[=ABANDON.= Now only used in the sense of to give up absolutely, to
forsake, or desert; but in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
often found in the sense of to put to the ban, to proscribe, to
cast out, reject. O. Fr. _abandoner_, to give up into the power of
another, is due to the phrase _mettre à bandon_, to put under anyone’s
jurisdiction; O. Fr. _bandon_ (Low Lat. _bandonem_) is a derivative of
Low Lat. _bandum_ for older _bannum_; O. H. G. _ban_, an order, decree,
proclamation. For O. Fr. _bandon_, used in the sense of free disposal,
unfettered authority, compare _Chanson de Roland_, 2703: ‘All Spain
will be to-day _en lur bandun_,’ i.e. in their power. The Germanic word
_bann_, an open proclamation, survives in our ‘_banns_ of marriage.’
The word _bandit_, It. _bandito_, means properly a proclaimed,
proscribed man.]
Blessed shall ye be when men shall hate you, and _abandon_
your name as evil [et _ejecerint_ nomen vestrum tanquam malum,
Vulg.] for the Son of man’s sake.--_Luke_ vi. 22. Rheims.
_Beggar._ Madame wife, they say that I have dreamed
And slept above some fifteen years or more.
_Lady._ Aye, and the time seems thirty unto me,
Being all this time _abandoned_ from thy bed.
SHAKESPEARE, _Taming of the Shrew_, act i. sc. 1.
=ACHIEVEMENT.= Of ‘achievement’ and ‘hatchment’ it need hardly be said
that the latter is a contracted and corrupted manner of pronouncing
the former. This ‘achievement’ or ‘hatchment’ is an escutcheon or coat
of arms erected when a person of distinction has died; originally
so called from its being granted in memory of some ‘achievement’ or
distinguished feat. In the Heralds’ College there are ‘achievements’
still, as there were for Milton two centuries ago; but in our common
language we call them ‘hatchments,’ and have let any such employment of
‘achievement’ go.
As if a herald in the _achievement_ of a king should commit the
indecorum to set his helmet sideways and close; not full-faced
and open, as the posture of direction and command.--MILTON,
_Tetrachordon_.
=ACT.= The verb ‘to actuate’ seems of comparatively late introduction
into the language. The first example of it which our Dictionaries give
is drawn from the works of the Latinist, Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich.
I have also met it in Jeremy Taylor.[1] But even for some time after
‘actuate’ was introduced--as late, we see, as Pope,--‘act’ did often
the work which ‘actuate’ alone does now.
Within, perhaps, they are as proud as Lucifer, as covetous
as Demas, as false as Judas, and in the whole course of
their conversation act and are _acted_, not by devotion, but
design.--SOUTH, _Sermons_, 1737, vol. ii. p. 391.
Many offer at the effects of friendship; but they do not last.
They are promising at the beginning, but they fail and jade
and tire in the prosecution. For most people in the world are
_acted_ by levity and humour, and by strange and irrational
changes.--Id. _Ib._, vol. ii. p. 73.
Self-love, the spring of motion, _acts_ the soul.
POPE, _Essay on Man_, ep 2.
=ADAMANT.= It is difficult to trace the exact motives which induced the
transferring of this name to the lodestone; but it is common enough in
our best English writers, thus in Chaucer, Bacon, and Shakespeare; as
is ‘aimant’ in French, and ‘iman’ in Spanish. See ‘Diamond,’ and the
art. ‘Adamant’ in _Appendix_ A to the _Dictionary of the Bible_.
Right as an _adamaund_, iwys,
Can drawen to hym sotylly
The yren, that is leid therby,
So drawith folkes hertis, ywis,
Silver and gold that yeven is.
_Romaunt of the Rose_, 1182 (ed. Morris).
_Demetrius._ Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
_Helena._ You draw me, you hard-hearted _adamant_;
And yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel.
SHAKESPEARE, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act ii. sc. 1.
If you will have a young man to put his travel in little room,
when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging
from one end and part of the town to another; which is a great
_adamant_ of acquaintance.--BACON, _Essays_, 18.
=ADMIRAL.= This was a title often given in the seventeenth century to
the principal and leading vessel in a fleet; the ‘admiral-galley’ North
(_Plutarch’s Lives_) calls it.
_Falstaff_ (to Bardolph).--Thou art our _admiral_; thou bearest
the lantern in the poop--but ’tis the nose of thee; thou art
the Knight of the Burning Lamp.--SHAKESPEARE, _1 Henry IV._,
act iii. sc. 3.
Lincoln spake what was fit for comfort, and did what he was
able for redress. He looked like the lanthorn in the _admiral_,
by which the rest of the fleet did steer their course.--HACKET,
_Life of Archbishop Williams_, part ii. p. 143.
His spear--to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some great _ammiral_, were but a wand--
He walked with, to support uneasy steps
Over the burning marle.
MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, i. 292.
The _admiral_ of the Spanish Armada was a Flemish
ship.--HAWKINS, _Observations_, &c., 1622, p. 9.
=ADMIRE=, }
ADMIRABLE, }
ADMIRATION. }
It now always implies to wonder _with approval_; but was by no means
restrained to this wonder _in bonam partem_ of old.
Neither is it to be _admired_ that Henry [the Fourth], who was
a wise as well as a valiant prince, should be pleased to have
the greatest wit of those times in his interests, and to be the
trumpet of his praises.--DRYDEN, _Preface to the Fables_.
Let none _admire_
That riches grow in hell; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane.
MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, i. 690.
It may justly seem _admirable_ how that senseless religion
[Mahometanism] should gain so much on Christianity.--FULLER,
_Holy War_, part i. c. 6.
In man there is nothing _admirable_ but his ignorance and
weakness.--Bishop TAYLOR, _Dissuasive from Popery_, part ii. b.
i. § 7.
I understand that you be in great _admirations_ of me, and take
very grievously my manner of writing to you.--LATIMER, _Sermons
and Remains_, vol. ii. p. 419.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints ...
and when I saw her I wondered with great _admiration_.--_Rev._
xvii. 6. (A.V.)
=ALCHYMY.= By this we always understand now the pretended art of
transmuting other metals into gold; but it was often used to express
itself a certain mixed metal, which, having the appearance of gold, was
yet mainly composed of brass. Thus the notion of falseness, of show and
semblance not borne out by reality, frequently underlay the earlier
uses of the word. Compare the second quotation under ‘Bullion.’
As for those gildings and paintings that were in the palace of
Alcyna, though the show of it were glorious, the substance of
it was dross, and nothing but _alchymy_ and cosenage.--Sir J.
HARINGTON, _A brief Allegory of Orlando Furioso_.
Whereupon out of most deep divinity it was concluded, that
they should not celebrate the sacrament in glass, for the
brittleness of it; nor in wood, for the sponginess of it, which
would suck up the blood; nor in _alchymy_, because it was
subject to rusting; nor in copper, because that would provoke
vomiting; but in chalices of latten, which belike was a metal
without exception.--FULLER, _Holy War_, b. iii. c. 13.
Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim
Put to their mouths the sounding _alchymy_.
MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, ii. 516.
Such were his arms, false gold, true _alchemy_.--P. FLETCHER,
_Purple Island_, vii. 39.
=ALLOW=, }
ALLOWANCE, }
ALLOWABLE. }
‘To allow,’ from the French ‘allouer,’ and through it from the Latin
‘allaudare,’--and not to be confounded with another ‘allow,’ derived
from another ‘allouer,’ the Latin ‘allocare,’--had once a sense very
often of praise or approval, which may now be said to have departed
from it altogether. Thus in Cotgrave’s _French and English Dictionary_,
an invaluable witness of the force and meanings which words had two
centuries ago, ‘allow’ is rendered by ‘allouer,’ ‘gréer,’ ‘approuver,’
‘accepter,’ and ‘allowable’ by ‘louable.’
Mine enemy, say they, is not worthy to have gentle words or
deeds, being so full of malice or frowardness. The less he
is worthy, the more art thou therefore _allowed_ of God, and
the more art thou commended of Christ.--_Homilies_; _Against
Contention_.
The hospitality and alms of abbeys is not altogether to be
_allowed_, or dispraised.--PILKINGTON, _The Burning of Paul’s_,
§ 12.
Truly ye bear witness that ye _allow_ [συνευδοκεῖτε] the deeds
of your fathers.--_Luke_ xi. 48. (A. V.)
A stirring dwarf we do _allowance_ give
Before a sleeping giant.
SHAKESPEARE, _Troilus and Cressida_, act ii. sc. 3.
Though I deplore your schism from the Catholic Church, yet I
should bear false witness if I did not confess your decency,
which I discerned at the holy duty, was very _allowable_ in
the consecrators and receivers.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop
Williams_, part ii. p. 211.
=AMIABLE.= This and ‘lovely’ have been so far differentiated that
‘amiable’ never expresses now any other than _moral_ loveliness; which
in ‘lovely’ is seldom or never implied. There was a time when ‘amiable’
had no such restricted use, when it and ‘lovely’ were absolutely
synonymous, as, etymologically, they might claim still to be.
Come sit thee down upon this flow’ry bed,
While I thy _amiable_ cheeks do coy.
SHAKESPEARE, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act iv. sc. 1.
How _amiable_ are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts.--_Ps._
lxxxiv. 1. (A.V.)
Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung _amiable_.
MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 248.
=AMUSE=, }
AMUSEMENT. }
The notion of diversion, entertainment, is comparatively of recent
introduction into the word. ‘To amuse’ was to cause to muse, to occupy
or engage, and in this sense indeed to _divert_, the thoughts and
attention. The quotation from Phillips shows the word in transition
to its present meaning. [O. Fr. _amuser_ is a compound of _muser_, to
muse, study, linger about a matter, to sniff as a hound, from *_muse_,
a muzzle, nose of an animal (whence Mod. Fr. _museau_). Compare
Florio’s Italian Dictionary: ‘_Musare_, to muse, to muzzle, to gape, to
hold one’s _muzle_ or snout in the air.’ The O. Fr. *_muse_ is the same
word as the Lat. _morsus_, see Mayhew-Skeat, _Dict. of Middle English_.]
Camillus set upon the Gauls, when they were _amused_ in
receiving their gold.--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 223.
Being _amused_ with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find
a house in London (otherwise well known to him), whither he
intended to go.--FULLER, _Church History of Britain_, b. ix. §
44.
A siege of Maestricht or Wesel (so garrisoned and resolutely
defended), might not only have _amused_, but endangered the
French armies.--Sir W. TEMPLE, _Observations on the United
Provinces_, c. 8.
To _amuse_, to stop or stay one with a trifling story, to make
him lose his time, to feed with vain expectations, to hold in
play.--PHILLIPS, _New World of Words_.
In a just way it is lawful to deceive the unjust enemy, but
not to lie; that is, by stratagems and semblances of motions,
by _amusements_ and intrigues of actions, by ambushes and
wit, by simulation and dissimulation.--Bishop TAYLOR, _Ductor
Dubitantium_, b. iii. c. 2.
=ANATOMY.= Now the act of dissection, but it was often used by our
elder writers for the thing or object dissected, and then, as this was
stripped of its flesh, for what we now call a skeleton. ‘Skeleton,’
which see, had then another meaning.
Here will be some need of assistants in this live, and to the
quick, dissection, to deliver me from the violence of the
_anatomy_.--WHITLOCK, _Zootomia_, p. 249.
Antiquity held too light thoughts from objects of mortality,
while some drew provocatives of mirth from _anatomies_,
and jugglers showed tricks with skeletons.--Sir T. BROWNE,
_Hydriotaphia_.
A hungry lean-faced villain,
A mere _anatomy_, a mountebank,
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,
A living deadman.
SHAKESPEARE, _Comedy of Errors_, act v. sc. 1.
=ANIMOSITY.= While ‘animosus’ belongs to the best period of Latin
literature, ‘animositas’ is of quite the later silver age. It was
used in two senses; in that, first, of spiritedness or courage (‘equi
_animositas_,’ the courage of a horse), and then, secondly, as this
spiritedness in one particular direction, in that, namely, of a
vigorous and active enmity or hatred (_Heb._ xi. 27, Vulg.) Of these
two meanings the latter is the only one which our ‘animosity’ has
retained; yet there was a time when it had the other as well.
When her [the crocodile’s] young be newly hatched, such as give
some proof of _animosity_, audacity, and execution, those she
loveth, those she cherisheth.--HOLLAND, _Plutarch’s Morals_, p.
977.
Doubtless such as are of a high-flown _animosity_ affect
_fortunas laviniosas_, as one calls it, a fortune that sits not
strait and close to the body, but like a loose and a flowing
garment.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop Williams_, part i. p. 30.
In these cases consent were conspiracy; and open
contestation is not faction or schism, but due Christian
_animosity_.--HALES, _Tract concerning Schism_.
Cato, before he durst give the fatal stroke, spent part of the
night in reading the Immortality of Plato, thereby confirming
his wavering hand unto the _animosity_ of that attempt.--Sir T.
BROWNE, _Hydriotaphia_.
=ANNOY=, }
ANNOYANCE. }
Now rather to vex and disquiet than seriously to hurt and harm. But
until comparatively a late day, it admitted no such mitigation of
meaning. [The subst. _annoy_ is the O. Fr. _anoi_ (Mod. Fr. _ennui_),
Sp. _enojo_, O. It. _inodio_, from Lat. _in odio_, lit. in hatred, used
in the phrase _in odio habui_, I had in hatred, _i.e_. I was sick and
tired of.]
For the Lord Almygti _anoyede_ [_nocuit_, Vulg.] hym, and
bitook him into the hondes of a womman.--_Judith_ xvi. 7.
WICLIF.
Thanne cometh malignité, thurgh which a man _annoieth_ his
neighebor, as for to brenne his hous prively, or empoysone him,
or sleen his bestis, and semblable thinges.--CHAUCER, _The
Persones Tale_ (Morris, p. 306).
Against the Capitol I met a lion,
Which glared upon me, and went surly by,
Without _annoying_ me.
SHAKESPEARE, _Julius Cæsar_, act i. sc. 3.
Look after her,
Remove from her the means of all _annoyance_,
And still keep eyes upon her.
Id. _Macbeth_, act v. sc. 1.
=ANTICS.= Strange gestures now, but the makers of these strange
gestures once.
Behold, destruction, fury, and amazement,
Like witless _antics_, one another meet.
SHAKESPEARE, _Troilus and Cressida_, act v. sc. 4.
Have they not sword-players, and every sort
Of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners,
Jugglers and dancers, _antics_, mummers, mimics?
MILTON, _Samson Agonistes_, 1323.
=APPARENT=, }
APPARENTLY. }
With the exception of the one phrase ‘heir _apparent_,’ meaning heir
evident, manifest, undoubted, we do not any longer employ ‘apparent’
for that which appears, because it _is_, but always either for that
which appears and is not, or for that which appears, leaving in doubt
whether it is or no.
It is _apparent_ foul play; and ’tis shame
That greatness should so grossly offer it.
SHAKESPEARE, _King John_, act iv. sc. 2.
At that time Cicero had vehement suspicions of Cæsar, but no
_apparent_ proof to convince him.--NORTH, _Plutarch’s Lives_,
p. 718.
The laws of God cannot without breach of Christian liberty,
and the _apparent_ injury of God’s servants, be hid from
them in a strange language, so depriving them of their best
defence against Satan’s temptations.--FULLER, _Twelve Sermons
concerning Christ’s Temptations_, p. 59.
Love was not in their looks, either to God
Or to each other, but _apparent_ guilt,
And shame and perturbation and despair.
MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, x. 111.
At that time [at the resurrection of the last day], as the
Scripture doth most _apparently_ testify, the dead shall be
restored to their own bodies, flesh and bones.--_Articles of
the Church_ (1552).
=APPREHENSIVE.= As there is nothing which persons lay hold of more
readily than that aspect of a subject in which it presents matter for
fear, ‘to apprehend’ has acquired the sense of to regard with fear;
yet not so as that this use has excluded its earlier; but it _has_ done
so in respect of ‘apprehensive,’ which has now no other meaning than
that of fearful, a meaning once quite foreign to it.
See their odds in death:
Appius died like a Roman gentleman,
And a man both ways knowing; but this slave
Is only sensible of vicious living,
Not _apprehensive_ of a noble death.
WEBSTER, _Appius and Virginius_, act v. sc. 3.
She, being an handsome, witty, and bold maid, was both
_apprehensive_ of the plot, and very active to prosecute
it.--FULLER, _The Profane State_, b. v. c. 5.
My father would oft speak
Your worth and virtue; and as I did grow
More and more _apprehensive_, I did thirst
To see the man so praised.
BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, _Philaster_, act v. sc. 1.
=ARK.= The ark of Noah, and ark of the covenant, were not the only
‘arks’ of which our ancestors spoke. Indeed, in Lancashire at this day
a press to keep clothes in is an ‘ark,’ a large bin for holding meal a
‘meal-ark.’
Then first of all came forth Sir Satyrane,
Bearing that precious relicke in an _arke_
Of gold.
SPENSER, _Fairy Queen_, iv. 4, 15.
In the riche _arke_ Dan Homers rimes he placed.
EARL OF SURREY, _Poems_, p. 35 (ed. 1717).
You have beheld how they
With wicker _arks_ did come,
To kiss and bear away
The richer cowslips home.
HERRICK, _Hesperides_.
=ARTIFICIAL=, }
ARTIFICIALLY. }
That was ‘artificial’ once which wrought, or which was wrought,
according to the true principles of art. The word has descended into
quite a lower sphere of meaning; such, indeed, as the quotation from
Bacon shows, it could occupy formerly, though not then exactly the same
which it occupies now.
Queen Elizabeth’s verses, some extant in the elegant, witty,
and _artificial_ book of _The Art of English Poetry_, are
princely as her prose.--BOLTON, _Hypercritica_.
We, Hermia, like two _artificial_ gods,[2]
Have with our neelds created both one flower.
SHAKESPEARE, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act iii. sc. 2.
This is a demonstration that we are not in the right way, that
we do not enquire wisely, that our method is not _artificial_.
If men did fall upon the right way, it were impossible that
so many learned men should be engaged in contrary parties
and opinions.--Bishop TAYLOR, _A Sermon preached before the
University of Dublin_.
This he did the rather, because having at his coming out
of Britain given _artificially_, for serving his own turn,
some hopes in case he obtained the kingdom, to marry Anne,
inheritress to the duchy of Britany.--BACON, _History of Henry
VII._
=ARTILLERY.= Leaving the perplexed question of the derivation of this
word,[3] it will be sufficient to observe, that while it is now only
applied to the heavy ordnance of modern warfare, in earlier use any
engines for the projecting of missiles, even to the bow and arrows,
would have been included under this term.
The Parthians, having all their hope in _artillery_, overcame
the Romans ofter than the Romans them.--ASCHAM, _Toxophilus_,
p. 106 (ed. 1761).
So the Philistines, the better to keep the Jews thrall and
in subjection, utterly bereaved them of all manner of weapon
and _artillery_, and left them naked.--JEWEL, _Reply to Mr.
Harding_, article xv.
The Gods forbid, quoth he, one shaft of thine
Should be discharged ’gainst that discourteous knight;
His heart unworthy is, shootress divine,
Of thine _artillery_ to feel the might.
FAIRFAX, _Tasso_, b. 17, s. 49.
And Jonathan gave his _artillery_ (weapons, R.V.) unto his lad,
and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city.--_1 Sam._ xx.
40. (A.V.)
=ARTISAN=, }
ARTIST, }
ARTFUL. }
‘Artisan’ is no longer either in English or in French used of him who
cultivates one of the _fine_ arts, but only those of common life.
The fine arts, losing this word, have now claimed ‘artist’ for their
exclusive property; which yet was far from belonging to them always.
An ‘artist’ in its earlier acceptation was one who cultivated, not the
_fine_, but the _liberal_ arts. The classical scholar was eminently the
‘artist.’ ‘Artful’ did not any more than ‘cunning,’ which see, imply
art which had degenerated into artifice or trick.
He was mightily abashed, and like an honest-minded man yielded
the victory unto his adversary, saying withal, Zeuxis hath
beguiled poor birds, but Parrhasius hath deceived Zeuxis, a
professed _artisan_.--HOLLAND, _Pliny_, vol. ii. p. 535.
Rare _artisan_, whose pencil moves
Not our delights alone, but loves!
WALLER, _Lines to Van Dyck_.
For then the bold and coward,
The wise and fool, the _artist_ and _unread_,
The hard and soft, seem all affined and kin.
SHAKESPEARE, _Troilus and Cressida_, act i. sc. 3.
Nor would I dissuade any _artist_ well grounded in Aristotle
from perusing the most learned works any Romanist hath written
in this argument. In other controversies between them and us it
is dangerous, I must confess, even for well-grounded _artists_
to begin with their writings, not so in this.--JACKSON,
_Blasphemous Positions of Jesuits_, Preface.
Some will make me the pattern of ignorance for making this
Scaliger [Julius] the pattern of the general _artist_,
whose own son Joseph might have been his father in many
_arts_.--FULLER, _Holy State_, b. ii. c. 8.
Stupendous pile! not reared by mortal hands;
Whate’er proud Rome or _artful_ Greece beheld,
Or elder Babylon its fame excelled.
POPE, _Temple of Fame_.
=ASCERTAIN.= Now to acquire a certain knowledge of a thing, but
once to render the thing itself certain. Thus, when Swift wrote a
pamphlet having this title, ‘A Proposal for correcting, improving, and
_ascertaining_ the English Tongue,’ he did not propose to obtain a
subjective certainty of what the English language was, but to give to
the language itself an objective certainty and fixedness.
Sometimes an evil or an obnoxious person hath so secured
and _ascertained_ a mischief to himself, that he that
stays in his company or his traffic must also share in his
punishment.--Bishop TAYLOR, _The Return of Prayers_.
Success is intended him [the wicked man] only as a
curse, as the very greatest of curses, and the readiest
way, by hardening him in his sin, to _ascertain_ his
destruction.--SOUTH, _Sermons_, vol. v. p. 286.
=ASPERSION.= Now only used figuratively, and in an evil sense; being
that which one _sprinkles_ on another to spot, stain, or hurt him: but
subject to none of these limitations of old.
The book of Job, and many places of the prophets, have great
_aspersion_ of natural philosophy.--BACON, _Fiium Labyrinthi_.
No sweet _aspersion_ shall the heavens let fall
To make this contract grow.
SHAKESPEARE, _Tempest_, act iv. sc. 1.
=ASSASSIN=, }
ASSASSINATE. }
It is difficult to say at what date the name of ‘assassin,’ given first
to the emissaries of the ‘Old Man of the Mountain,’ who were sent
forth on his errands of blood, and who bore this name because maddened
with ‘haschisch,’ a drink drawn from hemp, was transferred to other
secret slayers. The word does not occur in Shakespeare (‘assassination’
once), and only once in Milton’s verse. Neither is it found in our
English Bible; although it may be a question whether ‘assassins’
would not be an apter, as it would certainly be a closer, rendering
of σικάριοι, on the one occasion of this word’s appearing (Acts xxi.
38), than the ‘murderers’ which we have actually adopted.[4] The verb
‘to assassinate,’ as used by Milton, obtained a meaning which still
survives in the French ‘assassiner’ and the Italian ‘assassinare,’ and
signifies, as these often do, treacherously to assault, extremely to
maltreat, without suggesting the actual taking away of life, which ‘to
assassinate’ now always implies for us. Doubtless it was the Italian
use of the word which influenced him.
These _assassins_ were a precise sect of Mahometans, and had in
them the very spirits of that poisonous superstition.--FULLER,
_Holy War_, b. ii. c. 34.
As for the custom that some parents and guardians have of
forcing marriages, it will be better to say nothing of such a
savage inhumanity, but only thus, that the law which gives not
all freedom of divorce to any creature endued with reason, so
_assassinated_, is next in cruelty.--MILTON, _The Doctrine and
Discipline of Divorce_, b. i. c. 12.
Such usage as your honourable lords
Afford me, _assassinated_ and betrayed.
MILTON, _Samson Agonistes_, 1108.
=ASSURE=, }
ASSURANCE. }
Used often in our elder writers in the sense of ‘to betroth,’ or ‘to
affiance.’ See ‘Ensure,’ ‘Sure.’
_King Philip._ Young princes, close your hands.
_Austria._ And your lips too; for I am well assured
That I did so, when I was first _assured_.
SHAKESPEARE, _King John_, act ii. sc. 2.
I myself have seen Lollia Paulina, only when she was to go unto
a wedding supper, or rather to a feast when the _assurance_
was made, so beset and bedeckt all over with emeralds and
pearls.--HOLLAND, _Pliny_, vol. i. p. 256.
But though few days were before the day of _assurance_
appointed, yet Love, that saw he had a great journey to make
in a short time, hasted so himself, that before her word could
tie her to Demagoras, her heart hath vowed her to Argalus.--Sir
PHILIP SIDNEY, _Arcadia_, p. 17.
=ASTONISH.= ‘To astonish’ has now loosened itself altogether from
its etymology. The man ‘astonished’ can now be hardly said to be
‘thunderstruck,’ either in a literal or a figurative sense. But
continually in our early literature we shall quite fall below the
writer’s intention unless we read this meaning into the word.[5]
Stone-still, _astonished_ with this deadly deed,
Stood Collatine and all his lordly crew.
SHAKESPEARE, _Lucrece_.
The knaves that lay in wait behind rose up and rolled down two
huge stones, whereof the one smote the king upon the head, the
other _astonished_ his shoulder.--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 1124.
The cramp-fish [the torpedo] knoweth her own force and
power, and being herself not benumbed, is able to _astonish_
others.--Id. _Pliny_, vol. i. p. 261.
In matters of religion, blind, astonished, and struck with
superstition as with a planet; in one word, monks.--MILTON,
_History of England_, b. ii.
=ASTROLOGY=, }
ASTROLOGER. }
As ‘chemist’ only little by little disengaged itself from ‘alchemist,’
and that, whether we have respect to the thing itself, or the name
of the thing, so ‘astronomer’ from ‘astrologer,’ ‘astronomy’ from
‘astrology.’ It was long before the broad distinction between the lying
art and the true science was recognized and fixed in words.
If any enchantress should come unto her, and make promise to
draw down the moon from heaven, she would mock these women and
laugh at their gross ignorance, who suffer themselves to be
persuaded for to believe the same, as having learned somewhat
in _astrology_.--HOLLAND, _Plutarch’s Morals_, p. 324.
The _astrologer_ is he that knoweth the course and motion
of the heavens, and teacheth the same; which is a virtue
if it pass not his bounds, and become of an _astrologer_
an _astronomer_, who taketh upon him to give judgment and
censure of these motions and courses of the heavens, what they
prognosticate and destiny unto the creature.--HOOPER, _Early
Writings_, Parker Society’s Edition, p. 731.
=ASTRONOMY=, }
ASTRONOMER. }
See ‘Astrology.’
Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck,
And yet, methinks, I have _astronomy_,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, of seasons’ quality.
SHAKESPEARE, _Sonnets_, 14.
Bowe ye not to _astronomyers_, neither axe ye onything of fals
dyvynours.--_Levit._ xix. 31. WICLIF.
If _astronomers_ say true, every man at his birth by his
constellation hath divers things and desires appointed
him.--PILKINGTON, _Exposition upon the Prophet Aggeus_, c. i.
=ATONE=, }
ATONEMENT. }
The notion of _satisfaction_ lies now in these words rather than that
of _reconciliation_. An ‘atonement’ is the _satisfaction_ of a wrong
which one party has committed against another, not the _reconciliation_
of two estranged parties. This last, however, was its earlier meaning;
and is in harmony with its etymology; for which see the quotation from
Bishop Hall.
He and Aufidius can no more _atone_
Than violentest contrarieties.
SHAKESPEARE, _Coriolanus_, act iv. sc. 6.
His first essay succeeded so well, Moses would adventure on a
second design, to _atone_ two Israelites at variance.--FULLER,
_A Pisgah Sight of Palestine_, vol. ii. p. 92.
Having more regard to their old variance than their new
_atonement_.--Sir T. MORE, _History of King Richard III._
Ye witless gallants I beshrew your hearts,
That set such discord twixt agreeing parts
Which never can be set _at onement_ more.
Bishop HALL, _Sat._ 3. 7.
If Sir John Falstaff have committed disparagements unto you,
I am of the Church, and will be glad to do my benevolence, to
make _atonements_ and compromises between you.--SHAKESPEARE,
_Merry Wives of Windsor_, act i. sc. 1.
=ATTIRE.= In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries specially
head-dress, head-gear. ‘Attired with stars’ in Milton’s beautiful lines
_On Time_ is not, _clothed_ with stars, but, _crowned_ with them;
compare Rev. xii. 1: ‘upon her head a crown of twelve stars.’
She tore her _attire_ from her head, and rent her golden
hair.--_The Seven Champions_, b. ii. c. 13.
With the linen mitre shall he be _attired_.--_Lev._ xvi. 4. (A.
V.)
Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed
_attire_ upon their heads.--_Ezek._ xxiii. 15 (A. V.)
The heralds call the Horns of a Stag or Buck his
_Attire_.--BRADLEY, _Fam. Dict._ s. v.
=ATTORNEY.= Seldom used now except of the attorney _at law_; being one,
according to Blackstone’s definition, ‘who is put in the place, stead,
or _turn_ of another to manage his matters of law;’ and even in this
sense it is going out of honour, and giving way to ‘solicitor.’ But
formerly any who in any cause acted in the room, behalf, or turn of
another would be called his ‘attorney;’ thus Phillips (_New World of
Words_) defines attorney, ‘one appointed by another man to do anything
in his stead, or to take upon him the charge of his business in his
absence;’ and in proof of what high use the word might have, I need
but refer to the quotation which immediately follows:
Our everlasting and only High Bishop; our only _attorney_,
our mediator, only peacemaker between God and men.--_A Short
Catechism_, 1553.
_Attorneys_ are denied me,
And therefore _personally_ I lay my claim
To my inheritance of free descent.
SHAKESPEARE, _King Richard II._ act ii. sc. 3.
Tertullian seems to understand this baptism for the dead
[1 Cor. xv. 29] de vicario baptismate, of baptism by an
_attorney_, by a proxy, which should be baptized for me when I
am dead.--DONNE, _Sermons_, 1640, p. 794.
=AUTHENTIC.= A distinction drawn by Bishop Watson between ‘genuine’
and ‘authentic’ has been often quoted: ‘A _genuine_ book is that which
was written by the person whose name it bears as the author of it.
An _authentic_ book is that which relates matters of fact as they
really happened.’ Of ‘authentic’ he has certainly not seized the true
force, neither do the uses of it by good writers bear him out. The
true opposite to αὐθεντικός in Greek is ἀδέσποτος, and ‘authentic’
is properly original, independent, and thus coming with authority,
authoritative.[6] Thus, an ‘authentic’ document is, in its first
meaning, a document written by the proper hand of him from whom it
professes to proceed. In all the passages which follow it will be
observed that the word might be exchanged for ‘authoritative.’
As doubted tenures, which long pleadings try,
_Authentic_ grow by being much withstood.
DAVENANT, _Gondibert_, b. ii.
Should men be admitted to read Galen or Hippocrates, and
yet the monopoly of medicines permitted to some one empiric
or apothecary, not liable to any account, there might be a
greater danger of poisoning than if these grand physicians
had never written; for that might be prescribed them by such
an _authentic_ mountebank as a cordial, which the other
had detected for poison.--JACKSON, _The Eternal Truth of
Scriptures_, b. ii. c. 23.
Which letter _in the copy_ his lordship read over, and carried
the _authentic_ with him.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop
Williams_, part ii. p. 24.
It were extreme partiality and injustice, the flat denial
and overthrow of herself [i.e. of Justice], to put her own
_authentic_ sword into the hand of an unjust and wicked
man.--MILTON, Εἰκονοκλάστης. c. 28.
[A father] to instil the rudiments of vice into the unwary
flexible years of his poor children, poisoning their tender
minds with the irresistible _authentic_ venom of his base
example!--SOUTH, _Sermons_, vol. ii. p. 190; cf. vol. viii. p.
171.
Men ought to fly all pedantisms, and not rashly to use all
words that are met with in every English writer, whether
_authentic_ or not.--PHILLIPS, _New World of Words_, Preface.
=AWFUL=, }
AWFULNESS. }
This used once to be often employed of that which _felt_ awe; it is
only employed now of that which _inspires_ it.
The kings sat still with _awful_ eye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.
MILTON, _On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity_.
The highest flames are the most tremulous, and so are the most
holy and eminent religious persons more full of _awfulness_,
of fear and modesty and humility.--Bishop TAYLOR, _Life of
Christ_, part i. § 5.
=AWKWARD.= In its present signification, unhandy, ungainly, maladroit;
but formerly[7] untoward, and that, whether morally or physically,
perverse, contrary, sinister, unlucky.
With _awkward_ wind and with sore tempest driven
To fall on shore.
MARLOWE, _Edward II._ act iv. sc. 7.
The beast long struggled, as being like to prove
An _awkward_ sacrifice,[8] but by the horns
The quick priest pulled him on his knees and slew him.
MARLOWE, _The First Book of Lucan_.
Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea,
And twice by _awkward_ wind from England’s bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?
SHAKESPEARE, _1 Henry VI._ act iii. sc. 2.
But time hath rooted out my parentage,
And to the world and _awkward_ casualties
Bound me in servitude.
Id., _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_, act v. sc. 1.
=BABE=, }
BABY. }
‘Doll’ is of late introduction into the English language, is certainly
later than Dryden. ‘Babe,’ ‘baby,’ or puppet supplied its place.
True religion standeth not in making, setting up, painting,
gilding, clothing, and decking of dumb and dead images, which
be but great puppets and _babies_ for old fools, in dotage and
wicked idolatry, to dally and play with.--_Homilies; Against
Peril of Idolatry._
_Babes_ of clouts are good enough to keep children from
crying.--FULLER, _Holy War_, b. iv. c. 17.
But all as a poore pedler he did wend,
Bearing a trusse of tryfles at hys backe,
As bells, and _babes_, and glasses in hys packe.
SPENSER, _The Shepherd’s Calendar, May_.
Think you that the child hath any notion of the strong
contents of riper age? or can he possibly imagine there are
any such delights as those his _babies_ and rattles afford
him?--ALLESTREE, _Sermons_, part ii. p. 148.
=BACCHANAL.= Used now generally of a drunken reveller or votary of
Bacchus; but it was once more accurately applied to the ‘bacchanalia,’
or orgies celebrated in his honour.
Do not ye, like those heathen in their _bacchanals_, inflame
yourselves with wine.--HAMMOND, _Paraphrase on the N. T._,
Ephes. v. 18.
So _bacchanals_ of drunken riot were kept too much in London
and Westminster, which offended many, that the thanks due
only to God should be paid to the devil.--HACKET, _Life of
Archbishop Williams_, part i. p. 165.
Well, I could wish that still in lordly domes
Some beasts were killed, though not whole hecatombs;
That both extremes were banished from their walls,
Carthusian fasts, and fulsome _bacchanals_.
POPE, _Satires of Dr. Donne_.
=BAFFLE.= Now to counterwork and to defeat; but once not this so
much as to mock and put to shame, and, in the technical language of
chivalry, it expressed a ceremony of open scorn with which a recreant
or perjured knight was visited. [See quotation from Hall, _Chron._ in
N.E.D.]
First he his beard did shave and foully shent,
Then from him reft his shield, and it renverst,
And blotted out his armes with falshood blent,
And himselfe _baffuld_, and his armes unherst,
And broke his sword in twaine, and all his armour sperst.
SPENSER, _Fairy Queen_, v. 3, 37.
He that suffers himself to be ridden, or through pusillanimity
or sottishness will let every man _baffle_ him, shall be
a common laughing-stock to flout at.--BURTON, _Anatomy of
Melancholy_, part ii. § 3.
Alas, poor fool, how have they _baffled_ thee!
SHAKESPEARE, _Twelfth Night_, act v. sc. 1.
=BANQUET.= At present the entire course of any solemn or sumptuous
entertainment; but ‘banquet’ (O. Fr. _banquet_, cp. It. ‘banchetto,’
a small bench or table) used generally to be restrained to a slighter
repast, to the lighter and ornamental dessert or refection, or the
‘banquet of wine’ (Esth. vii. 2), which followed and crowned the more
substantial repast.
I durst not venture to sit _at supper_ with you; should
I have received you then, coming as you did with armed
men to _banquet_ with me? [_Convivam_ me tibi committere
ausus non sum; _comissatorem_ te cum armatis venientem
recipiam?]--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 1066.
Then was the banqueting-chamber in the tilt-yard at Greenwich
furnished for the entertainment of these strangers, where they
did both sup and banquet.--CAVENDISH, _Life of Cardinal Wolsey_.
We’ll _dine_ in the great room; but let the music
And _banquet_ be prepared here.
MASSINGER, _The Unnatural Combat_, act iii. sc. 1.
=BASE=, }
BASENESS. }
The aristocratic tendencies of speech (tendencies illustrated by the
word ‘aristocracy’ itself), which reappear in a thousand shapes, on the
one side in such words, and their usages, as καλοκἀγαθός, ἐπιεικής,
‘noble,’ on the other in such as ‘villain,’ ‘boor,’ ‘knave,’ ‘churl,’
and in this ‘base,’ are well worthy of accurate observation. Thus
‘base’ always now implies moral unworthiness; but did not so once.
‘Base’ men were no more than men of humble birth and low degree.
But vertuous women wisely understand
That they were borne to _base_ humilitie,
Unlesse the heavens them lift to lawful soveraintie.
SPENSER, _Fairy Queen_, v. 5, 25.
He that is ashamed of _base_ and simple attire, will be proud
of gorgeous apparel, if he may get it.--_Homilies; Against
Excess of Apparel._
By this means we imitate the Lord Himself, who hath abased
Himself to the lowest degree of _baseness_ in this kind,
emptying Himself (Phil. ii. 8), that he might be equal to them
of greatest _baseness_.--ROGERS, _Naaman the Syrian_, p. 461.
=BATTLE.= Used, not as now, of the hostile shock of armies; but often
of the army itself; or sometimes in a more special sense, of the main
body of the army, as distinguished from the van and rear.
Each _battle_ sees the other’s umbered face.
SHAKESPEARE, _King Henry V._ act iv. Chorus.
Richard led the vanguard of English; Duke Odo commanded in the
main _battle_ over his French; James of Auvergne brought on the
Flemings and Brabanters in the rear.--FULLER, _Holy War_, b.
iii. c. 11.
Where divine blessing leads up the van, and man’s valour
brings up the _battle_, must not victory needs follow in the
rear?--Id., _A Pisgah Sight of Palestine_, vol. i. p. 174.
=BAWD.= Not confined once to one sex only, but could have been applied
to pandar and pandaress alike.
He was if I schal yive him his laude,
A theef, a sompnour and eek a _baude_.
CHAUCER, _The Freres Tale_.
One Lamb, a notorious impostor, a fortune-teller, and an
employed _bawd_.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop Williams_, part
ii. p. 81.
A carrion crow he [the flatterer] is, a gaping grave,
The rich coat’s moth, the court’s bane, trencher’s slave,
Sin’s and hell’s winning _bawd_, the devil’s factoring knave.
P. FLETCHER, _The Purple Island_, c. viii.
=BEASTLY=, }
BEASTLINESS. }
We translate σῶμα ψυχικόν (1 Cor. xv. 44) ‘a _natural_ body;’ some have
regretted that it was not rendered ‘an _animal_ body;’ [so R.V. margin,
Jude 19.] This is exactly what Wiclif meant when he translated the
‘corpus animale’ which he found in his Vulgate, ‘a _beastly_ body.’ The
word had then no ethical tinge; nor, when it first acquired such, had
it exactly that which it now possesses; in it was rather implied the
absence of reason, the prerogative distinguishing man from beast.
It is sowun a _beestli_ bodi; it schal rise a spiritual
bodi.--_1 Cor._ xv. 44. WICLIF.
These ben, whiche departen hemsilf, _beestli_ men, not havynge
spirit.--_Jude_ 19. WICLIF.
Where they should have made head with the whole army upon the
Parthians, they sent him aid by small companies; and when
they were slain, they sent him others also. So that by their
_beastliness_ and lack of consideration they had like to have
made all the army fly.--NORTH, _Plutarch’s Lives_, p. 769.
=BEDLAM.= An old pronunciation of Bethlehem. The Priory known by this
name was in 1546 converted into a hospital for lunatics. But it was not
the place only, but the unhappy occupants of it, to whom this name used
often to be applied. Such a use has now quite died out.
Ha, art thou _bedlam_? dost thou thirst, base Trojan,
To have me fold up Parca’s fatal web?
SHAKESPEARE, _Henry V._ act v. sc. 1.
Is not all for thy good, if thou be not a _bedlam_?
ROGERS, _Naamam the Syrian_, p. 30.
=BENEFICE=, }
BENEFICIAL. }
[In Middle English _benefice_ often occurs in the senses of kindness,
favour, benefit, a gift, gratuity.] Persons are not now ‘beneficial,’
which word is reserved for things, but ‘beneficent.’
The _benefices_ that God did tham here
Sal tham accuse on sere manere.
RICHARD ROLLE DE HAMPOLE, _Pricke of Conscience_, 5582.
Nowe thanne, Lord, Thou art God, and hast spoke to thy servant
so grete _benefices_.--_1 Chron._ xvii. 26. WICLIF.
The proper nature of God is always to be helpful and
_beneficial_.--HOLLAND, _Plutarch’s Morals_, p. 600.
I wonder
That such a keech can with his very bulk
Take up the rays of the _beneficial_ sun,
And keep it from the earth.
SHAKESPEARE, _Henry VIII._ act i. sc. 1.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name; then
shall the righteous come about me when Thou art _beneficial_
unto me.--_Ps._ cxlii. 7. Geneva.
=BLACKGUARD.= The scullions and other meaner retainers in a great
household, who, when progress was made from one residence to another,
accompanied and protected the pots, pans, and other kitchen utensils,
riding among them and being smutted by them, were contemptuously styled
the ‘black guard.’ It is easy to trace the subsequent history of the
word. With a slight forgetfulness of its origin, he is now called a
‘blackguard,’ who would have been once said to belong to the ‘black
guard.’
Close unto the front of the chariot marcheth all the sort of
weavers and embroderers; next unto whom goeth the _black guard_
and kitchenry.--HOLLAND, _Ammianus_, p. 12.
A lousy slave, that within this twenty years rode with the
_black guard_ in the Duke’s carriage, ’mongst spits and
dripping-pans!--WEBSTER, _The White Devil_.
Thieves and murderers took upon them the cross to escape
the gallows; adulterers did penance in their armour. A
lamentable case that the devil’s _black guard_ should be God’s
soldiers!--FULLER, _Holy War_, b. i. c. 12.
Where the apologist meets with this _black guard_, these
factors for error and sin, these agitators for the Prince
of darkness, God forbid he should give place to them, or
not charge them home, and resist them to the face.--GAUDEN,
_Hieraspistes_, To the Reader.
Dukes, earls, and lords, great commanders in war, common
soldiers and kitchen boys were glad to trudge it on foot in the
mire hand in hand, a duke or earl not disdaining to support or
help up one of the _black guard_ ready to fall, lest he himself
might fall into the mire, and have none to help him.--JACKSON,
_A Treatise of the Divine Essence and Attributes_, b. vi. c. 28.
We have neither school nor hospital for the distressed
children, called the _black guard_.--NELSON, _Address to
Persons of Quality_, p. 214.
=BLEAK.= This, a northern form, the equivalent of O.E. _blāc_ (cp. O.N.
_bleikr_, Mod. German _bleich_, pale, colourless), comes out clearly in
its original relationship with ‘bleach’ in the following quotations.
When she came out, she looked as pale and as _bleak_ as one
that were laid out dead.--FOXE, _Book of Martyrs_; _The Escape
of Agnes Wardall_.
And as I looked forth, I beheld a pale horse, whom I took for
the universal synagogue of hypocrites, pale as men without
health, and _bleak_ as men without that fresh spirit of life
which is in Christ Jesus.--BALE, _The Image of Both Churches_,
P. S. p. 321.
=BLUNDERBUSS.= In the 17th and 18th centuries a man who blunders in
his work, does it in a boisterous violent way; transferred from the
name given to a short, wide-mouthed, noisy gun. [This word for a gun is
due to the Dutch _donderbus_, i.e. thunder-gun, perverted in form from
sense association with _blunder_, perhaps with allusion to its random,
casual firing.]
We could now wish we had a discreet and intelligent adversary,
and not such a hare-brained _blunderbuss_ as you, to deal
with.--MILTON, _A Defence of the People of England_, Preface.
Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe,
Nor less revere him, _blunderbuss_ of law.
POPE, _Dunciad_, b. iii. 150.
=BOISTOUS=, }
BOISTEROUS. }
The sense of noisy, turbulent, blustering, is a later superaddition on
‘boisterous,’ or ‘boistous,’ as was its earlier form. Of old it meant
no more than rude, rough, strong, uncompliant; thus the ‘boisterous
wind’ of Matt. xiv. 30, is simply a violent wind, ἄνεμος ἰσχυρός in the
original.
No man putteth a clout of _buystous_ clothe [panni rudis,
Vulg.] into an elde clothing.--_Matt._ ix. 16. WICLIF.
O Clifford, _boisterous_[9] Clifford, thou hast slain
The flower of Europe for his chivalry.
SHAKESPEARE, _3 Henry VI._ act ii. sc. 1.
His _boistrous_ body shines in burnished steel.
SYLVESTER, _Du Bartas’ Weeks, The Magnificence_, p. 460.
The greatest danger indeed is from those that are _stolide
feroces_, full of those _boisterous_, rude, and brutish
passions, which grow as bristles upon hogs’ backs, from
ignorance, pride, rusticity, and prejudice.--GAUDEN,
_Hieraspistes_. To the Reader.
The leathern outside, _boisterous_ as it was,
Gave way, and bent beneath her strict embrace.
DRYDEN, _Sigismunda and Guiscardo_, 159, 160.
The other thing in debate seemed very hard and _boisterous_ to
his Majesty, that sundry leaders in the House of Commons would
provoke him to proclaim open war with Spain.--HACKET, _Life of
Archbishop Williams_, part i. p. 79.
=BOMBAST.= Now inflated diction, words which, sounding lofty and big,
have no real substance about them. This, which is now the sole meaning,
was once only the secondary and the figurative, ‘bombast’ being
literally the cotton wadding with which garments are stuffed out and
lined, and often so used by our writers of the Elizabethan period, and
then by a vigorous image transferred to what now it exclusively means.
Certain I am there was never any kind of apparel ever invented,
that could more disproportion the body of man than these
doublets, stuffed with four, five, or six pound of _bombast_ at
the least.--STUBBES, _Anatomy of Abuses_, p. 23.
We have received your letters full of love!
Your favours, the ambassadors of love;
And, in our maiden council, rated them
At courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,
As _bombast_, and as lining to the time.
SHAKESPEARE, _Love’s Labour’s Lost_, act v. sc. 2.
_Bombast_, the cotton-plant growing in Asia.--PHILLIPS, _New
World of Words_.
=BOOT.= Not the luggage, but the attendants, used once to ride in
the ‘boot,’ or rather the boots, of a carriage, for there were two.
Projecting from the sides of the carriage and open to the air, they
derived, no doubt, their name from their shape.
His coach being come, he causeth him to be laid in softly, and
so he in one _boot_, and the two chirurgeons in the other, they
drive away to the very next country house.--REYNOLDS, _God’s
Revenge against Murder_, b. i. hist.
He [James the First] received his son into the coach, and found
a slight errand to leave Buckingham behind, as he was putting
his foot in the _boot_.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop Williams_,
part i. p. 196.
=BOUNTY.= The tendency to accept freedom of giving in lieu of all other
virtues, or at least to regard it as the chiefest of all, the same
which has brought ‘charity’ to be for many identical with almsgiving,
displays itself in our present use of ‘bounty,’ which, like the French
‘bonté,’ meant goodness once.
For God it woot that childer ofte been
Unlik her worthy eldris hem bifore;
_Bounté_ cometh al of God, nought of the streen,
Of which thay ben engendrid and i-bore.
CHAUCER, _Clerkes Tale_ (Morris, p. 283).
Nourishing meats and drinks in a sick body do lose their
_bounty_, and augmenteth malady.--Sir T. ELYOT, _The Governor_,
b. ii. c. 7.
=BRAT.= This word is now used always in contempt, but was not so once.
O Israel, O household of the Lord,
O Abraham’s _brats_, O brood of blessed seed,
O chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed.
GASCOIGNE, _De Profundis_.
Take heed how thou layest the bane for the rats,
For poisoning thy servant, thyself, and thy _brats_.
TUSSER, _Points of Good Husbandry_.
=BRAVE=, }
BRAVERY. }
The ultimate derivation of ‘brave’ is altogether uncertain (see
N.E.D.); we obtained it in the fifteenth century, the Germans in the
seventeenth, (Grimm [_s. v._ ‘brav’] says during the Thirty Years’
War,) from one or other of the Romance languages, probably from the
It. _bravo_. I do not very clearly trace by what steps it obtained the
meaning of showy, gaudy, rich, which once it so frequently had, in
addition to that meaning which it still retains.
The habit also and attire of his body, manly and soldier-like,
not _brave_ nor tricked up daintily and delicately, much
adorned and set him out.--PLUTARCH, _Lives_, 695.
His clothes [St. Augustine’s] were neither _brave_, nor base,
but comely.--FULLER, _Holy State_, b. iv. c. 10.
If he [the good yeoman] chance to appear in clothes above his
rank, it is to grace some great man with his service, and then
he blusheth at his own _bravery_.--Id. _ib._ b. ii. c. 18.
Traffic encreaseth wonderfully here, with all kind of _bravery_
and building.--HOWELL, _Letters_, i. 6, 36.
Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the
grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal lustre,
not omitting ceremonies of _bravery_ in the infamy of his
nature.--Sir T. BROWNE, _Hydriotaphia_.
There is a great festival now drawing on, a festival designed
chiefly for the acts of a joyful piety, but generally made only
an occasion of _bravery_.--SOUTH, _Sermons_, vol. ii. p. 285.
=BRIBE=, }
BRIBERY. }
‘To bribe’ was to rob, a ‘bribour’ a robber, and ‘bribery’ robbery,
once. For an ingenious history of the steps by which the words left
their former meaning, and acquired their present, see Marsh, _Lectures
on the English Language_, 1st Series, p. 249.
They that delight in superfluity of gorgeous apparel and dainty
fare, commonly do deceive the needy, _bribe_, and pill from
them.--CRANMER, _Instruction of Prayer_.
Woe be to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, for ye
make clean the utter side of the cup and of the platter; but
within they are full of _bribery_ [ἁρπαγῆς, and in the E. V.
‘extortion’] and excess.--_Matt._ xxiii. 25. Geneva Version.
=BRITAIN=, }
BRITANY. }
The distinction between these is perfectly established now: by the
first we always intend _Great_ Britain; by the second, the French
duchy, corresponding to the ancient Armorica. But it was long before
this usage was accurately settled and accepted by all. By ‘Britany’
Great Britain was frequently intended, and _vice versâ_. Thus, in each
of the passages which follow, the other word than that which actually
is used would be now employed.
He [Henry VII.] was not so averse from a war, but that he
was resolved to choose it, rather than to have _Britain_
carried by France, being so great and opulent a duchy, and
situate so opportunely to annoy England, either for coast or
trade.--BACON, _History of King Henry VII._
The letter of Quintus Cicero, which he wrote in answer to
that of his brother Marcus, desiring of him an account of
_Britany_.--Sir T. BROWNE, _Musæum Clausum_.
And is it this, alas! which we
(O irony of words!) do call _Great Britany_?
COWLEY, _The Extasy_.
=BROOK.= This, the O.E. _brūcan_ (cp. German _brauchen_), has now
obtained a special limitation, meaning not so much, as once it did, to
use, as to endure to use.
But none of all those curses overtooke
The warlike Maide, th’ ensample of that might;
But fairely well she thryvd, and well did _brooke_
Her noble deeds, ne her right course for ought forsooke.
SPENSER, _Fairy Queen_, iii. 4, 44.
Forasmuch as many _brooked_ divers and many laudable ceremonies
and rites heretofore used and accustomed in the Church of
England, not yet abrogated by the king’s authority, his Majesty
charged and commanded all his subjects to observe and keep
them.--STRYPE, _Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer_, vol. i. p.
412.
And, as a German writer well observes, the French kings might
well brook that title of _Christianissimi_ from that admirable
exploit of Carolus Martellus, the next means under God’s
providence that other parts of Europe had not Saracen tyrants
instead of Christian princes.--JACKSON, _The Eternal Truth of
Scriptures_, b. i. c. 26.
Let us _bruik_ the present hour,
Let us pou’ the fleeting flouir,
Youthheid is love’s holiday,
Let us use it, when we may.
PINKERTON, _Scotch Comic Ballads_, p. 149.
[=BULLION.= This word is now generally used in the sense of metal,
specially precious metal in the mass: ‘gold or silver in the lump,
as distinguished from coin or manufactured articles, also applied to
coined or manufactured gold or silver when considered simply with
reference to its value as raw material,’ N.E.D. The word was once
frequently used of gold or silver below the standard purity. _Bullion_
has no connexion etymologically either with Fr. _billon_ or with Lat.
_bulla_; it appears to be identical with Fr. _bouillon_, Late Lat.
_bullionem_, a boiling, hence, a melting, a melted mass of metal. The
Fr. _billon_, debased metal, meant originally mass, having the same
stem as _billet_ (of wood). No doubt the word _billon_ has influenced
the sense of the English _bullion_.]
Base _bullion_ for the stamp’s sake we allow.