=trye,= select, refined; ‘Of silver trye’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 26. F.

_trié_, pp. of _trier_, to try, to refine.

=tuch;= See =touch= (2).

=tucket,= a particular set of notes on the trumpet used as a signal for

a march (Nares). Also, _tucket-sonance_, Hen. V, iv. 2. 85. Ital.

‘_toccata_ d’un musico, a præludium that cunning musicians use to play,

as it were voluntarily before any set lesson’ (Florio).

=tuff-taffeta,= a kind of silk. Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Gertrude); B. Jonson,

Cynthia’s Revels, iv. 1 (Hedon).

=tumbler,= a kind of greyhound used for coursing rabbits; ‘A nimble

tumbler on a burrowed green’, W. Browne, Brit. Pastorals, ii. 4; B.

Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Tucca). A Linc. word, see EDD. (s.v. Tumbler,

3).

=tumbrel,= a farm-cart used for manure. Marston, Epil. to Pygmalion, 26;

Satire iv. 13. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v.

Tumbril, 1). ME. _tomerel_, a dung-cart (Prompt. EETS. 485, _tumerel_,

494); F. ‘_tombereau_, a tumbrel or dung-cart’ (Cotgr.).

=tumbrel,= a sort of bumboat, unfit for sailing. Fletcher, Woman’s

Prize, iii. 2 (Jaques); iii. 4 (Petruchio).

=tundish,= a funnel; ‘Filling a bottle with a tundish’, Meas. for M.

iii. 2. 182. A ‘tun-bowl’ or a ‘tun-dish’ was a kind of wooden funnel,

like a small bucket, with hoops round it, and a tube at the bottom, used

for pouring liquids into a cask, in use in Northants, see EDD. (s.v.

Tun, sb.^{1} 3 (2)).

=tunnel,= the shaft of a fire-place, chimney. Webster, Devil’s Law-case,

ii. 1 (Crispiano), where _chimney_ means fire-place; _tonnell_, Spenser,

F. Q. ii. 9. 29; ‘Tonnell of a chymney, _tuyau_’, Palsgrave; see Dict.

(s.v. Tunnel); _tonnels_ used _fig._ for nostrils, B. Jonson, Every Man

in Hum. i. 3 (Cob).

=tup,= to cover as a ram. Othello, i. 1. 89; iii. 3. 396. _Tup with_, to

cohabit with, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 33. ‘Tup’ is in

gen. prov. use for a ram in England and Scotland (EDD.).

=turf.= ‘Turfe of a cap, _rebras_’, Palsgrave (_rebras_ means a turning

up, a tucking upwards or inwards); as vb., to make a turned-up edging

for a hat, ‘The steward would have had the velvet-head (of the stag)

. . . to turf his hat withal’, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2 (1

Woodman). ME. _tyrfe_, the rolling back of a sleeve, ‘revolucio’

(Prompt. EETS. 483, see note, no. 2350); _tirven_, to roll back

(Havelok, 603).

=turgion,= the name of a dance. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, §

12. F. ‘_tourdion_, a turning, or winding about; also, the dance tearmed

a round’ (Cotgr.); O. Prov. _tordion_, ‘sorte de danse’ (Levy). From OF.

_tordre_, to twist. See Croft’s note on the word in the Glossary.

=Turk.= ‘A valiant Turk, though not worth tenpence’, Middleton, A Fair

Quarrel, iii. 1 (1 Friend); _a Turk of tenpence_ (a term of abuse),

Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4 (Ithamore).

=turken,= to wrest, distort; ‘It turkeneth all things at pleasure’,

Gascoigne. Steel Glass (ed. Arber, 37); _turquened_, pp., id., Pref. to

Poesies; ed. Hazlitt, i. 5.

=turkis,= the gem turquoise. Milton, Comus, 894. See Dict.

=turm,= a troop. Milton, P. R. iii. 66. L. _turma_.

=turment,= a warlike engine; ‘Turmentes of warre’, Sir T. Elyot,

Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 3. OF. _torment_, _tourment_ (Godefroy). Med.

L. _tormentum_, a machine for hurling missiles (Ducange).

=turnbroch,= a turnspit. _Turnebroche_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 80. 2. F.

_tourne-broche_, a turn-spit, a dog used for turning a spit.

=Turnbull Street,= a street in Clerkenwell noted for thieves and bad

characters. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, ii. 2 (2 Promoter). See Nares.

=turnpike,= a turnstile that revolved on the top of a post, and was

furnished with pikes. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (Picklock).

Also, a revolving frame of pikes, set in a narrow passage to obstruct an

enemy, Shirley, Honoria, i. 2 (Alamode).

=turquen;= see =turken.=

=turquet,= (perhaps) a puppet dressed as a Turk. Bacon, Essay 37.

=turquois,= a quiver; ‘A _turquoys_ that was full of arowes’, Caxton,

Hist. Troye, leaf 299, back, 3. OF. _turquois_, _turquais_, Med. L.

_turcasia_, ‘pharetra’ (Ducange); also Norm. F. _tarchais_ (Wace), F.

_tarquai_s (15th cent.). Med. Gk. ταρκάσιον, a quiver; Arab, _tarkâsh_,

of Persian origin, see Dozy, Glossaire, 250. The mod. F. form is

_carquois_.

=tusk,= to thrust into or beat bushes, to drive out game; ‘Make them

tuske these woodes’, Lyly, Gallathea, iv. 1 (Telusa).

=tutch;= See =touch= (2).

=tutsan, tutsain,= all-heal; a species of St. John’s wort; _Hypericum

Androsaemum_; ‘The healing tutsan’, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 204; ‘Of tutsan

or parke-leaues’, Lyte, tr. of Dodoens, bk. i, c. 45. It was considered

a panacea for wounds. F. _tutsan_, ‘tutsan, Park-leaves’ (Cotgr.);

_Toute-saine_, ‘Arbrisseau ainsi nommé, parce que ses feuilles, ses

racines, sa semence sont fort utiles en Médecine’ (Dict. de l’Acad.,

1786).

=tutt,= a mark; ‘I toucht no tutt’, Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 94.

‘Tut(t’ is in prov. use in Yorks. for a mark, bound, a stopping place in

the game of rounders, see EDD. (s.v. Tut, sb.^{7} 2).

=tutty,= a nosegay. T. Campion, Bk. of Airs, i. 20 (Wks., ed. Bullen, p.

62); ‘Tutty or Tuzzimuzzy, an old word for a nosegay’, Phillips, 1706.

In common use in the south-west: Hants., Wilts., Dorset, Somerset and

Devon (EDD.). See Prompt. EETS., note, no. 2353 on the word ‘Tytetuste’.

=twagger,= a fat lamb. Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1. 9. A Sussex word for

a lamb (EDD.).

=twankle,= to twangle, to play upon a harp; ‘And twancling makes them

tune’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vi. 646. Cp. _twangling_, Tam. Shrew, ii.

159. ‘Twankle’ is a Warw. word (EDD.).

=tweak,= a prostitute. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Chough).

=tweche:= phr. _to keep tweche_, to keep touch, perform a promise.

Wever, Lusty Juventus, 1. 7; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 47. See EDD.

(s.v. Twitch, vb.^{3}).

=tweer;= see =twire.=

=twelve:= phr. _upon twelve_, near twelve o’clock; near the dinner-hour;

‘My stomacke is now much upon twelve’, Heywood, Witches of Lancs., i. 1

(Whetstone); vol. iv, p. 175.

=twelvepenny-stool gentlemen,= gentlemen who were allowed to sit upon a

stool upon the stage itself on payment of 12_d._ Middleton, Roaring

Girl, ii. 1 (Mis. T.).

=twibill,= a double-bladed battle-axe. Spelt _twibbil_; Stanyhurst. tr.

of Aeneid, ii. 490 (L. _bipenni_, ii. 479). Still in prov. use for a

double-headed axe. see EDD. (s.v. Twybill). OE. _twibill_, a two-edged

axe (Sweet). See =twybill.=

=twig,= to do anything strenuously, to press (forward); ‘And twigging

forth apace . . . the Egle flue’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 247. A

Yorks. expression, see EDD. (s.v. Twig, vb.^{1} 6).

=twigger,= a wanton person, a wencher, Marlowe, Dido, iv. 5. 21;

orig. perhaps applied to a ram, Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 28.

=twiggen,= made of osiers; cased with osiers or wicker-work; ‘A large

basket or twiggen panier’, Holland, tr. of Pliny, b. xvii, c. 10, 5 § 1;

Othello, ii. 3. 152. A Warw. word (EDD.).

=twight,= to ‘twit’, upbraid. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 12. ME. _atwite_, to

reproach (Laȝamon). OE. _ætwītan_.

=twight,= to twitch, to pull suddenly; ‘No bit nor rein his tender jawes

may twight’, Mirror for Mag. (Nares); used as pt. t. of _twitch_,

touched, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 259 (L. _tetigit_). ME. _twykkyn_,

‘tractulo’ (Prompt.). OE. _twiccian_, to pluck, catch hold of.

=twin,= to separate one from the other. The World and the Child, in

Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 244. So in Scotch use: ‘We should never twin

again, except heaven twin’d and sundered us’, Rutherford’s Life (ed.

1761), 234, see EDD. (s.v. Twin, vb.^{2} 2).

=twin,= _to be twinned_, to be closely united like twins; ‘True liberty

. . . which always with right reason dwells twinned’, Milton, P. L. xii.

85; B. Jonson, Hue and Cry after Cupid (Vulcan).

=twink,= a twinkling. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 312; phr. _with a twink_, in a

moment, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2 (Marcella). ‘In a twink’ is in use in

various parts of England and Scotland, meaning in the shortest possible

space of time (EDD.). ME. _twynkyn_ wyth the eye, ‘nicto’ (Prompt.).

=twire,= to peep, to peep at intervals, to take a stolen glance at a

thing; ‘When sparkling stars twire not’, Sonnet xxviii; ‘To see the

common parent of us all, Which maids will twire at ’tween their

fingers’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud); Drayton, Pol. xiii. 169;

spelt _tweer_, ‘The tweering constable’, Middleton, Father Hubberd’s

Tales (ed. Dyce, v. 594). A Wilts. and Berks. word, ‘How he did twire

and twire at she!’ (EDD.). Cp. Germ. dial. (Bavarian) _zwi_(_e_)_ren_,

to take a stolen glance at a thing (Schmeller).

=twire pipe,= a term of abuse; ‘An ass, a twire pipe, a Jeffery John

Bo-peep’, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iii. 1 (Thomas). For _twire_, see

above; _pipe_ may be identified with the Yorks. word _pipe_, to glance

at stealthily, see EDD. (s.v. Pipe, vb.^{2}) = F. _piper_, ‘to peke or

prie’ (Palsgrave). See Dict. (s.v. Peep, 2). So that _twire pipe_ is a

reduplicated word meaning a sly peeper.

=twissell,= the part of a tree where the branches divide from the stock;

‘As from a tree we sundrie times espie A _twissell_ grow by Nature’s

subtile might’, Turbervile, The Lover wisheth to be conjoined, st. 6.

See EDD. (s.v. Twizzle, 8). OE. _twislian_, to fork, branch (Hom. ii.

117); ‘twisil tunge’ (double tongue, Ecclus. v. 14).

=twitch-box,= said to be the same as _touch-box_, a box containing

powder for _priming_; to _prime_ was to put a little gunpowder into the

pan of an old-fashioned fire-arm. ‘Thy flask [powder-flask] and

twitch-box’, Damon and Pithias, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 67. See

=touch-box.=

=twitter-light,= twilight. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, v. 1 (2

Court.); Mere Dissemblers, iii. 1 (Dondolo). Cp. the Yorks. expression,

‘He came about the twitter of day’, see EDD. (s.v. Twitter, sb.^{4} 10).

=twone,= twined; pp. of _twine_. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, ii. 1. 7;

_twon_, id., Sophonisba, iii. 1 (first stage-direction).

=twybill,= a kind of mattock or double axe. Drayton, Pol. xviii. 77. See

=twibill.=

=tyall,= a bell-pull, string, cord; ‘The greate belles clapper was

fallen doune, the _tyal_ was broken’, Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p.

172). See =tial.=

=tydie,= some small bird, a titmouse (?), Drayton, Pol. xiii. 79. ME

_tidif_ (_tydif_), a small bird, perhaps the titmouse (Chaucer, Leg. G.

W. 154).

=tyne;= see =tine.=

=tyran, tyranne,= a tyrant. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 98. Hence,

_tyranning_, acting the part of a tyrant, F. Q. iv. 7. 1. F. _tyran_, L.

_tyrannus_, Gk. τύραννος.

=tysant,= barley-water. Turbervile, Of the divers and contrarie Passions

of his Love, st. 2. ME. _tysane_, ‘ptisana’ (Prompt.). F. ‘_tisanne_,

barly water’ (Cotgr.), L. _ptisana_, pearl-barley, barley-water (Pliny),

Gk. πτισάνη, peeled barley, barley-water (Hippocrates).

U

=ubblye;= see =obley.=

=uberous,= fertile. Middleton, Mayor of Queenb. ii. 3 (Hengist). L.

_ūber_, fertile.

=ugsome,= frightful, horrible. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii, l. 1007. Hence

_ugsomnes_, terror, ‘The horrour and ugsomenes of death’, Latimer,

Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 185). These words are still in common prov. use

with these meanings in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Ug). ME.

_ugsom_, frightful (Dest. Troy, 877).

=ulen-spiegel;= see =owl-spiegle.=

=umbecast,= to consider, ponder. Morte Arthur, leaf 382, back, 25; bk.

xviii, c. 21. ME. _umbecast_; ‘In his hert can umbecast’ (Barbour’s

Bruce, v. 552). The prefix is _umbe_, OE. _ymbe_, around (see Wars

Alex., Glossary).

=umbered,= embrowned with umber. Hen. V, v, Chorus, 9.

=umberere;= see =umbriere.=

=umbles,= the ‘numbles’, the entrails of a deer; ‘The umblis of

venyson’, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1240; Holinshed, i. 204 (Nares);

_fig._ used for a man’s bodily parts, ‘Faith, a good well-set fellow, if

his spirit Be answerable to his umbles’, Middleton, Roaring Girl, iii. 1

(Trapdoor). See =numbles.=

=umbrana,= a delicate fish. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 1 (Duke).

Nares says: ‘The name of a fish, called also _umbra_; in English,

_umber_ or _grayling_; the _Salmo thymullus_ of Linnaeus.’ Ital.

_ombrina_, ‘an ombre or grailing’ (Baretti), cp. F. ‘_umbre_, an ombre,

or grayling’ (Cotgr.). Mod. L. _umbrae_, ‘tymalli, pisces Hibernis

familiares’ (Ducange). Cp. σκίαινα, the name of a sea-fish (Aristotle).

=umbratical,= secluded; applied to teachers who wrote in their own

studies; ‘The umbratical doctors’, B. Jonson, Discoveries, lvii. L.

_umbraticus doctor_, a private tutor (Petronius).

=umbratil,= belonging to the shade; private, secluded. B. Jonson,

Magnetic Lady, iii. 3 (Compass). L. _umbratilis vita_, a retired,

contemplative life (Cicero).

=umbriere,= the movable visor of a helmet. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 42;

iv. 4. 44; spelt _umberere_, Morte Arthur, leaf 169, back, 7; bk. viii,

ch. 41 (end). O. Prov. _ombriera_, that which gives shade, a tree giving

shade (Levy), deriv. of _ombra_, shade, L. _umbra_.

=un-,= negative prefix. Often used where mod. E. has _in-_; as in

_un-constant_, _un-firm_, _un-ordinate_; all in Shakespeare. So also

North has _un-honest_ for _dis-honest_, _un-possible_, _un-satiable_.

=unavoided,= irrefutable. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, v. 1 (Physician).

=unbe,= to cease to be. Nero, iii. 3. 26.

=unbid,= without a prayer. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 54.

=unbolted,= unsifted, coarse. King Lear, ii. 2. 71. Cp. _bolt_, ‘to sift

flour through a sieve or fine cloth’, in prov. use in the north down to

Derbyshire. OF. _buleter_, to sift (Hatzfeld, s.v. Bluter).

