Chapter M (2)

=mouldwarp,= the mole, ‘talpa’; _moldwarp_, 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 148; Spenser, Colin Clout, 763. In gen. prov. use in the north country, Midlands, and Suffolk, see EDD. (s.v. Mouldywarp). ME. _moldewarpe_, ‘talpa’ (Cath. Angl.); cp. Dan. _muldvarp_, Norw. dial. _moldvarp_ (Aasen), G. _maulwurf_.

=mount cent, mount saint,= a game at cards resembling piquet; probably the same as =cent= (q.v.), Machin, Dumb Knight, iv (Queen). Prob. from _mount_, i.e. amount, and _cent_, one hundred. See NED.

=mountenance,= amount of space, distance. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 18; iii. 11. 20; v. 6. 36. ME. _mowntenawnce_ (Prompt.); _montenance_, amount (Cursor M. 29166).

=mournival,= a set of four aces, kings, queens, or knaves in one hand. Cotton Gamester, 68; hence, a set of four (things or persons), B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Mirth); _murnival_, Greene’s Tu Quoque, in Ancient Eng. Drama, ii. 551. See =mornifle.=

=mouse,= a term of endearment. Hamlet, iii. 4. 183; Middleton, Roaring Girl, ii. 1 (Openwork).

=mouse-hunt,= a woman hunter. Romeo iv. 4. 11. This is prob. a _fig._ use of _mouse-hunt_, a weasel, ‘The Ferrets and Moushunts of an Index’, Milton (Wks., ed. 1851, iii. 81); spelt _musehont_, Caxton, Reynard (ed. Arber, 79). ‘Mouse-hunt’ (‘Mouse-hound’) is in prov. use in E. Anglia for the smallest animal of the weasel tribe. See EDD. (s.v. Mouse, 1, (7) and (8)). M. Du. _muyshont_, or _muushont_, a weasel, lit. ‘a mouse-hound’.

=mowe,= to be able; ‘They shalle not mowe helpe, they shall not be able to help’, Morte Arthur, leaf 61, back, 26; bk. iv, c. 3. ME. _mow_(_e_)_n_, ‘posse’ (Prompt. EETS. 302); see Chaucer (Tr. and Cr. ii. 1594). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Mæi).

=mowe,= to make grimaces; ‘I mow with the mouth, I mock one, _Je fays la moue_’, Palsgrave; ‘Apes that moe and chatter’, Tempest, ii. 2. 9; _mowing_, making grimaces, Ascham, Scholemaster (ed. Arber, 54).

=mowes,= grimaces, ‘Making mowes at me’, BIBLE (1539), Ps. xxxv. 15; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 49; Cymbeline, i. 6. 41. ME. _mow_, or scorne, ‘valgia’ (Prompt. EETS. 294). F. _moue_, a moe, ‘an ill-favoured extension or thrusting out of the lips’ (Cotgr.).

=mowles,= broken chilblains in the heels. Dunbar, Poems (ed. Small, ii. 128). See EDD. (s.v. Mool), and Jamieson (s.v. Mules). ME. _mowle_, ‘pernio’ (Cath. Angl.); _mowle_, sore, ‘pustula, pernio’ (Prompt. EETS. 295, see note, no. 1439). F. _mule_, ‘a kibe; _aller sur mule_: Il va sur mule aussi bien que le Pape (an equivocation, applicable to one that hath kibed heels)’; see Cotgrave. Cp. Du. _muyle_, a kibe (Hexham).

=moy,= an imaginary name of coin, evolved by Pistol out of his prisoner’s speech; ‘Ayez pitié de _moi_! Moy shall not serve; I will have forty moys’, &c., Hen. V, iv. 4. 14.

=moyle,= a variety of apple; ‘Of Moyle, or Mum, or Treacle’s viscous juice’, J. Philips, Cider, bk. i. (Perhaps the word means a hybrid; cp. _moyle_, a mule.) See =genet-moyl.=

=moyle;= see =moil.=

=muccinigo,= a small coin formerly current in Venice, worth about 9_d._ B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1; iv. 1; Shirley, Gent. Venice, i. 1 (Cornari). Ital. ‘_mocenigo_, a coyn in Venice; also the name of a considerable family there’ (Florio). The coin was named from Tommaso Mocenigo, doge of Venice, 1413-23. See NED. (s.v. Moccenigo).

=much!,= a contemptuous exclamation of denial. _Much_ = _much of that!_, ironically; i.e. far from it, by no means. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 143; Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (Celso), _Much wench!_ i.e. no wench at all, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum., iv. 6 (Brain-worm).

=muck;= in Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 1188. _To run amuck_, to run about in a frenzy, is a phrase due to the Malay _āmuq_, ‘rushing in a state of frenzy to the commission of indiscriminate murder’ (Marsden). Dryden took the _a_ in _amuck_ to be the E. indef. article; and reproduced the phrase in the curious form—_runs an Indian muck_. See Stanford (s.v. Amuck).

=muckinder,= a handkerchief. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Turfe); Fletcher, Captain, iii. 5 (Fabricio); ‘Mockendar for chyldre, _mouchouer_’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in many parts of England from the north country to Kent and Dorset in various forms; _muckinder_, _muckender_, _muckinger_, _muckenger_ (EDD.). ME. _mokedore_, ‘sudarium’ (Voc. 614. 25), O. Prov. _mocadour_ (mod. _moucadour_), a handkerchief, Span. _mocador_, F. _mouchoir_; deriv. of _moucher_, ‘débarrasser des mucosités que sécrète la muqueuse nasale’ (Hatzfeld).

=muffler,= (1) a wrapper worn by women and covering the face; (2) a cloth for blindfolding a person. Merry Wives, iv. 2. 73; Fletcher, Night-walker, ii. 2 (near the end); 2 Hen. V, iii. 6. 32.

=mugwet,= the intestines of an animal; ‘The gatherbagge or Mugwet of a yong harte’, Turbervile, Hunting, 39. ‘Mugget’ is in prov. use in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall for sheep or calf’s intestines; see EDD. See NED. (s.v. Mugget).

=mule:= phr. _to ride upon a mule_, to be a great lawyer. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, ii. 1 (Carlo); _to shoe one’s mule_, to help oneself out of the funds trusted to one’s management, History of Francion (Nares).

=mule;= see =moil= (a slipper).

=mullar,= a ‘muller’, a stone with a flat base, held in the hand and used, in conjunction with a grinding-stone or slab, in grinding painters’ colours. Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, p. 136. F. _moulleur_, a grinder (Cotgr.); deriv. of OF. _moldre_, L. _molere_, to grind.

=mullet,= the rowel of a spur; a mullet, in heraldry. Shirley, Love in a Maze, i. 1 (Simple). F. _molette d’esperon_, the rowel of a spur (Cotgr.).

=mullets,= pincers or tweezers. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Amorphus). F. _mollette_, ‘a mullet, a nipper, a pincer’ (Cotgr.).

=mullipuff, mollipuff,= the puff-ball, or fuzz-ball. Shirley, St. Patrick, v. 1 (2 Soldier). See NED. (s.v. Mullipuff), and EDD. (s.v. Mully-puff). ‘Mully’ in Norfolk is used for mouldy, powdery, see EDD. (s.v. Mull, sb.^{1} 1). Norw. dial. _moll_, mould (Aasen), Swed. _mull_ (Widegren).

=mullwine,= mulled wine. Middleton, Phœnix, iv. 3. 9. See Dict. (s.v. Mulled).

=mumbudget,= a word used to insist upon silence; ‘I cry . . . _mum_; she cries _budget_’, Merry Wives, v. 2. 6; ‘Quoth she, _Mum budget_’, Butler, Hud. i. 3. 208; ‘_Mumbudget_, not a word!’, Look about You, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 420.

=mumchance,= the name of a game, both at dice and at cards. Westward Ho, ii. 2 (with allusion to _bones_, i.e. dice); B. Jonson, Alchemist, v. 2 (Subtle); Barth. Fair, iv. 1 (Cokes). Played in silence; whence the name.

