Chapter M (7)

=seam,= fat, grease. Tr. and Cr. ii. 3. 195; Dryden, tr. Aeneid, vii. 867. In gen. prov. use in the British Isles, see EDD. (s.v. Saim). ME. _seim_, grease (Ancr. R. 412). Anglo-F. _saim_, ‘adeps’ (Ps. lxii. 6), cp. Ital. _saime_, O. Prov. _sagin_ (_saīn_), ‘graisse’ (Levy), Med. L. _sagimen_, ‘adeps, sagina’ (Ducange).

=searce, searse,= to sift through a sieve. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Ariosto). ‘Searce’ was formerly a widely spread prov. word for a fine sieve; as a vb. ‘to sift’ it still appears in Northumbrian and Kentish Glosses (EDD.). ME. _sarce_, a sieve (Prompt.); _sarcyn_, to sift (id., EETS. 450; see notes, no. 1875 and no. 2204). OF. _saas_ (F. _sas_), a sieve. Span. _cedazo_, Med. L. _setatium_ (Ducange), der. of L. _seta_, _saeta_, a bristle.

=sear-cloth,= to cover with ‘cere-cloth’ or waxed cloth. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 148. See =cere-cloth.=

=season upon= (or =on=), to seize upon. Mirror for Mag., Northumberland, st. 15; ‘I season upon a thynge as a hauke doth, _je assaysonne_. She saysouned upon the fesante at the first flyght’, Palsgrave; ‘It is mete for any lyon . . . to season his pawes upon his pray’, Acolastus, ii. 3. See NED. (s.v. Season, vb. 5).

=sect,= a class or kind of persons, used with reference to sex, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 41; Fletcher, Valentinian, i. 1 (Chilax); Middleton, Mad World, ii. 6. In prov. use in various parts of England; also in illiterate use in London; see EDD. and NED. Cp. Chaucer, ‘(The wife of Bath) and al hire secte’ (C. T. E. 1171). L. _secta_, a following, a school or sect of philosophy.

=sectary,= one who belongs to a sect, a dissenter. Hen. VIII, v. 3. 70; Puritan Widow, i. 2. 5. F. _sectaire_, ‘a sectary, follower of a sect’ (Cotgr.).

=sectour,= executor. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 62; ‘Sectour, _executeur_’, Palsgrave. ME. _sectour_, ‘exequitour’ (Cath. Angl.); _seketowre_, ‘executor’ (Prompt., Harl. MS.).

=Sedgeley curse,= an imprecation recorded by Ray among the proverbs of Staffordshire. It is given by Beaumont and Fl. in this form: ‘A Sedgly curse light on him, which is, Pedro, The fiend ride through him booted and spurred, With a scythe at his back!’, Tamer Tamed, v. 2; Massinger, City Madam, ii. 2 (Plenty). See Nares.

=see,= a seat of dignity or authority, a throne; ‘Jove laught on Venus from his soveraigne see’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 2; the dwelling-place of a monarch, F. Q. iv. 10. 30.

=see,= _pret. s._ (I) saw, (he) saw, Greene, Sonnet, l. 4 (ed. Dyce, 292). Still in prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. See, 1 (6)). OE. _seah_, pt. t. of _sēon_, to see.

=seek:= phr. _to blow a seek_, to sound notes on a horn, summoning hounds to the chase of a deer. Gascoigne, Art of Venerie (ed. Hazlitt, i. 314).

=seek:= phr. _to seek_, at a loss, badly off; ‘The Merchant will be to seeke for Money’, Bacon, Essay 41, § 4; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 2. Cp. Porson’s famous epigram in Museum Criticum, i. 332, ‘The Germans in Greek, Are sadly to seek’, &c. See NED. (s.v. Seek, vb. 20 b).

=seel,= to close up a bird’s eyelids, by means of a thread passed through them. _A seeled dove_, ‘She brought them to a seeled dove, who the blinder she was, the higher she strave’, Sidney, Arcadia (ed. Sommer, 65); Bacon, Essay 36. It was believed that a seeled dove would mount always higher aloft, till it sank from exhaustion; see Ford, Broken Heart, ii. 2. 3. Palsgrave has: ‘I cele a hauke, _Ie cile_.’ F. _ciller_, ‘to seele, or sow up the eyelids’ (Cotgr.); _cil_, an eyelash, L. _cilium_, an eyelid, eyelash.

=seeld,= seldom, Mirror for Mag., Salisbury, st. 20. See =seld.=

=seeling,= a wainscot, wainscoting. Bacon, Essay 54; ceiling, North, tr. of Plutarch, Octavius, § 4 (in Shak. Plut. p. 238).

=seemless,= unseemly. Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 25; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xx. 397.

=seemlyhed,= comeliness. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 14.

=seen,= equipped, furnished; versed, practised; ‘Seen in many things’, Heywood, A Woman killed, ii. 1 (Frankford); _well seen_, Tam. Shrew, i. 2. 136; Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 8 (p. 37). In prov. use (EDD.).

=sege,= a seat. Morte Arthur, leaf 220. 7; bk. x, c. 16. ME. _sege_: ‘He schal sitte on the sege of his maieste’ (Wyclif, Matt. xxv. 31). Anglo-F. _sege_, seat (Ps. lxxxviii. 14), O. Prov. _setge_, ‘siège, banc, séance, siège d’une ville’ (Levy). See =siege.=

=seggs,= sedges. Kyd, Cornelia, iii. 3. 15. A Northern form (EDD.).

=Seisactheia,= an ordinance of Solon by which all debts were lowered. Massinger, Old Law, i. 1 (2 Lawyer). Gk. σεισάχθεια, a shaking off of burdens.

=selago,= a plant. Middleton, The Witch, iii. 3 (Hecate). L. _selago_, a plant resembling the savin-tree.

=selar,= a canopy of a bed; ‘The selar of the bedde’, Morte Arthur, leaf 349, back, 24; bk. xvii, c. 6. ‘Cellar for a bed, _ciel de lit_’, Palsgrave. See NED. (s.v. Celure).

=selcouth,= strange, uncommon. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 14. A Scottish poetical word (EDD.). ME. _selcouth_, strange, wonderful (P. Plowman, C. i. 5); OE. _seldcūð_, strange, lit. seldom known.

=seld,= seldom. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 150; hence _seld-shown_, seldom shown, Coriolanus, ii. 1. 229; _seld-seen_, Humour out of Breath, i. 1 (Octavio); as adj. rare, scarce, Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, iv. 4. ME. _seld_ (_selde_), seldom (Chaucer, C. T. B. 2343). See =seeld.=

=sellary,= a male prostitute. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 5 (Arruntius). L. _sellarius_ (Tacitus).

=sely,= harmless; ‘A selye innocente hare murdered of a dogge’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, p. 111). Also, poor, helpless, Tusser, Husbandry, § 51. 18. ME. _sely_, simple, innocent, also, poor, pitiable (Chaucer); but Chaucer uses the word also in other senses: good, holy, happy. See Trench, Select Glossary (s.v. Silly). See =silly.=

=semblably,= similarly. 1 Hen. IV, v. 3. 21. F. _semblable_, like. F. _sembler_, to seem, resemble.

=semblant,= demeanour. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 31; Morte Arthur, bk. ii, c. 17; _to make semblant_ (= F. _faire semblant_), to make a show, appearance, or pretence (of doing something), id., bk. vii, c. 8.

=seminary,= an Englishman educated as a Popish priest in a foreign seminary. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Overdo).

=semitary,= a form of scimetar. B. Jonson, Case is altered, v. 2 (Juniper); _semitarie_, Peele, Battle of Alcazar, i. 2 (Moor). See =cemitare.=

=sempster,= a sempstress; also a spinster, as applied to the three Fates, Dekker, O. Fortunatus, ii. 2 (Shadow). In prov. use in Yorks. and Derbyshire, see EDD. (s.v. Seamster). ME. _semster_ (Dest. Troy, 1585), OE. _sēamestre_, a sempstress (B. T.).

=sennet,= a signal-call played on a trumpet, the signal for entrance or exit. Common in the stage-directions in the Tudor drama. It occurs in various forms, such as _synnet_, _sinet_, _cynet_, _signate_. Hen. VIII, ii. 4; J. Caesar, i. 2; Ant. and Cl. ii. 7; Coriol. ii. 1; 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. O. Prov. _senhet_ (_signet_), ‘signe’ (Levy), OF. _sinet_ (Littré). See Notes on Eng. Etym., p. 264.

=sensing,= ‘incensing’, use of incense. Latimer, Sermon on the Ploughers (ed. Arber, p. 30). ME. _censynge_, ‘turificacio’ (Prompt.).

=sent,= perception. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 43. The old spelling of _scent_; so in Cotgrave, ‘_Odeur_, sent, smell’.

=sere,= separate, distinct, each in particular. Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 107). ME. _ser_, distinct, each in particular (Ormin, 18653). Icel. _sér_, orig. dat. of refl. pron. ‘for oneself’, hence as adv. separately.

=sere,= the claw or talon of a bird or beast of prey. Usually in the pl. _seres_; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, viii. 212; xii. 213; Odyssey, ii. 238; Revenge of Bussy, iii. 1 (Clermont); Byron’s Tragedy, iii. 1. 16. F. _serre_, a hawk’s talon (Cotgr.).

=sere,= the catch in a gun-lock which is released by the trigger. Hamlet, ii. 2. 337 (see note by W. Aldis Wright). It was like a claw. See above.

=serene,= a chill evening air; ‘Some serene blast me’, B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 5 (Celia); Epigrams, xxxii (last line). F. _serein_, ‘the mildew, or harmful dew of some summer evenings’ (Cotgr.). Ital. ‘_sereno_, the night calm; _serenata_, music played in a clear evening’ (Florio).

=sericon,= the name of some chemical substance. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle). See NED.

=serpentin,= a kind of cannon. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 124; l. 159; ‘_Serpentine_, the artillery called a Serpentine or Basiliskoe’, Cotgrave.

=serpigo,= a general term for creeping or spreading skin diseases, esp. ringworm, Meas. for M. iii. 1. 31 (variously spelt in the edd.). Medical L. _serpigo_, ‘teter’ (Alphita, 167), deriv. of _serpere_, to creep.

=servant,= a professed lover, one who is devoted to the service of a lady. Two Gent. of Verona, ii. 1. 106, 114, 140. Very common. Cp. Ital. _cavaliere servente_; see Fanfani.

=servulate,= to serve obsequiously. Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, i. 2 (Egremont). From L. _servulus_, dimin. of servus, a slave.

=sesama,= oil from the seeds of a plant, sesame, one of the ingredients of a perfume. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer). Gk. σησάμη.

=sesarara;= see =sasarara.=

=sess, seiss,= to assess. Pt. t. _sessyd_, Fabyan, Chron., p. vii, ann. 1257-8 (ed. Ellis, p. 344); pp. _seissed_, North, tr. of Plutarch, Antonius, § 33 (in Shak. Plut., p. 204). In prov. use (EDD.).

=set out the throat,= to set up a noise, cry out. B. Jonson, Alchem. v. 2 (Face); Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1 (Hippolito).

=setter,= a confederate of sharpers or swindlers, employed as a decoy (Cant). Nashe, Strange Newes, 1592; see Aydelotte, p. 86; Butler, Hud., Lady’s Answer, 153. One who marks down travellers to be robbed by thieves, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 53.

=settle,= a long bench, with a very high back. Albumazar, i. 1 (Ronca). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Settle, sb.^{2}).

=setwall,= the East Indian plant zedoary, Palsgrave; the plant valerian, ‘Drink-quickning Setwale’, Spenser, Muiopotmos, 196; spelt cetywall, Drayton, Ballad of Dowsabell, 33 (in later editions _setywall_). ME. _setwale_ or _sedwale_, ‘zedoarium’ (Prompt.); _cetewale_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3207). O. Span. _cetoal_, _sitoval_, _cedoaria_; of Arabic origin, see Dozy, Glossaire, 251.

=sew,= to follow; ‘Seven kings sewen me’, World and Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 248; to sue, to plead, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 12. 29; to woo, id., iii. 5. 47. See Dict. (s.v. Sue).

=sew,= to drain dry; ‘To drain and sew’, North, tr. of Plutarch, Jul. Caesar, § 39 (in Shak. Plut., p. 93); Tusser, Husbandry, 32. In prov. use in E. Anglia, Kent, Sussex, and Dorset, see EDD. (s.v. Sew, vb.^{2}). OF. _esuer_ (Burguy); F. _essuier_, to dry up (Cotgr.); _essuier_, ‘évier, conduit par lequel s’écoulent les eaux sales d’une cuisine’ (Didot). See Hatzfeld (s.v. Essuyer).

=sewell;= see =shewelle.=

=sewer,= an attendant at a meal who superintended the seating of the guests, and the tasting and serving of the dishes. Macbeth, i. 7, Stage Direction. ME. _sewer_ at the mete, ‘depositor, discoforus’ (Cath. Angl.); _seware_ at mete, ‘dapifer’ (Prompt.). OF. _asseour_, ‘en parlant du service de la table, _qui fait asseoir_’ (Godefroy), Pop. L. _assedatorem_ (acc.), one who sets, places, deriv. of _assedare_, to set, place, cp. Norm. F. _aseer_, to place; see Moisy.

=sextile,= denoting the aspect or relative position of two planets, when distant from each other by sixty degrees; a sextile aspect. Fletcher, Bloody Brother, iv. 2 (Norbret); Randolph, Jealous Lovers, v. 2; Milton, P. L. x. 659.

=seymy,= greasy. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 124; l. 169. See =seam.=

=sforzato,= a galley-slave. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1 (Vol.). Ital. ‘_sforzati_, galley-slaves, as forced to do anything’ (Florio), cp. F. ‘_forçat_, galley-slave’ (Cotgr.).

=shack,= the shaken grain which remains on the fields after harvesting; hence _shack-time_, the time during which this grain remains on the ground, Tusser, Husbandry, § 16. 30; _to shack_, to turn pigs or poultry into the stubble fields. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Shake, 9, 20, 21).

†=shackatory,= apparently, a huntsman’s underling. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iii. 1 (Orlando). See NED.

=shadow,= a reflection in water; ‘Aesop had a foolish dog that let go the flesh to catch the shadow’, Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 37; a disguise, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Hempskirke); a friend of an invited guest (L. _umbra_), Massinger, Unnat. Combat, iii. 1. 11.

=shaft,= a May-pole, esp. the May-pole in Aldgate ward, London, which ‘shaft’, when it was set on end and fixed to the ground, was higher than the steeple of the church, which was hence called St. Andrew Undershaft. This ‘shaft’ was not raised after May-day, 1517, on account of a disturbance of the apprentices. Thirty-two years after it was sawn in pieces and burned as an idol. Stow, Survey (ed. Thoms, 54); Pennant’s London, 587. See Nares (s.v. Shaft), and Chambers, Book of Days, p. 574.

=shaftman,= a measure of about six inches, being the length from the top of the extended thumb to the wrist-side of the palm. Harington, tr. Ariosto, xxxvi. 56; _shaftmon_, Morte Arthur, leaf 124, back, 8; bk. vii, c. 22; _shaftmont_, ‘His leg was scarce a shaftmont lang’, Child’s Pop. Ballads, ii. 330; _shaftement_, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 112. ‘Shaftment’ is in prov. use in the north country (EDD.). ME. _schaftmonde_ (Death of Arthur, 2546, 3843, 4232); OE. _sceaftmund_, a palm’s length (B. T.). See NED. (s.v. Shaftment).

=shag-rag,= ragged, vagabond-like; ‘A shag-rag knave’, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5 (Barabas). The word ‘shag-rag’ is in prov. use in the north country to denote an idle, ragged vagabond, see EDD. (s.v. Shag, vb.^{3} 2 (2)). See =shake-rag.=

†=shailes,= scarecrows. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 23, § 2; see Croft’s note. Perhaps cognate with ME. _schey_, shy, timid (Prompt.). See =shewelle.=

=shake-rag,= a ragged disreputable person, Brome, Jovial Crew, iii. (NED.). [‘He was a shake-rag like fellow’, Scott, Guy Man., xxvi.] Also _shake_, Middleton, The Widow, ii. 1 (1 Suitor).

=shake the elbow,= to throw dice, to gamble. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Ariosto).

=shaking of the sheets,= the name of an old dance, usually mentioned with an indecent suggestion. Westward Ho, v. 3.

=shale,= a shell, husk. Hen. V, iv. 2. 18; Parliament of Bees, character 5 (end). ME. _shale_ (Chaucer), OE. _scealu_, a husk.

=shale,= to shell, take of the husk; ‘I shale peasen’, Palsgrave; ‘A little lad set on a bancke to shale the ripen’d nuts’, W. Browne, Brit. Pastorals, bk. ii, song 4. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Shale, vb.^{1} 14). ME. _shale_, notys or odyr frute, ‘enucleo’ (Prompt. EETS. 451). Cp. F. _eschaller_: ‘_eschalleur de noys_, qui écale des noix’ (Glossaire, Rabelais, ii. 160).

=shale,= to shamble with the feet; ‘_Esgrailler_, to shale or straddle with the legs’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Shale, vb.^{2}). See =shayle.=

=shalla,= for _shall he_; ‘Shalla go In deede? and shalla flowte me thus?,’ Phaer, Aeneid iv, 590, 591. _A_ for _he_ is common in prov. use when unemphatic, see EDD. (s.v. He, 1 (1)).

=sham,= to take in, to hoax; ‘You shammed me all night long . . . _Freeman_. Shamming is telling you an insipid, dull lye, with a dull face, which the sly wag the author only laughs at himself; and, making himself believe ’tis a good jest, puts the sham only upon himself, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. Cp. Sc. _sham_, to cheat, trick, deceive, see EDD. (s.v. Sham, vb.^{1} 1).

=shamois,= shoes made of the wild goat’s skin. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 19.

=shape,= the costume suited to a particular part in a play. Massinger, Bondman, v. 3 (Pisander).

=shard,= a fragment, a piece of broken pottery, a potsherd; ‘Shards, flints and pebbles should be thrown on her’, Hamlet, v. 1. 254. In prov. use in the sense of a broken piece in Scotland and in the various parts of England (EDD.). ME. _scherde_, ‘testula’ (Prompt. EETS.), OE. _sceard_, ‘testa’ (B. T.).

=shard,= a patch of cow-dung; ‘They are his shards, and he their beetle’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 2. 19; ‘Such souls as shards produce, such beetle things As only buz to heaven with ev’ning wings’, Dryden, Hind and P. i. 321; ‘The shard-borne beetle’ (the beetle born in dung), Macbeth, iii. 2. 42. ‘Shard,’ meaning a patch of cow-dung, is in prov. use in Yorks. and Wilts. (EDD.). Probably related to ‘sharn’ in prov. use for dung of cattle; OE. _scearn_ (Leechdoms); see EDD.

=shard.= In Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 38, ‘When late he far’d In Phaedrias flitt barke over that perlous shard.’ Spenser appears to use ‘shard’ here in the sense of ‘a channel’. It is probably the same word as ‘shard’ in prov. use for an incision, a gap, a narrow passage, see EDD. (s.v. Shard, sb.^{2} 1, 2, 3). OE. _sceard_, a gap, notch; the word is used for bays and creeks in Boethius, 18. 1.

=shark,= to prowl about to pick up a living. Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, iii. 3 (Mallicorn); Earle, Micro-Cosmographie, no. 77 (ed. Arber, 35); _shark on_, to prey upon, Sir Thos. More, ii. 4. 106; _shark up_, to pick up by prowling about, Hamlet, i. 1. 98. Hence _shark-gull_, a cheat who preys upon simpletons, Middleton, The Black Book (ed. Dyce, v. 524).

=sharp.= _To fight at sharp_, to fight with sharp weapons, not with foils, Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, v. 3 (Galoshio).

=shayle,= to shamble, to walk crookedly or awkwardly. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 20, l. 19; p. 214, l. 172. Palsgrave has: ‘I shayle, as a man or horse dothe that gothe croked with his legges, _Ie vas eschays_.’ ME. _schaylyn_, ‘disgredior’ (Prompt. EETS. 451). See =shale= and =shoyle.=

=sheal,= to take off the outer covering of peas, King Lear, i. 4. 219. In prov. use in Scotland and in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Sheal, vb.^{2} 1).

=sheath;= see =painted.=

=sheene,= fair, beautiful to behold. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 10; ii. 2. 40; ii. 10. 8; ‘Haill May, haill Flora, haill Aurora schene!’, Dunbar, Thrissill, 9; as sb., fairness, splendour, Hamlet, iii. 2. 167. ME. _shene_, fair, beautiful (Chaucer, C. T. A. 972). OE. _scēne_, _scȳne_, _scīene_, fair, identical with G. _schön_, beautiful, Goth. _skauns_.

=sheerly,= entirely. Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 4 (Memnon). A Scotch word, used by Burns, Ep. to Major Logan (EDD.).

=sheeve,= a slice; ‘A sheeve of bread’, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 29. In prov. use in Scotland and Lanc., see EDD. (s.v. Sheave). See =shive.=

=shelf,= a sandbank. B. Jonson, The Forest, iii (l. 12 from end); _shelves_, pl., 3 Hen. VI, v. 4. 23; ‘On the tawny sands and shelves Trip the pert faeries’, Milton, Comus, 117. For Scotch exx. see EDD. (s.v. Shelf, sb.^{2}).

=shell,= a cockle-shell worn in the hat by pilgrims to Compostella. Heywood, Four Prentises (Godfrey), vol. ii, p. 213.

=shells,= a cant term for money. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (2 Cutpurse); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iii. 2 (Matheo).

=shend,= to put to shame, blame, reproach. Spenser, Prothalamion, 121; _shent_, pp., F. Q. ii. 5. 5; vi. 6. 18. In prov. use in Scotland and in Kent (EDD.). ME. _shende_, to render contemptible (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 893); _schende_, to blame, reproach (Wyclif, Ps. cxviii. 31). OE. _scendan_.

=sherif,= a title of the descendants of Mohammed, a title of the chief magistrate of Mecca, and of Morocco; ‘The Sheriffe of Mecca’, Purchas, Pilgrims, iii. 257. Arab. _sharîf_, noble, of noble lineage, particularly, descending from Mohammed (Steingass). See =xeriff.=

=sherris,= ‘sherry’, a Spanish wine, so called from the town Xeres. 2 Hen. IV, iv. 3. 111, 114, 122, 131. The Arabic form of the place-name Xeres was _Sherêysh_ (Dozy, Glossaire, p. 18). The Roman name was _Caesaris Asidona_. By the loss of the first syllable, _Caesaris_ became on the lips of the Moors _sherêysh_. For a similar decapitation of the word _Caesar_, compare the name of the Spanish city _Zaragoça_, the _Caesaraugusta_ of the Romans.

=shewelle, sewell;= ‘A _sewell_, a thing to keep out the deer’, Howell, Lexicon Tetraglotton; ‘Anything that is hung up is called a Sewel; and those are used most commonly to amaze a Deare, and to make him refuse to passe wher they are hanged up’, Turbervile, Hunting (ed. 1575, p. 98); used _fig._, ‘Bugbeares of opinions brought, to serve as shewelles to keep them from those faults’, Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia (ed. 1605, p. 267); ‘Shewell’ in the sense of a scarecrow is still in use in Oxfordsh. and Berks. (EDD.). Cp. ME. _scheawle_, a scarecrow (Owl and N. 1648); _a-schewelen_, to scare away (Stratmann, pp. 32, 528); deriv. of OE. _scēoh_, timid, shy.

=shift herself,= change her dress. Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, iii. 1. 8. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Shift, 2).

=shine,= bright. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 3; ‘Girt my shine browe with sea-banke Myrtle sprays’, Marlowe, tr. of Ovid’s Elegies, bk. i, 1. 34 (Wks., ed. Tucker Brooke, 560). See =sheene.=

=shirwood= = L. _lucus_. Phaer, Aeneid viii, 342.

=shittle,= unstable, inconstant; ‘Their shittle hate’, Mirror for Mag., Collingbourne, st. 3; ‘Shyttell, nat constant, _variable_’, Palsgrave. ME. _schytyl_, ‘preceps’ (Prompt. EETS. 398), cogn. w. OE. _scēotan_, to run hastily (Acts vii. 57); see Cook, Biblical Quotations, p. 234.

=shittle-cock,= a shuttlecock. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, iii. 2 (Allwit). ‘Shyttel cocke, _volant_’, Palsgrave. ME. _schytyl_, a shuttle (in a child’s game), see Prompt. EETS. 398.

=shive,= a slice, Titus Andron. ii. 1. 87. In gen. prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, England, and America, see EDD. (s.v. Shive, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _schyve_ of bred or oþer lyke, ‘lesca, scinda’ (Prompt. EETS. 399). Cp. Icel. _skifa_, a slice, and G. _scheibe_.

=shock-dog,= a rough-coated dog; a poodle. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-master, ii. 2 (Hippolyta); Tatler, no. 245.

=shoe-the-mare,= a Christmas sport. Middleton, Inner-Temple Masque (Plumporridge). ‘Shoe the old mare’ is the name of a kind of sport in Galloway, see EDD. (s.v. Shoe, vb. 10).

=shog,= to move off, go away. Henry V, ii. 1. 47, ii. 3. 47; _shog on_, Massinger, Parl. of Love, iv. 5 (near the end); _shogd_, shook, pushed; Phaer, Aeneid ii, 465; _shog_, a jog, a shake. Dryden, Epil. to The Man of Mode, 28. In gen. prov. use (EDD.). ME. _schoggen_, to shake (Wars Alex. 5018).

=shold,= a shoal, sandbank. Phaer, Aeneid i, 112; Hakluyt, Voyages, iii. 547. ‘Shald’ in various spellings is in prov. use in the north country, meaning (1) shallow, (2) a shoal (EDD.). ME. ‘_schold_ or schalowe, noȝte depe’ (Prompt.). OE. _sceald_, shallow (found in place-names); see Dict. (s.v. Shallow).

=shoot-anker,= sheet-anchor; hence, a means of security. Udall, Roister Doister, i. 1. 28; ‘This saying they make their shoot-anker’, Cranmer (cited in Dict., s.v. Sheet).

=shope,= shaped, framed; pt. t. of _shape_. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 39. ME. _shoop_, planned, devised (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 207), pt. s. of _shapen_; OE. _scōp_, pt. s. of _sceppan_.

=shoppini,= high-heeled shoes; ‘Those high corked shoes, which now they call in Spaine and Italy _Shoppini_’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 15; p. 49. See =cioppino= and =choppine.= See Stanford (s.v. Chopine).

=shore,= a sewer. Shirley, Love Tricks, i. 1; ‘The common shore’, A Woman never vext (Mrs. Foster), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 104; ‘Our sailing ships like common shores we use’, Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 558. ‘Shore’, once a common word for a sewer, is still preserved in Shoreditch in London; also named Sewers Ditch; see Stow’s Survey, p. 158. It is in gen. prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and England, see EDD. (s.v. Shore, sb.^{3} 1).

=shoringness,= inclination to tilt to one side; ‘A table, of the which the thirde foot was A little shorter then the rest. A tyle-sherd made it even And tooke away the shoringness,’ Golding, Metam. viii. 662; fol. 103 (1603). ‘Shoring’ is in prov. use in E. Anglia, in the sense of slanting, sloping, awry, see EDD. (s.v. Shore, vb.^{2} 4).

=shot,= a payment, reckoning; esp. a contribution to the payment of a tavern score; ‘_Escotter_, every one to pay his shot or to contribute somewhat towards it’, Cotgrave; Two Gent. ii. 5. 9; _shot-free_, without having to pay, 1 Hen. IV, v. 3. 30. In gen. prov. and colloquial use in Scotland, England, and America, see EDD. (s.v. Shot, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _schot_, a payment (Stratmann). OE. _scot_, a contribution (in compounds), see B. T. The Anglo-F. form is _escot_ (mod. _écot_), whence E. _scot_, in _scot-free_, and _scot and lot_. See =escot, scot and lot.=

=shot-clog,= a dupe; one who was a _clog_ upon a company, but
was tolerated because he paid the _shot_ or reckoning. Eastward
Ho, i. 1 (Golding); B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Shun.); ‘A
_shot-clog_, to make suppers, and be laughed at’, B. Jonson,
Poetaster, i. 1 (Ovid senior). Spelt _shot-log_, Field, Amends
for Ladies, iii (end).

=shot-shark,= a tavern waiter; because he sharks for (or hunts
after) the reckoning or shot. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour,
v. 4. 1.

=shotten,= lean. Fletcher, Women Pleased, ii. 4. 9. From the phr. _shotten herring_, a herring that has spent the roe, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 143. ‘As lean as a shot-herring’ is given in EDD. as a Derbyshire saying. ‘Shotten’ is used in Kent of the herring that has spent its roe, see EDD. (s.v. Shot, pp. 5).

=shotten-souled,= deprived of a soul; soulless. Fletcher, Wit
without Money, iii. 4. 2.

=shotterell, shotrell,= a pike in his first year; ‘An harlotrie [i.e. worthless] _shotterell_’, Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 4 (Carion); ‘The Shotrell, 1 year, Pickerel, 2 year, Pike, 3 year, Luce, 4 year, are one’, W. Lauson, Comments on the Secrets of Angling; in Arber’s Eng. Garner, i. 197.

=shough,= a rough dog with shaggy hair. Macbeth, iii. 1. 94; Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, iii. 3 (Grilla). Also in forms _shog_ and _shock_, ‘Nor mungrell nor shog’, Taylor’s Works, 1630 (Nares); ‘Their little shocks or Bononia dogs’, Erminia, 1661 (Nares).

=shough, shoo,= _interj._, away! used to scare away fowls. Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, v. 1 (end).

=shoule,= a ‘shovel’. Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, iv. 1 (Jack); vol. vi, p. 424. For various forms of ‘shool’, a word which is in gen. prov. use in the British Isles and America, see EDD.

=shouler,= a bird; the ‘shoveller’ or spoonbill. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 353. Skelton has _shouelar_ (= _shovelar_), Phylyp Sparowe, 408.

=shovelboard,= the name of a game. The game was to _shuffle_ or drive by a blow of the hand a counter or coin along a smooth _board_, so as to pass beyond a line drawn across the board near the far end, but so as not to fall off the board; ‘Plaieing at slide-groat or shoofleboard’, Stanyhurst, Desc. of Ireland, ann. 1528; _Edward shovel-board_, a shilling coined in the reign of Edward VI commonly used in the game of shovel-board, Merry Wives, i. 1. 159. A similar game was called _shove-groat_, hence _shove-groat shilling_, the coin used at the game, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 206; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 5. 17 (see Wheatley’s note). See Nares.

=shoyle,= to lean outwards on the foot in walking. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 55 (p. 155), says that wild swine never ‘shoyle or leane outwards’, as tame hogs do. See =shayle.=

=shraming,= making a great noise, screaming; ‘Shraming shalms’, Golding, Metam. iv. 392; fol. 48, back (1603); ‘She shraming cryed’, id., viii. 108; fol. 94.

=shrewd,= malicious, mischievous, ill-natured, All’s Well, iii. 5. 68; Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 33; bad, nasty, grievous, Merch. Ven. iii. 2. 244; Ant. and Cl. iv. 9. 5. The word is used in Shropshire in the sense of ‘vicious’ (EDD.). ME. _schrewyd_, ‘pravus, pravatus, depravatus’ (Prompt. EETS. 401).

=shrich,= to ‘shriek’. Gascoigne, Philomene, ll. 22, 52. ME. _schrichen_, variants _schriken_, _skriken_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 4590).

=shrieve,= a ‘sheriff’. All’s Well, iv. 3. 213; 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 99. ME. _shirreve_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 359). OE. _scīr-gerēfa_. See Dict.

=shright,= _pt. t._ shrieked; ‘Out! alas! she shryght’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 18; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 32. ME. _shrighte_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2817), pt. t. of _schrychen_ (_schriken_) to shriek. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Schrychen).

=shright,= a shriek. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 57; vi. 4. 2.

=shrill,= thin, poor; ‘Age . . . all balde or ouer-cast With shril, thin haire as white as snow’, Golding, Metam. xv. 213. ‘Shrill’ (also ‘shill’) is in prov. use in Bedf. and Northants for thin, poor; also clear, transparent, applied to book-muslin (EDD.).

=shrill,= to sound shrilly, to resound. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 20; v. 7. 27.

=shrimp,= a shrunken, wizened man. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 600.

=Shrove-Tuesday bird,= a cock tied down, at which cudgels were thrown, on a Shrove Tuesday. Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, iii. 3 (Lapet; near the end). See Brand’s Pop. Ant. (ed. 1877, p. 37).

=shroving,= joining in the ceremonies and sports of Shrove Tuesday. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 5 (Eyre); Fletcher, Noble Gent. iii. 2 (Lady). See EDD. (s.v. Shrove, vb.), where it is said that the custom of ‘shroving’, i.e. going round singing for money, &c., on Shrove Tuesday, is known from Oxf. to Dorset.

=shrow,= a ‘shrew’, a vixen, a scold. A frequent spelling of _shrew_ in old editions of Shakespeare; and always pronounced so, cp. the rimes in Tam. Shrew, iv. 1. 213; v. 2. 28; v. 2. 188; _shroe_, Peele, Arraignment of Paris, iv. 1 (Bacchus).

=shug,= to slip, to wriggle. Ford, Witch of Edmonton, v. 1 (Dog). See EDD. (s.v. Shuck, vb.^{1} 2).

=shuter,= a suitor. A common pronunciation of _suitor_; puns on _shooter_ and _suitor_ occur often. London Prodigal, i. 2. 42; cp. L. L. L. iv. 1. 110; Puritan Widow, il. 1. 97.

=shuttle-brained,= thoughtless, flighty. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, § 6. From the movements of the _shuttle_.

=sidanen,= a fine woman; an epithet. Northward Ho, ii. 1 (Capt. Jenkin). Welsh _sidanen_, silken, made of silk; also, an epithet for a fine woman (Owen). Applied sometimes to Queen Elizabeth; so Nares.

=siddon,= soft, tender, mellow. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, iv. 1 (Piero). Current in west midland counties, chiefly of peas or other vegetables which become soft in boiling, see EDD. (s.v. Sidder). Cp. OE. _syde_, a decoction, the water in which anything has been seethed or boiled (B. T.). Cognate with _seethe_, pp. _sodden_; see Dict. (s.v. Seethe).

=side,= long, hanging down a long way; ‘Side sleeves’, Much Ado, iii. 4. 21; Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 440; B. Jonson, New Inn, v. 1 (Fly). In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.). ME. _syde_, as a gowne, ‘defluxus, talaris’ (Cath. Angl.); ‘syde sleeves’ (Hoccleve, Reg. P. 535). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Syde). OE. _sīd_, ample, wide, large, extensive.

=side, to set up a,= to be partners in a game. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, iii. 2 (Cent.).

=sie, sye,= to strain milk. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 146. 10. ‘I sye mylke, or clense’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in Scotland, England down to Glouc. (EDD.). OE. _sēon_ (_sīan_), to strain; cp. _asiende_, ‘excolantes’ (Matt. xxiii. 24, Mercian Gloss); see B. T. (s.v. _āsēon_).

=siege,= a seat, esp. one used by a person of rank or distinction, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 39; hence, rank, Othello, i. 2. 22; the station of a heron on the watch for prey, Massinger, Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo); a privy, Phaer, Pestilence (NED.); evacuation, B. Jonson, Sejanus, i. 2; excrement, Tempest, ii. 2. 110. ME. _sege_, ‘sedes, secessus’ (Prompt. EETS. 404, see notes). See =sege.=

=sieve and shears,= a mode of divination; used for the recovery of things lost. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face); Butler, Hud. i. 2. 848. See EDD. (s.v. Riddle, sb.^{1} 1 (1)).

=sifflement,= a whistling, chirping. Brewer, Lingua, i. 1 (Auditus). F. _siffler_, to whistle, L. _sifilare_, a dialect form of _sibilare_.

=sight,= _pt. t._ sighed. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 20; vi. 10. 40. ME. _sighte_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1035), pt. s. of _syke_, to sigh.

=signatures,= marks. The medicinal virtues of some plants were supposed to be indicated by their forms or by marks upon them. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 329.

=sikerly,= certainly, surely. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, last scene (Gammer). Still in prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Sickerly). ME. _sikerly_ (Chaucer); _sikerliche_ (P. Plowman). OE. _sicor_, sure, safe; certain (B. T.).

=silder,= less frequently. Tancred and Gismunda, ii. 3 (Lucrece); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 46. See =seld.=

=silly,= simple, rustic; innocent. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 35; iii. 8. 27; poor, wretched, weak, Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, pp. 491, 533. See =sely.=

=silverling,= a piece of silver; ‘Fifty thousande silverlynges’, Tyndale, Acts xix. 9; so the Cranmer version, 1539, and the Geneva, 1557; BIBLE, Isaiah vii. 23; here Luther has _Silberlinge_. In Marlowe, Jew of Malta, i. 1. 6, _silverling_ = the Jewish coin, the shekel.

†=simming,= simmering. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 6. 27.

=simper,= to twinkle, glimmer. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, iii. 1. 8; ‘I mark how starres above Simper and shine’, G. Herbert, The Church, The Search, l. 14.

=simper,= to simmer; ‘I symper, as lycour dothe on the fyre before it begynneth to boyle’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in north Ireland, west Yorks., and east Anglia (EDD.).

=simper-the-cocket,= an affected coquettish air; a woman so characterised, a flirt. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Patrico); Skelton, El. Rummyng, 55; _simper de cocket_, ‘_Coquine_, a beggar-woman; also a simper de cockit, nice thing’, Cotgrave; Heywood’s Proverbs, Pt. ii, ch. 1 (ed. Farmer, 52). See Nares.

=simple,= a simple remedy, as a plant used medicinally without admixture; ‘Where a sycknesse may be cured with symples’, Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helthe, bk. ii, c. 28; to gather simples or medicinal herbs, Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 823.

=simulty,= a grudge. B. Jonson, Discoveries, cxxii, § 2. F. _simulté_, a grudge (Cotgr.). L. _simultas_, a hostile encounter, animosity.

=sin,= since. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 44. In gen. prov. use (EDD.). ME. _sithen_, since (Wars Alex.); see Dict. M. and S. OE. _sīððan_.

=single:= _single money_, small change; ‘The ale-wives’ single money’, B. Jonson, Alchem. v. 2 (Subtle); Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iv. 5 (Pedro).

=single,= in hunting, the tail of a deer; ‘The tayle of Harte, Bucke, Rowe or any other Deare is to be called the Syngle’, Turbervile, Hunting, 243 (NED.); Howell, Parley of Beasts, 63; used of Pan’s tail, ‘That single wagging at thy butt’, Cotton, Burlesque, 277 (Davies). Hence, ‘a boy leasht on the single’, is explained by ‘beaten on the taile’, Lyly, Midas, iv. 3 (Pet.). Still in prov. use in Northants. and west Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Single, sb.^{1} 9).

=singler,= a full-grown wild boar. Manwood, Lawes Forest, iv, § 5. See =sanglier.=

=singles,= the claws of a hawk. The middle claws were called the _long singles_, and the outer the _petty singles_. Heywood, A Woman killed, i. 3 (Sir Francis). The _single_ was orig. the middle or outer claw on the foot of the hawk (NED.).

†=singles,= the entrails; ‘The singles (Lat. _prosecta_) also of a wolfe’, Golding, Metam. vii. 271; fol. 82 (1603). Not found elsewhere.

=sink and sise,= five and six; at dice; ‘All at sink and sise’, i.e. I have lost all my effects at dice-playing, Like will to Like, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 346.

=sinkanter,= a term of contempt; ‘One Volanerius, an old sinkanter or gamester and scurrilous companion by profession’, Jackson, Creed, x. 19; ‘_Rocard_, an overworn sincaunter, one that can neither whinny nor wag the tail’, Cotgrave.

=si quis,= an advertisement; also called a bill. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, ii. 2 (end). From L. _si quis_, lit. if any one; from the first two words; the advertisement begins: ‘_If there be any_ lady or gentlewoman’, id., iii. 1 (Puntarvolo). Cp. Hall, Sat. ii. 5. 1.

=Sir John,= a familiar appellation for a priest, because _John_ was a common name, and it was usual to prefix _sir_ to a priest’s name. Richard III, iii. 2. 111; Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 2 (Luce). Cp. Chaucer (C. T. B. 4000), ‘Com neer thou preest, com hider thou sir John.’ See NED. (s.v. Sir, 4).

=sirts of sand,= quicksands. Mirror for Mag., Madan, st. 7. For _syrtes_, pl. of L. _Syrtis_, Gk. Σύρτις, the name of two large sandbanks (Major and Minor) on the coast of Libya. Cp. ‘A boggy Syrtis’, Milton, P. L. ii. 939.

=sit,= to be fitting, to befit, suit; ‘It sits not’ (i.e. it is unbecoming), Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 30; ‘With them it sits’, Shep. Kal., May, 77; id., Nov., 26. In the north country ‘It sits him weel indeed’ is often said ironically of a person who arrogates to himself more than is thought proper, see EDD. (s.v. Sit, 16). _Sitting_, suitable, fit, becoming; ‘To the [thee] it is sittynge’, Fabyan, Chron., Part vii, c. 232; ed. Ellis, p. 265; Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 149.

=sith,= time; also _pl._ times. Spenser has ‘a thousand sith’, a thousand times, F. Q. iii. 10. 33; also, ‘a thousand sithes’, Shep. Kal., Jan., 49. OE. _sīð_, a journey, time.

=sith,= since. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 95. ME. _sith_, since (Chaucer, C. T. A. 930).

=sithence,= since. Coriolanus, iii. 1. 47. ME. _sithenes_, since (P. Plowman, B. x. 257; xix. 15).

=six,= small beer; sold at 6_s._ a barrel; ‘A cup of six’, Rowley, A Match at Midnight, i. 1 (Tim).

=six and seven, to set all on,= ‘to risk all one’s property on the hazard of the dice; _Omnem iacere aleam_, to cast all dice, . . . to set al on sixe and seuen, and at al auentures to ieoperd’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Julius, § 7; ‘Or wager laid at six and seven’, Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 588.

=skails,= a game like ninepins; the same as ‘kails’. ‘_Aliossi_, a play called Nine pins or keeles, or skailes’, Florio (1598); North, tr. of Plutarch, Alcibiades, § 1. See NED. (s.v. Skayles).

†=skainsmate.= Only occurs as spoken by the Nurse in Romeo, ii. 4. 163, ‘Scurvy Knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am none of his skainsmates’. The nurse was no very correct speaker, and in the heat of her anger she has in this case become wholly unintelligible. The guesses of the commentators and glossarists are devoid of probability.

=skeen,= a knife. Merry Devil, ii. 2. 54; _skeane_, Spenser, State of Ireland (Globe ed., p. 631); _skene_, Brewer, Lingua, i. 1 (first stage-direction). Also _skaine_, Drayton, Pol. iv. 384. In prov. use in Scotland and Ireland, see EDD. (s.v. Skean). Sc. and Ir. Gaelic, _sgian_, a knife.

=skelder,= to beg impudently by false representations, to swindle (Cant). B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Luscus); ib. (Tucca); iii. 1 (Tucca); Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll).

=skellet,= a ‘skillet’, a small pot or pan; a small kettle. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 250; _skillet_, Othello, i. 3. 273. ‘Skellet’ (also ‘skillet’), a small metal pan or saucepan, is in gen. prov. use in the British Isles and America, see EDD. (s.v. Skillet).

=skellum;= see =schellum.=

=skelp,= to strike with the hand, to smack; ‘I shall skelp thee on the skalpe’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2207. In gen. prov. use in the British Isles; in England in the north and Midland counties, see EDD. (s.v. Skelp, vb.^{1}). ME. _skelpe_, to smite with a scourge (Wars Alex. 1924).

=skew at,= to look askance at, to slight. Beaumont and Fl., Loyal Subject, ii. 1 (Putskie); ‘To skewe, _limis oculis spectare_’, Levins, Manip. ‘To skew’ is in prov. use in the north of England in the sense of to look askance at any one, see EDD. (s.v. Skew, vb.^{1} 18).

=skew rom-bouse,= to quaff good drink (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); _a skew_, a cuppe; Harman, Caveat, p. 83.

†=skibbered= (?).

‘What slimie bold presumptuous groome is he,
Dares with his rude audacious hardy chat,
Thus sever me from skibbered contemplation?’
Return from Parnassus, i. 6 (Furor).

The Halliwell-Phillipps MS. of the play reads _skybredd_ (communicated by Mr. Percy Simpson). Dr. H. Bradley suggests _skyward_.

=skice, skise,= to frisk about, move nimbly, make off quickly; ‘Skise out this way, and skise out that way’, Brome, Jovial Crew, iv. 1 (Randal). In prov. use—Sussex, Hampshire, &c. (EDD.).

=skill,= to make a difference; ‘It skills not much’, it makes little difference, Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 134; ‘It skills not’, it makes no difference, Nero, v. 2; ‘It skilleth not’, Lyly, Euphues (ed Arber, 245). Extremely common from 1550 to 1650, see NED.

=skillet,= see =skellet.=

=skimble-skamble,= rambling, incoherent. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 154. See =scamble.=

=skimmington,= a ceremony practised on unpopular persons in various parts of England; fully described in EDD. See Heywood, Witches of Lancs. iv. 230; Oldham, Satires upon the Jesuits, iv (ed. R. Bell, p. 125). See Brand’s Pop. Antiq., Cornutes (ed. 1877, p. 414), for an account of ‘Riding Skimmington’, where it is described as a ludicrous cavalcade intended to ridicule a man beaten by his wife.

=skink,= to draw or pour out liquor. B. Jonson, New Inn, i (Lovel); Phaer, Aeneid vii, 133. Hence, _Under-skinker_, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 26. ME. _skinke_, to pour out (Chaucer, C. T. E. 1722). For full account of this verb see Dict. (s.v. Nunchion).

=skipjack,= a pert fellow, a whipper-snapper. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 1 (Alph.); also, a horse-dealer’s boy, Dekker, Lanthorne, x; see Nares. ‘Skipjack’ is in prov. use in north of England in sense of a pert, conceited fellow, see EDD. (s.v. Skip, vb.^{1} 1 (2 a)).

=skipper,= a barn (Cant). ‘_A skypper_, a barne’, Harman, Caveat, p. 83; B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman). Possibly Cornish _sciber_, Welsh _ysgubor_, a barn (NED.), Med. L. _scopar_, ‘scuria, stabulum’ (Ducange).

=skirr,= to pass rapidly over a stretch of land; ‘Skirre the country round’, Macbeth, v. 3. 35. Of doubtful origin (NED.). In prov. use in the sense of to scurry, rush, fly quickly (EDD.).

=skit,= skittish, restive. Spelt _skyt_, Skelton, Against the Scottes, 101. See EDD. (s.v. Skit, vb.^{2} 1).

=skoase,= to chaffer, barter, exchange. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. vi, ch. 31, st. 64. See =scorse.=

=skope, skoope,= _pt. t._ of _scape_, scaped, escaped, got away. Phaer, Aeneid ii, 458 (L. _evado_); _skoope_ = escaped to, id., vi. 425; _skoope_, escaped, id., ix. 545 (L. _elapsi_).

=skoser;= see =scorse.=

=skull,= a skull-cap, helmet. Beaumont and Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 4. 5.

=skull;= see =scull.=

=skyrgaliard,= a wild or dissipated fellow, Skelton, Against the Scottes, 101; id., Speke, Parrot, 427. See =galliard.=

=slab up,= to sup up greedily and dirtily; ‘Ye never saw hungry dog so slab (printed _stab_) potage up’, Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 215. See NED. (s.v. Slab, vb.^{2}).

=slake,= a shallow dell, a glade, a pass between hills. Morte Arthur, leaf 95. 6; bk. vi, c. 5. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and in various parts of England, in the north down to Lincoln, see EDD. (s.v. Slack, sb.^{3} 1). Icel. _slakki_, a small shallow dell.

=slam,= an ungainly person; ‘He is but a slam’, Vanbrugh, The Relapse, v. 5 (Nurse); ‘A slam or slim Fellow is a skragged, tall, rawboned Fellow’, Ray, N. C. Words (ed. 1691, 137), see NED. (s.v. Slam, adj.).

=slampant:= in phr. _to give one the_ (or _a_) _slampant_, to play a trick on; ‘Polyperchon . . . meaning to give Cassander a slampant . . . sent letters Pattents’, North, Plutarch (ed. 1595, 805); ‘_Trousse_, a cousening tricke, blurt, slampant’, Cotgrave; also in form _slampaine_, ‘The townesmen being pinched at the heart that one rascal . . . should give them the slampaine’, Stanyhurst, Desc. of Ireland (ed. 1808, vi. 30); also spelt _slampam_, ‘Shal a stranger geve me the slampam?’, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 633.

=slat,= to dash, strike violently. Marston, Malcontent, iv. 1 (Malevole). In prov. use in various parts of England, meaning to throw violently, to dash down water or other liquid, also, to strike, beat, see EDD. (s.v. Slat, vb.^{3} 1).

=slate,= a cant term for a sheet. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor); Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); Harman, Caveat, p. 61.

=slaty,= muddy, rainy. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 258. ‘Slatty’ is a Warw. word for muddy, see EDD. (s.v. Slat, sb.^{4} 1).

=sled,= a sledge or sleigh used as a vehicle in travelling or for recreation; ‘With milke-white Hartes upon an Ivorie sled Thou shalt be drawen’, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2. In common prov. use for a low cart without wheels, see EDD. (s.v. Sled, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _slede_, a dray without wheels, a harrow, ‘traha’ (Prompt. EETS. 415).

=sledded,= (perhaps) riding in ‘sleds’ or sledges; ‘He smote the sledded Pollax on the ice’, Hamlet, i. 1. 63 (a _Polack_ is a Pole, an inhabitant of Poland). So NED.

=sledge,= a sledge-hammer; ‘To throw the sledge’, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 2 (Elder Loveless). A Devon word, see EDD. (s.v. Sledge, sb.^{2}).

=sleek,= plausible, specious. Hen. VIII, iii. 2. 241; Chapman, Eastward Ho, ii. 2. Later variant form of ME. _slĭke_; see =slick.=

=sleided silk,= sleaved silk, silk ravelled out, divided into filaments. Pericles, iv, Prol. 21.

=sleight,= a cunning trick, an artifice. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 81; Massinger, New Way to pay, v. 1; 3 Hen. VI, iv. 2. 20; spelt _slight_, Middleton, More Dissemblers, iv. 1; Butler, Hud. i. 2. 747. See Dict.

=slent,= to slip or glide obliquely; ‘The stroke slented doune to the erthe’, Morte Arthur, leaf 345. 24; bk. xvii, c. 1; to make sly hits or gibes, ‘One Proteas, a pleasaunt conceited man, and that could slent finely’, North, Plutarch (NED.); hence, _slent_, a sly hit or sarcasm, ‘Cleopatra found Antonius jeasts and slents to be but grosse’, ib., M. Antonius, § 13 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 175). See EDD. (s.v. Slent, vb.^{1}).

=slibber-sauce,= a nauseous concoction, used esp. for medicinal purposes, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 116); _slibber sawces_, buttery, oily, made-up sauces, Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 105).

=slick,= smooth, plausible. Rawlins, Rebellion, iv. 1. 4. Cp. prov. _slick-tongued_, smooth-tongued, plausible in speech, see EDD. (s.v. Slick, adj.^{1} 6 (2)). ME. _slyke_, or smothe, ‘lenis’ (Prompt.). See =sleek.=

=slick,= to make smooth. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, l. 1144; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxiii. 249. In prov. use in England and America (EDD.). ME. _slyken_, to make smooth (P. Plowman, B. ii. 98).

=slidder,= slippery. The Pardoner and the Frere, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 213; ‘My tongue is grown sae slip and slidder’, Stuart, Joco-serious Discourse (ed. 1686, 20); see EDD. ME. _slydyr_, ‘lubricus’ (Prompt. EETS. 416); ‘A slidir mouth worchith fallyngis’, Wyclif, Prov. xxvi. 28. OE. _slidor_.

=slidder,= to slip, to slide. Dryden, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 749. In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.). OE. _slid_(_e_)_rian_, to slip.

=slifter,= a cleft or crack; ‘_Fente_, a cleft, rift, slifter, chinke’, Cotgrave. A north-country word (EDD.). Hence _sliftered_, cleft, rifted, Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). Cp. G. (dial.) _Schlifter_, gully, watercourse.

=slight;= see =sleight.=

=slighten,= to slight, depreciate. B. Jonson, Sejanus (end).

=slip,= a counterfeit coin. Often quibbled upon; as in Romeo, ii. 4. 51; Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, iii. 1 (Pickadill). See NED. (s.v. Slip, sb.^{4}).

=slipper,= slippery. Othello, ii. 1. 246. A west-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Slipper, adj. 1). OE. _slipor_.

=slipstring,= a knave; one who has eluded the halter. Gascoigne, Supposes, iii. 1 (Dalio); ‘_Goinfre_, a wag, slipstring, knavish lad’, Cotgrave. In prov. use the word means an idle, worthless, slovenly person, so in Northants and Warw., see EDD. (s.v. Slip, 3, (22)).

=slive,= to slice, cleave; to strip off (a bough) by tearing it downward; ‘I slyue a floure from his braunche’, Palsgrave; ‘The boughes whereof . . . he cutting and sliving downe’, Warner, Alb. England, prose addition on Aeneid ii, § 1. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Slive, vb.^{1} 1). ME. _slyvyn_, a-sundyr, ‘findo’ (Prompt. EETS. 459). OE. (_to_)_-slīfan_, to split.

=sliver,= a small branch split off from the tree. Hamlet, iv. 7. 174. In gen. prov. use for a slice, a splinter of wood (EDD.). ME. _slivere_, a piece cut or split off (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 1013).

=sliver,= to slice off. Macbeth, iv. 1. 28. In prov. use: ‘If you sliver away at the meat like that there’ll be none left for to-morrow’ (Cambridge); see EDD.

=sloape,= deceitful; ‘For hope is sloape’, Mirror for Mag., Ferrex, st. 18. ‘Slope’ (or ‘sloap’) is in prov. use in Yorks., meaning to trick, cheat (EDD.).

=slot,= the track of a stag or deer upon the ground. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (John); to follow a track, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i. 191. OF. _esclot_, hoof-print of a horse, &c. (Godefroy), probably of Scand. origin, cp. Icel. _slōð_, a track; so NED.

†=sloy,= a term of abuse for a woman. Warner, Alb. England, bk. xi, ch. 58, st. 26. Not found elsewhere.

=slubber,= to sully, Othello, i. 3. 227; to obscure, 1 Part of Jeronimo, ii. 4. 67; see Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 374. In prov. use for obscuring with dirt (EDD.).

=slubberdegullion,= a slubbering rascal (Burlesque). Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, i. 2. 18; Butler, Hud. i. 3. 886.

=sludge,= to turn into a soft mass, ‘The flame had sludgd the pitche, the waxe and wood And other things that nourish fire’, Golding, Metam. xiv. 532.

=slug,= to be lazy, inactive. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 23; _slogge_, Palsgrave; ‘Another sleeps and slugs both night and day’, Quarles, Emblems (bk. i. 8, Luke vi. 25). ME. _sluggyn_, ‘desidio’ (Prompt.).

=slug,= a slow, inactive person; ‘Fie, what a slug is Hastings, that he comes not’, Richard III, iii. 1. 22; _slugge_, a hindrance, ‘Money would be stirring, if it were not for this slugge’, Bacon, Essay 41, § 2. ‘_Slug_’ is in prov. use in the north country for a slow inactive person or animal; in Somerset, esp. of a slow-going horse; ‘to slug’ in Yorks. means to hinder, to retard progress (EDD.). ME. _slugge_, ‘deses, segnis’ (Prompt.).

=slur,= a method of cheating at dice; ‘Without some fingering trick or slur’, Butler, Misc. Thoughts (ed. Bell, iii. 176). Also, a term in card-playing, ‘’Gainst high and low, and slur, and knap’, Butler, Upon Gaming. See NED. (s.v. Slur, sb.^{2} 2).

=slurg,= to lie in a sleepy state, to lie sluggishly. Phaer, Aeneid vi, 424; id., ix. 190. G. (Swabian dial.) _schlurgen_, to go about in a slovenly manner (J. C. Schmid).

=smack,= to savour of, to taste of; ‘This veneson smacketh to moche of the pepper’, Palsgrave; _fig._, ‘All sects, all ages smack of this vice’, Meas. for M. ii. 2. 5. ME. _smakkyn_, ‘odoro’ (Prompt.). See =smatch.=

=smalach,= ‘smallage’, wild celery or water parsley, Tusser, Husbandry, § 45. 20. ME. _smale ache_, ‘apium’ (Sin. Barth. 11), E. _small_ + F. _ache_, wild celery, O. Prov. _ache_, _api_, Pop. L. *_apia_, L. _apium_.

=smatch,= a ‘smack’, taste, flavour. Jul. Caesar, v. 4. 46; Middleton, The Widow, i. 1 (Martino). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME. _smach_, taste, flavour (NED.). OE. _smæc_(_c_. See =smack.=

=smeath,= a small diving-bird; the ‘smee’ or ‘smew’, _Mergellus albellus_. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 67.

=Smeck,= short for Smectymnuus, a fictitious name compounded of the initials of the five men who wrote under that name, viz. Stephen Marshall, Edward Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow. They are said to have worn particular cravats, which Butler calls _cravat of Smeck_, Hud. i. 3. 1166.

=smelt,= a name applied to various small fishes, used (like _gudgeon_) with the sense of simpleton. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury); Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, v. 2 (end).

=smelt,= a half-guinea (Cant). Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Hackum).

=smicker,= elegant, handsome; ‘A smicker Swaine’, Lodge, Euphues (NED.); smirking, gay, Peele, Eclogue Gratulatory, 4 (ed. Dyce, 561). Cp. the obsolete Scotch _smicker_, to smile affectedly, to smirk (EDD.). OE. _smicer_, elegant.

=smickly,= fine, elegant, smart; or it may be used adverbially. Ford, Sun’s Darling, ii. 1 (Raybright). Cp. Dan. _smykke_, to adorn, G. _schmücken_.

=smock:= _He was wrapt up in the tail of his mother’s smock_; said of any one remarkable for his success with the ladies (Grose). See Marston, What you Will, v. 1 (Bidet). ‘_Il est né tout coiffé_, Born rich, honourable, fortunate; born with his mother’s kercher about his head; wrapt in his mother’s smock, say we; also, he is very maidenly, shame-faced, heloe’, Cotgrave.

=smoke,= to get an inkling of, to smell or suspect (a plot), to detect. Middleton, Roaring Girl (2 Cutpurse); ‘Sir John, I fear, smokes your design’, Dryden, Sir M. Mar-all, 1; see NED. (s.v. 8).

=smoky,= quick to suspect, suspicious, Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iv. 1 (Belfond senior).

=smolder,= smoky vapour, a suffocating smoke the result of slow combustion; ‘The smolder of smoke’, Bp. Andrewes, Serm. (ed. 1661, 472); _to be smoldered_, to be suffocated, Caxton, Reynard (ed. Arber, 98). ME. _smolder_, smoky vapour (P. Plowman, B. xvii. 321).

=smoor,= to smother. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 44; ‘She smoored him in the slepe’, Coverdale, 1 Kings iii. 19. In prov. use in the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Smoor, vb.^{1}).

=smouch,= to kiss. Heywood, 1 King Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 40; Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, p. 155). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). Cp. G. (Swabian dial.) _schmutz_, ‘derber Kuss’ (Schmid).

=smug,= to smarten up, to make trim or gay; freq. with _up_, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, x. 568; Drayton, Pol. x. 69; xxi. 73; Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 3 (Firk). ‘Smug’ is in prov. use in various parts of England for smart, tidily dressed: also, as vb., to dress up neatly (EDD.).

=smuggle,= to hug violently, to smother with caresses, Otway, Ven. Preserved, last scene; line 13 from end. In prov. use in Somerset and Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Smuggle, vb.^{2}).