Chapter C (3)

=crack,= to talk big, boast, brag. L. L. L. iv. 3. 268; spelt _crake_, Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 50; Sir Thos. More, i. 2. 29. Hence _cracker_, boaster, King John, ii. 1. 147. The vb. _crack_ in this sense is in prov. use in Scotland and in England in the north country, Midlands, and E. Anglia. ME. _crakyn_, to boast; ‘_crakere_, bost-maker’ (Prompt. EETS. 393).

=crack,= to damage, impair. Phr. _cracked within the ring_, said of a coin cracked at the rim; but constantly used with reference to impaired virginity. Hamlet, ii. 2. 448; Beaumont and Fl., Captain, ii. 1 (Jacomo). The _ring_ was the inmost circle around the inscription; a piece cracked _within_ that ring could be legally refused, and was no longer current.

=crackmans,= a hedge. (Cant.) ‘At the crackmans’, beside the hedge, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman). See NED.

=crag,= the neck. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 82, Sept., 45. A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Crag, sb.^{3}).

=craggue,= a lean, scraggy person. Only in Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 150.

=crake;= see =crack.=

=crambe,= cabbage, in literary use only _fig._, and gen. in reference to the L. phrase _crambe repetita_, cabbage served up again, applied by Juvenal (Sat. vii. 154) to any tedious repetition. ‘Our Prayers . . . the same Crambe of words’, Milton, Animadv. ii.; Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici, last §. Gk. κράμβη, a kind of cabbage.

=crambe, crambo,= a game in which one player gives a word or a line of a poem to which each of the others has to find a rime; if any one repeated a previous suggestion he had to pay a forfeit; ‘Crambe, another of the Divells games’, B. Jonson, Devill an Ass, v. 5; ‘Playing at Crambo in the waggon’, Pepys, Diary (May 20, 1660).

†=cramocke,= a crooked stick. Mirror for Mag., Madan, st. 6. Corrupt form of =cammock.=

=cramp-ring,= a ring supposed to be a remedy against cramp, falling sickness, and the like; esp. one of those which the Kings of England used to hallow on Good Friday for this purpose. Boorde, Introd. (ed. Furnivall, p. 121); Berners, Letter in Brand Pop. Antiq. (ed. 1813, l. 129); Middleton, Roaring Girl, iv. 2 (Mis. O.); Cartwright, The Ordinary, iii. 1 (Moth).

=cramp-stone,= the stone in a ‘cramp-ring’. Massinger, The Picture, v. 1.

=cranewes,= pl., embrasures between battlements; crannies, apertures. ‘Cranewes of the walls of the city’; North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 23 (in Shak. Plut., p. 131); id., M. Antonius, § 42 (in Shak. Plut., p. 222). OF. _creneaux_, pl. of _crenel_, a battlement, an embrasure, see Estienne, Préc. 358.

=Cranion,= a proper name given to a fly, the charioteer of Queen Mab; ‘Fly Cranion, her charioteer, Upon her coach-box getting’, Drayton, Nymphidia, st. 17. _Sir Cranion-legs_, thin legs, like a fly or spider; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous).

=crank,= lively, brisk, merry; also as _adv._; ‘_Joyeux_, as crank as a cock-sparrow’, Cotgrave; Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 46; Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, i. 3 (end); Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, iii. 1 (Gregory); Sea-Voyage, iv. 3. 2. _Crank_ is used in this sense in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Crank, adj.^{2}). _Crankly_, briskly, Peele, Tale of Troy (ed. Dyce, p. 552).

=crank,= a beggar who shams illness. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 4. See Harman, Caveat, p. 51. Du. _krank_, ill, sick.

=crank,= to run in a winding course, to twist and turn about. Venus and Ad. 682; 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 98; a winding path, Coriolanus, i. 1. 143; _cranks_, pl. bends, turnings, Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 28; Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 52.

=crankle,= to twist and turn about. Drayton, Pol. vii. 198; xii. 572; ‘_Serpenter_, to wriggle, wagle, crankle’, Cotgrave. A Leicestersh. word, see EDD. (s.v. Crankling).

†=crapish= (meaning unknown); ‘Scandalous and crapish’, Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, i. 1 (3 W.). Only in this place.

=crash,= a merry bout, a revel. Heywood, A Woman killed, i. 2. 5. See EDD. (s.v. Crash, sb.^{1} 4).

=cratch,= a crib, manger; ‘The Coffin of our Christmas Pies in shape long is in imitation of the Cratch’, Selden, Table-talk (ed. Arber, 33); ‘Cratche for hors or oxen, _creche_’, Palsgrave; ‘_Presepio_, a cratch, a rack, a manger, a crib or a critch’, Florio. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Cratch sb.^{1} 1 and 2). ME. _cracche_ (_cratche_), so Wyclif, Is. i. 3, and Luke ii. 7. OF. _creche_, O. Prov. _crepia_, _crepcha_ (Levy).

=cratch,= to scratch; ‘I cratche with my nayles’, Palsgrave. ME. _cracche_, to scratch (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2834.).

=craze,= to break, crack, burst. Richard III, iv. 4. 17; ‘Craze bars’, Heywood, The Fair Maid, iii. 4 (Bess); ‘God will craze their chariot wheels’, Milton, P. L. xii. 210. Still in use in the west country in the sense of to ‘crack’, said of glass, china, or church bells (EDD.).

=creak;= see =cry creak.=

=creancer, creauncer,= one to whom is entrusted the charge of another; a guardian; a tutor. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 129, l. 102; id. Garl. of Laurell, 1226. Deriv. of OF. _creance_, belief, trust, Med. L. _credentia_, ‘fides data’ (Ducange).

=creeking;= see =kreking.=

=creeple,= a cripple. BIBLE, Acts xiv. 8 (1611). ME. _crepel_, _crepul_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. 1458). OE. _crēopel_, a cripple (B. T., Suppl. s.v. _crypel_).

=creme,= chrism, the sacred oil used for anointing kings at coronation; ‘A kynge enoynted with creme’, Morte Arthur, leaf 202. 36; bk. ix, c. 39. ME. _creme_, chrism, OF. _creme_, _cresme_ (mod. _chrême_). L. _chrisma_, Gk. χρῖσμα, anointing oil.

=cres’,= a crest. Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 351. A peculiar form, to rime with _grease_. See Dict. (s.v. Crease).

=crescive,= growing. Hen. V, i. 1. 66.

=crevis,= a crayfish. Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 118. ‘Crevisse’ is a north-country word (EDD.). OF. _crevice_, _crevisse_, see Hatzfeld (s.v. Écrevisse).

=crib= (Cant); ‘To fill up the crib and to comfort the quarron’, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song). Meaning doubtful. Perhaps the same word as _crib_, a manger; used _fig._ for the stomach as a place for provender.

=crimp,= an obsolete card-game. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, ii. 1 (Lady L.). See NED.

=crinet,= a hair. Gascoigne, Works, i. 101. Dimin. of F. _crin_, hair; L. _crinis_.

=cringle-crangle,= _adj._, winding, curled; ‘Cringle-crangle horns’ (i.e. bugles), Chapman, Gent. Usher, i. 1 (Vincentio).

=crippin,= part of a hood for ladies. Spelt _crepine_, _crespine_. Lyly, Mydas, i. 2 (Licio). F. _crespine_, ‘the Crepine of a French hood’ (Cotgr.).

=crisled, crizzled,= roughened, shrivelled with cold. Ford, Sun’s Darling, v. 1 (Winter). In Northampton, water that is slightly frozen is ‘just _crizzled_ over’, see EDD. (s.v. Crizzle).

=crispie,= rippled, rippling; ‘Thy crispie tides’, Kyd, Cornelia, iv. 2. 15.

=croach,= to grasp, seek after; ‘My life and th’ empire he did croach and crasse’, Mirror for Mag., Geta, st. 10. Hence, _croacher_, a seeker after. In compound _crowne-croachers_, Mirror for Mag., Rudacke, Lennoy, st. 2. OF. _crocher_, to catch with a hook.

=croches,= the ‘buds’ or knobs at the top of a stag’s horn; ‘These little buddes or broches which are about the toppe are called Croches’, Turbervile, Hunting, 54; Stanyhurst, Aeneid i, 194.

=crocheteur,= a porter. Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, iii. 2 (Longueville). F. _crocheteur_, ‘a porter or common burthen-bearer’; _crochet_, ‘a hook; _le crochet d’un crocheteur_, the forke or crooked staffe, used by a porter’ (Cotgr.).

=crock,= to put by in a crock or pot. Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 2. 2.

=crockling,= a croaking noise; used of the noise made by cranes. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, x. 265.

=crofte,= a crypt; ‘A crofte under the mynster’, Morte Arthur, leaf 258*, back, 18; bk. xvii, c. 18. Du. _krocht_, _krochte_. Med. L. _crupta_ (Ducange), L. _crypta_; Gk. κρυπτή, a crypt, a place of hiding.

=croisado,= a crusade; ‘Your great croisado general’ (i.e. the general of your great crusade), Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 1200.

=crome,= a long stick with a hook at the end of it; ‘Long cromes’, Paston Letters, no. 77; vol. i, p. 106 (1872); Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 19. In prov. use in E. Anglia (EDD.). Cp. Du. _kramme_, ‘a hooke, or a grapple’ (Hexham).

=crone,= an old ewe. Tusser, Husbandry, § 12, st. 4; Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 63. An E. Anglian and Essex word, see EDD. (s.v. Crone, sb.^{1} 1).

=cronet,= a coronet. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. ix, ch. 48, l. 51. Also, a part of the armour of a horse; Shirley, Triumph of Peace (Works, ed. Dyce, vi. 261).

=croshabell,= a courtesan. Peele, Works, ed. Dyce, p. 616, last line; and in a title, p. 615, col. 1. A Kentish word (EDD.).

=croslet, crosslet,= a crucible. Lyly, Gallathea, ii. 3; B. Jonson, Alchem., i. 1 (Face). ME. _croslet_ (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1147). Dimin. of OF. _crosel_, O. Prov. _cruzol_, crucible (Levy).

=cross,= a piece of money; many coins had a cross on one side. As You Like It, ii. 4. 12; 2 Hen. IV, i. 2. 257.

=cross and pile,= the obverse and reverse side of a coin, head and (or) tail; hence, sometimes, a coin, money; ‘He had neither cross nor pile’, Sidney, Disc. Govt. (ed. 1704, p. 362); head or tail, i.e. ‘tossing up’, to decide anything doubtful; Wycherley, Love in a Wood, iii. 2 (Ranger); Return from Parnassus, ii. 1. 768; A Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 8 (Clare). Anglo-F. ‘jewer (jouer) _a cros a Pil_,’ A.D. 1327, see NED. ‘Les pièces de monnaie portaient une croix sur leur face, d’où l’expression: n’avoir _ni croix ni pile_’ (to have neither cross nor pile), see Jannet, Glossaire, Rabelais (s.v. Croix).

=cross-bite,= to bite in return, to cheat. Marston, What you Will, iii. 2. 279; iii. 3. 129. Hence, _cross-biter_, a swindler, Middleton, Your Five Gallants, ii. 3 (Goldstone).

=cross-lay,= a cheating wager. Middleton, The Black Book, ed. Dyce, v. 542.

=cross-point,= a particular step in dancing. Marston, Insatiate Countess, i. 1 (Rogers); Greene, King James IV, iv. 3 (Slipper, l. 1638).

=cross-row,= the alphabet; ‘And from the Crosse-row pluckes the letter G’, Richard III, i. 1. 55. Short for _Christ-cross-row_, so called from the figure of the cross (✠) formerly prefixed to it. Still in use in Essex, acc. to EDD. (s.v. Cross, II. (45)). See =Christ-cross.=

=cross-tree,= the gallows; ‘A cross-tree that never grows’ [because made of dead wood], Ford, Fancies Chaste, i. 2 (Spadone); the cross, Herrick, Noble Numbers, His Anthem to Christ, l. 14.

=crotch,= the fork of the human body, where the legs join the trunk. Greene, Verses against the Gentlewomen of Sicilia, l. 12; ed. Dyce, p. 316. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Crotch, sb.^{1}). OF. (Picard) _croche_, ‘entaillure’ (La Curne).

=croteys,= the dung of hares and rabbits; ‘Of Hares and Coneys, they are called _Croteys_’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 37, p. 97. F. _crottes_, ‘the dung, excrements or ordure of Sheep, Conies, Hares, etc.’ (Cotgr.).

=crouse, crowse,= brisk, lively, merry, Drayton, Eclogue vii, 73; Brome, Jovial Crew, i. 1 (1 Beggar). In common prov. use in Scotland and in the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Crouse, adj.^{1} 4).

=crow,= the well-known bird. In alchemy, at a certain stage of the work, there would sometimes be an appearance like a crow; it was considered a very favourable sign; see B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle).

=crowchmas,= the day of the Invention of the Holy Cross, May 3. Tusser, § 50. 36; _Crowchemesse Day_; Paston Letters, no. 472, end (ii. 132, 1872). ‘At Crowchmesse, _a la saincte Croyx_’, Palsgrave. ME. _cruche_, the cross of Christ; ‘Crepe to cruche on lange fridai’, Trin. Coll. Hem. 95 (NED.); ‘And meny crouche on hus cloke’, P. Plowman, C. viii. 167; _cruche_, id., B. v. 529; _cros_, id., A. vi. 13. We may perhaps compare OF. _croche_, the Picard form of OF. _croce_, a crosier; Ch. Rol. 1670; Med. L. _crocia_, _crochia_, ‘baculus pastoralis’ (Ducange).

=crown of the sun,= a French gold coin. Massinger, Unnat. Combat, i. 1 (Mont.); ‘_Escu sol_, a crown of the sun; the best kind of crown that is now made’, Cotgrave.

=crowner,= a coroner. Hamlet, v. 1. 4. In gen. prov. use (EDD.).

=crow-trodden,= abused, humiliated. Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, iv. 4 (Rutilio). See NED. (s.v. Crow-tread).

=cruddes,= curds; ‘A messe of cruddes’, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 18; ‘Cruddes, _coagulum_’, Levins, Manip.; Baret, Alvearie. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Crud). _Crud_ is related to _crowd_, to press close, see EDD. (s.v. Crowd, vb.^{1} 3).

=crudded,= reduced to a curd-like mass, Heywood, Silver Age
(Cerberus). ME. _cruddyd_, ‘coagulatus’ (Prompt.).

=cruddle, crudle,= to curdle; ‘Cruddled me like cheese’, BIBLE, Job x. 10 (1611); Beaumont and Fl., The False One, iii. 2. 2; King and No King, i. 1; Marston, Antonia, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and in various parts of England (EDD.).

=crumenall;= ‘The fat oxe that wont ligge in the stall, Is now fast stalled in her (=their) crumenall’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 119. Apparently in sense ‘purse’ or ‘pouch’ (NED.).

=crusoile,= a crucible. Marston, Insatiate Countess, i. 1 (Rogers). OF. _croisuel_. See Hatzfeld (s.v. Creuset).

=cruzado, crusado,= the name of a Portuguese gold coin, of variable value. Othello, iii. 4. 26; White Devil (Vittoria), ed. Dyce, p. 23. So called from the cross on one side of it.

=cry:= phr. _a cry of hounds_, a pack of hounds. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Sanitonella). Hence _cry_, a pack (of hounds), Mids. Night’s D. iv. 1. 128; _cry of curs_, pack of curs, Cor. iii. 3. 120. _Without all cry_, beyond all description, Chapman, Blind Beggar, p. 4.

=cry creak,= to confess oneself beaten or in error; to give up the contest, to give in. Thersites, 100 (ed. Pollard, Misc. Plays); Tusser, Husbandry, § 47. 2; T. Watson, Centuries of Love, i (ed. Arber, 37); Damon and Pithias, Anc. Eng. Drama, i. 88; ‘_Palinodiam canere_, to turne taile, to cry creake’, Withal, Dict. (ed. 1634).

=cucking-stool,= an engine for the punishment of scolds, by ducking them in the water. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Quarlous); Butler, Hudibras, ii. 2. 740. See Cowell, Interpreter, 1637; Brand, Pop. Antiq. (ed. 1877, p. 641).

=cuckquean,= a female cuckold. Golding, tr. of Ovid, Met. vi. 606 (Latin text); ed. 1603. Spelt _cockqueene_; Warner, Albion’s England, bk. i, ch. 4, st. 1.

=cuck-stool,= an old punishment for scolds; the offender was fastened in a kind of chair, and exposed to be jeered at, or was ducked in water. Also called a =cucking-stool,= q.v. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 1 (Petronius), Middleton, Fam. of Love, v. 1 (Glister).

=cucurbite,= a kind of retort used in alchemy. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face). Shaped like a gourd, L. _cucurbita_.

=cudden,= a born fool, dolt. Dryden, Cymon, 179; Sir Martin Mar-all, v. 3. Wycherley, Gentl. Dancing-master, iv. 1.

=cue,= a small portion. ‘A cue of bread and a cue of beer’, Middleton, The Black Book (near the end). ‘_Cue_, halfe a farthing, so called because they set down in the Battling or Butterie Books the letter _q_ for half a farthing,’ Minsheu; ‘Not worthe a cue’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 36; ‘Worth ii. kues,’ id., Why Come ye Nat to Courte, 232. _Q._ for L. _quadrans_, the smallest coin. See =cee.=

=cuerpo, in,= in hose and doublet, without a cloak; stripped of the upper garment so as to display the body. Ben Jonson, New Inn, ii. 2 (Tipto); Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1. 26. Span. _en cuerpo_, having nothing on but the shirt; _cuerpo_, body. See Stanford.

=cullisen, cullison,= ignorant pronunciations of cognisance. B. Jonson. Ev. Man out of Humour, i. 1 (Sogliardo); a badge, id., Case is altered, iv. 4 (Onion). See NED. (s.v. Cullisance).

=cully,= a dupe, a simpleton. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 2. 781; Otway, Cheats of Scapin, i. 1 (Scapin). [To make a fool of, to take in, Pope, Wife of Bath, 161.]

=culm,= summit; ‘On giddy top and culm’, Misfortunes of Arthur, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 313. G. _kulm_, a mountain-top; L. _culmen_.

=culme,= soot, smut. Golding, Metam. ii. 232; fol. 18, bk. (1603); as adj. sooty, black, id. vii. 529; fol. 86, bk. The same word as _coom_, coal-dust, soot, dirt,’ in prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Coom, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _culme_ (_colme_), ‘fuligo’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 477).

=culver-down,= dove’s down. Machin, Dumb Knight, iii. 1 (Epire). OE. _culfre_, a dove.

=curats,= a piece of armour for the body, a cuirass; ‘He casts away his curats and his shield’, Harington, Orl. Fur.; spelt _curets_, Chapman, Iliad iii, 343. Treated as pl., with a sing. _curat_, Spenser, F. Q. v. 8. 34. Cp. Ital. _corazza_, a cuirass (Florio). See Dict.

=curber,= a thief who hooks things through a window; an angler. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll). From _curb_, a cant word for a hook, see NED.

=curiosity,= nicety, fastidiousness, excessive, scrupulousness. Massinger, City Madam, i. 1 (Tradewell); ‘Concerning the enterring of her . . . I pray you let the same be performed without all curiositie and superstition’, Holland’s Plutarch, Morals, 533 (Bible Word-Book).

=curiousness,= punctilious scrupulousness. Massinger, Parl. of Love, i. 4 (Chamont); Unnat. Combat, iii. 4 (Beauf. Junior).

=curry,= a ‘quarry’, i.e. slaughtered game. Chapman, tr. Iliad, xvi. 145, 693. OF. _cuiree_, intestines of a slain animal; the part given to the hounds, so called because wrapped in the skin (_cuir_); O. Prov. _corada_, ‘entrailles’ (Levy). See NED. (s.v. Quarry, sb.^{1}).

=curry-favell,= one who solicits favour by flattery. Puttenham, _Eng. Poesie_, iii. 24 (ed. Arber, 299); ‘Curryfavell, a flatterer, _estrille faveau_’, Palsgrave; altered to _curry-favour_, ‘A number of prodigal currie favours’, Holinshed, Chron. ii. 144 (NED.); _Curriedow_, a curry-favour or flatterer, Phillips. In earlier English ‘Favel’ occurs as the proper name of a fallow-coloured horse. The fallow horse was proverbial as the type of hypocrisy and duplicity, with reference to the ‘equus pallidus’ of Apoc. vi. 8, which was explained as representing the hypocrites who gain a reputation for sanctity by the ascetic pallor of their faces (see Rom. Rose, 7391-8). With the phrase ‘to curry favel’ cp. OF. _estriller_, _torcher Fauvel_, adopted in German: _den fahlen Hengst streichen_. See NED. (s.v. Favel) for origin, and see =Favell.=

=cursen,= Christian; ‘As I am a cursen man’, Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, iv. 6 (Carter); ‘By my Cursen soule’, Brome, Sparagus Gard. iii. 7; ‘We be Cursenfolke’, id. iv. 5; _cursen name_, Christian name, Mrs. Behn, Feign’d Curtizan, i. 2; to christen, baptize; _cursen’d_, pp. christened, Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 3 (Nan). For the pronunciation, see EDD. (s.v. Christen).

=curst,= cross, ill-tempered. Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 185; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, ii. 3 (Arethusa). In prov. use in the north and in the W. Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Curst, 2).

=curtal,= having a docked tail; ‘Curtal dog’, Merry Wives, ii. 1. 114; said of a horse, All’s Well, ii. 3. 65. ‘Docke your horse tayle, and make hym a courtault’, Palsgrave; in form _courteau_, a horse with a docked tail, used as a term of derision, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Anaides). OF. _courtaut_, ‘écourté’ (Hatzfeld); _courtault_, ‘cheval ou chien de courte taille. On appelait aussi _courtault_ le chien ou le cheval qui avait la queue coupée’ (Jannet, Glossaire, Rabelais).

=curtana,= the sword of mercy, a pointless sword, carried before our kings at a coronation. Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 419. See Ducange, s.v. The name of the legendary sword of ‘Ogier le Danois’ was _Courtain_.

=cushes,= ‘cuisses’, pieces, of armour protecting the thighs. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 105 (1596); Heywood, Iron Age, Part II, v. 1. 15.

=cushion:= phr. _to miss the cushion_, to make a mistake. Lit. to sit down amiss. ‘Whan he weneth to syt, Yet may he mysse the quysshon’, Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 998; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, § 24.

=cushion-cloth,= a cushion-case or cover. Middleton, Women beware Women, iii. 1 (Bianca); _cusshencloth_, Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 475.

=custard-politic,= a large custard prepared for the Lord Mayor’s feast. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (Lick.).

=customer,= a custom-house officer, ‘publicanus’. Udall, Erasmus’s Paraph. on Mark, ii. 22; Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 1 (Erostrato). In use in this sense in Scotland (EDD.).

=cut,= a lot; he who drew the shortest (or rarely, the longest) of some pieces of stick or paper drew the lot. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, Induction (2 Child, and 3 Child). ME. _cut_, lot (Chaucer, C. T. A. 845). Probably unconnected with the vb. ‘to cut’, see NED.

=cut,= a dog or horse with a cut or docked tail; hence, a term of abuse applied to a man. ‘Call me cut’, Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 203 (cp. ‘call me horse’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 215); London Prodigal, ii. 4. 41. _Cut_, a common horse, Merry Devil, i. 3. 141; Dauncaster _cuttys_, Doncaster nags, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 296. See =cut and longtail.=

=cut:= phr. _to keep cut_, to be coy, to be on one’s best behaviour; ‘Phyllyp, kepe youre cut’, Skelton, P. Sparowe, 119; ‘To keep cut with his mother’, i.e. to be coy like her, to follow her example, Middleton, More Dissemblers, i. 4 (Dondolo). See NED. (s.v. Cut, sb.^{2} 34).

=cut and longtail,= dogs or horses (or men) of every kind; i.e. those that are docked and those whose tails are allowed to grow. Merry Wives, iii. 4. 44; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 2. 68.

=cut bene whids,= to speak good words, speak fair. (Cant.) Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). See Harman, Caveat, p. 84.

=cut over,= to pass straight across; ‘Caligula lying in Fraunce . . . intended to cutte over, and invade Englande’, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 16.

=cutchy,= a ‘coach-y’; a driver of a coach; ‘Make thee [a] poor Cutchy’ (cp. _coach_ in the preceding line), Return from Parnassus, iii. 4 (Furor).

=cute,= a cur; ‘Some yelping Cute’, Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 340; explained by ‘a cur’ in the margin. It is probably merely a variant of _cut_, a short-tailed dog; see =cut and longtail.=

=cutted,= abrupt, snappish, sharp in reply. Middleton, Women beware, iii. 1. 4. Used in this sense in Devon and Cornwall (EDD.).

=cutter,= a cut-throat, bully, bravo. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, iii. 1 (Gregory). Hence, title of the play by Cowley, The Cutter of Coleman Street. With a quibble upon _cutting_, Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, ii. 3 (Simon).

=cutting,= swaggering. Greene, Friar Bacon, ii. 2 (516); scene 5. 19 (W.); p. 159, col. 1 (D.).

=cutting,= cheating. Marston, Dutch Courtesan, ii. 3 (end).

=cutwork,= open work in linen, cut out by hand. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 777 (ed. Arber, p. 71); Fletcher, Span. Curate, iii. 2 (Lopez).

=cymar,= a loose light garment for women. Dryden, Virgil, Aeneid iv, 196; Cymon, 100. See =symarr.=

=cynarctomachy,= a word invented by Butler (Hudibras, i. 1. 752) to signify a battle between a bear and dogs. Gk. κύων, a dog, ἄρκτος, a bear, μάχη, a fight.

=cypers grass,= the sweet cyperus or galingale. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey iv. 802. GK. κύπειρον, a sweet-smelling marsh-plant (Od. iv. 603).

=cypress,= a textile fabric, esp. a light transparent material resembling cobweb lawn or crape; when black much used for mourning. Twelfth Nt. iii. 1. 131; _cypress lawn_, Milton, Penseroso, 35. Probably fr. OF. _Cipre_, the island of Cyprus.