=uncandied,= dissolved out of a candied or solid condition, Two Noble

Kinsmen, i. 1. 115. Cp. _discandy_, Ant. and Cl. iv. 12. 22.

=uncape;= ‘I warrant we’ll unkennel the fox. Let me stop this way

first—so now uncape,’ Merry Wives, iii. 3. 176. Meaning doubtful. Here

are three conjectures: (1) to uncouple (hounds) so Schmidt; (2) to dig

out the fox when earthed (Warburton); (3) to turn the fox out of the bag

(Steevens).

=uncase,= to undress. L. L. L. v. 2. 707; Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 212.

=uncharge,= to acquit from a charge. Hamlet, iv. 7. 68. _Uncharged_,

pp., unassailed, Timon, v. 4. 55.

=unchary,= not careful, heedless. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 222.

=unclew,= to unwind from a clew; hence, _fig._ to undo, to ruin. Timon,

i. 1. 168.

=uncoined,= not minted; hence, not used as common coin, unconventional,

simple. Hen. V, v. 2. 161.

=uncouth,= unknown, unusual, strange, Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 20; iii. 4.

51; Shep. Kal., Sept., 60. Still in prov. use in this sense in the north

country (EDD.). ME. _uncouth_, strange, uncommon (Chaucer, C. T. A.

2497). OE. _uncūð_, unknown, strange (John x. 5).

=underfong,= to undertake a work, labour, task; ‘And looser songs of

love to underfong’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 22; id., June, 103; to

receive, to take surreptitiously, F. Q. v. 2. 7; _underfang_, Mirror for

Mag., Morindus, st. 6. ME. _underfongyn_, ‘suscipio’ (Prompt.). OE.

_underfōn_, to receive, to undertake a task (B. T.); pp. _underfangen_.

See Dict. M. and S. (s.vv. Underfon _and_ Underfangen).

=undergo,= to experience; to endure with firmness, Cymbeline, iii. 2. 7;

to suffer, put up with, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 133; to partake of, to enjoy,

Meas. for M. i. 1. 24; to take upon oneself, to undertake, Two Gent. v.

4. 42; to be subject to, ‘Claudio undergoes my challenge’, Much Ado, v.

2. 57.

=undermeal,= a slight afternoon meal. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 1

(Cokes). See EDD. (s.v. Undern). ME. _undermele_, ‘post meridies’

(Prompt. EETS. 508); _undermele tyde_ (Trevisa, tr. Higden, v. 373);

_undermeles_, afternoons (Chaucer, C. T. D. 875); _undern_ + _mele_;

_undern_, the time between noon and sunset. OE. _undern_. See Dict. M.

and S. (s.v. Undern).

=underset,= to support, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 146). ME.

_undersettyn_ or underschoryn, ‘fulcio, suffulcio’ (Prompt. EETS.).

=undertaker,= a contractor; ‘Let not the government of the plantation

depend upon too many . . . undertakers in the country that planteth’,

Bacon, Essay 33; one who takes upon himself a task or business, Twelfth

Nt. iii. 4. 349; Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 78. Cp. Othello, iv. 1. 224.

=undertime,= afternoon, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 13. For _undern-time_.

See =undermeal.=

=underwork,= to work secretly against any one; _underwrought_, pp.,

undermined. King John, ii. 1. 96.

=uneath, unneath,= scarcely, hardly, with difficulty. Spenser, F. Q. i.

9. 38; i. 10. 31; i. 11. 4; 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 8; _unnethes_, Shep. Kal.,

Jan., 6. ME. _uneth_ (_unneth_) scarcely (Wars Alex. 2060, 4801), also

_unethes_ (_unnethes_), id., 4078, 4437; also in Chaucer, see Glossary.

OE. _unēaðe_ (Gen. xxvii. 30). See Dict. M. and S. (s v. Uneaðe).

=unequal,= unjust. B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 1 (Mosca); Massinger, Emp.

of the East, v. 2 (Theodosius); Ant. and Cl. ii. 5. 101; 2 Hen. IV, iv.

1. 102; BIBLE, Ezek. xviii. 25 (_unequal_ = Vulg. _pravus_). See Trench,

Sel. Gl. See =equal.=

=unexpressive,= inexpressible. As You Like it, iii. 2. 10; Milton,

Christ’s Nativity, 116; Lycidas, 176.

=unfolding;= ‘The unfolding star calls up the shepherd’, Meas. for M.

iv. 2. 218. The star that by its rising tells the shepherd that it is

time to release the sheep from the fold. [So Collins in his Ode to

Evening, 72, refers to the evening-star as the _folding-star_, the star

rising at folding time: ‘When thy folding-star arising shows His paly

circlet’; cp. Shelley in Hellas, 221, ‘The powers of earth and air Fled

from the folding star of Bethlehem’.]

=unhappily,= unfortunately, with regret be it said. Meas. for M. i. 2.

160; mischievously, with evil result, Lucrece, 8; evilly, King Lear, i.

2. 157; Sonnet 66.

=unhappy,= mischievous, evil, trickish, All’s Well, iv. 5. 66;

ill-omened, Cymb. v. 5. 153; wicked, Peele, Battle of Alcazar, Prologue;

waggish, Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii. 2 (Olympia); unfortunate, Spenser,

F. Q. i. 2. 22.

=unhatched,= unhacked, not blunted by blows. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 257;

_unhatcht_, unmarked, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, ii. 5 (Oriana).

See =hatched.=

=unhatched,= not hatched, not yet brought to light. Hamlet, i. 3. 65;

Othello, iii. 4. 141.

=unhele, unheale,= to uncover. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 64; iv. 5. 10;

Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (near end). See =heal= (to cover).

=unherse,= to take down (arms) from the ‘hearse’, or temporary stand on

which they were placed; part of the ceremony of _baffling_. Spenser, F.

Q. v. 3. 37. See =hearse.=

=unhouseled,= without having received the last sacrament. Hamlet, i. 5.

77. Deriv. of ME. _housel_ (P. Plowman, B. xix. 390); OE. _hūsl_

(_hūsel_), the consecrated bread in the Eucharist (Ælfric), Goth.

_hunsl_, ‘sacrificium’ (Matt. ix. 13). See Dict. (s.v. Housel).

=unicorn’s horn,= a supposed antidote to poison. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out

of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo). ‘This beast in countenance is cruell and wilde,

and yet notwithstanding mixed with a certaine sweetnes or amiablenes.

His horne is of a merveilous greate force and vertue against Venome and

poyson,’ Blundevile, Exercises; see Bible Word-Book (s.v. Unicorn).

=unimproved,= not yet used for advantage. Hamlet, i. 1. 96. See

=improve.=

=union,= a fine pearl. Hamlet, v. 2. 283; Kyd, Soliman, ii. 1. 231.

Anglo-F. _union_ (Bestiary, 1482); see Rough List; L. _unio_, a single

pearl of a large size.

=unjust,= dishonest. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 2. 30; BIBLE, Luke xvi. 8.

=unkind,= unnatural. Spenser, F. Q., iii. 2. 43; King Lear, iii. 4. 73.

=unlast,= _pp._ of _unlace_, to unfasten. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 39.

=unlefull,= forbidden. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 61. See =lefull.=

=unlived,= deprived of life. Lucrece, 1754.

=unmanned,= unaccustomed to man, untamed, as a hawk. B. Jonson, Sad

Shepherd, iii. 2 (Karol); Romeo, iii. 2. 14.

=unmorris’d,= not dressed like a morris-dancer. Fletcher, Women Pleased,

iv. 1 (Soto).

=un-napt,= not provided with nap, as cloth; hence, unfurnished,

unprovided. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, i. 1. 17.

=unnethes;= see =uneath.=

=unowed,= unowned. King John, iv. 3. 147.

=unperegall,= unequalled. Marston, Dutch Courtezan, iv. 5 (end). See

=peregall.=

=unpregnant,= unapt for business. Meas. for M. iv. 4. 23; _unpregnant

of_, having no intelligent sense of, Hamlet, ii. 2. 595. See =pregnant=

(2).

=unqueat,= unquiet, disquieted. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iii, ch. 16,

st. 65. See =queat.=

=unquestionable,= averse from conversation, uncommunicative. As You Like

It, iii. 2. 393.

=unquod,= unusual, strange; ‘Vnquod manor of crueltee’, Udall, tr. of

Apoph., Augustus, § 59. A contaminated form, see EDD. (s.vv. Uncouth and

Unkid). In _unkid_ the _-kid_ = OE. (_ge_)_cȳdd_, contraction of

_cȳðed_, pp. of _cȳðan_, to make known. See =uncouth.=

=unready,= not fully dressed. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 1. 39; _to make unready_,

to undress, Fletcher, Island Princess, iii. 8. 13. See Nares.

=unrecovered,= irrecoverable. Chapman, Iliad ix, 247.

=unreduct,= unreduced. Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 1 (Gerardine).

=unreproved,= irreproachable. Chapman, Iliad i, 87; ii, 785.

=unrespective,= devoid of consideration, unthinking. Richard III, iv. 2.

29; used at random, without consideration, Tr. and Cr. ii. 2. 71.

=unrude,= rough, violent. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum., iv. 1. Cp.

the obs. Scottish _unrude_ (hideous, horrible, vile), given in Jamieson

(EDD.). ME. _unrüde_ (Stratmann); _unride_ (_unrode_), cruel, rough,

wanton (Wars Alex.). OE. _ungerȳde_, rough, violent, cp. _ungerȳdu_,

‘aspera’ (Luke iii. 5).

=unseeled,= not fastened up, opened; applied to the eyes. B. Jonson,

Catiline, i. 1 (Cethegus). See =seel.=

=unshed,= not carefully parted; said of hair. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 40.

‘To shed’ is in prov. use in the north country for making a parting in

the hair of the head (EDD.). ME. _scheden_, to separate, to part the

hair; _schede_, the parting of a man’s hair (Cath. Angl.); OE. _scēada_,

the top of the head, parting of the hair, _scēadan_, to part, to make a

line of separation between (B. T.). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Scheden).

=unstanched,= (of thirst) insatiable. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 6. 83.

=unsuffered,= insufferable. Chapman, Iliad iii, 6.

=untappice,= to come out of hiding; ‘Now I’ll untappice’, Massinger, A

Very Woman, iii. 5 (Antonio). See =tappish.=

=untempering,= not having a modifying or softening influence. Hen. V, v.

2. 241; _temper_, to fashion, mould, Richard III, i. 1. 65; Titus, iv.

4. 109. L. _temperare_, to temper, moderate, qualify.

=untented,= not to be probed by a ‘tent’; hence, incurable. King Lear,

i. 4. 322. See Dict. (s.v. Tent, 2).

=untermed,= interminable, endless. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, iii. 3

(Duke).

=untewed,= not dressed like hemp; hence, not combed out, said of a

sheep’s fleece. Lyly, Endimion, ii. 2 (Sir Tophas). See =tew= (2).

=unthrift,= prodigal, wasteful. Timon, iv. 3. 311; a prodigal,

good-for-nothing person, Richard II, ii. 3. 122. Cp. the Yorks.

expression, ‘He’s a desperate unthrift’, for a thriftless squanderer, a

good-for-nothing person (EDD.).

=untraded,= not commonly used. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 178. See =trade.=

=untrussed,= partially undressed, with the laces of his hose untied.

Middleton, The Witch, v. 1. 2.

=untwight,= untouched. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 345; spelt _ontwight_

(L. _incolumis_), id., ii. 88. See =twight= (2).

=unvalued,= inestimable, invaluable. Richard III, i. 4. 27; Fletcher,

Valentinian, i. 2. 19.

=unwappered,= not jaded, not worn out. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 10.

‘Wappered’ is a Glouc. word, ‘Thy horse is wappered out’, i.e. tired

out, quite jaded (EDD.).

=unwares,= unawares, unexpectedly. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 18;

undesignedly, 3 Hen. VI, ii. 5. 62; _at unwares_, unexpectedly,

Gascoigne (ed. Hazlitt, i. 434).

=unwary,= unexpected. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 25. The usual ME. form was

_unwar_; as in Chaucer, used as an adj. unexpected, and as an adv.

unexpectedly.

=unwist,= unknown, unsuspected. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 26. ME. _unwist_,

unknown (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1294).

=unwreaken,= unavenged. Tancred and Gismunda, v. 2 (Gismunda); in

Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 86. ME. _wreken_, pp. avenged; _wreke_, to

avenge (Chaucer), OE. _wrecan_, pp. _ge_)_wrecen_.

=upbraid,= a reproach; ‘He . . . with his mind had known Much better the

upbraids of men’, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, vi. 389. ME. _upbreyd_, a

reproach (Handlyng Synne, 5843). See Dict.

=upbray,= to ‘upbraid’, reproach. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 45. In prov. use

in north Yorks. (EDD.).

=uphild,= _pp._ upheld. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 21.

=uppen,= to ‘open’, reveal, relate. Golding, Metam. xii. 162; fol. 145,

l. 5 (1603). Cp. the E. Anglian expressions, ‘You didn’t uppen it, did

ye? Be sewer don’t uppen it ta nobody’, where ‘uppen’ means to disclose,

reveal (EDD.).

=upright men,= ‘vagabonds who were strong enough to be chiefs or

magistrates among their fellows; one of the twenty-four orders of

beggars’ (Aydelotte, p. 27). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 2; Harman,

Caveat (New Shaks. Soc, p. 34).

=upsey,= in the following combinations: _Upsey-Dutch_, in the Dutch

fashion, B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 4 (Subtle), whence the phr. _to drink

upsey Dutch_, to drink to excess, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii 1. 3;

_Upsey-Freeze_, in the Frisian fashion, The Shrift (Nares); Dekker,

Belman; id., Seven Deadly Sins (Nares); _Upsey-English_, in the English

way, Beaumont and Fl., Beggar’s Bush, iv. 4 (Higgen). [Cp. ‘Drink upsees

out’, in the Soldier’s Song in Scott’s Lady of the Lake, vi. 5.] Du. _op

zyn_: _op zyn Engelsch_, after the English fashion (Sewel, s.v. Op). Du.

_zyn_ (now spelt _zin_) = G. _sinn_, sense, meaning.

=upsitting,= a festival when a woman sits up after her confinement.

Westward Ho, v. 1 (Mist. Tenterhook); Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1

(Oldrents); Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, ii. 1 (Valere); ‘_Relevailles

d’une femme_, the upsitting’, Cotgrave.

=upspring,= the name of a dance. Hamlet, i. 4. 9; ‘An Almain and an

upspring’, Chapman, Alphonsus, iii. 1 (Bohemia).

=ure,= operation, action. Esp. in phr. _to put in ure_, Ferrex and

Porrex, iv. 2 (Porrex); Greene. Alphonsus, Prol. (Venus). OF. _ure_,

_eure_, L. _opera_, work, action. See Dict.

=ure,= destiny; ‘Wherefore he hathe good ure, That can hymselfe assure

Howe fortune wyll endure,’ Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1003. Hence, as vb.

_to be ured_, to be invested with as by a decree of fate, ‘Men nowe a

dayes so unhappely be uryd’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 6. See =eure.=

=usance,= interest paid for money, Merch. Ven. i. 3. 46. A rare meaning

of the word; it gen. means the same as ‘usage’. ME. _usaunce_, custom

(Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 683). Norm. F. _usance_, ‘usage, mise en pratique,

exercice d’un pouvoir’ (Moisy).

=uses,= practical applications of doctrines; a term affected by the

Puritans, and ridiculed by the dramatists. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady,

iii. 1 (Needle); Massinger, Emp. of the East, iii. 2 (Flaccilla).

=utas,= the period of eight days beginning with a festival; hence,

merriment, festivity; ‘Utas of a feest, _octaves_’, Palsgrave; ‘Old

utis’ (i.e. high merriment), 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 22. ‘Utis’ still survives

in prov. use in Worc. in the sense of noise, din: ‘The hounds kicked up

a deuce of a utis’ (EDD.). Anglo-F. _utaves_ (Rough List); L. _octava_

(_dies_), eighth day; for ecclesiastical use see Dict. Christ. Antiq.

(s.v. Octave). See Dict. (s.v. Utas).

=utter,= to put forth, put in circulation, offer for sale, put on the

market. L. L. L. ii. 1. 16; Romeo, v. 1. 67; Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 330;

Fletcher, Captain, ii. 1 (Jacomo); Sir T. Elyot, Governour, iii. 30, §

2; Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i. 448. Hence _utterance_, sale, ‘There is no

such speedie utterance of rabbets’, Harrison, Descr. of England, bk. ii,

ch. 19 (ed. Furnivall, p. 304).

=utterance:= in phr. _to the utterance_, to the last extremity, Macbeth,

iii. 1. 72. F. _à outrance_; _combat à outrance_, a fight to the death;

deriv. of _outre_, L. _ultra_, beyond.

V

=vacabonde,= a wandering beggar, a ‘vagabond’; ‘Fraternitye of

Vacabondes’, Awdeley (title of book, 1565). Norm. F. _vacabond_,

‘vagabond’ (Moisy); F. ‘_vacabonds_, vagabonds, rogues’ (Cotgr.). See

Dict. (s.vv. Vagabond _and_ Vagrant).

=vacate,= to annul, to make void, to make of no authority; ‘That

after-act vacating the authority of the precedent’, King Charles

(Johnson); to render vain, to frustrate, Dryden, Don Sebastian, ii. 1

(Dorax). Med. L. _vac_(_u_)_are_, ‘inane, irritum et vacuum efficere’

(Ducange), see Rönsch, Vulgata, 171.

=vade,= to vanish, pass away; ‘Their vapour vaded’, Spenser, F. Q. iii.

9. 20; ‘How ever gay their blossome or their blade Doe flourish now,

they into dust shall vade’, id., v. 2. 40; Ruines of Rome, xx; Shaks.

Sonnets, liv. 14; to fade, ‘Upon her head a chaplet stood of never

vading greene’, Niccols, Induction, Mirror for Mag. 559 (Nares); Richard

II, i. 2. 20.

=vah,= an interjection; ‘No, vah! Fie, I scorn it’, Dekker, Shoemakers’

Holiday, v. 1 (Eyre).

=vail,= to lower, to let fall; ‘She vailed her eyelids’, Venus and Ad.

956; Hamlet, i. 2. 70; to bow, to stoop, to do homage, Pericles, iv,

Prol. 29. ME. _avale_, to lower (Gower, C. A. viii. 1619). Anglo-F.

_avaler_, to lower (Gower, Mirour, 10306).

=vails,= _pl._, profits or perquisites that arise to servants besides

their salary or wages. Pericles, ii. 1. 163; Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. iii.

311. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Vail, 2). _Vail_ is a shortened form

for _avail_. ME. _avayle_, ‘profectus, proventus, emolumentum’ (Prompt.

EETS. 17).

=valance,= a fringe of drapery; ‘Rich cloth of tissue and vallance of

black silk’, Strype, Eccles. Mem., Funeral Solemnities of Henry VIII; a

part of bed-hangings, ‘_Valenzana del letto_, the valances of a bed’,

Florio (ed. 1598). Hence _valanced_, fringed, used _fig._ of a beard,

Hamlet, ii. 2. 442. See Dict.

=valew,= valour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29; Harington, tr. Ariosto, xiii.

39. F. ‘_valuë_, worth, goodness’ (Cotgr.).

=valiant,= worth, amounting to in value; ‘Four hundred a year valiant,

worth £400 a year’, Middleton, A Trick to catch, i. 1 (Witgood). F.

_vaillant_, ‘a mans whole estate or worth, all his substance, means,

fortunes’ (Cotgr.). Cp. Med. L. _valens_, ‘valor, pretium’ (Ducange).

=vall,= a vale. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 479. F. ‘_val_, a vale’

(Cotgr.).

=vallies,= ‘valise’. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (near the end). See

Dict.

=valure,= value, worth. Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, p. 506); Pembroke,

Arcadia (Nares); Mirror for Mag. 280; hence, _valurous_, valuable,

Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2 (Tamb.). See Dict. (s.v. Valour).

=vannes,= _pl._ wings, Milton, P. L. ii. 927. Cp. Ital. _vanni_, ‘the

whole wings of any bird’ (Florio).

=vance,= to ‘advance’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 113. 7.

=vantbrace,= the ‘vambrace’, armour for the fore-arm, Milton, Samson,

1121; Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 297. F. _avant-bras_, ‘the part of the arm which

extends from the elbow to the wrist; also, a vambrace armour for an arm’

(Cotgr.).

=vantguard,= the ‘vanguard’, front rank. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 266.

ME. _vaunt-gard_ (Holinshed, Chron. Edw. III, ann. 1346; F.

_avant-garde_, ‘the vanguard of an army’ (Cotgr.).

=vapour,= fume, steam; used, like _humour_, to denote a man’s

characteristic quality, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii (passim). See full

account of this use of the word in Nares (s.v.). Cp. the use of the F.

word _vapeurs_. ‘On appelle _Vapeurs_ dans le corps humain, Les

affections hypocondriaques & hystériques, parce qu’on les croyoit

causées par des fumées élevées de l’estemac ou du bas ventre vers le

cerveau’, Dict. de l’Acad. (ed. 1762).

=vardingale,= a ‘farthingale’. Three Lords and Three Ladies, in

Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 434. This is the form in Cotgrave (s.vv.

Vertugalle and Vertugadin). F. _verdugale_ (Rabelais); ‘sorte de

cerceau, panier ou jupon bouffant pour seutenir les jupes’ (Jannet’s

Gloss.). Span. _verdugado_, ‘a Petticoat . . . set out below with a

small Hoop, below with one wider and so wider and wider down to the

Feet, so that it looks exactly like a Funnel’ (Stevens). See =verdugal.=

=vare,= a wand. Dryden, Absalom, 595. Span. _vára_, a wand (Stevens.)

=vastidity,= immensity. Meas. for M. iii. 1. 69.

=vasty,= vast, spacious. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 52.

=vaunt,= the beginning; ‘Our play leaps o’er the vaunt and firstlings of

those broils’, Tr. and Cr., Prel. 27. _Vaunt-courier_, a forerunner,

King Lear, iii. 2. 25; cp. F. _avant-coureur_, ‘a fore-runner,

avant-curror’ (Cotgr.); see =voward.= F. _avant_, before, used of place

and time.

=vaut,= to ‘vault’, to leap. Ascham, Scholemaster, 64; Drayton, Pol. vi.

51; B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); hence _vawter_, a ‘vaulter’,

tumbler, dancer; used of a wanton woman, Gosson, School of Abuse, 36.

=vease,= a rush, impetus, great effort, force; ‘Forth his vease he set

withall’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 962. See EDD. (s.v. Fease, sb. 6).

ME. _vese_: ‘Ther-out cam a rage and such a vese that it made al the

gates for to rese’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1985); see NED. (s.v. Feeze). See

=feeze.=

=vecture,= carrying, conveying, carriage of goods. Bacon, Essay 15, §

11. L. _vectura_, a carrying, conveying, transportation by carriage or

ship (Cicero).

=veget,= lively, bright; ‘A veget spark’, Cartwright, The Ordinary, iv.

3 (Shape). L. _vegetus_, lively.

=vegetive,= a vegetable. Pericles, iii. 2. 36; Massinger, Old Law, i

(Nares); as adj. ‘The tree still panted in th’ unfinish’d part, Not

wholly vegetive, and heav’d her heart’, Dryden, Ovid, Metam. bk. i

(Daphne).

=velure,= velvet. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 62; _vellure_, Beaumont and Fl.,

Noble Gent. v. 1 (Nares). F. _velours_, velvet; cp. O. Prov. _velos_

(Levy), L. _villosus_, shaggy (Virgil); see Hatzfeld.

=velvet-tip,= the down or velvet upon the first sprouting horns of a

young deer. Ford, Fancies Chaste, iii. 3 (Spadone).

=vena porta,= or _gate-vaine_ (gate-vein), a vein conveying chyle from

the stomach to the liver. Bacon, Essay 19, § 11; 41, § 2. L. _vena_,

vein; _porta_, gate. See =gate-vein.=

=venditation,= ostentatious display. B. Jonson, Discoveries, lxxii, Not.

8 (p. 747). L. _venditatio_, an offering for sale, display; _venditare_,

to offer again and again for sale.

=venerie,= hunting. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 22. ME. _venerye_ (Chaucer, C.

T. A. 166). Anglo-F. _venerie_ (Gower, Mirour, 20314).

=Venetians,= Venetian or Venice hose. Three Ladies of London, in

Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 344; _Venetian-hosen_ (described), Stubbes, Anat.

of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, p. 56).

=vengeable,= revengeful, cruel, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 6, §

3; Spenser, ii. 4. 30, 46; terrible, ‘Magdeburg be vengeable fellows’,

Ascham, Letter to Raven, 381 (Nares); excessively great, ‘Paulus . . .

was a vengible fellow in linking matters together’, Holland’s Camden, p.

78 (Davies); excessively, ‘The drink is vengeable bitter’, Gascoigne,

Glasse Gov. v. 1 (ed. 1870). See EDD.

=vent,= a small inn. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1 (Hostess);

Shelton, tr. Don Quixote, Pt. I. ii. Span. _venta_, an inn (Stevens).

Med. L. _venta_, ‘locus ubi merees venum exponuntur’ (Ducange);

_vendita_, see Ducange (s.v. Venda, 1); deriv. of L. _vendere_, to sell.

=vent,= to vend, sell. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iii. 1. 8; a sale,

Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 146); Tusser, Husbandry, § 19. 27. F.

_vente_, sale. See above.

=vent,= to snuff up or take in the air; to perceive by scent. B. Jonson,

Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); Drayton, Pol. xiii. 118; Spenser, Shep. Kal.,

Feb., 75.

=vent,= to let out, emit, Coriolanus, i. 1. 229; to utter, Ant. and Cl.

iii. 4. 8 (common in Shaks.); to give birth to, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xix.

97.

=ventages,= small holes for the passage of air in a flute or flageolet,

to be stopped with a finger. Hamlet, iii. 2. 372.

=ventanna,= a window. Dryden, Conq. of Granada, I. i. 1 (Boabdelin).

Span. _ventana_.

=ventilate,= _pp._ discussed. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 25, §

3. L. _ventilatus_, pp. of _ventilare_, to winnow grain, to toss grain

into the air in order to cleanse it from chaff (Pliny).

=ventoy,= a fan. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 2. 4. F.

‘_ventau_, a fan’ (Cotgr.).

=ver,= spring. Surrey, Complaint of a Lover, 19 (Tottel’s Misc. 8 and

11); spelt _vere_, ‘The rotys take theyr sap in tyme of vere’, Skelton,

On Tyme, 24. O. Prov. _ver_, ‘printemps’ (Levy), L. _ver_.

=verdea wine,= a wine made of a green grape; and sold at Florence.

Beaumont and Fl., ii. 1 (Miramont). Ital. _verdéa_, ‘a kind of white

pleasant dainty Ladies wine in Tuscany’ (Florio).

=verdugal,= a ‘farthingale’; ‘Stiffe bombasted verdugals’, Florio’s

Montaigne (ed. Morley, 1886, p. 273). See =vardingale.=

=verdugo,= a Spanish word for an executioner, a hangman (Stevens);

hence, _his Verdugo-ship_, a contemptuous expression for a Spaniard, B.

Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2 (Face).

=vespillo,= among the Romans, one who carried out the poor for burial; a

corpse-bearer. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., Pt. I, § 38. L. _vespillo_

(Suetonius).

=vex,= to be grieved about anything. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1.

7. In prov. use from Worc. to the Isle of Wight, ‘’Er little girl died,

and ’er vex’d and vex’d so’ (EDD.).

=via!,= away!, move on! Merch. Ven. ii. 2. 11; Fletcher, Mons. Thomas,

ii. 3 (Launcelot). Ital. _via_, ‘an adverbe of encouraging, much used by

riders to their horses, and by commanders; go on, away, go to, on,

forward, quickly’, Florio. See Nares.

=Vice= or =Iniquity,= names for the established buffoon in the old

Moralities; ‘How like you the Vice in the Play?’, B. Jonson, Staple of

News (ed. 1860, p. 388); ‘Thus like the formal Vice, Iniquity, I

moralize’, Richard III, iii. 1. 82. See Schmidt, and Nares (svv.

Iniquity and Vice).

=vice,= an iron press with a screw for holding things fast, 2 Hen. IV,

ii. 1. 24; to hold one fast as in a ‘vice’, Wint. Tale, i. 2. 416. See

Dict.

=vide-ruff,= an old card-game; obsolete. Heywood, A Woman killed, iii. 2

(Cranwell). Prob. _vide_ = _vied_, pp. of _vie_, a term in card-playing;

see =vie.=

=vie,= to hazard or put down a certain sum upon a hand at cards; _to

revie_, to cover that stake with a larger sum; after which, the first

challenger could _revie_ again; and so on. ‘Here’s a trick vied and

revied!’, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 1 (Well-bred); _Vie and

revie_, Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, § last; see Gifford’s note.

See below.

=vie with,= to show in comparison or competition with; ‘So with the dove

of Paphos might the crow vie feathers white’, Pericles, iv, Prol. 33.

ME. _envỳe_, to show in competition (Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 173, MS.

Fairfax). F. _envier_ (au jeu), ‘to vie’ (Cotgr.); Ital. _invitare_ (al

giuoco), to vie at any game (Florio); cp. Span. _envidar_, to invite or

open the game by staking a certain sum (Neuman). See Dict.

=vild,= vile. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 46; v. 11. 18. A very common form in

Tudor English.

=viliaco,= a scoundrel. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum. v. 3

(Sogliardo). Ital. _vigliacco_, ‘a rascal, a scurvy scoundrel’ (Florio).

=vilify,= to hold cheap. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 3

(Forobosco). Late L. _vilificare_ (Tertullian).

=villatic,= belonging to a farm; hence, domestic; ‘Tame villatic fowl’,

Milton, Samson, 1695. L. _villaticus_, belonging to a farm. L. _villa_,

a country-house, farm.

=vine-dee,= a kind of wine. Mayne, City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield).

Supposed to represent F. _vin de Dieu_, or lacrima-Christi.

=viol-de-gamboys,= a bass-viol, Twelfth Nt. i. 3. 27. Ital. _viola di

gamba_, ‘a violl de gamba’ (Florio). So called because placed beside the

leg instead of (like the violin) on the arm. Ital. _gamba_, the leg. See

=de gambo.=

=virelay,= a lay or song with a ‘veering’ arrangement of the rimes.

Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 365. See Nares. F. _virelay_, ‘a virelay,

round, freemans song’; _virer_, ‘to veer, turn round’ (Cotgr.).

=virge, verge,= a wand. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, v. 3 (Seriben). F.

_verge_, a rod, wand (Cotgr.).

=virginals,= an instrument of the spinnet kind, but made rectangular,

like a small pianoforte. Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, i. 1 (2

Citizen); Fair Maid of the Inn, iv. 2 (Clown). Also called _a pair of

virginals_, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, ch. iii. Their name was probably

derived from their being used by young girls. Hence, _virginalling_,

lit. playing on the virginals, ‘Still virginalling upon his palm!’,

Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 125 (a word coined in jealous indignation). See

Nares.

=visage,= to look in the face, gaze on. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, book

ii, c. 2, § 3. ‘_I vysage_, I make contenaunce to one, _Ie visaige_’,

Palsgrave.

=visitate,= to survey, behold. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 161.

=vively,= in a life-like manner. Marston, Sophonisba, iv. 1. 154. F.

_vif_.

=vives;= see =fives.=

=voider,= a basket or tray for carrying out the relics of a dinner or

other meal. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 3 (Lazarillo);

‘_Mésciróbba_, any great dish, platter, charger, voider, tray or pan’,

Florio; ‘Enter . . . serving-men, one with a voider and a wooden knife’,

T. Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (The wooden knife emptied the

remnants of the food into the ‘voider’); ‘Piers Ploughman laid the cloth

and Simplicity brought in the voider’, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, i;

‘Voyder, _lanx_’, Levins, Manip. In prov. use for a butler’s tray, or a

large open basket; in west Yorks. it is the usual word for a

clothes-basket (EDD.).

=volary,= a great cage for birds; ‘(she sits) Like the forsaken turtle,

in the volary Of the Light Heart, the cage’, B. Jonson, New Inn, v. 1

(Prudence). Ital. _voleria_, ‘a volery or great cage for birds’

(Florio).

=voley:= phr. _on the voley, o’ the volèe_, inconsiderately. Massinger,

Picture, iii. 6. 1; B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Prudence). F. _à la

volée_, ‘rashly, inconsiderately, at random, at rovers’; _volée_,

flight, _voler_, to fly (Cotgr.). See Nares (s.v. Volée).

=voluptie,= sensual pleasure. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 11, §

16; bk. iii, c. 20, § 1. F. _volupté_.

=volvell,= an instrument consisting of graduated and figured circles

drawn on the leaf of a book, to the centre of which is attached one

movable circle or more; ‘He turnyd his tirikkis, his volvell ran fast’,

Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1517. Fully described by Dyce, ii. 336. Med.

L. _volvella_, _volvellum_; from L. _volvere_, to revolve.

=vor, vore;= see =che vor.=

=vorloffe,= ‘furlough’. B. Jonson, Staple of News, v. 1 (Picklock). Du.

‘_verlof_, leave, consent or permission’ (Hexham); Dan. _forlov_, leave,

furlough, cp. G. _verlaub_, leave, permission.

=votaress,= a woman that is under a vow. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 123,

163; _votress_, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 225.

=vote,= an ardent wish, a prayer. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress,

iv. 2 (Alcidon); Massinger, Guardian, v. 1 (Severino). L. _votum_, a

desire, an ardent longing (Horace).

=voward,= for _vaward_, _vanward_, vanguard, North’s Plutarch, M.

Brutus, § 29 (in Shak. Plut., p. 142); id., § 31, p. 147. F.

_avant-garde_, vanguard. See =vaunt.=

=vowess,= a widow who made a vow to observe chastity in honour of her

deceased husband; ‘In that church (Oseneie) lieth this ladie (Editha,

wife of Robert d’Oyly) buried with hir image . . . in the habit of a

vowesse’, Harrison, Desc. England, bk. ii, ch. 3 (ed. Furnivall, p. 74);

Leland’s Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith, Pt. I, 83, 112, 124). In the

church of Shalstone in Bucks. there is a monumental brass to the memory

of Susan Kingstone, step-sister of Sir T. Elyot, on which she is

described as a ‘vowess’; she died in the year 1540. For the widow’s vow

of chastity, see Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, 70, footnote); Fosbrooke,

British Monachism, 510.

W

=wae;= see =woe.=

=wafer-woman,= a seller of wafer-cakes, freq. mentioned in the

dramatists as employed in amorous embassies; ‘Am I not able . . . to

deliver a letter handsomely? . . . Why every wafer-woman will undertake

it’, Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, i. 3. 12; Beaumont and Fl.,

Woman-hater, ii. 1 (Valerio); Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Romelio).

Cp. what Chaucer says of _wafereres_ (C. T. C. 479).

=waff,= to wave, waft; ‘He waffes [wafts] an armie out of France’,

Warner, Albion’s England, bk. iii, ch. 18; _waft_, waved, beckoned;

Merch. Ven. v. 1. 11. Still in prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v.

Waff, vb.^{1} 1), and in the north Midlands (Dr. Henry Bradley). See

=waft= (2).

=waft,= a passing smell or taste, a ‘twang’. A Mad World, iv. 3 (near

end); spelt _weft_, ‘Ill malting is theft, Wood-dride hath a weft’ (i.e.

malt wood-dried has a tang), Tusser, Husbandry, § 84. See EDD. (s.v.

Waft, sb.^{1} 3).

=waft,= to wave; ‘Wafts her hand’, Heywood, Love’s Mistress, i. 1

(Admetus); vol. v, p. 100; to convey by water, King John, ii. 1. 73; 2

Hen. VI, iv. 1. 116; to invite by a motion of the hand, ‘Whom Fortune

with her ivory hand wafts to her’, Timon, i. 1. 70; Hamlet, i. 4. 78; to

turn quickly, ‘Wafting his eyes to the contrary’, Wint. Tale, i. 2. 372;

to float, ‘Satan . . . now with ease wafts on the calmer wave’, Milton,

P. L. ii. 1042.

=waftage,= passage by water, Tr. and Cr. iii. 2. 11.

=wafture,= the act of waving; ‘With an angry wafture of your hand’, Jul.

Caes. ii. 1. 246. See =waft= (2).

=wage,= to stake as a wager; ‘The King hath waged with him six Barbary

horses’, Hamlet, v. 2. 154; King Lear, i. 1. 158; to reward with wages,

Coriolanus, v. 6. 40; to barter, exchange, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 18; to

be opposed in combat, to contend, to strive, ‘To wage against the enmity

o’ the air’, King Lear, ii. 4. 212; Webster, Appius, iii. 1 (Valerius);

iii. 2 (Mar. Claudius).

=wag-halter.= Once a common term for a rogue or gallows-bird, one who is

likely to make a halter wag or shake; ‘A wag-halter page’, Ford, The

Fancies, i. 2; ‘_Baboin_, a trifling, busie or crafty knave; a crack

rope, wag-halter, unhappy rogue, wretchless villain’, Cotgrave.

=wagmoire,= a quagmire. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 130. ‘Wagmire’ was

once in prov. use in Glouc. and Devon (EDD.). From _wag_, to shake, see

EDD. (s.v. Wag, 2).

=wagpastie,= a term of contempt; a rogue; ‘A little wagpastie, A

deceiver of folkes’, Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 2.

=wagtail,= a contemptuous term for a profligate woman. Middleton, A

Trick to catch, ii. 1 (Lucre); Shirley, Traitor, ii. 1 (Sciarrha).

=waift, weft,= a ‘waif’, a thing cast adrift; used by Spenser of a

person, ‘She was flying like a weary weft’, F. Q. v. 3. 27; vi. 1. 18,

_wefte_, iii. 10. 36; _waift_, iv. 12. 31.

=wailful,= doleful. Two Gent. iii. 2. 69.

=waistcoat,= a body-dress for a woman, like a man’s waistcoat; sometimes

very costly. When worn without an upper dress, it was considered the

mark of a profligate woman. Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieut. ii. 3

(Leucippe); Woman’s Prize, i. 4 (Livia); Loyal Subject, ii. 4 (Young

Archas). Hence _waistcoateer_, a strumpet, Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieut.

i. 1 (2 Usher); Wit without Money, iv. 4 (Luce).

=wake,= the feast of the dedication of a church, originally the vigil

before the festival; the merry-making in connexion therewith; ‘He haunts

wakes, fairs’, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 109; ‘At wakes and wassails’, L. L.

L. v. 2. 318; _wake-day_, Tusser, Husbandry, § 90. 5. ‘Wake’ is in prov.

use in various parts of England for an annual festival and holiday,

often connected with the dedication of the parish church; the fair held

at such times was also so called, see EDD. (s.v. Wake, sb.^{1} 8). OE.

_wacu_, a watch, a vigil; cp. _wacana_ (‘vigilias’) in Luke ii. 8

(Lind.).

=waker,= wakeful. Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover confesseth him (ed. Bell, p.

66); Golding, Metam. xi. 599; fol. 139, bk. (1603). OE. _wacor_,

wakeful, vigilant.

=wale:= _the wale of cloth_, the ridge or rib in cloth denoting its

quality; ‘Thou’rt rougher far, and of a coarser wale’, Beaumont and Fl.,

Four Plays in One: Triumph of Honour, sc. i (Sophocles); Middleton,

Mich. Term, ii. 3 (Easy). ME. _wale_, a stripe (Prompt.). OE. _walu_, a

weal, mark of a blow (Napier, Glosses).

=wales,= _pl._ springs of water; ‘To cloudes alofte the wales and waters

rise’, Mirror for Mag., Domitius Nero, st. 11; Golding, Metam. ii. 11.

Probably the same word as _wall_, in prov. use for a spring of water in

Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Wall, sb.^{2} 1).

=walk the round,= to be one of the watchmen. Massinger, Guardian, iii. 5

(Severino); to act as a watchman, go the round; B. Jonson, Alchem. iii.

2 (Face).

=walking mort,= a grown-up unmarried whore; often a pretended widow

(Cant). Described in Harman’s Caveat, p. 67 (Aydelotte, p. 27); cp.

Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).

=wallope,= to gallop. Morte Arthur, leaf 90. 33; bk. v, c. 11. In prov.

use in the north country and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _walloppyn_, as an

hors (Prompt. EETS. 538), Anglo-F. _waloper_, to gallop (see Bartsch,

544. 26); _galoper_ (Rough List).

=walm,= a surge, bubbling up of water. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, viii. 87. A

north-country word for ‘a bubbling’ (EDD.). OE. _wælm_, surging water

(Beowulf).

=walter,= to ‘welter’, roll. Peele, Sir Clyomon, l. 1. Hence

_waltering_, a lolling (as snakes’ tongues), Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii,

l. 267 (211 of Latin text); rolling, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 498

(Latin text). In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of

England and E. Anglia. ME. _walteryn_ (Prompt. EETS. 514).

†=waltsome,= disgusting, heinous; ‘O waltsome murder’, Mirror for Mag.,

Hastings, st. 30. Probably an intended improvement of ME. _wlatsom_, in

an imitation of Chaucer: ‘Mordre is so wlatsom and abhominable’ (C. T.

B. 4243). OE. _wlætta_, disgust, nausea (Sweet).

=wamble,= to rumble, to roll, to stir uneasily; used of food in the

stomach. Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1 (Fool); Lyly, Endimion, iv. 2;

‘_Allecter_, to wamble as a queasie stomach doth’, Cotgrave. In prov.

use in Scotland and in various parts of England north and south, see

EDD. (s.v. 1). ME. _wamelyn_ in the stomak, ‘nausio’ (Prompt. EETS.

538). Cp. Dan. _vamle_, to become squeamish, _vammel_, nauseous

(Larsen).

=wamentation,= lamentation. Fair Em. i. 2. 73. See =wayment.=

=wan,= a winnowing-fan. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xi. 163, 164; explained

as ‘a corn-cleanse _fan_’, id., xxiii. 416. L. _vannus_, a

winnowing-fan. See Dict. (s.v. Fan).

=wanhope,= loss of hope, dejection, despair; ‘Wanhope, poor soule on

broken anchor sits Wringing his armes, as robbed of his wits’, Glaucus

(Nares). Still heard in Lancashire (EDD.). ME. _wanhope_, despair

(Chaucer, C. T. A. 1249). Cp. Du. ‘_wanhope_, dispaire’ (Hexham).

=waniand:= phr. _in the waniand_, in the waning (moon), i.e. at an

unlucky time; ‘He would . . . make them wed in the waniand’, Sir T.

More, Wks., p. 306 h. ME. _in the waniand_ (Minot, ed. T. Wright, i.

87); ‘In woo to wonne in the wanyand’ (York Plays, p. 124). OE. _on

wanigendum mōnan_ (Leechdoms, i. 320); _wanian_, to lessen, to wane. See

Dict.

=wanion:= phr. _with a wanion_, with a vengeance, with ill-luck.

Pericles, ii. 1. 17; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of B. Pestle, ii. 2 (Wife);

B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 5; Eastward Ho (Nares). In prov. use in

Scotland and Ireland. See above.

=want,= to be without, to lack. King John, iv. 1. 99; Coriolanus, i. 3.

90. Very common in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England; ‘We

wanted the plague in Scotland, when they had it in England’ (Scoticisms,

105), see EDD. (s.v. Want, vb. 8).

=want,= absence of a person; ‘_His present want_’ (= the present want of

him, i.e. his being absent at present), 1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 44; Shirley,

Witty Fair One, i. 1. 17.

=wanty,= a horse’s belly-band; a girth used for securing a load on a

pack-horse. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 5. Still in prov. use in various

parts of England from Yorks. to the Isle of Wight (EDD.). OE. _wamb_

belly + _tīge_, a band.

=wanze away,= to wane, vanish, disappear; ‘And all the things that liked

him did wanze away’, Golding, Metam. iii. 501; fol. 38, back (1603);

‘Which wanz’d away againe’ (L. _evanuit_), id., vi. 47. ‘Wanze’ is an E.

Anglian word used in the sense of wasting away. ME. _wanson_, ‘or wanyn

as the mone, _decresco_’ (Prompt.); OE. _wansian_, to lessen.

=wappe,= to lap, used of the sound of water against the rocks, Morte

Arthur, leaf 425. 5; bk. xxi, c. 5.

†=wappened,= over-worn (so Schmidt). Timon, iv. 3. 38. Probably a

misprint for _wappered_. ‘Wappered’ is a Glouc. word for tired, fatigued

(EDD.). See =unwappered.=

=wapper-eyed,= having quick restless eyes, sore-eyed, blear-eyed.

Middleton, The Black Book, ed. Dyce, v. 528. Still in use in Devon and

Somerset (EDD.).

=war;= see =warre.=

=ward,= a ‘side’, or compartment of the Counter, or prison. There were

two Counters, one in the Poultry, the other in Wood Street. The Counter

had three ‘wards’ or ‘sides’, the Master’s side, the Two-penny Ward, and

the Hole; and it was not uncommon for the debtors, as their means

decreased, to descend gradually from the first to the last. B. Jonson,

Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo); v. 7 (Macilente).

=ward,= garrison, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 15; the guard at the gate of a

castle, id., iii. 11. 21; custody, prison, ‘To commit one to ward or

prison, In custodiam tradere’, Baret, Alvearie; BIBLE, Gen. xl. 3; 2

Hen. VI, v. 1. 112; the guard in a prison, Acts xii. 10 (AV. and

Wyclif).

=ward,= a guard made in fencing, a posture of defence. Temp. i. 2. 471;

1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 215.

=warden,= a large coarse pear used for baking, Bacon, Essay 46; Wint.

Tale, iv. 3. 48; by pop. etym. a keeping pear; ‘_Poire de garde_, a

warden or winter-pear, a pair which may be kept very long’, Cotgrave;

Beaumont and Fl., Cupid’s Revenge, ii. 3 (Dorialus); spelt _wardon_,

Palsgrave. ME. _wardon_(_e_ (Prompt. and Cath. Angl.). So named from

_Wardon_ (now _Warden_) in Beds. The arms of Wardon Abbey were argent,

three warden-pears, or. See Dict. (s.v. Wardon).

=warder,= a staff or truncheon carried by one who presided at a

tournament or combat. Richard II, i. 3. 118 (when the ‘warder’ was

thrown down, the fight was stopped). ‘They fight; Robert and the

Palatine _cast their warders_ between them and part them’, Heywood, Four

Prentises (stage-direction); vol. ii, p. 204.

=ware,= to spend money. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 122; Heywood, 1 Edw. IV

(Hobs), vol. i, p. 43. Very common in the north country; in Yorks. (N.

Riding) they say, ‘He wares nowt, for he addles nowt’, see EDD. (sv.

Ware, vb.^{1} 9). ME. _waryn_ in chaffare ‘mercor’, (Prompt. EETS. 539,

see note, no. 2636). Icel. _verja_, to clothe, to invest money, to

spend.

=ware,= to bid any one beware; ‘I’ll ware them to mel’ (i.e. I’ll teach

them to beware of meddling), Heywood, Witches of Lancs. iv (Parnell);

vol. iv, p. 234.

=wareless,= unexpected. Spenser, F. Q. v. 1. 22; unwary, heedless, id.,

v. 5. 17.

=warison,= gift, recompense. Morte Arthur, leaf 186, back, 35; bk. ix,

ch. 22. ME. _warisoun_, requital (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1537); _warysone_

(Prompt. EETS. 516). Norm. F. _guarison_ (_garison_), ‘vivres, moyens de

subsistance’ (Moisy, 500).

=warke,= work. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 145; F. Q. ii. 1. 32. A

north-country pronunc., see EDD. (s.v. Work).

†=warling= (?), in the proverb, ‘Better be an old man’s darling, than a

young man’s warling’, Barry, Ram. Alley, ii (Adriana); Heywood’s

Proverbs (ed. Farmer, pp. 80, 130). [In Ray’s Proverbs (ed. Bohn, p.

45), ‘snarling’ is the word used instead of ‘warling’.]

=warp.= ‘A pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind’ (i.e.

working themselves forward—the metaphor is of a ship), Milton, P. L. i.

341. In Scotland used of the flight of a swarm of bees, see EDD. (s.v.

Warp, vb.^{1} 9).

=warray,= to harass with war, Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 48; Fairfax, Tasso,

i. 6. ME. _warray_, to make war (Barbour’s Bruce, see Glossary);

_werray_ (Wars Alex. 2495); _werreyen_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1544).

Anglo-F. _werreier_, to make war (F. _guerroyer_). See Dict. (s.v. War).

=warre:= in phr. _warre old_; ‘But when the world woxe old, it woxe

warre old (whereof it hight)’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 31. The meaning is

that when the world grew old, it grew _worse_, and that from _warre old_

or _war-old_, the word ‘world’ is derived; cp. Shep. Kal., Sept., 108,

‘They sayne the world is much _war_ then it wont’. The word ‘warre’ (or

‘war’) is in prov. use in the north country and in Ireland, see EDD.

(s.v. War, adj.^{1}). ME. _werre_, worse (Ormulum, 4898). Icel. _verr_,

adv., _verri_, adj., worse.

=warrie,= gnarled, knotted. Golding, Metam. viii. 743 (fol. 104; 1603);

also _warryed_, id., xiii. 799. OE. _wearrig_, having callosities,

deriv. of _wearr_, a callosity (Sweet).

=wary,= to curse. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2266. See EDD. (s.v. Wary,

vb.^{2}). ME. _warien_, to curse (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1619), OE.

_wergian_.

=waryish;= see =werish.=

=washical,= ‘what shall I call’; a name for a thing that one does not

take the trouble to mention. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, v. 2 (Hodge).

=wasp,= used metaph. for a petulant or spiteful person. Tam. Shrew, ii.

1. 210; Beaumont and Fl., King and no King, iv. 3 (1 Swordsman). So used

in Scotland (EDD.).

=wassail,= a drinking-bout, a carouse; ‘At wakes and wassails’, L. L. L.

v. 2. 318; Macbeth, i. 7. 64; Hamlet, i. 4. 9; ‘A wassail candle’, 2

Hen. IV, i. 2. 179 (a large candle lighted up at a feast). The word

‘wassail’, well known in Yorks. in connexion with old Christmas

ceremonies and festivities; for ample details, see EDD. It was

originally a phrase used at a banquet. In Laȝamon, Rowena presents a cup

to Vortigern with the words _wæs hail_ (_wassail_), a salutation,

meaning ‘be hale, be in good health’. O. Sax. _wes hēl_, be hale: so in

the salutation of the Virgin, _hēl wis thu_ = Ave! (Vulgate, Luke i.

28); so also in Anglo-Saxon Gospels, _hāl wes ðu!_ See Dict.

=waster,= a cudgel; ‘The youthes of this citie have used on holy dayes

. . . to exercise their wasters and bucklers’, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms,

p. 36); Mad Men of Gotham, 19 (Nares); _to play at wasters_, Beaumont

and Fl., Philaster, iv. 3 (Countryman); Burton, Anat. Mel. (Naros); _to

win at wasters_, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, ii. 3 (Candido);

‘_Bastone_, any kind of cudgel, waster, or club’, Florio.

=Wat,= a name for a hare. Venus and Ad. 697; Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 331;

Levins, Manipulus. In prov. use (EDD.). Properly a pet-name for _Walter_

(_Water_).

=watch,= a time-piece, clock. Richard II, v. 5. 52. Probably, a candle

marked out into sections, each of which was a certain portion of time in

burning, Richard III, v. 3. 63.

=watchet,= pale blue. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 40; Marston, Malcontent,

iii. 1 (Bilioso); Drayton, Pol. v. 13. ME. _wachet_, light blue colour

(Chaucer, C. T. A. 3321). See Dict.

=Water,= a pronunciation of the Christian name Walter, see 2 Hen. VI,

iv. 1. 35. ME. _Wateere_ or _Water_, ‘propyr name of a man, _Walterus_’

(Prompt. EETS. 517, see note, no. 2530). Anglo-F. _Gualtier_ (Ch. Rol.

2039), Norm. F. _Waltier_. Of Teutonic origin, cp. OE. _Wealdhere_

(power + army), see Oldest Eng. Texts, 537.

=water, to lay in;= See =lay= (5).

=water-gall,= a second rainbow seen above the first; a fragment of a

rainbow appearing on the horizon; Lucrece, 1588. A Hampshire word, see

EDD. (s.v. Water, 1 (50)).

=water-rug,= a rough kind of water-dog (?). Macbeth, iii. 1. 94.

=water-work,= painting executed in water-colour; ‘The German hunting in

water-work’, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 158.

=wawes,= waves. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 4. ME. _wawe_, a wave (Chaucer,

C. T. B. 508); ‘a _wawe_ of the see’ (Wyclif, James i. 6). Icel. _vāgr_,

a wave.

=wax:= phr. _a man of wax_, Romeo, i. 3. 76 (as pretty as if he had been

modelled in wax); so, _a prince of wax_, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, i.

1 (Megra). Cp. ‘a lad of wax’, ‘a man of wax’, in prov. use in Durham

and west Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Wax, sb.^{2} 4), where the expressions

are associated with the vb. _wax_ (to grow).

=waxen,= _pr. pl._, they increase. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 56. The ME.

pres. pl. in the Midland dialect. For the geographical area of the pres.

pl. in _n_, _sn_, see Wright’s English Dialect Grammar, § 435.

=way,= to go on one’s way, to journey; ‘As they together wayd’, Spenser,

F. Q. iv. 2. 12.

=way,= to ‘weigh’. Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 46; ‘Full many things so

doubtfull to be wayd’, id., iv. 1. 7; to esteem, ‘All that she so deare

did way’, id., vii. 6. 55.

=wayment,= to lament. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 16. ME. _waymenten_

(Chaucer, C. T. I. 230). Norm. F. _guaimenter_, _waimenter_: ‘Les

virgines d’els ne guaimenterent’ (Ps. lxxvii. 69, ed. Michel, 111); see

Moisy.

=wealth,= welfare, prosperity. Merch. Ven. v. 1. 249; Hamlet, iv. 4. 27;

‘The thinges that shuld have bene for their welth’ (AV. welfare), Ps.

lxix. 23 (A.D. 1539); ‘wealth, peace and godliness’, Prayer Book

(Collect for King). ME. _welthe_, prosperity, well-being (Gower, C. A.

ii. 1207).

=weanell;= see =wennel.=

=wear,= the fashion, that which is worn; ‘It is not the wear’, Meas. for

M. iii. 2. 78.

=wearish;= see =werish.=

=weather:= phr. _To make fair weather_, to conciliate another with fair

words, Much Ado, i. 3. 25; 2 Hen. VI, v. 1. 30. Cp. the proverb, ‘Two

women placed together make foul weather’, Hen. VIII, i. 4. 22.

=weather-fend,= to ‘defend’ from the weather. Tempest, v. 1. 10.

=weave,= to float backwards and forwards; ‘Amidst the billowes beating

of her, Twixt life and death long to and fro she weaved’, Spenser, F. Q.

v. 4. 10. See EDD.

=weaver,= a fish, having sharp spines; the _Trachinus draco_, or _T.

vipera_. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 167. Cp. ME. _wivere_, a serpent (Chaucer,

Tr. and Cr. iii. 1010); Anglo-F. _wivre_, a serpent, viper; esp. in

blazon; L. _vipera_, a viper; see Dict. (s.v. Wyvern).

=web and pin,= a disorder of the eyesight. King Lear, iii. 4. 122; _pin

and web_, i. 2. 291. From _web_, a film; and _pin_, a small spot. In E.

Anglia ‘web’ is used for a film over the eye, see EDD. (s.v. Web, 4).

=weel,= a wicker trap or basket used for catching eels, &c. Heywood,

Anna and Phillis, vol. vi, p. 309; Tusser, Husbandry, § 36, st. 31. In

gen. prov. use in the Midlands (EDD.).

=weeld,= the ‘weald’ of Kent; ‘I was born and lerned myn englissh in

Kente in the weeld’, Caxton, Historyes of Troye, preface. See Dict.

(s.v. Weald).

=ween,= to suppose, think; _wend_, pt. t., Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 11.

ME. _wenen_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1655); OE. _wēnan_.

=Weeping Cross.= Nares notes that there were at least three crosses so

named, near Oxford, Stafford, and Shrewsbury respectively. _To come

home_ (or _return_) _by Weeping Cross_, to repent of an undertaking,

Lyly, Euphues, p. 243.

‘He that goes out with often losse,

At last comes home by Weeping Crosse,’

Howell, Eng. Prov.; Ray’s Proverbs (ed. Bohn, p. 22).

=weerish;= see =werish.=

=weesel,= weasand, windpipe. Peele, David, ed. Dyce. p. 465, col. 2.

Spelt _wizzel_, Mayne, City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield). Cp. Bavarian

dial. _waisel_, the gullet of animals that chew the cud (Schmeller).

=wee’st heart,= woe is the heart (of me)! Congreve, Love for Love, ii. 1

(Nurse). ‘Wae’s t’ heart,’ ‘Wae’s heart of me,’ are Yorks. exclamations;

‘Wae’s my heart’ is of frequent occurrence in Scottish poetry, see EDD.

(s.v. Woe, 2).

=weet,= wet; ‘Till all the world is weet’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 33.

This is a common pronunc. of ‘wet’ in the north country and E. Anglia

(EDD.). ME. _weet_, wet (Chaucer, C. T. A. 4107). OE. _wǣt_.

=weet,= to know, Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 6. Fairfax, Tasso, v. 86. This is

a northern pronunc. of ‘wit’ (to know), see EDD. (s.v. Wit, vb.). ME.

_wetyn_, to know (Prompt. EETS. 545).

=weft,= see =waft= and =waift.=

=wefte,= abandoned, avoided, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 36.

=weird:= in phr. _the weird sisters_, used of the three witches, as

foretelling destiny, Macbeth, iv. 1. 136. The expression is taken from

Holinshed’s Chronicle of Scotland; it was used by Gawin Douglas (Virgil,

80, 48) for the Parcae or Fates; ‘_Cloto, una de tribus parcis quae

finguntur regere vitam hominis, anglice_, one of the thre Weyrde

systers’, Pynson’s Ortus Vocabulorum (ed. 1509). See Grimm, Teut. Myth.

407. See =werd.=

=weld,= to wield, govern. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 32; vi. 8. 11; Shep.

Kal., Oct., 40; to wield, to carry, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, i. 4. 35; _to

weld oneself_, to erect oneself, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 699 (L. _se

tollit_). ME. _welden_, to wield, to control (Chaucer, C. T. D. 271), to

move with ease (C. T. D. 1947).

=welk,= to fade, to grow dim (of the sun in the west). Spenser, F. Q. i.

1. 23; to cause to grow dim, ‘But nowe sadde Winter welked hath the

day’, Shep. Kal., Nov., 13. Cp. prov. use of ‘welk’ in the sense of to

fade, to wither (used of plants, see EDD., s.v. Welk, vb^{1}). ME.

_welke_, to wither (Chaucer, C. T. D. 277). Cp. G. _welken_, to wither.

=welked,= withered, faded; ‘Her wealked face with woful teares

besprent’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 12. ME. _welked_,

withered (Chaucer, C. T. D. 277).

=welked,= curved, twisted, applied to horns; ‘Welked horns’, Golding’s

Ovid, occurring three times, pp. 60, 107, and 122 (ed. 1603); ‘Hornes

welkt and waved like the enraged Sea’, King Lear, iv. 6. 71; ‘And

setting fire upon the welked shrouds’ (i.e. the curved clouds), Drayton,

Barons’ Wars, vi. 39 (Nares).

=welkin,= the sky; ‘Look on me with your welkin eye’ (i.e. heavenly or

sky-blue eye), Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 136. ME. _welken_, the sky (Chaucer,

Hous F. iii. 1601). OE. _wolcen_, a cloud, also _wolcnan_, clouds. Cp.

G. _wolke_, a cloud.

=well-a-near,= alas!, alack-a-day!;

‘The poor lady shrieks, and well-a-near,

Does fall in travail with her fear,’

Pericles, iii, Prol. 51; Look about You, sc. 2, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley,

vii. 397. An obsolete north-country exclamation—written _well-aneer_

and _well-an-ere_ (EDD.).

=well-liking,= in good condition, plump, L. L. L. v. 2. 268; ‘They . . .

shalbe fatt and well lykenge’, Ps. xcii. 13 (Great Bible, 1539).

=well said!,= really meaning ‘well done!’, Westward Ho, ii. 2

(Birdlime). Common.

=Welshman’s hose.= Nares takes this to mean ‘no hose at all’, as

denoting something non-existent or wholly indefinite; but perhaps the

Welshman of the phrase was accused of wearing his ‘hose’ hind part

before; ‘The lawes wee did interprete and statutes of the land, Not

truely by the texte, but newly by a glose: And wordes that were most

playne, when they by us were skand, Wee tourned by construction to a

Welshman’s hose’, Mirror for Mag., Tresilian, st. 15.

=wend;= see =ween.=

=wennel,= a weaned animal. Tusser, Husbandry, § 20, 28; ‘A lamb or a kid

or a weanell wast’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 198 (_weanell wast_

prob. means ‘a stray weanling’). ‘Wennel’ is an E. Anglian word for a

weaned calf (EDD.).

=went,= a path, a way; ‘Tract of living went’ (i.e. trace of living way,

of any way which living men use), Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 47; v. 4. 46; v.

6. 3. ‘Went’ in many applications is in prov. use in many parts of Great

Britain; see EDD. ME. _wente_, a way, passage (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii.

787).

=werd,= fate, destiny; ‘The wofull werd’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag.,

Induction, st. 63. In prov. use in this sense in Scotland, see EDD.

(s.v. Weird, 1). ME. _werd_, fate, destiny (Wars Alex. 3247); _werdis_,

destinies (Barbour’s Bruce, ii. 329). OE. _wyrd_, fate, destiny;

_Wyrde_, the Fates. Parcae, The Weird Sisters (B. T.). Icel. _Urðr_ (in

poetry), one of the Norns, see Grimm, Teut. Myth, 405. See =weird.=

=werish,= tasteless, insipid; ‘Dawcockes, lowtes, cockescombes and

blockhedded fooles were . . . said _betizare_ to be as werishe and as

unsavery as beetes’, Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, § 85; ‘Werysshe as

meate is that is nat well tastye, _mal savouré_’, Palsgrave; _wearish_,

weak, delicate, puny, sickly-looking, ‘A wretched wearish elfe’,

Spenser, F. Q. iv. 5. 34; _weerish_, Drayton, Pol. xxix. 62; _waryish_,

Golding, Metam. ii. 776. See Nares (s.v. Wearish). In prov. use, in many

forms, in various parts of Great Britain, see EDD. (s.v. Wairsh).

=werwolf,= a man changed into a wolf by enchantment; ‘She made hym seuen

yere a werwolf’, Morte Arthur, leaf 397, 17; bk. xix, c. 11; _warwolf_,

Drayton, Man in the Moon, 13. ME. _werwolf_ (Will. of Palerne, 80), MHG.

_werwolf_, a man-wolf; cp. Med. L. _gerulphus_ (Ducange), OF. _garou_,

cp. F. _loup-garou_ (Hatzfeld). See Dict.

=wetewold,= a ‘wittol’, a contented cuckold. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell,

187; Assembly of Gods, 710 (see Notes by Dyce, on Skelton, ii. 305). See

=wittol.=

=wet finger:= phr. _with a wet finger_, easily, readily. Beaumont and

Fl., Cupid’s Revenge, iv. 3 (Citizen); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2.

5; id., Gul’s Hornbook; Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, p. 95; see

Word-List). It prob. means as easy as turning over the leaf of a book,

or rubbing out writing on a slate with a wet finger, or tracing a lady’s

name on the table with spilt wine (Farmer).

=wethering,= weathering, seasoning due to exposure to weather. Latimer,

Sermon on the Ploughers (ed. Arber, p. 24). In prov. use in Norfolk, see

EDD. (s.v. Weather, vb. 8).

=wexing,= waxing (as the moon). Dryden, Annus Mirab., st. 4. ME. _wexe_,

to grow (Wyclif, Matt. xiii. 30).

=wharrow,= a little instrument fixed on a spindle for the string of the

‘turn’ to run in; a small pulley on a spindle. Skelton, El. Rummyng,

298. See passage from Guillim’s Display of Heraldry (ed. 1724, p. 300),

quoted in EDD. (s.v.). Cognate with OE. _hweorfa_, the ‘whorl’ which

helps to turn the spindle (B. T.).

=what,= whatsoever thing; ‘Such homely what as serves the simple

clowne’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 7; ‘Come downe and learne the little what

that Thomalin can sayne’, Shep. Kal., July, 31.

=whelk,= a pimple, blotch. Hen. V, iii. 6. 108. A Derbyshire word, see

EDD. (s.v. Whelk, sb.^{2}). ME. _whelke_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 632).

=when,= (?) an exclamation of impatience. Short for ‘_when_ will you do

what is bidden you?’, Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 1 (Duchess); iv. 2

(Bosola). Common.

=whe’r,= whether. Often spelt _where_. Tempest, v. 1. 111; King John, i.

1. 75.

=where,= whereas; wherever; whence. L. L. L. ii. 1. 103; Mids. Night’s

D. v. 1. 93; Hen. V, iii. 5. 15.

=whereas,= where that, where. 2 Hen. VI, i. 2. 58; Pericles, i. 4. 70.

Not uncommon.

=where-some-ere,= wheresoever. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 2. G.

_Wheresomever_ is heard in Lanc. (EDD.).

=wherrit, whirrit,= a blow, a thump, a smart box on the ear. Fletcher,

Nice Valour, iii. 2 (Lapet); ‘A whirret on the eare’, Kendall, Flowers

of Epigrammes’ (Nares). Still in prov. use in the north (EDD.).

=wherry;= see =whirry.=

=whether,= which of the two. Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 6. 352, ‘Whether of

them twayne’, Tyndale, Matt. xxi. 31.

=whether whether were,= which was which. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 10.

=whether,= whither. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 35.

=whew,= to whirl, to hurry; ‘I whew it away’, Buckingham, The Rehearsal,

ii. 4. 7. So in the Lake country, ‘He whew’d his clog throo t’window’,

see EDD. (s.v. Whew, vb.^{2} 2).

=whiblin,= a trick, device. Marston, Insatiate Countess, ii. 2 (Rogero).

Cp. =quiblin.= Cp. the obsolete Dorset word ‘whibble’, to lie (EDD.).

=whiblin,= an impotent creature; a term of contempt. Dekker, Honest Wh.,

Pt. I, i. 2 (Fustigo). See =whimling.=

=whids,= words; _to cut bene whids_, to speak good words (Cant).

Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). [_A rousing whid_, a great lie,

Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook, st. 1.] The Slang Dict. (1874) says that

_whid_ for a ‘word’ or a ‘falsehood’ is modern slang from the ancient

cant.

=whiff,= a special way of taking tobacco; ‘Capers, healths, and whiffs’,

Marston, What You Will, ii. 1 (Laverdure); _taking the whiff_, B.

Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, Character of Shift (prefixed to the

play).

=whiffler,= an officer who clears the way for a procession. Henry V, v,

chorus, 12; Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 523. ‘Whifflers’ (fifers)

usually went first in a procession; the term was then applied to those

who went forward (without any musical instrument) to clear the way for

the procession of a sovereign or of a city corporation. See Nares; and

EDD. (s.v. Whiffle, vb.^{1} 1 (2)).

=whiffler,= a puffer of tobacco. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1

(Chough).

=whig,= whey, sour milk, buttermilk. Greene, Description of the

Shepherd, l. 29; ed. Dyce, p. 304. Cp. the Linc. expression, ‘As sour as

whig’ (EDD.).

=whigh-hie, wi-hee,= a sound imitative of the neighing of a horse. B.

Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, ii. 1 (Sogliardo); Fletcher, Women

Pleased, iv. 1 (Bomby). Hence, _wyhee_, v., to neigh; Marston, The Fawn,

iv. 1 (Dondolo).

=while,= until. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iv. 4 (Tamb.). Macbeth, iii. 1.

44; Richard II, i. 3. 122; see Schmidt. Very common in the north, also

in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. While, 6).

=whiles,= until; ‘Whyles tomorowe’, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 83; Twelfth

Nt. iv. 3. 29. See EDD. (s.v. Whiles, 4).

=whimling= (a term of contempt), a poor creature. Beaumont and Fl.,

Coxcomb, iv. 7 (Mother). Probably the same word as ‘wimbling’, also

written ‘whimbling’, used in the Midlands of plants that are long, thin,

and of feeble growth, see EDD. See =whiblin= (2).

=whimp,= to whimper; ‘Wil whympe and whine’, Latimer, Sermons (ed.

Arber, p. 77). Cp. the prov. words ‘wimp’ and ‘whimper’ in EDD.

=whip,= to move quickly. Sackville, Induction, st. 5; Much Ado, i. 3.

63; _to whip out_, to draw out quickly, ‘He whips his rapier out’,

Hamlet, iv. 1. 10. See EDD.

=whip-cat,= drunken; ‘_Whip-cat_ bowling’, drunken emptying of bowls,

Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 367. See Halliwell. In Worc. a

‘whip-cat’ means a farmer’s feast after bean-setting, see EDD. (s.v.

Whip, 1 (4)); ‘To whip the cat’, to get tipsy (Halliwell).

=whip-her-ginney,= the name of a game of cards. Mentioned in Taylor’s

Works (Nares). Spelt _whip-her-jenny_, ‘a game at cards, borrowed from

the Welsh’, Halliwell.

=whip-her-jenny,= a term of contempt, Two Angry Women, iv. 3 (Coomes);

Halliwell.

=whip-jack,= a sham sailor who begs. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1

(Moll); used as a term of reproach generally, ‘One Boner, a bare whippe

Jacke for lucre of money toke upon him to be thy father’, Bp. Ponet in

Maitland on Reformation, p. 74. [‘Sir Charles Grandison is none of your

gew-gaw whip-jacks that you know not where to have’, Richardson,

Grandison, vi. 156.] See Davies.

=whipstock,= the handle of a whip. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 28; Two Noble

Kinsmen, i. 2. 95. Also, a carter; as a term of abuse, Tomkis,

Albumazar, iv. 4 (end). The equivalent term _whipstalk_ occurs in the

Spanish Tragedy (Nares).

=whirlbat,= a ‘cestus’, or weighty boxing-glove. Dryden, Pref. to

Fables, § 3 from end. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, viii. 285; written

_whoorlbat_, id., Iliad xxiii, 538. See Davies (s.v. Whirly-bat).

=whirlpit,= a whirlpool. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxi. 223; Sandys,

Paraph. Exod. xv; Marmyon’s Fine Companion; Holland, tr. Ammianus

(Nares).

=whirlpool,= a sea-monster of the whale kind; perhaps the cachalot or

sperm-whale, which is distinguished from other whales by its peculiar

manner of blowing; ‘A whale or a whirlepoole’, BIBLE, Job xli. 1

(marginal rendering of Leviathan); Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 23; ‘_Tinet_,

the Whall tearmed a Horlepoole or Whirlepoole’, Cotgrave; Holland’s

Pliny, bk. ix, ch. 3; spelt _wherlpoole_, Drayton, Pol. xx. 100;

_wherpoole_, id., xxv. 174. See Wright, Bible Word-Book.

=whirry,= to whirl along, to whirl away, to hurry off, Stanyhurst, tr.

Aeneid, iii. 611; _wherry_, Dekker, O. Fortunatus, iv. 2 (Agripyne);

_whurry_, Taylor’s Works (Nares); _whorry_, Herrick, To Bacchus, a

Canticle. See EDD. (s.v. Whirry, vb. 3).

=whisket,= a pandaress, The London Chanticleers, sc. 2 (Jenniting).

=whiskin,= a wanton person, Ford, Fancies Chaste, iv. 1 (Secco); a

pandaress, Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, iv. 2 (Steward). See

=pimp-whiskin.=

=whist,= to keep silence; ‘They whisted all’, Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii. 1;

‘They whusted all’, Phaer, tr. Aeneid, ii. 1; put to silence, ‘So was

the Titanesse put downe and whist’, Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 59; as adj.,

still, silent, ‘Where all is whist and still’, Marlowe, Hero and L.

(Nares); ‘All the companie must be whist’, Holinshed, Desc. of Ireland

(ed. 1808, p. 67); ‘The winds with wonder whist’, Milton, Hymn Nat. 64;

_whistly_, silently, Arden of Feversham, iii. 3. 9. ME. _whist!_

(Wyclif, Judges xviii. 19). See =whust.=

=whister,= a blow; _Whisterpoop_, a smart blow or smack on the ear or

‘chops’, London Prodigal, ii. 1. 68 [A Linc., Somerset, and Devon word

(EDD.)]; _Whistersnefet_, Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, § 72 [Cp.

_whistersniff_, a Hampshire word (EDD.)]. See Davies.

=white,= the central circle on an archery butt. Tam. Shrew, v. 2. 186;

‘_Blanc_, the white or mark of a pair of butts; _Toucher au blanc_, to

strike the white, to hit the nail on the head’, Cotgrave.

=white,= used in expressions of endearment: _white boy_; ‘Such a brave

sparke as you, that is your mother’s white boy’, Two Lancashire Lovers

(Nares); Knight of the Burning Pestle, ii. 2 (Mrs. Merrythought); Ford,

’Tis Pity, i. 3; Yorkshire Tragedy, iv. 120; Two Angry Women, iii. 2

(Mall); ‘I shall be his little rogue and his white villain’, Return from

Parnassus, ii. 6 (end).

=whitemeat,= food made of milk, eggs, bread, and the like. Northward Ho,

i. 2 (Philip); B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, iv. 1 (Fallace); used

attrib. and metaph., ‘Your whitemeat spirit’, Beaumont and Fl., Four

Plays in One, Pt. II, sc. 2. 13.

=white money,= silver coin. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, ii. 2

(Galatea). In use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. White, 1. 160).

=white-pot,= a dish made of milk, eggs, and sugar, &c., boiled in a pot.

Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 4 (Eyre); Butler, Hud. i. 1. 299;

Spectator, No. 109, § 4. ‘Whitpot’ is the name of a favourite dish in

Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. White, 1 (64)). See Nares.

=white powder,= a white kind of gunpowder. It does not appear to have

existed; but there was a theory that a white gunpowder would explode

without noise. Discussed by Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. ii, ch. 5,

sect. 5. Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, ii. 2 (Laverdine). See

Nares.

=whiting-mop,= a young whiting. Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, ii. 2;

metaph. a fair lass, Massinger, Guardian, iv. 2. So _whiting_, Skelton,

El. Rummyng, 223.

=whiting-time,= bleaching-time. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 140.

=whitleather,= white leather, leather dressed with alum, and very tough.

Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 4; ‘In thy whitleather hide’, Beaumont and Fl.,

Scornful Lady, v. 1 (Elder Loveless).

=whitster,= a bleacher of linen. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 15; Pepys, Diary,

Aug. 12, 1667; _whitstarre_. Palsgrave. ‘Whitster’s Arms’ is still a

common alehouse sign in Lanc. (EDD.). ME. _whytestare_, ‘candidarius’

(Prompt. EETS. 526, see note, no. 2565). See Bardsley’s Surnames, 328,

329.

=whittle,= a small clasp-knife. Timon, v. 1. 183; Middleton, The Widow,

iii. 2 (Francisco). In gen. prov. use in this sense, see EDD. (s.v.

Whittle, sb.^{1} 1). ME. _thwitel_, a knife (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3933),

deriv. of _thwiten_, to pare or cut little pieces from a thing; OE.

_þwītan_, to cut out, cognate with Icel. _þveit_, a piece of land,

common in place-names in the north of England, e.g. Seathwaite,

Langthwaite, Postlethwaite.

=whittled,= drunk, intoxicated. Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 2 (Lucio);

_whitled_, Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 498, l. 4. See Nares. Given as an

obsolete prov. word in use in the north of England (EDD.). Cp. the slang

term ‘cut’ for tipsy, somewhat drunk, see EDD. (s.v. Cut, ppl. adj.).

=whome,= home; ‘He wil paye whome’, Latimer, pref. to 2 Sermon bef. King

(ed. Arber, p. 48). So pronounced in Wilts. and Shropshire; in north

Devon ‘whum’, see EDD. (s.v. Home).

=whoobub,= hubbub. Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 629; Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 5. (or

6) 35; _whobub_, Beaumont and Fl., iv. 1 (Soto).

=whoop!,= an exclamation. King Lear, i. 4. 245; Hence, _to whoop_, ‘The

shepheard whoop’d for joy’, Drayton, Shepherd’s Garland; ‘We are

whoop’d’ (i.e. cried ‘whoop’ upon), Fletcher, Maid in a Mill, iii. 2

(Franio).

=whoorlbat;= see =whirlbat.=

=whorry;= see =whirry.=

=who-some-ere,= whosoever. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 1. 15. So also

_where-some-ere_, wheresoever, id., i. 2. 6. A parallel formation to

_whosoever_, with the Icel. conj. _sem_ (Norw. dial., Danish and Swedish

_som_), as, that, sec EDD. (s.v. Howsomever).

=whot, whott,= hot. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 58; ii. 5. 18.

=whule,= to cry plaintively, to whine, howl. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey,

xii. 135; Palsgrave, p. 785. A Suffolk word, see EDD. (s.v. Whewl).

=whurry;= see =whirry.=

=whust,= to keep silence; ‘They whusted all’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii.

1; to leave anything unsaid, ‘The libertie of an hystorie requireth that

all shoulde bee related and nothing whusted’, Holinshed’s Chronicles

(Nares); Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 357. See =whist.=

=wicker,= pliant; ‘Bird! how she flutters with her wicker wings!’, B.

Jonson, Sad Sheph. i. 2 (Æglamour).

=widow,= to endow with a widow’s right, to jointure. Meas. for M. v. 6.

153.

=widowhood,= a widow’s right, a jointure. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 125.

=wigher,= to neigh as a horse. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iii.

2 (Dindimus). Cp. G. _wiehern_, to neigh.

=wight, wyght,= active. Morte Arthur, leaf 172, back, 30; bk. ix, c. 4;

‘Wyght or stronge, _fort_’, Palsgrave; Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 91.

In prov. use in the north of England (EDD.). ME. _wight_, active

(Chaucer, C. T. B. 3457). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Wight).

=Wild:= _the Wild of Kent_, the Weald of Kent, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 60; ‘I

was borne in the wylde of Kent’, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 268). In EDD.

we find that the Weald of Sussex is always spoken of as _The Wild_ by

the people who live in the Downs, and the inhabitants of the Downs call

the dwellers of ‘The Wild’ _the wild people_. ‘The Wild of Surrey’ is

described in Marshall’s Review (1817, v. 355). The same word as the adj.

‘wild’, see Dict. (s.v. Weald).

=wildered,= bewildered. Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 682. In prov. use

in Scotland (EDD.).

=wilding,= a crab-apple. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Maudlin); Warner,

Albion’s England, iv. 20. Still in prov. use in the Midlands and in the

west country (EDD.).

=will,= to desire, signify one’s will to. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt

(Arundel), ed. Dyce, p. 188; Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii, l. 50.

=willow,= worn as an emblem of unhappy love. Much Ado, ii. 1. 194, 225;

‘Wear the willow garland’, 3 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 100; ‘A green willow must

be my garland’, Othello, iv. 3. 50.

=wilsome, wylsome,= wandering, devious; ‘Wylsome wayes’, Morte Arthur,

leaf 124. 11; bk. vii, c. 22. In Scotland ‘wilsome’ is used in the sense

of bewildered, lonely, dreary, desolate; see EDD. (s.v. Will, adj. 1

(3)). ME. _wylsum_: ‘Mony wylsum way he rode’ (Gawayne, 689); _wilsom_

(Wars Alex. 4076, 5565). Icel. _villr_, bewildered, erring, astray.

=wimble,= quick, lively, active. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 91;

Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2 (Feliche). In prov. use in the north of

England and the Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Wimble, adj.).

=winbrow,= an eyebrow. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 270, back, 12. Low G.

_winbrāwe_, an eyebrow (Lübben); cp. OHG. _wintbrāwa_, _wintbrā_,

_winbrā_, an eyebrow (Schade).

=windlace,= a winding or circuitous way; ‘By slie driftes and windlaces

aloofe’, Mirror for Mag., Glocester, st. 46; ‘Fetching a windlesse’,

Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 270); _windlasses_, pl., Hamlet, ii. 1. 65;

spelt _winlas_, Golding, Metam. vii. 784 (= L. _gyrum_).

=windore,= a window. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 59; Diogenes, §

120; Butler, Hud. ii. 2. 369. Still heard in Glouc. (EDD.).

=window-bars,= lattice-work, cross-work of narrow bands across a woman’s

bosom. Timon, iv. 3. 116.

=wind-sucker,= a kestrel; used _fig._ for a covetous person. B. Jonson,

Sil. Woman, i (end). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Wind, sb.^{1} 1 (40)).

See Nares.

=winlas;= see =windlace.=

=winter-ground,= to cover up in the ground so as to protect plants from

the winter; ‘Furr’d moss . . . To winter-ground thy corse’, Cymbeline,

iv. 2. 229.

=wirt,= a smart box on the ear. North, Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 6 (in

Shaks. Plut., p. 112). See =wherrit.=

=wis;= see =iwis.=

=wish,= to commend one to another. Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 113; Match at

Midnight, iv. 1 (Sim).

=wishly,= with eager desire; ‘To putte on his spectacles and pore better

and more wishely with his olde eyen on Saynt Johns ghospell’, Sir T.

More, Works, p. 1134 (Richardson); Palsgrave, p. 613.

=wisket,= a small basket; ‘Wysket, _sportula_’, Levins, Manipulus. In

prov. use in various parts of England; see EDD.

=wistly,= attentively, observingly; ‘She . . . wistly on him gazed’,

Lucrece, 1355; Venus and Ad. 343; Passionate Pilgrim, 82; Richard II, v.

4. 7. Perhaps the same word as _whistly_, silently, and so, with mute

attention. See =whist.=

=wit:= _The five wits_, the five faculties of the mind, common sense,

imagination, fancy, estimation, memory, Much Ado, i. 1. 67; Sonnet cxli,

9. See Nares.

=wit,= to know. Greene, James IV, iv. 2. 3; Pericles, iv. 4. 31; 1 Hen.

VI, ii. 5. 16. ME. _witen_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 1324). OE. _witan_.

See =wist, wot.=

=wite,= to blame. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 16; Shep. Kal., Aug., 136;

_wite_, blame, F. Q. vi. 3. 16. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and

in the north of England (EDD.). ME. _witen_ (_wyten_), to blame,

reproach (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 825), OE. _wītan_.

=with, wyth,= a twisted band of willow; ‘A wyth take him!’ (i.e. hang

him—said of an Irishman), Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iii. 2 (1

Servant); ‘An Irish Rebell condemned, put up a Petition to the Deputie,

that he might be hanged in a With, and not in an Halter, because it had

beene so used with former Rebels’, Bacon, Essay 39. In prov. use; see

EDD. (s.v. With, sb.^{1}). See Dict. (s.v. Withy).

=withal= = with, as placed at the end of the sentence. As You Like It,

iii. 2. 328; used in the sense of likewise, besides, at the same time,

BIBLE, 1 Kings xix. 1; Ps. cxli. 10; Acts xxv. 27; ‘Though he be merry,

yet withal he’s honest’, Taming Shrew, iii. 2. 25; Bacon, Essay 58; phr.

_to do withal_, ‘They fell sick and died: I could not do withal’ (i.e. I

could not help it), Merch. Ven. iii. 4. 72; Northward Ho, iv (Doll);

Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 2 (Urse). See Wright’s Bible Word-Book.

=withdrawing-chamber,= (the modern) drawing-room. Bacon, Henry VII (ed.

Lumby, p. 24).

=witness,= a sponsor in Baptism, a godfather or godmother. B. Jonson,

Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Littlewit); Magn. Lady, iv. 3. 16. So in Devon

(EDD.).

=wittol,= a tame cuckold knowing himself to be so. Merry Wives, ii. 1.

3; B. Jonson, The Fox, v. 1 (Mosca); Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta,

iii. 2 (Gomere); ‘_Jannin_, a wittall, one that knows and bears with or

winks at his wife’s dishonesty’, Cotgrave. Bp. Hall uses the form

_witwal_, which may be the older form, ‘Fond wit-wal, that wouldst load

thy witless head With timely horns before thy bridal bed’ (Sat. i. 7.

17). The word orig. was a name for the green woodpecker, ‘_Godáno_, a

witwall, a woodwall’, Florio. The ‘witwall’, like the cuckoo, was the

subject of ribald jests. In Cheshire and Glouc. ‘witwall’ is a name for

the woodpecker; in Suffolk a contented cuckold is called a ‘wittol’; see

EDD. See =wetewold.=

=wizzel,= weasand, windpipe. The City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield). See

=weesel.=

=woe,= sad, sorrowful. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 53; Temp. v. 1. 139; 2 Hen.

VI, iii. 2. 73. In the north country very common in prov. use,

pronounced _wae_: ‘I would be wae for the wife’s sake’, see EDD. (s.v.

Woe, 3).

=woman-tired,= henpecked; ‘Thou art woman-tired, unroosted by thy dame

Partlet here’, Wint. Tale, ii. 3. 74.

=wondered,= gifted with power to perform miracles; ‘So rare a wonder’d

father’, Temp. iv. 1. 123.

=wone, won,= spellings of one; ‘Let no suche a wone prepare unto himself

manye horsses’; Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 32); ‘Att _won_ houre’,

Tyndale, Rev. xviii. 10 (1526). So also _wons_, once; Qu. Elizabeth, tr.

of Boethius, bk. i, met. 3. See Index to Wright’s English Dialect

Grammar (s.v. One).

=wonne,= to dwell. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 39; iii. 1. 2; _wonned_, pt. t.

Shep. Kal., Sept., 181; _woon_, pr. t. subj. dwell, may dwell; Virgil’s

Gnat, 18. ME. _wone_, to dwell (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1573), OE. _wunian_,

to dwell.

=wonne,= dwelling, habitation. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 20 ME. _wone_, a

dwelling (P. Plowman, C. iv. 141).

=wood,= mad, furious with rage or temper. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 192; 1

Hen. VI, iv. 7. 35. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of

England down to Linc. (EDD.). ME. _wood_, mad (Chaucer, C. T. A. 184).

OE. _wōd_.

=wood-bind,= woodbine. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 2 (Cornelio);

_wood-bind tree_, id., iv. 2 (Felice); Drayton, Pol. xv. 152. ME.

_wodebynde_ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1508). OE. _wudebinde_ (Voc. 137. 5).

=woodcock,= a simpleton. Much Ado, v. 1. 158. Because a woodcock was

easily caught in nets set for it at twilight in glades; cp. =cockshut.=

‘Go, like a woodcock, And thrust your neck i’ the noose’, Beaumont and

Fl., Loyal Subject, iv. 4 (Theodore).

=wooden dagger.= Such a dagger was worn not only by the ‘Vice’, or

buffoon in old plays, but also sometimes by the domestic fool; Fletcher,

Noble Gentleman, v. 1 (Longueville). For ‘dagger of _lath_’, see Twelfth

Night, iv. 2. 136. _A wooden dagger_ could also be used as a

crumb-scoop, to clear the table of fragments after a meal; see Beaumont

and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 1 (Mercer).

=woodquist,= a wood-pigeon, ring-dove; ‘A Stock-dove or woodquist’,

Lyly, Sapho, iv. 3. 3. Also _quist_ (_queest_); ‘_Phavier_, a Ringdove,

Queest, Coushot, Woodculver’, Cotgrave. [With _phavier_, cp. O. Prov.

_colom favar_, ‘pigeon ramier’ (Levy)]. ‘Quist’ (‘queest’), a

wood-pigeon, is in prov. use in various parts of the British Isles

(EDD.). See NED. (s.v. Queest).

=woodsere,= the time of year when there is little sap in a tree. Tusser,

Husbandry, § 53. 15, § 51. 6. (The time meant has been said to be

between Midsummer and Michaelmas; it was thought that wood cut at that

season would not grow again.) In E. Anglia the word ‘wood-sere’ is used

for the month or season for felling wood, see EDD. (s.v. Wood, sb. 1 (34

b)).

=woodspeck,= a woodpecker. Golding, Metam. xiv. 314 (L. _picum_); fol.

171 (1603); _Specke_ is a Norfolk word for the woodpecker (EDD.). Cp.

Du. _specht_, a woodpecker (Hexham). G. _specht_.

=Wood Street,= the Compter prison in Wood Street, London. Middleton,

Phœnix, iv. 3 (1 Officer). See Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, p. 111).

=woolfist,= a puff-ball. Wily Beguiled, Prologue. For _wolf-fist_; Gk.

L. _lycoperdon_, which has the same sense; see Weigand, Germ. Dict.

(s.v. Bofist).

=woolward:= in phr. _to go woolward_, i.e. in wool only, without linen,

often enjoined as a penance by the Church of Rome; ‘I have no shirt, I

go woolward for penance’, L. L. L. v. 2. 717; ‘He went woolward and

barefooted to many churches’, Stow’s Annals, H. 7 (Nares); ‘Wolworde,

without any lynnen nexte ones body, _sans chemyse_’, Palsgrave. ME.

_wolleward_ (_wolward_), see Pricke of Conscience, 3514; P. Plowman’s

Crede, 788; P. Plowman, B. xviii. 1 (see note, p. 395). [It is probable

that the ME. form _wolleward_ is due to popular etymology, and that the

word properly represents an OE. *_wullwered_, clothed in wool, cp.

_swegelwered_, clothed with heavenly brightness. The corruption would be

natural, when the sense of _wered_ was lost, as -_ward_ was a common

suffix. The phr. ‘to go woolward’ cannot be genuine: it could only mean

‘to go towards wool’, which is not the sense (Dr. Henry Bradley). See

note on the word ‘woolward’ in Mayor and Lumby’s edition of Beda’s

Eccles. Hist., p. 347.]

=woose,= ‘ooze’, soft mud, Phaer, Aeneid iii, 606; _wose_, id., ii. 135.

Hence _woosy_, full of soft mud, Drayton, Pol. xxv. 205. ME. _wose_, mud

(Wars Alex. 413). OE. _wōs_; see Napier’s Glosses, 1818.

=woose,= to ooze, Golding, tr. Ovid, fol. 127. See Dict.

=word,= a motto; ‘And round about the wreath this word was writ, _Burnt

I doe burne_’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 38; ‘His word which on his ragged

shield was writ, _Salvagesse sans finesse_’, id., iv. 4. 39.

=world;= ‘It is a world’, i.e. it’s wonderful (to see), Much Ado, iii.

5. 38; Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 313. _To go to the world_, to get married,

Much Ado, ii. 1. 331; _a woman of the world_, a married woman, As You

Like It, v. 3. 5.

=worm,= to remove what was called the _worm_ from under a dog’s tongue;

a supposed preventive of his going mad; ‘I should have wormed you, sir,

for [to prevent your] running mad’, Ford, ’Tis pity, i. 2 (Vasque).

=wot,= in use as the present tense of the vb. _wit_, to know; ‘I wot not

what rule ye keep’, Latimer, Serm. (ed. Arber, 255); ‘I wote not’,

BIBLE, Gen. xxi. 26 (in RV. ‘I know not’); ‘God wot’, Richard III, iii.

2. 89. ME. preterite-present _I wot_, _thou wost_, _he wot_, pl. _witen_

(Chaucer); OE. _ic wāt_, _þū wāst_, _he wāt_, pl. _witon_. Tudor and

later English have much false grammar with respect to this verb: Shaks.

has _wotting_ (for _witting_}, _wots_ (for _wot_), _wot’st_ (for

_wost_); and _wotteth_ (for _wot_) is found in the Bible, Gen. xxxix. 8

(in RV. ‘knoweth’).

=wrabbed,= perverse, hard to manage; ‘So crabbed, so wrabbed, so stiff,

so untoward’, Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 211. See Nares.

=wrack,= destruction, loss; ‘The wrack of maidenhood’, All’s Well, iii.

5. 24; ‘The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack’, 2 Hen. VI, i. 3. 127;

destruction by sea, shipwreck, Venus and Ad. 454; to ruin, destroy,

Hamlet, ii. 1. 113; _wracked_ (_wrackt_), shipwrecked, Meas. for M. iii.

1. 225. See Dict. (s.v. Wreck).

=wrall,= to quarrel, to grumble. Tusser, Husbandry, § 101. 4; ‘This my

tongue-wralling’, Webster, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley,

iv. 120.

=wrawl,= to make an inarticulate noise, to caterwaul; ‘Cats that

wrawling still did cry’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 27. Cp. ME. _wrawhre_,

‘traulus’ (Prompt. EETS. 40, see note, no. 181). See NED. (s.v.

Caterwaul).

=wray,= to disclose. Gascoigne, Works, i. 41. ME. _wreye_, to bewray.

reveal (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3503); also, _bewreye_, ‘The conseil is

bewreid’ (Gower, C. A. v. 6785). OE. _wrēgan_, to denounce, accuse. See

Dict. (s.v. Bewray).

=wread,= to wreathe, to twist, twine, curl; ‘The snake about him

wrigling winding wreades’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xi. 753. See EDD. (s.v.

Wreath, sb.^{1} 7).

=wreak,= vengeance. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, ii. 3 (M.

Tullius); Knight of Malta, iv. 1 (Zanthia); ‘wrathful wreakes’, angry

acts of vengeance, Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 43; 12. 16; to avenge, punish,

F. Q. ii. 3. 13. Hence _wreakful_, full of vengeance, Titus And. v. 2.

32. ME. _wreke_, ‘vindicta, ulcio’ (Prompt.); _wreken_, to avenge

(Chaucer, C. T. C. 857). OE. _wrecan_, to punish.

=wreak,= to ‘reck’, to care. As You Like It, ii. 4. 81 (ed. 1623);

Marlowe, tr. Ovid’s Elegies, ii. 11. 22; _wreaked_, recked, Spenser,

Shep. Kal., Dec., 29. Hence _wreakless_, reckless, careless, 3 Hen. VI,

v. 6. 7. Cp. EDD. (s.v. Wreak, vb.). OE. _rēcan_ (pret. _rōhte_), to

rack, care for (Sweet); see Wright, OE. Gram., § 534.

=wrest,= a tuning-key for a harp. Tr. and Cr. iii. 3. 23.

=wretchock,= the smallest pig of a litter; smallest chicken in a hatch;

a diminutive creature. B. Jonson, Gipsies’ Metam. (Jackman); Skelton,

Elynour Rummyng, 465. A Worc. word for the smallest pig of a litter

(EDD.).

=wries;= see =wry.=

=wrig,= to turn aside. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 573 (L.

_contorsit_). In prov. use in the Midlands, meaning to writhe (EDD.).

=writhe,= to turn aside, misdirect. Ferrex and Porrex, i. 2 (Gorboduc).

=writhled,= wrinkled, shrivelled, 1 Hen. VI, ii. 3. 23; Gascoigne, ed.

Hazlitt, i. 42; l. 9.

=wroken,= _pp._, revenged. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 108; Muiopotmos,

99; _wroke_, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 1. ME. _wroken_, revenged (Chaucer,

Tr. and Cr. i. 88); _wroke_ (P. Plowman, B. ii. 194); but Chaucer and P.

Plowman have also the regular _wreken_, pp. of _wreke_, to avenge; OE.

_wrecen_, pp. of _wrecan_. See Wright, OE. Grammar, § 505.

=wrote,= to grub up, as a hog; ‘His earth-wroting snout’, Return from

Parnassus, iii. 4 (Furor). ME. _wrotyn_, as swyne ‘verro’ (Prompt. EETS.

547), OE. _wrōtan_.

=wroth,= sorrow, vexation; ‘I’ll keep my oath, patiently to bear my

wroth’, Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 78.

=wry,= to turn aside, go aside. Cymbeline, v. 1. 5; ‘_Wries_, and

wriggles’, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iii. 1 (Rowland). ME. _wrien_, to

turn aside (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 906), OE. _wrigian_.

=wun,= dwelling, abode. Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 23.

See =wonne= (2).

=wusse;= see =iwis.=

=wych,= wich-elm, witch-elm. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 113.

=wyhee;= see =whigh-hie.=

=wyte,= to blame; see =wite.=

X

=xeriff,= a ‘Sherif’, a title of the descendants of Mohammed. Dryden,

Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Muley-Moluch); id., Conquest of Granada, i. 1.

_Xarife_, the Spanish way of writing =sherif= (q.v.), Port. _xarife_,

‘chérif’ (Roquette).

=xeriff,= a Portuguese coin worth about 300 reis (Portuguese). Dryden,

Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Mustapha), Port. _xarafím_, Arab, _sharîfî_ or

_ashrafî_, a gold coin often mentioned in the Arabian Nights, see Dozy,

Glossaire, 353; cp. Med. L. _seraphus_, in Baumgarten, Peregrinatio, 23;

see Dozy, Glossaire, p. 534. See Stanford (s.v. Xerafin).

Y

=yall;= see =yawl.=

=yarage= (applied to ships), the capability of being managed at sea;

‘Light of yarage’, North, Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 35 (in Shaks. Plut.,

p. 208); ‘heavy of yarage’, id., § 35 (p. 211).

=yare,= quick, ready. A word freq. used by Shaks., often given to

sailors. Temp. v. 1. 224; Meas. for M. v. 2. 61; ‘The lesser ship . . .

is yare, whereas the greater is slow’, Ralegh (Nares); _yarely_,

readily, Temp. i. 1. 4. _Yare_ is in prov. use in the north (EDD.). ME.

_yare_, ready: ‘Terens let make his shippes yare’ (Chaucer, Leg. G. W.

2270;. OE. _gearu_, ready, equipped.

=yark,= to jerk. Drayton, Pol. vi. 51; to pull forcibly as shoemakers do

in securing the stitches of their work; ‘Yark and seam, yark and seam’

(Eyre); ‘For yarking and seaming let me alone’ (Firk), Dekker,

Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 1. See the story of Watt Tinlinn in note to

Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel, iv. 4. In reply to the Englishman’s

taunt, ‘Sutor Watt, ye cannot sew your boots’, Watt retorted,

discharging a shaft which nailed the captain’s thigh to his saddle, ‘If

I cannot sew, I can yerk’. As sb. a jerk; ‘_Tire_, a kick, yark, jerk’,

Cotgrave. See =yerk.=

=yarum, yarrum,= a cant term for milk; see =popler.=

=yate,= gate. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 224. In prov. use in the north

and in the north Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Gate, sb.^{1} 1 (9)). ME.

_ȝate_, a gate (Wyclif, Ps. cxvii. 20). OE. _geat_.

=yaw= (of a ship), to move unsteadily; used _fig._ Hamlet, v. 2. 120; a

devious course, Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 5 (Antonio). Icel. _jaga_,

to move to and fro (as a door on its hinges).

=yaw,= to cut down; _yawde_, for _yawed_, pp., Skelton, Colyn Cloute,

1206. (In the next line we have _sawde_ for _sawn_, pp.) In Hants. and

Devon ‘yaw’ is the prov. pronunc. of ‘hew’, and is used in the sense of

mowing or cutting wheat with one hand and with a reaping-hook, see EDD.

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

=yawd,= a nag, a ‘jade’. Brome, Jovial Crew, iv. 1 (Randal). In prov.

use in the north, see EDD, (s.v. Yad). The same word as ‘jade’. _Yawd_

is derived directly from Icel. _jalda_, a mare, whereas _jade_ comes to

us through northern French: _jalda_ < *_jaude_ < _jade_.

=yawfrow,= a young lady, a mistress. Davenant, The Wits, ii. 1. Du.

_joffrouw_, a gentlewoman, mistress, miss; _jonkvrouw_, a young lady;

_Jonkvrouw A._, Miss A. (Sewel).

=yawl,= to howl, bawl; to scream like an infant; spelt _yall_, Death of

E. of Huntington, i. 3 (Doncaster), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 242;

Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 22; _yawling_, a bawling, Dekker,

Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3 (Margery). In prov. use in various parts of

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

=yblent,= obscured; ‘The faithfull light of that faire lampe yblent’,

Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 1; blinded, ‘With love yblent’, id., Shep. Kal.,

April, 155. See =blend.=

=ybowne,= ready to depart. Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 140. ME.

_boun_, ready to go (Chaucer, C. T. F. 1503). See Dict. (s.v. Bound, 3).

=y-clept, y-clep’d,= called, named. Milton, L’Allegro, 12. Spelt

_y-clipped_; Ram-Alley, iii. 1 (Puff). See =clepe.=

=y-cond,= taught. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. 4; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 11.

(Misused; _to con_ is to learn.) See =cond.=

=yearn,= to vex, grieve; ‘It would yearn your heart’, Merry Wives, iii.

5. 45; ‘It yearn’d my heart’, Richard II, v. 5. 76 (in quartos _ernd_);

‘It yearns me not’, Hen. V, iv. 3. 26. Hence _yearnful_ (_yernful_),

mournful, Greene, A Maiden’s Dream, st. 7. See =earn= (to grieve).

=yearne,= to give tongue as hounds do, to bay, Turbervile, Hunting (ed.

1575, pp. 181, 186, 240); see =yorning.=

=yearne,= to earn. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 40; vi. 7. 15. OE.

_ge-earnian_, _earnian_, to earn.

=yede, yeed,= improperly used as an infin., to go. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11.

5; ii. 4. 2 _yeade_, pr. pl. (improp. used), Shep. Kal., July, 109;

_yode_, pt. s. went, id., May, 22, 233; _yod_, Golding, Metam. vi. 330.

ME. _yede_, went (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1141); _ȝede_, _ȝeode_ (P. Plowman),

OE. _ge-ēode_ (and _ēode_), went. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Eode).

=yeding,= going. Sackville, Mirror of Mag., Induction, st. 30.

=yelden,= submissive; ‘The fierce lion will hurt no yelden thinges’

(i.e. creatures that have submitted), Sir T. Wyatt, To his ladie cruel

over her Yelden Lover, 4; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 62. See =yold.=

=yellow.= Bands dyed with _yellow starch_, much used by Mrs. Turner,

became unfashionable when that infamous woman was hung (Nov. 15, 1615)

for being concerned in the murder of Sir Thos. Overbury; but not very

long after they were again in use. ‘Hateful As yellow bands’, The Widow,

v. 1 (Martia); ‘Disliked your yellow starch’, Beaumont and Fl., Queen of

Corinth, iv. 1 (Tutor).

=yellow breeches, to wear,= to be jealous. Massinger, Duke of Milan, iv.

2 (Stephano). _Yellow_, as the hue of jealousy, Middleton, A Fair

Quarrel, ii. 2. 14.

=yellow-hammer,= (jocosely) a gold coin. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1

(2 Guard).

=yellowness,= jealousy. Merry Wives, i. 3. 111.

=yellow-pate,= the yellow-hammer, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 75.

=yellows,= jaundice in cattle. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 54. In prov. use, see

EDD. (s.v. Yellow, 4).

=yelt,= a young sow; ‘A youngling yelt of brestled sow’, Twyne, tr. of

Aeneid, xii. 170. In prov. use in the north and in E. Anglia, see EDD.

(s.v. Gilt, sb.^{1}).

=yeoman-fewterer,= the man who, under the huntsman, took care of the

dogs, and let them slip at the right moment. Massinger, Picture, v. 1

(Ricardo); Maid of Honour, ii. 2 (Page); B. Jonson, Every Man out of

Humour, ii. 3. See Nares (s.v.), and =fewterer.=

=yerde,= a rod, a staff. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, § 6. ME.

_yerde_ (Chaucer). OE. _gierd_, a rod.

=yerk, yirk,= to lash with a whip. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 44; Marston,

Sat. i. 3, p. 184 (Nares); _yarke_, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 489. Hence,

_yerking preferment_, a promotion to punishment with a whip, Shirley,

Opportunity, ii. 1 (Pimponio); to kick out strongly, Hen. V, iv. 7. 84;

Tusser, Husbandry, § 64; to thrust smartly, Othello, i. 2. 5. This word

is in prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland, pronounced in

many ways, with the meanings (among others), to jerk, to pull forcibly;

to lash with a switch or whip, to kick as a horse does, see EDD. (s.v.

Yark, vb.^{1} 1, 5, 7). See =yark.=

=yert:= in comb. _yert-point_, lit. ‘jerk-point’; the name of a childish

game; perhaps similar to blow-point. Lady Alimony, ii. 5 (Fricase). It

may have been a name for spelicans. ‘Yert’ belongs to the group of

words: _jerk_, _yerk_, _jert_, see Cotgrave (s.v. Tire).

=yfere,= together. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 1; vi. 6. 31; Shep. Kal., April,

68; Sackville, Induction, st. 74. ME. _yfere_, together (Chaucer, C. T.

B. 394), also _in-fere_ (C. T. B. 328, D. 924); orig. _in fere_, in

company. OE. _on heora gefére_, in their company (Luke ii. 44).

=yfet,= _pp._ fetched. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 647. See =fet.=

=yield,= to reward; ‘The gods yield you for’t’, Ant. and Cl. iv. 2. 23;

spelt _’ild_, ‘How do you pretty lady?—Well, God ’ild you!’, Hamlet,

iv. 5. 41; Macbeth, i. 6. 13. ‘God yield you’ is still in prov. use in

Cheshire (EDD.). ME. _God yelde yow_, God requite you (Chaucer, C. T. D.

1772).

=ying,= young; ‘The lilly . . rysing fresche and ying’, Dunbar, The

Thistle and the Rose, 22. ME. _ȝing_, young (Barbour’s Bruce, xx. 41).

=yirk;= see =yerk.=

=ylike,= alike, all the same; ‘Ylike to me was libertee and lyfe’,

Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec., 36; F. Q. i. 4. 27. ME. _yliche_ (_ylike_),

like, similar; also as adv., alike, in like manner (P. Plowman). OE.

_gelīc_, similar, equal; _gelīce_, equally, in the same way, in a

similar way.

=ynde,= indigo, dark blue. Morte Arthur, leaf 114, back. 27; bk. vii, c.

11. OF. _inde_, ‘de couleur d’azur’ (Didot); Med. L. _indium_, ‘genus

coloris caerulei’ (Ducange), for L. _indicum_, indigo, orig. of India,

Indian.

=yod;= see =yede.=

=yold,= _pt. t._ yielded. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 25. As pp., id., vii.

7. 30. ME. _ȝolden_, pt. pl. and pp. of _ȝelden_, to yield (Wars Alex.

2326, 2378). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. ȝelden).

=yomenne,= ‘yeomen’; the pawns in the game of chess. Fitzherbert,

Husbandry, Prol. 20.

=yond.= This word occurs in the following passages: ‘Then like a lyon

. . . wexeth wood and yond’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 40; ‘As Florimel fled

from that monster yond’, id., iii. 7. 26; ‘Those three brethren,

Lombards fierce and yond’, Fairfax, tr. Tasso, i. 55. It seems to be a

synonym of ‘fierce’.

=yond,= yonder, thither. Tempest, i. 2. 409; Richard II, iii. 3. 91. In

prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland (EDD.). ME. _yond_,

yonder (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1099). OE. _geond_, ‘illuc’ (Matt. xxvi. 86,

Rushworth).

=yorning,= giving tongue as hounds do. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i,

c. 18, § 5; see Croft’s Glossary. See =yearne= (1).

=yote,= to water, soak; ‘Yoted wheat’, Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xix. 760. A

west-country word, ‘The brewer’s grains must be well yoted for the

pigs’, Grose (1790), see EDD. See below.

=yoten,= _pp._ melted. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 5. ME.

_ȝotun_, molten (Wyclif, Job xli. 6, Ps. cv. 19), pp. of _yeten_, to

pour (Chaucer), OE. _gēotan_.

=youl,= to howl, to squall like an infant. All Mistaken, i. 1 (near

end); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xv. 337. Hence _youling_, ib., i. 1

(Philidor); in the same, xv. 332. In gen. prov. use in all

English-speaking countries; see EDD. (s.v. Yowl). ME. _youling_, loud

lamentation (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1278).

=youngth, yongth,= youth. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 20; Muiopotmos, 34.

ME. _ȝongthe_ (Wyclif, Luke xviii. 21).

=ypight,= _pp._ pitched, placed. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 33. See =pight.=

=ysam,= together. Spelt _ysame_ (riming with _ram_ and _swam_). Spenser,

F. Q. vii. 7. 32. See =sam.= ME. _ysamme_, together (P. Plowman, A. x.

193), OE. _samen_, together (Sweet).

=y-vound,= found. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Medlay).

=ywus,= ‘_ywis_’, certainly. Golding, Metam. i. 754 (riming with

_thus_), fol. 13, back (1603). See =iwis.=

Z

=zabra,= a small sailing vessel, in use in the Bay of Biscay; _zabraes_,

pl.; Dekker, Wh. of Babylon, Works, ii. 256. Span. _azábra_, ‘a small

sort of Bark us’d in some parts of Spain’; _Zábra_, ‘a sort of Vessel

once us’d in Biscay from 100 to 200 Tun Burden, and serv’d for Fishing

or Privateering, now laid aside’ (Stevens). Port, _zabra_ (Roquette).

See Stanford (s.v. Azabra).

=zambra,= a Moorish festival, with music and dancing; a festive dance.

Dryden, Conquest of Granada, I, i. 1 (l. 11 from end). Span. _zambra_,

‘a Moorish dance’ (Stevens). ‘A la rigueur _zambra_ signifie musique

d’instruments à vent; on l’a appliqué à la danse parce que l’on danse au

son des larigots et des flûtes’ (Cobarruvias). _Zambra_ is from the

Arabic root _zamara_, to play on a wind instrument, Dozy, Glossaire,

364.

=zany,= a subordinate buffoon, who mimicked the clown. Twelfth Nt. i. 5.

96; cp. L. L. L. v. 2. 463. Ital. ‘_záne_, the name of _John_ in some

parts of Lombardy, but commonly used for a silly John, a simple gull, or

foolish Clown in a Play or Comedy, as a Jack pudding at the dancing of

the ropes’ (Florio). See Stanford.

=zany,= to imitate apishly, to mimic. Fletcher, Queen of Corinth, i. 2

(Crates); Lover’s Progress, i. 1 (Clarinda).

=zecchine,= a gold coin, a ‘sequin’. Shirley, Gent. of Venice, i. 1

(Cornari); Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 79. Ital. _zecchino_, a Venetian

coin, deriv. of _zecca_, ‘a mint or place of coyning’ (Florio), Arab.

_sikka_, coin; _dâr as-sikka-t_, a mint (Steingass).

=zelant,= a zealot. Bacon, Essay 3. Med. L. _zelans_; see Ducange (s.v.

Zelare).

=zelatour,= a zealot, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, ch. 27. Med. L.

_zelator_, ‘aemulator, inimicus’ (Ducange).

=zernick,= orpiment. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). Arab. _zernîkh_,

arsenic (Steingass), Pers. _zernīχ_, orpiment, yellow arsenic; from

_zar_, gold. A word of Indo-European origin. See Academy (May 11, 1895,

p. 427), and Horn’s Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (1893, §

691).

OXFORD: HORACE HART M.A.

PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY