=Saint Thomas à Waterings,= a place anciently used for executions for

the county of Surrey, as Tyburn for Middlesex. It was situated at the

second milestone on the Kent road, near a brook, a place for watering

horses, whence its name; dedicated to St. Thomas Beket, being the first

place of any note on the road to Canterbury: ‘And forth we riden . . .

Unto the watering of seint Thomas, And there our host bigin his hors

areste’, Chaucer, C. T. A. 826. The allusions to this spot as a place of

execution are numerous; ‘He may perhaps take a degree at Tyburn . . .

come to read a lecture Upon Aquinas, at St. Thomas à Watering’s, And so

go forth a laureat in hemp circle’, B. Jonson, New Inn, i (Host). See

Nares (s.v. Waterings).

=saker,= a kind of falcon. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xv. 696; Middleton,

Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Alvarez); also, a kind of ordnance or cannon,

Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 3 (Bots); Butler, Hud. i. 2. 355. This

word for a falcon is common to all the Latin nations; of Arabic origin,

see Dozy, Glossaire, 338.

=sale,= a willow; used by Spenser to signify a wicker basket made of

willow-twigs for catching fish. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec., 81. See EDD.

(s.v. Seal, sb.^{3}). OE. _sealh_, a willow.

=sale,= a hall, large chamber. Morte Arthur, bk. xvii, ch. 16 (p. 713);

The World and the Child, l. 12, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 243. F. _salle_

(_sale_), a hall (Cotgr.).

=saliant,= sportive, lively. Fletcher, The Chances, iv. 3 (Petruccio).

From the heraldic use, as ‘lion _saliant_’. Anglo-F. _saillant_, pres.

pt. of _sailler_, to leap (Ch. Rol. 2469).

=saliaunce,= assault, onslaught, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 29. Anglo-F.

_assaillir_, to attack (Ch. Rol. 2564); _saillir_ (Wace, Rom. de Rou,

2595).

=sallet,= a light head-piece. 2 Hen. VI, iv. 10. 13; Thersites, 55 (ed.

Pollard). Often used with a quibble referring to _sallet_, a form of

_salad_; as in Tusser, Husbandry, § 40. 1. O. Prov. _salada_, sorte de

casque (Levy), F. _salade_, ‘a salade, helmet, head-piece’ (Cotgr.),

Ital. _celata_, ‘a morion, a casket, an helmet’ (Florio). See Nares.

=Salmon, Salomon,= the sacrament or oath of the beggars; ‘Salomon, a

alter or masse’, Harman, Caveat, 83; ‘A part too of our salmon’, B.

Jonson, Gipsies Metam. (2 Gipsy); ‘By the Salomon’, Middleton, Roaring

Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor); ‘By Salmon’, Brome, Jovial Crew (NED.).

=salpa,= a kind of stock-fish. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 11. L.

_salpa_ (Pliny).

=salt.= A salt-cellar was usually placed near the middle of a long

table, to divide the company according to their social rank; those of

inferior distinction being placed _below the salt_. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s

Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury). _Above the salt_, Massinger, Unnat. Combat,

iii. 1 (Steward).

=salt,= a leap, esp. one made by a horse. Webster, White Devil

(Lodovico), ed. Dyce, p. 34; B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 2 (Wittipol).

L. _saltus_, a leap.

=saltimbanco,= a mountebank, a quack. Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk.

i, c. 3, § 11; _saltinbancho_, Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 1007. Ital.

_saltimbanco_, a mountebank; from _saltare in banco_, to mount upon a

bench; ‘_Salta in banco_, as _Monta in banco_; _montáre in bánco_, to

play the mountebank’ (Florio). Span. ‘_Sálta en banco_, a mountebank’

(Stevens). See Stanford.

=salue,= to salute. Holland, Pliny II, 297; Udall, Apoph. 122; _salew_,

Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 25. ME. _salue_, _salewe_ (Chaucer); F. _saluer_;

L. _salutare_.

=saluë, salvee,= some kind of boat; ‘Twentie Caruiles, and Saluees ten’,

Dekker, Wh. of Babylon, Works, ii. 257. NED. (s.v. Salve, 3) gives a

quotation of a passage which Dekker evidently copied, ‘There are 20

Carauels for the service of the above named Armie [the Armada], and

likewise 10 Saluës with sixe Oares a-peece’, Archdeacon, tr. True Disc.

Army, K. Spain, 38 (1588).

=salvage,= savage. Fletcher, Love’s Cure, iii. 2 (Picrato). Spenser, F.

Q. ii. 6. 39; ii. 8. 42. O. Prov. _salvatge_, ‘qui vit dans les bois,

sauvage, farouche’ (Levy); Med. L. _salvaticus_ (Ducange); cp. Ital.

_salvático_; L. _silvaticus_ (Pliny).

=salvatory,= a box for holding ointments. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, iv. 2

(Bosola); ‘The Surgeon’s Salvator or Salvatory or his Box of Unguents’,

Holme, Armoury, iii. 438; ‘_Salvatory_, a Surgeon’s Box, to hold Salves,

Ointments, and Balsams’, Phillips, Dict., 1706. In Med. L. _salvalorium_

is given in Ducange only with the meanings (1) _vivarium piscium_, (2)

_monasterium_, ‘ubi quis a mundi periculis tutus _salvatur_ seu

servatur’.

=salvee;= see =saluë.=

=sam,= together. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 168. ME. _sum_, together

(Cursor M. 9750); see NED. (s.v. Samen, adv.), and Dict. M. and S.

=sambuke,= a triangular stringed-instrument of a very sharp shrill tone.

Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 39). ME. _sambuke_ (Wyclif, Dan. iii. 5),

L. _sambuca_ (Vulgate), Gk. σαμβύκη (LXX).

=sambuke,= a military engine for storming walls. Peacham, Comp.

Gentleman, ix. 73. L. _sambuca_ (Vegetius).

=samite,= a rich silk stuff. Morte Arthur, leaf 344. 30; bk. xvi, c. 17;

leaf 380, back, 30; bk. xviii, c. 19 [Tennyson, Morte d’Arthur, 31 and

144]. O. Prov. _samit_, ‘étoffe de soie’ (Levy); Med. L. _examitum_;

Byz. Gk. ἑξάμιτον, lit. woven with six different kinds of thread; see

Ducange (s.v. Exametum); cp. Span. _xaméte_ (Stevens).

=sampire,= ‘samphire’. Drayton, Pol. xviii. 763; King Lear, iv. 6. 15;

_sampier_, Baret, Alvearie. F. ‘_herbe de S. Pierre_, sampire’ (Cotgr.).

=sampsuchine,= oil of marjoram. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2

(Amorphus). Gk. σαμψύχινον, of marjoram; σάμψυχον, marjoram.

=sanbenito.= Under the Spanish Inquisition a penitential garment of

yellow cloth, ornamented with a red St. Andrew’s cross before and

behind, worn by a confessed and penitent heretic; ‘The Inquisitors . . .

bringing with them certaine fooles coats . . . called . . . _S.

Benitos_’, M. Phillips in Hakluyt’s Voyages, iii. 480; a garment of a

black colour ornamented with flames, devils, and other devices worn by

an impenitent heretic at an auto-da-fé, ‘Sambenitas, painted with all

the flames and devils in hell’, Marvell, Reh. Transp. i. 276. In

Butler’s Hud. iii. 2. 1574, ‘Sambenites’ are referred to vaguely. The

garment was so called from _San Benito_, St. Benedict, from its

resemblance to the scapular introduced by St. Benedict. See NED. and

Stanford.

=sance-bell, saunce-bell,= corruptly =saint’s-bell,= the Sanctus-bell,

the bell orig. rung at the _Sanctus_ at Mass. The _Sanctus_ or

_Ter-sanctus_ refers to the word _sanctus_ (thrice repeated) in the

conclusion to the Eucharistic preface; in the English Liturgy ‘Holy,

holy, holy’. _Sance-bells_, pl., Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1 (Fool). Spelt

_saint’s bell_, Hall, Satires, bk. v, Sat. 1, l. 119; _saunce-bell_,

Fletcher, Nightwalker, iii. 3 (Toby). See NED. (s.v. Sanctus Bell).

=sanctus:= phr. _a black sanctus_, a burlesque hymn, accompanied by

discordant noises; a great discord. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 3

(Mirabel); Mad Lover, iv. 1 (Fool); _black Saunce_, Lyly, Endimion, iv.

2. 33. See Nares (s.v. Sanctus), and =tintamar.=

=sanglier,= a full-grown wild boar. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 37; p. 100;

Manwood, Lawes Forest, iv, § 5 (ed. 1615, 43). F. _sanglier_, Med. L.

_singularis_ (Vulg., Ps. lxxix. 14) = the μονιός of the LXX, meaning a

boar separated from the herd. See =singler.=

=sanjak.= In the Turkish Empire one of the administrative districts of a

‘vilayet’; _sangiacque_, Dacres, tr. Machiavelli’s Prince, 25 (NED.);

_sanzacke_, a governor of a sanjak, Massinger, Renegado, iii. 4

(Carazie); _sanziack_, Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 1677, 277);

_sandiack_, Shirley, Imposture, v. 1 (Volterino). Ital. _sangiacco_

(Florio), Turk. _sanjāq_, lit. a banner (NED.); _sanjac_, a province, T.

Herbert, Gram. Turk. Lang., 1709, p. 90. See Stanford.

=sanna,= a gesture of scorn. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2

(Amorphus). L. _sanna_, a grimace made in mockery (Juvenal). Gk. σάννας,

a buffoon; one who makes grimaces. See =stork’s bill.=

=sans,= without (a French word), As You Like It, ii. 7. 166; Temp. i. 2.

97.

=sapa,= new wine boiled thick. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 15. L.

_sapa_ (Pliny).

=sapor.= _Sapor Pontic_, _Sapor Styptic_: particular ‘Sapors’, savours

frequently mentioned by the alchemists as indicative of the nature or

condition of substances under examination. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1

(Subtle). L. _sapor_, taste.

=sarcocolla,= an Eastern gum-resin. Altered to _sacrocolla_, Middleton,

A Fair Quarrel, iv. 2 (Surgeon). Gk. σαρκοκόλλα; the name derived from

its power of healing or agglutinating wounds.

=sarell,= a seraglio. Marlowe, Tamburlaine, iii. 3 (Bajazet). F.

_sérail_, a seraglio; Pers. _serāi_, a palace (Hatzfeld). See Stanford

(s.v. Seraglio).

=sarza,= sarsaparilla. Bacon, Essay 27, § 2. See Dict.

=sasarara,= a corruption of _certiorari_, the name of a certain writ at

law. Revenger’s Tragedy, iv. 2 (Vindici); _sesarara_, Puritan Widow,

iii. 2. 81. See EDD. (s.v. Siserary), where the word is said to be in

prov. use in the sense of a violent scolding; in Devon the phr. _with a

siserary_ means ‘with a vengeance’ [‘I fell in love all at once with a

sisserara’, Sterne, T. Shandy, vi. 47 (Davies).]

=sattle,= to quiet, reduce to order. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xviii.

345; to become calm, ‘I sattyl or sober or appayse my-selfe’, Palsgrave.

Cp. ‘sattle’, the north-country word, meaning to put an end to a

quarrel, see EDD. (s.v. Sattle, vb.^{1}). ME. _sahtlen_, to bring to a

peaceful agreement, to reconcile (_sahhtlenn_ in Ormulum, 351); see

Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Sahtlien). OE. _sahtlian_ (Chron. ann. 1066).

Etym. doubtful; see NED.

=sattle,= to sink down gradually. Ascham, Toxophilus, 131. In prov. use

in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Sattle, vb.^{2} 3). ME. _sattle_

(York Plays, 328); _satlynge_, a sagging, ‘bassacio’ (Prompt.). See NED.

(s.v. Settle, vb., 13).

=saturity,= repletion. Herrick, Noble Numbers; Lasciviousness, 2;

_saturitie_, Udall, tr. Erasmus, on Matt. v. 6; Warner, Alb. England,

bk. v, ch. 24, st. 48. L. _saturitas_ (Pliny).

=satyrion,= the orchis. Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 5 (Sir Jolly). Gk.

σατύριον (Dioscorides). See Alphita, p. 158.

=saugh,= a ‘sough’, a channel, a trench. Drayton, Pol. iv. 168. ‘Sough’

in various forms is in common prov. use in England from the north

country to Bedfordshire, see EDD. (s.v. Sough, sb.^{2}).

=saulf,= ‘safe’. Sir T. Elyot, Governour (ed. Croft, see Glossary). F.

_saulf_, safe (Rabelais). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Sauf).

=saunce-bell;= see =sance-bell.=

=sawtry,= a ‘psaltery’, a kind of harp. Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 358.

ME. _sautrye_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 296).

=say,= to ‘assay’, to test the fitness of, to try on (clothes); ‘He

sayes his sute’, B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1 (Fashioner); to set

oneself to do something, Peele, Order of the Garter (ed. Dyce, 588);

‘Who sayd to wound faire Venus in the hand’, Heywood, 2nd Pt., Iron Age

(NED.). See Dict.

=say,= ‘assay’, temper of metal, proof; ‘A sword of better say’,

Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 47; a subject for testing, proving, ‘Still living

to be wretched To be a say to Fortune in her changes’, Beaumont and Fl.,

Knt. of the B. Pestle, iv. 4. 11. ‘To say’ for to assay, to test, prove,

is in prov. use in Scotland and many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.

Say, vb.^{2} 1).

=say:= phr. _to take the say_, to draw the knife along the belly of a

slain deer, to find how fat he is. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2.

10. For _assay_, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Marian). See Nares (s.v.

Say).

=scalado,= an escalade, attempt to scale a wall. Bacon, Henry VII (ed.

Lumby, p. 165). Span. _escalada_, ‘an escalade or taking a place with

scaling Ladders’ (Stevens). L. _scala_, a ladder.

=scale,= to attack with scaling ladders; ‘The citty had bene scaled and

sacked’, Greene, Euphues (Wks., ed. Grosart, vi. 220); ‘The hugy heaps

of cares . . . are scalèd from their nestling-place’, Peele, Sir Clyomon

(Wks., ed. Dyce, iii. 78). Ital. ‘_scalare_, to ascend by ladder’

(Florio); Span. _escalar_ (Stevens).

=scaledrake,= ‘a sheldrake’. Lady Alimony, ii. 2 (2 Boy). In prov. use

in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England (EDD.).

=scall,= a scab, blister, an eruption of skin on the head. BIBLE, Lev.

xiii. 30 (printed _skall_, ed. 1611); ‘Scurfe and dandruffe, running

ulcers and scals’, Holland, Pliny, xxiii. 1. In prov. use in Scotland

and north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Scall, sb.^{1}). ME. _scalle_

(Chaucer, Minor Poems, viii. 7).

=scald,= afflicted with the ‘scall’, scurfy; an epithet of

contempt, Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 215; Beaumont and Fl., Bloody

Brothers, i (Grandpree); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1

(Fluello). ME. _scalled_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 627).

=scamble,= to scramble, to struggle. Much Ado, v. 1. 94; Tusser,

Husbandry, § 51. 7. Hence, _scambling_, shambling, shuffling, Ford,

Love’s Sacrifice, v. 1 (Bianca); filching, id., Fancies Chaste, i. 3

(Livio). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).

=scand,= _pp._, ascended, climbed up to. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 8. L.

_scandere_, to climb.

=scantle,= to scant, to limit; ‘Her scantled banks’, Drayton, Pol. xxiv.

12; The Owl, 1294; to shorten sail, Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 1

(1327); p. 134, col. 1.

=scantling,= limited measure. Bacon, Essay 55; a pattern, sample, Tr.

and Cr. i. 3. 341; ‘How Ovid’s scantlings with the whole true patterne

doo agree’, Golding, Ovid’s Metam., Epist. 379. ‘_Eschantillon_, a

scantling, sample, pattern, proof of any sort of Merchandise’, Cotgrave.

Anglo-F. _escauntiloun_ (Rough List).

=scar,= a steep bare bank, a cliff. Drayton, Pol. xxvii. 326. In prov.

use, see EDD. (s.v. Scar, sb.^{1}). Icel. _sker_, an isolated rock in

the sea.

=scarab,= a beetle, dung-beetle; a term of reproach. B. Jonson, Alchem.

i. 1. 59 (Subtle); Beaumont and Fl., Mad Lover, ii. 2 (Chilax). Gk.

σκάραβος, a beetle.

=Scarborough warning,= very short notice, or no notice at all; a

surprise. Heywood, Proverbs (ed. Farmer, 43); Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid,

iii. 345. See Nares, EDD. and NED.

=scarlet,= a scarlet gown, worn as a mark of dignity; He will be . . .

next spring call’d to the scarlet, B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle).

=scarmoge,= an irregular fight, a ‘skirmish’. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 34.

ME. _scarmuch_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 934), F. _escarmouche_, a

skirmish (Cotgr.); Ital. _scaramuccia_ (Florio).

=scartoccio,= a roll of paper. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1 (Vol.). Ital.

_scartoccio_, ‘a coffin of paper for spice, as apothecaries use’

(Florio). Cp. _cartoccio_, a piece of waste paper to put anything in. F.

_cartouche_, E. _cartridge_.

=scath,= harm, hurt, damage. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 18; iii. 4. 24. ME.

_scathe_, harm (Chaucer, C. T. A. 446); Icel. _skaði_.

=scatterling,= one of a wandering band of outlaws or robbers. Spenser,

F. Q. ii. 10. 63.

=scaure;= see =scour.=

=scerne,= to ‘discern’, perceive. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 22.

=schellum,= a rogue, scoundrel; ‘Where’s the Dutch _schellum_?’, Dekker,

If this be not a good Play (Pluto), Works, iii. 352; _skellum_, id.,

Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 1 (Firk). ‘Skellum’ is a north-country word

(EDD.). Du. _schelm_, a rogue (Hexham).

=sciatherical,= concerned with the recording of shadows, esp. on a

sundial. _Scioferical_, Tomkis, Albumazar, i. 7 (Alb.); _scioterical_,

Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v, c. 18, § 3. From Gk. σκιαθηρικός,

from σκαθήρας, a shadow-catcher, sun-dial; from σκιά, shadow, θηρᾶν, to

catch.

=scole,= a scale or dish of a balance. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 606;

xxii. 180. Icel. _skāl_, a bowl, the scale of a balance; Dan. _skaal_, a

bowl.

=scolopendra,= a milliped; one of the numerous nicknames for a

courtesan. Shirley, Gamester, ii. 2 (Hazard). L. _scolopendra_; Gk.

σκολόπενδρα, a milliped.

=scombre,= to void excrements. Maister of Game, c. 13; _skommer_,

Turbervile, Hunting, c. 12; p. 27. See =scumber.=

=scope,= a mark to aim at. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 155. Gk. σκοπός, a

mark.

=scorse, scourse,= to exchange, barter. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 16; B.

Jonson, Barth. Fair, iii. 1 (Waspe); Drayton, Pol. (ed. 1613. p. 196);

‘_Barater_, to scourse, barter’, Cotgrave; hence _skoser_, a

horse-corser, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 10 (ed. Croft, i. 63).

‘Scorse’ is in prov. use along the south coast (EDD.). See Notes on Eng.

Etym., p. 136.

=scot and lot,= a tax levied by a municipal corporation in proportionate

shares for the defraying of municipal expenses; phr. _to pay scot and

lot_, to pay out thoroughly; ‘Twas time to counterfet, or that hotte

Termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot’, 1 Hen. IV, v. 4. 115; B.

Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 7 (Cob). The word _scot_ = Anglo-F.

_escot_, a payment (Rough List). See =shot.=

=scot-free,= free from payment of one’s tavern score. B. Jonson, Every

Man in Hum. iii. 7 (Cob).

=scotomy,= dimness of sight, caused by dizziness. B. Jonson, Volpone, i.

1 (Mosca); Massinger, Old Law, iii. 2 (Simonides). Gk. σκότωμα, dimness;

from σκοτοῦν, to make dim. Gk. σκότος, darkness.

=scour,= to be purged, to have diarrhoea; ‘He continually scowred’,

Repentance of Robert Greene (NED.); ‘Poor young man, how he was bound to

scaure for it’, Vanbrugh, The Relapse, v. 3 (Nurse). ‘Scour’ (or ‘Scaur’

in Norfolk) is in prov. use for being afflicted with diarrhoea, see EDD.

(s.v. Scour, vb.^{1} 4).

=scour the queer cramp-ring,= to wear the prison fetters (Cant).

Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); ‘_skower the cramp-rings_, weare

fetters’, Harman, Caveat, p. 84; ‘_quyerkyn_ (= queer ken), a

pryson-house’, ib.

=’scourse,= for _discourse_; with a quibbling reference to _scourse_ or

_scorse_, to barter. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 2 (Pan).

=scout,= a slang term for a watch, or pocket time-piece; because a

_scout_ is a _watchman_. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, ii. 1 (Belfond

senior).

=scrag,= a scraggy creature, lean man. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii.

606.

=scrat,= to scratch. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, st. 115; ‘I scratte as a

beest dothe that hath sharp nayles, _Je gratigne_’, Palsgrave. In gen.

prov. use in the British Isles (EDD.). ME. _scrattyn_, or scracchyn

(Prompt.); to _scratte_, ‘scalpere’ (Cath. Angl.).

=scratches, the,= a disease of horses, in which the pasterns appear as

if scratched. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Knockem); ‘_Arestin_, the

scratches in a horses pasterne’, Minsheu, Span. Dict. (1623).

=scrawl, scraul,= to ‘crawl’. Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune, i. 1.

15; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 146; _scraul_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 49. 9.

See Nares (s.v. Scrall). In gen. prov. use in England (EDD.).

=screwed gun,= a gun furnished with a screwed barrel, i.e. having a

helically grooved bore. Dryden, Marriage a la Mode, v. 1 (Rhodophil).

First known in 1646.

=scrike,= to ‘shriek’. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 18. Swed. _skrika_, to

shriek. In prov. use in various parts of England. See EDD. (s.v.

Skrike).

=scrimer,= a fencer. Hamlet, iv. 7. 101. Cp. ‘scrim’ in prov. use for

striking vigorously, ‘scrimmish,’ a skirmish (EDD.). F. _escrimeur_, ‘a

fencer’; _escrimer_, ‘to fence, or play at fence, also, to lay hard

about him’ (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.v. Skirmish).

=scroyle,= a scoundrel; a term of contempt. King John, ii. 1. 373; B.

Jonson, Every Man in Hum. i. 1 (Stephen). Of obscure origin (NED.). See

Notes on Eng. Etym., 263.

=scruze,= to press out. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 56. A Glouc. word, see

EDD. (s.v. Scruse).

=scry,= to descry, perceive. Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 38; Stanyhurst, tr.

of Aeneid, i. 190. In prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v.

Scry, vb.^{2} 2). Norm. F. _escrier_, ‘explorer, chercher à découvrir’

(Moisy).

=scryne,= chest, ark. Spenser, Introd. to F. Q., st. 2. L. _scrinium_, a

box for keeping books, letters, &c.

=scull, skull,= a ‘school’ of fish, a ‘shoal’. Mirror for Mag., Shore’s

Wife, st. 29; Tr. and Cr. v. 5. 22 (ed. 1623); Milton, P. L. vii. 402; a

covey of pheasants, Lyly, Mydas, iv. 3 (Petulus); a troop, company,

Warner, Albion’s England, bk. i, ch. 6, st. 57. ‘Scull’ is in prov. use

in Hants. for a great number of people, see EDD. (s.v. School, sb.^{2}

2).

=scum, skumme,= to scour, with respect to land or sea; ‘There were sent

forth rydars to skumme the country’, Morte Arthur, leaf 26, back, 30;

bk. i, c. 13. F. ‘_escumer_; _escumer la mer_, to scowr, as a fleet, the

sea’ (Cotgr.); _escumeur_, ‘corsaire qui fait des courses sur mer,

pirate’ (Didot).

=scumber,= to void excrement, as a dog or fox. ‘_Fienter_, to dung,

scumber’, Cotgrave; ‘When they (hounds) are led out of their kennels to

scumber’, Massinger, Picture, v. 1 (Ricardo). Used in Cornwall of a bird

(EDD.). OF. _escombrer_, to clean out (Godefroy). See =bescumber,

scombre.=

=scur;= see =skirr.=

=scurer,= a scout, one sent forward to reconnoitre. Mirror for Mag.,

Guidericus, st. 36; ‘Out was our scurer sent agayn . . . to shew wher

aboute the place was’, More, Comfort ag. Tribulation (Wks., p. 1181).

OF. _descouvreur_, ‘espion, qui va à la découverte’ (Didot); Med. L.

_disco-operator_ (Ducange).

=scurrile,= scurrilous, vulgarly witty. Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 148; Two Noble

Kinsmen, v. 1. 153. L. _scurrilis_, buffoon-like; from _scurra_, a

buffoon.

=scut,= a hare. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 632. ME. _scut_, a hare

(Prompt.).

=scute,= a coin of small value. Chapman, All Fools, v. 1 (Valerio). In

prov. use from Dorset to Cornwall for a sum of money, see EDD. (s.v.

Scute, sb.^{1}). Properly an E. name for the French coin called _ėcu_,

OF. _escut_, L. _scutum_, a shield.

=sdayn,= to disdain. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 44.

=sea-card,= the card on which the points of the compass were marked.

Fletcher, The Chances, i. 10 (near the end). See =card.=

=sea-holm,= sea-holly. Drayton, Pol. i. 125. Cp. _holm-oak_; and see

=eringo.=

=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}).

=smug-skinnde,= sleek, smooth-skinned. Gascoigne, Herbs, ed. Hazlitt, i.

393.

=snache;= see =snatch.=

=’snails,= a profane oath, for ‘God’s nails’, i.e. ‘Christ’s nails’ on

the Cross. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, v. 1 (Pompey);

London Prodigal, v. 1. 222. Cp. Chaucer, ‘By goddes precious herte, and

by his nayles’ (C. T. C. 651).

=snakes:= To _eat snakes_ was a recipe for enabling one to grow younger.

Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, i. 2 (Orlando); Beaumont and Fl., Elder

Brother, iv. 4 (Andrew).

=snaphance,= a flint-lock used in muskets and pistols, Lyly, Mother

Bombie, ii. 1 (Dromio); a musket or gun fitted with a flint-lock, Capt.

Smith, Virginia, iii. 12. 93 (NED.). Du. _snaphaan_, ‘a firelock, fusee,

snaphaunce’ (Sewel).

=snaphance,= an armed robber, a highwayman. Holinshed, Chron. ii. 684.

Du. ‘_snaphaan_, a Fuselier carrying a _snaphaan_’ (Sewel), also a

mounted highwayman. Cp. G. _schnapphahn_ in 1494, _schnapphan_, a

highwayman (Brant, Narrenschiff); _schnapphahn_ in prov. Germ. has also

the meaning of constable, thief-catcher. See Weigand and H. Paul (s.v.).

Cp. F. _chenapan_, ‘mot tiré de l’Allemand, où il désigne un brigand des

Montagnes noires; en François, il signifie un vaurien, un bandit’, Dict.

de l’Acad., 1762.

=snapper,= to trip, to stumble. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 15, l. 4; id.,

Ware the Hauke, 142; ‘I snapper as a horse dothe that tryppeth, _Je

trippette_’, Palsgrave. A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Snapper,

vb.^{1} 1). ME. _snapere_, to stumble: ‘Thi foot schal not snapere’

(Wyclif, Prov. iii. 23); _snapir_ (Wars Alex. 847).

=snar,= to snarl; ‘Tygres that did seeme to gren And snar at all’,

Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 27. Cp. Du. _snarren_, to snarl (Hexham).

=snarl,= to ensnare, entangle. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 17; J. Beaumont,

Psyche, ix. 275; Palsgrave. A north-country word for snaring hares or

rabbits, see EDD. (s.v. Snarl, vb.^{2} 2). ME. _snarlyn_, ‘illaqueo’

(Prompt.).

=snatch,= a trap, snare, entanglement; ‘The Chevalier . . . being taken

in a Gin like unto a Snatch’, Shelton, Quixote, iii. 1; spelt _snache_,

‘A new-founde snache which did my feet ensnare’. Mirror for Mag.,

Carassus, st. 43. ME. _snacche_, a trap, snare (K. Alis. 6559).

=sneaker,= a sneaking fellow; ‘Clarke is a pitifull proud sneaker’,

Reliq. Hearnianae (ed. Bliss, 483); ‘_Origlione_, an eavesdropper, a

listener, . . . a sneaker, a lurking knave’ (Florio).

=sneap,= to nip or pinch with cold; ‘An envious sneaping Frost’ L. L. L.

i. 1. 100; ‘The sneaped birds’, Lucrece, 333. In prov. use in the north

of England: ‘They’n do well if they dunna get sneaped wi’ the frost’

(Cheshire), see EDD. (s.v. Snape, vb. 2). Also, to check, repress,

reprove, chide, snub, Brome, Antipodes, iv. 9 (NED.); ‘A man quickly

sneapt’, Maiden’s Tragedy, iii. 1 (Servant), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x.

428. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. _snaip_, to rebuke sharply (Cursor M.

13027), Icel. _sneypa_, to chide (NED. s.v. Snape, vb.^{1}).

=sneb,= to reprimand sharply, Sidney, Arcadia, xxxiii. 22; _snebbe_,

Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 126. In prov. use in Lancashire (EDD.). In

Chaucer, C. T. A. 525, some MSS. have _snebbe_. Swed. dial. _snebba_

(Rietz). See =snib.=

=sneck up;= see =snick.=

=snetched,= slaughtered; ‘A snetched Oxe’, Golding, Metam. v. 122 (Lat.

_mactati iuuenci_). Not found elsewhere.

=snib,= to reprimand, rebuke sharply; ‘Christian snibbeth his fellow for

unadvised speaking’, Bunyan, Pilgr. Pr. i. 169; Middleton, Five

Gallants, ii. 3 (Tailor); Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 372; to snip off, as

with snuffers, Marston, Malcontent, iii. 1 (Malevole). In prov. use, in

the sense of rebuking sharply, in Scotland and north of England down to

Bedford (EDD.). ME. _snibben_, to rebuke (Chaucer, C. T. A. 523). Dan.

_snibbe_. See =sneb.=

=snick:= _snick up_ (used imperatively), be hanged! London Prodigal, v.

1; Middleton, Blurt, Master Constable, iv. 1; _Snecke up!_, Twelfth Nt.

ii. 3. 101; also used with _go_, ‘Let him go snick up’, Beaumont and

Fl., Knt. Burning Pestle, ii. 2 (Mrs. Merrythought); Davenant,

Play-House (Works, ed. 1673, 116). ‘Snick up!’, in the sense of ‘Begone,

go and be hanged’, is said to be in use in west Yorks., see EDD. (s.v.

Snickup, int. 4).

†=snickfail;= ‘Whereas the snickfail grows, and hyacinth’, Webster, The

Thracian Wonder, i. 2. A misprint for _sinckfoil_ = _cinquefoil_; cp.

Greene, Menaphon (ed. Arber, 36); see NED. (s.v. Cinquefoil).

Communicated by Mr. Percy Simpson.

=snickle,= a running noose. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5 (Ithamar). In

prov. use in the north and east, esp. in Yorks. and Linc. (EDD.). Here,

for ‘snicle hand too fast’ we should probably read ‘two hands

snickle-fast’, see various conjectures in Tucker Brooke’s ed. of

Marlowe.

=snig,= a young eel. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 96. In prov. use in various

parts of England (EDD.). ME. _snygge_, an eel (Cath. Angl.).

=sniggle,= to fish for eels by means of a baited hook or needle thrust

into their holes or haunts. I. Walton, Angler, ch. x. [In the passage

cited by Todd and later Dicts. from Fletcher’s Thierry, ii. 2, ‘I have

snigled him’, the correct reading is doubtless ‘singled’, so NED.]

=snob,= to sob. Puritan Widow, i. 1. 90; Middleton, Mad World, iii. 2.

In prov. use in Worc. and Glouc. (EDD.). ME. _snobbe_, to sob; ‘My

sobbyng (v.r. snobbyng) and cries’ (Wyclif, Lam. iii. 56).

=snudge,= a miser, a mean person; ‘A covetous snudge’, Ascham,

Toxophilus (ed. Arber, p. 28); Dekker, O. Fortunatus, i. 2 (Shadow);

‘Snudge, _parcus_’, Levins, Manipulus. See EDD.

=snudge,= to remain snug and quiet; ‘Now he will . . . eat his bread in

peace, And snudge in quiet’, G. Herbert, Temple, Giddinesse, 11. In

prov. use in the north country and in E. Anglia (EDD.).

=snuff:= in phr. _to take_ (_a thing_) _in snuff_, to take (a matter)

amiss, to take offence at; ‘Mr. Mills . . . should take it in snuffe

that my wife did not come to his child’s christening’, Pepys, Diary,

1661, Oct. 6; ‘Who therewith angry . . . Took it in snuff’, 1 Hen. IV,

i. 3. 41; _to take snuff at_, to take offence at a thing, Fuller,

Joseph’s Coat (ed. 1867, 51). ‘Snuff’ in these phrases refers probably

to the act of ‘snuffing’ as an expression of contempt or disdain, see

NED. (s.v. sb.^{2} 1), and EDD. (s.v. sb.^{1} 1).

=soader,= to ‘solder’, cement together. Rowley, All’s Lost, iii. 1. 34;

_sodder_, Chapman, Byron’s Tragedy, iii. 1 (Janir).

=soar-falcon,= a falcon or hawk of the first year that has not moulted

and still has its red plumage; ‘Of the soare faulcon so I learne to

fly’, Spenser, Hymn Heav. Beauty, 26; Latham, Falconry, 37; see Nares

(s.v. Sore-Hawk). F. _Faulcon sor_, a soar Hawk; _Harenc sor_, a red

Herring (Cotgr., s.v. Sor). Anglo-F. _sor_, reddish brown (Rough List).

O. Prov. _sor_, _saur_, Ital. _sauro_. See =sore= (a buck).

=sod,= boiled; _pret._ of ‘seethe’; ‘Sod Euphrates . . . sod Orontes’,

Golding, Metam. ii. 248. The reference is to the boiling of rivers

during the mad career of Phaethon; Ovid has ‘Arsit et Euphrates’, &c.

=sodder;= see =soader.=

=soggy,= soaked with moisture, soppy; hence, heavy (like damp and green

hay). B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iii. 2 (Mitis). In prov. use in

various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Sog, sb.^{2} 3).

=soil,= a miry or muddy place used by a wild boar for wallowing in;

‘_Sueil_, the soyle of a wild Bore, the mire wherein hee commonly

walloweth; _se souiller_ (of a swine), to take soyle, or wallow in the

mire’, Cotgrave. The phr. ‘to take soil’ corresponds to F. _prendre

souille_. _Souille_ is a deriv. from _souiller_, to soil with mud,

Romanic type *_soc’lare_, deriv. of L. _sŭcula_, a little sow.

=soil,= a pool or stretch of water, used as a refuge by a hunted deer or

other animal, Turbervile, Hunting, 241; _to take soil_, to take to the

water, as a hunted deer, id., 148; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarl);

Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 4. 6. See above.

=soil,= to expound, explain, to resolve a doubt; ‘I have not learned to

soyle no riedles’, Udall, tr. Apoph. 309 (NED.); ‘_Souldre_, to cleere

or soile a doubt’, Cotgrave. Anglo-F. _soiler_, OF. _soldre_, L.

_solvere_, to loosen, to explain.

=soil,= to absolve from sin, ‘I soyle from synne, _je assouls_’,

Palsgrave. For _assoil_, Anglo-F. _assoiler_, to absolve, pardon (Rough

List); OF. _assoldre_, L. _absolvere_; see Moisy.

=sokingly,= slowly, gently, gradually; ‘Sokingly, one pece after an

other’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Julius, § 32. ME. _sokingly_, ‘sensim,

paulatim’ (Prompt. EETS. 147); ‘By good leyser sokingly, and nat over

hastily’ (Chaucer. C. T. B. 2767).

=Sol,= the sun. Peele, Poems (ed. Routledge, p. 601); an alchemist’s

term for gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Dol).

=sol,= a small coin, B. Jonson, Volpone, iv. 2 (Bonario); Marmion, The

Antiquary, iii. 1 (Ant.). OF. _sol_; L. _solidus_ (sc. _nummus_), a gold

coin (in the time of the emperors).

=solayne,= sullen, melancholy. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 16, 1. 51;

_soleyne_, id., Bowge of Courte, 187; _solein_, Spenser, Shep. Kal.,

May, 213. ME. _soleyn_, of maners or he þat lovyth no company,

‘solitarius, Acheronicus’. (Prompt. EETS. 421); ‘The soleyn fenix of

Arabye’ (Chaucer, Boke Duch. 982).

=sold,= pay, remuneration, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 6. Med. L. _soldum_,

pay, related to L. _solidus_, a piece of money; see =sol.=

=soldado,= a soldier. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2 (_or_ 1)

(Downright). Span. _soldado_, one who is paid; a soldier; deriv. of Med.

L. _soldum_, pay. See above. See Stanford.

=soldan,= the supreme ruler of a Mohammedan country, Marlowe, 1

Tamburlaine, iii. 2. 31; Milton, P. L. i. 764. ME. _soldan_ (Gower, C.

A. i. 245); Ital. _soldano_; Arab, _sulṭân_.

=sole;= see =sowl.=

=solein;= see =solayne.=

=solf,= to sing the notes of the _sol-fa_, or gamut; to sing. Calisto

and Melibaea, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 71; _solfe_, Skelton, Phyllyp

Sparowe, 415. ME. _solfe_ (P. Plowman, B. v. 423).

†=solidare,= a small piece of money. Timon, iii. 1. 46. Not found

elsewhere.

=sollar,= an upper room. Udall, tr. Erasmus, Acts xx. 8 (= ὑπερῷον,

_cenaculum_); a loft, ‘Sollars full of wheat’, Marlowe, Jew of Malta,

iv. 1 (Barabas). The word is still in prov. use in various parts of

England with many meanings: esp. an upper room, a first-floor apartment;

loft or garret (EDD.). The Gk. word ὑπερῷον (Vulg. _cenaculumm_) in Acts

xx. 8 is rendered by _soler_ in Wyclif’s tr. (Luther has _söller_). In

the Heliand and in Tatian _soleri_ = ‘cenaculum’. ME. _solere_ or lofte,

‘solarium’ (Prompt.); ‘Soler-halle at Cantebregge’ (Chaucer, C. T. A.

3990, see Notes); OE. _solor_ (_soler_-); L. _solarium_, a part of the

house exposed to the sun, esp. a flat house-top (Vulgate, 2 Sam. xi. 2).

=somedele,= somewhat, in some measure, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec, 40. In

prov. use in Scotland, Yorks., Northants, see EDD. (s.v. Some, 1 (3)).

ME. _somdel_, in some measure (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3911).

=somer,= a ‘summer’, a supporting beam, a support. Fitzherbert,

Husbandry, § 5. 22. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Summer, sb.^{2}). F.

_sommier_, ‘the piece of timber called a Summer’ (Cotgr.); OF. _somier_,

a pack-horse (Burguy); Med. L. _saumarius_, _sagmarius_, ‘equus

clitellarius’ (Ducange); deriv. of _sagma_, a pack, burden; Gk. σάγμα.

See Dict. (s.v. Sumpter). For the development of meaning from ‘a kind of

horse’ to a ‘timber-beam’, cp. F. _poutre_, (1) a filly, (2) a

supporting beam.

=somner,= an official summoner. Middleton, A Trick to catch, ii. 1

(Lucre). ME. _somner_ (P. Plowman, C. iii. 59); _somnour_, summoner,

apparitor, an officer who summoned delinquents before the ecclesiastical

courts (Chaucer, C. T. A. 543).

=sonde,= a sending, a messenger. Morte Arthur, leaf 420, back, 13; bk.

xxi, c. 1. OE. _sand_ (_sond_), a sending, message.

=sonties:= in phr. _by God’s sonties_, an oath used by old Gobbo in

Merch. Ven. ii. 1. 17. The same as _God’s santy_, Dekker, Honest Wh.,

Pt. I, v. 2 (Bellafront). Adapted from OF. _saintée_, _sancteit_,

sanctity, holiness (Godefroy).

=soop,= to sweep; ‘A sooping traine’, Return from Parnassus, i. 2

(Judicio); _sooping it_, sweeping alone; id., v. 1 (Studioso). Icel.

_sōpa_, to sweep.

=sooreyn,= jaded feeling, exhaustion; ‘Abundance breedes the sooreyn of

excesse’, Gascoigne, Grief of Joy, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 286. A

back-formation from the verb _to surrein_, to overtire. See =surreined.=

=soote,= sweetly, Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 111; also sweet, Surrey,

Description of Spring, 1. ME. _sote_, sweetly (Chaucer, Leg. G. W.

2612), OE. _swōte_, sweetly. Chaucer has also _sote_ as adj. sweet (C.

T. A. 1), but the OE. adj. is _swēte_.

=sooterkin,= an imaginary kind of afterbirth formerly attributed to

Dutch women; ‘There goes a report of the Holland Women that together

with their children they are delivered of a Sooterkin, not unlike a Rat,

which some imagine to be the Offspring of the Stoves’, Cleveland (NED.);

Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 146. [Swift to Delany (Works, ed. 1755, III. ii.

232); Pope, Dunciad, i. 126; ‘Sooterkin, _maankalf_’, Calisch.] See

=mooncalf.=

=sooth,= to declare a statement to be true, to corroborate it. Udall,

Roister Doister, i. 1. 47; to support a person in a statement, ‘Sooth me

in all I say’, Massinger, Duke Milan, v. 2; _to sooth up_, ‘Sooth me in

all I say’, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 10. 19. The same word as _soothe_,

OE. _sōðian_, to show to be true. The pronunciation of the verb is due

to the sb. _sooth_, OE. _sōð_.

=sophie,= wisdom; ‘The seuenfold sophie of Minerue’, Grimald, Death of

Zoroas, 67; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 121. Gk. σοφία.

=sops-in-wine,= a name given to some kind of gilliflower or pink.

Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 138; B. Jonson, Pan’s Anniversary (Shepherd,

l. 6). See Nares.

=sord,= ‘sward’, turf. Milton, P. L. xi. 433; _greene-sord_, green

sward, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 157 (so Fol. 1).

=sore,= a buck of the fourth year. Phaer, Aeneid x. 725 (L. _cervum_).

‘The bucke . . . the iij. yere a sowrell, A _sowre_ at the iiij. yere’,

Book of St. Albans, fol. e, iiij.

=sorel,= a buck of the third year; ‘Sorell jumps from thicket’,

L. L. L. iv. 2. 60; ‘Sorell, a yonge bucke’, Palsgrave; see NED.

(s.v. Sorrel, sb.^{2} 2). Anglo-F. _sorel_, a reddish-brown

horse (Ch. Rol. 1379), deriv. of _sor_ (id., 1943). See

=soar-falcon.=

=sore.= Of the hare: to traverse open ground, ‘I might see [the hare]

sore and resore’, i.e. dart off, first in one direction and then in

another, Return from Parnassus, ii. 5 (end). ‘When he gooth the howndys

before, He sorth and resorth’, Boke of St. Albans, fol. e 8, back.

=sore,= to make sore, to hurt. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 38.

=sort,= a company, assemblage of people: Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 13;

Richard II, iv. 1. 246; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 5; Ps. lxii. 3 (Great

Bible, 1539); rank, degree, ‘A gentleman of great sort’, Hen. V, iv. 7.

143; _of sorts_, of various kinds, ‘They have a king and officers of

sorts’ (id., i. 2. 190). Anglo-F. _sort_, company, assemblage (Gower,

Mirour, 16800).

=sortilege,= a drawing of lots. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., pt. 1, § 18.

F. _sortilège_, L. _sortilegium_.

=soss,= to make oneself wet and dirty, to dabble; ‘Sossing and possing,

dabbling in mire’, Gammer Gurton’s Needle; i. 4 (Hodge); _sost_, pp.

made wet and dirty, Tusser, Husbandry, § 48. 20. In prov. use in various

parts of the British Isles, see EDD. (s.v. Soss, vb.^{2} and vb.^{3}).

†=sothbind.= ‘But late medcynes can help no sothbynde sore’, Mirror for

Mag., Richard, st. 10 (ed. 1578 has: ‘no _festered_ sore’). Not found

elsewhere. See Nares.

†=sothery.= The devils are described as having—‘Theyr taylles wel

kempt, and, as I wene, With sothery butter theyr bodyes anoynted’,

Heywood, The Four Plays, v. 87, Anc. Brit. Drama, i. 18, col. 2;

Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 376. Does it mean ‘Surrey butter’? Surrey is spelt

_Sothery_ in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 269; and _Sothray_ in Skelton, El.

Rummyng, 96.

=souce;= see =souse.=

=soud,= to consolidate, make whole. Pp. _souded_, Morte Arthur, leaf

359. 20; bk. xvii, c. 19. F. _souder_, to consolidate; L. _solidare_.

=souder,= to be soldered together, to become whole; ‘The pecys . . .

soudered as fayr as euer they were to-fore’, Morte Arthur, leaf 348. 12;

bk. xvii, c. 4.

=soul,= a part of the viscera of a cooked fowl. Heywood, Eng. Traveller,

ii. 1 (Clown). See EDD. (s.v. Soul, sb.^{1} 8). ‘_Âme_, the soule of a

capon or gose’, Palsgrave; ‘_Mazzacáre_, the tender part of any bird or

fowl, in a Goose it is called the Soul’ (Florio). See EDD. (s.v. Soul,

sb.^{1} 8) and Notes and Queries (8th S. ii. 169).

=souling,= relishing, affording a relish; _souling well_, affording a

good relish, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 32. Cp. the north

country prov. word _sowl_(_e_, a relish, dainty, anything eaten with

bread (EDD.). OE. _sufl_.

=sound,= to swoon, Two Angry Women, iii. 2 (Francis); Heywood, Four

Prentises (Guy), vol. ii, p. 181; a swoon, ‘a deadly sound’, id., Fair

Maid of the Exchange (Anthony), vol. ii, p. 15; Udall, Roister Doister,

iii. 3. 94; ‘She fell into a traunce or sownde’, Stubbes, A Christall

Glasse (ed. Furnivall, 202). In common prov. use in Scotland, also in

England in various parts, esp. in Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Sound,

vb.^{2}). See =sowne= (2).

=sounder,= a herd of wild swine. Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, iv. 163;

Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Hubert); ‘That men calleth a trip of a

tame swyn is called of wylde swyn a soundre, that is to say ȝif ther be

passyd v or vi togedres’ (Halliwell). OE. _sunor_: ‘sunor bergana’ (Luke

viii. 32, Lind.) = ‘grex porcorum’ (Vulg.).

=sourd,= to arise. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 7; Fabyan’s

Chron., ed. 1811, p. 436; p. 499, l. 23. ME. _sourde_, to arise

(Chaucer, C. T. I. 475); F. _sourdre_; L. _surgere_.

=sous, souse,= a ‘sou’, a small coin. Farquhar, The Inconstant, i. 2

(Old Mirabel); Prior, Down Hall, st. 33. [‘Those most heav’nly pictures

. . . For which the nation paid down every souse’, Peter Pindar, Works

(ed. 1816, p. 397).] An obsolete Scotch word (EDD.).

=souse,= to swoop down like a hawk. Heywood, Dialogue, 181 (Mercury),

vol. vi, p. 247; to deal a heavy downward blow, Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 6;

Heywood, Brazen Age (Hercules); the downward swoop of a bird of prey,

the sudden blow given by a ‘sousing’ hawk, Drayton, Pol. xx. 241;

Heywood, A Woman Killed, i. 3. 2; Ford, Lady’s Trial, iv. 2 (Futelli).

The word as applied in falconry meant originally the upward spring or

swoop of a bird of prey; an older form was _sours_; OF. _sorse_ (mod.

_source_), lit. the ‘rise’ of the hawk; cp. Chaucer, C. T. D. 1938, and

Hous Fame, ii. 36. See Dict. (s.v. Souse), and Notes on Eng. Etym. 275.

=souse,= brine for pickle. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, ii. 1

(Normandine); ears and feet of a pig in pickle, Tusser, Husbandry, § 12;

Butler, Hud. i. 2. 120; hence _souse-wife_ (_sowce-wife_), a woman who

sold ‘souse’, Greene, George-a-Greene (ed. Dyce. 257); Dekker,

Shoemakers’ Hol. ii. 3 (Firk). ME. _sowce_, ‘succidium’ (Prompt. EETS.

424, see note, no. 2063); OF. _sous_ (_souz_), see Godefroy (s.v. Soult,

2); cp. OHG. _sulza_ (Schade), O. Prov. _soltz_, ‘viande à la

vinaigrette’ (Levy); Ital. _solcio_, a seasoning of meat (Florio). Cp.

also OF. _solcier_, ‘confire de la viande dans du vinaigre et des

épices’ (Raschi). See note on ‘Solz’, in Romania, 1910, p. 176.

=sovenance,= remembrance. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 8; Shep. Kal., May, 82,

Nov., 5. Anglo-F. _sovenance_ (Gower, Mirour, 8244); F. _souvenance_,

‘memorie, remembrance’ (Cotgr.).

=sovereign,= a gold coin, a ten-shilling piece. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out

of Humour, v. 7 (Fallace).

=sow,= a large lump of metal; ‘Sowes of gold’, Mirror for Mag., King

Chirinnus, Lenvoy, st. 1; ‘_Pano di metallo_, a mass, a sow or ingot of

metal’ (Florio).

=sowce-wife;= See =souse= (2).

=sow-gard,= a protecting shield or shelter (= L. _testudo_). Stanyhurst,

tr. of Aeneid, ii. 451. A sow was a military engine consisting of a

movable roof arranged to protect men handling a battering-ram or

advancing to scale walls.

=sowl,= to pull by the ears. Coriolanus, iv. 5. 213 (old edd. _sole_);

spelt _sole_, Heywood, Love’s Mistress, iv. 1 (Vulcan); vol. v, p. 137.

‘Sowl’ is in prov. use in many spellings (_soul_, _sool_, _sole_,

_soal_, _saul_), meaning to pull by the ears, also to hit on the head,

see EDD. (s.v. Sowl, vb.^{1}).

=sowne, soune,= a sound, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 2; c.

13, § 4; to sound, ‘Sowning through the sky’, Tottel’s Misc., p. 202.

ME. _sowne_ (_soune_), to sound (Chaucer). F. _son_, sound; _sonner_, to

sound.

=sowne,= to swoon, Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 483; a swoon, Puritan Widow, i.

3. 42. In prov. use for swoon, see EDD. (s.v. Sound, vb.^{2} 1). ME.

_sownyn_, ‘sincopo’ (Prompt. EETS. 324). See =sound.=

=sowse;= see =souse.=

=sowter, souter,= a cobbler. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 3

(Rosalura); Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Soto); Mad Lover, ii. 1. 22. In prov.

use in the north country (EDD.). ME. _souter_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3904);

OE. _sūtere_; L. _sutor_.

=soyle,= the watery place in which a hunted animal takes refuge.

Turbervile, Hunting, c. 40; p. 115. Used to signify the hunted animal;

Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 16. See =soil= (pool).

=space,= to walk or roam about. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 44. Cp. Ital.

_spaziare_, to walk about (_spatiare_ in Florio). L. _spatiari_, whence

also O. Prov. _espasiar_, reflex, ‘se promener’ (Levy), and G.

_spazieren_. Cp. Med. L. ‘_Spatiamentum_, ambulatio, deambulatio, animi

relaxatio’ (Ducange).

=spade,= to make a female animal barren, to ‘spay’. Chapman. Widow’s

Tears, v (Governor). Med. L. _spadare_, ‘spadonem facere’ (Ducange),

deriv. of L. _spado_, Gk. σπάδων, one who has no generative power,

eunuch. See =spay.=

=spade-bone,= blade-bone, shoulder-bone. Drayton, Pol. v. 266; Skinner

(ann. 1671). In prov. use (EDD.). _Spade_ = Norm. F. _espalde_, ‘épaule’

(Moisy). For the phonology cp. jade = Icel. _jalda_, a mare, through OF.

*_jaude_, *_jalde_. See below.

=spalle,= a shoulder. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29. ‘Spawl’ (‘spaul’) is in

prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Spaul). OF. _espalle_, _espalde_

(F. _épaule_), Med. L. _spatula_, a shoulder-blade, L. _spatula_, a

broad-bladed knife. See =spade-bone.=

=span-counter,= a boys’ game. One boy throws down a counter, which

another wins, if he can throw another so as to hit it or lie within a

span of it. 2 Hen. VI, iv. 3; Northward Ho, i. 2 (Philip). See Nares.

=spang,= a spangle. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1162; Bacon, Essay 37. Hence

_spang’d_, spangled, Three Lords and Three Ladies (Shealty), in

Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 467.

=Spanish fig,= a poisoned fig. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed.

Dyce, p. 30.

=Spanish needle,= a needle of the best quality. Middleton, Blurt, Mr.

Constable, ii. 1. 6.

=Spanish pike,= a needle; jocosely. Ford, Sun’s Darling, ii. 1 (Folly).

=spare, spaire, spayre,= an opening or slit in a gown or petticoat.

_Spayre_, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 345; ‘_Sparre_ of a gowne, _fente de

la robe_’, Palsgrave; Skene, Difficill Scottish Words (ann. 1681). ME.

_speyre_ of garment, ‘cluniculum’ (Prompt. EETS. 427, see note, no.

2083); _spayre_, ‘manubium, cluniculum’ (Cath. Angl.).

=Spargirica,= a name for Alchemy; ‘Ars Spagyrica’ (misspelt), B. Jonson,

Alchemist, ii. 5 (ed. 1616). Ital. _Spargirica_, a name given to Alchemy

from its separating and analysing chemical substances (Fanfani).

Cotgrave has ‘_Spargirie_, Alchymie’, and ‘_Spargirique_, an Alchemist’.

Florio has ‘_Spargirio_, Alchymy or the Extraction of Quintessences’.

=spark,= a diamond. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (Rolliardo).

=sparkle,= to scatter, disperse. Beaumont and Fl., Loyal Subject, i. 5.

4; Humorous Lieutenant, i. 1 (Demetrius); _sparkling_, scattering,

Bonduca, iii. 2 (near the end). See Nares, and Trench’s Select Glossary

(ed. 1890). In prov. use in Yorks. (EDD.). See =disparkle.=

=sparse,= to scatter. Fairfax, Tasso, xii. 46; Chapman, tr. of Iliad,

xi. 268. L. _spars-us_, pp. of _spargere_, to scatter. See =sperse.=

=spaw,= a spa, place with mineral waters; ‘Your Tunbridge, or the Spaw

itself’, B. Jonson, News from the New World (1 Herald); _The Spawe_,

Gascoigne, Works, i. 376 (1572). So named from _Spa_, in Belgium.

=spay,= to render female animals barren; ‘Geld your loose wits, and let

your Muse be spay’d’, Cleveland (Johnson’s Dict.). Anglo-F. *_espayer_

(OF. _espeër_) < Med. L. _spadare_, to deprive of generative power

(Ducange). See =spade.=

=speed,= to dispatch, destroy, kill; ‘With a speeding thrust his heart

he found’, Dryden (Johnson); _sped_, pp. done for, Romeo, iii. 1. 94;

Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 72; _speeding-place_, the place where a wound is

fatal, and the man is sped. Marston, What you Will, i. 1 (Quadratus);

Chapman, Widow’s Tears, i (Tharsalio).

=spence,= expense; ‘Spence, cost, _despence_’, Palsgrave; Ascham,

Toxophilus, 122. ME. _spense_, spendynge, ‘dispensa’, Voc. 578. 45;

_spence_, or expence (Prompt. EETS. 427).

=spence,= a buttery, a larder; ‘Spens, a buttrye, _despencier_’,

Palgrave; _spence_, The Four Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 35

(Taverner). In prov. use in Scotland and the north country, meaning a

larder, pantry, store-cupboard, see EDD. (s.v. Spense). ME. _spence_,

botery, ‘promptuarium’ (Prompt. EETS. 427).

=sperage,= ‘the herb asparagus; it is so called by Gerard, and all the

old botanists, as its English name’ (Nares). North, tr. Plutarch, Jul.

Caesar, § 16 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 58); Sylv. Du Bartas, Furies (Nares);

Haven of Health, c. xxiii, p. 45 (id.). A Glouc. form (EDD.). ME.

_sperage_, asparagus (Palladius, Husbandry, 112).

=spere,= used in the sense of a youth, a stripling; ‘A lusty spere’,

Skelton, Magnyfycence, 947; Poems ag. Garnesche, iii. 41. Prob. a _fig._

use of ‘spere’, a young shoot or sprout, still in prov. use, see EDD.

(s.v. Spear, sb.^{1} 7).

=spere, speer,= to shoot, sprout, a term in malting, Tusser, Husbandry,

§ 84. 5. See =spire.=

=sperhauk,= sparrowhawk. Morte Arthur, leaf 301. 34; bk. xii, c. 7. Cp.

OE. _spearhafoc_ (Voc. 132. 26); _spearwa_, sparrow + _hafoc_, hawk.

=sperre,= to shut, fasten, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 224; Tr. and Cr.,

Prol. 19 (Theobald’s emendation); ‘I sperre, _Je ferme_. This verbe is

of the northyrne langaige and nat commynly in use’, Palsgrave. _Spear_,

‘to bar or fasten a door’, is a Northumbrian word, see EDD. (s.v. Speer,

vb. 6. 2); ‘To _sper_, to shut, to fasten a door with a bar of wood’

(Jamieson). ME. _sperre_, ‘claudere’ (Cath. Angl.); _sperred_, barred

(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 521). Cp. G. _sperren_, to shut (in or out).

=sperse,= to scatter, ‘disperse’. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 39; v. 3. 37.

=spertle,= to sprinkle with fluid, Drayton, Pol. ii. 283. In prov. use

in the Midland counties, see EDD. (s.v. Spirtle).

=spheres.= Peacham, Compl. Gentleman, c. 7, gives the old eleven

spheres: ‘The eleventh heaven is the habitation of God and his angels.

The tenth, the first moover [_primum mobile_]. The ninth, the

Christalline heaven. The eighth, the starry firmament. Then the seven

planets in their order’ [viz. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus,

Mercury, Moon]. In the Ptolemaic astronomy, the sun went round the

earth, which was the immovable centre of the universe.

=spial,= a spy. Bacon, Essay 44. In some edd. for _espial_ in 1 Hen. VI,

i. 4. 8; _spials_, spies, Marl. 1 Tamburlaine, ii. 2. 35. See =espial.=

=spice,= a species, kind, sort. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 1,

§§ 1, 3; ‘Spyce, a kynde, _espece_’, Palsgrave. ME. _spice_, species,

kind: ‘Absteyne you fro yvel spice’ (Wyclif, 1 Thess. v. 22); ‘The

spices (v.r. speces) of envye ben these’ (Chaucer, C. T. I. 490). OF.

_espice_, a species, L. _species_, a kind, sort (Vulgate, 1 Thess. v.

22).

=spiced,= scrupulous, over-nice, too particular; ‘Out of a scruple he

took . . . in spiced conscience’, B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, i. 1

(Quarlous); Sejanus, v. 4 (Sej.); Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 1

(Cleanthe). See note on Chaucer, C. T. A. 526. See =spice.=

=spick,= lard. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 335. In Scotland the fat of

animals, the blubber of whales (EDD.). ME. _spyke_ or fette flesch,

‘popa’ (Prompt. EETS. 428). Icel. _spik_, the fat of seals or whales,

cp. OE. _spic_, fat bacon; G. _speck_, bacon, lard.

=spilt,= (perhaps) inlaid with thin slips. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 5. See

EDD. (s.v. Spill, sb.^{2} 1).

=spilth,= a spilling, pouring out. Used of wine, Timon, ii. 2. 169. A

Scottish word; also in use in Suffolk (EDD.).

=spinet,= a spinny, a copse, thicket. B. Jonson, The Satyr, first

stage-direction. L. _spinetum_, a thicket of thorns; from _spina_,

thorn.

=spinner,= a spider. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous); Mids.

Night’s D. ii. 2. 21; Romeo, i. 4. 59; ‘Spynner or spyder, _herigne_’,

Palsgrave; ‘_Araigne_, a spider or spinner’, Cotgrave. In prov. use

(EDD.). ME. _spynner_, ‘arania’ (Prompt.).

=spintry,= a male prostitute. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 5 (Arruntius). L.

_spintria_.

=spiny,= slender. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, iii. 2 (1 Puritan); A Mad

World, iii. 2. 7. Cp. prov. words _spindly_, _spindling_, _spindle_,

meaning slender, see EDD. (s.v. Spindle).

=spire,= to sprout, shoot forth. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 52. In prov.

use, see EDD. (s.v. Spire, vb.^{1} 8). ME. _spyryn_, as corn or odyre

lyk, ‘spico’; _spyre_ of corne (Prompt. EETS. 429 and 463). OE. _spīr_

(Leechdoms), cp. Dan. _spire_, a germ, sprout. See =spere.=

=spirget,= a wooden peg on which to hang things; ‘There hung a Bowle of

Beech upon a _spirget_ by a ring’, Golding, Metam. viii. 653. ‘Spurget’

is in prov. use in the north country, E. Anglia, and Sussex for an iron

hook, see EDD. (s.v. Sperket).

=spirt,= to shoot up (as a plant), to sprout. Hen. V, iii. 5. 8;

Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 558. In prov. use in the Midlands and

Dorset (EDD.). OE. _sprytian_, to sprout, germinate.

=spital, spittle,= a hospital. Formerly _hospital_; whence _’spital_.

Hen. V, ii. 1. 78; v. 1. 86; Puritan Widow, i. 1. 151; _spittle_, Sir

Thos. More, i. 3. 81; ‘_Ladrerie_, a Spittle for lepers’, Cotgrave.

Hence, _spital-house_, Timon, iv. 3. 39. ME. _spytyl hows_,

‘leprosorium’ (Prompt. EETS. 429).

=spitchcock’d.= _A spitchcock’d eel_, a broiled eel spread on a skewer,

‘Spitchcock’d like a salted eel’, Cotton, Burlesque (Poems, p. 222);

Cartwright, The Ordinary, ii. 1, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 239. Hence

_spitchcock_, a spitchcocked eel, Northward Ho, i. 1 (Chamberlain). See

Dict. (s.v. Spitch-cock).

=spitter,= ‘Among Hunters, a red Male Deer near two Years old, whose

Horns begin to grow up sharp, and spit-wise; it is also call’d a Brocket

or Pricket’, Phillips, Dict., ed. 1706; ‘_Subulo_, an hart havyng hornes

without tynes, called (as I suppose) a spittare’, Elyot, 1559. Applied

to a full-grown stag by Golding, Metam. x. 117; fol. 121 (1603). Cp. G.

_spiesser_, a brocket, a buck of the second year (Grieb-Schröer).

=spittle;= see =spital.=

=splay,= to display, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 93. 13; ‘Hys banners

splaide’, and ‘Our ensignes splayde’, Gascoigne (Nares). Cp. E.

_splay-foot_, see Dict. (s.v. Splay).

=splay,= to castrate, Meas. for M. ii. 1. 249 (mod. edd. _spay_). In

Shropshire heifers are _splayed_ to make them barren (EDD.).

=spleen.= The organ of the body viewed as the seat of emotions and

passions; impetuosity, eagerness, ‘The spleen of fiery dragons’, Richard

III, v. 3. 350; malice, hatred, ‘I have no spleen against you’, Hen.

VIII, ii. 4. 89; a fit of passion,’ A hair-brained Hotspur, governed by

a spleen’, 1 Hen. IV, v. 2. 19; any sudden impulse or fit beyond the

control of reason, esp. a fit of laughter, ‘Thy silly thought enforces

my spleen’, L. L. L. iii. 77; a caprice, ‘A thousand spleens bear her a

thousand ways’, Ven. and Ad. 907. See Schmidt.

=splent,= a lath, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 122. 10; ‘Splent for an

house, _laite_’, Palsgrave. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Splint,

sb.^{1} 2). ME. _splente_ (Prompt. EETS. 429).

=splent,= ‘a kind of hard swelling, without Pain, that grows on the Bone

of a Horse’s Leg’, Phillips, Dict., 1706; Greene, Looking Glasse, i (p.

120).

=sploach,= a ‘splotch’, a blot. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-master, v. 1

(Don Diego). ‘Splotch’ is in common prov. use (EDD.).

=spondil,= one of the vertebrae of the spine; ‘The spondils of his

back’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Tuck). Gk. (Ionic) σπόνδυλος,

(Attic) σφόνδυλος, a vertebra.

=spooks-make,= interpreter; ‘Of Gods the spooks-make’ (= L. _interpres

Divum_), Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 373. _Spooks-make_ =

_spokes-make_. ‘Spoke’ is in prov. use for talk, conversation (EDD.);

‘make’ is still in prov. use, meaning a companion. See =make.=

=spoom,= to sail before the wind. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 96;

Beaumont and Fl., Double Marriage, ii. 1 (Master).

=spoon-meat,= broth. Middleton, The Witch, iv. 1 (Almachildes).

=spoorn,= some kind of hobgoblin. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate);

Denham Tracts (ed. 1895, ii. 77); _the spoorne_, Scot, Disc. Witches,

153.

=spousayles,= a marriage, wedding. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c.

12, § 2 (ed. Croft, ii. 142); _spousals_, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv.

407. OF. _espousailles_; L. _sponsalia_, pl.

=sprag,= quick, alert. Merry Wives, iv. 1. 84. In prov. use in the north

country, Worc. and the west (EDD.). ‘Sprag’ is a later form of ‘sprack’,

in common prov. use in various parts of England. Cp. Norw. dial.

_spræk_, fresh, lively (Aasen).

=spraints,= the dung of the otter, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 73, p. 201;

_sprayntes_, id., c. 37, p. 98; Maister of Game, c. 11; Howell, Parl. of

Beasts, 8 (Davies, 162). In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). [C.

Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xviii.] F. ‘_esprainctes_, _espreinctes_, dung

of the otter’ (Cotgr.); _épreintes_ de la loutre (Hatzfeld). OF.

_espreindre_, to press out, L. _exprimere_.

=sprent,= _pp._ sprinkled. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 45. In prov. use in

Scotland and the north country (EDD.). ME. _spreynd_, also _spreynt_,

sprinkled (Wyclif, Heb. ix. 13; Rev. xix. 13), pp. of _sprengen_, to

sprinkle, OE. _sprengan_.

=spring.= _A spring garden_, a garden in which a concealed spring was

made to spout jets of water over a visitor, when he trod upon a

particular spot. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Pt. I, sc. 1

(Sophocles).

=spring,= a dance-tune. Fletcher, Prophetess, v. 3 (3 Shepherd). In

prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Spring, 9). ME. _spring_, a merry

dance (Chaucer, Hous Fame, 1235).

=spring-halt,= a lameness in which a horse twitches up his leg.

Hen. VIII, i. 3. 13.

=spring:= _a spring of pork_, the lower part of the fore-quarter,

divided from the neck. Fletcher, The Prophetess, i. 3. 7. In prov. use

in Northants (EDD.). See Nares.

=spring,= the young growth in a wood, a copse, a grove; ‘The nightingale

among the thick-leav’d spring’, Fletcher, Faithful Sheph. v. 1; Fairfax,

Tasso, xiii. 35; ‘In yonder spring of roses’, Milton, P. L. ix. 218; a

young shoot of a tree, Lucrece, 950; _fig._ a youth, lad, ‘Being yong

and yet a very spring’, Mirrour for Mag., Northumberland, st. 4;

Spenser, Muiopotmos, 292. ‘Spring’ is in prov. use for young growth, the

undergrowth of wood; a copse, a grove (EDD.).

=springal,= a youth. Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 6; Beaumont and Fl., Laws of

Candy, iii. 2 (Cassilane); _springald_, id., Knt. of B. Pestle, ii. 2;

‘Springald, _adolescens_’, Levins, Manip. See EDD. (s.v. Springald).

=spruntly,= smartly, sprucely. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, iv. 1 (Lady T.).

The adj. is in prov. use (EDD.).

=spurblind,= ‘purblind’, nearly blind. Lyly, Sapho, ii. 2 (Phao).

Halliwell says that the word was used by Latimer.

=spurling,= a smelt. Tusser, Husbandry, § 12, st. 5; Gascoigne,

Supposes, ii. 4 (Carion). ME. _sperlynge_, ‘sperlingus’ (Cath. Angl.);

F. _esperlan_, a smelt (Cotgr.).

=spur-ryal, spur-royal,= a gold coin, worth about fifteen shillings;

also called a _royal_ or _ryal_. It had a star on the reverse resembling

a rowel of a spur (Nares). Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, i. 1 (Young

Loveless); Mayne, City Match, ii. 3 (Aurelia).

=spyon, spion,= a scout, in an army; ‘Captain of the Spyons’, Heywood,

Four Prentises (Guy), vol. ii, p. 242. F. ‘_espion_, a spy, scout;

_espier_, to spy’ (Cotgr.).

=spyrre,= to ask, inquire. Morte Arthur, leaf 416, back, 36; bk. xxi, c.

8. Cp. ‘spur’ in use in the north country for publishing or _asking_ the

banns of matrimony in church, see EDD. (s.v. Spur, vb.^{2}). ME.

_speren_, to ask (Barbour’s Bruce, see Gloss.). OE. _spyrian_, to

inquire into.

=squall,= a term of endearment; ‘The rich gull gallant calls her deare

and love, Ducke, lambe, squall, sweet-heart, cony, and his dove’,

Taylor, 1630 (Nares); Middleton, Mich. Term, iii. 1 (Hellgill); Five

Gallants, iv. 2. 3; used as a term of reproach, ‘_Obereau_, a young minx

or little proud squal’, Cotgrave; also, applied to a man as a term of

contempt, Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune (in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi.

199). See Halliwell.

=squander,= to scatter, disperse, Merch. Ven. i. 3. 32; Dryden, Annus

Mirab., st. 67. In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England

(EDD.).

=square,= rule, exact conduct; ‘I have not kept my square’, Ant. and Cl.

ii. 3. 6; ‘Never breaks square’ (i.e. never gives offence), Middleton,

The Widow, ii (end).

=square,= to quarrel. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 30; Titus And. ii. 1. 100;

Ant. and Cl. ii. 1. 45; Harington, Ariosto, xiv. 72; id., Ep. i. 37; a

quarrel, Promos and Cass. ii. 4 (Nares). Hence _squarer_, a quarreller,

Much Ado, i. 1. 82. Also, a squadron, ‘Our squares of battle’, Hen. V,

iv. 2. 28; ‘Squares of war’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 11. 40. Cp. O. Prov.

_esqueira_, ‘corps de bataille’ (Levy). Med. L. _squadra_, ‘caterva,

turba, cohors; acies, copiae militares’ (Ducange); cp. Ital. _squadra_,

‘a squadron or troop of men’ (Florio); F. _escadre_ (Cotgr.). See Dict.

(s.vv. Square, Squadron).

=squares.= _How go the squares?_ how goes the game? The reference is to

the chessboard; Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3 (Purge); May, The Old

Couple, iv. 1 (Sir Argent).

=squash,= the shell or pod of peas or beans; an unripe pea-pod. Twelfth

Nt. i. 5. 166; Wint. Tale, i. 2. 161. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v.

Squash, vb.^{1} 3).

=squat,= to squeeze, crush, bruise. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i.

3 (Savourwit). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). OF.

_esquatir_, ‘aplatir, briser’ (Didot). See Dict.

=squelch,= to crush, bruise, strike with a heavy blow. Fletcher, Nice

Valour, v. 1 (Galoshio); a heavy blow, Butler, Hud. i. 2. 836, 933. In

prov. use (EDD.).

=squelter,= to ‘welter’, wallow, roll about; ‘The slaughter’d Trojans

squeltring in their blood’, Locrine, ii. 6. 4.

=squib,= a paltry fellow. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 371. In prov. use in

west Yorks. in the sense of a small dwarfish person, see EDD. (s.v.

Squib, sb.^{2}).

=squib,= used _fig._ for a flashy, futile project or design, Bacon,

Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 195).

=squich,= to move quickly. Marriage of Wit and Science, in Hazlitt’s

Dodsley. ii. 387; to wince, to flinch, Soliman and Perseda, iv.

(Basilisco), id., v. 343. Probably identical with prov. E. _switch_, to

move quickly, see EDD. (s.v. Switch, vb.^{1} 9).