Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

=alloune, aloune,= let us go. Anglicized form of F. _allons_. Marston, What You Will, ii. 1 (Laverdure).

=all-to-bepowdered,= powdered all over. Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, v. 2 (Mrs. Amlet).

=all-to ruffled,= ruffled extremely. Milton, Comus, 380. The incorrect compound _all-to_ came into use about 1500, in place of the older idiom which would have given the form _all to-ruffled_, with the _to-_ linked to the verb. Here _all_, adv., meant ‘extremely’, and merely emphasized the prefix _to-_. Spelt _all to ruffl’d_ (1645).

=almacanter, almucantury,= a small circle of the sphere parallel to the horizon, representing a parallel of altitude. Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, iv. 2 (la Fiske). Cp. Chaucer, Astrolabe, pt. ii, § 5. Spelt _almacantara_, B. Jonson, Staple of News. ii. 1 (P. senior). Arab. _al-muqanṭarât_, pl., bridges, arcs, almucanters. See Dozy, 164.

=Almain,= a German. Othello, ii. 3. 87; a kind of dance, Peele, Arraign. of Paris, ii. 2, 28; hence _Almain-leap_, B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, i. 1 (Satan); _the Almond leape_, Cotgrave (s.v. Saut). OF. _aleman_, German (mod. _allemand_).

=almery,= an aumbry, a cupboard. Morte Arthur, leaf 362, back, 24; bk. xvii. c. 23; _ambry_, Stanyhurst’s Aeneid, bk. ii (ed. Arber. p. 44. 2). For various prov. forms of this word see EDD. (s.v. Ambry). ME. _almery_, of mete kepyng, ‘cibutum’ (Prompt. EETS. 10). Norm. F. _almarie_ (Moisy), Med. L. _armarium_ (Prompt. 395), deriv. of L. _arma_, gear, tools.

=almuten,= the prevailing or ruling planet in a nativity. ‘Almuten lord of the geniture,’ Fletcher, Bloody Brother, iv. 2 (Norbret and Rusee); ‘And Mars Almuthen, or lord of the horoscope’, Massinger, City Madam, ii. 2 (Stargaze); ‘Almuten Alchochoden’, Tomkis, Albumazar ii. 5 (end). Error for _almutaz_ (NED.); from Arab. _al_, the, and _muʿtaz_, prevailing, from _ʿazz_, to be powerful.

=alonely,= solely. Kyd, Cornelia, iv. 3. 160; _all alonely_, Barnes, Works, p. 226, col. 2; _alonely_, id. p. 227, col. 2. From _all_ and _only_.

=alow,= below, low down. Dryden, Cymon, 370. ‘Ship, by bearing sayl alowe, withstandeth stormes’, Tusser, Husbandry, § 2. In use in Scotland (EDD.). ME. _alowe_: ‘Why somme (briddes) be alowe and somme alofte’ (P. Plowman, B. xii. 222).

=aloyse!= _interj._, look! see! see now! ‘_Aloyse! aloyse_, how pretie it is, is not here a good face?’ Damon and Pithias; in Hazlitt, iv. 79; Anc. Brit. Drama, i. 91.

=alphin, alphyn,= a bishop, in the game of chess. Caxton, Game of the Chesse, bk. ii. ch. 3. § 1. OF. _alfin_, Span. _al-fil_; from Arab. _al-fîl_, ‘the elephant’. Pers. _pîl_, elephant; see Dozy, Glossaire, 113, 114.

=als,= also. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 18; ii. 1. 7. 40; iv. 7. 35. _As als_, as also; id. iv. 4. 2. _Als_ is short for _also_, and _as_ is short for _als_; hence _as als_ = also also.

=alther,= of all. _Alther fyrste_, first of all; Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 303. 2. See =alder.=

=altitonant,= thundering from on high. Middleton, World Tost at Tennis (Pallas). L. _altitonans_, with reference to Jupiter.

=altitudes,= _in the altitudes_, in a lofty mood, full of airs. Beaumont and Fl., Laws of Candy, ii. 1 (Gonzalo); _in his altitudes_, Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, v. 2 (Brass).

=alture,= altitude; said of the sun. Surrey, tr. of Psalm lv., l. 29. Ital. _altura_, height; _alto_, high. L. _altus_, high.

=aludel,= an alchemist’s pot, used for sublimation. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle). F. _aludel_, OF. _alutel_. Arab. _al-uthāl_, the utensil. See NED.

=alvarado,= the rousing of soldiers at dawn of day by the beating of the drum or the firing of a gun; ‘so that the very alverado given sounds the least hope of conquest’, Dekker, Wh. of Babylon (Works, iii. 255); O. Fortunatus, ii. 1 (Soldan). Port. _alvorada_, ‘aube, la pointe du jour; (Mil.). Diane, battement de tambour, coup de canon à la pointe du jour pour éveiller les soldats’; _alvór_, ‘la première pointe du jour’ (Roquette).

=amate,= to dismay, daunt, confound. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 45; ii. 1. 6 and 2. 5; Greene, Orl. Fur. ii. 1 (488); ‘_Matter_, to quell, mate, amate’, Cotgrave. Norm. F. _amatir_, ‘soumettre par la frayeur, terrifier’ (Moisy). See Nares.

=amazza,= (perhaps) slaughter. Pl. _amazza’s_; Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler). From Ital. _ammazzare_, to slay (Florio).

=amber,= to perfume with ambergris. Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, iii. 2 (Zabulon). The sb. is spelt _ambre_ in B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer).

=ambidexter,= one who acts with either party, a double-dealer. Middleton, Family of Love, v. 3 (Dryfat); Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 503. Med. L. _ambidexter_, ‘judex qui ab utraque parte dona accipit’ (Ducange).

=Ambree, Mary,= an English heroine, who fought at the siege of Ghent in 1584. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 4 (Lady); B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 2 (Turfe).

=amell,= to enamel. Pp. _amell’d_; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 123. ‘I _ammell_ as a goldesmyth dothe his worke, _Jesmaille_’, Palsgrave. ME. _amelen_, to enamel (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1080). Anglo-F. _aymeler_ (Rough List). See =aumayld.=

=amenage,= to domesticate, make quite tame. Only in Spenser, F. Q. ii, 4. 11. OF. _amenagier_, _amesnagier_, to receive into a house. Deriv. of _mesnage_, a household, whence E. _menagerie_.

=amenaunce,= conduct, behaviour, mien. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 17; Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 781. Deriv. of F. _amener_, to lead, conduct.

=ames-ace,= double aces, the lowest throw with dice. All’s Well, ii. 3. 85; used as a term of contempt, _ambs-ace_, Beaumont and Fl., Queen of Corinth, iv. 1 (Page). ME. _ambes as_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 124). Norm. F. _ambes as_, ‘deux as, mauvaise chance’ (Moisy). See =aums-ace.=

=amiss,= a fault, misdeed, misfortune. Hamlet, iv. 5. 18; Sonnet xxxv. 7; cli. 3; Heywood, Pt. 2, King Edward IV (Works, i. 119).

=amite,= aunt. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 88, back, 13. L. _amita_, father’s sister.

=ammiral,= admiral. Milton, P. L. i. 294. OF. _amiral_; Port. _amiralh_.

=amomus,= amomum, an odoriferous plant. Nabbes, Microcosmus, iii. 13 (from end). L. _amomum_; Gk. ἄμωμον. See NED.

=amoneste,= to admonish. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 216. 1; lf. 327. 17. Anglo-F. _amonester_ (Rough List).

=amoret,= a love-glance, a loving look. Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 2 (1264); scene 9. 177 (W.); p. 168, col. 2; also iv. 2 (1668); scene 12. 8 (W.); p. 173, col. 2. F. _amourette_, a love-trick (Cotgr.).

=amort,= in phr. _all amort_, spiritless, dejected. Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1; Taming Shrew, iv. 3. 36; 1 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 124. The phr. is due to F. _à la mort_, to the death. See NED.

=amortise,= to alienate in mortmain, to convey (property) to a corporation. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 71. Anglo-F. _amortir_ (see Rough List). Med. L. _admortire_, ‘concedere in manum mortuam’ (Ducange).

=a-mothering;= see =mothering.=

=amphiboly,= an ambiguity, a sentence that can be construed in two different senses. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, ii. 1 (Compass). L. _amphibolia_; Gk. ἀμφιβολία, ambiguity.

=amphisbæna,= a serpent fabled to have a head at each end, and hence capable of advancing in either direction. Milton, P. L. x. 524. Gk. ἀμφίσβαινα, a kind of serpent that can go either forwards or backwards (Aeschylus).

=amrell,= admiral. Skelton, How the douty Duke of Albany, 55. See =ammiral.=

=amuse,= to distract, bewilder, puzzle. B. Jonson, Sejanus, v. 6 (Macro); ‘I am amused, I am in a quandary, gentlemen.’ Chapman, Mons. D’Olive, ii. (D’Olive). See Dict.

=an,= if (freq. in Shaks.); in old edds. mostly written _and_. Of very freq. occurrence in the phrase _an it please you_, 2 Hen. VI, i. 3. 18; _an if_, if, Othello, iii. 4. 83. See =and if.=

=anadem,= a wreath, chaplet. B. Jonson, Masque of the Barriers (Truth); Drayton, The Owl, 1168. Gk. ἀνάδημα, a headband; from ἀναδέειν, to bind up.

=analects,= pl. scraps, gleanings. ‘No gleanings, James? No trencher-_analects_?’ (lit. gleanings from trenchers), Cartwright, The Ordinary, iii. 5 (Rhymewell). Gk. ἀνάλεκτα, things gathered up; from _ἀναλέγειν_, to pick up.

=anatomy,= a skeleton. King John, iii. 4. 25; Com. Errors, v. 1. 238; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 121. Cf. =atomy.=

=anchor,= an anchorite, hermit. Hamlet, iii. 2. 229. ME. _ancre_, a hermit (P. Plowman, C. i. 30; ix. 146). OE. _ancra_ (Ælfric), shortened from Eccles. L. _anachoreta_ (Ducange); Gk. ἀναχορητής, one who withdraws, retires (from the world).

=ancient,= an ‘ensign’, standard, or flag. Hence, _ancient-bearer_, a standard-bearer, an ‘ensign’; ‘_alférez_, an ancient-bearer, signifer’, Percivall, Span. Dict.; ‘office or charge, as captaine . . . sergeant, ancient-bearer’, Act 3, Jas. I (NED.); Dekker, Old Fortunatus, i. 2 (Shadow); also _ancient_ (alone), ‘Welcome, Ancient Pistol!’ 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 120; Othello, i. 1. 33. A corrupt form of _ensign_. Anglo-F. _enseigne_, a standard (Rough List).

=ancome,= a boil, a foul swelling. Eastward Ho! iii. 2 (Mrs. T.). ‘_Vijt_, an ancombe, or a sore upon one’s finger’, Hexham. _Ancome_ is a north-country word (EDD.). ME. _oncome_; used of the plagues of Egypt (Cursor M., 5927). Cp. Icel. _ákoma_, arrival, visitation; eruption on the skin.

=and if= (a redundant expression, both particles having the same meaning). ‘But and yf that evyll servaunt shall saye in his herte,’ Tyndal, Matt. xxiv. 48 (cp. A. V.); Two Gent. iii. 1. 257; All’s Well, ii. 1. 74. See =an.=

=andveld,= an anvil. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 216, back, 16. ME. _anefeld_ (Wyclif, Job xli. 15), OE. _anfilte_ (Sweet).

=anele,= to anoint with holy oil. ‘I aneele a sicke man, I anoynte hym with holy oyle’; and ‘I aneele a sicke man . . . j’enhuylle’, Palsgrave. Hence =unaneled,= q.v. ME. _anelen_ (R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 11269). Deriv. of OE. _ele_, oil, L. _oleum_.

=an-end,= on end. Hamlet, i. 5. 19; _still an-end_, continually, Two Gent. iv. 4. 68. _An-end_ in the sense of ‘without stop or intermission’ is in prov. use in various parts of England from Durham to Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. On-end, 3).

=anenst,= side by side with, beside, opposite, in view of; ‘And right anenst him’, B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle). See EDD. (s.v. Anent). ME. _anentis_, with, in view of; ‘Anentis men this thing is impossible, but anentis God alle thingis ben possible’ (Wyclif, Matt. xix. 26); _anent_ ‘juxta’ (Barbour’s Bruce, viii. 124). OE. _on efen_, on even (ground) with.

=angel,= applied to a bird. ‘An _angel_ of the air’, Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 16; ‘Roman angel’, the eagle, Massinger, ii. 2 (Harpax).

=angel,= a gold coin worth 10_s._ Merch. Ven. ii. 7. 56. Very common, and often used in quibbles.

=angelot,= a small rich cheese, made in Normandy. Davenant, The Wits, iv. 1 (Y. Pallantine). Said to be so called from being stamped with the coin called an _angelot_, a piece struck by Louis XI (so Littré). F. _angelot_, the cheese called an angelot (Cotgr.).

=angler,= a term used of a thief who fished for plunder, through an open window, with a rod, line, and hook. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll).

=another-gates,= of a different kind. Butler, Hudibras, pt. i. c. 3. 428; Lyly, Mother Bombie, A. i (Nares). From _gate_, a way; lit. ‘of another way’. In prov. use in Lancashire (EDD.).

=another-guess,= of a different kind. ‘This is another-guess sort’, Foote, The Orators, A. iii (O’Drogheda). Howell has the intermediate form _another-gets_ in his Famil. Letters, vol. i. sect. 4. letter 9 (Feb. 5, 1635). Corruption of the form above. In prov. use in Gloucestershire (EDD.).

=anslaight,= an onslaught. Fletcher, M. Thomas, ii. 2 _or_ ii. 3 (Sebastian). Some read _onslaught_; see NED.

=anthropophagi,= pl. man-eaters, cannibals. Othello, i. 3. 144; Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 111 (Orlando, p. 90, col. 2). L. pl. of _anthropophagus_, Gk. ἀνθρωποφάγος, man-eating; from ἄνθρωπος, a man, φαγεῖν, to eat.

=antick,= a grotesque pageant or theatrical representation. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, iii. 2 (Fernando); Love’s Lab. L., v. 1. 119.

=antick,= a burlesque performer, buffoon, merry-andrew. Richard II, iii. 2. 162; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 51. Ital. _antico_, grotesque. L. _antiquus_, antique. For the development of the meaning of the Ital. _antico_ from ‘antique’ to ‘grotesque’, see the full account in NED.

=antimasque,= a burlesque interlude between the acts of a masque. The prefix is uncertain; perhaps for L. _ante_, before (NED.). But B. Jonson has the form _antick-masque_, Masque of Augurs (Noteh). Bacon has _anti-masque_, Essay 37; cf. Shirley, The Traitor, iii. 2 (Lorenzo).

=antiperistasis,= a contrast of circumstances; opposition. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 3 (2 Masque: Mercury). Gk. ἀντιπερίστασις, reciprocal replacement of two substances.

=antlier,= an antler, tine of a stag’s horn. ‘The first _antlier_, which Phoebus calleth and termeth _antoiller_’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 21, p. 53. The lowest tine was _the burre_, growing out of _the pearles_; the second tine, the _antlier_; the third, the _surantlier_; the next, _royal_ and _surroyal_; and those at the top, _croches_ (more correctly spelt _troches_ at p. 137); see Turbervile (as above), p. 54. ‘The thing that beareth the antliers, royals, and tops [or troches] ought to be called _the beame_, and the little clyffes or streakes therein are called _gutters_’; id. p. 53. OF. _antoillier_ (F. _andouiller_).

=antre,= a cave. Othello, i. 3. 140. F. _antre_, L. _antrum_, Gk. ἄντρον.

=aourne,= to adorn. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 223, back, 17; lf. 253, back, 15. Anglo-F. _aourner_ (_adourner_), to adorn (Gower).

=apaid, appaid,= satisfied. Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, p. 381 (Guenthian); Chapman, Iliad, v. 143; Milton, P. L. xii. 401; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 28; v. 11. 64; Shep. Kal., Aug., 6. ME. _apayed_, satisfied (Wyclif, Luke iii. 14); pp. of _apayen_. Norm. F. _apaier_ (Moisy); deriv. of _paier_, L. _pacare_, to pacify.

=apayre,= to impair, injure. Morte Arthur, leaf 51, back, 12; bk. iii. c. 3. ME. _apeyryn_, to make worse (Prompt. EETS. 21). OF. _empeirer_, deriv. of L. _peiorare_, from _peior_, worse. See =appair.=

=apeche, appeche,= to ‘impeach’, charge with a crime. Morte Arthur, leaf 212, back, 23; bk. x. c. 7; ‘I apeche, I accuse’, Palsgrave. ME. _apechyn_, ‘appellare’ (Prompt. EETS. 13). Anglo-F. _empescher_ (Rough List). Late L. _impedicare_, to hinder, catch by a fetter (Ducange). See =appeach.=

=A-per-se,= A by itself; a type of excellence, because A begins the alphabet. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, iii. 3 (Lazarillo); Mirror for Mag., Warwicke, st. 1.

=apostata,= apostate. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iv. 3 (Theoph.); v. 2 (Artemia). The usual old form.

=apostle spoons,= silver spoons, the handle of each terminating in the figure of an apostle; usually given by sponsors at christenings. B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, Act i (Quarlous); Fletcher, Noble Gentlemen, v. 2 (Longueville).

=appair, apaire,= to impair, damage. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 7, § last; Skelton, Against Garnesche, i. 19. Also intrans.; ‘I appayre or waxe worse’, Palsgrave. See =apayre.=

=appeach,= to ‘impeach’, accuse, censure. Richard II, v. 2. 79; Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 47. See =apeche.=

=apperil,= peril, risk. Timon, i. 2. 32; B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, v. 3 (Sledge); Magnetic Lady, v. 6 (Ironside).

=appertise,= dexterity, a feat of dexterity. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 122, back, 4; lf. 303, back, 29. OF. _appertise_, ‘industrie, dextérité, tour d’adresse’; Histoire de Charles VII: ‘Fist de belles vaillances et appertises d’armes contre les Anglois’, see Didot, Glossaire; _appert_, ‘adroit industrieux, habile en sa profession’ (id.). Cp. O. Prov. _espert_, ‘adroit, habile’ (Levy). L. _expertus_.

=apple-John,= or _John-apple_, an apple said to keep for two years, and in perfection when shrivelled. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 5; Dekker, Old Fortunatus, iv. 2 (Shadow). Ripe about St. John’s day (June 24). Purposely confused with _apple-squire_, a pander, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous).

=apple-squire,= a pander. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 8 (Kiteley); Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, Meg’s Song.

=apposal,= a posing question. Skelton has _apposelle_, Garl. of Laurell, 141. From _appose_, v.

=appose,= to ‘pose’, to ask a difficult question. Udall, Roister Doister, i. 1. 14; Short Catechism, Edw. VI, 495 (NED.). ME. _appose_, _apose_ (P. Plowman, C. ii. 45). Cp. to question (Chaucer, C. T. G. 363), Prompt. 13: ‘_Aposen_ or _oposyn_, opponere’. F. _aposer_ (for _opposer_), to make a trial of a person’s learning; see Palsgrave (s.v. Oppose).

=appropinque,= to approach. Butler, Hudibras, pt. i. c. 3. 590. L. _appropinquare_.

=approve,= to prove, demonstrate to be true; to corroborate, confirm. Merch. Ven. iii. 2. 79; All’s Well, iii. 7. 13; to put to the proof, test, as in _approved_, tested, tried, 1 Hen. IV, i. 1. 54.

=apricock,= an apricot. Richard II, iii. 4. 29; Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 1. 291. ‘_Abricot_, the abricot or apricock plumb’, Cotgrave. _Apricock_ is in common prov. use in various parts of England from the north country to Somerset; _abricock_ is the usual form in West Somerset (EDD.). Port. _albricoque_.

=aqueity,= watery quality. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle).

=arace, arasche,= to tear, tear away. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 256, back, 14; lf. 319. 1. ‘I _arace_, I pull a thyng by violence from one’, Palsgrave. ME. _arace_, to uproot (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 954). OF. _esrachier_; L. _exradicare_, to tear up by the roots.

=arber, erber,= the whole ‘pluck’ of a slain animal. _To make the erbere_, to take out the ‘pluck’, the first stage in disembowelling, Boke of St. Albans, fol. iij.; Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 2 (Hubert); spelt _arbor_, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Marian). F. _herbier_, ‘le premier ventricule du bœuf et des autres animaux qui ruminent’, Dict. de l’Acad. (1762).

=arblast,= a cross-bow used for the discharge of arrows, bolts, stones, &c., Caxton, Chron. Eng. xxviii. 23 (NED.). ME. _arblaste_ (Rob. Glouc., ed. 1810, 377). Anglo-F. _arbeleste_, Late L. _arcubalista_, a bow for throwing missiles.

=arblaster,= a cross-bowman, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 144, back, 20; lf. 284, back, 30. ME. _arblaster_ (K. Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 2613). Anglo-F. _arblaster_, Med. L. _arcubalistarius_ (Ducange).

=arcted,= pp. closely allied. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aen. i. 336. L. _arctare_, to draw close; from _arctus_, confined. See =art= (to constrain).

=arecte,= to assign, attribute, impute. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 95. The form used by Lydgate for _arette_. Med. L. _arrectare_, to accuse (Ducange), due to association with _rectum_. See =arette.=

=areed,= to counsel, advise. Milton, P. L. iv. 962; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, viii. 85; to explain, recount, Drayton, vi. 87. ME. _arede_, to explain, counsel (Chaucer). OE. _ārǣdan_, to explain.

=areed,= advice. Downfall of E. of Huntingdon, i. 3 (Little John); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 116.

=arette,= to count, reckon. Morte Arthur, Caxton’s Pref., leaf. 1, back. (_Aret_, _arret_, misused in Spenser in the sense of ‘to entrust, allot’; F. Q. ii. 8. 8; iii. 8. 7.) ME. _aretten_, to count, reckon (Wyclif, Luke xxii. 37). Anglo-F. _aretter_, to lay to one’s charge (Rough List); cp. Span. _retar_, to accuse. O. Prov. _reptar_, ‘blâmer, accuser’ (Levy). L. _reputare_, to count, reckon.

=arew,= in a row. Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 29. Chapman, tr. Iliad, vi. 259; Odyssey, viii. 679. _Rew_ is a prov. form of the word ‘row’ (EDD.). ME. _a-rew_, ‘seriatim’ (Prompt. EETS. 15); _a-rewe_, in succession (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1254). OE. _rǣw_, a row. See =rew.=

=argaile,= argol; i.e. tartar deposited from wine and adhering to the side of a cask. B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1 (Subtle). ME. _argoile_, crude tartar (Chaucer, C. T. G. 813). Anglo-F. _argoil_ (Rough List).

=argal,= therefore. Hamlet, v. 1. 21. A clown’s substitution for L. _ergo_, therefore.

=argent,= silver; hence, money. Udall, Roister Doister, i. 4 (Roister). F. _argent_. L. _argentum_, silver.

=argent vive,= quicksilver. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Mammon). Cp. F. _vif-argent_, quick-silver (Cotgr.).

=Argier, Argièr,= Algier, Algiers. _Argier_, Temp. i. 2. 261; _Argiers_, Massinger, Unnat. Combat, i. 1 (Beauf. sen.).

=argin,= an embankment in front of a fort, glacis. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, iii. 2. 85; 3. 23. Ital. _argine_, ‘a banke’ (Florio). See Ducange (s.v. Arger (‘agger’) and Arginerius).

=argolet,= a light-armed horse-soldier. Peele, Battle of Alcazar, i. 2. 2; iv. 1 (Abdelmelec). F. _argolet_ (Cotgr.); _argoulet_, Essais de Montaigne I. xxv (ed. 1870, p. 68): ‘Les _argoulets_ étaient des arquebuisiers à cheval; et comme ils n’étaient pas considérables en comparaison des autres cavaliers on a dit un _argoulet_ pour un homme de néant’ (Ménage).