=mumchance,= one who has nothing to say, a ‘dummy’. Plautus made English (Nares). In prov. use in many parts of England, esp. in the west country, for a stupid, silent, stolid person.

=mummia, mummy,= a preparation used in medicine, chiefly from the substance with which Egyptian mummies were preserved. Webster, White Devil (beginning, Gasparo), ed. Dyce, p. 5; id. (Isabella), p. 15; Beaumont and Fl., iii. 1 (Galoshio). See Dict. (s.v. Mummy), and Stanford (s.v. Mummia).

=mump,= to overreach, to cheat; ‘Mump your proud players’, Buckingham, The Rehearsal, ii. 2 (Bayes); ‘Mump’d of his snip’ (i.e. cheated of his portion), Wycherley, Love in a Wood, i. 2 (Ranger); Gent. Dancing-master, iv. 1 (Mrs. Caution). In prov. use in the west country, see EDD. (s.v. Mump, vb.^{1} 10). Du. _mompen_, ‘to mump, cheat’ (Sewel).

=mump,= to make grimaces, to screw up the mouth. Otway, Venice Preserved, ii. 1 (Pierre); D’Urfey, Pills, vi. 198; a grimace, ‘_Monnoye de singe_, moes, mumps’, Cotgrave. ‘To mump’ is used in Northamptonsh. in the sense of drawing in the lips, screwing up the mouth with a smile: ‘She mumps up her mouth, she knows something’, see EDD. (s.v. Mump, vb.^{1} 4).

=mumpsimus.= [In allusion to the story of an illiterate English priest, who when corrected for reading ‘quod in ore _mumpsimus_’ in the Mass, replied ‘I will not change my old _mumpsimus_ for your new _sumpsimus_’ (NED.).] One who obstinately adheres to old ways in spite of the clearest evidence that they are wrong, an old fogey, Underhill in Narr. Reform. (Camden Soc., 141); Gascoigne, Supposes, i. 3 (Dulipo). See Nares.

=mundungo,= bad-smelling tobacco; ‘A mundungo monopolist’, Lady Alimony, ii. 2 (1 Boy); _snuff-mundungus_, Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 1006. A jocular use of Span. _mondongo_, ‘hogs puddings’ (Stevens).

=munify,= to fortify. Drayton, Barons’ Wars, ii. 34; hence, _munificence_, defence, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 15 (ed. 1596).

=munite,= to fortify. Florio, tr. Montaigne, bk. i, c. 47; Bacon, Essay 3 (ed. Abbott, p. 10).

=munpins,= mouth-pegs, the teeth; a ludicrous form. _Munpynnys_, Skelton, The Douty Duke of Albany, 292. ‘Mun’ for mouth is in prov. use in the north, and in slang use generally, see EDD. (s.v. Mun, sb.^{1} 1). Norw. dial. _munn_, the mouth (Aasen).

=muraill,= a wall; walls of a city. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 201, back, 14. F. _muraille_.

=murderer, murdering-piece,= a cannon or mortar, discharging stones or grape-shot. Hamlet, iv. 5. 95; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 3 (Jaques); Double Marriage, iv. 2. 6.

=mure,= a wall. 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 119; Heywood, If you know not Me (Queen), vol. i, p. 338; to shut up, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 119; _mured up_, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 34. L. _murus_, a wall.

=murleon,= a merlin, a small hawk; ‘A cast [couple] of murleons’, Damon and Pithias, Ancient Brit. Drama, i. 88, col. 2. ME. _merlioun_, Chaucer (Parl. Foules, 339). F. _esmerillon_ (Cotgr.).

=murnival;= see =mournival.=

=murr,= a violent catarrh, a severe cold in the head. Chapman, Mons. d’Olive, ii. 1 (Philip); _murres_, pl., Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helthe, fol. 3, back; ‘Murre, _gravedo_’, Levins, Manipulus. See Nares.

=Murrian,= a Mauritanian, a Moor. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 315). See =Morian.=

=murrion,= a ‘morion’, a steel cap. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain). Also jocularly, a nightcap; spelt _murrain_, id., Scornful Lady, iv. 1 (Abigail). Span. _morrion_ (Stevens). See Stanford (s.v. Morrion), and Dict. (s.v. Morion).

=muscadine,= a kind of wine with a musk-like perfume. Massinger, City Madam, ii. 1. 12. See Dict. (s.v. Muscadel).

=Muscovy glass,= a kind of talc. B. Jonson, Prol. to Devil is an Ass, 17; Marston (Malcontent), i. 3 (Passarello).

=muse,= to wonder, marvel. Coriolanus, iii. 2. 7; Macbeth, iii. 4. 85; hence, _muses_, musings, thoughts, cogitations, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 94); Englishman for my Money, iii. 2 (Harvey); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 509. OF. _muser_, ‘regarder comme un sot’ (Bartsch), cp. Ital. _musare_, ‘to muse, to gape, to hould ones muzle or snout in the aire’ (Florio); Prov. _muzar_, ‘regarder bouche béante’; _mus_, ‘figure, visage’ (Levy).

=muse,= a gap in a thicket or fence through which a hare or other beast of sport is wont to pass; ‘Take a hare without a muse, and a knave without an excuse’, Howell, Eng. Prov. 12; ‘The wild muse of a bore’ (boar), Chapman, tr. Iliad, xi. 368; Heywood, Witches of Lancs. i. 1 (Bantam). The word is in prov. use in many parts of England from the north country to Sussex, written _muse_, _meuse_, _moose_, _muce_, see EDD. (s.v. Meuse). F. dial. (Bas-Maine) _mus_, ‘muce, passage étroit à travers des broussailles pour les lièvres, les lapins, &c.’ (Dottin); see Littré (s.v. Musse). See =meaze.=

=muske-million,= the musk-melon. Drayton, Pol. xx. 54; Tusser, Husbandry, § 40. 8.

=musquet,= a hawk of a very small size. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 119; ‘Musket, a lytell hauke, _mouchet_’, Palsgrave. Ital. _mosquetto_, ‘a musket-hawke’ (Florio).

=muss,= a scramble among boys, for trivial objects. Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 91; B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, iv. 1 (Cokes). ‘Muss’ means a confusion, scramble, in Warwickshire, see EDD. (s.v. Muss, sb.^{1} 1 and 2).

=mutchado,= a moustache; ‘On his upper lippe A mutchado’, Arden of Fev. ii. 1. 56; _mutchato_, Higgins, Induction to Mirror for Mag. (Nares); _muschatoes_, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4 (Ithamore). For numerous spellings of the word ‘moustache’ see NED. See =mouchatoes.=

=mutton,= a strumpet. Middleton, Roaring Girl, iii. 2 (Mis. O.); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iii. 8 (Bots). See =laced mutton.=

=myrobalane,= a kind of dried Indian plum. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 1 (Subtle). F. _myrobalan_, L. _myrobalanum_, Gk. μυροβάλανος, probably the ben-nut; μύpov, unguent, and βάλανος, acorn.

N

=nab,= the head. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); Harman, Caveat, p. 82; Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); _nabb_, a hat, Shadwell, Squire Alsatia, ii. 1. Swed. dial, _nabb_, the head (Rietz).

=nab-cheat,= a hat or cap. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1; Harman, Caveat, p. 82. See =cheat= (Thieves’ Cant).

=nache,= the rump; ‘The nache by the tayle’, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 57. 3. A west Yorks. word, see EDD. (s.v. Aitch-bone). OF. _nache_, a buttock (Godefroy); Ital. _natica_. See Dict. (s.v. Aitch-bone).

=nads,= an ‘adze’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 9.

=næve,= a spot, blemish; ‘Spots, like næves’, Dryden, Death of Lord Hastings, 55. L. _naevus_, a mole, or mark on the body.

=nake,= to bare, unsheathe a sword; ‘Nake your swords’, Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, v. 1 (Lussurioso). ME. _naken_, to make naked (Chaucer, Boethius, bk. iv, met. 7).

=naked,= unarmed. Othello, v. 2. 258. Phr. _naked bed_, in reference to the once common custom of sleeping undressed, no night-linen being worn; ‘In her naked bed’, Venus and Ad. 397. See Nares; and EDD. (s.v. Naked, 1 (1)).

=nale, at,= for _atten ale_, at the ale-house. Hickscorner, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 166. Cp. Glouc. phrase, ‘He’s gone to nale’ (EDD.). ME. _atte nale_, at the ale-house (P. Plowman, C. viii. 19).

=nall,= an ‘awl’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 4; ‘A _naule_, idem quod _aule_’, Levins, Manip.; ‘Nall for a souter, _alesne_’, Palsgrave. ‘Nawl’ is in common prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).

=namecouth,= known by name, famous. Spelt _naamkouth_, Grimalde, Concerning Virgil, 14; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 102.

=namely,= especially. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 14; vii. 7. 48.

=nape,= to strike upon the nape or back of the head just above the neck. ‘Naped in the head’, Latimer, 3 Sermon (ed. Arber, 76); ‘_I nawpe_ one in the necke’, Palsgrave.

=Napier’s bones,= ivory rods marked with numbers, for facilitating calculation; invented by Lord Napier of Merchiston (d. 1617). Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 1095; iii. 2. 409.

=nappy,= having a head, foaming; heady, strong. Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. iii. 16; Gay, Shepherd’s Week, ii. 56. In common prov. use (EDD.).

=nares,= nostrils. Butler, Hud. i. 1. 742; ‘Nares (of a hawk)’, Book of St. Albans, fol. a 5; L. _nares_, pl. nostrils.

=narre,= nearer. Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 97; Ruines of Rome, xvi. 3. Icel. _nærre_, nearer (adj.); _nærr_ (adv.).

=nas,= for _ne has_, has not. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 61.

=nase,= nose. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., ii. 1 (Lorel). ME. _nase_, nose (Wars Alex. 4519).

=natch,= a ‘notch’; ‘Cut all the natches of his tales’ (i.e. cut, in order to destroy, all the notches off his accounts or tallies), Arden of Fev. v. 1. 24; ‘A natche, _incisura_; to natch, _incidere_’, Levins, Manip. In prov. use in various parts of the British Isles (EDD.).

=nathe,= ‘nave’ of a wheel. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 5. 9. In common prov. use in the north and the Midlands (EDD.).

=nathemore,= never the more. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 25; iv. 8. 14. For the earlier _nathemo_. See NED.

=native,= in astrology; the subject of a horoscope, the person whose nativity is being cast. Massinger, City Madam, ii. 2 (Stargaze); Butler, Hud. i. 1. 608.

=nawl;= see =nall.=

=nay:= phr. _say nay, and take it_, refuse, but accept; a proverbial expression as to a maid’s part. Richard III, iii. 7. 50; Peele, Sir Clyomon, p. 494, col. 1.

=ne,= nor. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 25; All’s Well, ii. 1. 176. ME. _ne_, nor (Chaucer, C. T. A. 179). OE. _ne_.

=neafe,= a clenched hand, a fist. Mids. Night’s D. iv. 1. 15; _neuf_, B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1 (Tucca); Ford, Witch of Edmonton, iii. 1 (Cuddy). In common prov. use in various parts of the British Isles, see EDD. (s.v. Neive). ME. _neefe_, a fist (Barbour’s Bruce, xvi. 129); also in forms _nave_, _new_, in pl. _nevis_, _newys_, _newffys_ (id., see Glossary). Icel. _hnefi_.

=neal,= to anneal. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Meer).

=neat-house.= The Neat House (lit. house for cattle) was a celebrated market-garden, near Chelsea Bridge (Gifford); Massinger, City Madam, iii. 1. 14.

=neatresse,= a female neatherd. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 48.

=neck,= in chess; a move to cover check. Surrey, To the Lady that scorned her Lover, 3, in Tottel’s Misc. (ed. Arber, 21). See NED.

=neck-verse,= the Latin verse read by a malefactor, to entitle him to benefit of clergy, so as to save his neck; usually Psalm li. 1, _Miserere mei_, &c. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4 (Pilia); Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 3 (Chilax).

=needle,= to penetrate like a needle; to make their way into; ‘Mice made holes to needle in their buttocks’ (of fat hogs), Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3 (B. Knight).

=needly,= of necessity, necessarily. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 517, col. 2; id., Tale of Troy, p. 552. A Yorks. word (EDD.).

=neeld,= a ‘needle’. Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, xx. 95; Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 715; Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 204. A common prov. form, see EDD. (s.v. Needle).

=neele,= a ‘needle’. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 3 (Tyb). The word spelt without the _d_ is common in prov. E. in many spellings, as _neele_, _neel_, _neal_, _nill_, _nail_ (EDD.).

=neesing,= a sneezing, a sneeze. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xvii. 732; BIBLE, Job xli. 18. ‘Neese’ is in prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Neeze). ME. _nesen_ (Prompt.). Du. _niesen_, to sneeze (Hexham). See Dict. (s.v. Neese).

=neif,= one born on a feudal manor in a state of serfdom; ‘It signifieth in our common law a bondwoman, the reason is, because women become bound rather _nativitate_ than by any other means’, Cowell. Spelt _nyefe_, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 342. Anglo-F. _neif_, ‘serf de naissance ou d’origine’ (Didot); Med. L. _nativus_ (Ducange).

=neis,= to scent, smell; ‘The hart . . . nere fra’ hence sall neis her i’ the wind’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.). See NED. (s.v. Nese).

=nephew,= a grandson. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 22; ii. 10. 45; ‘_Grandsires and nephews_’, B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 3 (Curius); spelt _nevew_; Phaer, Aeneid ii, 702 (= L. _nepotem_). See Trench, Select Glossary. ME. _nevewe_, a grandson (Chaucer, Hous Fame, ii. 109). OF. _neveu_. O. Prov. _nep_, _nebot_. L. _nepotem_, nephew, grandson.

=nere,= nearer; ‘The nere to the churche, the ferther from God’, Heywood, Prov. (ed. 1867, 17). ME. ‘þe nere þe cherche, þe fyrþer fro God’, R. Brunne, Handlyng Synne. OE. _nēar_, compar. of _nēah_, nigh.

=nesh,= soft, tender, delicate; ‘Like a nesh nag’, Beaumont and Fl., Bonduca, iv. 1 (Petillius); ‘_Tendre_, tender, nice, nesh, delicate’, Cotgrave. In gen. prov. use in Scotland and England (EDD.). ME. _nesche_, ‘mollis’ (Cath. Angl.). OE. _hnesce_, soft (B. T.).

=nest of goblets,= a set of them, of different sizes, fitting one inside another. Northward Ho, iii. 2 (Bellamont); _neast of goblets_, Marston, Dutch Courtezan, i. 1. 7. So also _a nest of boxes_; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 12.

=net, nett,= clear, clean, bare. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 20; vi. 8. 45. F. _net_, neat, clean, clear; bare, empty.

=nettie,= neat, ‘natty’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 68. 1.

=neuf;= see =neafe.=

=neuft,= a newt, evet, or eft. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 1 (Tucca); cp. _newt_ in Bartholomew Fair, Act ii, where Knockem says, ‘What! thou’lt poison me with a _newt_’, &c.; where ed. 1614 has _neuft_ (NED.).

=Never a barrel the better herring,= proverbial saying, meaning never one better than another, nothing to choose between them, referring to the notion that you will not find a better herring by searching in a new barrel. Gascoigne, Supposes, iv. 6 (Litio); Martiniere’s Voyage, 127 (NED. (s.v. Herring)); [Fielding, T. Jones, x. v.]. Also, _In neither barrel better herring_, Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, p. 102); Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 11; ‘The Devil a barrel the better herring’, Bailey’s Colleq., Erasmus, 373; cp. Gosson, School of Abuse, 32: ‘Of both barrelles [i.e. as containing poets on the one side and cooks and painters on the other] I judge Cookes and Painters the better herring.’ See Davies (s.v. Herring).

=new-eared,= newly ploughed. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xviii. 492. See =ear= (to plough).

=newel,= a novelty, rarity. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 276. Explained as ‘a newe thing’. Formed from _new_, with the suffix of _novel_.

=new-fangle,= fond of new things; ‘The peple were soo newfangle’, Morte Arthur, leaf 421; bk. xxi, c. 1 (end). See Dict. (s.v. _Newfangled_).

=new-year’s-gift,= a present to a great man on new-year’s day, usually given in hope of a reward or by way of bribe. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Julio); Ascham, Scholemaster, p. 21.

=neysshe,= soft. Morte Arthur, leaf 311. 8; bk. xiii, c. 30. See =nesh.=

=niaise,= a young hawk taken out of the nest, applied allusively to a simple, witless person. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 3 (Fitz.); ‘_Niard_, a nias faulcon’, Cotgrave. ‘Nias’ is a north Yorks. word for a young hawk (EDD.). OF. _niais_, ‘qui n’est pas encore sorti du nid, qu’on a pris au nid’ (La Curne). See =eyas.=

=nice;= in various senses. It means fine, elegant, Much Ado, v. 1. 75; tender, delicate, Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 180; precise, Macbeth, iv. 3. 174; scrupulous, Merch. Ven. ii. 1. 14; subtle, L. L. L. v. 2. 232; coy, prudish, L. L. L. iii. 1. 24; squeamish, Tam. Shrew, iii. 1. 80; trifling, Romeo, iii. 1. 159. _To make it nice_, to seem reluctant, North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 14 (in Shak. Plut., p. 177).

=niceness,= coyness, scrupulousness. Cymb. iii. 4. 158; Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, i. 1 (Colonel).

=nick,= to cut in nicks or notches, Com. of Errors, v. 175; to clip, curtail, Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 8. _In the nick_, at the right moment, Othello, v. 2. 317; _out of all nick_, beyond all reckoning, excessively, Two Gent. iv. 2. 76. See EDD. (s.v. Nick, sb.^{4} 1). Hence, _nick_, to hit off, to find out with precision; ‘You’ve nicked the channel’ (i.e. the right course), Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 4 (Ben); _nicked_, luckily saved, Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 1304. See EDD. (s.v. Nick, vb.^{2} 2).

=nidget, nideot,= an ‘idiot’, simpleton. Spelt _nigget_, Middleton, The Changeling, iii. 3 (Lollio). In prov. use (EDD.).

=niding;= see =nithing.=

=niece,= a grand-daughter, Richard III, iv. 1. 1; a relative, cousin (vaguely used). Greene, Alphonsus, ii, prol. 12; id., iii (Fausta, l. 939). Down to the beginning of the 17th cent. the sense of grand-daughter appears to have been common; see Trench, Select Glossary.

=nifles,= trifles, things of little or no value; trifling tales; ‘The fables and the nyfyls’, Heywood, A Mery Play, 434 (NED). ME. _nyfles_: ‘He served hem with nyfles and with fablis’ (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1760). OF. _nifles_ (Godefroy). See EDD. (s.v. Nifle).

=nifling,= trifling, worthless, Lady Alimony, ii. 6. 10.

=niggers, niggers-noggers,= meaningless forms, used as minced oaths. Rowley, A Match at Midnight, i. 1 (Tim.); also _sniggers_, id.

=niggish,= niggardly, miserly; ‘Niggish slovenrie’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 11; ‘Nigeshe penny fathers’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 102). See Nares.

=niggle,= to do anything in a trifling, fiddling, ineffective way; ‘Take heed, daughter, you niggle not with your conscience’, Massinger, Emperor of the East, v. 3 (Theodosius). In prov. use with numerous variations of sense, see EDD. Norw. dial. _nigla_ (Aasen).

=night-cap,= a nocturnal bully, a notorious roisterer. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 1; Devil’s Law-case, ii, 1. See =Roaring Boys.=

=night-rail,= a night-dress. Middleton, Mayor of Queenboro’, iii. 2 (1 Lady); Massinger, City Madam, iii. 2 (end); iv. 4 (Luke). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Night, 1 (29)). OE. _hrægl_, dress. See Nares (s.v. Night-rail), and Dict. (s.v. Rail, 4).

=night-snap,= a thief (Cant). Beaumont and Fl., Chances, ii. 1 (John).

=nil=(=l,= to be unwilling, often denoting simple futurity; ‘I nill live in sorrowe’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 151; ‘I nill relate’, Pericles, iii, prel. 55; _will he nill he_, Hamlet, v. 1. 18; _to will and nill_, B. Jonson, Epigrams, xlii. 16; _nild_, pt. t. would not, ‘Unto the founts Diana nild repair’, Greene, Radagon’s Sonnet, 17 (ed. Dyce, p. 301). ‘Nill ye, will ye’, whether you wish or not, is in use in Scotland; ‘Nildy wildy’, whether one would or not, is heard is E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _nil_, pr. s.; _nolde_, pt. t. (Chaucer).

=nim,= to steal. Puritan Widow, i. 4. 167; Butler, Hud. i. 1. 598; hence, _nimmer_, a thief, id., ii. 3. 1094; Tomkis, Albumazar, iii. 7 (end); _nimming_, stealing, Massinger, Guardian, v. 2 (Durazzo). ‘Nim’ and ‘Nimmer’ are in prov. use (EDD.). ME. _nimen_, to take, to seize (P. Plowman), see Dict. M. and S.; OE. _niman_, to take; cp. G. _nehmen_.

=nine-holes,= a game in which the players endeavoured to roll small balls into nine holes in the ground, all separately numbered. Drayton, Pol. xiv. 22; Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal vi (Melanthus). See EDD. (s.v. Nine, 1 (9)), and NED. (s.v. Nine-holes).

=nine men’s morris,= a rural game, called also Merrils, described in Brand’s Pop. Antiq. (ed. 1877, p. 542), Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 98. Called ‘Morris’ by popular etymology, as if with reference to the movement (or dance) of the men (or pieces). But the right name was ‘Merelles’ (i.e. counters or pieces used in the game). Cp. Cotgrave: ‘_Merelles, Le jeu des merelles_, The boyish game called Merils or five-penny Morris, played here most commonly with stones, but in France with pawns or men made of purpose, and termed Merelles.’ See Ducange (s.v. Merallus), EDD. (s.v. Nine, 1 (12)), and Nares (s.v.).

=ningle,= ‘ingle’; _mine ingle_ became _my ningle_, my favourite. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 3 (Roderigo); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iii. 1 (Fustigo). See =ingle.=

=nip,= a taunt, sarcasm, reproof. Puttenham, E. Poesie, bk. i, c. 27 (ed. Arber, p. 68). ‘Nip’ in prov. use means a pinch or squeeze; a bite or sting, see EDD. (s.v. Nip, sb.^{1} 15, 16).

=nip a bung,= to steal a purse (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor); ‘A pickpocket, as good as ever _nipped_ the judge’s _bung_ while he was condemning him’, The London Chanticleers, scene 1 (Heath); Cleveland (Nares); _nip_, a cutpurse, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll). Hence _nipper_, ‘A nypper is termed a pickpurse or a cutpurse’, Fletewood (in Aydelotte, p. 95).

=nip a jan,= to steal a purse (Cant). B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman). See _Jan_ in NED.

=nipitato,= strong liquor; ‘A drink In England found, and Nipitato call’d, Which driveth all the sorrow from your hearts’, Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, iv. 2 (Pompiona). Hence, _nippitate_, strong (said of wine), Chapman, Alphonsus, iii. 1 (Collen). See Nares.

=nis,= is not. Spenser, Shep. Kal., June, 19. ME. _nis_ (Chaucer). OE. _nis_, for _ne is_, is not.

