"The thick-locked boughs shut out the _tell-tale_ sun,
For Venus hated his _all-blabbing_ light."
Shakespeare refers to "the tell-tale day" (_R. of L._ 806). In
_Odyssey_, viii., we read how Helios (the sun) kept watch and informed
Vulcan of Venus's love for Mars. ~descry~, etc., _i.e._ make known our
hidden rites. 'Descry' is here used in its primary sense = _describe_:
both words are from Lat. _describere_, to write fully. In Milton and
Shakespeare 'descry' also occurs in the sense of 'to reconnoitre.'
142. ~solemnity~, ceremony, rite. The word is from Lat. _sollus_,
complete, and _annus_, a year; 'solemn' = _solennis_ = _sollennis_.
Hence the changes of meaning: (1) recurring at the end of a completed
year; (2) usual; (3) religious, for sacred festivals recur at stated
intervals; (4) that which is not to be lightly undertaken, _i.e._
serious or important.