived this in THE MONASTERY (1820) picturing a silver

a pottle of strawberries now. A pottle-pot was a two-quart tankard; hence, a heavy drinker, a drunkard.

pouncet-box containing a sponge dipped in the essence. A pounce-box, however, is

basket, especially a conical

Smollet

berries.

(1771; Letter of 2 June) writes:

pot-valiant.

Cp.

:

HUMPHREY CLINKER

in

a powder-case.

Courageous because of drink.

pot-fury.

Also

pot-valorous.

pox.

Hence

A

dealer in poultry

and

eggs.

it is now used of For young turkey. poultefs measure, see himpnes; appere. Poult is a contraction of pullet, via French from Late Latin

birds;

game

the

feminine

of

young animal. Cp. See

poultrycide.

pullus,

meaning a

pullaile. stillicide.

A

writer in

BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE of 1841 meditated all the varieties of poultrycide. pounce.

A

fine

powder, especially pul-

sprinkled on an erasure or unsized paper to prevent the ink from running. Used from the 14th

verized

cuttle-shell,

century.

Colonel Hawker in his DIARY

(1839)

mentioned a

cuttlefish,

.

current sense, to swoop upon and seize, meant to emboss metal, as a still

decoration, by striking it underneath so as to raise the surface; also, to scallop the

in the 16th,

Ther

is

of chisel to

maken

poxed by

that

:

your face were not so on that jest!

full of O's!

O A pox

See Charbon.

Poysam.

A

brabble, q.v., a quarrel. The spelling represents the Welsh pronunciation of brabble , as by Fluellen in Shake-

prabble.

speare's HENRY v (1599) : I pray you to serve God, and keepe you out of prawles

[brawls] and prabbles, and quarrels dissentions. Cp. pribble.

and

A

fashionable place park, square, prado. or avenue for persons to display themselves. Latin pratum, meadow. The 17th

century uses in English are in allusion to the Prado, a public park in Madrid, Spain; later, the word was used in the more

prado of White Conduit House.

also the costlewe furrynge

in hire gownes, so

kind, besides himself, were

general sense. Thus the SPORTING MAGAZINE in 1813 spoke of persons taking their Sunday promenade upon the fashionable

edges of cloth, to cut ornamental holes or figures in cloth or metal; to pink. Chaucer in THE PARSON'S TALE (1386) says:

;

scarlet-faced whore. Shakespeare, as often, that puns (LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST; 1588)

which I

never saw before (common as the shell is for pounce) To pounce, in addition to the

left tiny depres-

o's)

and 18th centuries, syphilis. Often used as an exclamation of annoyance, or an imprecation: A pox on it! Also a verb, as in Arbuthnot's JOHN BULL (1712) wherein Jack persuaded Peg that all man-

was a young one of the domestic

fowl and of

pulla,

for various diseases charac-

17th,

valiantry.

A poult

name

by pocks (which

sions sometimes called

pot-valor, pot-valiance, pot-valiancy, pot-

poulter.

A

terized

muche pownsonynge holes. Hence also a

praefiscinal.

A

charm

against witchcraft.

Latin prae, in front of (prevent

525

is,

liter-

precurrer

praemetial

+

come

from pravus, crooked, perverse, vicious. Hence also prave, wicked; Adlington in

fascinum, witchbefore) craft, charm. Used in the 17th century.

ally, to

tas,

his translation (1566) of Apuleius speaks of the prave opinion of men. Another

praemetial. Relating to, or given from, the first fruits, the earliest gathering. Latin prae, before 4- metiri, to measure,

form (17th century) of

also the thermometer and the whole metric system. Bishop Hall in his

whence

to

King James

I,

begged

to offer to

that crop whereof whole harvest,

prat.

(1)

A

your of

prease.

15th century. As an adjective, cunning. (2) Usually in the plural, the buttocks, Cp. pedlers French. speak of

We

the circus clown's taking a pratfall. Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

Ford, beating

.

.

was

apprehended and

A variant form of press, pressure. See precony.

commendation, high precony. Public of a praise. Latin praeconium, the office a proclaiming, laudation; praeco, praeconem, a herald; prae, before + vocare, to call. The word was used from

public

crier,

woman

the 14th to the 18th century, also in the

Falstaff, cries

Latin form, as in the translation (1653) of Bacon's NATURALL AND EXPERIMENTAL

(1598) calls Falstaff disguised as a Prat",

.

See prabble.

preconize.

late

/'//

full

See fraight.

frolic; a

fraud; trickery. Used in Old English (10th and llth centuries) and again from the

Mother

the

.

THOMAS MORE

illustration, see inescate.

prawL

trick;

SIR

proportioned intended consequences of the offence, not to the pravity of the offender. For another

you may challenge the

a prank, a

was pravitous,

The punishment to

See jentacular.

prandial.

Southey in

(1829) states:

dedication of his VARIOUS TREATISES (1621) Majestic some praemetiall handfulls

evil.

prat her!

HISTORY OF WINDS: It hath been abused pratincolous* Living in a meadow. (Accent on the ink.) pratincole is a meadow-dwelling bird; Latin pratum,

A

both by false opinions and by false praeconiums. Hence also preconize, to pro-

A misused or an evil privilege.

commend publicly; to call upon publicly, summon by name. The man who delivers the radio and television

privilege (Latin priwlegium, personal law) altered by association with pravus, perverse, evil; see pravity. The

commercials is a preconizer (though few would recognize him by that name) Preconize has been used from the 15th

meadow

-f incola,

pravilege.

inhabitant.

The word

word pravilege was used from the 14th

claim or to

.

century;

century (Wyclif) into the 17th; Purchas in his PILGRIMAGE (1613) speaks of

preconizing

is

at

its

height in

our publicity-ridden days.

A

due.

forerunner; a precursor (which supplanted the other term; both are from Latin pre, before + currere,

pravity.

Deformity, physical or moral; perversion, wickedness, evil. Now almost

PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE (1601) has Thou shrieking harbinger, Foul precurrer of

entirely replaced by depravity, another term for the same condition. Latin pram-

the fiend. Also precurse, to forerun, to prognosticate; Shakespeare uses this as a

Priviledges

precuirer.

and

pravileges, whereby every John-a-Stile shall intercept the Church's

cursum,

526

to

run)

.

Shakespeare,

in

THE

preen

premial

noun, heralding, in HAMLET (1602): And even the like precurse of fierce events.

care will escape in the best corrected book;

work: There be some press my book, as for 'prelial' (wherever occurring) read 'prelal.'

later in the

Usually the events are dire, as though there were a pre-curse laid upon them. (Curse,

of course,

is

of quite different

Late Latin corruptiare "from

this

prelapsarian. Relating to the time or conditions before the fall of Man. Latin

being deviously derived by Week1924, via French coroz, wrath, from

origin, ley,

in

faults

pre, before -f lapsus, fall.

cor, heart

in

rumpere, rupt, to break." The cor is more probably a form of com, altogether, a prefix with intensifying effect;

DEMONOLOGY

-h

preen (preyne, prine, pren, prin) was used for anything of no consequence or value; Rolland in THE COURT OF VENUS (1560) said: For sic storyis I cair thame not ane prene. Hence, preensworth, the value of a pin; preen-head, preen-point were also used of things (persons) of no

libatum, to take a

whence

14th century (Chaucer, in THE MERCHANT'S TALE; 1386) . In the ANTURS OF ARTHUR (1400) we read: Hur kerchefes

were curiouse, with mony a proud prene. preeve.

An

early

form of proof, prove.

Relating to printing; typographiLatin prelum, a press. Fuller in THE

prelal. cal.

APPEAL

OF

INJURED

INNOCENCE

(1659)

wrote: Prelial mistakes in defiance of all

taste

prelibate, to

in figurative use in the 17th,

BIBLE: SECOND EPISTLE

es-

GENERAL OF PETER

stated that the wicked have a preltbatwn of that darkness they shall go unto here-

Wordsworth makes poetic use of THE PRELUDE (1805).

after.

prelibation in

Introductory; relating to a Also preludial, prelusive, pre-

preludious.

lusory;

meaning) came into use at the end

to

of,

Thus

pecially in religious writings, as when T. Adams in his EXPOSITION (1633) of the

a

this

little

also libation.

beforehand; to give a foretaste; prelibation. Used from the 16th century;

cushion:

of the

by

taste

prelude.

ant of prune, which originally also had

the

spoke

Relating to, or providing, a Latin prae, before + libare,

foretaste.

A

century; preen in the current sense of smoothing or adorning (probably a vari-

of

symbolized

prelibatory.

account.

preencod, princod; preenpin-cushion. Also the verb to preen, to sew; to pierce, transfix; to pin, fasten with a pin. Used from the 13th

M. D. Conway

nudity.

common

A

preen. pin, a brooch. So used from the 10th century. By the 15th century,

perfection

prelapsarian

but the O.E.D., 1933, says that curse has no parallel in Teutonic, Romanic, or Celtic, and is of origin unknown though the thing itself is as old and as common as the common cold.) If your rival proves your precursor, you may curse after.

(1879)

Latin

lusum, to play

prae, (also,

before

4*

to play a

ludere,

game, to

mock, whence delusion, illusory) Cleveland in THE SENSES' FESTIVAL (1651) ob.

served: Yet thafs but a preludious bliss; Two souls pickearing in a kiss.

Relating to, or like, a reward. Also premiant, rewarding; to premiate, to reward. premie, prernye, a reward, a premial.

A

gift;

later

and

still,

a premium.

And

premiable, worthy of reward or prize; premiability.

MANKIND

(1450)

said:

Your

merytes were not premyabyll to the blys above. Bale in his KING JOHAN (1550) re-

marked of the King that the cytie of London, through his mere graunt and premye,

Was 527

first

privyleged to have both mayer

premorse

prest

and shryve, Where before hys tyme had but baylyves onlye. Bitten or broken

premorse.

Used from

truncate.

In front of the

prenarlal. lay's

whom

the

off;

abruptly

18th

century.

nostrils.

CHRONICLES (1577) we read that Banquo was slaine not by chancemedlie, as by the handling of the matter Makbeth woould have had it appeare, but even upon a

it

prepensed devise. Blackstone (1769) noted that "the benefit of clergy" was not extended to those that committed murder

Macau-

schoolboy knows of the donkey a prenarlal carrot led to work;

through malice prepense. Also prepenprepensity. Lord Berners' translation (1525) of Froissart spoke of a thing

hence, of any belly-lure.

A

prenostk.

Used

nostic.

14th century form of progby Gower; Chaucer in

FORTUNE (1398) hir

sive;

prepensed by false traitoures to put the realme to trouble.

Presnostik is thow wolt towr asayle. Also prenosticate; pre-

nostication,

:

prenosticature,

prepollent.

Predominating, prevailing. Also to prepoll, to excel. Latin praef before + pollere, to be strong. Also praepol-

prognostica-

tion.

prentice.

A

short

lence,

form of apprentice,

used from the 14th century to the 18th. Later uses generally include an apostrophe, as Ruskin's in POLITICAL ECONOMY (1857): Stupid tailor's 'prentices who are always stitching the sleeves in the wrong way upwards. It was often used as an ad-

THE RASHES

(1784) says of Nature: Hey prentice han* she tried on man. An' then she made the lasses, O.

sors}

SALVACIOUN:

prepense. To plan, meditate, or contrive advance. Originally purpense. Also prepend, to weigh in advance, to premeditate. Both are from Latin pre, before 4*

pendere,

whence

to

weigh;

also pensive.

,

pensum,

The

thought;

past participle prepensed, prepenst was used as an adjective, especially in the legal phrase malice prepensed (16th century), now shortened to malice prepense. In Holinshed's

Hence

to cut.

prematurely

or

prescission (not to

be

pleasure.

A

president.

in

off

ley in THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE (1710) spoke of an abstract idea of happiness, prescinded from all particular

This

of Chaldee delyvrid.

cut

,

preostend. forehand. Used in the 15th century, in

OF

Used

confused with precision -the former ends with a sh'n sound; the latter, with zh'ri) the act of cutting off or abstracting. Berke-

To show or make manifest be-

MIROUR

praepollent.

abruptly; to cut away suddenly; to cut off, detach; to abstract; to withdraw from, leave out of consideration. Latin prae, before -f scindere, scissum (whence scis-

prentice ear; prentice girl, prentice-work -as when Burns in GREEN GROW

delyvraunce of man also Godde preostendid When He patriarchs Abraham from hurr

To

prescind.

jective

THE

praepollency;

mainly in the 17th century, when the prepollency of good over evil was more often mooted.

variant form of precedent.

Used in the

sense of pattern, model, by Spenser in the dedication of THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) : Goe little book: they selfe present, is

unkent,

noblesse prest.

To him

and

As that

child

whose parent

the president chevalree. of

This was a

is

common

the 13th century to the 17th. it

meant

Of

form, from (1)

As an

ready, at hand, handy, alert. Drant, in his translation (1566) of adjective

528

prestancy

prevent

Horace, has:

money

Then cums

this

fox

.

.

The word

preste in hand.

*

philosophers are presters. The snake is not to be confused with the

with

is

via

prester

French from Latin prae, before, in front

prester (from Greek presbyter, priest) in Prester John, a fabled Christian king sup-

placed, situated. Dryden in his translation (1697) of Virgil's GEORGICS has: 4-

situ,

posed to have ruled in the Far East, first mentioned in the twelfth century, and

The

victim ox, that was for altars prest, Trim'd with white ribbons and with gar-

later used as a

(2) As a noun, from the 15th century, it meant a loan; especially one made to the king in an emergency; a

lands drest.

forced loan or tion

as

hence, a tax; a deduca payment; hence also,

From

sailor.

the 16th century (3) prest was used as a verb, from the senses of the noun: to hire

by an advance payment; ally this

to enlist

yond what

gradu-

preterscriptural, beyond what is written. More frequent were: pretergress, to ex-

to draw into the king's service. Holland in his translation (1600) of Livy shows the transition: So many as they thought able men of bodie to bear arms to prest them for soldiours otherwhiles levying and presting them to the .

.

.

ceed the limits; to surpass; also pretergrespreterlabent, flowing past; H. A.

sion.

Evans in his description of OXFORD AND : There is the old garden behind the house, with the stone

.

THE COTSWOLDS (1905)

seas to be gallieslaves. Priority; pre-eminence. Latin, praestare, to excel; prae, before -f

steps descending thereunto, and the praeterlabent Coin, preterlapsed; gone by,

prestancy.

from stare,

standing, ford's

Hence prestantious, excellent. Thus Anthony

to stand.

HEAVENLY DOGGE

(1615)

out-

the prestancy of instructing be such, surely Diogenes . . . may in name but not in deed be a slave.

wind;

A

or not according

preu. Brave, gallant; full of prowess. Also prew, pru, preus. Common in the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries; re-

introduced in the

18th century in the

French

burning or scorching whirlsnake the bite of which was

also, a

fabled to cause death by swelling. Prester was a Greek word, with the same meanings, from the root pra-, to burn, to blow. Topsell in his book on SERPENTS (1608) speaks of the dipsas killing by thirst, and the prester by heat, as their very names do signify. See dipsas. Emerson in his essay

past, preterlegal, outside to law.

Staf-

declares:

If then

prester.

expected or required, preter-

beyond what was intended.

preterlethal, occurring after death, preternuptial, outside the marriage relation.

meaning merged with (and the

word, seeming a past tense, was lost in)

.

is

intentional,

press,

.

honored

preter-. (Latin praeter, beyond.) A number of English words have been formed with this prefix. We may mention pretererogation, action or performance be-

an advance payment; earnest-money on enlistment of a soldier or

in SKIALETHEIA

(1598) said that fooles do sit More than the Prester John of wit.

gift;

made from

symbol of high authority,

when Edward Guilpin

on SWEDENBORG

(1847)

says

that

form preux, especially in the phrase preux chevalier. Chaucer in THE MONK'S TALE (1386) says: This king of kinges preu was and elate. prevent.

The

forgotten

first

meaning of

prevent almost counters its present application. From Latin pre, before + venire, ventum, to come, prevent meant to come before, with the implication of helping or preparing the way.

529

The BOOK

prick

pribble

OF COMMON PRAYER (1549) calls out: Preus, O Lord,, in all our doings! Shakethe speare in JULIUS CAESAR (1601) uses word in the sense of anticipate: I do find it cowardly and vile, for fear of what

vent

to

come

at large.

tiniest jot,

To

the prick, to the

with minute exactness.

point in a progression;

(2)

A the

especially,

A

prick, the highest point. (3) goad for oxen. Hence, to work (spurn, kick)

a spur,

fall, so to prevent the time of life. Milton, in the ODE ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY (1629) uses it in its

against

when, speaking of the "starcoming to the new-born them with Jesus, he cries: O run, prevent thy humble ode And lay it lowly at His

His prikke specially

syng. [Gloosyng, glozing, specious adornment.] (4) One of the marks on a dial

blessed feet. In earthly affairs, however, the usual consequence of one person's

upon this sense, The bawdy hand

might

literal sense,

led

wizards"

preventing (coming before) another is that the first person takes what's good and it

which

its

present

keeps the second from getting cold truth brought prevent to

meaning.

the pricks. Figuratively,

an incentive; something that stimulates. THE MIROUR OF SALVAciouN (1450) said: is

a

womman

or scale. Shakespeare makes bawdy pun in ROMEO 'AND JULIET: of the dyall is now upon the pricke of noone. (5) vulgar term of endearment. H. M., translating (1671)

A

THE COLLOQUIES of Erasmus, observed: One word alone hath troubled some, because the immodest maid, soothing the He young man, calls him her prick .

pribble. Used in

A

weak form of prabble, q.v. pribble and prabble; pribble-

prabble, to

mean

THE MERRY WIVES has the Welsh parson

OF WINDSOR (1598) Sir Hugh Evans declare: It were a goot motion, if we leave our pribbles and prabbles, and desire a marriage betweene Master Abraham and Mistris Anne Page.

A

hunter; a speedy horseman. pricasour. From the prick of the spurs. Chaucer in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES

he (1386) tells us: A monk ther was was a prikasour aright Grehoundes he hadde as swift as fowel in flight. .

.

.

Among the forgotten meanings of this many-pointed word may be found: A. Uses as a noun. (1) minute part; a

(6)

In the phrase prick and praise

prise, price)

(1606)

declares:

(prize,

Med-

praise for excellence.

Nowforsoth I gyve the pryk and pryse, Thou art worth the weyght of gold. Thornley's translation (1657) of Longus' DAPHNIS AND CHLOE: :

The women gave him prick and praise for beauty. B. Uses as a verb. (7) To detect a witch by pricking her until a spot was discovered that did not bleed. Pitcairn records (1661) in CRIMINAL TRIALS: The magistrate and minister caused Johne Kinkaid,

the

common

pricker,

and found two marks upon

p rick

to

her,

he called the Devil his marks.

prik

which

(8)

To

(upright pole) or target;

hence, to aim at (also figuratively). Harpsfield, in THE DIVORCE OF HENRY VIII (1555):

point of space, or a particle, in regard to its minuteness. Shakespeare in TROILUS

AND CRESSIDA

,

walFs NATURE (1500)

shoot at a

A

.

e

her, prick.

.

who cannot away with this, instead of my prick,' let him say 'my sweetheart.'

idle talk, chatter of dis-

cussion. Shakespeare in

gloo-

His authors roved far from the mark they should prick at. (9) Of a hare: to make

In such

indexes, although small prickes To their subsequent volumes, there is seene The baby figure of the giant masse Of things

a track in running; hence, footprints.

(10)

hence, to ride

530

To

fast,

to track

by the

spur a horse on; as in the first line of

pridunedaintie

priscan

Spenser's THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): A gentle knight was pricking on the plains. Incidentally, this is the first instance in

English narrative of a character in action at the start of a story, by now a common-

To place of fictional technique. (11) prick fast upon, to approach (a time or closely; to prick

closely in ing,

said

(1580)

that

English

LOST (1594) simple,

would pricke

:

This

simple;

neere the learned tungs in strength, (12)

spirit, full

To jot down, to record in writing. (IS) To mark on a list; hence, to choose, appoint (14) To attire (at first, with

jects,

is

a

a gift that I have,

foolish

extravagant

of forms, figures, shapes, ob-

ideas, apprehensions, motions, rev-

These are begot in the ventricle memory, nourished in the womb of

of

primater, and delivered

hence, to attire elaborately.

THE WORLDE

ing of occasion.

am

nat worthily

primerole.

(1500): I

variant of pirl,

olutions.

garments fastened by bodkins and pins);

AND THE CHYLDE

A

flow, spirt.

primater. An error (of Holofernes, or the printer?) for pia mater, in early editions of Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S

new, to

approach achievement or quality. Goldin the Preface to Baret's ALVEARIE

period)

To

prill.

purL John Stow in A SURVEY OF LONDON (1598) describes an image of Diana, and water convayd from the Thames prilling from her naked breast.

upon

the mellow-

See prymerole.

wrapped nor went, But poorly pricked in

One

prickmedaintie. dress;

that

is finical

a dandy (of either sex)

adjective,

affectedly

adornment.

Also

nice

in

personal

pryckmedenty,

A

prick-

a traveling mender of a thief. and hence, prigman pots pans; (prygman, pridgeman) is one of the varietinker,

A

ties

of

vagabond

pamphlets; verb,

cp.

to prig,

listed in the

Elizabethan

to steal,

to cheat. Shake-

speare in THE WINTER'S TALE (1611) us a man married a tinkers wife .

(having flowne over

many

.

pert, saucy boy;

a youth

af-

manners of a man; a coxcomb. Usually spoken with a measure of con-

when old Capulet (in ShakeROMEO AND JULIET, 1592) dlSspeare's misses the fiery Tybalt: You are a princox; tempt, as

go! Also princock, primecock, princockes. The etymology of the word is uncertain; it

may be an

alteration of praecox, early

ripe,

whence precocious;

first

+

it may be prime, Latin coquere, coxi, coctum, to

cook, to ripen; gestions

may

and

certain sexual sug-

have slipped

in.

But we may

agree with Scott's exclamation, in KENILWORTH (1821) : God save us from all such

cocke scholars that are puffed

tells .

princox. fecting the

misproud princoxes! Goryat among his CRUDITIES (1611) speaks of proud prin-

Also a

pedlers French.

A

about

Also an

.

mydante, and the like. One meaning of prick was to pin somebody up; hence, to dress elaborately. Skelton in THE TUNNYNG OF ELYNOUR RUMMYNG (1529) said: There was a pryckmedenty Sat lyke a seynty, And began to paynty [pant] As though she would faynty. prig.

See preen.

princod.

poverty.

up

with the

opinion of their learning. Such have but

and

sipped the Pierian spring.

knavish pro-

he settled onely in rogue: some him Autolycus. Glowne: Out upon

fessions)

priscan.

call

cus, old.

him: prig, for my life, prig: he haunts wakes, faires, and beare-baitings.

Ancient, primitive. Latin pris-

Used in the 19th century, as in Rolleston's BRITISH BARROWS (1877): A pack of wild dogs cooperating with priscan

531

Priscian

proculcate

men in driving a herd of cattle . . along a track in which a pitfall had been dug. .

This

Priscian.

name

the

is

of a famous

procacious, insolent; pert, forward. Burton in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621) declares: In vain are all your flatteries .

Roman Used

grammarian, of about 520 A.D. in English in the phrase to break

(knock) Priscian's head, to make an error in grammar, (The early references were, of

Latin

to

course,

didn't

count.)

grammar.

Shakespeare

LABOUR'S LOST (1594) a

little

scratched,

.

.

Delights, deceits, procacities, Sighs,

kisses,

and

conspiracies.

Tempestuousness. In Bailey, which does give the

procellosity.

1751; not in O.E.D.,

English

15th century (Lydgate) procelle, a storm,

LOVE'S

and the 17th century procellous, stormy. All are from Latin procella, a storm; pro,

in

speaks of Priscian that a slight

meaning

error (in Sir Nathaniel's Latin) has been made. Nowadays Priscian is quite o'er-

before

+

the root

eel, to drive,

from which come

also

to strike

celerity

and

Latin

pro-

gladiator.

thumped. English doesn't count. prithee.

An

Also prithy, prethy, preethee. Used from the 16th century. Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST (1610) has: Pre-thee no more:

thou dost talke nothing to me. Suckling in his play AGLAURA (1637) has a lively lyric, one stanza of which asks a shrewd

question: Why so dull and mute, young sinnerf Prithee, why so mute? Will, when

speaking well can't win her, Saying nothing do'tf Prithee, why so mute? privado.

An

What can

Whence

cerus, tall, lofty.

17th centuries)

also

and

(16th

procere, procerous,

tall,

and proceres, nobles, head men, lofty as in Bulwer-Lytton's HAROLD (1848): In that chamber met the thegns [thanes] and proceres of his realm. Johnson in THE LIFE OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA (1756) said: When he met a tall woman, he im-

mediately commanded one of his titanian retinue to marry her, that they might

propagate procenty,

intimate; a ruler's favorite

(male). Directly from the Spanish; used in English from about 1550. Steele's THE

LYING LOVER

tallness.

Height,

procerlty.

early variant of / pray thee.

(1704)

shows the attitude:

I deny thee,

my

privado?

Ready,

procinct.

prepared.

Latin

pro-

cingere, procinctum, to gird up. Also in the phrase in procinct', procinctive, girding itself for action; BLACKWOOD'S EDIN-

BURGH MAGAZINE

infamy; railing. Hence probrous, infamous, defamatory. These are in 18th century dictionaries

(1841) speaks of the procinctive future. Procinct is also a variant form of precinct. In the sense of ready, imminent, Milton says, in PARADISE LOST

(Bailey, 1751) ; neither has won admittance to the O.E.D., which gives the noun

procinct.

probre, an insult, used in the 15th century. All are from Latin probrum, re-

procrastinate.

Scandal,

probrosity.

proach, disgrace, from which

we have kept spurn.

Pertness, sauciness; petulance.

From Latin

procax, procacem* petulant,

insolent; procare, to

demand. Hence

also

he

From

perceatfd,

is

to

trample down; to despise, 4-

Thus

to

stamp

into. Also proculca-

tion, the act of trampling.

532

in

the Latin pro, forward

calcare, to tread; calcem, heel.

inculcate

warr

See crastin.

To

proculcate.

opprobrium. procacity.

Warr

(1667):

pronephew

prodige progress. cially,

vided by

prodigality.

prodigy,

meant something an omen, and is from

first

extraordinary that is Latin pro, before agiom, a thing said

Thus prodigious portentous, SUMMER NIGHT'S harelip, nor .

.

.

Shall

upon

(1590):

this

prodigious

treachery.

Latin

the 15th century. Shakespeare in

The

factum.

fasse!

HENRY

Hence

prompture.

me

hither,

to

Water if

HENRY

make public, shifted from forth 4vulgare, vulgatum; vulgus, pro, the people; see promulgate. mulgare, to

proficiat.

:

Preface;

OF HEMPand proface,

your stomackes serve. Shakerv, PART TWO (1597) says: Master Page, good Master Page, sit. in meat Proface! What you want [lack] we II have in drink. masters,

speare in

The

used in English

Poet's PRAISE

SEED (WORKS; 1630)

my

first

early form of promulgate but lingering into the I9th). (15th century, The forms are from a Late Latin pro-

Often used in connection with preface, as in the

Instigation, incitement.

An

promulge.

pay them here

and my

See locofoco.

FOR emptor. Shakespeare in MEASURE MEASURE (1603) says: He hath falne by prompture of the blood.

it

his transfriendly reception. Urquhart in lation (1653) of Rabelais declares: These

buzzards will have

the

and

to incite. The (14th century) as a verb, forms are from Latin promere, to put or urge forth; pro, forth + emere, emptum, to buy, whence also pre-empt and Caveat

do; facere, also proficiat (17th cen-

may

signified,

outer part of the lip. prolabia, where the lipstick

word prompt was

tury), used as a friendly greeting; by deterioration, a payment to ensure a

my welcom

plural

promethean.

Latin proficiat; pro,

faciat,

is

The is

Thou most usurp-

'May it do you good!' & greetwelcome before food. Sometimes used instead of a toast: Your health! From Old French prou fasse! short for

+

King Henry

moves. Used in the 17th and 18th centuries; in anatomy still.

preface. ing, or a

in behalf of

soomerz progress 1575

prolabium.

the ing proditorf and not Protector of realm. or king

Bon prou vous

of the progresses of

merchaunt of London.

traiproditory, proditorious, treacherous, torous. Prodition has been in use since

says:

en route.

colorful records

from a freend officer attendant in coourt untoo hiz freend a citizen

their children be.

PART ONE (1591)

lords,

is A letter whearin part of the entertainment untoo the Queenz majesty at in Killingwoorth Castl in Warwick Sheer

forth prodere, proditum, to betray; pro, also Hence f dare, to give. proditious,

vi,

many

lavish entertain-

tory

MID-

Never mole,

Nor mark

Betrayal,

prodition.

A

cities,

VIII and of his redheaded daughter. Indeed, Robert Laneham's one hold on his-

meant ominous,

Shakespeare's

DREAM

scar,

of

Latin

primitive

(adiagium, adage).

first

in

as

+

the

all

ment by all the feudal There are detailed and

variant, in the 15th to 17th century, for

which

A

journeying; a journey; espea state journey by a royal or noble celebration was properson. Elaborate

To squander. Also prodege. Latin pro, forth 4- agere, to drive. Hence also prodigence, a 17th century form for The form prodige was also a prodige.

pronephew.

A

great-grandson. Also probefore + nepotem,

From Latin pro,

nepot. A prograndson, whence also nepotism. is a grand-niece, a pronept, prompts, niece. The STATE PAPERS of England, after of Henry VIII, spoke of the death

535

(1542)

protreptic

propine the performance of the

my Lord

Princes Grace

manage betwene and

the daughter

of Scotland, the Kinges Majesties pronepce. The words were rarely used after the 16th century.

THE CONQUEROR not Hamilton was to Euroexcepting Washington (1902) declared that

or give to drink, as a

offer

cup of wine or (often in religious refto erence) 'a cup of affliction/ Hence, offer, to present, to endow. From the Greek pro, toward -f pinein, to drink, Used from the 14th into the 18th century, mainly in Scotland; Sir Walter Scott used In expectation of it in IVANHOE (1819) which Cedric had the ample donation :

.

propined.

Hence

.

.

also

the

propination,

offering of a drink, the drinking of one's health. In reference to 19th centuryAustrian Poland, propination means the

monopoly of brewing and selling

the

George

Gillespie,

products in

distilling

such

of

and

activity.

A DISPUTE AGAINST

THE

ENGLISH-POPISH

said:

Whiles she propineth

CEREMONIES

(1637)

to the

world

A

drink

made

of

wine and

honey, usually taken before meals. Directly from the Greek pro, before + poma,

In English, also propomate. 17th century term. See mead.

drink.

A

proreption. Slow advance; creeping forward. Latin proripio, proreptum, to drag" forth, to creep forward; pro, forward -f rapere, repi, to

raptum (whence

also rapt,

On

snatch,

drag, hurry. rape) course from Latin into English, the ,

its

word

slowed down. prosilient.

Prominent, outstanding. Latin

prosilientem, leaping forth; prosilire; pro,

forward salitnt, .

-T.

+ salire, saltum, whence also somersault but not table salt. Also .

prosihate,

,

to stand

,

out,

.

.

.

peans the most prosilient of Americans.

Waywardness,

stubbornness;

pertness; petulance. Latin proteruus, pressing forward; impudent. Hence also English proterve (14th to 16th century), protervous (16th and 17th centuries), forword, stubborn, impudent. The noun, from the 15th century, lingered longer; Stevenson in 1882 said that in Hugo's

poems and plays

same un-

there are the

accountable protervities. protocol. An original draft or note of a transaction or agreement; especially, of

an agreement between powers; an original authority. A preamble. From Greek proto, first + kolla, glue; in the Middle Ages, Latin protocollum, Greek protokollon, a fly-leaf glued to a case, with a summary or account of the manuscript within. Hence

proto colic, relating to protocols', to pro-

the cup of her fornications.

propoma,

.

.

.

protervity.

To

propine.

in

Atherton

Gertrude

tocolize, to draw up protocols, to diplomatize; also to protocol.

protoplast. first

men

original

model.

plastos,

formed;

thing formed; the in a line; the

first

Greek

proto, to

first

4-

mould,

plassein,

From Greek plastes, the fashioner, protoplast was also used to mean the first fashioner, the creator; in this sense, also protoplasmator; Bieston in THE BAYTE AND SNARE OF FORTUNE (1550) wrote: Thou knowest howe God the hygh prathoplasmator of erth formed man after hys owne ymage. H. Busk in THE VESTRIAD (1819) exclaimed: No more the protoplast , MACMILLAN s MAG' f act tt/fl^

be prominent;

prosiliency, "leaping out" at one, prominence; pronlition, the act of leaping out.

first

fashion.

A2Dat or

.

The

created, or

Jf^ M *y'

863

m^ rprotoplast r fc

protreptic.

'

s

P eculated

He ^ew

Didactic; instructive. Also, a

book or speech intended

534

'/

of ; speech, ?***<*

to teach.

Greek

provant

psaphonic

pro, for -f trepein, to turn, to direct the course of. Used from the 17th century.

proverbs,

Early

G.

Moulton

are philosophical, not

1895)

(PROVERBS;

R.

said

applied to fruit, etc., covered with a fine white powder like frost.

silk,

protrepticaL

A

prunella. later

clergymen's,

provulgate.

To make

dissemi-

public;

propagate. Latin provulgare, provulgatum; pro, before 4- vulgus, the nate,

whence

people,

vulgation. shifted to

Also

also vulgar.

provulge.

promulge

(q-v.)

Hence pro-

These forms and promul-

gate, the latter of which survives. The earlier forms were used in the 16th century.

prow.

Advantage,

profit;

Used

good.

from the 13th century. As an adjective, good, worthy, gallant. Also preu (q*v.), proud, prod, pru. Ultimately from Latin prodise; prodesse, to be useful, to do good. Chaucer in THE NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE (1386) declares: / shal

my

self to

herbes

yow That shul been for your hele

techen

and for youre prow.

Also,

in the

14th

to be

of advantage, beneficial; whence prower, one that helps, purveyor, provider of necessities. Pecock in THE REPRESSOR OF OVER MUCH BLAMING to prow,

century,

OF THE CLERGY (1449) says: Crist which was oure beest prower, ordeyned al that was best for us to have. .

.

.

proxenete. An agent; a go-between, especially a marriage broker. Greek proxenein, to be one's agent, pro, in behalf of

+

xenos, guest. For an illustration of

its

paranymph,

pruinous. Frosty; relating to frost Used in the 16th and 17th centuries; Latin pruina, cence.

hoar-frost.

In

the

pruinose came

Hence

19th

also

barristers'

Worth makes

pruines-

century, pruinate, into use in natural history,

the

gowns and

man and want

The rest The word

the fellow;

is all

of

it,

but leather or

is also used as the prunella. name of a flower (the self-heal) and by alteration from brunella, 'the browns'

was applied to a camp-fever prevalent

among

the

German imperial The word was

1547 and 1566.

troops in also used

in the forms prunelle, prunello. Prunello is the Italian for little prune; Sir J. E.

Smith in his MEMOIRS (1786) said that he at Brignolle, famous for the Prunes de Brignolle, which we have corrupted into Prunellas. They were a noted product

Dined

of Provence.

prymerole.

A

variant of primerole, an

early spring flower; thence applied to a

young and pretty woman. The word

is

a diminutive of prime, first (here referring to the season) . It was frequent in the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries, used by Gower, Chaucer, Lydgate; for an il-

lustration of its use, see pigsney.

It is

probably a variation of primrose. Gower says in CONFESSIO frosti colde

use, see

and

(originally

used for students',

worsted)

later for the tops of women's shoes. Pope used the word in his ESSAY ON MAN (1734):

See count palatine.

provant.

strong material

AMANTIS (1390)

Janever

.

.

.

:

of his dole

The

He

gifth the ferste primerole.

Planning (or securing) one's to fame or glory; like was a Libyan who had a Psapho. Psapho host of birds caught and taught to say "Psapho is a god.** The birds were then released, whereafter the Africans worshiped Psapho. The story was first told by the Roman Aelianus Claudus, who died A.D. 140. From the Latin phrase psaphonic.

own

535

elevation

psydracium

psephomancy

psychomachy. Also (17th century) pseuchomachie. A battle within the soul. Levin in THE OVERREACHER (1952), discussing Marlowe's DR. FAUSTUS, stated that "Hell

Psaphonis aves, the birds of Psapho, certain reference works [Brewer quotes the poet Moore; Benet follows Brewer] erroneously give the name as Psaphon. The phrase Psapho's birds has been applied

with grace" in a psychomachia. A was written

strives

to "puffers/' flatterers, writers of blurbs, manipulators of 'public relations.'

poem

entitled Psychomachia

by Prudentius about 400 A.D. It was the European allegorical poem, and one of the most widely read works of the Midfirst

psephomancy.

See aeromancy.

dle Ages. From its picture of the battle of the soul grew the practice of giving the Seven Deadly Sins seven Vices as servants;

From Greek pseudos, falsity, and pseudpseudo- have been used as prefixes meaning false, pretended, spuripseudo.

ous.

and need no

these Vices became part buffoon. Hence, by the 16th part century, the vice meant the clown, the

in the drama,

coined for an occasion,

Many were

definition:

villain,

pseudo-Moses;

pseudostatesman; pseudo-enthusiast; pseu-

chief funmaker. This duality persisted in the character of Shylock, in Shakespeare's

1809); pseudobard (Byron, pseudoscience. Also pseudochronism, an error in dating, pseudodox, holding a false opinion; pseudodoxy. pseudograph, a work attributed to one not its author,

dopatroit;

literary

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

pseudologer^ habitual liar; pseudology, the art of lying, pseudosoph (accent on the first syllable), pseudosopher (accent

on the second) wisdom, or

,

A

psychrolute. 'polar bear/ one that bathes (swims) out of doors daily through-

one that pretends to

out the winter. Greek psychros, cold

supposes himself wise; also pseudosophical. pseudosophy. Swin-

wise, psychrophobia, cially,

pseudosophical a quack.

prophet; but where is a true one, save in the lap of chance!) See aeromancy.

A

device for speeding psychocorruptor. up the seduction of a soul. First employed (by this name) in Molnar's

we

energy.

A

been incorporated in the "Crime Comics" books and other current secret has

forms of juvenile entertainment,

Greek psyche, working, whence rarity still rarer in the activity.

ergia f

Spring.

A

psycter. jar for cooling wine. Greek psykter; psychein, to breathe, blow, cool; psyche, breath, spirit, soul. psyctic.

are told,

average New Yorker; the psychocorruptor is guaranteed to do it In an hour. Many feel that part its

+

THE RED MILL

(1923). It takes twenty years, to make devil's meat of the

of

also

a false

Mental

mind

spirit,

dread of cold; espe-

of cold water.

psychurgy.

Also pseudomantis, pseu(literally,

-f

loutes, bather; louein, to bathe. Contrari-

burne in THE QUARTERLY REVIEW of July 1902 exclaimed upon so consummate and

domantistj a prophet

who

See aeromancy.

psychomancy.

falsely

pseudomancy.

,

performance at Drury Lane in 1741.

pseudo grapker, forger.

forgery;

(1597)

was presented as a comic villain until the sympathetic portrait in Charles Macklin's

A refrigerant,

especially, a

medi-

cine that cools. Greek psyktikos, cooling. Used from the 17th century.

psydracmm. A lie-blister, a white blister on the tip of the tongue, said by old wives and the ancients to be caused by Latin psydracem from Greek lying.

536

psyllic

with

psydros, lying, false. Hence, psydracious, blistered from falsehood; deceitful.

on't

that

Relating to

psyllic.

the

snake-charming,

as

snow.

movements of the Indian that pipes a From Greek Psylloi, a race of Africa

cobra.

noted for their

skill

as

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE of March 1900 that English literature became the most pudibund the world has ever known. Earlier, it referred to things that were supposed to cause shame; thus Andrew Boorde in his COMPENDIOUS REGYMENT OF HELTH (1542) doth burn in the says: // any man There is also a noun pudibunde places form; the SATURDAY REVIEW of February 4, 1893, protested: We cannot approve the observed

tions of these exhibitions of the psyllic art occur.

Maid from

French, probably from Late Latin puellicella, diminutive of puella, girl. Also pucell, pusel, pussle and later (when the

especially

some

.

our puzzles of

editor's filthy

queans,

Paris. Sir

Thomas

More, in A DIALOGUE OF COMFORT AGAINST TRIBULATION (1534) says: This girl is a metely

good pussel

in

never

a house,

but ever occupied and busy. Shakespeare in HENRY vi PART ONE (1591) speaks idle,

of Joan of Arc as pucelle or puzzel

This name of several delights been used in various compounds. Note pudding-filler, a glutton, one that lives to eat pudding-head, a stupid person, as Mark Twain's after all not so stupid Pudd'nhead Wilson (THE TRAGEDY OF ; 1894). pudding-heart, a coward. pudding.

has

pudding-time, a lucky moment, the nick of time; to

come

in pudding-time, to ar(which used to

rive in time for dinner

begin with pudding).

pudency. Modesty; susceptibility shame. Latin pudentem, present participle of pudere, to make or be ashamed. Cp* pudibund. In Shakespeare's CYMBELINE wife: (1611) Posthumus exclaims of his

Me

of

my

lawful pleasure she restrained

And prayed me

oft forbearance;

did

it

.

.

.

.

.

.

pudibundity in omitting a few

'indecent words.' Also found are pudic, pudique, having a keen sense of shame; pudicity, modesty

pudibundity)

;

(with less scorn than

pudify, to

make ashamed,

and pudor a proper modesty. They are all from Latin pudere, to cause to blush;

to

make or

to

t

be ashamed; cp pudency. .

Painter in THE PALACE OF PLEASURE (1566) wrote: It is I that dooe purpose to marie this maide, who I doubt not is right honest and chaste, and also a pudique and

pure

virgin.

pudon

See pudibund.

As a noun: (1) The husks separated from seed in cleaning, the chaff of wheat

pug.

or oats; the leavings of the cider-press, apple-pulp. Hence, pug-drink, thin cider,

water cider. to

BLACKWOOD'S

.

the sense degenerated, and the word was used for a courtesan, a drab, a slut) pusil, (1607)

in

,

now and then

puzzel, puzzle:

when Andrew Lang

at the shamefast, as

Gosse in THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY (1860) observed that fatal termina-

A

Modest. This word pokes fun

pudibund.

snake-charmers.

maid. La Pucelle, the pucelle. of Orleans, Joan of Arc. Directly

A pudency so rosy, the sweet view Might well have warmed old Saturn, I thought her As chaste as unsunn'd

From

the 15th century.

As a diminutive, of persons.

A

(2)

term of

my sweet pug. Also puglet, a Also: courtesan, harlot, punk. If, puggy. Cecil in a letter of Robert Sir suggested endearment,

24 September, 1600, you did remember the Lord Admyrall and the Lord Treasurer with a couple of pugges or some uscough

537

pugillary

pulvil

baugh [whisky] or some such toyes, it would show that you do not neglect them, whoe, I protest, are to you wonderfull kynde. Likewise, from the 16th century, a ship's boy; a bargeman, especially west-

ern pug, one

Thames

the

who navigated a barge down to

London. Lyly in ENDYMION

The condition of being inpulicosity. fested with fleas. Latin pulicem, flea; the (English -ous) means full avidulous. Hence also pulicouse, cp. pulicose, full of fleas. Related to, or re-

ending -osus of;

fleas:

sembling,

pulicine,

pulicarious,

Ruskin in FORS CLAVIGERA (1872)

pulicary;

(1591) speaks of a western barge, when with a good winde and lustie pugges one

inquires: Has he multiplied himself into a host of pulicarious dragonsf From in-

ten miles in two dales. Just barging alongl (3) Applied to anything small or stumpy: a dwarf; a lamb, hare, squirrel; a sprite or imp, such as Puck; hence, the

stances of pulicosity, spare us!

pug-dog; pug-nosed. (4) Well pounded mud or clay, used for walls or in bricks

later,

may goe

(19th century). list;

And

(5), short for pugi-

see pugillary. Finally

(borrowed in

the 19th century from Hindi pag, footprint) there is (6) pug, print of a beast's foot. THE BAILY TELEGRAPH of 12 December, 1865, averred that there are not

many

sensations worth getting up for so early . . but to see the first pug of the tiger's track on the wet path is one of them. .

pullaile. Poultry. French poule, chicken; Latin pullus, the young of an animal,

of

especially

the

fowl;

English

pullet; cp. poulter. Also

(15th century) pullayle, pullayly, (16th and 17th centuries) pullery. Hence pullation, a hatch-

ing of chickens. In the 17th century, the phrase a pullarian auspicator described an ancient practitioner of divination by a sacred chick. THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE, Lydgate, Hoccleve, Caxton, century, use pullaile.

all

in the 15th

To

ful; since the

ink in them. Also pugil, originally, a hand17th century, what can be

bud, sprout; spring up abundantly, teem. Latin pullulare, pullulatum, to sprout, grow, increase; pullus, young of an animal; see pullaile. THE TIMES of 6 October, 1890, spoke of those lower forms of Christianity which pullu-

picked up with the thumb and two fingers, a little handful. Latin pugillus, a hand-

late so freely in the religious soil of the United States. Hence pullulant,

pullulate.

pugillary.

SOPHICAL

Many

ful. fist,

A

TRANSACTIONS

of

pugillaries, styles,

The

root

The

PHILO-

1758

listed;

writing-tablet.

is

pug,

and stands with

as in Latin

whence pugnacious;

also

pugnus,

turies)

,

(17th and 18th cenboxing. Latin pugnare, pugnatus,

to fight

(originally, to

box)

pugnastics, boxing exercises

tury term modeled

on

;

CHRISTENDOM

(1890) said: Virtues their pullulation,

fructify; in

heart

is.

hence also a 19th cen-

gymnastics; pugna-

(17th century) pugnatic (19th century), related to fighting. Also pugnant, tory

E.

pugilist,

pugilism; pugilation

,

budding; Johnson in THE RISE OF

pullulation.

pulvil.

for the villio;

then

purity of

acquired.

A cosmetic or perfumed powder wig or person. Also pulvilio, pulItalian

diminutive

of

polviglio,

polve;

fine

Latin

powder, pulverem,

powder, whence pulverize. To pulver was a 17th century form of pulverize; pulver-

hostile,

opposed; hence, hateful; replaced by repugnant. There is a term in botany,

Ash Wednesday; also, to number of forms from Latin pulver have been used; some of them ing day was

pugioniform, dagger-shaped; Latin pugionem, da^er, hand-knife. Also see pug.

pulverate.

5S8

A

pulvinar

punaise

in science, e.g., pulveratricious, rolling in the dust (of birds) ; pulveratrix (plural pulveratrices, also pulveratores)

attempt againe to wring water out of the pommice; Jonson, in EVERY MAN OUT OF

birds that habitually roll in the dust. Also,

Could the pummise but hold up his eyes at other mens happiness, in any reasonable proportion: 'Slid, the slave were to be

survive

more general, pulverescence, tendency to become dusty or powdery; pulverulent, powdered, in the form of dust, powdery; pulverulence. Also to pulvil, to sprinkle or perfume with pulvil; pulvilized, so

powdered and perfumed. Latin pulvinus, a cushion, had a diminutive pulvinulus, which gave us English pulvillar, cushion-

A

like, pad-like, also

pulvinarian. pulvinar is still, in surgery, a small pad or cushion; also, the cushioned seat in the ancient Ro-

man

amphitheatre; a couch or cushioned

seat of the gods.

Hence

pulvinate, pillowy,

The powdered

cushion-shaped; bulging. cosmetic (now called merely powder) was popular as pulvil from the 16th into the

19th century; Wycherley in THE COUNTRY said: / have dressed you . ,

WIFE (1675)

.

upon you ounces of essence and pulvillio; Farquhar inquired, in THE CONSTANT COUPLE (1700) How many pound and, spent

:

of pulvil must the fellow use in sweetening himself from the smell of hops and

tobacco?

See pulvil.

pulvinar.

pumie. An early form of pumice (stone); Latin pumicem. Also pomys, pommes,

pommice, the

pumis;

forms

and

pumey from the

pumysch,

pomege;

pummy,

pommie,

pumy, the

like

probably

rose

interpretation of pumis stone. Spenser in THE SHEP-

(oral)

HIS

HUMOUR

(1599)

uses

it

of a

man:

loved next heaven.

pumpkinify. Literally, to make a pumpkin of, as in THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN of Irving. Also pumpkinize. The words are used to mean to praise ex-

Washington

to

travagantly,

glorify

Also

absurdly.

Thus pumpkinism

is pumpkinification. or behavior language; absurdly pompous exaggerate praise. The terms come from a

travesty of the ritual

transformation of

Emperor Claudius Caesar attributed

to

Seneca,

the

into

a

god;

travesty

was

called Apokolokyntosis (Greek, Transformation into a Pumpkin; kolokynthe,

pumpkin)

.

The

Senate, said

Menvale

in

his history of THE ROMAN EMPERORS (1856), decreed his divinity* Seneca translated it

into pumpkinify.

This far-from-forgotten word had forms: punlet, punnigram; punnet; pundigrion, q.v. It seems to be related to Latin punctum, point; though how, it is hard to see. Punnology, said THE EXAMINER in 1826, is of extreme

pun. less

remembered

antiquity.

punaise.

A bed-bug. Via French (putnais)

from Latin putere, putrefy,

putrid,

to stink,

putrescent.

whence

also

The forms

to

punese, wrongly taken as a plural, gave us also punee, punie, puny. Holland in his translation (1601) of Pliny

the pumies the 10th century,

caught the perennial attitude: punies or wall-lice, the most ill-favored and filthie

pumice was used for polishing parchment and for removing stains. It was also used

vermin of all other, and which we loth and abhorre at the verie naming of them.

symbol of dryness, as dry as a pumice: Lyly exclaims in EUPHUES (1580) : I/ thou

Strangely,

stone as

pumi

HERD'S

CALENDAR

Pumie

(1579; stones I threwe . . .

bough he lepped latched [caught].

as a

light,

March)

says:

From bough

And oft

From

punayse,

Kirby and Spenee in AN TRODUCTION TO ENTOMOLOGY (1815) 539

INTC-

puncheon

purfle

ported that on dissecting the brain of a there were found in it abundance

was punned into repentance. George Colman (the younger) in REMINISCENCES OF A FRESHMAN (BROAD GRINS, 1802) CaSti-

woman

of vermicles and punaises. Addison had better luck on dissecting a coquette's

gated the intolerant pun-hater.

heart. False,

punk. instrupuncheon. (1) A short piercing ment, a dagger, a bodkin. Used from the 14th century. Roundabout from Latin

the

like.

A

a sharp-pointed spear.

same variations in 15th century, but

punchion-staff

(2)

With

origin

unknown,

faith.

Carthage" was linked with "perfidious Albion" by Burke in a letter on the PRO-

the

spelling, used since the its

in

a Carthaginian. The Punic apple was the pomegranate; punic was also used (16th and 17th centuries) for a color, purple or 'yellow drawing to a red/ "Treacherous

(in North's translation, 1580, of Plutarch) is

especially

From punicus,

earlier poenicus, phoenicus, a Phoenician,

puncta, a point. Also punchion, punson,

punction and the

treacherous,

phrase Punic

POSALS FOR PEACE WITH THE REGICIDE

is

DI-

another puncheon meaning a large cask. A beer puncheon held 72 gallons; a wine

RECTORY OF FRANCE (1796) in an invective against the ministry of Great Britain, their

and a whisky puncheon,

habitual frauds, their proverbial punick

puncheon,

84;

,

180 gallons. The size of the wine puncheon was established by Parliament in the first

perfidy.

The puncheon was salt,

prunes,

punctilionist.

and

also

used to hold

essences

One

that

fish,

MEASURE

particular

'a

quibbling terms, as when Southey (OMNIANA, 1812) observes that many persons will lose their friend rather than series of

their jest, or their quibble, pun, punnet, or pundigrion. As early as 1676 I/Estrange

had mocked: Quibble, pun, punnet, pundigrion, of which fifteen will not make up one single jest. But earlier, the pun was taken more seriously. The Roman Catholic Church was founded on a pun, for which see perrie. The first two speeches of Addison,

FOR may be a

She

says:

coarse term,

which

is

calls it

deservedly grow-

ing obsolete.'

pundigrion. pun. Accent on the dig. Almost always used as the climax of a

the Prince in Shakespeare's

(1603)

used by Butler and Dryden, but

was a punctiuncle.

A

are

the late

puncke; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife. Also punque, pung. Nares (1882) notes that punk was

about punctilios, a stickler over trifles. Punctille, a punctilio; a very minute matter

From

16th century; Shakespeare in MEASURE

for perfume. is

A prostitute, harlot.

punk.

year (1483) of the reign of Richard III.

HAMLET

A

round and usually shallow basket, for fruit or vegetables. Perhaps from pun, dialectal for pound. But see punnet.

pun. The WESTMINSTER DAILY PRESS of 29 May, 1884, playing a frequent masculine declared

game,

that

the

new-fashion

women's bonnets suggest strawberry punnets turned upside

down upon

purfle.

A

border,

an embroidered edge

the head.

border; especially, a decorated of a gar-

ment. Also as a verb, to border; to decoadorn. Used from the 13th century.

rate,

Ultimately from Latin per, through

(1601)

THE

puns. speaking (in SPECTATOR, No. 61; 1711) of the sermons of Bishop Andrews, said that the sinner

filum, thread.

used,

e.g.,

phrase in purfle (as by Jonson in his masque of

BLACKNESS, 1605)

540

+

The

mean

in profile; profile

purpur is

Pythian

from the same source

as purfle.

Milton

which brings us back to the

bed-bug whore.

COMUS (1634) speaks of Flowers of more mingled hew Than her purft'd scarf can shew. R. Ellis uses the word figurain

putrescent.

tively in his translation

(1871) of Catulthe new, the dainty volume, Purfled unless he intended a pun on the glossily

See punaise.

See pucelle.

puzzle.

lus:

pygmachy. Boxing. Accent on the pig; Greek pygme, fist + mache, fight. A

gloss.

pygmy

A

purpur.

purple garment; especially as

pyknic.

royalty, the purple. From Latin purpura, the shell-fish that yielded the dye; Tyrian purpur also purpure,

worn by

was an early (8th to

pop ere, pupre,

etc.

16th century)

form of purple.

A

purslane.

laca; the still

more common Latin portulaca

the scientific

had a soothing

name effect,

is

of the plant. It like

lettuce,

cp.

sleepwort. Spenser in MUIOPOTMOS (1590) speaks of Fat colworts, and comforting perseline.

Harlotry. From the 1 5th century that is); in the 17th, putanism. word, (the Harlots collectively were called putaile, as in MERLIN (1450): well x ml. of horsemen, without the putaile that ronne up

putage.

and down and robbed

the people

though

the O.E.D. thinks the word might mean foot-soldiers (pedaile) instead of campfollowers. A putain (directly from the

French; in English 14th to 17th century)

was a whore. Also putaine, whores colwhoredom; PASQUINE IN A lectively, TRAUNCE (1566) notes: Putanies be those nuns we call the greene friers on strawbery banke.

The

various forms are ulti-

mately from Latin putida; putris, ratten, stinking, whence also putrid; cp. punaise,

a person big as a

fist.

Not

fat.

Corpulent,

Greek pyknos, dense,

A

thick.

in O.E.D.

number

of

scientific terms, especially in zoology, are

formed from

this

word;

e.g.,

pycnomor-

phic, having a dense formation or structure. The tradition of the jolly fat man

notwithstanding, being pyknic

plant, a succulent herb. It

was used in salad, to keep the passions cool. In the 17th century, to destroy warts, nothing is better than to rub be them with purslaine. The name comes from French pourcelaine, altered from Pliny's porcil-

is

is

seldom

a picnic. pylpate.

See pilledow.

pyromancy. pyrrhic.

See aeromancy.

At too great cost Used

espe-

phrase pyrrhic victory, from Pyrrhus, king of Epirus; he defeated the cially in the

Romans at Asculum in Apulia (279 B.C.) but with so many of his own men slain that he remarked: "One more such victory and we are lost." In today's great wars

all victories

are pyrrhic.

pystoler.

See pistle.

Pythian.

Relating

to

Delphi,

or

the

oracle or the priestess of Apollo there, or to the Pythian games held there (at first

every eight years, then, like the Olympic

games, every four). Hence also, ecstatic, frenzied, like the priestess when the god was in her. Also Pythic. Delphi was orig-

known as Python, perhaps from the legend that Apollo had slain the python inally

(a monstrous snake) where his temple there was erected. Carlyle in THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1837) said that the Count d'Ain-

trigues

Hence

541

rises

into

furor almost Pythic.

also python, a spirit;

one possessed

pyx

pythoness

by such a spirit, which speaks through the one possessed. Hence pythoner, pythoness,

man, woman, with the power of divining, soothsayer. Chaucer in THE HOUS OF FAME (1384) speaks of jugelours, magiciens and tregetours and phitonesses. Also pythonissa. See Pythian. pythonic, relating to divination,

pythoness.

Hence

pythonism, divination, comwith a spirit; pythonist, a sooth-

prophetic;

munion

pyx.

box or

coffer.

A

bread of the sacrament

box

new

small vase. Cp.

pax. Also pix; pyxis; Greek pyxis, box;

at the

is

kept;

(2)

the

London mint where specimen

coins are kept to be tested; hence,

the trial of the pyx, examination of the purity and weight of the coins; pyx-feast, pyx-dinner, meal of the jury of the Goldsmiths' trial

pass.

sayer; to pythonize, to foretell.

A

pyxos, box-tree. Especially (1) in church service, the vessel in which the consecrated

Company, on the occasion

of the pyx.

We

(3)

The

of the

mariner's com-

note in Smith's DICTIONARY OF

GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES (1842) that Nero deposited his beard in a valuable pyxis, when he shaved for the first time.

542-*

Q nocence queries whether this is from the adjective, but it is a different word, being

quab. See quop. See trivial

quadrivial.

quaestuary. Pertaining to profit, moneymaking. Latin quaerere, quaestum (que-

a variant form of the common English word, akin to Latin cunnus; Burton in his translation (1886) of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

questum, whence query, question), to In his FABLES (1694) R. L'Estxange

spells it coynte. From the adjective, however, does come the sense, not in O.E.D.,

rere,

seek.

refers to the lawyers, the divines,

and

all

To

drink

deeply, take a long draught; especially, to drain a cup at a draught. Used since the 16th century; quaff.

Shakespeare

SHREW

says,

of

a clever

(2)

trick;

In HANDLYNG SYNNE

quaestuary professions.

THE

in THE TAMING OF

(1596): quaft off the muscadell. up that bitter cup of affliction,

Quaff Bishop Hall

(1633) urged himself; but Dekker in THE WHORE OF BABYLON (1607) more gaily exclaimed: I quaffe full bowles

a cunning device. (cp. sigalder;

slop),

looking at the magic bag, commands the witch: 'Dame', seyd the the bishop, f

bysshop, do thy quentyse,

how

hit

shall

ryse'.

charme began to yede the weye.

An

quair. of (1)

sey,

early

where.

And

late us se

Thys wycche here The slop ros up, and

form This may be a

(mainly Scotch) quire.

(2)

variant of choir, as in Shakespeare's SON(1592): Bare ruin'd quires, where

of strong enchanting wines.

NET 73

quaint. I As an adjective. The earliest sense of quaint (coint, coynte, qwaynt,

IL

sweet birds sang and in Milton's PENSOROSO (1632): There let the pealing organ blow To the full-voiced quire late the

and more)

cunning.

crafty,

mean also It

is

was

wise,

Then

ingenious; it

also,

was used

choros,

elegant, especially in speech; clever; cleverly wrought, hence beautiful.

via

Old French

cointe

(quointe,

from Latin cognitum, known; cognoscere, to know; whence also cognition', cp. coint. Its use lapsed about 1650; it was revived about 1800, mainly in its present sense. II As a noun. (1) A woman's private parts. Chaucer sought no euphemism, in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386) ; he bluntly says: Pryvely he caught her by the cuinte)

queynte.

The

O.E.D.

below. Choir

in

Victorian

is

roundabout from Greek

to

in-

More

of singers or dancers.

company

often (from the 13th century) quire,

quair (Old French caier, French cahier; Latin quaterni, set of four; quattuor,

was a

four)

set of

ment or paper, leaves; let;

four sheets of parch-

form eight by extension, a pamphlet or book-

then, a

folded* to

poem

or prose piece short

enough to fit in a quire. The best known work of this sort is The Kingis Quair (1423),

quap. 543

by James

I of Scotland.

See quop.

queme

quarrel

form of quarrer, (1) An early which stone is obquarry, a place from

16th

and 17th

windows, 15th to 17th

common

in the

meaning a hussy, qino,

woman,

is

Zend gena, Greek gyne, whence

related to

Also a square needle (15th century; for fishhooks); a square or diamond pane of

was very

centuries,

The Gothic

a strumpet.

a short, square-headed arrow or bolt, used with the cross-bow and the arbalest.

(in lattice

it

implications;

From square, four-sided; quattuor, four. the same source came (2) quarrel, quarry,

glass

in early Middle word developed disreputable

woman; but

English the

Ultimately from Latin quadrus,

tained.

A

quean.

quarrel

gynecology. The well-known drinking song in Sheridan's THE SCHOOL FOR

SCANDAL (1777)

has the lines: Here's to

flaunting extravagant quean And here's to the housewife that's thrifty. Scott the

century); a four-sided tile; pavements in the 17th century might be wrought check-

revived the innocent sense of the word,

erwise with small square quarels. When persons seek to avoid a quarrel, the word

referring to a robust young woman, as in ROB ROY (1818): It shows a kind heart

is

via

Old French quereler from Latin

querela, complaint,

queri,

to

complain,

whence both querulous and

quarrelsome', querulation, querullngj the act of complaining; querulist, an habitual com-

plain er; querulental, querulential, querelous, querulous, peevish; querulity, queru-

complaining. These should not be confused with forms from

losity t

Latin

a

of

spirit

to

quaerere,

ask,

seek;

quaestio,

whence also request, questionTHE OBSERVER (No. 103; 1785), Cumberland spoke of a lady rather captious and querulentaL Touchstone in THE

question, able. In

TRIFLER (1788)

averred: 1 have carefully

examined the plaint

.

.

.

//

of comthird fair querulist . . .

-various subjects

my

quay. To subdue, daunt. Probably a variant of quail. Used by Spenser in THE

FAERIE

QUEENE

(1590):

Therewith

his

sturdie corage soon was quayd, And all his senses were with sudden dread dis-

mayed.

.

A

bushes.

Also

thickly

grown

thicket, a

queche.

in sae

a quean; Mattie's a For further instances, see

young

lass.

evil person; especially, the Devil.

Hence,

harm. In PIERS PLOWMAN

(1377),

evil,

said:

Langland

a thikke queche in a depe valey.

shulde

take

the

.

.

evil.

To

queme.

please, gratify; to act so as

be acceptable; to be suitable; Used from the 8th century; This Palsgrave in 1530 says I queme worde is now out of use. Spenser, when in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; MAY) he wrote Such merimake holy saints doth to please; to to appease.

.

queme,

felt it

in a gloss.

.

.

necessary to write 'please* in Middle High Ger-

The form

man was bequaeme, becomes me,

as in

it is

fitting;

English

Mourning Becomes

by Eugene O'Neill. We still say we have forgotten queme. The word was also used as an adjective, becoming, but

(Peele, ED-

He

. and to the qued schewe acquitance it. Also quedhead, quedness, quedship,

Electra

but also used

common

most

cwead, quead, kuead, cwedf queyd, quethe. As a noun, a wicked or also,

dense growth of queachy,

A

wicked.

Evil,

qued. word;

Hence

WARD i, 1593; Drayton, POLYOLBION, 1622) to mean swampy, sodden. MERLIN (1450) told that thei rode so longe till thei com to

.

bawdreaminy.

it

queach.

.

carefu'

meaning

pleasing, agreeable; of pleasing beautiful, smooth (of the

appearance, ocean);

fit,

fitting,

convenient,

friendly, well disposed.

544

handy;

THE DESTRUCTION

quibble

quenelle

OF TROY

Quit claym

all

and be queme fryndes. May with you pass quemely!

all

(1400)

urges:

querels,

of a

quest; questmonger (disreputable), one that made a business of serving on a

quest or of conducting inquests.

was frequently used

A

ball of meat or fish, made quenelle. into a paste, cooked, well seasoned. V.

inquest.

(1883) enjoyed savoury quenelles of mutton enveloped in fennel leaves.

questionous.

See quaint.

A

stones,

of.

NIGHT'S DREAM (1596) a fairy queries Puck: Are you not he That frights the maidens of the vilthe

trists

breathless housewife churn? Sylvester uses

oak. In his ANIMADVERSIONS (1599) Thynne refers to the quernall crowne gyven to

those which

had saved a

after him,

to give

.

queraal. Relating to the oak, oak-leaves, or acorns. Latin quernus, from quercus,

is

met him

Hot

ques-

at gate.

century. Also quethe, queythe. of queth was quoth, sometimes

e quail ranks of orient pearls . . quernlike grinding small th' imperfect food. also a quern-chant, quern-song,

seeking, goes in KING LEAR (1605) in Shakespeare

that

queth. To speak, declare. Also, a speech, a sound. Used from the 9th to the 16th

the mill as an image for the teeth, in his translation (1591) of Du Bartas: Two

song of the miller.

One

tells

Skim milk, and sometimes labor quern And bootless make the

There was

pie

Full of questions, inquisi-

quest that thirty of his knights,

MIDSUMMER

lagery,

A

An

questrist.

when

in

an oven.

us."

used by Chaucer (1374) and Shakespeare in A

side of

apt term for a period attained by every normal child, when parents often complain "He does nothing but question tive.

hand-mill; usually two circular the upper one turned by hand. For grinding corn; also, pepper-quern, mustard-quern. From the 10th century;

quern,

The

Quest a short form for

was quested when its side was crushed against the oven or another pie, or so pressed as to be less well baked.

Stuart in EGYPT

quentyse.

(2)

as

an archaic

effect

The

past

still

used

(usually followed

by the subject, quoth the colonel); quotha was short for quoth he, he said; also

quodha, catha. Sometimes quotha was used in scorn, meaning forsooth! indeed! phrase alive and quething meant and able to speak; when quething was forgotten, folk-practice changed the phrase to alive and kicking. In the 14th

The

alive

was used for bequeathwas a bequest, a word ing; quethe a last farewell. I trust was word quething you will long be alive and quething. century, quething

cytyzen.

a

See quarrel.

querulist.

A

quest. (1) body of persons appointed to make an inquiry or inquest, a jury.

Shakespeare uses this figuratively, in SONNET 46 (1600): To side this title is impanelled

A

quest of thoughts, to the heart. Hence, from the

all

tennant

number

in

such a quest, twelve. AN ALMOND FOR A PARRAT (1589): lie have a spare fellowe shall

make mee a whole

three farthings.

A

quest of faces for

questman, a

member

queynt.

See quaint.

quibble.

As a noun.

From this ond sense,

A

play

upon words.

sense of quibble came the secas still in the verb, to quibble, verbal argument, to in

to indulge purely avoid the issue by a turn of phrases. A quip was originally a sharp or sarcastic

remark;

545

later,

any clever turn of words,

as

quincunx

quick in Milton's L'ALLEGRO (1632): Quips and cranks and wanton wiles. Both quip and

in argument; subtlety in wit. The third meaning sprang from the frequency of

quibble are probably from quib, which is a shortening of Latin quibus, 'from which word things' (it can be seen, etc.). The docuin occurred legal frequently quibus

scholastic

arguments on the quiddity

(es-

of things. Also

sence)

alteration,

quillity

in

speare

quiddit and, by and quillet. Shake-

LOST

LABOUR'S

LOVE'S

(1588)

be used of the verbal aspects of the legal mind. (In French, quibus was used to mean money,

speaks of some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the divelL Also Urquhart has, in

wherewithal'; in Dutch, kwibus, a Preface to Shakefool.) Johnson, in his

of

speare (1765) said: A quibble is to Shakespeare what luminous vapour is to the traveller; he follows it at all adventures;

appeared in Guilpin's SKIALETHEIA (1598): Then whats a wench but a quirke, quidlit case, Which makes a painters pallat of her

ments,

hence came

to

his translation

'the

it is

him out of the way and him in the mire.

sure to lead

sure to engulf quick.

Living. Frequent in phrases: quick

cattle,

as

beast,

quick

also

figuratively,

facef

quyk.

It survives as

W.

S.

her

One

of another variant .

staffe

Gilbert's PATIENCE

To

stuff his conversation full

and

of quiddity. Also quidda-

quirky.

quidnunc.

steel, brittle.

ACTS). Cp. wizard.

quiddany. A thick fruit jelly thicker than a syrup, said a guide of 1616, and not so thick nor stiff as marmalade. Originally,

Still

.

quidditative, pertaining to the essence of a thing; full of equivocations;

a noun in the quick and the

dead (The BIBLE:

.

tive,

A quick fence is a hedge of living Also quick coals, live, burning;

quick spring^ flowing; quick

line in

of quibble

quick (fertile) earth; Wyclif (The BIBLE; HEBREWS; 1382): The word of God is

A

(1881) runs:

the

plants.

call it

her quillety.

love,

of Rabelais:

(1653)

them would

a quince preserve (Latin cydonia,

(1)

An

inquisitive

person;

one that is constantly inquiring Quid nuncf (Latin: What now?) (2) A curiosity, someone or something to be talked about. Used from the 18th century, as by Steele in THE TATLER (1709); still occasion-

employed in satire. Speaking of THE IRONMASTER (1884) adapted from Ohnet's LE MAtrRE DES FORGES of the

ally

Pinero's

M. W. Disher

in

MELODRAMA

quince) ; also called quindiniac; quidcodinac, danet, quidony; codigny, a

year before,

quince marmalade; cotiniate, a marmalade or confection of quinces. In the 18th cen-

fashionable, for the new intellectual drama which quidnuncs talked about would of course be gloomy the drama of ideas from "The Robbers" to "Leah" always had been because it had always come from the other side of the Rhine where brains worked solemnly.

(1954) said: It it

tury, quiddany was a general term for any fruit syrup or jelly. Hence to quiddany,

to make into jelly, used figuratively in Ward's THE SIMPLE COBLER OF AGAWAM in America (1647): He will . quidanye .

Christ with sugar

quiddity.

(1)

Formed with

and

The

.

ratsbane. quier.

essence of a thing.

French.

from quid mean-

quillet.

the ending

-ity

(Latin, what), used also in English, ing that which a thing is. (2)

A

Intangible or nameless.

(3)

A

was gloomy and that made

thing

subtlety

A

variant of queer. See pedlers

See quiddity.

quincunx.

An

arrangement of

other objects so that four

546

mark

trees

or

the cor-

quiver

quintain ners

and one the center of a

orchard

may

be

a

rectangle; series

joined

an of

such quincunxes. Also quincunce; Latin quinque, five 4- uncia, ounce, one-twelfth; literally, five-twelfths; dots arranged in a

quincunx signified five-twelfths of original unit of currency at [The

the

as,

was

with

many

an

as.

Rome,

later modifications

corded such items as population, crops,

number

quintain.

more commonly quincundaL

(1)

A

tilting post.

Common

in

medieval knightly training, in 17th and 18th century country sports at weddings. Described in Toone's GLOSSARY (1834):

(1830)

written -with quipo-threads, with feather

system never attained the status of writing, unlike the neighboring hieroglyphics of

Maya who

the

.

.

.

end a heavy sand bag; the player rode or run at full speed and attempted to strike the figure, which, if not done dexterously, he was struck and overthrown by a blow from the sandbag." Toone suggests that the word is from British gwyntyn, a vane.

The

O.E.D. traces

it

this a thousand years before Archbishop Ussher (1581-1656) calculated that the creation of the world oc-

They achieved

curred 4004 B.C., which date for a long time after his determination was printed in the Authorized Version of the BIBLE.

quintus, fifth, the grounds of the fifth division of the Roman legion being used for military

Also quintayne, qwaintan, quyntyne, quinten, quintan, and the like. Also quintal, quintel, quintil. Shakespeare, in exercises.

YOU LIKE

IT (1600) says: That which here stands up Is but a quintine, a meere liveless blocke. (2) variant of quentin

AS

A

or quintin (SL Quentin in Picardy; Qutntin, in Brittany, France) a kind of linen or lawn.

(3)

A stanza of five lines,

usually

called a cinquain.

quisquilian,

quipu. device

See quibble.

of

ancient

Peru.

system or Also quipo,

Quichan quipu, knot An arrangement of knotted and colored cords, that transmitted messages, and requippu, quippo;

From

Latin

BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE,

tury.

in a travesty of Urquhart (1817), railed against those shallow and fidimplicitary coxcombs, who fill our too credulous ears their

FRASER'S

quisquiliary

MAGAZINE

(1857)

deblaterations.

more soberly

ventured into ornithology: The jay's diet is sufficiently quisquilious. Also see nugacity.

Hard

quisquous.

to handle, ticklish. Also

quisquose, quiscos, quiscoskos. Used in Scotland in the 1 8th and 19th centuries; we read in TAIT'S MAGAZINE for 1856: the ladies

maybe

A

a

wee

quiscoskos.

sum paid

in lieu of services quitrent. due, as in feudal times. Often used figura-

The

The communications

of rubbish. Also

quisquiliary.

quisquiliae, odds and ends; quisque, whatever it may be. Used since the 18th cen-

tively, as

quip.

Made up

quisquilious.

with

to Latin

computed time

also

accurately back some ninety million years, and set one date at 400 million years ago.

"An upright

post was fixed to the ground, having at the top a movable figure of a and at the other man, holding a shield

wampum-belts. The quipu

pictures, with

a bar of bronze weighing one Roman Hence also twelve ounces.] pound,

quincunxial,

and tribute. Carlyle that history has been

of workers,

remarked

by Cowper in TABLE TALK (1782): laureate pays His quitrent

courtly

ode, his peppercorn of praise.

Nimble, quick. Shakespeare in PART TWO (1597) says: There

quiver.

HENRY

iv,

was a

little

manage

547

quiver fellow, and a' his piece thus. From the

would

noun

qwysschewes

quodlibetarian quiver, a case for arrows, came a verbal form, as in Milton's COMUS (1654): Like a quiver' d nymph with arrows keen. The

in

tion

form quiverful was often used figuratively, meaning many, echoing the BIBLE: PSALM 127: As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.

One who does as (1) quodlibetarian. he pleases, or believes in doing as one pleases. (2) One who indulges in or dis-

A

quodlibet was a question (usually in philosophy or religion) posed as an exercise in argument; hence, to do quodlibets,, to argue, to advance or

cusses quodlibets.

present a thesis. Latin quod, what + libet, pleases. Also quodlibetisi, quodlibetary; the latter term was applied either to the

arguer or to the argument. To deal in such matters (i.e., to quibble) was, in the 18th century, to quodlibetificate (accent, naturally, on the tiff). Adjectives

were quodlibetal, quodlibetic, quodlibetical

quok.

(1874) sighed over loquacious and speculative disposi-

FORS CLAVIGERA

the

.

.

of all

.

An

quooke.

friends.

old variant of quaked, past

Chaucer used quok, MUTABILITY (1596) tells that Jove shooke His nectar-deawed locks, with which the skyes And all the

tense of to quake. quoke; Spenser in

earth beneath for terror quooke, And eft burning levin-brond in hand he tooke.

his

quop.

To

quab,

quag;

throb, quiver, palpitate. Also earlier

TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE lord

how

quap.

Chaucer in has:

(1374)

that his herte

gan

to

And

quappe,

Heryng her come. Dryden (1679) also said My heart quops. As a noun quab, quob meant (1) a shapeless thing, as an ill-written work; Ford in THE LOVER'S MELANCHOLY (1628) spoke of a trifle of mine own brain ... a scholar's fancy, a quab;

A

nothing else, a very quab. (2) quagmire, a marshy spot, also a quag. The verb to quag, to quiver, is used of flabby flesh "or a great dug." 'tis

See queth.

quotha.

See quooke.

my quondam

Relative frequency,

"howmany-

quondam. Former; that used to be. Directly from the Latin; in the 16th cen-

quotiety.

condam. Often used in the 16th by Latimer in his FOURTH SERMON BEFORE KING EDWARD VI (1549): Make them quondammes, out with them, cast them out of ther office! Hence quond-

quysper. An early (Middle English) form of whisper.

tury, also

century,

as

ness."

qwalester. An early form of chorister.

amship, the condition of being out of office (also in Latimer's FOURTH SERMON).

qwaylle. of whale.

Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) / did converse this quondam day with a companion of the Ruskin

form of

says:

kings.

An

qwysschewes.

548

(Middle

English)

early (Middle English)

An

form

early (Middle English)

cuisses; see cuish.

rabato.

See rebato.

Old French rabateau

ragery. Wantonness; a frolic. of Bath says in her Prologue

has the same meaning.

ragman.

FAERIE QUEENE; 1590) of the tumult a rabble might cause. Shakespeare in JULIUS CAESAR (1601) pictures the proffering of

By

cially,

is

excessive rent; a rent vir-

in TAXI'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE of

Every year growing worse than the

1884: last

in

this rackrent country. Pity the farmer, the

needy, hard-rackrented hindet of Sylvester's (1591) Du Bartas. James Mill in

THE HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA (1818) Observed that one third to the cultivator, and two thirds to the proprietor, would be accounted a rackrent in England.

A

tenant who in Old English radknight. times gave service on horseback in ex-

change for holding the land. Old English

a

Earlier

hard

roll; also called roll

roll

a long, rambling, and partly mean-

discourse, rigmarole. a variant form of ragman

ingless

earlier rubiator, a scoundrel.

(1748) never to rackrent old tenants or their descendants. There is a current echo

(2)

syllables,

of ragman, (14th and 15th centuries). further extension, a discourse; espe-

list,

ragman

A

tually equal to the value of the property. Also a verb; It was a maxim with his family, we read in Richardson's CLARISSA

So used in the

given to a statue of Edward I, appointing justices to hear complaints of injuries within 25 years. By extension, a

An

devil.

centuries.

name

the

g),

violent, noisy person. Used in the 19th century, mainly in Scotland. Probably a variant (influenced by rabid,,

rackrent.

The

15th

(Chaucer,

full of ragery e,

raggeman, rageman (three

pot-fury.

mad) of the

(1)

and

14th

the crown: As hee refused it, the rabblement showted. For another instance, see

rabiator.

was yong and

1386): /

Also rablement; variant forms of rabble; used also (Spenser, THE

rabblement.

The Wife

seding

game roll

Rigmarole roll,

superin this sense by 1600. Also a of chance, played with a written it

items with each player to pull a

that contained various

strings

attached,

and discover his prize or penalty. a record of two men being fined There in Durham, in 1377, for playing ragman. The roll for the game was supposed to be string

is;

written by King Ragman, who was praised or blamed according to the draw. Rag-

man's

roll

is

also the

name

of certain

recording instruments of homage to Edward I by Balliol of Scotland in 1296

rolls

(returned to the Scots by Edward III). Also ragman('s) rew, a book or catalogue (16th century); in this sense John Olde of Walter's in his translation (1556) ANTICHRIST speaks of the noble ragge man rolls of those

most holy

fathers.

and road. Also radcnecht, radcniht; in DOMESDAY

ragmatical.

BOOK, radchenistre.

has Tabitha Bramble exclaim, in HUMFH-

rad, riding,

is

related to raid

549

Ill-behaved, riotous. Smollett

ramous

raik

REY CLINKER

(1771):

Roger

gets this

and

Roger gets that; but I'd have you to know I won't be rogered at this rate by any ragmatical fellow in the kingdom. See roger.

The

act of going; a journey; the over which animals usually move, ground the pasture-land. From the 14th century;

raik.

birds, fledglings,

who

flew from branch to

branch; by extension from this use, the noun ramage was used in the sense of courage, wild spirit. Also, 14th into 16th century, ramageous, high-spirited. Ramage came to be a general term, applied to

persons (shy) and to animals (untamed, wild) as in Chaucer's THE ROMAUNT OF

THE ROSE (1366): He is not wise ne sage No more than is a gote ramage.

word is an early form of rake (which had these and other meanings) which reexcept in dialect and Scotch largely

rame.

placed raik by 1600. Also a verb, to go, walk, wander, walk through; Hogg in a poem of 1813 has: to raike the lonely

of a thing; dried stalks. J. Bell in his translation (1581) of Haddon's ANSWER TO OSORIUS said: Natural fooles do destest

form glen. In another poem he uses the as a noun: The wolf and the kid their

tray tour. (2)

raike began.

is

,

rakehell.

See rakeshame.

A dissolute

rakeshame.

was

common

fellow.

The word Coming

and outlasting rakeshame was the form rakehel^ sometimes abbreviated to rakel. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1596) says: Amid their rakehell bands spide a lady. Also rakehellonian, the tribe of rakehells. The noun

rakef in the sense of a especially,

.

.

.

of that rebellious

A branch of a

tree.

from Latin mmus, branch,

This use

oar; English

continuous repetition of the same sound also a verb, to cry, to repeat, used since the 15th century.

in the 17th century.

earlier

They one o

the stinking rames

or mere skeleton

ramuscle (17th century), ramuscule (19th century) is a small branch. (3) A cry; a

See rochet.

raines.

The bones

(1)

an

idle

man

of loose ways; man of

dissipated

(I8th and 19th centuries) is an abbreviation of rakehelL Some (e.g., Gold-

fashion

smith in THE GIFT, 1777: Cruel

Iris,

A small amount of cheese, with

ramekin.

bread-crumbs, eggs, etc., baked and served in a special mold. Also ramequin. The

word was sometimes used

melkins.

The word

the plural

pretty

Dear mercenary beauty) used rake of a woman,

rake,

of the

mold

French china ramequin cases) in which the mixture was baked; thus The Connoisseur (1754, No. 19) said: Toasted cheese is already buried in ram(1894, little

ramolade.

usually occurred in

folks asked for more.

A

sauce for

fish,

chibols, anchovies, capers,

of parsley,

and other

sea-

A

ramage. Originally, the brandies of a tree or grove (collectively); Late Latin ramaticurri; Latin ramus, branch. Hence, the singing of birds in the trees, as in

Drummond

chisoning. Used in the 18th century. bol was a *stone leek' or 'Welsh onion/

a sort of scallion midway between the onion and the leek, popular from the 14th to the 18th century.

Hawthornden's poem TO HIS LUTE (1616): Birds their ramage did on thee bestow. Hence also, applied as an adjective ramage hawk to untamed of

ramous.

Many-branched. Latin ramus, A bush or a pedigree may be ramous. 550 branch; see rame.

rapey

ramp

Berners in his translation of Froissart,

See rampike. Middleton and Dekker in THE ROARING GIRL (1611): The

ramp.

that

ramp,

bouncing

roaring

girl

came on them with great randon,

my

speares

Pocket not

this

instance in Shakespeare, used of a

wood long

woman, rap.

"bare of bark or

looking as

Gabriel Harvey in his LETTERBOOK (1573) speaks' of An insatiable ramp Of Messalina's stamp; the second syllable

probably pike, a pointed

staff.

six rapes, each

t

dreds/

originally a the 13th to the

on) (a) randon, at great speed; also a randon, a headlong rush, a 'bee-line.* (in,

From

the phrase at random, at great speed, developed the idea, without consideration, without control; hence, hap-

an

from

adjective.

came the use as The Frenchmen, said Lord this sense

.

comprising several 'hun-

the 14th

mean

and 15th

centuries,

haste, speed; espe-

gence and rape. Rape was used through the same period as a verb, to hasten, to

from the phrase at random. The form was randon; also randun,

randoun, randowne; raundom, randome, randum. The basic meaning of the word was impetuosity, speed, force, violence. (French randir, to gallop.) Hence, with

.

cially in phrases: to have rape; in (a) rape, in haste, in a hurry. Thus Chaucer in TO HIS SCRIVENER (1374) blamed all errors upon the scribe: All is thorugh thy necgly-

word was

earliest

hazard

And in

rape was used to

16th century. It was not used as an aduntil jective (the use current today) 1655,

.

DOMESDAY BOOK (1086) rape is used for a division of Sussex, which was divided into

A rampal-

male ramp) a ruffian, scounall skin and bones is rampick

common from

What

a rasp, and as a vegetable (the turnip, etc.) had two uses now forgotten. In the

indeed.

noun, very

An

off.

rape. This word, still current as an act of violence or violation, as a rough file,

female;

This

snatch; to carry

in CYMBELINE (1609) inquires: thus raps youf

if

pecked though raun pick were

flesh,

by ravens" as converted from raven-peck. A ramp (15th to 18th century) was a vulgar, brazen

(a

seize, to

rend. Also, to transport with joy, to rouse to rapture; apparently given this sense by back-formation from rapt. Shakespeare

A

glossary of 1881 spells decayed; bare. the word raunpick, and explains it as

A man

To

form of early (16th in the rape, q.v.; frequent phrase rap and

A dead tree; especially, a spiky stump or stem of a tree. Hence rampick,

was

did walk.

and 17th century)

rampike.

lion

liberty, as in Spenser's

See random.

randon.

an

see catastrophe.

drel.

also used to

their

The phrase at mean free from

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): The gentle lady, loose at randon lefte, the greene-

abuse

up (1593) advised: at a rakehell rampalions hands. For

restes.

hence at

control,

rampallion. A raspscallion (cp. scullion), a ruffian scoundrel. Perhaps related to ramp, q.v. Nashe in his STRANGE NEWES

random.

their

random was

mistress.

is

in

speed

(someone)

Awake!

.

rapey.

A

.

Thus Repentance, PLOWMAN (1377) cries:

on.

in Langland's PIERS

and rape thee

to shrifte.

dish. Also rapy, rape;

raper, to grate.

Many

French

ingredients, includ-

ing meat or fish, were grated or ground; served with spices. Also rapee, a sauce for fish, described in a 15th century recipe:

Take the crustys of wyt bred and reysons, and bray hem wel in a morter; and after temper hem up with wyn, and wryng hem

551

reaks

raspis

throw a cloth, and do thereto canel, that be al colowryt of canel; and do thereto

it

Ravenous

is

from a form raven, ravin,

hole

meaning robbery, rapine; voracity, gluttony; plunder, prey. Used widely from

and wel yfryed

13th to 17th century, several times by Chaucer; Shakespeare uses it also as an adjective, in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

clowys, macys, and qutbibz. The schal be lucis other tenchis, fryid fysch or other maner fysch, so that yt be fresch, that rap upon,

wine, belike made of raspberpopular in the 15th and 16th cen-

was of turies. Also deepe redde enclining to blacke/ Said R. Mathew in 1662: A very good -friend of mine with respass was feasted . wine. Raspis was also an early name of raspays, respice. It

.

.

.

.

the raspisberry,

now

'a

raspberry.

action, speedy, prompt; soon; early. Hence also rathely, quickly. Also rath, raith. Used from the 10th century,

common

in the 14th

eral senses, raven

more.

and 15th cen-

surviving in the comparative degree, rather, sooner. Rathe, dying out in the 17th century (after Milton's rathe

A

raynedes. medley with ground pork. Also raynolls, raymolles. In 15th century

Take swete porke, dates, and put therto a fewe yolkes of eyren, and in the brayinge alay hit with a lytel brothe, and cast therto cook books:

was revived in the 19th by Scott and other poets, as H. Coleridge

pouder of clowes, ponder of pepur, sugre,

ging

raisynges of corances,

A rathe December blights my lagMay and Swinburne (1880) The

whence men reap Rathe and fears. hopes labours,

fruit of

An early form of reached. Also raucht. (Scotch) Shakespeare in ANTONY

raught.

AND CLEOPATRA

(1607)

states:

The hand

of death hath raught him. Also an early past tense of reek. In the 16th century, raught was used as the present tense, to reach, to snatch

instance of

its

(at,

use, see

and medel

saffron,

and colour hit with and then

al togeder;

hille the stuffure in paste as

,

(1833):

braied togeder,

figges,

turies,

primrose)

(ravyne, ravine, ravin)

was also widely used as a verb; Dryden in THE HIND AND THE PANTHER (1687) has: The more they fed, they ravened still for

.

Quick in

rathe.

(1601): 1 met the ravine lyon (though this might be raving, raging) In the same gen.

A

raspis. ries,

and do it in dischis, and and serve yt forth.

ruschewes

[see rishews];

men maken

and then take the

brothe of capons sothen [seethed: boiled] in herbes, and let hit boyle, and colour

and then put in therto and when thai byn boy led and lay three of horn in a and pour brothe therto; and take

hit with saffron,

the raynecles, take horn up, dissh,

grated ginger,

chese

medelet

and strewe above

with

pouder

of

theron,

and serve

tricks,

practical

hit for the.

See rochet.

raynes.

from). For another reaks.

woolpack.

Pranks,

wanton

mischievous) jokes. Spenser uses it in the form rex. In the phrase to play (i.e.,

Also ravenage, ravenousness; ravener, plunderer, despoiler; ravenry, robraven.

bery, rapine. See ravisable.

ravin.

Ravenous. French

meant

to play pranks; then

by

association with rex, king, to play rex came (by 1600) to mean to play the lord and master, to lord it over, to domineer.

See ravisable.

ravisable.

rex, this

ravir, raviss*,

to seize. Used, rarely, in the 15th century.

R. L'Estrange in his FABLES (1692) speaks of throwing books at one another's heads 552

recumbentibus

rearmouse

and playing such reaks as if hell were broke loose. The word was always used

used figuratively; Bishop Barlow (1601) made protested against men who have

in the plural until its use died, about 1700; Scott revived it singularly, in ROB ROY

scarfes

Mony

(1818):

a daft reik he has played.

A bat;

rearmouse.

plural, rearmice. Also

reremice; hryremus, reremows, and more. Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S

DREAM

(1590) says:

Some warre with

rere-

mise for their leathern wings. The word was used in the 12th century and still survives in dialects; Browning in PARACELSUS still

(1835)

queried:

like a

Hang

The German word flitter-mouse;

bald mouse.

Do

the rearmice

fretwork on the gate? for bat is Fledermaus,

the French, chauve souris,

The

origin of the English

word is not clear; the first syllable may be from Old English hreran, to move (flitter). Rearmost, of course, means last of

all.

See

reave.

From

Unattractive,

none knows

repellent.

just

not very clear why Sir Robert Coke . . bestows so much trouble and time on this .

very rebarbative lady. rebate.

A

stiff collar,

women from about

worn by men and

1580 to 1630, some-

times used to support a ruff. (The wire frame to support a ruff was also called a rebato.) Also rebat, rebatu, rebato, rebater. Margaret says to Hero, in Shake-

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1599): Troth y I think your other rebato were better. The Water Poet (1630) gave his opinion of its purpose: The tires, the periwigs, and the rebatoes Are made t'adorne ilshap'd inamoratoes. The word was also

speare's

A

(1)

up

medieval musical instru-

ment, played into the 17th century, having three strings and played with a bow. The wooden top was often carved to rep-

human head

a

resent

or other

figure,

grotesque. Also ribibe, ribible, term of rubible, rebbec, rebec. (2) scorn for a woman. Chaucer has, in THE

usually

A

FRIAR'S TALE (1386), Here woneth [dwells] an old rebekke; in THE MILLER'S TALE, they pleyen songes on a small rubible.

A

rebellowing echo. Latin re, again + boare, boatum, to bellow. Hence Elizabeth reboant, re-echoing. loudly OF in A POETS VISION Browning (1844) reboation.

.

.

Crushing

their

own

wheels.

how!) French barbe, Latin barba, beard. THE SATURDAY REVIEW of 12 November, 1892, said: It is (but

rebeck.

.

reft.

rebarbative.

lords authority is as a rebater to beare the peacockes taile of their boasting.

speaks of Spiritual thunders their echoes reboant With

See roose.

rease.

and veiles and rebaters for sinnes; Nashe in PIERCE PENNILESSE (1592): Their

recche.

make

To

tell,

narrate; explain? to go,

way. Also reche, reccan, rechen, rachen, and the like. A common Teuton form, in English until the 15th century. In FREEMASONRY (1430) we read one's

of the

hem won

Tower

of Babel:

An

so with dyveres speche,

angele smot That never

wyste what other shuld reche.

A knock-down blow. A humorous application of Latin recum-

recumbentibus.

bentibus, the ablative plural of recumben-

tem, whence recumbent; re, back

-f

cum-

bentem, lying, cumbere, cubare, to lie, whence also incumbent, cubicle. In the 17th

century

recumbendibus was

also

used; in 1681

Dryden coined circumbendibus, an invented humorous word for a roundabout way, a circumlocution. J. Hey-

wood 553

in one of his PROVERBS (1546) said:

redd

recusant

Had you some husbande and

wys he would geve you a cumbentibus. thus, I

This term

recusant.

man

is

guished by a red button on his cap. Some substitute red for round, for the button of the panjandrum, q.v. red cock, as in

snapt at

f

him

re-

The

applied to a Ro-

fire

Catholic (Popish recusant) who, esbetween 1570 and 1791, risked

result of a flogging on the bare back, redlattice, originally, a lattice painted red as

pecially

and perhaps death by refusing to attend Church of England services. The earliest English form was the verb recuse,

fine

to reject, from Latin cause. It might also

meaning causa,

to object to a

back be used re-,

sign of an alehouse; hence, an alehouse, tavern. Hence, red-lattice phrases, pottalk. Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598): You, rogue, will ensconce your rags, your cat-a-mountaine

house

4-

as

judge as biased;

meaning thus King Henry VIII recorded in 1529 that the Queen did protest at the said day, putting in

your red-lattice phrases, under the shelter of your honour, red rag, the tongue; red lane, the throat. Gilbert, in

lookes,

libels recusatories of the judges.