=argolettier,= a light-armed horse-soldier. Florio, tr. Montaigne, bk. i. ch. 25: ‘_Guidone_, a banner or cornet for horsemen that be shot, or Argolettiers’, Florio, Ital. Dict. See NED.

=argosy,= a merchant-vessel. Twice used as if it were _plural_; Marlowe, Jew of Malta, i. 1. The original sense was ‘a ship of Ragusa’, the name of a port in Dalmatia, on the Adriatic. Ragusa appears in 16th-cent. English as _Aragouse_, _Arragosa_ (NED.).

=argument,= subject, topic, theme. Much Ado, i. 1. 266; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 104; ii. 4. 314. So L. _argumentum_ (Quintilian).

=arietation,= an attack with a battering-ram. Bacon, Essay 58, § 8. L. _ariēs_, a ram.

=armado,= an army. Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 14. Span. _armada_. Med. L. _armata_, army (Ducange); cp. F. _armée_.

=armiger,= an esquire. Purposely altered to _armigero_ in Merry Wives, i. 1. 10. L. _armiger_, one who bears arms, in Med. L. an esquire.

=armine,= a beggar, a poor wretch. London Prodigal, v. 1. 174. Coined from Du. _arm_, poor; and put into the mouth of a supposed Dutchwoman.

=armipotent,= powerful in arms. Dryden, Palamon, ii. 545; iii. 293. L. _armipotens_, powerful in arms.

=arms:= phr. _to give arms_, to have the right to bear arms, in the heraldic sense. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Capt. Albo).

=aroint thee!,= begone!, out of the way!, make room!, ‘aroint thee, witch!’ King Lear, iii. 4. 127; Macbeth, i. 3. 6. ‘A lady well acquainted with the dialect of Cheshire informed me that the word is still in use there. For example, if the cow presses too close to the maid who is milking her, she will give the animal a push, saying at the same time, _’Roynt thee!_ by which she means, stand off’ (Nares). _Roint_ is used in this sense in the north country: Yorks., Lancs., and Cheshire (EDD.). OE. _rȳm ðū, gerȳm ðū_, make thou room, cp. _rȳm þysum men setl_, give this man place (Luke xiv. 9); _rȳman_, to make room, deriv. of _rūm_, wide, roomy. See Dict.

=arpine, arpent,= a French acre. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iii. 1 (near the end). F. _arpent_.

=arraign,= to arrange, place. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt (Suffolk), ed. Dyce, p. 187: ‘See them arraign’d, I will set forward straight’, Webster (Wks. ii. 261). See Halliwell.

=arras-powder,= orris-powder. Webster, White Devil (Brachiano), ed. Dyce, p. 41. So also _arras_, orris; Duchess of Malfi, iii. 2 (Duchess). See Halliwell (s.v. Arras (2)).

=arraught,= _pt. t._, seized forcibly, with violence. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 34. ME. _arahte_, pt. t. of _arachen_, to obtain, attain (Gower, C. A. i. 3207). OE. _ārǣcan_, to attain.

=arre,= to snarl as a dog. ‘They _arre_ and bark’, Nash, Summer’s Last Will (Autumn), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 44; ‘a dog snarling _er_’, B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1. 691 (Subtle).

=arrearages,= arrears. Massinger, Picture, ii. 2 (Honoria); Cymb. ii. 4. 13. OF. _arerage_; from _arere_, behind.

=arrect,= to direct upwards, to raise. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 55; to set upright, ‘I arecte . . . or set up a thyng; _Je metz sus . . . je metz debout_’, Palsgrave. From L. _arrect-_, pp. stem of _arrigere_, to raise up.

=arride,= to please, gratify. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of his Humour, ii. 1 (Fastidious); Marmion, The Antiquary, ii. 1 (Mocinigo). L. _arridere_, to smile upon.

=arrouse,= to bedew, moisten. Spelt _arowze_, Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 103; _arrowsid_, pp., Caxton, Hist. of Troye, leaf 249, back, l. 24. Norm. F. _ar_(_r_)_ouser_, ‘arroser’ (Moisy). O. Prov. _arozar_ (Levy). Romanic type *_arrosare_, L. _ad_ + _rorare_, fr. _ros_, dew.

=arsedine,= a gold-coloured alloy of copper and zinc, rolled into thin leaf, and used to ornament toys. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Trash). Of unknown origin.

=arsee-versee,= _adv._, backside foremost, contrary-wise, conversely. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 13; Diogenes, § 45; ‘fighting arsie-versie’, Butler, Hudibras, i. 3. 827; ‘_Cul sur pointe_, topsie-turvy, arsie-varsie’, Cotgrave. In common prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Arsy-versy).

=arsmetrike,= arithmetic. Fabyan, vii. 604 (NED.). ME. _arsmetrike_ (Chaucer, C. T. D. 2222); _arsmetique_ (Gower, C. A. vii. 149). OF. _arismetique_, Med. L. _arismetica_ for L. _arithmetica_, Gk. ἡ ἀριθμητική (τέχνη). The form _arsmetrike_ is due to popular etymology, which associated the word with L. _ars metrica_, ‘the art of measure’. See NED. (s.v. Arithmetic).

=arsmetry,= a corruption of _arsmetrick_, by form-association with _geometry_. Greene, A Looking-glass, iii. 2 (1161); p. 132, col. 1.

=arson,= saddle-bow. ‘The arson of his sadel’, Morte Arthur, leaf 339, back, 22; bk. xvi. c. 10. F. _arçon_.

=art,= to constrain. Court of Love, l. 46. ‘I _arte_, I constrayne’, Palsgrave. L. _artare_, to confine. See =arcted.=

=artier,= an artery. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, v. 3 (Physician). F. _artere_, ‘an artery’ (Cotgr.). L. _arteria_, Gk. ἀρτηρία.

=artillery,= missile weapons. ‘_Artillarie_ now a dayes is taken for ii. thinges, Gunnes and Bowes’, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 65; Bacon, Essay 29, § 3; Fairfax, Tasso xvii. 49; BIBLE, 1 Sam. xx. 40 (AV.). Norm. F. _artillerie_, ‘armes de jet et de trait, non à feu; comme arbalètes, flèches, lances, etc.’ (Moisy).

=askaunces,= as if, as much as to say. Gascoigne, Dan Bartholomew; ed. Hazlitt, i. 113, l. 4; i. 136, l. 16. So in Chaucer, C. T. G. 838. Cp. OF. _quanses_, as if (Godefroy). See Romania, xviii. 152; Cliges (ed. Förster, l. 4553, note). The M. Dutch _quansijs_ (as if saying, as much as to say) in Reinaert, 2569 (ed. Martin, p. 78) is probably the same word as the OF. _quanses_. The Chaucerian use of _ascaunces_ in Tr. and Cr. i. 205, 292 is precisely the same as that of _als quansijs_ in Reinaert.

=aspect,= (_aspéct_), the peculiar position and influence of a planet. King Lear, ii. 2. 112. Common. ME. _aspect_, the angular distance between two planets (Chaucer).

=asper,= a Turkish coin worth about two farthings or less. Fletcher, Span. Curate, iii. 3 (Jamie). F. _aspre_. Byzantine Gk. ἄσπρον, white money, from ἄσπρος, white.

=asprely,= fiercely. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i. c. 17. § 8. OF. _aspre_; L. _asper_, fierce.

=assalto,= assault. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 7 (Bobadil). Ital. _assalto_.

=assassinate,= an assassin, murderer. Dryden, Span. Friar, iv. 1 (Dominic); Don Sebastian, v. 1 (Almeyda).

=assay,= proof, trial; attempt; attack. Hamlet, ii. 1. 65; ii. 2. 71; iii. 3. 69. _At all assays_, in every trial or juncture, in any case, on every occasion, always, Drayton, Harmony of the Church, Ecclus. xxxvi. st. 6; ‘At all assayes, _en tous poynts_’, Palsgrave. ME. _assay_, trial (Chaucer, C. T. D. 290). Anglo-F. _assai_ (Gower).

=assinego,= a donkey, a dolt. Also _asinego_, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 4 (Welford); _asinigo_, Marmion, Antiquary, v. 1 (Ant.). Spelt _asinico_ in ed. 1606; Tr. and Cr. ii. 1. 49; Span. _asnico_, ‘a little asse’ (Minsheu), deriv. of _asno_, an ass, L. _asinus_, ass.

=assistant,= used by Fletcher for Span. _asistente_, the chief officer of justice at Seville. Span. Curate, iii. 1. 15.

=assoil,= to set free, to dispel. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 58; iv. 5. 30. A peculiar use of _assoil_, to absolve. ME. _assoilen_, to absolve, pardon, discharge (Chaucer). Anglo-F. _assoiler_, to pardon (Rough List); _-soiler_ is formed from the present stem _soille_ of the verb _soldre_, Romanic type _sol’re_, L. _solvere_, to loosen.

=assoil,= used for _soil_, to sully, taint. Fletcher, Queen of Corinth, iii. 1 (Euphanes). [NED. quotes a modern instance, from D’Israeli.]

=assot,= to befool, make a fool of. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 8; iii. 8. 22; _assot_, pp. infatuated, Shep. Kal., March, 25. Anglo-F. _assoter_, to make a fool of, deriv. of _sot_, a fool (Gower). Med. L. _sottus_, ‘stolidus, bardus, simplex’ . . . ‘hinc Carolus Sottus, qui vulgo “Simplex”’ (Ducange).

=assurd,= to burst forth. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 302. OF. _assordre_, _essordre_, L. _exsurgere_.

=assured,= affianced. Com. Errors, iii. 2. 145; King John, ii. 535.

=astart,= to start up. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 29.

=astarte,= to escape. Turbervile, Hunting, 138. ME. _asterte_, to escape (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 1802).

=astert,= to come suddenly upon, happen suddenly to. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 187. ME. _asterte_, to happen, befall (Gower, C. A. i. 722; v. 707).

=astone,= to astound, confound. Peele, Sir Clyomon; ed. Dyce, p. 526. ME. _aston-en_ (Chaucer); OF. _estoner_; Pop. Lat. _extonare_, for L. _attonare_, to stun, stupefy as by thunder, _tonare_, to thunder.

=astonied,= astonished, astounded. BIBLE, AV.: Job xvii. 8; Jer. xiv. 9; North’s Plutarch, M. Antonius (ed. Skeat, p. 204); stunned, Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 227; spelt _astoynde_, astounded, Sackville Mirrour, Induct. 29. ME. _astonie_, to amaze (Chaucer, H. Fame, iii. 1174). See =stoin.=

=astracism,= an astracism, or collection of stars. ‘The threefold astracism’, Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, iv. 4. Possibly a deriv. of Med. L. _astracum_ ‘pavimentum domus’ (Ducange); cp. Ital. _astracco_, a fretted ceiling (Florio).

=at-after,= after. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 22; Richard III, iv. 3. 31. In prov. use in various parts of England from the north to Shropshire (EDD.). ME. _at after_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1445).

=at all!= a gamester’s exclamation, when he challenges all present. ‘Cry at all!’, Massinger, City Madam, iv. 2. 4; ‘have at all!’, Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 391.

=atchievement,= ‘achievement’, an ensign memorial granted in memory of some achievement or distinguished feat. Milton, Tetrachordon (Trench, Sel. Gl.); Dryden, Palamon, iii. 344, 932.

=athanor,= an alchemist’s furnace. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle). Arab. _attannūr_; _al_, the, _tannūr_, furnace.

=atomy,= an atom. As You Like It, iii. 2. 245; a tiny being, id. iii. 5. 13.

=atomy,= an emaciated person, a walking skeleton. 2 Hen. IV, v. 4. 33 (Qu. 1597). For _anatomy_ (a skeleton), the _an-_ being taken for the indef. article.

=atone,= to set two persons ‘at one’. ‘Since we cannot atone you’, Richard III, i. 1. 202; to agree, Coriolanus, iv. 6. 72.

=atonement,= reconciliation. Richard III, i. 3. 36; Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, i. 1 (Rolls).

=attaint,= to hit, strike, wound. ‘His attainted thigh’, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 572; _attaint_, pp. stricken, Sackville, Induction, st. 15. ‘I _atteynt_, I hyt or touche a thyng, _Iattayngs_’, Palsgrave.

=attame,= to commence. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 19, 12; lf. 71, back, 28. OF. _atamer_; L. _attaminare_, to lay hands on. Cp. O. Prov. _entamenar_. ‘entamer’ (Levy). See Hatzfeld (s.v. Entamer).

=atte,= for _at the_; _atte last_, at the last; _atte castel_, at the castle; Morte Arthur (see Glossary); _atten ale_ (_at nale_), at the ale-house; Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 387. ME. _atte_, at the (Chaucer); _atte nale_, at the ale-house (P. Plowman, c. viii. 19).

=attend,= attendance. Greene, A Looking-glass, i. 1. 8.

=attent,= attentive, attentively. Milton, P. R. i. 385; Dryden, Wife of Bath, 310.

=attentate,= a criminal attempt or assault. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 86. F. _attentat_, ‘tentative criminelle’ (Hatzfeld).

=atteynt,= an ‘attaint’, a wound on a horse’s foot due to a blow or injury; either from overstepping, or from being trodden on by another horse. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 113; Topsell, Four-footed Beasts, 313 (NED.).

=attonce,= at once. Peele, Arr. of Paris, iii. 2 (Paris); iv. 1 (Paris).

=attract,= an attractive quality, charm. ‘The Soule . . . glides after these attracts’, Manchester Al Mondo (ed. 1639, p. 117). Late L. _attractus_, attraction.

=attrapt,= ‘trapped’, furnished with ‘trappings’; said of a horse. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 4. 39.

=attrite,= worn by friction. Milton, P. L. x. 1073. L. _attritus_.

=atwite,= to reproach, upbraid, twit. Calisto and Melibaea, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 85; spelt _attwite_, Hazlitt, Early Pop. Poetry, iii. 25. OE. _æt_, prep., and _wītan_, to blame. The mod. E. _twit_ is a shortened form of _atwite_.

=auberge,= a lodging, a term technically applied to a reception-house provided by the Knights Hospitallers, hence, to their fraternity. Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, i. 3 (Mountferrat). F. _auberge_, O. Prov. _alberga_. Cp. Med. L. _albergia_, ‘apud Milites Hospital. S. Joan. Hieros. vocantur domus, in quibus Fratres Ordinis per nationes una comedunt et congregantur. Statuta ejusd. Ordin. tit. 19 § 3’ (Ducange).

=aubifane,= the corn blue-bottle, _Centaurea cyanus_. Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 14, p. 158. F. _aubifoin_, the weed Blew-bottle (Cotgr.).

=auke,= backward, contrary to the usual way, from left to right. ‘With an auke stroke’, Morte Arthur, leaf 156, back; bk. viii. c. 25 (end); ‘Ringing as awk as the bells, to give notice of the conflagration’, Lestrange, Fables (NED.). In E. Anglia bells are said to be ‘rung awk’ when they are rung backward or contrary to the usual way, to give alarm of fire (EDD.). The word is found in many German dialects: Kurhessen, _afk_ perverse (Vilmar). See =awk.=

=auke,= untoward, froward. Tusser, Husbandry, § 62. 13.

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

=aulf,= elf, goblin. Drayton, Nymphidia, st. 10. See =ouphe.=

=aumayld,= enamelled. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 57. Deriv. of OF. _amail_, for _esmail_, enamel. See =amell.=

=aums-ace,= double aces; given as the name of a card-game. Interlude of Youth, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 35. See =ames-ace.=

=aunt,= a cant term for a bawd or procuress. Middleton, A Trick to Catch, ii. 1 (first speech); Michaelmas Term, ii. 3 (Thomasine).

=aunters:= in phr. _in aunters_, in case, in case that, if. ‘In aunters the Englishmen shoulde sturre’, Robinson, tr. of More’s Utopia, p. 57. _Aunters_ (without _in_) was used in the same sense, and represented an adverbial form founded on _aunter_, a contraction of _aventure_ (Mod. E. _adventure_); see _Aunters_ in NED. Cp. the Yorkshire word _anters_: ‘We must have it ready, anters they come’ (i.e. in case they come); see EDD. (s.v. Aunters, 2).

=autem mort,= a married woman (Cant). ‘_Autem-mortes_ be maried wemen’, Harman, Caveat, p. 67. He adds ‘for Autem in their [slang] language is a Churche; so she is a wyfe maried at the Church’. Spelt _autumn mort_, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Randal).

=avails,= profits, proceeds, ‘vails’. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 94).

=avale, avail,= to sink, descend, droop; also, to lower, let down. To sink, Spenser. F. Q. i. 1. 21; iii. 2. 29; to descend, ii. 9. 10; iv. 3. 46; to droop, Shep. Kal., Feb., 8; to lower, let down, F. Q. iv. 10. 19; Shep. Kal., Jan., 73. Anglo-F. _avaler_, to lower, bring down, swallow, deriv. of _aval_, down, lit. to the valley (Gower), L. _ad vallem_.

=avaunce,= to advance, promote, Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. iii. 71. ME. _avaunce_, to promote (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 2022). Anglo-F. _avancer_ (Gower).

=avaunt,= to ‘vaunt’, boast. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 6. ME. _avaunten_ (Chaucer). Anglo-F. _s’avanter_, to boast; _avantance_, _avanterie_, boasting (Gower).

=Ave-Mary bell,= a bell rung daily (once or twice) to direct the recital of an Ave-Maria, or prayer to the Virgin. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici, pt. 1. § 3.

=avenant,= suitable; _after the avenant_, in proportion, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 149. 30; _at avenant_, in proportion, id. lf. 225. 4. ‘Fayre and avenant’, fair and graceful, id. lf. 256. 4. ME. _avenaunt_, graceful, comely (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1263). Anglo-F. _avenant_, suitable, agreeable (Gower), pres. pt. of _avenir_, to be suitable (id.).

=avente him,= to refresh himself with air. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 298. 2. ME. _aventen_, to open the helmet to admit the cool air, to refresh with cool air (Merlin, xx. 335). Anglo-F. _aventer_; cp. OF. _esventer_ (mod. _éventer_), Med. L. _eventare_ (Ducange), L. _ex_ + _ventus_, wind.

†=aventre= (?). ‘[She] aventred her spear’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 28; ‘[He] aventred his spear’, iv. 3. 9; ‘aventring his lance’, iv. 6. 11. The phrase ‘they aventred their speres’ occurs in King Arthur (ed. Copland); see NED. Can this word be an error for _aveutre_? _Aveutre_ = _afeutre_ = OF. _afeutrer_, to lay a spear in rest in the _feutre_, the felt-lined socket for a lance or spear attached to the saddle of a knight. Spenser has the verb _fewter_ equivalent in meaning to _afeutrer_ in F. Q. iv. 6. 10: ‘He his threatfull speare Gan fewter’. See NED. (s.v. Fewter).

=aventure,= in phr. _at aventure_, at adventure, at hazard, at random. BIBLE, 1 Kings xxii. 34 (improperly printed _at a venture_); ‘Certayn . . . rode forthe at adventure’, Berners, Froissart, I. cxcii. ME. _aventure_, chance, peril (Gower). Anglo-F. _aventure_, chance, danger, uncertainty: _par aventure_ (Gower, Mirour, 1239).

=averruncate,= to avert, ward off. Butler, Hudibras, pt. i, c. 1. 758. L. _auerruncare_, to avert. Often explained in the 17th cent. by ‘to weed out’, or ‘to root up’, but Butler uses the word correctly. See NED.

=aversation,= aversion. Bacon, Essay 27.

=avile,= to hold cheap, think little of. B. Jonson, Prince Henry’s Barriers (Lady). Anglo-F. _aviler_, to debase (Gower).

=avise,= to see, observe; to think; _refl._ to bethink. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 31; iv. 2. 22; iii. 12. 10; _refl._ ii. 6. 46; iii. 3. 6. _To be avised of_, to be well informed about, Merry Wives, i. 4. 106; Meas. ii. 2. 132. ME. _avise_, refl. to consider (Chaucer, C. T. B. 664). Anglo-F. _s’aviser_, to take thought (Gower).

=avisefull,= observant. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 26.

=avision,= a dream, vision. Douglas, Aeneid, iii. 1. 69. ME. _avisioun_ (Lydgate, Temple of Glas, 1374). Anglo-F. _avisioun_ (Gower).

=aviso,= advice, intelligence, piece of information. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Sir Moth); Habington, Castara, ed. Arber, p. 102. Span. _aviso_, information.

=avouch,= to maintain, make good. Mids. Night’s D., i. 1. 106; Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 12. Hence _avouch_, assurance, Hamlet, i. 1. 37.

=avoure,= acknowledgement, avowal. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 48. OF. _avouer_, an avowal, prop. infin., to avow.

=avoutry,= adultery. Paston, Letters, no. 883; vol. iii, p. 317; Hickscorner, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 175. ME. _avouterye_ (Chaucer). Anglo-F. _avoulterie_ (Gower).

=avowre,= to vow, devote. Only in Phaer, Aeneid, viii. 85, Latin text (M iiij, l. 6). See NED.

=awaite:= _in await_ (_awate_), in ambush. Fairfax, tr. Tasso, v. 18. Anglo-F. _en await_ (_agwait_, _agueit_, _agait_), in ambush, lying in wait (Rough List, s.v. Await).

=awaite:= in phr. _to have good awaite_, to take good care. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, ch. 5, § 10.

=a-wallop,= in a boiling state, boiling quickly. Golding, Metam. vii. 263; fol. 82 (1603). Cp. the prov. word _wallop_, ‘to boil violently with a bubbling sound’, in common use in Scotland and in various parts of England. See EDD. (s.v. Wallop, vb.^{2}).

=awbe,= a bull-finch. Gascoigne, Philomene, l. 35. ME. _alpe_, ‘ficedula’ (Prompt.). See =nope.=

=awful,= profoundly reverential. Richard II, iii. 3. 76; Dryden, Britannia, 106.

=awhape,= to amaze, confound. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 5; v. 11. 32. ME. _awhapen_ (Chaucer).

=awk,= reversed; _the awk end_, the wrong end, the other end. Golding, Metam. xiv. 300 (L. ‘conversae verbere virgae’); fol. 170, back (1603). See =auke.=

=awkward,= untoward, unfavourable, adverse. 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 83; Marlowe, Edw. II, iv. 6. 34.

=axtree,= axle-tree. Drayton, Pol. i. 498. Still in prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Ax, sb.^{1} 3). OE. _œx-trēo_.

=aygulets,= an aglet, metal tag. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 25. A doublet of _aglet_. Spenser seems to speak here of the bright metal tops or tags of lace, which he likens to stars; as in Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 4. 2. F. _aiguillette_, a point (Cotgr.), dimin. of _aiguille_, a needle.

=ayle,= a grandfather. ‘_Ayle_, _Pere_, and _Fitz_, grandfather, father, and son’, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, i (Jerry). ME. _ayel_, grandfather (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2477). Norm. F. _aiel_ (Moisy).

=azoch,= ‘azoth’, the alchemist’s name for quicksilver. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Surly). Also spelt _assogue_. F. _assogue_; Span. _azogue_, quicksilver; Arab. _az-zāūq_; _zāūq_ is adapted from Pers. _zhīwah_ (_jīvah_), quicksilver. See NED., Ducange, and Dozy, Glossaire (s.v. Azogue).

B

=babion,= baboon. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, i. 1 (Amorphus); Drayton, Man in the Moon, 331; spelt _babyone_ Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 124, l. 163. F. ‘_babion_, a babion or baboone’ (Cotgr.).

=bable,= a ‘bauble’, a toy, trick, fancy. ‘Has fill’d my head So full of _bables_’ (some edd. _baubles_), Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, v. 4. 7; ‘That _bable_ called love’, Lyly, Endimion, iii. 3 (Epi.). OF. _babel_, _baubel_, a child’s plaything (Godefroy); _beau_ + _bel_, cp. F. _bonbon_.

=bace,= (Spenser); see =base.=

=bacharach, backrack,= the name of a wine. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 2 (Vandunke); _Bacrack_, Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 300. From _Bacharach_, on the Rhine. See =backrag.=

=back,= a bat. _Backes_ or reermice; Golding, Metam., iv. 415; fol. 49 (1603). The pl. _backes_ is the form used by Wyclif, Coverdale and the Geneva Bible, in Isaiah ii. 20, where AV. has _battes_, see NED. (s.v. Bat). In Scotland the usual word for the bat is _Backie_ (or _Backie-bird_), see EDD. (s.v. Backie, sb.^{1} 1 and 2).

=backare!,= go back, keep back. ‘_Backare! quod Mortimer to his sow_; i.e. keep back, said Mortimer’; an old proverb, often quoted against such as are too forward, Udall, Roister Doister, i. 2 (Roister); Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 72. See EDD. (s.v. Baccare).

=backcheat,= stolen apparel, lit. things from the back. (Thieves’ cant.) ‘Back or belly-cheats’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). See =cheat.=

=backrag,= the name of a wine. Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, v. 1 (Bornwell); Mayne, City Match, i. 3 (near the end). See =bacharach.=

=backside,= a yard behind a farmhouse. Witch of Edmonton, iv. 1 (Old Banks). Very common in prov. usage, see EDD. (s.v. Backside, 2).

=badger-nab,= a strong little badger. ‘_Meg_ [a witch] What Beast was by thee hither rid? _Mawd_ [second witch] A Badger-nab’, Heywood, Witches of Lancs., iv. 1, vol. iv. p. 220. Cp. _knab_, a strong boy, a thickset, strong little animal (EDD.).

=baffle,= to treat with ignominy and contempt. It was originally a punishment inflicted on recreant knights, one part of it being that the victim was hung up by the heels and beaten. See Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 27; Beaumont and Fl., A King and no King, iii. 2 (Bessus); 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 113; Richard II, i. 1. 170. See Trench, Select Glossary, and NED.

=bag:= phr. _to give the bag_, to cheat. Westward Ho, iv. 2 (Honeysuckle).

=bagage,= refuse, worthless stuff; ‘When brewers put no bagage in their beere’, Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1082; Tusser, Husbandry, st. 21. An Essex word in this sense, see EDD. (s.v. Baggage, sb.^{1}). Cp. Port. _bagaço_, ‘marc; ce qui reste de plus grossier de quelque fruit, qu’on a pressé pour en retirer le suc’ (Roquette).

=bagatine,= a small Italian coin, worth about the third part of a farthing. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 2 (Vol.). Ital. _bagatino_, _bagattino_, ‘a little coyne vsed in Italie’ (Florio).

=bagle,= a staff, or crosier such as a bishop carries. _Bagle-rod_, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vii. 188 (see the side-note). Icel. _bagall_, a crosier, L. _baculum_, a rod, staff.

=bague, baghe,= a ring, brooch. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 54, back, 8; lf. 98. 11. F. _bague_.

=baies,= scoldings (?). ‘Ill servant . . . deserveth hir fee to be paid hir with _baies_’, Tusser, Husbandry, § 81. 2.

=bain,= a bath. Chapman, tr. Odyssey, x. 567; to bathe, Greene, The Palmer’s Verses, l. 88 (Capricornus); _bayne_, Surrey, Desc. of restless state of a Lover, 13. F. _bain_.

=bain,= supple, lithe. Golding, Metam. iv. 354 (fol. 48); xv. 202; fol. 182 (1603). In common prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Bain, sb. 1). ME. _beyn_, ‘flexibilis’ (Prompt.). Icel. _beinn_, straight; also, ready to serve.

=bains;= see =banes.=

=bait,= to stop at an inn to feed the horses, also to stop for refreshment; used _fig._ ‘Evil news rides post, while good news baits’, Milton, Samson, 1538. In prov. use in the sense of stopping to feed. See EDD. (s.v. Bait, vb.^{1} 2).

=bald,= marked with white upon the head. Hence ‘bald coot’, a coot (_Fulica atra_); Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, i. 1 (Zanthia). In prov. use (EDD.).

=bale,= a set of dice; usually three. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Host); Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 1 (Young Chartley); A Woman never vexed, ii. 1 (Stephen). See NED. (s.v. Bale, sb.^{3} 4).

=ball,= a white streak on a horse’s face. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 73. Hence _ball_, as a horse’s name; orig. one marked with a white streak; Tusser, Husbandry, § 95, st. 2. Prob. of Celtic origin; cp. Gael. _ball_, spot, mark, Breton _bal_, a white mark on an animal’s face.

=balloon,= a game in which a large ball (like a football) was struck by the arm, which was protected by a stout guard. Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Sir Petronel); Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracy, iv. 1 (_1st Lady_). _Balloo_, in the phr. _at the Balloo_ (B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1: _Volpone_), must be an error for _at the Balloon_, i.e. when playing at the game. Also _balloon-ball_, Middleton, Game at Chess, ii. 1 (B. Knight).

=ballow,= smooth. ‘Ballowe wood’, i.e. smooth wood without bark, see Nottingham Corporation Records, ed. Stevenson, vol. iv, Glossary (date of entry 1504); ‘The ballow nag’, Drayton, Pol. iii. 24. ME. _balhow_, smooth, plain (Prompt. EETS., see note no. 136).

=ballow,= in King Lear, iv. 6. 247, prob. means a quarter-staff
made from _ballow_ wood. See above.

=ban,= to curse, imprecate damnation on. 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 25; a curse, Hamlet, iii. 2. 269. Icel. _banna_, to prohibit, curse.

=band,= a collar, lying flat upon the dress, worn round the neck by man or woman. Also called _falling-bands_, Middleton, Roaring Girl, i. 1 (Mary). The falling band succeeded the cumbersome ruff.

=band,= to bandy about, like a tennis-ball. Look about You, sc. 32, l. 5; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 490.

=banding-ball,= a ball to be driven about at tennis or in the game of bandy. Wounds of Civil War; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 116.

=bando,= a proclamation. Shirley, Sisters, v. 2 (Longino). Ital. _bando_, a public proclamation (Dante).

=bandoleer, bandalier,= a broad belt, worn over the shoulder and across the breast. Peele, Polyhymnia, The Third Couple (l. 10). Hence, a wearer of a bandoleer was _himself_ called by the same name. Thus Gascoigne has: ‘Their peeces then are called Petronels, And _they themselves_ by sundrie names are called, As Bandolliers . . . Or . . . Petronelliers’, Works, i. 408. See Dict.

=bandora,= a kind of guitar; now called _banjo_. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, v. 2 (hymn); also _pandore_, Drayton, Pol. iv. 361. Ital. _pandora_, a bandora (Florio).

=bandrol,= a long narrow flag, with a cleft end; a streamer from a lance. Drayton, Pol. xxii. 211. Spelt _bannerall_, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 26. F. _banderole_, a little flag or streamer, a penon (Cotgr.).

=banes,= ‘banns’ of marriage (the usual spelling to 1661); Tam. Shrew, ii, 1. 181; spelt _bains_, Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 36. ME. _bane_ of a play (or mariage, Pynson), ‘banna’ (Prompt.).

=bangling,= frivolous contention, squabbling. Englishmen for my Money, iv. 1 (Heigham); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 528.

=banquerout, bankrout,= a bankrupt. Webster, Appius, v. 2 (Virginius); Com. Errors, iv. 2. See Dict. (s.v. Bankrupt).

=banquet,= a slight refection, a dessert after dinner. Tam. Shrew, v. 2. 9; Timon, i. 2. 160; ‘The Banquet is brought in’, Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, ii. 1 (stage direction).

=barate,= treason. Caxton, Hist. Troye, 327, back, 10; 335. 29. OF. _barat_, deceit. See NED. (s.v. Barrat).

=barathrum,= abyss, a bottomless pit. ‘To the lowest barathrum’, Heywood, Silver Age (Pluto), vol. iii. p. 159; used _fig._ ‘You barathrum of the shambles!’ Massinger, New Way, iii. 2 (Greedy); (cp. _barathrumque macelli_, Horace, Epist. i. 15. 31). L. _barathrum_, the underworld; Gk. βάραθρον, the yawning cleft near the Acropolis at Athens, down which criminals were thrown.

=baratour,= a quarrelsome person, a brawler, a rowdy, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii. c. 12. § 8. ME. _baratowre_, ‘pugnax, rixosus, jurgosus’ (Prompt.). Norm. F. _barateur_ ‘provocateur, querelleur’ (Moisy), deriv. of _barat_, ‘lutte, dispute’ (id.).

=baratresse,= a female warrior. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aen. i. 500.

†=baratto, barrato,= a small boat; explained as ‘an Indian boat’. Fletcher, Island Princess, i. 1. 19; ii. 6 (end).

=barb,= to shave. Turbervile, Trag. T. 53 (NED.); to mow, Marston, Malcontent, iii. 1 (Malevole); to clip money, B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1 (Face). F. _barber,_ to shave, to cut the beard (Cotgr.).

=barbed,= wearing a barb. From _barb_, lit. a beard (F. _barbe_); hence, a piece of white plaited linen, passed over or under the chin, and reaching midway to the waist; chiefly worn by nuns. ‘Barbyd lyke a nonne’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1000.

=bard;= see =barred.=

=bard cater-tray,= for _barred cater-tray_, a kind of false dice in which the throws _cater_ (four) and _tray_ (three) were _barred_, or prevented from being likely to appear. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 1 (Matheo). NED. quotes from Diceplay (1532), ed. 1850, p. 24:—‘a well-favoured die that seemeth good and square, yet is the forehead longer on the cater and tray than any other, way . . . Such be also called _bard cater-tres_, because, commonly, the longer end will, of his own sway, draw downwards, and turn up to the eye sice, sinke, deuis or ace; i.e. 6, 5, 2, or 1, but not 4 or 3’.

=baretour,= a fighting man, a brawler. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aen. i. 472; id. i. 142. Anglo-F. _barettour_ (Rough List). See =baratour.=

=bargenette, bargynet,= the name of a rustic dance, accompanied with a song. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i. c. 20. § 12; Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 430. Variant of _bargaret_ or _bargeret_; F. _bergerette_, ‘chant que les bergers chantaient le jour de Pâques’ (Hatzfeld). See NED. (s.v. Bargeret).

=barley-bread,= coarse food. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 637.

=barley-break,= an old country-game; usually one couple, left in a middle den termed ‘hell’, had to catch the other two couples (who were allowed to separate and ‘break’ when hard pressed, and thus to change partners); when caught, they had to take their turn as catchers. _Two Noble Kinsmen_, iv. 3. 34; ‘A course at _barley-break_’, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, A. i (Clarion). The last couple left were said to be in hell: ‘_Barly-break: or Last in Hel_’, a poem by Herrick. See EDD.

=barley-hood,= a fit of ill-temper, brought on by drunkenness. So called because caused by _barley_, i.e. malt liquor. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 372. See EDD.

=barn,= a ‘bairn’, a child. Much Ado, iii. 4. 48. ME. _barne_, ‘infans’ (Cath. Angl.). OE. _bearn_ (Anglian _barn_).

=barnacles,= barnacle-geese. Drayton, Pol. xxvii. 305 (where the fable is given). See EDD. (s.v. Barnacle, sb.^{1}).

=barratry,= vexatious persistence in litigation. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 695. See =baratour.=

=barrèd,= misused for _barded_, i.e. caparisoned. Drayton, Pol. xii. 481. Shortened to _bard_; Dekker, O. Fortunatus, iii. 1 (Cornwall).

=barred gown,= a gown marked with stripes or bars of gold lace, like that of a judge or law-officer. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, i. 1 (Rolliardo).

=barrendry,= a barony, a title of a baron. Chapman, Humorous Day’s Mirth, p. 31. Anglo-F. _baronnerie_, a baronry, the domain of a baron, the rank or dignity of baron. See NED. (s.v. Baronry).

=barriers,= lists, as for a tournament. _To fight at barriers_, to fight within lists. ‘_Jeu de Barres_, a martial sport of men armed and fighting together with short swords within certain Barres or lists, whereby they are separated from the spectators’, Cowel’s Interpreter (ed. 1701). Webster, White Devil; ed. Dyce, p. 40; at p. 6, the ‘great barriers’ are said ‘to moult feathers’; alluding to the plumes cut from the helmets of the combatants.

=barth,= a warm place or pasture for calves or lambs. Tusser, Husbandry, § 33. 26; Coles, Dict., 1677. An E. Anglian word (EDD.). Prob. a derivative of OE. _beorgan_, to shelter, protect.

=basciomani,= kissings of the hand. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 56. Ital. _basciamano_, a kissing of the hand (Florio).

=base,= or _prison-bars_, the name of a boys’ game. _To bid base_, to challenge to pursuit, as in the game, Venus and Adonis, 303; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 5; _at bace_, id. v. 8. 5. ‘_Barres_, play at _bace_, or prison Bars’, Cotgrave. ME. _bace_, play, ‘barri’ (Prompt. EETS. 24, see note no. 100). ‘_Barri_ sunt ludi, anglicè _bace_’ (Wright, Vocab. 176; foot-note).

=bases,= pl. (used like _skirts_), applied to a plaited skirt of cloth, velvet, or rich brocade, appended to the doublet, and reaching from the waist to the knee, common in the Tudor period. Massinger, Picture, ii. 1 (Sophia); Chapman, Mask of the Inner Temple, § 2. Called ‘a pair of _bases_’, Pericles, ii. 1. 167.

=bash,= to be abashed, Greene, Looking Glasse, i. 1. 3; Peele, Arraignment of Paris, iv. 1 (Venus); to make abashed, Greene, Looking Glasse, i. 1. 75 (Rasni). In prov. use in both senses, see EDD. (s.v. vb.^{3}).

=basilisk,= a species of ordnance. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 3. 56; Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iv. 1. 2; Harrison, Desc. England, bk. ii, ch. 16 (ed. Furnivall, 281).

=basket, the,= one in which the broken meat and bread from the sheriffs’ table was carried to the counters, for poor prisoners. Middleton, Inner-Temple Masque (Dr. Almanac). Hence, _go to the basket_, i.e. to prison, Massinger, Fatal Dowry, v. 1 (Pontalier). Cp. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, iii. 4 (Rolliardo). There were three grades of prisoners in each of the counters; they occupied, respectively, the Master’s side, the Twopenny Ward, and the Hole. Those in the Hole paid nothing for their provisions, but depended upon the basket.

=baslard,= a kind of hanger, or small sword. Mirror for Mag., Glocester, st. 18. Anglo-F. _baselard_. For the other French forms, _bazelaire_, _badelaire_, _beaudelaire_, see Ducange (s.vv. Basalardus, Basalaria, Bazalardus, Badelare).

=basque,= a short skirt. Etheredge, Man of Mode, iv. 1 (Sir Fopling). F. _basque_, a short skirt (Cotgr.); from _Basque_, name of the ancient race inhabiting both slopes of the western Pyrenees.

=bass,= to kiss. ‘Bas me’, Skelton, Speke Parrot, 106; ‘I _basse_ or kysse a person, _Ie baise_’, Palsgrave. F. _baiser_; L. _basiare_.

=bassa,= an earlier form of the Turkish military title ‘Bashaw’. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 306; spelt _basso_, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iii. 1. 1. Turkish _bāshā_, prob. fr. _bāsh_, a head. See NED. (s.v. Pasha).

=basta,= enough. Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 203. Ital. (and Span.) _basta_, it is enough (Florio); Ital. _bastare_, and Span. _bastar_, to suffice.