=niste, nist,= knew not. Spelt _nyst_, Morte Arthur, leaf 339. 4; bk. xvi, c. 9. ME. _niste_ (Chaucer, C. T. F. 502). OE. _nyste_, for _ne wyste_; _wiste_, pt. t. of _witan_, to know.

=nithing,= a vile coward; a term of severe reproach. _Nithing_, Blount’s Gloss.; spelt _niding_, Howell, Foreign Travell, sect. xviii (end); p. 79. Icel. _nīðingr_, legally the strongest term of abuse for a traitor, coward, or the like (Vigfusson).

=no,= used ironically; ‘No rich idolatry’ (i.e. great idolatry), Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iv. 3 (Learchus); ‘No villainy’ (i.e. great villainy), Mad Lover, iii. 6 (Chilax).

=noble,= a coin worth 6_s._ 8_d._ Richard II, i. 1. 88.

=noblesse,= noble birth or condition. Kyd, Cornelia, ii. 297; the nobility, persons of noble rank, ‘There is in every state . . . two portions of subjects; the Noblesse and the Commonaltie’, Bacon, Essay 15, § 13; Richard II, iv. 1. 119 (1st quarto only). ME. _noblesse_, nobleness, noble rank (Chaucer). F. _noblesse_, ‘nobility, gentry; gentlemanliness’ (Cotgr.).

=nobley,= great display, splendour. Morte Arthur, leaf 158, back, 8; bk. viii, c. 29; lf. 211, back, 32; bk. 10, c. 6. ME. _nobley_, nobility, dignity, splendour, noble rank; assembly of nobles (Chaucer). OF. _noblei_(_e_, nobility of rank or estate; Anglo-F. _noblei_, nobleness (Rough List).

=nocent,= harmful. Milton, P. L. ix. 186; guilty, Greene, James IV, v. 6 (Sir Cuthbert). L. _nocens_, hurtful, culpable.

=nock,= a notch at the end of a bow, or in the head of an arrow; ‘The nocke of the shafte’, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 127). Also, the cleft of the buttocks, Butler, Hud. i. 1. 285. Du. _nock_, ‘a notch in the head of an arrowe’ (Hexham). See Nares.

=nock,= (perhaps) a notch. The phr. _much in my nock_ seems to mean ‘much in my line’, ‘very suitable for me’, Triumphs of Love and Fortune (last speech but one of Lentulo), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 242. So also _beyond the nock_, above or beyond measure, ‘He commendeth hym by yonde the nocke, _Il le prise oultre bort_, or _oultre mesure_’, Palsgrave.

=noddy,= a simpleton. Two Gent. i. 1. In gen. prov. use (EDD.).

=noddy,= a card-game. Heywood, Woman killed with Kindness (Wendell); B. Jonson, Love Restored (Plutus); Westward Ho, iv. 1 (Birdlime); Northward Ho, ii. 1 (Liverpool). See Nares.

=nog,= a kind of strong beer, brewed in East Anglia, esp. in Norfolk; ‘Walpole laid a quart of nog on’t’, Swift, Upon the Horrid Plot, &c., 31; ‘Here’s a Norfolk nog’, Vanbrugh, A Journey to London, i. 1 (John Moody). See EDD. (s.v. Nog(g)).

=noise,= a company of musicians, a band. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 13; Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, iii. 1. 4. Common. The phrase _Sneak’s noise_ (2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 13) is copied by Heywood, Iron Age (Thersites), vol. iii, p. 312.

=nones:= phr. _for the nones_ = _for then ones_, for the once, for the occasion. Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1. 9; B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. i (Nano). See Dict. (s.v. Nonce).

=nook-shotten,= provided with capes and necks of land; ‘That nook-shotten isle of Albion’, Hen. V, iii. 5. 14. See the quotations in NED.

=noonstead,= the sun’s place at noon; the meridian. Spelt _noonestede_, Sackville, Induction, st. 7; ‘Now it nigh’d the noonstead of the day’, Drayton, Mooncalf (Nares). ‘Noonstead’ for the point of noon is known in north Yorks. (EDD).

=nope,= a bull-finch. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 74; ‘A Nope (bird), _rubicilla_’, Coles, 1679; ‘_Chochepierre_, a kind of nowpe or bullfinch that feeds on the kernels of cherri-stones’, Cotgrave. In prov. use. in various parts of England (EDD.). See =awbe.=

=noppe,= nap of cloth. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 453. Du. _noppe_, nap (Hexham). See Dict. (s.v. Nap.^{2}).

=noppy,= ‘nappy’ (as ale), having a head, strong. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 102. ‘Nappy’ is in gen. prov. use in England and Scotland (EDD.). See above.

=nosel;= see =nuzzle.=

=nose-thrilles,= nostrils. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 75. 3; § 84. 2. OE. _nosþyrel_, nostril.

=n’ot,= know not. _I not_, I know not, Gascoigne, Complaint of Philomene, 114. ME. _noot_ (_not_), 1 and 3 pr. s., I know not, he knows not (Chaucer); OE. _nāt_ (for _ne wāt_).

=notted,= without horns; ‘A lamb . . . it is notted’ (footnote, without horns), Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, 87. In prov. use we find ‘notted’ (‘knotted’, ‘natted’) meaning hornless, gen. of sheep; also ‘not’, hornless, of sheep or cattle, see EDD. (s.v. Not, adj.).

=nott-headed,= having head with hair cropped short. Chapman, Widow’s Tears, i (Tharsalio); B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 3 (Preamble). ME. _not-heed_, a head with hair cropped short (Chaucer, C. T. A. 109); see Skeat’s Notes in Complete Edition. OE. _hnot_, bald-headed, close-cut (Sweet).

=noulde,= would not. Spenser, Shep. Kal., February, 192. ME. _nolde_ (Chaucer); OE. _nolde_ (for _ne wolde_).

=noule;= see =nowl.=

=nourry,= a foster-child. Sir E. Wingfield, Letter to Wolsey (NED.); _nourie_, Turbervile, The Lover wisheth, &c., st. 4; _noorie_, id., Epit., &c., 60; id., Ovid’s Epistle, x (NED.) F. _nourri_, nourished, nurtured.

=nousle up;= See =nuzzle= (2).

=novel,= news; ‘The novell’, Heywood, Golden Age, A. iv (Jupiter); vol. iii, p. 55; Iron Age, Part II, A. ii (Soldier); p. 373. See Nares.

=novum,= an old game at dice, played by five or six persons, the principal throws being nine and five. L. L. L. v. 2. 547; ‘Change your game for dice; We are full number for _Novum_’, Cook, Greene’s Tu Quoque; in Ancient E. Drama, ii. 551, col. 1; spelt _novem_, A Woman never vexed, ii. 1. 5. The ‘full number’ in this company was _six_; the two principal throws were _nine_ and _five_. The game was properly called _novem quinque_ (Douce); see Nares.

=nowl,= the crown of the head; the head. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 17; _noule_, Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 39. In prov. use (EDD.). OE. _hnoll_, the top, summit, crown of the head. See Dict. (s.v. Noule).

=nowl,= a blockhead. Jack Juggler, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 113.

=nowle,= a mole-hill. Tusser, Husbandry, § 36. 17.

=nown,= own. _Mine own_ became _my nown_; hence _his nowne_ = his own; Udall, Roister Doister, i. 1. 49. See Nares.

=noy,= annoyance, vexation. Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, pp. 522, 532); _noy_, to annoy, Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 45; _noyance_, annoyance, id., i. 1. 23; _noyous_, troublesome (NED.). See Nares.

=noyfull,= harmful, disagreeable. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 24, § 2.

=nuddle,= to beat, to pummel. Rawlins, The Rebellion, iv. 1 (Trotter).

=nuddock,= the nape of the neck. Phaer, Aeneid vii, 742. ‘Nuddick’ is the Cornish word for the back of the neck, see EDD. (s.v. Niddick).

=nullifidian,= a man of no faith, a sceptic in matters of religion. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer).

=numbles,= certain inward parts of a deer; part of the back and loins of a hart; ‘Noumbles of a dere or beest, _entrailles_’, Palsgrave; Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 7; _nomblis_, Boke of St. Albans, fol. e 7 b. F. _nombles d’un cerf_, ‘the numbles of a stag’ (Cotgr.); OF. _nomble_ (Godefroy). See Dict. And see =umbles.=

=numerical,= particular, individual; ‘Not only of the specifical, but numerical forms’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., pt. i, § 33. Also (with _same_ or _very_) identical, ‘That very numerical lady’, Dryden, Marriage à la Mode, ii. 1 (Palamede); also in form _numerick_, ‘The same numerick crew’, Butler, Hud. i. 3. 461.

=nup,= a simpleton; ‘The vilest nup’, Brewer, Lingua, ii. 1 (end).

=nupson,= a simpleton. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum., iv. 6 (Brainworm); id., Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Pug).

=nursle,= to nurse; ‘To have a Bastard . . . nursled i’ th’ Countrey’, Brome; Eng. Moor, iii. 3 (NED.); _noursle up_, to train up, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 35. See =nuzzle.=

=nurt, nort,= to push with the horns. Tusser, Husbandry, § 20. 28; _nort_, to push toward, Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. viii, ch. 21. _Nurt_, possibly related to OF. _hurter_ (F. _heurter_), to push.

=nuzzle,= to poke or push with the nose; ‘I nosyll as a swyne dothe, _je fouille du museau_’, Palsgrave spelt _nousle_, Venus and Ad. 1115; to nestle close to a person, Heywood, Pleas. Dial. (Wks., ed. 1874, vi. 201); Marston, What you will, iii. 2 (Albano). Cp. Du. _neuselen_, to poke with the nose (Kilian).

=nuzzle,= to train, educate, nurture (freq. with _up_). Marston, Antonio’s Revenge, Prol. 16; Drayton, Pol. xi. 180; _nosel_, Nice Wanton, Prol. 9, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 163; _nousle up_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 23; _noursle up_, F. Q. vi. 4. 35; _nuzled in_, pp. trained in, Holinshed, Chron. iii. 1225 (NED.); _nusled in_, New Customs, iii. 1; Light of Gospel (in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 44). See NED. See =nursle.=

=nycibecetour,= a dainty dame, a fashionable girl; ‘Nycibecetours, or denty dames’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 120; _nicibecetur_, Roister Doister, i. 4. 12.

=nye,= to draw nigh, approach. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 316; ‘We shall nyghe the towne’, Palsgrave, 644.

=nyefe;= see =neif.=

†=nysot,= a wanton girl. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1244. Not found elsewhere.

O

=O,= a round spot; a circle; ‘This wooden O’ (i.e. circular space), Hen. V, Prol. 13; Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 81. See =oes.=

=oade,= woad. B. Jonson, Poetaster, ii. 1 (Albius).

=oatmeals,= a set of riotous and profligate young men (Cant); ‘Roaring boys and oatmeals’, Ford, Sun’s Darling, i. 1 (Folly’s song).

=Ob and Soller,= a dabbler in scholastic logic; one who deals with _obs_ (objections) and _sols_ (solutions) in disputations; ‘To pass for deep and learned Scholars, although but paltry Ob and Sollers’, Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 1242.

=obarni,= in full _Mead obarni_, i.e. ‘scalded mead’, a drink used in Russia; ‘Hum, Meath and Obarni’, B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 1 (Sat.). Russ. _obvarnyi_, scalded.

=oblatrant,= railing, reviling. One of the words ridiculed by B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1 (Crispinus). L. _oblatrare_, to bark at.

=obley,= a little cake of bread, prepared for consecration in the celebration of the Eucharist, the sacramental wafer; ‘The kyng shall offre an obbley of brede . . . with the whiche obleye after consecrate the king shall be howseld’, Devyse, Coron. Hen. VIII (NED.); spelt _ubblye_, Morte Arthur, leaf 360. 6; bk. xvii, ch. 20. ME. _obly_ or _ubly_. ‘nebula’ (Prompt. EETS. 312, see note, no. 1528); _obeley_ ‘oblata’ (Voc. 598. 24). OF. _oublee_, ‘hostie’ (Didot), Med. L. _oblata_, ‘panis ad sacrificium oblatus, hostia nondum consecrata’ (Ducange).

†=obliquid,= directed obliquely. Only in Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 54.

=obnoxious,= exposed to; ‘The having them obnoxious to ruin’, Bacon, Essay 36, § 3; submissive, ‘In consort, men are more obnoxious to others’ humours’, id., Essay 20, § 6; ‘They that are envious towards all are obnoxious and officious towards one’, id., Essay 44, § last; Dryden, ii. 1 (Emperor). L. _obnoxius_, lit. exposed to harm, also, exposed to the power of another, hence, submissive.

=obsequies,= funeral rites, a funeral. 3 Hen. VI, i. 4. 147. Anglo-F. _obsequies_ (Rough List), Med. L. _obsequiae_, ‘exequiae funebres’ (Ducange).

=obsequious,= dutiful in performing funeral obsequies, or in manifesting regard for the dead; ‘To shed obsequious teares upon this Trunke’, Titus And. v. 3. 152; ‘To do obsequious Sorrow’, Hamlet, i. 2. 92; _obsequiously_, in the manner of a mourner, ‘I obsequiously lament’, Richard III, i. 2. 3.

=obtrect,= to disparage. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1 (Usher). L. _obtrectare_.

=occupy,= to make use of; ‘Sondrie wares, . . . that men did commonly occupy’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 67; to trade, Luke xix. 13; ‘They dyd dwell amonges them . . . occupying with them verye familiarly’, More’s Utopia (ed. Arber, 31). See Bible Word-Book. But often used in an indecent sense, till the word became odious, as Shak. notes, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 161.

=occurrent,= occurrence, event. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 68 and 181); BIBLE, 1 Kings v. 4.

=odible,= hateful. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 12, § last; Fabyan, Chron., bk. i, c. 8. L. _odibilis_.

=œillade,= an amorous glance. Merry Wives, i. 3. 68. F. _œillade_ (Cotgr.), deriv. of _œil_, an eye.

=o’er-hill’d,= covered over. B. Jonson, Masque of Beauty (January). See =hill.=

=oes,= bright round spots. Bacon, Essay 36; stars, Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 188; _O’s_, small metallic spangles, as in ‘embroidered with _O’s_’, B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen, prose description at the end, § 3.

=oil:= _oil of angels_, oil of gold coins (i.e. coin employed in bribes). Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 2 (Officer). _Oil of ben_ (or _been_), oil from the _ben-nut_, or winged seed of the horse-radish tree (_Moringa pterygosperma_). Middleton, The Widow, ii. 1 (Ricardo). Arab, _bân_, the horseradish tree, or ben-nut. See Stanford (s.v. Ben). _Oil of devil_, a ‘momentous preparation’ of unknown ingredients. Beaumont and Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, iii. 3 (Leontius). _Oil of height_, the red elixir, a red oil, fabled to transmute other metals into gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). _Oil of luna_, the white elixir, for transmuting other metals into silver. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle). _Oil of mace_, oil from the spice called _mace_; but with a punning reference to the mace borne by a serjeant who arrested a prisoner. Middleton, A Mad World, iii. 2 (Sir B.). _Oil of talc_, a cosmetic, said to have been obtained from talc. B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Subtle); Massinger, City Madam, iv. 2 (Shave ’em).

=old,= great, plentiful, abundant; ‘Old utis’, high merriment, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 2. 22; ‘Ould filching’, abundant stealing, Arden of Fev. ii. 2. 53. ‘Old’ is used as an intensitive in many parts of England and Scotland, e.g. in Cheshire ‘old doings’ signify great sport, great merriment, an uncommon display of hospitality, see EDD. (s.v. Old, 11). ME. ‘gode olde fyghtyng’, Bone Florence, 681 (NED.).

=old,= a country pronunc. of ‘wold’, plain open country. King Lear, iii. 4. 125; also _ould_, Drayton, Pol. xxvi. 38.

=oilet-hole,= an ‘eyelet-hole’, a small round hole worked in cloth. Shirley, Opportunity, ii. 1 (Pimponio); Gent. of Venice, iii. 1. 7. F. _œillet_, a little eye, an eilet-hole (Cotgr.). From F. _œil_, an eye. See NED. (s.v. Oillet).

=olfact,= to smell; a pedantic form. Butler, Hud. i. 1. 742. L. _olfactus_, pp. of _olfacere_, to smell.

=oliphant,= elephant. Heywood, Brazen Age (Meleager), vol. iii, p. 187. ME. _oliphant_ (Kingis Quair, 156); Anglo-F. _olifant_ (Ch. Rol. 3119), _oliphant_ (Bozon, 19).

=olla podrida,= a medley. Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, i. 4 (Roscius solus). Span. _olla podrida_ (lit. rotten pot), a dish composed of many kinds of meats and vegetables stewed or boiled together; for detailed account of ingredients, see Stevens.

=on cai me on;= ‘Bid _on cai me on_, farewell’, Marlowe, Faustus, 40 (ed. Tucker Brooke). Gk. ὂν καὶ μὴ ὄν, existence and non-existence (Aristotle). The meaning is, Bid farewell to Aristotle and philosophy.

=on-end:= phr. _still on-end_, continually. Mirror for Mag., Northumberland, st. 17. See =an-end.=

=on gog,= ‘a-gog’, in eagerness, full of eagerness. Gascoigne, Grief of Joy, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 288; _to set on gog_, to excite, make eager, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, x (NED.).

=on hight,= aloud, in a high voice. Spenser, F. Q. v. 4. 45. ME. _on highte_: ‘And spak thise same wordes al on highte’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1784).

=one,= alone, _solus_; ‘I one of all other’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 170); _his one_, his own, ‘Then was she judged Triamond his one’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 5. 21.

†=oneyers;= ‘Burgomasters and great oneyers’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 84. Meaning doubtful; perhaps persons who converse with great ones (Schmidt).

=only,= alone; ‘Th’ only breath him daunts’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 13; especial, ‘Mine onely foe, mine onely deadly dread’, id., i. 7. 50; ‘His onely hart-sore and his onely foe’, id., ii. 1. 2.

=onsay,= a saying of ‘On!’, the word to advance, the signal to start. New Custom, ii. 2, l. 10 from end; see NED.

=ontwight;= see =untwight.=

=operance,= operation, action. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 3. 73.

=operant,= operative, active. Hamlet, iii. 2. 184; Webster, Appius, v. 3 (Virginius); Heywood, The Royal King, i. 1 (King); vol. vi, p. 6.

†=ophic,= (?) relating to serpents; ‘Resolve To ophic powder’, Lady Alimony, ii. 3 (Morisco). The sense is doubtful.

=oppignorate,= to pawn, to pledge. Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, 91). L. _oppignerare_, to pledge; from _pignus_, a pledge.

=optic,= a magnifying glass, lens. Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, i. 1 (Theodoret); _optic glass_, a telescope, Milton, P. L. i. 288.

=optimate,= a noble or aristocrat. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, i. 381; xi. 706. L. _optimates_, prop. members of the ‘Nobilitas’ in Rome, fr. _optimus_, best.

=opunctly,= according to appointment; at the time appointed. In Cook, Green’s Tu Quoque; Ancient E. Drama, ii. 565, col. 2. For _appunctly_. Cp. Med. L. _appunct_(_u_)_are_, ‘pacisci, convenire’ (Ducange).

=orangeado-pie,= a pie with candied orange-peel. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iv. 2 (Crambo). See =oringado.=

=orbity,= bereavement, childlessness. Heywood, Dialogue 2 (Pamphilus); vol. vi, p. 127. L. _orbitas_, orphanage, childlessness.

=ordinary,= a public dinner, where each one pays his share. ‘Crown ordinary’, a five-shilling dinner, Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, iv. 2 (Norbret); ‘He kept a daily Ordinary (thanks being the only shot his guests were to pay)’, Fuller, Pisgah, iii. 6. 328. F. _ordinaire_, ‘ce qu’on a accoutumé de servir pour le repas. _Il tient un bon ordinaire_’ (Dict. Acad. 1762).

=ordinately,= regularly, in an orderly way, righteously; ‘To walke ordinatly, and in a plain way’, Latimer, 1 Sermon bef. King (ed. Arber, 27). Cp. L. _ordinate_, in an orderly manner (Vulgate, 1 Mac. vi. 40).

=ore,= the name of a fine kind of wool, esp. from Leominster; ‘To whom did never sound the name of Lemster ore?’, Drayton, Polyolbion, song vii, 1. 152; xiv. 237; ‘But then the ore of Lempster’, B. Jonson, The Honour of Wales, 2 Song; ‘The finest Lemster ore’, Herrick, Oberon’s Palace; Fuller, Worthies, 33. See EDD., NED., and Notes and Queries, 6th S. i. 260.

=ore,= seaweed. Drayton, Pol. iv. 74. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.vv. Ore and Ware). OE. _wār_, ‘alga’ (Napier, OE. Glosses, 23. 2).

=orgule,= pride. State Papers, Hen. VIII, i. 88 (NED.). OF. _orguel_ (F. _orgueil_), pride.

=orguillous,= proud, haughty; ‘Proud and orgulllous’, Caxton,
Reynard (ed. Arber, 36); _orgillous_, Tr. and Cr., Prol. 2.
Anglo-F. _orguillous_ (Gower, Mirour, 1612). F. _orgueilleux_,
proud.

=oricalche,= a very precious metal. Spenser, Muiopotmos, 78. L. _orichalcum_, yellow copper ore, brass, highly prized by the ancients; Gk. ὀρείχαλκος, mountain-copper (hence F. _archal_, in _fil d’archal_, brass-wire).

=orient,= applied to pearls and precious stones of superior quality and brilliancy, as coming from the East. B. Jonson, Volpone, i. 1 (Mosca). Hence lustrous, brilliant, bright; ‘Now Morn . . . sowed the earth with orient pearl’, Milton, P. L. v. 2; ‘Ten thousand banners rise into the air with orient colours waving’, id., i. 516. Cp. F. _perles d’Orient_ (Dict. Acad. 1762).

=oringado,= candied orange-peel. Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, i. 1 (Steward). Cp. Span. _naranjada_, ‘a conserve made with oranges’; _naranja_, orange (Stevens). See =orangeado-pie.=

=ork, orc,= a sea-monster. Drayton, Pol. ii. 95; vii. 51. L. _orca_.

=orkyn,= a small coin, a quarter of a stiver; ‘Bye an yearthen potte . . . for an orkyn’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 28. Du. _oortken_, ‘an _orkey_, or the fourth part of a stiver, or two doits’ (Hexham); dimin. of _oort_, a small coin; see Franck.

=orped,= stout, active, bold. Spelt _orpid_, Golding, Metam. vii. 440; fol. 85 (1603); (of a boar) fierce, furious, id., viii. 395; fol. 99. ME. _orped_, stout, brave (Gower, C. A. i. 2590); see Dict. M. and S. OE. _orped_, gloss of _adultus_, syn. _snell_ (Napier, OE. Glosses, 3361).

=orpharion,= a large kind of lute with from six to nine pairs of strings, played with a plectrum; ‘The orpharion to the lute’, Drayton, Pastorals, iii. 111. Composed of the names of Orpheus and Arion, mythical musicians of Greek poetry.

=orphelin,= an orphan. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 171. 11. Anglo-F. _orphelin_, destitute, _orphanin_, an orphan (Gower); Late L. type *_orphaninus_, deriv. of _orphanus_, Gk. ὀρφανός, bereft of parents or children.

=orpin,= orpiment, yellow arsenic. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 713. F. _orpin_, ‘orpine, orpiment or arsenick’ (Cotgr.).

=ortyard,= orchard. Golding, Metam. xiv. 624; fol. 175, back (1603). OE. _ortgeard_. The first element _ort_ = L. _hortus_ (in Med. L. _ortus_), a garden; cp. Norm. F. _ort_, ‘jardin, verger’ (Moisy 558), Anglo-F. _ort_ (Gower, Mirour, 12868).

=ospringer,= an osprey. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xviii. 557; ‘Ospringe, a byrde’, Palsgrave.

=ossifrage,= the Lammergeyer or Geir Eagle, identified with the ‘ossifraga’ of Pliny; ‘_Ossifrage_, a kind of Eagle, having so strong a Beak that therewith she breaks bones and is therefore called a bone-breaker’, Blount; in BIBLE, Lev. xi. 13, ossifrage (RV. gier eagle). Identified with the ‘osprey’ or fish-hawk. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, iii. 505.

=ostend,= to show. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt (Q. Mary), ed. Dyce, p. 194; Heywood, Silver Age (Jupiter), vol. iii, p. 163. L. _ostendere_.

=ostent,= a prodigy, manifestation. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, v. 748; show, Hen. V, v, chorus, 21; ostentation, Heywood, Iron Age, Part I (Ulysses); vol. iii, p. 329. Also, to display, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 14, § 6. L. _ostentum_, a prodigy (Vulg., Exod. vii. 3); _ostentare_, to display (Vulg., Heb. vi. 11).

=osteria,= a hostelry, inn. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 3 (Mosca); Beaumont and Fl., Fair Maid of the Inn, ii. 2. 1. Ital. _osteria_ (Florio), Med. L. _hostellaria_, ‘diversorium’ (Ducange).

=ostry,= a hostelry. Marlowe, Faustus, ii. 3 (Robin). Hence _ostry-faggot_, a faggot in a hostelry, Greene, Looking Glasse, iii. 3 (1242); p. 133, col. 1. See =hostry.=

=otacousticon,= an ear-trumpet, an instrument used to assist hearing. Tomkis, Albumazar, i. 3 (Ronca). Gk. ὠτ- (ὠτός, gen. of οὖς an ear) + ἀκουστικός, acoustic.

=other,= left; _other leg_, left leg, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 23; _other eye_, left eye, id., iii. 9. 5; _other hand_, left hand, id., v. 12. 36.

=other-gates,= of another kind. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1 (Truepenny); ‘Works . . . requiring other-gates workmen’, Gauden, Tears of the Church, Pref. (Davies); in another way, Twelfth Nt. v. 1. 199. Still survives in the north country and in Warwicksh. (EDD.).

=ouch,= the socket of a precious stone, an ornament, jewel. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iv. 1 (Moroso); ‘Thou shalt make them (the stones) to be set in ouches of gold’, BIBLE, Exod. xxviii. 11; 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 52. ME. _nowch_, ‘monile, scutuler’ (Prompt. EETS. 309). Anglo-F. _nouche_, a brooch (Gower, Balades, xxxiii. 2); _nusche_ (Rough List). See =owch.=

=ought,= _pt. t._ owned, possessed. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iii. 1 (Leonora). Also, owed; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 608; Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 39; ii. 8. 40. ME. _oght_ (Dest. Troy, 12404), _ouhte_, owned, possessed (P. Plowman, C. iv. 72). OE. _āhte_, pt. t. of _āgan_, to possess, own. See =owe.=

=oultrage,= ‘outrage’, violence. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 182, back, 31. Anglo-F. _oultrage_, _oltrage_, _outrage_, extravagant conduct (Gower). Med. L. _ultragium_, ‘immoderatio’, ‘injuria’ (Ducange), deriv. of L. _ultra_, beyond.

=oultrance:= phr. _put to oultrance_, put to the extremity, put to death; Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 67, back, 10. Anglo-F. _oultrance_: ‘la guerre jusques al oultrance’ (Gower, Mirour, 8040); see NED. (s.v. Outrance). See =utterance.=

=ouphe,= a fairy, an ‘elf’, ‘oaf’, goblin, Merry Wives, iv. 4. 49. Icel. _ālfr_, an elf. See =aulf.=

=out,= proverbial saying, _out of God’s blessing into the warm sun_, from better to worse, Heywood’s Proverbs, bk. ii, ch. 5 (ed. Farmer, pp. 67 and 148); Harrison, Desc. Britain, in Holinshed (ed. 1577, i. fol. 11a). Cp. Lyly’s Euphues (ed. Arber, 320), ‘Thou forsakest God’s blessing to sit in a warme Sunne’; and, ‘If thou wilt follow my advice . . . thou shalt come out of a warme Sunne into God’s blessing’ (id. 196), where the proverb is reversed; ‘Thou must approve the common saw, Thou out of heaven’s benediction comest To the warm sun!’ King Lear, ii. 2. 157, 158 (see W. A. Wright’s note in C. P. Series). The original meaning of this proverbial expression is not clear.

=out,= to put out, extinguish, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 735; ‘Witness that Taper whose prophetick snuff Was outed and revived with one puff’, Quarles, Argalus and Parthenia (ed. 1678, 77).

=outbrast,= _pt. t._ burst out. Sackville, Induction, st. 11. Pt. t. of ME. _outbresten_; ‘The blode outbrast’ (Dest. Troy, 8045); see NED. (s.v. Outburst).

=out-brayed,= _pt. t._ brayed out, uttered aloud. Sackville, Induction, st. 18. Doubtless confused with =abraid.=

=out-breast,= to outvoice, surpass in singing. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 3. 145.

=outcept,= except. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 2 (Pan); ii. 1 (Hilts).

=out-cry,= an auction; because such a sale was proclaimed by the common crier. B. Jonson, Catiline, ii. 1 (Fulvia); New Inn, i. 1 (Host); Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, v. 1 (Bellides). See Nares.

=outrecuidance,= arrogance. Chapman, Mons. d’Olive, iv. (Dique); Eastward Ho, iv. 1 (_or_ 2) (Golding). F. _oultrecuidance_, an overweening presumption, pride, arrogancy (Cotgr.); F. _outrecuidance_; O. Prov. _oltracuidar_, _oltra_, L. _ultra_, beyond + _cuidar_, to think, L. _cogitare_.

=outrider,= a highwayman. Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 43.

=outsquat,= to throw out (as from a sling), to scatter; ‘The greatest sort with slings their plummet-lompes of lead outsquats’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vii. 687.

=overcraw,= to triumph over, lit. to crow over. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 50. See Nares.

=overdight,= _pp._ covered over. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 53; iv. 8. 34. _Dight_, pp., appears in later poetic language to be often taken as an archaic form of _decked_, see NED. (s.v. Dight, vb. 10).

=overflown,= flushed with wine. Middleton, Phœnix, iv. 2 (Ph.). Cp. Milton, P. L., i. 502, ‘Then wander forth the sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.’

=overgrast,= overgrown with grass. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 130.

=overhaile,= to draw over. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 75. See =hale and ho.=

=overlashing,= extravagant. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 105); extravagance, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 39.

=overlive,= to survive. Bacon, Essay 27, § 4.

=overlook,= to look down upon, despise. Hen. V, iii. 5. 9; B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 1 (Subtle).

=overlop,= the planking of a deck; the ‘orlop’; ‘His bed was not laid upon the overlop’, North, tr. of Plutarch, Alcibiades (Shak. Plutarch, p. 295, § 3). Du. _overloop_, ‘the covert or deck of anything; the hatches of a ship’ (Hexham).

=overseen,= betrayed into error, deluded. Chapman, Argument 2 to Iliad, bk. xiv; intoxicated, Earle, Microcosmographie, § 16; ed. Arber, p. 37. ‘Overseen’ is still in prov. use in both senses: (1) cheated, deluded; (2) overcome with drink, intoxicated; see EDD. (s.v. Overseen, 3 and 4).

=over-shot,= i.e. an _over-shot mill_, a mill worked by water pouring over the top of the wheel. Fletcher, Mad Lover, iv. 2 (Chilax).