The major

use,

DANIEL DRUCE (1876): Stop that cursed red

however, was of religion,

especially the denial

by the Catholics

of

English church authority; thus Green's SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE (1874) declared that heavy 'fines for re. became a constant source of cusancy' . .

supply to the Royal exchequer. red.

animals,

fishes,

extreme annoyance; Saintsbury, in THE OF ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE

HISTORY

(1887): Shakesperian clowns are believed to be red rags to some experienced play-

and minerals. Many more

fused with another redd, to

separate (fighters); settle; redd up, put in order. Most of these senses, by the 19th century, had been given over to the form rid. Scott, of course,

in a letter reported; The Bow Street runners ceased out of the land soon after the

revived the older form, as in

introduction of the new police They had no other uniform than a blue dress. and a coat, brass buttons bright red .

(1814): Fetch

.

for

them was Red-breasts, red button, a Chinese mandarin of the first class, distin-

make

slang

name

WAVERLEY Mr.

the chevalier to redd

Wauverley and Vich Ian Vohr. From this came redder, one that interferes, to

sense

The

clean up,

comb;

clear;

men; red tape, of course, is still prevalent. red-breast, a Bow Street runner: Dickens

.

from

a clearance, arrangement; that which is cleared away, rubbish. Thus until the 15th century, when the word became con-

documents; Thackeray in his MISCELLANY (1840) spoke of solemn red box and tape

.

save, free, rescue; to save

or redde. Also hreddan, redde, red. Also as a noun, redd, the act of clearing away;

red box, the case, covered with red leather, used by ministers of state to hold official

.

current.

as Barclay in THE SHYP OF FOLYS (1509): that still borrows shall scant him quit

A

cloth waistcoat

is

He

Tartar treatment stripped of the skin. of a foe: Come here again, and Fll give you a pair of red boots to go home in.

.

use

burning, put out (a fire); to free oneself, to be or get redd (of); to clear of debt,

general ones have dropped from use. red boots, the feet (to above the ankles)

.

this

To

redd.

of birds,

q.v., especially

.

rag of yours, will you! Also, from the phrase a red rag to a bull, a source of

wrights;

There are even more red compound

terms than blue,

red cock will crow in his house, a deliberately set. red-laced jacket, the

peace, in a quarrel,

saying:

554

The redder

whence the old

gets aye the worst lick

rede

refection

of the fray and redding-straik, a strike or blow received by a peacemaker; a very severe blow.

Counsel, advice.

rede.

To

back to a former

give to rede,

be to rede, to be an advisable cide; course of action. Hence also, a plan, a action,

tale.

In

all

these senses,

occasionally

ville

MAGISTRATES

(1563) wrote, of the quick appearance of the stars at dusk: The sodayne sight reduced to my minde The

the

word was very frequent in Old English and until the 17th century; then it died

sundry chaunges that in earth

away, to be revived by the poets of the 19th century, as Morris, in THE EARTHLY PARADISE (1870): Therefore swift rede [decision] / take with

still

diminish, dates from the mid 16th. Sackin the Induction to A MIRROR FOR

help, remedy. By further extension, taking counsel; deliberation. Also, a proverb,

a story, a

a wrong.

used as in the phrase to reduce to writing. The sense of subdue, reduce, conquer, developed in the 15th century; reduce,

to

an advantageous

put into practice;

to

to advise; to take to rede, to resolve, de-

course of action;

state; to redress

Shakespeare in HENRY v (1599) says: Which to reduce into our former favour You are assembled. To bring into order;

Smoky;

reechy. reek.

things here and

we

fynde.

squalid. Related to

dirty,

Used from the 15th century;

sur-

viving in dialect. Shakespeare uses

it

Browning in THE RING AND THE BOOK (1868) All's a clear rede [tale] and no more riddle now. Rede is a common

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Like

Teutonic word; also read, redd,

pinnes

all

The

verb, however,

had some

order

comb FAME

(1384) says: Also wis

He

reduce.

To

mind;

recall

(or from)

re,

+

ducere, ductum, to lead;

whence also induct, viaduct, aqueduct, duct, and all sorts of conduct. Also, to lead a person back. God, said Caxton in his translation (1483) of THE GOLDEN LEGEND, shal reduce and brynge you agayn unto the londe of your faders. Especially, to lead back from error thus, very com-

mon

in the 17th century. Also, to bring

may

die in France:

mistress reeks.

refection.

Refreshment. Originally either

spiritual re-creation or physical recreation;

Used from the 14th century;

back

her

compare, speaks of the breath that from

to

to to

'bout

it

valiant English that

my mind

lockram

that, in the early uses

For there the sun shall greet them, And draw their honours reeking up to heaven; SONNET 130, which claims the poet's love as rare As any she belied with false

rede me.

bring back;

Note

no disagreeable means rising like mist in Shakespeare's HENRY v, in reference to the implications;

all!

to recall the

a subject.

Latin

God

richest

of reek there were often

early

(in this sense, rede is related to to clear a way, to clean up, to the hair. Chaucer in THE HOUS OF

So reid

Her

reechie necke.

meanings not carried into the noun: to govern, guide; in reference to God, to watch over, to save, deliver; to put in ready)

in

Pharaoes souldiours in the rechie painting and in CORIOLANUS: The kitchin malkin

reid, reyd; etc. for it tense radd, reorde, rade, past was also a verb as the action of the noun

above.

(1599):

later,

mainly refreshing oneself with food

and drink. Hence, an entertainment with food and drink; a repast. Latin reficere, refectum; re, again

whence

A

+

facere, to

make,

also factory, factotum, confection.

refectioner, refect orian, refectorer, re-

fectorary,

was the person in a monastery

in charge of the refectory and food supplies; the refectory was the dining hall, also refectoire (so in Pepys* DIARY, 23

555

refel

regrate of reave, reft; surviving in the forms be-

January, 1667: / was in the refectoire). Also refectionary, relating to food supply;

reave, bereaved, bereft).

nourishing, tending to restore. To refect (from the 15th century), to refresh, to entertain with food

Split,

and drink. The knight and the friar, said Peacock in MAID MARIAN (1822), proceeded to refect themselves after their ride. Bur-

Hence

refective, refreshing,

carry

declared:

(1630) sight of God is the true food tion of our minds.

To

refel.

Also

disprove,

Common

refell.

centuries;

Latin refellere;

whence

ceive,

false.

To

fort.

Pals-

refresh, reanimate,

com-

Used in the 17th and 18th

cen-

the

turies;

though 19th,

in

noun

rarely,

e.g.,

again);

(re, is

Latin

warm

focillare,

CRUDITIES

(1611)

said:

The

first

focil-

The

nose

plump'd up, set

SHANDY (1760) was comforted, refresh'd,

(usually

hand worked a

A

portable

organ

common from

bellows.

Also

rigalle,

French (Rabelais) regualle.

(3)

also regyll, riggle;

raggle, a groove in stone, as for fitting an edge of a roof.

A

sorrow. (B)

To buy

(2)

Oppression. (3) Re(1) to lament. (2)

As a verb:

(especially provisions) for resale at a profit a practice long forbidden by

and

English law (into the 17th century), (3) To repay, reward. (4) To grate upon, offend (the eye). A regrater was one that

A

(B)

(2)

regals)

groove, a slot, as in a battlement, or for a pulley or for joining boards. Used

nourished,

rift.

plural,

1550 to 1625, of reed pipes; played with keys by the right hand while the left

tion,

(A) As a noun. (1) Robbery. Used in the 14th and 15th centuries, (2)

an adjective

stone of Scone.

quest.

reft,

a variant form of

17th century. The regal of Scotland, the coronation chair, placed on the

variant regrate. (A) As a noun: (1) (13th to 17th century) of regret, lamenta-

agrowing forever.

fissure;

The

remarked:

refocillated,

also

to the

his

view

thereof did even refocillate my spirits and tickle my senses with inward joy; Sterne

in TRISTRAM

regal.

from the 15th century;

into

from focus, hearth. Coryat in

whence

French) and the adjective noun was in use from the 14th

(via the

A

18th century dictionaries. literally to

regem, king;

royal

rigoll; in

from the 16th into the

The word meant latum

was used,

by Coleridge. Focillate appears

17th and

life

refocillation

rex,

regalis;

grave (15SO): I can not refell your argument, it is so evydent a magnanimous admission few argufiers make. refocillate.

royal

Royalty;

(1)

authority; also, a kingdom, royal right or privilege; a ruler (Chaucer; 1385); a ring or a chalice used at a coronation. Latin

re,

infallible.

stolen whelp.

As a noun.

regal.

in the 16th and 17th

also fail,

mourned her

tigress

supplanted by refute. back 4- fallere, to de-

later,

despoil, plunder, break into pieces.

Reavery (13th to 15th cenrobbery. Bulwer-Lytton in LUCRETIA (1846) says: Through all this the reft

refec-

prove to be

to

to split,

tury),

The only and

(2)

reiver^ riever.

fered by squatting negresses for their rein THE ENGLISH Braitlrwaite fection.

GENTLEMAN

Robbed.

reaver, plunderer, marauder; revived in the 19th century by Scott (REDGAUNTLET, 1824) in the Scotch forms

(1872) spoke of the manioc, and broiled fish, of-

cocoanut,

and

off,

(I)

verb reave likewise had

the two meanings:

ZANZIBAR

ton in

The

cleft.

As

(from the past participle

(at the same or a neighboring market); a wholesaler, a

bought victuals for resale

middleman.

556

reke

renitency

reke.

An

old form for rake, reach, reck,

reek, rick. Also (1) haste, noun and verb; hence, to make one's way, to go. (2)

in

Among

Victoria's day.

Queen

Lamb

the ap-

or ashes; to bury. Chaucer, in THE REEVE'S PROLOGUE (1386): Yet in our asshen olde is

poor relation and, having been (ESSAYS OF ELLA; 1828) one, he should know are: a preposterous shadow, lengthening in the noontide of our prosperity, an unwelcome remembrancer, a drain on your purse, a more

fyr yreke.

intolerable

To

drive,

to

thrust;

spere he rack),

past,

(3)

To

Incense. Also

rekels.

rack

pellations

*

his

(1275;

cover with earth

dun upon your pride

A

ricels,

Agathodes* pot, a Lazarus at

redes, rekliss,

gate,

From Old

recheles,

finds for a

rychellys. English recan, to reek. Trinity College HOMILY

.

.

.

Mordecai in your the your door .

.

.

one thing not needful, the hail in harthe ounce of sour in a pound of vest,

A

of 1200 spoke of rechelis for his sweet-

sweet.

nesse.

To

bind together, to unite; hold back, constrain. Latin re, back

religate.

ligare,

ligature. literally

or

to

ligatum,

bind,

whence

Also religation, binding

and

Remainder. Used from the through the 16th century; superseded by remnant. Chaucer has, in the Prologue, LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN (1385): Fyrst sat the god of love and thanne this remenant.

to

13th

+

also

both

figuratively, as in fellowship

communion with

queene

the Lord.

.

.

.

And

sithyn al the remenant

by and by.

To kindle again. Also relumine; short for reillumine. Hence, relumination.

relume.

Lumination has been superseded by illumination. Latin luminare, luminatum; lumen, luminem, light. Shakespeare in OTHELLO (1604) declares: I know not where is that Promethean keate That can thy light relume. Often used figuratively, as in Campbell's THE PLEASURES OF HOPE (1799): Lo, nature, life, and liberty relume The dim-eyed tenant of the dungeon gloom.

remembrancer.

Something that serves

as

See mentimutation.

rementinmtation.

A sucking-fish, little but believed

remora.

have the power to stop a ship. Spenser in his VISION OF THE WORLD'S VANITY (1591) A little says: There clove unto her keele to

men call remora, Which stopt The accent is evidently on the The word was common in the 17th

that

fish,

her course. rem.

and 18th centuries, in the general sense an obstacle, of something that held one back. That authorise, said Edmonds in of

his OBSERVATIONS

(1604)

to Caesar's

COM-

a reminder: a register, a record; a memorandum book. Hawthorne in THE HOUSE OF

MENTARIES, was a remora to divers other nations of Gallia from shewing that de-

THE SEVEN GABLES (1851) speaks of freckles, friendly remembrancers of the April sun and breeze. Also, a person trying to re-

fection by plaine

member the

title

officials,

or recall. of e.g.,

From

the

Hth

century,

renay.

exchequer the Kings (Queen's) Re-

membrancer, the officer that collects debts due the crown. The post of Remembrancer of the First Fruits was abolished

straint

or

Resistance, especially to con-

compulsion.

renitation. Latin re, gle.

Hence,

LER

back

Also

renitence,

-f niti, to strug-

to renite, to resist. I

dare say,

Ward in THE SIMPLE COBOF AGAWAM (1647), they that most

said Nathaniel

557

revolt.

See reny.

renitency.

various English

and open

rethe

reny renite will least repent. Also renitent, recalcitrant;

hard. THE

noted:

The gaps

left by renitent warriors

back

deny] Latin renegare (dene gar e);

back,

re,

+

down negare, negatum, to say no; ne, not 4- root ag, say whence also negade,

pugnare, pugnatum, to fight; impugn, pugnacious, pugilist; Latin pugna, a battle. Hence, repugnable, that can be defeated or refuted. The root

said:

We

not,

My My

flocks feed not,

My

A

is

To

lady's love

my

reptitious. getting to

effect

which do not Shakespeare

HAMLET

bornly he did repugn the truth.

To smooth,

repumicate. stone. Also

as with a

pumice-

repumication; Latin pumicem, pumice. R. Baron in THE CYPRIAN

ACADEMY wanteth

(1647)

She

declared:

that

a sleekestone to repumicate her linnen, will take a pibble. [lacks]

reremouse.

See rearmouse.

fall.

Creeping;

An old form of rescue (14th to 17th century) both as noun and as verb. Bacon in THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

rescous.

"by privy means

estate"

ree); Evelyn in a letter to (accent the other diarist, PEPYS, on 8 June, 1684,

bravely enlarges the empire of

narrow speculations, and repent spirits, whose contemplations extend no further than their sense. Latin reptare, frequentative of repere, reptum, to creep.

our

Hence

reptation, reptility, the act or habit of creeping. Some serpents, said C. Owen

in his study of SERPENTS (1742) are reptitious, creep on the belly; and some have feet.

.

My

is lost,

on the

He

.

(1601) uses repugnant to mean offering resistance; in HENRY vi, PART ONE: master's blushing cheeks When stub-

in

amiss.

high (Blount, 1661). Also reptant, reptatorial, reptatory, creeping. Also creeping, but used of persons unable to rise to lofty ideas, is repent

wrote:

.

to this ordinaunce.

repugne

have

In BEOWULF, and until the 13th century. Also rese.

reose.

continues in

other ordinaunces

all

Love's denying, Faith's defying, Heart's reny ing, Causer of this. All my merry figs are quite forgot, All God wot.

ordinance

Lichfield

ewes breed

rams speed not; All

(15th cenbefore it

tury) opposition, reached, in the 17th century, the meaning 1457 of strong dislike it still carries.

heere a mayde whiche with obstinacye reney eth oure lawes. One of Shakespeare's songs in THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM (1597) runs:

meant (14th

resistance,

renayrie, (14th century) renoyrie, apostasy; a renay (reney, renye) t a renegade, apostate. Capgrave in the LIFE

OF SAINT KATHERINE (1440)

also

survives in repugnance, which century) contradiction, then

Thus

tive.

+

whence

filled by intending plunderthe story of any war.

reny. To renounce; recant; refuse, say no. Also renay, related to renegue and to

oppose; to be contradictory; to reject. Latin re,

to offer resistance;

were rapidly ers:

To

repugn.

physical resistance, EDINBURGH REVIEW of July 1882 offering

Page Eve*

(1605) speaks of the ready rescussing of a selfe from scornes.

mans

resipiscence. Repentance; recognition of one's mistakes; turning to a better path

or opinion. Latin taste, to discern.

ing

to a

sound

re,

again

Hence

state of

+

sapere, to

resipiscent, return-

mind.

Sir

Thomas

Browne

in a letter of 1672 spoke of some one so closely shut up within the holds of

and iniquity, as not to find escape by a postern of resipiscency.

vice

retchlessness.

rethe.

See wretchlessness.

Fierce, cruel; stern; strict; severe;

terrible, dreadful.

558

some

A common Old English

rethor

rhopalic

word, used into the 15th century. Also

rex.

reiheness, fierceness, roughness; (in Scotland) eagerness. Often used of storms,

rhabdomancy.

and of the rethe

rhapsody.

An

rethor.

sea.

variant

of

rhetor,

a

came

by Coleridge

(see illaqueate)

CHRISTIAN

mean

of a cento cised

enthusiastic expression of in the 18th

exaggeratedly See aeromancy.

To

clothe, to dress;

(13th to

pecially

Latin

clesiastics.

feeling,

came into wide use

century.

applied

17th century)

re,

of uncircumShakespeare in HAMLET

nations.

remarked: Thot would look like a rhapsody of nonsense to any body but myself. The still current sense, of an exalted or

like

us.

retromancy.

of 1647 spoke

and a rhapsody

(1601) speaks of a rapsidie of words. Addison in THE SPECTATOR (No. 46; 1711)

and Sir MORALS

retiary and laqueary combatants, with nets, frauds, and entanglements fall upon

revest.

a miscellaneous collec-

when Sanderson in a sermon

Roman

antagonists,

also to

confused gathering of things, or of poems, stories, etc.; a literary work of disconnected pieces; hence, any gathering, as

gladiatorial fighter with a net, the retiarius. Latin rete, a net. Used figuratively,

Thomas Browne in Our inward (1682):

Originally, an epic poem; esbook of the ILIAD or the

tion, a

Pertaining to nets and webs; or

to fighting with a net, like the

See aeromancy.

ODYSSEY, which could be presented aloud at one time. In the 16th century, rhapsody

century).

as

a

pecially,

old

teacher of rhetoric; an orator; by extension, a windy speechifier. Also, a petty rhetorician or orator, a rhetorculist (17th

retiary.

See reaks.

to

es-

rhetorculist.

See rethor.

rhinocerical.

Heavy

ec-

(often merely comvestire, to clothe.

again

A emphatic) 4word, used also of things, as in a poem of Surrey's in Tottel's MISCELLANY mon

(1547): The pleasant plot revested green with warm. Also, to reinvest, in the various senses of invest From a mistaken no-

a rhinoceros.

as

Hence, heavy with money, rich. Money, says Shadwell in THE SQUIRE OF ALSATIA

Thou shalt The origin of

(1688), the ready, the rhino.

be rhinocerical, rhino, slang for tury, is

my

lad.

money from

unknown;

it

the 17th cen-

suffices to

have it

tion that revest

Rhinocerical was used in THE TATLER (No.

(only),

260, 1710) to mean retrousse": the little rhinocerical nose. (Rhinoceros is from

was the past participle came a form revesh, revess, used

from the

late 14th into the 16th century;

was said of a priest: After he hath ravisshed himself in the vestry, he

in 1555

it

commeth revince.

back

+

byoni&a savages.)

To

rhonchisonant.

disprove. Latin re, vincere, to conquer. Hence also refute,

refutable. The opinion of Copernicus, said G. Watts in his translation (1640) of Bacon's DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM, because it is not repugnant

phenomena, cannot be revinced by

astronomical principles.

+

keras, horn.

nose-plug, as used

forth to the aultare.

revinciblef

to the

Greek rhino, nose

Scoffing,

A rhino-

by doctors and

mocking; mak-

ing a sound like a snort. Greek rhonchos, a snore, a snort. The word rhonchisonant is

found only in 17th and 18th century

dictionaries; persons of the sort are

more

persistent rhopalic. Club-like. Greek rhopalos, a club. From the shape of the club grow-

559

rim

rhyparography ing thicker toward one end

the

word

culize

is

applied to a line of poetry in which each word has one more syllable than its pred-

Thus

ecessor.

of 15

Urquhart in THE JEWEL (1652) said: With no less impetuosity of ridibundal passion

in MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE

November,

1862,

we

learn:

Taking

.

gather metrical monstrosities,' anyone who chooses may line

this

.

.

.

.

.

she fell back in a swoon.

'Goose,

himself in searching

employ

(17th century), to make ridiculous; 15th century form of ridicule.

ridicle, a

-for

read in

or

seemly] in her, that the holy priests Bless when she is riggish. Also riggite, a

linked with pornography; but

genre

synonymous with

painting.

Saintsbury

her,

still-life

in

GURTON'S NEEDLE (1575).

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

Shakespeare (1606) has the Egyptian queen praised: For vildest things Become themselves [are

Rhyparography, in Smith's DICTION-

it is

GAMMER in

ARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES sometimes

is

wanton woman; also rigmutton; cp. lace. Nay fy on thee thou rampe, thou ryg, we

rhyparography. The painting of mean or sordid subjects. From Greek rhyparos,

is

One mean-

a

speare, Milton, or Wordsworth.

(1842)

licentious.

ing of rig (from the late 16th century)

stances of unconscious rhopalism in Shake-

filthy.

Wanton,

riggish.

the in-

mocker, one that makes game of others. Franklin in his AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1788) says:

his

NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE (1896) uses it of descriptive writing: The Lousiad

My

being esteemed a pretty good riggite,

that

(a perfect

triumph of cleverness expended on what the Greeks called rhyparography).

my

a Jocular verbal satirist, supported consequence in the society.

Also rhypography. Hence rhypographic,

rigmarole.

rhypographer, rhypographist, a painter of

rowle,

mean

DON JUAN (1818) declares: His speech was a fine sample, on the whole, Of rhetoric, which the learn'd call rigmarole. Hence

subjects;

Motteux in

his translation

(1694) of Rabelais speaks of the post of

puny riparographer, or

riffraff-scribler of

the sect of Pyrricus, Greek rhypos,

Also

and the

like.

rig-my-role,

riggmon-

See ragman. Byron in

rigmarolery; rigmarolic, rigmarolish.

dirt,

but

Greek rhyptein, to cleanse. Hence (17th and 18th centuries) rhyptical, cleansing; a rhyptic, a cleanser. filth;

is

rhyptic.

See rhyparography.

ribaudred.

reading

in

CLEOPATRA

This word, called a "corrupt** Shakespeare's ANTONY AND (for the passage, see nag) t

is

ribaudery, ribaudrie, variants of ribaldry.

Thus it would mean bent upon ribaldry, rendered ribald, debauched,

also ridiculous, derision.

ring or

circle.

French

rigole,

and congealed

About the mourning Of that blacke bloud, Which seems to weep

says:

face

a watrie rigoll goes, upon the tainted place.

A membrane. (This is a different word from rim, edge, border.) Thus rim-

rim.

side, the flesh-side of a skin. Also, short

for rim of the belly, the peritoneum. In

the 16th century, rim-burst, rymbirst, rumbursin, a rupture. Shakespeare in HENRY

See rebeck.

ridibund. Easily stirred to laughter. Also ridibundal; Latin ridere, risum, to laugh,

whence

A

LUCRECE (1593)

probably a participle form coined from

ribibe.

rigol.

water-course; hence gutter, groove. Also riggal, regal. Shakespeare in THE RAPE OF

To

ridi-

v

(1599) says: / will fetch thy rymme out at thy throat, in droppes of crimson blood.

A gory thought!

560

rocambole

ring

Used

in various combinations, ring-

rival.

See rivage,

go-between, ring-chopper, a swindler that uses a worthless ring; also

rixle.

To

ring.

a

carrier,

ring-dropper, ring-falter. The method was to drop a ring, pretend to find it (pref-

See rote.

roat.

To ratify, confirm; to strengthen, invigorate; to harden. Latin roborare, roboratum, to strengthen; robur, roboris

Southey in 1825 called ring-dropping stale, and in 1851 May hew (in LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR) described a new technique, ring-pigger (16th

roborate.

century), a drunkard, ring-time, the season when lovers dance in,

strength.

(1575).

(robustus)

spring,

tury

is

so

roborean, roboreous, of oak, or of the nature of oak or

Gaule

John

A

raoh's heart?

dish of fruit. Also ruschewes;

cp. raynecles.

A

recipe

is

in

THE FORME and raisons.

Take fygges and waisshe hem in wyne. Pyke hem, hem with apples and peeres Grynde ypared and ypiked dene; do thereto gode powdors, and hole spices. Make balles thereof. Frye in oyle, and serve hem f-orth. OF CURY

(1390):

more

bank, shore. Also rive, ryve; Old French rive; Latin ripa, bank; rivus,

stream. Also (14th to 16th century) rival, ryvaile, ryval, a shore, a landing place. Persons living on opposite shores were

they fished in the same stream, hence the current sense. An arrival (Latin rivals',

ar-,

ad,

to)

is

a coming to the shore.

Gower

in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1590) wrote of the hihe festes of Neptune Upon the stronde at the rivage. tury)

rivulet

rival,

a

small

Thus

stream;

(17th cenrivalet,

a

in

THE

inquired

MAGASTROMANCER

From

the same root

current

robust,

come

robustious,

robustic, robustful, robustous, robustuous. roc.

An

mous

size

Eastern legendary bird, of enorand strength. Also rock, roche,

roque, rue, ruch, rukh. Arabic rukh; the bird is mentioned in Marco Polo's ac-

count of Madagascar, but is more familiar from the ARABIAN NIGHTS, in which

among

A

rivage.

served those

but to roborate or harden Pha-

(1651),

rishews.

To what end

hard wood.

the

hence,

strengthening, (in 17th and 18th cen-

false mirables of the magicians,

See eryngo.

ringo.

wood;

(oak)

dictionaries)

made

In the spring time, the (1600) onely pretty ring time, when birds do has:

What

hard

>

Hence rob orant,

fortifying. Also

and exShakespeare in AS YOU LIKE

sing hey ding a ding ding. rare as a day in June?

Also

Old English REWLE (1225)

bitternesse.

The ring-waller is dering-dropping. scribed in THE FRATERNITYE OF VACABONDES

change, rings;

prevail.

observed: Thus, lo! in everiche stat rixleth

erably, just as another also eyed it), then try to sell it as of great value. Hence also

IT

to

rule;

reign,

rixlan, rixlen, ryxle, ryxlie. rixian, to rule. The ANCREN

other exploits

bad the

Sailor.

The

it

carries off Sind-

roc's egg,

something Thackeray in THE NEWCOMES (1855) says: / might wish for the unattainable; roc's egg.

rocambole.

Something that adds

flavor

piquancy. Vanbrugh in THE FALSE FRIEND (1702) declared: Difficulties are the rocombolle of love; I never valued an of

easy conquest. Also roccombo, rockenbole, rockanbowl, rocombole. Literally, a kind of leek, Spanish garlic. A. Austey in THE NEW BATH GUIDE (1766) wrote of a man a woman must detest, who puffs his vile

561

run

rliyparography ing thicker toward one end the word is applied to a line of poetry in which each word has one more syllable than its predecessor.

Thus

learn:

make

ridiculous;

15th century form of ridicule.

Urquhart in THE JEWEL (1652) said: With no less impetuosity of ridibundal passion

in MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE

November, 1862, we

of 15

culize (17th century), to ridicle, a

Taking

.

.

.

she

fell

back in a swoon.

gather metrical monstrosities/ anyone who chooses may

riggish.

employ himself in searching for the instances of unconscious rhopalism in Shake-

ing of rig (from the late 16th century) is a wanton woman; also rigmutton; cp. lace.

line

this

.

.

.

'Goose,

Wanton,

licentious.

One mean-

on thee thou rampe, thou ryg, we GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE (1575). Shakespeare in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

Nay

speare, Milton, or Wordsworth.

fy

read in

rhyparography. The painting of mean or sordid subjects. From Greek rhyparos,

(1606) has the Egyptian

Rhyparography, in Smith's DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES (1842) is linked with pornography; but

For

filthy,

sometimes or

it is

genre

synonymous with

painting.

Saintsbury

My that

triumph of cleverness expended

(a perfect

being esteemed a pretty good riggite, is a jocular verbal satirist, supported

my consequence rigmarole.

mean

DON JUAN

Motteux in

rowle,

but

Greek rhyptein,

to

in

CLEOPATRA

Thus it would mean bent upon ribaldry, rendered ribald, debauched.

circle.

French

rigole,

About the mourning Of that blacke bloud, Which seems to weep

says:

face a watrie rigoll goes, upon the tainted place.

Shakespeare's ANTONY AND (for the passage, see nag), is

rim. A membrane. (This is a different word from rim, edge, border.) Thus rimside, the flesh-side of a skin. Also, short

for rim of the belly, the peritoneum. In

the 16th century, rim-burst, rymbirst, rumbursin, a rupture. Shakespeare in HENRY

See rebeck.

ridfbund.

Easily stirred to laughter. Also ridibundal; Latin ridere, risum, to laugh, also ridiculous, derision.

ring or

and congealed

This word, called a "corrupt"

ribaudery, ribaudrie, variants of ribaldry.

whence

A

LUCRECE (1593)

probably a participle form coined from

ribibe.

rigol.

water-course; hence gutter, groove. Also riggalf regal. Shakespeare in THE RAPE OF

See rhyparography.

reading

riggmon-

See ragman. Byron in

rigmarolery; rigmarolic, rigmarolish.

(17th and 18th centuries) rhyptical, cleansing; a rhyptic, a cleanser.

ribaudred.

rig-my-role,

like.

cleanse.

Hence

rfayptic.

Also

and the

(1818) declares: His speech was a fine sample, on the whole, Of rhetoric, which the learn'd call rigmarole. Hence

his translation

(1694) of Rabelais speaks of the post of puny riparographer, or riffraff-scribler of the sect of Pyrricus. Greek rhypos, dirt, filth;

in the society.

called rhyparography).

Also rhypography. Hence rhypographic; rhypographer, rhypographist, a painter of subjects;

[are

mocker, one that makes game of others. Franklin in his AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1788) says:

his

NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE (1896) uses it of descriptive writing: The Lousiad

on what the Greeks

queen praised:

Become themselves

seemly] in her, that the holy priests Bless her, when she is riggish. Also riggite, a

still-life

in

vildest things

To

ridi-

v

(1599) says: / will fetch thy rymme out at thy throat, in droppes of crimson blood.

A gory thought! 560

rocambole

ring

Used

in various combinations, ring-

rival.

See rivage.

go-between, ring-chopper, a swindler that uses a worthless ring; also

lixle.

To

ring.

a

carrier,

ring-dropper, ring-faller. The method was to drop a ring, pretend to find it (preferably, just as another also eyed it), then try to sell it as of great value. Hence also

ring-dropping. The ring-faller is described in THE FRATERNITYE OF VACABONDES

Southey in 1825 called ring-drop-

(1575).

ping stale, and in 1851 Mayhew (in LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR) de-

new

scribed a

technique, ring-pigger (16th century), a drunkard, ring-time, spring, the season when lovers dance in, and ex-

change, rings; Shakespeare in AS IT

(1600)

YOU LIKE

In the spring time, the

has:

reign,

rule;

to prevail. Also

rixlan, rixlen, ryxle, ryxlie. rixian, to rule. The ANCREN

Old English REWLE (1225)

observed: Thus, lot in everiche stat rixleth bitternesse.

See rote.

roat.

To ratify, confirm; to strengthen, invigorate; to harden. Latin roborare, roboratum, to strengthen; robur, roboris roborate.

(robustus)

fortifying.

tury

hard

,

wood;

(oak)

strengthening, (in 17th and 18th cen-

Also

roborean, roboreous, of oak, or of the nature of oak or

dictionaries)

made

To what end

hard wood.

served those

onely pretty ring time, when birds do sing hey ding a ding ding. What is so

false mirables of the magicians,

rare as a day in June?

John

Gaule

the

A

dish of fruit. Also ruschewes;

cp. raynecles.

A

recipe

is

in

THE FORME and raisons.

OF CURY (1390): Take fygges Pyke hem, and waisshe hem in wyne.

Grynde

hem

with

apples

and peeres

ypared and ypiked dene; do thereto gode powdors, and hole thereof. Frye in oyle,

Make and serve hem spices.

balles forth.

more

bank, shore. Also rive, ryve; Old French rive; Latin ripa, bank; rivus,

stream. Also (14th to 16th century) rival, ryvaile, ryval, a shore, a landing place. Persons living on opposite shores were

they fished in the same stream, hence the current sense. An arrival (Latin rivals;

ar-,

ad,

to)

is

a coming to the shore.

Gower

in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1390) wrote of the hihe festes of Neptune Upon the stronde at the rivage. tury) rivulet.

rival,

a

From

Thus (17th

small stream;

cen-

rivalet,

a

the same root

current

robust,

come

robustious,

robustic, robustful, robustous, robustuous. roc.

An

mous

size

Eastern legendary bird, of enorand strength. Also rock, roche,

roque, rue, ruch, rukh. Arabic rukh; the bird is mentioned in Marco Polo's ac-

count of Madagascar, but is more familiar from the ARABIAN NIGHTS, in which

among

A

rivage.

inquired

THE MAGASTROMANCER

but to roborate or harden Pha-

(1651),

rishews.

in

raoh's heart?

See eryngo.

ringo.

hence,

Hence roborant,

strength.

other exploits

bad the

Sailor.

The

it

carries off Sind-

roc's egg,

something Thackeray in THE NEWCOMES (1855) says: I might wish for the unattainable; roc's egg.

rocambole.

Something that adds

flavor

piquancy. Vanbrugh in THE FALSE FRIEND (1702) declared: Difficulties are the rocombolle of love; I never valued an of

easy conquest. Also roccombo, rockenbole, rockanbowl, rocombole. Literally, a kind of leek, Spanish garlic, A. Austey in THE NEW BATH GUIDE (1766) wrote of a man a woman must detest, who puffs Ms vile

romal

roche

rocambol breath in her face; but Evelyn in ACETARIA, OR A DISCOURSE OF SALLETS on [Salads] (1699) desired a light touch the

much

dish,

better supplied

by

the

gentler roccombo.

A

roche.

rock; a

cliff;

a rocky height; a

Also

roche,

century)

(15th

.

.

Crist him-zelf.

An

rochet.

(1)

read

(2)

Rud

(from the 10th to the 16th century; also rudde, rode,

rude-,

rood

rud.

(4)

related to red)

meant ruddiness;

When

the fair

queen

urn) was borne to her chamber, Orfeo exclaimed: Alias! thy rode, that was so red, Is al wan as thou were ded.

Chaucer (1386) spelled

it

rode; Skelton

(1529), ruddys.

a

common

place-name in France. GENESIS AND EXODUS . biried in (1250) stated: Jhesus was the roche cold; the. AGENBITE OF INWIT (1340) said figuratively: The ilke roche

Jem

variant form of

(cp. levedii

French wine, Roche being a

is

A (3)

thence, complexion.

huge mass of stone. Old French roche, rocque, whence rock. Also roch, roach', cp. roc. Used from the 13th to the 17th century.

noun. road

outer garment; especially, a

From

roger.

the

name came various other

A

uses.

begging vagabond claiming (1) be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge. Apparently in this sense the g was hard; perhaps the word was related to rogue. In the following senses, the g was soft. (2) A phallus. So used in Urquto

hart's

translation

of

(1653)

Rabelais.

bishop's linen surplice. Hence, a rochet, a rocheter, a bishop, a prelate. Also rechet,

Hence, to roger, to have intercourse; for an illustration of this use (which puns

and more.

the name Roger) see ragmatical. (3) In phrases. The Jolly Roger, the pirates' flag, a white skull with two crossed bones

rachet, ratchet, rotchet, rogett,

Skelton in COLYN CLOUTE (WORKES; 1529) satirizes the luxury of the clergy: In rotchettes of fine raynes, Whyte as morowes my Ike Their tabertes [tabards] of

dike, Their stirops of mixt gold begarred; There may no cost be spared.

fine

Their moyles [mules] golde doth eate; theyr neyghbours dye for meat, raynes (reines,

raines),

a

fine

linen

made

at

Rennes, Brittany, morowes, the morrow's, next morning's, begarred, variegated (?); French bigarrer, Scotch begary, to varie-

on

beneath, on a black

field. Roger's blast, a whirling up of dust, somewhat as a water-spout, foreboding rain. In East

Anglia, 19th century. Also, a roger, a Sir

Rodger. Roger de dance;

also,

Coverley,

Sir Roger.

At

a country first

called

Roger of Coverley; the name was changed under the influence of the popular Sir Roger de Coverley introduced by Addison in THE SPECTATOR (1711).

gate.

roin.

rode,

I

As a

verb.

(1)

To

clear a

See roynish.

dyke

when

rokelay.

See roquelaure.

from Dutch roede, a ten-foot measuring rod, rode was also used as a noun mean-

romage.

An

or stream of weeds

(17th century,

ing a length of dyke or channel). (2) To evening, as wild fowl toward land,

.

fly at

this post-hast

or the woodcock in mating-time; Bensusan in his WILD LIFE STORIES (1907) said: When

a woodcock

romal.

roding, he must not vary his pace* his flight, or his song. II As a is

earlier

form of rummage,

Shakespeare has, in HAMLET (1601): the chief head Of This, I take it, is

q.v.

A

.

.

and romage in the land.

handkerchief, sometimes used

as a headdress; specifically, the handkerchief used by the Indian thugs to strangle

562

rosee

ronyon

From

victims.

their

face

Persian rumal;

man

Fatima

roomal

who invented to

strangle

the

the

use

great

of

A false

the

demon

by

WAVERLEY

was

her clean rorid.

in roorbacks which are designed Maine. And as

roose.

.

vainglory;

So

a brag.

called a rokelay. Scott, in (1814) has his heroine put on

toy, rokelay ,

Dewy;

A

.

YOUNG ALLAN we read: Some their

there reasd

And some

there

hawk, hound. The Greek saying, Count no man happy until he is dead, has milder Saxon counterpart in the ad-

hawk,

reased

vice,

their

Ruse the

fair day at night.

knavery.

ropery.

Trickery,

speare's

ROMEO AND JULIET

In

Shake-

(1592)

the

Nurse inquires: / pray you sir, what sawcie merchant was this that was so full of his roperief In Fletcher's play THE CHANCES (1620) ropery in the first edition is replaced in the second folio by roguery.

A cloak of knee length worn

roquelaure. men in the 18th and early 19th cen-

by

ros,

cordial of the juice of the solis, rose of the sun,

originally ros solis,

dew

of the sun. Be-

medicinal use, the drink has also been called rose of solace. Later it cause of

A

checkyns endorde, pork, partryk, to roys In the ballad of (to boast, or to roast?)

dew. Latin roridus;

sundew. Latin rosa

and more. Hence

rooser, a braggart. Towneley mystery of 1460 lists the leg of a goys, With

A

rosasolis.

praise. Also ros, rose, roos, royse, rowze;

to roose, to boast; to praise; to flatter.

scarlet plaid.

ing oyly juyces.

more moderate meaning, commendation, ruse; reouse, reeze, rease,

like

and

frigeratours which passe not by the stomach; drinkes roscidating, or engender-

used from the 12th to the 15th century. In the 13th century it took on also the

their

roquelaure, and

Hence also roral, dewy, rorant, falling like dew. Rawley, in his translation (1638) of Bacon's LIFE AND DEATH speaks of re-

.

Boasting,

my

into the ay re. Also roscid, dewy; roscidating, having a dewy or cooling effect.

to influence the vote in .

in

rorem, dew. Dekker in the SATIROMASTIX (1602) speaks of rorid cloudes being suckt

from the Travels of Baron Roorbach.

Maine goes

of

women was

story circulated for po-

The BOSTON JOURNAL of 6 September, 1884, reported: The Herald and the Globe abound

up warm

myself

used in the U.S. in the 19th century, after a story of 1844 pretending to be an extract

Duke

paying a visit to this poor gentleman. After the same duke, a short cloak worn

ends. Also roorback. This term

litical

the French

Roquelaure (1656-1738). Sterne in TRISTRAM SHANDY (1760) speaks of wrapping

See aroint.

roorback.

Named from

like.

Rukut-beej-dana.

ronyon.

Also roccelo, rockalow, and the

turies.

ru,

mal, wiping. We are told by Sleein the RAMASEEANA (1836): It was

+

its

was made not of the plant sundew, but of brandy, sugar, and spices. The drink was popular from the mid-1 6th

to the

mid-1 8th

century. roscid.

rosee.

See rorid.

A

dish, flavored

with

rose-petals.

Also, rose, roseye. In 14th and 15th cencookbooks are several inviting tury recipes. One is a spiced mixture of dates

and

nuts.

Another

says:

Take

the flowris

of rosys, and wasch

hem

after bray hem tak almondys, and

temper hem, and seth

wel in water, and wel in a morter; and then

hem; and

after take flesch of capons, or

and hac yt smale, and then bray hem wel in a morter, and than do yt in the rose, so that the flesch acorde of hennys,

563

rouncival

rote

wyth the mylk, and so that the mete be charchaunt; and after do yt to the fyre to

ing, or a secret; a rune; 10th to 14th century, a writing

(book or letter) or counsel, especially private or secret.

boyle, and do thereto sugur and safron, that yt be wel ycolowrd, and rosy of levys and of the forseyde flowrys, and serve it forth. Another recipe begins: Take red roses, and grynd fayre in a morter with almaunde mylke. Oh, the lost treats of Old England! rote.

(1)

strument.

O.E.D.

calls it

translation

it

(1590) speaks of something as worthy of

great Phoebus' rote.

(2) Custom, habit; mechanical performance, surviving in the phrase by rote, by routine, by mere memory; also, by heart, with precision. For an illustration of this use, see fescue.

A squadron, company. (4) used as an instrument of torture. (3)

roaring of the of rotten f

NUN'S

as

TALE

sea.

in

(6)

A

A

in

Such words that are but roated in your

memory. -**

rother.

An

ox. Also rother-beast; kryther,

reother, ruther, rudder. Hence, rotherenf

relating or belonging to cattle; rotherish, resembling cattle. Used from the 9th to

the early 17th century. Shakespeare in

TIMON OF ATHENS

(1605) says: It pasture lards the rothers sides.

rouk.

(I)

and rook;

Mist, fog;

is

the

steam. Also roke

related to reek.

(2)

In the

.

rouk na roune*

(1500) .

.

declared that

with no young

of

We

large bones of antediluvian animals were formerly taken to be bones of the heroes that

fell

with Roland at Roncesvalles;

hereof, I take

it, said Mandeville, it comes a great woman, we say she is seeing a rouncival. Blount in his 1674 word-

that,

book suggests that the

large 'marrowfat'

rouncival pea is so called because it first came from Roncesvalles "at the foot of 1'

Dost roaref Pyrenean Mountains. queried Dekker in SATIROMASTIX (1602); the f

th ast a good rouncivall voice to cry Lanthorne and candle-light. As a noun, the word was applied to (1) a heavy fall, a crash; (2) a kind of 'tumbling verse/

used for invective or flyting, not rhymed but alliterative; (3) a monster; (4) a large

phrase rouk and roun(d), to talk privately. Hence rouker, a whisperer, tale-bearer.

The RATIS RAVING a woman should

and a clap

flash of light

large things. Also rownseval, rownsifall, rounsefal, rouncifold, runsivillf and the like. are told that certain

rote

(2):

is

various

CORIOLANUS

slogardye. Shakespeare (1607) uses the verbal form of sense

A

Rouncy

Heroic size, (in volume); hence applied as noun or adjective to

The

is

THE MASQUE over, robble

(1616):

rouncival.

variant form

Idilnesse

thurlery bouncing; Jonson, in

OF QUEENES under, thunder.

Chaucer's THE SECOND

(1386)

clap-

writers

is

wheel

(5)

A

mockingly mimicked the Nashe, in Greene's MENAPHON (1589): Then did he make heavens vault to rebounde, with rounce robble hobble of ruffe raffe roaring, and thwick thwack

Later

the wheel (rota) which is to cause the vibration of the Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE

turned

of the ^NEIS:

roaring:

named from

strings.

(1582)

ping fyerbolt (such as oft, with rownce robel hobble, Jove to the ground clatreth).

"probably

of the violin class"; Nares states that is

rounce robble hobble. A representation of the tumult of thunder, in Stanyhurst's

A medieval musical stringed inThe

See rouk.

roun.

men

A roun is a mysterious say-

and boisterous or loose woman. Nashe in HAVE WITH YOU TO SAFFRON-WALDEN (1596) pictured 50 fulsome a fat bonarobe and terrible rouncevalL

564

rubicund

rouncy

A horse, especially one for ridA common medieval form, its origin

combinations as rout-cake, a rich cake for a reception or party; Thackeray in VANITY

rouncy. ing.

born. Also

horse sired, not rouncy rounce robble hobble.

and twenty-four

see

brought in for the party;

and the

Lennox

Besides the current sense of dis-

Old French from Latin rupta, a

tachment;

rumpere, ruptum,

to

says:

To

break)

having a rout Is the pleasure of having

covered with scurf; roynish. Scabby, hence, coarse, base. Used since the 14th

A

century; also, roinish; roinous; roynyshe;

runyous, roignous, royneous. Chaucer uses the noun roin r a scab, in THE ROMAUNT

pulle a rose of all that route to bere my honde about. Hence in routf in

order; in a rout, in a body, in a troop.

The meaning

of

precipitate

and

dis-

OF THE ROSE

good fasoun

CYMBELINE, 1611: Then beganne

...

a

thicke:

forthwith they but by the 13th century the word flye), had developed unfavorable connotations.

confusion

The

rabble; especially, the

(1596; ix 33). Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) speaks of the roynish clown, at whom so oft Your Grace was wont to

laugh.

rubetude.

See rabiator.

uproar. Also, a clamor, a fuss; especially (17th-19th century) , to make a rout about

tury.

rubible.

something. Also, sway, influence; to rule the rout, to bear the rout, to have full

rubicund.

and 19th centuries rout became (by humor, from the sense of disorderly crowd) a very common word for a fashionable gathering, a in the 18th

Johnson,

1751;

Smollett,

Kinglsey, 1858; Ruskin, 1887).

ator was fairly

common

result of

Reddish,

were

said

flushed;

Bulwer-Lytton thronged

espe-

countenance, the

good living or good

said

(1827),

rubi-

See rebeck.

cially of a highly colored

attics,

The form

in the 16th cen-

The PELHAM

eating.

in

with

rubicund

There were many terms from Latin ruber, red, from pale pink to deep

large evening party (Fielding, in AMELIA,

1742;

See rubicund.

common rowt rubiator.

And

.

by Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE

(Shakespeare, THE COMEDY OF ERRORS), the vulgar rout. Hence, a riot, disturbance,

control.

Hir nekke was of Withoute bleyne, scabbe, form win was also used as (1366):

.

V

A

disorderly or disreputable crowd. (By 14th century law) a gathering of three or more persons with criminal intent.

.

or royne. The a verb, 14th to 17th century, meaning (1) to clip, cut short; (2) to growl so used

orderly retreat did not develop until the end of the 16th century (e.g., Shakespeare, rowt,

it

over.

animals; a large number of things; Chauin THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE (1366): to

own I am

As Hood remarks in MISS KILMANSEGG (1845): For one of the pleasures of

cer,

in

wonder Lady AND LETTERS (1767) wore to death with

routing.

the palace rode there flock or pack of

many a route of lordes.

rout-glasses, rout-

like. Little

in her LIFE

sighed: I

de-

had a range of meanings. A company, assemblage; Chaucer in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386)

rout cakes. Rout-

benches or folding chairs

seat, rout-chair,

orderly retreat of a defeated army, rout (via

little

a couple

and cream,

of plates full of strawberries

china, rout.

He managed

FAIR (1848) boasts:

unknown. In English 14th into the 16th century; revived in the 19th, as in BrownRaceing's ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY (1875):

damsels.

1771;

Hence such

ruby. See rubious.

565

Among

them: rube-

ruskin

rumney vessel

by a customs

The

officer.

verb

(from the mid-15th century) had the same basic meanings: to arrange, as in the

hold of a ship, to put in order; to search,

rummage through, examine

thoroughly;

hence to disarrange, disorder; to rout out by searching; to turn or move about restlessly, as when Tennyson poem (WALK TO THE MAIL) of 1842 speaks of a jolly tapt at doors, And rumghostj that

in a

.

maged

,

like a

.

rat

rumney. A sweet wine of Greece, popular in England in the 15th and 16th centuries. From Romania, used as the name of Greece.

in

several

combinations:

(Shakespeare, MACBETH;

rump-fed

cp. callipygean. rump-roll, a bustle dress;

cp.

Easily broken. Used in botany of that break irregularly, not along the parts lines of junction. Also to rupt, to break, to burst; to nullify. Latin rumpere, ruptum, to break, whence also disrupt, eruption, rupture; ruption (15th century), breach of the peace; not the synonymous ruction, of obscure origin; THE SPECTATOR

of 27 December, 1891, spoke of whisky, which produces motiveless ructions at fairs

and

on a

denying after he

The change from renegate came

Davies in his TRAVELS (1614),

his Christian is

mncation.

name, so that ever

called a runagado.

Weeding.

Evelyn

in

SYLVA

more commodious mncation, hawing, and dressing (1664) gave suggestions for the

the

country. Cp. Bois in A PIECE OF FAMILY BIOGRAPHY

Du

(1799) declares that rurigenous cook-maids, clerks may take

rupellary.

and automatical bankers"

care of their autography. 18th century dictionaries

Some 17th and also

give

the

form rurigene, born or abiding in the

ruse.

See roose.

A

rushring. ring made of rushes, made for a sweetheart, but deceitfully used for

wedding ring "by designing men." Quarles in THE SHEPHERDS ORACLES (1646) a

The lovesick swains Compose and rushrings myrtleberry chains; Davenant in THE RIVALS (WORKS; 1668): Tl crown thee with a garland of straw then, and declared:

Tie marry thee with a rush ring. ruskin.

trees.

runnion.

born in the

country.

by association with run, as in running away to the other side. He is circumcised,

W.

Rustic; literally,

dress-improver.

A

noted

social gatherings.

montigenous. Thus Edward

1606),

variant, from the 16th cenrunagate. of tury, renegate, renegade. Also runagade,

runagado.

and breede.

raptile.

probably means fed on rump (ham); but Nares (1882) suggested that it means fed or fattened in the rump, rump-proud, wanton; used in the late 16th century;

nidary do the fowle lay

this rupellary

eggs

rurigenous.

Used

rump.

In

(1)

A fur;

used from the 13th to

the mid-1 6th century. In A TREATYSE OF A GALAUNT (1550) we read: Thou ruskyn

See aroint.

Rocky. Latin rupes, rock, ru-

galaunt, that poverte doth menace, For

warrocked hoode and thy proude A container made of bark or

pestral,

all thy

to,

araye. (2)

rupestrean, rupestrine, relating growing or living among, or carved

or written on rocks. Also rupicoline, rupicolous, dwelling among rocks. Evelyn in his DIARY of 27 February, 1700, noted:

roots; also, butter

Irish rusg, bark.

kept in such a

PURGE MELANCHOLY (1719)

568

vessel.

D'Urfey in his PILLS TO said:

I have

ruth

ryptage

ruscan and cream joy, wherewith you may small rusk, a piece of slabber you. (3) crisp toasted bread. (4) In Ruskin linen;

vil(1588): Complots of mischief, treason, lainies ruthful to hear.

A

ryke. Realm. German Reich, kingdom. Not in O.E.D. In the first SHEPHERDS' PLAY

Ruskin pottery, Ruskin ware: after John Ruskin (1819-1900) who believed in combining utility and art. ,

common Middle

See couth. This

ruth.

(TOWNELEY MYSTERIES, 1460) we read: 1st Shepherd: I am ever alyke, wote I never what it gars, Is none in this ryke a shepherd fares wars [worse]. 2d Shepherd: Poore men are in the dyke And oft tyme mars; The world is slyke [such like], also helpars Is none here. 1st Shepherd: It

English word had many forms, among them routhe, roih > reouth, rowith, rewth; it is

related to rue. Its

first

meaning (12th

century) was compassion, pity, as in the phrase to have ruth. This sense is oc-

is

casionally used in archaic diction, and survives in the form ruthless apart from my

most ruthful

sister

and the

Biblical

repent

me

of his ruth,

And

had never wronged him

wish that I

so. ruthfulness,

ruthness compassion, cp. wrouth. ruthful meant either feeling or sorrowfulness;

deserving pity; the

latter

sense

Shakespeare in

TITUS

uses

it

in

ANDRONICUS

wyfe in a

A

To give way; stand aside. Related rynt. to aroint, q.v. Also rhint, roint, roynt.

and MarI do

thryfe

14th and 15th century contracryne. tion for Rhenish wine.

thing to be sorry about; by extension,

now

also

yere'.

widow

amid the alien corn. Later, ruth also meant repentance, remorse; then somecalamity, ruin, as when Nashe lowe wrote in DIDO (1594): Yet

man may not [thrive] And alle

sayde fulle ryfe 'A

And

Ray in 1674 recorded as proverbial Rynt you, witch, quoth Besse Locket to her mother; but Rynt iheel was the milkmaid's dismissal to a cow as she finished milking it.

A

ryptage. Portuguese wine, imported into England in the 15th century.

569

Sabine.

(1)

A member

of

the

Sabian

trombone); used 15th to 18th century. Elyot in THE CASTEL OF HELTH (1533)

who

in ancient Italy occupied the central region of the Appenines; near the

race,

recommends

beyond whom on were the Volscians.

valley-folk, the Hernici,

exercised

the next range of hills in English especially in reference

straint,

proverb Sabini quod volunt somniant, the Sabines dream what they will.

translates

Used

(This by anticipation winks at Freud.) Holland used the idea figuratively, when in 1610 he spoke of the town Grimsby, which our SabinS) following their own fancies, will have to be so called of one Grime a merchant. (2) As an adjective,

agint

were,

still

earlier,

gave

the sons

ravished to

the

founders of Rome.

Aramaic sabbka

A

15th century, 36 gallons; later, 108 to 140 gallons. Usually 108 gallons of ale, 126 of wine, Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST

praises

women who

The Geneva

With the same variety of forms, in the 17th century: (2) a butt of sack. butt was a large cask (Late Latin butta, wineskin) , of varying size; in the

sung to his Sabine farm by the poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 B.C.), who received from the wealthy Maecenas the gift of a villa in the Sabine Hills. And there

be

versions. Also sagbut, sagbout, shagbush,

gentleman's (recreational) ant retreat in the country. Cp. pentice.

Sabine

.

sackbutt.

farm, a pleas-

from the

.

is sambuca (q.v.) as in the Septuand the Vulgate (Greek sambuke)

lation

especially in the phrase Sabine farm, a

is

.

blowy ng, eyther by conor playeng on shaulmes, or sack-

BIBLE (1560; DANIEL) as sackbut; so also the King James (1611) and the Revised (1885) versions; the correct transbottes.

to the

This

that the entrayles

by

(1610) has: I escaped

upon

a but of sache,

which the saylors heaved o'reboord. Sack is a white wine, dry (French vin sec, dry

The two meanings were punned upon by playwrights, as in Fletcher's RULE A WIFE AND HAVE A WIFE (1624): F th celler he will make dainty music

wine)

.

f

.

sabulous.

Sandy; consisting of or aboundin sand; ing growing in sandy places. Also sabulosef sabuline. Latin sabulum, also saburraf sand.

Thence saburration}

sand-bathing; saburrate, to bathe in sand, to ballast a ship with (later, airship)

sandbags. sack.

among sackless.

musical instrument:

unmolested, (of);

unchaltherefore

by extension, feeble-minded; lacking energy. Also sack-

AENEIS

A

Secure,

lenged; hence, innocent harmless. Occasionally,

lessly,

(1)

.

without just cause, innocently. Used

from the 9th century. Douglas in the

See sackbut.

sackbut.

.

the sackbutts.

a

bass trumpet with a slide (Mke that of a

(1513)

spoke of a

citie sakles

of

batale, fre of all sic strife. Scott revived

the

570

word

in IVANHOE (1819); BLACKWOOD'S

sake

sad

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE

That you are

in

queried

sachless of this

1831:

grave in appearance. ChauTHE DETHE OF BLAUNCHE (1369)

(3) Dignified,

murder who

in

cer

shall testify?

the

of

speaks

my

eyen

and

sad.

The

early uses of this

bonayre, good, glad, in sad earnest

word were

serious;

quite different from its present sense of sorrowful, which first appeared in the

oath.

14th century. The earliest meaning of sad, from the 10th century, was sated,

tury,

Firm,

By

strong;

when Spenser

valiant;

THE

in

steadfast.

(1)

11)

ones. Milton in PARADISE

(1590; III,

LOST (1667)

as a

(6)

Our Polly is a sad slut. As London DAILY NEWS (Jan-

late as 1892 the

uary 25) called unpolished granite a sad harbourer of soot and dust. In this sense,

says: Settl'd in his face I see

Sad resolution and secure. Fabyan in his CRONYCLE (1516) told the story of Prince

.

(1727) says:

FAERIE

means constant

The

(1400)

came to be term of emphasis, especially in a bad sense: wretched, abominably bad. Gay in THE BEGGAR'S OPERA

Thus

QUEENE speaks of sad lovers he

seri-

one's solemn

sense of firm, solid, sad

its

used

the early 14th cen-

had developed:

senses

Mature,

Solidly learned; profound.

(5)

.

weary (of): sad of his company. It is a common Teutonic word, Old Irish akin to Latin satis, satlech, satiated, satisfied.

(4)

spoke of a .In the philosoffer syense full sad of the sevyn artes. In the 17th century, from

full,

other

had; De-

meant most

takes

DESTRUCTION OF TROY

late

enough;

when one

as

ously,

lady

sad.

man

application to a

dog was lost

its

in the phrase a sad

so frequent that the expression force, especially if it was said

A

sadiron was a solid iron,

Hal (which Shakespeare presents in HENRY rv); but when the Prince became Henry V, Fabyan continued, sodainly he became a new man and tourned all that rage and wyldnes into sob ernes and sadnes and the vyce into constant vertue. Of things, sad meant firmly fixed; heavy (ap-

with a smile.

plied also to a blow, a sad stroke; to bread that hasn't risen properly; to a heavy rain and a fierce fire); dark in color; compact;

ground be saddned a little in the bottom of every hole ... As they advised in the

as

opposed

and 15th

a box-iron. In the 14th

to

centuries, to sad

meant

to

make

solid or firm; to compress; to make steadfast; this was also the first application of to sadden. An agricultural work of 1600 stated that corn will grow better if the

14th century,

Be

sad to resist vice!

solid

(also as opposed to liquid; Wyclif in a Sermon of 1380 said: Ther mete was

ther

bileve

that

thingis, and ther that thei hadden

Orderly; grave;

thei hadden of sadde drynke was ther bileve

of moist thingis)

trustworthy.

.

(2)

Chaucer in

THE MAN OF LAW'S TALE (1386) said: In Surrey whilom dwelte a compaignye Of chapmen riche and therto sadde and trewe. Sad and wise, discreet, or true

made

a frequent coupling; this may have helped form the line in Coleridge's THE ANCIENT MARINER (1798): A sadder and a

wiser

man He

rose

the

morrow morn.

sadism. St.

See phalarism.

Elmo's

St. Vitus'

fire.

See corposant.

dance.

A

dancing mania, usuSt Vitus's

ally identified as chorea. Also dance. Cp. tarantism.

sake.

The

original

sense

of this early

and common Teuton word (also sacu, sacke, sayck, etc.) was a dispute, an offence; contention, crime. Hence a ground of accusation; without sake, without good reason. It was soon applied to a contention at law, a suit; and by the 13th cen-

571

salade

Sally

Lunn

her sake. Hence also for goodness" sake!

The reward paid to one that and restores lost goods. Probably derived from salvus, saved. A 14th and 15th century word, worth restoring to the

and the

language.

tury the expression for the sake of for the case (or cause) of . . . , had to be used In the sense

See

.

salfay.

,

finds

current: for

sallet.

A

salamander.

sallet.

animal,

supto fire. (Benvenuto Celrecorded that when he

1500-1571,

was a boy, his father boxed his

ears,

Hence, a

his hearth.)

the element

fire;

An

(1)

early

selad, sallade,

form

of salad. Also

and more;

salette,

sallat,

Late Latin salare, salatum, to

Used

salt.

so

figuratively to

salt;

sal,

mean something

mixed, usually with pleasant implications. Shakespeare in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS

would remember having seen one

that he

See salebrity.

saliency.

lizard-like

immune

posedly

on

.

come

like.

salade.

lini,

still

.

spirit living in

WELL

as the sylph, the air; the

(1601)

nymph, the water; the gnome, the earth the four elements of medieval science.

margerom

extension, a firefighter, a soldier who fire in battle; a fire-eating performer; and in the 18th century, a woman

was no

says:

the

of

She was the sweete sallet,

or rather

the

hearbe of grace; and in HAMLET: There

By

braves

sallets in

the lines, to

make

the

matter savoury. By extension, to pick a salad, to

do something

trivial,

salad days,

world knows) resists Addison in THE SPECTATOR temptations. A salamander observed: No. 198) (1711;

days of green and inexperienced youth

a kind of heroine in chastity, that treads Deloney in JACKE OF NEWupon fire .

from Latin caelata

that

(so far as the

is

.

.

uses the figure otherly: He as the salamander cannot that lay my life live without the fire, so Jack cannot live

BERIE (1597)

(Shakespeare, (2)

A

light

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA). globular

helmet.

(galea)

,

Probably

ornamented

(headpiece); caelare, caelatum, to engrave; caelum, a chisel. Shakespeare, in HENRY vi, PART TWO, says: Many a time but for a

my brainpan had bene cleft with brown bill. Heywood in EDWARD iv, PART ONE, uses it jestingly of a container:

sallet,

without the smel of his dame's smock.

a

A unevenness. Ruggedness, shortened form (found only in 17th and 18th century dictionaries) of salebrosity,

sack sold by the sallet. Also, by metonymy, the head; C. B. Stapylton in HERODIAN

salebrity.

salebrousness.

The

adjective salebrous, rugged, was fairly frequent in the 17th

HIS IMPERIAL HISTORY (1652): When wine was got into his drunken sallat. The

Spanish

proverb

has

it,

according

to

century. Latin salebrosus; sale bra, rough-

Abraham Hayward's THE ART OF DINING

a jolting place,

(1852) that it takes four persons to make a proper salad: a spendthrift for oil, a miser for vinegar, a counsellor for salt,

ness, harshness; literally,

from the root sal, leap. From the same root came saliency, leaping; salience, the quality of leaping forth, hence of standing out. Horatio Smith in THE MONEYED MAN (1841) said:

face

.

.

.

The

great attenuation of the

gave a singular saliency to the

features.

salep.

See saloop.

and a madman Gargantua!

to

mix

it.

Then beware

*

Lunn. A tea-cake or hot roll. Sold Bath about 1797 by Sally Lunn, who cried them through the town; then a baker named Dalmer bought her out; Sally first

572

at

sambuca

salmagundy he made a song for them that helped preserve the name. Sally Lunns, said the ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF COOKERY (1892), should be cut open, well buttered, and served very hot Dickens smacks his lips over the

and

a

salmagundy.

A

dish of fine-cut

anchovies,

poultry),

eggs,

onions,

from the tuber o the early purple orchis, with milk, ginger, and sugar. It sounds like a delicious "soft" drink.

(or

with

saltimbanco.

sam.

,

any disorganized or haphazard mixture. T. Twining in RECREATIONS AND STUDIES

earlier

Common Teuton in

Spenser

forms, whence THE SHEPHERD'S

CALENDAR (1579; MAY) asks: What concord han light and darke sam? There was also an early verb sam, to bring together, to join (in friendship, in mar-

of Aristotle? Washington Irving in 1807 wrote a book entitled Salmagundi; or the Whim-whams and Opinions of L. Lang-

to fasten together; to heap to; gether, to collect. Also to coagulate, to curdle. Since the 15th century sam has been used only in dialect. Cp. samded.

Esq.

riage)

A

hot drink, of powdered salep saloop. of (later sassafras) with milk, ginger, and sugar, hawked in the London streets late early morning. THE December, 1803, remarked: / was taking my pot of saloop, for I am not so extravagant as to drink coffee. By

and in the

CENSOR of

coffee-stalls.

samblind.

See sandblind.

1

1851, Henry Mayhew observed in LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR, the sdloopstalls were superseded by the modern

Also salop;

Salopian-house,

where

a

salop-house, saloop was sold

Lamb

in ESSAYS OF ELIA, 1822). salep from which saloop was made, before native sassafras replaced it, was a meal made from ground tubers of orchidaceous plants. The word is from

The

Arabic

See exillent.

Together. From the 14th century; samen, samed, both from the 9th

century. also same.

(1761) inquired: After all this salmagundis of quotation, can you bear another slice

(used by

19th;

Saloop!

salop houses lasted in London into the 19th century, selling their drink made

and oil. Also sallad-magundy, spices Solomon Gundy (who, you remember, was born on Monday) salmigundy. Hence,

at night

went:

cry

A variant form of saloop, q.v. The

salop.

little

meat

street

saloop! a hapenny a dish, hot saloop!

novel-reading.

staff,

London

the

Thackeray in PENDENNIS (1849) delights in a meal of green tea, scandal, hot Sally-Lunn cakes,

orchidion.

is

from the 17th century well into the

Lunn;

Sally

diminutive

the

testicle;

Saloop was a favorite, inexpensive drink

thaleb,

the

orchis,

short

fox's

a

for

is

the Greek

word

A

and 15th elder.

fritter,

flavored with elder

culinary delight of the

14th

centuries. Latin sambucus, the

Also

samakade, samace,

samatard. Take and

make a

semaka, a

crust, said

recipe of 1390, and take a cruddes [curds]; do therto sugar . and somdel whyte of .

ayrene

[eggs],

of elren

.

.

.

and shake

therin bloomes

.

sambouse. A thin dough rolled around hashed meats. From the Near East; the English word is of the 17th century, but the pasty

is

still

an Oriental

delicacy.

folk

testicles, khasyu'th-thalab, name for the flower, as is the English dogstones, from the shape of the tuber.

Cp. stones. Orchis

A

sambocade. flowers.

for

sambuca. lar,

A

stringed,

musical instrument, trianguwith a high pitch. Also

sambuke, sambuque, sambuc.

573

It

should

samded

sangrail

not have been

but was

wind instrument, Ascham in TOXOPHILUS /

am

confused with

the sackbut,

the

q.v.

(1545) said: This all maner of pypes, that lutes, sure,

barbitons,

sambukes

.

.

.

be condemned

of Aristotle.

England had a robe of if samite was brought from the East by the Crusaders, Tennyson was a bit early in placing it upon the LADY OF THE LAKE in good King Arthur's comgolden days. Thackeray (1847)

Henry

of

III

purple samite; but

A surcoat of peach-coloured samite bespoke him noble. It is pleasant even in the twentieth century to think

ments:

samded. Half dead. Anglo-Saxon 5am, Latin semi, half. In the 13th century

Robert of Gloucester's CHRONICLE. See sandblind. Other words in which the

.

half

cooked,

hence

'half-baked/

-faille,

-fail,

sauns-, -fale.

saunce-

In

faile,

Middle

sandblind.

definition:

English

hys destanye saunsfaille. [Note the shift in Italy, making it two syllables for the

A silken fabric of medieval times, a favorite with poets, as (in the

last century) Tennyson in IDYLS KING: clothed in white samite,

OF THE mystic,

wonderful and (in the present century) Graves in THE BARDS: their many-shielded, samite-curtained Jewel-bright hall where twelve kings sit at chess. (When kings are thus employed their people are safe.)

The word

samite comes roundabout from Greek hexamiton; hexa-, six -f mitos, thread: the samite thread was made of six strands of silk or as some suggest in the weaving, the weft thread was looped

thread of the warp, making but rich material, for royalty.

at every sixth

a

loose

is

a corrup-

'having a defect in the eyes,

Cp. stone (stone blind}. sanders.

sometimes interwoven with gold; a garment or cushion of this material. The is

This

See gaylede.

See samded.

sambale.

word

cecity.

by which small particles appear to fly before them/ Shakespeare plays on the size of 'sand particles' in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1596): This is my true begotten father, who being more then sandblinde, high gravel blinde, knows me not.

samfayle was a common rhyming tag. Chaucer in THE HOUS OF FAME (1384) has: And seyde he must unto Itayle As was

samite.

See

tion of samblind, semi-blind; cp. samded. The change is explained in Johnson's

-feil,

rhyme.]

vestured wyth samyte

See samded.

samsodden.

samfayle. Without fail; doubtless. French sans (q.v.) , without. Also saun-, san-, sanz-j

(1530)

of grene.

stupid.

sain-,

.

of a lady

prefix sam- occurs include samhale, half healthy, in poor health; samripe; samsod-

den,

.

sangrado.

An

ignorant

a character in

Sangrado, BIAS (1735),

physician.

Le

Dr.

Sage's GIL

had only two remedies:

bleeding and drinking hot water. Spanish Latin sanguinem, sangrador, bleeder; blood, whence also sanguine and sanguinary. Also, sangrador. In a letter of 1820, Scott wrote: One is sadly off in France and Italy, where the sangrados are of such

low reputation, that it were a shame even to be killed by them.

The Holy Grail, the platter Christ used at the Last Supper, used also by Joseph of Arimathea to catch Christ's

sangrail.

blood at the Cross. Old French Saint Graal; Latin gradalis, perhaps from Latin cup. The holy grail, sangrail, is often referred to as a cup. Also wngrayle,

crater,

574

sarsanet

sanguine

sans phrase, with no more words (Sieyes voted for the death of Louis XVI: la mort sans phrase) sans punie, with no penalty, with impunity. sans souci, unconcern; also, a gay and

Popular etymology has given origins, as sang real, sang blood; roial, royal sang real, "being some of Christ's real blood/' LE MORTE ARTHUR

sangreall.

penniless person,

word other

the

(1450) speaks of

The

.

knights of the table

The

sangrayle when they had sought. Meredith builds the word in a figure, in HENRY RICHMOND (1871): They

fayle; often

bear the veiled sun like a sangreal aloft to

Muchelnesse

round.

the

wavy

marble

flooring

of

free party, sans fail, doubtless; see samused as a rhyming tag in Mid-

stainless

of

men

sainfayle

A

santrel.

See humour. Chaucer in the

little saint.

diminutive of

erel,

Old French

saint.

translation

observes the physiological grouping:

with a thousand other jolly

Of

and

complexioun he was sangwyn. Trevisa

in his translation (1398) of Bartholomeus' PROPRIETATIBUS RERUM warned that

the use of pepyr sangueyne men.

sanguisuge. {figuratively).

not profitable to

is

Latin

blood

4-

whence also sucPoe (1849) used the French form, sangsue} leech, as an English word. Of sugere, suctum, to suck, tion.

a

human

sorb ere,

to

sorptum,

absorb)

has

(accent

syoo), bloodthirsty, cruel; sangui-

vorous,

feeding on blood. In Skelton's

we

That blody judge And mighty sanguisuge; The Pope that is so huge, Is ever their refuge. There are (1550)

various

read:

references

to

the sanguivorous

vampire. sans.

Hoeing.

A

of sarsenet, q.v.

sarcle

was a hoe

(18th century, translating Latin sarculum; satire, to weed) Hence sarcler, a weeder. .

Sarculation

17th

is

century

a rare 18th century word; dictionaries

list

sarculatef

to hoe.

also

on the WORKS

A variant form

sarculation.

'bloodsucker/ sanguisorb (Latin

been used. Hence sanguisugous

sancts

See serpigo.

sapego.

a bloodsucker (also sanguij,

dallies

little

See sonties.

sarcenet.

A leech;

of

santrels.

santy*

DE

(1653)

saint-

in his

Urquhart Rabelais

Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) his

(1400): Is nat

victorie in batayle.

cloud.

sanguine.

ARTHUR

dle English verse, as in

Without. Also sance, saunce. Bor-

rowed from the French, in the 14th century. Used by Shakespeare in the "Seven

the skin; also, a surplice.

Used from the

8th century (BEOWULF); Burns uses

TAM

it

in

SHANTER (1790): Her cutty sark, o' Paisley harn, That while a lassie she had worn. (Cutty means cut short, curtailed; occasionally it was used alone to mean a o'

naughty, mischievous girl, or a cute one.) Sark alone, bare except for a shirt. An Aberdeen ruling of 1538 ordered one Bessie to gang, sark alane, afore the proThe word is still used in Scotland.

cession.

man" speech in AS YOU LIKE IT Sans teeth, sans taste, sans eyes, sans everything. Also in various combiages of

A shirt or other garment worn next

sark.

A

sarkful of sore bones, a sore body,

(1600):

sarsanet.

A

very fine and soft silk mathis. Also

garment made of

nations: sans appel, a person from whom there is no appeal, a final authority.

sarcenet, sarsnet, sarseynet, saircenett,

sans biding, without delay, sans dener, a

more. Probably from the French sarzin,

terial;

575

a

and

saulee

sassmous

Planting, sowing of seed. Latin satum, to sow. Used from the 14th to the 18th century.

Medieval Latin pannus Saracloth. Chaucer (THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, 1366) uses the

sation.

Saracen;

Saracen

cenicus,

word in the form sarsynysh,

serere,

sarcenish.

Saturn.

Sarsenet was also used figuratively as an as in Shakespeare's adjective, soft as silk

HENRY

.

.

.

And

of the gods

givest

q.v.)

such sarcenet suretie for thy oathes, As if thou never walks' t further than Finsbury. Sweare me, Kate

.

.

deemed Rocky.

saxum, rock, or

living

growing

sasso;

on

(accents

Latin satiare, satiatus;

satis,

Saturn

to

make

of general license

Capability of being satiated,

satiability.

from the sun of the

(in

was

astrology)

one

cold,

sluggish,

was a time of unrestrained revelry, even for the slaves; hence saturnalia, a period

the

Cp. saxatile.

.

farthest

gloomy; hence saturnine. As god of agriculture, however, the festival of Saturn, held in ancient times in mid-December,

Latin

also saxatile, stony; among rocks, also

saxicolous

saxicoline, sick)

Italian

whence

of

his son Zeus (Latin Jupiter,

by

The

.

remoteness,

filling oath.

sassmous.

god

seven planets known to antiquity. Cp. Diana. Because of its slow motion and

a good mouth-

.

Italic

to sow); later, identiagriculture (root fied with Greek Cronos, deposed as king sa-,

PART ONE (1596); You swear

iv,

like a comfit-makers wife

the

Originally,

and

revelry (plural in

form, but sometimes used as a singular).

enough. Note

satyrion.

A

satiable, is

satyrion,

from

root as sad

cause the plant was used as an aphrodisiac. The use was probably suggested by the testicular shape of the bulbs; various

that

sateless,

that cannot be

sated,

in-

from sate, earlier sade, to become weary, to be glutted, from the same by

associa-

tion with Latin sat, satis, enough,

whence

changed

to sate

also dissatisfied [Satisfied

word/' (sated)

And

so

on

lie;

silk. An inferior quality of satin, in the 17th century, was given a

fancy Spanish ending and called satinisco, but scorned nonetheless; Overbury in his Characters (1615) speaks of a man who could afford only mock-velvet or satinisco,

and Fuller in fully isco,

his

WORTHIES (1661) scorn-

stuffs called

in the same century,

from

be-

known

white

pepper.

Such

love-

Rome, became

ancient

so

popular and so distracting from proper pursuits that they were forbidden by law. saulee.

meal.

Satisfaction of appetite; a saule, to fill with food.

To

French saoul, satullus,

full of

good Old

food or drink; Latin

diminutive of satur,

full;

whence

also English saturity (16th to 18th century), satisfaction, fullness. Satiate and

from Latin

satis,

that a saulie (Scotland, 17th

his shining

tury)

garments, might be called a satinist not to be confused though at times akin to

said:

a Satanist.

in

philtres,

satisfy are

perpetuano, satinbombicino, Italiano ... A dandy, lists

with

eaten

silken cloth; seta,

named

dogstones, goatstones, and more; cp. stone. The roots were at their highest potency if boiled in milk and

precipitation,

Smoothness (satin-like). Satin is probably from Late Latin pannus setinus,

Greek

orchid;

as foolstones,

to satiety.

satinlty.

of

species of the plant are popularly

a "kangaroo

containing a smaller synonym spelled within it; other such are

deceased, dead; recline, rain.]

is

kind

satyr os, satyr; so

enough. Note

and 18th

Langland in PIERS PLOWMAN J wolde forto have my .

.

.

(1377) fylle of

that frute forsake al other saulee.

576

cen-

was a hired mourner at a funeral.

scaevity

saunderys

saveloy.

A

seasoned

highly

cooked and cervelat.

saxhorn.

See gaylede.

saunderys.

dried.

A

sausage,

corrupt form of

Cervelat was used in the 18th

century for a short thick sausage, usually eaten cold. The word is from Old French cervel, Latin cerebellum, brain.

From

the

shape of the cervelat, the word was also applied to a short reed musical instru-

ment

(also

cervalet,

as

though with a

diminutive ending) like the bassoon.

The

say.

See barytone.

See sea.

A euphemistic variation of God's bodikins, God's little body. A common exclamation of the 17th and 18th 'sbodikins.

centuries, as in

DON QUIXOTE in English

(1733): 'Sbodlikins! I find there's nothing in making love when a man's but once

got well

into't.

See scabredity. Applied to until Victorian days

scaberulous.

scabrous

saveloy (three syllables) was enjoyed in Dickens mentions the 19th century; Solomon Pill regaling himself with an Abernethy biscuit and a saveloy in THE

writing,

PICKWICK PAPERS (1837); and Smiles in LIFE AND LABOUR fifty years later mentions

scabrous and hobbling.

a gastronomist who would stop at a stall in the Haymarket and luxuriate in eating a penny saveloy.

meant rough; Ben Jonson

scabredity. Roughness. Latin scab rum, related to scab ere, to scrape,

rough,

Also scabridity.

scratch.

scaberulous, scabrous.

THE FORME OF CURY (1390): Sawgeat. Take pork, and seeth it wel, and grinde it smalef and me die it with ayren and brede ygrated; do thereto powdor fort and safron, with pynes and salt. Take and close litulle balles in foiles of sawge. Wete it with a bator of ayren, and fry it, and

knobs);

A dish.

It

,

serve

it

Hence

old English scab, scabby. Scabrous first (as a rasp, or with tiny

meant rough

then, (of writing style) harsh, unpolished; then (in the 19th century) risque obscene; THE ATHENAEUM

rough,

1

,

of 3 March, 1894, was shocked that

Maude

.

.

.

and adultery . . and many other scabrous topics. Burton in THE ANATdivorce

.

OMY OF MELANCHOLY

.

saxatile.

Hence

Stone-like.

Latin saxum, rock.

saxify, to turn into stone, petrify.

The plant saxifrage (break-stone) was so named because it grows in clefts of rock, but Pliny and many after him (Bailey, 1751) derive the name from the plant's (supposed) efficacy in breaking up stones in the human bladder. Hence saxifragant, saxifragous

ond

syllable)

,

(accents

on the

sec-

capable of dissolving such

stones. Cp. sassinous.

Mr.

has chosen to write about

(1624) the faults in physiognomic

forth.

scabrid,

somewhat

scabriusculous,

These words, from the Latin, should not be confused with the good

might seem related to (which is roundabout from Latin salsum, salted) but sawgeat is from sawge, sauge, now sage, A recipe from sawgeat. a sausage

in DISCOVERIES

(1637) said: Lucretius is scabrous; Dry den (1693) declared the verse of Persius is

lists .

among

inequali-

ties, roughnesse, scabredity, palenesse, yellownes.

Relating to chess. Italian scac-

scacchic. chi,

chess.

How

quickly disuse destroys

one's scacchic ability! scaevity.

Also scevity* Unluckiness. Latin

awkward, unlucky. In 17th century dictionaries. Similarly sinister is from the Latin word for left-handed;

scaevus, left-sided,

dexterity, the Latin

577

word for right-handed.

scantle

scaffolder

One of the gallery-gods; one in the gallery of a theatre (which

scaffolder.

that

is

until recently

had no separate

rows of long benches)

but

seats,

Bishop Hall in

pictured a drinkThere if he pot-fury): poet (cp. inspired can with termes Italianate, Big-sounding

his third SATIRE (1597)

sentences, and words of state, Faire patch me up his pure iambick verse, He ravishes

the gazing scaffolders.

scaldabanco. preacher.

A

hot

Italian

a

disputant; to

scaldare,

fiery

heat

+

Williams (1670): The Presbyterians, those declamers, had scalda-banco's, or hot

Commons at

distast in the

the King. The similarly formed mountebank has survived; and cp. bankrout. (The

mountebank

and

the

player formed the lowest legal class in the Middle Ages. In the tariff of damages for

blows and other

strolling

insults, for

mountebank assailant*s shadow on a

in retaliation might cuff his

See dentiscalp.

Replaced later, in some senses, by shamble and scramble. To scatter money, fruit, sweetmeats, etc., for a crowd to scramble for; to struggle for such hence,

to

struggle

indecorously

Thus Shakespeare has in KING JOHN (1595): England now is left to tug and scamble and to part by th' teeth The un-owed interest of proud swelling state. Also, to make one's way as best one can, to blunder along; to make shift (for rapaciously.

a meal); to gather up as one can, to scrape together; to walk clumsily. Hence scambling (1) rapacious, as in Shakespeare's

HENRY v

(1599):

,

Molussus

scamble in the court, that was wont to fast so oft in the university,

answers:

Thy

is

belly

A

scandaroon. lar.

From

and

Criticus

thy God.

See scanmag.

swindler, a cheating ped-

the reputation

(17th century) of Iskanderun, a seaport of Syria. There was an English trading post there, in the

18th and rived,

when ships arof their safety was sent back

19th century;

word

carrier pigeon; hence scanda of carrier pigeon. kind aroon,

to

Aleppo by

scanning. Scandal; malicious words against the highly placed. Humorous or as in Sheridan's THE CRITIC satirical, (1779):

The publisher

himself with

.

.

the pillory,

.

threateneing or absolutely

indicting himself for scanmag. The word an abbreviation, scan, mag., of Latin

is

scandalum magnatum, scandal of magnates, made severely punishable in a statute of Richard II of England. The

wall.)

scamble.

and

SAPHO AND PHAO (1584)

says: I am in the deapth of my learning driven to a muse, how this Lent I shall

noble,

graduated penalties merchant, peasant, etc. might exact, the

things;

Lyly's

example, the

an offended

scalpel.

A

scaiidalum magnatum.

banco, bench. A 17th century term, as in Bishop Racket's sermon on Archbishop

wrought a great

quiet time; (2) makeshift, clumsily executed, slipshod; blundering; rambling. scambler was a parasite, a sponger. In

The scambling and un-

first kept in the literal sense of malicious reports against persons in a position of dignity, were later used of anything

words, at

scandalous.

MADAM

Thus

Massinger, in THE CITY more punishable in

(1632): 'Tis

our house than scandalum

The

chief substance of

magnatum.

many a

"gossip-

column" of today would once have been

deemed scanmag. scantle. less;

To

cut short,

to tury) scantelize.

grow

scanten;

to (17th century) scantle (skantell;

As a noun,

scantlet; scantling)

speare has, in

578

dole out;

replaced by to scant. Also (16th cen-

,

a small piece. Shakeiv, PART ONE (1596),

HENRY

scathe

scape

See

how this river comes me cranking in, And cuts me from the best of all my land

ship; drunkship; fiendship (hostility; opposed to friendship) Also beorscipe (beer-

A

ship, feast); eorlscipe, manliness.

huge halfe moon, a monstrous scantle

out.

The

scape.

however, has cantle,

folio,

(1)

.

q.v.

Short for escape. Used in a

f

his beyond-sea-ship. In cheating, Bishop Hall (SATIRE

in the form of a play), which mentions all the London theatres then standing

1597) said:

though a zealous Puritan wished them down: That the Globe, Wherein, quoth he, reigns a whole world of vice, Had been consumed: the Phoenix burnt to ashes: The Fortune whipt for a blind whore: Blackfryars, He wonders how it scap'd demolishing T th time of reformation: lastly, he wished The Bull might cross the f

Thames,

to the

Bear-Garden,

And

suer's clutches, as in the BIBLE,

lov d

brewers

MARK

special meanings of scape were a transgression through thoughtlessness; an inadvertent error, such as a slip

Among

(1),

Book

3;

Was then no playning of the scape, Nor greedy vintner mixed

See aeromancy.

scapulimancy.

See ciclatoun. Originally scarlet

scarlet.

meant a but

rich cloth, usually bright red, of other colors (blue,

sometimes

green,

brown)

.

Other old meanings of

scarlet include: a let,

century, tury, fian,

person that wears

a judge, a hunter

a

scarletite);

scar-

early 19th the 18th cen-

(also,

in

a Mohock, an aristocrat street rufas in J. Shebbeare's LYBIA (1755): /

expected to have seen her . encouraging the young bloods, bucks, and scarlets at a riot in Drury-lane. .

xiv.

sense I,

[with water] the strained grape.

there

be soundly baited. The punning on the names did not scape Randolph's readers. Escape is from Latin ex, out 4- cappa, cloak; one leaves one's cloak in the pur-

is

live, usually humorous, combining form, as in His Uglyship. Beaumont and Fletcher said, in PHILASTER (1611): 1 never

passage in Randolph's THE MUSE'S LOOKING GLASS (16S8; a defence of the theatres

as

This

a

still

.

(a)

of the tongue, (b) a cheating, a breaking from moral restraint; a serious sin, es;pecially, a

breach of

phrase to

let

chastity,

(c)

In the

scape, to break wind. his translation (1547) of

a

Chaloner in Erasmus* IN PRAISE OF FOLLY wrote: I for my parts, through laughter, had almost let goe a scape, as Priapus did. (2) The shaft of a column; the tongue of a balance. Also scapus; hence escapement; Greek skapos, related to skeptron, sceptre. (3) view of scenery: short for landscape, sea-

A

cloudscape, and the like. The scape in these words is Old English scipe, scape,

ship,

The

meaning

state of,

or quality,

scatebroTis.

Bubbling out

s catere,

to

ship, partnership, scholarship, courtship. Earlier words include dolscipe, folly; glad-

water from

spring forth. Hence, a gushing or bubbling out; scatebrosity, used figuratively of 'gushy' conversation. gush,

In 17th and 18th century dictionaries. scathe.

One who wreaks harm, a

a monster. So in

wretch,

BEOWULF

(8th century). Hence, damage, harm. From the 10th century. Also a verb, to harm, to injure; to

blast, to sear. Scatheful, scathel,

harmful, dangerous. Scathness, harm. Scathefire, a fierce conflagration. Hence scatheless, un-

harmed; and the

skill.

ship survives in such words as hard-

like

a spring; abounding. Johnson (1755) de7 fines it as 'abounding in springs. Latin

still

current scathing,

blasting, searing (of verbal attacks). Shakespeare says, in TITUS ANDRONICUS (1588):

And

579

wherein

Rome

hath done you any

sciolous

scatomancy

him make

scathe, Let

The

treble satisfaction.

negative form unscathed

scatomancy.

sciapod.

A

lables, accent

a scato-

dung-diviner manter. Inspection of the feces, for such purposes, is scatoscopy. As a science, scat-

which

ology;

is

also used to

as in Saintsbury's

nography, LITERATURE (1887):

A

mean

por-

One

we

leave

of the sdapodes (four sylsigh-ap') , a race in

on the

Libya with feet so large the body could be sheltered under them. Cp. monopode (mono-}.

ELIZABETHAN quantity of

large

mere scatology and doggerel. Scavenger's daughter. See duke. Scavenger, here, is a folk-corruption of Sheving-

in

Greek

ton.

A cup. Also schenche, to pour These are 13th century forms; cp.

scenche.

Relating to, or to the study of, Also scioterical, scioterique.

sciatheric.

shadows.

out.

skiomachy,

fuller

See aeromancy. The word is medical diagnosis by study is

taste for

exposure of this portentous mare's nest to other hands.

applied also to of the feces.

As we have no the

survives.

sciathericon, a sundial (used rarely

English);

a

literally,

shadow -f theran, sciatherics means the

shadow-catcher;

to catch.

skia,

The form

art or practice of sundials. Sciatherical, relating to

making

the shadows cast by the planets or (espethe sun; sciatherically, after the

cially)

shenk.

manner

of a sundial.

scibility.

Ability to

schoenobatic.

Relating to rope-walking. Pronounced skeenabatic, accent on the

Greek schoinos, rope,

bat.

walk. Also schoenobatist

no)

Used

a rope-walker.

,

bainein,

to

(accent on the of 19th century

scholy.

root

is sac, sec,

The

tinguish. is

circus performers.

of the centuries.

With a smattering of knowlon the sigh. Also sciolistic.

sciolous.

A

question for debate in

a theoretical point; a fine a point; merely theoretical point, of no practical importance or concern. Used in

and 17th

the 16th

their sermons, said

centuries.

Gouge

TARY (1653; HEBREWS)

and curious

scialytic.

uratively, atheric.

,

in

They stuff his COMMEN-

with obscure com-

schoolpoints. fig-

making one

sti-

cheerful.

Cp.

Shadow-boxing; a sham

fight

Greek shia, shadow + matchesfight. Pronounced sigh-amf-a-ky.

for exercise.

Cp.

THE

to

sciatheric.

Also used figuratively, as in

CHRISTIAN'S

REMEMBRANCER

edge. Accent

Late Latin of scius,

(1862):

sciolus, smatterer;

knowing;

scibility; scious.

scire,

Hence

to

diminutive

know;

cp.

sciolus, sciolist,

a

pretender to knowledge, a conceited ignoramus. Also sciolism. Coleridge (1816)

spoke of an epidemic of a proud ignorance occasioned by a diffused sciolism.

A

Dispersing shadows; hence,

sciamachy.

thai,

present participle of scire whence all the science

sciens, scientem,

See scolion.

schoolpoint. the schools;

parisons

comprehend. Latin know; cp. sciolous. The to split; divide, hence dis-

scibilis; scire, to

little

knowledge

is

a dangerous thing.

Farrar might have been looking forward or backward when he wrote, in 1876, of the empty sciolism of much that calls

James Howell in DODONA'S OR THE VOCALL FORREST (1640)

itself criticism.

GROVE,

said piously: / could wish that these set-

olous zelotists had

with their zeale.

80

more judgment joynd

scomfit

sciomancy

from which there was tury, also scholy) a verb to scholy, to annotate, to comment.

See aeromancy,

sciomancy.

See sciatheric.

scioteric.

The

may

and

be,

else

scirpean.

We

are, scions.

except

Of

or

when

find

it

no-

to

relating

We

A

scollardical.

conscious.

an

Latin scirpus, bulrush.

bulrushes.

will

not

let

know

a

quality

in

that,

to

many, lapses

with childhood. Accent on the

siss.

Latin

of sciscere, to

sciscitari, to ask, repetitive

seek to know, inceptive o scire, to know. 17th century term; C. Cp. sdbility.

A

Nesse in THE HISTORY AND MYSTERY OF THE OLD AND THE NEW TESTAMENT (1690)

Abraham immediately departed without sciscitation or carnal reasonings. said that

scoleye. to study.

scolay,

To go

to school; to

Old French

escole,

be a scholar, school. Also

skole-aye, schole heye. in the Prologue to THE CANTER-

scholey,

Chaucer BURY TALES (1386) tells was of Oxenford also

us:

A

But

clerk ther

he mighte of his freendes hente, On bokes and on lerninge he it spente, and bisily .

.

.

al that

gan for the soules prey Of hem that gaf

him wher-with

to scoleye.

scolion. A song the parts of which were sung in succession, by various guests, at banquets in ancient Greece. Also skolion, scolium; plural, scolia. Sometimes played as a game, the first guest making up a line of verse, then passing a branch to any

man

of learning.

people believe

scolopendra. eagerness

Questioning;

contemptuous term,

illiterate, for a

as of

Whit-

lock in ZOOTOMIA (1654) exclaimed upon these peevish scollardicall doctors (that

think of the

scirpean bank to which the infant Moses was entrusted. sciscitation.

have been invented

said to

is

by Terpander (7th century B.C.), who also, by increasing the lyre-strings from 4 to 7, invented the heptachord.

Possessing knowledge. Pronounced sigh-s; cp. sciolous. In the LITERARY REMAINS (1834) of Coleridge we find: Brutes scions.

where

scolion

A

when hooked,

lies quietly).

curious

sea-fish

"casteth out his

that,

bowels,

he hath unloosed the hooke, and then swalloweth them up againe." Also scolopender. Spenser in THE FAERIE until

QUEENE

(1590)

speaks

of Bright scolo-

pendraes, arm'd with silver scales. The word was also used (and still, in entomology) of a large, formidable centipede; by transfer, of an obnoxious woman, as in Shirley's THE GAMESTER (1633): More wine, you varlets!

And

call

your mistress

up, you scolopendra. scomfit.

To

defeat,

vanquish.

A

short-

ened form of discomfit, used in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Also as a noun; the STATE PAPERS of Henry VIII (1540) comment upon the skumfite gyven upon O Neyle and O Donell at the laste insurreccion. Also to scomfish, from discomfish, another variant of discomfit Hence scomfiter, one that discomfits, a victor. scomfiture, defeat. Note also scomm, used in the 17th and 18th centuries to mean

a

scoff, jeer, flouting.

This

skomma; skoptein, to

is

jeer,

from Greek scoff.

Hence

also

sing the next line* Although sometimes mispelled with sch,, scolium, scolia should

scommatism, scommatizing, derision, scoffing; scommatic, scommatical, relating to or characterized by scoffs or derision. Henry More in MYSTERY OF INIQUITY

not be confused with scholium, scholia, an explanatory note (in the 16th cen-

angle a good part of the day into the

other he wished,

who must make up and

(1664) said:

581

He

that has been casting his

scrannel

scomm

Love: after which follow the Pleasures of Insanity concerning Scortatory Love. Cp. conjugiaL Latin scortum, an old hide,

and brings home no fish, may yet be Mr. Fisherman or Mr. rightly saluted river,

Angler on his return, though not without some kind of scommatism at the bottom.

THE THEATRE OF INSECTS reason

See ensconce.

sconce.

First

scope.

for shooting at;

scope, to the purpose,

Shakespeare's TIMON OF ATHENS 'Tis conceytfd, to scope.

See

scour.

as in

(1607):

up by

To make

snatch.

Greek

.

.

1537 BIBLE

(1

Samson,

SAMSON) pictured the capraved in their handes

who

and scrabled on the dores The word has been revived

of the gate. as the name

of a game, a cross between cross-words

and anagrams.

scopulous. See scopiferous. Used in the 16th and 17th centuries; the words from

the brush and broom forms came into

English in the 18th century. Cp. saxatile, Relating to fornication or lewdness. Swedenborg wrote a book en-

scortatory. titled

(in English translation, 1794):

lights

of

Wisdom concerning

A

made when

me from

tive

commented (1611) on the ILIAD: In this first and next verse. Homer (speaking the fountaine

a mild scrabble.

a scrawling or hastily or piece of writing, as

.

skoptikos; skoptein, to jeer. Thus scoptics, satirical or mocking writings. Chapman

sceptically) breakes open of his ridiculous humor.

is

frequentative to claw; to

the Fine Art Society, a series of twenty black and white scrabbles. The

to

scoptical.

scribble

A

scratch,

Ruskin recorded, in the October 1881 came NINETEENTH CENTURY: Yesterday

rocky;

scopuloumess, scopulosity.

Mocking. Also

to

is

picture

scopulus means rock, scopulosus, craggy;

scrab,

A

scrabble

diminutive of scopa, broom; but Latin

scoptic.

marks at random,

scraping around.

form of

bundles; scopulate, brush-like, with brushlike hairs. Note that Latin scopula, brush,

,

skirr.

scrawl; to scratch or scrape with the hands or feet; to scratch up (out, off) , to gather

also scopiform, broom-shaped; arranged in

(##.)

of

See lobscouse.

scouse.

scrabble.

hence English scopulous

and

See biscot.

scot.

with a dense scopiferous. Equipped brush of hair, Latin scopae, twigs; a broom or brush + fer, bearing. Hence

is

/ see no

of the private use of copulation.

a goal; a desired object or person. Thus Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) cursed night, that reft from him so goodly

To

why

said:

the modesty of the bee

the drone, whereby they abandon publick scortation and venery, should debar them

used in the 16th century,

word meant a mark

scortator,

of harlots"; scortation, fornication. John Rowland's translation (1658) of Muffet's

scum.

scope.

Hence

a hunter (Blount, 1656) "a whoremonger,

scomm. See scornfit. Also scomme, scorn. Note that scorn is also an old variant of

this

a harlot.

hence,

skin;

De-

Conjugial

Thin; harsh, unmelodious. Norwegian skran, lean, shriveled. Milton used the word first, in LYCIDAS (1637): Their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; all other uses seem echoes of the first. Carlyle in SARTOR scrannel.

RESARTUS finite,

(1831)

scrannel-piping.

582

bemoans a kind

unsufferable,

Jew's-harping

The word

of in-

and

scranny was

scruze

scribuncle also used, in the

19th century,

meaning

meagre

when

the rat speaks in Shelley's CLUB-FOOT

THE TYRANT (1820): Creeping thro' crevice, and chink, and cranny. With my snaky tail, and my sides so scranny.

scrine.

A

box

for books

the

ways

17th century, then replaced by the

scrinerary, scriniary, a keeper of the archives.

scripturient. Possessed of a powerful urge to write. Latin scrip turiri, to desire s crib ere, scrip turn, to write, also scribe, nondescript, and all

write;

the scriptures; cp. scrivener. Hence also scripturiency, a fault, said Urquhart (1652;

THE JEWEL)

scorchet, scr-ottiszarttis,

in feeble pens. Also

known

in hybrid (Greek and Latin) form, cacoethes scribendi, itch to write.

of wonder. It

A

scroyle.

word: scrinium, a writing-desk, a chest.

to

scorzatis,

and other

was a special favorite

in Scotland.

and papers; a

Hence

and the

of the word,

scrotchertis, schoiretts, schoters,

later form, shrine. Bailey in 1751 gives the original Latin form as also an English

whence

many forms

scorzat,

desk. Especially, a chest for sacred relics, a shrine. Scrine was used from the 13th to

the

sweetmeat popular from the

references to 56 of them, to 10 Ib. of them:

See anonymuncle.

scribuncle.

A

scrochat.

15th to the mid-17th century. The recipe is lost; but its favor may be judged from

(in dialects, crazy, silly), as

thin,

scoundrel, wretch.

A

common

word among 16th and 17th century dramatists; revived by Scott in KENILWORTH (1821). Shakespeare exclaims in KING JOHN By heaven! these scroyles of (1595):

Anglers flout you, kings!

That can be comprehended

scrutable.

after scrutiny. Cp. couth. Latin scrutari,

to ransack,

scrutatum,

broken

scruta,

stuff,

search

carefully;

the idea of the

trash

verb being apparently to hunt even amid the scraps.

Hence

scrutinate, scrutine,

also

and

scrute,

scrutate,

the current scru-

Also scrutation, scrutiny; scrutator,

tinize.

scrutineer; scrutmant, scrutinous, occupied

in investigating or examining; scrutatory, searching, examining.

scrivener.

A professional penman;

scribe,

clerk, secretary. Earlier (13th to 15th century) scrivein, scriveyn; French escrivain.

Hence

to scrive, to scriven. Also scriven-

liche (Chaucer), like a scriver or scrivener. Latin scribere, scriptum, to scratch, to

write; cp. scripturient.

From

came 16th century English

the Italian

scrivan, scri-

A spring trap-door, flush with the

scruto. floor

of

through,

a

stage,

for

sudden

for

a

to

ghost

rise

and other

falls,

PUNCH in 1859 speaks of gorgeous scruto on which work, gas battens, and all the resources of 'sink and fly' have been lavished. effects.

transformations,

To

.

.

.

squeeze. In the 18th century the form scrouge (pro-

vano, a clerk. Chaucer (1574) addressed a copyist: Adam scryveyne if ever it thee

scruze.

byfalle Boece or Troylus for to wryten nuwe. Scrivener was also used, with measure of contempt, to mean an author; Sou they in SIR THOMAS MORE (1829) wrote:

nounced skroodge) and in the 19th century used as a noun: a squeeze; a crowd. Perhaps a telescoping of screw and squeeze. Spenser has, in THE FAERIE

A

QUEENE

very

little suffices

for the stock in trade,

upon which the scribes and scriveners of literature,

who

take

upon themselves

direct the public, set up.

to

often

used in

Having scruzed out of his The lothfull life, and again:

(1590):

carrion corse

Whose sappy

liquor,

that with fulnesse

sweld, Into her cup she scruzed with dainty

583

seel

scullion

breach Of her fine fingers. The miserly Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL o.f

villain

named

is

(1843)

One

scullion.

that

Rabelais says: Like dung-chewers and excrementitious eaters, they are cast into

menial

performed

a kitchen-knave;

Shakespeare, see catastrophe.

sea.

An

the privies the covents

An

secre.

See skirr.

An

of

Urquhart in

hence often used as a term of scorn or abuse. For an instance of such use in

scylid.

translation

Scrooge.

duties in the kitchen,

scur.

withdraw into retirement; then, the current use, to withdraw from fellowship, etc.

old form of skilled,

skilful.

his

and secessive and abbeys. early

form of

(1653)

that

places,

in

all its

syllable,

hence

secret,

uses.

Accent on the second

also

spelled secree.

From

the

the

15th

used

frequently

century;

is

12th into

by

Chaucer. old variant of

so;

(1)

(2)

say,

a cloth of fine texture, in the 16th century partly of silk, later all wool; the

secundate.

thread of which this cloth

favorably; secundus, favorable. Secundus is the gerundive of sequor, secutum, to follow, meaning that which should fol-

is

woven;

(3)

the see, the papal seat. Roper in THE LIFE OF SYR THOMAS MORE (1557) recorded that

when

the sea of

(1522)

Roome chaunced

and Cardinal Wolsey (because of the intrigue of Emperor Charles V) was not chosen pope, the Cardinal waxed so wood [angry] therwith that he studied to be void

to invent all waies of

revengment grief gainst the Emperour.

of his

To

separate; especially in to into categories, to disdivide thought, criminate. Since the 17th century. Latin

secern.

(1)

se, aside,

apart

+

cernere, to

sift,

to sepa-

whence also discern. The SATURDAY REVIEW of 15 April, 1905, observed that mimes cannot be utterly secerned from their life of mimicry. (2) To separate from

rate,

the blood;

to secrete.

Hence

secernent,

secreting; secernment, the act of secretion, also separating, as in THE YELLOW BOOK. (1894): With the universal use of cosmetics and the consequent secernment of soul and surface. secessive.

+

apart

Hence

Latin se, Retired, private. cedere, cessum, to yield, to go.

secess

(16th and I7th

.

a monas-

Hence secundation,

low.

the act of help-

ing or favoring; prosperity. Found mainly in 17th seel.

and 18th century

(1)

To

dictionaries.

on

lurch suddenly

its side,

as a ship in a storm. G. Sandys in his translation (1621) of Ovid's METAMOR-

PHOSES wrote: They plie their tasks: some seeling yards bestryd and take in sailes. Also a noun, the heeling over of a ship. (2)

seele,

cele,

seill

(15th

century)

,

a

canopy. Perhaps from French del, sky. (3) sele, sil, seyll, and many more forms, happiness, good fortune; opportune mo-

ment, favorable time; by extension, time of day, period of time. To give the sele of the day, to pass the time of day, greet pleasantly in passing.

Hence

also seeli-

head, seeliness, happiness. Chaucer said in BOETHIUS (1374): Som man is wel and married, It is from seelyf happy; then, pious, holy, good; then, harmless, innocent, that there came (16th century)

selily

the

still

current sense of

stitch the eyes of a bird;

silly.

(4)

seel, to

a falcon or

hawk

might be trained (16th and 17th cenThe original sense of secede was to turies) by stitching its eyelids, tying the 584

withdrawing, retirement tery)

centuries),

To make lucky; to improve. Latin secundare, secundatum, to direct

(as to

semble

segnity

thread behind the bird's head. Hence, to hoodwink, to make blind. Thus Shakespeare in OTHELLO (1604) says: Shee that so

young could give out such a seeming

To

seele her fathers eyes up. Also used figuratively as in Lyly's CAMPASPE (1584):

Al conscience is sealed at Athens; Shakespeare in MACBETH: Come, seeling night, the tender eye of pittiful day. This form, though at times spelled seal, is not related to seal, a mark or impresskarfe

Used from the 9th into the 16th Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE his so (1596) has: She wondered much at selcouth case. Scott revived the word in THE LORD OF THE ISLES (1814): Deep import from that selcouth sign Did many a mountain seer divine. velous.

century;

seld.

up

An

(1)

used

in

speech,

early

form as

compounds, taciturnity;

of seldom, also

(Shake-

A

seat, speare in CORIOLANUS, 1607) (2) a throne; a shop (which may first have been but a bench); a stand for spectators. .

sion,

which

is

French from Latin

via

sigillum, diminutive of signum, sign. It was earlier (12th century) silef to sew up

a bird's eyes; French cil, eyelash; Latin cilium, whence also supercilious. See sile.

Shakespeare uses seely, silly, in RICHARD 11: Like seely beggars Who sitting in the stocks refuge [excuse] their shame, many have and others must sit there.

That

fashioning words for future use. Segnity (in Cockeram, 1623; Blount, 1656; Bailey, 1721, 1751) has not yet had its day.

To

separate,

jugate, sejungate, sejoin.

apart

+

Also

se-

From Latin

se-y

disjoin.

jungere, functum,

may be

separated. Bishop

stated:

able from the fish

and

power

of

still

of generation.

We

benches;

hence

An

like

old spelling said

sellary,

on a

Me

picture as mar-

a seat, sedere, to sit: lewdness

settle/

semble.

A

Cp. spintry. short form of the verb, used

widely (13th through 17th century) assemble and resemble; less often, dissemble.

Thus Dekker and

THE PATIENT

GRissiL

The word semble

times used,

in

legal

for

Chettle in

wrote:

(1603)

for

Hee

tells is

his

some-

and other formal

phraseology (direct from the French) to mean, it seems. There was also a 15th and 16th century adjective semble, meaning

couth, known. What thinks sel-

to

(2)

it

sella, selda,

of

make wonderful,

eat

sellary, 'one that practices

English

+

of

male homosexual prostitute. The Latin form sellarius was coined by the Emperor Tiberius, from sellaria, a room with

different

what wonder.

an early form

A

similar, as in

strange, kinds. Old

is

A cellar.

(1)

celery,

marvel-

couth, I have selcouth, I wonder. Also used as a noun, a marvel; and as a verb, to

sellary.

intentions.

(1659) are sejunge-

and yet

seld

See aeromancy.

selenomancy.

Unfamiliar,

seldan, seldom selcouth,

fowl,

sense,

does not flatter and semble, but

THE CREED

retain the prolifick

lous;

that

John Pearson

The spawn and egge

selcouth*

or

also se~

sefungible,

sejunctively;

in his EXPOSITION OF

join

Hence

jugare, jugatum, to yoke.

junction,

to

this

Swift in a letter of 1727 to Sheridan. (3)

nis, slow, sluggish. Dictionary-makers of the 17th and 18th century were fond of

sejunge.

In

settle.

of

Slothfulness. Latin segnitia; seg~

segnity.

seld-

seldseen;

seld-showne

Du

name

Hudson's translation (1584)

Bartas (JUDITH): A tyrant vile Of and deed that bare the semble stile

That did this king. Shakespeare in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601) used semblative to

mean as the

585

like,

resembling:

maidens organ,

Thy

small pipe Is and sound,

shrill,

sennight

semibousy

And all

is semblative a womans part. Thus sembly (14th into the 16th century) was used for assembly. Hence, sembling, representing, feigning; but used by 18th

first

also

cer

and 19th century entomologists to name the property certain moths possess of distinguishing and assembling the males from far away. A sort of telerotic attrac-

Sails of silk

Half-drunk. Bousy has meant drunk since the 15th century, as in De

semibousy.

Quincey's HERODOTUS (1842): and every day got bousy as a piper. The adjectives, bousyish, are

from the verb bouse,

bowse, to drink to excess (in company). These forms were pronounced with a

long oo, and have been supplanted by booze. See bouse. Semibousy occurs first in the 14th century, but the condition is

perennial. semiustulate. ustulare;

Half burnt. Latin semi

urere, ustum,

also ustulate.

to

to burn.

(BY THE SEASIDE, 1850): and ropes of sendal) such as

Longfellow

gleam in ancient

See seneschal.

seneschal.

The

all

an official in an English cathedral; by extension, a governor of a city or province; especially, of the English Channel Islands. The word is from Old Teu-

Also,

tonic forms; seni-, old

But note

Hence

Burton in THE ANATOMY OF

Latin senescere, to grow old; less familiar the English verb, as in a letter of

office

My

(1894):

(Not

work yet,

soon

will

Robert!)

The

of seneschal, or the seat of his ad-

ministration, was seneschalsy, seneschalty, seneschaunce, seneschausee.

See semyryfe.

An error in Bailey's DICTIONARY for semyvyf, semivtf, half dead. Latin semi, half vivus, alive. The form

semyryfe.

sennet.

An

(1751)

token,

signal.

+

semivyf (Langland, PIERS PLOWMAN, 1377) was used in the 14th century. Cp. samded. material of fine

used

silk;

a

set

signet, sign, of notes on

trumpet or cornet, as a signal, in Elizabethan stage-directions, Marlowe (FAUST; 1590):

sonnet;

Shakespeare ;

senet,

(HENRY vi, (HENRY vm):

signate.

English from the 13th century. In the 14th century, taken directly from Latin (and

Greek) sindon, the word was also used in the classical sense, (2) fine linen, lawn; especially, a piece of such cloth used for

The

form of

Also,

sennet, Dekker, sennate; Marston, synnet,

in

a shroud or for dressing a wound.

early

PART THREE; 1590)

a garment thereof. Also cendal, sandale, sendyll, sindall, syndale and more. A comword,

man

old

is

begin to senesce.

mon Romance

skalkoz, servant.

senex,

(senek is used in 15th century English, for an elder) , senem, old, senior, older,

Stevenson

A rich

+

Latin

also

whence many common English words: senile, senior, seniority. Senescent, from

4-

(1621) states that: Assation a concoction of the inward moisture by heat; his opposite is a semiustulation.

(1)

and

domestic administration, a majordomo.

is

sendal.

in a king's or a

official,

lord's household, in charge of justice

MELANCHOLY

semivif.

lore.

See seneschal.

senek. senesce.

tion, semble.

also

sense lingered in poetry, from Chau(Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES, 1386): Lyned with taffata and with sendal

sennight. count the

A

week. Note that the French

week

differently, their term being huit jours, eight days. Similarly, where we say fortnight (fourteen nights),

they say quinze jours (fifteen days) Senis the same day in the following .

night day week.

586

serean

senocular senocular.

Having

B E

[B

E M,

A convenient

word to be used by

(though niggardly) the

six eyes.

M

pensters of science fiction bug-eyed monster]. Also senocu-

late.

A

shortened form of assent, used in the 14th and 15th centuries.

sent.

set aside; to set apart, resepose. To brush to aside, dismiss. Also seposit, serve; set apart. Latin se, aside to sepone, ponere, positum, to place, whence many

+

English words: pose, deposit, imposition, etc. Hence seposition, a setting aside.

These were that

God

used in the 17th century. in a letter of 1609 remarked

all

Thus Donne

seposed a seventh of our time

for his exterior worship.

To

sepult.

Latin sepelire, sepul-

bury.

tum. Hence also sepelite, sepulture, to bury. In 16th century wills (Surtees, 1544):

my body to be sepulted; (Hulme, 1577): my body to be sepilited. Hence also sepilible,

burial.

suited

The

supplanted,

to

burial;

about

1600,

by

sepulchre.

1616: (in an EPIGRAM of not Where merit is sepulcher*d alive} and most since, on the first. The words were often used figuratively, burying other than

Jonson

CHRONICLES (1548, corpses; thus Hall in his of Henry IV) has: An hundred more injuries,

which he remitted and sepulted in

wrote of Those superstitious horrors that

The fond sequacious

enslave

easily moulded. Latin sequax, (the plural sequaces, followers,

was used in English, 16th and 17th cenwhence turies) , sequi, secutum, to follow, and inconsequential sequel, prosecute, things. Of poetry and music, sequacious

herd.

sequent. In rare use as a noun, meaning a follower. Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) says: And here he hath

sequent of the stranger in the 17th century, used Also queenes. to mean sequel Elias de Trekingham was born, said Fuller in his WORTHIES OF ENG-

framed a

letter to a

as

at a village called, (1661) will the appear. Especially in sequents by the phrase logical sequent.

LAND

so

,

sere.

(1)

Dry, withered.

Common

since

the 9th century. Shakespeare in MACBETH lived long enough; (1605) says: / have into the seare, the Is falne life of

my way yellow

Hence

seir. leafe. Also sear, seer, seyr, also sere-souled, withered of spirit;

the sere month, August. (2)

There

is

a

noun

a (from Latin sera, bolt) meaning claw, a talon, as in Chapman's translation (1618) of Hesiod: The hawk once, having trust up in his seres The sweet-tuned ,

nightingale.

(3)

From

ground (Old Norse

meant

separate,

still

another back-

ser, for oneself)

single,

distinct;

sere

various,

Thus sere-coloured, parti-coloured; In FLODDEN (on) serewise, in divers ways. FIELD (1600) sere was used to mean 'all sundry.

The number

did but

and twenty thousand

to follow the leadsequacious. Tending or attitude or point of view of ership

another;

ton moved in paces too sequacious and in SUMMER (1746) processional. Thomson

told':

oblivion.

follower

said that Mil-

Quincey (RHETORIC; 1828)

sere

Shakespeare (TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, 1591) accents sepulchre on the second syllable;

literature,

maintaining one direction; De

sepelition,

various verb forms above were

succession; of

meant regular in metrical

mount To

six

seere.

Pertaining to the Seres; related to Also serian, seric. Latin sericum, which, via Anglo-Saxon sioloc, gave us serean. silk.

English silk. Hence also sericated, clothed in silk; sericeous, silky, (in zoology and botany) covered with silky down. All from

Greek Seres (two 587

syllables),

the inhabi-

serpent

serendipity tants of Eastern Asia,

The

West.

to the

whence

serian

came

silk

worm, the

silk-

A

serinette.

French

bird organ.

The LONDON JOURNAL

canary.

serin,

of 27 Feb-

worm; the Seres' wool, silk. Drummond of Hawthornden, in a poem of 1633, says, Here are no serean fleeces. And of course

ruary, 1858, reported: There are puppetshows, and performances on the accordion,

the seric herb

passage.

serendipity.

This

finds.

is tea.

The is

faculty of

making happy word to have for from Saul

who coined

letter of 28 January, it

from the

title

the word, said in a

he took

1754, that

of a fairy-tale,

The Three

the princes "were discoveries, by accidents

Princes of Serendip;

always making and sagacity, of things they were not in

name

quest of." Serendip was an early

Ceylon.

Any resemblance between

of

serendi-

pity and heredipety (q*v.) is purely coincidental. What Ogden Nash did with

the

word in THE PRIVATE DINING ROOM

cannot be called serendipitous.

To

grow serene. Also serenize, serenify. to make serene. The translation (1612) of Benvenuto's PASSENGER said:

It's

the faire, virmilion, pleasant spring,

meadowes laugh, and heaven serenifies. Taft in ALBA (1598) wrote: This my Icarian soaring ('bove

beauty serenising

falls

my reach), Through my heart Note that

is a two-syllabled word, meaning the quality of being dry, withered, sere, sereno, the Spanish word for a night-

sereness

watchman,

has

been used in

English

of Spain, serenitude was a* 17th century alternate for serenity, for serene,

stories

serenous

most

(15th century); serenissimous, serene, used by Jonson in THE NEW

INNE, 1629.

Thus

Serenissime, Serenissimo,

might be used before such Lord, Highness. sericated.

See serean.

titles as

A

Prince,

subterranean

the

sermon

short

the word, not the lecture) ette.

days,

;

(humorous also sermon-

These were both used in Victorian when a long sermon was expected,

and usually

A

seron.

delivered. bale,

especially

(almonds,

products

of

cocoa,

exotic

medicinal

bark, etc.) wrapped in an animal's hide. list of customs rates of 1545 includes

A

a cheste of sugar ... a serone of soap a barrell of pepper.

.

.

.

Late in occurrence or appeartoward or in the evening. Latin ance; sero, late; in the 17th and 18th centuries, serotine.

tardy pupils were

marked

sero (not zero).

Also, serotinous. Longfellow in his translation (1868) of Dante's PURGATORIO says:

As far as ever eye could the sunbeams serotine and

now

When

in

serinette

sermunele.

too good a

been wholly forgotten, (who went to look for his father's asses and found a kingdom) to the most recent work of art, serendipity reigns. Horace Walpole,

and the

serpent.

(1)

A

stretch Against lucent.

deceitful or treacherous

Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER DREAM (1590) has: With doubler tongue Then thine (thou serpent) never

person. NIGHT'S

adder stung. (2) A kind of firework that burns with a serpentine motion. Pepys recorded in his DIARY for 6 June, 1666: I made the

women

all fire

some

serpents.

A

17th and 18th century bass wind instrument, of wood covered with leather, (3)

having three U-shaped turns. Similarly, other articles windingly shaped, as a spiral

A

candle.

ophicleide of

serpentcleide was instead of brass.

wood

an

An

+

ophicleide (Greek ophis, serpent kleid-, key) was a development of the musical serpent, with a brass tube (usually

588

eleven)

.

It

and with keys

was played in the

shab

serpenticide early 19th century, as the bass to the keyIt was a common belief regardbugle. ing the snake, recorded in ancient Greek,

sesquipedalian. Of many syllables. Horace in THE ART OF POETRY (about 20 B.C.) spoke of sesquipedalia verba, words a foot

also in Dryden's translation (1680) of OEDIPUS, that a serpent ne'er becomes a flying dragon Till he has eat a serpent.

and a

See

serpenticide.

A

serpigo.

stillicide.

spreading skin disease; ring-

worm. Latin serpere, to creep; serpentem, creeping, whence serpent The plural was serpigoes or (from the Latin) serpigmes.

Also serpego, sarpego, sapego; surpeague, q.v.

Shakespeare in MEASURE FOR MEASURE lists

(1603)

the

gout, sapego, and the

rheum. Bondage,

servage.

slavery; feudal service,

homage. Also servagery. Chaucer uses the word in both senses: in THE CLERK'S TALE . to been in (1586): It is greet shame that born To art thee, of a smal servage in THE DETHE OF and BLAUNCHE village-, .

(1369):

my

Al

lorde,

sesame.

.

this I put in his servage As and dyd homage.

Most children know Open

to

that sesame

is

Se-

long time before they learn the name of an East In-

dian plant, especially

and

known

for

its

seeds,

from them. Sesame and honey make a delicious confection. Other names for the plant and for the oil pressed

seeds

the seed are sesamum, sesamus, sesamine, the last also used as an adjective, while

sesamoid, sesamoideal mean shaped like a sesame seed. THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' EN-

TERTAINMENT (1785), telling the story, explained: Sesame (which is a sort of corn)

.

Similarly,

the

Hebrew password

used by Jephtha, shibboleth, plained in the Septuagint as an ear of corn.

q.v.,

is

Boswell

(1791)

justly, to

Johnson's Johnsonese.

applied the term, quite

survives in pedantic

The term

humor. Hence,

ses-

quipedalianism, sesquipedalism, sesquipedality. The terms are also transferred, to

other sorts of great

size,

as

in Sterne's

TRISTRAM SHANDY (1759): With a breadth of

back,

and a

sesquipedality

of

which might have done honour

belly, to a ser-

jeant in the horse-guards. sew. As a noun. In Old English, juice, moisture. Later, broth, pottage; especially, onion broth. Then, a dish of minced

meat stewed with onions. Thus sewes, dishes of meat. Chaucer uses sewes in THE SQUIRE'S TALE (1386), and Warner in ALBION'S ENGLAND (1586) liked to have gud spiced sewe and roste, and- plum-pies for a king.

same! as the magic password to the cavern in the tale of ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES,, for a

half long; the 17th century seized the term, as in K.W/s (1661) scorn upon of noddle-puzzling sesquepedalian words.

ex-

and the Vulgate

sewel.

An

old variant of shew el, scare-

crow

(in those times, usually scaredeer). Also sewell; cp. aschewele.

seynt.

A

girdle.

ceint'3

lish)

Old French

Latin

cingere,

(also

Eng-

cinctus,

to

bind, to gird. Also ceynt, saynt, seinte, saint, sent.

A

seynture (French ceinture), Used from the 13th

centure, a waist-belt

into the 16th century. In Chaucer's Pro-

logue tO THE CANTERBURY TALES

(1386) read, of the Sergeant of the Law: He rood but hoomly in a medlee cote, Girt

we

with a ceint of silk with banes smale.

To get rid of; to put (a person) to slink or sneak away; to trick, de-

shab. off;

Shabaroon (defined in 1700 a ragamuffin, in 1847 shabbaroon, shabroon as a mean shabby fellow, as ceive, or rob.

as

shard

shaffron

form

the

though

were

from

derived

shabby), a disreputable fellow, a villain. THE LONDON SPY (E. Ward, 1703) speaks of Poor loose shabroons in bawdy-houses bred.

The NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE

in

1838 noted that if recognition from a corthe oneted carriage stamps you a lord notice of a shabaroon can be nothing less than a hint to your tailor to send in .

his

bill

J.

P.

Kennedy

in

.

.

ANNALS OF

QUODLIBET (1840) said: / hold the people in too much esteem to shab them off with anything of a secondary quality. Hence also shabrag, the worse for wear; a down-

mean person. T. Bridges in TRAVESTIE (1762) wrote: None of your Bromingham affairs, Nor any such

at-the-heels,

HOMER

shabrag wares, But good new halfpence from the Mint, With honest like

George's face in print. shaffron.

shattaradan. Used in the early part of the 19th century; as Victoria's reign progressed and the carriages grew older,

shandrydan was used, in humorous scorn, for an old rickety carriage. boisterous; Wild, visionary, Also shandy-pated. Used empty-headed.

shandy.

mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries, possibly related to TRISTRAM SHANDY; see Shandean. shandy (19th century) might also be a shortening of shandygaff, q.v.

ger-beer,

Hughes' TOM BROWN AT OXFORD (1861) pictures the pleasure: With a large pewter, foaming with shandygaff, in each hand. Christopher Morley was so struck with the drink that he wrote a book with

shanks' mare.

A

variant of scimitar, more closely approximating the Persian form. The Anglo-Indian is shumsheer. Used in

shard.

the 17th century,

water;

Shandean.

Whimsical; given to spurts of playfulness or nonsensicality, as in the novel TRISTRAM SHANBY The (1759) .

author, Laurence Sterne, described TRIS-

TRAM SHANDY as a civil, nonsensical, goodhumoured Shandean book, which will do your hearts good. Sterne also said, in a letter of 9 July, 1762: / had hired a chaise and horse . . but, Shandeanlike, did not take notice that the horse was

all

.

almost dead in his NOTES

when I took him. Jefferson, ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA

(1782) remarked: His familiar, except

style

when he

is

easy

affects

and

a Shan-

A

light

cart.

Also

$handamdan,

shandry;

A gap,

Teutonic root

From

a break.

the

common

skar, to separate; see

sham.

Hence a gap

in the land, or the dividing so used in Spenser's THE FAERIE

QUEENE

(1590)

.

By

extension, a fragment

earthenware; to break into shards (sherds), to break beyond repair. Also used figuratively; Longfellow in EVANGEof

(1847) speaks of the shards and thorns of existence. Also shard, a patch of cow-dung; hence, shard-born, born in dung, as a beetle. Shakespeare in MAC-

LINE

BETH (1605)

says:

Ere

to

summons The shard-borne his drowsie

black Heccats beetle,

with

hums, Hatft rung nights yawn-

peale. ing [Johnson, misinterpreting Shakespeare's borne as meaning carried, suggested in his DICTIONARY (1755): Per-

the sheaths of the wings of insects.

carriage with a hood; a

shandradam,

See bayard.

haps shard in Shakespeare may signify the

dean fabrication of wgrds. shandrydan.

title

Shandygaff (1918).

See chamfrain.

shamsheer.

A mixture of beer and ginpopular in the 19th century.

shandygaff.

shanderydan, shatterydan,

writers

an

insect's wing-case;

AWATHA

590

Some

have thence used shard to mean

(1842);

Longfellow in HI-

The shining shards

of

shawm

sharn beetles; Earl Bulwer-Lytton in THE WANDERER (1857) wrote of the advancing twi-

trumpeter.]

Hence

sharded, broken into fragments

(of the

shard-born

light's

moon:

crescent); living in

covered with dung; but

IN is

sharpshins cut the pockets of

all.

A

shaveling. (1) contemptuous term for a tonsured churchman. Common on Pro-

dung; shardy,

also,

BYGONE DAYS (1860) remarked: Money said to burn the pockets of some folks

having wing-

and 17th

cases,

testant lips in the 16th

PATRA; sharded in CYMBELINE.

Tennyson speaks of a turncoat shaveling in his historical drama BECKET (1884). (2)

as the coleopterous insects. Shakespeare has shards in ANTONY AND CLEO-

sham.

Dung,

especially

A young fellow just

of cattle.

Also J.

and more. Old English scearn, root skar, to separate, whence also shear and ploughshare. Cp. shard. Hence sharnbud, sharnbug, dungbeetle, sharny, sharny-faced, bedaubed with dung. The meat of frogges, said Topsell in his book on SERPENTS (1608) are greene hearbes, and humble-bees, or scern, shearn, shairin, shurn,

centuries;

able to shave. George

Melville in GENERAL BOUNCE; OR, LADY AND THE LOCUSTS (1854) Spoke

Whyte

THE

of the shavelings

shaw. cially,

(1)

A

aspire to dandyism.

thicket, a small

a strip of

to a field.

who

The

(2)

wood;

espe-

wood forming a border stalks

and

leaves of

12th and

plants (potatoes, turnips) of which the edible parts are underground; the part that shaws (shows). Hence, to shaw, to cut off such tops. The playwright Shaw

13th centuries, to the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds) in lieu of the dung the Abbey

has given English the adjective Shavian; he was a Shaver of sham. Darwin (in F.

would have received from the manorial

Darwin, LIFE AND LETTERS, 1842)

shorne-bugs. Also, sharn-penny, the yearly

payment per cow

practice

of

(especially,

the

having

tenant's

.

folded on the lord's land. sharpshin,

(1)

Quick-witted, keen. Called

the

'proverbial* by Edwards, in WORDS, FACTS, AND PHRASES (1912), with its origin given

German

scharf, sharp 4-

listed in

O.E.D.

(2)

Sinn, wit.

There

is

?

Marryat in PETER SIMPLE Four sharshins to a pictareen. said: (1834)

little

But

value."

A DICTIONARY OF AMERICANISMS

(1951) says that a sharpshin (besides being short for the sharpshinned hawk) was an eighth

of a coin: "one of the sharp-edged, wedgeshaped fragments of a coin cut to secure small change." Thus Mordecai in VIRGINIA

The

word came via Middle English schallemelle and Old French chalemel, chalemie, from Latin calamus, reed. Walt Whitman

in jocular allusion

on the coin. Apparently originally a name for some coin of very small value; later, used as a type of what has

in Chaucer, see galliard.

a globular mouthpiece. Cp. bandore.

divergence

to the eagle

word

.

shawm. A medieval wind instrument (of the oboe family), with a double reed in

Not

of opinion here. The O.E.D. gives sharpshin "U.S. Probably a back-formation from

sharpshinned hawk;

spoke

of a country . possessing a certain charm in the shaws, or straggling strips of wood, capping the chalky banks. For a use of

cattle

uses

Calamus for a group of his poems. in many forms; Chaucer

Shawm appeared used

shalmyes, chalemyes, shalemeyes; shalemuse; Spenser, shaumes.

Caxton,

Beaumont and Fletcher in THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE (1611) have the Citken declare: Ralph plays a stately part, he must needs have shawns. Tennyson and Swinburne use the word; the sun is so vivid to Francis Thompson that he cries, in his ODE TO THE SETTING SUN

And

591

sheder

sherryvallies

in

translation

his

of

DON

see the crimson blaring of thy (1888): I

lett

shawms!

QUIXOTE: Truce with your compliments and skink away! The forms were used

See heder.

sheder.

from the 8th to the 15th century. A 19th century form shenkbeer, from German schenken, to pour + Bier, beer, was used of a weak beer that had to be used

sheltron. A phalanx; originally, a body of troops with their shields locked to form a roof and wall about them. Old

+

a

tavern

it

AMANTIS

(1390) speaks of a pause at a taverne forto schenche That drink which maketh the herte brenne.

cept in historical references.

See shenk.

shench.

shent.

To

shend.

to

disgrace;

blame, punish,

Also

This was a very common many forms, from the 8th centhe 15th it had dropped from use tury; by save in the participial form shent, bewildered, stupified, overcome with fatigue. scold.

revile,

turn sour. Also shenker, keeper. Gower in CONFESSIO

quickly, lest

truma, troop. Also scheltroun, schiltron, shultrum, and the like; not used after the 15th century, ex-

English scield, shield

word, in

Thus

Cp. shent.

in THE OUTLOOK of 11

we read / stood utterly February, shent and powerless. The word developed 1905,

other meanings: to destroy, ruin; more to

mildly,

damage,

spoil;

defile,

Chaucer in THE PARSON'S TALE,

Whoso

toucheth

warm

pitch,

it

periority, as in Spenser's

The past participle of shend, q.v. (13th to 15th century) as a noun,

as an adjective, disgraced; ruined, stupefied; as a verb, to hesitate

disgrace;

shenting for shame, said THE DESTRUCTION

OF TROY (1400) Shakespeare uses meaning blamed, rebuked, in THE WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598); TWELFTH CORIOLANUS; HAMLET, where the resolves to reproach his mother: .

speak daggers

soil

1386:

shent his

put to shame by one's

to

fingers

to her,

PROTHALAMIUM

them

seals never,

sherris.

Wine

excellent sherris

centuries),

century),

shending (13th ignominy,

disgrace,

A

cynical proverb of 1400 has that Who saith truth is shent.

ruin.

it

my

My

soul, consent.

of Xeres (a

(14th and 15th

16th

I will

but use none.

Spain)

PART TWO clares that

town in Anda-

Shakespeare, in HENRY iv, (1597), expert here also, de-

lusia,

to

NIGHT; Prince

See shard.

sherd.

Also shendfulness, vileness; shendlac, infamy (13th century); shendness, (10th to 14th century); shendship stars.

shent,

MERRY

tongue and soul in this be hypocrites, How in my words soever she be shent, To give

su-

that did excel The (1596): These twain, rest, so -far, as Cynthia doth shend The lesser

(1755)

.

The second property of your is, the warming of the

blood. Mistaken for a plural, sherris destill widely current sherry.

veloped the

Heavy trousers, buttoned on the outside of each leg, usually worn sherryvallies.

shenk.

To

drink.

Also

pour

liquor, to give

schench,

scencan,

someone shenche,

shennkenn, senken, schenkyn. Cp. nuncheon* Shench, a drink. Also, both verb

and noun,

skink, to

of

pour

out, serve, offer

Chaucer,

Douglas, Shirley, Dryden, Fletcher, Hobbes; Smol-

(mainly

drink);

over other trousers, for rough journeys

on horseback and the

like.

The word was

used in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries; it is ultimately from Arabic sharawil, Syriac sharbala, Persian shalwar, meaning that sort of garment. The form

592

sherwood sherwal

worn

shortheel to a man penny-wise, pound-foolish, one that failed in a great enterprise through a trifling lack.

used for the loose trousers

is still

in parts of Asia.

A greenwood, a pleasant forThis came to be used as a general name, from the popularity of the story of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest. Thus Phaer in his translation (1562) of the AENEID speaks of the shirwood great where sherwood. est.

self

defence and free resort

An

shete.

A

adornment by some Praised by Falstaff (Shakespeare wants us to sense his bad in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR taste!)

Duke Romulus

early form of sheet, sheter was a shooter.

shev el-mouthed,

bit,

is

mouth, from shevel,

come

distorted.

shoot,

mittance. shog. To shake, jolt, jar. Also shogge, shogke, shug, and the like; echoic, like jog; in most senses supplanted by shock.

be shevel-gabto have a wry

to distort or to be-

Thus sheveled and

Also, to shake a person in anger, or to wake him; hence, to annoy. By extension,

di-

sheveled had the same meaning, though only the compound form (perhaps seem-

to

his pronunciation.

shibboleth flood;

it

meant ear

The Hebrew word of corn or stream in

was used,

at

the ford of the

Jordan River, by Jephthah

(in the BIBLE:

JUDGES) to distinguish the fleeing Ephraimites (who pronounced not sh but s; see sibboleth)

from

his

own

Gileadite forces.

The same shift has become fixed in the word anti-Semitism; the Semites are the descendants of Shem. shidder. ship.

Preserved in the old

saying about losing a ship for a hap'orth of tar. Hot tar was used to brand sheep that grazed on the commons, to identify their ownership; not to buy a half-penny's worth of tar, to brand a sheep, might

mean

its

loss.

The

away. Shakespeare (1599): Will you shogge

phrase was applied

in off?

unsteadily.

shoop. The fruit of the rose, the hip. Also choop; showpe, shoup. Used from the 15th century; a cook-book of 1721 tells

How

to

candy shoups.

A

shootanker.

variant

form

of

sheet-

anchor, the large anchor used only in an emergency; hence, figuratively, a last resort or reliance. Thus Merygreeke, look-

ing for a meal (in Udall's RALPH ROISTER

A variant form of sheep, still found lea.

go

DOISTER; 1553)

See heder.

in dialects. Cp.

to jog along; to continue

Also shoggle (shoogle, shuggle), to shake; shake off; shake or settle down; walk

A

pass-word, or a test-word, to check the identity or race of a person

by

to

steadily;

HENRY v

See aschewele.

shibboleth.

walk in a series of jerks, to walk on and on;

later,

ing the more emphatic) has survived.

sheweL

tire.

(1598): Thou hast the right arched beauty of the brow that becomes the ship-tire, the tire-valiant, or any tire of Venetian ad-

To

See disannuL

shevel.

headdress resembling a ship,

a feminine

Elizabethans. See

uptooke.

shut.

A

ship-tire.

deemed

of all

men he

says of is

my

Ralph: For truely

chiefe banker,

for meate and money, and

my

Both chiefe

shootanker.

(1641) Bishop Montague called Christ the shootanker of salvation.

shortheel.

A

A

prostitute. Also shortheels.

term of the late 16th and early 17th

century, indicating lack of balance, aptness to fall. Sue Shortheels, a whore is

593

showes

shot

one of the characters in Rowley's A MATCH AT MIDNIGHT (1633): Lyly in MIDAS (1592) describes such a

woman: High she was

in

A

shotclog.

.

(see shot-

HIS

to

(1599) , when declares / am out

ten,

bill.

others:

A rush or rapid motion; especially, A

All at one shote, in a volley. variant of shoot and shot, used in the 14th and 15th

also figuratively as in

poet:

Why

many

compounds,

Among

self-explanatory.

shoulder-clapper,

an

officer

(1609) speaks of bankrupts who after midnight, and then march

revel

home

again fearelesse of the blowes that any showlderclapper durst give them. (2)

proof

the 16th cen-

W.

(I)

in

Dekker in LANTHORNE AND CANDLE-LIGHT

centuries. shot,

Used them

tail.

assigned to arrest someone (as for debt), a bailiff, a sheriff's officer. Very common in Tudor times; also, showlderclapped.

the flight of arrows. Hence, the arrows thus shot; the act of shooting with a bow.

from

Sir

a

herring hath shrimps in her

the

Used from

in

religious polemic about 1533 spoke of heretics that have as much shame in their face as a shotten

shoulder.

Safe

worthless.

worn;

emaciated,

Thomas More

most of

(1)

a shotten herring. Also,

shotten milk, curdled milk. Hence, shot-

drawers (the waiters) that wait to present

against missiles.

am

earth, then I

HUMOUR

and be not made a shot-clog any more. In the same play Carlo cries out: Holla! Where be these shot-sharks! meaning the

translation

roe,

(figura-

Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART ONE (1596) says: // manhood, good manhood be not forgot upon the face of the

Fungoso, reforming, of those humours now, Macilente retorts: Well, if you be out, keep your distance,

tury;

especially,

person,

person tolerated in the com-

MAN OUT OF

shotfree.

its

in the phrase shotten herring, apa useless, worn out, worthless

tively)

Also shotlog. In Jonson's EVERY

shote.

exhausted

is

plied

pany because he pays the shot free)

that has spawned, has 'shot*

fish

See biscot.

past participle of the 15th century of a

Used from

hence

the instep^ but short in the heel; straight laced, but loose bodied, shot.

The former

shotten. shoot.

Tooke's

shoulder-stick,

a passenger on

a stage-

coach whose fare the driver did not turn

(1820) of Lucian, of a poor are the Muses invulnerable to

in.

In the 19th century, to shoulder, to

you and

cheat one's employer.

of

one that gives a blow straight from the shoulder; by extension, a ruffian, a bully; Holmes in THE PROFESSOR AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE (1860) remarks that no shoulder-striker hits out straight er

shot-free? (2) Free from payment shot (charge at a tavern, etc., cp.

biscot); by extension, unpunished, scotfree; also used of a meal that is gratis.

Thus

shot-flagon, a pot of ale given

the host

when

by

the customers have drunk

more than a shilling's worth of ale. A one that spends enough to entitle him to a shot-flagon. Shakespeare in HENRY rv, PART ONE (1586) says with

than a child with

shot-pot,

double pun: Though I could scape shot-

See shotclog.

shoulder-striker,

shoup.

An

showes.

A

its logic.

old variation of shoop, q.v. variant form of shoes.

Roper

MORE (1557) reported that Adrian VI, when he became Pope, cominge on foote to Roome, before in THE LIFE OF SYR THOMAS

free at London, I fear the shot heere: here's no scoring, but upon the pate,

shotshark.

(3)

shoulder-hitter,

his entry into the Citye did

594

put

off his

sib

shrew hosen and showes, barefoote and barlegged passing throws the streates towards his

(from the 10th century)

pallacie.

An evil or ill-disposed person; the devil, also, a malignant planet; hence, anything evil. Therefore, a scoldshrew.

beyng stripped into his shroud, Foxe by shroud meant undershirt. By extension

also,

(12th

ing woman, especially, a bossy wife. Hence, to shrew, to curse, to beshrew (wish evil

NONNE PREESTES TALE I

shrewe us bo the two both

myself begyle as

me

with the

(1386),

And

newe shroud. Incidentally, the shroud for burial was a white cloth, but association

blood and

bones If thou But often with the I omitted,

CYMBELINE

Shakespeare's

with the color of mourning has led to

(1611):

frequent references to sable shroud; Gil-

Shrew me! and THE WINTER'S TALE: Shrew

bert in RUDDIGORE

(1887) speaks of Inky clouds, Like funeral shrouds.

Also shreward, a scoundrel; shrewd, wicked, evil, malignant; a shrewd turn, a malicious injury. Hence shrewd-

my

heart!

Only shrewdness from the earlier

ciousness.

And

shrewd)

(like

meaning

of

the shrew was thus

named

in

England

as

early as the 7tht century; an animal (such as the horse) paralyzed (supposedly) by being overrun by a shrew-mouse, was

called

shrew-afflicted,

struck, the

shrew-run, shrewto lead or draw

remedy being

it through a briar growing (rooted) at both ends, and to bury the shrew alive in a hole bored in an ash tree (the shrew-

ash)

The

.

shrew, villain, wretch, gradu-

ally lost its force, and was as by Stevenson in BLACK

Our poor shrew POLITE

word

used playfully,

ARROW

of a parson.

CONVERSATIONS

That cannot be avoided,

evitable.

Shakespeare

Marriage

figuratively:

but housekeeping

is

is

honourable,

a shrew.

meant

See bailer.

shuttlecock.

A

shyderyd.

variant form

shattered. Skelton,

when

of shivered,

a gentlewoman

him a skull (WORKES; 1529; brynnyng) pictured the corpse With

sent

cp. sin-

news wyderyd, With bonys shyderyd, With worme etyn maw, And his gastly jaw

his

Gasping asyde, Nakyd of hyde. sib. Kinship; hence, by extension, peace, amity, concord. This is a very common word from earliest English until the 16th

even later

as

an adjective mean-

ing, related, akin. Also sibness, sibred, re-

peace, concord. sibling were used until about 1450 to mean one close of kin; sibling

lationship;

sibsomeness,

Sibman and

shroud.

Before

century)

a cloth for a corpse,

this

Swift in

in-

CORIOLANUS

in

(1607) speaks of shunless destiny.

century (1888):

used the

(1738)

I beshrew all shrowsl

shunless.

wickedness to the current sense of sagacastuteness in practical affairs still ity, retaining, however, implication of ethical heedlessness. The insectivorous mammal,

An

early form of shrew, q.v. In Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1594) Katharine exclaims: A pox of that jest!

shrow.

head, shrewdom, shrewdship, shrewhead, shrewishness, wickedness, depravity, mali-

moved

vesture in

,

/:

I shrewe

first

the

14th century),

to

which natural things are clothed; of the springtime Chaucer said, in THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE (1366) And then bicometh the ground so proud That it wol have a

sometimes, as in Chaucer's THE

upon)

clothing in gen-

an article of clothing. Foxe in his ACTES AND MONUMENTS (1563) Spoke of Latymer's execution, but when he wrote eral, or

(late it

16th

meant

has been revived in this century, in sociology, to mean a brother or sister. Gillespie, in

595

A DISPUTE AGAINST THE ENGLISH-

sicker

sibboleth

POPISH CEREMONIES (1637) uses sib figuraNearer to sycophancy than to tively:

landish to which the writer wants to call

hossincerity, and sibber to appeaching than gossip was fraternal charity. tility relative a by God, a god-sib, originally

thus marking the other person's

A

sponsor at baptism,

god-father

quoting

the current

meaning

sibboleth.

To

nunciation. See shibboleth.

Thomas

Herbert, in A RELATION OF SOME YEARS TRAVAILE (1634), said that a place is called (or as they sibboleth, Sphawand by most writers differently

Spawhawn hawri)

shocked by half the things he or otherwise castigates. assassin. Also, as

an

adjec-

behaving like an pertaining assassin. Latin sica, dagger. Used rarely, but in the 15th, 17th, and 19th centuries. to or

tive,

Also sicarious; W. Taylor remarked in THE MONTHLY REVIEW of 1811 that ceroccasion

may

prejudices

Sicilian

vespers, and expose to sicarious destruction every British resident.

sib.

A

prophetess; a fortune-teller; a witch; a hag. Also sibylla, sibille, sybil. Greek sibylla; a woman possessed of sibyl.

An

sicarian.

tain

See

sics

really

spelled.

sibsomeness.

reviewer's

however, E. B. Box suggested in THE ETHICS OF SOCIALISM (1889), IS not

of gossip.

Sir

modern

is

taste,

or god-

speak with a special pro-

The

responsibility.

from whose usual behavior came

mother

something he

especially in

attention,

To

siccate.

to

dry,

make

dry.

Used

in

the 16th and 17th centuries; also siccicate.

Latin

siccare, siccatum, to dry; si ecus, dry.

powers of divination. There were sup-

Hence

posedly ten of these in ancient times;

has the property of absorbing moisture, of drying; siccation, the

PART ONE (1591) of deep prophecie she

Shakespeare in HENRY declares:

The

spirit

vi,

hath, Exceeding the nine sibyls of old Rome. Hence also the Sibylline books of

the

was

Sibyllist

especially

(1775)

early

Thou wanton woman of Endor!

exclaims:

thou amorous

sybil,

an

accepted the Sibylline authentic. Sheridan in THE

as

DUENNA

one,

or

who

Christian,

books

a Sibyllianist

oracles;

Sybilline

and again: Handsome! Venus de Medicis sibyl to her. In its more pleasant

was a

although

used

it is

connotations,

my good

as

a

girl's

name,

friend, of Ilium, uses

the form Sybil. sic.

An

form

(later

such, such-like.

sic, so,

thus, is

indicate

sice.

dice.

Six; especially, the

Also

still

The Latin word

used, in parenthesis,

an error or anything out-

size,

sysse,

throw of

sys,

six at

and the

like;

pronounced with long i. Chaucer in THE MONK'S TALE (1386) says: Thy sys fortune hath turned into Aas. Hence sice cinque, a throw of two dice with six and five

turned

up; similarly sice quatre; deuce; sice-ace, sizeace.

sice

trey; sice sicer.

Strong drink, intoxicating liquor.

Used 13th to 17th MUNDI (1300) said: ne wine.

siccan,

to

act of drying; siccitude, siccity, dryness.

such as

mainly Scotch) of such. The still earlier form was swik, swilk. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR says Sike fancies weren foolerie. Also early

also siccaneous, siccedj dry; sicca-

tive, siccific, that

Many

ciser,

The CURSOR dranc never cisar

century.

He

other forms were used,

cisere, cysar, sychere;

Late Latin sicera via Greek from

from

Hebrew

shekar, strong drink, whence the current dialectal shiker (short i) , drunk. Via

French from the same root came sicker.

Safe,

unshaken;

596

certain,

stable;

cider.

dependable;

careful,

firm,

cautious;

in-

sike

sideromancy dubitable;

secure;

genuine;

con-

fully

A

very common word up to 1500, thereafter northern and Scotch. Also sicor, sycher, sycur, siker,

vinced,

assured,

confident.

and the was an early English formation from Latin securus, from which secure was first used in the 16th century. Also sikkir, zykere, cykere, sekir, sekyre, like.

It

as a verb, to sicker, to secure,

to

assure;

put trust

sickerlaik,

sickerness,

make

to confirm

Hence

betroth.

to

surety;

in,

safe,

by a

sickerhead,

sickerty,

certainty.

In

ations.

this

also

sense,

X

(plural) sigla: Jesus Christ, (b)

An

sigle for

occult symbol,

sigillate, to seal; sigillated

marked with a

seal,

(also sigillate),

sigillary,

pertaining

to a seal, subject to the influence of a seal or charm, thus Surtees in 1834: That

maiden kiss hath holy power O'er planet and sigillary hour. Sigilled, wearing a seal or signet-ring. Pope in THE TEMPLE OF

FAME

violable seal of the Confessional

(ARIADNE; 1384) said: Now be we duchessis both I and ye And sekerede to the regalys

ENGLISHMAN'S

A

15th century [royal house] of Athenys. said: It is more sekyr a bird in your fist Than to have three in the sky a-bove.

Or two

A

sigalder.

charm, incantation. Old Eng-

lish sige, victory

+

used in BEOWULF to

galder.

mean

Galder was

to the 13th century. Also sigaldry, sygal-

Robert Manning of Brunne

in HANDLYNG SYNNE (1303) used sigalder as a verb: There was a wicche, and made a bagge, a bely of lethyr . . she sigaldryd .

so thys bagge-bely

mennys ky

[that it

said that they

(1711)

knew

sigils

the

Of

talismans

power And

careful

watched the planetary hour. From the

in-

came a as in THE

form sigilism, MAGAZINE for February, 1865: The following appear to be the principle crimes against which the edicts of the Inquisition were fulminated: imspecial use of the

Webb

in his translation (1880) of Goethe's

FAUST

said:

is

That it yede and soke went and sucked men's

A

book with sevenfold

sigil

the past!

a charm, in-

cantation; from galan, to sing, whence also the nightingale. Used from the 10th

drye, sorcery.

and

morality in the confessional, sigtlism (or revealing the secrets of the confessional).

in the bush.

See aeromancy.

sideromancy.

es-

pecially in astrology, supposed to have or to indicate supernatural powers. Hence

Misyn in his translation (1435) of THE FIRE OF LOVE speaks of the gostely fyer, in the whtlk thay knawe thame-self sekyr. Chaucer in THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN

proverb

and

sigle

known

a

is

sike.

(1)

A

small stream, which usually

dried in the summer; a ditch or channel.

Also syke. These are northern forms from

Old English

sic;

ern form was

the corresponding southrevived the word,

sitch. Scott

in a letter of 1818:

My

lake

is

but a mill-

pond, my brooks but sykes. All over England the sike or sitch was used in marking property boundaries, and

may be found

in

the

cattle].

place-names

through

land.

(2)

From sightsome.

Delightful

to

sightly, current in the alas

Also

behold.

more frequent

unsightly. sigil.

used

A

both noun and verb. The 9th century form of this word was siche, past tense sight, associated

A

in TROYLUS

sign or device: (a) in(3) to indicate words, or other abbrevi-

or signet. itials

A small image; especially, one seal charm. Also sigillum. (2)

(1)

as a

Frisian sike, a breath, sike (13th to 15th century) was used to mean sigh,

sik she

Thus Chaucer, (1374):

With a

sorwfully answerde, and in THE

LEGEND OF GOOD

597

with sigh.

AND CRISEYDE

WOMEN

(1385)

,

of Dido:

simkin

siker

She siketh mente.

sore,

and gan her

tur-

selfe

sile.

To

(1)

move,

away (18th century) to faint to flow (as pour (as rain)

to .

,

To

(2)

to cleanse

it.

Thus

milk through;

In

ceal, hide.

milk meant

soil the

sileclout, cloth to strain

siledish.

(3)

To

more

this sense,

.

Du

Bartas (JUDITH)

human

sight,

it

A

drink

made by milking

and spiced milk was mixed

sweetened

into

Sometimes

the

a

cider.

word

is

a

contraction

of swilling

The drink was a popular one

bubbles.

from the 1 6th to the mid- 19th century, and many forms of the word developed, including sillub (Scotch) sillibouk, sylibewk, syllabud, solybubbe, selebube, sillybob. Howell in a letter of 1645 urged: ,

Leave the smutty ayr of London and com hither wher you may pluck a rose, and drink a cillibub. By extension, sillabub was used of frothy, empty speech or .

writing;

.

hence,

anything

The new bonnets

See

silly.

used by Coleridge

seel. Silly is

1798) to mean buckets on the deck were

(THE ANCIENT MARINER,

The

silly

long without rainwater. See cymar. Pope, translation THE ILIAD: The maids in soft of (1720) simars of linen drest; Scott, IVANHOE a simarre of the richest Persian

THE

silk;

1893):

CENTURY

The dancing

MAGAZINE

(AugUSt,

girl in soft simar.

As

a bishop's robe (chimer) in the translation (1886) of Hugo's NOTRE DAME: The

simar had the worst of with the cassock.

The

simity.

Latin

simus,

Used in

the

state

of

Greek

it

in its collision

being pug-nosed. stilus,

17th century,

snub-nosed. as

in

John

Bulwer's ANTHROPOMETAMORPHOSIS (1650) where he notes that midwives are wont to

11

May,

press the lateral parts of the nose, that this simity of children may be the sooner abolished.

insubstantial. 1889, wrote:

are the veriest

trifles;

mere syllabubs of frothed-up lace. Thackeray used the form to mean a mixture; Aunt Lambert, he said in THE VIRGINIANS (1859) was one great syllabub of human ,

mid-1 9th century, especially for toasting royalty or celebrating great octhe

.

THE DAILY NEWS of

kindness.

for French kickshaws, f

(1819):

with

spiced wine. Bailey (1751) quotes Minsheu's GUIDE INTO TONGUES (1617), saying

the

Buckingham com-

of

simarre.

while a creeping worm.

cow

As

in troth we ave cellery and champain, none. The wine was eagerly sought and gladly drunk in England from the 17th

idle:

changed form: One while a rod, one

sillabub.

(especially

casions.

often (15th

17th century) seel, q.v. Also, to sew Hudson in his (the eyes of a hawk)

translation (1584) of Thus siling wrote:

plained, in 1688:

to

cover the

to mislead, deceive; to con-

eyes; hence,

to

The Duke

celery.

;

books advising one to

up

wine village

yards of Verzenay and Mailly. Also spelled

strain or sieve; especially milk. Also sell, soil Old farm and cook tears)

sec),

tended to wine from the neighboring vine-

subside;

fall,

glide;

faint, to sile

away;

excellent

from the

of Sillery, of Marne, province of Chamdepartment has been exword The France. pagne,

See sicker.

siker.

An

sillery.

sillery

simkin.

A

simpleton.

Sim

is

short for

Simon. From Simple Simon of the nursery rhyme, probably also association with simple (shortened to simp) + the diminutive ending kin, comes the not unfriendly term simkin, also simpkin. Henry May-

hew 598

in his LONDON LABOUR

ANB THE LON-

simnel

sin

DON POOR

(1861) says: Pierrot kin of the ballet.

A bun

simneL

made

is

when

it

of fine flour boiled,

was customary

to take

presents (such as these cakes) to one's parents, or to visit one's parents and receive presents. C. S. Burne, in SHROPSHIRE

FOLK LORE (1883) remarks that Shrewsbury simnels are eaten by many who do not heed the pious habit of 'mothering which they were intended to celebrate. Herrick in HESPERIDES (TO DIANEME, 1648) says: lie to thee a simnel bring, 'Gainst

thou go'st a Mothering.

ACTS

the Apostles.

clares;

IF IT

to

simony.

BE NOT GOOD (1612) dehold three or four

shall

by

church-livings

(got

Chaucer points

out, in

(1386), that both

symonwus

gold).

THE PARSON'S TALE selleth and he

he that

that byeth thinges espirituels

ben cleped

See simkin.

simple. Among the less remembered uses is: a medicament of but one constituent; especially, an herb gathered for medicinal use. This sense was common, especially

in the plural, from 1550 to 1750. Pope, in his translation (1725) of THE ODYSSEY,

where

prolific Nile

simples clothes the fat'ned to

With various soil.

Hence, herbs.

simpling, gathering Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) admires These lisping-hausimple;

an

He

also uses

pearance

in CYMBELINE, as

meaning having the ap-

adjective, of:

it,

with simular proof enough.

A word by many,

not forgotten, at

if

put aside. One errs as a result of environmental pressures; or one's neuroses least

are the consequence of inhibitions; obliga-

may

be within

itself still

(q.v.)

the

recall,

can name the seven deadly

seem word

in-

sin

how many

sins?

These

are pride, sloth, envy, wrath, covetousness, lust, gluttony. As the saints knew, the pride. Among the old comsin are: Sylvester, in his transBartas: Sucking the (1605) of

subtlest sin

is

pounds with lation

Du

The title of a The Book of Rates

sin-bane of Assyrian ayre.

book by Egane

(1673):

now used in the Sin Custom-House of Rome. Also sin-boot (sin-bote^ synbote;

symonyales.

takes us

virtue.

duty

None

simpkin.

simular. A pretender. Thus Shakespeare has in KING LEAR (1606) a simular of

Though

practices or upholds

water.

of his product.

creasingly Victorian.

money

with

town or parish pump; a pump. Used from 1870, after a dairyman named Simpson was prosecuted for such augmentation

Hence simonian, slmonlac,

one that

Dekker in

milk

dilute

tions, responsibility,

offered

simonious, relating

simony;

To

simpson.

to

viii)

simoniacle, slmonient, simonier, dmonist,

simonite,

smell like bucklers-

Also, to simpsonize. Thus simpson, water used to dilute milk; Mrs. Simpson, the

sin.

simony. The buying or selling of church offices or privileges; traffic in sacred things. Also simonism. From Simon Magus who (the BIBLE:

.

.

.

berry in simple time.

then baked. In particular, a rich currant bun, cooked for mid-Lent or Mothering

Sunday

thorne buds, that

the simp-

12th century) hired to take sins,

the

,

repentance, sin-eater, one himself a dead person's

on

usually through food eaten beside corpse;

hence

sin-eating.

Murray's

HANDBOOK OF SOUTH WALES in 1860

re-

The

superstition of the sin-eater ported: is said to linger even now in the secluded Amman, sin-rent, an offering vale of

Cwm

of

money

money, the

16th century;

German 599

in expiation of sin; also sin-

sinflood, the

sin-vlout,

Deluge (used from from

actually a leap

general

flood)

.

sin-

siquis

sinapize

wood, sinnewod (15th century) mad with Nashe in 1593 spoke of sin-gluttony. Sin used to trouble folk a deal. And ,

A

singult.

sob.

Latin

singultus,

talk

from the roots sim, toguor, gul, glu, to swallow

sin.

broken by

Charles Reade in THE CLOISTER AND THE

HEARTH (1861)

whence voracious, omnivorous, etc.; gullet, gluttony, and more. The form singul-

booths of Vanity Fair.

whence

says: The pair were drivin the sin-market At the a bargain ing

A

was

tury)

Via

sprinkle.

Rabelais'

Greek sinaptzein;

French from mustard.

tus

used in English to

is

sinapit (from the 16th cen-

sinapism a mustard

plaster.

Hence

relating to mustard; sinapistic, consisting of mustard. Looking at Paris in 1879 George Sala remarked: In the

sinapic,

majority of places of public entertainment the sinapistic condiment is simply vile*

mean

hiccuping,

also

singultuous. singultous, sobbing; L. Morris in THE

Singultient,

To

sinapize.

+

gether

sobs;

ODE OF LIFE (1879): The great Universe wakes with a deep-drawn singultient

word

the

Spenser uses

breath.

singult

(misprinted singulf) several times, e.g., in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): an huge heape of singultes did oppresse His Strugling soule.

A

Urquhart's translation (1653) of Rabelais . . took his head and into it says he

small piece of toasted or fried sippet. bread, for dipping into soup or gravy. Sippet is a diminutive of sop. Hence as

synapised some

a verb: Sippet

.

A man

sincanter. ally,

powder

of diamerdis.

(contemptuous)

;

usu-

an old decrepit man. Especially popu-

16th and 17th word took many forms; lar in the

(cinque, five;

dicing

centuries,

of 1656 gives succentor, he that singeth the base, which suggests the origin of the

forms smgcantor, sincantor.

A

or

fine

thin fabric, linen, cam-

muslin.

wrapped. Also syndon, sindony, sendony. Hence sindonless, naked. Many Papists,

Cooke in POPE JOAN (1610) are perswaded they have that syndon wherein Christs body was lapped, A Coventry said

,

Mystery of 1450 said: / gyf the this dony than I have bowth [bought],

wynde

the in

sin-eater.

See

whyl sin.

it is

mumps, say THE CAPTAIN

(1612), this lachrymae, this love in sippets.

new.

siquare.

sin-

To

Point of time, moment. Usually

in the phrase in that siquare, which occurs frequently in the Cotton manuscript (1300) of the CURSOR MUNDI.

A

public notice or announcement, often posted, announcing something lost, or requesting information; later, espesiquis.

Hence a garment or wrapper made thereof; specifically, the shroud in which the body of Jesus was bric,

and garnish the dish

possibly

cinquanter, cinquecater, cincater, cenkanter; also sinkanter; Blount's glossary

sindon.

it

transference, a small piece of

anything, a fragment: This Beaumont and Fletcher in

the

from quatre, four) were

By

(1681).

cially a

any

church notice asking

reason

why

a

certain

if

there

is

candidate

should not be granted ordination. From the first two words of the Latin notice: Si

quis,

EVERY

If

anyone

MAN OUT OF

Thus Jonson

.

HIS

HUMOUR

in

(1599):

Enter Cavalier

Shift, with two siquisses in his hand. Rarely used as a verb; thus,

THE GENTLEMAN INSTRUCTED (1713) / must excuse my depart otherwise, he

in

.

may send hue and quis

600

me

.

.

cry after in the next Gazette.

me, and

si

sithe

sirreverence

sir-reverence of,

it

meant with

sisserara.

stop,

stay,

make

stand;

espe-

by court or king's command. Also,

cially,

to stop, to cease. Latin sistere, stiti, staturn; to cause to stand; stare, to stand.

WOMAN

(1634) said: The beastliest sirreverence of this company a

man

To

sist.

all

respect for, with apologies to; Massinger in THE

VERY

I fell in love all at once with a

when

Originally this was an exof respect, save your reverence, pression sa' reverence, sir-reverence. In the phrase sirreverence.

COMEDY OF ERRORS

Used in the 17th century; in the 18th, became a legal term, meaning to summon, to cause to appear before a court. Louthian in THE FORM OF PROCESS BEFORE THE COURT OF JUSTICIARY (1732) discussed the manner of apprehending and

of a

sisting

rank whoremaster.

Then from

the

ex-

sist

pression of apology, the word was transferred to that for which one apologized; Shakespeare shows the transition in THE (1590) when, speaking he called her: a wench, greasy a one, as a such reverent body, ay, very man may not speak of, without he say fat,

sir reverence.

human

Hence, a vent of anal wind; lump thereof. In

excrement, or a

ROMEO AND JULIET Shakespeare says: We'll draw thee from the mire of this sirreverence love, wherein thou the ears. Smollett in

stick' st

Up

verb: Another time sirreverencing in a paper, and running to the window with it.

"Cuthbert Gunny-Catcher," author of THE DEFENCE OF CONNY-CATCHING (1592) playS

on the

expression: Sir reverence

on your

worship, had you such a moate in your eye that you could not see those fox-furd gentlemen, that hide under their gownes .

.

.

more falshood then

all

the conny-

catchers in England?

A corruption of (writ of) CertiAlso sessarary, sassarara, sassaray, sursurrara, and the like. Hence, a severe tongue-lashing, a flood of abuse. With a orary.

den,

with a vengeance,

violently,

Smollett,

all

in

of a sud-

HUMPHREY

CLINKER (1771): I have gi'en the dirty slut a siserary. Sterne, in TRISTRAM SHANDY (1765): It

the

court.

swimming. [In was also used mean help: a shortened form of as-

sistance.]

It

is

interesting to

note

(cp*

while simple forms of the past tenses of the Latin verb are used in that,

couth)

English state, status, station, statue the present is represented in current English

only by compounds:

desist, insist, persist, resist.

root

are

estate,

constitution,

even

obstinate,

restitution,

consist,

assist,

From

the

same

constituent,

stability,

and

justice.

See sike. As marking boundaries,

sitch.

in Coventry, 1581: A little way into the sitch there, called Sisley-hole . . and under the bridge up the sitche to Hynd.

siserary.

siserary,

to

HUMPHREY CLINKER

A

before

sistence twixt sinking and the 16th century, sistence

to

plate of marmalade would improve a pan of sirreverence. Head in THE ENGLISH ROGUE (1665) used it as a (1771) said:

delinquents

Hence, sistence, stopping, pause. Howell in DODONA'S GROVE (1640) said: Extraordinary must be the wisdome of him who floateth upon the streame of soveraigne favour, wherein there is seldom any

was on Sunday in the afternoon,

well. sith.

A shortened form of stthen, used in

various senses of then and since, 9th to the 15th century.

Used in the plural, alteration of cive. (2) especially for straining milk. (3)

sithe.

(1)

siihes,

chives.

An

A sieve, A vari-

ation of sigh. (4)

601

A

going, a journey. In

skellum

sithen senses

used

(2)

,

(3)

,

and

(4)

was

sithe

,

also

(2)

To

scatter,

disperse; send in various

Used from the 12th to the 15th DESTRUCTION OF TROY (1400) THE century.

The most

frequent use was in the sense

as a verb.

directions.

(8th to 17th century) of a journey, a path. This was common Teutonic, Gothic sinths, the causative

said that the Greeks skairen out skoute-

wacche for skeltyng of harme. To skelt was to be diligent; also, to scatter.

form of which gave us English send, to cause to go. Other meanings of this sithe developed: fortune on a journey, hence,

skander.

Noun and

Slander.

verb, of the

14th and 15th centuries. Also skaunder.

generally, fortune, luck; also misfortune, trouble (which often befell one on

The word sounds like a telescoping of scandal and slander. THE PASTON LETTERS

journeys); also, one's life-journey thus in the CURSOR. MUNDI (1300) . Also sithe,

in

time, occasion; used with

numbers

noysed and skaundered the seyd William.

to ex-

formed by

sithes better than they de-

to

says:

waile full

COME HOME The woods were heard a sithe.

many

skeet.

use as trouble: In scorn and sithe his.

May

all

your

sithe

to

especially,

him

Sithens silence lesseneth not

my

/ will reveal what ye so much

desire,

The

skamsmate.

meaning

I

.

.

.

.

.

O.E.D. says "Origin and

uncertain."

The word

curs in Shakespeare's ROMEO (1592): Scurvie knave} I am flurt-gilSj

fire

.

am none

oc-

AND JULIET none of his

of his skaines mates.

Partridge in SHAKESPEARE'S BAWDY (1948) defines it as ribald companion, and won(skain being an alternate spelling for skein} whether the word is not skeins-

ders

mate, one amorously impleacht, as Shakespeare phrases it in A LOVER'S COMPLAINT; cp. impleach. skair.

(1)

A Scotch and

variant of share, both

northern dialect

noun and

verb.

15th century word,

long-handled scoop or shovel; one for throwing water on the

hold a breeze. So used 15th to 19th cen-

See sith. Sithen was also very fre8th to 16th century. Also sithence, quent,

meaning sith, seeing that, since then. Chaucer has, in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386): Never siththen that the world began Spenser, in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590):

A

false

planks of a ship's sides in hot weather, or on the sails to make them the better

be merry!

sithen.

exact

A

In CURSOR MUNDI we also find the

sigh?)

and

or

(time?

jest.

breaking up of askanse. Also a skawnce. Thus, in a Towneley Mystery of 1460: Peace man, for godis payn! I said it for a skaunce.

serve. Spenser in COLIN CLOUTS

AGAIN (1595)

A

skaunce.

press frequency, or multiplication, as one of the poems (1430) of Lydgate observes:

An hundred

1424 observed that one Walter hath

tury. Also to

(12th to 15th century; related skeet,

shoot)

Thus

quickly,

immediately;

in a

Towneley Mystery of 1460: They were damned, soon and skete,

readily.

unto the paine of skelder.

To

pecially,

by

hell.

beg; to live by begging, espassing oneself off as a

wounded soldier. Also, to swindle, to cheat. Thus Jonson in THE POETASTER (1601): An honest decayed commander cannot skelder, cheat, nor be scene in a bawdie house, but he shall be straight in

one of their wormewood comedies. After the 17th century, the word was forgotten until reclaimed in the 19th century by Scott. Hence, skeldering, also used by Jonson (Dekker, Middleton) then Scott. ,

skellum.

A

rascal, scoundrel, villain. in the Introduction to Coryat's Jonson CRUDITIES (1611): Going to steal 'em, He findeth soure graspes and gripes from a

602

skelt

sleepwort

Dutch skelum. Burns, in TAM

word

(1790):

(1834) suggested that

o' SHANTER She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum, A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum. In South Africa, in the 19th century, skellum was also used of animals,

meaning a savage or brute See skair.

skew.

As a noun.

The

(1)

The

sky.

Used

until

A

A

skew surface.

in

A

(4)

wooden

to

to

overcast; mist.

move

To

the

dish;

escape,

14th

in slades

wisely

dangerous skewing upon age a skink.

man

(1)

a soup

A ham.

ant form of skunk.

The

(3)

made

A vari-

skinking-pot

is

the

from which wine was poured into

See skirr.

To move

of

that

dwell.

The

sleave.

A

filament of

silk,

obtained by

separating the strands of a thicker thread. Hence, floss-silk. Also sleeve. Also to sleave, to divide silk;

tear apart.

Akin

to separate, split,

to slive, to split, divide;

whence, sliver. This verb was used in the variants (past tense,

also

sleaved) sleided, sleded; by Shakespeare in THE LOVER'S COMPLAINT (1597) and in

PERICLES:

something)

When

they

weavde the sleded

With

fingers long, small, white as milke. Also to slive, to put on; to slide, or to slip away. slip, slip away; to loiter

rapidly or with great force (often implies a whirring sound); to run away; to ride rapidly (through, or in search

satyrs,

DREAM.

silke

a carafe.

skirr.

and gloomy dimbles

cut apart

See shenk. Also (2)

skirm.

falleth into it often in

be the original of Shakespeare's woodland scenes in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S

'Tis

lives in.

with shin of beef. vessel

observed:

the errors of the

He

has;

said to

slip

century);

go obliquely; turn look askance at, to look at

(1692)

and

Gum

suspiciously or condescendingly; hence, to cast aspersions upon. I/Estrange in his

FABLES

(1390)

the banckes

Slade, a beautiful clearing in a park at Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire, is

sideways;

aside. Also, to

CONFESSIO AMANTIS

dymbeth up

have the vision ob-

(2)

from

A

dades depe. Drayton uses POLYOLBION (1622), e.g., of

especially, a beggar's bowl (in the 16th and 17th centuries. As a verb. (1) To

by

may be

It

dingle or dell; a woodland glade; in some parts of England, a strip of greensward or of boggy land. Gower slade.

skew, slanting, distorted, perverted. Survives as a term in mathematics, skew

(used

move

looks hesitantly at

corn.

from a straight line; by extension, a slip, an error. On the skew., slantwise; so the current askew. Hence, as an adjective,

away

to dart about,

The O.E.D.

Shakespeare in MACBETH (1605) orders: Send out moe horses, skirre the country round. Beaumont and Fletcher in BONDUCA (1614) picture the light shadows, That in a thought scur o'r the fields of

the 14th century. (2) stone or slate for the gutter or gable of a roof. From the 13th century. (3) sideglance. From the 17th century. Also, a slant; a deviation

scured

fight,

it is

Latin excurrere, to run out.

beast.

skewes, the heavens; clouds.

become

engage in

rapidly.

in his GLOSSARY

shortened from which has a short form skirm,

skirmish, to

Toone

echoic of the whirring sound of speed.

skelt.

lines',

obscure.

is

.

It

shares

these

meanings with scour. The origin of the

Shakespeare in MACBETH (1605) utters a

up

the

familiar

as

heart-felt cry for sleepe that knits 3

ravel 'd sleeve of Care.

sleepwort. lettuce.

603

A

plant,

more

Also sleepewort, slepwurt

(13th

sleeveless

slop

century); the first syllable indicates the narcotic property o the plant; cp. pur-

One might drink

slane.

its

milky

carkes

juice; or

rupte glotony

and soak one's fresh leaves to some the of binding

boil the leaves in water feet,

one's temples to

make

[pampered

delycyous Erthe

with

carcass]

often fedeth

And nothynge

fade

with

cor-

with werkes

vertuous.

An

slipper.

sleep doubly sure.

all

senses.

its

form of slippery, in

early

Used from the 10th

cen-

leading to from Used often 1575 to naught. very 1700, in such phrases as sleeveless word,

tury; slippery first appeared in the 16th. Hence also slipperous. slipperly, inse-

Then, errand. This

speare in OTHELLO (1604) says: A slipper and subtle knave, a finder of occasion.

sleeveless.

Futile;

bootless;

sleeveless answer,

reason,

most frequently, sleeveless sometimes meant a journey that proves

slive.

sometimes, a pretended errand to get a person out of the way. Various

fruitless;

punned on

writers have

slop.

the two senses of

sleeve,

including Shakespeare, Thersites say, in TROILUS AND

who

there,

the

Among

many

senses

of

this

A

(1) magic bag, used especially to steal milk from cows.

has

CRESSIDA

Thys wycche here charme the slop ros up ... the as hyt ded wore. (2) A lie, sty

Cp. sigalder:

began

to sey,

sloppe lay loose outer garment, a mantle, a tunic; so used by Chaucer (THE PARSON'S TALE; 1386). (3) Most often (mainly in the

might send that Greekish

whoremasterly villain with the sleeve back to the dissembling luxurious drab, of a sleeveless errand.

plural) in the

See sleave.

sleided.

Shake-

See sleave.

word may be noted:

(1603): / -fain would see them meet, that that same young Trojan ass, that loves the

whore

slipperiness.

slipperness,

curely,

excuse.

,

wide baggy hose or breeches, worn 17th centuries. Often

16th and

applied to

A

sailors' loose

by exfrom the

trousers;

variant form of sloth, one of the seven deadly sins. For a use of the

ship's stores;

form, see vecordyous. The seven deadly sins appear in Chaucer's THE PARSON'S

elegant sense, Marston in THE SCOURGE OF VILLAINIE (SATIRE 10; 1599)

TALE (1386); Gower's MIROUR DE L'OMME and CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1390); Lydgate's COURTS OF SAPYENCE (1430) and Hawes* THE PASSE TYME OF PLEASURE (1509) as

inquires: Faith say, what fashion are thou

sleuthe.

THE by Richard Tarlton

tension,

the

ready-made

clothing

hence, cheap garments. In

more

thinking on?

A

stitch't

taffata

cloake, a

A

payre of slops Of Spanish leather? (4) mud-hole. This sense is related to slip,

well as in the popular morality play

and survives in the slushy slops and the

SEVEN DEADLY

verb to slop (over). Guilpin in SKIALETHEIA (1598) pictures a youth new printed to this fangled age; He we ares a jerkin cudgeld with gold lace, A profound slop,

SINS,

(died 1588) , the noted comic actor. This play was revived in 1590 and probably 1592,

in

by the company Shakespeare joined

1594.

Whan

says

of

covetousness:

a hat scarce pipkin high, a pair of dagge his face, Furr*d with Cads-beard:

nexte [ready] to nature lowe in the laste aege,

his

[on] erthely treasure ear the doth set

his

reverie3

Of

Hawes

erthe to erthe

his

rage

And

herte,

and

is

Insacyatly upon covetyse to of gluttony: The pomped

cases;

poynard on his thigh. He wallows in walk his slop to grace, [pipkin, a little

pot; dagge, pistol; Cads, Cadiz, ish style].

604

i.e.,

Span-

smock

sloth

(1766) Was a constant grumble. Washington Irving in SALMAGUNDI (1808) said: Let the grum-

THROUGH FRANCE AND ITALY

See sleuthe.

sloth.

A

slothound. addition to

its

sleuth-hound; a sleuth. In current uses, slot meant

bling smellfungi gance of the age.

the hoof-marks, hence the track, of a deer

or other animal

sometimes used also of

the scent. Hence, to

was

It

(1645),

slot, to

track

figuratively, by Milton (1820) and in THE DAILY

Scott

TELEGRAPH of 10 October, 1864: The Emperor, -who rarely quits the slot of an After the

idea.

vived

slot-hound

16th century, Scott rein IVANHOE (1819),

speaking of the misfortunes which track

my

or

persons

trivialities.

no importance, think no small beer of one-

matters of

To

be bloated with self-importance; PUNCH on 18 Janu-

self,

to

Is

consistent, asked

it

ary,

WELL LOST

1873, for a teetotaller to think

no

smellsmock.

(3)

A licen-

(1634) declared: / think you'll

corner.

Ointment. Used from the 10th

smerles.

century; related to smear. Also smyrels, smuriles, smirles, and the like; in the

13th and

Inferior beer. Nashe, in FOUR LETTERS CONFUTED (1592) speaks of poetry more spiritless than small beer. Hence,

rail at the extrava-

.

prove little better than a smellsmock, that can find out a pretty wench in such a

footsteps like slot-hounds.

small beer.

.

man. Heywood in A MAIDENHEAD

tious

down.

used

also

.

14th centuries smerl,

smerel,

mistaking the original form for a plural. The AYENBITE OF INWIT (1340) mentioned the guode smel of the like smeriles.

A

smilet.

light

and

little

smile.

Also

smylet. Fraunce in COUNTESS PEMBROKE'S IVYCHURCH (1592) wrote that he knew

her face to be framing allure,

and now

Now

to repell

with a smylefs with a frowning.

small beer of himselfJ Shakespeare has the line in OTHELLO (1604): To suckle fooles,

Shakespeare, in KING LEAR (1605) speaks of those happy smilets That play d on

and

her ripe

lip.

smock.

From

small beer; Thackeray and others have echoed the phrase. Addison in THE WHIG EXAMINER (1710; No. 4) declared: As rational writings have chronicle

(1844)

been represented by wine, I shall represent those kinds of writings we are now speaking of, by small beer. Cp. Highgate. smell-.

Several

mon word smellfeast.

one who prepared,

common

compounds

of this com-

have had wide currency.

(1)

A

parasite, a greedy sponger; learns where a feast is being

and

comes

1550-1700;

RING AND THE BOOK

uninvited.

Very Browning in THE (1869) says: The at the hint There's

smellf easts rouse them cookery in a certain dwelling-place.

A

faultfinder, a

(2)

complaining person. This term was coined by Sterne as a nickname for Smollett, whose TRAVELS

smellfungus.

its

use as the garment next

a woman's skin, smock came to be used, especially among 16th and 17th century playwrights and often with double meanwoman herself. Shad-

ing, to refer to a

well in

THE VOLUNTEERS

(1692) said:

Thou

wert a pretty fellow, to rebel all thy lifetime against princes, and trail a pike under a smock-rampant at last! Shakespeare in ROMEO AND JULIET (1595) has the jesting Benvolio cry, when Peter and

come in: Two, two a shirt and a smock. Hence, to smock, to dress the Nurse

make effeminate Sylvester in BETHULIA'S RESCUE (1614): no pomp . . . had ever power his manly mind to smock;

in a smock; to

to

make

PILLS

605

free witji

women D'Urfey

TO PURGE MELANCHOLY

(1719):

in

Then

smoke

smock

we all agree To ... smock and knock it, Under the greenwood tree-, Swift in POLITE CONVERSATIONS (1738): You don't smoke, I warrant you, but you smock. Cp, smoke. In the 16th and 17th centuries, too, many

compounds continued

double play:

this

a smock-agent, smock-officer, smock-fair,

a

pander.

happy hunting grounds

These smock-vermin, how eagerly

they leap at old in PRIESTCRAFT

mens

kisses. Hickeringill,

(1705):

Great

kindred,

smock-simony, and whores, have advanced many a sot to the Holy Chair, smocksecrets are such as

women

discuss

A

man whose

nature fit its pages, that he had formerly been a cocker, smocker, and foxhunter. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a smock-race was a contest for females for which the prize was a smock; the Thomas Hughes that wrote TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS in his book THE SCOURING OF THE WHITE HORSE (1859) said: / see, Sir, that 'smocks to be run for by ladies' is left out. smock-face; pale and smooth or effeminate face; a male having such a face. Hence, smock-faced, effeminate.

Vanbrugh

in the

Prologue to THE RELAPSE (1696) says: there's not a smock-face here

Perhaps

today But's bold as Caesar to attack a smockster was a go-between; Midplay.

A

dleton says:

in

YOUR FIVE GALLANTS

(1608)

You're a hired smockster; here's her

letter, in

which we are

certified that you're

a bawd.

common word

smoke.

This

smook;

smoca,

smok,

(also

smoak,

smeek;

smoake,

smokke) developed various senses besides the persisting one. In the 19th century,

when

factories first

multiplied,

lies .

the

big

.

.

in drinking themselves dead drunk playing smoak with the girls. [In those

days smoke and smock

To

smock.}

vendere. Smoke

mean

or

MEN

still

puffable

cp.

a

fumum used to portion

ALL SORTS AND CONDI-

thereof; Besant in

TIONS OF

a

pun;

swindle;

Latin

of

sometimes

is

tobacco,

to

smoke,

sell

translation

literal

(smoke, smoake)

alike; this is a

were pronounced

among

intercourse. themselves, smockage, smocker, a woman's man; a lecher; THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE in 1756 said of a

frying-

smoke, to deceive, misuse; WESTMINSTER MAGAZINE in 1774: Their summum bonum

for

whores, smock-employment The smocktoy Paris. Fletcher, in THE ELDER BROTHER (1625):

smoke was London. Our out of the

pan into the fire was earlier out of the smoke into the fire; Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) has: Thus must I from the smoake into the smother. To play

(1882) deprecated the two-

penny smoke, to which we cling, though it is made of medicated cabbage. Also Cape smoke, an atrocious brandy notorious in 19th century South Africa; E.E. Napier mentioned a young Hottentot he

came upon in .

.

to

.

smoke

to

to unearth,

skin-coat

of

you

1849, as

any of his

as

fond of Cape smoke Shakespeare uses

tribe.

mean

to fumigate; to find, out; to smoke one's

smoke him

(KING JOHN), to thrash; Some smoke for it, have a hot time,

shall

suffer (TITUS ANDRONICUS) nations, as smoke-box;

Not

Also in combi-

W.

Barclay in speaking of the use of as the English abusers do,

NEPENTHES (1614) tobacco:

.

,

which make a smoke-box of their skull. Also smokified, blackened by smoke; BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE in 1819 spoke of scrawlings of chalk on the smokiR. Johnson's KINGDOM AND COM-

fied wall.

MONWEALTH

(1630) pictured: Their water brackish, their aire foggie and their fire smokish. Not to mention the everlasting bonfire!

No wonder

smoke

mean

to

'a

Shakespeare uses mist of words/ idle talk,

in KING JOHN, TIMON OF ATHENS, LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST: Sweet smoke of rhetoric!

606

sneak

smotherlich

and THE RAPE OF LUCRECE: This smoke of words.

THE REEVE'S TALE, is

complexion,

to

mean

of dusky

in

Toone's

related,

ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY tO (1834) smother and smoke. It is also spelled smoterlich, and is more probably related to smut, which is, however, a later word, from the Dutch smodderen3 to smut or be besmut. There is no verb to besmotre t

but besmotered occurs in Chaucer's Prologue

(1386)

which all

tO

THE CANTERBURY TALES,

us that the Knight's gypon was bismotered with his habergeon. Dougtells

AENEIS (1513) speaks of a beGypon or gipon, from the Old French jupon, skirt, was a word for

las in the

smotterit face.

the tunic usually worn under the hauberk, or coat of mail. After Chaucer, gipon was

frequent

(also as

gepoun, gippon,

etc.)

until the 17th century. It was revived by Sir Walter Scott in THE BRIDAL OF TRIER-

MAIN

(1813): With nought to fence his brest But the close gipon's

dauntless

under-vest. hals,

neck

also

the

from Dutch smous, Jew, pedlar; Jewish Hebrew shmuoth t talk, tales, from 'the persuasive eloquence of the

schmuosSj

This word, used by Chaucer

smotherlich. in

helpless

Hauberk, related to the Norse

Jewish pedlars/ Scott in his JOURNAL for 1826 recorded: / took lessons of oil painting

bergan, to cover (whence sleeveless jacket of mail, the

,

of a long coat of armor, usually of chain mail.

is

still

the

Jew animalcule, a As deal

to

pilfer,

(16th into

trickily,

little

Burrell. current.

To

a

verb,

to

unfairly or smouch also

meant

19th century)

to

Gayton in PLEASANT NOTES UPON DON QUIXOT (1654) stated: The Knights did so smouch them, that the lipfrolics were kiss,

heard into the kitchin. Lady Granville in a letter of 1811 complained: The little hideous Due de Berri smouches us all

Hence smoucher, a

fresh

and frequent

kisser.

A

snail-water.

dish of the 17th century,

were prized. The Lady Honney woods snail e-water. Take a quart of shell'd snailes, wash them in salt and water, then scalld them in boyling water; then distill them in a quart of milk upon white sugarcandy and a branch of spere-

when

snails

mint.

A

mark or

spot.

A

See snirt. But

snark.

a

1

9th

century

also,

use.

to find fault

Beware of the

boojuml Several

sneak-.

have been used

compounds of to indicate a

this

word

mean, con-

A

sneakaway, a coward. temptible person. sneakbill, a starveling. Also sneaksbill,

A

smouch. (1) portion of dried leaves of the ash tree, used to adulterate black tea. dirty

called

smouch, to

habergeon, haberjoun; cp. acton; and the

(2)

from a

.

+

heavy cloth haberjet or hauberget, which is named in MAGNA CARTA, 1215) was originally a piece of armor to protect the neck and shoulders; later the word was used

A

.

.

smouch

variant of

smutch, smudge. (3) A hearty kiss, a buss. Whetstone, in THE RIGHT EXCELLENT HISTORYE OF PROMOS AND CASSANDRA (1578): Come smack me, I long for a smouch. (4) A Jew. In this sense, an alteration of smouse, with the same meaning. This is

sneaksby, a mean-spirited person. Thus Dryden, in AMPHITRYON (1690): There is

no comparison between my master and thee, thou sneaksby. thief.

A

sneakup,

A sneaksman, a sneaka cringing sneak, a HENRY iv, PART ONE:

shirk. Shakespeare, in

The prince is a Jack, a sneakup. Sneakup is also used (by Kingsley in WESTWARD Hoi, 1855) for snick up. Snick up, go hang, was always used as an exclamation:

607

sned

sneaks

The

latch of a door or gate.

Let them go snick up! Let them go hang! Cp. sneck. Shakespeare has in TWELFTH NIGHT (1601): We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Snecke up! As a noun snickup

sneck.

(17th century) meant a hangman's rope; thus the Water Poet, IN PRAISE OF HEMP-

that raises the bar of the latch.

SEED

(1623)

caudell well it

said: -will

.

.

ycleped was snickup, which

lish

word sometimes referred only

.

in Sparta in Eng-

A mild, euphemistic oath, by God's neaks. Also neagues, neakes, nigs; thus Snigs! well done! Marston in ANTONIO AND MELLIDA (1602) has: God's

the outside of the door, so that the door can be opened from without. Scott in THE ANTIQUARY (1816) says: The sneck was drawn and the Countess entered .

neakes they would have shone like my mystresse browe; in ANTONIO'S REVENGE, the same year: Sneaks, and I were worth

my

find in Fletcher's

(1785) calls him Ye auld, snickdrawing dog! There was also a sneck (18th and 19th centuries), a sharp cut, a sharp clicking sound; a snick and (as early as the 16th century) to sneck, to

THE KNIGHT OF MALTA and swearing

'odds neagues. It remains a matter of conjecture what are God's neaks (nicks, nail-

cut; to snatch. From the use of sneck, sneck-band, came the transferred use of sneck, a noose, a halter; also snecket. The

.

To nip or pinch (with fingers or to reprove, chide. Also as a noun, a snub, a rebuke; so used in Shakespeare's

sneap. frost)

imperative Sneck up! (snick up, sneik up) thus meant, Go hang! Cp. sneak-. Shake-

;

HENRY

rv,

PART TWO (1597)

(WORKS, 1623) doubts that

.

Bishop Hall hate our

we do

we

corruptions; when, at our sharpest,

Byron

is

sneb.

To

reprove,

Thus Chaucer

in

Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES

(1386) Him wolde he snybben sharply for the nonys. From the 14th to the 17th cen-

and

.

.

has Sir

Dost think

sned.

To

cut,

snead, snad.

ale?

to cut

off.

Also snedde,

Used from the 8th into the

17th century; also figuratively. Gillespie, in his DISPUTE AGAINST THE ENGLISH-POPISH

reprimand, rebuke;

to snub. Also, to snib.

the

first

(1600)

because thou art virtuous, there shall be

no more cakes and

an

like

envious sneaping frost That bites the borne infants of the spring.

TWELFTH NIGHT

speare in

Toby tell Malvolio Sneck up!

but gently sneap them. Shakespeare uses the verb in THE RAPE OF LUCRECE, and in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST:

.

TO THE DEIL

go up and downet

(1619), drinking small beere

holes?)

.

dwelling. Hence, to sneck, to latch, to

shut up. Sneck-drawer, a sneak thief, a sly or crafty fellow. Burns in his ADDRESS

but three hundred pound a year more, I

we

the

reception. A sneck-band, a string fastened to the latch and passed through a hole to

gallows grass.

I'll

On

a greeting that stops at the door, a cold

is

sneaks.

could sweare richly.

to the lever

sneck, latched; off the sneck, unlatched. To draw a sneck (16th century, also in Burns), to act stealthily. A sneck posset,

A Tyburn hempen

cure you;

From

the 14th century; in later use, dialectal or Scotch. Also snek, snack, snake, snick. The

CEREMONIES

some

(1637)

observed:

They did

snedde the reviving twigs of old superstition. A number of words beginning sn have similar meanings, in

sort

Scotch. In

through the echoic quality of the snick or

the 19th century, a snib was also a catch or bolt for a door or window; hence to

the snip of the scissors. Thus sneck, q.v., a sharp clicking sound, also meant a sharp cut. Also sneg. To snese (13th century)

tury, thereafter dialectal

snib, to fasten;

by extension,

to shut in.

608

snib

snudge

was to run through with a weapon, to

snark; snork; snort; snur, to snort; snurt,

Cp. snickersnee. Suiters are candle-

spit.

snuffers.

To

to snort, to sneer, to snore.

snithe was a stronger word:

written in

.

came sued, snede, a small piece, a morsel; and from the same source (Old English snad) with the same meaning, snode. THE AYENBITE OF INWIT (1341) Spoke of the lecherous that

lowed

the

up]

.

.

snitch (on). Also suite9 to wipe the nose; snot, to blow the nose. Snot, also snat,

nasal mucus, was common (but not vulgar) from- the 15th through the 17th century; earlier it meant the snuff of a candle,

vorzuelyth [swal-

.

snode

good

wythoute

the burnt part of a candle wick. By 1800 snottery was being used as a term of con-

chewy nge. See sneb.

snib.

tempt, meaning filthiness; Jonson in THE

This

snickersnee.

was

originally

to thrust -f snijen (German schneideri), to cut. Hence snick or snee, snick and

to

thrust

and

cut,

to

fight

with

as

sailors,

16th

snickasnee, a

to

18th

centuries.

word in FATHER KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OF NEW YORK (1809); in THE MIKADO (1885) Gilbert has: As I gnashed my teeth When from its sheath I drew my snickersnee. The word snick, in addition to meaning to cut and to hit, a cut, a slight blow, also meant a sudden noise, a click, and was a variant form of sneck, q.v. A snickle was a noose, as

Also snoach (14th (long o; 19th century) to snuffle. Also snoke, to snuff or smell;

Irving used the

was a snick-up.

A snick-snarl was a knot,

a tangle (17th century) in a thread or the thread of an argument.

in weeping."

snuffle

century)

,

(at); to

sneak about, watchDon't be so

nosy!

See snirt.

snitch.

See

smite.

snirt.

Also,

for

sniters,

see

sned.

See sned.

snithe.

See

snoach.

snirt.

snode.

See sned.

snood.

Used from the 8th

century. See

coif.

See snirt.

snork.

A miser, a niggardly or sponging

a covetous snowge, snutch, snuch; perhaps influential (with scrouge, q.v.) in Dickens' use of the name Scrooge fellow. Also

more

('putting

All

CAROL.

quietly (but mockingly) , to snigger. these words are echoic; also sniff;

,

ing. Similary slang has said:

snudge.

To

laugh in a suppressed manner, to snicker. 18th and 19th centuries. In the same period, snirtle, to laugh even

snirt.

snotch

to go snuffing

combat with cut-and-thrust

or snee was altered in the 18th century into snickersnee, a knife-combat, or the

defines to snotter

with a sequence of echoic words: "to snuffle, snore or snort ... to snivel or

Hence

knives; a knife for such a combat. Snick

The O.E.D.

snotteries.

was common among Dutch

knives

knife;

POETASTER (1601) says: Teach thy incubus to poetize; And throw abroad thy spurious

the

phrase stick or snee, snick or snee, to thrust or cut. It was from Dutch steken f

snee,

first

a snurter

was a snorer. Note that snitch first meant a slap on the nose; then, the nose; then it was used in the phrase to turn snitch, to turn informer; hence the verb, to

by cutting (especially 8th Also snock, a strong 13th century) blow, a sharp knock. From sned, to cut, to cut, to kill

to

Snurt was

15th century;

the

609

on the

screws') in

To snudge

(it)

>

to

THE CHRISTMAS be miserly, to

Sol

snurt

be stingy; also, to walk bent over, as though absorbed in concerns, to snudge

unpalatable

along. Hence snudgery, miserliness; cp. euclionism. In the 17th century snudge

was

used to

also

mean

to lie

quiet,

DUKE OF BYRON (1608) wrote: You make

to

Johnson in his DICTIONARY (1755) relates it to snug. Wilson in his RHE-

all

nestle;

debt

straight to

ten

lead

they

TESTAMENT

tell

men

for sodayne joye do

wepe And some

These two

lines are spoken,

in sorow syng.

slightly changed, by the Fool in Shakespeare's KING LEAR (I IV 191).

thee

A

sodaynly. Sir

Tenure

of land by certain servthan knight-service, under the feudal system. Also sokemanry. Used by socage.

beginning Some

sents a broadside ballad

him

See snirt.

snurt.

obsolete; all to

Utterly

A

Nashe

(1592)

gnashes his teeth and cries: / plain thou art a snudge!

before

variant form of sudden. Also sodayne. sodeyn; for an instance, see agrise. Miles Coverdale, in CERTAIN MOST GODLY, FRUITFUL, AND COMFORTABLE LETTERS (1564) pre-

execution. In SUMMER'S LAST

AND

WILL

pounds,

state

come, twice sod.

TORIC^E (1553) says: Some rich snudges, having great wealths, goe with their hose out at heeles. Dekker in OLD FORTUNATUS (1600) comments: Snudges may well be called jailors: for if a wretch steal but into

the flavor boiled away);

(all

Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST has Holofernes exclaim Twice-sod simplicity! Chapman in THE CONSPIRACIE OF CHARLES

variant form of suddenly. the DIALOGUE OF

Thomas More wrote

COMFORT

AGAINST

TRIBULATION

(1534)

ices other

while in

Spenser (1596) and historians; Coke UPON LITTLETON (1628) states that every tenure

able torture and certain death. Terror would come upon him sodaynly; he tried to counteract it by dwelling upon thoughts

which

is

not tenure in chivalrie

in socage. Soc^ soke,

is

meant the

London Tower awaiting prob-

a tenure

of the pain of torture;

right of

wise,

to advise other-

circuit) presided over by a person; such a man had the privilege of attendance at

he wrote, had as much reason as the medicine that I have heard for the toothache, to go thrice about a churchyard and never think on a fox tayle. Even on

court. Hence socman, sokeman, a tenant holding land in socage,

the brink of death, an old wives' tayle.

local jurisdiction, or a district

See buskin.

soccus.

sod.

(shire or

soil.

of

Boiled.

Early past participle sodef sodde, sodden. Used of meat (13th to 17th century),

also

seethe; literally

a noun (16th and 17th cenboiled meat; Elyot in 1548 spoke turies) of a simple feast, wherin is neither bake,

hence

roste,

as

nor sodde. Shakespeare used sod in

THE RAPE OF LUCRECE

(1594)

to

mean

An

soke.

smile at

assail.

old past tense of suck: sucked.

For an instance of

The

infinitive

Sol.

The

its

use,

see sigalder.

spelled to sugke some ten lines later in the poem: To sugke here [their] keyn in here pasture.

(Homeric)

sun.

is

The

Latin word; Greek

Helios. Often used

(without with a capital) to mean the sun. Thus Kyd in THE SPANISH TRAGEDY

scalded, figuratively: Her eyes, though sod in tears ... Of persons, sod was used in

an

17th century to mean "pickled", soaked in liquor, sod in sack. Twice sod,

the

See

More could

article,

(1592):

Ere Sol had slept three nights in

Thetis lap. Cp. Diana.

610

solonist

sold

A sum of money; pay. Latin solidum, a whole amount, a sum. Also sould,

sold.

sowd, soud.

To

sold

to

(1)

fasten firmly; to close or heal (2) to pay; to engage the services of; to serve for

ERON pictured a

pay. Also used figuratively, as by Chaucer in THE PRIORESS' TALE (1386) : O martyr

.

sense

this

replaced

by the

later

levis,

xiii

(1369) says:

Truly she was to mine eye

The soleyn Phoenix of Arabye. Gower in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS (1390) says Thereof a solein tale I rede. Spenser also spells the word sollein; he uses it seven times,

THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR

And

gan his new budded beard to stroke. As a noun, solein meant a single person, a solitary; also a portion of food or a meal for one person. solicitudinous.

See sollicitudinous. Latin

sollicitudinem (also with one solicitous,

licitus,

I)

,

from

sol-

also solicitant.

English whole, entire + tiers, citum, to put in motion; hence, thoroughly moved, troubled; therefore, regardful, careful. The verb to solicit meant first to sollus,

make

anxious,

fill

with concern; to

rouse; hence, to entreat, urge

A woman

use.

solicitrix;

they

urging or enticing

had many

stir,

men

OF FRANCE, 1646) said: This dangerous sollevation was quashed by a high

hand

consideration.

CHRISTIAN

century;

to

.

.

.

MORALS

Thomas Browne (1682)

in

admonishes:

(from Latin metus, fear) originally meant hence the current meaning, over-

fearful;

regardful, over-careful about minute details. Meticulosity, in the 17th century,

meant timorousness. solonist.

A

wiseacre. Also, a Solon, apUsed from the 1 7th cen*

plied ironically.

from Solon (638-559 B.C.), one of the "seven sages'* of Greece. He was a great law-giver; the adjectives Solonic, tury,

tablished,

solicitress,

to

his

legislative

program

(which included a law against neutrality in times of sedition) , or to his division of

tricks.

Wandering alone. (Accent on Used from the 17th 'Monkshood* and Gamble in

the population into four classes. They are likely, however, in literary refer-

more

.

from his famous remark "Count no man happy until he is dead" which was in Shakespeare's mind when he wrote, in TITUS ANDRONICUS (1592); But ences, to stem

RUDYARD KIPLING (1902) have: Dick walks and plays the solivagant -for about out ten years.

Overflowing with care or Sir

circumspectly, not meticulously, and rather carefully sollicitous than anxiously sollicitudinous. Note that meticulous

solivagant.

the second syllable)

of royal power.

sollicitudinous.

Solonian, Solon-like, may refer to the standard of weights or of coinage he es-

the current

immorality was (17th century) a

sollevation, insurrec-

Howell in LUSTRA LUDOVICI (LOUIS

Move

(1579):

her solein silence she broke

Hence

light.

Chaucer in

Latin

cellar.

To raise in tumult or rebelVia Italian sollevare, from Latin sub, under 4- levare, levatum, to raise; tion. J.

in

.

lion.

retiring,

From Latin solus, alone. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS

last

uninhabited tower .

spelling sullen.

e.g.

apart-

sollevate.

Unique; alone; lonely;

modest; solitary; averse to society, morose

At

little

.

building are the sollar and the

soldier.

in

an upper room or

to a that the shepherds climb . sollar at the top. At opposite ends of a .

soudit to virginitie. From the same root, originally one that fights for pay, came

solein.

attic;

ment; a garret used as a storeroom, Latin solarium, sun room; sol, sun. Also a chamber in a steeple or belfry. Payne in his translation (1886) of Boccaccio's DECAM-

to

solder;

An

sollar.

611

sonetist

solp

triumph is this funeral pomp That hath aspired to Solon's happiness And triumphs over chance in honour's bed.

somniatory, somnial, relating to dreams; Urquhart in his translation (1693) of

safer

solp.

See sulp.

Thus

Rabelais speaks of somnial divinations. Note that in Latin somnus means sleep, as in the current somnolent. Less common

solping, defilement.

A

words from somnus include somniculous,

solpuga. poisonous ant or spider, mentioned in classical writings (Lucan; Pliny).

of sleep, i.e., (1) drowsy, (2) inducing sleep, soporific but also, in this sense, somnifying, somniferic, somniferous, somnific. Thus somniculosity, sleepiness; somfull

Also salpuga and described as inhabiting caverns or mines solifuge, as though fleeing the sun fugere, to flee,

sol, so Us,

(Latin avoid)

.

+

sun

Holland in

nifery, a place for sleep; somnificator, one that induces sleep: Southey in a letter of

his

(1601) of Pliny declared: In Mthyopia . . . there is a great country . . dispeopled at times by scorpions, and a kind of pismires called solpugae.

translation

1806 spoke of the rector, a

.

The

solsede.

marigold.

nificator.

is

som-

some-

thing or someone that drives away sleep.

A

somnivolent is one that eagerly (and often vainly) desires sleep. Cp. sompnary.

A pleasant word;

also solsykelle, solsequy. Strictly the

humdrum

Per contra, a somnifuge

name

See

oneiric.

Latin

somnus,

solsequium (used in English in the 15th and 16th centuries) from sol, sun +

sompnary.

There is the same meaning in the word heliotrope, from the

words, including somniloquacious, somniloquous, somniloquent, talking, or given

is

sequi, to follow.

Greek.

A

lyric

Wright collection) swetnesse.

said

1310

Heo

is

(in

to

the

somewhen.

To

century);

collect, .

(from the

(12th to 15th

sumne, sompne. Hence somner (somenour, somenere) , sompner, sompnour, an official summoner. Also used figuratively, as in OF REPENTANCE (HOMILIES; 1563): When the hyghest somner of all, whiche is death,

A

summoner

(14th to 18th

was a petty officer who notified appear in court; we still issue a summons, but the officer has been sumcentury)

persons to

moned

to

somniate.

a higher court.

To dream

(a thing); to

many

English

hence somni-

the

How

notion

(LITERARY

often the

pen

be-

comes the tongue of a systematic dream a somniloquist! Beshrew the gentleman from Porlock!

superseded by summon. Also

shall come.

transferred

REMAINS; 1833):

assemble

To summon

for

talking, in one's sleep;

ridge

See any when.

9th century)

responsible

loquence, somniloquism, somniloquy; som~ niloquize. For others, see somniate. Cole-

solsede of

See sunstead.

solsticke.

somne.

of

poem

is

sleep,

,

make

sleepy. Latin somniare, somniatum; somnium, dream. Hence also somniation;

See somne.

sompner.

A variant form of sumpter, q.v. A writer of sonnets; also son-

sompter. sonetist.

netist, sonneteer, sonnetteer. Usually these are terms of scorn, for one whose verses

are

disliked.

Bishop Hall

(8ra SATIRE;

for the rest of the quotation, see light-

poking fun at the over-adornpagan and Christian stories, exclaims: Now good St. Peter weeps pure Helicon, Great Solomon sings in the English quire And is become a newfound The Bishop's SATIRES were sonetist . .

skirts)

ment

,

of

.

burned in

612

1599,

by order of the High

soother

sonties

Commission, along with Marlowe's OVID

and Marston's PYGMALION. As a mild oath THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

sonties.

sonties 'twill be a hard

Shakespeare in

By Gods

(1596): way to hit. Also

A

corsanty, God's santy, God's sonties. either of sanctity, or of saint

ruption,

(Scotch and dialect sont, sant, saunt, sauntie; preserved in the Christmas Santa Glaus).

Thoughts of black smudge have accompanied this word since the 8th century; but side by side, until the 17th, came -a far fairer notion. For soot (sote, sout> soot.

soote

(q-v.)

,

sout, swote, swoot, swoote)

was an early form of sweet, in all its senses and its appeal to the senses. Thus Chaucer in THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE (1366) admires: Thorough moisture of the welle wete Sprong up the sote grene gras.

Indeed "Here beginneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury"; with his shoures sote

Marche hath perced to

to

Whan

that Aprille

.

on

longen folk pilgrimages. goon Davies in his ECLOGUES (1614) says: As swoot as swans thy straines make Thames

They dauncen deffly, says SpenTHE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; APRIL) using the word as an adverb, and singen soote. And what is so rare as a to ring.

ser

in

,

day in the soot springtide? soote.

(1)

Sweet, in all

A

senses; see soot,

sweetheart.

form

diminutive

a Dutch

From

soetekyn; soet, sweet. (in pleasant, familiar

Hence, a person

minor or imperfect literary an 1817 letter of Carlyle's: After considerable flourishing, he ventured to produce this child of the Doctor's brain and truly it seemed a very sooterkin. Good morrow, said Betterton in THE reference); a

work

as in

REVENGE (1680); f

is t,

my

sooth.

my

little

how

sooterkin;

pretty life?

Truth.

Common

(the word!)

from

the 8th to the 17th century; used later in poetry and in phrases in sooth, my sooth, by

my

good sooth, sooth

sooth,

to

NIGHT'S say. Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER DREAM (1590) exclaims: Good troth you

do me wrong

good sooth you

certainty of

a

matter;

By

prognostication.

extension,

smooth or plausible speare in RICHARD

do. Also,

soothsaying,

ii

talk.

(1593):

flattery;

Thus ShakeThat

ere this

tongue of mine, that layd the sentence of dread banishment On yon proud man, should take it off again With words of sooth. This use comes by association with soothe;

cp.

Sooth also formed

soother.

many compounds:

cp.

sooth'

forsooth;

head, truth; soothtell, prophecy; soothfast, truthful, faithful, loyal; soothness, stiothfastness; soothful, truthful; toothless,

un-

truthful, false.

variant form of suit (2)

its

A

sooterkin.

th<2

The droghte of the rote . Than .

The ingale, with feathers new she sings; turtle to her make hath tolde her tale.

sootmeat

soother.

(1 7th century) [sootless and sooty refer, of course, to the soot removed by the

A

flatterer;

a yes-man. So used

sootiman, the chimneysweep.] Note Sur-

and 17th centuries. Used by Shakespeare in HENRY iv, PART ONE. What T. Wilson said in his RHETORIQUE (1553)

charming lines to Spring (1535) wherein eche thing renewes, save onely

never honest

.

in the 16th

This world

rey's

the lover:

The

soote season, that

bud and

flatteres,

blome forth brings, With grene hath clad the hill, and eke the vale: The night-

.

.

hath over

man

fawners,

saiyngeshzs Note that the

613

.

many such

was, that

and southers

little

to

oj

mennes

changed in 400

earliest

as

is

saie,

years.

meaning (10th cen-

sopheme

sortilege

tury) of to soothe [see sooth, truth;

A

soothhead, soothship. one that tells the truth claims to

tell

whence

soothsayer was then, one that

wise

saying,

prove the

a

proverb]

was to

then,

truth;

to

son's statement; then, to blandish, cajole; gloss over

flatter;

the current lify,

to

(17th century) soothe, to mol-

calm, set at ease.

sopheme. in

finally

meaning

THE

A

man

couthe

variant of sophism. Chaucer

TALE

SQUIRE'S

(1386)

twenty

by

said:

thousand

Counterfete the sophemes of his

sorbet.

A

From Turkish

15th to 19th century variant of shorbet, perhaps associated with Italian sorb ire, to imbibe.

Described in 1613 of

water,

licious sweets of

part

or

late,

drink

as a

suger,

almonds, pistachio, chocodirectly from Latin

More

coffee.

sorbere, to imbibe,

came the rare

sorbil-

to sip; sorbicle, a drink, a pleasant mixture that is to be drunk; sorbile,

sopie. A drink of spirits. Also soupii. Via Dutch (17th century); earlier English

late,

drinkable, liquid: a sorb He egg, advised a book of 1661, darifieth the voice.

10th century) sope, a draught, a drink; a sip, a sup, a sop, a, soup. To soupify, to turn into soup; St. Nicholas (died 3^0) restored to life three children that

(sorbetta)

and juyce of lemons, mixed with amber and muske." In the mid- 19th century, the term was used of a kind of sweetmeat or ice; Mabel Collins, in THE PRETTIEST WOMAN IN WARSAW (1885) says that the sorbets are de-

"made

Ne

art.

varieties like the sops-of-wine.

sherbet.

as

true; then, to corroborate, support a per-

is

tipsy.

verify,

maintain

upon

hard to believe of the workaday I have seen lazy cows applebut bee;

the truth about the future.

Soothsaw, the act of speaking the truth, 10th to 15th century; soothsay, a true or

tipsy

This

sorbillate.

See sorbet.

had Also

been soupified, hence is the patron saint of children. A souper (19th century Ireland) was a Protestant clergyman attempting to win Catholics as converts with soup

sortance.

or other charity; also, a person thus won to conversion. THE DAILY NEWS (20 Jan-

Here doth hee wish his person, with such powers As might hold sortance with his

uary,

1896)

reported:

They cannot

be-

any Catholic honestly becoming a Protestant. The convert must be a

sortable,

Suitability, correspondence.

suitable.

accordant,

Apparently

sortance has been used only by Shakespeare, in HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597):

qualitie.

lieve in

souper.

A

Hence, soupering; souperism.

volume of

sortilege.

year 1400 advises: Drynke cler watir with a sope of vynegre, sopor.

the

A

an action, or sortilege, leger,

See carus.

sops-in-wine.

sortes Virgilianae.

See aeromancy.

casting of lots to determine to forecast the future; also

sortiary (17th foretells

one that

century),

sorti-

by drawing

lots

(or other methods), a diviner. Sortilegium,

The

gillyflower, the clove-

sortilegy,

divination,

especially

by

lot;

pink. Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) rejoices with hawthorne buds, and

sortilegic, sortilegious, relating to or de-

swete eglantine, And girlonds of roses and sopps in wine. Also, a variety of apple; Burroughs in LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY

Latin sortem, lot sort,

(1879) states that bees will suck themselves

16th

pendent upon divination or drawing

From

614

sortem, one's to

allot,

-f-

legere,

lot,

sort out,

to

lots.

choose.

came English assort, etc.

and 17th century verb

to

The

to sort, to sally

sovenance

sotiltee is from French sortir, to go out (which the French trace from Latin sur-

and sowse, alle suche thow A heavy blow or fall. Souse blow for blow. (3) Swooping for souse, down (as of a hawk) on a bird. At souse, on the rise, said of a bird on whom the

out,

Salt,

whence also inand surgent resurrection) whence also, a sortie. Scott in IVANHOE (1819) has a woman infamous for sortileges and for gere, surrectum, to rise,

,

See warner.

act of

,

the 18th century. THE CONNOISSEUR (1754, No. 19) protested in vain: What, alas! are

weak endeavors

of a few to oppose

the daily inroads of fncasees and soup maigresf The inundation is recorded in

to

the

consequence,

bellied,

a

speare in KING

of pinch-

woebegone, skin-and-grief,

Ian-

thorn-jawed, soup-maigre subjects! Thus is indicated the morient course of good cooking in England. Not long before, in

THE GRUB STREET OPERA (which Opened at the Haymarket in March 1737) Fielding sang the elegy of the major contribution of

the

When

English kitchen:

mighty

roast beef was the Englishman's food It ennobled our hearts and enriched our

blood,

Our

soldiers

were brave and our

courtiers were good.

Oh, the roast beef of Old England, And oh, for Old England's roast beef!

soupify.

monarch

See sopie.

.

.

JOHN

(1595):

The

gallant

an eagle ore his ayerie towres, To sowse annoyance that comes .

.

.

like

neere his nest Pope in the Epilogue to

seen by

as

number

.

.

CONTEMPORARIES (1844): MlSS M.

them;

.

horror both together smight, And souce so sore that they the heavens affray. Shake-

Townshend, 1766, // you could persuade them of the wholesomeness of soup maigre and barley bread, it might be of great use Warner, 1779: Such

plunging into water, a souse. This,

.

quotations set in Jesse's GEORGE SELWYN HIS

coin

and the corresponding verb, survive. Each of the noun senses had a corresponding verb. GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE (1575): Hoyse her, souce her, bounce her, trounce her. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) As when a gryfon A dragon fiers encountreth in his flight With hideous

thin

soup maigre. soup (also soup meagre) urged upon the English poor in

AND

The French

(4)

in 16th to 18th century English, souse, sowse, sowce, and the like. (5) The sol, sou;

A

the

(2)

hawk may swoop.

witcheries. sotiltee.

sowre,

set aside.

his SATIRES (1738):

Come on

then, Satire!

unconfin'd, Spread thy broad wing, and souse on all the kind. From the meaning, swoop, souse is used as an exgen'ral,

clamatory adverb, meaning suddenly, in

one swoop,

like

plump!

it fell;

as Shakespeare uses jump to actly, in HAMLET: jump at this

somewhat

mean

ex-

dead hour. Thus Farquhar in THE BEAUX' STRATAGEM (1706): All our fair machine goes souse into the sea; Browning in FIFINE AT THE FAIR (1872): Foiled by the very effort, sowse, Underneath ducks the soul! Carlyle less metaphysical when he said (in FREDERICK THE GREAT; 1858): Gundling comes souse upon the ice with his sitting-

was

part.

souse.

As

a noun.

(1)

The

parts of a

pig or other animal usually pickled.

From

the 14th century; related to sauce, ulti-

mately from Latin sal, 'salt. Also, an ear. To sell souse, to be in a surly mood. J. Russell in THE BABEES

BOOK

(1460) advised:

sovenance. Remembrance, memory. Also souvenaunce, souvenance. Via French souvenir; Latin subvenire, to come to Used help; sub, under -f venire, to come. 15th into the

615

17th century. Spenser in

sowel

spancel

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) tells: Of way he had no souvenaunce.

by nature, but in spadoes by art!

hlS

that Dr. Kinsey

A

sowl.

(1)

Food eaten with bread

sahel,

1815)

(meat,

;

form or use

as a relish.

(2)

sowl,

to dirty, soil, make foul. Hence, sowly, unclean, foul. Perhaps by association with sow, the female pig. (3) sowl, to pull [by the ear(s)]. In CORIOLANUS (1607) Shake-

speare reports: Hee'l go, he sayes, and sole f the porter of Rome Gates by th eares. He

put his hand to his head to save his sowl. Quick, prompt, ready; used of persons. In 17th and 18th century dictionaries, a spact lad or wench, one apt spade.

to learn. Also spake, spac. Used mainly in the 13th and 14th centuries. Of birds and

In HANDLYNG SYNNE (1303) Brunne speaks of the spirit so mylde and spake.

beasts, gentle, tame.

spado.

A

eunuch.

From

the 15th cen-

tury; Greek spadon; whence also to spade, to spay, splay. [Note that spay is not from

spadon, but via Old French espeer, to cut with a sword; espee, sword; Latin spatha, Greek spade, wooden blade, paddle,

Also

.

in

combinations:

various

spaedom, spaecraft, spaework, prophecy, prophesying, spaeman, spaewoman, spae* then witch; spaewife, fortune-teller;

The spaewoman

wright, spaer.

often was,

or pretended to be, dumb, as deprivation of this sense reputedly endowed one with

second sight. The words, if not the have persisted in Scotland.

sowvel, sole, soil, solwe [the last three as a verb, especially in sense (2) ]. Hence, sowl, to

A

spae.

food added to a broth 01 gravy, or the dish thus formed. Wyclif, speaking (1382) of Esau in GENESIS, wrote: So bred takun and the sowil of potage ete and drunk. Also sowel, sowlle, suuel, cheese, etc.)

A notion

dispute.

prediction; an omen. Also to spae, to prophesy. Used from the 13th century; frequent in Scott (GUY MANNERING;

stout staff, cudgel. Especially, a sowel. stake sharpened at one end, used in making a hedge or fence, or for a hurdle.

Used from the 9th century. Also soul, sole; and see sowl.

would

spagyric.

Alchemy. In

its

beliefs,

Latin form, the

word was invented by Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim;, 1493-1541) to name the science of chemistry in his day. Also spagirique, spargerick, and the like. An alchemist, a spagyric, ,

spagyrist, spagyrite.

Hence, the spagyric,

spagyrical art. The terms were in the 16th and 17th centuries.

common Though

they could not solve the basic problem of transmutation, the spagyrics achieved

many

solutions; as J.

Wright observed in Camus' NATURE'S

his translation (1652) of

PARADOX:

The

spagyrists in seeking the

union of essences have

.

.

.

found out

the dissolving of all naturall bodies.

spancel.

A fetter for hobbling

cattle

and

a short rope for the hind legs of a cow while milking. Also horses;

especially,

the verb, to spancel. Used figuratively in a letter of 1844 by Sir Charles Napier:

Gough himself

is all

right, only spancelled

sword; whence also spatula and the shovel-

they wanted to tie my legs too, but I kicked the pail over, and spoiled

ing spade.] Sir Thomas Browne in PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA (1646) said: They live

was removed

longest in every kinde that exercise it not at all, and this is true not only in eunuches

by his

staff;

the milking. fleet

to

616

[Ten years as

later, Sir

commander

Charles

of the Baltic

in the Crimean War, for his failure

storm Kronshtadt!

spancounter

spate

A game very popular in the

spancounter. early 17th century;

also,

span-farthing. Similar to pitching pennies, but instead of trying to toss nearest to a line, the first

player tosses his coin, which the second player wins if his toss brings him within a span of it. Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART TWO (1593) speaks of Henry the fift (in whose time boyes went to span-counter Scott revived the for French crownes) word, speaking in GUY MANNERING (1815) .

of gamesters rich enough to play at span-

counter with moidores.

A

headless, wedge-shaped nail, sparable. used in the soles and heels of shoes. Also sparibile,

corrupted

sparrable;

sperable,

from sparrow-bill, named from the shape. Herrick in HESPERIDES (1648; EPIGRAM ON A COBBLER) wrote contemptuously: His thumbnailes par*d afford htm sperrables. sparple. To run in different directions; to scatter; to disperse. Also disparple, sparpil,

tosparple;

sperple,

sparpoil;

spartle, sparfle, sparkle. Used from the 14th to the 17th century. Also, to spread

and the like); Udall (1548) translating Erasmus: These sayinges were by secrete whisperinges sperpled abrode. (rumours

spanker. Apart from its current meanings of one that metes out chastisement, a fore-and-aft

sail,

a

fast walker,

a fast

and a lively breeze, spanker has remembered significance: (1) a gold

horse, less

coin; in the plural, money. Thus Cowley, in CUTTER OF COLEMAN STREET (1663):

Mean time, thou my good fortune,

pretty little smith o* beat hard upon the

I'll go and provide the Anything of exceptionally

anvil of your plot, spankers.

(2)

Thus Smollett GRINE PICKLE (1751): To turn me

superior quality. the

in PEREadrift in

dark with such a spanker! Hence

See aeromancy.

spasmatomancy. spasmodism.

The

style of the

spasmodic

(spasmic) school of writers, painters, and composers, characterized by agitation, out-

bursts of excitement,

and ups and downs

expression. Hence, spasmodist, one excelling in spasmology, a writer of that

of

school,

HEARTH

Reade in THE CLOISTER AN0 THE (1861) wrote: I would be prose

laureate, or professor of the spasmodic, or

something, in no time.

The

school has

spanking, exceptionally good, unusually lively or smart; the 17th and 18th cen-

become more

tury knew there was something hearty, not in the least flagellant or as we might

spatchcock. See spitchcock. Perhaps from the farmyard cock, but possibly short for

say

sadistic,

despatch cock.

in a spanking lass!

spanner. A scoundrel, perhaps one that spans to both sides. The word appears in title of 1653, quoted at trepan. From another source (related to span, to fasten,

a

extend, draw tight, wind up) came spanner, the tool that wound the spring in a wheel-lock firearm, and the still surviving

spanner, a sort of wrench. Howell in ENGLAND'S TEARS FOR THE PRESENT WARS (1644) laments:

My

Prince his court

is

now

of nothing but buffcoats, spanners,

musket

rests.

familiar of recent years.

spate.

A

sudden

flood, caused

by heavy

rains or melting snow; a sudden heavy downpour; a sudden outburst, flood of

passion or words. The phrase in spate is used of streams in spring flood. Also spatt, spaight, speet, spyet, and the like; a com-

mon

word, 15th into the 19th century. Susan Ferrier, in MARRIAGE (1818) remarks that A horse and cart were drowned at

full

the ford last speat.

Mure

and

AENEAS

of death-bent

.

617

.

.

(1614)

tells

in DH>O

AND Dido

Transported with a raging spait of

spelunk

spatiate

Scott in his

ire.

JOURNAL for 6 September, Here is a fine spate of

1826, exclaimed:

And

GOLDEN LEGACY like the

Rutherford, in a consoling letter of 1634, said: God hath dried up

in one night.

one channel of your love by the removal of your husband. Let now that speat run upon Christ TAXI'S MAGAZINE of 1854 looked ahead and cried: A foaming speat

spectable.

work!

and

blether of dictionary words!

It's

time

spatiate.

wander, roam; range. Latin

whence the surviving expatiate, originally meaning to walk about, walk out. Bacon in SYLVA (1626) recommended the fixing of the minde upon one object of cogitation^ whereby it doth not spatiate and

spatiari, spatiatum; spatium, space,

transcurre, as

it

useth. BLACKWOOD'S EDIN-

BURGH MAGAZINE in 1846 used the word and opportunity literally: Give him room .

.

.

to spatiate for the

spatrify.

To

good

To

befoul.

spat, to spot, to

used from the 16th century. In the LIFE OF DR. FAUSTUS (1697) , the innkeeper cried: What! Have the rogues left my pots, defile;

and run away, without paying

their reck'-

them, cheating villains, rogues, cutpurses; rob a poor woman, cheat the spittle, and rob the King of his ningf

I'll

after

excise; a parcel of rustick, clownish, pe-

dantical, high-shoo'd,

low-minded, plow-

jobbing, cart-driving, pinchback'd, paralytic, fumbling, grumbling, bellowing, yellowing, peas-picking, hog-sticking, stink-

mangy, runagate, illbegotten, illcontrived, wry-mouth' d, spatrifying, dunghill-

perfection

worthy

be

to

the inchanted transportation of ears of its spectabundal

By

eyes auditorie.

and

Heywood in THE HIERARCHIE OF THE BLESSED ANGELS (1635) Spoke of that by which a woman is made more faire

and

spectable.

A

speculum. Sir

Thomas

EPIDEMICA

mirror, a reflector; a lens.

Browne

in

reminded

(1646)

PSEUDODOXIA his

readers

that Archimedes burnt the ships of cellus with ures.

of digestion.

to his

able, inspection. Also spectabundal, eager to see; Urquhart in THE JEWEL (1652)

the

To

Presentable,

Love growes not

seen; within sight, visible. Latin spectare, to look, whence also respective, respect-

wrote:

to stop.

(1590):

hearb spattana

Mar-

speculums of parabolical

The word

is

fig-

current in surgery, as

widen bodily openings from Latin speculum, a diminutive form from specere, spectum, whence also inspect, respect, circumspect, and all the species. A specular was a mirror of specular stone, a somewhat transan instrument

to

for inspection. It

is

parent substance (like mica) formerly used as glass or for ornamental purposes. Carew in a poem of 1640 wrote: Give then no faith to the false specular stone,

But let thy beauties by th' effects be knowne. Several books have used Speculum as part of their title, e.g., Speculum Meditantis

(Mirror of the Thoughtful;

by Gower.

ing,

1380)

raking, costive, snorting, sweaty, farting

cave, a grotto. Used from the spelunk. 14th century. In Sir Richard Guylforde's

whaw-drover dogs. spattania.

An

PYLGRYMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND (1511) WC

herb fabled

to

reach

read: Into the

its

height and bloom at its first sprouting. Also spattana, spattarmia, spatania. Used figuratively, especially by late 16th

full

century writers,

as

A

in Lodge's EUPHUES

first of thyse two spelunkes entred the women. Latin spelunca; Greek spelugga; Latin specus, cavern, den, pit; root spec, to see, to spy. The 19th cen-

tury

618

drew

adjectives

from

the

form:

sphingeal

spence speluncar (rarely speluncean) relating to or resembling a cave, cavernous; spe,

lean, spelaean, cave-dwelling, frequenting caverns. The scientific study of caves is

In her

speleology.

travesty,

MURDER

IN

PASTICHE (1954), Marion Mainwaring revived a form: A light snapped on, dispelling Nappleby's speluncar revery.

A

buttery, a pantry; a room spence. where foods and drinks are kept; an eating-room; an inner room of a house, a parlor. Short for dispense. Also spence,

a steward; short for spencer, short for dispenser. Used from the 13th century. In ST.

CUTHBERT (1450) we read:

He

bare the

bordeclath to the spence. The form spencer has also been used for (1) a kind of in the

18th century, after Charles third Earl of Sunderland (1674Spencer, 1722); (2) a short double-breasted overwig;

and 19th

coat for men; late 18th

century,

after the second Earl Spencer (1758-1834);

a

(3)

life

(slang),

belt,

a

glass

a

life

of

preserver; after

gin;

hence

Knight

a

The NEW

ing; especially of debts.

1697

list:

A

servant and debts sperate

We

negro

and

JERSEY

maid

desperate.

know only

desperate today. Latin sperare, to hope. Also sperable, with the same sense, as in a 1565 letter of the first

Baron Burghley: Wherin ing his

own

surely perceavcause not sperable, he doth

. Speratory, resthonorably and wisely ing in hope, as in a 1629 Sermon of Donne, wherein Mammon offers the .

.

present and possessory things of this world, God but the future and speratory things of the next.

A

gatherer of seeds. (2) (1) of current news, a trivia of picker-up

spermologer.

A

gossip-monger; what

we today would

call

spermologist.

spermology,

used

logos, talker;

tively of a gossip in the (1)

Greek figura-

Greek. Hence also

that branch of science

which studies sperm or seeds; spermatology. (2) Trifling or babbling writing or talk, or an instance thereof; gossip. Our tabloid spermologists rush to record the pubic war skirmishes of those whom a

vogue in the entertainment world has hoisted into headlines. sparse*

A

shortened form

influenced

by

of

disperse,

Italian

sperso; spergere, to scatter. Used in the 16th and 17th centuries; by Spenser in his transla-

perhaps

tion (1591) of Bellay's VISIONS and in THE FAERIE QUEENS; by Dekker in THE WHORE OF BABYLON (1603): Are those

clowds sperst that strove to

dimme our

light?

spheromancy.

See aeromancy.

spherule. "A globose peridium, with a central opening through which sporidia

fic)

Leaving room for hope; promis-

ARCHIVES of

Also

+

are emitted." This

Spencer, early 19th century. sperate.

columnist.

sperma, seed

is

the current (scienti-

meaning; but since the 17th century

spherule has meant a little sphere. Thus M. Collins in SWEET AND TWENTY (1875)

speaks of a fountain throwing its showers of perennial spherules into the air untiringly.

A

drop, a globule.

Relating to or resembling a Also sphinx. sphyngeal, sphingal, sphingian, sphinxian. From the subtlety of the

sphingeal.

sphinx (monster with head of a woman, winged body of a lion) and the mystery of its riddles, sphingeal was sometimes

used to mean subtle, profound, enigmatic.

From the ferocity of the sphinx, which devoured those that could not solve its riddle, sphingeal was used to mean cruel, fierce, devouring. The famous riddle of the sphinx (solved by Oedipus, wherethe monster turned to stone, and

upon

619

spiracle

sphyngeal stood near the pyramids of El-Gizeh in Egypt) asked: What is it that in the

morning goes upon four legs; at noon, on two; in the evening, on three? Answer: man. Hence also sphinxine, mysterious; sphinxineness, obscurity.

See sphingeaL

sphyngeal. spicket. since the

A

A

which

flows

divine,

when

the spigot

is

turned; the

John Day, in FESTIVALS

(1615),

men that spend their birthright and patrimonies upon the spicket.

spoke of

spight*

A

instance of

variant form of spite. For an its use, see term.

Also

centuries.

spyneye,

spynee,

THE FORME OF CURY (1390) said, make spy nee: Nym the flowrys of the haw thorn dene gaderyd and bray hem al to dust; take and make gode thyk almand mylke, as tofore, and do therein of floer of hawthorn; and make it as a rose, and serve it forth.

variant form of spigot, used

15th century. spicket-wench century) , a barmaid. Also, that

(17th

15th spine. for to

A

spinel.

precious stone, closely resem-

bling

the

spinal,

and the

ruby.

Also

like.

spinnel,

spynel,

Herbert in his book

mentioned translucent want neither beauty nor

of TRAVELS (1665)

which

stones

esteem; namely, topazes, amethysts, spinels

See spinel. For an instance of

spinnel.

its

use, see nonesopretty.

spikenard. An aromatic substance used in ancient times in the preparation of an ointment or oil; also, the plant yielding this. See nard. Also spekenard, spy knar d, spignard, spekenardy, spikanard; in most forms, pronounced as two syllables. Wyclif in his BIBLE (MARK xiv; 1382) spoke of

woman havynge

box of precious IN oynement spikanard. Tennyson's MEMORIAM (1850) tells: She bathes the Saviour's feet With costly spikenard and a

with

a

tears.

spincop.

A

spider.

Also spyncop, spin-

coppe. Caxton in THE GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE (1474) said: The lawes of

somme ben like unto the nettis of spyncoppis. The form cop was also used, in the 15th century, to mean spider; whence also

cobweb. Spincop probably combined

the idea of spinning with Old English copp, top, head. Myre in his INSTRUCTIONS

FOR PARISH PRIESTS (1450) told them what to do ef any flye, gnat, or coppe Down into the chalys droppe.

A

scintillation.

The word

is

directly from the Greek; used in the 17th century. In the 19th, spintherism became the tehnical term for 'seeing stars' when the eye has been hit.

A

spintry.

male homosexual

prostitute.

From Latin (muscle) Hence

Also, a place for his practices.

. spintria, from sphincter also spintrian. Spintria was also the

term

for the circle

(arranged by the Emperor of thirteen joined homosexuals. Tiberius) The words were used in English in the

16th and 17th centuries. his STATE .

.

in the

.

Thus Marvell in

POEMS (1678) mimics

says that Priapus the of spinstrian [sic]

sport, outdoes Tiberius and his goatish court. Jonson in SE JANUS (1605) speaks

of .

.

men .

ravished hence, like captives, and away unto his spintrics, sellaries,

dealt

and

slaves.

Cp. sellary.

(1) Breath, spirit. Hence, a vent in a cave or other confined area, an air-

spiracle,

hole;

dish or dainty flavored with hawthorn flowers, a tasty of the 14th and

spinee.

A

spinther.

a volcanic vent; an opening for

breathing, especially in the lower animals; used figuratively by De Quincey (1854) of

620

spittle

spiration

man: The

great in

keeps open of

phenomenon

war

of

of spatchcock, originally despatch cock, a quickly cut and cooked fowl, as when

.

man

respiration.

a spiracle an organ Also spiraculum; Latin

Also a noun, guests arrive unexpectedly. method of the or a fowl thus prepared, to do anything on the preparing. Hence,

spiraculum, a little breath; spirare, to breathe, whence also expire; cp. spiration.

Hence like

a

(2)

insert spur of the moment; especially, to into, as General Buller reported in THE

spiraculiform, shaped a pinnacle. By ex-

spiracular,

little spire;

TIMES of 11 October, 1901: / therefore telespatchcocked into the middle of that

a lofty sentence, a fine conAlso, the blow-hole of a whale. Bulin the CRUISE OF THE 'CACHALOT'

tension ceit.

len

(3)

which had gram a sentence which THE SPEAKER of 16 No-

also

meant

to

breathe,

vember, 1901: Generals spatcock telegrams and receive dismissal. Hence, to spitcock, to cut up, to deal with severely, as Lamb

wrote in a

me

spirated

twisted, (Greek speira, coil) like the horns of certain goats. The word spirit first meant breath (Latin spiritual

then, the breath of

life,

whence

was used

its

ginning in the 16th century, for

(I)

the

Thick, dense, compact, close. Latin spissus. Used 1 6th into the 18th century. spiss.

In his foreword

wood

To

1814: // they catch

camps again

mild words shall bury

let

them

spitch-

man

lards salt

My

spitted, spitch-

W. King

gave sound ART OF COOKERY: No

pork with orange peel, Or

garnishes his lamb with spitchcockt eel.

action of breathing as the life-giving act of God, and particularly for (2) the act of will that produced the Holy Ghost, "the eternal spiration of the Spirit."

letter of

cock'd, rost'd fury. advice in his 1708

current

specifically, be-

in their

cock me! Also used figuratively, as by W. Cartwright in THE ORDINARY (1634) : no

meant spirally

senses. Spiration

.

results recorded in

spiration. Breathing, Latin spirare, spiratum, to breathe; whence also aspiration, inspiration, to expire, etc. Note that while

spirate

.

.

A

whale can no more force water through its spiracle than you or I through our nostrils. noted that

spittle.

A

house

diseased; a short spittell, spyttell,

the

for

form

indigent

or

of hospital. Also

spittaill,

and more. In

the 16th century, spittle was used of a place meaner than a hospital; hence, a foul or loathsome place. In the 17th century, because of the other meaning of

the Reader, Brere-

the form was (except in com-

speaks of this spisse and dense, yet polished, this copious, yet concise . treatise of the variety of languages,

pounds) largely replaced by spital, spitall, spittal. To rob the spittle (spital) , to make

Hence

profit in

.

(1614)

.

also

spiscious,

spissous,

of thick

consistency; spissated, spisse d, thickened;

tending or serving to thicken; Also spissness, spissation, spissitude* spissament is a spissative,

spissid, spissy, thick, dense.

A

spittle, spit,

mean

fashion.

In

(12th to 17th century) spittle, also spitterf

a small spade, related to the pointed spit for cooking. Thus, even in the 19th cen-

See spittle.

spitchcock. To cut up and cook; especially, to cut and broil or fry an eel, in

bread-crumbs and chopped herbs.

especially

turies) gossamer; spittle of the stars, honey-dew. There was also an even earlier

thickening substance, as flour in gravy. spital.

an

the other sense, there were the phrases spittle of the sun (16th and 17th cen-

A

form

tury, a spitful

meant a

spadeful; spitish,

however, meant spiteful; spitling, refuse, rubbish (17th century) And (18th ccn-

621

.

spurgall

spleen tury) spitpoison was an appropriate name for a malicious or venomous person.

See splenitive.

spleen.

An

early form of splendid. 17th century. Jonson in

splendidious. Used 15th to

MAN OUT OF

EVERY

HIS

HUMOUR

His lady? what,

quires:

is

(1599) in-

shee

faire?

splendidious? and amiable?

tending

to

irritable, ill-huproduce mored. Also splenetive, splenative, spleenative splenetic, splenitic, (HAMLET) splenatic. From the spleen, Greek splen, ,

the supposed seat of melancholy, irritation but also of gaiety and laughter. Gower indicates both in CONFESSIO AMANTIS

(1390)

assigned wreche,

and

The

:

.

.

.

is

galle

to malencolie

serveth

to

do

splen doth him to lawhe

The

plaie.

splen

the

Shakespeare

mentions

the

tion to

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW: Haply

presence May well abate the overmerrie spleene. On the spleen (15th century) , in jest. The sense of gaiety died

my

out about 1700. Phineas Fletcher

made a

note in THE PURPLE ISLAND (1633): Hence Stratonicus said, that in Crete dead men

and pale-coloured. Adultery;

adulterer. Also, spousebreak. Other forms were spowsebreche, spowsebrige, and the

The ANCREN REWLE

(1225) said that selven, so that he dude

like.

David forget him ... on Bersabee spusbruche. Warner, in ALBION'S ENGLAND (1589): We severally are

.

.

breach,

.

arayned Of cuckoldie, of spous-

and

The common

of bastardy. for adultery, from the 12th into the 16th century; cp. advowtrie.

word

sprack.

See sprag.

IS

others after Shake-

a mispronunciation of sprack; but Shakespeare's form seems the earlier. Granville, in a letter of 1817, said:

She gives

more

is

Many

and everything

to society,

life

sprack.

An

sprenge.

sprengan;

in

form of sprinkle. were used, including

early

forms of

it

the

past tenses,

spreinde,

sprent, spreyngde, spreynt, sprenct, sprant.

Chaucer once

(in BOETHIUS, 1374) used: swetnesse of mannes welefulnesse is yspranid with manye bitternesses. Sprent

The

was

used

as a noun meaning a

(from

the

14th

a

spot a leap, a bound; a springtrap or snare. As a verb, to sprent, to leap, to move with agility (common in century)

sprinkle;

;

the 15th century) to spurt out Harding in a CHRONICLE of 1470, said the blood ;

sprent out, all hot and new, Into his eyen as well as to sprinkle. Other forms .

.

.

of the verb sprent are sprunt (to move quickly or convulsively; to run) and the current sprint. spreth.

(rarely) an

He

SaySt

is

speare)

walked, "because they were so splenitive

spousebreadbu

Lamb, and

Scott,

by

(sprinkled on)

spleen as the seat of laughter in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1594) and in the Induc-

in

Shakespeare,

a good sprag memory. Also sprack, spract, smart, alert, in good health and spirits. The O.E.D. suggests that sprag (copied

Lady

or

Melancholy, such a state;

splenitive.

clever.

Smart,

sprag.

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR,

Used in the 14th century, mean-

ing human, that springald.

sprunt.

is,

frail,

liable to sin.

See espringal.

See sprenge.

in spurcidical. Bawdy speech. spurcus, foul -f dicere, to speak.

Latin

Hence

spurcitious, foul, obscene; spurcity, foul-

Thus Feltham in RESOLVES Loose and unrinsed expressions (1628): are the purulent and spurcitious exhalations of a corrupted mind. ness, obscenity.

spurgall.

622

See bum.

stale

squintifego

One

squintifego.

that

squints

notably.

Also squintefuego. Dryden in his translation (1693) of the SATIRES of Juvenal,

The

said

timbrel and the squintifego maid

Of Isis awe thee, lest the gods for sin Should with a swelling dropsy stuff thy

a young tree

pecially,

left

when

others

are cut down, as the foundation of

To

stadle, to

new

mark, leave an im-

growth. pression upon; to staddle a wood, to cut the woods leaving a sufficient number of

young

trees to replenish

it.

skin.

Casual activity on the

stair-work.

stair-

squiny. To look sidelong or invitingly, as a prostitute on the prowl. Shakespeare has the mad Lear say to the blind Glou-

way; used with sexual implications in Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE (1611)

(KING LEAR; 1606); / remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny

Perdita,

cester

at

me? No, do

not

love.

thy worst, blind Cupid,

I'll

Blind Cupid was a common sign was a bush for a tavern

for a brothel, as

(though a good wine needs no bush, as Shakespeare says in the Epilogue to AS

YOU LIKE

IT;

the

hang up

Publilius Syrus, about 40 930; You need not

Maxim

B.C., said in

when

the

Shepherd, finding the baby This has beene some

declares:

some trunke-worke, some behind-doore-worke: they were warmer that got this than the poor thing is here. Note

staire-worke,

quite different in meaning though the figure is drawn by the same s,teps, stairway wit, discussed under afterwit. also,

staithe.

Land

bordering

water,

shore. Also steth, stath, stayth, stay,

tvy-branch over the wine

the

and

from Old Teuton stath, root sta-, an embankment; also, a landing-place; especially, a depot where coal is placed on board ships for delivery. The word was in use in the 9th century; the

that will sell).

like,

stand. Hence,

squitter-wit.

A

squize.

See squize. variant of squeeze,

common

from 1550

to 1650. Also squiss. These are echoic forms, as also squish, squash, squirt,

as a loading-place for coal, since the 17th. staithman, a man that checks the coal

A

squitter, and spit, spatter, sputter, splutter and the like. In the late 16th and into

at the staithe.

the 18th century, squitter was used meaning to void thin excrement; hence squita ter-book, squitter-wit, squitter-pulp,

As a noun. (1) Theft; stealing; a stale. variant of steal, used from the 10th to the Hth century. By stale, by stealth. (2)

worthless writer, with diarrhoea of words

but constipation of breech(es), one that staddle.

A

ideas.

soils his trousers.

foundation.

A

very

Old English word, appearing forms

An upright side of a ladder; a long thin handle, as of a rake; a plant stalk; the shaft of an arrow or spear. (3) decoybird; a living or imitation bird used to

Also squitter-

A

common

also in such

lure others of

Old English

And

aged

limbs

on

mon

stale,

a prostitute used as a thief's

decoy; hence, a term of contempt for a vulgar wanton or lewd woman. Shake-

cypress

mark left on anything by something lying on it. Also, es-

stadle stout. Also, the

kind, or birds of prey, anything used as a

lure to ensnare a person. Especially, an accomplice of a thief or sharper; a com-

stathol, support, tree trunk.

Hence, a support of any kind (a platform, a framework, a post); Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): His weake steps governing

its

into a net; hence,

as stathel, steddle, staidel, stavel;

speare in says:

623

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Spare not to

tell

him

(1599) that he hath

stanhope

stalemate

honor in marrying the

his

wronged

nowned Claudio

.

.

to a

.

gilded puddle Which beasts would cough Tofte in his translation (1608) of at.

re-

contaminated an unwitting

short plays on this sense and (4) stale, for stalemate in chess, in THE TAMING OF

A wife that's more than faire is like a stale Or chanting whistle which brings birds to thrall. Of language, as of the serpent of the Nile, it

THE SHREW: I pray you,

your

may be

these

custom

extension, a tool,

By

stale.

Ariosto's SATIRES wrote:

cover for evil machination. Shakespeare

To make

will

a stale of

sir,

is

it

me among

mates? Note that, while a stalemate is now considered a drawn game, it was

stalemate.

formerly a loss for the person inflicting as

it,

explained

in

(1656) of Biochimo's CHESS-PLAY: A stale

King hath one place

given when one men and hath but

is

left to fly into; if

then the ad-

versary bar him of that place without checking him, so that he being now out

remove but into check, stale, and he that giveth it

of check cannot it

to

then a

is

the distressed

Still

King

loseth

the game. a (3) is

mistress,

tion

held

is

up

or spouse, whose devoto ridicule for the amuse-

He

soldiers

Urine, especially of animals.

Shakespeare in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606) has Octavius Caesar trying to recall

Antony from

his luxurious dallying with

the serpent of the Nile; Caesar reminds of campaigning days, when Thou

him

didst drinke

The

stale of horses

and

the

He

uses his

under the

into English use by Scott. Scott also used the form stalworth, as in MARMION (1808):

was a stalworth knight, and keen.

stanhope.

stationed for special service, as for an ambush, or to speed to any harassed part

(6)

walk

stalworth. An early form of stalwart. Stalwart, appearing in the 14th century, was used mainly in Scotland until brought

A

action.

steed trained to

presentation of that he shoots his wit.

adjective stale, no longer fresh; also, as in the quotation just given, of sense fixed position, or station; re(6).] (5)

of the battlefield. In stale, in ambush; flying stale, a troop ready for emergency

A

says of Touchstone: a stalking-horse, and like folly

Adriana complain: But, too unruly deere, he breakes the pale And feedes from home; poore I am but his stale. [In some of these senses there is an overtone of the

body of

See stale,

Duke

ment of a rival. Shakespeare in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS has the neglected wife

lated to stall Hence, a

nor

speare uses the word of less sinister purposes, when in AS YOU LIKE IT (1600) the

another extension of sense

lover,

her,

infinite variety.

though grazing, so that the hunter, walking beside it, may approach game unnoticed, and shoot from under the horse's neck or belly. Hence, a light facsimile of a grazing horse, used in the same fashion. Hence, a person used as a "front"; an innocent or innocent-seeming individual that masks a sinister proceeding; any underhand expedient or pretext for accomplishing an evil design. Shake-

THE ROYAL GAME OF

lost all his

Her

stalking-horse. slowly and as

translation

Beale's

Age cannot wither

said:

stale

A

light

one-seated

carriage,

originally with two wheels, in the mid19th century with four. Made for the Rev. Fitzroy Stanhope (1787-1864). Dickens

spoke (THE PICKWICK PAPERS; 1837) of a vehicle not exactly a gig, neither was it a stanhope. The third Earl of Stanhope (1753-1816) was an inventor; after him were named the Stanhope press, a hand printing-press; the Stanhope lens used in a tube for magnifying; and the Stanhoscope, an improvement on the lens. Hence

624

stank

stellify

stanhopian, relating to one of the above;

prominence; supplanted by upstart. Shakespeare uses upstart only as an adjective,

inventive.

as

A

As a noun:

pond; a ditch of a moat. water, Also, a dam slow-moving to hold back water, a floodgate. Also used figuratively. CURSOR MUNDI in the 14th century said that Satan shall be cast into

stank*

a stinck

and stanck

version

of fire. Fletcher in his

of

(1656)

EPIGRAMS

Martial's

spoke of An inundation that orebears the banks And bounds of all religion; If

some

Show

stancks

emergent heads? stone, Th'are monu-

figurative use, saying

mine

of

I'll

stanck

eyes

up

To watch

is

ultimately

from

stagnum, pond, pool, whench also

THE

in

Spencer

am

(1579) says: I

By

dropping the

the

word

starky.

SHEPHERD'S so

stiffe

first

and

letter

exhausted.

pecially, starky

A

starve-lackey.

miserly pretentious gal-

Used as a name in Shakespeare's MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1605) as Pompey

lant.

,

lists

Master Deep-vow, Copper-spur, and Master

those in prison:

and

Master

.

.

.

and dagger man and young Drop-heir

Starve-lackey the rapier bully],

.

.

.

starve-

gutted, famished (18th century); starveacre, in Hardy's TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES (1891): 'Tis a starue-acre place.

swedes are

all

Corn and

they grow.

statuminate. To support, establish. Also statumination. Latin statuminem, a sup port;

statuere,

statutum, to set up, esstatum, to stand; whence

also status, state, statue, stature, statute;

attained

stare,

institute, the constitution,

and the

status

quo. Jonson in THE NEW INN (1631) says: / will statuminate and underprop thee; still

If they scorn us, let us scorn them.

current stark. Es-

ground, land that is dry as in heat after

rain.

See bested.

stead.

Fixed, as the stars; formed into

stelled.

studded with stars. Shakespeare in KING LEAR (1605) says that the sea would

stars;

(1)

A

boot worn by countryplural. So in the 16th the 17th century, gaiters or

men; usually in the century.

See sterve.

starve.

so stanck.

we

(caked) and unworkable,

startup.

overthrow.

my

tablish;

hard. Used from the 17th

Stiff,

the glory of

all

CALENDAR

tank.

century, after the

hath

stag-

nant, stagnate. Italian stancare, to weary; from this sense, as an adjective, stank (stanck, stanke), weary, faint,

per-

and given away To upstart unthriftsf In MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING we find the other form: That young start-up

Other combinations of starve are

Latin

rights

my arms

force

[i.e.,

thy

also stinch f stainch,

as stanch^ staunch; It

Plucked from

royalties

the salt

shame, and weep mine obsequies. Both as a noun and verb this word appears also staynche.

demned A wandering vagabond, my and

their

Like Seth's famed ments of thy devotion gone! As a verb: hence, to dam, to strengthen the banks of a stream; to surround with a moat. Again Fletcher leans on Martial for a conducts

Bolingbroke protests (RICHARD 11; 1595): Will you permit that I shall stand con-

By

leggings; Sylvester in his rendering (1608) Bartas' DECAY said: Her neat, fit of

Du

startups of green velvet be, flourisht with low-born person risen to silver. (2)

A

have buoy'd up, fires.

And

Stelliferous,

quench' d the stelled

stelliferant,

stelliferal,

a knight hospitaler, whose shield bore a red star above a cross.

bearing

stars; stellifer,

stellify.

(literally,

625

To to

deify, to set

make

among

the stars

a star of. This activity,

stepony

stellion

to the

determine the amount of an assessment. Also as a noun, the valuation of property, the amount assessed. This

D'Urfey (OPERAS; 1721) pointed out: This lady you have stellify'd, is my ac-

sense was used into the 17th century, later in Scotland. Burns in THE TWA DOGS (1786)

now

the

to levy; to

once a proud privilege of Zeus, is commonplace of any Hollywood publicity

Hence, to extol, to praise

agent.). sky.

Our Laird

His

gets in his racked rents, his kane, an* a* his stents. (2) coals,

THEN here roses With says she stellified the ground. The Water Poet declared: Thou (in THE DOG OF WAR, 1650) shalt be stellified by me; Fie make the Dog Star wayte on thee3 And in his room

To

extend, to stretch out

Tie seate thee.

tenter

to quaintance. Also, to compare to stars; Drumthus with adorn set or stars; (as)

mond is

of

Hawthorden

says:

in the sonnet

A

stellion.

Wyclif

star-like

describes

(1382)

depeyntid

with

lizard

as

it

which Bailey (1751) defines that

lizard

remedy half

for

year,

the

every

stentor.

it."

(Latin steltribune

Roman

frauds not distinguished by a separate

name

(18th century English law)* but mainly, the granting of the same right (selling the

same goods,

1609)

The

declares:

etc.)

to

two

dif-

BIBLE (Douai version;

The

stellion stayeth on tarieth in kings houses.

his handes,

and

stellionate.

A fraud.

stelliscript.

The

See stellion.

writing

in

the

stars.

Coined by Sou they in THE DOCTOR (1835). Wherein is much food for thought. stent.

This form has been used from the

14th century, in various meanings. Also steynte, stynt, stint; related to extent, extend, $tend, stint.

(1)

To

tent,

a

A

stentor

assess,

to tax;

A man

(1)

with a loud voice.

From

in the supplying of provisions to soldiers. (2) stellionate, a general term for all

ferent persons.

by

see stentor.

stellature

(1)

influenced

also, the figure of

distended; extended; taut.

(2)

stellion was apparently applied (perhaps in ancient times) to a 'slippery customer/ a scoundrel; this use survives

fraud or graft by a

later,

whence

or stentmaster was a tax assessor, but also

The term

latura),

stenter;

set-

was

sovereign

(a

and commonly devours

in two crimes:

a

keeping one on tenterhooks, stretched in anxiety. As an adjective stent (1) assessed, taxed,

stellio,

sickness)

falling

a

as "a spotted

her skin

casts

nets in a stream; the apparatus for ting up tents or stretching curtains

spots;

with stems." Also

as

sail, .

worm

"a

a

(as

curtain, a tent, a person to torture) Also as a noun, a stake for stretching fishing-

SHE GONE (1616)

a Greek warrior in the Trojan War, Stentor, with a voice as powerful as the voices of

fifty

men. Dickens in THE OLD

CURIOSITY SHOP (1840) says Laughing like a stentor, Kit gradually backed to the door, torial,

and roared himself stentorious,

current stentorian. is

.

Hence stenand the

A stentorophonic

horn

(17th and

18th

a speaking trumpet

centuries)

out.

stentoronic,

D'Urfey in HELL BEYOND HELL

(1704) speaks of someone bawling with stentorophonick might. There is a verb, to stent, to assess, to tax; a stentor is (2)

a stentmaster, a person assigned to set the amount of tax to be paid by a town or a parish, and its individual inhabitants. See stent; cp. stepony.

and

sugar.

coss.

Raisin wine, with lemon juice A common 17th century drink.

Also stepney, by association with a parish in East London; stepany, stipone, stipony.

POOR ROBIN'S INTELLIGENCER of 1676 mentions

626

the faculty

of

spunging stiponie,

steven

stercomancy

and

of enflaming the reckoning as occasion

olent

See aeromancy.

stercomancy.

fogy

was

physician a purge)

corist,

.

A

stercorarian,

of

ex-

(also

mitted the too fetid contact of their

ster-

corous feculence to befoul the sandal of his Muse. The REPORT of the London committee on Metropolitan Sewers, of 1834, noted that pumping of stercoraceous filth is practised sometimes every night. THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW (1832) used the word

figuratively:

a

sneaking

stercoraceous

meant Christ

sternutation.

is

employed

The

act of sneezing. Also

as

pedantic humor. Latin

A

is

a substance that causes

sneezing; a powder, a dry errhine. Both these forms, and sternutative, are also used as

adjectives, meaning causing sneezing. Thackeray in THE FITZ-BOODLE PAPERS (1842) mentions a man seized with a vi~

AND CRiSEYDE

Upon

(1374) says that

a cros our soules for to beye

and ros, and sit yn hevene About the 15th century, sterve

was used meaning to die a slow death, as from cold or hunger. Hence, to die of hunger; by the 17th century the form starve was predominant, and the extremity of death became less insistent. To starve out, to endure in extreme cold; Shakespeare in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1606).* Stand hoe, yet are we maisters of the field, Never goe home; here starve we out the night.

Shakespeare also used the word THE COMEDY OF ERRORS:

figuratively, as in

His company must do his minions grace, Whilst I at

sternutare, sternutatum, frequentative of to sneeze. sternuere, sternutatory (sternutory)

staerfan, sterfen, storve, to the 17th century to die. Cp. asterve. Thus Chaucer

from the 10th

[buy] First starf,

above.

policy.

sternutament. Used from the 16th century; in recent use, when not medical, the word

open printed

steorfan,

in TROYLUS

,

FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW (December, 1880) declared; Unlike Dante, he never per-

in

common Teutonic word

This

starve)

(con-

temptuous) one that believes the "bread and wine" of the Eucharist are digested and evacuated; hence stercoranism, $ter~ corianism, this belief. Swinburne in THE

Princes

Soveraign

sterve.

stercory, an old-

stercoranite,

Used in the

language.

(whose favorite remedy Also stercorarian, ster-

stercoranist,

cp. stercoraceous.

of 1645 complained that any sterquilinious rascal is licensed to throw dirt in the faces

tension, a disgusting remark, stercoricolous (accent on the ick) , living in dung.

filth.

paw-

17th and 18th centuries; Howell in a letter

coral, stercorarious, stercorary, stercorean,

manure, stercoration, manuring; by

dung;

cus,

stercoreous, stercorose, stercorous, relating to, or full of, dung. To stercorate, to

excrement;

sternutatory

it.

Of or appropriate to the Also dunghill. sterquilinious. Latin ster-

Relating to faeces or dung. Latin stercus, stercorem, dung. Also ster-

on dung.

called

sterquilinlan.

stercoraceous.

stercovorous, feeding

of sneezing

fit

xysm he

shall require.

steven. voice.

home starve for a

merrie looke.

(1) The voice; especially, a loud With one steven, with one accord.

Also speech, speaking, prayer; language.

Chaucer in THE SQUIRE'S TAIX (1386): Ther is no fowl that fleeth under hevene That she ne shal wel understonde his stevene.

Hence also, sound, noise, outcry; report, fame. Hence also the verb steven, to shout, deafen with noise.

To

(2)

A

time, occasion.

Stevens, to take turns.

change (by) Unset steven, without appointment, unexpectedly. Hence, a set time, a date fixed

627

stew

Steven for a

payment or a meeting; by

heated room used for hot air or vapor baths; hence, a hot bath. This was a most common use, into the 19th century.

transfer,

a convened assembly. To set a Steven, to appoint a time; to break one's steven, to fail to keep an appointment. Hence the verb steven, to appoint; to alternate, take turns. Perhaps this

Even

is

Hence, meat slowly boiled; usually mixed with vegetables, this is the current stew. Hence also, from frequent such use of

the origin of

the

rhyming slang for equal turns or shares. (3) A summons, a comSteven,

mand

also as a verb.

(4)

The stem

medieval

public

hot-air

baths,

a

This also was a common use; Nashe cried out in CHRIST'S TEARES OVER

brothel.

of

a ship; hence, to Steven, to direct one's course; thus a Towneley Mystery of 1460

JERUSALEM

(1593):

London, what are thy

apon the

suburbes but licensed stewes! In this sense, both stew and stews were used as singular,

thyrd day, And Steven to heaven. Note that Steven used to rhyme with heaven.

though stews sometimes meant the 'redlight district'; also, the stew-side. Chaucer

(5) In the 19th century, Steven (still the short e) was slang (especially in sports) for money. The word, also occurring as

brothel, says, in THE FRIAR'S TALE (1386): So been the women of the styves . . . yput

said that Jesus raised hymself

stevin t stevne, stevon,

form;

at least

steven.

two

Laneham

is

a

common Teuton

earlier

out

of

my

cure

rhyming

in a letter of 1575 re-

~

syr King."

From

kept for the table. By extension,

THE

CANTERBURY TALES (1386) says Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in Muwe, And many a breem and many a luce in stuwe.

:

in Vienna, boil

A

Where I have seen corruption

and bubble

Till

it

o'er-run the stew.

heated room; so Chaucer. Especially, a

To

juice,

stew in one's to

be

left

own to

(water,

suffer

the

in perspiration: KING LEAR (1605): Came there a reeking post, stew'd in his haste f

(whence ultimately English perhaps from extufare; Greek

boiling. So Spenser; and Shakespeare has, in MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1603) Here

or alarm. grease)

consequences of one's conduct. Shakespeare used the verb literally, bathed

A

tuphos, vapor. From this developed various related senses. A vessel or caldron for

finally,

overheated, literally

natural

Also stuy, stiewe, stywe, stue. (2) stove; a heated room. This is from Late Latin

stove),

mean

(bathed in perspiration) or figuratively, in a stew, in a state of great excitement

was used from the 14th century into

stupa, stufa

A

the notion of boiling-up,

stew came to

any pond; also, an artificial oyster-bed. This sense, from Old French estui, case, the 19th. Chaucer in the Prologue to

with

KING JAMES) declared: Instead of that beauty he had a notorious stew sent him.

This word has several meanings not current. (1) A pond or tank in which

stew.

tub,

styves

lyves. This also appears as stive. Shakespeare has, in CYMBELINE (1611): To mart s'tews or a stew, as in a Romish stew. by further extension, was used to mean a prostitute; in 1650 Weldon (COURT OF

words fused in

ported that a doughty dwarf With steven -full stout amids all the press. Said "Hail,

fish are

the sense of

several uses in

his

among

half breathless, panting forth eril his Mistris> salutations

From Gon-

and with combined literal and figurative force in HAMLET: In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, stew'd in corruption. Note that a steward was a keeper (ward) not of a stew, but of a stiy, which was related to sty (pigsty) but in Old English probably meant dwelling-place. Hence stivy, stuffy; Hewlett

628

(BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGA-

still-

stichomancy ZINE; February,

her smile was stivy

den.

tions,

but

1899)

like

The sun

said:

of

a dean breath in the

There are further complicait's

them than

better for

for us

senses of to

a

See stightle.

stickler.

This word, with its variants, has moved along an entire pole of meanings. stightle.

is a fre(13th to 15th century) set in quentative of stight, to arrange,

Stightle

dispose.

Stightle

century, stickle

meant

umpire;

to control,

(2)

of;

dispose

after (1)

the

to

15th

mediate,

govern, ordain,

then with hostile indication

put down, defeat; (4) to wrangle, dispute. So with stightler and 16th centuries, stiffler) then

to dispose of,

fight,

(15th

stickler, a

mediator, reconciler; a partisan;

an

instigator; a wrangler, meddler, busya body, down to the still current sense, stickler for,

one that

insists

upon a

certain

course or procedure. To compose a disto pute: Drayton, in POLYOLBION (1612) the

Muse

refers

The hearing

to stickle all these stirs.

To

of the cause, take an

strive,

AMPHITRYON Dryden, part: the very goddesses would Nay, in

active (1690):

stickle in the cause of love.

hesitate:

LEGENDS

Barholm (1840)

in

To

scruple,

THE INGOLDSBY some persons

said that

stickle not to aver that you are catercousin with Beelzebub himself. Stickler

a factious contender, a wrangler. Penn in SOME FRUITS OF SOLITUDE (1693): A

man

one thing, a stickler is quite another. An antagonist: Jackson in COMMENTARIES UPON THE APOSTLES CREED devout

(1613):

was a short

calm, stop

distil

.

juice or in that

drops; thence, to extract the essence of. Its most famous use

See aeromancy.

stichomancy.

(3)

still,

(14th

beyond the current

a verb lull,

(from which the noun, meant widely survives) This first fall in trickle to down, century)

form of

to stew.

order,

L As

still.

is

Diomedes (who was one of the

A

is

great sentence of Marlowe's TAMBURLAINE that ever poets (1587): // all the pens

held

Had

thoughts,

fed the feeling of their maisters every sweetnes that inspired

And

their harts,,

Their minds, and muses on

admyred theames;

the

all

If

heavenly

From

their imquintessence they mortall flowers of poesy, Wherein as in a myrrour we perceive The highest reaches still

of a

humaine

poems

wit: If these

And

period

had made one combin'd

all

in

beauties worthiness, Yet should ther hover in their restless heads,

One

thought, one

into grace, one wonder at the least, Which words no vertue can digest. II. As an adverb: always, invariably. So used from

the 13th century. occasion,

anon,

still

still

Thus

as,

still still,

whenever,

on every and

still

an end, every so often; ShakeTWO GENTLEMEN FROM VER-

speare in THE

ONA

(1591)

speaks of

an end turnes

me

to

A

Harington in his MOST WITHE EPIGRAMS (1618)

down your passion:

A

slave that

ELEGANT AND advised:

stake at play, lay

greedy

Lay

down your hath

still

gamester

some mishap. To chafe

still

shame. Sir John

at luck proceeds

of foolish fashion. No man throws still the dice in fortunes lap. For another instance, see stith. still-.

Several

compounds with

this

form

medi. greatest sticklers against Troy) ator, Shakespeare in TROILUS AND

have been used in English. (1) stillroom. A room in a house, with a still for the

CRESSIDA (1606): The dragon-wing of night the ore-spreds the earth And stickler-like

preparation of cordials and perfumes. Later, a room for keeping preserves, cakes,

Armies separates.

liqueurs,

umpire:

629

etc.,

and preparing

tea,

coffee,

stillicide

stillatim

and the

the like. Having lost its first meaning, word could give rise to such comment

Harwood's LADY FLAVIA (1865): in what are faceThere was babbling

as this, in

.

.

.

the still-rooms of country tiously mansions. Hence, stillroom maid. (2) stillcalled

sitting,

inactivity.

used

this

1819)

to

LEGEND

(THE

mean

Scott

still-stand.

(3)

OF

MONTROSE,

a truce; Shakespeare, to

a standstill; HENRY iv, PART TWO (1597): As with the tyde, swell' d up unto

mean

his height,

That makes a

ning neyther way,

still-stand,

A

13th century term (used by Layamon) , apparently coined by analogy with stalworth. (5) stillyard. Used in the

ful.

18th century for

stillion,

a

gantry,

meant

Stillified

q.v.

but

distilled,

(17th

stilliform

century)

meant drop-

shaped, and stillicidious, stillatitious, produced by the falling of drops; see stillatim, stillicide.

Thus

stillie

(16th

century),

sprinkled with drops.

Drop by drop. From Latin drop. Suggesting the medieval torture, as when Evelyn in a letter of 1668 says: cause abundance of cold fountainstillatim.

stilla,

water to be poured upon me stillatim, for a good half-hour together. Stalactites are stillatitious, that is, produced by falling drops. This word may also mean issuing or falling in drops, as the painful and stillatitious emission of urine. See stillicide.

is

See

stillicide.

The

not a disease, nor

the killer, destroyer. Thus a boar, avicide, a bird, boviof apricide, an ox; humorously, a butcher. cide,

brahminicide,

dripping of water.

From

stilla,

another's

am sure

that

brahmin,

cervicide,

a

abortion, fratricide, a brother, felicide, a cat. fungicide, spores, genocide, a people

(coined after

World War

II)

.

germicide,

giganticide, a giant, hericide, a lord or master, herpecide, a reptile, hiricide, a

homicide, a man. infanticide,

goat,

larvicide.

secticide,

of

liberticide:

in-

destroyer

used by Sou they, Shelley, lupicide, a wolf, macropicide, a

liberty;

Carlyle.

kangaroo, matricide, a mother, microbicide. mundicide, the world, muricide, a mouse, nematodde, worms, nepoticide, a favorite,

parasiticide, parenticide, parricide, a parent, patricide, a father, poultrycide. regicide, a king, serpenticide. sororicide, a sister, suicide, oneself, talpicide, a

mole, tauricide, a bull, tomecide, books. vaticide, a prophet, verbicide, the

a

or

liar,

worm,

A

a

book-burner,

word:

vermicide,

a

vulpicide, a fox.

A

Barmelapicide is a stone-cutter. is a person that offers imaginary In THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS Barmecide was a prince of Bagh-

benefits.

land.

APOLOGY FOR IDLERS I

a

deer, czaricide. deicide, a god. femicide, a woman, feticide, foeticide, a foetus: an

stillitory.

drop 4- cidere, to fall. Used in Scottish law for the dripping of rainwater from the eaves of a man's house

upon

stillicide a crime.

or

of,

ing

(1450),

Latin

re-

Cide, as a suffix from Latin caedere, to make fall, to slay, usually means the kill-

cide

stillatory.

you

.

the spinning of a top is a case of kinetic stability. I still remember that emphyteusis

a stand, or a

framework on which a cask might stand,

.

.

run-

stillworth. Peace-

(4)

instructive hours of truancy that

I have attended a good many gret lectures in my time. I still remember that

it

Stevenson in AN

(1888) says of school: will not be the full, vivid,

dad,

who put

a succession of empty dishes

before a beggar, pretending they held a sumptuous feast. Hence Dickens in

AMERICAN NOTES Barmecide feast. illusory, like

woe by

630

speaks of a barmecidal means

(1842)

And

hopes of relief of the world's

international homicide.

stone

stillitory

A still, an alembic. Shakespeare form stillitorie; from Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES (1386) tO the 18th century, stillatory was more frequent; but

My

stillitory.

has:

uses the

Vulcans

and more. Often used

thre,

in

as

Corns

excelling

stillitorie of thy

breath

stiver.

figuratively,

perfumd

face that

century)

Also

breedeth love by smelling.

stith.

French

used

figuratively.

in

Surrey,

(cp. stour);

torrent); mighty.

used as

as

an adverb,

a verb

to stand;

smithy.

many

An

anvil;

stone.

(especially

stiver!

In various forms and combina-

tions: stone-ram, a

ram not

castrated; so

of other beasts; thus, stone-priest, stonepuritan, and the like, a lascivious priest,

to

etc.

and

stone-buckle,

precious

stones,

a

buckle

stone-eater,

set

with

a conjuror

that pretends to eat stones, stone-eyed, with eyes motionless; also, blind; stone

He

blind, wholly sightless; cp. sandblind. stone's throw, also stone-cast. Cp. philoso-

CUTHBERT (1450): to stithe fetters schakyn.

by extension, a

Used from the 13th

forge,

century, in

forms,

including stethie, sty thy, stethye, stythe; in the north and Scotland, stedee, steady, study, stoddy. Related to Teutonic root sta, to stand. See stith. Often used figuratively; by Scott in stedy,

(1821); by Lowell in A FAMILIAR EPISTLE (1869): Let whoso likes be beat, poor fool, On life's hard stithy

KENILWORTH

to a tool.

bristle

With you, don't think Til bate a

,

ST.

was taken, and in stithy.

severely;

stiff,

to set firmly. (1375): In battle so

(14th century)

Barbour in BRUCE stith

firmly,

bagpipe.

ing in THE PIED PIPER OF HAMEUN (1842) With him 1 proved no bargain-driver;

formida-

Used from BEOWULF

meanings

century, Old As a verb, (3)

(13th

has:

firm;

the 16th century, later in Scotland. Also

estive)

various

VINCIAL REPORT of 1889, look big in winter with their feathers all silvered out. Brown-

rigid (of the neck; also, in inflexible of purpose; stubborn. death); Also intense; violent (of a battle, storm, ble;

(q.v.)

was

cramped, short of funds; stiverless, penniThe birds, said a Devonshire PRO-

:

Unyielding; strong

the

Among

less.

his

on Sir Thomas Wyatt (1542) A head, where wisdom misteries did frame, Whose hammers bet still in that lively brain As on a stithe. II. As an adjective. elegy

a coin worth about a penny. on the

stiver, stivour, a player

of the hair); stivery, bristly, rough. This sense is related to stiff. Hence also stiver

of stithy, from the 13th century. Also steyth f sty the , stethe, and the like. Stithy has been more

often

Something of small value;

to stiver, to stand

As a noun. An anvil; a variant q.v. Both forms have been used

I.

(2)

bagpipe. of stive

See stepony.

stipony.

(1)

a tiny quantity. Not a stiver, nothing, not a bit. From Netherlands stiver (16th also,

AND ADONIS

VENUS

Shakespeare's

For from the

(1592):

See stew.

stive.

also stillotorie, styllytory, stellatour, stylla-

imaginations are as foule As

stithy.

Shakespeare in

HAMLET

(1602)

pher's stone; whetstone. From the shape of their bulbs, varieties of the orchis (cp.

were popularly called foolstones, goatstones, spotted dogstones, marsh dog" stones, foxstones, sweetstones, and the like. Shakespeare had one of these in mind when in HAMLET (1590) the chaste but mad Ophelia plucks long-purples That liberal shepherds give a grosser name; But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. Another name for the long-purple was serapia stones, from the god Serapius, satyrion)

631

stot

stonish

worshipped at Canopus with gay fertility rites. Beaver stones were apparently a Nashe in THE UNFORTUNATE delicacy;

his UNIceptable perfume. T. Green, in of VERSAL HERBAL 1820, distinguishes be-

remembers Pliny's (1594) NATURAL HISTORY: The hunter pursuing the beaver for his stones, hee bites them to off and leaves them behinde for him

storax-in-the-tear.

gather up, whereby he lives quiet.

syllables, store-jee.

An early (15th to 18th century) stonish. variant of astonish. Also stunys, stonis,

Thackeray in PENDENNIS (1850) admires the maternal storge which sanctifies the history of mankind. S. Cox in his

tween dry storax-in-the-lump and liquid

TRAVELLER

(1592):

wandrers often

are,

Or

stonisht, as night

Their

light

blowne

out.

.

.

.

COMMENTARIES: JOB (1880) observed: The but lacks ostrich resembles the stork .

its

pious, maternal storge.

.

.

What more

ap-

propriate bird?

stoopgallant. Something that humbles the great, that makes the gallant a mere man. Originally (early 16th century) a

name

for the 'sweating sickness/ a fever of swift fatality in the 15th and 16th cen-

Thus Hancock in 1560 remarked Ther were [gallants] dawncyng in the

turies.

that

feel-

Two

Greek storge; stergein, Used from the 17th century;

love.

to

stunnys, stonnyshe (mainly Scotch). Hence stonishment. Shakespeare has, in VENUS

AND ADONIS

Natural love; especially, the storge. ing of parents for their children.

cowrie at 9

clocke that were deadd or

a'

Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; FEBRUARY) says: Youth is a bubble Whose way is wildernesse, whose ynne penaunce, And stoopegallaunt age the hoste of greevaunce. Nashe in HAVE WITH YOU TO SAFFRON-WALDEN (1596)

aleven

a' clocke.

.

.

.

promises a comedy that shal bee called 'Stoope Gallant; or, stooth.

A

variant

stoth, stothe, stoith.

The

.

A

WOMEN soth, it

variant

(1S85) is

storiation

(aphetic)

of historial,

Chaucer in THE LEGEND OF GOOD

historical.

And

says:

this is storyal

no fable. In the 19th century, was used to describe decoration

(mainly in architecture) with designs representing historical or legendary subjects.

A

As a noun:

stot.

ferior

Hence,

beast; as

horse; early, an ina clumsy person.

hence,

term of contempt for a in THE FRIAR'S TALE olde stot, that is not myn Nay, a

woman. Chaucer (1386) says entente. Perhaps stot

.

from the first meaning, was used, since the 16th century, to

mean

Fall of Pride.'

form of

A

.

stoiial.

stud.

Also

will of 1530

men-

a quick jump back; a rebounding a blow; leap or swing (hence, the rhythm) of a dance. To keep stot, to keep time.

The word was

also

tioned a gyrdell stothed with sylver.

Rutherford in a

letter

stor.

Incense. Possibly from Latin storax, Greek styrax; both these forms have also

a wrong step or a wrong stot in going out of this life. As a verb, there seems to

been used in English for an aromatic gum. Stor was used from the 10th into the 14th century; storax, from the 14th; styrax, from the 16th century. Burton in THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY (1621) lists

be a series. Thus stot, to rebound, bounce; jump, spring; to bound along but also to go unsteadily, lurch, stagger. And stotay (15th century) , to totter, falter, come to a stop. But since the 14th century, state,

belzoin, ladanum, styrax, and such like gummes, which make a pleasant and ac-

fell.

to stop, stand

632

And

still.

used

figuratively;

(1 637)

spoke of

Stoter, to hit hard, to

stotter, to

stumble, to stagger.

stoth

stoup

These forms

(as stutter, totter, etc.)

But

are

[Hence also the nouns stoter, a violent blow: Motteux' translation (1694) of Rabelais mentions a swinging stoater echoic.

and the

with the pitchfork and 15th century)

(1374) cries Alas! the harde stounde. Hence, a pang, a shock, a sudden attack

or sharp pain. May Jesus, says Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; MAY)

earlier (14th

hardihood in

stoteye,

keepe your corpse stounds That in

attack.]

See stooth.

stoth.

To

stoun.

stun.

To

strike

astone, to strike

ing include

with amaze-

still

also

astonish,

Used

as a stone.

still

into

My

carcas

in

stounde, roar.

noise,

kepe whishte you mad. (5) the

(From

17th

(I

A

say) fierce

century;

with what dolorous stound the noontide

beauty,

cannon

amaz'd

.

.

went

.

off there.

action of the various

stound with wonder. Note that one form of stoun (stowne, stown, stounne)

To (2)

q.v.

place, position

Drayton, Burton.) Carlyle in THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1837) says: One can fancy

And

stound,

station,

(4)

whilst I do prove

T. Heywood in THE BRAZEN AGE

(1613) used it of softer powers: that charms gods, makes men

is

care full

given time); Drant in his translation (1566) of Horace's SATIRES wrote: Stande

the 17th century; replaced by stun. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENS (1596) says: So was he stound with stroke of her huge taile.

the

carrion

(at a

form from Old French

whence astound^

estoner,

from

my

abounds. Variant developments of mean-

A shortened

ment.

a bad time, a time of trial or Chaucer in ANELIDA AND ARCITE

also,

suffering;

As a verb, the

noun meanings:

(1)

stun as with a blow, astound, stupefy. To remain, stay in one place or posi-

a

tion (13th to 15th century). (3) To cause great pain to; to give a stound or shock;

gathering of several roots and many meanings. It appears also as stund, stond,

to be very painful, to smart. Also, as a verbal noun, stounding; a benumbing; a

common

This

stound.

early

form

is

stownd, stowned, stowunde, and the like. As a noun: (1) A state of amazement; see stoun. beer.

(2)

In

in the

A

wooden container

this sense,

17th and

A

a short time.

moment,

for small

a form of stand; used 18th centuries. (3)

From

This and its developments represent the most frequent use. In one of his ENTERTAINMENTS (1603), JonSOn WTOte: Now they print it on the ground With their feete in figures round, Markes that will be ever found To remember this glad

stound.

Hence

stounds.

By stounds, from time

by

turns.

stounds,

stound;

in

my

face.

A

stoup. (1) pail or bucket; a small cask; a drinking- vessel, of varying sizes. Especially, a container, a stone basin, of holywater, in a church entrance-way. In comuse from the 14th century. Pro-

mon

nounced forms,

many

to time;

Oft-stounds, oftentimes. that moment. Hence,

stoope,

That

stoop. It

including stope,

stoope

of

DOONE

(1869)

cider.

(1601)

:

stolp,

Shakespeare, in Marian I say, a

Blackmore, in LORNA Parson took a stoop of

:

THE PASTON LETTERS

have a stope of bere 633

stowpe,

stop,

wine.

moment, an opportunity. THE

LEGEND OF ST. KATHERiNE (1225) exclaimed: Nu is ower stunde! [Now is our chancel]

was written in many

stoap.

TWELFTH NIGHT

the

at

propitious

a

stoundemele encresseth in

the 10th cen-

tury.

in

delay, lingering. Stoundmeal, at intervals,

from time to time; gradually; Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374) notices this wynde that moore and moore thus

to

(1452):

Ye shul

comforts yow. Of

stramineous

stour

church, THE QUARTERLY REVIEW for

the

April, 1899: The famous alliance between the stoup and the sabre, which has re-

organized the politics of France. (2) A variant form of stop Also stoupaille (15th .

century); to make a stoupaille of, to close, variant form of as with a plug. (3)

A

WHERE WHIPPING-CHEER TO CURE THE MAD

stoop. Davies' WITS BEDLAM,

wrestler) stoupeth low so, to

overthrow:

God

HAD

(1617) flatterer (like a

A

contains the epigram:

is

To him he blesse

flatters;

good princes

from such stoupers; and Place such about them as doe upright stand. So be it with all men! This was an early and

stour.

word.

Also

stoor,

storre,

nounced

stowre,

stur,

sto or.

and the

sture,

As a noun.

conflict, battle, fight; etc.;

pain, time of turmoil

versity,

A

warlike

stower,

Pro-

like.

An armed

(1)

a struggle with ad-

a death-struggle.

and

uses this several times

QUEENE

common

store,

stress.

e.g.,

(2)

Spenser

THE FAERIE

have beene trained up in stowre and poets after him.

(1590): I

Others, perhaps misinterpreting Spenser, have used stour to mean (3) occasion, place. Lodge, in ENGLAND'S HELICON (1600)

snow,

etc.)

.

dust (or As an adjective, stoor is a

Old English stor, and Middle English stur, wild, great; its meanings: viHence harsh. vigorous, blending of two forms:

fierce;

olent,

size,

quantity, stalwart;

grievous, severe;

imposing

voice); coarse (of texture). said Maundeville in his

them es grete and sture. ChauTHE MERCHANT'S TALE (1386) inquires: O stronge lady stoore, what dostow [dost thou]? Herbert in THE TEMPLE avers that Constancie knits the bones, and makes us stowre. God gie ye good storel Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (MUTAthe wool of

1596) pictures Spring all clad in flowres (In which a thousand birds had built their bowres That sweetly sung, to BILITY;

paramours): And in his hand a he did beare, And on his head (as javelin A guilt engraven fit for warlike stoures) morion he did weare; That as some did call forth

him

love, so -others did

A

him

was probably influenced by stir. (4) A tumult, roar, commotion. Thus Ramsay

mountains,

mim, for with

billy

MASQUE of

1730:

Minerva Ye shall

your mortal stoor, Bacchus fit the floor.

a'

(5)

A

driving storm; hence, swirling or flying dust (or driving snow or scudding spray).

Hence like stour, vigorously, make (raise) a stourt to raise a a

fuss;

to

blow

(throw)

swiftly;

dust,

to

make

stour in one's

feare.

variant of e stover, q.v. It de-

in these senses is from AngloFrench estur, Old French estour, estorn; Teutonic root sturmoz, whence also storm. In the remaining uses as a noun, the sense

in a

isles,

cer in

sential for a journey. (2)

jested,

In certain

TRAVELS (1400) Are schepe as mykill [large] as oxen, bot

stover.

The word

or

bearing

(in

veloped other meanings:

ftowres.

(in

strong,

speech); stubborn, stern, surly; harsh (of

wrote: Oft from her lap at sundry stoures leapt,

great

Hence

or degree).

He

and gathered sommer

Thus

deceive.

eyes, to confuse, mislead, as a verb: to whirl in a cloud of

(1)

Food

es-

Winter food for

a specific type, as hay clover. Iris says to Ceres in Shake-

cattle; occasionally

from

speare's

And

flat

THE TEMPEST (1610): Thy turfy where live nibbling sheep, meads thatch' d with stover, them

to keep.

stramineous.

Relating to straw; by exLatin stramen, straminem, straw. Hence stramage, straw or rushes for spreading on a floor. From the tension,

worthless.

Italian stramazzone, a

knock-down blow

(stramazzo, a straw mattress) comes the rapier stroke called stramazon (16th and

634

strepitation

strappado

hence a bed cover, a horse cloth, etc.); stratum, to throw down, to

17th centuries; revived by Scott in WOODSTOCK, 1826). Saintsbury in his HISTORY OF CRITICISM (1900) wrote: He not only seems to be dealing with men of straw,

sterner-e,

spread out. In 17th and 18th century dictionaries; not in O.E.D.

but answers them with, as Luther would most stramineous argument.

stravagant. Aphetic for extravagant, in various senses: extraordinary, unsuitable;

say, a

A

strappado.

medieval

torture,

often

irrelevant.

used to extort a confession: the victim's

hands were

behind his back and

tied

fastened to a pulley; by this he was hoist high and let fall part-way, with a jerk.

Lea in THE HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION (1888) relates that in some witch trials in Piedmont the oath to tell the truth was with excommunication and enforced di corde,' or infliction of the toras the strappado. The word

'tratti

ture

known

was often used figuratively; Brathwait wrote a book (1615) entitled A Strappado for the DivelL The word is from Italian strappata; strappare, to pull, snatch; but because of the first syllable, it was sometimes mistakenly used as though it meant a

beating,

whipping;

He

(PADLOCK; 1769):

thus

gave

Bickers taffe

me

the strap-

pado on my shoulders, and the bastinado on the soles of my feet. When Falstaff (in Shakespeare's HENRY iv, PART ONE; 1597) is

asked for his reason, he retorts: What, 1

upon compulsion ? Zounds, an I were

at

strappado, or all the racks in the world, I would not tell you on compulsion. Give you a reason on compulsion!

from Late Latin dropped the e: strava-

Italian,

(The

extravagare, also Also, a gante.)

(whence

vagrant.

Latin

of

participle

divagate,

The

vagari,

etc.)

is

present

vagatum vagantem.

There was a 19th century Scottish verb to stravaig, to wander aimlessly. Stravagant was used in the 16th and early 17th century, as Chapman's MASK OF THE INNS OF COURT (1613): The torch-bearers' habits were likewise of the Indian garb, but more stravagant than those of the

maskers. streck.

Straight, straightway; directly, im-

mediately. Also streke, strick, strek; related to stretch. Streck up, in an upright position. Hampole in THE PRICKE OF

CONSCIENCE (1340) wrote: The synful soul than gos strik to helle. streek.

An

early variant of stretch. Also

streak, strek, streck. streek

developed also

(14th century) the idea of moving along (quickly), or of urging along, as a donkey.

the

If reasons

were as plentiful as blackberries,

I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. [For continuance of the conversastratopedarch. Commander of a camp. The accent goes on top. Used in histories

in

the

Ramsay). Greek field,

ground

stratuminate.

pavement

4-

continuing or repeated

noise; clattering. Latin strepitare, strepitatum, frequentative of strepere, to make

a noise.

Hence

strep ent, streperous, strepi-

PLATO bemoans a poor gentleman who by means of the harangue of a strepitous lawyer, was found guilty of tant, strepitous, noisy. Neville, in

REDIVIVUS (1681)

tion, see pizzle.]

written

A

strepitation.

19th century stratos,

(Milman; army + pedon,

arches, ruler.

To

(literally,

pave.

Latin stratum,

a thing spread over,

murder. Strepitate tionaries), to

make

(in

17th century dic-

a continual noise.

The

term streperosity was used in the 18th century, meaning high-sounding language. Peace! cried Shenstone in RURAL ELEGANCE

(1750),

635

Peace

to

the strepent horn!

THE

stum

stridulous

the attacks. Swift in 1720 said So rotting the street, When [rutting?] Celia stroles

NATION of 12 July, 1913, warned the world to listen in the gathering darkness to the

A

strepitation of Apollyoris wings. later, their beating loosed all hell

year

upon

sober folks are

An old past form of strike: For an instance of its use, see jar.

stroud.

A large

strooke.

a

Producing

shrill,

grating

sound. Latin stridere, to creak, whence also strident, stridor, a harsh, high-pitched sound.

The

frequentative form was stridu-

lare,

stridulatum,

used

to

lation;

mean an

whence

stridulator

is

insect that emits stridu-

also the verb stridulate

and the

to persons. Rousseau, said

Morley in

his

biography (1873), sought new life away from the stridulous hum of men. G. A. Lawrence in MAURICE DERING (1864) spoke

young person who when she talks, and squalls when

of a stridulous

screams

.

.

.

Spinning. Greek strobos, a ing around. Thus strobic circles, a strobic.

of

concentric

when

circles,

twist-

series

which appear to on which they

the surface

marked is turned. The stroboscope, as a toy or scientific instrument, is also from Greek strobos, as is the strobilus, the pine-

are

cone. strole.

A

variant of

stroll. It

occurs in a

burlesque Prologue to Shakespeare's KING JOHN, supposedly to be spoken before Colley Gibber's "amended" version of the and published in the WHITEHALL

(in

but coarse blanket, manStroud,

Gloucestershire?)

American Indians. It was made from woollen rags. THE JOURNAL OF CAPTAIN TREAT (1752) COnto trade or sell to the

tains the entry:

the

of

Be pleased

Piankasha

to give to the

king

these

two

strowds to clothe him.

Aphetic for destroy, but also used noun: in the 15th century, one who

stroy.

as a

destroys; a waster, a stroy-all, stroy-good; in the 17th century, destruction. Bunyan has, in

THE HOLY WAR (1692): Nor did they make stroy of any of the neces-

partake or

Mansoul.

saries of

she sings.

revolve

ufactured

son

adjective stridulant. Stridulatory, stridulent; stridulency are used also in reference

abed.

stricken.

the world. stridulous.

all

stultiloquence. Foolish talk, babble. Latin stultus, foolish 4- loquens, talking. Also,

Hence stultiloquent, stultiloquious. Also stulty (14th century), stultitious (16th and 17th centuries), foolish.

stultiloquy.

Stultify, stultificate,

to

render foolish or

worthless; to reduce to absurdity. Urquhart, in his translation (1693) of Rabelais:

So great was the stultificating virtue of that

.

.

.

pulverized dose. Swinburne in

his STUDIES written in the year of birth, speaks of the blank and blatant jargon of

my

epic or idyllic stultiloquence.

play,

EVENING POST of 10 February, 1737: And all our modern Muses,, alias Misses, Still strole about the Temple, fond of kisses. Gibber's

version

of

Shakespeare's play was so savagely attacked before it was read or seen that Gibber went to a re-

from the prompand walked out of the theatre. was published in 1745 and deserved

hearsal, took his version ter's desk,

It

stum.

Unfermented or

partly fermented grape-juice, must. Also stoom. From Dutch

stom, dumb. The Germans call wine that has become flat stummer Wein; the French use the phrase vin muet for stum. Stum was often used, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, for renewing vapid wines; hence, stum was applied to wine thus freshened, as by Butler in HUDIBRAS (1664):

636

sub

stupre /'// carve your name on barks of trees Drink every letter on't in stum, And make it brisk champagne become. Shadwell in THE SQUIRE OF ALSATIA (1688) asked: Is not rich generous wine better than hedgewine stummed? And in THE TRUE WIDOW .

(1679)

Shadwell used the word figura-

tively:

'Tis the

it

fret

stum

of love that

from Latin sequi, secutum, to follow, whence also consecutive and inconse-

.

.

Hence suantly, evenly, smoothly, regularly. Used from the 15th century. quential.

Sweet-smelling. Accent on the vee. Latin suavis, English suave, pleasolens, smelling, olere, to ing, sweet suaveolent.

+

makes

Hence

smell.

and fume.

loquy,

Violation

stupre.

woman. Latin

a

of

mented:

stupre of the

sister.

Hence

ing

16th

Latin suadere

century

is

Love. Hence also suaviate, to exkiss. The first a is proI

from suave) was

See suaveolent.

suaviloquence.

easily persuaded.

in Tottel's MISCELLANY

(1557)

sub.

Grimalde advised:

The Roman

goddess of persuasion

was Suada; in English, suada was used to mean persuasive eloquence; Harvey (FOUR LETTERS; 1592) wrote: How faine would I see

.

.

.

*suadas

rehiv'd.

Hence

tending

to

suasiveness.

hoony-bees in you

also

persuade;

suasory, suasive;

The term moral

suasorian, suasion;

although C. Nesse wrote in AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST ARMINIANISM (1700): Moral suasion will never prove effectual to

open the heart of man.

suant. able,

Following; working smoothly; suitVia Old French suiant

agreeable.

Used

in a

number

of

century), as a bankrupt, a sub hasta, under a spear, at aucpauper, (16th-17th

tion

(the

Romans

stood a spear as

a

sign of an auction sale), sub Jove frigido

(19th century; Scott), under chilly Jupiter, in the open air. sub judice (from the

17th century), under judicial consideranot yet settled, sub modo, with

suasion sur-

vives,

Latin, under.

Latin phrases once common in English. sub dio (16th-17th century), under the open sky. sub (now in) forma pauperis

Flee then ylswading pleasures, baits untrew.

Not a

change such a nounced ah

form,

(whence also

My

superseded by persuade. Also suadible, suasible, that

kissing.

by association with suavis, sweet. Meum savium was a Roman pet phrase, mean-

stor.

This

valets

duty peck, not a hearty buss, but the luscious labiation of mutually absorbed lovers. Latin savium, a love kiss, altered

See stew.

suade.

An amorous

suaviation.

mony.

styve.

viands

book was published in 1659 en-

A Collection of Authentic Arguments, Swaviloquent Speeches, and Prudent Reasons.

that Richard III compassed all the means and waies that he could invent how to stuprate and carnally know his awne niece under the pretence of a cloaked matri-

See

the

suaviloquent, in 1819 com-

titled:

stuprous, given

adultery, whoredom. Also stuprate; Hall in his CHRONICLES (1548) said to rape,

styrax.

suaveolent;

A

bear.

.

suaviloquence, suavispeech;

THE BANQUET

suaviloquious.

stuprum. Wyclifs BIBLE (1382) speaks of the sons of Jacob . waxing cruel for the .

also

pleasing

tion,

qualifications,

sub pede

under certain conditions.

sigilli

(from the 17th century),

under the foot of the seal, under seal. sub plumbo, under lead, under the seal of the Pope, sub poena (14th century), under a penalty

637

of;

through

its

use as a threat

sub-

sub

Sub dichotomise

one ignores a summons, this the current subpoena, sub rosa, under the rose, secretly, sub sigillo, under the seal

OF PHYSIC

confession), in utmost secrecy, sub silentio, in silence, with no notice being

under (also used (to), subdititious, placed of a suppository); also, by fraudulent substitution for the right thing, subdolous (accent on the first syllable), crafty, sly;

became

if

(of

taken.

A host of words, mainly scientific, have been formed with the prefix sub-, under, close to, towards, somewhat, almost. Some of the forgotten ones are:

sub-.

sub act, to work

up

(the

ground in

D'Israeli in

was

occupied, though in a subauditur, with the skeleton in the cupboard of daily life,

underwood,

subbois,

dneritious

(accent

on the fourth

syl-

baked under ashes, subcingulum, a broad belt or girdle worn beneath an-

other,

,

as

by Anglo-Saxon bishops, subunder the crust of the earth. under the sky, in the open air

crustal, lying

sub dial,

sub dichotomize, subdivide; Biggs, ON THE VANITY OF THE CRAFT

(17th century)

Noah

.

one's

shoulder,

to

bear;

a friend, said Feltham (1628) , than freely to subties

his.

sub-

supply in thought, to underhence, subintellection; cp. sub-

intellect, to

stand;

audition, subintelligence, an implication; Browning in PARLEYINGS (1887) speaks of

a subintelligential

ing foes friends.

nod and wink

A

subintelligitur implied addition that

Turnis

the

comunspoken, pletes a statement subite, subitane, hasty, sudden, rash; subitany, subitary, subitaneous, hastily or suddenly made or done (Latin subire, to go stealthily; sub + ire, itum, to go, whence also itinerary), subjugal, under a yoke; under someone's

dominion, sublevaminous (accent on third

subbosco

lable)

auction,

humerate the burthen which was

underbrush.

(humorous, 16th century), the hair on the lower part of the face, sub-

and

should shake his resolu-

subhastation,

onto

take

in RESOLVES

by virtue of the man's giving a ring (or other pledge) to the woman: With this ring, I thee wed. subaud, to understand

much

hue.

Nothing surer

subaquatic. subarboreal, under a forest of trees, subarrhation, betrothal or marriage

by implication, as in the CONTEMPORARY REVIEW of February 1880, which declares that modern fiction is

The King

subdolous

.

to

boasts of this grand subagitatory achievement; hence, subagitation. subaquaneous, underwater; more commonly subaqueous,

subauditur,

(1828):

auction sale

acted by extraordinary signs and wonders, sub agitate,, to have sexual intercourse; Urquhart's translation (1693) of Rabelais

needed to complete a thought or construction; hence subaudition; in a

man

i

this

an the under (literally, placing spear; in ancient Rome a spear was set up as a sign of an auction) subhumerate, sombre

not take root (1614): Faith could them, unless first wrought and sub-

is

lest

tion, subferulary (from ferule) , under school discipline, under strict control, subfuse, sub fuscous, subfusk, of dusky or

culti-

CREED

what

CHARLES

troubled,

eloquent

vating, dough in kneading, etc.); Jackson's COMMENTARIES UPON THE APOSTLES'

in

says:

(1651)

by the severe incision knife of rational argumentations, subdit, under, subject it

syllable),

supporting,

sustaining

(Latin

Feltham in RESOLVES speaks of God who governs all things by His and sublevaminous Providence, upholding submonish, to reprove gently, to admonish hence submonimildly (17th century) tion. submundane, existing beneath the levare, raise):

;

world, subniveal, subnivean,

under the snow, subnubilar, below the clouds, subpedaneous, under or supporting the feet

638

succlamation

subfumigation

gation was used. Also suffumige.

(as a footstool); used also of a mountain at the foot of another, subreption, sup-

obtain

advance-

cp.

foot.

mock, deride,

bler

amphitheatre; there were vaults running subsellia all around, subsorti-

members

kneelers,

the

early

substrati, century), of a class of penitents

Christian

church;

a

sub-

dancings

See warner.

succade.

Fruit preserved in (candied or Popular from the 15th cen-

sugar.

a fruit syrup (16th century).

Cudworth A TREATISE CONCERNING ETERNAL AND

subsult; subsultive, subsultory;

fortuitous

succarath.

(1688; imagine writ-

in

speaks of or subsultations of today!)

the

'A monster-like beast/ reported

habiting the

When

under

succedaneum.

protection, covering, subtegulaneous, under the eaves, subtiliative, rendering, or able to render, thin; dissolving, subtrist, melancholy, subtrude, to thrust under, to come stealthily; Hardy

(17th

mainly

its

subfumigation.

than a man.

generating of fumes or vapors, as of incense, especially in incantations, to offer sacrifice

or

summon

CONFESSIO AMANTIS

nigromance he wole

spirits.

(1390) assaile

Gower

wrote:

in

With

To make

his

With hot subfumigacioun. From the 16th century, the form suffumi-

incantacioun

its

earlier use

word was applied

but Walpole in -a

letter

succedany,

succedane.

Hence, succedaneal, succedaneous.

first

A burning below, i.e., the

the

Also,

succlamation.

less

was reputed to take

A substitute. In

to things;

the waves, subvertise

(15th century), to

in-

of 1754 says: In lieu of me, you will have a charming succedaneum, Lady Harriet

Stanhope.

one

it

as

world. Also sucaratha.

back.

century)

in WESSEX POEMS (1898): / see the nightfall shades subtrude. subundane, beneath subvert, subvirate,

new

hunted,

young on

,

and 17th century

16th

the spirits, subtartarean, below Tartarus, in the seventh hell, mbtectacle (literally, roof)

one asked:

ii

tury. Succades, sweetmeats, candied fruits or vegetables. Also succate, perhaps by association with cate. See sucket. Succado,

the place where they knelt, subsultation, a hopping or skipping about; also to

IMMUTABLE MORALITY ing under that title

shoes,

tryangyls and

subtlety.

syrup)

sirat or; substration, their prostration, also

in

one's

patch ii

this in 1596.

tion, choice by lot of a substitute; sub-

in

to

me

semy cercles uppon my subpedytals. Lodge repeated Set

under the

(17th

under + pedem> A HUNDRED MERRY TALES (1526) shoWS

that pedantic humor did not begin in the 19th century; instead of asking the cob-

subsannation; subsannator, mocker, subsella, subsellium, a seat in a (Roman)

sortitiously

shoe. Also suppedital, sup-

Latin sub,

peditary;

subrisory. subsannate, also subsanne; hence,

subrisive,

A

subpedital.

the act of smiling; subride; sub-

rident, to

to

hence subreptive, subob (5 obreption). sub-

etc.;

gifts,

reptitious; rision,

truth

the

pressing

ment,

Hence

suffumigate; suffumigatious.

sense,

second,

it

the

Outcry; applause. In the word has lapsed; in the

has been replaced by acclamaunder 4- clamare, clama-

tion; ad, to; sub,

tus, to call; whence also proclaim; clamor. Painter in THE PALACE OF PLEASURE, has

Virginius tell how his daughter Virginia was ravished by Appius Claudius; this succlamation and pitifull complainte so stirred the multitude that they promised all to helpe and relieve his sorrow.

639

suffragan

succubus

DARKNESS

in

Used in the 19th century.

suckable.

(1)

(1846):

DAWN

AND

gratefully

This division of food

has:

(1891)

Vestals," said Titus,

"Thanks, kindest of

That can be sucked. M. Williams' SANSKRIT

GRAMMAR

for the rites of sacrifice. Farrar,

Rome)

See ephialtes.

succubus.

kissing the

hem

of her

suffi-

bulum.

four kinds, lickables, drinkables, chewables, and suckables, is not unusual in Indian writing. (2) A suckable, a sweetinto

meat, liquid or candy. Cp. sucket. suckeny. a smock.

Chaucer

to fumigate. Latin tum, fumigate.

and verb:

An Of

Also

coat.

outer garment; especially, Slavonic origin; Polish suknia,

Sufficiency (of which this is an early form, much used by Chaucer); abundance; ability; satisfaction, also, a source of satisfaction. Hence, suffisant, sufficient] the earlier form dropped out

an old variant of hards, hurds, the

coarser parts of hemp or flax. said in THE DECADES OF THE It (1555), of the coconut:

is

Thus Eden

of use in the

NEW WORLD

property.

involved and sufflaminate.

many webbes much like unto those hyrdes of towe which they use in covered with

1672

A

variant of succade, q.v. Also

succate, soket, suckitte (which

many

and other forms. From the verb

The

delicacies

called

objected

vertisement of .

did),

suck.

.

to

of citron, suckets of orange and orange but in every form they were popular

from the 15th to the 18th century, and still tickle the palate under another name. Sucket (socket) was also used (17th century) as a term of endearment, my sweet one; also figuratively, as in ClevePOEMS (1654): Nature's confectioner,

land's

suffragan.

his

pictures the pilgrim, dying, tost those nectar suckets At

the cleare wells

Where sweetnes

dwells,

saints in christall buckets.

A white rectangular veil, with purple border, worn by vestals (in ancient

suffibulum.

'the gas microscope'

a

bishop

con-

Also

sofregann,

soffragan,

and many more; a common

word from the 14th

century. Apparently the early vote was viva voce, by acclama-

seems to be from Latin sub, fragor, uproar, akin to frangere,

tion; suffrage

under

+

fractum, to break, whence English frac-

Raleigh in THE PASSIONATE MANS PILGRIM-

Drawne up by

.

.

Originally,

suffrage.

suffrecan,

ture,

then to

.

sidered as subordinate to the archbishop, who may summon him to a synod to give

VIII,

And

in

long speeches, which

which gave Sam Weller an occasion sufflaminate Mr. Buzfuz.

are moist alchimie.

AGE (1604)

Wren

obstruct; balk.

to

.

rind,

Whose suckets

To

suckets varied in

composition; there were wet suckets and dry suckets, suckets of pompion, suckets

the bee,

15th century. Suffisantee,

sufflaminate the progress of business. THE ATHENAEUM of 27 July, 1907, noted an ad-

Andalusia.] sucket.

suffire, suffi-

suffisance.

sukkenye, suckiney, surkney. in THE ROMAUNT OF THE

says,

ROSE (1566): She hadde on a sukkenye. That not of hemp ne heerdis was. [Heerdis is

A

perfume or incense; espein the 17th century, one burned cially, for medicinal purposes. Also, suffite, noun,

suffiment.

infraction,

etc.

By

of

act

Henry

extended under Queen Victoria, certain subordinate bishops were assigned

to assist the bishop of a diocese; these were also called suffragans. Hence, by extension, an assistant, representative; a person or thing that helps. Richardson in

HARLOWE (1748) speaks of a strumpet's bedside, surrounded by her CLARISSA

640

.

.

.

sumpter

suffumigation

and

suffragans

daughters.

Bulwer

in

CHIRONOMIA, OR THE ART OF MANUAL RHETORIC (1644) declared, of the hands: These suffragans of speech by a lively sense afford that shadow which is the ex-

male and female; and all been more self-analysis, which might have fruitful without Freud, Now everyone the insects),

analyzes everyone

To

suggill.

beat black and blue. Also

suggilate.

sugill,

Butler

rhymes: Though we with

in

blacks

HUDIBRAS

and blues

Or, as the vulgar say, are cudgell'd. Hence, to revile, defame. Arch-

are suggil'd

bishop Parker

is

ouglye Plasht the water sulcking to the The current

shore. Latin sulcus, furrow.

sense of to sulk, to be in sullen ill-humor,

from rid of: hard to get adjective Heywood in A CHALLENGE FOR BEAUTIE (1636) declared: Never was thrtfty trader

developed in the the

quoted (1561) in Strype's not shrink to

LIFE, of the flock that will offer their verity,

if

blood for the defence of Christ's be openly impugned, or it

suggilled.

secretly

Hence

plough: especially, of a boat

through the seas. Stanyurst in his AENEIS (1582) told that two serpents monsterus

See subfumigation.

suffumigation.

To

sulk.

cellencie of the vocall pourtraicture.

else.

suggillation,

beating black and blue; a black and blue mark, as from a blow or

sugillation;

a sucking kiss; defamation, slander. The forms are roundabout from Latin sugere, suctum, to suck, whence also suction

late 18th century,

sulk,

more willing

to

put

off a

sulke commodity,

than she was to truck for her maydenhead. THE POOR KNIGHT'S PALACE (1579) pictured

not sullen unwillingness but great activity in the statement that saylers sulke

upon

the seas.

sullen.

has

A later form of solein,

meant

in

addition

to

q.v. its

Sullen

current

which origin suggests the original sense

senses

of the terms.

used by Scott (1814); by Shelley (1818) of milk; Milton (1628) speaks of the sullen mole. Also, of sombre hue or sound;

See soke.

sugke.

sugrative. Honeyed, sugary, sweet. Medieval Latin suguratus; Arabic sukkar, sugar. 16th century Scotch form (poems of

A

and

was sugurat, sugurat sound of hir THE PASTIME OF PLEASURE (1509) wrote: They were so wyse and so inventife, Theyr obscure reason, fayre and

Douglas

sugared, sweet: song. Hawes in

Dunbar)

suist. fit

for

so

weary

steps.

(1592) has:

Our solemn

dirges change, sullen passage

Young

(1719)

and in of

thy

speaks of sul-

(solemn) majesty; Hawthorne (1864) of a sullen day. May yours be sunny! len

To

Used and 15th centuries; figuratively in POLITICAL POEMS (1412): sulpid in synne sulp.

pollute, defile. Also solp.

in the 14th

One

that does as he pleases; one

Theleme.

Two

syllables;

Latin

sui,

oneself. Used in the 17th century, usually in scorn of a self-centred or selfopinionated person. In the 19th century

derk as nyght.

of

appeared suisection

(sui

secare, sectum, to cut; dissect, to

(of water),

gloomy, melancholy. Thus Shakespeare in

ROMEO AND JULIET hymns to sullen RICHARD n: The

The

sugratife.

flowing sluggishly

+

section; Latin

whence

also sect;

sultry.

See swelt.

sumpter. Driver of a packhorse. Also, the horse; a beast of burden, sompter, sumter, sometour, sumpture; 15th and 16th cen-

cut apart; sex, the division of

tury sum, the weight of a load;

641

Romanic

super-

sumptify horse-load;

sauma,

Latin

Late

OGATION

sagma,

burden, sumpter was

used as a

(rarely)

meaning put on one's back; to wear. In THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD n (1590)

we

in

cessively, or in

spend

to

lavishly;

builded

his

superbious, insolent, superbiloquence, proud or arrogant speech; superbiloquent. superbibe, to drink ex-

read: For once lie sumpter a gaudy

To

hath

superbient,

wardropp. sumptify.

He

towers

to

verb,

said

(1593)

owne of superarrogation head, superbiate, to render haughty; to be proud; hence, superbity, superbience, luxuriant growth; pride; also 'proud* or

also used packsaddle. sumptery, baggage; of beasts to as an adjective, relating

render

(Latin sumptus, expense; sumptuous. sumere, sumptum, to take, lay hold of; assume: lay out, expend; from sub+emere,

addition

to.

supercelestial,

beyond the heavens, superfoul play; an attack at a disad-

supercelicalj

chery,

vantage; trickery, deceit, supercile, supersuperciliousness;

ciliosity,

supercilian,

a

acquire; whence also peremptory, consumption, caveat emptor,

supercilious person, supercrescent, growing over or on top of something, super-

presume, resume, and many assumptions. R. Hall (WORKS; 1560) spoke of: His owne

superman)] THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE (19

sumpt and expenses in wearing of and other costly apparrell.

August, 1903) spoke of the ideas which a superdramatist would convey to a super-

to

emptum,

great silke

buy,

The

sunstead.

critic,

time of the year (midway

between the two equinoxes) when the sun is farthest from the equator and seems before returning; June 21 and December 22. Used in the 10th cento stand

still

tury; the early

word

for solstice.

several variants of solstice: sticke,

solstist,

sticy, solstitial

along with

solstation,

(which

is

solstitiari),

4-

solstead; sol-

solsticion,

also

an

sol-

solsti-

from Latin

staref steti, statum, to stand

still.

by Fitz-Geffrey (1636): The season of the year wherein our Saviour was borne: namely in the winter sunstead. super-.

as

Above, beyond. The

opposite of

sub-, q.v. forgotten words formed with this prefix are: superact, to actuate or

Among

impel from above, superancy, superiority, the quality of surpassing; superate3 to rise above, to surpass, also (15th and 16th centuries)

as

an

arrogate, to

sup erinenarrable,

over-credulous,

much,

supremely indescribable, supernodical, extremely

supernodity.

silly;

superoscula-

tion, excessive or extremely amorous kissing (the word survives as a term in

superlation,

great

exaggera-

extreme hyperbole, superlucrate, to

tion,

make sol,

Sunstead came into use again in the 17th century,

To superdevil, to set the Devil over something; to give over to the devil; also, supersatanize. superfidel, believing too critic.

geometry),

adjective,

solsticium,

tium. All these forms are

sun

Note the

(fashioned after

a superior critic

adjective, conquered, superarro-

behave with extreme

gance; Gabriel Harvey in PIERCES SUPERER-

an extra profit; superlucration; superlucrator. supernate, to float on the surface; supernatant, floating on the surface (as a light liquid

on a heavier one);

supernatation. superomnivalent, supremely

omnipotent, superonerate, to overload,

to

burden

excessively, supersaliency, the

leaping of the male (as the elephant) for copulation; supersalient. superstit, surviving; superstitie, power to survive, superto stitiate, to regard supers titiously, idolatrize;

superstitiosity,

credulous

ac-

ceptance; superstitiosities, superstitious beliefs or observances, super telluric, beyond

the

earth and

space-science

642

its

will

atmosphere, revive,

a word

supervacaneal,

surculation

superable supervacuous,

supervacaneous, ous, vainly

superfluis neces-

added beyond what

sary; Harpsfield in the papers on the DIVORCE OF HENRY VIII (1555) Spoke of ideas with long painted supervacaneall

words exorned and

set forth

.

.

.

For the

of supervacaneous tediousness we will cut off all such endless matters. Which sets us good example.

avoiding

That can be overcome or surmounted. Used from the 17th century; superable.

hence

also

superability,

superableness.

Johnson in The Rambler

(no. 126; 1751)

suppage. Relish, savoriness. A variation, influenced by sup, of Greek opson, relish. Hooker in ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY (1597) they had bread, for and for sawce herbes.

said that for food

suppage

salt,

suppalpation. Coaxing, wheedling. Latin sub, under + palpare, palpatum, to stroke. Bishop Hall in ST. PAUL'S COMBAT (1625)

urged: Let neither buggs of fear, nor suppalpations of favour, weaken your hands from laying hold upon the beast of error.

To

supparasitate.

sub, under

fawn,

Latin

flatter.

play the paraGreek parasitos, that eats with an4- parasitari, to

said that antipathies are generally superable by a single effort Hobbes in his

site;

(1629) of Thucydides was more personal: // he be superable by money Much more frequent is the negative,

Bishop Hall in THE BEST BARGAINE (1623)

have more thanks than a smoothing sup-

insuperable; cp. couth.

parasitation.

version

.

.

A

drinking that empties

the glass to the last drop; also, a full cup. liquor to be drunk to the last drop;

hence, a wine of the best quality, by extension, anything of the highest excelits

kind. Originally

(16th cenas an ad-

tury)

and most frequently used

verb,

to

last,

flattery.

a galling truth shall

To furnish, supply. suppeditate. (1) Cranmer in a letter to Cromwell in 1535 is not one article of those which I have drawn but would suppeditate sufficient occasion for a whole sermon.

wrote: There

A

lence of

supparasitation,

observed: At the

.

supernaculum.

Hence

other.

drink supernaculum, to empty glass over one's left

and turn up the

thumbnail, as a sign that the liquor has been completely consumed. The word

supernagulum, supernegulam is a modern Latin form of German auf den

Hence,

suppeditaments,

supplies;

sup-

one that supplies. (2) To overthrow, subdue, stamp under foot; cp. sufc pedital. Also suppedit. Hall in his CHRONIpeditator,

CLES

(EDWARD

tempt

iv;

1548)

wrote of the

at-

suppeditate high power and

to

nobilitie.

also

Nagel nail.

(drinken)

,

(to

drink) on

Hence supernacular

excellent.

Bacchus,

said

Massinger and (1622),

To

stamp with the

feet, es-

under

A

Hugh Broughton

is

Latin

+

plaudere, plausum, to letter of applaud. Also, to supplode.

sup, sub,

(of a drink),

Dekker in THE VIRGIN MARTYR

supplosion.

pecially as a sign of disapproval.

to the

(1599)

says

what

is

the grand patron of rob-pots, upsie-freesie

often true in the theatre: It deserveth a

tiplers, and supernaculum takers. The word was also applied figuratively, as when Jonson in THE CASE is ALTERED

supplosion

(1598) said: / confesse Cupids carouse, he

unduly

plaies supernegulum with

surculation. Pruning; cutting off shoots for propagation. Latin surculare, surcula-

life.

my

liquor of

ever,

impatience,

643

or an

a supplosion

when

hissing. is

Today, how-

usually a sign of

the

entertainment

is

late in starting.

sute

surd turn; surculus, surcle.

A

surcle

is

a small

shoot or sprout of a plant. Hence surculous, like a shoot; surculose, full of, or

producing, shoots or suckers. surd.

Stupid,

senseless,

irrational;

also,

used in the 17th century; then forgotten. The same surd was used, however, in mathematics for an irrational 19th century, the

this use, in the late

word was again applied

to humans as irrational, senseless. H. More in THE SONG OF THE SOUL (1642)

had:

And

their surd

foul blasphemous belch from mouth resounds,

An anglicized form of serpigo,

surpeague. q.v.

The

first

of

folio

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Spells

The

suppeago on

dry

Shakespeare's it

the

SUppeagOl

subject!,

A

on't!

plague

See mistake.

surprised.

surquedry. surquidry,

(1599):

A

drench for sur-reyn'd jades.

Outward healing; the closing or superficial healing of a wound. Old French sursanure; Latin super, above -h sanus, well. Chaucer warns, in THE FRANKTALE (1386): Well know ye that of a sursanure In surgerye is perilous the cure. LIN'S

To

suscitate.

to quicken, vivify.

surqui-

dance, succudry, surcudry, cirquytrief and the like. Via French surcuidier from Late

sup ercogi tare; super-, above + Hence sur~ cogitare, to think (oneself)

Latin

Latin sub

(as

to a

to action;

stir

+

citare, to

more familiar in the resuscitation of the drowning. Used from the 15th century. Donne in a sermon of 1631 said: Such a joy a man must suscitate and awaken in himselfe. Shelley (PROSE WORKS; excite;

1811) wrote: wildered by the suscitated energies of his soul almost to madness.

Liable

suspicion. in

CLARISSA

HARLOWE

current suspicious

burden; pecting,

Richardson

said

and obsequiousness

parade

The

or deserving of

to

Evermore,

wisely

surquedy,

excite

to

rouse,

dispute or a rebellion); to

suspectable.

Arrogance, presumption. Also surquidy,

horse)

.

sursanure.

insensible. So

number, and from

Over-ridden; worn out (of a Used by Shakespeare in HENRY v

surreined.

now

(1748),

is

suspectable. bears double

means both the person and the person or thing

it

sussus-

.

quidant, surquidous, surquedous, surquedrous, surquidrousj succudrous, haughty, arrogant.

common

Used from the 14th

century,

in the 17th. Marston in ANTONIO

AND MELLIDA (1602) cries Q, had it eyes and eares and tongues, it might See sport,

pected. Suspectable might well be restored to the second of these duties. Or else,

suspectuous

(thus used in the 17th

century) might be reclaimed for the sense, the person full of suspicion. sute.

A

variant form of

suit.

first

Also soote,

hear speech of most strange surquedries! In the 16th and 17th centuries, surquedry was sometimes misused to mean excess,

GREAT CAST

excessive

Marston's

wear of the period: What ordinary gallant

(1598): In strength of lust and Venus surquedry. The word was revived by Scott in TVANHOE (1819): Are ye yet aware what your surquedy and outrecuidance merit, for scoffing at the entertain-

now but goes On Spanish leather haltred with a rose; Circling with gold, or silverspangled lace: 'Tis strange how times

indulgence,

as

in

SATIRES

ment

of a prince of the

House

of

Anjouf """""

q.v.

Thomas Freeman, (1614;

the

in RUBBE, title

AND A

from terms

in bowling) satirized the extravagant foot-

have altered the case. Lesse cost, then now's bestow'd on either foote, Did buy King William Rufus a whole sute. (There &AA WTtjC

swad is

a

swash be getting on. There was also a swan, a variant of swon, an old word for a swine-

in case: the circumstance; also,

pun

the cover of the foot.)

herd. Meredith used swan as a verb, applied to the calm swimming of the bird,

A

country bumpkin; widely used in the 16th and 17th centuries as a general term of abuse; R. Wilson in THE swad.

The

THREE LADIES OF LONDON (1584) cried: Thou horson rascall swad avaunt! Hence

ning

swadkin.

swadgill,

AND

W. Vernon

TRULLA

the pen-, the little ones, cygnets (though these make beauty in the ballet).

in

WTOte:

(1757)

swang.

Trulla, while I thy love enjoy' d, Nor any of the swads beside With you might toy

and

through a lake. Few remember Richard Coeur-de-Lion brought

the swan into England from Cyprus, the male has been called the cob, the female,

large quantity; a crowd. By extension, a soldier, especially one forced into service; also

it

that, since

swaddish, loutish. Also, a squat, fat person; hence, a thick mass or bunch; a

BARDOLPH

ORMONT AND LADY AMINTA (1898): forest goddess of the Crescent, swan-

in LORD

tense)

swash.

kiss.

A

14th

century form

(present

of swing.

Originally an echoic word, like sound of a heavy blow.

swish, crash: the

swage.

Alleviation, relief.

(1)

was formed

The noun

(in the 13th century)

from

verb swage, to relieve, which is a shortened form of assuage. The shortening the

took place in the

Romance

tongues; thus

Popular Latin suaviare, from assuaviare, ad} to -f suavis, agreeable, whence also suave. (2) swage, also swedge, an ornamental groove, border, or mount on a candlestick, basin, or other vessel. Used from the 14th through the 17th century. Also, a curved depression on an anvil; a

for shaping cold metal;

tool

hence,

to

swage, to shape.

A

variant form of swayed, past tense of to sway, meaning to wield. Bishop

swaid.

Hall, in his

wrote:

first

Time

SATIRE of

was,

and

Book

that

3 (1597),

was term'd

the time of gold, When world and time were yong, that now are old. When quiet Saturne swaid the mace of lead, and pride

was yet unborne, and yet unbred. swan. bird,

Everyone- knows the fair white and the swan-song, from the legend

sings only as it is dying. Also the American dialect I swan, I declare, as in

that

it

the Constable's song: Wai, I swan, I must

Especially, the clash of a

sword on buckler

a

hence, swasher, swashado, (shield); swashbuckler, a noisy or swaggering bravo. To swash, to dash about, to beat; to strike sword on buckler or to make the noise of such clashing, Shakespeare has, in HENRY v (1599): As young as I am, I

have observed these three swashers, swasher was used into the 17th century (BurANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY; ton's THE 1621),

WORTH

then revived by Scott in KENIL(1821): Known for a swasher and

a desperate Dick. Swashbuckler, though used in 1560 and by Nashe in 1593, does

not occur in Shakespeare; it has, however, not only survived but along the way pro-

duced such forms as swashbuckling, swashbucklering; swashbucklerdom, swashbucklerism, swashbucklery. Swash and swashing were both used as adjectives', meaning swaggering, showy; S. Sewall in wrote: his DIARY (5 November, 1713) / first see Col. Tho. Noyes in a swash flaxen wigg. speare's AS

When

YOU LIKE

Rosalind IT)

is

(in Shakepreparing to

man, she says: We'll have a swashing and a martial outside As many other mannish cowards have disguise herself as a

645

swink

swastika

That do outface

From

it

with their semblances.

the sound, swash

came

be used

to

(16th and 17th centuries) for a kind of drum. In 1609 Sir John Skene, in his translation of THE AULD LAWES AND CONSTITUTIONS OF SCOTLAND FAITHFULLIE COL-

sweven was used into the 17th century, and archaically later, as by Kingsley in his poem THE WEIRD LADY (1840): Mary

Mother she stooped from heaven; She wakened Earl Harold out of his sweven. swilk.

LECTED, wrote: After they heare the striak of the swesch (or the sound of the

trumpet)

He meant

.

sword on

the

strike

of

the

but some thought his parenthesis was not an alternative but an shield,

explanation. Thus Jameison's glossary in 1808 defines swash as trumpet, and several (Scotch) writers have used the word

swilc,

An

Swilk es the fruyt that on

speare's phrase

swashing blow

(in

ROMEO foil

of later writers.

See fylfot.

swastika.

To

seem on the point of death from overpowering emotion; to faint. Hence, to be faint with heat; in this sense, the form swelter survives. By extension, to burn as with fever, to be swelt.

die; to

hot with rage or other passion. Also, tively,

wo

that

has, in

made his herte to swelte. Spenser THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): With

huge impatience he

inly swelt.

The

old

adjective sweltry, though still occasionally used, survives in the commoner sultry.

sweve. to

To

sleep; to

permanent

to lull.

Common

13th century.

put to sleep (also death); to stupefy; from BEOWULF into the

sleep,

Hence

ber. Also sweven, a

swevet, sleep, slum-

dream, a vision; to dream; swevener, a dreamer. As a noun,

A constant and heavy drinker,

swillbowl.

swills the bowl. Also swielbolle,

swylbowle, swibol.

The

swinish swillbowls

make

their gullet their god, complained R. Younge in 1655; Holland (translating Pliny in 1601) was less disapproving of

the lustie and swill-bolls. tosse-pots Deacon in TOBACCO TORTURED (1616) bemoaned: Alas poore tobacco, my pretie

thou

tobacco;

that

hast

bene

hitherto

the

aleknights armes, the beere-brewers badge, the swilbols swine-

accompted

ac-

AND CRISEYDE (1S74) speaks of His olde

The

the chaterynge of swylk lyk sounds. For another use, see

troffe,

to kill; to overheat, scorch; cause

to rage. To swelt one's heart, to exert oneself to the utmost. Chaucer in TROYLUS

growes.

(1400) mentioned bryddes [birds] and

one that

AND JULIET) has been repeated by a

it

SECRETA SECRETORUM

ing swords and

Shake-

and the

until the 15th

century. Hampole set down a proverb in 1340: Swilk als the tre es with bowes,

ferly.

bucklers.

form of such. Also swilke,

A form most common,

like.

in that sense. Milton in his HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1670) claims that The Britans had a certain skill with their broad swash-

short

early

selke, suwilk, sylk, swyk,

swink.

the tinkers trull.

To

toil,

work hard;

to

set

to

hard work, to overwork. A common Old English form from BEOWULF on, used into the 17th century and as an archaism later. Also swinnkenn, suinc, zuynke, swynke,

and the like; in past tenses, swank, swonke, iswonk, swinked. Also a noun, swink, labor,

toil;

trouble; rarely, heavy

drinking as in the proverb After swink sleep (also After liquor laziness), swinked,

weary with

toil; Milton in COMUS (1634) the swink' t hedger at his supper sate, a swinker, laborer; swinkhede, swinched (to the 14th century), a state of toil. Also swinkful, troublesome, full

says

646

And

swith of

swych irksome,

toil,

distressing;

swinkless,

it

(1872)

wisely said:

is

We

poor wives

Strongly,

fast;

very

very much; Also as an inter-

,

see oursels as ithers see us! also con-

the adventuresome

There ye may creep and and sprattle, Wi' ither kindred sprawl jumping cattle, In shoals and nations haffet squattle;

.

.

indiscriminately. Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602) has the King, urging Laertes to the

[Haffet (Old English healfheafod, halfhead, the forepart of the head) , the side of the head over and in front of the ears;

hanging down your

haffets in that guise.]

burn, scorch; to be singed; to smart. Also to swithen, swizzen; past

forms

include

swithen.

The

swath, swythe, swythyn, BESTIARY of 1220 said of the

The sunne

switheth al his

eagle: Also, in 19th century dialects, to swithen hence swithering, scorching, as when

Crockett in THE

MEN OF THE

flight.

MOSS-HAGS

(1895) spoke of that day of swithering heat. Swither had other uses. (1) From

the 9th to the

13th century, the right

(hand, side, and the like). (2) In the 18th and 19th centuries, mainly in Scotch

and

slaying of Hamlet, ask: // you desire to know the certainty Of your dear father's f death, is t writ in your revenge That,

swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe,

Winner and

sworn

To

a state of excitement, a a state of perplexity, doubt; Ram-

says:

swoopstake. As a noun, a variant of sweepstake. As an adverb, by sweeping the board all the stakes at once; hence,

.

by extension, the cheek. Scott in THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828) says: With the hair

woman).

THE MILLER'S Thus swyved was this Carpenters wyf, For all his keeping and his jalousye. Dunbar in his POEMS (1520) exclaims The Fiend me ryfe If I do ought but drynk and swyfe.

NET AT CHURCH (1790) which contains the O wad some Power the giftie gie us to

(a

to wife, wive. Chaucer, in

TALE (1386)

lines

words

with

copulate

is

High German and Frisian, to sway, to make sudden movements. Also swyfe, swiff; the word is not, however, related

swithnes, harefut. Burns, in his poem TO A LOUSE, ON SEEING ONE ON A LADY'S BON-

pediculine pest: Swith! in some beggar's

To

a special sense, in English, of a common Teuton word; meaning, in Old

This

mentions a herald namit for his gret

swithe.

be uncer-

to

to falter,

swive.

Also swithly. swithness, speed; Bullenden in the CHRONICLES OF SCOTLAND (1536)

To

(3)

forcefully;

excessively.

tains these

or that ither. to

be undecided. Which somehow leaves one all in a swither.

Quick! Get thee gone! A comTeutonic word, used in English into 16th century, lingering in dialect.

the

To ride in this road, From the 16th century,

swither,

tain,

jection,

mon

(1719)

he stands some time in jumbled

said

must swink for our masters. swith.

in his EPISTLE TO ARBUCKLE

say,

from toil and trouble. In Holmes' THE POET AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE free

painless,

loser?

at Highgate.

See Highgate.

swound. An old form of swoon; it rhymes with drowned. Used in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The

past tense

is

swounded.

Also swow, to swoon (13th and 14th centuries);

whence swowing, swooning.

swounds.

and 17th

A common

oath in the 16th

centuries, being a euphemistic

By God's wounds. Also Nashe in AN ALMOND FOR THE PARRAT (1589) Speaks of some rufling courtier, that swears swoundes and blood. shortening

of

'sowns, 'swoundes, swones.

dialects,

flurry:

swych.

647

A variant form of such.

Cp. swilk.

symposiast

sybarite sybarite.

A person whose life

his senses

and

his pleasures;

turns

upon

an effeminate

voluptuary. Originally, a citizen of Sybaris, a Greek city in Southern Italy, noted for

effeminate, luxurious ways. Also

its

sybaritan,

sybarist.

baritism;

sybarital,

Hence

sybarism,

sybaritic,

b,

Drummond

Hawthornden

We may

p.

mention: symbol (bolos,

the creed. Also, after Plautus (died a contribution, especially to 184 B.C.) a picnic or feast, one's share; Taylor in

i.e.,

sy-

,

sybaritical,

In THE FLOWRES OF SIGN (1623)

sybaritish.

m,

a throw), first used in English, after the Latin of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, 250 A.D., to mean the 'sign* of a Christian,

a

SERMON FOR THE YEAR

(1653):

He

re-

Fuller

On

in symbol; pay WORTHIES OF ENGLAND (1661), Let me contribute my symbole on this subject, sym-

rose-leaf.

bolatry, symbololatry, excessive love of symbols, symmelia, see symmelian. symmetrophobia, dread of symmetry, avoid-

of

to abuse,

beauty

And

wrote: Frail

(wanton sybarites)

past or present touch of sense to muse. Jane West in THE MOTHER (1809) pictured some feeble sybarite, Pain'd by a crumpled

his

to

fused

en-

ance of symmetry at all costs, as alleged in Egyptian temples, Japanese art, etc. symmist, a co-member of a secret society,

grossed in pigs. pedantically humorous 19th century term, applied to persons that share Ho-ti's feeling for roast pig.

a sharer in a mystery, sympatetic, a companion in a walk, sympatric, native to the same region; symphilism, sympatry.

See sibyl.

sybil.

Relating

sybotic.

a

to

swineherd;

A

This was a common Old English word, from the 7th to the 16th century.

meaning was

a

to drip, to

drop

pass through liquid); hence, strainer, to strain out; also, to fall, sink

down. By extension: to collapse; to move from a source; to befall, happen; to depart of

life,

hethen (here-thence)

Hence

to die.

syllabub.

word

syllable,

sym%

A

spiritual

sympolity, an harmonious

sym, together melia.

A

(see syn-\

melos, limb. Also sym-

life, but perhaps a basis for the belief in the mermaid, the most attractive of symmelians.

from about 1700 the most

a prefix before

4-

monster in actual

symposiast.

as

body of fellow

symmelian. A creature in which the hinder or lower limbs are fused. Greek

banqueter.

form of Greek syn

companion

sympneumatic.

citizens.

Because of the

sillibub.

Used

spouse;

noun,

frequent spelling has been syllabub.

with, together.

thought, sympneuma, a

also sye as a

sike.

See

tity of spirit,

to sye.

See

understanding eyes meet; involving iden-

to sye

Chaucer has, in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374): For when she gan here fader fer espye, Wei neigh down on here hors she

syke.

words run together, e.g., he does things, but Jack-of-all-tradesy. symphronistic, of the same mind, as when

many

,

a drop; a spot or stain made by a drop; also, a strainer, especially one for milk.

gan

together in mutual benefit, symbiosis); sympilious. symphrase, a word made of several

(as

a

to

to sye

when two

biology,

sye.

Its first

common (in different creatures live

symphily, the act of living in

See aeromancy.

sycomancy.

One of a drinking-party, a The original Greek of sym-

posium meant a drinking together; hence, a convivial meeting for feasting and conversation. Also, a symposiac.

Hence, sym"

postal, symposiacal, symposiastic. symposi-

648

syn-

syrtes

used for a

ast is still

member

of a con-

ference or contributor to a group-work.

Greek syn, together, with, used as an English prefix. Thus in synallactic, reconciliatory; Retribution, as an end of syn-.

punishment, GROTIUS (1853)

commented ,

is

Whewell

in

properly what Aristotle

refers to as synallactic justice, synallagmatic, imposing mutual obligations, as a

treaty or a contract, synarchy, joint government, cooperation in control, syncretism, a joining of

common

two enemies against a

foe, as against a

a street fight, against Hitler;

peacemaker in

or Russia and the syncretist;

syncretic;

West

union that in

many

modern

society

unseparated pair;

the opposite

of sym-

philism, cp, sym-. synepigonic, from a common ancestor, synergy, cooperation, work-

ing together; synergetic, synergic, syngamical, pertaining to sexual union; syngamy. syngenesis, the way we are conceived, synoecism, the joining of nearby towns and villages to form a city, as in the

New York in 1898. synomosy on the no) a body of men, as a (accent political society, bound together by oath. synorthography, identical spelling of two words, as bear, the animal, and bear, encase

of

confused arrangement;

es-

pecially of words in a sentence, making the meaning obscure. Greek syn, together chein, to pour. Hence, synchytic, con-

+

founding; prone to confuse. synodite.

A

together

-f

fellow-traveler.

hodites,

Greek

traveler;

syn,

hodos,

H. L'Estrange, in CHARLES i His council were his synodites. The notion has fallen into a measure of

journey.

(1654) said:

disrepute. sypar.

A

century variation of Also syper, sypars, sypers.

16th

cypress

(tree)

syrma.

A

are joined in

syndyasmian couples, synechthry, living together in enmity, as an ill-matched but

A

synchysis.

syn-

syndyasmian, relating to a sexual is temporary or not exclusive;

cretize.

astrological superstition, for the influence which he perpetually exerted.

.

long trailing robe, such as was

worn by ancient

tragic

actors.

Greek

syrma; syrein, to

drag along. Cp. syrmaism; syrtes. Hence syrmatic, in the tone or manner of a tragic actor. syrmaism.

The

use of a purgative; the

advocacy of or belief in such treatment. syrmaea, surmaia, a cathartic; especially,

one passed through the body in preparation for (ancient Egyptian) embalming. Greek syrmaia, radish (used as a purge);

,

syrmos, vomiting, purging; syrein, to drag along, sweep away, purge; cp. syrma.

syrtes.

dure; synortho graphic.

sirt,

synastry.

the stars

Greek

Coincidence of the forces of

upon the

syn,

together

lives of

+

two persons.

astr-,

aster,

star.

Motley in THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS (1860) speculated, of the Earl of Leicester: Born in the same day of the month and hour of the day with the Queen, but two years before her birth,

See lotophagous. Also

a quicksand;

form; Greek

syrtes

is.

syrtis; syrein, to

syrtis, syrt,

the

plural

drag away,

sweep away; cp. syrma. THE MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES (1575) said: As doth the

shipman well foresee the storm, And knowes what daunger lyes in syrtes of sande. Young in THE OCEAN (1715) also

knew the danger of the syrt, the whirlpool, and the rock. Syrtis major and Surtis minor were two large quicksands, of

the supposed synastry of their destinies ancient times, in the Mediterranean Sea might partly account, in that age of 649

syth

syssition

wrote: Necessity and the waiter drive all to a sepulchral syssition.

Daniel used the word figuraan ECLOGUE of 1648: The syrtes

off Africa.

tively in

of

my

thought confounds

my

will.

Old form

syte.

syssition.

Greek sitos,

A

meal

eaten

in

and

common.

mess together; syn 4food. Also syssitia, meals eaten in syssitein, to

them

for sight; site; cite; city f

syth, q.v.

syth. assyth.

Satisfaction; recompense. Short for Also syith, site, syte. Also as a verb,

public; the practice of eating the main meal of the day at a general mess, as in

tion;

ancient Sparta (instituted by Lycurgus, 9th century B.C.) and Crete. Symonds in

Douglas' AENEIS (1513): I have gotten my heart's syte on him (explained in the

SKETCHES

OF

ITALY

AND GREECE

(1874)

to give satisfaction to.

indemnification.

Sythment,

Mainly

satisfac-

Scotch;

glossary: 'all the evil I wish'd him').

650

A

tabard.

small drum,

coarse garment; especially, a

outer shirt without sleeves,

loose

worn

by peasants, foot-soldiers, monks. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the official dress of a herald. tury; hence,

Common

manipulated a

since the 13th cen-

The Tabard Inn,

in South-

now

is

corruptly called the Talbot. Cp, courtepy; rochet.

labefaction.

Emaciation; wasting tabefact, wasted away; corrupted tabe,

flicted

with

was

Some

letter-carrier.

(15th

tabellary, a letter-carrier; a scrivener; also an adjective, pertaining to such things;

as

(of ancient practice) tablets.

A

pertaining to voting

tabellion was a

clerk in the

minor

Roman Empire and

the Revolution in France; in

official

until

England,

needlework

made

stretched

on a drum-head).

tabor.

A

drum. Related

to Persian tabi-

rah and taburak, both meaning drum; possibly to Arabic tanbur, a kind of lyre. Also tabour, taborn, tabronf tabberone, talburn,

When

word drum was introduced,

the

the

16th century,

as

with

stool

Army. From called

A

tarn-

its

drum-shape the low drew its name;

tabouret

privilege (honour) of the tabouret, permission for a lady to sit in the Queen's

The tabor might also be the drummer, usually the taborer. Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST (1610) tells: Then I beat my tabor, At which like unbackt colts

presence.

they prickt their eares. that

Things

should

not

be

mentioned. Directly from the gerundive of Latin tacere, to be silent, whence also tacent,

silent.

tace

The

(pronounced tay see) used as an admonition to the

17th century 1752; Scott in a

in

tabor was used of a

material

the

de basque, on the other hand, is English tambourine, made familiar by the Salva-

English

tawbron, and more.

tawberne,

of

A tamborin, tambourin, was a long narrow drum, especially of a type used in Provence. The French tambour

tacenda.

17th and 18th centuries.

also

lute family.

tabes.

Hence

(#.t/.).

boura was an oriental instrument of the

a tabetic, one af-

rier, courier; lobelia, writing- tablet.

a timbrel

tambour, drum, especially the large bass (also, a kind of embroidery or

away.

Relating to letters, or a Latin tabellarius, letter-car-

tabret (tab-

a small tabor

tion tabellarious.

A

drum

tabes,

lating to emaciation;

fife.

Romance languages have the same word with an m; whence also, English

gradual wasting away; consumption. Root ta, to run, melt, related to English thaw. Also tabetic, recentury),

flute or

erett, tab beret, tabarde, tabouret)

the

inn stood until 1875; Toone, in his GLOSit

taborin was one less wide

t

wark, where the pilgrims assembled in Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES (1386). The

SARY of 1834, says

A

but longer than the tabor, played with one drumstick, while the other hand

sentence Tace

651

is

is

imperative

sometimes

silence;

since

(Fielding in AMELIA, letter of 1821), the

Latin for a candle has

taliation

tache

been used

to let a

know

person

which party to take for. Also, to take (with the mind), to consider, to understand. Skelton in COLYN CLOUTE (WORKES; 1529): For though my rime be ragged, Tattered

he's to

keep silent on a matter. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE of February 1883 referred to topics regarded as tacenda by

and jagged, Rudely rayne beaten, Rusty and moothe eaten, If ye take well therewyth It hath in it some pith. Steele in THE TATLER (1709; No. 1): / take myself obliged in honour to go on. Take (it) with you, bear (it) in mind; Lord Chesterfield in a letter of 1746: Take this along

society.

tache.

I.

As

a

noun.

(1)

A

spot, blemish,

physical or moral; a stain, stigma; a disCax ton's tinctive mark (good or bad) .

THE GOLDEN LEGEND (1483): She that never had tatche ne spot of corruption. Related to touch. (2) A clasp, buckle, hook and eye, or other device for fastening.

same word

as

tack.

A

(3)

flat

pan

you, that the worst authors are always most partial to their own works. To take out, to give vent to. Dryden, in with

The for

sugar; also for drying tea-

boiling maple leaves. (4) Tinder. Also teche, taich, tash, and more. II. As a verb. (1) To stain or taint, especially

blemish.

(2)

To

fasten, lay .

hath taken out as

lessons of the take up, to believe without examining, to take for granted; Bacon in SYLVA (1626): It is strange how

this

world, as dayes.

To attack, to charge. Also teccheless, tacheless, stainless, without fault. In 1723 R. Hay wrote A

up experiments upon and yet did build great matters upon them. To take up for hawks, to use

credit,

her Children from the Tache of Bastardy.

(a

Shape; especially, one's shape from shoulder to waist. From the French, used in the 17th century; in the 14th century, sense.

for,

taille ,

is

Pepys in

now

the

meat

take. Among the 91 major senses in which take has been used, we may note: to take it on (one's honor, death, etc.) to swear. Also, to take one's death on it, to stake one's life on it. Shakespeare in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1598) says: / took't upon mine honour thou hadst it not.

To

Thus Udall

(1553 III

up for done

just taken up),

in RALPH ROISTER

Brome

;

iii)

turns the

Also, to take up, to take lodging; Pepys, in his DIARY for 14 October, 1662: To Cambridge . . . and took up at else.

the 'Beare'. Also,

to

take up, to

space, a time); Shakespeare in (1607):

schooleboys teares take

glasses of

my

sight

[fill

when we

my

fill

(a

CORIOLANUS

up The

eyes].

This

up someone's time. This shall take up no more. sense survives

take

take against, to oppose, to take

to favor. Foote in

(1770):

food for hawks;

as

for hawks, tane

phrase in THE NORTHERN LASSE (1632): lie marrie out of the way: 'tis time I think: I shall be tane up for whores

greatest beauty I ever saw.

for,

ruined.

DOISTER

(13 July, 1663) said that Mrs. Stewart, with her sweet eye, little Roman

and excellent

up

hawks (sometimes,

his DIARY

nose,

worn-out horse)

hence, taken

taille.

was used in the same

many

To

the ancients took

Vindication of Elizabeth More from the Imputation of being a Concubine; and

tail

He

stifled.

Also, to take out, to learn; Bishop Earle in his MICROCOSMOGRAPHIE (1628): He

hold of (15th

Replaced in

(1678):

took out his laughter which he had

morally; to stigmatize; to

to 17th century, arrest) sense by attach. (3)

FOR LOVE

the Preface of ALL

A

wise

man

THE LAME LOVER

should well weigh

taliation.

Latin

652

A

repayment of like for like. Used from the 15th into

tails, like.

talliate

tanistry

woman

the 18th century; replaced by retaliation. talio, talion. Sometimes the Latin

(by prostitution or otherwise) contributes to the couple's expense. Hence also, in each sense, tallywoman. Mrs.

Also

phrase lex talionis, the law of

is

like,

Diana

used, for such principles as the Biblical "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"; also, for the infliction

on an accuser that

taliation

this

guilty. Also talionic, retaliation. Beaumont

treason's deadly scourge should be. talliate.

tallager,

To

tax-collector.

Hence,

abolished in 1340, the

word being

later

applied to municipal taxes or customs duty or (especially) any arbitrary levy. The forms are via French tailler (whence English tally and to tail, to cut, to tailor, to cut in a specified way; to entail; to set a tail or tax upon) from Medieval talliare,

taliare,

to

tally,

to

cut;

talea, rod, cutting.

tallyman. i.e.,

(1)

A man

that sells in tally-

sells

counts, often grossly overcharging, as told in

FOUR FOR A PENNY

(1678;

in

the

Miscellany): The unconscion. lets them have tenable tally-man

Harleian

.

.

shillings-worth of sorry commodities

on

And

(1566) wrote:

to

.

.

(2)

clerk in charge of records; especially, that checks a cargo. This sense is current (3) One that lives tally,

babes dyd faynt, in the streetes.

A long, black,

or cloak.

Named French

Talma,

loosely draped cape after Francois Joseph

tragedian

(1763-1826).

Hawthorne in THE MARBLE FAUN

(1860) If a lion's skin could have been substituted for his modern talma. The talma is a traditional garment for the says:

tragedian of the 1890's.

old-style

A

talmouse. dainty:

16th

and

17th

century

a tart or sugared pastry,

made

with cheese, cream, and eggs; an early variety of cheesecake.

Latin

talpicide.

a mole. See

talpa

(French

taupe),

stillicide.

See tabor.

tampion. See tampion. The form tampon, directly from the French, is used in surgery, of a plug or 'tent' used to stop bleeding. The French verb tamper is a nasalized form of taper, to plug, which is .ultimately echoic: tap, imitating the

sound

of tapping.

.

pay him twenty

security given shillings by twelve-pence a week.

My

sucklynges tawmed

tambour.

goods for payment on the instalment plan. He kept tally of the actrade,

perhaps

THE WAILYNGS OF THE PROPHET HIERE-

MIAH

talliation,

kings upon crown towns and lands; they could also grant their feudal lords right to levy such a tax. Such tallage was

Latin

in

talma. tax. Also, to tallage, to taiL

levying a tax. As a noun, tallage was an arbitrary tax levied by early English

Latin

is

talm. To tire, become exhausted; swoon. Also taum, tawm. Used from the 14th to the 17th century, later in dialects. Drant

had he been found

observed: Just Heav'n did decree, That treason

THE BEGGAR'S

Gay's

called the tallywoman combining senses (1) and (3).

does not prove his case of the penalty that would have fallen upon the accused relating to such in PSYCHE (1648)

in

Trapes,

OPERA,

tanistry.

A

one

A system of land-holding among

the ancient Irish

and

Gaels, wherein the

succession was established

still

by vote, going supposedly to 'the eldest and worthiest' of

i.e.,

cohabits without marriage; also, to live on tally: the implication being that the

the

lord's

survivors.

The

successor

apparent (elected during the chief's life, to avoid violence and rebellion when he

653

tank

tapet

died)

was called the tanist, also tanister. was usually held, legend

a hand-bell, a small church bell held in

near large monoliths which,

Also, St.

The

the

election

tells,

sur-

See stank.

(1611)

has

slaves

the

exiles

pictured

tanlings and winter. Resort

of

sunlamps)

have

(1659) says: Some are such cossets and tantanies that they congratulate their op-

hat

as

The shrinking beaches

brought

tanlings

A

into

thing that only seems to as it were. if;

In Cambridge University, in the 17th and

(tanquam socius, as if a tanquam was an associate or

18th centuries ,

a

companion

flatter their destroyers.

tapester. A maker of tapestry. Via French from Late Latin tapetium, Greek tapetion, diminutive of tapes, cloth wrought with colored figures. Tapissery was the early form (14th- 16th century) of tapestry, its weaving the most lucrative trade of the 15th century. Chaucer in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) lists A webbe, a dyere, and a tapycer. Also tapis-

(and

exist Latin tanquam, as

fellow)

and

pressors

style.

tanquam.

the patron saint

Anthony being

another closely or obsequiously. Gauden in THE TEARS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

tanling. (A young) one tanned by the sun's rays. Shakespeare in CYMBELINE

summer's

later schoolma'am's). (like the

of swineherds, tantony, the smallest pig of a litter; hence, a person that follows

viving today, are called tanist stones. tank.

hand

of a fellow of the University.

ter,

tantivy. Originally an adverb, meaning at full gallop, headlong. Perhaps the word

tapicer,

taphiser,

tapecer,

tapisser.

form of tapster, a woman who tapped or drew ale in an inn; later, a bar-man, and in the 15th century one that sold retail, in small

Chaucer

is imitative, beating the rhythm of a galloping horse's feet; Bailey (1751) derives it from Latin tanta vi, with so great

also uses tapester as a

quantities.

Then

(17th century) a noun, a rapid gallop, a speedy flight. In 1681 a caricature was printed, showing High

tapet. piece of figured cloth, for the wall, the table, and the like. Used from

Church clergymen riding tantivy to Rome, behind the Duke of York; hence, during

The forms

force.

the Restoration, a

A

the

High Churchman or a

called a tantivy. By error (1785 tantivy was also used for the sound

And was

meaning to hurry away. Brome in THE JOVIAL CREW (1641) has: Up at five CL clock in the morning . . and tantivy all the where over, country hunting, used,

.

hawking, or any sport

is

to

be made.

tantony pouch. Also, as a noun, tantony,

Greeek

tapis, tapissery

tapes,

tapeta.

(tappet, tapyte,

sery, tapycerye,

popularity of the material, were introduced in the 1 5th century, followed then

supplanted by tapestry. Cp. tapester. Sackville's Induction (1563) to A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES uses tapets figuratively, for foliage: winter had come and The mantels rent,

wherein enwrapped been The gladthat nowe laye overthrowen,

som groves The tapets

Related to Saint Anthony. Hence, used as an adjective of things associated with the saint: tantony crutch,

tantony.

century;

tappes; tapecery, tapyssere, tappysand more) , showing the

tapit;

Tory was

on) of a horn, especially during a chase. in the late 17th century to tantivy

9th

torne,

and every

tree

downs

blowen. Chaucer used tapet as a verb in

THE DETHE OF BLAUNCHE THE DUCHESSE (1369):

654

Hys

hallys I

wol do peynte with

tarantism

tapinage

And

pure golde

hem

tapite

ful

Pride alone Must tarre the mastiffes on,

many

as 'twere their bone,

folde.

Concealment,

tapinage. 13th-15th

18th

secrecy.

in

listed

century;

Thus

dictionaries.

century

17th

Used and

Now

tappas closely,

silly

heart

tapis,

.

REVOLUTION;

them

assistants tarring

does when dogs

The

1837):

the squealings of children

,

.

cries,

and other

.

on, as the rabble

fight.

.

.

the huntsmans-selfe is blind. Scott revived the word, in PEVERIL OF THE PEAK (1823): Your father . is only tappiced in some .

by Kingsley, and Carlyle (THE

century, as

FRENCH

tapish, to lie close to the ground, lurk, skulk. Warner in ALBION'S ENGLAND (1592) says

and in HAMLET. The

expression tar on was revived in the 19th

A petty falsehood,

taradiddle.

to tell

to

fibs;

fib. Also,

-with

fibs.

Used from Gilbert makes the word

Also tarradiddle,

.

a

impose upon tally diddle.

corner.

the 18th century;

tapinophoby.

part of a nonsensical refrain: tarradiddle, tarradiddle, fol lol lay. SOCIETY of 29 Oc-

A

Hatred of the "low" in tapinophobe was a conscien-

writing. tious conservative

There were

riots of

newspaper.

tapinophobes in the

as

an

The washings

when Colman

ON SEVERAL

man

of draw-

irritate,

terre\

to

.

tarien, tarrie, tarye.

the

17th

century,

From

the 9th

1

,

tributed

annoyance. teryare, a pro-

wantonly, to use violence (15th and 16th centuries) To tar on, to hound on, incite. Shakespeare uses tarre on in KING .

(1595),

in TROILUS

sting of

the

to

(spider); hence, it

the

tarantula

was sometimes

called

thought that the dance was the cure for the disease; and the tarantella

Many

(a

rapid whirling dance) has to be

from the 15th century continued

The dance, prolonged until one from complete exhaustion, might cure one until the approach of warm weather the next year, when the victim popular.

might again prove susceptible. One that disease was a tarant ant or taran-

had the

tato (plural tarantati; feminine tarantata,

tary,

terying, provoking; taryer, voker; tarring, terring, taryingness, provocation, tar and tig (tig and tar) , to act

JOHN

Epidemic

fell

provoke; to wear out, Also tarre, tyrwian,

fatigue (terwyn, tary)

to dance.

from the town Taranto (Latin Tarentum) but by the peasants the disease was at-

also figuratively,

in PROSE

hysterical affliction, being

impulse

in Apulia and regions of Italy nearby, from the 15th to the 17th century. Named

of the cask; very

Used

ing the taplash of another's brains.

To

irresistible

tarantulism.

OCCASIONS (1769) accused a

tar.

An

tarantism.

a tapinophile.

stale beer.

not a

.

.

.

,

taplash.

is

more facile tarradiddler than the London correspondent of the provincial

French theatre when Shakespeare's MACBETH was played (1819) at the low* word mouchoir, handkerchief; the Dublin riot at the opening of THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD (1907) began when the decent girl mentioned her smock. Per contra, a great admirer of modern realistic books (e.g., FROM HERE TO ETERNITY) is

weak or

Perhaps there

tober, 1880, said:

(18th century) , insisting that literature deal with lofty themes in worthy style. Greek tapeinos, low.

AND

CRESSIDA:

plural tarantate)

.

The

great epidemics of

chorea came somewhat

later,

in

Swabia

and other cured by

parts of Germany; supposedly dancing before the shrine of St.

Vitus. Cowley, in a note to his DAVIDIES (1638) indicated belief in the dancing

treatment:

655

We

should

hardly

be con-

tardigrade

tarry

vinced of this physick, unless it be in the particular cure of the tarantism, the experiments of which are too notorious to be denyed or eluded. tardigrade. Walking slowly, slowpaced; sluggish in thought, unprogressive. Latin

+

tardus, slow

Even

gradus, stepping.

in

our tardigrade West Country, said the PALL MALL GAZETTE of 28 December, 1883, the farmer has begun to discover is

he, too,

.

.

.

that

an economical power.

A

shield; especially, a light shield targe. borne by foot-soldiers and archers. Possibly from Arabic al-dargah, the shield

of

wood and

leather.

Common

from the

10th into the 16th century; Chaucer in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) pictures the

Wife of Bath:

On

hir

heed an hat As brood as is a bokeler or a targe. Milton in PARADISE LOST (1667) tells of Adam and Eve gathering figleaves broad as Amazonian targe. Scott revived the word; in

THE LADY OF THE it then with Rod-

LAKE

(1810): III fared

erick

Dhu, That on the

field his targe

in a letter of 1739 spoke of taroc, a game with 72 cards all painted with suns and

moons, devils and monks. By the 19th century, good tarot packs were collectors' items; a single pack of tarots, admirably painted about 1415 by Marziano, W. Skeen reported in his EARLY TYPOGRAPHY

mountain

lake,

with no

tarot cards

of 1500

became

popular for fortune- telling; THE PALL MALL GAZETTE of 18 August,

As fall the Each rose-page of the

1900, declared:

tarot cards, so

fell

oracle.

tarpeian. Relating to the Tarpeius, a rock on the Capitoline Hill at Rome, from which persons convicted of treason

were hurled. Shakespeare has, in CORIOLANUS (1607): Beare him to the rock tarpeian, and from thence Into destruction cast

the

him

steepe

.

.

Let them pronounce

.

death.

tarpeian

echoes, in HORATIUS (1843):

rock Tarpeian

See

tarre.

.

Macaulay

Now, from

the

.

.

tar.

A

tarriage.

small

The

especially

riance,

A

enormous sum

the

golden crowns.

he

threw. tarn.

cost

(1872),

15th century form for

tarrying,

also, sojourn,

delay;

temporary

tar-

procrastination; stay.

Shakespeare

From

the Norse; used in England since the 13th century. Swinburne in w. COLLINS (1884) gives us a

means expectant waiting, in THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM (1599), When Cytherea, all in

picture of upland fell and tarnside copse in the curving hollow of a moor; Burton in his translation (1886) of THE ARABIAN

Adonis made Under an osier growing by a brook. [For the remainder of the stanza,

large tributaries.

NIGHTS

tells

hand some tarot.

A

that

The

sorceress

kind of playing-card; the game

trumps; 21 were numbered, the other il Matto, the fool our joker. These

was

were added to the regular pack

(usually of 56, in four suits) . Some games, however, used a different number;

A

longing

tarriance

for

A

pleasant drink: (1) From the 16th century, the fermented sap of various palm trees, especially the date and the coconut. Also tingling and tarea, tarry.

of the tarn-water.

-forlorn,

see wistly.]

took in

played therewith. Also taroc, tarok, tarock. There were 22 figured tarot cards, all

cards

love

terry;

taree;

tadie, taddy;

(most popular form

in

the 18th century) toddey, toddie, toddy. (2) hot toddy (since the 18th century), hot water, sugar, and brandy or

rum or gin or whisky. Burns in THE HOLY FAIR (1786) wrote: The lads and lasses, 656

Gray

tavel

tary

bent

blythely

To mind

body, Sit round the

An'

steer

baith soul an'

table,,

weel content.

about the toddy.

The Revenue

1850 ruled that

The

Office in

tauric, taurine.

taree or

also taur, a bull, taurolatry, worship of a (from the Golden Calf to 'John

bull

A

Bull')

may

tauroboly, the slaying of a bull, especially in sacrifice, as in the ancient

well wish to tarry with his

toddy. tary.

.

Cybele, which included a bath or baptism in the bull's blood, tauromachy, a bull-fight; tauromachian, taurorites for

See

tassel.

tar.

An

old form of tercel, q.v. The was the male of the peregrine used figuratively of a noble

machic. Immovable, said M. Collins in FROM MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT (1876), as a

tercel-gentle

falcon

taurine statue of Nineveh. Cp. taurus.

gentleman. In Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET (1595), Romeo has just left the orchard beneath Juliet's window He

the sun!

after their

first

Romeo,

a falconer's voice, gentle back again!

To

wooing, hist!

lure

Used from the 16th century; now Scotch. (2) Mainly in the forms tath, tathe. Cow dung, sheep dung, and the growing

lying for manure. Hence, grass on a field thus manured. In

Scotland rank, luxuriant grass (18th and if grown from heavy 19th centuries)

moisture was called water tath;

if

from

dung, nolt tath. [Nolt, from the 15th century, a Scotch word for cattle; also nowf]

In the 17th and 18th centuries in

cer-

tain parts of England (Norfolk, Suffolk) the lord of the manor had the right to pasture the tenants* sheep at night upon

first

great

claim,

after

the tauromachy.

The

bull, second of the signs of Chaucer in THE ASTROLABE (1391) indicated: Everiche of these 12

the

zodiac.

signes hath respecte to a certeyn parcel of the body of a man, and hath it in gov-

ernaunce, as aries hath thin head, and taurus thy nekke and thy throte, gemyni

thyn armholes and thin armes. In Eliza-

tett.

like, left

made

taurus.

tassel-

A

The

Cp. taurian.

when

tuft or lock of hair or wool; (1) a handful of grass, hay, or the like. Hence, a small quantity, a little. Also, tait, teat, tate.

has

Oh, for

this

stillicide.

was Theseus, who slew the Cretan Minotaur. Many a matador since tauricide

at scars that never felt a wound. But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet

Juliet calls: Hist,

See

tauricide.

jests

is

tate.

Relating to a bull. Also taurean, Latin taurus, bull. Hence

taurian.

juice of the palm tree is liable to duty, in its fermented or unfermented state.

person

See

tath.

beth's days, penny almanacs used to present the figure of a naked man, with the

arrowed to the parts under their governaunce. body Shakespeare in TWELFTH NIGHT (1600) makes the tipsy Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch err, when Andrew suggests: Shall we set about some revels? Toby: What shall we do else? Were we not born under Taurus? Andrew: Taurus! That's sides and heart. Toby: No sir, it is legs and thighs. Let me see thee caper. signs of the zodiac

of

the

Ha! Higher.

To

Ha

ha! Excellent!

the manorial grounds, for the manure of the dung; this privilege was also called

English to

tath. (3) An Irish (17th century) measure of land, 60 Irish acres.

a noun, from Latin tabula, a table, a board for playing on. Used in Germanic

taveL

657

play at dice. From earliest Old the 13th century. Originally

tediation

tead

To spread (manure); see tate (2). spread (new-mown grass) for drying. Hence, to scatter, to dissipate. Also tedde,

before 400 A.D., tavel, a playing-table; also, a game of chance; and especially a

ted.

To

die (tavels, dice) for the playing.

Used from the 15th century,

teede.

Torch. See tede. Latin taeda, pine-

tead.

in

torch. Spenser in his EPITHALAMION (1595) said of his bride: Bid her awake; for

Hymen

awake,

is

And

EUPHUES a

maske [merry procession] to move, With his bright tead that flames

many a

with

flake

And many

[flash],

may

As a noun: a tegere,

roof. Latin to

tectum,

cover,

was not

in MOSES (1870): A dayJ. Hamilton dreamer gets hold of a beautiful thought, and teases and teds it, and tosses it out into a cloud fine

tect.

in

they to al be, tedding that with

And

a

See toze.

roof;

still

gathered together with a rake, in twentie.

bachelor to wait on him. tease.

Lyly

fall

one yeare, which

in

forke

figuratively.

Then

(1580):

disorder that

long since ready

his

forth

Also

dialects.

tectum,

tede.

whence

as a

A

and

filmy.

piece of pine (with resin) used Used in the 16th and 17th

torch.

Related to Greek teknon, the whole range of techwhence product, Hence tect-deand the technical. nology

in

molished, with the roof destroyed, as in LittlgOW's THE TOTALL DISCOURSE OF ... 19

ing, in THE PLEASANT HISTORIE OF ALBINO AND BELLAMA (1637): Bellama's bridall

YEARS TRAVAYLES (1632): tect-demolished

tede

churches, unpassable bridges and many remnants of cities bombed. As an adjective: tect, covered, hidden. Used from the

tedesco.

also

centuries. Also tead (q.v.) , teade. Spenser MUIOPOTMOS (1590) has: burning

protect.

(1557):

the

doubt, the heathen sect, Would say where is their god so tect? Hence tectly, covertly;

(Italian Sculpture; 1883) spoke of minute works in the 'semi-tedesco' style. Tedesco Latin theodiscus from is via Medieval Gothic thiudisk; Middle High German

a covering, a canopy, a roof; tectured, covered. These forms were used tecture,

in

the

and

16th

REPLIE TO

17th

centuries;

also

in Bishop F. White's A JESUIT FISHERS ANSWERE (1624):

figuratively,

as

Your blandishments are but mashes and tectures of latent perftdiousnesse. .

.

tectonic.

.

Relating to the arts of build-

Tectonics, the arts of building, of houses and their equipment. Greek teking.

ton,

builder.

William

Thus

Wood

in

tectonist,

a builder.

NEW ENGLANDS

are

often

troubled,

carrie their houses

on

like

snailes,

their backs.

to

diutsch;

Dutch. lar,

German The word

national;

deutsch, originally

whence also meant popu-

Old High German

diota,

people, nation; used to translate Latin vulgaris, the vulgar tongue, the vernacular,

it

spoke

came

to

be applied to those that

it.

tediation.

PROSPECT

(1634) pitied the Indian squaws: As is their husbands occasion these poor tectonists

(20 February, 1814) referred to tedeschi dramatists. C. C. Perkins

JOURNAL

no

els

Why

lighted now.

is

Germanic; the Italian word, used especially in criticism, of a Teutonic influence in Italian art. Byron in his

14th to the 17th century, as by Archbishop

Parker in PSALMS

A

teade about his head did move; N. Whit-

The

act of wearying, or state

of being wearied, as by an overlong discourse. Hence tedify, to weary, bore; T. Adams in THE SINNER'S PASSING-BELL (1613)

warns of the long-winded speakers that whiles they would intend to edify, do in 658

tenebricose

teen event

t

with

that survives

ferous bear,

Hence

edify.

contrasted

is

(Latin

whence

also

edification

tedification.

Short form of attendance. Used from the 16th century to mean: tendance.

is

The form

tedious. [Note that teditaeda, torch 4- ferre, to

also suffer)

attending

means bearing

Harm, damage;

ill-will;

irritation, anger; malice; affliction; trouble; trouble

oother

tene. :

that

Spenser in THE Gainst that proud

lament: For

kind, has Andrugio wantyng his wyll in thee, is

he wyll wreake his teene on mee. Also a verb, to teen, to vex, enrage; to harass; to harm; to cause grief; to grieve. THE

and ous in words taken via French; cp. MELINCOURT (1817) has taken a very opaque and says: He .

.

.

tenebricose view. Also tenebrificate (accent on the brif) to darken, render ob,

scure,

obfuscate;

hence

tene*

tenebrific,

causing darkness or obscurity. Tenebrio (tenebrion) , a night-prowler, a lurker in darkness; Urquhart in his brificous,

translation

(1693)

WORLD AND THE CHILD (1522) said: There is no emperor so keen, That dare me

expelleth goblins,

lightly tene.

walking

tele.

obscure;

avidulous. Peacock in

,

Cassandra

of darkness;

usually became ose in words taken directly into English from the Latin,

that works her teene. WhetHEPTAMERON (1582) telling Lord Promos will spare Andrugio if

his sister

Full

of,

paynim king stone in his

(Mil-

variant form of teen, q.v.

tenebricose.

from the 10th to the 17th century. ChauTHE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386): Nevere was ther no word hem bitwene Of jalousie any

care

gloomy. Accent on the neb. Latin tenebricus, dark; the Latin ending osus, full

cer in

of

A

tene.

taken with something. By transfer, a cause of trouble, a vexatious matter. Common

FAERIE QUEENE (1590)

of;

George Eliot). In TIMON OF ATHENS (1607): His lobbies fill with tendance.

a torch. See tead, tede.] teen.

taking care

to,

waiting in expectation (Spenser); attendants, retinue (Shakespeare; Scott; ton);

The approach spirits,

of Rabelais declares:

of the suns radiant

bugbears

.

.

.

beams nighttene-

and tenebrions. Also

on the ten) , darkness; tenebre, teneber, tenabur. This is from Latin bres (accent

Evil-speaking, calumny; blasphemy;

blame. From Old English tael, also tal, whence the English form tole. The verb to tele, to speak evil of; to mock; also to deceive, entrap. Used from the 9th into the 15th century. In the last sense, a metrical homily of 1825 said that Christ telid the fiend that telid

temulent.

Intoxicated,

our father Adam. drunken.

Latin

temetum, intoxicating drink. Also temu-

tenebrae, shades, darkness, and tenebres sometimes used instead of tenebrae for

is

the candle-extinguishing services during

Holy Week. Other forms darkened,

dark;

are tenebrate,

tenebrose,

tenebrous,

dark; tenebrious, pertaining to darkness; all these tenebrity, tenebrosity, darkness

may

refer to physical, mental, or moral And tenebrize, to dwell in dark-

darkness.

Hence temulence, temulency, drunkenness. Urquhart in THE JEWEL (1652) declares that the Spaniards

Young in NIGHT THOUGHTS (1742) queries: Were moon, and stars, -for villains only madef To guide, yet screen them, with tenebrious light? The MEMOIRS OF

are proud: the French inconstant . . . the Dutch temulencious. Hence, Dutch

with

lentious,

courage.

temulentive.

ness.

ELIZABETH CARTER (1743) discussed an art

many unwitting

practitioners: complete science of circumlocution,

659

-

The and

teneritude

tergiversation

observed that teratoscopy (accent on the

the whole art of confounding, perplexing,

and

puzzling,

was anciently only a rational atto those signs with which the Providence of Nature was noted to preface her works of greater note.

tenebrificating a subject.

tos)

tendance

teneritude.

Softness,

tenderness.

Latin

tener, tender. Also,

tenerity. (Tender is French from Latin tener.) Henry More in his SONG OF THE SOUL (1642) has: Faithfulness, heart-struck teneritie; These

via

be the lovely playmates of pure

tentiginous.

roused to

Also

veritie.

Provoking

tentiginous? haf would queries: incubusf And Nichols the be you acting of in the PROGRESS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH (1603)

Were you

.

any be troubled with the tentigo

May he

find a helpful nurse

tephramancy.

See

and many

tyercelle,

aeromancy.

Thomas Browne another reason: .

.

.

the

first

(TRACTS;

1682)

suggests

When

they lay three eggs produceth a female and large

hawk, the second of a midler

sort,

and

the third a smaller bird, terecellene or tassel of the male sex. In hunting days, falcon always meant the female. In the

16th and 17th centuries, tercel was some-

1

Also

phromancy; from Greek tephraf

a third smaller than the female; Sir

it is

lust.

used in

is

tentigo (long i) English to mean a spell of priapism; lust. Jonson in THE DEVIL is AN ASS (1616)

.

tarcel,

tiercel,

ular Latin tertiolus, a little third; tertius, third. Some say it is thus named because

lascivious;

lust,

lust, lecherous. Latin tentigo,

tentiginem, tenseness, rigidity; hence,

.

of a hawk; especially, and the goshawk.

others. Cp. tassel; gerfalcon. Also tercelet, tiercelet; tercellene. Ultimately from pop-

The form

has: //

.

of the peregrine falcon

See stent.

tenter.

The male

tercel.

.

.

te-

ashes.

Urquhart's translation (1693) of Rabelais promises to disclose the truth by tephromancy: thou wilt see the ashes thus aloft dispersed, exhibiting thy wife in a fine

times applied figuratively to a person, as by Chapman in MAY DAY (1611): Whose foole are you? Are not you the tassell of a gander? Scott in THE ABBOT (1820) re-

vived this application: Marry, out upon thee, foul kite, that would fain be a tercel gentle!

posture. teratical.

Pertaining

to

monsters

prodigies. Cp. teratoscopy. Greek terata, marvels, which is also used in English

of monstrous births.

Hence

tere.

or

A variant

of tor

(2), q.v.

teretism.

Harsh,

discordant

writing.

Greek

teretisma,

Hence,

teretistical.

Bishop

also teratism,

speech

or

twittering. Hall in his

love of the marvellous or the prodigious. tei-amorphous, monstrous in appearance

SATIRES (IV i; 1598) spoke of rough-hewn teretismes, writ in th'antique vain.

or form. Wollaston, in THE RELIGION OF NATURE DELINEATED (1722) pictures Hero-

tergiversation.

dotus,

possibly

delighting

in

teratical

playwrights picture a teratical aspect of nature on the brink of dire human events (as Shakespeare, before stories.

Many

deserting;

Turning one's back on, abandoning a party or a cause.

Latin tergum, the back to

turn;

versa f etc. to

whence Hence

also

+

vertere, versum,

conversant,

tergiverse,

turn renegade; to use subterfuge or Also tergiversant, tergiversator;

Julius Caesar's assassination).

evasion.

teratoscopy. See aeromancy; teratical. J. Spencer in his study of PRODIGIES (1663)

Occasionally tergiversation (accent

tergiversatory (accent

660

vice

tergiversate,

on the

vers)

,

shifty.

on the

term

terriculament

is used of literal back-turning, as in the account (1660) of a proud king allowing audience to none but on the knee,

TERRAE FILIUS, OR THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, declared: It

nor tergiversation in retiring. J. Wilson in BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE (1831) mocks: '/ am liberal in my politics,' says

will

say)

some twenty-times

To

term.

to;

to

(which in this sense superseded term), Robert Southwell, who died for

his faith in 1595, in a

poem

fellow-Catholic Francis

Thompson, wrote:

anticipating the ODE TO THE SETTING SUN (1895) Of his

God's spice I was, and pounding was .

.

.

Some

things

more

my

perfit are in

whose dolefull dying day Begane my joye

and termed

fortune's spight.

forever rejected earth. Used for senses (2)and (3) of caput mortuum, q.v. Also

OF A

figuratively, as by Jonson in A TALE TUB (1633): She's such a vessel of

faeces: all dried earth, terra

terrae age.

a

Latin:

damnata!

of obscure parentof the earth. Used

son

(Dublin) of an orator privileged to

humorous and

satirical speeches.

make

Men

breed,

of

Hence,

CHEMIST

Welcome

the

terraefilial

the modest stranger to in THE GUARDIAN

The

1721

aqueitie, terto-

earthquake. Latin terrae of the earth. Hence ter-

movement

may be

the same root as in which originally meant to quake. Certainly a terremote induces both tremor and terror. Gp. terricole. The noun terremote was used in the 14th and

parched;

it

15th centuries; the adjective terremotive, Gower in CONFESSIO AMANTIS

in the 19th. (1390) has: it

privilege Amherst, in

Wherof

that al the halle quok,

a terremote were.

terricole.

that lives

+

earth

used also

An

earth-dweller.

on or in the

colere, to inhabit. as

Something

earth. Latin terra,

The word

is

an

adjective, earth-dwelling; terricoline, terricolous (which,

however, shift the accent from the first to the second syllable) Note, however, .

that terrierepant

causes.

In

The

pertaining to an earthquake. Latin root ter-, ters- originally meant

being bitter upon the Pope, or chastising the Turk. Later, the terraefilius ventured into scurrility or sideswipes at the Uni-

withdrawn.

says:

remotive,

THE

.

and the

An

terremote.

sphere. (1713) was reminiscent: In my time . . the terraefilius contented himself with

versity authorities,

(1610)

(17th century)

means

frightening with sound, scolding to high heaven; terriculament, something that arouses terror; especially, a source of

Steele

their

(terra

solid

and sulphur eitie Shall runne gether againe, and all be annulled.

so

earthly,

the world,

earth

terra,

reitie

also

worldly in (either sordid or sophisticated); Young his NIGHT THOUGHTS (1742) commented terraefilian,

Latin

mainland;

ground), whence also territory. Jonson in THE AL-

As

formerly at Oxford and other universities

that

the

A person

filius.

terraefilial,

firma,

terror, tremor,

terra damnata. Worthless residue. The words are Latin, meaning condemned or

used

terre;

motus,

their decaye, Like sparke that going out geeves clerest light; Such was my happe,

Earthiness; the essence of earth.

terreity.

French terminate

to end.

due

very uncertain when the terrae-filius be able to regain his antient privi-

leges.

tergiversated turncoat.

a term

set

is

needless

terror,

a bugbear.

(1621) urges his readers not to worry: Such terriculaments may proceed from natural

Fear comes easily to the

was

Ms

Burton in

ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY

terriculament.

661

See terricole.

terricole.

tetragrammaton

terry

A trodden path.

14th and 15th century teste was used in English to mean head. Also, 14th to 17th

terry. Especially, a ridge of earth between fields or used grounds.

A

16th century homily (1563) complained: the

The

action

of

something that wipes

tergent,

Hence

degree, or other such covering. Gait in

also de-

(dirt)

away.

The

by wiping; Plot in THE NATURAL HISTORY OF OXFORD-

pures, In the

SHIRE (1677) pictures every young mother's hope: Such a pleasant titillation as invites

16th century,

also

tester

meant

sixpence; see impeticos.

rub on the

to

and trapGold hewen helmes, hauberkes.

sheeldes brighte, tester es,

tersive, able to cleanse

the patient (the child) tersive water.

hung

LAWRIE TODD (1830) speaks of a night under the starry tester of the heavens. Chaucer lists, in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386):

Latin

wiping.

whence

tergere, tersum, to wipe,

a canopy over a bed,

ceiling or the bedposts. By transfer, a canopy carried over a person of high

ancient terries of the fields, that old men beforetime with great pains did tread out. tersion.

tester,

century

from the

They do wickedly which do turn up

To

testern.

impeticos.

give a tester to, to tip. See

In

Shakespeare's

TWO

THE

GENTLEMEN OF VERONA Pertaining to four languages;

tessaraglot.

one that commands four languages. Greek tesseres,

tessares,

Hence

tessera, in

+ glotta, tongue. ancient times, a small

four

quadrilateral tablet (wood, ivory, metal, tessera bone) used as a tally or token.

plains:

To

testify

(1593) Speed comyour bounty, I thank

you, you have testerned me; in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself. And so, sir, Til commend you

my master. Proteus responds: Go, go, be gone, to save your ship from wreck, Which cannot perish having thee aboard,

to

A

of hospitality was such a tablet broken between guest and host, as a sign of friendship, and kept as an identification. Hence (in English from the 16th cen-

on shore. on the old saw: He relying born to hang will never drown.

Being destined Proteus that

a distinguishing token; a password. Calderwood, in DYING TESTIMONIES

is

to a drier death

is

tury)

exacts

The plural, tesserae, was mean dice; hence, tesserarian,

loyalty.

to

tessel,

cially,

to

tesserate,

tessella,

a

mosaic

tile.

(as

To

(in

art',

tessera;

medicine)

tessellate,

a pavement)

to

A

espea

or

form

a

or mosaic de-

sign.

speaks of Gargantua's testiculatory ability. testiculose, testiculous, of high

'that generative power, (Bailey, 1751) hath great cods/ In ancient times, a man gave testimony while placing his hands "between the thighs," as though swearing

by his generative powers: Castrate I

tesserate.

a

man

A

See tessaraglot.

Also

teaster,

and

A four-letter word.

Plu-

testrill;

tetragrammaton.

See tessaraglot. piece of armor for the head of

or his horse. Old French teste, head; Latin testa, an earthen pot. In the

if

tester,

the like. See impeticos.

ral,

tester.

me

lie!

testril.

tessellate.

Urqu-

Hence,

tesserari-

play at dice.

was a small

lozenge

mosaic, a

to

Thus

(1693) of Rabelais

used

also

ous, relating to dice; the tesserarian

dicing;

Generative. testiculatory. hart in his translation

(1795): as a tessera of their

from them

it

tetragrammata. Especially, the

Hebrew

word YHVH, vocalized as Yahveh or Jehovah. Others today are more frequent. Note the

662

list

of the divine tetragrammata

theatro-

tetrical

among

the sons of men: Jeva, Deva,

Jove, Theos, Zeus,

Deus

from the 14th into the 17th century. They Swinburne in BOTHWELL (1874) says: And we that do it, we do it for all men's good, -for the main people's

Isis,

Tien, Alia, Dios, Idio, Dieu, Lord. Wither in his discussion (1665) of THE LORD'S PRAYER .

.

lingered later;

.

states: Our English tongue as well as the Hebrew has a tetragrammaton, whereby

God can

love,

thankworthily.

tharborough.

be named; to wit, Good.

A

variant of thirdborough,

A

wonder-worker, a magi-

q.v.

Harsh; austere; bitter; morose. Also tetric. Latin tetricus, harsh, forbidtetrical.

thaumaturge. cian.

ding; taeter, foul. Hence, tetricity,

tetri-

Greek thaumat-, wonder

tude, tetricality, tetricalness. Gauden in HIERASPISTES (1653) declares: It requires

working.

diligence to contend with younger ignoand elder obstinacy, and aged

magic;

ruler

the

of

sea;

Carlyle in his essay (1825) on Schiller to various thaumaturgic -feats, doubtless such as were seen by the folks

in

an

400

B.C.)

when

Armenia climbed Mt. Theches and beheld the sign of safety: Thalassa! Thalassa! Also thalassian, thalaspertaining to the sea; cp. potamophithalassical,

thalassarctine,

or

sea-green

pertaining

to

sea-blue;

the

virilis,

(constellation); thalassocrat, a master of the sea; thalassophilous, in love sea.

There are

also

deivirile,

thalasso-

gave the

deepest channel of a river or lake. German Thai, valley + Weg, way. The 1894

Agreement between Great Britain and the Congo State stipulated that the boundary shall follow the thalweg of the Nile southwards to Lake Albert.

Deserving credit or thanks.

Pliny said,

plant,

gift of

that

prophecy.

the

wrong

course.

the same field

A

is to

About 1800 rope

similar figure

from

kick over the traces.

theats

were replaced by

iron traces.

A

combining form from Greek

theatron, theatre.

thankworthy. Also thankworth. These words, pleasant in sound as in thought, were common

as theandric.

theat. The ropes by which animals drew a carriage or a plough. Also, theet. Out of theats, out of theet, out of control, on

theatre-.

See athanasy.

A

theangeline.

A

line tracing the lowest point thalweg. of a valley; hence, the line along the

meaning the same

grew amid the cedars of high Lib anus in Syria; it was an intoxicant herb, which

phobesi because his wife was one, my old friend and classmate sold his yacht.

Thanatopsis.

.

godmanly. From the Latin deus, god 4manly, came the 17th century

Polar

Bear

with the

(1824),

theandric. Relating to both God and man; partaking at once of the divine and the human. Greek theos, god + andros, anthropos, man. Hence also theanthropic,

sic,

lous.

.

.

in

retreating

Mitford's OUR VILLAGE

exhibition of thaumaturgics.

Greeks

the

Mary

performed by Mr. Moon, the very pearl with his wonderful of all conjurors

admiral. Greek thalassa, the sea; noted in the rejoicing cry (recorded in Xenophon's ANABASIS,

ergos,

thauma-

refers

tetricalness.

A

4-

thaumaturgus,

Cp. teraticaL Hence thaumaturgy, thumaturgize, to work wonders.

turgist.

rance,

thalassiarch.

Also

Among

forgotten forms

with theatre- are the following: theatromaniaf excessive fondness for theatregoing;

663

theatromaniac.

A

milder theatre-

theoric

thede lover

thelyphthoric.

That corrupts or ruins

it is

women. Greek

thelys,

is a theatrophil (e)', one who hates a theatrophobe, hence theatrophobia. In the 1890's, in Paris and London, there

trans-

the

+ phthora, 1780 wrote a

female

M. Madan

in

book entitled Tely phthora; or, A Treatise on Female Ruin, in its Causes, Effects,

were experiments with an adaptation of the

corruption.

theatrophone, telephone, mitting plays from the stages of the various theatres. The PALL MALL GAZETTE of

Consequences, Prevention, and Remedy. Fourteen years later Thomas Mathias in-

6 December, 1891, reported that 'a preliminary trial has been made at the Savoy

ATURE:

Hotel with complete success/ In 1897, Ouida in her novel THE MASSARENES

gospel truth, In telyphthoric lore instruct our youth? The prefix thely-, female, is

spoke of a modern

As

costly as

woman

an ironclad and

used in various

of the world. as

female

a

A

thede.

people, nation; hence, the re-

found

his wife,

told that,

own

to his

guised as a beggar, he was told stole

land, dis-

How

her

oway Ten yer gon with

knew] in wiche thede.

One who

thelemite. libertine.

does as he pleases; a will; but with

Greek thelema,

Abbey of Theleme in had one rule: Fay ce que vouldras, Bo what thou wilt. THE NATION allusion

to

the

Rabelais, which

of 24 October,

1908, however, did not agree with the definition libertine/ averring that the abbey's was a good rule

because, as

are free,

its

'Men well-bred and

founder

well-born,

said,

that

con-

versant in honest companies have natu-

Greek,

but

without

reference

to

Rabelais, comes the adjective thelematic, relating to the will; voluntary.

then.

A

variant form of than. This use

common until the 18th occurs in many quotations

was very it

volume. Another instance

is

century; in this

in the epi-

gram Nullum stimulum can rouse the lazy)

ignavis (Nothing in Henry Parrot's

THE MASTIVE, OR YOUNG WHELP OF THE OLDE DOGGE (1615): Caecus awak't, was tolde the sunne appeared, Which had the darknes of the morning cleard: But Caecus sluggish thereto makes replie, 'The sunne hath further farre to goe then T .

theomagic, theomancy.

See aeromancy.

theoric. As a noun. (1) Theory, posed to practice (Gower; 1390) .

as op(2)

A

theoretical writing or talk

(Chaucer, THE

A

mental survey.

ASTROLABE; 1391)

.

(3)

An

apparatus showing the principles of operation of a natural phenomenon. (4)

an instinct and spur that prompts them unto virtuous actions! Also from

rally

the

rhenotoky, q.v., of males. Bailey in his DICTIONARY (1751) lists thelygonum, 'an herb which, when steeped in drink, is said to make a woman

when drunk by

fairy; And how her king en exile yede, But no man nist [na wist; negative of wist,

ar-

thely to ky;

the production only

he went him out of that

Returning

quen was

hence

conceive a girl/ It is equally efficacious the man.

when Orfeo

thede3 Right as he come the way he yede [went].

offspring; is

gion occupied by a nation, a country. Used from the 9th century. SIR ORFEO (1320; cp. levedi)

such as

scientific terms,

thelytokous, thelygenous, producing only

complicated

theatrophone. Today, even with television, too much is theatrophony.

as

poem THE PURSUITS OF LITERMust I with Madan, bent on

quired, in his

(5)

A man

(1)

theorical,

devoted to contemplation or about speculation things. As an adjective. theoretic,

theoretical,

templative; indulging in theory

664

(as

conop-

thew

theriac

posed to practice)

.

(2)

Relating to re-

19th

century

ligious and other public spectacles, such as solemn embassies; the theory of Athens

ulcers,

was a body of theors, officials sent to perform a solemn rite or duty. These forms

theriomancy.

theorem,

(also

etc.)

are from

Greek theo-

a viewing, theoros, theaoros, spectator; theasthai, to look on, contemplate. Cham-

ria,

CYCLOPAEDIA (1741) notes that, by the law of Eubulus, it was made a capital crime to pervert the theoric money to any other use; even to employ it in the bers'

to

the

.An antidote

snake-bite. Also rye)

panded

;

to

treacle;

mean

to poison; originally, theriacle (accent on

treacle

was later ex-

alexipharmac, q.v., also figuratively, as (More, DYALOGE; 1529) the tryacle of holye scrypture. theriac was also used figuratively,

often with mention of the viper,

the flesh of

which was considered an

es-

sential ingredient in the antidote. Hence, theriacal, serving as or relating to an anti-

as

to

Brunne's HANDLYNG

in

SYNNE (1303): Two unweddyd knave and single tharne. thester.

make

,

.

.

single

Dark. Also a verb, to grow dark; dark. Other forms were thister,

(the

by Map: In a

poem BODY AND

SOUL, 1325,

thestri stude I stod)

thiestre, thister; thestir, is

a sovereign remedy, an

medicine,

See aeromancy.

knave, man,

thestri

theriac.

in

theme. A girl, a maid, a young woman. Also thorne; tharne. Old Saxon thiorna; German Dime. Often contrasted with

to

occasions of war.

applied,

etc.

,

thostre,

and more. [Stude

a variant of steed, place surviving in This was a common word

homestead.]

from BEOWULF into the 15th century, as in THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY (1400): He throng into thicke wodesf thester within.

Hence

thesterness,

thisterness,

darkness;

PLOWMAN

(1377) has On a Thoresday in thesternesse thus was he taken.

Langland's PIERS

dote.

therianthropic. the sphinx and

Part beast, part man, like many ancient gods. Greek

therion, diminutive of ther, wild beast

-f

anthropos, man. therianthropism, representation or worship of such gods; theriolatry, worship of animal gods, therimorphiCj shaped like a beast; relating to a god worshiped in the form of an animal.

theriomorphosis, transformation into a beast or into the shape of a beast, as of

THE GOLDEN ASS of Apuleius which also contains the (155 A.D.) fable of Cupid and Psyche. charming Ford in his HANDBOOK OF SPAIN (1845) mentioned portraits of theriomaniac AusLucius, in

trian royalty, 'mad*

about hunting wild

beasts.

theriodic.

Brutal, malignant

Greek then-

adia, beastliness; ther, wild beast. In the

theurgy. White magic. First employed by the Egyptian Platonists to secure the aid of

friendly

benefit.

spirits,

Greek

theos,

to

work miraculous

god

+

ergos, work-

Hence theurgist; theurgical. In the 16th and 17th centuries opposed to goety,

ing.

black magic. Bishop Lavington in 1751 declared: In the Academy of Sala-

q.v.,

manca they taught both theurgy goety in the publick schools.

and

This word (Old Saxon than, cushas moved through a range of meanings. In the 8th and 9th centuries, thew.

tom, habit)

meant a custom, or general practice of a people or a class. Then, a custom or habit of an individual; hence a personal (mental or moral) quality usually in the it

plural. Then a good quality or habit, a virtue; in the plural, good physical quali-

_ 665

thirdendeal

thig ties;

especially,

woman. Then, man,

the

fair

features

of

a

ilk,

PART TWO

lasse

(1697): Care I for the limbes,

and bigge a man? Give mee the JULIUS CAESAR and HAM-

of spirit. So also in LET. Spenser uses

it

THE FAERIE QUEENE

(1590):

.

.

A

thrid;

but Greek

ROB ROY, 1818: My fellow-traveller, to judge by his thews and sinews, was a man who might have set danger at de-

when

all

godly

15th

to

to

instruct

ment used

probably a form of cucking-stool, thig.

to

eat

To

receive,

accept;

to

and drink. This common

early

one special sense: to receive by begging, to beg. Also thigger, a beggar. Both these to

words, dying in the 17th century, were revived by Scott in the early 19th. Scott

from those that had any to MORAL FABLE (1470) of Henry-

son declared: I eschame [am ashamed] to thig,, I can not wirk.

What was mentioned

we

fridborgh, frithborh, peace-pledge, peacesurety. The English, having lost the sense,

formed various corruptions; the earliest printing of Shakespeare's TAMING OF THE SHREW (the Induction; 1586) says headborough. The tavern hostess speaks: I know my remedy. I must go fetch the thirdborough. Drunken Sly responds: Third, fourth, or fift borough, lie answere him by law and falls asleep. In LOVE'S

LABOUR'S LOST: I myselfe reprehend his owne person, for I am his graces thar-

borough. thirdendeal.

subsistence,

thilke.

if

thirdborough. A town constable. Also thredbearer. thridborrow, tharborough, Probably a corruption of Middle English

robbing, by which the needy in Scotland used to extort cattle, or the means of

A

would hardly

interpret third as the numeral.

and sornwhich he ex-

thigging and sorning, plained as "a kind of genteel begging, or rather something between begging and

give."

called the half of her father

be setting much price on Miranda

of the phrase thiggers

ers;

is

Brabantio's soul; Prospero

q.v.

take food,

English word came by 1300 to be limited

was fond

in

fibre,

Desdemona

in

(instead of the pillory, which was for punishing women; for men)

Sanskrit trtiyas. Shakethread, a con-

betrothed to his daughter Miranda, says:

To thew

(13th century) morals; to discipline, to chastise; hence, a thew (15th to 16th century), an instru,

tritos;

I have given you here a third of my own which I live. In OTHELLO, life, Or that for

in the physical sense, usually with sinews; since then thews has been synony-

tendons.

was

Gothic thridja; Latin tertius

THE TEMPEST (1611) Prospero, accepting Ferdinand as

stituent

fiance

mous with muscles or

third, the numeral,

may have meant

speare

Scott

+

The

variant of thrid, thread.

thewes and goodly prayse Did far excell. The word was rarely used after the 16th century, until revived by in

the

.

original form of also

From

THE SHEPHERD'S

in

These (the plural of this, 14th to Also, an old form of their.

third.

.

thicky.

moans: / love thilke I love?) doe why

16th century)

of moral quality in

Helena

thik,

Spenser (1579)

(alas

thir.

the thewes, the stature, bulke,

assemblance

same.

CALENDAR

as indicating strength. Shakespeare this sense, as in HENRY

used the word in iv,

thelke,

thulk,

the bodily powers of a

or

third part. Also thirdel;

thrydendeal, thurrendeale, From the 10th century; also halfendeal, a half part; farthingdeal, a farthing's

worth. As late as 1581

indi-

cated; that; this; these. Also thilk, thylke,

A

thriddendel,

we

are told that

a thyrdendeale of the Crowne of Thames is shewed at Paris in the holy chappell

666

thirl

thorp

there. In the 16th and 17th centuries, a thirdendeal pot was one that held three

this gate,

pints of liquor.

wise,

thirl.

A

hole, perforation, aperture. What we today call a nostril was originally a nose-thirl. Later, a door or a window;

a small cavity or recess; a

also,

A

(1)

bondsman; a variant of thrall). Especially,

(cp.

gation to take one's

closet. (2)

produce or work to

pierce, penetrate, traverse

as

literal

and

(1725)

said:

and the

in

His words they

a particular mill;

confine or restrict, as in Bryce's

ICAN

COMMONWEALTH

like

thirle

hence,

to

THE AMER-

(1888): Great

is

their

might be from thirl, opening + pollf head; but other forms of the word were it

while,

this

This form occurs in the 13th

and hurlpool

thole. In addition to the current use, as an oar-pin or rowlock, there are several

Forbearance,

(1)

suffering, enduring; also, tholing, tholance

15th centuries).

domed

where

(2)

structure;

tholus,

a

especially

temple or church as a verb,

gifts are hung. Also,

to thole, to be subjected to, to suffer, endure; to put up with, to endure, to withstand. Hence thole bur de, tholemode

'im.

An

old form for (1) thank, (2) thonkyng, (noun and verb) thought. In THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE thonk.

thought

.

(13th century)

(1556),

thorp.

hire thonkes means, with

Who'd

will.

English,

A

a thonk

it?

hamlet; especially, in Middle

an agricultural

word, not

common

in

village.

A

Norse

Old English and

1362; mainly (Langland, appearing Chaucer, 1386) as throp, throop. thorp was seldom used in literary works after

aunce the sworde of sorowe.

the 15th century, but survived through the countryside, and was restored to poetic

thisness. Used in the 17th century (again in the 19th); opposed to thatness, which is the quality of being something other

thisne

this

century HAVELOCK THE DANE. See th ester.

her

be a connection with the tumult of the whale's blowing. In the figurative sense, to pierce, Chaucer says in ANELIDA AND ARCITE (1374): So thirllethe with the poynt of remember-

use by Wordsworth (THE EXCURSION, 1814: Welcome, wheresoe'er he came Among

This had various forms: thissen,

(used by Bottom in Shakespeare's NIGHT'S DREAM; 1596), in

A MIDSUMMER

this side, thislike,

TALE (1386) has: So much wo as I have with you tholed. Barrie is less patient, in A WINDOW IN THRUMS (1889): / canna thole

.

this.

on

way.

(10th to 13th century), bearing patiently, submissive, meek. Chaucer in THE FRIAR'S

Frequent in the 16th century, possibly by fusion with twirl or whirl. Note that thirlpool was a name for the whale (15th to 17th century) Also thirlepoll; hence

than

this

(thole) the place in a

speak -from a moral standpoint. (3) To hurl, or to fly, with a spinning motion.

(1522) so that there may

thiskin wise,

whiles, during this time, meanwhile.

circular

power, because they are deemed to be less thirled to a party or leader, because they

whirlpool

in

this,

(14th and

THE GENTLE SHEPHERD

music through my heart. (2) To reduce to bondage or hold in servitude; to limit a tenant to

this half, a-this-half,

like

on

(after somehow) this this wise, in this manner, thus.

forgotten uses of thole.

vari-

figurative senses of thrill,

when Ramsay

on

thiskin,

thishow

thirlage, the obli-

a particular mill or forge (the landlord's) or to pay a fee instead. As a verb, (1) to ous

manner. Also

thisterness.

thrall

thrill;

this

the tenantry of thorpe and vill) and Ten(THE BROOK, 1855: I hurry down

nyson 667

thos .

.

three-pile

By twenty

.

ENOCH ARDEN,

thorps;

1864).

named

Bulwer-Lytton). Also threpe, and the threep, threppe, threip, thraip,

C. Bronte,

A

thos.

century, thereafter persisting in country speech; revived in the 19th century (Scott,

beast of prey, of the dog family, in Greek and Latin writers. Plural,

like.

Mentioned in 17th to 19th century English works, and variously identified; thus C, H. Smith in his book on DOGS thoes.

pute, to inveigh

contend. Hence,

One who

thrall.

held in bondage; a

is

a captive. Also used to mean the condition of a thrall, thraldom, thralship; and as an adjective: We now are captives

slave,

that

made

others thrall; and as a verb,

as

,

To

dis-

to haggle, to

a noun, threap, quar-

To threap with kindness was rarely used in the sense of to treat with kindness; more often, to attribute kindness to, to urge to the ex-

a wolf, but lynx, a creature resembling

spotted like a leopard. Apparently, one of the missing lynx!

(against)

reling, contention, contest.

the (1839) says: It may be, that one of smaller thoes of Aristotle is the true jackalPhillips in 1706 defined the thos:

A

Various meanings developed.

ercise

of kindness.

impose upon,

To

threap upon, to

to try to press one's beliefs

upon; to press (something) upon one, to urge one's acceptance or acquiescence. Failing that, to threap down, to beat down resistance, to silence by vehement or persistent assertion (this use might well be as R. W. Hamilton observed revived!) ,

century, the verb was largely replaced by

(1841): A man will say of a clamorous talker, he did not con-

mainly with figurative application. Thrall was used both literally (often, thrall of Satan) and figuratively. Chaucer

vince me, but he threaped me down. The form threapen, in addition to these uses, borrowed the sense of threaten as well;

THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE can wel The God of Love

(1366) says these lordis

threap ening, threatening. Thence, threapland, land of disputed ownership. In the

thrallen. Shakespeare refers to the King's guards, in MACBETH (1605) , as slaves of

sense of strongly affirming, persisting in a (challenged) point of view, Chaucer

to thrall, to enslave, cp. thirl

By

the 17th

enthrall,

in

.

drink)

and

A

the

(161

In Terence's play THE

B.C.)

the

braggart soldier,

is

(Greek thrasys, spirited).

NUGAE LITERARIAE

the word in the Prologue to THE CANON YEOMAN'S TALE (1386): Sol gold is and Luna silver we threpe. Thus also Scott in THE ANTIQUARY (1816): He three ps the castle and lands are his ain as his mother's eldest son. Beaumont in PSYCHE (1648) has the fair nymph cry: Behold how gross a ly of ugliness They on my

uses

Bragging; vainglorious. Also thraso, a thrasonist, a swag-

gerer, a boaster.

EUNUCH

.

thralles of sleepe.

thrasonical. thrasonic.

.

in

miles gloriosus,

named Thraso The popularity

of the play in Tudor England brought the name into common use; cp. gnathoni-

face have threaped!

cal Hence also thrasonism, braggart beto thrasonize, to play the dare-

three-pile.

havior;

devil, to brag.

IT

Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE

(1600) mentions that Caesars thrasoni-

cal bragge of I came, saw,

threap.

Originally,

blame.

Common from

to

and overcame. rebuke,

scold,

the 9th to the 16th

With

the loops of the pileof carpetry, or

warp (that forms the nap velvet)

formed of three threads, hence

producing a trebly thick pile, of the finest quality. Hence, three-piled, of the highest quality; exquisite; fine,

668

by deterioration, over-

extreme. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

thrum

threne

REMORSES (1861) has: On three-piled carpet of compliments. Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) speaks of the courtier's Taffata phrases,

wel bitinge* Rutherford in a letter of 14 March, 1637, exclaims: There is no little

in NATURE'S

thrusting

silken tearmes precise, Three-pil'd hyperboles, spruce affectation.

A

threne.

threnode,

(Greek

ode,

song);

Greek threnos, lament Shake-

threnos.

to

thrust in at

thro. Obstinacy in opposition; anger, wrath; struggle; trouble; also, eagerness, haste. Common in Old Norse; in English, 14th to 16th century. Also thra. Hence,

Also

lamentation.

of

song

threnody

and thringing

Heaven's gates. Luckily, it is entered by many a door as well as by many adored.

speare uses the form threnos as a heading, in THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE

fierce,

(1601); in the body of the poem he uses threne. Stedman, in his VICTORIAN POETS

word took on a favorable

as

adjective,

rigid.

stubborn,

violent;

angry;

bold in battle; (of a corpse) stiff, In the phrase thriven and thro, the sense, very bold,

threnode since Shelley's ADONAIS; later he

This may have been influenced by the verb to thro,

Tennyson's IN MEMORIAM the great threnody of our language. Other great

meaning to grow, to grow up. Also throly,

Arnold's

calls

(1876)

THYRSIS

the

hence,

best

calls

in

general,

excellent.

increase in

size,

to

thraly, eagerly; obin his CHRONIStewart stinately; furiously;

ones are Milton's LYCIDAS and Swinburne's

CLE OF SCOTLAND (1535) said: So thraly then togidder that they thrust, That

AVE ATQUE VALE, in memory of Baudelaire.

A

Chester Mystery of 1500 speiris brake. said: In this place, be you never so throe

See threap.

threpe.

very common Old English verb, with the basic meaning to press, to crowd; in this sense replaced by one of its

forms, throng. By development, thring to mean: to push forward, hasten;

came

oppress, repress; to press compress; to thrust with vio-

to press hard,

together, lence, to dash, knock, hurl

also

(down)

downthring, to press down, crush. Hence also,

trate,

to press

burst

through, ,

(out)

A

to pierce,

thringer,

pene-

an over-

thrower. Also thryng. In the past tense, thrang, thrange, thronge, throng, thrungen, thrung. Of petty assemblages, Chaucer in THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE (1366) tells: There was many a bird singing

Throughout in

Douglas damecellis

[damsels]

thringis. In

the same

he gan

the yerde al thringing; the AENEIS (1513):

poem

to

fast

to

thar

A

An

q.v.

at the edge of a cloth. Also, the waste;

thrums, scraps. Hence, thread and thrum, the good and the bad. thrum-cap, one made of odds and ends; thrum-chinned (humorously), with a fringe of a beard.

A

To thrum caps (or buttons), to spend time idly or on trivial matters (16th and 17th centuries, as in Nashe's THE UNFORTUNATE TRAVELER; 1594) in

A MIDSUMMER

threads of

rasour sharpe and

dwell.

thrum. (1) The end of a warp thread, unwoven and left on the loom when the web is cut off; hence, a tassel or fringe

Pyramus sing

lady

form of thorp,

early

and

pleasant fashion, from of Chaucer's: In his sieve

thringe

throp.

The

less

you no longer

[stubborn], Shall

A

thring.

NIGHT'S

.

Shakespeare (1596) has

DREAM

to the Fates, that

human

destiny:

O

weave the

Fates, come,

come, cut thread and thrum. (2) thrum, throm, throme, thrumme, a company or crowd; a bundle (as of arrows); magnificence, splendor.

669

Used from the

8th to

tib

thunderlight the

15th

ARTHUR AND MERLIN

century.

the

is

thrum;

Latin trmo-; Indo-European Greek terma, end, whence also

term-,

interminable.

we

Before

terminate,

Old English thrymm,

Old Saxon thrimman,

tude;

by More in a DYALOGE (1529): mill-post to a

is

to cut

a multi-

down

Lightning.

thunderlait, -layt,

-leit,

-leyt.

diminutive

Originally

From Old

Ther felle a sodeyne tempest and thonder layte and rayne. Chaucer uses times;

proper

A

thwyte, was to thwittle, whence the (also

A

whit

bit.

tib.

Originally

Tib,

tib,

bears

burning

is

borne

is

pet-name its

was used (16th

it

for

sense.

Isabel,

With a

to the 18th

a representative name for a woman of the lower class Jack and Jill, Tib and Tom. But with the capital with-

in-

cense, especially as part of a ceremony or ritual. Also thuribuler; the vessel in which

the burning incense

a

has shifted

capital T,

century)

One who

See thwite.

thwittle.

after him,

What shall move his placid might? the headlong thunderlight.

thurifer.

thwite

hence, an insignificant

(1815):

Not

to

to

one manuscript thonder-

the picturesque term was neglected until Leigh Hunt caught it up in his FEAST OF POETS several

of

etc.)

down a peg/

surviving in the expression no whit the is a shaving, whittled off; (worse, etc.)

(1485):

thunderlight (in

'take

to

thwight, etc.) variant and still current whittle.

English ley, flame, came lait, a flash of in Malory's MORTE D'ARTHUR as fire,

leit)

to thwite a

pudding-prick} figuratively, the size of, to reduce (ar-

complacency,

rogance,

to swell.

proportions, thunderlight.

embannered

the

before

cut down, to pare away; to shape by paring. Used from the 9th cenused tury. Also in the popular phrase,

we

should mention that the second thrum related to

earth

To

thwite.

from the Old Teutonic root

thrum

slow

Throne?

in our throme, (1330) Whiles thou were No were we never overcome. The first

as

drawn, one must judge from the particular context whether tib means a girl, or a

a thurible

(thuribule, thoryble, tumble). From the 14th century (now only in historical or

sweetheart, or

technical writings) , frankincense is thus (th as in thin) . Latin tus, thus, thurem;

character, a strumpet (1589, the bravest tipling tib that is within the towne; 1618,

Greek thuos,

Where

tinkers

pair e).

Also

sacrifice,

offering,

incense;

thuein, to sacrifice. Also thurific,

thuri-

incense-bearing; thurificate, thuto burn incense to; to perfume with

ferous, rify,

Nashe used the word in a lay in LENTEN STUFFE (1599): This herring was sensed and thurified in the smoake. Francis Thompson is more reverent in A CORYMBUS FOR AUTUMN (1888): What is

incense.

sense

when he remarked

.

this feel of

round

.

.

incense everywhere* Clings

it

folds of the blanch-amiced clouds,

Upwafted by the solemn thurifer, The mighty Spirit unknown, That swingeth

(as

with Bailey, 1751)

poor sorry woman', or a

and

tib,

or

woman

'a

of loose

their tibs doe oft retib of the buttery, a

Brome

in THE JOVIAL CREW (1641): Here's Grunter and Bleater, with Tib of the buttry; (1725) on tibs thou shalt every goose;

day dine. The phrase On Tib's Eve, St. Tib's Eve, meant never (like the Greek Calends and Latter Lammas) In the .

19th century to tibble, or to tib (out) meant to slip out of school, to break as in Thackeray's THE NEWCOMES I used what they call to tib out (1855): and run down to a public house. A tib-cat or tikby-c&t wa, a female cat; now called

bounds,

670

ticement a

tine

from

tabby-cat,

the

name

arms through false sleeves of tiffany. Hence, an article made of tiffany, such as a head-dress. Also used figuratively, as in Richard Franck's NORTHERN MEMOIRS

Tabitha.

Shakespeare in PERICLES (1608) has Marina say to the pander's servant: Thou

damned

art 'the

coistrel that

doorkeeper to every comes enquiring for his tib.

A

ticement.

(1658): It's a tiffany plot;

half an eye

14th century shortening of tice, from the 13th to

enticement. Also

the 16th century

(later as *tice)

Bellenden translating

tice.

wrote:

He

tyistit

Hence

A

Livy

men

of his ticer, one that

which by way of popular Latin timbano was used by Wyclif (1380) to ,

translate Latin

be at large after part of a prison term has been

and in 19th

in

for

Oriental

toph)

versions,

instruments,

(HENRY vin, 1548): Of their hosen the nether parts were of scarlet, poudred .

.

.

with tymbrelles of fyne golde.

1863, brought to the Olympic Theatre the first great detective in the

timpanize.

self-

became traditionalized in three movements: Left hand removes cap he he says: "I." Right hand removes wig says "Hawkshaw." Left hand, holding cap, removes whiskers he says: "the detec-

similar

later

timbrel was used. Also, a design shaped like a timbrel, as in Hall's CHRONICLES

May,

drama. His removal of disguise and

tympanum (Hebrew

150TH PSALM. In

the

and

cen-

tury England of convicts released for good behavior. Hence, ticket-ojCleave man, ticket-of-leaver, one thus released. THE TICKET-OF-LEAVE MAN, by Tom Taylor, in

like a

senses)

license to

served; as in Australia,

any man with through it.

percussion instrument; often tambourine, that can be held up in one hand. Cp. tabor. An earlier form was timbre (which survives in other

entices.

ticket-of-leave.

easily see

A

timbrel.

one

to en-

(1533)

the young

ciete to his purpois.

,

may

To

tind.

disclosure

See tympany. light,

to kindle; hence, to in-

fire, become become inflamed or aroused. word, common in Old English

flame, arouse; also, to catch to

ignited;

An

early

and developing many forms, including tend, tynd, tynne, tin, teyne, tinnd. tinder, as a noun, was in the

tive."

though surviving tickle.

13th

See whilere.

Originally, though rarely in Engshort for Epiphany, the Twelfth Day

tiffany. lish,

(January

6)

as in Shakespeare's

TWELFTH

NIGHT. Tiffany is really short (there were some forty variant forms in Old French)

Theophany, the manifestation of God. the meaning of manifestation, revealing, the word was given English use as tiffany, short for tiffany silk, which cloths, said Holland in his translation for

century

(also

used

tender)

as

a

become inflamed, to glow. HerHESPERIDES (1648, CANDLEMAS DAY)

verb, to

rick in

said: Kindle the Christmas brand Part must be kept wherewith to teend The Christmas log next year. Dryden used the verb figuratively in THE DUKE OF GUISE .

.

.

From

Preach'd (1682): Shop-consciences up, and ready tined for a rebellion.

to (1601) of Pliny, 'instead of apparell cover and hide, shew women naked

This survives as the technical term prong of a fork or pitchfork or other such pointed instrument; also, the pointed branches of a deer's horn. It was also used of a twig, and of the rung of a ladder. But there wre

through them/ Thus also Evelyn in his DIARY for June 1645: shewing their naked

.

tine.

for the tooth or

671

.

.

tire

tintamar other senses.

hanging in front; hence, tippet-captain, tippet-knight, contemptuous terms for a

Loss (1320, Sir Tristram:

(1)

in joie and In winning and in tine in pine}. Hence, affliction, trouble, sor.

(1590):

tyne',

A

bit,

a

little

Caxton in his translation (1481) of THE MIRROUR OF THE WORLD observed: They be

in

not alle clerkes that have short typettis. in 1686 carried a

others have followed him. (2) little always in the phrase

The LONDON GAZETTEER

a very tine,

also

as

an

PART TWO

A

(1597):

notice: Lost a sable tippet with scarlet

very

adjective,

small, tiny. Shakespeare uses this in iv,

priest; tippet-scuffle, ecclesiastical quarrel.

THE FAERIE QUEENE first, To seek her out with labor and

row. Spenser

long

.

.

HENRY

joynt of mutton,

and pretty in KING LEAR. Also as a verb, tine, tyne (1) to shut; to enclose; to fence, hedge

tire.

the 7th century. (2) To lose, waste, spoil, ruin, bring to nought. From the 13th century. Towneley

is

and any

little

in; restrain.

tine kickshawes,

Mytery of 1460

Our

said:

is

joye

tynt.

A

(16th century) was a destroyer, a loser; Holland in THE SEVIN SAGES (1560) tiner

sub tell schrew toung intoxicat.

exclaimed: treuth, with

tintamar.

a

racket

O.E.D. says

A

clamor,

great

.

.

uproar,

confused

.

Besides the two major senses that when you are tired, it is time

survive

when your

to retire;

From

A

and

silver strings.

time to

re-tire

car

is

not

tired, it

there were several

remembered.

less

now

outfit,

Apparatus, (1) supplanted by attire. Hence, apparel; especially, a headdress. Hence, tirement, attire, tirements, garments. In clothing;

combinations,

tirehouse,

wardrobe of a

of

theatre; tiring-house, tiring-room, a dressing room, especially of a theatre, tiremaid,

hubbub,

tire-woman, maid of the wardrobe; dressmaker. Pepys in his DIARY of 20 February, To Mrs. Grotier's, the 1667, wrote:

Tyner

noise.

The

of obscure origin; Bailey (1751) suggests Latin tinnitus Martins, a warlike jingling. [Note that Poe's tintinit is

nabulation of the bells, while an echoic word, was not coined by him; Latin has

tintinnabulum, a bell, a call-bell.] Also tintamar e, tintamarre, tintimar. H. Gre-

DIARY for 21 November, 1834, Such a tintamarre I never heard, but the audience were enthusiastic. And THE ACADEMY of 28 December, 1901, complained: The just praise he wishes to

Queen's tire-woman, for a pair of locks my wife [hair, not chastity]. (2) A

for

volley of shot. French

Hence

to draw.

to

pull,

tir;

tirer, to

also

shoot,

(13th century) especially, as a hawk

tug;

to

on

to rend, to feed greedily. Hence, a a tough morsel given a hawk,

flesh, tire,

(3)

ville in his

to exercise its beak.

said:

(1589): For all she hath let you flie like a hawk that hath lost her tyre. Sir Robert

utter

is

forestalled by a tintamar of rash

eulogy. tippet. rate,

Originally (13th century) a sepa-

long narrow

slip

of

cloth,

worn

hanging from the hood, headdress, or sleeve. In the 15th century, also a scarf,

The

the necke

Upon

gaged in

to

that

upon, and

tyre

were my thoughts tiring (1605) When he

TIMON OF ATHENS

.

speaks in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST of the tired

he means, adorned with trappings.

horse,

And he

worn

and bones

kept the wings himselfe. Shakespeare uses this sense figuratively, meaning busily en-

an

(16th century on) around the neck, with the two ends

METHOD FOR TRAVEL (1598) kitchin doctor gave his patient

Dallington in A wrote:

or a short (wool or fur) cape. Especially, ecclesiastical scarf

Greene in MENAPHON

that

672

has in PERICLES: I

much marvaile

your lordship, Having rich

tire

about

to-

tistytosty

you, should at these early howers Shake off the golden slumber of repose. For a

My

1610:

TIX;

maisters,

avaunt}.

,

own

their

In

(1)

the

(see opposite of motion

sense

to.

to-cast,

add.

to

tocome, arrival (9th to 16th century); tocome, to befall, to approach, arrive (13th to 16th century) to-draught, a following, .

a retinue; a place that people are

see ship-

drawn

a resort, to-gainst, toward with hostile intent; (1440) Charelemaine's spear that

tire.

to,

See tytetuste.

tistytosty. titivil.

A

togainst the Saracins he

scoundrel; especially, a

rascal,

to-lay,

tattling or mischievous tell-tale; Cotgrave

to

in 1611 has: a tailing houswife, a titifill, a flebergebit. Plautus once used the word

mumbled

From

this,

the

demon

in

Old Teuton

allege,

Many more

(2)

to bear,

to-neighe,

words were

in the sense of apart, pieces, or other ideas of to-

tiz,

Latin

dis)

.

To~bear, to

carry in different directions; to take away; to

in the re-

name was used

approach.

was want

separation (equivalent to zer in German,

separate

persons

them enemies)

ligious services, and took them to hell to be stored up against the offending

a devil or

put forward,

asunder,

trifle. This may be the origin of Titivil, which was the name of the devil that gathered up the fragments of words

dropped, skipped, or

to

formed with

apparently meaning a mere

titivillitium,

one.

another of the English forms

toward or addition

what tire wears Four squirrels

in a true loves knot)

tails tied

is

mean

that

glimpse of fancy headdress (Spenser, in THE FAERIE QUEENE; 1590: And on her head she wore a tyre of gold. HISTRIOMAS-

your lady on her head?

This

to-.

ingly; to

feelings:

(in

to-bell,

.

make

to swell exceed-

be swollen with pride or anger,

bent way over, to-blow, to puff up (with wind, or with an emotion); to to-bent,

for

in the Mystery Plays,

blow away,

then extended to persons. Also tittifill, In Hall's CHRONICLES titivillus. titifyl,

scatter,

to-braid,

to

wrench

apart, pull to pieces; snatch away, to-bray, to beat to atoms, to-break, to demolish,

EDWARD iv) we read: Mistrusting her counsayl should by some titiville be published and opened to her adver-

consume by

(1548,

scatter, to-brenn, to

lest

beat severely, thrash; bune, to-bone, also to-bust, to-carve, to cut to pieces, to-

saries.

to-

chew, to chew to pieces, to-chine, to split

To

stumble; to stammer, stumble in speech. Latin titu-

apart,

bare, titubatum, to stagger, to stammer, to hesitate. Also, titubation. S. Clarke in

to bits:

titubate.

fire,

to

stagger,

reel,

his

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

He

went on without the

(1650)

has:

least hesitation

to-clatter,

to

knock

to

pieces

(noisily), to-crack, to shatter, to-cut, to

The Cassydonyens

slayne and all to-cutt

and

cut

were

(1489) cloven, to-dash,

to dash to pieces, to-deal, to divide into to sever; to distribute, to-do, to

parts;

in his voice, or titubation of his tongue.

sunder; to undo, open, to-draw, to pull

These two forms were used from the 17th

apart,

century;

in

the

century, titubant into use, humorously

19th

and titubancy came pedantically. Thus Peacock

or

in

THE

MISFORTUNES OF ELPHiN (1829) admires that amiable state of semi-intoxication

which sets the tongue tripping, in the double sense of nimbleness and titubancy.

destroy by tearing to pieces, todrese (past, to-drove), to fall apart, decay. to-drunk, too drunk, to-fare, to disperse.

knock to pieces, to-fleet, to be carried away by current or away,

to-flap,

float

to

tide, to-frush, to smash, drive violently into (as with an automobile. Most of these words had dropped out of use by the

673

toft

toaze to-gang, to go away, to pass away, to-gnide, to crush to fragments. to-go, to go in different directions, pass

tods of wool With which the air is full. Short for ivy-tod, a bushy growth of for toddy, whisky with hot ivy. (4) Short

away, disappear, to-hale, to drag apart; to pull about, to-hene, to mutilate by ston-

water and sugar. To tod, to produce a tod of wool; Shakespeare inquires, in THE WINTER'S TALE (1611): Let me see, every

16th century.),

ing, to-hurt, to

knock asunder.

to-pull, to

or pull to pieces, to-race, to-rase, to hack tear to pieces, to-rat, to break up, to scatter.

to~reose, to

into ruins.

fall

crumble, with force, to dash to

to-rush, to disperse

pieces, to-set, distribute, divide, to-shend, to destroy utterly, ruin, to-shoot, to burst

asunder, to-skair, to scatter, disperse, spring, to spring apart, burst asunder,

to-

to-

slive, to cleave, to-sued, to cut to pieces. to- sparple, to scatter abroad, to-squat,

to crush, squash, to-stick, to prick all over. to-stink, to smell abominably, to-tight, to stretch out, spread out. to-torve, to hurl about, to dash to pieces, to-tose, to tear

(3)

eleven wether toddes, every tod yeeldes

pound and odde

toddy.

See tarry.

tofall.

A

smaller building with

dependent. Also, that which

collapse, to fall in pieces.

to-writhe, to

wrench

by blowing, or twist apart, to-wry, to twist about.

A

toaze.

Used from the

8th century; the noun survived the 15th century in Scotch and dialects. Thus

PSALMS

scatter

The

befalls.

the end of the day; the tofall of the night, the beginning of the night. As a verb, tofall (see to-) meant

Waddell in

naught; to perish, to-wowe, to

roof

its

tofall of the day,

come

to

hundred

sloping up to the wall of a main building, a lean-to. Hence, figuratively, a shelter; a

pieces, to-twin, to separate, divide. to-whither, to whirl to bits, to-worth, to

to

shilling; fifteen

shorne, what comes the wooll too?

my

says:

his

of THE

rendering (1871)

The Lord my rock

.

.

.

and

to-fa\

An early form of before. Ala though genuine, distinct word, from the

tofore.

variant of toze, q.v.

9th century, tofore (toforen, toforn, tofor,

An

alarm, rung by a bell; also, the alarm bell. Provencal tocar (French

tocsin.

toucher, originally an echoic word), to touch, strike 4- senh (Latin signum sign; later,

as in

bell),

bell.

Also used figuratively,

A. Clarke's LIFE (1832):

He

thought

my foot would turn to an attack of gout. This was a tocsin to me. the seizure in

tod.

(1)

A

fox; hence, a crafty person.

birds. Tod's bairns, persons of bad stock, an evil brood. Dunbar in a poem (1520) observed that sum in ane lamb skin is ane tod. (2) A measure of wool,

Tod's

28 pounds; hence, any load, usually of a specified weight. Herrick in HESPERIDES (1648,

CONJURATION TO ELECTRA) USCS

figuratively, to

mean

clouds;

By

it

those soft

was sometimes treated as though were short for heretofore. Tofore God,

toffore) it

sight of God; CHAUCER'S DREME uses it to mean "by God!" Madame, (1500) God tofore, ye shul be there. Shakespeare

in the

in TITUS ANDRONICUS well,

Lavinia,

my

(1592)

noble

says:

sister,

O

Farethat

thou wert as thou tofore has been! toft. A homestead, the grounds for a house and its out-buildings. The frequent

phrase toft and croft meant the entire holding, the homestead and the conjoined arable land. Used from the 10th century; in the 14th, toft was applied also to a knoll or hillock amid level lands; especially, one suited for a house or tower.

Baring-Gould in ICELAND (1863) mentions 674

tooth-fee

tole

named

a farm

which

toft

rises

ovo, or

from the

(1599):

out of green meads and

howe the a be came to fish, and then herring first how he came to be king of fishes, and gradationately how from white to red church-booke,

almost impossible swamps. Bailey (1751) adds toft (tuft, French touffe du bois), a grove of trees; this seems to be an error from Kersey's edition (1706)

his

of

birth,

he changed, would require as massie a toombe as Hollinshead. [Raphael Holinshed was author of THE CHRONICLES OF

repeated

Of Phillips'

To recount ab

Tratharholt, crowning a

THE NEW WORLD OF ENGLISH

WORDS.

ENGLAND, SCOTLANDE, AND IRELAND; See

tole.

tele.

To move unsteadily, to flounder; tolter. to stagger along; to toss and turn about.

tompion.

.

.

.

succussation or trotting. Properly tolutatolutate, to trot,

tion, trotting;

along.

After

the

17th

to

move

century,

used mainly for humor. R. L. Edgeworth said: You compose in and I on horseback, which is the reason why your lines roll so smoothly, and mine partake so much .

.

(q*v.)

,

a

especially,

bung for a cask, "a stopple of a great gun or mortar" (Bailey, 1751) "to keep out rain." Also tomkin, tampoon, tamp-

Thomas Browne

OR ENQUIRIES INTO MANY RECEIVED TENENTS (1646), of horses' pacing: Whether they move per latera, that is, two legs of one side together, which is tollutation or which ambling; or per diametrum

in his LIFE

in-

kin, tomking,

in PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA

discriminates,

your

the

a

Speech that moves briskly .

smartly

watch or clock of the

(2) Another form of tampion plug for stopping an aperture;

along, voluble discourse. The accent is on the till (till the speaker stops) Latin

is

A

stance of the use of the word, see cosins.

a tolter threid.

tolutim, at a trot; but Sir

(1)

made by Thomas Tompion, in reign of good Queen Anne. For an sort

DICE (1470) pictures Tantalus: Before his face an apill hang also, Fast at his mouth,

tolutiloquence.

1577

of Shakespeare's plot

material.]

Also as an adjective, swaying, insecure, giddy. Henryson in ORPHEUS AND EURY-

upon

much

source of

(1796)

tone.

A

times

used

contraction of the one; for

Similarly, tother.

one.

Pronounced

Thus

Sir

sometun.

Thomas More

in THE HISTORIE OF KING RYCHARDE THE

THIRDS (15 IS) quoted the Lord Stanley: "For while we" quoth he, "talke of one matter in the tone place, litle wote we wherof they talk in the tother place" For another instance of its use, see haut. See

toot.

tut.

chaise,

.

of tolutation.

tomblestere.

tooth-fee.

cuts

A

its first

gift

to

an infant when

it

tooth. Also, tooth-gift, tooth-

money, tooth-piece. Such gifts were a Viking custom. THE ACADEMY of 23 Feb-

See tumb ester.

What Sigmund gave his son was a sword, imon-lauk, a very fitting

ruary, 1884, said:

tomelet.

A

volume of a section

literary

A

tome is one work. Greek tomos,

small volume.

(of a work); root

torn-,

cut,

as

to live

appendectomy and the atomic is a There age. pun buried in Nashe's spelling of tome, in his Lenten Stuffe also

in

to one who was and die in arms. Thorpe, in his NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY (1851) of the god Frey, said: Alfheim was given to him by

tooth-fee, or name-gift,

,

the gods as tooth-money.

675

torment

toparch toparch. The ruler of a petty state or small region. Greek topos, place 4- arches,

Hence toparchy, the district thus ruled. Fuller in JOSEPH'S COAT (1640) exthose

land, was named (in 1880) as having the most famous specimen of the work of

kings mentioned

many

plained: in- the old Testament, thirty the little land of Canaan .

.

and one in is meant

the topiarist.

.

cially,

trees,

shapes.

gardener; espeone that trims and trains shrubs,

and hedges to grow in fanciful Greek topia, places, plural of

times,

also called topiary, or topiaria. Thus R. Rinche in his translation (1599) of THE

Holly, box, and

yew were frequently used for such living figures, which were the delight of the Tudor gardeners, but which the late 17th century (Addison, Pope) denounced as a

use,

1

wit of the landscape. The fashion has returned; the LONDON MAGAZINE of June 1902 warned that a topiary garden

can enjoy the view/' Scott in THE ANTIQUARIAN (1816) so

the

stroller

Relating to toreutics, the art

tor entice,

by Evelyn,

in the

17th

non, also by Phidias, wrought in ivory

and

gold, the toreutic art

by no means an inexpensive hobby to indulge in; but THE NEW YORK TIMES of 1953 bore a headline Topiary Art Revived

openings

a tore king.

century). Thus THE ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS (1837) called the Minerva of the Parthe-

'false

on Maryland Farm over an account of the estate of Harvey S. Ladew of Harford County, that ends: "The living growth is cut into likenesses of animals. Swans seem to swim across the top of one hedge. Along the walks, squirrels sit on their haunches and pheasants ruffle their tails. There are battlements of hemlock, and many of the hedges have windowlike

is

working in metal, ivory, etc. embossing, chasing, working in relief, and the like. Pronounced tor-you'-tic. A toreutes, an artist in ivory or metal. These are 19th century terms (except for one

images of with inimitable

is

Telemon, that

of

by foure

skill of the art topiaria.

e.g.,

toreutic.

FOUNTAINS OF ANCIENT FICTION Spoke of .

refers

promontory on the Hudson River. an adjective: difficult, irksome, tediAs (2) ous; hard to conquer, hence sturdy. In this sense, also tere. In THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY (1400) the word is used several to a

frequently an adjective (as also topiarian), relating to the art of shaping live plants into fanciful forms. The art itself was

.

a

Anderson's play High Tor (1936)

topion, a little place; topos, a place. Also a topiarius, topiary. Topiary is more

.

(1)

Common

landscape

a statue supported Victoria he-wen out

As

noun: a high rock, or a from the 8th cenrocky peak. tury; surviving in place names. Maxwell tor.

A

See aeromancy.

topomancy.

onely toparchs, not great kings. topiarist.

George and

the dragon, as subjects of topiarian art, and Levens Hall, in Westmoreland, Eng-

ruler.

By

towers, St.

listed armchairs,

noblest

example of the

torment. As a noun. An engine for hurling stones and other missiles at armies

and

fortress

walls;

Latin tormentum

worked by

torsion.

short for torquementum; torquere, tortum, to twist; whence also torture, of which torment (from the

13th century) tortive.

More

is

meant an instrument. Cp. mildly, an instrument of

irritation or

annoyance, a tormentor, applied to a sort of flea-trap (17th century). book of CRIES OF LONDON includes: Buy

A

a trap, a mouse trap, fleas;

day;

676

A

torment for the

The hangman works but half the He lives too much at ease. Often as

torous

toute

tourmente

turment,

(directly

from the

person that holds them. Totquots, benefices held by one person. Hence generally

a

tempest, tornado, twister; a violent storm. R. Brunne chronicles in

French)

,

1330: Into the se of Spayn wer dryven in a torment, torous.

Latin

torus,

protuberant. muscle, bulge,

swelling, the root

earlier storus;

is

ster,

stra,

to

cus;

instrument,

instruction,

a totquot

and many

Hence

.

torosity,

also

(in

tortive.

Among them the

rack);

are

A

hence

tortis tortuosity. (tortes, tortayes, tortyse; 14th to 17th cen-

tuose, twisted;

tury) was a large wax candle, the wick being twisted; twisted tow dipped in pitch made a torch. Shakespeare says, in TROILUS

AND CRESSIDA (1606): Tortive and errant from his course of growth. torvity.

From

Fierceness

of

aspect,

grimness.

the 17th century. Also torve, torvid,

torvous, grim, fierce-looking, to torve, to cast (10th to 13th century). E.

shaky,

dizzy;

tottery;

after totter, tattle.

Chau-

ground. toune. tone,

An (3)

early variant of

town,

(4)

tun,

(5)

(1)

ton, (2)

tune.

A

curl, or artificial lock of hair toupet. the head, especially as peak adornatop ment of a periwig. Also toupee (the current spelling, meaning a patch of false

hair to cover a bald spot) tupee, toppee. For an illustration of this use, see cosins. ,

From the first sense, toupet was used of a person of fashion, a gallant, a beau who wore a toupet. Hence

toupet-coxcomb, toupet~man. Richardson, in CLARISSA HARLOWE (1748): A couple of brocaded or laced-waistcoated

throw,

have

good knight's blow, or I had kept my

twisting (on torsion; tortuous;

tornado; tort, an injury, a legal breach. Less common forms include tortue, tor-

shall

is

torture,

torment;

We

THE REEVE'S TALE (1386) has: Myn toty of my swynk tonyght. For another quotation, see noil. Used into the 17th century, the word was revived by Scott in the 19th, in IVANHOE (1819): I was somewhat totty when I received the hed

See burn.

Twisting, twisted, tortuous. Cp. torment. Latin torquere, torsi, tortum, to twist, was prolific of English words.

is

cer in

big bulged; 17th and 18th

century dictionaries). torrent.

COURT? (1552):

Formed

fuddled.

torose,

corpulence

as

from the Pope of Rome.

Unsteady,

totty.

constructions: a very widespreading

root)

to in-

tax assessed in proportion

WHY NOT TO

(whence consternation, constellation, location, early Latin stlo-

more

(3)

frequent in anti-papal writings of the 16th and 17th centuries, as in Skelton's

to spread

strew,

an indefinite or unlimited number.

A

come (17th century). Latin tot quot, much (as many) as ... The word

swollen;

Bulging;

(2)

toupets,

with

sour

Ward in HUDIBRAS REDIVIVUS (1706) spoke of a man Whose torvid aspect made him

screwed up half-cocked faces. Again: no mere toupet-man, but all manly.

show so Like some revengeful Furioso. (That rhyme should make one torve!)

touse.

See toze.

toute.

The

tother.

totquot.

many to

See tone. (1)

A

Old

tut, to stick out, project, related to teat. The verb toot (tout) meant

dispensation to hold as one wishes

to protrude,

ecclesiastical benefices as

or can get;

buttocks. Also towte; the

English root

the holding of such;

a

pry, to look

677

peep out; hence, to peer, to to spy from the 9th cen-

at,

toze

tox tury into

the

to

the

(1305)

16th,

says

surviving in

nor these fairy

dialects

THE LAND OF COKAYNE

19th.

the

of

abbott:

He

(1821):

taketh

Shakespeare says

a part of the Black Mass.)

HERO AND LEANDER (1593)

.

tox.

Short

for

intoxicate.

In

.

.

justifie against their

to Philip sober. Intoxicate, to put into; to toxicate is to poison. Note,

foolish

toy, to take fright.

(a)

Marlowe in

said that to hear

thing;

toys,

trumpery, worthless

MACBETH From this instant. There's nothing in mor tali tie: All is but toyes.

(1605): serious (7)

A

In thieves' slang, a watch. Toy watch and chain. A toy-getter, a stealer of watches. (8) A person; used (8)

tackle,

endearingly or contemptuously, or to indicate that the person is being used as a

puppet or toy. Shakespeare, in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: Elves, list your names: Silence,

you

aiery toyes.

Dryden in THE

SPANISH FRIAR (1681): O vertue! vertue! . That men should leave thee for that close-fitting linen or toy, a woman! (9) .

A

wool cap, with

flaps

descending to the

worn by women of the lower Shakespeare, in THE WINTER'S TALE:

shoulders, attests.

classes.

applications of the

noun

toy

have passed from common use. (1) Amorous sport; a light caress. Spenser in

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590).* A foe of folly and immodest toy. Milton, of Adam, in PARADISE LOST (1667): So said he, and forbore not glance or toy Of amorous intent,

A

things. Shakespeare in

and

pharmakon (pharmakon, poison; whence the whole pharmacopoeia

Many

take

small.

Greek poein, to make; a poet is a maker). Poisoned arrows were so common that the term for them was shortened to toxicon whence toxic came to mean poisonous. But toxology means the study of archery; a toxophile, toxophilist is an ardent archer, as Ascham's treatise TOXO-

toy.

(4)

thing of little value kept as an ornament or curiosity, a trinket. Hence, anything

toxicon

PHILUS (1545)

other matters.

A

poison however, that Greek toxicon had nothing to do with poison; it meant pertaining to the bow; Greek toxa, arrows, from toxon, bow. A poison for smearing on arrows was drug,

his

an odd conceit; a whim, caprice. Especially, a foolish dislike. Hence, to

foolish

toxed insolence: the appeal from Philip

drunk

of

into

this Made the well-spoken nymph take such a toy That down she sunk. (5) A frivolous or lively tune. (6) trifle, a

Thomas

Heywood's PHILOCOTHONISTA; OR THE DRUNKARD OPENED, DISSECTED, AND ANATOMIZED (1635) we read: When their more sober consciences can

think

archknave

on him,

my head when I should

fancy,

toys

that

a plague

maidin of the route And turnith up her white toute; Chaucer uses the word in THE MILLER'S TALE (1386): and a Towneley and Mystery of 1460 bids: Come nar toute. the dwillis (This was [devil's] kys

come

KENILWORTH

toyes, Scott, in

Think of what

well understood

Of Eve.

(2)

A

Any

silke, any thred, any toyes for your headf Later worn mainly in Scotland; cp. coif. Also,

toy-match. Burns, in his

poem

TO A LOUSE: / wad na be surprised to spy You on an auld wife's flainen [flannel] toy.

To comb

toze.

or card (tease) wool. Also related to tease and

tooze;

frisky movement, a bit of fun, an antic, a trick. (3) trifling speech, a funny story;

toaze,

tose,

touse.

Hence,

a pun; a light composition. Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1590):

D. Rogers in his TREATISE ON THE SACRAMENTS (1633) Urged:

/ never

Doe

A

may

beleeve These anticke fables.

search out,

678

it

to

toze,

to

tease

out,

to

elicit.

more

fully, toze

your consciences.

tractatrix

tralatitious

Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S TALE (1610) has: Thinkest thou, for that I insinuate, or toaze -from thee thy business, I am

no

therefore

courtier?

Note

traditore, translator, traitor,

also tozy, soft

over,

RONAN'S WELL (1824) said of a shawl: tell it to be a real tozie. To tease

other

/ can first

to

meant

(10th century)

fibres apart,

tear

to

to

pull

to

then,

gave

us

English

tradition,

traditive, traditious, traditory are

forms

for

traditional.

The

verb

traduce

(Latin traducere, traductum, to lead across) has meant: to convey from

the

one place to another; to translate; pass on to offspring or posterity, hence,

preparing for spinning; then, pieces;

also

whence

as teased wool; toziness, softness. Scott in ST.

can almost be

paralleled in English: traductor, traditor. But note that Latin traditum, handed

persistently

to to

worry or annoy; finally (18th century, and still current) to bother slightly in mis-

transmit by propagation; also, to speak evil of and the other current senses.

chief or sport. Also teize, teaze} (cp. Lady Teazle), teez, tese. To touse and its itera-

Davies on THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

,

tive

form

to tousle

meant

(1599)

to tease wool;

pull about, handle roughly, tussle. It was also used figuratively, to fuss, stir also, to

Ford

around;

HONOR

in

TRIUMPHANT

(1606) said: / touze to gaine me fame and reputation. Otway in THE SOULDIER'S FOR-

TUNE (1681) smiled to see a pretty wench and a young fellow touze and rouze and frouze and mouze. Let us not tease this

A

female

shampooer.

For tho f from

Nature:

of

bodies she can bodies bring, yet could she never souls from souls traduce. THE METROPOLIS (1819) declared: To our sex,

has planted is a very traditor, and . thorns innumerable in the female breast.

he

.

traductor. to

.

See traditor. Byron, in a note

DON JUAN

commenting: // (1823) there be any gem'man so ignorant as to require a traduction supplies one.

further. tractatrix.

says

,

Latin tralatitious.

tractare, tractatusf to handle, discuss; fre-

(1)

cal, figurative.

quentative of trahere, tractus, to draw, tract or a tractate is a literary disdrag.

A

(2)

Transferred; metaphoriTransferred from hand

to

A

hand, ordinary, commonplace. (3) Transferred from generation to genera-

one who handles or treats of a subject; but Martial (in Latin) used the

repeated by person after Latin transferre, tralatum, to bear person.

a tractatule

cussion; tractator

is

a short one.

tion, traditional;

is

feminine to refer to a person that handles

across;

a subject's head to wash the hair, and that sense came into English, as in M. and F. Collins* FRANCES (1874): That stout

more

Miss Cusanetta, with her shrill voice, and her hands of the tractatrix, is a strange

clared

The language

creature.

offers us

Traitor.

A

a strange

tradere,

via

aphorism

Old French. The

about

literature,

Hence

and many

tralation,

tralati-

metaphor, figurative use. Fuller in PISGAH-SIGHT OF PALESTINE (1650) de-

men too often guilty of what may be termed tralatitious idolatry, when any thing . . is loved or honoured above, or .

tradi-

tum, to hand over, deliver; trans, across + dare, give. Traitor is from the same source,

transfers.

even with, Latin

also transference

tion,

tract o* tricks.

traditor.

whence

Italian

traduttore,

God

himself.

Holder in THE

ELEMENTS OF SPEECH

(1669), considering the etymology of the word language, said that language' properly refers to that of

the tongue; 'written language' tiously so called.

679

is

tralati-

trattle

tranation

The

tranation. also,

a

act of

swimming another

into

crossing

transmew. A variant of transmute (from Latin trans, across + mutare, to change). Also transmue. Chaucer, in TROYLUS AND

across;

form,

a

metamorphosis. Latin tranare, tranatum; trans, across -f nare, to swim. E. Gayton, in

CRISEYDE (1375):

muwen

(1654) states: In his tranation he lookt about, and saw under him (though a off)

tranect.

speare's

word occurring in ShakeTHE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1596):

Also transume, to

Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed, Unto the tranect, to the common ferry Which trades in Venice. The O.E.D.

an

is

of;

the

error, for traject (Latin

into

the

Laguno

art.

fer;

Venice, at the last of which there might 'traino', or 'tranetto', a machine to

on the

he

Drayton,

in

moon. science,

visionary.

declared

that:

trans-

mode

of treatment,

fictive,

descriptive,

set

down

one's foot forcefully;

Thus

placed by trapes, traipse, which is still current, to go trapsing around. A trapse was (17th into the 19th century; later in

Neat

dialects)

That our first poets had: his raptures were All air and fire, which made his verses clear: For that fine madness still he did retain Which rightly should possess a poet's brain. There is a hint here of the same linking as in Shakespeare's The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact; lunatic coming from luna, the moon, from the notion that folk are moon-struck.

or

poetic,

hence, to tramp; to go about. Used from the 14th century; in the 17th century re-

Marlowe, bathed in the Thespian springs, Had in him those brave translunary things

mad

To

trape.

The

earth). Figuratively, trans-

1627,

says,

is

digressive, transumptive.

the

fanciful,

The form

Dante:

lunary is contrasted with sublunary, below the moon (that is, between moon and

lunary means

Also transumption; a copying; a transhence, a metaphor. Metaphor (Greek

ume, from the Latin. Lowell in AMONG BOOKS (1876) declares, speaking of

method of reaching Venice.

earth, or

A

(legally)

MY

draw the boat through the pass, and this might be rendered by some English writer 'tranect'. No one since has used that

In

copy

meta, across, beyond + phor from pherein) is the equivalent of transfer, trans-

of

be

translunary. Beyond realm of El Dorado.

official

a copy of a record; hence, a reproduction of a work of

+

Brenta

make an

to transfer, to convert, transmute.

transumpt was

jacere, jactum, to throw). Nares, however, pictures the route from Padua: There are four sluices leading

from

first trans-

figurative. transumptive. Metaphorical, Latin trans, across + sumere, sumptum, to take; hence, also, to assume, consume.

A

suggests this trans, across

be

in a stone. Scott revived the

in

his lord upon Rosinante, no than a toad upon a ducking-stoole. bigger

farre

Thou must

form THE MONASTERY (1820): To cast my riding slough and transmew myself into some civil form.

UPON DON QUIXOT

NOTES

PLEASANT

a gadabout; a slovenly woman. In 1749, Richardson wrote in a letter (4 August): The lowest of all fellows, yet in love with a young creature who was trap-

ing after him. trattle.

verb.

Idle talk, gossip, chatter. Also a since the 14th century. Prob-

Used

ably echoic, like prattle;

which

first

meant

over the sense of

trattle,

tattlet

Thus by 680

trittle-trattle

tittle-tattle,

tattle.

The form

stammer, took then replaced it.

to

has been supplanted

which

is still

common, and

traulism

treague

commonplace.

usually

James

I

DEMONOLOGY (1597, when he was James VI of Scotland) spoke womens trattles about the fire.

in

his

travato.

A

still

but

swirling

gusts

of

old

travat.

Further,

or fourth

false

traveler's

spirits,

said:

To

speak of the many vain

would

.

.

tread.

.

NIGHT'S

As a noun.

his translation (1615)

common

ner of behaving; custom; sometimes (16th and 17th centuries) used to mean trade, business. Also, the act of a male bird in intercourse;

Thus

but Shakespeare, despite his "small Latin", found Titania for Oberon to tease with drops of love-intranslation,

Stammering, especially at the beginning of a word. Greek traulos, mispronouncing, lisping. R. Harvey in PLAINS traulism.

PERCEVALL THE PEACE-MAKER OF ENGLAND

a

tread-fowl,

treadle,

the

a

little

male

bird.

membrane

(chalaza) that holds the yolk of an egg in place; so called because it was thought

to be the sperm; by extension, an egg. For this use, see fraight; cp. tredefoule.

See tredefoule.

treadfowl.

stuttring pronunciation

of traulism.

whom

is

via French from Latin

intricare, intricatum intricate)

to

(whence also Eng-

entrap;

in

+

tricae,

,

(6

he has cured

which

traps (related to Latin torquere, whence also extricate. Spenser to twist)

October, 1893) mentions a professor of elocution who has caught a trick of stam-

mering from those

trigue,

tricks,

may stumble over

THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE

truce. A form, via Medieval treague. Latin tragua, treuga, from Gothic triggwa; see treves. This bears no relation to in-

lish

(1589) refers to the so foorth following the traulila-lilismus, as farre as Will Solnes

breath.

the

A

idleness.

a

of the ODYSSEY: the

begg'd amongst the tread. Hence, a course or man-

name

Golding's

Buckle in his

now he

bread Which

DREAM

transformed from a goddess to a "phairy." The name Titania does not appear in

life;

destiny of nations. Also, those that move of life; Chapman in

(1594) that helped the fairy queen get to the bottom of the matter. Titania, the

of that queen, was used by Ovid as a title of Diana, who, as we note, is

A footprint. A trodden

on the routine paths

There was a weaver in Shake-

MIDSUMMER

It

(1862) spoke of conditions which determine the tread and

making them

A

bower.

See theriac.

way; a path; a way of essay on CIVILIZATION

believe that they heard such things as were nothing

speare's

virgin's

Also

See trey gob et.

treacle.

spake sundry times before, the Devil illuded the senses of sundry simple crea-

saw and

See

joy.

rain.

whirlwind.

be.

tray-trip.

anything that ought to be believed by Christians, except in general, that as I

so indeed.

wind and

trattles

founded upon that illusion: how there was a King and Queen of Phairy, of such a jolly court and train as they had I think it liker Virgil's Campi Elysii nor

tures in

of

Portuguese travados, Used from the 17th century.

kind of which by the Gentiles was called Diana and her wandering court, and amongst us was called the Phairy, James the

discussing

sudden squall with

twister, a

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) has: Which to confirm, and fast to bind their league, After their weary sweat and bloody toile, She them besought, during their quiet in

treague, Into her lodging to while.

681

repairs a

trebuchet

trencher-poetry

An

engine of war, used in

trelapser.

See trilapse.

the middle ages for hurling heavy stones. Also trabuch; trepejette, treybochet, tre-

trencher.

A

the like. peget, trebuke, trebuschet, and An early hybrid, of Latin trans, across

+

piece of

from West German

enware)

trebuchet.

(1)

Old French buh, belly. birds

and

buc, bulk, (2)

beasts.

A

to

trap

(5)

An

catch small

instrument for

punishing women, a cucking-stool

(q.v.),

A

tilting

shaped like the catapult. scale

or balance

for weighing.

in his

JOAN OF ARC

soldier

who

Charged

its

(4)

Southey

A

wood

(later, also metal or earth-

on

or circular,

usually square

which meat was cut and served. The word Old French and popular Latin is via from Latin truncare, truncatum, to cut, lop

(1795) pictured a kneeling by the trebuchet, long sling with death.

knife or other cutting inflat (14th to 16th century).

strument

truncus, the trunk of a tree.

off;

The

word trench (from the 15th century) meant to cut; to cut into (Shakespeare, THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, 1591: This weake impress of love is as a figure Trench'd in ice) to make (a cut) in (Shakespeare, VENUS AND ADONIS, 1592: The wide wound, that the boar had ;

tredefotde.

A cock

(tread a fowl)

.

Listed

by O.E.D. as treadfowl Used by Chaucer in THE NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE (1386, trede-

and THE MONK'S TALE: Thou wouldest han been a tredefowel aright.

foul)

Juggling;

THE CHURCHWARDEN

in

the

juggler and mountebank. From its earliest use, the word was applied to a trickster,

it

tregetour, trygetour, tragetour, trigettur, and many more (14th to 17th century) , indicating the popularity of the

the

word

in

(1819); Bulwer-Lytton records in

THE LAST OF THE BARONS (1843): The more sombre tregetour promised to cut off and refix the head of a sad-faced .

little

boy.

.

The

trench-

was

flat,

a

trencher-slave.

(18th and

later

A

19th cen-

early a mortar-board:

called

square academic cap. trencher-

A

also, trencher-friend. trencher-man, in Sidney's ARCADIA (1586) was a cook; in Thackeray's PENDENNIS

Hence

IVANHOE

ultimately,

trencher-cap tury)

fly,

Scott revived

and

er,

tra-

(whence

deceiver.

(1792):

er-heroes hate All obstacles that keep them from the plate; also trencher-knight

trickery.

+

a

glutton.

(Shakespeare, LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST); and, in more democratic wise, trencher-labour-

trajectory)] trans, across jactare, to throw. Also treget, noun, and verb: to do juggling tricks; to deceive.

jectare

the

valiant at the festive board; Peter Pindar,

on these treen

deception,

trencher-art,

flat;

or

the

trench-

one who speaks fulsome return for which, he is made praise (in full at the table), trencher-hero, one

liquors; especially,, that of the date. tregetry.

is

of

lick

A

trencher-critic,

two-syllabled.) Evelyn in SYLVA (1670) declares that a large tract of the world al-

Via Old French from a Latin form

large and the gourmet

er-beard that

Wooden; pertaining to or made from trees. Used from the year 1000. Spenser, in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): So left her, where she now is turned to treen mould. (Spenser used the word as treen.

most altogether subsist

trencht In his soft flank) . To trencher (of someone) , to toady.

(1849),

parasite;

a dependent, hanger-on;

meant (with measure

usually

of admiration)

a

in Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: He's a very valiant hearty eater,

trencher-man,,

as

he

hath

an

excellent

stomach.

.

trencher-poetry. Rhymes to be traded for bread: verses written so as to secure the

682

trigon

trepan favors of a patron. For an instance of the use of the term, see blow ess.

current

surgical

trepan,

from Greek trepanon, a borer, is unrelated to the 17th and 18th century trepan,

unknown

of

meaning

origin,

to

trick,

his advantage; a trick or trap. This meaning also uses the form trapan, trappan;

may be related to trap. A title of read: The Total Rout, or a Brief it

1653

thrill;

tru-

The word

wage, trowage, triwage, trywage. via Old French from Latin tribuere,

is

tributum, to assign, give, yield; ultimately tribus, tribe, division of the people like

(originally,

Hence,

divided into

Gaul,

all

three parts); tres

three.

dative),

(tribus,

trewager, one expected

Dis-

pans, Nappers, Mobs, and Spanners.

To

Also truage,

to

pay

starts

with

tribute.

covery of a Pack of Knaves and Drabs, intituled Pimps, Panders, Hectors, Tra-

tressilate.

for a privilege.

from

one who decoys persons to

to entrap; also,

13th to 16th century form of used of a toll-fee, or a pay-

tribute. Also

ment

The

trepan.

A

trewage.

A dice

treygobet.

16th centuries.

to start with quick

emotion, as surprise or joy. French iresto thrill, tremble; Laitn trans, across 4- salire, to jump. D. C. Murray

saillir,

game which

a throw of three; trey go bet, literally three go better. Played in the 15th and

Trey

(treye,

trye,

tray)

Old French treis, trei; French trois. Chaucer in THE PARDONER'S TALE (1386): Sevene is my chaunce, and thyn is cynk [cinq, LOVE'S five] and treye. In Shakespeare's LABOUR'S LOST (1594) Berowne and the

A DANGEROUS CATSPAw (1889) wrote: The ladies tressilated deliciously. The

Princess talk in rhyme. Berowne: White-

crime began to take an air of romance.

handed

in

thee.

Well-proportioned, graceful. Via Old French from a popular Latin form tretis.

slender,

tracticius,

tractum, to draw, tretise,

traytice, is

from Latin trahere, draw out. Also tretys,

trety.

[Note that tretys

an early variant of treatise.] Chauin the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY

also

cer,

TALES (1386), describes the Prioress: nose tretys, her eyen greye as glas. treves.

(Old

A

English

trewes;

Gothic

truce.

Hence

trew,

to

Cp. treves.

Nay

and

then, two

won. In TWELFTH NIGHT

Toby Belch

inquires:

Shall I play

freedom at

tray-trip,

and

Sir

my

become thy

A

book in three languages. Also in,

or competent in, three

languages.

A

triangle.

angular. Greek

Hence three

trigonal,

tri-

+

gonos, cornered. Especially, in astrology, three signs of the zodiac 120 degrees apart, or a con-

trew. A variant form of true. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) notes: And there beside of marble stone was built

spilt.

three. Ber:

with

milk,

sweet, adieu. Also trey-trip (tray-trip; treiin which a trip, tretrip, tratrip) a game

(as adjective)

protect by a

cunning ymagery, which trew Christians blood was often

Honey, and

an if you grow so nice, Metheglin, wort, and malmsey. Well run, dice! There's half a dozen sweets. Prin: Seventh

trigon.

altar e carv'd with

sweet word

treyes,

triglot.

triggwa,

truce.

An On

is

-one

bond-slave?

covenant; triggws, true, sure. See treague.) of

sugar

there

toss of trey

Her

and 16th century form

15th

mistress,

Princess:

tri,

junction of three planets within one sign. In Shakespeare's HENRY rv, PART TWO (1598), when Falstaff kisses Doll Tearsheet, Prince Hal exclaims: Saturn and Venus

683

trist

trilapse this

What

year in conjunction!

almanac

to thatf Poins:

And

-f Greek pod, foot, as when tri, three skipping or dancing. From the 17th into the 19th century, tripudiate meant to

says the

look whether

the fiery trigon, his man, be not lisping to his master's old tables, his notebook, his counsel-keeper.

Aries, Leo,

and

A

Dame

marked:

This

a

being

THE SATURDAY REVIEW

.

trelapse to the

re, again;

three

tri,

4-

Used

tripudiates with

an

as

(1776)

re-

to

the

19th

beholds the tripsome feet of Lady Clementina flit by him. The verb trip

and Shepherds dance no more Trip no more in twilight ranks. Hence trip is another word that means its own op.

to stumble;

cp.

tripudiation. ing for joy;

The

To which Selamour,

to

his

make

on

top;

Selamour

Triangular. Also triquetral accent on the kwet). Sir Thomas

triquetrous.

(long

i;

Browne in THE GARDEN OF CYRUS (1658) commented on the figured pavements of the ancients, which consisted not all of

square stones, but were divided into

triskele.

act of leaping or danc-

although to

exultation;

tri-

Also,

a divination or prophesying (especially the

from the behavior of fowl chickens of the

ancient

Roman

temples) when fed. Hence tripudiary, relating to such divination, or to dancing,

A figure

consisting of three legs,

or curved lines, joined, as though whirl-

J.

Johnson in THE CLERGYMAN'S VADE MECUM (1709) came other thoughts: The word implies tripudiation, or immodest danc-

sacred

.

quetrous segments.

avaunt.

ing.

.

with the point on top.

On

to step nimbly;

.

this

Come,

the light fantastic trip it as ye go later in ARCADES: Nymphs toe,

posite:

Lady Selamour, sent her pitiously bemoaning

"the figure entire" (the two poems forming a parallelogram) by a triangle

and a year

.

arranged so that

made

to tread lightly or nimbly; as

.

set of verses

reversed has the base

He

and

.

the match egall, and the figure entire, answered in a standing triquet. A triquet

Gore in SKETCHES OF ENGLISH CHARACTER (1846)

L' ALLEGRO (1632):

.

reverst

triquet

meant

A

the

love

estate,

Milton called in

.

the chivalry of the

POESIE (1589) tells: A certain great Sultan of Persia called Ribuska entertaynes in

church

terie.

first

all

the outer edges of the lines form a triangle. Puttemham in THE ART OF ENGLISH

fornication be brought before the Presby-

said:

May, 1888, he

is.

triquet.,

regulapse. lation of 1649 required that trelapsers in

A

5

varray perfit gentil knight" of controversy that he

man. Latin

tripsome. Light-footed, nimble. century term; Catherine G. F.

of

Colonel Slade

f

lapsus, fall, slip,

also trilapser; a

On poor

observed:

relapse

woman and a Hence

.

in the 16th and 17th cen-

Mill in his DIARY

J.

.

Quickly.

third fall into sin.

adjective also, tury,

fiery

leap with excitement or joy; to stamp or trample (upon) in scorn or triumph.

trigon was

Sagittarius; the tables

notebook mean trilapse.

The

ing. lion,

Greek

tri

triskelos;

+

skelos, leg.

triskele

Also

triske-

has two syllables.

THE ATHENAEUM of 27 June, 1885, mentions panels, on which were sculptured (

designs such as the sunsnake,' the swastika, and the triskele.

A

trust. Also,

15th century form of an appointed waiting-place in

tripudial, tripudiant, relating to dancing.

the hunt;

hence,

Hence, a

last sense,

tripudist. Ultimately

from Latin

trist.

684

12th to

the

a rendezvous. In the

word continued in the form

troublable

tristiloquy

with such phrases as to make (set) hold (keep) tryst; to break (crack)

tryst,

always stands firm on

To

tryst.

bide

is

tryst

wait for the

to

other party to the meeting. To trist, to have confidence in, to trust, to believe; to

PHOSES recorded that

hope. Wholly separate, via French from Latin tristis, sad, came another trist, sad, the

also

melancholy;

York Mystery of 1440

noun

tristesse.

HAMLET

in

speare

(1602)

This

and compound mass, With tristvisage as against the doome, Is the act. So too

thought-sicke at

matical

sor-

rowfully.

ner

of

speaking.

Also

mournful sound. Cp. tritical.

Trite,

(2)

trist.

monplace, inconsequential.

upon the Faculties of the Mind. Disraeli in THE AMENITIES OF LITERATURE (1841)

trophonian.

To

sermonise with a tedious homily

Hence

or a tritical declamation. ticalness,

more

a

witticism

(q.v.)

MAN

,

later to

a

criticism

discerning

idle

talk

be used of gewgaws,

(1896)

trittle-trattles

spoke at

of

in

the

the lucky

See aeromancy.

Rendering forever sad. The Delphi was built by

temple of Apollo at

Trophonios, who after (the legendary) death was worshipped as a god. His oracle, in a cave in Boeotia, was so awe-inspiring that those that entered (like the King in

January 1896 said: His face solemn trophonian pallor.

had the

silly

THE GREY buying

oj

booths of a

An early and very common variant troth. of truth, surviving in such expressions as to plight one's troth; by my troth. Also trothful, trothless; troth-plight, betrothal;

fair.

A

trivet.

three-footed support, a tripod,

Hence, a pot or other vessel with three 'feet' as supports. Via Old French from Latin

trochomancy.

the ballad) never smiled again. Thus Gosse in THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW of

(16th century),

when Crockett

as

trifles,

call

This reduplicative form of

trittle-trattle.

came

tri-

as a triticism.

might label

trattle

also

What some

triticality.

Three-fold;

a

(A good

commonplace.

word, lost to the critical spirit.) Hence also tritidsm, a trite utterance or writing. Swift in 1709 wrote: A Tritical Essay

has:

geometry,

meeting of three roads. From this as a point where gossips also met, and news was exchanged, came the current senses of trivial, com-

of

tristisonous,

arithmetic,

going in four directions.] Relating to (3) triple.

Mournful speech; a sad man-

tristiloquy.

sciences:

astronomy, and music. Thus, the quadrivial arts. Quadrivial was also used of a point where four roads meet; quadrivious,

tristily,

later,

(Chaucer)

surely

faithfully,

trivet-table of

studied in the medieval university: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. [The quadrivium, the higher division, comprised the mathe-

solidity full

The

trivial. the (1) Relating to the trivium, lower division of the seven liberal arts

A

Shake-

says:

three feet

a foot was lame.

called: Hail! talker

trystful [trustworthy] of trew tales!

own

its

came the expression right as a trivet; cp. couth although Dryden in his translation (1700; BAUCIS) of Ovid's METAMOR-

tryst; to

tri

+

pedem,

foot (the

pod, gives us tripod). Also tryvett,

and the

like.

Greek form,

trefet, trevette,

From

the

way

it

a solemn engagement or promise. troublable.

An

early variant for trouble-

some; Chaucer, in BOETHIUS (1374) speaks of the trowblable ire that arayseth in ,

hym. Also troublish, troublous, troubly; trouble was an adjective as well as a

_ 685

trucidation

trow

trowandise, trewandyse, truantisse, and the The earliest sense of truant was one

and 15th centuries; again The trouble wind that hight

14th

noun,

BOETHIUS;

Maundeville

Auster.

There

is

a well that

iiij

sithes

that begs without need, an idle rogue. is related to Gaelic truaghan,

that

tells

(1400)

like.

The word

in

(times)

red,

somtyme trouble. somtyme grene,

trow.

(1)

is

no

Faith,

Also

loose term of abuse, as in Shakespeare's

troublance, the act of

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

at

malevolent

To

trow

is

troth, q.v.

A

boat a

tion of

spirit; especially, the sea-trow. to trust, believe; the noun is

Hence trow able,

credible.

the

emphasize a question, as in ShakeTHE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

speare's

there,

A

scene

Troytown.

The name

I troa? or

sound of con-

taken from Troy in Asia Minor, to which it was more than confusion Helen brought. Also Troy-fair; sometimes just Troy. Otway in FRIENDSHIP fusion.

he mastered

Old Testament

upon

that

sart said:

coulde

They

speke

instru-

See trewage. Idleness;

age; knavery.

The

.

toke a truchman that

Italyan,

and commanded

poets Dame Natures trunchmen; Suckling in AGLAURA (1637) protested: Our soules will not need that duller .

.

truchman Flesh. Savage slaughtering. Latin trucidare, for trucicaedere; trucem, fero-

to cut down, to kill. In dictionaries from the 17th century; Stevenson, in a letter of 1883,

See

4-

caedere,

stillicide.

uses it humorously: I loathe the snails; but from loathing to actual butchery,

Troy.

truandise.

.

called

cious

the market-place. They call a garden laid out spirally a city of to

.

go to the crysten host. The word was also used figuratively; James I (1585)

trucidation.

truage.

as

current

to

hym

was a town which had but one gate, and that it was necessary to go through every to get

a

tourcheman, tru c em an, trounchman, trunchman, treuchman, trudgeman. Lord Berners in his translation (1525) of Frois-

ment. Also, a labyrinth, a maze. Wright (1859) explains the notion that Troy

street

collec-

known

interpreter. The popularity of the word, in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, is shown by its many forms, which include

.

it

Via French

versions

also

targum;

is

IN FASHION (1678) said ironically: And for the cittern, if ever Troy Town were a tune,

love.

guide and interpreter. Hence also truchwoman; truchmanry, the function of an

For

The

,

Who's

Hang

dragoman, term in the Near East for a professional

expression / trow, I believe, grew weak, and was often used to mean I suppose (I hope) or just

(1598):

a

of blood

ma, to translate; whence also the

Toll,

troll,

interpreter.

as

trucheman and Medieval Latin truchemannus from the Arabic turjaman; targa*

faith,

pledged

variant of

trowandise, see truandise.

to

An

trachman.

belief;

A

(4)

be

times

(1599):

him truant, there's no true drop in him to be truly toucht with

trouble meant.

covenant; fancy, supposition. (2) or barge, a variant of trough. (3) trewage, q.v.

any

schoolboy knows)

volume may

this

abstruse, there

word truant (as was often used

somtyme somtyme deer, if

troubledness, troublement, troubling or state of being troubled. Al-

though

The

wretched.

the year chaungeth his colour:

begging; vagabond-

definitions

sound

like

a rogue's progress; page Hogarth. Also

trucidation of multitudes, there is still a step that I hesitate to take. More grimly,

one

may

wish there were

in the world.

686

less

trucidation

truckle

trusatile

Originally, a pulley wheel; a furniture. Latin trochlea, Greek

truckle.

castor

on

trochilia; trochlea is used in anatomy of a pulley-like structure, such as that at the elbow-joint. Hence, a truckle-bed, trundle-bed, a low bed on truckles;

the ghost, in HAMLET (1602) Art thou there, truepenny? Occasionally used (probably as an echo of Shakespeare) in the 19th century, usually for a trusty old

Hence

Old Truepenny.

fellow:

century), to truckle, to sleep in such a bed; to truckle under. From this

1

maister lieth ore his hed. I should be a base truckler, we read in George Eliot's

MIDDLEMARCH

(1872)

consideration

of

if

I allowed any comfort to

personal

O

trustie

turtle

truefastest

traeful.

Full of truth

form for

truehead.

and

we

trug.

of all

Faithfulness.

true-love, A faithful lover. Sidney in ARCADIA (1586) knew the bond: My truelove hath my heart, and I have his. Hence, true-love knot, an ornamental bow, of two loops intertwined, used as a symbol of

true

love.

Also,

true-love's

knot,

true

trugmullion.

Also truck;

Greene in A

QUIP

FOR AN UPSTART COURTIER You,

Tom

to

tapster

.

draw men on

.

.

to

(1592)

have your villainie.

Hence, trugging-house, a brothel. (2) A shallow pan for milk, used to let the cream separate. A shallow basket of

wooden

strips,

with a handle across the

top, for carrying fruit

and

vegetables. In

the

14th century, a measure of wheat, two-thirds of a bushel. Hence trug-corn, trug-wheat, a measure of such grain as a a vicar or local priest.

tithe, to

trusatile.

See Hymen's torch.

trull; prostitute.

said:

lover's knot.

true-lovers' knot.

A

(1)

trugges

truthful.

.

trugmallion,

An

loyalty.

.

power Me-

true.

early

mockery, a

of chastity, and to subdue the flesh. thinks Cattan was truffing us.

Faithful.

(Thynne's edition of Chaucer; 1532)

truffery, a

in

(1591) of Cattan's GEOMANGY observed that the topas and the truffle have

Used from the 10th century. In Lydgate's BALLAD OF OUR LADY

read:

Hence

Caxton

delicacy celebrated by Pope in the DUNCIAD (1742): Thy truffles, Perigord! thy hams, Bayonne! Sparry in his translation

hinder me. truefast.

with.

.

lie

Whiles his yong

truckle-bed

trifle

THE GOLDEN LEGEND (1483) printed: In the same errour Austyn and was brought to byleve the fylle truffes and japes. In the 17th century, truff was sometimes used for truffle, that

1597) named conditions under which a 'trencher-chaplain might be engaged

the

A

trifle.

2;

upon

truff.

cheating; later (15th to 17th century) a jest or idle tale. As a verb, to deceive; to obtain by deceit, to steal; to

There's his chamber,

he

and 13th

(12th

centuries).

his house, his castle, his standing-bed and truckle-bed. Bishop Hall (SATIRE 6, Book

to tutor a squire's sons: First, that

Faithfulness

trueship.

developed the meaning to be subservient, to submit, to act servilely, to truckle to. in THE MERRY WIVES OF Shakespeare says:

trustworthy

since the 17th century.

calls

(17th

WINDSOR (1598)

and

faithful

truepenny. An honest fellow. Used in the 16th and 17th century. Shakespeare

pushed under another, the "standing" bed, when not in use. Such a truckle was usually used for personal servants.

A

traeman.

man. Obsolete

Worked by

tain types of mill

687

pushing; like cer(such as blind Samson

tucker

trusion

Latin

pushed).

trusare,

fre-

trusatum,

In

the

17th

Latin entry; also, the action of pushing. trudere, trusum, to push, whence also an

unwelcome intrusion and an abstruse

tub-fast,

to the whale, to create a diversion in order to escape. Every tub must stand

illegal

century,

tub-cart,

tub-gig,

abstinence during treatment in the sweating tub, q.v, below. A tale of a tub, a cock and bull story. To throw out a tub

trudere,

thrustings.

trusion.

also,

century);

trusum, whence quentative also intrude, intrusive, obtrude and other of

on

own

its

bottom. Also, a tub, sweating-

tub, Doctors tub, cleansing tub, powdering-tub> Mother Cornelius' tub: a tub in

re-

mark.

which a person

A

afflicted

with venereal

weighing; consideration. Latin trutinare, trutinatum; trutina, from

disease

Greek trutane, balance. Hence

powdered in a tub, writers played upon the two practices, as Shakespeare in MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1603): Lucio: How

trutination.

lengthily, sweating salted ing. Since beef was also

also truti-

weigh (mentally), to consider. The words were rather common in the 16th and 17th centuries; in that period, nate,

and fastdown, or

sat

to

rectifying a nativity

deere morsel, thy Mistrisf Prostillf Haf Pompey: Troth, sir, shee hath eaten up all her beefe, and

or scrutiny

she

too, astrologers said that the first

way

doth

of

was by the trutine Hermes. Alas, as John Foxe pointed out in THE BOOK OF MARTYRS (1570), human fragilitie suffereth not all of

many

slaves

.

.

.

truttaceous broil-

An

of

trifle,

old form of truce,

An

tryfellys.

(Accent

on

trifles,

plural

trumpet

+

A

tubster.

preacher, Killing; especially of language, keen, biting, cutting. Directly from the French in the 17th century: tuant, present participle of tuer, to kill; Latin root tudf

tub-preacher,

civil

than

to

these

say

Villain

a

perihell-fire

tub-thumper. All of these in the 17th century;

(1681; Heraclitus

and

,

.

.

spoke of a certain dissenting told his audience he would

who

divide

make from

indeed are more

tuant.

tub.

for

Flatman in HERACLITUS RIDENS was 'the laughing phi-

thus T.

(1672):

tubster,

though

term

dissenting,

common

forms were

losopher')

more

a

patetic,

HEARSAL TRANSPROSED (1672): Mr. Bayes Caitiff,

contemptuous

especially

Ay, I gad, but is not that tuant now, Ha? is it not tuantf And Marvell, in THE REis

a trumpet.

exhortatory, and often exponent of the Gospel. Also a tub man,

tuant.

THE REHEARSAL

The sounding of the

trist.

to beat. Villiers, in

to

cores, please 1

also tryefull.

See

tryst.

in

Latin tuba, neigh.) canere, to sing, play. Hence, (accent on the bis) . No en-

tubicinate

old variant of

And refers

For tubs and baths; bring down To the tub-fast and

tubicination.

ings.

tryews.

tub.

rose-cheeked youth the diet.

Relating to the trout, like

anglers' tales

the

in

both aspects of the treatment: Season the

in just balance.

truttaceous.

her selfe

is

TIMON OF ATHENS Shakespeare

bee pondered, trutinate, and

thinges to

weyed

my

cures shee

the observations he should his text, into forty-eight par-

ticulars.

Used in various combinations or

special senses:

a covered carriage

(19th

tucker.

that

688

Originally

worked

century)

one

and dressing

cloth.

(IBth

at fulling

tucket

turdefy

Tucker's earth, fuller's earth. Other meancame much later: (17th century) a

ings

q.v.

Also

tumbril;

tumberell,

tombrel,

and more.

tumrell, tumril, timbrell,

,

(2)

piece of lace worn by women tucked in or around the top of the bodice; Some

A

cart built so that the

to

dump

of the girls have two clean tuckers in the week, says Charlotte Bronte in JANE EYRE

Used

(1847); the rules limit them to one. Hence, one's best bib and tucker; see bib. Also,

the condemned to the guillotine. (3) By transference, a person; especially, one full or drunk to vomiting. Good lack! in this

colonial): daily rations taken along

earn

to

one's

to

tucker,

sense cries Congreve in

(1891)

told

newspapers

Victor's returning to his

tugury.

A

hut; a

come

timdish. funnel; a shallow vessel with a tube at the bottom that fits into a

bung-hole. Used in brewing, or in pour-

ing liquids, gunshot, etc. The word was used figuratively, with sexual implications

world

the

cell.

Latin

(1483)

exclaims:

O

13th

to

A

15th

tombester,

female tumbler or dancer, century. Also tumblester,

tombistere.

Prom

(1603)

French

cask or vat; the

A

word

is

related to tunnel.

is

A

be turbulent. Latin turbare,

likely to

move

in

couth.

Hence

disorder,

whirl;

turdefy.

To

English

tord,

tomblesteres. Hero-

daughter (Salome*), said a 15th century manuscript, was a tumbestere, and tumblede byfore him and other grete dias'

A medieval

punishments, perhaps

like

instrument for

a cucking-stool,

in THE

great turbe

turn into excrement. Old

excrement;

torde, tourd, turd.

Hence

later

toord,

turdy, befouled

with ordure; relating to excrement. Turd was used from the 13th to the 17th century as a symbol of worthlessness; Alle said Wyclif

(1382), /

deme

as

I wynne Crist. Note however that turdiform means looking like a thrush; Latin turdus, thrush. toordiSj that

(1)

A

to

cp.

of fools fleeth to our shyppe.

thingis,

lordes.

disturb;

Watson

also turbine.

super, above + saltus, leap. Chaucer has, in THE PARDONER'S TALE (1386): And right

tumbrel.

Why

a dish equipped with a funnel, for filling a tun. tundish

SHIP OF FOOLS (1509) said:

fall,

anon thanne comen

Duke:

.

should he die? Lucio: Why, for filling a bottle with a tundish. A tun was a large

probably of Norse origin; perhaps affected in some of its forms by somersault, which is via French from Latin tomber, to

Claudio's

turb. crowd; a heap; a troop; a clump of trees. Latin turba, crowd, which was

blessyd tygurie or lytyl hous!

tumbester.

of

shape)

URE FOR MEASURE

of

London.

funnel

the

(from

arrest for lechery, in Shakespeare's MEAS-

tucket of

tugurium, hut, shelter; root teg, cover. Also tigurye, tygurie, tugurry. Caxton's

THE GOLDEN LEGEND

be chastysed by ye tumbrell.

to

A

A

(hermit's)

THE WAY OF THE

earn

the trumpets sound the tucket. Also used figuratively; Meredith in ONE OF OUR

herald

cart.

by a

flourish or signal on a trumin Shakespeare's pet. Stage directions RICHARD ii (1595); in HENRY v; Then let\

states:

dung

(1700), What shall I do with this beastly tumbril? Fabyan in his CHRONICLES (1494) recorded: myllers for stelyng of

A

CONQUERORS

back

WORLD

about enough for one's keep. tucket.

load; especially, a

its

tilts

(as in Dickens' A TALE or TWO of the carts that carried CITIES; 1859)

an instrument for tucking or plucking; a pair of tuckers, tweezers. A tucker up (to an old bachelor) , a serving-maid who may well be a mistress, (19th century, worker;

body

689

turken

twigger

To

alter for the worse, distort,

guard.

pervert; then, more generally, to change, transform, refashion. Possibly through the

tutari,

turken.

French from Latin torquere, to but more probably from Turk,

as

cense

is

a shrewde fellow

.

.

of fewer; newer, older

clude

it

turkeneth

.

.

it

.

mo

wordes longer, shorter, of .

was

turkis,

.

.

his similes

.

.

apothegges

.

maketh

.

An

turtle.

word

Short turtle

a bunch of nosegay, silver or gold ornament shaped like flowers, leaves, or fruit, forming a buckle, a brooch, or the like. Also tussy;

pro-

the

The

turtle-dove.

marital

twank.

1598)

the

state of turtle-billing lovers;

and

twiggen. Also,

He

A

up

A

twig, to

master goldsmiths had laboured a

tutament.

with

twigger. prolific breeder; applied originally to a ewe. Hence, a lascivious person; especially, a strumpet. From the verb

in his

of Aristeas' AUNCIENT

and

moment when

a mighty roar the twiggen flame goes about the hollow side of brass.

HISTORIE OF THE SEPTUAGINT recorded that

girdle of flowers,

beat the knave into a twiggen bottle! (1875) of the

AENEID pictures the

heard in our land.

the

fill

Morris in his translation

the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is

(1633)

and

Stiles, pawn thy wedding ring the twiggen bottle! Shakespeare had other filling in mind, in OTHELLO (1604):

to

SOLOMON (BIBLE; King James' Version; 1611); For lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on

Done

of twigs or wickerwork.

from burning twigs

neighbor

called turtles, cp. soote. The best known literal use of the word is in THE SONG OF

See tuzzymuzzy. John

Made

arising

brushwood. Also twiggy. A twiggen bottle, one (as for much Chianti wine, today) covered with straw or wickerwork; Horatio Smith in TOR HILL (1826) exclaims: What,

affectionate lovers, as in Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, were often amusedly

translation

See twink.

tenderness

EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR,'

tossy.

tussie-mussie.

muzzies of flowers from his feet.

and constancy, as by Shakespeare in THE WINTER'S TALE (1611; IV iv 154). Hence (Jonson, happy

tussemose,

was

probably originally echoic; Latin turtur. It was often used to symbolize

tusmose,

Golding in his translation (1587) of P. de Mornay's WOORKE CONCERNING THE TREWNESSE OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION told of Apollo's ordering to remove the tuzzi-

old variant of torment.

for

A

Hence, a

flowers.

verbs, newly turkissed.

turmentise.

mekle

.

tuzzymuzzy.

to con-

.

.

.

all things at pleasure.

.

with

protrude (as lips do when tooting + mouth. Dunbar in a poem

to

of 1520 speaks of my ladye with the tute mowitt lyk an aip. lippis

Gabriel Harvey (MARGINALIA, 1577) mentioned Eramus three cheafist paper bookes .

lips;

on a horn)

sillables,

and

protection; in the 17th cen-

a projecting lower jaw. Also tute-mowitt. From toot, one early meaning of which

declared:

(1575)

Used

With protruding

tut-mouthed.

the

Gascoigne in THE STEELE This poeticall li-

turkize, turcase.

GLAS

turkeise,

torcaese,

turkess,

tutamentum,

tury.

twist;

Turks changed Christian temples into mosques, and Bible stories in Koran tales. Also

Latin

to protect.

tussies of all fruits.

means of defence; a

work

vigorously.

common among

late 16th

The word was and

early 17th

safe-

century playwrights; Marlowe and Nashe in THE TRAGEDY OF DIDO, QUEEN OF CARTH-

690

twink

tytetuste

AGE (1594)

say:

the term to the effect of hoopskirts (SPECTATOR, No. 127; 1711), hoping to unhoop the fair sex, and cure this fashionable

Go, you wag! You'll be a

twigger

when you come

twink.

In addition to meaning to wink

to age.

tympany that is got among them. Also used for tympan, typanum, a drum or

the eye, or to twinkle, or to tinkle, twink meant to chastise (by word or blow). Also

tympanize:

been called away ten times, twinked if I do not leave you. A year later, she wrote a twinkation to Mr. Richardson about it, to which I received so civil an answer that I knew

how

11,

to be angry.

.

.

.

more probably means

.

.

with drumsticks). the state of being dis(as

Hence tympanism,

see his sweet-

slickes his hair,

swollen, inflated, bombastic; hollow, vain.

observes:

man .

Hence timpanize, make swell (for an

as with pregnancy, or the gas; beating to death with pride, In the 13th cudgels. century, timp, a tambourine. Also tympanous, tympanious,

(1628)

sooner doth a young heart coming, but he twires his beard

35), which to death

beaten

A

MELANCHOLY

to

ing on the rack (as a skin on a drumhead). This is probably a misinterpretation of a passage in the BIBLE (HEBREWS

twire. glance, a leer. Also a verb, to peer, to peep. Also (both noun and verb) a variant of twirl; Burton in THE ANATOMY

OF

(1)

instance of this use, see pagled); (2) to beat on a drum; (3) to torture by stretch-

(1747): / have and shall be

not

instrument.

similar

twank, to spank. Both words seem echoic in origin. Elizabeth Carter ended a letter

Gp, twirk.

tended or swollen,

No

Greek tympanismos, a beating

In SONNET

Shakespeare has: When sparkling stars twire not thou guild'st th'eaven. Steele, in

probably tympan though without thought

THE CONSCIOUS LOVERS

Alley.

28,

twirk.

A

declares: //

(1722)

/ was rich, I could twire as the best of them.

and

loll as

well

twirl.

(The

of drums;

in

of

origin,

Tin Pan

See tine.

tyne.

tyromancy. variant form of

echoic

is

cheese.

See aeromancy. Greek

Urquhart in

tyros,

his translation (1693)

O.E.D. suggests that both twire and twirk, this sense, are misprints.) Breton,

of Rabelais sought for the truth through

used in

tyromancy, whereof we

IN PRAISE OF VERTUOUS LADIES (1599): // shee have her hand on the pette in her

in a great

cheeke, he is twyrking of his mustachios. idea in twirk seems to be a combina-

The

tion of a twirl

tympany.

A

and a

tug.

swelling, as of

two

pregnancy

was thought to be a timpany with Burton in THE ANATOMY OF

heels.

MELANCHOLY timpany of

(1621):

self-conceit.

Puffed

make some proof cheese.

A posy, a tuzzymuzzy, q.v. This tytetuste. form was used in the 15th century. In the early 19th century tistytosty was also used of a nosegay; but apparently

or pride. In NEWS FROM PURGATORY (1590) we read: The maid fell sicke, and her disease

Brehemont

with

this

Addison extended

word

is

flowers

this

and the bunch of and fro in a sort of

related to toss,

was tossed

to

game, also called tistytosty (teesty-tosty). In the 16th century, however, tistytosty

was used

name

691

(1)

as a refrain: / shall be a

with hey tistye tosty. for a bully, a blusterer.

lively lad,

(2)

as a

u

To make

uberate. to

suck,

give

fruitful or plentiful;

nourish.

to

Latin

Hence uberant} abundant; A GAG FOR THE POPE (1624) has: Like uberant springs to send forth flowing streams of

udder.

Also

world.

the

into

truth

abundant, rich in milk udders); Robert

Naunton

REGALIA (1635)

declared:

drew in too fast, an over-uberous ness,

uberous, (of breasts or in FRAGMENTA

My

like a child

nurse.

.

.

.

sucking an uberous-

Also,

fruitfulness,

uberiy,

Lord

abundance.

Evelyn in SYLVA (1706) speaks of the uberous cloud. Sir Thomas Herbert in

A RELATION OF SOME YEARS TRAVAILE INTO AFRIQUE AND THE GREATER ASIA (1634) .

reports that the

women

.

.

One

The ANNUAL

that goes everywhere. REGISTER of 1767 remarked:

The English being by

their nature ubi-

quartans. Latin ubi, place; ubique, everywhere. As an adjective, ubiquarian, that

goes everywhere or

countered

is

experienced or en-

everywhere:

the

ubiquarian

house sparrow. Also, ubication, the

fact

of being in a place; ubiation, being in a (new) place. From 1600 to 1750 ubi was

frequently used in English, meaning place, location; Sir Kenelm Digby in his treatise

on THE NATURE OF BODIES (1644) stated: It is but, assigning an ubi to such a spirit and he is presently [immediately] riveted to what place you please; and by multiplying the ubies Hence, ubiety, condition with .

.

.

thus

place;

Bailey

in

THE

MYSTIC (1855) spoke of magic haschisch, which endows thought with ubiety. Shakespeare used other powers to give to airy a local habitation and

nothings ubiety a name.

ughten. The dusk just before dawn. Also ughtentide, ughtening, the dawning. The ughten-song, uhtsong, was the religious before daybreak; matins. his in Lingard study of THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE (1844) stated that the night-

service

just

was frequently joined with the uhtsong; Juliet protested it was the nightingale and not the lark.

song

.

.

.

give their infants

suck as they hang at their loaches, the uberous dugge stretched over her shoulder. ubiquarian.

to

respect

uber,

ugsome. horrid, loathsome. Frequent almost to the 17th century; revived by Scott in THE ANTIQUARY (1816): Like an auld dog that

trails its useless ugsome some bush or bracken. Then used by Bulwer-Lytton and Browning.

carcass into

Also ugglesome; uglisome (16th century); cp. yglesome. A stronger form of ugly

(which Chaucer in THE CLERK'S TALE, 1386, spells igly).

Moist,

uliginous.

damp,

slimy.

Latin

uliginem, moisture. Also uliginose. Uliginal, growing in moist ground. Used in the

16th

and

17th

centuries,

though

Smyth's SAILOR'S WORD-BOOK, of 1867 lists uliginous channels: those connecting the

branches of soil.

692

rivers,

by cuts through the

un-

ullage ullage.

The amount

(1)

other liquor) needed to space in an almost full

of wine fill

the

(or

empty

cask (because of loss by leakage or absorption). This is, more specifically, the dry ullage. Wine

on ullage

wine in a cask not full. (2) of wine in a partially filled

is

The amount cask;

more

specifically,

this

In the 19th century, the word was used for wine left in glasses or bottles; THE PALL MALL GAZETTE of 21 August, 1889, queried: "Pray what is ullage?'

"The washings out of casks/' replied my friend. The word has been in use since the 13th century.

Vengeance. Latin ulcisci, ultus, avenge oneself on. Richard his translation

fairly

medicament the mouth the ultion of

declares that a

should leave in

of

(1657)

Renodaeus' MEDICINAL DISPENSATORY,

enough

.

.

.

the fault therein committed. Sir Thomas in CHRISTIAN MORALS (1682) re-

Browne

minds us that to do good for evil is a soft and melting ultion, a method taught from Heaven to keep all smooth on earth. urn-.

Around.

a

preposition,

meaning

sercle of the citie

was sothely a playne.

umbrage. See couth; cp. patulous. French ombrage, ombre; Latin umbra, shadow, whence also umbrageous seldom used now save in humor, as when the sycophantic fox stood beneath the tree's umbrageous limb to seduce the gullible raven.

Hence

also umbrosity

(17th cen-

tury), the state of

to punish, to

Tomlinson in

and

adverb

around, about. In THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY (1400) we read that umbe the

the wet

is

ullage.

ultion.

umberun, umbestand, umbeswey, umbetigh, umbewalt. umbecarve, umbeshear, to circumcise, umbe was also an reach,

A

number

of verbs em-

umbrous,

being shady; umbrate, umbrose. Umbratile meant

shady, shadowlike; living in retirement, 'in the shade'; hence, not public, secret. Also umbratilous, shadowy, faint; unreal.

Doughty in ARABIA DESERTA

(1888):

Many

thus are umbratiles in the booths, and give themselves almost to a perpetual

slumber. Also umbratic, shadowy; foreshadowing; secluded; umbratical, remain-

ing in seclusion; Jonson in DISCOVERIES (1636) said: So I can see whole volumes dispatch' d by the umbraticall doctors on sides. Note that umbrageous meant

all

from the 13th to the Among them were umgive, umgo, umlap, umlay, umlouk, umset all of which meant to surround, enclose,

ployed

this prefix,

16th century.

encompass. Umgang, the act of going around; hence, the distance thus covered, the circumference, circuit. of the

prefix

umb cast,

to

A

fuller

was umb-, umbe-,

surround;

umbfold,

form

as in: to

em-

not only abounding in shadow but (after the secondary sense of umbrage, from the 16th century)

suspicious,

quick to take

Thus Donne in a sermon of 1630 declared: At the beginning some men were a little ombrageous, and startling at the name of the Fathers; and George Digby exclaimed in ELVIRA (1667): What power meer appearances have had offence.

.

brace, umblay, wrap around; umbecast, to surround, to meditate; umbeclip, to encircle; umbethink, to think about, to to

call to

.

to destroy, With an umbragious nature, all that love Was ever able ... To found

and

to establish.

mind. There was a lot of encircling

in those years; other verbs meaning to enclose, surround, included: umbego, urn-

Most of the words with the prefix un-, not, are easily understood. Note, how-

UEK

belap, umbelay, umbeset; also, umbefold,

ever, unhouseled,

umbegang, umbegive, umbepitch, umbe-

rites

_ 693

not having had the

(the Eucharist}

administered.

last

Thus

uncunning

unaneled unShakespeare in HAMLET; see housel. not eradicated. irrooted (16th century)

though this, as most wording, Dickens) work, is perforce undone (unfinished).

unlede (13th to 17th century), miserable, wicked; also, a vile or detestable person.

unaneled.

,

Also unnaneld, unanneald, unanealed. See anele. Sterne in TRISTRAM

unleeful (Chaucer) unlawful, illicit; also unleesome. unlove, to cease loving; Chaucer, in TROYLUS AND CRisEYDE (1374): I ne ,

kan

.

.

within

.

myn

herte fynde

To

(1759) tells: Obadiah had him led in as he was, unwiped, unappointed,

SHANDY

loven you. unlust, distress; weariness, lack of appetite; slothfulness. unnait, useless, vain, unparegal, unperegal (Chaucer), ununpiteous, unpitous (Chaucer) impious, wicked, merciless, unpower, help-

equal,

lessness,

unraced science sele,

an

For Shakespeare's use in which Sterne and most later users echo, see housel. [Unaneled, not anointed, is not to be confused with unannealed, the negative from anneal, to enamel or to burn colors into glass, eathenware, or metal. This is also spelled aneal; the forms but not the senses of the two words overlap.] unannealed.

un-

,

annoyance, trouble. (Chaucer), not rooted up. un(Chaucer) ignorance, error, ununquert,

HAMLET.,

,

misery, misfortune, ill-luck;

wretched,

adjective,

also as

unshent,

uncouth.

See couth.

uncture.

Ointment.

un-

harmed, unspoiled, unspeed, poverty, mis-

A

15th century term.

To remove

fortune (lack of good speed}', unspeedful, of no avail; unspeedy, poor, unprofitable.

uncuckold.

unspeered, unasked, untemed, untamed. untholemoodness, impatience (Be not untholemood accent on the thole kind

remarked, with perspicacity and probably regret: I never yet heard of

readerl) untholing, not to be borne, intolerable. untimeouSj untimely. A gentle.

man untried, one (not necessarily a man by birth) brought up in an

gentle-

abbey.

untrist, unbelieving; faithless; unreliable.

unwist

(Chaucer)

,

without

its

being

known; Spenser, in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590): Of hurt unwist most danger doth redound, unwrast, of less;

vice

little

account, worth-

wicked, unwrench, an evil trick; a or sin. unwry (Chaucer: unwre,

onwrye) to reveal; uncover, make naked; divulge, unyeaned, unborn (George Eliot, 1868: blind only as unyeaned reason is);

not having given birth, unzoned, not limited to a region (the unzoned gods); not girt with a girdle; Sydney Dobell, in

BALDER (1854): One all unzoned in her Hastes not to hide her deep haunts breast Let me not be undone (brought .

.

.

to ruin; Caxton, Wyatt, Middleton, Field-

the

stigma

Moore

cuckoldry, to unhorn. J,

of

in ZELUCO

(1789)

any method by which a man can be uncuckolded. Also, uncuckolded, not yet horned. Shakespeare laments, in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606): It is a deadly sorrow, to beholde a foule knave uncuckolded.

uncular. uncle.

an

Relating or belonging to

More

often, avuncular.

NUN

in THE SPANISH MILITARY

De Quincey re-

(1847)

marked: The grave Don clasped the hopeto his uncular ful young gentleman and rather angular breast. .

.

uncumber.

See cumber.

uncunning.

Ignorance.

.

A common

14th

and 15th century term. Also an adjective as

in

Chaucer's

(1374)

rendering

of

BOETHIUS: any unkonnyng and unprofitable man. Also uncunninghead, uncun-

ningship (CURSOR MUNDI; AYENBITE OF INWIT, 14th century); uncunningness, ignorance, unskilfulness.

694

underfong

upas

To

underfong.

come or

accept;

to one's

A form of unneath, short for underneath. Used by Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; JANUARY). Also

to

unnethes.

presence to

have hand,

extension,

By

unneth, unneths.

these senses,

all

underfo form from the 9th cen-

common

was the

admit

in; also, to take in

friendship.

understanding undertake. In

to

receive,

to possess; to

Undressed; in deshabille. Also, unready, to undress. Developed in the 16th century as the converse of to ready,

unready. to

end of the 12th century,

tury until the

when underfong

largely replaced it, fading after the 16th. Past tense forms included

to dress. In Shakespeare's HENRY vi, PART ONE (1591), when the French leape ore

underfeng, underfangen, underfonge, underfynge. Spenser used underfong to mean

the walles in their shirts, they are hailed:

How

Thou, he says in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579; JUNE) to take in, seduce, entrap;

by treacheree Didst underfong

that

waxe

lasse, to this,

'deceive

so light.

by

The

so?

now, my lords! What, all unreadie Puttenham in THE ARTE OF ENGLISH

POESIE

my

of a

tells

(1589)

woman who was

young

gentle-

in her chamber,

making

gloss explains

herself unready.

false suggestion/ Similarly

in THE FAERIE QUEENE:

unseminared.

he

out seminal power. Used by Shakespeare in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606): Tis well

With his powre makes them subject to his mighty wrong, And some by sleight he eke doth .

.

.

underfong.

for

undern.

See midovernoon.

unear'd.

Unploughed.

From

to

ear,

lish arable. Shakespeare's

2d SONNET

The poem

ampton

to marry; there

is

See gain.

ungrayhair. As a verb, used by Fuller in THE HOLY WAR (1639): Whilest his old . his wife plucked out his black hairs . left one haired him. ungray young They .

the platter clean!

unhouseled. universatility. tively

to

many

unkempt.

and

See compt.

The word versatility.

flye

forth

thy

of

suited to the town, rude,

(1863)

More

.

prob-

ably, untoun is a variant of untowe, untow en, Middle Low German un(ge)togen f

uneducated; hence, untrained, unmanwanton. Also untowe (n) ship, nered, wantonness. These forms are found from the

I

Oth to the 15th century. Note also

untowned, in Wolcot (Peter Pindar's) ODES TO THE ROYAL ACADEMICIANS (1783): .

.

.

Ten

gentle-

men, the place shan't be untown'd.

ability to turn effec-

things.

telescope of universe

not

Find me in Sodom out

See h ousel; un-.

The

Not

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

bandry. ungainly.

May

In Wright's SPECIMENS OF LYRIC POETRY of the 13th century. This explanation is given in Herbert Coleridge's DICTIONARY OF THE OLDEST WORDS IN THE

asks:

urging young Southis a pun in hus-

That being unseminar'd,

thoughts

untoun.

is

bandry?

with-

uncivil.

she so fair whose unear'd Disdains the tillage of thy hus-

womb

virility;

Egypt. Cleopatra is talking to her eunuch, while she is aquiver for Antony in Rome.

plough, of the same root as Greek aroein, Latin arare, to plough, till, whence Eng-

For where

thee,

freer

Deprived of

is

a

upas,

A

tree

supposed

to

have existed in

all life Java, so poisonous as to destroy

within fifteen miles. Also, upas

tree.

From

Malayan upas pohun, poison tree. The story of such a tree was told in the LONDON 695

urn

upbray MAGAZINE of 1783, and given credence and currency in Erasmus Darwin's THE LOVES OF PLANTS (1789): Fierce in dread silence on the blasted heath Fell upas

tire.

the hydra-tree of death. Hence, a deadly or destructive power; thus Byron in CHILD HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE (1818): This

in

sits,

in

Use, custom. Mainly in the phrases in use or practice; out of ure,

ure,

out of use, disused.

A very common

and 16th

in the 15th

To shade rank

upas, this all-blasting tree.

COUNTRY WIFE (1688)

A

variant of upbraid, used by

THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590); by and others. The form Marston, Sidney, is an error, from assuming that upbraid Spenser in

is

the past tense.

upright.

French.

uranicaL

filth.

Wycherley in THE tells:

man

Yes, a

drinks often with a fool, as he tosses with a marker, only to keep his hand in ure.

See aeromancy.

urimancy.

A

diver. Latin urinari, urina-

dive,

swim under water. Hence

urinator.

Also upright man. See pedlers

word

Marston

THE SCOURGE OF VILLANIE (1598) calls damnation upon those that dare to put in ure To make Jehova but a coverture

uneradicable taint of sin, This boundless

upbray.

centuries.

tus,

to

also urinate, to dive;

urination, diving.

These senses were common from about Pertaining to the heavens: asastrological. Greek ouranos,

1650 to 1690. Beale in a letter (published 1682) wrote that His

tronomical;

in Boyle's WORKS;

heaven.

Majesty's urinator, Mr. Curtis, published in the Gazette how he had practised

Also

uranic, ouranik, ouranic; uranian, heavenly (but also, relating to the planet Uranus.)

uranomancy.

were

.

.

.

urisk.

A

supernatural

denizen

of

.

.

for to

the

Scottish Highlands, akin to the English brownie. P. Graham informs us in THE

environment.

A

hedgehog. Also urchun; nurnorchon; urchyn, urchion; hurcheon; irchin, and more. Applied to (1) a fiend; urchin of hell (16th century);

urchin.

easy

it

our merchants, in all their voyages, be furnished with such urinators.

See aeromancy.

urbacity. Excessive pride in one's city, or in dwelling in the city as opposed to a rustic

.

Which minds me how

chon,

a goblin or elf, which might appear in the form of a hedgehog; (2) Cupid (18th cen-

SCENERY OF PERTHSHIRE (1806) that the urisks were a sort of lubberly super,

naturals,

who

.

.

.

could be gained over

by kind attentions, to perform the drudgery of the farm.

THE GOODNATURED MAN (1768) Said You did indeed dissemble, you urchin you;

As a verb. (1) To put in a cinerary variant form of earn. urn; to bury. (2) (3) To cause pain; to be in pain (15th and 16th centuries; mainly in Scotland). variant form of run or ran. Also (4)

but where's the

ourn.

a person: a hunchback, an tury); (3) ugly woman, a hag (17th century), an illtempered or scheming girl; Goldsmith in

girl that

won't dissemble

for a husband? a mischievous youngster (feminine urchiness)} a small child, an

annoying;

evil.

A

A

(cp.

infant; usually with pity or scorn (this sense survives) . As an adjective, urchin,

mischievous;

urn.

When levedi)

the fair queen of Sir Orfeo was stricken mad in her

orchard, her maidens ourn to the palace ful right And tolde bothe squier and

knight That her quen awede [go mad] wold, And bad hem go and hir athold.

696

uxonum

uryn Knightes urn, and levedis

and

sexti

A

uryn.

Used

mo

.

.

also,

Damisels

variant form of arain, spider.

in the 15th century.

usant.

doing).

of, accustomed (to Chaucer in THE PARSON'S TALE

He

that

is

usant to this synne

of glotonye. Also, habitual; Parker in DIVES AND PAUPER (1470) keenly observed: Comonly grete swerers and usant swerers

ben

full false.

usquebaugh. uisge, water

Whisky. From the Gaelic 4*

beatha,

life.

Similarly, the

Latin aque vitae, water of life. Very frequent in the 17th century; occasionally still

used.

ustulation.

of 1624

Burning;

against .

.

.

.

.

.

is

reminded lusts;

(later)

roasting. a surface

Also ustion, burning, searing; that has been (or looks as though

it

has

been) seared or cauterized. Hence, figuratively, burning desire, lust; Sanderson in

to burn,

Hence also brown as to seem

combustion.

scorched, or so

remedy

by the apostle in case of ustion to all

burning

commanded

also

his hearers

the sole allowed

men. Latin urere f ustum,

In the habit

(1386) says:

Sermon

a

that marriage

.

whence

ustulate,

scorched,

as girls' backs back from Miami, ustorious, able to make things burn; ustive, caustic; good for a burn; a recipe book of 1599 states that linteseede oyle is

an excellent

ustive oyntment.

uxorium.

A

(Spartan,

also

fine or tax

Roman)

paid by a male citizen for not

marrying. Latin uxor, wife; whence also uxorious, henpecked. The word uxorium is in Bailey (1751); not in O.E.D. Yet bachelors were taxed in England in 1695, to raise funds for the war against France;

and

since

1798 the British income tax

has pressed more heavily upon the bachelor. Various communities in the United States

697

have tried

to

impose a uxorium.

Milking of cows. Cole-

vaccimulgence.

ridge (BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA, 1817) looked for a good servant, scientific in vaccimulgence. Latin vacca, cow; whence also vaccarage, vaccary (from the 15th century), a for

pasturage

cows;

a dairy farm.

For

vaccicide, cp. stillicide. Vaccine, of course, was first associated with the cow: variolae

vaccinae, cow pox, drawn from the hands of a milkmaid by Dr. Edward Jenner in

vade-mecum for such persons

as are

A

form in 18th cenEmptiness. for vacuity. a variant dictionaries; tury Vacuation was also used (16th and 17th

centuries) in this sense; but also as short for evacuation. Also vacive, vacuous.

Vacuefy meant to create a vacuum, to

the audience was thus supplied with a critic,

pocket

The

condition of being vad-

A

variant of ford (wadef) , a shallow place in a river. (2) An early form of fade, quite frequent from 1500 (1)

to 1650. Shakespeare, in RICHARJD

n

(1593)

One

flourishing branch of his most royall roote . . . Is hackt downe, and

declares:

summer go,

leafes all vaded.

whence

also

Latin vadere,

invade,

evade,

and

vade, to go away, depart. Braithwait in BARNABEES JOURNAL (1638) warns: also

vadum a

a

century)

A

ford.

f

vade,

shallow

q.v.,

stretch

vadosum; was (16th

of

a

river,

which one might wade. Old English wadan, wade, like Latin vadere, first meant to go, to walk, then to walk across

through water. From the Latin came vade(literally, go with me) used from

mecum

make empty. vade.

not

in the habit of deciding -on the merits of theatrical performances. Each member of

able, vadeable, fordable. Latin

vacivity.

his

in 1797 planned a literary journal, said the MONTHLY MAGAZINE, to be a valuable

vadosity.

1796.

to

See vadosity. Often Vade Me cum was used as or in a book's title. The Ode"on Theatre

the 17th century for a guide or handy book. Fielding in THE GRUB

reference

STREET OPERA

recommended

(1731)

husband's vade-mecum for all houses.

married

men

And Byron

in

.

.

to

.

the

very necessary have in their

DON JUAN (1818)

The vade mecum sublime Which makes so many

called Aristotle's rules

of the true poets,

and some

fools.

(3)

beauty fadeth; Beauty her lover vadeth. Hence also, vading,

vafrity.

Beauty feedeth,

(1751),

lost,

list

Craftiness.

Listed

but not in O.E.D.

vafrous,

transitory, fleeting, passing away. Vadosity, the state of being fordable (17th cen-

HENRY vn)

tury).

accordyng

vade-mecum. Literally (Latin) go with me: a companion; a handbook; a guide,

vail.

ning, crafty.

in

Bailey

which does

Latin vafrum, cunHall in his CHRONICLES (1548, speaks of the Englishmen,

sly, crafty.

to their olde vaffrous varletie.

(1) To lower, in sign of submission or respect (one's eyes; a banner, a lance),

698

vailable

vardingale

or to take

(a hat, or other headdress).

off

Also vayle, vaill, veil. Hence, to acknowledge surrender or defeat; to yield. Thus

Kyd

in his translation (1594) of CORNELIA

has:

your christall eyes to your Coryat in his CRUDITIES (1611) gives instance of figurative use: She will very near benumme and captivate thy veiling

bosoms.

faire

and make reason

senses,

affection.

to

be of

(2)

use.

vale bonnet to have power, to prevail; Via Old French from Latin

To

valoir, to

be of value. Cp. vailable.

vailable.

Valuable;

Here is a word that, especially in surviving forms, shifted until it came

valetude.

to

mean

From

tual; legally valid.

word

several

often;

AMANTIS (1390) pity

(2);

Latin

be of worth. Gower uses the

to

valoir,

vail

(1560) declared: There was worship with and valitude. Then it came to

mean, in general, the state of health; Cockeram in 1623 defines it: valetude, health or sicknesse.

and

,

as

when he

remuen

justice

And

ben of vertu most vailable To make a hinges regne stable.

A

vair.

fur,

and 14th

invalid,

very popular in the 13th

of

Hence

valetudinarious, valetudivaletudinarian weakly;

(17th cen-

reputation as well as constitution. vance-roof.

vapulation.

Old French

belly.

more.

tury) was an infirmary, a hospital. Sheridan, in THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, 1777,

trimming or

parti-colored.

MEDICINAL valitude

the of

on, to

his transla-

current); a valetudinary

(still

lining garments, also for slippers. It was then the fur of a squirrel with gray back varius,

moved

Renodaeus'

reported

valetudinovs,

it

observes that there are valetudinarians in

centuries, used for

and white

of

many, and the death

observes that vice,

Then

Tomlinson in

health;

(1657)

nary,

alle

ill

DISPENSATORY

CONFESSIO

times in

opposite. Its first use in meaning good health; from

welth

mean effec-

own as

Latin valetudo, valetudinem; valere, to be well. Holland in THE COURT OF VENUS

tion

of advantage;

its

English was

The

vair;

Latin

fur was later

replaced by miniver and ermine; the word vair (though retained in heraldry, and

See vaunce.

Flogging. Latin vapulare, to be flogged, to receive a lashing also, a tongue-lashing. Hence vapulate, to beat; to be flogged; there are blunders, said Samuel Parr in a letter of 1783, for which

Scott,

a boy ought to vapulate. Also vapulary,

Swinburne, and more) dropped from the common speech. The same lapse occurred

vapulatory, relating to flogging. E. Ward in THE LONDON SPY (1706) said: Like an the more offender at a whipping-post

revived

in

the

19th

century by

in French; hence, in the Cinderella story, the fairy slippers of Cinderella, made of vair,

made

as verre, tion,

sense to the people listening

and became, in English

not fur but

valanche.

transla-

avalanche.

The

a

turned I'avalanche into la valanche; cp. napron. Smollett in his TRAVELS IN FRANCE

AND ITALY

(1766) observed: Scarce a year

.

as well as the vocabulary, vapula-

tion has

was dropped in French, when folk usage

.

their favorable

usage, the severer vapulation they are to exercise upon him. In the school and the

Navy,

glass slippers.

Short for

.

importunate he seems for

grown

obsolete.

A

16th and 17th century vardingale. variant of farthingale, q.v. This form also

verdugal;

comes more

vardingard, verdyngale from Spanish verdu-

directly

gado; verdugo, rod, stick. The Spanish verdugo also meant hangman; whence, 699

passes in which some mules and their drivers do not perish by the valanches.

vaward

vasa

English verdugo, an executioner; also used as a term of abuse. Jonson in THE AL-

vaticinatrix.

CHEMIST (1610)

in English to mean an inspired poet; also, those that tended the sacrificial rites

says of a Spaniard

(who English): His great verdugo-

knows no

ship has not a jot of language; so much the easier to be cozened, my Dolly!

A

vasa.

has beaten

Evelyn in a CHARACTER of 1651, stated: One of their spurs engaged in a carpet .

.

.

glass

drew

and

all

to

the ground, break the

laying

waste;

later,

later

Hence immen-

Also vastation, very common from 1600 to 1660, then supplanted by devasta-

To

vast (15th century)

to lay waste,

,

to destroy; vastator, destroyer. In all these forms waste, to lay waste, was the earlier

all

prognosticators since Nos-

What

A

indeed?

shortened form of advance,

its

Thomas Raymond,

garret.

BIOGRAPHY

(1658)

and hung up adrying house.

a noun, meaning space; Shakespeare in THE TEMPEST (1610) and in PERICLES:

SAINTS

Thou god

roof of thy heart?

FOR MEASURE), immensity.

A

Tennyson. (MEASURE

use of vast

that shows the shift in meaning, or rather

a combining of immensity and waste, is in Shakespeare's HAMLET: In the dead vast

and middle

vaticide.

See

of the night.

vates gave

many

WAR AGAINST THE

DEVIL

(1655):

Canst thou hide any one sin in the vance-

A feudal tenant, ranking below a baron. From a medieval Latin form combined of vassi vassorum, vassals of vassals. A vavasory was an estate held by

vavasour.

a vavasour. Also favasour, vavyssour, valand the like. Chaucer, in the Pro-

vasor,

Anne

To

figura-

by Gurnall in THE CHRISTIAN IN COMPLEAT ARMOUR; OR, A TREATISE OF THE

says:

prophesy; to speak as a prophet. Latin vaticinari, vaticinatum, to forebode, prophesy; vates, prophet. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Latin

vaticinate.

my

tively

logue

stillicide.

the

in the vance-roof

The term was used

meaning. Latin vastus, empty, void; hence the void of space, the vast reaches, therefore immense. Frequently vast was used as

surges; Milton, Blake, Keats, Shakespeare also uses vastidity

that

he was accused of having (at his trial for treason) were only the names of such symples as I had caused to be gathered at

of this great vast, rebuke these

in his AUTO-

claimed

"fayned names of your fellow Cavaliers"

sity.

tion.

vati-

various senses; frequent in the 16th century. Also vaunce-roof, vance-roof, a in

desolateness; Emptiness, (1 7th century) vastness, immensity.

vastitude,

tradamus? vaunce.

the vasas in pieces.

vastity.

vaticine,

among the ancient Druids. Qeneral P. Thompson exclaimed in 1829: What if Humphrey has vaticinated? What if he

century variant of vase.

17th

Vaticination,

a prophecy. Latin vates was used

ciny,

to

his

CANTERBURY TALES

(1386) a worthy vavaser. Vavasour, lady-in-waiting of Queen

Was nowher such

Elizabeth I, and the mother of an illegitimate son of the 17th Earl of Oxford, is by some held to be the "Dark Lady" of the Shakespearean sonnets.

English forms, including: vatic, vatical, relating to a prophet; in-

vaward.

spired; also vatidnal, vaticinatory, cinatric. vaticinant (accent on the

variant of vantward, later vanguard. Related to forward, the suffix -ward meaning

prophesying. cine,

A vaticinar,

prophet;

vatitiss),

vaticinator, vati-

feminine

vattcinatress,

Short for vamward, which

in the direction

ward and the

700

a

Also fauward, vawShakespeare used the

of.

like.

is

vecordious

word

velocious

figuratively in HENRY iv, PART TWO that are in the vaward of our

youth; Scott (in his JOURNAL, 1828) and others have echoed him. Full of folly; senseless; mad.

vecordious.

Latin vecordia, madness; ve, not, without + corda, a harp-string (hence, harmony);

Not

influenced by cor, cordem, heart. O.E.D., which ness.

of the desire; to daydream. Bishop Hall his CONTEMPLATIONS UPON THE NEW

We

(1597):

The

lists

1788

TESTAMENT

translation

of

Thy word

characteristic of velleity, however, that it

dreams and sighs, not acts. Lowell in his study of ROUSSEAU (1867) says: He and all like him mistake emotion for convic-

in

Sweden-

said:

declared:

(1618)

thy beck alone, thy wish alone, the least act of velleity from thee yea, might have wrought this cure. It is a alone,

vecordy, vecord, mad-

WISDOM OF THE ANGELS

borg's too the

in

tion, velleity for resolve.

Hence

terms concord, discord, vecord madness}, and other similar

A

vellication.

twitching or pulling;

Urquhart in

titil-

his transla-

(malicious

lation, tickling.

expressions.

Caxton in the PROHEMYE to POLYCRONICON (1482) stated: Historyes moeve and withdrawe emperours and

tion

his

not daily seen how schoolmasters shake the heads of their disciples

kynges -fro vycious tyrannye, fro vecordyous sleuthe [sloth],, unto tryumphe and

by this erection, vellication, stretching and pulling their ears they may stir them

vyctorye in puyssaunt bataylles.

upf To

vegete.

tare,

.

be

pinch,

to

vegetatum,

animate,

enliven;

A

velitation.

also

slight

in the 17th century; revived by Scott in ST. RONAN'S WELL (1824): While the ladies

were engaged in the light snappish which we have described. The velites (three syllables) were light.

.

and holds

armed

.

.

in

the

Roman

armies,

velleity.

A

fast.

wish or desire without any

accompanying effort to realize it; the fact or quality of merely wishing for a thing. Latin velle, to wish. Hence also to vellf to desire without action toward realization

A

Hence

irritation

or

that

something nips critic seems often

drama

Rapid. Used in the 17th and

18th century; the noun velocity has survived, as also the velodrome, a speedpalace. Latin velox, velocis, swift. The

velocipede lingers in memory, but the velociman, a speedy traveling-machine worked by the hands, scarcely survived the 19th century. Charles Lutwidge

son (better

known

Dodg-

in literature as Lewis

Carroll) reported (in his LIFE

by Colling-

with Charsley, and did four miles on one of his velocimans, advery pleasantly. In 1819 there was

wood;

used in skirmishes.

.

causing

vellicle,

.

soldiers

.

that,

a vellicating fellow.

.

velitation

vellicative,

velocious.

engagement with an

.

it .

vellicate, to irritate; to pluck, nip, etc., with small sharp points; to

twitching;

an apple of

enemy, a skirmish; a verbal skirmish, a dispute. The second use was very common

.

.

of vellere, to pull, pluck, twitch.

declared that a well radicated habit, in a lively, vegete faculty, is like gold in a picture of silver.

Is

tickle; to carp at, to criticize adversely. Latin vellicare, vellicatum, frequentative

active, lively; vege-

hence, English vegetate; Latin vegetabilis, animating, vivifying; hence, English vegetable. Robert South in a Sermon of 1660

.

.

Healthy, active, vigorous. Latin

vegere, vegetus, to

of Rabelais inquires:

(1693)

1882):

Went out

a velocimanipede, worked by hands and feet. The extremities, at least, were velocious. C. Nesse in A COMPLEAT AND COMPENDIOUS CHURCH HISTORY (1680) vertised

701

venefice

vendible said:

Satan was seen

from heaven, to and velociously.

to fall like lightning

venerious,

sexual

mean vendible. sold.

Marketable, capable of being Latin vendibilis; vendere, ventum,

venereal,

venerial,

or

desire lustful.

A

all

intercourse;

may

venerist, a lustful person,

a lecher, venerean, venerian, however, were often related to the planet Venus, as in Chaucer's Prologue to THE WIFE OF

whence inventory. Hence also vendibility. As Shakespeare says in The Merchant of Venice (1595) Silence is only commendable In a neat's tongue dri'd, and a maid not vendible. to

venerous;

veneral; venerian, all are associated with

wit, viewably, violently,

sell,

BATH'S TALE (1386): For certes I am al Venerian In feelyng and myn herte is

Marcian. venereal hence,

disease;

To

now

is

science

associated with fiction

writers

claim for oneself; to assert a claim; to claim ability. Latin vendi-

people the planet Venus with creatures they call Venusians. The adjective venust

catum, from vindicare, vindicatum, to assert a claim, justify, vindicate. An Act of

means

vendicate.

the reign of Henry VIII in 1544 declared that certain persons had usurped and ven-

and an unlawfull power and jurisdiction within this realm. John Lane in his CONTINUATION OF CHAUCER'S dicated a fayned

beautiful, graceful; venustity, venusty, beauty. Hence venustate, to make beautiful, a self-applied process that much

occupies the ladies. These forms must not be confused with venial, pardonable,

(1616) declared: We have two ladies which, with your trim pair,

from Latin venia, forgiveness. A is opposed to a deadly sin, a mortal sin. Shakespeare in OTHELLO (1604) says: // they do nothing, 'tis a veniall

dare vendicate

slip.

SQUIRE'S TALE

venditate.

to sing.

to

Originally,

put out

for

hence, to display most favorably; to exhibit ostentatiously. Latin venditare, frequentative of vendere; cp. vendible.

sale;

Hence

venditation, favorable or ostentatious display. John Smith in SELECT DISCOURSES (1652) speaks of philosophers that

made

their

knowledge only matter of

ostentation, to venditate

and

set off

them-

selves.

venery.

slight,

venial sin

Hence

(1)

Hunting; the chase. Latin (2)

The

joyment of sexual pleasure;

pursuit or enalso, a source

of great enjoyment. Latin Venus, Veneris, goddess of love, desire. Hence, a venerer

a hunter; venerial, relating to the chase. Venerilla, a little Venus, applied fato one's as in Burton's love, miliarly is

ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY

pardonable

sins;

pardon or indulgence. In Middleton's A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS (1608) Harebrain declares: Your only deadly sin's adultery; All sins are venial but venereal.

The

venefice.

use of poison or magic

potions; sorcery through such use. Also

venefy, to

poison

venari, to hunt.

venialia,

venialness, veniality, the quality of being venial, a matter for divine or royal

+

facere, to

make such -fie,

use. Latin

a combining

venenum, form from

make. Hence, venefic, dealing

in poisoning; venefical, veneficous (accent on the second syllable); veneficial, veneficious (accent on third), dealing in or related to malignant sorcery and witchcraft. Jonson in THE MASQUE OF QUEENS

(1609)

speaks

of

witches

that

fetch

spindles, timbrels, rattles, or other vene-

(1621): She is his idol, lady, mistress, venerilla, queen,

instruments. Also to fical venenate, poison; to render poisonous; venenation.

the

As

quintessence

of

beauty.

Venereous,

702

an

adjective,

venenate,

poisoned;

ventose

verbigerate

venene, poisonous, venomous. Veneniferous, laden with poison, as the venenifluous

a

of

fangs

rattlesnake.

(SELECT ENGLISH WORKS, 1380)

The

Wyclif

stated that

work of lechery is venefice; that is then done when men usen expertmentis to geten this work of lechery. sixth

ventose.

As a noun, a kind

(1)

of cup-

ping-glass, for blood-letting. Used in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. (2) As a

someone with a cuppingcupping. (3) As an

verb, to bleed to

glass,

from Latin ventum, wind + -osus, full of. J. Bigelow in BENCH AND BAR (1867) said: The ventose orator was confounded, and put himself and the glass down together. Also ventositous,

full of wind; ventoseness, windiness, flatulence, the state ventosity, of being puffed up; pompous conceit;

bombast. Washington Irving in SALMAGUNDI (1807) speaks of a man of superla-

and comparable

tive ventosity,

to

nothing

but a huge bladder of wind.

The Roman

pecially

sensual love;

Hence,

desire

for

goddess of love,

charm or

delights;

see

grace;

Middleton in YOUR FIVE

prime.

grene, of lusty vernaculous. Also

Cp.

vernant, freshly green; vernal, flourishing in the spring. To vernalize, to render

vernancy, vernathe lovely green quality of meadows in May; the springtime of one's spirit or one's days. Milton to

springlike,

Also

tion.

freshen;

vernality,

(1667) says: Else had the spring Perpetual smil'd on earth with

in PARADISE LOST

vernant

flours.

tween Mercury and Earth, girdle (zone] of Venus made

Truly, really. Also veriment; verement, verrement; Old French voirement, from voir, veir; Latin verus, true.

Common

14th to 17th century, often (in

verament) as a tag or rhyme-word. Chaucer in THE TALE OF SIR THOPAS (1386) inus:

vites

entent,

Liseneth,

And

I wol

mirth and of solas verberate.

To

lordings,

tell

in

good

you verament Of

[solace].

strike so as to

make sound;

to strike so as to cause pain, to flagellate. Latin verberare, verberatum, to beat;

You

shall

my

exact

piece of stolidity! T. H. Croker, in his translation (1755) of ORLANDO FURIOSO it

for Italian tremolar^ to vibrate:

fragrant breeze verberate around. .

.

.

A

Made the air trem'lous Her mother, said the

PALL MALL GAZETTE of 1 AugUSt, 1866, was a strict disciplinarian of the verbera-

Cp. Diana.

The

verament.

uses

(1608) pictures a pretie, fat with a venus in her cheeke. wench, eyde The second planet from the sun, be-

stity,

the

in LOVE TRICKS (1625) cries out: be verberated and reverberated,

Greek Aphrodite.

sexual

GALLANTS

possessor

mede With newe

the

verber, a lash, scourge; a whipping. Hence also, reverberate, which is current. Shirley

es-

venery. Also beauty, charm; a beautiful woman; a quality that excites desire, a

venust.

is

veer

practice

adjective, windy, flatulent; boastful, bragging. All are via the Romance languages

Venus.

with The time of Aperil, when clothed

tive school.

its

irresistible.

See stillicide. Holmes in THE AUTOCRAT AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE (1858) verbicide.

See

venery.

Hence

also

venu-

applied the term verbicide to punning,

venustness, venusty.

Springtime. Also vere. Via French from Latin ver, spring, related to viridis, green, whence verdant, verdure. Chaucer in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374) gloWS

of which he was often guilty.

ver.

verbigerate. verbi-,

word

To

+

keep on talking. Latin gerere, to act, carry on.

Hence, verbigeration. Listed in 17th and

703

verdea

verge

18th century dictionaries.

The words

are

now used

for a psychopathological repetition of a word or phrase.

Prince Ludovisio's villa where was formerviridarium of the poet Sallust. ly the See vardingale.

verdugo.

A

verdea.

white wine

made from green

grapes grown near Arcetri, near Florence, Italy. Also verdeda, verde; Italian verde, green. Especially popular in the 17th cen-

See ver.

vere.

Modest, shy. Latin verecundus; stand in awe. Also, to reverence, vereri, verecund.

tury. Fletcher and Massinger in THE ELDER BROTHER (1625) mention it as one of the treasures of Italy: Say it had been at Rome, and seen the reliques, Drunk your verdea wine, and rid at Naples. An es-

verecundious, verecundous. Hence, verecundity, verecundness. Used in the 17th

sential part of the Grand Tour. Lewis Theobald (1688-1744), though it is for other reasons that Pope made him the main butt of THE DUNCIAD, invented a

cundious generosity graceth your

name of was much

river Verde to account for the this

wine. His inventiveness

more

fruitful

when he amended

of Falstaff's death to

a'

the report

babbled of green

fields.

A

verderer,

judicial officer of the King's

charged with its preservation and maintenance, also against trespassers and poachers. A medieval post, though later forest,

for certain forests, notably

New, Epping, and Dean. An extended form of verder, with the same meaning; via Old French verd, vert, from Latin viridus, green. The Medieval Latin name of the officer was

viridarius.

dary.

In English, also verdour, vin-

From

Forest

of

the veridarii of the Bishop's the term verderer

Mendip,

came

to be applied to a petty constable of a town; hence, certain towns and cities

were divided into constabulary districts, each called a verdery. There were four verderies,

dary,

mean

e.g.,

in Wells.

The form

viri-

in addition to a verderer, might a viridarium, a pleasure garden,

such as was attached to a villa of ancient

Rome. Evelyn

in his

DIARY for 10 No-

vember,

noted:

We

1700,

went

to

see

and 18th

centuries.

WOTTONIANAE,

1639)

proclameth much

Wotton

(RELIQUIAE

Your

said:

brow

fidelity, a certain vere-

eyes.

This word had a wide range of meanings, extending from the primal verge.

sense

(Latin virga)

,

a rod.

Among

these

organ of virility; a chariot-pole; a whip; a watch (short for a verge-watch, one with a rod-like spindle for the

are: the

balance, used in the 18th century). But especially, the verge was a rod or wand

(by the Sergeant of the Verge) a sign of authority; also a rod held by a man swearing fealty to a lord, or carried as

becoming a

lord's

tenant.

From

these

political uses, a whole new series of meanings arose. Within the verge meant within

the authority of; the verge of the Lord High Steward (16th and 17th centuries) extended for twelve miles around the

King's court. Queen Elizabeth I was within twelve miles of Deptford when

Christopher Marlowe was killed there, 30 May, 1593; the fight thus occurred within the verge, hence it was a royal inquiry that exonerated Ingram Frizer, on

grounds of self-defence. In the 18th century, within the verge usually meant the precincts of Whitehall as a place of sanc-

tuary.

Hence, verge came

to

mean: the

or precincts of a place; the rim, or edge; margin, brink, border; hence also the space within a boundary,

bounds,

limits,

room, scope: Dryden in DON SEBASTIAN 704

vernaculous

veriloquent (1690) says: Let fortune empty her whole quiver on me, I have a soul that like an

vermeil.

ample shield Can take in all, and verge enough for more. Shakespeare uses the word in several senses, also as a rim or

m (1594):

in RICHARD

circle,

The

A

red.

bright

Also

vermil,

vermeon, vermion. Early and still poetic forms of vermilion, vermillion. From Latin vermiculus, a little worm, a major

The mean a

source of the coloring in early times.

word was used

inclusive

figuratively

to

verge Of golden metal,, that must round my brow. The word survives in the ex-

blush; blood; also, the dye or coloring to produce ruby lips and rosy cheeks. Moore

pression on the verge of, as in They were on the verge of coming to blows.

in his renderings (1800) of Anacreon, speaks of many vermil, honeyed kisses.

Barclay had earlier

Truth-speaking. Also vertLatin veri-, truth (whence verity} loquous.

veriloquent.

H- loquentem, speaking, loquif to speak. Hence, veriloquy (accent in all of these, on the second syllable). Used in the 17th century, but rare as it still seems to be.

Also veridic, veridical, veridicous.

worms. Latin vermiculus, diminutive of vermis, verminis, worm, whence vermin and the vermiform appendix. Hence ver-

The

juice

of

unripe

crab-apples and the like, used ment or medicine. Old French

+

jus, juice.

lated

grapes,

figuratively,

GAME AT CHESS

as

in

as

or

so

to

,

.

Middleton's

.

.

A believer that generation caused by vermicules, or tiny worms. Latin vermiculus, diminutive of vermis, vermin-, worm. In the 18th century the

and

vermiculist.

more, because the liquor was very popular, from the 14th to the 18th century. Also

used

worm-eaten,

seem nibbled or crawled over by worms. Also vermified, infested with worms. Donne, in one of his LAST SERMONS (1630) fitly spoke of putrefaction and vermiculation and incineration the grave. and dispersion in

as a -condi-

vergesse

varges,

mean

may

marked

vert, green Also veryose, vergus, vergws,

werges,

vergious,

become worm-eaten; vermicu-

miculate, to

tury verily superseded the other forms.

The

Being eaten by, or inworms; changing into little

vermiculation. fested with,

nouns veridicality, veridicalness, veridity were used in the 18th century; verity, used from the 14th, dropped largely out of use in the 18th, but in the 19th cen-

verjuice.

(THE SHIP OF FOOLS,

1509) advised: Take not cold water instead of vermayll wine.

is

A

This fat bishop so squelch' d and squeez'd me, hath I've no verjuice left in me. In THE HIS-

generation of animals, the system of the

TORIE OF THE TRYALL OF CHEVALRIE (1605) we read: And that sowre crab do but

founded upon the two

.

.

Italian scientist Spallanzani spoke of the three principal systems respecting the

(1624):

.

leere at thee I shall squeeze

him

ovarists, that of the vermiculists,

to vargis.

vermion.

Often the word was used with the sense of sour, bitter: verjuice countenance, wit. Lowell in THE FABLE FOR CRITICS (1848) says:

His sermons with

vernaculous.

from

his black

Oh how

the varges

pen wrung Would

the idiom of the English tongue!

sauce

See

wormwood.

Low-bred; scurrilous. Latin

vernaculus, domestic; verna, a home-born

Thus Edward Guilpin,

ously verjuiced. in SKIALETHEIA (1598):

that

See vermeil.

vermouth.

satire are plente-

and

liquors.

slave.

[Not to be confused with vernal,

relating to the spring; Latin v er, spring. See ver.] Hence the vernacular was the

705

vertumnal

vernage

a vessel of glass. Chaucer AND CRiSEYDE (1374) bids him that hath an head of verre Fro caste of stonys ware hym in the war. French verre, Latin vitrum, glass. Used into the 16th

speech learned from the servants at home.

verre.

Vernaculary, vernacule, vernacular, vernaculous are all adjectives referring to a

in TROYLUS

native speech; the last had also the sense of slavish, or scurrilous, as in Jonson's VOLPONE (1605), speaking of men subject

petulancy of every vernaculous orator, that were wont to be the care of kings. Also vernile, slavish, servile; verto

Glass;

century. Cp. vair.

the

nility,

1788:

H. Clarke exclaimed in stupidity and vernility of

servility.

Oh

the

See pedlers French.

verser.

versute.

Crafty,

vert ere,

versus,

wily. Latin versutum; to turn; whence also

mankind, that there should be permitted such an abuse of power in the world, as

vertex, vertigo, adversary of conversation. Hence

either a public or a domestic gynecocracy!

versutiloquous,

A

vernage. strong sweet white Italian wine. Also vernagelle. Chaucer has, in THE MERCHANT'S TALE (1386): He drinketh clarre,

ypocras,

and vernage, Of

spices

encrese his corrage. For another

hote, to

instance of

vernant.

its

(1)

belonged to

St.

The

versutiloquent,

the

word was not used

earlier.

the vertebrates are those with a

Note that backbone

that can turn. Also: vertent year, a cycle

during which stars

(according to Plato)

the

and planets complete a revolution

the

heavens:

15,000

years,

vertible,

capable of turning or being turned; inconstant, mutable, vertiginal, vertiginous,

See ver.

vernicle.

fields

crafty or scheming in speech. Frequent since the 16th century;

of

use, see bardolf.

and many

kerchief said to have

Veronica, with which the

wiped on his way to features became marked

giddy; also vertigious. One might lengthily discourse on the vertiginal and versute

ways of those that plan television adver-

face of Christ was

His

Calvary;

upon

This cloth

it.

relic; it is

dral in vessel

is still

venerated as a

preserved at St. Peter's Cathe-

Rome.

(2)

Any

similar cloth or

or ornament thus

tising.

vertsauce.

A

sauce

made mainly with

green herbs. Also sauce verte, vergesauce. Used in the 15th century.

marked, used

for devotion; especially, a token

worn by

pilgrims. Via Old French from the name

Veronica. Also vernycle; veronica, veroniveronique, verony. Chaucer in the

vertuless.

vertumnal.

cle,

Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) describes the Pardoner: A vernycle hadde

he sowed up on his cappe. Bishop Thomas in his poem PSYCHE (1711) pleaded:

An

old form

(Chaucer)

for

virtueless.

Relating to the Springtime,

vernal. Associated with ver, q.v.,

but de-

rived from Vertumnus, the Roman god of change, god of the seasons; vertere

versum, to turn, whence also

Ken

(vortere)

soul, Lord, thy veronique make, That I may thy resemblance take.

revert, convert, controvert, diversion, vice

My

versa. fickle;

vernility.

veronique.

See vernaculous.

See vernicle.

,

Hence vertumnal, changeable, but more often in the transferred

sense of vernal, as

when T. Adams

says

in EIRENOPOLIS (1622): Her smiles are more reviving than the vertumnall sunneshine.

706

veterate

verty

An

Alert, attentive; early.

verty.

form of

averty,

from Latin

men

aphetic

ad,

to

+

do

A common The

virtues.

many

The Greeks

"the sacred herb"; with

was

sprig of

it

as a

but

the

YOU LIKE IT; What would you

me now, and

I were your verie,

verie Rosalind? Also, true, faithful; law-

Wycherley in THE PLAIN DEALER (1676) Sir, Sir, your very servant; I was afraid you had forgotten me. ful.

called it

said:

Zeus' banquet

it

and

win and hold true

off sores.

Christians

Not

hailed

as

it

the

plant

that

grew at the foot of the Cross, hence had the power to heal and to bless. It was thrown, to bring good harvest and good

on the great bonfires that blazed on Midsummer Night, (cp. midsummer

and 17th

cen-

investigate. Latin vestigare,

footprint, as in Sir

Thomas

Herbert's A .

love.

be outdone, the

to

(16th

RELATION OF SOME YEARS TRAVAILE INTO AFRIQUE AND THE GREATER ASIA

used vervain to establish and cement to

early

vestigatum, to track; search; especially, to follow the trail of. Hence, vestigating, a

made them

Anglo-Saxons, calling it ashthroat, its dried roots about their necks to

form of

tury)

its juices,

snakebites;

the Druids' bodies,

An

vestigate.

potent healers of all ills. They like the Elizabethan country folk long after them friendship,

See pote.

vest.

in their processions; the infused with wine, were used

it,

smeared on

hung ward

to

say

The Romans wore a charm against sorcery. The

to cure fevers

The

of their wittes

things,

purified.

Druids bore stalks of

it

verie

Orlando:

asks

1600)

called for

earliest

the

(in Shakespeare's AS

guise

days Persians bore it before

the altars of the Sun.

hall

also

plant,

verbena, valued from

not see

fantasies of their passion. Rosalind in dis-

.

vervain.

They which are out

said:

coupled with wise, as by Barbour in THE BRUCE (1375): King Robert was wis in his deed and ek verty. tury, often

.

she was a

PLAINE DISveray patronesse. CO VERIE OF TEN ENGLISH LEPERS (1592)

vertere, to turn; cp. versute. Also werty, vairtie. Used in the 14th and 15th cen-

.

to whom Timme in A

Englonde

of

wherein he

(1634),

states that the

Adam

.

.

Cinga-

was there created

lese

claim that

and

lived there; they believe

it

rather in

regard his vestigatings are yet imprinted in the earth. Hence also the still current vestige, a footprint, a

remainder as a

re-

minder. should

not

be

fortune,

vetanda.

men.) So great was

done. Literally (Latin) things that should be forbidden; Latin vetare, vetatum, to forbid. Hence also vetation, a forbidding

plants

of

known by

magical its

its

potency that other came to be

virtue

name: verbenas,

all

kinds

(in

17th and 18th century dictionaries); pertaining to the veto; having

vetitive,

essay ON GARDENS. It remains a sweet, citron-scented

forbid.

Temple

(1685)

in

his

very.

True, the real, genuine. Old French Latin verus, true; whence also

From

the 13th century. Fisher in verity. the funeral sermon for the Countess of

Richmond

(1509) alluded to all the lerned

power

to forbid. Veto means, literally, I

Of long standing, old, inveterate (which has replaced it); also, authoritative. 17th century dictionaries listed a

veterate.

plant of the gardens.

verai;

that ,

of sweet or sacred plants used for adorning altars, as bays, olive, rosemary, myrtle, said

Things

verb veterate, to grow old. Latin vetus, whence also veteran. Hence,

veteris, old;

growing old; veteratorian an old hand), crafty, subtle in

veterescent,

(noun:

707

vimmeous

vetitive

[Note that veterinarian is from Latin veterinae, cattle.] Hence also, vetust,

old, ancient; vetusty

(accent

on the

See psychomachy.

vice.

deceit.

See wizard.

victim.

first

, antiquity. John Halle, in AN HISTORICAL!, EXPOSTULATION AGAINST THE

Things that ought

syllable)

videnda.

ABUSES

The gerundive The same form

OF

AND

CHYRURGERIE

PHISICKE

(1565) declared: / have thought good to gather the councels and good documentes

vetitive.

that ought to be done. Sterne in

SHANDY (1760) fore, of

See vetanda.

was not, as you source

Via traveling. viaggiatory. Frequently Italian viaggiare, to voyage, from Latin

A

via, way.

in

viatorious,

ing

or

(money

supply

viatic,

a

for

a

provisions)

tion.

value, ingly.

dere,

a jew days had elapsed, I rapidly collected my viatica in bundles.

letter

of

good

book.

used figuratively: the

our viaticum, or as in a

J.

and

The

religious sense

in Kingsley's

is

WESTWARD HO!

exemplified (1855):

No

absolution, no viaticum, nor anything! I die like a dog!

viaticum.

gently or slightly. vibratiuncle. The

The

slight vibration is a words were used in

and 19th centuries, as in Thomas Reid's AN INQUIRY INTO THE HUMAN MIND

Latin

vilis,

to weigh,

his seniors.

de-

viduus,

regard as of little hence, to treat slight-

+

worthless, vile

consider.

penThis

in the 16th

and

estimate,

common

(2)

Confused with

this,

es-

pecially in the 19th century, to vilipend, to vilify, to speak of with contempt, to

represent as bad or worthless. Thackeray in VANITY FAIR (1848) says: Menacing the youth

with

maledictions

.

.

.

and

vilipending the poor innocent girl as the

and most

artful

of vixens. Also

vilipenditory,

abusive;

vili-

pendious, contemptible; vilipendency, the expression of contempt; vilipension, the act

the 18th

(1764): Our sensations arise from vibrations and our ideas from vibratiuncles.

widow;

To

(1)

to despise;

vilipender; act of vibrating

A

vidua,

lant volatility which is impatient of, or vilipends, the conversation and advice of

basest

See viaggiatory.

vibratiunculation.

Latin

17th centuries, revived by Scott in WAVERLEY (1814): a youth devoid of that petu-

(1775): Bunbury's Jekyll Sterne's Journey are almost viaticums in France as the post

etchings as

also

last,

same

prophet, a seer.

sense was very

When

is

the

came the rare (16th century) Eng-

vilipend.

journey. Used from the 16th century. T. Taylor in his translation (1822) of Apu-

The word is grace of God

From

r

empty, unoccupied.

journey; also, the Eucharist,, administered to one about to set forth on the last

leius said:

tho

prived, destitute, bereaved. Hence, in either sense, vidual, viduate; viduous,

relat-

viaticum,

there-

this,

Emptiness, the state of being hence, especially (though less often destitute), widowhood. Also, vidua-

THE LIFE OF SHELLEY

long-traveling;

Also

travel.

TRISTRAM

list,

destitute;

upon the viaggiatory English old maids, who scorn the Continent. Hence also viator, traveler; viatorial, vito

see, least.

my

viduity.

(1847) remarks

atorian,

videnda at Lyons

lish vtdent, a

viadant (17th century) was a

Medwin

wayfarer.

In

states:

good and veterate authors.

of dyvers

be seen.

to

plural of videre, to see. appears in agenda, things

of despising.

vimineous. twigs osier,

708

or

Pliable;

made

wickerwork.

Latin

of

pliable

viminem, reed. Hence viminal, good for wind-

vmaceous

vinolent

ing or binding (in 17th and 18th century Also viminious. Matthew

century) was an antidote to poison. Note that both evince and evict are from

dictionaries).

Prior wrote, in

ALMA

(1717)

As

in a hive's

vimineous dome, Ten thousand bees enjoy their home. vmaceous.

Wine-colored, a rosy red. In

Pennant's

BRITISH

ZOOLOGY

read the description:

(1776)

we

a fine cinereous: breast and belly, pale chestnut dashed with a vinaceous cast. the

rump

While folk still argue as to who can screw the inscrutable, there is no doubt that the English once vinced the vince.

when with the help of God they destroyed The Invincible Armada of Philip II of Spain, July 21-29, 1588. As R. Adams said in 1590: The English fleet dispersed that invincible navy, and made it vincible. The 18th century .

ing to defeat, to be victorious; from Latin vincere, vici, victum, as in Caesar's laconic report Veni, vidi,

conquered. The

quering hero!) as

of

Strangely, the

Vincent's

I

vici,

came, I saw, I

+ demo; de, emo, emptus, to take (whence

exemplary, example), later, to buy (Caveat Hence vindemial, vindemiatory,

emptor).

relating to the gathering of grapes

other

fruit);

vindemiation.

(or

The word

my

stellation Virgo. In Isaac Todhunter's WILLIAM WHEWELL, D.D. (1831) a figura-

you

can.

A

vinipote.

wine-bibber.

Latin vinum,

cousin

"the

hunter".

wine

a

game

of bowls

whence potation; Greek potas, (drinkable, fresh) water; po tamos, a river; whence hippopotamus, river-horse (Philip Philhippus lover of horses, as were

dupe in

law

vindematrix, a female vintager, is used as the name of a bright star in the con-

as

participle (Hail the consurvives in the name Vin-

of

orthodoxy:

+

potus, having drunk; potare t to

drink,

"what

Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great.) One of our best American

believes"*

everywhere, always Vincent of Lerins, died about 450

everyone, (St.

+

away

tive use is quoted: People will ask you to reckon your fruits: so vindemiate as fast

or other cheating play (16th century) was called the vincent; Vincent's law, the art of cheating perhaps a cant perversion of S*.

To harvest fruit, especially grapes; sometimes, (noun: vindemy) to take honey from the hive. Latin vindevindemiate.

.

(Richardson) used the noun vincibility. To vince was a 16th century verb, mean-

cent,

prove; to recover one's property, hence to remove another from one's property, the current sense. Without being wholly invincible, some folk are hard to convince.

miare; vinum, vine, wine

invincible,

.

from vincere,

evincere, evictum, to prove,

to conquer, to confute. To evict earlier meant to vanquish (in argument); to

tellers of folktales is also a discriminating

A.D.; whence, the Vincentian canon.) Uniin versal credulousness marks the dupe.

vinipote. He is also a vinologist, connoisseur in wines, although not given to

the 17th century vincible was applied especially to vincible ignorance, which, being

vinolency,

Donne superable, is not to be condoned; in a Sermon of 1626 remarked: God for-

hart in the THE

of that which is left undone, out of a wilfull and vincible ignorance. Similarly, ignorance of the law, being

gives

none

vincible,

is

no excuse.

A

vincetoxic (17th

drunkenness.

Vinolent,

tend-

ing to make one drunk, fond of drinking, occurs several times in Chaucer. Urqu-

madefied with wine. vinolent.

709

JEWEL (accent on

(1652) used vinothe mad), soaked

See vinipote.

vinomadefied vinomadefied.

vinum.

virly

climbing tree, fit to cover some place of repose (such as a virgin glade, belike). Keats mentions the shrub in ENDYMION

See vinipote.

See metheglin.

virelai.

Also

vyrelay,

and more. See

verelai,

virelay,

verilay,

virly.

in

ous virgin's-bower,

A

popular musical instrument of the 16th and 17th centuries, with keys;

virginal.

a spinet but without legs (hence virginal? or because favored by young

like

THE EARTHLY PARAand the odor-

(1818); Morris says, DISE (1870): And woodbine,

in great heaps

Hung

about that undyked tower. milk.

virgin's

A

solution

of

benjamin

(benzoin) in alcohol, with twenty parts of rose-water. Used in the 17th century

The

spinet was triangular; the rectangular. Usually in the the virginals, referring to one inplural, strument; also a pair of virginals] there

dandified gallant might boast that he bathed in virgin's milk. Also (German

were

Liebfraumilch), a sweet white wine.

ladies?).

as a cosmetic

virginal,

1581.

double virginals, the

also

The

first

in

(tryangle) and the names for other varieties

triangle

harpsicon were of the instrument,

the

harpsicon

(also

an

early harpsichord) being the largest. Pepys, ever gallant, on 16 March, harpsical;

1663

(his

DIARY

went home by Temple the printed

tells)

coach, buying at the

virginall-book for her. Pepys delighted in giving music lessons in his household; in

the DIARY (19 June, 1666) he gives a teasing account of some delightful and per-

wash

for the face

and

skin.

A

viridarium.

strength; (of a for marriage. Latin vires, strength -f potent em, able.

Possessing

viripotent.

woman) vir,

See verderer.

physically

man,

fit

Hence, viripotence, viripotency,

on

the rip) Peyton in

(accent

marriageability. Sir Edward THE DIVINE CATASTROPHE OF

THE KINGLY FAMILY OF THE HOUSE OF STUARTS (1652) noted that Mary Stuart, when she attained to viripotency, was

haps virginal playing. The instrument was then as popular in England as the

sought for a consort to the Dauphin of France.

piano in pre-radio America; watching the loading of household effects into boats

virl.

on

the

Thames during

the great

London

(2 September, 1666) Pepys observed that hardly one boat in three that had the goods of a house in, but there was a

fire

pair of virginalls in

it.

The

harpsichord,

was not only an instrument but a work of art, with paint-

from

ings

its

earliest days,

and jeweled

inlay, a collector's item;

Duke Alfonso II for example, owed

of

Modena

in

1598,

fifty-two harpsichords.

bower. The 'upright clamberer/ a climbing shrub (a variety of clematis), also known as traveler's joy. Mortimer's

A band or strip of metal,

ivory, etc.,

placed along an edge or end of a piece of wood to keep it from wearing or splitting.

Also

virlet,

a small

virl.

Used from

the 15th century; related to ferrule. Thus Ramsay in THE GENTLE SHEPHERD (1725) speaks of A winsome flute, o' plum-tree

made, with ivory virles round. Gait in ANDREW WYLIE OF THAT ILK (1822) mentions an ivory headed cane virled

SIR

with gold.

A

light dance, or dancing game, of the 14th and 15th centuries. Probably

virgin's

virly.

THE WHOLE ART OF HUSBANDRY in 1707 observed that Double virgin's bower is a

refrain.

an old French meaningless vireli, influenced by lai (English lay), song, became virelai, a short

from

710

vireli,

The form

viron lyric

poem

or song. It developed in 14th

century France; usually each stanza had two rhymes, the second in one stanza be-

coming the main rhyme in the next. Chaucer (1385), Gower, Lydgate used the word; Spenser (1579)

,

Drayton; Dry-

den (THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF; 1700): And then the band of flutes began to play, To which a lady sung a virelay. The form, which became unfashionable about 1600, was revived by the light-

A

simple and earlier form of As a noun, circuit, a circling course. As a verb, to go round, encircle. In won, in the viron of, round about. Also vironry, environment. From Old French viron; virer, to turn; from Greek gyros, circle, whence gyrate, gyroscope, and the autogyro, now often seen in these environ.

environs. visney. cherry brandy. Persian wishneh, cherry. An 18th century importation; Bailey in his HOUSEHOLD DICTIONARY

(1736) gives a recipe: "Fill a large bottle and or cask with morello cherries . .

fill

up

.

the bottle or vessel with brandy

Or you might buy Turkish visney in London around 1700 at 20 shillings the .

.

."

gallon.

visor.

Fondness of life; zest for livAlso vitativeness, used in phrenology. ing. Hence vitative, fond of living.

vitativity.

ling.

Also

Quarrelsomeness; vitilitigious,

who

in THE SIMPLE COBLER OF

(1647) knew that a most toylsome taske to runne the wild-goose chase after a well breath'd it

in America

is

opinionist: they delight in vitilitigation. If

only

it

were witty

litigation!

See bever.

A variant of visnomy (vysenamy, visenomy), early forms of physiognomy. The form (from the 16th and early 17th centuries) was revived by Scott in THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR (1818): The loon has woodie written on his very visnomy, and in KENILWORTH; Lamb and viznomy.

others continued

its

use.

See bever.

voidee.

A

or tidbits, leave.

parting dish; wine with spices at bedtime or before guests

From French voidee, voider (whence

avoid): emptying, as by deUsed from the 14th century parture. TROILUS AND CRISEYDE; 1374) to (Chaucer, also

void,

the 17th. Sometimes the voidee was quite Holinshed in his CHRONICLES

elaborate;

mentioned a voidee of

spices with

That which keeps things off or away, a screen, a piece of armor, especially a small piece over an unprotected or portion of the body such as elbow

voider.

See bever.

Hence,

girl,

sixtie spice plates.

See viznomy.

vitilitigation.

Ward

Nathaniel

AGAWAM

(1587)

visnomy.

gating horrid

(Her Greek name was Eris, the opposite of Eros. There should be an adjective critic, balancing erotic.)

vizor.

A liqueur:

vitiliti

threw the apple.

vizard.

verse writers of the late 19th century. viron.

A

earth;

wrang-

quarrelsome.

vitilitigate, to backbite, to

wrangle.

knee. Also a tray or basket into which stage things are put, to clear the table.

A

direction in Heywood's

WITH KINDNESS

(1607)

A WOMAN KILLED reads: Enter 3 or

H. Busk in THE VESTRIAD (1819), beginning the story of Paris and Helen, mentions

4 servingmen, one with a voyder and a woodden knife to take away. The word

the goddess In heaven yclept Alecto . . But discord called by morfak here on

Dekker's THE

.

was

also

used

GP^

figuratively,

HORN-BOOK

as

in

(1609):

vomitonum

volage Piers

Ploughman

the

layd

cloth,

(Three syllables.) A cunning schemer or miser. From the character in Jonson's play VOLPONE (1606); Italian

and

volpone.

Simplicity brought in the voyder. By extension, of a basket for dirty clothes, or of

volpe, Latin vulpis, fox. The word was in the 17th and the early fairly frequent

any receptacle for rubbish; some were indignant, said Purchas in his PILGRIMAGE make (1613), that our Britannia should

18th centuries, as in a sermon of Sachever-

her Virginian lap to be the voider for her lewder and more disordered inhabitants. From the sense of basket, voider

ell,

basket

Lady Fanshawe that, at

for

sweetmeats.

relates

voluper. a cially,

Thus

made gyve

proffer:

thee

A

EVERYMAN

cheff for

mon

espe-

Voluper seems short

cover-head.]

Old French envelopeur, Chaucer in THE MILLER'S TALE

enveloper;

says:

(1386)

The

of

tapes

her

white

penaunce, voyder of

one of the lines of THE SONG OF SONGS (BALLETTES OF SOLOMON): Thy chekes are

lates

Giddy;

fickle,

inconstant.

tury; reintroduced in the

Com-

lyke a pece of a

18th century

from the French volage , fickle, from Latin volare, to fly. Also volageous; volage-brained. Chaucer in THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE (1366) has: She fulfilled of lusty nesse, That was not yit twelve yeer of age, With herte wylde and thought volage. And Ouida in STRATHMORE (1865) remarked upon the volage, and somewhat directly

indiscreet, Princesse

A

headdress;

voluper Were of the same suyte of hir coler. Cranmer in the BIBLE (1539) trans-

from the 14th into the 16th cen-

volary.

woman's

kerchief

a kerchief.

adversyte.

volage.

A

(1520)

precious Jewell I wyll

Called

lively

wrapped about the head. [Kerchief comes from French couvre-

in her MEMOIRS

Madrid: Several times we saw the

the King's account.

.

ponesf

Feasts of Bulls and at them we had great voiders of dried sweetmeats brought us

upon

.

.

Holy Psalmist paint out

the crafty insidiousness of such wilely vol-

came in the late 17th and early 18th cento be used of an ornamented tury, (wooden)

November, 1709: In what

5

colours does the

de Lorine.

large birdcage.

The

17th and

18th century term for an aviary; also, the birds therein. Also volarie, vollary, volery;

Latin volare, to

Also used figuratively, as in Jonson's THE NEW INNE (1629): She fly.

now sits penitent and solitary, Like the forsaken turtle, in the volary Of the light heart, the cage she hath abused; and in UNDERWOODS: I thought thee then our Orpheus, that wouldst try, Like him, to make the air one volary.

pomgranate within thy

volupers. He probably saw rosy English chekes on the Queen of Sheba.

vomitorium.

an

seats,

A

passageway

exit, in the

from

the

ancient theatre or

amphitheatre. Also vomitory. Latin vomitorium; vomere, vomitum, to pour forth,

vomit This word, misunderstood, gave to

rise

the legend

that

the

at

one would

Roman

step out to the vomitorium, by a finger or feather in his mouth effect purgation and make feasts a glutted

room table.

the

rise,

and so back to the banquet There are always gross-gullets, but

for more,

Roman

coursed meal

like the

would

Chinese at a manytaste

and

test,

nib-

bling at all but his special choice of the proffered viands. It was the theatre audi-

ence that Vomited forth/ as Gibbon knew when he stated in THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1776): Sixtyfour vomitories (for by that name the doors 712

were

very

aptly

distinguished)

voraginous

vysycyon

forth

poured

the

immense

multitude.

The word was also used figuratively, as when John Wilson in NOCTES AMBROSIANAE (1826) described a man with his tongue struck dumb in his cheek, and the vomitory

of vociferation hermetically sealed.

Relating to or resembling a or an abyss or chasm. Also

whirlpool vorageous, voragious; vorage, vorago, a whirlpool, a chasm; Latin vorago; vorare, to devour,

whence

also voracious, voracity;

horned brow, the sign

The

of the cuckold.

allusion

the

to

is

amours of Mars and Vulcan's wife, Venus. Rowlands, in his satire LOOKE TO IT: FOR ILE STABBE YE (1604), stabbed all sorts of sinners with his pen, among them the "huswife"

voraginous.

A

Vulcan's brow.

it

how he

Or

can,

of

demanding money

always

her husband: You that will have

get he shall weare a Vulit,

cans brow, poore man. lie stabbe thee. See pervulgate.

vulgarization.

To wound.

vorant, devouring; vorax, ravenous. Cokaine in DIANEA (1654) told of a vora-

vulnerate.

ginous place, about the banks of which those men appeare that have perished by

wound.

Reeve in GOD'S PLEA FOR PRECEDENT FOR OR LONDONS NINEVEH, MERCY (1657) used the word to mean with the swallowing capacity of an abyss,

wounds, vulnerative, likely to produce wounds; W. Taylor in THE MONTHLY REVIEW of 1818 wrote: With a sort of hedgehog hostility, which points its vulnerative

grieving that we think to get our admission under God with voraginous paunches,

vulnifical, causing

a violent death.

and soaked

gullets.

To bestow; grant, deign (to or to permit). Used from to grant accept, the 14th century, it developed many forms

vouchsafe.

voutchafe, fochesafe, wetit saffe, wychsafe); until the 16th century was usually treated as two words, thus (as

votesafe,

vouching safe, wouch it safe. Shakespeare in CYMBELINE (1611): / have assayl'd her with musickes, but she vouchsafes no notice.

You may

see, said

Hakluyt in his

(1599), what gracious privileges and high prerogatives were by divers kings vouchsafed upon them.

VOYAGES

vulnerem

vulneratum; vives,

The

adjective

vulneral,

quills in

Latin vulnerare, a (volnerem), vulnerable

vulnerary,

direction

every

helpful

alike,

sur-

for

vulnific,

wounds, vulnerose, full of wounds, badly wounded, vulneration, the act of wounding; the state of being wounded. In the 16th century, vuln, to

wound,

in

heraldry: vulned, by a weapon; used of the pelican, vulning, wounding,

surviving

represented

as

always shown

vulpine. vyssare. lish)

713

breast.

stillicide.

See lupine.

Early

form

vysycyon. lish)

wounding her own

See

vulpicide.

pierced

form

(southern

Middle

Eng-

of fisher. Also vysseth, fishing.

Early

(southern Middle Eng-

of physician.

w wafery.

Goods

waif.

your wastcoateers, your base wenches that

See chaundrye. (said Bailey,

1751)

scratch at such occasions? you're deluded.

that a

thief drops or leaves behind him, when overcharged or close pursued, which belong to the King or the Lord of the

sion;

or homeless or remains in use.

lost

(and

now

poetic)

form

of wagon. Old English waen, waegen, related to way. waner, wainman, a

A

wagoner. Also wainful, wagon-load, and other combinations. Thus wainscot meant originally

wagon

+

a

fine

imported

sckot, load

(?)

.

A

oak,

from

wainwright

was a wagon builder.

watchman of the royal household that sounded the watch, on trumpet, fife, or other wind instrument. Hence, the waits, a group of wind instrumentalists maintained by a

city.

wait,

guait,

since

the

A prostitute. Women in the

16th and 17th centuries wore a waistcoat, a camisole or bodice, under their gown. The waistcoateer managed without the

A rebuke

Beaumont and Fletchgown. er's wrr WITHOUT MONEY (1616) runs: Doe you thinke you are here, sir, amongst in

The word watch,

guet,

14th century. (1553) said that

DIARY

is

related to

spy.

Common

Mackyn in his the new Lord

Mayor was attended by the craftes of London, toward Westminster, with trumpets blohyng and the whets playing. Hence, in general, wind instruments shawms,

(hautboys,

a

tension,

band

flutes).

of

(3)

By

ex-

and

street

singers players of Christmas carols, in expectation of gifts. Thus the sound of the waits, says Irving in THE SKETCH BOOK (1820),

breaks

upon

night.

the mid-watches of a winter in THE PENNSYLVANIA

Whittier

PILGRIM

(1872)

Christmas eves waistcoateer.

time between ap-

Gothic wahtwo, English watch; Old French

and marks upon him! thus revived by Scott in PEVERIL OF THE PEAK (1823): You are here a waif on Cupid's manor, and I must seize on you in name of the deity.

early

actor's

a

in DEVOTIONS (1624): What a wayve stray is that man that hath not Thy

An

an

also,

A

Donne

wain.

a period of wait-

watchman, senpearances onstage. (2) tinel, spy; a body of guards. In particular,

century in Anglo-Latin, in English since 1375, often in the phrase waif and straif Often used figuratively as by (stray).

neglected child, waif

(1)

especially, in the theatre, intermis-

ing;

Manor, unless the owner convict the thief within a year and a day; if so, he shall have his goods again. Also weif, wayve, wayff; earlier gwaif. Used from the 13th

In the sense of a

As a noun:

wait.

tells

He

listened to the sweet

ing

down

how On

frosty

and Old wait-songs soundclosed his eyes

his native street.

As

noun, "a woman," said "outlawed for contemptuBailey (1751), ously refusing to appear when sued in law. She is so called as being forsaken [a waive.

714

a

wale

wantsum

waif, q.v.] of the law, as a man is, because

and not an outlaw

not being sworn in leets to the King, nor in courts as men are, cannot be outlawed." The earliest

meaning of the punish by depriving of

the protection of the law. Cp.

wale.

my

leet.

In addition to current uses

(to

16th cen-

wenyon, wenian); later, with a (wild) wanion. Shakespeare in PERICLES (1607) has: Come away, or lie fetch'th with a

(GUY MANNERING, 1815: The Bertrams were aye the wale o' the countryside!) and others

ON

Thus De Quincey

LANDOR

(1847)

states:

wanion

Our Arab

and

others.

Carlyle, Scott,

use was not revived;

it

wanlace.

blood) course

sour.

Latin

declares that his soul can

without cruditie, A monster weightie as an elephant, And never wamble for it a

monster,

wandsomely.

Reluctantly. 14th and 15th centuries.

Used in the

him with

out

circuit

made by some

of

a

A

of a

intercept and head

ment, an ambush; a crafty device or plot. A hunting servant used for intercepting the game was called a wanlasour, wandles-

about;

when Lyly in ENDYMION (1591) spoke of the rume of love that wambleth in his stomacke and Middleton in A GAME AT (1624)

.

hunting party, back the game. Hence: an appointed station in hunting; an intercepting move-

vomere, meanings may have come from different roots. In the first sense, the word was also used figuratively

digest

upon

spirit

to

to vomit, the

CHESS

wanion on, with a

a curse light

wanion.

The may

as

May

to,

presbyterian

be seen in THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY (1400): She went up from that worthy into a wale chamber.

wamble. To feel nausea; to twist to walk unsteadily; (of water, or to seethe, to boil. While along one the form wamble is related to

(wild)

Scott revived the phrases, as in WOODSTOCK battered the (1826): He would have

friend, however, is no connoisseur in courts of law: small wale of courts in the desert. The verb form of wale was used

adjectival

A

wanion.

in his NOTES

by Burns,

pain,

Used in the phrase in the waniand short for in the waniand [waning] moon, supposed to be an unlucky period: an exclamatory term or imprecation, like "with a plague." Used in the 14th and 15th centuries; about 1550, replaced by wanton (wannion,

they were renewed by Scott

in the 19th.

my

(wild)

to wale by, to select and put aside); a noun, the act of choosing, the chosen, choice, the best; and an adjective, chosen, choice, excellent from the 13th century.

forms through the

suit

waniand.

the flesh with wales or weals, etc.) wale was a verb, to choose (also with out;

tury,

Thus Wyatt (in TotRenewyng with My wanhope with your

MISCELLANY, 1542):

stedfastnesse.

mark

Common

religious imagery. tel's

(13th century)

verb waive was to

Despair. Used since the 13th century; often in a religious sense, despair of salvation; then, in love poems using

wanhope.

women

Used into the 16th century.

wannion. wantroth. the 13th

See waniand. Unbelief. Also wantruth.

and 14th

In

centuries.

Lack of confidence. Used by Chaucer (TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE, 1374) and into the 15th century; a Coventry

wantrust.

Mystery of 1450 avers:

Many

a

man

with

his wantruste hymsylf hathe slayn.

wantsum. Poor, without and 13th century word. 715

.

An

apt 12th

wanweird

wanson

wanweird.

ship or district. Also wappenschawing, wappenshaw; wapinschawin, vaupynschauying, and many more; sometimes mod-

the

Misfortune, ill fate. Used in 16th and 17th centuries. Mainly in

Douglas in the AENEIS (1513) comfort heir of, thinkand but baid That hard wanwerd suld follow

Scotland;

wrote:

I

tuik

ernized into weaponshowing, Cp. wapentake. Scott in THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH 1828) hails the best wrestler the weapon-shawing the

fortun glaid.

.

A

wapentake. shire; a

subdivision of an English (later, a court) of such

mad

district. Also wappentake, wapyntakf and many more. The word is from Old Norse vapnatak; vapn, weapon -f tak, taking. In Old Norse it meant a brandishing of weapons as a vote at an assembly

.

horses.

in

Derbyshire,

their

history:

warshed of warison.

shire-divisions are the

and

may

to

of

A

garrison

strongest e garnyson that a riche man have, as wel to kepen his persone as

his)

warison, to

have suggested the word

is

a corruption

of wappered, worn-out, but that hardly fits the sense. Among the meanings of the word wap are to throw, to envelop;

may

afford suggestions.

wappenshawing. A muster of men under arms (into the 17th century) in a lord-

make

rich. Also, to give in warison, to give

Also

marriage.

figuratively,

as

PROVERBS OF HENDYNG (1325):

can only be guessed; some

bring

neighebores.]

tool).

The meaning

meaning

[originally

(someone) in (or to

as

wappened. Used by Shakespeare in TIMON OF ATHENS (1607): This it is That makes the wappen'd widdow wed againe.

variant

whence

guarison,

his goodes, is that he be beloved among his subjetz and his To

weopmonne, wepenmon. The word is from weapon + man, meaning the division of mankind that bears its own familiarly referred

my

English garnison, garnish, to fit out, to supply, hence, means of defence. Chaucer in MELIBEUS (1386) says: The gretteste

hun-

A

(now

Was

then taking on the meaning of

safety,

human male. Used from the 10th to the 14th century, to distinguish a man from a woman. Also waepman,

weapon

(1369): /

sorwe.

Wealth, possessions.

English

dreds.

wapman.

al

Old French)

(in

North-

amptonshire, Leicestershire; Nottinghamshire (1846) was divided into six wapen-

Other

by

preserve; from the

word

THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE

Yorkshire,

Lincolnshire,

protect,

13th century; also guarish; waris, warysche, warshe, and the like. Chaucer says in

The

Notts,

guard,

A common

save, rescue.

an assembly meetingshires of England that have wapentakes have large Danish elements

heal, to cure; to recover;

to

extension,

Hence,

district.

To

warish.

picking up of weapons at the end of an assembly. place or

See were.

war.

or gathering of warriors; in Iceland, the

these

the king breaker of

meeting

a

takes.

.

of

in

in the

Wyt and

good warysoun; Robert Manof Brunne in HANDLYNG SINNE (1303) ning said: Gyf thou ravysshe a may den poore

wysdom

.

.

.

is

thou has stole her warysun.

treasure, warison

of a superior,

came

to

mean

From

the gift

a reward; then Chaucer

to mean one's just due; reward or punishment. In THE BATTLE OF OTTERBOURNE occurs the line: Mynstrels,

(1366)

playe this

used

for your wary son [reward, pay]; poem was included in Percy's

up

RELIQUES

716

it

OF

ANCIENT

ENGLISH

POETRY

warlock

warnish

Scott, probably mistaking the used warison to mean the sounding

and gart them skirl. Stevenson, though, would have disappointed the radio-TV

THE LAY OF THE LAST

give-away audience; in KIDNAPPED (1886) we read: I'm nae warlock, to find a fortune for you in the bottom of a parritch

(1765); sense,

to

call

attack:

MINSTREL (1805): thy towers

Either

within

receive

Two hundred

of

my

master's

powers Or straight they sound their warison And storm and spoil thy garrison.

[porridge] bowl.

Byron in DON JUAN

As

warnel.

See agnail.

sound my wari-

waraer.

A

my

friend Scott says,

son.'

Others have

less

(1824)

7

follows:

wittingly continued

Scott's mistake.

uses in CURSOR MUNDI, 1300) warmean the Devil. Hence,

lock was used to

spirit of hell;

hell; a villain, a

damned

damnable

soul in

soul; a

mon-

strous creature

giant, cannibal, serpent, real or mythical creature hostile to man. By extension, one in league with the devil, a sorcerer, wizard, magician. From Scott's frequent use of warlock in this

word grew again into currency. Dryden used the word to mean a man sense, the

invulnerable

(by

certain

metals);

he

spelled it (in his AENEIS, 1697) as though the word came from war, fighting + luck, fortune, saying of Aeneas: It seems he

was no warluck, as the Scots commonly call such men, who, they say, are ironfree, or lead-free. The word was very

common from tury. Goliath

is

the 9th to the 16th cen-

man

Alias! quar sal

we

mi sake, used Burns undertake? warlau Again yon the word several times; in TAM o' SHANTER in a (1789) he has Warlocks and witches find a

Used in the

When

Archbishop Warham was "inthroned" in 1505, the warner before the

first course had eight towers, with flowers and battlements; atop each tower was a

that dar the fight, for

dance while auld Nick screwed the pipes

beadle in

costume. Often, although

full

buttressed with wire

orated with feathers,

and wood, and decsilk, and beads, the

warner was eaten. A development of the same sort, wrought mainly of sugar, was the subtlety, from the meaning, an ingenious contrivance. It was often made in a form that alluded to the host's or the guest of honor's name or achievements. early as 1390 (in THE FORM OF CURY) we read of curious potages and meetes,

As

and sotiltees. They have varied in design from a nested pelican feeding her young to St. George slaying the dragon; their

main modern counterpart

the wedding-

is

cake.

warnish,

(1)

A variant

(in the 14th cen-

of garnish, meaning to equip oneself; to furnish with supplies or guards. form of warn, used several (2) An early tury)

in CURSOR MUNDI (1300) as e.g., Therof was wernist Moses. Hence warnison, a supply of men and provisions, a times,

referred to in these lines

from CURSOR MUNDI:

an

16th century; from to warn, to announce.

including werlau, warlaw, warlag, warelocke, warlike, warlok, warluck, warloghef warlo. From the 10th century (and in

a devil,

cake built into

or

fore a course at a dinner.

Originally, an oath-breaker, a traitor. From Old Saxon war, true (PreTeutonic root wero, Latin verus) + Old English leogan, to lie. It had many forms,

warlock.

many

tart

elaborate decoration, carried around be-

Also

garrison.

warmstore,

warnystoor,

To

and

717

uses

the

word

the

like,

warnestore was

provender, garniture. to furnish with supplies; to cer

warnstora,

warnestore,

several

fortify.

Chau-

times,

as in

water-

warrok

wrote a book entitled Wastethrifts and

MELIBEUS (1386): Ye sholde doon youre diligence to kepen youre persone and to warnestoor youre hous.

To

Workmen. Of

bind;

producing

also,

sadel

uppon

loke

thou warroke him well Also

Soffre-tU-I-seo-my-tyme,

many

upon water, some may be

And

terms

built

recalled, water-

a glass globe, filled with water, that and throws rays of light upon an object; also hour water-ball, a device that ball,

collects

cp.

indicates the passing of time by means of a ball in water, water-bed, a bed on ship-

Caution, prudence; hence, sagacbe wary. ity. From ware, as in beware, Used from the 9th into the 13th century.

warship.

bundle of straw or reeds: used

the

Among

water-.

ruskin.

A

of

munity.

a girth, a girdle. Also warrock, warrick, warroke. Langland in PIERS PLOWMAN (1362) said: Sette my

warrok.

mode

the

them, and their relative value to the com-

board; a mattress with water inside, for

an

invalid, water-break, water-breach,

an

as a torch; used as a

irruption of water, as through a dike; a stretch of broken water or rapids (Doug-

of cloth also)

las,

wase.

pad (in this sense, on the head to relieve it of pressure when a burden is borne upon it. Also wayse, weize, weese, and more. Used from the 14th century.

A

washway. shallow

part of a road over which a flows. Hence, a road

stream

1513; Wordsworth, 1806; Tennyson, THE BROOK, 1855). watev'-bulge , waterbouge, water-bouget, a skin or leather bag for bearing water; usually two on a pole across the shoulders of a man or the back of a beast, watercast er3 one that diagnoses

by examining the urine, a uromantes; in the 17th century, a quack; the Water Poet (1627): the fare of quacksalvers, mounte-

deeper in the middle than at the sides. Also washum (Bailey, 1751). To make to

make

light

of.

sermon of 1631 declared: that hath not been accustomed to a

He

washway

Donne

of in a

(with),

sin,

but exercised in resisting it, will finde many tentations, but as a washway that he can trot through, and go forward religiously in his calling for all them.

wasteL

Bread made of the

finest flour.

Also wastle, wastell, was til. Altered from

Old French

guastel, gastel, French gateau, Chaucer in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) says: Of smale hounds hadde she that she fedde With

cake.

rested flessh or milk and wastel bredde. For its use in a recipe, see gaylede. wastethrift.

Used

An

outrageous

ratcatching watercasters. waterwater-cracker, kinds of fireworks.

banckes, cat,

waterfast (16th century), watertight, water-

gang (13th century)

,

a flood; an

artificial

drainage or irrigation; also (14th to 17th century), Watergate. water-gate (15th century) was a sluice or

water-course

for

A

waterlade (llth to 15th cena channel, an aqueduct, water lag century), a scoundrel; probably

floodgate, tury),

(16th short for waterlagger, waterleader (13th to 17th century) a carter of water for sale.

Waterloo, a decisive contest: to meet

Waterloo, to be finally defeated. the almost ubiquitous fluid but from the village near Brussels where, on one's

Not from

spendthrift.

18 June,

by 17th century playwrights; Middleton, in A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE (1608): Hee's a rioter, a wastthrift,

Moore

a brothellmaister. In 1868 H. Brandreth

bright,

first

1815,

Napoleon met

his

final

defeat. Also Waterloo, a bright blue color;

718

(1823):

Eyes of blue (Eyes of that

victorious

tint

Which

English

Waterloo maids

ween

call

'Waterloo')

.

Also

Waterloo

cracker, Waterloo bang-up, a kind of fireworks that makes a loud snap when the

ends are pulled (often set by the dinnerplate at a celebration), waterologer (accent on the ol), a watercaster (contemptu-

wayzgoose. An entertainment given by a master printer to his workmen, marking

work by

the beginning of

"about

usually,

candle-light;

Bartholomew-tide"

(24 August). Later, it became an annual summer festivity of the printer's employees,

century); hence, waterology. water-ordeal, a medieval method of purg-

with a dinner and a trip to the country.

ing one bewitched, or of

from wayz, straw

17th

ous;

testing one's

hot water-ordeal (1701): for (1) the party accused to thrust his hands or feet into scalding water, on presumption that his innocence would receive no harm;

Bailey

now pretend

to try witches)

whether he

would sink or swim, waterquake (16th

cen-

1605), a

shaggy type of dog. waterscape (17th cen-

from drowning, watershoot, waterbough, sucker or branch growing at the bottom of a tree, watershot, a sudden tury), escape

flood; as

an

with

adjective,

many

streams

KIM (1901) speaks of a (?): fruitful watershot valley, but he might have had the other meaning in mind, as Kipling in

Golding's

translation

of

(1567)

Ovid's

deep valleyes have made been watershotte of level ground, by other fish) watersouchy, perch (later,

METAMORPHOSES

said

boiled and served in

its

own

+

is

goose, a stubble-goose, is

no

tradi-

tion that goose was served at these parties, and wase (q.v.), a wisp or bundle of

was never spelled wayz except by Bailey. In fact, before Bailey (and after straw,

him

until people took his

word

for

it),

the form was waygoose. It is probably a folk change from an earlier, forgotten,

word.

tury, after earthquake), a tremor at sea.

water-rug (Shakespeare, MACBETH;

word

suggests that the

served at the feast. But there

guilt:

(2) cold water-ordeal: for the defendant to be cast into a pond or river (as they

(1751)

liquor; the

An

weanel.

animal newly weaned. Also

wennell, weynelle, weanneL Used since the 15th century; by Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579) It was sup.

planted by weanling, which Bailey, however, (1751) defines as an animal ready to be weaned. In the 16th century, and later in dialects,

weanyer (wanyer, wayner, wenyer) and in the 19th century weaner were also used for weanling.

A

webster. times;

weaver. Used from earliest

after the

14th century, usually a

the recipe was brought from Holland in 18th century; also watersutchy, water-

man. Doughty, however, in ARABIA DESERTA (1888) with reference not to England remarks: Good webster-wives weave in white

souchet, watersokey, waterzoutch.

borders

made of

their sheep's wool.

ween.

Opinion,

belief; likelihood; doubt.

Waterloo. wath.

A

See water-. ford;

a fordable stream.

English waed, wado, the sea, waves; Latin vadum, the sea; a shallow place, a ford,

from the root

ba,

va,

Riding record of 1610 as

is

A North Forasmuch to become

to go. stated:

likely Skipton bridge ruinous by carriages of great burthen a wath is there made passable.

Withouten ween, without doubt.

Old

.

.

.

A

very

common

word, 9th through 15th century; still used in poetry as a verb: / ween, I think. Also to expect, to desire, to hope;

Shakespeare in HENRY

vi,

PART ONE (1591)

Levied an army, weening to redeem And have installed me in the diademe. In the 14th and 15th has:

719

Thy

father

.

.

.

well- the wed

weet there was an adjective

centuries,

beautiful:

believes too soon.

Weening, supposing,

mean

a noun, came also to one's opinion;

insisting

hence, self-conceit,

as

upon over-

doest thinke 1579); later, it

(THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR,

meant ignorant; weetingly,

knowingly. After about 1550, weet was for 150 years a poetic form, especially in such phrases as / give you to wittingly,

weet. In the 18th century, it was revived in imitation of Spenser, and given new forms: / weet, he weets; weeted used so,

Patmore, Swinburne. Shakespeare uses it but once, in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1606): the world to Shelley,

We

stand

up

in the bowels of

Wrapt

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

my

(1596).

welkin, beyond my ken, sphere, as in Shakespeare's

my

TWELFTH NIGHT (1601): Who you are, and what you would, are out of my welkin.

for meaningless: That with fond termes and weetlesse words to blere myne eyes

weete

a fiery exhalation

a freezing cloude, Fighting for passage, makes the welkin cracke; Shakespeare makes the welkin answer in the Induc-

out of

variant though popular form of to know; the past tense forms were wit, wot, wist Cp. wit. Spenser uses wetelesse

by

in

tion to

A

e.g.,

welkin, to

Also, out of

weening. weet.

Of loud sounds: to rend the make the welkin ring; Marlowe TAMBURLANE, PART ONE (1587): As when

the welkin.

ween,

weener than Guenevere, said GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT. But in the 17th century an easy weener meant an over-credulous person, one that

meaning

wellaway.

As an exclamation of

(9th century) and was heard in many for a thousand years. Its earliest

forms

form was probably wellawo (wail a woe), Old English wa la wa, woe, lot, woe. It was used as a refrain, Sing wellaway; my song is wellaway. Chaucer in THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS (1369) tells: Phyllis also for

Demophon Henge

so

weylaway.

QUEENE .

.

Spenser

(1596)

Ah woe

has:

hee

peerlesse.

Alas!

sorrow, this dates back at least to Alfred

.

is

[hanged] hirselfe, in THE FAERIE

echoing

Gower

(1390)

me and

wellaway, quoth that ever I this dismall day did

Other similar exclamations of sorrow formed as variants of these were see.

See wellaway.

weladay. welk.

To

wilt, wither, fade; to

diminish,

shrink; to wane. Also, to welken. Gower, (1390) has: The now ebbeth, now it fLoweth, The lond now welketh, now it groweth. Also, to make fade, as in Spenser's THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR (1579): But now sadde winter

welladay, wellanear; in Scotland wellawins. All of these had many spelling vari-

in CONFESSIO AMANTIS

ants;

sea

They might be

welked hath the day. welkin.

(1)

A

cloud.

From

the

6th

through the 12th century: Beowulf. (2) The vault of heaven, the sky. Very common; but after the 15th century, mainly in dialects or in poetry. Also in phrases; by the welkin; Ben Jonson in THE

POETASTER (1601): This villainous poetry will

undo you, by

the welkin. Also,

to

wellaway has 70 listed in O.E.D. spelled with one I, or with

hyphens, or as three words, e.g., well y weye. The word was sometimes used to

mean a lament, as in Shakespeare's PERICLES (1608): His daughter's woe and heavie welladay. If this went on, I might echo Coleridge's ANCIENT MARINER (1798):

Ah old

what and young!

wel-a-day!

well-thawed.

Gower;

evil looks

Virtuous,

Had

I from

well-mannered. SHEPHERD'S

CALSpenser (THE ENDAR; 1579); Skelton in WHY NOT TO COURT?: Thy tongue is not wel thewde.

720

Wertherian

well-willy

Benevolent,

well-willy.

generous.

Also

tury; revived in historical novels.

Taylor EDWIN THE FAIR (1842) quotes a law: He that within the palace draws his sword Doth forfeit an Earl's were. (4) Danger,

good-willy. Chaucer, in TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE (1374) has: Venus mene I, the

in

welwilly planet.

wem.

To

desecrate,

disfigure, mutilate, impair; to to harm; to stain (with sin),

to defile;

to stain

trouble, perplexity; apprehension, dread;

mental trouble, doubt, uncertainty. In were of, in danger of. This sense is from Middle English werre, whence also war, which at first meant perplexity, confusion,

(with spots). Widely

used from the 9th to the 14th century; also as a noun, stain (of sin), blemish. Often in the phrase without (en) wem,

and has always meant trouble. To have no were, to be in no doubt. (5) A pro-

wemless, immaculate; thus the Lord foretells, in a Towneley mystery (1460): My son shall in a madyn light wythouten .

wem,

sun

as

through

.

tector,

.

glass.

Layamon

of a

tells,

A

girl,

young woman;

a maid-

used as a familiar term to a sweetheart, wife, daughter, trusted maidservant;

servant; a disreputable or

a

a

mistress,

winch.

prostitute.

wanton woman, Also weynche,

From

wenchel

the 9th to the 14th century, (wencel, wince] , a child (of

either sex); a slave, a servant; a common to wench out (time),

woman. To wench,

CRESSIDA,

1606); beeing too

that

Which

is

a

I.

(2) To support (a cause), maintain (an opinion). (3) To have, possess. A common Teutonic word into the 15th century, later in Scotland. Also

to

wered, a band, troop, company; wereful, doubtful; werewall, a rampart, a bulwark, also figuratively as in Sir Richard Holland's

of the Douglass land the werewall.

+

A

(2)

A

THE BUKE OF THE HOWLAT

The armes

.

.

.

(1450): Scot-

Of

Man-money; a price set on a in proportion to his rank, to be paid he is killed, in lieu of other punishcp. were be confused

ment. Old English wer, man; geld, gield, yield

(not to

with German Gelt, gold). Also wergildf weregeheld, wargeld, weregild.

human changed

a wolf.

ne

from hem were.

if

so serious.

As

(1303): Frost

Of colde ne hete no peyne; Heere [hair] ne nailes

man

a noun. (1) man, a male. (Sanskrit vira f Latin vir, whence virility.) Hence (probably) a werewolf, werwolf,

were.

HANDLYNG SYNNE

wergeld.

(PERICLES); and (CYMBELINE) not play in wench-like words with

wenchlesse

Do

As a

never grewe Ne solowed [soiled] clothes ne turned hewe; Thundyr ne lightning did hem no dere, Goddys mercy ded hit

frequent prostitutes. Shakespeare uses the forms often: the wenching rogues

AND

guard;

felte they

to

(TROILUS

fend,

II.

check, restrain; repel; deto ward off. Used in this

snogh, haile ne reyne,

mood), angry, passionate.

wench,

To

(1)

sense in

man, that through his wrath his wit was iwemmid. Also, wemod, (Old English weaf trouble, malice -f- mod, (1275)

defender (13th century).

verb.

or able to change into husband. From this sense

wery short for wergeld, (3) man-money: a price set on a man according to his rank, paid as a fine in cases of homicide or other crime, instead of other punishCommon in llth to 15th cen-

wermod. A variant form of wormwood, the 8th to the 15th cenq.v. Used from tury; also, wermot, wermode, weremod,

w ormode. Wertherian.

ment.

721

Werther,

in

Morbidly sentimental. Like THE SORROWS OF YOUNG

werwolf

whiffler

WERTHER itiated

(1774)

an

by Goethe, which

outburst

of

suicides.

in-

satirical

Also

See were.

ever,

(1)

fortune,

augury;

fate,

luck.

Also hwat,

was hung about an actual punishment (London, 1418): He, as a fals lyere that a whetstone

the neck of a

.

(1330): And be hit erly and be hit late thi wille thou shall have whate.

it

A

sharp blow, as a box on the

A

,

was

also

tive, as

a verb, to

in Swift's

strike,

often figura-

JOURNAL TO STELLA

sons as

(30

upon that

When

on

his

jected:

Whence; from whatever place. Cp. whyne. Used 12th to 15th century. something that

wits.

Randolph (WORKS; 1635) had a pedlar at Cambridge bring out a whetstone, and descant: Leaving my brains, I come to a more profitable for, considering how dull half the wits of this university be, I thought it not the worst traffic to sell whetstones.

commodity;

set

am

a son of a whet-

Kenelm Digby, boasting travels he had seen the phi-

was a whetstone."

it

A

smoker of tobacco; usucontemptuous. Used from the 17th (1)

to the 19th century; so also

whethen.

This whetstone will

.

Sir

"Perhaps

ally

sharpens

.

.

losopher's stone, was asked to describe it, he hesitated, and Francis Bacon inter-

whiffler.

Figuratively,

.

many

the Exchange, I

stone.

them, I warrant

the

upon

lie

September, 1711): The Whigs are in a rage about the peace, but we'll wherret

whetstone.

.

.

BUSIE BODY (1709) said: If you be not as errant a cuckold as ere drove bargain

wherret-stopper, however (18th was a bumper or other device century) on a boat in case of collision. Wherret ear.

.

phrases attack such perthe whetstone, i.e., deserve for for their lies. Mrs. Centlivre in THE

of course,

wherret.

liar, as

the pillorye . with a westone aboute his necke. Thence,

shal stonde

of goode whate. In the sense of good luck, it appears in FLORICE AND BLANCHEFLOUR

To

as the

passage is, howand the O.E.D.

satiric,

obviously

states

quate, wate; Old English hwata, augur. So used, 10th to 15th century, as in St. Gregory (14th century): This is a child

The

liar's prize.

greatest

Quickly. Used in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. (2) Divination;

whate.

the

told

and quotes TOO GOOD TO BE to show there were "jocular

TRUE (1580) games" with the whetstone given

Werterian; Wertherism. werwolf.

him who

to

premium

greatest lie,"

such an edge upon

your inventions, that it will make your rusty iron brains purer metal than your

(2)

a trifler;

an insignificant or a shifty and evasive person. In LADY ALIMONY (1659) we read: Such whifflers are below my scorn,

and beneath my

spite.

of advance guards, battle-ax, sword, or chain,

whose duty

it

One

(3)

of a body-

armed with javelin, staff, and wearing a is

to

keep the way

clear for a procession or public spectacle.

Since the

continued well

16th century;

when

they were replaced by regular soldiers, constabulary, or police. By extension, a swaggerer, a bully. The into the 19th,

earlier spelling

was

wiffler,

wifler,

from

capacities on this whetstone, and you may presume to dine at the Muses' Ordinarie,

wifle, a javelin; Sanskrit vip, shaft of an arrow, rod; Indo-European wip, to wave, shake. Addison in THE SPECTATOR (No.

or sup at the Oracle of Apollo. Nares states that to give the whetstone "was a

536; 1712) said: Our fine young ladies . . retain in their service as great a num-

brazen faces.

standing jest

Whet but

the knife of your

among our

ancestors, as a

.

.

.

.

ber as they can of supernumerary fellows,

722

whilere

whipping-boy fancy. Reduplicated in the same period (16th century) as flimflam, jimjam, and the like, all used for trivial or frivolous

which they use like whifflers. Shakespeare uses the word figuratively, in HENRY v

The deep-mouth'd

(1599): like

a

Seems

mighty

whiffler

Which

sea,

the

'fore

objects or concerns. Skelton in

king.

Some time

whilere.

(1529) pictures a fancy hat After the Sarasyns gyse, With a whym wham, Knyt with a trim

ago; recently. Also

Used

erewhile.

whyleare;

Chaucer

by

tram

(THE TEMPEST III ii Milton and (1630); revived 1610),

(1386), Shakespeare

127;

MARMION (1808) by used the word several in

FAERIE

Scott.

,

though she

was also used for a fancy flourish after one's signature. The word was also used, as a euphemism or double entendre, with sexual intent;

unworthy were Of the

all

.

To

Which makes me

life so tickle

his

pride, so shall soon

consuming

in

the

15th

ticklish, as

An

Used

also

by Spenser, Dryden, Fielding,

a

trifle

A

fantastic object or idea;

of adornment,

dress,

A

diminutive of

See pedlers French.

whipjack.

whipping-boy. A boy educated along with a young noble, and flogged whenever the princeling did something ad-

judged

to merit flogging,

or roused his

Bishop Gilbert Burnet in his HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME (1715) mentioned William Murray of the bed-chamtutor's ire.

had been whipping-boy

Charles the

speech, or

whimper.

See finew.

whinid.

ber, that

whimwham.

more

a whiniling dastard.

early

Scott.

Also,

whine. Also whinnel, whinil. Also as a noun, a whine or a whining person. Jonson in THE SILENT WOMAN (1609) speaks of

when one

form of while, whiles. hwilum, whylome, whilhom, whilene, whillon, and more. It was used also as an adverb, meaning at times; once upon a time; in times to come. As an adjective, meaning the former, the late. A common word from early times; used by Chaucer, as in THE KNIGHT'S TALE (1386): Whilom as olde stories tellen us Ther was a due that highte Theseus.

of his inserted.

To

whindle.

finds oneself in a ticklish situation.]

whilom.

.

originally mock-echoic.

century,

Also whilome,

.

whimsy-whamsy. Both whim and whimsy may be shortenings of these forms,

fastidious, squeamish; in the 16th, difficult to deal with. Some of these senses have

been taken over by

Sterne in

playfully,

from the 14th century, meant hence insecure, unreliable; Also,

whimwham; and by

whimwham

sickle.

uncertain,

dangerous.

hide his

TRISTRAM SHANDY (1759): coaxed many of to open their the oldlicensed matrons in have this to order faculties afresh, .

Whose flowring fickle Short Time

fading and so cut down with [Tickle,

loath this state of love of things so vaine

And

cast away,

by the Water Poet

thus,

He

caus'd some formes of flowers (1641): . . 'twixt the beast legges to be painted

heavens' rule, yet very sooth to say, In all things else she beares the greatest

to

declare

(1625): They'll pull ye all to pieces, for your whim-whams, your garters and your gloves. In the 18th century, whimwham

Spenser in THE

times,

her brayne pan. Shirley and in THE NIGHT WALKER

Upon

Fletcher

as in the first QUEENE (1590) stanza of Canto VIII: When I bethinke me on that speech whyleare Of Mutability, and well it way: Me seemes, that

sway.

THE TUN-

NYNG OF ELYNOUR RUMMYNG

prepare his way.

to

First.

ping-cheer to

723

to

King

Shakespeare uses whip-

mean

'a

banquet of

lashes'

white

whipster in

HENRY

PART

iv,

TWO

(1598); the Beadle

that has arrested Doll Tearsheet says: The constables have delivered her over to me,

and

she

shall

have

cheer

whipping

enough, I warrant her. Convicted whores were then publicly whipped, often on a

whipping-bench or in the whipping-stocks, or tied to the whipping-pole (-post). It is no wonder that Doll and Hostess Quickly vehemently protest.

A

term of reproach, with variwhipster. ous shades of meaning: a lively, violent fellow (such as might swing a mean whip); a lascivious or licentious one. Shakespeare used the term of an insignificant, con-

temptible fellow, and others

(as

Dickens,

Thackeray, Stevenson) have followed him OTHELLO (1604): / am not valiant

But every punie whipster

neither:

gets

Also whipstart; largely rein last sense, by whippersnapthe placed,

my

sword.

per.

hushed; free from noise or disturbance. Also a verb, to be silent; to

whist.

Silent,

hush. Used by Chaucer

(1400), Milton

(1629), Bridges (1890; SHORTER POEMS). Shakespeare uses it in one of his most

songs

delightful

Come unto

(THE

take hands. Curtsied kist

TEMPEST;

these yellow sands

The wild waves

when you whist,

1611):

And

then

have,

Foot

it

and

mand

is

said to have

come from

for silence; but at

first

the de-

(17th cen-

game was called whisk] from to whisk, to move lightly and rapidly, as with a whiskbroom. Hence whisker, a tury)

the

whist-player. Lady Bristol wrote in a letter of 1723: The wiskers have promised

me some whit.

diversion.

See thwite.

In

special

forms

and combina-

white acre, see black acre, white boy (white son; white-headed boy; white hen's tions:

chick),

a favorite or a fortunate person

(man), whitecap, one that, in the U.S. in the 1890's, attacked supposed offenders against the public morals; a sort of Junior Klan. whitechapel, low, vulgar;

Ku Klux

from the Whitechapel

district

of London;

also used in special phrases: whitechapel

portion, two torn smocks and what nature gave; whitechapel beau, one that dresses

with a needle and thread, and undresses with a knife; a whitechapel shave, whitening

(powder)

spread on the jaws with member of a vi-

the hand, whitefoot, a

olent Irish secret society, flourishing about 1832. whitefriars, relating to the Whitefriars district of

London (once

a sanctu-

hence a resort of those liable to hence, profligate, loosemoralM. arrest), white-livered, cowardly, showing the white feather: the true game breed of fighting ary,

cock has no white feathers; hence, to show the white feather, to be cowardly, to manifest fear, whiteness,

nakedness;

Chapman

THE REVENGE FOR HONOUR (1654) said: 'Twas a rape Upon my honour, more then on her whiteness. (The O.E.D. inclines to include such examples under the meaning, purity.) white mouse, a mean, despiin

person (not so obnoxious as a note that since the days of 'guinea pig' experimentation the white mouse has tended to become a pet), white night cable

featly

here and there And, sweet sprites, the burden bear. Also whister, to whisper; whist erer, a whisperer. The card game whist

white.

rat;

(French, nuit blanche], a sleepless night. whitesmith, a worker in "white iron/' a tinsmith; also, one that finishes or polishes metal goods, as distinguished from one, the blacksmith, that forges them; used from the 14th century, white wing, a member of the street-cleaning force of an

American

in the days before automobiles; Philip Barry pictures their departure in his play White Wings (1926).

724

city,

whor white magic,

wight witch, one that practices white i.e., uses witchcraft for beneficent

(of the hair)

purposes. Similarly, a white lie is one told to help, or to avoid hurting, somebody. Among phrases: to hit the white (i.e., the

to return; direction,

white stone, to consider fortunate or especially happy (the ancients used a white

memorialize

fortune). ingredient; a

An

are

servation

evasion of whoremaster-man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star*

whyne.

Whence.

A

contraction of whe-

then; also quein, qwyne, quhene, wheyn. Used 13th to 16th century.

In the direction opposite

widdershins. to

the

usual;

the apparent

unlucky.

To

counterclockwise;

movement stand

against of the sun, hence

(start)

widdershins,

.

witches

.

the gull, also

A

and widgeon. The and the coney (rabbit)

been slandered in

Th*

Ma-

goose,

have

this fashion.

Womankind. It corresponded to mankin, which was replaced by mankind. The first meaning of wife was woman;

wifkin.

this survives in

it

underlings becomes ironic obin KING LEAR: An admirable

Thir ven-

call

homet's, were ass

was spelled without the w: hore, hoor, howre, heore, and more. Shakespeare

we

quhom ye wald

said that

the wordplayful HUDIBRAS (1663); apostles of this fierce religion, Like

have so let myself down as to come with such a whorage as this is! From the root of whore, Indo-European qar-, came also Latin carus, dear; Old Irish cara, friend,

ish whoremaisterly villaine. The defiance in JULIUS CAESAR The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that

sind,

wild duck; hence, a fool, a Also wigeon. So used in the simpleton. 17th and 18th centuries, as by Butler in

(1891) has: // / had that sort, I wouldn't

uses whoremasterly to mean lecherous, in TROILUS AND CRESSiDA (1606): That Greek-

(1585)

erabill virginis

widgeon.

whorage. Company of whores. Also whorism, whoredom. Hardy, in TESS OF

caraim, I love. Until the 16th century,

-f

shins.

old form of where.

THE D'URBERVILLES known you was of

again

Alexander Montgomery, FLYTING BETWIXT MONTGOMERY

in THE AND POLWART

.

term in alchemy, as in Jonson's THE ALCHEMIST (1610): Your red man, and your white woman, With all your broths, your menstrues, and materialls. whor.

wieder, back,

way.

nine times, wirdersones, about the thorne raid. It was the ritual procedure of black magic to do all things widder-

good

white woman, a 'female'

since

wodsyns, weddirshynnis, and many more; Middle High German widersinnen,

,

to

on end. Used

sins,

to be correct, to do center of a target) or say the right thing, to mark with a

stone

to stand

the 16th century; also withershins, widder-

such expressions as fish9 tale* Also wifman,

an old wives

wife;

woman. wiggery.

(1)

Wigs

collectively,

or the

practice of wearing them. (2) From the law-court wigs, wiggery was used by Carlyle

to

mean empty

formality or

'red

PAST AND PRESENT (1843): Some wisdom among such mountains of wiggery. tape,' as in

A

living being; wight. I. As a noun. then, a preternatural or unearthly being; then, a human being, gradually with pity or contempt implied. Also used of in-

animate things personified, as by Chaucer poem (1399) To yew, my purse, and to noon other wight Complayn I, for ye be my lady dere. Aught and naught in his

are derived from awiht, e'er a wight and nawiht, ne'er a wight. The form was com-

725

wil

wimple

mon from in OTHELLO

the 8th century. Shakespeare (1604) has: She was a wight

To suckle ever such wights were) (if II. As an small beer. chronicle and fooles, valiant;

Strong,

adjective.

mighty; violent, of powerful

powerful,

effect;

power-

ful to resist force, strongly built; agile, nimble, swift. Used until the 16th century, by Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST; revived by Scott, as in THE LAY OF

THE LAST MINSTREL

(1805):

Mount

thee on

the wightest steed. Also wightlayke, whitling, a brave man, a warrior.

A

wil.

variant form of will

of conscious

The

.

Only the minister and the lawyer now

and intentional

An

willesful.

early

the

Often in the expression free will, but without freedom will is, in this sense, an empty word. Freud and modern mechaction.

wilful,

legend of 1290 spoke of a maiden that beeth willesful, follie for to do.

An

will-gill.

effeminate man. Also will-

Hermaphrodite is a telescope of the god Hermes and the goddess Aphrodite;

jill.

hence English will-gill (William-Gillian), used since the mid- 17th century. will-he,

Whether he

nill-he.

desires or

Thus

also will-

she, nill-she; will-ye, nill-ye; finally shaping as willy-nilly, regardless of one's

wishes. willy.

1780,

(1)

A

basket; a fish-trap;

(from a machine

also twilly or willow),

anism have done much to discredit the

that revolves, with spikes inside that

power, and indeed the very notion, of

and clean wool,

the will;

free-wilier

believer in the

(a

a term of contempt. Sir Philip THE DEFENCE OF POESIE (1595) in Sidney made a shrewd distinction between man's is

will)

erected wit, which enables

the

perfect way,

and

him

to envision

his infected

wilt

which cannot attain it: our reason suffices, but our combersome servant passion too often proves not servant but master of our will. So true is this, that will came

even to mean Shakespeare's

'My

will

moving

disputation

and

carnal desire, as in

THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (1593): weak reThus graceless holds he 'Tweene frozen conscience

strong, past reason's

is .

lust,

.

.

will.

Will

be

might helmsman; reason sets the course; but emotion turns askew the eyes bent on the chart, jiggles the magnetic hot-burning

viewed

as life's

and sweeps up helmsman helpless

needle,

a storm that leaves

the

at the wheel.

is

the

man who

is

Rare

master of helmsmanship

used

Thus a

centuries.

faculty

action;

will.

form of

and 14th

in the 13th

not. Latin nolens volens.

exercise of deliberate choice in

power or

.

.

.

.

.

have great concern for the

cotton, flax.

adjective: willing; well-disposed.

in

open As an

(2)

Lydgate

THE TEMPLE OF GLAs

(1403) cries Willi so Esperus bright, that woful

planet, O hertes can appese.

Chaucer

well-willy, q.v.

See preceding entry.

wimble.

(1)

(3)

A

the 13th century.

calls

Venus

an auger. From White in THE NATURAL

gimlet;

HISTORY OF SELBORNE (1789) said that a fieldmouse nibbles a hole with his teeth so regular as if drilled with a wimble. Hence, to wimble, to bore, to pierce; figuratively, to insinuate oneself into; W.

Leigh in THE CHRISTIAN'S WATCH said he did not know how this spirit hath entred

and wimbled adjective:

into your souls.

quick,

(2)

nimble. Used

As an 16th to

18th century; Spenser in THE SHEPHERD'S says of Cupid:

CALENDAR (1579; MARCH) He was so wimble. wimple.

A veil;

especially, a cloth folded

to cover the head, chin, cheeks,

formerly worn in general by 726

and neck, women, now

Winchester goose

wistly

by nuns. Hence, a

fold, a wrinkle, a rippling in a stream. Hence, a crafty turn or trick; Scott in THE HEART OF MIDLO-

THIAN (1818)

says:

There

is

to

cover;

aye a wimple

windlass, to circle round.

and

speaks of a veil,

(1590)

young mind,

wimpled was full low] to ripple, to wind, meander, as a wimpling brook. Old French guimple, whence also guimp, gimp. Chaucer used the word often, as in TROYLUS AND CRiSEYDE (1374) Do away youre wimpil and shew youre -face bare. that

of reach,

assays of bias,

Wimpled, rippled, (rarely)

An

windore.

from the as is

H-

hence

By

indirections find direc-

altered

Old English Windore was used from the 16th

auga, eye. It replaced the

wis.

See wit.

wiseacreish.

A

venereal swelling. The public brothels of the late 16th and early 17th century, at Bankside in South-

the term in

HENRY

alludes to

it

vi,

Old English word witie (9th to 14th cenmeaning a prophet; prophetic; and

tury),

to prophesy. This was confused with wise, and combined with seggher, sayer, taking the forms wiseaker, wiseacre. Hence also

PART ONE (1591)

in TROILUS

AND

should be now, but that

this, Some galled goose would hiss. Hence, also, a

CRESSIDA:

my

fear

prostitute;

wiseacreism, wiseacrery, wiseacredom, wiseacredness. In the 17th century, the acre

is

Winchester

of

THE

was occasionally interpreted to

ENGLISH GAZETTEER of 1778 records in its discussion of Southwark: In the times of popery here were no less than 18 houses

on the Bankside,

licensed by the Bishops

of Winchester to keep whores,

who

land

fool, or

also,

as referring a wiseacres, as a

as though meaning a landed one that would pass for wise be,

cause he

is

lionaire.

A

of wiseacre

wealthy

like a

dogmatic mil-

particularly annoying brand is that which displays what

Saintsbury in his CORRECTED IMPRESSIONS (1895) calls ex post facto wiseacreishness. wist.

See wit.

In addition to the contrivance

windlass.

familiar for weighing anchor on a ship, windlass (16th and 17th centuries) was a

variant of wanlace, q.v. Also winless, windlace, windelase, windlatch; and used as

a verb:

(hence,

singular)

were,

therefore, commonly called Winchester geese. Sometimes, in both senses, the term was shortened to goose.

Like a wiseacre] of a fool There was an

that has an air of wisdom.

wark, were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester. Shakespeare uses

It

window

boy.

Winchester goose.

and

a door to the wind. Actually,

from Old Norse vindauga; vindr, wind

through the 18th century.

of Cupid:

This wimpled, whyning, purblind, way-

ward

form of window, word originated

belief that the

eyethurl.

blindfolded, as in Shakespeare's (1588),

windlass,

tions out.

falling in folds like a

LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST

Hence

With windlasses and with

:

wimple, enveloped in a wimple

said

a roundabout course of action, a crafty device. Hamlet, in Shakespeare's play (1602) declares: And thus do we of wisdom

Spenser in THE

in folds

fall

My

Sidney in ASTROPHEL AND STELLA (1586), whom love doth windlas so. To fetch a

in a lawyer's clew. As a verb, to wimple: to veil (sometimes, to take the veil); to

FAERIE QUEENE

ensnare.

decoy,

to

windlass,

to

act

craftily;

to

eagerly. Supplanted by which was influenced in meaning by wishful. In Shakespeare, RICHARD ii (1595) and THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM (see tarriage); Venus is waiting by A brook wistly.

Silently;

wistfully,

727

wit

wistly

Buckle (THE INFLUENCE OF WOMEN IN THE PROGRESS OF KNOWLEDGE, 1858) Said of Hamlet Though he wists not of this, he

where Adon used to cool his spleen. Hot was the day, she hotter that did look For his approach, that often there had been. Anon he comes, and throws his mantle by, And stood stark naked on the brook's green brim. The sun looked on the world

is

moved

.

.

.

up a

takes

skull,

and

his

speculative faculties begin to work. The verb to wit was used in many phrases, to wit (earlier that is to wit): Ye shall wit,

with glorious eye, Yet not so wistly as this queen on him. He, spying her,

please

wheras he stood. "O Jove" quoth she, "why was I not a flood!"

(to) wit, give to wit, let wit, to inform, to reveal, to show. Also it is to wit (witting),

bounced

in

it is

To know. A

wit.

form.

Its

very common Teuton inflections included I wat, I

know, God wot, God knows; I knew; he had wist. But wis was

wist,

and adverb

lish gewitan, to

iwite, ywite

look

at, to

(Old Engknow) which

meant

to learn, to understand; also (from the idea of looking at the place you in-

tended to go

to),

and by extension, wite.

fusions.

From Thus

all *

to

go away, depart;

and

to die. Iwis

were often written i

die.

as

two words,

iwite i

wis;

this arose certain con-

wis, certain,

was taken as

/

wish,

he

did;

Lyly more with

(EUPHUES, 1606): You gall me those tearmes than you wisse;

so also,

e.g., Milton and Mrs. Browning. Also, i wis being sometimes written * wist, about

in

the

passage

just

quoted;

mean

to

to take care,

In

all

these

common from

was very

the

However, a wite was a wise man the witan, the members of (also, one of

less.

the Anglo-Saxon council, the witenagemot). Chaucer, in the Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) used a vari-

ant form: For aught I woot, he was of Spenser in THE FAERIE

Dertemouthe. better

(1590):

The

peril of this place I

wot than you. Whitney

(SIGHTS

We

wit well of many would never prove. Elizabeth

INSIGHTS, 1876):

things we Barrett Browning,

in

GREEK CHRISTIAN

POETS (1842): // by chance an Attic voice be wist. Which is enough of wit. As says in the

SECOND SONG OF THE

OWL

(1830): Thy tuwhits are lull'd, I wot. Hence also witne, to testify (used until

1550 wist came to be used as a verb in

wist

it calls

to find out.

8th to the 14th century. Witless, without knowledge; witeless, without guilt, blame-

Tennyson

the present: wist, to know, with a past tense form wisted. One edition of EUPHUES

has

came

it

senses, wite

AND

//

you. do

English, meaning to the verb wite (wyte)

to guard, defend, preserve.

some extent replaced I wot (wat). Thus Shakespeare (HENRY vi, PART ONE; says

to observe,

observe,

QUEENE

1591)

tell

were to wit,

it

one ought

But from Old

a verb, I know, and on the assumption that it was the present of the past form wist, to

me

developed the sense to censure, to blame, but also, from the sense to to accuse

Old English gewis, There was also an early

and common verb

be noted;

to

know,

iwis, ywis,

certain, certainly.

to wit, let

A witword was a testament, last will; hence to wit, to bequeath; witting, bequest. The form wite (as iwite, above) was also a verb, meaning to go away; to

also an and common make to verb, early meaning known, hence to show the way, guide,

manage, control, instruct, order. He that this world began, said a Towneley Mystery of 1460, wysh us the way! There was also an early and common adjective

you

for investigation,

I

lead;

it

and witness (Old Engwhich first meant knowledge, understanding. Chaucer (BOEthe 15th century)

lish gewitnes, witnes),

728

witcracker

wittol

meaning evidently, plainly, more clerely and more

THIUS, 1374)

In

says:

this wise

The

witnesfully.

five wits

merely another term for the

was sometimes five senses; but

Shakespeare in SONNET 141 says: But my five wits nor my five senses can Dissuade

one foolish heart from serving thee, and in THE PASTIME OF PLEASURE (1509)

Hawes

the five wits as common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation [judgment], and

lists

memory. As the Greeks observed, Memoryis the mother of the Muses.

witsnapper. One that makes witty or caustic remarks, as though snapping a whip of words. Also, witcracker; more

See witsnapper.

A man

wittol. to

na, wise

Old English

men

-f

wite-

gemot, assembly. Brown-

ing (1855) rhymes witanagemot with bag 'em hot. The word is sometimes used of as

any assembly, his

by

Michael Foster in

Sir

Presidential Address

Association

(1899)

:

the

the British

to

first

select witen-

agemote of the science of the world. withers.

The

highest part of a horse's

between the shoulderblades. Also wither, weather. Lyly in EUPHUES (1580) said: Wring not a horse on the withers, with a false saddle. Nashe and others echoed the phrase, figuratively, then Shakespeare in HAMLET (1602): Let the f gall d jade winch: our withers are un~ back,

wrung. The idea is that something pinches in a sensitive spot. Others after Shakespeare have used the phrase, on to in

Symonds (1886): There

THE RENAISSANCE is

not a

city

IN

ITALY

of Italy which

Tassoni did not wring in the withers of its

self-conceit

Also

witie.

See widdershins.

See wiseacreish.

of

q.v.

wittall,

is

whittoll.

See wit.

says 1921) from witewal,

"

the

green

simple and amiable SHAKESPEARE'S

woodpecker

"a

bird," says Partridge,

BAWDY,

which

1948

(legend has it) hatched the cuckoo's eggs and reared the young. Weekley suggests a pun on wit (Anglo-Saxon witol, knowledge), wit-all,

the complaisant husband being a one that knows all. [Woodwale

may be from wood

-f

wail, cry, or

wood

wale, foreign, akin to Welsh; from wealh, Anglo-Saxon waelisc, foreign; foreigner, slave: note this linkage.] Bishop 4-

Hall in a sermon of 1597 cried out upon that wouldst load thy witless head with timely horns. Shakespeare uses the word in THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

Fond witwal

(1598), also

a

compound: They

say

the

wittolly-knave hath masses of Ford in his HANDBOOK to Spain money.

jealous

(1845) informed prospective tourists: Most of this finger talk, wittoly wit, as well as figs,

'Wittoly

is

confined to the lower

wit*

making the

by

finger

729

would be

on

the head;

figs as

you!' digitally represented:

classes.

talk

sign of horns

the O.E.D. explains the wituesfully.

Weekley

DICTIONARY,

"apparently

woodwale, in

contented

a

wife;

know), like cokewold, cuckold.

wital,

wittol

his

Middle English wetewold

(ETYMOLOGICAL

the withershins.

aware of and not objectencouraging) the un-

(perhaps

(cp. wit, to

See wit.

witenagemot.

col-

a witte-snapper are you!

faithfulness

See wit.

says:

care for a satyre or an epigram? and in the MERCHANT OF VENICE exclaims: What

cuckold, wite.

A

ledge of witte-crackers cannot flout mee out of my humour; dost thou think I

ing witcracker.

MUCH

witwright. Shakespeare in

mildly,

ABO ABOUT NOTHING (1599)

hand

'A

fig

to

outthrust

won

witword with thumb between the next two

Beauty, splendor; face, countenance. Also wliti, beautiful. Used from

wlite.

fingers.

ex-

complaisant cuckoldry; by extreme folly. A wittee (17th century), a woman whose adultery was urged or forced upon her by her husWittolry,

the 9th to the 13th century. In

tension,

me.

band. In Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1594) when we hearken to those

have

that

been

and

languages,

little

from Old English into the 15th century, becoming a conventional epithet in alliterative verse. Also a noun, a beautiful woman; Dunbar in TWA MARIIT WEMEN

scratched and

word

in the Latin language, we hear a honorificabilitudinitatibus,

the longest

What

the figure?

is

pricks

A

witword. wizard. (wise

+

the

pun on

What

man

used in scorn; then

German weihen,

to consecrate; Latin victima, victim, orig-

from root vegt

inally a sacrificial beast, vig,

v ig with the most vigorous,

wake, vigor: victima

superlative choicest,

ending,

hence

for

selected

sacrifice.

naturally associated with them, victim is thus of different origin from victory -victory, from Latin root vie, con-

Though

quer: vincere, victum. There is another root viv, vig, live (earlier guig, whence

English quick) whence vital, victuals and the general vitality of the wizard. wlat.

Nausea;

disgust,

wlating, wlatness.

As an

loathing.

Also

adjective,

wlat,

wlath, wlatful, wlatsome, wlatsum, wlath-

sum, loathsome, disgusting. feel

disgust;

to

loathe.

To

wlate, to

Used from

the

10th to the 15th century. Wyclif in his rendering (1382) of the BIBLE: ECCLESI-

ASTES wrote: I wlatede all

my

See woodwose.

woe worth. May evil befall! A curse upon! Used especially in the 16th and 17th centuries; especially in such phrases Woe worth the day! THE MIRROR FOR

as

MAGISTRATES (1563) ran on: Woe worth the ground where grew the tow'ring mast,

Whose

bisynesse.

sailes

9

waters

is

the

ex-

wit.

used for the male witch. Witch was probably first used as a verb, more common as to bewitch, allied to

tothir

variant of wood, q.v.

wodehouse. See

See pad. Originally a wise ard); later

A

wod.

wittoL]

last will, testament.

the

to

tension, wlonk, proud, haughty; so used in BEOWULF; wlonkhede, wlonkness, pride.

figure? Moth: Horns. [Wit-old, feeble of mind; but the sequent Horns

home

The wedow

wlonk warpit [spoke] ther wordis. By

the

is

said:

(1508)

sample of true wit in Moth's pun Offered by a child to an old man, which is witold. Holofernes:

Rich, splendid, magnificent. Used

wlonk.

a great -feast of stolen the scraps, after at

being served Priscian a

THE OWL

(1250) we read: wlite Welcumeth

AND THE NIGHTINGALE The lilie mid hire faire

rore:

did beare us through the worth the winde that

Woe

blew the banefull

blast,

Woe

worth the

wave, whose surge so swiftlie bore My tragicke barke to England's fatal shore.

Woe worth the mast, the sailes, winde, waves and all That causelesse did conspire poore Alfredes wold.

won.

fall.

See old. See wone. In addition to being the

past form of win, won was also a variant form of one, wan, when, and the past participle of wind. Thus also wonce (16th

century)

,

once.

The form wont,

wone, became in habit, It

is

itself

my wont

past of a noun: custom,

recorded by Jonson

(1755) as 'out of use'; and a verb, to wont, to make (someone) accustomed; to use habitually; to be accustomed.

730

Hence

the

wood

wone past tense wonted. The GOODLY PRIMER of 15B5 besought the Lord: Wont me to paths. Shakespeare in

Thy

ONE (1591) we wont to

says:

fear.

HENRY

vi,

where he wonns In forest wilde; Spenser uses it figuratively in THE FAERIE QUEENE

PART

(1590):

dwelt, and

Nashe in PIERCE PENNITO THE DEVIL (1592)

land in his

is

taken,

LESSE HIS SUPPLICATION

Camden's BRITANNIA uses it punningly: Wheresoever the Roman winneth, there he wonneth. Reginald Pecock in THE RJSPRESSOR OF OVER MUCH BLAMING OF THE CLERGY (1449) applies it to one of the

one who resolved to poyson the stream where this jolly forester wonted to of

tells

Some persons enjoy a

drink.

certain type

but not she of Chaucer's THE CLERK'S TALE (1386): She never was to swiche gestes woned. of story,

hardest

things

customed

He wone.

Where daungers most did wonne; Holperils translation (1610) of William

Wastefull wayes,

whom

Talbot

that,

for

many

to

ac-

grow

wone

thee not to love money. while living, did not achieve

to:

Habit, custom. In wone, cusTo have in wone, to be in wone, tomarily. to have wone, to be accustomed. (2) Stay-

would have and nyht.

ing in a place, remaining, hence without wone, without delay. Hence also wone,

wont.

a dwelling place; figuratively, this world. (3) palace; apartments or chambers;

customed; sometimes used alone, to mean acclimatized) is a fresh past form de-

THE DESTRUCTION

veloped (in the 14th century) when wont was used as a separate verb in the present

(1)

this,

A

occasionally, a city, as in

Yonder won [Troy] for one's wone, in one's Also possession. worthy in wone, distinguished in the world. In wone, within OF TROY

(1400):

to

(with) in

wyn.

(4)

Hope

have, know, see, no other (better)

Hence good

Hence

also

unaccustomed; unusual. Southey in all ARC (1795) has: He OF JOAN .

at

their

valour, rages

round

astonish'd

To

.

.

force And wontless the field. The wont-

wages paid a herdsman to in a place until they were beasts guard used to it and would stay of their own accord, after which the owner wouldn't

wone.

ing-penny,

resources,

(6)

(ac-

(q.v.),

(great),

great

Wonted

won.

wone;

Wontedness, habituation, the state accustomed; wonting, making accustomed. Also wontless (someone)

abundance; (full) wone, a goodly number, a in wone, abundance. quantity; (5)

See

woneth and groneth day

tense.

of a favorable outcome;

recourse, expedient, course of action.

it,

of being

wones, everywhere, anywhere, often used as a tag, to end a line in verse, or a stanza.

now, as THE xi PAINS OF HELL (1275)

be wanting him any more.

fortune, wealth, posses-

There was a verb wone, related to woe, meaning to bewail, lament, mourn. In the senses above, the more common verb form was won, very common from the 8th century, used into the 19th, and still poetically in the past form wont; to sions.

wondess.

HYMN

Beauty, to that great beauty, Mother of goddesse, queene love, and of all worlds delight, exclaimed:

his laire

the wilde

to

whither, Love, wilt thou now carrie mee? What wontlesse fury dost thou now

Ah

inspire Into of thee?

LOST (1667), where the creatures of the Lord's Sixth Day out of the ground up

As from

(1596)

of

be wont, to be accustomed. See won. Milton uses the word literally in PARADISE

rose

Unaccustomed. Spenser in his

wood.

beast

my

feeble

too

full

Insane, mad. Thence, vehemently

excited, uncontrolled;

731

breast,

ferocious, furious.

wormwood

woodcock Used

figuratively of things

Also wod, wode, wyd, void, wodde, and more. Used from the 8th through the 16th century. woodman, a lunatic; to

woolpack.

wood

Nashe's LENTEN STUFFE

A

(14th and 15th

centuries),

(1)

resembling a pack of wool, as a spread of white water, a fleecy cloud. Thus in

to go

(1599)

when Hero bent over

we read the

mad; to rave. Spenser in THE FAERIE QUEENE (1590) speaks of one Through unadvised rashness woxen wood. Shakespeare plays on the word in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1590): Heere am I, and

drowned Leander, boystrous woolpacks of ridged tides came rowling in and raught him from her. One is reminded of Hugo's

wood within

the sea.

that

of

its

use, see sea.

the

ease

sack.

See ousel.

woosel.

tense of wit, q.v. (1) Old present Short for Wilt thou? Used by Shake-

woot.

are entangled ere they descrie the line. Shakespeare puts the same figure in Polonius' mouth, in HAMLET (1602); in

(2)

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA and

in

speare

(1602), where Hamlet cries to Laertes, in Ophelia's grave: Woot weep?

HAMLET

TWELFTH NIGHT, when Malvolio letter

Woot fight? Woot fast? Woot tear thyWoot drink up eisel? Eat a crocodile? Be buried quick with her, I'll do't self?

gin.

.

woodhouse.

sheep of

as woolsack; especially

ONE; 1597) refers to fat Falstaff as a wool-

with which the bird, the ensnared. Gosson in THE

picks up written to trap him, Fabian whispers: Now is the woodcocke neere the

Same

the woolsack, the Lord Chancellorship. Note that Shakespeare (HENRY rv, PART

woodcock, is SCHOOL OF ABUSE (1579) wrote that Cupide sets upp a springe for woodcockes, which

the

fleece of the sinister

(2)

kiss

as the seat, a bag of wool, of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords; hence,

woodcock. A gull, simpleton, 'easy mark/ So used (from the 15th century) because of

The

line:

wood, Because I cannot meet my Hermia. For another instance this

to

See woodwose.

and so

.

woodwale.

See wittol.

wormwood.

woodwose.

A

ium)

wild

man

of the woods; a

savage; a satyr. Used from the llth century. Also, a representation of such a

person, as in a pageant or in wood-carvAlso, wodwos, woodwyss, woodose,

is

wode house, and the

like.

T. Wilson in

RHETORIQUE (1553) declared: Some wente naked, some romed lyke woodoses,

none did anye thing by

reason.

its

bitter taste.

The

wermod;

the French form gives us vermouth, the liquor made by steeping wormwood in

white wine. absinthe.) of bitter

(So,

for

The word

is

that

matter,

was

used as a symbol

and grievous things, as when Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) wants To weed this wormwood from your

Wormwood

also was used and magical virtues. Wormwood roots under your pillow brought your lover to you in your dreams true dreams, issuing from the unpretentious gate of horn, not the illusory dreams from the falsely alluring gate of ivory. As fruitfull braine.

wooingly. Like a wooer, with amorous words. Used by Wyclif (1382 rendering of the BIBLE: PROVERBS) to mean impudently, wantonly; by Shakespeare, to mean alluringly, in MACBETH (1605): The heavens breath Smells wooingly here.

plant (artemisia absinth-

altered from the earlier

ing.

his

A

proverbial for

,

name

.

will I.

for

732

its

medicinal

wreak

wort Diaris bud (cp. Diana), wormwood cured one of the madness of love; indeed, wood,

wot.

See wowe. Also woh, woch, woghe, wothe, wow, and more. Wough also meant a wall (of a house) , a parti-

wough.

was an early word for mad; wormwood: it cleared your body of worms and q.v.j

your mind of maggots. wort.

A general

name

See wit.

tion Said

for plants used for

from the 9th century. In the castell, THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY (1400), all

food or medicine; a pot-herb. Old English wyrt, root, plant. Used until the mid- 17th

was bare as a bast, In DIVES AND PAUPER

century. It survives as the last syllable of many plants once thus used, as colewort,

flaterers

liverwort.

Whan

she

homward cam

woo,

or

especially, a man of noble character. Also, a hero of antiquity. Used lightly, of any person, as by Scott in

eminent person;

KENILWORTH

(1821):

The two

Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588): her faire cheeke, Where several

In

worthies

make one

dignity.

The nine

worthies (of the world): three Jews, Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus; three heathens (said Bailey, 1751; 'Gentiles,' Hector, Alexander, and three Christians, Arand Julius Caesar; thur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon. There is a burlesque Pageant of the Nine Worthies in Shakespeare's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. Sir John Feme in THE BLAZON OF GENTRIE (1586) declared that Semiramis is one of the nine worthies of says

O.E.D.),

that sex.

What man

TRISTRAM

we read: They seiyen right, The steward hadde the

wough. wrack.

A

(1)

Hence,

variant form

of

wreak,

wrackful,

vengeful, angry; wracksome, destructive. (2) An error for rack, as in rack and ruin. Hence, the q.v.

wracking of criminals; thus also Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART ONE (1591): like a man new haled from the wrack; wracking whirlwinds (Milton, PARADISE LOST,

A variant form of wreck. Wreck from a common Norse form, wrekan, to drive; originally, wreck meant to cast on shore, or anything (not necessarily goods from a ship) cast upon the shore; the North Riding records of 1666 report 1663). (3)

is

a warrant against 11 Britton men for riotously taking a whale and other wreck.

will venture to select

the other eight? Hence, nine-worthiness, excellence equal to that of the nine

the 9th to the

it

(1320)

he hadde the

worthies

left the apartment together. Also applied, figuratively, to things of value, as in

form of

was also an adjective, first bent, crooked, hence evil, meaning wicked, wrong (like Richard Crookback). To do (work) wough, to do wrong or evil (to). To have wough, to be in the wrong; without(en) wough, truly. In SIR

French name of herbes.

A distinguished

woghes. lykeneth

woe, (2) (1) harm. wrong, injury, wough, early

Wough was common from

synonymous; Verstegan in 1605 noted: for which wee now use the

(As a noun):

(3)

16th century;

Woortes,

worthy.

God

theym that playstren and and wowes without.

to

An

wowe.

she

wolde brynge Wortes or othere herbes tymes ofte. Chaucer uses the two words as

(1470):

paynten walles

Chaucer in THE CLERK'S TALE

(1386) says:

to the bigge

wrake.

A

variant form of wreak, q.v., as verb. Hence wrake-

both as noun and

worthies; Butler in HUDIBRAS (1663) said: The foe, for dread Of your nine-worthi-

ful, vengeful.

ness, is fled.

vengeance.

wreak.

733

Earlier wrecche* to rouse; wreche,

Thus,

to

do

(have,

make,

wreck

wry

nim, seek, take) wreche. A very common word. Also wrecheful, wracchful, vengeful.

what one

To

served

in, on, against,

Wright, (13th century) handicraftsman, has survived as a

wreak, to drive, press (7th. to llth century); to give vent to (anger and the like)

deserves;

fault.

blame,

hence

Hence

something;

praise,

wrightful, having dewrightlesslike,

undeas

.

servedly

upon someone. To punish;

also

a

suffix,

to avenge; to harm; in the form to wreak vengeance on, still used. Also as a noun,

in such words as millwright, shipwright, wainwright; by extension, playwright.

wreak: vengeance; an act of retribution; repayment; harm, injury. Jonson in EVERY

writhled.

frequentative form of writhe. Shakespeare in HENRY vi, PART ONE (1591) has the French Countess exclaim in scorn, when

MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR (1599) cries: Would to heaven (In wreak of my misfortunes) I were turn'd To some faire water-nymph. wreck.

Wrinkled. As though from a

See wrack.

first

she sees Lord Talbot: It cannot be

this

weak and writhled shrimp Should such

strike

to

terror

enemies.

She

The word woman in

the

Nugent in

his

his

soon discovers her mistake. wretchlessness.

Recklessness; heedlessness;

neglect. Originally

an erroneous form

(in

Raleigh's HISTORY OF THE WORLD; 1634) of retchlessness, an old variant of recklessness.

Thus

wretchless

also

(16th

18th century), heedless, imprudent; neg-

.

to

irritate;

anger,

to

of

(1772)

be-

HISTORY OF

Isla's

FRIAR GERUND DE CAMP AZ AS asks:

.

Why

not be said, she was not a comwoman, but a geniusess, and an

mon

Used from the 9th

it

elegant writrix?

into the 16th century. Also as a verb, to

wrethe,

.

should See wroath.

female writer.

the ability of the field of letters. Thomas

littles

translation

to

lectful.

wrethe.

A

writrix.

become

wroath.

Distress;

disaster.

A

variant of

angry. Also to feel anger toward; a poem of 1500 queried: Quhy wrethis thou me?

ruth, q.v. Also wroth (not to be confused with wroth, great anger, earlier wrethe,

Hence

and in the 17th century replaced by wrath. Wroth as an adjective, very angry, wrathful, has lasted longer. These words are from the same source as writhe). Shakespeare in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

wrethfulness wrathful, wrath); Yonge in 1422 wrethful,

(later

(trans-

SECRETORUM; THE GOVERNAUNCE OF PRYNGES) warned: He that hath a sharpe nose and smale, he is wrethfuL There was another Old English verb, to wrethe (9th to 13th century), to prop or hold up; to lean upon for support, to lating

SECRETA

depend upon used Lord as man's prop.

figuratively

of

the

A

constructor; especially, a carpenter or joiner. Sometimes (8th to 14th century) applied to the Lord. Also as a

wright.

has Aragon,

(1596)

wrong

casket,

my

keepe

after

Patiently

wry. as a

my

To cover, spread a cover over, or a table, or a horse. To cover armor or clothing, to attire. To (1)

fire

with

cover so as warm, protect, or conceal; to up, to hide; thus Chaucer in

cover

yard; wright-craft, and more. There was also a noun wright, shortened from Old

TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE

(whence also iwurht),

lie

bear

to

wroath.

verb, to build. Also wright-garth, a joiner's

English gewyrht

the

adieu.

Sweet,

say:

oath,

choosing

God, to (2)

734

To

whom eo on

ther nys one's,

(1374)

Speaks of

no cause ywrye.

way; to turn, bend;

wust to

wynd

incline,

deviate;

(POEMS; 1426)

to

spoke of a

away fro Godys word to As youngsters often seek portant

figures,

copying

twist.

Audelay

man

that wrys

his wyckydnes. to imitate im-

had gotten by mfyrmitye.

the

wust.

cough of

genius, so Hoby records in his translation (1561) of Castiglione's THE COURTIER

man

that thought he resembled much Ferdinande the yonger of Aragon, Kyng and regarded not to resemble hym in anye other poynt but in the often lyftyng up

a

hys head, wrying therewythall a part of hys mouth, the whych customs the king

A

variant form of wist, past of

wit, q.v.

A narrow lane or cross-street. The the higher end of a narrow head wynd street. For its use as a verb, in Scotland,

wynd.

}

see hap.

735

xenia.

Gifts,

says

stowed upon friends,

Bailey guests,

(1751)

and

"be-

strangers,

guest; used of such a friendly relation between two persons of different countries.

The xenian

renewing of friendship." The is xenium, such a gift. Also, one singular made by subjects to their prince when he

xenotector of the rights of hospitality. to one is friendly foreigners or phile

passes through their estates ditional, often compulsory).

Thus xenodochy means

for

the

guest, stranger.

(usually tra-

Greek xenos, Also xenagogue, one who

conducts strangers, a guide; xenagogy, a guide-book;

xenelasy,

the

expulsion

of

foreigners; historically, a law that could be invoked at Sparta to achieve that end.

Hence

xenial, of the relation of host

and

736

Zeus, the god Zeus as pro-

A

foreign things; the opposite, a xenophobe. the entertainment

of strangers; xenodochium (xenodochy), a house of reception for strangers (pil-

grims) , a guest-house; in the Dark Ages, often attached to a monastery.

xenomancy.

See aeromancy.

A

y-.

(Old English and German Teutonic go) It had varithe most frequent of which was

prefix

ge-, earlier gi-;

ous uses,

.

form the past tense of verbs. Most of these died in the 15th century. From the mid-1 6th century poets attempting archaic to

added the prefix adding any meaning; effects

y,

often without thus

(Spenser); ysprout, ysteer;

(Milton).

The most common

yshrilled

star-ypointing of the forms,

lingering in poetic use, is yclept, named; see clepe. Often the y was changed still

to

as in iclosed, igranted, ipassed.

i,

The

form is common in Chaucer and Lydgate, but almost completely unused by Gower. favorites of later poets are ybent,

Among

tered, yhabited, clothed,

yhaded, yhoded,

ordained,

consecrated,

yhald, yielded. yheedid, headed, yheled, (1) healed; (2) covered, concealed; (3) also yeled, anointed,

yhevid,

yholpe(n),

yhote(n)

grieved,

etc.

called,

f

yhillid,

ykremyd, crumbled,

(from

mutually beloved; hence, a pair of lovers. y logged, lodged, ymered, purified, ymet,

met.

dreamt;

ynome (n)

taken,

put. yrerd, raised, yschad, shed, ysesid, yseysed, seized, ysessed, ceased, ysinwed, sinned. ypitte,

yso(c)ht, sought, yteyd, tied, ythrungin, hurled, ytwynned, separated, yvenkessyd,

yvenquyst,

ywhyngged, winged, ywived, yworewid, worried, ywroken,

burned,

punished.

hence choice, comely, ycoroned, ycronet, crowned, ycorven, carved, ydodded, shorn, ydought, grown strong, ydreght, drawn, yfere (noun) a companion; (adverb) in company, together in

verse,

QUEENE

as

used frequently as a tag in Spenser's THE FAERIE

O

goodly golden chains, wherewith yfere The virtues linked are (1590):

in lovely wise, yfet, brought, fetched, acquired, yflawe, flayed, yflemed, put to exiled,

yfong, taken, seized; ceived, ygilt, sinned; gilded; Nashe flight;

re-

My

most are the is

I

3?.

ywaged,

vanquished,

hired.

married.

avenged;

There are many more, but readily recognized by dropping have omitted them, and that

why.

A

yahoo.

From

the

degraded or bestial

name invented by

person. Swift in

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

(1726) , for a species of brute in the form of a man, slaves of

the

noble race of houyhnhnm, an

telligent

tribe

of

the

horse.

Used

infre-

quently since; also as a verb; Yates in (1868) spoke of a dam

THE ROCK AHEAD (in

MARTIN'S MONTHS MINDE, 1589): My hope once was my old shoes should be stitchtf

low-bred yale.

A

lot,

yahooin'

all

over the place.

fabulous beast with horns and

tusks. Used from the 15th century; a ygilt, they were before bein heraldry. Also gaill, gale, jail, fetradiant, made figure gyved, y yglent, 737

thumbs

pitch t.

named.

ynem(p)ned,

ynume,

,

ybound, ybrought, yclad, ydamned, ydight,

chosen,

hight).

ykitt, ykyt, cut. yleof,

ydrad, ywrought. Also yblent, (1) blinded; (2) mingled, confused, blurred, y brent, ycore,

flayed.

hanged.

yhonge,

helped,

yede

yam jail,

Yale was also

eale.

yeale,

form of

an old

A

on a post route. From from the 16th century. The ASIATIC ANNUAL REGISTER of 1800 said: Each night they reached a yam, and each week a city. Hence yamstchik (yamshik,

yam.

rest-house

the Russian; used

yamsheek) yap.

,

nimble;

Clever,

eager;

hungry.

still

current

heavy. yark.

A

yard meaning

There was another yard, probably related to Latin hasta, spear, meaning a stick, a slender shoot of a tree. This survives in sailyard, and the reduplicating yardstick. Other senses this yard had include: a

twig; hence, a trifle, a thing of no value. means of punishment; hence, punish-

A

From the use of a rod in measuring land, a yard, an area of a quarter of an acre; a measure of length:

ment, the rod.

16^ feet; (14th century and now standard) 3 feet. By optimistic transfer, the phallus (as also Latin

(9th to 15th century)

Boyet her by the foot. Dumain (aside to Boyet): He may not by the yard.

quickly,

nimbly.

an

The adverb was

sometimes used as an exclamation, as in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

and THE TEMPEST, or (full yare) as a rhyming tag thus in the ballad of GUY WARWICK (1400): And wyth hys fyst (1606)

full yore.

BEOWULF

me The

By

grant,

ex-

be-

To bestow, to grant; to acknowledge, to confess; to provide, to give, to offer. Used from the 12th to the 15th century. Also yeitt, naitt to refuse.

he flew awey adjective was common from sore: Sythen

into the 19th century, especially

yete,

yatte;

hence

A

mare, especially an old, wornyaud. out mare. Also yawde, yode, yade; related thus yaudson, to jade. Hence, a strumpet yaldson, son of a whore, a 15th and 16th century term of abuse. Also yaudswiver (16th century), one that carnally knows

a mare. yclad.

See

y-.

Spenser has, in THE SHEP-

HERD'S CALENDAR (1579; APRIL), the charm-

ing line to "faire Elisa": yclad in scarlet,

maiden queene. See clepe.

ydromancy. ville,

1400,

A variant etc.)

of

(used by

Maunde-

hydromancy.

See

aeromancy.

ad-

Shakespeare's

he smote

appoint;

yate.

yclept.

thy sweet Grace's (aside to Dumain): Loves

verb,

yark up, open.

ordain,

See yepsen.

yaspen.

Armado: I do adore

as

to

stow.

like a

Ready, prepared. Also

to, shut;

yark

tension,

virga, rod); Shakespeare in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (1588) has one of his frequent puns:

yare.

verbal ready, prepare. in to Also, put position. yare, q.v.

q.v.

Old Saxon gard (whence also garden) , as in vineyard and orchard; Latin hortus, garden; related to court.

slipper.

A

To make

form of

To

a driver of a post-horse.

Northern and Scotch form of yepe, yard. The enclosure is

a sea term, meaning responding readily the helm, easily manageable; thus AND CLEOShakespeare (also in ANTONY are Their yare, yours shippes PATRA): as

to

ale.

A

yedding. song; discourse. By extension, a gest, a verse romance. Used from the 10th to the 15th century; Chaucer in the

Prologue to THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) in one of his best portraits, of the frere, the worthy limitour cleped Huberd, says:

Wei coude he singe and pleyen on a rote. Of yeddinges he bar utterly the prys. yede.

738

See yode.

yeme

yern

To

yeme.

care for, take notice of, con-

root, gaup; Old Norse, gaupn, hollow made by the cupped hands; see yepsen. Hence yephede, yepship, cunning, sagac-

look attentively

(upon); to take guard, protect; to have charge of, govern, manage, control; to observe (a command, a holiday). Also the noun sider;

care

of,

yeme, heed,

Hence

care.

To nim

Also yeply, craftily. Layamon's BRUT (1205) said: Julius Caesar he was yep.

ity.

in yeme, in one's care.

etc.

Hence

as

yemeless, careless, negli-

The forms were common from

An

old plural form of eye

(eyes,

eien, yen).

yeoman. Originally, a servant of superior rank, in a royal or noble household. Also yeman, ymman, probably related to young-

man, the youth of a noble house trained as a page or a yeoman. Hence, to do yeoman service, to do excellent and faithful work (often with implication that the assignment was onerous) The body-guard .

of the ruler of England

(first

archers,

appointed when Henry VII was crowned; 1485) consists of The Yeomen of the Guard; these survived in London and the title

of a Gilbert

and Sullivan play

(1888).

(15th to 17th century), a landholder under the rank of a gentle-

By

extension

man; hence, in general, a sturdy and respected commoner. Skelton in MAGNYFYCENCE (1520) pictured life's vicissitudes: To day hote, to morowe outrageous colde; to day a yoman, to morowe made a page. yepe.

Cunning,

crafty;

wise, sagacious, prudent; alert;

open,

shrewd; active,

astute,

nimble,

daring. Old English geap, curved, crooked, crafty; Teuton

bold,

of the hands; also,

cupped hands

will hold.

lish geap,

hollow of the cupped hands, whence also English gowpen, with the same meaning

the tresur that he yemit. There was also a form yemsel (yhemsale, yemseill), care, custody, used from the 12th to the 15th

yene.

as the

ing beyond the 16th in dialects. Old Engopen, spacious, curved; the Old Teuton root is gaup, Old Norse gaupn,

the

8th to the 15th century. Dunbar in a poem of 1520 speaks of a guardian dispoilit of

century.

much

Also yaspen, ipson, yespe, espin, and the like. Used from the 14th century, linger-

gent; yemelest, negligence; yemelich, full of care, anxious; yemer, a keeper, guardian, ruler.

The cupping

yepsen.

yeme, take yeme, take note, give

as yepsen.

To draw stitches tight; to bind Revived tightly. by Scott in THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805) and THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818): His hands and feet are yerked as tight as cords can be drawn. yerk.

(1)

Hence,

to crack a

whip; to

strike, to beat;

hence, to rouse, to excite. Skelton;

SpenShakespeare (OTHELLO, 1604): Nine, or ten times I had thought t'have yerk'd him here under the ribbes. BLACKWOOD'S ser;

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE in

1833

declared:

We

should yerk the yokel of a Yankee with the knout. Hence also, to jerk; to carp

(at);

a song;

to jerk

words, strike

(out)

up

compose rapidly, yerk up a book; to go at something eagerly, pitch into. The word was first used (1450) as a to

term in bootmaking, of the twitch (jerk) end of drawing through the thread; naturally it is used in Dekker's THE SHOEMAKER'S HOLIDAY (1600) Shakespeare used at the

.

(again) in HENRY v (1599) of wounded steeds that with wild rage Yerke out it

their

armed

yern.

To

heeles at their dead masters.

run

(to

which

it

is related).

Also as an adjective: yern, hearty; eager; covetous, swift,

739

earnestly occupied; greedy; nimble, active. The adverb form

yy

yestreen

was yernly

or

yerne,

heartily,

eagerly,

A

yergladly; swiftly, immediately, soon. ner was a runner. The words were in

common

use from the 9th through the

this

RHETORIQUE

(1553)

learned, that

we never

,

should

first

be

any straunge ynkehorne termes, but so speak as is commonly received, neither sekyng to be over affect

nor yet livyng over

14th century. Chaucer says in THE MIL-

fine,

TALE (1386): But of hir song, it was as loude and yerne As any swalwe sittynge on a berne.

yode. Went. The old past tense of go. Also yead, yede. Cp. sigalder. The word

LER'S

was mistakenly used

carelesse.

as a present

yode,

yestreen. Yesterday evening. Corrupted into such forms as the strene, the straine,

yede, to go, in the 16th century. Scott revived the form, in MARMION (1808): In

ystrewine, yhistrewyn, yistrevyn. The ballad FAIR ELLEN (in Child's collection,

Lord Marmion.

dreamed a dream san the which had never been wholly abandoned by nostalgic

other pace than forth he yode, Returned

has: /

1800)

straine. Scott revived yestreen,

poets.

A variant of yeasty,

yesty.

in the sense of

or

insubstantial;

foamy, troubled waters. Shakespeare uses

frothy,

HAMLET

ii

(V

Though

1605):

and in 199) the yesty waves

and swallow navigation See

yfere.

y-.

like it

Ugly.

An

MACBETH

also

opposite

THE

to

be shonned for

and

ynkehorne. lessons,

said

woman

ysope.

the

13th

in

THE

See hippocras. old variant of hyssop. Also its

use,

bouce-Jane.

al other

Wilson in THE ARTE OF

An

ysoop. For an instance of

and ylome;

Emong

in

Chaucer,

she was wont in her yonghede.

to the 14th century.

See inkhorn.

Used

to

loom.

to

Youth. centuries.

(1366) speaks of a that shorter was a foot, ywis, That

ypocras.

Frequently, Related often in the phrase oft

Used from the 10th

14th

ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE

yll.

ylome.

(1450) thy clerk before the yynge, To

See lingam.

younghede.

a face pleasant, meerie, comelye, and to be desired for goodnesse, and Foulness a

and

Make

yoni.

(1561) of CastiCOURTIER said that Beawtie is

face dark, yglesome, unpleasant,

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PARISH PRIESTS bere lyght, and belle rynge.

in his translation

glione's

.

Going; gait; journey; course. Also yeong, yoing, iong. Also a verb, to go. Used from the 10th century; Myrc in his said:

handsome. Not in the O.E.D, Cp. ugsome.

Hoby

.

yong.

up.

early

grievous.

yours yomeryng for ever.

a 17th century pseudo-archaism for afar. For an instance of its use, see depeint.

yglesome.

wretched;

Used from BEOWULF to the 14th century. Also as a verb, to murmur; to complain; to lament; to mourn. THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY (1400) said that the Greeks us to And to yow and also grefe broght .

in

Confound

Note that yferre was

Sorrowful;

yomer.

ywis. yys.

740

See wit.

An

old form of

(1)

yes, (2)

eyes.

see

and its fur. somewhat women's dresses.

Sable, the animal

zibeline.

Also, a woollen cloth with a

furry surface, used for

THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY of May 1889 averred: In 1188 or thereabout no person was allowed to wear garments of vair, gray, zibeline,

or scarlet color.

little

zo ne, a zonelet;

espe-

cially, a girdle or belt (for a maiden's waist). Herrick says in HESPERIDES (1648), of his JULIA'S RIBAND: 'Tis that zonulet of

Wherein

love

all pleasures of the

world

are wove.

See aeromancy.

zoophobia.

A gem. The word, which Bulwer-

zimme.

A

zonulet.

zounds.

A

euphemistic shortening of By

Lytton uses twice, is an error; he misunderstood the Old English symbol for dg which looks like a z, thus reading zimm

wounds, as a mild oath. Also zwounds; zoones, zaunsf zownds, zons, dzowns. Shakespeare exclaimed in KING

gimm, gem. Thus in HAROLD (1848): Taking from his own neck a collar of zimmes of great price.

JOHN

for

.

.

A

zitella.

an;

.

zitelle.

and

From the ItaliMrs. Behn in THE

a maiden.

FEIGN'D CURTIZANS

(1679)

exclaimed:

A

zymurgy.

a zitella tool a pretty con-

the

+

and the present reader well

See aeromancy. variant form of sicker, q.v*

The

making

art of fermentation, as in

of wine. Greek zyme, leaven

ourgia, working.

For centuries, monks

among the most skilled zymurgists. With them, we take our leaven.

have See cithern.

A

zykere.

tradiction! zither.

(1623)

may echo him: Zounds, I was never so bethumpt with words! zygomancy.

girl;

plural,

curtizan!

God's

741

been

Mnemosyne the mother of the Muses.

Memory not only amuses but amazes, though sometimes she leads us into a maze. Fortunate the man that combines a good memory with a good "forgettery," the ability to organize Mnemosyne

Memory

is

relative knowledge for recall, while relegating ephemera and trivia to that mental refuse heap which used to be called oblivion but today is known as the subconscious. The working of the "subconscious mind" is implicit in the late Brander Matthews' remark that a gentleman need not know Latin, but he should at least have forgotten it ... Who won the pennant in 1942? There must have been a beginning, and in the beginning was the word.

Shortly after the prime cosmetic week of October 18, 4004 B.C. (according to the chronology that tempted Newton before the apple), the Lord brought every beast of the field

and every fowl

of the air unto

Adam, and what he

called

Adam

did not linger in the Garden long enough, apparently, to label all the plants. What the Lord provided and Lucifer protracted was taken over by Prometheus, whose name means the Forethinker. Whatever could then be brought to mind, his wards the Greeks had a word

each one, that was

name.

They had, for example, some dozen words for as many kinds of pestle, pound cosmetics and condiments, for the two chief sources of human delight.

for to

its

it.

Their verbal ingenuity was such that scientists have continued to use their forms, and those of their Roman followers, as endings (dacron, plutonmm) or as full words (nitrogen, pyrex) in the creation of new terms for new discoveries, developments, and inventions. So fine were the classical distinctions, indeed, that in the course of coarser days many were forgotten. In addition to those discussed in the body of this book, English forms are appended here of a sampling of such words, which

may prove

serviceable to those

still

in quest of discrimination.

abatic, untrodden, inaccessible

accinct, well-girded; properly

ablautic, without slippers, barefoot abyrtaca, a salad of leeks, cresses,

acetary, a salad

sour sauce acacy, guilelessness, innocence

acalypse,

an unveiling

and

equipped with vinegar and oil achenic, mute with surprise achrestous, entirely useless acmaic, in top form; in full bloom;

prime

acroamatic* relating to entertainment

-743-

arthmotic

acroatic acroatic,

intended only to be heard,

anenious, provokingly insolent

as a

radio program acrobate, to walk acrotous,

aniatic, incurable; hopeless

anicula, a little old

on tiptoe receiving with

unapplauding;

woman

(used as an

endearment) anilastic, merciless, pitiless

disapproval

adapanetouSj inexhaustible adelic, obscure;

antefict,

unknown

an ornament or design for a

adoxic, unorthodox; disreputable

anteric, relating to or seeking for slighted love

aeiparthenous, forever virgin

anymphous, without a bride

adia,

freedom from fear

endowed with

aphanite, destroyer

great strength

aga th ophron tic, good-natured agrote, a rustic, a greenhorn agyniac, one that has alastic,

no

aphanous, invisible;

alipile,

aphrodiasm, quick desire aphthartous, undecaying, imperishable

slave, at baths, that plucks the

aplestous, insatiable apocrote, a snap of the fingers

apocroustic, with

amblothridian, an abortive child (used of an adult as a term of contempt) amburbial, around the city

apomaxy, a cleansing apoplymatic, persistently filthy apotmic, unlucky aquilifer, a standard

amphesic, two-edged amphithoazic, hurrying aimlessly; relating

around

the downgrade

andromanic, lusting after men anebous, unable to grow a beard

arietate, to

boastfully loquacious

relating to or full of

talk

butt like a

ram

aristodination, the bearing of fine children arrhatic; relating to a promise, pledge, or

pawning *

arrhenopiper, one that looks lewdly at

men

anecbatous, without exit; dead-end

windy

mix with

about virtue

andstron, a fishhook

of

one in charge of the money

aretological,

anarrhoptCj slanting upwards anatoliCj relating to the east; eastern

full

plowman

arenate, to strew with sand; to sand; to grind into sand

anaphalautiC; with high bare forehead anaptous, invincible

(literally,

arbyle, a half-boot arcary,

anandrous, without a husband ananetous, never relaxed

bearer

eagle carrier) aratorj a

ampotic, relating to the ebb of the tide;

anemoliottCj

to repel

apomosia, denial under oath

amelic, negligent, careless amicacous, not half-bad

on

power

apoglutiCj with tiny rump apograph f a census-taker

unworthy of care

to rushing

of

aphrasia, folly

one that has winged

hair from the armpits aluta, a soft leather shoe

ameletic,

(converse

diaphanous)

not forgetting; desiring revenge

a

secret

aphebic, past one's youth aphilous, without a friend

wife; wifeless

alawnicj roguily boastful aliped, wingfooted; (speedy) feet

vengeance

aphadic, displeasing

aganacticous, irritable, peevish agasthenic,

roof-

front or a forehead

arrogance;

arter,

a

felt

shoe

arthmotic> relating to a league or union

744

compas

artigamous

artigamoust newly

wed

calobate, a walker

artiphrontic, of sound mind aserous, disdainful; irksome

carica, a dried fig

carnifexj the executioner car otic, stupefying; strongly soporific casabund, on the verge of falling

relating to lifting one's clothes exposing one's body; an exhibition-

asyretic,

of this type

catarrhopic, slanting downwards catholic, full of salt; witty catosopher, a false reasoner; a trickster

atalous, delicate, tender

athanic, not subject to death

athesphatic, great

beyond words

athrous, gathered in a crowd; full of

mob

catulition, desire for the

a ring placed on the head to balance and spread the weight of a

aucupate, to hunt or snare birds

cesticil,

working harmoniously together unyoked; unmarried

axitious,

burden cestrous,

with a rough tongue

cetharion, a dice-box

babacious, chattering; prone to idle talk banausic, relating to handicraft; made by

cethidon, a ballot-box

hand bastern, a sedan chair

char optic, glad-eyed chasmin, a yawn

bausic, prudish; priggish

chelomatic,

wooden shoe

baxa, a

marked with knotches

chiromactron, a hand-towel

prone to break wind one that uses force; relating

chironomy, pantomime; gesticulation chloe, the first green sprouting of the

bdolotic, biastic,

male

cenocranic, empty headed

spirit

azytic,

walk on

caperate, full of wrinkles carbatine, a shoe of undressed leather

welcoming

incapable of erection asymbatic, irreconcilable

ist

to

hidden candy tale, a clothespress

astytic,

and

stilts;

calyptic,

askera, a fur-lined shoe

aspasian, gladly

on

stilts

to the

use of force

spring

with two furrows or wrinkles blichanotic, with running nose bisulcate,

chrysocomic, golden-haired

bomolochus, a lickspittle

clanculary, secret; anonymous; whom a secret is entrusted

brabeutic, relating to an umpire brimage, to snort with indignation

clavicary, a key-maker, a decipherer closmatic, relating to thread; providing a

one

to

clue

bromation, a light repast bucranic, bullheaded

clunal, relating to the hind parts cnisa, fumes of cooking fat

bumastous, large-breasted busycon, a large fig

colator,

an attendant on a

priest

colax, a fawning flatterer

cacomorphous, ugly in form cacosmic, relating to a world of caculor,

an attendant on a

coleatic, relating to the penis columbiate, to bill and coo, to kiss like

evil

doves

soldier

caedgene, (one) born blind calendary, an account-book (The Kalends

were the days for paying

bills.)

callonymic, (relating to) a beautiful

name

colythron, a ripe fig

comedonious, given to overeating compastes, a braggart compas, a noisy brag

745

eurhine

conamence conamence, great

effort

conarotic, well-fed;

concacation, defilement with continuity,

state

hard to take or catch hard to waken

dysalotic,

plump

dysergetic,

dung or

feces

of being skilfully put

ecclitic,

avoiding work forgiving

ecletic, (relating to)

together

concubium, the period of the

first

and

forget-

ting

sleep

edormiant, sleeping

at night

it off

confossate, pierced full of holes

elelichthontic, earth-shaking

coniate, plastered

elixate, to boil thoroughly; to extract the

essence of

copelatic, relating to oars copistj

an habitual quarreler; a

emansor, a soldier that overstays his leave,

liar

A

copriate, to tell obscene stories

emicate, to spring out, to appear suddenly emosyne, skill in hurling

copriot, a teller of obscene stories cornupate, to pierce with horns; to gore;

to cuckold

encratiCj

cosmarion, a decoration on a dress crastinate, to postpone till the morrow crissate,

to ripple

WOL

the haunches;

secure

having mastery or firm hold; in

command

enolmon, a three-legged stool enophile, a lover of wine

hence,

crissation

entaticous, stimulating; invigorating; aphrodisiac

crustulary, a pastry maker

dawn

cuppedous, fond of delicacies

eoan, relating to the

dagma, a bite

eolous, shifting, changeable epacmic, mature; at the highest

epaulion, the day after the ephemerolog, a recorder of

dagmatic, biting damartic, relating to a tamed one, to a wife (adam, Greek, untamable; adam,

trifles

epholly, something dragged along; tra

Hebrew, man) danisticj relating to

money-lending or shell degluption, peeling

peak wedding

an

ex-

burden

epicaustic,

burnt at the end

deipnetic, relating to mealtime; enjoying one's meals; one that is fond of eating

emulator, a feaster epulone, a guest at a banquet epulonic, relating to carousing

delema, mischief; damage

eranist, a contributor to a

demeaculum, an underground passage

erannousy lovely

dentiscalpt a toothpick dercunic, sleeping with one's eyes

erygmatic, given to belching erygmelous, loud-bellowing; roaring hor-

off of skin

open

dergmatic, relating to or taking a clear

view deta, to

rendously eubrotic,

desipid, out of one's

be

mind

fund

good

to eat

eudunious, with pretty buttocks eucvene, well watered

sure, naturally

dicrotous, applauding enthusiastically dmoa, a slave won in war

eucrepit, well shod

dolop, one that lays an ambush dorimachy, a battle with long spears

eumorphous, beautifully shaped

euesicy well-pointed

dormitate, to fall asleep drupettCj ripened on the tree; ready to fall

(dagger or epigram)

euporous, well-provided eupory, ample resources eurhine, keen of smell

746

lathetic

eurhopic eurhopic,

easily sliding; pleasantly clined, like the descent to Avernus

in-

hippomanic, lusting after horses holcade, a ship being towed

euthemonic, well arranged; well managed; neat

homelic, of the same age homorous, sharing a border

euthenctic, beautiful-sounding evancalous, pleasant to embrace

hyphalic, in

farciment, a mixture (meat,

etc.)

Davy

Jones's locker; that can-

not be plumbed for stuff-

hypocephalian, relating to things under the head (as a cushion)

hypocephalion, something to put under

ing forable, susceptible

to

perforation;

the head

(fig-

bored forule, a bookcase

hypopion, a black

urative) easily

eyfe

hythlotic, relating to or characterized idle talk or nonsense

furacious, given to thievery furuncle, a petty thief

by

icuncula, a small image or icon

gallinaceous, relating to or full of poultry gambrinous, relating to or full of beer

gamelial, relating to the nuptials geitonic, relating to a

gemebund,

illacrimable,

moaning

or

groaning geniculate, to bend the knee; with or relating to the bent knee

goneus, a begetter (male) grasontic, smelling like a goat gromphadic, relating to or like

an old sow gewgaws

gynnic, effeminate gynopiper, one that looks lewdly at

illitate,

auc-

(feminine) face impastuous, unfed; famished inenodable, that cannot be disentangled;

infrenate, unbridled

ionthadykin, a shaggy dog iphigenic,

women

born strong

ipsedixitism, dogmatic assertion; the assumption that one's word establishes

the fact

habra, a favorite slave halotic, easy to take or catch

hamaxiac, big as a wagonload

killotic, ass-colored

hebetate, dulled, blunted; to dull

kinebic,

hebetic, youthful; in early prime hednon, a wedding present

hedolion, a theatre bench

hemion,

an

induce higher bids to besmear; to overdecorate the

inexplicable infandous, unspeakable; abominable

gryptopolist, a dealer in trifles or

heliocaustic, relating to hemicacous, half bad

tears, pitiless

tion, to

neighborhood

continuously

unmoved by

illecebrose, seductively attractive illicitator, a conniving bidder at

sunburn

mean with money, niggardly klobion, a birdcage knestron, a scraper; a backscratcher kyma, a pregnant woman kyphon, a rogue that has been or

is

in the

pillory

half-ass

hestic, agreeable, pleasing

himeric, yearning for, desiring himeroomany, sexual intercourse himertic, yearned for; desired; desirable hippocome, an attendant on a horseman

lacismatic, all tattered laicast,

a

man fond

of

and torn women, a gynophile

laiscarpotic, extremely lustful lasanon, a closestool lathetic, likely to escape notice

747

lecka lecka, a

peridine

woman

legulian,

ociped, swift of foot oculeous, full of eyes; "all eyes" oestrous, always in heat

that has just given birth

an ambulance chaser

leptestc, fine-pointed

olbious, full of happiness

leviped, lightfooted lestic, relating to robbery

olesiptolic, city-destroying

onomasticon, a wordbook; a

lingulacca, a chatterbox logomachy, a war of words

list

of

names

Tom

opipeuter, a Peeping opsigon, one late-born

longomachy, a battle with javelins lutose, covered with or full of mud

orectic, relating to the appetite

orestian, a

macellary, relating to the food market

mountaineer; relating to moun-

tains

manticulator, a purse-snatcher manticule, a handbag

orgiophant, a teacher or revealer of secret

mantissa, a worthless addition or contribu-

orinda, bread made of rice meal orphny, the utter black of night

rites

tion

medea, the genitals

memnon,

jet

black (from

Memnon, King

of the Ethiopians)

meraculouSy somewhat pure; only

slightly

soiled or defiled

oxythymous, quick to anger

messonic, relating to boundaries microlipet, (one that is) annoyed at microloger, one that collects

ozote,

paigmatic, playful as a child palaimolops, one that cannot be taught new tricks; a veteran at roguery

trifles

microthymic, narrow-minded molobrouSj greedy moreta, a salad with garlic

pallaptern, round-heeled; easy virtue

murial, relating to brine myron, a sweet juice used as an ointment

namatious, full of springs nelipot, one that goes barefoot

upon a shower

of

meteorites

nundinate, to go to market to trade nycterent, one that hunts by night

nygma, a

sting;

eyes

pamphagite, one that eats everything pannychous, lasting all night paratiltra, a slave that depilates her misparectate, to reach or attain a marriageable condition; ripe for marriage

paregory, consolation parra, a bird of ill omen

Parthenon, a maiden's room pauliped, small-footed; one that has

little

penirate, equipped with a tail or penis percite, to rouse thoroughly, to excite

oar otic, talkative (Greek oar means wife) little

of

paupercule, a person somewhat poor, one in hard straits

a tiny hole

with

woman

feet

nystatic, drowsy; relating to drowsiness

ocellate, spotted;

a

tress

neophrontic, childish in thoughts nimeity, overmuchness; superfluity novendial, lasting nine days, as a wonder rites

many-branched

trifles

micromatic, small-eyed

Roman

osphrantic, of pleasant odor oxalm, a sour sauce oxydersic, sharp-sighted

merulator, a wine-bibber

or the

orygmadotic, very noisy; relating to uproar

greatly peridine, a rover, a pirate

748

sigalous

peripole peripole, a streetwalker

ptarmic, that makes one sneeze; relating

peron, a rawhide boot

to sneezing ptochocracy, government by the poor ptomatis, a cup that must be emptied

pervicacious, extremely stubborn philalethe, one that loves to forget philalethes,

one that loves the truth

phlyarotic, relating to or consisting of silly talk

pholcous, bowlegged pholeter, a lurker in holes

phtheirotic, relating

a

of

speaker

bath

pysmatic, relating to interrogation; always

asking questions

one that bears the marks of a quodlibetarian, one that argues impractical or trivial questions; a self-satisfied

lashing plebicole,

away

fist

insect that lives in fire

pyria, a steam

or infested with

will not

it

pyrate, to take a hot or steam bath

lice

plagiger,

an

pyralis,

an expounder; empty words to

pulicose, full of fleas pulifugous, that drives fleas

pygmic, big as a

phorine, thick-skinned phraster,

before being set down, as stand open-end-up

one that seeks the favor of the

common man

disputatious person

plorable, lamentable, deplorable plysma, water in which something has

pogonology, the study of beards

of the wall of a castle

both or town clear,

sides

popinal, relating to a restaurant popinary, a lunchroom cook, an egg scrambler poppizate, to cluck with the tongue

and

lips

pordy, a noisome noisy annoying break-

ing of wind potiuncle, a little drink prochnial, relating to submission or bending the knee

pronoia, foreseeing, foresight prosumia, a boat used for scouting or spy-

ing

pseudothyron, a secret door or entrance psexy, a rub down, currying psocic, infested with book-lice; with itch for reading

psychrophile, a lover of the cold

on a pruned branch

rhapismatic, relating to spanking or striking with the hand

one that makes promises polypragmatic, busy with many things

pollicitator,

pomerium, a space kept

resex, the stub left

rhadion, a comfortable shoe rhanter, a sprinkler (person or instrument)

been washed

rhastic,

not at

complicated or

difficult

the roaring of

rimator, one that lays open, discloses; an investigator

scaphisf a cup shaped like a boat scaurous, with large ankles schalide, a forked stick used as a

prop

scommatic, relating to or consisting of jeers or mockery screator,

one that hems and haws

sedularium, a cushion to of a car

sit

on; the seat

selma, a rowers' bench sequacious, following; subservient serotine,

happening

sessile, sitting;

an

all

rhochthodic, relating to the sea

late

relating to sitting

sicary, a dagger man; an assassin siculary, a stiletto man sigalous, not saying a word

749

silenic silenic,

zogrion thriobole, a pebble-tosser; a fortune-teller thrion, the postlapsarian garb of Adam

bearded but bald

simpule, a small ladle sirotic,

and Eve

scorching

sophr antic,

with a keen mind

speluncate, cavernous; or cavities

(a fig leaf)

a thing of little account tragulary, a hurler of javelins or darts; a titivillity,

marked with

caves

scoffer

stalix, a stake for

a runaway; a coward

fastening nets Stephanie, relating to a crown or wreath stigon, one branded or tattooed

trestate,

5tipsf a contribution

triorchid, extremely lascivious

triodite,

causing erection

tuburcinate, to eat greedily

typhedan, a

make black and blue

talla,

an eye

for

uberous; abundant umbratilous, in the shade; in retirement;

an eye

private

onion skin

tamian, one that gives out

money vanidictor,

telephanous, visible afar telkin,

one of

dummox

tyrophagous, cheese-eating

synchlytic, strewn together; mixed haphazard

talionic, relating to

one that takes the truth in vain

verna, a slave born in the

spiteful nature

home

(hence

vernacular) tergilla,

pigskin

ternate,

coming in

threes; relating to three

thanatic, very dangerous; death-dealing

thanatous,

on the brink of death

thaptomic, relating to funeral rites (of a distinguished person) thelymachy, a war of women

vewagate,

to plow a fallow field drunk on wine vitabund, that should be shunned

vinolent,

xenial, hospitable; friendly to strangers

xiphomachy, a battle with sabers xyresic, razor-sharp

ihelyphantic, manifestly effeminate theriac, relating to

wild animals

thersigenic, race-destroying; genocidic thettCj,

a

trogalion, a sweet bit to munch trygotic, relating to dregs

sudorium, a sweat-bath; a steamroom sugillatej to bruise;

lounger at meetingplaces;

trochadon, a running-shoe

strophist, one that seeks to wriggle out; a shrewd self-exculpator sty tic,

a

loafer

relating to menials or service

zacotic, very angry;

prone

zatrikion, chess

zogrion, a menagerie

750

to

fits

of fury

Words from

the Latin are even

more numerous than those from the Greek, with a listing merely of some that employ the prefix inter. be used as an intensive; it may mean between; it may indicate mutual

as I shall illustrate

Inter may

activity or relationship.

Many of the compounds formed with

this prefix are still

(e.g., interest, interdenominational, intervene). Of the less remembered, are self-evident and just listed below, some are briefly defined.

current

some

interamnian, situate between

two rivers

interarb oration, the overlapping of branches of two or more trees interaulic,

between royal

courts,

as

in-

teraulic politics interbastate, to quilt, to sew

place. Also interbaste

between

intertide, to interrupt; to fall through

(lit-

erally and figuratively) interclassis, an intermediate bookcase in

a library, as between two larger ones, or

inter commonage, the practice of sharing with others, especially used of pasture,

"the

commons". Hence, intercom-

his

between the

translation

speaks of

my

legs.

(1693) intercrural

Urquhart in of

Rabelais,

pudding

interdespise interdigitate, to lock together the fingers of the hand interduct, a space

between sentences, in

interlaqueate, entangled

interluency, a flowing between interlunation, the period between the old

and the new moon; hence, a blank terval.

in-

Also interlune

mealiary intermeate, to pass through (replaced by permeate)*, to flow between intermell, to intermingle; also used of hand-to-hand combat

intermess,

something

_ 751

a noun,

served

between

courses at a banquet; also used figuratively. Earlier,

printing or writing (17th century) interemption, slaughter interenjoy

intention, a perishing, going to ruin

interknow, to know mutually; interknowledge, shared knowledge

intermealary, between meals. Also inter-

moner intercrural,

interination, ratification, confirmation

interlucent, shining between; interlucidation (between, or mutual)

hills

intercome

of

rubbing together

interfulgent, shining between intergenital, between the genital parts intergential, international, between races

intergerine, like a partition-wall intergern, to snarl back

embrace mutually

interchafff to exchange jests interchase, to adorn or decorate

two windows intercolline, between

ful planet interfrication,

between cotton or other material so as to hold in

interiorace, to

interess, early form of interest interficient, destroying; hence interfeet or, used in 17th century astrology of a bale-

entremess

intermundial, between two worlds internecion, slaughter, massacre

interwish

internecive internecive, a 19th century form of internecine. That helpful house-organ of

the

New

York Times, "Winners and reminded its readers that

Sinners", has

internecine originally meant very destructive: internecine war, war of extermination. Butler used it in this sense in HUDIBRAS (1663): Th' Egyptians

interpretament,

used by Milton

(1645)

for interpretation interprice, a 16th century variant of enter-

prise to mark with points ("peribetween words and clauses; also figuratively, as words interpointed with

interpoint,

ods")

sighs.

Also interpun ct

worshipped dogs and for Their faith made internecine war* (The edition of 1674 has fierce and zealous war.) John-

interrogue, interrogate interscapular, between the shoulderblades,

Dictionary of 1755, misunder-

appearing suddenly in the midst of something; leaping between intersomnial, within a dream

son

in, his

denned internestanding cine,, endeavouring mutual destruction, and the notion of mutual slaughter has been common in the word since. this passage,

to

interned,

interconnect;

mutual connection inter orbitalf between the orbital

internexion,

intersomnious,

"between

eyes, as

an

inter-

sleeping

and

waking" interturb,

to

disturb

tion'f

by interrupting; me! Also interturb a-

interturb er

to watch intermittently. Hence, intewigilation; an intervigilant. Also an adjective, intervigilant, likely

intewigilate,

inter osculatef to be or

form a go-between,

a connecting link; to interpenetrate interplicatef to fold between or together

mutual

a back-slapping

Don't interturb

fist

used by Bulwer-Lytton in THE CAXTONS (1849)

interpolity,

as

intersilient,

citizenship;

752

to lose one's liberty to make a

interwish,

wish; also a

noun

joint

or mutual

I close with a passage that illustrates four major types of verbal lapse. In the Prologue to THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE in THE CANTERBURY TALES (1386) of Geoffery Chaucer, the Wife has taken 827 lines to reach her story: Now wol I seye my tale, if ye wol here.

The

Frere lough, whan he hadde herd al this, 'Now, dame quod he, 'so I have joye or blis, This is a long preamble of a tale.* Somnour comes to her defence: 7

,

The

What

spekestow of preambulacioun? trotte, or pees, or go

What! amble, or

Thou

lettest

our disport in

this

sit

doun;

manere.

Apart from variations in spelling, we observe in these three lines: a contraction or combination no longer used: spekestow is a fusion of (1) speakest thou. (2) a form of a

since supplanted by another form of the same word; a compound, or vice versa. Here disport is used where we

word

often, a simple by should say sport. has lapsed. The verb let is here used in the sense of hinder, (3) a meaning that a meaning retained only as a technical sense in tennis and the law. word that did not take root in the language. Here, for (4) a newly fashioned for the action of presenting a preamble, Chaucer coins the term preambulaci-

oun.

With which postambulation I'll

go

sit

I

bid you, kind reader, amble or what you

down.

753

will: